Chapters "Reinforce the gates," yelled a guard, "don't let them through!" Soldiers brought up a cabinet to block the door. 'Two hours,' the guard thought to himself, 'the city fell in two hours. How? How did he do it?'
2 Hours Earlier
"Are we ready for the assault?" Asked the cloaked man, his gaze never breaking from city. The goblin next to him nodded.
"Yes sir, the city shall fall today." Replied the goblin, slightly shaking while in his presence. The man smiled, hidden by his cloak.
"Good, good...prepare the catapults with explosive barrels," he turned to the goblin, "we move in five minutes." The goblin nodded, shaking.
"Yes, my liege." He stated and began yelling things in Goblin-Tongue at the other goblins, which he assumed were telling them to prepare.
Soon all of the catapults were loaded up with the explosive barrels. 'The goblins may be dumb,' thought the man, 'but they sure know how to make weapons.' The goblins catapult leader approached. "They are all ready sir." He said, with a hint of fear in his voice. The man looked down the row of catapults.
"Roll them onto the fields and fire on my command." The goblin looked at him, confused at his plans.
"Why not attack from the trees? They give us more cover." He already knew this but he wanted to make the soldiers in the city have fear when the battle begins, for fear makes soldiers falter."I know, but they will be fearful if they see 50 catapults come out of the trees. Are you challenging my plans?" The goblin shook his head, getting on his knees. "Good, move the catapults," the goblin looked up at him, "now!" The goblin jumped up and ran back to the catapults.
Soon all of the catapults were on the plains in front of the city. The man walked up onto a small, flat rock. He wrote a message into the sky, using his magic to write it. 'Surrender, and your men shall be allowed to leave,' it wasn't the most threatening message, and he wouldn't really let his men be spared. The answer was a boulder, flung by one of the many trebuchets on the walls. Sidestepping it, he wrote another message. 'So be it, but let it be known that you are the one that will be destroying the families, not me.' He raised his hand into the sky and clamped down. Hearing the catapults launch the barrels, he watched them hit the city. Even here, he could hear the screams of civilians as they ran for their lives. He had ordered his men not to kill any civilians. Turning around he walked past the goblin catapult leader.
"Load boulders now, destroy the gates and watchtowers." The goblin saluted him and started ordering trolls to load the catapults
In the City
"Sir! Sir! The goblins are attacking!" Screamed a soldier, sweating heavily. The king and the Captain of the Guard looked at each other.
"Fire at the catapults! Then prepare the men at the gates." The soldier saluted him, running back out the gates. The Captain looked at his king.
"My liege," the king looked at him, "we both know the goblins are too dumb to launch this big of an attack, they mostly resort to small bands that attack caravans. The question here is; who ordered the attack?" The king scratched his chin, thinking.
"Only two people could have ordered this attacked. Matthias and Bolas. No one else could've gotten the goblins to work with them then those two." The captain still looked concerned.
"But...what if it isn't those two? What if it is a new threat? The king thought on this, but shook his head, not agreeing.
"No, it has to be one of them...or both of them. We would've heard if there was a new threat to the kingdom." What the king didn't know, was that the threat they faced was one far worse than Matthias and Bolas combined. Before either of them good speak again, another soldier burst through the doors.
"Giants! They have...they have giants!" The king and the captain both looked very worried, before the king steeled himself.
"Focus all fire on the giants! Don't let get to the walls!" Again, the soldier saluted and ran back outside, going to deliver the orders. The king sat back, sighing. "Giants, how can it get any worse than that?"
Back on the Plains
"They giantssss are ready milord," stated the viashino, "but do we really have to do thissss?" The cloaked man looked at the reptile, his gaze making him shiver.
"You dare question me?" The viashino was about to answer when the man quickly beheaded him. He looked to everyone who watched what happened. "Let that be a lesson to all of you. Now then, send in the giants." The giants walked out towards the walls, carrying boxes filled with viashinos. Boulders bounced off the armor on the giants, sometimes getting lucky hits on them. Soon they set the boxes down, releasing the viashino inside. The man chuckled, surprised at how easy this was going. 'Now to wait for their 'secret' weapon'. The man turned around and walked into the forest.
With everything going so well all he did was wait, waiting for them to counterattack. He sent out the trolls to bash down the gates, so the goblins and barbarians can charge in. He was looking into the sky for the next defense when he was interrupted. "Hey." Said a woman's voice, a voice he always hated to hear.
"Hey....Arya." He always tried to crush the memories he had with her but they always came back, manifesting into an image of her.
"What are you doing? The sitting out here part, not the destroying the city part?" She asked with a joke. He wanted to smile at this, he really did, but that would be showing emotions and showing emotions is a weakness.
"You know, why do you keep sprouting up at the worst of times?" He asked her, turning his head just enough to see her.
"Oh whatever do you mean? I'm just a figure of your subconscious." She replied innocently. He knew this wasn't true because if it was, he could just stop imagining her.
"No...no you're not. What exactly are you and how can I get rid of you?" He asked. Before she could reply a gruff voice talked.
"My lord! They have angels! You never said they were to be angels!" Yelled a barbarian emerging from the forest. 'Dammit Arya, you distracted me from my job.' The man thought, gripping his hands in rage. He looked up and sure enough, the clouded sky was being torn apart by angels going to the battlefield.
"Roll out the ballistas." Was all he said, clearly not in the mood to talk. The barbarian nodded and ran back. 'Lets hope this ritual works or this invasion will soon be over.' He thought while grabbing a knife. He put the knife up to his wrist and sliced, making the blood gush out, while he was chanting. When the chant was done he healed his wrist and the ground began to crack. The ground split open to reveal fire. 'Hello Hell, nice to see you again,' he thought, 'now to finally make that demon repay the debt.'
Back in the lower sanctums of the city the invasion force was being torn apart. Angels swooping down, fire pots spilling on them, attack hounds chasing after the ones that retreated. A barbarian looked up to see an angel flying towards him. He closed his eyes and waited....and waited. He opened his eyes to see a demon impaling the angel. He was confused and then saw the demon smiling at him. He smiled and charged back into the fray, battle crying. This was the man's plan all along. He summoned the demons to battle the angels. Soon the battle turned, guards retreating to the upper sanctum of the city, the barbarians and goblins close on their heels.
Soon all that was left was the gates to the throne room. The guards that were left were inside, protecting the gates. The monsters were banging and charging into the gates, trying to get in. The demons left, their job done. Soon they began to tire. They guards were taking turns guarding it while the invading forces just all charged in at once. Not to mention that of the 100 guards left, 75 of them were Royal Guards, who were in the throne room, fully energized. "Stop hitting the gates." The man said, trying to think of something else.
Present Time. Behind The Gates
The pounding finally stopped. The guards weren't sure what this was so they were all still on edge. Soon they began to wonder if they finally stopped. What they didn't realize was that the cloaked man was inside, right next to them. Soon they stopped barricading the doors. "Did...did they give up?" A guard asked.
"No....no I didn't." The man said, emerging from the shadows. The guards weren't prepared and they scrambled for their weapons but they were all stopped, clasping at their necks. One guard was able to choke a question out and asked.
"How did...you get in?" The man turned to the guard, then chuckled. The grip around his neck got tighter.
"Darkness is a powerful ally," he said disappearing, "you just have to know when to use it." He finished behind the man. The guard turned his head around as far as he could only to get stabbed in the back.
"The ki-king will have your he-head for this." He said, coughing up some blood. The man put his mouth to the guard's ear
"Oh I'm sure he will." The man said, pulling out his sword and leaving the guard to suffer. He then walked forward until he got to the throne. No one was there, to be expected, the king was always a coward.
"DIE YOU MONSTER!" Yelled the captain, sword drawn. The man easily sidestepped this and punched the man, sending him crashing into the throne.
"Captain, I expected better from you, now you will just die like the rest of them. A pity, really." The captain smiled.
"Oh I do believe you're wrong." He said, hacking up blood. The man cocked his head slightly, a questioning look on his face.
"Oh really? How?" The captain then through his sword to some curtains, slicing them apart to reveal "A...portal? How will this stop me? Real-UGH" he yelled, for the king slammed into him, knocking him toward the portal.
"By sending you to the Aether monster!" The king yelled. The man, unprepared, barely had enough time to grab a dagger and plunged it into the floor, stopping him from being sucked in. The king stepped forward, kneeling next to the man. "So tell me," he whispers, "who are you?" The man looked up.
"You mean you don't remember me? I'm appalled." He said, reaching towards his cowl, and peeling it back just enough to see his eyes. One was dark green, the other however, was a dark blue flame. "Then again, Hell does that to a person." Frederick looked at him for a few more seconds, until he realized who it was.
"No...." he says, terrified of who was in front of him, "you can't be...." The man grins and chuckles darkly.
"What? To afraid to say my name? I'm not afraid to say yours, Frederick." The captain calls out to Frederick.
"Who is it my liege?" Frederick slowly turns to the captain and says his name, almost yelling it at the captain.
"Aldric." The captain freezes. Frederick then takes the dagger out from the ground and kicks Aldric in the face, launching him into the Aether. The portal closes soon after and he looks back at the captain. "Get the citizens back and have them rebuild the city." The captain salutes and marches off. The king walks toward his semi-destroyed throne and sat down. He said the first thing that popped into his head. "I need a drink."
"Well....this turned out terribly." Aldric said, plummeting into the Aether. "You know....I probably should've expected this, it always ends badly for the 'bad guy', oh well if I'm going to be stuck here forever I bet-WOAH!" He yelled, slamming into the wall of the tunnel. "What the fu-GAH!" He began spinning wildly out of control, slamming into the walls. "WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!?" He screamed to no one. The answer was, getting shot out of the portal and hitting a cliff.
"Ugh...why does it feel like I had a bad hangover?" Aldric asked to no one in particular. He got up and patted himself down only to realize that the world looked a bit....differently. "Huh? What in the world happened to my skin? It looks like it has an outline!" He looked up to see everything else looked like this....and he saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes. The creature leapt out of the treeline, lunging for his throat. He drew his sword and held it straight up, cutting the beast in half. He looked at his sword and saw it was covered in sap. "What the fuck? Sap?" He turned his head to see the beast he had just killed. It looked like a wolf, but it was made out of wood. "That's different. I wonder what they are called? Oh gods....I hope they aren't called timberwolves, because that is a terrible pun." He turned around only to see more eyes, about a dozen pairs. "Oh shit....that's unfair odds for you guys." He said smiling, getting into a battle stance.
3 Days Later
"This fucking forest is a maze." Aldric mumbled, still unable to find his way out of the forest he was thrown into with his defeat by Frederick. "If I ever get out I will actually be happy....for...once." He began to sniff the air, for he picked something up he hasn't smelled in ages. "Smells like....horses? Horses means mounts. Mounts mean people. Wait....they're getting closer." Instincts told him to hide, but his mind was saying to stay and ask for help. Instincts took over and he hid in the shadows. 'Let's see who these people are,' he thought. Then the bushes began to rustle and his hand went to his sword. Then a voice spoke.
"How much longer Twilight?"
'Twilight? Well that's an odd name for a human.' What happened next surprised so much, he was sure he went insane or ate some bad food. Really small horses came out, but thats not what surprised him, it was that they were all weird colors. Orange, pink, purple, white, yellow, and cyan. 'What the fuck...' he thought.
"I don't know Rainbow." Stated the purple one. 'So she must be Twilight...and Rainbow must be the cyan one, with that mane I don't know how it couldn't be,' thought Aldric. They continued moving down the path. 'Should I follow them? Oh who am I kidding of course I am!' Aldric begins following them through the trees, moving like a shadow. They soon stopped at the river he has crossed many times while he was lost. The river this time however, was raging. 'That's different.'
"What are we going to do now!" Rainbow complained.
"Do ya'll hear that?" The orange horse asked. 'The more I think about it, I think they're ponies.'
"Sounds like....crying." stated Twilight.
"Crying? Oh no that must mean somepony is sad." Cried the pink one. 'SOMEPONY!?! Ok....I've gone insane,' thought Aldric.
"It's coming from this way," pointed Rainbow, "come on!"
They all began running to the source, along with Aldric, to find a River Serpent crying. 'River serpent? Been awhile since I killed one of them,' thought Aldric 'but why is it crying?'
"Are you okay darling?" Asked the white one. 'Why are you asking it a question?' Asked Aldric internally. Then it talked.
"Okay? No I'm not! My moostache is ruined!" Aldric shut up.
"That's what's this is about? A stupid moustache!" Stated Rainbow. His rational mind was saying to stay put but his survival side was saying to slay it and sell the scales. 'Self-restraint,' thought Aldric.
"Of course this is what's about! That amazing mane!"
"I know!" "Those beautiful scales!" Another I know. "And that absolutely dazzling manicure!" 'Wait, a manicure? Who did it for him?' thought Aldric. "All ruined by that destroyed moostache! I must correct this!"
She then walked forward, grabbed a scale, and raised it over her head. 'Is she going to kill him,' thought Aldric. She sliced and.....cut her tail off. 'Nope nevermind,' she then used magic to raise her tail up to his face and attached it to his destroyed moustache.
"Oh! That is absolutely marvelous. Thank you!" Stated the serpent. When this happened the river became crossable again.
"Oh but Rarity," 'Well that's her name,' " your tail." Stated the yellow one, who sounded very timid and shy.
"Don't worry Fluttershy, it'll....grow back." Stated Rarity, who sounded nervous.
"So would have the moustache." Grumbled Rainbow. He smiled at this, which was strange, for he only liked dark humor.
They continued to a bridge, which was broken, something he never saw while lost.
"Oh no! What are we going to do now?" Asked Fluttershy.
"Don't you worry, I've got this." stated Rainbow. 'Wow she's overconfident, that'll be her downfall.' She then opened her wings...wait, WINGS?! 'She has wings,' studying each pony carefully, he saw that Rarity and Twilight have horns, making them unicorns. The pink one and orange don't have anything, and Fluttershy has wings too. 'If she can fly, why didn't she help Rainbow?'
Three minutes passed and Rainbow flew back over. "Oh thank goodness you're alright." Stated Twilight.
"Don't you girls worry, I'll never leave my friends behind." They then crossed the bridge, and Aldric walked over to the bridge. 'Okay.....this is still not the weirdest thing I have seen....but it's close up their,' he thought. He then began to cross the bridge when it snapped while he was halfway across it.
"Well FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" He yelled, falling down the chasm.
"-UUUUUUUUUUUCK!" Startled, all the ponies jumped and spun around.
"What was that!" Asked Applejack.
"I don't know but it came back from the bridge!" Stated Twilight.
"Somepony is in trouble! We got to go save them!" yelled Rainbow. They galloped back to the bridge, only to find it gone and all the ropes broken. Then a huge cry of pain came from the bottom of the cliff. "I'm going down!" Yelled Rainbow as she flew down.
"Ughhh," groaned Aldric, "I hate falling off of cliffs." He got up and patted himself down, knocking away dust from his armor.
"Is anypony there?" Asked a voice. Aldric was about to say yes but then he heard anypony. 'Better not let it see me.' He started walking away from the voice and with a good distance apart, started climbing up the cliff. When he got to the top he looked to the right to see five ponies looking down into the drop. Soon, Rainbow came back up.
"Well Rainbow, do you see anypony?" Asked the orange pony. Rainbow shook her head.
"So are you saying they...." asked Twilight, not able to finish her sentence.
"No, I'm saying I didn't see anything. No ponies, nothing."
"So what, are you saying they just....disappeared?" Asked the pink pony.
"Maybe Pinkie." Silence filled the air for a good minute before Twilight spoke.
"Well...let's keep going, we still need to find the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon." A disheartened nod came from the group and they continued. 'I kinda feel bad for them.' Aldric thought
He followed them sticking to the shadows. They suddenly stopped, confusing him. Turning his head to look at what they were looking at, his eyes widened slightly. A castle, a good one thousand to two thousand years old stood there. 'I'm assuming that's where those Element things are,' he thought to himself. Suddenly, he stumbled, crashing down on all the ponies.
"Ugh what happened?" Asked a confused Twilight.
"Well you see," stated a voice that she hadn't heard during the trip through the forest. "I sort of...fell on you." She went wided eyed and looked left and right to see who this mystery pony is. "That's not going to work." She and the other ponies came too and they saw Rainbow on the ground.
"Oh Rainbow are you all right?" Asked Fluttershy.
"No, she isn't," the voice said again, startling everypony and causing them to surround Rainbow.
"Who said that? Who's there?" Applejack asked the voice.
"Oh I should probably reveal myself but I'm you'll all probably be really confused on what I am, or try to hurt me, now if you'll let me finish, she isn't fine. Three broken ribs, a broken leg, and a concussion, and it's all my fault...unintentionally of course." Stated the voice.
"Wait, what do you mean we'll be confused on what you are?" Pinkie asked. Then a sort of shimmering behind them happened and Aldric revealed himself.
"What in tarnation is that?" asked Applejack.
"Not a what, a who. Now, do you want me heal your friend or not?" Aldric asked them.
"What?!? Never! For all we know you could be some kind of trick by Nightmare Moon!" Rarity said.
"Nightmare Moon? Umm...I have no idea who that is, or what that is, so if you could just let me through." Aldric said, which was a half lie, walking forward. They all got into some kind of defensive position around Rainbow. Aldric sighed. "If you don't let me through, she won't be able to continue and the bones would have to heal themselves." They stilled looked uneasy but they let him through.
Aldric stood up and they all gasped, probably because of his height....or his sword. Aldric stopped, did something you should never do, and took of his sword and threw it to the side, impaling a tree. They all relaxed a little but they were still on edge. They made a gap and let him through. He knelt down next to Rainbow and made his hands glow blue. "This might hurt...a lot." Then he started, making her cry out in pain. They all turned around and charged, only to be met with a bubble. They kept hitting until the screams stopped, then they hit so hard his shield broke. He was already done when they tackled him to the ground, which was good, because if he was still going all of Rainbow's bone would've gone through her skin.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!?!" screamed Fluttershy which shocked them all, even Aldric. 'Wow...she actually has a backbone.' Remembering he was asked a question, he put on a sly smile and said, "Fixed her."
"I KNEW YOU WERE EV-....wait what?" asked Pinkie.
"H-he's right, I feel awesome!" yelled Rainbow while flying into the air. They were all relieved to see their friend okay. Aldric then tried to slip away but was caught by a telekinesis field.
"Where do you think you're going?" questioned Twilight.
"Ummm..." he would've had a clever comeback and broke free of the spell and ran, but he didn't. "Nowhere, I guess." Twilight set him down and used her magic to tie him up.
"There....that should hold you." He moved a bit and broke free. Aldric looked at the magic that he just destroyed.
"Huh, guess not." Twilight jaw was literally on the ground.
"Wha..but how.....did you?" Then all of the other ponies started to laugh, while Aldric had a smug smile on.
"Umm excuse me, I have a question to ask...if it isn't too much harm." asked Fluttershy.
"I don't see why not, unless your words can hurt, then no." They were all confused this by this weird statement but not Aldric, to many tussles with vampires who tried to control him with their words.
"Okay, well umm...what are you?" Aldric wasn't prepared for this because he was never asked this before, probably because he's from another plane of existence.
"Well, I'm a human, a very dangerous one at that, from another plane." He answered matter-of-factly.
"What do you mean, plane?" asked Twilight. Aldric looked at her.
"What do you mean, plane? The Aether?" Twilight cocked her head.
"The Aether? Never heard of it before." Twilight answered
"Huh....I guess that means only my plane knows about it....makes sense." Aldric mumbled, too low for them to hear.
"What was that sugarcube?" Applejack asked him.
"What? Oh, nothing." He didn't want to explain all of this to them right now. "What about those Elements of....whatever you were trying to find?" He asked them, trying to divert attention from himself. He never liked being questioned, mostly because he never got caught in his life.
"Oh yeah! Come on let's get back to finding them and beating Nightmare Moon!" Twilight stated excited. They all said right and began moving back to the castle. Rarity stopped and turned around.
"Aren't you coming?" Aldric was surprised by this and wanted to say yes, really badly, because he hasn't seen any action for 3 days besides some 'combat' with a manticore. "I guess," was all he said and went to the tree with his sword in it and pulled it out. "Are you sure you need that dear?" Rarity asked him,a tinge of fear in her voice. "Yes, yes I do." Was all he said, sheathing the blade.
They arrived in front of the castle and Twilight tried to open the door but couldn't. "I can't open it, its magically locked." Aldric moved forward and placed his hand on the door. "What are you doing," asked Twilight, "I already said it's magically locked."
"Stand back, now."
"What?"
"Stand back, now." His tone made no one question him, they all began running behind some trees and waited. His hands started swirling with magic.
BOOM
A massive, high pitched explosion, happened, knocking Aldric back. Then the shockwave hit, blowing all of the leaves off of the trees. When the dust settled, the ponies came out from behind the trees. They all gasped when they saw the door gone, and a massive hole where it used to be. Some coughing happened behind them and they turned, only to see Aldric, with cuts and burns and a massive shards of rocks in his arm, leg, shoulder, and ankle. They all looked like they lost their appetite.
"Oh my Celestia, are you alright?" asked Rarity.
"Just.....peachy." he said, coughing up some blood. They rushed towards him, only to be met with another barrier. "Don't you worry, I can heal myself." He said yanking out the shards.
"What are you talking? Nopony has that much healing power...." Twilight couldn't finish the sentence, in awe of what was happening before her. Aldric was bathed a dark blue aura, his marks disappearing like they never happened. When it was over, he appeared good as new. His left eye was shut however.
"Something wrong with your eye?" asked Fluttershy.
"No....it's fine." He pulled the cowl over his head. He never let anyone see it unless he wanted them to see it.
They walked through the 'doors' and continued. They stopped when they saw five orbs on top of a pedestal. "Their they are! The Elements of Harmony," stated Twilight, "I need some room to concentrate." She finished sitting down.
"You heard her, everypony out." stated Applejack. Aldric stayed still however. "You too....you know, we never caught your name, what was it?" Still he stayed still. He knew something was about to happen. Then a dark mist entered the room, swirling around Twilight. 'Gotcha.' He ran forward, missing it by milliseconds, causing him to slide and almost fall.
"Damnit!" He shouted, looking around to see where she went. The other ponies ran back in, startled.
"What happened? Where's Twilight!" Pinkie Pie asked, concerned.
"Look! Up there!" Stated Rarity, looking out a window. They all ran to it except for Aldric, who was already running to the tower.
He was already inside the tower, going up the stairs when the others began to go towards it. He stopped in front of the door and peaked in and saw a massive pony, possibly a horse, with an ethereal mane, armor, and was monologuing. He hated villains who monologue, if he was a villain he would just straight up attack the hero. He braced his foot against the door, pulled it back, and slammed into it. The results were as to be expected, at least by his standards, and the door flew off and slammed into a wall. Both ponies look at where the door stood, stunned, and saw a blur go by, punching the ethereal pony in the face, making her slam into a wall. The pony got up from the wall and looked at what hit her. She didn't expect to see a 6'2 bipedal creature in black armor to be their.
"How dare you hit me! I am the Night! I am Nightmare Moon!" She yelled with enough force to knock a tree down. It just stood there, unflinching.
"I don't care." It said rushing forwards. Nightmare Moon teleported barely in time. His fist hit the wall, putting a hole in it. He pulled it out and moved his hand to his sword.
The two stood off, not moving. Nightmare Moon then made the first move, charging up her horn and firing. "There that shou-WHAT!" Nightmare Moon yelled. The shot just glanced off his sword, blowing up a wall. "How is this possible! That should have knocked you out!" She yelled, her patience running thin. He just looked at her, making her shiver. 'How is it so powerful...more powerful than Luna.' She then turned his head and fired a shot off to Twilight. It moved and took the hit for her and knocking it out.
Aldric laid on the floor, unmoving. 'She probably thinks she got me, dumb animal.' He thought. He waited for Twilight to fight now but she didn't, instead she started saying something about the Magic of Friendship, which in Aldric's opinion, is complete bullshit. Then the other ponies came into the room, and she named them off but it was still to boring to listen to. Aldric then got up and saw a rainbow beam go flying at Nightmare Moon. Then the room shines bright and blinded him for a few seconds.
The ponies came to but Aldric was already stalking towards Nightmare Moon, or what was left of her. She looked like a baby, but he never took chances. She looked up and started to back away, whimpering. He lifted her by her throat.
"Please...please don't hurt me." Aldric looked at her, searching for something in her.
"Damnit!" He yelled, throwing her across the floor. Then an orb of light came into the room and revealed another massive pony.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight said, nuzzling her.
"Hello my student." Celestia said in a very motherly tone. 'Wait.....two princesses? Then that must mean.....oh fuck' Aldric thought.
"Oh Tia! Make the scary monster go away!" The little filly asked.
"What monster Luna?" Celestia asked, confused.
"The one over there." She pointed towards Aldric who still had his sword drawn.
"What? Me, a monster? Ehhhh.....I've still been called worse." Aldric said. Princess Celestia stepped forward.
"Did you hurt my sister?!" She asked, with a hint of anger. The other ponies gasped.
"I mean sure, I punched her in the face, but that was when she was evil so you can't blame me. You're lucky I didn't kill her." This statement drew another gasp out of all of the ponies present, besides the princess
"K-kill her? But that's mu-murder." Said Fluttershy, backing away from him.
"Murder! She was evil! I had every right to kill her if I wanted to!" Celestia stepped forward and cleared her throat.
"If you are going to harm-"
"Now let me stop you right there," Aldric says, interrupting her, "where I come from if someone hurts someone, we are allowed to hurt them. No matter how bad we hurt them. I'm also not going to harm your subjects unless they hurt me." Celestia walked toward Aldric, looking him over.
"Fine." She said.
"Look," Pinkie said, "I know this is super serious and all, but can we atleast celebrate?" Celestia nods and begins to light up her horn.
"Wait! Are you going to teleport?" Aldric asked.
"Umm...yes?" Celestia answered.
"Well do you really think teleporting me into a town of ponies is really a good idea?" Aldric said.
"Oh.....I suppose not. But don't you want to celebrate?" Aldric shrugged.
"Just teleport outside of town and I'll hide until the party's over, I hate partying." Pinkie Pie gasped at this.
"You hate parties? But they're like the super-duper-most-amazingest-thing EVER! How can you not like them?" Aldric sighed.
"Long story. And I mean a really long story." Pinkie Pie hair deflated, unhappy that her new friend wouldn't be at the party to celebrate. Aldric was thinking, 'Woah. Did her hair just deflate?'
Soon they were all in a small town, except for Aldric. They celebrated until Celestia raised the sun and soon retired to bed. All except for the Elements, Luna, and Celestia who were all inside of the Golden Oaks Library.
"So," Applejack started, "can we trust him?" They all looked at her.
"Trust who?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I think we all know who's she's talking about." Celestia started. They all looked at her, confused, then they understood.
"Oh him." Twilight said.
"I think he's pretty cool. Not as cool as me of course, but pretty cool." Rainbow said.
"You know," Pinkie started' "we never even got his name."
"It's Aldric." A voice said. They all yelped and turned around. "I'm in the middle of the room." He stated. They turned to him and there he was.
"How did you...."
" I unlocked the door." Celestia looked at him.
"The question still stands, can we trust you?" Aldric looked up.
"I don't know, my old habits might pop up here and then." Then Spike walked downstairs.
"Can you guys keep it down I'm trying to sleep he-." He stopped, eyes bulging at Aldric. "M-m-m-m-monster!" He yelled running upstairs. Twilight sighed.
"I'll go get him." Celestia turned back to him.
"Anyways, what are you habits?" Aldric began thinking.
"Well there's....wait why do you need to know? Can't you just send me back home? I have business to take care of there." Celestia looked uneasy.
"Yes about that....you can't." Aldric looked at her and if looks could kill, she would have been dead.
"What? What do you mean I can't go back? I NEED TO GO BACK, I HAVE BUSINESS TO DO TH-GAAAAAAH." He yelled, falling onto the floor.
"What's wrong?" Twilight asked. All he did was continue to twitch, his hair turning ethereal silver and growing claws.
"Wh-what's happening to him?" Fluttershy asked, hiding.
"Its....the Nightmare. It's taking him over." Celestia answered, worried. They all looked at her.
"But we beat the Nightmare remember? With Princess Luna." Rarity answered. Then Luna spoke up, the first time since they got back.
"The Nightmare is its own being, some of it must have manifested inside of him." Aldric stopped twitching, all eyes on him.
"Aldric, sugarcube, you there?" Applejack asked. He turned to look at her and stared. Then he snarled and leapt at her almost as fast as lightning. Nopony was able to react quick enough to the sudden movement. Applejack braced herself, preparing for the worst. Nightmare Aldric then got hit with something. He flew out the wall and into the square, all the ponies looking at the beast. It looked up to see a figure in golden armor, holding a massive sword. It seemed to be resonating some kind of aura.
The Nightmare was dumbfounded, their was another one! It was nearly as powerful as the one it was controlling, but it still could wreak destruction. It then unfurled what looked to be wings, made up of golden light. Nightmare Aldric shrieked, causing everything around him to clutch their ears. Still, it stood their. He then snarled and ran on four legs. It began to walk slowly and then run. It raised its sword when Aldric leaped at it. Nightmare fell onto the blade and wailed like a banshee, shattering glass. It looked down to see no blood coming from the wound. It drew the blade out, slowly. Nightmare fell to the ground, clutching its wound. It towered over him, raising its sword. It plunged it into the ground. It looked around to see where it went when Nightmare slashed its back. It turned around, slashing and hitting Nightmare in the arm. The Nightmare kicked the sword out of its hand when it tried slashing again. Nightmare had a smug look on his face, which lasted about three seconds. Spears made out of light surrounded Nightmare, points inches away. He tried one ditch effort but it was no use, they plunged into him, making him shrill and wail. The spears disappeared, as well as the figure. Nightmare laid on the floor. Then Aldric woke gasping for breath.
Aldric got up. "There we go, much better." He said, dusting himself off. He looked forward at the wall he just broke through and saw everypony staring at him.
"Woah...." Rainbow said, "that....was.....AWESOME!" She finished, flying towards Aldric's face. "You were all like, "WAM" and he was all like, "AAAAAAAH!"....that was by far, the second coolest thing I have ever seen." Aldric smiled.
"Let me guess, you're the coolest?" Rainbow grinned.
"Well duuuh! I'm the most awesomest and fastest pony around!" She said, flipping in the air.
"What exactly was that....figure, that came and brought you back?" Asked Twilight, clearly interested.
"Huh? Oooooh you must mean my guardian. Yeah he helps me whenever I need it." Celestia stepped forward.
"Excuse me, Aldric?" Aldric looked at her. "Could you come with me for a moment?" He shrugged and nodded, walking towards her.
"So....what do you want to ask me?" Aldric asked, curious. He then saw he was in a bedroom, and Celestia was placing a sound-blocking spell on the room and she was locking the door. "Woah woah woah," Aldric said, stepping back. "What are you doing?" Celestia looked at him.
"Not what you're thinking, that's what." She stated. Aldric sighed, relieved. He wasn't going to have sex with a horse any time soon. "No, I'm going to ask you to be the official Guardian of the Elements of Harmony." If Aldric had some water he would've spit it out.
"What? No! I'm notting going to be their guardian! I need to find a way back home!" Celestia sighed.
"I have already told you, you can't. And even if you could why? What is so important you must get back?"
"Family. I need to see my family." Aldric said, sure that she would beli-
"You're lying." Celestia said, interrupting his thoughts.
"What? I am not. I have two beautiful daught-oh what's the point." Aldric sighed, pinching his nose bridge. "Revenge, I want to go back for revenge." Celestia turned her head.
"What has this....person done to deserve revenge?" Aldric's rage went to a boiling point.
"What has he done? HE KILLED MY FAMILY AND MY GIRLFRIEND!" He yelled, furious.
"I'm.....sorry to hear that, but why hunt somepony down if he can't hurt you anymore?" Aldric was about to yell again but he thought upon these words. He then began one of his inner debates with his subconscious.
'She has a point,' began his rational side, 'why do we need to continue?' His primal rage then lashed out. 'Why? Have you forgotten WHAT HE HAS DONE TO US?' Then Aldric spoke, internally. 'I still have to side with rage here, he has caused us so much pain. He must die.' 'He will die anyway, of old age. Why does he have to die now?' Rational spoke. 'It would be better at our hands.' Rage spoke, with bloodlust. 'And what of his heirs? What would they do? If they go the same route as their father, they will continue to hurt people.' Celestia interrupted his debate.
"Aldric? You there?" Aldric blinked his eyes.
"Huh? Wha? Oh.....right. Sorry. Look, I just can't do this. I need to go back. I need to make sure he doesn't hurt more people." Celestia then asked one of the most stupidest things she could've said to Aldric.
"A......girlfriend doesn't sound so bad as family to keep a grudge over, it doesn't even seem important." Aldric looked at her, fists clenched.
"What did you just say? SHE WAS EVERYTHING TO ME! AND HE KILLED HER! AND IF YOU DON'T THINK THIS IS A BIG DEAL OVER THEN YOU CAN GO FUCK OFF!" He yelled, walking towards the door. Meanwhile Celestia was stunned, never before has anypony lashed out at her like that.
"Wait I didn't mean it." She said, but he was already gone.
Outside the door the ponies were huddled around Aldric when he came out. "So, what did she say?" Asked Rarity, who he payed no mind to and went to get his stuff. "You know it's never polite to not answer a lady." Rarity said, offended.
"Hey, what happened in there?" Asked Twilight.
"None of your fucking business, that's what." All of them looked shocked to see their friend get put down like that. Of course, Rainbow was the first one to react.
"Hey what's your deal? You were so cool earlier, what happened in their?" She said, floating in front of his face.
"Move." Rainbow didn't budge.
"No, not until you tell us what happened in there!" Aldric then proceeded to grab her mane and throw her to a wall.
"I already said, none of your business." He said, finished with his gear collecting and began moving towards the door.
"Hey! You aren't leaving until you apologize to RD for hurting her!" Applejack said.
"I'm fine, girls." Rainbow said, trying to mask the pain. He continued moving, so Applejack went up to him and bucked him in the back. Applejack's legs felt like they had shattered.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" She screamed, writhing in pain. Aldric opened up the door.
"Suck it up, they aren't broken." Aldric said, closing the door.
As soon as Aldric opened up the door, all eyes were on him. The ponies watched his every move. Some even began to follow him. He stopped and turned around.
"WHAT!?!" He yelled at them, making them stumble backwards. He continued back to the forest where he was lost. 'What was this place called again? Everfree or something?' He thought, walking into it. He walked until he came across where he first arrived here. Their was his imprint on the mountain, scorch marks from the portal, and chunks of sliced wood. He made a campfire, using the branches from the wood wolves. He then created a shield around him with a small smoke hole. With the fire ready he needed some food. 'Food, food. Where am I going to get some food?' And like it was on cue, growling happened. He turned his to see what it was and it was another manticore. This one was definitely male. Possibly the mate of the one he killed earlier. 'Perfect.' He said, lips curling into a smile. He drew his sword which made the beast rethink its strategy. Nothing smaller than a manticore would ever challenge one, so that must mean it is equally powerful. It charged him, only to get met with the barrier. He ran towards the barrier and opened a small slit, straight into its heart. He pushed the sword through and it died, instantly. He dropped the barrier and proceeded to drag it to the fire, skin it, cook it, and eat it.
Back at the library Celestia walked out to see Applejack and Rainbow to have ice packs on them. "What happened?" She asked Twilight.
"He grabbed Rainbow and threw her at a wall and when Applejack tried to buck him in the back and he didn't even flinch. Applejack said it was like hitting a boulder. I can't believe he did that! He seemed so nice." Celestia looked ashamed.
"It was....it was my fault. I pushed him over the edge with the questions." Twilight nuzzled her.
"Its okay Princess, you didn't know he would do that." Celestia smiled and nuzzled her back.
"Thank you, Twilight." Celestia felt a tap on her side. She looked to see one of her royal guards.
"Excuse me, your majesty, but we must return to Canterlot." Celestia nodded and turned back.
"Find him, will you Twilight?" Twilight nodded, eager to help.
"Of course princess"
A while later Celestia, Luna, and the royal guards were on a chariot back to Canterlot. "So," began Rainbow, "when are we gonna find Aldric so I can kick his flank!" She ended with a hoof bump.
"I don't know. Maybe we should ask around to see where he went." They all nodded and went to talk to the town ponies. Soon, Applejack waved them over.
"Apparently," Applejack started, "he went back to the Everfree." Fluttershy gasped.
"The Ev-everfree Forest? He went back to that dreaded place?" Applejack nodded.
"Afraid so sugarcube." Twilight began to walk towards the forest.
"Come on, let's find him." They all galloped back to the forest.
"Wow, who would've guessed manticore would taste so good." Aldric said, while picking his teeth. He was surrounded by his barrier so nothing could get in. 'Do you think you might have overreacted back there?' Asked his rational side. "I don't know. Its just so hard to talk about that son of a bitch without wanting to murder everything in a two-mile radius." Replied Aldric. 'It isn't just Frederick.' Stated rationality. Aldric huffed. "I already said, I'm over her." 'Apparently not.' "Shut the fuck up brain." Rationality stopped talking. "I swear I'm inching towards insanity more and more." He finished, laying down. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.
"Nonononono....ARYA!" Aldric yelled, busting down the door. The house was ransacked. Tables flipped, furniture destroyed, and Arya was on the floor in a puddle of blood. "NO!" He yelled, sliding next to her side. He grabbed her hand. "Come on Arya, stay with me." Arya opened her eyes.
"Aldric? Is that you?" She asked. He nodded furiously.
"Shhh...don't talk. I'll heal you and we can leave." She coughed up some blood.
"It's.....all your fault." She said, going limp.
"What? No! I....I didn't mean for any of this! You know that? Arya? Ar-......no." He finished, backing away. She was dead, and it was all his fault. "NOOOOOOOO-"
"-OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He screamed, waking up. His heart was pounding, he was sweating, and his eyes were bloodshot. "Huff.......huff." He felt like he was being watched. He looked that way and saw Twilight and her friends. They all were all looking at him, worried.....well four of them at least. Applejack and Rainbow were pissed. "How.....long have you been there?" He then remembered his barrier. "Hold on...." He snapped his fingers and it went down. "There we go much better." Rainbow flew forward and tackled him.
"WHAT WAS ALL THE STUFF FROM BEFORE HUH?" She yelled in his face.
"Rainbow! Get off him!" Twilight yelled. She looked over and then back at Aldric.
"This," she moved a hoof between them, "isn't over." She jumped off of him and walked back over. Aldric couldn't help make a joke.
"I kinda guessed she would be on top." They all blushed, except for Applejack, who fell over laughing. Rainbow moved her tail between her legs. Rarity sniffed the air.
"Ugh, what is that awful aroma?" Rarity asked, disgusted.
"Huh? Oh thaaaat....." Aldric said, sheepishly. "Now don't freak out," he asked them, "but it's a dead manticore." All of their pupils shrunk to pinpricks.
"A....de-dead.....manticore?" Fluttershy asked, almost about to cry.
"Look, it attacked me, and seeing how it attacked me, I defended myself. And don't worry, I didn't let it go to waste." They all looked confused.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked. He scratched the back of his head.
"Oh, well I'm an omnivore, so I ate it." They all looked nauseous. "Well, why are you all here?" Aldric asked, interested.
"Huh? Oh, well Celestia wanted to bring you back to Ponyville." Aldric deadpanned.
"She wants me to go back?" Twilight nodded. "I suppose I can go back." They all smiled.
They were just nearing the edge of Ponyville when, "So, who's Arya?" Pinkie asked. Aldric froze up.
"W-what?" He asked, weakly.
"Well, you were talking in your sleep for a while and you said Arya a couple of times then woke up. Wait! Is she your special somepony?" Soon all of the ponies were looking at Aldric, who was shaking.
"Is everything alright darling?" Rarity asked.
"Don't you EVER speak that name again." He hissed at Pinkie, who backed away.
"I'm....sorry." Rainbow went over to Pinkie.
"Hey! Stop scaring Pinkie!" Aldric sighed.
"I'm sorry, its just.....just don't say that name." Pinkie Pie nodded. Aldric looked at the others. "That goes for you all too." They nodded and continued to the library.
"Man I'm tired, anyone got a place where I can sleep?" Applejack answered the question.
"I s'pose you can sleep in the barn until you get a home." He nodded and got up.
"Wait," Twilight grabbed his hand with magic, "There's still someone here who you should meet." She went upstairs and in couple of minutes she was back down with a scaly lump on her back. "Spike, this is Aldric." The scaly lump shifted and opened an eye.
"Hey.....WAAAAH!" He woke up, screaming. Twilight grabbed him with her magic.
"SPIKE! Calm down! He won't hurt you." Spike stopped and looked at him.
"You sure?" Twilight nodded and set him down. Aldric sat down and extended his hand.
"Drak ce el. " Spike cocked his head.
"Can he speak?" He asked.
"Oh, excuse me. I thought you knew dragon tongue, I said "Hello Drake."." Spike eyes opened.
"Dragon tongue? You've met dragons? What are they like!" Aldric was surprised, the little dragonling began to ask questions, completely forgetting his fright.
"Well, the dragons in my plane.....destroy cities, eat people, and devastate homes. However, those ones are evil. I have met a few nice dragons who have done many heroic things." Spike nodded, fascinated to hear about his own race.
After a few more questions, Aldric and Applejack left and headed to the farm. The town was deserted, most likely because of Aldric.
"So, Applejack, tell me about yourself?" Applejack smiled.
"Well, I'm a farm pony, as you can guess. The orchard has been in my family since Granny Smith came and settled here with her family. Now on the farm there's me, Big Mac my older brother, and Applebloom, my little sister. Oh and Granny lives here too." Aldric nodded, walking next to her. They continued walking in silence until they crested a hill. A massive orchard, one of the largest Aldric had ever seen, stood in front of him. Applejack waved a hoof over everything. "Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!"
"Get away from ma sister!" Feeling the ground rumble, he turned around, only to get his jaw kicked. He fell over, hearing voices but he was too tired to care.
The sun crested over the many trees of Sweet Apple Acres, shining down like a golden aura of happiness. "Fuck you sun, I'm still sleeping." Aldric grumbled. Well, someone wasn't happy. The barn door swung open, revealing Applebloom.
"Come on, Mister Aldric! Breakfast is ready!" Growling slightly, he got up. Stretching, he yawned and cracked some of his bones. Walking over to the door, he answered her.
"I'm not hungry, okay Applebloom?" Applebloom answered with her normal, energetic, and happy tone.
"Okay then Mister Aldric." Cringing at hearing the word mister, he answered far harsher than he liked.
"Don't, call me mister." Applebloom shivered and nodded walking away. Aldric felt a pang of regret, he didn't mean to answer like that, it was just his normal reaction to...everything, really. Shaking his head, he walked outside, blocking out the sun with his eyes. Spotting Big Mac on the porch of the house, he walked over to him. Being closer, he spotted one of his forelegs wrapped in some bandages. Big Mac heard his footsteps and turned to look at him. "What happened?"
"Broke it while I was bucking some trees. Applejack's doin' all of the work today." Aldric nodded and leaned on a support beam for the porch, then asked another question.
"Can I go help?" Big Mac shook his head, chewing on a piece of straw that Aldric missed when he saw Big Mac.
"Applejack said she's going to do it all on her own today. I told her not to but she is as stubborn as a mule. No offence." A mule who was walking by shook his head, signalling that he didn't take any offence to the comment. Aldric stopped leaning on the beam and pointed to town.
"I'll go see what the others are doing." Big Mac nodded and went back to chewing the piece of straw.
He was just in the middle of town as a cat when the ground began to shake. "What the..." he said, looking around.
"STAMPEDE!" Somepony shouted above him, so he looked up to see Rainbow Dash, pointing towards the stampede. Turning to look at the stampede, he didn't see anything, so he jumped on Rainbow. "Ah! Hey," she started shaking, "get off cat!" Aldric finally got a look at the stampede, albeit, shakingly. Cows were charging at the town.
"Rainbow! Stop messing around, can't you see that there's a stampede coming?" Aldric looked down to see Twilight, who looked frazzled. Rainbow flipped over, leaving Aldric hanging by his claws.
"I'm not messing around, this stupid cat won't let go of me!" Twilight looked at the cat for a few seconds, then glared at it. Aldric saw the glare and let go of Rainbow, flipping over to land on his paws. Aldric started to lick his paw, ignoring the glare he was getting from Twilight. Aldric slowly stopped licking his paw and looked at Twilight
"What? Just a bit of harmless fun... well maybe just a bit of harm." Rainbow stared at the cat, amazed it could talk. Aldric looked up at Rainbow, who looked amazed. "Shut your mouth Rainbow, you'll catch bugs. Anyway," transforming back, he cracked his knuckles, making the ponies flinch, "I'm going to stop a stampede." Aldric vanished, leaving them behind. Aldric appeared in front of the stampede, holding out his hands. Waiting to see if the stampede would stop, but it never did, it continued at full speed. "You asked for it." His hands began swirling with magic, then all of the cows stopped stampeding and floated slightly off the ground. It seemed to snap the cows out of whatever state their minds were in. They started murmuring amongst each other, when they were set down. Aldric started walking away, when he heard cheering. Turning, he saw the ponies stomping their hooves and cheering. Raising his hand, he tied up everypony's mouths. "Don't you ever cheer for me, I'm not worthy of being cheered for." Vanishing, he appeared in front of what he could only assume was the bar of the town. Pushing the door open, he felt all eyes on him. Walking over to the counter, he heard rumbling of hooves and the door slamming shut. Glancing back at the now empty bar, he shrugged. "Strongest stuff you got."
2 Hours Later
"Come on Applejack, you need help." Applejack bucked another tree and almost fell over. Looking around, she saw no mores trees that needed to be bucked.
"No I don't! I just bucked every single one in the whole darn orchard!" Big Mac rolled up with his cart and spoke.
"What about those ones?" He pointed towards more trees. Applejack looked at he was pointing and saw more trees that needed to be bucked. She fell over, too exhausted.
"Twilight, help me please."
"Come on Applejack you need he-..... did you just say yes?" Applejack nodded and Twilight smiled. All of the trees were soon picked by Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie. Rarity looked around.
"Hey, where's Aldric?" Rarity questioned them. They all looked around to find him gone.
"I thought he was here Applejack?" Twilight asked her.
"He... was. Where did he go? In fact, I haven't seen him since the stampede." Applejack looked over to the town. "He's probably back in town, let's go." They all started walking towards the town.
When they arrived in town it was bustling. Everywhere except for the bar. It was being completely avoided. They walked into it to find only the bartender, Berry Punch and Aldric. Twilight was the first to question him.
"Aldric? You okay." He growled at the question. They went up to him to see five whole bottles gone, and a sixth one in his hands. "Woah! You have had too much to drink. Come on." Twilight grabbed his arm in her teeth and pulled. Instincts took over and Aldric grabbed a bottle and shattered it over her head. Flipping over, he ran out the door. Rarity gasped and ran to Twilight's side.
"Sweet Celestia! Twilight you okay?" She groaned and got up, holding a hoof to her head.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Twilight turned towards Berry. "Did he pay for all of this?" Berry shook her head.
"No, I was too afraid to ask him. He started saying bad memories were popping up and came here to drink. He never even got drunk and this stuff is the strongest I have." She pointed to the bottles. Twilight nodded and turned to the entrance of the bar.
"Come on girls, we have to-...where's Rainbow?"
'He thinks he can just hurt my friends? Not today!' Rainbow thought to herself. She was flying over Ponyville but Aldric was nowhere to be seen. She turned her head over to the Everfree. 'He has to be in their,' she thought, flying over.. She landed in front of the entrance and swallowed, then walked in.
She wasn't five minutes in the forest before she got lost. 'Come on,' she thought to herself, "where are you path? You have to be here some-'"AWOOOOOOOO" . She froze up. Howls surrounded her, getting closer. Now growling. Gulping, she slowly turned around, spotting five pairs of yellow eyes. Backing away slowly, she thought of her options. The eyes moved forward, getting hit with patches of sunlight, exposing the timberwolves. 'This is all his fault.' Suddenly, one of the timberwolves jumped at her, jaw wide and aiming for her throat.. She closed her eyes... and nothing happened. Slowly, she opened one of eye and saw the timberwolf stuck in the air in a purple aura.
"Rainbow! Get out of their!" Somepony yelled, who she was happy to hear. She turned her head to see Twilight, her horn glowing. The eyes turned toward the new prey and and leapt at her. Rarity grabbed another one, straining to hold it. Applejack bucked one in the face, sending it flying. Pinkie fired her party cannon and cover another in party decorations. The last timberwolf attacked Fluttershy. Rainbow got up and charged at that one, slamming it in the side. The retreated, snarling at them.
"Oh thank goodness we got here when we did." Rarity said. More howls. They all bunched into a small circle. They were surrounded by twenty timberwolves. Rainbow spoke her mind.
"This is all his fault," she said, out loud. Fluttershy turned to look at Rainbow.
"Who?" Fluttershy asked, confused.
"Aldric." Rainbow hissed out.
"Well fuck you too Rainbow." Someone said. The timberwolves stopped approaching and looked around. One yelped, causing them all to turn towards the source. A blade was being pulled out of a timberwolf's head. Aldric, stood there, leaning on his sword.
"This just got a whole lot more interesting." Aldric said. All the timberwolves growled at him, forgetting their previous prey. Aldric kicked the dead timberwolf, which frenzied the other timberwolves. Aldric slashed at the air, a wave of fire coming off the sword, burning two of the wolves. One wolf leapt at him, so he kicked it, sending it flying towards the ponies. The wolf got up dazed before a powerful kick to the head by Applejack, destroyed it. Aldric stuck his sword into one of the wolves head, then flipped the wolf over, smashing it down on another. Feeling teeth sink into his leg, he slashed at the wolf, lopping of the head, which stuck on his leg. One wolf jumped on his back, knocking him off balance. It scratched his back once and its paw exploded into flames. Yelping, it jumped off him. Aldric got up, only for his sword to be knocked out of his hand, landing near the ponies. They jumped back, then saw Aldric get piled on by the wolves.
"No!" They all screamed, reaching out hooves.
RAAAAAAAAAAWR
Something roared, knocking everything back. Trees were lifted from their roots. Boulders, flung into the air. It echoed all across the forest. The timberwolves shattered by the sheer force of the roar. Twilight and the others backed into a corner. Twilight spoke.
"Fl-fluttershy, what was that?" Fluttershy was unable to talk, her teeth were shivering in fear so much it was impossible.
"Man," something spoke, "how could I forget that I could do that." Aldric appeared in front of them, clothes tattered, and covered in sap. Twilight used her magic to yank him down.
"Aldric hide, something big's coming!" Aldric shook his head, standing back up.
"You mean that roar? Yeah, I did that." Rainbow nervously laughed.
"Yeah right! That thing was huge! You expect us to believe that?" Aldric raised an eyebrow before shrugging.
"You asked for it." Rainbow flinched, her eyes shrinking to pinpricks.
"Don't! I believe you!" Aldric nodded and turn around.
"Good." He went over to his sword, grabbing it off the ground.
"Y-you just k-ki-killed all of those timberwolves." Fluttershy squeaked out. Wiping his sword of sap, he shook his head.
"Well actually I didn't, something is controlling them, which is why they don't really die unless you set them on fire, speaking of which," Aldric turned around, walking towards one of the corpses when Fluttershy flew in front of him, "...yes? You need something."
"I won't let you harm them, they're defenceless!" Aldric deadpanned, then looked at the others with a 'is she serious,' look. They just nodded, so he looked back at Fluttershy.
"Yeah, completely defenceless," his voice laced with sarcasm, "with their claws and teeth, yep, totally defenceless." Shoving Fluttershy out of the way, he walked to the nearest corpse. Putting a hand to its head, he blasted it with fire. The fire spread all over the body, burning it. Feeling the glares of the ponies on him, he sighed and got up. "You know, let's get you all out of here. They'll be more of them soon enough." They followed him, lagging behind slightly. They soon arrived at the entrance of the forest. "Okay, now leave." They all stopped, turning to look at him.
"Excuse me?" Rarity asked, confused. Aldric raised an eyebrow.
"I thought I asked the question loud enough, either that or you are slightly deaf." Aldric could hear Rarity grind her teeth. Twilight stepped forward.
"Why stay here in the forest, it isn't natural." Aldric looked over his shoulder, seeing glowing eyes stare at him before disappearing back into the trees.
"Maybe for you it isn't natural, but for me," he flicked his head over his shoulder, "it's completely natural. Slice of home away from home, if you will." They ponies looked at him horrified.
"Wait," Twilight continued, "are you saying that your world is basically a massive Everfree?" Scratching his chin, he thought on that before nodding. Rarity asked the next question.
"How do you live, if your entire world is like this dreaded place?" Aldric unsheathed his sword and looked at it, then he spoke.
"We get by...look, you can ask all your questions later, but I think that you should go." Aldric looked at Rainbow, who was glaring at him. "Yes?"
"Aren't you going to apologize?" They all turned to him.
"Um...I'm sorry? Apologize for...hitting Twilight with a bottle? That?" Rainbow nodded. "Oh...sorry Twilight."
"Still that doesn't explain why did it! Was it this Arya per-GAH!" Upon hearing her name, Aldric ran at Rainbow, grabbed her throat, and slammed her against a tree.
"I said to never say that name! Do you understand!" Rainbow choked out a yes and he dropped her, letting her breath. Aldric looked at the ponies, then walked back into the forest, leaving them behind.
'I still believe you are overreacting. They are just trying to be friendly.' Rationality said. "Fuck you okay? Just fuck you and your mother." Aldric replied. 'We're the same person, remember?' Rationality replied. Another voice spoke. 'You do realize we are being followed, right?' "Yes I do." Stopping, Aldric turned around, letting out another devastating roar, shattering the nearby timberwolves. 'Shouldn't we not be making enemies, since we will be trapped here forever?' Aldric chuckled. "You honestly expect me to stay here? No, at this Gala thing I will be steal every document as blackmail for a spell." The voices stopped and he returned to where he slept for his nap. Rationality spoke again. 'Still, what if their isn't a spell to return back?' Aldric laid down. "Then I will find any other means to return." He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Aldric walked out of the forest a couple of days later, sleeping and hunting to stay alive. Stretching, he transformed into a dog and walked into Ponyville. After a few minutes walking around, he spotted Pinkie, so he ran after her. Pinkie turned around at Aldric and smiled.
"Hi Aldric! What you are doing? I'm going over to Rainbow to ask if she wanted to pull pranks with me! Have you ever done a prank before? They're so much fun! Hey, do you want to pull pranks too?" Aldric was amazed by this pony, not only can she see through his disguise, but she has almost infinite things to talk about.
"I don't know Pinkie, Rainbow doesn't really like me remember," he replied, not wanting to see that annoying pegasus again. She laughed, obviously the message went over her head.
"Oh don't be silly! In a little bit you two will be buddies in no time! Come on, let's go find her," she said, yanking his arm with her hooves, making him stumble forward and almost fall. He was even more amazed, he grabbed him, with her hooves . He was about to ask when he heard light snoring above him. He looked up to see a cloud with a little bit of rainbow fur off the edge. "Okay," Pinkie said in a whisper, "I want you to to that roar thing you did a couple of days ago, just not as loud. We don't want everypony in Ponyville to freak out, remember." He nodded and looked back up, the cloud had drifted a bit but that didn't matter. He inhaled and let out a roar, loud enough for anypony around a twenty-five feet of them.
"WHAT THE BUCK!" Rainbow yelled, covering her mouth. She fell off the cloud and landed on the ground. Pinkie fell over laughing while a dog stood next to her, cocking its head to the side. Then it spoke.
"Pinkie, I really don't see the point of this. All it did was make her angry.... well, angrier... at me." Rainbow snorted and pawed the ground, while Pinkie had gotten up and walked over to Rainbow.
"Aw Rainbow, don't be that way, it was just a prank." Pinkie put her hoof over Rainbow, who was still mad-no, she was furious at him. Over the past couple of days he embarrassed her, hurt her and her friends, and pretends like it wasn't his fault. Well, it wasn't exactly his fault, but she felt like she should be angry at him.
"Fine," she turned her head and whispered something to Pinkie, who smiled in response and nodded, then they both looked at him, "Time for a little revenge." Rainbow said to him, practically hissing. To her amazement, he just laughed. It was more of a bark than a laugh but it still was a laugh.
"You honestly think you can catch me? I would like to see you try." He taunted them, trying to make them attack him in some way. They looked at each other and whispered out some sort of plan. They nodded and turned back. Aldric transformed back and got ready, hand moving to his sword but he stopped himself, he forgot that he wasn't fighting an enemy. Rainbow flicked her tail at him, launching some dust, which he covered his eyes before the dust even got close. Rainbow flew up, grabbing two clouds and began to rub them together. Pinkie pulled out some kind of cannon from... somewhere. They fired at the same time, but when they did, Aldric had a flashback.
Aldric slashed at the goblin, part of a party of goblins who ambushed him on his way to his hut. The goblin's head was hacked clean off. Aldric looked up to see a boy pulling out a blade from a goblin. He saw a goblin fire blaster's, the equivalent to a cannon, fuse going down. It was aimed straight at the boy. "GET DOWN!" The boy heard the voice and turned his head, only to get hit by the goblin cannon. Lightning flashed above, revealing the boy's right arm was completely gone, spurting blood, and he dropped down, dead. Then Aldric, clenching his sword, rage filling up every bone in his body. This boy, was his student. "GAAAAAAAH!" Aldric screamed, charging at the goblin war party. He began to slash at the goblin who fired the shot, but the goblin get moving back. "Aldric stop it," the goblin yelled at him, but he didn't hear it. Another goblin tackled him to the ground and kicked him in the face.
Aldric was wrenched back into reality, and he realized he was pinned down by Applejack, who looked furious. He turned his head to see Rarity and Twilight to his left, Fluttershy, who was calming down Pinkie to his right, and Rainbow, flying above him. "What happened?" Rainbow's jaw dropped.
"What do you mean, 'what happened?', YOU NEARLY KILLED PINKIE PIE!" She yelled at his face, making all of the ponies look down after hearing the word kill. War rarely happened in Equestria, so hearing that word made everypony uneasy.
"I... did?" Aldric asked her, though he already knew what had happened. Rainbow got even more angry and slammed her hooves down on his face, breaking his nose.
"Rainbow! Stop that now! He obviously doesn't know what happened or why he attacked Pinkie!" Twilight yelled at Rainbow, making her stop and walk away. Fluttershy came back over, and so did Pinkie, though she kept her distance.
"Actually Twilight, I think I know what happened, I was having a flashback....and it wasn't one I like to remember." He told them, even loud enough so Rainbow could hear, if she was even listening anymore. "I could tell you about the flashback, if Applejack got off me. Also, can I tell you tomorrow? I'm kinda starved and it is almost nighttime." He was right, the sun was being lowered down and everypony was hungry. They all went back into town and went their separate ways, and he was heading back to the forest.
'Tomorrow is going to be a loooong day,' he thought to himself, 'well, it could be worse. I could've actually killed Pinkie.'
Aldric awoke to howls in the distance. Looking out, he saw ten pairs of eyes around his camp. Groaning, he got up. This was the third time he saw this pack, which would always be around when he woke up.
"What! Just attack already you dumb wolves," he yelled at them, causing them to scatter, "I swear, this forest is more annoying than scary." Walked around the forest a bit more, he spotted a spring and walked over to it. It had a waterfall falling down into and had streams leading into other parts of the forest. Stripping off his clothes, he dived in. The water was refreshing, since he hasn't took a shower or bath in about a week. Swimming over to the waterfall, he saw a small cave behind it. Pulling himself up, he stood up in the cave, forgetting he didn't have his sword.
"This could be a good home, it's secluded, so it has that going for it," he said aloud, "I wonder if it has any inhabitants." If like on cue, a loud roar happened behind him. Turning around, he saw a massive crocodile, which looked like it was made out of rocks. "Oh, so this is your home, is it? Well, looks like it's time for a eviction." He reached for his sword, which wasn't there. The crocodile charged him, maw opened. "Hard way it is then." Charging the crocodile, he punched it in the face, causing it to fly out the cave and into the spring. Aldric took a breath and dived into the cave.
Aldric swam at the beast with surprising speed, making the crocodile rethink its plan. It was too late, for Aldric punched it in the chin, sending it flying into the air. Aldric used the water to rocket himself into the air, headbutting it in the stomach. It crashed into the cliff wall, a rock spire spearing it in the throat. It squirmed for a bit, before it finally succumbed to its fate. Aldric landed on the ground and walked over to his clothes. "Why does this forest have predators made out of nature? What's next, sand lions?" Aldric chuckled at the joke and dried himself off and put his clothes on. He walked back to the exit of the forest to see Fluttershy tending to some animals. Walking over to her, the animals scattered.
"Oh dear, why did you run away?" Fluttershy asked them. Angel Bunny tugged her hoof and pointed to Aldric. "Oh, why hello Aldric, what brings you here?"
"Nothing, just came back from a bath in one of the springs in the Everfree." He didn't dare tell her about the battle with the crocodile, for she would probably freak out. "I see that your animals still don't like me." Not that he minded, a lot of things were scared of him. "Still though, Angel stays here, why is that?" He crouched to the rabbit looking him in the eyes. The rabbit just looked back at him, standing his ground. Aldric held his hand out and Angel jumped onto it. "So, Fluttershy, what you doing today?" He asked her, not looking away from Angel.
"Oh! I was going to move a mother duck and her ducklings to another pond. Why, did you want to join?" Fluttershy replied. She was fascinated at what was happening with Angel and Aldric. They were in some kind of staring contest.
"Sure why not, here have a carrot Angel." Pulling out a carrot from somewhere, he handed it to Angel. Angel grabbed it and Aldric lowered him to the ground. He transformed into the dog and followed Fluttershy.
They were in the middle of Ponyville when Aldric spotted Pinkie at a table. Aldric poked Fluttershy with his nose and pointed to Pinkie. "I am going over to her, okay?" Fluttershy nodded and continued leading the ducks across Ponyville. He ran over to Pinkie and sat down next to her. "Hello Pinkie, what are you doing?" Aldric barked quietly at her.
"Hi Aldric, I'm just spying on Gilda," she replied, and then added, "oh right, you don't know who Gilda is, well she is Rainbow's friend from flight school. She's a gryphon who has been really mean to me and she has scared Granny Smith and stole an apple. Twilight said I'm just overreacting though so she might apologize."
Aldric scanned the town and saw Gilda. She was walking straight towards Fluttershy, then bumped into her.
"Hey! Watch where you're going dweeb! I'm walking here." Gilda yelled at Fluttershy. Fluttershy said something that didn't reach Aldric but Gilda began to make fun of her. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You should watch where you are going!" She then began inhaled and puffed out her chest. She then roared at Fluttershy, making her cry and run away.
"Did you see that, Aldric?" Pinkie asked, turning to where Aldric once was. "Huh? Where did he go?" She looked back at Gilda to see Aldric in front of her. "Oh no...."
"Hey! Get out my way dumb dog." Gilda yelled at him. Aldric just growled at her. "You asked for it." She slashed at him only for the dog to grab her arm. "What the..."
"You should really pick on someone your own size." Aldric said transforming back. Gilda looked scared for a second and then she puffed out her chest. "Oh? Trying to look tough are you?" She roared straight in his face, making his hood fall back. His silver hair glinted. "Not a bad roar, my turn."
"EVERYPONY COVER YOUR EARS!" Pinkie screamed, covering her own ears. They all dropped and covered their ears. The resounding roar blew Gilda off the ground into the sky. Windows shattered and the ground shook. He stopped roaring and coughed. Ponies slowly uncovered their ears slowly.
"OH YOU ARE GETTING IT DWEEB!" Gilda roared out, charging him. She grabbed him and lifted him up into the air. Down below, Twilight and the others had gathered and were trying to figure out what was happening. They found Pinkie and walked over to her.
"I told you! She is bad, she yelled at Fluttershy and now she is going to drop Aldric." Pinkie said to Twilight. "Rainbow?" Rainbow turned her head to Pinkie. "Stop her!" Rainbow nodded and flew up.
"Gilda! Stop this, this isn't the friend I remember!" Rainbow yelled at her. Gilda ignored her and began to spin around. "NO!" She let go, launching Aldric into air. "NO! GILDA YOU MOTHERBUCKER!" Rainbow swore at her friend and flew after Aldric. Below everypony gasped, swearing wasn't really ponies did. "Come on wings!" She was so close to him now. Something black flew past her and grabbed Aldric and swooped down in the White Tailed Woods. Aldric opened his eye.
"Where am I? I remember Gilda, throwing me across the air. Who saved me?" He turned his head, his jaw dropping as he did.
In Front of him was a fully black male gryphon with blood red feather tips. A scar was across his beak. "Blackwing... YOU'RE ALIVE?!?" He tackled the gryphon to the ground, hugging him. Blackwing squawked in his ear, making him let go. "Sorry, I just thought you were dead. You got shot by a crossbow bolt." He turned around, showing him a chunk missing from his side. "Oh....."
"Aldric! Where are you?" One of the ponies shouted. Some bushes rattled and revealed Fluttershy, looking straight at Blackwing. "Eeep!" She dove back into bushes. Blackwing turned and looked at him, head cocked.
"Yeah, she's pretty shy." Blackwing nodded and looked back into the brush. Some of them rattled to their left, revealing Rainbow. She saw Aldric and flew at him. Blackwing unfurled his wings and stood in front of Aldric.
"Woah! Hey, move out of the way gryphon. My frie-.... friend's friend is behind you! Wait... are you going to hurt? Huh? If you are, I could take you on." She began to hit the air.
"Let her through." Aldric spoke, making Blackwing turn his head to look at him. He turned back and closed his wings, stepping over. "Blackwing, meet Rainbow Dash." The gryphon proceeded to make a cawing sound, most likely laughing at the name. "I know right, weird name, anyway, Rainbow, meet Blackwing, my gryphon." Blackwing stood triumphantly. "Oh stop it you cocky gryphon." Blackwing punched him in the shoulder. He punched back. Blackwing punched, harder. "Oh? You want to start?" Blackwing nodded, tackling Aldric. They began to wrestle. Soon Blackwing was on top of him. Aldric flipped him off and stood back up. Aldric then remember Rainbow was watching. "Anyway, where are the others?" Trying to draw attention away.
Rainbow shook her head. "Girls! Over here!" Soon they all were in the clearing, in front of Blackwing. Fluttershy hid behind the others. "So, Blackwing," he stopped preening his feathers and looked at Rainbow. "Thank you saving Aldric." Blackwing nodded and went back to preening.
"Why isn't he talking?" Blackwing stopped and looked at her then to Aldric. He was obviously confused.
"Gryphons here can talk apparently. Actually... can you talk now?" Blackwing looked stunned and tried to speak, but nothing came out. Blackwing shrugged and went back to preening. "Here, let me help." Aldric sat down and felt around for any loose feathers. He pulled out four of them, making Blackwing relax. "Blackwing, how exactly did you escape?"
"Escape? From what?" Blackwing showed them the missing chunk of flesh.
"Blackwing! How did you escape?" Blackwing wrapped his wing around Aldric and pulled him close. "What?" Blackwing put his head against Aldric's forehead. "Oh, mind bond, right." He began to concentrate. He was yanked into Blackwing's mind.
"Come on, Blackwing, we got to go!" Aldric leapt onto Blackwing.
"There! Get them!" Blackwing lifted up into the, avoiding the crossbow bolts.
"That was close. We almost got-BANK!" Blackwing banked to the left, avoiding a ballista bolt. They began to get shot from every angle. "How did they find us!" Blackwing didn't listen, he was too busy avoiding bolts. He dived into an alleyway, grabbing a soldier who was in it. He launched it at a ballista, destroying it. They were right outside the city when Blackwing got hit. They crashed into a small glade.
"Blackwing! Don't worry, I got it!" He tugged the bolt, only for his partner to roar out in pain. "Fuck! Don't worry, I'll get us out of this." Blackwing looked up at him and tossed his head. "What?... no. NO! I won't leave you here!" Blackwing pleaded him with his eyes. "Fine! I'll go, but what about you?" He looked around the glade and shrugged. "Okay, be safe." Aldric got up and ran away from the city.
He yanked himself out of the mind bond. "Yes, I remember that, but what happened next?" Blackwing put his forehead against Aldric's again.
Blackwing began to look around, spotting a small cave. He limped over to it and tried to get in, but the bolt was blocking him from entering. "This way! They crashed over here!" The guards were closer now, so he had no other option. He grabbed the bolt and yanked, hard. It came out, making him roar again. "Here!" He squeezed into the cave and waited. Boots stopped in front of him. "Over here! Tracks!" They followed the prints away from Blackwing. He got up and went over to a small stream. He sat in it, washing away the dirt and dried blood from his wound. He walked around the glade and saw a deer. He licked his beak and pounced. The deer jumped and turned around. It wasn't a deer, it was a dryad. He immediately bowed, for she was a guardian of nature.
"Rise, gryphon." He stood up. "I have seen what you have done, and while I don't find it acceptable, I will clean your wounds for you and give you food."
It ended their, for Aldric could figure the rest out. "So, a dryad took care of you? Still, how did you get here? You weren't banished by Frederick, were you?" Blackwing shook his head and tossed his head over to the ponies. "Oh right, sorry girls. Blackwing was just showing me what happened to him." They were clearly confused.
"I thought he couldn't talk?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, he can't we were just doing something every gryphon and his rider can do. I saw his memories." They all nodded and went back to town. "Still, how did you get here?" Blackwing just shook his head. "Fine, don't tell me. Come on, I know a place where we can sleep." He got on Blackwing. "Blackwing, I... missed you." Blackwing looked back and nodded, feeling the same.
They landed near the spring where Aldric took his bath. "Okay, there's a small cave behind the waterfall, cliché I know, that we can sleep in. Don't worry, it isn't wet and is pretty smooth. There was a inhabitant living there, but I took care of it." He pointed to the crocodile from this morning. Blackwing laughed and followed him into the cave. Blackwing laid down and Aldric rested his back against him. "Goodnight, friend." Aldric said to him, Blackwing cawing in response.
Aldric cracked open an eye upon hearing the sound of walking. He looked to his right to find Blackwing at the entrance of the cave. It was still dark out so he was either looking at the stars or looking out for danger. Aldric got up and walked over to him. The night sky was beautiful, still, it was the middle of the night.
"So," Blackwing looked at him, "where did you live after you got here?" Blackwing lowered himself so Aldric could climb on his back. Blackwing walked back inside the cave and ran back to the entrance and jumped, extending his wings. They were in the sky in no time. The ride didn't take so long, Blackwing landed in some sort of ring on the top of a mountain, with a massive nest in the middle of it. "So you lived here? Okay, but how did you find me?" Blackwing shrugged and flew back up, Aldric holding on.
They were directly over Ponyville now. "Hey, drop off here." Aldric said, making Blackwing land in front of the library. Aldric got off and walked over to the door. He turned the handle which was locked. He crouched down and pulled out a lockpick. The lock was picked and the door opened and Aldric walked in.
Aldric look around and noticed Spike sleeping on the ground next to some books. Aldric picked him up and settled him on the couch. Aldric beckoned Blackwing inside. Blackwing stepped inside, only for his talons to clack across the floor. Aldric looked at Spike who muttered something. Blackwing stepped across, more cautiously than before.
"Okay, you are going to stay here while I close all of the blinds." Blackwing looked at him, confused. "It's a prank. We're going to scare the living shit out off them." Blackwing nodded and got into position. Aldric stepped over and closed the blinds.
Aldric didn't know how long he was waiting. "Spike! Why is it so dark in here?" Twilight said. He smiled and heard Twilight's hooves clop over to the windows and opened them. The sun crashed inside the library.
"AHHHHHH!" Spike screamed, falling over his tail. Twilight looked behind, scared. She saw red eyes and a dark mass. She felt something grab her shoulder. She screamed also, teleporting to Spike and grabbing him.
"Hahahahaha!" Aldric fell over laughing, Blackwing began to caw and fell over also. Twilight still couldn't see him that well so she still held Spike behind her. "Twilight, Spike, it's me, Aldric. Oh, and Blackwing is here too. We were playing a prank on you two." Twilight saw them and her scared expression turned to angry.
"You call that a prank! You scared us! A prank isn't supposed to be scary!" Spike stopped shaking and looked over Twilight's shoulder, spotting Blackwing. Blackwing looked him straight in the eyes. He snapped open his wings. Spike hid behind Twilight again. Aldric put his hand on Blackwing, making Blackwing's wings shut closed. "How did you even get in? The door was locked!" Aldric pulled out his lockpicks. "Oh... lockpicks." She looked them over and decided to walk over to Aldric. "Spike, let's go." Spike walked over to Twilight, avoiding Blackwing. They walked through the door.
"You don't think we overdid it, do you?" Blackwing shook his head. "Still, I think Spike will see you in his nightmares. Come on." They walked through the doors and into the street. All of the ponies looked at him, backing away. Blackwing looked at him. "Yeah, they are scared I might eat them, or something, I don't know." Aldric said, looking into the sky. They soon noticed all of the ponies were running over to a spot in town. They looked at each other and shrugged, following the ponies.
They found where the ponies were going, a small wagon was in the middle of town. They walked through the crowd, which was easy considering they stepped away from him. They stopped behind Twilight and the others.
"So, Twilight, what is happening here?" He asked her, looking at the wagon. She looked behind to see Aldric and Blackwing. She shrugged and looked back at the wagon. "Hey Blackwing, doesn't that wagon look familiar?" Blackwing looked closer at the wagon, which suddenly opened up to reveal a stage. "Never mind."
"Welcome, mares and gentlecolts! I am the famous Great and Powerful Trrrixie!" Fireworks went off to reveal a blue pony with a giant wizards hat. "That's right ponies! The one and only Trixie! Tri-" she stopped looking at Aldric. She began to step back.
"What? Never seen a human before," he said, mockingly, "don't worry, you aren't the first." She started to look irritated. "What? Still speechless?"
"How dare you mock the great and powerful Trixie! Trixie will not be mocked!" He groaned, she was talking in third-person. He wanted to kill her just for talking like that. He breathed in and out. Blackwing nudged him and looked into the sky. Aldric nodded and got on him. "Yes! See how it runs from the Great and Powerful Trrrri-EEEP!" Aldric sword flew right past her, embedding itself in the stage. He got off Blackwing and walked over to it, pulling it out.
"You know Trixie, that blade could've gone into your face and I would've preferred that, but I'm a nice guy, so how about you shut the fuck up." He said coldly to her. He sheathed the blade and remounted Blackwing. They took off and went back to the mountain.
When they landed Aldric spoke. "Yes, I know that I was over-reacting but I don't care Blackwing." Blackwing was stunned, his rider has changed much over the time they were separated. Blackwing nudged him and sat down. He unhooked his blade from his belt and set it aside. He laid back against Blackwing, sighing. "I wonder when they're going to find us." He said, closing his eyes.
Down back at town, everypony was stunned. That thing just threatened to kill a pony without a second thought. Twilight and the others were running over to find out where they had gone.
"Rainbow, fly up and try to find them!" Rainbow nodded and flew higher. She looked around but only saw a mountain in the distance, she flew over to it because it was the only thing around. She landed on a ring and saw Blackwing, sleeping, with his wing covering Aldric. She took one step forward and cracked a couple of twigs.
"Hello Rainbow, I understand that you and the others are here to scold me about scaring all of the ponies and almost killing one, but to be honest, I don't give two shits, so you can run along now." Aldric said beneath the wing. Blackwing lifted up his wing and stretched it, closing it again over Aldric. Rainbow looked down and then back to him. She shrugged and went back down.
"Is he up there Rainbow?" Twilight asked her. Rainbow nodded to the question. "Okay, let's go up. Rainbow, can you lift me and the others?" Rainbow nodded and grabbed Twilight and flew up. She dropped off Twilight and went back down to get the others. "Aldric! What were you thinking! You could've killed her!"
"I didn't though, so you can go back down and back to town because I don't want to listen to you." Blackwing's wing wasn't covering Aldric anymore so she could she him making movements with his hands. She was about to say something when another pony landed behind her. She looked back to see Fluttershy, shaking from being up so high. "Oh, I see you are bringing the entire posse up, well whoop-de-do." He finished, twirling his finger. Blackwing began to toss and turn so Aldric began to rub his head. It calmed Blackwing. "Now leave, Blackwing has trouble sleeping when people are talking." He stopped looking at them and began to rub Blackwing's back. Blackwing relaxed and fell back asleep.
Twilight was about to say something when Fluttershy grabbed her leg and shook her head. Twilight looked between them and sighed, giving up and teleported back down with Fluttershy. Rainbow was about to lift up Applejack when she appeared in front of them.
"What? Why are you back here if I just took you up there? Also, I thought you couldn't teleport!" Rainbow exclaimed, annoyed. She let go off AJ and walked over to her. "Huh? Why?"
Twilight fiddled with her hooves a bit. She was embarrassed that she gave up so easily after making Rainbow do all that work. She was about to say why when a deafening roar happened. They all looked at each other and then to town.
"That came from Ponyville." Pinkie said, walking back towards town. "They could be in trouble! Let's go," she sprinted back to town. They all were a little weirded out, Pinkie was being mature. Then what she said clicked into place and they sprinted to town. Above on the mountain, Aldric and Blackwing heard it too.
"I would say a bear.... a really big bear," he said, squinting at the town. "Come on, let's see what caused that." He swung himself onto Blackwing and flew over to the town. He looked down to see a shimmering coat, coated with stars. Then it leaned back and he saw it was a really big bear. "Interesting, looks like its fur is covered in stars... look at that." He then dived off of Blackwing onto the ground. "So," he started, the bear turning to him, "what's this then? Why you attacking, star bear?" He heard someone scoff behind him.
"It's an Ursa Minor, not a star bear." Twilight said, backing away from the bear. Aldric looked back between the two. He couldn't believe it, the Ursa Minor, a constellation in a living form, and it was attacking the town. He just wanted to ask how it got here or why is it attacking, but he couldn't and drew his sword.
"Well then, Ursa Minor, why are you attacking this town, huh? Why," he said, looking at the bear. It only snarled in response and charged him. It swung his paw at him, only for Aldric to impale it. He cried out in pain and swung his other paw. Aldric pulled out his sword and backflipped out of the way, making the Ursa hit his own paw, causing a shockwave that shattered windows. "What? You gonna cry to your mommy now?" What he just said suddenly clicked into his mind. "Wait.... you're an Ursa Minor, so if you're the Minor, where's the Major?" The ground rumbled beneath his feet. He snapped his head back and saw it, the Ursa Major, charging him. It him him, sending him flying across town.
"Mister, wake up!" His eyes snapped open, darting left and right. He pushed himself up only to be pushed back down. "No, you have three broken bones and a concussion, you must rest." His eyesight was still a bit blurred so he couldn't see who was helping him. He healed himself and stood up, seeing the pony. "No, you must rest, Princess Celestia will stop the Ursa." She was a white pony, with a cross for a cutie mark. He snarled and swung his body to the side of the bed.
"The Princess may be coming, but the town will be destroyed before she gets here, I need to stop it." She tried to push him back down but he pushed her off. He put his hand to her neck. "I'm sorry," he said, knocking her out. He walked over to the window and saw he was three stories high. "I've jumped off higher," he said, diving out the window. Aldric looked around, patting himself down. A piece of wood flew past, nearly taking off his head. Aldric looked to the the Ursa Major, stomping around. Aldric teleported next to it. "HEY! STAR BEAR, COME AND GET ME!" Aldric yelled, making the Ursa stop. She looked to her right to see him, the thing that hurt her baby. She stood on her hind legs and let out a bellowing roar. "Yeah, yeah, roar all you want, it won't stop me from kicking your ass!" The Ursa and Aldric looked at each other, straight in the eyes. She slammed down back onto four legs, shaking the ground. He backpedaled a bit, making it charge. He dashed through the town, drawing her away.
"Is that... Aldric?" Rarity asked, hiding behind a barrel. Applejack nodded and looked back to town. "What is he doing? No matter, we must find the others." She and AJ ran to find them.
Aldric was standing in the middle of a plain. "Here we go," he said, spinning around. "Much more space, plus they don't need to haul your body from Ponyville now." The Ursa reared up and slammed back down. "Yes, yes, that won't work on me." Ursa pawed the dirt with her paw. Aldric realized he had no sword with him. "Oh, this is interesting," he said, igniting his hands with fire, "oh well, at least Blackwing and I will have something to eat." Out of the corner of his eye he saw six ponies running towards them. He flicked his hand, creating a massive bubble, blocking the ponies. "Now that there are no more distractions, let's fight."
The Ursa made her move first, charging him. His boots ignited, using the fire to launch him to the air. He was now hovering, using the fire to keep himself up. Throwing a fireball at her, he burned her fur. She howled in pain and swiped at him, it connected, sending him flying across the bubble. Slamming on the bubble, he slid down. Hearing something behind him, he turned around, seeing Twilight and the other trying to get in. Winking at them, he turned around just in time, diving out of the way for the Ursa to smash into the wall. The Ursa shook her head, turning to look at Aldric only to get blasted by ice in the chest. Staggering, she was able to avoid the next blast, snapping her teeth at Aldric. Jumping back, he tripped over a root, falling over. The Ursa saw this and reared up.
"Well, this is going to hurt like a bitch." Aldric said, getting pounded by two massive paws. She lifted them up again and did it again, and again, and again. The ponies watched, horrified. Some pegasi wings flapped over them and they looked up. It was a chariot, being flown by Royal Guard. It landed, Princess Celestia got off it and looked at them. Twilight rushed over to her.
"Help Princess! Aldric is in trouble!" Twilight shouted, then turned red with embarrassment for her outburst. Celestia looked confused, then saw the bubble. She ran over to it to see the Ursa continue to pound the ground. "Can you break the barrier?" Her student asked her. She nodded and light up her horn. The barrier began to falter, then she was knocked back. They ran over to her.
"That barrier, it won't break... it is bound in some kinda dark magic, meaning until one of them dies... it won't break." Celestia was scared, more of how Aldric was even alive. Then the pounding stopped. The air turned cold. They looked at the bubble and saw something that they would never forget. Inside was the Ursa, pinned by straps made out of fire. Aldric was floating, pure hatred in his eyes.
"I WILL NOT BE KILLED BY SUCH AN INSOLENT WELP!" He yelled, in a voice far more demonic than his normal one. Celestia and the others began to step back. Then he began to glow, a dark reddish glow. "Sun Pillar. " The ground began to shake, cracking beneath the Ursa. A massive beam of fire appeared, right below the Ursa. She began to shriek and howl in pain, then the bubble broke but the spell continued.
"Get behind me," Celestia said, forming a bubble. The pillar kept going up and up. Then it stopped, forming a massive ball of fire above the Ursa. Aldric landed on the ground and snapped his fingers, the ball of flame dropped, hitting the Ursa. The flames blew past Aldric, striking Celestia's barrier. She strained to keep the flames out but was able to. When the ash settled, she lowered her barrier. The ground was scorched, making the circle where the fire didn't scorch it seem out of place. They spotted Aldric, who began to walk towards them when he fell over, glowing white. Aldric clenched his teeth, hissing in pain. Twilight stepped forward but Celestia extended her wing, stopping her.
"Run," he said, barely enough for them to hear, "I have too much extra magic and I need to release it." Still they stayed, fearing for his life. "RUN NOW OR YOU WILL ALL BUUURN," he screamed, glowing brighter. Celestia's horn glowed and she teleported them back to Ponyville. He released another Sun Pillar, far larger than the last. He could feel his skin melting away. Howling in pain, the pillar lasting a full minute before it ended. Aldric blacked out.
The fields outside of Ponyville were scorched. The ground was completely black, it wouldn't be able to support life ever again. The bones of the Ursa Major were gone, disintegrated by the fire. A lump of charred flesh sat in the middle of it. How is wasn't burned to ashes, well that comes later in the story. An arm slowly rose, grabbed the ground, and pushed up. It got to its knees before falling on all fours. It started to glow white, almost blindingly so. It punched the ground, causing it to explode. After the light stopped, Aldric was standing there, completely undamaged. He looked around, admiring the destruction he caused, and chuckled darkly.
"Did I do this? If so, I want to know how. Whatever I did worked wonders and killed that....what, Ursa Major? That sounds right. Now, where is that Ursa Major? Did it disintegrate? Damn it did, I wanted a trophy. Now, how am I going to cover this up? If anypony....did I really just say that? Damn ponies rubbing off on me, anyway, I just can't grow it all back....can I?" He knelt down and put a palm on the ground and began coursing magic through him. The ground began cracking where he was and exploded, causing him to fly back. He landed on his feet and walked back over. Nothing changed, still black, still charred. "Thought so, damn you demonfire." He kicked the earth, causing a layer of ash to be stirred. A soft breeze appeared, causing all of the ash to be blown around. Aldric lifted an arm, blocking his face from the ash. Something landed behind, slowly walking up to him. "Blackwing, how could you possibly find me?" He said sarcastically, turning around. Blackwing stood there, looking around, and then back to Aldric, a questioning look on his face. "What?" Blackwing just shook his head and walked over to him. "Look," Aldric said, climbing on Blackwing, "I'm tired, so let's just question this in the morning, okay?" Blackwing nodded and flew back to the mountain.
Back at Ponyville, things weren't looking good. Nopony was injured, but three houses were completely destroyed, 4 were damaged, and 8 stalls were crushed. The families who owned the houses were devastated, all of their belongings destroyed. Many ponies found out that two colts, Snips and Snails, had brought the Ursa Minor and were dealt swift 'justice' by Twilight. Trixie was nowhere to be found, mostly likely skipping town when the Ursa Major arrived. Twilight and the others were beginning to worry about Aldric, he hasn't returned yet after he told them to run. Rarity was the first one to voice her worries.
"Girls," they all turned to her, "shouldn't we be looking for Aldric? Sitting here is going to accomplish anything." She got a murmur of agreement from the group except Rainbow, who scoffed.
"Why should we?" The others gasped at this. Rarity cleared her throat.
"Because he is our friend Rai-" Rainbow cut her off.
"Friend? Do friends hit each other with bottles? Do friends threaten each other? Do friends try to kill each other?" For the last one she pointed to Applejack. The others begin to fiddle with their hooves. Rarity kept trying prove he was their friend.
"Rainbow! The first one he apologized for, the second one he had a lot of problems on his mind, and the third one he was being controlled by the Nightmare! He also saved our lives by those timberwolves! I think that makes him a friend!" Pinkie Pie soon joined with Rarity.
"Yeah! He's a super-duper awesome friend! Wait...I haven't even thrown him a party yet! I need to get ready to throw him one! Later girls!" Pinkie then zoomed away. Everypony looked at where Pinkie just was then shook their heads.
"Um...girls," all eyes turned to Fluttershy, who squeaked, "I-I....think Aldric is really nice, he might scary sometimes but he still has a loving heart, I know he does. Sorry Rainbow, but I have to side with Rarity with this one." After she finished, she went next to Rarity.
Rainbow turned her head to Twilight and Applejack, hoping they would take her side. They both walked over to Rarity, mumbling sorry to her. Rainbow looked at them all, both angrily and devastated. Angry that they weren't choosing her side and sticking with her, and devastated for the same reason. She snorted and flew away, leaving them behind.
"Girls," Twilight started, "do you really think that was the best idea? I mean, we are Rainbow's friend as much as we are Aldric's, but that didn't feel right."
"She's just holding a grudge darling," Rarity stated, "she'll get over it in no time. For now, let's go find Aldric." They all nodded and started walking towards the mountain.
"But, what if they aren't at the mountain Rarity?" Pinkie said, appearing next to her. Rarity yelped by the sudden appearance of Pinkie.
"Pinkie," Applejack started, "Don'tcha have a party to work on?" Pinkie laughed.
"I did! I already have it set up at Twilight's house! Don't worry, I didn't wake up Spike. Now, what if they aren't at the mountain? He might be at the Everfree Forest!" She exclaimed, pointing towards the forest. "Wait a minute! One, two, three, four! I only count four of you....wait, I forgot to count myself! Silly Pinkie! I count five of us! Where's Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie then gasped. "Oh no! Did you guys have a fight? Is that why she left? I knew it! Why would you have a fight with her! She's our friend!
"Well, you see...." Rarity looked to her friends, hoping for some help. They just looked down and played with their hooves. "Rainbow was being...unreasonable. She said that Aldric wasn't our friend. You here for this, remember?" Pinkie nodded.
"Yes, I know I was here, but that doesn't mean you can make her sad! That isn't what friends are for! Friends help each other through problems, making everypony happy!" They all look ashamed.
"You're right Pinkie," Twilight stated, "girls, why would we do that? I feel like a terrible pony." Pinkie grabbed them all and hugged them.
"It's okay girls! We just need to find both of them and make everything better! Who should we go find first?"
Rainbow was furious! Not only had her friends abandoned her, but they took Aldric's side! The guy who could kill them all in a few seconds without remorse! He was dangerous, and Rainbow was gonna settle this once and for all! She flew towards the mountain, only taking one look back. When she got there, Aldric was standing there, near the edge of the nest. Blackwing was asleep, snoring slightly.
"Why?" Rainbow stopped, Aldric was talking. "No, of course not!" Who was he talking to? Nopony else was here. "Yes, I understand Rainbow wants to beat me to a pulp. No, I don't want to hurt them. Well, yeah, I suppose I might have to do that. I said I was over her! I just want my revenge, then these ponies won't ever need to see me again. Fuck. You. Yes, I understand that Rainbow is behind me." He spun around, looking at her. "Well? Aren't you going to attack me? I'm standing on the edge of a mountain, one hit and I'll tumble off it."
"Who...were you talking to?"
"Myself. And no, I'm not insane, no matter how insane that sounds." She slowly flew up to him, looking at him.
"Who was she?" He then unsheathed his sword and pointed at her throat.
"No, I didn't know she was listening to the entire conversation. I thought she just arrived at the end of it." He put his sword back, and sat down next to Blackwing. "What is up with you ponies? You're all so nosy. I already said don't talk about her. So, why are you up here?"
"Well, I was going to beat you to a pulp for getting rid of my friends."
"Wait....what? Getting rid of your friends? What the hell are you talking about?"
"Well, my friends sided with you so I tho-"
"Wait. You are telling me that after one argument, you thought you lost your friends? That stupid, friends stick together, arguments happen between friends, that doesn't mean you lose them. You're just overreacting." Rainbow was thrown off guard. Was she overreacting?
"I...guess I was overreacting, it's just....after losing Gilda, I thought I would lose all my friends. So when this happened I thought I...I lost them forever. But, that still doesn't excuse everything that you've done!"
"I already said I was sorry about the bottle, me attacking Applejack was the Nightmare controlling me. So I see no reason to keep a grudge against me."
"Says the person with a grudge." Rainbow mumbled. "Okay, fine, I suppose I can forgive you." He smiled and was about to say something when his stomach rumbled.
"Oh, I suppose I forgot to eat. Hmm....where will I find food at this hour?" His gaze slowly drifted to Rainbow, licking his lips. "I always wondered what pony tasted like." Rainbow gulped and slowly stepped back. "I'm just kidding Rainbow. Well, see you." He got up and ran off the edge of the cliff. Rainbow ran to the side, worried. He slowly flew back up as a falcon. "Really? You've seen me transform? Race ya!" He backflipped and shot down. Rainbow took a second to register then smiled. She ran off the edge and opened her wings.
Twilight and the others were at the cliff about to go up when a bird flew past them, followed by a cyan blur. They looked to the blur to see Rainbow on the ground, sweating, with a bird on her back.
"Fastest pony indeed." The bird spoke. Rainbow growled, and shook the bird off her. "Fine, we can do another race."
"Just what I wanted to hear." Rainbow smiled and shot back up the mountain. The others were stunned.
"Hey girls, looks like Rainbow and I got on better terms." Aldric said. He was standing next to them, looking up the mountain.
"How did you....?" Rarity started, staring between him and the mountain.
"I'll tell you later, see you tomorrow." With that he shot back up the mountain. "Okay, this time, I'll race you with Blackwing. Blackwing!" Blackwing lifted his head at Aldric. "Want to do a race?" Blackwing looked at him and then to Rainbow. Blackwing got up slowly, then his stomach rumbled. "Oh come on! You haven't had anything to eat either?" Blackwing shrugged. "Rainbow, let's do the race tomorrow, Blackwing gets cranky when he doesn't eat." Blackwing shrieked at him. "See! What did I tell you!"
"Okay fine, but tomorrow, I'm going to beat you both!" Rainbow then shot back down to her friends.
"Hey girls....I just want to say I'm sorry about the way I acted. After losing Gilda I just thought...that....I would lose you too. Can you ever forgive me?" Pinkie tackle hugged her.
"Of course we forgive you Dashy! You're our friend!" Rarity cleared her throat.
"Rainbow, darling. I want to say sorry also. I should've never have argued with you. Can you forgive me?" Rainbow thought about it.
"Eh, what the hay. Get over here!" And with that, they all hugged it out.
"Wait, we still need Aldric!"
"Pinkie...you know how he's an omnivore?" Pinkie nodded. "He's getting food right now." She finished by pointing to the Everfree Forest. They all shivered when they realized what she meant. "And besides, you can hug him tomorrow, after I beat him in a race." They all shared a little laugh and returned to their respective homes.
Dragons? Did someone say dragons?
In the morning, two days after the Ursa mishap, Ponyville has gone back to normal. New houses were built for the families who lost theirs. Many ponies were wondering where the bipedal creature who saved them went. Especially Lyra, who was running around everywhere looking for him.
"Lyra! Stop!" A voice called out behind her. Lyra stopped running and turned her head, only to see her roommate and friend Bon Bon, the residential candy maker of Ponyville. She finally caught up with her, panting heavily. "Lyra....why do...want to see this....thing...anyway?"
"Well Bonny, he is the only one of his species here, and I want to study him. That isn't too hard, is it? Bon Bon was about to answer when a small blur went by her, followed by getting hit and tumbling. "Hey! Who tackled me?" She looked up to see Rainbow Dash, on top of her, muzzle right in front of her's. They both blushed heavily while Lyra fell over, laughing.
"Really Rainbow? Why are you always on top? Let the poor mare be on top. And buy her a few drinks first also!" Somepony said, making Lyra stop laughing and gasp. Rainbow leapt off Bon Bon.
"I-I'm so sorry Bon Bon! Aldric and I were just having a race and he went down an alley so I followed him, only to crash into you. If anything, blame Aldric." She pointed a hoof over her shoulder.
"Well I'm not the one who wanted a race. You didn't say any rules so why not taking the shortest route?" Bon Bon and Lyra both looked around trying to spot Aldric, only seeing Rainbow and a hawk, sitting in a tree.
"Um...Rainbow? Where is he?" Rainbow looked at her confused and then nodded, pointing to the hawk. "What? Is he behind the tree." Rainbow shook her head. "Is he...the tree?" Rainbow shook her again. "Is he....a ghost?" Rainbow and Aldric both groaned, amazed how stupid somepony can be.
"I'm the bloody hawk!" The hawk shrieked at them. He then flew up a bit then transformed back. He landed on his feet walking over to Bon Bon and Rainbow. "Hi there, Bon Bon was it?" Bon Bon nodded, shaking slowly at his size. "Why are you all afraid of me? Yes, I understand that. No, I already said I wouldn't." He turned around and walked back to the tree. "Gah! No! Why would I ever do that?!? Fuck both of you!" He then slammed his head on the tree, making it shake. "No, I wasn't talking to anyone invisible. I was talking to myself, and no, I'm not insane no matter how insane that sounds." Lyra slowly walked up to him.
"So, Aldric." He looked at her and his eyes widened. He slowly started to back away, thinking of his options. He could either run, transform, kick her, throw dust in her face, or kill her. Two of those were instantly thrown away. 'Okay, dust, transform, run.' She then grabbed him with her magic and lowered him to the ground.
"I'm going to study you, right now, and you can't stop me." Aldric's mind then filled with perverse images. He shook his head furiously.
"Sounds....kinky?" Silence. Bon Bon had her mouth open, Rainbow smacked her face with a hoof, and Lyra seemed to stop working. She wasn't even holding him with her magic any more. "Um....I didn't mean to say it?" He said, looking at them. He gaze returned to Lyra. He flicked her head with his finger. "Did I break her? Wait....that sounded wrong also." He then whispered something into Lyra's ear and she gasped, slapping him. "Ow," he said, massaging his face. Her face was beet red.
"Lyra," Bon Bon started, "what did he say?" Lyra's body started turning red, sweat running down her face.
"Well I'm going to go girls see you later!" Lyra sprinted down the alley, then making a sharp left turn. Bon Bon and Rainbow both looked at him with a 'da fuck you say?' look.
"Do you really want to know? Seeing what it did to Lyra?" They looked between each other and back to Aldric, shaking their heads. "Thought so, now are we going to fin-.....anyone else smell smoke?" They looked at him, then a smell hit their noses.
"Yeah," Rainbow stated, "I do smell smoke! You smell it too Bon Bon?" She nodded her head, looking at the alley.
"Look, its been fun, but I better check up on Lyra. Laters!" And with that, she slowly went down the alley and went left, disappearing from view. Aldric cleared his throat.
"I think we should find Twilight, she would probably know what's going on. Race ya there!" With that he transformed back to the hawk, flying towards Twilight's library.
By the time they had got to the library, Twilight was just stepping outside of her house. Aldric transformed and walked up to her.
"Hey Twilight?" Twilight jumped, she wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings.
"Oh, hey Aldric. Weren't you having a race with Rainbow?" He nodded and flicked his head back. Twilight soon saw Rainbow walking behind him. "Oh, hello Rainbow."
"Yes, the hellos are nice and all, but can you tell me what's with all the smoke in the sky? It's burning my nose." Aldric asked her. "Is it a forest fire?" Twilight shook her head. "Volcano?" She shook no again. "What then?"
"It's a hibernating dragon." Rainbow looked shocked while Aldric looked ecstatic. "No Aldric, the Princess asked me to relocate it, so you can't harm it." His smile faded.
"Come on! It'll be quick! Just a quick slash here and there and done!" Twilight shook her head. "Fine. Do you want me and Rainbow to get the others?" Twilight nodded. "Thought so, Rainbow, you get Pinkie and Applejack, I'll get Rarity and Fluttershy." Rainbow saluted him and flew off.
"You two are getting along nicely, any reason behind that?" Twilight asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I suppose we are getting along." He answered. "Well, I'm going to get the others, later." With that he transformed back into a hawk and flew to Rarity's house. When he got there he transformed back and started knocking on the door.
"Just a minute darling!" Rarity's voice was heard inside. The door opened to reveal a small filly unicorn, with a purple and pink mane and tail. She took one look at Aldric then slammed the door on him.
"Rarity!" The filly said through the door. "There's a monster at the door!"
"What are you talking about Sweetie Belle?" Hooves on wood could be heard approaching the door and it soon revealed Rarity. "Oh, hello Aldric! Welcome to Carousel Boutique!" She ushered him inside. "What are you doing here? Do you need some help fixing those awfully dreaded clothing?" He raised an eyebrow at this.
"No, and it isn't clothing, it's armor. Twilight wants you to go to her house, I would recommend bringing some supplies."
"Why would I need to bring supplies?" He was about to speak when he saw two eyes looking at him and Rarity.
"I think your little companion over there is eavesdropping." He said, pointing to the eyes. Rarity looked behind her to see a glimpse of pink and purple go back around the corner. She sighed and went over to the corner. About a minute later she had the small filly from before.
"Aldric, allow me to introduce my little sister, Sweetie Belle." Sweetie Belle looked at him, scared and intrigued. He stuck a hand out and she slowly took it and shook.
"Hi Sweetie Belle." She just nodded and slowly stopped shaking. "I'm not going to hurt you." Sweetie Belle still looked unsure. "Rarity, I think she's still too scared. Can we continue this conversation upstairs?" Rarity nodded and they went upstairs. "Look Rarity. Now don't be alarmed, but there's a dragon sleeping near Ponyville and Celestia asked Twilight to get rid of it. She wanted me and Rainbow to gather up everyone and meet back out at her place. Can you get supplies and get there while I go to Fluttershy's house and tell her?" Rarity nodded and went into her bedroom.
"Remember Aldric!" She said to him before he went away. "The offer still stands to fix those dreaded pieces of armor!"
"I'm good, thanks!" He went down the stairs and opened the door and walked outside. "One down, one to go."
"There it is! The creature that saved us!" One of the ponies shouted. He froze and gulped, looking towards the voice. Soon, ponies were surrounding him, asking him a lot of questions. Aldric to look nervous then steeled himself.
"All of you! Back away, now." He spoke a with firm, don't question me, voice. They slowly backed away. "Now, I'll answer some of your questions in due time, but for now, I have a dragon to stop, goodbye." He walked through the gap the ponies made, and ran to Fluttershy's house. When he got there, some of the animals didn't run. He knocked on Fluttershy's door. He waited for a full minute before knocking again. No answer. He slowly unsheathed his sword, knocking harder. He grabbed the door handle and twisted, unlocked. He kicked the door in, holding his sword. "Fluttershy? You here?" No answer, something wasn't right. He went to the kitchen, nothing. He soon checked every room in the house. No one was here. "Where is she?" He felt a small tugging on his leg. Looking down, he saw Angel. He crouched down and put his hand out, Angel jumped on it and he brought to his face. "Where's Fluttershy?" Angel pointed at the front door. "Of course she's outside, so basically, I just broke into a pony's home and ransacked it?" Angel nodded, causing him to sigh. "Well, I'll see you later Angel." He set Angel back down, and started walking back to Twilight's house.
When Aldric had returned, Fluttershy was already there, along with the others. Twilight looked at him.
"Finally, what took you so long?"
"For one, the ponies around town were questioning me after a left Rarity's. So now, I have to answer their questions at a later date. Secondly, when I got to Fluttershy's house, she wasn't there. I thought that, maybe, someone had broken in her house, so I kicked her door in and checked everywhere, sorry Fluttershy, and then Angel told me that you weren't home. Also, when I said Angel told me, I didn't mean he literally talked to me, but I just pieced it together that you weren't home."
"It's okay Aldric," Fluttershy started." You were just looking out for me." He smiled and leaned back.
"So, Twilight," she looked at him. "When are we going to find this dragon?" The other gasped, besides Rarity and Rainbow. "What? You didn't tell them that a dragon is what's causing all this smoke yet?" She smiled sheepishly and shook her head. "Wow....okay, Twilight, tell them the plan. Or do you not have a plan either?" She glared at him before clearing her throat.
"Yes, a dragon is hibernating at that mountain over there." She pointed a hoof to a single mountain in the distance. "Princess Celestia asked us if you can go relocate it, because if we don't, smoke might cover all of Equestria for the next hundred years." Aldric spoke.
"If it's just sleeping, how is it causing smoke?"
"Apparently, it's snoring. Now, I trust Rainbow and Aldric told you to get supplies?" They all nodded except Fluttershy, who was shaking slightly. "Okay, now I'm gonna figure out the shortest and safest route to the mountain and up it." Twilight took out a map and begin talking to herself ideas. Aldric walked over to Fluttershy.
"Hey," Fluttershy jumped into a bush when he spoke. "Man, you really are shy. Come back out." Fluttershy walked out from the bush. "You look nervous. Why is that, you know, besides the massive dragon."
"Th-that's just it, I'm scared of dragons." Aldric had a 'oh really?' look on.
"Fluttershy, everyone's scared of dragons. And what about Spike? He's a dragon." Fluttershy nodded.
"Yes, but he isn't a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enor-" Aldric cut her off.
"Okay okay, I get it. Spike isn't a scary, all grown up dragon. Also, there is really no need to be afraid, I'll be up there, defending you."
"You...will?" Aldric nodded. Before they could speak again, Twilight spoke up.
"Okay! I think I found the shortest and safest route. Everypony ready?" They all nodded their heads started walking. Aldric nudged Fluttershy and they followed.
They arrived by the base of the mountain, it is far larger up close then it looked. Fluttershy was shaking. Aldric then shrilled, making everypony look at him. When he finished he waited for a minute before he did it again.
"Why are you making such a dreaded noise darling?" Rarity asked, before he was able to answer another shrill was heard. They all looked up to see a black mass falling towards them. It opened up wings and landed next to Aldric. It was Blackwing, looking at them all.
"Hey Blackwing, just want you to know, we are relocating a dragon. You know, the one causing all the smoke?" Blackwing nodded, and threw his head at Aldric's sword. "Look, if thing's get out of hand, I'll use it." Blackwing lowered himself to the ground. "No thanks, I'll stick with the ponies. Just stay close, okay?" Blackwing nodded and shot up into the sky. Aldric turned around when the dragon snored. Fluttershy tensed up and fell over. "I'll carry her." Aldric scooped up Fluttershy and started up the mountain.
Soon they passed this little drop which they stepped over. Fluttershy finally stopped being tense and Aldric released her from his grasp. Twilight then spoke in a whisper.
"Everypony be quiet, this is marked as an avalanche zone." They all nodded and started walking quietly. They were halfway there when Fluttershy screamed.
"AVALAN-" Rainbow pressed a hoof against her mouth. It started echoing, then they all felt vibrations. They looked to their right to see boulders falling down the cliff.
"RUN!" They all started running, weaving from falling boulders. Aldric drew his sword and start slicing rocks into pieces. Soon, everything quieted down, the avalanche was over. Blackwing was on the ground looking to see if anyone was hurt.
"Were good buddy." Aldric said, causing Blackwing to go back up. They all started their journey again. Rainbow went up to Twilight and started talking to her while Aldric hung to the back of the group. He shrilled again, causing Blackwing to come back down. "I'm going to scout ahead." He told them climbing onto Blackwing.
"Shouldn't we stay together Aldric? We would be safer in a group." Twilight asked approaching him.
"Yes, we would be safer. I just want to see what's ahead in the path." Before she could say anything Blackwing shot up. "Get us to the cave buddy." Blackwing nodded and started going up. "Actually, go as high as you can." Blackwing looked back at Aldric and shrugged. He started flying up as fast as he could. They soon lost track of the others. "Okay, this is good." Blackwing leveled out and started flapping. He looked back at Aldric again, a questioning look on his face. "Just wait." They waited a good seven minutes before a massive roar was heard. "Later Blackwing." Aldric slipped off Blackwing's back and started plummeting to the ground. Blackwing shrilled and started following him. "Stay back!" He yelled at Blackwing. He saw a layer of clouds and breached through it. He saw the tip of the mountain and spread eagle. He saw red scales glinting below him.
Down at the ground, the dragon had awoken and exited the cave because Rainbow kicked it in jaw. Fluttershy had revealed she had a fear of dragons, Aldric had left, and they couldn't stop it. Everypony was running around trying to not be crushed.
"HEY YA BIG BASTARD!" Everypony and the dragon stopped and looked into the sky. Soon the dragon crashed into the ground, causing a cloud of dust to be spray everywhere. When it settled, Aldric was on the dragon's muzzle. "So," he said, turning around. "How did you all like my dramatic entrance?" The dragon started getting up before Aldric put his sword up to the dragon's eye. "Make any sudden movements and this gets shoved in there." The dragon slowly started lowering itself back to the ground. "Good. Now," he turned back to the ponies. "Why did you let this get so out of hand so fast?" All heads turned to Rainbow Dash.
"Thanks girls." Aldric sighed and got off the dragon. The dragon got up on his hind legs and roared at Aldric. He turned around just to be batted off the mountain. They all gasped and ran towards the edge. Blackwing slowly flew up, Aldric on his back.
"Oh you shouldn't have done that. Blackwing?" The gryphon turned its head back. "Let's see how fast this fucker can go." Blackwing somehow managed a smile from his beak. "Go into his cave." Blackwing nodded and shot past the dragon into his cave. Aldric blasted the gold with fire, eliciting a pained yell from Rarity. The dragon eyes slitted, and his mouthed started steaming. "What? You mad?"
"NO ONE DESTROYS MY GOLD!" The dragon roared, erupting fire from his mouth onto the roof. 'Yeah, he mad.' Aldric thought to himself. Blackwing shot back out of the cave, the dragon trying to bite him.
"One thing about dragons!" He yelled to group. "They hate it when you mess with their stuff!" The dragon opened his wings. "Okay! I'll distract him, you all get out of here!" They all looked at him crazily. Twilight was the first one to speak.
"We can still work this out! And Aldric, you said you wouldn't kill the dragon!" Aldric sighed.
"First of all, we cannot work this out. Dragons go into a sort of state when you destroy their stuff. So you wouldn't be able to get even close to him. Second of all! I'm not killing it, I am relocating it! Now, get out of here! That's an order!" They didn't question him. They started running back down the mountain. "Come on, let's go Blackwing." Blackwing started flying away from the mountain. The dragon ran towards the edge of the cliff and jumped, wings open.
"I WILL RIP YOU TO SHREDS!" The dragon roared again, shooting fire at them. Aldric started laughing.
"Just like old times huh?" Blackwing shook his head, dodging another fire blast. "So, how do you relocate a dragon without killing it? Wait.....Twilight said I couldn't kill the dragon, but what else could kill a dragon?" He began to count the things that could a dragon. He looked to his left to see the Everfree Forest. "Get us into the forest!" Blackwing banked to his left, then diving with the dragon right behind them. They crashed through the trees, causing Aldric to fall off of Blackwing. "Blackwing! Go back to town and warn them not to go into the forest!" Blackwing shot back through the trees. The dragon crashed through the trees, almost crushing Aldric. Aldric walked up to its face, then kicked it. His eye opened, looking towards Aldric. He snapped his jaws at Aldric, who stepped out of the way.
"You....I WILL DESTROY YOU!" Aldric nodded.
"Yeah, you'll have to wait for thousands of others who want too. Now, if you'll excuse me." Aldric ran deeper into the forest. The dragon got up, towering over the trees, roared and charged. The dragon started trampling everything in his way. However, the creatures of the forest didn't like that. Manticores, timberwolves, cockatrices, cragadiles, and even a hydra started attacking the dragon. The hydra clamped down on the dragons neck, slamming it to the ground. Everything started attacking the weak underbelly of the dragon, ripping through the softer scales like a knife through butter. The life in the dragon's eyes vanished. All the beasts starting roaring in victory. "I told you ya big bastard, you shouldn't have fucked with me." Everything turned towards Aldric, growling. "Oh....fuck."
Aldric stood there, battered, bruised, and bleeding. His sword was covered in blood and sap. Surrounding were corpses of manticores, cockatrices, and cragadiles. The hydra ran away, but not without losing its tail. Twigs started flying past him, glowing green. They started forming paws, legs, a torso, and finally a head. A massive timberwolf stood in front of him, a wooden crown atop its head. It roared at him, blowing his cloak off. Aldric growled, spitting out blood. Aldric returned the wolf's roar with his own, causing some twigs to fly off it. It roared again, louder. Aldric returned the favor. Soon a roaring contest started, seeing who would be intimidated first. Aldric spotted a black shape in the sky behind the timberwolf. He shrilled loudly, the black shape falling at high speeds. The timber wolf opened its jaw and was about to chomp down on Aldric when the black shape smashed through him. Blackwing was standing beneath it, covered in sap. Aldric took this to jump on the wolf's muzzle and slash at its eyes. It howled in pain before Aldric lit his sword on fire, plunging it straight into its skull. The howling ceased and it fell into a heap of twigs. Aldric walked off the heap before blacking out, falling towards the ground. Blackwing caught him, Aldric lying on his back.
Aldric awoke to darkness...black, inky, darkness. He tried turning his head but he couldn't, his head was fixed to look in front of him. He tried moving everything else but nothing responded. He was frozen, stuck looking into that darkness. He strained his eyes to see if anything was in the darkness but he couldn't see anything. He suddenly felt very tired and his eyelids felt heavy. Everything became blurry, he could barely make out outlines of creatures moving through the darkness. A pair of gold, slitted eyes appeared in front of him. He could hear distance laughter, surrounding him. The eyes disappeared and Aldric fell asleep.
Blackwing stalked through the Everfree Forest, looking for food. Blackwing took Aldric back to the mountain for him to sleep after fighting that massive battle. When Aldric was knocked out, Blackwing decided to see what scars Aldric gained while they were separated and were there a lot of them. Massive scars running down his back, multiple stab wounds, slash marks, and a couple of bite marks. The scars that were the most interesting were the ones running down his back. They didn't look faded, they look like they were just made, and when he put a claw on them they felt warm, warmer than his body. Soon his stomach grumbled, so he went hunting, which is where we are now.
Twigs snapped ahead, so he dived into the shadows. A manticore walked into a clearing, limping slightly. Scars were present all over its body. It sat down, licking its wounds. Blackwing slowly walked closer, staying as silent as possible. Something exploded out from the bushes to the left of the manticore. Another manticore, far larger than the other one, stood in front of the other, growling. The smaller of the two started limping away as fast as possible. The larger on stepped the smaller one's tail, pulling it to the ground. The larger put its jaws on the smaller ones neck, then with a quick twist, broke it. It fell limp to the ground, twitching slightly. Triumphantly, the larger one roared. The manticore walked off, leaving the carcass. Blackwing slowly walked towards the carcass. He looked around before eating it. After eating a sufficient amount, he started to fly up before stopping himself. Aldric should have some food too. He walked over to the carcass, opening a claw. He was about to carve out meat to give to Aldric when he realized he doesn't know how to do that. He was about to think on how to do this when a cragadile appeared, growling at him. Blackwing shot into the sky, letting it have the rest. He turned around and started flying towards the town.
Blackwing observed ponies taking down branches from trees and moving clouds. He was always fascinated that these ponies can move clouds. While watching, he wasn't looking ahead of him, causing him to bump into somepony. He shook his head and looked ahead, seeing a lavender mare with a seafoam green mane.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." She stuck out a hoof. "I'm Flitter. Who are you?" He looked at the hoof before gingerly shaking it. "Um...your name?" Blackwing nodded and pointed to his feathers. "Um...can't you talk?" He shook his head and continued pointing. "Oh...Feather?" He shook it again and started floating down. She followed him, watching him scratch something in the dirt. "Color? Color....your name is Color?" He put a claw to his head and grabbed a feather, yanking it out. He drew an arrow and put the feather next to it. "Oh, Black!" He nodded and stuck out a wing. He then pointed to the feather and his wing. "Blackwing...Blackwing!" He nodded, sighing a little that Aldric wasn't here.
"Flitter! Where are-oh there you are." Another mare flew down and sat next to her, with same lavender coat. "What are you doing? We need to set up the clouds for the rain."
"Sorry Cloudchaser, I was talking to Blackwing over there." She pointed a hoof at Blackwing. Cloudchaser turned her head and saw him. "He can't talk so he tried communicating with me."
"Mhm, well that's nice and all, but we need to get the clouds in position. If we don't Rainbow will have our hides. You can talk to your new friend later." Cloudchaser spread her wings and flew back up, Flitter close behind her, but not before waving goodbye to Blackwing. Blackwing watched in silence as they flew away. Blackwing shook his head and continued walking.
Soon, he came across Twilight's library, so he knocked on the door. "I'll be right there!" Twilight yelled from inside. Blackwing sat down, looking at his claw. The door opened, so he looked up at Twilight. "Hello, and welcome to the Golden Oak Library." Her face was deep inside of a book, so she wasn't looking at him. He walked past her and got a better look at the library. The door closed and he turned his head, watching Twilight walk past him and sit down. He went over and grabbed the book from her. "Hey!" She looked at who took her book, staring directly into Blackwing's face. She yelped in surprise, falling over. He shook his head and put her book back down.
"Ow," she rubbed the back of her head, getting up, "sorry Blackwing, you surprised me. Not every day you see a gryphon with red eyes staring directly at you. So, what are you doing here?" He shrugged and looked out the window. "Oh right, you can't really...talk, can you. I forgot." He nodded and continued looking out the window, watching ponies tear down branches. He tapped his claw against the floor, gaining the attention of Twilight. "Yes?" He pointed out the window, to both the pegasi moving clouds and to the ponies tearing the branches down. "Oh, well last week the pegasi forgot a slight drizzle last week so they have to make it up with a storm. They're tearing down the loose branches so they don't break off from the trees and break anything." He looked confused for a moment before slowly nodding. He put his claw around two feet off the ground, then looked around, confused. "What? Spike?" He nodded. "He's off in Canterlot with some royal business. So I'm sort of just...lounging around, where's Aldric?" He pointed towards the mountain. "Ah, you know, this must be getting annoying, having to point out everything to everypony," he nodded, a questioning look on his face, "hold on, I think I have a spell that will let you talk." Twilight's horn lit up and several books floated down to her. She used her magic to flip through the books, setting down ones that didn't have the spell. Blackwing got up and walked over to another window, seeing Rarity and Applejack stuck in the rain. He opened the door and ran towards them.
"Ugh, my mane! It getting ruined!" He heard Rarity say, so he put his wing over her, protecting her from the rain. "Huh?" She looked up the wing, then followed the it to Blackwing's face. "Oh, thank you Mr. Blackwing." He nodded and looked towards Applejack, extending his other wing. She got out from under a picnic table and stood under his wing.
"Thank ya kindly Blackwing." A smile crept on his beak, but he shook it away. Slowly turning back towards the library, he started walking back. They kept his pace and stayed close to him, keeping warm from his feathers.
"Oh, but won't you get a cold Blackwing?" He shook his head and continued walking. Soon they reached the library so Rarity walked inside, Applejack close behind her. Rarity stuck out her hoof, blocking Applejack from entering. "Please be a polite house guest and go wash up." She pointed to her hooves, which were muddy. Applejack grumbled something as she passed by Blackwing. He followed her, grabbing a hose and turning it on, washing the mud from her hooves.
"Thanks! If only somepony was more friendly." Shaking his head, he followed Applejack back inside, where Rarity was conversing with Twilight. Blackwing kicked the door closed, maybe too loud, because they all jumped. Twilight turned her head and when she saw Blackwing, a big smile grew on her face and she jumped up to him.
"Good news! I found a spell that's let's animals talk!" Blackwing held a claw up, feigning pain. Twilight looked confused for a moment when what she said caught up to her. A blush crossed her face. "I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to call you animal." She looked down at the ground. Blackwing put a claw to her head and rustled her mane. She looked up at Blackwing, who was smiling. "I'll...I'll cast the spell. Just step over there." She pointed her hoof to the middle of the library. Blackwing walked towards the spot, sitting down when he reached it. Twilight took one last look at the spell before her horn lit up, bathing Blackwing in a purple aura. It lasted a few seconds before Twilight's horn stopped glowing, stumbling a bit. Blackwing looked around, looking at everypony.
"Well, did it wo-" Blackwing slapped a claw across his beak, eyes wide. Slowly, he uncovered his mouth. "It...it worked. Holy shit my voice is gruff." It was true, his voice was like Aldric's, but rougher. "Oh man, I can't wait to see the look on Aldric's face when he finds out I can talk." Suddenly he grabbed Twilight and hugged her. "Thank you, now I can make fun of Aldric more!"
"Your.....welcome....let go of me please." Blackwing let go of Twilight, a sheepish smile on his face. "Now then, Rarity, Applejack, can you get home?" They both shook their heads no. Twilight's face suddenly lit up, confusing the two ponies.
"We can have a sleepover, I've always wanted one of those!" Rarity and Applejack suddenly looked very nervous, while Blackwing just nodded.
"I'm fine with it, but is sleeping inside a giant tree the best option in a storm?"
"It is when you have a magical lightning rod protecting it like mine!" She responded. Blackwing just shrugged and jumped up on the couch. Twilight levitate a book down and shoved towards Rarity.
"Slumber 101, all you've ever wanted to know about slumber parties but were afraid to ask." Twilight face lit up.
"It's a fantastic reference guide! You should read the table of content!" Blackwing stifled a laugh, gaining the attention of them both. "What? What's so funny?"
"It's just...why do things by the book? That's not fun, Aldric and I just take whatever is thrown at us, actually and figuratively, and do what seems best. Also, I won't take part of any of that girly stuff, for reasons most obvious." Twilight looked slightly shocked.
"But....but the book said." Blackwing sighed. 'She is a buzzkill, always doing things by the book,' he thought to himself.
"Fine, do things by your little book." He waved her off with a claw. Twilight's face lit up and flipped through the book.
"Okay, the first thing the book said to do is a makeover." Rarity jumped across the room, smiling heavily.
"Makeovers?! Oh, I love makeovers!" She pulled a bowl filled a green mixture from somewhere and stuck her hoof in it. She smeared it all over her face and Twilight's. Blackwing sighed and got up off the couch and walked over to a window, watching the rain hit it. He blocked out the conversation the ponies were having and focused on Aldric. He had changed so much, his attitude, his sense of humor was still there, albeit, a bit darker. Plus, he always kept that damn left eye of his closed.
"Blackwing? Is sometin' wrong?" Shaking his head, he turned his head to the speaker, Applejack. "We're 'bout to cook some s'mores, do ya want one?"
"No, everythings...fine. I'll take one s'more." Applejack nodded and walked over to where the s'mores were being made, grabbed one, and brought it back. "Thanks." Blackwing stuffed it into his mouth, chewing it. A common misconception is that gryphons only have a beak to eat food with, when in reality, they have some molars, taken from their lion side.
"Okay, s'mores; check. Next is truth or dare." Blackwing then watched as Rarity and Applejack started daring each other, increasing in randomness. Starting to get annoyed he lashed out.
"I dare both of you to shut the hell up for five minutes!" Everypony turned their head at his yelling, shocked. Sighing, he sat down. "I'm sorry, but friends shouldn't argue like that, trust me, I would know." Feeling his eyes become watery he looked away, wiping them. He felt something on him, so he turned back. Rarity had wrapped her hooves around Blackwing chest.
"I'm sorry," she started, "we shouldn't have acted like that, isn't that right Applejack?" Rarity turned her head to look at Applejack. Applejack nodded and hugged Blackwing too.
"You're right as rain Rarity. I'm sorry Twi, this must've been the worst first slumber party." Twilight nodded slightly but joined the hug. Blackwing, in the mean time, was feeling very awkward, being hugged. Slowly, he unfurled his wings and covered them over the ponies. They hug lingered before Blackwing coughed, signaling that this was getting weird. They let go, faces flushed.
"So," Blackwing started, "what's next?" Twilight nodded and lit her horn, lifting the book over with her magic. Twilight cleared her throat.
"Let's see, what's this? 'Pillow fight'? What's that?" Blackwing, Rarity, and Applejack all looked at each other before Rarity and Applejack smiled deviously at Blackwing. Blackwing ran towards Twilight, picked her up, getting a "Hey," and dived behind the couch. Peering over the couch, Blackwing got a faceful of pillow. Spitting out feathers, he crouched back down.
"Okay, Twilight, just start throwing pillows at them, okay?" Twilight's face lit up and nodded. Using her magic, she grabbed three pillows. "Ready," she nodded, "okay, 1, 2, 3!" Blackwing leapt over the couch, dodging pillows. Applejack exposed herself, so Twilight launched her pillows at her. She fell down, laughing all the while. Blackwing started laughing also, joining everypony else. Soon, the pillow war ended, with everypony laughing on the ground. After everypony calmed down, Applejack yawned.
"Getting tired Applejack? I supp-" Twilight yawned also, "I suppose we all are, who wants to get some shut eye?" They all nodded, so they got up and started walking up the stairs. Twilight opened the door to her room and pulled the spare bed out. "Um...Rarity and Applejack, you don't mind sharing a bed, do you?" Rarity and Applejack looked at each other and nodded. "Good...Blackwing we don't have another bed, but you can share mi-," he waved her off.
"I'll just sleep on the floor and don't try to stop me, I've slept on the floor a lot," walking over, he laid down near the window, "goodnight." He rested his head on his claws, closing his eyes. The others just got into bed, wishing goodnight to each other. Soon, after everypony was asleep, Blackwing got up. Sitting down near the window, he started thinking about Aldric's eye and those marks again. 'They, they must be connected, but how? How can charred marks on his back and a closed eye be connec-"CRASH
Jolting up, he looked out the window to see that a tree had been hit by lightning. It also woke everypony else, making them scream. He slammed a claw into the floor, shutting them up.
"Okay, that tree was just hit by some lightning, no problem. Twilight, Rarity, use your magic to lower it to the ground." Twilight and Rarity nodded, using their combined magic to lower it to the ground. "Well then, now that were all awake again, let's get back to sleep, hopefully without any distractions." They all nodded and went back to bed, Blackwing included.
Blackwing's eyes cracked open, letting them adjust, and opened them fully. Yawning, he stood up, stretching. He popped a few bones and looked at the beds, which were empty. He descended down the stairs, hearing some conversations. He saw Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack laying down, laughing.
"Ahem." They all turned to look at Blackwing. "Well, I'm going to check on Aldric, knowing him he's probably of fighting some big monster." Waving goodbye, he opened the door and took to the skies. He flew away from Twilight's, going over the town. Spotting the two mares from yesterday, Flitter and Cloudchaser, he floated down behind them. Feeling wind on their back, they turned around to see Blackwing behind.
"Hey Blackwing, how's it hanging?" Cloudchaser and Flitter asked at the same time, causing them to giggle. He shrugged his shoulders.
"Eh, it's pretty good, you?" Their jaws dropped, eyes wide. They started making a bunch of random noises. "Surprised, ain't ya?" He asked with a chuckle. They closed their mouths.
"I thought you said you couldn't talk? Was that a lie or something?" Cloudchaser asked, suspiciously. He shook his head.
"No, I couldn't always talk, but Twilight did a spell that let me. So, how are you two?" They shrugged also.
"Eh, nothing much, just shopping right Flitter?...Flitter?" Cloudchaser turned her head to look at Flitter, who was staring at a black pegasus stallion with a mohawk. Cloudchaser poked her side, eliciting a giggle from her.
"Stop it, you know I'm ticklish there!" Blackwing chuckled, getting a hoof to the shoulder from Flitter. He held up his claws in defence. "Why'd you do that anyways?"
"Well, you spaced out staring at Thundy over there," a massive blush appeared on Flitter's face, "so I decided to snap you out of it. Besides, you can stare at Thundy all you want later." Flitter's entire face was red in embarrassment. Blackwing sat down next to Flitter.
"All right, Cloudchaser that's enough, don't embarrass her even more." Flitter nodded her head in appreciation, while Cloudchaser stuck her tongue at him.
"I'm the older sister, I can embarrass her all I want." Blackwing glared at her, causing her to shiver. "Fine, I'll won't embarrass her," she looked away and mumbled the last part, "as much." Blackwing found that fine and started walking away.
"Well, I'm going to go, bye. Also, I heard that last part Cloudchaser." Cloudchaser looked at him in shock while he flew away. She could see the slight smile on his beak. Blackwing looked back to see the shock her face, smiling to himself. Flying over the Everfree, he looked down to see any signs of Aldric. Seeing no signs of him he turned towards the mountain. He settled on top of the mountain, looking into his nest. Aldric wasn't there, only a indent in the branches where he slept. Turning back to the Everfree, he flew down to the last place he thought of. Landing, he looked at the waterfall which hid the cave. Slowly, he walked towards it, avoiding the water. Peeking his head in, he saw nothing. Walking into the cave, he checked for any signs of Aldric. Nothing was there either. Sighing, he sat down on a 'rock'. The 'rock' suddenly moved, flipping Blackwing off it. Scrambling up, he looked at the 'rock' to see a cragadile. It snapped at him, biting a few feathers off. Jumping out of the cave, he landed in the water. Swimming away towards the water's edge, he felt something grab his tail. Looking back, he saw the cragadile's teeth on his tail. The beast yanked him further into the water, intent on drowning him. Suddenly, the pressure on his tail was released, so he swam as fast as he could to the water's edge. Pulling himself onto the ground, he looked back. The cragadile was on the beach, jaws open. Aldric was pushing it back, using his hands to hold the jaws open. His eye had a primal rage that Blackwing never saw before.
"I'm going to rip you apart." Aldric let go of its jaws and rolled it onto its back, revealing its soft underbelly. Releasing a primal roar, Aldric jabbed his hands into the beast, breaking the scales. He started moving his hands apart, ripping its flesh apart. He stood up and raised it over his head. He kept his word, ripping the beast in two. Guts fell onto the floor, bones effectively turned to dust. Aldric stood there, covered in blood. He roared to the sky, scaring everything, Blackwing included. Aldric wasn't finished though, grabbing one of the beast and started ripping it to shreds. Blackwing snapped out of it and tackled him to the ground.
"Snap out of it!" Blackwing yelled into his face. That seemed to do the trick, his eye losing the primal spark. Aldric shook his head, clearing it. He looked at Blackwing over him, then turned his head to see the carnage he wrought on the cragadile. Then his mind registered.
"Did you just talk? Also, get off me." Blackwing got off of him and stood to his side. Aldric got up, staggering. "Thanks, now, did you just talk?" Blackwing shook his head.
"No, that was the other black gryphon with red eyes, sorry." He replied sarcastically. Aldric walked over to the water and splashed some on his face, washing away the blood. "Aren't you surprised?"
"Oh, a little, I suppose. You expecting a different reaction?" Unclipping his armor, he started wiping the blood from them. "So, how's it been going." Blackwing watched as he took off his shirt, exposing those marks again.
"Actually, its been good. Made some friends, slept over at someone's house. Oh, by the way, what's with those marks on your back?" Aldric stopped everything, cursing under his breath. Setting his shirt with his armor in the sun, he walked over to Blackwing.
"Look, you don't want to know what those marks are from, let's leave it at that." Blackwing growled at him and pulled him to the ground. "Hey!"
"No more waiting, I've been in the dark far too long, you'll tell me, and you'll tell me now." Aldric glared at Blackwing, getting an equally intimidating glare. Aldric soon looked away, sighing. "I'll take that as a yes?" Aldric nodded. Blackwing got off of him, sitting next to him. Aldric sat up and rested his back on a log.
"It's a long one, after you hear it you'll think I'm lying. You ready." Blackwing nodded, resting his head on his claws. "Wait, I think the others should hear this also. Come on." Aldric got on Blackwing and they took off towards Twilight's house.
Soon they landed in front of the library. Aldric opened the door, revealing Twilight reading a book. She looked up at them, smiling.
"Hello Blackwing, Aldric. What brings you here?" Blackwing nudged Aldric forward. Aldric glared at the gryphon, who was looking away. Returning his gaze to Twilight he cleared his throat.
"Twilight, get your friends, I have something to explain to you all." Twilight clearly looked confused, so he elaborated, which he clearly found hard. "Look...it's about Ar-," he inhaled sharply, "Arya. This is about Arya." Twilight nodded and walked towards the door.
"I'll go get the others." Opening the door, she briskly walked out and shut it. Blackwing growled at Aldric.
"I thought we were going to talk about those marks, not Arya." Aldric's eye twitched. He was about to answer when the door opened again, Twilight and others standing outside. "That was awfully fast." Pinkie bounded into the room.
"Oh, well I sense that the author was about to explain Arya, so I gathered the girls and we ran here." She replied cheerfully. They both were confused while the others walked into the room.
"Okay, since you all know why you're here, I suppose I should tell you. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?"
Aldric watched the ponies, who were looking at him, intent on hearing his story. The ponies-no... friends, that he hurt, just because he was a selfish bastard. Turning his head, he looked at Blackwing, his companion, his brother-in-arms, his friend. His friend that he left behind to die, his friend he thought was dead for eight years. Aldric clenched his teeth and held back his tears. Breathing in, he sat down and exhaled.
"I suppose I should start, shouldn't I?" They just nodded, leaning forward. "Fine, I'll tell you why I don't like hearing the name Arya," Blackwing coughed, getting a glare from him before continuing, "and those marks on my back. Well, it all started eight years ago, known as a 'unknown monster attack, nearly destroyed Valwynn, the capital back where I'm from," he shook his head, "it was never a monster attack, Frederick just said that." Before he could continue, Twilight raised her hoof. Aldric looked at her, seeing a notepad and pencil. "Yes?" Twilight looked away from her notes.
"Who's Frederick?" Aldric nodded and was about to answer when Blackwing beat him to it.
"Frederick's the king, the one he," Blackwing pointed a claw at Aldric, "has had a grudge on for... how long Aldric, I've lost count." Blackwing finished with a smirk. Aldric growled at him before he continued.
"Yes, Frederick is the king from where I'm from. But before I tell you about the attack, I need to tell you about Arya, how we met and why I hate hearing her name. It all started ten years ago..."
A lone man stood outside a tavern, snow hitting his cloak. The wind howled at him, as if it was telling him to get inside before he froze. The man looked up at the destroyed sign of the tavern. Many of the words were gone, long since forgotten. The man stopped looking at the sign and turned his attention to the door. It was warm, inviting, and was able to keep people safe from the harsh elements. Slowly, he lifted his boot from the snow, and started walking to the door. Finally, he reached the door. He reached for the handle, feeling the cold on his hand, even through his glove. Twisting the door, it swung open, releasing a cold gust of wind into the tavern, the candles and fire flickering. All eyes turned toward him, and his green eyes swept across the room. He felt like this was somehow very cliché, but he shook his head slightly and closed the door behind him. Taking off his cloak, he hung it up with his fur hat on a post. Walking over to the fire, he stayed by it for a minute, before he walked to the counter, sitting on a stool. Still feeling eyes on him, he turned around, seeing if he could spot anyone suspicious, but he couldn't.
"Are you just goin' ta sit there, or are ya goin' ta buy somethin'?" The man looked at the bartender, a small man, possibly in his late forties.
"Just get me an ale," the man answered in a familiar voice, "on the rocks." The bartender just nodded, grabbing a glass from a hook before dropping some ice in it, then poured a bottle of ale into it. The bartender slid the drink over to the man, who dropped some coins onto the counter. "That should cover it." The bartender grabbed the coins and put them in a box, which he then locked. The man took a sip of the ale, enjoying the bitter taste of it. Hearing footsteps behind him, the man continued to drink his alcohol, pretending not to notice. He felt a hand grab his shoulder.
"Yous Aldric?" A man asked in a burly voice. Turning his head to see the speaker, the he looked at a big, burly man, with a mace at his side. He swished his drink around.
"That depends, am I?" He asked with a smirk. The burly man whistled, drawing two men to where the man was sitting, equally equipped with weapons.
"This bounty says yous is, this bounty of ten-thousand gold. Me and the boys are gonna split it, after we show them your head!" Before the three men could react, he threw his drink into the man's face, then kicked him into the fire. Then he grabbed the stool next to him and smashed it across another ones face. The last man looked at his two companions, one screaming and burning, the other knocked out cold.
"You," the last man jumped, "take down all the posters of me you find, and if I hear that you ratted me out, I'll slice your throat, you understand me?" The man nodded, shaking. Then he asked a question.
"Does th-that mean you're Aldric?" The man glared at him, before nodding slightly. Aldric grabbed the man and walked over to the door, throwing him out onto the snow covered ground. The man scrambled onto his feet and ran off into the night.
"Not bad," hearing the voice, Aldric whipped around, sword drawn, "whoa, easy." A woman moved the blade away from her face. "Can't go whipping that thing at every girl you see." Aldric glared at the woman before cracking a smile.
"No, only the pretty ones." Aldric watched as she turned away, blushing. "So, you're the one that was staring at me when I sat down." She turned back, surprised.
"How did you know?" Aldric raised an eyebrow.
"It was obvious, as soon as I saw those three men I knew they were bounty hunters. I'm surprised I didn't rule you out as one also, with those daggers in your boots and the hidden crossbow." She looked even more surprised. "You gotta know these things when your public enemy number one... what's your name?"
"I'm Arya," reaching down to her boot, she pulled out a knife and threw it right past him, "and you're welcome." Looking back, Aldric saw the man from earlier, on the ground, and with a dagger in his throat. Hearing the stomping of boots, he strained his eyes to see around five guards running towards them.
"I think we should be going Arya, like now!" Aldric jumped up and grabbed the low-hanging roof of the tavern and pulled himself up onto the roof. Reaching a hand down to Arya, she grabbed it and he pulled her up. "Wait... your daggers don't have your initials on them, do they?" Arya's eye widened and she looked back at the corpse. "Of course they do, I'll grab it." Jumping off, he ran to the corpse, yanked the dagger out, and jumped onto another roof. Feeling something whizz past him he sprinted forward, jumping from roof to roof. Looking to his left, he saw Arya running from roof to roof also. Then she fell over, screaming in pain. Aldric stopped, sliding on the slippery roof. Looking at the ground, he saw the group of guards, one with a crossbow raised in the air. Flipping the dagger over, he threw it at him, hitting him in the leg, making him fall over.
"Fuckin' hell!" Aldric jumped off the roof, landing by the guards. They turned around, weapons drawn. Aldric growled at them.
"Didn't your mom tell you it isn't polite to hit a lady?" Aldric dashed forward, grabbing the guard on the ground by his neck. He yanked the dagger out, then threw him into the others. Aldric ran and jumped on another roof. Looking left and right, he saw Arya on the ground, writhing. Sliding next to her, he put his arms under her and lifted her up. She hissed in pain, cursing under her breath. Hearing the guards get up, Aldric started running, dodging bolts as they flew by. Seeing a significant jump a few buildings ahead of him, he sprinted forward. Not daring to look back, he closed the gap between the jump quickly. As soon as he touched the edge, he jumped with all his strength. Seeing that he wouldn't make, he tossed Arya just enough to crash on the roof. She shouted some very colorful words at him as he fell onto the snow.
"Over here! Something crashed!" Aldric groaned as tried to get up. Someone pushed him back into the snow. "Try to get up and I'll carry your head in a bag." Aldric felt as his weapons were taken off him. "Get up."
"I thought you said not to, or you'll carry my head in a bag." For that comment, he got a kick to the gut. "What? Everyone loves a good joke." Aldric asked smiling. Another kick, harder than the last one.
"One more comment out of you and I will." Aldric complied, getting on his feet as rope was tied around his hands. Hearing movement above him, Aldric turned around smiling.
"Before you go, aren't you forgetting someone?" He watched the confusion on the guard's face before a yell and a grunt was heard behind him. The guard turned around, watching as Arya took out a dagger of his fellow guard. Aldric kicked him in the back, toppling the guard over. "Thanks, thought you weren't going to come back for a second, untie me?" Aldric felt as the dagger cut through the ropes and he moved his hands in front of him, massaging his wrists.
"So," Aldric looked at Arya, her boot on the guard's back, "what about him?" Aldric shrugged and handed her other dagger back, which she accepted gratefully.
"Let him go, I don't really kicking people while they're down. Knock him out and I'll do... something." Arya looked at him, before shrugging and kicking the guard in the face. Aldric walked over and lifted the guard over his shoulder. "Well this was definitely... interesting, to say the least." Aldric said, looking at Arya.
"Yeah... it kinda was." She said, looking back at him. They stared at each other for a good minute before Aldric spoke.
"You do realize how cliché this seems, don't you?" Arya nodded, looking forward. "Good, cause I don't want to be in a relationship right now... or ever, no offence." She shook her head, signaling none was taken. "Anyway, it was nice meeting you Arya, I'm going to drop this guy off somewhere, don't know where, but somewhere."
"And that's how I met Arya, not exactly on the best of conditions, but that's how most relationships start, am I right?" The ponies sat there, stunned. Aldric looked at Blackwing, who looked very tired. "Blackwing!" Jolting up, Blackwing hit his head on the roof. "Gods, if I knew I was this boring, I'd have taken a vow of silence." Blackwing rubbed his head.
"Well sorry, all this lovey dovey stuff is boring, tell me about those marks!" Blackwing asked, agitated. Twilight and the others shushed him.
"Let's continue, shall we? Now then, the day I lost Arya. Most of it is blurry, but I think I can explain most of it."
A herd of deer stood in a clearing, grazing on the grass, ears twitching for signs of danger. Suddenly, a buck raised its head, turning to look at some trees. Something launched out of the trees, heading straight for the buck. It tried jumping out of the way, but it was all for naught. The arrow pierced the buck's neck,narrowly avoiding the jugular. It walked a few steps before toppling over, the blood spurting out of the wound. The other deers ran away, back into the brush. The buck watched as something came out of the brush, walking towards him. Scrambling slightly, the deer cried out in pain. The thing stood over the buck, taking out a small knife. Putting the knife to deer's throat, it whispered something before shoving the knife into its throat. The buck finally succumbed to its fate, falling limb. The thing yanked out the knife, watching the blood flow from the wound. Sunlight shone through the trees, hitting the thing's face, revealing Aldric. Aldric put the knife next to the arrow wound, cutting out the flesh around the arrow. Scraping the flesh off the arrow, he put it back into his quiver. Putting his arms under the deer, he lifted it up and began walking back the way he came.
"I'm still surprised we ran out of food, I went hunting last week. I guess Arya and I go through more food then I realized... and I'm talking to myself again. I do that a lot, don't I? Who am I even asking that question to? Myself? Whatever, I'll just get this back to the house and I can actually talk to someone besides mys-"
"AAAAAH!" Aldric stopped, looking around for the source of the scream. It sounded familiar, almost like it was Arya's. "ALDRIC HELP!" Eyes widening, Aldric tossed the deer off and sprinted back to the house. Drawing his sword, Aldric jumped over a log and landed in a dirt road. Looking to his left, he saw the house in the distance, so he started running towards it, "LET GO OF ME, HEEEE-," Aldric ran faster, closing in on the house.
"Nononono, ARYA!" Aldric yelled, busting down the door. The house was ransacked, tables flipped, furniture destroyed, and Arya was on the floor, in a puddle of blood. "NO!" Aldric yelled, sliding next to her side. He grabbed her hand. "Come on Arya, stay with me." Arya's eyes fluttered open
"Al-aldric? Is that you?" Arya asked, which he nodded furiously to. Arya smiled slightly and opened her mouth again to talk but Aldric stopped her.
"Shhh... don't talk, I can heal you and we can leave." Arya shook her head, coughing up some blood. "What?"
"It's a trap Aldric, you have to run, leave me." Aldric shook his head, putting his arms under Arya and lifting her slightly.
"Fuck. That. I will get you out of here," Arya went limp, "then we can start somewhere else, right Arya?... Arya?" Something hit the backside of his head, causing him to drop Arya back into the puddle of blood. "Fuck!" Turning his head, he saw two guards, swords drawn. "You did this... you did this!" Aldric raised his sword but the guard closest to him kicked it out of his hand.
"I'm guessing you are Aldric? You are to come with us so you can be publicly executed for," the guard pulled out a list, "treason, damaging property, killing guards, disrupting the peace, attempted assassinations," Aldric drowned out what the guard was saying, looking back at Arya, feeling his rage grow. Aldric began shaking, his eyes glowing a deep crimson. His hands transformed into mangled claws, fire sprouting out of the tips, "and assault, do you plead guilty?" The guard brought down the list, staring straight into Aldric's eyes. Aldric grabbed the guard's head and crushed it, throwing away the corpse. The other guard drew his sword and slashed at Aldric, but when the sword hit him, the building exploded into fire, burning away everything. Aldric roared into the sky, then ran towards Valwynn.
Two guards stood outside the gates of Valwynn, looking extremely bored. The guard on the left leaned his spear on the gate, stretching.
"Why do we always get the boring missions? Go guard the gates, go wash the dishes, clean the bathrooms, I'm sick of it. Why don't we ever get anything exciting?" The other guard shrugged.
"Probably because you always get us in trouble, if you hadn't decided to... do you hear something?" The guard on the left looked at him, before hearing it too. Crunching noises, growling, coming from the woods. They both leaned forward to see what was causing the noise. Two red eyes glowed from inside before exploding out, smashing into the gates, which promptly exploded. The two guards fell to the ground, heads rolling away.
Aldric stopped, looking out the window of the library. Fearful of what the ponies might think of him, he didn't turn around until he felt something press up against him. Looking down, he saw Fluttershy hugging him.
"It's not your fault Aldric, it was those mean guards." Aldric looked at her, smiling slightly. Feeling something press up on him, he looked at Pinkie Pie, who was also hugging him. The others joined the hug besides Rainbow and Blackwing. Aldric felt very uncomfortable with all of the hugging. Aldric coughed, indicating that this was getting awkward. They released him, faint blushes on their cheeks.
"I mean," they all looked at Aldric, "that's all I can really remember from that day... all I remember is screaming... and fire. Then I finally got to the throne room and got sent down to Hell. Don't remember how exactly, but I know the why part. That's where I got those marks," Twilight raised a hoof, "yes?"
"What's this Hell place?" Aldric shook his head.
"Hell is a place that you should never speak of, that's what it is. The place is plagued with demons just wanting to kill you. The place is run on a hierarchy of sorts. Satan runs the place, surprisingly a nice demon, then his generals, then every other demon. If you don't follow their orders, then you die. Humans that get sent down their are tortured until they die. The demon who was my torturer was a demon called Azzinoth. Also, whenever I say a demon's name, that isn't their real name, only a fake name of sorts. If you call a demon by it's real name, you gain control of it. Azzinoth was one of the baddest torturers in the place. Apparently, I was his favorite to torture, because he likes to break the person. He likes to see them beg to stop, then he kills you. I was his favorite because I didn't break. My will didn't break, because under all of the torture, revenge is was kept me going. Then he finally broke. Angry that my will wasn't breaking, he ripped my eye out," the ponies gasped, Fluttershy fainting, "but even then, I didn't break. Now let me tell you about demons... and angels too. Demons and angels hate each other, they are on the opposite sides of a line. Demons are evil, malicious beings that love to burn things. Angels love order, they live above the clouds in a place they like to call Sanctuary. Angels and demons always have hated each other and will go to war on the flip of a coin. Thing is, only angelic and demonic weapons can kill either of them. That means, no normal weapon can harm them. One day, I broke free of the bondings that held me in place and killed Azzinoth with his own weapon. Then I decided that since he took my eye... I would take his. I ripped out his eye, which is now in the place of my eye. And... that's basically it, are you happy Blackwing?" Blackwing shrugged to the question and got up, stretching.
"It definitely a cool story," Pinkie started, "but did you have to put in such a big wall of text?" Aldric looked at her, confused.
"What do you... you know what, I'm not even going to try Pinkie." They all laughed at that besides Twilight, who was looking at her notes. "Twilight," Twilight looked at Aldric, "can I see those notes?"
"Sure, here you go," she used her magic to levitate the notebook to Aldric, "I decided to write it all down because," Aldric lit the notebook on fire, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?" Twilight leapt towards her notes, which Aldric pulled away from her.
"I never said you can write down my life story, this story never leaves this room, understand," they all remained silent, looking at the gathering pile of ash on the floor, "I'll take your silence as a yes. Good, now then, I'll be going." Aldric started walking towards the door, but Blackwing blocked him.
"You aren't leaving until I see that eye, I need to see if your story is true." Aldric deadpanned, before grabbing Blackwing's beak and lifted it so they looked into each other's eyes.
"Your mistake," Aldric opened his left eye, letting Blackwing stare right into the blue ball of flame. Blackwing began shaking, trying to leave Aldric's grip. Finally, Aldric let go, closing his eye, "there, happy?" Blackwing slowly stepped back, letting Aldric leave the library. When the door slammed shut, everypony let go of a breath they didn't know they were all holding. Rarity went over to Fluttershy, trying wake her up.
"That was an... interesting story. Why do you think he doesn't want everypony to know his story?" Rarity asked.
"Maybe it's because it will spoil the story," Pinkie said, getting everypony's attention, "what?" Rainbow laughed slightly.
"Pinkie Pie, you are so random." They all laughed at that besides Blackwing, who was looking at the door.
"I'm going to go after him," they all turned towards Blackwing, "later girls." They all waved goodbye to Blackwing as he left the library. Blackwing saw Aldric at the edge of the Everfree. Blackwing walked towards him, to try to comfort him. Suddenly, Aldric turned around and started running back to Ponyville. "Aldric! What's wrong?" Aldric stopped next to Blackwing and drew his sword.
"Baloth," Blackwing's eyes widened and his head turned back towards the Everfree, "Warn the town, evacuate the town, now." A massive roar ripped through the air, coming from the Everfree. A manticore flung out of the forest, tail and head missing. Aldric readied himself for the coming battle.
Aldric tightened the grip around his sword, narrowing his eyes at the forest. Another great roar bellowed from the forest, shaking the ground slightly. Take a quick glance to his left and right he saw that the towns ponies were nervously looking at the Everfree, wondering if they should run or not. Something rung throughout the town, so Aldric stole a glance at the town center. The bell was being rung by a older pony, with a black mass flying towards Aldric. Hearing hoofsteps behind him, he turned around to see Twilight and the others galloping rapidly towards him. He smiled at them, only when he looked back the forest, a tree hit him in the face, sending him barreling towards them. After the tree flung off him, he rolled back and got back up on his feet, looking to see if anyone else was injured, thankfully, no pony was.
"Lovely weather we're having, flying trees and all." They all looked back at the forest and then to him. "Oh, right, it's a baloth." They all looked at him, confused, especially Twilight.
"Baloth? I don't think I've ever read about those before, where do they come from?" Aldric thought about answering when Blackwing landed next to him, brandishing his talons.
"Right, tell you later, big monster coming, remember?" Twilight flushed slightly before nodding. Rainbow flew up next to Blackwing.
"Don't worry Aldric I'll-I mean we'll help ya!" Rainbow punched the air with her hooves while Blackwing chuckled, so she glared at him. "What are you laughing at?" Blackwing waved his talon dismissively.
"Nothing, nothing, just that you wouldn't last a second against a baloth. Massive claws, near impenetrable scales, jaws that could eat you in one bite. One of the biggest and meanest son of bitches around." Rainbow looked frightened for a few seconds but shook it off.
"She's right ya know," Aldric turned his to look at Applejack, "we'll fight with ya, ain't tha' right girls?" They all nodded and turned towards the forest, ready to fight. Aldric shook his head.
"Fine, it's your funeral, Blackwing, is the town being evacuated?" Blackwing nodded, narrowly avoiding another tree that flung from the forest.
"Yep, and the mayor sent a letter to Celestia, asking for guards." Aldric shook his head.
"No, I'm not having guards dieing on my account, they've never faced a baloth before, not even Celestia. They're from my plane, how it got here I haven't got a clue. Blackwing, tell the guards to get back to Canterlot, if they still persist... knock them out," Blackwing nodded and shot up, "Rainbow, go with him, they might trust you more, and don't question me, I'm the only one here who's faced a baloth," Rainbow nodded and shot after Blackwing, "now, if you want to help me, evacuate the town, check every building," they all nodded and ran to the center of town. "It's taking awhile for this baloth to get here, I would've thought it would have crashed through the trees halfway through that conver-"
It finally crashed through the trees, roaring as it did. Aldric leapt back slightly, merely at the size. It was massive , at least twenty feet at the shoulder and forty feet long, at best. Aldric had never seen a baloth this size before except for one time.
"No... I sent you down a cliff, you're supposed to be dead," it roared at him, curling its tail over its body, like a scorpion. A massive spike was one the end of it, dripping a dark green ooze, "Experiment One Three Seven-B, nickname; 'Gnasher'. Able to absorb other beasts features into its own mutagenic code, mutating to grow those parts also. You don't have wings now, do you," it whipped its tail forward, spikes shooting out of it, Aldric rolled out the way, feeling one spike graze his back. "Oh, so you have our manticores and the manticores here, lovely. What next, fire breathing?" Aldric swears he saw its lips curl back into a grin before letting loose a torrent of flame at Aldric, who dropped down to the ground, feeling the flames tickle at his back, cauterizing the graze from the spike. Feeling the heat leave his back, the earth rumbling beneath him, Aldric jumped up and sprinted into the nearest alley. Stopping, he looked back at the alley, expecting Gnasher to crash through it. Instead, he felt something crash down behind him, the shockwave shattering the nearest windows. Spinning around, he saw the massive jaws of Gnasher closing down on him. Instinctively, he stomped his foot on the ground, a massive spire smashing into Gnasher's chest, sending him flying into a house, it crushed under the sheer weight and impact of Gnasher. Its tail thrashed around violently, letting loose spikes in every direction, one hitting Aldric in the shoulder, spinning him to the ground. Groaning, Aldric pushed up off the ground slightly, grabbed the spike and ripped it out, hissing in pain. Suddenly, something heavy crashed on Aldric's back, knocking the wind out of him and breaking a few ribs. Turning his head as much as he could, he saw that Gnasher had slammed his massive claw onto him, which was now gaining pressure, breaking more bones. He felt his lungs burning, his windpipe was now being crushed, he couldn't breath.
"STOOOOOOP!" Hearing the scream, both Aldric and Gnasher looked up to see Fluttershy staring at Gnasher. Feeling the pressure relieve slightly, Aldric gasped out, taking massive gulps of air. "You will stop what you are doing, and get off of him! Then you will apologize!" Hearing something slither past him, Aldric saw Gnasher's tail sliding past him.
"Flu-fluttershy, run." Fluttershy stared down at Aldric and then she screamed so loud Aldric was sure his eardrums exploded. Feeling blood drip on his face, Aldric felt his rage growing, like a beast was released after being tortured and starved. Feeling his ribs re-attach themselves and the bleeding stop, Aldric got to his knees. Looking down at his hands, he saw that they were mangled, blood red claws, with fire dancing at the tips. Looking at Fluttershy she was shivering, cold and afraid, with Gnasher standing over her. Grabbing his tail, he heaved Gnasher across town, watching him land back in the Everfree. Waving his arm at Fluttershy, she instantly became healed.
"RuuUUunNNn, I c-cAAaannnN't hhhooOOolllddD i-i-it." Aldric roared at a house, watching it be destroyed. Dashing forward with the speed of lightning, Aldric tore a path through the forest, carving out anything that was in his way. Finally he stopped, Gnasher was in front of him, growling. Wasting no time, Aldric ran forward, feeling spikes hitting him but he didn't stop, it just made him go faster. Jumping, Aldric slammed down Gnasher, wanking out a scale and digging into the soft flesh beneath it. Gnasher roared in pain and knocked Aldric off, swinging his tail at him. Aldric sliced at the tail, feeling blood splatter on his face. Spinning around Aldric grabbed the tail, and swung it down, hearing the spiked tip slice through Gnasher's flesh. Aldric cackled heartily, enjoying the roars of pain from the baloth. Gnasher spun around and slammed his head into Aldric while he was distracted, the spikes plunging into Aldric. Aldric stopped laughing, looked down, then continued on laughing, blood spurting out of his mouth. Aldric stabbed his claws into Gnasher's eyes, then yanked them out, the eyes still attached to them. Scraping off the eyes, he turned back to Gnasher, who had fell on the floor, still breathing.
"Finish it !" Taking the mysterious voice's advice, Aldric slashed at the weaker underbelly of Gnasher and went into a frenzy. Aldric didn't know how long he was slashing but after a while he just stopped. Breathing heavily, Aldric stared down at his claws, which were slowly turning back into hands, covered in sweat and blood. Stumbling backwards, he fell over the tail, landing on his back. "Damn, you're back to normal, was going to use you to destroy the Elements. " Aldric jumped up, looking around for the voice.
"Show yourself!"
"Suit yourself. " Aldric fell to the ground, sleeping, then waking up in pitch darkness. Turning around, he saw a pair of slitted, golden eyes. Walking out of the darkness, he saw himself with purple claws and ethereal hair.
"Nightmare. Should've guessed I didn't get rid of you, but now I can." Aldric charged at Nightmare, but he simply flicked his claw, sending Aldric flying through the darkness. Rolling onto the ground, Aldric stood up, looking for Nightmare again.
"This is my realm Aldric, nightmares feed me, not even Luna can get rid of me here, I'm in my element. " Nightmare materialized next to him, making him jump slightly. "They've always tried to get rid of me, Luna stopping nightmares before I can become one with them. I even tried taking her, but those damn Elements, I was hoping to use you to defeat them. But you've practically welcomed me, the hatred, the ferocity, the impurity, it's delicious. Always battling your inner demons, excuse the pun, you've practically gave me all of my power back in a week and a half, it took a year for Luna. I tried using you to kill Applejack when I first got you, but I wasn't strong enough, but now I am. I'll use you for everything, then I can be ruler. "
"Oh really? I don't think you know who you're messing with, I've already have two other voices in my head, I don't need a third." Nightmare cackled and vanished.
"Yes, I've already met those two, they've been taken care of, why is which you haven't talked to them in a while, or were you to dumb to figure that out?"
"Insults will get you nowhere, and besides, I've just been distracting you, I'll be awake in three... two... one." Aldric woke with a start, smacking his head into something. "Ow, son of a bitch." Aldric muttered, looking around. Seeing Princess Celestia rubbing her head, he assumed he smacked into her. "Sorry Celestia," hearing someone coughed, Aldric groaned, "don't start with me Twilight, I've had enough fucking crap to deal with, what with the baloth, how it got here, and the Night-... and other stuff. How'd I get here?" He was in some sort of hospital by the looks of it.
"Ponyville General Hospital, and Fluttershy is here to, she's fine by the way, the doctors were baffled, no wounds, no scar, nothing."
"I... I didn't hurt anyone... did I?" He turned his head to look at Twilight, who was looking at him strange.
"What? No! Of course not, why would you ever think th-"
"BECAUSE I'M A FUCKING MONSTER, THAT'S WHY!" Twilight and Celestia jumped, and the door burst open, showing the others. Aldric turned to look at them, before ripping out everything attached to him and running out the door. Aldrix watched as ponies jumped out of his way and then he saw a window at the end of the hallway.
"ALDRIC! COME BACK!" Aldric ignored the voice and dived out the window, transforming into a hawk and flying away, not looking back.
"Ugh......" Aldric groaned.
"Shhh, I think he's waking up." A female voice said. He opened up one eye to see Applejack looking over him.
"Hi Applejack, where am I?" She smiled.
"You're in my barn." He nodded and sat up, clutching his jaw.
"Why does it feel like I got kicked in the jaw, Applejack?"
"That's because you did, Big Mac thought you were a monster and bucked you under the chin, you're lucky it's not broken. He wanted to apologize after I told him about you." He nodded to the barn door.
"Can you get him?" She nodded and went outside. A few minutes later the doors opened to reveal a large red stallion. "You Big Mac?" He nodded. Aldric got up and walked over to him. He squatted down, holding out his hand. "That was a nice kick, if I was a normal human I would've had my entire jaw destroyed." Big Mac held out his hoof and shook Aldric's hand.
"Well, that's mighty kind of ya." The barn door opened again to reveal Applejack.
"See y'all gotten on good."
After a little while Aldric went outside. He spotted hundreds of apple trees. In the middle was a house, probably where they slept. Something began to bark. He turned his head to see a small dog, running towards him. He crouched down and held out his hand. It stopped and began to sniff it. Then it leapt at Aldric and began to lick his face. "Woah, down, down." Hoofsteps were behind him.
"I see you've met Winona." Upon hearing her name she went to Applejack.
"Yeah she can be real friendly." He wiped off saliva from his face.
"I kinda guessed." She grabbed his arm and pulled.
"Come on, you still have to meet Granny and Applebloom."
Soon they were in front of the house. On the porch was a old and green pony. "Granny! Wake up!" Granny woke up startled.
"Huh? Oh hello Applejack." She turned to Aldric.
"Oh, you must be Aldric, Applejack told us all about you." He nodded. The door swung open, hitting Aldric in the nose.
"Hey Applejack! Hey Granny!"
"Applebloom! Watch when you open the door, you hit our guest." Her eyes widened.
"He's awake? Can I see him? Can I?" Aldric closed the door.
"I'm right here." Applebloom back away.
"I didn't think he was this big." He crouched down, again. 'This is getting really annoying' he thought to himself.
"You must be Applebloom, nice to meet you." She nodded.
"Yep! Nice to meet you too!" Applejack grabbed Applebloom and tossed her on her back.
"Come on, we got to buck some apples." Aldric grabbed her.
"Can I help? I feel kinda bad to sleep here and not help." She nodded and went off, Aldric behind her.
Soon they were in front of some trees that were riper than the others. "Some trees grow faster than others. So you get them before Apple Buck Season." She then kicked a tree which made them fall off into baskets that Applebloom put their. "Now you try." Aldric went up to a tree and kicked it. The tree flew out of the ground and into another tree.
"Oh.....sorry." Applebloom was laughing and Applejack was amazed.
"It's okay....just tone it down a little." He nodded and went to another. He kicked it softer, which made the apples fall out. "There ya go!"
After a couple of hours all of the apples were picked. They went back to the house to find Twilight. "There you are Applejack! I have a question to ask." She nodded. "How would you like to go to the Grand Galloping Gala?" Applejack was stunned while Aldric was confused.
"The Grand Galloping what?" They both looked at him.
"The Grand Galloping Gala! Only the biggest celebration that happens every year at Canterlot." Twilight exclaimed.
"Twi, you got tickets? How?" Applejack asked.
"Oh! Princess Celestia gave them to me. She gave me two tickets." Applejack began to break out to song and sing about selling her treats at the Gala. After she was finished Aldric's mouth was open.
"Why did you just burst out into song? Also why would you sell your treats?" Applejack looked at him.
"What do you mean?" Aldric sighed.
"Well it is pretty obvious that this Gala will have snacks already there, free snacks. So no one will buy your treats while the others treats are free." Applejack thought about that for a moment.
"I guess that makes sense....huh." Twilight waved her hoof.
"Well? Do you want the ticket?"
"Of cou-"
"WAAAAAIT!" Someone screamed above them. Aldric stepped back while Twilight and Applejack looked up. Someone crashed into them, knocking up dust. When it settled Rainbow Dash was their.
"Did somepony say Grand Galloping Gala?" Aldric, foolishly, talked.
"Yeah, the ponies you just crashed into were."
She turned around to see Aldric, who had the sun beating down on him, making him appear to be golden. She shook her head and set her game face.
"You." He raised a hand to his chest.
"Me?" She didn't like his attitude.
"You remember when I said this isn't over," he nodded, "it is still going." And with that, she flew at him. 'She has a grudge problem,' Aldric thought to himself. His instincts told him to go for his sword but he knew he wouldn't be hurt. He side-stepped her and made her crash into a tree. He decided to ask his question.
"Applejack," she raised her head, "has she always had this grudge problem?" She nodded. "Ah....okay......get down." He dropped to the ground in half a second. The other ponies collided, sending them tumbling into a tree. He walked over to them. Reaching out a hand, he said, "I said to get down."
Twilight and Applejack liked the help, Rainbow however, slapped his hand away.
"I don't need your help," she said.
"Pfft, you're stuck in a tree." He grabbed her hoof, making her blush. He didn't see it and yanked her down. They tumbled to the ground. "Again Rainbow? At least buy me a drink." She got up, kicking him in the face.
"You got a real dirty sense of humor, you know that?" Applejack asked. He nodded.
"Soooo tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala?" Rainbow asked Twilight.
"Huh? Oh! Right, I have two tickets to it, so I'm wondering which one of you wanted it." Rainbow started singing about something called the Wonderbolts. After she was finished Aldric asked another question.
"What is the Wonderbolts?" She turned around, shock plastered across her face.
"What is the Wonderbolts? You should be asking who! They are the greatest flying team in Equestria! Of course, you wouldn't know that." Something registered in Aldric's mind.
"Oh, like the Gryphon Riders of Carstadon." The were all confused by this.
"The what? Wait.....THEY RIDE GRYPHONS!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Yeah, they are the greatest flyers in my plane. They are used for stunt shows some times, but they are used mostly used for scouting, recon, and dive bomb tactics. Quite simple really." He whispered the next part to himself. "Should've used gryphon riders in the invasion.....I'm fucking stupid." Twilight still looked confused.
"The gryphon's allowed ponies to ride them?" He nodded.
"I'm guessing gryphons here are sentient? Mine aren't." She backed away, excepting this. Rainbow wasn't finished.
"Oh yeah? I bet the Wonderbolts could beat them." He smiled.
"Probably, but in fighting, recon, and everything else military, not a chance." She stepped back.
"Military? That sounds terrible! Fluttershy would hate hearing this." Applejack exclaimed.
"Then we don't tell her. Why did you even bring that up?" Aldric asked.
"Well," she played with her hooves, "I don't know." Twilight walked forward.
"Well I should ask the others if they want to go." He nodded to her.
"I'll go.....we're done here, right Applejack," she nodded, "right Rainbow?" She grunted.
They were at the crest of the hill when Twilight asked Aldric a question.
"How are you going to go into town without them freaking out?" He smiled.
"Simple," he said. She looked at him only to step back. In front of her was a large dog, pony sized.
"What the....." it barked a few words.
"Hey Twilight. Like what you see?" Twilight was stunned, Aldric transformed into a dog.
"How....did you.....do that? He barked a few more times.
"Simple transformation spell, can you stop asking me questions? It is hard to speak like this." She nodded, though she wanted to ask more questions.
"Okay first stop....Pinkie Pie." He nodded and sprinted into town. "Hey! Wait up!" She yelled, galloping.
Twilight finally reached Sugarcube Corner to see Aldric inside, playing with Pinkie. "Huff....Aldric....huff..." he turned his head.
"Oh, hey Twilight." He transformed back. Multiple shouts erupted from the store. It was soon clear except Aldric, Pinkie, Twilight, and he Cakes, who were shivering.
"It's okay Mr. and Mrs.Cake, he won't bite." Pinkie said.
"She's right, I won't hurt you Mr. and Mrs......Cake, right?" They nodded, not shivering anymore.
"So Pinkie," Twilight asked, making Pinkie turn her head 180° around.
"Is she....part owl?" Mr.Cake stood up, forgetting his fear.
"It's just Pinkie being Pinkie." Aldric slowly nodded.
Twilight continued, "do you want a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala?" Pinkie gasped.
"The Grand Galloping Gala!" Again, she broke out into song. 'That is getting really annoying,' he thought. After she was done Twilight looked nervous.
"That, is also a good reason. I will still go out to the others." Pinkie nodded. Aldric transformed again, this time into a hawk.
"Got to change it up."
They next stop was Rarity. They got their to find her making a dress.
"Ah Twilight! What is it that you need?" She then saw the bird. "Oh! You got a bet hawk! How cute." He flew to the middle of the room.
"I'm not a pet," and transformed back.
"Oh! It's Aldric! What a neat trick!" 'Trick? This isn't a trick! It is a highly successful assassination technique.' He thought to himself.
"Rarity, Twilight has a question for you," he nodded to Twilight.
"Oh yes, Rarity," Rarity nodded, humming, "how would you like to go to the Grand Galloping Gala?" Rarity gasped.
"The Grand Galloping Gala? Oh how wonderful? How did you get tickets?" Aldric answered this.
"She got them from Celestia." They both turned, shocked.
"It's Princess Celestia." Twilight and Rarity said. He nodded, making Twilight angry. 'Is that all he does?.'
"I know, but she isn't my Princess, so I don't care. Also titles mean nothing to me, everybody has done something sinful, some are just better at covering it up." Twilight was furious. Someone was talking about her teacher, badly!
"She hasn't done anything wrong! She is the nicest pony I know." He shook his head.
"Maybe to you, but I could probably dig up a ton of shit on her that wouldn't make her very princessy." Rarity looked at him disgusted.
"Do you have to be so vulgar?" He nodded again. Twilight was done with the nodding.
"CAN YOU STOP WITH THE NODDING!" He shook his head.
"Their, happy? Also, yes Rarity, also, the ticket." She smiled and burst into song. 'One more song and slicing off my ears.' When she was done he couldn't help but laugh.
"What's so funny?" He smiled.
"Oh nothing, just your thinking of a fairy tale. Princes are just pompous assholes who would do anything to have more money. You should probably find love someone closer to home." Rarity didn't look convinced.
"You'll see, fairy tales do exist." He rolled his eyes and turned to Twilight.
"Fluttershy is the last one, right?" She nodded.
"What you going to turn into this time?" He smiled and turned into a rabbit.
"Pick me up."
They arrived at Fluttershy's house to find her outside, feeding her animals. "Hey Twilight, oh you found a bunny!" She grabbed Aldric and hugged.
"Let go of me." She gasped and held him out in front of her.
"He can talk! This is amazing!" The bunny sighed and squirmed out.
"Fluttershy, it's me." He said, transforming. They animals backed away, frightful of the new predator. Fluttershy herself squeaked and hid behind a bush. The only thing that remained was a white rabbit.
"Hello there," he said, crouching. "you are interesting. Why aren't you scared?" All he did was throw a carrot into Aldric's eye. "Now that," he yanked the carrot out, "isn't very nice. I like you." The bunny smiled and went inside. "Who was that bunny?" Fluttershy was calm now and answered.
"Oh, that was Angel. I am surprised he liked you, he doesn't like strangers." Twilight cleared her throat and stepped forward.
"Fluttershy, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Grand Galloping Gala?" Fluttershy gasped and sprung over to Twilight.
"Tickets! To the Grand Galloping Gala! Oh how wonderful." She inhaled and was about to sing.
"NO! NO MORE FUCKING SINGING OR I WILL SLICE YOUR THROAT!" Aldric yelled, sending them barreling into Fluttershy's cabin. He sighed and walked in. Fluttershy was quivering in fear of Aldric while Twilight was standing next to her. He sighed.
"I'm sorry, it's just all of your friends have been singing and I couldn't take any more." He extended his hand towards Fluttershy when something hit his head. He turned his head to see Angel, with a slingshot and a bag of carrots. "Ha! You think that could hurt me?" He shook his head and pointed up. Angel expected him to look up, instead he leapt outside. "You shouldn't have pointed, you just gave your plan away. Anyway, I'm going to go back to the library." He transformed into a hummingbird and flew over.
Spike was sleeping when something hit the window. It kept hitting until Spike woke up and opened the window. A hummingbird flew in the library. "Hey.....get out." Spike said, groggily.
"Why?" Spike nearly leapt out of his scales, this hummingbird could talked !
"You....can talk!" The hummingbird transformed to reveal Aldric, making Spike scream out.
"Spike! It's me, the monster from before." This calmed Spike down, then he registered he said monster.
"M-m-monster?" He said, shakily.
"Well, that is what you called me." A fire appeared in the middle of the room. It revealed Aldric, smiling.
"Oh...it's you.....sup." Aldric shook his head, then spoke.
"Is there a light source here?" Spike nodded and walked over to the lightswitch. When he flicked it Aldric staggered back, his eyes adjusting. "Warn me next time." Spike nodded and flopped down.
"So, why are you here?" Aldric stretched and sat down.
"Oh, I was following Twilight around, she was trying to find out who was the best to pick to go to the Grand Galloping Gala." Spike nodded and got up.
"You want anything?" Aldric nodded.
"Water, carrots, and apples." Spike returned with a tray of items and a bowl of gems. "Why do you have gems?" Spike bit into one, talking while chewing.
"Eating them, don't dragons in your.....plane, eat gems?" He shook his head.
"No, they eat livestock and cattle. They also hoard gold. They mostly live in mountains far away from the big cities but the towns near the mountains....." Spike looked horrified.
"That's...terrible! Why didn't they leave the towns?" Aldric craned his head back.
"They didn't need too. I took care of the dragons." Spike was happy.
"Like, making them move?" Aldric laughed.
"No....by killing them." He finished, falling asleep.
He woke up to find Spike gone and Twilight's friends arguing. "SHUT UP!" He yelled, shaking the library. They all stopped arguing and turned their heads to Aldric. "Now, what is the problem?" They all began to talk at the same time. "QUITE!" They stopped. "I swear, it's like working with children. Twilight, what's the problem?" She looked down.
"I can't decide who to take along....wait! I know! Aldric, I will give you the ticket!" Aldric pinched his nose.
"NO! Give me the tickets." She handed them over to him. "Now, how can I send a letter to Celestia?" Again he said Celesta, not Princess Celestia.
"It is Princess Celestia." Twilight hissed.
"I already said, I don't care. Now, who here can give Celestia a letter?" Spike raised a scaly claw and walked forward. Aldric walked over and grabbed a quill, ink bottle, and parchment. He wrote something down and handed it to Spike. Spike set fire to it and it flew out the open window. He burped out another scroll and handed it to Twilight.
"Six tickets! Now we can all go!" She used her magic and gave one to each and they walked out.
"Man, I wish I could've gone." He burped another scroll out. "And two more for Spike and Aldric." Aldric backed away.
"No, I'm not going to a party." Spike walked up and waved it in his face. "Fine," he plucked it from his claw.
"So, what did you write to Princess Celestia?" Spike asked.
"Well....."
Canterlot, Celestia's Chamber
A scroll appeared next to her. "Oh, Twilight must have sent me a letter." She opened it up to read this.
Dear Celestia, What were you thinking? Twilight has six friends and you gave her two tickets! Did you expect her to tear them into three pieces from each and give them to her friends? That is just stupid. Put in the return scroll six tickets for Twilight's friends. Signed, Aldric.
'Well, that was different.' Celestia thought. Then another thought came to mind. 'He called me Celestia....I like that.' She smiled and sent the return scroll.
