Headless, not Heartlessby Thadius0ChaptersChapter 2 - Heads upChapter 3 - Two heads are better than noneChapter 4 - Head of securityChapter 5 - Keep a level headChapter 6 - Should probably see a head doctorChapter 7 - Head count: Between Large and MassiveSide Chapter 1 - Cross and StripesChapter 9 - Watch your head, that first step's a doozyChapter 10 - HeadstrongSide Chapter 2 - A shoulder to lean onChapter 11 - A Heady Brew or TwoSide Chapter 3 - Laying some Common GroundworkSide Chapter 4 - A little hotheadChapter 12 - It all comes to a HeadSide Chapter 5 - Fluffy's day outChapter 13 - Head GamesChapter 14 - Don't lose your headChapter 15 - Getting ahead of yourselfChapter 16 - Opening jarheadsChapter 17 - Making headwayChapter 18 - Get it through your thick headSide Chapter 6 - The Final TrialChapter 19 - Off with his head!Chapter 1 - Heading outChapter 8 - Headaches are a part of any new communityChapter 2 - Heads upI trudged along through the Everfree forest for some time, thinking about how I'd gotten in the position I'd been. It seemed like such a short time ago. Then again, being chained up for a millennium and a half tends to distort your perception of ti- Just then it finally hit me. Mom. Dad. Jenny. Hell even Richard, the ass. I've been here for a thousand and a half years, if Discord's right. And he usually is. Unless time flow is different between worlds... And as I screamed my rage to the heavens, I remembered... (Dullahan POV – 1505 years ago) “So, you're really into that Golden Sun game and whatnot, right?” I glanced over at Richard from my DS after inputting the final command for the round. “Yeah?” “So who would you say is the total badass in it?” “Honestly?” I scratched my chin a bit as I thought. “I'ma have to go with Dullahan.” “Cheh, yeah right. You always side with the villains.” “No, Dully's not a villain. He shows up in the second game as an optional boss guarding the most powerful summon, with access to the second most powerful. He tends to gloriously slaughter unprepared parties. Even with all the cool shit in the game, you can't win unless you overlevel, or know what's coming.” Surprisingly, Richard nodded. “Alright, and while that is pretty cool, that doesn't put him in the realm of total badass.” I just smiled at him. “Oh yeah? Well, he also shows up in the THIRD game. Implying that either in the second game, the party wasn't supposed to kill him, or he doesn't let a little thing like dying get him down. Plus, set up the right party, you can summon him to do his signature move, which also tends to murder things in a glorious fashion.” Richard was, needless to say, hooked. “Dude. That's awesome. I just got the greatest idea.” I looked over at him from the game, inputting the commands to recover from the latest round. “Listening.” “Right, so you know how Suzy throws bitchin' costume parties?” My smile grew a bit. “Yeah, that last one was crazy.” “What if you go as this Dullahan guy?” I frowned instantly. “Where am I gonna get a suit of plate armor sans helmet, a shield as half as big as I am, and a sword like his?” (3rd POV – Celestia – Current day) “My student, the danger Dullahan poses is nothing like Discord. Where Discord was content with changing the world to suit his whims, Dullahan is capable of bending the very forces of nature to his desires. I will teach you everything I know about fighting him, but even then, we will have to be prepar-” An explosion rocked from the Everfree, and smoke billowed from it. The ponies could vaguely hear shouting coming from the forest. “The forest! The animals! Who would do such a thing?” Celestia sighed and lowered her head. “Dullahan tends to let his emotion get the better of him, and his magic responds in kind. I would say, right now, he is very angry.” Dragon fume! Searing beam! A long ribbon of fire leaped up from the aflame forest and crashed into a nearby field. A searing hot beam lanced from the treeline and made its way to Celestia, who put up a shield and waited for it to dissipate, though she did seem to strain a bit. An armored bipedal figure wielding a sword seemingly made of crystal stalked out of the forest towards the gathered ponies. Luna, who hadn't had time to leave yet, instantly rushed the figure. Said figure responded by raising the sword to the sky. It was then that the ponies noticed the figure was missing a helmet. And a head. Mostly because that was when it 'spoke' to them. Oh, blow it out your ass, Luna! Mighty Guard! The voice was deep and commanding. But it was what the sword did that caught the eyes of every pony but Luna. The sword flashed red, and a similar red aura covered the figure before vanishing as quickly as it came. Luna didn't notice or didn't care, and moved to strike the figure's right hand, the one that was clasping the sword. The blow glanced off, and the sword came around and smacked into her side, sending her careening into the newly imprisoned Discord. And before you get any ideas, Celly! Element Swap, Jupiter! Greater Ward! The sword flashed purple, and a purple aura coated the figure and vanished just as swiftly, before the figure sheathed its sword. Celestia merely stared at the figure. “Dullahan.” Celly. I'm only going to ask this once. Where the fuck did you take my goddamned SHIELD?! “Question for a question, Dullahan. How did you get out? The chains were meant to be unbreaking.” Yeah well maybe if you were THERE to maintain them, or hadn't left me alone for a thousand and a half years, they might have been more inclined to hold me! Once Dissy gave me my sword, I had all the strength I needed to get free. “I see. And to answer your question, your shield is in Canterlot, under heavy guard. It was one of the few relics we did take with us. We could not risk any other pony getting a hold of it.” That's surprisingly smart of you. Nonetheless, I'll find it sooner or later. You'd best hope it's sooner. Now my other question that I have for you. And at this the figure stalked up to the sun diarch and somehow growled. Where. The fuck. Are my pets. WHERE ARE THE DJINN?! At the sudden menacing sound, Luna stirred herself and pointed at the armored figure. “Cur! How didst thou stop what was previously an effective means of disarming thou and rendering thou harmless?” The figure turned towards Luna and let out an amused chuckle. Somehow. Oh, so little miss moon is getting up? Well, if you thought that I was just going to let history repeat itself, you must have thought me a fool! I thought of that technique ages ago, and only just now got to use it! I'm glad to see it worked, though! The figure turned back to Celestia and growled again. Question for a question, Celly. Where are my fucking Djinn? What the fuck did you do with them?! Celestia flinched a little at the profanity and anger with which the words were projected. “I...I do not know...” The figure snarled and reached out to grab Celestia by the neck. Her horn lit up and slung spell after spell at the figure, but they all bounced off it, each time letting off a purple flash. The ponies nearby all screamed for their princess, but the figure merely yelled at them. STAY BACK, ALLA YA! Miss Sun here has a question to answer, otherwise things are gonna get reaaaaal dicey in here. Gasping, Celestia managed to answer the figure again. “Dullahan, when we took your armaments, we saw four odd creatures, briefly, but in a span of seconds, they had disappeared. If those were your pets, your 'djinn', then they have been gone as long as you have.” The figure growled at her and threw her to the ground. You expect me to believe that in all that time, you never once thought of looking for them, of hunting them down so that you could see what our relation was? The figure drew its sword and pointed it at the sun diarch. I find that hard to believe, Celly. Element Swap, Mercury! The sword flashed purple, then blue, and the figure continued. Maybe a cooler head will help you remember. Diamond Dust! Instantly, winds whipped up, but these were no normal winds. These were cold, artic winds, carrying a hint of ice. But soon it wasn't just a hint, and soon huge chunks of it were flying around, battering into ponies. While they were all dealing with not gaining ice-induced head trauma, nopony noticed the huge figure walking off in the direction of Canterlot. Author's Note So I'm just gonna go ahead and post chapter tw- 100 favs in one day?! Chapter 3 - Two heads are better than noneI tromped through the forest, following the rail line towards the ridiculous castle on a mountainside. Ten bits says that's Canterlot. The sisters always did love their castle. I can't see them going without one. However, the sun was setting, and even following a rail line, it wasn't the safest thing in the world to be wandering in the forest. As evidenced by the fact that not two minutes later, I ran into a manticore standing near a heavily scratched unicorn. Said unicorn was red-coated, with a yellow mane, orange eyes, and a symbol of a campfire for a cutie mark. 'But wait,' I hear you ask, 'How did you know he was wounded if his coat was red?' Cause his coat was brick red, and blood is a deeper color than that. Despite how I had acted towards the sisters, I actually did care about ponies in need. At least, when I saw them. Sadly, most of my ways of helping ponies hadn't exactly been nice... (Dullahan POV - 1,501 years ago) You sick bastard. All of this, for crystals?! Sombra merely laughed at me from his throne. "But of course not just for crystals. For power. For the thrill of it. Something you at least should understand, if the reports of a headless suit of armor such as yourself terrorizing the sisters has any accuracy at all." I growled at him. I was getting used to my strength! I never meant to do half those things! And the other half I only did towards they that deserved it! I drew my sword and pointed it at him, and he merely laughed harder. "Please, spare me. You'd not get anywhere near close enough to actually damage me." Who said I had to? As confusion crossed his face, I activated my Fulminous Strike. Drawing my sword back and letting power fill it, I swung it forward. Lightning arced out of it, acting like an extension to my sword blade, and catching the unicorn king across the chest. He flew out the nearby balcony, and I rushed over to watch him fall. Hopefully he wouldn't break into too many pieces. There was so much more I wanted to do to him, after all... Sadly, he managed to catch himself before he hit the ground. With a flash, he was back on his throne, glaring at me. "You caught me off guard once, creature, and I'll not allow such a tactic to succeed again." I merely laughed at him. Buddy, if I wanted to really hurt you? If I wanted to really cause you pain? I would have summoned Charon, ferryman of the river Styx, to take you to the underworld. But that would have been TOO EASY! There's a lot of pain I have to give you yet! Outside, there was a flash as bright as the sun, and I glanced in that direction to see my two least favorite ponies flying nearby. Whelp it's been fun Sombra but I have sisters to avoid, catch you never! With that, I turned and jumped off the same balcony, flipping the sisters off as I did so. Element swap, Jupiter! Whirlwind! The miniature tornado caught me just as I was about to impact the ground, changing my fall from incapacitating to jarring, and I took off down the street. My welcome's worn out here anyways! The sound of fury from behind me was my only cue that a battle had commenced. That, or the sisters had really wanted to catch me... (Present day - Dullahan POV) Shaking the memories from my mind, I pulled my sword out, the ringing noise catching the attention of both pony and manticore. I'm only gonna say this once. Step away from the pony, and nobody gets hurt. The manticore looked at the sword, looked at me, looked at where my head should be, looked back at the sword, and edged closer to the pony. Wrong move! One Fulminous Strike later, and the manticore, charred and scarred, ran off into the forest to lick its wounds. The pony was understandably scared, even when I sheathed my sword. Hey. HEY! C'mon, I know I'm scary, but I gotta ask you a few questions, buddy. Can you keep it together for me? The pony fainted, and I sighed. A half hour later, the pony had come to. I'd used Venus to make a fire pit, and Jupiter to cut some branches off some trees with Wind Slash. A bit of Mars later, and I had a roaring bonfire. I mean, I didn't need it, but from what I could recall, other life-forms enjoyed warmth. Anyways, the unicorn's first words upon awakening were "Oh thank Celestia it was just a dream." To which I chuckled and responded. Nope, don't thank her, thank me, and it wasn't a dream. For some reason you were facing down a manticore, which I scared off. You're welcome, by the way. The unicorn looked over at me and froze for a minute, to which I responded by clapping my hands. Hey! Keep it together! Got a few questions to ask you, and I imagine you have some for me as well. The unicorn nodded, and I relaxed a bit. Okay, first question. Did the manticore actually sting you? The pony shook his head, and I would have grinned. This'll be a simple fix, then. I'm going to draw my sword, okay? Don't. Panic. The unicorn visibly locked up when the sword came loose and pointed at him. Easy. Just gonna heal ya. Element swap, Mercury. Ply! A stream of blue magic wafted over from my sword to the unicorn, who followed it with widened eyes. The magic focused on the wounds, which slowly shrunk, and vanished. I did my version of a nod, and put the sword away, causing the pony to drag its eyes from the freshly disappeared wounds back to me. There. You may want to rest a bit, that's normal. But you also have questions, probably. The pony nodded and spoke the most obvious question first. "Who...what are you?" Two in one, eh? Not that I can blame you. I'm a spirit possessing this suit of armor with powers granted to me by my sword. As for a name, you can call me Dullahan. Friends call me Dully. "Thank you for saving me...but why?" I looked to the fire then, gathering my thoughts. Well the short answer? I dislike manticores. The long answer is...you remind me of me. The unicorn made to ask another question, but I drew my sword and pointed it at him. Enough melancholy. You need rest. Element Swap, Jupiter. Sleep! The unicorn was out before his head hit the ground. Knowing Celly and Lulu, they'd find the smoke from the bonfire soon enough, meaning the pony would be found and brought somewhere marginally safer soon. And that was when I heard the shout reverberate through my very being. ‘I am Solaire of Astora! Adherent to the Lord of Sunlight! Those who walk in the path of danger may call upon me!’ I drew myself up and stared at the sky, determined to answer in kind. Raising my sword, I began my speech. I am Dullahan, the darkness, the shadow, the elemental wraith, the guardian of the light! They that would stand against what lurks within the souls of men are welcome allies to me! There was a flash, and nearby, a human in armor with a shield in one hand and a peculiar glass staff in the other appeared next to the bonfire. His armor had a sun emblazoned on it, and within the sun was a face. He turned around for a moment before he laid eyes on me, and inclined his head slightly. "Well I'm quite certain the sun does not need guarding, good sir, but the rest of your titles intrigue me." I merely snorted and sat back down at the bonfire. While she doesn't need guarding, she does need to learn not to take my damn stuff. I would have tilted my head at the man nearby me, but, y'know, no head. So, Solaire of Astora. Gonna guess you were once a normal guy as well. Solaire nodded and sat down at the bonfire as well. "Indeed. I was at a convention with this wonderful prop when it activated and took me here. Next thing I know, Sunbutt and Moonbutt are on my case, all because of a little forest fire. And sitting in their thrones." I waved a hand at him. Hardly better than my story. I showed up in the forest without a head and started screaming loud enough to wake the dead... (Dullahan POV - 1,505 years ago) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! "Sister, the odd armor is fleeing this way!" LEAVE ME ALONE YOU DAMN HORSES! "Luna, there is no head on the armor, and there appears to be nothing inside!" OH REALLY? I HADN'T FIGURED THAT ONE OUT! "Mayhap a possessing spirit, sister?" FUCK THIS! HOW DO I LIGHTNING BOLT?! (Dullahan POV - Present time) And, well, after a few Fulminous Strikes, they let me be. Never stopped hunting me, though, and every time I tried out some new power I thought I should have that ended up being disastrous, they found me, and we danced again. Solaire nodded. "I think you have it slightly worse, good sir. Am I to assume that for quite a while they tried to exorcise you out of your new home?" I did my version of a nod. Yeah, and one day Luna got a lucky hit on one leg, and they learned how to disable parts of me. The next time we fought, she went straight for the hand, and I dropped my sword. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. Being locked up in the same place for a thousand and a half years puts such a crick in your neck. Solaire leaned in a bit and I could swear I heard him smirk. "Thou wouldst have to have a neck to be having pains in it." I groaned and would have rolled my eyes. You know what I mean. Solaire got up and dusted himself off. "Well, this has been enlightening, and I see that you are at the very least a kind soul, mainly because of that pony over there resting by the fire as well. So I grant you this." With that, he reached behind himself and pulled out a white soapstone. I picked it up and looked at it. Okaaaay? It's a stone. Solaire nodded. "Merely focus on the stone and call my name, and I will come to your aid. We can engage in jolly co-operation together!" I nodded as well and held my left hand to him, my right hand going to my sword. Hold still, let me reciprocate. Focusing on the blade and the power within, I attempted to do something that I knew I would regret. I pulled at the very essence of myself and attempted to create a similar totem. After a few seconds, a small book flashed into my left hand, and I passed it to him. Hold the tome and speak my name three times, and I shall come to your aid. You will need to expend some power on your part to get me there, though. Solaire nodded and placed the book behind him. "May the Darksign never touch you, by the will of the sun, Sir Dullahan." I would have grinned. First, friends call me Dully. And second, may the Golden Sun always illuminate your path, Solaire. He glowed and vanished, and only afterwards did I permit myself to collapse. Fuck, making that totem took a lot out of me. This is why I need my shield. If only for the stars secreted within it... Author's Note So Solaire and I have agreed to enter jolly co-operation with each other should the need arise. And at the time of posting this I have 296 favs. ...I've no idea who you all are and I can't thank you all individually anymore. Chapter 4 - Head of securityBright Lance, the batpony night-guard on duty in the archives of Canterlot Castle, was bored. Every night, the same drill. Walk past one hundred and fifty bookcases. Pause for ten seconds. Right turn, walk past the twenty bookcases. Pause for ten seconds. Right turn. Repeat ad naseum. So it was a slight surprise when he was informed the Princesses were in the Restricted Section of the Archives for the foreseeable future, and all visitors there were to be detained. That made for some change in his routine, but not much. They weren't in his patrol route of the Archives, so it didn't matter much to him. Had he thought about why they felt they needed to be here, he might not have been surprised halfway into his shift. Howdy, a voice said. Bright merely nodded and continued on his route before his brain registered what had just happened. Someone had spoken to him. He paused for a second, then backpedaled and looked to his right. There was a suit of armor that looked like it was made for a minotaur. An extremely beefy minotaur that also wore boots. Dark blue and embossed with gold in some places, it was wearing a slightly tattered red cape that nearly reached the floor. Hanging off the side was a scabbard that held a sword that seemed to be a few feet long. The neck, however, was missing a helmet. And it was this that drew his attention. Because the armor was also missing someone to wear it. Instead, blue fire danced in the place of where a helmet, or even a head, would normally be. Say, I don't suppose you know where my shield is, do you? 'bout half as big as me, made of a similar metal, looks like a roaring manticore? Wordlessly, Bright Lance pointed towards the Restricted Section of the Archives, where the Princesses, and all the other artifacts, were. Ah, thank you very much. Take care. And with the sound of a thousand pounds of shifting metal, the suit of armor clomped off. What a helpful guard. The glow provided by my presence inside my armor helped illuminate the archives, making sure I wouldn't run into any bookcases by accident. Seriously helpful. If I remember what he looks like, I'll give him something. Not like all those other guys who tried to get me to halt. Had to put half the castle to sleep. Up ahead, there was a massive set of wooden doors with the words 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here uninvited' written on them. I merely snorted at the warning and pushed them open easily. Let's see here. Journal of Starswirl, pfft. Bastard had the audacity to tell me what I was doing was no real magic and I should learn from him. Sword of the Elements, also known as MINE, thank you Discord for taking it. Artifacts of Unification, not interested. Aha! Placed on a stand was my shield. I could feel the thrum of power from it. What? No, the shield itself had no special properties. It was what I had hidden in the shield that I wanted. ...Well, and it was rightfully mine anyways. Ponies couldn't use the darn thing without some massive strength training. "Hello again, Dullahan." I groaned at the sound of a familiar voice and the sensation of a set of familiar auras coming into range. Clearly, the aura my shield was emitting had blinded me. That, or my own idiocy. I hadn't thought to check for other auras, and to think they'd let me walk in and pick it up! Celly Celly Celly. We should really stop meeting like this. I turned to see Celestia and Luna appear out of the shadows near the entrance to the archives, blocking me off from escaping. That made me feel a little better, they hadn't been lying in wait, they'd just teleported in when they saw I was nearing the prize. "How didst thou find thine shield so quickly? We made sure a perfect replica was on display at the museum!" I merely snorted at them. Puh-lease. Replica or not, you never managed to open MY shield up to find what I hid within it. If you had, you wouldn't have bothered with the replica! "Explain," the solar diarch commanded. Not a subject of yours, I don't have to! So let me guess the ploy here. You sent the Elements to the replica in an effort to finally trap and exorcise me. Meanwhile, in case I got free, you stood guard here over the real one, because you wanted to make sure I couldn't get my mitts on it. "I am obligated to tell you nothing, Dullahan." I merely continued on with my rambling. But the thing is, I knew where my shield was the moment I entered Canterlot. So your museum ploy has failed, and now it's just you two against me. Granted, you're blocking my way out. And I am not yet whole. So this might actually present an issue to me. Celestia's horn flared once, and she smiled at me. "And I have just sent a message to my student about where you are, so the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony will soon come here to exorcise you, once and for all." I merely growled at her. You...you have the gall... They that would block the return of the shadow should face the wrath of the darkness! I drew my sword and pointed it at the both of them. They merely lowered their horns and scraped the ground with a hoof. Y'know, there's a song I once listened to. I don't recall all of it, but there's a line that'll apply here soon enough. Element swap, Mars! Inferno! My sword flashed red, and a ridiculous amount of fireballs sprang from it, arced towards the sisters... ...And sailed past them, into the Archives, setting alight all the accumulated knowledge there. The sisters stared at the destruction I had caused while I grabbed my shield. The sudden rush of being nearly whole was nigh intoxicating. Since every piece of my armor was like a part of me, getting any of it back was a big deal. It was like someone who had a need for a prosthetic hand suddenly getting a much better one. I turned to the sisters and chuckled. What was that line again? Oh yeah! Burn, baby, burn! Luna and Celestia whipped their heads around to see that I had reclaimed my shield and actually snarled at me. "Thou wilst pay for thine crimes, Dullahan!" Yeah, I think not. Either because this'll work, or it won't, and I'll come up with something. Element swap, Venus! The sword glowed brown, and if I had a face, I would have grinned at the sheer cheek I was about to show the sisters. Retreat! And instantly, I was gone. I reappeared on the outskirts of Canterlot, dizzy and slightly worse for wear, but overall fine. Glad I don't have a stomach anymore. Might've thrown up my lunch. I looked down at my shield and would have smiled. Right, I've got you now. Time to find a glade in the Everfree I can use to make a zen garden so's I can call them back to me. But first, I need to see if all your charges are intact. What was the password? The Golden Sun shines but once? There was a cracking noise from the front of the shield, and I turned it around and opened the mouth. Four shining spheres, one brown, one red, one blue, and one purple, greeted me. Nice to see the stars are still intact after all this time... (3rd POV - Celestia) "My student, I regret to inform you that our plan failed." Twilight groaned and hung her head. "Princess Celestia, I did everything I could and exactly according to your specifications. We hid ourselves near the display, and we even managed to arrange a gap in the patrol routes this creature could take advantage of. We even had a 'now we have you' speech planned!" Pinkie nodded a few times. "I was even gonna throw a 'we caught the evil armor, hooray' party! How'd he get away?" Celestia sighed. "I forgot that one of Dullahan's abilities is to sense strong magical auras. And apparently, one emanates from his shield. He never went to the museum, because he knew where his shield was all along." Twilight cocked her head to the side. "So the one in the museum was a fake? So where was his shield then?" "In the Archives, in the Restricted Section, where we store all the old artifacts. Luna and I were there waiting for him, hoping that we could contain him, but he managed to distract us, seize his shield, and escape." "How'd he distract ya, yer highness?" Celestia turned to Applejack and said "He used a small fire spell-" "INSIDE THE ARCHIVES?!" All eyes were on Twilight as she started hyperventilating at the thought of lost knowledge. "Oh...dear..." (Dullahan POV) I'd only really begun my trek down the mountain when I heard what sounded like an explosion of sound, with some very faint words mixed in. "Dullahan you animated pile of junk! When I find you I'm going to take you apart piece by piece with a rusty pair of pliers! And then-" I merely shrugged. Celestia really needs to calm down. It was only a medium-sized fire. Author's Note Fav count is 394 and rising. To all of you, thank you. Chapter 5 - Keep a level headAuthor's Note HEY GUYS, HAVE SOME BACKSTORY! Cause you all have only asked for it twenty times. Oh, and there's been some changes! Mkay, so the first thing you may have noticed is that all the old chapters have been edited! Doublespacing for EVERYONE! I've also toned down the caps a wee bit. Dully will no longer 'scream' when he casts. At least, if I can avoid it. It'll still be in bold to differentiate it, though. Also, I cannot thank you all enough for getting this story featured. Holy crap, y'all are awesome. And the fav-count as of posting is: 722 ...If I tried to thank you all individually, I'd never get any writing done! Chapter 5 - Keep a level head Finally, I had found a glade suited for my purposes. It only took until noon. Gods, I've been free for...five days? Yeah, sounds right. And that's on no coffee. Not that I'd be able to drink it. Well, now that I'm here...Sand! I stuck the blade, point-first, in the ground. It glowed brown, and all around me, the glade transformed from a small field of green into a ring of stones surrounding fine sand. This was not what it had been intended for, though, and I panted a bit as the energy left me. Ow...ow ow ow. Okay, let's not do that again. I have to set up the rest... I turned towards the south and walked a few paces, then stuck my sword in the sand. Let's see if this works. Growth! The sword glowed again, and a portion of the glade was restored to itself, with the addition of flowers. A circle of small rocks separated the sand from the newly-restored grass. Once again, I was left feeling weak for a minute. Nobody told me making a zen garden would be so intensive... After a few minutes to recover my strength, I walked into the forest and gathered up some small rocks and a huge pile of twigs. I returned to the glade, arranged the twigs into the perfect shape for a bonfire on the western side of the garden, and encircled it with the rocks. I looked down at the sand and sighed then. Element swap, Mars! Beam! Carefully controlling the flame, I made several wind chimes from glass. After a minute to recover, I picked a few sticks out from the bonfire, and went into the forest in search of vines. Eventually, I set up my wind chime in the northern section of my garden. Turning towards the east, I carefully hollowed out a large section of the sand into a circular shape. Climbing back out, I looked at it and sighed. Gonna need some large, flat rocks... About an hour later, I had lined my pit with rocks and was praying this would work. Element swap, Mercury! Douse! A small raincloud appeared and filled in my little pit to turn it into a shallow pond. Satisfied with my work, I placed the blue sphere inside it, where it hit the surface of the water and stopped. It then floated towards the middle and started glowing. I tossed the brown sphere at the garden and placed the purple on atop the wind chimes, then turned towards the prepared bonfire. Element swap, Mars! Fireball! The flames caught, and I threw the red sphere into them, where it hovered. I went to the center of my setup and sat down, clearing my mind of other thoughts. At least, to begin with. Terra, Dracen, Puck, Newton, I call to thee. I have been freed, and would walk with you again... My mind couldn't help wandering, though... (Dullahan POV - 1,505 years ago) Fredrick and I stared at the sword behind the counter. It was a pure blue, and it looked like it had runes engraved in it, if the pattern of slightly lighter blue was anything to go by. It was exactly what we were looking for, and it was only a hundred and fifty dollars. "So, what's the catch?" The salesman behind the counter eyed both me and my friend up before replying. "I'll only sell it to you. Your buddy here," and here he jerked a thumb at Richard, "he's outta luck if he wants it." I shrugged and forked over my card, while Richard scowled. "What's your problem with me?" The salesman ran the card through and grabbed the sword and its scabbard off the wall behind him. "Ya irritate me, kid. Didn't help any when you picked up the daggers and started plucking hairs off your head to see how sharp I keep my blades. Your friend here at least has respect for weapons like this." At this, Richard looked abashed while I took my purchase. I bowed my head in respect to the man and turned to leave. "C'mon, we got a costume to put together, buddy." At Suzy's party, needless to say, everyone wondered just what the hell I was. It'd taken me time to get used to moving in armor, but it was worth it. As was the five months of looking for someone who still practiced making armor and showing them exactly what I wanted. I would be feeling the financial bite of this costume for a while, but hey. I could always wear it elsewhere. The only thing that was inaccurate was my head, but I wasn't willing to get it cut off for a costume. So I went with a black, tight, but still breathable mask that covered my whole head. Eventually, Suzy decided to take pictures of us all individually, and then a group photo. For some reason, I drew my sword and held it up as she took the final one. The one errant thought that ran through my head was I wish I could look this badass all the time. There was a flash of color and light... When I came to, I noticed the forest all around me. I got up and groaned, feeling the weight of the armor still. Oh, good gods, how much did I dri- I stopped in my complaining when I realized my voice sounded vastly different. I didn't know of many things that could change a person's voice. Cautiously, I raised a gauntlet up towards my head, and felt around for my neck. And then I felt the back of the armor without feeling my body. It took me all of two seconds to panic. (1,504 years ago, Dullahan POV) Okay, while I may have gotten a handle on this whole Equestria place, and my newfound powers, that...that shouldn't be here. Said 'that' was a small, portly looking brown animal, with cyan eyes and a tail. No arms were visible, but it had legs, and a few additional spines of brown poking out of its sides. In other words, it was a Venus Djinn. Sitting on a hill, rocking back and forth. I cautiously approached the djinn, being sure to make as small movements as possible. Then I realized it was probably intelligent, and cleared my metaphorical throat. Pardon me, my good djinn. At this, it turned and stared at me. I froze, but slowly raised a hand in greeting. Hello, my name is Dullahan. May I have yours? It seemed to consider for a moment, before shaking its whole body, as if to tell me no. Ah, I see. Well, can I ask how you're here, in this land? At this, it drooped slightly, as though the answer were depressing, before it shook itself again. Well if its any consolation, I'm a stranger here as well. And it pains me to see you on your lonesome. Do you know if there are any other djinn in these lands? It looked intently at me before nodding once. Would you like to find them? It nodded again. Can I travel with you while you do? It tilted its upper body as though it were curious about my motives. It would hardly be fair if you traveled alone through this land when there are dangers you don't even know about behind every other tree. And I'd not ask you to lend me your strength. I merely desire a purpose, and you could use a companion. Frankly, so could I. The djinn considered for a moment longer before it hopped up on top of my foot. It didn't weigh anything, it was as though a small puffball had just decided to vacation on my foot. Hmm. Do you have a name? I know I asked for it, but now I'm just curious as to if you have one. The djinn shook itself in the negative and I would have frowned. Well that's no good. Give me a moment, I can't just call you 'djinn' or 'Venus' all the time... A few moments of thought gave me the perfect name. C'mon, Terra, let's be off. Much to do yet! (Dullahan POV - 1,503 years ago) Wait, seriously? I stared at the djinn, who had each come forward with a shining sphere. One red, one brown, one blue, one purple. In other words, they seemed remarkably like elemental stars. Indeed, the voice of the mischevious Jupiter djinn Puck filled the cave I used as a base. Out of all of them, he was the only one who could speak. He could still understand the others, but he was the only one who could actually talk back to me. Making him the de facto interpreter. You lot come forward with these elemental stars NOW?! And what's with the Venus one? Is it supposed to be that color? We didn't come forward with them, we made them. This land is without any foci for such powers as yours or ours, which is why they are so draining and hard to use, especially when you become inventive with how you use or interpret them. So we channeled the power of the land into these spheres, and gave them a bit of our essence. Any anomalies in their coloration is due to the energies of the land. With these, it should no longer be hard for any of us to use our strength. I merely groaned at the djinn before me. Yes, but elemental stars are highly coveted! And how long were you working on these anyways? The sheer power supposed to be contained in things like these is immense! Puck looked at the others before returning his focus to me. Ever since you gathered us together, just for the sake of us being together again. Naming us was also a good step. And never asking us for our strength out of respect, that cinched it. I picked up the stars and could feel the thrum of power they contained. Now my concerns are different. How am I to safeguard the world from this power? Puck looked at my shield and recited a phrase. The Golden Sun shines but once. There was a cracking noise, and I looked at the front. A secret compartment had opened, one that seemed just large enough for the four stars. I carefully wedged them all in, and closed it up. So long as you keep it on your person, the effects of the stars should still transmit to you. (Dullahan POV - 1,502 years ago) Dullahan? I looked up from my latest work, the final tablet I felt I should engrave. Half of them had been my memories of my old world. Those I stored in a room that only my touch could open. The other half had been the summons. Yes, the summons. I was uncertain which, if any, I could use besides Charon, but I found I could carve the tablets all the same. It was like the armor itself guided me in their creation. And the djinn were all too happy to help me imbue the tablets. Yes, Puck? I was out scanning some pony minds near the border of the forest, and I've picked up a lot about how trade with some crystal empire has been getting cut off. Because of a tyrant king. I glanced down at the tablet and finished the final rune. Perfect. Gather the rest, imbue the tablet, and we'll go take a look-see about helping the empire by assaulting it. I placed the final tablet in the circle, and the djinn took up their positions around it. The runes and name glowed as the power gathered, and finally, it faded. Dracen and Newton seemed drained more than the others, and it only made sense. I put the tablet at the end of the line and nodded at the name. We'll take a day so that you two can recover, but then we're off to the empire. The word Isis stayed alight as we left the room of Summons, just like all the other names on all the other tablets. The next day, we would leave my cave hideaway entire and begin the long trek to the Empire... (Dullahan POV - 1,500 years ago) "DULLAHAN!" I staggered a bit as the full volume of the Royal Canterlot Caps Lock hit me. Christ, Lulu! You could deafen giants with that voice of yours! The sisters merely landed, one on either side of the glade, with me in the middle. I shifted from one to the other, and raised my sword. So, y'here to try and exorcise me again? It's not gonna go well! Element swap, Jupiter! The sword flashed purple, and Luna gasped. "Sister, now! Quickly, before he casts-" Celestia's horn flashed a golden orb at me, but I was faster. Greater Ward! The orb impacted my newly-conjured protection from spells and bounced off in a flash of purple. I would have smiled smugly at her, if I had a head. And that was when the blue horn impaled my right hand, causing it to spasm, seize, and drop my sword. Instantly my strength fled my body. In the five years I had been here, I had never been without my sword. Now I knew why. Without it, I couldn't so much as move. I knelled and panted, not really needing the air, but the sensation of being breathless was the closest I could liken to this sudden sensation of being powerless. What...what is...what have you... I saw the white legs of Celestia come into view, and felt my shield being ripped away from me, and my sword left my view. "We theorized that your sword was your source of strength. And Luna did find that striking portions of you hard enough to puncture resulted in you losing control of that part. And your first move in combat is usually to protect yourself from our magic. So we came up with this plan. You lose, Dullahan." Not...the shield...don't take... "For your crimes against Equestria as a whole, I sentence you to be imprisoned within the depths of the castle." (Dullahan POV - Current day) I sighed and opened my eyes. Well that trip down memory lane was interesting. And then I noticed the djinn gathered in front of me. The small horde of them. There had to be at least twelve of each type. Um. Pretty sure I only called for four. Where'd the rest of you come from? A Jupiter Djinn came out of the crowd to act as a spokes-djinn. We heard your call. We felt the stars. Our ancestors wrote of you, he who gathered the first four. Together, they experimented with magic and created the next generation of spirits. Who created the next generation. And so on, until today. And there was one thing in common in all their stories. They were sorry for abandoning you, they wished they could have done more, and they swore they would make it up to you somehow. We heard your call and wish to set all accounts square. Will you have us? If I had a mouth, I would have grinned wide enough to hurt. (3rd POV - Celestia - Current day) "Ah-HA!" Celestia turned towards Twilight, who was looking up from a tome. "What is it, my student?" Twilight's hair was slightly frazzled, and everypony treated her with a bit of caution. "Well, this tome has a spell for detecting any non-unicorn forms of magic. The only thing it needs is a sample to run off of, and it can pinpoint the user of said magic with a ten-foot margin for error!" Celestia slowly walked over and put a wing around Twilight. "That is a remarkable discovery, Twilight. But now I need you to do one more thing before we can look for Dullahan." "What is it, Princess Celestia? What else do we need to do before we can hunt down that defiler, that blasphemer, that burner of books, that total-" "Sleep." Twilight was out like a light, and Celestia sighed. "I am sorely tempted to sic her on him right now...but that would just be a touch too cruel." Chapter 6 - Should probably see a head doctorSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 7 - Head count: Between Large and Massive(3rd POV - Celestia) Celestia looked out the window with a small bit of terror. Out of the corners of her eyes, these past hundred years or so, she'd seen small, colorful creatures. Similar to the ones that had run from Dullahan when she and Luna had finally stopped him. Since no other pony had seen them, she dismissed them as her subconscious trying to guilt her over imprisoning the animated armor. Now, though, she saw a small flock of them. Riding the wind. Jumping across rooftops. Running down the streets. Talking to ponies. And then they led some of her ponies out of the city, towards the forest. She didn't know what to make of it. "Princess?" Celestia turned her head and saw Twilight, her faithful student, looking at her with concern. "Yes Twilight?" "I brought that journal of Starswirl's up, and I found something that I think you should look at..." Celestia gently took the book from her student and read the passage. ...On the subject of the animated armor, it calls itself Dullahan, and identifies as male. Well, rather, I asked it, and it said, "I used to be a guy, but I guess it doesn't matter now." When I inquired as to what magic it possessed to alter the land so, it made a sound similar to a snort, somehow, and replied thusly - "This isn't magic as you understand it. This a force from another world, one called Psynergy, that you do not have to be a unicorn to use. I am getting used to my power, but I know it can move mountains, cause floods, create thunderstorms, or set forests ablaze. Its usage is vast, but like magic...it is but a tool. The wielder is the one who must impart intent." When I offered to teach him magic, he laughed at me and stated "When I master my powers, I am certain there will come a day when the mightiest will come to me to test themselves, and find themselves lacking." He left, then, and his comment about another world stuck with me. Could there really be other worlds besides our own? I will have to look into this. The passage ended there, and Celestia looked back to the window. "So he was telling the truth. Imprisoning him for all that time was a worse sentence than exorcising him could ever have been." Twilight walked up to her teacher, trying to come up with some comforting words. "I'm sure you didn't mean to, Princess. If you had only known..." Celestia sighed. "No, Twilight, at the time, I did mean it. Had I known, had I looked beyond my own snout, I would have seen what I was doing. But I didn't. It took Luna turning into Nightmare Moon before I would think to look at things from others' point of view. I sentenced him to be alone for all this time. Friendless, without his family. Nothing but him and the darkness." Celestia looked back to the window and saw the creatures still flitting around in the city. "And now he gathers an army." Twilight came up to her teacher's side and looked out the window, gasping at the sight. "What...what are those? I've not seen their like before! Except for when one joined Dullahan in the clearing..." Celestia looked at Twilight with a raised brow. "They are what Dullahan calls Djinn. I am...uncertain as to their purpose. Many have written over the years about elemental spirits, but since so very few can see them, they that write about them are deemed...less than sane." Twilight nodded once, storing the information away, before she and Celestia reared back in fright. A purple one of the creatures had alighted on the windowsill and was looking at them. It looked from Celestia to Twilight, then back to Celestia. And then, it spoke. I bring a message, O great monarch of the sun. Celestia shook her head a few times to put her thoughts back in order. "A message from Dullahan, I presume. What does he wish to say?" The creature nodded once, and then spoke in an imitation of Dullahan's 'voice.' This...is only the beginning. The creature flew off, and Celestia and Twilight watched it for a moment, before they looked back down to the city. In ones and twos, the ponies were making their way through the city, leaving it behind and following the djinn. "Twilight, I have a mission for you." Twilight drew herself up. "Anything, Princess!" "Look into alternate worlds. See if you can find a way to open passages between them. Because if you can open the doors, then it will not take long before you will find a way to close them. I trust this task to you because I know you will succeed, sooner or later." Twilight nodded, once, before she dared to ask the question. "What...will you do with the research, Princess?" Celestia paused for a moment. "I will offer Dullahan what he wants most. Then I will secure Equestria against the dangers other worlds pose to us." Twilight nodded again and took off towards the Archives, in search of anything that could have survived that would aid her in her research. Celestia sighed at the makeup of ponies deserting Canterlot. "Unicorns, wielding his powers...they would be a force to contend with. A mighty force, indeed..." (Dullahan POV) My army could not be weaker. A small horde of ponies had showed up, a healthy mix among the three types. There were a few representatives of other races as well. A griffon, a zebra, a dragon, a- Was that a fucking manticore?! Nonetheless, I knew they would only have the most rudimentary understanding of their powers, if any. And they were currently bickering. Most of them, anyways, about which element was best. One loudmouthed preacher-type pony was attempting to restore order. That was when I decided enough was enough and to reveal myself. Be silent! I'm not sure whether it was the sudden shout, or the sound of my armor shifting and me moving from the cave that caused them to shut up, but the horde turned their eyes to me and closed their mouths. Or at the very least stopped using them. Taking advantage of the silence, I decided now was a good time to get the difficult things out of the way. Okay. Show of hooves, or other appendage if you aren't a pony. Who here knows who or what I am? The preacher-pony came forward. "You are Dullahan, the Armored One." I pointed at the unicorn and did my version of a nod. Partial credit, mister... "Cross," he filled in, "Silver Cross." My name is Dullahan. Fifteen hundred years ago, I stalked the darkness, scaring ponies into behaving. Teaching them that the bars of society, of decency, their rules and laws weren't there to hold them back from doing as they would. No, those bars were there to protect them from me. I never harmed any pony physically until the day I arrived in Sombra's throne room. The sisters pursued me relentlessly, trying to exorcise me. Then one day they managed to weaken me, and cast me into their basement in the Everfree Castle. When Discord got free, he gave me the strength I needed to get loose. It took me a few days, but I became whole once more, and called to my old djinn. What I got... I pointed to the mass of djinn hovering nearby. Well, apparently they'd been busy over the years. That got a few lewd chuckles, mostly from the stallions. Then one of the djinn spoke up. It's actually worse than this, sir. We're merely the ones who wanted to answer the call. There are others. Had I eyes, they would have widened. I turned towards the group. We'll go over proper protocol for djinn interaction in a bit. But for now, you're wondering why they brought you here. I know I would be. Assorted heads nodded, and I continued. It's simple. Fifteen hundred years ago, I righted wrongs. A rapist that gives no support to the mare or his foal? I cursed him so that he would either own up, or never lay with a mare again. A business owner who takes over a nearby shop and puts a family on the street so he can line his own pockets? Cursed so that he either has to return the shop, or be pained whenever he enters his place of business. And so on. I righted the wrongs her royal sunness couldn't see. At that, I got a few nods of assent. Fifteen hundred years ago, Celly and Lulu took my source of strength, hid it away, and took it with them to Canterlot, where it was subtly influencing ponies. Fast forward to now, and ponies can actually see the djinn. You, in particular. My previous experience was that none but me could. But if you can see the djinn, then there is a very good chance that you can learn to use my powers. Psynergy. A pegasus raised a hoof. "And we don't have to be unicorns?" I merely laughed. Magic and psynergy are not one and the same. True, unicorns will find that some of their training from whatever magic schools they attended will apply. But psynergy is usable by all types. I pointed towards the manticore and said, For instance, this guy. Psynergy is a force of the mind. It does not require much more than your will, and you will be capable of changing the world when you wield it properly. I lowered my hand and took a few steps towards the ponies, letting my presence in my armor flare up a bit. But make no mistake. Just like magic, there are pitfalls. Use it too much, and you will physically exhaust yourselves. And there are dangerous psynergies out there, where if you lose control... I let the sentence trail off, and everyone gulped, realizing what I was implying. That being said, there is another quality you hold that the djinn saw in you. One that I asked for specifically beyond your ability to see them. They perked up a bit and looked at me, wondering what it could have been. There is no love lost between you and Princess Sunbutt, is there? At one time, you may have been enamored with her. But these days, something happened to make you see her for what she is: A flawed creature, like all the rest. An earth pony spoke up from somewhere in the back. "Her bucking guards shut down my bar! The only alcohol allowed anymore is that stuff from the Apple family, cause one of them's an Element of Harmony!" A few yelled 'yeah' at that, and another pony spoke up. "I had an appointment planned and everything to try and impress her into being her student, and then that Twilight Sparkle mare goes and blows up a tower! Then I'm informed that 'the position has been filled.' There go my hopes and dreams!" The dragon came forward then. "My family was executed under false pretenses, on her orders. There are no words in any mortal tongue strong enough to express my hatred of her." Silence reigned then as the ponies came to grips with just how bucked up that was. Someone eventually got the courage to speak again, and no surprise, it was Cross. "I devoted a church to you and the things the djinn told me about you. I trained a militia to right wrongs, in a similar manner that you did. Celestia ordered it shut down ten years ago, and took everything from me. You have merely to tell me which way to point my blades, and I shall fight for you." A light blue pegasus nodded and came forward as well. "I found evidence in the Archives that my family is running a slavery ring, and Blueblood is the one taking the majority of the profits. If you promise me that we will strike at them, then I will join you willingly." And that opened the floodgates. From a son who burned his abusive father in his own home, to a diamond dog losing her adoptive father. A pegasus who couldn't fly, to an earth pony judged because he was taught by a zebra how to use runes. A pegasus who sought adventure, a pegasus who had his trophies of adventure taken from him. The list went on and on. Eventually I had enough and held up my right hand. This was apparently some sort of unbidden signal, and all of them fell silent. All but one, a zebra shamaness, who came forward. "Dullahan, my powers were already great. Why should I stay? I can already command the vines, heal others, and even return the long-dead for a few minutes of conversation. Why should I stay?" I 'looked' down at her and snorted. Only the long-dead? Only for a few minutes? My dear, you are strong. And you have been misusing your strength. The Revive psynergy is meant to be used on the freshly, not-from-natural-causes, dead. It is meant to heal the body, purge the toxins, return unjustly taken life. And there is so much more to learn. In fact, I think a demonstration is in order. Come, all of you. I headed to a prepared field, and the djinn and ponies, and others, followed. I'd hauled several freshly-felled trees into more-or-less straight rows, and prepared to show the ponies what psynergy could really do. Venus, element of earth. The heavy lifters. Move. The log I was pointing my sword at was grasped by a giant ghostly hand and moved to the left a few feet. Then, I moved it back into line. Those attuned tend to be stronger, physically, and can cure wounds of others. They are not as adept at it as others, but they can eventually learn how to return unjustly taken life, as the shamaness has proven. And their methods of attack are strong, but tend to target small groups. From Quake... At this, the earth beneath the first log shifted upwards a few feet, then returned to normal. To Spire... A stalagmite shot from the ground, impaling the newly-toppled log, before vanishing. To the mighty Ragnarok. A ghostly blade materialized and impaled the log before it detonated, wiping both out of existence. The horde looked on in shock, amazed that I could command such power. Or that some of them could command such power. Mars. Element of fire. Element swap, Mars. Blaze. A jet of flame jumped from my sword towards the second log in the line, incinerating it. Of course, Mars was the reason I'd picked up several logs. I would need them. Those of Mars tend to be more akin to living weapons. Hitting hard either with their psynergy or their more physical weapons, Mars commands heat and flame. From Flare... Another log down as a wave of fire wrapped around it. To Beam... And another log down as a stream of heat incinerated it. And even Fireball... Yet another log vaporized in a flash of heat and flame. Mars tends to deal with lots of foes, quickly. Mars also has access to a few buffs. Such as Guard and Impact. The ponies I'd pointed at glowed red briefly, and I could see in their eyes the realization that they felt stronger. The reverse of these buffs are also available to those of Mars. However, there are those rare cases...those very rare cases...where a Mars adept has access to a healing psynergy. One known as Aura. It soothes away aches and pains of their allies. But such cases are few and far between. I paused in front of a unicorn filly and tousled her hair playfully. It requires both a fiery temperament and kindness, a want to not see their friends injured if at all avoidable. I walked back towards the logs and did my version of a nod. Jupiter, element of wind, of lightning. The quick, tricky ones. Element swap, Jupiter. Gust. The log fell over in a rush of wind, and the pegasi in the audience looked slightly bored. Well, most of them. Those of Jupiter tend to be fast, and can cause so many status effects. Such as Sleep... A gentle mist surrounded the log I pointed at. And they even have the power to Seal the psynergy of others. The familiar purple symbol danced above the log before vanishing. All of their attacks are flashy. You've seen Gust, but they also have Spark and Bolt... A ball of plasma devoured one log while lightning set another alight. They also have access to Ward, to protect against non-physical attacks. I turned towards the last set of logs and sighed. Mercury, element of water. The healers. Element swap, Mercury. Douse. Spheres of water jumped from my sword and impacted the next-to-last log, toppling it. They do not tend to have many attacks beyond that and Frost... Ice coated the final log, encasing it thoroughly. ...And those that do tend to have them because of their own abilities, not their affinities for ice and water. All well and good though. Mercury is meant more for healing. Ply for single targets, Wish for many. And they can cure many status ailments, from poison, to paralysis...the only thing they cannot do is return unjustly taken life. The horde nodded as I finished my explanation of psynergy. I cannot promise that you all will become masters of the element you have an affinity for. I can promise you nothing but this: should you stay, I will train you. Should you choose to stay with me, we will found a town, a community, where those with such strengths will learn how to handle them, how to use them properly. One with no love of the princess of the sun. And when we are ready... I hefted my sword and pointed it to the sky. We will find those that wronged us, and we will hold them accountable for all their misdeeds. We will find those that dare walk the darkness, and we will show them how wrong they are in thinking they are the monsters of society. I activated my Fulminous Strike, and lightning raced into the heavens. Will you join me? After a moment of hesitation, cheers were my response. Author's Note 918 favorites. Good gods. Okay, so if your OC was mentioned, even tangentially, then congrats. You're in! If it wasn't, don't fret just yet. I have...30 pages of OCs to get through, and there will be time for each one at least once. Probably. And a good majority of the changeling OCs I've gotten won't show up for a good while, if at all. We're still in early S2, guys! Wait for the wedding! I'ma take another short break. No chapter tomorrow. Probably one Tuesday! Side Chapter 1 - Cross and StripesSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 9 - Watch your head, that first step's a doozyA funny thing I've learned about being in any sort of position of leadership: The things you say get picked up on. For instance, while I was building a new house and one of the walls collapsed slightly on me, I sagged and said Sol dammit. The reason I went with Sol is simple: I'm not using Celestia's name in that sort of context. I don't think of her as a goddess, thank you very much. It wasn't long before I heard stallions also use my inventive curse, and one of the mares had come to me asking if there was another one I knew about that she could use. Foolishly I shrugged and said Well, Sol is another word for Sun. I used Sol because I'm not using the sun princess' name if I can help it. I was also thinking about using Selene in the place of Moon... It wasn't long before 'Selene curse you' became yet another de facto swear. It was probably born of them wanting a new curse besides 'By Celestia' or 'Thank Celestia'. I mean, I hadn't noticed them saying 'everybody' and 'everyone' yet. Though it would probably only be a matter of time, seeing as how we had a healthy mix of species. After a few days, Crossed Gears had managed to give us a rough idea of what we would need to make a generator. He'd also helped by giving us the idea and schematics to make a water tower. That'd been an all-day project. An unpleasant one, when one of the supports snapped. There was also a bit of excitement when I got the idea to use Mad Growth on the field instead of a regular Growth. That had resulted in a plant monster. One that I realized should be defeated via careful application of Wind Slash. Burning it to the ground would have resulted in a lot of burned produce that the ponies could use, after all. Slowly cutting it down to size had netted us a sizable stockpile of food that, while the ponies say tasted a bit more bland than they were used to, did the job of keeping their bellies full. I don't think our generator project would have gotten anywhere if it wasn't for Dreamer, a violet unicorn. He'd asked that critical question. Not why isn't it working. But rather. "Why don't you use Quake to mine out the mountain?" Good head on him, that stallion. I was also thankful that we had a few good smiths in the town. We managed to make the parts for generator in what Crossed Gears told us was record time. Though we did have someone else to thank for that. Namely, our first Venus Djinn to earn a name. We ended up calling him Lodestone, and his particular talent was in magnetism. Creating and manipulating the fields thereof. He ended up shifting only a little bit, to where it looked like his tail was a horseshoe magnet. Without that happening, I'm pretty sure it would have taken us much longer to get a generator set up. Naturally, a small celebration was in order for both him and Talos the griffin, the one he'd formed the closest bond with. True to her word and possibly her talent, Fulminata managed to get electrical lines laid for the town. We had food, water, electricity. Now all we needed was some sort of unique product to export along with more housing, and the town would not only survive, but thrive. I had a few ideas on the unique export front, but first and foremost, we needed to get Crossed Gears, along with the backup generator and books we'd borrowed, back to town. There were a few ways we could do this unnoticed, but first, I needed to meet with the most interesting cross between zebra and pony I'd ever seen for both the export and the primary plan for returning our 'borrowed' items. With a coat the color of bark, spiky gray hair that darkened towards the tips, a few stripes in her coat here and there, a unicorn horn, a gemstone cutie mark, and red irises, this equine life form definitely stood out from the crowd. So, Crystal Clear, I had a thought about the town making money, along with us performing 'missions' a lot easier. She motioned with a hoof for me to continue. See, in theory, gemstones can be imbued with certain psynergies. Then, even if you're not of the same alignment, you can still use the contained psynergy by channeling a bit of your power into it. Her eyes danced as she considered the implications. "That...that sounds like it would help us greatly. But how could this help us perform missions easier?" Because I know of a few that are, shall we say, unaligned. If I can imbue a stone with one of them, it will make sneaking around a lot easier. All I need is a stone, preferably a dark one, like an onyx. Crystal immediately began rummaging through her bag and procured an onyx. I took it carefully and inspected it. Perfect. Now, I'm not sure about how much backlash there'll be, so... She backed up a few steps, but continued to watch. I grasped the spherical gem firmly with my right gauntlet and concentrated. I pulled at the essence of myself and forced a bit of it into the stone. I would have smiled as it caught hold in the stone and shifted, going from a piece of me to a small wisp. Then I focused on my memories, bringing forth the very idea of Cloak. The darkness is the ally of the one that uses this...used properly, none should fear detection...they become one with the shadows... A flash came from the stone, and I 'felt' the wisp change. Well, I think it worked, Crystal. Mind taking it and standing in the shade of that building over there? Crystal nodded and took the onyx in her magical grip, going to the nearby (still shared) home. "And now what?" Channel a bit of your power into the stone. Crystal nodded, concentrated, and then she and the stone vanished. Excellent! It works! "What works?" Even knowing who it was and where they (approximately) were, I will say this: Hearing a disembodied pony voice is creepy. Look down at yourself! There was silence for a beat, and then rapid breathing. Clearly, Crystal wasn't taking it well. Calm down! Just step into the light. After a moment, Crystal reappeared at the edge of the shadow, having stuck one hoof out of it. And that is Cloak in a nutshell. We are going to have so much fun with it, but first, we need to return Gears, the books, and the generator. (3rd POV - Twilight - Dawn of the next day) Twilight was pacing in her bedroom. She couldn't help herself, really. That giant animated armor had managed to sneak in, take books without a library card, and sneak out. How was her home supposed to be safe after that?! How was anypony supposed to be safe after that! Nonetheless, the note had said there was a possibility the books would be returned, so she waited in her home. Sooner or later the armor would come by, and then she'd- "Twilight!" Oh, Spike was back from Rarity's already? That was fast. "Twilight, there's something going on in Town Square! I think you should be there, somepony mentioned something about books!" Twilight was gone in an instant, teleporting directly to Town Square to see what all the commotion was about. It didn't take long for her to see it. Lying near the fountain was the town's backup generator, the passed out Crossed Gears, and a small pile of books. Affixed to the books was a small note. Twilight plucked it off the pile and began to read. Dear possibly neurotic pony, As you can see, the property of the town has been returned. As I stated might happen in my last note. However, while you were here reading this note, a small group has infiltrated your library and is even now taking a few books on metallurgy, mining, and agriculture. Same deal as before, we'll return them one day. Probably. Sincerely, Dullahan Everypony present saw Twilight's mane starting to smoke and knew what that meant. Unfortunately, there were no bomb shelters nearby. (Dullahan POV) So wait, you mean to tell me they made more than one season of that show? Across from me, Solaire nodded. "Indeed. Last count was...I think four? It's been a while." Longer for me, and I was never into it. Okay, so the whole Discord thing, was that a major plot point? Solaire nodded again and took a bite of the sandwich I'd set out before summoning him for a chat. "Yes, that was the season two opener. Things are probably going to get off the rails from there, depending how much you interfere. Or they could follow their paths perfectly. Who knows?" Can you give me a rundown so I know what to avoid? Solaire sighed. "Oh gosh. Um...Moonbutt's going to become more sociable, there's going to be a thing about sisters and cutie marks, Dash is going to use Ghastly Gorge to try and find a pet..." At this I interrupted him. Okay, that's not too far from here. What happens then, specifically? Solaire nodded at me. "Wise precaution. A rock-slide happens." We'll avoid it until then. Next? "There'll be a thing in town about Dash's inflated ego, a thing in Canterlot about Rarity hobnobbing, little Spike is going to run amok for a bit, and...I forget a good bit of the rest except for the dragon migration." That also sounds like a thing we should avoid. Are we on their path? Solaire shrugged. "I'm uncertain. It's been a thousand years and change since Earth was a thing I was on. Oh! There's also going to be a wedding. You should definitely avoid that." Aw, I loved weddings! "Yeah, well, this one takes place in Canterlot, and plays host to an attack by a rival nation." Actually, that sounds like the perfect excuse. Solaire tilted his helmeted head at me. "Excuse for what?" I would have smiled at him. Gatecrashing, what else? A few days after my meeting with Solaire, I thought Frostfall, the pegasus who'd helped with the raid on the town, was ready to learn the one Jupiter psynergy that had to be passed down from teacher to student. She wanted to have her friends, who I was now dubbing the Newvale Adventuring Troupe, with her, and I agreed. We met near the entrance of the 'mine'. I was seriously considering hollowing out a huge section of it for my own use. It'd give me a place to store my tablets close to the town! But I digress. Okay, now this will probably sting you a little bit, but I promise, it'll hurt me more. Just put your hoof in my hand. Carefully, she did so, and I concentrated on myself. I brought forth a piece of me, purged it of its connections to turn it into a wisp, and then forced it into the very notion of the Reveal psynergy. It was not easy or painless, doing this, but I was getting used to it. I then forced the wisp out of my gauntleted hand and into Frostfall's hoof to pass the psynergy on to her. Her face lit up in revelation as the knowledge made its way into her head and she, probably by reflex, tried it out. The world around us for a good ten meters was plunged into a black-and-white version of itself. Color bled away, and it all looked the same. All except for Moonfire. His fur peeled away, revealing a black, insectoid form beneath. Once he realized we were staring, his eyes widened, and colorless flames covered him, leaving no trace of any change. He then screamed in an odd voice that was only slightly similar to his own. "What the buck is that psynergy?!" I drew my sword and pointed it at him. It's called Reveal, and you get approximately ten seconds to tell me what the hell is going on before I get pissed! Instantly Talos was between the two of us, snarling at me. "I don't care that you're Dullahan or that he's...not exactly what I thought he was, but you do NOT threaten my friend!" I 'stared' at the two of them. Five seconds! That was when Moonfire blurted out "I'm a changeling!" at me. I turned from Talos to Moonfire, and then to Frostfall and Flare. And did any of you know this? They shook their heads and I sighed. Well, then let's find out. Moonfire, if you would? The rest of that day would prove to be...interesting. Author's Note 991 favorites. Nearly 700 likes. What. The. Christ. Anyways, yeah! Dully can pull parts of himself out to make psynergy stones for 'unaligned' psynergy! ... The limit for him is gonna be 'can only make one of any particular type' and 'can only make one every few days' along with 'must have proper stone'. I'm on the fence as to if his followers will be able to make things like Cure or Growth stones. Chapter 10 - HeadstrongFortunately, a quick scan with the Reveal psynergy on all the other ponies revealed that they were, in fact, ponies. Moonfire explained what little he could about changelings to me, and quite frankly, I both want to meet this Chrysalis character, and at the same time, I want to avoid her. She has so much pain coming her way... Anyways, a few days later saw us with an acceptable level of housing. By which I mean, nobody had to share with anyone anymore. Some still bunked together. It was time to begin the next thing we would need: A courthouse. I had the help of Common Grounds in making it. He seemed genuinely happy that he might get the chance to practice law again. Other ponies were working on personalizing their homes a good bit, which is something I tried to stay out of. It was all about them, after all. Though, when they came to me with questions, I did my best to answer them. One such frequent questioner was Aboyami the shamaness. She and Crust- Oh, I did mention that her djinn finally developed a talent and a name, right? He was capable of shielding others from harm with a thick aura that took the strongest of attacks to pierce. He gained a rough, jagged appearance. Almost like he was a boulder. Anyways, Aboyami and Crust tended to question what my motivations were. Why I felt the need to look after ponies, yet felt so much anger towards her royal sunness. Eventually I distilled my answer down to a few sentences that satisfied them. She who claims that ponies are not but kind and loving creatures and has never seen the darkness that lurks inside like we have, that nativity angers me like no other. I wish to make her see, see what she has done wrong, and this community is the way to do it. After all, the best revenge is living well. We rarely had any trouble in keeping the water tower fed, thanks to Snow Fluff and Deluge, the Mercury Djinn he spent the most time with. Combined, they could conjure up rain clouds in about twenty seconds, and they kept going for a good, long while. Naturally, this meant they were head of whatever weather team we needed. Eventually, I approached the Diamond Dog of the community. She looked at me fearfully. "What is it, Dullahan?" Where is the one who wronged you, young one? At this, her face hardened. "Las Pegasus, and may he rot forever. Guard Captain...pfft. More like Captain of the buffet table!" I merely nodded my peculiar nod and went to fetch the Cloak stone from its place in my developing sanctum in the mountain. Be ready, Amber. For soon, we will illuminate his crimes. Stalwart Shield, Captain of the Las Pegasus Guard, sighed as he eased himself into his bed. It wasn't easy being in his position. He had half-a-dozen crime syndicates trying to buy him off. He had to step carefully to make sure they didn't actually interact with each other too often. Otherwise his loyalties would come into question, and his opulent lifestyle would fall to pieces around him. And now that he'd gotten used to it, he couldn't imagine a life without any of his fine luxuries. The most excitement he'd gotten was when that Diamond Dog had come to town. That had been fun. He'd taken her stuff, followed her back to her den, found a pony corpse she was probably responsible for, taken more of her stuff, and called it a day. There was the sound of glass breaking, and a small spherical object landed in front of him. He barely had time to notice the fuse before it went off. The one thought going through his head was What the bu- Then he was enveloped in a cloud of smoke, and knew no more. I stood in the shadows of the courtroom, waiting for the stallion to shake off the effects of the sleep bomb that Aboyami had made. Good zebra, that Aboyami. He'd been out for a good long while. Finally, he slowly began to stir and looked around. Taking note that he appeared to be in a courtroom, he started laughing. "Okay, so which family did I piss off? Celestia, you really went all out, didn't you?" Common Grounds walked out and took the Judge's seat. "Court is now in session." At this, the lights came on, revealing the other members of the community sitting in the audience. Amber was sitting at the prosecutor's bench, which left Stalwart sitting at the defense. Or as I preferred to call it, the accused. Interestingly enough, the jury section was empty. One stallion was easy. Ponynapping enough of his fellows to make a jury? Not easy. We'd have to do without. "The case of Amber versus Stalwart Shield will now begin. Amber, present your case." Amber got up and faced the audience. "When I was young, I was a victim. Two tribes of dogs came to blows with one another, and my mother was killed. A pony hermit happened by and took me from her corpse, and raised me as his own. And things were good for a time, until I turned ten. Then, my surrogate father fell ill. I decided to go into town with a few jewels to see if I could sell them and get medication for him." At this, Amber turned and faced Stalwart. "And then this...thing. Decided to whip the townsfolk into a frenzy and knocked me out, took my gems, drove me out of town, and followed me to my home! Because of HIM, I could not aid my father! Because of HIM, a life was lost! Because of HIM, MY HOME WAS LOST!" The crowd murmured to themselves, and Common Grounds held a hoof up. "Order! Amber, are you done?" Amber nodded and sat back down. Common Grounds looked towards Stalwart Shield. "You are permitted to make your defense now." The corpulent earth pony stallion opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to come up with words. Finally, he said one sentence that probably doomed him. "This is no Celestia-run court, and I demand a proper trial replace this farce!" I stepped out of the darkness then, even as Common Grounds banged his gavel and commanded the accused to be silent. You are correct, Stalwart Shield. All eyes turned to me as I walked up from the back of the audience with a sheaf of papers clutched in my right hand. This is no Celestia-run court, because you're not in her jurisdiction anymore. You're in ours. I handed the papers to Common Grounds, then turned to face the stupefied guard pony. Here, there is only accused and accuser and evidence. There is no mercy at the hooves of the sun princess. There is only justice for the wronged, and punishment for those that walk in the dark. Common Grounds looked through the papers. "You were taking bribes from all the major criminal families? At once?" Stalwart shirked back a touch. "It's...it's not easy living on a guard's salary. Even a Captain's salary." Common Grounds took a piece of paper in his hooves. "It says you were getting at least five hundred bits a week on your normal salary." The crowd murmured and Amber growled. "You took all our things for the thrill of it? You did what you did because it was fun? Those things couldn't have gone for fifty!" At this, the crowd was whipped into a frenzy, and Common Grounds banged the gavel multiple times. "Order! ORDER!" I walked towards the guard pony. Your fate has been decided. The worst thing I will do to you is simple. I unsheathed my blade and held it over his head. You will understand. And as the flat of the blade made contact with his head, I sighed, thinking of older times. (Dullahan POV - 1,504 years ago) "Aw, c'mon Dully. Can't I just hold it for a second?" I 'looked' over at the floating Draconequus. That wouldn't be a good idea, Discord. Who knows what sort of reaction you'd provoke? He pouted and moved his paw closer. "But it's new! Exotic! Something I don't know about! I have to try i-" The last word was cut out as he made contact with the hilt of the blade. He stiffened instantly, his eyes rolling around in his head. Dissy? Dissy, speak to me. Slowly, the draconequus came to and stared at where my head would have been. "How...do you deal with that knowledge?" What knowledge? "I once was lost, but now I'm found. I once was blind, but now I see. I see everything. I saw it all. The Multiverse. The Void Eternal. That Which Fills It. I saw everything, Dully. How did you deal? It's breaking me inside." I panicked, recalling that summer with clarity. I...I didn't, Dissy. I didn't deal with it at all. I still can't. How did you see it all? Discord smiled at me. "Your sword. It's a storage device, a catalyst. It holds that moment of time perfectly suspended, and when others touch it, they see everything that you did. I knew, somewhere in the back of my mind, if I wanted to, I could know everything. But that sword...Limitless knowledge is fine and dandy until you gain limitless understanding." I reached out to him. Dissy, please understand. Whatever you saw, it wasn't my intention. I didn't know, Dissy. I didn't know. Discord nodded, and that was when I saw the changes. His eyes were a bit more...off. He had a long fang peeking out of his mouth. His aura seemed to have changed. "I know, Dully, I know." (Dullahan POV - Present day) The stallion's eyes went wide, then rolled back into his head. I sighed and picked him up. I will take him to the nearby pony town. He should at least be comfortable. Amber spoke up then. "What did that do, Dullahan?" I 'looked' to her. It's too soon to say yet, but I will say this: touching the sword is what turned Discord from a mischevious spirit into the lord of chaos. As I exited the courtroom, I could faintly hear Amber. "Finally, justice has been done." (3rd POV - Twilight Sparkle - Day of Dash's pet race) "But Rainbow Dash, you didn't want a pet that would keep you grounded and hold you back, remember?" As Rainbow lifted a hoof to her chin in thought, there came the sound of shifting metal and a rhythmic pounding noise. All eyes turned towards it and they saw a peculiar sight. The suit of headless armor was here, and it was applauding. And then it spoke. Well done on choosing based on the qualities that lie within rather than physical characteristics. If only all relationships were built like that. Everypony present gasped and Twilight managed to get out a strangled "YOU!" The armor did its weird version of a nod. Yup, it's me, it's all I ever tried to be. Frankly, I couldn't imagine being anyone but me! Pinkie nodded. "Yeah, it's no fun being someone you're not!" The armor gave the impression that it was staring at Pinkie. Why am I not surprised you would try that. Anyways, I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here, right? At that, Rarity nodded. "It does seem to be a bit unlikely you would come here with no reason behind it." Truth is, a little birdie told me that something would happen at the gorge soon, so I've been waiting here for it to actually happen. And really, you probably should have triggered that rockslide from afar, or at the very least, earlier! Still, what's done is done. I can help. Can someone with medical training tell me if that wing is set properly? Fluttershy made her way to Dash's wing and went over it. "It, um, seems to be. Why?" Cause this. Ply! A stream of blue magic made its way out of Dullahan's sword and at Dash. She squawked in protest before she realized something. "Hey, my wing doesn't hurt anymore!" While everyone's attention was on Dash, Twilight sent a small auditory report to the Princess. She would have to know that he was here. Dullahan nodded at Dash. It should heal in a few hours now. I'd still say stay off it today. (3rd POV - Princess Celestia's throne room) Princess Celestia was enjoying a slice of cake with some tea when the report from her student arrived. "Princess, Dullahan is here, at Ghastly Gorge. We're fine at the moment, but you should probably handle this situation." Celestia carefully lowered her fork and calmed herself. Dullahan had never brought physical harm to her ponies. This was Twilight. She could definitely handle any situations that would crop up. She carefully made a few notes about Ghastly Gorge and returned to eating her cake. If there was one thing she wasn't going to do, it was get involved with Dullahan until she had the capacity to offer him what he wanted. Unfortunately, one of the nearby guards heard the report, and decided to tell Shining Armor about it. This would result in him sending an entire wing of the Royal Guards to Ghastly Gorge to protect his little sis and bring Dullahan in. Also widely regarded, looking back, as a Bad Idea. (Dullahan POV) I nodded at Dash. So yeah, figured you all should probably know that I am in fact genuinely sorry about those crimes I committed. They may have been necessary, but that doesn't make them any more right. When I can safely do so, I will at the very least consider subjecting myself to your courts to atone for them. This shocked all the mares there into dropping their jaws. Finally, Applejack got her voice back. "No foolin'? You're sorry about all a that ruckus you caused?" I 'looked' to her and did my nod. Yup. Just because they were crimes of necessity and I returned the items, doesn't make them right. I know this. However, it's too soon to try and atone, there's still work to do yet. The mares pondered that aspect of my morality that I had revealed. Finally, Twilight spoke up. "Why...do you hate the Princesses?" I growled. They locked me up for fifteen hundred years for doing what needed to be done. Someone had to make ponies behave, and they weren't doing it! Just because I survived their attempts to exorcise me, I became an enemy of the country! I will not submit to her justice for the crimes she believes I committed until she sees just how BLIND she's been! And then I heard the wingbeats. I 'looked' up and saw around fifty pegasi in the sky. One of them yelled 'Halt' at me, and I 'looked' down at Twilight. Did you-? She looked askance, and that was all the answer I needed. Like I'm sticking around for this! Teleport! Let me go over why that was a bad idea: Teleport is the ultimate unaligned psynergy. It can take you from one town to another in the blink of an eye. However, even Lifting or Carrying the generator was hard for me. Teleporting myself from Ghastly Gorge to Newvale was a feat I hadn't attempted. Or should have attempted. The world changed around me, and I actually blacked out. (3rd POV - Newvale - Dusk) All was quiet in the town of Newvale. Dullahan had stated there were things he would have to do for a little while after he took the stallion back. Still, they expected him back before too long. What the ponies got wasn't what they had been expecting, though. In a flash of light and a rush of wind, Dullahan emerged near the entrance of the mine. Common Grounds, who was passing by at the time, raised an eyebrow. "How did you do that, Dullahan? And where were you?" Dullahan straightened himself and 'looked' into the sky. I...I was elsewhen... Author's Note So. 724 likes, 1011 favorites. Goodness. Also, that link at the end? That's to a crossover chapter with a certain Lady of Madness. You should probably click it. Side Chapter 2 - A shoulder to lean onAuthor's Note This chapter was written by Isaac3924. Side Chapter 2 - A shoulder to lean on Pyre was a little befuddled at the moment. The reason as to pertaining why, was the quite large (and of course) raucous party going on in the recently established inn/tavern. Multiple ponies were going about having a blast. Common Grounds was dancing and jumping from table to table, quite happy with his first case, Kajex was dancing along with him, darting about trying to keep up with the slightly intoxicated lawyer, now judge. Pyralis was quite drunk and was incessantly going on and on about his lordliness (whatever that means) to whomever was near. Which at the moment had been Dreamer and Lore Keeper, who were previously trying to hold an intelligent conversation over the din of the tavern. Aboyami and Scarves were sitting together. The zebra mare was talking to Scarves about the culture and traditions of her tribe, while Scarves was nodding along with the similarities that his own teacher's clan shared. Flowing had decided to join in the revelry midway, leaving Irish to tend the bar. He was currently having a drinking contest with Cross, surprisingly.... and even more surprisingly losing to him. Even the local manticore, Fluffy, was lapping at a rather large bowl of alcohol contentedly, letting out an occasional purr. While Pyre himself sat at the bar, where he had been a good thirty minutes before the party started, passively drinking and watching the festivities take place. Pyre wasn't quite surprised that a party started up, but rather who was leading the festivities. Amber, the solitary Diamond Dog of the community was going around being as absolutely random and carefree as possible. She'd go around acting either as a fool, or surprisingly intelligent. She had joined in Common's dance midway only to hop off the table at the end of a strange song dubbed, "Cuban Pete". She poked a little fun at Pyralis, bowing deeply to him and somehow convincing the 'lord' that the raccoons (or plebeians) outside were huge fans of his and would like to thank his lordship for his kind rule, causing the pony to attempt a regal canter out of the tavern, only to stumble and fall on his snout halfway through. Making the usually stuffy Dreamer laugh uproariously, alongside Lore. It was at this point that Pyre turned back to his drink beginning to get a little angry with the dog. He could not understand her, so he decided to remove her from his sight. This worked for an entirety of five minutes until Amber plopped down next to him. "Hey there, Flare! How ya doin'?" Pyre, turned to face Amber, a little irked that his personal bubble had been invaded, he gave the Diamond Dog a scowl, and let loose a single word, "Fine." Letting it convey that he wished to be left to his drink. Amber did not take the hint. "Really Flare? Cause your muzzle says otherwise." "Pyre." "What?" "My name is Pyre." Amber shrugged, "Suit yourself Pyrie," Pyre's right ear twitched, "but you still don't look 'fine' to me. So what can good ol' auntie Amber do for ya to turn that frown upside down?" "Nothing." Amber pouted, "Now don't say that, surely something could cheer you up.... Oh, I know, why don't I list the things that cheer me up! I bet one of those will make ya happy again!" "That's not real-" But it was too late. Amber let loose a stream of words, strung together to where it became practically inane rambling. The most Pyre could pick up was something about emeralds tasting like watermelon, and the many, many, many wonders of books. ......This went on for about an hour. Until it was broken by the sound of Irish accidentally dropping a mug and shattering it followed by a quick exchange between Flowing and Cross going along the lines of Flowing yelling out, "MAZEL TOV!" Followed by Cross, staring at him with a raised eyebrow asking, "What does that even mean?" Ending with Flowing stating, "You're not even sspst ch with the panda hat." Followed promptly with Flowing falling over, hitting the ground unconscious. This went unnoticed to Pyre however, as he used the sudden silence to voice his anger. "How can you act this way?" Amber blinked, surprised, "Whaddaya mean?" "I understand that you're happy that justice is served, but what about the rest of us? What about the ones that might not see justice done?" Pyre's voice began to rise in volume. "What about the ones who can't receive justice?! What about those of us, who had to take justice into their own hooves?! What about me, who burnt his own father to death?!" Pyre's voice didn't rise all that high, but held a cold intensity to it that made it seem to dominate the whole room. "And yet, you go about all happy go-lucky, uncaring for the plights of others! Have you no respe-" Pyre, suddenly caught himself when he actually took notice of the tears beginning to form in the corners of Amber's eyes, and then looked around the rest of the tavern. While there were indeed a few ponies... and even the dragon, that seemed to share his sentiments, most looked at him with an expression of anger or shame. Boring down on him for the slight that he had just carried out. Fluffy even had the hairs of his back standing straight up, glaring menacingly in his direction. "....I'm sorry, I need to go." Pyre croaked out, slowly getting off his bar stool and making for the door. As soon as he got out the door, he galloped away from the tavern and took flight towards a small hill near town. Pyre alighted himself onto the hill, and let out a sigh as he sat on his haunches, looking down at Newvale morosely. He had done it again. Pyre tended not to let anything get to him, to be calm and collected, yet still, there were always certain buttons that if pressed, made him angry, then he would just simmer and simmer, until finally, he would blow up, (though not in a large commotion) at the nearest pony. It's why he'd move around so much. Being slow to trust others and letting the one bothersome pony get to him.... that and staying away from the foster care ponies that were probably still after him. Suddenly, a loud crunch made Pyre jump and twirl around in surprise. Right behind him, was Amber, laying back staring up at the stars, upon a newly formed mound. The diamond dog had dug her way from outside the tavern at some point and had followed Pyre. "..... How'd you find me?" Pyre queried, tilting his head to the side. "... You use lilac shampoo." "......... No I do-" "Yes. You do." "Well what do you want?" Amber just continued to stare at the stars, until finally she turned to Pyre and said, "You know, I never knew my real parents. Still, that doesn't mean I understand how you feel . I was one of the lucky ones, I had someone to provide for me, teach me, and care for m-" "You're not doing a very good job at this." Pyre deadpanned. "J-just listen!" Amber flustered. "*sigh*My father, he taught me to always laugh in life, to find the joy in what you can. To laugh, and then make others laugh, to spread joy to others with your own happiness." She turned back to look at the stars. "He told me that when you made somebody, not just somepony, but somebody laugh, a new star formed in the sky like the gems underground, I mean how stupid is that?" She laughed a little to herself staring up at the stars again, wistfully. "Still, hammered the idea into my brain, I mean who doesn't like to look at stars? Heh, the old codger even lived by his creed, found his corpse with a smile on its face." She choked a little at that, "Only bit of consolation I had from his death... or maybe he didn't want me to worry, the poor fool.... Still!" Amber jumped up and clapped her paws together, her expression doing a complete 180. "My old man, did teach me, that sometimes making somebody laugh wasn't always the right way to make 'em happy!" She grinned, and waltzed over to Pyre who backed up a step in surprise. "Sometimes, the best thing someone needs is'a good ol' shoulder to lean on, or an ear to listen to their troubles. So, here I am." She plopped down beside Pyre pushing his haunches down with her, so they were sitting side by side, staring at the lights from New Vale. "Ya wanna talk about it?" ".... Really? This corny spiel?" Pyre deadpanned again. Amber shrugged, "It may be corny, but it's sure as tartarus cathartic." She smiled toothily. "............I'm not getting out of this am I?" "Eeeeenope." Pyre let out a sigh, "Fine. To begin with, my foalhood, was for lack of a bitter word, shit. My father, was a hero of the guard, and well respected, but when I turned two, he, being his heroic self, faced down a dragon. He then proceeded to actually stall it, until another contingent of guards got to town, but lost his leg." Pyre paused for a second collecting his thoughts, and then continued, "I never knew my mother, and I don't care to know her. I found out later in life that she supposedly left us, due to not wanting to care for me, or a crippled three legged unicorn. So then, father only had me to blame." Pyre gained a bit of a far-off look in his eyes, "He may have been hobbled but his horn worked perfectly fine, as did his mind.... in a way. That thing knew just how to hit me in the right position, and force so as to keep the injuries hidden. When I got to the age of seven, I tried to approach the squad of guards in my town to report him, and to get away." Pyre's face scrunched up into one of spite, "They didn't believe me. My father's status as a hero, and his formerly high rank in the guard assured him to be practically untouchable. I was beaten quite badly that evening." Pyre grit his teeth even harder, feeling a tension in his chest, "That didn't stop the one or two guards from noticing what was really going on though. When they approached him however, he merely bribed them to keep their mouths shut with his savings and his pension. I don't know why, maybe to keep me as his plaything to vent his anger. "After a year more of that torture, I- I- " Pyre took a deep breath, then continued his voice wavering slightly, "I tricked my father to fall down the basement stairs. I watched as the bastard fell, broke one of his forelegs, and cracked his horn. After that, I shut the door, locked it, and set fire to all four corners of that hell-hole... I did open the door one last time to say goodbye, to my screaming father. Then I torched the basement..... just to make sure." Pyre had finally calmed down after explaining the murder of his single family member, "The guard found me outside the house, already half-burnt to the ground." "Heh," Pyre smirked, "earned me my cutie mark." He motioned to the wooden pile of scraps with a blazing fire set upon it. "The guards just threw me into foster care, but it was practically the same old crap as my father, if on a lesser scale. So I ran." Pyre shrugged, "Been traveling around getting work where I could until this." Pyre motioned to New Vale with his forelegs, and then let them fall. Letting silence finally settle over both he and Amber, until finally turning to her and asking, "Are you happy now?" Amber just smiled heartily, "No, no, no, are you happy?" Pyre was about to retort, when he realized, "Yeah.... yeah, I sort of am....." He turned slowly back to Newvale, eyes wide. Only for Amber to knock him over with a slap to the back. "There ya go, all better now! Nothing good ol' Amber couldn't handle ya see?" She reached down and helped Pyre to his hooves who chuckled a bit. "Yeah, you're right." "Well then, what are we doin' up here all by our lonesome? Let's get back down to the tavern and I'll buy ya a drink, whadaya say Pyrie?" "Amber." Pyre stated with a serious look on his face, Causing her to pause and turn to him. "My friends call me Flare." Amber stood there for a half second and then guffawed, walking down the slope with Pyre Flare right beside her. Chapter 11 - A Heady Brew or TwoSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Side Chapter 3 - Laying some Common GroundworkAuthor's Note This chapter was written by Mimic Kairatta. Side Chapter 3 - Laying some Common Groundwork “Boop” “Mmmph....” “Boop” “Mmppph....” “Boop” “Mph.... Stop it.” The young earth pony rubbed his green eyes with his hoof. The hair of his yellow mane and tail were sticking out in different directions. He tried to remember the events of last night with little to no success. Instead, he gets a headache for his troubles. A Mars Djinni had woken up earlier and was lazing about while waiting for Common Grounds to stop sleeping. After it got bored, it simply poked his snout repeatedly. “Alright alright, I'm up!” He lifts his head, then covers his eyes from the blinding light of the sun. “Curse you, Celestia.... making the sun so bright.” The red and yellow ball of fuzz hops onto his body. “You should really consider drinking a lot less before going to bed.” "Uuuurg... my head." Said pony's blurry gaze goes over to the Djinni. "What did I do last night?" "You were dancing and hopping round like a hyperactive rabbit." "Oh...." He pauses, recalling a few details of last night from the response. "Did I least look good while doing it?" "Um.... not really." He buries his head in the pillow and moans. "Come on, you're gonna get anything done on the sofa" The Mars Djinni says, nudging him off the couch. He stubbornly stays put. "Of course I can." "... like what?" "Wait out my hangover." The Djinni looks at him with a knowing smirk. "Your hangover may pass with time, but your work won't." Common Grounds got up from the couch, head throbbing from last night. After achieving a victory in the name of law and order, as well as being promoted to judge, the defense attorney known as Common Ground celebrated by having a party at the bar and knock down a few drinks a few drinks. This resulted in some.... questionable actions. Ones that he was sure weren't suppose to happen. Though he was sure that despite a few misgivings and somepony arguing with someone, the party was a blast. He just wasn't thrilled with the results afterward. He heads into the kitchen to get something to eat. The Djinni follows close behind. He check the cupboards for anything he can use. "So what's there to eat?" "Well, we do have some of those flowers and vegetables from that killer plant a few days ago. They should be eatable." "What about the carrots?" "I think there's still a few left over..." He went to the ice box and scarfed down a few carrots. "Does this town have a baker yet?" He washed down with some juice straight from the jug. The red creature shrugs. "I haven't the slightest idea. We got bartenders, adventurers, and a healer. I haven't heard anything about a baker." "Uuuurg!” He face plants on the table. ”What I wouldn't give for some bread to make a good daisy sandwich." "Then why not make your own?" "I have as much cooking skill as you have with water. I mean for crying out loud, I BURNT hard-boiled eggs!" The Djinni gives the pony a questionable glance. "How do you burn eggs while they boil?" "I'm still trying to figure that out." The two leave the house after eating their breakfast, Common's Djinni on his back eats a snack snack. A lot has happened in the time he spent in this growing community. He grew to love it, despite the rough first week living together in a ruined castle. He did not like the idea of being used as a chew toy by a manticore while trying to sleep. So when the town was set up, he was glad to have some place to stay. Though to have a place of his own took a bit of work on his own. When the town was made and starting flourishing, it was obvious the town needed a system in place. A set of rules to abide by as well as a way to keep records of businesses and occupations. Something to help deal with what is legal and illegal. In other words; a local government to organize everything. At the moment, the town of Newvale don't have the means nor time to elect a viable Mayor. At the moment, Dullahan is working as the de facto Leader of the town. A method that is working as a good starting point, but lacks a stable structure should he go missing or is incapacitated for an extended period. This is where Common Ground comes in. He was tasked to create a system which would make the town more self-sustaining with it's laws and get an economy working. Since getting a mayor isn't going to be viable for the time being, the pony decides to work around some ideas which would work with what is currently established. It also helped to bounce around ideas with other fellow ponies, griffins, and.... manticore. He still can't get over the idea of something like that as a town resident. Common waves hello to Pyre as they pass by. “Seems things are going well for the town.” The mars Djinni shrugs, munching on a carrot. “Seems like it. Not sure how long it will last though.” “What do you mean?” “Well, the town is established physically. However, there are issues starting to pop up such as what the basic laws are or who owns what. I mean there's a general idea of it, but there's not much in terms of organization.” “Isn't Dullahan doing something about it?” “He's trying, but he's only one... ghost, armor... thing. He can't write down what's happening and keep a record of it.” It rubbed it's small chin. “Though I don't think he can pick up a pen with those large hands of his.” “His hands are pretty big... useful too. Would make things easier to hold.” “I think we're getting off topic.” “Right right,” He taps his hoof on his chin. “Well.... since we need someone who can interpret the law to make a system, that would leave the job to us.” They walk into the courthouse. The courthouse worked well as a place to settle agreements and lay down verdicts, but it's only used sparingly due to the lack of crimes being committed. Though it's now being converted as a joint-administrator's building. It's here that records will be kept and laws approved. Bouncing ideas with Silver Cross and a few others, he determined that, in the interest of fairness, as well as to keep to the town's ideals, a Meritocracy system should be in place. One where one would hold power according to their own skills. Merits that are tested and reviewed. A chief officer has authority of the city guard, an administrator to handle businesses, and so forth. Should they abuse their position, the people have the right to annex the pony's position and replace with one with skills that can handle it. This can be done via a judicial system in which two parties make an argument as to why they should keep their job or not. He also adds that Dullahan, as founder, has the right to void decisions or laws within reason. Speaking of laws, they need to set those up. However, there is one thing that needs to be done before any laws can be passed. That's to “legally” establish the town and send a deceleration to any higher authority of said establishment. If agreed and signed, will be used as a declaration and binding parchment to all who read it. As it will be made, rewritten, and sent to the princess herself to show her the injustice she has made as well as the towns independence. An official letter stating the outrage and unanimous voice of those she turned away from. "So how do we go about doing this?" "It's simple really." He takes up a quill and ink. "We write the first draft." "Sounds like it's gonna take a while...." "We're gonna need to do a few drafts and get everyone on board with this." He smiles. "Once it's completed though, it will be sent to the princess. It will announce our independence from her unjust rule. To let her know that we will not stand by while crimes go unpunished. For her to ignore the lower class for the sake of those of higher power. To send a message to all victims that there is a place to call home and find justice." He looks to the side. "Where no innocent will go to jail for the sake of another's greed...." He lifts his quill and places it on the paper, using his passion for justice and righteous fury to fuel his muse and scribble his thoughts onto the paper. He wrote down every injustice Celestia has done or let happen under her rule. Facts given to him from personal experience and those he talked to around town. The first thing he wrote was something he believed applied quite well, given the circumstances of this town. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all beings are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...." He pauses, reading that line over. "Hm, a bit wordy. Don't you think?" "Well it is a first draft. Lets keep it and see what the others think about it." "Sounds reasonable enough. Perhaps I can get some advice from Dullahan. " "Wouldn't you prefer asking Fluffy for help?" The Djinni chuckles. "Oh shut up and get me more ink." Side Chapter 4 - A little hotheadBounce . . . Bounce . . . Bounce . . . Bounce, Phalanx felt each jump of his companion bouncing on his side in an attempt to wake him, and although he had already been awake for some time he had no desire to actually get up. For the last few days he had been enjoying the wonderful thing called "sleeping in late," it had been years since he been without any responsibilities to do so. Bounce . . . Bounce . . . Bounce . . . THUD! Still feigning being asleep, he had felt when his companion had jumped on him wrong and bounced in the wrong direction. The THUD just confirmed that his companion had now greeted the floor this morning. Despite how hard he tried to fight it a small smile crept across his lips. He was just beginning to bury himself deeper into his covers to relish his victory with more sleep, when he began to feel something giving off a lot of heat close to his face while a bright light began to burn through his closed eyelids. A part of him began to panic knowing what was coming. He quickly opened his eyes to confirm what he had feared. His cute little companion of red and orange fur was glaring at him with cyan blue eyes at no more than a foot away from his face, and was creating a fireball. Falling out of his bunk he picked up the little furball with his magic, hurriedly worked through the locks on the door of the wagon, flung open the door, and tossed the crazy pyro furball out of the wagon. He had just enough time to shut his eyes before an explosion of light, heat, noise, and force violently rocked the wagon he had been sleeping in. "Alright! You win! I am up!" Phalanx called out while trying to rub the afterimage of the explosion he had just seen through his eyelids out of his eye. Outside sitting in a black crater a creature known as a Mars Djinn puffed out her chest at her victory over the lazy unicorn. She happily bounced over to a rock that was facing the sun and turned to stare at it looking at all the beautiful shades of colors that came with the sunrise. When the sun rose it was time to get up, she would eventually have him properly trained to do so. A hour later Phalanx was fully awake having had breakfast, a few drinks from the nearby pond, having refilled all of his canteens from the pond, and having answered the call of nature was putting on the last of his steel armor before hitching himself up to his wagon. Phalanx did a few stretches in his armor checking to make sure that all the plates were properly aligned. The steel armored covered up most of his black coat, while his silver mane stuck up out of his helmet and giving his silver tail a few flicks to complete the stretches, since once he got started going he wouldn't be able to stop for several hours. They were still days away from the Everfree Forest and he still didn't know what he would find there. Only that he had made a promise to return a favor owed to the fire obsessed puffball and he would honor his word. If he could have he would have preferred to take the train to Ponyville and walk to the Everfree Forest to get there quickly, but that wasn't an option as he doubted he would have been allowed to load all the content of his wagon on to the train. Having enough weapons to arm a few dozen beings made the ponies that lived in the interior of Equestria nervous and they would no doubt call the Solar Guard on him. The very last thing he wanted was to come in contact with the Solar Guard, it would bring up old history and problems he didn't want to deal with. He glanced at her; for it had made it quite clear, several times under threat of fiery explosion, that it was a she and didn't respond well to being called he or worse it. As he had seen first hoof when he had shown her off to the various ponies, gryphons, Minotaur, and other beings that had been held by the Diamond Dog slavers they had killed when they had raided the camp. One of the ponies had made the mistake of calling her an it, and he had run behind a rock that he had then stacked a few shields on top of it just in case before she had thrown a small fireball at said pony. The pony had survived minus most of his tail, mane, and eyebrows. Showing she have very good control over her powers when one compared him to the char broiled Diamond Dogs she had killed. They had freed dozens of beings taken captive, taken out a large group of Diamond Dog slavers, probably bought a few months of safety for the surrounding towns, and unknowingly created a horror story of heavily armored unicorn that lead a army of possessed weapons and commanded a fire demon that hunted down and slaughtered slavers. As he was pulling the wagon he would occasionally glance back to check on her. Sometimes she would be bouncing in place enjoying the ride, jump from the wagon onto his back to get a better view, would be dozed off to sleep, the rocking of wagon having put her to sleep briefly, but most often she would be looking into that bag of gems he had gathered up for her when they had looted the camp. She absolutely loved anything that had various hues of red, orange, or yellow in it. He had watched her stare at sunrises, sunsets, fires, and her collection of gems for hours and never seemed to get enough of it. Her pride and joy of her gem collection was a Fire Ruby she seemed to be especially obsessed with. They had been traveling for a few hours when he first began to hear the roars. Having lived among the towns on the borders of Equestria that were regularly came under attacks by Diamond Dog slavers, bandits, and dragons for years. One developed a danger sense for certain sounds and a proper response to them. In this case the roars of multiple dragons was to seek shelter and hope they passed you over. As he was doing now having quickly pulled his wagon into the forest brush. He looked up at the sky and watched as flocks of dragons flew over the forest. The shear amount of dragons flying together like that could only mean one thing. It was time for the Great Dragon Migration. Great timing Phalanx, return to the interior of Equestria right in middle of their migration, what are the odds of such bad timing. Actually now that he thought of it he had been hearing rumors of strange events happening across Equestria ever since the supposed Lord of Chaos had broken out for almost 48 hours a few months ago. Three dragons suddenly broke away from the flight and began flying down toward the road. Why? Why are they breaking off from the rest of the flight? There is nothing worth there attention down here, except the gems, but those are safe on . . . the . . . wagon . . . He glanced back at the wagon to see that the flaming fuzzy was gone, looked to road where she was attempting to collect some of the gems that had fallen out her gem bag when he had rushed to get them off the road, and sighed as he unhitched himself from the wagon. Going around to the back of the wagon he began to unload his armory of weapons and shields. On the road the female Mars Djinn was bouncing back and forth gathering up the scattered gems into a small pile so her unicorn would be able to quickly put them all back in her gem bag. She was paying special attention to the red gem that seemed to have fire dancing in it. Just as she finished putting her favorite gem on top of the pile she was surprised by three sets of clawed feet landing around her. "See I told you I saw some gems scattered on the road and now here they are gathered up for us to eat them." gleefully stated a blue serpent like drake while rubbing his claws together gazing at the gems before him. "So your eyes actually pay attention to something other than the ass of that dragoness you were flying behind." grumbled a thick brown drake that was eyeballing the blue drake across from him surprised that the gems were real. "Lets just hurry up and split the gems among us so we can eat them and rejoin the flight!" yelled a red and orange drake glaring at the two idiots she had been flying near. "What is that on our gem pile!?" she yelled drawing their attention to red and orange furry thing on their gems. "Looks like a phoenix with no wings!" laughed the blue drake while pointing at it. The phoenix without wings huffed at him while standing defiantly on their gem pile. "No! It's some kind of bunny with flaming fur! Let's eats it too!" Yelled the female drake while flicking her tongue out. The flaming bunny glaring at her with its cyan eyes. "Well I think its a-" THUDCRASHBAMBONGTHUMP The other two drakes turned to the third one only to discover that he had just been hit by maces, hammers, and a sledgehammer on the top, sides, and back of his head all at once. He swayed on his feet for a moment or two before crashing face first on to the ground with little gemstones dancing around his head. Behind him stood a unicorn in armor with a glowing horn and several more weapons and shields floating around it. Dragons were one of the hardiest races on the planet; highly resistant to magic, scales that were impenetrable to most weapons, could thrive in environments that would kill most other races, and enough natural weapons to dissuade most creatures from attacking one. While bladed weapons wouldn't be able to pierce or hack through their scales, the concussive force from blunt weapons was effective if one knew how and where to hit one with enough force. Phalanx was both better and worse off than he imaged when he first saw the dragons land. They were teenage dragons, making them much easier to deal with than had they been full grown, but at the same time worse because they would be too prideful or stupid to know when to cut their losses. "I am only going to warn you once. Back away from my companion, leave her gems alone, take your friend and fly back up to the rest of your flight or suffer the consequences." He growled as the blunt weapons floating around him adjusted position to strike from various angles and shields gathered at his sides. The two remaining conscious drakes looked to unicorn, to the knocked out drake, to furry thing on top of the small gem pile. "We are not losing our lunch to some fancy horn head of a guard!" the blue drake shouted before taking a deep breath and blowing out fire at the nancy pony. As expected the horn head moved his shield to block the fire, he rushed in after his fire blast prepared to jump over the shields and tackle the horn head. He got to the shields before something - everything - went wrong, a shield almost as tall he was suddenly appeared and rushed forward slamming into him knocking the breath out of him. It drew back before flipping up, striking him in the chin and then coming down, striking him upon the head. Shaking his head he found himself surrounded by the weapons. He had only a moment to glance at the horn head, before the pain started. The female drake looked away as the stupid moron rushed in and was repeatedly beat down by the vicious unicorn. Realizing too late this wasn't one of the fluffy friendly ponies from inside of Equestria where they frolicked and played all day long, every day. He had finished the beating and was now turning his attention to her. She remember what he had said earlier and quickly snatched up the bunny things holding it to her claws. "You will throw away all those weapons and shields or I will gut your furry little bastard of a pet." She yelled at him while hold up his furry little companion. His eyes widened at what she had just said, she had just insulted her in three different ways in one sentence. She looked on confused as the unicorn instead of doing what she said, ran off into the forest to a wagon, brought all his weapons close to him, and had his shields form around him like a turtle shell, before the last shield covered him, he looked at her and said "Oh you shouldn't have done that, now you really made her mad." the last shield in place he created a magic barrier over it. She blinked at him wondering what had cause him to do that, when she noticed the creature in her claws was heating up, and for a dragon that could swim in lava to feel the something hot in their claws the heat it would be creating should not be possible. She looked into the glaring blue eyes of the furry creature she was holding as it started glowing and gulped . . . In the skies above the Great Dragon Migration was blessed with watching from a safe distance a fire explosion that happened on the ground below/behind/infront of them. Rather than investigate it they chalked up to stupid teenage dragons messing with something they shouldn't have and paying the price for it. Natural Selection taking its course of dragons too dumb to live getting killed off early on. 995 . . . 996 . . . 997 . . . 998 . . . 999 . . . and 1000 Phalanx finished counting in his head before taking down the magic barrier around his shields. Moving the shields back against the wagon he brought a hoof to his horn to check it and felt it glowing warm. Well that explains the splitting headache I have now. Used up too much magic protecting myself and the wagon. He reached into the wagon with a hoof, brought out one of the canteens, opened it with his mouth, and dumped the water on his horn. He listen to the water sizzle as it came in contact with his horn, before cooling it down and taking care of his headache. He slowly walked out forest, passing several fallen trees that had been knocked over by the force of the explosion, there on what was left of the road was his little fuzzy bomber standing on top of a red and orange she drake with her chest puffed out. He looked around extent of damage done, before turning back to her. "Well you certainly showed her not to insult you, didn't you?" he asked while getting a sense of smug satisfaction from her. "Okay lets gather up your gems and be on road." He stated while slowing levitating the gems together, and started trekking back toward the wagon, but she didn't hop on his back like she usually did. He looked back at her to see her staring intently and the drake's red and orange scales, she looked up at him and back to the scales, and did so several times before he caught on. "Oh you want to add insult to injury too, don't you?" he asked while she started bouncing up and down "Fine I will go get the tongs and tweezers." he signed as resumed walking toward his wagon. Several hours later the trio of drakes would awaken and with in moments there would be a shriek of feminine rage at the discover of the patch of scales missing from her glorious hide. Meanwhile a certain female Mars Djinn would be admiring her new collection of shimmering dragon scales. Chapter 12 - It all comes to a HeadSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Side Chapter 5 - Fluffy's day outAuthor's Note First of all, credits: This chapter was written by recentteen14. Second of all, an apology. I AM working on the next chapter. It's being difficult, but I think I know how it should go. Here's a look at my formula for it: One Wiseass + One possessed suit of armor = interesting times. Side Chapter 5 - Fluffy's day out Fluffy was running through the woods, panting heavily as he ran out of breath. Behind him, two Manticores chased him - his mother and his father. Why being the runt of the litter meant that he was about to be mauled and killed by his own parents, he would never know. He was only a year old at the time, but there should be more time to allow a Manticore to grow up before calling it a loss and murdering it! Fluffy pondered manticore society as he ran, and how he could change it. He didn't notice himself running straight into a Pony town and his parents breaking away their chase, thinking that he would be taken care of for them by the ponies. Within seconds, the place was pure chaos, ponies running around everywhere, screaming about the fleeing manticore. It was at this moment that Fluffy realized where he was, and that he was probably in worse trouble then before. Then again, he knew he could understand them- he had spent the better part of his year alive trying to learn about these ponies that had interested him so. He knew they needed calming down. He opened his mouth and tried to ask them, to plead with them, to calm down. His vocal cords only allowed for him to roar at them, promptly spooking them worse then before, if such a thing were possible. He pondered how he could clear up this misunderstanding and maybe have a nice chat with them when he got kicked in the face by a Sky Blue Pegasus with a Rainbow mane. He took this as a cue to leave, that pony could kick pretty hard and he did NOT want to be kicked again. He started to run, almost making it back to the Forest, when the Pegasus kicked him again, this time sending him spiraling into the base of a tree. He tried to stand, to get to safety, but his legs would not let him. He could hear the jeering of different ponies, feel the blood dripping down his face, sense the danger of his parents still nearby... Fluffy woke up. He uncurled himself and tried to shake the nightmare out of his head. That was the third time this week... Why wouldn't it go away? He had once accepted that ponies and manticores couldn't get along in the same society as fact, but had been proven wrong by Newvale. Oh, what a day THAT was... He had followed this orange thing after it had accidentally knocked him out of a tree that he was napping in, out of curiosity. He didn't expect to be led to a place that was soon filled up with ponies, a dragon, a griffin, a zebra, a diamond dog, and a talking suit of armor that stood on its hind legs, as well as a multitude of the small creatures. What did the armor call them again... Ah, right, Djinns. He still thought that was an odd name. He had been as uneasy of the others as they had been of him, at first, but once they got past the fact that he wasn't going to maul them, they were able to get used to him being around. Fluffy, on the other paw, still couldn't let go of some of his old scars. He had needed help that day, and had been ridiculed and tormented for an accident that had saved his life from his parents. It was still a delightful little irony that the ponies had named him the same thing that his parents had. At first, he thought the ponies were able to understand him, but his hopes were quickly dashed. He still needed a good way to communicate with them... Stretching, he found the Venus Djinn that had knocked him out of the tree nearby. He didn't know why it kept following him when he would sleep on random rooftops in the town, but it wasn't a bother, at least. Spreading his wings, he glided from the rooftop to the ground after making sure nopony would be in the way. He plodded along, trying to figure out what he was going to do that day, when the armor called the town together. The meeting excited Fluffy at first, he might have a chance to meet with the Princesses. Maybe he could have tea with them. It was a hobby that few knew about, but he loved his tea. Unfortunately, talk quickly turned to raiding a town, so Fluffy opted out of going. He wanted to prove a Manticore could work in a Pony society, to show that the ponies who had hurt and scorned him were wrong. Unfortunately, he had no good way of doing so, at least not yet. Ah well, it was a long term goal for a reason. With boredom starting to set in, Fluffy decided today was a good day to wander off into the Everfree. After all, he would sometimes patrol the town when he was bored, so why not? Nothing could go wrong with a bit of exploration. Fluffy could get some lunch while he was out, as well. He had been roaming for an hour before he found a meal in a couple of rabbits that had strayed away from the beaten path. Afterwards, he set off to find something new. With high hopes, he rounded a tree, and bumped into something bigger then him... Something orange... Fluffy immediately hoped that wasn't what he thought it was. He looked up to see the shocked look of his father. A shocked look that quickly dissolved into a growl. Oh, chicken scales... Fluffy bolted away from the direction of Newvale- no need to lead dear old dad back to the few ponies that would accept him and cause them harm. Especially now that the rest of his old 'family' had joined in the chase. Heart pounding, he half wondered if he was in another nightmare. After all, this was usually how they started, with his old family trying to kill him. He could almost feel like he had been on this route before... And that could only mean one thing. His fears were confirmed as he saw Ponyville come into view. He could hear his family still behind him... Thinking fast, he made a fast right turn and started to zig-zag through the trees, hoping to either lose them or at least put some distance between them. Hours of chasing had passed since then, Fluffy trying everything he could think of to get away, only to have it fail. He didn't stop when he saw a shocked Zebra narrowly avoid getting trampled. He didn't stop when his steps started to falter. If he was getting tired, then his family would be just as bad off as him... A quick glance over his shoulder showed that his mother and siblings had dropped out of the race to catch him, and only his father remained. At that moment, Fluffy realized two things. One, he was getting too close to Newvale for comfort. Two, his father didn't look tired at all, in fact, he was doing a flying leap towards him. Before Fluffy could react, he was tackled and pinned. He tried to struggle, but with the size disadvantage, he couldn't make any headway. Smirking, his father lunged for his throat, fangs bared, when a plant erupted from the ground and slapped him in the face. Confused, he looked at the plant for a moment, before getting slapped in the face again. Thinking the forest was possessed, he jumped away and circled Fluffy warily. Fluffy, on the other paw, knew this was psynergy, but didn't know where it was coming from. Then he saw the Djinn that kept following him around, and figured out what had happened quickly. The tides turned, he roared at his father, whose survival instinct was setting in as more plants were popping up. After a few seconds, he turned and ran. Fluffy couldn't believe that the little Djinn could do this sort of thing. He had seen a demonstration from the armor about the potential of the Djinn, but he didn't know they could also do this! It looked pleased with itself, and then quickly jumped on Fluffy's back. Fluffy was slightly dumfounded by this point. He realized how he had been selfish, always ignoring the little guy when the Djinn may have the same sort of goals as him- to be able to live with others. Or maybe this Djinn wanted to pick a fight and following the manticore was just a good way to find one- he didn't know for sure. At that point, he silently vowed to himself to not forget his Djinn friend that had just saved his life. ... Okay, it was more of a roar of victory that sent any bird within a few hundred feet flying away, but the Djinn didn't seem to mind. That was enough excitement for one day- Having a near death experience was never fun for those involved, so Fluffy stumbled his way back to camp, Djinn in tow. By the time he arrived, it was evening, and the half empty camp was winding down for the night. Wanting nothing more then to sleep, Fluffy climbed one of the trees at the edge of the town and used it to glide to a nearby roof. Maybe someday he would feel comfortable sleeping in one of those houses, and furthering his goals, but tonight he felt happy sleeping under the stars in a place he could call home. With a little friend tucked away in his mane. Chapter 13 - Head GamesSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 14 - Don't lose your headBeing me comes with a variety of perks. Some I use often, like my access to nearly all psynergy. Still haven't figured out Alex's warping bullshit he did... Some I rarely use, like my sword's...interesting physical properties. Limitless understanding is not to be taken lightly. If I could, I'd gouge out my 'inner eye' or whatever the hell others call it. Some come as easily to me as breathing used to, like actually moving so long as I have my sword. Near as I can figure, so long as it's in my scabbard or grasp, that's close enough. It seems to take in the ambient magic of the place and use it to animate the armor in accordance with my wishes. And then there's those things which I save for...special occasions. If my armor is hit with enough force that it becomes punctured or deformed, then I lose all 'feeling' in that particular limb until the metal knits itself back together. Takes a bit. Minor things take 15 minutes, while major things can take hours. However, if I were to, say, relax, and willingly pull off my left hand with my right? I would have my own little Thing that I could still feel and control. I only recall using this ability once before now, and that was to switch the royal crowns around. Gave Sunbutt and Moonbutt such a scare. I say 'before now' because my plan to get me into the crystal empire unnoticed was...uncomfortable. In fact, it was eerily similar to being drawn and quartered, except instead of horses doing it, it was ponies pulling me to pieces. And then stuffing those pieces in quite a few crates. Interestingly enough, while I could still 'feel' all the pieces of me, my awareness was located in the upper torso. As was Dullahan's, but he recognized the awkwardness of the situation and refrained from speaking up. This was something I had never done to this extent before, nor did I ever want to do it to this extent ever again. It just feels like all sorts of wrong. Amber, ShiverSpine, Silver Cross, and Crystal Clear were the ones I had asked to come with me, for various reasons. There was a bit of excitement when we neared the Ponyville Train Station, as it turns out there were guards scanning for changelings. Damn good thing we didn't bring any with us, it'd have meant so much trouble on our part. They did, of course, question as to why a dragon, a diamond dog, and two ponies were bringing as many crates to the Crystal Empire as they were. Crystal brought up that it was for her research, and that the rest were there for security purposes. Technically not a lie. And thankfully, none of them thought to try and keep me entertained while on the trip north. Clearly, they must have recognized the awkwardness of the situation as well. It took us days. Long, boring days. Before we would reach our destination. I was seriously considering singing at one point. Eventually, we arrived, and I could not have been happier. The plan from this point on was simple. Sneak into the castle and get reassembled. It didn't take long before Amber pulled open the crate containing the chestplate. Air! Fresh air! She pulled me out and frowned. "You don't breathe." Doesn't mean it's any less appreciated! Pull the rest of my parts out, I wanna get this over with! She placed me on the floor, and I could see the others prying open the crates and fishing the parts of me out. Eventually all the parts of me were out of the crates and on the ground. I immediately tensed up, or as close to it as I could do. The parts of my armor slowly rotated around, coming into the proper alignment. The smallest piece flew and connected in its proper spot, and then it all cascaded from there. My quick reassembly was not without its noise, however, and quite soon we'd drawn a crowd of guards. I rolled my joints around, relishing in the feeling of being able to move again. Aaah, it's good to be back. I then 'looked' at the ring of crystal guards surrounding me, Amber, Silver, Shiver, and Crystal Clear. I would have grinned. Oh, this is too perfect. I made the sounds one normally would associate with clearing the throat and held a hand up. I...am Dullahan. I come...in peace. Take us...to your leader! Of course, I ended up staring down that same pink alicorn that I had briefly met at the wedding. The others were behind me, and the guards were behind them. And that same unicorn stallion was standing next to the alicorn. Neither one looked pleased at me. You know, I get the distinct impression you two don't like me. The stallion snorted. "Let's review. You mess with Ponyville, taunt my sister and her friends, attempt to gatecrash my wedding, and sneak into the palace. You also made my guards look like chumps, what with civilians on your side repelling the changelings easily. Frankly, I'm wondering why I don't just stick you in a shield and call it a day." The pink alicorn put a hoof on the stallion's shoulder. "Shining, Auntie Celestia did say she had rushed to judge him previously. I think we should at least give him a chance to speak in his own defense." I laughed then. Oh bravo for learning from her mistakes! At least someone did! At this, the duo cast a sour look at me. "Then again..." I held up a hand. My bad. I'm not used to not antagonizing ponies quite yet. I'm getting better about it. Slowly, the looks softened. Let's try again, shall we? I'm Dullahan, and I have a proposition for you. Might I inquire as to your names, where that absolute prick Sombra is, and how you're keeping the weather at bay? The alicorn nodded. "In order, I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, this is Shining Armor, my husband, and the last two are related. Twilight Sparkle and Spike located the Crystal Heart, which when placed in position and filled with the light and love of the crystal ponies, generates a shield around the city and banishes evil." I did my nodding motion at her. Yeah, if there was one thing that guy was, it was evil. I had the displeasure of meeting him once. You recall that lightning bolt trick I do? Yeah, he was flung out a balcony by that and recovered in time for the sisters to find both him and me. I fled, but he stood his ground. The two looked at each other, then back at me. "You fought him?" Briefly. More like sparred. And that was interrupted by the sisters. I caught the uncertainty flickering across Shining's face and acted on it. I may be a monster. I may have committed crimes. But the vast majority of those crimes was in the service of punishing the wicked. Those few that aren't, when I can, I will repay my debt, within reason, to they I have wronged. Cadenza smiled. "See Shining? The 'monster' has a heart." I rapped on my breastplate with one hand, producing a slight echo as empty metal clanged on empty metal. Well. Did, at any rate. More accurately, I have a sense of morality. That got a slight chuckle out of those behind me, which got a quick laugh out of Cadenza. "So, what is this proposition you have for us, Dullahan?" I motioned for Amber and ShiverSpine to come and stand by me, and they did so. Put simply, like you said. The Heart banishes evil. Amber, Shiver, are you two, by any stretch of the imagination, evil? They shook their heads. And yet, when you look around you at this empire and the ponies within, what do you see? As their eyes glazed over and their mouths filled with drool, I clapped a few times to break them out of their hunger-induced trances. You see, your highness? They are not evil, yet they still have instincts, desires. Who is to say that when word of the Crystal Empire with its Crystal Ponies gets out to those races that they will not come here? As she frowned at the thought, I motioned for Silver and Crystal Clear to come stand next to me as well. Crystal Clear can do remarkable things with gemstones, she might be able to make a few guardians out of crystals. Whereas Silver...let us leave it at 'he has experience fighting evil.' The two next to me nodded at the rulers as they were mentioned, and I continued on. All of us, but most especially myself, command powers unlike any you've like to encounter. We will be willing to help protect you until such time as you can guard yourself from dragons and the like...with three conditions. Cadenza narrowed her eyes slightly, not liking the sound of that. "Name them." First, food and housing for these four, within reason. She nodded, probably expecting a worse condition than that. Second, supplies for Crystal Clear's experiments, within reason. She nodded again, clearly liking the last two words I was tacking on to my conditions so far. And third, I wish to see the Crystal Heart. At this, Shining and Cadenza shared a Look, before slowly replying. "I...don't see...why not. Guards, escort these four to a guest room in the palace, and escort Dullahan to the base." There, shining and glimmering and hovering between two spires, was the Crystal Heart. I could...feel it. It radiated power, and at this close range, I wonder why I hadn't felt it before. I drew closer, and the guards nearby tensed up, probably getting ready to react if I did something. I could hear something whispering to me. You came... I reached out with one hand, and a guard barked at me. "That's close enough, headless one. You said you wanted to look, not touch." I scoffed at him. If I were really evil, I wouldn't have been able to enter or get this close. If I really wanted to do harm to this artifact, it would be powder by now. I just want to understand it. As the rest of the guards chewed on the information, my hand chose that moment to accelerate and touch the Heart. And suddenly, all was whiteness and pain. You came to me... I am the ultimate expression of the earth's strength, for lo! I protect an entire empire! I bring life and growth to the barren tundra! I am the counterpart to your Venus Star. But YOU may not unleash its strength. Each Star has a champion, and three such champions are with you now. For Jupiter, the Dragon. He must soar to Cloudsdale and tour the Weather Factory. He will know when to bring out the Star. For Mars, the Unicorn. He must go to the location of the Great Dragon Migration, and find the ever-burning heart of the mountain. For Venus, myself, the Diamond Dog. And for Mercury... You know her as well, though you met only briefly. Seek her in the Badlands, restore water and life to the cracked desert. When I came to, I was surrounded by a ring of guards who had leveled their spears at me. Beyond them, I could make out Cadenza and Shining, along with the ones who had come with me. Thinking quickly, I softly spoke the passphrase and brought out the Venus Star. Amber, catch! I tossed it over the heads of the guards, and the alicorn and her husband only watched as Amber caught the shining brown sphere. Then, as if by some unseen guidance, she turned towards the heart and held out the paw where the sphere was. And then the Star shattered. In the silence that followed, I thought one thing. Namely, the thought of 'wha-' Which was cut off as Amber glowed brown and thick streams of brown light cascaded off her and impacted the Heart. The Heart took that light and shot it upwards, and everyone present raced out from underneath the palace. Well, everyone but me. It would have been rude to Amber to leave her. "Look at that!" "What IS it?" "It's some sort of huge green sphere of light!" "What's it doing above the palace?" "Are we under attack?" "Run for your lives!" The stream of light faded from Amber, and I caught her as she fell. "What...was that?" My dear, you just channeled the power of a Star through yourself. Take it easy. You need to rest. And then I grimaced as Dullahan spoke to me. ...So this is why He is coming... Yes, I thought back, This would be a reason. We may not have Lighthouses, but we do have places of great elemental strength. Those with a strong enough connection and a Star... I grimaced as I realized my passphrase could very well become incorrect. The Golden Sun could shine twice. Author's Note Show a hands, who saw this one coming! Chapter 15 - Getting ahead of yourselfIt crystallized in my mind a moment later exactly what I'd done. I, or rather, Amber, had just lit the equivalent of Venus Lighthouse in Equestria. If the Wise One couldn't feel that across dimensions, I'd eat my sword. Plus who knows what the effect of the Venus Light would have on the Crystal Ponies. Most likely, they'd gain ~~phenomenal cosmic power~~ Psynergy, but it could take time. As in, generations of time and being exposed to its light. Being exposed to its light... The thought bounced around in my head, and then my slight funk dissipated. Now that was a plan. But first, I had a Diamond Dog to care for. Not wanting to waste my strength, I swapped to Venus and prepared to heal Amber, only to realize something. Over the years I could always...sorta feel the extent of my powers. And they were always further than I was willing to go. Morality and all that. But now, I could feel naught of Venus save for Move, Growth, Cure, and Quake. After another second to puzzle this one out, I came to a conclusion. It wasn't that the Star had contained my strength in Venus, because that would be silly. It was that my strength in Venus had been devoured to ignite the beacon. And then I realized why that was. I had been the closest to the palace when the Light had ignited, and we didn't have a proper Lighthouse for it. I mean, technically, the entire bloody palace could count, but nobody had built it with this in mind, had they? And then I realized something shocking. If I hadn't given over my strength, it would have gone after Amber's. I slowly poured streams of Cure into Amber as the ponies reconvened around me. I held up my other hand in their direction as I finished attempting to heal Amber's weariness. She was whispering to me as I kept healing her. "It spoke to me...as I channeled it. Something about...having overcome my trials...already. And that others...will need to do so as well..." I think I have some explaining to do, I said to the ponies. "So these Elemental Stars...they contain the essence of the elements that you draw on?" Correct. The pink alicorn nodded and looked up, where we could still see the faint glow of the light of Venus. "And this is what they are meant to do?" I shifted a bit. Well... The eyes of everyone in the room narrowed as they realized I may have been keeping information from them. "You said you would explain, Dullahan." I sighed and rolled the three remaining spheres around in my right hand. They were not crafted with this in mind, per se, but this is what they are used for. In places of great elemental strength, the Star unleashes the Light of its alignment. Without a Lighthouse, though, it drains power from those nearby during the ignition sequence. The alicorn's gaze let up a fraction. "What were they crafted for, then?" I 'stared' at her, which ended up awkward for all parties. Terra, Dracen, Puck, Newton. The first four Djinn I found. They crafted these Stars for me, that I might have a proper focus for my strength. Over the years, the Stars influenced ponies, most especially, those closest to them, in Canterlot. Silver Cross interjected then. "M'lord, ye said the Light drains power from those of us nearby? I don't feel any different." Nor will you. It took a moment for that to sink in, but when it did, I almost heard their worldviews breaking as they realized what had happened. Before they could uselessly object, I raised my hand to stop them. Yes, it drained me, because I was the strongest, closest one nearby. And I would have it no other way. To protect you all as much as possible, I would sacrifice as much of my power as needed. At this, Shining and Cadenza looked shocked. Possibly because they realized just how much of a heart I had. Cadenza raised a hoof and cleared her throat. "Anything else you feel like telling us, Dullahan?" I mulled it over before deciding she'd been nicer to me than her aunts and could probably be trusted with the information. Yeah, when I touched the Heart, I learned where all the other...hmm, let's call them Elemental Locations, are. Cadenza pulled out a map and nodded at me. "Proceed." A mountain that was used during the Great Dragon Migration with a fiery heart. Cloudsdale's Weather Factory. And the Badlands. She had marked the empire and the other two on the map, but when we got to the third one, she dropped the quill in shock. Hell, everyone in the room was shocked at the last statement. "Her land?" I turned to Shining. I assume you mean the Changelings. Yes, apparently they're sitting on the Mercury Location. Fitting, really. They can change their form, and they are to be the wardens of the power with nearly as many forms. The mountain is to be home to Mars, and Cloudsdale, naturally, is to be home to Jupiter. As Cadenza continued to make notes, I turned to face the ones I had brought with me. There is another stipulation. Each element has a 'champion', one meant to bring it out. Amber was the champion of Venus. Shiver and Silver are champions as well, for their elements. Shining's face drew into a scowl. "And what pony is the champion of Mercury? Who will you drag into the Badlands, Dullahan?" I turned to face him and would have given him a mischevious smirk. Oh Shiny, I don't have to drag anyone into the Badlands. And even if I did, I think you'd let me drag her there. As it stands, she's already there. It's only the convincing that'll take some time. Everyone's jaw dropped, again, as they realized what I was implying. Chrysalis, Changeling Queen, was to be the champion of Mercury. Cadenza found her voice first. "Why would you do any of this, let alone anything involving her?" I sighed again, realizing I would have had to tell someone sooner or later. A massively powerful entity, known only as the Wise One, is coming. He is to me like your aunts are to unicorns. The only time I can think of anyone actually standing up to him, even for a second, and succeeding, is when all four beacons were lit in another land and time, and then...a miracle happened. I turned to 'face' upwards, staring at the Venus Light. The light from all four beacons merged in the center of the land, causing the Golden Sun to shine down on the one standing there. His power was increased tenfold, and he achieved...not immortality, but longevity. For the Wise One foresaw this, and secreted away a portion of one Star's power. The Sun was incomplete. I turned back to face the alicorn in the throne. Even still, with as little comparative power as he got, he actually stood up to the Wise One. These Stars are uninfluenced. This Sun will be complete. I will not permit him to threaten this land. If that means giving up my strength, my foci, so be it. We were, of course, rapidly escorted from the Crystal Empire. Save for Crystal Clear. I still managed to make a good case for her to stay and study the place. This was, predictably, my plan. Having someone who could report back to me the changes the Crystal Ponies would undergo would help us deal with the effects from the other Lights. Naturally, Cadenza probably saw right though me, but played along anyways. She was most likely worried about the empire as well, along with any effects the Light might have on the subjects. Having someone versed in the strange and unusual power that had lit the beacon would serve her well. Which led me and those that had followed me being snuck off the train a mile before Ponyville so we could make our way, in secret, back to Newvale. It wasn't easy. Oh, not the sneaking. Convincing the train operators to let us off early. Cross eventually threatened to set them on fire and take over, and that got through to them. No matter what, I did not want to end up in Ponyville. It would probably not end well, even though the Princesses and I weren't trading blows anymore. Didn't mean the ponies outside of Newvale knew about me. Or would accept me. Or not run screaming at the sight of me. I sat in my chair in my Penumbra Sanctum, thinking out loud to Silver Cross and ShiverSpine about what I had deduced from our time in the Empire. The problem is the Light requires more than just the Star and the Location to activate. It should really have a Lighthouse, but we can't build those in time. So it'll devour nearby sources of aligned strength to start itself. Ideally, I would light all four, but I can't exactly walk on clouds... ShiverSpine nodded. "Which means my Light will be the most dangerous, at least to me." I 'nodded' at him. Correct, but there may be a workaround. If you were to gather as many Jupiter Djinn as possible, your strength would be amplified. True, it would still hurt, but at least you would still have strength to return to. Seven should do. Probably. For Mars and Mercury, I can be present, and so shall endeavor to be. Yours should be peaceful enough, and you will require time to gather the requisite Djinn, so you should go last. Silver shall go before you, and I shall, soon enough, go to Chrysalis and attempt to light Mercury. Silver nodded. "Aye, it makes sense to go deal with the bug while you still have most of yer strength." I then 'looked' in the direction of the courthouse. Say, whatever happened to that noble Inferno Blaze took back with him? Shiver scratched at the back of his head as he tried to recall. "Hmm. Sky blue pegasus, right? I think...oh yeah, he had a beef with the Sun Princesses' nephew. Last I heard, Inferno was slowly burning off portions of the stuck-up's mane to try and get all the names of his slavery ring out while he still had a tongue to use." Silver nodded. "Aye, and that Fulminata mare, she had her own prisoners and was lookin' fer you to place a curse on 'em. Said something about retribution." Shiver perked up a bit as he recalled something. "Oh, yeah! A unicorn and a sheep came in today after word of us got around to them. And two changelings are seeking asylum from the Royal Guard here. Caught 'em with a Reveal at the gates. What do you want to do?" I sighed a bit. Administrative duties still fell to me, it would seem. I'll go looking for Fulmy then, and don't harm the changelings. As long as they don't harm anyone, I don't see any reason we shouldn't return the courtesy. Afterwards, I have a changeling queen to go deal with. I paused before leaving fully. While I am gone, though. It would be prudent for you to figure out how to best work past your issues. You will need to do so before you can use the Stars. The two sputtered as they realized the enormity of the task before them. Before they could object, I added on one final sentence. It'll be hard enough for me to work out what Chryssy's issues even ARE, much less how she can work past them, I'd rather not have to do it twice more! And thus I began my next adventure, one to a cracked and barren land. Author's Note Lights lit : 1/4 Likes: 846 Dislikes: 32 Views: 4,117 (42,950 total) Favs: 1,094 Coming next: Where's the damn Raid, we need to make this bug queen listen. Chapter 16 - Opening jarheadsOne would think that even with our supposed improved relations, the sisters would leave me be when I go to do something, like parley with the queen of the changeling hive that attacked Equestria. It never turns out that way. Of course not. That would be too easy, and we can't be having that. Just as I reached the border of Equestria and the Badlands, I felt the twin signatures coming up behind me and sighed. Ladies, please. There's only so much of you I can take! I turned around to see Celestia and Luna landing on the grasslands behind me. They folded their wings up and leveled their gazes at where my head would be. "Dullahan, why do you seek to go into the Badlands?" I 'stared' at her for a moment. You mean...Cadenza didn't tell you? The two of them blinked. "Our niece did inform us of a strange series of events involving you in the Empire, but it was too fantastical to be believed. Are thou telling us it is true?" That brought a genuine laugh from me. A good, hearty chuckle. One that seemed to unnerve the two before me the longer it went on. Oh I needed that! Anyways, yes, whatever she told you is likely true. I wouldn't know, I'd have to read whatever she wrote, but I have a job to do in the Badlands. One involving a certain mutual foe of ours. As I turned to march into the desert, Celestia spoke up again. "Dullahan, if this plan of yours works, I have three questions. The first, do you know where this Golden Sun of yours will shine?" I paused for a moment before nodding. I do. "Do you intend to be bathed in its light?" Indeed. "Why should I let you?" I turned to 'look' at her again. Because if me or mine are not the ones bathed in its light, then the effect of the Sun will be wasted. With every Light lit, the Wise One will attempt to hasten his entry. With such power as the Golden Sun will grant, I will be able to stand up to him, even if you should fail in sealing us off. She shook her head. "And what is to stop you from abusing that strength?" I let silence fill the air for a moment. My own morals, which you seem to doubt I have every time we enter situations like this. Keep it up, and I'll have to show the world how your own morals can be called into question. And if you think I can't, then all I have to do is let a certain pegasus residing in Newvale go public with the information he extracted from your nephew. Leaving the stunned sisters behind, I made my way into the desert. It took me three days of aimless wandering before I came across my first changeling out there. Of course, it only took them an hour before there were about a hundred more. I 'stared' at them all and sighed. Really? You're going to try and drag me in by force? A chorus of battle cries were my response, ranging from 'get it' to 'tear it apart.' I drew my sword and pointed it at them, causing them to shut up for a moment. We all remember how this song and dance goes, don't we? I'd rather it not end like that, I have business with your queen, and dealing with you in any fashion would undermine it. If I ask you nicely, will you show me the way? A solitary voice spoke up from the mass in front of me. "You...want to go with us?" I 'nodded' at them once. It'd be a lot faster than looking for your queen myself. There was silence for a moment, before a very familiar voice spoke up. "And why would you be looking for me, O Headless defender of the sun?" The mass parted to reveal Queen Chrysalis stalking towards me. I 'faced' her and sheathed my blade. Ah, my second-favorite royal. How wonderful to see you. The Queen paused for a moment. "Second to the Sun Princess?" I snorted then. Second to her niece, the one you impersonated. She at least has the good sense to learn from her aunt's mistakes. You rank higher than the Sun and Moon Princess by sheer dint of not having chained me up in your basement for fifteen hundred years. At that, she blinked a few times, then laughed at the information I had given her. "So which of the two do you hate more?" I shook my body in the negative. Hate's too strong a word. I reserve my hate and my wrath. I'm angry with them, yes. I cannot truly hate any innocents. I can be angry at them, no problem. And that's a toss up, but I'm more angry at Celestia, and irritated at Luna. Chrysalis tilted her head at me. "So the one you defended is the one you like least? How does that work out?" I shrugged. Hey, at the time, you WERE kinda invading and playing the part of a supervillian. There wasn't a choice. Even if you had promised me I'd never have to deal with either of them again, I'da stopped you. The only monster allowed to walk those lands is ME. She slowly nodded at that. "A twisted sense of logic and honor, but one that leaves me no loopholes. You're nearly as devious as I can be." Not sure if compliment or not... At this, she laughed again. "Quite. So why did you want to see me?" I reached into my shield and pulled out the Mercury Star. I think we can help each other here. It had taken her time, but eventually Chrysalis led me to the bottom of her Hive, where she said there was once a great spring of water. Though, a few rulers ago, there had been some sort of disturbance, and the spring was plugged now. Drawing close to it was all I needed to do to confirm that this was where we needed to be. The little voice going She is not ready... was a dead giveaway. I sat near the old well and held the Mercury Star in one hand, playing with it while I looked at the queen. So, let's go over some things. You invaded Canterlot to obtain an emotional feast for your subjects, because it is your duty to take care of them. She nodded once, briskly. "Yes, we were starving. Our methods, while effective, were too slow for the amount we needed." I understand. You were only looking out for them, doing what was in their best interest. She started to nod, but I interrupted. The same way Celestia was doing what was best for her subjects by chasing me down and imprisoning me. The same way she did what was best for her subjects when she and her sister dealt with Discord and sealed him in stone. The same way they dealt with Sombra, by turning him to smoke and sealing him in a glacier. The same she dealt with her sister turning into Nightmare Moon, by sending her to the moon. She merely put problems OFF, she never SOLVED any! At this, Chryssy glared at me. "And what are you implying, headless?" Tell me, what was your grand plan for when all the ponies were captured? What then? You're out of food. You'd have put the problem off until it was greater. You'd have solved NOTHING. Are you sure you're a changeling? I can almost see a hint of an ethereal mane if I look hard enough. She had the grace to look shocked at the comparison I was drawing, then looked down as she realized my logic. "We...I...how did I not see..." Then she looked back up and fixed me with a gaze. "And do you have a solution?" I might. But tell me this, if the solution involved you giving up your way of life, in order to feed them, would you? She paused for a moment, and nodded. "For them, I would do whatever it took." I raised a hand and called up my memories, pouring them into my technique. Excellent. Now let me try something. Ply! A stream of blue sparks shot from my hand, and directed by me, they merely hovered over my palm, cascading up and down in an endless loop. The queen seemed fascinated by the lightshow, probably because she could sense something off about it. Go on, try to feed from it. She looked at me curiously, before opening her mouth slightly and inhaling. The sparks shot into her mouth, and she nearly gasped. Barely, she managed to get all of them in and down before looking at me in wonder. "What...was that?" A technique from Mercury meant to heal, but I poured my memories into it. You CAN infuse emotion into Psynergy, but it makes it so much more unstable. I just gave you a bit of my emotions, dear Queen. Willingly. She seemed taken aback by my charity and sat on her rump for a bit. "Why would you..." To get you to LISTEN to me. From what I understand, changelings can't feed on the emotional energy of another. It's a defense mechanism, one I can understand. But there's a way beyond invasion, starvation, and your current methods. Co-existence. You cannot live without the ponies. So try to make peace with them. Who knows? Public reaction may not be as terrible as you think, and there's always my place, a village of ponies who can ALL use these strange powers. Who could ALL put emotion behind it, and let you feed off of IT, rather than US, so that you don't harm us. Worst comes to worst, I'd be willing to shelter you if need be. She blinked a few times, taking in the tirade I had given her. "Make peace with them?" It's really your best choice. Otherwise, they'll probably go on some sort of crazy changeling-hunt to oust you, which would only accelerate the starving. She nodded slowly at that. "And you'd be willing to shelter us?" Only once you've at least tried, m'dear. She nodded again. "Then...I think we can try. We must change and adapt to our surroundings, lest we perish. This is just one more change. A unique one, amongst them all, but one that I look forward to." She put her hoof in my right hand as if to shake it. The hand that still had the Mercury Star. The Star which, even now, shattered. I looked to where it had been, then to her. Aw, not agai- Chrysalis gained a massive blue aura, and streams of it shot into the depths of the well. I could feel something shift, something break, deep down. There was a flash, and a massive blue orb rose from the depths and passed through the ceiling, continuing on to the surface. Then I heard the roar of rushing water coming up, and I grabbed Chryssy. We gotta get outta here, lest we drown! She wormed her way free and flew up to a tunnel exit, barking orders to her drones. Meanwhile, I was bemoaning my lack of Retreat, and kept running through the tunnels, always heading up. Eventually, I reached the surface, to find Chrysalis and her subjects staring at the Light of Mercury, watching in awe as water gushed from the ground, turning the dry desert into a slightly muddier one. Plants sprung up towards the edges, and as the greenery filled in, I could only gawk. An oasis in the desert. I thought it might happen like this, but I'm still surprised at how quickly the plants are coming in. One changeling reached down to sip at the water, then reared back, his eyes wide open in surprise. "My throat! It was sore, but now it's not!" I groaned as something else seemed to have happened, and the queen turned to me. "Care to elaborate?" I sighed and nodded. As long as the Light of Mercury is housed here, the oasis shall overflow with the water of Hermes, the water which cures all physical ills. I then turned to look at the Light, then back to the Queen. Well, I have to head back to Equestria anyways, to pick up someone for the next Light. Want to tag along? I can drop you off in Canterlot. She laughed a little while before she caught her breath and nodded. "Why not?" Author's Note Lights lit: 2/4 Favs: 1,101 (Holy shit!) Views: 4,244 (46,559 total) (Jesus!) 96.4% of people who rated this story liked it. (An astonishing amount, really.) 269 referrals. (Um, why?) Coming up next: Gods DAMMIT Silver, I said WORK OUT YOUR ISSUES! Chapter 17 - Making headwayCanterlot. The center of Equine Dominance over the land. Seat of the two sisters, who moved the sun and moon. Home to more unicorns than anywhere else. Built on a frikin' mountain. And also, impossible to sneak into during the day. They'd learned from Chryssy, astonishingly, and upped security in and around the city. But when you have access to a psynergy that hides you when you're in the shadows and an emotivore for a sneaking partner, sneaking into a city at night is amazingly easy. Step one, apply Cloak. Step two, walk into the city. Step three, listen when your partner says a patrol is coming, because invisible does not mean inaudible. Step four, get onto castle grounds. Step five, get into the Solar Court when nobody is around. None of those were interesting at all, really. Not up until step six, the reveal. Celestia had just taken her throne, followed by the nobles taking their seats, and announced that court was open for the day. That was when Chryssy and I sprung our little plan for this, and she cast a spell to send the room into darkness. I was, somehow, still under the effects of Cloak. Which would up the spooky factor of the next bit by ten. Ponies once forgot me. Chained me up and cast me aside. For so long, I languished in the dark. I stepped a few times through the room, sending the echoes of metal moving on metal throughout the room. None of them could pinpoint me. Which was exactly what I wanted. And then my old friend the Lord of Chaos released me. And for some time now, I have been doing what I do best. Avenging the wronged. More steps, but this time I made sure to brush up against a noble, who screamed like a filly. It was delicious. I hear their cries on the wind. Their righteous fury fans the flames of my own. Their salty tears impact the earth and lead me to where I am needed. Quick steps this time, leading up to Celly's throne, that suddenly stopped and vanished. You sit here in your gilded seats and think yourselves above the law. That is where you are wrong. You see the rules and laws of society as bars to protect the innocent from monsters, and you think you can fill that role, and so step out beyond them. And now I stood in the middle of the court and flared my presence in my armor, drawing my sword at the same time. But when you step out, I STEP IN. I am the shadow, the darkness, the elemental wraith. I am Dullahan! You who have done no wrong have nothing to fear, whereas you who have wronged your fellows may take solace in only one fact. That I do no physical harm to ponies. The darkness lifted from the room, and Chrysalis stepped out from behind Celestia's throne and joined me in the middle of the court. Let the record show that Dullahan has brought forth the matter of Chrysalis, Changeling Queen, to ALL the royals of Equestria! Silence gripped the room for five seconds before the nobles screamed and started stampeding for the exit. I turned to Celestia and would have given her my biggest grin. Hey, that's YOUR schedule clear for a while! Can you help us now? And amazingly, she sighed and facehooved. It hadn't taken long for Cadenza and Luna to show up. Apparently when I said that I was bringing Chrysalis to all the royals, Celestia agreed with my sentiment, and sent a letter to her niece, telling her to drop everything and teleport home. To be fair, I'm not sure if it was a boon or not that they had come. While Cadenza apparently was glad to get out of paperwork, she wasn't pleased to have to deal with the one who'd ruined and nearly stolen her wedding day. And husband. Meanwhile, attempting to interrupt the sleep cycle of the lunar mare was proving to be- "WHO DARES TO WAKE US UP BEFORE FIVE IN THE EVENING?!" A bad idea. A very bad idea. Christ, I felt that one, and she was across the castle from me. You'd think all this stone would insulate me somewhat, but nope! No mortal force may resist the Royal Canterlot Caps Lock! Eventually, the three royals were seated on one side of a very long table. Chrysalis was seated on the other. And I was seated technically between them, but I had deliberately moved myself a foot closer to Chryssy when talks had started. This unnerved the other three just a smidge. Which would have caused me to smile. So, let's get the big reveal out of the way. Chrysalis' hive is the warden of Mercury's Light. Cadenza looked at Chrysalis, then upwards, probably in thought, while nodding slowly. The sisters merely blinked at me a few times. "And that means what to us and them, Dullahan?" Well, the first thing it means is that in time, the changelings will probably become wielders of Mercury's might. It is half meant for curing physical ills and half meant for inventive Adepts to use water and ice against their opponents. Just think of how beloved one who can heal away ills would be. At this, Chrysalis smiled. I could almost hear the gears turning in her head, so I pointed myself at her. Y'know, if you put yours in positions where they naturally did things that other ponies loved, I'm preeeeetty sure you'd have found an invasion to be unnecessary. At this, she had the sense of mind to hang her head and sigh, while I turned to Cadenza. Those of Venus tend to find a target and hit it, hard. The earth's might is nothing to be sneezed at. While they have less aptitude for healing, they are the ONLY ones who can return unjustly taken life. At this, the jaws of everyone in the room dropped. Cadenza got her voice back first. "So the crystal ponies..." I filled in the blanks of her question and answered it. In time, Venus Adepts may be born in the empire amongst the populace there. And with training, LOTS of training, if someone died via means other than natural causes, then yes, they could return that life. As the sisters mulled it over, I reached into a pouch tied to my belt and pulled out a vial of water. A vial of water from the oasis. Of course, there is another reason we are here. Because the changelings are the wardens of Mercury's Light, they are the wardens of something else as well. Something they can definitely use to sue for co-existance. The trio eyed the vial in my hand, and the eldest spoke up. "What is in that vial, Dullahan?" Water from their new oasis. Also known as the Water of Hermes, that which, like they might one day be able to, can cure all physical ills. I walked over to Chrysalis and raised a hand and held it for a second, my posture all but screaming, 'may I?' She considered for a moment, and then nodded. I brought my hand down on her carapace hard enough for a sharp crack to echo through the chamber as a break formed, and poured the water from the vial onto the wound before the royals could interject. The wound hissed, steamed, and vanished before their very eyes, leaving their jaws, once again, wide open. You'll catch flies like that, I told them. They worked their jaws for a few moments, and this time, it was Moonbutt who spoke up. "If that water can do this, then imagine the applications in the kingdom, sister. We should-" I held up a hand then to stop her from continuing that line of thought for the time being. That is between you three and the changeling queen. I have brought her here and demonstrated what she has to offer you. Make her a deal she cannot refuse, for I can refuse all of yours. And with that, I stalked out. I had barely arrived in town before Silver Cross ambushed me. "M'lord, should we not be goin' now? Sooner started, sooner finished, aye?" I sighed and made to massage my temples that I no longer had. Administrative duties, Silver. I despise them, but they must be done. He nodded and stood near the gate. "I'll wait for ye, then. Unless ye think it'll take longer than a day." I shook in the negative. It'll hopefully be fast today, we should be on our way by nightfall. I disliked doing the reams of paperwork, but they had to be done. I wanted the town to flourish without me, to be able to make its own decisions. Currently I was its pillar of strength, but I was slowly giving that role over. It had started with the establishment of normal businesses, like one would see in any other pony town. A general store, a hardware store. A lumberjack, a smithy. It rapidly progressed when we found the most adept amongst us could infuse gemstones with psynergies. Aboyami managed to make a Growth stone once a week that promoted good, healthy harvests in the gardens they lay in. And just the other day, Common Grounds had come to me with a proposal for electing mayors for the town. I was proud of them already. I held the measure up, then lowered it and looked at him. So you've finally realized that I'm just an overpowered spirit in a suit of armor, am thus not infallible, realize I have Things that I like to go Do, most notably my enthusiastic walks, and are asking my permission to form your own leadership slash government system. Common couldn't decide if he should shake or nod, but I decided for him by putting the measure back in front of him. Honestly, why did it take you this long? You don't need MY permission to do anything. While I could stop you, I don't want to. And this Meritocracy you're proposing sounds wonderful. You don't need my blessing at all. Go and be wonderful, Common. He blinked a few times before he realized I'd given my consent for him to do this, and then he processed the words more finely. He nodded a few times as he left the Sanctum, and I got off my behind to look at the few treasures I kept hidden in a hallow behind my makeshift throne. A card from the Lady, a soapstone from the Knight, and a clasp from the Twins. I sighed and ran a finger over all of them, feeling my connection to each of their masters. I sent the same thought across the three connections, hoping they would hear me. I'm sorry, but it's too dangerous now. I can't risk the world being open anymore, for a threat from Beyond is coming. Goodbye, my erstwhile allies. I do not think I shall be meeting you all again after all. As I left to go to the front gates of town and collect Silver, a song played through my head. If I touch a burning candle, I shall feel no pain... A memory flashed through my mind, of one of my first dances with the sisters, when they tried to oust me by destroying the armor. Pro tip: When Celestia looks like she's about to fire her laser, get out of the damn way! Damn thing's made of sunfire! Cut me with a knife, it's still the same... This time, the memory was one of Luna goring my hand during our last dance. True it didn't hurt, but it still felt like it should when I lost all feeling in my hand that suddenly. And my heart is aching...though it doesn't beat, it's breaking... Older memories, of my life from before, ran through my mind. My parents, my little sister. My friend. My world. Even if I'm dead, it seems I still have some tears to shed... And right then, I would have. Because in that moment, I realized what had changed so much about me from when I had been freed. Cadenza's power was love, it had come up once. And that shield around Canterlot at the end of the wedding and the one around the Crystal Empire were fueled by the damn stuff. Spending so much time around her had awoken my heart again. I thought it had died a while ago, but apparently not. It'd been reanimated, after a sense, and I was remembering all that I once loved. The problem was, I had lost it, and likely wasn't going to get it back. I would have wiped a tear away from my face then. Heh. Who says Venus isn't quite as good as healing physical ailments as Mercury is? Being around it had certainly restored that beating engine of mine. If only it could be healed all the way. Silver seemed to notice the change in demeanor as I neared. "Sir, are ye alright?" I nodded once and cleared my throat. Never better. C'mon, we got a volcano to get you to. Author's Note Would you hate me if I told you I know when the story is going to end? And that it would be coming soon? Chapter 18 - Get it through your thick head"What do ye mean, ye don't hate the sisters?!" I sighed at Silver's outburst. It was the third day of our little trek down to where the volcano was, and he'd asked me why I hated the sisters. To which I replied that I didn't. It's simple enough to lay out, but complex to understand. I don't hate anyone, save for the Wise One. I conserve my wrath for they that think themselves monsters, and that leaves anger for the sisters. Silver tilted his head to the side in confusion. "They're not all the same?" I snorted then, shaking my body in the negative. I make distinctions between the differing levels of dislike. Anger's just a flash in the pan. It's momentary, can be satisfied easily with things like pranks or minor revenge on the one to earn it. Silver nodded slowly as the words sunk in, and I continued my definitions. Wrath is a bit more forceful. At least for me. I conserve my wrath for they that step out into the dark. I make sure to use up my wrath, never let it build. It is the desire to inflict harm upon another because of who they are or what they've done. And hate. I hate only the Wise One. Hate is, to me, declaring someone your foe for as long as either of you live. Despite what the sisters did to me, I don't truly hate them. I've been angry with them multiple times, and even now, I refute any and all attempts of theirs to make peace with me, but I don't hate them. It's anger bordering on wrath. Silver laughed a bit then. "Holdin' a grudge fer fifteen hundred years seems like a mite bit more than anger. Y'sure it's not wrath?" I nodded. If they ever truly tried, if they ever saw things from my perspective, saw what I did and why I did it...If they admitted, publicly, to my existence and purpose, along with what they'd done to me and how WRONG they were. Then I would forgive them. Then we could stop antagonizing one another, even minorly. There was no more talk then, as Silver turned over to go to sleep, and I kept watch. When nearly a week had passed and the volcano was in sight, Silver asked me another question. "Do I seem too angry to you?" I pondered it for a moment. Well, those of Mars do tend to be more prone to anger. So your normal weekly routine of getting in at least one minor argument? That falls within operational parameters. It's still a bit on the high end, though. And the few things that you get really passionate about? You tend to get passionate enough that you leave scorch marks on the grass. That's when I have to say that yes, you have issues. Silver sighed then. "Growin' up, I could see the Djinn. They talked to me, gave me stories of you, of what you did. When I grew older and knew right from wrong more firmly, I realized I wanted to share what you did, and built a church. 'S when I got my mark. And when I realized that no matter the amount I preached, if I didn't practice it as well...that's when I started to draw her eye to me. Ten years ago, she took it all away, dismantled my life's work around me. I want to repay that nag for what she did. And you say I'm too angry." I sighed then. There are two sides to every story, two sides to every coin. But things are not white or black in reality. Many things are shades of grey, or just otherwise different. Those who divide the world into two groups and claim the moral high ground of their own are half the problem. Silver sat there stunned for a moment before I added something that I knew he'd find shocking. Besides. I was chained up for fifteen hundred years, and the closest I got to truly hating them was when I realized how long it had been once I was free, how I'd likely lost everything and everyone I ever knew. Afterwards it simmered back into mere anger. If I can't hate them for that, who are you to claim otherwise? Silver's jaw damn near dislocated with how far it dropped, and he was silent for the rest of the evening. It took us an entire day to get to the summit of the volcano, and Silver and I looked into it. Sitting on a crag of rock that had somehow not melted near the middle of the lava pool was a pillar of obsidian. I pointed at it and sighed. Ten bits says that's what needs to be hit with the light from the Mars Star. Silver shook his head then. "No bet. How're we gonna get to it?" I turned to 'look' at him and stared for a second. I'm pretty sure we won't have to. If you're ready, you just have to touch the Mars Star and channel the power towards it. I held the Star in one hand, and Silver put his hoof out to touch it. Nothing happened. I looked back to him and thought over what it could possibly be that he needed to confront. Silver, you realize that by living away from her, living in a community she has no sway in, you're hurting her near as bad as she hurt you, right? Silver tilted his head to the side, and I continued. She 'loves' all 'her little ponies' and wants only 'what's best for them.' But by showing her that we can manage without her and don't bow to her, we're proving her wrong. We're taking something from her that she's held to be true since time immemorial. We're taking her argument away from her. We're showing her she is not infallible. And to those in authority, that cuts like nothing else, especially if they actually care, and doubly so if it's proven the new way is better than the old. Silver blinked a few times and nodded once. Silver...let it go. Let the hate go. Let the wrath go. She'll be hurting as long as Newvale exists. As long as ponies live who don't bow to her, she'll be hurting worse than she hurt you. Let. It. Go. At this, he protested. "I can't! I can't just let her get away with what she did to me!" And who said she would? File your grievances. Reopen your church in Newvale. But do not let your past define your future! Put the weight of your hatred down! Do not forgive, do not forget, but do not make it the sum of what you are! Silver breathed deeply once, twice... And on the third exhale, the Star shattered. Silver gained a massive red aura, and it jumped from him to the obsidian pillar. A ball of red light formed and hovered over the volcano, and I 'nodded' once at him. I'm glad I can still do this. Teleport! And with that, we left the Mars Light behind. The next week in Newvale passed quickly for me. I made it my mission to pass all of the unaligned Psynergies into appropriate vessels. Painful, necessary work. We finally had a road to connect us to the main thoroughfare, and ponies occasionally visited Newvale now. We were getting non-Adept residents now, and it was...well, interesting, to say the least. I very nearly had to put my foot down on the pranking some ponies and Djinn did with their Psynergy to the poor souls. And they eventually got used to our dislike of the Princesses. Some of them even opened shop in our town. Really, by now one of the few distinctions we could use to distinguish it from any other pony town was the sheer number of species and the decidedly not pony/horse related pun name. Finally, ShiverSpine informed me he was ready. The eight Jupiter Djinn hovering around him confirmed this to me, and I sighed. Give me three days to get into position, then go to Cloudsdale. And with that, I handed over the Jupiter Star, left my Sanctum, and headed back to Mt. Canterlot. As the third day dawned on the mountain, I got a most unexpected guest. "Dully!" With a pop and a flash, Discord showed up in front of me and gave me a hug. Discord? How, what, why? He laughed at me a little and summoned a glass of chocolate milk, then proceeded to somehow drink it in reverse. "Tia decided that I was worth her trouble and had little Fluttershy reform me. Now I'm not quite as bothersome to her. Most of the time." I laughed a bit. Makes me wonder if I had anything to do with it. Discord scratched the back of his head with his lion paw. "You just might have. After all, the way you keep showing her that she was wrong about you probably made her think she was wrong about me as well." Discord sat on a conjured armchair (that let out a whoopie cushion noise as he sat on it) and looked at me. "So I've got good news and bad news." Bad news first. "Well, the bad news is, this Wise One? Yeah, I can't stop him. He's too close. It'd only be putting it off, and that'd only work once. If you managed to deal with him, weaken him? Then I could sort of 'veil' this dimension from his sight, and as long as I'm alive, he wouldn't be able to find us." ...Was that also the good news? "Nope, the good news is better! It's only the Wise One that you have to deal with! I stopped everything else from that particular dimension from drifting over." And if I know you, there's a secret, mystery, third news. At this, Discord laughed a bit. "You do know me well! There's actually two more bits of news. The first is that I ran the numbers, he'll be here soon. Within another week sort of soon. And the second is that the royal sisters are right behind you." Ignoring the flood of stampeding numbers underfoot, I turned behind me to see the sisters standing at the edge of the mountain. I sighed again. You lot, and that includes you Dissy, need to get off the mountain. I don't know when it'll happen, but I know it'll happen today! You need to not be here, I don't know what it'll do to you! They looked startled for a moment before taking flight and hovering about a hundred feet away. Discord merely smiled and snapped his way back to...hopefully somewhere safe. Lulu began to assault me with her voice from her range. "DULLAHAN, IF THOU ATTEMPTS TO USE THIS POWER AGAINST EQUESTRIA, KNOWEST NOW THAT WE WILL-" She didn't get to finish. On the horizon, I could see the Light of Jupiter igniting, and then the tension in the air increased a hundredfold. Streaking across the sky were ribbons of light. Green, red, blue, and violet. They gathered above me and merged into a golden orb. Just in time for a very familiar floating blue-eyed boulder to appear and glare at me. Side Chapter 6 - The Final TrialAuthor's Note Three authors on this one! Shinigamisparda, SwimmingDalek98, and PimpbabyDragon. Jesus, 6k words for the dragon. Shoulda expected it, honestly. Side Chapter 6 - The Final Trial The Final Trial The dragon’s fanged smile grew as he heard the approaching metallic footsteps of Newvale’s founder, which could only mean that a certain unicorn priest was approaching as well. It had been more than a week since they left and ever since that beadon of red light began to shine he was anxious for them to return. After all, he was next, and last, in line for a journey. Within minutes, they both came into view. “Oy there, ShiverSpine!” Silver Cross called. The adolescent dragon jumped off the roof of his home, flapping his leathery wings once to slow his descent before hitting the ground. “Welcome back, you two,” he answered with a smile. Shiver, how’s the Djinn problem coming? asked the mighty headless armor. “Just fine. I’ve picked up a couple of wild ones nearby, and the rest I need are going to be loaned to me by some of the others.” Good. All that’s left is to complete your trial. I think you and Silver Cross should have a little chat. Is there anything I should attend to? “Well, there’s a few new additions to the town, a few non-adept ponies, actually. Some of them don’t have much love for the Princesses, but others are just some enterprising merchants looking to check things out.” Guess things have really started up now that we’ve got that road finished. Alright, I’ll see what needs to be done. Cross, you take over from here. And with that the dark armor walked further into town, startling some of the newer residents who either hid behind whatever was nearby or looked on with fascination. Their reactions got a chuckle out of the ice drake and the unicorn. “So, what exactly was the trial you needed to overcome? Some traps? Or a riddle?” Silver Cross hesitated a moment before responding, something that caught ShiverSpine off guard. “Ah think yer gonna want ta sit down for this one. Mind if ah come inside?” -- “You’re kidding. You had to give up your hatred of Celestia?” “Aye.” “So you don’t have any problems with her anymore?” “Nah, ah’m still plenty mad at her, but ah’m not thinkin’ about it all the time now.” “What do you mean?” “Ah mean when we first came here there were pretty much only two things runnin’ though mah head: ‘how can ah serve Dullahan?’, and ‘how can ah piss off her Royal Sunbutt?’ But now…” The unicorn closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Now ah’m thinkin’ ‘what can ah do that’ll make me happy? That’ll make everyone else happy?’ ‘Cause that’s all ah ever really wanted. Ah let mah rage take over these past ten years, and ah lost sight of what ah was tryin’ ta get back.” “So, if you had to let go of your anger, then that means-“ “Aye. That means yer likely gonna have ta do the same,” Cross finished. “Ah understand what yer going though, and how tough it’ll be. Yer the only one in town that has more reason ta hate her than me. It won’t be easy.” “But it still has to be done, doesn’t it?” ShiverSpine muttered. “Aye, and soon. Dullahan’s at his weakest now, the weakest he’ll be before he gets empowered by that ‘Golden Sun’ he was talkin’ about.” “Which needs to show up soon, now that three of the beacons are lit, which means that ‘Wise One’ is coming even faster now.” The dragon groaned. “Why did it have to be me? I… I don’t think I can do it.” Both waited in silence for a moment before the stallion perked up. “Ya know, ah might know one that can give ya an idea on what ta do.” The drake cocked his head in confusion. “I think we better pay our little shamaness a visit.” -- The dragon and the unicorn approached Aboyami’s tent near the center of town, a strange and somewhat unnerving sight to those who didn’t know what it meant for the village. Over time the mysterious and somewhat creepy, yet undoubtedly kind zebra mare, had earned the oh-so-clever nickname “The Grim Healer” from the residents. This was due in part to the combination of her cloak with the skeleton design she wore to work, not to mention her “special services”, and the fact anything she did made things better. Whether it was a cold remedy, a disinfectant for wounds, or in Silver Cross’ case a remedy for chronic lung disease, anyone that met with her always left happier. Recently she’d even begun infusing gems with Growth psyenergy, a trick she picked up from Crystal Clear, having made friends with the half-zebra half-unicorn. “Oy there, Aboyami!” the stallion called as he entered, leaving Shiver outside to peek in, being a bit too big to fit into the shamaness’ crowded workspace. “Hope we’re not interruptin’?” Aboyami diverted her attention away from the gem she had just picked up to face her visitors. “Silver Cross! I had heard you were back! It is good to see you well.” The mare pulled back her hood and gave the unicorn a quick hug, which he reciprocated. This surprised Shiver, as he’d never seen Cross as being the touchy type. “And hello to you as well, ShiverSpine. What brings you two to my humble abode today? The smile on Silver Cross’s face faded. “Ah’m afraid we’re needin’ a little help. Or to be more accurate, he’s needin’ some help.” “Oh, have you finally come to ask for my services?” Aboyami asked. The dragon grimaced slightly in response. More than once Aboyami had recommended that she help him speak with his family from beyond the grave. It’s not that he was opposed to the idea itself, but rather that he didn’t feel he could face his family. Not yet at least. “Sorry, but no. Actually, I was hoping to get some advice.” “Advice on what?” “Well, maybe ah’d better start on that one,” Cross began. “Well, ya see, on mah trip to the Mars beacon…” -- “So that’s basically the gist of it,” Cross finished. “I see. This is a dilemma indeed,” Aboyami stated before turning to Shiver. “You must overcome your own grief and hate to pass your trial and light the beacon. Amber’s trial was seeking justice for her adoptive father, and Silver Cross’ was learning to no longer let his hate consume him. I hear that Queen Chrysalis’ trial was to be willing to give up everything that she is for a way to help her hive live happily, which involved peace with those she attacked. All were successful in putting the past behind them and looking to the future. Which leaves you, ShiverSpine. I believe it is obvious what you must put behind you.” “Revenge,” the drake muttered. “Against whoever killed that pony, and Celestia,” he growled that name, frigid breath escaping from between his fangs. “Indeed. I’d like to take my time and counsel you on letting go of your rage, but I fear we do not have time. The Wise One approaches, and we likely do not have time for a gradual approach.” “So what do I do? I won’t let everyone suffer because of me.” The shamaness hesitated. “I… have an idea, but I am hesitant to suggest it.” The other two were silent, holding their gazes with the zebra. “I think you may have to confront your problem directly.” The two’s eye’s widened in shock. “Do… Do you mean-?” “Now hold on a minute, even ah know this is a bad idea!” “I understand, and I would not have suggested it if I thought there was another option,” she explained. “… Ah think we should talk to Dullahan about this,” Silver Cross suggested. -- It had been two and a half days since then and ShiverSpine had already made it to Canterlot, amazing time even for a flying dragon as himself. The Jupiter Djinn had aided in increasing his physical abilities, but also there was the added strength of his own motivation. He was on a time limit, though he had no idea how long it was, and more importantly he was finally going to put to rest one of his goals. A 20 year old goal that had driven him to join the dissenters in Newvale, and had kept a fire burning in him for all that time. Night had fallen upon the Equestrian capital, which made his infiltration pathetically easily, despite the increased guard patrols. The Cloak Sphere saw to that, especially in the darkness where he didn’t have to worry about the sunlight bringing him out of his illusion. He kept it in a small bag along with some food and water for the trip. Dullahan had given it to him when Silver Cross and Aboyami had explained their plan, one that the armored spirit had his problems with but couldn’t think of any way to refute it. He gave him the treasure and the words “let it go” before sending the adolescent drake on his way. He had left on his own for the sake of expedience, but that in itself was proving to have unexpected consequences. Being alone, aside from his few Djinn who didn’t talk since introducing themselves, had let his mind wander. He didn’t know exactly what he planned to do when he finally confronted the solar diarch, but over the course of the last two days his thoughts had continually turned darker and darker. He kept trying to convince himself that he shouldn’t harm her, that Dullahan would’ve disapproved, but as he kept revisiting the thought of rending her flesh it became harder and harder to focus on that. Those thoughts only became more vivid as he entered the palace proper and approached the alicorn’s private quarters. He could see the light from the fireplace inside. He took a breath and puffed out a melon-sized cloud of frigid air before using his wind psyenergy to guide it under the door. Being able to sense the fluctuations in temperature he guided it to the fire and extinguished it. He heard her gasp inside and quickly yet quietly opened the door. He had made it inside but hadn’t closed it by the time she lit the fireplace again with her magic. The psyenergy disguise wore off the moment the light hit him and the two beings stared at each other for a moment. In that moment one thought flooded ShiverSpine’s thoughts. Revenge. The drake lunged at the Princess, toppling her off her cushion and pinning her to the floor, one claw around her neck and the other around her wing, both drawing blood. “Good evening, Princess,” he greeted, his icy cold tone belying the terrible flame burning in him, thought it was no less dreadful. The alicorn fired a beam at his face, the pain and force knocking him back and getting him to let go of her. She quickly stood up and reared on her hind legs, slamming both her forehooves into his chest. The dragon managed to grab them before flying across the room, stopping him and pulling her off balance. He used his momentum to hurl her at the door, closing it as she slammed into the wood and fell to the floor, groaning in pain. Not letting her get a chance to recover he lunged and grabbed her hind legs before throwing her at the other wall. Celestia manged to keep herself from impact by flapping her wings, halting her movement in mid-air. The drake responded by firing a burst of wind psyenergy that slammed her back into a desk and then the wall behind it before unleashing a frigid breath that pinned her to the wall in ice. With another quick lunge he grabbed her neck in one claw and her muzzle in the other. He squeezed her throat, choking her, while making sure to keep her horn pointed away from him and yet still in his sights so he could be aware of any spell she tried to cast. “Do you remember me, Celestia? Do you remember the ice dragons you condemned to death twenty years ago?” he asked, his silver eyes shining in fury. She stared back and he saw the recognition flicker cross her eyes. “So you do remember. Then maybe you’ll remember their names. The names of a family of ice dragons who left their kind to live in peace. Who were pushed aside by those they wished to form friendships with. Who were unjustly blamed when a pony was mauled to death. Well I’ll tell you. My father, FrostShard. My mother, Sparkling Sapphire. And my sister, Radiant Ruby. My sister, who you had killed just as she had entered her adolescence. My sister, who you condemned to death on her birthday! Do you remember them, Princess!? Do you remember how they screamed for mercy, for understanding!? How they tried to convince you of their innocence!? Or were their pleas falling on deaf ears because of how your ponies demanded ‘justice’ for our ‘crimes’!? What do you have to say for yourself!?" As his voice grew in intensity her eyes closed. As he waited for her to answer she finally opened them and gazed back. What he saw was not fear or anger but a look of profound sadness, the likes of which he’d never seen. “… I’m sorry,” she answered simply. The room fell completely silent for what felt like an eternity. In that time Shiver briefly considered just leaving, that look somehow managing to pierce his soul. But only briefly. “Apologizing won’t bring them back,” he snarled. He released her neck and raised his claw, ready to slice her open. “I am ShiverSpine, and tonight I take the first step in avenging my family.” Before he swung he noticed that the Princess didn’t even struggle. All she did was look back at him with those profoundly sad eyes. In that moment of hesitation his attention was caught by a photo on the wall. It depicted the Princess posing happily with a group of ponies, all of them happy to be with her. It looked quite old. His eyes began to drift as he saw several more photos of several different ages, all depicting similar situations: happy ponies with the Princess. It was then that a terrible thought entered his head, one that warred with his desire for revenge. His raised claw clenched as the internal battle raged. After what seemed like ages to him he slammed his clenched fist into Celestia’s stomach, winding her but more importantly shattering her icy prison. Before she could recover he grabbed her and threw her across the room before repeatedly slamming his fists into the wall she had been pinned to. The Princess stared as she caught her breath, seeing him begin to crack the wall with his pummeling. After about a minute he fell to his knees, his arms hanging weakly at his sides as he sobbed. “Why?” she asked, confused at the turn the situation had taken. ShiverSpine sighed before responding. “It was not your grief that saved you, Celestia,” he began, wiping his eyes as he stood, still not facing her. “Nor was it my own morals, or Dullahan’s teachings. Neither was it knowing that my family would look upon me poorly for taking revenge.” He reached down and grabbed one of the photos, thinking back to the terrifyingly vivid image he had moments before. Thousands, if not millions of ponies, wailing in sorrow and agony. Screaming the name of their fallen leader who lay dead, slain at his claws. “It was them, and their love for you. I hate you, Celestia. I hate you so much. But I could never do to them what you did to me.” He dropped the photo before turning to her. “I will not kill you. But I also will not forgive you.” Their gazes held for a moment before he silently walked towards the door. “Wait!” the Princess called, quickly standing. “Wait please! I know I cannot bring them back, but please let me do something to help you!” Shiver’s anger burned again, but nowhere near as badly as last time. “What could you possibly-?” he began, only to cut himself off. Memories of a psyenergy he had recently mastered gave him an idea. “… My family, can you take me to them?” he asked calmly. Celestia’s ears drooped and she looked down in shame. “I’m sorry, but nothing of them remains. I used my Sunfire on them. It was the only way to enact the execution.” The dragon’s fists clenched as he grit his fangs, doing his best to restrain himself and quell his rage. After about a minute, he managed it. “What about the pony who was killed? Can you take me to her?” Celestia raised her head and looked back curiously, but nodded. “Yes,” she answered, and her horn glowed with magic. With a flash there were now in a graveyard, far from Canterlot, courtesy of a teleportation spell. In front of them both was a tombstone, the name “Spring Green” chiseled onto it. “This is her, is it?” he asked quietly. “Yes,” she answered. After a moment she asked “Should I leave you two to talk?” “You can stay if you’d like. I don’t mind,” he responded raising his claw. He focused his power before unleashing his most recently discovered talent. “Spirit Sense,” he announced, causing the surrounding area to darken with a shade of blue. “Can you hear me, Spring Green?” “…Are… are you talking to me?” came a feminine voice. Celestia recoiled in shock, having also heard the voice, but kept silent and watched the scene unfold. “Yes. My name is ShiverSpine. I am an ice dragon.” “Oh goodness, you’re one of them, aren’t you? You’re one of those dragons that got framed for my death!” “’Framed!?’” Celestia all but shouted. “Oh gracious! Princess Celestia! You’re here too!? You can hear me as well? Forgive me, Princess, but I don’t have a body to bow with.” “Please, do not apologize for such a thing. And yes, I can hear you, by aid of this one’s power. Please continue, you said they were framed?” “…Yes, “ the voice continued, it’s tone turning hateful. “By a griffon. His name is Golden Talon. I thought he was just a merchant, he came to our village so many times over the years. I was walking home one night when he abducted me. Before he killed me he told me that he wasn’t going to be caught because the dragons that lived nearby would be blamed. Your name is ShiverSpine, right? Thank goodness you’re alive! Then that means the rest of your family is ok too, right?” Neither the dragon nor the alicorn responded. “No… don’t tell me… They… They were…” there was gap before anything else was said. Soon the mare’s voice began to sob. “I’m so sorry! Oh by Celestia, I am so sorry! If I’d fought harder, if I hadn’t died, then they’d… they’d still be-!” “Please, don’t blame yourself for something like that,” Shiver interrupted. “That wasn’t something in your control.” “B-But-!” “You’ve already helped me more than you can imagine. You’ve given me the name of the one that was responsible for my family’s death. If you really want to help me then maybe you could give me information on how he looks like.” Spring Green’s voice sniffled before turning hateful again. “I can do you one better. That horrible griffon comes here during his trade routes to gloat at my grave about how he got away with it and how you all died. I didn’t believe him, I didn’t want to believe him. But now I see it’s the truth. For twenty years I’ve had to listen to him, and it sickens me! I’d sell my soul to bring him to justice! He was here only a few days ago! Maybe you can still catch him!” ShiverSpine and Celestia were too shocked to answer, not only at the good fortune of having a chance to bring this criminal to justice but also by the deplorable actions he committed. “I’ll have the royal guard comb the-“ “No. I’ll find him,” the dragon interrupted. “If he was here that recently then I can track him by scent. This is my vengeance, and I’ll see it through to the end.” Celestia wanted to protest but Shiver’s eyes made her stop. He was dead-set on this. “Will you kill him?” she asked. “No. I have something more fitting in mind,” he said calmly before turning back to the tombstone. “Spring Green, you will be avenged. You have no reason to stay here anymore. Justice will be served. I promise.” It was in that moment that a ghostly white earth pony rose out from the tombstone, her expression one of relief and happiness. “Thank you ShiverSpine. Thank you so much,” she said gently before he expression turned angry. “Make. Him. Pay.” And with that she closed her eyes and disappeared into a mist. “You’ll be heading to Clousdale soon, correct?” Celestia asked. The dragon nodded, not even looking at her. “I’ll make sure the Royal Guard expects you.” Without another word or even a nod the dragon turned and spread his wings, ready to take off. “Wait, ShiverSpine!” The drake turned to glare at the Princess. "What!?" Celestia recoiled for a moment before gathering herself again. “For what little it is worth I want you to know that I am so very, very sorry.” The dragon turned away, her eyes once again showing that profound sadness he had seen before. Part of him wanted to simply leave, and another part wanted to hit her. However, something else won out. “I… I know,” said quietly. “I understand that now. And I believe it. Maybe, one day in the future, I actually will be able to forgive you.” He let that sentence hang in the air for a moment before turning to glare at her again. “But don’t hold your breath.” And with that his leathery wings flapped as he streaked off into the night sky. Celestia simply watched for as long as she could, which turned out to be only a few seconds due to the drake’s alarming speed, before teleporting back into her room. She stood there a moment before she collapsed to the floor and cried. “Sister?” Celestia stopped before turning to see Luna in the doorway, her expression attempting to look as comforting as possible. “L-Luna? I-I was just-“ “Do not bother sister, I saw the end of it. I saw him tell you why he let you go,” she said quietly, not even using her old Equestrian dialect. “Sister, I had no idea.” Celestia freely sobbed again. Her younger sister lied down next to her, draping a wing over her sibling. “How many, Luna? How many lives have we – no, have I ruined in the name of love and harmony? How many terrible mistakes have I made?” The Night Princess nuzzled her solar counterpart. “Sister, we have lived longer and grander lives than any other. It stands to reason that we have also made the most and grandest mistakes. But we cannot let that stop us. If Dullahan’s return has taught us anything it is that we must learn from our mistakes, to ensure that neither we nor anypony else makes them again. We must continue forward and make amends wherever and whenever we can.” Celesita didn’t answer any more than a nod as her cries died down to sniffles. The two remained in each other’s company before the solar diarch finally fell asleep. -- It had taken ShiverSpine only a few hours to locate Golden Talon. He followed the merchant’s scent to his caravan down the beaten path between towns. Shiver was not going to give him even the slightest chance of escape and decided to strike fast and hard. He dived straight into the caravan, smashing it to splinters. The force of the impact sent the griffon sprawling and before he could even figure out what was happening the drake had him pinned with his claws to his throat. “Hello. My name is ShiverSpine. You framed my family, didn’t you, Golden Talon?” he asked, his introduction cold and menacing. The griffon’s reaction threw him for a loop. He had some ideas on how the griffon might react but laughing was certainly not one of them. “Well well, took you long enough. How’d you find out it was me?” he asked in a tone of amusement. “That’s none of your concern. Why did you do it? Why did you kill that mare?” “No reason, really. I just felt like killing somepony. I’ve done it before.” The flippant tone the griffon used, not to mention that smug look on his face, almost drove Shiver over the edge. “You mean you killed her and framed my family because you thought it was fun!?” “Not exactly. I killed her for fun. You all getting blamed was just the convenient excuse I needed so I wouldn’t get caught. Anything with claws would’ve done.” Shiver squeezed Golden Talon’s neck before slamming his head into the ground. "I should kill you now." The griffon coughed before responding with “What’s stopping you? Not like it’ll make a difference.” Shiver nearly gutted the avian right there, but through great willpower managed to hold back knowing one thing for certain: his punishment if he lived would be worse. The dragon tapped into his psyenergy before casting the Sleep spell. -- The next few days passed in a blur for ShiverSpine. During that time he traveled back with his quarry, casting the spell again and again to keep the griffon subdued before finally arriving in Newvale. The others, particularly Silver Cross and Aboyami, were happy to see him back. Dullahan was as well, but also because he hadn’t heard of any reports of attacks on Celestia, or her death. A trial was held for Golden Talon, which was incredibly short. The sociopathic avian actually pleaded guilty when presented with the charges. One might have thought for brief moment that he was trying to repent, but he took the shock of the courtroom as an opportunity to mock everyone, claiming that even putting him to death wouldn’t change anything, that there would always be fools to be preyed on. Dullahan agreed that death wouldn’t solve anything, and that it would be too kind a punishment, so once again the court saw the harshest sentence inflicted upon the defendant: insanity from the armor’s blade. After the trial, ShiverSpine was approached by Silver Cross and Aboyami, both wearing expressions of sympathy. “So, ya actually did it,” Cross said. “Or, rather, ya didn’t do it.” The dragon nodded. “It wasn’t easy, was it?” “Not in the least.” There was a pause before Cross stood on his hind legs and held out his forelegs before smiling. “Come here, ya scaly brute.” The drake could only chuckle ash he lowered himself down to the stallion’s level, wrapping his arm around him as the pony gave a quick hug around his neck. After they were done the ice drake turned to Aboyami. “I’m ready,” he said simply. It took the zebra half a second to understand what he meant and nodded. “Meet me in my tent when you have the item.” The dragon headed back to his home while the shamaness left to prepare the séance. -- Shiver sat quietly as the cloaked zebra muttered her chant. She had not only prepared the séance but also made room for the dragon himself in her tent. Laying in front of the sitting mare was a ruby necklace, the gem cut to look like a flame. It was all he had left of his sister, something that he had made by himself for her birthday. If only she’d gotten a chance to actually receive it. It had been his memento and reminder of what he kept living for. Aboyami stopped muttering in her native tongue, catching the drake’s attention. “Spirit of Radiant Ruby, I call upon you to this world, to this place. One who you loved in life, and still loves you, wishes to speak with you now. Please come forth so that I may pass your sentiments to him. Come for your brother, ShiverSpine.” There was a brief pause before she opened her eyes. “She is here.” “Right. Let’s give this a try.” The ice dragon focused his psyenergy, hoping that it and Aboyami’s Zebafrican ritual would be compatible. “Spirit Sense.” The surrounding area darkened with blue and above them appeared a spectral dragon. She smiled and he smiled back. “Ruby.” “Well hey, look at you. Hardly changed, huh?” Shiver growled in frustration. “Really? That’s what you have to say after being dead for twenty years? After being given a chance to come back and say hi to the world of the living, to your brother, that’s what I get?” “Hey, I’ve had mom and dad to keep me company. Besides, you know I can’t help annoying you,” she answered with a giggle. “We can get to the mushy stuff later.” He sighed. “Even after all this time I have no idea how in Tartarus you’re supposed to be an ice dragon.” A smile crept onto his face before he continued. “I guess if nothing else I can take comfort in knowing the afterlife hasn’t been bad to you if you’re still the same as you were.” “Heh. I guess. So,” she began before smiling the widest grin she could make. “Got a mate yet?” The red blush shone even through his blue scales. “W-Why would you even ask that!? And in front of Aboyami! Did you forget we’re not the only one’s here or do you just not care!?” “Hey, I worry about you! You’re 180 and you never had a serious relationship!” “Two hundred now, and I just never found a dragon I really connected with, that’s all! And why were you always so worried about my relationship status!? Seriously, shouldn’t it be the older sibling who worries about the younger sibling!?” “Hey, you know I was always different. So, still haven’t found a mate, huh? Maybe you should look outside the species a bit. It happens, right?” The girl’s spirit turned to the shamaness. “What about her? She doesn’t look bad for a pony.” Aboyami looked surprised while ShiverSpine’s jaw hung open. He quickly recovered and retorted. “One, she’s the one who brought you here and is keeping you here, so show some respect! Two, she a zebra, not a pony! Three-!” “Ahem!” the shamaness interrupted. “I appreciate the compliment, Radiant Ruby. However, although your brother is a good friend of mine, he is simply not my type.” “Yeah, that’d be Silver Cross, right?” Shiver asked. “W-What!?” “Come on, you’re the only one I’ve seen him hug. You can’t tell me that doesn’t mean anything.” “He hugged you as well, and that affection is nothing of the sort! We are simply good friends!” “Wow, never expected you to pull something like that, brother,” Ruby stated with a grin. “Yeah, I guess even with your short time here you’re starting to rub off on me again,” he joked. Aboyami growled for a moment before throwing her head back in a dramatic fashion. “Oh, what horrible tragedy! My powers are inexplicably and conveniently weakening and I cannot hold your sister in this world for much longer! If you have something you must tell her, do it quickly before she is forced to leave!” “Ok, Ok, I get the message,” Shiver replied before turning to his sister’s ghost, his expression softening. “Ruby, I wanted to tell you that I’ve found justice, both for us and the poor mare that was killed. And I’m part of something big now. I’m making a change in this world, and I really think it’s for the better. And to top it off, I’ve got a new family now. So tell mom and dad that I’m ok, and when we meet again I’ll tell you all about it.” Ruby smiled back gently. “Yeah, well don’t hurry to meet us. We can wait. By the way, that necklace was supposed to be for me, right?” He nodded. “Yeah. Cut it myself.” “Give it to your mate when you finally get one. There’s no point in it just sitting somewhere as a reminder of me, ok?” “Yeah… Well, see ya.” “Yup. Not too soon, hopefully.” And with that, she faded away into mist. There was a moment of silence before Aboyami spoke. “ShiverSpine. I believe you are ready.” “Yeah. I think so, too.” -- It had been three days since ShiverSpine had informed Dullahan he was ready. Three days since he was loaned the extra Djinn he needed for lighting the final beacon. He looked up to Cloudsdale from the ground before rocketing upwards. The speed the eight Djinn offered him was incredible and in mere seconds he was already in the city. As he landed on the clouds ponies began to scream and flee in terror, but he simply waited. Within minutes he was surrounded by Royal Guard pegasi, all with their spears pointed at him. “My name is ShiverSpine,” he called. “You should be expecting me.” There was a short wait before one of them stepped forward. “I am Swift Strike. Celestia said that we should guide you to the Weather Factory. Don’t try anything funny.” “Sure. Let’s hurry. I don’t know how much time we have left.” -- It had taken him a few minutes but the ice dragon had finally found the spot he needed to unleash the Jupiter star. As it turned out, it was right in the center of the many pools in the Rainbow Factory section. He warned the rest of the ponies to stay back as he reached into his bag took out the purple star. He gazed at it a moment before closing his eyes. “Thank you, Dullahan,” he muttered. “Thanks to you and the rest I was finally able to put the past behind me, and get myself a future. With this I hope you become strong enough to stop the Wise One. Strong enough to ensure that he doesn’t make anyone suffer like I did.” He held the star aloft and it almost instantly shattered. Purple light shot from him into all the pools of the multicolored liquid, which all quickly glowed with bright purple light. Those lights soon all fired and met right above him before rocketing up into the sky and exploding into a massive ball of energy. Exhausted, ShiverSpine fell to the floor, barely conscious enough to notice the light radiating from the glowing ball increase before firing its power off into the distance. One thought entered his mind as he blacked out. Please win. Chapter 19 - Off with his head!Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 1 - Heading outBored. So very, very bored. You would think they would at least have the common courtesy to take me with them. But no. Trap the possessed armor in unbreaking chains and leave it in the basement. Oh, and take its sword. Not like I NEED IT or anything. I sighed, thinking about shifting one of my chains, but ultimately deciding against it. It'd require the use of magic I just did not have. Not without my wonderful battery slash converter. I mean, yeah, it made me less dangerous, but it also took away nearly all my power to do anything more than THINK! Damn pony sisters. And for what? Clomping around? Terrifying a few ponies while I got used to my powers that I'd never had before? Maybe screaming my head off I'd be willing to give them. But when you wake up in magical pony land and find yourself as nothing more than a spirit possessing a suit of armor without a head, I'd like to see you maintain your composure. Suddenly, there was a tang in the air. One I hadn't sensed in quite a while. One that I knew, and it excited me somewhat. Dissy? Dissy, ol' buddy? That you? "LUCY, I'M HOOOOME!" With a flash, the spirit of Chaos and Disharmony entered my 'prison'. He looked around and gagged a bit. "Ech! A thousand and a half years of dust down here. What have you been doing, Dully?" Oh, you know. Not much. Just complaining about the chains. And my missing sword. Seriously, they could at least have taken me with. "I'd say you got it easy, but honestly, your prison is just a bit larger than mine was. Anyways, I come bearing gifts!" Oh Dissy, you didn't have to! What'd ya bring me? A get out of jail free card? Some instant rust? With a snap and a flash, the spirit conjured up something I dearly missed for the past few eras. My sword! Oh Dissy! I could kiss you! "I'd love to see you do that without a head," Discord replied as he placed the sword in my right hand. Instantly, power flooded my very being. With a groan, I brought the sword down on the chains holding me. Time had done what pure rage could not, and on the third strike, one of the chains broke. Now with a bit more leverage, I brought my gleaming sword down on the other chains, snapping them all off and shrugging the metal down to the floor. You always do bring the most welcome...and unwelcome things, Dissy. Why do this for me? "Well, being, how do you say, from In Between normally, I can tell when things are happening in this world. Or to this world." Such as? "Well, whatever realm inspired your get-up, Frank, and our own? They're starting to notice one another. I'll do all I can to put it off today, but that'll only delay it, especially if those Elements get their act together and put me back in the slammer. So I have a proposition for you!" Listening, if only because I know what lurks in that realm. "Work with the sisters, try to tell them about the Multiverse. They'll not listen to me, and I can't blame them. I'm causing so much delightful chaos just by being free, after all. But if they know, then they might be able to devise something that'd protect us." ...You know how I feel about the sisters. You KNOW, and you ask this of me. "Yes, and I also know how they feel about you. But think about it. If our and that realm get too close, who can say what or who'd survive?" Is it caused by my being here? "I don't know! I don't look into the why of things, I merely notice and react to them. But I seriously doubt you want a true villain from that world to notice this one." I thought back to everything I knew about the game, which was getting rather stale by this point, and nodded grimly. Or rather, I did my version of a nod, which involved tilting my entire upper body slightly a few times. What little I recall these days agrees with you, Discord. But that doesn't mean I'll be polite. Discord cheered, and confetti fell from...somewhere. "Oh happy day! Now I think I need to be getting back. I might be due for a confrontation!" Discord made to snap his fingers, and I interrupted him by placing a gauntlet on his paw. Would you happen to know where the stairs out are? Two hours later, after trudging my way up from the depths, I found myself in the Everfree Castle. Or the castle of the Two Sisters. Or, these days, a pile of ruins. Sheesh, guess he wasn't kidding about the thousand and a half years part. I mean, good gods. What the hell happened to make them abandon this place? I sighed as I made out the rope bridge. Nobody tells the inanimate pile of armor anything. I have feelings, y'know! Testing the bridge with a foot made the entire thing creak, and I stepped back. Nope, not getting across that way. Hmm. What all do I recall? There has to be a way across a giant pit like this, even for someone of my bulk... Making out a giant dead tree on the other side, I grinned. Or would have. Perfect. I drew my sword and pointed it at the tree. Okay, this should be simple. Move! My sword flashed brown, making me realize that yes, I had left it on Venus all those years ago. A ghostlike hand reached out towards the tree and gripped it. Pulling the sword back pulled the ghost limb, and the tree it was connected to, back as well. Until, finally... CRASH The tree bridged the gap, and I nodded. Knew that one wasn't useless here! I tested the tree, hearing only a slight groan. Knowing that was about as good as I was about to get, but deciding not to take chances, I focused on my sword. Element swap - Jupiter! My sword flashed brown, then purple. Nodding to myself, I raised it above my neck-hole and said a short prayer. Gods, I don't know if this'll work, but it's my only choice. Um...Haste? Feeling the tingle of my magic working, I decided to rush it. Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down! I barely made it across before I heard the creaking and groaning of the tree, followed by a crashing noise. Ha-HAH! Safe! I put my sword back in the sheathe and looked around. Whelp. Guess there's no time like the present to wander aimlessly. I'll find someone eventually, and they can tell me where Celestia or Luna are. Still gotta decide if I'm gonna be mad at them or not... "Well done, Twilight, and all your friends. Thanks to your efforts, Discord has been resealed in stone. Now to take him back to the Canterlot Gardens, where he belo-" "Sister! Tis most unfortunate!" Luna came out of the sky and landed next to Celestia as she was praising Twilight Sparkle and the other Bearers. "What is it, Luna?" "The Element Blade! Tis gone!" Celestia gasped, instantly looking at Discord. "You...you took it, didn't you? Where did you go with it?" A whisper of thought eked into her head, directed at her from the statue in front of her. Why dear Tia...I merely returned it to its owner. Celestia reared back as though struck and flared her wings. "Luna, return to Canterlot! Rally the guard and prepare our defenses! Dullahan is on the move!" Author's Note So uh, yeah. I've been bitten by the whole 'Humans turning into villains and finding their way into Equestria' BUG that seems to be going 'round. Not to worry, though. I still have my planned interlude for The Betrayed and whatever I'll name my next story going on in the background. I'm merely planning to write that whole interlude up and post it at once. Whereas this? This is me having fun writing again. Lemme know what you think of it! Chapter 8 - Headaches are a part of any new communityDo you have any idea how hard it is to house a horde of ponies, even a small one? Do you? It's damn hard. I escorted the herd towards the Everfree ruins and told them they'd be safe there, but I literally could not join them. Because I would snap the rope bridge like a twig. I told the djinn to look after the ponies, especially in the 'getting fresh food every day and clean water' department. Of course, the djinn brought the seeds from whatever foods the ponies ate to me. My goal was different. While the ruins would be good for a temporary measure, we would need something a bit more modern. Something where foals could grow up, where families could settle down. Something where I didn't have to make a damn bridge and hope and pray it didn't collapse before I walked over it to access my charges. So for a little while - I want to say at least four days - I was working near the base of a mountain on making housing for the ponies. Helps when you don't need to sleep and only require a bit of rest after using psynergies in methods they were not intended to be used for. Finally, after that long, I'd gotten quite a bit of housing done. Enough that the ponies wouldn't have to worry about sleeping in the ruins anymore. Ten houses would be able to hold them all until we got the rest up, right? I'd even cleared a field in preparation for a farm, and stored the seeds in a sack nearby! And there was still so much more to do. I sighed as I looked around, and motioned a Jupiter djinn close. Tell them that the basics of this town are done, and I would like them to come here. The djinn nodded and took off towards the ruins. I should have learned by now that nothing ever goes my way. The ponies fell to bickering and arguing as soon as they saw what I'd managed to get done and saw that it was not enough. Apparently, I'd taken charge of ponies who quite enjoyed their privacy, and could not imagine sharing living space. And while a stallion with an adoptive daughter could make a very good case for their own home, so could everyone else. The only ones winning their particular cases were the dragon and the manticore, although to be fair, nobody was arguing with them. It seemed like another case for my direct intervention. Will you all just SHUT IT! Hey, I never said I had to be polite about it. Yes, I realize that the amount of houses I got done are not enough for everyone to have one. I intend to remedy this, eventually. Until then, horror of horrors, you'll have to share them. I wanted to go over how this is going to work. I pointed towards the cleared field and the seeds first. The seeds the djinn have been bringing me have gone here, to this field. Those of you with a talent for farming, this is where you come in. Those of us attuned to Venus will be able to aid you eventually, but until then, it'll just be me helping you provide food for them all. A few earth ponies in the audience nodded. I moved towards one of the houses. This is your standard four-walls, floor, and roof arrangement. I haven't had time to get furniture made. I did put in a rudimentary water system, and thanks to Douse and the supposedly untameable weather, we'll not run out of water for any of our needs. I got a few grumbles at that, and I raised my hand. Hey. It's not gonna be easy. I got the basic outline of a house done. But I can't manipulate energies to provide the details. A gray unicorn mare came forward, her mane and tail a spiky yellow that her eyes matched. "Well, big guy, I can help with laying electrical lines, but we'd need a way to generate the power. In fact, we could use a utilities department." I tapped my sword thoughtfully. Well, I have an idea... All was quiet in Ponyville. It was only the middle of the night, after all. Most of the ponies were abed. That is, except for two unicorns, one pegasus, one griffon, and a suit of armor. We were making our not-so-stealthy way towards Town Hall, in search of some form of document that would tell us who they usually used for utilities work. "Sir, with all due respect, we could probably do this a lot faster without you here." "Yeah," the griffon pitched in, "And with a lot less noise." And your talking is stealthy? We're here, by the way. Someone check the front door. The unicorn mare gave the handle a quick turn. "Locked," she proclaimed. "I don't suppose you have a technique for picking locks in your arsenal of psynergy?" I scoffed. This is why we have a pegasus and a griffon. You two, check the windows on the upper floors. My bet is somebody forgot to lock one of those. They nodded and took off. Two minutes later, the griffon opened the front door from the inside and bowed slightly. "Welcome to Town Hall. Let's see if we can't find that information." A few minutes worth of looking through the papers in the mayor's desk finally yielded results. "Guys, look. Two hundred bits paid to Crossed Gears of Gears and Co. for adding the latest house to the town's water and electrical grid." Good, now are there any maps included with that document? The unicorn mare pulled out a map of the town which had a house highlighted and electrical lines drawn in. I pointed instead at where they all connected. Two teams. One goes to find this Crossed Gears and bring him back to the community. Frostfall, Flare, that'll be you. The djinn tell me you've mastered Sleep, you may need it to keep him down. Meanwhile, Talos, Moonfire, and I will go here, to where the generator is, and we'll study it. "Sir, why are we ponynapping Crossed Gears?" Knowledge of how a generator works is all well and good, but we need expertise. Don't worry, he won't be harmed. I'll even try to find a way to recompense him for his troubles. The other four looked at each other and nodded. Hmm. An engine to turn a magnet, around which wires are wrapped...bah. I can't make much of this. I understand what goes into it, but I cannot understand the how or why behind its function. I looked over at the spare generator and I was struck with an idea. Say...they don't really need this one, do they? The unicorn and griffon looked at each other, then looked at me. "Um. Are you sure that's wise?" It probably isn't. But what if I promise we'll find a way to repay them once we've got our town up and running? "That's...a little better, but I still don't feel right about it..." Then how about this: We'll take it back to study and try to make our own, along with a few books. Once we have, we'll return them. I'll even leave a note! The unicorn and griffon looked at each other, swallowed, and nodded. "Fine. But you're carrying it." Wouldn't have it any other way. (Twilight POV - 3rd person) Twilight woke up to another wonderful day in Ponyville. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, there was a note on her bookcase, and the smell of breakfast- Wait, what was that about a note? She levitated it over and began to read. Dear responsible pony, I am writing to you to tell you that your backup generator has been borrowed, as well as a local who is knowledgeable in these sorts of things. Both will be returned to you once we understand the principles behind the generator and can make our own. A few books may also have been checked out as well, and they too will be returned. Eventually. Sincerely, Dullahan There was silence for a few seconds, but anypony present would have seen the smoke rising from Twilight's mane. (Dullahan POV) Methinks we can let him wake now. Flare nodded and stopped concentrating. Crossed Gears slowly started to stir, and then he took note of the cadre surrounding him. Realizing this wasn't where he went to bed, he asked the logical question. "Where the buck am I, and who the buck are you?" Predictable. You're in the fledgling community of Newvale, and I'm Dullahan. The pony gulped and slowly turned around to see me standing behind him. I put my hand over his mouth, forcing it shut before he could scream. We brought you here for a very specific purpose, and it wasn't to yell. See, since we're new, we need the sorts of things any new community needs. Electricity, water. That sort of stuff. You understand, right? The pony managed to nod once, and I loosed my grip slightly. So last night, we may have borrowed your backup generator, some books on the topic, and you. We need electricity at least if we're going to become a proper town. The stallion looked over to where the massive machine was and gawped. "How did you carry that thing here?!" I groused a little bit. Wasn't easy. Nearly passed out a few times on the way here, and you would not believe the branches it can get caught on. I clapped my gauntlets together. Still! We could use your assistance in making our own electrical grid, good sir! And once we have, we'll return the generator and the books and you! So what say you? The pony looked at the small pile of books, the generator, me, and then back to the books. "Fine, I'll help, but I'm not staying." Most excellent! I then turned towards the houses which were leaking slowly waking ponies and realized something that I had to tell them. Oh right. Okay you lot, gather round! Time you all learned this! Eventually my small army was situated in front of me, and I called a djinn to me. Right, time for the basic information about a djinn life cycle. As you can see, all of them look alike at this moment. There is a reason for this. When a djinn starts its life, it has no name, nothing to distinguish it from any other djinn of its type. A few ponies looked shocked at that and raised their hooves, but I overrode them. They may have given you names, but that is for your sake, not theirs. They have given you names they would like to have or names they think will be fitting one day. In truth, a djinn must earn their name. And they do so in a similar fashion to ponies earning their cutie marks. Recognition lit up a few faces then. They must develop a power that no other djinn in their generation can do, that no psynergy of their alignment can do. Then, they must be named based on that power. Afterwards, their appearance will change to reflect this. The best way for them to go about doing this is for them to bond with a living creature and train with them. The zebra shamaness came forward. "When you say bond..." Djinn act as enhancers for those who possess psynergy. When you form a bond with one, then you add their power to yours. Quake can become Quake Sphere, Fireball can become Inferno. And so on. Greater powers become accessible, but the cost to use them is also greater. She nodded and stepped backwards. At least, that is how it is for these more docile djinn. A ripple of panic went through the crowd as they realized what I was implying. Wild djinn are another story. They already have a name, they already know what they can do, and all djinn can wield psynergy. Wild djinn may not bond willingly with another. They redefine the term fickle. You may need to prove your wits, you may need to chase them down. And sometimes...you may need to prove your mettle. Unless you know if a djinn is docile or wild, the general rule should be: don't approach it! A pegasus near the back raised a hoof. "Why not?" There are some who will not hesitate to attack wielders of psynergy in an effort to drive them off so that they may remain unbound. The ponies finally nodded in acceptance, and I would have grinned. Now, who's up for a few hours worth of grueling exercises in psynergy usage? A chorus of groans met my 'ears'.
Chapter 2 - Heads upI trudged along through the Everfree forest for some time, thinking about how I'd gotten in the position I'd been. It seemed like such a short time ago. Then again, being chained up for a millennium and a half tends to distort your perception of ti- Just then it finally hit me. Mom. Dad. Jenny. Hell even Richard, the ass. I've been here for a thousand and a half years, if Discord's right. And he usually is. Unless time flow is different between worlds... And as I screamed my rage to the heavens, I remembered... (Dullahan POV – 1505 years ago) “So, you're really into that Golden Sun game and whatnot, right?” I glanced over at Richard from my DS after inputting the final command for the round. “Yeah?” “So who would you say is the total badass in it?” “Honestly?” I scratched my chin a bit as I thought. “I'ma have to go with Dullahan.” “Cheh, yeah right. You always side with the villains.” “No, Dully's not a villain. He shows up in the second game as an optional boss guarding the most powerful summon, with access to the second most powerful. He tends to gloriously slaughter unprepared parties. Even with all the cool shit in the game, you can't win unless you overlevel, or know what's coming.” Surprisingly, Richard nodded. “Alright, and while that is pretty cool, that doesn't put him in the realm of total badass.” I just smiled at him. “Oh yeah? Well, he also shows up in the THIRD game. Implying that either in the second game, the party wasn't supposed to kill him, or he doesn't let a little thing like dying get him down. Plus, set up the right party, you can summon him to do his signature move, which also tends to murder things in a glorious fashion.” Richard was, needless to say, hooked. “Dude. That's awesome. I just got the greatest idea.” I looked over at him from the game, inputting the commands to recover from the latest round. “Listening.” “Right, so you know how Suzy throws bitchin' costume parties?” My smile grew a bit. “Yeah, that last one was crazy.” “What if you go as this Dullahan guy?” I frowned instantly. “Where am I gonna get a suit of plate armor sans helmet, a shield as half as big as I am, and a sword like his?” (3rd POV – Celestia – Current day) “My student, the danger Dullahan poses is nothing like Discord. Where Discord was content with changing the world to suit his whims, Dullahan is capable of bending the very forces of nature to his desires. I will teach you everything I know about fighting him, but even then, we will have to be prepar-” An explosion rocked from the Everfree, and smoke billowed from it. The ponies could vaguely hear shouting coming from the forest. “The forest! The animals! Who would do such a thing?” Celestia sighed and lowered her head. “Dullahan tends to let his emotion get the better of him, and his magic responds in kind. I would say, right now, he is very angry.” Dragon fume! Searing beam! A long ribbon of fire leaped up from the aflame forest and crashed into a nearby field. A searing hot beam lanced from the treeline and made its way to Celestia, who put up a shield and waited for it to dissipate, though she did seem to strain a bit. An armored bipedal figure wielding a sword seemingly made of crystal stalked out of the forest towards the gathered ponies. Luna, who hadn't had time to leave yet, instantly rushed the figure. Said figure responded by raising the sword to the sky. It was then that the ponies noticed the figure was missing a helmet. And a head. Mostly because that was when it 'spoke' to them. Oh, blow it out your ass, Luna! Mighty Guard! The voice was deep and commanding. But it was what the sword did that caught the eyes of every pony but Luna. The sword flashed red, and a similar red aura covered the figure before vanishing as quickly as it came. Luna didn't notice or didn't care, and moved to strike the figure's right hand, the one that was clasping the sword. The blow glanced off, and the sword came around and smacked into her side, sending her careening into the newly imprisoned Discord. And before you get any ideas, Celly! Element Swap, Jupiter! Greater Ward! The sword flashed purple, and a purple aura coated the figure and vanished just as swiftly, before the figure sheathed its sword. Celestia merely stared at the figure. “Dullahan.” Celly. I'm only going to ask this once. Where the fuck did you take my goddamned SHIELD?! “Question for a question, Dullahan. How did you get out? The chains were meant to be unbreaking.” Yeah well maybe if you were THERE to maintain them, or hadn't left me alone for a thousand and a half years, they might have been more inclined to hold me! Once Dissy gave me my sword, I had all the strength I needed to get free. “I see. And to answer your question, your shield is in Canterlot, under heavy guard. It was one of the few relics we did take with us. We could not risk any other pony getting a hold of it.” That's surprisingly smart of you. Nonetheless, I'll find it sooner or later. You'd best hope it's sooner. Now my other question that I have for you. And at this the figure stalked up to the sun diarch and somehow growled. Where. The fuck. Are my pets. WHERE ARE THE DJINN?! At the sudden menacing sound, Luna stirred herself and pointed at the armored figure. “Cur! How didst thou stop what was previously an effective means of disarming thou and rendering thou harmless?” The figure turned towards Luna and let out an amused chuckle. Somehow. Oh, so little miss moon is getting up? Well, if you thought that I was just going to let history repeat itself, you must have thought me a fool! I thought of that technique ages ago, and only just now got to use it! I'm glad to see it worked, though! The figure turned back to Celestia and growled again. Question for a question, Celly. Where are my fucking Djinn? What the fuck did you do with them?! Celestia flinched a little at the profanity and anger with which the words were projected. “I...I do not know...” The figure snarled and reached out to grab Celestia by the neck. Her horn lit up and slung spell after spell at the figure, but they all bounced off it, each time letting off a purple flash. The ponies nearby all screamed for their princess, but the figure merely yelled at them. STAY BACK, ALLA YA! Miss Sun here has a question to answer, otherwise things are gonna get reaaaaal dicey in here. Gasping, Celestia managed to answer the figure again. “Dullahan, when we took your armaments, we saw four odd creatures, briefly, but in a span of seconds, they had disappeared. If those were your pets, your 'djinn', then they have been gone as long as you have.” The figure growled at her and threw her to the ground. You expect me to believe that in all that time, you never once thought of looking for them, of hunting them down so that you could see what our relation was? The figure drew its sword and pointed it at the sun diarch. I find that hard to believe, Celly. Element Swap, Mercury! The sword flashed purple, then blue, and the figure continued. Maybe a cooler head will help you remember. Diamond Dust! Instantly, winds whipped up, but these were no normal winds. These were cold, artic winds, carrying a hint of ice. But soon it wasn't just a hint, and soon huge chunks of it were flying around, battering into ponies. While they were all dealing with not gaining ice-induced head trauma, nopony noticed the huge figure walking off in the direction of Canterlot. Author's Note So I'm just gonna go ahead and post chapter tw- 100 favs in one day?!
Chapter 3 - Two heads are better than noneI tromped through the forest, following the rail line towards the ridiculous castle on a mountainside. Ten bits says that's Canterlot. The sisters always did love their castle. I can't see them going without one. However, the sun was setting, and even following a rail line, it wasn't the safest thing in the world to be wandering in the forest. As evidenced by the fact that not two minutes later, I ran into a manticore standing near a heavily scratched unicorn. Said unicorn was red-coated, with a yellow mane, orange eyes, and a symbol of a campfire for a cutie mark. 'But wait,' I hear you ask, 'How did you know he was wounded if his coat was red?' Cause his coat was brick red, and blood is a deeper color than that. Despite how I had acted towards the sisters, I actually did care about ponies in need. At least, when I saw them. Sadly, most of my ways of helping ponies hadn't exactly been nice... (Dullahan POV - 1,501 years ago) You sick bastard. All of this, for crystals?! Sombra merely laughed at me from his throne. "But of course not just for crystals. For power. For the thrill of it. Something you at least should understand, if the reports of a headless suit of armor such as yourself terrorizing the sisters has any accuracy at all." I growled at him. I was getting used to my strength! I never meant to do half those things! And the other half I only did towards they that deserved it! I drew my sword and pointed it at him, and he merely laughed harder. "Please, spare me. You'd not get anywhere near close enough to actually damage me." Who said I had to? As confusion crossed his face, I activated my Fulminous Strike. Drawing my sword back and letting power fill it, I swung it forward. Lightning arced out of it, acting like an extension to my sword blade, and catching the unicorn king across the chest. He flew out the nearby balcony, and I rushed over to watch him fall. Hopefully he wouldn't break into too many pieces. There was so much more I wanted to do to him, after all... Sadly, he managed to catch himself before he hit the ground. With a flash, he was back on his throne, glaring at me. "You caught me off guard once, creature, and I'll not allow such a tactic to succeed again." I merely laughed at him. Buddy, if I wanted to really hurt you? If I wanted to really cause you pain? I would have summoned Charon, ferryman of the river Styx, to take you to the underworld. But that would have been TOO EASY! There's a lot of pain I have to give you yet! Outside, there was a flash as bright as the sun, and I glanced in that direction to see my two least favorite ponies flying nearby. Whelp it's been fun Sombra but I have sisters to avoid, catch you never! With that, I turned and jumped off the same balcony, flipping the sisters off as I did so. Element swap, Jupiter! Whirlwind! The miniature tornado caught me just as I was about to impact the ground, changing my fall from incapacitating to jarring, and I took off down the street. My welcome's worn out here anyways! The sound of fury from behind me was my only cue that a battle had commenced. That, or the sisters had really wanted to catch me... (Present day - Dullahan POV) Shaking the memories from my mind, I pulled my sword out, the ringing noise catching the attention of both pony and manticore. I'm only gonna say this once. Step away from the pony, and nobody gets hurt. The manticore looked at the sword, looked at me, looked at where my head should be, looked back at the sword, and edged closer to the pony. Wrong move! One Fulminous Strike later, and the manticore, charred and scarred, ran off into the forest to lick its wounds. The pony was understandably scared, even when I sheathed my sword. Hey. HEY! C'mon, I know I'm scary, but I gotta ask you a few questions, buddy. Can you keep it together for me? The pony fainted, and I sighed. A half hour later, the pony had come to. I'd used Venus to make a fire pit, and Jupiter to cut some branches off some trees with Wind Slash. A bit of Mars later, and I had a roaring bonfire. I mean, I didn't need it, but from what I could recall, other life-forms enjoyed warmth. Anyways, the unicorn's first words upon awakening were "Oh thank Celestia it was just a dream." To which I chuckled and responded. Nope, don't thank her, thank me, and it wasn't a dream. For some reason you were facing down a manticore, which I scared off. You're welcome, by the way. The unicorn looked over at me and froze for a minute, to which I responded by clapping my hands. Hey! Keep it together! Got a few questions to ask you, and I imagine you have some for me as well. The unicorn nodded, and I relaxed a bit. Okay, first question. Did the manticore actually sting you? The pony shook his head, and I would have grinned. This'll be a simple fix, then. I'm going to draw my sword, okay? Don't. Panic. The unicorn visibly locked up when the sword came loose and pointed at him. Easy. Just gonna heal ya. Element swap, Mercury. Ply! A stream of blue magic wafted over from my sword to the unicorn, who followed it with widened eyes. The magic focused on the wounds, which slowly shrunk, and vanished. I did my version of a nod, and put the sword away, causing the pony to drag its eyes from the freshly disappeared wounds back to me. There. You may want to rest a bit, that's normal. But you also have questions, probably. The pony nodded and spoke the most obvious question first. "Who...what are you?" Two in one, eh? Not that I can blame you. I'm a spirit possessing this suit of armor with powers granted to me by my sword. As for a name, you can call me Dullahan. Friends call me Dully. "Thank you for saving me...but why?" I looked to the fire then, gathering my thoughts. Well the short answer? I dislike manticores. The long answer is...you remind me of me. The unicorn made to ask another question, but I drew my sword and pointed it at him. Enough melancholy. You need rest. Element Swap, Jupiter. Sleep! The unicorn was out before his head hit the ground. Knowing Celly and Lulu, they'd find the smoke from the bonfire soon enough, meaning the pony would be found and brought somewhere marginally safer soon. And that was when I heard the shout reverberate through my very being. ‘I am Solaire of Astora! Adherent to the Lord of Sunlight! Those who walk in the path of danger may call upon me!’ I drew myself up and stared at the sky, determined to answer in kind. Raising my sword, I began my speech. I am Dullahan, the darkness, the shadow, the elemental wraith, the guardian of the light! They that would stand against what lurks within the souls of men are welcome allies to me! There was a flash, and nearby, a human in armor with a shield in one hand and a peculiar glass staff in the other appeared next to the bonfire. His armor had a sun emblazoned on it, and within the sun was a face. He turned around for a moment before he laid eyes on me, and inclined his head slightly. "Well I'm quite certain the sun does not need guarding, good sir, but the rest of your titles intrigue me." I merely snorted and sat back down at the bonfire. While she doesn't need guarding, she does need to learn not to take my damn stuff. I would have tilted my head at the man nearby me, but, y'know, no head. So, Solaire of Astora. Gonna guess you were once a normal guy as well. Solaire nodded and sat down at the bonfire as well. "Indeed. I was at a convention with this wonderful prop when it activated and took me here. Next thing I know, Sunbutt and Moonbutt are on my case, all because of a little forest fire. And sitting in their thrones." I waved a hand at him. Hardly better than my story. I showed up in the forest without a head and started screaming loud enough to wake the dead... (Dullahan POV - 1,505 years ago) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! "Sister, the odd armor is fleeing this way!" LEAVE ME ALONE YOU DAMN HORSES! "Luna, there is no head on the armor, and there appears to be nothing inside!" OH REALLY? I HADN'T FIGURED THAT ONE OUT! "Mayhap a possessing spirit, sister?" FUCK THIS! HOW DO I LIGHTNING BOLT?! (Dullahan POV - Present time) And, well, after a few Fulminous Strikes, they let me be. Never stopped hunting me, though, and every time I tried out some new power I thought I should have that ended up being disastrous, they found me, and we danced again. Solaire nodded. "I think you have it slightly worse, good sir. Am I to assume that for quite a while they tried to exorcise you out of your new home?" I did my version of a nod. Yeah, and one day Luna got a lucky hit on one leg, and they learned how to disable parts of me. The next time we fought, she went straight for the hand, and I dropped my sword. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. Being locked up in the same place for a thousand and a half years puts such a crick in your neck. Solaire leaned in a bit and I could swear I heard him smirk. "Thou wouldst have to have a neck to be having pains in it." I groaned and would have rolled my eyes. You know what I mean. Solaire got up and dusted himself off. "Well, this has been enlightening, and I see that you are at the very least a kind soul, mainly because of that pony over there resting by the fire as well. So I grant you this." With that, he reached behind himself and pulled out a white soapstone. I picked it up and looked at it. Okaaaay? It's a stone. Solaire nodded. "Merely focus on the stone and call my name, and I will come to your aid. We can engage in jolly co-operation together!" I nodded as well and held my left hand to him, my right hand going to my sword. Hold still, let me reciprocate. Focusing on the blade and the power within, I attempted to do something that I knew I would regret. I pulled at the very essence of myself and attempted to create a similar totem. After a few seconds, a small book flashed into my left hand, and I passed it to him. Hold the tome and speak my name three times, and I shall come to your aid. You will need to expend some power on your part to get me there, though. Solaire nodded and placed the book behind him. "May the Darksign never touch you, by the will of the sun, Sir Dullahan." I would have grinned. First, friends call me Dully. And second, may the Golden Sun always illuminate your path, Solaire. He glowed and vanished, and only afterwards did I permit myself to collapse. Fuck, making that totem took a lot out of me. This is why I need my shield. If only for the stars secreted within it... Author's Note So Solaire and I have agreed to enter jolly co-operation with each other should the need arise. And at the time of posting this I have 296 favs. ...I've no idea who you all are and I can't thank you all individually anymore.
Chapter 4 - Head of securityBright Lance, the batpony night-guard on duty in the archives of Canterlot Castle, was bored. Every night, the same drill. Walk past one hundred and fifty bookcases. Pause for ten seconds. Right turn, walk past the twenty bookcases. Pause for ten seconds. Right turn. Repeat ad naseum. So it was a slight surprise when he was informed the Princesses were in the Restricted Section of the Archives for the foreseeable future, and all visitors there were to be detained. That made for some change in his routine, but not much. They weren't in his patrol route of the Archives, so it didn't matter much to him. Had he thought about why they felt they needed to be here, he might not have been surprised halfway into his shift. Howdy, a voice said. Bright merely nodded and continued on his route before his brain registered what had just happened. Someone had spoken to him. He paused for a second, then backpedaled and looked to his right. There was a suit of armor that looked like it was made for a minotaur. An extremely beefy minotaur that also wore boots. Dark blue and embossed with gold in some places, it was wearing a slightly tattered red cape that nearly reached the floor. Hanging off the side was a scabbard that held a sword that seemed to be a few feet long. The neck, however, was missing a helmet. And it was this that drew his attention. Because the armor was also missing someone to wear it. Instead, blue fire danced in the place of where a helmet, or even a head, would normally be. Say, I don't suppose you know where my shield is, do you? 'bout half as big as me, made of a similar metal, looks like a roaring manticore? Wordlessly, Bright Lance pointed towards the Restricted Section of the Archives, where the Princesses, and all the other artifacts, were. Ah, thank you very much. Take care. And with the sound of a thousand pounds of shifting metal, the suit of armor clomped off. What a helpful guard. The glow provided by my presence inside my armor helped illuminate the archives, making sure I wouldn't run into any bookcases by accident. Seriously helpful. If I remember what he looks like, I'll give him something. Not like all those other guys who tried to get me to halt. Had to put half the castle to sleep. Up ahead, there was a massive set of wooden doors with the words 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here uninvited' written on them. I merely snorted at the warning and pushed them open easily. Let's see here. Journal of Starswirl, pfft. Bastard had the audacity to tell me what I was doing was no real magic and I should learn from him. Sword of the Elements, also known as MINE, thank you Discord for taking it. Artifacts of Unification, not interested. Aha! Placed on a stand was my shield. I could feel the thrum of power from it. What? No, the shield itself had no special properties. It was what I had hidden in the shield that I wanted. ...Well, and it was rightfully mine anyways. Ponies couldn't use the darn thing without some massive strength training. "Hello again, Dullahan." I groaned at the sound of a familiar voice and the sensation of a set of familiar auras coming into range. Clearly, the aura my shield was emitting had blinded me. That, or my own idiocy. I hadn't thought to check for other auras, and to think they'd let me walk in and pick it up! Celly Celly Celly. We should really stop meeting like this. I turned to see Celestia and Luna appear out of the shadows near the entrance to the archives, blocking me off from escaping. That made me feel a little better, they hadn't been lying in wait, they'd just teleported in when they saw I was nearing the prize. "How didst thou find thine shield so quickly? We made sure a perfect replica was on display at the museum!" I merely snorted at them. Puh-lease. Replica or not, you never managed to open MY shield up to find what I hid within it. If you had, you wouldn't have bothered with the replica! "Explain," the solar diarch commanded. Not a subject of yours, I don't have to! So let me guess the ploy here. You sent the Elements to the replica in an effort to finally trap and exorcise me. Meanwhile, in case I got free, you stood guard here over the real one, because you wanted to make sure I couldn't get my mitts on it. "I am obligated to tell you nothing, Dullahan." I merely continued on with my rambling. But the thing is, I knew where my shield was the moment I entered Canterlot. So your museum ploy has failed, and now it's just you two against me. Granted, you're blocking my way out. And I am not yet whole. So this might actually present an issue to me. Celestia's horn flared once, and she smiled at me. "And I have just sent a message to my student about where you are, so the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony will soon come here to exorcise you, once and for all." I merely growled at her. You...you have the gall... They that would block the return of the shadow should face the wrath of the darkness! I drew my sword and pointed it at the both of them. They merely lowered their horns and scraped the ground with a hoof. Y'know, there's a song I once listened to. I don't recall all of it, but there's a line that'll apply here soon enough. Element swap, Mars! Inferno! My sword flashed red, and a ridiculous amount of fireballs sprang from it, arced towards the sisters... ...And sailed past them, into the Archives, setting alight all the accumulated knowledge there. The sisters stared at the destruction I had caused while I grabbed my shield. The sudden rush of being nearly whole was nigh intoxicating. Since every piece of my armor was like a part of me, getting any of it back was a big deal. It was like someone who had a need for a prosthetic hand suddenly getting a much better one. I turned to the sisters and chuckled. What was that line again? Oh yeah! Burn, baby, burn! Luna and Celestia whipped their heads around to see that I had reclaimed my shield and actually snarled at me. "Thou wilst pay for thine crimes, Dullahan!" Yeah, I think not. Either because this'll work, or it won't, and I'll come up with something. Element swap, Venus! The sword glowed brown, and if I had a face, I would have grinned at the sheer cheek I was about to show the sisters. Retreat! And instantly, I was gone. I reappeared on the outskirts of Canterlot, dizzy and slightly worse for wear, but overall fine. Glad I don't have a stomach anymore. Might've thrown up my lunch. I looked down at my shield and would have smiled. Right, I've got you now. Time to find a glade in the Everfree I can use to make a zen garden so's I can call them back to me. But first, I need to see if all your charges are intact. What was the password? The Golden Sun shines but once? There was a cracking noise from the front of the shield, and I turned it around and opened the mouth. Four shining spheres, one brown, one red, one blue, and one purple, greeted me. Nice to see the stars are still intact after all this time... (3rd POV - Celestia) "My student, I regret to inform you that our plan failed." Twilight groaned and hung her head. "Princess Celestia, I did everything I could and exactly according to your specifications. We hid ourselves near the display, and we even managed to arrange a gap in the patrol routes this creature could take advantage of. We even had a 'now we have you' speech planned!" Pinkie nodded a few times. "I was even gonna throw a 'we caught the evil armor, hooray' party! How'd he get away?" Celestia sighed. "I forgot that one of Dullahan's abilities is to sense strong magical auras. And apparently, one emanates from his shield. He never went to the museum, because he knew where his shield was all along." Twilight cocked her head to the side. "So the one in the museum was a fake? So where was his shield then?" "In the Archives, in the Restricted Section, where we store all the old artifacts. Luna and I were there waiting for him, hoping that we could contain him, but he managed to distract us, seize his shield, and escape." "How'd he distract ya, yer highness?" Celestia turned to Applejack and said "He used a small fire spell-" "INSIDE THE ARCHIVES?!" All eyes were on Twilight as she started hyperventilating at the thought of lost knowledge. "Oh...dear..." (Dullahan POV) I'd only really begun my trek down the mountain when I heard what sounded like an explosion of sound, with some very faint words mixed in. "Dullahan you animated pile of junk! When I find you I'm going to take you apart piece by piece with a rusty pair of pliers! And then-" I merely shrugged. Celestia really needs to calm down. It was only a medium-sized fire. Author's Note Fav count is 394 and rising. To all of you, thank you.
Chapter 5 - Keep a level headAuthor's Note HEY GUYS, HAVE SOME BACKSTORY! Cause you all have only asked for it twenty times. Oh, and there's been some changes! Mkay, so the first thing you may have noticed is that all the old chapters have been edited! Doublespacing for EVERYONE! I've also toned down the caps a wee bit. Dully will no longer 'scream' when he casts. At least, if I can avoid it. It'll still be in bold to differentiate it, though. Also, I cannot thank you all enough for getting this story featured. Holy crap, y'all are awesome. And the fav-count as of posting is: 722 ...If I tried to thank you all individually, I'd never get any writing done! Chapter 5 - Keep a level head Finally, I had found a glade suited for my purposes. It only took until noon. Gods, I've been free for...five days? Yeah, sounds right. And that's on no coffee. Not that I'd be able to drink it. Well, now that I'm here...Sand! I stuck the blade, point-first, in the ground. It glowed brown, and all around me, the glade transformed from a small field of green into a ring of stones surrounding fine sand. This was not what it had been intended for, though, and I panted a bit as the energy left me. Ow...ow ow ow. Okay, let's not do that again. I have to set up the rest... I turned towards the south and walked a few paces, then stuck my sword in the sand. Let's see if this works. Growth! The sword glowed again, and a portion of the glade was restored to itself, with the addition of flowers. A circle of small rocks separated the sand from the newly-restored grass. Once again, I was left feeling weak for a minute. Nobody told me making a zen garden would be so intensive... After a few minutes to recover my strength, I walked into the forest and gathered up some small rocks and a huge pile of twigs. I returned to the glade, arranged the twigs into the perfect shape for a bonfire on the western side of the garden, and encircled it with the rocks. I looked down at the sand and sighed then. Element swap, Mars! Beam! Carefully controlling the flame, I made several wind chimes from glass. After a minute to recover, I picked a few sticks out from the bonfire, and went into the forest in search of vines. Eventually, I set up my wind chime in the northern section of my garden. Turning towards the east, I carefully hollowed out a large section of the sand into a circular shape. Climbing back out, I looked at it and sighed. Gonna need some large, flat rocks... About an hour later, I had lined my pit with rocks and was praying this would work. Element swap, Mercury! Douse! A small raincloud appeared and filled in my little pit to turn it into a shallow pond. Satisfied with my work, I placed the blue sphere inside it, where it hit the surface of the water and stopped. It then floated towards the middle and started glowing. I tossed the brown sphere at the garden and placed the purple on atop the wind chimes, then turned towards the prepared bonfire. Element swap, Mars! Fireball! The flames caught, and I threw the red sphere into them, where it hovered. I went to the center of my setup and sat down, clearing my mind of other thoughts. At least, to begin with. Terra, Dracen, Puck, Newton, I call to thee. I have been freed, and would walk with you again... My mind couldn't help wandering, though... (Dullahan POV - 1,505 years ago) Fredrick and I stared at the sword behind the counter. It was a pure blue, and it looked like it had runes engraved in it, if the pattern of slightly lighter blue was anything to go by. It was exactly what we were looking for, and it was only a hundred and fifty dollars. "So, what's the catch?" The salesman behind the counter eyed both me and my friend up before replying. "I'll only sell it to you. Your buddy here," and here he jerked a thumb at Richard, "he's outta luck if he wants it." I shrugged and forked over my card, while Richard scowled. "What's your problem with me?" The salesman ran the card through and grabbed the sword and its scabbard off the wall behind him. "Ya irritate me, kid. Didn't help any when you picked up the daggers and started plucking hairs off your head to see how sharp I keep my blades. Your friend here at least has respect for weapons like this." At this, Richard looked abashed while I took my purchase. I bowed my head in respect to the man and turned to leave. "C'mon, we got a costume to put together, buddy." At Suzy's party, needless to say, everyone wondered just what the hell I was. It'd taken me time to get used to moving in armor, but it was worth it. As was the five months of looking for someone who still practiced making armor and showing them exactly what I wanted. I would be feeling the financial bite of this costume for a while, but hey. I could always wear it elsewhere. The only thing that was inaccurate was my head, but I wasn't willing to get it cut off for a costume. So I went with a black, tight, but still breathable mask that covered my whole head. Eventually, Suzy decided to take pictures of us all individually, and then a group photo. For some reason, I drew my sword and held it up as she took the final one. The one errant thought that ran through my head was I wish I could look this badass all the time. There was a flash of color and light... When I came to, I noticed the forest all around me. I got up and groaned, feeling the weight of the armor still. Oh, good gods, how much did I dri- I stopped in my complaining when I realized my voice sounded vastly different. I didn't know of many things that could change a person's voice. Cautiously, I raised a gauntlet up towards my head, and felt around for my neck. And then I felt the back of the armor without feeling my body. It took me all of two seconds to panic. (1,504 years ago, Dullahan POV) Okay, while I may have gotten a handle on this whole Equestria place, and my newfound powers, that...that shouldn't be here. Said 'that' was a small, portly looking brown animal, with cyan eyes and a tail. No arms were visible, but it had legs, and a few additional spines of brown poking out of its sides. In other words, it was a Venus Djinn. Sitting on a hill, rocking back and forth. I cautiously approached the djinn, being sure to make as small movements as possible. Then I realized it was probably intelligent, and cleared my metaphorical throat. Pardon me, my good djinn. At this, it turned and stared at me. I froze, but slowly raised a hand in greeting. Hello, my name is Dullahan. May I have yours? It seemed to consider for a moment, before shaking its whole body, as if to tell me no. Ah, I see. Well, can I ask how you're here, in this land? At this, it drooped slightly, as though the answer were depressing, before it shook itself again. Well if its any consolation, I'm a stranger here as well. And it pains me to see you on your lonesome. Do you know if there are any other djinn in these lands? It looked intently at me before nodding once. Would you like to find them? It nodded again. Can I travel with you while you do? It tilted its upper body as though it were curious about my motives. It would hardly be fair if you traveled alone through this land when there are dangers you don't even know about behind every other tree. And I'd not ask you to lend me your strength. I merely desire a purpose, and you could use a companion. Frankly, so could I. The djinn considered for a moment longer before it hopped up on top of my foot. It didn't weigh anything, it was as though a small puffball had just decided to vacation on my foot. Hmm. Do you have a name? I know I asked for it, but now I'm just curious as to if you have one. The djinn shook itself in the negative and I would have frowned. Well that's no good. Give me a moment, I can't just call you 'djinn' or 'Venus' all the time... A few moments of thought gave me the perfect name. C'mon, Terra, let's be off. Much to do yet! (Dullahan POV - 1,503 years ago) Wait, seriously? I stared at the djinn, who had each come forward with a shining sphere. One red, one brown, one blue, one purple. In other words, they seemed remarkably like elemental stars. Indeed, the voice of the mischevious Jupiter djinn Puck filled the cave I used as a base. Out of all of them, he was the only one who could speak. He could still understand the others, but he was the only one who could actually talk back to me. Making him the de facto interpreter. You lot come forward with these elemental stars NOW?! And what's with the Venus one? Is it supposed to be that color? We didn't come forward with them, we made them. This land is without any foci for such powers as yours or ours, which is why they are so draining and hard to use, especially when you become inventive with how you use or interpret them. So we channeled the power of the land into these spheres, and gave them a bit of our essence. Any anomalies in their coloration is due to the energies of the land. With these, it should no longer be hard for any of us to use our strength. I merely groaned at the djinn before me. Yes, but elemental stars are highly coveted! And how long were you working on these anyways? The sheer power supposed to be contained in things like these is immense! Puck looked at the others before returning his focus to me. Ever since you gathered us together, just for the sake of us being together again. Naming us was also a good step. And never asking us for our strength out of respect, that cinched it. I picked up the stars and could feel the thrum of power they contained. Now my concerns are different. How am I to safeguard the world from this power? Puck looked at my shield and recited a phrase. The Golden Sun shines but once. There was a cracking noise, and I looked at the front. A secret compartment had opened, one that seemed just large enough for the four stars. I carefully wedged them all in, and closed it up. So long as you keep it on your person, the effects of the stars should still transmit to you. (Dullahan POV - 1,502 years ago) Dullahan? I looked up from my latest work, the final tablet I felt I should engrave. Half of them had been my memories of my old world. Those I stored in a room that only my touch could open. The other half had been the summons. Yes, the summons. I was uncertain which, if any, I could use besides Charon, but I found I could carve the tablets all the same. It was like the armor itself guided me in their creation. And the djinn were all too happy to help me imbue the tablets. Yes, Puck? I was out scanning some pony minds near the border of the forest, and I've picked up a lot about how trade with some crystal empire has been getting cut off. Because of a tyrant king. I glanced down at the tablet and finished the final rune. Perfect. Gather the rest, imbue the tablet, and we'll go take a look-see about helping the empire by assaulting it. I placed the final tablet in the circle, and the djinn took up their positions around it. The runes and name glowed as the power gathered, and finally, it faded. Dracen and Newton seemed drained more than the others, and it only made sense. I put the tablet at the end of the line and nodded at the name. We'll take a day so that you two can recover, but then we're off to the empire. The word Isis stayed alight as we left the room of Summons, just like all the other names on all the other tablets. The next day, we would leave my cave hideaway entire and begin the long trek to the Empire... (Dullahan POV - 1,500 years ago) "DULLAHAN!" I staggered a bit as the full volume of the Royal Canterlot Caps Lock hit me. Christ, Lulu! You could deafen giants with that voice of yours! The sisters merely landed, one on either side of the glade, with me in the middle. I shifted from one to the other, and raised my sword. So, y'here to try and exorcise me again? It's not gonna go well! Element swap, Jupiter! The sword flashed purple, and Luna gasped. "Sister, now! Quickly, before he casts-" Celestia's horn flashed a golden orb at me, but I was faster. Greater Ward! The orb impacted my newly-conjured protection from spells and bounced off in a flash of purple. I would have smiled smugly at her, if I had a head. And that was when the blue horn impaled my right hand, causing it to spasm, seize, and drop my sword. Instantly my strength fled my body. In the five years I had been here, I had never been without my sword. Now I knew why. Without it, I couldn't so much as move. I knelled and panted, not really needing the air, but the sensation of being breathless was the closest I could liken to this sudden sensation of being powerless. What...what is...what have you... I saw the white legs of Celestia come into view, and felt my shield being ripped away from me, and my sword left my view. "We theorized that your sword was your source of strength. And Luna did find that striking portions of you hard enough to puncture resulted in you losing control of that part. And your first move in combat is usually to protect yourself from our magic. So we came up with this plan. You lose, Dullahan." Not...the shield...don't take... "For your crimes against Equestria as a whole, I sentence you to be imprisoned within the depths of the castle." (Dullahan POV - Current day) I sighed and opened my eyes. Well that trip down memory lane was interesting. And then I noticed the djinn gathered in front of me. The small horde of them. There had to be at least twelve of each type. Um. Pretty sure I only called for four. Where'd the rest of you come from? A Jupiter Djinn came out of the crowd to act as a spokes-djinn. We heard your call. We felt the stars. Our ancestors wrote of you, he who gathered the first four. Together, they experimented with magic and created the next generation of spirits. Who created the next generation. And so on, until today. And there was one thing in common in all their stories. They were sorry for abandoning you, they wished they could have done more, and they swore they would make it up to you somehow. We heard your call and wish to set all accounts square. Will you have us? If I had a mouth, I would have grinned wide enough to hurt. (3rd POV - Celestia - Current day) "Ah-HA!" Celestia turned towards Twilight, who was looking up from a tome. "What is it, my student?" Twilight's hair was slightly frazzled, and everypony treated her with a bit of caution. "Well, this tome has a spell for detecting any non-unicorn forms of magic. The only thing it needs is a sample to run off of, and it can pinpoint the user of said magic with a ten-foot margin for error!" Celestia slowly walked over and put a wing around Twilight. "That is a remarkable discovery, Twilight. But now I need you to do one more thing before we can look for Dullahan." "What is it, Princess Celestia? What else do we need to do before we can hunt down that defiler, that blasphemer, that burner of books, that total-" "Sleep." Twilight was out like a light, and Celestia sighed. "I am sorely tempted to sic her on him right now...but that would just be a touch too cruel."
Chapter 6 - Should probably see a head doctorSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Chapter 7 - Head count: Between Large and Massive(3rd POV - Celestia) Celestia looked out the window with a small bit of terror. Out of the corners of her eyes, these past hundred years or so, she'd seen small, colorful creatures. Similar to the ones that had run from Dullahan when she and Luna had finally stopped him. Since no other pony had seen them, she dismissed them as her subconscious trying to guilt her over imprisoning the animated armor. Now, though, she saw a small flock of them. Riding the wind. Jumping across rooftops. Running down the streets. Talking to ponies. And then they led some of her ponies out of the city, towards the forest. She didn't know what to make of it. "Princess?" Celestia turned her head and saw Twilight, her faithful student, looking at her with concern. "Yes Twilight?" "I brought that journal of Starswirl's up, and I found something that I think you should look at..." Celestia gently took the book from her student and read the passage. ...On the subject of the animated armor, it calls itself Dullahan, and identifies as male. Well, rather, I asked it, and it said, "I used to be a guy, but I guess it doesn't matter now." When I inquired as to what magic it possessed to alter the land so, it made a sound similar to a snort, somehow, and replied thusly - "This isn't magic as you understand it. This a force from another world, one called Psynergy, that you do not have to be a unicorn to use. I am getting used to my power, but I know it can move mountains, cause floods, create thunderstorms, or set forests ablaze. Its usage is vast, but like magic...it is but a tool. The wielder is the one who must impart intent." When I offered to teach him magic, he laughed at me and stated "When I master my powers, I am certain there will come a day when the mightiest will come to me to test themselves, and find themselves lacking." He left, then, and his comment about another world stuck with me. Could there really be other worlds besides our own? I will have to look into this. The passage ended there, and Celestia looked back to the window. "So he was telling the truth. Imprisoning him for all that time was a worse sentence than exorcising him could ever have been." Twilight walked up to her teacher, trying to come up with some comforting words. "I'm sure you didn't mean to, Princess. If you had only known..." Celestia sighed. "No, Twilight, at the time, I did mean it. Had I known, had I looked beyond my own snout, I would have seen what I was doing. But I didn't. It took Luna turning into Nightmare Moon before I would think to look at things from others' point of view. I sentenced him to be alone for all this time. Friendless, without his family. Nothing but him and the darkness." Celestia looked back to the window and saw the creatures still flitting around in the city. "And now he gathers an army." Twilight came up to her teacher's side and looked out the window, gasping at the sight. "What...what are those? I've not seen their like before! Except for when one joined Dullahan in the clearing..." Celestia looked at Twilight with a raised brow. "They are what Dullahan calls Djinn. I am...uncertain as to their purpose. Many have written over the years about elemental spirits, but since so very few can see them, they that write about them are deemed...less than sane." Twilight nodded once, storing the information away, before she and Celestia reared back in fright. A purple one of the creatures had alighted on the windowsill and was looking at them. It looked from Celestia to Twilight, then back to Celestia. And then, it spoke. I bring a message, O great monarch of the sun. Celestia shook her head a few times to put her thoughts back in order. "A message from Dullahan, I presume. What does he wish to say?" The creature nodded once, and then spoke in an imitation of Dullahan's 'voice.' This...is only the beginning. The creature flew off, and Celestia and Twilight watched it for a moment, before they looked back down to the city. In ones and twos, the ponies were making their way through the city, leaving it behind and following the djinn. "Twilight, I have a mission for you." Twilight drew herself up. "Anything, Princess!" "Look into alternate worlds. See if you can find a way to open passages between them. Because if you can open the doors, then it will not take long before you will find a way to close them. I trust this task to you because I know you will succeed, sooner or later." Twilight nodded, once, before she dared to ask the question. "What...will you do with the research, Princess?" Celestia paused for a moment. "I will offer Dullahan what he wants most. Then I will secure Equestria against the dangers other worlds pose to us." Twilight nodded again and took off towards the Archives, in search of anything that could have survived that would aid her in her research. Celestia sighed at the makeup of ponies deserting Canterlot. "Unicorns, wielding his powers...they would be a force to contend with. A mighty force, indeed..." (Dullahan POV) My army could not be weaker. A small horde of ponies had showed up, a healthy mix among the three types. There were a few representatives of other races as well. A griffon, a zebra, a dragon, a- Was that a fucking manticore?! Nonetheless, I knew they would only have the most rudimentary understanding of their powers, if any. And they were currently bickering. Most of them, anyways, about which element was best. One loudmouthed preacher-type pony was attempting to restore order. That was when I decided enough was enough and to reveal myself. Be silent! I'm not sure whether it was the sudden shout, or the sound of my armor shifting and me moving from the cave that caused them to shut up, but the horde turned their eyes to me and closed their mouths. Or at the very least stopped using them. Taking advantage of the silence, I decided now was a good time to get the difficult things out of the way. Okay. Show of hooves, or other appendage if you aren't a pony. Who here knows who or what I am? The preacher-pony came forward. "You are Dullahan, the Armored One." I pointed at the unicorn and did my version of a nod. Partial credit, mister... "Cross," he filled in, "Silver Cross." My name is Dullahan. Fifteen hundred years ago, I stalked the darkness, scaring ponies into behaving. Teaching them that the bars of society, of decency, their rules and laws weren't there to hold them back from doing as they would. No, those bars were there to protect them from me. I never harmed any pony physically until the day I arrived in Sombra's throne room. The sisters pursued me relentlessly, trying to exorcise me. Then one day they managed to weaken me, and cast me into their basement in the Everfree Castle. When Discord got free, he gave me the strength I needed to get loose. It took me a few days, but I became whole once more, and called to my old djinn. What I got... I pointed to the mass of djinn hovering nearby. Well, apparently they'd been busy over the years. That got a few lewd chuckles, mostly from the stallions. Then one of the djinn spoke up. It's actually worse than this, sir. We're merely the ones who wanted to answer the call. There are others. Had I eyes, they would have widened. I turned towards the group. We'll go over proper protocol for djinn interaction in a bit. But for now, you're wondering why they brought you here. I know I would be. Assorted heads nodded, and I continued. It's simple. Fifteen hundred years ago, I righted wrongs. A rapist that gives no support to the mare or his foal? I cursed him so that he would either own up, or never lay with a mare again. A business owner who takes over a nearby shop and puts a family on the street so he can line his own pockets? Cursed so that he either has to return the shop, or be pained whenever he enters his place of business. And so on. I righted the wrongs her royal sunness couldn't see. At that, I got a few nods of assent. Fifteen hundred years ago, Celly and Lulu took my source of strength, hid it away, and took it with them to Canterlot, where it was subtly influencing ponies. Fast forward to now, and ponies can actually see the djinn. You, in particular. My previous experience was that none but me could. But if you can see the djinn, then there is a very good chance that you can learn to use my powers. Psynergy. A pegasus raised a hoof. "And we don't have to be unicorns?" I merely laughed. Magic and psynergy are not one and the same. True, unicorns will find that some of their training from whatever magic schools they attended will apply. But psynergy is usable by all types. I pointed towards the manticore and said, For instance, this guy. Psynergy is a force of the mind. It does not require much more than your will, and you will be capable of changing the world when you wield it properly. I lowered my hand and took a few steps towards the ponies, letting my presence in my armor flare up a bit. But make no mistake. Just like magic, there are pitfalls. Use it too much, and you will physically exhaust yourselves. And there are dangerous psynergies out there, where if you lose control... I let the sentence trail off, and everyone gulped, realizing what I was implying. That being said, there is another quality you hold that the djinn saw in you. One that I asked for specifically beyond your ability to see them. They perked up a bit and looked at me, wondering what it could have been. There is no love lost between you and Princess Sunbutt, is there? At one time, you may have been enamored with her. But these days, something happened to make you see her for what she is: A flawed creature, like all the rest. An earth pony spoke up from somewhere in the back. "Her bucking guards shut down my bar! The only alcohol allowed anymore is that stuff from the Apple family, cause one of them's an Element of Harmony!" A few yelled 'yeah' at that, and another pony spoke up. "I had an appointment planned and everything to try and impress her into being her student, and then that Twilight Sparkle mare goes and blows up a tower! Then I'm informed that 'the position has been filled.' There go my hopes and dreams!" The dragon came forward then. "My family was executed under false pretenses, on her orders. There are no words in any mortal tongue strong enough to express my hatred of her." Silence reigned then as the ponies came to grips with just how bucked up that was. Someone eventually got the courage to speak again, and no surprise, it was Cross. "I devoted a church to you and the things the djinn told me about you. I trained a militia to right wrongs, in a similar manner that you did. Celestia ordered it shut down ten years ago, and took everything from me. You have merely to tell me which way to point my blades, and I shall fight for you." A light blue pegasus nodded and came forward as well. "I found evidence in the Archives that my family is running a slavery ring, and Blueblood is the one taking the majority of the profits. If you promise me that we will strike at them, then I will join you willingly." And that opened the floodgates. From a son who burned his abusive father in his own home, to a diamond dog losing her adoptive father. A pegasus who couldn't fly, to an earth pony judged because he was taught by a zebra how to use runes. A pegasus who sought adventure, a pegasus who had his trophies of adventure taken from him. The list went on and on. Eventually I had enough and held up my right hand. This was apparently some sort of unbidden signal, and all of them fell silent. All but one, a zebra shamaness, who came forward. "Dullahan, my powers were already great. Why should I stay? I can already command the vines, heal others, and even return the long-dead for a few minutes of conversation. Why should I stay?" I 'looked' down at her and snorted. Only the long-dead? Only for a few minutes? My dear, you are strong. And you have been misusing your strength. The Revive psynergy is meant to be used on the freshly, not-from-natural-causes, dead. It is meant to heal the body, purge the toxins, return unjustly taken life. And there is so much more to learn. In fact, I think a demonstration is in order. Come, all of you. I headed to a prepared field, and the djinn and ponies, and others, followed. I'd hauled several freshly-felled trees into more-or-less straight rows, and prepared to show the ponies what psynergy could really do. Venus, element of earth. The heavy lifters. Move. The log I was pointing my sword at was grasped by a giant ghostly hand and moved to the left a few feet. Then, I moved it back into line. Those attuned tend to be stronger, physically, and can cure wounds of others. They are not as adept at it as others, but they can eventually learn how to return unjustly taken life, as the shamaness has proven. And their methods of attack are strong, but tend to target small groups. From Quake... At this, the earth beneath the first log shifted upwards a few feet, then returned to normal. To Spire... A stalagmite shot from the ground, impaling the newly-toppled log, before vanishing. To the mighty Ragnarok. A ghostly blade materialized and impaled the log before it detonated, wiping both out of existence. The horde looked on in shock, amazed that I could command such power. Or that some of them could command such power. Mars. Element of fire. Element swap, Mars. Blaze. A jet of flame jumped from my sword towards the second log in the line, incinerating it. Of course, Mars was the reason I'd picked up several logs. I would need them. Those of Mars tend to be more akin to living weapons. Hitting hard either with their psynergy or their more physical weapons, Mars commands heat and flame. From Flare... Another log down as a wave of fire wrapped around it. To Beam... And another log down as a stream of heat incinerated it. And even Fireball... Yet another log vaporized in a flash of heat and flame. Mars tends to deal with lots of foes, quickly. Mars also has access to a few buffs. Such as Guard and Impact. The ponies I'd pointed at glowed red briefly, and I could see in their eyes the realization that they felt stronger. The reverse of these buffs are also available to those of Mars. However, there are those rare cases...those very rare cases...where a Mars adept has access to a healing psynergy. One known as Aura. It soothes away aches and pains of their allies. But such cases are few and far between. I paused in front of a unicorn filly and tousled her hair playfully. It requires both a fiery temperament and kindness, a want to not see their friends injured if at all avoidable. I walked back towards the logs and did my version of a nod. Jupiter, element of wind, of lightning. The quick, tricky ones. Element swap, Jupiter. Gust. The log fell over in a rush of wind, and the pegasi in the audience looked slightly bored. Well, most of them. Those of Jupiter tend to be fast, and can cause so many status effects. Such as Sleep... A gentle mist surrounded the log I pointed at. And they even have the power to Seal the psynergy of others. The familiar purple symbol danced above the log before vanishing. All of their attacks are flashy. You've seen Gust, but they also have Spark and Bolt... A ball of plasma devoured one log while lightning set another alight. They also have access to Ward, to protect against non-physical attacks. I turned towards the last set of logs and sighed. Mercury, element of water. The healers. Element swap, Mercury. Douse. Spheres of water jumped from my sword and impacted the next-to-last log, toppling it. They do not tend to have many attacks beyond that and Frost... Ice coated the final log, encasing it thoroughly. ...And those that do tend to have them because of their own abilities, not their affinities for ice and water. All well and good though. Mercury is meant more for healing. Ply for single targets, Wish for many. And they can cure many status ailments, from poison, to paralysis...the only thing they cannot do is return unjustly taken life. The horde nodded as I finished my explanation of psynergy. I cannot promise that you all will become masters of the element you have an affinity for. I can promise you nothing but this: should you stay, I will train you. Should you choose to stay with me, we will found a town, a community, where those with such strengths will learn how to handle them, how to use them properly. One with no love of the princess of the sun. And when we are ready... I hefted my sword and pointed it to the sky. We will find those that wronged us, and we will hold them accountable for all their misdeeds. We will find those that dare walk the darkness, and we will show them how wrong they are in thinking they are the monsters of society. I activated my Fulminous Strike, and lightning raced into the heavens. Will you join me? After a moment of hesitation, cheers were my response. Author's Note 918 favorites. Good gods. Okay, so if your OC was mentioned, even tangentially, then congrats. You're in! If it wasn't, don't fret just yet. I have...30 pages of OCs to get through, and there will be time for each one at least once. Probably. And a good majority of the changeling OCs I've gotten won't show up for a good while, if at all. We're still in early S2, guys! Wait for the wedding! I'ma take another short break. No chapter tomorrow. Probably one Tuesday!
Side Chapter 1 - Cross and StripesSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Chapter 9 - Watch your head, that first step's a doozyA funny thing I've learned about being in any sort of position of leadership: The things you say get picked up on. For instance, while I was building a new house and one of the walls collapsed slightly on me, I sagged and said Sol dammit. The reason I went with Sol is simple: I'm not using Celestia's name in that sort of context. I don't think of her as a goddess, thank you very much. It wasn't long before I heard stallions also use my inventive curse, and one of the mares had come to me asking if there was another one I knew about that she could use. Foolishly I shrugged and said Well, Sol is another word for Sun. I used Sol because I'm not using the sun princess' name if I can help it. I was also thinking about using Selene in the place of Moon... It wasn't long before 'Selene curse you' became yet another de facto swear. It was probably born of them wanting a new curse besides 'By Celestia' or 'Thank Celestia'. I mean, I hadn't noticed them saying 'everybody' and 'everyone' yet. Though it would probably only be a matter of time, seeing as how we had a healthy mix of species. After a few days, Crossed Gears had managed to give us a rough idea of what we would need to make a generator. He'd also helped by giving us the idea and schematics to make a water tower. That'd been an all-day project. An unpleasant one, when one of the supports snapped. There was also a bit of excitement when I got the idea to use Mad Growth on the field instead of a regular Growth. That had resulted in a plant monster. One that I realized should be defeated via careful application of Wind Slash. Burning it to the ground would have resulted in a lot of burned produce that the ponies could use, after all. Slowly cutting it down to size had netted us a sizable stockpile of food that, while the ponies say tasted a bit more bland than they were used to, did the job of keeping their bellies full. I don't think our generator project would have gotten anywhere if it wasn't for Dreamer, a violet unicorn. He'd asked that critical question. Not why isn't it working. But rather. "Why don't you use Quake to mine out the mountain?" Good head on him, that stallion. I was also thankful that we had a few good smiths in the town. We managed to make the parts for generator in what Crossed Gears told us was record time. Though we did have someone else to thank for that. Namely, our first Venus Djinn to earn a name. We ended up calling him Lodestone, and his particular talent was in magnetism. Creating and manipulating the fields thereof. He ended up shifting only a little bit, to where it looked like his tail was a horseshoe magnet. Without that happening, I'm pretty sure it would have taken us much longer to get a generator set up. Naturally, a small celebration was in order for both him and Talos the griffin, the one he'd formed the closest bond with. True to her word and possibly her talent, Fulminata managed to get electrical lines laid for the town. We had food, water, electricity. Now all we needed was some sort of unique product to export along with more housing, and the town would not only survive, but thrive. I had a few ideas on the unique export front, but first and foremost, we needed to get Crossed Gears, along with the backup generator and books we'd borrowed, back to town. There were a few ways we could do this unnoticed, but first, I needed to meet with the most interesting cross between zebra and pony I'd ever seen for both the export and the primary plan for returning our 'borrowed' items. With a coat the color of bark, spiky gray hair that darkened towards the tips, a few stripes in her coat here and there, a unicorn horn, a gemstone cutie mark, and red irises, this equine life form definitely stood out from the crowd. So, Crystal Clear, I had a thought about the town making money, along with us performing 'missions' a lot easier. She motioned with a hoof for me to continue. See, in theory, gemstones can be imbued with certain psynergies. Then, even if you're not of the same alignment, you can still use the contained psynergy by channeling a bit of your power into it. Her eyes danced as she considered the implications. "That...that sounds like it would help us greatly. But how could this help us perform missions easier?" Because I know of a few that are, shall we say, unaligned. If I can imbue a stone with one of them, it will make sneaking around a lot easier. All I need is a stone, preferably a dark one, like an onyx. Crystal immediately began rummaging through her bag and procured an onyx. I took it carefully and inspected it. Perfect. Now, I'm not sure about how much backlash there'll be, so... She backed up a few steps, but continued to watch. I grasped the spherical gem firmly with my right gauntlet and concentrated. I pulled at the essence of myself and forced a bit of it into the stone. I would have smiled as it caught hold in the stone and shifted, going from a piece of me to a small wisp. Then I focused on my memories, bringing forth the very idea of Cloak. The darkness is the ally of the one that uses this...used properly, none should fear detection...they become one with the shadows... A flash came from the stone, and I 'felt' the wisp change. Well, I think it worked, Crystal. Mind taking it and standing in the shade of that building over there? Crystal nodded and took the onyx in her magical grip, going to the nearby (still shared) home. "And now what?" Channel a bit of your power into the stone. Crystal nodded, concentrated, and then she and the stone vanished. Excellent! It works! "What works?" Even knowing who it was and where they (approximately) were, I will say this: Hearing a disembodied pony voice is creepy. Look down at yourself! There was silence for a beat, and then rapid breathing. Clearly, Crystal wasn't taking it well. Calm down! Just step into the light. After a moment, Crystal reappeared at the edge of the shadow, having stuck one hoof out of it. And that is Cloak in a nutshell. We are going to have so much fun with it, but first, we need to return Gears, the books, and the generator. (3rd POV - Twilight - Dawn of the next day) Twilight was pacing in her bedroom. She couldn't help herself, really. That giant animated armor had managed to sneak in, take books without a library card, and sneak out. How was her home supposed to be safe after that?! How was anypony supposed to be safe after that! Nonetheless, the note had said there was a possibility the books would be returned, so she waited in her home. Sooner or later the armor would come by, and then she'd- "Twilight!" Oh, Spike was back from Rarity's already? That was fast. "Twilight, there's something going on in Town Square! I think you should be there, somepony mentioned something about books!" Twilight was gone in an instant, teleporting directly to Town Square to see what all the commotion was about. It didn't take long for her to see it. Lying near the fountain was the town's backup generator, the passed out Crossed Gears, and a small pile of books. Affixed to the books was a small note. Twilight plucked it off the pile and began to read. Dear possibly neurotic pony, As you can see, the property of the town has been returned. As I stated might happen in my last note. However, while you were here reading this note, a small group has infiltrated your library and is even now taking a few books on metallurgy, mining, and agriculture. Same deal as before, we'll return them one day. Probably. Sincerely, Dullahan Everypony present saw Twilight's mane starting to smoke and knew what that meant. Unfortunately, there were no bomb shelters nearby. (Dullahan POV) So wait, you mean to tell me they made more than one season of that show? Across from me, Solaire nodded. "Indeed. Last count was...I think four? It's been a while." Longer for me, and I was never into it. Okay, so the whole Discord thing, was that a major plot point? Solaire nodded again and took a bite of the sandwich I'd set out before summoning him for a chat. "Yes, that was the season two opener. Things are probably going to get off the rails from there, depending how much you interfere. Or they could follow their paths perfectly. Who knows?" Can you give me a rundown so I know what to avoid? Solaire sighed. "Oh gosh. Um...Moonbutt's going to become more sociable, there's going to be a thing about sisters and cutie marks, Dash is going to use Ghastly Gorge to try and find a pet..." At this I interrupted him. Okay, that's not too far from here. What happens then, specifically? Solaire nodded at me. "Wise precaution. A rock-slide happens." We'll avoid it until then. Next? "There'll be a thing in town about Dash's inflated ego, a thing in Canterlot about Rarity hobnobbing, little Spike is going to run amok for a bit, and...I forget a good bit of the rest except for the dragon migration." That also sounds like a thing we should avoid. Are we on their path? Solaire shrugged. "I'm uncertain. It's been a thousand years and change since Earth was a thing I was on. Oh! There's also going to be a wedding. You should definitely avoid that." Aw, I loved weddings! "Yeah, well, this one takes place in Canterlot, and plays host to an attack by a rival nation." Actually, that sounds like the perfect excuse. Solaire tilted his helmeted head at me. "Excuse for what?" I would have smiled at him. Gatecrashing, what else? A few days after my meeting with Solaire, I thought Frostfall, the pegasus who'd helped with the raid on the town, was ready to learn the one Jupiter psynergy that had to be passed down from teacher to student. She wanted to have her friends, who I was now dubbing the Newvale Adventuring Troupe, with her, and I agreed. We met near the entrance of the 'mine'. I was seriously considering hollowing out a huge section of it for my own use. It'd give me a place to store my tablets close to the town! But I digress. Okay, now this will probably sting you a little bit, but I promise, it'll hurt me more. Just put your hoof in my hand. Carefully, she did so, and I concentrated on myself. I brought forth a piece of me, purged it of its connections to turn it into a wisp, and then forced it into the very notion of the Reveal psynergy. It was not easy or painless, doing this, but I was getting used to it. I then forced the wisp out of my gauntleted hand and into Frostfall's hoof to pass the psynergy on to her. Her face lit up in revelation as the knowledge made its way into her head and she, probably by reflex, tried it out. The world around us for a good ten meters was plunged into a black-and-white version of itself. Color bled away, and it all looked the same. All except for Moonfire. His fur peeled away, revealing a black, insectoid form beneath. Once he realized we were staring, his eyes widened, and colorless flames covered him, leaving no trace of any change. He then screamed in an odd voice that was only slightly similar to his own. "What the buck is that psynergy?!" I drew my sword and pointed it at him. It's called Reveal, and you get approximately ten seconds to tell me what the hell is going on before I get pissed! Instantly Talos was between the two of us, snarling at me. "I don't care that you're Dullahan or that he's...not exactly what I thought he was, but you do NOT threaten my friend!" I 'stared' at the two of them. Five seconds! That was when Moonfire blurted out "I'm a changeling!" at me. I turned from Talos to Moonfire, and then to Frostfall and Flare. And did any of you know this? They shook their heads and I sighed. Well, then let's find out. Moonfire, if you would? The rest of that day would prove to be...interesting. Author's Note 991 favorites. Nearly 700 likes. What. The. Christ. Anyways, yeah! Dully can pull parts of himself out to make psynergy stones for 'unaligned' psynergy! ... The limit for him is gonna be 'can only make one of any particular type' and 'can only make one every few days' along with 'must have proper stone'. I'm on the fence as to if his followers will be able to make things like Cure or Growth stones.
Chapter 10 - HeadstrongFortunately, a quick scan with the Reveal psynergy on all the other ponies revealed that they were, in fact, ponies. Moonfire explained what little he could about changelings to me, and quite frankly, I both want to meet this Chrysalis character, and at the same time, I want to avoid her. She has so much pain coming her way... Anyways, a few days later saw us with an acceptable level of housing. By which I mean, nobody had to share with anyone anymore. Some still bunked together. It was time to begin the next thing we would need: A courthouse. I had the help of Common Grounds in making it. He seemed genuinely happy that he might get the chance to practice law again. Other ponies were working on personalizing their homes a good bit, which is something I tried to stay out of. It was all about them, after all. Though, when they came to me with questions, I did my best to answer them. One such frequent questioner was Aboyami the shamaness. She and Crust- Oh, I did mention that her djinn finally developed a talent and a name, right? He was capable of shielding others from harm with a thick aura that took the strongest of attacks to pierce. He gained a rough, jagged appearance. Almost like he was a boulder. Anyways, Aboyami and Crust tended to question what my motivations were. Why I felt the need to look after ponies, yet felt so much anger towards her royal sunness. Eventually I distilled my answer down to a few sentences that satisfied them. She who claims that ponies are not but kind and loving creatures and has never seen the darkness that lurks inside like we have, that nativity angers me like no other. I wish to make her see, see what she has done wrong, and this community is the way to do it. After all, the best revenge is living well. We rarely had any trouble in keeping the water tower fed, thanks to Snow Fluff and Deluge, the Mercury Djinn he spent the most time with. Combined, they could conjure up rain clouds in about twenty seconds, and they kept going for a good, long while. Naturally, this meant they were head of whatever weather team we needed. Eventually, I approached the Diamond Dog of the community. She looked at me fearfully. "What is it, Dullahan?" Where is the one who wronged you, young one? At this, her face hardened. "Las Pegasus, and may he rot forever. Guard Captain...pfft. More like Captain of the buffet table!" I merely nodded my peculiar nod and went to fetch the Cloak stone from its place in my developing sanctum in the mountain. Be ready, Amber. For soon, we will illuminate his crimes. Stalwart Shield, Captain of the Las Pegasus Guard, sighed as he eased himself into his bed. It wasn't easy being in his position. He had half-a-dozen crime syndicates trying to buy him off. He had to step carefully to make sure they didn't actually interact with each other too often. Otherwise his loyalties would come into question, and his opulent lifestyle would fall to pieces around him. And now that he'd gotten used to it, he couldn't imagine a life without any of his fine luxuries. The most excitement he'd gotten was when that Diamond Dog had come to town. That had been fun. He'd taken her stuff, followed her back to her den, found a pony corpse she was probably responsible for, taken more of her stuff, and called it a day. There was the sound of glass breaking, and a small spherical object landed in front of him. He barely had time to notice the fuse before it went off. The one thought going through his head was What the bu- Then he was enveloped in a cloud of smoke, and knew no more. I stood in the shadows of the courtroom, waiting for the stallion to shake off the effects of the sleep bomb that Aboyami had made. Good zebra, that Aboyami. He'd been out for a good long while. Finally, he slowly began to stir and looked around. Taking note that he appeared to be in a courtroom, he started laughing. "Okay, so which family did I piss off? Celestia, you really went all out, didn't you?" Common Grounds walked out and took the Judge's seat. "Court is now in session." At this, the lights came on, revealing the other members of the community sitting in the audience. Amber was sitting at the prosecutor's bench, which left Stalwart sitting at the defense. Or as I preferred to call it, the accused. Interestingly enough, the jury section was empty. One stallion was easy. Ponynapping enough of his fellows to make a jury? Not easy. We'd have to do without. "The case of Amber versus Stalwart Shield will now begin. Amber, present your case." Amber got up and faced the audience. "When I was young, I was a victim. Two tribes of dogs came to blows with one another, and my mother was killed. A pony hermit happened by and took me from her corpse, and raised me as his own. And things were good for a time, until I turned ten. Then, my surrogate father fell ill. I decided to go into town with a few jewels to see if I could sell them and get medication for him." At this, Amber turned and faced Stalwart. "And then this...thing. Decided to whip the townsfolk into a frenzy and knocked me out, took my gems, drove me out of town, and followed me to my home! Because of HIM, I could not aid my father! Because of HIM, a life was lost! Because of HIM, MY HOME WAS LOST!" The crowd murmured to themselves, and Common Grounds held a hoof up. "Order! Amber, are you done?" Amber nodded and sat back down. Common Grounds looked towards Stalwart Shield. "You are permitted to make your defense now." The corpulent earth pony stallion opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to come up with words. Finally, he said one sentence that probably doomed him. "This is no Celestia-run court, and I demand a proper trial replace this farce!" I stepped out of the darkness then, even as Common Grounds banged his gavel and commanded the accused to be silent. You are correct, Stalwart Shield. All eyes turned to me as I walked up from the back of the audience with a sheaf of papers clutched in my right hand. This is no Celestia-run court, because you're not in her jurisdiction anymore. You're in ours. I handed the papers to Common Grounds, then turned to face the stupefied guard pony. Here, there is only accused and accuser and evidence. There is no mercy at the hooves of the sun princess. There is only justice for the wronged, and punishment for those that walk in the dark. Common Grounds looked through the papers. "You were taking bribes from all the major criminal families? At once?" Stalwart shirked back a touch. "It's...it's not easy living on a guard's salary. Even a Captain's salary." Common Grounds took a piece of paper in his hooves. "It says you were getting at least five hundred bits a week on your normal salary." The crowd murmured and Amber growled. "You took all our things for the thrill of it? You did what you did because it was fun? Those things couldn't have gone for fifty!" At this, the crowd was whipped into a frenzy, and Common Grounds banged the gavel multiple times. "Order! ORDER!" I walked towards the guard pony. Your fate has been decided. The worst thing I will do to you is simple. I unsheathed my blade and held it over his head. You will understand. And as the flat of the blade made contact with his head, I sighed, thinking of older times. (Dullahan POV - 1,504 years ago) "Aw, c'mon Dully. Can't I just hold it for a second?" I 'looked' over at the floating Draconequus. That wouldn't be a good idea, Discord. Who knows what sort of reaction you'd provoke? He pouted and moved his paw closer. "But it's new! Exotic! Something I don't know about! I have to try i-" The last word was cut out as he made contact with the hilt of the blade. He stiffened instantly, his eyes rolling around in his head. Dissy? Dissy, speak to me. Slowly, the draconequus came to and stared at where my head would have been. "How...do you deal with that knowledge?" What knowledge? "I once was lost, but now I'm found. I once was blind, but now I see. I see everything. I saw it all. The Multiverse. The Void Eternal. That Which Fills It. I saw everything, Dully. How did you deal? It's breaking me inside." I panicked, recalling that summer with clarity. I...I didn't, Dissy. I didn't deal with it at all. I still can't. How did you see it all? Discord smiled at me. "Your sword. It's a storage device, a catalyst. It holds that moment of time perfectly suspended, and when others touch it, they see everything that you did. I knew, somewhere in the back of my mind, if I wanted to, I could know everything. But that sword...Limitless knowledge is fine and dandy until you gain limitless understanding." I reached out to him. Dissy, please understand. Whatever you saw, it wasn't my intention. I didn't know, Dissy. I didn't know. Discord nodded, and that was when I saw the changes. His eyes were a bit more...off. He had a long fang peeking out of his mouth. His aura seemed to have changed. "I know, Dully, I know." (Dullahan POV - Present day) The stallion's eyes went wide, then rolled back into his head. I sighed and picked him up. I will take him to the nearby pony town. He should at least be comfortable. Amber spoke up then. "What did that do, Dullahan?" I 'looked' to her. It's too soon to say yet, but I will say this: touching the sword is what turned Discord from a mischevious spirit into the lord of chaos. As I exited the courtroom, I could faintly hear Amber. "Finally, justice has been done." (3rd POV - Twilight Sparkle - Day of Dash's pet race) "But Rainbow Dash, you didn't want a pet that would keep you grounded and hold you back, remember?" As Rainbow lifted a hoof to her chin in thought, there came the sound of shifting metal and a rhythmic pounding noise. All eyes turned towards it and they saw a peculiar sight. The suit of headless armor was here, and it was applauding. And then it spoke. Well done on choosing based on the qualities that lie within rather than physical characteristics. If only all relationships were built like that. Everypony present gasped and Twilight managed to get out a strangled "YOU!" The armor did its weird version of a nod. Yup, it's me, it's all I ever tried to be. Frankly, I couldn't imagine being anyone but me! Pinkie nodded. "Yeah, it's no fun being someone you're not!" The armor gave the impression that it was staring at Pinkie. Why am I not surprised you would try that. Anyways, I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here, right? At that, Rarity nodded. "It does seem to be a bit unlikely you would come here with no reason behind it." Truth is, a little birdie told me that something would happen at the gorge soon, so I've been waiting here for it to actually happen. And really, you probably should have triggered that rockslide from afar, or at the very least, earlier! Still, what's done is done. I can help. Can someone with medical training tell me if that wing is set properly? Fluttershy made her way to Dash's wing and went over it. "It, um, seems to be. Why?" Cause this. Ply! A stream of blue magic made its way out of Dullahan's sword and at Dash. She squawked in protest before she realized something. "Hey, my wing doesn't hurt anymore!" While everyone's attention was on Dash, Twilight sent a small auditory report to the Princess. She would have to know that he was here. Dullahan nodded at Dash. It should heal in a few hours now. I'd still say stay off it today. (3rd POV - Princess Celestia's throne room) Princess Celestia was enjoying a slice of cake with some tea when the report from her student arrived. "Princess, Dullahan is here, at Ghastly Gorge. We're fine at the moment, but you should probably handle this situation." Celestia carefully lowered her fork and calmed herself. Dullahan had never brought physical harm to her ponies. This was Twilight. She could definitely handle any situations that would crop up. She carefully made a few notes about Ghastly Gorge and returned to eating her cake. If there was one thing she wasn't going to do, it was get involved with Dullahan until she had the capacity to offer him what he wanted. Unfortunately, one of the nearby guards heard the report, and decided to tell Shining Armor about it. This would result in him sending an entire wing of the Royal Guards to Ghastly Gorge to protect his little sis and bring Dullahan in. Also widely regarded, looking back, as a Bad Idea. (Dullahan POV) I nodded at Dash. So yeah, figured you all should probably know that I am in fact genuinely sorry about those crimes I committed. They may have been necessary, but that doesn't make them any more right. When I can safely do so, I will at the very least consider subjecting myself to your courts to atone for them. This shocked all the mares there into dropping their jaws. Finally, Applejack got her voice back. "No foolin'? You're sorry about all a that ruckus you caused?" I 'looked' to her and did my nod. Yup. Just because they were crimes of necessity and I returned the items, doesn't make them right. I know this. However, it's too soon to try and atone, there's still work to do yet. The mares pondered that aspect of my morality that I had revealed. Finally, Twilight spoke up. "Why...do you hate the Princesses?" I growled. They locked me up for fifteen hundred years for doing what needed to be done. Someone had to make ponies behave, and they weren't doing it! Just because I survived their attempts to exorcise me, I became an enemy of the country! I will not submit to her justice for the crimes she believes I committed until she sees just how BLIND she's been! And then I heard the wingbeats. I 'looked' up and saw around fifty pegasi in the sky. One of them yelled 'Halt' at me, and I 'looked' down at Twilight. Did you-? She looked askance, and that was all the answer I needed. Like I'm sticking around for this! Teleport! Let me go over why that was a bad idea: Teleport is the ultimate unaligned psynergy. It can take you from one town to another in the blink of an eye. However, even Lifting or Carrying the generator was hard for me. Teleporting myself from Ghastly Gorge to Newvale was a feat I hadn't attempted. Or should have attempted. The world changed around me, and I actually blacked out. (3rd POV - Newvale - Dusk) All was quiet in the town of Newvale. Dullahan had stated there were things he would have to do for a little while after he took the stallion back. Still, they expected him back before too long. What the ponies got wasn't what they had been expecting, though. In a flash of light and a rush of wind, Dullahan emerged near the entrance of the mine. Common Grounds, who was passing by at the time, raised an eyebrow. "How did you do that, Dullahan? And where were you?" Dullahan straightened himself and 'looked' into the sky. I...I was elsewhen... Author's Note So. 724 likes, 1011 favorites. Goodness. Also, that link at the end? That's to a crossover chapter with a certain Lady of Madness. You should probably click it.
Side Chapter 2 - A shoulder to lean onAuthor's Note This chapter was written by Isaac3924. Side Chapter 2 - A shoulder to lean on Pyre was a little befuddled at the moment. The reason as to pertaining why, was the quite large (and of course) raucous party going on in the recently established inn/tavern. Multiple ponies were going about having a blast. Common Grounds was dancing and jumping from table to table, quite happy with his first case, Kajex was dancing along with him, darting about trying to keep up with the slightly intoxicated lawyer, now judge. Pyralis was quite drunk and was incessantly going on and on about his lordliness (whatever that means) to whomever was near. Which at the moment had been Dreamer and Lore Keeper, who were previously trying to hold an intelligent conversation over the din of the tavern. Aboyami and Scarves were sitting together. The zebra mare was talking to Scarves about the culture and traditions of her tribe, while Scarves was nodding along with the similarities that his own teacher's clan shared. Flowing had decided to join in the revelry midway, leaving Irish to tend the bar. He was currently having a drinking contest with Cross, surprisingly.... and even more surprisingly losing to him. Even the local manticore, Fluffy, was lapping at a rather large bowl of alcohol contentedly, letting out an occasional purr. While Pyre himself sat at the bar, where he had been a good thirty minutes before the party started, passively drinking and watching the festivities take place. Pyre wasn't quite surprised that a party started up, but rather who was leading the festivities. Amber, the solitary Diamond Dog of the community was going around being as absolutely random and carefree as possible. She'd go around acting either as a fool, or surprisingly intelligent. She had joined in Common's dance midway only to hop off the table at the end of a strange song dubbed, "Cuban Pete". She poked a little fun at Pyralis, bowing deeply to him and somehow convincing the 'lord' that the raccoons (or plebeians) outside were huge fans of his and would like to thank his lordship for his kind rule, causing the pony to attempt a regal canter out of the tavern, only to stumble and fall on his snout halfway through. Making the usually stuffy Dreamer laugh uproariously, alongside Lore. It was at this point that Pyre turned back to his drink beginning to get a little angry with the dog. He could not understand her, so he decided to remove her from his sight. This worked for an entirety of five minutes until Amber plopped down next to him. "Hey there, Flare! How ya doin'?" Pyre, turned to face Amber, a little irked that his personal bubble had been invaded, he gave the Diamond Dog a scowl, and let loose a single word, "Fine." Letting it convey that he wished to be left to his drink. Amber did not take the hint. "Really Flare? Cause your muzzle says otherwise." "Pyre." "What?" "My name is Pyre." Amber shrugged, "Suit yourself Pyrie," Pyre's right ear twitched, "but you still don't look 'fine' to me. So what can good ol' auntie Amber do for ya to turn that frown upside down?" "Nothing." Amber pouted, "Now don't say that, surely something could cheer you up.... Oh, I know, why don't I list the things that cheer me up! I bet one of those will make ya happy again!" "That's not real-" But it was too late. Amber let loose a stream of words, strung together to where it became practically inane rambling. The most Pyre could pick up was something about emeralds tasting like watermelon, and the many, many, many wonders of books. ......This went on for about an hour. Until it was broken by the sound of Irish accidentally dropping a mug and shattering it followed by a quick exchange between Flowing and Cross going along the lines of Flowing yelling out, "MAZEL TOV!" Followed by Cross, staring at him with a raised eyebrow asking, "What does that even mean?" Ending with Flowing stating, "You're not even sspst ch with the panda hat." Followed promptly with Flowing falling over, hitting the ground unconscious. This went unnoticed to Pyre however, as he used the sudden silence to voice his anger. "How can you act this way?" Amber blinked, surprised, "Whaddaya mean?" "I understand that you're happy that justice is served, but what about the rest of us? What about the ones that might not see justice done?" Pyre's voice began to rise in volume. "What about the ones who can't receive justice?! What about those of us, who had to take justice into their own hooves?! What about me, who burnt his own father to death?!" Pyre's voice didn't rise all that high, but held a cold intensity to it that made it seem to dominate the whole room. "And yet, you go about all happy go-lucky, uncaring for the plights of others! Have you no respe-" Pyre, suddenly caught himself when he actually took notice of the tears beginning to form in the corners of Amber's eyes, and then looked around the rest of the tavern. While there were indeed a few ponies... and even the dragon, that seemed to share his sentiments, most looked at him with an expression of anger or shame. Boring down on him for the slight that he had just carried out. Fluffy even had the hairs of his back standing straight up, glaring menacingly in his direction. "....I'm sorry, I need to go." Pyre croaked out, slowly getting off his bar stool and making for the door. As soon as he got out the door, he galloped away from the tavern and took flight towards a small hill near town. Pyre alighted himself onto the hill, and let out a sigh as he sat on his haunches, looking down at Newvale morosely. He had done it again. Pyre tended not to let anything get to him, to be calm and collected, yet still, there were always certain buttons that if pressed, made him angry, then he would just simmer and simmer, until finally, he would blow up, (though not in a large commotion) at the nearest pony. It's why he'd move around so much. Being slow to trust others and letting the one bothersome pony get to him.... that and staying away from the foster care ponies that were probably still after him. Suddenly, a loud crunch made Pyre jump and twirl around in surprise. Right behind him, was Amber, laying back staring up at the stars, upon a newly formed mound. The diamond dog had dug her way from outside the tavern at some point and had followed Pyre. "..... How'd you find me?" Pyre queried, tilting his head to the side. "... You use lilac shampoo." "......... No I do-" "Yes. You do." "Well what do you want?" Amber just continued to stare at the stars, until finally she turned to Pyre and said, "You know, I never knew my real parents. Still, that doesn't mean I understand how you feel . I was one of the lucky ones, I had someone to provide for me, teach me, and care for m-" "You're not doing a very good job at this." Pyre deadpanned. "J-just listen!" Amber flustered. "*sigh*My father, he taught me to always laugh in life, to find the joy in what you can. To laugh, and then make others laugh, to spread joy to others with your own happiness." She turned back to look at the stars. "He told me that when you made somebody, not just somepony, but somebody laugh, a new star formed in the sky like the gems underground, I mean how stupid is that?" She laughed a little to herself staring up at the stars again, wistfully. "Still, hammered the idea into my brain, I mean who doesn't like to look at stars? Heh, the old codger even lived by his creed, found his corpse with a smile on its face." She choked a little at that, "Only bit of consolation I had from his death... or maybe he didn't want me to worry, the poor fool.... Still!" Amber jumped up and clapped her paws together, her expression doing a complete 180. "My old man, did teach me, that sometimes making somebody laugh wasn't always the right way to make 'em happy!" She grinned, and waltzed over to Pyre who backed up a step in surprise. "Sometimes, the best thing someone needs is'a good ol' shoulder to lean on, or an ear to listen to their troubles. So, here I am." She plopped down beside Pyre pushing his haunches down with her, so they were sitting side by side, staring at the lights from New Vale. "Ya wanna talk about it?" ".... Really? This corny spiel?" Pyre deadpanned again. Amber shrugged, "It may be corny, but it's sure as tartarus cathartic." She smiled toothily. "............I'm not getting out of this am I?" "Eeeeenope." Pyre let out a sigh, "Fine. To begin with, my foalhood, was for lack of a bitter word, shit. My father, was a hero of the guard, and well respected, but when I turned two, he, being his heroic self, faced down a dragon. He then proceeded to actually stall it, until another contingent of guards got to town, but lost his leg." Pyre paused for a second collecting his thoughts, and then continued, "I never knew my mother, and I don't care to know her. I found out later in life that she supposedly left us, due to not wanting to care for me, or a crippled three legged unicorn. So then, father only had me to blame." Pyre gained a bit of a far-off look in his eyes, "He may have been hobbled but his horn worked perfectly fine, as did his mind.... in a way. That thing knew just how to hit me in the right position, and force so as to keep the injuries hidden. When I got to the age of seven, I tried to approach the squad of guards in my town to report him, and to get away." Pyre's face scrunched up into one of spite, "They didn't believe me. My father's status as a hero, and his formerly high rank in the guard assured him to be practically untouchable. I was beaten quite badly that evening." Pyre grit his teeth even harder, feeling a tension in his chest, "That didn't stop the one or two guards from noticing what was really going on though. When they approached him however, he merely bribed them to keep their mouths shut with his savings and his pension. I don't know why, maybe to keep me as his plaything to vent his anger. "After a year more of that torture, I- I- " Pyre took a deep breath, then continued his voice wavering slightly, "I tricked my father to fall down the basement stairs. I watched as the bastard fell, broke one of his forelegs, and cracked his horn. After that, I shut the door, locked it, and set fire to all four corners of that hell-hole... I did open the door one last time to say goodbye, to my screaming father. Then I torched the basement..... just to make sure." Pyre had finally calmed down after explaining the murder of his single family member, "The guard found me outside the house, already half-burnt to the ground." "Heh," Pyre smirked, "earned me my cutie mark." He motioned to the wooden pile of scraps with a blazing fire set upon it. "The guards just threw me into foster care, but it was practically the same old crap as my father, if on a lesser scale. So I ran." Pyre shrugged, "Been traveling around getting work where I could until this." Pyre motioned to New Vale with his forelegs, and then let them fall. Letting silence finally settle over both he and Amber, until finally turning to her and asking, "Are you happy now?" Amber just smiled heartily, "No, no, no, are you happy?" Pyre was about to retort, when he realized, "Yeah.... yeah, I sort of am....." He turned slowly back to Newvale, eyes wide. Only for Amber to knock him over with a slap to the back. "There ya go, all better now! Nothing good ol' Amber couldn't handle ya see?" She reached down and helped Pyre to his hooves who chuckled a bit. "Yeah, you're right." "Well then, what are we doin' up here all by our lonesome? Let's get back down to the tavern and I'll buy ya a drink, whadaya say Pyrie?" "Amber." Pyre stated with a serious look on his face, Causing her to pause and turn to him. "My friends call me Flare." Amber stood there for a half second and then guffawed, walking down the slope with Pyre Flare right beside her.
Chapter 11 - A Heady Brew or TwoSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Side Chapter 3 - Laying some Common GroundworkAuthor's Note This chapter was written by Mimic Kairatta. Side Chapter 3 - Laying some Common Groundwork “Boop” “Mmmph....” “Boop” “Mmppph....” “Boop” “Mph.... Stop it.” The young earth pony rubbed his green eyes with his hoof. The hair of his yellow mane and tail were sticking out in different directions. He tried to remember the events of last night with little to no success. Instead, he gets a headache for his troubles. A Mars Djinni had woken up earlier and was lazing about while waiting for Common Grounds to stop sleeping. After it got bored, it simply poked his snout repeatedly. “Alright alright, I'm up!” He lifts his head, then covers his eyes from the blinding light of the sun. “Curse you, Celestia.... making the sun so bright.” The red and yellow ball of fuzz hops onto his body. “You should really consider drinking a lot less before going to bed.” "Uuuurg... my head." Said pony's blurry gaze goes over to the Djinni. "What did I do last night?" "You were dancing and hopping round like a hyperactive rabbit." "Oh...." He pauses, recalling a few details of last night from the response. "Did I least look good while doing it?" "Um.... not really." He buries his head in the pillow and moans. "Come on, you're gonna get anything done on the sofa" The Mars Djinni says, nudging him off the couch. He stubbornly stays put. "Of course I can." "... like what?" "Wait out my hangover." The Djinni looks at him with a knowing smirk. "Your hangover may pass with time, but your work won't." Common Grounds got up from the couch, head throbbing from last night. After achieving a victory in the name of law and order, as well as being promoted to judge, the defense attorney known as Common Ground celebrated by having a party at the bar and knock down a few drinks a few drinks. This resulted in some.... questionable actions. Ones that he was sure weren't suppose to happen. Though he was sure that despite a few misgivings and somepony arguing with someone, the party was a blast. He just wasn't thrilled with the results afterward. He heads into the kitchen to get something to eat. The Djinni follows close behind. He check the cupboards for anything he can use. "So what's there to eat?" "Well, we do have some of those flowers and vegetables from that killer plant a few days ago. They should be eatable." "What about the carrots?" "I think there's still a few left over..." He went to the ice box and scarfed down a few carrots. "Does this town have a baker yet?" He washed down with some juice straight from the jug. The red creature shrugs. "I haven't the slightest idea. We got bartenders, adventurers, and a healer. I haven't heard anything about a baker." "Uuuurg!” He face plants on the table. ”What I wouldn't give for some bread to make a good daisy sandwich." "Then why not make your own?" "I have as much cooking skill as you have with water. I mean for crying out loud, I BURNT hard-boiled eggs!" The Djinni gives the pony a questionable glance. "How do you burn eggs while they boil?" "I'm still trying to figure that out." The two leave the house after eating their breakfast, Common's Djinni on his back eats a snack snack. A lot has happened in the time he spent in this growing community. He grew to love it, despite the rough first week living together in a ruined castle. He did not like the idea of being used as a chew toy by a manticore while trying to sleep. So when the town was set up, he was glad to have some place to stay. Though to have a place of his own took a bit of work on his own. When the town was made and starting flourishing, it was obvious the town needed a system in place. A set of rules to abide by as well as a way to keep records of businesses and occupations. Something to help deal with what is legal and illegal. In other words; a local government to organize everything. At the moment, the town of Newvale don't have the means nor time to elect a viable Mayor. At the moment, Dullahan is working as the de facto Leader of the town. A method that is working as a good starting point, but lacks a stable structure should he go missing or is incapacitated for an extended period. This is where Common Ground comes in. He was tasked to create a system which would make the town more self-sustaining with it's laws and get an economy working. Since getting a mayor isn't going to be viable for the time being, the pony decides to work around some ideas which would work with what is currently established. It also helped to bounce around ideas with other fellow ponies, griffins, and.... manticore. He still can't get over the idea of something like that as a town resident. Common waves hello to Pyre as they pass by. “Seems things are going well for the town.” The mars Djinni shrugs, munching on a carrot. “Seems like it. Not sure how long it will last though.” “What do you mean?” “Well, the town is established physically. However, there are issues starting to pop up such as what the basic laws are or who owns what. I mean there's a general idea of it, but there's not much in terms of organization.” “Isn't Dullahan doing something about it?” “He's trying, but he's only one... ghost, armor... thing. He can't write down what's happening and keep a record of it.” It rubbed it's small chin. “Though I don't think he can pick up a pen with those large hands of his.” “His hands are pretty big... useful too. Would make things easier to hold.” “I think we're getting off topic.” “Right right,” He taps his hoof on his chin. “Well.... since we need someone who can interpret the law to make a system, that would leave the job to us.” They walk into the courthouse. The courthouse worked well as a place to settle agreements and lay down verdicts, but it's only used sparingly due to the lack of crimes being committed. Though it's now being converted as a joint-administrator's building. It's here that records will be kept and laws approved. Bouncing ideas with Silver Cross and a few others, he determined that, in the interest of fairness, as well as to keep to the town's ideals, a Meritocracy system should be in place. One where one would hold power according to their own skills. Merits that are tested and reviewed. A chief officer has authority of the city guard, an administrator to handle businesses, and so forth. Should they abuse their position, the people have the right to annex the pony's position and replace with one with skills that can handle it. This can be done via a judicial system in which two parties make an argument as to why they should keep their job or not. He also adds that Dullahan, as founder, has the right to void decisions or laws within reason. Speaking of laws, they need to set those up. However, there is one thing that needs to be done before any laws can be passed. That's to “legally” establish the town and send a deceleration to any higher authority of said establishment. If agreed and signed, will be used as a declaration and binding parchment to all who read it. As it will be made, rewritten, and sent to the princess herself to show her the injustice she has made as well as the towns independence. An official letter stating the outrage and unanimous voice of those she turned away from. "So how do we go about doing this?" "It's simple really." He takes up a quill and ink. "We write the first draft." "Sounds like it's gonna take a while...." "We're gonna need to do a few drafts and get everyone on board with this." He smiles. "Once it's completed though, it will be sent to the princess. It will announce our independence from her unjust rule. To let her know that we will not stand by while crimes go unpunished. For her to ignore the lower class for the sake of those of higher power. To send a message to all victims that there is a place to call home and find justice." He looks to the side. "Where no innocent will go to jail for the sake of another's greed...." He lifts his quill and places it on the paper, using his passion for justice and righteous fury to fuel his muse and scribble his thoughts onto the paper. He wrote down every injustice Celestia has done or let happen under her rule. Facts given to him from personal experience and those he talked to around town. The first thing he wrote was something he believed applied quite well, given the circumstances of this town. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all beings are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...." He pauses, reading that line over. "Hm, a bit wordy. Don't you think?" "Well it is a first draft. Lets keep it and see what the others think about it." "Sounds reasonable enough. Perhaps I can get some advice from Dullahan. " "Wouldn't you prefer asking Fluffy for help?" The Djinni chuckles. "Oh shut up and get me more ink."
Side Chapter 4 - A little hotheadBounce . . . Bounce . . . Bounce . . . Bounce, Phalanx felt each jump of his companion bouncing on his side in an attempt to wake him, and although he had already been awake for some time he had no desire to actually get up. For the last few days he had been enjoying the wonderful thing called "sleeping in late," it had been years since he been without any responsibilities to do so. Bounce . . . Bounce . . . Bounce . . . THUD! Still feigning being asleep, he had felt when his companion had jumped on him wrong and bounced in the wrong direction. The THUD just confirmed that his companion had now greeted the floor this morning. Despite how hard he tried to fight it a small smile crept across his lips. He was just beginning to bury himself deeper into his covers to relish his victory with more sleep, when he began to feel something giving off a lot of heat close to his face while a bright light began to burn through his closed eyelids. A part of him began to panic knowing what was coming. He quickly opened his eyes to confirm what he had feared. His cute little companion of red and orange fur was glaring at him with cyan blue eyes at no more than a foot away from his face, and was creating a fireball. Falling out of his bunk he picked up the little furball with his magic, hurriedly worked through the locks on the door of the wagon, flung open the door, and tossed the crazy pyro furball out of the wagon. He had just enough time to shut his eyes before an explosion of light, heat, noise, and force violently rocked the wagon he had been sleeping in. "Alright! You win! I am up!" Phalanx called out while trying to rub the afterimage of the explosion he had just seen through his eyelids out of his eye. Outside sitting in a black crater a creature known as a Mars Djinn puffed out her chest at her victory over the lazy unicorn. She happily bounced over to a rock that was facing the sun and turned to stare at it looking at all the beautiful shades of colors that came with the sunrise. When the sun rose it was time to get up, she would eventually have him properly trained to do so. A hour later Phalanx was fully awake having had breakfast, a few drinks from the nearby pond, having refilled all of his canteens from the pond, and having answered the call of nature was putting on the last of his steel armor before hitching himself up to his wagon. Phalanx did a few stretches in his armor checking to make sure that all the plates were properly aligned. The steel armored covered up most of his black coat, while his silver mane stuck up out of his helmet and giving his silver tail a few flicks to complete the stretches, since once he got started going he wouldn't be able to stop for several hours. They were still days away from the Everfree Forest and he still didn't know what he would find there. Only that he had made a promise to return a favor owed to the fire obsessed puffball and he would honor his word. If he could have he would have preferred to take the train to Ponyville and walk to the Everfree Forest to get there quickly, but that wasn't an option as he doubted he would have been allowed to load all the content of his wagon on to the train. Having enough weapons to arm a few dozen beings made the ponies that lived in the interior of Equestria nervous and they would no doubt call the Solar Guard on him. The very last thing he wanted was to come in contact with the Solar Guard, it would bring up old history and problems he didn't want to deal with. He glanced at her; for it had made it quite clear, several times under threat of fiery explosion, that it was a she and didn't respond well to being called he or worse it. As he had seen first hoof when he had shown her off to the various ponies, gryphons, Minotaur, and other beings that had been held by the Diamond Dog slavers they had killed when they had raided the camp. One of the ponies had made the mistake of calling her an it, and he had run behind a rock that he had then stacked a few shields on top of it just in case before she had thrown a small fireball at said pony. The pony had survived minus most of his tail, mane, and eyebrows. Showing she have very good control over her powers when one compared him to the char broiled Diamond Dogs she had killed. They had freed dozens of beings taken captive, taken out a large group of Diamond Dog slavers, probably bought a few months of safety for the surrounding towns, and unknowingly created a horror story of heavily armored unicorn that lead a army of possessed weapons and commanded a fire demon that hunted down and slaughtered slavers. As he was pulling the wagon he would occasionally glance back to check on her. Sometimes she would be bouncing in place enjoying the ride, jump from the wagon onto his back to get a better view, would be dozed off to sleep, the rocking of wagon having put her to sleep briefly, but most often she would be looking into that bag of gems he had gathered up for her when they had looted the camp. She absolutely loved anything that had various hues of red, orange, or yellow in it. He had watched her stare at sunrises, sunsets, fires, and her collection of gems for hours and never seemed to get enough of it. Her pride and joy of her gem collection was a Fire Ruby she seemed to be especially obsessed with. They had been traveling for a few hours when he first began to hear the roars. Having lived among the towns on the borders of Equestria that were regularly came under attacks by Diamond Dog slavers, bandits, and dragons for years. One developed a danger sense for certain sounds and a proper response to them. In this case the roars of multiple dragons was to seek shelter and hope they passed you over. As he was doing now having quickly pulled his wagon into the forest brush. He looked up at the sky and watched as flocks of dragons flew over the forest. The shear amount of dragons flying together like that could only mean one thing. It was time for the Great Dragon Migration. Great timing Phalanx, return to the interior of Equestria right in middle of their migration, what are the odds of such bad timing. Actually now that he thought of it he had been hearing rumors of strange events happening across Equestria ever since the supposed Lord of Chaos had broken out for almost 48 hours a few months ago. Three dragons suddenly broke away from the flight and began flying down toward the road. Why? Why are they breaking off from the rest of the flight? There is nothing worth there attention down here, except the gems, but those are safe on . . . the . . . wagon . . . He glanced back at the wagon to see that the flaming fuzzy was gone, looked to road where she was attempting to collect some of the gems that had fallen out her gem bag when he had rushed to get them off the road, and sighed as he unhitched himself from the wagon. Going around to the back of the wagon he began to unload his armory of weapons and shields. On the road the female Mars Djinn was bouncing back and forth gathering up the scattered gems into a small pile so her unicorn would be able to quickly put them all back in her gem bag. She was paying special attention to the red gem that seemed to have fire dancing in it. Just as she finished putting her favorite gem on top of the pile she was surprised by three sets of clawed feet landing around her. "See I told you I saw some gems scattered on the road and now here they are gathered up for us to eat them." gleefully stated a blue serpent like drake while rubbing his claws together gazing at the gems before him. "So your eyes actually pay attention to something other than the ass of that dragoness you were flying behind." grumbled a thick brown drake that was eyeballing the blue drake across from him surprised that the gems were real. "Lets just hurry up and split the gems among us so we can eat them and rejoin the flight!" yelled a red and orange drake glaring at the two idiots she had been flying near. "What is that on our gem pile!?" she yelled drawing their attention to red and orange furry thing on their gems. "Looks like a phoenix with no wings!" laughed the blue drake while pointing at it. The phoenix without wings huffed at him while standing defiantly on their gem pile. "No! It's some kind of bunny with flaming fur! Let's eats it too!" Yelled the female drake while flicking her tongue out. The flaming bunny glaring at her with its cyan eyes. "Well I think its a-" THUDCRASHBAMBONGTHUMP The other two drakes turned to the third one only to discover that he had just been hit by maces, hammers, and a sledgehammer on the top, sides, and back of his head all at once. He swayed on his feet for a moment or two before crashing face first on to the ground with little gemstones dancing around his head. Behind him stood a unicorn in armor with a glowing horn and several more weapons and shields floating around it. Dragons were one of the hardiest races on the planet; highly resistant to magic, scales that were impenetrable to most weapons, could thrive in environments that would kill most other races, and enough natural weapons to dissuade most creatures from attacking one. While bladed weapons wouldn't be able to pierce or hack through their scales, the concussive force from blunt weapons was effective if one knew how and where to hit one with enough force. Phalanx was both better and worse off than he imaged when he first saw the dragons land. They were teenage dragons, making them much easier to deal with than had they been full grown, but at the same time worse because they would be too prideful or stupid to know when to cut their losses. "I am only going to warn you once. Back away from my companion, leave her gems alone, take your friend and fly back up to the rest of your flight or suffer the consequences." He growled as the blunt weapons floating around him adjusted position to strike from various angles and shields gathered at his sides. The two remaining conscious drakes looked to unicorn, to the knocked out drake, to furry thing on top of the small gem pile. "We are not losing our lunch to some fancy horn head of a guard!" the blue drake shouted before taking a deep breath and blowing out fire at the nancy pony. As expected the horn head moved his shield to block the fire, he rushed in after his fire blast prepared to jump over the shields and tackle the horn head. He got to the shields before something - everything - went wrong, a shield almost as tall he was suddenly appeared and rushed forward slamming into him knocking the breath out of him. It drew back before flipping up, striking him in the chin and then coming down, striking him upon the head. Shaking his head he found himself surrounded by the weapons. He had only a moment to glance at the horn head, before the pain started. The female drake looked away as the stupid moron rushed in and was repeatedly beat down by the vicious unicorn. Realizing too late this wasn't one of the fluffy friendly ponies from inside of Equestria where they frolicked and played all day long, every day. He had finished the beating and was now turning his attention to her. She remember what he had said earlier and quickly snatched up the bunny things holding it to her claws. "You will throw away all those weapons and shields or I will gut your furry little bastard of a pet." She yelled at him while hold up his furry little companion. His eyes widened at what she had just said, she had just insulted her in three different ways in one sentence. She looked on confused as the unicorn instead of doing what she said, ran off into the forest to a wagon, brought all his weapons close to him, and had his shields form around him like a turtle shell, before the last shield covered him, he looked at her and said "Oh you shouldn't have done that, now you really made her mad." the last shield in place he created a magic barrier over it. She blinked at him wondering what had cause him to do that, when she noticed the creature in her claws was heating up, and for a dragon that could swim in lava to feel the something hot in their claws the heat it would be creating should not be possible. She looked into the glaring blue eyes of the furry creature she was holding as it started glowing and gulped . . . In the skies above the Great Dragon Migration was blessed with watching from a safe distance a fire explosion that happened on the ground below/behind/infront of them. Rather than investigate it they chalked up to stupid teenage dragons messing with something they shouldn't have and paying the price for it. Natural Selection taking its course of dragons too dumb to live getting killed off early on. 995 . . . 996 . . . 997 . . . 998 . . . 999 . . . and 1000 Phalanx finished counting in his head before taking down the magic barrier around his shields. Moving the shields back against the wagon he brought a hoof to his horn to check it and felt it glowing warm. Well that explains the splitting headache I have now. Used up too much magic protecting myself and the wagon. He reached into the wagon with a hoof, brought out one of the canteens, opened it with his mouth, and dumped the water on his horn. He listen to the water sizzle as it came in contact with his horn, before cooling it down and taking care of his headache. He slowly walked out forest, passing several fallen trees that had been knocked over by the force of the explosion, there on what was left of the road was his little fuzzy bomber standing on top of a red and orange she drake with her chest puffed out. He looked around extent of damage done, before turning back to her. "Well you certainly showed her not to insult you, didn't you?" he asked while getting a sense of smug satisfaction from her. "Okay lets gather up your gems and be on road." He stated while slowing levitating the gems together, and started trekking back toward the wagon, but she didn't hop on his back like she usually did. He looked back at her to see her staring intently and the drake's red and orange scales, she looked up at him and back to the scales, and did so several times before he caught on. "Oh you want to add insult to injury too, don't you?" he asked while she started bouncing up and down "Fine I will go get the tongs and tweezers." he signed as resumed walking toward his wagon. Several hours later the trio of drakes would awaken and with in moments there would be a shriek of feminine rage at the discover of the patch of scales missing from her glorious hide. Meanwhile a certain female Mars Djinn would be admiring her new collection of shimmering dragon scales.
Chapter 12 - It all comes to a HeadSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Side Chapter 5 - Fluffy's day outAuthor's Note First of all, credits: This chapter was written by recentteen14. Second of all, an apology. I AM working on the next chapter. It's being difficult, but I think I know how it should go. Here's a look at my formula for it: One Wiseass + One possessed suit of armor = interesting times. Side Chapter 5 - Fluffy's day out Fluffy was running through the woods, panting heavily as he ran out of breath. Behind him, two Manticores chased him - his mother and his father. Why being the runt of the litter meant that he was about to be mauled and killed by his own parents, he would never know. He was only a year old at the time, but there should be more time to allow a Manticore to grow up before calling it a loss and murdering it! Fluffy pondered manticore society as he ran, and how he could change it. He didn't notice himself running straight into a Pony town and his parents breaking away their chase, thinking that he would be taken care of for them by the ponies. Within seconds, the place was pure chaos, ponies running around everywhere, screaming about the fleeing manticore. It was at this moment that Fluffy realized where he was, and that he was probably in worse trouble then before. Then again, he knew he could understand them- he had spent the better part of his year alive trying to learn about these ponies that had interested him so. He knew they needed calming down. He opened his mouth and tried to ask them, to plead with them, to calm down. His vocal cords only allowed for him to roar at them, promptly spooking them worse then before, if such a thing were possible. He pondered how he could clear up this misunderstanding and maybe have a nice chat with them when he got kicked in the face by a Sky Blue Pegasus with a Rainbow mane. He took this as a cue to leave, that pony could kick pretty hard and he did NOT want to be kicked again. He started to run, almost making it back to the Forest, when the Pegasus kicked him again, this time sending him spiraling into the base of a tree. He tried to stand, to get to safety, but his legs would not let him. He could hear the jeering of different ponies, feel the blood dripping down his face, sense the danger of his parents still nearby... Fluffy woke up. He uncurled himself and tried to shake the nightmare out of his head. That was the third time this week... Why wouldn't it go away? He had once accepted that ponies and manticores couldn't get along in the same society as fact, but had been proven wrong by Newvale. Oh, what a day THAT was... He had followed this orange thing after it had accidentally knocked him out of a tree that he was napping in, out of curiosity. He didn't expect to be led to a place that was soon filled up with ponies, a dragon, a griffin, a zebra, a diamond dog, and a talking suit of armor that stood on its hind legs, as well as a multitude of the small creatures. What did the armor call them again... Ah, right, Djinns. He still thought that was an odd name. He had been as uneasy of the others as they had been of him, at first, but once they got past the fact that he wasn't going to maul them, they were able to get used to him being around. Fluffy, on the other paw, still couldn't let go of some of his old scars. He had needed help that day, and had been ridiculed and tormented for an accident that had saved his life from his parents. It was still a delightful little irony that the ponies had named him the same thing that his parents had. At first, he thought the ponies were able to understand him, but his hopes were quickly dashed. He still needed a good way to communicate with them... Stretching, he found the Venus Djinn that had knocked him out of the tree nearby. He didn't know why it kept following him when he would sleep on random rooftops in the town, but it wasn't a bother, at least. Spreading his wings, he glided from the rooftop to the ground after making sure nopony would be in the way. He plodded along, trying to figure out what he was going to do that day, when the armor called the town together. The meeting excited Fluffy at first, he might have a chance to meet with the Princesses. Maybe he could have tea with them. It was a hobby that few knew about, but he loved his tea. Unfortunately, talk quickly turned to raiding a town, so Fluffy opted out of going. He wanted to prove a Manticore could work in a Pony society, to show that the ponies who had hurt and scorned him were wrong. Unfortunately, he had no good way of doing so, at least not yet. Ah well, it was a long term goal for a reason. With boredom starting to set in, Fluffy decided today was a good day to wander off into the Everfree. After all, he would sometimes patrol the town when he was bored, so why not? Nothing could go wrong with a bit of exploration. Fluffy could get some lunch while he was out, as well. He had been roaming for an hour before he found a meal in a couple of rabbits that had strayed away from the beaten path. Afterwards, he set off to find something new. With high hopes, he rounded a tree, and bumped into something bigger then him... Something orange... Fluffy immediately hoped that wasn't what he thought it was. He looked up to see the shocked look of his father. A shocked look that quickly dissolved into a growl. Oh, chicken scales... Fluffy bolted away from the direction of Newvale- no need to lead dear old dad back to the few ponies that would accept him and cause them harm. Especially now that the rest of his old 'family' had joined in the chase. Heart pounding, he half wondered if he was in another nightmare. After all, this was usually how they started, with his old family trying to kill him. He could almost feel like he had been on this route before... And that could only mean one thing. His fears were confirmed as he saw Ponyville come into view. He could hear his family still behind him... Thinking fast, he made a fast right turn and started to zig-zag through the trees, hoping to either lose them or at least put some distance between them. Hours of chasing had passed since then, Fluffy trying everything he could think of to get away, only to have it fail. He didn't stop when he saw a shocked Zebra narrowly avoid getting trampled. He didn't stop when his steps started to falter. If he was getting tired, then his family would be just as bad off as him... A quick glance over his shoulder showed that his mother and siblings had dropped out of the race to catch him, and only his father remained. At that moment, Fluffy realized two things. One, he was getting too close to Newvale for comfort. Two, his father didn't look tired at all, in fact, he was doing a flying leap towards him. Before Fluffy could react, he was tackled and pinned. He tried to struggle, but with the size disadvantage, he couldn't make any headway. Smirking, his father lunged for his throat, fangs bared, when a plant erupted from the ground and slapped him in the face. Confused, he looked at the plant for a moment, before getting slapped in the face again. Thinking the forest was possessed, he jumped away and circled Fluffy warily. Fluffy, on the other paw, knew this was psynergy, but didn't know where it was coming from. Then he saw the Djinn that kept following him around, and figured out what had happened quickly. The tides turned, he roared at his father, whose survival instinct was setting in as more plants were popping up. After a few seconds, he turned and ran. Fluffy couldn't believe that the little Djinn could do this sort of thing. He had seen a demonstration from the armor about the potential of the Djinn, but he didn't know they could also do this! It looked pleased with itself, and then quickly jumped on Fluffy's back. Fluffy was slightly dumfounded by this point. He realized how he had been selfish, always ignoring the little guy when the Djinn may have the same sort of goals as him- to be able to live with others. Or maybe this Djinn wanted to pick a fight and following the manticore was just a good way to find one- he didn't know for sure. At that point, he silently vowed to himself to not forget his Djinn friend that had just saved his life. ... Okay, it was more of a roar of victory that sent any bird within a few hundred feet flying away, but the Djinn didn't seem to mind. That was enough excitement for one day- Having a near death experience was never fun for those involved, so Fluffy stumbled his way back to camp, Djinn in tow. By the time he arrived, it was evening, and the half empty camp was winding down for the night. Wanting nothing more then to sleep, Fluffy climbed one of the trees at the edge of the town and used it to glide to a nearby roof. Maybe someday he would feel comfortable sleeping in one of those houses, and furthering his goals, but tonight he felt happy sleeping under the stars in a place he could call home. With a little friend tucked away in his mane.
Chapter 13 - Head GamesSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Chapter 14 - Don't lose your headBeing me comes with a variety of perks. Some I use often, like my access to nearly all psynergy. Still haven't figured out Alex's warping bullshit he did... Some I rarely use, like my sword's...interesting physical properties. Limitless understanding is not to be taken lightly. If I could, I'd gouge out my 'inner eye' or whatever the hell others call it. Some come as easily to me as breathing used to, like actually moving so long as I have my sword. Near as I can figure, so long as it's in my scabbard or grasp, that's close enough. It seems to take in the ambient magic of the place and use it to animate the armor in accordance with my wishes. And then there's those things which I save for...special occasions. If my armor is hit with enough force that it becomes punctured or deformed, then I lose all 'feeling' in that particular limb until the metal knits itself back together. Takes a bit. Minor things take 15 minutes, while major things can take hours. However, if I were to, say, relax, and willingly pull off my left hand with my right? I would have my own little Thing that I could still feel and control. I only recall using this ability once before now, and that was to switch the royal crowns around. Gave Sunbutt and Moonbutt such a scare. I say 'before now' because my plan to get me into the crystal empire unnoticed was...uncomfortable. In fact, it was eerily similar to being drawn and quartered, except instead of horses doing it, it was ponies pulling me to pieces. And then stuffing those pieces in quite a few crates. Interestingly enough, while I could still 'feel' all the pieces of me, my awareness was located in the upper torso. As was Dullahan's, but he recognized the awkwardness of the situation and refrained from speaking up. This was something I had never done to this extent before, nor did I ever want to do it to this extent ever again. It just feels like all sorts of wrong. Amber, ShiverSpine, Silver Cross, and Crystal Clear were the ones I had asked to come with me, for various reasons. There was a bit of excitement when we neared the Ponyville Train Station, as it turns out there were guards scanning for changelings. Damn good thing we didn't bring any with us, it'd have meant so much trouble on our part. They did, of course, question as to why a dragon, a diamond dog, and two ponies were bringing as many crates to the Crystal Empire as they were. Crystal brought up that it was for her research, and that the rest were there for security purposes. Technically not a lie. And thankfully, none of them thought to try and keep me entertained while on the trip north. Clearly, they must have recognized the awkwardness of the situation as well. It took us days. Long, boring days. Before we would reach our destination. I was seriously considering singing at one point. Eventually, we arrived, and I could not have been happier. The plan from this point on was simple. Sneak into the castle and get reassembled. It didn't take long before Amber pulled open the crate containing the chestplate. Air! Fresh air! She pulled me out and frowned. "You don't breathe." Doesn't mean it's any less appreciated! Pull the rest of my parts out, I wanna get this over with! She placed me on the floor, and I could see the others prying open the crates and fishing the parts of me out. Eventually all the parts of me were out of the crates and on the ground. I immediately tensed up, or as close to it as I could do. The parts of my armor slowly rotated around, coming into the proper alignment. The smallest piece flew and connected in its proper spot, and then it all cascaded from there. My quick reassembly was not without its noise, however, and quite soon we'd drawn a crowd of guards. I rolled my joints around, relishing in the feeling of being able to move again. Aaah, it's good to be back. I then 'looked' at the ring of crystal guards surrounding me, Amber, Silver, Shiver, and Crystal Clear. I would have grinned. Oh, this is too perfect. I made the sounds one normally would associate with clearing the throat and held a hand up. I...am Dullahan. I come...in peace. Take us...to your leader! Of course, I ended up staring down that same pink alicorn that I had briefly met at the wedding. The others were behind me, and the guards were behind them. And that same unicorn stallion was standing next to the alicorn. Neither one looked pleased at me. You know, I get the distinct impression you two don't like me. The stallion snorted. "Let's review. You mess with Ponyville, taunt my sister and her friends, attempt to gatecrash my wedding, and sneak into the palace. You also made my guards look like chumps, what with civilians on your side repelling the changelings easily. Frankly, I'm wondering why I don't just stick you in a shield and call it a day." The pink alicorn put a hoof on the stallion's shoulder. "Shining, Auntie Celestia did say she had rushed to judge him previously. I think we should at least give him a chance to speak in his own defense." I laughed then. Oh bravo for learning from her mistakes! At least someone did! At this, the duo cast a sour look at me. "Then again..." I held up a hand. My bad. I'm not used to not antagonizing ponies quite yet. I'm getting better about it. Slowly, the looks softened. Let's try again, shall we? I'm Dullahan, and I have a proposition for you. Might I inquire as to your names, where that absolute prick Sombra is, and how you're keeping the weather at bay? The alicorn nodded. "In order, I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, this is Shining Armor, my husband, and the last two are related. Twilight Sparkle and Spike located the Crystal Heart, which when placed in position and filled with the light and love of the crystal ponies, generates a shield around the city and banishes evil." I did my nodding motion at her. Yeah, if there was one thing that guy was, it was evil. I had the displeasure of meeting him once. You recall that lightning bolt trick I do? Yeah, he was flung out a balcony by that and recovered in time for the sisters to find both him and me. I fled, but he stood his ground. The two looked at each other, then back at me. "You fought him?" Briefly. More like sparred. And that was interrupted by the sisters. I caught the uncertainty flickering across Shining's face and acted on it. I may be a monster. I may have committed crimes. But the vast majority of those crimes was in the service of punishing the wicked. Those few that aren't, when I can, I will repay my debt, within reason, to they I have wronged. Cadenza smiled. "See Shining? The 'monster' has a heart." I rapped on my breastplate with one hand, producing a slight echo as empty metal clanged on empty metal. Well. Did, at any rate. More accurately, I have a sense of morality. That got a slight chuckle out of those behind me, which got a quick laugh out of Cadenza. "So, what is this proposition you have for us, Dullahan?" I motioned for Amber and ShiverSpine to come and stand by me, and they did so. Put simply, like you said. The Heart banishes evil. Amber, Shiver, are you two, by any stretch of the imagination, evil? They shook their heads. And yet, when you look around you at this empire and the ponies within, what do you see? As their eyes glazed over and their mouths filled with drool, I clapped a few times to break them out of their hunger-induced trances. You see, your highness? They are not evil, yet they still have instincts, desires. Who is to say that when word of the Crystal Empire with its Crystal Ponies gets out to those races that they will not come here? As she frowned at the thought, I motioned for Silver and Crystal Clear to come stand next to me as well. Crystal Clear can do remarkable things with gemstones, she might be able to make a few guardians out of crystals. Whereas Silver...let us leave it at 'he has experience fighting evil.' The two next to me nodded at the rulers as they were mentioned, and I continued on. All of us, but most especially myself, command powers unlike any you've like to encounter. We will be willing to help protect you until such time as you can guard yourself from dragons and the like...with three conditions. Cadenza narrowed her eyes slightly, not liking the sound of that. "Name them." First, food and housing for these four, within reason. She nodded, probably expecting a worse condition than that. Second, supplies for Crystal Clear's experiments, within reason. She nodded again, clearly liking the last two words I was tacking on to my conditions so far. And third, I wish to see the Crystal Heart. At this, Shining and Cadenza shared a Look, before slowly replying. "I...don't see...why not. Guards, escort these four to a guest room in the palace, and escort Dullahan to the base." There, shining and glimmering and hovering between two spires, was the Crystal Heart. I could...feel it. It radiated power, and at this close range, I wonder why I hadn't felt it before. I drew closer, and the guards nearby tensed up, probably getting ready to react if I did something. I could hear something whispering to me. You came... I reached out with one hand, and a guard barked at me. "That's close enough, headless one. You said you wanted to look, not touch." I scoffed at him. If I were really evil, I wouldn't have been able to enter or get this close. If I really wanted to do harm to this artifact, it would be powder by now. I just want to understand it. As the rest of the guards chewed on the information, my hand chose that moment to accelerate and touch the Heart. And suddenly, all was whiteness and pain. You came to me... I am the ultimate expression of the earth's strength, for lo! I protect an entire empire! I bring life and growth to the barren tundra! I am the counterpart to your Venus Star. But YOU may not unleash its strength. Each Star has a champion, and three such champions are with you now. For Jupiter, the Dragon. He must soar to Cloudsdale and tour the Weather Factory. He will know when to bring out the Star. For Mars, the Unicorn. He must go to the location of the Great Dragon Migration, and find the ever-burning heart of the mountain. For Venus, myself, the Diamond Dog. And for Mercury... You know her as well, though you met only briefly. Seek her in the Badlands, restore water and life to the cracked desert. When I came to, I was surrounded by a ring of guards who had leveled their spears at me. Beyond them, I could make out Cadenza and Shining, along with the ones who had come with me. Thinking quickly, I softly spoke the passphrase and brought out the Venus Star. Amber, catch! I tossed it over the heads of the guards, and the alicorn and her husband only watched as Amber caught the shining brown sphere. Then, as if by some unseen guidance, she turned towards the heart and held out the paw where the sphere was. And then the Star shattered. In the silence that followed, I thought one thing. Namely, the thought of 'wha-' Which was cut off as Amber glowed brown and thick streams of brown light cascaded off her and impacted the Heart. The Heart took that light and shot it upwards, and everyone present raced out from underneath the palace. Well, everyone but me. It would have been rude to Amber to leave her. "Look at that!" "What IS it?" "It's some sort of huge green sphere of light!" "What's it doing above the palace?" "Are we under attack?" "Run for your lives!" The stream of light faded from Amber, and I caught her as she fell. "What...was that?" My dear, you just channeled the power of a Star through yourself. Take it easy. You need to rest. And then I grimaced as Dullahan spoke to me. ...So this is why He is coming... Yes, I thought back, This would be a reason. We may not have Lighthouses, but we do have places of great elemental strength. Those with a strong enough connection and a Star... I grimaced as I realized my passphrase could very well become incorrect. The Golden Sun could shine twice. Author's Note Show a hands, who saw this one coming!
Chapter 15 - Getting ahead of yourselfIt crystallized in my mind a moment later exactly what I'd done. I, or rather, Amber, had just lit the equivalent of Venus Lighthouse in Equestria. If the Wise One couldn't feel that across dimensions, I'd eat my sword. Plus who knows what the effect of the Venus Light would have on the Crystal Ponies. Most likely, they'd gain ~~phenomenal cosmic power~~ Psynergy, but it could take time. As in, generations of time and being exposed to its light. Being exposed to its light... The thought bounced around in my head, and then my slight funk dissipated. Now that was a plan. But first, I had a Diamond Dog to care for. Not wanting to waste my strength, I swapped to Venus and prepared to heal Amber, only to realize something. Over the years I could always...sorta feel the extent of my powers. And they were always further than I was willing to go. Morality and all that. But now, I could feel naught of Venus save for Move, Growth, Cure, and Quake. After another second to puzzle this one out, I came to a conclusion. It wasn't that the Star had contained my strength in Venus, because that would be silly. It was that my strength in Venus had been devoured to ignite the beacon. And then I realized why that was. I had been the closest to the palace when the Light had ignited, and we didn't have a proper Lighthouse for it. I mean, technically, the entire bloody palace could count, but nobody had built it with this in mind, had they? And then I realized something shocking. If I hadn't given over my strength, it would have gone after Amber's. I slowly poured streams of Cure into Amber as the ponies reconvened around me. I held up my other hand in their direction as I finished attempting to heal Amber's weariness. She was whispering to me as I kept healing her. "It spoke to me...as I channeled it. Something about...having overcome my trials...already. And that others...will need to do so as well..." I think I have some explaining to do, I said to the ponies. "So these Elemental Stars...they contain the essence of the elements that you draw on?" Correct. The pink alicorn nodded and looked up, where we could still see the faint glow of the light of Venus. "And this is what they are meant to do?" I shifted a bit. Well... The eyes of everyone in the room narrowed as they realized I may have been keeping information from them. "You said you would explain, Dullahan." I sighed and rolled the three remaining spheres around in my right hand. They were not crafted with this in mind, per se, but this is what they are used for. In places of great elemental strength, the Star unleashes the Light of its alignment. Without a Lighthouse, though, it drains power from those nearby during the ignition sequence. The alicorn's gaze let up a fraction. "What were they crafted for, then?" I 'stared' at her, which ended up awkward for all parties. Terra, Dracen, Puck, Newton. The first four Djinn I found. They crafted these Stars for me, that I might have a proper focus for my strength. Over the years, the Stars influenced ponies, most especially, those closest to them, in Canterlot. Silver Cross interjected then. "M'lord, ye said the Light drains power from those of us nearby? I don't feel any different." Nor will you. It took a moment for that to sink in, but when it did, I almost heard their worldviews breaking as they realized what had happened. Before they could uselessly object, I raised my hand to stop them. Yes, it drained me, because I was the strongest, closest one nearby. And I would have it no other way. To protect you all as much as possible, I would sacrifice as much of my power as needed. At this, Shining and Cadenza looked shocked. Possibly because they realized just how much of a heart I had. Cadenza raised a hoof and cleared her throat. "Anything else you feel like telling us, Dullahan?" I mulled it over before deciding she'd been nicer to me than her aunts and could probably be trusted with the information. Yeah, when I touched the Heart, I learned where all the other...hmm, let's call them Elemental Locations, are. Cadenza pulled out a map and nodded at me. "Proceed." A mountain that was used during the Great Dragon Migration with a fiery heart. Cloudsdale's Weather Factory. And the Badlands. She had marked the empire and the other two on the map, but when we got to the third one, she dropped the quill in shock. Hell, everyone in the room was shocked at the last statement. "Her land?" I turned to Shining. I assume you mean the Changelings. Yes, apparently they're sitting on the Mercury Location. Fitting, really. They can change their form, and they are to be the wardens of the power with nearly as many forms. The mountain is to be home to Mars, and Cloudsdale, naturally, is to be home to Jupiter. As Cadenza continued to make notes, I turned to face the ones I had brought with me. There is another stipulation. Each element has a 'champion', one meant to bring it out. Amber was the champion of Venus. Shiver and Silver are champions as well, for their elements. Shining's face drew into a scowl. "And what pony is the champion of Mercury? Who will you drag into the Badlands, Dullahan?" I turned to face him and would have given him a mischevious smirk. Oh Shiny, I don't have to drag anyone into the Badlands. And even if I did, I think you'd let me drag her there. As it stands, she's already there. It's only the convincing that'll take some time. Everyone's jaw dropped, again, as they realized what I was implying. Chrysalis, Changeling Queen, was to be the champion of Mercury. Cadenza found her voice first. "Why would you do any of this, let alone anything involving her?" I sighed again, realizing I would have had to tell someone sooner or later. A massively powerful entity, known only as the Wise One, is coming. He is to me like your aunts are to unicorns. The only time I can think of anyone actually standing up to him, even for a second, and succeeding, is when all four beacons were lit in another land and time, and then...a miracle happened. I turned to 'face' upwards, staring at the Venus Light. The light from all four beacons merged in the center of the land, causing the Golden Sun to shine down on the one standing there. His power was increased tenfold, and he achieved...not immortality, but longevity. For the Wise One foresaw this, and secreted away a portion of one Star's power. The Sun was incomplete. I turned back to face the alicorn in the throne. Even still, with as little comparative power as he got, he actually stood up to the Wise One. These Stars are uninfluenced. This Sun will be complete. I will not permit him to threaten this land. If that means giving up my strength, my foci, so be it. We were, of course, rapidly escorted from the Crystal Empire. Save for Crystal Clear. I still managed to make a good case for her to stay and study the place. This was, predictably, my plan. Having someone who could report back to me the changes the Crystal Ponies would undergo would help us deal with the effects from the other Lights. Naturally, Cadenza probably saw right though me, but played along anyways. She was most likely worried about the empire as well, along with any effects the Light might have on the subjects. Having someone versed in the strange and unusual power that had lit the beacon would serve her well. Which led me and those that had followed me being snuck off the train a mile before Ponyville so we could make our way, in secret, back to Newvale. It wasn't easy. Oh, not the sneaking. Convincing the train operators to let us off early. Cross eventually threatened to set them on fire and take over, and that got through to them. No matter what, I did not want to end up in Ponyville. It would probably not end well, even though the Princesses and I weren't trading blows anymore. Didn't mean the ponies outside of Newvale knew about me. Or would accept me. Or not run screaming at the sight of me. I sat in my chair in my Penumbra Sanctum, thinking out loud to Silver Cross and ShiverSpine about what I had deduced from our time in the Empire. The problem is the Light requires more than just the Star and the Location to activate. It should really have a Lighthouse, but we can't build those in time. So it'll devour nearby sources of aligned strength to start itself. Ideally, I would light all four, but I can't exactly walk on clouds... ShiverSpine nodded. "Which means my Light will be the most dangerous, at least to me." I 'nodded' at him. Correct, but there may be a workaround. If you were to gather as many Jupiter Djinn as possible, your strength would be amplified. True, it would still hurt, but at least you would still have strength to return to. Seven should do. Probably. For Mars and Mercury, I can be present, and so shall endeavor to be. Yours should be peaceful enough, and you will require time to gather the requisite Djinn, so you should go last. Silver shall go before you, and I shall, soon enough, go to Chrysalis and attempt to light Mercury. Silver nodded. "Aye, it makes sense to go deal with the bug while you still have most of yer strength." I then 'looked' in the direction of the courthouse. Say, whatever happened to that noble Inferno Blaze took back with him? Shiver scratched at the back of his head as he tried to recall. "Hmm. Sky blue pegasus, right? I think...oh yeah, he had a beef with the Sun Princesses' nephew. Last I heard, Inferno was slowly burning off portions of the stuck-up's mane to try and get all the names of his slavery ring out while he still had a tongue to use." Silver nodded. "Aye, and that Fulminata mare, she had her own prisoners and was lookin' fer you to place a curse on 'em. Said something about retribution." Shiver perked up a bit as he recalled something. "Oh, yeah! A unicorn and a sheep came in today after word of us got around to them. And two changelings are seeking asylum from the Royal Guard here. Caught 'em with a Reveal at the gates. What do you want to do?" I sighed a bit. Administrative duties still fell to me, it would seem. I'll go looking for Fulmy then, and don't harm the changelings. As long as they don't harm anyone, I don't see any reason we shouldn't return the courtesy. Afterwards, I have a changeling queen to go deal with. I paused before leaving fully. While I am gone, though. It would be prudent for you to figure out how to best work past your issues. You will need to do so before you can use the Stars. The two sputtered as they realized the enormity of the task before them. Before they could object, I added on one final sentence. It'll be hard enough for me to work out what Chryssy's issues even ARE, much less how she can work past them, I'd rather not have to do it twice more! And thus I began my next adventure, one to a cracked and barren land. Author's Note Lights lit : 1/4 Likes: 846 Dislikes: 32 Views: 4,117 (42,950 total) Favs: 1,094 Coming next: Where's the damn Raid, we need to make this bug queen listen.
Chapter 16 - Opening jarheadsOne would think that even with our supposed improved relations, the sisters would leave me be when I go to do something, like parley with the queen of the changeling hive that attacked Equestria. It never turns out that way. Of course not. That would be too easy, and we can't be having that. Just as I reached the border of Equestria and the Badlands, I felt the twin signatures coming up behind me and sighed. Ladies, please. There's only so much of you I can take! I turned around to see Celestia and Luna landing on the grasslands behind me. They folded their wings up and leveled their gazes at where my head would be. "Dullahan, why do you seek to go into the Badlands?" I 'stared' at her for a moment. You mean...Cadenza didn't tell you? The two of them blinked. "Our niece did inform us of a strange series of events involving you in the Empire, but it was too fantastical to be believed. Are thou telling us it is true?" That brought a genuine laugh from me. A good, hearty chuckle. One that seemed to unnerve the two before me the longer it went on. Oh I needed that! Anyways, yes, whatever she told you is likely true. I wouldn't know, I'd have to read whatever she wrote, but I have a job to do in the Badlands. One involving a certain mutual foe of ours. As I turned to march into the desert, Celestia spoke up again. "Dullahan, if this plan of yours works, I have three questions. The first, do you know where this Golden Sun of yours will shine?" I paused for a moment before nodding. I do. "Do you intend to be bathed in its light?" Indeed. "Why should I let you?" I turned to 'look' at her again. Because if me or mine are not the ones bathed in its light, then the effect of the Sun will be wasted. With every Light lit, the Wise One will attempt to hasten his entry. With such power as the Golden Sun will grant, I will be able to stand up to him, even if you should fail in sealing us off. She shook her head. "And what is to stop you from abusing that strength?" I let silence fill the air for a moment. My own morals, which you seem to doubt I have every time we enter situations like this. Keep it up, and I'll have to show the world how your own morals can be called into question. And if you think I can't, then all I have to do is let a certain pegasus residing in Newvale go public with the information he extracted from your nephew. Leaving the stunned sisters behind, I made my way into the desert. It took me three days of aimless wandering before I came across my first changeling out there. Of course, it only took them an hour before there were about a hundred more. I 'stared' at them all and sighed. Really? You're going to try and drag me in by force? A chorus of battle cries were my response, ranging from 'get it' to 'tear it apart.' I drew my sword and pointed it at them, causing them to shut up for a moment. We all remember how this song and dance goes, don't we? I'd rather it not end like that, I have business with your queen, and dealing with you in any fashion would undermine it. If I ask you nicely, will you show me the way? A solitary voice spoke up from the mass in front of me. "You...want to go with us?" I 'nodded' at them once. It'd be a lot faster than looking for your queen myself. There was silence for a moment, before a very familiar voice spoke up. "And why would you be looking for me, O Headless defender of the sun?" The mass parted to reveal Queen Chrysalis stalking towards me. I 'faced' her and sheathed my blade. Ah, my second-favorite royal. How wonderful to see you. The Queen paused for a moment. "Second to the Sun Princess?" I snorted then. Second to her niece, the one you impersonated. She at least has the good sense to learn from her aunt's mistakes. You rank higher than the Sun and Moon Princess by sheer dint of not having chained me up in your basement for fifteen hundred years. At that, she blinked a few times, then laughed at the information I had given her. "So which of the two do you hate more?" I shook my body in the negative. Hate's too strong a word. I reserve my hate and my wrath. I'm angry with them, yes. I cannot truly hate any innocents. I can be angry at them, no problem. And that's a toss up, but I'm more angry at Celestia, and irritated at Luna. Chrysalis tilted her head at me. "So the one you defended is the one you like least? How does that work out?" I shrugged. Hey, at the time, you WERE kinda invading and playing the part of a supervillian. There wasn't a choice. Even if you had promised me I'd never have to deal with either of them again, I'da stopped you. The only monster allowed to walk those lands is ME. She slowly nodded at that. "A twisted sense of logic and honor, but one that leaves me no loopholes. You're nearly as devious as I can be." Not sure if compliment or not... At this, she laughed again. "Quite. So why did you want to see me?" I reached into my shield and pulled out the Mercury Star. I think we can help each other here. It had taken her time, but eventually Chrysalis led me to the bottom of her Hive, where she said there was once a great spring of water. Though, a few rulers ago, there had been some sort of disturbance, and the spring was plugged now. Drawing close to it was all I needed to do to confirm that this was where we needed to be. The little voice going She is not ready... was a dead giveaway. I sat near the old well and held the Mercury Star in one hand, playing with it while I looked at the queen. So, let's go over some things. You invaded Canterlot to obtain an emotional feast for your subjects, because it is your duty to take care of them. She nodded once, briskly. "Yes, we were starving. Our methods, while effective, were too slow for the amount we needed." I understand. You were only looking out for them, doing what was in their best interest. She started to nod, but I interrupted. The same way Celestia was doing what was best for her subjects by chasing me down and imprisoning me. The same way she did what was best for her subjects when she and her sister dealt with Discord and sealed him in stone. The same way they dealt with Sombra, by turning him to smoke and sealing him in a glacier. The same she dealt with her sister turning into Nightmare Moon, by sending her to the moon. She merely put problems OFF, she never SOLVED any! At this, Chryssy glared at me. "And what are you implying, headless?" Tell me, what was your grand plan for when all the ponies were captured? What then? You're out of food. You'd have put the problem off until it was greater. You'd have solved NOTHING. Are you sure you're a changeling? I can almost see a hint of an ethereal mane if I look hard enough. She had the grace to look shocked at the comparison I was drawing, then looked down as she realized my logic. "We...I...how did I not see..." Then she looked back up and fixed me with a gaze. "And do you have a solution?" I might. But tell me this, if the solution involved you giving up your way of life, in order to feed them, would you? She paused for a moment, and nodded. "For them, I would do whatever it took." I raised a hand and called up my memories, pouring them into my technique. Excellent. Now let me try something. Ply! A stream of blue sparks shot from my hand, and directed by me, they merely hovered over my palm, cascading up and down in an endless loop. The queen seemed fascinated by the lightshow, probably because she could sense something off about it. Go on, try to feed from it. She looked at me curiously, before opening her mouth slightly and inhaling. The sparks shot into her mouth, and she nearly gasped. Barely, she managed to get all of them in and down before looking at me in wonder. "What...was that?" A technique from Mercury meant to heal, but I poured my memories into it. You CAN infuse emotion into Psynergy, but it makes it so much more unstable. I just gave you a bit of my emotions, dear Queen. Willingly. She seemed taken aback by my charity and sat on her rump for a bit. "Why would you..." To get you to LISTEN to me. From what I understand, changelings can't feed on the emotional energy of another. It's a defense mechanism, one I can understand. But there's a way beyond invasion, starvation, and your current methods. Co-existence. You cannot live without the ponies. So try to make peace with them. Who knows? Public reaction may not be as terrible as you think, and there's always my place, a village of ponies who can ALL use these strange powers. Who could ALL put emotion behind it, and let you feed off of IT, rather than US, so that you don't harm us. Worst comes to worst, I'd be willing to shelter you if need be. She blinked a few times, taking in the tirade I had given her. "Make peace with them?" It's really your best choice. Otherwise, they'll probably go on some sort of crazy changeling-hunt to oust you, which would only accelerate the starving. She nodded slowly at that. "And you'd be willing to shelter us?" Only once you've at least tried, m'dear. She nodded again. "Then...I think we can try. We must change and adapt to our surroundings, lest we perish. This is just one more change. A unique one, amongst them all, but one that I look forward to." She put her hoof in my right hand as if to shake it. The hand that still had the Mercury Star. The Star which, even now, shattered. I looked to where it had been, then to her. Aw, not agai- Chrysalis gained a massive blue aura, and streams of it shot into the depths of the well. I could feel something shift, something break, deep down. There was a flash, and a massive blue orb rose from the depths and passed through the ceiling, continuing on to the surface. Then I heard the roar of rushing water coming up, and I grabbed Chryssy. We gotta get outta here, lest we drown! She wormed her way free and flew up to a tunnel exit, barking orders to her drones. Meanwhile, I was bemoaning my lack of Retreat, and kept running through the tunnels, always heading up. Eventually, I reached the surface, to find Chrysalis and her subjects staring at the Light of Mercury, watching in awe as water gushed from the ground, turning the dry desert into a slightly muddier one. Plants sprung up towards the edges, and as the greenery filled in, I could only gawk. An oasis in the desert. I thought it might happen like this, but I'm still surprised at how quickly the plants are coming in. One changeling reached down to sip at the water, then reared back, his eyes wide open in surprise. "My throat! It was sore, but now it's not!" I groaned as something else seemed to have happened, and the queen turned to me. "Care to elaborate?" I sighed and nodded. As long as the Light of Mercury is housed here, the oasis shall overflow with the water of Hermes, the water which cures all physical ills. I then turned to look at the Light, then back to the Queen. Well, I have to head back to Equestria anyways, to pick up someone for the next Light. Want to tag along? I can drop you off in Canterlot. She laughed a little while before she caught her breath and nodded. "Why not?" Author's Note Lights lit: 2/4 Favs: 1,101 (Holy shit!) Views: 4,244 (46,559 total) (Jesus!) 96.4% of people who rated this story liked it. (An astonishing amount, really.) 269 referrals. (Um, why?) Coming up next: Gods DAMMIT Silver, I said WORK OUT YOUR ISSUES!
Chapter 17 - Making headwayCanterlot. The center of Equine Dominance over the land. Seat of the two sisters, who moved the sun and moon. Home to more unicorns than anywhere else. Built on a frikin' mountain. And also, impossible to sneak into during the day. They'd learned from Chryssy, astonishingly, and upped security in and around the city. But when you have access to a psynergy that hides you when you're in the shadows and an emotivore for a sneaking partner, sneaking into a city at night is amazingly easy. Step one, apply Cloak. Step two, walk into the city. Step three, listen when your partner says a patrol is coming, because invisible does not mean inaudible. Step four, get onto castle grounds. Step five, get into the Solar Court when nobody is around. None of those were interesting at all, really. Not up until step six, the reveal. Celestia had just taken her throne, followed by the nobles taking their seats, and announced that court was open for the day. That was when Chryssy and I sprung our little plan for this, and she cast a spell to send the room into darkness. I was, somehow, still under the effects of Cloak. Which would up the spooky factor of the next bit by ten. Ponies once forgot me. Chained me up and cast me aside. For so long, I languished in the dark. I stepped a few times through the room, sending the echoes of metal moving on metal throughout the room. None of them could pinpoint me. Which was exactly what I wanted. And then my old friend the Lord of Chaos released me. And for some time now, I have been doing what I do best. Avenging the wronged. More steps, but this time I made sure to brush up against a noble, who screamed like a filly. It was delicious. I hear their cries on the wind. Their righteous fury fans the flames of my own. Their salty tears impact the earth and lead me to where I am needed. Quick steps this time, leading up to Celly's throne, that suddenly stopped and vanished. You sit here in your gilded seats and think yourselves above the law. That is where you are wrong. You see the rules and laws of society as bars to protect the innocent from monsters, and you think you can fill that role, and so step out beyond them. And now I stood in the middle of the court and flared my presence in my armor, drawing my sword at the same time. But when you step out, I STEP IN. I am the shadow, the darkness, the elemental wraith. I am Dullahan! You who have done no wrong have nothing to fear, whereas you who have wronged your fellows may take solace in only one fact. That I do no physical harm to ponies. The darkness lifted from the room, and Chrysalis stepped out from behind Celestia's throne and joined me in the middle of the court. Let the record show that Dullahan has brought forth the matter of Chrysalis, Changeling Queen, to ALL the royals of Equestria! Silence gripped the room for five seconds before the nobles screamed and started stampeding for the exit. I turned to Celestia and would have given her my biggest grin. Hey, that's YOUR schedule clear for a while! Can you help us now? And amazingly, she sighed and facehooved. It hadn't taken long for Cadenza and Luna to show up. Apparently when I said that I was bringing Chrysalis to all the royals, Celestia agreed with my sentiment, and sent a letter to her niece, telling her to drop everything and teleport home. To be fair, I'm not sure if it was a boon or not that they had come. While Cadenza apparently was glad to get out of paperwork, she wasn't pleased to have to deal with the one who'd ruined and nearly stolen her wedding day. And husband. Meanwhile, attempting to interrupt the sleep cycle of the lunar mare was proving to be- "WHO DARES TO WAKE US UP BEFORE FIVE IN THE EVENING?!" A bad idea. A very bad idea. Christ, I felt that one, and she was across the castle from me. You'd think all this stone would insulate me somewhat, but nope! No mortal force may resist the Royal Canterlot Caps Lock! Eventually, the three royals were seated on one side of a very long table. Chrysalis was seated on the other. And I was seated technically between them, but I had deliberately moved myself a foot closer to Chryssy when talks had started. This unnerved the other three just a smidge. Which would have caused me to smile. So, let's get the big reveal out of the way. Chrysalis' hive is the warden of Mercury's Light. Cadenza looked at Chrysalis, then upwards, probably in thought, while nodding slowly. The sisters merely blinked at me a few times. "And that means what to us and them, Dullahan?" Well, the first thing it means is that in time, the changelings will probably become wielders of Mercury's might. It is half meant for curing physical ills and half meant for inventive Adepts to use water and ice against their opponents. Just think of how beloved one who can heal away ills would be. At this, Chrysalis smiled. I could almost hear the gears turning in her head, so I pointed myself at her. Y'know, if you put yours in positions where they naturally did things that other ponies loved, I'm preeeeetty sure you'd have found an invasion to be unnecessary. At this, she had the sense of mind to hang her head and sigh, while I turned to Cadenza. Those of Venus tend to find a target and hit it, hard. The earth's might is nothing to be sneezed at. While they have less aptitude for healing, they are the ONLY ones who can return unjustly taken life. At this, the jaws of everyone in the room dropped. Cadenza got her voice back first. "So the crystal ponies..." I filled in the blanks of her question and answered it. In time, Venus Adepts may be born in the empire amongst the populace there. And with training, LOTS of training, if someone died via means other than natural causes, then yes, they could return that life. As the sisters mulled it over, I reached into a pouch tied to my belt and pulled out a vial of water. A vial of water from the oasis. Of course, there is another reason we are here. Because the changelings are the wardens of Mercury's Light, they are the wardens of something else as well. Something they can definitely use to sue for co-existance. The trio eyed the vial in my hand, and the eldest spoke up. "What is in that vial, Dullahan?" Water from their new oasis. Also known as the Water of Hermes, that which, like they might one day be able to, can cure all physical ills. I walked over to Chrysalis and raised a hand and held it for a second, my posture all but screaming, 'may I?' She considered for a moment, and then nodded. I brought my hand down on her carapace hard enough for a sharp crack to echo through the chamber as a break formed, and poured the water from the vial onto the wound before the royals could interject. The wound hissed, steamed, and vanished before their very eyes, leaving their jaws, once again, wide open. You'll catch flies like that, I told them. They worked their jaws for a few moments, and this time, it was Moonbutt who spoke up. "If that water can do this, then imagine the applications in the kingdom, sister. We should-" I held up a hand then to stop her from continuing that line of thought for the time being. That is between you three and the changeling queen. I have brought her here and demonstrated what she has to offer you. Make her a deal she cannot refuse, for I can refuse all of yours. And with that, I stalked out. I had barely arrived in town before Silver Cross ambushed me. "M'lord, should we not be goin' now? Sooner started, sooner finished, aye?" I sighed and made to massage my temples that I no longer had. Administrative duties, Silver. I despise them, but they must be done. He nodded and stood near the gate. "I'll wait for ye, then. Unless ye think it'll take longer than a day." I shook in the negative. It'll hopefully be fast today, we should be on our way by nightfall. I disliked doing the reams of paperwork, but they had to be done. I wanted the town to flourish without me, to be able to make its own decisions. Currently I was its pillar of strength, but I was slowly giving that role over. It had started with the establishment of normal businesses, like one would see in any other pony town. A general store, a hardware store. A lumberjack, a smithy. It rapidly progressed when we found the most adept amongst us could infuse gemstones with psynergies. Aboyami managed to make a Growth stone once a week that promoted good, healthy harvests in the gardens they lay in. And just the other day, Common Grounds had come to me with a proposal for electing mayors for the town. I was proud of them already. I held the measure up, then lowered it and looked at him. So you've finally realized that I'm just an overpowered spirit in a suit of armor, am thus not infallible, realize I have Things that I like to go Do, most notably my enthusiastic walks, and are asking my permission to form your own leadership slash government system. Common couldn't decide if he should shake or nod, but I decided for him by putting the measure back in front of him. Honestly, why did it take you this long? You don't need MY permission to do anything. While I could stop you, I don't want to. And this Meritocracy you're proposing sounds wonderful. You don't need my blessing at all. Go and be wonderful, Common. He blinked a few times before he realized I'd given my consent for him to do this, and then he processed the words more finely. He nodded a few times as he left the Sanctum, and I got off my behind to look at the few treasures I kept hidden in a hallow behind my makeshift throne. A card from the Lady, a soapstone from the Knight, and a clasp from the Twins. I sighed and ran a finger over all of them, feeling my connection to each of their masters. I sent the same thought across the three connections, hoping they would hear me. I'm sorry, but it's too dangerous now. I can't risk the world being open anymore, for a threat from Beyond is coming. Goodbye, my erstwhile allies. I do not think I shall be meeting you all again after all. As I left to go to the front gates of town and collect Silver, a song played through my head. If I touch a burning candle, I shall feel no pain... A memory flashed through my mind, of one of my first dances with the sisters, when they tried to oust me by destroying the armor. Pro tip: When Celestia looks like she's about to fire her laser, get out of the damn way! Damn thing's made of sunfire! Cut me with a knife, it's still the same... This time, the memory was one of Luna goring my hand during our last dance. True it didn't hurt, but it still felt like it should when I lost all feeling in my hand that suddenly. And my heart is aching...though it doesn't beat, it's breaking... Older memories, of my life from before, ran through my mind. My parents, my little sister. My friend. My world. Even if I'm dead, it seems I still have some tears to shed... And right then, I would have. Because in that moment, I realized what had changed so much about me from when I had been freed. Cadenza's power was love, it had come up once. And that shield around Canterlot at the end of the wedding and the one around the Crystal Empire were fueled by the damn stuff. Spending so much time around her had awoken my heart again. I thought it had died a while ago, but apparently not. It'd been reanimated, after a sense, and I was remembering all that I once loved. The problem was, I had lost it, and likely wasn't going to get it back. I would have wiped a tear away from my face then. Heh. Who says Venus isn't quite as good as healing physical ailments as Mercury is? Being around it had certainly restored that beating engine of mine. If only it could be healed all the way. Silver seemed to notice the change in demeanor as I neared. "Sir, are ye alright?" I nodded once and cleared my throat. Never better. C'mon, we got a volcano to get you to. Author's Note Would you hate me if I told you I know when the story is going to end? And that it would be coming soon?
Chapter 18 - Get it through your thick head"What do ye mean, ye don't hate the sisters?!" I sighed at Silver's outburst. It was the third day of our little trek down to where the volcano was, and he'd asked me why I hated the sisters. To which I replied that I didn't. It's simple enough to lay out, but complex to understand. I don't hate anyone, save for the Wise One. I conserve my wrath for they that think themselves monsters, and that leaves anger for the sisters. Silver tilted his head to the side in confusion. "They're not all the same?" I snorted then, shaking my body in the negative. I make distinctions between the differing levels of dislike. Anger's just a flash in the pan. It's momentary, can be satisfied easily with things like pranks or minor revenge on the one to earn it. Silver nodded slowly as the words sunk in, and I continued my definitions. Wrath is a bit more forceful. At least for me. I conserve my wrath for they that step out into the dark. I make sure to use up my wrath, never let it build. It is the desire to inflict harm upon another because of who they are or what they've done. And hate. I hate only the Wise One. Hate is, to me, declaring someone your foe for as long as either of you live. Despite what the sisters did to me, I don't truly hate them. I've been angry with them multiple times, and even now, I refute any and all attempts of theirs to make peace with me, but I don't hate them. It's anger bordering on wrath. Silver laughed a bit then. "Holdin' a grudge fer fifteen hundred years seems like a mite bit more than anger. Y'sure it's not wrath?" I nodded. If they ever truly tried, if they ever saw things from my perspective, saw what I did and why I did it...If they admitted, publicly, to my existence and purpose, along with what they'd done to me and how WRONG they were. Then I would forgive them. Then we could stop antagonizing one another, even minorly. There was no more talk then, as Silver turned over to go to sleep, and I kept watch. When nearly a week had passed and the volcano was in sight, Silver asked me another question. "Do I seem too angry to you?" I pondered it for a moment. Well, those of Mars do tend to be more prone to anger. So your normal weekly routine of getting in at least one minor argument? That falls within operational parameters. It's still a bit on the high end, though. And the few things that you get really passionate about? You tend to get passionate enough that you leave scorch marks on the grass. That's when I have to say that yes, you have issues. Silver sighed then. "Growin' up, I could see the Djinn. They talked to me, gave me stories of you, of what you did. When I grew older and knew right from wrong more firmly, I realized I wanted to share what you did, and built a church. 'S when I got my mark. And when I realized that no matter the amount I preached, if I didn't practice it as well...that's when I started to draw her eye to me. Ten years ago, she took it all away, dismantled my life's work around me. I want to repay that nag for what she did. And you say I'm too angry." I sighed then. There are two sides to every story, two sides to every coin. But things are not white or black in reality. Many things are shades of grey, or just otherwise different. Those who divide the world into two groups and claim the moral high ground of their own are half the problem. Silver sat there stunned for a moment before I added something that I knew he'd find shocking. Besides. I was chained up for fifteen hundred years, and the closest I got to truly hating them was when I realized how long it had been once I was free, how I'd likely lost everything and everyone I ever knew. Afterwards it simmered back into mere anger. If I can't hate them for that, who are you to claim otherwise? Silver's jaw damn near dislocated with how far it dropped, and he was silent for the rest of the evening. It took us an entire day to get to the summit of the volcano, and Silver and I looked into it. Sitting on a crag of rock that had somehow not melted near the middle of the lava pool was a pillar of obsidian. I pointed at it and sighed. Ten bits says that's what needs to be hit with the light from the Mars Star. Silver shook his head then. "No bet. How're we gonna get to it?" I turned to 'look' at him and stared for a second. I'm pretty sure we won't have to. If you're ready, you just have to touch the Mars Star and channel the power towards it. I held the Star in one hand, and Silver put his hoof out to touch it. Nothing happened. I looked back to him and thought over what it could possibly be that he needed to confront. Silver, you realize that by living away from her, living in a community she has no sway in, you're hurting her near as bad as she hurt you, right? Silver tilted his head to the side, and I continued. She 'loves' all 'her little ponies' and wants only 'what's best for them.' But by showing her that we can manage without her and don't bow to her, we're proving her wrong. We're taking something from her that she's held to be true since time immemorial. We're taking her argument away from her. We're showing her she is not infallible. And to those in authority, that cuts like nothing else, especially if they actually care, and doubly so if it's proven the new way is better than the old. Silver blinked a few times and nodded once. Silver...let it go. Let the hate go. Let the wrath go. She'll be hurting as long as Newvale exists. As long as ponies live who don't bow to her, she'll be hurting worse than she hurt you. Let. It. Go. At this, he protested. "I can't! I can't just let her get away with what she did to me!" And who said she would? File your grievances. Reopen your church in Newvale. But do not let your past define your future! Put the weight of your hatred down! Do not forgive, do not forget, but do not make it the sum of what you are! Silver breathed deeply once, twice... And on the third exhale, the Star shattered. Silver gained a massive red aura, and it jumped from him to the obsidian pillar. A ball of red light formed and hovered over the volcano, and I 'nodded' once at him. I'm glad I can still do this. Teleport! And with that, we left the Mars Light behind. The next week in Newvale passed quickly for me. I made it my mission to pass all of the unaligned Psynergies into appropriate vessels. Painful, necessary work. We finally had a road to connect us to the main thoroughfare, and ponies occasionally visited Newvale now. We were getting non-Adept residents now, and it was...well, interesting, to say the least. I very nearly had to put my foot down on the pranking some ponies and Djinn did with their Psynergy to the poor souls. And they eventually got used to our dislike of the Princesses. Some of them even opened shop in our town. Really, by now one of the few distinctions we could use to distinguish it from any other pony town was the sheer number of species and the decidedly not pony/horse related pun name. Finally, ShiverSpine informed me he was ready. The eight Jupiter Djinn hovering around him confirmed this to me, and I sighed. Give me three days to get into position, then go to Cloudsdale. And with that, I handed over the Jupiter Star, left my Sanctum, and headed back to Mt. Canterlot. As the third day dawned on the mountain, I got a most unexpected guest. "Dully!" With a pop and a flash, Discord showed up in front of me and gave me a hug. Discord? How, what, why? He laughed at me a little and summoned a glass of chocolate milk, then proceeded to somehow drink it in reverse. "Tia decided that I was worth her trouble and had little Fluttershy reform me. Now I'm not quite as bothersome to her. Most of the time." I laughed a bit. Makes me wonder if I had anything to do with it. Discord scratched the back of his head with his lion paw. "You just might have. After all, the way you keep showing her that she was wrong about you probably made her think she was wrong about me as well." Discord sat on a conjured armchair (that let out a whoopie cushion noise as he sat on it) and looked at me. "So I've got good news and bad news." Bad news first. "Well, the bad news is, this Wise One? Yeah, I can't stop him. He's too close. It'd only be putting it off, and that'd only work once. If you managed to deal with him, weaken him? Then I could sort of 'veil' this dimension from his sight, and as long as I'm alive, he wouldn't be able to find us." ...Was that also the good news? "Nope, the good news is better! It's only the Wise One that you have to deal with! I stopped everything else from that particular dimension from drifting over." And if I know you, there's a secret, mystery, third news. At this, Discord laughed a bit. "You do know me well! There's actually two more bits of news. The first is that I ran the numbers, he'll be here soon. Within another week sort of soon. And the second is that the royal sisters are right behind you." Ignoring the flood of stampeding numbers underfoot, I turned behind me to see the sisters standing at the edge of the mountain. I sighed again. You lot, and that includes you Dissy, need to get off the mountain. I don't know when it'll happen, but I know it'll happen today! You need to not be here, I don't know what it'll do to you! They looked startled for a moment before taking flight and hovering about a hundred feet away. Discord merely smiled and snapped his way back to...hopefully somewhere safe. Lulu began to assault me with her voice from her range. "DULLAHAN, IF THOU ATTEMPTS TO USE THIS POWER AGAINST EQUESTRIA, KNOWEST NOW THAT WE WILL-" She didn't get to finish. On the horizon, I could see the Light of Jupiter igniting, and then the tension in the air increased a hundredfold. Streaking across the sky were ribbons of light. Green, red, blue, and violet. They gathered above me and merged into a golden orb. Just in time for a very familiar floating blue-eyed boulder to appear and glare at me.
Side Chapter 6 - The Final TrialAuthor's Note Three authors on this one! Shinigamisparda, SwimmingDalek98, and PimpbabyDragon. Jesus, 6k words for the dragon. Shoulda expected it, honestly. Side Chapter 6 - The Final Trial The Final Trial The dragon’s fanged smile grew as he heard the approaching metallic footsteps of Newvale’s founder, which could only mean that a certain unicorn priest was approaching as well. It had been more than a week since they left and ever since that beadon of red light began to shine he was anxious for them to return. After all, he was next, and last, in line for a journey. Within minutes, they both came into view. “Oy there, ShiverSpine!” Silver Cross called. The adolescent dragon jumped off the roof of his home, flapping his leathery wings once to slow his descent before hitting the ground. “Welcome back, you two,” he answered with a smile. Shiver, how’s the Djinn problem coming? asked the mighty headless armor. “Just fine. I’ve picked up a couple of wild ones nearby, and the rest I need are going to be loaned to me by some of the others.” Good. All that’s left is to complete your trial. I think you and Silver Cross should have a little chat. Is there anything I should attend to? “Well, there’s a few new additions to the town, a few non-adept ponies, actually. Some of them don’t have much love for the Princesses, but others are just some enterprising merchants looking to check things out.” Guess things have really started up now that we’ve got that road finished. Alright, I’ll see what needs to be done. Cross, you take over from here. And with that the dark armor walked further into town, startling some of the newer residents who either hid behind whatever was nearby or looked on with fascination. Their reactions got a chuckle out of the ice drake and the unicorn. “So, what exactly was the trial you needed to overcome? Some traps? Or a riddle?” Silver Cross hesitated a moment before responding, something that caught ShiverSpine off guard. “Ah think yer gonna want ta sit down for this one. Mind if ah come inside?” -- “You’re kidding. You had to give up your hatred of Celestia?” “Aye.” “So you don’t have any problems with her anymore?” “Nah, ah’m still plenty mad at her, but ah’m not thinkin’ about it all the time now.” “What do you mean?” “Ah mean when we first came here there were pretty much only two things runnin’ though mah head: ‘how can ah serve Dullahan?’, and ‘how can ah piss off her Royal Sunbutt?’ But now…” The unicorn closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Now ah’m thinkin’ ‘what can ah do that’ll make me happy? That’ll make everyone else happy?’ ‘Cause that’s all ah ever really wanted. Ah let mah rage take over these past ten years, and ah lost sight of what ah was tryin’ ta get back.” “So, if you had to let go of your anger, then that means-“ “Aye. That means yer likely gonna have ta do the same,” Cross finished. “Ah understand what yer going though, and how tough it’ll be. Yer the only one in town that has more reason ta hate her than me. It won’t be easy.” “But it still has to be done, doesn’t it?” ShiverSpine muttered. “Aye, and soon. Dullahan’s at his weakest now, the weakest he’ll be before he gets empowered by that ‘Golden Sun’ he was talkin’ about.” “Which needs to show up soon, now that three of the beacons are lit, which means that ‘Wise One’ is coming even faster now.” The dragon groaned. “Why did it have to be me? I… I don’t think I can do it.” Both waited in silence for a moment before the stallion perked up. “Ya know, ah might know one that can give ya an idea on what ta do.” The drake cocked his head in confusion. “I think we better pay our little shamaness a visit.” -- The dragon and the unicorn approached Aboyami’s tent near the center of town, a strange and somewhat unnerving sight to those who didn’t know what it meant for the village. Over time the mysterious and somewhat creepy, yet undoubtedly kind zebra mare, had earned the oh-so-clever nickname “The Grim Healer” from the residents. This was due in part to the combination of her cloak with the skeleton design she wore to work, not to mention her “special services”, and the fact anything she did made things better. Whether it was a cold remedy, a disinfectant for wounds, or in Silver Cross’ case a remedy for chronic lung disease, anyone that met with her always left happier. Recently she’d even begun infusing gems with Growth psyenergy, a trick she picked up from Crystal Clear, having made friends with the half-zebra half-unicorn. “Oy there, Aboyami!” the stallion called as he entered, leaving Shiver outside to peek in, being a bit too big to fit into the shamaness’ crowded workspace. “Hope we’re not interruptin’?” Aboyami diverted her attention away from the gem she had just picked up to face her visitors. “Silver Cross! I had heard you were back! It is good to see you well.” The mare pulled back her hood and gave the unicorn a quick hug, which he reciprocated. This surprised Shiver, as he’d never seen Cross as being the touchy type. “And hello to you as well, ShiverSpine. What brings you two to my humble abode today? The smile on Silver Cross’s face faded. “Ah’m afraid we’re needin’ a little help. Or to be more accurate, he’s needin’ some help.” “Oh, have you finally come to ask for my services?” Aboyami asked. The dragon grimaced slightly in response. More than once Aboyami had recommended that she help him speak with his family from beyond the grave. It’s not that he was opposed to the idea itself, but rather that he didn’t feel he could face his family. Not yet at least. “Sorry, but no. Actually, I was hoping to get some advice.” “Advice on what?” “Well, maybe ah’d better start on that one,” Cross began. “Well, ya see, on mah trip to the Mars beacon…” -- “So that’s basically the gist of it,” Cross finished. “I see. This is a dilemma indeed,” Aboyami stated before turning to Shiver. “You must overcome your own grief and hate to pass your trial and light the beacon. Amber’s trial was seeking justice for her adoptive father, and Silver Cross’ was learning to no longer let his hate consume him. I hear that Queen Chrysalis’ trial was to be willing to give up everything that she is for a way to help her hive live happily, which involved peace with those she attacked. All were successful in putting the past behind them and looking to the future. Which leaves you, ShiverSpine. I believe it is obvious what you must put behind you.” “Revenge,” the drake muttered. “Against whoever killed that pony, and Celestia,” he growled that name, frigid breath escaping from between his fangs. “Indeed. I’d like to take my time and counsel you on letting go of your rage, but I fear we do not have time. The Wise One approaches, and we likely do not have time for a gradual approach.” “So what do I do? I won’t let everyone suffer because of me.” The shamaness hesitated. “I… have an idea, but I am hesitant to suggest it.” The other two were silent, holding their gazes with the zebra. “I think you may have to confront your problem directly.” The two’s eye’s widened in shock. “Do… Do you mean-?” “Now hold on a minute, even ah know this is a bad idea!” “I understand, and I would not have suggested it if I thought there was another option,” she explained. “… Ah think we should talk to Dullahan about this,” Silver Cross suggested. -- It had been two and a half days since then and ShiverSpine had already made it to Canterlot, amazing time even for a flying dragon as himself. The Jupiter Djinn had aided in increasing his physical abilities, but also there was the added strength of his own motivation. He was on a time limit, though he had no idea how long it was, and more importantly he was finally going to put to rest one of his goals. A 20 year old goal that had driven him to join the dissenters in Newvale, and had kept a fire burning in him for all that time. Night had fallen upon the Equestrian capital, which made his infiltration pathetically easily, despite the increased guard patrols. The Cloak Sphere saw to that, especially in the darkness where he didn’t have to worry about the sunlight bringing him out of his illusion. He kept it in a small bag along with some food and water for the trip. Dullahan had given it to him when Silver Cross and Aboyami had explained their plan, one that the armored spirit had his problems with but couldn’t think of any way to refute it. He gave him the treasure and the words “let it go” before sending the adolescent drake on his way. He had left on his own for the sake of expedience, but that in itself was proving to have unexpected consequences. Being alone, aside from his few Djinn who didn’t talk since introducing themselves, had let his mind wander. He didn’t know exactly what he planned to do when he finally confronted the solar diarch, but over the course of the last two days his thoughts had continually turned darker and darker. He kept trying to convince himself that he shouldn’t harm her, that Dullahan would’ve disapproved, but as he kept revisiting the thought of rending her flesh it became harder and harder to focus on that. Those thoughts only became more vivid as he entered the palace proper and approached the alicorn’s private quarters. He could see the light from the fireplace inside. He took a breath and puffed out a melon-sized cloud of frigid air before using his wind psyenergy to guide it under the door. Being able to sense the fluctuations in temperature he guided it to the fire and extinguished it. He heard her gasp inside and quickly yet quietly opened the door. He had made it inside but hadn’t closed it by the time she lit the fireplace again with her magic. The psyenergy disguise wore off the moment the light hit him and the two beings stared at each other for a moment. In that moment one thought flooded ShiverSpine’s thoughts. Revenge. The drake lunged at the Princess, toppling her off her cushion and pinning her to the floor, one claw around her neck and the other around her wing, both drawing blood. “Good evening, Princess,” he greeted, his icy cold tone belying the terrible flame burning in him, thought it was no less dreadful. The alicorn fired a beam at his face, the pain and force knocking him back and getting him to let go of her. She quickly stood up and reared on her hind legs, slamming both her forehooves into his chest. The dragon managed to grab them before flying across the room, stopping him and pulling her off balance. He used his momentum to hurl her at the door, closing it as she slammed into the wood and fell to the floor, groaning in pain. Not letting her get a chance to recover he lunged and grabbed her hind legs before throwing her at the other wall. Celestia manged to keep herself from impact by flapping her wings, halting her movement in mid-air. The drake responded by firing a burst of wind psyenergy that slammed her back into a desk and then the wall behind it before unleashing a frigid breath that pinned her to the wall in ice. With another quick lunge he grabbed her neck in one claw and her muzzle in the other. He squeezed her throat, choking her, while making sure to keep her horn pointed away from him and yet still in his sights so he could be aware of any spell she tried to cast. “Do you remember me, Celestia? Do you remember the ice dragons you condemned to death twenty years ago?” he asked, his silver eyes shining in fury. She stared back and he saw the recognition flicker cross her eyes. “So you do remember. Then maybe you’ll remember their names. The names of a family of ice dragons who left their kind to live in peace. Who were pushed aside by those they wished to form friendships with. Who were unjustly blamed when a pony was mauled to death. Well I’ll tell you. My father, FrostShard. My mother, Sparkling Sapphire. And my sister, Radiant Ruby. My sister, who you had killed just as she had entered her adolescence. My sister, who you condemned to death on her birthday! Do you remember them, Princess!? Do you remember how they screamed for mercy, for understanding!? How they tried to convince you of their innocence!? Or were their pleas falling on deaf ears because of how your ponies demanded ‘justice’ for our ‘crimes’!? What do you have to say for yourself!?" As his voice grew in intensity her eyes closed. As he waited for her to answer she finally opened them and gazed back. What he saw was not fear or anger but a look of profound sadness, the likes of which he’d never seen. “… I’m sorry,” she answered simply. The room fell completely silent for what felt like an eternity. In that time Shiver briefly considered just leaving, that look somehow managing to pierce his soul. But only briefly. “Apologizing won’t bring them back,” he snarled. He released her neck and raised his claw, ready to slice her open. “I am ShiverSpine, and tonight I take the first step in avenging my family.” Before he swung he noticed that the Princess didn’t even struggle. All she did was look back at him with those profoundly sad eyes. In that moment of hesitation his attention was caught by a photo on the wall. It depicted the Princess posing happily with a group of ponies, all of them happy to be with her. It looked quite old. His eyes began to drift as he saw several more photos of several different ages, all depicting similar situations: happy ponies with the Princess. It was then that a terrible thought entered his head, one that warred with his desire for revenge. His raised claw clenched as the internal battle raged. After what seemed like ages to him he slammed his clenched fist into Celestia’s stomach, winding her but more importantly shattering her icy prison. Before she could recover he grabbed her and threw her across the room before repeatedly slamming his fists into the wall she had been pinned to. The Princess stared as she caught her breath, seeing him begin to crack the wall with his pummeling. After about a minute he fell to his knees, his arms hanging weakly at his sides as he sobbed. “Why?” she asked, confused at the turn the situation had taken. ShiverSpine sighed before responding. “It was not your grief that saved you, Celestia,” he began, wiping his eyes as he stood, still not facing her. “Nor was it my own morals, or Dullahan’s teachings. Neither was it knowing that my family would look upon me poorly for taking revenge.” He reached down and grabbed one of the photos, thinking back to the terrifyingly vivid image he had moments before. Thousands, if not millions of ponies, wailing in sorrow and agony. Screaming the name of their fallen leader who lay dead, slain at his claws. “It was them, and their love for you. I hate you, Celestia. I hate you so much. But I could never do to them what you did to me.” He dropped the photo before turning to her. “I will not kill you. But I also will not forgive you.” Their gazes held for a moment before he silently walked towards the door. “Wait!” the Princess called, quickly standing. “Wait please! I know I cannot bring them back, but please let me do something to help you!” Shiver’s anger burned again, but nowhere near as badly as last time. “What could you possibly-?” he began, only to cut himself off. Memories of a psyenergy he had recently mastered gave him an idea. “… My family, can you take me to them?” he asked calmly. Celestia’s ears drooped and she looked down in shame. “I’m sorry, but nothing of them remains. I used my Sunfire on them. It was the only way to enact the execution.” The dragon’s fists clenched as he grit his fangs, doing his best to restrain himself and quell his rage. After about a minute, he managed it. “What about the pony who was killed? Can you take me to her?” Celestia raised her head and looked back curiously, but nodded. “Yes,” she answered, and her horn glowed with magic. With a flash there were now in a graveyard, far from Canterlot, courtesy of a teleportation spell. In front of them both was a tombstone, the name “Spring Green” chiseled onto it. “This is her, is it?” he asked quietly. “Yes,” she answered. After a moment she asked “Should I leave you two to talk?” “You can stay if you’d like. I don’t mind,” he responded raising his claw. He focused his power before unleashing his most recently discovered talent. “Spirit Sense,” he announced, causing the surrounding area to darken with a shade of blue. “Can you hear me, Spring Green?” “…Are… are you talking to me?” came a feminine voice. Celestia recoiled in shock, having also heard the voice, but kept silent and watched the scene unfold. “Yes. My name is ShiverSpine. I am an ice dragon.” “Oh goodness, you’re one of them, aren’t you? You’re one of those dragons that got framed for my death!” “’Framed!?’” Celestia all but shouted. “Oh gracious! Princess Celestia! You’re here too!? You can hear me as well? Forgive me, Princess, but I don’t have a body to bow with.” “Please, do not apologize for such a thing. And yes, I can hear you, by aid of this one’s power. Please continue, you said they were framed?” “…Yes, “ the voice continued, it’s tone turning hateful. “By a griffon. His name is Golden Talon. I thought he was just a merchant, he came to our village so many times over the years. I was walking home one night when he abducted me. Before he killed me he told me that he wasn’t going to be caught because the dragons that lived nearby would be blamed. Your name is ShiverSpine, right? Thank goodness you’re alive! Then that means the rest of your family is ok too, right?” Neither the dragon nor the alicorn responded. “No… don’t tell me… They… They were…” there was gap before anything else was said. Soon the mare’s voice began to sob. “I’m so sorry! Oh by Celestia, I am so sorry! If I’d fought harder, if I hadn’t died, then they’d… they’d still be-!” “Please, don’t blame yourself for something like that,” Shiver interrupted. “That wasn’t something in your control.” “B-But-!” “You’ve already helped me more than you can imagine. You’ve given me the name of the one that was responsible for my family’s death. If you really want to help me then maybe you could give me information on how he looks like.” Spring Green’s voice sniffled before turning hateful again. “I can do you one better. That horrible griffon comes here during his trade routes to gloat at my grave about how he got away with it and how you all died. I didn’t believe him, I didn’t want to believe him. But now I see it’s the truth. For twenty years I’ve had to listen to him, and it sickens me! I’d sell my soul to bring him to justice! He was here only a few days ago! Maybe you can still catch him!” ShiverSpine and Celestia were too shocked to answer, not only at the good fortune of having a chance to bring this criminal to justice but also by the deplorable actions he committed. “I’ll have the royal guard comb the-“ “No. I’ll find him,” the dragon interrupted. “If he was here that recently then I can track him by scent. This is my vengeance, and I’ll see it through to the end.” Celestia wanted to protest but Shiver’s eyes made her stop. He was dead-set on this. “Will you kill him?” she asked. “No. I have something more fitting in mind,” he said calmly before turning back to the tombstone. “Spring Green, you will be avenged. You have no reason to stay here anymore. Justice will be served. I promise.” It was in that moment that a ghostly white earth pony rose out from the tombstone, her expression one of relief and happiness. “Thank you ShiverSpine. Thank you so much,” she said gently before he expression turned angry. “Make. Him. Pay.” And with that she closed her eyes and disappeared into a mist. “You’ll be heading to Clousdale soon, correct?” Celestia asked. The dragon nodded, not even looking at her. “I’ll make sure the Royal Guard expects you.” Without another word or even a nod the dragon turned and spread his wings, ready to take off. “Wait, ShiverSpine!” The drake turned to glare at the Princess. "What!?" Celestia recoiled for a moment before gathering herself again. “For what little it is worth I want you to know that I am so very, very sorry.” The dragon turned away, her eyes once again showing that profound sadness he had seen before. Part of him wanted to simply leave, and another part wanted to hit her. However, something else won out. “I… I know,” said quietly. “I understand that now. And I believe it. Maybe, one day in the future, I actually will be able to forgive you.” He let that sentence hang in the air for a moment before turning to glare at her again. “But don’t hold your breath.” And with that his leathery wings flapped as he streaked off into the night sky. Celestia simply watched for as long as she could, which turned out to be only a few seconds due to the drake’s alarming speed, before teleporting back into her room. She stood there a moment before she collapsed to the floor and cried. “Sister?” Celestia stopped before turning to see Luna in the doorway, her expression attempting to look as comforting as possible. “L-Luna? I-I was just-“ “Do not bother sister, I saw the end of it. I saw him tell you why he let you go,” she said quietly, not even using her old Equestrian dialect. “Sister, I had no idea.” Celestia freely sobbed again. Her younger sister lied down next to her, draping a wing over her sibling. “How many, Luna? How many lives have we – no, have I ruined in the name of love and harmony? How many terrible mistakes have I made?” The Night Princess nuzzled her solar counterpart. “Sister, we have lived longer and grander lives than any other. It stands to reason that we have also made the most and grandest mistakes. But we cannot let that stop us. If Dullahan’s return has taught us anything it is that we must learn from our mistakes, to ensure that neither we nor anypony else makes them again. We must continue forward and make amends wherever and whenever we can.” Celesita didn’t answer any more than a nod as her cries died down to sniffles. The two remained in each other’s company before the solar diarch finally fell asleep. -- It had taken ShiverSpine only a few hours to locate Golden Talon. He followed the merchant’s scent to his caravan down the beaten path between towns. Shiver was not going to give him even the slightest chance of escape and decided to strike fast and hard. He dived straight into the caravan, smashing it to splinters. The force of the impact sent the griffon sprawling and before he could even figure out what was happening the drake had him pinned with his claws to his throat. “Hello. My name is ShiverSpine. You framed my family, didn’t you, Golden Talon?” he asked, his introduction cold and menacing. The griffon’s reaction threw him for a loop. He had some ideas on how the griffon might react but laughing was certainly not one of them. “Well well, took you long enough. How’d you find out it was me?” he asked in a tone of amusement. “That’s none of your concern. Why did you do it? Why did you kill that mare?” “No reason, really. I just felt like killing somepony. I’ve done it before.” The flippant tone the griffon used, not to mention that smug look on his face, almost drove Shiver over the edge. “You mean you killed her and framed my family because you thought it was fun!?” “Not exactly. I killed her for fun. You all getting blamed was just the convenient excuse I needed so I wouldn’t get caught. Anything with claws would’ve done.” Shiver squeezed Golden Talon’s neck before slamming his head into the ground. "I should kill you now." The griffon coughed before responding with “What’s stopping you? Not like it’ll make a difference.” Shiver nearly gutted the avian right there, but through great willpower managed to hold back knowing one thing for certain: his punishment if he lived would be worse. The dragon tapped into his psyenergy before casting the Sleep spell. -- The next few days passed in a blur for ShiverSpine. During that time he traveled back with his quarry, casting the spell again and again to keep the griffon subdued before finally arriving in Newvale. The others, particularly Silver Cross and Aboyami, were happy to see him back. Dullahan was as well, but also because he hadn’t heard of any reports of attacks on Celestia, or her death. A trial was held for Golden Talon, which was incredibly short. The sociopathic avian actually pleaded guilty when presented with the charges. One might have thought for brief moment that he was trying to repent, but he took the shock of the courtroom as an opportunity to mock everyone, claiming that even putting him to death wouldn’t change anything, that there would always be fools to be preyed on. Dullahan agreed that death wouldn’t solve anything, and that it would be too kind a punishment, so once again the court saw the harshest sentence inflicted upon the defendant: insanity from the armor’s blade. After the trial, ShiverSpine was approached by Silver Cross and Aboyami, both wearing expressions of sympathy. “So, ya actually did it,” Cross said. “Or, rather, ya didn’t do it.” The dragon nodded. “It wasn’t easy, was it?” “Not in the least.” There was a pause before Cross stood on his hind legs and held out his forelegs before smiling. “Come here, ya scaly brute.” The drake could only chuckle ash he lowered himself down to the stallion’s level, wrapping his arm around him as the pony gave a quick hug around his neck. After they were done the ice drake turned to Aboyami. “I’m ready,” he said simply. It took the zebra half a second to understand what he meant and nodded. “Meet me in my tent when you have the item.” The dragon headed back to his home while the shamaness left to prepare the séance. -- Shiver sat quietly as the cloaked zebra muttered her chant. She had not only prepared the séance but also made room for the dragon himself in her tent. Laying in front of the sitting mare was a ruby necklace, the gem cut to look like a flame. It was all he had left of his sister, something that he had made by himself for her birthday. If only she’d gotten a chance to actually receive it. It had been his memento and reminder of what he kept living for. Aboyami stopped muttering in her native tongue, catching the drake’s attention. “Spirit of Radiant Ruby, I call upon you to this world, to this place. One who you loved in life, and still loves you, wishes to speak with you now. Please come forth so that I may pass your sentiments to him. Come for your brother, ShiverSpine.” There was a brief pause before she opened her eyes. “She is here.” “Right. Let’s give this a try.” The ice dragon focused his psyenergy, hoping that it and Aboyami’s Zebafrican ritual would be compatible. “Spirit Sense.” The surrounding area darkened with blue and above them appeared a spectral dragon. She smiled and he smiled back. “Ruby.” “Well hey, look at you. Hardly changed, huh?” Shiver growled in frustration. “Really? That’s what you have to say after being dead for twenty years? After being given a chance to come back and say hi to the world of the living, to your brother, that’s what I get?” “Hey, I’ve had mom and dad to keep me company. Besides, you know I can’t help annoying you,” she answered with a giggle. “We can get to the mushy stuff later.” He sighed. “Even after all this time I have no idea how in Tartarus you’re supposed to be an ice dragon.” A smile crept onto his face before he continued. “I guess if nothing else I can take comfort in knowing the afterlife hasn’t been bad to you if you’re still the same as you were.” “Heh. I guess. So,” she began before smiling the widest grin she could make. “Got a mate yet?” The red blush shone even through his blue scales. “W-Why would you even ask that!? And in front of Aboyami! Did you forget we’re not the only one’s here or do you just not care!?” “Hey, I worry about you! You’re 180 and you never had a serious relationship!” “Two hundred now, and I just never found a dragon I really connected with, that’s all! And why were you always so worried about my relationship status!? Seriously, shouldn’t it be the older sibling who worries about the younger sibling!?” “Hey, you know I was always different. So, still haven’t found a mate, huh? Maybe you should look outside the species a bit. It happens, right?” The girl’s spirit turned to the shamaness. “What about her? She doesn’t look bad for a pony.” Aboyami looked surprised while ShiverSpine’s jaw hung open. He quickly recovered and retorted. “One, she’s the one who brought you here and is keeping you here, so show some respect! Two, she a zebra, not a pony! Three-!” “Ahem!” the shamaness interrupted. “I appreciate the compliment, Radiant Ruby. However, although your brother is a good friend of mine, he is simply not my type.” “Yeah, that’d be Silver Cross, right?” Shiver asked. “W-What!?” “Come on, you’re the only one I’ve seen him hug. You can’t tell me that doesn’t mean anything.” “He hugged you as well, and that affection is nothing of the sort! We are simply good friends!” “Wow, never expected you to pull something like that, brother,” Ruby stated with a grin. “Yeah, I guess even with your short time here you’re starting to rub off on me again,” he joked. Aboyami growled for a moment before throwing her head back in a dramatic fashion. “Oh, what horrible tragedy! My powers are inexplicably and conveniently weakening and I cannot hold your sister in this world for much longer! If you have something you must tell her, do it quickly before she is forced to leave!” “Ok, Ok, I get the message,” Shiver replied before turning to his sister’s ghost, his expression softening. “Ruby, I wanted to tell you that I’ve found justice, both for us and the poor mare that was killed. And I’m part of something big now. I’m making a change in this world, and I really think it’s for the better. And to top it off, I’ve got a new family now. So tell mom and dad that I’m ok, and when we meet again I’ll tell you all about it.” Ruby smiled back gently. “Yeah, well don’t hurry to meet us. We can wait. By the way, that necklace was supposed to be for me, right?” He nodded. “Yeah. Cut it myself.” “Give it to your mate when you finally get one. There’s no point in it just sitting somewhere as a reminder of me, ok?” “Yeah… Well, see ya.” “Yup. Not too soon, hopefully.” And with that, she faded away into mist. There was a moment of silence before Aboyami spoke. “ShiverSpine. I believe you are ready.” “Yeah. I think so, too.” -- It had been three days since ShiverSpine had informed Dullahan he was ready. Three days since he was loaned the extra Djinn he needed for lighting the final beacon. He looked up to Cloudsdale from the ground before rocketing upwards. The speed the eight Djinn offered him was incredible and in mere seconds he was already in the city. As he landed on the clouds ponies began to scream and flee in terror, but he simply waited. Within minutes he was surrounded by Royal Guard pegasi, all with their spears pointed at him. “My name is ShiverSpine,” he called. “You should be expecting me.” There was a short wait before one of them stepped forward. “I am Swift Strike. Celestia said that we should guide you to the Weather Factory. Don’t try anything funny.” “Sure. Let’s hurry. I don’t know how much time we have left.” -- It had taken him a few minutes but the ice dragon had finally found the spot he needed to unleash the Jupiter star. As it turned out, it was right in the center of the many pools in the Rainbow Factory section. He warned the rest of the ponies to stay back as he reached into his bag took out the purple star. He gazed at it a moment before closing his eyes. “Thank you, Dullahan,” he muttered. “Thanks to you and the rest I was finally able to put the past behind me, and get myself a future. With this I hope you become strong enough to stop the Wise One. Strong enough to ensure that he doesn’t make anyone suffer like I did.” He held the star aloft and it almost instantly shattered. Purple light shot from him into all the pools of the multicolored liquid, which all quickly glowed with bright purple light. Those lights soon all fired and met right above him before rocketing up into the sky and exploding into a massive ball of energy. Exhausted, ShiverSpine fell to the floor, barely conscious enough to notice the light radiating from the glowing ball increase before firing its power off into the distance. One thought entered his mind as he blacked out. Please win.
Chapter 19 - Off with his head!Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Chapter 1 - Heading outBored. So very, very bored. You would think they would at least have the common courtesy to take me with them. But no. Trap the possessed armor in unbreaking chains and leave it in the basement. Oh, and take its sword. Not like I NEED IT or anything. I sighed, thinking about shifting one of my chains, but ultimately deciding against it. It'd require the use of magic I just did not have. Not without my wonderful battery slash converter. I mean, yeah, it made me less dangerous, but it also took away nearly all my power to do anything more than THINK! Damn pony sisters. And for what? Clomping around? Terrifying a few ponies while I got used to my powers that I'd never had before? Maybe screaming my head off I'd be willing to give them. But when you wake up in magical pony land and find yourself as nothing more than a spirit possessing a suit of armor without a head, I'd like to see you maintain your composure. Suddenly, there was a tang in the air. One I hadn't sensed in quite a while. One that I knew, and it excited me somewhat. Dissy? Dissy, ol' buddy? That you? "LUCY, I'M HOOOOME!" With a flash, the spirit of Chaos and Disharmony entered my 'prison'. He looked around and gagged a bit. "Ech! A thousand and a half years of dust down here. What have you been doing, Dully?" Oh, you know. Not much. Just complaining about the chains. And my missing sword. Seriously, they could at least have taken me with. "I'd say you got it easy, but honestly, your prison is just a bit larger than mine was. Anyways, I come bearing gifts!" Oh Dissy, you didn't have to! What'd ya bring me? A get out of jail free card? Some instant rust? With a snap and a flash, the spirit conjured up something I dearly missed for the past few eras. My sword! Oh Dissy! I could kiss you! "I'd love to see you do that without a head," Discord replied as he placed the sword in my right hand. Instantly, power flooded my very being. With a groan, I brought the sword down on the chains holding me. Time had done what pure rage could not, and on the third strike, one of the chains broke. Now with a bit more leverage, I brought my gleaming sword down on the other chains, snapping them all off and shrugging the metal down to the floor. You always do bring the most welcome...and unwelcome things, Dissy. Why do this for me? "Well, being, how do you say, from In Between normally, I can tell when things are happening in this world. Or to this world." Such as? "Well, whatever realm inspired your get-up, Frank, and our own? They're starting to notice one another. I'll do all I can to put it off today, but that'll only delay it, especially if those Elements get their act together and put me back in the slammer. So I have a proposition for you!" Listening, if only because I know what lurks in that realm. "Work with the sisters, try to tell them about the Multiverse. They'll not listen to me, and I can't blame them. I'm causing so much delightful chaos just by being free, after all. But if they know, then they might be able to devise something that'd protect us." ...You know how I feel about the sisters. You KNOW, and you ask this of me. "Yes, and I also know how they feel about you. But think about it. If our and that realm get too close, who can say what or who'd survive?" Is it caused by my being here? "I don't know! I don't look into the why of things, I merely notice and react to them. But I seriously doubt you want a true villain from that world to notice this one." I thought back to everything I knew about the game, which was getting rather stale by this point, and nodded grimly. Or rather, I did my version of a nod, which involved tilting my entire upper body slightly a few times. What little I recall these days agrees with you, Discord. But that doesn't mean I'll be polite. Discord cheered, and confetti fell from...somewhere. "Oh happy day! Now I think I need to be getting back. I might be due for a confrontation!" Discord made to snap his fingers, and I interrupted him by placing a gauntlet on his paw. Would you happen to know where the stairs out are? Two hours later, after trudging my way up from the depths, I found myself in the Everfree Castle. Or the castle of the Two Sisters. Or, these days, a pile of ruins. Sheesh, guess he wasn't kidding about the thousand and a half years part. I mean, good gods. What the hell happened to make them abandon this place? I sighed as I made out the rope bridge. Nobody tells the inanimate pile of armor anything. I have feelings, y'know! Testing the bridge with a foot made the entire thing creak, and I stepped back. Nope, not getting across that way. Hmm. What all do I recall? There has to be a way across a giant pit like this, even for someone of my bulk... Making out a giant dead tree on the other side, I grinned. Or would have. Perfect. I drew my sword and pointed it at the tree. Okay, this should be simple. Move! My sword flashed brown, making me realize that yes, I had left it on Venus all those years ago. A ghostlike hand reached out towards the tree and gripped it. Pulling the sword back pulled the ghost limb, and the tree it was connected to, back as well. Until, finally... CRASH The tree bridged the gap, and I nodded. Knew that one wasn't useless here! I tested the tree, hearing only a slight groan. Knowing that was about as good as I was about to get, but deciding not to take chances, I focused on my sword. Element swap - Jupiter! My sword flashed brown, then purple. Nodding to myself, I raised it above my neck-hole and said a short prayer. Gods, I don't know if this'll work, but it's my only choice. Um...Haste? Feeling the tingle of my magic working, I decided to rush it. Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down! I barely made it across before I heard the creaking and groaning of the tree, followed by a crashing noise. Ha-HAH! Safe! I put my sword back in the sheathe and looked around. Whelp. Guess there's no time like the present to wander aimlessly. I'll find someone eventually, and they can tell me where Celestia or Luna are. Still gotta decide if I'm gonna be mad at them or not... "Well done, Twilight, and all your friends. Thanks to your efforts, Discord has been resealed in stone. Now to take him back to the Canterlot Gardens, where he belo-" "Sister! Tis most unfortunate!" Luna came out of the sky and landed next to Celestia as she was praising Twilight Sparkle and the other Bearers. "What is it, Luna?" "The Element Blade! Tis gone!" Celestia gasped, instantly looking at Discord. "You...you took it, didn't you? Where did you go with it?" A whisper of thought eked into her head, directed at her from the statue in front of her. Why dear Tia...I merely returned it to its owner. Celestia reared back as though struck and flared her wings. "Luna, return to Canterlot! Rally the guard and prepare our defenses! Dullahan is on the move!" Author's Note So uh, yeah. I've been bitten by the whole 'Humans turning into villains and finding their way into Equestria' BUG that seems to be going 'round. Not to worry, though. I still have my planned interlude for The Betrayed and whatever I'll name my next story going on in the background. I'm merely planning to write that whole interlude up and post it at once. Whereas this? This is me having fun writing again. Lemme know what you think of it!
Chapter 8 - Headaches are a part of any new communityDo you have any idea how hard it is to house a horde of ponies, even a small one? Do you? It's damn hard. I escorted the herd towards the Everfree ruins and told them they'd be safe there, but I literally could not join them. Because I would snap the rope bridge like a twig. I told the djinn to look after the ponies, especially in the 'getting fresh food every day and clean water' department. Of course, the djinn brought the seeds from whatever foods the ponies ate to me. My goal was different. While the ruins would be good for a temporary measure, we would need something a bit more modern. Something where foals could grow up, where families could settle down. Something where I didn't have to make a damn bridge and hope and pray it didn't collapse before I walked over it to access my charges. So for a little while - I want to say at least four days - I was working near the base of a mountain on making housing for the ponies. Helps when you don't need to sleep and only require a bit of rest after using psynergies in methods they were not intended to be used for. Finally, after that long, I'd gotten quite a bit of housing done. Enough that the ponies wouldn't have to worry about sleeping in the ruins anymore. Ten houses would be able to hold them all until we got the rest up, right? I'd even cleared a field in preparation for a farm, and stored the seeds in a sack nearby! And there was still so much more to do. I sighed as I looked around, and motioned a Jupiter djinn close. Tell them that the basics of this town are done, and I would like them to come here. The djinn nodded and took off towards the ruins. I should have learned by now that nothing ever goes my way. The ponies fell to bickering and arguing as soon as they saw what I'd managed to get done and saw that it was not enough. Apparently, I'd taken charge of ponies who quite enjoyed their privacy, and could not imagine sharing living space. And while a stallion with an adoptive daughter could make a very good case for their own home, so could everyone else. The only ones winning their particular cases were the dragon and the manticore, although to be fair, nobody was arguing with them. It seemed like another case for my direct intervention. Will you all just SHUT IT! Hey, I never said I had to be polite about it. Yes, I realize that the amount of houses I got done are not enough for everyone to have one. I intend to remedy this, eventually. Until then, horror of horrors, you'll have to share them. I wanted to go over how this is going to work. I pointed towards the cleared field and the seeds first. The seeds the djinn have been bringing me have gone here, to this field. Those of you with a talent for farming, this is where you come in. Those of us attuned to Venus will be able to aid you eventually, but until then, it'll just be me helping you provide food for them all. A few earth ponies in the audience nodded. I moved towards one of the houses. This is your standard four-walls, floor, and roof arrangement. I haven't had time to get furniture made. I did put in a rudimentary water system, and thanks to Douse and the supposedly untameable weather, we'll not run out of water for any of our needs. I got a few grumbles at that, and I raised my hand. Hey. It's not gonna be easy. I got the basic outline of a house done. But I can't manipulate energies to provide the details. A gray unicorn mare came forward, her mane and tail a spiky yellow that her eyes matched. "Well, big guy, I can help with laying electrical lines, but we'd need a way to generate the power. In fact, we could use a utilities department." I tapped my sword thoughtfully. Well, I have an idea... All was quiet in Ponyville. It was only the middle of the night, after all. Most of the ponies were abed. That is, except for two unicorns, one pegasus, one griffon, and a suit of armor. We were making our not-so-stealthy way towards Town Hall, in search of some form of document that would tell us who they usually used for utilities work. "Sir, with all due respect, we could probably do this a lot faster without you here." "Yeah," the griffon pitched in, "And with a lot less noise." And your talking is stealthy? We're here, by the way. Someone check the front door. The unicorn mare gave the handle a quick turn. "Locked," she proclaimed. "I don't suppose you have a technique for picking locks in your arsenal of psynergy?" I scoffed. This is why we have a pegasus and a griffon. You two, check the windows on the upper floors. My bet is somebody forgot to lock one of those. They nodded and took off. Two minutes later, the griffon opened the front door from the inside and bowed slightly. "Welcome to Town Hall. Let's see if we can't find that information." A few minutes worth of looking through the papers in the mayor's desk finally yielded results. "Guys, look. Two hundred bits paid to Crossed Gears of Gears and Co. for adding the latest house to the town's water and electrical grid." Good, now are there any maps included with that document? The unicorn mare pulled out a map of the town which had a house highlighted and electrical lines drawn in. I pointed instead at where they all connected. Two teams. One goes to find this Crossed Gears and bring him back to the community. Frostfall, Flare, that'll be you. The djinn tell me you've mastered Sleep, you may need it to keep him down. Meanwhile, Talos, Moonfire, and I will go here, to where the generator is, and we'll study it. "Sir, why are we ponynapping Crossed Gears?" Knowledge of how a generator works is all well and good, but we need expertise. Don't worry, he won't be harmed. I'll even try to find a way to recompense him for his troubles. The other four looked at each other and nodded. Hmm. An engine to turn a magnet, around which wires are wrapped...bah. I can't make much of this. I understand what goes into it, but I cannot understand the how or why behind its function. I looked over at the spare generator and I was struck with an idea. Say...they don't really need this one, do they? The unicorn and griffon looked at each other, then looked at me. "Um. Are you sure that's wise?" It probably isn't. But what if I promise we'll find a way to repay them once we've got our town up and running? "That's...a little better, but I still don't feel right about it..." Then how about this: We'll take it back to study and try to make our own, along with a few books. Once we have, we'll return them. I'll even leave a note! The unicorn and griffon looked at each other, swallowed, and nodded. "Fine. But you're carrying it." Wouldn't have it any other way. (Twilight POV - 3rd person) Twilight woke up to another wonderful day in Ponyville. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, there was a note on her bookcase, and the smell of breakfast- Wait, what was that about a note? She levitated it over and began to read. Dear responsible pony, I am writing to you to tell you that your backup generator has been borrowed, as well as a local who is knowledgeable in these sorts of things. Both will be returned to you once we understand the principles behind the generator and can make our own. A few books may also have been checked out as well, and they too will be returned. Eventually. Sincerely, Dullahan There was silence for a few seconds, but anypony present would have seen the smoke rising from Twilight's mane. (Dullahan POV) Methinks we can let him wake now. Flare nodded and stopped concentrating. Crossed Gears slowly started to stir, and then he took note of the cadre surrounding him. Realizing this wasn't where he went to bed, he asked the logical question. "Where the buck am I, and who the buck are you?" Predictable. You're in the fledgling community of Newvale, and I'm Dullahan. The pony gulped and slowly turned around to see me standing behind him. I put my hand over his mouth, forcing it shut before he could scream. We brought you here for a very specific purpose, and it wasn't to yell. See, since we're new, we need the sorts of things any new community needs. Electricity, water. That sort of stuff. You understand, right? The pony managed to nod once, and I loosed my grip slightly. So last night, we may have borrowed your backup generator, some books on the topic, and you. We need electricity at least if we're going to become a proper town. The stallion looked over to where the massive machine was and gawped. "How did you carry that thing here?!" I groused a little bit. Wasn't easy. Nearly passed out a few times on the way here, and you would not believe the branches it can get caught on. I clapped my gauntlets together. Still! We could use your assistance in making our own electrical grid, good sir! And once we have, we'll return the generator and the books and you! So what say you? The pony looked at the small pile of books, the generator, me, and then back to the books. "Fine, I'll help, but I'm not staying." Most excellent! I then turned towards the houses which were leaking slowly waking ponies and realized something that I had to tell them. Oh right. Okay you lot, gather round! Time you all learned this! Eventually my small army was situated in front of me, and I called a djinn to me. Right, time for the basic information about a djinn life cycle. As you can see, all of them look alike at this moment. There is a reason for this. When a djinn starts its life, it has no name, nothing to distinguish it from any other djinn of its type. A few ponies looked shocked at that and raised their hooves, but I overrode them. They may have given you names, but that is for your sake, not theirs. They have given you names they would like to have or names they think will be fitting one day. In truth, a djinn must earn their name. And they do so in a similar fashion to ponies earning their cutie marks. Recognition lit up a few faces then. They must develop a power that no other djinn in their generation can do, that no psynergy of their alignment can do. Then, they must be named based on that power. Afterwards, their appearance will change to reflect this. The best way for them to go about doing this is for them to bond with a living creature and train with them. The zebra shamaness came forward. "When you say bond..." Djinn act as enhancers for those who possess psynergy. When you form a bond with one, then you add their power to yours. Quake can become Quake Sphere, Fireball can become Inferno. And so on. Greater powers become accessible, but the cost to use them is also greater. She nodded and stepped backwards. At least, that is how it is for these more docile djinn. A ripple of panic went through the crowd as they realized what I was implying. Wild djinn are another story. They already have a name, they already know what they can do, and all djinn can wield psynergy. Wild djinn may not bond willingly with another. They redefine the term fickle. You may need to prove your wits, you may need to chase them down. And sometimes...you may need to prove your mettle. Unless you know if a djinn is docile or wild, the general rule should be: don't approach it! A pegasus near the back raised a hoof. "Why not?" There are some who will not hesitate to attack wielders of psynergy in an effort to drive them off so that they may remain unbound. The ponies finally nodded in acceptance, and I would have grinned. Now, who's up for a few hours worth of grueling exercises in psynergy usage? A chorus of groans met my 'ears'.
