Saving Their Souls

by Clever Name

Chapters

2: Ponies
3: Questions
4: Demon
5: Reunion
6: Today
7: Liars
8: Return
9: Ready
10: Storm
Epilogue: Memories
1: Darkness
11: Champion!

2: Ponies

***

"What's going on!?"

"There attacking! They've gotten past the line!"

"Who!?"

"Both of 'em!"

"What! How did they both get here at once!?"

"I think there working together!"

"Are you sure?"

"Aye, I've seen them fighting side by side now! And they're moving fast!"

"Get everyone out..."

"What!?"

***

Ah, memories, how I hate them. My world was all white, I couldn't feel anything or hear anything. I wonder if this is what death was. It seemed fitting enough I suppose, except there was no tunnel, or light for that matter.

I waited a bit longer after that and I began to hear something, it sounded like talking, but it was pretty hard to understand in this state. Then a light appeared in my vision, it was bright, like when you look into a light. Wait. I must be in medical, that would explain it, these were probably doctors trying to fix me up. Or they thought I was dead and put a white blanket over me, that would work too. I tried to open my eyes and get up, but I couldn't even feel anything and had no idea what was truly happening.

The noise, which I can now conform is people talking, grew faster and more urgent. But still impossible to understand. I tried talking to them but my throat felt dry and I couldn't even tell if my mouth was open. A new sound entered my ears, It was a beeping sound, steady and low. I had no idea what a beeping sound could mean, was there an active mine in the room? Doubtful.

Then the voices began to make sense. "OK, we have him stabilized." It wasn't a voice that I recognized, they must have a new doctor working with them. I laughed inwardly, since my outward laugh wasn't working, they let the new girl work on me cause I'm hard to kill.

"Oh thank Celestia! I thought we had lost him a couple times back there." Thank Celestia? I was defiantly at the corner now. We were the only tribe that even knew 'My Little Pony' existed, probably, let alone thanked Celestia.

"I guess he really is as tough as they say." Oh, you make me blush!

"Yeah, these guys are weird." Now I'm offended.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Well he's alive. But if he comes out of this state or not, that's up to him. We've done all we could." Well I guess it's my turn then. I was just getting used to someone else doing all the work instead too. Oh well.

Time to get up. I tried to move again but was met with the same result as before. I sighed, inwardly of course, and tried to think for a moment. Let's see, I can't move, talk, or see, I can think... That's it, what can I do? I listed my five senses. Sight, nope. Touch, I tried to move and get the feel of anything, nope. Taste? I tried to lick my lips or even move my tongue at all, nope. Hearing?

"So after this you want to get some food together or something?"

"Eww no." Yep, got that going for me. Smell, no, wait, was I even breathing? Was I physically alive right now? That's not good. I started to panic I attempted to breath through my nose. I still couldn't feel my anything, so I had no idea if air was passing through my nose or if my chest was rising or falling.

I didn't notice that the beeping in the background had gotten more rapid and high pitched. I was too focused on the whole getting air thing right now.

"Whoa! What's going on?" I'm trying to get air, now wake me up!

"His heart rate just jumped way up!"

"This is faster than I've ever seen a pony's go, think he'll be all right?" Did he just say pony?

"Well he isn't a pony." I totally heard pony that time

"Oh we need to know something about this thing!" I'm not a thing! I'm a human that needs to breath right now.

I tried pushing my chest up, flailing my arms but nothing was moving! I resorted to trying to yell or get my lungs to obey some command. I pushed my throat as hard as I mentally could over and over, trying to get any response from it. Finally I felt it, it hurt but it was there, I was coughing up a storm and it hurt my dry throat but I finally felt something.

"What's he doing?" The girl asked timidly.

"I- I think he's coughing." I finally finished with a long deep breath of air, my other senses soon followed. The room I was in smelled funny, like a plant but more bitter. The light blinded me so I closed my eyes again for now. I could feel my clothes on me at least. I tried to get up but my hands wouldn't rise. Oh no, I was shot in the back, so was I paralyzed from the neck down or something?

Not likely I decided after wiggling my toes. I moved my fingers too and they obeyed. I calmed down I felt where my fingers could reach. I was on a bed of some kind, that I could deal with. I could not how ever deal with being strapped to the bed by my wrists and ankles. I gave the strap a tug and it stayed in place. Same went for my ankles.

"What's he doing?" The guy asked while I was in mid tug.

"I-I think he's testing the bonds."

One of them audibly gulped. "Do you think they'll hold?"

Her voice was quieter this time, as if she was scared. "I don't know."

I was getting pretty sick of them talking to me like I wasn't here so I decided to open my eyes and find out who my captors were.

I groaned as I opened my eyes and was met with a light in my face again. I turned my head to my left, where I thought I heard the two strangers talking. I only saw a counter with various tools and supplies across it.

"Huh, where did they go?" I thought out loud. I heard more voices outside the door in front of me but I couldn't understand them. Until they got closer.

"-is awake and stable but we him to be knocked out and put in a more secure location before we can talk to him and determine if he's dangerous." I didn't like the sound of that. I looked at my bonds, turns out they're just leather straps and buckles. I started to give it a shake before I heard a soft hum and fell into darkness again.

***

"Look, I'm just saying that he's our son and he needs to get out more and make some friends."

"No, he's my son and I say he stays here and does some hard labor."

"He's just a boy!"

"He won't be a man by making friends, he needs discipline!"

"Hitting him every time he does something you don't like Isn't right!"

"Telling him it's okay won't teach him anything!"

"What's there to learn!? He's just a kid!"

SMACK!

"Don't you question me you bitch! I'm the king! Everyone listens to ME!"

"Mommy?... Daddy?"

"Get out of here kid, go carve a wooden sword or some shit."

"Okay daddy..."

***

Good old dad, just kidding, he was a dick.

I had no clue where I was, although that might have been because there was a bag over my head and my hands were tied behind my back. There was breathing to my right and even further right, they both sounded tired, I'm guessing they got the same treatment I did.

I have no idea how long we were like that but eventually I heard a door open and multiple sounds like foot steps, but different in some way I couldn't place. The sounds carried all around us, forming what I assumed to be a circle until the breathing on my closer right spoke.

"So do you treat all your guests like this or are we just that special?" That earned a snort of laughter from the stranger and me. Yep, that was Vinnie alright.

"Hey Vinnie what's up?" Brian said to my far right, that solves that mystery.

"Oh, just hanging around, I'm going to guess that other guy is here too?"

"Aww, how sweet of you to remember me." I responded mockingly.

"You know we can't forget about you." Brian snickered.

"This is what happens when you just randomly shoot people." Vinnie tested.

"It wasn't random." I protested, "I was aiming for him specifically because he was the one that was annoying me the most."

"You still shot him." Brian argued.

"Well he was the one that shot back, I gave him a fair warning and he could have just taken it like a man. But no, he had to cry about it and make his friends shoot at us."

"And blow us up." Vinnie interrupted.

"That too."

"After all this time you still think like that?" Brian asked.

"You can't change me." I said flatly.

"Enough." A gruff voice behind us said firmly. "We are going to take the bags off your heads. We expect you to behave, but if you do anything suspicious we will immobilize you."

"How suspicious?" Vinnie tested.

"Even the most minor amount." He responded even more firm.

"Fair enough." Vinnie agreed.

"Sounds good." said Brian.

"Whatever." I responded nonchalantly. I just wanted to see who was responsible for this, because I was fairly sure we weren't in the Corner anymore. My bet was on the Alphas, they were the tribe southwest of us. They relied on technology to keep them safe, turrets, mines, and electric fences mostly. Then again there was a rather large gang running around called the Home Wreckers that have been spotted east of us and are said to us drugs to cripple their targets.

I felt a tug on the bag over my head as the mystery man lifted it off. I took advantage of my sight returning, again, and looked around the room. We were in some round chamber with two wooden doors across from each other, it looked to be all made of white marble of some kind. The really interesting part however was the people surrounding us.

They were ponies.

These weren't those mini horses from the farm either. They were full on colorful, adorable, fluffy little ponies from that show before the darkness, My Little Pony, and they were standing in front of us. I instantly began to pick out the ones I remembered, which wasn't hard because they were all guards except for eight of them.

On the far left was Fluttershy cowering in fear of us, I guess she hadn't seen a human before. Next to her was Rainbow Dash trying to look brave but her eyes told me she was nervous of 'those weird humans'. almost in front of me was Twilight Sparkle staring at us in mixed curiousness and wonder, I think she wanted to study us. To her side was Princess Celestia standing tall and as stoic as she could manage, I didn't even need to look into her eyes to tell she was worried about our behavior around her little ponies. But it was like she was told to not be worried about us and was trying to believe that as much as she could. Luna was next, she was just as worried but more cautious to look at us, like we would hurt her. I sure didn't plan on it, and if either of my friends even thought about it, they wouldn't be breathing for long.

Applejack was just standing there looking at us curiously, trying to figure us out. I laughed inwardly, good luck. Rarity was almost mimicking Applejack, except I think she was looking at our clothes. I guess that would make sense for a dress maker. Pinkie pie was on the far right of my field of vision, and she was already thinking of what to call our party.

I looked to Brian and Vinnie who were already looking expectantly back at me. Brian was trying to say would you do the talking? with his eyes. Vinnie was thinking do the talking. I nodded to the both of them.

I turned back to the ponies surrounding us thinking of how to begin the conversation. "Well?" I asked them. I'm a genius.

Celestia took a step forward, but I saw the hesitation. "Are you not surprised to be here?" she asked as gracefully as she could at the time.

I looked around again, pretending to take in the scenery. "Meh, I've been in weirder situations." I said calmly. Celestia seemed almost taken aback at that. She had expecting much worse, possibly screaming. "Although I would like to ask why and how we got here. Oh, and if you could tell us why you're real would be nice too."

She seemed to relax at my apparent friendliness. "Well I can answer your first question for know, we need your help."

"Oh really? What could ever happen to you peaceful and magical little ponies that would require you to ask help from us?"

Celestia's gaze wavered slightly before locking with my eyes once more. "It will be easier to show you." She answered slowly. She knew something, and she wasn't going to let us know.

"Okay." I stood up and gave a quick pull on the ropes behind my back, breaking them instantly and freeing my hands. "Let's go."

The royal guards surrounding me jumped into a circle around me and all pointed spears and swords at me. "Don't move." One of them growled around his weapon.

I wasn't phased in the slightest, I had no plans of harming these guys, but I needed to get away from all the memories they were bringing back. "Aww, you guys are so cute." I mocked. I randomly plucked the spear out the guards teeth. "But you shouldn't play with sharp things, someone could get hurt."

"Yeah, now he acts tough when surrounded." Vinnie whispered to Brian. He didn't wan't me to hear it I'm sure. Unfortunately for him however, I did.

I threw the spear in my hand at Vinnie and it lodged itself in his bicep. "Ah! Shit!" he yelled.

I was not safe to be around right now, to many memories were flooding back at the moment. "Don't push me." I said slowly. "I'm slipping really bad right now." I turned to the shocked sun princess. "I'm going to go find a place to cool down for a while, maybe consider jumping off a cliff. I have no intention of harming anypony and I most likely never will, so if you'll excuse me." Just like that I walked past all the scared ponies staring at me, thinking I was a monster.

I was.

I am.

Celestia stared at the door the human had just walked out of. She had never seen anything like that in all off her incredibly long life. That human had just attacked his friend without being provoked. She had been told that all humans could be aggressive but never had she expected this. What had happened to him that could have caused him to act like that?

She was interrupted from her thoughts by the human that had recently taken a spear to the arm speaking. "What do you mean?"

"I said no, if you push him anymore right now he'll end up killing you or something, and that was a damn stupid move saying that while he could here you!" The other one responded. They were both standing up now, unbound. It looked like they had used that same spear to cut the rope holding them.

"I didn't know he could hear me!"

"But you said it anyways! I know you're still angry, hell, I'm still angry! But you need to tread lightly about that stuff with him, he's still angrier than both of us combined."

That seemed to calm him down. "Alright." he sighed. "One of these days though we have to settle this."

"Oh we will."

Celestia felt it was time to intervene. "Excuse me but, are you okay?" she asked fully concerned.

Both humans turned to look at her, then they looked at each other, then back to her. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable under their gazes. "What this?" the wounded one asked pointing to the gap in his arm. "Yeah, I'm fine, he went easy on me this time. He was probably trying his best to not scare you."

"Well he didn't do a very good job!" a voice shouted. Everyone turned to see Rainbow Dash with Fluttershy cowering behind her. "Just look at what he did to Flutters!"

"Heh, yeah, sorry about that." Brian said apologetically. "He was just trying to get Vinnie to stop talking." He fixed his friend with a glare.

"He could have just asked" Vinnie said defensively.

"Yeah, because talking to you helped out so much last time." Brian stated, anger seeping into his voice.

"Um excuse me but, what are you two talking about?"

The humans looked down and saw a lavender unicorn looking back at them. They exchanged a quick glance before easily settling on a decision. No

"Oh it's nothing." Vinnie said quickly.

"Doesn't sound like nothing." Twilight pushed.

"It is." he said firmly.

"This certainly didn't go the way I thought it would." Celestia admitted as the human and her student began an argument.

Brian's more sympathetic side showed as he walked up to the princess and tried to comfort her. "It's okay, you couldn't have known what would happen. But I promise that neither me, Vinnie, or our friend will ever do any harm to your subjects." That little bit of conformation helped the alicorn feel a little better. "We may be dangerous people." He continued seriously "but that's only towards bad people and each other."

Celestia laughed a little at that. "Yes, you've certainly proven that today."

Brian smiled and nodded, glad to see the princess happy. "Don't worry, that was a rare occasion. I'm just sorry it had to happen in front of you." He stood up. "Vinnie you should get that looked at." he gestured to his friends arm. "I'm going to find our friend." he began to walk out the same door his friend had earlier but stopped just before it. "Actually." he said turning around. "He might not want to talk to me right now, anyone else wanna cheer him up."

"Oh! oh! oh! I do!" Pinkie pie said bouncing in place, literally.

"Um no, I think he needs something... quieter deary." Rarity said gently.

"Oh, well okay!" Pinkie said equally cheery. "Maybe later."

Brian looked around the room, but everypony seemed to be utterly fascinated by the floor at the moment. Brian sighed, when this first happened he himself had tried to calm his friend down. He remembered how well that worked out, he still felt how well that worked out actually. Ever since then they had always sent somebody else to talk him. He was much less hostile that way.

Luna stepped forward, hesitant at first but nopony seemed to notice. "I.. I could do it." She said softly, but still heard.

Celestia immediately felt the need to protect her younger sister. "Luna, I'm not sure I trust you alone with him." She said quickly.

"Sister how are we to learn anything about these creatures if we do not interact with them? Besides this one already said he is safe to be around." Luna gestured to Brian, then turned to him. "Isn't that right?" she asked.

Brian nodded, "absolutely, he only gets aggressive around me and Vinnie, and that's only under certain conditions. I doubt you'll ever see him do anything like that again. Luna will be safer around him then she would be a royal guard actually."

Celestia mulled it over for a minute. That particular human had already proven himself rather dangerous and she didn't want her little sister to get hurt. On the other hoof this human had promised he was safe around ponies and she did need his help. "Okay" she decided. "Go ahead."

Luna did a small skip of joy on her way out.

Celestia sighed and shook her head slightly before addressing everypony in the room. "If you would all be kind enough to go to sleep for now I promise to explain everything in the morning, the hour is late and we had not intended for this... interruption to happen."

***

"What are you still doing here? There's a full out evacuation going on, why are you still here?"

"I can't leave without you!"

"That's nice, that really is, but you have to."

"Why?"

"Because, I have to end this one way or another."

"No, you have too, I love you too much to let you go!"

"I know, but you have to understand that I love you so much I'm letting you go. So you can live."

"I'm not sure if I can..."

"Go, take care of Eddie. Don't worry Scotty will take care of you two."

O-okay... promise?"

***

"Yeah I promise..."

True to my word I was leaning against the stone railing on a random balcony I found after I walked out on every brony's dream. But it wasn't my dream. I was looking at the base of the mountain that Canterlot was perched on, wondering how long it would take to hit the bottom. I was, at least until I heard more of those strange footsteps behind. I figured out they were hoofsteps now.

"Um... hello?" asked a quite but graceful voice. I calmly glanced behind me and saw Princess Luna standing there, nervously pawing at the ground. I guess she was scared of me after my recent performance, she had every right to be after all.

"Are you going to throw me in the dungeons or are you going to send me back where I belong?" I asked without a trace of concern in my voice.

"What? No!" She said taken aback by my assumptions. "I came up her to simply have a conversation with you, nothing more."

"Okay, sorry. I didn't know what to expect after my little show was all." I usually kept myself in check, I'm not sure what happened back there. Too many memories at once I guess.

"If I might ask" she started cautiously, waiting for conformation that she could. I nodded. "What was that all about?"

I had to choose my words very carefully, if I told her the truth she'd do a back flip out of shock. "Well, you see. There was... an incident, and I was... very sad during it, so I don't like to be reminded of it." Smooth.

"Really?" she asked, clearly not believing me.

"It was really really bad."

"May I ask what this incident was?" she asked jokingly.

I took a deep breath as another memory surfaced. Should I? Absolutely not, she probably doesn't even know what pain feels like, no way I could tell her what the Bloodbath was. "I rather not remember it." I said truthfully.

"Oh, you are serious? I apologize, I thought that perhaps you were..."

"It's fine." I interrupted "You didn't know, I won't hold it against you."

She gave a small laugh at that, it was quite adorable really. "Thank you." she moved closer, getting used to the foreign creature in her land I suppose. "So, are you enjoying the night?" she asked sweetly.

"Enjoying a what?"

"The... night?" she said. Confused by my confusion.

"What's that?" I asked curiously, I've heard about a night before, but never a real one. The sky was nothing but pitch black as I remembered.

Luna almost took a step back. "Please tell me that you are kidding." I shook my head. She was startled for a moment but then she smiled like she had a great idea. I looked into her eyes "I've always wondered what it would look like to see the night for the first time." I couldn't help but be nervous at that thought.

She giggled excitedly and sat down to my left facing me. "Okay, now face me." She instructed. I obeyed. She was practically bursting at this point. "This is going to be so cool." she thought. "Now." she spoke slowly, like she was savoring a fruity drink. Still smiling "look up, but close your eyes."

I was still nervous and had no idea what to expect, but I obliged. I slowly brought up my head until I felt I was facing directly upwards. "Now... open your eyes." I could nearly taste her excitement she was so happy. I soon realized how awful that sounded out of context but I opened my eyes anyways.

What I saw almost took my breath away, above me I saw the second most beautiful sight I've ever seen. It was a brilliant shining sea of lights that danced and twinkled across the vast, open sky. Behind it all was a massive glowing white orb that was greater in size but equal in beauty.

The corners of my mouth almost instantly curved in response. It was truly a beautiful sight. In that moment I lost my self in the night's beauty, I had seen pictures, drawings, and movies of the night, but this was nothing compared to what I was witnessing now. For that moment everything was perfect. There was no secrets I had to keep from my new hosts, no inner demon I had to worry about keeping in check, no Bloodbath. It still felt like she was- I looked back down and frowned. She wasn't still here.

She was still gone. I felt tears forming around my eyes, what I wouldn't give to see her again. What haven't I already given? No. I didn't cry then and I won't cry now, she was strong for me and I had to return the favor.

"Are, are you okay?" Luna asked carefully.

"Yeah" I sniffed "I'm fine, it's really beautiful Luna. Believe me when I say, there are few things that can match, let alone surpass the beauty you created with the night."

Luna blushed at the complement and waved a hoof innocently. "Oh, it was no big deal really."

"Oh yeah?" I teased. "It seemed like a pretty big deal a minute ago."

She giggled "yes well, I've always wondered what it was like to see the night for the first time. Lots of ponies tell me it's nice, but I think they were just being polite, I always wondered if they were telling the truth."

"Trust me." I said gently but firm. "They were."

She blushed again. "thanks, I guess I should say sorry for thinking that you were going to eat everypony."

I was a little shocked at first, me eating a pony was a little far fetched. Then again if I saw some strange creature twice me size lying around the corner one day I would probably assume the worst too. "No, I wouldn't dare hurt a pony. I am sorry about the first immersion I gave you though."

The princess of the night shifted awkwardly. "Heh, yeah. That was.... unexpected."

I scratched the back of my head nervously. "That's not something I normally do, there was just too many wrong things happening at the wrong time I guess."

"Are you ever going to explain that?" She asked growing more bold.

I shrugged "you'll probably figure it out if you pay attention long enough."

"You seem like you have a lot of secrets." she pressed.

"I wont deny it." I answered halfheartedly.

She stood up. "Celly said that she could explain everything in the morning."

"Morning?" I asked while standing up myself. Now that Luna was almost right next to me I could tell she was hardly as tall as me. She was nearly eye level with my chest.

Luna sighed heavily. "You honestly have no knowledge of the sun and the moon?"

"Well princess, in case you didn't already know, there is no sun or moon where I live."

Luna's ears folded back and her face flushed. "Oh.. really?" I nodded. "Oh, my. I'm sorry, I always thought it was a cloudy night whenever I looked."

"Looked?" I asked curiously. "Were you spying on me?"

If possible she seemed to flush even more and took a step back. "Well n- no, not exactly... We just had to figure out if you were dangerous or not, and that happened to involve... observing... you?" she tried for an innocent explanation.

I laughed, no matter what ponies are adorable. "It's fine Luna, I'm not mad at you. In fact, I don't think I could be if I tried. Now when does a morning happen?" I asked.

Luna smiled, grateful for the change of subject. "Oh I have much to teach you." she giggled.

Meanwhile Brian, Vinnie, Celestia and a hoofful of royal guards were walking down one of Canterlot's many hallways, towards where the humans would be staying.

"Well here we are." Celestia said as they arrived at a large set of double doors. "This is where you will be staying while here in Equestria."

"In the same room?" Vinnie asked. After the events that had recently transpired he wasn't sure if he wanted to be in a small room with his friend.

"It's a big room do not worry, is that a problem?" Celestia asked.

"No, just wondering."

"Good, I bid you a good nights rest." She turned to walk towards her own room but stopped as a realization hit her. Turning back to her guests she asked "may I ask what your names are? I do believe we have not properly introduced ourselves."

"Well I'm Vinnie."

"And I'm Brian." After that they both stayed silent, hoping that would be enough for the princess.

"I see, nice to meet you Brian and Vinnie, I am Princess Celestia." She extended a hoof which they both shook. "May I ask what is your friends name?"

Brian and Vinnie exchanged a look, even if they did not have the same ability of their friend they could still tell what the other was thinking. Damn.

"Um, we don't know." Brian said awkwardly.

Celestia became confused. How could a friend not know his own friends name? "You... don't know what his name is?" she asked.

"Yep." Vinnie clarified.

"Why not?" Celestia pried.

The humans exchanged another look. This was exact situation they had wished to avoid. "He never told us." Vinnie said quickly.

"Did you ever ask?"

"Well, yes. But he never told us. He always said he didn't have one, but we're pretty sure he does and just doesn't want to tell us for some reason." Brian elaborated.

"Huh." was all the puzzled alicorn could say, she would have to look into this. "Well, sleep well." she said taking on her princess like tone once more.

They all bid each other a good night and retreated to their beds. I'll need Luna's help to look into this. The sun alicorn thought.

Luna was still laughing uncontrollably as she tried to explain the concept of an evening to me.

"So an evening is between a day and a night?" I asked. As beautiful as the sky was, it was really confusing.

"No!" Luna laughed. She had been laughing a lot recently at my expense, but I didn't mind, as long she wasn't under the impression that I was going to gobble her up. She continued to explain. "An evening is a part of the day, in between an afternoon and a sunset."

I thought about that. "So it goes sunrise, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, and then sunset?"

Luna sighed, still smiling "Yes, now you get it."

I grinned "that wasn't so bad was it?"

"No, it wasn't horrible, is there anything else you need to know?" Luna asked innocently, I think she just wanted another laugh.

I rested my chin in my hand, like I was deep in thought. In reality I was thinking of something ridiculous to ask her. "How big is the moon?"

Luna held out her hooves in front of her about four feet apart. "This big."

My jaw fell slack. "No way."

Luna started giggling again, I only smiled. When she caught her breath again she explained. "Heh, no, I was kidding." she giggled again. "you're so easy to fool. The moon is much larger than that it's," she looked up for the moon but it wasn't there. "Where'd it go?" she wondered out loud.

I looked up in the sky, she was right, there wasn't a moon. I looked around for a minute, half expecting it to jump out and yell 'here I am!'. I spotted it on the horizon behind Luna. "There it is." I said pointing to it.

Luna turned around to look at it. "oh, has it been that long already?" she turned to me. "you need go to sleep."

My shoulders slumped "Do I have to?" I mock whined.

Luna tried to hide another giggle. She shook her head "No you have to rest, we actually brought you here in the morning but you all were in such bad condition that it took a lot longer than we thought it would." She stood up "here, I'll show you to your room."

I stood up and followed the dark alicorn. "Thanks for trusting me." I said as we walked.

Luna smiled at me "and thank you for giving me some good company."

"What are you talking about?" I asked "You walked up to me, and can't you just talk to anypony else?"

Luna's head sunk slightly "well, no. You see I was gone for a millennium and had a hard time catching up with the modern Equestria." she turned back to me. "You're the only pon- I mean human, that has an equally low knowledge of Equestrian society." she smiled sweetly.

I grinned "well I'm happy to be stupid." I said.

Luna laughed "no, you're not stupid-"

"I was kidding." I interrupted.

Another giggle. "Of course." Luna stopped in front of a set of double doors guarded by two unicorns in royal armor. "Well, here is your room" she said in a princess-like voice, probably because there were royal guards here.

I nodded "thank you, I'll see in the morning then."

She nodded back "Yes, sweet dreams." then she quickly turned and trotted down the hallway.

I opened the set of doors and stepped inside. It was a big room, at least as big as four of my rooms combined. There was a large window taking up most of the wall in the back with white gold-trimmed curtains. In the center there was a large marble table surrounded by a cushioned chair on each side of it. Along the walls were various pictures of places and ponies I didn't recognize with shelves and desks donned with vases and more picture frames.

I walked over to one of the doors and opened it, luckily it was one with an unoccupied bed in it. Without a second thought I jumped into it and kicked off my shoes but kept my pistols in place, they weren't as expendable as my shoes so I kept an eye on them. I lay my head down on the pillow and quickly fell asleep.

Luna walked into her bedchambers, ready to get ready for bed. "There you are." a familiar worried voice said behind her.

Luna jumped at the sound of Celestia's voice. "Of course I am here sister, these are my chambers are they not?" she said turning to her sister who stood in the doorway.

Celestia sighed. "I apologize sister, I was more than a little worried with you being alone with that human."

Luna waved a dismissive hoof "no need to worry sister, I am perfectly capable of handling myself. And besides." she trotted over to her nightstand and removed her crown, chest piece, and hoof boots. "He was completely harmless, nice in fact."

Celestia shook her head. "I wouldn't say harmless after what he did in the chamber."

Luna ignored that and began brushing her mane. "He was nice to me nonetheless."

Celestia remembered what she had been here for and stepped closer to her sister. "Speaking of the human Luna, did you happen to catch his name?"

Luna paused her brushing for a second and thought. "No, I hadn't thought to ask." She said as she continued her brushing.

"Well his friends said that they don't know his name either." Celestia said.

"Have you considered that they were making a joke?" Luna asked.

"Well, no." Celestia admitted. "But would you consider possibly looking in his dreams?"

Luna almost dropped her brush. "What? Why would I do such a thing?" Luna said defending her new friend. "Besides you said it was impolite to spy on ponies." she said putting down her brush.

"Yes but, he's not a pony and I'm still not sure bringing him here was a good idea." Celestia paused. "I just want to make sure he's safe to be around."

Luna began to put her mane up in a ponytail. "Sister, you know we can't just put him back now, Maple would be devastated and you should get to know him better before you do anything dramatic." she said as she finished her ponytail.

"How well do you know him?" Celestia countered.

"Sister!." Luna exclaimed. "I would have never guessed you would become so suspicious so quickly." Luna moved to her bed. "But if you still think that way tomorrow I will consider looking in his dreams, but for know I am tired and you must raise the sun soon."

Celestia lowered her head. "You are right Luna, I should not jump to conclusions so soon if I do not know anything about him." she raised her head and saw Luna climbing under her covers. "Good night Lulu, I will see you in the morning."

Her sister smiled. "Good night Tia."

3: Questions

I woke up from a dreamless sleep and let out a long yawn as I stretched my arms. "That was the best I've slept on a long time." I said to myself. I looked around the room and noticed it wasn't the sight I was used to when I wake up. It took me a moment but I remembered that I was in Equestria, or drugged I wasn't too sure yet. Part of the reason I went along with everything so well was because I thought I was dreaming. But I was here now and I needed some answers, a lot of them.

I got out of the bed and put my shoes back on then walked out the bedroom door. I didn't have any plans or ideas of what to ask the princesses, I figured I'd just wing it and see what happens. I always do.

I walked into an empty room, it looked the same as when I walked in here last night, except brighter. Why was it brighter? Then I remembered the conversation I had with Luna on the balcony, the sun! I ran to the large window at the back of the room and looked out.

Equestria was amazing. I saw vast rolling plains and hills stretching as far as I could see. I turned to the left and I could just make out a small village made of little houses. That must be Ponyville. To the right was a massive cloud structure with colors flying all around it, I could only assume they were pegasi. That's gotta be Clousdale, which means, I looked into the distance and spotted a long tree line that seemed to be endless. The Everfree forest, neat.

I took a moment to look at the never ending blue sky and clouds, they were unlike anything I've ever seen before. I would have looked at them forever if a royal guard didn't interrupt me.

"Enjoying the view?" he said behind me.

I turned around to see he was standing in the doorway. "Yeah, Equestria is unlike anything I've ever seen where I'm from."

"The Princesses wanted you to join them for breakfast while they explain everything, seeing as how you didn't give them that chance earlier." I couldn't help but look into his eyes, so this is the one that attacked his friend without hesitation? oh great, word was getting around.

"Just me?." I asked

"The other two humans are already with the Princesses and the elements of harmony." If he were the right color I could be convinced he was a statue, that's how little he moved!

"Well thanks for waiting for me." I offered.

"They didn't" he deadpanned "that's why they sent me."

I huffed, this guy- pony was impossible. "Okay, just lead the way then." I followed him out the door. As an after thought I asked "what's a breakfast?"

I let out a low whistle as I walked into a massive room with only a single large wooden table with cushions around it in middle of a room as big as the cafeteria at the corner. But it wasn't the table that caused the whistle it was the food. I could smell it from where I stood and it was amazing! I could almost taste it, and I wanted to.

I quickly moved to sit down next to Brian and glanced around the table. Vinnie was on the other side of Brian and all the ponies were on the other side of the table, that was probably my fault.

Celestia was sitting across from me with Luna on her right and Twilight on her left. Rarity was by Luna's side then Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were to Rarity's right. To Twilight's left was Pinkie Pie then Applejack.

"So, what did I miss?" I asked as I sat on the cushion.

"Nothing much" Brian responded "although I believe they have a lot to ask us." He gestured to the alicorns across from us.

I turned to Celestia and Luna "Well I have a lot to ask you."

Celestia nodded "we will answer as much as we are able to, we only wish for you to answer truthfully in return."

I picked up a cinnamon bun and took a bite out of it. "Sure, but I get to go first."

Celestia seemed to ponder that for a moment, "why do you say that?" she asked.

Without missing a beat I responded "I'm the one that was nearly killed, knocked out, had a bag over my head, tied up, and brought here without asking."

Her ears folded back. "Yes... when you put it that way I believe it is fair that I answer your questions first."

I took another bite. "That reminds me, wasn't I shot in the back a while ago?"

Twilight seemed to jump at the opportunity to lecture me. "Yes you were shot in the back and your condition was very critical, you were treated by our top doctors for hours on end before they could stabilize you. It's a miracle that you pulled through so well the same goes for your friends as well."

I huffed, "yeah miracle." I looked down in thought before I noticed something. "Why were we brought here directly after we were attacked and in critical condition?"

It was Celestia's turn to answer again, "First I should tell you how Equestria and it's inhabitants came to be. I'm aware that you're familiar with the show 'My Little Pony'?" We all nodded and the Princess continued. "You see, before that terrible crisis that led to the world you now live in, that same show was aired all across America. It slowly gained popularity after that, until it became a household name. But what the difference is, is that the fans of the show, the 'Bronies'-"

"Bronies?" Vinnie asked.

"Yes, that's what the fans of the show called themselves, something wrong with that?" The alicorn seemed to be protective of those 'Bronies' from the way she said that.

Vinnie must have noticed it to, "no, no just making sure I heard that right."

Celestia cleared her throat and continued. "As I was saying, the Bronies truly loved the show. It had helped many of them with their lives, it had made them better people, got them more friends, it even some of them from ending their own lives. That love that they gave the show was so strong and from so many that their very souls had reached out and actually constructed Equestria and manifested ourselves out of their souls."

"Wait, wait wait," Brian interjected "So, you're saying that you, and everything we're seeing is made out of somebody's soul?"

Luna decided to elaborate on her sister's explanation. "Right and wrong, it's not anypony's one soul, it's actually a couple million of souls all put together to form, well, everything."

"How did their souls get out of their bodies?" He asked.

Luna shrugged "There is real magic in the world, it's just harder to come by where you're from."

This was all seeming to be a little far fetched to me, "But your still physically here right? I thought that no one could see a soul, let alone interact with it."

Another shrug. "That has always confused us as well, souls are very... complicated. But we are all here and alive so we can not complain." she smiled.

"How did the souls get here?" Brian asked.

"They found a place far from harm and made us there. They just knew I suppose." Brian opened his mouth but Luna raised a hoof to stop him. "They made Equestria a very large island in what they called the Pacific Ocean."

"Wouldn't having part of your soul taken you hurt? Or at least change you in some way?" I asked.

Luna shook her head. "Their souls were not taken, they willingly gave them up. As for it hurting, it didn't, they gave up very small parts. They might have felt a little sleepy the next day but that's it."

"Whoa, wait." Vinnie pipped up "If you're alive then how have you lived so long? I know you're alicorns so that excuses you two." he pointed at the sisters. "But what about all the regular ponies?"

"We're physical souls, they can't die of old age." Rainbow Dash smirked.

"Can you die at all?" I asked, in hindsight I shouldn't have been the one to ask that since they were all nervous around me enough, but I'd make do with some scared little ponies.

"It ain't exactly like we try pardner." Applejack explained.

I shrugged, "In the show it looked like there was some dangers and accidents, I don't expect everypony to survive everything for however long it is you've been here."

"One hundred and ninety five years." Twilight said matter-of-factly.

"Huh."

Twilight continued to explain. "Well, we can get hurt, we feel and think but whenever somepony suffers from something that would be fatal... they just... pull through and walk away like nothing ever happened. After a long visit to the hospital of course."

That was the best explanation I was getting I guess, "Okay, so you're a bunch of souls." I summarized. "Now why were we near death when you brought us here."

"This one I can answer." Celestia said confidently. "You're not the first one's to come to Equestria."

"What?" The three of us asked in unison.

The sun princess giggled slightly. "No, there have been thousands maybe even millions of Bronies here before you."

"How?" Vinnie asked instantly. "Did you almost kill them too?"

Brian smacked him on the back of the head sharply. Vinnie was usually okay in serious situations but when he wasn't serious he didn't know when stop.

Celestia's smiled faltered. "No, you are all a special case." I'll say. "We thought that since that all the Bronies loved Equestria so much that they created us, they deserved to come here and see the beautiful place they made and enjoy it with us. We soon found out that we had no way of bringing them here, teleportation was much too difficult for any number of Unicorns and we couldn't risk leaving Equestria."

"Why?" Vinnie asked again.

"We didn't know if we could survive outside Equestria, seeing as how we're souls and Equestria was made to support souls. That's when we realized how to bring them here, their souls. When a creature dies it's soul is released from it's body and it slowly goes to wherever souls are supposed to go. We found out that we can easily pull a soul of our choosing into Equestria where it turns into a pony all by itself, memories, experience and personality included. It was like they died and went to Equestria."

"They just turn into a pony? Just like that? What determines what they look like as a pony?" Brain asked.

Celestia smiled again. "Most of them had already picked out what they would look like as a pony and just turned into that, except for those that thought they were Large, buff, black and red, alicorns with metal wings and serpent eyes, we wouldn't allow it so they manifested as a random, normal, pony. Or if they didn't have an 'OC pony' -is what they called them- they manifested as a pony of a random race that looked similar to them in their prime."

"Anyone can get in?" Vinnie wondered.

"No, they had to be nice and polite in their human life and able blend in with the ponies already living here or we wouldn't bring them here when their soul was released. But we're gracious about our choosing."

"When did you start bringing them here?"

"Around the year 2067."

"But we're here and we're humans." I interjected.

"Yes, we needed the help of a human so we had to turn back to the world we had ignored after the crisis and seek out some human that we could trust. Our only rules were Bronies that are nice really, but no one knew what the show was let alone was a fan of it. Then I heard someone thank me so I turned to look towards him, he had been a survivor of what is now called a... 'Bloodbath'?"

I almost spit out my drink when I heard that. "What!?" I near shouted.

"I believe you three are also familiar with the Bloodbath." Celestia asked.

I looked towards my friends, Brian was frowning at a memory, and Vinnie was smiling at memory. I was grinding my teeth at a memory.

"Oh yeah, we know." Vinnie said.

Celestia nodded. "Good," good isn't the word I would use. "I watched him a little longer and he mentioned Brian by name and spoke highly of him."

Brian flushed, I wasn't even going to bother looking into his eyes to know what he was thinking. "you said you heard him?" I asked "how did that work?"

Luna spoke up "Since the Bronies imagined me and Celestia as gods or something like a god we can hear when ponies or even a human thanks us, or says our name."

"And when you said you where watching him?"

Luna tapped her horn with her hoof.

"Oh." I said understanding, of course it was magic.

Celestia cleared her throat again. "As I was saying since he said Brian was brave and stronger than some dream - or was it nightmare? - I considered him as a likely candidate to help us. I then watched a very amazing thing, you three humans had built an entire community from the ground up following the morals of My Little Pony, again. So of course I decided I would bring the three leaders here, it only seemed fair."

"So you almost killed us?" I asked.

"Hey! At least she had the doctors patch you up! Show some respect." Rainbow Dash yelled while Twilight tried to calm her down.

"But we had a good reason!" Luna said quickly, trying to get us on their side.

Celestia nodded. "As I said before we couldn't bring a full human here, just their soul. But we figured that if we all put our horns together we could bring a half dead human here and heal him before he died. You see we needed you close enough so that your soul would start to slip from you, but not released entirely."

"So you made some stupid cannibals come to our gate, ask for us, then almost kill us." Brian observed.

Celestia seemed embarrassed and nodded. "That is one way to say it, yes."

Brian's eyes widened at the realization, "What about the Corner?! What will do without their leaders?!"

Celestia's ears folded back. "Yes, we hadn't intended for that much damage to be done, you three were the only ones that... were supposed to be injured. But your guards had luckily been doubled just in time to repel the attack and now they are voting on new leaders as we speak." she smiled at me. "Good thinking."

"It was about time I had some good luck." I said under my breath. "Well that at least explains that. Now why are we here?" I asked louder so she could hear me.

"I will answer that question after you answer a question for me." Celestia said casually.

"Okay, go ahead." I didn't like how nervous she seemed to acting, I hope it wasn't something personal.

Celestia seemed hesitant at first but she pushed herself to ask "May I ask what your name is?"

Shit. "That's an easy one, I don't have one."

Celestia seemed only mildly surprised while Luna was shocked along with every other pony. "You don't have a name?" Luna asked.

I glanced at Brian and Vinnie, they were trying to hid their grins from the ponies. Like they thought it was funny I didn't have a name. "No" I clarified "I do not have a name."

"Um why not?" Twilight asked.

I only shrugged, "you wouldn't understand"

"Have you considered picking a new name?" Rarity wondered out loud.

"No" I said flatly " I will not give myself a new name."

"Can you at least tell us why?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I already said you wouldn't understand." I was getting tired of this. I've been through this same conversation multiple times and it always turned out the same way, they would have more questions when this ended than when they started.

"Can you at least try to explain it to us?" Celestia said concerned

I groaned "why can't you ponies just understand that it's very personal and leave it at that?" This conversation was really getting on my nerves.

"One last question." Celestia said cautiously "did you ever have a name, and if you did then how did you loose it?"

I considered lying to her but I had the feeling that she would know. "That's two questions but I'll answer them both anyways." I thought about what she had said and a memory surfaced.

***

"Okay, I'll make you a deal. I will pick your name, but; you have to pick my name too."

"Are you sure that that you're okay with it though? You of all people shouldn't have someone name you."

"Don't worry, there's no one else I'd rather trust than you."

***

"Yeah I had a name." I said "as for why I don't have one now" I drew a shaky breath at the memory. "I.. I just... don't, I just don't."

Celestia seemed to sense my displeasure with the topic and decided to move on. "You asked why we brought you correct?" I nodded and she stood up. "Then let us show you."

The other ponies stood up as well along with myself and my friends. Celestia led the group out of the room to wherever we were going.

Celestia led the way while the six mares and my friends followed, I decided to be the last to leave for some time to think.

Luna fell back and started walking next to me, I guess she meant it when she said I was good company.

"Can I help you?" I asked her.

She looked at me innocently. "I certainly hope so."

I smiled. "That's not what I meant."

"Oh, well I just thought I should ask you what your name is." she gave me an innocent smile.

I sighed, "we just had that conversation."

"So you really were telling the truth?" she asked.

"Yeah, did you think it just some elaborate joke?"

Luna looked at her hooves. "Well, yes actually. I didn't know you could loose a name, even in a world like yours."

I suddenly wanted to change the topic very soon. "Well it's really complicated and I don't like talking about it, loosing a part of you isn't something that is a pleasant experience you know."

Luna didn't seem to understand. "But isn't it just like a title? I would think that you could simply call yourself something new."

Damn these ponies and their curiosity. "It was different where I came from."

"The Corner of Equestria?" Luna wondered.

I couldn't help but smile at her innocence. "No, no, I helped build the Corner remember? Which means I'm from a place that was already built, as in not the Corner of Equestria."

Luna's eyes brightened. "Oh really? Please tell me, what was your home like?"

I cringed as more memories surfaced.

***

"- then after he sliced his throat he just stood there, taking it all in I suppose, after a while he turned to the crowd and shouted 'I am the king now, and you will obey my every command' he's been like that ever since."

"What was he like before he took over?"

"Much different, he lived a normal life until his father died and his mother just acted like he wasn't there afterwords. So was just barley scrapping by and was bullied constantly."

"Wow, so why is he mean now?"

"My guess is that he was so new to being in control of everyone and not the other way around he went mad with power."

"So when will dad ever change?"

"He won't, remember how it works here? The only way he'll change is if there's a new leader."

"...oh"

"Yeah, sorry kid."

***

There was that, but then again.

***

"Hey big guy."

"Big brother! I missed you so much!"

"Don't worry, I promised I'd come back remember?"

"Phew, I see you found your little brother."

"Yeah, he's easy to find if he's looking for you. Thanks for watching him again."

"No problem, it gives me an excuse to see you all the time."

"You know you don't need one, I love seeing you."

"I love you too."

...

"Um... I didn't... there's...a- a...um..."

"Hey, don't worry about, I was working up the nerve to tell you I love you anyways."

"Heh. Wow, really?"

"Of course..."

"Ewww! Why are you kissing!?"

***

I looked back at Luna. "It had it's ups and downs, just like any other place really. Nothing special really."

That seemed to satisfy her curiosity for now and she nodded then trotted ahead.

We finally stopped on a large balcony overlooking Canterlot, but that wasn't what Celestia had wanted us to see.

"Look through this telescope and point it towards the Everfree Forest." The alicorn said gesturing to telescope mounted on the stone railing.

I looked at my friends but they were already pointing to it and looking at me. When was I appointed leader of our band of misfits? I still wanted to see what these cute little ponies where having a problem with, if it was from the Everfree then it must be too many Timberwolves eating their crops or something silly like that.

I looked through the telescope and found the treeline of the forest and focused in on it. Nothing seemed out of place to me, there was nothing charging out of the treeline, nothing on fire, everything seemed still. Until I looked further into the trees.

There was a few spots where the trees were constantly shifting and moving in certain spots. Some of them were staying in the basic area while others seemed to be moving around, it looked like some shifting trees were actually chasing other shifting trees.

I pulled back from the telescope and looked at the princesses. "How long has this been going on?" I asked them.

Brian moved to look through the telescope next, he was the best at spotting things that were far away.

Celestia thought for a moment. "About six days." she concluded.

"You said you began searching for us after the Bloodbath, yet this has been going on for six days? I'm not sure exactly how long ago the Bloodbath was but it was definitely longer than six days." I observed.

Celestia shook her head, "no, this stage has been going on for six days. But other things have been happening as well. I started my search after I felt Equestria change about fourteen months ago."

"Why'd you get us here so late?" Brian asked still looking through the telescope, from how he was moving it I would say he's tracking something.

"We had to make sure it was dangerous and that we had to resort to outside help." Celestia responded.

"What made you decide you couldn't handle it?" Brian was still tracking something, I walked up him and tried looking at the Everfree without the telescope. It was hopeless, I could hardly see the trees let alone see what he was tracking.

"Our search parties never came back." Luna answered.

"I thought you ponies couldn't die." I said.

"We can't, that's why I'm worried. The're either suffering or captured by something." The moon alicorn said, then added. "and why did you assume that they had died?"

"Sorry, that's what happens when our search parties don't come back. Why did you instantly need our help in the first place?"

"When I said I felt Equestria change I meant it felt like something wasn't supposed to be there, we didn't instantly consider you. But after our search parties never came back we figured we needed somepony with fighting experience, not guards that arrest ponies after drunken brawls." Celestia explainded.

I nodded, that made sense to me. Seeing as how I've been fighting longer than I'd like to admit. I turned to Brian. "And what are you looking at?"

"There's something in those trees." He said not taking his eye off the trees.

"What trees?" Vinnie said, I had almost forgotten he was there.

Brian moved away from the telescope to let Vinnie have a look. While Vinnie was looking at the forest Brian explained. "There was something large and colorful moving with the trees that had been shifting."

"Dragons?" I offered.

Brian shrugged, "dunno, I could only see parts of them and there's plenty of giant creatures here, Hydras, Dragons and Ursas, could be anything really." He turned to Celestia. "Have you had problems with creatures in the forest before?"

Celestia shook her head. "They've always stayed dormant unless they were provoked, this is new to us."

"I have a question." Vinnie announced, now done playing with the telescope. "Why are they here?" He gestured to the six ponies standing around the princesses. "They haven't talked much or done anything but give me weird looks... like that."

Celestia grinned. "That's because you're going to have to be friends with them."

"Why?" Vinnie wondered.

"Ponyville is the town closest to the Everfree Forest so you will be staying there while here in Equestria." she explained. "It would help if you got along with the residents so figured that these girls could help you get along with them."

The mares in question all smiled weakly at us.

I laughed. "Don't worry we'll help you." I said happily, that seemed to brighten them up.

"What makes you so sure that me and Brian will help them?" Vinnie tested.

I looked him in the eye. "Because you owe me." I said bluntly.

Not cool. His eyes responded, I grinned, good to know I'm finally getting through to him.

"So how is this going to work?" I asked the Princesses.

"You will be taking a Pegasi drawn carriage with the girls back to Ponyville and stay with them for two days each." Celestia said.

"Like they rotate us?" Vinnie asked.

Celestia nodded. "Something like that, yes."

"I've always wanted to be someone's pet." Vinnie mocked.

Brian smacked him on the back of the head again.

"What exactly are we supposed to be doing in Ponyville?" I asked, I wasn't really understanding this pony logic.

"You'll be staying in Ponyville and while you're there you will be keeping an eye on the forest, we'll let you know if anything happens." Luna explained.

"How?"

Like this. Luna's voice said inside my head.

I blinked. "What was that?"

Luna giggled. "As I said before, we're godlike so we can talk to you no matter how far away you are."

"And when we need to talk to you?"

"Simply talk to us like we're there. I will be talk with you during the night and Celestia will be there for you during the day."

"Easy enough." I said confidently.

"Very well, your carriages are ready to take off, allow me to take you to them." Celestia announced.

Half an hour later the Pegasi touched down and I got out along with Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. Brian and Vinnie had taken separate carriages with the other ponies so we could all have enough space. We had spent most of the ride in silence, all I could get out of them was that I was supposed to start off at Twilight's place.

Apparently humans can draw quite the crowd in Equestria. Brian had landed before me and was surrounded by ponies, it was only worse when I stepped out of the carriage and a mint green mare shouted 'another one!'

A Unicorn I remembered as Lyra ran up to me. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! You're a human!"

"Heh, yeah I am." I said a little nervous from the unexpected attention.

"Wow, can I see your hands?" she asked excitedly.

"Um..." I noticed Vinnie's carriage had just landed a few feet away and pointed to it excitedly. "Look!" I shouted. "Another human! Go bug him!"

Her eyes lit up as Vinnie stepped out. "No way!" she shouted and ran off.

I walked over to Brian, mostly to avoid that Unicorn, and asked him how it was going.

"Oh, you know, I'm in Equestria, met the Princesses and elements of harmony all in one day and now I'm staying with Applejack. What's new with you?" He responded as Vinnie was mobbed by a single Unicorn.

I looked at the all the ponies surrounding us, they were just standing a couple feet away and looking at us in wonder.

"Yeah. This will be new." I agreed.

Our host ponies had managed to shoo off the mob and I said goodbye to my friends. To satisfy your curiosity Vinnie will be annoying Rarity for two days.

Twilight showed my the way to her house... tree... library, never mind. This was the first time I was next to a regular pony, while Celestia was almost eye level with me Twilight was only up to my waist when she was on all four hooves.

"Here we are!" She said cheerfully as we walked into her... tree, defiantly tree. I had to duck under the door.

"Wow, this is a nice place Twilight, lots of room." I said truthfully. "Where will I be staying?"

"I have a bed set up for you in the other room." She pointed to a door on the other side of the library and headed towards the stairs. She stopped. "Oh! I just remembered that Princess Celestia wanted me cast a spell on your... gun?"

"What?" I asked. I didn't trust a naive little pony to be handling my guns.

"She said that since we didn't have any bullets here you would need a regeneration spell put on your gun so you wont ever run out of bullets."

"Wow, that would be really helpful actually." I made sure I had the safety on both of my guns before handing them over.

Twilight took them in her magic and they began to glow brightly before she floated them back over. "There you are." she said brightly. "I'll have to remember to cast the same spell on your friend's guns."

"Thanks." I said returning them to their holsters at my side. "What's the plan for today?" I asked.

"Today you start to adjust to the pony society and tomorrow you go into the Everfree Forest and well, that's where you wing it." she smiled innocently.

I grinned. "No problem, I'm best when I'm winging it." I looked around for a moment. "How do I adjust to pony society?"

She giggled. "Lets start by getting a snack, I'm starving."

"I can handle that."

"So what do you want?" Twilight asked as we walked down Ponyville looking for a restaurant that served something I could actually eat. I was getting more used to everypony staring at me but it still made me feel uncomfortable.

"I'm not sure, you're the one that's lived here forever, anyplace you think I'll like?" It's been a long time since I had a variety of food to choose from. Out in the darkness food was scarce enough as it was and when we had the Corner up and going they only had about ten different foods to choose from, depending on the time of the crop cycle.

"Well there's Sugar Cube Corner, you can eat sweets I'm sure." Twilight guessed.

"Sounds good, you're much more talkative now then you were back in Canterlot." I observed.

"The Princesses said that they should do most of the talking seeing as how they've been bringing humans to Equestria for decades. I could say the same for your friends." She countered.

"That's because somewhere along the way they decided to follow me so when we ended up tied in front of everypony they looked at me and told me to do the talking." I explained.

"I didn't hear them say that."

"They didn't say it with their mouths."

"Then how did they say it?" She wondered as we turned down the road to Sugar Cube Corner, I was already smelling the sweets and I had to check to make sure my mouth wasn't watering.

"Their eyes." I said casually.

"What?"

I chuckled, these ponies are adorable no matter what. "I can tell what people are thinking by how their eyes look, it's a lot like reading a book."

"Oh really?" Twilight tested as we entered the sweet shop.

"I sure can, want me to prove it?" I asked with a grin, I loved doing this to people so this must be even more fun with a pony.

"Why yes I do." Twilight said as we walked up to the counter.

"Hello Twilight!" A cheery voice said behind the counter. It was Mrs. Cake. "What can I get you and your... um." she looked at me with a curious expression.

"He's a friend Mrs. Cake." Twilight explained to the confused baker. "The Princesses brought him and his other two friends here to help with the problem in the Everfree Forest."

The baker pony brighten a little at the welcoming news. "Why hello there human." she said offering a hoof which I shook. "My name is Mrs. Cake I own this shop with my Husband Mr. Cake, what's your name?"

Oh boy this was going to get awkward. "Nice to meet you Mrs. Cake." I said smiling warmly. "I don't have a name so just call me human."

The baker cocked her head in confusion. "Why don't you have a name?" She asked.

"It's a long story." I said.

"Oh I have time deary, don't worry." She said sweetly.

I smiled sheepishly. "Um, let me say this a little less politely. I rather not talk about."

She flushed a little. "Oh my, terribly sorry about that. How about I get you two some sweets instead?"

"Sounds great Mrs. Cake." Twilight said eager to change the subject. "I would like a strawberry cupcake."

She nodded then turned to me. "What would you like?" she asked.

I smiled sheepishly again. "I've never been here before, what would you recommend?"

The baker pony smiled brightly. "A fudge brownie for sure! I just baked a fresh batch."

"Sounds great."

Mrs. Cake disappeared into the back room again before returning with our snacks. Twilight gave her five bits and we walked outside to a table.

"So about you and this eye thingy you do." Twilight said before biting into her cupcake.

I took a small bit out of my brownie to try it, then I ate the whole thing in one bite. It was delicious. "What about?" I asked around my brownie.

"How does it work?" The Unicorn wondered.

"I look in your eyes and I can tell what you're thinking. Simple." I explained.

"Does it work on ponies too?"

"Yes," I said remembering the guards eyes earlier today. "You want to try it?" I guessed.

Twilight grinned. "Absolutely."

"Okay," I said adopting a grin of my own. "Just think of a sentence and look me in the eye."

"Okay one second." she looked away in thought. "Got it." she said looking at me with a grin.

I looked her in the eye and clearly saw. "You have a bit of brownie of your mouth but I wont tell you because it looks silly."

I quickly wiped my mouth with my arm. "I had brownie on my mouth but you didn't tell me because you thought I looked silly." I said with a grin.

Twilight's jaw went slack." That- that's amazing. How did you learn to do that?"

Uh oh.

***

"No! Leave them out of this! This is between you and me!"

"Ha! Is that what you really think? This is between all of us now, you brought everyone of them into this and now they get to pay the price."

"Wh- what?"

"You heard me, they'll all die now. Thanks to you. Now you get to watch."

"No! Don't!"

BANG!

"Huh, that was much to quick, what do you say we make it more personal?"

"Great idea."

"Now, look them all in the eye..."

***

I froze. My fault... I allowed that to sink in.

"Um are you okay?" Twilight asked concerned.

I brought them into it. Everyone had died because of me.

"Hello?"

They didn't show mercy, they didn't care.

"Excuse me?"

Slaughtered all of them, none spared. None.

"Hey!" Twilight yelled. "You okay?!"

I looked up at her and smiled weakly. "Yeah, never better." I lied. "What else is there to do?"

Twilight still wasn't convinced. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah." I lied

She studied me for a moment, like she was trying to copy my ability. "Okay... I'll give you a tour of the town I guess."

I stood up, eager for a distraction. "Sounds wonderful, lead the the way."

The rest of the day went on uneventful, tours are boring after all, but they provided a nice distraction and I quickly returned to my better self and had a nice time with Twilight. It's safe to say I may have made a new friend.

We returned to the Library soon after it had gotten dark and Twilight showed me to my room. It a small room, smaller than the one I had at the Corner for sure, only a bed with blue sheets, a single white pillow and a night stand. It didn't matter, it's not like I brought anything.

I bid Twilight good night and went to bed. I was not graced with a dreamless sleep tonight.

Celestia paced back and forth in her sisters room, they were currently arguing on whether or not Luna should look in the nameless human's dreams.

"Why not?" Celestia asked her younger sister.

"Why?" She countered from her bed she was currently laying in.

"He has too many secrets and something just feels... off about him. I need to know what is going on with him. I do not like the idea of trusting him with the safety of our subjects if we know so little about him!"

Luna snorted. "Have you considered that I trust him, do you not trust my judgement sister?"

"No I trust you entirety Luna and you know that, but you should know that I prefer to play it safe when it comes to the safety of our subjects."

Luna couldn't argue with that. "But what is the harm in trusting him?" She asked.

"He could be crazy." Celestia said with much belief.

"He's not crazy, remember what Maple told us?" Luna defended.

"He stabbed his friend." Celestia retorted.

"Because he needed him to stop reminding him about that Bloodbath thing."

Celestia sighed. "Please sister, you're the one that controls the night and can see dreams. You know I wouldn't ask you if I didn't think it was of the utmost importance." she took on a pleading look. "Please, for me?"

Luna sighed in defeat. "Fine, for you."

The night alicorn closed her eyes and her horn started to glow a midnight blue as she began to enter the nameless human's dreams.

She's in for a surprise.

4: Demon

Luna's horn glowed as she began to enter the human's dreams. Her world swirled around her as her mind traveled through the dream void, seeking out her target. It was easy to navigate, having been here so many times before. She flew along on the endless void of dreams. To her left and right she saw fragments of ponies sleeping in their beds, she couldn't help but smile knowing that all her subjects were sleeping peacefully tonight.

As Luna drifted along the path full of sleeping ponies she wondered what was in store for her. She had been in plenty of human dreams before so why should this be any diferent? She thought about what she knew of the human, which wasn't much, and tried to predict his dreams. He seemed very troubled by something and refused to share it, that could mean he's either very strong or very stupid, you need friends to help you with somethings and his two that had been through so much with him, yet they knew little more than Luna.

Someone that had bottled up something that was as big as he made it seem for that long surely would have snapped by now. He must have an anchor then, something to help him with whatever it was, maybe to remind him of what was right and wrong. But Luna had never seen him do anything unusaul or carry anyhting strange. She paused for a moment, those guns he always has with him, they do have a strange design on them. Could that mean something?

Her thoughts were intterupted by an image of a sleeping human. Just ahead of her she saw the human she had been searching for. She stopped in front of the image, what would is dreams be like? He seemed troubled so would it be an open valley where he sat trying understand something? Or a beach maybe? How bad can it be? She stepped through the water-like surface, entering his dreams.

It was a slightly fuzzy to Luna at first, it always was, but the world slowly returned to her. She found herself standing in some red liquid that she didn't recognize, She gave herself a good shake to gain her senses. Then as her hearing returned to her she began to hear noises. At first she couldn't quite place what they were, they was a high pitched noise of some sort that seemed far away and what seemed like fighting closer by.

Luna rubbed her eyes with her forehooves and she foucused on her surroundings. This was the dream world now, everything was here for a purpose, nothing was just decoration. She had to focus. She looked all around her and saw small stone houses with wooden roofs, maybe she was in a village, was this his home? But something seemed off about the whole setting. It was dark so she had trouble seeing for the moment, she was tempted to try and bring the stars and moon out but decided against it. She had learned to not play with ponies - or on this case humans - dreams. Instead she conjured up a little white light at the tip of her horn and moved closer to the houses.

She could now clearly see scorch marks and strange red markings across the walls in a splatter like pattern that seemed to slowly drip into the red lake at her hooves. "Oh my." she said aloud as she realized just what the liquid was. Why was there blood on the house? Why was she standing in a pool of blood? What did that mean? Was this his secret? Many questions passed through the Princesses mind. She backed away from the building, not wanting to be any closer to it.

Her ears perked up as her hearing was fully restored and she now recognized the distant sound. Someone was screaming, no, a lot of people were screaming. It wasn't clear to Luna if it was in pain or fear but it was not a pleasent sound to the Alicorn. She instantly became worried and trotted to the sound of fighting in hopes to find the human.

She ran between dozens of houses like the one she had fist seen, except they were getting worse. It seemed that with every passing house the burns and blood had increased along the walls, as she got even closer to the fighting some houses were on fire.

Luna had no idea what to make of this, what did this all mean? More questions passed through Luna's head then she'd care to count. The fighting was closer now, maybe just around the next turn. The screaming seemed to have gotten louder as well. Just as she got closer to the turn a foul smell hit the Princess like a solid wall. She had never smelled anything like it before, but she didn't have to guess.

In front of Luna was a massive pile of dead bodies of all shapes and sizes. Men, women, the elderly, even infants were thrown into the pile. The Princess barley glanced at it, not being able to look at death on such a large scale. In the moment she had seen the pile she saw that every body was horribly mutilated, most were obviously beaten, bruised, and bloody. Some were even missing multiple limbs, and almost all of them were completely burnt. It was stacked above the rooftops and was nearly just as wide. Luna gasped and closed her eyes. "What kind of place is this?!" Luna yelled in fear more than anything.

"My home." A sad but familiar voice said next to her.

The Alicorn opened her eyes and stared at the human with no name. "You- your home... This place is your home?" She asked, not believing what he had just said.

He nodded. "Yes, or at least what's left of it."

"What do mean?" Luna asked still on the frozen in place.

He sighed heavily and closed his eyes for a moment. When they opened he spoke. "You see Princess, this was my home. They used to call it the Kingdom, but now, they call it the Bloodbath."

Luna looked down for a moment in understanding, puzzled she asked. "What happened here?"

The human shook his head slowly. "I can't tell you."

"Why not? Is it the memories?" Luna guessed.

The human remained stoic. "No. It's." He paused. "Difficult to explain." Luna couldn't tell that he had just lied to her.

Luna wasn't about to give up. She had come here for answers and so far she only had more questions. "Can you please tell me?" Luna asked.

"No."

"I came all the way into your dreams to help you because I care, now, please let me help." Luna almost begged

"The last person to help me ended up killing herself." The human deadpanned.

Luna was taken aback. "Wh- how- why- who?" she stutered.

The human ignored her and walked forward, towards the fighting. Luna couldn't hear his answer.

Luna sat down, her mind racing. This human was much more complicated than she had ever thought. The blood stained houses, that must have something to do with this 'Bloodbath' she kept hearing about. The pile of bodies, that must've been the people that lived in these houses. The screaming? She had no idea, but she had been hearing it since she arrived here, so it must be important. Luna stood up confidently, and she was about to find it out.

Holding her breath she ran through the wall of foul smells and turned the corner to find the human. It didn't take long he was standing not fifty feet from where she stood. She ran forward, now breathing normaly due to the lack of bad smells. She closed the distance quickly but stoped short as she noticed something.

The nameless human seemed to be glowing dark blue and fighting himself, literally. There was an exact same copy of himself and they were circling and throwing punches at each other whenever they had the opporutunity, except his clone was glowing a bright silver. They both had fierce looks in their eyes and seemed to be set on fighting to the end of time if that's what it would take.

Then she spotted the original human off to the left of the fight on a large pile of rubble, and was watching himself closely. Luna slowly walked up to the human and quitely asked. "What are you doing?"

Without missing a beat the human responded. "Wondering who's going to win."

Luna decided to play his game. "Who do you want to win?"

"I don't know." the human said not taking his eyes off the fighters. "Whoever I want to win suddenly gets really strong and the other really weak. What I want to know is who should win."

"It depends on what they're fighting for."

The human sighed. "Exactly, I want both things that they're fighting for."

"What would that be?" Luna was growing adgitated with how little information she was getting for this human.

"The silver one is fighting for what he still has and to take care of it. The blue one is fighting for what he lost and to get revenge on who took it."

Luna tried to surpress her annoyance. "What did the silver one loose?" She asked sweetly.

The human turned his head and looked Luna in the eye. "Everything."

Luna jumped up to all fours on her bed, nearly knocking off Celestia in the process.

"What happened?" Celestia exclaimed.

Luna gave herself a vigurous shake before she replied. "I was thrown from his dream."

"Did you get any answers?" Celestia asked eagerly.

Luna shook her head. "Hardly and now I only have more questions."

"What did you see?"

Luna recalled her time in the human's dreams. "I saw his home, it was once called the Kingdom. But it was uterly destroyed, and there was a pile of bodies easily three times my height. Then I saw him and he told me someone killed herself. Then I saw two replicas of him fighting each other. He said one was fighting to preserve what he still had while the other wanted revenge on the one who took everything from him." Luna sucked in a deep breath from her speech.

Celestia mulled that over for a minute. "What do you think it means?"

"I'm not sure." Luna admitted. "He's defiantly hiding something, I'm sure of that now. The screaming, houses and bodies must have something to do with that Bloodbath we keep hearing about."

"Then him fighting himself must mean that he wants to do something but he can't for some reason." Celestia groaned.
"This was so much easier when we knew nothing about him!"

"There was something else." Luna said thoughtfully. "He seemed... out of place. Like he didn't belong there or he was uncomfortable."

"So you think he's faking something?" Her older sister asked.

Luna lowered her head. "I don't know what to think anymore, going into his dreams was a mistake. I'm only more confused now."

"I hope he still chooses to help us, regardless of what's a truth and what's a lie."

Luna sighed and climbed into her bed. "They go into the Everfree tomorrow, maybe we can get some answers then."

"Well... this is it, good luck in there."

"Don't worry Twilight I'll be fine."

That did little to help the little Unicorns worries. "Are you sure? You've never been in there and it's really dangerous."

"I'll be fine." I responded casually, what could possibly be a danger to me in a little ponies back yard?

"You promise?" Twilight said hopefully.

***

"Do you have to?"

"Yes, I don't care what I am now but we don't have men to spare, they need my help."

"I can't loose you so soon though..."

"Who said I'm going anywhere?"

"Susan, her lover died just after they confessed to each other..."

"You think that you're going to distract me?"

"Well-"

"Because you're not. I'll be thinking of you know matter what, and just the thought of you waiting for me is enough to keep me alive forever."

"Heh, that's" sniff "really cheesy."

"Cheesy but true."

"Heh, okay just promise me you'll come back."

***

I made that promise, why shouldn't I make this one? Because it wasn't her? I'm not heartless. Because I broke my last promise? That had nothing to do with this. Because I couldn't take breaking another one?

Know what? It didn't matter, I could spare little Twilight a promise.

"Yeah I promise I'll be okay."

Twilight smiled. "Thank you."

"No problem."

"Hey Twi!" Applejack shouted and trotted up to us with Brian in tow.

"Hello Applejack, how are you and Brian getting along?" Twilight asked.

"Aw, he's a good guy, hard worker too!" Applejack responded.

"Hello Dearies!" Rarity called out with Vinnie following her.

"Howdy Rarity!" Applejack shouted enthusiastically.

"Good to see you Rarity."

I groaned, this was getting boring, I thought I was going to get to fight a dragon.

"Something wrong?" Twilight asked me.

"Can I go now?"

Twilight giggled, "Of course, just be careful."

"I will." I said mockingly.

Twilight locked eyes with mine. "I mean it, I don't care how good at fighting the Princesses say you are. The Everfree Forest is still a dangerous place and you can get hurt if you're not careful." she said seriously.

"Okay, did you get their guns yet?" I asked changing the subject.

"Oh right!" The Unicorn turned to my friends and gave them similar enchantments while their host ponies gave them similar safety lectures.

We all said our goodbyes and we walked into the forest. Even in the middle of the day the trees were so thick you would think it's night in the Everfree.

"Those ponies sure are motherly." Brian said as we passed the treeline.

"Yeah, it's nice." I agreed.

"I didn't mean it was a good thing." Brian clarified.

"It's nice for me." I argued.

"Why?" Vinnie asked.

I shrugged. "No reason." I lied.

"Really?" Brian asked. "You like being smothered by ponies half your size and a third your strength?"

"That's not how I think about it."

"Then how?"

"So what are we doing exactly?" Vinnie interrupted, finally he was serious.

"First you should head towards the shifting trees." Celestia's voice said in my head.

We all jumped at once.

I could hear laughter. "I apologize, I should have warned you first."

"No problem." I said. "So are you going to be keeping an eye on us while we're in here?"

"As much as I am able to, yes."

"So why didn't you do this for your search parties?" Brain asked.

"I didn't think I needed to." her voice said sadder.

"Where's the nearest batch of shifty trees?" I asked, eager for some action.

"Continue straight, it's about two and a half miles in."

"Awesome."

We walked in silence for what seemed like days, but I couldn't help but feel out of place here. Brian and Vinnie had adjusted seamlessly to the forest. Brian was in his element, he knew everything that was around him and was ready at a moments notice. Vinnie on the other hand was practically flowing with the forest, he dodged and weaved through every little obstacle without so much as blinking.

Then there was me. I hated this forest, not knowing what was around me, tripping over every stump in my path. I was not good at this.

A branch snapped to our left and we froze and drew our guns. I may not be as agile as my friends, but I was just as alert as they were.

"Celestia?" Vinnie whispered. "Did you see anything?"

"No, I can only see you three. Why? What's happening?" She asked concerned for us.

"We're being followed." Brian answered.

"Now you tell us?" I hissed.

"We're in Equestria and everything around us is either half our size or five times as big, I figured it wouldn't be a problem." He shot back.

There was a low growl in front of us and we took aim with our guns. I glanced around me to see where we were. There were trees all around us, almost forming a circle. Brian was on my left and Vinnie was further back to my right.

Brian broke the silence. "It's a killing den."

"A what?" I asked quickly.

Without taking his eyes from his scope he replied. "The trees and ground, blood." I dared a look away and peeked at the ground under me. Sure enough, blood was splattered across it. "Timberwolves." Brian said answering my unspoken question. "Watch this and don't look."

He took a small step back and there was a low, dangerous growl behind us. My first instinct was to turn around and shoot the noise but I listened to Brian and stayed put. "How'd you know?" I asked.

"They're behaving just like the coyotes. They lure you to where they have the advantage then circle you, guess what's next." He said unmoving, he was in the zone.

I frowned at that, I thought we had trained them better. I had no idea they knew their pattern so well. "How long?"

"They want us to make the first move, a sign of weakness or an opening. They're very good at waiting." Damn, he knew everything.

"What do you want us to do?" Vinnie asked behind us. I know what Vinnie's doing, he was letting Brian have his moment. Something clicked and realized what was happening to Brian, I wasn't the only one with a bad past. Brian was reliving his days.

I smiled, he needed this even if he didn't know it.

I could see Brian's devilish grin as he answered. "What we always do. Now everyone move next to me and watch each other's backs." I slowly moved closer to Brain and turned around to watch Vinnie creep up on us. When he arrived and turned Brian spoke again. "Now on my signal we run up to them and attack."

I grinned, I was liking this plan.

Something moved not fifteen feet from us. "Now!" Brian shouted and we lunged.

I blindly ran forward and saw four Timberwolves jump from the treeline, teeth bared and ready to kill. Good, because I was too. I felt the rush as I jumped left and slammed Tolerance down on the far left one's head. It fell down, struggling to get back up. I instinctively shot it in the head with Love and it stopped moving.

Wait. These things were made of souls right? Just like the Ponies, why did it die?

I snapped back to reality when another lunged at my with a loud growl. I brought Tolerance up and fired into it's mouth while it was still in the air. Sure enough it fell down in a heap when the bullet erupted from it's head. Whatever, fight now ask later. Teeth digging into my shoulder reminded me of that.

I raised Tolerance and shot the pest in it's eye. I checked where it had just bit me, I was bleeding pretty bad and would have to bandage it later. I looked up and saw the last wolf charging at me. I laughed a little as I kicked it in the head at just the right angle and it's body rolled into the woods. Poor little guys, they had no idea who they were messing with.

I heard a loud boom and saw Vinnie finish off the last wolf with a blast from his shotgun. I looked to Brian and his grin faded, I knew why. For him this wasn't exploring the Everfree for Ponies with me and Vinnie. He had slipped and thought he was back in the dark with his party closing in on... Why was my wrist flicking?

Vinnie had noticed it too and had a look of fear on his face. I put my had behind my back and smiled innocently at him. He only eyed me suspiciously, he knew I had just slipped a little.

"Everyone okay?" Brian asked, breaking the silence.

"Fine." Me and Vinnie answered together while I put my shirt over my wound.

Brian nodded. "Good... good..." He turned and began to walk deeper into the Forest. I signaled Vinnie to go with him. He nodded and ran to cheer Brian up.

"Celestia, how did we just kill the Timberwolves?" I asked as I a began to walk deeper into the Forest at a slow pace, giving Vinnie and Brian time to talk. Given the past they shared I really shouldn't be leaving them alone together.

"I was wondering that myself, I'm assuming that the Timberwolves weren't loved enough and don't have enough souls to make them immortal. The same might go for the other creatures of the Everfree." The Alicorn answered.

"That's good news." I admitted.

"May I ask you something?"

"Sure." I had a good guess of what this was about.

"About Luna entering your dreams..." One point for me.

"It's fine." I responded quickly, I really did hate it when someone had to apologize to me.

"Re- really? But she intruded your dreams, your privacy and nopony should-"

"Celestia." I said firmly. "I'm okay with it, as long as she isn't emotionally scared for life I'm fine with her in my dreams."

"Luna is fine but... What happened?"

"Um, she looked in my dreams?" I offered, I had no idea where Celestia was going with this.

"No, all that time ago. What happened during the Bloodbath?"

Oh that's where. "It's in the name Celly." I said blandly. "A lot of people died, what's there to know?"

"Why won't you tell us the specifics though?"

That question hit home. Why wasn't I telling them the truth? What was I hiding?

Do you really not remember them? That's sad, I thought you said you cared.

Oh right, him. Haven't heard from him in a while actually, it was nice while it lasted.

"Because if I do, a lot more people are going to get hurt."

"But how? Why do you have to hide it from everypony?" Celesta's tone was almost that of begging.

***

"Run! Run and don't look back!"

"What about you?!"

"I'll see you after I take care of them! Keep them safe!"

"But when?!"

"No idea! Just... Remember the fallen..."

"...And protect the standing."

***

"Sometimes you have to make sacrifices!" I almost shouted. "And sometimes not everybody likes what you do!" I wanted to cry again. I really did. But I knew I couldn't. I took a deep breath to calm myself. "How much further?" I asked.

Celestia seemed shaken when she spoke. "Just under a quarter mile, you're friends are waiting for you."

"Thanks." I grumbled and ran ahead to catch up with my fellow humans.

Vinnie and Brian were standing together and talking happily. I was glad to see that Vinnie had managed to get Brian back on track and in control. Unlike myself they can easily calm each other down without putting themselves in danger.

"Celestia says it's just ahead of us." I announced as I approached them.

"Yeah we know." Brian replied with an easy tone but I heard the anger in it. "We can hear it from here."

Sure enough as soon as I moved closer to where they were standing I heard branches snapping and trees rustling in the distance.

"Shall we?" Vinnie asked eagerly. Me and Brian nodded.

The three of us moved through the Forest as one, Brian taking the lead while Vinnie flanked him on the right and me on his left. I looked at my friends who were staring straight ahead, completely focused on whatever challenge was about to show itself. I couldn't stop myself from smiling slightly at the sight. These were the moments I cherished, when we could forget our rough history and fight together instead of each other.

Multiple rustling noises distracted me from my thoughts. Brain and Vinnie were already poised to attack. When my eyes met Brain's he signaled for Vinnie to flank right and for me to continue on, then he ran off to the left. I grinned once again. The best part about not being able to keep quite was that I got to be the distraction.

I walked at a casual pace, giving my friends enough time to get ready. When I walked into the opening I was very surprised to see hundreds, no, thousands of Parasprites flying through the Forest like a multicolored river.

"Well that's anticlimactic." Vinnie said walking up to me on my right.

"Looking at it now, I suppose it could have been what I saw in the telescope. But I could have sworn that I saw something else." Brian said on my right.

"What's your take on this Celestia?" I asked. If anypony knew something, it was the half the ruler of Equestria.

After a moment the Alicorn responded. This... This doesn't make any sense. Why would the Parasprites suddenly start moving around so much? It's not possible that Parasprites could have captured an entire party of royal guards either... Celestia then began to trail off talking to herself about wild theories and other stuff I wasn't paying attention to.

Brain froze and his eyes started searching. When I opened my mouth to ask what he was doing he put a finger to his lips and looked off to where the Parasprites were coming from. "Wait for it..." He whispered.

There was a loud crash as fifty foot Dragon stomped through the trees and roared at the Parasprites.

"How in the hell did you know that?" I shouted to Brian above the Dragon's roaring. "I'm pretty sure that we didn't have any Dragons back in the Dark."

Brian gave me a smug look as he slipped a little further. "Yeah but you had Bears."

I don't know why but for some reason the fact that he knew so much about my animals really pissed me off.

Vinnie put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a sad look. I was confused until he looked down. I followed suit and saw that my right wrist was flicking again.

I groaned in annoyance and pushed his hand off me. "Now what?" I said to nobody in particular.

"Try reasoning with it. There's a good chance it can understand you." Celestia's voice said in my head.

i glanced at Brian who mouthed the words 'animal expert' to me. I could tell he was slipping, it was in his eyes. I still wanted to hurt him though, and any old insults would only make him slip even further. I settled for giving him the middle finger as I walked towards the Dragon.

He laughed, knowing that he was getting to me so easily. It made my blood boil.

Why not fight back? You know you can win.

I groaned again, this guy was not helping me right now either.

I stood behind the Dragon as chased the remaining Parasprites away. "Hey!" I yelled. "Dragon! What are you doing?!"

The beast paused and turned to me. "What tiny creature doing?" It spoke slowly and heavily, like it was struggling with Human speech.

"I'm here to ask you why you're moving the trees!" I shouted at it.

It grunted. "Trees in way, I move."

"Where are you moving to?"

"New den." It said as if it was obvious.

"Why?"

"Old den bad, not want."

I huffed, this thing was worse than me. "What's wrong with your old den?"

The Dragon rolled it's eyes at me. "Strangeness too close."

"What's that?"

"Something strange." It deadpanned.

Never mind, this thing is even worse than me. "Okay. okay. Where is your old den?"

The Dragon huffed and pointed further into the Forest.

I put on a fake smile. "Thanks for your time." I said as blandly as I could and turned to my friends. "Well? What do you think?"

"The Dragon felt it too, and now it's trying to get away from it." Celestia answered.

"All we've learned is that there defiantly is something in this Forest and it's further back." Vinnie summarized.

"The trees keep shifting for miles, it will be a long journey. One for another day, why don't you all come back and rest?" Celestia suggested.

"I don't see why not." I said quickly. In truth I could have gone on. But I wanted Brain out of this Forest soon, it would only be a matter of time before he snapped completely. This was way too familiar to him.

"Sure why not?" Vinnie said.

Brian only shrugged lightly.

With that we all began our trek back towards Ponyville.

"That was pointless." Brian said sourly as we exited the Everfree, thankfully our trip back was uneventful.

"Not entirely, we got a solid conformation that there is in fact something in there and Celestia's 'feeling' wasn't just gas." Vinnie defended.

Brian only huffed.

I was about to comment on Brian's behavior when I saw six familiar mares running towards us.

"There you are!" Twilight shouted as she reached us. "We've been looking for you for the past fifteen minutes."

"Nice to see you too." I said with a smile.

Twilight relaxed a little. "I'm sorry, I was just so worried about you being in the Everfree and all." Her eyes fell upon my blood stained shoulder. "What happened to you?" She exclaimed.

I glanced at my shoulder, it wasn't too bad. It had stopped bleeding now and it looked a lot worse than it actually was. "It's nothing really, a hungry Timberwolf got too close is all." I shrugged.

"Let me see it." She demanded nicely. I obliged and sat down so she could get a better look at it. "Hmm. It seems like it's okay for now." She examined. "But I don't want it infected so we'll have to clean it once we get back to the Library."

I was about to object when I heard Brian shout off to my left. "I'm fine you dumb horse!"

I jumped to my feet and turned on Brian. "Hey!" I shouted at him, causing him to face me. "I don't care if you're slipping or remembering right now but you better not bring the Ponies into this!" His behavior was pushing me over the edge, I couldn't stop myself at this point.

"Or what?" He tested. "What are you going to do if I insult a living cartoon?"

I flicked my wrist and he stepped back in fear for a moment, letting me know just how far he had slipped. "You know damn well what I would do." I warned.

"You wouldn't dare." He challenged. "Not in front of them." He paused for a moment then grinned. "You don't even have it! You left it at the Corner!"

Well there's that...

Who said you needed it? Remember? You don't need anything to beat this pathetic excuse for a man.

That's when I slipped. "Who said I needed it? I don't need anything to beat you, you pathetic-"

Then I was hit over the head with the butt of a shotgun.

Your pathetic.

No I'm not.

Yes you are. Look at yourself! Helping little magic Ponies instead of those who really need it.

No, I am helping them. They're safe. They have no idea where they are.

Then why are you here?

The Ponies brought me here.

Why did they bring you here?

Because... I was a leader of the Corner of Equestria.

And why were you a leader of the Corner of Equestria?

I helped build it.

Why did you build it?

I needed a place to go.

Bullshit! You had many places to go!

But that would have but them in danger!

Then fight! Why deceive when you can kill? Why abandon them for nothing?

I didn't abandon them! I kept them out of their line of sight!

Why mislead when you can blind?

If I killed them then they would only be replaced by more.

Then you fight! You fight for what you believe in! That's what you do!

Did. That's what I did.

Why stop fighting? Why give up now? Why are you a mere shadow of what you used to be?

Maybe I'm tired! Maybe I've seen enough blood! I can only loose more at this point...

That's what this is about then? Her? You don't give up when you're kicked down! You stand up and rip their throats out for kicking you in the first place! What the FUCK happened to you?!

I GOT EVERYONE KILLED! THAT'S WHAT! That is what happens when I follow what you say, people die. All of them.

Then fight because of them. Don't stop because of them. You have every reason to raise your weapon, so why did you put it away?

The Last time I raised that weapon everyone I could ever call a friend, a brother, a sister. Died. I will NOT do it all over again.

So you're a coward? Is that it? Too scared to fight for what you want?

If I fight, they get hurt. It's as simple as that.

But you are a coward.

Don't you DARE call me that. After everything that's happened all I want to do is protect what's left.

What's the point in protecting it if you wont even see it?

It's a small sacrifice for their safety...

Oh bullshit! You're scared that they're going to hate you for ditching them. Well they're not. They have always supported and cared for you. That will never go away.

So I can blindly lead them to another slaughter? Not happening.

Get off your ass and go to them! I am sick and tired of watching you day after day pitying yourself over something that wasn't your fault.

How was it not my fault?

How were you supposed to know that they would be cowards and sneak up on you? How were you supposed to know that the weak would team up? How were you supposed to know that they broke so easily and started to kill?

Who was the one that made them break? Me. Who was the one that scared them into sneaking? Me. Who was the one that-

You were doing your job! You were protecting them! It's not your fault that you were overwhelmed! Even you can loose sometimes. But you can NOT give up.

But I'm not strong enough to fight anymore.

No. You are. You just need to unlock it once again. Every time you remember your life you push it away. You need to embrace those memories.

Remember the last time I was that strong?

***

"WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Shit! Run run run!"

"FACE ME YOU COWARDS!"

"Fuck! How did he get out?!"

"Doesn't matter just fucking run!"

"NONE OF YOU WILL SURVIVE!"

***

They forced you to do that. Were you supposed to just sit by after they made you watch everyone die? No. You did what was right and you fought back. You just need to keep fighting.

That was fueled by blind hatred, nothing else.

What about every fight before it then? What were you fighting for?

My home. But that's gone now.

Then fight for your people! For those who still believe in you!

It's all still there isn't it? My weapon? My face? My flag?

All of it. You just need to go there and-

Be reborn...

I opened my eyes to see a familiar hospital room. Or at least similar, I'm pretty sure this was the Ponyville Clinic. I put a hand to my head, I had a horrible headache right now.

"What happened?" I asked the room.

Just then a white Mare I recognized as Nurse Redheart trotted through the door. When she saw me she smiled. "Oh good, you're awake! I'll go get your friend for you." Before I could respond she trotted out the door.

"Okay thanks." I said dully and laid back down on the bed.

A few seconds later the same door opened, but this time Vinnie was the one that stepped through. "How are you?" He asked.

"Why don't you tell me? Seeing as how you're the one that's out of bed." I said bluntly.

Vinnie didn't even flinch. "I had to knock you and Brian out. You both had slipped too far and there were Ponies around. It was the quickest way to stop you two."

I only groaned and flopped my head on the pillow.

"What happened to you two back there?" He asked. "How did both of you loose control so easily?"

I sat up on the edge of the bed. "Brian was in his element, simple as that. It was all to familiar to him and he lost it. As for me." I let out a breath. "When he lost he wouldn't leave me alone, I know you couldn't tell, but. What he said, it just made me so damn angry so I slipped when he yelled at Applejack."

Vinnie looked sad and deep in thought at the same time. "It's okay, he wasn't himself. He already apologized immensely to Applejack and she accepted." I relaxed at that, I didn't want the Ponies to think we were going to hurt them. "Although they all got really suspicious when he told her he wasn't himself."

I sighed. "Yeah, they really want to know what happened at the Bath for some reason."

Vinnie shrugged. "Just curious I guess." He turned to walked out the door but I stopped him.

"Vinnie wait." I said quickly.

He turned back around. "What is it?"

I took a breath. "Don't tell them about the Bath, they'll never look at us the same way again. Let alone trust us."

Vinnie nodded. "Sure, no problem." Then walked out the door.

I just sat there for a minute, thinking. What was I doing? What am I thinking? What's my plan?

You don't plan remember? You just wing it.

Oh no, not you. I thought you were a coma dream or something.

Oh no, I'm back all right.

With a groan I got out of the bed and walked out of the door and the Hospital. The sky was just taking on an orange color now. I knew my way around Ponyville well enough now and set off towards the Library.

Look at this peaceful little village.

"Shut up" I didn't realize I had just said that aloud.

Doesn't this place just look perfect?

"Don't you go there."

Like something bad could never happen to it?

"I know what you're doing-"

Like life could just live on like this forever?

"-and It's not going to work."

Doesn't it kind of...

"Don't."

...Remind you of someplace?

***

Rows and rows of cute little houses all occupied by loving parents and happy children, a pasture to the left full of cows, chickens and other farm animals, a little boy laughing with his dog in the road, a happy couple walking down the road holding hands, my arm around a beautiful girl of my own as she smiled sweetly at me.

***

My legs gave out and I collapsed on the ground. I knew he had enhanced that memory to make it so vivid, it was one of my favorites after all. "That's... not fair." I spoke like I had just been hit with another shotgun.

Know what else isn't fair? Having that taken away from you.

"Excuse me Human but, who are you talking to?" Celestia said in my head. Because one voice isn't enough.

I stood up and tried to regain my composure. "My inner demon."

5: Reunion

Celestia and Luna were talking together in Luna's bedroom once more. Discussing the strange Human they had put their faith in.

"-then he said it was his inner demon." Celestia said, recalling the days events. "What does that even mean?"

"Now sister you must calm down." Luna suggested.

Celestia paused her rant and took a deep breath. "Okay."

Luna smiled and nodded. "Good, now let's think. What exactly is the problem?"

Celestia paused. What was the biggest issue? The last obstacle? Why did she have a problem with him? "I can't trust him." She concluded. "I can't trust him because all he does is lie to us, and the truth only confuses us even more. I need him to tell me the truth about the Bloodbath before we can begin to make final decisions."

Celestia looked to her sister. Who nodded again. "I agree. How do we get him to tell us the truth?"

The sun Alicorn thought for a moment. "Who would he tell his past to? Who would he undoubtedly trust and speak the truth with every word to?"

Celestia's eyes met her sisters and in that instant they both knew. "Maple." They said in unison.

"But Rarity!" I whined as the Unicorn led me to her Boutique. "I'm fine."

"But nothing. You only have the one outfit and it is currently stained in blood. I positively insist upon making you some proper clothes!" She opened the door to her shop. "Now in you go."

I groaned, there was no reasoning with with her. She is easily the third most stubborn person I've met. I grudgingly walked through.

"Honestly darling you're more stubborn than Rainbow Dash, and haven't even started." She trotted over to to her shelves and floated out some measuring tape. "I'm only going to measure you so I can start on your new outfits."

I sighed, there was no use fighting it. "Okay, but on one condition."

"What is it?" She asked unwavering.

"No gems, diamonds, sequins, or anything sparkly in my clothes."

Rarity paused her measuring for a moment to look at me. "Darling, I'm shocked you would think I would do such a thing. I will take into consideration that you're a male, I promise there will be nothing feminine or girly on any of them."

I let out a breath. "Well thank you."

"Although I do have to make you something to look nice in." She insisted.

"Why? I'm not going to any dances or formal parties while I'm here. I'm going to figure out what's going on in the Everfree then leave." I said blandly.

"Oh I know but can I please make it anyways? I may never get another chance to make an outfit for a human again, I don't want to waste this chance." she gave me a pleading look.

I huffed. "Okay fine, just don't over do it."

She smiled and went back to measuring. "I'll have at least one set done for you before dinner, you can pick it up around eight thirty." I noticed she didn't promise to not over do it.

One hundred and twenty four seconds later, I know because I was counting the entire time, Rarity finished with her measuring and shooed me off so she could begin her work.

I was hardly two steps out the door when I got a face full of Pinkie Pie.

"Hiya!" She said enthusiastically, mere centimeters from my face.

"Gah!" I jumped back and hit my head on the side of Rarity's Boutique. "Pinkie Pie." I groaned while rubbing the back of my head. "Can't you just casually walk up to someone?"

She thought about that for a whole one second. "Nope!" She responded with a cheery smile. "Oh! That reminds me! There's gonna be a party tonight and you get to be the guest of honor!"

Well that certainly was a surprise. "I'm the guest of honor?" Pinkie Pie nodded vigorously. "Why?"

"Cause you deserve it silly! Be at Sugar Cube Corner at nine o clock!" With that she bounced off to do who knows what.

"I deserve it?" I wondered aloud. All I've done is talk to a Dragon and shoot a couple Timberwolves, not really something party worthy but I could use the distraction.

I looked up at the sun, it was still around noon so I had some time to kill.

Now what could a human do for fun in in a magical land full of silly, colorful little Ponies?

"Ready?" I asked the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"Ready!" They replied in unison.

That's right. The big, mean, nameless Human, one of the few survivors of the Bloodbath, would fight anything without a moments hesitation, ripped a man's head right off his shoulders (he deserved it), was playing with three cute little Fillies.

I had found the trio at Sweet Apple Acres and they were already working on a catapult, which is much to dangerous for Fillies. So I did the responsible thing and volunteered.

"GO!" I yelled. With that they pulled the rope and I was shot out of the catapult, hopefully to the giant soft cushion we had set up earlier.

The Crusaders pulled the release and I went flying. It was nice actually, soaring through the air, it gave you a real sense of freedom. I could see why Rainbow Dash likes it so much. Unfortunately I wasn't Rainbow Dash, which meant no wings, and no wings means falling... fast.

We had underestimated where to put the giant cushion and I went flying over it. "Well shi-" was all I could get out before I landed in an Apple tree.

I was still in a daze when I heard somepony calling me. "You all right there partner?"

I gave my head a shake and saw Applejack standing under me, a glance and I saw Brian standing further behind her. "Actually, I feel great!" I untangled myself and fell to the ground with a loud thud, I quickly jumped to my feet and smiled. "I haven't felt that alive since well... a long time actually."

Applejack just cocked her head in confusion. "You jus' smacked head first into an apple tree but alright, whatever floats yer boat."

She turned around and trotted off to the house, which left me and Brian. "Brian." I said

"Yes?"

"I'm not mad."

He seemed surprised. "Really? But I slipped so bad I almost snapped completely."

I smiled lightly. "You needed it, don't you feel better now?"

Brian took a deep breath. "Yeah, a little bit actually."

I smiled a little more. "See? No harm done."

His smile faded. "Thanks to Vinnie, why would you let me get away with everything I said?"

I tried to act like it was no big deal and shrugged. "I expected it really, the only part that surprised me was how bad I slipped."

"Why don't you do the same as I did and let it out, just a little bit?"

I shook my head. "It's different for me. I don't hide it the same way you and Vinnie do."

Brian was confused now, "really? How is there another way to hide it?"

I let out a small breath, "it's just another thing you wont understand."

He frowned. "That was kind of mean."

Just then three familiar Fillies barreled into me, shouting happily.

"You're okay!"

"I was so worried!"

"That was awesome!"

Brian chuckled at the sight. "You're pretty good with kids you know that?"

***

"Come on! Hurry up!"

"You know, the cubs aren't going anywhere. They were just born after all."

"I know I know I know. But I still wanna see them!"

"Okay, you know what that means?"

"Um, no."

"It means... You gotta race me!"

"Hey! That's no fair!"

"Hahaha!"

***

"Yeah, just natural I guess." I said quietly. I managed to pull the crusaders off of me. "Well thanks for letting me play with you, I'm going to go meet Twilight now."

"Aaawww." They whined together.

I chuckled. "I'll meet you later, but right now I have to meet her."

"Okay mister. Promise you'll be back?"

I flinched a little and if Brian caught it he wasn't saying anything. "Absolutely." I said confidently.

The trio cheered and zipped off to go create havoc elsewhere. Brian turned to me. "What's up with that?"

"Up with what?" I asked as if I didn't know.

"You act like making a promise hurts you."

Damn. "I had a chill that's all." I lied.

Brian raised an eyebrow.

I sighed. "Personal." was all I said before I turned and headed for the library.

Those are some great kids aren't they?

"Really? You just played this card." I said grudgingly.

Wonder what they'll be like when they grow up.

"Do you have a point or do you just like reopening old wounds?"

Anything really, maybe a Chef, Mayor, Doctor, or I know!

I braced myself.

The Animal Caretaker?

***

He pointed excitedly to the Lions. "Lookie lookie!" He shouted.

"Those are Lions." I explained.

He pointed at the Tigers. "Those?" He asked.

"Tigers." I explained again.

"Coooool." He said. "I wanna take care of all the animals when I get big and strong like you!" He announced.

I laughed at his enthusiasm. "You know, I bet if you ask Charlette super nicely... she might let you help with some of the animals."

His face brightened up at the thought. "Really?" He asked.

"Really." I confirmed. He smiled brightly and ran off to the caretakers house calling for Charlette. I smiled too, because I was glad my little brother was happy as could be, regaurdless of our parents.

***

I felt weak again and braced my arm against the nearest apple tree. "That was a low hit." I said with anger in my voice.

Yeah well, so was letting them live.

"You know what happened."

Damn right I do! You got so angry you manage to rip his spear right out of you! Then, you chase them all the way back to their hideouts and literally tear everyone apart that's in your way! Then what do you do when you finally find them? You let them get away then you claim to be 'distracting' them while building that Corner with this Vinnie and Brian you've never met before.

I had made my way into Ponyville now and was trying my best to hide my conversation. "Okay, first off. I didn't let them escape. The roof collapsed and they were long gone by the the time I was on my feet. Secondly, why are you so talkative lately anyways? You haven't been like this since before the Bloodbath." I said in a hushed whisper, I could have just thought it but it was easier to just say it aloud.

Look around.

"No, you just did that yesterday and it completely confused the Princesses... again." I was telling the truth about him in the beginning yesterday, even though it's a little more complicated than a simple inner demon.

No, no, no. I'm serious, just have a glance.

I took a breath and looked around me, it looked like I was on the main road. Ponies were everywhere, just talking, laughing, and having an overall good time. They were much better about Humans wandering around their town now, so they would only spare me a glance. "What about them?" I asked cautiously.

See how similar it is? Replace the Ponies with people and it's almost an exact copy! You've been remembering this entire time, even if you didn't know it.

"Which caused you to resurface." I guessed.

Exactly.

I was almost to Twilight's now, then I could end this. "What are you trying to do exactly?"

What I've always done, from the moment I was first manifested. I'm helping you.

I dropped the act for just a moment and realized he was right. Only, it wasn't the nameless one he was helping. "Okay, but you have to keep cool when Ponies are paying attention. Any other time I'll endure what you throw at me, deal?"

I'll consider it, you're still him - in a way - after all.

"Thanks." I said as I entered the Ponyville Library.

I walked into the main room and saw Twilight talking with Rainbow Dash. "Hey." I said, getting their attention.

They both turned to me. "Oh good you're here!" Twilight said gleefully. "As you may remember you'll be staying with Rainbow Dash for the next two days." I nodded, I remembered the conversation. When I asked how I was supposed stay in a house made out of clouds Twilight only said she had thought of that already. "Well I have taken the cloud walking spell, and after some hard work I've managed to make a potion of it!"

"A cloud walking potion?" I wasn't too sure I heard that right.

Twilight nodded excitedly. "Yes! Some of my best work in fact." She went upstairs and returned moments later with a vial containing blue liquid in it. She floated it over to me. "Here you are, drink up."

I inspected the strange drink. It seemed to have a slight glow to it and it honestly didn't look like I would enjoy it that much. I glanced up and saw them both looking at me expectantly. I lifted the vial up. "Cheers." I said just before I tilted my head back and downed the entire drink in a few swallows. I was wrong about the taste, It had a blueberry after taste to it which I was actually enjoying.

I handed the bottle back to the lavender Unicorn. "Not bad."

Twilight smiled and turned to Rainbow Dash. "Now for the test." With a wild grin Rainbow flew out the door.

"What is she-" Was all I could get out before I was lifted up in the air and dropped back down. Where I had anticipated a hard wood floor I was met with a fluffy cloud. I shot Twilight a look. "You could have just asked me you know?"

Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

I waved a dismissive hand at the Pony, "no problem, I just prefer to know when I'm about to be lifted in the air."

I bounced a little on the cloud, it felt more like a really nice pillow than anything else. I could see why Dash loved sleeping on them. "How long will the potion last?" I asked the purple Mare.

She thought about it for a second. "I'd say about... fourteen days before it starts to wear out."

I nodded while continuing my bouncing. "Cool."

Rainbow Dash spoke up behind me with the same grin. "So, you ready to go flying?"

I mimicked her grin. "Oh, absolutely."

Rainbow had brought me to enormous heights and we were flying all over Ponyville at incredible speeds. I was holding on to the cloud for dear life, it was both exciting and terrifying at the same time. Rainbow shouted something at me but the wind was so loud I couldn't understand it.

"WHAT?!" I shouted at her.

"I SAID GET READY!"

"FOR WHAT?!"

I could almost hear her grin when she answered "THIS!"

Suddenly the cloud was taken out from under me and I began to fall. I really should have been scared, terrified really. But something happened and I just enjoyed the free fall, I couldn't help but suspect my demon had something to do with it. I didn't pay it any attention though, I was fine with enjoying something.

I ignored the fact that I was falling towards the ground at breakneck speeds and had a little fun. I tucked in my legs and started to flip through the air. I was laughing all the way down until I got a face full of fluffy cloud.

I could hear a familiar Pegasus giggling. "Are you okay?"

I tried to tell her I was fine but due to the cloud in my face all that came out was a mass of mumbling.

Still laughing she asked again. I sat up and repeated myself. "Yeah, I feel great. It's easy to see why you like that so much."

She smiled brightly. "Yeah. it's a great rush and it makes you feel so free."

I looked around. "What time is it? I have to pick up some new clothes and I don't want to miss my first Pinkie Pie party."

Rainbow almost gasped. "You've never been to one of Pinkie's parties before?"

I shook my head. "No, and for whatever reason I'm the guest of honor."

"Well it's probably your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party, everypony gets one but I'll be sure to ask her later."

I nodded. "So where's your house anyways?"

She looked around as well. "Well lets see, since we're right over the market it should be..." She turned around. "That way!" The Pegasus Mare did a flip and began to push the cloud I was on towards her house.

It was a fairly short flight, although that was mostly due to the speed we were going. We finally stopped just outside the outskirts of Ponyville. As for her house it was like a replica of the small, two story houses you would see all over Ponyville, except it was made out of clouds.

Rainbow Dash flew me right alongside of it and opened the door. "Come on in." She said cheerfully.

I dismounted my cloud and walked into the cloud-house. It wasn't unlike anything I had expected really. A couch, a table, pictures along the walls and various trophies along the shelves on the walls.

The owner of said home walked up next to me. "So, can I get you anything to eat?"

Luna ran up to her sister in one of Canterlot Castle's many hallways, excitedly calling her name. Celestia turned to greet her.

"Hello sister, I take it you have good news for me?"

Luna nodded vigorously, which elected a small giggle from her older sister. "Oh yes! Pinkie Pie has already planned the party and invited the Human, Rarity is making him some formal attire, Rainbow Dash will be keeping him occupied until everything is ready, and Maple will also be arriving in just a moment.

Celestia nodded. "Excellent, we shall prepare Maple. Then, we will introduce them just after the Human arrives at the party. Did Maple bring Stormy as well?"

"Yes she was happy to bring him." Luna responded with a smile.

"Then we can begin our preparations." In just a few hours the Princesses would finally get some of the truth, whether they liked it or not.

I was once again sitting on a cloud that was floating high above the ground, only this time I was sitting peace fully and watching Rainbow Dash practice some of her new flight moves. It was nice up here, calm, peaceful, no distractions...

So I've been looking around in some of your memories.

Son of a bitch.

And I've figured out which ones are most likely to get a reaction from you.

I let out heavy sigh and watched the rainbow-maned Pegasus fly upwards while completing multiple barrel rolls. "Is that really a good idea while I'm two hundred feet in the air."

You're not that high and I just want your opinion on some things.

"Really? You don't know how I'm going to react to remember that everyone I knew was slaughter in front of me while I got to live?"

Oh please, your life was hell even before the Bloodbath. You shouldn't undersell yourself like that.

I failed to suppress a laugh. As much as I hated him he was still like an old friend to me, something I severely lacked at this point.

In fact, I think I'll remind you of your childhood right now...

"Well fuck you too."

***

"But can I please go play with the other kids now?"

"No! You have to train!"

"But Dad! They don't have to train."

"That's because they're weak! You have to train or else you'll be a pathetic weakling like everyone else!"

"Can I skip just this one time?"

SMACK!

"No! You do what I tell you to or else I break your fucking skull!"

***

I snorted, "that's it? I've made my peace with that asshole a long time ago. I think you're loosing your touch."

Yes but... How did you make your peace?

I froze.

Exactly, you did what no other would do.. You did what only you could do.

"Look, I get your point but you don't have to-"

You took your own fathers life.

"Hey! I did what had to be done, he was a tyrant! He terrorized everyone that looked at him! At least I was man enough to give him an honorable death."

Maybe, but your intentions were quite the opposite.

"How dare you say that! I did what any good man should do and defend the one he loved!"

Lets have a good remembering then shall we?

***

"Hey I'm back!"

"Oh good, I'm happy that you're safe."

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you're not looking at me and I would really like to see you.

"Um, okay. But, don't get mad..."

"Why would I be mad?"

...

"No, don't do anything bad."

"Who?"

"It's not that big a deal really, it's just-."

"Please tell me..."

"It- it's not so bad, I can't even feel it anymore..."

"Listen. I love you and want to take care of you. Now please. Who hit you?"

"Do you promise to not do anything bad to them?"

"...You know I can't promise you that."

"Please?"

"I can't let anyone treat you like this and get away with it. I'll try to solve it peacefully but no promises."

"Okay... It was..."

"Could you say that a little louder?"

"It was... Your father."

...

"Now please don't do anything you'll regret."

...

"I know you're angry."

...

"But sometimes violence isn't the answer."

...

"Um, are you okay?"

"I'm going to kill him."

***

This memory might just be my favorite, here, I'll even make it vivid for you.

***

"You!" My shout echoed through the streets.

He turned to me with a smug look. "So you finally came crawly back to your dear old dad?"

My fist connected with his jaw.

He stumbled back and was completely shocked. "You dare hit me?!" He shouted.

I punched him again. This time I knocked him off his feet. "How dare you hit her!" I shouted at him.

He got to his feet. "The whore deserved it, she was distracting you and I had to make sure she knew her place."

My vision was red. "How dare you call yourself my father! You beat me near senseless every day I was a child until I ran away, you made my mothers life so miserable she ended up killing herself, and now you not only hit the one I love but call her a whore? Then, after all this time. You still think you're in control?"

I pulled out my training sword he had given to me as a boy, but I had kept it sharp.

"I think you're the one that needs to be put in his place!" I yelled at him. I barley noticed that a crowd had encircled us. After some searching I spotted her along the inner circle of the crowd and saw her watching anxiously. Seeing that black eye again only made me hate the man in front of me even more.

He laughed. "You think that you have what it takes to kill your own father?" He drew a sword of his own, nearly twice the size of mine. "I doubt it."

I stared at him. "You're no father."

"That's what you think, but no matter what. You will always be my son."

"Is that what you think?!" My hatred was almost uncontrollable at this point. "Do you even know that Mom had another child!?" His expression told me no. "Do you know why she killed herself?!" He remained silent. "As soon as he was born Mother killed herself, and do you know why?"

Silence.

"Because of you! She couldn't stand to see another one of her children go through the beatings that you had given me so she killed herself! Then what happened to the baby? I took him in and raised him! Not on my own though. Oh no, I raised him with her!" I pointed to my lover. "Because I love her!"

The way he looked at her made me tighten my grip. "Know how I met her? Of course not! It was directly after I ran away from you! I've been staying with her since!"

He continued to stare at the woman I loved. "You selfish whore." Then he charged at her, sword at the ready.

That. Was. Fucking. It.

I brought my blade across calf, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground.

He looked around. "Well don't just stand there! Get him!" The crowd didn't move an inch. "What are you doing? Obey your king!"

Not a single person even blinked.

He clumsily got to his feet and stared daggers at me. "You've been a thorn in my side since you were first born, time to take you out."

He clumsily ran over to me and raised his weapon. I responded by parrying his sword with my own and bringing it down, slicing his chest. He roared in rage and swung at me, I ducked and cut him again. This time across his stomach. In a hateful last attempt he tried to spear me with his blade, I mearly side stepped him and elbowed his throat. He fell over in a heap.

I circled him with my sword pointed at his heart. "You're a sad old man that has been given too much power. It's about time I put you out of your misery." I crouched next to him. "You know what my only regret is? That it took me so long to do this."

I stood up and addressed the crowd. "Who's with me?!"

They all cheered as my blade pierced my fathers heart.

***

You would think I would cringe at the memory, or show some sign of discomfort of the fact I had killed my father shamelessly in front of everyone.

Nope. I absolutely loved it.

My father was practically a slaver. After he had defeated our previous ruler he turned into a tyrant and everybody did what he said. They were all too scared to speak against him so they simply submitted. If you think 'that can't be so bad' you'd be dead wrong. We had no freedom, he had a few loyal guards that patrolled the streets and kicked down doors of anybody that looked like they were even thinking something bad about him. Which was pretty much everybody.

Not only were we under constant watch, he took away our names. It was his symbol of control. He would name us to show that he owned us, sometimes he would forget about someone completely and they would spend a large part of their lives without an identity. Once he was dead we all picked our own names to show we were independent, which is why names meant so much to us. We even carried the tradition long after that time had passed, when the children were old enough they could pick their own names.

All except for Me and Miranda. We were so in love at that time that we picked each others names, to show that we belonged to each other. It was an enormous sign of trust. Even though she wasn't always named Miranda, from the moment I first saw her she would always be Miranda to me. So when she died a part of me had died with her.

That part just happened to have my name.

Woo! We really just had a stroll down memory lane didn't we?

"You're kind of an asshole you know that?"

Just doing my job.

"Would you believe me if I said that I actually thought I could just watch Rainbow Dash in peace?"

Well you should of know better.

I snorted again. Looking up I saw Rainbow flying towards me.

"So? What did you think?" She asked once she got closer.

"That was pretty amazing." It was the truth, the parts I was paying attention to were really cool. But then I got distracted by my 'demon'.

She sat down on the cloud next to me. "Yeah, that's what everypony keeps telling me." Her eyes slowly closed before they suddenly shot back open and she jumped to her hooves. "Sweet Celestia it's nearly sunset already!"

I looked at the horizon, true to her word there was indeed an orange glow reaching out across the land as Celestia's sun began it's decent.

Before I knew it the Pegasus at my side had taken control of my cloud and was now lowering me very quickly. "So sorry about this but I gotta go and Rarity's shop is that way bye!" She shouted in a rush as she dashed off towards someplace in Ponyville. With a shrug I jumped off my cloud and walked to Rarity's Boutique.

I knocked on the door to Rarity's store three times firmly and waited.

"I'm coming!" Rarity said in a sing song voice. Not a moment later the door was opened by Rarity herself. "There you are! I've been waiting for you."

I rubbed the back of my head nervously. "Yeah, sorry I was kind of stuck on a cloud for a while."

Rarity cocked her head in confusion but decided to not question it. "Well you're here now and that's what's important, now please come in." She gestured inside with a hoof.

I stepped inside while Rarity explained the situation. "Now, Pinkie's party starts in about five minutes and it's a three minute walk. That gives us just enough time to get you into your new clothes and see how well they fit."

I was still worried about the amount of gems that could be on it. "Um, okay. Sounds good." Was all I could say as Rarity floated over my new clothes.

They were nice to say the least, and I was happy to see the absence of gems on them. It was only a pair of light brown cargo shorts and a white tee shirt, which was fine by me, the simpler the better. I turned to the dress maker. "Thanks, they'll work just fine."

Rarity nodded happily. "Good, good. Now quickly put them on, we can't miss this party." she said pushing me into the changing booth.

Just moments later I walked out wearing my fresh new clothes, they were a perfect fit and comfortable too. When I voiced my compliments to Rarity she only thanked me quickly.

"Yes, yes. Thank you, but right now we need to get to the party!" She exclaimed, clearly excited for the party.

"Okay okay, lets go."

Celestia and Luna stood among the crowd of Ponies gathered at Sugar Cube Corner.

"Does everypony remember what to do?" The elder of the sisters asked.

When the reply was positive Pinkie Pie jumped up and cheered. "Then let's get this party started!"

When Rarity and I walked through the doors of Sugar Cube Corner it felt like I was hit by a party cannon. There were Ponies everywhere, dancing, laughing, and playing. A white Unicorn behind the turntables, I recognized her as Viynl Scratch. Clearly the party was already in full swing.

The speakers were pounding out techno music, there were multicolored balloons cover the ceiling and streamers lining the walls. What made me uncomfortable was how much everypony was looking at me, they all seemed to be sneaking glances at me expectantly, like they knew something. Unfortunately none of their gazes lasted long enough for me to read their eyes.

I looked around and saw that Rarity had already begun to mingle. I had no idea what to do in a room full of partying Ponies. Luckily for me though, Pinkie Pie did.

"Hiya!" She shouted right into my face once again. "Good to see you made it! I threw this whole party just for you ya know!"

I nodded. "Yeah, I know. So why did you throw the party?"

She patted the top of my head. "Don't you worry your pretty little head, auntie Pinkie Pie will take care of it."

I was about to object, but then again she has been around for almost a hundred and a half years longer than me. "Okay, whatever you say."

She giggled excitedly and bounced off into the crowd. These Ponies defiantly knew something that I didn't.

I had no idea how to mingle with a different species, let alone a cartoon of it. I talked to various Ponies that I had seen before, but it was hard to strike up a good conversation seeing as how I had nothing in common with them.

I moved to where the food had been placed out and began t wonder why I really was helping these Ponies. I wasn't really a big deal I suppose it's not like I was busy.

I looked around while munching on a cookie and noticed a lack of my Human friends, why wouldn't they be invited? Or were they just late?

My thoughts were interrupted when the music abruptly stopped and two Alicorns walked through the door. Everypony had moved aside, creating a path from them to me through the crowd. Okay, this was defiantly rehearsed. Rainbow Dash and her five friends were next to the door, was this where she had rushed off to?

Celestia spoke, drawing the attention of everypony in the room. "Human, I know that you have a past that you may not want to share with us. But please, let us thank you for all that you are about to give. When you venture into the deepest parts of the Everfree Forest in just a few days, you my not come back."

"This is so exciting!"

"Shush!"

Luna was next to speak. "We admit to watching you when you thought you were alone and talking to this... inner demon of yours. We admit to hearing what you thought nopony has heard. When you mentioned no real reason to fight, and that you could be stronger. We wish to give you something to fight for, something to protect once more."

I could feel anticipation radiating off the Ponies surrounding me as the sisters stepped aside to allow two new Ponies to enter the store. I didn't recognize either of them from the show.

One was a Pegasus Mare with a scarlet coat, a flowing sky blue mane and tail, pink eyes, with a golden heart surrounded by four smaller hearts as a cutie mark. She was flanked by a young Earth Pony Colt, still too young to have his Cuite mark. He had a darker blue coat and matted black mane and tail, it looked as though it had recently been attempted to be combed, but to no avail. He also had silver eyes, which I have never seen on any other Pony before.

It was what was Mare's left ear that caught my interest. A flower, a Dandelion to be specific. Not something I would think a Mare's first choice would be, perhaps a rose or something. Staring at it for a moment sparked a memory.

***

"Here."

"Oh! A flower, how did you ever find one?"

"I saw it growing under a light in the Snake pit and I just had to get it for you."

"Awww, thanks... There, how does it look?"

"Amazing."

***

Then there was the Colt with the blue and silver colors.

I looked into their eyes and they were both thinking the same thing. "It's really him.

The Mare and Colt smiled warmly at me.

Something clicked, Celestia and Luna could retrieve souls and bring them here. What were the odds that I knew who was standing in front of me?

It all made sense, the Dandelion, the black, blue, and silver on the Colt. I could barley breath. My breath caught in my throat. I forced one word out, one name, the name that meant everything to me. "Miranda?"

6: Today

As soon as her name left my mouth the scarlet Mare ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug she could manage. As if she was trying to recive all the affection from me I had been unable to give her while we were seperated, and I was glad to give it to her. I looked up and saw the Earth Pony Colt looking at me intently. I smiled at him. "Eddie?" I had barley finished saying his name when he to ran into me, hugging me as hard as he could. I wrapped my arms around them, intent on never letting them go again.

After a minute the Mare I called Miranda spoke. "I- we just missed you so much."

"I knew you would come back for us, you always do." The Colt I called Eddie declared.

I smiled, it was a true smile this time. Not a mask I wore constantly day after day or the evil grin I put on before a fight. I was well and truly happy at this point. "Don't worry, I wont leave you ever again." I promissed.

They were here, in my arms. After everything that had happened we had found each other once again, with the help of the Princesses but still. It was them, their warmth, their love. Just... them. This was amazing. No, it was better. It was fantastic, unbelievable it was-

Unreal? Not happening? All a dream and you're about to wake up?

I would punch you in the face if I could.

Regardless of my demon I still clung to the two ponies as if my life depended on it. I don't know how long we all just sat there embracing each other, but it wouldn't have mattered. As long as I had Miranda and Eddie with me everything was right in the world. Eventually Celestia had to speak up. "I see that you are happy with our surprise."

I looked up. Everypony was staring at us affectionately, Princesses included. They were all genuinely happy for us, something I hadn't expected for some reason. "I cannot tell you how happy I am to see them again." I said.

Celestia nodded with a smile. "It fills my heart with joy to see such love." She hesitated and bit her lip slightly. "Do mind though, if you can answer some questions. You have given us so many."

I paused, was this a bribe? The only reason they did this was to get meaningless answers? If so what would happen if I refused. It didn't matter, I was happy to accept. "Of course, it's the least I can do."

Celestia warmly smiled at us. "We have a house ready for you to stay in. If you like we could show you discuss it there."

"Lead the way." The gathered Ponies all wished us luck as we left, then they turned back to the party. No sense in wasting a perfectly good party right?

Not to long after we had walked into the house the Princesses had prepared for us. We all entered and sat down in the foyer. I was on the couch while Miranda was tucking in Eddie and the Princesses sat across from me on large cushions.

"So what do you want to know?" I asked getting straight to the point.

Celestia seemed, unsure of herself if anything. I hope she didn't have anymore surprises for me. "Well, everything really."

"Let me stop you right there." I interrupted. "The Bloodbath is like a good scary story. You might think you want to know it but once you do you wish you never asked in the first place, it will do more than keep you up at night."

"But we need to know, we know everything about everypony here in Equestria except for you Humans."

"Why? You'll never look at us the same way if you know everything. Sometimes secrets are supposed to stay secret."

Celestia huffed. "You just said that you would answer our questions."

"But if I told you every detail of the Bloodbath like you want then you would probably never trust any of us."

She raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean that I shouldn't trust you now?

I sighed, Ponies were persistent. "No, you can trust me. What I'm saying is that you'll get suspicious."

"Why?"

I looked out the window.

***

CRASH!

"THERE YOU ARE!"

"No no please!"

"WHERE ARE THEY!?"

"They're in the armory! Please just let me- Ack!"

CRASH!

"COME OUT AND FIGHT ME!"

"There he is! Get him!"

"YOU WILL ALL DIE HERE!"

***

"We've all done things we shouldn't have." I said quietly.

They deserved it.

Shush.

Celestia nodded. "I understand that you may not want to share your story, but what can you tell us?"

I sighed and turned to Luna. "What do you think? You've been quite so far."

Luna shook her head. "I'm not sure, as curious as I may be I keeping thinking about what you said. When I went into your dreams to get answers I was horrified with what I saw. Maybe it is for the best that the Bloodbath just becomes lost in history."

You better not let that happen.

Don't worry, we'll talk about that later.

"Well, can you tell us about this inner demon you were talking too?" Celestia questioned.

Couldn't hurt right?

Not unless they want their own voices.

Please shut up.

Luckily Miranda walked into the room. "What are you talking about?" She asked.

She jumped onto the couch and rested her head against my shoulder. I smiled. "They just want to know about the voice in my head."

She picked her head up and looked at me. "You mean your mentor?"

"Yes, but I consider him more of a burden than anything right now."

"Why?"

"We're disagreeing on a lot of things right now."

Celestia cleared her throat. "Excuse me but, what are you talking about?"

I glanced at Miranda and she gave me a smile and a nod.

This'll be good. "Well, he's a voice in my head. I can hear him as clearly as you can hear me."

Celestia and Luna exchanged looks. "How did he get inside your head?" Luna asked.

I chewed my lip, this was the part that I didn't want them to know about.

Maybe I could do the talking?

Absolutely not. "When I was just a kid... my dad.... he was not a good father." I felt Miranda put a reassuring hoof around me, it helped a little. "After he took out his anger on me, again, I just sat there. I'll admit I was crying, I was broken. I had nothing in my life, I was a weak little boy with no one to look up to and no one would look after me." The sisters shared a pained look. "Every time I tried to get up I only fell down again, I was going nowhere. In that moment all I needed was a friend, a simple voice to tell me to get up and that he believed in me."

"Sure enough, that's just what I got. After deciding that I would never get up again I heard a voice. Faint at first but it gradually got louder. He said 'get up' over and over. Eventually I found the strength to pick myself up and stand. Then he told me to run." I looked at Miranda with a smile, this was her favorite part. "I ran faster than I ever had before, I don't know how far I ran but after a while I slowed down in front of a house. Turns out it was where that beautiful girl from the market lived. She let me stay, we fell in love, and the voice has been helping me ever since."

"What about now?" Celestia asked.

I sighed. "He's still doing the right thing, I just don't have the strength to do it."

"Then why do you call him your inner demon and not your mentor?"

"Right now all he does is remind me of what I did wrong instead of pushing me to do better. I consider that a burden right now."

Actually-

They don't need to know that.

"But now that you have Maple and Stormy you're better right?" Celestia asked.

I looked up. "Who?"

Miranda laughed. "When me and Eddie first came here we got to pick new names to better fit in with the Ponies, he's Stormy and I'm Maple."

I put an arm around her to pull her close and kiss her on the forehead. "Okay but I'm still going to call you Miranda."

She smiled sweetly at me. "I have no problem with that."

I turned back to the Princesses. "I do feel a lot better now that they're back, but that's not really a good thing."

"Why not?"

"Because I always get stronger when I slip, so having them back is making it a lot harder to keep myself in check."

"Why is it bad to slip?"

I grinned. "Last time you saw me slip there was a spear sticking out of my friends arm."

Her ears folded back. "Oh. Well why did you do that?"

I shook my head. "If I snap then it wont be pretty, that was the fastest way to shut him up."

"Why did you need him to shut up?"

"That's the scary story part."

Miranda leaned in close and whispered, so only I could hear. "Is there something we need to talk about?"

I paused for a moment. Should I tell her? What would she think? Would she understand or would she call me a monster?

Depends on who says it.

I sucked in a breath and whispered back. "Maybe later, but not right now."

"Is there anything else you could tell us?" Celestia asked.

I thought about it for a second. "Nope." I said confidently. In a more serious tone I added. "But please listen to me when I tell you that you don't want to know. They always think that they do, but once they find out they regret it."

Celestia nodded. "Understood." She turned to Luna. "What about you sister? You have remained silent this entire time."

Luna frowned. "I just don't know what to think anymore. First you seem like a nice Human, then you tell us that you've done something that will give us nightmares. But we should still trust you. I'm just torn."

I frowned a little. "Don't worry, as long as you can trust me right here and now nothing is wrong."

The Alicorn nodded but hardly looked as if she had taken my words to heart. "Yes yes." She stood up. "Thank you for your time, we will give you two some alone time now."

With that she and her elder sister trotted out the door, leaving me alone with the scarlet Mare.

"So what happened?" She asked.

"About what? A lot happened."

She leaned against me and spoke gently. "After, you know."

I did know.

***

"Eight."

"It's okay."

"Seven."

"Okay. I love you Miranda."

"Six."

"I love you too-"

"I lied, light her up."

"NO!"

FWOOSH!

"ARGH!"

BANG!

***

I had killed her, I was forced too and no choice sure. But I still did it.

She rested her head on my shoulder. "It's okay, I don't blame you for what happened."

"That doesn't mean I still don't feel bad about it."

"You had no choice."

"I know, but I feel like I should have been stronger."

"Even you can't take on two armies with only a half dozen men with you." She said in a mildly mocking tone.

She had a point, we all have our limits. "So how has Eddie been?"

She was obviously glad for the subject change. "He's been wonderful, amazing manners, polite, friendly. He's fit in perfectly here."

"What about you?"

She looked at the floor. "It's been... difficult. Eddie was hanging on to the idea that we are just on vacation and that you would join us soon, he's still just kid after all. But I knew what happened, I convinced him it was a nightmare but... He's like you in so many ways, but he couldn't tell me everything was alright or hold me when I got scared. I got really lonely some nights" She looked up at me with a smile, her eyes were watering up. "No one could ever replace you."

She leaned in and we both shared a loving kiss, it was surprisingly similar to when she was a Human. When it broke we smiled at each other. "You wont ever be alone at night again." I promised.

Just outside two Alicorn sisters were talking. "What was that about? Why did you just leave?" The elder questioned.

"If he's really changed then that means his dreams will have changed too, maybe now that he's having trouble with control his dreams will make more sense." The younger explained.

Celestia blinked. "That- that's actually a really good idea."

Luna grinned. "Thank you sister, now we just have to wait for him to fall asleep..."

It hadn't taken long for the Mare and Human to fall asleep, possibly because they were together. As soon as Luna knew they were asleep she lit her horn up and took off into the dream void.

It was the same as last time, except the Human was almost the first sleeping figure she saw. Luna stopped to smile at the sight, the Human and Mare were wrapped in each others arms and sleeping silently. The Mare had buried her head into his chest and the Human had gently placed a hand on her, protecting her even as he slept. Luna could also see the faintest hint of a smile on his lips.

Much more confident this time the Princess of the night stepped through the glistening picture and into his dreams.

The Alicorns head was spinning as she laid sprawled out in the dirt. Silently grateful for the lack of the Blood Luna rolled over and shakily got to her hooves. She hesitantly looked around, just because the Blood wasn't there didn't mean that everything bad had also disappeared. Fortunately it had. What was once a place of death and despair was now a peaceful row of houses that seemed to glow. Not only that but it was bright out this time, looking around she saw that it was only due to the massive lights atop the houses.

Luna smiled, her sister and her must have really helped him when they returned Maple to him. She sat down and rubbed her head with her fore hooves, entering this dream had really given her a headache for some reason. Slowly her hearing returned and she was shocked at what she heard. Instead of screaming and a fist fight it sounded as if a full blown battle was going on somewhere.

Luna was instantly overcome with a mix of worry and curiosity. As she ran down the row of houses she noticed that they stayed constant this time. All just as happy as the last, never less or more. For some reason it reminded her of Ponyville. She turned the corner, happy to see a lack of bodies, and ran to a scene of a strange battle. She shook her head to make sure.

Yep, they were all glowing. These weren't copies of the Human these were different Humans that she had never seen before. Sure enough for every dark blue one there was a bright silver copy fighting it. Luna decided to avoid the conflict and scale the pile of ruble the Human was still siting on.

Now having a better view on the battle she could see that there was only a half dozen men and the Human on each side. They were all holding a line and neither side was advancing. She now noticed that the open area where they were fighting in seemed to be split in half. On the silver side was the wonderful place she had just exited and on the blue side was the horrible, blood-soaked village she had seen the previous visit. The blood, although still up to their shins wasn't moving past the line somehow.

"Nice to see you again." The Human said emotionless.

"What's happening?" Luna asked.

The Human only sighed. "When you brought Miranda back to me... Something happened."

The Alicorn rolled her eyes, she did not want to play this game again. "Care to explain?"

"You see, I'm constantly fighting myself and my demon. So when you brought Miranda back it gave them a huge advantage." At Luna's puzzled expression he tried a different kind of explanation. "Think of it like this. I'm a wall holding back a part of me that I don't want out and my demon is trying to break it and let that part of me out. When Miranda came back it got significantly harder to hold them back."

Luna understood that part. "Why do you want to hold that part of you back if the demon is doing what's right and helping it?"

"I was never supposed to lock that part of me away, so the demon is trying to make me like my old self once again. The one that he has always helped."

"Why would you lock away what he has always helped?"

"I never wanted to, but there were... problems with letting it out then. Still are."

"Like what?"

"That's the scary story part."

Luna huffed, but at least she had something. "Then could you explain this?" She said, gesturing to the battle below them

"My demon is getting stronger, so the fight for control has gotten bigger."

"But last time it was just you fighting you, who are all these new people?"

"Last time it was me fighting my demon, he just looks like me is all. As for the new guys, they're the ones that fought the final battle with me."

"Which one are you?"

"I don't know."

Luna was more than a little frustrated right now. "Really? You don't know what you're fighting for?"

"NO!" The Human suddenly yelled at her. "I have no idea what to fight for!" Luna backed off slightly, out of the corner of her eye she noticed the blue Humans were starting to shine brighter and were slowly gaining ground on the silvers. "I was about to kill the ones that did this! Sneak out of the corner and make it look like an accident! I knew exactly where they were! But then I came here and months of planning down the drain! I was maybe five days from carrying out my plan!" Then the blues dulled and the silver group easily pushed them back and past the line. "I was watching them watch me! I had to plan out my entire life so they wouldn't know where my Clan was! I know exactly where they are too! I could have gone to them at any time! It was a straight walk from the Corner to their gates! They're waiting for me! For the past two years I've been torn between killing and saving!"

The Human was breathing heavily as the silvers dulled and fell back to the line. "I'm not going to apologize." The Human said before looking away from the Princess.

Luna just sat there in shock. Not only had nopony ever spoken to her like but he wasn't even sorry. That wasn't the worst part either. She had taken him away from his life. She and her sister had never even considered what they were taking the Humans from when they brought them here. She had taken him away from his... what had he said? Clan? What was that? She had never heard of that. There was Tribes, they were towns of people. Gangs were groups of people and a Wanderer was someone by himself. Never before had anyone ever mentioned a Clan to her.

She looked at the Human who had his head in his hands. Just another mystery that Luna would have to solve she supposed. With that thought she exited his dreams.

I woke up and stretched across my bed. It was still morning judging by how bright it was. I felt something shift and looked down. Nothing could have stopped my smile. Miranda was still asleep, her hoof still around me and she nuzzled my chest with a smile. I was glad to know it wasn't all just a dream, that I had gotten both her and Eddie back. I lazily rested my arm around her and rested my head on the pillow again.

She shifted again and opened her eyes. "Hm?"

"Good to see you're awake."

She returned my smile. "Good to see it wasn't all a dream."

I kissed her on the forehead and she nuzzled me again, something I could defiantly get used to. After a while she spoke up. "We should really get out of bed." She said quietly.

I ran my fingers through her mane. "We should but I don't want to."

She climbed to her hooves and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. "Common sleepy head, we have to make breakfast for Eddie."

"Fine." I groaned and fell out of bed. She giggled at the display. "So is your name Maple or Miranda?" I asked getting to my feet.

"Well everypony calls me Maple and him Stormy, but we call each other by our real names." She explained.

We walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. "What would you like to eat?" I asked her.

"Any snake meat?" She joked.

***

"Hey!"

"Hey Susy how are you?"

"I just got this great new recipe and I want to know what you think!"

"Sure."

"Great! Wait right here!"

...

"Okay here you are."

"Hmm... Smells delicious."

"Go on try it!"

...

"Well?"

"Argh! What is that!?"

"Salted snake meat soaked vinegar."

"Gah! Why would you make that!?"

"I thought it would be funny."

***

I let out a laugh. "She sure loved to joke."

She laughed along. "My sisters always enjoyed a good laugh at everyone's expense."

Still grinning I looked through the fridge for some food.

"Do you know if any of them survived?"

I almost dropped the carton of eggs. "Um... What?"

"I want to know if any of my sisters survived." She said seriously.

I looked down.

"If you don't want to talk about it..."

"Yes." I said with full confidence. "I'm not sure about all of them but Charlette defiantly did."

Her eyes lit up. "Really? But how can you be sure?"

I grinned. "You can always tell where Charlette's been."

She understood and flew over to hug me. "Thank you! I've been worried sick about them." She said in between kisses.

"Woah, it really wasn't a dream."

We broke the hug and turned to the new voice. "Hey Eddie, good to see your awake."

He smiled and ran up to hug me. "Big brother! I can't believe that your really here!"

I grinned and set him down. "Get used to it big guy, because this time I'm here to stay."

He laughed happily and sat down at the table. "What's for breakfast?"

"How's an omelet sound?"

"Oh boy! I can't remember the last time I had one of your omelets!" He cheered.

I laughed again. I never thought that I was much of a chef, but I could always pull of an omelet.

"Wait a second." Miranda said. "Where are your guns?"

I stopped and looked down, there was no guns or gun holsters around my waist. "Huh, must have left them in the bedroom. Be right back."

I walked through the door way to the bedroom and threw off the covers of the bed, nothing. I looked under the bed and all around the floor, nothing.

Then I heard laughter.

"What did you do?" I asked him.

Well, now that Miranda is back part of you is constantly slipping.

"So? I can handle it."

Obviously not.

"What do you mean?"

Look in the drawer of the nightstand.

I did as he said and jumped back. In the nightstand was both my guns, but they where in pieces. Smashed apart and broken, completely beyond repair. "How, how did you do that?" My voice was shaky, never before has anything like this ever happened.

It was surprisingly easy, as soon as you touched Miranda you started slipping. Only slightly but still, then when you were sleeping I tried something. I gave the part of you that you keep locked away a push. I told him to destroy the guns and he did so. Simple.

"Why would you do that?"

Oh come on. You're using guns so of course the real you would be more than happy to get rid of them. Use something that you can count on."

"You know what would happen if I used anything like that."

Exactly.

"I can't let that happen."

Come on! Think about this from my point of view!

That's true, I've never considered what he was going through. "What do you mean?"

I was manifested by your mind. It was like my home, but when you locked your mind away I was locked away with it. I'm just trying to get my home back, unlike you.

I visibly winced at that. "That hurt."

Yeah well the truth does that.

I let out a long sigh. "What am I supposed to do without a weapon in a dangerous forest in a couple of days?"

You could quit fighting it for once.

After breakfast Eddie had ran off to play with the other Colts at the school playground. That left me with Miranda, I knew I had to talk about what my mentor had done.

"Miranda?"

"Hm?" She murmured. She was sleepily laying on my lap as I ran my fingers through her hair.

"I need to ask you about what I should do."

"What's that?"

"Well Mentor destroyed my guns, which leaves me without a weapon."

"What about the Guard?"

"That's what I want to ask you. Should I use it?"

I could feel her smile. "Of course, you used it forever. Why would you stop?"

"Because it's too familiar, it'll make me slip or even snap completely."

"What's so bad about that? I've noticed that you changed and no offense but, I like the old you more."

That was unexpected. "What do you mean?"

"Well you used to tower over everyone, confident and proud. But now it's like you're hiding from everyone, me included."

Well that settled it.

Turns out that Princess Celestia was visiting Twilight at the Library, which is where I was now.

"I need you to get something for me." I told her.

"What is it?" Celestia asked.

I took a breath, I was really going to do it. "Back at the Corner of Equestria, under my bed, there's a duffle bag. It has somethings I need in it."

"Like what?"

"A weapon."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "What happened to your old ones?"

They were in the trash. "They broke." I spared her the details.

She seemed to accept that. "Very well, I can teleport it here."

"Thank you." Then it hit me. "Why couldn't you just teleport me and my friends here?"

The sun Princess smiled. "It's not a person, it's an object. Not the same thing."

"Okay, go ahead."

Her eyes closed, horn lit up and she focused.

I want to thank you.

For what?

For bringing yourself back, it will be nice... And I'm sorry that I had to put you through everything.

Well, I need a favor from you.

What is it?

When I slip I want you to hold back the part of me that holds the blood lust.

I'll try, but I can't do it by myself or forever.

There was a brilliant golden flash and a black duffle bag fell to the ground.

"Don't worry about it."

I moved to pick it up and the door slammed open, revealing Brian and Vinnie. "Is that what I think it is?" Brian asked carefully.

"Yes." I deadpanned.

"Why?"

"I broke my guns so I needed a weapon."

Vinnie stepped forward. "I don't know if I trust you with that."

"You don't have to."

He cocked his head. "What if we get our old weapons too?"

I shrugged. "Go ahead." I locked eyes with his. "Just keep yourself in check." I looked at Brian. "Same for you."

They both nodded slowly and told Celestia where they kept their duffle bags. She nodded and soon there were two more bags at our feet. One white and the other green.

I walked up to the black one, Vinnie the white and Brian the green. We all looked at each other and nodded. I pulled the zipper down and closed my eyes. I knew what was in here, I put it there. I opened my eyes. Yep, there was my old helmet and weapon rolled up in my flag. I grabbed the weapon and held it in my hands.

It was one of a kind, made it myself too. It was a sold blue metal staff just longer than my arm. At first glance it appeared to be just that, a metal stick. In reality it was a marvel in weaponry, I had filled it with almost every kind of blade I knew. All it took was the perfect flick of a wrist to open. Different flicks meant different blades. That's what made me so dangerous on the battlefield, I was completely unpredictable. I called it the Guard.

I looked over and saw Brian holding a spear taller than him. It's tip juts out in four points so if you were to survive getting stuck by it you wouldn't survive pulling it out. Not that anyone has ever pulled it out. He never missed.

Vinnie has holding two daggers, each the size of his forearm. One was sharp on one side and heavily serrated on the other. His other dagger was more of a sharp hook than anything. He might be the only one I know whose choice weapons were daggers, but it suited him. He was amazingly fast when he fought, sometimes you couldn't even see him.

"No guns?" Celestia asked.

I stood up and examined the Guard. "Way before we were born in the dark everyone used guns, but nobody made their own bullets like they do now. So slowly but surely everyone turned towards weapons that you didn't need to load."

Celestia nodded in understanding and I turned toward my friends. "Wanna see if we can still use them?"

I took their grins as a yes.

Celestia was kind enough to loan us some targets that the royal guards normally used to train with. Luckily they were enchanted to reconstruct when destroyed. Which was often.

It was my turn to tackle the circle of eight targets we had set up. So far Vinnie had the record of twenty three seconds.

Before I started I said two words that only one mentor could hear. The one's he's been dying to hear for two years now. "You ready?" I asked.

You shouldn't even have to ask.

Then I let go and felt him flow through me. He reached through my veins and we bonded the same way we did before every battle. One of the Ponies from the gathered crowd yelled go and I took off. With the same grin I put on before every battle. I brought the Guard around and over my head and a silver axe blade flew out.

Normally an axe blade that size couldn't fit into the Guard, but I had found a different way to solidify the metal. Making it able to bend a certain way then snap solid if I flicked it into place just right. I brought it across one target, slicing it in half, and spun around to cut the target on the opposite side. I jumped to the right and cut the next target horizontally while the axe retreated. Thrusting it forward then backwards brought out a dagger at the tip of the Guard, which I used to stick into the next target. I lifted it up and threw it at the targets behind me, they were close enough so that I could hit both of them.

I pushed the Guard forward and the dagger slipped back in. I swung the Guard into the the next target, knocking it back, which brought out a scythe blade. I kicked the next target, then turned and threw the Guard at the last target across from me. Landing a solid stick on the inner ring.

I stepped back, still wearing my grin. "Twenty eight seconds!" The Pony in charge of keeping time called.

Everypony cheered as I retrieved the Guard. I put the the scythe away with a flick and turned around to face the crowd. It felt good to be a warrior again, even if it was only pieces of wood I was fighting.

"I see you haven't lost your touch." A silky voice said next to me.

I turned to Miranda. "Somethings you just can't let go of." I reached down and picked her up. "You're one of them."

She smiled and kissed me. I walked us out of the circle as Brian got ready. The targets were now back in place and somepony yelled go. I saw his grin as he held onto the very end of his spear and spun in a circle, slicing every target. The crowd exploded as the time Pony yelled his time. Two seconds.

Vinnie stepped forward laughing. "Okay big guy, how about we set the targets back a little bit?"

The competition was over and Vinnie had won after the targets had been moved back for Brian. We were all laughing and I was still holding Miranda when Celestia approached us.

"I see you have all had a good time this evening." The Alicorn said. "That is good, for tomorrow you journey into the Everfree and discover what is disturbing our land."

My friends dismissed that and went back to exchanging jokes. Miranda froze and looked at me. "What is she talking about?"

I had forgotten about the whole 'mysterious force' in the forest until now. "I have to go into the Everfree and find out what's been going on in there. Whatever it is, it has Dragons relocating. It's the reason I was brought here in the first place."

She frowned. "You said you wouldn't leave us again."

I kissed her on the forehead again. "Don't worry, it'll be a little hike. I go in, stab something, and come back out. Simple."

"I guess it will be okay... It's only for a little bit right?"

"Of course, and even though I'll be gone tomorrow." I lifted her chin up and we looked into each others eyes. "I'm still here today."

7: Liars

After Celestia had told us that I would be gone for a while I decided to take Miranda out on a date. Our very first one. Our relationship never had an official start, I was only a house guest all that time ago when I first met her. Then we became friends, then I was her trusted friend, then I was her shoulder to cry on. One day she came home crying and she ran up to me as soon as she saw me, I cheered her up the best I could. I guess I did a good job, because the next thing I knew she was kissing me.

After that, I don't know... I always thought she was good looking, okay she was gorgeous, but I never admitted it to myself. I was afraid of ruining our relationship and whatnot, luckily she wasn't. We mostly kept to ourselves, I didn't want my father finding out otherwise... Well you know what happened. A few friends figured it out and they helped us stay under his radar. As for what we did after I killed him in front of everybody, we never went anywhere, we just stayed by each others side and we were happy. Then again where would we have gone on dates? It's not like we could have left the Clan without being torn to pieces.

Now that we're here I decided to use the opportunity and give her the kind of date she deserved. We were just walking out of the diner now.

"That was wonderful, we should do this more often." She said, a happy smile on her lips.

"I would love to." I said with a smile not unlike hers. I wish I could hold her hand now, there was still a few problems with us being different species. So I had to settle with her smiling at me.

We just walked together for a while, neither of us knew where. But as long as we were together it really didn't matter. We had just come out of the park and on our way home when a Pony yelled at us.

"What's the matter? No stallion would take you so you had to get one of those hairless apes?!" He shouted.

I turned to the voice, there was three Ponies, all Pegasi. One brown with a tan mane, one a dull orange with a brown mane, and one gray with a black mane. Weren't those the same three that bullied Rainbow Dash? If so this was going to get ugly. I'm guessing the one that had spoken was the grinning brown one standing in front of the snickering other two.

Miranda moved to speak but I beat her to it. "Guys just go on your way, we're having a nice night and you don't need to ruin it." The real reason they were still breathing normally was because Miranda was with me, she makes me significantly less violent.

Unfortunately for them they weren't stopping. "Aw, you having a nice time while she takes you for a walk? Why don't you go eat a banana and we show her a real good time?" The brown one continued.

I glanced behind me and Miranda shook her head. Damn. "I don't want to start anything so you leave now and no one will get hurt."

I saw a twinkle in his eye. "What? We wont rough her up too bad... But she might be walking funny in the morning." His friends burst out laughing.

I grit my teeth, no one had ever talked about her like that and walked away. I looked at Miranda. She was blushing uncontrollably and stepped back awkwardly. I mouthed 'please?' to her. She shook her head quickly and gestured that we leave. I nodded and walked up to her.

"What? Can't handle three at a time or are you just that picky of a whore?"

I stopped and clenched my fists. The one person that had called her that had been thrown in with the garbage after being killed in front of all of his 'servants' by his own son. I barley made eye contact with Miranda when she whispered to me. "Just, don't put them in extreme care."

With an evil grin I ran at the trio of Ponies.

"AH! STOP!"

"I want you to apologize to her."

"For what?" The brown Pony said with a bloodied mouth.

I smashed his face against the pathway again. "Ask again and I'll break something that isn't already broken." I growled.

"Arg, fine! I'm sorry!" He spat.

I twisted his hoof behind him. "For what?"

"For calling you a whore!" He screamed painfully.

"Say it nicely..."

"Really? I already I said I was-" I cut him off by twisting his hoof further. "Okay! Okay!" He took a deep breath and spoke as evenly as he could. "I'm sorry that I called you a whore."

"How sorry?" I had to make sure that my message had gotten through after all.

"Very, very, very sorry!"

"Do you still think she's a whore?"

"NO! I think she's the most beautiful and wonderful Mare in all of Equestria and should be thankful to have such a strong Human to protect her."

I figured that was enough and I let go of him. "If you ever so much as give her a funny look you'll be wishing you were on the moon just to get away from me when I'm done with you."

He nodded his head vigorously. "Yes sir." Then he flew off sideways with his bruised friends in tow.

I turned to Miranda. "You let me know if they ever give you trouble again."

She only smiled. "I think breaking his leg was a bit excessive."

I shrugged. "That was more to vent some anger, but it made him get the point."

She laughed and nudged me with a hoof. "Then what was the tree for?"

I smiled. "Personal entertainment."

She shook her head. "I didn't know a Pony could make those sounds."

"Well I'll admit I might be a little more than upset when someone calls you a whore."

"Are you sure you're not overprotective?"

"Well I think any guy with a girl half as amazing as you would want to make sure that she's never hurt and happy."

She smiled warmly and flew up to me. "You're too good to me you know that?"

I held her in my arms. "Would you like me to stop?"

"Never." She moved in and kissed me.

"Okay, do you have everything?"

I smiled, Miranda never fully understood that I was more than capable of handling myself. "Yes, I'm sure." We were just outside the Everfree Forest and Miranda and Eddie were seeing me off.

She frowned. "Okay be safe."

I lifted her up and cradled her in my arms, judging by her look she was really starting to like it. "You worry too much."

She poked me with a hoof. "Just making sure you're nice and safe when you go in there."

I kissed her. "Nothing has killed me yet, I doubt anything that will is in those woods."

She didn't seem to happy about me leaving her so soon.

"Tell you what, when this is all over I'll take you on another date. This time we'll watch the stars on a cloud."

She smiled at the thought. "Promise?"

I smiled back at her. "Promise."

I readjusted the strap on my backpack after I landed on the ground. We were deep in the Everfree now, deeper than anypony else had every gone. Spare the search party we're looking for. Celestia had just given us our nine hour heads up, which meant we would still be hiking for another half hour. It felt good to have the Guard strapped across my back again, it might have been even better if I was wearing my helmet too. But that defiantly would have made me slip. So far Mentor had kept a great job of keeping out my blood lust.

It was dark in the forest, I didn't really know what time it was and I could hardly see in front of me. Brian and Vinnie were leading the way while I stayed a couple feet behind just in case they were jumped. We had met a few obstacles but nothing serious, a cliff, a couple Manticores, and other creatures I didn't know the names of. Over all, nothing we couldn't handle.

I stumbled over a tree root and cursed under my breath. This forest was really getting on my nerves. I heard some rustling noises ahead a stopped. I crossed my arms and waited. It took a minute but eventually I heard a dying sqwak. It must have been another Cockatrice. We were all much more effective with our old weapons, I can't believe how long it took us to finally dig them back out.

I kicked a rock and heard a growl next to me. It seemed like we were under constant attack in here. I decided my friends would wait up for me and grasped the Guard. A branch broke. I flicked out a blade and I threw it in that direction. There was a pained cry but no other sounds followed, I went over and plucked the Guard from a Manticore's corpse. That must have at least the seventh one in the past hour. I flicked the blade back in and decided to play with the Guard while I walked.

I merely tossed it in my hand and various blades sprung from in then back in. I let out a yawn.

You used to really like marching towards the enemy.

I shrugged. "It's not as fun when you can't see them or don't know what they are."

That and you're by yourself.

"I got Brian and Vinnie don't I?"

Yeah but it's not the same with them is it? Remember that one time that you all had a lot to drink before a fight and you were all singing happily while marching to the bloody battle that was already in full swing? Someone had even brought a stereo for the music.

***

"Okay ready?! One... Two... Three!"

"Yo, I'll tell you what I want! What I really really want!"

"So tell me what you want! What you really really want!"

"I'll tell you what I want! what I really really want!"

"So tell me what you want! What you really really want!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna really really really wanna zig-a-zig-ah!"

"If you want my future, forget my past!"

"If you wanna get with me, better make it fast!"

"Now don't go wasting, my precious time!"

"Get your act together, we could be just fine!"

"I'll tell you what I want! What I really really want!"

"So tell me what you want! What you really really want!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna really really really wanna zig-a-zig-ah!"

"IF YOU WANNA BE MY LOVER! THEN YOU GOTTA GET WITH MY FRIENDS!"

"Gotta get with my friends-"

"What the fuck?"

"Kill them!"

"HAHAHAHA!"

***

I barked a laugh. "That just may have been one of our best moments."

He laughed along with me. That might have been my favorite battle with you.

I heard Brian shush me up ahead and stopped laughing. Know the best part about that fight?

"I think I do." I replied with a grin.

Not single one of you returned with more than a scratch.

"Well that happened a lot actually."

From that point on you were the most feared force in the darkness.

I cringed. "That's what scared them and got them to attack."

Bah, it's not a problem. A lot more survived than you would think.

"Really? How would you know that?"

When we fight you pay attention to the enemies and I pay attention to everything else. During the Bloodbath I was paying attention to Dagger taking some guys gun and use it against them, then he made sure everyone was out before him.

I grinned. "Sounds just like him. So how many do you think are left?"

Maybe enough to say an army.

I was shocked. "But we lost so many."

It's been two years, they rebuilt. I know it and you should too.

"Yes, you're right, I'm sure that they've all rebuilt now. I just hope they're not getting ready for round two."

~(forty minutes later)~

I'll be honest, I'm a liar, a bad one, a really, really, really bad liar. Not that I can't lie, I'm actually really good at it. I just lie a lot. I used to think I had a good reason for it, looking back now I don't think so. I've lied to a lot of people and Ponies alike. Brian, Vinnie, Celestia, Luna, all of the Elements of Harmony, myself, Mentor, Miranda, Eddie, everyone back at the Corner of Equestria. The list goes on and on.

I'm a deceiver too, I've blinded just as many people and Ponies. I'm not sure anybody really knows who I am. maybe I don't even know who I am.

It's funny... I used to mock others for sneaking, for not meeting their challenges head on 'like a man'. But now... I'm the one tricking everyone, fooling everyone, lying, sneaking, hiding. I've become the kind of person I would mock before I would cut him down.

For what?

Heh, that's the big question isn't it? What's the point? Why fight for ashes? What am I even doing? I bet you want to know a lot of things right now, what I've lied about and how little is actually true. Why I should be trusted. Well I can't okay? I shouldn't even be alive. Until I came to Equestria I was suicidal after the Bloodbath. I lied about the first thing I told you. Remember the fight between me and the cannibals in the begging? Vinnie never stole my guns, I left them there. I did often, hoping that some brain-dead psycho in the darkness would finally get a lucky hit and put me out of my misery.

But no. I had to live with my lies, my trickery. I had to look into the distance before I slept and think about what I left behind, what were they doing? Did they remember me? Would they forgive me? Why wasn't I there with them?

Too late for that now, Vinnie and Brian have dropped their masks, never to be picked up again. They're not the Vinnie and Brian you know anymore.

They're the Shadow and Bulls-Eye that I know. They're liars, they're deceivers, and they're sneaks. All for selfish reasons, I was protecting the remains of my Clan. These two... I wont call them men, they're something worse, much worse. They're scum, evil scum that I should have ended all that time ago. I was a fool, and they tricked me into thinking that they were better now and that they've changed.

They were lying to my face the entire time, I've lied I'm not ashamed of it anymore. But I was truthful to them when it came to the Bloodbath. I admit that I've lied and tricked even more than them. But I never hurt anyone. But right now I was seriously considering redoing the entire Bloodbath on everyone out there as soon as I get out of here.

I tested the walls of my metal prison cell once more. They didn't budge, these guys could make stuff a lot better now than they could all that time ago. I was trapped.

Brian and Vinnie have been lying too, maybe not as much or as badly. But I thought I was helping people, they were well and truly selfish. They were only protecting themselves. From what? Me.

First I want you to know a little more about the Bloodbath. It wasn't a little attack, or a simple invasion on a village, or even a battle between two gangs. Oh no, it was a war. That's right, a war. It wasn't even a reasonable war, it was personal. No one knows how it exactly started but eventually one Clan attacked another. Then another Clan was pulled into it, then another, then another, and so on.

What's a Clan? You should know what a Tribe is right? A village of people just trying to get by, maybe a couple hundred people in each one yeah? Well a Clan is a city of people. Thousands and thousands of people living together peacefully and prospering beautifully.They don't exist anymore now, out of fear or respect of the Bloodbath or some other reason, I don't know.

As for the time before the Bloodbath. There was many Clans, fifteen to be exact. No tribes, no gangs, everyone belonged somewhere in a Clan. When someone out of the area popped up they found the best Clan for them and got a life there. The Clans didn't mind each other. They respected each other and rarely made contact. I was born into the Clan called the Gladiators. Why was it called the Gladiators? Because my father was a fucking slaver, that's why. It's named changed with almost every new ruler.

When I killed him and the new guy took over we were called the Champions. The Bloodbath was well under way and there was only three tribes left: Champions, Nomads, and Hunters. All the other ones had either been destroyed or joined another Clan to avoid destruction.

Now I'm going to tell you the one thing that changes everything: Remember when I said I still had my old flag in my duffle bag back at the Library? Well so did Brian and Vinnie, now here's the important part.

My flag isn't the same one as Brian or Vinnie's.

~(Twenty minutes earlier.)~

I caught up with Brian and Vinnie who were both crouching down.

"What's up?" I asked, joining in on the crouching.

"What ever it is, it's just ahead of us." Brian said in a rushed whisper. He knew something...

"How do you know?"

"We were just there, you have to see this." Vinnie said. There was something about how he said that...

I sneaked forward and poked my head out of the tree line. I can truthfully say that I was shocked.

It was a massive structure made of metal, defiantly a building for something. It looked new, recently built. I looked all around it and couldn't find anything that told me what it held. What I did see was two flags flying high above it. My blood ran cold as I saw them.

On the right was one with a white mountain and an orange sun behind it. The other was all a dark green with a red target in the middle. I had to make sure that they were real. I rubbed my eyes, still there. I blinked, still there. My eyes darted between the two.

A white mountain and orange sun: The Nomads. A red target with a dark green background: The Hunters. I looked behind me and saw Brian's fist coming at me. I caught his eyes just before I was knocked out, those weren't the eyes of Brian anymore. He was gone now, those were eyes of hatred, eyes of revenge. Those were the eyes of Bulls-Eye, the leader of the Hunters.

~(Five minutes later)~

I woke up when cold water was splashed on my face, I was tied to a chair in a massive room full of people I didn't recognize. But I still knew who they were, these were the Nomads and Hunters. Here in Equestria, the same people that had destroyed my home.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't mister big shot." Vinnie said. But this wasn't Vinnie anymore. His mask wasn't just dropped, it was broken and shattered, never to be picked up again.

"How are they here?!" I demanded, there was no sense in trying to be nice to Vinnie- No, not Vinnie. This was Shadow now, leader of the Nomads.

Brian- I mean Bulls-eye stepped forward. "Well you see, we had a plan." His face was made of anger and he kicked my chair over and I landed on the ground with a thud. "Unlike you dogs." He spat.

I felt myself slip at the ancient insult.

Are you sure it's a good idea to hold it back at this point? They've both returned, I can't find a reason to not return as well.

Patience...

"Your plan was to invade Equestria? I thought you couldn't get any lower after the Bloodbath." I tried, but it was hard to be intimidating when you can't move on the floor.

He barked a laugh. "You fool, we knew that there was an untouched island in the Ocean."

"So what do you plan to do now that you're here?" I asked as I was lifted back into place by some unseen Hunter or Nomad.

Bulls-Eye crossed his arms. "Seeing as how they have the resources and space. I don't see why we should stop our plan. In four days time, Equestria will be ours and we will rule over this land."

"But, what about the Ponies!?" I shouted in half fear.

He chuckled. "What about them? They never die so I don't see why we don't enslave them forever. You see, during the Bloodbath one of our scouting parties overshot your Clan and ended up in what was once called Mexico. Turns out the entire entire country is now submerged underwater. They found a large boat and we got to fixing it. We had all heard rumors of an untouched island, now we had a way to get to it. The only difference is that now we have cartoons as target practice."

I was completely shocked. Even after the Bloodbath this was still horrible by my standards. "How dare you!" A thought crossed my mind. Did you even have a boat?"

"Yes! We had a boat, big enough to fit every Hunter we had into it. More even! But when we tried to push and take your pitiful Clan out of the picture you proved that we underestimated you again. Eventually we had to side with the Nomads, promising them sunlight." He pointed at me with his spear. "All in exchange for your life."

Shadow spoke once again. "After what you did we had to keep a close eye on you, all the while our Clans were setting sail here. The only reason you lived so long was because the boat took longer to fix than we thought."

"Tell yourself what you like, we lived because we had heart. We could have destroyed either of you whenever we wanted to." I announced.

"Then why didn't you?" Bulls-Eye tested.

It was my turn to let out a laugh. "You can't be serious!" They all gave me blank stares. "You mean, you really didn't know..." I sat there in shock in the metal chair, chained up, trying to process this. "YOU IGNORANT FUCKS!" I shouted. "YOU NEVER KNEW WHAT WE WERE DOING!? WE WEREN'T ATTACKING YOU! WE WERE ONLY DEFENDING OURSELVES! WE NEVER WENT PAST THE HALFWAY POINT! HOW THE FUCK DID YOU NOT SEE THAT!"

"You mocked us!" Shadow challenged stepping forward. "You sang and danced and laughed while cutting us down like nothing on the battlefield!"

"WAS THAT A REASON TO SLAUGHTER US ALL IN OUR OWN HOMES?!" I raged.

"YES!" Bulls-Eye yelled, inches from my face. "WE FOUGHT WITH HONOR WHILE YOU TREATED GOOD MEN AS MERE TOYS AND KILLED THEM!"

"HONOR?!" I felt the Blood lust seeping into me. "YOU TALK OF HONOR AFTER WHAT YOU DID?!"

"We-"

"YOU HAVE NO HONOR! YOU BROUGHT THE BLOOD TO MY HOME! YOU KILLED THOSE WHO DIDN'T FIGHT! YOU BUTCHERED MOTHERS IN FRONT OF THEIR CHILDREN! ALL THE WHILE LAUGHING! YOU. HAVE. NO. HONOR!" I was steaming with rage at this point, if it wasn't for the chains holding me down Bulls-Eye and Shadow would only be making dying sounds of mercy.

I cast my eyes around the entire room. "NOW YOU THREATEN MORE DEFENSELESS LIVES! THIS TIME I WILL MAKE GOOD ON MY PROMISE! NONE OF YOU WILL LIVE!"

I kept shouting insults, threats, and promises at the top of my lungs as I was dragged by two Nomads into a holding cell.

~(Now)~

I stopped hitting the walls and slumped down to the floor.

I processed everything that had happened. 'Brian' and 'Vinnie' were lying to me the entire time. They were with me the same reason I was with them, to make sure they didn't know what I was planning. I never could have guessed they were planning on enslaving all of Equestria. I had to stop them.

After all, I still had a date with Miranda. I looked around my surroundings. Nothing but dark metal greeted me. I kicked the wall again in frustration. I had every reason to be mad.

I've lied to protect them, I can't believe I did. I should have aimed the spear a little higher back when we first arrived in Equestria. So many things I should have done but didn't, not anymore. I'm done hiding, I have to fix everything that I had broken.

I was lucky enough to still have the Guard with me, not that it was doing me any good right now.

"Those mother fuckers!" I yelled, kicking the metal wall.

There is a way out of here.

"I know! But I have to be smart right now, I have to think, I have to plan."

That's not the Champion I know talking...

"Yeah well!." I kicked the wall yet again. "Your Champion got us all stuck in a box!"

He can also get us all out.

"But what after?!"

Think then, I will let you plan. When you know what to do, well, you know where to find me.

I sighed and put my head in my hands. "What have I done?" I asked the nothingness as I remembered what I did to start all this. This time I embraced my memory, just as Mentor had told me too.

***

I was stuck in the wall by Bulls-Eye's spear, the one that no one had survived from tearing out. Fueled by rage of just killing my only love I gripped the shaft of the weapon and ripped it out of me. It hurt, badly. But I was free, and now... I was going to spill blood.

I was chasing the two leaders through the battlefield, back to their Clans. When I broke through their walls I began to tear apart anyone in my way, regardless of whether they were fighting back or not. I had just chased them around a corner.

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" I shouted into the dark alleyway.

"Shit! Run run run!" I heard one of them yell.

"Fuck! How did he get out?"

"Doesn't matter, just run!"

I followed their voices and ran into a group of Hunters. "NONE OF YOU WILL SURVIVE THIS!" I shouted at them. I was killing two Clans all by myself, I was worse than the two I was chasing. But I was fueled by hatred so I kept going.

At one point I lost them completely so I crashed through one of the weaker buildings a grabbed a man hiding in it. "THERE YOU ARE!" I screamed at him.

"No, no. Please!" He begged.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" I demanded, lifting him off his feet by his neck.

"They're in the armory! Please just let me- Ack!" I silenced his pleas by snapping his neck.

I broke through another wall, into the street. "COME OUT AND FIGHT ME!" I shouted at the armory building.

Multiple men came out with Shadow and Bulls-Eye behind them. "There he is! get him!" They ordered.

"YOU WILL ALL DIE HERE!" I promised them.

I cut the fighters down and their leaders fled. I gave chase and caught up with them in another building. Just before I struck them down for good the roof collapsed. All of us were hit in the head, giving us all temporary memory loss. We didn't know each other so we made friends and left. When our memory came back we all promised to bury our past and build a new future.

When I had told Mentor that they were long gone when I woke up after the roof collapsed, I had lied... Again.

***

Some might say it was only pay back, others that I wasn't thinking clearly, that I had no right. Who am I to deiced what's wrong and right?. Personally, I don't know... I've just felt so wrong ever since. I can't say that I regret it, they might have deserved it, they might have just been doing what they thought was right... Just like I was. Or was I just repeating what they did to me?

NO.

"What?"

It was not a repeat, they did it because they're sick fucks and got pleasure out of it. You did it because you were just forced to kill the only girl you ever loved and your harmless baby brother, after watching almost everybody you ever knew die in the worst ways they could think of.

"But-"

No buts, they destroyed your home. You only (severely) damaged theirs, and now they only want to destroy more. You've suffered more than anyone has a right to, and it's made you strong. Stronger than both of them combined. You've gone through too much to let it end here.

I stood up. "You're right, I can't let them do any more harm to innocent lives."

Damn straight, now how are you going to get out of here?

I flashed my signature toothy grin, the one I only put on before a bloody fight. "I'm going to show them exactly what two years of pent up blood lust can do."

Now that's the Champion everyone knows and loves.

"Mentor, I need a favor."

Anything.

I kicked the wall once more, putting a large dent in it. "Drop the mask, today we stop lying. Today, we become the Champion we once were."

A/N: Okay, okay. I know the chapters have been getting shorter, but I had to stop this one here. Don't worry though, the next few chapters are where it gets exciting!

8: Return

I pounded the metal that kept me trapped. Mentor and I had just unleashed my blood lust and It felt better than good, it felt amazing. I was back, I was no longer some nameless shadow. Now, I wasn't just a Champion. I was the Champion, the one that had helped hold back both armies as the rest escape, the one that had destroyed the Nomads and Hunters, the one that had survived it all. And I was pissed off.

I smashed off a wall of my cage and jumped down. There was already multiple guards waiting for me. Ironically, I had a Guard waiting for them. I saw the fear in their eyes as I brought it out and pushed the ends against each other. They protested but one end collapsed into the other, I pushed it further in and several menacing spikes popped out of one end.

They all stepped forward hesitantly and I gripped my weapon. There must have been eight in all, four Nomads and four Hunters. I could tell them apart by how they dressed, it was always common to dress in your flag's colors after all. The Nomads always had a white light-armor that covered most of their torso, shoulders, and calves, an orange mask that only covered their noses, mouths, and back of their head.

During the Bloodbath Bios were even more common so we all some sort of mouth covering. The Hunters however, were dressed in green heavier armor that only covered their torso and thighs, they had knee and elbow pads on, and finger-less gloves and a red band from their shoulder to opposite hip to set their weapon in. They still had their red and green gas masks on for some reason, old habit I guess.

A mighty swing from the Guard made that only seven more enemies. I pulled out my Guard and grinned at them, they all took a step back. I swept one's feet out from under him and smashed his skull before he even hit the ground. They must have decided that they couldn't win because they were running down the hall. I took a step forward and threw the weapon at one of them, it stuck into his back and he stumbled and fell. I walked up to the fallen Hunter while he was still trying to crawl away.

I yanked the Guard out of him and he screamed in pain. I flipped him onto his back and stared him in the eye.

"No, no, please!" He yelled in terror.

"Why shouldn't I?!" I spat in his face.

"I, I- I have a family!" He sputtered.

"Yeah, well so did every Champion you murdered in cold blood!" With that I brought down the Guard and stuck a spike in his head.

I pushed the ends of my weapon together for a brief second then let go, the spikes retreated into it. I brought the Guard up and down quickly and a large blade, almost the size of the entire weapon, flew out like a switch blade would.

Wait.

"Make it quick." I growled.

Think about this, I know how you get when fighting them.

I stopped and crossed my arms. "Go on..."

They're waiting for you, I'm not saying run away. I'm saying plan out, just a little bit.

I bit my tongue and looked around, I was in a long metal hallway that I couldn't see the ends of. "Okay, first things first. Where is Celestia's search party." I remembered that either Princess could be watching me right now, which was not a good idea. "Celestia?" I whispered.

"Hm? Yes what is it Human? Have you found what was in the Forest?"

I let out a sigh. Good, she hadn't seen anything. "Celestia, I need you to trust me on this."

"Why? What's going on?"

"Don't look." I said quickly. "Somethings turned up, please trust me when I say don't watch me. I will talk to you when it's all clear."

"I don't know Human, how can I make sure your not lying?

I heard shouting down the hallway behind me and ran towards it. "I'll tell you everything about the Bloodbath."

"Everything?"

"Yes, what I did, who I am, what happened, everything." I was close to the shouting now. "Please don't watch."

"Okay Human, I will have to trust you then."

High in Canterlot Castle Celestia watched the Human with interest, he appeared to be running down some sort of metal cavern with his weapon ready. He turned a corner and Celestia could now see he was approaching three other Humans. "Huh, they don't look like Brian or Vinnie. Who could they be?" She was cut short as she watched the nameless Human charge at the unknown Humans, he raised his weapon and... Celestia gasped and cancelled the spell. "Wha- what is he doing?" She asked her empty room.

I whipped off the blood and continued down the hall. Find the search party, get them out safely, kill as many as I can on the way out, get to Celestia, profit. Sounded about right. I found myself at an intersection with signs on the wall. I ignored the top two and read the third aloud. "Cartoon horses." It had an arrow pointing me left.

I darted down the hallway and searched for anything. So far this entire place was just hallway connecting to hallway filled with unnamed doors, nothing about it's featureless walls could tell me anything other than 'go there'. As some unseen force granted me my wish a large double door appeared, painted to look like a crude barn door. I'm willing to bet my two bits that I knew what was behind that door.

I kicked it open and three Hunters jumped to attention. Luckily they were close together and roughly the same height, one sweep with the Guard managed to cut all their throats and they fell to the ground in a bloodied mess. I heard pained noises and grunting in the next room. I kicked open that door as well and saw a group of five Nomads kicking a Royal Guard Pony back into a cell.

"Hey!" I barked. They all turned around and their eyes widened in fear. I spun the Guard in my hand. "Why don't you pick on someone your own species?"

They recovered and replaced fear with determination, scowling at me as they drew their weapons. One slammed the cage shut and I sliced my weapon across the first one's throat. The rest all charged me at once, weapons raised and ready to be brought down.

Fortunately a man with purpose is always stronger than those without. I plunged my blade into the Nomad's heart on the far right, bringing it out I smashed the end of the Guard into the Nomad's throat on the far left. I ducked under the Nomads blades and kicked out their feet from under them, before they could get back to their feet I jumped up and crushed both of their throats under each foot with a satisfying crunch.

Ever hear of the phrase 'always go for the throat'? Well I did. I flipped the blade back in and approached the group of beaten and bruised Royal Guard Ponies. There was six of them in total, all Pegasi.

Trying to look as disarming as possible I asked them. "Hey, you guys okay? The Princesses sent me, sorry I took so long."

They all eyed me suspiciously before one stepped forward. "How can we trust you? You're just like the rest of them."

I crossed my arms. "Well geez, you got me there. I mean, first I bust out of the cell they put me in, fight my way to you, you saw what I did to those guys." I gestured behind me. "So if you think I'm really on their side then-"

"No, no. I'm sorry, we've just had some... bad experiences with your kind."

I chuckled half-heartedly. "My kind." I spat. "These scum are nothing like me, trust me." I brought the Guard up then when it came back down the axe blade had popped out and I cut off the padlock from the cage. "Now let's get you guys home."

The first Guard stepped out. "No place like it." He agreed.

I led them all out the door and down the hallways, so far we had been lucky enough to not encounter anymore enemies. Everything was going fine until I met a certain intersection. Normally I would just be following the one that said 'exit', but this pile of signs had the one I was looking for. 'Captain's Station'. That had to be where Shadow and Bulls-Eye were hiding.

Don't do it, they're surrounded by their armies and who knows what else. Right now you have to stick to the plan, that means getting these Ponies back to their homes.

"Yes." I muttered quietly so nopony else could hear me. "You should always be with your home." My eyes flicked to the sign. "Or you could fight for it."

I have a better idea, fight with your home.

My grin returned as my eyes brightened for a moment. Turning to the Guard Ponies. "This way." I dashed down the exit hallway.

I kicked open one last door and sunlight entered our metal prison. I hurried the guards out as they said thanks to their sun Princess. Then there was shouting down the hall.

Turning to the Ponies I asked. "Can you guys make it home from here?"

They all gave their wings a couple flaps and answered in the positive. "But what about you?" One asked.

I scowled into the hallway. "I'll make sure no one follows you."

They all seemed to be okay with that and flew off. I brought out the Guard again and decided on which blade to use. After hearing another shout I decided on twisting my wrist while I held on to it, causing two hooks to fly out on each side. I figured mercy was something I'd save for later.

I ducked around the doorway and waited. Soon enough I could understand what they were saying.

"They went this way!"

"We have to make sure he doesn't escape!"

"Where did they go?!"

"Through that door!"

"Guys are you sure it's a good idea to go after him, I mean-"

I cut him off by sticking the hooks into his chest and spinning him around, throwing his body into the next one to come through the door. I stopped to see my pursuers, five Hunters, three standing. It's funny, I've rarely seen a blend of Nomads and Hunters. The three all slid to a stop and I hooked the middle one by the back of the head, looking at it now, this may be the most gruesome tool I have in the Guard.

No matter. I threw the corpse at the right Hunter and he fell over. I put the hooks back and knocked the sword out of the still standing Hunter's hand before he could thrust it into me. He looked down at his dropped weapon but I already had dropped the Guard and had my hands around his head. With a quick twist I was rewarded with a loud snap and he fell down.

Two breathing.

Oh right. I flicked out the switch blade again and slashed one's throat. I flicked it back in and put the end of the Guard against the last one's head.

"What are you planning?" I demanded.

"Hey fuck you man! Four days and this land is ours!"

I rolled my eyes and pushed in a small square on the side of my weapon. A tiny blade sprung out of the bottom and into his skull. "You guys are so stubborn." I commented as I put the dagger back and turned to leave. The Pegasi should have had enough time to get away by now.

"Hey there!"

Or not. "What is it? Didn't I tell you to go home?" I asked quickly.

"Well, yeah." He said as it was obvious. "But me an' Thunder here were jus' wondering what we could do to repay you for your kindness. Then we thought, what if we fly you home for you!"

I blinked. "Really? Could you manage that? I'm twice you size after all and it's a long ways back."

"Not by air."

Why not right?

Okay that's why not. The two Guard Ponies dropped me off at the edge of Ponyville. "Thanks." I said quickly. Four days, I have four days to stop them. Them and both their armies, they seemed to have recovered wonderfully from the Bloodbath. I had to do something, could the Ponies fight? Doubt it. Anything in the Everfree I could use? Hardly, it would most likely attack me first.

"Human!" Celestia yelled in my head.

"Yes Princess?" I mocked.

"I want to see you in the Ponyville Library right now."

Guess I know where to go now.

It was not a welcoming sight when I walked through the Library door. There was Princess Celestia surrounded by Royal Guard, her sister, a Pony I had rescued, and the Elements of Harmony.

"What can I do for you?" I asked in mock sweetness.

The white Alicorn glared at me for a brief moment. "How is it that you are the only one that knows exactly what is going on in our land?" She asked as she tried to calm down.

I stretched my arms behind. "Well... It may be your land Princess, but." I stretched my arms across my chest. "This is my fight."

"What? What fight?" She almost demanded.

I sighed, how little did she know? "The Bloodbath." I explained. "It's here."

I almost laughed as the color fell from her regal face. "Bu- that, I." She gave herself a shake. "How can a battle move?"

"Easy, you take my enemies, but them here, then I find them, now we have the Bloodbath about to start in Equestria."

The Princesses seemed horrified at the thought. She looked around and asked. "Where's Brian and Vinnie?"

"Gone." I deadpanned.

She took a step back. "What do you mean gone? Did they perish?"

I shook my head. "You have no idea how little you know. All we've fed you is lies from the very begging. The Brian and Vinnie you know are really my old enemies, Bulls-Eye and Shadow."

She shook her head pitifully, not believing any of it. "No, no, no. This can't be true."

I tried softening my voice, just a little. "It is, bring me all of our duffle bags and I can prove it."

In a golden flash three duffle bags appeared at our feet. I picked up the white one and unzipped it. "Look." I said reaching inside. "Vinnie is really Shadow, the leader of the Nomads. What the Nomads lack in fighting they make up for in sheer numbers, they fight like clockwork, always by the book, matching each others movements, planned out." I lifted out his flag with a mountain and sun on it and laid it on the floor. "His flag means they will keep climbing mountains and overcoming challenges until they reach were they are going."

I picked the green duffle bag and reached inside. "Brian is really Bulls-Eye, leader of the Hunters. They may be unorganized and fight for themselves alone, but they're extremely skilled killers, they always know where everything is and what to do, they're strong, they're brutal, and they never show mercy." I picked out the green flag with a red target on it and laid it next to the Nomad's flag. "His flag means that when they set their sights on something until they've taken it out. Right now that's Equestria."

Everypony stood there in shock before Luna broke the silence. "Then, who are you?"

Celestia backed her little sister up. "Yes Human, we know next to nothing about you and you promised to tell us. So please tell us, who are you?"

This is it, we let them know the truth.

I took a deep breath. "My enemies call me a lot of things: Living Nightmare, Walking Death, Unstoppable, my favorite is Demon. Ironic right? But my real name will stay with Miranda for now, as for who I am, I am one of the Champion's most elite fighters." I picked up the black duffle bag. "I was the last one out the gate, I was the one that had stayed behind to make sure everyone got out first."

I put my flag on the floor, on top of the other two. It was all black, except for a dark blue four-pointed star with multiple silver lines shooting out from behind it. "I am a Champion, we fight as one force, together. Not like the Nomads. No, we don't plan out, we feel what the others are about to do and move to support them, we may be the smallest but we sure as hell can fight like the biggest. My flag represents coming out of the darkness, and into the light. The star is a Champion, the silver lines are all the others supporting him or her."

They stood silent once more. If it was in awe or more shock I don't know. But Luna had another question. "Then, how did you end up traveling with the other two?"

I shook my head at the memory. "I chased after them at the end of the Bloodbath, when I finally caught up with them the roof collapsed. We were all hit on the head and had no memory of who we were or who each other were. We were already well under way with the Corner of Equestria when our memories returned. We promised each other to just leave our old lives behind and forget about." I clenched my teeth in anger. "They were both lying to everyone the entire time."

They all blinked. I continued speaking. "Turns out they had an enormous boat, they used it to sail here. Their two armies are what you sensed in the Forest. They plan on taking Equestria for themselves in four days."

"Well we gotta stop them!" Rainbow Dash declared. "What about the Elements of Harmony? Can't we just use them?"

I shook my head with a laugh. "No, these are Humans, that means that they have to be taken out by Human means."

"But your the only Human on our side!" Pinkie Pie shouted.

I laughed again. "No, you seem to have forgotten. My Clan fights as one, which means if I'm fighting for you." My eyes twinkled. "Then my entire Clan is fighting for you."

Celestia smiled at me gratefully. "Thank you Human, you have no idea how much this means to us. But, how are we supposed to get them all here?"

I furrowed my brow. "I don't know, I don't plan on nearly killing them all. There has to be another way."

Twilight spoke up. "Actually, there is." All eyes turned to her and she continued. "You see I was studying more... Efficient ways of bringing someone to Equestria without nearly killing them. I've some to a conclusion, we have to put them in a sealed container and teleport that container here with them in it."

I grinned at her. "I can make that work."

Celestia and Luna instantly sent everypony to work on a container, everypony gladly helped, seeing as how their way of life was at risk and everything. I had Mentor help me draw a giant rectangle in the dirt, big enough to fit every Champion into. Princess Celestia was supervising construction, even helping on occasion. As for me I was writing them all a letter that Princess Luna herself would send to them.

I dropped the quill and held up my letter. "What do you think?"

It's just your style. They'll love it.

I looked at it one last time.

I have found them.

I am on my way.

I am proud of all of you.

I have remembered the fallen alone for too long.

But now we will protect the standing together.

Most importantly, I am sorry. I hope you can forgive me.

I signed it with a small four pointed star.

Two days later, I was standing at the entrance of a massive wooden box. It had taken them two full days and most of this one, but they did it. If I had to guess how big it is I would say... Pretty damn big. I picked up my helmet and held it in my left hand, Guard already strapped to by back.

I felt nudged in my leg and I looked down and saw Miranda. She looked up at me with a forced smile. "Hi."

I had already said my goodbyes to Eddie and he was taken to Canterlot by Luna. All of Ponyville was being evacuated so the Champions wouldn't freak out when they brought them here, and the Ponies wouldn't get in the way. Celestia was waiting for Miranda, both Princesses were making sure that Miranda and Eddie would be perfectly safe during the fight.

I crouched down so that we were eye level. "Hey."

She smiled. "It's good to see you back."

I grinned. "Good to be back, is everything okay?"

She frowned. "Well, this will be the first time that the Champions will fully fight both the Nomads and Hunters while they're working together."

I kept my grin. "My dear, are you doubting the strength of the Champions? You of all people- Ponies should know that we're tough bastards."

She let out a small giggle. "I know, I know. But that doesn't mean I'm not worried."

I smiled before I pulled her into a passionate kiss. I held her there for a minute before I let go.

She was in a daze for a moment. "Wow." She flashed me a flirty look. "I think you'll be just fine."

I laughed and gave her a quick kiss on the nose. I stood up and she walked to the awaiting carriage. I saw her waving me goodbye before the large double doors fell into place. I stood ready as I felt Celestia's magic envelope the over-sized box. I had specifically told her to place me near where the Bloodbath had taken place, seeing as how it was a huge land mark and one of the only places she knew.

There was a tingly sensation that slowly got more and more intense. Just before it started to tickle there was a bright golden flash. I felt as if I was falling in every direction as I was teleported to the Darkness.

Then there was a loud thump and everything stopped. I slowly stood up, I felt shaken from the teleport. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It took a moment to steady myself after slowing my breathing while leaning against one side of the box. I kept my lunch down and clumsily pushed open one door, I closed it behind me and looked around. I slumped down when I realized where I was.

This was the site of the Bloodbath.

I had actually thought about visiting here and paying my respects to the fallen... But now that I'm here, I'm not sure if I could manage it.

You have to go.

"Why?"

These are your brothers and sisters, they would do the same for you. They fought for everything you fought for, now go honor their names by remembering them.

I stood up and looked at my helmet. This was the last thing my enemies would see before they were cut down by yours truly. I had made it myself, it's always common for a Champion to make both his own weapon and armor. It was one of a kind, just like my weapon. It was a steel helmet painted a dark blue that covered my entire head. Instead of a slit for my eyes I put in a one way mirror, so just before they died they would see how cowardly they looked. I could see everybody and nobody could see me. As a tool for intimidation I painted on a fierce toothy grin with sharp teeth over where my mouth was.

I was right about one thing, it felt good to wear it once again. I took a deep breath before stepping forward, and into the ruins of my home. The old lights were still on so I could see every detail of my failure.

Everything was crumbling and broken, picked clean by scavengers I'm sure. Where cute and homely house once stood there was only sad stone pillars and broken possessions. I wandered at first, not sure where to go or if I even wanted to go further. I soon found myself in the animal pens, we had all loved our animals. Hell, I even had a pet. I hope he survived the Bloodbath, we let all the animals out as soon the walls were breached. I was so proud when I saw the animals had joined the fight and fended of the Hunters and Nomads instead of running.

***

The walls had just been blown and Charlette said she needed to save the animals. She had ran off in what I hopped was a safe direction. We were forming lines all over the Kingdom, defending our home as long as we could. Half the fighters were to stay and keep the enemies at bay, the other half was to escort everyone that wasn't fighting to safety. I was part of a small line on the outside of the center circle. We were defending the escorts as they tried to find anyone that was lost and confused. So many here had never been in a battle before, they had no idea what to do, how to act, where to look, how to fight. It had most of our army racing around in groups trying to get to them before some lucky Hunter found them.

The walls were rubble now and everyone was doing there best to push back the intruders as long as possible. We stood as silent defenders, waiting for the enemy to approach us.

There they were. Racing towards us aimlessly, yelling like mad men. Killing senselessly with numbers that far surpassed our own. We waited for the right moment and ran ahead, clashing in the middle. We swiped, slashed, and cut as much as we could. Trying to stop them from killing us all without reason. It fell into a pattern, dodge one, slash another, block one, cut another. We fought harder than we ever had before. This was more than just defense, this was our final stand.

A roar was heard but no attention was given to it. More roars were hear, still no attention. The angry sounds of our animals was paid no mind to until they were felt by our foes. Our pets had come to our rescue and began to turn them from dangerous enemy to tasty snack. A new hope was felt, lost strength found, and old determination restored.

With a mixture of mighty cheers and hungry roars we charged in to help save our home.

***

I looked out into the now empty fences. We only fenced them in, never caged. They were free and loved. During the Bloodbath they showed us all how much they loved us back. We had all kinds of animals: Dogs, Cats, Bears, Foxes, Wolves, Lions, my personal favorite was the Tigers.

No one really knows why or even how we domesticated so many animals, but no one minded. We all grew to love them and care for them. I smiled at a happy memory of Eddie playing with some Lion cubs and walked down the empty streets.

My smile faded as I encountered another familiar place. It was my house, the one I had lived in with Miranda. I slowly walked up to it.

***

I was panting heavily when I finally stopped in front of a house. I had no idea who lived in it, but there was no way I was going back to my father. I swallowed my nervousness and approached it. I gulped and knocked on the door gently, I wouldn't want them thinking I was one of the Loyalist Guards. After a minute it slowly opened to reveal a familiar girl, the one I had often seen at the market.

"Um, hello?" She asked shyly.

I realized I had been staring and spoke quickly. "Oh, um. Hi, I just um... Kind of ran away from my home and was wondering if..." The voice inside my head encouraged me. "If it was okay if I sleep here? Just once."

She poked her head out and looked around, seeing that we were alone she smiled. "Of course, I'm always happy to help someone in need. I'm sure my sisters won't mind."

Just like that she had let me, a random stranger in her home. It was like she already knew who I was.

***

I walked inside and sat down on a ruined couch. I set my helmet at my feet.

***

The girl that had let me into her house and her sisters and I had grown to know one another very well over time. The middle sister and I were good friends now and shared almost everything. When I was hurt she would bandage me. When she was sad I would comfort her. When I was confused she would guide me. When she was lonely I would be right there by her side.

I was preparing a meal for the three sisters one day by myself when I heard the door open, quickly followed by crying that was failed to be covered up. I knew that cry, it was the one I had always answered. I abandoned the food and followed the sobs. I saw her sitting on the couch with her head in her hands.

I rushed to her side and put my hand on her shoulder. I had to think fast, she was always very strong. But once she started crying she was more fragile than a flower petal. Asking how she was would be stupid, she didn't care right now, she only needed comfort. "Hey, what happened?" I asked softly.

She took in a shaky breath, she knew I wouldn't leave until she was better so she didn't try to fight me. Not looking up she tried to answer. "I- I. Th- they just. They just."

I rubbed her arm reassuringly. "Shh, it's okay. Everything's okay, I'm here for you." She'd been through this before, she needed to know that nothing was wrong and that she wasn't alone.

She took a real deep breath and lifted her head up. "It's- it's just my friends just said th- that I would n- never get a man to- to fall in l- love with me."

I forgot to breath for a moment. Love was a serious issue for her, she talked about it with me all the time. Always saying how she knew the perfect man for her was just around the corner. I hid all signs of fear, she needed my help and I was determined to help her. "Well that doesn't sound like the type of thing a friend would say. I think that if you want a guy to fall in love with you, all you have to do is show him how kind and beautiful you are."

She smiled weakly at me. "You r- really think I'm beautiful?"

I wiped a tear off her cheek. "Absolutely, any man that doesn't see it is blind and doesn't deserve your love."

She fell forward and gave me a hug. "Thanks, you always know what to say."

I hugged her back. "No problem. So, is there anyone you have your eye on? I bet I could put in a good word for you."

Still holding onto me she giggled. "Well, there's this one guy I've had my eye on for a while."

"Oh really? May I ask who?" I said with a light chuckle.

She let go and looked at out the window . "Well, he's big and strong, nice, always knows what to say, by my side whenever I need him, loyal." She smiled sincerely at me. "And he's the only one that's ever called me beautiful."

I looked at her in an all new light. Does that mean that she was... In love, with me? I mean I know she's beautiful, hell, looking at her now beautiful doesn't give her justice. She down right gorgeous. I gulped. "You mean... Me?" She held her smile and nodded. Wow, she actually liked me... She liked me! I could only smile back at her. "Wow, I never knew."

Her smile faltered. "Well, I was trying to be subtle at first. But when you called me beautiful... I just... Just fell for you." All this time of comforting her told me that there was worry in her voice.

"Well, I don't know. To be honest I've never looked at you that way." I could tell that she was deciding if it was good I wasn't trying to take advantage of her, or bad that I didn't see her as anything more than a good friend. I gave her a grin. "But now that I am looking at you in that way..." She perked up slightly, anyone else would've missed it. "I can say that you are the most amazing girl I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I would be happy to be with you."

She seemed to glow as she smiled at me, before I knew it she lunged at me and our lips were locked. When we finally pulled away she put her head on my chest and let out a content sigh. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."

I chuckled and wrapped my arm around her. If we were going to be a couple then I would have to make sure that she would never be hurt as long as I stood. There were many dangers in this torn up world.

***

I looked down and felt tears threaten. I was supposed to be her protector, it was my one job, and I ended up killing her. I put my head in my hands and tried to fight my tears back.

Don't you quit now, you have enemies to slay and loved ones to protect.

I lifted my head up slowly. He was right, I had to keep moving. I got up and walked outside, before I left I rubbed the frame of the door.

***

I walked up to the house, I had just come back from our most recent battle with the other two Clans. As I got closer I heard voices and soon after the door opened and I saw my little brother standing in the door way.

I smiled at the little thing. "Hey big guy."

"Big Brother!" He hollered in delight as he ran up to me. "I missed you so much!"

I wasn't gone too long but when your a just a kid and your only family goes away I guess time goes slower. I bent down and scooped him up into a hug. "Don't worry, I promised I'd come back remember?"

He nodded his head and I set him down. That girl I loved stepped out of the house. One day she would get a name, no matter what I had to do. "Phew, I see you found your little brother." She said.

I smiled at her. "Yeah, he's easy to find if he's looking for you. Thanks for watching him again."

She let out a small laugh and waved a hand. "No problem, it gives me an excuse to see you all the time."

Once I had gotten older I moved out of Miranda's place and into a house of my own, she protested but when I told her that if my father found me living with her she would be punished severely. She was heroic enough to say that it would be worth it, I silenced her when I said that I meant I wouldn't want to see her get hurt. Even if I didn't live with her anymore that didn't stop me from seeing her everyday and spending most nights here.

It was my turn to wave a hand. "You know you don't need one, I love seeing you."

"I love you too." She said quickly. I stared at her for a moment, how was she always the one to say everything before I did? I must have been silent too long because she was trying to find an excuse I would buy. "Um... I didn't... There's a-a... Um..."

I chuckled lightly and approached her. When I got to her I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her close, something she enjoyed very much. "Hey, don't worry about it. I was working up the nerve to tell you I love you anyways."

She looked up at me with a smile. She laughed a little. "Heh. Wow, really?" She asked, fully knowing my answer. But she just wanted to hear me say it.

"Of course." I said softly.

She smiled before she lunged at me, our lips locked. We could have stayed that way forever if it wasn't for the third member of our party.

"Ewww! Why are you kissing!?" Eddie cried.

We broke the kiss with a shared laugh.

***

I removed my hand and walked away from the house, before I did I looked at it one last time.

***

"But why? Why do you have to fight?" She asked.

I held her close. "I have to do my part to defend this place, even if it's ruled by a Tyrant."

"Why?" She sobbed. "Why do you have to risk your life for people that don't appreciate you?"

"They don't have to appreciate me, just them living is enough for me. I just want to stop anyone from getting hurt." I pulled back and smiled weakly at her. "I have to make sure your never hurt."

"But, but. It's not your fight, you don't need to do anything!" She sniffled.

I brushed her hair behind her ear. She was so beautiful. "If your threatened then I have to help."

She couldn't find a good argument and held onto me. "Just- just promise me you'll come back."

I kissed her on her forehead. "I promise that nothing will keep us apart for long."

***

How many times have I looked back at this little house and promised her I would come back? Too many times to count. How many times have I come back? Every time but one. Yet here I was, walking away from this house one last time. The Bloodbath was well under way even before I met her, as soon as I fell in love with her I knew I had to do everything I could to make sure she was never hurt. I put my helmet back on.

I kept walking through the street, trying to find the monument to the fallen. I knew it was in the center, but I was avoiding it, buying time until I was really ready to face those I had failed. I walked around the crumbled wooden wall that surrounded the Kingdom. Part of it was intact enough for me to climb. At the top of the wall I took a deep breath through my helmet.

***

There me I stood, watching over the bloody battlefield as if I was a Hawk and it was my prey. I heard heavy footsteps behind me and waited for the news.

"What going on?" I asked.

"They're attacking! They've gotten past the line!" Dagger shouted.

I cursed under my breath, they had gotten past the halfway point and were still coming. "Who?"

"Both of 'em!" He exclaimed.

I turned around in shock, my friend was bloodied from the ongoing battle. "What? How did they both get here at once?"

He was clearly still shocked by his own news. "I think they're working together!"

That was something far more than unexpected. "Are you sure?" I asked worriedly.

He nodded quickly. "Aye, I've seen them fighting side by side now! They're moving fast!"

I was stunned to say the least. We could take on either army on it's own without a doubt, but both, and at the same time? I measured our forces quickly and came to a brutal decision. "Get everyone out..." I didn't want to say it, but I had to.

Dagger took the news even worse. "What?!" He exclaimed.

"Both armies against us Dagger? Think about it, you're my right-hand-man I need you to admit we wont be able to take it. We need to evacuate now and save as many as we can." I explained.

Dagger thought for a moment before firmly nodding and running off to spread the word.

***

This was where I had made that fateful decision. Maybe, if we had everyone fighting instead of just a fraction we could have pulled it off and ended it all...

There was no avoiding it. Your Clan is small enough compared to either army, compared to both armies you would be overwhelmed quickly.

"But if we planned out really carefully and had a strategy-"

There was no stopping it. Both armies were attacking full strength and with no regrets. You made the right call.

I took a deep breath. "If you say so." I began to climb down the broken wall.

I walked aimlessly a little more before I visited the center. I knew where I was now. This was where the killings had been held, right next to the front gate. The only reason they held it here was to tempt us. Letting us know that freedom was only a couple feet away, and if we didn't take the chance then we would die.

***

I was tied behind my back and shoved to the floor. I struggled against my restraints for a moment but stopped when I saw what was in front of me, the screaming I heard earlier wasn't them dying in battle. It was them being captured and dragged away. Rows and rows Champions all beaten and bruised, but all living and tied up.

I stared at Shadow and Bulls-Eye in horror. "No! You leave them out of this! This is between you and me!"

"Ha!" Shadow laughed. "Is that what you really think? This is between all of us now, you brought everyone of them into this and now they get to pay the price."

I was in utter shock, were they really going to kill them all in front of me just because they defended their home? "Wh- what?" Was all I could manage.

Shadow grinned evilly. "You heard me, they'll all die now. Thanks to you. Now you get to watch." He pulled out a hand gun and aimed it at the closest Champion.

"No! Don't!" I screamed, struggling against the ropes that bound me.

He fired his gun and the warriors body fell to the side, never to get up again. Shadow wore a mock-saddened look. "Huh, that was much to quick." He turned to Bulls-Eye. "What do you say we make it a little more personal?"

He returned his grin. "Great idea."

Shadow pulled out his curved dagger and put it up against a Woman's throat. "Now, look them all in the eye..." All I could do was look at her and silently offer support, it was little but it was something. As the killings slowly went on, changing from slicing, to gutting, to burning, to skinning, to drowning. Sometimes even a couple at once. I began to understand their eyes, what they meant and what they were thinking. Thanks to watching them die I could understand what their eyes were saying. Thanks to all the pain Shadow and Bulls-Eye were causing they began to know when someone was in pain. This is how we got our abilities.

***

I kicked a rock and moved on. What else was there to remember? I continued walking before I cast a look around my surroundings and nearly gasped when I realized where I was. Here there was two poles stuck in the ground, across from them was a hole in the wall surrounded by blood. I looked closely and saw two spent bullet casings.

***

Bulls-Eye launched his spear at me and I slammed into the wall behind me.

"Ah!" I cried out in pain. I tried to pull it out but it was stuck into the wall behind me.

Bulls-Eye was panting from our recent fight. "Now stay down you dumb bastard!" He shouted.

I spit out some blood and glared at him. "Just... uh... kill me... already." This must have been our ninth fight now, I kept escaping and he and Shadow kept knocking me back down.

Shadow stepped forward with his evil grin. "Now why would we do that?"

I coughed up some blood. That spear had managed to hit me in the stomach so it wasn't fatal, just really painful. "What? But... every... everyone else is dead." I sputtered.

He stood up and smiled wickedly. "Not everyone, we found two more trying to make a run for it."

That could only mean one thing. "No..." I whispered.

Bulls-Eye perked up. "Oh? Are they important to you?"

"Wha- no. I don't... Know them." I tried to make them be as merciful as possible. Who knows what would happen if they found out I loved them both dearly.

"Bring them in!" Shadow shouted.

Two large Nomads walked out of a ruined house. One carrying Eddie over his shoulder, the other with Miranda. "Let go of me you asshole!" She shouted.

He hit her and my blood boiled. I would remember his face. "Shut up bitch." He growled, ensuring himself a painful death.

Bulls-Eye pointed at two metal poles that they had placed earlier. "Good now tie them to these poles." He ordered.

They set them down and began to tie them up with some rope they had found. "Hey let go of me!" Miranda shouted.

"Yeah you big meany!" Eddie screeched.

I made eye contact with both of them. Eddie was sad that I was pinned to a wall, while Miranda was bombarded with emotions. Happy I was alive, sad I was captured, angry that she was captured, depressed because we all knew where this was going.

I looked at the two enemy leaders. "Please... You don't... Don't do this." I begged.

"I'd like to see you stop me." Shadow mocked.

"But... She didn't... Do anything... And... He's... Ugh..." I was pained as I tried to move. "Just a kid." I rasped.

"Then it sucks to be them." Bulls-Eye said flatly.

"All tied up!" The Nomad announced.

I saw a look on Bulls-Eye's face as he spoke. "Good, now poor some gasoline on them."

"Really man?" Shadow whined. "We already burned way too many, it's getting boring. Can we skin 'em?"

He shook his head. "No, no. I have something even better planned this time."

"Please..." I coughed. "I beg you... Don't-"

"Shut the fuck up." Shadow cut in.

The Nomads had finished drenching them in gasoline. "Okay, now what?" One asked.

"Give me your gun." Bulls-Eye asked the Nomad. He removed his small hand gun and handed it over. "Thanks." He turned to me. "Now, I'm going to give you a choice this time. I will count to ten then we light these two up like candles, or you can kill them yourself."

"No..." I chocked. "I can't..."

"Then you can watch them burn alive like the rest." Shadow deadpanned.

"Fuck... You."

Bulls-Eye grinned. "Glad were on the same page." He tossed me the gun. "Now, here's the gun. Have fun."

I looked at Miranda helplessly. She only nodded.

"Ten." Bulls-Eye started.

I shook my head slowly. "I can't."

"You have too, it's okay."

"Nine."

"I won't ever forgive myself."

"We'll forgive you."

"Eight."

I looked down and picked up the hand gun.

"It's okay." She whispered.

"Seven."

"Okay." I said firmly. "I love you Miranda."

"Six."

She smiled weakly at me. "I love you too-"

Bulls-Eye interrupted her before she could say my name. "I lied, light them up."

"NO!" I yelled.

The Nomads both dropped their matches and they both went up in flames with a loud FWOOSH.

"ARGH!" They cried out in pain.

Without thinking I raised the gun and fired twice.

***

I stood there, unable to move. This was it, this was exactly where I was when I killed a part of myself. I had gotten a small portion of revenge sure, but the two that were responsible were still out there. No matter how much time would pass or what anyone would say I will always regret pulling that trigger.

That's enough, the longer you wallow in self pity the more your enemies strength grows.

I sniffed and gave myself a shake. "Okay, one last thing."

This time I knew exactly where I was going. I turned and headed down the worn stone road, I had walked this path with many people many times. I looked into the broken houses, it still felt as if they were still full of life and people silently offering me support. This was the path every fallen warrior would take, when a Champion fell in battle all of their friends, family, loved ones, and fellow fighters would carry their body down this path while the rest would help as much as they could. It was our final thank you to a warrior, for protecting everyone here.

***

All the warriors were making the walk this time, because this time it was someone close to all of us. It was Cloak, Dagger's younger brother. He had just jumped in front of Bulls-Eye's spear in order to save his only brother, it pierced his heart instantly. There was no way he could have survived. When the battle was over we had put Cloak on the silver rest, the one we reserved for true Champions. Normally they would just get a dark blue one, to say they were a Champion. But Cloak got the silver one because he earned it, he was what the flag symbolized, he was the one that was supporting everyone.

Everyone knew Cloak, he was classic a happy-go-lucky character. No one could be unhappy around him, at least, not until now. Now Cloak was resting on this silver platform, eyes closed, arms by his side, and weapon and armor were absent. Dagger and I had the honor of carrying him. Dagger in the front, and me in the back. He had it because he was his only brother, I had it because they were both good friends to me. When I heard the news this was the least I could do for them.

Today every Champion was out, each trying their best to offer support to the lone brother. He remained stoic through it all, not showing any emotion through the entire walk. Very few had been in the front of this walk, even less could relate to what he was going through. We walked in silence, as we always did, wearing our armor and respecting this fallen hero.

When we reached the center we set him down atop the burner, where we would give him the warriors passing. We would light the timber under him and he would light up and shine for us, giving us all one last memory of him. I picked up the torch and passed the torch to Dagger, if anyone should give him his final passing it should be him. He held on to it for a moment. No doubt remembering his brother's life, he finally cracked a weak smile, weak, but it was there.

He held the torch to the timber until it caught. He moved back to the circle surrounding his brother, with every other Champion, all making sure that he would never be forgotten. It was common for a few people to say some words to the fallen, but no one could form them. It was a devastating loss for everyone.

"Cloak was a true Champion." I started. Many eyes turned towards me, I had never spoken at a farewell before. But today I felt the need to. "He fought for all the right reasons, to protect those he loved, to honor those he had fought with, and to stop anyone that was trying to cause harm to those he never even knew. Then, he died for the best reason there was. To protect his only brother. When I had heard he had perished I almost refused to believe it, I thought a Champion such as Cloak would live forever. Fate has proved me wrong in the end once again."

"He is the reason so many of us are here today, he cared more about his brothers and sisters than his own life. Today, I think he's shown us all just how much he cares about us." I pulled out a metal plate no bigger than my forearm and handed it to Dagger. "He was one of the best of us and he deserves to be remembered as such." He took it in his hand. With his stoic expression he approached the base of the burner and set the plate into a slot, it fit perfectly.

He took a step back so we could all read what it said:

CLOAK

A TRUE CHAMPION

We all stood there, watching the fire. Little by little everyone left. Dagger and I were the last ones standing there as the ashes died down, I decided to leave him to his mourning. Before I left I glanced at him one last time, no one saw it but me. A single tear fall off his cheek, a tear from a Champion and a tear for a Champion.

***

There I stood, watching the memorial, my helmet taken off in respect. Atop it was the burner with stairs leading up to it. The rest wasn't on it now, I couldn't see a reason for it to be. Under it was the large memorial with the name plates of every great warrior that had fallen it battle. I walked around it and ran my hand along the many names. I stopped when I saw a familiar name on the memorial.

MIRANDA

ONE ANGEL HAS FALLEN. ONE ANGEL IS STANDING. BOTH ARE LOVED BY ALL.

I was frozen in place.

The two angels. He reminded me.

"They, they remembered her." I chocked.

Of course, they'll always remember the two angels. Remember how the saying goes?

I nodded. "One a lover, the other a fighter."

The Guardian, here to protect us.

"The Caretaker, here to comfort us."

Both having the same purpose.

"To make sure that those they love live happily."

The Two angels, always remember.

"Miranda."

And you.

I sat down, stunned that they remembered her, but then I remembered who we were to them. They had come back to the site of the Bloodbath, they had honored the fallen, they went through all the trouble of remembering Miranda and putting her name on the memorial. I looked around and realized something. The Kingdom wasn't picked clean by scavengers, the Champions had returned and retrieved everything.

I know what you're thinking. That you think you know who I am, that you have all the puzzle pieces in place. Well let me rearrange some of them for you. I'm not the leader of the Champions, never was, never will be. I was offered it many times but always turned it down, I could never be a leader after what I saw my father do. So someone else took it, being a leader doesn't mean being a fighter to the Champions. It means caring for those who follow you and leading them forward, towards a better future. Something I couldn't promise.

No, the leader of the Champions was really the same person that was even stronger than me, the same person that would always think of others, the same girl that I had fallen in love with.

I read the entire plate this time.

MIRANDA

ONE ANGEL HAS FALLEN. ONE ANGEL IS STANDING. BOTH ARE LOVED BY ALL.

REST NOW MIRANDA. FIRST LEADER OF THE CHAMPIONS.

I was never the leader, she was. They needed a leader and I couldn't become my father, then Miranda offered. Very few knew her at the time, but when I told them that she was more than cut out for the job they reluctantly agreed. She turned out to be the best leader they ever had. But there was one problem, she didn't know how to fight. At all, and we were at war. That's when it was my turn to step up, I was a fighter and a damn good one. I was always by her, so when she became the leader nothing changed.

I would help her when it came to dealing with, as she put it 'the bad guys', and everyone looked up to me as the best fighter they had. I was unofficially in charge of our warriors, she didn't mind, she pushed me to do it actually. Not that she never did anything. Everyone came to her with problems and concerns, the dangerous ones she would send to me. But the one's that were inside the safety of the walls she handled like a champ.

Then we became known as the Two Angels. Her and I were the two that everyone looked up to, I was their Guardian and she was their Caretaker. No one had a problem with it.

I still sat their looking over the memorial. They had remembered her and forgiven me, that meant more to me than you could ever imagine. I weakly smiled and looked down. I allowed a single tear to fall from my face, just as Dagger had done all that time ago. Except this time it was a tear from a lone Champion, to the all Champions, fallen and standing, warriors and people, followers and leader.

This is what Champions do, we remember those that have fallen so that they can never truly die.

9: Ready

I had put my helmet back on and was now walking towards where the Champions were hidden. Back in Equestria when I told Miranda that I knew her sister, Charlette, was alive because you could always tell where she was. Not a month after the Bloodbath two new Tribes suddenly seemed to come from nowhere, already at full strength. One was the Equestrians, the Tribe I had built with the two deceivers. The other however, they never gave themselves a name. Like they didn't care, they were just there, waiting. They eventually became known as the Howlers, one of the fiercest Tribes there was. Once you wandered too far into their territory you wouldn't come out.

No one had seen what they look like or where they are and lived to tell about it. That's because the Howlers use animals to fight for them. As far as I know the only one's with domesticated animals are the Champions.

I just exited the ruins and looked out into the darkness, where the other two Clans were. After some thinking I decided it wouldn't do me any good to go over there. Instead I removed my helmet, and spit in their direction. Those scum weren't getting any respect from me. But thinking about them reminded me of something, how we discovered My Little Pony.

***

I pushed the rubble off of me and tried to stand up only to fall back down. I heard two groans next to me and looked over, there was two other men trapped under the rubble. I managed to stay on my feet this time and moved to uncover them. When I did I couldn't help but think that they looked familiar, I couldn't think of where they were from so I shook them awake and asked them who they were.

"Um, er. Who are you?" One asked.

I paused and tried to remember. "I'm not sure... I can't remember anything." I responded.

"Oh, well I'm... I don't know either." He turned to the other stranger. "Please tell me you know who you are."

He shook his head. "No, sorry. I have no idea."

"Well what do we call each other?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I guess we should make up names or something."

I nodded, it seemed reasonable.

"Well I want to be Vinnie!" One shouted.

"Okay... How about I'll be Brian?"

"I'll be..." Some part of me stopped me from picking a name. "I don't know, I'll pick one later."

They shrugged it off and we went exploring. The entire place was in ruins and there were bodies everywhere, torn up and cut. Some buildings were even smashed through. We had all kept the strange weapons we found earlier, seeing as how we might need them in a place like this. Even if I couldn't figure mine out.

Eventually we found an intact house and we all got comfortable and were ready to go to sleep.

"Hey guys!" Brian called from deeper inside the house. "Check this out!"

Me and Vinnie rushed to him and were shocked. This new room was full of pictures and toys of little, colorful, animals that were all dancing and smiling. We found and T.V. with a movie in it and hit play, there was the full first season of My Little Pony in it. As a joke we watched it all, then the next season, then the next season. Eventually we watched every episode and fell in love with it.

***

Something clicked at the memory, way back when we were all having breakfast with the Princesses Celestia said she found us by a survivor from the Bloodbath 'thanking her'. No doubt it was the same person that lived in that house, and he probably said 'thank Celestia' on accident after avoiding some dangerous incident or whatever.

Well that explains that at least, not much mysteries left now. I looked around, which was a stupid idea, it was all dark and I recognized nothing. I knew the Howler territory was dead west of the Bloodbath and I had been walking for a while now. So...

There was a sharp growl in front of me and I smiled in relief. I was here.

I stepped forward again and the growl was louder but it seemed hesitant. Good to see that Charlette still trained them the same way. I had to stop my grin and I let out three short and quick whistles.

A team of two Lions and two Lionesses stepped into view. There was no real reason to smile, but I was happy for the taste of home. I couldn't tell which ones these were in the dim light so I held out my hand with my palm up. It was what we did to train our animals to recognize a Champion, they would always be a lot more friendly then. The lead Lion stepped forward cautiously and nosed my hand. I had to stop myself from chuckling I slowly put my hand under the Lions chin and began to scratch.

It purred and lifted it's head up, I laughed a little and scratched a little harder. I moved my hand around and onto the back of it's neck, still scratching. It lowered it's head and I started scratching it's ears. He enjoyed it for a minute before it began the final part of the test. It suddenly reared back and roared in my face as loud as it could. I stood still and when it stopped I made a kissing noise, it wasn't necessary but I thought it was funny. The Lion pounced on me and had me pinned to the ground.

Then it gave me a big lick on the face, I coughed and tried to get him off me but Lions are heavy. Now that it was closer I could see it was one of Eddie's favorite Lions.

"Leo, you're always so dramatic." I laughed. The Lion got off me and nuzzled me the way a cat would. I laughed and scratched his ear some more. The other three Lions had walked up to me now, I had to assume that they remembered me. I often visited the animals with Eddie and we had both gotten to know the animals very well.

Once the licking and the ear scratching was out of the way I looked at Leo. "Alright big guy can you take me home?" He cocked his head. I sighed. "Home." I said clearly. With that the big cat perked up and ran off into the darkness. I laughed and gave chase.

We finally stopped in front of a large wooden gate, extremely similar to the old one the Kingdom had. The Lions kept on going but I paused. What would they think of me? Did they really forgive me? Was I to blame for the Bloodbath? Miranda may have been the leader but I told the warriors what to do. Most importantly, how many times would I get punched in the face?

I took a deep breath and slowly walked forward, half hopping that something would stop me, nothing did. As I got closer I began to hear shouts.

"What?!"

"You heard me!"

"Give me those binoculars! I know that helmet anywhere... It's really him!"

"It is?!"

"Yeah look!"

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! He really came back! He remembered us!"

"Hey everyone! Our Guardian is back!"

Shouts followed by cheers erupted from behind the wooden walls. I chuckled to myself, I can't believe they still held on to that old nickname.

Your their hope, what they held onto this entire time. I wouldn't be surprised if they thought of you as a god or something.

I laughed the idea away and continued to the large gate, this time I walked with purpose. I was home.

The gate swung open with a groan of protest and I saw every surviving Champion standing there, welcoming me home with open arms. I smiled behind my helmet and picked up the pace. But they couldn't wait, they rushed from the gates and met me halfway. I fell to the ground and my helmet fell off as I received a bear hug from Susan. I was a good friend of hers, since I was in love with her sister and everything.

"We got your letter, I'm so glad you finally came!" Susan exclaimed.

I laughed at her, she had a tendency to be a little over dramatic. "Yeah I'm back, now could you please get off me." She apologized sheepishly and backed off. I scooped up my helmet but decided to keep it off.

There was a mighty roar. "Look out!" Someone screeched. The crowd separated and a large Tiger ran down and pounced on me. I was really getting tired of being pinned to the ground today.

I laughed in between the licks I received from the Tiger. I mentioned I had a pet right? Well say hello to Cuddles. "Common boy, that's enough." It took some pushing but the large cat climbed off me and nuzzled me. I scratched it's head and laughed. I realized everyone was looking at me intently, I took a deep breath. "I see you haven't changed much." I announced. "No matter, it feels good to be home!"

They all laughed and cheered as we walked inside. As I entered this new home I realized how similar it was to the Kingdom, it was almost an exact replica of what I had just visited. Except everything was in one piece and... Happier. I was guided to the mess hall, which was an extremely large wooden building with a massive bench in the middle that took up almost all available space by stretching across the room and almost touching the walls on either end. The walls were covered with paintings of warriors and battles, here we enjoyed the lives of all those that had left us. We all laughed and shared stories of what happened while I was absent. They were all trying to catch me up with what was going on, within minutes it felt like I had never left.

I was in the middle of explaining how to snap a neck while suspended in mid-air before we were interrupted. There was muffled shouting then it was cut off with a squeak. Not a moment later the large double doors were kicked open by none other than Dagger. I stood up and went to greet him but stopped when I saw he wasn't moving.

There was my right-hand-man, my top fighter, and my best friend. He was big, bigger than me for sure, if he's been training all this time then he's probably stronger than me too. His face was as stoic as ever, always was the bad ass type I suppose. I noticed that he had his hair, which was a darker shade of blonde, cut shorter than before. He still wore his armor. The armor of a Champion was only a metal, dark blue vest and a custom helmet. While his helmet absent he had his weapons with him. At first glance you would think it was just heavy armor on his forearms, in reality they were blades that spun around the arm-guards and sliced through enemies with ease.

His father was the one that had taught us both how to make weapons and armor. Ever since what happened with Cloak he made sure that his armor and weapons were unbreakable and impenetrable. As I proved when I broke out of my enemies fort, their armor can still be pierced with enough force, it just takes a lot more effort than you would think.

What put me unease was Dagger's throat, there was a horrible pink scar dead center on it. The friend in question walked up to me at an alarming pace and brought up his fist and hooked me on my left eye. Like I said he was strong, so naturally I spun and fell to the ground. I gave myself a shake and stood up after everyone gasped at my friends assault, they didn't move to help either of us. They knew better than that.

I didn't bother asking what that was for, I had a good idea already. "Feel better?" I asked.

My only answer was him stepping back into his fighting pose. He spread his feet apart, crouched, and moved his arms in front of him. I took a step back, crouched, put one arm in front of me while the other hovered over the Guard on my back.

"I don't want to fight you, but you know I will if I have to." I said firmly.

I saw the spark in his eyes that said. "That's what I'm hoping for." He flicked his arms and his arm guards slide forward, unlocking themselves. He flicked downward and a spike flicked out and into his hands, he grabbed them then swung his arms around and the blades swung out from under his forearm armor and in front of his hands maybe two feet in length.

"Well if your going to be that way." I growled and removed the Guard. With a swift flick the over sized switch blade came out. "Then I wont stop you."

Something you should know. Champions know each others movements, so on the rare occasion when they fought each other they always knew what the other was doing. In order for one to best the other he would need the perfect combination of speed, strength, and skill. Something Dagger and I both had, this wasn't going to be a fight. This was going to be a dance.

As I suspected he made the first move. He spun towards me with his arms straight out. I deflected one blade as I jumped back and dodged the second one. I couldn't tell how bad he wanted to hurt me so I only assumed he was trying to kill me and moved to jab him. He idly deflected it and went for my leg. I kicked the underside of the blade and slashed upwards. Just before I made contact he brought his other blade in front of him and my blade slid along it and away from him.

He swung both fists, each still holding onto the sharp spikes, around me on both sides. I ducked under them while flicking in the switch blade, while standing up I pushed the ends of the Guard together and the spikes popped back out. I stepped forward and swung at his head, he held up a blade and it bounced off. I used that momentum to swing it back around and stop his other blade, already inches from my throat. We held each other there, glaring at each other. He was so enraged it was like a drug to him, something wasn't right. I reared back and kicked him away, he stumbled but caught himself. I figured the spikes weren't working and replaced them with the switch blade.

He stepped forward and brought down the spike he held in his hand, and I managed to dodge it by less than an inch. I used the end of the guard and hit him square in the chest, causing him to stumble back. He realized I wasn't going to kill him and used this to his advantage. He focused more on hitting me rather than dodging me by positioning his arms in front of him and running full speed at me. Just because I didn't want him dead didn't mean I wouldn't knock him out, I ducked under the blades and hit him in the back of his knee. He stumbled down and I positioned my blade above him. "Why are you fighting me?" I demanded.

My only answer was an angry growl and him knocking away my weapon. He jumped to his feet and stepped forward and slashed at me in an 'X' formation. I met his blades in the middle and held them there. He gave me a glare that said. "You should pay." I didn't think that running away would end up with my friend killing... But my life is exactly predictable. I slashed forward and my blade only bounced off his armor. He dropped the blades and looked at me with conflicting emotions. "You should die. You're my best friend. Death takes everyone. Not his fault. Ran away. Kill. No. YES." I was surprised, what damage had I done to him? Did I really expect to just dance on in here and think everyone would love me?

While I was distracted he saw his opportunity and kicked my feet out from under me. Before I hit the ground I raised the Guard before he could slice my throat. There I was, pinned to the ground, preventing my best friend from cutting out my throat. I didn't expect the others to stop the fight, no one could stop a Champion with enough blood lust.

I looked into his eyes before he moved his blade the last few inches, his eyes were watering up now, repeating the same words. "You killed her. I loved her. You killed her. I loved her."

Wait just a second, was this over what I thought it was? I decided to voice my thoughts the best way I knew how. "That's what this is about!" I yelled at him as my rage boiled inside me. "You had a petty crush on Miranda, and now you're going to kill me over it!? Why?! You think I wanted to pull that trigger!?" I tucked in my feet and kicked him off of me, he landed a ways away with a thud. I stood up and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying a couple more feet. "I loved her! What makes you think I let any of that happen!?" I yelled in pure anger, at first I was upset that I had caused him such grief. But now, did he even try to think about what I went through? I was about to make sure he did.

He made a few weak noises that I couldn't understand, but I could tell that he was upset in some way. I grabbed him by the top of his armor and pinned him against a wall. I saw a battle in his eyes, one part of him wanted me dead the other wanted this to end. There was two voices inside his head. Not like mine, me and Mentor had a truce and cooperated. He was fighting himself constantly. Still enraged I threw him onto the ground behind me, I glared at him for a moment while me made more weak noises before I spoke. "Well? Explain yourself!"

He froze and looked down in shame. I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder and turned to see Miranda's younger sister, Susan. She looked at me with sad blue eyes as she brushed her long black hair behind her ear. "There's something you should know." She said quietly.

I stopped grinding my teeth and attempted to calm down. "Okay, what?" I questioned.

She gestured to my friend still on the floor. "He was badly injured during our escape. See those scars on the throat? He was shot as we were all running away and he hasn't been able to speak since."

***

I struggled against the two Hunters that held me. "What do you want?" I snapped at Bulls-Eye.

He grinned and held up a sniper rifle. "See this?" He asked. "I'm going to send your Clan a parting gift."

I looked at him in confusion as he put the scope to his eye and looked out into the darkness. Another Hunter put a pair of binoculars up to me and I looked into them. There, in the darkness I saw the remains of my Clan running at full speed into the darkness. I understood what he was doing and ripped my arms from the Hunters that held me. I ran at Bulls-eye just seconds after he pulled the trigger.

***

When Bulls-Eye had shot at my Clan... He had hit Dagger in the throat. I looked at my friend mournfully. "I'm sorry." I told him.

He got up and put a hand on my shoulder. The battle in his head was over and I could clearly see who won. "I'm sorry too. When I had stayed long enough to see that you had... I wasn't myself, can you accept my apology?"

I nodded, knowing from experience just how badly two years of pent-up rage can affect your judgement. "It's okay, I'm sorry that I never realized that Miranda meant so much to you." Something clicked. "You put that plate on the memorial didn't you?"

He smiled. "Yes. I'm glad you visited the fallen."

I gave him a pat after he removed his hand. "Don't worry about Miranda, she's at peace now. Besides, I'm sure the right girl for you is right around the corner." I cast Susan a knowing smile and she blushed, like I said, I shared almost everything with the three sisters.

He cocked his head at me. "How can you know what I'm thinking?"

I briefly explained my 'eye reading' ability.

He only blinked and grinned. "It's good to have you back, many were starting to doubt you. What happened?"

I shook my head. "I got amnesia after chasing down Shadow and Bulls-Eye, the roof collapsed on top of us. None of us remembered a thing so we decided to stick together. When our memories returned we just... Ignored our past and kept going." I scowled at the memory. "They were lying the entire time, when we found their Clans I was captured. I broke out obviously." I grinned at the crowd. "So I thought I'd come back and ask you all if you'd like to join me in a little pay back!" I announced.

I took their cheers as an unanimous yes. I gave them my toothy grin and turned to Dagger, I wasn't letting him get away so easily after a fight like that. "What happened to you? You've never shown such interest in Miranda before."

He looked ashamed. "I always did care for her, but when I had a talk with a Clansman I was convinced that she was my soul mate or something. I'm sorry I thought about her like that, it was disrespectful, I'm not even sure if I did like her. No offense."

I laughed it off. "None taken, it was hard to not like her. Now, who was this you talked to?"

He thought about it a moment before replying. "It was some baker, Jake I think."

I frowned. "First off, it sounds like you were corrupted. Secondly, I knew the baker, I loved his bread and visited him often. His name was Jack, not Jake."

His eyes widened in realization, after all this time the Hunters were still sending in spies. I nodded and followed him out as he charged out the doors.

Dagger held the surprisingly small man by the throat, luckily it was just the three of us in the bakery, so no one would become worried about the threat of more spies. Back in reality Dagger smashed the spy against the wall once more.

"I told you asshole! I'm not a bloody spy, now let me go!" He shouted as Dagger glared at him, for someone with no voice he was surprisingly scary.

Even if the fake baker didn't have my ability to tell what he was thinking, he still had a good idea of what my ferocious friend was trying to say. His eyes screamed in rage. "You corrupted and tricked me into attacking my friend! I should drag this out as long as possible..." Did I mention that he had gotten good at painfully killing people after his brother had died? No? Well he was. Very.

The impostor cried out in a blend of fear and pain as Dagger dropped him to the floor. I don't know what he was about to beg or lie about but he was cut off when Dagger buried both of his blades into his stomach and lifted him into the air. He then threw him onto the ground, possibly denting the stone, and placed his foot over the spy's head.

"You idiot! I'm not spy, how would I even talk to them?" The spy rasped.

I caught Daggers look and moved to the spy I reached into the pocket of his pants and found a metal box. Pulling it out revealed it to be a walkie-talkie. Dagger barley glanced at it before he looked down and pushing his foot down.

"You'll all pay dogs! You'll all-" He was cut off as Dagger crushed his skull beneath his foot. Don't bother feeling bad for the spy, while Dagger can be very... Aggressive, it's all well deserved. These spies were a plague during the Bloodbath, they were never any better than roaches. They would tear apart families and go so far as to murder pets just to hide their true identity. To make it worse they thought we were the animals, all because we were pissed off when our homes were invaded. We were good at scaring them because a pissed off Champion could be more dangerous than a rabid bear, we figured that out from experience.

I shook my head. "Man, these guys are pathetic."

Dagger nodded in agreement. "So, friends?"

I barked a laugh and smacked him on the back. "Always. Now lets get out of here." Just before I exited I turned around and threw the walkie-talkie at a wall, it exploded in a shower of sparks and metal.

I told them all to bring enough supplies for a week each, I had no idea how long it would last this time. Hopefully I could arrange something with the Princesses if it lasted longer than I originally thought. In all honesty I want to end this during the first fight. Everyone was packed and ready to go, I mean everyone. During my time away they all took this time to train everybody in the Clan. Men, Women, even most older kids could fight well enough to hold their own. I was proud, Dagger had led them well. I offered for him to stay in charge but he explained that their respect for me had only grown while I was away.

I showed them the way to the massive box. Along the way Charlette, Miranda's older sister, walked up to me.

"So, the entire time you were with the two that ruined everything?" She asked bitterly.

I looked at her. In the dim light I could barley see her, she looked almost exactly like an older version of Susan. Except with curly hair. "I take it you're upset?" I asked sarcastically.

She snorted and looked away. "That doesn't even begin to cover it."

I tried to be nice. "So, what exactly did I do? I know I did a lot of things I shouldn't have, but what was it that got you upset?"

She shook her head and avoided my gaze. "It wasn't just one thing you know? It just added up, I'm not the only one that's mad at you. You have a lot of explaining to do."

"Yeah, I know. If it helps at all I am really sorry, I never wanted any of this to happen."

"And you think we did!? It's just... Wrong. All of it. Like this was never meant to happen, I don't know if revenge will make anything better."

I put a reassuring arm around her. "Hey, no one could have predicted this would happen okay? This isn't just revenge, we're putting a stop to them so nothing like this will ever happen again."

She shook her head. "No, I'm supposed to be angry with you." She shook of my arm. "Why can't I be angry at you?"

I shook my head. "Maybe it's because you know that I never wanted to leave? That if I had a choice I would have come straight back to you?"

I could tell she was starting to tear up. "No! Ever since you left I felt lost, a lot of people did. Dagger really helped but he wasn't a perfect match." She looked at me, almost crying. "We were barley holding together, we had to hold each other up. Don't you get it? You're like a father to us and you left us, we needed you."

I moved to her but she backed away. "No." She said weakly.

I huffed, she needed me but didn't want my help? That's not how it works. I moved quicker this time and pulled her into a meaningful hug. She protested half-heartily but gave in. "It's okay." I said gently. "I'm here now and I'm not leaving for a long time got it?"

She sniffed and hugged back weakly. "Thank you." I knew how Charlette was, she would push people away the more she needed them. I held her a moment longer before I let her go. She looked at me and shook her head with a snort of laughter.

"What?" I asked with a smile of my own.

"Oh nothing, it's just that Miranda was always the lucky one."

I chuckled. "Well, I sure felt lucky when you girls let a random stranger in your house."

"Oh please, you think we could pass up a cutie like you?" She asked mockingly.

We both broke out into laughter. When it died down I saw a massive object in the distance. I turned around and yelled. "There it is!"

We quickened our pace to a jog then Dagger and I opened up the massive doors. They all filed in, animals in tow, then Dagger made eye contact with me.

"Can I ask you something?" He said.

"Sure, go ahead. I have time."

He hesitated and looked away. When he looked back I could see the question I was hopping for. "Does Susan like me?"

I sighed. "Oh please tell me that this isn't the thing where you can't get the girl so you go for her sister."

He was taken aback and shook his head vigorously. "No, no, no. I just thought that she was looking at me the same way Miranda looked at you."

I pretended to be in deep thought. "Well, how I word this depends on how you answer this: Do you like her?"

He paused and looked down, clearly he's never thought about it before. He came to a decision with a confident grin. "I think I do."

I stifled a laugh and smiled. "Well, I'm not sure too about anything but I think there may be a possibility." I said, all the while not-so-subtly nodding my head.

He flashed me a grin of thanks as the last few people entered the box. I gave him a firm nod and and we closed the doors as we entered. I knew Celestia was watching us so it would only be a matter of time...

Seconds later a golden hue enveloped the box and we teleported to Equestria.

When the strange sensations stopped I gave myself a shake. "That was much better the second time." I told myself.

I heard a groan behind me. I had to hide my grin at the sight of everyone, animals included, trying to stand up straight. It was pretty funny actually. Dagger staggered to his feet and glared at me. "Is this funny to you?"

I snorted a laugh and nodded. He made an angry noise and punched me in the shoulder before he moved to open the doors, I rubbed my shoulder and moved to help him. He nodded three times and on the third we both pushed. Sunlight flooded into the massive box. We all had to shield our eyes from the sudden brightness.

Eventually my eyes adjusted and I could see again. Everyone was basking in the sun's warmth, even the animals were rolling around and playing on the grass. I gave them a couple minutes of enjoyment before I put a stop to it.

"Okay everyone!" I announced. "Set up camp, train, eat, or take a shit. Do whatever you gotta do, because come sunrise tomorrow." I pointed at the Everfree Forest. "We march, and we finally give the Nomads and Hunters what they got coming to them!" A chorus of cheers erupted from the crowd and they began preparations.

Cuddles gravitated towards me and I sat down with him and began scratching behind his ears. Through the mild chaos I spotted Dagger writing down messages and handing them to Susan. I looked over at my pet. "Young love, am I right?" He answered me with a low growl. I chuckled in response and continued scratching.

High above in Canterlot Castle the Sun Princess was adjusting the telescope for an eager Pegasus Mare.

"There, that should do it." The Alicorn said stepping back from her work.

Miranda rushed a thank you as she ran to the telescope, eager to see her family once more. She knew she couldn't go up to them looking like a Pony, so she had settled for the next best thing. She flew the telescope around and aimed it at the camp the Champions were working on. The Mare quickly picked out those she knew.

"Look! There's Susan, she made it after all, oh! She finally worked up the nerve to talk to Dagger, good for her. There's Charlette over by Leo... Is that Cuddles!? I can't believed he made it that's..."

Celestia laughed to herself at the Mare's enthusiasm. Whatever made her happy she supposed. The Princess informed her that she would be in the Castle but didn't think she was paying much attention. Celestia was left alone with her thoughts for the time being as she trotted throughout the Castles seemingly endless hallways. Celestia's mind began to wander. There wasn't much left to find out about the nameless Human, in fact she couldn't think of anything to question about him. That didn't settle her much, there was still the way the Human made Celestia feel... Uncomfortable to say the least.

How he acted was one such way Celestia was uneasy, when he left he was confident to bring back the his Clan, but then he almost breaks down when he visits his old home? Is there anything left to hide? Celestia knew she should be confident with the Human's skills, and if his Clan was anything like him then what's the worst that could happen?

The Princess was distracted as she noticed her surroundings, she must have taken a wrong turn somewhere and gone in a circle. She quietly laughed at her own silliness and turned around the next corner she turned revealed a surprised red Mare.

"Oh, hello Princess, I was just looking for you." She said.

Celestia smiled at her subject. "Hello Maple, how can I help you?"

Miranda returned her smile. "Well, I realized that it was starting to get dark and tried to go to my room. But... I got a little lost." She said sheepishly.

"Don't worry, this Castle can be like a maze sometimes. I will show you the way to your room." She said reassuringly.

Miranda nodded and followed the Alicorn down the hall. They walked in silence together for sometime before curiosity got the better of the Princess. "May I ask you something?"

"Of course."

Celestia hesitated a moment before continuing. "It's about the nameless Human of yours."

The Pegasus Mare hardly blinked. "He's not mine."

Celestia did blink. "What? But I thought that you two were a couple."

"Oh we are, but he's not mine. I don't own him, we are loyal to each other but I could never order him around."

Celestia nodded in understanding. "I see." This Clan was clearly very sensitive with owing others. "If I might ask, could you explain the him?"

This time the Mare blinked. "What do you mean?"

The Princess of the Sun chewed her lip for a moment. "Well, he's very unusual. He refuses to share his name, he will kill countless other Humans, yet he almost breaks down when he returns home, and now he's acting like nothing's ever happened."

Celestia recoiled at Miranda's horrified expression.

"What?" Celestia asked defensively.

She stared for a moment longer. "Is that really how you think?" The Alicorn remained silent. "Think about what he's been through, he didn't just wander into a cozy home and start crying his eyes out. He was visiting the dead shell of the only home he's ever known, he was visiting his own grave Celestia! As for the killing, those people weren't just some random bystanders. Those were the same people that had butchered his friends in front of him, he was extremely merciful considering what they put him through."

"Now you think he's all smiley and acting like nothings ever happened? He's being strong for everyone, they can't see him break down and cry before their biggest fight yet. Do you have any idea what he's been through or what he's seen? He would wake up screaming some nights! Trying to save his friends that had been killed only a few feet from him! After everything you want his name? I was considering telling you, but now that I see you can't respect how strong he's being for so many I'm reconsidering. I think I can find my own way to my room." With that she briskly trotted ahead.

When she turned the corner Celestia fell to her rump. Her of all Ponies had been inconsiderate of someone. She had barley scratched the surface of this Human's life, he was in pain this entire time and she never would have noticed. All this time he was being strong and protecting his Clan, Celestia admired that. With her new found respect for Nameless she ran ahead to catch up with Miranda.

They had already been close to her room so she had already found it on her own. Celestia spotted her room and trotted up to it. She tried to open it but found it locked. Frowning she raised a hoof to knock on it, but stopped when she heard a noise from within. Putting her ear to it she discovered that somepony was sobbing quietly within, she had a good guess as to who it was.

She knocked gently on the door. After some clambering and mumbled apologies it opened, revealing a tear-stained Mare. Celestia didn't notice but she had opened the door with a small smile, as if she was expecting someone else. "What now?" She asked bitterly when she realized it wasn't him.

Celestia felt the sting of her words and flinched. "I came to apologize for being so ignorant to you and Nameless, after all he is protecting our land."

"Yes well, that's what he does, he saves people." She said bluntly.

Celestia still felt bad and continued. "If it helps any, I am eternally grateful for him helping us."

Miranda sniffed. "If you really mean that then tell it to him, not me."

The Princess was begging feel even more guilty with this apology, she decided it would be best for a change of subject. "I know I shouldn't ask but I feel as though I should, why do you love him so dearly?"

She blinked at the unexpected topic. "Well, it's who he is and what's he's done. He's the one that was born in the worst of the Clan, but was strong enough to get away from it. Instead of running from it when it caught up with him he fought back and won." She rubbed her eye at the memory. "He's strong enough to fight off evil, and brave enough to do it. You may think that makes him a horrible murderer, but that's not what he does. He's defending his home and loved one's, he only attacks those that attacked first. He was put through hell as a kid and a few years later he's the king of heaven. If it wasn't for him then the name Champion wouldn't exist and we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"He's the one that's been inspiring the Champions to defend you and themselves, he's the reason Champions are such proud fighters, he's the reason they all smile at death. Don't you see Celestia? He's saving us all, even if you don't appreciate it."

I walked through our freshly made camp. They had done a good job in such little time. I had remembered my talk with Charlette on the way here and was thinking about what I should do, they all seemed to be fine now. I was at a loss for what to do.

We need to talk.

"Oh, and why's that?"

You need to think about what you're getting everyone into.

"I don't understand, they all know what they're doing."

No, they know that they're fighting Nomads and Hunters. Nothing else.

"What else are we going to fight?"

You're an idiot. I want you to think about this fight, plan. You've been in their fort or whatever it is and have the element of surprise, I want you to use it wisely. No more running blindly into battle, you're good, but not that good.

"You want me to plan our attack?"

This is painful- Yes! I want you to put everything you know about your enemies together and think about how your going to fight them.

I blinked. "Huh, never thought about it before."

Shut up and go make a plan, everyone has to be ready for tomorrow.

Miles away the leader of the Hunters was talking with the leader of the Nomads.

"I really expected him to try something." Bulls-Eye said, slightly disappointed.

Shadow waved a dismissive hand. "Pff, knowing him he'll probably try something that's outright genus when were not expecting it, only to fail in the end."

Bulls-Eye looked out the small window. "I don't know, I have a bad feeling about this."

Shadow didn't bother looking up. "Oh yeah, like what?"

He shook his head. "You know, it's that feeling you get just before a really bad storm..."

Back at the Champion's camp Dagger was sharpening his blades with an evil scowl and one thing on his mind: His brothers vengeance.

10: Storm

There Joe, I finally finished it. Now stop your whining.

Everyone else I'm sorry I took so long, I have no excuse. I just got really lazy, but it's here now!

I finished putting in my numerous requests to the Princesses, they had been reluctant at first but I assured them that I would need every advantage to kill every man from both armies with our small force. The moon was still in the sky when I had woken everybody up and told them the plan Mentor and I had just spent the past four hours working on. I had little to work with in little time, I had argued with Dagger over who would fight. He suggested that literally everybody should be fighting but I didn't want little kids or elderly to be slaughtered. We went back and forth until he convinced me that two years of training everyone would pay off here, I only told them that they had a choice.

Of course they would all choose to fight. That made it only eight hundred and sixty two fighters, there was at least three times as many Champions before the Bloodbath - Another reason to hand over Bulls-eye to Dagger when I find him - There was also twelve Bears, twenty Lions, eighteen Tigers, and thirty Wolves. I had barley dented the Nomads and Hunters when I attacked, I had guessed they had around four thousand soldiers each by now. Perfect odds for a Champion.

I had to split the Champions into three groups, my group had almost half of them, Dagger had the other half of them following him, and Charlette was with four others on a special task.

Before I stepped in front of everyone Dagger pulled me back. He removed his helmet, which was similar to mine in shape but he had a rectangular cut for his eyes instead of a mirror and added a long blade running from between his eyes to the back of his helmet, complete with a monster mouth with sharp teeth barred. I gave him a confused look and he took off his helmet and smiled. "Thank you, for everything. I had this and I know that you would want it." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, folded, photograph, he handed it to me and I unfolded it. All it took was a glance before I recognized it instantly. It was a picture of me and Miranda, taken the day she had become leader.

***

She draped her arms around my neck. "Please?" She asked.

I sighed. "Okay, but just one picture. I don't want to be here all day."

She flashed me a grin. "I'm the leader now remember? You get to do whatever I want."

I raised an eyebrow. "That so?" She rocked on her feet while suppressing a giggle and nodded. "Well then I guess I have no choice."

She did a small cheer and called over my friend. "Hey Dagger! Could you take a picture of us real quick please?"

He walked over with a chuckle. "Anything for you two lovebirds."

I glared at him and he laughed again. Holding up the camera he told us to look pretty and smile. My annoyance was washed away as Miranda kissed me on the cheek. "Don't blink." She reminded me.

***

She looked better than I remembered in the picture. She had he head rested on my shoulder with a content smile, I had an arm around her and a cocky grin. Her long, curly brown hair fell behind her shoulders and her deep blue eyes were only just open. It had been a long day for her. We never had any uniforms or stupid dress codes so she had on a gray hoodie of mine that was a size or two too big for her with simple jeans. I on the other hand was wearing my armor, a heavy vest like everyone else and a tight black t-shirt under it. Ironically enough, the same thing I was wearing now.

I smiled. "Thank you Dagger, it's good to see her again." He gave me a sympathetic nod and walked to where the rest of the Champions had gathered. I looked at the picture one last time before I folded it back up and tucked it under my armor, resting it on my heart. What can I say? I'm a hopeless romantic.

Now I stood in front of them, all of them looking up at me expectantly. I guess this is the part where I give them some heart warming and inspirational speech, let's see what I can make up.

I took a deep breath. "Today we go into this forest and fight those that we hate the most. Before we do I want you to know why we're doing this, this isn't just simple revenge. This is stopping an evil, this is protecting those who can't fight, this is how we tell them we're angry." A few cheers came from the crowd. "I want you to know how important you are, we are the only ones here, we are the fighters, we are the ones that have been kicked down for showing our teeth only to bite them in the ass!" They cheered again, this time a little louder. "Today we will show them just how hard we bite, today we stop them from doing anymore harm, today is the day the Nomads and the Hunters fight their last battle!" They cheered even louder this time. "This will be the last time we fight these excuses for a Clan, this is the last time anyone will ever here of a Nomad or a Hunter!" They were all cheering now. "We have all held a grudge against the Nomads and Hunters for a long time now, and now we have the chance to show them just how pissed off we are. Not matter who dies today two things will never change" I flashed my toothy grin. "This will be their final battle, and you will always be Champions!" They erupted into loud roars and hearty cheers, shouting just how they planned on finally getting revenge on the ones that ruined their lives for two years.

"Yeah! I'll tear out their hearts with my bare hands!"

"I'll gut them!"

"I'll cut them into pieces!"

"I'll crack their skulls like eggs!"

"I'll crush them under my boot!"

"I'll rip out Bulls-Eye's stomach and feed it to him!"

A roar of thunder was heard just above us and we looked up to see a massive thunder storm. Good, the Princesses are doing what I asked. The storm will provide us with cover until we strike. I saw the flock of Pegasi push the storm towards the Everfree and fly off.

I shouted one last time as I bonded with Mentor and we were hammered by the rain. "NOW CHAMPIONS! WE WIPE OUR ENEMIES FROM MEMORY!" They all cheered and ran to where they were I told them to go. I grinned and put my helmet on, this was going to be one hell of a fight.

Rainbow Dash landed on the large balcony of Canterlot Castle next to the Princess. "Okay, the storm is on it's way. What next?"

Twilight Sparkle emerged from the door way and stepped onto the balcony. "Let's see here... After the storm he needs the sun raised early." She looked to her mentor expectantly.

Celestia looked off into the distance. The sun wasn't due to rise for another hour and a half, not once had she failed to raise it on time - excluding the Nightmare Moon incident - Yet here was this Human, saving her land selflessly, and all he needed was a little sunlight earlier than usual.

The Princess came to a decision and smiled. "I see nothing wrong with everypony getting up a little earlier."

Her student smiled as she flew to raise the sun and went back to the list.

Bulls-Eye looked at the sky. "There's a storm coming."

Shadow waved it off. "Bah, what's a little rain going to do? Besides, we got an island to take over."

His partner nodded. "Right, right. Guess that dog finally learned his place and ran away."

Shadow patted him on the back. "Don't you fret, we can just torture those cartoons instead. We'll save that Pegasus of his for last."

Bulls-Eye grinned at the idea. "Then we better get going." He turned to the massive army. "Alright everyone! Lets go get us some sunshine!"

They all yelled happily in return, ready to conquer this new land. Not knowing what they were walking into.

Dagger and half the other Champions raced through the forest, they had to get in front of the others if this plan was going to work. They had been given a minute head start but that was it, they were a large force and they had to move quickly. Just because they had the storm to cover them didn't mean that they knew where they were going.

Charlette followed the two lead Champions while two others flanked her, she wasn't much of a fighter so she needed protection. But they had to hurry, the entire battle was counting on her.

I tore through the forest with half my Clan in tow, we had to move fast and intercept them as soon as possible. The further we kept this battle from anypony the better. The more I thought about it the more it mattered, everyone and everypony that knew what a Hunter or Nomad was is in danger. Who knows what they planned on doing to those defenseless Ponies, this wasn't just for Miranda - although she did play a big part in my motivation - this was for anyone that held the name Champion. I had to stop them, I had to.

Rain was pouring into the forest, making everything slippery and slowing down the army entirely. Not only that but it was dark out, the storm was very effective..

Thunder sounded above the two Clan leaders and lightning flashed. "Hey, shouldn't the sun be up?!" Shadow shouted above the storm.

"Dunno, the storm is probably blocking any sunlight!" Bulls-Eye shouted back.

"You think this is Nameless?"

"I... I hope not."

If Dagger could speak he would have yelled in frustration. He was lost, for his part it was a massive uncharted forest, but that's not what mattered. What mattered was that he was failing his Clan, he needed to figure out where he was he needed some beacon some... Something like that.

Rainbow Dash and a few other brave Pegasi were listening to Celestia and Luna's voices in their heads as they flew above the worst storm in Equestria ever made.

"Ten feet to your left."

Rainbow Dash moved as she was told, when she was positioned just right she held her hooves above her head and waited.

"...Now!"

She slammed her hooves into the cloud and a small hole was made, not large enough for anything to travel through for that wasn't it's purpose. It's purpose was to light the way for the Champions.

Dagger spotted another beam of light and ran for it, just before he reached it the beam would vanish and another would appear a ways away. He would chase after it and the process would repeat. Not knowing if it was right or what was driving him, he just knew that it was leading him to his brothers killer.

I spotted the next beam of light and tore after it, we had to be close by now. "Luna." Was all I muttered under my breath.

"Almost there, another two miles." She answered in my head.

I grinned as I felt another surge of energy and raced to protect Equestria.

Celestia walked up to her most faithful student. "Okay, the Pegasi are almost done leading the Champions. What's next?"

Twilight checked the little box and put the quill behind her ear. "Next we have to... Princess?"

Celestia took another step and looked over Twilight's shoulder to see the next task. When she saw it her heart sank. She read the last line aloud. "No matter who wins this battle please take good care of Miranda and Eddie." She held her head high and smiled. She really did have the Human all wrong, he only helped others and never himself. She would carry out his unspoken request, she would remember this nameless Human for the rest of her eternal life.

Bulls-Eye was pissed off to say the least, nothing was going as he planned. He was so sure that so called 'Living Nightmare' would at least try to stop him. But nooooo he just had to be a little bitch and run away. Now he was stuck in this damn forest in this damn storm and his damn feet were damn killing him! He was so pissed he might just...

A beam of light appeared, illuminating a single figure. "What's that?" Shadow asked, even if he already knew the answer.

I stood under the beam of light in the large opening. We had been lucky enough to meet the army where there was little growth and only tall trees around us. I grinned as I saw Shadow and Bulls-Eye stunned in front of there enormous army. I put my lips together and gave a loud, sharp whistle, the Champions behind me raced through the darkness.

Dagger perked up as he heard the signal. He looked behind him and patted the closest Champion on the shoulder, he quietly gave the go-ahead and the Champions spread out around the massive army and meeting the other half in the middle. Circling the Nomads and Hunters.

Shadow only saw a single figure standing alone in the dark of the storm. He watched as the figure reached behind him and pulled out a metal pole, which he knew was called the Guard. He stood there menacingly under the single beam of light, not knowing what he was planning. Suddenly the light disappeared and the figure vanished. In a panic Shadow pulled out his curved dagger in his right hand and his serrated dagger in his left, ready for anything.

Another whistle sounded and movement was heard from all around the army, they were surrounded. Dying cries of uncountable men sounded and Shadow wheeled around to see his enemy, only to be met with darkness. All was silent and they waited. He felt it this time; the pain. It was similar to when he was near Nameless but stronger, when he was with Nameless it was constant agony. But now, it was all around him. Pain had circled him and he was about to feel it.

Thunder sounded above, meaning lightning would soon follow and he could finally see his attackers. Before it did another whistle was heard and dying cries followed once more. Just then the lightning arced across the sky and Shadow was sickened at the sight, even if he saw it for just a moment. All across the forest was dead men by the hundreds, all with fatal cuts only a blade could make. He saw Champions, hundreds of them, all striking down his men. Some holding their corpses, but all with vengeance in their eyes. They were angry, they were organized, they were armed, and they were only feet from him.

The lighting gave us away and I cupped my hands over my mouth. "NOW!" I bellowed. As I did the Champions encircling the army went into a hate-fueled frenzy and began cutting them down. The two leaders were stunned, but only for a moment. They ordered the army to attack, we had only lowered their numbers by maybe a thousand, two if we were lucky. But we still had them surrounded and we were pissed. A mixture of roars and growls followed as the animals were released onto the enemy.

I grabbed the Guard by the bottom with both hands and began to bring out my best blade. I twisted my hands in opposite directions and the metal above my hands began to bend inwards. When I was finished I was holding a small sword, similar to the one I had used against my father. After all I had melted down that sword into the Guard.

With a fierce battle cry I charged into the crowd.

Celestia looked up from the telescope. "The battle has started, all we can do now is wait."

Twilight tucked the scroll away and trotted next to her mentor. "Don't worry Princess, I'm sure that Human and his friends are fully capable of defending us."

"But they're so few, and they're fighting so many."

"Yes, but there is little we can do from here."

Celestia's face brightened at an idea. "I can think of something we can do to assist them."

Twilight listened intently at the Princesses idea.

Dagger stalked through the battle intently, he knew he was here, he just had to find him. A Nomad ran up to him and raised his spear, Dagger placed one blade into his stomach and the other through his right eye. He dropped the body to the ground and walked away, if he could talk he would have called him a dumb ass. Through the rain and blood he thought he saw that dreaded spear raise and come back down, he charged for it but stopped halfway when he heard a scream.

It wasn't just any scream of course, there were plenty of pained screams he could hear over the thunder and rain. But that particular scream... It was one of pain, not only that but he knew who it belonged to. It was Susan. For a moment he was torn between getting his revenge and saving Susan. On one hand he had been waiting to kill Bulls-Eye for over two years now and he may never get another chance, on the other hand Susan had a huge crush on him and he was starting to feel the same...

They may not share the same love that Miranda and his nameless friend have, but that didn't mean that he was going to let her go just yet.

I pulled my blade out of the Hunters chest. They were much easier to kill than I remember, probably from laying around on their asses all day instead of training. They thought taking over Equestria was going to be easy, we were about to prove them wrong. I walked through the battlefield, all around me Champions were overpowering Hunters and Nomads with their rage. A decapitated head rolled in front of me and I kicked it into the crowd. I looked into the crowd and saw a Champion crush a Nomad under his boot, guess he wasn't kidding.

I was tackled to the ground by a Nomad, I shook myself and eyed my attacker. He gave me a wicked grin, that's when I remembered him. This was the same bastard that had hit Miranda and called her a bitch.

Oh, he's in for it now.

Dagger spotted Susan lying on the ground with blood dripping down her arm and a Hunter with a double bladed axe standing above her. Anger consumed him, if he lost another loved one to a Hunter then he would throw the Sun at them. With a roar he ran and tackled the Hunter to the ground, he rolled over and rested on top of the Hunter. His blades forgotten and tucked away for the time being he settled for punching the Hunter over and over.

The Hunter tried to protect his face with his arms but Dagger only punched harder. He would have kept attacking him if another Hunter hadn't kicked him off, Dagger rolled and got to his feet. The kicker readied his mace and ran at him, Dagger responded by ducking under him and throwing him over his shoulder. He landed behind him with a hard thud and Dagger flicked his blades out, he brought one down over his throat but was blocked when the fallen Hunter caught the blade with the handle of his mace. With a growl he raised his other blade, but when he tried to bring it down he was stopped by the first Hunter.

He looked over his shoulder and saw his blade caught in in the blade of the Hunter's axe, the Hunter threw Dagger onto the ground. He held up his blades just before they stopped an axe only inches away from his face.

I threw the Nomad off of me and stood up, before I could do anything else he jumped to his feet and smiled evilly at me. "I remember you, your that dog that was stuck in a wall."

I pulled out my sword. "The only reason you're alive is because I had a spear in my stomach, this time I'll make sure you won't leave here alive."

He pulled out a sword of his own. "What's a lonely little dog like you going to do against a Nomad like me?"

I grinned. "I'll show you exactly what a Champion can do." We rushed each other and clashed in the middle.

With a grunt of effort Dagger threw the axe to the side and rolled out of the way of a mace. He climbed to his feet and kicked the Hunter that was trying to pull his mace from the ground in the face, sending him sideways into the dirt. Dagger wheeled around to face the second Hunter, who was already swinging his axe at Dagger with all of his might.

He caught the axe just below the blades and used the momentum to throw it out of his hands and into the crowd. The Hunter backed up in fear and looked around for a weapon he could use, when Dagger's blades came at him he jumped out of the way and dived for the mace still stuck in the ground.

In one fluid movement the mace was yanked from the ground and swung around towards Dagger's head, thinking fast Dagger picked up the unconscious Hunter at his feet by the back of his head and caught the mace with his head.

The Hunter was horrified he had just been tricked into killing his comrade and dropped the mace, leaving him exposed to Dagger's blades.

I pushed against the Nomad's sword with my own, trying to cut the smug grin right off of his face. He tilted his blade and slid along mine and missed my eye my a hair, I backed up to regain my footing and he spun his sword in his hand.

"I wonder how honored I'll be if I bring Shadow the head of the Unstoppable Champion..." He mocked.

"First you'll have to come here and take it." I spat.

His grin told me he accepted the challenge. He ran forward and swept his blade at my legs, I blocked it with my sword in my left hand and punched him in the jaw as hard as I could with my right. He stumbled back and rubbed where I had just punched him.

He spat out some blood. "Fine, you want to fight dirty? I'll show you a dirty fight."

I twirled my blade. "You've already shown everyone how dirty you fight."

He grinned evilly again. "Yeah, well your Clan sure did provide a nice bonfire."

He just made his death as painful as possible. I stepped forward and he lashed out at me, ducking under it I sliced his chest and he reeled back in pain. I used the opening and cut his hand right off of his arm.

Dagger retreaded his blades and ran over to Susan, she had a small pool of blood around her from the large gash in her left arm. Dagger removed his helmet and knelt next to her, no idea what he was supposed to do. He was no doctor, he couldn't talk to her, he couldn't even call for help. He was all on his own with this girl.

He panicked for a moment, just waving his hands over her trying to get her attention. When it was clear she was only half conscious he ripped off part of his shirt and tied it around her wound, when he was finished grabbed her shoulders and gently shook her.

Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled at the friendly figure above her. "Hey Dagger, can't believe I had to be lying on the ground with a cut in my arm for you to notice me."

He frowned, eliciting a weak giggle from Susan. "I'm just kidding you know." He relaxed and Susan stared contently at him, she sighed. "I really wish you could still talk, I have no idea what you're thinking."

Dagger smiled as he got an idea. He slowly leaned in and gave her a hesitant kiss on her cheek, causing her to giggle once more. "I think I understand." He smiled at her, they could have just sat there forever, staring at one another.

A dying cry sounded behind the couple and they were reminded that they were still on a battlefield. Dagger shot to his feet and was about to run away when he caught himself. He knelt down next to Susan and tried his hardest to talk to her, all he could manage was a few weak squeaks.

Susan smiled. "I know you wont leave me for long, it's okay." Dagger nodded with a weak grin, donning his helmet once more he ran into the crowd to get help.

The Nomad lay at my feet, bloodied and sputtering nonsense about why he should live. I was hearing any of it, only shouting in rage.

"You think I'm weak do you?!" I sliced his stomach. "You think it was fun to destroy my Clan!?" I cut off his ear. "You thought you could get away with everything you've done to us!?" I stabbed him in his knee. "I'll show you the rage of a Champion!"

Stop.

"NO!" I yelled, not realizing I was vocalizing my thoughts.

This isn't you, Champions don't torture people.

"He isn't a person! He's scum!"

Think about this, you're supposed to be saving people. Not slowly killing them.

I shut my eyes and held my breath, I exhaled as I spoke. "It's not fair, why do they get to hurt so many good people?"

I'm sorry, but you've all just had some real shitty luck. That doesn't mean you should turn into monsters. Keep pushing and stay true to the Champions.

I opened my eyes. "Fine, I will." I let out a sharp whistle and Cuddles bounded over. "But he wont." I pointed at the Nomad with my sword. "Dinner." Was all I said before I turned my back on the crippled Nomad and hungry Tiger.

I'll allow that this time, but keep yourself in check from now on.

"No promises" I stalked back into the battle and felt a certain urge, like someone needed me. I ran in a random direction for no real reason, it just felt like I had to.

I spotted Dagger running around wildly and waving his arms in the air, I ran over to him. "Dagger, Dagger! What's going on?"

He looked me seriously in the eye. "Susan's hurt real bad, we have to get her to safety."

I nodded and followed him through the bloody battle.

Dagger finished off another Nomad next to me and tapped my shoulder. "What do we do?"

I looked at Susan, she was in real bad shape, we had to get her out of here and soon. "She's going to be fine as long as we get her some place safe." I looked around, the field was still a deadly mosh pit but I could tell that sides were forming. Pointing to the Champion's side I told him what to do. "Get her just behind the treeline over there and make sure she's concealed but not covered."

I looked at him and he nodded, he picked up Susan carefully and jogged alongside the treeline. I stood up, satisfied that I helped them.

They are so in love.

"Yeah, I know." I looked into the crowd and spotted two very familiar daggers speeding through the crowd, I narrowed my eyes at them. "Get ready Shadow, because I'm coming for you."

Dagger slowed down to a halt under a tree large enough to stop most of the rain from falling on them, he gently placed Susan on a large patch of soft moss. When she had settled he took off his hurried bandage and tossed it aside,ripping off another large part of his shirt he carefully wrapped the cut. He reached from outside of the tree and brought back some water cupped in his hands, he put his hands to her lips and she drank it weakly.

Dagger pushed her hair out of her face and smiled at her, he wanted to say some comforting words more than anything in the world right now, something to calm her, something to tell her how he felt, anything.

Susan decided that since she could say something she would. "Thank you. I know that you saved my life and everything, but all I can give you right now is a thank you." Dagger smiled at her, trying to say that it was what any good man would have done. Susan smiled back. "Well, I can give you this." He was about to cock his head in confusion but she puled off his helmet and pulled him close to give him a passionate kiss.

I dove and tackled Shadow to the ground, we rolled around and he pushed off of me. I stood up and found Shadow already standing and hook coming at my throat. I caught it just as it pushed against my neck, he glared at me and tried to just push that last inch and end me. I spun around and aimed my blade at his throat but he was already a foot out of my reach.

I glared at him, this was going to be a difficult battle...

Dagger was in a daze when he and Susan separated, she giggled at his dizzy expression. "I can't believe that I had to go through all that just to kiss you." Susan purred.

He sheepishly smiled at her, feeling bad that he was jealous of his best friend for all those years and ignored this beautiful girl in front of him. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked back at the raging battle in the center of the storm then back to Susan.

She nodded. "It's okay, just make sure you come back."

After a firm nod Dagger replaced his helmet and charged into the battlefield, a new kind of purpose fueling him.

Back in the eye of the storm Bulls-Eye was shocked. Not only had that Nameless dog returned, he had brought every surviving Champion with him and now they were locked in a fight to the death. The whole scene looked like it was pulled out of a horror movie. He could only see a few feet in front of him but he could hear the whole thing, blades clashing, soldiers dying, and his heart pounding. The only time he could see was when lightning flashed, when it did he wished he hadn't seen anything. Champions by the hundreds with hate filled eyes cutting away at his army of thousands, the only dead Champions he saw were the ones he killed himself.

Another one got within sight and he thrust his spear into his chest and ripped out a chunk of flesh. He fell over in a bloodied mess. He heard an unrecognizable yell behind him and turned to see and unarmed Champion.

He stared at him for a moment, or more specifically, he stared at the jagged scar on his throat.

Twilight gawked at her Alicorn teacher. "Princess, you- you can't be serious!"

She nodded. "I am entirely serious my faithful student, I have to do whatever I can to help save Equestria."

"But not this!" She exclaimed, distressed by her decision.

Celestia remained silent as they entered the Canterlot Royal Gardens.

Charlette looked around the dark forest wildly. "Where is it?" She hissed under her breath. "He said it would be here, why isn't it here?"

"Um, Charlette... I think I found it."

With a roar of anger Dagger charged at Bulls-Eye, blades at the ready. Bulls-Eye recovered from his shock and met this new enemy half way. They clashed and locked eyes, the first thing Bulls-Eye noticed was how they were filled with pure hatred. He also noted that a different kind of pain of coming off of this one, it was more... Personal. What the others had was difficult to explain, they had blind rage but it was focused into their fighting. As fierce as blind rage yet concentrated like it wasn't there, Champions were weird like that. But this scared one in front of him, it was like it was solely focused on him, personal.

Bulls-Eye faltered while drifting off in thought, Dagger on the other hand had one thought on his mind: Vengeance. Dagger used this minor falter to his advantage, he brought his blades down across his chest but Bulls-Eye caught him at the last second and manged to escape with only a cut in his armor. Bulls-Eye was now at full attention again and planned to stop this scared warrior dead in his tracks. He spun his spear in his hand and aimed it at him, Dagger only took this as an invitation and gladly accepted. He faked right then jumped left, Bulls-Eye fell for it and jabbed his spear where he would have been. Dagger swung his left blade around and tried to decapitate and finish him right then and there, but Bulls-Eye was too quick, he brought the shaft of his spear behind him and caught the blade.

With a growl Dagger attempted to grab the spear, but it was pulled just beyond his reach. Bulls-Eye spun around to face the silent enemy and aimed his spear at him, ready to throw it, and he never missed.

Celestia stopped in front of Discords statue, even after he escaped they decided to keep him in the garden because that's how Pony logic works. Celestia bravely approached the statue while Twilight cautiously flanked her.

A maniacal laughed echoed around the two Ponies. "Discord, I need a favor from you." Celestia boldly demanded.

His voice echoed around them. "Really Celestia? Please tell me, why should I do anything for you?"

"You live here to, if you don't help protect Equestria then you will be destroyed along with everything and everypony else."

He chuckled. "You seem to have forgotten Celestia but, I'm the immortal god of chaos. What do I care if everything is destroyed?"

Celestia grit her teeth, why would she think this would be easy? "Please Discord, you're not evil, just chaotic. Have a heart and help save your home."

"Hmm, you may have a point. But I want something in return."

"Anything!" Celestia exclaimed.

Discord only let out another chuckle.

Shadow caught my blade with his hook and grinned evilly. "Well, well, well. It looks like you brought the rest of your Clan here to die like the rest."

Everything was released now, all my hatred, all my evil, my inner demons, and they were all one my side, trying to kill Shadow. "Men like you don't get to live while I stand." I hissed.

"Then we'll have to fix that." He growled. With that he let go of my blade and I stumbled forward, I turned just in time to see his oncoming blade and deflect it. I stepped back then jumped forward in attempt to jab him, he stepped to the side effortlessly.

Think, he's fast but you're stronger. Use his speed against him.

How?

That's where you come in.

I growled and faced him again. The rain was still hammering the both of us, the thunder made it near impossible to make sense of any sounds, the lightning would light up the battlefield occasionally and all I could see was men killing more men. I cracked my neck and glared at him. "Only one Clan will be leaving this battle."

He snorted. "Yeah, in ashes maybe." The sounds of thousands of Champions burning alive filled my ears, their pained screams, children calling to their mothers only to have the same fate. Just those sounds alone brought my rage back to me. I lashed out at Shadow, with every swipe or cut I would attempt he would only dodge it. When I paused for less than a second he switched to the offense and charged at me. I don't know why I thought it was a good idea or what possessed me to do it, but I suddenly ducked down. Shadow was already going to fast to slow down and he tripped over me. I shot up and kicked him in the stomach and sent him rolling over a few times. It's funny, I thought his death would have been a little more dramatic, but beggars can't be choosers.

I raised my blade and was prepared to bring it down.

Bulls-Eye threw the spear at Dagger, aimed directly at his heart. Even if Bulls-Eye didn't know it he had done the same exact thing almost two and a half years ago, except that time Cloak had jumped in its way to save him. This time Dagger was on his own. The spear left his hand and flew through the air, it's course set on Dagger's heart. Before he could react it connected with his armor dead-on.

Then it bounced off without a scratch, unbreakable armor remember?

Bulls-Eye stood there shocked, Dagger on the other hand charged at him with both of his blades raised.

Celestia grumbled something very unprincess-y as she shuffled into the Garden wearing striped pink and purple socks. She heard Discord laugh. "There." The embarrassed Princess snapped. "I put on my most ridiculous pair of socks, now help the humans with Equestria!"

If Discord hadn't been encased in stone he would have been mischievously grinning, she really should have worded that better. "Why yes Celestia, I will 'help' the 'Humans' with their 'Equestria problem'."

Celestia bought it. "Thank you Discord, I will remember this act of kindness."

Oh, you'll remember what I'm about to do alright. Discord thought.

Miranda walked sleepily to throughout the Castle in attempt to find either Princess and find out what was going on. In an act of pure luck she stumbled upon the balcony Luna and Rainbow Dash were on, watching as he fate of their land unfolded in the from of a bloody battle between barley trusted friends and their old enemies.

"Hm? What's going on?" Miranda sleepily slurred.

"We are watching the battle in the Everfree Forest." The dark Alicorn answered without removing herself from the telescope.

Miranda blinked. "Why don't you just use your magic and get a better look?"

This time Luna looked up, but still watched the Forest. "I... I'm not sure I wish to watch the battle closely, I am fine like this."

Miranda frowned. "Can you at least use the spell on me? I'd like to see what happens."

"That's not how it works."

Her frown deepened. "Then, tell me how they're doing?"

The Princess hesitated for a moment before accepting her request. "It's hard to tell who the victor will be at this point seeing as how they're numbers are so different. For the time I can say that the Champions have lost very few, maybe fifty."

The red Mare should have been happy at the news, that was hardly a percent of them. But, it was fifty of her friends, fifty of her family members, fifty of the people she was supposed to take care of. She gathered her composure. No. She thought. There will be casualties, and I'm sure he'll do all he can to make sure there's as few as possible. That's it, all Miranda had to do was focus on him and him leading the Champions to victory. That's what he does, there's no way he'll let them loose this battle.

Luna, unaware of Miranda's emotional toll continued. "As for the enemies, I suspect they've suffered around three thousand and a half casualties."

Miranda perked up at that news. "Are- are you sure? That many in such a short amount of time?"

Luna almost smiled. "You'd be surprised as to what a Pony - or Human I suppose - will do with enough rage."

Miranda caught that she was speaking from experience and dropped the conversation.

"Hey! Something's going on in the Forest!" Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted.

Miranda flew up the stone railing and squinted her eyes. Indeed there was something in the Forest. The trees were being pushed out of the way by some unseen force, and it was headed directly for the battlefield.

A monstrous roar echoed across the battlefield, causing everyone to stop dead in their tracks. Myself and Dagger included, sparring Bulls-eye and Shadow lives. Every fighting stood there in wait, all wondering what was currently stomping through the trees. What ever monster it was came closer with every thunderous stomp. It was close enough so that we could all see it was moving the trees around. Finally it crashed through the treeline, all I could see was a large silhouette of some horrible beast. Lightning flashed just behind it and I lost me breath.

It must have stood at least fifty feet tall, just above the treetops. It looked like a distorted Dragon in my opinion, it had a brown body with one blue wing and the other purple. Yellow arms, if that's what they're called, and a horn of a... Deer? Antelope? Whatever, another of... It was blue and swirly, no animal that I know of. The worst part was that I recognized it's eyes, sickly yellow with two red orbs floating around in them.

Discord was here.

On the battlefield.

And he was.

Mother.

Fucking.

Dragon.

Fuck you too world.

Discord looked the battle over as thunder crashed in the sky, all the fighters stood there bruised and cut standing above bloodied corpses of their recently slain enemies. He chuckled to himself at the scene, all this beautiful chaos here for the taking. It made him feel so powerful. Yet, he wanted more, and what better way to create more chaos than join the fight himself?

He had told Celestia that he would help the Human's with their problem in Equestria, what he didn't mention was which Human's he would be helping.

I waited for Discord to make a move, hopping that he would either choose to help us or at least not take sides and go for the Nomads and Hunters as well. Discord raised his claw and stepped forward, he brought in down towards a group of Champions. They only just jumped out of it's path in time. That settled it, if he attacked any Champion then he was my enemy. Only, I had no idea how I supposed to fight a giant god of chaos, I would have to think fast if we were going to survive this.

The Nomads and Hunters realized it as soon as I did and jumped on the rest of us, much braver now that they had a Discorded Dragon on their side.

Celestia trotted happily to the balcony, proud that she had just helped defend her land. Or so she thought...

"Celestia!" Luna exclaimed.

At the sound of her sister's cry Celestia broke into a gallop. "Yes Luna! What is it?" She slid to a halt onto the balcony and saw Luna's horrified expression. "Why, what's happened?"

"Discord is loose and he's attacking the Human and his Clan!" Luna shouted.

Celestia stared before she elicited a light chuckle. "Oh no sister. You see, I just convinced Discord to fight with the Champions not against them."

"You what?!" Luna shouted.

Celestia's ears fell back. "I... I was only trying to help save Equestria, I wanted everypony to think that we can handle ourselves."

Luna sighed. "I- couldn't you- Why- Just..." She took a deep breath. "The damage is done and now all we can do is hope that they can find a way to defeat him."

"What about the Elements of harmony!?" Twilight cried.

Luna shook her head. "No, it would be too risky to face Discord when he's this powerful. We have to hope that something will happen in the Human's favor."

Rainbow Dash looked at the forest and her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "Um... Princesses? Twilight? You're going to want to see this."

The Champion furthest behind was stomped into the ground, Charlette only just heard his dying scream before his head was crushed under the powerful force. When she was told what she was supposed to do she was warned that it would be dangerous, but this, this was something none of them had expected. More importantly, the Nomads and Hunters wouldn't expect it either.

Discord rampaged in the center of the battlefield, while he was aiming for the Champions he would mistakenly kill or cripple a Nomad or Hunter, but I didn't mind. I lost Shadow so I focused on the rest of the enemies in the meantime to occupy me. I pulled my sword out of the back of a Hunter's head and spun around to block a scythe from entering my skull. The Nomad tried to push a little forward and end me, but I had other plans, I stepped to the left of him and pulled my blade away. When he fell forward I plunged my sword into his heart from behind.

Charlette had to get here soon, she was our only chance against Discord and she could turn the fight around easily. We had been fighting long enough for them to get their barrings and make a line, it was a shaky line, but they had it and they were fighting back.

I saw a Champion get knocked down and the Hunter above him raised his axe, I ran up behind him and jumped onto his back. When he hit the ground a loud snap sounded and he let out a pained yelp. I put him out of his misery with a well placed cut into his heart. The Champion nodded to me in thanks and ran off to go give a Nomad a very dangerous surprise.

Charlette ducked her head as the last Champion with her was launched above her head and through a tree, but she couldn't stop to help him. She had to keep going, for herself and every other Champion fighting.

she heard the sounds of fighting and poured on all of her speed, she had to get to them and warn them.

I heard distant stomping and knew exactly what it was. I ran off to the edge of the clearing a ran into Charlette, literally.

She gave herself a shake and and looked at me. "Oh thank goodness it's you, listen. It's right behind me, it got all the others and it's extra angry."

I grinned my toothy grin. "Perfect, now go warn the others, I want them to get to a safe distance before it gets here."

She quickly nodded and ran off, I heard a distant roar and got to my feet. Charlette had pulled through and brought something much worse than Discord to the fight, now we just had to get out of it's way.

I ran around our side of the field, shouting to Champions that it was here and cutting down the occasional enemy. By the time I was done I could hear the stomping clearly and we had formed a line on the side of the clearing, now we just had to wait.

A thunderous roar was heard from the Forest and everyone, even Discord, stopped to wait for it. Seconds turned into hours as the growling and crashing drew closer, until finally, finally, we had the upper hand. The treeline was swiped away and the enormous beast could be seen by all.

Rainbow Dash looked up from the telescope in shock. "Um, Twilight?" The Unicorn looked up. "Is that what I think it is?"

Twilight, confused, walked up to the telescope. She fell silent when she laid her eyes upon the beast, after taking several deep breaths. "That... That's an Ursa Major... They brought an Ursa Major into the fight..."

Epilogue: Memories

Just because the nameless Guardian of the Champions was gone, did not mean he would be forgotten.

The rest of the Champions soon figured out that their hero was taken from them in that mushroom cloud, they did not stay in the wonderful new land of light. They did not want to, they wanted to go home. They entered the magical box that brought them there and it took them home.

From there they rebuilt their Clan from the ashes of the Kingdom, making it bigger, stronger, and brighter. But they never forgot the one that made this all possible.

With him gone they quickly chose a new leader; Dagger of course. Who better? Unfortunately he still had many problems speaking, so Susan spoke for him. They quickly fell madly in love and understood one another with no need for words.

But they all felt honor bound to send him on his farewell. But what were they to do? His body was surely destroyed in the massive blast.

So they decided to all write letters, why you might ask? Because that's how they felt they could say thank you. Every man, woman, and child felt as though they should write a brief letter expressing their thanks.

Dagger led the walk, holding his note and his head bowed. No one watched from their houses, everyone joined in this time. When they reached the monument they all took their time placing their notes gently on the top. They allowed Dagger to place his on top, he wasn't very good with words so he only a few simple words upon his small piece of paper:

You've saved us all, even if you don't know it. We can only honor your one request and remember you as long as we live.

Thank you.

With all the letters safely atop the monument the timber was lit and the letters were quickly turned to ashes. As the tiny notes burned they all stood there, each holding onto their favorite memory of him.

They all wanted to say something for him, but couldn't find the right words. Instead Cuddles expressed everyone's feelings in the only way he could. He slowly lumbered to the monument, stared at it for a moment. Then bowed his head, sending his own personal thanks to him.

But they could not remember their Guardian so easily all by themselves. They decided that they could do better than leave a simple plaque for him. Instead they built him a statue on one side of the monument, on the other side they respected his love and put a statue of Miranda.

The two angels, forever standing above them. Reminding them what is right and what is wrong.

Miranda had her arms open and a beautiful smile, forever welcoming an caring for them. At her feet it read:

Our caretaker angel and first leader of the Champions, first to fall.

You lead us well, and for that we will not forget you. You cared for us all, like the mother we never had. We will never forget you.

But now you may rest in peace, now the Champions lay their caretaker angel to rest.

Nameless had his armed crossed, guarding them. But they decided to give him his signature grin. At his feet it read:

Our guardian angel, second to fall.

But you fell for all of us. You gave your one life so that the Champions could have many more, for that we will never forget you. You always stood before us, guarding us from any harm that may happen.

And you succeeded.

But now you may rest, we can guard ourselves. Be with your love now.

As for the tribe of the Equestrians, they slowly fell apart without their brilliant leaders. No one could match up to them. Little by little everyone left for this new place that they heard of... It was called the kingdom.

Starburst signed the book with his name and a small four pointed star, just like the one that was his cutie mark. His coat and wings were a shining silver, his mane a deep blue, his eyes were equally blue. He put it his book back on the table, he would bring it back to Twilight tomorrow. But tonight he had a very important date.

Just like he had told that Hunter-Brony he made a book on saving Equestria, although he was still working on a title. Maybe 'Saving Their Souls'? It had potential...

He shook his head and focused on the task at hand... Hoof, he was still getting used to being a Pony. Trotting up to the flower stand he caught the Mare just before she was about to close up.

"Hello, do you have a certain flower here?" He asked.

"Depends, what flower is it?" She asked.

He had done some light reading on flowers earlier at the library and knew the perfect one. Turns out she did have one in stock, she gave it to him and he paid her the bits. Without another word he flew to where he was supposed to meet Maple.

He found the lone cloud floating high above Ponyville and landed on it, next to a familiar crimson Mare.

"Hey." The Mare said. "What that's you got?"

He smiled. "A Lotus flower, I got it specifically for you."

She smiled happily. "Really? What's the occasion?"

He shook his head. "No occasion, I just thought you deserved better than a little old dandelion. Besides, it reminds me of you."

She cocked her head. "Why's that?"

"Well, a Lotus is a beautiful flower. But it only grows in harsh conditions. It reminds me of you because you grew up under my evil father, yet you're unbelievably beautiful."

She blushed. "Thank you." She took the flower from him and set it behind her ear. "There, hows that."

He smiled. Even if they were both Ponies now, they still saw each other as they did when they were Human. He could still see her beauty as clearly as he did two years ago. "Absolutely amazing."

She smiled contently and patted the cloud next her. He understood and sat down next to her, she scooted closer to him until they were touching. Then she laid her head against his shoulder.

He smiled and looked up at the stars that had just appeared. "You know what my first thought was when I saw the night sky for the first time?"

The Mare numbly nodded with her eyes closed.

The Stallion smiled to himself. "I thought that it was the second most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

She removed her head and gazed into his eyes. "Really? Then what's the first?"

He smiled and gave her a light kiss. "I'll give you one guess."

She returned both the smile and the kiss. "You're such a charmer." She joked.

He let out a light chuckle and she laid her head back against him. "I love you Maple." He said.

"Say my real name, the one you gave me." She asked.

He chuckled again. "I love Miranda."

She smiled to herself. "I love you too Ben."

1: Darkness

"Well, well, look at what we have here..."

I turned around to face whoever had just spoken, and let me tell you I was not happy. I was greeted by seven cannibals, I could tell they were cannibals from the shredded clothes, bite marks on most of their upper bodies and their sharpened teeth. Instinctively i reached for my guns, but my hands were met with air. Vinnie must have swiped them again, I would remember that next time I saw him.

I raised my arms up in mock surrender. "Well fellas, what you have here is a fine piece of grade A bacon." I said in a mocking tone. I loved making fun of the fact they ate other people, it really pissed them off too.

"Oh really? Then I suppose you mind if we take you home and cook you up will you?" The middle one growled

I waved a hand over me "as you can see i am no ordinary meal. I am a delectable piece from the Equestrian tribe, and deserve to be treated as such." Fear flashed in their eyes, they knew who I was now. Not exactly, but my tribe was by far the strongest in the darkness. So we are well feared by gangs and crazies, ironically we based our lifestyle off of cute, harmless ponies from a kids show.

The cannibals quickly regained their composure. "Yeah well, food is food to us so we'll be taking you anyways."

The one on the far left joined in "Yeah! I've seen better lying dead on the streets, and that was a cow!" The rest erupted in laughter.

I grinned "I'll have you know my good sir, that where I come from I'm not just good looking" I struck a pose. "I'm down right sexy!" I couldn't help but smile now It was just a joke, I was told I was good looking once by my mom so she must be right. For the mental picture I have light brown hair, dark brown eyes, and at the time I'm wearing jeans, black tennis shoes and gray t-shirt. Nothing out of the ordinary really, except for my surgical mask I'm wearing but better safe then sorry out here.

"Enough of this!" The middle one shouted. From his dominant voice it was a safe bet that he was the leader. "I'm getting hungry..."

"Awwwww.." I whined. "Does somebody need a snacky-wacky before bedy-bye?" I said adopting a baby voice. "Well come here and I'll give you something to chew on."

Clearly, he was pissed, he stomped over to me grinding his teeth. "Oh you're gonna get it now little man..." he growled.

I leaned in close. "You first." I whispered. Before he could even respond with a breath I brought my hands up to his head, then grabbed him and twisted. I was rewarded with a loud snap as I, well, snapped his neck. His lifeless form fell to my feet and I looked up to see his companions shocked from then sudden attack from their unarmed meal. "Aww" I said in mock sadness "He's all tuckered out" The cannibal closest to me was the first to respond by lunging at me. Something I had anticipated, maybe eating people makes you predictable, but I'd care about that later.

I grabbed the lunging cannibal by the neck and threw him down using his own momentum against him. Before he could roll over i gave him a hard kick to the throat, I was unsure of what that would do but he stopped moving nonetheless. The other five were now recovered and ready to fight. I could tell because now they were all holding bats and pipes. I laughed at the pitiful display "now it's a fight then!" I announced. They took this as an invitation to rush me, which they gladly accepted. The first one to get within range of me swung his bat at me, I responded by ducking under it followed by punching him in the stomach. He doubled over as another of his friends brought his pipe across down where my head was just microseconds before. I stepped back to make sure I knew where they all were, I had felt a breeze from the bat and that was all I wanted to feel.

Unfortunately the cannibals refused to give me my alone time and attacked me again. This time I kicked his knee in. He rolled on the ground in pain with his new leg rearrangement. I failed to see an oncoming bat as it connected with my stomach. I bent over, clutching my stomach. This gave the final cannibal an opening to grab my hair and throw me to the ground. I hit the ground with a thud and saw the same cannibal poised to smash my skull in. What i was curious about was why he didn't bring his bat down. It was hard to see his eyes so i couldn't tell what he was thinking exactly, it seemed to be confusion with eagerness.

He tilted his head like he was listening to something. I decided to pay attention as well. There was always noise in the darkness, mostly gunfire and screaming really, but something stood out. It was a high pitched noise that was steadily growing higher, louder, and closer. I was still looking in his eyes when I recognized the sound, this idiot on top of me recognized it a second later, but by then i had brought my fist up and hooked him in the jaw. The sound was screaming. I already said it was a common sound but this was close and it was familiar. The sound of a Bio.

The other cannibal was long gone, smart guy. I should be gone too but these guys were way to close to home to ignore. The screaming grew closer every second. It wasn't a distinct scream, it wasn't in fear, rage, pain, or sadness. It was simply undefined and senseless screaming . I picked up one of the bats dropped by the cannibals, I had gone up against some Bios unarmed before but that was only a couple, I could easily hear a good ten or fifteen at this distance.

I started to back up slowly, never taking my eyes away from the source of the screaming. Towards the direction of my tribe, that way I could get these guys in the snipers range if things got too dangerous. It was dark, it always was nowadays, but i could see about fifteen feet in front of me before everything blended into black.

Then the screaming stopped. I tightened my grip on the bat, I knew what happened next. I chanced a glance behind, I was going the right way, the edge of the lights were about another thirty yards. I wasn't too sure about the range of the snipers. I knew we had them modified so they could see into the darkness but not how far, or if they were even looking this way. Then I began to hear shuffling in the dark, just outside where I could see, I couldn't tell what it was but it was moving and fast. But I didn't have to guess.

The screaming started again suddenly and right next to me, then in front of me, then behind me. They had surrounded me. This was a rare occasion for me, Bios were never in packs large enough to completely surround someone but I didn't wait to see what would happen next. I lunged directly behind me trying to break through this circle of Bios. No doubt the guards had heard the screaming from here, and they knew I was out here, all I had to do was get them in range of their guns.

As I lunged I got close enough to finally get a look at my one of my attackers. It was a girl, probably a young one. She looked like any other crazie you'd see out here but what gave away her being a Bio, besides screaming everytime she saw something living, was her eyes. The thing was, she didn't have any, they were as black as the darkness we were fighting in and unreadable.

She lunged at me and I brought the bat across her head, knocking her over and I made a mad dash for the lights. If I could just see what I was up against I could fight them. Bios are fast too, once someone breaths in that war-gas they're a goner. What it does is it somehow triggers one of the humans most basic responses. The fight or flight response and it sticks you in the fight response. Always. It also infects your lungs so you breath out the war-gas, the same reason I happen to be wearing a surgical mask right now. As for the eyes, that's just a helpful side-affect. They can still see fine, better even. The screaming on the other hand, I'm not sure. Some people think that the Bios can still think and feel, just not control their actions, so they scream to warn others. Personally, I think whoever made the gas had made Bios scream just because he was a dick.

Due to being in the fight response they believe that if they don't kill every living thing they see they will die. So the fight to kill, and with every fiber of their being too. Nothing can stop them, there is no cure. Except decapitation but that's a little joke I use sometimes. I now have about twenty of these same chemical mistakes chasing me now.

I ran as fast as I could. I wasn't sure how far the Bios are were behind me, but I wasn't too eager to find out. I should be in the snipers range by now, so why weren't they firing? I practically jumped into the light and wheeled around to face the Bios. I was right, there was about fifteen of them, but they weren't slowing down. I held out my right arm and clothes-lined one of them. Then swung my bat down and smashed his face in, in the same motion I brought it back up and into the stomach of another guy that was in my personal space. Then I was tackled to the ground by a girl and landed on the ground with a another thud. I let go of the bat and punched her in the side of her neck.

That shouldn't have killed her but sure enough I broke her neck and rolled her off of me. I must have slipped when she pushed me to the ground, that would explain my sudden strength. Another Bio ran at me and I punched him in the head, knocking him of his feet. I ran a little closer to the lights and tried to get them where I could see all of them. There was no excuse for the snipers at this range, Vinnie must be holding them back to see how I fight. Well then, I'll show them I'm still a force to be reckoned with.

The screaming had died down for some reason and only about twelve or so Bios were left. For some reason they didn't work together if they had been injured so they would kill other Bios, but it's still a mystery as to why they work in groups in the first place. I picked up my bat and got ready to crack the next Bio's skull with extreme prejudice. The first one to lunge at me got exactly that and fell over in heap. Another trio of them ran forward while the rest slowly stalked closer.

I smacked the middle Bio in the face, and in the same fluid motion I spun around and hit the right one in the back of the head. Next I jabbed the end of the bat into the left one's stomach. Then brought it down on his head while he was bent over in a reflex, because they didn't feel pain anymore. I didn't have any time to prepare for the five that rushed me, I ducked under their arms and dislocated one of their knees with a swing from my bat. While he fell to the ground I decided to uppercut the Bio that had moved in front of me, then stomp his head in on his way down. I then grabbed the neck of the Bio on my right and threw him into the one on my left. While wrapping my arm around another Bio's neck and giving it a twist, rewarding me with a loud snap.

That left four more standing, they weren't all dead, most of them were just to injured to keep fighting. I'd kill them later. Panting from my previous attacks I looked at them, trying to predict their next move. I didn't have much time to think, they all decided to launch themselves at me all at once. I could only respond by backing up and narrowly avoiding their grabs. Just before I could counter attack four loud bangs erupted from behind me, one after the other. The standing Bios fell over with each corresponding bang, leaving a neat bullet hole in each of their heads.

Only one person had that skill, Brian.

I walked further into the light until I saw the giant wall that protected our tribe from the rest of the darkness. "Well!?" A voice shouted, I recognized it as Vinnie's

"Well what!?" I shouted back.

"How'd it go!?" Even at this distance I could tell he was smiling uncontrollably.

"What? You mean you didn't watch the entire thing? I put on that entire show because of you!" I had reached the little entrance in wall now and gave a nod to the guards to open it.

"Hey! You where far away, I couldn't see the whole thing! But thanks for bringing the show to us!" I'm beginning to hate him a little more with each word, I couldn't wait to get up there and break his nose.

The gate had opened and before I went inside I took off my mask and spared a glance at the picture of the alicorn sisters and words that were painted above the tunnel.

OUR CORNER OF EQUESTRIA.

I found Brian on the roof of the guards building, he was wearing clothes mostly similar to me, with the exception of a red t-shirt instead and he had woolen finger-less gloves.

"Hey, how you doing?" I asked.

He turned his head lazily around until he could see me out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, what's up?" He said lazily

"What's up with you?" I asked concerned for my friend."You just hit four Bios between the eyes in ten seconds flat."

He gave a small laugh at the reference. "Yeah, sorry about hogging all the fun, a guard bet that I couldn't hit one of them at that range. Now he owes me a cake." He smiled. "and when I saw you surrounded... I just didn't want you surrounded again." his smile fadded.

I cringed as I figured out what he was referencing. "I was handling them." I said quickly.

"Yeah, it looked like you were handling them before too." he said flatly.

***

"Ha! We have you surrounded now."

"Is that supposed to make a difference?"

"We-"

"Raagh!"

***

I cringed at the memory. "Just don't think about it" I told him.

Brian wasn't so easily convinced. "How? The Bloodbath was something that changed all of lives forever." he paused, going into a deep thought. "I miss my old life." He admitted.

"You think I like this one over my old one too?" I was steadily growing more and more angry. "I think about what could have happened if the Bloodbath had turned out differently every time I breathe." I was slipping again, I could feel it. Judging by Brian's expression he could feel it too.

Fun fact: if you go through what me and my two friends have been through you can develop some 'abilities'. They're not super powers or anything, just an increased understanding of the human's psych. Since Brian and Vinnie were together during the Bloodbath they can both sense pain. Any kind of pain from anyone, and they can pinpoint it exactly. Me on the other hand, I can tell what someone's thought's are. No, it's not mind reading. Your eyes give away your emotions by how they look, and I can tell what you're thinking by looking at your eyes, it's pretty handy actually.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down. "It's a lot easier when you just do your best to not think about it." I sighed, "Just, take care of your people."

"Don't you mean our people? You protect them too."

"They don't need me they can take care of themselves." I responded without a second thought.

"You're the leader of the guards though, what will they do if you're not there all of the sudden?"

"Ask you or Vinnie for help?" I offered. "Just because the head guard is gone doesn't mean that they can't depend on the head farmer." I gestured to him "or head medic."

"I'm not a farmer" Brian said defensively.

"Farmer is a lot easier to say than 'food and materials coordinator', and guards are useless without materials to defend with."

"Security is still important." He offered.

"Not as important as food and health." I countered.

"I need Vinnie to help me with this." Brian said with a defeated groan as he returned to his happier self. Then began to walk towards the stairs. I grinned and followed suit.

We found Vinnie in the cafeteria of the guards building, where else? He was wearing a dark green t-shirt with a black jacket the same color as his hair. I thought it was a good idea to grab a sandwich before I sat down across from him and Brian sat to his right. "Hey" Vinnie said happily greeting us. "So did you take care of that new cannibal group? I heard they were actually pretty tough."

"Yeah, they weren't too much of a problem without guns." I shot Vinnie a look, he just smiled. "But you probably know that they weren't the only ones out there."

Vinnie laughed "Heh, yeah. They're in your room so don't worry. We heard the commotion all the way to the medical building and wondered what was going on. So there we are watching you go bat to face with five Bios at a time then I ask Brian if could still hit one of them."

"You know how that turned out" Brian said gesturing to me.

Vinnie laughed, "Yeah, now someone owes me a cake."

"Why does someone owe you a cake?" I asked.

He shrugged. "We might have bet on whether or not Brian could actually make the shot. To bad he didn't know that Brain always hits what he's aiming at."

Brian just waved a hand dismissively at the comment. "yeah well, you know..."

"Okay" Vinnie stated clapping his hands together, distracting Brian from the memories. "Now, the big question that everyone wants to ask you but is too scared to ask." Was it just me or was the entire cafeteria dead silent and leaning towards us?

"What question?" I asked hesitantly. Something told me they weren't going to like my answer if it was this important. Despite everything, I was always left with the hard decisions. Apparently I was best with them.

"What are we going to do?" Vinnie asked seriously.

"Could you elaborate on that?" I asked.

"What is our plan? What is our future? We have a good thing going on here at the corner, so now that it's finished, what are we going to do with it?"

"Do we have to move on? What's stopping us from staying here until something happens and preparing for it?"

"Things change, they always do, if we don't change too then we'll be left behind." He fixed me with a glare, demanding an answer.

I thought about that for a second. "I honestly haven't thought about it before, I didn't think I would live to see the corner in it's prime." That was a lie, but the truth wouldn't matter to them. "But now that you mention it." Pause for dramatic affect... "Why don't we take over the remains of America?"

There was a mixed reaction, most of everyone that had heard me was shocked to silence or had gasped, a few had even burst out laughing.

"WHAT!?!" Vinnie and Brian shouted in unison.

"Like how much of it?" Brian asked cautiously.

"All of it." I said causally

"Look friend, I know that you always aim high, but right now, you need to aim at something you can hit." Brian suggested.

"I know, and I'm dead serious. We can do it."

"Just because we're the strongest in the dark doesn't mean we can do what ever we want, we have to be realistic about this. We're only the strongest that we know of too, there are others in other regions that we don't even know of, and other dangers too. You know the America's capitol? Washington D.C.?" Vinnie asked. I nodded. "It got hit by something called a nuclear missile, a lot of them actually. Now that whole region is contaminated with stuff called radiation and anything that survived is horribly mutated and worse than any number of Bios."

"And to the far west, the coastal region. I hear that there's still a functioning military that's still trying to take over and kills everyone on sight." Brian added

"Look guys, I'm not saying we run into unknown territory, I'm saying we expand. Little by little and slowly take back the world." I explained. "We don't even have to start soon, we can stock up more. But my plan is we strengthen our defenses, then when we're dead sure it's safe we start building a little bit further out and when that new point is heavily defended we repeat that process even further out. If we meet another tribe or group we can try to make peace with them so they join our cause, and if they refuse we wipe them out. Then we continue this until we have control all of whats left of America." I leaned back in my chair satisfied with my plan. "Well what do you all think?" I asked a bit louder, addressing the entire cafeteria.

There was silence at first but then a cook spoke up in that back. "I think that's the best Celestia-damned plan I've ever heard." He was answered by an applause that steadily grew into a roaring followed by shouts that said "Yeah let's take back our world!" or "We can restore peace!" and "Hey! you owe me a cake!"

I grinned sheepishly at the attention. I never really felt a connection to these people before, they always just seemed like loyal followers to me. They still did, but now I was starting to gain some respect for them.

Brain and Vinnie had managed to calm them all down after a while and turned to address them once again. "Well then, now that we have a plan." Brian grinned as he spoke. "I suggest you let everyone else know and start preparing for our first move."

"And double the guard." I added

Brian turned to me with a face full of confusion. "Why?"

"What makes you think that there isn't some gang out there planning to invade and is waiting for a slip up. The begging of a plan is always confusing to some degree, it'll be just what their waiting for, now be safe and put some more guards up." I finished seriously.

Brian didn't question it and ran off to help start the plan. That left me and Vinnie alone. Shit.

He walked up to me and said the very thing I didn't want to hear. "You were speaking from experience, weren't you?"

"Shut up." I said as cooly as I could manage. He was going to talk about the Bloodbath and that never turned out well. "You know I hate talking about what happened."

"Okay, okay. But one question, what was your plan? During the Bloodbath I mean."

"You knowing that won't help anyone so there's no reason for me to tell you."

"But will it hurt anyone?"

"It will make me remember it even more, why can't we ever just leave it at that? And how are you and Brian so cool about the Bloodbath?"

Vinnie just shrugged. "Dunno, we weren't hit as hard I guess and we talked about it together. We invited you, why don't you want to talk about it?"

"To many painful memories." I got up to go to my room to get some much needed sleep. "That fucking Bloodbath..." I muttered as I walked away.

"Quit being so cryptic." Vinnie shouted before I was out of earshot.

I walked into my room on the top floor of the guards tower. It had a basic setup. Large window, bed in the corner, wardrobe with my few clothes in it next to my desk stacked with various projects and drawings all over it and a full bookshelf on the opposite wall. Walked over to my bed and found my two custom made deep blue pistols, each with a linear silver design, laying on my bed. I picked them up and looked them over. The one in my left hand had the word love etched into either side of it. It's twin had a similar design on it except it had tolerance on it. I laughed at that, with these guns I would 'love and tolerate' the shit out of my enemies.

I checked their ammo quickly and found that they were both full, satisfied I set them on my desk and kicked off my shoes and tore off my mask then I jumped onto my bed. One problem with sleep though, you dream when you sleep. Not a problem for most people, but most dreams are made up from memories.

And I hate remembering.

***

"Ah!"

"Now stay down you dumb bastard!"

"Just...uh...kill me... already."

"Now why would we do that?"

"what?...But every.... everyone is dead."

"Not everybody, we found two more trying to make a run for it."

"No..."

"Oh? Are they important to you?"

"Wha- no. I don't... know them."

"Bring them in!"

"Let go of me you asshole!"

SMACK

"Shut up bitch."

"Good now tie them to these poles."

"Hey let go of me!"

"Yeah you big meany!"

"Please... you don't... don't do this."

"I'd like to see you stop me."

"But... she didn't... do anything...and....he's....ugh...just a kid."

"Then it sucks to be them."

"All tied up!"

"Good now poor some gasoline all over them."

"Really man? We already burned way too many, it's getting boring. Can we skin 'em?"

"No, no. I have something even better planed this time."

"Please...I beg you... don't"

"Shut the fuck up."

"Okay now what?"

"Give me your gun. Thanks. Now I'm going to give you a choice this time. I will count to ten then I will light these two up like candles, or you can take this gun and kill them yourself."

"No...I can't..."

"Then you get to watch them burn alive like the rest."

"Fuck...you."

"Glad we're on the same page. Now, here's the gun. Have fun."

***

My eyes shot open and I quickly sat up in my bed. I rubbed the sleep away from my eyes and got out of bed. "That fucking Bloodbath." I drawled. I had no way of knowing how long I slept, almost nobody kept track of time any more. There was no way you could, because there was no sun or moon anymore. No clouds and no stars, it can still rain and storm sure, but you can't see them. Technically there still is a sun and moon, you just can't see them because the sky is pure black. No one knows when it happened exactly, but it was defiantly during the 'last war'. No one knew why or when it happened but there was a world wide war for some reason and some jackass thought it was a good idea to erase the sky.

Because of the sudden darkness people panicked, governments were overthrown and the civilians fought for themselves, not their country. Or at least that's what my mother told me, I asked her how long it's been dark and she could only say it was before my great-grandma was born.

I put my shoes back on, there was no way I was risking sleep again after that memory. I put my guns in their holsters at my side and walked out of my room to find something to do. Funny thing about being the top guard, it is insanely boring. It kept me plenty busy when we first started the corner, when it was just a small town with a pile of rubble and sandbags around it and there were only ten or so guards that were constantly running around defending the place. Now it was a near city with a massive wall surrounding it and one hundred guards that all have a purpose.

We're hardly ever attacked now due to everyone knowing how strong we are so they keep out of our line of sight nowadays, so I was often bored and reduced to bugging Vinnie and Brian with their jobs. Which is exactly what I planned to do.

I walked out my door with mischief on my mind when a guard ran up to me, he was panting and spoke urgently. "There you are. Brian and Vinnie need you at the gate."

"OK, tell them I'll be there in a bit." I responded absentmindedly.

"No, they mean now." he said firmly

"Fine" I groaned and began to jog towards the gate.

I ran up to an unusual scene. There was Brian and Vinnie surrounded by five or so guards wearing full black armor and armed with assault rifles -Custom made from the Corner of Equestria thank you- standing in front of a group of eight travelers all wearing grimy rags for clothes with all small horse like creature. I think it's called a donkey, with supplies on it's back. My friends were also wearing the standard armor, with the exception of the gas mask being replaced with a surgical mask, and armed with custom made guns of their own. Brain was holding a dark red and black striped assault rifle with a short ranged scope on it, similar to the Equestrian standard -because it was based off of his rifle- but built with more power and a longer barrel. He didn't have a clever phrase etched into it. Vinnie had a good old custom pump action shot gun in his hands, colored white with an orange burst pattern starting from the handle.

"There you are." Brian announced "Where have you been? We've been waiting for a while now."

"Nice to see you too." I responded casually as I walked up to the group. "So what's up?"

"That's just the thing, we have no idea who these people are and why there here." Vinnie explained

"So what, are they on a spiritual quest or something?" I asked. We've gotten that before and we normally just shooed them off if they were too annoying.

"I wish, just talk to them and figure out what's going on, neither of us can understand these guys."

"Alright whatever." The thing about my whole 'eye reading ability', if you can call it that, is that I'm always called for the interrogations. I walked over to the mysterious visitor closest to me. "So, the usual question I start off with is why are you here?"

"Ah, the eternal question." He began in a gruff and surprisingly serious tone, given the subject. "Why are we here? What is our purpose? Is there some eternal task that has been long forgotten? Or are we just some toy for an all powerful creature?"

Oh great, a bunch of hippies. "Not what I meant." I said flatly and began to look into his eyes. "Why did you, yourself, journey to where you are currently standing?"

"Why, we seek a place."

"What kind of place?"

"A place such as this."

"Why is this place so significant?" I was really not in the mood for twenty questions right now.

"You are the leader are you not?"

"Don't change the subject." I was begging to understand Brian and Vinnie's problem with these guys. Their eyes didn't help either, they just told my what his mouth was saying but sooner.

"You answer my question and I shall answer yours." He said seriously.

I sighed "Yes I am one of this tribes three leaders."

"And, are the other two the ones behind you?" He gestured to Vinnie and Brian.

"Yes."

"What is your name?"

That's it. I pulled out tolerance and pointed it between his eyes. "Quit stalling. Now, every time you give me an answer I don't like. I'll pull the trigger." His eyes finally betrayed him.

"Shit." It wasn't a lot but it gave me something.

"Okay, okay, calm down. I'll tell you what you want to know, just put the gun down." He wasn't scared exactly, like he was prepared for a gun aimed at him, he was more rushed. Which was a bad sign.

So I kept good on my promise. "Wrong answer." I lowered Tolerance to his side, nowhere near anything vital and fired.

"Gah! Fuck!" He yelled as he cringed in pain. "They're hostile! Fire!"

Well that sounded bad.

The uninjured seven behind him pulled out guns from under their rags and took aim. I responded by taking out Love and firing it and it's twin at the new enemies. I backed up as they dove for cover and returned fire. I turned around to jump for cover myself and was hit in my left calf by a lucky bullet. I didn't even flinch, I've been hit by more than a bullet before. The guards and Brian were already behind cover and Vinnie had mysteriously vanished.

Missing Vinnie wasn't the problem right now, lethal bullets were. I limped behind the wall and got ready to fire back. I didn't get that chance however because a grenade exploded in the middle of the gate. I shielded my eyes from the shrapnel but it didn't do any good against the shrapnel puncturing the skin on my right arm and side. "I hate these guys." I said through gritted teeth.

Two loud booms echoed out above me, the snipers must be joining the fight. I looked to my right and saw three guards groaning in pain and two dead. Brian was no where to be found. Where was everyone disappearing too? A thought crossed my mind. No they wouldn't have under these conditions, we've faced worst and the jokers on the other side of the wall I was leaning on were as good as dead at this point.

With that final thought I jumped out of my cover and brought up my guns intent on murder. There was four standing now, two went down as a simultaneously shot Love and Tolerance. I readjusted and fired at the third, hitting him in the chest and throat, the fourth managed to hit me in the left shoulder before I buried two more bullets in him. I made sure they weren't getting up before I holstered my twin pistols and gave the all clear and the surviving guards were rushed to the medical house while I was bandaged by another doctor. He didn't have his medical equipment at the moment so all he could do was give me some band aids.

"Thanks." I said to the doctor who nodded and walked back to the medical to help with the wounded. I heard a groan behind me and turned to see one of the attackers was still moving. I should fix that, but I needed information. I walked over and rolled him onto his back with my foot. "Your in a lot of trouble." I told him slowly.

He coughed up some blood before speaking roughly. "No, no don't... we were forced to follow him and obey him."

"Obey who?" I asked

"That guy you shot."

I grinned, good to know I'm always making good decisions. "How were you forced to follow him?"

"He said to listen to him or he would shoot us."

I wasn't liking this. "Why was he here?"

"Dunno he just walked up to us and took over."

"So what, were you a gang?"

"Yeah, but his buddies killed most of us then took over."

Uh oh. "What buddies?" I asked quickly. I really didn't want another fight right now.

"They're over-" he was cut off by a distant boom and bullet hole appearing in the back of his head.

"Mother fu-" I began as I turned to run but I was cut off with a bullet hole of my own burying itself in my chest.

11: Champion!

The large beast let out a mighty roar and stomped into the battlefield, it instantly began thrashing and tossing, eating, clawing, and crushing both Hunters and Nomads alike. We all stayed silent in the treeline, waiting for either the beast to finish everyone else off and move on or Discord to kill it.

Discord was big but not as big as the Ursa Major, maybe a third it's size, he ran up and jumped on top of the beast. He stared clawing at it's face, the Ursa shook it's head violently in an attempt to throw him off. It took some time but the Ursa eventually got Discord off it's face, while he was face down in the dirt the Ursa reached down and bit Discord. Violently shaking him. The Ursa thrashed with Discord in it's mouth, when it let go Discord went flying over the Everfree Forest. A Hunter was stupid enough to try and stab it while it wasn't looking, ending up in provoking it further to stomp out all the Hunters and Nomads.

While it thrashed in the storm I moved along the Champions, most of them were in decent shape, others not so lucky. There was a few with large cuts and gashes across their faces and chests that were being treated with the little medicine we have. I found Charlette, Dagger, and Susan under a lager tree, Susan was either asleep or unconscious the other two were treating her and trying to communicate with one another.

I walked up to the trio and keeled down next to Dagger. "How's she doing?" I asked.

Charlette answered. "Well, she's lost a lot of blood and she's asleep right now. But as long as she doesn't move around too much I think she'll be fine."

I looked across the crowd of Champions, we had lost very few, but those that were still with us were defiantly beat up. They were making good use of the break the Ursa Major had just granted us.

"Okay, here's what we'll do. Everyone that can't fight or has trouble fighting goes back to camp outside the Fores, when the Ursa leaves everyone else will come out charging and the Nomads and Hunters." I looked over the Champions once more. "Actually, I want a group of fighting Champions to escort the wounded back, just in case."

Charlette nodded and got up to spread the word, leaving me with Dagger. He was still kneeling over Susan. I decided I should say something. "Don't feel bad, you did everything right and she's going to be fine. If you want you can be one of the escorts so you can stay with her."

He shook his head and looked at me. "I want to, but you need as much power as you can get when we make our final push." He glanced at Susan. "I just wish I could tell her how I feel."

I put my hand on his shoulder. "I think she has a pretty good idea of how you feel, when this is all over I could probably teach her how to read your eyes like I do."

He smiled at the idea. "That would be amazing, thank you."

I grinned. "Don't thank me yet, we have some old enemies to deal with first.

Just then Charlette ran up to us. "Okay, only about sixty are in bad enough shape to stop fighting. How many should we spare to escort them?"

I looked out into the storm and saw that the Nomads had given up on slaying the beast and were now running around wildly. As for the Hunters, they too were mostly running but every now and again one would try something against it. One thing was for sure, the Ursa had crippled their numbers.

Looking back to Charlette I answered. "Take about thirty, we won't need much to finish this off. I want to go too, take all the animals as well, stay close and watch one another."

She hesitantly nodded and ran back into the group, after a minute the wounded started shuffling into the forest. They all looked back, silently wishing us the best of luck. I nodded at the group and they disappeared into the trees.

A shout came from the battlefield. "RETREAT! FALL BACK! WE'RE GOING WITH PLAN B!"

I looked at the Champions, they all shared a look of worry. "That's our cue! Let's go get 'em!" They cheered with me as we raced around the Ursa and chased down the ones that destroyed our home.

Luna turned towards Celestia and Miranda. "The Humans are chasing the others deeper into the forest."

"What of the Ursa Major?" Celestia asked.

"It's wandering back to it's cave."

"Discord?"

"He is laying in defeat near Ponyville, we shall send a group of Royal Guards to collect him."

Celestia sighed. "At least that's over with."

Luna focused in on the telescope. "Yes, but I suspect that the fight is still well underway."

I jumped on top of the fallen Hunter and plunged my blade into is heart. I pounced off of him and fell back into formation with the rest of my Clan. Dagger jumped off to the left and I heard a pained scream, seconds later he jumped back out with a slightly bloodier blade.

We had been picking them off while chasing them for a while now, what really had me worried was this 'plan B' they mentioned. What was the fall back plan when you failed to march an army into Equestria?

I dismissed that problem and focused on this new one, we were approaching their base.

Bulls-Eye looked at the few soldiers they had left, which wasn't many, he frowned and turned to Shadow. "What now? The Champions are on their way and plan B will take a while."

Shadow grinned evilly as he pushed a nearby button. "While you were busy being ominous and creepy I was busy looking around." A door opened, revealing rows and rows and new weaponry. "I found out that they brought some old toys with them."

Bulls-Eye smirked and grabbed the one that suited him best. "You devious bastard you."

We arrived at the base sooner than I would have thought, maybe time flies when murdering, we all stood at the edge of the treeline, watching for anything that might tell us what they had planned. When it seemed safe enough I hesitantly stepped out, everyone followed when nothing happened.

We sprinted to the small door on the side of the foundation, approaching it I stood with my back on the wall to the right and Dagger mimicking me on the right. I gave a nod to the Champion in front of it and he kicked it in. Honestly I didn't know what to expect, a few desperate Nomads to come charging out that Dagger and I would close line I suppose. Or maybe they would be hiding on the other side and jump out.

The Champion exploding was not one of the things I imagined. That;s right, as soon as that door swung open there was a light hum for only a moment and the Champion exploded into chucks that flew into the air and rained down on us.

"Get away from the door!" I yelled, everyone scattered except Dagger and myself. I poked my head around the corner and saw a wall of Nomads with a single Nomad behind them holding a strange cannon-like gun, I guessed it to be the cause of the Champion's explosion.

When he saw me he lowered the cannon and brought up an assault rifle, the rest followed suit and took aim. I ducked my head back only seconds before they opened fire.

As the bullets flew past us Dagger gave me a hard look. "I can take them out."

I realized what he meant and my eyes widened. "Are you sure you can handle it? You've never gone up against guns like this before."

I took his answer as a yes when he flicked out his blades and ran into the hallway. I poked my head back in so I could see what was happening. Dagger had used his unbreakable blades and armor to shield himself from the rain of bullets, he ran to the wall with his blades covering his eyes and throat. When he reached the Nomads he jumped into the crowd and started slashing, they stopped firing and I rushed in with the rest of the Champions.

He had already taken out most of them when I reached him, I gave him a look over and turns out the bullets had done little more than denting his armor.

I looked over the mess and nodded. "Good job, now lets go get the rest of them."

The sounds of hundreds of Champions echoed across throughout the halls and shook the foundation slightly, rows upon rows of soldiers lined up and prepared for their final defense. Many of them wished one another good luck, even more of them hid their fear, but all of them were thinking about the pure irony of the situation.

Here they were, desperately trying to fend off an old enemy that refused to give up.

But why were they here?

Because almost two years ago they became selfish and ignorant. They became drunk off of their power and wished to feel even more powerful. All that time ago they had one common goal, to get away and find sunlight. To save themselves and live lazily and happily for the rest of their lives in peace.

But no, two years ago they had detoured because they wanted to tie all loose ends. Two years ago they cornered the smaller Clan. Two years ago they overpowered them by sheer numbers. Two years ago they killed thousands of helpless people, men, women, elderly, children, even animals. Two years ago they angered the few survivors beyond comprehension. Two years ago they were scared off by a single survivor.

But now the few survivors were back. Now the survivors had cornered them. Now the survivors had managed to cripple their numbers, despite the large difference in numbers. Now they were in the building. Now they were coming for them. Now they were the ones winning. Now will be the final battle between the three Clans.

Now will be the decision of Equestria's fate.

We thundered through the halls of the enemy's base, not knowing what to expect. Now we knew that they had guns again we would have to be careful, I'm not sure how only Bulls-Eye's bullet punctured Dagger's armor. Maybe he had different bullets that could pierce armor but that wasn't what I was focusing on.

I had to focus on saving Equestria now, we had our fun and we had our revenge. Now a new fire was in my heart. All that distance away from me in Canterlot was thousands, maybe millions of people. Sure they didn't look like people anymore but they still were people. They didn't have to know about this fight, they didn't have to thank me, they didn't have to give me anything if we won.

This wasn't about revenge or saving them. This was about doing what was right, this was us taking a stand stopping the greater evil.

We rounded another corner and faced a large door at the end of the short hallway. It was obviously the door the remainder of our enemies would be hiding behind, being the only door we haven't checked yet, now we just needed a way to get in without being shot up.

I looked around the large hallway until I saw our way in.

Shadow didn't like this one bit, the thunder of his enemies had ceased what seemed like only steps from the large doors ahead of him. It cast an uncomfortable silence throughout the room. Everyone else was sure that they would burst through the doors any moment, but not Shadow. He knew this nameless foe, he knew that they were waiting for him and he would never put his own at risk. He was doing something and Shadow knew it.

But what? That was the thing about that nameless punk, he was completely unpredictable. He had given up on trying to figure him up a very long time ago.

Shadow held his hand up. "Shh." Everyone held their breath as he looked around the room, weird he could have sworn he just heard a strange noise. He moved slowly and carefully around the room, not making a single sound. He wheeled around suddenly and pointed at a wall. "Someone check that wall." He ordered.

The closest Nomad got up and hesitantly put his ear against the wall. "Well?" Shadow demanded. The Nomad stayed silent and stayed still.

Shadow quickly got fed up and walked over to him, he stopped in his tracks when he saw why the Nomad hadn't answered him. The blood trickled down his face and started forming a puddle on the floor at his feet, the blade was pulled back into the wall and the Nomad fell over with a clear hole in his head.

There was a quite stomp behind Shadow and he turned to see the Champion's Guardian fall out of the vent in the roof. He grinned dangerously at him. "Get ready."

He had little time to react. "They're in the vents!" Was all he shouted before the rest of the Champions exploded from the walls and started cutting them to pieces. The guns did them little help and most dropped them in fear or instinct and switched to their regular weapons, there was a few lucky ones that kept them but they couldn't get a shot without wounding or killing an ally.

I of course went right for Shadow and pictured mounting his head on a pike. Unfortunately he had similar plans and sprinted away from me, I didn't worry too much, he would be back. I figured right now I would help finish off the rest of the Nomads and Hunters.

Bulls-Eye's hands rapidly moved all across the control panel as Shadow entered. "How much longer?" He asked.

Bulls-Eye spared him a glance before returning to the panel. "Hard to tell, another minute or two for sure. You'll have to use your key in a little bit, I'll send someone for you when I need it.."

Shadow swallowed hard, one or two minutes was a long time to go up against a Champion. "Sure thing, I'll go get rid of that nameless dog before he messes anything else up. Once it's set they should back off."

The Hunter narrowed his eyes. "Oh, they'll back off alright."

There was a small raised platform in the center of the large room, which was where I was now. I had to find out what their plan was, what they were really doing. The rest of the Champions had it simple enough, corner and kill. Me, not so much, I had to find out what was going on behind the scenes here.

I could tell that they were all swarming near a part of the room but it was hard to pin-point it. I was just about to give up and join the fight myself when I saw a familiar figure expertly weaving his way through the fight, we locked eyes and I knew that right now we would see who the better leader really was between the Champions and Nomads.

He turned and ran out the far door, I hesitated but figured that the Champions were though enough without me. Deciding to remove a thorn from my side I gave chase to Shadow.

Running through the door I met his outstretched arm with my throat, as I fell I grabbed his arm and brought him down with me. He managed to flip over me and escape my grasp in one motion and landed on the other side of me.

"Clumsy dog, I should put you down." He spat.

I narrowed my eyes and jumped to my feet "Just try." I growled.

He accepted my invitation by jumping and spinning towards me, I then received a powerful kick the chest and crashed into the opposite wall. Giving myself a good shake I stared him down.

"Oh, I'm so scared." He mocked. I roared and swiped at him with my sword, he jumped back just out of it's reach and grinned. "See? You can't even touch me, how do expect to win this?"

I swiped again and he rolled to the left of it. "You've only led them to another gruesome death you know, all you've done so far is fail." I snapped and swiped at him again, and again, and again, and again. For every swipe I made he only took a single step backwards. I was leading him through the hallway and into the next room.

We had stepped through the door and onto a narrow catwalk very high above a concrete floor, I wasn't paying attention to what was underneath us but at a glace it looked like they had been using this as a storage for something big.

I slowed down for just a moment and Shadow seized the opportunity. He stepped forward and kicked me hard in the stomach, I bent over and he kicked me again in the face.

I fell onto my back and groaned.

You can't use brute force with this one.

I use what I want right now, I'm pissed off.

No one ever stayed alive disobeying that little voice inside their head.

Then I'll be the first.

Not if you don't watch out within the next half second.

I instinctively brought up the Guard and found it stopping Shadow's dagger just above my eye.

See?

You win this round.

With that said and done I kneed Shadow in his stomach and pushed him off of me. He was up before I was somehow but I didn't care at this point.

I faked left with my sword and punched him in his eye with my right fist, he growled and pulled out both daggers. "Fine, we'll play by your rules."

Half a second later I only just managed to avoid his hook passing just in front of my eye. He sliced again and cut my right cheek, I ignored the mild sting and focused. Once again the blade came at me except this time I had anticipated it and my sword was already moving towards his eye, but he was too quick, he grabbed it with his suddenly free hand held it there.

Neither of us were budging and we might have stayed there for a lot longer had it not been for the sudden announcement. The speaker system crackled to life and strange electronic voice echoed throughout the building.

"Countdown will begin shortly, I repeat, the countdown will begin shortly."

What?

Shadow understood it and glared at me. "Looks like I'll have to speed things up." He seemed to say to himself. With that said he kicked me back and pulled out a pistol from behind him I didn't notice before and aimed it between my eyes. "Save me a seat in hell." He hissed.

I narrowed my eyes. "I wont die yet." I returned. As he pulled the trigger I ducked under the bullet and tackled him into the railing, he tried to shoot me again but I grabbed his wrist and pushed it away from me.

He fired wildly as he tried to shake his wrist from my grasp. Bullets flew across the large room, bouncing off of walls and ricocheting off of the ceiling and floor. A bullet must have struck a pipe because there was a hiss and a black cloud of smoke started rising up from the floor.

I payed little attention to it and focused on wrestling this scum in front of me. Shadow suddenly ducked down and swept me off of my feet. I landed on the metal catwalk with a thud.

He was panting when he walked over to me and kicked my helmet off my head and over the catwalk. "I want to see the look on your face when you realize that you've failed again." He explained. He then stepped over me and pointed the gun at me. "Well, well. Even after you tried so very hard you just had to fail in the end didn't you?" I remained silent and stared him down. "Don't feel like talking do you? Fine, suit yourself." He closed one eye and aimed the gun.

Just then I punched in his knee and he fell forward in pain and I pushed him off of the catwalk, he scrambled for something solid he could grab onto and grasped my armor. We both tumbled over the edge and headed for the hard concrete floor.

Only we stopped not even half way from it. We had landed on something soft and fluffy, I regained my focus and saw I was resting on the smoke cloud that had gathered during the gunfight. I then noticed that Shadow was still hanging on by my shirt.

Twilight's cloud-walking potion, of course. Did smoke even count as clouds? Whatever, they do now.

I peered through the smoke to see Shadow hanging the the thick smoke, he only had one hand latched onto my armor and the other holding his dagger.

"Holy shit, pull me up!" He demanded.

I snorted a laugh. "Fuck that, you're going over and I'm staying right here."

I put the dagger to my throat. "You pull me up right now or I slit your throat and we both go down."

I glared at him. "After all this you think I actually fear death? You're stupider than I thought."

He raised an eyebrow. "What of your precious Clan? What will they do without anyone to guide them? If you die their deaths are certain, do you fear the deaths of another hundred Champions?"

I blinked and thought about it, when I reached a conclusion I stared him down again. "Yes, I do fear the death of the Champions. That's why I won't allow you to live." Without waiting for a reaction I took his hand holding the dagger and used it to cut off his other hand holding onto my armor.

He screamed in a mixture of pain and rage as his hand was severed and he fell to the floor below, he continued screaming until he reached the concrete with a loud thud and snap. I laid back on the cloud and waited for it to float me back up to the catwalk, it took longer than I would have hopped but when I could reach it I climbed up and looked for my helmet. Only to realize it went over the edge when Shadow had kicked it off. I figured I would return here once the battle was over, until then I had an invasion to stop.

I entered the large room and found that the only people in here were dead, the fight must have moved to another room. I decided to skip a game of eneeie-miney-mo and just head for the closest door. It was a single door that seemed a bit out of the way to me, it was probably a bad bet but my curiosity was setting in quickly.

I was not happy with what I saw.

Missiles, lots of them. This room was a launch pad for hundreds of missiles, plan B was to blow Equestria to high Hell and scavenge from the ashes. I couldn't let that happen.

Running out of the massive launch pad left me filled with yet another purpose to win this fight, and my fire grow even stronger.

I decided on going through a larger set of double doors this time, when the sounds of fighting filled my ears I knew I had guessed right. I sped down the hallway without so much as a second thought.

Dagger was beyond the point of rage, this was something rarely experienced by a single man, this was a fury so strong it would require new words to describe it. Every time he had found joy or happiness in his life it was brutally taken from him in what seemed like moments later to him.

This was all because of the neighboring Clan known as the Hunters, sure the Nomads had been assholes but it was the Hunters that made it personal. The Hunters had killed his brother, turned his home into ruins, forced them into hiding for two years, put Susan on the brink of death, and now they threatened to destroy the one good place left in this war-torn world.

You bet he was pissed off.

He had stopped using his blades now, for some reason he found them too slow, now he was using his bare hands. To prove his point he grabbed a nearby Hunter by the back of his head and smashed his fist into his skull with strength only his nameless friend could compare to.

Dropping the red mess that was once a man to the floor he continued his search for the Hunter's leader. He didn't realize where he was until it was too late. A boom sounded over the fight and Dagger looked up to see Bulls-Eye standing on a catwalk with a large sniper rifle in his hands.

What really set him off was the fact that it was pointed at the Champion's Guardian...

Watching a battle from afar is one thing, fighting in one is another, but to just stand there and watch your friends throw themselves at enemies for what they believed in and not do anything more than stand there and watch is a whole different thing entirety.

It's a strange thing for a person like me, watching others fighting for me out of sheer admiration and loyalty. I've gotten so used to fighting for myself and myself alone I forgot there was others in world sometimes. But this, it was almost mesmerizing how they seemed to almost worship me.

For what? What have I really done that's so great? I'm good at killing people, that's about it. Maybe I'm missing something, I don't know, it's all these lies... Just because I admitted I lied doesn't mean everything is cleared up, I still have some things to clear up.

I was reminded that I was in still in a battle through the courtesy of Dagger tackling me to the ground the same time a thunderous boom echoed across the large room. I rolled him off of me and was about to give him a piece of my mind for randomly tackling me to the ground when I saw the blood slowly pouring out from under him.

Without thinking I shouted for help and rolled him onto his back as gently as I could, which wasn't very gentle because he let out a pained groan. But he was still alive, although I wasn't sure for how long.

I tried to get a read from his eyes but it was all nonsense, he couldn't think clearly enough to let me know what he was saying. The next thing I noticed was the bullet hole in his armor just left of his heart, another inch or so and he would have suffered a fate similar to his brother's.

Four Champions rushed to my side, after one look at Dagger they knew what they had to do. Two of them carefully grabbed him at each end and were about to lift him up when he made a sound that sounded almost like a word.

I held up my hand to stop them and walked up to him. "What is it?" I asked.

He coughed, his eyes were still unfocused so I had no idea what he was trying to do, then he grunted until I started to recognize words. He spoke quietly and slowly, his voice sounded downright awful and nothing like it was before the shot. But I could understand him.

"Y- You... Pro- Promise... Me." He went into another coughing fit, after he calmed down he tried again. "Sa- Save, no. Guard... Guard the Ch- Champions."

I agreed in the time it took me to nod my head. "Of course. Now you get patched up, I'm not going to let you die today."

He weakly grinned and the two Champions lifted him up and rushed him back to the camp, I nodded for the other two to follow them in case they met any dangers on the way back.

I looked back into the battle with one last purpose, I had to keep a promise.

Bulls-Eye carried the smoking gun with him back to the control room, he saw that Dagger had blocked his shot and he was pissed. That was the first time he had ever missed. At least he had taken out one of of them. He had hopped to splatter their precious guardian's brains across the wall and stop them, but now that he had failed he knew he would hunt him down.

He kicked in the door to the control room and grinned at the control panel. Walking over to it he set the missile guidance for mainly Ponyville and Canterlot but set a few in between just in case. He wanted them in the air as soon as possible and looked over the settings, it would take at least ten minutes to get all the missiles set and ready to launched.

In ten more minutes Equestria would be dust...

The few remaining Hunters had retreated into the control room with their leader while the rest of the Nomads guarded the door outside, a quick head count told me there was little more than fifty of them. This was too easy, we still had hundreds of Champions.

I almost felt the fear emitting from them as when we charged them, a well combined sweep with the other Champions eliminated the rest of the Nomads. Just like that the last Nomad lay dead on the floor at our feet, but I would get sentimental later, there were still the Hunters we had to deal with.

I led the final push and kicked down the door as the announcer informed us that we only had eight minutes left. When I looked the room over I saw that it was completely bare of anyone being here. The others circled me and spread out to search the rest of the room. I made my way over to the console and looked read the large screen, it was fairly easy for me to figure out, all I had to was select cancel launch and it was over.

I didn't like it, that was way to easy for the Hunters.

There was a murmur from the crowd and... I guess the Hunters actually gave up this time. Maybe they learned their lesson and fled to the boat and went back home, whatever it was I guess... It was finally over.

Eventually we shrugged it off and made our way out. When the last of us were leaving through the narrow hallway I decided to have one last look around. I told them I would catch up and I walked back into the large building. I followed the narrow hallways all the way back to the large room where the majority of the fight had taken place.

It's a strange feeling, revisiting the sight of a bloody battle, it feels as though you're reliving it and at the same time like it happened in a distant life. I turned around to meet up with the rest of my Clan...

Only to be met with the business end of a baseball bat.

Ice cold water was splashed on my face, it did it's job and woke me right up. I spit the little bit of it that had gotten into my mouth onto the floor and looked around, Hunter, lots of them. I was back in the main room and was surrounded by Hunters and tied to a chair.

The first one I noticed was Bulls-Eye, and he was standing right in front of me with an empty bucket.

He grinned evilly. "Well, I thought I was lucky when you all decided to leave. But now that you're here I feel like it's my birthday!"

"Yeah? Well untie me and I'll giver you a little present." I spat.

He laughed evilly. "Joke all you want, but you'll accept it eventually."

"Accept what?"

He stared me down. "That you finally lost. All your time of fighting, deceiving, and lying, and you lost. There's nothing more you can do, you and your Clan will finally stop being a thorn in my side."

I scowled at him. "Then why would you destroy all of Equestria? All of this for this one Clan?"

He shook his head. "You know, you say you care about Equestria but all I hear is Miranda. You couldn't give a shit about them if you tried. All you really want to protect is you're stupid little girlfriend. Just another lie I suppose."

"That's where you're wrong. While I do care about Miranda, I really do. But I'll still fight my hardest to protect this land, these Ponies... These Bronies that live here, they've all earned their place. They deserve happiness, the one thing I've always tried to give. Why would you destroy the last happy place on this Earth?"

He chuckled. "So that's what you think they are, tired old people enjoying their happiness. But you're the one that's wrong. They're not people anymore, they're animals, pests, and they're taking all the spoils for themselves."

"No, they're keeping the good things for the good people."

He shrugged. "We'll see what happens."

"You mean when you launch a barrage of missiles at them?"

He grinned. "Something like that, but I was thinking of something more... Nuclear." At my jaw dropping he laughed and explained. "What kind of boat do you think could carry thousands of people here? An old war boat, that's what. Just so happens that it was still fully stocked and ready to launch a couple hundred nuclear warheads at the enemy."

"But, if you want what the ponies have then why destroy it?"

Another chuckle. "I don't want their useless shit, I just want the sunlight and some more room. The Ponies are in the way is all." With that he turned around at walked to the control room, but stopped at the door. Turning to his few remaining men he gave them one last order. "Oh, and don't be too rough. I want him to watch Equestria fade away when the countdown reaches zero."

Which basically meant keep me barley alive for a couple minutes, but judging by their expressions I don't think they heard him. Before I knew it they were all taking turns trying to knock out my teeth. All I could do was take it and listen to the countdown, five more minutes.

Then this one Hunter came up, he seemed very hesitant. He pulled his fist back like he was about to punch me, then he winked.

Like lightning he whirled around and knocked out the hunter behind him, before the rest could react he pulled out his assault rifle and mowed them all down. Which was fairly easy seeing as how there was only forty or so left and they were all lined up.

He moved behind me and started cutting my bonds. "Why are you helping me?" I asked painfully.

He spoke very seriously. "I can't let those little Ponies get destroyed."

I spat out some blood. "Really? Your boss seemed to be okay with the idea."

He finished and moved in front of me. "Yeah, well my boss isn't a true Brony."

As I rubbed my wrist it clicked and I laughed. "Son of a bitch, you're that Hunter who had all the My Little Pony stuff in his house aren't you?"

He stepped back. "How, how did you know?"

He stood up and cracked my neck. "It's a long story, maybe I'll write a book about it. But right now the only one standing between us and and saving Equestria is Bulls-Eye."

He grinned and passed me the Guard. "Then let's go get him."

I returned his grin. "You would have made a damn fine Champion."

He nodded his thanks and led me to the door to the control room. At my nod he opened the door and was about to rush inside.

Then his head exploded.

I jumped back as his blood splattered across the door.

"Dammit!" Bulls-Eye yelled from within. "That's the second time I've missed you!"

I stepped over the dead Hunter and into the room. Bulls-Eye threw his rifle down in rage and picked up his spear. "You think you're so damn special." He hissed. "You think you're so damn great, so damn STRONG!" He yelled and speared the monitor.

He glared at me. "Well not anymore! You've lost this time, you can't stop this! I'm going to destroy Equestria now, just to finally beat YOU!"

I twisted the Guard back into a sword. "You know I wont give up until I stop breathing."

"I can arrange that."

He charged at me, spear ready. When he was close enough I spun to the side to avoid him and sliced the back of his calf. He roared in more rage than pain as he stumbled forward to catch his balance.

He jumped forward and swept at me with his spear, I stopped it with my sword and only just managed to hold him away from my throat. He slipped my sword and pushed past my throat, but he did manage to leave a nasty cut just below my chin.

"What's you're plan now dog?" He said venomously. "Why don't you just lay down, accept defeat, and die? What could possibly be driving you at this point?"

We started to circle each other and I gave him my answer. "Easy, even if you win, even if Equestria is ashes and the Champions fade from existence, even if I die here today. You will always remember that I was the one that got away, I was the one that stayed, I was the survivor, and I am the one that fought you're tyranny to the very end. And if I win, then I get to know that I got rid of another evil in this world."

"But you can't win. I broke the controls, you can't stop the countdown, the missiles will launch and destroy Equestria."

I narrowed my eyes. "Not if I can help it."

He motioned for me to attack him.

I accepted his invitation and charged him, he lunged forward predictably and I batted it away with my sword. In an attempt to stab his heart I pulled my sword back, a mistake, he moved his spear behind me and knocked my weapon out of my hands and it went sliding across the floor.

He grinned at me and swiped my feet. He drew his spear back and aimed it at my heart. "Any last words?"

I grinned. "Just two." I pulled both feet back and gave him a hard kick chest, he was knocked away and into a wall, leaving me free to search for my Guard.

I quickly discovered that it had slid into a nearby air vent and it was way too small for me to crawl into. Before I could make a decision my left arm was pinned to the wall with Bulls-Eyes's spear.

I roared in frustration and mostly pain. He walked over with a smug look on his face. "Oops, did I do that? Here, let me help." He yanked the spear out as heard as he could, luckily it hadn't gone all the way through so my arm was mostly intact. I had little time to enjoy the fact because Bulls-Eye had me by the throat.

"Not so strong and powerful without you're favorite now are you?" He managed to throw me across the room, I slid on the floor a little before I crashed into the wall. Not wanting to die on my ass I staggered to my feet. "Wow, you really are stubborn."

I stared at him, after a while he realized I didn't having anything planned. He put his hand up to his chin. "What was it that really set you off? There was something I had to call you're girlfriend..." He thought for a moment but grinned when he remembered. "Oh that's right, a whore. Miranda is a tiny, little, good for nothing whore."

Rage quickly boiled inside me and I rushed him in my fit of rage. He only got his spear ready to strike. When I got close enough he predictably lunged at me with his spear and I jumped and landed down hard on his spear, snapping it in two. In one swift motion I spun around, picked it up, and pointed it at his throat.

He stared at me in awe. "What are you really doing here?"

I locked eyes with him. "Isn't it obvious? I'm saving their souls." I plunged his spear tip deeply into his throat and he fell over dead.

I stood there panting over his bloodied body, I had finally ended this bastard's life. I had finally gotten my revenge on him, the one I had promised so long ago.

But the automatic countdown reminded me of another promise I had made earlier today. I still had to guard the Champion's from the nuclear missiles that were launching in two minutes.

I quickly ran out of the room while cradling my recently speared arm with my good one. Entering the large, bloody room I easily found the room that held all the missiles. I took a good, long look at the room. It was completely slick, not a single thing in it but over a hundred nukes ready to launch.

One minute to launch, one minute to launch.

I had one last idea.

I raced around the large room, picking through the fallen bodies of Hunters and Nomads. I knew that one of them, just one of them had to-

There it was. I pulled the entire belt off of him and rushed back into the launch pad. Only to trip on a dead Nomad, of course, it was like he was being an asshole even in death. I dropped the belt as I fell and hit the ground hard with one arm still broken.

The mechanic voice started to countdown backwards from fifteen. I was in a panicked rush at this point. I found the belt at twelve seconds and kicked open the door at seven.

With little time to think I pulled the pins on most of the grenades on the belt in my hand and threw it in between the two closest nukes.

Five.

It was another countdown, except this time it wasn't just Miranda and Eddie. It was all of the Champions and Equestria.

Four.

The roof groaned and slowly started to separate in two.

Three.

Nothing.

Two.

Oh no.

One.

Miranda's eyes teared up as she saw a large mushroom cloud form in the distance. The grenades had gone off at the last second, and the Champion's Guardian Angel had been standing only feet from the massive blast.