The King of the Dovah

Raddin Pov

'This day just keeps getting better and better.' I think to myself in amusement as I take in the various shocked faces of my 'guests'.

After taking them to the castle, all the while receiving death glares from Cadence, it was about time for dinner. At first nothing was amiss as I had some polite conversation with them as we all waited for our food to arrive. I was truly interested in the groups adventures in the past as well as some personal stories of theirs though I did find some a bit strange and dare I say, disturbing.

It was when dinner had been served that things had gotten amusing and admittedly entertaining. While everyone else's meals were what was normally eaten by ponies with them being herbivores, mine had been a nice mammoth steak with some steamed vegetables. This caused many questions to rise up, along with Cadence accusing me of being a cannibal, however it was thanks to Fluttershy and surprisingly enough Rainbow Dash that I was able to explain my eating habits and put them all at ease. After that things were pretty alright, thank Talos for Fluttershy and her knowledge of animals as well as Dash and her having been friends with a griffon named Gilda in the past.

Yet the real fun only began when I had asked for some Black-Briar Mead directly from my personal stash. It was well known that every Nord had his own personal stash of mead for certain occasions and I was definitely no exception. Curiously Twilight had asked what I was drinking and when I told her of the alcoholic beverage her and the others, save for Cadence once more, wanted to try. Still while most got some mead I made sure Rarity and Fluttershy had gotten some Alto wine upon their request.

A few minutes into the drinking it was easy to see that Twilight couldn't hold her alcohol and immediately started blabbing something about her 'college days' and 'experimenting' with a few mares. Needless to say we all stopped paying attention to her afterwards. The weirdest reaction of the group by far came from Pinkie Pie who after taking some mead started acting, well, normal! It was far scarier than when she was on some kind of skooma induced rush and I almost wished I hadn't of given her any mead. From there I began to regale them with some of my own tales, especially my drinking abilities, which lead to a challenge from both Dash and Applejack who obviously were the competitive bunch.

Two whole cases of mead later and Dash and Applejack were fighting to stay awake while I was only feeling a minor buzz. I wasn't too surprised at this however since one of the first thing's I learned was ponies rarely ever drank anything alcoholic and naturally had little to no resistance to its effects.

I was about to calmly take another sip of my beverage when the doors burst open revealing one of my guards and drawing everyone's attention.

"Sire! The Equestrian at the hospital has awoken but attacked the staff upon doing so. The guards have him cornered in the Intensive Care section but he has taken one of the nurses hostage!" declared the guard making the room go quiet as all eyes turned to me.

I calmly took a sip of my mead before slowly setting my goblet down with a small clank. Standing from my seat I turn to the guard an emotionless look on my face that I knew was putting the others on edge.

"Go get me my sword and shield." I order simply and with a quick salute the Guard runs off to complete his task. As soon as he runs off I whip around to glare right at Cadence who shivers in her seat.

"The rest of you should head off to bed, except for you Cadence. Your coming with me." I say leaving no room for argument. Yet while the others moved to leave Cadence managed to gather some courage to speak up.

"W-w-why should I g-g-go with y-y-you?" she questioned but flinched once I hardened my glare some.

"Because if you don't then your so called husband may just end up six feet under." I say coldly just before the Guard from before rushes in quickly handing me Spellbreaker and World Eater. I wasn't about to take any chances with so called 'Captain of the Guard' in his current state.

"You can't be serious! If you kill him you will suffer severe consequences of that I promise you!" screamed Cadence as she stomped right up to glare at me face to face. Imagine her surprise however when my armor clad hand lashed out wrapping around her neck and quickly lifting her off of the ground.

As she struggled feebly to release my hand from around her throat I growled out at her making her attempts to free herself come to a halt. I already new my eyes had turned into their draconic appearance but I could care less at this point. I had just about had enough of this mare and her thinking that her status or who her 'aunt' was had any merit in my Empire. Now it was time for a reality check from yours truly.

"Now you listen to me you meager worm! I don't give a damn who you or your husband may be back in Equestria because here in the Crystal Empire you are nothing but an arrogant foreigner who follows the rules and laws of this land! And in this land my word is LAW! I can let many things go but your husband has clearly threatened the lives of one of my citizens which I do not take kindly to. So either you come along and try to get him to surrender peacefully, or I send you back to Celestia with your husbands head in a box! So will you come or not?" I growl out releasing my grip just enough so she could speak.

"I-I-I'll come!" she gasps out right before I drop her to the ground as she started to cough and take huge gasps of air.

"Glad we can reach an understanding. You better pray you can talk some sense into him whelp or the last thing you will remember of him is how easily my blade sent his head flying from his neck." I finish as I turned and walked out the doors to the dinning hall not even making sure the Princess was following me cause at this point I could care less about Celestia and even less for her kin who were obviously not any better.

"Right this way sire. The perpetrator is just through these doors." explained a Guard as he guided me through the halls of the hospital which were filled with nurses and doctors that were trying to keep their patients calm. Soon enough I found myself standing in front of a pair of double glass doors which were being watched over by no less than eight Guards on each side.

Looking behind me at a nervous looking Cadence I make a mock gesture for her to step in first. This was her husband after all and he was less likely to harm the hostage in his grasp. Taking a deep breath Cadence walks with her head held high through the double doors with myself following close behind.

As soon as we step inside I instantly take stock of the situation. Shining was currently against the back wall of the room near the medicines dressed in a standard hospital gown with some bandages wrapped around his head and a magic suppressor securely wrapped around his horn. The more pressing concern was Shining however but rather the mare he was currently holding against him with a surgical scalpel pressed firmly against her throat. Even worse was that this was a mare I recognized as she was my personal nurse whenever I was injured for whatever reason, which had happened more than I'd care to admit.

"Well nurse seems this time it's you on the edge of a knife." I couldn't help but comment making said mare glare at me in annoyance.

"Oh blow it out your flank Raddin!" she growled out making me smile. Even at the end of a knife Cracked Gem never lost her infamous snarky attitude.

Cracked Gem was a very petite mare who while only standing at most five feet tall had an attitude that made her seem much larger. She had a light purple crystal coat, as was typical of crystal ponies, and a white mane and tail done into a pixie cut with her horn displayed proudly on her forehead. As usual she was wearing the standard white nurses gear.

"Cadence! What are you doing with that monster!? Where is Twily and the others!?" yelled Shining as he glared at me hatefully while casting sideways glances towards Cadence.

"Please Shining just stay calm and let the nurse go. I assure you everypony is fine." she spoke trying to ease her husband but I could see the paranoia in the stallions eyes and instantly knew he wasn't going to give up willingly.

"No stay back! He's brainwashed you to hasn't he!?" cried out Shining as Cadence continued to try and calm him down without success. The situation was really getting on my nerves and from the look on Cracked Gem's face she wasn't too happy either. I needed a way to get the knife out of Shining's hand's before he ended up slitting her throat on accident.

The hand that I had free at the moment I currently channeled my Spark spell just long enough to show Gem what I had planned. She looked a bit nervous for a moment before schooling her features and giving a small nod. Seeing her unspoken agreement I quickly throw my hand forward sending a constant stream of lightning at the two ponies. Thankfully my half assed plan worked and the lightning sent both Shining and Gem into convulsions making Shining unable to move his hand properly to cut Gem.

Cutting off the stream I charge forward, despite Cadence's attempts to halt me, and pull Gem away from Shining. It was then he seemed to regain his motor skills and tried to cut me with the medical tool he had previously used to hold Gem hostage. With barely any effort I slap away the improvised weapon right before bashing him in the face with Spellbreaker and sending him into the medicine racks. He immediately crumpled to the floor unconscious with a small gash on his head.

Cadence then rushed to his side as I went to check on Gem who was dusting herself off and muttering curses on Shining and myself.

"Care to explain to me why the bloody milk drinker started acting as if Sheogorath had possessed him?" I asked her as Shining didn't really seem the type to lose his mind in such a fashion from what I had first seen.

"Damn fool had a violent reaction to some of the meds we put him on. Plus his concussion also had a part in it and the bucker went ballistic as soon as he saw us. He's just lucky he got the knife before I did or else he would never have to worry about having foals." she muttered darkly at the end.

"Ooookay? Well I'll leave you to settle things here as well as a few Guards so this doesn't happen again." I say as I make a hasty retreat from the mare. I sure felt sorry for Shinning now as Gem was not a mare to be crossed as I had learned the hard way.

All I could do now was pray that the poor bastard didn't have an innate fear of hospital's when she was through. Now however I had more pressing matters which involved writing a not so friendly letter to the solar wench herself.

"Now let's see how you do when odds aren't in your favor Celestia." I say to myself with a smile as I walk down the streets of the Empire as my citizens waved happily at my passing.