The Mystic Cipher

Chapters

Bug man to the rescue! (Unedited)
Silk Sheets and Silk clothes. (Unedited)
Wow, monster tits is a goddess.... Shit. (unedited)
Is it hot in here? (Unedited)
The Fragments of power (Unedited)
Secret agent mare! (Unedited)
Rudolph the red-nosed dickhead
Wolves on the trail and a forced deal.
In all honesty, karma has the most blame here.
Branding, Grounding, and Molting.
Exaligetsu!!!
The Bird of Hermes.
Pride
The Stubborn Bitch!!!
That Bastard Took My Coffee.....
She was kind of.... Hot.
Is something burning?
Pain Beyond Pain (Unedited)
sorry but your the only thing standing inbetween me and monster tits over there. (Unedited)

Bug man to the rescue! (Unedited)

Golden Oak library

Two weeks later

Twilight sighed as yet another day passed without any sign of the monster that she had unleashed upon the world. After Celestia had left she had posted several elite guards around her library in case the creature returned. One of these Elite guards unfortunately had been pestered by a certain prismatic pegasus. A captain Spitfire of the wonderbolts had been assigned as Twilight’s personal body guard until the creature was either captured or killed.

Over the past two weeks they had combed much of the everfree on their side of the border, but unfortunately they had no luck. At this point the creature had either found an extremely well hidden spot to lay low, or had crossed the border into minotaur territory, and they weren’t about to risk war over some escaped accident.

“Hey Twilight, are you doing ok?” Spike asked his sister.

“I’m as fine as I can be. What have I done Spike? That thing could be anywhere by now, and Celestia only knows what it is capable of.” She said as she stared out her window.

“Don’t worry Twilight, I’m sure whatever and wherever it is, it couldn’t do that much harm. After all if a few guards could take it down then I’m sure the royal guard could handle it no problem.” Spike tried to ease her mind.

“But what if that wasn’t it? What if it was simply holding back? For all we know it has the destructive capability of an alicorn!” Twilight said.

“Twilight, if it was that strong don’t you think it would have been able to fight off a few guards?” Spike deadpanned

“Well we have no idea what it could do. Who knows what kind havoc it could cause.” Twilight argued.

“You needn’t worry lady sparkle. If it dares to show it’s ugly mug again I’ll be more than enough to take it down.” Spitfire said from the corner of the room.

“Thanks captain.” Twilight said gratefully.

“No need to thank me ma’am.” Spitfire saluted.

“You know you don’t have to salute me right?” Twilight said exasperated.

“Sorry, I’m just a bit nervous to be guarding a the future head of house Twilight.” she chuckled sheepishly. In truth, Spitfire was absolutely terrified. Not only was Twilight sparkle next in line to be the matriarch of house Twilight, but she was Princess Celestia’s personal student! Not to mention the strongest and smartest unicorn since Starswirl The Bearded! Not surprising considering she could trace her lineage back to Starswirl.

“You don’t have to worry, I’m not bonkers like the rest of my family.” Twilight Reassured the nervous wonderbolt.

“Thanks, and I never thought anything like that about your family.” Spitfire said slightly panicked.

“You don’t need to, everypony knows that there is only a grand total of five sane members of house Twilight. Twilight, her brother, her father, and…. Ok make that three.” spike said as he couldn’t think of another that wasn’t totally bonkers. He used to think that Twilight’s mother was sane, until he saw her vacuuming a tree…

“Spike! That isn’t polite!” Twilight said offended.

“Oh come on, you know it’s true.” Spike said. Twilight tried to argue, but couldn’t as she thought of the time her mother painted a neighbor pink for buying an orange she was going to buy.

“Hey spitfire, I think Spike might need some alone time with Sweetie Belle.” Twilight smirked plotting her revenge and making Spike go wide eyed before running down stairs.

“He can run, but he can’t hide.” Spitfire chuckled.

Minotaur highlands

Nick jumped from rock to rock up the mountain he was currently scaling. He had finally made it out of that god forsaken forest a few days ago only to find himself in some highlands. Thankfully he didn't need to worry about food or water as he could easily survive of the stone indefinitely.

He jumped onto the top of the mountain as was greeted with an amazing sight. For hundreds of miles as far as the eye could see there were highlands with a few villages dotting the area. There were three structures that drew his attention though. Off in the distance was a massive city with high walls.

To the right in the side of a mountain were a set of grand gates with a wide stone road stretching and meeting another one that led to the big city in the distance. Finally the smallest of the three was a city that had an arena in the side of it. He wondered where exactly he was. He certainly wasn’t on earth anymore.

He wished he had studied martial arts. With his learning capabilities it would only take maybe a few months to master any martial art, maybe a year at most. If he had, or at the very least if he hadn’t of panicked he might have been able to fend off those creatures from before. For whatever reason his magic had been on the fritz lately. He still had access to the abilities the philosopher's stone granted, but he could barely convert any of the stones energy into magic

It was like he was missing something, but what?! He had never needed anything but his own will power, the stone, and the spell formula before. There were several magic foci he had learned of from the books he got from Bill, but he had never actually needed them before, but now he might just need one as some sort of mark on the back of his right hand had been keeping him from making any magic.

He had no idea what the mark was, but whatever it was he could not get rid of it. Everytime he tried severing the arm and replacing it, the mark would appear elsewhere and move back to his hand when he regrew it. He was running low on magic to, he normally kept a reserve in case he needed it, but now it was running dangerously low.

At this point he could barely cast attribute magnifiers to aid with his reflexes, speed, intelligence and strength. He was down to philosopher's stone abilities and a few basic spells at this point. Without a magic focuser he would be wasting much more magic than he could spare at the moment.

Fortunately whatever the mark was didn’t prevent him from using his stone abilities. He optimized his body as best he could with the stone. He had made his bones dense and put in a heavy weave of carbon fibers.

He tripled his muscle mass and gave himself a heavy muscle weave and density. He did the same with his skin, but in key areas he grew thick armored plates from Ironclad beetle DNA. He completely covered his feet with the thick chitian, he couldn’t really feel much with them now, but they were now essentially armored boots.

The armored parts of his body would be more than able to take anything that was sent their way, unless it was a heated industrial drill of course. But given that these creatures were attacking him with spears, he highly doubted they had that level of technology yet.

These changes helped him tremendously, but at the cost of being too heavy to fly or swim. If He had to get past a body of water he would have to walk slowly at the bottom, thankfully the fish DNA he possessed allowed him to breath under water. He replaced his fingers with sharp claws made from the same chitian as his armor, this allowed him to scale mountainsides easier. He looked down at the city below. He couldn’t stay away from civilization forever, well he could, but he didn’t want to.

He opened up holes in the armor on his back and grew a set of extra large wings. He couldn’t fly, but he could glide! Once the wings were at a good enough size he tilted off the size of the cliff and glided towards the left for the smaller city with the Arena. He glided at a shallow angle to keep from building up to much speed, but unfortunately this prevented him from landing right away.

He circled the city from a high altitude for several minutes until several creatures flew up along side him. They had sharp beaks, large eagle like wings, and their hands looked like a bird's feet. One of the group presumably the leader flew close to him and spoke.

“What are you doing here creature? This is forbidden airspace. You need to land now.” he said sternly.

“Umm, sorry i didn’t know. And I can’t, I can only glide, I’ve been going lower so I could land, but it’s going to take a while!” Nick responded.

“Well I’m going to have to ask you to leave this air space, we can escort you out if you would like.” The creature said.

“Alright lead the way.” Nick said and followed the creatures until he was a good few thousand feet from the city, Well within walking distance. When they reached the edge of the forbidden airspace he was only a few hundred feet off the ground.

“Alright, this should be good. We’re heading back to Kevil.” the creature said and headed off back to the city now dubbed Kevil.

“Wait!” Nick said gaining their attention.

“What is it?” the guard asked impatiently.

“What exactly are you guys anyway? I’m kind of new around here.” Nick asked.

“Seriously? We’re griffins. Now goodbye sir.” The guard said and flew off with the others.

“Griffins!? Well I guess if there’s anthro horse people, why not anthro griffins?” Nick thought before he went to land, he was only about a hundred feet up at this point so he could afford to dive and us his wings to slow him down at the end. He flew down and was going to land next to a bush when he heard someone screaming.

Nick looked over to see what appeared to be minotaurs with rediculously large upper bodies and comically small lower bodies. The minotaurs were attacking what appeared to be one of the horse people from before. He contemplated getting involved, but threw out all thinking of not when one of the minotaurs ripped off the poor mare’s shirt and bra leaving her exposed to the leering bandits.

Nick dive bombed for the one that had ripped off her shirt and was reaching for her, he tackled the brute and heard crunching. Thanks to the armor he had on coupled with his dense body, even though he was only about half their size, he had at least three times their mass underneath his thick chitin. When he came into contact he heard sickening crunches as he likely shattered some of the minotaur's bones.

When he land he rolled and felt something hit his back, he turned around to see one of the one he tackled’s friends standing their with a broken sword. He looked down to see the minotaur launch a punch towards him and got hit in an unprotected part of his face causing him to stagger back clutching his face.

He he quickly dodged under the creature and launched a punch of his own but the minotaur effortlessly dodged it and sent another at Nick who just barely managed to block it but wasn’t able to block the punch that came from his left as the last one jumped in to help the second.

Nick used his tail which he had weaponized by heavily armoring it and gave it a deadly scorpion barb filled with venom, and tripped up the second one. He dodged under another swing from third one and sent his tail into the third and pumped venom into it. Unfortunately this was cut short as the second one tackled him and started delivering repeated punches to his face dazing him. Suddenly the punches stopped and he looked up to see an arrow sticking out of the minotaur’s chest. The last thing that Nick saw before he blacked out was an azure blur over him.

Perspective shift

Trixie 3rd person pov

Trixie looked at the strange creature that had saved her from the bandits that were moments away from having their way with her. It was an odd looking creature, it looked like a mix between a monkey, pegasus, and scorpion with the heavy chitian plates and large barbed tail. The one who had torn her upper clothing off was likely going to die from the impact, and the second one certainly wouldn’t live from whatever venom that had been pumped into him.

The third definitely was dead as she had placed an arrow right in his heart. But now she had a new problem on her hands. The creature had blacked out from the beating it had taken to the face. She couldn’t just leave it here in the open, and she was now indebted to it. But what if it wasn’t saving her and just went for larger prey than her?

It was a bipedal, so it was more than likely sapient, very few bipeds weren’t. What if it attacked her when it woke up? She contemplated just leaving it here and making for the city for safety, but her heart told her that just leaving it behind would make her no better than the bandits that attacked her. She sighed when she decided on taking it with her to Kevil, or until it woke up.

“Why does bad stuff always happen to me? First I had to get a new cart after the ursa incident in ponyville, then I got corrupted by a stupid amulet, and now this.” She groaned. She levitated the minotaur off of him and attempted to do so with the creature, but he was so heavy she couldn’t pick him up with her magic. He had to at least weigh half a ton or more! He weighed more than the five hundred pound minotaur.

She gave up and went to her cuart to get a new shirt and bra, unfortunately this was her last set of clean clothes until she could reach Kevil, so she had to throw on some clothes from yesterday. She sighed and put on the shirt and bra. She tried to think of a way to get him into her cart. She was worried on if she could actually carry him in it. The cart was certainly an upgrade from her last one. After the whole Ursa minor incident she had gotten one that was made from enchanted iron wood with a steel frame.

But she wasn’t sure if it would hold him. Last she checked it’s maximum weight was about two tons. But minus herself and her things which all together had to weigh at least one. She was only left with one ton worth of carrying capacity. The hard part would be getting him into it in the first place, the most she could lift with her magic was about six hundred pounds, and he was more than double that! Suddenly it hit her like a sack of hammers. Though he may not like it, it would be better than simply leaving him here.

Using a length of rope she tied it around his legs and attached the other end to the back of her cart. When he was fastened tightly to her cart she started up the magic engine and started making her way to the city. That was the last time she tried sleeping under the stars. Her journey down the stone road was much longer than it should have been thanks to the added weight slowing down her cart. Little did she know a dark spector was watching her as it looked over it’s creator.

Perspective shift

Zangetsu

Zangetsu cringed as he watched Nick get dragged behind the cart along the ground. Nick knew that rushing in was dangerous, but was not about to stand by and let those monsters have their way with the poor girl. She seemed to have rather strong magic being able to lift the minotaur off of Nick, but wasn’t strong enough to lift Nick himself.

He wished he had some magic of his own, but unfortunately the only magic he could use was Nick’s when he was awake, and with their scarce magic reserves and inability to make more for now, the most he could do was activate and deactivate passive spells such as attribute spells during combat to conserve magic.

The journey to town didn’t take too long, about an hour or so before they reached the city gates. The city itself was a fairly decent size. It had tall stone walls and was at the top of a large hill. The road snaked up the hill making several sharp U-turns until they finally reached the top where the road straightened out towards the gates. On either side of the road were large boulders for some reason.

The mare seemed to know the guard as she called out his name. They were going to let her in, but when they saw Nick they asked her what he was and why she was dragging him with her cart. She explained what had happened with the bandits, and that Nick had rescued her.

They asked why she was dragging her supposed savior behind her cart, to which she told him and the other guard to try to pick nick up. She giggled as she watched the well built guards struggle to even lift Nick off of the ground. Zangetsu and everyone else cringed when one of the guards accidentally dropped Nick onto the ground.

“Well Trixie, you certainly caught yourself a tough one that’s for sure.” The guard said as he looked at the crack in the road that Nick had left when they dropped him.

“What is it exactly? Some sort of monkey, pegasus, changeling hybrid?” The other guard asked.

“I honestly haven't a clue. All I know is that it saved my flank and I couldn’t just leave him out there.” The newly dubbed Trixie stated.

“Take him to old man Iron Fist, he should be expecting you soon.” The first guard said making Trixie sigh.

“This is going to be a loong day…” Trixie groaned.

“Tell the old man Iron Sights says high!” The first guard, now dubbed Iron Sights said as they opened the gates and let them in. The gates opened and Trixie drove her cart in waving goodbye to Iron Sights and the other guard. The city was busy with many different creature, the most prominent being minotaurs as this seemed to be their country.

Many of the town folk greeted Trixie happily as she drove past them. There were several different variations of the horse people, Griffins, of course MInotaur, that appeared to be some zebra people. A few bug like horse people, and even a werewolf.

They continued until they stopped next to a large building with a forge next to it. Trixie seemed a bit hesitant to get out of her cart, but did so anyway and made her way around to the back where Nick was laying on the cobblestone ground. She was about to turn around and head to the door when she heard a deep voice greet her happily as it picked her up in a bone crushing hug.

“There’s my little munchkin!!” The large grizzled minotaur said.

“Nice to see you too dad.” Trixie said as she tried to breath.

“Well how has my little girl been? Haven't been getting into anymore trouble I hope.” The minotaur chuckled.

“I’ve been.. Doing good.. Need.. air..” She said as her face was turning a darker blue.

“Oops! Sorry about that!” He said and set her down causing her to gulp down air greedily.

“Now that I can breath, it’s nice to see you too dad. Have things around the shop been ok?” Trixie asked the Bull. he was a a large and muscular minotaur bull likely in his late forties to early fifties. His fur was an ash grey and his horns being bleach white with one of them being broken off at the curve. He had a large scruffy white beard and long thinning hair. He wore a blacksmith's apron and wore a pair of thick denim blue jeans with a black tee shirt.

“Ood, they aren't the same species, yet she calls him dad. Adopted maybe?” Zangetsu thought and heard Nick groan as he began to stir.

Perspective shift

Nick 1st pov

“Ugh… my head…” Nick said ass he held a hand up to his head.

“And who might this be!? Trixie when i said you needed a male in your life I didn’t mean drag him here.” The minotaur said causing Trixie to blush madly.

“Daad! It’s nothing like that!” Trixie said embarrassed with her father’s antics.

“Now now there’s no need to be embarrassed. Can’t say I understand you're taste in males, but so long as he treats you right he has my blessing.” The minotaur chuckled causing her blush to deepen until you would think her natural fur color was red.

“Umm, can someone please fill me in on what’s going on?” Nick said as he tried to get up but found his legs bound. “Ugh.. not this again.” NIck said and was about to slash the ropes off but stopped when they glowed a pale purple and untied themselves from his legs.

“Sorry about that. I couldn’t lift you up to put you in the cart, so I had to drag you along.” Trixie said sheepishly.

“So what is the name of my little girls future husband” The minotaur said and stretched his hand to shake Nick’s.

“Daad!” Trixie said as he blush returned full force along with nick developing one of his own and sputter for a response.

“Well, come on, out with it!” The minotaur encouraged.

“Umm, my names Nick, and I’m sorry but we don’t even know eachother. I just save her from some bandits. Thanks to the save with that last one by the way.” Nick said.

“Well shoot. And here I thought I was finally going to get to see some grandcalves.” The old man said snapping his fingers and causing the both of them to shuffle uncomfortably while blushing madly. Meanwhile a certain dark spector was thanking every deity known to man, and several known to dolphins that he didn’t have actual sides, otherwise he would have laughed them off by now.

“Oh I give up, you're impossible.” Trixie said throwing her hands in the air.

“Oh but where are my manners. My name is Iron Fist and this little beauty here is my Daughter Trixie.” The minotaur introduced themselves.

“Nice to meet you. But umm, how is she your daughter? You don’t even seem to be the same species.” Nick said making them give him an ‘are you serious’ look.

“Your powers of observation are just astounding..” Iron Fist said bluntly.

“Gee thanks.” Nick said sarcastically.

“Well now, seeing as you saved my daughter from those worthless bandits, I believe we are in your debt, and the Iron family always pays it’s debts. How can we help you my boy.” Iron said clapping his hands.

“Umm…” Nick mumbled as he couldn’t come up with a response.

“Out of all the ones you could have gotten indebted to it had to be this guy?” Iron whispered to his daughter.

“Well well well. If it isn’t my future bride, miss Trixie Iron sparks.” a new and snobbish voice said from the side making the mood suddenly go from cheery, to tense in an instant.

“How many times do I have to say it Steel Hands. I have no interest in you, and I never will be.” Trixie fumed at the newcomer.

“Oh come now, you know you want me.” Steel Hands said as he reached for her face. He stopped however when Iron Fist grabbed his arm tightly and spoke in an intimidating fashion.

“Keep your filthy hands off my daughter.” Iron growled.

“And take your filthy hand off me peasant.” Steel Hands sneered taking his hand away.

“What do you want steel Hands, my daughter just got back. So she couldn’t be the only reason you're wasting my time.” Iron Fist said.

“Ah yes, I can take her later. For now you and I have business to discuss. As you know I have been trying to buy you out for years now and yet you have refused my more than generous offers.” Steel said.

“And as you should know by now, I am not selling you my smithy. If that’s all you have come to discuss than don’t bother, my answer is the same as the last three dozen times you tried.” Iron said and turned from the younger bull.

“That may be true, but this time it’s different. As you know you're disgrace of a son Iron Will’s banishment will last for another five years, and since you will be turning fifty in seven months, your business will be up for grabs when that time comes. When that time comes I will be challenging you to a death match and we both know who will win that fight old man.” Steel Hands laughed.

“What! No you can’t!” Iron said.

“I can and I am. You know the law. If you want your business to go into the next generation, my generation, you have to give it to your first born son. And seeing as he isn’t here, you will have to fight to keep what is rightfully mine.” Steel Hands chuckle evilly.

“It also says that I can have a champion to fight in my place since i am a senior citizen!” Iron Fist protested.

“And who would fight for you? Anybull that would dare would face financial ruin from me.” Steel Hands said.

“He will.” Iron Fist said grabbing Nick.

“Wait what!?” Nick said as he was pulled into this.

“This here boy saved my daughter from bandits, so he has the right to her hand in marriage for saving her life and I have already gave him my blessing. He can fight as my champion.” Iron Fist said causing Steel Hand go from a smirk to a scowl.

“Well if that’s the case then not only will I be getting you're smithy, but you're daughter as well.” Steel Hands chuckled and walked away.

“Dad are you insane!?!” Trixie said as she fumed at her dad for putting her in this situation. As much as she hated Steel Hands he was a capable fighter, and from what she saw Nick was anything but.

“I’m sorry Trixie, but I couldn’t think of anything so i panicked and used some old laws.” Iron fist apologized to his Daughter.

“What if I just don’t fight?” Nick asked.

“Then it would be considered a forfeit and he could take both the smithy and me.” Trixie slumped against the wall.

“Why? It’s not like he has any proof of this other than his word.” NIck said.

“He’s a noble. They would listen to him first, and I already told the guards at the gate about you and the bandits, he has all the proof he needs. I’m doomed.” Trixie lamented.

“Well then I’ll just have to beat him.” Nick said earning a thankful smile from Iron fist.

“Thanks, I was afraid you would just leave us with this mess to be honest.” Iron fist said.

“And how are you supposed to do that? You couldn’t even hold your own against those bandits! They would have been child’s play to Steel Hands. How are you going to take him on?!” Trixie said as tears started falling down her face.

“Wait if he couldn’t hold his own against the bandits then how did he save you?” Iron Fist asked.

“He took the first one out by flying into it realy fast. His weight and chitin killed it on impact. The second one he tripped and poisoned with his tail. The last one was beating him senseless when i was able to get my bow and shoot it.” Trixie explained.

“Then I’ll just have to learn how to fight better then him.” Nick said punching his fist into his palm.

“How? You would have to train for years to catch up to him, the most we have is until dad's birthday.” Trixie said.

“Simple, I have an ace up my sleeve. I have the ability to memorize and learn anything far faster than normal. Two months of training for me would be the equivalent of a year for most others, and if I train really hard I can cut that time in half. All I need is a master willing to teach me.” Nick said.

“Then I will.” Iron Fist said.

“You will? Are you good?” Nick asked.

“Of course! I wasn’t the grand champion of the arena for twenty years running for nothing you know!” Iron Fist boasted.

Silk Sheets and Silk clothes. (Unedited)

“Of course! I wasn’t the grand champion of the arena for twenty years running for nothing you know!” Iron Fist boasted.

“Alright then, let me just get rid of these wings and we can get started.” Nick said getting confused looks from the others that turned to a mix of disgust and shock as they watched the wings get pulled into the holes in his chitin that soon closed up.

“How… what… I..” Trixie sputtered before fainting.

“Well, that certainly is an odd trick.” Iron Fist said and looked at Nick's back where the wings had been with an intrigued expression. “What sort of magic is that?” Iron will asked.

“It’s not magic, it’s a natural philosopher stone ability.” Nick answered getting a confused look from iron.

“I don’t understand, how is that not magic?” Iron Fist asked.

“It’s a long story, could we head inside to talk?” Nick asked.

“Of course, let me take Trixie to her room and we can talk. We’ll start training in the morning. For now let’s just get you settled in alright?” Iron asked.

“Alright then I’ll wait for you down stairs.” Nick said as they entered the house. Iron lead Nick into the living room and had him take a seat before carrying Trixie up stairs. The room was well kept with two large sofas, a comfortable looking chair next to a fireplace and various weapons and pictures of Iron and his family on the walls.

He spotted a picture of a younger looking Iron Fist that looked to be in his mid thirties with a younger minotaur that had blue fur and large horns. The younger bull looked to be about twelve and on Iron Fist’s shoulder was a younger looking Trixie that looked to be about six years old.

“That would be my son iron will.” Iron fist said walking down stairs and looking at the photo that Nick had been looking at.

“He looks like a nice kid.” Nick said.

“Aye, he is. Should be about to turn twenty seven in june.” Iron said as he picked up the picture and stared at it smiling at the fond memory.

“Where is he now? If you don’t mind me asking?” Nick asked changing his claws back into fingers but leaving chitin armor on them.

“Last I checked he was in equestria giving motivational speeches.” Iron sighed and put down the photo. “That’s as far as I want to go into that if you don’t mind.” Iron will said getting a nod from Nick.

“Alright so umm, I believe you wanted to know more about my abilities correct?” nick asked.

“Correct, now if that wasn’t magic, then what in the seven levels of tartarus was that?” Iron said taking a seat across from Nick.

“That was an ability granted to me by the philosopher stone. It allows me to change what I am at will kind of how caterpillars turn into butterflies but faster and more diverse. Anything i have the DNA for i can grow or make on my body. For example this chitin,” nick said gesturing to the heavy armor on his body, “is from an ironclad beetle I absorbed and gained its DNA.” Nick explained.

“I still don’t understand how it’s any different than magic.” Iron said.

“Think of it like how your body heals from cuts. As it heals the cells are dividing to cover up the exposed flesh, the Philosopher's stone let’s me take this to the next level and shape my cells however i want. It allows me to make this a natural process for me to simply grow and absorb new body parts like my wings from earlier.” Nick explained further.

“Alright so I still don’t understand, so I’ll just take your word for it and say it isn’t magic.” Iron said leaning back.

“That works I guess. So umm, what exactly are we going to do until tomorrow?” Nick asked.

“For now let’s get you familiarized with the house and what you will be doing here besides training.” Iron said and got up beckoning for Nick to follow. They started with the down stairs, after the living room was the dining room that had a decent sized eight person table and a wine cabinet. The walls like the living room were adorned with pictures of Iron Fist’s family and weapons of different kinds.

After the dining room was the kitchen. It was a decent sized and equipped kitchen with an island in the middle. To the right was a door leading to the back yard with the smithy connected to the side of the house. The back yard wasn’t much then a gated space with grass. They entered the smithy through the back to find a stock room with various supplies for forging arms and armor.

Next was the forge itself which was very well equipped. There were two kilns and anvils likely for a second blacksmith to help. Finally the front serviced as a shop. They rounded back to the front of the house and went back inside. They made their way up stairs, the top of the house had four rooms and a bathroom.

“Alright so that’s the house and smithy, I don’t suppose you have any experience with forging metal do you?” Iron asked hopefully.

“Sorry, but I don’t.” Nick said rubbing the back of his neck.

“Well then I suppose you should learn then, since that’ll be how you pay for room and board.” Iron said.

“Are you going to teach me?” Nick asked.

“No I was thinking the chief at the bakery would teach you.” Iron said sarcastically.

“...so where will I be sleeping?” Nick asked changing the subject.

“Over here in the guest room.” Iron chuckled. They went back downstairs and made their way to the living room.

“Alright umm, I know this sounds a bit sudden, but do you have any spare clothing? I’m a bit tiered in walking around in my birthday suit.” Nick asked looking down to his body that was only covered in a thick layer of chitin leaving nothing to the imagination. Thankfully he had made a plate that covered up willy for obvious reasons, but it didn’t compare to a new set of cloths.

“Ah yes, I was wondering about that. From the looks of it I was beginning to think it was like the armor that changelings make out of shed chitin. So uhh, you're just walking around in the nude right now?” Iron asked.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t happen to have anything to spare do you?” Nick asked hoping to finally shrink down the chitian. He would leave himself lightly armored, but his current level of armor wasn’t something he was hoping to make a normal thing.

“Unfortunately nothing I have would fit you. You needn’t worry, we can just head down to the local tailor and have you measured for a new set of clothing.

Perspective shift

Silk sheets

Silk Sheets sighed as she finished her latest work. One of the nobles had requested a dress for the upcoming ball and had been extremely picky about it’s design and it being made of changeling silk. Though she had very productive silk glands, the amount that the dress required drained her considerably. What made matters worse was that she was going to miss out on the love she normally received from her customers that were thankful with her work because of the fact that this noble was one that was born into it rather than earning it like the rest.

Unlike much of the rest of the world, Minotaurian nobility could only keep their nobility for three generations before it was earned again or taken away. The nobles that earned their place were often nice and well, noble. They gave her much love for her work and thanked her properly. But the nobles that grew up as such, mostly the third generation ones like her current client simply expected her to do so as if she was their slave and nothing more.

Her business had been doing fairly well recently. She was able to pay all her taxes and she had even managed to save up enough that she might actually be able to move to Elysium. She wished that Equestria would accept her kind, but they often hated them out of simple fear and ignorance. The ponies were amazing creatures that exuded five times as love as most other species, but due to their fear and hatred of her kind they could only harvest love through deceit.

Thankfully most of the other nations did not share this prejudice against her kind and widely accepted them. The local hive had been doing exceptionally well to. Thanks to the love that changelings could openly gather without retaliation they could sustain a viable population throughout the world. It wasn’t all happy times though. The queens that oversaw the central hive often disagreed on anything from love distribution and rationing, to whether or not they should take over another country.

The last time that one of the queens had done so ended in disaster and only served to cement Equestria and its allies fear and hatred of Changelings. She wished she could move to Elysium sooner so she could be closer to one of the love distribution centers. Buying love got more and more expensive the further away you were from it. The problem could be solved if she could find a mate, but she was very shy, and the male population in Kevil was drastically smaller than normal. Any male that she might be interested in would either be taken, or not interested in her. She finished putting the dress on a mannequin when she heard the bell to her shop ring.

“Coming!” She shout happily.

“Welcome to Silk Sheet’s boutique, how may… I.. Help… You…” she said slowly as she her eyes were drawn to the muscular chitin of the male before her. He was very tall and had black hair with deep blue eyes.

He left nothing to the imagination as he was covered in nothing but heavy chitin. She could tell this wasn’t changeling made armor as she could see where it connected to his flesh signaling that this was all living chitin. The way his chitin shined in the sunlight showed he was very healthy too. And the size of the plate covering his sheath drew her in as it was the only thing that left anything for her to imagine.

“Well you could help me by stop staring at my crotch.” Her customer said slightly offended.

“Come on boy, take it as a complement! You shouldn’t get mad at a lady for checking out the goods!” Iron Fist said slapping him on the back and laughing heartily.

“Oh I am so sorry!” She said with her cheeks turning a bright green.

“Oh it’s alright silk, no harm done. Nick, this is my good friend Silk Sheets, Silk Sheets this is my new apprentice Nick.” Iron reassured the young tailor and introduced them to one another.

“Still, I shouldn’t have been leering like that.” She shuffled nervously.

“Well just don’t let it happen again and we’ll be fine.” Her new customer said.

“Right, erm… well how may I help you?” she said trying to make sure her eyes didn’t wander.

“Well as you can see I’m a little short on clothing, so I was hoping to get a new set so I’m not left exposed.” Nick said gesturing to his naked form.

“Of course, I could take some measurements and make you an new set of cloths by tomorrow.” She said.

“Great, just let me make a few changes and well be set, umm do you have a towel I could borrow by any chance?” Nick asked getting a confused look from Silk.

“Just trust him on this.” Iron said to Silk whom simply nodded and went upstairs to get the towel for Nick.

“Well that was interesting.” Nick said after she had left.

“I think she likes you.” Iron chuckled.

“I thought you were trying to hook me up with Trixie?” Nick said looking at the old bull.

“What haven't you ever heard of a herd before?” Iron will asked.

“A what now?” Nick asked completely lost getting a bewildered look from Iron Fist.

“Honestly boy have you been living under a rock your whole life?” Iron Fist asked.

“I’m not exactly around here.” Nick shrugged.

“Even so herds are a worldwide thing! You couldn’t possibly have gone your whole life without knowing about them!” Iron will said.

“Alright here’s that towel you wanted.” Silk said and tossed the towel to Nick.

“We’ll talk more about this later.” Iron will said and made his way for the door.

“Hey where are you going?” Nick asked him before he could leave.

“I have some errands to run, and I think you two might need some alone time.” Iron winked making them both blush.

“So umm, if you'd just follow me I can take your measurements if you would like?” She said regaining her composure after Iron had left.

“Yeah, sure.” Nick said shaking his head and followed her to the back room where she had him stand on a podium to take his measurements. Before he did so he did something that made Silk's jaw drop and her blush returned full force. Once he wrapped the towel around his waist he reshaped his chitin so that it was a much lighter armor. He kept his shoulder pads but made them small enough that they only lifted a little.

The armor on his arms shrank so that it only covered the outsides of his arms and but still covered most of his forearms in a thin but extremely tough shell. He kept a few plates on the back of his neck and shrank town the massive shell that protected his torso so that it simply left plates connected to either side of his back and along the small of his back were smaller and smaller plates until they disappeared under the towel. His feet remained the same but the chitin on his calves shrunk until they mostly just covered the bulk of it with a thin layer of chitin.

His tail lost it’s wicked barb and became a rounded club off chitin with the plates of chitin that covered the bulk of his tail shrank until they became overlapping plates that mostly just covered the top and sides instead of all around. The chitin that served as a heavy armor on his chest and sides shrank until there were two breast plates that covered his pecks and smaller ones covering up his abs. The final part had her starring again as the smaller plates pronounced his muscles very well.

“Alright, all set. Ready?” Nick asked looking over to the mare that had a dreamy look on her face and a massive blush. “Hey! Are you alright?” Nick asked waving a hand in front of her.

“Huh? What? Oh! Umm.. yes let's get started. I just need to feel-I mean measure you!” she said hoping he didn’t catch that.

“What was that?” Nick asked much to her relief.

“I said I just need to take your measurements.” She chuckled nervously.

“Alright then…” Nick said unsure. She went over to the nearby table and got some measuring tape. As she started she took her time, memorizing his muscle structure. One of the down sides was he didn’t exactly smell as good as he looked, so she had to stop taking measurements.

“Umm.. I’m really sorry about this, but when's the last time you had a shower?” she asked taking a few steps back fearing he might be angry. She was relieved however when he looked at her sheepishly.

“Eheh… it’s uhh… been awhile.” He said sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

“Would you like to use my shower? It would make this a lot easier.” She said gesturing upstairs.

“Sure, thanks by the way, and sorry about the smell. I had been traveling through the forest to the east for the past couple of weeks and didn’t really have an opportunity.” He said following her upstairs towards the restroom.

“Wait you were traveling through the Everfree?! That’s extremely dangerous!” she said turning towards him.

“I’ll say, damn near got eaten several times. But I’m safe now.” He chuckled. They arrived at the bathroom and he was pleased to see that despite the technological level this world seemed to be on, they surprisingly had modern plumbing techniques down.

“Alright, so I’ll just go ahead and let you clean up. I’ll wait for you downstairs.” she said nervously and made her way out shutting the door behind her. Once she was out she started making her way to the stairs when she heard him start the shower. She stood their for a minute and contemplated on what she was going to do. “Maybe just a peek.” she said to herself.

She snuck over to the door and looked through the keyhole hoping to get a good few of her… healthy looking customer… when she looked through she was surprised to find that his package was external. This made judging it’s full size difficult as unlike internal packages, external ones had wildly different size changes when hard and flaccid. But the part that really got her excited was his muscles.

He wasn’t overly bulky like a minotaur, but he was certainly better built than any pony or Zebra stallion she had seen before. He even matched the buffer Griffin hawks in the city Guard. The chitin plates accentuated his muscles extremely well. She could hear a faint dripping noise when he started to lather himself with the soup.

She looked down and began to panic at the stain on her pants and wet spot on the floor. She tried she looked up to see Nick sniffing the air and then himself. This wasn’t good, Changelings produced powerful pheromones in their natural lubricant. If he caught a good enough whiff of the pheromones in her fluids then he would not be able to get rid of his erection even with a cold shower. He would have to either wait for seven hours for it to go away, or cause her to give off the right pheromones to cancel out the effect.

She made her way to her room and changed her pants and panties after wiping herself off and calming herself down. Once she was satisfied that she was no longer horny she grabbed a hand towel and quickly but quietly made her way back to the bathroom hoping it wasn’t to late. She cleaned of the spot where she had dripped her fluids in and and checked to see if she made it in time before the pheromones took effect.

To her horror, and slight excitement, he was fully and appeared to be painfully erect. She cursed under her breath as she looked at the pained expression on his face as he turned to turn the hot water knob completely off and turned the cold water on full blast.

Perspective shift
Nick

Nick looked at the shower after Silk Sheets left overjoyed. He hadn’t had a shower in two weeks! He wasted no time in stepping into the shower and closing the glass door behind him. He turned the water on careful to aim the shower head away from him as he adjusted the water temperature. Once done he adjusted the water and let the water wash over him relaxing his tense muscles for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

He grabbed the soap and began to lather his entire body paying close attention on where skin met Chitin. He rinsed himself off and moved on to his hair that had become somewhat matted. After he was done he was satisfied that his rough and matted hair was now silky smooth, the irony of who’s bathroom he was in wasn’t lost on him. He finished off with some conditioner and when he was about to rinse it out of his hair, he locked down as for some reason he felt himself growing hard.

“Ah, the return of the Why-Boner. With a vengeance.” He said the second part darkly. He ignored it for now hoping this odd Why-Boner would just go away by the time he dried off, however as he rinsed out his hair it began to get painfully hard begging for attention. He wasn’t about to rub one out in this mare’s bathroom, that would be just disrespectful, and would take too long.

He turned to the shower knobs and shut off the hot water and turned the cold on full blast. He waited for five minutes but his erection showed no signs of stopping. In fact it seemed to be getting worse as the veins became pronounced and each throb sent a jolt of pain through his body. He began to panic as he heard a knock at the door.

“Umm.. don’t come in! I’m almost done.” He called.

“Nick, it won’t go away like that.” He heard Silk say from behind the door. What? Did she know about his problem?? Was she spying on him!?

“What do you mean? You're not spying on me are you?” He asked somewhat angrily.

“I’m sorry, i just couldn’t help myself.. I’m terribly sorry.” She said with regret.

“What the fuck Silk!? And what do you mean this won’t go away like this?!” He asked angrily.

“When I was watching you I started dripping onto the floor. The pheromones in my fluids caused this to happen. It’s will only go away after seven hours…. Or if you mate with me…” She said hesitantly. He went pale as she said that last part.

“Then I’ll just wait it out.” Nick said much to her disappointment.

“It will only get worse as time goes by, and you also risk the chance of it popping..” Silk said hoping he would change his mind.

“It’s alright, I’ve been through worse, and I can regrow it if it did.” He said waving her off. She thought of one last thing that might get him to cave.

“It also causes me really bad pain as well the longer I go unattended.” She partly lied. In truth it did leave her with a bad itch that took a couple of hours to go away, but it was nothing compared to when she was in heat. She listened as he thought it over.

“Sorry, but I’m not risking getting you pregnant.” He said confusing her. Get her pregnant? That was impossible. Even if she was in heat she would need to become a queen for that, and the only way she could do that is if he eat royal jelly while she was in heat.

“Umm… you can’t… only a Queen Changeling can get pregnant, and I’m just a silk drone.” She said.

“I…. what? Look I don’t care what kind of... Changeling? I don’t care what kind of changeling you are. It ain’t happening.” Nick said.

“Please?” She gave one last ditch effort to persuade him.

“No!” Nick said and opened the door. He had reverted back to his heavy armor state and looked rather pissed scaring her into backing off.

“I’m sorry! please let me make this up to you!” Silk said backing away from him.

“Look, I appreciate the offer, and don’t appreciate the persistence, but I think it might be a good idea if I leave, I can get clothes elsewhere.” Nick said irritated and stormed downstairs.

“I’ll make your clothes for free!” She said stepping in front of the door. Nick stopped when she said this. Iron Fist had said he could pay him back later with hard work and harder training, but if he could get a few sets of clothing for free then he wouldn’t start out as a burden.

“Alright, but none of that trying to get me in bed crap.” Nick said reluctantly.

“Thank you, and I promise it won’t happen again.” Silk said relieved. Silk rushed up stairs to get another towel for him. She returned downstairs and handed him the towel and watched as he turned back into his lightly armored self again. She wondered how he did this, sure changelings could grow and shed chitin, but the process took months to complete, but he was doing it in seconds!

He certainly was no changeling that’s for sure, but whatever he was he was intriguing to her. Once he was done she lead him back to the podium room and resumed taking his measurements. He smelled really nice now, and she couldn’t help but linger longer than needed as she measured him.

Much to nick's irritation he caught her staring at the large tent he was pitching in the towel. He thought about absorbing it back into him for now and leaving his crotch blank like a mannequin, but he really hated not being able to feel his manhood. He had tried that long ago when he visited his brother who practically invented nut checking, but despite being immune to said pain he just felt wrong through the whole experience.

So he let it stay not just for his own comfort, but also as a punishment for the mare. He couldn’t believe she had spied on him and did this to him. They had known each other for less than an hour. He hopped this wasn’t a norm in this town or world for that matter. Once she was done with his upper body they ran into a problem as in order to measure his legs he needed to remove the towel. He did so reluctantly and faced away from her, making sure that she wasn’t going to peak further.

It didn’t work completely though as she measured his upper thigh she caught a glimpse of it dangling below some healthy sized tesitcles. She lost the last of her resolve as she saw the biggest, and admittedly the first penis in her life. She finished the last of her measurements and put away her equipment before turning to see that he had put the towel back on.

“Alright, are we done he-MMPH!!” Nick was interrupted when she pounced on him and locked her lips with his. He tried to push her off him, but she had wrapped her arms and legs around him holding on tightly preventing him doing so without hurting her. He was able to keep her away from his face but the moan she released has he pushed on her mammaries aggravated him.

“Please! I need you so badly!” She pleaded.

“Alright lady, you need to stop this right now! I’m not doing this and that’s final.” Nick yelled pushing her off of him. She pouted as he put his heavy chitin back on covering up her prize. She pounced at him again but he was too quick and moved out of the way.

“You can’t run forever. Come one just a little roll in the hay.” She said blocking the doorway.

“For the last time, the answer is no!” Nick said pushing past her.

“Please!? I promise you’ll enjoy it.” she said getting in front off him once again.

“I’m baack!” Iron Fist said coming through the door.

“Good, we’re leaving.” Nick said storming past him and back to the smithy.

“Was it something I said?”

Wow, monster tits is a goddess.... Shit. (unedited)

“Was it something I said?” Iron Fist asked as he watched Nick storm out of the building.

“No, it’s my fault. I sort of tried to force myself on him..” Silk Sheets said rubbing her arm with her ears pinned back.

“What!? Seriously Silk? I can see you hitting on him, but trying to rape him?! What the Tartarus Silk?! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get you in his herd now?” Iron said pacing back and forth, each word making her shrink back until he said herd.

“Herd? What are you talking about?” She asked meekly.

“I was hoping he would start a herd with Trixie. I have everything stacked on him thanks to that worthless noble Steel Hands. He saved her from some bandits outside of the City, so when Steel Hands went and said he was going to invoke the right of championship, I panicked and claimed him as my Champion. He seems kind enough and noble for risking his life for my Daughter, but a bit dense. Your changeling's Hive mind would help tremendously with his training.” Iron said and took a seat.

“What about my hive mind? He isn’t a chanling, and even if he was he isn’t from my Hive. So how would it help?” Silk asked confused while taking a seat across from him.

“Did you happen to see the mark on his right hand?” Iron asked.

“Now that you mention it, yes. Was it not a cutie mark of some sort?” Silk asked.

“No, and even if it was it would either be on his hip or his shoulder. No that was the mark of a familiar, and a very powerful one at that. A long time ago in my youth I was curious to see if minotaurs could wield any form of magic besides our natural strength magic.” Iron Fist said.

“And did you find anything?” Silk asked.

“In the end I found that we could use enchanting runes by mixing the glyph paint with blood instead of having to infuse it with magic like unicorns do. The effects isn’t as strong as if a unicorn or alicorn were to do it, but it lasts far longer. I still have enchanted armor I made when I was twenty that still works, but I’m getting off topic. At some point I studied summoning out of idle curiosity. When I did I memorized a few of the glyphs that familiars possess.” Iron explained.

“So he is a familiar, I still don’t understand how this has to do with my Hive mind.” Silk said getting frustrated that he wouldn’t just spit it out already.

“Normally a familiar possesses one of many different seals that lock with their summoner’s. But a rare few summoned by very powerful unicorns have special glyphs that allow others besides their master to link their magic to it, this allows everyone connected to the familiar to share power and abilities with one another. Your hive mind would allow him to learn much faster as the memories would be shared between you two. I could teach you both at the same time allowing him to learn faster, but in order to form that link he has to want to! How am I supposed to convince him now?” Iron finally stated his reasoning.

“So you want me to link myself to him, and then teach us how to fight?” Silk asked a little frightened by the idea of fighting. She was a Silk dron not a warrior drone!

“You wouldn’t actually have to fight anyone, just some light sparring to increase your skills” Iron said trying to calm his friend.

“I don’t know… I’m just a low level silk drone, not a warrior. And after what I did he would never herd with me.” Silk said with the beginning of tears in her eyes.

“Look kid, how about this, you learn along side him and try your best to win him over. With any luck he’ll forgive you and give you a chance in time. “ Iron suggested.

“I… well, as long as I don't have to fight anyone. Could I at least disguise myself so he could give me a chance instead of shunning me right away?” Silk asked afraid that Nick wouldn’t give her a chance.

“That might work, or it could end in disaster. I’ll leave that up to you. For now if you could complete those clothes for him I would really appreciate it.” Iron said thinking over the idea and tossing her a bag of bits for the clothes.

“Sure, I’ll have them done by tomorrow morning. When do I start training by the way?” Silk asked shuffling nervously in her seat.

“Tomorrow morning.” Iron said.

“What!?” Silk shouted not expecting to start so soon.

“We only have seven months to get him in shape for the battle, and less time to get you linked with him. We have to start as soon as possible, the only reason we aren't starting today is because there is too much to do today.” Iron Fist said getting up from his seat and making his way to the door. “Be there six o’clock sharp ok?” Iron more stated than asked.

“Do I have to do this?” Silk asked.

“Do you want him as you're mate?” Iron asked and left her with that question. Silk thought about his last question. Did she want Nick as a mate? She just jumped him out of overwhelming lust… it couldn’t hurt to give it a try at least. The friendly love he could give her would cut her expenses a bit, and if at any point grew into something more….

Perspective shift

Zangetsu

Zangetsu chuckled a bit at Nick’s expense. Nick didn’t normally have women throwing themselves at him like that, and he was pissed after that. Meanwhile Zangetsu had been teasing him the whole time. He calmed himself once again as he spotted the mare oogiling Nicks package again.

So you going to give it to her or what?” Zangetsu teased.

“Shut up zangetsu.” Nick thought to his tulpa for the millionth time.

"Come on, a little one night stand won’t hurt.” Zangetsu chuckled at him.

"Shut UP zangetsu.” Nick thought to his tulpa once more. He watched as the mare walked over to the nearby table and put down the equipment she had been using to take measurements and take a deep breath.
Come on man, look at her. She wants you inside her! How can you just leave a lady wanting?” Zangetsu said floating over to the mare and wrapped an arm around her.

"Alright, are we done he-MMPH!!” Nick ignored him and turned to Silk only for her to leap at him and kiss him. Zangetsu lost his shit at that and fell through the floor in a laughing fit. He continued to fall for another fifty feet until he faded out leaving Nick to deal with this problem on his own.

Perspective shift

Nick

Nick stormed down the cobblestone road following what he thought was the path to his temporary home. How did he get mixed up in all of this? All he meant to do was stop a couple of bandits from having their way with some poor girl, and now he could either leave it at that and move on, which would apparently get the girl he saved forced into a rape agreement and let that snob Steel Hands take the poor dudes home and business, or he could stay and risk his life again by fighting the dude.

Now he could handle himself rather well in a fight normally, but if this dude was as good as they said then he would have to learn how to fight quickly. He could learn fast thanks to the stone enhancing his mental capacity, but he only had seven months to do so, he would have to train from dawn to dusk every day to get to where he needed to be!

Nick was jolted out of his thoughts as he looked around and didn’t recognize where he was. He could see the town gate from here and contemplated on making a run for it, but decided against it for now. In front of him was a tall chapel with large doors. He was never a religious lot, as he actually knew about the higher beings instead of just believing in them on nothing but faith.

Many where simply conjurations of human imagination for one reason or another, but many of them were real, but none of them were completely who they said they were. s it turned out very few actually had the power to make a universe, it took an ancient to do that. smaller universes could be created by lesser beings, but his was just far to large for even a being like Zeno to create. given the size of his universe and the presence of angels, the evidence led to it being an ancient, though e was skeptical at times.

But he wasn’t in his resident universe anymore, and that meant a whole new set of deities to deal with. He had no idea if there was a singular deity ruling this universe, a pantheon? Did they do anything? Were they attentive or not? Only one way to find out.

He walked up the steps and entered the chapel, thankfully it seemed to be open. He wondered if this was a one day of the week chapel or if it was open twenty-four seven. He walked down the pews that appeared to be empty, the whole place appeared to be empty. At the end of the chapel were several statues of what he assumed were this universe’s deities.

Starting from the right going left was a statue of a massive minotaur wielding a giant war hammer, the horns were golden, the plaque beneath said King Golden Horn- King of Minotauria-God of earth. Next was a statue of what appeared to be a merman horse person wielding a wicked looking tridant, the plaque beneath his statue said lord Kelpbeard-Ruler of the seas-God of water.

Next was a statue of an anthro reindeer holding onto a leash with a female reindeer collared beneath him. The plaque beneath him said King Diane-king of Tundaria-God of snow. Next was a statue of what he guessed was a kirin as it looked like an anthro version of one it was wielding a staff with a diamond at the end, the plaque at the bottom said Lord Magnus-Lord of Etharia-God of magic.

Next was a statue of a horse woman wielding a great scythe that had a moon emblem at the part where the staff met the blade. The staff part was made of a dark wood while the blade was made of steel, the plaque beneath her said Princess Luna-Co-Ruler of Equestria-Goddess of the moon.

Finally at the middle was a statue of a huge horse woman holding a book in one hand with a quill in the other, the plaque beneath her said Queen Faust-Mother of all creation-Goddess of Equis.

“Well, at least I know who the chief deity is.” Nick mumbled.

Next up was one that surprised him slightly. It was a statue of monster tits! She was wielding a massive golden greatsword in on hand, and in the other was a scroll. The plaque beneath her said Princess Celestia-Co-Ruler of Equestria-Goddess of the sun.

“Well, shit. I pissed off a deity.” Nick said now a little wary of her wrath. Next to monster tits was a picture of a shorter Horse woman, what was with all the horse people?!, she had curly hair unlike the other three that seemed to only have ethereal hair. She wielded a bow with an arrow primed. The bow was made mostly out of crystal with a wooden center. The arrow was tipped with a heart shaped crystal. The plaque beneath her said Princess Cadence-ruler of the Crystal empire-Goddess of love.

“Damn, wouldn't mind getting freaky with her…” Nick mumbled. After her was a statue of a werewolf. His claws and teeth were made of sharp steel and his eyes were rubies. The plaque beneath him said Lord Shadow Fang-lord of Sub Terra-God of shadows.

“Well, he looks scary…” Nick said and looked at the next one which was a statue of a griffin's wielding a pair of curved daggers. The plaque beneath he said Lady Typhoon-Queen of Griffonia-Goddess of air. Finally there was a statue of a dragon with curved horns with a golden ring around one of them. The plaque beneath him said Dragon lord Torch-God of dragons-God of fire.

“Well, there certainly a lot of horse women up their.” Nick said taking a seat.

“As tall as they are, they aren’t horses young one.” A voice said next to him. Nick jumped when the new person snuck on him.

“Don’t! Scare me like that.” Nick said regaining his composure.

“Sorry my child, I did not mean to scare you.” The elderly priest said.

“It’s alright, just don’t sneak up on me like that.” Nick said and looked back at the statues. “And if they aren’t horses, then what are they?” Nick asked.

“I’m surprised you do not know, but they are ponies.” The priest said.

“Aren’t ponies just miniature horses?” Nick asked causing the priest to chuckle.

“As similar as they are, they are as much horses as they are zebras. They may be equins all the same, but they are not the same species.” The priest said.

“Alright, so how do I tell a horse from a pony?” Nick asked bewildering the priest.

“A horse is as tall as a minotaur. And the tallest ponies don’t go above five foot five except the princesses and their mother.” The priest said shaking away his shock.

“Hey old man Stone Pages, have you seen a- never mind there he is. Hey kid! I’ve been looking all over for you! Come on, you can oogle Trixie instead of Celestia’s tits, you need to get up early tomorrow and it’s getting late.” Iron Fist said irritating Stone pages when he disrespected Celestia.

“How many times have I told you to respect the deities Iron?” Stone Pages seethed.

“And how many times have I told you to worship dat ass!” Iron Laughed as he and Nick walked out of the chapel.

“Damn you Iron…” Stone sighed and went back to his duties.

That night

Nick snored peacefully as he dreamed of flying through the highlands of scotland. He remembered in great detail souring through them a couple years back. He landed on a hill and took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air. His happy dream was interrupted however as something burst into his dream and kicked him in the side of the head sending him flying.

“What the hell Zan… get...su….” Nick said but stopped at the glare of one of the goddesses he had seen in the chapel from before.

“Finally we hath found thee creature. You will regret hurting dear Twilight as you did. Now you turn thyself in at once or face our wrath.” Luna said as she stomped towards him. She was confident that this mortal would obey one of the more feared deities that could wreak havoc in his dreams should he not.

She did not however, expect him punching her in the tit and sending her flying herself. She landed in the side of the mountain making a creator in the side. She may have been the guardian of dreams, but a lucid dreamer could still cause problems if they were skilled enough.

“I don’t care if you are a deity! Stay the fuck outa my head bitch!” Nick said and forced her out of his head much to Luna’s surprise. Luna sat there stunned at what had just happened. Did he really just punch her in the tit, curse her out, and then force her out?!

“Oh, tis verily on mortal.” She said lividly cracking her knuckles. She charged back in furious that he dared to defy her. When she entered his dream once more the place had changed. Obviously he was a very skilled lucid dreamer if he could do this.

He had replaced the highlands with a massive dark room with a lit grid pattern and a massive cube in the center. The cube itself seemed to be made up of many smaller cubes. Near the top was one that seemed to be different from the others as it had an opening. Above the opening said ‘enter at your own risk.'

“It would seem this mortal is stronger than we thought. No matter! We accept thy challenge mortal! Prepare for the greatest nightmare thee shall ever have!” She said and charged into the entrance of the massive cube.

seven hours later

“LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!” Luna shouted pounding on the wall of the cube she was in as the torso with one arm and a giant eye in place of it’s head clawed it’s way towards her. She had thought she knew fear, that she knew what true horrors were, but this individual had proved her so wrong.

Over the past seven hours she had gone from cube to cube, each a massive room with some new monstrosity, puzzle our horror she would have to face. She recalled how this all went wrong as she finally solved the puzzle and barely escaped the lovecraftian horror.

She had entered this horror fest thinking that she was going to teach some mortal a lesson, but she had never been more wrong. The first room she entered had ten twisted abominations that looked similar to a centaur, but it was all wrong.

The torso was on the middle of it’s back, it’s fingers were razor sharp claws, the front of it’s lower body had an equine head filled with razor sharp teeth and one massive eye in the middle of it’s head, and finally the part to make it one of the single most horrifying thing she had ever seen, was that it was completely bare of skin!

She was glad she had went in prepared, as they would have torn her apart if she hadn’t. The next had a massive quadrupedal griffin with the head of a vulture. After that was a puzzle that took thirty minutes to solve, by far her favorite room so far, after that was a room that took the shape of an abandoned city that had taken her a full two hours to get through.

The town was constantly covered in a thick fog, with horrifying creatures lumbering about. She had lost her dream armor when one of them sprayed some sort of acid at her. She made quick work of it, but it was after when she attempted to make a new set that she learned just how much she was in some deep shit. Her powers didn’t work! She had attempted to leave the dream, but that failed to!

She had begun panicking when a book suddenly fell in front of her along with a stick that acted as a quill somehow without an ink well. She cautiously took the book and read the words as they appeared on the page.

“So you finally tried to leave my little game eh? Well I’m sorry to say that isn’t happening. I warned you to stay out, and that you would be entering at your own risk. Now you are at my mercy. I am not your ordinary dreamer and have been taught by one who is far stronger than you in the dreamscape.” the words said, presumably from her target. She wrote back hoping to get out of this… horror.

“Please let me out! I promise to stay out of your dreams just let me out!” She pleaded.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible. You were warned, and now you get to face the consequences. I want to play a little game.” Her target said.

“What!? No please, I beg of you! Let me out!” Luna panicked.

“Calm down now, or I will make this even longer.” Her target said causing her to tear up, but listen.

“Alright, what is your game.” Luna said as she regained her composure.

“The game is simple. You will go through each room until you find the center of the cube. Each room has a timer that will start after you enter it. You will have exactly thirty minutes to find the exit to the next one before the cubes will shift. You may be one room away from being done, but if that timer goes off you might find yourself near the beginning, or visa versa.” He said causing her to pale at the thought of possibly starting this nightmare over. She suddenly had an idea, she would just wait out this dream!

“I will not have to play your little game, your dream should be over any minute now. I’ll just wait it out.” Luna said smugly.

“Do you honestly think it’s that easy? Oh I applaud your effort I truly do, but you aren't getting out just like that. No, you left my dream the moment you entered the cube. This is my mind. I woke up two hours ago, you will be stuck here until I say so. So get comfortable, you're in for hell.” Her target said ominously. She hoped hell wasn’t a synonym for tartarus…

She had spent the next hour trying to find her way out of that place. The moment she closed the book she heard sirens go off, and the entire city went from terrible, to beyond horrific. The surface of anything she saw suddenly started pealing as the sky darkened. Suddenly a massive creature with a pyramid shaped head started stalking towards her dragging a massive blade behind it…

Perspective shift

Nick

Nick dodged another swing from Iron and delivered a kick that at him that was effortlessly countered. They had been working at this for three hours already. Had left the moon goddess to suffer for her arrogance in his mind. While he started off with him mimicking Iron as he went through the motions of several fighting techniques. He had managed to get them down rather well after some correction from Iron as Nick showed him what he was able to pick up.

Suffice to say Iron was impressed at how quickly he had mastered the technique. Normally it would take at least a month for anyone to do this, but Nick had done so in just a few hours. He had quite a while to go before he would be able to go toe to toe with Steel Hands, and longer until he could face Iron Fist, but at this rate he might be able to get him ready for Steel in the time that he had.

“Alright kid, let’s have have a break. I’m going to go see how Nimble Fingers is doing.” Iron said and went over to the mare that had shown up this morning. Apparently Iron had picked up another student not to long ago, and Nick would be lying if he said he didn’t find her attractive.

She had a slender build, dark grey fur, and teal hair with green eyes. She apparently was still new to this as even before they started she said she wouldn’t be able to take him. She seemed a bit shy, as she avoided his gaze whenever she saw him looking at her as if he was going to hurt her.

“Ok kid, now the next step. We need to exploit that learning ability as best as we can. We are going to be sparing none stop all day every day for six days a week until Steel hands issues his challenge. Now I’m not as young as I used to be, so I will be using these to keep my stamina up.” Iron said holding up a crate of bottles with Green liquid in them.

“What are they exactly?” Nick said picking one up.

“These, are stamina potions. I’ll set a timer to let us know when to stop so I can take one. For now I want you to come at me as hard as you can and I will match you. Around four we will stop and get to work in the forge alright?” Iron said getting a nod from Nick.

“Alright! Listen up. We have a long way to go before you can beat Steel Hands.” Iron said tossing a wooden bastard sword to Nick. “let’s get down to business, to defeat, steal hands.” Iron said charging Nick who did the same and they started exchanging blows with their weapons. “Come on! Did I get a Daughter when I asked for a son!” He said tripping Nick up and pinning him with the tip of his sword. “Boy you can bet before we’re through, mister I’ll make a bull, out of youu!”

The next day they trained all day as the day before, but Nick was still leagues behind Iron. Iron sent a flurry of punches at Nick who was hit by every last one. With each hit he took Nick got angrier and angrier. He lunged at Iron who daftly dodged it and delivered a chop to the back of Nick's neck temporarily paralyzing him.

“You cannot let your anger get the better of you. You must be tranquil as a forest, and on fire within to keep the fight going.” Iron said and pinched an area below where he had struck Nick. “Come on now, you have to look within yourself and know your limits and what you need to improve first. Once you find your center, you are sure to win, or at least do better than swinging blindly!” Iron said as Nck jumped at him foaming at the mouth.

“Aaagh!!” Nick roared and charged at the older bull who dodged left and knocked him out.

“You're an angry, reckless, dence one, and you haven’t got a clue. But still, somehow I’ll make a bull out of you.” Iron sighed and went to see how his disguised little changeling student was doing.

A month later Nick had improved immensely, he had grown closer with Trixie, after having a little trouble when he walked in on her exiting the shower. The experience had made him thankful that he could regrow testicals. After a few hours she apologized for overreacting like she did and said she would make it up to him. He wished that she hadn’t as he learned the hard way why she normally wasn't allowed in the kitchen.

“I’m never going to keep my lunch!” Nick said and barfed again into the toilet causing Trixie to lower her ears in embarrassment. Meanwhile Luna dodged under the purple flames of a dragon who didn’t seem to let up despite her having whittled it down to little more than scraps of flesh on bone.

“Say goodbye to those who knew me!” Luna said and ducked behind a rock as it launched another fire breath at her.

Another month later Nick had actually managed to keep up with Iron in hand to hand, Iron was holding back of course, but he was still impressed with Nick's progress. Iron was very disappointed in Trixie however who had admitted to skipping out on her training causing her to be too weak to defend herself from those bandits.

“boy was I a fool for cutting my training..” Trixie huffed as she made another lap around the house. When her father had found out she had been getting lazy he made her join in on the training.

“This guy’s got him scared to death.” Zangetsu muttered munching on some popcorn and watched as Nick ran at a manically laughing Iron fist wielding a burning wooden bastard sword.

“Hope he doesn't see right through me..” Silk thought as she watched Nick charge their teacher before going back to her training.

Another month passed and Nicks martial prowess grew even further. Currently they were outside of town camped in a cave under a mountain next to a fast paced river that he had to walk across on logs that Iron was tossing in. Apparently this month was the start of the "heat season" as Iron Fist had put it so they needed to hide out for a couple of weeks. He cursed as he fell off a log and was dragged down stream along the bottom.

“Really wish I could fucking swim!” Nick said as he tried again.

“Come on son! You have to be just as swift as the river to get past it!.” Iron laughed heartly.

Another month passed and Nick was able to adapt and move fast enough to get past the river. Now he had to fight Iron Fist at the peak of a mountain that they had to walk up every day with weights on a wooden pool. The winds at the top made fighting difficult for him, but Iron shrugged it off as if it was nothing.

“Come on kid, you have to match the force of a great typhoon to fight up here!” Iron said throwing another punch at him.

After a month of fighting at the top of the mountain he had become accustomed to adjusting his body accordingly to keep his balance. Now that he had that down Iron amped things up by fixing weights to his arms and legs.

“You have to fight with all the strength of a raging fire! So let out your inner flame and fight with passion!” Iron said sending a punch that Nick blocked and returned another with a fire in his eyes.

A month passed and to Nick's surprise, he had actually grown stronger from the mountain training. Stronger in the sense that he was physically stronger than before without utilizing the stone. Yet his muscles remained the same size…

Now they fought in the woods at night. Nick had to adjust to the dark setting as he waited for Iron to come at him from any angle. He unfortunately failed as Iron launched an uppercut from a bush.

“Come on boy, you have to be as mysterious as the dark side of the moon.” Iron said as he looked at a now unconscious Nick. “At least when you're awake…”

Meanwhile Luna dodged under another lighting blast from the mouth of a tentacle. They came at her endlessly throwing spells at her or trying to bite her. It was only when she spotted the large bulbous creature with a massive eye in it’s mouth that she found their source.

“Stop staring at my ass!” She shouted and shot an acid spell at it’s eye causing it to shriek in agony.

Another month passed and Nick had mastered fighting in the dark by relying on his hearing instead of his sight. He and trixie had grown ever closer as she trained along side him. He had also gotten close with Nimble Fingers as he helped her with her training when he could.

“We only have one more month until my birthday, time is racing towards us until Steel Hands arrives.” Iron said sending a flurry of punches at Nick who dodged and countered them accordingly. “Heed my every order, any you might survive.” He said as they started fighting with wooden bastard swords.

Iron was very pleased with Nick’s progress, he was actually starting to keep up with him. Unfortunately at this rate, it would be another six months before Nick could actually match him in combat without him holding back, but by the end of the month he would be ready to take on Steel hands for sure!

“In order to beat Steel hands you have to be as swift as a coursing river, fight with all the force of a great typhoon, with all the strength of a raging fire, and as mysterious as the dark side of the moon!” Iron said as Nick dodged under another swing.

Author's Note

just a few lore edits, replaced the place holder god with my own lore finnally.

Is it hot in here? (Unedited)

Iron Fist looked at the test results and sighed. He knew using stamina potions on a daily basis had extreme drawbacks, but this? How was he going to explain this to Iron Will? How would he even begin to explain this to Trixie?

“I’m sorry Iron, I’ve run the tests three times with each result being the same. The stamina potions have been slowly wreaking havoc on your muscle tissue.your heart can only take so much before it gives out.” The doctor said.

“How long do I have doc?” Iron asked.

“Likely only eight months, a year tops.” The doctor said cringing at the devastated look on Irons face.

“Alright, thanks doc. I think i’ll be going now. Have a lot to do you know?” Iron said and got up from his seat. He made his way out of the doctor’s office and walked aimlessly through town. Barely a year left. This was terrible! He either needed to give his smithy to Nick, or somehow find a way to undo his son's banishment so he could come home to claim it.

He knew neither Nick or Trixie had the experience to run his shop, and even though Trixie was his daughter, she wasn’t related by blood, and even if she was, minotaur culture was highly patriarchal and would only allow a blood related son to inherit his business, or Nick if he survived the arena.

Iron Fist walked into the chapel. Thanks to it being a friday there wasn’t really anyone here besides old man stone pages. Iron walked up to the statue of his nation’s ruler and smiled fondly. He had served the deity well in his life. During the war with the reindeer, he had been one of his top generals.

But those days were long behind him now. Now he was just an old bull that had one job left to do by passing on what he knew, and what he had. But how was he going to do that? Iron Will was his only heir to inherit the smithy, and Nick didn’t have the experience needed to run it properly, he barely knew how to forge a sword, and Steel Hands would likely barge in on his birthday to issue his challenge.

“Iron Fist, is everything alright?” Iron heard Stone Pages call from the doorway to his office.

“Hey old man, no, I’m sorry to say some things have thrown a monkey wrench into my plans.” Iron said and took a seat.

“Is there anything I can do help?” Stone asked taking a seat next to his old friend.

“I don’t suppose you know how to undo the effects of daily stamina potion use do you?” Iron asked jokingly.

“Oh Iron, I’m so sorry. I had no idea, but why would you do such a thing?” Stone asked.

“Don’t be sorry, I’d do it again if I had to, and to answer your question, I needed to get the boy in shape to fight Steel hands.” Iron said getting Stone pages undivided attention.

“What has that heretic done this time?” Stone pages asked with venom dripping from his voice at the mere thought of that sorry excuse for a noble.

“He’s using my sons banishment as an excuse to take my smithy, and Trixie.” Iron said.

“That cur! Oh I knew ever since that monster was old enough to mate he was nothing but trouble.” Stone pages said.

“Aye, that’s why I have been training non-stop with Nick so he could finally put that wretch down for good. Hopefully whichever of Steel’s bastard calves that are givin his nobility will be better than their father.” Iron said thinking about the orphanage that he had adopted Trixie from that was now in need of an expansion thanks to all the new additions that Steel hands didn’t even recognize as his.

“As if I would need to choose an heir among the garbage in that eyesore.” an obnoxious voice said from the doorway.

“What are you doing here Steel Will?” Iron said with hatred so thick it was almost tangible.

“I’m here to offer you a deal. Give me you're smithy, and I’ll let your little monkey pet live and let your little whore be.” Steel hands said making both individual’s blood boil.

“You're just afraid to die aren’t you? You know that my apprentice has matched or even surpassed your skills and can’t accept that if you don’t leave me be that you may very well die.” Iron said wiping the smug look off of Steel Hands face.

“Now see here you washed up old hasbeen, I am offering you the deal of a lifetime and you dare to insult me like this?!” Steel Hands sheathed.

“You call threatening to rape my daughter and take my ancestral home is the Deal of a lifetime you monster?!” Iron Fist shouted taking a step forward causing Steel hands to take a step back. He was good, but no legend like Iron Fist.

“This isn’t over old man.” Iron said walking out of the chapel.

“May his soul burn in Tartarus.” Stone Pages growled and walked to his office, “you try to have a nice day Iron. I need some time alone for now.”

“I’ll see what I can do, thanks old man. You’ve done a lot for me in my life, and I hope to see you soon in the great beyond.” Iron said and walked out.

Perspective shift

Nick

Nick adjusted the tie on his suit for the tenth time tonight. He had finally worked up the courage, with a little (massive fuck ton) pushing from Iron Fist to ask Trixie out, or rather they asked each other out. Relationships here were weird compared to earth. Evidently each nation had different norms save for a couple that stayed consistent with each race.

Herds and Heat were the only two that persisted throughout the world. He had been shocked to find out that for every male that was born, there were nine females born. What’s more, some races were highly matriarchal meaning that gender roles seemed to be reversed. So when he went to ask out Trixie, she beat him to the punch and asked him out first.

Now he was trying to look good enough for her, meanwhile the mare in question was having her own problems trying to look her absolute best. He had saved up enough to take her to a nice dinner in the sky district after some persuasion from Iron Fist not to discriminate against him for not being a noble.

When he decided his tie was as good as it was going to get he took a deep breath and prepared himself. He made his way out of his room and walked down stairs. He made his way to the living room and found Iron will was sitting by his fireplace having a glass of wine.

“What’s the occasion?” Nick asked jokingly.

“My little girl is finally growing up, and today we are officially finished with your training.” Iron said raising his glass.

“Wait were done already?” Nick asked in shock.

“To be honest we could have been done after five months with that learning ability you have. Steel hands is good, but now you are more than enough to handle that old brute. Which reminds me. I have a gift for you.” Iron said and pulled out something wrapped in a silk sheet similar to the silk in his clothes.

“Thanks, and you really think I’m ready?” Nick asked as he took the object and unbundled it. It was a bastard sword, the hilt was wrapped in black cloth, the blade and pamol was made of highly polished steel with a round ruby in the center. The cross guard was made of steel wings like his when he used them for gliding.

“Enjoy it kid, you earned it.” Iron said standing up and putting a hand on Nick's shoulder.

“Iron, this… I don’t know what to say..” Nick said looking over the craftsmanship of the blade and finding runes etched into the blade.

“Colts and their toys.” Trixie said from the doorway to the kitchen.

“Well at the very least it’s a...well...made… toy…” Nick started but went slack jawed at the sight before him. She was absolutely beautiful!

She had her hair brushed back with one small part partially cover her eye, she wore a ruby red dress that complimented her azure fur very well, and hugged her hourglass figure tightly enough to show off her curves, but not enough to be restricting. She wore lipstick to match her dress on her soft supple lips and just a hint of eyeshadow to accentuate her gorgeous violet eyes.

“Like what you see?” Trixie asked coyly swaying her hips as she approached him. Nick , with his mind derping into left fields came up with the best answer he could.

“You look pretty huhu..” NIck said with a dopey smile.

“I believe you mean “you look amazing Trixie”” Iron Fist chuckled.

“Oh! Ummm… yes. You look absolutely gorgeous Trixie. Ready for our date?” He stammered.

“Yes, I would like that.” Trixie blushed at being called gorgeous.

“Alright you two, remember not to get to freaky at the salad bar!” Iron laughed heartily causing Trixie’s face to light up like a christmas tree with embarrassment.

“I love you too dad.” Trixie sighed.

“Your mothers would be so proud.” Iron said taking on a gentle tone and giving her a warm hug that she returned.

“I hope so.” Trixie said remembering the warm smiles of her herd mothers.

“Now, I believe you have a young bull to attend to, and I have some business that I need to attend to.” Iron said holding up a bottle of wine.

“Never change dad.” Trixie giggled and wrapped her arms around nick's offered one.

“And remember! Just a little freaky!” Iron called after them causing Nick to chuckle and Trixie to groan exasperated.

Perspective shift

Steel Hands

Everything was going to shit! He was so close, yet so far from the throne. He had trained his entire life to get where he was now only for some stupid ape to come and ruin everything. All he had to do is wait until Iron Fist had turned fifty. He would be able to challenge him or his son to a duel for their property, and since he had so carefully framed him for the theft of a holy artifact, that Steel still had hidden away for later use, he had managed to get Iron Will banished for ten years, he could easily use some less savory tactics to win against the older bull.

It wasn’t as much as Steel hands was hoping for, but since they never actually found the artifact they could only give him a second degree charge thinking that he had possibly sold it. He had been so sure that without Iron Will in his way that he could easily claim the town's primary Smithy. With it he would own 60% of the town!

He had worked so hard to get where he was and some stupid outsider had to butt in and ruin everything. He had his spies watching them twenty-four seven and they had reported that this creature had several abilities that coupled with its martial prowess would be beyond his capabilities to handle without using obvious illegal methods to give him the advantage.

It’s thick carapus alone would likely be enough to stop his sword if he enchanted it, so the poison to keep his wounds from clothing up would be useless unless he could get past it’s armor. Magic would be out of the question as any spell scroll he might use would be too noticeable, and the creature had rebuffed any and all offers and threats making “diplomacy” impossible.

If he had been facing Iron Fist all he would need to do is make a few decent cuts and wait for him to falter from blood lose before striking the final blow. Steel Hands sat in front of his fire place drinking a fine wine as one of his maids was bouncing on his lap being forced to do one of her… duties when a figure appeared behind him.

“You called, my lord?” The figure said kneeling and looking down and away from the lewd scene of the crying mare on his master's lap.

“Yes. It seems that, pardon the pun, a monkey wrench has been thrown into my plans, so challenging that old oaf Iron Fist is no longer an option. However, if we take a different route, we can work our way around this problem.” Steel Hands said placing a hand on the poor mares breasts and groping her.

“What do you suggest my lord?” The figure asked.

“I want you to deal with Iron quietly and burn the smithy to the ground. Since he has no heir and can’t select that monkey as his champion until his birthday, his property will be up for grabs.” Steel said reaching both arms around the mare and started to thrust up into her while forcing her down like a ragdoll causing her to start sobbing quietly.

“And what of his daughter and the creature?” The figure asked.

“They are away for the night. You shouldn’t have to worry about them. Do not leave any evidence behind either or it’s your head. understood?” Iron said before grunting and defiling the poor mare's womb.

“Yes my lord, It shall be done my lord.” The figure said and retreated into the darkness.

“Alright, now how about round three?” Steel Hands asked the sobbing mare.

“Please just let me go..” She whimpered.

“Do you want that colt of yours to make it through his surgery?” Steel asked. The mare said nothing and resumed her bouncing.

Perspective shift

Nick

Nick escorted Trixie to the Golden Horn Dinner. He had saved up for several month to take her here, and now they were walking down the cobblestone road on their first date. He couldn’t believe he landed such a beautiful woman er, mare. She had her flaws, nobody was perfect, but they were more endearing than anything.

She was boastful for the most part, saying that her magic was among the strongest in the word. He chuckled when he thought about her seeing what he could really do if he could find a way around this accrued mark so he could make magic.

He thought about assimilating some of her DNA to see if he could gain his own inner mana pool like her, but decided against it for now. He had once asked her if she would mind him taking a genetic sample of her, but she had taken it in a lewd scene and reacted, rather violently. Again making him thankful he could regrow testicles.

They arrived at the restaurant at about seven. The sun had gone down roughly an hour ago and now the moon and stars shimmered above them as they made their way inside. The host looked at them with a sneer, but thanks to Iron Fist’s… persuasion methods, he was not going to do what he would normally do and tell them that their kind was not welcome there. This did not however mean he was going to be polite about it.

“Reservation for Nick and Trixie.” Nick said happily ignoring the host’s glare.

“Do you honestly think you belong here? Ape.” The host asked.

“I do know I have reservations that have been payed for. So yes. I do.” Nick said.

“Right this way, commoner.” The host sighed. They made their way to an empty booth in the back away from prying eyes. Whether this was to give them privacy or to keep them out of site was made obvious by the glares of the other patrons.

“Nick, should we just go? I don’t like the looks were getting.” Trixie whispered to Nick nervously.

“Ignore them. This night is about you and me, not some stuck up nobles with their noses to high to see where they are going.” Nick said rubbing her hand affectionately.

“A waiter will be with you shortly.” The host said curtly and left. Nick sat across from Trixie and looked through the omnivore section of the menu. Luckily he found a dish that suited his tastes for a reasonable price.

“So what are you going to get?” Nick asked his date as he put his menu down.

“I think I’ll go for the broiled lobster tail with a side of rose petal bouquet and some clam chowder.” Trixie said putting down the menu.

“It’s still hard to believe you ponies are omnivorous. Ponies back on my world are strictly herbivores.” Nick chuckled.

“I’m only semi omnivorous. I normally only eat fish or high protein grubs in a pinch.. Besides only unicorns and thestrals are omnivorous. Besides, the only reason unicorns eat meat of any kind is because generating magic takes up a lot of calories.” Trixie said.

“And you smell funny colors.” Nick said booping her on the nose.

“I still have no idea what that even means.” she said scrunching up her nose a bit.

“Well you meant what I knew.” Nick chuckled at her deadpanned expression.

“Aanyway, what are you getting?” Trixie asked changing the subject a bit.

“I’m getting the Ribeye steak dinner with mash potatoes, white rice, broiled broccoli and a side of clam chowder.” Nick said going over his selection.

“Eck, honestly why do they even sell cow meat here? Feels like cannibalism.” Trixie shivered.

“Should i get something else then?” Nick asked not wanting to make her uncomfortable.

“If you wouldn’t mind?” Trixie asked sheepishly.

“Alright, how does the ginger glazed Mahi Mahi with a side of clam chowder.” Nick said picking a new meal.

“That sounds delicious.” Trixie said as the waiter arrived.

“Welcome to the Golden Horn Dinner, what may I get you this evening.” The Slightly friendlier waiter asked.

“I’ll have the broiled lobster tail with a side of rose petal bouquet and some clam chowder” Trixie said handing him their waiter. He began to walk away before Nick said.

“Hey wait, you haven't taken my order yet.” Nick said.

“Sorry, but we don’t serve animals.” the waiter said and walked off.

“Why that little..” Trixie seethed.

“Wait here, I’m going to go have a word with the manager.” Nick said and stormed off. Thirty minutes, two rubber chickens,a turnip, and one terrified turtle later Nick and Trixie were sitting munching happily on their dinner conversing about the past weeks events trying to avoid getting on the topic of Steel Hands trying to butt in where he didn’t belong. Meanwhile the manager was trying to pry a turtle out of their previous waiters rectum, while trying to ignore the rubber chicken that had taken the place of his nose ring.

“Ahhaaahhh!!” the waiter’s scream as the turtle bit down on his intestinal wall that it could be heard by a certain princess with waving pastel mane tending to her comatosed sister.

“Well, I sure do hope that he learns his lesson from this.” Nick said and went back to his meal.

Perspective shift

Celestia

Celestia rubbed her sister’s hand as she watched over her. It had been six agonizing months since she had gone into this coma. Six months that she had been gone. What happened? Her body could sustain itself indefinitely while she dreams walked, that wasn’t the issue. The issue was ever since she had decided to go after the creature in hopes of forcing it to turn itself in, she had not returned.

She wasn’t dead, if she were to ‘die’ in the dreamscape it would just shoot her back into her body. The only way that something like this could happen was if she was either doing it intentionally…. or trapped. It seemed absurd to think anything could best her sister in the dreamscape, but the evidence didn’t leave much room for debate.

She sighed and got up from her seat and kissed her sister on the forehead before making her way out and renewed the protective spells on her sister and her room. She made her way down the halls of the lunar wing passing by many thestral guards. They may have been trained to maintain stoic expressions, but her experience in reading facial expressions revealed their heartbroken undertones.

Many of them looked up to luna, some even looking up to her as a mother as she had protected their dreams as foals. But now that she was in a coma they had started losing hope by the third month. There had even been three ritual suicides that had hoped to bring her back.

Celestia had given an order for them to cease this at once as it was just senseless loss of life, but the ones that did ignored her, some even started accusing her of doing this to Luna herself! Finally she entered central part of the palace and entered the throne room where she found Twilight waiting for her.

“Twilight? Not that this isn’t a pleasant surprise, but what are you doing here?” Celestia asked hugging her student.

“It’s good to see you to Princess, and I think I may have found a way to bring my familiar back.” Twilight said.

“Really? How is this possible? You aren’t linked with it yet.” Celestia said glancing at the unfinished mark on Twilight’s hand.

“That is true, however I was studying the familiar marks and found ours, it's apparently a very rare one that can allow others to link with him, and evidently myself. If he links himself with anypony, I can use them as a sort of bridge between us to pull them here.” Twilight said.

“Twilight let me see that mark.” Celestia asked taking her hand and inspecting it closer. It was impossible… actually considering who the pony this mark belonged to… not so much.

“Twilight, this is a sigma level familiar mark. This is the second strongest familiar mark possible, even starswirl and myself have alpha level marks.” Celestia said letting go of her hand.

“I know isn’t it exciting?” Twilight asked enthusiastically.

“Twilight, listen to me carefully. A sigma level familiar is no joke. The only thing more powerful would be a meta level one.” Celestia warned.

“What’s a meta level familiar like?” Twilight asked somewhat afraid of the answer.

“Discord.” Celestia said darkly.

“What?!” Twilight screamed.

“Twilight, a sigma level familiar could be as strong as an alicorn if not stronger, they are highly unpredictable.” Celestia said taking a seat in her thrown.

“Princess if this is true, then why are we trying to capture it? It could be invaluable to Equestria!” Twilight protested, “if we could convince it to just work with us then maybe we cou-”

“Twilight, the first thing this creature did was terrorize my subjects and foalnap you. I will not allow this to go unpunished.” Celestia interrupted her student.

“But if I could convince it to live peacefully with us we could benefit greatly from it.” Twilight begged.

“If you can find a way, I’ll think about giving it a second chance, but the moment it turns hostile again it’s going straight into a cage.” Celestia sighed.

“Thanks princess, I promise to do my best.” Twilight bowed.

“Now then, are there any handsome young stallions you have your eyes on?” Celestia asked coyly and giggled at Twilight's instant full body blush.

Perspective shift

Luna

Six and a half months. She had been trapped in this nightmare for six agonizing months. In a way, she felt like thanking the creature as much as she wanted to strangle the life out it. Her sense of fear had dulled to the point where she only calculated her enemy rather than letting her fears get the best of her.

She casually walked by and cut down another zombie as it lunged towards her as if it was second nature. In her time here she had found each room to be unique. Some were terrifying, others confusing, and others still just outright annoying.

“Well well well, if it isn’t de tard re, we meet agi-” Luna shot the annoying creature in the head as she walked through the doorway behind it. She walked in to find her least favorite room… again.

“Oh Buck all kinds of duck.” Luna said as she looked the mechanical monstrosity.

“Hi, I'm omochao.” omochao said. Luna ignored it until it had announced every step she took for two minutes before she shot it. She made her way into the door on the opposite side of the room to find herself in a room she did not recognize.

The room was completely white with monitors on the walls depicting every room she had seen. In the center of the room was a yellow Triangle creature wearing a top hat sitting in lotus position.

“About damn time, when Nick said you seemed a bit slow he didn’t say you would take over six damn months to get here.” The creature said.

“And who art thou?” Luna said crossing her arms.

“The names Bill, Bill Cipher, and i believe you and I need to have a little talk.” Bill said.

“We have no interest in talking with some figment of our targets imagination.” Luna said looking around to find the door to the next room, but found that even the one she had entered was gone!

“See, here's the thing, I am no figment of his imagination. I am his teacher.” Bill said bowing by taking off his hat and causing the entire room to shift with it.

“And what sort of monstrosity art though!?” she said giving Bill her undivided attention.

“Sorry, but that’s a bit too far above your pay grade kiddo.” Bill said “however I can tell you why I am here.”

“We art listening.” Luna said.

“You invaded Nick’s, which is the name of the creature you're hunting’s name by the way, mind. He tit punched you out and you wanted to percist. Now I know the dude absolutely hates having his mind entered without permission, and well if this wasn’t my domain then even I might not be able to get in now.” Bill explained.

“He terrorized our subjects and attacked our dear friend Twilight Sparkle!” Luna shouted.

“Really now, him bumping into some flower mare at her stall and her screaming her lungs out and fainting from him simply standin there is terrorizing them?” Bill deadpanned.

“He... What?” Luna asked. Bill pointed to a monitor that depicted nick running through the streets of ponyville in his birthday suit and bumping into the aforementioned mare who proceeded to scream rape and fainted. Not long after the guards came to arrest him thinking he had intended on what the mare had screamed. Nick tried to defend himself, but a guard managed to get the drop on him by piercing a spear through his leg.

It skipped to him chained up on the wall and, to Luna’s disgust, absorbed his limbs into his torso and grew new ones before the guards walked in and he made his escape. Twilight teleported in front of him thinking he would obey her, but to her surprise he jumped over her and took her hostage. It skipped to them in the forest where he let her go unharmed save for some minor scratches on her neck and took off.

“Regardless, he still took our friend hostage. This cannot go unpunished.” Luna said quietly.

“I thought you might say that, which is why I brought fat ass here as well.” Bill said pulling a surprised Celestia from his hat.

“Tia!” Luna shouted joyfully and hugged her older sister.

“Luna!” Celestia shouted and returned the hug. “Where have you been? I was so worried.” Celestia asked her sister.

“We have been trapped in the creature's mind for months.” Luna said.

“I knew that creature was to dangerous to let be.” Celestia seethed.

“To be fair, he did force her out and told her that she entered at her own risk.” Bill said from behind them.

“What the? What are you creature?” Celestia demanded getting a sigh from Bill. One explaination later she was caught up to speed.

“So you see, this is just one big misunderstanding. Now, Celestia here told Twilight if she could find a way to get Nick to be friendly, then she would allow him to stay.” Bill said.

“Sister, is this true?” Luna asked.

“Twilight has been persistent in wanting to give it a second chance.” Celestia sighed and remembered the weekly friendship reports having an addition at the end of each one.

“Nick is currently on a date with a cute little unicorn mare by the name of Trixie, unfortunately some tragic events are going to make things difficult for them to stay where they live now and will have to leave soon.” Bill said.

“And what pray tell, are these events? And why can thee not tell him?” Luna asked.

“Because I asked him not to.” A third powerful yet gentle voice said.

“Mother!” The royal sisters shouted in unison hugging their mother.

“It is good to see you to my children.” Faust chuckled as she hugged her beloved daughters.

“Mother, what is going on, why have you asked him not to warn the creature?” Celestia asked looking up at her.

“I’m afraid I cannot say, but I ask that you give Nick a second chance. He his vital in what is to come.”faust asked them receiving eager nods.

“Remember monster tits, you owe me one.” Bill said to Faust causing her to sigh and the sisters to glare daggers at him.

“Yeah yeah just shut up a get out of here already.” Faust said through gritted teeth.

“Later hot flanks!” Bill said and warped back into the aether.

“Now then, I believe you two have some catching up to do. This door will lead outside this place.” Faust said and began to fade. “It looks like my time is almost up. Be well you two, and remember, no more fighting!” faust said as she faded back into her realm

Perspective shift

Nick

Nick felt as the entities in his head save for Zangetsu leave his head. He had finished his date with trixie and now they were making their way down to the market district back to the smithy. As they made their way down they started to smell smoke.. They looked over to see that a house somewhere in the market district was ablaze with a tall pilier of smoke trailing off of it.

Without a word Nick picked Trixie up before using cricket DNA to give him enough jumping power to make it down quickly. He jumped high in the air making Trixie hold onto him tightly and scream her head off. They landed in the middle of the market district and made a mad dash to the smithy, each step filling them with greater and greater dread.

“Dad!” Trixie shouted and tried to rush in, but was stopped by a minotaur guard.

“Ma’am I cannot allow you to pass this line.” The Guard said.

“You don’t understand! My father is in there!” Trixie shouted trying to get passed him. Wasting no time Nick jumped over the guards and into a collapsed hole in the roof. He made sure to coat himself in the thickest Chitin he could muster that ended up looking like a power armor suit made of chitin. He charged down stairs and used the last of his mana to cast a life detection spell.

It was faint, but he found a life signature in the middle of the living room. He found Iron Fist passed out on the floor with a wooden beam on his legs. Nick threw the Beam off of him and picked up Iron before charging through the nearest wall out the front of the building. The Guard were quick to get Iron on a stretcher and took him away with Trixie and Nick following close behind.

They entered the hospital but were told to wait out in the waiting room while they tried to help Iron. hours went by, each one filling the two with dread. Nick had reverted to a completely unarmored state to comfort Trixie while she sobbed into his chest. Soon the sun rose signaling the new day when the doctor came out with a smile on his face.

“Well, I have good news and I have bad news.” The doctor said.

“Let’s just get the bad news out of the way first.” Nick said.

“The bad news is that Iron suffered massive damage to his lower extremities. The bones in his legs were crushed and looked like little more than gravel, so we had to amputate. What’s more we found that his Muscles have sustained heavy damage from what appears to be regular Stamina potion usage. So it doesn’t look like he has much more than a year to live.” The doctor said.

“And what’s the good news” Trixie asked.

“He lived and is awake now.” The doctor said.

“Can we go see him?” Trixie practically begged.

“You can see me and get me out of this accursed place.” Iron said rolling out of the door in a wheelchair

“Sir you must get some rest, you're wounds haven't fully healed yet.” A nurse said walking out after him.

“And you're not taking me back there with all of your pointy needles!” Iron said locking his chair in place.

“Dad!” Trixie shouted and hugged him.

“Hey there munchkin, are you alright?” Iron asked.

“I was so worried, I thought I had lost you!” She sobbed.

“It’s alright, I’m right here.” Iron said petting her main.

“Iron, are you alright? What happened?” Nick asked walking up to the pair.

“I don’t know, I must have passed out sometime after you left, and then the next thing I know is that I’m here missing my damned legs!” Iron said Glaring at the doctor.

“So you have no idea how the fire started?” Nick asked making Iron pale.

“Fire?! What fire!?” Iron asked panicked.

“When me and Trixie were heading home we found the smithy on fire and I just barely was able to get you out in time. I am so sorry Iron, if I had just stayed home this could have been prevented.” Nick said lowering his head.

“Now I’ll have none of that. For all we know you two could have been hurt in the fire two, then you might not have been able to get me out. The only regret i have now is that I’m stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.” Iron said after digesting what Nick had just said.

“Dad, why didn’t you tell us about the Stamina potion damage!?” Trixie asked hurt.

“So they told you about that eh?” Iron sighed. “In order to get nick in shape for the duel we needed to train non-stop, I couldn’t do that in my old age. So I used stamina potions to keep up.”

“If only i had my magic, I could fix you completely if I could just make some.” Nick said gaining everyone's attention.

“You mean you can use magic, I thought you said you couldn’t?” Iron asked confused.

“No, I said that my abilities that you have seen so far weren’t. For some reason the mark on my hand won’t let me make any magic, if I could then I could easily patch you up.” Nick said.

”Well then, let’s get me patched up then!” Iron said excitedly.

“Like i said this mark-”

“I know of a way around it kid.” Iron said getting Nick’s attention.

“Aye, that there is a Familiar mark, and a very powerful one to. I guess you never finished the contract with your summoner didn’t you?” Iron asked.

“I have no idea what the duck you're talking about.” Nick said getting an exasperated sigh from everyone.

“Alright, since you didn’t finish the contract with the one that brought you here, you're mark is suppressing your ability to make magic as a failsafe against rogue familiars. Now normally the only way to undo this would be to send you home, which none of us know how to do, but since you have this type of mark, we can partially undo it by linking you to somepony. However, you would only be able to cast as much magic as the one you linked with.” Iron explained.

“Than I would at least need to link with two individuals, preferably unicorns or someone with a similarly strong mana pool in order to cast the spells needed.” Nick said.

“Well you have one unicorn down, and I know of somepony else you could link with.” Trixie said nuzzling into the crook of Nick’s neck.

“And who might that be?” Nick asked trying to think of who she might be referring to until it hit him like a sack of hammers. “Nimble Fingers?”

“Yep, you know she likes you, plus me and her go way back so I wouldn’t mind staring a herd with you and her.” Trixie said.

“Alright, let’s go get her!” Nick said pumping his fist into the air.

“Wait here and watch over dad, I’ll go get her.” Trixie said before teleporting away.

“Well, at least if she teleports it will be quick..” Nick said. After about ten minutes or so Trixie Teleported back with the mare in question who had a deep blush on her face.

“Alright, did Trixie already inform you of what’s going on?” Nick asked to which she shyly noded and avoided his gaze.

“Ok then. All you need to do is touch the outer points of the mark and repeat after me.” Iron said.

“Ok.” The two mares said in unison before touching said marks..

“Hail to the powers of creation, eternally bind me to this familiar.” Iron said.

“Hail to the powers of creation, eternally bind me to this familiar.” Trixie and Nimble fingers said in unison before the room was enveloped in a blinding light. When Nick opened his eyes he saw Trixie standing to his left staring at her hand. What Nick did not expect was his would be rapist standing were Nimble fingers had been mere seconds ago.

The Fragments of power (Unedited)

Nick stared dumbstruck. What the hell was Silk Sheets doing here? Better question was where the hell was Nimble fingers?! Nick pinned her against the wall with rage in his eyes, she was going to tell him and she was going to tell him now!

“Where is Nimble Fingers!?” Nick said through gritted teeth.

“Nick calm down! That is Nimble Fingers.” Iron said from behind them.

“What? What do you mean Iron? This is the woman that tried to rape me!” Nick said looking back at him.

“She wanted a second chance, but was afraid how you would react if you saw her again. She is still the same mare you knew as Nimble Fingers. Please Nick, just give her a chance.” Iron said.

“You knew about this and didn’t tell me?!” Nick said shocked that his greatest friend had been lying to him about her.

“Yes. Nick, all she wants is for you to just give her a chance. She has no one and has never known the love of a man. She was infatuated with you when you first met, and all the feelings Nimble Fingers developed for you were hers.” Iron said.

“Let’s just get the healing spell over with. We’ll talk about her later.” Nick said looking away from the Changeling in question.

“So how is this going to work exactly?” Iron asked curiously on how Nick was going to heal him.

“First I need to take some blood for a genetic sample. I’ll use that as a base to reconstruct your muscles, however when I get to your heart it gets a bit tricky, it’s a vital organ that you need to have at all times, and even replacing a single piece of it at a time would be difficult as it’s constantly beating. so I’m going to grow a second heart next to it and then re-route your arteries to pump through the new one and then reduce the old one into biomass. Doctor, can you bring me his old legs? It will be easier to use his own flesh than to give him a transplant with mine.” Nick said.

Within a few minutes they were moved into a room in back away from prying eyes. The doctor brought in two lumps of flesh that barely even looked like legs. Nick casted a spell on them causing them to condense into a ball of pure biomass with Iron Fist’s DNA. Nick split the ball into two smaller ones and placed them at Iron’s stumps.

“Now when I start it’s going to hurt like a bitch. I’m going to start with you're heart as it will be the least painful, and the pain on the rest of your body might be too much for your old one to handle.” Nick said and placed his hand over Iron’s chest.

“Nick, if I don’t make it, please take care of my baby girl.” Iron pleaded to which Nick smiled and nodded.

“Don’t worry Iron. I will. And you're going to make it if I have to cross over and drag your ass back here.” Nick joked.

“I’ll be to busy chasing tail for you to catch me.” Iron chucked. Nick started to convert Philosopher's Stone energy into magic, it wasn’t anywhere near his limit, but it was enough for most of the spell.

“Sorry Iron, but you're going to have to go without legs for a few days. This much magic is barely enough to repair your damaged muscles.” Nick apologized.

“Aww damn it.” Iron said laying his head back. This whole time the doctor was taking notes on Nick's magic. It was unlike anything he had seen in his profession. If he could get a few unicorns in here it would solve many of their problems if they learned this magic.

Nick started growing the second heart, making sure to sync their beating before slowly moving the new arteries in place before slowly altering the course in which the blood traveled. Once he was done moving the new heart in place he dissolved the old one into pure biomass.

“Aand done.” Nick said.

“That it? I thought you said it would hurt.” Iron asked.

“Oh I’m only done with your heart. I have yet to fix the rest of you, though I’m doubtful I could fix what’s up here.” Nick said tapping Irons forehead.

“Can’t fix what isn’t broken.” Iron chuckled.

“Good ol Iron.” Nick said and got to work on his muscles. To say that it was painful was a bit of an understatement. Nick started with his torso by converting muscle into pure biomass, before turning into new muscle. He started out in the middle of Irons chest and slowly worked out until he hit Iron’s arms. The magic drain on him so far wasn't that bad, but the amount of muscle in Iron’s arms would drain the last of what he had, and with the current restraints, he would have to wait a few days before he could properly do his legs.

“That’s about as as far as I can go.” Nick said finishing up Iron’s arms.

“Eh, don’t sweat it kid. The fact that you could do this much for me is more than enough.” Iron said sitting up.

“Now then, let’s go asses the damage shall we?” Nick asked.

“My cart!” Trixie shouted suddenly realizing that it was right next to the house!

“Should be fine.” Iron said.

“What?” Trixie asked.

“I threw in some fire resistant runes on the thing. Wouldn’t want you to burn down your home away from home now would you?” Iron asked.

Perspective shift

Spike

Spike watched with a mixture of confusion, fear, amusement and more confusion as Twilight bounced against another wall like she had switched bodies with Pinkie pie. They had been simply reshelving books when all of a sudden the mark started shining brightly and caused her to shoot off all over the place.

“Having fun?” Spike asked.

“Shut up and help me or I’ll lock you in a room with Sweetie Belle next heat!” Twilight shouted just before she went flying out the window.

“Like you’ll even find me.” Spike mumbled and calmly walked outside where he found Pinkie Pie bouncing with Twilight.

“Wheeee! I told you this was fun Twilight!” Pinkie said as she bounced off the side of the tree and into Twilight who’s mark finally stopped glowing and let her settle.

“Spike, I swear to Celestia if I catch you during next year's heat. I will lock you in the library with every mare in Sweetie Belle’s class.” Twilight fumed.

“What did I do?!” Spike said.

“You DIDN’T help me.” Twilight huffed and looked at the mark. For the next fifteen minutes Twilight’s face went through a plethora of emotions from confusion to rage.

“Uuhhhh… Twilight?” Spike made the mistake of getting close to her, and payed with his left nut.

“I. AM. GOING. TO. KILL. HER.” Twilight said ignoring the drake writhing in pain at having a magic blast aimed at his crotch. She stormed back into the library and furiously wrote down everything she needed to tell the princess.

Twilight looked at the mark on her hand again and sighed. Trixie’s cutie mark was now stamped on her Familiar mark forever. She couldn’t believe that boastful bitch had actually managed to link with him, but there was nothing she could do about it now!

“Whyyy?” Spike wheezed as Pinkie Pie bounced over to him.

“You ok Spike?” She said helping him up.

“Let’s see you take a magic blast from Twilight to your boobs. Then ask me if I’m alright.” Spike deadpanned, the pain still evident in his face.

Perspective shift

Celestia

Celestia paced in her office. Her mother was vouching for the creature, er, Nick? There had to be more to this then she let on. She never did something without a reason. Celestia looked at the clock once more finding that her student should be sending a report any minute now. Normally she would be relaxed, but with a request from her mother, she was nervous beyond belief!! Whenever her mother got involved it was because it involved something that Celestia could NOT handle.

But what could it be? And what did Nick have to do with it? She needed answers and she needed them now. But it was never that easy. The way her mother played things often involved her not knowing every piece of the puzzle until the end. Suddenly a scroll appeared above her and she caught it with her magic. She read over the contents and her smile grew until she looked similar to Twilight during lesson zero.

“Well, looks like it’s time to nab a familiar.” Celestia said and teleported to her sister’s room.

“Aahaaaa!!!!” Luna screamed at her sister teleporting through the protective runes.

“We need to get to ponyville now.” Celestia said before teleporting them away. They arrived to see Spike with an Ice pack on his lap and Twilight pacing while Pinkie Pie had her head halfway through a bucket of ice cream..

“Twilight, we got your letter. How soon can you bring him back?” Celestia said.

“Thee couldn’t have waited until we got dressed?!” Luna said covering her bare chest.

“No time. We need to get him back here as soon as possible.” Celestia said.

“It will take a few days to prepare the spell, but once it’s done I’m going to need one of you to supply a lot of magic. The spell will take up more the further away he is, and since we have no idea where he is, we need to be prepared.” Twilight said.

“Then until then Luna, I need you to stay here with Twilight while I get everything ready. We cannot take any risks.” Celestia said before teleporting away.

“Why is it every time something like this happens she has to leave me somewhere topless.” Luna said as her eye twitched.

THUD

Luna and Twilight looked over to see a young brown stallion with a brownish orange mane passed out on the floor next to the door with a puddle of blood next to his head coming from his nose.

“Welp, looks like button mash is going to have some good dreams tonight.” Spike chuckled.

Perspective shift

Nick three days later

Nick sat on the top of Trixies cart as they looked over the damages. The entire smithy was destroyed. Thankfully most of Iron’s photos had survived the fire thanks to some fireproofing runes, but little else that wasn’t metal survived. Nick found his sword Iron had made him under some rubble untouched by the fire. Currently they were surveying what was salvageable and contemplating on what they should do with it.

The Smithy was little more than rubble and ash now. Trixie reluctantly suggested they collect what they could and sell it. Iron wasn’t fond of the idea, but knew there was little point in holding on to something that wasn’t there. The house had belonged to their family for generations, but now it was destroyed beyond repair.

“I know you don’t want to, but the whole reason we kept it was because of it’s value to the family. You don’t have to sell it to Steel, the duke of Kevil would give you a decent amount for it.” Nick said to Iron who stared at the pile of rubble that had been his home his entire life.

“We could rebuild it.” Trixie suggested.

“There are several problems with that, number one we don’t have the funds to do so, and even if we did, whoever did this will do it again.” Iron scowled at the rubble. There was more than this then they knew. There had to be. He had only drank three glasses of wine, not anywhere near his limit.

The forge and Fire place had several runes in place so that even if he did leave them unattended, they would never be a fire hazard. Whoever did this knew what they were doing to. No matter how many tests they did, they could not find anything in his blood that would suggest he had been poisoned which lead him to the conclusion that whoever did this had either been a very skilled potions master that made one that was untraceable, or a magic user that had used a sleep spell.

It was abundantly clear who had done this. His birthday was little more than a week a week away and nicks skills in combat had improved tremendously. Steel Hands would be hard pressed to defeat him so he likely hired someone to do his dirty work for him. He was to young to select a champion, and until Iron officially claimed Nick as his champion at Steel’s challenge, the only heir he possessed was his son.

If Iron were to die with his son banished before Nick defeated Steel in the Arena his property would be up for grabs. Steel had been persistent on trying to buy the smithy for years. He tried the courts, but Iron’s former military rank made any judges or lawyers think twice about accepting bribes. It was an unspoken law that you do not under any circumstances be dishonorable to someone who had obtained such a high rank, as they were considered nobles themselves. Many of them were nobles, but nobility was a choice for them, one that Iron had turned down.

Steel had tried threatening him, but that was met with a quick kick to the balls and many many crippled assassins. He had tried vast offers of wealth just for his smithy, but every time Iron turned him down. The last ditch effort was that he couldn’t select a champion with his son gone, but that went out the window when Nick showed up.

So he burned down the smithy hoping Iron would go down with it. Iron had looked over every inch of the place, but no matter where he looked, there was nothing that he could use to link it to Steel. Whoever had done this was good, too good.

Thankfully Iron had survived the fire and could choose what happened to what was left. He could rebuild, but not only would that take months and a lot of gold, but the longer they stayed in the city the longer the assassin had to finish the job or try burning the place down again. He had gotten lucky with Nick pulling him out of the fire, and he would never forgive himself if Trixie had died in the fire. He needed to play this safe.

“Why is he so damn bent on getting his hands on the smithy?” Nick said deep in thought.

“What do you mean?” Trixie asked.

“Think about it, this is just an average smithy, the only reason it produces such high quality gear is because of Iron. Without him it’s little more than a house with a small smithy attached. It isn’t a matter of money, there are many other ways to make money aside from a smithy, and he could build a much larger one that produced lower quality gear, but in much higher quantity.” Nick said.

“It’s not the smithy, but what lies beneath it.” Iron said simply.

“Huh?” Nick and Trixie said in unison.

“Iron house is one of the oldest houses in Minotauria. The founder of our clan was one of the original sentinels of the labyrinth and possessed one of the fragments of Gaia.” Iron said.

“Can someone please fill me in on what Gaia is?” Nick asked.

“Gaia was originally lord gold horns hammar that he used to forge the earth. When he finished Gaia was barely able to hold together. He no longer had need of it as his task in our world's creation was done, and the power of the hamar could be used to shatter the earth if it ever fell into the wrong hands. So he broke it into seven fragments, that were forged into weapons given to himself, and six sentinels to protect the labyrinth” Trixie explained.

“I love it when you get nerdy on me.” Nick said making her blush.

“In any event, the fragment that was given to my ancestor has been protected by our family ever since. Roughly two thousand years ago it was moved here, specifically deep beneath the house.” Iron said.

“So that’s it. Steel Hands must want it. But why exactly? Aside from it being a powerful weapon what could he achieve with it.” Nick said.

“If he managed to get his hands on one, nothing. At first. If he were to tell anyone he had obtained one they would go straight to the duke or lord Golden Horn himself. It would be less than a week before he was arrested and the fragment returned to me.” Iron said.

“So then why would he try to take it if it would be returned to you?” Nick asked.

“The fragments combined make one of three weapons that even the pantheon fears.” Iron said darkly, “should he somehow obtain six of the seven fragments he could easily make a weapon that could slay lord Golden Horn.”

“And if he obtained all seven?” Nick asked.

“Then it would take a miracle to stop him. The other two, the silver tempest and golden inferno were also fragmented in fear of their power. The only way to stop him if he obtained one of the three, would be with another of the three, and they have all been hidden away.” Iron answered.

“Than we need to check if it’s still there!” Nick said.

“No need. He would only have found a fake.” Iron said.

”What do you mean? I thought you said it was under the house.” Trixie said confused.

“It used to be, but after his little visit earlier this year I moved it.” Iron said.

“Where did you move it?” Nick asked.

“Somewhere safe.” Iron smirked.

“Not gonna say are you.” Trixes said. It was more of a statement than a question.

Perspective shift

Steel Hands

Steel Hands threw another vase at the wall causing the mare in the corner to whimper in fear. He was so close! He had obtained three of the fragments and had been so close to obtaining the forth! But what does his top assassin bring him? A FAKE! Oh don’t get him wrong, he could easily see how he had made the mistake. It was a perfect replica, and was in the exact location that Steel had said it was, but a fake was still a fake!

“I’m sorry my lord, I thought it was the real thing!” The assassin said cowering at Steel’s rage.

“I’m sorry isn’t good enough! This was more than just a fragment of Gaia. it was one of the three trinity weapons possessing a fragment of all three divine weapons!” Steel said and tossed the sword at his assassin.

“I swear I will find it!” The assassin said after dodging the sword.

“You fool! Do you have any idea how hard it will be to find it now? By now that miserable old oaf Iron Fist will have moved it!” Steel shouted.

“And I will find it no matter where he has moved it. I just need time.” The assassin said.

“You better, because if I don’t have it then everything we have worked for for the past twenty years will be for nothing!” Steel seethed grabbing the assassin’s shirt, “If I don’t have it by next year you can kiss any chance of ever seeing that little bitch of yours ever again.” He said before tossing the assassin aside and the mare onto his bed.

“At once my lord.” The assassin said before leaving.

“Now then, how high of a chance do you think you're son has of surviving his heart transplant?” Steel Hands said leering at the nude mare as she looked down in shame before raising his tail for him. She let her tears flow as he penetrated her.

Perspective shift

Nick

“Sorry, but the fewer that know it’s location the better. Golden Horn only knows what would happen if it were to fall in the wrong hands.” Iron said before gripping the wheels of his wheelchair.

"I think it’s about time we fixed up your legs old man.” Nick said.

“Finally! Do you have any idea how hard it is to climb stairs without legs?!” Iron said pumping a fist into the air.

“I’m back..” Silk said before diving behind Iron when Nick glared at her.

“When are you going to let up on the poor girl? She just wants some love.” Iron sighed.

“I’m not big on forgiving rapists.” Nick said.

“I’m sorry, I just could help it.” Silk whimpered.

“I don’t care what you couldn’t help, what you tried to do is unforgivable.” Nick sneered before walking away.

“Just give him time, I’m sure everything will work out.” Trixie said to the depressed mare.

“Thanks.” Silk said giving her friend a hug.

“Don’t worry Silk, He’ll come around eventually.” Iron said before following to where Nick walked off to. He didn’t go far, only on the other side of the Smithy.

“Why?” Nick asked ambiguously.

“Why what?” Iron asked slightly confused.

“Why did you lie to me? Why did you trick me into gettinng close to that rapist?” Nick asked.

“That mare needs someone, and I don’t just mean in an emotional way. She's a changeling. Her kind literally eats emotional energy. Without someone to love her she has to survive on what her hive collects. She barely gets by on what she makes with her boutique and has not found any who she wanted as a mate. She is still the same mare as Nimble Fingers, just less furry.” Iron said. Nick sighed and gave his words some thought before speaking.

“I don’t know. I won’t make any promises, but I’ll try to give her a second chance.” Nick said.

“Thank you Nick. Now then! Let's get to getting my legs back shall we?” Iron clapped.

“Sure thing, remember this will hurt like a bitch.” Nick said.

“Oh it wasn’t that bad.” Iron chuckled. Nick channeled the magic he was able to build up and focused on the lumps of flesh attached to Iron’s stumps. They slowly reshaped until they were no different than Iron’s old legs. Nick kept the nerves disconnected until they were finished. The next part was the part that hurt, it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as his torso and arms, but reconnecting the nerves sent a rather large bolt of pain through him.

“Well, that should do it, and I’m drained of most of my magic now.” Nick said rubbing the magic burn on his hands while healing it with the stone.

“So what is up with your hands exactly?” Iron asked as he tested out his new legs happy to finally walk around on his own.

“It’s magic burn. I don’t have any natural magic focusers like a unicorn’s horn, so the magic travels directly through my flesh. Normally the burn would be far less at this level of magic, if any. But with this damned familiar mark it makes creating and using magic difficult. I haven't had burns this bad in two years.” Nick said.

“Why don’t you just do that whole DNA thing you do and grow a horn?” Iron asked.

“The only ones that I know that have the appropriate DNA are Trixie and Silk. and I’m not sure if Trixie would be ok with the idea.” Nick said.

“What about silk?” Iron asked.

“No, her magic is too different from mine and would conflict with it too much. The DNA from your world is slightly different from mine. It seems to have an extra bit that produces it’s own form of magic. I’ve studied a few different samples to see what the effects are.” Nick said.

“Really? How so?” Trixie said walking around the corner.

“How long have you been listening?” Nick asked raising a brow.

"Just long enough to hear you could absorb DNA…” Trixie said sheepishly. There was a noise that sounded like a squeaky toy that Nick heard.

“Did anyone else hear that?” Nick asked looking around.

“Hear what?” Iron asked confused.

“....Never mind. Anyway yes, I can absorb DNA and when I do, I can use it to modify myself.” Nick said.

“So how different is DNA here then from your old world?” Trixie asked.

“Well, unlike the DNA from my world, the DNA from this world has an extra component that generates magic specific to each species. The only race I have found so far that have nearly identical magic types are ponies, though most mammals seem to have similar types of magic. My magic seems to be somewhere in between a mammals magic and a reptiles.” Nick said.

“So it’s similar to a Kirin?” Iron asked.

“Exactly! I could utilize magic belonging to a pony or even maybe a dragon as it would easily meld with my own. However Silk’s magic is neither that of a mammal or a reptile. If I were to use her DNA then her type of magic would conflict far too much with my own, like trying to mix water and oil. Having a source of magic like that would strain my body too much as both magics would be fighting for space.” Nick explained.

“So you could grow a horn like a unicorn?” Trixie asked fascinated at the possibilities this presented.

“Err, horns. I’d like to keep things symmetrical.” Nick said.

“What do you mean? My horn is completely symmetrical.” Trixie said.

“True, but I have a specific design in mind.” Nick said.

“What kind of design?” Trixie asked.

"Two horns coming out of either side of my head and pointed forward.” Nick said.

“That might work, so long as they focus into a tip and have a base as big as the base on my horn.” Trixie said.

“I just need the DNA to do it.” Nick said.

“Could you just use mine?” Trixie asked.

“I could, are you offering?” Nick asked.

“Sure, what do you need me to do?” Trixie asked.

“I just need a blood sample.” Nick said.

“Does it have to be blood?” Trixie squeaked.

"It could be a small chunk of horn if you want.” Nick said.

"I think I’ll just go with the blood.” Trixie said going slightly pale at option two. She felt like this could be an extremely intimate process, having a part of her become a part of him.

“Umm, this wouldn’t make us related would it?” Trixie asked.

"Not at all. When I collect DNA I store it in several different parts of me and as far away from my balls as possible if that’s what you're asking.” Nick said getting a sigh of relief from the mare.

“You don’t have to do this you know. It’s completely voluntary.” Nick said looking at the slightly paled mare.

“I know, just not a fan of… blood.” Trixie gulped.

"Don’t worry Trixie, I know a spell that will make it painless and quick.” Nick said.

"Just, be careful.” Trixie said and presented her arm to him. A quick numbing spell and a little body manipulation to grow a small mosquito proboscis on the tip of his finger to draw just a little blood before healing the miniscule wound.

"Just get it over with already!” Trixie said with her eyes clenched tight and looking away. Nick said nothing and let go of the still numb part and took several silent steps back and waited for about three minutes before trixie opened her eyes.

"It’s amazing just how much fear a mosquito bite can cause.” Nick chuckled at the Trixie’s pout.

“Not funny.” She grumbled.

"Hey where are you going Iron?” Nick asked as Iron chuckled and started walking away.

I’m headed to the castle. The longer we stay here the higher the chances of someone trying to get the fragment again. I’ll see you two love birds later.” Iron said and walked towards the castle.

Secret agent mare! (Unedited)

Six hours had passed since they had left Kevil. Iron was able to sell the property for a modest sum considering it was little more than rubble and ash. He had enough to buy the materials needed to build onto Trixie’s cart turning it into a sort of caravan train. He and Nick worked on expanding the main cart and adding a few more that connected to the back like carts on a train.

Nick had tried asking where Iron had hidden the fragment out of curiosity as when they took apart the cart to modify it, Nick found nothing that could have been hiding it. Iron consistently said that it was safe for now much to Nick’s frustration. Trixie and Nick had decided to share the same cart with Iron in the second cart with Silk Sheets in the third.

All four carts needed an independant magic engine and a stronger set of wheels to compensate for all of the extra weight that the caravan needed to move. Iron wanted to make it more than just a home, he wanted to make it a business. So he made his cart into a mobile smithy. This of course was difficult to accomplish, but with careful designing he managed to fit it in, and end up having a cart as big as Nick and Trixie’s.

Now while they were on the move he was able to work on his craft and had a means of maintaining the caravan without needing to stop at a smithy every couple of years. This also presented a source of income as they could offer all the services of a smithy on the road.

Silk liked the Idea and asked to have her cart outfitted with everything to continue her craft as well adding another source of income and a way to keep their clothes intact or have a means to replace them. Using her mastery with a needle she furnished the inside of the caravan with silk carpets and made all their bedding materials.

Nick had said that aside from expanding the cart to house them, he also suggested they make a few ‘additions’ to it. He had been working on something for a while called a “gun.” No one was sure what that was until Nick explained it. Iron wasn’t all that happy with it thinking that it had no honor behind it, but conceded that it presented several advantages that could prove invaluable in a pinch.

So aside from a smaller gun that Nick had been working on, he added a much larger one on top of Trixie’s Cart that swiveled in a full circle and another one on the fourth cart they added for storage. In the end they had a very impressive setup. Currently they were making their way through a forest heading towards Griffonia.

Iron had said it was likely not safe in Minotauria anymore thanks to the likes of Steel hands. He considered taking them into Yakyakistan, but the yaks aren’t known for their hospitality, at all, and with the recent return of the Crystal Empire they have been very unhappy about having to relinquish much of the lands they claimed after it disappeared.

Needless to say the temperamental yaks would be less than welcoming to them. The Griffins are a bit better, unlike the yaks their temper was more militaristic than anything. They had thought about heading towards either the hive or the capital, but Iron said that might not work as that would be the first place Steel might look.

“So why are we heading towards Griffonia again?” Trixie asked.

“I have a friend there that might be able to help us. If Steel knows we have the fragment then he would likely be paying off mercenary groups and assassins to find us. This friend of mine can get us safe passage to the Kirin kingdom. If Nick’s magic is like we think and is like a Kirin’s magic, than he might be able to learn from them.” Iron said.

Currently Nick was forging bullets for later use and trying to figure out his pistol. The gun didn’t work in the same way they did on earth. He had no idea how to make an actual gun, but he knew the basics of how it worked. All he needed to do was find a way to shoot the bullets down the barrel so that they were traveling fast enough to break the sound barrier. It had taken him months to figure it out, he wanted something that would be less likely to jam, so he decided to make it with magic.

In the end most of it was for looks as the mechanism was simple enough. Speed runes stamped onto a series of rings that made up the barrel, these caused the bullet to speed up as it traveled down the barrel, while ammo was fed in by a magically extended clip, the clip was the size of a normal one of this gun’s size, but was able to fit double the normal amount of bullets. The hammer set the bullets on their way through the barrel. All this was relatively easy on the big guns on the caravan, but bringing it down to a pistol sized one was going to be difficult. With the big ones on the caravan, the barrel was big enough to fit enough speed runes to get the desired effect and then some, but with his pistol he had very little room to work with.

“Nick, would you like some vegetable soup?” Silk asked timidly as she walked into his cart. She shied away at his glare, but stayed to hear his answer.

“Just a small bowl please.” Nick sighed and went back to his work. He had been trying to get past his grudge against her, but it was difficult to considering she had tried to rape his virginity away.

“Alright, I’ll be right back.” She said and went back to her cart.

“Now where's that damned chisel?” Nick said looking around for his tool.

“Here you go..” Silk said levitating the bowl onto his table. He gave her a curt nod before she left. Suddenly Nick’s mark started to glow. He felt like something was pulling him, and it felt familiar.

“Not this time bitch.” Nick said and pulled back.

Perspective shift

Twilight

Finally! The spell was ready. It had taken several attempts to get it right, but now she could bring here familiar back! She was worried that Celestia had brought her guard and was decked out in her armor, but she trusted her mentor’s judgment. All that was left was to cast. It had to be her that casted it as it was her familiar, but since she might not have the magic required to reach him, she was going to have Princess Luna feed her magic into Twilight’s mana pool to strengthen it.

“Twilight, are you sure this will work?” Princess Celestia asked slightly concerned.

“I know it will. I have checked every thing three times and haven’t found a single flaw.” Twilight said confidently.

“Alright, but remember, once the spell is finished you need to get out of the way as fast as possible, we aren’t taking any chances this time. My mother herself said he is a key player in our future, so we need to keep him here. Do you remember the plan?” Celestia asked.

“Yes. Pull him back here, Teleport up stairs while you and your guards capture and restrain him.” Twilight said.

“Correct, the magic restraints must not have been enough to hold him last time, so this time we will but stronger ones on him as well as some other measures in case he get’s out of hand. Afterwords I will station guards here to watch over you two while you reform him.” Celestia finished.

“Is all that necessary? I’m sure we could do this peacefully.” Twilight said with her ears drooping a bit.

“I’m afraid so, we cannot take any risks this time, he is vital, but let's not forget that he is dangerous.” Celestia said.

“Alright then, let’s get started then.” Twilight said taking a deep breath before channeling her magic. She felt Luna’s magic begin to pour into her like a great river into a small lake. She reached out with their combined magics looking for her familiar. When she finally did find him she used the mark to concentrated on forcing him there. What she did not expect was him pulling him back, the book didn’t mention anything on a familiar fighting back!

She used more magic to try and pull harder until it turned into a game of tug-of-war. His magic was strong, but hers was much stronger, especially with luna aiding her. However when he suddenly started getting stronger she began to lose her nerve. How was he getting so strong? How!? She had both her magic and Princess Luna’s at work! She pulled as hard as she could, but the moment she did she felt it. He was eating her magic! This was bad if she didn’t stop pulling now he might-

Perspective shift

Nick

“bitch! I! Said! No!” Nick shouted as he began pulling as hard as he could and absorbed her magic to pull harder. He gave one last mighty tug before it was over. In a bright flash of light he was sent flying through the door and into a tree.

“Nick!” Trixie shouted and jumped off the side of the cart she had been sitting on.

“The hell is going on?” Iron said while stopping the cart.

“The one who summoned me here tried to pull me back. I think I ended up pulling her here though….” Nick said popping his neck.

“Well, let’s see… who… it…. Is….” Trixie started before she looked at the fuming lavender unicorn starring daggers at her. Or at least she was lavander before she bursted into flames and her coat turned white.

“You're a dead mare.” She said stomping towards her.

“Now Twilight, come on, were both reasonable ponies here.” Trixie said nervously backing away from her and behind Nick.

“And you're about to have a lop sided chest if you don’t back off!” Nick said growing his heavy chitin armor and his new horns. They started one inch above his ears in a wide diamond shape they were tilted upwards and extended outwards until they hit a sharp turn aiming them forward. They curved until the points were roughly six inches in front of Nick’s face and an inch above his eyes. “God I love anime.” Nick smirked.

Twilight took a few steps back reverting back to her normal state at the sight of the terrifying horns her familiar had grown in seconds. She tried forcing him to the ground with her Mark, but it had no effect as she had not finished their contract.

“Now calm down now, no need to get violent…” Twilight said shakily.

“Then what was that a second ago?” Nick deadpanned.

“She stole you from me!” Twilight said pointing at Trixie.

“I didn’t steal anything! You drove him away and he became MY stallion. Deal with it Sparkle!” Trixie said smirking and clinging to Nick's arm.

“Now hold on just a minute-” Nick said but was interrupted by Twilight.

“Your stallion!? He’s my familiar. If he's anyponies stallion he is mine first!”

“Now wait a minute, what makes you think-”

“Ha, and what makes you think you have any claim to that position? I am the first mare in his herd, so it naturally falls to me. Face it Sparkle, you lost, and now you're rival now has your familiar in her herd.” Trixie gloated.

“Got any three’s?” Nick asked looking at the cards in his magic.

“Ha! Go fish!” Iron said.

“Oh yea? Have you bedded him yet? If not then you haven’t claimed anything yet.” Twilight said grinning at Trixie’s nervous expression.

“Checkmate!” Iron said moving his bishop into place.

“Are you kidding me?!” Nick said double checking the board.

“Nick! You. Me. Bed. Now.” Trixie said.

“Now wait a minute-” Nick said as he was pulled by the hand by Trixie towards the cart.

“Oh no you don’t.” Twilight said. This was her familiar and Trixie had the gall to try to steal him from her?! She latched onto his other arm and pulled with all her might

“Do I get a say in this?” Nick said as both mares pulled him from either side.

“NO!” They shouted in unison.

“Why do you even want him?! You don’t even know him! unlike me.” Trixie grunted and pulled.

“He is a my familiar!” Twilight grunted and pulled

“And what that makes me your properly or something?” Nick said looking at his summoner.

“What!? No no no that’s not what I meant!” Twilight panicked waving her hands in front of her face.

“So what did you mean then?” Trixie said gaining the high ground.

“I…. I…..” Twilight couldn’t find the right words.

“Face it. You're desperate to get what you consider yours back. Have you even considered that he might not want to come back? Have you taken his feelings into account at all?!” Trixie said causing Twilight to shrink back.

“Trixie calm down a bit, and you.” Nick said pointing at Twilight with his now free hand, “what makes you think you have the right to control me?” Nick demanded.

“I wasn’t trying to control you, I just... you need to come back to Equestria with me!” Twilight said trying to change the subject.

“Fat chance. As far as I know the moment I do monster tits is going to throw me in a cage.” Nick scoffed at the very idea of heading back there. He had been there less than five minutes and was attacked and locked up for no reason.

“No I promise you won’t! Celestia feels bad for what she did, but she was only trying to protect her subjects!” Twilight said.

“Yeah sure, and by ‘protect’ do you mean contain or destroy anything she doesn’t understand and thinks MIGHT be a threat.” Silk asked stepping out of her cart.

“Changeling!!” Twilight shouted and charged her horn.

“Whoa! Calm you're tits lady!” Nick said stepping in between them.

“But there's a monster there! We have to get rid of it!” Twilight panicked.

“She isn’t a monster!” Trixie said.

“She’s a Changeling! She will suck you dry and leave you an emotionless husk!” Twilight glared at Trixie.

“Oh please, you're going to quote one of those trash books that have no real facts?” Trixie said crossing her arms.

“And how do you know that? Those books were written by the best scholars at Princess Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns!” Twilight protested.

“Because I grew up with Silk. Unlike you ignorant Equestrians, I was raised in minotauria without being indoctrinated into believing groundless claims.” Trixie smirked.

“You little…” Twilight said in a distorted voice as her hair burst into flames and her fur turned white.

“Stop turning into Rapidash!” Nick shouted causing everyone to stare at him confused.

“Wha…?” Twilight asked.

“Look I don’t care what you're taught in Equestria or what you believe. If you harm any of my friends, be it Trixie, Iron, or even Silk, I will send you into the afterlife faster than you can blink.” Nick glared at Twilight.

“Ok…” Twilight squeaked as her pupils shrank into pin pricks.

“Now then. What are we going to do with you then?” Nick asked, “Can we send you back? Or are we stuck with you for now?” Nick asked crossing his arms.

“I can’t go back the same way I got here, the only reason I even found you is because of Princess Luna’s magic helping me to extend my range. And the spell only works between a familiar and their summoner. Where are we by the way?” Twilight said still wary of Silk.

“In the black forest between Griffonia and Minotoria.” Trixie said.

“What!? But that’s to far from equestria! It’le take weeks to get back!” Twilight said getting nervous.

“Then you better get walking.” Trixie said climbing into her cart.

“What?! No I’d never make it on my own, you need to come with me!” Twilight begged.

“We don’t need to do anything. You're the one who fucked up. So it’s your problem.” Nick said climbing into shotgun next to Iron.

“Wait!” Twilight said as they started driving off and leaving her behind. Thankfully the cart was only able to move at jogging speed while on the bumpy path of the forest.

“What do you want now?” Nick asked not stopping the cart.

“You can’t just leave me here!” Twilight shouted after them.

“Oh really? And what will you do if we do?” Trixie asked popping her head out the window, and regretted it when the cart suddenly stopped causing her to bonk her head on the window frame.

“Look, from everything you have done up until now, you’re really pushing your luck, but I’ll tell you what. You can stay in the storage cart for now, but you're going to have to pull your weight around here if you want to stay, understood?” Nick asked sternly.

“Fine! Just don’t leave me here alone!” Twilight said with tears streaming down her face.

“Hop in the back cart.” Nick commanded.

Two weeks later

Celestia’s perspective

It had been Two agonizing weeks since Twilight’s disappearance. She had agents searching all across equestria for her, but not a single sign of her yet. She may have to look beyond her borders if she wanted to find her. This was so wrong! In just a few more months she would have been ready to ascend, but now she wasn’t so sure.

“Where are you Twilight?” Celestia said looking over the map that highlighted her agents. She was hoping that when the spell went wrong that it only disrupted the trace she had placed on Twilight, but it doesn't look like that was the case, and it doesn’t look like she had been transported to any of their allied nations as the trace wasn’t working on their maps either. Since she had freed up her schedule to search for her lost student the nobles had been throwing a tantrum, which only got worse thanks to her nephew.

“Why are you wasting your time with that nobody from that nutjob family?” were his exact words if she recalled. Why did she allow him to stay Prince again? In any event it’s not like she could do much about it at the moment without resorting to the old ways. Unfortunately asking her sister to take over day court hadn’t made things much better as they still believed Luna to be a false goddess, the more zealot like ponies even saying Luna was brainwashing her and that she needed to be put down.

They had taken measures to keep such zealots out of the castle whenever possible, but they couldn’t get them all, as such there was at least one assassination attempt a week on Luna, and in every case the Night guard had made sure they didn’t even make it to a cell, let alone court. She turned to the door when one of her guards walked in.

“Report.” Celestia commanded.

“There have been no signs of Miss Sparkle anywhere yet your majesty.” The guard said. Celestia gave his words some thought before she made her decision. She couldn’t take anymore risks.

“Call in agents scratch and melody.” Celestia said simply.

Perspective shift

octavia

Octavia sighed as she was thrown out of bed again by the “wubs” of their dish washer. She regretted ever giving that chour to Vinyl. How was it possible to wash dishes so loudly!? Thankfully all of the good dishes were stored in a soundproof cabinet ever since the last set had been reduced to glass shards when she moved in with vinyl. She checked the time to see it was ten past eight.

She walked down stairs and found her old friend dancing to her heart’s content to the music coming from the dishwasher and seemed oblivious to Octavia. She used this to her advantage and snuck up behind her. She tapped vinyl on the shoulder and stepped to the side as vinyl looked to find nopony there. Octavia stayed out of vinyls line of sight like a ghost until Vinyle was facing away from the sink she quickly got a glass of water.

She waited for her to turn back to the sink before making her way over to the refrigerator being sure to stay out of Vinyls sight before grabbing a handful of ice and putting into the cup. She stealthily made her way back to Vinyl and dumped the cups contents down the back of her shirt. She laughed as Vinyl pannicke at the sudden cold on her back and ran around trying to get it out until she felt herself being lifted in an electric blue aura.

“Ha ha Tavi.” Vinyl said turning off the dishwasher and setting Octavia down.

“Next time a good morning will do.” she said tossing her shirt onto the couch.

“Well if you could hear me then next time I will.” Octavia giggled.

“Yeah yeah… we got something in the mail today, looks important.” Vinyl said picking up a package that had the royal seal on it.

“Oh dear, you don’t think this has anything to do with the Princess’s lost student do you?” Octavia asked eyeing the package.

“Probably, but we’ll never know until we open it up.” Vinyl said opening it. There was a white box in it with Celestia’s seal on it. Inside they found a missions briefing along with several new magical items that they might need. The mission briefing said that they were to travel to where they think Nick headed and start from there as the spell likely took Twilight straight to him.

“Oh buck all kinds of duck, we’re headed to minotuaria.” Octavia said.

“Don’t worry Tavi, what are the odds that we run into her again?” Vinyl asked.

“With our luck? She will be our secondary target’s marefriend.” Octavia deadpanned and facepalmed at the thought of the azure mare and the trouble she caused on their last mission in Yakyakistan.

Perspective shift

Assassin

She hid in the dark alleyway to stay out of her target’s sight. studying them. She had gathered as much data for steel hands as she could on them, but this Nick creature had proven a challenge to her, every time she thought she knew everything about him he would do something out of left field. It was like he was constantly evolving to stay ahead of her!

And now with this Twilight sparkle that just added a new monkey wrench into her mission. She had some data on her but not much, only enough to stay wary of her. Evidently this was Celestia’s personal student. Somepony like that would prove difficult to handle alone, but with her company she had been keeping now it would be too risky to take her on, not that she would confront any of them on directly anyway. She had no magic of her own to speak of so doing so would be right out foolish, and with the procedure that Nick had performed on Iron Fist, it was like ha had the body of a twenty five year old again!

She wanted to stick to what she knew, but that hadn’t been getting her anywhere! She needed to try something new. Hiding and eavesdropping on them wasn’t getting her any new information, and for all she knew they didn’t even have the fragment on them. She was going to try and integrate herself into their group somehow, but ever since they had acquired miss Sparkle, doing so would prove excessively difficult.

Rudolph the red-nosed dickhead

Zangetsu sighed as he watched the mare that started all of this. She had been getting very little sleep in the time she had been with them. Though she didn’t seem to mean any harm, she did seem to be a little too loyal to Celestia. He had tried to sneak into her mind a couple of times but she had some powerful ward set up keeping him out.

They had made it out of the black forest a week ago and had stopped by one town in order to get their bearings and resupply now that they had a new addition to their crew. They made a simple bed for twilight that attached to the wall like one on a ship. They had to convert the storage cart into one that could house her. While Trixie didn’t like the idea of her tagging along she wasn’t heartless and reluctantly agreed to let her stay until they were close enough to equestria for her to get there safely or she left on her own.

“Celestia Damn it!” Twilight muttered as another scroll turned to ash but failed to send to the princess. How the buck did spike do it! She threw up her hands in defeat and slumped her head onto the desk in front of her. She had to admit things could be worse, she had a roof over her head and so long as she pulled her weight she had food in her stomach.

“You’ll never get back to equestria at this rate.” Zangetsu muttered.

“How am I supposed to get back? I'd have to travel through either the black forest to get back to Minotuaria, and then I'd have to find passage on a ship back to manehattan, or I'd have to travel through the frozen wastes around Yakyakistan in order to get to the Crystal empire.” Twilight ranted.

“Ha! Good luck with that!” Zangetsu chuckled as he watched her pull out a scroll that she had been working on. From what he could tell it seemed to be a form of sealing magic, but was not able to figure much else.

“Zangetsu hows our new ‘guest’ doing?” Nick asked through their mental link.

“Oh you know, batshit crazy and plotting something. That scroll she has been hiding from you has started to take the signature of a sealing spell, best use caution in case it's meant for us.” Zangetsu warned.

“Noted, by the way have you had any progress on getting farther out yet?” Nick asked.

“A little, I've been able to extend my range by about a mile, so about five total now.” Zangetsu replied.

“Good, then do you think you could scout out a nearby town for us? This one doesn’t seem to be on the map and it doesn’t exactly look all that friendly.” Nick said.

“On it.” Zangetsu replied and zoomed off.

“Good, now I can get back to work on getting Nick back to equestria without him spying on me.” Twilight said pulling out a gem and proceeded to work on placing a sealing spell on it meant specifically for familiars.

Zangetsu flew past the trees separating the caravan and the new town. He set down on a rooftop near the town wall and started to look around, the town itself was relatively small…. No, it was way too small to be a town, and it's layout was wrong, closer to a military encampment. Even if it was a town, it seemed mostly empty aside from the occasional guard patrol.

“How strange.” Zangetsu said as he noted that none of the guards were griffins, they all seemed to be reindeer of some sort. He proceeded to fly over to what he assumed was the town square, perhaps he could find out something there? He floated through a window and looked around. For the most part it seemed rather empty aside from a few stoic and unmoving guards, both of which were reindeer like the ones outside. What was going on? Did they take a wrong turn? Zangetsu floated through a wall thinking it would lead into the mayor's office. It sort of did….

“General steady aim status report.” A shrouded figure said.

“The griffins are completely unaware of our presents. The artifact you gave us has been able keep our encampment hidden from the sky and the position of the camp has kept us out of site for the most part. A few griffins stumbled acrossed us, but our intelligence agents were able to rid them of any memory of our location” The general answered.

“Good, how are preparations for operation liberation?” the cloaked figure asked.

“Plans are on schedule, we should be ready to move through Yakyakistan with relative ease, they have just as much staked in this as we do.” General steady aim answered.

“Good. In just a few more years the world shall be set to the natural order, and those bitches Celestia and luna shall be put in their place beneath me.” The cloaked figure said, “keep me informed while you're making the final preparations, and before I go…” the cloaked figure said turning towards Zangetsu. That was the last thing Zangetsu saw before being blasted. “General prepare a hunting party.”

Perspective shift
Nick

Nick jolted from his sitting position as he felt Zangetsu dissipate. What the hell happened?! The only way that could happen was if he went too far out or…….

“Get the caravan moving now! Were not investigating the town!” Nick said throwing Trixie and Silk inside their cart with his magic.

“What the hell!?” Trixie shouted popping her head out of the cart just in time to hit a tree, “son of a!” Trixie said holding her muzzle.

“Something happened, it isn’t safe here!” Nick said turning up the power of the magic engines. While they were now moving at roughly the average speed of a normal train now, the passengers were having a less than smooth ride.

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAAAAAA!!!!!!” Twilight screamed as a wooden spoon decided to land beneath her in just the right angle.

“Nick! Ooof! I! Oof! Am! Oof!! Going to kill youUUUAAAAAAHHAAAAAA!!!!!!!!” Trixie said as a spoon similar to Twilight's decided to follow the trend.

“EEEP!!!” Silk squeaked as she jumped into the sleeping bag that doubled as a hammock in order to have the smoothest ride before zipping it up.

“Nick what the Tartarus is going on!?” Iron said jumping into shotgun just in time for a magic blast to hit the side of the caravan.

“That! Now take the wheel while I take care of these guys!” Nick said jumping out onto the caravan. When Iron saw who was attacking them he did so without hesitation.

“Nick! Aim for the antlers!” Iron said as he made a sharp turn.

“That's only if you don’t crash!” Nick shouted as Iron made a sharp turn nearly sending the caravan rolling. Nick jumped into the gunner seat and readied the makeshift railgun. The caribou kept shooting for the wheels but thanks to Irons driving they missed. Nick tried to shoot the one leading the charge at them but unfortunately just as Iron’s driving made it hard for the caribou to hit them it also made it hard for Nick to get a clear shot.

“Can you keep it steady for like two seconds” Nick shouted as the railgun jerked to the side and uselessly shot the base of a tree.

“No can do!” Iron said as he took a sharp left sending the caravan into a roll down the hill.

“SHIIIIT!!” NIck shouted as the caravan rolled.

“And this is why you put flexibility runes on wood!!!” Iron laughed maniacally.

“You're fucking insane!!” Nick screamed as the caravan rolled to a stop and took off down the road.

“NAILED IT” Iron laughed.

“Iron if you ever do that again you’ll find out why you don’t want to be near me when I have a turnip!!” Nick shouted and ducked when a magic blast just barely missed him, “oh for the love of jimabalushy!” Nick shouted as he took aim at the caribou and fired at the lead one, somehow landing a hit directly in the chest and obliterating it.

“Nick aim for the the antlers!” Iron shouted again.

“I’ll try but I’m not the best shot with this thing without Zangetsu!” Nick shouted. They were gaining ground fast and Nick was having no luck in getting another lucky shot in on them. “It doesn’t look like this is going to work! They are moving around to much for me to hit ever since they lost their buddy!”

“Then get out and fight them!” Iron shouted.

“Oh yeah, I can do that..” Nick muttered and abandoned the railgun. He aimed his horns at the (yes he still had the vasto lorde horns) caribou and fired off a magic blast at them. The blast clipped the third one's shoulder but he ducked out just in time to avoid getting hit in the chest. Nick formed a sword out of bone and leapt at the leader hoping to take him down.

“Mistakes were made!!” Nick shouted as the leader simply moved out of the way and continued chasing the caravan as Nick fell towards the ground. Nick turned and tossed his sword at the now unsuspecting caribou hitting him in the upper back. As Nick hit the ground he rolled with the momentum and made to take after the caravan. As Nick ran he continued to fall further and further behind, he didn’t have the time to adapt his body to move fast enough and Zangetsu wasn’t here to do it for him! He couldn't use magic to teleport, his body couldn’t handle a teleportation spell at the moment, and any sufficient speed spell would cause more damage than his body could take at the moment!

Perspective shift
assassin

Midnight song sighed looking down at the ground below from the branch she was on. This was harder than she thought. Normally she would do her job without ever leaving a trace of her existence, but the only way she could think of to locate the Gaia fragment was to do the exact opposite and tag along with her targets! What was she going to do? Walk up to them and say “Hey do you mind if I tag along with you by any chance? Yes? Coolio!” There had to be some way she could get in with them!

She nearly jumped out of her scales when her targets caravan came rolling down the hill barely missing the tree she was on. The hell was going on?! She was about to pursue when something that made her blood run cold zoomed past her. Caribou. She couldn’t believe there were caribou this far west! After the last great war they had been banished to their home country under threat of genocide for their crimes! In any event this presented an opportunity.

Midnight zoomed after them as fast as she could making sure to keep enough of a distance so that she wasn’t spotted too soon. The caravan continued to roll down hill until they came towards the bottom, and instead of landing on it's side or upside down like she had expected it to, it landed on it's wheels and roared down the road! She took to flying low to the ground and near the tree line. She was about to jump in and help when suddenly one of the caribou just exploded! What kind of magic was that!?

She kept low looking for a good moment to jump in when suddenly like some sort of idiot the one known as Nick jumped off the caravan towards the lead caribou in the group and proceeded to fall to the ground, she watched as he spun around and threw his odd sword taking down the lead caribou. She followed him as he ran surprisingly fast, not nearly fast enough to catch up with the caravan. This was it!

“Need a claw?” She said flying up next to him.

“What the hell!?” Nick jumped and almost tripped.

“Well do you need help or not?” Midnight asked.

“Uh… sure.” Nick said and looked towards the caravan, “Do you think you could get me back on the caravan up ahead?” Nick asked.

“I can do better than that!” Midnight said picking him up in her magic and taking off towards the caravan. She flew up and shocked the caribou on the left and tossed Nick at the last one at the same time. Nick extended the chitten on the back of his hand into a sharp blade before plunging it into the back of his targets neck.

“EAT YOUR HEART OUT ELRIC!” Nick shouted as he landed using the caribous body as a surfboard until they came to a stop. Once Iron Fist saw that the last of the caribou had been dealt with he stopped the caravan. Nick got up and walked away from his kill before flopping on the ground and laying back “For fucks sake can’t we go one week without people trying to kill us!?” Nick sighed.

“Well we were traveling through the black forest!” Iron said jumping down from the caravan. Nick, while happy that the whole ordeal was over, was rightly ticked at the old bull.

“Are you crazy!!?! You could have got us all killed!!!” Nick shouted getting in Irons face, to which Iron responded by slapping him and saying,

“Yeah I’m crazy!! What made you think I was sane?” Iron asked giving him a critical eye for a moment. “And who's this? A new member of your herd? Faust’s sake lad, your herd is growing bigger by the day, first my little Trixie,”

“WHAT!?!” Midnight said blushing deeply.

“Iron” Nick deadpanned.

“Next is sweet little Silk,”

“Iron.” Nick said a little bit loader.

“Then this new mare Twilight, which honestly needs to get laid-”

“Sompony get this spoon out of my butt!!” Twilight shouted having too much pain in her rectal cavity at the moment to focus magic through her horn.

“Get in line bitch!!” Trixie shouted flopping out of her cart. “Pull it out!!! I think I got a splinter!!!” meanwhile Silks cart was literally shaking while sobbing could be heard.

“And now this ki-....” Iron stopped mid sentence when he realized what this newcomer was. “A KIRIN!!!” Iron shouted happily wrapping the poor girl in a bear hug.

“Oh I give up.” Nick facepalmed while walking over to Trixie and pulling out the spoon with magic.

“Thank you…” Trixie said before promptly fainting. The smell coming off her made him happy they were dating, otherwise he wouldn’t like where any conversation went when she woke up with a new pair of pants and underwear on.

“Heelp…!!” Twilight said as she flopped out of her cart, the handle of the spoon just visible above her tail doc…

“Iron put the poor girl down.” Nick said walking over and pulling out the spoon.

“Can’t breath… see… a light…..” Midnight got out before passing out.

“Huh? Oh I am so sorry miss…. She passed out…” Iron said as she flopped to the ground.

“How many times do I have to tell you Iron, the muscle reconstruction renewed your body with fresh cells. You're body is not only maximized in strength, but you essentially are a young bull now.” Nick said pinching the bridge of his nose and walked over to Silk’s cart.

“Then why does my face still look like an old fart?” Iron asked still confused at Nick’s “bio alchemy.”

Later that night

Midnight woke up with a start, the last thing she remembered was the large minotaur Iron Fist bear hugging her until she passed out. Taking in her surroundings she found herself in a small room that seemed to belong to a tailor of some sort. She stood up and made her way over to a small window near the back next to a sleeping bag that had been converted into a hammock.

“Welcome back to the world of the living!” Nick said startling her when he walked in, “sorry, didn’t mean to scare you there.”

“No, it’s alright, you just startled me is all.” She said letting out a breath.

“So now that you're awake we do need to talk.” Nick said in a slightly serious tone making midnight nervous. Shit was he on to her?

“Sorry, that came out a bit harsh, what I mean is we have a an offer for you if you're interested. I need a kirin teacher, the magic I make seems to be most similar to kirin magic from what we gathered, and from the scans I did to make sure you were ok, sorry about Iron, he’s a nut and doesn’t know his own strength at times.”

“It’s fine”

“Right, from the scans I did you're magic seems to be made with the same archetype as mine. So I was hoping that we could stick together until we need to part ways, I’d be willing to pay you.” Nick said turning some philosopher energy into bricks of gold.

“Jackpot.” Midnight thought, all it would take is a few choices words and she would be in!

“I’m in! I’m sort of a nomad so if you have a place for me than I’m all for it!” she said happily.

“Perfect! Now then, when would you like to start?” Nick asked.

“How does tomorrow sound?” Midnight asked.

“I think that’ll work, we should arrive in Omskbeak within a day or two, we can make some modifications there and pick up supplies.” Nick said.

“Alrighty then, oh and one thing.” Midnight asked.

“Yeah?”

“I’m not in your herd.” Midnight deadpanned.

“Oh! Yeah sorry bout that, Iron’s a bit of a perv.” Nick said rubbing the back of his neck as he left, missing the smirk on Midnight’s face.

Next day
Empty field
Nick pov

After Silk had finished weaving together a bed for their new tag along they hunkered down by the side of the dirt road for the night. Trixie woke up on her stomach with an aching pain in her but, though unfortunately it wasn’t from something that was worth having in there, yet another inanimate object that was not to be trusted… it was in league with wheels…. Twilight woke up with a similar pain, and found a new set of clothes next to her. She wondered why for a moment until she felt a squishing sensation in her pants and was met with a horrible smell.

Nick spent most of the night comforting the distraught Silk, the thought of the caribou along with the bumpy ride had left her rather shaken up. As much as Nick hated to admit it she was kind of cute. SIlk’s hair was long and well kept, she had a very shy nature to her, and often wanted to please as any as she could, plus she had a bit of a motherly aura to her. She had spent most of the night more or less latched to his side. Currently nick, Iron and midnight were in the field next to the road with Silk watching from the sidelines with a blanket around her and a cup of hot coco.

“Alright, so how much do you know about kirin magic?” Midnight asked.

“Not much, I haven’t been able to find much in the form of kirin magic in books, some culture, but not much else.” Nick shrugged.

“Not surprising, kirin magic is highly guarded, very few know kirin magic other than, well kirin. It’s difficult to master and can lead to… complications if you aren’t ready for certain spells, and there are lot’s of spells that cannot fall into enemy hands.” Midnight said.

“Alright so what can you teach the lad?” Iron asked.

“The first let’s see what you can do, cast a few spells, doesn’t quite matter what, just make them about medium strength.” Midnight said floating away a bit. Nodding he aimed his horns into the sky and fired off a magic blast, the beams sliced through a few clouds before detonating. Next he channeled arcing lightning through his horns and fired of a bolt at a nearby boulder, finally he clapped his hands together and formed a tiny black dot, he shot the dot at the bolder and caused it to crumble along with the surrounding ground and form into a large round boulder floating a few meters of the ground.

“How’s that?” Nick asked.

“Not bad, a contained gravity spell is especially impressive. However, you're wasting too much magic with each spell, how you're still standing after using up so much magic is honestly worrying, while not the most impressive display i’ve seen, it certainly used a massive amount of magic.” Midnight stated.

“Wait, wasting magic? What do you mean? I’ve been using those spells for ages., well not on a regular bases, but I’ve known them for a while now.” Nick said slightly confused.

“It’s not the spell, but how much magic you're pouring into them for less than satisfactory results. Think of it like using only water to clean off a dirty wall, it doesn’t matter how much you use if there is no pressure behind it. Try using less magic, but squeeze it through a tighter channel.” Midnight said.

“Alright…” Nick said. He channeled magic again, but this time tightened the channel in which it traveled to a tenth the size it was before. The results were substantial… “OH SHIIIIIIT!!!!!!” Nick screamed as the magic blast was about 2 meters wide and shot off far into the sky before detonating into massive explosion.

“Better…” Midnight says with pupils the size of pipricks.

“Thata boy!!!” Iron cheers.

“Oh fuck yess…” Nick said with a mad twinkle in his eye as he thought of the possibilities if he tightened the channel to it’s max and poured as much magic as he could into it.

“Nick.. I know that look… what are you planning?” Trixie said walking out with a bag of ice on her ass.

“Nooothing.” Nick said smiling.

“Oh dear…” Trixie sighed praying that it didn’t involve another turnip.. She shuddered at the memory of when he pulled one out at the restaurant back in kevil…

“Welll.. .ahem… anyway, so that is very good, though you forgot to town down how much magic you use. I want you to practice on proper magic control, once you can cast a spell on the same scale as when you demonstrated those spells before with barely any magic than we can move onto more advanced stuff, for now i’ll teach you a couple of spells that should be about on your level. The first is levitation.”

“Wait what? I could teach him that, and he already knows that one all too well.” Trixie said glaring at Nick who laughed nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

“Not like unicorn levitation, we call that telekinesis. Levitation like i’m talking about is like this.” Midnight said floating a couple of feet of the ground.

“I’d like to learn this as well.” Trixie said mystified by the display.

“Actually I have to ask you to leave. This is kirin magic only, and I can’t have unicorns learning this, magnus knows you cause enough problems with what you have.” Midnight said.

“But-”

“No butts. As long as you're here I’m not teaching him anything.” Midnight said firmly.

“Fine…” Trixie grumbled walking away.

“Alright, now than, it’s actually not all that difficult, all you need to do is make an aura of magic around you and use it to carry yourself. This is where magic control comes in, if you put too much magic into it on a tight enough channel, you could go too fast to control, likewise if you don’t keep a tight enough channel you won’t be able to maintain it.” Midnight said landing.

“Alright, tight channel, control magic, aura of magic.” Nick said, as he completed the steps he had a white aura visibly surrounding him.

“Good, but far from perfect, try dropping the amount you're using until the aura is no longer visible, if you try flying like this you're going to break the sound barrier before you even leave the ground” Midnight warned. Listening to her advice Nick powered down the aura until it wa clear.

“Alright, now how do I get off the ground?” Nick asked

“All you have to do is move you're magic in the direction you want while keeping it around you.” Midnight said standing back.

“Alright…” Nick said following her directions, slowly he moved the magic upwards while making sure to keep it skin tight.

“Alight, I think I should let you to get to it, I’ma go make lunch.” Iron said walking away.

Wolves on the trail and a forced deal.

Nick ducked as a sword nearly took off his head, taking full advantage of his enhanced ability to learn, Iron Fist decided to continue teaching him more in the art of combat while he studied magic from midnight. The way of the sword had almost become second nature to him at this point, soon he would master it completely. Unfortunately Nick failed to see the follow up elbow heading his way and got to see the stars early today.

“Try not to damage that part of him to much, he needs it if he is going to learn.” Midnight said as she flipped the page of the book she was reading.

“Oh he’s fine, right lad?” Iron said confidently.

“I don wanna go to school today ma…” Nick said as he lay there in a daze.

“....ok maybe a quick break.” Iron admitted. As he walked over to the caravan, Silk fluttered over and took a look at Nick’s head.

“Must be neat having a silk weaver with you, couldn’t tell you how many times I had to have my robes repaired by one.” Midnight said glancing at Silk.

“You have no idea, little Silk has been a tremendous help. It’s good to see Nick finally giving her a chance, though given his nature, I knew he wouldn’t be able to just stand by while she was in that state. Perfect opportunity to get them together finally” Iron said.

“So you flipping the damned caravan was deliberate?!” Trixie said popping her head out the window.

“Nope.” He replied simply. Giving a heavy sigh she ducked back inside.

“Uuhg… can someone please tell me why I have a silk ribbon on my head?” Nick said pulling off the bandages that had been tied in a bow of his head.

“I thought you might like it… and you were bleeding so I needed to make you a bandage.” Silk said poking the tips of her fingers together and looking down. Nick wasn’t sure how to feel about her anymore, should he continue his grudge against her? After last night it would be a bit more difficult, she had been trying to make up for it for weeks now, at this point he was lying to himself if he said he didn’t have some feelings for her, and while Trixie was picky with whom she would let into their herd, she still wanted one. Nick made the decision to give her a chance, he would talk with her later about it, but he was willing to give her a chance.

“It’s fine Silk, it’s just unnecessary, I can heal on my own.” Nick sighed handing her back the bandage as his wound healed.

“Ok..” She said standing up, and was surprised as he placed his hand on her head ruffling her hair.

“Don’t be so down, you had good intentions and I thank you for that.” Nick said and walked over to the others leaving Silk with a faint smile and blush on her face.

“Alright, I think we should be good on combat training for today, Midnight, could we continue on our magic training?” Nick asked.

“Sure, first off let’s see how well you are doing with your aura.” Midnight said floating over to the field motioning for him to follow. Nick activated his aura like instructed yesterday, he had practiced throughout the night and had managed to get it down rather easily. The magic was not to different from a basic levitation spell, but had some slight differences, like unlike a levitation spell that just felt like an invisible force of sorts was moving the object, this felt more… tangible. Like if he made a wall of this energy it could act as a barrier.

“Good, you have gained an astounding level of control, are you sure you have never done this before?” midnight asked, she legitimately was having trouble that he didn’t know the spell before they met.

“Yeah, I just practiced all night, and with my abilities, I can learn much faster than normal, and while this magic is certainly different from what I am used to, it wasn’t all that hard to get down. Though at the moment I’m still only able to hover around. Give me a few more days and I should be able to get this down pretty solidly.” Nick said as he landed next to her.

“Wait… you were up all night..? How are you not exhausted then?! You just got done with combat training and are acting like you just got up from bed!” Midnight said not believing him.

“Ah, it’s sort of one of my abilities. Long story short I constantly have the effect of sleep going for me even when I am awake, actually sleeping is more of a leisure thing for me.” Nick chuckled while rubbing the back of his neck.

“Bullshit.” Midnight said crossing her arms and refusing to believe him.

“Hay! You don’t need to announce it to the world you know. “ Iron said from the tall grass nearby.

“.....Anywaays, yeah it’s true. You don’t have to believe me or not, but just believe that I am ready for our training.” Nick said.

“...Alright then.now you more or less have you're aura down in the flight department, now all that’s left in that regard is practice. Next I’m going to teach you what else it is used for.” Midnight said.

“Wait, it does other things? Thought so.” Nick asked.

“Yes, as you may have figured out by now the spell you're using isn’t like a levitation spell, it’s more solid to a point where it almost feels tangible. That’s because if done properly it is. This particular spell is the basis for much of kirin magic, you aren’t lacking in magical reserves, that’s for sure, so the issue now is magic control. Now the spell i’m going to show you will take some time to fully get down, and may take years to actually master. Now then, i want you to throw everything you have at me, hold nothing back.” midnight sait spreading her arms wide and casting the spell.

“Umm… I don’t know if I should do that, with what you taught me on magic efficiency I might end up obliterating you..” Nick said doubtful that she would be able to withstand his attacks without him holding back.

“Trust me, I’ll be fine.” She said.

“Alright….” Nick shrugged. He still didn’t have access to a large portion of his magic capabilities thanks to the mark but with Silk and Trixie’s input he at least had access to a very small percentage. He could only cast as much as Trixie and Silk’s combined mana pools. Thankfully together their magic was a good amount, and with his horns to focus magic through with the addition of his training with midnight he could make good use of what he had, but at most he had maybe 3% of his full power.

Nick focused a large amount of magic into a strength and speed magnitude spells while tightening the magic channels to one third their normal level. He launched himself forward and launched a flurry of punches as fast as bullets at her, but it felt like hitting a wall of diamond and she didn’t even flinch as if every punch was little more than a light breeze.

“Come on is that the best you got?” Midnight taunted. Nick responded by pouring as much magic as he could into the spells and tightening the channels to one tenth their normal size. His punches speed up dramatically each one traveling at several times the speed of sound and impacting like meteors. Midnight began to sweat as her spell began to fualter, just how strong was he? With as much magic he was using he should not be able to use this much power, even if he tightened up his magic channels to level five! Finally she teleported behind him holding up her hand.

“Okay!! Okay!!! Stop! I guess you’re stronger than I thought. Anyway, do you get the jist of the spell?” Midnight asked.

“Sort of, you harden the aura to act like armor, right?” Nick asked.

“Close, what you need to do is fuse it with your skin, then you're skin will act like armor as strong as how much magic you put into it, once you do this you can activate a second aura above it, but we’ll get into that later, for now I just want you to practice these two spells for now.” Midnight said walking away with a little sweat trickling down her neck. This might not have been the best decision she could have made, she had spent five years training to tighten her magic channels to a fifth of their natural size, and he goes and tightens them to level ten in a day?! How!?!?!

Meanwhile Nick was practicing what he had learned, it wasn’t all that hard to do, and within a week or two he would likely master them so long as he trained through the night. He was lucky that he could take a few shortcuts, if it hadn’t been for his ability to morph his body at will learning to tighten his magic channels would have been a pickle. Since he technically didn’t have natural magic channels, he relied on what he he was able to grow thanks to Trixie, her DNA had given him the perfect blueprint for constructing magic channels, before when he followed her instructions on how to make his horns.

The instructions had left him having to make them larger than he would have preferred, it gave him an excuse to keep the vasto lord horns, but with what he learned from Midnight he could improve on their design greatly. In fact if he were to put small channels in his fingers he could easily replace the horns, but he would need to learn to control his magic to a much greater degree beforehand since at that point they would be at one one hundredth the size of his vasto lord horns and subsequently have a magic channel just as tight… and with magic channels that tight all it would take to literally nuke a town would be to use half of just Trixie’s magic in a single magic blast, though it would likely kill him in the process.

One thing that came with this technique was added magic burn. After casting those spells yesterday it felt like hours of continuous casting with high level magic. While he could now cast higher level magic with little magical burn, if he used higher amounts of magic with tight channels it dramatically increased the magic burn of the spells. At his current level of efficiency he would have to max out at channels one tenth the size of a unicorn’s horn. For lower level spells he would utilize the magic channels in his forearms.

He would have to be careful to only use the tiniest bits of magic with the tightened channels, otherwise simply trying to levitate a cup to someone might send it through them…. And the wall… and the moon… He made the magic channels in his index and middle fingers on either hand for emergencies and made poles of what his horns were made of for larger magic channels in his forearms, they still ended in sharp tips, he simply covered them with bones While he did enjoy having his vasto lord horns, they were big, bulky, and had gotten caught on more than a few blankets, much to Silk’s irritation, and shrinking and growing the internal channels within the horns would take to long in combat. As he formed the ner magic channels he absorbed the old ones.

“Nick?” Silk called him through the hive mind. Nick sighed as the intruding voice called for him. He was still getting used to having more than a few voices in his head. Zangetsu notwithstanding.

“Yees?” Nick asked a little irritated.

“Do you need anything to eat or drink?”Silk asked.

“No Silk, I’m fine.” Nick mentally sighed. Having this hive mind had it’s perks, but boy did it get annoying sometimes. It allowed for everyone connected to the mark to share experience, knowledge learned, and an instant form of communication no one could tap into. Casting his magic aura he covered his entire body with it before merging it with his skin. He casts the spell again and leaves the second aura around him. Replicating the spell was fairly easy, his magic senses had improved greatly since coming to this place, allowing him to get a better feel for magic.

Before magic felt like a sort of… invisible force that he could add more energy to in relation to his stone reserves and the only differences were that each type of spell simply casted differently, like how you're arms function the same no matter what you do, but one spell might be drawing a rose, while another might be driving a car. But here? Here there was so much magic, with so many different textures, and feelings behind them. Each magic signature felt different.

Silk’s magic felt warm and comforting, like a soft blanket. Trixie’s magic felt like what he would describe as a thick fog, always shifting and keeping things hidden, he surmised that it was due to her expertise in illusion magic. Iron Fist’s magic felt like a giant pillar of steal, unmovable yet malleable so it could not be broken. Midnight’s magic felt like the calm before the storm, like it was calm now, but in a moments notice could turn into a massive storm. Finally Twilight’s magic, while she had tried to keep her magic usage hidden from him for the most part he had already gotten a good feel for it, it was like a massive maelstrom of magic. He was glad he was learning these techniques, otherwise with his limit on his magic he would be almost useless in a battle of magic with her.

As he floated there he tested his auras his skin felt no different than before, but then again this wouldn’t be the first time a spell was more than he initially thought it to be. He focused and formed a weak magic blast near him before launching it himself. As the blast made contact with his skin it exploded charing the grass beneath him, it barely felt like a light breeze of wind to him.

“Oh the things I could do with this.” He muttered to himself.

Pov shift
Silk Sheets

Silk ducked under a swing from Iron and fluttered behind him and throwing a punch at him that he caught without looking and threw her back in front of him. Now that the hive mind with Nick had been officially set up they had been learning at an exponential rate. Without even realizing it Silk had gone from a small town, meek seamstress to a still meek and timid seamstress, but one who could fight against the average royal guard. The combined learning capabilities of all three had allowed her to learn much faster, and any gain in skill that Trixie or Nick obtained, she did as well. She side stepped a punch from Iron only for his elbow to shoot towards her tapping her on the forehead.

Iron may have been a tough old bull, but he wasn’t brutal, and was gentle with Silk unlike with Nick whom he knew could take a beating and keep going, and recover quickly.

“Alright now I want you to infuse your magic with your fists and forearms, harden the chitin so that it’s as hard as steel.” Iron said, doing as he said Silk did so. Her chitin, unlike a warrior drone, was a soft and gave just a little, it was still much sturdier than any mammal’s skin, but would barely qualify as leather armor.

“Now, I want you to hold that spell as long as you can while punching this slab of steel.” Iron instructed. He wished he had magic like this at times, sure his training experience and internal magic made him a force to be reckoned with, but having the ability to turn your own skin into armor as strong as steel had always fascinated him. Silk had been making great progress in the past couple of weeks when they had time to train, each week seemed to be equal to a month worth of training from before they set up the hive mind.

“So, how are things going with Nick?” Iron asked making the her blush a bit.

“Fine, he’s seemed to warm up to me after you're stunt with the caravan.” Silk said as she continued to strike the iron slab while keeping up the spell.

“Yeah, that was fun, I hope we get to-” Iron began, but stopped from the cute little pout/glare Silk gave him. “Never mind.” He chuckled.

“That was not fun, I’m still a bit shaken up a bit from that.” silk said with a slight whimper as she struck the metal again.

“I don’t blame you, that seemed like one crazy ride.” Midnight said walking up to them.

“Aren’t you supposed to be teaching Nick magic right now?” Iron asked with a raised brow.

“This is going to take time, it isn't like learning martial arts, each spell takes a while to learn, and giving him to many at once would simply overload him. So I’m having him work on just the three for now. He just needs some practice. I’ll check in on him in about an hour or so.” Midnight shrugged.

“Alrighty then. Tea?” Iron asked offering her a cup.

“Certainly!” Midnight said happily taking the cup in her magic.

“So, how much does Nick have to learn about Kirin magic? He has some strange and powerful magics at his disposal, but how much of it pertains to Kirin magic I wonder.” Iron wondered.

“From what I have seen, he still has many years worth of training if he is to master my kind’s arts. He has magic blasts down pack fairly well from what I saw, and a contained gravity spell is nothing to laugh at. For now I’m teaching him the basics.” Midnight said and took a sip of her tea.

“If I have learned anything with him, it’s to expect the unexpected. He learned how to fight and adapt through his training even faster than I could at his age. Within a few years he may even be on my level if not surpass me one day.” Iron said taking a sip of his tea.

Pov shift
Twilight

Twilight shivered as she watched her familiar absorb his horns into his head. Him learning from that kirin had made him even more dangerous than before. She somehow taught him to use high level spells with so little magic it barely even scratched her reserves, yet what he was now able to do with it left him on almost equal footing with her, and that’s just on the first day!! Who knows what he would be capable of within a week! She sat back at her desk after closing the shutter to the window and returned to her work. It had taken most of their journey through the black forest, but with just a single ruby she had managed to form a sealing crystal capable of capturing her familiar for a short time. She had no doubt that he would break out of it sooner or later, she didn’t have the resources for a proper container. The hard part would be getting back to equestria with him, she could handle the others just fine, Trixie’s and that Changeling’s magic was nothing compared to hers, and that brute Iron Fist only had muscle on his side, he wouldn’t even be able to touch her.

She wondered how her friends and family were taking her disappearance, Celestia would have sent in some agents by now to look for her, Shining Armor and Cadence would have likely done the same, her father would probably gotten in contact with any contacts he had outside of Equestria to find her. All she had to do is wait for an opportunity to get back to equestria.

She listened as the minotaur and changeling fought just outside, just having that thing near her kept her on constant guard, it may have everypony else fooled but Celestia had warned her plenty about what those things did, they lured unsuspecting victims into a false sense of security or disguise themselves as a loved one, and then they slowly eat away at the love of everypony around them, slowly turning them into emotionless husks. It didn’t ease her mind that she was now semi permanently bonded to it through her familiar.

She had tried to warn Nick of the dangers of having that thing around, but he had just refused to listen!!! Actually saying that her feeding off of them had no ill effects! If she didn’t hurry he would end up like her brother, they were luck that Celestia’s magic was able to purge him of that evil queen’s magic and reverse the effects of her feeding off of him. To this day he still has migraines.

By the end of tomorrow they would be in one of the outskirt towns of Griffonia, Omskbeak if she remembered correctly. All she would need to do there is a seal Nick in the gem, get train ticket to the capital go to the Equestrian embassy and she would be home free!!! The only one that would be a problem would be that kirin, but if she remembered correctly kirin one very peculiar weakness due to their natural ability to create lightning… all she would have to do is zap her with a quick shock spell to get her going and one splash spell would incapacitate her within moments.

She finished the decoy scroll last night, and there was little else to do with the gem other than to feed magic into it for the trip, she had already filled it with three times her maximum magic reserves, but with magic like Nick had, plus the time she would need to get him there she needed to double it, hopefully they will stay in Omskbeak for at least a few days.

Pov shift
Bill Cipher

“And you can go suck a quasar you damned mannequin!! You cheated and you know it!!!! …. Last time I play poker with anything outside of time.” Bill muttered as Slender man walked away chuckling. One would think he would learn that even though he could literally see all different points in time in every timeline, and which one was going to occur with a high degree of accuracy, that his mastery over time wouldn’t apply to an entity that literally existed out of time. He still owed 20k to a certain skeleton with a tendency to speak in wing dings.

“Now then, should be any minute now... “ Bill said as he waited for a certain white mare to arrive. And right on time Faust arrived.

“Why is it that you called me here Bill?” Faust demanded.

“Simply collecting on what you owe me, remember you said anything for not spilling the beans on your mistake.” Bill said pulling out the contract making Faust flinch in both rage and fear, in her panic to keep knowledge of that monster under wraps in hopes of preventing his escape, she signed a deal so that he couldn’t tell anyone anything about him or his kind.

“So, what is it that you want?” Faust asked.

“Oh it’s not really for me, I still got quite some time before I could ever make any use of it, but my little student will likely have great use of it, seeing as he is going to need to clean up your mess. I simply want you to bring these to Nick.” Bill said holding a tome with his trade mark all seeing eye on it, a bag with a subtle glow to it, a bastard sword with such a high polish to it that it looked like a mirror, a spear with a large blade on the end that hat a slight glow to it, and finally a dagger with a dark aura that seemed to dim the light around it. Faust's eyes bulged at the sight of the latter four items.

“Yo-you can’t be serious!!!!! Just any one of those items could have dire consequences.” Faust screamed, “just that dagger alone would kill him if he touched it!”

“Relax, I didn’t mean all at once. First I want you give him these, the tome will act as both a form of direct communication with him, and has everything he needs to use these and he will need this etherealite soon. I’ll hold onto the sword, spear and dagger for now, but when it’s time you're to bring them to him as per the deal.” Bill said handing her the items, she wanted to refuse, but the golden bands around her wrists wouldn’t let her let go of the items.

“When do you want them delivered.” She asked begrudgingly.

“Once they get to Omskbeak, he’s going to need it once your daughter's student start trouble, I always like these unstable points in time, not even I don’t quite know how things are going to go. He might get sealed into her little cage, or it might backfire and seal her, she might miss and seal someone’s dog, hell it might just blow up in her hand blowing off an arm. It’s all so delightful,And one last thing, remember these are part of the deal two, so you will be showing up to bring them to him when I ask. Now then, get your fat flank outta here, I have too little to do and too much time...” Bill said grabbing a phone and dialing for a pizza.

Pov shift
Vinyl and Octavia

Vinyl checked over their equipment one more time, Celestia had gone all out this time. Magic suppressing cuffs, magic reserve batteries, shock bracers, magic nullifying armor, flashbang grenades, anti magic projectors, the wrist mounted mini base cannons she had been begging for, she would have built them herself, but she couldn’t quite afford some of the materials, and last but not least, a sigma level sealing orb.

“Tavi you done playing around with those things?” Vinyl asked looking over her shoulder, on the ground were about two dozen or so dead or knocked out caribou, only five were still standing.

"One moment, and we can go, the trail they left down the hill shouldn’t be hard to follow.” Octavia said as she side stepped one that lunged at her with a flick of her wrist he lost his left antler and began screaming in agony, the one behind her attempted to grab her but that his hand crushed by hers as she grabbed him and tossed him over her shoulder impaling him on the one in front of her’s antlers, the resulting weight pulling down on his neck snapping it at an odd angle.

One of them tried to sneak up and nab Vinyl, but was met with a mix of a magic blast and a concussive sound blast without her even looking, the one that lost an antler earlier tried throwing a tomahawk at octavia but she daftly caught it with her wrist and changed its direction without taking any of it’s momentum and with a flick of her wrist sent it back at the now dead caribou. Only one remained, and this one was big.

“I’m going to enjoy making you cry for mercy as me and every one of my brothers pounds your tight little ass into oblivion.” The behemoth of a caribou said as he stomped towards the unassuming mare. Taking the oversized war hammer that was as big as any of the other caribou, he swung it right where she was standing. Octavia jumped over and onto the hammer and used its momentum to launch herself high into a tree.

The caribou swing his hammer at the base of the tree knocking it down. Octavia jumped at another nearby tree and pulled out her knife. She jumped off the tree and to one next to the caribou, and in a spinning motion she jumped off of it and directly down at the caribou slicing the back of his neck before the bulky and slow monster had time to react. As octavia landed the behemoth tipped over and with a massive thud brock the tree it had knocked down in half.

“I was starting to think you might need help for a moment.” Vinyl jabed.

“Oh hush, you and I both know this was barely minor exercise for me.” Octavis said booping Vinyl on the nose making her scrunch it a bit.

In all honesty, karma has the most blame here.

Nick floated next to his and Trixie’s bed in his duel auras. For most of the day prior he had received instructions from Midnight on how to improve his aura. He had been tackling the issue with his flight aura wrong, instead of trying to move the aura like that of a levitation spell he needed to think of it as a mix between a gravity spell and armor spell with just a little bit of a levitation spell. Once he started taking this new approach he began to fly faster and faster until by dusk he was able to more or less keep up with midnight’s cruising speed. Midnight could still out maneuver and fly faster than him if she wished, but at least now he could actually keep up with her on a base level.

Right now he was practicing with his magic control, channeling a minute trickle through his level ten channels to achieve the desired effect of maintaining the of simply floating there, not even enough magic to disturb Trixie from her sleep, yet allowing him to stay armored and airborne. Around him were various household items, floating in around him like electrons around an atom core, again with the absolute smallest magic he could manage without dropping them.

With the amount of magic he was using he was barely able to keep up the spells, but that was the point, like doing 100 curls with a ten pound dumbbells. He needed to keep this up to train his body to make the most with the smallest amounts of magic he had. If he had learned this before he came here, he would have been much better in the fight against the bandits after Trixie. This type of training also allowed him to recover from his daytime training, while he could recover within seconds from flesh wounds, magic burn was slightly different, it damaged him on both a physical and metaphysical level, so it took longer to repair, thanks to Trixie’s DNA the magic burn was greatly reduced, but that just gave him leeway to train harder.

During the day he trained his magic channels in the exact opposite way as he was right now. During the day he trained by forcing as much magic as he could through his larger magic channels as long as he could to train them to take more pressure, doing this however would cause massive amounts of magic burn on his body that he would need to multitask so while he repairing his body from the magic burn, he could use this form of training during the night., one of the things that Zangetsu was far better at him as he typically assigned that among other things to him.

He and zangetsu had made a wonderful team. While Nick was casting or doing anything in the physical realm Zangetsu would take control of certain things to take the burden off of Nick. he would make corrections on Nicks’s casting to increase both efficiency and accuracy if the spell was intended for a target. Since he and Nick technically shared a mind they didn’t even needed to talk with one another in order to make split second decisions, they knew exactly what the other was thinking at any given point in time. They were equals in the dream/mind scape, their Training under Bill had made them second only to Bill himself.

As they grew in power they had began to draw more and more attention from the spiritual realm. With the barrier set up on the veil, he could only be attacked on a metaphysical level by lower level entities, and higher level entities would have trouble harming him after he ditched most of his internal organs, so only outer flesh wounds would do much harm to him. Each battle with a spirit or demon had pushed his and Zangetsu’s skills to their limits and made them stronger after each battle, though non would ever compare to their first encounter with a demon, before they met Bill..

Four years ago
Nick’s apartment

Nick lied breathing heavily with his hands and feet bound to the posts of the levitating bed. His left eye was a pitch black orb that absorbed any light that touched it, his entire left half was as demonic as one could describe a possessed human. His skin was pale and sickly like a corpse, his teeth were covered in blood and looked like sharp daggers in his mouth, his fingernails were long sharp black draconic claws with his hand seaming to be covered in blood up to his elbow. His right side was the complete opposite. His right eye was a golden orb with a soft white glow, his skin was as fair as an angels, his normally raven black hair was White with a golden glow, every feature of his right side was like that of an angel's, perfect and radiant. The room shook as the priest at the foot of the bed called upon higher powers, the bed was alight with supernatural fires: black, red, grey, blue, white and gold.

Within his mind Nick watched helplessly as two legends he had always assumed mythes battled furiously over him. Michael the Archangel and the first demon lucifer. Each time they clashed swords the world he was in shook, making one continues earthquake in his mind. They moved faster than he could ever hope to follow. Suddenly they pushed each other away and landed facing each other.

“You're not allowed here lucifer, you are beyond your domain and trespassing into mine.” Radiant angel Michael started reading his sword.

“You think I give a damn about boundaries mikey? This one's soul will be mine. I will have it like so many before.” The demented demon laughed.

“And like so many times before I will not break before you.” The angel said before he and the demon vanished and the earthquake began anew. For what felt like an eternity they fought. Nick was powerless to do anything but watched as the archangel and archdemon fought over his soul. In reality the battle only lasted for 7 hours, but each second felt like centuries to him. Finally after the most ferocious battle nick had ever witnessed, michael stood above lucifer with his foot planted firmly on lucifer’s neck. In the real world nick’s body had become almost completely angelic save for his right eye, which remained a pitch black orb, but that would soon change.

“You have lost, now return to from whence you came betrayer!!!” Michael shouted before piercing lucifer's face with his sword making the foul demon begin to burn and turn to ash. As the demon was all but gone he began to laugh.

“Relish this victory Michael, for this is but one battle of many you will need to fight to keep the sigma from me.” lucifer spoke before he fell apart in a heap of ash that was blown away by the wind. When the demon was gone Michael walked up to Nick and placed a hand on his forehead.he pulled out a softly glowing orb and took a small piece of it, he breathed a white glowing mist onto the orb and fragment causing the orb to fully repair itself and the fragment to grow into a smaller marble sized orb.

“This shall act as your brother in arms against the spiritual realm. Should you ever need me, he can call me at a moment’s notice.” Michael said before fading from the dreamscape.

Today

Ever since that night he had faced enemies from the other side on a weekly basis, sometimes even nightly. Occasionally he and Zangetsu needed to call Michael, or when he was busy Gabriel for help. Once he started learning from Bill however that had slowly began to stop, as only mid or higher level demons could get past his mental defenses until soon, even Lucifer himself fell each time they fought. He knew should he ever face them in the physical realm he was beyond screwed as he was now, but since coming here he had yet to see any of them. He may have altered his body to be extremely durable, but there were certain limitations to his body that he needed magic to overcome, or another form of energy to work with.

The stone really helped him at times, he was able to optimize his body to the point where he didn’t need large bulky organs, his hearts had been optimized and altered to act like several different organs, they filtered his blood while it was being pumped, he added hearts all over his body after making some of them roughly the size of a golf ball with limbs, he had one in each limb, one in his pelvis, and finally two in his chest behind his nipples.

The ones in his limbs were much smaller than the ones in his torso, but were mainly meant as back ups. If any one of his hearts were, say stabbed, it would not phase him much as he had at least six more working to pump blood through him, and he could heal any damaged ones within seconds. He could replace blood just as fast as he lost it, he no longer needed a waste removal systems as he just fed it into the stone by converting waste matter into water and his stomach was mainly for enjoying a good meal every now and then, though if he was honest with himself it did make him a bit picky.

His brain was honestly no different save for the stone’s natural optimization. His respiratory system was a almost no different then before. They were slightly smaller, but now he had a second set behind his ears were gills if he needed to stay underwater for long periods of time. All in all, he was less and less human with every year that passed. He really wished he had gotten that Red Tide DNA. He levitated there in his aura as quiet as a tree for the rest of the night until the sun rose.

He set down the items he had been using for practice, deactivated the spells and dedicated his efforts to healing the last bits of magic burn from the day before. He walked over to find they had started to leave the rolling hills and were now in the outskirts of a large village. Careful not to wake Trixie, Nick walked over to their closet and grabbed the armored clothing he, Silk and Iron had made. It was a perfect fit and looked outstanding. The shoulders were lightly armored. Around the color was a furry and fluffy hood. along with the he had enchanted bracers on the four arms that held on snugly, he also had black gloves that held on tightly, but not so much that it restricted his movements. on the knuckles and back of his hands were armored plates.

Along with his jacket they had also crafted him a set of armored pants with plates on the sides of his thighs and armored and boots. Now his chitian armor was still a few leagues ahead of these, but he didn’t always have it on, so it payed to have something that could take a beating before he had to and gave him time to morph his body. Once dressed he climbed through the hatch in the roof of the cart to be met with the cold morning air.

“Good morning lad.” Iron said to him slightly groggily, he had been driving since about 5 in the morning, it was almost seven now.

“Morning Iron.” Nick greeted him, “so, this is Omskbeak?”

“Indeed, it’s been too long since I last set eyes on the place. Though I wish it was under better circumstances.” Iron said taking a sip of coffee.

“Yea. how long do you think it will we run into an agent of Steel hands?” Nick asked.

“Not sure, but I can suspect soon. The spoiled brat doesn’t know when to quit, and is to clever for his own good.” Iron said downing a serious expression.

“Wish I knew him like you do, all I have is disgust and hatred for what he tried to do to Trixie.” Nick said his eyes darkening at the thought of him.

“While I know we can’t let our guard down about Steel hands making a move, what do we do about Twilight? She refuses to socialize with any of us except for me, and even then she is trying to convince me that Silk is evil and that we need to get back to Equestria.” Nick sighed.

“I’m not sure, Celestia has indoctrinated her into believing her words as if they were the very foundation of existence. I’m not sure if we should let her stay or make her go, thanks to Celestia she believes you as her property in a sense. While she wouldn’t mistreat you necessarily, she has been taught to see non equines as dangerous or second class citizens. Even if you were a pony she would still treat you like that for being male.” Iron said.

“Wait, what does meh balls have to do with anything.” Nick asked making Iron chuckle.

“Ah, forgive me I sometimes forget you're not from this world. Simply put, Equestria and a lot of its allied nations view males as second class citizens due to there being so few males compared to females, and males being only about twice as strong as a female, when he would have about six or eight mares to contend with for power.” Iron explained.

“That isn’t much different then minotaurs isn’t it? Why are ponies treat their males like that when their equal in minotaurs?” Nick asked.

“Minotaur's have a single male deity, whereas equines have four female deities. They are so heavily female dominated that males are… let’s say less powerful. And you're a male not even of this planet, let alone not a pony, you would be treated close to a pet, a glorified servant.” Iron said.

“Shit.. is it like that all over Equestria?” Nick asked gaining more and more reason not to go back there.

“Nah, it’s gotten better over the last century. Males are mostly legally equal with mares, it’s more of a culture thing at this point.” Iron said, “the reason you would be treated like that is because that mare back there, is Celestia’s personal student.”

“Well that would explain some things, but how do you know?” Nick asked.

“Just because I’m retired doesn’t mean I don’t serve the king anymore!” Iron laughed, “I still keep in contact with him, royal knights never really retire, simply make room for the next generation.” Iron said, “but regarding miss sparkle, our inside agents have been watching her for over a decade now. In truth, there hasn’t been a unicorn with that level of skill and power since starswirl the bearded, and he could easily take on two royal knights wielding fragments of Gaia. if she wanted to try and force you home, it would take all of us to stop her.”

“That could prove problematic.” Nick said rubbing his chin.

“I see an opportunity, chances are slim, but we may have a chance at changing her.” Iron said.

“Really? How?” Nick asked.

“All she has ever known was in Canterlot's inner city and the town you arrived in. her core beliefs would have been developed completely by Celestia without anything to contradict it, out here she has a chance to experience the world as it really is without Celestia telling her anything against the truth.” Iron said, “We could turn what is perhaps Celestia’s greatest weapon against her, without Twilight being Celestia’s yes mare she wouldn’t be able to point at anything and have the elements of harmony blasted at everything in her path.”

“Elements of harmony?” Nick asked.

“Leftover magic from the creation of our world, it was originally meant as a failsafe in case beings stronger than the pantheon appeared, it has the combined might of half the pantheon plus Faust's magic imbued into it. Over time it has grown into it’s own entity, with far greater magic than what was originally put into them. It would take a being of unimaginable power to even match it.” Iron explained.

“Huh, well then yes it would be a good idea to take that kind of power from a mad mare like Celestia.” Nick agreed.

“Were here.” Iron said motioning to the gates of the city. To their right was a large river that appeared to connect to a port on the side of the city.

“Halt! Who goes there and what is your business in Omsbeak?” A large Griffin says pointing his spear at them.

“My name is Iron Fist, and me and my student here are here to see on old friend. We are here to see an old friend.” Iron said making the guards tense at hearing that name.

“You're not fooling anyone young man, Iron Fist is an old grizzled minotaur not some whelp barely out of their teens.” The Griffin said making Irons eyebrow twitch.

“Old Bull am I?” Iron muttered.

“That would my doing, I have magic that can reverse aging.” Nick said.

“What even are you? Some sort of bald monkey? And do you honestly expect us to believe you?” The Guard said.

“Need proof?” Nick asked looking at the older of the two, he appeared to be in his mid thirties to early forties.

“Tell you what, if you can make me young again you can enter the city with that train thingamajigger anytime you come to the city.” The older guard said.

“You can’t be serious river!” The younger guard said.

“Relax carm, it’s just a bluff they can’t hold up to.” the older Griffin said.

“If we get in trouble for this you're taking responsibility for it.” Carm said making river roll his eyes.

“Well, let's see it then.” River said. Nick jumped down and walked over to the guard.

“This spell requires direct touch with the subject.” Nick said taking off his glove and holding out his hand for a handshake. River took off his gauntlet and took Nick’s hand.

“I’m waiting.” The guard mocked. Meanwhile Nick was already focusing on the Griffins cells and body, he began repairing any damaged cells, extending the telomeres in his DNA so that it was the length of a younger version of him, he fixed any problems that arose with old age such as arthritis, and finally he revitalized his skin and put color back into the greying feathers. The griffin didn’t even realize what was happening, but his younger fellow guard did with wide eyes.

“R-River…?” Carm said not believing his eyes.

“Ha, knew this was a waste of time. Sorry but we cannot allow for that thing to enter the city it would take up most of the road.” River said walking back to his post.

“Umm… River, you need to look in a mirror.” Carm said.

“I got one right here!” Iron said pulling one out from… somewhere?

Meanwhile in Equestria

“Hey gummy have you seen my mirror?” Pinkie said popping her head out of a drawer next to the alligator. He responded with a slow unsynchronized blink.

“This is the third time this week something like this has happened… I wonder…” Pinkie said squinting and slowly sinking back into the drawer.

Back at Omskbeak

“Where did you even get that? Nick asked not recalling him having a mirror. Iron only shrugged and tossed him the mirror. Nick presented the mirror to the now young griffin.

“I don’t believe it….” River muttered. Instead of his old grizzled face he was now a a young hawk again.

“Well a deal's a deal old chap, we get to go in now right?” Iron asked.

“Uh huh…” The Griffin said dumbfounded. Nick took back the mirror and threw it back to Iron who put it in his coat. They opened the doors for them and let them into town. The town was lively as early as it was. They made their way down to town square before Iron turned to Nick.

“Alright, I’m going ahead to find one of my contacts here, it’ll take a while so how's about you explore the town a bit?” Iron asked.

“Sure why not? Where do you want to meet up?” Nick asked.

“Meet me here in town square around noon to one. If you get lost all the major roads lead here, if you're still lost and need direction there should be a guard around that can give you directions.” Iron said.

“Alrighty then.” Nick said jumping off and started walking down a random road to what he assumed to be a market of some sort. He passed by several markets offering quality looking merchandise, wealth not being a problem thanks to the stone he bought a few things that he thought might prove useful, or he just really wanted. He bought a floral bracelet and a for Silk, a new bow and quiver, he would modify later, and a silver necklace for Trixie.

For Iron he bought an extra large cheese wheel that he had to strap to his back. For himself he bought a nice leg satchel to hold some things, might be useful for carrying some scrolls or a tome or something, for now it housed the smaller items he bought. He bought himself some throwing knives that fit snugly in slots in his leg satchel, finally he bought a cloak with an invisibility enchantment on it that he could activate with a thought. The cloak came down to about the mid of his calf. As nick walked through the market with his new things he noticed an alleyway that had a sign above it.

“Lady Ferst’s magic emporium… ohh… I like where this is going..” Nick said walking towards the shop. As he entered the shop a bell above the door signaled his arrival. He was soon greeted by a mare that hid her face behind a hood.

“What can i get for the young stallion this morning?” the mare asked.

“I take it you're Lady Ferst?” Nick asked.

“Indeed I am the same, now then, how might i be of service today?” Ferst asked.

“I’m just browsing, do you happen to have any mithril by any chance? Maybe some lyrium?” Nick asked, he knew she wouldn’t know what the hell lyrium was as it was just a magical mineral in a video game back in his world, but maybe he would get luck with mithril?

“Ah yes, I just received fresh shipments of both, fresh from the mines of Orehammar in Minotauria.” Nick’s eyebrow twitched for a second at hearing that she actually had lyrium form a city that sounded a lot like a certain dwarf city….

“Alright, do you by any chance have any books on the use of lyrium?” Nick asked.

“You mean you were going to buy lyrium without knowing what to do with it…? You're a rather dense one aren’t you…” Ferst said.

“I didn’t think you actually had any, I was just kind of joking.” Nick said.

“This is a magic shop. Why wouldn’t I have lyrium? It’s vital to making rune paint among so many other things.” Ferst asked.

“Because… never mind. Do you have a book on lyrium to go with it?” Nick asked.

“Yes, I believe I have one around here somewhere.” she said before running her hand over a bookshelf full of magical tomes, one of which caught Nick’s eye immediately. On the spine of one of the books was a golden pyramid with a blue eye in the middle.

“Wait, I would like that one there, with the gold pyramid.” Nick said.

“This old thing? A good choice.” while she sounded genuine, she had said it through clenched teeth. “Might I also suggest these, it could prove useful with this tome.” Ferst said holding up a bag of etherealite.

“I’ll take it!!” Nick said throwing a couple of bars of gold onto the counter.

“Good, now then. How much lyrium and mithril do you need?” Ferst asked.

“Five ingots of lyrium and twenty ingots of mithril” Nick said. After setting the agreed amount for his purchase after throwing in a bag for the mithril. He put the tomb in the large pocket of his satchel and walk out. “Have a nice day” Nick said to Ferst as he left.

“We’re doomed…” Faust said as she morphed into her original form after dispelling the shop and returning to her tower.

As Nick walked through the streets Nick started to get the strange feeling he was being watched. As it was still a few hours off of when he was supposed to meet up with the others he couldn’t just head back to the caravan as he had no idea where it was. He decided he could lose whoever might be watching him in the crowd and began traveling down a main road. He made it about halfway down the main road before taking a turn into an ally hoping that he had gotten away, he knew he must look silly like this, but if he actually was being followed he felt better safe than sorry.

“It’s about time you got out of the main road.” He heard Twilight behind him. Suddenly he was picked up by her magic and pulled deeper into the alleyway. When he stood back up he saw her standing in front of him with a scroll in front of her. He readied a counterspell as magic shot out from the scroll he launched his counter spell, and aimed it right at Twilight. Twilight’s eyes widened as instead of him aiming for the scroll’s spell he aimed his magic right at her.

In a panic she threw up a shield spell disrupting the other spells she was casting, the gem in her hand glowed a bright purple and a beam shot out from it ricocheting of the shield and back at her. Twilight let out a shriek muffled by the shield spell as the spell hit her and sealed her inside of a prison of her own making. Nick walked up to her and looked down at the now trapped mare. Shaking his head he picked up the gem.

“Help!! Somepony help!!!” He heard Twilight scream in his head.

“Should have thought about that before trying to seal me. Now you're screwed for the foreseeable future.” Nick said forming a small philosopher's stone orb in the middle of his forehead, forming optic nerves in it and etching black runes around them he turned it into an eye much like kaguya ootsutsuki third eye. Channelling a large amount of magic into the runes and mixing in a arms worth of stone energy into it he formed it into a powerful sealing orb. He touched the gem to his new eye and transferred the captive mare into his makeshift “eye” while absorbing all the magic within the gem and transferring it into the sealing runes.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!?!” Twilight shouted.

“Showing you the error of your ways. While you're in there you won’t need sleep, food or water, you’ll just need to simply exist. Until you're ready to come out you're stuck in there, now shut up and learn some manners.” Nick said.

“Wait! You can’t do this!! I have rights! I’m the Princess’s personal student!! I am your mas-” She shouted before cut her off by canceling the link allowing her to speak to him. He set the spell to be dependant on her, so long as she held onto her beliefs that Celestia had hammered into her head, she would be trapped in a prison she had meant for him. Nick walked out of the alley with his new accessory with a neutral look on his face.

He had no hate for the mare, she had simply been brainwashed from an early age to believe in falsehoods with no evidence to back it up, like all children she was genetically programmed to learn from her elders, and deities had an effect of being able to hammer in what they want a bit easier. He saw this as an opportunity of sorts like Iron had suggested, it was probably a bit different than what Iron had in mind, but under the circumstances he was sure Iron would understand, after all, the dumb bitch did technically seal herself, he just made a better cage for her. This would also keep a weapon like the elements out of Celestia’s control, no one being with that mind set should have access to that much power.

Nick walked down the road when he realized, he forgot to get Midnight a gift, he turned back towards the market and started thinking about what she might like. He didn’t know her very well, from her appearance she seemed to be a monk of sorts, maybe a bowstaff? A halberd might work. Something she could channel magic through. He made his way down the road in search of something to get her.

Branding, Grounding, and Molting.

Iron Fist watched as Nick walked away before driving on towards the residential district. It had been about five years since he last visited Omskbeak, too long since he had seen his old friend. As he drove past he got some odd stares from the towns folk since he was driving through with a big caravan train. Before long he arrived at his destination, an old house with near the western wall of the city. The front door seemed to have been made of all metal with heavy locks.

The walls were made of stone with a wooden roof. Iron jumped down onto the cobblestone road and walked up to the door before cocking back his fist and throwing a heavy punch at the door leaving a large dent and a crack or two in the stone around it.

“HEY YOU OLD NUT GET YOUR FEATHER BRAINED COCK SUCKER LITTLE ASS OUT HERE!!!!” Iron shouted at the top of his lungs.

“SHUT YOUR DAMNED BULL HEADED SHIT EATING MOUTH YA OLD FAT ASS DOOR KNOCKER!!!” Came a reply.

“DON’T MAKE ME BUST DOWN THIS OVERSIZED PAPERWEIGHT YOU DAMNED PIDGEON!!!” Iron barked back just as the door opened.

“Pigeon? Really? You're going senile you old….. Fart……?” A large hippogriff as tall as Iron said confused at seeing his old friend, but instead of an old fart pushing sixty there was a young bull no older than twenty five.

“Buckbeak!!!” Iron said giving the old hippogriff a bear hug.

“Iron? Is it really you?” Buckbeak said not believing his eyes.

“In the flesh! Why is something wrong?” Iron asked innocently.

“You're..you're…” Buck beak stuttered and proceeded to poke Iron a couple of times.

“You been hitting the joke a bit to hard or something?” Iron asked playing on his old friends old addiction. Ironically Buckbeak held up an old pipe with a bit of smoke drifting up.

“Think I got a bad batch this season….” Buckbeak said before walking inside oblivious to Iron trying not to burst out laughing the moment he turned his back.

“Ah don’t worry bout it, at least you didn’t grow a dick on your forehead this time!!” Iron bursted out laughing under the disguise of that memory of his friend waking up in Lady Typhoon’s tent with said appendage flopping about and the goddess of the sky looking down at him with crossed arms and an eyebrow raised.

“Don’t remind me… she made mer concubine for that entire year..” Buckbeak remembered that year that gave him three broken pelvises, healed personally by the goddess that broke it.

“You weren’t complaining, at first” Iron said chuckling at the memory of his friend coming out tiered as buck whenever he was called to her.

“So, umm… I’ma go lay down until the joke wears off… you know the drill, my home is your home.” Buckbeak said heading upstairs.

“Alright, I hope you don't mind but i have a couple of traveling companions here with me.” Iron said

“Who all is wi-GAK!!” Buckbeak said before he was tackled by an azure blur.

“Uncle Buckbeak!!!” Trixie said bear hugging his neck.

“Trixie….. Can’t… breath…” Buckbeak choked out as he was turning blue.

“Oh!! Oops. sorry.” Trixie said getting off of him.

“Good to see you to Trixie.” Buckbeak said giving her a hug.

“It’s so good to see you again!” Trixie said returning the hug.

“Alright, I’ma go get some things from the caravan.” Iron said walking out.

“Caravan?” Buckbeak asked Trixie.

“Long story, we’re on the run from Steel Hands” Trixie said.

“What?! Why? What happened?” Buckbeak asked.

“Like I said, it’s a long story, better if dad explains.” Trixie said rubbing the back of her neck.

“If you say so, but first I need a nap, had a bad hit of joke.” Buckbeak said holding a hand to his head.

“Again!? Honestly, you would think you would stop after that trip where you thought you were an animal in a world of magic hairless talking monkies.” Trixie said crossing her arms and pouting. She remembered it, especially when he kept pointing at her and calling her harry… whatever the hell that meant.

“In my defence, your dad did pack too much in the pipe.” Buckbeak defended.

“Mmhmm. And you were the one that took it all in one go.” Trixie said giving an unamused face.

“Relax, I’m just seeing your dad as a young bull this time.” Buckbeak said running his hand over his head.

“Oh, no yeah that's real, my coltfreind can reverse aging.” Trixie said. Buckbeak looked at her as if she had grown a second head before leaning back a bit and poking her in the shoulder and backing up farther.

“I think I need a drink..” Buckbeak said walking over to his liquor cabinet, “Wait. You have a colt friend?!” Buckbeak said as it finally clicked.

“Yep, he’s amazing to, he’s as strong as dad and has crazy powerful magic.” Trixie said.

“Wait, there's no way a unicorn could be that strong, is he a kirin perhaps..?.” Buckbeak wondered.

“How many times do I have to say it. I am not part of your herd.” Midnight deadpanned as she walked in.

“And who the buck are you?!” Buckbeak said facing her.

“Uncle, this is one of our traveling companions, Midnight, Midnight this is my uncle Buckbeak” Trixie introduced the two.

“Well, a pleasure to meet you.” Buckbeak said reaching out a hand that Midnight took and shook.

“Likewise” Midnight said.

“So, where is this coltfriend of yours Trixie?” Buckbeak asked.

“He’s out exploring the town.”

“Hey Trixie have you seen Twilight?!” Iron came rushing in.

“No, why?” Trixie asked.

“She isn’t in her cart.” Iron said.

“You don’t think..” Trixie said with rising worry for Nick.

“We Need to find Nick asap.” Iron said.

“Buckbeak we’ll be back in a bit, we need to make sure she hasn’t started trouble.” Iron said.

“Ok..?” Buckbeak said not entirely sure what was going on. A rival mare perhaps? One wanting to be this Nick character's alpha?

“Silk wait here it isn’t safe out there for you with her on the loose.” Iron said as Silk walked in.

“Silk! How have you been?” Buckbeak asked.

“I’ve been doing well thank you.” Silk said walking over to the coach and taking a seat.

“Alright we’ll be right back.” Iron said as midnight and Trixie followed him out. They ran out and head towards the town plaza in hopes that he had already returned, it had been only about an hour since they parted so for all they knew he might still be wandering around town.

“Trixie wait here, i told him to meet me here around twelve, I saw him head down over to the market next to the docks, Midnight you and me will head down there and search for him, look for him from the air, I’ll look for him on the ground.” Iron said getting a salute from both.

“What if we run into Sparkle?” Trixie asked.

“Maintain your distance, she isn’t Celestia’s personal student for nothing.” Iron said making Trixie pale.

“She’s Celestia’s personal student.. I could have been executed if I hadn’t left Equestria when I did….” Trixie muttered.

“I can take her, her mana pool is about the same as mine, but my kirin magic art’s will trump her unicorn arts.” Midnight said confidently before flying off towards the docks as they were running they missed a White unicorn with Silver hair walking out of the club behind them.

“Alright Trixie just wait here and send out a blue flair if you see Nick and a red flair if you see Twilight, alright?” Iron said receiving a nod as Trixie took a seat on the edge of the plaza fountain.

“Dead… I could have been dead..” Trixie muttered

Meanwhile

Celestia sat on her throne with her fingers folded together as she stared at the large doors across from her. It was still a few minutes until court started. Her mind was elsewhere however. It had been several weeks since the spell went wrong and she had lost her student to the unknown. What was happening to her? Was she safe? But at the forefront of her mind was her student’s loyalty. She had spent most of Twilight’s life hammering in values such as equestria being the greatest nation on the planet, all other races were beneath ponies, carnivorous races were not to be trusted, and many others. None however more than being loyal to her and her alone.

She could have ordered her to kill her own parents and she had no doubt that Twilight would obey her. She would never jeopardize that loyalty by giving such an order, but that’s simply how successful she had been in indoctrinating her. She had so many plans for her, especially once she ascended. With a fourth deity on their side they could expand their lands. Saddle arabia would have no choice but to be annexed into equestria, they had no deity on their side to aid them after all.

Shadowfang wasn’t so foolish as to anger four members of the pantheon by denying them shipments of lyrium. They could pressure Magnus into sharing his secrets, they had come so close last time, with Twilight by their side on the pantheon he wouldn’t risk another war. She could make Golden Horn give them his metalworking secrets and shipments of mithril.

Unfortunately she would likely have to stop there without Cadence on their side. She should have done the same when training her, now she was only an ally of Equestria instead of annexing the empire like Celestia had originally planned. There was only so much she could do before the other nations banded together to wage war with her. With the unification of the four pony tribes her nation had become the largest nation in the world, giving her the largest single army in the world. Her army was three times bigger than any other, the only magical threat she could face were the kirin or caribou, and the caribou were under a very powerful banishment spell by her mother’s guard dogs.

Her earth ponies were not as strong as minotaurs, but they were faster and more agile, and the same could be said with her pegasi when pit against the griffins. The dragons would be her biggest threat. She hoped to change that with Spike. Soon he would be of age, and during that time Torch would have to pass the torch of dragon lord to a new dragon. She had been doing all she could in order to make him an obedient little dragon. With Twilight being the first living being he saw, he imprinted on her, and had grown to believe many of the same things Twilight had because of it.

Unsealing Spike’s Magic completely would give him a tremendous advantage, especially if he got his dread mark, then his power would skyrocket, not to alicorn level, but his strength would be on par with an elder dragon and his magic would trump even a kirin’s, his speed and agility would be like a pegasus, and thanks to growing up with Twilight he was already as smart as her. If she could get spike under her control as the Dragon lord, her armies would be unstoppable and she would have a fifth deity on her side. She was broken from her thoughts as the doors to the throne room opened. It was time for court. In walked a stallion in cuffs escorted by two guards. Behind them was a group of seven noble mares.

“Presenting the case of the Lis herd against their current stallion.” The guard said reading from a scroll, she then stepped aside for the mares to walk forward leaving the stallion behind them.

“Princess, it is a pleasure to see you again, I wish it were under better circumstances.” The alpha of the herd said walking forward ahead of her fellow mares and bowing.

“Likewise, I see you have finally finished your herd, Flur.” Celestia said to the tall unicorn mare.

“Indeed, persuading miss steel hord to join was difficult, but with our combined wealth we have become one of the richest herds in canterlot, much of which the crown will be seeing of course.” Flur.

“Good to hear, your herd shall be well rewarded for your contributions. Now, on to the matter at hand.” Celestia said turning her gaze to Fancypants.

“Yes, I think that would be a good idea. This is the third time in the past week that our stallion has ran off. I paid a large sum of gold for him to his herd, thirty thousand bits in fact, but he continually runs off. We have tried everything from restraining his magic, tracking spells, and even a shock collar.” Flur said looking to the black collar magically sealed around his neck, “we tried being nice, intercourse nightly, reducing his chores, allowing him a daily trip out of the mansion with one of us, continuing his profession, but still he refuses to know his place.” Flur said looking back to her goddess.

“I see.. *sigh* stallion, why do you disobey you herd? They have given you everything, all you have to do is please them and do your job.” Celestia said looking at the stallion that refused to look at her.

“She asked you a question stallion. I suggest you answer her.” The guard next to him warned.

“Calm down now. Give him a chance to speak.” Celestia said raising her hand.

“My apologies your highness.” The guard bowed.

“Now then. Fancypants, I believe I asked you why you continue to disobey your herd” Celestia asked sweetly.

“I am not property.” Fancypants muttered.

“I’m sorry?” Celestia asked.

“I am not property” He muttered through gritted teeth, still to quiet for the princess to hear.

“One more time please?” Celestia asked.

“I AM NOT PROPERTY!!!!!!!!” Fancypants shouted.

“How dare you! You Insolent stallion!” The guard next to him said and went to draw her sword when she felt an immense pressure suddenly pushing her to her knees.

“Do not step out of line again.” Celestia said darkly and lowered her presence around the now panting mare.

“Now, I believe you said something about not being property? Well if that was true you would not have been sold to miss Flur here. Things here in canterlot are different. While I have allowed other cities and towns to choose their own laws regarding matters such as stallions not being property, here in canterlot thing’s are different. Stallions from rich herds are vital bartering tokens. You’re still allowed to pursue a profession should your herd allow it, But otherwise you are their property. Now miss Flur what is it that you have in mind that you wish me to do with Fancypants” Celestia said looking towards the alpha.

“I was hoping to have him processed. Having to be put in a cell with a large minotaur bull durring that should teach him not to disobey us again.” Flur said.

“A splendid idea. I hear Bulls can Get rather pent up when isolated to, a month of that should set him straight.” Celestia said now looking at the wide eyed stallion.

“No… no you can’t do this to me!!” Fancypants said.

“Guards, I believe you know where to take him, give him a cell with a… gifted bull.” Celestia ordered. They saluted and took the stallion kicking and screaming away.

“A shame he needs to be processed with the rest of the slaves, oh well, at least he will learn his place.” Flur said looking at the door.

Omskbeak
With Nick

“Three bronze pieces and that's final!!” The merchant said slamming his hand on the table.

“Done” Nick said smiling. He threw the pieces on the table and walked away. It wasn’t until he walked away with his prize and was out of sight that the merchant realized and looked back at his price for turnips. 10 bronze for 2 turnips….

“Typhoon damned iit!!!” The merchant screamed to the sky.

Nick walked away with his prize smiling, but then frowned, he had been looking for almost an hour now and he still couldn’t find anything that Midnight might like, it didn’t help that he didn’t know her too well. He was still set on getting her a weapon a monk would use, but then again maybe something lightning based.. Nick was browsing the stalls when something caught his eye, or rather someone. He had been getting the feeling of being followed again not long after his little confrontation with Twilight, but this one seemed less shy of him seeing her. She had a snow white coat and an awesome electric blue mane. For now he would let her follow him. Maybe he had acquired a secret admirer? Nick walked up to a stall that seemed to be selling all kinds of weapons.

“See anything you like?” The merchant asked.

“Hmm.. do you have anything a Kirin would like?” Nick asked.

“Ahh.. have an exotic lady friend do we? I think I have something she might like.” the merchant chuckled.

“Wait it isn’t like that.” Nick said.

“Oh there's no need to be shy about it, I’ve had more than a few rolls in the nest with a few lovely doves, even had a dragon once and whoa boy…. That was an adventure!” the old Griffin said.

“Uhhhhh….. Ok..?” Nick said giving him an odd look.

“Ah, but where are my manners, you said you were looking for something for the lovely lady no? Let’s see… hmmm.. No that's more for a dragon, ah! How about this?” The merchant asked holding up a staff with a crescent moon on the end that acted as a form of sickle.

“Interesting, I’ll take it.” NIck said reaching into his bag.

“Alright, that’ll be four gold bars.” The merchant said holding out his hand. Nick reached into his coin pouch and created and formed four gold bars with his stone energy before pulling them out and handing them to the merchant.

“Excellent. Now, have a nice day.” The merchant said giving him the staff.

“Nice.” Nick said walking away. He walked down the road towards the town square with his haul when the pony from before started getting closer to him. He picked up his pace and so did she. He stopped and she did the same. He began walking again and after another minute of her following him he decided to turn around and confront her. He turned and started walking towards her only for her to duck into an alleyway. He had had enough of alleyways today and instead of falling for the obvious trap, turned around and started towards town square again. He stopped when he spotted a club and went inside.

The club was load on entry, but this served as a sort of cover for him as he made his way towards where he presumed the bathroom was. It wasn't long before he found the desired lavatory and entered. Why was he making a beeline for the shitter? For privacy. Using his philosopher's stone he created a pocket dimension to store his stuff in. now with him just in his clothes he morphed his body, bringing the stone Twilight was in towards his center along with the stone containing his stuff.

He used the Unicorn DNA he had acquired from Trixie to help him take on the form of a muscular unicorn about half a foot shorter than he was originally. Using the stone he formed basic armor to substitute his clothes to complete the transformation. He had a white coat and Silver mane and he changed his eyes to blood red.

Nick walked out of the bathroom and out the club to find the mare that had been following him pointing at the club and chatting with a greyish brown earth pony with jet black hair. She looked over at him and stopped talking. She gave him an odd look while the other mare was waving her hand in front of her. He walked down towards town square leaving the mares behind.

“Weird. I like having a ladies attention, but not when it’s from stockers.” Nick said shaking his head. He walked until he arrived at the town square. It wasn’t long until he found Trixie sitting at the fountain, looking like she had just seen a ghost.

“What crawled up your ass and exploded?” Nick asked rather bluntly.

“Wha..?” Trixie said eloquently and looked up at Nick, but to her he was some strange unicorn.

“Do i need to get a turnip?” Nick asked giving a hint.

“Nick?” Trixie asked.

“Call me Silver blood, got some stockers, try to lay low.” Nick communicated through their mental link. Trixie’s palm met her face at near supersonic speeds as she forgot they had a mental link thanks to Silk.

“Alright, follow me. But first let me signal the others.” Trixie said through the link and firing off a blue flair.

“The hell was that about?” Nick asked.

“Twilight’s loose, no idea where she is.” Trixie replied.

“No need to worry about her, I dealt with her.” Nick replied.

“You did?!?” Trixie asked.

“Yea, she was a bit off her rocker when she came after me, managed to spook her and make her hit herself with her own spell, she is sealed inside one of my philosopher stones.” Nick answered.

“Sh-Shes sealed away?” Trixie asked astounded. And then she thought about it and the astonishment dwindled to simply impressed. Even with Twilight, her sleep deprivation and questionable sanity made her slightly easier to deal with. She got up and grabbed his hand before walking away. The moment she grabbed his hand they both felt something, it felt like rage and jealousy with a dash of frustration and a hint of crazy.

“Did you feel that?” Nick asked.

“Move. Now.” Trixie said as her eyes dilated and walked faster with an iron grip on Nick’s hand.

“Wha-” Nick asked but stopped when he felt how panicked she was, the hell was going on? They kept this pace until they came to an old house with the caravan not far away. Trixie dragged Nick into the house.

“Trixie are you alright?” Silk asked as they stormed in.

“No, we need to hide, where’s Buckbeak?” Trixie asked.

“He went upstairs to get something why?” Silk asked worried.

“Tell him me and Nick are going down into the bunker, and if anyone, and I mean anyone except dad or Midnight ask where we are we aren’t here.” Trixie said without stopping and headed for the basement.

“O….k…?” Silk answered bewildered when as they disappeared into the basement.

“Trixie what has gotten into you?” Nick asked getting worried.

“Can’t talk now, need to hurry.” Trixie said walking up to a bookshelf near the back and pulled out a book, as soon as she did the bookshelf moved to the side. She opened the book and tapped her fingers to words on several different pages. The wall behind the shelf opened up revealing a door behind it, “Get in” Trixie said pushing him towards the door.

“Ok ok!” Nick said opening the door to find a ladder heading down, “seriously? A sub basement? Where are we even?” Nick asked.

“Move!!” Trixie almost shouted prompting Nick to shut the duck up and do as he was told. Trixie watched as Nick Climbed down into the bunker. Placing the book into a slot into the wall behind the fragmented wall she watched from the inside as the cogs and runes activate to shut the wall and heard the bookshelf move back in place. She closed the door behind her before climbing down after Nick. when Trixie walked into the bunker she found Nick sitting at a coach in the corner with crossed arms and an expectant look on his face.

“I’m waiting.” Nick said. Trixie sighed and walked over before sitting down next to him.

“Can you change back to Normal?” Trixie asked.

“Sure.” Nick said morphing back to his original form. He replaced the armor with his normal clothes minus the cloak, he wanted the other stuff to remain a secret so he kept it all tucked away in his little pocket dimension, he would have to dispel it soon as it was eating up a large amount of stone energy. “Alright, talk.” Nick demanded. Trixie hung her head and sighed, she wanted to avoid this talk for as long as possible, she feared she might have to have this talk when Twilight showed up, but as far as she could tell she was more interested in making him a slave rather than any romantic interests in him. She hoped since they weren’t in Equestria she wouldn’t run into any other Unicorn mares, few ponies actually ventured out of Equestria, especially unicorns, so she didn’t think they would have to have this talk for a while, if at all.

“It’s a unicorn thing.” Trixie said rubbing the back of her neck.

“Go on.” Nick said motioning for her to continue.

“Well, you see when a unicorn mare finds a stallion she likes, after a while of dating she will brand him if she is his alpha. It’s similar to the link with the mark but instead of abilities knowledge and experience, we feel each other's emotions. If one of them finds that the other’s love isn’t genuine than the stallion can break it off at any time.” Trixie started.

“Well then why haven’t you Branded me?” Nick asked making her blush.

“Well.. it’s a very intimate process…” She answered.

“Do you mean we have to… you know… have sex?” Nick asked a bit nervous.

“No, I mean we can if you want, but it has nothing to do with the branding. We would literally have to touch souls, and mix our magic, a bit of mine in yours and yours in mine. With a pony my cutie mark would appear under your emblem, but since you're not it would appear on the back of your hand.” trixie explained further making Nick scratch his head.

“Ok then what was all that out there?” Nick asked.

“Well you see when two unicorn mares want an unmarked male and aren't in the same herd, they challenge each other to a magic duel, if it’s two mare herds hunting for a male then both herds would fight each other, even if on herd is only two strong and the other is a full herd of seven. With a marked male only the alpha of either herd fight. And since you're not branded I might have had to face a full herd by myself. And I might of lost you.” Trixie said clutching to his side.

“Wait a minute, what do you mean lost me?? I would never leave you.” Nick said holding her.

“That’s not the point, a strong enough herd could take you, I’ve seen herds that treat their stallions as property, even going so far as to threaten major bodily harm for breaking a brand.” Trixie said holding back tears. They were safe here, even if they somehow managed to get past her dad and Buckbeak they would never find this place, and would never be able to get in if they did.

“Shit, it it that bad?” Nick said wondering how bad it was in Equestria.

“Only in chanterlot. For the most part stallions in the rest of the country are treated as equals, and can’t be treated like that legally outside the city.” Trixie said.

“Then why are you worrying?” Nick asked.

“It’s unicorn law, even if you chose not to go with them, I wouldn’t be able to go near you for an entire year.” Trixie said.

“Who cares about some outdated law, this isn’t Equestria, and even if it wasn’t I wouldn’t follow it anyway.” Nick said.

“Nick, you don’t understand.” Trixie sighed, “it’s a species directed divine law. Each race with a member of the pantheon has one. Unicorns have branding, Earth ponies have Grounding, and pegasi have molting.” Trixie said.

“Ok I get the branding, but what about the others?” Nick asked.

“Well, earth ponies will “Ground their stallion, typically with a blood pact, they make small cuts on their hands and clench them together, it ends up having the same effect as branding. With pegasi they give one of their primary feathers to the stallion, the stallion will tie it to one of his, and after about a week his primaries change color to match the wings of his alpha. Again this has the same effect as branding, their just, not as powerful as Branding, since both aren't directly touching each other’s souls together.” Trixie said and looked up to Nick

“Ok, but i still don’t get what you mean, why couldn’t we be together?” Nick asked.

“It’s a divine law, each member of the pantheon can set a law for their respective race, and the magic to enforce that law is engraved into the soul of every member of the deity’s race. Simply put so long as Celestia has the law in place if that were to happen I couldn’t come near you!” Trixie said.

“So what we felt earlier was…? “ Nick asked.

“Another unicorn mare with her sights set on having you.” Trixie confirmed.

“well…. Shit.” Nick said looking up towards the town square.

Author's Note

does anyone think I'm making Celestia a bit too evil to redeem?

Exaligetsu!!!

Bigmac walked through ponyville after an exhausting day on the farm. Applejack had come down with the flu and had left him to cover her quota for the day. It had been made easier thanks to apple bloom. Within a few more years she would be Applejacks equal in strength. Thanks to her both his and Applejack's workload had been eased a bit. Now he was heading towards the local country club. As he walked through town he got the usual stares from the local mares, he had been the target of many of the towns mares, they thought by calling him hot stuff, are rubbing their goods against him that he was just going to follow them home like a lovestruck foal. As usual he received a few cat whistles. To the outside viewer one would think he did hear them, but in truth he had just gotten used to it and had just been able to ignore them entirely.

Bigmac finally came to the club and when he was about to enter a mare walked up to him swaying her hips. She looked new. He normally didn’t come into town to often, but he lived here long enough to know just about everypony. She walked up to him and leaned up against him twirling her finger on his chest.

“Hey there hot stuff, what's a big handsome stallion like yourself doing out here all alone?” The mare asked. Bigmac gently moved the mare off of him.

“Sorry miss, not interested.” Bigmac said and walked towards the door only to have it blocked by the mare.

“Oh come on big guy, hows about you and I go somewhere private and have some fun?” The mare asked walking up to him and placing a hand on his chest. Bigmac sighed, and brightened up when he saw another mare walking up to them with a peeved look on her face followed by two other mares sharing the same look.

“I believe MY stallion said no bitch.” Cheerilee said walking up and punching her fist into the palm of her other hand. The mare began to shake a little, she had been looking for a good time when she saw Bigmac and liked what she saw, she wasn’t looking to get beat up by some stallion's herd.

“S-sorry mam, I didn’t know he had a herd.” The mare said backing away before running off making Bigmac chuckle.

“Thanks Cheers.” Bigmac said hugging her with one arm and giving her a kiss.

“Anything for my stallion. Now, how was your day?” Cheerilee asked.

“Exhausting.” Bigmac said hugging the other mares in his herd, Marble pie and BonBon. “How are you girls?” Bigmac asked.

“We’ve been good, I got my stuff from the house and can move in anytime you're ready. Is the house ready yet?” Marble asked.

“Almost, I just finished the insulation, you can store your things at Granny’s house until we’re done, I doubt she would mind.” Bigmac said before feeling a massive wave of love from His mares, he loved them so much, he would settle for having just this small herd, if Cheerilee and Bonbon hadn’t been pushing for a full herd. Ponyville was a safe town, but with mares like the one bothering him you could never be too careful. He wished Applejack would form a herd of her own already, then they could form a joint herd to keep them all safe, of course she would need to find a stallion of her own first.

For now he was happy with the mares he had. He walked into the club with his mares in tow. As soon as he walked in he instinctively caught an apple cider that was thrown to him. He looked over to the bar tender with a smile and raised the bottle in thanks. He and her had been good friends since school, he had a ping of guilt, sadness and regret when he saw her daughter bouncing happily by. He looked back at her and saw a sad smile on her face giving him thanks for his concern. Bigmac nodded to her and went to have a seat with his herd.

It was sad that some stallions took advantage of mares somehow, never even bothering to think how lucky they hadn’t grown up in the capital. Her first coltfreind had stuck around during heat for her one year, and ran off as soon as it was over. Legally he was free to do so, but morally once a stallion willingly gives himself to a mare during that time of year they at least need to stay until the foal is grown up. Now nearly 13 years later she was still alone. He had asked her to join her herd a few times, or rather asked Cheerilee to do so, so he wouldn’t make more problems for her, she had enough problems without mares asking if she could teach them how to get stallions to hunt them instead of the other way around, and she had just gotten this job at the club, he didn’t want to jeopardize that.

“Hey mac, hey girls, what’ll it be?” Berry Pinch asked as she walked up to the booth.

“We’ll have the house special tonight and some ciders.” Cheerilee said, “that ok with you Mac?”

“Perfectly fine.” Bigmac said wrapping an arm around her. Berry Punch took their orders and walked away to give it to the cheff.

“Should I tonight?” Cheerilee asked.

“Are yall ready?” Bigmac asked.

“I don’t know, we just barely started building our herd not even a full year ago, are we ready to help take care of a foal?” Cheerilee asked, she loved foals, but wasn’t sure if she was ready to take care of one in a herd.

“We’ll be perfectly fine, I helped take care of apple bloom after my pa and his herd passed, it’ll be no different.” Bigmac reassured her.

“Alright, tonight it is then.” Cheerilee said as she looked over top the bar.

Omskbeak Vinyl's pov

Vinyl walked through the market of omsk beak, Octavia had suggested they split up in case their targets might be here. She had a bored look on her face as she passed by the various stalls. She heard somepony throw a cat whistle her way hoping to get her attention. She ignored it, it wouldn’t end well, it never did. No matter how deep she got in with a male they always dumped her or ran off when they saw her eyes. Stallion after stallion wouldn’t touch her, simply because she had crimson eyes.

Typically she was called a vampony, or worse a demon. It’s one of the reasons she lived in ponyville, while she still couldn’t find a stallion, she could at least live there without fear of anypony shunning her because of it. It was ridiculous, simply to shun her because of her eyes, but ponies were skittish, and sometimes xenophobic creatures for the most part. None of this had to do with her objective though, and she didn’t need an earful of Octavia’s disapproval for not focusing on the mission.

She looked up and nearly jumped when she spotted a creature that matched the description of her target. He was big too, she knew he was big, but he was as tall as Princess Luna, and he had a build like Bigmac, but his muscles were more defined rather than simply bulging masses of muscle. She would have to be careful, she didn’t want to draw attention to the guard, and her methods were…. Louder than Octavia’s.

Currently it looked like he was arguing with a Turnip merchant. And from the look on the Griffin’s face he was winning. The Griffin slammed his hand on the counter of his stall and shouted “Three bronze pieces and that's final!!!” her target smiled and threw the money on the counter before taking his prize. She trailed him for a while as he looked through the market. She ducked behind a wall when he looked in her direction, that was close, he almost spotted her.

She watched him look where she had been hiding before moving over to another stall with weapons. After a conversation with the merchant he purchased a Lunar staff. He moved on down the main road and occasionally looked her way, she knew he had to of spotted him by now. Skipping the shadow routine she came out and showed herself to him entirely, she swayed her hips as she walked into an ally before looking back at him, he was looking at her, so she might have caught him. Stallions liked when mares swayed their hips like that right?

She waited for a good couple of minutes before poking her head out. She shouldn’t have made that gamble like that, Octavia was going to kill her. She started walking fast down the main road hoping to find him again when she bumped into the last pony she wanted to at the moment.

“Hey octy, hows it goin?” Vinyl said nervously.

“Vinyl, what did you do.” Octavia asked suspiciously.

“Shit, ummm… well, you see… i may have found one of our targe-” vinyl started but was interrupted.

“That's great! Where are they?” Octavia said looking around and back at vinyl, and her look of excitement slowly tuned to one of irritation, “you lost them didn’t you.”

“Maybe?” Vinyl squeaked with a sheepish Grin.

“I can’t believe this Vinyl, you do realize the seriousness of this mission? We are on an S-ranked mission, we aren't even allowed to return home until it is done, so for all we know we could be out here for years, decades even and you lost it!?” Octavia ranted.

“Oh come on tavi, i’m sure he hasn’t…. Gotten…. To…. far……” Vinyl started before looking over and spotted one hunk of a stallion, he was tall, muscular and looked like a warrior, but what really drew her in was his eyes. His big crimson eyes.

“And do you have any idea how, Vinyl? Vinyl?!” Octavia stopped talking when she noticed her friend wasn’t listening to her and stating off into space. She waved her hand in front of her face a few times trying to get her attention but to no avail.

Vinyl watched as the stallion who had been staring at them walked off towards town square. Buck Equestria, if she could get that she would care if she couldn’t return. She started walking to follow the stallion. Octavia, having given up seeing that whatever had caught Vinyls attention had it devotedly. She decided to venture off and see if she couldn’t find their target. Vinyl followed the object of her desire until they reached town square and he stopped by the fountain. This was it, time to put on the moves and get her a stallion. Maybe a stallion with eyes like her wouldn’t care about something so small.

She started to walk towards him with a sway in her hips hoping that if he turned towards her she could catch his eye. She was getting close, just a few more feet, she stopped however when she saw her stand up and take his hand. She stood there emotionless for a few seconds, then went into an emotional rollercoaster. Rage, Jealousy, frustration, with each emotion her magic spiked without her noticing, neither did she notice the stares directed at her as her entire body was engulfed by an electric blue aura that lifted her off the ground. Another one!!!! This one could have been the one!! He would have to be a blind hypocrite to be like the rest!!!! Why!? Why could she never find a stallion that wouldn’t care what her eyes looked like?!

She looked down at her arm when she felt somepony grab it,her face full of fury. Her emotions came crashing down when she saw it was Octavia with a somber look on her face. In her chasing down the stallion she didn’t notice Octavia follow her and witness everything. Slowly she lowered to the ground and hugged her.

“There's somepony out there for us somewhere Vinyl, we just need to be patient. We don’t even know that stallion, he might not even be worth it.” Octavia said petting Vinyl’s mane.

“I know, I just, I thought……. nevermind.” Vinyl said somberly and walked off towards the market. Octavia sighed and walked after her friend and herd mate, one day, they would find somepony. Someday.

In the aither
Bill Cipher pov

Bill Cipher looked at the scrying mirror with an amused ‘smirk’ as he watched everything happen at once, he was especially amused with the comment section, oh if only they knew what he knew, they wouldn’t be so hateful against ol sunbutt then. Though it was her own fault for getting herself like this he supposed. Either way so long as his pupil was progressing she could sit there with her thumb up her ass in public for all he cared. He twirled the other items in his magic pondering what Nick would be like if he succeeded in the endeavour he had Planned for him. Would he go mad? Would he become a hero? A king? A guardian? A villain? A warrior? Or would he zero sum?

Bill shuddered at the last one, no one deserved to be erased from the fabric of existence, that was going to far for even him. He wouldn’t allow Nick to try this if he didn’t feel he was ready. The etherealite would help prepare him, and soon he would be ready. Bill was jolted from his focus when Zangetsu came into being next to him.

“Wha!? Where am I? Whats going on?” Zangetsu said looking around until he spotted Bill.

“Bout time you popped up.” Bill said pulling out a pocket watch.

“Bill where am I? Why didn’t I appear next to Nick?” Zangetsu asked.

“You weren’t dissipated like normal, you took a direct hit from a god. Simply put your connection with Nick was severely damaged, if we don’t fix it you will begin to fade from existence soon. Come with me.” Bill said floating through the mirror. Zangetsu followed him and when he went through he was met with towering golden gates with what appeared to be clouds at the base.

“Is this…..” Zangetsu asked staring at them in awe.

“Heaven? Sort of, it’s Nick’s old Universe's version of it anyway.” Bill said with a shrug and proceeded to tap on an invisible barrier in front of the gates. Within seconds they were surrounded by figures in silver armor and white hoods, their wings glowing as if they were made of light. Each towered over Zangetsu as they averaged at about nine to ten feet tall and had a warrior's build.

“Halt!! Who dares cross the golden gates uninvited!!?” A Golden one said walking up to them He was a staggering fifteen feet tall and held a massive broadsword in his right hand and a massive shield was mounted on his left arm.

“Michael?” Zangetsu said looking at the archangel as he approached. Michael Sighed as he saw who it was pinching the bridge of his nose with an armored hand.

“What happened?” Michael asked plainly motioning for the other angels to leave.

“He got blasted by a god, need to reconnect him to Nick before he fades.” Bill answered.

“WHAT?!?!” Michael asked shocked that a god could get close to Nick, unless….. “Is Nick in another universe?” Michael more stated than asked.

“Yea why?” Zangetsu asked.

“Then he is out of my jurisdiction, I can’t protect him if any of the forces of hell go after him on the physical plain.” Michael said.

“What!?!” Zangetsu asked.

“Don’t worry about it, Faust and I got a got a bit of an agreement, nothing's getting past us.”

Meanwhile while Bill was away

The king of pride snaked his way through the plains of etherius and headed towards his prizes new holding cell, soon he would have the Sigma. He snaked his way into the universe in the form of a shadow.

Back with Bill and co

“Not a thing.” Bill said crossing his arms.

“If you say so, now, as far as reconnecting Zangetsu to Nick it’s going to be a bit difficult, while Zangetsu’s soul can never become independant, his soul is now to big to be directly linked to Nick as he was before, he will need a more solid medium.” Michal said.

“Would this work?” Bill said holding up a sword making Michael's eyes go wide.

“How did you get that? Excalibur was tossed back into the sacred lake!” Michael said looking at the holy sword.

“I know a guy.” Bill said dismissing the train of thought, “now will it work or not?”

“I’m afraid not, the power the blade grants is far too much for a normal mortal to wield, even with Nick’s tampering with original design he is still far too weak to handle it without taking the same trials as arthor did” Michael said looking over the blade. It had made arthor almost unstoppable

“I know that, just have to nerf it a bit.” Bill said clapping his hands making a gold bands appear at the base of the blade, “this should limit it to something he can handle.” Bill said handing it to michael.

“Hmm, yes, this might very well work.” Michael said looking over the blade. He looked towards Zangetsu who had slowly been developing a deadpanned expression the entire time.

“Are we seriously about to turn me into an actual zanpakuto?” Zangetsu asked.

“Huh, I guess we are, that or you could fade away, your call.” Bill said.

“Well, guess I’ll go with door number one, let's do this.” Zangetsu said.

“Your form may change some, this is a holy sword, and even with it’s power limited it will have an influence on the user, and since you're using it as a vessel it will have some substantial changes on you.” Michael said sheathing his sword and taking excalibur.

“What kind of changes?” Zangetsu asked taking a step back.”

“Say goodbye to the dark and gloomy look kid.” Bill said as michael dashed forward faster than Zangetsu could track. He looked down to see that he had been impaled on the blade of excalibur. Soon everything began to twist and shift as he was sucked into the blade and a sort of reflection of him could be seen on the mirror finish of the blade.

“What the fuck!?” Zangetsu said looking over the changes, “you never said it would be this fast!!” Zangetsu shouted. His hair had turned white, his face had turned to a younger form so now he looked like tensa zangetsu. Instead of his normal black cloak he now wore a set of golden armor with black and white robes beneath it.

“Wow, you went from looking like some badass to a pretty boy goody to shoes knight!!” Bill said laughing his eye out.

“I think it’s suits you, much better than you're dark look you had before.” Michael smiled, “I am interested as to what the power of two souls working together like this will be like.”

“Yea well, now all we gotta do is get it to Nick.” Bill said snapping his fingers and making a sheath for the sword.

“Will I still be able to coordinate Nick's powers?” Zangetsu asked begrudgingly accepting his new appearance.

“Only when he has the sword in his hand, otherwise no. Now we need to hurry and bind the sword to him before you disappear.” Michael said.

“I believe I can help with that.” A large robed figure said with a booming voice.

“My lord!!” Michael said spinning around and dropping to a knee.

“Rise my child, now then, what do we have here? Ahh yes, the sword of power I designed for the right of divinity. How is it you came by it, last I checked it was in the lake.” The figure stated holding the sword with a gentle smile.

“I… uhhh I umm, I may have sort of asked gabriel to get it for me, it’s for one of your creations, so I thought you wouldn’t mind.” Bill said nervously. He knew better than to lie to or withhold anything an ancient, such a being could wipe out a being that had achieved CHIM , and bill could just barely take down one of them.

“I see, no matter than. I assume you have the other items needed?” The ancient asked.

“....yes…” Bill squeaked.

“Very well, so long as you use them to allow Nick to ascend then you may proceed. Now then I believe we have a sword to deliver don’t we?” He said and snapped his fingers.

With Nick

Nick sat there with Trixie leaning against his side with her head resting on his chest, the events of the day had tuckered her out a bit so she decided to take a nap using Nick as a pillow. He sat there wondering, should he let her brand him? It wasn’t like it was permanent or that he would be unable to change it if the need arises, and it would help them be closer to one another. Being able to feel her love for him and her feel his would be nice, could help him understand silks way of eating a bit he supposed.

He looked down at her fondly and reminisced over the the last seven months. They had been interested in being friends for sure, but they never actually intended to form an actual relationship like this. No the reason they had gone on their first date was due to Iron Fist’s…. Persistence. They understood his urge in getting them together, he was an old bull at the time that wanted to see Grand babies before he passed. Of course, now with Nick’s… improvements during surgery to mend Iron’s heart, he may start looking to give Trixie a sister or a brother.

He had watched Nick closely for about a month, and when he determined he would make a worthy suitor for his daughter he started to push them to ask the other out. He knew ponies typically had a reversed gender role when it came to Dating then minotaurs, and had no idea with Nick, so he hoped one or the other would give in just to shut him up. They enjoyed their first date enough to try for a second, then a third, than one every week, then sleeping in the same bed…. It was safe to say they liked being together. Nick’s down to earth and blunt nature balanced Trixie’s boastful and flashy nature rather well.

Whenever she got to big of a head he made sure to empty out all the hot air, and when he was about to get so blunt to smack a bitch she reeled him in so things didn’t get ugly, until he pulled out a Turnip, then all bets were off and she left whoever pissed him off to their fate. She was still haunted by the sounds made by their waiter at the golden horn restaurant in Kevil…

Nick was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the door to the bunker opened and in walked Iron followed by Silk and a large Griffin. No.. He wasn’t a Griffin, he had hooves, a hippogriff? Then Nick noted his colors… He had a silver grey beak, black and white feathers on his wings, a grey feathers mixed in with his predominantly dirty white feathers on his neck and torso that wasn’t covered in an old breastplate.

“There you to are. I was worried sick about you two. Are you alright?” Iron asked making Trixie stir.

“Hmmm…?” Trixie murmerd.

“Were fine, had a bit of a day though. Did some shopping myself, apparently we almost had a run in with a herd wanting my balls.” Nick said.

“Ah, yeah that’ll happen from time to time, it’ll be easier once you're herd is full, and Trixie, you need to train harder young lady, can’t have you going and losing your stallion now can we?” Iron chuckled. Trixie responded by throwing a pillow at him.

“Well, so long as you to are safe that’s what matters.” Iron said, “now, Nick I would like to introduced you to Buckbeak.” Iron said gesturing to the hippogriff that had been standing deathly still and silent, “Buckbeak this is my future son in law Nick…. Buckbeak?” Iron said looking at his friend whose eyes had dilated and he slowly raised his hand to point at Nick.

“aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!”

The Bird of Hermes.

Nick stared wide eyed at the screaming hippogriff, a mischievous glimmer in his eye. Nick shot up and assumed a stance, growing a wand made of bone and pointing it at Buckbeak, which prompted him to make a mad dash towards the exit flailing his arms and accidently smacking Iron in the face.

“Wingardium leviosa!!! Nick shouted picking Buckbeak up in a levitation field before pulling Buckbeak towards him.

“No!! Not again!!! Noooo!!!!” Buckbeak screamed.

“Where is Sirius Black?!” Nick asked with a mad smile.

“What the buck is going on!?!” Trixie demanded. Nick only cackled as Buckbeak finally escaped his magical grasp and dashed for the exit, only for it to slam and lock before he could reach it. He clawed at the enchanted steel door in vain trying to get away from Nick. Nick talked towards him with an insane smile.

“What’s the matter mister potter?” Nick asked.

“Get away!! Get away!!!” Buckbeak said having flashbacks of bold monkeys in black robes that called themselves wizards.

“Where is sirius bla-BONK!!” Nick started only to be knocked out by a frying pan when Trixie had finally reached her limits with Nick’s randomness.

“I believe that’s enough of that.” Trixie said bouncing the frying pan in her other hand.

“The beast is dead!!!” Buckbeak said placing his hoof on Nick’s head.

“Uncle what are you doing that’s my coltfriend!!” Trixie shouted and pushed buckbeak off of him.

“Coltfriend?!” Buckbeak said looking at Trixie and back to Nick wide eyed. Iron looked on with increasing confusion.

“Was there something I missed” Iron asked trying to figure out what was going on.

“That thing is one of the bald monkeys!!” Buckbeak said tapping Nick with his hoof a few times making sure he was down.

“Did you have to hit him with that?” Silk asked sitting next to Nick and putting his head on her lap.

“Did he have to go and do that?” Trixie asked.

“Uhhh… well yeah I guess that’s a good point.” Silk said looking over the damages.

“So Nick’s kind was the what you saw in that hallucination of yours… huh.” Iron said kneeling down and looking over Nick’s injury.

“Well even if that’s the case you don’t need to worry about him, he's harmless to his friends.” Trixie said picking him up in her magic with some effort. With his body density he felt like he literally weighed a ton. His armored clothes didn’t quite help either. She set him on the coach which creaked with his wait.

“How did he know all of those things though, they were all from my bad trip!!” Buckbeak asked.

“I haven’t a clue, you’ll have to ask Nick about it later. For now I believe dad has some explaining to do.” Trixie said looking over To Iron.

“Right, Trixie, if you would take Nick and Silk out for a bit, me and Buckbeak need to speak in private.” Iron said.

“But.. I can’t lift him up there, he’s too heavy!!!” Trixie said not wanting to pull him up there.

“Fine.” Iron said and picked Nick up, “damn he is heavy!!” Iron said through gritted teeth and dropped Nick who proceeded to groan in his sleep.

“Exactly.” Trixie deadpanned.

“Well, guess so long as he is out. Go ahead and head up stairs, this won't take long.” Iron said.

“Alright, come on Silk let’s go upstairs.” Trixie said climbing the ladder.

“I’ll go make some tea.” Silk said following Trixie.

“Alright, fill me in on what's happening.” Buckbeak said glancing at Nick once again. Iron told Buckbeak about everything that had led to their arrival in omskbeak.

“Really, so you really left Kevil for good this time, never thought I would see the day.” Buckbeak said looking down at the table they had sat at.

“Aye, hate to leave the old place, but since the last of my herd pasted on Trixie was the only thing I had there other than our home, and where Nick goes she goes.” Iron said.

“So you want my help in getting to the Kirin lands? Why? Don’t you already have a Kirin teaching him?” Buckbeak asked.

“We do, but a kirin was only my secondary goal. Nick's abilities have allowed him to learn how to fight at an exponential rate, within a few more months he’ll be on par with myself. That’s why i want to have Grandmaster teach him. If he is taught by him, then even Steel hands would back off, Gaia fragment or not.” Iron said.

“Are you mad? He’ll be dead within a month!! The two of us together barely made it two months in and that's after years of sentinel training!!” Buckbeak exclaimed.

“I know, as I said he isn’t ready yet, but by the time we get to the Kirin lands Nick will have either matched or surpassed me.” Iron said looking down at the snoring Human

“Alright, but I’m teaching him as well, he is going to need all the training he can get in the meantime. I think I can pull a few strings to get us passage on a ship to eastern temple, but after that we won’t have much other than that caravan of yours, and we both know I need a bigger space than what’s on it.” Buckbeak said. He had took a look at the rooms, and the biggest one was the main one in front belonging to Nick and Trixie, the others were just a little too small for his liking.

“Meh, don’t worry about that, we can slap on another cart, but can we fit it on the ship?” Iron asked.

“It’ll have to go in the cargo hold of one of the larger ones, but I think it’s doable.” Buckbeak nodded.

“Right, now then. The fragment of Gaia. I need to find a better place for it,even with Nick’s improvements, I can feel it slipping.” Iron said.

“There isn’t much we can do about it now, until you choose a successor it’s stuck with you. I told you you shouldn’t have done this, you should have chosen a normal vessel for it like the others” Buckbeak said leaning back in his chair.

“I Know, i just felt that this would be the safest place for it, I mean look at the others, they chose their swords and look where their fragments ended up. I can’t pick Iron Will, he’s not strong enough to handle it, and by the time he could be put through sentinel training he will be to old, he’s almost thirty, any older than that and it would kill him if I gave it to him.” Iron said slumping in his chair.

“Well, there's always your son in law….” Buckbeak said looking down at the snoring human.

“Hmmmm…. Maybe. He is progressing rather fast, and if he is able to last long enough with Grandmaster than it would substitute the training.” Iron pondered. He looked at the back of his hand. A green mark appeared on it, he felt the power the fragment gave him as his eyes glowed Green before the magic show turned off.

“It may be your best option, otherwise the fragment will fade.” Buckbeak warned.

“Don’t remind me.” Iron said looking at Nick. there was no greater shame then losing a fragment to an enemy or allowing it to fade. And Nick demonstrated all the necessary traits needed. The only problem is he held no allegiance to King Golden Horn.

“Your call I can’t make this decision for you. And remember the time you have hasn’t changed, only how you can spend it. You were granted one hundred years, most minotaurs don’t get ninety naturally. You have just over a decade to choose.” Buckbeak said looking at his old friend.

“I ain’t that old yet!” Iron boasted, “just look at me!”

“You're eighty Nine years old, you just have the body of a twenty year old.” Buckbeak deadpanned.

“Yeah yeah I know.” Iron waved him off.

“What will you do?” Buckbeak asked.

“I’m not sure, but what effects will it have on Nick? He’s basically Immortal what with his weird as buck aging magic.” Iron said looking down at him.

“I’m not sure, your limit was set by King Golden Horn, Without him present who knows.” Buckbeak shrugged.

“Uuhhgg… what happened.” Nick said as he stirred.

“Trixie reeled you in after you got out of control.” Iron shrugged. Buckbeak walked over and grabbed the color of Nick’s jacket.

“SON OF A BIIIIITCH!!!!!!!” Buckbeak said and proceeded to slap Nick over and over again.

“Nice chat.” Iron said nonchalantly.

Three hours, a Human Beatdown, and one Turnip later saw Nick sitting Next to a peeved Trixie, Iron Fist sitting across from them, and Buckbeak wide eyed and shaking while trying, and failing, to drink some relaxing tea muttering “the horror…”

“So, when do we leave?” Nick asked.

“Well, after that little…. Incident, I would have to say at least a week, maybe two.” Iron deadpanned Glancing at his sacred friend.

“Well, at least we have some time to relax.” Nick said with a sheepish smile.

“The Turnip was not necessary.” Trixie Growled.

“Oh come on I said I was sorry!!” Nick said looking at Trixie.

“I’m still mad at you.” Trixie said with a harumph.

“Well, all things considered, it could be worse, Twilight could have gotten him.” Midnight said boredly.

“That reminds me, we still need to be on the lookout for her.” Iron said looking at Nick.

“Oh her? Don’t need to worry about her, We came to an arrangement.” Nick said pulling out the sealing orb out of the flesh of his palm making Trixie shiver.

“Wow that is gross.” Midnight said watching the display.

“You get used to it.” Trixie said taking a sip of her tea.

“What happened?” Iron asked.

“She came at me in a dark alley while off her rocker and accidentally hit herself with her own spell, and I transferred her into this.” Nick said forming a mouth around the orb and pretended to have it eat the orb. Silk promptly fainted.

“Or not…” Trixie muttered.

“Ima do some more shopping, had some fun out there, which reminds me, I got you all something.”Nick said snapping his fingers making a red lightning like energy come from the snapped fingers and touch the table, when it was over the gifts he bought were on the table. The cheese wheel had a massive bite mark in it as Iron pounced on it on site.

“Mine!!!” Iron said and dashed downstairs.

“Never underestimate the power of cheese.” Nick muttered darkly.

“Is that a Lunar scythe!?!” Midnight shouted.

“I guess, why?” Nick asked.

“These are super rare, where did you even get this?” Midnight asked looking over the staff.

“I found it.” Nick shrugged.

“... I’ve never wanted to hit someone and kiss someone this much at the same time before….” Midnight said while her eyebrow twitched.

“Another thing you’ll want to just get used to.” Trixie deadpanned.

“Don’t think I forgot you Trixie” Nick said floating the necklace he got her making her blush and Midnight chuckle.

“Not used to being the ‘submissive’ gender Trixie?” Midnight said o\holding a hand up to her mouth.

“Err, sorry Trixie…” Nick said rubbing the back of his neck.

“No no it’s fine, I grew up with Bulls being the same way with me, it’s just an instinctual thing you know?” Trixie said waving her hands.

“I suppose, this world can be so confusing, males of some species are dominant, while submissive in others. Back on my world it was more or less females being the submissive gender.” Nick said sitting back, “guess I’ll have to wait until Silk wakes up before I give her her present. “ Nick said picking up the bracelet, “I’ll see you guys later.” Nick waved and left.

“Well, I need a nap.” Buckbeak said climbing upstairs.

“Well, I’m going to get some target practice in.” Trixie said walking out to the caravan.

“.....Now what?” Midnight said. Silk’s leg twitched.

Market with Nick

Nick walked through the market after having dumped what was left of his last shopping spree in his and Trixie’s cart and dispelling the pocket dimension. Currently he was replenishing his supply of stone by making a pouch of water in his abdomen and repeatedly filling it with water and condensing the stone grown from it into energy and infusing it into the stone in his skeleton.

Nick wondered the streets of the market unsure of what he wanted to buy, if anything. There wasn’t much he could think of at the moment, he wouldn’t have a chance to get anything like what he could find here for a while, so he didn’t want to miss this chance. After about an hour of searching and finding nothing of interest he began to make his way to the city gates. He wondered when Zangetsu was going to reappear, it had almost been a week and he would normally appeared by now. He traveled towards the city gate, maybe some time walking through the fields could be a relaxing way to pass the time?

He had little trouble with the guards in trying to leave the gates, he hoped it would be the same with trying to get back in. he traveled down the wide dirt road with vast fields of wheat on either side of him. It was a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky. He walked until the city was barely in sight and made a turn for the river. As he made his way down towards the river the ground began to violently shake. The ground around him began to be covered in soft grass and colorful flowers. Three figures emerged in front of him. The first two he recognized as Bill and Michael the archangel. The third he didn’t know, but had a sinking suspicion of whom it might be.

“Bill?! how are you-” Nick began but was interrupted.

“Him.” Bill and Michael said pointing at the large figure.

“Yes… Mee.” The figure chuckled.

“Are you…?” Nick said shaking in the knees a little.

“Yes, I am Morgan Freemen.” The being said.

“.....” Nick stood there in silence.

“Yes I’m what you would call god.” The ancient said rolling his eyes.

“Soooo… What’s up?” Nick said.

“We're here to deliver a gift. Your little buddy Zangetsu needed a better Vessel than you this time, so we took the liberty of turning him into a Zanpakuto using Excalibur.” The ancient said casually. Nick stood there flabbergasted. The ancient pulled out the sword in its sheath and held it out to Nick. “here you are.” Nick took the sword with a dumb nod of his head. The moment he touched the sword he felt a massive rush of power and could hear Zangetsu's voice.

“Just go with it Nick, it’s a thing now.” Zangetsu sighed.

“Well, gotta run.” The ancient said snapping his fingers and vanishing with the others.

“But… I... Have... Questions…” Nick said moment too late. He pulled Zangetsu from his sheath and looked at the blade and found Zangetsu in the reflection of the blade.

“sup?”

Unknown location

Lucifer snaked through the shadows of the forest searching for a host. Without a physical body he had little to no power in this plane of existence. He needed a body with some power, the animals of the forest withered within minutes of him possessing them. He needed something stronger. He stopped when he saw the beginnings of some sort of structure in the foliage. He made his way over to it and found a wall. A big one to, it was at least twenty feet tall. He smiled as he knew what this ment, where there were walls, there were people, people that could be a suitable host.

He attempted to climb over the wall, but as soon as he touched it he felt incredible pain as a magic shock wrecked his spectral form. Magic?! How? Despite the pain he felt he couldn’t help but to cackle at the implications of this. A being with magic would be much more effective. If he had a mouth it would be watering at the thought of the power he would soon have.he snaked his way along the wall looking for some form of entry. Eventually he came across two entries, one was a griffin with yellow fur and feathers , and the other was a red scaled Kirin. Both seemed to be wear a mix of tactical and medieval guard armor.

“You ever wonder why we’re here?” the Kirin said to the griffin.

“It’s one of life's great mysteries isn’t it? Why are we here? Did the gods and goddesses create us for something? Or are we just pawns in a greater game? I don’t know man, but it keeps me up at night.” The griffin said. For almost an awkward silence sounded between them.

“.....What? I meant why are we out here, in this forest?” The Kirin said looking strangely at the minotaur.

“Oh.. I uhhh yeah.” The griffin muttered slightly embarrassed.

“What was all that stuff about the gods?” The kirin asked.

“Uuhhh… hm? Nothing.” The griffin said.

“You wanna talk about it?”

“No”

“You sure?”

“Yea.”

“Seriously though, why are we here? Wouldn’t it make better sense to put a max security prison in the frozen north where they would simply freeze to death if they tried to escape?” The kirin asked.

“Well the wild animals in this forest would be a bigger threat than the snow, a strong enough magic user could simply warm themselves with magic, here they have to worry about what’s edible what’s poisonous, what creatures are lethal, getting lost and several other things, if they make one wrong turn they’ll end up in the jungle of the everfree, and not just the forest.” The minotaur explained.

“I guess, but what about an island? They would never get far without being spotted.” the Kirin countered.

“Again, magic. Should they break their magic bindings than a simple water breathing spell would be more than enough to fix the problem. The minotaur said.

“True…” The kirin said. Nether noticed the shadow listening in on their conversation. Lucifer smiled at the thought of getting a hold on one of these prisoners, who knows what they were capable of? He snaked his way over to the kirin and sunk into his shadow. He waited for hours listening to their talks, each word making his metaphysical eye twitch. He made a note to come back and torture the yellow one. Finally their shift came to an end when a pair of kirins came to relieve them, one was blue, the other cyan.

They walked in through to the prison none the wiser to the specter in the kirin’s shadow. As soon as they were inside lucifer detached himself from the kirin and made his way into an air duct before heading into the cell blocks to browse is selection. He saw some promising candidates, a massive minotaur that seemed to have thousands of pounds in metal holding him down, and he seemed like he was barely affected by them. A griffin with….. Teeth? He watched as a chunk of raw meat was tossed into his cell and watched as his wing diced it into bits before he feasted on the bloody carcass.

Another was a large black dragon, he made special note of this one, as far as he could tell there was nothing special about it, other than it being a dragon with four eyes. With each cell, which was more like a heavy containment chamber than a normal prison cell, he saw something even more dangerous than the last, a Kirin made of lighting, a weird bug like creature that’s head resembled a horse that seemed to be submerged in acid, a werewolf with bone like spikes coming out of its limbs and torso.

Finally he came to the final and deepest cell, unfortunately he had to stop using the ducts as he could not find a way to get through using them. In fact the only duct that even got close to the cell ended at it’s massive vault like door. Lucifer smiled at the site. If they went to this level of security as to give this one a separate air system, this deep in, they must be especially dangerous.

He searched for a way in doing his best to avoid being spotted by the eight guards posted at the door. The door was air tight. No matter where he looked he could not find even the tiniest crack or opening to get in. suddenly the room grew incredibly bright in an effort to stay alive he jumped at one of the guards while he wasn’t looking and possessed him. A temporary host would work just fine, soon he would have whatever was behind the door. The reasoning for the rooms sudden brightness became apparent with the bright glowing orbs attached to a large metal crate.

“Get ready boys, we may have this bastard contained, but he’s still dangerous. We cannot make any mistakes. Each of you take a glow orb and attach it to your armor.” A large horse like creature said securing one to his armor.

As they attached the orbs lucifer was testing out the powers of his current host while commanding it to do as it was told. A Kirin, sizable magical abilities, just enough to summon his favorite toy. The horse like creature walked over to the vault door and pressed his hand onto a square protruding from it. A spike pierced his hand before it turned red hot cauterizing the wound. The door slid open and the horse like creature walked over to a bowl mounted on the wall nearby and dipped his hand into a liquid that caused the flesh around the wound to twist inward until it looked like it had never been there.

“Be ready for anything, thousands have fallen to this bastards cruel claws, try not to let yourselves be his next victim.” The horse creature said and walked in followed by the crate and guards. They walked through a long corridor lit with the strange orbs, their light penetrating everything leaving no shadow. On the walls were scripts of some sort each of which gave of a blue glow. Soon they came to a room with three doors, one led into the containment cell while the others led to observation rooms.

“Open the door.” The horse creature said to a Griffin in one of the side doors. With a nod and bress of a button the door began to open. Inside was a large black box suspended by chains with the same glyphs that lined the walls and the box itself. “Remember, we need to reload the sedation drug tank, nutrient packs and water supply, do not mess with anything el-ack!!” The horse creature began only to be impaled by a black blade with a red aura.

“It’s been too long since I used you, Clarent.” Lucifer said as the Horse creature looked back at him.

“Steel Wall… why?” The horse creature said before his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

“He’s gone rouge!! Take him down!!” One of the other guards shouted. As they charged him they fell one by one to his dark blade.

“Honestly, why do you even try?” Lucifer asked as he walked up to the last guard who was cowering in the corner with his legs cut off.

“Brother…. Why?” were his last words as lucifer slashed his throat.

“Now then, where was I?” Lucifer asked as the lighting suddenly went red and the door slammed shut. Lucifer walked up to large box and sliced the chains holding it up. He pierced the lock holding the vault like door closed and melted it away. When he walked in he chuckled in amusement when he found a coffin bound in chains suspended in the middle of the box with three tubes protruding from it. With a whirlwind of slashes the coffin, chains and tubes were shredded leaving a creature bound like a mummy inside.

“What do we have here?” Lucifer asked no one in particular. He had expected something…. More. hat lay below him was a lean fox like creature with six tails. From what he could tell it had crimson chest fur that darkened near it’s head and faded into it’s pitch black hair. The fur around its hands was white while the fur around it’s legs faded into black around the knees. The tails started out as Crimson but faded into black tips.

“Well, there’s a reason why you’re in here, so let’s see why.” Lucifer muttered. He pierced the blade of his sword an inch into the creature’s chest and transferred into is new body. The sword burst into a black mist that seeped into the wound losing it, and reappeared in the creature’s hand. Lucifer stood up as he looked over his new body, it was incredible, the power flowing through it was mind boggling. He began to laugh maniacally as he drooled at the thoughts of the things he could now do. His laughter was soon cut short however when he suddenly felt a tremendous pain wrack his new body.

“What’s this?” a thought rung through his head, “an arch demon? How quaint. I’ve only ever absorbed three of your kind before. Ith a fourth my power will be unmatched on the mortal plane.” The creature said gaining control.

“What?! But… how...?” Lucifer struggled to get out.

“Don’t bother asking how, you won’t exist as more than a portion of my power for much longer. And thanks for the gift by the way.” The creature said as he absorbed the incarnation of pride itself and looked over his new blade. “Now then, these lights are beginning to sting a little, time to fix that.” He said and broke all of the lights by swinging his arm outward. He walked out of the box and headed for the door. He went over the memories of his latest victim. It seemed he was after a very powerful soul, perhaps it would make a decent meal, and if what he gathered was correct, a ticket to godhood and a shortcut to getting his last three tails.

“Subject Zero, lay down on the ground and place your hands and tails flat on the ground.” A guard said through the intercom.

“That is not my name. I am the bird of hermes…. Alucard.”

Pride

“Sup?” Zangetsu asked.

“Did I seriously just meet our universe’s creator?” Nick said looking at the place the deity just stood.

“I guess?” Zangetsu shrugged.

“Soo… this is excalibur eh.” Nick said looking over the blade. It was fairly large, a bastard sword. Hopefully it wouldn’t be a bastard to wield. He put the sword on his waist between his belt and his pants. The power that Nick felt slowly started to disappear as he took his hands off the blade.

“So what I miss while I was gone?” Zangetsu asked.

“Trixie’s pregnant.” Nick said holding a straight face.

“WHAT!? HOW? WHEN? THE FUCK?” Zangetsu shouted unable to comprehend he had missed something so big.

“Yeah, I made a pot of clam chowder last night and she ended up looking like she was.” Nick chuckled.

“....you're nuts sometimes you know that?” Zangetsu deadpanned.

“I will neither confirm nor deny this.” Nick said with a smug mirk. Heading down to the river bend.

“So.. I got a Book from Bill somehow. Found it in a magic shop.” Nick said pulling out the tome.

“Huh… well. Think we could go Bankai?” Zangetsu said shifting about the sword.

“Hmmm… maybe. But if that is a thing than I doubt I could yet, just holding the sword feels almost overwhelming, if that is a thing, than doing so would end up with me blowing off an arm at best, or exploding completely at worst.”

“True, something to think about though.” Zangetsu shrugged.

“Oh, by the way, I got a Kirin teacher now.” Nick smiled.

“What!? Seriously? When?” Zangetsu said looking at Nick.

“Just after you were blasted into oblivion actually.” Nick said rubbing the back of his neck.

“Well.. shit.” Zangetsu said.

“Yea, we arrived in Omsbeak this morning. Got lots of cool things, like this cloak.” Nick said pulling on it a bit.

“Nice, enchanted?” Zangetsu asked.

“Invisibility.” Nick confirmed.

“Coolio.” Zangetsu said.

“So, wanna see what this thing can do?” Nick said pulling out Zangetsu.

“Let’s.” Zangetsu said with the face of an adrenalin junky. Nick held the sword in both hands facing away from him, the power from before coursing through his body. Using some basic transmutations he made some stone pillars near the river and began hacking away at them. As soon as he moved he ended up going ten times as fast as he had intended and slashed through ten of them as if it was a chainsaw through wet tissue paper.

“Whoa…” Nick and Zangetsu said in unison. He tried winging it about and found, while he was moving far faster than he intended, he had no less control or precision with the blade, now doubt the blades power aiding him. After roughly an hour of swinging the blade around like a kid with a new toy, Nick began to become winded. The blade began to feel heavier and heavier, and steam actually began to drift off of his body.

“Nick, I think that’s enough. You shouldn’t push yourself like this.” Zangetsu said.

“Yea, alright.” Nick said sheathing the sword, the moment Nick took his hand off of the blade his fatigue quadrupled. Nick fell on his back feeling like he had ran for a year straight while carrying a freight train. “Whaat the fuuuuck…” Nick said falling on his back unable to move.

“Huh… guess the sword has some… side effects. But hey, great training isn’t it?” Zangetsu chuckled.

“Yeah, training, possible death, ouch.” Nick said as he tried to move a finger, only for it to feel like he had just broken it.

“Nick, holy shit man what the hell. Your magic network is all messed up!!” Zangetsu said wide eye. He had been looking at Nick’s magic channeled, and found they had been altered, but it looked like Nick’s handy work, no what really got his attention was the state it was in. It looked like Nick had been maxing it’s capacity for the past hour.

“What’s wrong with it?” Nick asked.

“It’s completely fried!! Shit man this is going to take a while to fix, suffice to say no magic for the next day or two.” Zangetsu said looking it over. No matter how damaged it got he could repair or even rebuild it should it be completely destroyed, but it just took a while.

“Well, shit.” Nick said panting.

“On the bright side at least it will be stronger, hard to tell how much so until it’s back to normal” Zangetsu said going to work.

“Heh, I guess so.” Nick chuckled. “Ouch… no, hurts to laugh. Need to just not.”

“Yeah, no shit shurlock. You're magic network wasn’t the only thing that was fried, your body’s flooded with lactic acid, you're muscles are torn to shreds, and the bones in your arms look like gravel.” Zangetsu said looking over the damages.

“That why I can’t feel my arms, and my everything hurts?”

“Nooo, just a possibility.” Zangetsu said sarcastically.

“Heh, well, best fix that.” Nick said and began trying to heel with the stone, only to find that he couldn’t. “What?” Nick said starting to panic.

“What’s up?” Zangetsu said.

“Something’s wrong, I can’t heel!!” Nick said.

“What? Really?” Zangetsu said, “hold on, let me check something.” Zangetsu said and started looking over Excalibur’s power matrix.

“Zangetsu?” Nick said.

“Hold on, this is complex. I’m looking over the Magic matrix for Excalibur. It’s far more complex than anything we've ever done. It’s using several different power sources in unison, most of them are sealed, oh yeah forgot to mention, bill nerfed the sword so that it wouldn’t kill you, anyway, most of it’s power is sealed, I want to say at least up to ninety percent. Magic is one of the primary sources, several i’m not sure what are, but this one in particular is what we’re looking for. It looks like the sword trains your body through use, it will heal your body, but it looks like it’s going to take a while. And when it’s done it will be a lot stronger than before, but you won’t be able to make changes in your core body parts. You can still get your chitin armor, but it doesn’t look like you're going to be able to say hulk smash for a while.. hmm, it also looks like it will help with your magic system.” Zangetsu said going over the matrix.

“Well, that’s good.” Nick said closing his eyes.

Zangetsu said. “Oh sweet!” Zangetsu said finding a interesting part of the matrix that was sealed.

“What?” Nick asked.

“Well, we won’t be able to do it for a while, but it looks like there is a couple of transformation matrixes in here. Not sure what it will do, but I think it’s safe to say we could eventually use something akin to a Bankai.” Zangetsu said giddie.

“Really taking this Zanpakuto thing well aren't you?” Nick asked.

“Yep.” Zangetsu said happily.

“Since we’re stuck here for a while, I got something I was hoping you could help me with.” Nick said.

“What’s up?” Zangetsu asked.

“Well, while you were gone Twilight made here move, and ended up sealing herself. I moved her to a better container, and set it to let her go when she changes her mind set, so I was hoping you could change her mind.” I’m going to do some astral projecting to see if i can’t get some dirt on Celestia we can use to knock some sense into her, scan her memories and see what you can find, see what we need to do to change her. I’ll relay what i find to you.” Nick explained.

“Right. And Nick?”

“Yeah?

“Don’t over do it.” Zangetsu deadpanned.

Unknown location

Fire covered the prison causing smoke to rise and blot out the sun. bodies were strewn about the entire prison, but not a single drop of blood remained. Alucard walked from the prison into the forest with a maniacal laugh. He had spent the last fifty years in there, and with the help of one arch demon he was free. He remembered his first day here in this realm. He had covered the land in bodies, free of the seals that restricted his power. Schrödinger had almost gotten him, they had drifted through the winds of the void for longer than he could recall, eventually he was able to separate from him, but instead of returning to his world like he had originally thought he would, he ended up here.

So many possibilities opened up to him, especially when he acquired this body. Oh it had been a fierce battle, there was still a massive crater where it took place. In the end he took this ones life, body and soul for his own. The power he obtained when he did was incredible, it was a match to his own before hand and with the knowledge that he would only get stronger with it in time he decided to make it his new permanent form.

“Time to be rid of these old rags.” Alucard said looking over the old pieces of silk that had been the final nail in the coffin that kept him sealed. Tearing them off he assumed his signature red duster, wire glasses, and wide brimmed fedora. Searching through Lucifer's memories of this… Sigma, he found that he would still be at present be far too weak to be of any use to him.

“Where’s the fun in a game when there are no rules? No challenges? No goals?” Alucard asked, “even when holding back as much as I could, he could barely even stand against me. How about a few tests.” Alucard smiled. He held out his hand and focused. A large sphere of blood drained from his hand and hovered beneath his hand. He gathered up the power of the demon he had just assimilated and forced it into the sphere before forming it into a body. He thought about what form it should take and settled on one he had devoured long ago. The ball of blood formed into the body of a small thestral child. The child looked up to Alucard and smiled sweetly.

“How may I serve you master?” The child said.

“You are to find the Sigma, and you are to challenge him. Do NOT kill him, you are free to kill any others beside him, but the Sigma is MINE. Drive him to become stronger until he is to strong for you to handle on your own.” Alucard said.

“Very well.” The child said with a bow.

“Now, what’s a rival without a name? The Sigma will need a name to hate when he thinks of you, how about…. Pride.”

Chanterlot castle

Nick floated through the halls of the castle like a ghost. He knew if he was going to get some dirt on Celestia he would need to find it here in her home. He was stretching the outer limits of his projection skills, as far out as he was he was incredibly vulnerable. Nick made his way to the center of the castle where he hoped to find the throne room. He found it and at the throne was not Celestia, but Luna.

“Presenting Nightblade for the position of Prince.” Said a thestral guard. In walked a Thestral stallion in a black and silver armor. The princess looked him over, and looked over some papers in a file.

Pov switch
Luna

Luna sighed as another stallion walked through the doors in hopes of securing the position of Prince. Unfortunately in her absence the bloodline of her last Prince had died out without her there to care for them and Celestia had given no help to them. Now she had to look for a stallion with the right traits to form a new line of Princes to serve as her right hand. She looked the stallion over, from what she could see he was in very good condition, as were all the others.

She looked down on the files she had her guard gather on him, he certainly had a very good record. His herd had allowed him to train as a knight, he was very well behaved possessed very good manners… and was completely boring. He had no spark, he was a obedient soldier, nothing more. Her options were by no means limited, she could take any stallion in all of Equestria and he would be hers within the hour, but that wasn’t what she was looking for. She needed somepony that would do not just what she wanted, but what she needed.

Her original Prince had been such a stallion, with the free rain he had as Prince he was able to help her so much, and he never feared her wrath, rather he challenged her when he knew she was wrong. Luna stood up from her throne and walked over to the stallion. And covered him in her magic. She looked deep within him looking for something she could deem worthy of princehood. She found only cowardice and greed, typical for a noble, over the past thousand years corruption had still run deep in the nobility with her sister removing the right of renewal to keep the nobility… noble.

“This one will not do, his heart is that of a coward and his greed runs to deep.” Luna said walking to her throne and sitting down. Her thoughts drifted as the stallion left defeated. Over the years after she had returned she had begun to question her sister’s changes. The nobility run unchecked as long as they kept the Crown’s wallet full. Her thestrals and pegasi had remained closer to the old ways, but still they had gone astray.

She looked out the window and wondered to an idea she had been thinking about for the past year and a half. Should she withdraw from the kingdom? A split would no doubt severely weaken the kingdom, but she could at least fix her half. She worried how her people would take it though, she could use the calling to bring all pegs and thestrals to her new kingdom, but her sister would call her earth ponies and unicorns to hers. She would have the advantage of Twenty-four-seven Guards, but Celestia would have the strength and magic. Luna sighed, for now it was only a pipe dream until she could find a way to tip the scales in her favor.

Pov shift.

Nick made his way deeper into the castle where he assumed the dungeon might be. If he was going to find anything worth using it might be there, after all, what better way to judge a kingdom then how it treats its prisoners?

Nick made his way down until he found himself in a dark stone corridor. Down the way he could see a torch lighting the area….. and screams. Nick made his way in the opposite direction to see the entrance to this place, he followed the corridor until he found a heavy metal door with two heavily armed guards posted on either side of it. Nick fell somewhat as his form was distorted for a moment.

“Geh… looks like I’m nearing my limit. I need to get this done faster.” Nick said and headed back the other way.” Nick said clutching his chest. As he made his way deeper into the dungeon he passed by various cells. The ones closer to the entrance held Ponies, all of which we’re mares.

“Odd…” Nick said. As he went further the ponies stopped and he found other races locked up, more often than not brutalized. He passed several Kirin with their horns cut, or in one case ripped off leaving a chunk of his skull missing, it didn’t look like he would survive the night, another cell showed a Minotaur Bull that had Blood covering every inch of his crotch, another cell had a sea pony that looked like it was dried up with barely a small puddle keeping it alive... He made sure to take in every detail, he wanted Twilight to see this, if this didn’t shatter her view of Celestia than nothing would. As he made his way deeper he found a stallion being dragged kicking and screaming to a door near the end of the dungeons.

Nick followed them into the room and was horrified at what he saw. Inside he found a chair in the center with straps to hold down any put into it. Around it were things out of a horror movie, bloodied scalpels, a branding iron in the corner with the end in a fire, a bone saw, pliers, above the chair was a metal ring with chains dangling off of it that ended in fish hooks, on the wall near the back was a set of handcuffs nailed to the wall with a table nearby that had a whip nearby.

“You’re Alpha was very clear that we weren’t to disfigure you, she didn’t want you to lose that pretty face of yours or that nice body, so we made sure to make this, it'll heal anything we do to you.” The mare that had dragged the stallion in said holding up a syringe.

“You’ll all burn in Tartarus….” The stallion said.

“Aww, was the big mean minotaur too rough with you last night?” The mare taunted, “Next time I’ll bet you’ll listen to your alpha won’t you? Then maybe she won’t ask Celestia to have you processed. Then again, It would put me out of a job to process slaves if there none to process, then I wouldn’t be able to have fun like with that Kirin, hopefully the injection heals her pretty little skull, wouldn’t want to lose out on merchandise that rare.” The mare said flicking the needle. She brought it over to the stallion and jammed it into his heart.

“Fuck!” The stallion shouted in pain.

“Oh, trust me I wish I could, but that would be more of a reward than a punishment wouldn’t it? Now, let’s do something about that foul tongue of yours shall we?” The mare said forcing his mouth open and bringing a pair of pliers to his mouth. Nick cut off the projection not wanting to see what happens next.

Twilight’s prison

Twilight pounded on the wall of her cage, she had given up on magic a while ago as she couldn’t feel her magic network, and thus was unable to wield magic. There were no openings that she could find, not even the slightest crack she could chip away at. This wasn’t how things were supposed to have happened! She was supposed to have summon a familiar, show it Pony life, teach it the dangers of the world beyond equestria, and most of all… make a new friend.

“Why.. why did this happen?” Twilight said the beginning of tears in her eyes. She pounded her fists on the wall and then sank towards the floor. She curled up into a fetal position and began to sob, “I just want to go home, I want my friends, I want to sleep in My own bed again, I want to see spike’s face again, Why won’t he just listen to me? Why won’t he just come home!? He’ll be safe there.” Twilight said shaking.

“Maybe it’s because to him, it isn’t his home.” Zangetsu said phasing through the wall of her cage.

“W-who are you?” Twilight said scrambling into the corner trying to get as far away from him as possible. He looked like he was the same species as Nick, but he looked like a royal guard, or even a knight.

“I am Zangetsu, and I am hear to make you see reason.” Zangetsu said walking towards her.

“Get away from me!!” Twilight said as he approached.

“There’s no use fighting. Here I am the strongest.” Zangetsu said placing a hand on her forehead. He searched everything, everything he could possibly use against her view of Celestia. As he finished he felt Nick return. They shared memories and Zangetsu almost vomited from what he had learned.

“So, you ready to begin?” Nick said entering the cage.

“Yes, I doubt she will be singing this tune by the end.” Zangetsu asked.

“Play it all on loop?” Nick asked.

“Yeah, first the memories you got in the dungeon, then all the memories of Silk and the residents of Kevil.” Zangetsu confirmed.

“Right.” Nick nodded. They left the room leaving Twilight alone to wonder what they were going to do to her. Soon the room shifted so that she was in a long dark corridor.

River bead

“Fffffuuuuuckkk” Nick said as he woke into his body.

“Yeah the damages didn’t go away in just a few hours.” Zangetsu said looking over his body again, it was in considerably better shape than before, no more shattered bones and his muscles were repaired for the most part, albeit still torn up, at least they were connected again. His magic network was still fried though, and it didn’t look too much better than when he last checked.

“So, how's about we call up Trixie?” Nick asked.

“Yep, sounds like a plan.” Zangetsu nodded and went back to work on his magic network.

“Oi! Trixie you there?” Nick called.

"WHERE THE TARTARUS HAVE YOU BEEN!!?!? I’VE BEEN CALLING YOU FOR THREE HOURS!!!”

One week later

Nick stood in the field outside of Ombsbeak with Iron, over the past week Nick had recovered, and resumed his training, he had yet to use Excalibur again. Right now he was focused on the training at hand. Nick stood still balancing on one foot on a pool with a ball on the top.

“You’ve improved a lot, before you couldn’t even balance ne plate on a stick while on the ground.” Iron commented.

“Yeah well the threat of getting whacked with a stick was great motivation.” Nick said. A breeze blew through the area throwing Nick off balance. He wobbled several times before finally falling to the ground.

“Well, I think that’s enough of that for now, now let’s work on your swordsmanship.” Iron said tossing a wooden sword to him.

“Alright.” Nick said picking up the sword. Nick lunged at Iron who dodged left and brought his sword up at Nick’s gut whacking him with a thud.

“You need to stop lunding into battle like that. It’s only going to get you killed if you're not careful.” Iron commented. Nick turned back to Iron and readied his sword. Iron strafed towards Nick making it hard for him to judge what angle he was going to come at him with. Nick barely was able to swing his sword to counter iron as Iron swung his sword at him. Nick went to swing his sword again only to trip when Iron swung his tail under him. “Keep your eye on all of your opponent, not just the parts you think are the danger.” Iron said lending Nick a hand.

“So how's things coming along with the ship?” Nick asked.

“Not too bad, we’ve managed to load up the caravan, the ship leaves in three days.” Iron said parrying a swing from Nick.

“Yea? Any issues with the sleeping quarters.” Nick asked bringing up his sword only for Iron to angle his own so that it slid off and away from him.

“Not really, we’re stuck in the cargo hold, so we can still use the caravan for bedding.’ Iron said and blocked another swing from Nick. With a flick of his sword Iron disarmed him. Iron brought his sword down at Nick and stopped inches from him, the force of his sword brought with it a gust of wind that knock Nick off of his feet. “Not bad, you’ve improved a lot since we first started, you no longer just swing blindly.” Iron chuckled.

“Well i do have a good teache-” Nick started but felt a disturbance in the force. “Oh no… she’s found me!!” Nick said and activated his magic aura and flew off.

“GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!!!” Trixie shouted running after him. After he had lost track of time and hadn’t responded to her while he was astral projecting Nick had been on lockdown by his herd mates for scaring the crap out of them.

“Ruuuuuuuunn!!” Iron called after him.

Author's Note

getting close to 300 likes :pinkiehappy: , thinking about doing something special, watch out for my blogs, I'm going to make some sort of contest with the winner getting to co author a chapter with me, not sure what kind of contest though. :applejackunsure:

The Stubborn Bitch!!!

Nick ran like his life depended on it. One thing that was multi universal it seemed was this one saying. Hell hath no fury like a women scorned.

“Get back here!!” Trixie shouted after him. After his little disappearance act week ago she had been scared shitless. The only way he wouldn’t be able to communicate with her was if he was asleep, which he never was, or if he had been knocked out. When he hadn't answered she had been terrified, especially when they couldn’t find him anywhere. Needless to say Trixie and Silk had essentially grounded him, and had not let him out of their sight.

“Oh come on Trixie!! I said I was sorry!!” Nick said dodging an attempt to grab him.

“Sorry doesn’t undo the HOURS OF PANIC AND WORRY!!!!” Trixie shouted.

“You’ve had me on lockdown for the past week!!” Nick said running for the city gate.

“You were heavily injured!!” Trixie shouted after him.

“I finished recovering several days ago!!” Nick countered.

“And you have been a brat the entire time!!” Trixie shouted.

“You know better than to leave cookies unattended!!” Nick said and tripped.

“You're mine!!!” Trixie said pouncing on him, only to hit the ground when he teleported away.

“Ha!” Nick laughed, only to be tackled by Silk, or rather have her latch onto his side quickly and making him lose his balance long enough for Trixie to knock him off his feet.

“Now you're coming back with us.” Trixie said hugging his chest.

“Come on now Trixie, I think he’s had enough.” Iron chuckled as he walked up to them, “he needs to get back to training. He is going to need it severely.” Iron said seriously.

“I am? why? “ Nick asked as Trixie and Silk got off of him.

“I’m taking you to someone that can train you far better than I, at this rate it won’t be too long before you’re at my level.” Iron said.

“Really? Wow. how long will that take do you think?” Nick asked getting up.

“About six or seven more months, roughly the time it will take to get to this guy.” Iron shrugged.

“Sweet. Now, where were we?” Nick asked.

“We were in the middle of swordsmanship training.” Iron asked.

“Ah, right. Hey iron, do you think you could teach me how to dual wield?” Nick asked.

“Hmm, that’s more of an advanced style, you're not quite ready for it yet.” Iron said.

“Damn.” Nick said pouting.

“Just be patient, duel wielding is incredibly difficult, if you start trying to learn it now you’ll be even worse off than when we first started, wait until you master wielding just one for now ok?” Iron said.

“Alright…” Nick said.

“Now what?” Trixie said turning to Silk who simply shrugged.

“What is that? What the fuck is that!?” Nick said pointing over to a manticore walking calmly on the path to town.

“Huh, not often you see a domesticated manticore.” Iron said looking and the manticore walking past them. Several griffins with spears flew over and surrounded the manticore. The manticore stops and gets into a defensive position knocking it's unconscious rider off waking him.

“Halt! You cannot bring this beast within one hundred meters of the city.” A guard said.

“Fluffy? Hehe Fluffy won’t hurt nobody, silly pigeon.” The rider said pointing at the guard taking a drink out of a gourd of sorts.

“Get lost you drunk.” The guard said kicking the rider. As soon as the griffin’s foot made contact with him he grabbed it, pulled and slammed the griffin into the ground. The other two guards rushed him he dodged out of the way of the second one and under the swing of the third one. The second one thrusted his spear at the rider only for him to dodge and grab his arm. He spun and slammed the second one into the third one before throwing him over his shoulder. The third one came back and thrusted his spear at the rider, only for the rider to catch hs arm and break it. He smacked the guard with his gourd, slammed him onto the ground and body slammed the guard and took a drink from his gourd.

“Miss horse lady was nice to give me some vodka, I need to remember to return the favour…” He said. The first guard came back and swung his sword down at the rider, the rider backflipped off of the guard he was on and dodged two more swings before falling on his back and kicking the first guard in the face. “Hehehe… Birdies are always so grumpy.” The rider said laying on his back.

“So uhh, we just going to stand here or….?” Nick said looking at Iron.

“Technically they attacked him, he has the right to defend himself.” Iron said looking at Nick.

“Well should we just stand here and do nothing?” Nick asked.

“Looks like he has everything under control.” Trixie said watching the rider wipe the floor with the guards.

“Hey!! It’s the monkey boy the horse lady told me about, hi monkey boy!!!” The rider said getting up and stumbling over to him.

“Ummm.. excuse me?” Nick said looking down at him. He was an orange fox like creature, he had one tail with a white tip. He wore dark orange monk robes and had a large necklace with a small orb in it.

“Big horse lady asked me to find you. She said you were nice and on an adventure, so I thought I would tag along. I like adventures.” The rider said.

“I what? You can’t just-” Nick started only for the fox to put a finger over his mouth.

“Shhh… I’m coming along.” The fox said.

“Forget it Nick, once a Kitsune makes up their mind, only Inari himself can change it.” Iron said with his hand over his face.

“Whatever.” Nick said throwing up his hands and leaving

“So, what’s your name?” Trixie asked.

“My name is Kenzin, a pleasure… hey stop being three ponies, you're making me dizzy.” Kenzin said before falling over. Fluffy walked over and sat next to his master.

“Hi their Fluffy, I’m Silk.” Silk said fluttering over to the manticore. The manticore made some slight growling noises and a few meows.

“Really, that must have been very scary, but you're alright aren't you big guy?” Silk said petting the large creature.

Chanterlot castle
Throne roem

Celestia sat on her throne with her legs crossed and her fingers folded. She wore an annoyed scowl on her face as she looked out the window towards the everfree forest. It had been about two weeks or so since she sent in two of her best agents. She had been growing more and more worried as time went on, she had been grooming Twilight for years for any different things, she even planned on having her carry on her line of princes.

Sure she would have to arrange the marriage even if it went against her will, but is she had Twilight carry the next generation of her line before she ascended, or that was more of an if she did depending on how she returned to her, the next generation would be sure to wield power almost equal to a first generation demi-god. Speaking of demi-gods, she looked up and smiled as one of the only two stallions she trusted walked into the throne room and bowed before her.

“Blueblood, a pleasure. How have things gone in the everfree?” Celestia asked.

“Absolutely dreadful, the filthy beasts would not stop pestering me. I was able to retrieve the artifact, but I fear it may not be in as good a condition as you were hoping for.” Blueblood said snapping his fingers, summoning two guards holding a large chest.

“Let's hope it isn’t another decoy shall we?” Celestia said standing up from her throne and walking down to the chest.

“Indeed, I think I might have gotten a decent sized scratch from one of the hidra guarding the place.” Blueblood said looking at a small scar on his arm

“I told you you should have brought some guards, my magic in your line’s blood is starting to thin. You’ll need to have another pony infused with my magic to keep it strong.” Celestia said breaking the seals on the chest and opening it, only to frown and punch the empty chest to splinters. “Damn it, just another dud.” Celestia said walking back to her throne and taking a seat.

“Speaking of such, have our agents recovered my future wife? I want to continue my line before she starts to wrinkle.” Blueblood said eager to get his hands on the mare. He had been waiting for several decades for her to mature in hopes of finding a worthy broodmare. Her magic was almost on par with his, and she was very well endowed in all the right places. He wanted to take her soon before she starts to wrinkle naturally.

“Unfortunately the latest report didn’t bring up much of note. And it’ll be at least another week before we get an update.” Celestia frowned.

“Honestly if they are so incompetent to retrieve one mare why do you pay them so much?” Blueblood scoffed.

“They are ranked as two of my top agents. That's why, but you have a point. They should have returned with her by now.” Celestia said looking out the window.

“Send me, my hounds could track her down if you have something with her scent on it” Blueblood said “and it's not like I can’t go into the other nations.”

“Hmm, that is a good point, very well, but you're also to retrieve her familiar, dead or alive I do not care. At this point it’s to dangerous to keep unchecked, bring it here in shackles or just bring me it’s head. I don’t care which.” Celestia said.

Twilight’s cage

Twilight cried in fetal position as another illusion played. Every night a new one had been added to the loop. Things she couldn’t believe, things she couldn’t comprehend. The benevolent mother figure she had studied under since she was five doing unspeakable acts, giving unspeakable orders, and watching those things happen over and over along with contradictions to everything she had learned about the world outside of equestria. She just wanted it to all to stop. She refused to believe any of it, none of it could be true, this wasn’t the celestia she knew!!

At least that's what she wanted to believe. Unfortunately the images were to real, to acurate to be faked. Nick had never been to Chanterlot, tartarus he hadn’t even been to equestria outside half a night in ponyville, that did NOT go as planned.

“This can’t be happening, please!just make it stop!!!” Twilight pleaded.

“Alright, how about we take a field trip then.” Zangetsu asked walking through the now blank wall.

“W-What?” Twilight asked timidly.

“You have been a very tough nut to crack, but thankfully you are a smart mare, even if you are not Immune to ignorant bullshit. Though that isn't entirely your fault” Zangetsu said, “so i’m offering you a deal, Nick can Take you with him on one of his trips to chanterlot now that his magic network is back to normal.” Zangetsu smirked.

“Astral projection!! That can’t be, it's only a myth it isn’t possible!!” Twilight shot up unable to believe him.

“Really susceptible to ignorant bullshit.” Zangetsu said shaking his head.

“Hey!!”

“Tell you what, if I’m lying, then you get to go free, but if i am right, you have to make a donation to the Zangetsu is always right foundation.” Zangetsu said holding out his hand.

“The what?” Twilight said.

“The Zangetsu is alway right foundation, you see I’m one of the lucky few individuals that is completely immune to ignorant bullshit!!” Zangetsu said smiling.

“Just get on with it.” Twilight deadpanned.

“Right, you see Nick has been growing a bit impatient with your stubbornness so he has decided to take you along with him on his next trip to Chanterlot. He wants you to see first hand what he is finding there, his skill is getting good enough that he can take a tag along, and I get his body for the day.” Zangetsu said.

“If I wake up with herpes i’m tossing you into the river.” Nick said glancing at Zangetsu as he walked in through the wall.

“Oh trust me, Herpes is the least you’ll have to worry about.” Zangetsu smirked making Twilight shiver at his tone.

“Aaanyway, do you accept?” Nick said holding out his hand

“I…” Twilight said looking at his hand.

“If you still don’t believe me after this, I’ll let you go, under the condition that you do not bother me again.” Nick said.

“...alright.” Twilight said taking his hand. As soon as she took his hand they shot upwards, she looked down to see they were several hundred meters above the ground. Twilight latched onto his side and began screaming.

“Shut! The! Fuck! Up!” Nick said covering her mouth. Twilight gave a meek nod. Now, let me go and hold my hand, you’ll be fine.” Nick said.

“Where are we?” Twilight said looking around.

“We’re just above Ombsbeak.” Nick said. Their surroundings quickly changed however as Nick dashed to chanterlot with Twilight screaming her head off as she was pulled behind him… and continued to scream when they stopped.

“Shut it.” Nick said quickly.

“Yes sir.” Twilight said shaking.

“Good. Now then. Where are we?” Nick asked.

“C-chanterlot!!” Twilight shouted happily.

“Right.” Nick said looking at the mountain to their left, now remember, no one can see hear, smell, taste or touch us.” Nick said.

“What?” Twilight asked.

“Look at your hand, we are astral projecting right now.” Nick said. Twilight did as she was told and found that her hand was transparent.

“How..?” Twilight asked.

“Fucking magic.” Nick said bluntly.

“Right, now can we get this over with? I know none of what you’re showing me is real, none of it can be. It goes against everything I was ever taught.” Twilight said glaring at Nick.

“Whatever.” Nick shrugged before flying over to the castle. They entered and hid behind a pillar near the end of the throne room as they watched Celestia smirking at a brocken Fancy Pants.

“I think he should be of no issue by now. Bloody scalpel made sure to carve the lessons in rather deep, no pun intended.” Celestia said giggling at her unintended joke. It seemed like Nick and Twilight had arrived just in time to watch them leave with the husk of a stallion. He didn’t speak unless spoken to, his eyes looked like that of a corpse, and he his once tall proud stance was replaced with a hunched timid stance, as if he made one wrong move he would be mutilated. Over all, he looked dead inside.

“There’s no way Celestia would do such a thing.” Twilight said closing her eyes and shaking her head.

“You're seeing this in real time! How can you still not see through her!!” Nick said looking at Twilight.

“This is obviously an illusion. You think I’m an idiot? When you're little demon invaded my mind he took all he needed to replicate the castle. This isn’t even the real Celestia. And to prove it when I get back I’ll pay Fancy Pants and his herd a visit and he will be perfectly fine, and happy serving his herd as any good stallion would.” Twilight said giving Nick a dark look.

“You're really that stupid aren't you?” Nick muttered shaking his head.

“Alright, how about this then?” Nick said pulling her with him into the dungeon.

“Why are we down in the servants training quarters?” Twilight asked looking bored.

“Try the slave breaking dungeon.” Nick said as they started passing the cells with bruised and battered individuals.

“You aren’t fooling me, this is ALL fake. The servants quarters are for other races who wised up to the savage lands not under Equestrian rule and wanted a better life. It's a clean compound under the mountain ment for reeducating them, or in some cases just educating them period, to our ways, to know who their betters are and what the consequences of breaking our laws on them are.” Twilight recited what she had been taught.

“What?! And you think i’m fucked up enough to make this?” Nick said.

“You're a foreign male. You were brought up under less than proper morals. It's one of the reasons I need to get you back to equestria, so we can break you of these unhealthy habits. But of course I’m not one to do things without research. Tell you what. When WE get back I will personally show you the training compound. And if I can’t get you there myself, I’ll take a look for myself just to be sure.” Twilight said.

“How about I show you more of sunwhore?” Nick said before Twilight slapped him.

“DON’T. YOU. DARE.” Twilight said her fur turning white, her hair bursting into flame and her eyes turning red. Nick’s eyes widened for a moment at this.

“So that’s it then. Shes infused her with divine magic.” Nick said looking at her with a look of realization.

“I….What?” Twilight asked looking at Nick strangely.

“I think we're done here.” Nick said as they disappeared back into Nick’s body.

Zangetsu’s pov

“This isn’t good.” Zangetsu muttered.

“Are you ok Nick? You’ve been rather quiet all day” Trixie said looking at him.

“Hmm? Oh, no I’m not Nick.” Zangetsu said through their mind link. At hearing the foreign voice Trixie backed away from him wide eyed.

“W-Who are you? W-What did you did you do with Nick?”

“Uuuhhg, what the blazes happened?” Kenzin said holding a hand to his head.

“You got drunk, beat up a few guards joined our group, then passed out.” Zangetsu said looking over at the hungover Kitsune.

“Well, shit. Did they attack me first? Or do I have a bounty?” Kenzin asked.

“They attacked you first, you're fine.” Iron said walking up to the group.

“Dad, this isn’t Nick.” Trixie said pointing at Zangetsu shakily.

“You needn’t worry, Nick is out at the moment. I am his Tulpa, I have his body for the day, or for now with what we just learned.

“And what’s that?” Iron asked.

“Is no one else concerned about this?” Trixie said on the verge of freaking out.

“Why should we be? It’s just a tulpa, hell it’s a common practice for Kirin to have them to fine tune their magic precision. Hell I would have been surprised if Nick didn’t have one.” Midnight shrugged, while also taking note of this development.

“Huh?!” Trixie said looking over at the lounging Kirin.

“I once tried to make one myself, but unfortunatly they require a lot of attention, and didn’t have the time back then.” Iron nodded,

“So what did you learn?” Buckbeak said jumping from his cloud.

“It’s about Twilight. Over the past week we have been showing her things from Canterlot, Nick's been making astral projection trips to the place to dig up dirt on celestia in hopes of turning Twilight against her, and it would have worked, but it seems she has been infected with Celestia’s divine magic.” Zangetsu explained.

“This makes things difficult then.” Iron said stroking his beard.

“What do you mean she's been infected?” Trixie asked cluelessly.

“Well, when you spend enough time around a deity it can have…. Certain effects. If it isn’t the one that created you, if one created your race, then your alignment with your race’s regional creator will dissipate and be replaced with the new one. After that you’ll start to be flooded with their divine magic. This takes a long time to have a signifigant effect, it’s why most deities rotate shifts in who their personal guards are every few months, but with Twilight it’s different. She has been studying under Celestia for years while in close proximity to her, often times while Celestia was using magic on or around her.” Iron explained.

“And there are only a few ways to undo this. The easiest would to be to find another deity to expel the magic from her, but seeing as that's very unlikely, the only one that could undo the magic, would be Twilight herself.” buckbeak continued.

“And this could prove risky, on one hand, she could see everything in person and have her world rocked, and not in a good way.” Zangetsu said wiggling his eyebrows at Silk.

“EEP!!” Silk squeaked before hiding behind Trixie who shot Zangetsu a glare.

“Anyway, Celestia, from what we understand, has given Twilight a warped life. Hiding her shortcomings and crimes and glorifying her beliefs into Twilight with a metaphorical sledgehammer. This alone would have been broken over time or with Nick and Twilight’s trip to Canterlot via astral projection. But unfortunately Twilight assumes it to be an illusion. And when Twilight called Celestia Sunwhore, she went into a rage shift that brought out the divine magic build up.” Zangetsu said.

“Yeah, that’ll do it.” Iron nodded.

“Anyway, unless we can figure out a way to get the magic out of her, it needs to be shocked out of her by showing her the real Celestia in person. And even once we do remove the magic she would need to see Celestia’s actions. Otherwise she would just be an annoyance rather than a zealot.” Zangetsu finished.

“I might be able to get rid of the divine magic.” Kenzin suggested.

“You could?” Zangetsu asked.

“Wouldn’t be easy, but if we could bring it out of her, like with a rage shift, then i could summon my avatar and latch onto it. Though we might need to do this a few times. I’m not only a single tailed Kitsune, unless one of you has at least twice as much magic as the Kirin over there, my avatar would only be just have as many tails as me.” Kenzin went on.

“Hmm, Nick’s magic is far stronger than Midnights, even with the marks limit. How strong would a nine tailed Kitsune be? I doubt Nick’s magic could add an additional eight tails, but he might be able to add one or two.” Zangetsu asked.

“Hmm, well a nine tailed Kitsune is roughly the equivalent of a thousand one tails at weakest. And my magic should be about on par with midy hear.” Kenzin stated pointing a thumb at Midnight.

“Then how much magic would Nick need to get your avatar up to four?” Zangetsu asked.

“About as much magic as ten of me.” Kenzin shrugged pulling out his gourd and tried to take a swig, only to find it empty, “damn, anyone got some wine or something? I’m out.” Kenzin asked looking around.

“Doubt you could handle my mead. It’s almost lethal to most other races.” Iron said shaking his head.

“Meh, whatever.” Kenzin said pulling out a pocket watch, “needs some fine tuning…” Kenzin said taking a look at the time and seeing the hands moving too fast.

“Kenzin, focus. You said you might be able to take out the divine magic if Nick gave you enough magic?” Zangetsu said.

“Yep. how did I join your group again? It's all a bit to blurry and I’m not drunk enough to remember.” Kenzin said looking around for answers.

“You walked up to Nick, called him a monkey boy, said some horse lady said we were on an adventure, and joined to go with.” Trixie said.

“Oh, yeah!! I do remember a horse lady saying something about a monkey on an adventure. Well, here's to new traveling companions!” Kenzin said pulling out a smaller gourd with some water in it.

“Even still, with her upbringing, she will still need to see these things in person.” Midnight said.

“It’s to risky, we need to keep her away from Celestia, she would no doubt undo what we’re about to do, and keep a tighter hold on her. She is a very powerful asset to Celestia, and we can’t risk just letting Twilight go back to her.” Iron stated.

“That’s why I’m taking her.” Midnight stated.

“What?” Iron said looking at her with a hardened glare.

“Don’t worry, I can handle her. This Lunar staff is an amazing Magic focus. See this? It’s freaking Platinum! Both the crescent moon and the winding bits around the staff are platinum with BLANK RUNES!!! And the wood of the staff? Freaking ebony with an indestructibility enchantment!! This thing would sell for millions!! Whoever sold this to Nick had no idea what they had. With this, lil Twilight ain’t got shit on me.” Midnight said bouncing the staff in her hand.

“So you plan to take her and bring her back?” Zangetsu asked getting a nod from Midnight, “be careful then, she is no joke after all.” Zangetsu said.

“Their back. Kenzin are you ready?” Zangetsu asked.

“Can it wait until this hangover passes, just kind of starting to hit me.” Kenzin said holding up an hand to his head.

That Bastard Took My Coffee.....

Nick placed Twilight back in the gem before retaking his body. They both knew what was at risk right now, and Nick’s magic control was needed severely at the moment. With the mark however, there was only so much magic he could supply. Nick turned to Iron Fist.

“Iron, what will happen if I complete the familiar contract with Twilight?” Nick asked.

“Hmm? Why would you want to do that?” Iron asked looking at Nick.

“I haven't really said anything about it, but having this limit on my magic is driving me crazy. Even with Silk and Trixie linking with me it’s only gave me access to maybe three percent of my power. And with the progress that I’ve made it might be less than that.” Nick said crossing his arms.

“WHAT?” everyone said in unison.

“Remember, I have no magic of my own, I simply make it. The limit on how much I can make depends on how much my body can handle channeling. The mark severely limits that. Even with everything that's happened I’m still much weaker magically then before coming to equestria, much weaker. If I didn’t have this mark my magical might would be much higher, I trained for two years before coming here in a world with absolutely no magic outside of my own, so I had nothing but my own desire to be strong to drive me to become stronger. Since coming here I have gained a real reason for getting stronger.” Nick said looking at Trixie causing her to blush and make herself small.

“Well... she’ll be able to summon you once a day, and have the ability to send you back to where she summoned you from. You also would be unable to harm her in any capacity. If you tried magic it would just bounce back at you, if you tried, say, punching her your muscles would lock up or go limp preventing you from touching her. You could also fully share magic with everyone connected to the mark.” Iron said smiling at Nick’s words. He wouldn’t be dying anytime soon, but at least if he did he knew his little girl was in good hands.

“So put bluntly, I wouldn’t be as useful a burning turd in a perfume shop if we needed to contain her if she got out of hand.” Nick deadpanned.

“Yup.” Iron said.

“Midnight, do you think you could contain her?” Nick asked.

“Pfft, with this staff you gave me? It would literally take a demigod to match me.” Midnight said with confidence.

“Alright, then Kenzin you ready?” Nick asked.

“Haaangover.” Kenzin said clamping his ears to his head.

“I’m on it.” Trixie said lighting up her horn and throwing a spell at Kenzin’s head.

“Who what where when why!!!” kenzin said shooting up.

“A little something I learned after a bad hangover, only being a hundred pounds doesn’t do you any favours as far as holding your alcohol.” Trixie said looking at her fingernails.

“So that's how much you weigh…” Nick said looking at his mare with a mischievous glint his eyes.

“Oh you little….” Trixie muttered looking at Nick making him chuckle.

“It’s alright Trixie, it’s all in the right places.” Nick said with a wink.

“Well, I guess we can get to it shall we?” Kenzin said summoning his avatar…. Making Nick’s eye twitch.

“Yyeesss” Nick said looking at the ten foot tall golden fox spirit.

“Alright set her loose and hop in.” Kenzin said moving his avatar’s tail over to Nick. Nick stepped in and let loose a beam of read magic that formed into a glob of energy before solidifying into Twilight. Nick had to refrain from making a pokemon quote in fear of sending the wrong message to Trixie.

“Ready?” Nick asked holding out his fist.

“Ready!” Kenzin said connecting his fist with Nick’s. The avatar doubled in size and gained a second tail.

“Uuughhh…” Twilight groaned as she got used to having a physical body again.

“Kenzin how are we doing this?” Nick asked.

“First we need to draw out the divine magic, we need to make her angry.” Kenzin said.

“Right.” Nick said. “Hey Twilight, when I’m done with you i’m going to fuck Celestia’s Fat ass!!” Nick shouted. Twilight hearing these words about her mentor made her mad, really mad.

“I’ll Kill you First!!” Twilight said turning around while her hair turned to fire and her fur turned white……….. and froze when she saw the giant avatar, “oh crap…”

“Now” Kenzin said and lunged at the screaming mare. He latched his magic onto her core and began ripping out the prominent magic. Twilight tried to fight it, but the magic was too strong, and her fear kept her from focusing. When they were done Twilight laid on her back panting with an orb of gold and red magic hovered above her.

“What did you do to me?” Twilight asked with a shaky voice.

“We took out the divine magic Celestia had inside you, she can’t use it to control you in any capacity anymore.” Nick said grabbing the orb after he jumped out of the avatar.

“What?! I-Impossible! Celestia would Never-” Twilight stopped when Nick shoved the orb in her face.

“What does this feel like to you?” Nick asked, though there was little point. Twilight was a unicorn, and any unicorn or earth pony would recognize celestia’s magic in an instant even if they had never felt it before.

“I…..” Twilight had no words.

“Midnight is going to take you back to Chanterlot, if you disobey her she’ll bring you back to us. You’ll see in person what Celestia has done but first” Nick said reaching a hand to her, she tried to backpedal but stopped when she saw him offering his hand to her, “I believe we have a contract to finish.”

“What?” Twilight asked.

“Once you see for yourself in person what she is doing you’ll have no reason not to believe me. You’ll be more than welcome to come back afterwards. Now, are you ready?” Nick asked.

“You have to come with us!” Twilight pleaded.

“Sorry Sparky, but that ain’t happening. The best I’m offering is to complete the contract.” Nick said holding out his hand. Twilight stared at his hand for a long minute considering her options. Celestia actually did plant her magic in her, she couldn’t believe the one she thought of as a second mother would do that without her consent or knowledge. Being granted a portion of one’s deity's magic was considered a great gift and honor, so long as it was consensual, but like this? She could have been Celestia’s literal puppet without even realizing it! And if Celestia was willing to do that, then what else had she been doing behind her back?

“Ok, but you have to promise me a place if what you say is true, and if you’re lying then you have to come back with me.” Twilight demanded.

“Pfft keep dreaming bi-” Trixie began.

“Deal.” Nick interrupted her.

“WHAT!!” Trixie shouted.

“Alright.” Twilight said standing up. Brushing herself off she looked at Nick closely, he wasn’t bad looking for a non pony, and stood almost a full two heads taller than her. She didn’t get to see a whole lot under the cloak and jacket, but from what she could see, not even big mac would measure up to him. She reached out to take his outstretched hand and almost shivered when he took her hand. She could feel his strength that he held back in his grip. Twilight looked over at Trixie and gave her the stink eye, “lucky bitch.” Twilight muttered.

“Annd he's aaaalllll mine.” Trixie gloated. Silk cleared her throat making Trixie smile sheepishly at her, “well, our herd’s anyway.”

“Not property people.” Nick deadpanned.

“Sorry.” The mares said in unison.

“Anyway how do we do this.” Nick asked.

“I just need to infuse some magic into the marks and link them, hold on.” Twilight said lighting her horn making everyone tense.

“So how long will this take?” Nick asked.

“Done.” Twilight said.

“Well that was fast.” Nick said looking at the back of his hand, the mark was complete with Twilight’s cutie mark in the center.

“Hmm, well let's give this a try shall we?” Nick said taking a few steps back.

“Give what a try?” Twilight asked.

“Kaioken!” Nick shouted.

“Kaiowhat?” Twilight asked before she was nearly blinded by a bright red glow. Now that Nick no longer had any restrictions on how much magic he could make that he didn’t have prior to coming here, he wanted to test his limits. Activating the flight aura he channeled as much magic as he could into it, and the results were nothing to sneeze at. He knew he wouldn’t be able to contain this much magic like he was supposed to with this spell, and with as much magic he was now surrounded by a crimson aura that was so thick it was almost tangible, the aura spread around him about three meters and flowed upwards like a flame.

“What the buck?!” Trixie said nearly falling on her ass.

“Yeahaha!!!” Nick said shooting upwards and started flowing even more magic, his aura began to expand until he looked like a red star in the sky.

“By Inari, what is he?” Kenzin asked looking at the giant ball of magic.

“A show off that's what he is!” Trixie shouted.

“Dear Faust what have I let loose on Equestria……” Twilight muttered as she witnessed her Familiars full power.

“I forgot to tell him that spell burns off clothes if you put too much magic into it.” Midnight said with her eyes shrinking to mere pinprics.

Fluttershy’s cottage

“Angel bunny that was very mean. Now you apologize right now. If you don’t mind that is...” Fluttershy said in a failed attempt to scold her pet. For the past week he had been acting up, his less than pleasant attitude had gained him a reputation around the cottage with the female bunnies, and now that mating season had started for bunnies that reputation had done him no favors. After his latest failed attempt to woo a female that ended with him writhing on the ground questioning the integrity of his testicals, his resulting temper tantrum he decided to find the female while carrying hair remover, unfortunately for the male she had chosen for that season he was in the act with her when angel struck.

Now Angel Bunny sat pouting with bits of hair missing thanks to the hair remover that got on him when the other male resorted to pawdecuffs. Currently angel was tied up with grass with a large lump on his head with the bunnies he assaulted standing next to him complaining to Fluttershy, why she kept the little monster around baffled all the animals on the cottage. After beating the crap out of Angel bunny the male tied him up and dragged him to Fluttershy. Angel Bunny protested with his little chattering noises saying that the girl bunny had attacked him first.

“Even still, you know what you did was wrong, and you shouldn’t have been pressing your luck like that with her.” Fluttershy scolded. Angel bunny didn’t think he should be in this position, he was her personal pet!! The female bunnies should be begging him to mate with him!! Angel bunny struggled in his binds with no success.

“I’m sorry for what angel did, don’t worry, I’ll make sure he’s disciplined.” Fluttershy said picking up her Bunny, “alright angel, I think the best punishment for what you did is to ground you for the rest of mating season.” Fluttershy said as she took him up to her room and pulled out a medium sized dog cage modified to house Angel. Angel protested while trying to break free of his binds and from Fluttershy.

“I know it seems a bit harsh, but you need to learn not to do things like that.” Fluttershy said undoing his binds and placing him in the kennel. After locking the cage door she walked over to her bed and slipped under the covers, good night angel.” Fluttershy said as she turned off the lantern lighting the room.

Defeated and imprisoned angel slumped against the padded wall of his cell. The rest of mating season. He would not let this stand! He tried playing nice, but all that got him was a padded cell, all he was missing was a straight jacket and the set would be complete. Bouncing over to a tattered corner of his cell he waited for a few hours before he reached into a hole to reach his stash.

Outside the cottage

Two bunnies that had suffered Angels wrath hopped next to one another chatting. The events earlier had taken the mood out of both of them, and now they were just looking for their burrow. How dare Angel try to take his mate! And what he did to them had taken any desire to mate out of them, and with winter not far off it would be a bad idea to try while they were missing a good thick coat of fur. Now it was best that they make sure their burrow was extra insulated. They made their way to their burrow at the edge of the forest and tuned in for the night.

The Bunny couple slowly drifted off to sleep until they were in a deep dreamless slumber. The couple came to with a stir when something felt off. The male bunny woke to find himself completely bound with duct tape and greated with the sight of Angel bunny with a crazed look in his eyes towering over his bound mate. He struggled with angered chittering noises as iff to say, “stay away from her!!!” Angel Bunny simply smirked and turned to his prize. She was going to bare his young whether she liked it or not.

As Angel stepped over to her he heard a commotion from above, it sounded like something was…. Digging? Angel didn’t even have time to look up at the sudden burst of moonlight that shone down at them when a set of massive jaws filled with several rows of impossibly sharp teeth bit him in half. Looking up the other bunnies went pale at the sight before them. A large hound like creature swallowed their enemy in one bite. Their pupils became pin pricks as the creature looked back down at them. This was it, they were going to die. The large creature went down to take another bit, but froze.

Hound creature pov

Magic. He felt a magic unlike any he had ever felt before. Not a god, it barely even touched the roots of a god's great oak of power. But what this magic meant to him was insulting to say the least, especially since he was in the middle of a meal. Leaving the two bound Rabbits, the hound like creature gave a howl that sent dread into the hearts of every living creature that heard it, from the smallest of ants to even the alpha male manticore a mile away.

Everything that heard the howl felt a primal fear that made them want nothing to run for their lives. The only creatures that didn’t run were the other hound creatures, they simply ran over to the creature they knew as their alpha. The barks, growls and snarls his pack gave told him they felt it to, and were non to pleased, after all, challenging an alpha Garm was never a good idea.

Omsbeak field

Nick revelled in feeling of having his full power back, like seeing an old friend for the first time in years. The results of his training showed to, his power was now on par with a low tier demi-god. At this rate he might be able to take on Celestia some day, though he was somewhat doubtful, the possibility was there. Nick looked around at the aura he was projecting…. Maybe this was a bit excessive. He floated to the ground deactivating the aura. Nick landed on his feet but when he looked down, he noticed that all that was left of his clothes were the metal plating he had in them that had fallen to the ground.

“Dude, where's my clothes?” Nick asked covering up with some chitin plates.

“Yeah umm, the thing about the Flight aura is if you flow too much magic into it you’ll end up burning off any fabric they touch” Midnight said with a slight red tinge to her cheeks.

“You never told me you had that much magic!!” Trixie shouted walking over to Nick.

“You never asked.” Nick shrugged.

“Wow, that was enough Magic to go toe to toe with a four tailed Kitsune, I’m impressed to say the least.” Kenzin said walking over to him.

“Only a four tail huh? How far off am I from getting to a nine tailed?” Nick asked.

“Pfft, not even close, you would need to more than triple that much power to take on an eight tail, let alone one of the grand elders. There's only three of them for a reason.” Kenzin chuckled at Nick’s question, “though, if you were to nearly double it you might stand a chance against a six tailed Kitsune.” Kenzin stated.

“Well, that’s going to take a while, but at least I know where I stand there.” Nick said rubbing the back of his head,“Alright, Midnight when do you think you’ll be able to take Twilight back to Equestria?” Nick asked.

“We can head out by morning, I travel light, so there isn’t much to prep.” Midnight said walking over to Nick, “but first, what are we going to do with this?” Midnight asked looking at the solid sphere of Celestia’s magic still in Nick’s hand.

“Oh don’t you worry about this, I got something very special in mind for this.” Nick said looking at the small orb.

“Does this mean you need some new clothes…” Silk sighed looking at the scattered scraps of metal.

“Yeah… sorry about that silk, had I known I wouldn’t have done that. But, I have a few ideas that should help minimize the work you need.” Nick said giving her a reassuring hug making the silk drone blush a deep green as his abdomen brushed against her. She was going to have to have a talk with Trixie, waiting like this was driving her crazy!!

“Ok, but this time don’t go burning off you're good clothes.” Silk said giving a light glare at her mate.

“So um, can we get back to you're training Nick?” Iron asked.

“Sure, and don’t worry, I promise to hold back.” Nick said with some mischievousness in his eyes.

Next day

Nick was in the forge working on a new project. E had drafted the designs for the cloth parts and handed them off to silk. The orb of celestia's magic was currently locked up in a safe under the workbench. Twilight and Midnight had left this morning taking the route towards the Crystal empire. Trixie had retired to bed early yesterday after everything that happened.

Soon they would be heading off to the Kirin home land where this Martial arts master was, hopefully he would come out of the training with a great deal of skill. Nick hammered away at his project, the heat didn’t bother him too much thanks to the ventilation bringing in all the cold air from outside, but he had been working on this for several hours now, he slammed his hammer on the cooling piece of metal one last time before setting down.

Wiping the sweat off of his brow Nick removed his blacksmith apron and set his hammer on the workbench. He walked out of the forge to find Kenzin sitting next to it with a piece of wheat sticking out of his mouth and an open pocket watch in his hands.

“Hey Kenzin, do you think you could by any chance teach me that avatar technique?” Nick asked, he would love to learn it.

“Hmm? Oh you mean my spirit form? Sorry, but you wouldn’t be able to do it. Only a kitsune can, it’s a special magic that only exists in Kitsune blood.” Kenzin said with an apologetic tone. Kenzin’s words reminded Nick of something he had set out to do a long time ago, but had forgotten since coming here, and face palmed once he realized how many opportunities he had to obtain new genetic samples. Thanks to everything that had happened since he came here he didn’t really think about it.

Kevil was a major potluck of different creatures he could have acquired. Well, it was too late to go back now, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t start a new collection, he already had Trixie’s DNA about ninety nine more and he could resurrect unicorns should they ever go extinct.

“Hmm, in that case, would you mind if I tried something?” Nick asked.

“What would that be?” Kenzin asked.

“I can absorb the genetic material from almost anything, when I do I can gain some of their traits or even become what I absorb. If you let me, I would take a single drop of blood from you as material to use, I would be able to use Kitsune magic.” Nick said.

“.....huh?” Kenzin asked.

“Let me have a drop of your blood and I’ll be able to use Kitsune magic.” Nick deadpanned.

“Oohhhh, why didn’t you just say so?” Kenzin said stretching out his arm, “why not, I’d like to see what you can do with it.” Kenzin said.

“Alright, thanks Kenzin.” Nick said grabbing his arm and extracting the sample. The sample was a bit more complex than average, but nothing he couldn’t figure out.

“So what’s this project you're working on by the way?” Kenzin asked.

“Just some things to help keep me safe while looking awesome. Plus some training items and such. Now that this mark is no longer suppressing my power it opens up several possibilities. And since I’ve grown accustomed to having a lot less power and have learned how to make better use of what I have, I think it would be best to put some sort of limiter to keep it in check. After all I don’t want to blow us all up now do I?” Nick said.

“Yeah that would be a bad thing alright.” Kenzin nodded.

“Anyway, I hope to have it done by the end of the week before we head off. Won’t be able to work on it on the boat. Unfortunately I can only work on it for so long before the heat of the forge gets to me. So a nice break is in order.” Nick said enjoying the breeze going over his bare chest.

“Hmm, so you're able to get new powers by taking blood from others?” Kenzin asked.

“Yeah, why?” Nick asked.

“Then just go find a dragon and take some of it’s blood, they are completely immune to heat of any kind, and have scales that are so tough, they're second only to mythril.” Kenzin said.

“Really, do you happen to know of any nearby?” Nick asked.

“Hmm, I’m not all that sure to be honest. Most dragons tend to keep to themselves down south in their own lands. There are a few younger and middle aged ones that venture out for one reason or another, but this far north you would be a little hard pressed to find one.” Kenzin said.

“Damn, well i’ll find one sooner or later, for now I think I should go find Iron and Buckbeak, see if I can’t get a sample form them. But before I do can you show me how to use that aura thing?” Nick asked as he made adjustments to the magic focusing bones in his arms and hands by adding in a few veins of bone that generated Kitsune magic..

“Sure, to be honest it isn’t much different than a unicorn’s levitation spell, just merge the matrix with a shield matrix with some Kitsune magic and you're good.” Kenzin said.

“Really that simple?” Nick asked shocked that such a powerful spell was so simple.

“Sort off, once you merge the two spell matrixes and add the Kitsune magic in it turns into a completely new matrix with blank spots so you can add in some sub spells. For instance if I were to add in a magic blast spell into one of the blank spots I would end up using a crap ton of magic and fire off a massive energy blast.” Kenzin explained.

“Interesting. Hmm, yeah, you're magic is really different from anything I have felt before, almost alive… cool.” Nick said making an observation at the modified veins of bone.

“Yep, impressive isn’t it?” Kenzin more stated than asked.

“Yep.” Nick answered before shivering. The heat from earlier’s hard labor and the furnace was wearing off now. With his jacket burnt to less than ash and silk still working on his new clothes he decided to go with a look he hadn’t used since his last anime convention.

Nick made his way inside his and Trixie’s cart and grabbed some baggy silk pants, some spare combat boots, and plenty of spare fabric Silk had left lying around. After poking a hole through the baggy pants Nick grew himself a long thick monkey tail along with a short but thick layer of black fur over most of his body except his head, neck chest and abs. He threw on the baggy pants and combat boots before wrapping his ankles waist and wrists in the spare silk he lengthened his inch long raven black hair until it was just above where his nipples would be if he still bothered having them.he made sure to thicken his hair as well. The end results was him looking like a character from one his favorite anime growing up with a slight color change.

Stepping out of the cart Nick was met with the cold mountainous air that barely fazed him now that he had grown some fur. He walked down the street looking for his intended targets.

Vinyl and Octavia

“Come on Vinyl, we’ll find somepony, but we can’t go home to do so until we find Twilight.” Octavia said looking at vinyl who chose simply to look down at her coffee.

“Neon, big mac, Braeburn, quibble, Bushel, Thunderlane, even Derpy’s brother Caboose turned us down! All because they’re too scared to look me in the eyes Octavia.” Vinyl said.

“I know, and it’s their loss for their own superstition. We both know you don’t have any of Celestia’s magic in you. Yes you work for her, but so do I. besides, why would she put her magic in you without consent? That’s taboo in the pantheon.” Octavia said reaching over to her herd mate giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

“I know, but… octavia, I’ve been thinking, this mission isn’t official, and we technically don’t work for her. Officially were just normal citizens on vacation. What if we, don’t go home? What if we just went back grabbed our stuff and moved here? Changed our identities? We wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore and maybe we would have an easier time finding a male?” Vinyl said.

“Honestly that does sound like a good idea.” An excessively masculine voice with a slighty scottish accent said startling them. A moment later a large minotuar sat next to vinyl blocking her into her booth.

“Hey who the buck are-” Vinyl started, only to stop when she heard Octavia speak up.

“It’s been a long time, sensei.” Octavia said with a none too pleased look on her face.

“It has Octavia, you’ve grown quite a bit.” Iron Will said looking over her.

“You look… younger?” Octavia said looking over the Bull that was not as old as she remembered.

“Just a change in appearance.” Iron said.

“Ah, so what do we owe this pleasure.” Octavia asked.

“Simple really, i want you to leave Twilight Sparkle and her familiar alone, or at the very least do not do anything with them that Celestia has ordered you to do, now, back to the subject at hand, this little mare here wanting to leave Equestria.” Iron said putting a hand on the Vinyls shoulder.

“Sorry, but that can’t happen, we would be on the run for the rest of our lives.” Octavia said.

“She’s right, we'd have never be able to live in peace.” Vinyl said with a sigh.

“Maybe not, see Twilight’s Familiar is traveling with me, and he’s learning fast. Fast enough that we are heading over to the Grandmaster for training.” Iron said, “and his magic is on par with a four tailed Kitsune. And that isn’t even the full story. Now I think we could come to a sort of agreement. You two are thinking about leaving Celestia, Nick and Trixie want a Full herd. You to would make perfect herd mates. You're looking for a male that’ll accept this mare without thinking she was one of Celestia’s puppets, Nick is just such a Male. if you're interested Meet us at the pier in three days.” Iron said getting up and leaving.

Octavia sat there for a long moment thinking about his offer, was it worth it? Not only would they be deserting, but they would also be joining one of Equestria's enemies. If they took the offer they could very well finally be in a herd, something they had both wanted since they were young fillies. But they could never return home. Octavia’s career as a famous cellist in Equestria would be over, and she would be branded a traitor. Vinyl would be able to continue her career as a DJ anywhere. She would be willing to do it if Vinyl was up for it. She need to talk with Vinyl about this.

“That bastard took my coffee.” Vinyl said looking down to take another drink.

She was kind of.... Hot.

Nick walked through the streets of Omsbeak looking for Iron and Buckbeak. So far he had no luck neither were at the house, so he had decided to wander until he found them. Now he had been wandering for three hours only to get lost in the city. As he walked down one of the main roads he found a billboard in front of what must have been a bar by the wafting smell of alcohol. Giving up on his quest to find Iron and Buckbeak for now he looked over the different posts on the board. A few wanted posters, some help wanted posters, but what caught his attention was the big one with big numbers below it.

"Arena tournament, all are welcome, grand prize 10,000 drackle. Scheduled on october 17nth"

While Nick wasn’t all that interested in the money, what did catch his attention was the all are welcome part. While the vast majority of Owsmsbeak were griffins, he had seen a few other races wondering about. He might very well find a few in the tournament to catalogue DNA from. Asking a guard for directions to the arena and the date, it just so happened that Nick only had one hour left before he could enter, so acting as job security for the custodians of the city, Nick left a dust trail that would make even the bluest of hedgehogs proud.

Fluttershy’s cottage.

Fluttershy shook in place as yet another one of her animal friends came in only to report no sign of angel bunny. She was shaking even more than usual. Unfortunately her incredibly shy and timid nature were accompanied with a fear of almost anything, even other ponies were frightening to her. Her therapist often attributed this fear to the fall she had as a foal that led to her getting her cutie mark, but in truth she had been shaking with constant fear and anxiety long before that.

While it had gotten to the point to where it was hardly noticeable at a glance, if one were to look at the light yellow mare for more than a few seconds they would think she was trembling constantly. Her animal friends helped to ease her anxiety, but even still she still couldn’t help her lifelong condition. After finding Angel bunnies kennel open when she was woken up by that horrifying howl she had a panic attack. In her panic she had hid in her basement. She asked one of the ant hives she let stay there to spread the word of her missing bunny, but after hours of the few animals that were brave enough to help her, her fear of him not turning up grew more and more.

"Fluttershy?” She heard the muffled voice of her lifelong friend rainbow dash call out to her.

“Mrs. ant queen, could you send out some ants to tell Rainbow dash I’m down here?” Fluttershy asked. About a minute after she heard the door to her basement creek open and saw rainbowdash’s legs descend from behind the stairs.

"Fluttershy? Are you down here?” Rainbow called out.

"Over here…” Fluttershy said quietly standing on shaking hooves.

"Oh thank Faust you're alright.” rainbow said running over to her and giving her a hug.

"Rainbow, Angels missing, none of my animal friends can find him.” Fluttershy said clutching rainbow tightly.

"When did you see him last?” Rainbow asked.

"Last night, he throw hair removers on two other bunnies so I put him in his kennel for the night.” Fluttershy said.

"Fluttershy that was a Garm howl last night everypony in ponyville was evacuated. We need to get out of here. Have your animal friends look for him but we need to get out of here.” Rainbow said pulling Fluttershy to the door.

"What!?” Fluttershy screeched and began panicking.

"Fluttershy calm down. We need to hurry out of here.” Rainbow said trying to keep her freind calm while trying to get her to the door. The sooner they left the better. For all they knew the Garm could be just outside in the fields.

"But Angel, he could be out there, we need to find him!!” Fluttershy said shooting for the door. As soon as they were outside Fluttershy flew up and looked around for her pet, but was quickly joined by rainbow dash.

"Fluttershy we need to go!! Just tell your animal friends to look for him, but you know wen have to leave now!!” Rainbow said grabbing onto her.

"But…. but Angel!!” Fluttershy said tear streaking down her face.

"Fluttershy!” Rainbow said shaking her freind by the shoulders, “We. Need. To. Go. I know you're worried about Angel, but those were GARM!! The hounds of helheim. Only the princesses or other gods could possibly handle them. Just one could rip apart a hundred royal guards. And they are hunting near ponyville. If one sees us anywhere near here we are as good as dead.” Rainbow dash said hoping to hammer in just how bad their situation was.

"Ok, let me just-” And then they heard it. A bone chilling growl. Looking towards the ground about thirty meters away, was a Garm. it's towering frame easily dwarfing either ponies. It's thick red tinted black fur and large spikes jutting from most of its joints were almost as terrifying as it’s massive jaws filled with multiple rows of razor sharp teeth each so massive that they could easily reach bone, but the worst part where it’s eyes. Glowing red eyes with pitch black pupils and veins. “Fly. Now!” Rainbow dash said nearly tearing off Fluttershy’s arm in the process as she shot off with her friend in tow.

The Garm took chase kicking up large chunks of earth as it’s callosal claws dug in for traction. Flying as high and fast as she could with fluttershy in her arms now rainbow didn’t expect the beast to be able to leap as high as it did. Even though she must have been a hundred feet ahead and two hundred above in the relative short distance the Garm had ran o fast it gained enough momentum to launch itself to close the difference, but just barely. With a mighty swing the beast loped off Rainbows left wing at the middle of her first wing limb leaving just enough to avoid ripping it out with a chunk of her back.

Rainbow let out a horrifying scream as pain wracked her body. Thankfully her fellow pegasus was able to keep her from falling as her body was now surging with adrenaline and pumping her wings as fast and hard as they were capable of moving. And even faster when she heard the howl of another Garm. She never even bothered looking back as the one that took rainbow’s wing retreated back into the forest. The horrible pain had made rainbow scream her voice away on the way to cloudsdale, eventually passing out from blood lose.

Omsbeak fields

Trixie pulled her bow taught as the targets swung about in front of her. Letting loose the first arrow she pulled the bowstring back again loading the second of the three arrows in her hand firing it to hit the target behind the one her first arrow hit and finally the third one hitting another target that had been launched into the air by Silk.

Pulling more arrows from her quiver she moved as a ball was launched at her and silk cam at her with a wooden sword. Using her bow as a makeshift sword to counter silk and jump back boosting herself with her magic. Drawing another arrow mid air she fired it hitting another target almost hitting the bulls-eye.

She and silk had been going back and forth like this for at least two hours. While Trixie largely outclassed her, Silk was still good enough to keep her on her toes while she was getting in some target practice. The amount of love she had been getting from everyone lately had been enough to make silk as strong as her magically. While her boosts on stage were just an act, Trixie was still no magical push over as a mid level A-Class unicorn, she at the very least could handle herself for the most part. She simply had to get back into the groove of living outside of equestria. While she had no love of equestria, on thing she did appreciate was the relative peace there, even if it was somewhat forced at times.

Either way, living there had left her little actual motivation to practice her magical skills for combat. Her walk of shame back to her home town had almost ended in a involuntary torn hymen and a horrifying experience. Thankfully though Nick had been nearby and came to her rescue. She was always torn about it all. While she had grown up with a minotaur family, for most of what she could remember from her childhood, she was still a pony mare, and instincts could never be fully suppressed by upbringing.

She often found herself fantasizing about dominating Nick and taking him when she watched him train. She knew he could easily overpower her in most respects. His ability to control his cells like a sculptor molds clay left him able to be as physically strong as he wanted to without magic. What if he were to obtain earth pony magic? Or even minotaur magic? He could be as small as her and still be four times as strong as her.

If he wanted to he could tower over even her father and have muscles that dwarfed his. Though, she was glad he never actually went so big. Muscles on a male were attractive to a mare, but just as males would be turned off with boobs the size of a mares torso, muscles that big often turned them off. In fact the only females she could think of that found that kind of thing attractive were Dragonesses and Minotaur cows.

Omsbeak arena

Nick panted as he backed off from the dragoness he had been pit against. She was as tall as him, but much more slender. Her golden armor complemented her blue scales well, and her speed and strength betrayed her voluptuous form.

“What’s the matter monkey boy? Is that all you got? A lot of talk for a scrawny little chimp!” she mocked strutting over to him. He had been a bit to confident in his abilities as is, and had quickly regretted going in with fur now that most of it had been burnt off. His magic seemed to have little effect on her as it bounced off her armor and her scales easily tanked anything less then a higher level blast.

"All I Got? Lady, I normally refrain from harming the fairer sex, but you lost that mercy by entering the arena.” Nick chuckled.

“Stupid monkey, how dare you!!” the dragoness shouted as she charged him and threw a punch, only for her wrist to be caught by a hand much larger than what she had been fighting.

“Monkey? Try Gorila!!” Nick said standing half again her height as his bones lengthened and the new muscles he had made on his arm were matched by the rest of his body.

"Hubba hubba” the dragoness mumbled before being punched through the wall.

Omsbeak field

Trixie was just fine with how Nick was. So long as he didn’t grow flippers again. That was just…. no. Trixie shuddered at the memory giving Silk just the opening she needed to knock her down.

"You're slipping again Trixie. Thinking about the flipper incident again?” silk said helping her back up.

"We all promised not to talk about that again!” Trixie said quickly.

"Ok, just wondering.” Silk said shrinking back a bit.

"Well, I think that’s enough practice for the time being. How bout some lunch?” Trixie asked.

"I am running low on silk. Think we could get some mulberry leaves?” Silk asked her mouth watering a bit at her favorite snack. Love kept her fed and happy, but it didn’t make silk.

"There should be a few changeling friendly restaurants in town.” Trixie said walking towards the caravan.

"Yay” Silk cheered cutely. They made their way through the fields taking in the sights, they had to move the caravan outside for the time being since they would not allow Fluffy near the city. After grabbing her satchel Trixie and Silk made their way to town. As they made their way into town they saw Iron Will walking towards them.

"Hi dad!” Trixie waved to him.

"Just the filly I was looking for!” Iron said.

“You need me for something?” Trixie asked.

"Yes, I have… potentially good news. I found a couple of mares for your herd. I was able to sell it alright, but it might be best if you go and talk with them yourself.” Iron chuckled nervously.

“Dad, how many times do I have to tell you to stop asking random females to join my herd?” Trixie asked irritated.

"This one isn’t random, umm… you remember Octavia right?” Iron asked making Trixie recoil a bit.

"She’s here!? I thought she went back to equestria to serve “the creator of our kind.”” Trixie said quoting Octavia’s last words to her.

"I know I know.” Iron said raising his hands in a calming gesture, “look from what I overheard from her and her partner, she seems to regret her decision.” Iron said.

"And? We warned her over and over again that it was a bad idea, that the nobles were just her puppets. That there was nothing that she could do but to serve the bitch. Sorry, but no, it ain’t happening.” Trixie said crossing her arms.

"Oh come on Trixie, she’s your sister. Just give her a second chance.” Iron pleaded.

“...fine… alright I’ll THINK about it, but I’m making NO guarantees.” Trixie said.

"Alright, thanks Trixie, you know I hate to see family fighting. Your sister meant well, she was just naive.” Iron said hugging his daughter.

"She called me fat."

"You ate too much peanut butte.”

Cafe

"Oh come on octi, this could be our chance! He just flat out gave you the perfect stallion!” Vinyl all but shouted.

"We don’t even know this stallion, I trust my dad, but I don’t trust this creature-”

"Nick"

"The only report we have on him is his description, an account off assault with deadly magic, and a rape attempt.”

"We both know roseluck overreacts to everything, she once thought I was going to rape her that day Rainbowdash dared me to streak through tow naked.”

"Don’t remind me of that, the legal fallout of that was a nightmare, and you’re still not allowed within 100 meters of sweet apple acres.”

"Worth it.” Vinyl said.

"I spent three months buttering Big Mac into herding with us. Three MONTHS!!!” Octavia retorted.

"Eh, he would have been boring anyway, dude barely ever talks.” Vinyl said.

"Besides, this dude might be worth it, I mean he did streak through town on a whim” Vinyl said.

“He was summoned that way.” Octavia countered.

"He didn’t have to sprint through the town dong flying and nearly smacking everyone he passed.” vinyl retorted.

"I can’t believe we’re talking about dongs flying everywhere.” Octavia said sinking her muzzle into her hands.

"Be luck that’s all you’ve heard.” Trixie said walking up to them.

"Trixie.” Octavia nodded.

"Octavia.” Trixie said returning the nod.

"Wait, you’re our potential alpha?!?” Vinyl said standing from her seat.

"Yea? You got a problem with it?” Trixie said standing her ground.

"You two timing bitch! You were with another stallion just the other day!” Vinyl said taking a step towards Trixie.

"That was Nick, he can change his appearance at will.” Trixie deadpanned.

"I…. you're shitting me right?” Vinyl stuttering a bit.

"Nope. hope you’re not expecting to get anywhere with my herd with that attitude.” Trixie said.

"Trixie... Look we aren’t sure if we want to be in your Herd.” Octavia said looking away.

"It’s our only chance octi, with what we know? With what we are? Celestia would send her top assassins after us the moment she suspected we weren’t coming back.” Vinyl said reaching over and taking Octavia’s hand.

"I didn’t say you couldn’t come with us, but joining my herd is different. To be honest I’m not sure how big I’m wanting it to be, it may be the standard seven, or I might let it be nine mares. Either way you’re wanting to be a part of it after ditching all of us for Celestia, and she grew up as one of her lapdogs. Neither one of you have my trust, and even if you did Nick doesn’t even know about you two.” Trixie said.

Meanwhile

Nick ran from pillar to pillar in the arena as the raging dragoness sprayed fire that was on the verge of being plasma. Having proven to be much stronger than she looked, his beefed up form soon proved very ineffective as she broke his bones in a fist to fist clash.

"Come on big guy! Give me a challenge! You're barely better than the average minotaur warrior!” She taunted. Nick leaped to another pillar as the rock of the last one began melting away.

“Shit, I really don’t want to have to use this. Fuck it, let’s just see if I can nab a kiss or something, ain’t getting through her armor or scales like this.” Nick said modifying his tongue to be able to reach deep into her.

Back with Trixie

"So even if you two can get past me, Nick can still say no.” Trixie.

"Aw come on, aren't you his alpha? Couldn’t you just, make him let us in?” Vinyl asked.

"Even if she did act like an equestrian pony, I doubt Nick would let that happen.” Silk said scowling.

“And who the Buck are you changeling?” Vinyl said tensing up when Silk walked in.

"This is Silk, she is in my herd already, so she is another you need to get on board.” Trixie said scowling at Vinyl who made herself small.

"Shit.”

Chanterlot

Luna paced back and forth in her bedroom. Another Noble had come into her Night Court fighting her changes. The high and mighty attitude of the nobles was barely tolerable enough as it was, and not having a stallion around was starting to get to her. She missed her old mate dearly. While Celestia had used to have a mate like her, she had lifted his immortality one day. By the time he had found out they had already drifted apart.

Luna’s mate had lost his immortality when she was sent to the moon. Now that she had to find a new mate she was beginning to get pent up, not used to having no mate was driving her to consider a harem. Almost everything since returning had been a challenge. She was thankful for her thestrals. While her pegasi had seemed to swear their loyalty to Celestia, her thestrals remained as loyal as they were before her banishment. In truth if it weren’t for her divinity and her thestrals, her position as princess would be a nothing more than a title with no power.

"Princess! We need your aid!” A night guard said knocking on her door. Rushing to her door she looked down at the guard and with a serious expression. The tone in his voice was one of panic almost.

“What is the situation?” Luna said walking down the hall almost leaving the guard behind. Luna took notice of this, it seemed her guard like the rest had suffered in their skill and discipline.
"There have been reports of Garm near the town of ponyville, the town has been evacuated and the elements have been secured. However…” The guard said lowering his ears.

“Did something happen to them?” Luna said stopping to look at him.

“The element of loyalty was attacked by a garm, she lost one of her wings. She lost a lot of blood but our healers have informed us that she is stable after a transfusion.” the guard said.

"We have no further reports of any other sightings-”

“Regardless, we shall investigate. Has our sister been informed yet?” Luna interrupted.

"She is in the war room, there may have been a breach in security, though she wouldn’t say how, top secret. She told us to get you to deal with it.” the guard answered.

"A top secret breach over the safety of our subjects in a garm attack?!” Luna spun around with the royal canterlot voice.

"She said it was a matter of national security. And that you needed the exercise.” The guard said shaking in fear.

“..... inform the kitchen staff they are to throw out any and all cake and not to make any for the next week.” Luna said turning around and making her way to the armory.

The aither

Bill watched as his student battled against the dragoness preparing a move that he would regret wondering if he should inform him about dragon marriage rituals.. He watched as Luna made her way to ponyville where she would find nothing. He watched as his student’s herd mates discussed matters with the two agents. He watched as Rainbow dash lay unconscious in bed. He watched as Twilight and Midnight made their way towards the frozen north.

“This channel is boring. Can we please change it to something a bit crazier?” Discord asked in his ethereal form.

"No! Let me toss in the wabbajack!!” Sheogorath shouted, “no wait, I think I gave it to someone else already.”

"Wish I could, but faust already upset about everything I’ve weaseled in. I already ran out of leverage to toss more in, it’s why I’m watching so closely on everything. Despite her wishing I would just leave, she can’t force me to. She knows I outclass her out here, so for now one of the few things she can’t stop me on is simply watching. She knows she can’t interfere unless there is a full on war of the gods, something that will be avoided with Nick…. Hopefully.” Bill said.

"But iiim booooooooooooooored.” Discord whined like a small child.

"Is he ready?.... No. he would die at his current level. But how to get him there. There's only so much limiters will do. I could teach him those ones, but it’s still risky at this point. I really need to…. Decipher this riddle don’t I” Bill muttered.

“Booo!!! Bad pun is Bad!” Discord said.

“Bah, you don’t know good comedy.” Bill waved him off.

“Hey!”

"What to do what to do… got it!” Bill said pulling out his book.

Omsbeak arena

Nick spun around and made a mad dash for the dragoness dodging her plasma like fire. As he got close enough leapt at her. She responded by ducking under him only to be blinded by a magic flash and feel her arms being clamped to her body and she opened her eyes to see her opponent staring her in the face and closed in.

Nick snagged his kiss and slithered his tongue down her throat collecting as much DNA as he could before she inevitably threw him off…. Any moment now…. Nick looked into her eyes to see her stunned look. Having collected enough he lept away from her just in time to dodge a fire blast. The look in her eyes was one of rage, one that he had never seen before. Faster than he could track she dashed towards him her fist almost catching fire from the speed it was heading for Nick.

[puase]

Nick new his limits, he often wondered how he could surpass them without hurting himself too much. He knew that a kick to the balls hurt, he knew that a kick to the balls with a hoof hurt worse. However that begged the question, how much did the fist of an enraged dragoness hurtling towards his balls feel? Would he be able to cut off the nerves fast enough? Probably not. However he did know one thing as he looked down and had the image burned into his memory.

It was in that moment that Nick knew, he fucked up.

[unpuase]

The dragonesses fist made contact with Nick’s balls so hard that it shattered his pelvis and sent him flying out of the arena. She followed him and made a kick at him high in the air that sent him hurtling towards the forest near town. Nick landed causing a crater. Though the pain in his balls and pelvis outclassed all of his broken bones.

"Dead. you. Are. dead.” The dragoness said landing and walking over towards him.

"Despite his current situation Nick knew he had to think fast.” Cutting off all of his nerves he pulled in all of his philosopher's stone and brain into his torso where he quickly began tunneling under ground through his back with a makeshift egg like body before she could reach him. Once he was deep enough he sealed up the tunnel with a transmutation Nick expanded and generated more biomass to make a new body, this time incorporating parts the dragon DNA to grant himself immunity to heat and some armor plating made from Dragon bone. The DNA was extremely strong, though there were parts of it that were scrambled and unusable most of it was pure gold!. The muscle fiber structure was incredible, the bones he was able to grow now would far outclass his old ones, and the new magic could potentially aid him greatly. He grew himself a pair of draconic wings, replacing the scales with shield shaped bones weaving is unicorn DNA into the bones of his arms Nick

The dragoness picked up the old body of her opponent by the throat before ripping off it’s head oblivious to what was going on beneath her feet. She turned and walked away in a huff. After about an hour Nick popped an eye out of the ground and took a good look around. She was kind of….. hot.

Author's Note

sorry bout this being later than I said, when I imported the gdoc, it messed up the chapter by replacing every single gap between the lines with commands to modify the text. so it took me a while to manually fix it.

Is something burning?

Nick walked out to the black forest adjusting to his new body. Retracting his entire magic network into such a small body and re expanding it had taken it’s toll on him. It wasn’t like losing a limb and retracting it into his torso. He considered himself to be… was he even still human? He had been wondering that more and more lately. At first he knew only humanity as a true sapient species, though he had a suspicion that there might be life elsewhere in the cosmos, he reserved judgement until he had evidence to support it, so he considered that as his main link to being human other than his shape seeing as he had catalogued thousands of different animals on earth, everything from elephants to spiders, and as many endangered species as he could get his hands on. Storing all of that DNA had become somewhat of a problem, he had genetic caches all over his body but there was only so much room he could have before they became cumbersome.

“Trixie” Nick thought over the link.

“I’m a bit busy at the moment, can it wait?” Trixie responded.

“Just to let you know I’m going to be camping in the black forest for a bit, pissed off a dragoness, she was way to strong for me to fight, I’ll meet you at the docks in a few days.” Nick answered.

“......I can’t turn around for five seconds without you getting yourself into trouble can I?” an exasperated Trixie responded.

“You know you love me.” Nick answered coyly.

“See you then I guess… and you owe me a freebie, I’ve got two mares that’ll possibly be joining our herd, one of them’s my sister.” Trixie responded.

“You got a sister?” Nick asked surprised.

“By adoption, long story.” Trixie responded.

“Alrighty then.” Nick finished.

“Hmm, think I’ll keep these wings, they’ll make good shields.” Nick said idly as he walked. Nicked walked for several hours until he was a good distance in the forest before he picked a spot, “this should do.” Nick said raising a fist above the opposite shoulder and focusing a large amount of magic into it. With a swipe of his hand Nick unleashed a torrent of magical energy blades that tore apart the surrounding trees and ground until he had made a small clearing in the forest. Nick clapped his hands and then put them on the ground focusing the power of his philosopher's stone into the ground and turning the dirt into a solid stone wall around him to keep out any bandits.

“Alright, I’m going to be here for a couple of days, might as well get some training in, to bad I don’t have zangetsu with me, we could have really progressed with excalibur.” Nick said scratching his beard.

“Either way, let’s see what I can do if I train my hardest for the next three days!!” Nick shouted flaring his magic.

Kevil

Pride smiled as he walked through the burning village. Another group of guards charged him hoping to be the ones to take him down, they didn’t make it far. Before they were with ten feet of Pride they were all impaled with spikes of shadow. He was acquiring a decent boost in power from all the souls he was absorbing, though it was still far from what his father possessed. As he walked through town he looked for clues as to where his target might be.

He likely wasn’t here anymore, so he needed to find a lead on where. He laughed as he made his way to the chapel, maybe the local priest might know something? As Pride approached the chapel steps he was stopped by a barrier.

“You are not welcome here monster, you will not enter this sanctuary protected by faust's power!” The priest shouted in hatred of the monster before him. The Evil grin on it’s face betrayed it’s visage of a small innocent foal.

“You can’t hide in there forever reverend. Sooner or later you’ll need to eat something, how much food can you're little chapel hold? Enough to feed everyone in there indefinitely?” Pride asked with a smirk.

“Monster, by the power vested in by faust I command you to leave this place!” The priest shouted.

“Do you? Sorry, but you're command isn’t very compelling. We both know faust has no real power outside holy places such as your chapel.” Pride shrugged. The Priest sneered at Pride. He was right, while faust’s power was beyond all the other deities on the pantheon, the divine laws prevented her from interacting with the physical world outside sanctuaries, or if a total war of the gods took place could she stop it.

“You're wrong about one thing monster, we can stay here as long as needed, Faust will provide all that we need until you are gone.” The Priest boasted.

“Very well then I will make you an offer, tell me where the familiar Nick is, and i’ll leave your little village is in peace.” Pride said.

“I’ll never tell you anything monster.” The priest said and began walking towards the door of the chapel.

“Make no mistake reverend. I will get what I came for. However I suspect you’ll need some incentive to tell me. I know that I can’t get in there, but how many screams can you take before you come out here or tell me what I want?” Pride said sending a tendril of shadow towards a nearby bush dragging out a young minotaur cow.

“What are you doing you monster!?” the Priest asked as he turned to see her being dragged.

“Tell me? Have you ever heard the screams of a child that’s being slowly torn apart? I haven’t.” Pride said ripping off her fingers.

“No stop!” The Priest shouted almost rushing outside the barrier.

“Tell me where Nick is then.” Pride said riming off the upper part of her hand.

“I don’t know!! Now please, stop! I beg of you!!” The Priest begged.

“If you don’t know then why should I stop? I haven’t been told the information I need. Maybe it’s hidden in her arm somewhere? Best pick it apart slowly so I don’t miss it.” Pride said as he began peeling the skin of her arm off dragging out her screams to new heights. The priest dropped to his knees.

“Please I don’t know!” The priest shouted.

“But I do.” Steel hands said walking up to Pride.

“And who might you be?” Pride asked looking over at the minotaur.

“The name’s Steel Hands, the pleasure is all yours. Now then, I know here that filthy little monkey is. He stole a couple of things from me that I want back. I have an offer for you. Return them to me and you can have the monkey.” Steel Hands said.

“I’m listening.” Pride said.

“He has with him a young unicorn mare, she belongs to me. Bring her to this location. The second is an item of great interest to me. It has a similar energy signature as this.” Steel said tossing Pride a scroll and holding up a chunk of metal.

“Steel! You bastard what are you doing with that!!” the priest shouted in disbelief.

“None of your business old man.” Steel said holding up a crossbow over a burning bush. He aimed it at the wooden door of the chapel, “the unworthy might not be able to enter chapels, but are inanimate objects barred from entry?” Steel said pulling the trigger.

“So where is Nick?” Pride asked tossing the cow aside, no longer having a need for her he impaled her and absorbed her soul.

“He made for omsbeak in the Griffon kingdom. Do me a favour? Kill everyone else in this town? I don’t want any witnesses to blow the whistle on me.

“As you wish.” Pride said looking at the now burning chapel, ”tell me reverend, does that little barrier stay when the chapel is ash and rubble?”

Frozen Tundra

Twilight shivered as she and Midnight made their way through the snowy blizzard. Why was she being forced to take the long way?! They could have easily made their way back with the Equestrian embassy! She just hoped she could get away from Midnight once they got to Equestria. Once they were in Equestria she would be recognized immediately.

She had questions for Celestia when she got back. Why was her magic inside of her like that? Celestia would never do that to her, maybe it was accumulated magic? The guards had to be rotated away from the castles at least once a year so they didn’t accumulate to much. She knew that strong magical beings leak out enough magic for it to seep into their surroundings, it’s why strong unicorn wizards possessed a medium other than their horn to channel magic through, it could become an enchanted item just by constantly being in their presence, so maybe that was it! She had been within the castle walls for most of her childhood, so Celestia’s magic could have just unintentionally seeped into her.

“Hey Shorty corn! Hurry up!” Midnight said looking back at her.

“Will you stop calling me that!?” Twilight said in irritation.

“Grow above five feet and maybe, now get your flank in gear and get moving!” Midnight said. Twilight was quickly finding herself hating the Kirin. Once they were in Equestria she was going to sell her to blueblood.

“This Isn’t fair, first I lose my familiar, then I get taken out of equestria, then finally I’m stuck walking through a blizzard with a half breed freak!” Twilight grumbled.

“This half breed Freak can hear you you know, and I’m Not afraid to leave your ass out here with a broken tit!” Midnight said without looking back.

Twilight shut her mouth for now. Midnight’s magic had been holding back the brunt of the blizzard, while she wanted to point out that there were no bones to break there, she didn't want to risk getting left out in this blizzard unprotected. They walked for hours, the everlasting storm never letting up, even getting stronger as time went by.

“Don’t you think we should get out of this storm?!” Twilight shouted over the howling winds.

“As much as I hate agreeing with your scrawny ass, you’re right. Expending any more magic to keep this up would have me spent in a few hours, and it’s only going to get worse once the sun goes down.” Midnight said looking around. For the most part the area was just plains of snow, and visibility was almost zero preventing them from scouting for a cave.

“You know any transfiguration magic?” Midnight asked.

“A little, Why?” Twilight replied.
“Can you make a stone dome? A few heat enchantments will work just fine.” Midnight asked.

“I think so!” Twilight said focusing some magic into her horn. With a beam of magic she made the snow around them form around them as a stone dome with a small elongated entrance.

“Not bad.” Midnight said zapping Twilight with a restraint spell.

“Hey! What’re you doing!?” Twilight said as she fell to the ground.

“Just some precautions. I’m not taking any risks with you.” Midnight said as she weaved her magic into the stone igloo.

“Are you kidding me!? Let me go this instant-mmf!?” Twilight said just before another beam hit her mouth forcing her lips shut.

“Next spell’s a broken tit if you don’t keep silent.” Midnight said sitting down and pulling out something to eat from her backpack. If looks could kill Twilight’s glare would have left Midnight as little more than a scorch mark.

“What? Didn’t think i’d trust you to behave while I slept did you? You Celestia worshiping ponies are almost never trustworthy, at least, not the inner circle ones. I’ve been to the outer parts to equestria a few times. Most ponies out there are pretty nice, my brother even took a couple mares into his herd.” Midnight said. Using her magic she heated up her dinner.

“With you it’s mostly cuz you're a bit of a cunt” Midnight shrugged.

“Mmph!!” Twilight protested.

“I suppose it’ not entirely your fault. Those damned zealots really hammer in celestia's supremissy hard. And based on her subjects, being around her personally since you were young? I’m surprised you're not a complete zealot right now, else you wouldn’t even be open to the idea that sunbutt isn’t perfect.” Midnight said taking a bite.

“Mmph mmph m mmph” Twilight sneered.

“I honestly don’t know why I’m doing this. As far as i’m concerned I could leave your scrawny ass out here, but that could alienate me from Nick and his group.”

“Mmph m mmph mm mmph?” Twilight smirked.

“I can’t risk it. I’m already taking enough risks as it is. If I do this it’s gain a good amount of trust with Nick.” Midnight said.

“The biggest issue is going to be getting you into canterlot and out without you trying to alert any guards, don’t give me that look, you have a bad habit of speaking your thoughts out loud. Meh i’ll sleep on it.” Midnight said plopping onto the ground and going to sleep.

Twilight laid there thinking on how she was going to get out of this mess. Her horn was numb, so magic was unfortunately out. If she tried to get outside she would be dead in a matter of minutes. It seemed she would just have to wait for an opening. Twilight slowly drifted off to sleep…. That was it!! Sleep! Maybe luna could help her! She thought on how she might be able to call out to her. She new a few rituals, but in her current state, she couldn’t even do the basic ones. Twilight could only hope that Luna would visit her.

Cloudsdale

Luna sat at rainbow dash's side looking over her injuries. Thankfully nothing fatal, but unfortunately the mare could not be considered a candidate for the wonderbolts any longer with the loss of her wing. Unfortunately the one who took her wing would no0t face justice anytime soon, if at all. This was getting worse and worse. Ever since her return she had seen the many changes in her ponies and kingdom.

The ponies in the new capital had gone from paragons of integrity, to self entitled little twats. She could count the number of independent stallion nobels on one hand, and her work to abolish slavery had been completely undone. Many of her ponies had been indoctrinated to follow Celestia without question. Every day that passed her desire to split their kingdoms grew. This was the last straw.

In the other bed was another one of her pegasi in a deep sleep. She had been on life support and brain dead when Luna had arrived. Evidently the excitement from their encounter had been to much for her weak heart to handle and had suffered a massive heart attack shortly after arriving here, If it had not been for luna’s divine magic she would have been dead.

Separating would be beyond difficult in the current state of affairs. Celestia had been very careful to make sure it was impossible. But she had failed in doing so, as it seemed she overlooked a place that barred a dark part of Luna's history, that would be the start of her new nation. The citadel she had made in secret had been maintained by her old honor guard, or former honor guard. Unfortunately they had to become her final punishment for her past.

In her madness she made them a backup plan, and over time her alter ego had replaced their image of her. When she arrived they welcomed her with open arms, but as it turned out they had planned to bring back the nightmare thinking she had been under some form of spell. Their reaction when they found out otherwise was… violent.

Only the foals were spared. The rest were too far gone. Currently her thestrals had taken their place along with a few hundred pegasi she had recruited from the fringes of equestria. She had to be careful though as she was screening ponies in private she had found several spies amongst her thestrals!

Her window for starting was shrinking every day, at first she just wanted a new city for her thestrals, but now? She could no longer tolerate her sisters neglect of their ponies. Soon the New Lunar Republic would announce its sovereignty, and she would separate her realm from her sisters, effectively shrinking celestia’s prison.

She had to plan this move carefully though. She had gained the eyrie of the other gods for her nearly killing them all, but they recognized she was not in her right state of mind. With her lack of a demigod/demigoddess, she was at a severe disadvantage. While she could not enter the realm of of another deity that had barred her entry, demigods and demigoddesses could roam freely due to their mortal halves.

She had none, so she lacked a champion to fight for her. She may have been one of the strongest members of the pantheon, but the law still applied for her, so she could not directly involve herself in any war with another deity, so she was at a severe disadvantage.

She needed a champion, but no mortal could handle that kind of power and raising a champion would take at least a century if she birthed one today. Blueblood despite his pompous attitude was a formidable opponent. The most she could give any mortal would barely allow them to last a few minute against him. Perhaps…. She had a plan.

Later that night

Luna sat on her bed as she focused her mind. She lit her horn and casted her dreamwalker spell. She searched for her target. Luna’s body fell into a deep sleep as her spell took effect. She flew the astral plain heading towards Twilight. She entered her dream to find a large field of flowers, in the middle was twilight having a picknick with the other element bearers. Luna regretted dispelling the peaceful dream.

“Twilight sparkle!” Luna shouted announcing her presence startling the young mare.

“Princess! What’s going on?! Where am I?!” Twilight said shrinking in fear as she fell into a chair as the dream shifted into a room with a fireplace.

“I’m sorry to disturb your dream, but this is of utmost importance.” Luna said.

“Dream! You mean that Nightmare I had…. Oh no…” Twilight said tears forming in her eyes, “why is this happening to me?” Twilight asked to no one in particular.

“That I cannot say. It could be mere circumstance, or it could be Fuast steering you on your journey without you knowing. Maybe even a combination of both.” Luna began, “but that is not why I am here.” Luna continued.

“Why are you here? Can you help me?” Twilight pleaded.

“We- I, fear not, I am here to to ask for tho- err your assistance.” Luna stuttered.

“Are you ok Luna? You're trying to talk in modern standards.” Twilight asked.

“Indeed. Speaking in the royal we has been… difficult in the new era.” Luna said, “but my speech habits are not why we are here.” Luna said.

“Well if you can’t help me directly, could you send some guards to help? I can tell you exactly where I’ll be soon!” Twilight began.

“Twilight, Something is wrong with Celestia.” Luna stated stopping Twilight dead in her tracks.

“What…?” Twilight asked in confusion.

“I hate to admit it, but that mare is not the same mare I knew before my corruption. Before I fell to my madness we both were working to erase slavery along with the rest of the pantheon.” Luna said.

“W-what? But I thought-” Twilight began.

“You were taught wrong sparkle. When the pantheon first entered into the lives of the mortal realm it was chaos, beyond even what discord would cause. As a result we created Tartarus to contain this chaos. Slavery, was just one of the many things my sister has allowed to go on for far too long. We were both equally bent on righting the wrongs that had gone unchecked during our rest, but celestia has changed, she not only allows, but commands it to be so, so I am parting our realms.” Luna said.

“What!? But you can’t! That would-” Twilight protested.

“Twilight! Open your eyes! Look at what she has done!” Luna interrupted showing her all the atrocities her sister proudly presented to her upon her return.

“No!” Twilight shouted closing her eyes, “that’s not Celestia!!” Twilight continued, “”you're not Luna!! Get out!!” Twilight said covering her ears.

“Twilight.” Luna said gently sitting next to her, “please, I know it’s hard to believe. Look, if you don’t believe me here, then meet me in person, I’ll meet you on the outskirts of Equestria.”

“LEAVE!!!!!”

Three days later

Trixie sat on the railing of the boat watching the docks go by. Octavia sat to her left twiddling her thumbs.

“so...”

“I already told you, you’ll have to get on Nick’s good side too, ‘m not making any promises until then.” Trixie said irritated.

“Somepony’s whipped.” Vinyl said looking at her nails nearby.

“I am not!” Trixie defended.

*WHIP*

“Hey octavia, you still good with a whip?” Iron called from across the deck.

“I don’t think I should have one, Trixie’s pretty whipped as it is.” Octavia called back.

“I AM NO-”

“True.” Iron shrugged.

“Buck it!” Trixie stormed off.

“Trixie…” nick called over the link.

“WHERE THE BUCK ARE YOU!?!?” Trixie shouted back.

“Stuck on the side of the boat, help.”

“What in the world is that!” A sailor called looking over the side of the boat.

“It’s the kraken!!!” Another sailor shouted.

“It’s too small.” The first sailor deadpanned.

“A baby one then?” The send sailor suggested.

“That’s my colt friend” Trixie sighed.

“....ponies have some weird tastes..” The first sailor said walking away.

“Nick, what the buck are you doing…” Trixie asked looking over the side of the boat.

“I over did it this time…” Nick smiled sheepishly.

“One of these days you're going to end up killing yourself like this, and I’ll be sure to kick your ass after we drag it back.” Trixie said tossing a rope over the side.

“Hehe… guess I should ease up a bit.” Nick said as he was hefted onto the ship and morphed back.

“Honestly you confuse me sometimes boy, with your powers you should be able to recover in minutes.” Iron said walking over.

“It’s all relative, depending on how much stone I have and how charged it is I could recover from physical injuries, but my magic network is harder to heal, all I can do is speed up its recovery a little if it’s damaged enough. While I was away, I was working on expanding my magic network, I succeeded a little, but doing so took it out of me..” Nick chuckled.

“Wait you expanded it? How!?” Trixie asked.

“I pumped a metric fuck ton of magic through it till it got so engorged on it that new nodes had to form, had to stop half way through the second day else I would have ended up shattering existing ones.” Nick explained.

“But… that’s not how magic networks work though…. Do they??” Trixie asked looking over to Iron.

“I have heard of Kirin and some elite unicorns doing so, plus Grand master said he had been able to do it through his training, I called manticore shit until he shattered a granite boulder from a hundred feet away.” Iron said.

“HE WHAT!?” Nick shouted.

“Yep, old fart somehow mastered tossing his magic out his fists like a shockwave. I asked him to teach me, but he told me by the time I built up my magic network I’d die of old age.” Iron said.

“Think he could teach me?” Nick asked.

“Depends, all things considered you’ll probably need to learn under him for several years after you surpass me.” Iron shrugged.
“Then let's… ughh i’ma take a nap.” Nick said passing out.

“Wait! Damn it!” Vinyl said running over.

“So, this is him?” Octavia aid looking over her potential mate.

“Yep, headache and all.” Trixie sighed sitting next to him, which was a bad idea since he was leaning just enough to fall on top of her, “get him off!!” Trixie said as she felt like she was being crushed by a house.

“On it!” Iron said rushing over and grabbing onto him, Damn he was heavy!

“Buckbeak get over here!” Iron shouted as the others went to help him.

“I LIVE!!! Trixie shouted after she wiggle out from under him.

“What the buck is he made of!!” Octavia said panting from picking him up.

“Owwwwe” Trixe said holding onto her side.

“Trixie are you alright?” Iron asked.

“I think I cracked a rib.. And my arm…” Trixie said as she sat down.

“Nick! Wake! Up! And! Fix! This!” Iron said punctuating every word with a brutal slap to the face.

“huh?” NIck said groggily.

“You fell on trixie and hurt her, fix her now.” Iron said irritated.

“Oh shit sorry!” Nick said rushing over to her, he grabbed onto her and mended her injuries.

“Thanks, why are you so heavy now?” Trixie asked.

“Dragon DNA, I’ve rearranged a lot of me to match that of a dragon, my bones and muscles are ten times as dense now, and I don’t even have my wings or armor right now.” Nick said.

“Sooner or later you’ll start falling through floors, you know that, right?” Trixie said facepalming.

“Are you calling me fat?” Nick asked.

“You know what I meant.” Trixie said.

“Sorry.” Nick said mending her.

“So, you're the guy huh?” Vinyl asked walking over to him.

“Hey I remember you, you're that crazy stalker bitch.” Nick said looking her over.

“.....Gave up my home for this fucker…” Vinyl muttered.

“Nick, be nice.” Trixie chastised him.

“Alright, but which ones joining the herd?” Nick asked.

“Both.” Trixie said as her ribs rer mended.

“Wait what!?” Nick said in surprise.

“Yep.” Trixie said as he finished mending her wounds.

“No hold a sec, I don’t even know them! Your sister i’ll give a pass, but her?” Nick said pointing to vinyl, “She doesn’t.”

“Please Nick?” Trixie asked.

“Maybe at a later time, but for now, little stalker doesn’t get a pass.” Nick said.

“I was on a mission you dolt!” Vinyl said.

“Yeah yeah a mission from sunbutt i’m guessing?” Nick asked.

“How did you-” Vinyl started.

“You wreak of her energy, not enough for her to have implanted it into you directly, but enough that i can tell you're from her nation.” Nick said.

“What do you mean?” Vinyl said taking a step back getting nervous.

“Ever since coming here I’ve noticed something strange, ambient magic exists everywhere, where I’m from it’s so faint that it would take me a hundred years to collect for even the smallest spell, here however, it’s enough that I can do simple levitation by consuming the surrounding magic, but… there’s something different about it here, and each nation I’ve been to, the magic is different. Eventually it hit me, this world is mostly ruled by physical deities, so I did some research and found that their magic seeps off enough to become ambient magic tuned to them. Since you lived there your entire aura is tinged with it.” Nick ranted.

“.......Are you saying I stink?” Vinyl asked.

“Did you shower last Night?” Nick asked.

“.......you win this one.” Vinyl said going below.

“Trixie, you alright?” Nick asked.

“Yeah why?”

Thud

Author's Note

does anyone know what happened to the option to import google docs?

Pain Beyond Pain (Unedited)

Bill looked at the being before him in disbelief, he owed Bill a major solid. Sure Xolotl’s power made bill look like a sick ant, but he wasn’t all knowing. Very few cosmic beings actually were, even Bill wasn’t. It’s just that they enjoy making it seem like they are, And like any malevolent cosmic beings he lusted for more power.

So long ago he used the only way to obtain that power, by linking his power to mortals. When an entity like him does this, their power becomes dependant on the faith of their believers. He had become extraordinarily powerful to, but once the civilization that worshiped him began to collapse, so did his power as he had fewer and fewer worshipers.

Had it not have been for bill teaching him how to sever the link Xolotl would have fizzled out of existence. The event left a large dent in Xolotl’s pride. So now that Bill had come to collect on Xolotl’s debt to him, Xolotl was not pleased as the contract he made with Bill forced him to repay him. But the flexibility of the contract and Bill’s hasty wording made it possible for Xolotl to twist the request.

“A trillion years!? Come on man you owe me!” Bill shouted.

“a̝̥̼ͨ͂̆͛̂̑ņ̝͔̲̿͂ͨd̜̮͙̼̳̬̓̆ͫ̋̅ͦ̍̀ ̩̣͉̖̣̔̀̿ͣn̶͎̝͙o̲̺ẇ̶̝̰̯̝̓ ̩̠̹̺̙͝w͖̙͎̱̅ȩ̖͍̫͎͈̫̏rͩ̉̅̃̕e̵̫̖͚͍̜̥̪ͨ͆̏͂̉ ͖̝͖͔̑ͫ͂͞e̴͚̫̣͍̿̐͌̍̈̈́ͅv͔̫ͥ͗e̠̰̜̖̺͙͞ͅn̹̖͔̤͙͕ͮ́.ͨͯ̍̓̋̒̔ ̒͗ͤ̎̔I̳̫͓͚͈̓̂͐ ̱̊͌ͬs̠͇̠ͪ̑ͧ̎ͪ̀ā̱̀̋͋͑ͧv͔͇̬̠͙̈̀e̯̼̭̹̤̼̯ͪ͆͜d͈͊͐ͦ ̲̹͕̠̻͖̀͜y͛̔̎͏̮̙͕̭o͍̟̠̩͍̞̜͂̾̽̑͝u̜͍̞ͧ̌͟ ̬̻̣̓̔f͐r̗̟̞o̶͍͌̂̾̃͊m͉͜ ̣̣̺͙̓̏͑ͥͩ̚b̸͔͉̲̖̼͆͌͌̌ͨ͗e̫̟̼͇͉̜̬̍͗̌į̫̟̖̠̳̠n͓̭̣͋͝ǵ̮̲͉̘ ̼̯̺̮ͣ͠e̥ͯ̀r͚̪̩͇̒̾̒a͚̙̹̹̱ͫͯ̃́̀̚s͕̤͓ͫ̐̉̀e̖̬͖̓͐ͯ́̌̀̚d̲͙̝̎͒͑͑̓͛̉ ̬͉ͨ̍͂̃̍ͥ̔͡a̧͈͍ͪ̔̍ͤͪͯ̚n͊ͤ͊҉d͎̽̉͐̕ ̷̭̫͉͇͇͉̿ą̻̣̪̤̳̪̐̑̀͑̃m̵̓͐ͥ̂͌̚ ͔ͥ̒a̙̱̟̫͖̥̭̽́̏͆̉ͮḽ̻̻̜̫̺ͣ̔͆̎͑͌l͔̪̠̥̠̼͌̇̒o͆̑w̬̻͙̱̬ͩ̊͂̅̒ͩỉ͓̠̣n̎ͮͫ̽̈́ͬg̬̮̺̫͓ͨ ̢̙̳̮̱̉̃͗̌y̰̦̼͓̽̀̔̆o̫̐̄͛̈̅ͬu͖̹͓̮̼̹͖͂́ͨ̓̓́ ̸̼̩͚͚̼̺̙̊t͍̪̦̹͇̱̪̑̽̅̍̚͜o̵̦̞̰̝̻̱̫ ͔ͦ̐ͯ̓͆̎ͣr̙̲̬̮e̵̯̰͙͖͙̼̽̃ͯt̸̫̳͇̅̍̊͗̿ͭ̚ͅͅu̧̩̝̺̪ͫ͊͒ͫͅr̞̺̺͐ͭ͘ṅ̹ͦ̈ͪ.͉͑ͥͭͫ̏ ̼̬H̎ͮ͌̀͒ͣ̚͜o͈̱̫͎̩͚̽̓͜w̴͈͇̘̯ͤͅeͣ͊͐̓̓v͕̬̳͍̠̖̝͋ͭ̈̀̕e͙̼̲̯ͬ̑ͥ͑r͇̹͘ ͫ̌̋yͥ͌̀o̦͙̲͍̾̃̆̔̅̚ͅu̠͎̿ͪ̿͡ ͙̮̻̪ͩ́̏d̟̋̊i̫͓̽d̮̤̜̲̞̖͎̕ ̶͍̜͓̗͎̯̓n̫̺͙͋̆̀oͫ͟t͇̬͍͎͖̝ ̣̥̲̳ͣ̒̈́̍̿̈͠s̙̆ͣͫͤ̐p͈͈̰̫̤̍ͯ̃͟é̛̝̿c̨̠͂͆́̃́̅i̭̰̠̰͖̹͒f̲̮̻̏ͮͮͣ̐͌̍ỳ͔͂ͫ̍ ̟̪̒̀̐̌ͦ͊w̟̣̖̺h̭̻̯̟̞̭̍̊͐̄̊ͅȇ̤̿͌̌̉̐́n̜̞͈͎͑̆̈̅̑͗.͍̲̼̫͌͜” Xolotl chuckled in victory at getting one over on the insolent reality warper

“You…. You…. That isn’t fair!” Bill fumed.

N̛̞̝͂̐ͤ̃͌͊̈e̓̿͊͑̾i̷̼̹̊t̛͑̅̌̆̾̽h̶̟ͫeͩṛ̝̬ͬ̿ͯͭ́ ͐ͥͦw̹͉̾͋ͭ̉ͧͫa̛͙̟̜͋ͣ̈̌̌ͭ͗ṣ̥͉̪ͦ͘ ̭̜̬̻̈̏̐f͖͔̜̬͈̭̻ͭͮ͋̈̾̚o̘̭͉̰͕͊ͨ͌͗͘r̖͍̥͓̰̪̖̎͋͛c̴͙̮͇̝͕̫͌̏̓ͬ̓i̸̘̝͚̎ͅṇ̖̭̅͋͂g̘ͦ̏̃̓̽͟ ̰̲̫̝̀̆͆͘m̱͒͂͟ḙ̹͔̞̟ͤ̉̉ ̱͙͈͖̩̏̀ớ͒͋̐̀ṳ̤̤̩̲̄ͣͩ͐̀ţ̦̘͓ ̡̟̻̘̬̮͙͙̚t̯̥̙̹͆̎h̺̘̭̺̤̻ͧ̄͡e̬̰̗͊̂͆̉͗̒̚ͅ ̞̙̫̟d̦̣̫ͩǐ̲͕͕͕̼͇̐̎͑̂̏͋m̥̭̅͌̋̅ͨ̏͡e̢̤̩ͬ̊ͬͦ̔n͓̪͈ͬ̿ͫs̸̳̙̞̣̟͕ͅi͕̟̳̤͉̝̓̐̀̔ͩ̀o̡͊̇ͧǹ̜̠̖ͪͪͩ̑ ̫͇͈̮̟̫̩͑ṯ͎ẖ̢͍a͇̭̻̟̰̱͇͋́̕t̥̩̎̓̔̆̇ ̥͉͖͋͑͐i̸ ̯̜͒̕w̻̲̮̮̹ͥḁ̟͘s̲̙͔ ̭̗̭͓̑ͯ͊̾̎̎g̹̭̭͇̤͚̮ͩͣͨ̉͌̍ŏ̰̜̼͕͔̮ͅi̬͕͍̫ͣ͛̃̓ͣņ̟̱͖̟̙ͮ̅͒g̙̖̎ ̜̆t̪̩͈̣̪̤ͪͦ̋̀͗́͑o̱̰̽ͣ̽ͣ ̝͗̅ͦͤ͊t̰̪̥̝̾̃ͪa̫̺̣̫͎ͮ̓͑̑̿̎͜ḳ̵̟̿́́͗͋̂e̜ͫ̃́̋͗̍ ̳͍̟̠̻̘̻ͥͩ͆͒o̜v͋̃̿̆̍ę̻̺͇̥̪͊̑̓r̹̘̼̤ͨ̂͒͐.̤̺̃͗̅̌̀” Xolotl retorted

“It’s not my fault you got power hungry and linked your power to your worshipers.” Bill huffed.

“W̥͔̼̭͖̻̺à͖͊̋́͊̏͘t̻̲̑̿̑ͦc͐ͤh̸̼ͫ̈̔͑̽̉ ̗̼͚͍̩̲̺̌ͬy͉͂͗̎͊o͉͙̖̟̊ͣ͒u̱̟͕ͪ͗̔̂̎r̡̪̲̮̝͖̝̉̈́̒ͮ̚ ̬͚͔̫̥͔̃̿ͮ̀t̙̜̤̐̿ͧ͋͗̃̔͢ö̳́͞nͦ̑͊̽͞e̛̮̱̬̹̼̮ͯ̔ ͆ͤ̀͐͋̊҉͔̻̝ͅw̢̞̬͎̬̳͙͎͗̈̄ͬ̋ͮ̚e͚̬̞̞̮ͯ̏̂ͤͮ͂l̲̼̻͖̪p̜͆.̶͉̊ͯ” Xolotl growled.

“Yeah yeah just complete the contract so we can be done here, the readers don’t want to hear us bicker forever.” BIll waved boredly causing the death god to look around confused. They shook on the deal insuring Bill's inevitable return.

Now done with his embarrassing obligation, Xolotl returned to his home leaving Bill to his own devices. He thought of what he would do with is abundance of time he had on his hands. He could enter most universes/dimensions via the mindscape, but under his current circumstances he wouldn’t be able to last long as the contract with Xolotl would eventually push him out.

“Hell with it. I’ma see who I can mess with over there.” Bill shrugged and went over to a cluster of universes. He entered a binary universe system via the mind scape to see who he could mess with.

NICK’S ROOM

MIDNIGHT

3rd POV

Zangetsu paced in his creator's room. One of the downsides to being Tulpa was his inability to do much without Nick letting him take over for awhile. He could just hop into Nick's head and enjoy the dreamscape for a bit, but he wasn’t really feeling like that right now. If he made things too exciting he could accidentally wake him up.

And since Nick had to work a 12 hour shift the next day, he didn’t want to risk getting put on lockdown. He often wished it was possible to explore the world beyond his boundaries, but he could only go so far from nick before he fizzled out and reappeared in nick's head a week later.

The farthest he had actually made it was to the middle factory on the other side of the street before he began to fade. He was about to go see if there was anything interesting happening in the factory, hopefully get a look at the latest game informer early when he suddenly felt something enter Nick’s dream.

He quickly shot in after it and prayed it wasn’t another demon. Not all demon’s were as evil as they were often betrayed, in fact some were even more benevolent than some angles. But then there were the bad and right out evil ones that reviled in tormenting humans.

If it was a strong enough one then both he and Nick would have to call for the help of an angel. When he entered the dreamscape, he froze at the horrors he was seeing. It was like a scene out of silent hill! Lovecraftian horrors lumbered about the foggy streets of the dream, cracks glowed red throughout the city leading to a massive hole in the center that spewed out black smoke.

“Ssshhhiiiit……” he face palmed as this was undoubtedly the work of a demon. He focused in to try and find the one causing this nightmare. Saving Nick from whatever was happening to him right now wouldn’t help if he didn’t get rid of the source. He look around until he felt the foreign presence. Using his own control of the dream he forced the entity out and proceeded to dismantle the dream.

“What the hell was that!?” Nick shouted in a mix of fear and anger. He was a rather tall caucasian man, about six foot two. He didn’t have much in the muscle department, and if he was honest with himself he was slightly chubby. Not much mind you, thanks to his height the amount of excess fat he had was spread over enough that he only look a little husky. He had raven black hair and deep blue eyes.

“Something else was here causing that nightmare, likely a demon.. I was able to force it out for now, but it was extremely difficult. I don’t know if I could do it again if it expected me.” Zangetsu said sittin on the edge of the lone skyscraper he had created for the rest of the dream.

“What was it exactly?” Nick asked now that he had calmed down. Since he wasn’t normally a lucid dreamer his Tulpa could easily mess with him if he wasn’t already on a mental lockdown. He had thought it was Zangetsu pranking him for halloween.

“I’m not one hundred percent sure, as I said I think it was a demon. Whatever it was it was strong, very strong. We may need to have you lucid dream for a while until we’re certain it’s gone, maybe even call down michael again if we are unable to handle it. ” Zangetsu replied.

“Well that sucks, because now that just means I get less sleep, or we get screwed over and have to ask that self righteous prick gabrial help.” Nick groaned as he laid back with his legs dangling over the side.

“Or we could go with option three.” A third presence said from behind them. They shot up to face the being. Zangetsu and Nick shot towards it launching a punch at it, but were forced back as the being pushed them back without even touching them.

Zangetsu conjured his sword while Nick summoned up his armor as they charged at him again launching energy at him. Bill dodged out of the way and used his power over the dreamscape to paralyze them, forcing them to stop.

“Well, now that we have a moment to talk, how's about we all calm down and have some tea.” Bill said conjuring a cup of tea and a fancy chair.

“What do you want!?” Nick shouted struggling to move.

“Well, I was just having some fun, but it looks like my fun was cut short by tall dark and gloomy over here.” Bill said circling around Zangetsu.

“You call that horror fun!” Zangetsu shouted.

“Fun for me anyway. look, I think we got off on the wrong dream here. Hows about we start over. I’m Bill, Bill Cipher” Bill said with a bow.

“Alright, cool. Now get the fuck out of my head!” Nick shouted.

“Well aren’t you a rude one. You could at least hear me out before telling me to get lost.” Bill huffed

“Sorry if I’m not on my best behavior after having some asshat invading my mind and giving me a nightmare straight out of silent hill.” Nick deadpanned.

“Meh, whatever. Anyway here’s the thing. I’m stuck on a prolonged… vacation shall we call it. So I need to find something to pass the time. I came here on a whim to mess with some random shmuck, but your little friend here has peaked my interest in you. Not many have the imagination to form a proper Tulpa. Especially a fully sapient one.” Bill said twirling his cane and floating away.

“Ugh, please just shut up and tell me what you want.” Nick deadpanned.

“*sigh*… look I’m bored and have nothing to do really, so since you seem to have a good imagination on you, I’m going to make you an offer. I’ll provide you with info on how to become very powerful, how to use actual magic and such. Essentially take you on as a student. You in or what?” Bill asked.

“How would you give me that info?” Nick asked skeptically. The thought of using actual magic had caught his attention.

“Simple, I’ll put it into a book and give it to tall dark and gloomy over there for safekeeping. You can read it whenever you want and once you finish it I’ll give you the next one.” Bill said pulling out the aforementioned book from…. Somewhere.

“What do you think Zangetsu?” Nick asked not taking his eyes of Bill.

“I don’t trust him, but if what he is saying is true, it may be the opportunity of a lifetime. I’m split on whether we should trust him or not. Remember if he double crosses us we risk losing our souls.” Zangetsu warns.

“How can we trust you not to double cross us?.” Nick asked.

“Tell you what, I’ll swear on my existence that I will not take your souls.” Bill said lighting his hands to affirm it into the contract.

“Alright, but I’m watching you.”

“Alrighty then. It’s a deal!” Bill said stretching out a burning hand. Nick looked at it cautiously and slowly took it, the fire extended onto his hand. Once they separated Bill tossed the book to zangetsu. “Well it looks like my time is up. Remember, Reality is an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold, bye!!” Bill said as he disappeared in a flash of light.

“Well, that happened.” Nick said bluntly.

“Indeed. I’d say let’s have a look at this book but it’s about time to get up.” Zangetsu said as the Dream began to fade.

One week later

“Tell me why I work there again?” Nick asked as he plopped onto his bed exhausted from his last shift of the week.

“Because you get decent health care, full time and a paycheck that you can actually live on properly? And you get to see game informer two months early?” Zangetsu said.

“Still sucks that I get twelve hour shifts every day, for four days and every night for three.” Nick groaned.

“Oh quit your whining, you get seven days off after.” Zangetsu said pulling the book from his cloak. “Now let’s get started on this shall we?”

“Might as well.” Nick said as he looked at the first page. The instructions seemed simple enough. The most expensive parts probably being the silver dust, gold dust and a flawless ruby.

“Alright so what we need we can get around town. I’ll need to buy a few beakers, a bunsen burner, and mini fridge.”He said going over the list of equipment that he didn’t already have.

“We’ll have to order the silver and gold dust online.” Zangetsu said as he wasn’t sure where they could get it or how to make it.

“It’s ok, that’s part of the last step anyway. And it’ll take a year before the potion is ready for that part anyway.” Nick said and left to go find what he needed.

One year later

“How much longer on the timer?” Nick asked.

“About Twenty minutes. Remember we need to add the silver dust and gold dust to their respective beakers simultaneously.” Zangetsu said staring at the potions in case they changed before the timer went off.

“Alright. The crucible is ready, the hole for the ruby is properly sized and centered.” Nick said double checking his work.

“Are you sure this time?” Zangetsu asked glancing over at the knee high pile of failed attempts.

“Uhh… let me check one more time.” He said sheepishly and checked his measurements again. To his relief it was all in order.

“It’s almost time Nick, get the crucible ready.” Zangetsu said as he glanced over at the timer to see they only had about two minutes to either finish the past years work, or waste a year's worth of work and thousands of dollars in expenses.

“Alright let me get the silver and gold dust.” Nick said carefully grabbing the vials that had the precious metals. He set the crucible into the apparatus that contained their hard work. If everything went smoothly than he would have everything he needed to start his studies in magic.

“Three….. Two… One…. Now!” Zangetsu said as the liquids turned from a vibrant pink to a deep red. Nick tipped the vials pouring the dust into their respective beakers and mixed them with glass mixing sticks. The Beaker that received the silver dust turned to pitch black, while the beaker that received the gold dust turned pure white.

“Alright, now we just need to pour them into the crucible and it should absorb into the ruby.” Nick said and carefully poured in the black liquid first. When it was all in they waited and watched it bubble. After about five minutes of nothing happening Zangetsu sighed.

“It didn’t work.” Zangetsu said placing a hand on his face.

“Wait! Look it's doing something!” Nick said as the bubbling started to increase. Finally the liquid started to sink down into the ruby. Once all of it was gone the ruby sat in the center no longer a vibrant red, but now a deep black with an oily rainbow being reflected off of it wherever the light touched it.

“Sweet, now all we need to do is add the other potion.” Nick said and went to pour the other beaker in. The liquid didn’t buble like it’s counterpart, but rather formed a whirlpool as if it was being stirred. As it swirled it started to change colors rapidly, until it finally settled on having a rainbow effect.

“I’m really glad you're not epileptic.” Zangetsu joked.

“Me too…” Nick said as he watched the swirling gayfest before him. The liquid began to sink in as the black liquid had done until all that was left was small red bead that looked as though it had a small blood red flame inside of it.

“It appears it changed the size and shape of the ruby.” Zangetsu observed.

“No shit sherlock.” Nick deadpanned. The philosopher’s stone was about the size of a large marble. “So now all we have to do to make more is drop it in water correct?” Nick asked.

“Correct. The stone should absorb the water and convert it into more stone.” Zangetsu said checking the book.

“Alright. Now then let’s test it out shall we?” Nick asked happily. He picked up the stone and placed it in a mold filled with water. The process was slow at first, but quickened as the stone grew. Slowly but surely the stone took the shape of the mold as the water was absorbed.

“Alright, now all we have to do is break it up so we can make more later. For now let's just break it down into four pieces. I’ll grind the last part to use.” Nick said dumping it out of the mold and breaking it over the edge of the table. He set three of the pieces off to the side for later and started grinding the fourth with a file into a measuring cup that measured half a cup.

“Remember once you take it the process of the first time is extremely painful.” Zangetsu warned him.

“I know, but it will only last a week.” Nick said as he went to pour the ground philosopher's stone into some chocolate milk, but stopped before he did, “umm… it won’t absorb the milk will it?” Nick asked.

“No, it says here that it will only absorb very thin liquids like water.” Zangetsu said checking the book.

“Alright. Well, bottoms up I guess.” Nick said mixing it in with the milk and drinking it all in one go.

“Well? How do you feel?” Zangetsu asked.

“It’s not going to take effect immediately dumbass.” Nick deadpanned.

“Well fuck you to asshole.” Zangetsu huffed, but rushed to his side when Nick double in pain. “You were saying?” Zangetsu said.

“Shut it asshat.” nick said through clenched teeth.

Day 1

Nick laid in his bath trying to ease the pain with the warm water. Last night had been rough, the pain was so unbearable he blacked out for several hours before it jolted him awake again. When he had woken up he had found that half of his teeth had fallen out and his skin had grown sickly pale.

“Just six more days of this. Just six more days and it will all be worth it.” He assured himself as another tooth fell out, the third one since he had started his bath. He got up as the water started to cool and dried himself off. Ass he pulled his toul off his head he found most of his hair was sticking to it.

He tossed the old toul into the hamper and used a new one to dry off before putting on some boxers and making his way to his room.

Day 2

Nick shivered in his bed as tears streamed down his face. The pain had only increased as time went by. The last of his teeth and hair had fallen out taking his ability to eat solid food, and his hearing was starting to go. He was blacking out every few hours only to be jolted back by the pain. His bones felt like glass and his blood like acid, every second was agony as he felt like he was going to die at any moment.

“Juth fiffe more dayth. Juth fiffe more dayth of thith leff” He said unused to speaking without teeth.

Day 3

Nick jolted awake screaming in agony. As loud as he was though, he could no longer hear himself scream as he had lost his hearing halfway into the night before. The pain had continued to increase as his skin began peeling layer by layer. His entire left shoulder, right knee and left side of his face was completely bare of skin exposing the flesh beneath.

Nick screamed until his voice was gone leaving him silently screaming in pure agony as he felt like he was in hell. Suddenly the pain skyrocketed as his groin began to stir and his left testical exploded.

Day 4

Nick laid on the floor wheezing in agony. Some time in the night he fell out of his bed as his other testical burst making him jolt to much from the pain, as he hit the floor almost every bone on his right side was either shattered, broken, or fractured. His left lung had been punctured by his ribs making breathing incredibly difficult.

The only reason he had not died yet he should have died by now thanks to that last part, but by some miracle, or perhaps curse, it only served to increase his pain. His skin continued to peel leaving most of his flesh exposed except for a few patches of skin of various sizes, the largest being the one covering up his right thigh. Like his hearing, his vision had began to fade.

Day 5

Nick laid on the floor helpless and unable to move. The pain so unbearable that the very movement of his blood through his veins, whether it was through his body or out onto the puddle of blood that covered half the floor of his room by now, felt like he was being burned alive while being shot at by chainsaw cannons.

The last of his skin was gone and his left eye had popped out of his skull. He no longer had the capacity to have any coherent thought as his entire existence was pain by now.his sight was completely gone by now leaving him deaf, blind, and in complete agony.

Day six

"How was he still alive?" Zangetsu said as he watched what was left of his creator. Nick was barely much more than a mass of flesh as his flesh had swollen until he was just on big pulsating ball of flesh, bones, and organs. Nick finally blacked out for the last time yesterday afternoon and had not woken up since, likely in a coma. The bloody mass had started to harden to, signaling the final stage of the stones first use.

Day seven

Darkness. Darkness was the only thing that he was met with when he finally awoke from his slumber. He couldn’t breath, nor did he feel the need to for some reason. He felt warm, and like he was floating in some sort of liquid. But all this wasn’t what his first thoughts were.

“I don’t feel any pain…” He thought with immense relief. Was it over? He reached out hoping to feel something and was meet with something squishy, it gave a bit, but not enough to get through. He felt around for a way out of whatever he was in until he felt something softer and pushed until it broke. He fell out of whatever he was as he was taken with the liquid.

The moment he was exposed to the open air he took a deep breath and accidently got whatever liquid he was in into his mouth, and it tasted metallic. He opened his eyes to find his vision partially blocked by his new hair. He swiped it out of the way to see he was covered head to toe in blood.

“Welcome back to the world of the living.” Zangetsu said with a soft smile of relief.

“Glad to be back… how long was I out?” Nick asked as he stood up and looked at the white pod with a large red opening from where he had exited.

“About a day.” Zangetsu said checking the clock.

“Well, I think I need a shower, a very, very long one too.” Nick said making his way down the hall. After he was done he dried himself off and took a look over himself in the mirror. To say the changes were substantial would be an understatement. Over the year that he had spent making the stone he had gained enough weight to actually be fat. But now instead of looking at a large belly he was now sporting a well toned six pack.

He wasn’t weak, but thanks to the excess fat his muscles were covered up hiding how strong he actually was, and now it was obvious his muscle mass was at least double what it was before, and he felt at least three times stronger than before. His vision had improved drastically as well. Before he had to wear heavy prescription glasses just to see, but now his vision seemed to be better than twenty-twenty.

“What will the guys at work think? They won’t even recognize me…” Nick sighed.

“Actually, you won’t have to worry about that.” Zangetsu said as Nick’s reflection changed to Zangetsu.

“Really? How?” Nick asked scratching his head confused.

“Well, in the recipe and instructions on the use of the philosopher's stone, it says you can interact with the stone and absorb it straight through your skin. Once inside you can mold and shape it to your will. Don’t worry about harming yourself on it, your flesh will form around it.” Zangetsu said as Nick cringed as the thought of jagged pieces of stone cutting him from the inside.

“Alright, but how does that help me?” Nick asked.

“Well, once you have stored some with inside you, a side note from Bill says the best place would be in you're bones by replacing your bone marrow with it. Don’t worry about any negative effects, you can will it to create blood cells automatically. It slowly drains the stone, but a stone in the bone in the tip of your finger could handle that for a hundred years.” Zangetsu said.

“Again, how the hell does this help me with my appearance problem here?” Nick deadpanned.

“I was getting to that. Once you have some of the stone in your body you can use it to change and morph your body at will. You can grow new body parts, change your appearance completely, or even turn into other creatures. You can increase or decrease your biomass at will.” Zangetsu said as he summarized the what NIck could do with the stone concerning his current predicament.

“Huh, always wanted a tail.” Nick said walking out of his room and making his way down stairs.

“Well let’s save the whole adding body parts until you master getting back to normal.” Zangetsu said as they entered the basement.

“Well either way, we should probably get started on cleaning up the mess upstairs.” Nick said walking over to the stone pieces where he had left them. “Is there anything in the book that might help?” NIck asked.

“Not that I know of, after the parts explaining the creation stone and how to use it, there is just different spells. The first being telekinesis.” Zangetsu said looking at the first spell. It wasn’t too complicated.

“Alright, I’ll just stay in the guest room for now.” Nick shrugged.

sorry but your the only thing standing inbetween me and monster tits over there. (Unedited)

Two months later

Nick looked at the barrier with dread. Beyond this was his greatest foe he had ever faced. The spells in the book were simple enough to learn, especially with the stone optimizing his brain so he was able to remember and learn much faster than he would have before. His mental capacity was by no means perfect, though his I.Q. had at least doubled and he could learn at least twice as fast.

By now he had already learnt and mastered half the spells in the book, the last being the spell he needed to combat the threat beyond this threshold. He hesitated, was he ready to face this horror? Unfortunately the answer didn’t matter as soon the neighbors would notice.

“Come on, you have to do this sooner or later.” Zangetsu said as Nick was about to try again tomorrow.

“I know… but the smell is just so bad!” NIck groaned and prepared to enter.

“Look, all you need to do is ready the spell, cast it and quickly shut the door.” Zangetsu said.

“Alright…. Let’s do this.” Nick sighed. He prepared the spell and concentrated it into a small sphere. Once the spell was ready he held his breath and swung the door open. Even with him not breathing the smell still forced it’s way into his nostrils.

He tossed the spell into the rotting pod and made a mad dash for the nearest toilet.
He made it to the middle of the bathroom before he reenacted a scene from the exorcist and gave his restroom a new paint job.

“I ain’t cleaning that up.” Zangetsu said and noped out of the house.

“Traitor…” Nick groaned and casted another spell like he had used in his room. The small sphere pulled in all the biomass from his vomit and condensed it into a tiny and dense ball of flesh that Nick tossed into the trash. He had been studying hard on his days off so he could finally find some biomancy spells to clean up his room. The smell would linger for at least a month or two even with a mountain of air fresheners and an open window.

Nick trudged back to his room and held his breath, this time pinching his nose in order to keep from smelling the horrid stench again. In the center of the room was a bowling ball sized mass of flesh. He went to pick it up but it weighed a ton and he could barely lift it off the floor. He put it back on the floor and called back Zangetsu so he could read the next spell.

“Have fun cleaning up?” Zangetsu chuckled. Nick ignored him and read the next spell, it was a biomancy spell that would allow him to absorb external biomass and assimilate it into him. Any new DNA would be added to his and he would be able to replicate anything that he absorbed.

He had tried to grow wings with the abilities the stone had granted him, but it only allowed him to grow things his body had the genetic information for, so though he could form the bones and flesh for them, he was unable to grow feathers. The closest he got were demonic bat like wings.

“Well, call me Alex Mercer why don’t you.” Nick chuckled and absorbed the ball. e planned to absorb a few things. He wondered if it would worked with the frozen chicken in his refrigerator. He made his way down stairs and grabbed his car keys.

“Where we headed?” Zangetsu asked

“I’m going to go get a fish.” Nick said and locking the door behind him.

“Why?” Zangetsu asked about this random idea.

“Simple, I want gills.” Nick said as he started up the car.

“The poor fishy…” Zangetsu moped.

“Oh relax, i’m just going to get some at the super marked, and now that i think about it… it might be a good idea to get some crab to, some natural body armor would be sweet.” Nick chuckled.

“Just as long as you don’t absorb anything that’s already alive.” Zangetsu shivered.

“Don’t worry, unless I’m attacked by a giant lion or something, I won’t.” Nick reassured the Tulpa.

Three years later

“Swim you moron swim!!!” Zangetsu shouted as Nick swam as fast as he could away from the massive set of teeth heading straight for him.

“Why are we here again?!” Nick thought to his friend.

“To collect some Red Tide DNA” zangetsu said as Nick dodged left when the massive shark chomped down where he was seconds prior.

“I thought megalodons were supposed to be extinct!” Nick thought to Zangetsu.

“Well evidently not jackass. Look out below!” Zangetsu shouted pointing below Nick. Nick just barely dodged out of the way as a second monstrosity was gunning at him from below.

“Oohh god damn it!!” Nick thought as a second megalodon started swimming next to the first.

“Look down there!” Zangetsu shouted pointing at the wreckage of some sort of ship. He dashed towards the wreckage and zoomed into the first hole he could find. He waited for about an hour hoping that the monstrous sharks were gone.

“Zangetsu, are they gone yet?” Nick asked his tulpa. Zangetsu went outside to check.

“Sorry, they're still there circling the ship.” Zangetsu sighed.

“Well shit. Guess I’m going to have to kill them if they won’t leave me alone.” Nick thought. He thought of which spell he should use, and finally decided on using a lightning blast. The effect would be very effective in the water. He created a bubble around him so he wouldn’t be hit by the spell and began to cast the spell. Just as he released the spell he was blinded by a bright flash.

Ponyville library

Twilight looked at the cover of the book with immense excitement. She had requested the library have a few more spell books for unicorns that wanted to learn advanced magic. The library had several spellbooks, but over half of the library was filled with books regarding earth pony culture, magic, biology, history and such. About a third was the same for pegasi, leaving very little for unicorn studies.

“Oh I can’t wait! I can actually have a familiar like starswirl the bearded!” She clapped her hands in glee.

“Why do you even want one anyway? It’s not like you don’t already have me and owlicious here to help you.” Spike said as he put unloaded some more books.

“I know spike, but a familiar is much more than that. When a unicorn gets a familiar, their magic can is linked to their familiar’s once a strong enough bond has been formed. It’s how starswirl became even stronger than an S-Class unicron.” The lavender mare said with a smile that would make Pinkie Pie proud.

“Who” Owlicious said from his perch above them.

“Starswirl the bearded.” Twilight answered her owl.

“Who.” He said again.

“Starswir- oh who yourself.” Twilight stopped herself from going into an infinite loop with him.

“Well if you ask me, you should be careful, who knows what you could end up summoning.” Spike said as he shelved some books.

“When have i never been careful?!” She asked spike.

“The time you almost got all of ponyville eaten by parasprites, winter wrap up, smarty pants-” spike was interrupted as his mouth was zipped shut by twilight.

“I get it, I’ve messed up a few times.” Twilight grumbled. “I promise, I won’t do anything hasty and I will be careful.” She reassured the drake and unzipped his mouth.

“Alright, but just let me know when you're casting it. I don’t want to be on the menu if some sort of monster thinks I look tasty.” Spike said.

“Not even if it was a unicorn filly named Sweetie Belle?” Twilight teased making Spike blush profusely.

“I told you to stop doing that!” Spike said bashfully.

“You know you like her, I think she might be getting ready to ask you out.” She teased him further making him storm out with a red face. She chuckled as she watched go. Any day now Sweetie Belle would be asking him out, her or one of the other crusaders at least. She was inexperienced in matters of the heart, but she knew a crush when she saw one, and sweetie had it bad for Spike.

She chuckled and looked back to the book in front of her. The spell wasn’t very complex surprisingly, it simply required a few rare ingredients. She could get most of them from Zecora, and she could likely get a phoenix feather from Princess Celestia. She went down to clear out some space in the basement and write the request for the feather for when spike came back.

With spike

Spike walked through the park with some of his blush still present on his face. Why did she have to tease him like that? It was embarrassing enough that he admittedly did find Sweetie Belle attractive. But why did she have to go and tease him? He knew she would never actually ask him out, he still hoped he would get lucky and rarity would ask him out, but with every passing year, that hope dies a little.

When he first laid eyes on her he was captivated by her beauty but despite his best efforts, she still has not noticed his feelings for her. He turned seventeen in a few months, and was hoping she would finally notice him now that he was almost an adult by pony standards.

He also dreaded the fact that he would also becoming a target for mares once they went into heat. He wouldn’t be able to hunker down in the basement as twilight would kick him out now that he was eligible and didn’t want to do something she would regret to him. He suddenly bumped into somepony as he was lost in thought.

“Hey Spike! Whatcha doin?” Sweetie Belle said looking up at him. She stood about two inches shorter than him from head to hoof.

“Oh, ummm… I was just going for a walk through the park.” He said.

“Could I join you?” She asked hopefully.

“Sure I guess.” Spike said rubbing the back of his neck.

“So how have you been?” Sweetie asked as she walked next to him.

“I’ve been alright, you?” He asked her.

“Fine, ready to be seventeen?” She asked him.

“Yeah. Hey don’t you turn seventeen this year?” Spike asked her.

“Yep. next month in fact.” She said happily.

“Well, happy early birthday I guess.” He chucked.

“Yep, gonna getch ya this year for my first heat too.” She growled playfully making him blush until his face reminded her of Apple Bloom’s hair.

“Umm.. well it’s been nice talking with you, I think I should get back to the library to help Twilight with the new shipment of books we got today.” He said hastily and made his way home.

“I hate to see you go, but I love to watch you leave.” She giggled. Spike picked up his pace and made it home within a couple of minutes. He walked in to find Twilight getting ready to leave.

“Have fun?” She smirked seeing his blush.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Where you goin?” Spike asked looking at her backpack.

“I’m headed to Zecora's to pick up some ingredients. There's a letter on the counter in the kitchen for Princess Celestia if you could send it for me please.” She informed him.

“Sure thing, anything else?” He asked hoping he could get out of reshelving.

“Yes, I have the everything labeled, I just need you to shelve the new books, the one I’m using is on the counter so leave that one there.” She said and made her way to Zecora’s hut.

Canterlot castle

Celestia slumped at her desk as she stamped the final request of the day with a denied seal. She was glad that she finally had some help with all the paperwork she had to deal with. Luna had to be reeducated on so many things,but thankfully it didn’t take too long, only a couple of years.

She was about to get up from her desk to go to lunch when a scroll appeared in front of her. She read the letter from her faithful student and was surprised at what she was reading. Seems her student is taking her studies to the next level. She smiled in pride as she looked over to her old friend and familiar philomina.

“Philomina, would you mind sparing a feather for Twilight? Seems she is going to summon her own familiar.” She asked softly earning a happy squawk from the fiery bird. She plucked one of her molting pinion feathers and handed it to Celestia who took it in her magic and sent it off.

“I wonder what her familiar will be like. Hopefuly it will be a stallion, that mare needs to get laid.” She chuckled at the thought of her student summoning a handsome stallion that had been in the shower. The look on her face would be priceless!

Later that night

Golden Oaks library

“Alright, I think we’re all set.” Twilight clapped happily as she checked over her work. The spell circle was perfectly round, the potion mixed properly, and she had memorized the spell.

“Do I really need to be here?” Spike asked from the doorway.

“Yes, if something goes wrong i need you to send that letter to Celestia immediately.” Twilight said.

“Fine, but if you end up some dude jacking off it’s your problem.” Spike said as he sat on the first step.

“I highly doubt that will happen.” Twilight deadpanned. She began to cast the spell. First she lit the candles on the circle, then infused the circle itself with her magic. She levitated the feather she received from the Princess out of the potion it had been soaking in and infused it with her magic.

Once she had poured a sufficient amount into the feather she levitated it into the center of the circle. She began casting the spell, and the fire on the candles expanded and started being drawn to the feather. Once the feather was deep within a ball of purple fire, the spell was complete. Once the spell fully activated the feather exploded in a brilliant flash of light. Twilight was excited when the spell activated, but that excitement turned to excruciating pain as some form of energy zapped her sending her flying into the wall.

“Twilight!” Spike shouted and ran or to her. She was unconscious but to his relief, she was still breathing. He sent the letter to celestia and was about to go write a letter asking for help when he heard a groan behind him. He turned to see what is was when he spotted some sort of creature, it appeared to be half fish, and half hairless monkey. It looked around and seemed to panic when it spotted them. Was this Twilight’s familiar?

Spike's eyes widened when the creature began to change. It’s tail split into legs that ended in feet like his, but lacked any claws. As it stood up it looked around and darted out of the basement. Spike turned when he heard Twilight groan.

“Uugh….. What happened?” She asked.

“Twilight! Are you ok?” Spike asked his surrogate sister.

“Yeah I'm fine, but what happened? Did the spell work?” Twilight asked looking around.

“It sort of did, something came out of the portal, but whatever it was it ran out of the basement. I don’t know what it is or where it is.” Spike said as Twilight’s face went pale.

“Did you send the letter to the princess?” Twilight asked as she got up and ran up stairs with spike close behind her.

“I did, what are you doing?” Spike asked as twilight was frantically looking through the library.

“Trying to find my familiar!” she said as she ran into the kitchen hoping to find the creature.

“Uhh, Twilight? I don’t think it’s here anymore.” Spike said as he looked at the front door that appeared to be wide open and heard screaming.

“What!?” Twilight shouted and ran outside. She ran following the screaming, and found a group of guards surrounding something. And it was tall, at least two meters in height, if not more. It was even taller than Celestia. The guard was barking orders at the creature, but it just seemed to ignore him.

Having had enough of this the guard ordered for the others to take it alive if possible, but kill it if it proved too dangerous. The first guard lunged for it, but was batted away by the creature's tail. The rest rushed it, but were pushed back by some sort of force wave. The creature was about to run when suddenly a spear pierced it’s leg. It went down as the other guards tackled it. Just as it seemed like it was about to fight back, one of the guards back handed it knocking it out.

“Take it to the barracks, and put a magic suppressing ring on it.” the guard said as the creature was shackled and carried away.

“Wait! That’s my familiar!” Twilight said running up to the creature, but was blocked by a guard that slapped a shackle onto her wrist and a magic suppressing ring on her horn.

“Than you're the one responsible for this. You're coming with me.” the Guard said and escorted her to the barracks.

Two hours later

Ponyville guard barracks

Nick groaned as he finally woke up. He felt a piercing pain in his leg and his head was pounding. He tried to move but found that he couldn’t get very far. He looked up to see that his tail, hands and feet were shackled to a wall crucifix style, leaving him only able to turn his head about. He tried to channel some magic through his hands, but for some reason he couldn’t. He tried through his tail, but the magic didn’t want to activate.

“Zangetsu, what’s going on!?” Nick asked panicked.

“Finally you're awake. Those creatures knocked you out, and apparently the shackles are made of some sort of metal that blocks magic, so you won’t be able to channel magic through any part of you their touching.” Zangetsu said.

“What about my head and torso?” Nick asked.

“They should be fine, can you concentrate enough to activate the stone in your ribs?” Zangetsu asked.

“I think.” Nick said and concentrated. He felt the magic stone responding to him and used their ability to grow a second set of arms. As he grew the new set he retracted the old absorbing their biomass. He repeated this process with his legs and tail.

“Why do you have that again?” Zangetsu asked as he watched Nick regrow the Mew like tail.

“What? Mew is awesome. Plus I can store more stone with it.” Nick said as he finished the tail. “Take a quick look outside, who we need to be careful.” He said to which Zangetsu nodded and checked out the barracks.

“There are at least twelve guards outside, and there’s one taller than the rest talking with the purple one from before and the guard that knocked you out. How do you wanna play this?” Zangetsu asked.

“Well, guns blazing is right out, we have no idea what they are capable of. I think I can condense myself into a large bird small enough to fit through the bars in that window.” Nick said pointing at the window above his cell.

“Can you condense the stone enough as well?” Zangetsu asked making Nick stop.

“Damn, I'd only be able to condense it tough to have half of it protruding out of me.” Nick cursed.

”Why not just transmute a hole in the wall? There is nothing on the other side except maybe a guard or two.” Zangetsu suggested.

“We’re trying to be stealthy here, and we’re running out of time.” Nick reminded him.

“Then make a tunnel? You could escape underground.” Zangetsu suggested.

“That might be our best option.” Nick said and was about to make the tunnel when the door opened and in walked the guard, the purple horse women, and the new one that Zangetsu mentioned.

“Size the creature!” The guard said causing several guards to rush into the room.

“So much for stealth.” Nick said and bust a hole through the wall. The guards charged through after him. He looked back to see the large horse women flying after him with several of the other guards. He looked ahead of him to see the purple mare in front of him with a frown holding her arms out.

“Stop!” She said, but he wasn’t about to listen after being stabbed with a spear. He continued to charge and picked up speed causing the mare to lose her nerve and go from stern to scared. He jumped over her and spun. He grabbed her with one arm while transmuting some biomass on his fingers into metal and shaped it into sharp claws.

“Nobody move!” Nick shouted grabbing her throat careful not to cut her, but keeping his fingers at the ready in case any of them tried anything. The guards and large mare landed a few meters away.

“Let her go!” The large mare commanded causing him to tighten his grip just a bit drawing some blood showing he wasn’t playing around.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I just want to go. If any of you follow the girl dies, are we clear?” Nick said earning an angry expression from the large mare.

“Just calm down and let her go, I’m sure we can settle this peacefully.” The large mare said making calming gestures.

“I’m fairly certain that peaceful went out the window when when shit for brains over there stabbed me, knocked me out and chained me to a wall in a cell.” Nick said.

“Please, you don’t have to do this. Please let me go..” The purple mare whimpered with tears streaming down her face.

“Sorry, but you're the only thing standing between me and monster tits over there.” Nick said causing the larger mare to blush and growls at him.

“Let her go now and I promise we can talk things ov-” the larger mare started but was interrupted.

“Can it! Now I’m going into the forest over there. If any of you follow then she dies.” Nick said. The large mare tried to think of a way to win without him killing his hostage. She watched helplessly as Nick carried the purple mare away towards the forest. The last thing that she saw before they disappeared into the darkness was the purple mare looking at her pleadingly.

Two hours later

Everfree Forest

Twilight sniffled as she was carried deeper into the forest. This had gone from bad to horrible so quickly that she had trouble really finding where it all went wrong. The creature that was supposed to be her best friend, but turned out to be some sort of monster. Twilight was scared at was going to happen. Was he going to kill her? Rape her? Both? She dreaded either answer but couldn’t help but think of what he might do to her. The creature suddenly stopped.

“Alright, this should be far enough.” The creature finally said causing her to start crying again.

“Please don’t hurt me.” Twilight whimpered.

“Ugh, get lost will ya?” He said releasing her.

“W-what?” Twilight asked as she looked at him.

“Later.” The creature said jumping into the nearest tree and was gone before she could register that she was free. Did he really just let her go? The better question was why was she still standing there? She started running back to ponyville and arrived in little over an hour. She ran to the library and when she walked into the room she was tackled by a pink blur. Twilight hugged her friend as she cried into her shoulder.

“Twilight!” she heard her friends shout and unison and join in on the hug.

“Twilight are you alright!?” Rainbow Dash asked her friend looking at the claw marks on her neck angrily.

“I’m fine, where’s the princess?” Twilight reassured her friend.

“I’m right here, oh my goodness are you alright Twilight.” Celestia said hugging Twilight after her friends had let her go.

“Yes, but I was so scared.” Twilight said crying into Celestia's chest.

“He didn’t hurt you did he?” Celestia asked barely holding in her rage for the beast that had put Twilight through all of this.

“No, after we got deep enough to the forest he let me go and ran off.” Twilight said finally calming down.

“Where is the varmit. Ah’ll tear it ah new one for this!” Applejack said.

“I don’t know, wherever he is, he’s long gone, the only place i can think of is the old castle, but that’s too close to be considered safe from us.” Twilight said.

“Wherever he is we will find him. He is too dangerous to just let him be.” Celestia said and made for the door. “And Twilight, stay safe ok?” Celestia said and teleported back to Canterlot.