Against My Sins

Not every day can be maintained at peace, as there will always be something that starts the chaos. This day, it was the turn of a certain Spartan to start it, who with laud roar, launched himself to strike against his opponent. Discord was caught by surprise by Kratos, and his sudden attack, but he was not an idiot, as years of experience were about to put to practice. Such were his skills that the draconequus disappeared in thin air just before the Spartan could even grab him, causing Kratos to fall to the ground. This was the star of the fight.

Wasting no time, Kratos got on his fit, ready to fend off any incoming attack, and an attack he got, just not the one he was expecting. "You know? You really don´t have to do this, how about we sit for a moment and drink a cup of tea! Hey! I could even name you miss Understanding!" The voice of Discord suddenly appeared behind Kratos, who launched his fist towards the source, only managing to hit the air.

The fight had just started, and Kratos was already feeling his anger growing, he simplu hated these kind of enemies, especially the ones who mocked him, and Discord seemed to be one of those cretins. "Where are you, Chaos! Show yourself!" Kratos screamed to the air, but only got a chuckle for answer.

"Oh I´m sorry, am I making this too hard for you?" Discord mocked, appearing once again in front of the Spartan. "Gods in your world must have been a bunch of wusses."

Kratos did not waste any second to try and punch the draconequus, who was having the fun of a life time evading each and every single punch, with the occasional mock to anger the Spartan further. For Discord, someone who was easy to anger, was the most fun to annoy, and Kratos surely filled the draconequus´ necessity to perfection.

"And you are supposed to be the god of war? Even Twilight is more cunning than you."

"Hey!" The young alicorn exclaimed upon hearing the words; Discord simply ignored her.

The punches kept coming and Discord was starting to get bored; by that moment, he was ready to launch a counter attack. A right hook was aimed to Chaos´ chin, but was easily dodged, this time, the draconequus  used his open paw to hit the back of the head of the Spartan, launching him to the floor after a rather funny sound. Chaos laughed "Uh oh! I was about to ask if there was something in there, but after that sound, I guess you pretty much answered!"

The laughs, the mocks, it was all angering the Spartan, fueling him to the point where he could explode. Unnoticed by him, something was growing on the inside. The dust under Kratos, masqueraded the black smoke coming out of the Spartan, a smoke that took hold of his arms and his fists. As a sudden rush of adrenaline got hold of his body, Kratos used a very rare speed to strike against Discord, who was surprised by what happened.

He sensed the sudden appearance of the strange energy, but before he could analyze it, his gaze was assaulted by a black thunder covering Kratos´ right fist. Discord reacted in time and managed to deflect it before it could hit him. The blast was strong for sure, but not enough to damage him; if Kratos had hit the mark, it would have been a different story. The interesting thing was the fact of the usage of this strange magic, and its raising power.

"Hey! That could have hurt! Didn´t your mother ever teach you it is rude to blast any one with black thunder?" The draconequus frowned, disappearing and reappearing behind the Spartan. "Seriously in what type of house you grew up in?"

Even though his words managed to anger Kratos further, the Spartan had now taken notice of this sudden magic rush, a type of energy he had not seen ever in his life, but was strangely familiar enough to even disconcert the Spartan. Kratos looked at his hands for a second, before his frown returned, redirecting his sight towards Discord, and launching his fist against him, this time knowing what was going to happen. Discord disappeared as Kratos had expected, and different from the last times, the Spartan simply waited for the draconequus ton appear behind him.

Timing it just right, Kratos felt the sudden black energy rushing from his left fist, and raised it towards the place Discord was sure to appear, and as soon as he did, the draconequus was assaulted by a fist to his nose. The electrifying impact shackled Discord´s very own being, as something was tearing his muscles apart. This managed to stun Chaos, who became dizzy soon after the collision.

Now Kratos had him, and he was going to let the opportunity slip from his hands. Not wasting any moment, he launched a punch to the gut, his fists still covered in the same lightning. The punch made Discord fall on his knees, leaving him open for another brutal attack. Without the draconequus noticing, the Spartan placed both of his hands on Discord´s head and released a charge of electricity. The electrocution would last for a few seconds until he ended the attack with a headbutt, then proceeded to punch the draconequu´s face, sending him flying away from the impact.

Discord reacted quickly and recovered himself in mid air. He was slightly injured, something he did not see coming; he had expected Kratos´ story about being a god to be a mere story, but it was quite the contrary. "The fool hasn´t noticed it yet." Discord muttered under his breath.

The draconequus figured he would have to be careful, for godly magic (aside from the Elements) would actually be able to cause some damage. Now taking things seriously, he proceeded with the fight.

Discord could spot Kratos running towards his position, with the Elements, Dante, Virgil and the princesses, coming behind him, but trying to step away from the battle. The draconequus did spot Dante wanting to join in, but to stop Kratos rather than him; he had felt his power and it was something else entirely. Setting the thoughts aside, he placed both of his hands together, as an enormous ball of fire formed, then without wasting any moment, he fired it towards the Spartan

Each step he gave placed him closer to Chaos, until Kratos saw the attack, he did not stop, though. As his feet kept running, the Spartan, now more comfortable and in control of his new found magic, charged his hands in thunder, then prepared for the ball of fire.

Seconds after, the attack made impact with Kratos´ hands and stopped him for a moment, but not too long after, Kratos roared and pushed further, each time going faster.

From up high, Discord noticed this and figured he would have to get out of the way. How right he was...

The pressure of the beam was starting to be nothing compared to the strength of the Spartan, who was now pushing faster through the heat, then, with one last roar, he charged his right fist and punched the ball of fire with enough force, that the thunder around his fist exploded upon contact, then covered the beam.

The large ball of fire was sent flying away in a remarkable speed after Kratos punched. The Spartan thought he had hit Chaos when it exploded, but sadly that wasn´t true.

"Oh good! You are not just an useless albino, bald ape." The mocking voice of Discord found its way behind the Spartan, who grunted as soon as he heard it, but before he could attack again, the Draconequus hit the Spartan with his tail, sending him to the ground and just a few feet away. "But you do need to watch your surroundings."

Kratos used the momentum and rolled back up, sending another thunderbolt at Discord, who simply deflected it with the palm of his hand. "Ok, this is getting annoying and I know annoying." As soon as the words left his mouth, the draconequus used his finger to fire a violet beam to strike against the Spartan, who crossed his arms in front of him to block it. While Kratos was having difficulty to stop the attack, Discord held a bored expression.

It wasn´t too long before the draconequus used his other hand to summon another beam from under Kratos. He did not see the attack coming. Soon enough, the Spartan was engulfed in the attack, burning parts of his skin and leaving him panting on the ground. Discord walked towards him.

"Oh my! You look terrible, my friend, here! Let me help you with the burns." In the blink of an eye, a barrage of snow fell on Kratos, covering him from feet to head, Discord did not waste any moment to humiliate the Spartan and formed a snow man with the buried body of Kratos. "There! Snow suits you better."

Discord sighed in relief, then, while whistling a tune, he made his way towards the group.

Celestia could not help but to release the breath she was holding, something Dante nor Twilight share, they were almost sure the fight wasn´t over.

"Boy! Discord sure showed Kratos´ a lesson!" Said Applejack, who found herself enjoying the fight more than the rest.

Fluttershy found herself both worried that Kratos was injured and relieved that Discord was okay, fact showed by the way she immediately launched herself to hug the daconequus. Rainbow was left kind of disappointed by the way the fight ended, Rarity released the breath she was holding and Pinkie... well Pinkie was just smiling for no apparent reason at the newly made snowman.

Celestia, now sure that the fight was over, made her way towards Discord to scold him, until something made her wide open her eyes.

A sudden explosion of power assaulted every magic sensitive pony around, a huge shock wave of magical strength. It was so hard that it almost felt like a well placed punch. Suddenly the snowman began to melt, catching everypony´s attention, who turned their heads to see what was happening. They could all hear heavy breathing coming from under what was left of the snow, accompanied by a thick black smoke coming from the center.

Celestia could not believe what was happening, as the power that came from the inside was overwhelming her; she turned around slightly to spot Discord slightly worried about the event.

Soon enough the snow gave way to a bizarre scene. Kratos was kneeling on the ground, his fists closed and placed on the floor; his red tattoo was glowing red and the same black smoke was coming out of his body, then something happened that sent chills down everypony´s spines; Kratos lifted his head and stared directly into Discord and his eyes... were black.

His rage was completely visible, as his features matched that of a caged wild animal, who would launch himself for the kill at any moment.

Noticing this, Dante took a step forward, but was stopped by Celestia´s hoof. The Florentine tried to argue against her, until he felt Virgil´s hand placed on his shoulder, motioning for him to wait. Dante turned to stare at him, to which the poet replied.

"Your majesty is up to something and we cannot intervene, for ignorance is what she wants to avoid." Dante cocked his head to the side. "The fight will have to continue."

After a small grunt, Dante relaxed his muscles.

Not too long would pass before a loud distorted roar came out of Kratos, who had now increased his speed so much, that it took him less than a second to make it towards Discord. The trail of black smoke left behind Kratos´ run, dissipated quickly enough to witness what was happening. Faster than the eye could see, the Spartan lifted his fist right up to Discord´s face, causing a small black explosion upon making contact and was sent flying towards one of the small crystal towers in front of the city, which broke with the impact.

Discord decided to flee to the skies, not expecting Kratos to fly. Once up, the draconequus spoke. "Nice upgrade, but how about we leave this behind and shake hands like good pals." Kratos did not answer, and rather calmly walked towards him, Discord tried again. "Come on! You can´t even fly!"

As an answer, a pair of gray wings appeared on Kratos´ back, making Discord wide open his eyes.

"You have to be kidding me." He silently muttered and seconds later, another fist collided against him, in that small momentum, Kratos grabbed Discord´s face with his hand, and forced himself to the ground, bring the draconequus up front to receive the collision. As the draconequus made impact, Kratos´ wings disappeared.

The Spartan was tired of this game and after he saw Discord panting on the ground, he took the decision to end the fight. Kratos walked slowly towards the draconequus, a kill look on his face.

Discord, on his part, felt dizzy after so many hits, but he was still focused enough to see the change Kratos went through. It was a faint sensation, but strong enough for the draconequus to be able to feel it, and it was familiar to him, something he had not felt in so many centuries. "Is... is that, Fear?"

The power Celestia had been expecting to see was not present in Kratos, but rather something sinister, something fearsome. Celestia was now feeling worried for Discord.

To her right, Dante was feeling more anxious and with each second that passed, he was a step closer to intervene in the battle before things got out of hand, however, Celestia´s hoof was still locked in front of the Florentine, although more unconsciously than consciously.

It was in this moment, that Celestia began to wonder if Kratos really was what she thought he was. Soon enough her train of thoughts were interrupted by a wild roar coming from the furious animal, who had just launched himself for the kill.

In less than a second, Celestia took hold of her instincts before Dante could and flew straight to the Ghost of Sparta. Kratos was in complete and blind fury, this prevented him from seeing the white princes flying to his position until she was in front of him, however, Kratos did not care, nothing would stop him from killing Chaos.

His march continued, as his hands were already stretched in front of him to push the incoming set of white wings approaching his position, until they placed themselves in front of the Spartan´s track. Noticing this in time, Kratos stopped his advance to furiously look at the princess in front of him.

"What treachery is this?!" Kratos exclaimed, the redness of his tattoo getting more intense, as the angry words made it out of his mouth. No one had ever dared to step between him and his pray, and now here was an alicorn princess intending to do just that. Kratos was sure, that if it wasn´t for the freedom he was promised, he would simply rip Celestia´s head from the rest of her body.

On her part, the sun princess was kind of scared, she had not expected this kind of power coming out of the Spartan. Sure, being the son of a god must have given him extraordinary abilities, but what laid inside Kratos was something else. Pandora had told her about the power from her box, the power this Spartan carried, and while it was bond to his very being, this power seemed more... natural to his existence, almost like a true personality waiting to flourish and it really worried her. Finally, after a few seconds, she found the will to speak. "You cannot kill Discord!"

"Speak now! Why not!?" Asked Kratos, his breath still heavy, as the adrenaline that was fueling him, was denied its satisfaction.

This was the moment, she would have to chose her words carefully if she didn´t want him to kill Discord. "Because he is not the same being from your world!"

Kratos looked at her, completely in silence and contemplating her answer. Sure, he did seem different to what he would look like in his world, but the aura he gave, was too familiar to ignore. It was Chaos, that much was true, but why was Celestia protecting  him? "Enough excuses, I would rather hear the reason of why you chose to stop me from killing Chaos!"

Celestia grunted in desperation. "Are you even listening to me? Discord is not the same god of chaos from your world." Kratos looked from her to the draconequus behind the sun princess. "Concentrate, Kratos, does he really feel like the one you were expecting? He may have the same aura, but he is a completely different entity, he has been in Equestria for thousands of years! We even incarcerated him in stone for a couple more!"

"Good times, don´t you think so, Celly?" Exclaimed Discord, who found himself standing up from the ground, as he rubbed his belly. Soon, his stare collided to that of the Spartan, instantly killing the draconequus´ regained confidence.

After a few moments, Kratos retired his stare from Discord, and returned his eyes to Celestia´s. She was right, he did feel different from what he felt back in his world, but he had undoubtedly the same aura. Unknown to the Spartan, the black in his eyes was starting to fade, as well as the glow in his red tattoo; he felt a little calmer, but the lust of blood was still there. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak. "Then why does he feel the same?"

Celestia took another deep breath, she could notice Kratos relaxing, something that made her lower her guard and now, she had the Spartan ready to listen. Sadly, the draconequus answered for her. "Chaos is universal, you know? As powerful and handsome as I am, I cannot be in two universes at the same time." Kratos let out a grunt, as he noticed Discord getting too close to him.

"Stand back!"

Discor raised his palms in front of him to try and ease the situation. "Okay, okay, just calm down. Geez, you must really have zero friends."

Once again, Kratos tried to walk towards the draconequus, but Celestia placed a hoof on his chest to stop the advance of the heavy breathing Spartan. "Enough, Kratos! He is not the same Chaos you think he is, they are two separate entities..."

"... connected to the beauty of chaos, of course." Added Discord and in return he got a stare from Celestia. "What?"

"Not helping, Discord."

Kratos stared at the draconequus for a few seconds, who in return did his best to stare back. Not too long after, the Spartan returned his gaze towards Celestia. "I can feel the same aura, the same joy for destruction!"

"To be fair," Said Discord, "didn´t you destroy your whole world? I mean, I´ve heard of dysfunctional families, but this is just...."

"AAAAAARG!" With a roar, Kratos was once again going for the throat of the draconequus, who instinctively dissipated to avoid being torn apart by the Spartan.

On his part, Kratos had landed on the dirt, before standing up from the ground and shouting towards the sky. "Where are you, coward! Come now and face me!"

The voice of the draconequus suddenly resounded in the sky. "Are you crazy?! You´re going to rip my limbs apart!"

"If you come now, the only thing I will rip apart is your head!" Kratos replied.

"Oh! How generous of you! A true agent of Harmony!" Kratos was boiling in anger and soon he would explode, Celestia wanted to avoid that. She had already seen what Kratos was capable of if he reached his power, if he let anger consume him and it certainly wasn´t good.

"Stop this fight at once!" Celestia´s royal voice caught the duo off guard, as both Discord and Kratos stopped taunting each other, but contrary to Discord, the Spartan´s annoyance was apparent. "Discord, reappear at once!"

"Nope! Nope! Nope! He´s going to..." Discord tried to argue, but it was no use.

"NOW!"

A small grunt was heard and seconds later, the draconequus appeared behind Celestia, keeping a watchful eye on Kratos. Once she saw the Spartan would not attack, she spoke.

"Kratos, why did you attack Discord even after we told you he was not the same god." The Spartan grunted again.

"I take disrespect from no one, Celestia! If he wanted to avoid my wrath, Chaos would have held his tongue!" It was clear he had little tolerance to mocks and jokes, he did not have the patience to deal with these kind of things, something he made pretty clear.

Wanting to calm the situation and with a swift movement, Discord lifted his right claw. "Okay, okay! I´m holding my tongue, see?" Then in a second, he literally ripped and grabbed his tongue before holding it in his claw. "There! Happy?"

Far from being angered further (he did became more annoyed, thought), Kratos gave Celestia a skeptical look, one which Celestia replied with a sigh.

"He´s just Discord, leave it like that and you´ll avoid insanity, okay?"

Kratos did not respond, but rather stared at Discord with the same expression. He had seen many magical beasts and beings, but certainly nothing like the draconequus in front of him. Soon enough he was convinced that he wasn´t Chaos, but rather a pathetic imitation of the ruthless god, as such, Kratos relaxed his muscles and stopped his attack.

Celestia took a few deep breaths to calm herself as well. It had been quite some time since she had used the royal voice and it certainly left her tired, not mentioning the mess that had became her mane, but she would have to deal with that monster later, as right now she had to use this opportunity to calm the two... or rather the Spartan in front of her.

With one more breath, she proceeded to speak. "Very well, now that we are calmed, how about a friendly introduction?"

Kratos grunted in response, but Celestia had been expected this, so she didn´t care.

"Awwwww! Do I have to?" Behind her, Discord whined, causing Celestia to attack him with an angry look that certainly chilled the draconequus´ blood. "Okay, okay! Introducing myself to him now!" He gave a mocking salute.

Kratos was calm, but his expression still remained the same and those eyes... oh dear those eyes made Discord´s hair stand up. Finally, the towering, yet insignificant for Kratos, stature of Discord blocked the sun in front of the Spartan, who simply stared at the draconequus in the eyes.

After a few awkward seconds, Discord finally managed to move. He gulped before speaking. "Well I guess we should settle this, uh? Partner?" Kratos remained unchanged, almost silently saying to the draconequus to drop the act get on with it. Discord, however did not gave in so easily. "Come on! Shouldn´t we gods be sticking together? I mean, even our capabilities are alike! You the God of War, me the awesome and powerful God of Chaos... heh, heh!"

Still, Kratos remained the same. Soon enough Discord gave up and sighed in defeat. "Ugh! Very well mister sunshine! I´m Discord." The draconequus extended his claw towards Kratos and spoke with sarcasm clearly noticeable in his voice. "Pleasure to meet you."

A few seconds passed and Discord still held his claw, but the Spartan did not move. Finally, after Discord had begun to wonder if he had some mental problem, the ghost of Sparta moved and said. "You already know my name."

Once more, awkwardness endured as Kratos still refused to shake the draconequus´ hand and finally, before not too long, he gave up with a grunt of his own and turned to face Celestia. "There! Introductions made! Can I go away from this lunatic now?"

Kratos clenched his fist, but before he could do something, Celestia gave him a nod of confirmation.

"Finally!" Discord said and proceeded to make her way towards Fluttershy. Kratos found himself once more perplexed as the draconequus had seemingly forgot about his entire arm, which laid floating next to the Spartan. Not too long passed before Discord came back and grabbed his limb. "Sorry, forgot about this. I´m going now!"

Once Discord made his way back to the rest of the group, Kratos turned to look at Celestia. "Any other surprise waiting for us? Or is that buffoon the only one?"

Celestia couldn´t blame him, in the end, it was her decision to keep Discord hidden from him, sure, maybe Kratos would have reacted similar, but it would not have transcended into a full blown fight like the one just ended. She sighed. "I´m sorry, Kratos, but this confrontation is what I wanted to avoid."

The Spartan turned to look from Celestia to Discord and back to the princess again. "You did not do that much of a good job."

"And what else could I have done? Is there any other way I could have told you, without going berserk!?"

Kratos grunted in response. Celestia had a point, he knew he had so little comprehension capabilities when locked himself into a fight, there was no denying it, he was in a dead end in this debate. Finally, after a few moments of silence, Kratos spoke. "Chaos will keep his life, as longs as he stays away from me, are we clear?"

Knowing that was as far as she could get, Celestia released a deep sigh. At least, she now had convinced him that Discord was not an enemy, she figured she would have to be thankful about that fact, still, she hoped they could get along and avoid any other confrontation. "Is there any other way for me to convince you to be friendly with him?" She wasn´t particularly fond of the draconequus, but Celestia wanted to avoid anypony from getting hurt. She had to at least try, even though, Celestia already knew the answer.

For Kratos, the little time he spent with Discord was enough to find him annoying. He simply couldn´t stand beings that did not take anything serious, like Hermes, and gods! How he despised Hermes. He knew Celestia wanted to play with her ´peace and harmony´ game, but this wasn´t Kratos´ concerned, for all he knew, she could keep playing fool. "Do not push your luck, Celestia."

The princess rolled her eyes in response. "Guess that´s as far as I will get." With those words, she began to walk towards the group, passing alongside Kratos, who turned to look at her, as she opened her mouth to speak. "Come, there is one more decision to make and it must come from the three of you."

Kratos did not reply at all, and simply followed the princess, where the rest of the group was.

The princesses and the Elements couldn´t believe what had happened. They have beaten Discord before, but the way Kratos did it, was just brutal, and that was not all, but the fact that the power that came out from him, was not pure at all. On his part, Dante found this worrisome, he wasn´t sure why exactly the princess had chosen him to help, as the Spartan clearly seemed more problematic than anything. The Florentine was at least glad that Kratos managed to calm himself, but if it wasn´t for the princess´ intervention, he wasn´t sure what else could have happened, and he would surely not stay with his arms crossed.

Virgil surely noticed it, and he admitted that he was a bit dangerous, he still had hope he would come around. The spirit took the decision to keep Kratos in his sight at all times.

The rest was scared, to say the least. Out of all the enemies they had faced, they had never seen somepony as aggressive as Kratos. This didn´t mean his feats were impressive, though, they just had to be careful around him.

On her part, Luna had found something familiar about Kratos, and the way Discord reacted to his power; she remembered the draconequus calling him Fear. She wasn´t too sure, but the darkness emanating from the Spartan, was similar to a certain event she went through, making her feel a shiver down her spine, as she did her best to shake off the thought.

Contrary to everypony´s attention to the incoming Spartan, Fluttershy found herself in front of Discord, as she checked every part of his body. Sometime she wished he wasn´t so lighthearted about certain things, it surely took him into troubles. "Oh my, Discord, are you alright?" Back to the rest, Fluttershy found herself tending the draconequus, who seemed like he had no visible wounds.

It was strange, each and every single one of Kratos´ attacks, looked like they packed a punch, yet Discord remained unscratched. This didn´t mean he wasn´t hurt, though, fact noticeable by the faces he made each time the pegasus checked his body. Discord chuckled. "Well it only hurts when I do this," he cracked his back, "this," then proceeded to crack his neck, "and this... ouch!" Finally, he lifted his arms, revealing  several bumps on his sides.

"How can you be so cheerful at this? You are hurt pretty badly!" Exclaimed Fluttershy, frowning at Discord, who remained as calmed as ever. "Just look at this!"

Discord dismissed her with his hand. "Oh, come on! It is nothing! Just a few mountains growing up on my ribs and that´s all."

His answer was met by a dead stare from Fluttershy, forcing Discord to drop the funny act. "This isn´t funny, Discord, Kratos could have seriously hurt you badly." The draconequus couldn´t help but to agree with her.

At first, the Spartan was proving to be quite a weakling, until he lost control and became something even he feared. Discord lowered his head, as he simply let Fluttershy check on his wounds; the draconequss soon became lost in his thoughts, trying to put a puzzle together, something he could not keep away from his mind, he figured he would have to make a quick trip to Canterlot´s library latter.

"I apologize for what has transcended here." Soon enough, the voice of Celestia too everypony´s attention, with the exception of Discord and Fluttershy. Behind her, was Kratos, who looked as if nothing had happened, regardless, the Spartan took one look at Discord.

Nopony said anything, but silence would soon be over, as Virgil took it upon himself to approach the princess. "Fate will reach to us, no matter what action we take, princess." He smiled. "Do not worry for that which you do not have control."

Celestia couldn´t help but to release a weak grin. "I will keep that in mind, for now, I would like for us to return to the castle, there are still some things to discuss which I would not like to say in here." With those words, everypony prepared to leave the place and headback towards the castle.

The three humans and the ponies silently walked across the green grass, separated into several individual groups, with Celestia. Cadence and Virgil gong in front, Luna and Dante next, and behind them, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack and Twilight followed, leaving Kratos alone. Fluttershy and Discord had decided to walk a few meters away from everyone, more specifically, Kratos.

The march continued peacefully, with none of them bothering to even look at the Spartan, who, in  all honesty, could care less. To the front, Luna had taken it upon herself to observe Dante´s reactions, noticing something about him. "Anything wrong, Dante?"

The Florentine woke up from his daydream to look at Luna. "It is nothing, I´m just a little worried for what just happened." The man had been in hell long enough to recognize evil magic, something that set him on the edge. "Virgil tells me that our mutual friend should have the benefit of the doubt, but I can´t help but to feel something went wrong in that fight."

"You felt it to?" Asked Luna, getting a grin from Dante.

"Actually, I am more than sure we were not the only ones who felt it." The moon princess turned to look at him with a puzzled expression, to which Dante replied by motioning with his head behind him. Luna did as he said and took notice of the Elements walking rather away from the Spartan, while they spoke with each other, a spooked expression on their faces. "They are scared, and they have reasons to."

"Because of Kratos? I know you can put up a fight against..."

"That is not what I meant." Interrupted Dante. "Look at him, Luna, look at the way he reacted. He wasn´t only showing his power, he was showing his life, a mirror reflecting his failures, and ambitions, the way he grew up."

Luna shook her head. "What exactly are you saying?"

"I mean, that the Elements have never been through the things we have lived. The world were Virgil, Kratos and me came from is a place full of evil." Explained Dante, making Luna rolled her eyes at his statement.

The moon princess, as well as her sister, have lived enough for them to know about this things, and she didn´t think his world was as awful as Dante claimed it to be. "Aren´t you overreacting a bit? They may be young, but the Elements have already faced so many terrible things."

Dante shook his head. "With all due respect, but an overlord from here, pales in comparison to a single priest."

Luna gave her a confused look. "Really? Does a priest from your world enslaves your kind and robes them from everything that makes them free?"

The moon princess was surprised to see the grimace on Dante´s words, as he lowered his head. "They do, they enslave and rob, they kill and rape; their greed force them to steal from the people they claim to save and almost everyone follows blindly." Luna couldn´t help but to feel sick at every single word Dante said, but she was still not grasping the idea Dante wanted to deliver. After a few seconds of silence, the Florentine turned to look at her. "Do you want to know the difference between your overlords and the filth of my world?" Luna did not answer. "They do not need godly powers to conquer, only a brain and ignorance from the people."

"I still do not see how this relates to him." Relied Luna, shaking her head in response.

Dante took one quick look behind him, then returned his gaze to the moon princess. "Simple, not only priests are capable of these horrible acts, as it is natural for our kind to hold temptations, however, if we have the will, those temptations will not be able to control us." Once more, Dante´s gaze took a peek at Kratos, who kept walking behind everyone and everypony. "His ambitions consumed him, transformed him, and now, he is a reflection of those temptations, a manifestation of all the evils of human kind."

Luna was perplexed, she never realized a single being could hold so much evil inside of him, and worst yet, that a whole species were prone to such horrible actions without care. She was full aware pony kind could fall to such temptations, but their ambitions were less... horrific. Now, she had a hard time trying to understand why they came to him. "Why ask his aid?" Dante turned to look at her. "Why bring such a horrible being into this world? So far, I see more good in you than him, but I can´t simply understand why Celestia asked for him."

Out of all the answers she could have gotten, Luna got the one she wasn´t expecting. Dante simply chuckled. "Because there is not only darkness inside of him." Luna cocked her head to the side. "I have yet to see it, but Virgil has, and his thought is shared by Celestia, besides, everyone deserves a second chance." Dante quickly took notice of Luna shaking her head in a negative, making him think of something that could calm her nerves. "One thing I know for sure, if he was really that evil, he would have killed our weird friend the first time he got." Luna sighed. "Just think about this, why did he stop? The exterior may be dark, but the interior could be shinier."

´Shinier?´ Luna thought. She really had her doubts about that, so far there had been no indication of a lighter side on the Spartan, and she didn´t like to rely solely on the thoughts of another, like Dante. Luna preferred to listen to her own thoughts, and she would not lower her guard around the Spartan until she saw something about him that could give credit to Dante´s words. Out of curiosity, Luna looke behind her and towards Kratos, this time taking a good look at him. She saw nothing but violence, his topless upper side full of muscles, the enormous scar on his stomach, as well as every other part of his body; his clenched fists that seemed to be able to crush even metal, then she went to his head. She saw the numerous wrinkles adorning the sides of his nose, as well as the ones between his eyes, and just alongside them, the scar that adorned the right side of his face, from the forehead to his cheek... then he saw his eyes. Luna couldn´t help but to a chill going down her spine, as she went back to the time she was just a filly scared of the monster behind the closet, and not because of the maniacal look he held, but because of what greeted her.

Kratos was looking right at her...

Luna reacted quickly, and averted her gaze from the Spartan, silently continuing her way.

Behind the due, the rest of the Elements found themselves looking at Futtershy and Discord. They had noticed the draconequus slightly quiet and nervous since the fight was finished, and they certainly didn´t know why. "Man, I´v never seen Discord like that." Whispered Rainbow to Applejack, who gave her a quick nod as a response.

"Ah´ know, right? Ah´as expecting that fella to come with his tail between his legs, but holy cow!" Replied the cowpony. "You think that was one of them god powers?"

Rainbow shrugged in response. She, as well as Applejack, was not very sure about the things Kratos just did. "No idea, AJ, but I really was expecting Dante here to get into the fight." Suddenly, her mind focused on another fact she had found quite fascinating. "Seriously, I have to admit that Kratos´ wings were pretty cool! I had no idea the dude could fly!"

Applejack gave her an alarmed look as an answer. "Ah´ son´t think that him having a pair of wings is good for us." Rainbow cocked her head to the side, confused by Applejack´s words. "There is one reason why scorpions don´t have wings, sugarcube."

The pegasus scoffed. "Whatever, dude looks cool and that´s all!"

"Uh! Who do you think would win!?" Said Pinkie, as she suddenly appeared from behind the duo, scaring Rainbow in the process. Out of the group, the pink mare seemed like the less affected about the current situation, but then again, she was Pinkie.

Quickly entering the game, Rainbow´s ears perked up. "Oh, my bet is on Dante!"

Applejack raised her hat, grabbing the attention of the group. "Ah´gotta side with Rainbow on this one, guy looks like he´s no joke, also, he seems nicer!"

Stepping up front, Rarity shook her hear upon hearing her friends´ answer. "As much As I hate to admit it, but I don´t think anyone can compare to a brute that kills gods, Isn´t that an immediate red flag?"

It was clear Kratos had caused a commotion amongst them after his fight with Discord, and while evrypony was on their guards, some couldn´t help but to feel a slight sense of safeness around Dante, something the unicorn couldn´t agree on. Rarity didn´t consider herself violent, at least not when she was in a good mood, and even if she did explode, the fashionista was more than sure she could control herself after a few minutes, something Kratos clearly lacked, and it scared her.

Suddenly, a pink blur in the form of Pinkie appeared behind Rarity, raising her hoofs to the air. "And he looks scarier that Ali!"

Rainbow quirked an eyebrow at this. "Ali?"

"Dante Alighieri, silly!" Pinkie chuckled, not acknowledging she was the only one that called the Florentine by his second name.

As Pinkie got off Rarity, the unicorn took one glance at the Spartan before her, before returning her sight to the rest of her friends. "One thing I know for sure, Is that if our uncivilized ´friend´ one day decided to go mad I would certainly do my best to avoid getting close to him."

As soon as the sentence was finished, Rarity could feel a hoof placing itself on her shoulder, coming from Applejack, who had a worried look on her face. "Sugarcube, you are not the only one." Pulling her hoof away, the cowpony turned to look at Twilight, who was deep in her own thoughts, while looking at the floor. "What about you, Twilight?" The alicorn turned to look at her with an absent look. "What do you think about our pal."

Twilight released a small sigh, at the same time her gaze returned to the floor. "I... I don´t know." Quickly, her eyes took one good look at the Spartan behind her. "He seems dangerous enough, but I don´t think he´s going to turn evil on us, or at least, not right now." With a deep breath, her sight returned to her friends. "It´s just that he seems like a time bomb, and I just hope we can stand up against him, should the situation arrives."

As an answer, Rainbow placed her armo over Twilight´s shoulder, as she pulled the alicorn closer to her. "Come on, Twilight! If something happens, I´m sure Dante here will kick that bald ape´s behind!"

Twilight gave her a weak nod, trying to agree with the pegasus, but deep inside her, she could feel the Spartan was far worse than everypony pictured him to be. He scared her for the simple fact that his expression showed none of his emotions, so she didn´t exactly knew what was going inside his head. It was unsettling, to say the least, and it made him unpredictable. In the end, she didn´t know exactly what to think, and even if what he showed was dangerous, there was still a strange aura around him that fascinated her. Sure, he did look kind of insane and violent, but she could feel something else going on inside the Spartan, and Twilight couldn´t exactly place what it was. Leaving this thoughts aside, Twilight remembered his introduction at Cadence´s castle, and the tale Kratos had told them. The alicorn was not a fool, she had taken notice on every single bit of Kratos´ story, and she noticed a few gaps, the question of why he let some things out, was still unknown to her.

As she analyzed the scene again, Twilight noticed that he simply did not mention what happened between his last battle against barbarians and his servitude to the gods, she did know however, that his family had died sometime between these two events. Other thing he left out was his ascension to god hood. If he was a god, why did he have to serve the other ones?

Slowly detaching herself from the Elements, Twilight decided to get closer to Kratos and walk alongside him, her sight never leaving the man, who took notice of her approach.

"...What?" Kratos said after a few silent moments, and it was so sudden, that the alicorn immediately averted her gaze, much to Kratos´ annoyance. "If you are going to say something, then say it, and do not waste my time."

Twilight cringed at this, she had to admit Kratos was far less intimidating from afar, but now that she was near him, Twilight couldn´t help but to feel a little aback by him. "Its just that..." She tried to say, but kept stammering at her words, something the Spartan noticed, however, just before he could say something, confidence returned to the alicorn. "It´s just that I can´t understand a few things about your life."

Kratos turned to look at her. "Like what?"

"Why were you serving these gods?" She finally asked, getting a grunt in response from the Spartan, who returned his sight to the path in front of him.

He could remember it pretty well, the ancient times where he had nothing left to loose. He had gone through a lot in order to let go of these memories. "I... was running a fool´s errand."

Unsatisfied with answer she got, Twilight pushed further on the matter, and much to Kratos´ dismay. "Yes, but why? Weren´t you a god? So far I´ve seen nothing about gods worshiping other gods."

Kratos hated interrogations, he simply despised them, for the sole reason that his life was not the entertainment of another. Why did he have to let know anyone of his life? It was his. "My story is none of your concern!"

Twilight gave a small jump at the Spartan´s reaction. "You do not have to be so rude, you know?"

"Then stop annoying me with questions, I have talked before already!" Kratos replied, as he gave her a quick look, before returning his sight to the front, choosing to ignore the alicorn.

The alicorn sighed deeply, knowing she would not get answers out of him, and simply opted to walk alongside him. The march continued in silence for a few seconds, before Kratos turned to look at Twilight. He was aware that she was an alicorn like the other princesses, and that she was Celestia´s ex-student; she would have to be, otherwise Celestia wouldn´t have chosen her if Twilight didn´t carry so much power. He had heard so little about these Elements, other than the obvious fact that it was a powerful magic against the nature of chaos, but he did not know anything specific about its uses. Setting these thoughts aside, Kratos took notice on an interesting fact about the young princess, something she lacked, compared to her colleagues. "Where is your castle?"

The Spartan suddenly asked, getting the attention of Twilight, who turned to look at him with a ´hum?´ as an answer. Kratos greeted her with silence, it was clear he was not going to repeat the question, but thankfully for the alicorn, she had heard it. Letting out a sigh, Twilight´s face fell, as she was faced with the problem she had since her arrival at the Crystal kingdom. "I actually don´t have one." What makes a princess? This was the question lingering on her mind. The princesses had told Twilight that her time would come, but she was afraid her search would turn out to be fruitless. She felt useless, to say the least, she wanted to prove herself to her friends, to her mentor and to everypony in Equestria. Sure, she had the power, but its implications regarding taking care of a kingdom alluded her.

On his part, Kratos felt surprised about this answer. Twilight was clearly dearly to Celestia, aside from being her prized personal student, plus, he had felt her power, still, Twilight seemed to be on Celestia´s shadow, making her question about gods serving gods, rather ironic. For him, once power arrived, it was not to be wasted, for it was well earned.

Kratos had, somewhat, been in her position before, however, the reasons would obviously have to be very different from his. "Why not?"

"I... I don´t know." Twilight answered, shaking her head as an answer. "I´ve been trying to figure out what I´m missing to prove myself." She turned to look at the Spartan. "I want to take part in royal duties, but all I have done is stand and salute." She lowered her head, letting a sigh escape her lips. "Sometimes I think what I do is not enough."

"Haven´t you proven yourself to Celestia enough?" The Spartan asked, cocking his head to the side in confusion. He had wondered that if she was indeed Celestia´s prized student, Twilight would have certain privileges amongst royalty, something that clearly wasn´t the case.

The alicorn took a deep breath. "I have, but I don´t know why it doesn´t seem like I´m doing anything important!" The Spartan turned to look at her. "I want so badly to take part, but I can´t stop to think that princess duty is overcrowded!" Upon her words, Kratos couldn´t help but to mentally chuckle. Even he thought the fact that four princesses for one realm was rather ridiculous. Twilight let out a sigh, as she lowered her head. "I don´t want to be greedy, but I thought that my ascension would give me the opportunity to help pony kind, I thought it would be different, but I don´t even have a castle or a kingdom to look after."

That word ´greed´, Kratos had never understood why purists seemed to make a huge deal of it, in his mind, this word was only the excuse of the unworthy to avoid their evolution and remain passive before their ´perfect´life. He didn´t like to call it greed, in his mind, it was ambition, and this ambition got him far. He could see this same ambition in Twilight´s eyes, chains that Celestia wanted to keep unbroken, and it was clearly stopping the young alicorn from unleashing. "And what have you done about it?" The Spartan asked.

Twilight cocked her head to the side, as she stared into Kratos´ eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Why haven´t you claimed what you think is rightfully yours?"

The alicorn shook her head at the Spartan´s question, clearly opposing his suggestion. "I can´t simply go and seize princess Celestia´s throne by myself, Heck, I don´t even know exactly how to maintain a kingdom!" A determined look appeared on Twilight´s features, grabbing Kratos´ attention, who kept looking at her. "I need to be patient if I want everything to be perfect, I don´t want to make a mistake and show the princess I´m unworthy!"

Why was she so eager to show Celestia she was worthy? This was the question that lingered on Kratos´ mind, as he kept walking towards the now on sight castle. If what the princess told him was true, then it seemed funny to him how Twilight was breaking her head trying to prove herself to the princess. He thought there was no need for that. Unto another thought, he couldn´t help  but to take notice of her determination to do everything right, and how much she wanted to grow up. It was an admirable quality, still, she still had a lot to learn. "If you are expecting everything to be perfect, then you are not understanding what being wise means." Twilight turned to look at him, as she cocked her head to the side. "Learning from your mistakes, stops you from repeating them in the future."

The alicorn frowned. "And how would you know that? You were a god! How can gods make mistakes?"

"Have you heard my story? I have not told you all of it, but you can be sure that the mistakes I made, were far worse than the ones you are so afraid to commit." Averting his gaze from Twilight, Kratos lifted his head to the road in front of him. "Some of them never healed, but I stood up, and learned from them."

Twilight shook her head in response. "But what can I do? How do I know my mistakes won´t be bad for Equestria?"

"A good leader takes risks, if he thinks his actions will benefit his followers." Kratos looked at Twilight. "Do not be afraid of making mistakes, child, and do not wait for someone to hold your hand and deliver you to greatness." The Spartan was glad there was someone who could actually have a proper conversation with him, without the need of using the word ´friendship´ every five seconds. The only thing he needed to know, was how much she would listen to him. "Power is achieved through ambition, if you let it guide you."

Twilight lowered her head in thought, letting Kratos´ words sink in. They certainly were different from Celestia´s lessons, but they were welcomed as well. "I know you´re right, but I can´t help but to think I hit a dead end." With those words, the alicorn turned to look at Celestia, before returning her gaze to Kratos. "I mean, I´m not even as powerful as the princesses."

The Spartan quirked an eyebrow. "Are you not?" Twilight turned to look at him, her expression showing confusion. "Celestia has told me some things about you, child, and it is no wonder why she chose you to become an alicorn, IF what she said about you, was true."

The alicorn released a  puzzled expression. "And what did she tell you?"

"She told me how you defeated the enemy of the sun, and how you defeated an ancient god." Kratos noticed Twilight staring blankly at him, clearly letting his words sink, hitting her with the thing Kratos wanted to see: Recognition, and there was no doubt Twilight was remebering her victories. "And I have a slight suspicion that this god was Chaos himself, or am I wrong?"

Finally, Twilight´s mouth was assaulted by a thin smile. "No, you´re not."

Upon her answer, Kratos chuckled in his mind. "When mortals defeat gods, they become the gods themselves." As soon as the words left Kratos´ mouth, Twilight couldn´t help but to look at him, recognition hitting her once she completed the puzzle.

Kratos was alluding at his past life, and in that moment, Twilight knew it shared a few similarities with hers, but that was not the important part, but rather something that shined some light in Kratos´ confusing story... he wasn´t always a god. The Spartan wasn´t only talking about her numerous victories, from Nightmare moon to the cutie mar problem, but he was alluding at his own life. Whether he had killed his way towards godhood or not, was still unclear to her, but it was close enough. Considering this fact was true, Twilight wondered who was that former god of war.

"So..." She said, grabbing the Spartan´s attention once more. "There was a god of war before you..."

Kratos remained silent for a few seconds, silently deciding whether to answer or not. He had no reason to, but after a single conversation with Twilight, he was convinced she was not the being he thought she was, considering Celestia´s pacifist personality. He understood Twilight was a girl with dreams, ambitions that allowed her the worth of growing, and it was this king of people Kratos could rely on. After a few moments, the Spartan took his decision. "Yes, there was."

"What was his name?"

Kratos took a deep sigh, as he clenched his fists, preparing to spell out the name he had hoped he would not hear again in his eternal existence. "... Ares."

´Ares´ thought Twilight. So, it was true, there had been another god of war before Kratos, now, there was one more question for her to ask. "Did you..." Kratos turned to look at her, with an expression that told her the answer before she could even ask. It was as if Kratos had already known what was her question. "Of course you did." She deadpanned.

Without answering, Kratos returned his sight to the path in front of him, leaving Twilight to analyze her discussion with the Spartan. Different from her opinion of him before, Twilight couldn´t help but to think Kratos was not a mindless beast, and actually had a philosophy, his own philosophy, definitely not one everypony would agree with, in the end, he was right about a few things. For so long, she had struggled with her need to prove herself worthy, without even considering the many time she had, but there was simply no way she could grow a castle from nothing. She knew how to be a leader, but being one for an entire nation was completely different, at least now, Twilight felt more capable than before, and she had the feeling a certain Spartan would help her.

On his part, even if wasn´t looking at her, Kratos didn´t feel as annoyed ad he thought we was going to be alongside Twilight. Just as he predicted, the alicorn had the means to overcome her own demons, something that in the eyes of Kratos, was to be respected, besides, she did deserve how own castle just by the mere fact she was now a princess. Setting away these thoughts, Kratos noticed how close they found themselves from the Crystal castle, were Celestia would discuss a few more things.

As strange as all of this was, Kratos didn´t exactly feel surprised, considering the fact he had seen many things for a life time, but he also couldn´t let out the thought that this world was not match for him, and in fact, it was his complete opposite. At least he had seen potential in this world, and not exactly for his desires.

Kratos had decided he would keep his eyes on Twilight.