Author's Note

So this chapter is technically the end of Thunder's Howl. I know it was my first Front Page story which was great but...it just ran out of steam with what I had in mind and what I wanted was some grandiose battle against Elder Dragon's...but considering how thing's were progressing, story wise the MC's literally had no time to prepare for the final fight's and it would just be a mess there after. This is due to me and Bio having a lot of trouble, mostly me, with pre-planning things.

But I will make note that this will not happen with LoN, I Summon or Lone Wolf, those three stories are still on track with things and I did some pre-planning with how I want it all to go down. I'm sorry for making this feel like a cop out for a semi-decent story but...honestly, some of the important things I wanted got done in a way that I liked. And that's the best I can say.

Reality Check's Out

Today was one of my off days. I was in the nursery looking over my… many…many…many kids. I don’t get to do this much what with Barroth hunting and training and helping to slaughter the Hunter Psychopaths.

Granted my time here mostly consisted of the kids chewing on my nose or legs or ears and climbing over and jumping on me. A literal puppy pile on the daddy. This lasted anywhere from two to five hours… Still fun, even if I’m reduced to jungle gym equipment.

“All of you are just adorable.” I chuckled, nuzzling some of my kids as they played and bounded around.

My reply was a bite to the side of my muzzle. At this point my pain threshold is so high I barely feel it. I just chuckled as I pushed myself up. Some of the pups fell off and others all clung on and slid off. I yawned as I stretched, only to blink as I spotted a playing card floating in front of me.

“Hello…what are you doing here?” I frowned, gently taking the card into my hand and looking it over.

The card flashed and I was elsewhere. It looked almost like a small casino, a single poker table where I was sitting at, my kids no longer attached to me, and across the table sat Voodoo shuffling a deck, my card floating from my fingers back into his deck. “Glad you could make it.” Voodoo said.

“Hi Voodoo, what’s up?” I inquired.

“Things have… changed, in regards to the plan.” He said. His usual tone was less his suave charismatic self and more serious and… upset.

I straightened my back and took a deep breath. “What happened?” I asked. “Is it something back home or did something magically happen to the last Barroth I’m hunting?”

“Both actually.” Voodoo answered, which made me blink at hearing that. “Long story short, something changed back on Equis, so Pain had to… put the planet onto her… workload.” Voodoo said. “And your last Barroth, was eaten by an Elder Dragon. Unexpected actually.”

“Alright…so we have a possibly super charged Barroth that’s…been eaten by an Elder Dragon…what’s the Elder Dragon and why did Pain decide to attack Equis?” I inquired,.

“That planet, as well as that whole dimension can’t really handle the… population abilities of a Den Mother. And the dragon is an Amatsu.”

“Shi~t…” I groaned, remembering that the Amatsu is sometimes called ‘Heaven’s Catastrophe’. “Alright…so how…fucked over is Equis?”

“All cities save for Canterlot, Ponyville and the Minotaur Kingdom have been slain. So the population is less than fifty thousand across the planet. That includes animal/monster life.”

I was…speechless…I stuttered as I tried to think of what to say. “How!?” I asked incredulously, at least managing to say that as I tried to wrap my head around the amount of murder that happened.

“Pain’s agent was efficient, and your sister was occupied being a mother to many children. Not as many as you but many.” He shrugged. “So, she and the Canterlot and Ponyville cities will be arriving here sooner or later as part of a deal I made with Pain. Once this has started, there is no stopping.”

“And…there’s no stopping this agent even if Tina does some miracle training?” I asked worriedly.

“If she tries, she dies. And If Pain’s agent kills her, I can’t do anything about reviving her.”

“So…we’re fucked no matter what…” I put my palms over my eyes and leaned back, taking a deep breath. “God damn it…I knew I needed to hurry up…”

“Nothing you can do about it. Just kill this dragon, bring Rarity back at least, and prepare for when your sister and the spared arrive.” Voodoo said with a sigh. “I should have expected this. It was a mistake turning you two into a True Alpha and a Den Mother. That’s what I get for trying to be funny and feed your sex addictions.”

“I mean, it was Demon and Genie that did it originally…and I mean, if we weren’t going to be like that base I’m pretty sure our sex addiction would have magically made us like that anyways.” I sighed. “And yes, it is an addiction, but we do know and have kept it in our pants for long periods of time.”

“You have fathered literally over a thousand children in the few years you have been on this planet Tony. You fell off then got run over by the wagon. Well, at least this planet can handle you two. That’s part of why the Psychopaths are there.”

“So…I can’t burn down that tree…I just have to hope for the best they don’t do something outlandish…”

“They are… for worlds like yours, they are a means of population control. Sometimes they do go out of control in their slaughter, but with their counter, the Hunter Shadows helping you out, they can keep your numbers under control and you can keep them in line. Sounds cruel and sadistic, but it’s that, or end up on Pain’s chore list.”

“Right…” I said slowly. “Crap…alright…so just have to kill an Elder Dragon that just killed a ‘Chosen Monster’ and ate it…that thing probably gained a lot of power and I’m not liking that…”

“Yes, but once you do that will be all. Rarity will be back and you can just prepare for the others arrival. I am sorry things ended up this way.”

“It’s…it’s outside of our control, and I don’t like it but…it’s sadly outside of our control at this point.” I sighed. “Really wish we could have known this sooner or…at all, but we’ve been really busy…”

“I know. Well, at least this is your last Barroth anyway.”

“That is now an Elder Dragon…” I groaned. “And considering it’s an Elder Dragon that kicked out my race from their natural habitat…ugh…this isn’t good.”

"Bright side, once it's done, it's done. No more need for adventures or anything of that nature. Unless you want to, that is."

"Depends on if I can still be with my family or if I'd be dooming another part of the universe because of my existence here." I said honestly.

"This world, this universe was crafted with your species in mind. While you two are definitely more… proactive than most, there is no risks here like there are on Equis and it's universe."

I sighed. "Well…this world is big enough for plenty of adventures…" I said carefully.

"We've located the Elder Dragon Alpha." One of my mates informed as she walked into the room.

"Yeah…" I said, seeing the massive hurricane like clouds rolling in. "I could tell it's getting close, where would it be in that mess of a hurricane?"

"Center I'd imagine." She said. “Even amongst a volley of them there must be an eye in that storm."

“Hmm, true.” I said. “It all depends on how far away the eye is…cause if it’s as strong as I think it will be because it ate that special Barroth…it’s not going to be pretty.”

"Do you have a plan, Alpha?"

“Just got to get stronger so I can face it…” I sighed. “Other than that, not really sure cause it could be a hell of a lot stronger because it’s now my new target…”

I could hunt as many of the stronger beasts I can find, get stronger by devouring them and fight it on hopefully even power levels, but with this storm it's making growing, would that be an option? Do I have the time?

“Crap…” I sighed, not sure if I even have time to do this, cause I know that the more I fight, even if it’s just me surviving I can get way stronger…but there’s no guarantee that I would come back here if I tried to fight Amatsu.

"Perhaps… an Alternative is in order?" I looked up. I saw like… a silhouette of a Zingore wolf sitting right in front of me. The bizarre silhouette looked both real and not, and looking directly at them made my head hurt. "I am happy to offer my services." It's voice spoke with a distorted, almost glitched sounding tone.

“And…who the hell are you?” I asked, gripping my head as it just hurt looking at this…thing. “And what services?”

"Safety, for this planet, power, to you. Time you need, all you will ever need."

“Uh…huh…so who the hell are you and why should I listen?” I asked carefully.

"I am Echo. And I am here to offer you help. You will never defeat this drake without more time. I can send you somewhere where time means very little, and death is but an annoyance. All the while, this planet and those upon it shall remain frozen, kept locked in the moment in time should you agree. To them, by the time you return to them, not even a millisecond would have passed."

“Uh…huh…” I said slowly, and while every fiber of my being would telling me not to…I couldn’t help it. “Did you offer this to Tina?”

"I will. I expect her to readily accept. It won't bring back the slain, but it will spare those still alive. As well as Equis as a whole. Do you accept?" They asked, raising a hand out to me.

“I mean…” I said slowly. “I…suppose this wouldn’t hurt…” I said carefully, as I raised my hand to take his.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” I heard Voodoo shout quickly, seeing the skeleton doctor literally have purple flames in his eyes at how pissed he was.

"Ah, the Gambler." Echo chuckled.

"It's alright Voodoo." Behind Voodoo I saw a new person. They were a human, maybe mid to late twenties man wearing a very loose fitting hoodie, baggy shorts. They had long jet black hair and a light tan skin tone.

"D-G?" Voodoo asked.

"That is my servant. This has all been authorized. Not my fault the puppy there is in a corner." D-G smirked. It sent every instinct of mine into flight mode. "And he'll gain all the power he needs on the other side."

“Uh…am I missing something here? Cause I’m now really scared…” I said worriedly, as I saw Voodoo’s flames dim a bit and pull the front of his top hat down to cover his face.

“Sadly, this is outside my control…fourth one so far…” Voodoo shook his head.

"Now then, care to seal the deal?" Echo asked me, still holding their hand out.

I looked at Voodoo, who just shrugged at this point. “Well…I suppose so…” I said carefully, gently taking hold of his hand and shaking it.

Tina POV

Sulking in my room was all I felt I was good for. Kids were all asleep, and I was here… after that mess at the Zebra village… all that's left is the Minotaur Kingdom… for too short a time.

Greta is strong. Her powers are insane and I don't have the time to get stronger before she gets there… I failed… I failed everyone and I was blissfully unaware for so long…

I teared up and just curled into myself, hating how I was so lost in all this that I forgot that I was literally on a world getting fucked over… “Dammit…if only I knew sooner…”

"Ignorance is bliss, as they say." I yelped, getting to my feet and… It was a silhouette of a Zingore wolf, sitting next to my bed. Looking at them felt wrong. Unnatural and they spoke in a distorted, glitchy voice. "But once learned the pain will last forever."

“Who the hell are you and how the hell did you get here?”

"I am Echo and I am here to offer you the chance to get stronger. Better. Your brother already accepted my offer and is off on his way to grow in strength all while his world remains frozen in time. And I'm doing this sanctioned now which is nice."

“Sanctioned? Like…you did this before without permission or something?”

"Basically." They shrugged. "But here are the perks. You get sent to a world where death is an annoyance, time has little meaning, power of gods and higher is obtainable, and this planet and all still living upon it will become frozen in time. They will never know you vanished and will be kept safe and sound."

“Uh…huh…” I said carefully. “And what about Genie and Demon’s game in this world? Wouldn’t they be upset, or would Pain be upset she’s not allowed to nuke this reality?”

"They have been notified, and either way, the alternative is this planet is slain and the few that were going to be spared move to an alien dimension and planet."

“Hmm…well…I suppose it…could be fine…” I said slowly. “But…how long will it take for me to come back? Cause even though it would barely be a millisecond here it would be like…dozens of years where I’m at…” I said, not wanting to lose my family.

"That all depends on you really." Echo said. "But when you are ready and find this world again, everything will be as you had left it."

“Alright…thank you.” I nodded. “And I believe Tony’s already done this?”

"Yes, as I said earlier he is well on his way. Now then, seal the deal?" They asked, holding a hand out to me.

I nodded, gently taking his hand. “Hopefully this’ll go well…”

The end...?