Author's Note

"You're in the wrong neighbourhood." -Ekko, when taunting a Champion from Piltover. Alternate title was "Let's go hunt some Liches?" since Asphyxious decided to stop by. Still on a partial hiatus, but I'm doing what I can to help continue it. Thanks to Seth Typofather for giving me some ideas. Enjoy!
-Frost

P.S. Thanks for putting up with me patiently. Here's a Poro

Break 8- You're in the Wrong Neighborhood

Chronobreak- You’re in the Wrong Neighborhood

Ponyville

It had only been a couple of days since Ekko, Twilight, and the rest of her friends found out about the assassination of Blueblood by the Virtuoso named Jhin. A twisted murderer from Runeterra who believed that killing was an artform, obsessing over killing his victims perfectly and personally believing that art required a certain amount of… cruelty. All things that Ekko and Poppy both saw as sickening and downright awful. Since then, Twilight had taken necessary precautions by having some of the guards in Canterlot be stationed in Ponyville during the night so the civilians could stay safe. Celestia promised that she would be able to find a way to get to the bottom of this on her end in Canterlot, but it had been some time since that was last said.

As Ekko was practicing with swinging his guile by helping Spike play a game tha t the dragonling and the children in town called “baseball”, their game was interrupted when Twilight soon teleported out to them… while Ekko was in mid-swing. “Woah, Twi! Can’t you see that we were in the middle of something?” The boy told her. “One inch closer and I would’ve smacked you upside the head on accident.”

The Alicorn breathed a sigh of relief as she looked back at the boy while Spike went back inside the castle. “I’ll keep that in mind… Ekko, the princess is having some ponies come over to the castle later today that might help us out with getting to the bottom of what happened back in Canterlot earlier this week.” Despite that sounding positive, Ekko himself was skeptical because of the amount of precaution that had already been taken. And the fact that the law and him did not really get along so well back home in Zaun.

“Is it your brother and that Flash what’s his face guy that we met back in the city?”

“Not exactly.”

“And with that, you lost me.” Ekko told her, only to get a buckler to the head from Poppy as she soon went over to where Ekko was, reminding him to be respectful, even if Twilight was a friend to them and allowed them to stay at her castle while in Equestria.

“Twilight, did the Princess happen to tell you the names of the ponies that were coming by any chance or how she found them?” The Yordle asked while Ekko was taking a drink of water nearby.

“Celestia put out a notice shortly after what happened that she was looking for the greatest detectives and law enforcement officers to help with the case, ultimately leading her to summon them to Canterlot after she received a letter of confirmation from them. Turns out, they might be related to you guys.” Hearing that though just caused Ekko to spit out what he was drinking, all before falling to the ground and laughing his ass off because of what the Alicorn said a few moments ago.

“Heh, real funny now, Twilight…” Ekko asked, only to see that her expression remained unchanged. “Oh by the league, you're serious.”

“I am. The Princess said that both of them are from the same League as you two, no pun intended, and that one is a sheriff while the other one is-.”

“An enforcer of some idealistic nonsense?” Ekko interrupted Twilight mid sentence. The Yordle was going to scold the boy for interrupting the Alicorn again, but the princess of friendship was actually surprised to hear what Ekko said to her.

“Y-yeah… well not the idealistic nonsense part, but the enforcer one yes.” Twilight replied, “Why? Do you know them?” The thought of it just caused Ekko to groan as he placed his Guile on his back and folded his arms.

“Know them? Twilight, if I’m thinking that the two that you are referring to is who I think you are talking about, then I'm going to warn you that I’m not on good terms with anyone who’s a Piltie.” The boy warned her ahead of time. However, Twilight was not exactly sure what he meant by “piltie” as she just tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. “Piltie is short for Piltover. It’s a city that’s rivals with my home Zaun since both of them are known as the two leading city’s that develop Hextech and help strive technology back home.”

“I’ve heard of Piltover before,” Poppy added, leaning back on her hammer as she looked at both Ekko and Twilight. “Some of the brightest minds back in my home of Bandle City went to the University that’s in the heart of the city to learn about mechanical engineering, but that’s all I remember since Rumble has an oversized mech, Ziggs craves for explosions and Heimerdinger makes the worst jokes revolving around science.”

“Uhh… How bad?” Twilight asked, tilting her head a little.

“Honestly… don’t ask…” Poppy warned her. “But in all seriousness, how come you don’t like Piltover Ekko?”

“Because a lot of them are high class jerks and are just as corrupt and selfish as the criminals from Zaun. I honestly believe that we can make the future… and that starts by cleaning up the crime and the corruption on the streets. But that’s why back home, I’m seen as a vigilante…” The boy told them. “Because the justice system and the government is too messed up in order to be trusted and progress doesn’t belong to one city… like Piltover.”

“Oh…” Poppy at that point was at a loss for words as Ekko turned around and walked back into the castle. Leaving both Twilight and the Yordle personally stunned by what he had just told them. But that just brought more concern as well because of what Twilight mentioned earlier about the two “helpers” that Celestia had summoned to assist with trying to catch the Virtuoso. “So did the princess actually say when we are suppose to be expecting them, Twilight?”

Casting a spell, the Alicorn summoned the same piece of parchment that she had only received moments ago as she scanned the page with her eyes. “Well, according to the Princess she said that… they would… arrive…” At that point, her eyes widened immensly. “M-moment-tarily…”

“And that means?”

“A-any minute...” The Alicorn said, before looking at the Yordle. “Oh Goddess… I don’t feel prepared at all for this.”

“I think the feeling’s mutual,” The Yordle sighed as she picked up her gear and began to walk. “Come on. Let’s go find Ekko and make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble.” Even if Poppy’s words were to help ease Twilight’s nervousness, Poppy herself had a bad feeling that something bad was going to happen real soon given the recent series of events. That thought was soon confirmed as they arrived to see Ekko patiently waiting… and two new figures soon tumbling into the main hall of the castle. One with Pink hair and oversized gauntlets while the other one had a shirt skirt and a top hat.

“Well, would you look at that. It’s the Sellout and the Law Dog! Funny to see you here of all places!!” They heard Ekko say, just as the one with the gloves looked back in the boy’s direction and have her once calm face twitch a little. “So how does it feel now that you’re a piltie, Vi.”

It took a few moments for her to recognize who was talking to her, but then the enforced groaned, annoyed by the current circumstances. “Oh come on… Just when I thought that things couldn’t get crazy enough and now you show up? You’ve been gone for a few months and now you try to annoy me here? Please don’t tell me you happened to arrive here by that princess...”

Ekko raised an eyebrow before putting his guile on his shoulder “Vi, not to surprise you or anything, but I’ve been here a lot longer than you would think. The whole time I disappeared, I was somehow here… Trust me, it’s a long story-.” It didn’t take long for conflict to start though, but not from Vi. Instead, it was from her accomplice, who thought that Ekko was threatening her and tried to aim at his head. Just at the teen used a phase dive to dodge the bullet. “Oh come on! Can’t you not be so eager to shoot me right now?!”

“Give me one good reason not to,” The Sheriff snapped. “Especially with all the havoc you’ve been causing, I have no doubt that you’ve probably been doing the same thing here.”

“Hate to break it to you, law dog, but that’s not the case.” Ekko said. “Besides, even if I wanted to fight you… Twilight probably wouldn’t allow me too. That and there’s also Poppy-.”

“Wait what?”

“Poppy… You know… The demacian yordle with the oversized hammer?” Ekko said, just as she was walking in and looking at everyone.

“What did you say about my hammer!?” She snapped at them.

“N-nothing!” He replied. But thankfully, the sight of the Yordle caused the other two to calm down as they looked at both the boy and the keeper of the hammer with newfound agreement. “Still, as I was saying, we haven’t been causing any trouble, but besides myself and Poppy, along with Tahm Kench in the Everfree,” The boy said under his breath. “The only problem that we have right now is Jhin… I’m sure Celestia filled you both in?”

“Yes, but It just makes me think… How is it that we somehow end up here… Do you think there are some… similarities between Valoran and… I’m sorry, what’s the name of this rock again?” Vi asked, causing Ekko to groan a bit.

“Equus.”

“Ah right… Still, don’t you think it’s… well odd that there might be some similarities. When Celestia was telling us about the Everfree Forest or something like that, I couldn’t help but think of the Twisted Treeline.” The Twisted Treeline in itself was one odd place that felt like a rotted out and haunted forest. But it also served as a battleground for matches in the League of Legends. However, unlike Summoners Rift, Twisted Treeline put three champions against one another and added different objectives to the standard destroy the enemy nexus game.

“Okay, well, maybe we should talk about that in a few moments. I can make us some tea,” Twilight insisted as she had the two lawbringers follow her into the nearby room, causing Ekko to breath a sigh of relief. He seriously just dodged a massive bullet (quite literally as well) with running into Caitlynn and Vi and right now, he felt like it would be good for him to try and chill out for a moment. Until he noticed something that Poppy was messing around with in her hands.

“Hey, what you got there?” He asked, turning to see that the Yordle was holding a green emerald gemstone.

“Some kind of Emerald I found this morning while in the marketplace… Oddly though, it makes me think of that Chain Warden in the league.”

“Who would that be?”

“Have you heard of Thresh at all?” The Yordle asked, only causing Ekko to shake his head no in response. But while they stepped outside and Poppy tried explaining to him what Thresh was to him, Ekko could feel something pulse inside the gem… Like it was… Alive somehow.

That when a large portal opened up, giving them a scare before something large steps out. The metal being was terrifying to look at, not only that it had a skull for a head and a large sword in it right hand. It then looked at them and tilts it head to one side. “He-.”

WHACK!!

“Back off, Thresh!” Poppy snarled, whacking… whatever this being was suppose to be upside the head. “You aren’t taking our souls today!”

“Poppy, please calm down-.”

SMACK!!

After being hit on the head a second time, the metal being reach out and grabbed her hammer. It let out a growl before throwing Poppy into a tree. “Asshole…” It said glaring at her, before turning it attention to Ekko. “Now then let’s start again, my name is-”

“Thresh, Right?” Ekko assumed. “Because you just sent my friend Poppy into a tree and she really isn’t a fan of soul robbing liches.”

“...Who’s Thresh?” The Lich asked before looking around. “Hey, we’re in ponyville. Wonder if Twilight is around?”

“She’s… busy talking with Caitlyn and Vi.” Ekko responded. “Are you sure you aren’t familiar with Thresh… Matter of fact, are you even from the League?”

“Dude, I have no idea what you're talking about.”

That just left Ekko to only one other possible question to ask, considering that he barely had any options left. “So if you aren’t from the League of Legends… Then you must be a Displaced, right?”

“Right on the nogen kid, Looks like you're the smart one out of the two of you. So, why am I here?” The Lich asked as it pulled up a small cage from a chain on it hip, as he then started to look at it.

“Technically, Poppy gave what might be your token to me and then you know the rest… Trust me, her hitting people over the head with her hammer is normal,” Ekko sighed. “She even sent Discord flying into Canterlot.”

“That sounds funny as hell, oh by the way name Asphyxious.” Asphyxious said as he held out his large metal hand.

“I’m Ekko, nice to meet you Asphyxious.” He replied as Poppy landed back on the ground with a loud THUD! as she looked back at the Lich. “And that’s Poppy… the one you threw into a tree.”

“Well, as long as no one else picks a fight with me I should be fine. I’ve been itching for a good scrap.” Ekko rolled his eyes as he looked back at Poppy, telling her that Asphyxious wasn’t like this Thresh person that she was referring to before.

“If you what you say is true Ekko, then I’ll be fine with it. We already have enough problems with that twisted murderer Jhin killing Blueblood and now, we’re trying not to cause panic.” The Yordle informed him.

“Wait, back up. Someone has killed Blueblood… Who would dare try and hurt my nephew!” Asphyxious growled as a little fire came off of his body.

“Easy Asphy… It’s this world’s Blueblood, not yours…” Ekko informed him. “And like what Poppy said, it was done by someone named Jhin, a twisted murderer who believes that killing is an artform and goes as far as to obsess over his killing his victims perfectly. Earlier in the week, three guards and him were killed in Canterlot, but Blueblood was hit instead of Luna, who was with him at the time.”

“...I wish to help you find this, Jhin and end him. This may not be my nephew, but I still feel like the loss is the same. Come with marrying Celestia and Luna, along with the girls.” Asphyxious said sounding happy as he start to daydream. “Pinkie makes good cookies.”

Both the Yordle and the boy looked at each other with a confused expression to represent how lost in translation they were, before Ekko groaned deeply as he set his guile on his back. It was then though that the Lich noticed the contraption that Ekko had on him and was curious as to what it was.

“Now what is this?” Asphyxious asked as he took a closer look at Ekko gear. “Is it some kind of power sources for your sword?”

“Oh no no no… That’s my Z-drive. It helps me with some of the abilities and gadgets I have… plus, this is a guile, not a sword,” Ekko pointed out to him as he tapped it on the side of the Lich’s head so he could tell the difference. “I put a lot of hard work into it and what it can allow me to do has almost baffled everypony I have met so far.”

“I wish I could take it apart and get a real look at how it works.” The Lich replied but leaned away and saw someone coming. “Looks like we have more guests.”

Turning around, Ekko noticed Spike, Twilight, and Starlight from inside the castle come on out. “Hey everypony, how is-. OH MY CELESTIA!”

“Hello Twilight, looking as lovely as ever I see.” Asphyxious said as he then gave a bow to her. “Do not fear, my name is-”

“Give it a rest, Thresh.”

“Poppy, his name is Asphyxious.” Ekko groaned, facepalming himself as he looked back at the Awkward Lich and the Alicorn. “He’s a Displaced like I am. Both Twilight and I are… familiar… with them.”

“I hope I’m not being rude but, can I rub your ear?” The lich asked the princess of friendship. “My wife and I back home have been so busy, I’ve mist the time we would just sit around and I’d rub her ears.” That just caused Twilight’s face to flare up in an all out blush as Ekko facepalmed himself. If he wanted too, he would rewind time to prevent Asphyxious from saying that… but then again, that would be a stretch.

“Uhh……”

“I’m kidding, I’m just pulling your leg Twilight.” Asphyxious said before going to Ekko. “But really, my Twilight back home would have my head if I flirted with any other Twilight’s.” That just caused the Alicorn to do one thing that was proper for that moment… She fainted. Falling asleep as she hit the ground. Spike himself was forced to have to drag her heavy body back to Twilight’s room while everyone else just was trying to understand what was happening.

“...I feel we should be going, before Twilight wakes up and asks about my life story.”

“Any possible suggestions?” Starlight asked, a little nervous when speaking. Asphyxious taps his chin in thought.

“Did this Jhin say who his next target was?” He asked looking at Ekko. “It help if we knew what he was planing.”

“No he picks his targets at random… plus, there had already been some extra precautions taken recently involving security measures down here at Ponyville and up in the Crystal Empire.” Ekko said, briefly remembering that portion of it.

“I see, well then if there nothing I need to do. If you’ll let me, I’m going to explore for a bit.” Asphyxious said as he walks off. Ekko sighed, looking back at Poppy and Starlight before saying something.

“How long would it be until one of the other townsponies freaks out or Rainbow Dash tries going all Defender of Ponyville on him?”

“Well, I’ve only known her for a short while… but I would have to say… Not long?” Starlight assumed, looking back at Poppy and him before all three of them heard a loud crash and the sound of boxes flying everywhere as some fruit crates landed almost a few inches from their general location.

“HOW DARE YOU STEP HOOF IN HERE!!! I’M GOING TO TEACH YOU WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MESS WITH THE AWESOME RAINBOW DASH, YOU METAL SKULL FREAK!!”

“... I feared that might happen.” Ekko groaned as he turned around and ran off. Hopefully, if Rainbow actually knew any better, she wouldn’t try anything stupid… Then again, this is Rainbow Dash he was thinking of here, so it was a bit of a toss up.

“Tell me, do you crash into all the guys like this. Or are you just happy to see me?” Asphyxious joked as Rainbow Dash was standing on his metal chest.

“Great… a lich and a pervert… This is definitely not my day.” Rainbow groaned internally as she smacked Asphy’s skull before moving back a few inches to give her some room.

“Awww, and I was hoping we could play a round or two of. Who can not laugh first.” Asphyxious said as he sat himself up.

“Says the monster that got in here-!” She said, planning to charge at him again until something came flying at her, stopped in mid-flight and returned to the owner as Ekko soon approached them.

“Both of you, settle down… Rainbow, this is a friend of mine named Asphyxious… He means no harm.”

“Highly doubt that, but If you say so, I’ll take your word for it.” Rainbow Dash groaned, “But did you seriously have to throw your Timewinder at me?”

“If I didn’t, your hoof would've been hitting a metal skull…” Ekko pointed out, shortly before he realized that Asphyxious grabbed onto the Pegasus and was cuddling her like a cat. “Oh you have got to be kidding me…”

“What? My RD loves this, Also my skull made of bone not metal.” Asphyxious replied before scratching the back of Rainbow Dash head like a cat. The strangest part was she was purring during the whole thing, but when she was finally out of the grip, all that was on her face was a blush.

“Hey! What’s the big deal, you skeleton creep!?”

“Did you want me to keep petting you?” Asphyxious asked with amusement in his voice. “I would love to, but I need to help Ekko stop a killer so maybe next time.”

“Oh right… that guy… Well, good luck trying to find him. Last I heard, he’s nowhere near Ponyville, Canterlot, or any of the other major cities,” Rainbow replied back. “Besides, the real problem is trying to tell the rest of the town that you aren’t a monster.”

“I can change my form if that helps?” Asphyxious asked. “Let me think, what form should I go with?”

“What forms do you even have?” Ekko posed the question for him.

“There my Lich form what I’m in right now, my human form, dragon form, Pokemon form and a little something the girls back home enjoy. But I think I’ll try this.” Asphyxious said as his body go up in blue fire, and once the fire is gone, what Ekko saw was a changeling in armor wearing an eyepatch.

“That… may be fine… but can you use a changeling’s magic?” Rainbow questioned the lich. “Because Changelings can disguise themselves as ponies, so I wondered if you could do the same thing.”

“I don’t know, I know that how I change forms I just don’t know how far it can go… Maybe you and I can find out?” Asphyxious asked waggling his eyebrows at her. Only leading to Rainbow punching him in the face and having him fall backwards.

“Heh, just like home…” He said with a grin on his face. “Only my wife more kinky. Anyway let be off then.” Asphyxious said as he got up again and walked off… Only for Rainbow to facehoof herself as she looked at Ekko.

“He has no sense of direction does he?”

“I’m not sure, why do you ask?”

“Because he’s about to walk into a store, in his changeling form mind you, and that store happens to be Rarity’s boutique.” It took a few moment for that to sink in, but what they saw next was downright awkward.

Rarity was chasing Asphyxious, trying to use a can of bug spray and whack him with a fly swatter. “GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, YOU DIRTY BUG!!”

“KINKY!” Asphyxious yelled as he laughed. As he was trying to get away from the angry mare. “You know you want me! For I see the love in your eyes!” Then he started to sing. Only to get his face blasted by a powerful burst of magic that had him crash into Twilight’s castle.

“That’ll make him think twice before trying to win me over… He doesn’t even know how to properly talk to a lady.” Rarity sighed, before noticing both Rainbow Dash and Ekko. “Oh… You two ran into him before?”

“Yeah, he’s a weird one if you ask me,” Ekko replied. “But he has a name. It’s Asphyxious.” With a flash of light, the Changeling Asphyxious popped back to the group, breathing like he had been running for his life.

“I have return, from the den of miss Sparkle. She was not happy to see me, said something about not this dream again?”

“ …… You have weird friends, Ekko.” Rainbow said, only causing the boy to facepalm himself as he tried to resist the urge to knock Asphyxious over the side of his head with his guile,

“Trust me… I’ve only met Asphy today and this happens…”

“Okay let’s get going-.” And like that he start walking out of ponyville, like he was a different person, before he stopped. “Wait… my god I need to go back! I’m going to miss Dox Wedding!”

“Uhh… What?”

“No time! I need a gift!” Asphyxious yelled as a box was handed to him by Pinkie Pie, who appeared out of sugarcube corner in a blur of bright pink. “Oh... Thank you. Just call me when there’s trouble.”

“Okie dokie!” Pinkie said before she turned to the lich one last time. “Oh and Poppy will help you with your exit. Hope you aren’t afraid of heights!” The Earth Pony soon zoomed off afterwards, leaving Rarity, Rainbow, and Ekko to back up and watch as Asphyxious was sent flying into the air by her strongest ability, Keepers Verdict.

“And with that, I made sure to Hammer him in the jewels… literally.” Poppy smirked evilly, causing Ekko to facepalm a little as he looked back at the Yordle. This was going to be a LONG day for him… Even if their visitor was gone.

Crystal Empire

The cold winds of the north were felt across his fur as Shining Armor walked along the walls of the Crystal Empire. Despite his position as a newfound father, and the Crystal Empire now being safer than before after the Crystalling, the Unicorn felt uneasy. Mostly because a little while ago, he and his wife found out about the tragic fate of Prince Blueblood in Canterlot and the thought of a cynical killer running around on the loose really bothered him. Made him feel like he had a target on his back, even if the choice of victims was said to be… random.

As he trotted along the wall, he soon began to look out into the distance and watch the blizzard ahead. But what he did not expect was to hear the sounds of a loud roar and slams in the ground. Followed by the sound of a hammer and magic being casted. To him, he thought that somepony was in trouble. So immediately, he grabbed a spear from the weapon rack and teleported himself to the cold and freezing trench below. Trying to see through the blizzard and find out what was going on.

He found out once he saw a Yeti’s arm try to slam him, only to be blocked off by some kind of spell… Which was odd to Shining because he never casted a spell besides the one to teleport himself to the ground. But with it, the Unicorn also heard two words.

Fight on.

It was in that moment that Shining saw something. A bipedal figure with a series of crystal floating from it’s shoulderplates as it swung its mace at the Yeti. Striking a solid blow along the creatures head as it fell to the ground. Soon though, the figure turned to Shining, a surprised look on his face. “Well… This is somewhat unexpected… Are you hurt?”

Shining Armor shook his head, drawing out a sigh of relief from the unknown protector as he looked behind him. But Shining then asked him a question. “W-what are you doing out here in the Crystal Empire?”

That question… caused the man to turn back around. “Crystal… Empire? Forgive me, but I have not heard of such a place in all of Valoran. But the place just makes me think of Mount Targon…” After a short moment in thought, it looked back at Shining as something dawned on him. “Oh, I am sorry. I almost forgot to ask for your name.”

“I-i’m Shining Armor. Captain of the Guard here,” he spoke, almost stuttering in the beginning. “W-what’s your name mister?”

“My name is Taric…” The man simply said, not sharing his title or having to add anything onto that.

“Well, Taric, Would you like to come inside the Empire? It’s getting cold and with the blizzard kicking up, it may be a while before we have clear skies again.” The man agreed, only looking behind him to wonder how his journey had gotten him to this point.

And what could possibly lie in store for a man that was once known as an Oathbreaker.

End Break 8