Returning to a Dangerous Game

Not long now… I look at my alarm clock… only two more hours till sunrise… I walk to my desk and take out a quill, inkwell and paper.

Dear Fluttershy,
By the time this letter reaches you I’ll most likely be on my way to some foreign country. doing political shit for Princess Luna Luna gave me I have been given a job offer and weighing all my options I decided to accept it. For the past year I’ve been saying that I know the worst the world has to offer the only thing this world has to offer is pain and while that may be true, I’ve been shown the other side of the coin… in you and your friends’ attempts to show me the bright side of life, I realized that if I simply accepted it then I would be no different than every hypocrite I put in the ground. Applejack keeps asking me if there’s one thing to life I think about besides death, usually I’d just chew her out but this time I did what I always do when I’m backed into a corner… took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and look at every single possibility that will happen and choose the scenario that benefits everyone who may get involved, in this one moment I looked at Applejack and told her the truth; that in the end I’m just a stallion who had bad luck and needs to deal with it there are things worth fighting for and I haven’t been fighting for them. I may not believe in gods or fate, but I was lucky that I crashed into your house even with the magic death sentence we’re on though I was dangerous, you went out of your way to keep me calm, in that moment you did a lot more that what anyone else would do and for that (for once) I’m truly grateful, so if luck decides to let us cross paths again know that whatever life throws at us we’ve been through worse I'll be sure to remember that we can always rely on the ones we love to pull us out of the dirt and help us in our darker hours.
Thank you for saving me,
Frostbite

I put the letter in an envelope, and sling the pack over my shoulder and walk out the apartment, as I place the letter in the mailbox the sun shoots up, then back down, then up again, then back down, a metal orb takes the place of the moon and the sun inches up again making me sprint to the library.

“TWILIGHT!!!” I shout pounding on the door “OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!!”

“The library is closed for the day!” She shouts how anyone could believe her lie when she always stutters is beyond me.

“Twilight, you know I’m coming in either way so I’ll ask one more time… OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR!” I start to back away preparing to jump through the window when the bright flash emanates next to me and the library is replaced with the Everfree forest.

I look to my right and see Twilight convulsing while brief glimpses of lightning shoot around her.

“No more lies, Twiley-“I gasp backing away “-what the hell is happening?”

Her eyes dart back and forth then she lets out a defeated sigh.

“A creature named Tirek has escaped from Tartarus and is now stealing the magic from anypony he can find when the other princesses found out, they decided to give me all of their magic-“

“And now you’ve become a beacon for another power hungry bastard out to get Equestria… GREAT!!!” I look around and run for the clearing and Twilight teleports in front of me.

“What are you doing?” She gasps trying to control her muscle spasms.

“I’m going to do what I do best-“ I snort rushing past her “-stall a power hungry bastard while you and your friends swoop in and save the day at the last minute”

“This isn’t a game Frostbite!” Twilight shouts teleporting again this time putting a hoof on my chest to keep me in place.

“I know Twilight! How do you think I’ve lasted this long? Life may be nothing but a series of close calls and lucky breaks but I’ve been able to push my luck further than most creatures I’ve met. You think you need to have a quadruple checked schedule or be living in a fucking library to get through the day? I may not be as smart as you but at least I’m willing to make the sacrifices you are willing to ignore even when you find yourself backed into a corner”

“So you’re going to let us all die just so you can keep running?”

“You’re talking to the stallion who was willing to allow your best friend to die just so he can be left alone, if you wanted me to change… you’d either have to strip me of my free will like you would’ve for Discord, or wait YEARS for me to mature on my own terms”

She takes her hoof of my chest and wobbles back.

“Listen I learned that the awe inspiring powers of friendship aren’t needed to work together and I trust you enough not to stab you in the back, so now that you’re O.P. I really could use your help while dealing with Tirek so we can go back to seeing how long it’ll take for me to start moving forward.”

She scoffs and shoots me with a magic bolt.

“What the fuck was that?” I gasp feeling lighter.

“Think of it as… a bulletproof vest” she mutters then walks next to me.

We walk out of the tree line and see Dashie, A.J., Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy in a cage; I turn my attention to the eighteen foot monkey/pony hybrid with bull horns talking to Discord.

“Knew you would turn Discord-“I shout “I just thought it would’ve been sooner”

Tirek looks at me and starts laughing.

“A Pegasus with fake wings-” he chuckles “-is this the only line of defense Equestria has to offer when I’ve just siphoned the Elements of Harmony themselves?”

“You’re missing one monkey man.” I mumble making Tirek growl and open his mouth although if this was a signal for something to happen nothing does which makes him more pissed.

Discord snaps his fingers then morphs into a bright grey ball of light and floats around my head.

“Now that I think of it… I don’t think I’ve never seen this pony before”

“What’s your point Discord?” Tirek growls.

“I think he means he didn’t see me when he tried to turn Ponyville into an art piece” I scoff gripping a knife in both of my hooves.

Discord snaps his fingers... now he wears a white dress and his long grey mane is tied in a bun.

“YOU!” he shouts pointing a talon at me “Yes Fluttershy has told me a lot about you Frosty-” he snaps his fingers again and I wear an orange jumpsuit “-yes you are quit the naughty stallion what with your drinking and never passing up the chance to insult your dear friends and who can forget the psychotic stallion that place a spell one you allowing poor sweet Fluttershy to experience all the horrific near death experiences you put yourself through.”

“Are you mad because I was blind drunk when you came to town?” I ask… another magic cloud…the jumpsuit disappears; and Discord appears next to Tirek with a paw over his eyes.

“A little” he answers calmly.

“ENOUGH-” Tirek shouts “-If I remember correctly I’m here for the alicorn magic that resides inside your precious princess of friendship and since you’ve brought her to us Mr. Frostbite I’m feeling charitable enough to allow you within my ranks IF you cut off her wings and bring her to me.”

I answer by sliding across the dirt and slicing Tirek’s underbelly while Twilight fires a magic blast at Discord I make the pass under Tirek to find the tips of my knives broken off.

“Is that the best you’ve got?” Tirek laughs charging the magic between his horns.

“Just a test” I mutter throwing the knife handles onto the ground, reach into my saddle bag, take out my crossbow and aim it at Tirek.

“And how do you expect-“before he can finish I launch a volley of bolts, each finding their mark on his chest and explode coating his black fir with neon green slime.

“Y’know the problem with you tyrants is you all talk to fucking much-” I shout over Twilight’s magic barrage at Discord. “-You always look to ENSLAVE the entire population, if you want to be taken a little more seriously you have to be willing to shed some blood and FWI, those vials were filled with acid”

Tirek’s eyes bulge as steam wafts off his chest… the first instinct anyone makes when they find out their flesh is being melted is to try to wipe off anything that might be causing the effect, even Tirek can’t stop himself from grabbing at the goo only to have the skin on the tips of his fingers burn off.

Twilight shoots another magic beam at Discord only so he can block it with an umbrella while wearing a tuxedo, fortunately his defense doesn’t last long when he’s engulfed in purple flames and Tirek starts firing his own magic at me but with the acid burning its way through his chest and the fact that it’s on continuous beam, predicting the pattern makes it easy enough to shoot another acid bolt into his right eye… he roars, rips out the bolt and charges forward, I fly onto his neck and grab his horns and try to steer him into the Everfree forest when Discord pops up between the horns, grabs my wings and throws me through the tree tops I’m almost skewered but it’s the force of hitting the ground that knocks me out; I wake up and look back at the field… Tirek is nowhere to be seen but Discord is lying next to the cage.
Twilight lands in front of me clears her throat.

“Any theories wise-ass?” she asks.

“Tirek double-crossed Discord and is now the size of the Statue of Harmony in Manehatten” I answer smugly, the forest shakes every four seconds to confirm my answer followed by the sounds of explosions.

“Then it seems to me that you’re going to need a bigger sword” Twilight smirks and conjures up a 16 foot claymore.

“That might help” I state holding my hoof to Twilight.

“Here you go… Frosty” She giggles.

Everything flashes as Twilight sneers and the claymore finds its way into my stomach, lifts me up then pins me into the ground, I start to look up blade to see the purple bastard’s coat turns blue, its wings molt and fall off while any remaining fat falls to the ground until all that’s left is the skin around the joints of HIS bones and once he’s inches away from the hilt, his eyes turn red as a purple mist engulfs them then change to familiar bright green eyes.