I’m leaning against the side of the theater as Rainbow Dash and Applejack argue about who’s fighting me first. They have completely ignored me when I said I was fighting Rainbow first and to be honest it had been pretty funny so far. Now it’s boring. I coil my legs and spring at the two landing next to them in a wolf form.

“Alright, you two. It doesn’t matter what you decide I’m facing Dash first, she challenged first so it’s only fair.” I fix them both with the Predator's Gaze and they both step back. I shift back to human form and take a stance staring at Dash. Her movements are fluid as she circles me she’s studying my stance. I see a small shift in her stance, she’s about to attack.

She darts forward and launches at my face my hands catch her back hooves but her front hooves swing with the momentum landing a solid blow to the back of my head that makes my ears ring for a moment as I let go. Okay, so analysis says immense speed and reflexes backed by a lot of combat experience. I’ll have to take her seriously, she is one heck of a match without magic. I wonder how I would fare against her, magic and wings.

I roll forward to her and launch a fast punch, she knocks it aside with her hoof bouncing off my arm and trying to land a hit on me. I roll to the side and bring my fist sideways into a hammer fist on the side of the head. She rolls into the blow turning the impact into momentum for a lightning fast back kick with both legs. I barely get away with my body intact as I twist away from the impact. The sheer air pressure I feel from that kick lets me know I never want to take it directly.

This is actually a tough opponent. Dash is using two different styles from what I can tell. What are her weaknesses? I definitely have mass against her. She’s studying me as well, I must have been more effective than I thought. I wonder if ponies have or have ever seen a gentle fist style. She is very good at turning my power against me and the best counter for a style like this is to not give her anything to use. I shift into the soul reaver style.

She sees the relaxed stance and laughs darting in both hooves first. I duck under the launch and drive my hands into the small spot where her forelegs meet her chest. She lands heavily and sprawls forward.

“What the buck was that? OW. What did you do to my legs?” She growls at me. I hope I haven't hurt her more then I think.

“The first one, my first mastery, Wolf Personification. I realized I didn’t stand a chance against you with it so I switched to a gentle fist style called Soul Reaver. It focuses on the weak points of the anatomy. It’s the fighting style of intellectuals.”

“A martial art for eggheads? It sounds like River or Horn Way. That shouldn’t be possible without magic.” She’s looking at me with fresh eyes as she expertly stretches the damage out of her legs. She’s gone in a blur of rainbows and I feel an impact on the back of my head. I pitch forward and she wraps her forehooves around the base of my arms. I can’t get my hands to bear on her. She twists and I land heavily on her.

I hear an ‘oof’ as I land, but she doesn’t relent in her grip. How does she plan on winning with a grip like this? I relax into it and she tightens her grip. It’s meant to be a sleeper hold or similar, however, humans don’t have the veins in the right places. “Sorry Dashie, this one's gonna hurt.”

I lift my head forward and slam it backward in the direction of her face. I hear a disturbing squeak and roll forward out of her grip. She rises behind me a trickle of blood from her muzzle. She’s actually smiling! She’s giving me a challenging glare and grinning ear to ear. I must admit though that my grin matches hers. This little ball of destruction is a fun opponent. I study her this time watching carefully for the signs of her accelerations.

A twitch is the only warning before she launches at me again. This time isn’t as fast, but I still take a solid hit on the face as I try and turn it aside. As she’s sailing past I land the Ten Star One Strike on her side. This move consists of driving all ten of your fingers into the soft spots between muscles. She lands with a groan and I’m horrified to see her not get up.

“Dash do ponies train their core against hits like that?” I rush to her side wiping the blood out of my eyes from the split eyebrow.

“The buck was that? I think you broke a bunch of bones.”

I place my hands on her sides analyzing her with magic. Crap she had no resistance to gentle fists styles. “Dash this is going to hurt at first, but I can fix the damage I did. I’m sorry for going too far for a simple sparring match. This might feel weird, it’s called a message. Basically, I forced a lot of your muscles to tighten up and need to make them relax.”

I begin gently relaxing her muscles. She doesn’t have any resistance to the damage but thankfully her muscles are well trained and relax easily. She is fine pretty quickly. Her voice is chilled out. “We have messages here, but they just hurt mostly. I don’t get why ponies like Rarity enjoy them so much. That feels awesome.” She’s going to be fine and looks annoyed when I finish and offer a hand up. She ignores the offer and stands up on her own. “I lost. I hate losing. AJ, make sure you kick his flank.”

“Rainbow, sorry for overdoing it. We’ll have to spar again later without one of use using a martial art designed to kill. Besides I have an unfair advantage. I know your anatomy and you don’t know mine. That’s why you kept going for the head right?” I fall backward and land on the soft grass and relax for a minute. “Applejack, Ready?”

She walks in front of me and glares. “Ah was born ready. This is going to be a wrestling match. Win through submission.”

I roll to my feet. Wrestling is fun. “Applejack. I’ve been looking forward to this game.” I smile broadly.

“WOLF! I challenge you to a duel!” I hear a voice to the side. Glancing over I see a griffin striding towards us. She is wearing armor and has a strange spear on her back. It’s long and at the base of the metal tip is a wicked blade that curves back away from the front. She looks regal and powerful as she strides towards me. I only see determination in her eyes, no hatred or anger, she seems intent on killing me for personal gain. I smile and wave in greeting.

“Sup? Whatever I did, I didn’t do it!” I reply to the challenge with a smirk. Is this an issue of status or have I managed to do something to offend her? I can’t think of anyone I’ve offended recently. It has to be a warrior looking for a challenge. “Seriously though you have to wait in line. I only do two at a time without a couple hours in between.”

“And if I simply attack you?” She asks. Immediately ten changelings fly out of the hive and transform into various things, even a small dragon and her, spear and all, in response to some kind of a weird pulse in power from Jade. The griffin looks at the small army hovering over her. “Oh, that. Fine I’ll wait.”

“So this is a surprise actually. I hadn’t expected this yet. I’m expecting an explanation after I’m finished with Applejack.” I turn back to the mare in question. “Welp, this is odd. Shall we begin?”

She dives into my legs and pulls me down. Crap, no warning at all. I roll on the ground and can’t shake her grip. She’s a lot heavier than she looks. I stop and think all she has is my legs. I sit up and smile down at her scratching her behind the ears. “Whenever you're done hugging me can we wrestle?”

Her eyes go wide and I take advantage of the moment of distraction to pull my legs free and dive into her. I land on top pinning her forehooves for a moment with my arms. She swings her back legs together with her front legs and we roll sideways fighting for position. She’s a lot stronger then Dash. She is slower but isn’t slow. Actually scrap that, nothing I’ve seen short of enchanted bullets is faster then Dash so that’s not even saying anything.

THUD. Applejack has slammed my head against a rock. I see spots for a moment as Applejack takes the infinitely tiny amount of time to lock me down. She is on top pinning me with a grin. I move my face closer to her and she looks worried for a moment. When I unleash my Gaze with fangs showing she recoils. I flip the position locking down her forehooves with my arms and her legs with mine. She struggles against my grip. Her forehooves are screwed, years of handling a staff has made my grip and iron vise. Her back hooves are a challenge. I am going to lose my grip on them and she’s gonna flip me back onto the rock.

I hear cheers of changeling behind me ring up. I feel emboldened and make a play to win. I let her kick my legs outwards and brace for the impact on the rock. OW, exact same spot. I wrap my legs around her torso and have kept my grip on her forehooves. She glares at me but I see a smile play across her face as it clicks. She thinks she knows my plan and shifts her weight onto my hands driving with her free back legs. I put my face close to hers with another hellish glare screaming of intent to kill. She ignores the glare. I lick her neck. The squeak she makes out of absolute incomprehension is adorable as I roll sideways.

I smile at my pinned target using my legs as leverage to lock her in. She kicks with her back legs. I can feel the power of her kicks as she tries to escape. I press my teeth to her neck and she freezes. “Don’t you have something to say? Or would you prefer to keep going? I don’t care either way I’m loving this game.” I say quietly and pull my face away from her.

She looks at me with big eyes and her ears laid back. She’s stopped moving for a moment. I’m wondering how her endurance held that long. My grip isn’t exactly making it easy to breath. She shoots me a wicked grin and kisses me. My mind goes blank as I feel a strange distant impact on my head. The world fades away.

My head hurts and my hair feels wet. Someone is shaking me. “Git Up, ya hear? I didn’t mean to hit yah that hard.”

I open my eyes and sit up. I stare at the orange farm pony next to me. I give her a big grin. “You win I guess. We gotta do this again, without the rock in the way. I wonder what woulda happened without it.”

“Nope, it’s a draw. Winner by submission, remember. Knockout doesn’t count.”

Nopony is looking at her weird so either what she did was completely blocked by my body, or kissing your opponent to win is normal. Somehow I can’t help but feel like either could be true in this insane world.

Dash hovers over her. “Come on AJ, He licked you that has to be cheating.”

So it’s definitely the first one. Well I’m hardly one to burn any bridges but I can’t resist. I smirk at Applejack. “Alls fair in love and war, right AJ?” She shoots me a warning look.

“I suppose, but how is this either?” A small smile shows for a second.

“It’s a human expression. I’d try with a different one like, hmmm, actually I can’t think of another phrase for this. No wonder it’s used for such a broad spectrum. Anyways, let’s relax a bit while I get the blood out of my hair.”

Applejack looks at me shocked. “Blood? How hard do yall reckon ya hit that rock.” She has a lot thicker accent then she’s shown so far. I suspect she hides it to a degree and it slips sometimes.

“Ya beaned meh head… I mean you smashed my head against a rock. If I was a normal human my skull would be split from that. A little blood is perfectly normal.”

“So you're off to your room for a shower?” Jade asks.

“Nope, Excuse me I’ll be right back. I walk around the side of the building and pull out a pair of shorts. I drop an orb of darkness around me and get changed. I walk back out to the assembled mares. “Humans even have specific clothes for swimming. Trust me you do not want to know what wearing wet jeans or underwear feels like.”

I pull out my staff and drop my backpack next to Jade. “Keep an eye on this, ok?” I turn to everypony else. “Lets have a small show. Bear in mind that when I’m not holding my staff I can’t fly alright?” They look at me strange at the word fly and I hear several gasps as I lift off into the sky. I hover high above the water and stand on my staff like it’s a very thin surf board. I charge it’s tip with a shadow blade and flip off it. The kick sends me upwards a little but it sends my staff streaking like a bullet embedding with a burst of darkness into the bank of the small lake. I turn downwards pushing my hands together into a divers spear as the water impacts me.

I flow with the water and turn before I hit the bottom rising to the surface with a gasp. That was a lot colder than I had planed. It sure did wonders on getting rid of some of my more questionable thoughts. I hear cheering as they applaud me. Then a lot of shocked stares. I look theres more red than I thought there'd be with that kind of dive. I dive again and shake my head running my hands to get all the blood out. This time the stares are a lot more shocked. I swim back leaving the small pool of red to dissipate behind me.

I walk past the mares and shift into wolf form shaking off the water as much as I can. Shifting back I can't help but love how easy wolf form makes it to go from soaked to damp. It doesn’t leave damp well though. At all. I cock my head at the looks. “You’d think that blood was some kind of super uncommon thing. It’s not like it isn’t inside every one of us. Or was it the water, I haven't seen any ponies swimming but I thought that was just because of the whole ‘too civilized for such a thing’ attitude that seems to be all to common around here.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you that hard.” Applejack is looking down on herself.

I put a hand on top of her head and scratch behind her ear. She looks at me. “Look, if the little pain and blood was the price of the fun I had wrestling you, then I’m willing to pay again after I have fun with that one sitting over there all alone and looking surely. Not just talking about the last part by the way.”

I motion the griffon over. “Alright spill it. What’s your story. Or at the very least your name.”

“I am Chulainn, a warrior of the griffons. I heard of your strength as a lunar knight and have come in hopes of finding a worthy opponent.”

“Fair enough. Give me a minute to prepare.” I grab my pack from Jade and walk away to change back to jeans. Dropping the shadows I pull my staff from where I left it and face the griffon. “Am I allowed to use magic?”

“It means nothing if I defeat you while you are only using a portion of your power. Bring everything you have to bear against me.”

I smile. She’s so serious. I study her as she pulls the spear from its sheath. Her armor and spear are both enchanted. She is muscled well and has an even distribution of mass. Her spear has a subtle quality to it as she levels it against me. She possesses a level of skill above mine. I suspect I’m about to get my flank handed to me. I ready my staff and focus.

“Whenever you're ready.”

“No. I can tell your holding back.”

I nod and she looks annoyed. I cut off her protests before she begins. “You're right, I have to hold back because if I unleash the wrong form of power then I will lose all too easily. I can’t know what power to release until I fight you. Besides unlike a unicorn it takes effort to refill my power. Using everything I have could endanger your life and could take weeks for me to recover from.”

She nods and looks annoyed. A quick stab straight at me with her spear. I push it aside with my staff and start to step towards her. She pulls the spear back as quickly as it went out and I feel it hook on my staff. She moves her claw outwards and shifts her position. I can see the paths of the fight and I don’t like it. If I try and move forward or pull it back she’ll drive it forward. If I push to the side or try and shift my position away she’ll slide it up towards my hands. I drive the base of the staff into the ground flipping it towards her taking a leap backwards.

She deflects the hit and sends my staff flying off to the side. I reach into a pocket of my pack and pull out a wand and a dagger. This is gonna be fun ride. I slash with the wand while trying to get range on the advancing griffon. I want to reclaim my staff so I can use my full power. Blades of shadow flash at her and she dispels them all with her spear. I lure her away and slowly circle her. Shes drawing closer but I’m almost in range. She darts between me and the staff letting her armor take a hit in order to cut me off. I smirk and hold out my hand. She seems to anticipate this and rolls to the side dodging the returning staff. I use the staff running style and get distance between us.

“Alright, you want to see power? MWAHAHAHAHA I’ll show you power!” My let my laugh slip into an evil sound as she recoils from me. Her eyes look eager as my body is wreathed in tendrils of shadow. I plant my staff in the ground in front of me and shift into a wolf. Gathering my power I shift again into the monster. I bare my fangs at the now much smaller griffon and grab the staff. This is the staff of the Wolf King. It has the same blessing as me. I let my astral power flow into it and it shifts into a naginata. It is a short staff that ends in a long blade with a bit of a curve.

I dart after the griffon she deflects the blade almost too easily. She has been hiding her true power up until now and it is as though we are both monsters clashing. No her style is one of grace and beauty, while mine is one of speed and power. It’s an angel clashing with a demon. Shadows and light flash from the meeting of our weapons. Her spear holds an enchantment that give her some form of light blade attack. I keep slashing and she is slowly losing ground. We are both on a timer now. Her endurance against my power and my powers own timer. Her grip slips and the blade sails home.

I recoil in shock as the blade slashes across her chest. I feel a burning pain in my side as her spear buries itself into my side. I fall to my knees as the magic of light attacks my shadow nature. Her cut is leaking shadows and I know the same battle is going on inside her. I feel my form evaporate into my human state as she pulls her spear free. I don’t have a lot of power left. I can pull out my shadows and try and heal her. If I do I’ll lose the battle against the light and die.

I smile at her and place my hands against her chest. “Sorry, I kinda went too far. Let me fix it. At least I’m gonna die in the presence of a beautiful girl. Lifes a bitch and then you die right?”

I don’t hesitate to pull out the shadows and pour my healing power into her. She says something but I can’t hear her. Everything is fading into shadows. The cut. Why won’t this cut heal? I hear a distant whine. Chulain disappears from in front of me and I vaguely see Discord over me.

“I can’t help him. He needs power but mine would only make the battle inside him worse. I don’t know what to do.” Discord looks sad. My veins are burning. I close my eyes. At least you saved her and I’m not dying a lonely monster. I feel hooves against my back. Something gets pressed against my lips. My eyes snap open at the small energy in the contact adding a new kind of light to the battle. Jade kissed me.

“He needs somepony to give him blood. If he drinks blood he gets power from it. Right Wolf? Or is there more to it than that?”

“I don’t want to hurt anypony. I’ve only done that once and it was an accident.” My eyes are closing again. The fire has almost reached my heart.

“So let him bite you, Jade. What’s the problem.” Applejack asks.

“I… Changelings don’t have blood like ponies do. I tried giving him a small dose of energy but It made it worse.”

“I. I’ll do it.” I hear a voice next to me. I hear a sharp gasp and something wet lands on my mouth. Blood. They think it’s the blood that has the power.

“Both my hands. Touching her.” I feel my arms pressed against her leg and I grab reflexively. It’s in my heart now and the pain of my entire existence being slowly burned away gives me strength. I pull the cut to my mouth and activate the blood ritual. She’s a vast ocean of power. I feel like a tiny bird caught in a hurricane. Power rips into my and slowly my power pushes back the light. All the power flowing into me is an incredible feeling and I hear a low moan. Wait, that’s Twilight! My eyes snap open and I release her.

She pulls back her hoof blushing and breathing heavily refusing to meet my gaze. I put my hand on her hoof and heal the cut. She looks at it surprised. “I don’t know how to make this up to you Twilight. Chulain is ok, right?”

She nods and stares at my mouth with a cross of disgust and something else. I feel a wetness around my lips and try and wipe the blood off. Her eyes resume their intense look when she’s looking for answers. “So it’s not the blood. It’s something else. How exactly does that work?”

I grin and stand up. “Get me a note of approval from Luna or Celestia before I teach you black magic, ok?” I bring my voice down to a mock conspiratorial whisper. “I recommend Luna, she’s not afraid of the dark.”

Several giggles reward me and I look around. Chulain is walking away. I want to talk to her. I run after her.

“Chulain, are you at least going to stick around long enough to say say good bye or something?”

She stops and glares at me. “You lived? The wound looks old and you're in high spirits. What happened? Why do you even want to speak with me? I’m not strong enough.”

“What do you mean by not strong enough? That was the upper limits of my power, I faced you with everything I had. Still you beat me, I would have died if not for Twilight. I get that you don’t want to talk with someone who’s a polar opposite to you but still…”

“Don’t lie to me! I know you were holding back. Even when it almost killed you. Why did you hold back?” She looks sad.

“You mean why didn’t I use my more destructive spells? Or why didn’t I use the Midnight Lotus?”

“I don’t know.” She looks confused and a little hurt. “I can just tell when my opponent has finally given all of their skill and power into a fight. You never had that look.”

I nod and smile. “Your right. I could have used the Midnight Lotus and risked my life for a lot of power. However this was a sparring match, not a death match. I didn’t want to kill you, actually even in a death match I don’t want to kill you. As for the spells I didn’t use, well I would hate to destroy my home and hurt my friends to win a little sparring match. Theres also the matter of I doubt you're just gonna sit there while I slowly activate them.”

“So in short what you held back was the same things I held back. Very well. I will return, Wolf. I will come back and challenge you again when I am strong enough for there to be a victor. A tie leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Fare thee well, Wolf.” She spreads her wings and takes off into the sky. It hits me, why didn’t she fly while fighting me? I think back during our entire clash she never used her wings for so much as balance. She never even moved them. I feel a sinking feeling as she flies off, she’s a lot stronger than me.

I walk back to everypony else quietly. “I lost.” I announce. Dash looks shocked and hovers eye to eye.

“You didn’t lose. It was a tie!”

“She never used her wings. Not even for balance. I lost.” I scowl at Dash challenging her to combat that. She backs off looking shocked. I sit down quietly and close my eyes.

Dash shouts and I look at her. She leveling a grin at me. “Yeah, well she fought a night pony during the day!” I can’t argue with that one. It’s wrong on a lot of levels but I still can’t even figure out what to say without it sounding like fluff. I focus inwards examining my body. My side hurts from the still healing gash. Something feels wrong on my insides, I think I feel organs slowly sliding into the right place. My head still has a solid egg and slowly closing gash on it.

“Girls. Our train is coming soon. We need to be leaving, sorry Wolf.” Twilight says breaking me out of my self analysis. Several groans and awes meet her remark but they say their goodbyes and leave.

Applejack bumps her flank against my leg. “Don’t forget you have to come down to Sweet Apples and show me how humans farm, Ya’ hear?”

I shift into wolf form and grin at her. I bump her flank with mine and reply. “Yup, sure thing. I’m looking forward to it.”

Her face goes red a moment and she trots off with the others. Jade scratches behind my ear and I grin at her. Velvet, however stays behind. “Alright, Wolf you owe me some drinks!” She actually looks excited.

“Didn’t you have to get back to Ponyville?”

“No, I live in Canterlot and was just visiting Rainbow. I never have free time like this so don’t back out on your promise now.” She turns puppy dog eyes on me and I quickly give in and let her lead me and Jade off into Canterlot to one of her favorite clubs. It has a nice dubstep beat playing and with the combined might of the two sexy mares being cute I end up agreeing to have everything put on my tab not that I really mind.

We find a booth in the back and they seem shocked to see Velvet there. Several ponies come up and ask Velvet for an autograph. It’s weird not being the one everyone has all their attention on. I actually kind of like it. Being just another face in the crowd is nice. I order some hard cider and Velvet calls me a wuss and orders a mudslide. Funny that they have them in this world. Jade however orders something called a volcano bowl that literally is a big bowl of booze and juice that has a magic about it that makes it create a fountain that looks like a small volcano leaking lava.

We hang out and talk about random things listening to the music. I finish my cider and start ordering shots of whiskey. As I’m lifting the shot to my mouth it speaks.

Author's Note

Author’s note: For the sake of your sanity, I am breaking this chapter into 5.1, Chaos is Sexy and 5.2. The next chapter is twisted and wrong, will only be referenced in small comments, and borderline disturbing. As such it should not be viewed by anyone.

Releasing without editing it again. Velvet has been very busy lately and I think she has forgotten my stories completely. I can't believe how many likes y'all have given me it's awesome.

Edit: Er just ignore the feeling of Deja Vu you get while reading this. I can't figure out where I broke the in order to fix it.