From Order to Chaos

Chapters

The not so great escape
A meeting within the mind
Meeting with the Princesses
Assembling the team?
Chaos Team Asssssssemble
The Amazing Waste
Vision of the Future
Trouble in the Waste what a surprise
One dog, Two dogs, Red dog, Dead dog
Midnight Sonata
Big Trouble in Little Town Pt 1
Big Trouble in Little Town Pt 2
Alpha Vs Draconequus pt 1
Alpha Vs Draconequus pt 2
All good things must come to an end
Echo of the Past: Reflection
Denial
If you talk to a stranger in a library you’re going to have a bad time
Let the game begin...Oh wait they already have

The not so great escape

Ok, so maybe jumping out the window wasn’t the soundest plan ever, but then again I wasn’t really thinking clearly. First off: I’m actually in Equestria so most of my brain power is trying to still comprehend that. Second: I just talked to an animal…well granted it was a Phoenix, but nonetheless an animal that was shown in the show to be mischief with some level of intelligence. Thirdly: I’m a Draconequus, who is currently being chased by the entire royal guard. Now I know what some of you are thinking, ‘oh he has wings why doesn’t he just fly what a moron etc.’ Well trying to use my wings is like trying to tell a blind person what the color red is or telling a deaf person what a horn sounds like.

Basically it’s fucking impossible. Well maybe not impossible-for the wings anyways-,but we're talking about muscles I’ve never used before. So yeah, that’s why I’m going to die. Because I was too stupid to remember that tidbit of information and…wow this is one tall building.

It’s been about three minutes since I jumped out of the window. Instead of looking at where I was going to fall to my death, I decided to fall with style. So there I was falling to my death as I had my hands behind my head in a laying down posture. It’s also funny what kind of thoughts you have before you die. I always assumed my life would flash before my eyes or all of my regrets would surface up and I’d have the sudden urge to live, yet it never came. Instead I was just looking up at the sky with a peaceful expression. One that said: ‘Meh, it could have been worse.’

‘Just a minute or two left before it’s over.’ I thought to myself as I took a glance down towards the ground, which was about less than a minute away. With a heavy sigh I took a glance towards-where I guessed-was Ponyville. “Well at least I got to see Ponyville and Luna’s beautiful night sky.” I said out loud, the castle wall now covering my view of the surrounding area.

“And so ends the tale of Ronald B. Anderson the second, it was a good run, but every story must come to an end.” I spoke, mimicking the end theme from Fallout NV and closed my eyes. That’s when I felt the cold slightly moist earth against my back. The pain was that of a thousand…pillow feathers?

‘Ta fuck going on.’ I thought as I opened my eyes and found myself stuck between some sort of white walls. Using my new appendages I could feel the softest material I’ve ever felt in my entire life. It was like those really soft beds back at home, but multiplied by like hundred times and I never wanted to get up ever again. Alas the universe wasn’t done with me yet as the soft material made a snapping noise followed by me falling on the ground with a soft thud. Looking at the object that saved my life I noticed it was that same cloud that blocked the moon earlier.

‘Wow no wonder Dash is seen sleeping on clouds all the time they’re fucking comfortable.’ I thought as the cloud--which was stretched out like a rubber band--started to dissipate.

Realization struck me like a slap to the face. “I’m alive.” I said, stupefied by the random chance of surviving a death experience. Which was then followed by me cheering like an idiot. Hey don’t get me wrong even though I was calm during the whole affair I was still scared shitless. Only fools don’t fear death and only the paranoid fear death.

Calming myself down, I looked towards the sky, gave the one finger salute, and shouted as loud as I could, “Fuck you, universe!” Only for that to be the second stupidest thing I did today as I was now covered in spotlights.

“THERE HE IS! GET HIM!” A group of night guards yelled, their voices echoed/blended with one another.

“Oh, come on!” I yelled shaking my fist to the universe, only to jump out of the way as the night guards dived bombed me.
The sound of a door banging open distracted me as I took a glance towards the sound. “He’s over there get him!” Yelled one of the day guards, which was followed by a swarm of earth ponies charging right towards me.

Without a second thought I turned and ran as fast as my new legs could take me. Which was surprising very far and fast as I was able to outrun the earth ponies by a few miles. It would have actually been more if it wasn’t the fact that Pegasi are surprisingly fast little buggers and were able to keep up with my pace quite easily. “Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!” I yelled as I continuously ducked, dodged and rolled out of the way.

Two things I would like to point out: one Canterlot Castle is fucking huge. It feels like I’ve been running around in circles. I mean I wouldn’t be surprised if there were maps all around the castle that said ‘You’re here’. Second….wait, screw that. I just found me a way out! Noticing a lone window--set window being randomly open--I ran towards it with all my might and jumped through it. I was going to continue to run, but a strange feeling took me over. I still felt in control, yet my body was responding on its own.

The best way to describe it would be instinct I guess. Anyways instead of ruining, I turned around and grasped the window in my hand. The night guards were a few seconds away from tackling me and knocking the living daylights out of me. At the last second I slammed the window against their face.

Now you would think that the glass window would break when struck against something, but they were in fact quite sturdy as a loud thud rang out followed by a bunch of flop sounds. Reopening the window I took a glance down and saw a group of night guards all knocked out moaning in pain. ‘Well cartoon world: one, real world: zero.’ I thought to myself and then remembered the group of earth ponies coming after me. Re-closing the window I ran down the hall just as the guards burst through a different one and gave chase.

Again this castle is FUCKING HUGE. And to make matters worse all the hallways look exactly the same. White stone walls with some windows--sometime a table holding a vase with flowers--and a light red carpet that went down the middle laced with gold designs criss crossing every which way. On the walls were some candles that gave off enough light just to see with an occasional portrait every now and again. I took the third right hoping to lose my pursuers within this maze of a castle, but they were quite persistent...and were now firing balls of arcane magic at me.

Right, left, left, straight, right, left. This went on for a while as I kept on ruining, occasionally having to jump cartoonishly out of the way. How I did that, I’ll never know. When suddenly that strange instinctual feeling came back. Instead of taking a left, I took a right followed by another right which lead to another right, which…you know what I was basically running around in a big circle, or square technically. After about three minutes of that at the last second before making a right turn, I instead made a left and pressed myself against the wall peeking out from the corner. ‘This won’t work they’re trained professionals that have battle creatures I’ve never seen or heard of and-’

“He went this way boys come on we almost have him!”A guard shouted out and made the right turn, the rest of his squad right behind him.

‘…*face palm and mental face palm* Cartoon world: Two, real world: Zero.’

“I don’t even…” I began until I remembered why I was running to begin with. Turning towards the hall, I made my way down it at a brisk pace.

~A few minutes later~

“Annnnnnd I’m lost.” I said out loud, the occasionally yell of the guards asking, ‘Where Discord is?’ roaring throughout the castle. I don’t know if I’ve said this before, but this castle Fuck…you got to be shiting me. I looked dumbfounded at the item on the wall. It was just sitting there taunting me the whole damn time and I missed it completely…it was a map.

“You gotta be kidding.” I said out loud once more drawing closer to the map. The map showed the whole layout of the castle, except for where the royal/guest chambers, the treasury--if they have one--,and the armory was. Even though it made no sense whatsoever it was still pretty damn impressive and well detailed. Ironically it did have the little star thing that showed where you were at, but more importantly it showed me how to get out of here.

Plotting out my path to get the buck out of here, I was about to implement my plan when out of nowhere, “So Sarge do you really think Discord escaped or is it just a look alike because from what I’ve heard-” Rambled on a young female guard that was heading towards my direction.

“As far as I know somepony just snuck into the castle and is just playing a prank on us.” Announced a gruff voice. There talking getting louder by the second. “Besides Discord was just sealed up not a few days ago, no way in Tartarus did he escape so quickly.”

‘So that means I’m at the beginning of season two give or take. Depends on what going down in Ponyville right now and…oh god they’re coming this way!’ I thought and dashed around the corner.

“Did you see that?” The older pony asked.

“See what Sarge?” The younger one asked, confused.

“Could've sworn I saw something…let’s go.” He said the sound of his hooves getting louder by the second.

‘Oh god, got to hide, got to hide!’ I thought as I looked around for someplace to hide. Only problem was that this was a dead end and there was nothing to hide behind. The only thing here were three unmarked doors. I tried the first two, but they were both locked though the last one was unlocked. Quickly I jumped inside and closed the door as quickly/quietly as possible. Calming myself down I pressed my new ear against the door and listened.

“See anything in the other rooms.”

“No Sarge.”

“Well let’s just check this room and-”

‘Oh, god no!’ I back away from the door only to hear a muffled no, followed by a thud against the door. Taking a chance I went back to my previous spot and listened once more.

“Trust me, Sarge, we would’ve know if he was in this room you must be hearing things.” The younger one said.

“Yeah, I guess.” He said a bit sadly, which was followed by the sound of hoof steps walking away.

Releasing a breath I didn’t know I was holding, I turned around and pinched the bridge of my nose while leaning against the door. ‘Man this place has been one constant headache or adrenaline rush right after the other. What else could go wrong?’ I thought. Opening my eyes to get a better look at the room I was in my gaze meet with a group of mares in an open sauna like bathroom. We looked at one another for a few minutes: the mares looking at me with shock which quickly turned to a death glare and me looking at them with a stupefy and fearful look. Because let me tell you: women be crazy when they're pissed.

“This isn’t what it look like.” I said with a sheepish grin.

All the mares took in a deep breath and shouted, “Pervert!” As they began to throw anything and everything they could get their hooves on.

As I shot up to my feet while dodging the onslaught of random things being thrown at me, I couldn’t help but notice that I was quite flexible. Being able to bend in random/impossible angles was a rather odd feeling to experience. I think I finally understand what it is like to be a rubber band. I also couldn’t help noticing how attractive mares were with their mane all we-...OH GOD I’VE BECOME A CLOPPER. At that sudden realization I bolted out the door and ran with the angry mob of mares right behind me. Running--you know I’ve been doing that a lot today, yay exercising--through the castle once more, I immediately got lost and just so happen to run into the squad of guards who were still ‘chasing’ after me.

“There he is! I told you maggots that we would catch up to him.” The leader yelled out and started to chase me once again.

So now I’m being chased by a ‘genius’ squad leader and his squad plus a group of angry mares. ‘Can this get any wors-’ The sound of a window breaking got my attention followed by the sound of wings being flapped.

“There that bucking lizard, get him!” Roared one of the night guards that I knocked out earlier who was now adorning a large bump on his head.

‘Can this get any-’

‘Shut the fuck up and stop saying that!’ A voice in my head yelled out.

‘Ta fuck was that?’ I thought but quickly dismissed it and continued my run from the mob of angry ponies. Turning the corner sharply--almost slipping--,I found my ticket back to the outdoors. How did I know this? Because I’m pretty sure this is the same window that I smashed the night guards with. I went full throttle towards my escape--planning to just jump through it--, but once more my instinct took over and instead of jumping through it, I went Fluttershy style out the window and ran towards the garden maze.

Weirdly enough the ponies were momentarily stunned, but soon continued their chase after me. Thanks to that, I was able to turn a corner giving me a couple of minutes to find a place to hide. The maze was just as big as the castle and quite frankly just as confusing looking as the castle. So staying in here for too long would be a no go and besides the Pegasi would be able to fly above the maze and spot me. The only other thing in sight was a white pedestal that had a broken statue next to it. The sound of hoof steps growing louder with each second wasted.

Even with my new body, I could feel my energy reserve going towards the red. Plus the soreness from earlier wasn’t helping as with each step my body protest in agony. My instinct took over once more as I shuffled my way over towards the pedestal and climbed on top. Just as the first of the guards turned the corners, I posed my face scrunching up into a look of fear while my hands were posed as if I was rejecting something. The ponies all stopped and began muttering to themselves trying to find me while I stayed perfectly still. Couple of heart pounding seconds later they all dispersed in different directions. As the last pony disappeared from sight, I immediately released my breath and fell comically to the ground in utter exhaustion.

“That’s….forget it.” I said as I took in deep and steady breath to calm my heart. ‘CW: three or uh four I think, RW: zero.’ With my heart now calm, I stood up on shaky legs-or goat and lizard leg- and made my way towards the castle wall. Using the wall as a crutch, I slowly--and hopefully--made my way out of here.

‘If I remember correctly there was some sort of river that flowed out of the castle over this way. This also begs the question of why would they put that on a map or in general have a map to begin with? Do they really believe that no one would dare or try to sneak into the castle to steal something or-’ My train of thought stopped as I turned the corner and ran into someone. Falling back to the ground and moaning in pain, I took a look at who I ran into and was meet with Princess Luna herself, accompanied by two of her night guards.

“YOU!” She said pointing a hoof at me.

“Oh shi-” I tried to say but I was yanked up in the air, courtesy of a purplish blue aura surrounding me.

“But you can’t be?” She said to herself, confused and proceeded to walk back the way she came while I just kind of floated by her unable to move. Reaching out with her magic she pushed the hedges out of her way and kept on walking completely forgetting about me as I was forced through the hedges. After spitting out a couple of leafs that managed to get into my mouth, I then knew exactly where we were going. “It’s just as I thought.” Luna said to herself as she closely looked at the statue of Discord himself and then back to me. “Who are you?” She asked bringing me face to face with her.

‘Crap! What do I do? What do I do?’ I thought beads of sweat sliding down the side of my head as I looked at her nervously, while she stared me down waiting for a response. ‘Ok just think this through, so far I’ve done four cartoonish like things and got away scott free so with that logic in mind what would a cartoon do in this situation.’ That's when I suddenly remembered one of the most classical cartoon things to do in this sort of situation.

“Mpphhffrmmpmh.” I tried to say but my mouth was shut tight.

“Opps.” Luna said with a sheepish smile and released some pressure from my head allowing me to move and talk. The second she did that my head reached out towards her and I planted a kiss right on her lips. After I separated our lips, I immediately tried to make a run for it, but my body was still held up in place.

‘What the hell? Isn’t she…she is, but why am I still being held up in place? This always worked for Bugs.’ I thought as I watched the stun Princess flop down on her haunches and stare at me dumbfounded, the guards that were still there gave me the same expression.

“You…you…” she said as if the weight of the world came crashing down on her which turned into a full blown look of righteous fury. “YOU DARE KISS-” She shouted in Royal Canterlot voice, effectively sending me flying towards the castle where I went face first and then everything went black.

A meeting within the mind

Nothing.

Nothing as far as the eye could see.

A plain of complete darkness. Bright enough to see oneself yet dark enough to only see a few inches away. There I was. Just floating along, waiting for this endless realm to hopefully come to an end. Like a leaf in a stream, I was pulled along not knowing where I was going, but not having a choice either. Then my vision started to change instead of the void, I came to be in a room that reminded me of crazy stairs.

The whole area I was in was a pure white with stairs going in every which way. Groggily getting up, I slowly made my way towards one of the thousands upon thousands of stairs that resided in this area. As I went down the stairs, I came up to an intersection: to my right was a spiral staircase that went up, to my left the stairs went off in a zigzag formation, and the path in front of me went further down. As if my body had a mind of its own, I moved right going up the spiral stairs and continued my journey.

Seconds turned to hours as hours turned to days, yet I kept moving not stopping to look where I was going. Not stopping to take a break, I just kept going aimlessly around. Then I heard it. A sound, no a note of a violin as it began to play. The sound I heard was not from a song I’ve ever heard, yet the emotion were clear: Anger, hate, depression, and fear. Yet the song was strangely beautiful in a sense.

Like a moth to a flame I ran--or more like shuffled--as fast as I could towards the sound. My trip towards the song was a blur as I turned or climbed until I reached a long hallway. Old stones lined the walls and floor with a dark sickly green carpet with eerie purple candles illuminating the way. I stopped to look down the hall only to see an endless void much like the one I was in earlier, yet I felt…no I knew that I had to go there. Steeling myself I walked down the hall at a steady pace. Only the sound of the violin to accompany me.

About ten minutes later, I could see a bright light at the end and quickened my pace. As I burst out of the hallway--more like stumbled--,I entered a dark throne room. It was easily just as big as Canterlot Castle’s throne room. Granted I never been there, but it felt right to compare it. There were no windows and the only thing giving the room light were the same purple candles, but there were more of them giving the room more light than the hall. In the way back was a brilliant golden throne, that clashed with the very color scheme and theme of the room. Crimson red cushion, with gold plating, and an assortment of jewels.

As I made my way towards the throne, I took notice that the music had reached its climax. A voice echoed out, “Well what do you think?” I stopped and looked around the slightly dark room trying to locate the source of the voice. “Up here, genius.” The voice said once more.

As I turned my head skyward-- or ceiling and…lol Skyward--, I noticed a pair of dark purple eyes with light blue pupils staring right back at me. I jumped back in surprise only to gawk at the figure above me. It was me down to the last body part the only difference between us were his eye color and how his eyes gave off the feel of driving people insane.

“You’re...that-” I stumbled trying to find the words to describe my situation.

“What? Impossible, unlikely, inhumanly possible.” I/me answered giving me an upside down grin.

“Where…” I tried to ask.

“Oh, come on. We both know you’re smarter than that.” I/me said as I/me snapped our eagle finger and producing a chocolate milkshake, greedily drinking the contents yet it never lost any of its contents.

“So we’re in my mind.” I started slowly. I or me…fuck it. HE nodded his head. “And you’re me, but my-” I paused, trying to think of an appropriate term.

“Oh, please. You know the exact word to call me.” He said. Disappearing and reappearing right next to me with a crazed grin splayed across his face.

“Chaotic side.” I finished trying not to believe yet knew deep down that it was true.

“But are you sure he is you and you are he?” Asked another Draconequus, this one looking the same as the double beside me.

“No, no. He is him and him is he” Stated another.

“Wait if he is him and him is he and he is he, then who am I?” asked another. More and more seemed to pop out of nowhere continuing the long question of who is who. Five minutes straight this went on, the once empty chamber packed with me look-alikes. Now I’m a rather level headed person thanks to me having to deal with idiots every damn day, but this…no words could describe how much I wanted to kill each and every single one of them. Maybe with a flamethrower and the song from Fallout ‘I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire’.

“Shut up! Just shut the hell up!” I roared all the other me going quiet and staring at me.

“U mad bro?” Asked the original copy. I growled at him, but he merely laughed it off. “How about a little wager, hmmmmm?”

“What kind?” I asked skeptically.

“Well if I know you, and trust me I do, you have a few dozen questions you’re just dying to know. So how about this: If you can answer this fine good looking group’s question, I’ll tell you everything I know.” He said gesturing towards the crowd of smug smiling mes.

“The catch?”

“Ah, ah, ah. You won’t know till you lose.” He said while wagging his index finger.

“I don’t have a choice do I?” I asked flatly.

“Good, you catch on pretty quick. Oh and feel free to answer whenever or just give up. Either one works for me to be honest.” He said while lazily waiting for my response.

‘Oh this is going to be fun.’ I thought to myself as I snapped my neck, a loud satisfying crack sounding out through the room as I took in a deep breath.

~Three minutes later~

“…Therefore he is you and you are him and he is me.” I said taking a deep and glorious breath of air. My lungs burned from the non-stop talk--Pinkie would’ve been proud--as I summoned up who is who.

The original copy me looked at me with an impressed grin, which was followed by the snap of his fingers as all the copies disappeared. “Bravo” He said while mockingly clapping his hand. “You won our little bet.” He continued while I smiled triumphantly at his proclamation.

“You know I would have also excepted 42.” He added with a smug grin. I just facepalmed in annoyance. “So a bet is a bet. Start asking them.” He said, now lounging on a yellow cloud.

“So what’s going on?”

“Oh nothing really, just hanging out.” He responded lazily.

I glared at him.

“Oh, did you mean outside of our head? Yeah, after that whole kiss thing with the princess--also nice shot by the way--you passed out. So you’re either turned to stone by now or you’re in jail.”

“Were you the one making me do those cartoonish things?” I asked and was rewarded with a loud set of Ding-ding-dings in my ear.

“We have a winner!” The other me exclaimed while putting a slash over my shoulder that read, ‘U are smart’.
Ripping the slash into a dozen little piece, I then threw them at him and gave him a flat look.

“Spoilsport.” He said.

“So is this my entire mind or just your part?”

“A little both. Back on Earth my space was as big as an apartment, which was also locked and I could never leave.” He growled, but continued. “But when we came here the door was unlocked and well, I just had to redecorated the old place. Put a few things here and there, took down some walls, transferred all of our porn to digital, and now it’s a totally pimped out mind.” he finished with a crazed smile.

“So how do I wake up?”

“What tired of seeing me already and to think we were becoming the best of friends.” He said sarcastically.

“Soon, but first we must have a word.” Said an all too familiar voice. Turning around I noticed a light grayish Alicorn with a dark crimson mane. Her eyes were a familiar pair of grayish blue, and on her flank was an inkwell with a quill.

“So how’s was your first day in Equestria?” She asked as the other me summoned a couch for her to lay down on and getting a quick thank you in the process. As an afterthought he summoned a rather old dark brown couch with stains covering the majority of the seat.

“Well, everything was going so swimmingly. That is until I got dropped off in the barracks of Canterlot Castle, got chased around for half the time, and then went face first towards a cement wall.” I said bitterly preferring to stand rather than sitting. Besides I didn’t like how he was looking at the chair like it was going to do something.

“You also left out the part where you were caught peeping in the girls shower room. Also you didn’t hit a cement wall you hit a reinforced window and left a smear mark on it to. It was priceless.” He said laughing hysterically at the last part. The grayish Alicorn chuckled softly while I just glared at the both of them.

“With all jokes aside let’s get down to business shall we.” She said motioning the other me to stop laughing and continued. “You must have a lot of question, but allow me to shed some light first and then you may ask. Does that sound alright?”

I responded with a nod. For the next couple of minutes she caught me up to speed with the so called ‘Chess Games’ as she put it. Explaining that the gods can have as many pieces as they wanted, but were limited on what they could do/help with.

“So I’m around the beginning of season two--about right after Discord gets sealed up--and other gods/goddesses from your world and my own are playing a ‘Chess Game’. Where I’m suppose to beat the other players and the last piece standing wins. Did I miss anything?” I summarized.

“No, that’s about it.” She said, sipping some tea.

“…and what if I don’t want to fight?” I asked.

She stopped for a second to think about it and gave a reassuring smile. “Then don’t.”

“I’m sorry, come again?” I asked generally surprised by her response.

“Heh. Come.”The other me said, holding back giggles of laughter.

“Like I said just don’t. It doesn’t matter to me. If you want, you can join up with other pieces and just forfeit at the end.” She said with a shrug and continued. “Besides I didn’t summon you to be my chess piece anyways.”

“Pardon?” Both of us asked.

“I decided not to participate in the ‘Chess Game’. I chose to be just a spectator, making sure that no one cheated. The reason I summoned you was for a more important task.”

Both of us looked at one another and asked at the same time while motioning our hand for her to continue. “Which isss?”

“To keep the balance in check.”

“Look lad…I mean Miss. As much as I love playing twenty questions could you just skip to the part where you explain everything.” I said, as nicely as possible.

“Oh, right, sorry. It’s been far too long since I had company. Seems a couple thousands of years in isolation does that to someone.” She said, looking off in the distance with a sad smile. “Anywho the balance is quite a simple yet effective system. Basically it runs like yin and yang, light and dark, good and evil or however you want to perceive it. Balance refers to order and chaos and like yin and yang there cannot be one without the other. And thanks to the CG the balance-”

“Is way out of line and you want me to fix it?” I asked, interrupting her.

“Not fix, adjust, but essentially yes. I want you two to go around Equis and make sure the world is balanced as much as possible.”

“Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. What do you mean us? You mean I’m going to have to work with this square?” The other me said.

“You do know were technically the same person. The only difference is I’m not completely off my rocker.” I retorted.

“Stop it you two.” Her voice going a bit harsh like how a mother would scold their child. “You two need to work together, understand?” We both gave each other a glare, but reluctantly agreed. “Good. Now I must be off, I’ll speak to you sometime in the future.” She said as she got up and walked back towards the hallway.

“Wait! What’s your name?” I asked.

“Wait! You never said who was in charge.” The other me shouted towards her.

“Work it out amongst yourself and my name is Lauren Faust, but just Lauren will be fine.” She said before she vanished from sight.

“And what should I call you?” I asked hostilely.

He seemed to think about it for a moment and respond back hostilely as well, “Call me Derange.”

We kind of stood there for a few minutes glaring at one another. The room being silent enough to hear a pin drop. “So how do you want to settle this?” He asked as he began to circle me like a predator, but I didn’t let him as I slowly matched his pace. I could have sworn I heard a ‘whoosh’ sound like those in the old cowboy shows.

“In a way that both you and I can play evenly on.” I replied back.

He gave a devilish smile. “I got just the thing.” He said, which was followed by the snap of his fingers.

~Ten minutes later~

“SHIELD SPAMMER!” he yelled.

“HADOUKEN SPAMMER!” I yelled back.

Yeah so we decided to play a match of MvC3 to decide who was in charge. And let me tell you he picked all the spammiest character from the game--probably hoping to get an easy win--,but thanks to many years of playing with spammy picking friends, I always made a team of anti-spammers. We were down to our last character him Ryu while I was Amaterasu. Like a true Ryu spammer, he was just doing a whole shit load of hadoukens, but thanks to Amy shield thing I was able to send them back pretty much making his attacks useless. Both are lives were pretty low for one good combo to end the match. I was waiting because I know what he was planning and-

“SHINKU!” The game rang out. Within that time span, I high jumped in the air and used Amy’s ability to cross the screen in seconds. “HADOUKEN!” The blast completely missing me leaving his character open for an attack.

“Oh, shit! No! No! No! No! No!” He screamed as I got up right next to him.

“Check mate.” I said as I pulled off Amaterasu level three hyper combo. Truth be told I could just pulled off a normal combo and won just as easily, but it's more insult to injury when someone messes up and you pull a hyper combo on them.

We watched the winning credit screen and he turned to me and gave a sheepish grin. “Uh. Best two at of three?”

“Uh, no.” I flatly responded.

“Well you’re no fun.” He said while pouting.

“Get over it. Now start talking how do you do all the things you do?” I asked, genuinely curious since earlier he was gloating in my face about how he could fly and use magic while I couldn’t.

“Well I could try to explain it to you, but you wouldn’t believe me so let’s put it in a way you would understand.” He said as he started to think about how to describe it to me.

“Imagine if you will that magic, good all unicorn and Alicorn magic, are a linear type of magic. Having a cause and effect, while Chaos magic is a big ball of wibbly wobbly ….”

“You stole that from Doctor Who.” I stated, unimpressed.

“…”

“Like a big ball of…”

“I get it.” I said motioning him to stop. “So basically shit well either just happen or it won’t.”

“Pretty much.” He said with a smirk. “Oh you’ll also know some random stuff that you previously didn’t know about, fyi.” He added as my vision began to fade.

“What’s-” I slurred as I fell to the ground unable to support myself up.

“Looks like you’re waking up.” He said. My vision getting darker and darker by the second. “Oh, and don’t worry. I’ll be right behind you.” He said. The last thing I saw was a devilish grin.

Meeting with the Princesses

Well enjoy, oh and also problem JJ Malcolm P.S. you'll know what i mean

I awoke in a dimly lit room. The sound of a steady drip could be heard in the distance. As my eyes adjusted to the light of the room I could see that it was small. The room was about the size of a bedroom with an old worn out looking bed in one corner and a bucket in the opposite…I don’t even want to know why the bucket is over there.

I could see a royal guard standing there with his polished gold armor in the distance with a blank expression as if waiting for the slightest movement or like one of those guards in Britain who are just paid to stand around. Or I think that’s what they do, I have no frickin idea. Oh, I would also like to point out that I was behind bars and completely chained, tied up, and other means of being constrained.

Because I could barely move my hand without it rubbing up against my restraints. The guard must’ve noticed that I was slightly moving, because we locked eyes with one another for a few seconds before he walked off. I could hear him discussing something with another guard though it didn’t last long as he came back and stood in his original position.

‘Jail. I’m in jail. My first day--or maybe second day-- in Equestria and I’m in jail. Just fan frickin tastic…Well it could have been worse I guess. I could have been turned into stone like Discord.’ I mused while I waited for the princess, since I was pretty sure they’re the ones who were going to decided what to do with me.

“*Whistles* Didn’t know you were into bondage or maybe the princess are.” Said an all too familiar voice. Turning my head I noticed Derange just floating by on a light brown cloud. Set individual lying down on the cloud with no care in the world.

I tried to talk, but all that came was basically how the Pyro talks. Which is a shit load of muffled sounds.

“Sorry, I don’t speak Pyro right now.” Derange said and added lazily. “Speak in your head.”

“You mean like use my mind?” I question, but got a look of ‘no shit, Sherlock’ from Derange. “So then you can just show up outside of my head as well?” I asked hoping the answer would be no.

“What did you expect me to do just stay in our head for this whole journey? Pfft ta hell with that. I want out. I want to see the world through my/our eyes and not just your/our eyes.” He said, though the look on his face was almost pleading.

I was going to say he couldn’t, but I stopped myself and really thought about it from his point of view. He’s been forced to stay behind the walls of my inner mind, coming out maybe once in a full blown moon only to be forced back into his ‘cage’ right afterwards. Eventually the question change from should I let him too should I trust him. From what I understand--which is not a lot right now--, he’s everything I’m not and being a Draconequus means that he’ll have more of an effect on what I do/think from now on.

But he’s also an extension of who I am and who I always wanted to be. A person who wants to go out and have fun. Too not care about what others think or the repercussions of one’s action. Could I…no should I trust such an individual with the freedom to roam around like that? I thought about this for the next couple of minutes the only sound was the occasion shuffling of the guards and the dripping of water.

“Fine, you can stay.” His face had the biggest grin I’ve ever seen. It could have easily match Pinkie Pie. “But if you cause too many problem it's right back into the head with you.” I said sternly.

“Sir. Yes, sir.” He saluted mockingly.

“Now with that solved, can you unshackle my hand? They’re starting to chafe.”

“No can do boss.” He said and plopped onto the bridge of my snout. “See those little runes on the wall. Those are cancelling out our chaos magic. So even though I’m here, I’m technically not at the same time”.

“So basically outside of these ruin you’d be able to help me, but here you can’t.” I summarized.

“Basically, though I’m surprised you haven’t tried locking picking your way out.” He said while tilting his head in confusion.

“Why would I have knowledge of-” I was about to retort when the knowledge of lock picking just showed up. It was weird. It felt like trying to remember a distant memory. Sure it’s there, but trying to remember what happened in great detail is very, very difficult. So there it was the random knowledge of lockpicking.

Do I dare want to question/argue about this right now? No, not really. But instead I’m going to use this as a…bargaining chip. Using my Eagle hand I got to work on freeing myself. After about two failed attempts, I was finally able to get my other hand free and quickly got to work on the other. About ten minutes later both my hands were free and I was able to move both of them. Although I made sure to hide that fact unless I wanted a whole squad of guards on me.

That’s when I heard the sound of a door opening/closing, followed by the sound of hoof steps. I could hear two females talking, but of what I couldn’t tell. Celestia was the first to enter, her face was flushed with hope--if that makes sense--,while Luna trailed right behind her. Though she had a more concerned look than her sister.

“Disarray, is it you?” Celestia asked, her eyes were red probably from crying and her voice was barely audible.

“Tia it’s not-” Luna tried to say, but her sister ignored her as she got up close. She was merely a foot away from me and surprised me as she started to cry softly begging to no one in particular.

I hesitated on answering. My mind was still too dumb founded at the scene playing before me. Here was Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria crying in front of a complete stranger in the hopes I was someone she knew. I look at Luna who was comforting her sister and she gave me a look, one that said-no. One that asked not to lie and play with her heart. Even Derange grew quite at the scene choosing to not make any smart remarks. He just gave me a look that said ‘your choice’ and disappeared to the recess of our mind.

Choosing my answer I was about to voice it out, but remembered that my mouth was still tied up. Grunting to get their attention, Celestia stared at me for the longest time. Her eyes pleaded for me to say yes, but with a heavy heart I shook my head no. She silently sobbed into her sister mane while, Luna gently rubbed her hoof through Celestia’s mane.

After what felt like an hour, Celestia finally calmed down enough to talk “*sniffs* Sorry about that.” Her voice returning back to normal, but her eyes still retaining that sad look. “I thought you were somepony else”.

“Mmmph mphrhmmr.” I said, my voice still muffled up by the thing around my mouth.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t spoken Pyrospenekian (Pyro-spen-eh-key-an) for a few thousand years could you repeat that.” Celestia asked nicely. I just stared at her flatly, if I could’ve facepalm I would have. I mean really Pyrospenekian that just sounds…so…I don’t even know anymore.

“Was it something I said?” She asked her sister, while Luna just shrugged and continued to watch with an amused grin. With a shake of my head I tried to motion with my head to tell them to take it off.

“Mmpmph mpphm mmhpfrpmfr.” Translation: ‘Take the stupid belt thing off so that I may talk.’

“Uhhhhh.” Celestia said looking completely lost at what I said.

“He said, ‘Hey Tia looks like you put on some weight’.” Luna said holding back a fit of giggles while Celestia glared at me.

“I’m not fat.” She said with a scowl.

“Mpmpmp mpmpm mmprf!”

“He said, ‘Sure you’re not’.” Luna ‘translated’ while still holding back her laughter, but failing miserably.

“I see.” She said as she continued to scowl at me. “Well than, let’s see how you like a thousand years as a statue.”

“Mphrf mphrfmpfhr! Pmrhfp!”

“Oh, oh, Tia. How about you banish him to the sun as a statue.” Luna piped in much to my dismay.

“That’s a terrific idea, Luna.” Celestia said as she smiled towards her sister who responded with a smile back.

“Welp, it was nice knowing you, but in the words of Bender, ‘We're boned’.” Derange said, his voice echoing in my mind.

Then from out of nowhere they both broke down laughing hysterically. I watched for five minutes as they laughed, occasionally saying how, ‘I should see the look on my face’ or ‘priceless’. Now to say the least I wasn’t confused at all. Ok, I was beyond confused as to what the fuck was going on. I looked at them in completely and utter confusion as they finally settled down. Celestia’s horn glowed and I felt the mouthpiece removed now allowing me to speak once more.

I choose my words very carefully to not only show my confusion, but to ask what was happening “What ta fuck?”

“I…I… ahem, I’m sorry. I believe this is what you aliens called being trolled.” Celestia said with a smirk, all sadness from before gone.

“And for kissing me.” Luna piped in, but was barely audible.

My mouth was a gap as I looked at them confused, after a couple of minutes, I regained my wits and responded back, “What ta fuck?”

~Hour and a half later~

“…and this is where you can stay for as long as you like.” Celestia said as she lead me to a bedroom chamber. Now I’m pretty sure none of you remember, but this place is fucking huge and apparently so are the rooms. The room I was going to stay in was easily twice the size of my small apartment that I rented back in New York. The room came with a bedroom the size of two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living room/kitchen. So having a room to myself this big was just, wow.

Oh yeah, I feel like I should mention what happened exactly. Well apparently when I kissed Luna my chaos magic activate on its own and showed her some of my memoirs. Nothing specific, but just enough for her to know that I was not originally a Draconequus and meant no harm. So originally, Celestia did think I was this Disarray guy--who I found out later was Celestia and Discord’s son (P.S. my mind was blown upon hearing that)--, and so the whole crying scene was real, but apparently Luna was still peeved that I kissed her so she wanted to troll me.

I don’t know who this ‘Griffin’ guy is, but why? Why tell them what trolling is? We don’t need a troll princess here. Anywho after a couple minutes of explaining this and talking about stuff in general they trusted me enough to let me go and to be an honored guest.

“Wow, this is one swingin’ pad.” Derange said as he flew around the room at speeds that could make Dash envy. Oh yeah, he also popped in on our conversation. At first they didn’t understand/like him, but after a couple minutes of talking to my crazy side they…still didn’t like him. Something about reminding them of Discord.

The room like I said was spacious, with red and gold as it main theme. There was a king size bed, a desk made out of--much to my laughing fit I got from Derange-- mahogany, and another room that lead to a very luxurious bathroom.

“It’s a…very nice.” I said lamely.

“I’m sorry. I know it’s one of the smaller guest room, but it was the only one available that comes to mind.” Celestia apologized.

‘This constitutes as small.’ I thought.

‘Well considering she’s Celestia and has been around the block we can only assume-’ Derange thought back, but he didn’t finish his thought as I ran over towards him and smacked him. His body soared through the air and smacked against the wall comically.

“Is something the matter?” Celestia asked. Luna suppressed her giggling fit while I now strangled the living hell out of him for making have those…adult-rated thoughts.

Sheepishly smiling, I quickly threw Derange like a rag doll. “Nothing at all. Everything’s A-ok”.

“If you say so-Oh look at the time. I must go now Drake, but we must continue our talk from earlier.” She said and disappeared in a flash of light. A couple of more things I forgot to add. P.s. don’t blame me. I’m a frickin Draconequus! I’m surprised my sentences are still coherent enough for others to understand.

One: Yeah, Drake the Draconequus. I know lame, but hey I couldn’t think straight at the time and I need a name so there. Two: I might have told them my ‘intentions’ about traveling around the world and spreading/fixing chaotic places in order to restore the balance. That got me mixed feeling, but ultimately they were fine with it. So long as I didn’t go crazy or over the top like Discord did.

So, here we are so far folks. I’m in Canterlot castle, with my own room, a crazy unconscious little me on the ground, and the lunar princess. There was only one reasonable course of action to take. “Want to get some breakfast?” I asked the lunar princess, just as the first rays of the sun illuminated the horizon.

“Hmmmm, sure.” She said. Leading the way she headed off towards the dining room, with me right behind her.

Couple of minutes later--which I still can’t understand how anyone doesn’t get lost here--,we arrived at the dining hall…is what I would like to say, but Luna had to file some documents or something and promised to be right back. So here I was all by myself in the dining hall waiting for my food/company. I’m so lonely.

‘You still have me.’ I heard Derange say, but I ignored him.

I was brought out of my inner monologue by the sound of a plate being set down. “Your breakfast, sir.” A strangely familiar female unicorn hissed and quickly walked off.

“Huh.” I said as I watched her leave, but then shrugged it off. Looking down at my plate I witness the most horrendous looking food ever to be seen in front of me. It was a simple order: chocolate chips pancakes with toast and scramble eggs, but what I got was a mold on a plate. The fluffy light brown pancakes were a sickening greenish blue with white fuzz all over it. The toast was just a giant white fuzz ball of bread and the eggs were…purple? Now you would think that this would smell just plain awful, but surprisingly I couldn’t smell anything wrong with it. To me it smelt…delicious? So either I’m starving to the point that moldy food smells good or Draconequus are fucking confusing creatures.

I sat there contemplating on if I should eat this when a silent poof was heard followed by the voice of the least favorite being I know so far. “No, it’s cool. I didn’t want breakfast. I’m not hungry or anything.” Derange whined as he sat across from me.

“One: You’re just an apparition. So you don’t need to eat. Two: We’re the same person. So when I eat you eat.” I said flatly.

“It’s the thought that counts.” He retorted.

I rolled my eyes and pushed my plate towards him. “Here have some.” I said sarcastically.

“Nah, I’m good.” He replied back with a cheeky grin.

If looks could kill Derange would’ve been dead. Which is a shame that I can’t since, I figured chaos magic would’ve been able to do something like that. I mean at least drop something on him for Pete’s sake. With a reluctant sigh I brought the plate back towards me and prepared myself to eat. As I drove my fork into the pancakes--set pancake making a disturbing squishing sound--, I brought it up to my lips and slowly ate my food. It…it was…surprisingly delicious. Now hear me out, yes the food was all moldy and gross looking. Even a bum wouldn’t be desperate enough to eat this abomination that sat in front of me, yet it was the most delicious thing I’ve ever had.

Derange began to chuckle. “How can you still be surprised about this sort of stuff dude? It’s chaos magic just accept it.”
With a nervous nod I ate my whole meal, but I was still feeling hungry. So I did the only thing I could think at the time. I brought the plate up to my mouth and chomped down on it. The sound of crushing ceramic could be heard. Good news: I didn’t start bleeding in the mouth and it filled me up. Bad news: It didn’t taste like anything. Derange was just laughing his ass off probably by the random eating habit I just displayed.

I just shrugged it off and took another bite of the plate somewhat enjoying the meal I had. “Did…did you just eat a plate?” Luna asked as I upchucked bits and pieces of the plate, surprised by her sudden appearance.

I looked at her, then to the plate and then back to her. With a sheepish smile I asked, “Want some?”

“N-no. I’m think I’ll stick to my normal routine thank you.” She said as she joined me and Derange at the dining table, but as soon as she sat down her eyes went wide in surprise moments later Derange did the same.

“Something wrong?” I asked, but immediately tensed up as I felt an unfamiliar presence on my back. “Derange, please tell me that’s you…and you are now sporting eight legs.” I asked calmly while the creature slowly made its way towards my shoulder.

“Don’t move.” Derange whispered as he slowly started to back away.

“Derange, don’t you dare leave me here by myself with it!” I hissed back, but remain perfectly still.

“I’ll be right back. Just. Don’t. Move.” He order and poofed away.

“Lunaaaa~.” I pleaded, but was thrown off guard at her reaction.

“Awwww, aren’t you just adorable.” She cooed at the creature to come further up. Set creature following her order as I felt it making its way towards my head.

“Luna, stop encouraging it.” I hissed/pleaded to her.

“But it's so cute, aren’t you? Yes you are. Who’s a cute little sp-” She said making--well even though this situation sucks--a cute little wub face.

“Don’t say that word.” I pleaded, as I barely held myself together.

“What? Spider?” She asked confused. The moment she said that two thing happened: one a spider as big as my palm hopped down on the bridge of my snout and second the girliest scream you’ve never heard escaped my lips as I flipped the table over and ran right through the wall. Then everything kind blurred out.

~Scene change throne room~

“Yes Lord Caesar, I will immediately look into your predicament-” Celestia said to the male Earth pony when suddenly a girly scream could be heard which was followed by the sound of a lot of breaking sounds.

“Your highness?” The grey stallion asked with concern. The sound of mayhem went on for a few minutes until it then suddenly just stopped.

“I’m sure it was nothing. Now where were we?” She asked, but as soon as she did the sound of screaming came back in full force followed by the sound of one of the window breaking.

“DISCORD!” Caesar said and promptly fainted.

“Your highness is everything…alright.” The guards shouted, but stopped to watch the crazed Draconequus run around the room with a giant black spider. The spider had a red intricate splotch on its back though more importantly--at the time--was the amazing gripping ability it had, has it held onto the crazed Draconequus for dear life.

“GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!” I shouted as I ran towards the guards.

“Wah~! Get away from us!” The guards shouted as they ran away from me while I chased after them, in a cartoonish like fashion. ‘Bloody cowards!’

‘I’m going to die! I’m going to die! But, I’m too young to die!’ I roared in my head as I looked for another solution. Then like a beacon of hope I saw my sanctum. Princess Celestia. She was sitting in her throne while rays of light dancing around her form. Surely she would help me in my time of need. Changing course I headed towards her and frantically screamed help. Then the most unthinkable thing happened. She abandoned me. Doomed me to my fate. No, forsaken me to this creature of pure and utter terror. She took to the skies and flew out of reach from me, but thanks to my knowledge of random things--plus fear is a good motivator--, I took to the skies after her.

“Keep it away! Keep it away!” She yelled as we both flew around the ceiling of the throne room, but thanks to my skinnier frame I was slowly catching up to her.

We twist, turned, and swerved all over the throne room, but then suddenly she went up high straight towards the ceiling with me ever so slowly catching up to her. “YOU'RE GOING TO HELP ME!” I yelled only a few feet away. Until she suddenly turned around--horn glowing with magic--and released a torrent of blazing red hot fire. Being burned to death is a terrible way to go. It feels like every single part of you is slowly being peeled off layer by layer and mixed with the smell of burnt flesh. *shudders* It’s just a bad way to go.

Lucky for me that’s not what was happening. Just like out of a cartoon--which has been happening a lot lately--,I was just laying down on the ground in a small crater covered in black suet. Celestia tentatively walked towards me, flanked near her were her guards sharing a look of fear. “*coughs up a small black cloud* D-did you get it?” I asked my body cover in suet as I slowly got up.

“I think so-” She said, but her eyes widen in surprise and took a step back her guards taking a step back as well.
Ever so slowly I turned around and look into the fiery beast of hell itself. No, seriously. It was on fucking fire and still alive. So let’s do some math kiddies: Spider + anywhere = bad, fire +anywhere = bad and so we can assume that spider + fire = end of the world. I screamed the grisliest scream you’ve never heard of once more and ran around the room. The spider now holding onto my tail for dear life.

I ran and ran as fast as my legs could go while my arms flailed in the air. In hind sight I looked like a total idiot, but hey there was a freakin hell spider the size of my palm on my tail. So yeah, let’s see how calm you’re when that happens. That was until I hit a barrier powered by our very own Princess. We locked eyes for a minute and I knew by the way she was looking at me that I was a goner. I pleaded to her to let me in. To save me in any form possible, but she didn’t and only mouthed out an apology. So here I was, second day in Equestria and I was going to die. Forsaken by the kindest ruler in all the lands to the child of Satan himself.

...Life is a really ass clown.

The sound of a door being slammed open was heard. Standing in the doorway was the messiah himself. The one being in the world that would save me from my blight, Derange. “Don’t worry Drake I’m a comin’.” He said while carrying what looked like a simple iron bucket.

“It’s…it’s too late. Save yourself.” I replied back all my hope lost in a blink of an eye. *insert cheesy sad music*

“NO!” he roared and continued to make his way over towards me. “I have that foul creature one true weakness!” he proclaimed.

“Can’t you see it’s immuned to fire. What else could it be weak too?” I yelled back.

“Lava.” Derange said with a mad smile as he now held up the bucket of lava to be thrown.

“What the hell are you waiting for then!? *end cheesy music* THROW THE DAMN LAVA AT ME!” I yelled as I ran towards my savior. Again this is probably the most stupid or uncharacteristic thing I’ve done since I came to Equestria, but you know what they say ‘When life gives you lemons, you make combustible lemons and burn their house down’ or something along those lines.

Time slow to a crawl as we both made our way towards one another. Me with the deadly arachnid and him with a bucket of lava, thank you minecraft logic. Then the unthinkable happened, it disappeared in a flash of light just as Derange threw the gallon of liquid hot lava on me. I was surprised--which there really shouldn’t be a reason anymore--to find that I wasn’t melting/burning into a pile of complete nothingness, but instead felt like I was splashed with boiling hot water…but it wasn’t water…and I was on fire.

“FIRE! FIRE! OH SWEET MOTHER OF NINJA RAPTURE JESUS! I’M ON FIRE!” I screamed as I resumed my running around the room once more.

“Oh, shit! My brown.” Derange said and started to dig into his feathered coat. “No. Not there. Definitely not that. AH, HA! Found it.” He said now holding up a clear jar with a light gold colored liquid in it...Oh no.

“DON’T YOU FUC-” I didn’t get to finish my sentence.

“JARATE!” He yelled and threw the gold liquid at me. Well it did what it was suppose to do as I now felt the--disgustingly--cool liquid all over my body, but it also reached somewhere it wasn’t suppose to.

“AW, EWWWW! *starts to spit and scratch my tongue* IT GOT IN MY MOUTH SOMEONE GET ME A TIC TAC!” I yelled trying not to remember the tast-NOPE! Not going to think about it.

Derange just sheepishly smiled while scratching the back of his head. “Well, at least I got rid of the spider and put you out, Right?” He said while I glared holes through his head.

“No, you didn’t.” Celestia said as she was now hiding behind her throne while the guards hid behind some curtains.

“What? *feels something on my chest* You gotta be freaking kidding me?” I questioned. Looking down I saw the invincible hell spider still alive. “Fuck it. I’m done. Game over.” I said and flopped to the ground awaiting my inevitable death.

“There- *deep breathing* -you are. I’ve been looking for-” Luna said and stopped and made the most adorable face you’ve never seen. “Awwww, she likes you.” Making her way over towards me she lifted the abomination off of me, brought it over towards her, and held it like a newborn child. “I think I’ll call you Mitzy.” she cooed, the creature purring like a cat in approval. “I didn’t know you were so good with animals.” Luna said.

“Yeah, me neither.” I sarcastically replied back, but was met with deaf ears as she continued to love the living hell out of it. Granted you can’t do that with a spider since they are hell themselves, but you get what I mean.

“Say Tia can I keep her pleassssse.” Luna said as she put on a pouty face, which was a full blown Dawwwwww for my reaction.

“Uh, yes just keep…Mitzy away from the area where we have guest. We wouldn’t want what happen to Chuck happening again.” Celestia said as she carefully came out from her hiding spot.

“You're right. I still don’t know how the Dragon leader felt the need to use a piano and to set it on fire over an itty bitty spider.” Luna said, but shrugged it off. “Oh well come on Mitzy let me show you your new home.” She said and placed…Mitzy on her back. Just as she walked out of view I could’ve sworn the spider gave me the best ‘Problem’ face. Then again I wasn’t really paying attention to the spider on her back, but instead I was attentively looking at her fl…cutie mark.

“As her older sister,” Celestia said as I felt a magic aura surround me and pulled me in front of her. “I feel that I should warn you that if you make her cry, you’ll will get a most deserving of punishments.” She said as she released me from her magic grip and flashed me an evil grin. “Also Luna has a lot of…interesting hobbies so do be ready for that.” Celestia add and started to head off.

“Like bondage cause from what I heard/felt it wasn’t too comfortable.” Derange teased.

“Well, it was her idea to put on those extra straps.” Celestia winked while flashing us a trollish grin. Getting the last remark she left with the guards tailing after her.

Derange and I were both silent, mouth a gap as we processed this information. “Damn~ Kinky Luna is kinky.” Derange said with a low whistle and continued. “So we still gonna tap that or-” he didn’t get to finish as I bitched slapped him.

“Were not going to tap that.” I said with a scowl and continued. “Until the third date…hopefully.” Yeah call me ambitious--hell call me crazy or insane--, but there was something about Luna that attracted me towards her. I wasn’t sure of what yet, but I did know one thing. I’ve been given a new chance at life. Free from the boring/orderly routine that I was so comfortable with and like hell I wasn’t going to give this new way of living a chance. But first things first.

“It time to assemble ‘The Team’.” I said as I looked towards Derange, while he gave me a knowing smile.

Assembling the team?

“No.” Derange said flatly as we just entered our temporary room.

“But-”

“I said NO!” He yelled, now clearly annoyed. And let me tell you to finally get back at that little jackass felt so good.

“Still don’t see what the big deal is.” I replied back nonchalantly as I sat down in one of the chairs in my room.

“Of course you wouldn’t Mr. Unoriginal.” He said with a roll of his eyes.

“What? Traveling with the mane six is totally original!” I replied back.

“Look I could sit here for hours and explain WHY that is so unoriginal and also not possible, but I’m going to save us the headache and just say no. So deal with it.” He said with a determined look.

“Fine, fine you win. I’ll think of someone or somepony else to travel with, but could I at least hug them?” I asked. What don’t judge me all bronies want to at least hug them.

“Fine one hug for one minute” he said.

“Ten.”

“One.”

“Five and I won’t bitch slap you for any rude comments for the rest of the day.”

He thought about it for a moment, lightly tapping is eagle claw against his chin. “Deal.” He agreed and we shook on it. A second later a strange looking device, that reminded me of the Engineers building schematics showed up in his hand. He then began to scroll through the list of possible names of--what I assume-- was everypony know to existent. “Ok, we’re all good to go. Just remember five minutes.” He said.

“Of hugtime right not duration of them being here?” I asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I took account of that.” He said dismissively and pushed a couple of buttons. I was then momentarily blinded by a flash of light, but then stood there mouth agape as I watched the six ponies slowly get over their disorientation of the unannounced teleport.

“DISCORD!” Rainbow Dash yelled being the first one to get her bearings and flew up close, merely an inch away from my face. “What are YOU doing back? Didn’t we just turn you into stone and why do you look different as well?” She asked question after question.

Now I’m rather calm in any given situation. So naturally I responded quite intelligently, “OH MY GOD! I’m being interrogated by Rainbow Dash.”

“Yo skittles mind calming down a bit.” Derange said as he relaxed on my shoulder.

“Who you callin’ skittles shorty.” Dash retorted as she now sized him up.

“Hey I’m not short, I’m merely a fabrication of this guys repressed psyche!” He shouted back.

“Sorry all I heard was blah blah blah I’m an egghead blah.” Dash said tauntingly.

“Wow you an egghead that’s a laugh. Also can you please stop yelling near my ear.” I said to Derange, but was ignored as he flew over towards Dash.

“At least I’m not a fillyfooler.”

“W-what did you just call me?” Dash asked rather calmly her face turning a shade of red.

“F-i-l-l-y-f-o-o-l-e-r.” Derange taunted as he spelled it out, only to dodge a right hook--or is it hoof-- from Dash. “Sorry sweet cheeks, but no cigar.” He taunted with a cheeky grin while dodging another punch. “Or should it be dice? Since I don’t know if you guys smoke or anything.” He continued with a questioning look while lightly tapping his chin in a thinking manner. Miraculously he was still dodging the barrage of blue hooves.

“That’s it. You're dead!” Dash yelled out in rage as she charged forwards only to phase right through Derange and smack full force right into a wall.

“Oohh, that’s gonna leave a mark.” I said with a slight cringed.

“Dash, y'all alright?” AJ asked as she helped Dash on her feet.

“Yeah, I will be right after I knock that smug smile off his face.” She roared and flew off towards Derange once more. Although Derange was now sporting a matadors outfit and holding a red cape beside him.

“OLE!” He yelled as Dash passed him. “Come on, Torero. Come on.” He taunted as he waved the red cape in front of him. Dash just screamed out in rage and charged head first.

“O-” Derange was about to say only to barely dodge the rainbow haired Pegasus. “Holy crap that was-” He tried to say once more, but had to jump-- even though they’re up in the air-- out of the way as Dash flew past him once more. “Would you calm down sprinkles it was a joke!” Derange cried out as he flew around the room with Dash right on his tail.

“Shouldn’t we stop them?” Twilight asked as she watched little me and Dash fly around the entire room.

“Nah, best to just let them wear themselves out.” I replied nonchalantly while motioning the others to take a seat. With a snap of my finger I summoned a tray full of tea cups and a kettle. Pouring some tea I then began to pass it to the girls.

“Oh, uh, thank you, Sir-?” Rarity asked with a nervous grin.

“Drake, Drake the Draconequus and the little guy is Derange.” I said while I gestured towards him.

“WHY IS NO ONE STOPPING THIS CRAZY MARE!?” Derange yelled as he zoomed by us, a rainbow trail followed closely behind.

“You reap what you sow.” I replied back and took a sip of my tea, the others soon joining me.

“So uh, Drake, is there a particularly reason why we were summoned to Canterlot? And for that matter why you’re here?” Twilight asked, but she seemed unfazed by my very presence, which has been a mixed result of panic/crying/anger/hate and my personal favorite bring out the torches and let’s go on a monster hunt.

“Well you see Twilight.” Derange began as he appeared right next to her, causing her to jump up in surprise. “When a mommy Draconequus and a daddy Draconequus love each other very much they-” he said and started to do simple…motions with his hands.

“No, Derange I think she means why we’re here. And also.” I said and pointed to the blue blur that was coming towards them.

“Oh shit. Thought I lost her.” He said with a straight face and flew away.

“Lost her…in this room…where you didn’t leave or where there’s nowhere to hide.” Rarity said slowly, trying to process his logic.

“It’s best just to assume he’s like Pinkie Pie, but more annoying rather than funny.” I said with a shrug. She accepted that answer with a knowing nod and brought up her tea to drink. “As for why I brought you here, it was simply to meet the legendary heroes of Equestria. The ones who defeated the Mare in the Moon and sealed the crazed Draconequus Discord to stone.” I said with a friendly smile, which was returned with a few nervous ones.

“But more importantly he’s a pervert who wants to hug you.” Derange said as he flew by.

The girls just look at me with raised brows waiting for my response. Scratch that only AJ, Rarity and Twilight were doing that. Pinkie was just giving a really huge-- yet creepy smile-- while Fluttershy was hiding behind Rarity. “So I’m guessing hugs are out of the question?” I asked with a nervous grin.

They looked at one another and with their strange female mind reading/talking power all silently agreed on something. “Control him and we’ll talk” They said and gestured towards Derange.

“Deal.” I said while summoning a top hat. Shoving my hand within the content of set hat I began to dig for something. After a couple of minutes of me throwing random things out of the hat such as a cactus, some swords, a mango--I’m not sure why, but for some reason I felt like laughing at someone else’s expense--, a piñata, a pina colada--which was delicious by the way--, a pip-boy 3000--which I stowed away for later--, Bender the robot--who wasn’t happy to be here--, the Twilight series --which I immediately forced Bender to shred into millions of little pieces and burned them, but it came with a heavy sacrifice as the pages killed Bender…thank god he’s just a cartoon and there’s no repercussions of summoning him here--, a toaster, Mitzy--Yeah I’m just going to put you back--Companion Cube--OH BUCK YEAH, KEEPING--, a ripped pair of boxers--I had the strangest feeling that I was going to be fed to Cerberus--, a yo-yo, and…Princess Luna?

“Oh thank the stars. Quick I don’t care how you’re doing this, but get me out of there!” Luna pleaded.

“Wut?” I said confused, but then I felt someone else pulling Luna back through the hat.

Luna’s eyes widen in panic. “Quickly before she pulls me back, I don’t want to sit through another minute of that awfully boring meeting.”

I was about to pull back, but suddenly Celestia’s head popped out of the hat…what the fuc… “Hello Drake, Oh and hello Twilight and friends.” She said nicely, but then turned her head towards Luna with a slight scowl. Also be in mind that both the princess heads are sticking out of set hat. “Luna, you can’t keep ditching these meeting they’re important to make sure you’re integrating back into our culture correctly.”

“But Tiaaaa.” Luna whined “There so boringggggg. How about instead we ditch the meeting and go have some fun.” She begged and then used the good all puppy eyes technique.

“Luna we can’t just-” Celestia tried to say, but Luna interrupted her.

“We could always go to that cake shop you like.”

“Well it has been quite some time since we spent time together.” She said, quickly caving in to the proposition.

“Then it’s decided.” Luna said with a quick nod and…turned around giving me an interesting view of her…cutie mark, a light blush spreading across my face.

“Dat fla-” Derange tried to say, but was knocked over by a blue blur.

Celestia sighed, “Just like flight school all over again.” Though that was quickly changed to a yelp as she leapt at of the hat and onto the couch next to me.

“Come on, Tia let’s go.” Luna said as she sat next to her sister, her horn glowing with magic. “Bye girls, bye Drake.” Luna said and then in a flash of light they were both gone.

“Well that was…interesting.” I said after about five minutes of staring at where the royal princess once sat, the girls looking at the same spot with their mouths a gap. I then slowly set the top hat down on the table as if it was time bomb waiting to explode, granted ignoring the nuke that I may or may not have chucked out the window. I then got up and made my way towards Derange and Dash. Dash trying to beat the ever loving shit out of Derange, while the latter dodge the onslaught of punches with the finesse of an eel or something equivalent to that…maybe a worm.

“Alright you two break it up.” I said as I grasped both of them by their necks. Derange hung there crossing his arms like he didn’t do anything wrong while Dash kept, you ever see someone hold back someone else with one hand while the person kept on swing punches, it was pretty much that.

“He/She started it!” They both yelled in unison while pointing towards one another.

“Yeah and I’m ending it!” I yelled as I walked back towards the couch. I sat Dash down on the chair with her friends and threw Derange towards the couch I was sitting on.

“Special treatment much.” He said the couch muffling up his words.

“Be grateful it was the couch and not the floor.” I retorted as I sat back down, the girls were now catching Dash up with what was going on.

“Um, if you don’t mind me asking, are you related to, uh, Discord? I mean, there nothing wrong with that it’s just-” Fluttershy asked, but trailed off.

“Uh, Derange are we related to Discord in anyway?” I asked my counterpart not entirely sure, but had at least a good idea.

“Well if I recall correctly, we’re Discord’s brother’s mother’s twice removed cousin’s nephew’s best friend’s former roommate.” Derange said the girls tilting their heads in confusion.

“What the hay does that even make you?” Dash yelled out in annoyance.

“Absolutely nothing.” Derange said with a smirk which quickly changed to him flinching as the blue mare tried to fly over towards and smack him across the face, but was being stopped by a light purplish glow.

“Derange.” I said with a growl.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sooooo sorry for everything.” He said sarcastically and lied down no longer interested.

“So about that hug.” I said with happy go lucky smile.

They looked at one another and with a nod of agreement Twilight said “Twenty seconds.”

“Five minutes.”

“Twenty seconds.”

“Three minutes.”

“Half a minute.”

“One and a half minutes.”

“Half a minute.”

“One minute.”

“…Deal (Barter pass successful, plus 10% experience).” Twilight agreed while I screamed like the little fan gir…I mean boy…screw it I’m happy and that all that matters.

“Group hug.” Pinkie screamed with a big happy smile. Her arms stretched around her friends, myself and even Derange as she brought us into a big group hug. And by the gods, goddess, and whatever else exist out there it was the greatest hug I’ve ever been a part of. Even after the minute passed and we sent them on their way I still had the biggest grin plastered on my face.

“So pervert, you ready to look for some ponies to travel with.” Derange said as he lightly slapped the back of my head, which I returned with a full blown sucker punch to gut. “Hey! You promised you wouldn’t hit me.” Derange said as he clutched his stomach.

“No, I promised I wouldn’t bitch slap you, not punch you.” I said with a sly smile.

He thought about it for a second and smiled right back. “Looks like I’m rubbing off on you.”

“Yeah don’t remind me.” I said with roll of my eyes. “So,” I said and cracked my fingers. “Let’s do this.”

~Half an hour later~

“Ok, what about Berry Punch?” I asked, listing off another pony name that I could recall.

“Hmmm, nope taken.” Derange answered with a bored expression.

I just groaned in annoyance, being that was the hundredth or so time he said that to me. “Ok, how about Vinyl?”

“Nope.”

“Doctor Whooves?”

“Nope and you already listed him.”

“Lyra?”

“And another side of nope on that.” Derange said as he scrolled through the list of names.

“Ok seriously, this is getting us nowhere. Couldn’t we scroll through the list of ponies who are quote on quote ‘not taken or being used’?” I asked him. He tilted his head in a thinking like gesture, which turned into a full blown look of realization. “You’re kidding me?” I asked with disbelief. “We could have done that from the very beginning!?”

“Whoops.” Was his response and he then began to hit buttons and turn some knobs while I face clawed/palmed.

“You know if I could kill you without there being repercussions, I would.” I said while rubbing the bridges of my eyes.

“Aww that’s the nicest thing I’ve ever heard.” He said placing a hand on his--where I assume--heart. “Now get the door.” He deadpanned. Before I could even ask there was a knock at the door.

With a groan of annoyance I got up and opened the door to see a royal guard standing there. “T-the P-princesses require y-your presence in the throne room.” He stuttered out. I could tell he was a private or whatever chain of command they use because A) he didn’t have the lame fancy armor the other knights had and B) he looked like he was going to piss himself.

“Yo, Derange were needed. Let’s go.” I waved for my partner in crime to come along. He just floated on over towards my shoulder--muttering a shit load of curses--and sat right down as he continued to mess with the summoning device.

“Lead the way.” I gestured for the noob to show me the way. A few minutes passed as we made our way towards the throne room. Derange was ‘fixing’ the device after he raged and threw it towards the ground smashing it into a thousand little pieces. The guard every so often dared a glance towards us, but quickly turned back and continued leading us towards the throne room. Which I might add he was doing a far better job than guard 9 who pissed himself and fainted.

While I played with my newly acquired Pip-Boy…oh what the. “Hey Derange I got jibbed. This isn’t a Pip-Boy 3000.” I said as I finished strapping it on. Looking closer at it I should have notice the key difference between them. The one I had was sleeker than the original about my wrist too little than halfway towards my elbow. The metal, knobs, and buttons were all brand spanking new so they were more shiny and less worn out than the version I’ve seen in the game. But after scrolling through the screens I notice a lack of things. I couldn’t access my EFS (Eyes Forward Sparkle) and when I tried to access SAT it didn’t work, but everything else was there. A radio, map, item menu and a little pip version of a Draconequus.

“Let me see.” He said annoyed and walk on over towards the Pip-Boy, took a quick glance at it, and returned to his spot on my shoulder continuing his maintenance on the device.

“Well?” I asked after a couple minutes of silence.

“Hmmm? Oh, yeah. So basically it is the 3000, but it isn’t at the same time.” He said while continuing his work, not once taking his eyes off his work.

“So that means?” I asked.

“Get over it.” He deadpanned and continued. “You should realize chaos magic is complicated. Just because you have control over it doesn’t mean you have full control of what will happen.”

“Well…that’s a bunch of crap. What if I summoned I don’t know a grenade but it doesn’t explode. I’m basically screwed and the whole summon was pointless.”

“Meh, you get what you get and be grateful you even got one to begin with. Besides it will more than likely work for something so trivial as a grenade.” He said. He paused momentarily to look at me with now wearing a white doctor's coat and horned rim glasses. “If it were to be let’s say a magic weapon from a different universe then it may or may not work. There’s also the chance that if it does work it wouldn’t be as powerful or effective as it should be in our world”.

“So in other words Chaos magic is limited to certain things/aspects and could lead to random consequences.” I elaborated with my alter ego.

“Precisely. Now if you wouldn’t mind.” He said as he pointed to the broken device. “I’ve still got a shit load of work to do. So I think I’ll just head on back into our mind.” An eye blink later and he was back into the recess of my mind.

With nothing better to do or anybody to talk to, I decided to look over my Special out of sheer boredom. What? I’m still gonna keep it. If anything it’s an oversize clock that can also work as a map. Practical and useful.

‘Let’s see here: Strength: 7, Perception: 6, Endurance: 6, Charisma: 5, Intelligence: 6, Agility: 10, Luck: 3. Wow on Agility and Luck would explain most of things that have happened so far.’ I thought to myself and even though my luck was really low, I really didn’t consider myself unlucky. Just that bad things seemed to happen more often than good.

With a shrug I scrolled over towards my perks

Chaos Powered: You gain an additional 1 point to all special as long as you’re in a Chaotic area or near a Chaotic individual(Derange doesn’t count) and regenerate health at a quicker pace the more Chaotic it is.

Natural Interpreter: You seem to be able to speak any and all languages, including animals. Ain’t that a big middle finger to those that have to learn.

Draconequus Knowledge: Thanks to your Chaos magic, you know just about everything, but when and where or how long is undecided.

Random skills are random: One day your speech is 30 the next it’s 10. All skills change every opportunity it gets for either better or worse.

Say Hello to my Little Friend: Derange is you, or a part of you, allowing him to get into the fight as well, but be warned if he gets hurt you get hurt and vice versa.

‘Huh and I’m apparently only level 5…cool.’ I thought and closed up my Pip-Boy just as we arrived to the throne room.

“Here we are, Sir.” The guard said as he opened the door for me.

“Thanks guard number 13. Also you did much, much better than guard 8.” I said and went in closing the door before he could respond back. “Also give him my regards, last time I saw him he had a random seizure for unexplained reasons.”

“But my name is-” He tried to say, but I walked away and couldn’t make out what he said. What? Don’t judge me they all look the frickin same and I can’t tell them apart. Anywho I walked on over towards the Princesses, who were just sitting in their royal thrones looking all Princesscy like.

…I don’t care about how that sounds, I just got hug by the mane six, so I’m really happy right now.

“Hello, Drake you seem rather happy.” Celestia said with a friendly smile.

“Yes did Derange promise to go away or something along those lines?” Luna asked with a playful smirk.

“Not on your life sweet cheeks.” Derange said as he popped up right between them, but was quickly thrown away by both of their magic.

“Weren’t you busy?” I asked as Derange dust himself off.

“I was but then I remembered I could just bring out the newer version.” He said and with a quick snap of his fingers summoned an exact copy of the first one.

“And the difference between the two is?” I asked.

“Muffin button.”

“Muffin button?”

“Muffin button.” He said and pushed a small yellow button. In a puff of purple smoke a chocolate chip muffin came to be.

“Cake would have been better.” Celestia added in.

“I’d preferred brownies.” Luna decided to add in to our little conversation and it was the best opinion so far.

“I love you.” I said quietly, but apparently not quite enough.

“What was that Drake? I didn’t hear you?” Luna asked as she came face to face with me…personal space much.

“N-nothing at all.” I quickly spluttered out, a small blush spreading across my muzzle. “So you needed to see me/us?” I asked quickly changing the subject.

“Ah, yes it was about you traveling around Equestria and spreading…chaos.” Celestia started her voice going dangerously low. “I do not think that is such a good idea, so I’m going to have to ask you not to.”

“You do realize, that we do what we want and there nothing you can do to stop us.” Derange said hostilely.

“Well except make you wanted criminals, send an entire army of knights after you, and my personal favorite use the Elements of Harmony on you and seal you for couple thousand years.” She replied back with a smug grin.

“Well, yeah, I guess you could do that couldn’t you.” Derange said and became eerily quiet.

“But you won’t.” I said as everyone turned to look at me. My feature were calm yet held an air of authority. ‘Business mode’ is what it was dubbed back home and I often used it when business proposals went south. Most of the time it worked other times it didn’t, but hey you can’t win them all. So I never let it get to me. The only sad thing about that is the fact that I could never access it whenever I wanted to, which would have been oh so helpful during blackjack or poker night, but I digress. In other words I had a look, much like Zoolander or Fluttershy.

“Because I know you can feel it too Celestia, the change this world is going through.” I continued and gestured out the window. “We both know right now that there’s more chaos than order out there thanks to the pieces in this little ‘Chess Game’ you gods are playing. That the scale is out of wack, but that’s where I come in.” I said with a grin. “So in reality you can’t stop me. Oh no, you need me to fix it because what better way to fix chaos than with chaos itself or how the old saying goes ‘fight fire with fire’.”

“And how do we know that you’ll keep your word instead of just making things worse?” Luna asked with suspicion.

“Yes, even though I’ve shown you no reason to doubt me, I didn’t expect you to trust me off the bat.” I replied back my face remaining its professional like way. “So, I propose that you find someone to keep an eye on me a…watcher if you will. And if for any reason I show/give reason to doubt then I’ll either come back peacefully and explain why I did what I did or I’ll run and you’ll have to come and chase me, but I doubt I would just run away without a good reason though.” I said finishing up my proposal. “Well, do we have a deal?” I asked as I held out my hand.

Without missing a beat they turned to one another and from what I could tell have an internal conversation with one another. Just like all the other women I’ve ever met. Damn women and their mind reading/talking powers! After a couple of minutes, I put my hand back towards my side and patiently waited for them to be done

“After much debating we’ve agreed upon your terms Drake(Barter successful, plus 10% experience).” Luna said as she held out her hoof for me to shake, which I did.

“But we will be choosing the one to…keep an eye on you of course. I assume there won’t be any problem with that.” Celestia said and held out her hoof as well, which I shook.

“I wouldn’t have asked it to be any other way.” I said with a genuine smile, which was returned. “But if you don’t mind I’d preferred if the individual was a flyer so that way I may travel at a quicker pace.” I said and gestured towards my wings.

“We will look into that right away.” Celestia said and they were about to leave but I just had to know something before they left.

“Princesses if I may, I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”

“Yes?” They both asked simultaneously.

“Do you know the whereabouts of any or all pieces?”

They looked at one another and…god damn it! Stop using mind speech and just whisper to one another like normal huma…pon…like normal creature of high intelligence. “I’m sorry Drake, but that is against the rules.” Celestia said with a firm nod Luna mimicking her.

‘Don’t worry Drake I got this.’ Derange said to me and pulled out a small silver tube with a red light at the top. “Excuse me Princesses, but could you do me a favor and-” He tried to say holding up the object so they could get a better look while slowly putting on some shades, but I grabbed the object and him.

“Excuse us for one moment.” I said with a nervous, but friendly smile and started to whisper to him a bit too loudly. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

“Uh, I was going to get us some answer dude.” He whispered back nonchalantly.

“How in the bloody pits of Tartarus were you going to get answer by erasing their memories?”

“What? No, no I was going to make them forget that they were game master or players or whatever they call themselves, and then after they answered our questions make them forget that I made them forget.” He said with a straight face. I double faced palm out of the sheer stupidity that is my alter ego.

“Ok, one.” I said as I grabbed the small device from him. “That is not how this device works and we’re not doing that to begin with.” I finished and chucked it out the window.

A small explosion could be heard followed by, “MY Cabbages! *the sound of weeping* What evil pony would do such a thing?”

“What don’t look at me like that?” I said as everyone in the room looked at me like I did something wrong.

“Great job, genius. Now we can’t get the information we want.” Derange said annoyed.

“No we still have a way.” I said to him with a mischievous grin. “A much better way.” With a wave over my right eye, I closed and reopened set eye for it to change. Instead of having the servant like eye it instead looked like a paper bird with a crimson color. “I command you to answer all my questions!” I commanded, the bird like pupil projecting out of my socket and streak towards them.

Before they could react or say anything their eyes began to glow an ominous red around their pupils. “What do you wish to know?” They asked simultaneously.

“I would like to know-” I tried to ask but Derange beat me to the punch.

“How many ponies or other creatures have you slept with?” I was going to beat the living shit out of him, but I was glad to hear or in this case not hear the princesses answer his question. “Hey what gives you’re suppose to answer our questions.”

“We refuse to answer any and all question that you ask.” Luna said with a growl.

“Wow, you two really hate him don’t you.” I said with chuckle.

“More than you can possibly imagine.” Celestia said.

“Well, that just racist.” Derange said, but was ignored.

“How many players are here now?”

“We can’t answer that.” They said at the same time. “It is against the rules.”

“Damn, ok give me a sec-Ah, Ha.” I said after a couple of seconds of thinking I found a loophole. “Ok, how many aliens have arrived here in Equis?”

“We are not sure of how many have arrived and how many more will arrive.” They answered.

“Ok, how many do you know of so far and where are they?”

“About ten or so, Griffin the Griffon is traveling towards the Gem Fido. Echo the Diamond Dog, but we are not sure as to where he’s going or at. There are others, but we are not sure who, what or where they are as of right now.”

“So basically, you got jack shit.” Derange summarized.

“In other words, yes.” Celestia said with a nod.

“Ok, well uh, that was rather pointless. Great, just great.” I said as I rubbed my eyes in annoyance.

“So,” Derange started as he leaned against the side of my head “If you’re done asking them question-”

“No”

“Bu-”

“I said, no!” I yelled at him. “You’re just going to ask them sex questions and I really don’t want to hear the answer to them.”

“AH! I feel insulted.” Derange said faking ignorance and continued. “Not ALL of my questions are perverted you know.” My response was to look at him with raised brows, the princess joining in as they bored holes through his head. “Ok, so most of them are a bit on the perverted side, but you should still give me a chance.”

“You know what go ahead ask, but I swear if it’s-”

“Relax.” He said. Clearing his throat he flew over towards the Princesses. “So who are your game pieces?” He asked. I was left dumbfounded at the sheer genius that he displayed.

“We refuse to answer that.” They replied back plainly.

“So that means you are indeed playing this ‘Chess Game’ and that you have pieces here.” He elaborated. My mind exploded at this part where he showed that he could actually think higher than at a fourth grade level. They were silent for a few moments debating whether they should/could answer the question or not. Eventually they just nodded their heads. “So how many?”

“I have one already here but she may not be very happy with me. I plan to bring a couple more, but who knows.” Luna answered.

“I have already decided on one, but I plan to bring him here just before the Gala. I might bring a couple more, but I’m not entirely sure either.” Celestia answered.

“You’re welcome.” He said as he flew back towards my shoulder while my mouth was to the roof. No, really instead of my mouth going down it went up like a…you know what just assume most of the things I do is like a cartoon. It’ll save me time and money, but mostly time. “Oh, I almost forgot.” Derange said and quickly flew back. “Tell me your most embarrassing secrets.” He said with a wicked grin.

“Yeah that’s not going to happ-” I tried to say, but Celestia just had to say something

“I refuse to tell you mine, but Luna over here mooned somepony back in flight school.” My jaw went back to say hello to his friend Mr. Ceiling while Derange broke out into a laughing fit.

“TIA! You swore you’d never tell anypony.” Luna said with a scowl on her face accompanied by a side of a red blush. “Hey Derange this one time Tia-” she tried to say, but I stopped her before anything else could be heard.

“No. Done, I’ve no more questions.” I said about to release them from my grasp when a wild thought occurred. “Say Luna if I were to hypothetically ask you on a date when I came back, what would be your answer?” I asked her…don’t judge I’m shy around females if you didn’t get that.

“Hypothetically speaking-” She said and paused for what seemed like forever. “I’d say yes.” She said and finished with a sly grin…troll.

“Ok, then.” I said and with a snap of my fingers all of our eyes returned to normal.

Celestia was the first to snap out of it and thank the gods that they didn’t remember a thing. “Sorry, Drake I seemed to have dozed off there you were saying?”

“Nothing. Just if you could make sure the pony who’s keeping an eye on me is a Pegasus that would be great. Well got to go and what not, bye.” With that me and Derange teleported back to our room. “Wait a tick.” I said as I realized something. “If we could teleport why didn’t we from the very beginning?” I asked my counterpart.

“Cause the author’s forgetful.” Was his response. Before I could question what he was talking about he asked, “So did you figure out who we’re traveling with?”

“Actually, yes I believe so. In hindsight I should have thought of them in the beginning, but I need to talk to someone else regardless if they are being used or not.” I told Derange with a serious look.

“Who?”

“Gilda.”

“Why?”

“From what I got so far--from the princesses and rumors here and there-- Gilda may or may not have been a slave or she was at least familiar with them and I want to hear her opinion on it.”

“Bullshit you just want to see if she’s a total bitch and ask why she made Fluttershy cry.” He deadpanned.

“That and ask for her opinion.” I replied back with a shrug. I keep on forgetting that I can’t really lie to him since he is me. A couple of seconds later a flash of light filled our room, but it wasn’t the only thing. “What the hell is a bed doing in my…room?” I questioned, but then noticed there were two ponies on set bed doing…by the gods are they…and are they both stallions!

The first pony I saw was an Earth pony stallion with a dark green coat the other that was laying down was a unicorn stallion with a light blue coat. I’d have gone into detail, but I wasn’t really inclined to watch them have se…you know what to keep this in a teen rating I’m just going to say they were wrestling…and being very loud about it.

“Neat.” Derange said as he brought out a video camera and began recording.

“Dude! What the buck man!” I said as I reached for the camera, but he simply dodge and kept recording. “Derange give me that god damn camera!” I screamed at him, but not loud enough for our…guest to hear.

“Dude, just shut up and let me record this. And we’ll be rich in no time.” He said with a creepy smile.

‘Damit, am I as fast and flexible as he is? Ah, no time. Come on brain think of something.’ I thought to myself then like a slap across the face it came to me and I face palmed. “Of course, it’s so obvious.” I said and grabbed the teleporter device. With a push of a button I sent them back to wherever it is they came...Celestia damit!

“Awww. What the hell man?” Derange whined as he turned the camera off. “And I was already working out names I was thinking Jungle Fevo-” He tried to say but I stopped him.

“Ok one: no, that’s a terrible name and you should feel bad. Two: how were you going to mass produce these?”

“Well, I was thinking internet and DVD. Hell maybe go ballsy and put it on blu-ray.”

“Yeah about that, they don’t have internet or DVDs or VHS even. Hell they don’t even have the technology for TV or internet.” I told him poking a hole into his little scheme.

“Um, well.” He stuttered, but regain his composure. “It’s simple we’ll just invent the internet and sale it to all the lonely stallions in the world. Then we’ll make mares gone wild series, gather a shit ton of money, buy a small island, and retire. Also, yes, we can bring Luna if you want.” He said with an insane smile.

“….Your crazy and that’s not going to work.” I said shaking my head in disbelief.

(Insert Pokémon music) “You’re kidding me righ-”

I want to be the very best

Like no one ever was

To film it is my real test

To sell it is my cause

I’ll travel across the land

Filming far and wide

These pornos I created

The power that’s inside

Porno, it’s you and me

I know it’s my destiny

Porno, oh, you’re my only friend

In a world that we must offended

Porno! It’s you and me

I know it is my life journey

Porno! You please me and I’ll...

“Shit couldn’t think of anything I’ll get back to you on it.” Derange said as he stopped his dance routine which wasn’t that bad actually.

“No, no it’s quite all right.” I said with a nervous grin. “Let’s just finally bring the team here.” I said and pressed a few more buttons. A second later the room was filled with a bright light.

Chaos Team Asssssssemble

Author's Note

Hey everyone so i have a couple of things i need to let you guys know so please bare with me for the long as author note i'm about to leave. First Derange: Many of you have pointed out, reader and fellow chess pieces, that when he got hurt i remained unharm. Allow me to explain: Yes we are connected and yes he's my other half so why is it that i don't get hurt when someone smacks him. I would like to think that he follows under the two types of fighting, which are playful and serious. As the name suggest one is just play fighting like how dogs or cats play assume thats the general rule, so when it's amongst friends or in a non battle to the death kind of situation only one of us will suffer the pain of getting hurt. If there's anyother question revolving around the duo then ask in the comments. Two i'm dissapointed that no one either got the joke or they decided not to say anything, i mean i left a really good effing hint, but whatever the answer for the ripped boxers were from our very own lord of Tarartus Skeleton Jack while the mango joke was our very own Mango Jack which are both good stories and yes i know Skeley going through a rewrite right now, but i'm not taking the joke out becuase one: its funny (inside joke type of deal) and two it'd be to much of a pain, but mostly cause i'm lazy.

Chaos Team Asssssssemble

“Ok, note to self invest in shades.” I said as I furiously rubbed the stars from my eyes.

“Wimp.” Derange said while looking in the opposite direction.

“I’m over here stupid.” I said as I slapped the back of his head.

“I knew that!” He said and walked right into a wall. “No, no, I’m fine.” He mumbled sliding to the ground.

“Sorry, that sounds like a personal problem.” I replied back and walked over towards the two ponies that were disoriented.

“Oohhh, what the hay happened?” Said a light blue unicorn mare. She had a dark blue mane with a mix of a shade of gray, her eyes were a beautiful sapphire, and her cutie mark was an hourglass.

“Oohh, I knew I shouldn’t have eaten that weird colored muffin.” Said the other pony. She was a gray Pegasus with blond hair, bright yellow eyes, and had bubbles for her cutie mark.

“Derpy?” Asked the unicorn. The Pegasus was about to respond back, but was interrupted as the unicorn tackled her and brought her into a huge hug. “It is you. I haven’t seen you since I moved to Stalingrad.”

“Wow, it’s good to see you again too.” Derpy said and returned the hug. “What are you doing back M-”

“Well actually, I was moving back to Ponyville cause Stalingrad wasn’t the most friendly of places and-WHO THE HAY ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Screamed the unicorn as Derange joined in on the group hug.

“What?” He asked innocently. “I thought we were doing a group hug.”

“Damit, Derange! I take my eye off you for one second and you're already causing problems.” I said and grabbed him by the neck.

“Says the man that got a hug from a group of mares only an hour ago.”

“Hey I asked permission before I hugged them unlike you. And couldn’t you see this was a touching reunion of friends, that you ruined it.”

“Ahem.” The unicorn coughed getting our attention. The ladder had a not amused look while Derpy was the opposite and had a bemused look…while staring at us and the ceiling. “If you two are done, I’m going to go get the Princess and let her know Discord escaped.” She said rather calmly and started to head towards the door.

I was about to voice my usual response of ‘I’m not Discord’ when Derpy said, “He’s not Discord.” All eyes were on her as we looked at her confused. “What did I say something bad?” She asked confused…and it was adorable might I add.

“What are you talking about Derpy of course he’s-” She didn’t get to finish her sentence as I glomped the living hell out of her.

“Finally, someone who can see that I’m nothing like that sociopath.” I cried out in joy. After the umpteenth spin I set her down, Derpy’s eyes spinning around in disorientation.

“But how’d you know?” Derange asked curiously.

“Well isn’t obvious?” She said with a tilt of her head. Apparently--or obviously--it wasn’t as we all shook our heads. “It’s because it’s not raining chocolate milk and there’s no cotton candy clouds.” She said with a grin.

The unicorn faced hoof, Derange was laughing his ass off, and I was a mix of bemused and facepalming. “So if it were to say start raining chocolate milk and there was cotton candy clouds would I still be Discord?”

“Well no silly.” She said with a roll of her eye, which was kind of creepy yet amusing at the same time (I’m going to hell, I can just feel it), and continued, “Besides you don’t look anything like him.” She said with a friendly smile which I returned full force. “Ok, maybe you look similar, but not too similar.” She added with a sheepish grin.

‘….good enough for me.’ I thought and shrugged.

“Besides sweet cheeks, the Princesses already know we're here and have allowed us to complete a very important task.” Derange said lounging in the air on a lawn chair.

“Oh yeah and we're just going to believe you, a Draconequus. Masters of chaos and disharmony.” She said with, if you didn’t catch it, sarcasm.

“Sadly he’s telling the truth.” Said another female voice all heads turned (get your mind out of the gutter) towards the unannounced guest. She was a Pegasus with a dark gray coat with a white unkempt mane and a cutie mark of a silver breeze. She had a single sword, a katana if not mistaken, strapped on her back. I took notice that the handle of the sword was in mouth reach as if ready for anything at a moment’s notice, but her most interesting feature were her wings. The outside of her wings were the same color of her coat, but the insides were a brilliant silver; light seemed to reflect off her feathers giving them a glow like effect. She strolled through the room giving it a quick glance before she joined the other mare that were now sitting on the couch while I occupied the chair, her crimson red eyes piercing my very soul. “Drake I presume?” She asked.

“Yes.” I replied with a calm look.

“And these are the others that’ll be…joining us.” She said and eyed the two mares. Sizing them up, I assumed.

“If you know that, then that means the Princesses knew that we were planning about…enlisting help.” I said calmly.

“Damn and I was sure we were being all secret hush hush about it too.” Derange said and snapped his fingers in disappointment.

“Yes, because screaming back in forth amongst yourself about, ‘No we can’t travel with them to fix the world’ is very subtle.” She deadpanned.

“So these rooms are apparently not sound proof…this just got awkward.” Derange said with a nervous grin.

“Which reminds me.” She said and brought out a restraining order. “If Derange continues to quote on quote, ‘continue his erratic and sexist’ behavior he’ll be forced to stay in the dungeons for as long as you’re here.” She finished and handed the piece of paper to me to look it over.

“*Whistles* Damn everypony hates you. I wonder why.” I asked sarcastically.

“You know it’s the darndest thing.” He said while reading over the paper. “It has eluded me for some time now and I still can seem to figure out why…Oh well. No point brooding over something as pointless as this.” He said as he crumbled up the piece of paper and threw it out the window.

A small explosion could be heard followed by, “MY CABBAGES!”

“Derange, why did you do that?” I asked annoyed.

“Oh ppppplllleeeeaaasssseeee we both know it’s just a bunch of racist bull crap.” He said while waving his hand in a lazy like fashion.

“Granted you have a point. I mean we been here only like what two? Three days? And you get a restraining order on you just like that…even if you did cause some problems. So sorry Miss-?” I asked just realizing I didn’t ask for her name.

“Silver Wind, Night Guard of the 27th platoon.” She said followed by a sort salute.

“So sorry, Silver, but I’m going to have to--and I’m complete going to hate saying these words--agree with Derange.” I said while Derange started to cheer and make faces at her. “For now anyways.” I finished which totally killed Derange’s mood.

“I’d figure you would and this was just more of a…formality.” She said as she poured some cups of tea for everyone. “For now anyways.” She replied back with a smirk which changed to a glare as she focused on Derange and slowly drank her tea.

“So I guess that make you-”

“Our babysitter.” Derange said adding a shit load of sugar to his tea. No, literally. There was a barrel of sugar and he was dumping it all into the cup.

“I was going to say chaperone.” I said taking a sip of my *spit take*. “Damit Derange this is your cup!” I said and quickly swapped our cups.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m both in a sense.” Silver said with a serious look. “In both sense of keeping you safe and making sure you don’t cause any trouble.”

“Uh, hello? Two other ponies here that have no idea what’s going on.” The unicorns said while waving her hooves to get our attention.

“Well Colgate, you and Derpy, or is it Ditzy? Are going to help us on our quest to bring balance to the world-”

“By decree of your Princess.” Derange said as he held out a piece of parchment with…IS THAT CELESTIA’S SIGNATURE?!?

“Colgate? My name’s not Colgate, it's Minuette.” She said annoyed.

“And my name’s Ditzy, but my friends call me Derpy.” Ditzy decided to chime in.

“And let me see that.” Silver said as she swiped the parchment away from Derange and looked it over.
Derange and I looked at one another then towards the teleporter device then back towards Minuette “Uh.”We said at the same time. “Pardon us ladies.” We said in unison once more and then made our way away from them to talk in private.

“So is the device broken or what? Also how in the world did you get them to agree to that?” I asked my counterpart.

“No, for the most part it’s working and I have my ways.” He said with a scowl though I noticed a sly grin across his face.

For now though I decided to let it go for the moment and asked,“But?”

“But nothing. I guess Colgate doesn’t exist.” He said with a shrug.

“But we need her because of her being a…Wait a tick.” I said and broke from our huddle. “Minuette by chance are you a Time Lord?” I asked.

“A what?” she asked confused looking away from the parchment to look at us.

“Never mind as you were.” I said and rejoined the huddle. “So this puts a damper into my plans.” I whisper to him.

“Or does it.” He replied back as he held a silver pocket watch in his hand.

“Is that a-”

“Yes it is.”

“And how do we know it’ll work. Doesn’t this define as the ‘it’s too convenient’ category?”

“You would think that, so it’ll instead not be convenient by being convenient.”

“…That doesn’t make any sense. Since I now know that, it’ll be convenient by not being convenient it’ll then go back to being not convenient.”

“You’re just overthinking things.” He said with a dismissive wave. “Plus do you have a better idea?” I thought about it for a moment and just shrugged, this technically wasn’t the worst plan he’s made so far, and nodded in agreement. “Oh, Minuette, dear.” He said and tossed the watch over towards her, “Be a sport and open that for me would you.”

“…Why?” She asked as she examined the watch with its alien like design on it.

“Because I asked nicely.” He said while fluttering his eyelashes at her with a big creepy smile.

“…Oooookkkkkk not suspicious or creepy at all.” She said with a look of jokingly disgust. Tentatively she began to open the device.

Derange and I watched her as she slowly reached towards opening the watch. Our eyes boring holes through it while I bit the bottom of my lip and Derange started to bite his nails in anticipation.

“Ahem.” Minuette said getting our attention and looked at us with a brow raised in suspicion. We just muttered an apology and took it down a notch, but never kept our eyes off of her for more than a minute. I swear I could hear the Legend of Zelda song--the one when you open chest--going off as Minuette slowly opened the watch. Time seemed to slow at a crawl. Just at the climax of the song she opened it and…nothing happened.

“Well that was anti-climatic.” Derange said with a bored expression.

I was about to say ‘I told you so’ when suddenly the room was filled with a bright light followed by a small explosion. After a couple of seconds I groggily got back up--a slight ringing going off in my ear-- and walked back over towards where we were originally sitting. Silver and Derpy were off to the side, probably Silver and her reflexes that saved them from harm’s way, while Derange started to climb back thru the hole shape imprint in the wall. The area we were at was a complete and total wreck. The chairs and table were scattered all over the place while the couches were turned over near the wall. Minuette was nowhere to be seen. A small blast area covered in suit…with a small pile of ashes in the center.

“Oh no.” I said noticing the pile of ashes and quickly turned to Derange. “What the fuck happened!” I yelled with clenched teeth my eyes narrowing as I glared at him. Derpy was quietly sobbing into Silver’s coat while Silver gently stroked Derpy’s mane.

“I swear that wasn’t supposed to happen!” He said with a panicked look on his face as he backed away from me while I slowly approached him.

I was about one good step away from being able to skin him alive when a loud audible cough could be heard causing all heads to turn towards the source. “Oh my everything.” Minuette’s voice rung out as she slowly got up from the turned over couch.

Before I could voice out my happiness for her well being Derpy beat me to the punch as she brought Minuette into a big hug. “Derpy….can’t…breath…also in…pain!” She said her black soot face turning blue, somehow.

Derpy blushed a little and released her friend with a big goofy smile as tears of joy continued to go down her muzzle. “Whoops, sorry Minuette.” She said while rubbing the back of her head, her body now covered in soot.

“It’s fine.” She said with a dismissive wave of her hoof. Only to then glare at Derange and I. “So care to explain.” She said with an unamused look.

“It’s all his fault and I’m truly absolutely sorry for what happened. Aren’t we Derange?” I said as I glared at him.

“How’s it all my-” Before he could finish his question, I slapped him hard upside the head. “Ow! Ok, FINE. It was all my fault and I’m sorry. Truly and honestly sorry.” He said while rubbing the back of his head.

“*sigh* Apology accept.” She said tiredly. Derange and I silently cheered, but were quickly put in our place. “Just don’t do something stupid like that again.” She scolded.

“Again? That implies-” I tried to show off my intellect--which doesn’t happen that often truth be told-- though it’s been happening more frequently since I arrived.

“Yeah, yeah. If the princess says so then I really don’t have a choice, but to forgive you since we’ll be spending time with one another.” She said with that same tired/annoyed voice, but quickly changed to a devise one. “Besides you owe me. BIG time.” She said emphasizing the word. Derange was about to make a witt…ok. Not witty, but a really, really, lame and obvious comment until a glare shut him up.

“But I can’t. Who’ll take care of Dinky. Besides I promised her we would do something after school took a break.” Ditzy said with a conflicting look. One part of her didn’t want to let the Princess down, but the other was that of a mother who had responsibilities.

“You could always bring her along.” Derange said stupidly which we responded with a ‘are you that stupid’ kind of look. “Hey, hey, hear me out at least.” He said and continued, “It could be like a learning vacation like deal. You get to help us while showing your daughter the world besides Ponyville and Canterlot and teaching her life lessons and what not.”

“But what if she gets hurt or worse?” Ditzy asked with concern.

“Like we’ll-” He said while pointing to me and himself. “-let any of you get hurt in the first place and besides who’s going to be stupid enough to fight us. I mean, come on, we’re bucking Draconquai for Luna’s sake.”

She seemed to be in deep thought for a while one eye cast down in concentration while the other one was looking off towards the side. “I did promise her we do something fun.” She mumbled quietly.

“Then it’s decided.” Derange said with a nod.

“Now I’m going to go see the doctor, take a bath, then we’ll meet at the entrance of the castle and head out.” She said with a look that said, ‘don’t buck with me’.

“Crystal clear, Ma’am.” Derange said and gave a mocked salute.

“While that’s going on, Silver, why don’t you get us some supplies.” I said to the mare which was returned with a nod and excused herself.

“Let’s go, Derpy.” Minuette said to the blonde mane mare and started to head out, but quickly turned back. “Oh, I almost forgot. Aren’t you two forgetting something?” She asked, but got blank looks from us. “A certain device that a ‘Doctor’ carried around.” She elaborated.

“Wait? The watch actually worked?” I asked half surprised while Derange reached into his coat and started fishing around for something.

“Somewhat. Things are a bit mushed up, but I now have more knowledge than before and with addition to other random tidbits of information…I can’t believe Colgate went by the name ‘The Dentist’. That’s just…so lame.” She said and shook her head in disappointment.

“Here ya go.” Derange said and handed her a sonic screwdriver.

“…this isn’t going to blow up in my face right?” She asked joking, yet being very cautious with the device at the same time.

“I’m about 99.5% sure it’s not going to and just a heads up it’s not as powerful as it should be, but it’ll get the job somewhat done still.”

“Hmmm, it’ll do for now.” She replied back while carefully looking over the device. “Wait! What are you going to be doing while we're gone?”

“Well who do you think's’ going to clean this room.” I stated and pointed to the mess. With that they said their goodbyes and left the room leaving Derange and I on our own for a bit.

“Were not really going to clean this room are we?” He asked.

“Pfft, No. I just didn’t want to have to do anything. And that’s not really Celestia’s hoof/hand/whatever writing is it?”

“Oh, it is. I may or may not have been disguised as a guard asking for her to sign for my vacation time and then magicked up this piece of parchment and move set signature over.” He said with a grin.

“Clever, but let’s not use it too often.” I said and added quickly, “Don’t want to get on her bad side.”

“Oh, you’re just saying that cause you have the hots for her sister.”

“That and I don’t want the sun goddess out for my head.” I said and left the half destroyed room. Somewhere in the distance I could hear someone muttering about the messes he had to clean up.

New Perk Gained:

What the F…: Just like the title suggests objects you summon have a one and three chance of exploding, you better be good at hot potato…or knowing when the object is going to actually blow up or not.

~Few minutes later~

“Wow, we’re not lost this time.” I said mildly surprised. You see, I’m sure you know by now--thanks to all the bitching I do--that Canterlot castle is huge/confusing as hell to navigate, but not this time apparently as Derange and I were now walking through the hall of history or whatever it’s called.

Thanks to the show I recognize a good deal of them: When Celestia fought her sister, when the Elements of Harmony beat Nightmare, when they beat Discord, and others that I’m either too lazy to say or just didn’t recognize, but one of them stood out.

It was the single most beautiful thing I’ve ever laid eyes on and trust me back home I was ‘invited’--more like bribed--to a lot of art galleries, while the fat rich bastards looked at them and showed off who could buy the most and expensive pieces, but I digress. It was a detailed portrait of both Celestia and Luna, both poised as they raised the sun and moon, respectively. Around the border was that of an old clock, just by looking at it I could tell this thing was a true work of art and not like the other stuff back at home. Inscribed on the bottom were the words, “May the sun and moon remind us of better times.”

“*Whistles* Wow, ain’t that something else.” Derange said mesmerized by the glass piece.

“Yeah it is.” I replied back mesmerized as well, but not just because of how it looked, it was the smell that was coming off of it that was quirking my interest. The best way to describe the smell is simply this: it smelt like good. Doesn’t make sense right? But there was literally no other way for me to describe it.

I tentatively walked closer towards the glass, but the second I was in arm reach the piece of glass seemed to glow with magic and project a small image of…me back when I was twelve.

~~~~~~~Flash Back~~~~~~~

‘Dammit.’ I thought to myself after I missed again. I quickly got into my batter stance once more waiting for the pitching machine to fire another baseball. A dull *thump* rung out and the ball sped…right by me again. “Dammit!” I yelled enraged and walked away as my time ran out.

Sitting down by the entrance to the batting cages, I waited for my dad to return with lunch. With nothing better to do I got a better look at my surroundings. I was near a baseball field where the adults played baseball, obviously. My dad brought me here often to practice since it was a way for us to bond since I only saw him during the weekends. Most kids whose parents divorced say they have it rough, but apparently I was one of the few lucky ones who still got to see both of them.

“Hey BJ, what’s wrong?” My father asked as he slowly approached me with food in one hand and drinks in the other. BJ was my nickname ever since I could remember, heck my dad side of the family still calls me that while my mom side calls me Ron, but that’s later in the future. It was short for Bart Junior since I was named after my father, who by the way changed his name to Bart if you didn’t catch that. My dad was tall about six foot two with a grey beard that covered his face. He was wearing a simple white t shirt with blue jeans. He was about in his early forties at the time his bald head blinding any who got in its path.

“Nothing.” I said disheartedly and made my way to an old worn out bench. We both sat down and ate our lunch the cold soda going down smoothly.

“BJ.” He said with his authoritative voice which brought me out of my thoughts. “I know that look. What’s wrong?” He asked his tone changing to one of concern. “Is it about your batting again?”

“Yeah.” I said solemnly. Truth of the matter is, I was always better than most in baseball, which doesn’t say much when you have others that are being forced to play rather than choose to play. My coaches could literally put me anywhere and I be better than others, except catcher and pitcher because my throws were quote on quote, ‘to unpredictable’-- which I couldn’t deny--, but that’s a story for another time.

The one thing I always sucked at was batting. Some say it’s because I’m too shy and that the pressure gets to me, while others say I plain out just suck. Either way I always did bad when I was up to bat. It was one of the reasons why I was practicing to hopefully get better, but my hopes weren’t raised by much. I mean, if I couldn’t hit the ball when I was not being watch by a crowd, how was I going to when the time came.

“Son, what do I always say about this problem?” He asked.

“Practice makes perfect, but if you couldn’t notice it’s not working!” I snapped and quickly turned away. I was on the verge of crying, but kept them back, sniffling every so often.

He just patiently waited for me to calm down. “BJ did I ever tell you the story about how I asked your mother out?” How couldn’t I? It was hilarious how my dad was trying to be ‘smooth’, leaned against the desk only for the desk to move away causing him to fall. It apparently got him pity points, but after that it was smooth sailing from there.

I nodded my head and he asked, “And what about the times I proposed to your mother and again failed?” I once again nodded and he continued, “So even though I messed up so many times why do you think your mother said yes?”

I answered with the most classic and thought out answer a kid at my age could think of, “I don’t know.”

“It was because I didn’t give up.” He said and added with a cheeky smile, “Also because of my good look, wits, and amongst other things.” I chuckled at his lame joke, only to later fully understand the ‘amongst other things’ part and had to go to therapy to forget about...ok, that’s a bit of a lie, but still I didn’t get the joke until later and he never lets me forget about it either.

“But no seriously, it was because I didn’t give up…in fact I’m going to give you a piece of advice your great grandpa told me.” He said and motioned me to get closer. “He said, ‘Bart no matter what you’re going to do you’ll fail’.” He began.

‘…wow what a way to cheer me up, gee thanks.’ I thought.

However before I could voice my thoughts he continued, “But just because you will fail doesn’t mean you won’t succeed. Just like great men before you, they too failed, but you know what the difference was? They didn’t quit or throw in the towel. They pushed themselves to become better and better till one day they did what they had to do.” He finished.

“So, basically you're telling me not to give?” I deadpanned since he’s already said that to me before.

“The point is son that no one is ever good at everything, sure some people are natural at it, but they too have to practice to get better.” He said and patted me on the back. “Now let’s get you back home.”

~A Week later~

‘Why? Why must you be so cruel?’ I asked to no one in particular as I looked up to the sky. It was the last match before the championship and we were one win away from going there…and of course I was the last chance we had to go there. Did I also mention it was a cheesy bases are loaded and there were two outs because life couldn’t be easy or fair or kind.

As I walked towards my doom I took a glance towards the bleachers to see my dad and mom giving me the signature good luck pose. I got into my batter stance and waited for the pitch. The first one was a ball, followed by another ball, followed by a strike, followed by…me instinctively dodging a ball to the face. Of course to make matters better this was the third time today…and they were all aimed towards me. The coach of course pointed that out saying that it was intentional, but the kid denied it and apologized even though as he walked back to the mound I could see a sly smirk on his face. The next pitch I took a chance and swung only for it to miss completely.

So here I was bases loaded, two out, three balls, four runs down from wining, and this was the finally inning…I swear this could pass off as a cheesy baseball story where the hero hits a homerun and we celebrate. Only that wasn’t going to happen since I suck at batting. I stepped back for a sec to take a couple of practice swings and to calm my heart rate, which was beating a mile a minute. I walked up to the plate and kicked off some of the dirt from my cleats.

As I readjusted the straps on my glove I looked at the pitcher once more. He was taller than me--granted I was pretty short back then--as he was about four foot ten with black hair and black eyes. We locked eyes for a few moments, before he gave me a smug smile that said this was over. That I was pathetic. That this next pitch was either going right down the plate or right towards my face.

I thought about it for a moment and he was probably right. Not about me being pathetic, but about how I’d either miss completely or I’d be too chicken to take a swing. The next thing I did was one of the craziest things I’ve ever done at that age…I brought my bat up and pointed towards the field. That got me a mix of roars of excitement from one side while the other side was just laughing at my exclamation. The boy just glared at me, I just gave him a quick little smooch face, and got in my batter stance. He lined up the pitch and let it fly. Just as the ball reached the halfway mark time seemed to slow to a crawl as the ball slowly made its way toward its destination.

I had only one thought at the time, ‘Oh crap! What was I thinking.’ I yelled as I felt myself tense up. I grasped the bat as hard as my hands could and froze in place. ‘What do I do? What the heck do I do?’ I yelled in my head not expecting an answer, but was surprised when I did get a response.

‘Swing the bat you idiot!’ A voice rung out within my head. I panicked and at the last second swung the bat with all my strength. A dull *dink* rung out as I felt the bat’s vibration go through my hands and watched in amazement as the ball soared through center field. The crowd was silent in anticipation while center field ran as fast as he could towards the ball hoping to catch it. The ball was almost past the fence line as it slowly started to descend. The ball hit the top of the fence, the short center field’s men jumped for it but missed as it bounced a second time, causing him to fall on his butt. Then the ball bounced once more and…fell right next to the guy on the ground. The crowd was silent, no one dared to move or say anything, because of the sheer chance of luck that it not only bounced three times on the fence, but fell back in bounds.

“Run, stupid, run!” Yelled one of the adults on my side causing both sides to yell out ‘Run’ or ‘throw the ball’ and so I did. I ran, ran as fast as I could as I dropped the bat while my teammate were already halfway to second base. I touched first and turned to second pushing my body as hard as I could as my other two teammates already made it to home base. Second base came quick and I turned running towards third only to see that third base now had the ball and was coming after me. I made a 180 only to make another one--the kid falling for my plan--as he threw it to second--who missed--as it flew over his head towards right field. I made it to third and once more turned towards my final destination, home base.
It was the final stretch or so they say. About a few feet away and we’d be going to the championship all I had to do was make it there and we’d be--wait for it--home free…ok that was lame, but it was still true.

‘Almost there!’ I thought as my heartbeat was beating in my ears. ‘Almost-’ I thought until out of the corner of my eyes I saw a white blur going towards the same area.

Instinctively I slid head first, my helmet falling off, as I stretched my hand as far as I could. A cloud of dust covered the area; the crowd silently waiting for the dust to part. “You’re out!” Yelled the empire. Of course the coach was immediately at him yelling about unfair call and what not. I wasn’t really paying attention and for good reasons. I finally did it, but not only did I hit the ball, I almost got a home run. Even at the end of the day when we had our semi-victory party, I was still stoked about the next chance I could get at being up to bat.

~End Flashback~

The scene ended during the middle of the party. “Good times.” Derange said with a reminiscent smile.

“Yeah…now that I think about it, that was the first time we ever met. Sort of kind of.” I said as I looked at him, matching him with my own smile.

“Hmmm, yes, sort of kind of.” He replied back and look like he was searching for a certain phrase or set of words to explain. “It more like…I’ve always gave you advice on what to do, but you’d subconsciously ignore them. Sure, sometime I’d get through, but more often than not they wouldn’t. I guess the best way to look at is like the ‘WTF brain’ moments, only you’d ignore most of them before they could even get there.”

“…Yeah, sorry about that…I guess.” I said as I was unsure how to word out an apology.

“No, it’s fine. I understand, didn’t like it and it was awfully boring, but I understand.” He said as he grabbed a black sharpie and moved towards the glass picture.

“DERANGE!” I yelled and slapped the sharpie out of his hand.

“What? It would have been hilarious besides it’d come off…eventually.” He replied back.

“Then why does it say ‘permanent’ on it?” I asked with a raised brow.

“I said eventually.” He replied back with a shrug.

“*Sigh* Come on you, let’s go before you ruin anything else.” I said and grabbed him by the back of his neck.

“Hey, it’s not my fault the watch explode…ok, maybe I should have seen that coming.” He quickly corrected himself as I glared at him.

~Entrance to Canterlot Castle~

“Wow, I can’t believe we got here so easily and without getting lost this time.” I said surprised while we waited for the others.

“The author must have felt pity for us or the joke of Canterlot castle being huge got old real quick.” Derange replied back while lying down on a cloud.

I just ignored his comment and lounged on my own cloud. It was a gold yellow and yes I named it Nimbus. Why? Because you’re jealous, I’m not very creative, and most importantly for the hell of it. Then out of nowhere I had a craving for a drink. “Hey Derange?” I asked which he responded back with an ‘Hmmm?’ “You know what sounds good right now? A milkshake.” I answered before he could respond.

“Ah yes, you might get random cravings from time to time.” He replied and with a motion of his hand summoned chocolate milk shakes for us.

“Really? And I was called unoriginal.” I said throwing the milkshake away and surprised it didn’t explode, but instead left a huge mess on one of the carpets.

“Were not going to clean that up right?” Derange asked.

I just whistled innocently as I made my way towards the carpet, flipped the carpet--the other side being the exact same before the spill--,and walked back to my cloud acting like nothing happened. “So like I was saying: totally unoriginal.” He then motioned for me to show him up and I planned to do so. Summoning up my chaos magic I focused on the item I wanted and a second later a purple puff filled the air around my hand. What was set on my hand was the single most beautiful thing ever to be made by mankind…it was a Shamrock shake.

“Touché.” Derange said and with the snap of his fingers his shake changed as well to a lime green shake.

I brought out a silly straw, set it into my drink, and began to drink set drink. (Ha! I heard you like drinks, so I put a drink within your drink so you could drink your drink.)…ok hopefully that’ll be the last lame joke for the chapter. Two things: One it was delicious and two-- and my personal favorite-- it never went down. Do you know how F***ing awesome that is. Never having to pay for a refill or having to wait for it or other tidbits from my old life. Nope, just a snap away and I got myself an endless supply of milkshakes. Life is so bucking awesome.

“I see you found something to do.” Minuette’s voice rang out. Turning to see where the sound came from I saw Silver and Minuette, who were both carrying simple saddle bags with two extras.

“So we got everything we need?” I asked while still drinking my milkshake.

“Food, water, and basic survival gear.” Silver reported and set the bags down. I took notice one was smaller than the other.

“I’m guessing these two are for Ditzy and Dinky.” I nodded while I shifted the wacky straw around.

“Hey where’s ours?” Derange whined like a little girl…or is it filly now?

“Why would you need one? You two can literally summon anything you could possibly need.” Minuette said and motioned towards our milkshakes.

“…It’s the thought that counts.” Derange pouted.

“Derange, she has a point and besides I’ll be able to move around more easily.” I said and continued, “So how long do you think it’ll take-” I didn’t get to finish my question as the sound of a large crash could be heard from outside followed by,’I just don’t know what went wrong?’

Minuette made a comment about ‘just like old times’, Silver looked bored, and Derange was chuckling to himself. A couple seconds later a familiar grey pony walked in with an embarrassed blush across her muzzle. “Heh, heh, sorry I’m late everypony.” She said, but was interrupted by a light purplish streak that tackled into Minuette.

“MINUETTE!” The little purple unicorn cried out in joy as she hugged the living hell out of her. She had a blonde set of hair and matching eyes, yet I noticed she didn’t have a cutie mark.

“It’s good to see you too, Dinky. Now can you please stop hugging me, I can’t breathe.” Minuette said and was released from the hug. Dinky didn’t seem to notice as she spent the next couple of minutes acting like Twilight filly when she got her cutie mark. As in she was jumping around Minuette yelling ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ Minuette muttered something about how she was like her mother with hugging while Derpy, me, and Derange smiled at the scene.

“Wow, I thought Mommy was only kidding about you being back and that you were going to go on a vacation with us.” Dinky said with big bright eyes and turned towards Derange and I. “And that it was thanks to Mr. Discor-Oops. I mean Mr. Drake that you’re back and that you’re going with us.”

“Well, I can’t take full credit.” I said with a sheepish smile.

“Yup, because it was, this guy right here, that reunited these two wonderful friends and offered a free vacation like deal.” Derange boasted while pointing at himself.

“Yes, because let’s forget the fact that Minuette was already planning on coming back home, and she more than likely wouldn’t try to contact them.” Silver deadpanned with a hint of sarcasm.

“…Spoilsport.” Derange said with a pout.

“So, uh, Mr. Drake? Can I ask you for a favor?” Dinky asked while shuffling her hooves and used the good old puppy eyes.

…excuse me for a moment while I have a massive heart failure.

“Yes, anything you want.” I said as I got up from that massive heart attack I went through.

“Can you make it rain muffins?” She asked.

“MUFFINS?!?” Ditzy yelled with a happy glee and started to look all over the room.

“Uh, Dinky, sweetheart.” I said with a kind smile and continued, “I don’t think Celestia would be very happy with me if I made it rain muffins- *Dinky starts to pout* -without asking for her permission of course.” I finished with a bad poker face over my incredible crappy lie.

“Ohhh, that makes sense.” She said with a nod.

“If we’re done fooling around can we get going to…wait. Where are we going exactly?” Silver asked.

“Wherever the wind takes us, my dear Silver. Wherever the wind takes us.” Derange said in a dramatic pose. You know the one where the character is looking off in the distance, a slight breeze blowing his hair to and fro.

“Which is where exactly?” She deadpanned much to the amusement of Ditzy and Dinky.

He just responded with a shrugged and gestured towards me for an answer…dick. Now being the center of attention I told them. “That a wayish.” I said pointing towards--what I assume--is south. It’s a weird feeling being able to sense where chaos is. It’s like being able to feel which way the wind is blowing only more I just know where or which way it is. Not even an if, and or but I just know. I assume it’s just a natural instinct for a Draconequus just like how fish know how to swim.

“So you don’t even know where we’re going.” Minuette said.

“Well, if you want to get technical and whatnot…yeah, pretty much.” I said with a shrug.

“Wait, I just realized you never even told us what we were going to be helping with.” She said.

“Well it's simple really, spread chaos to create harmony.” The girls gave me a ‘what the fuck’ kind of look so I elaborated, “*sigh* Ok, here’s the deal. Your world right now is going through a metaphorical sh…I mean a really bad storm of chaos. So we need to fix this storm by spreading chaos to either lessen the blow or complete get rid of it. Think of it as a math problem positive times positive equals positive, negative times positive equals negative, and negative times negative equals positive.”

“So, how are we going to help with that?” Ditzy asked.

“You’d help me by being advisors, another set of eyes if you will, to help point out if I made the place to chaotic or it’s not chaotic enough.” I took a breath and continued, “If we follow the D&D alignment system I’d imagine Minuette is a Good something, while I am a Neutral something and Derpy is a…Chaotic something”

“Wait Mr-” Dinky tried to say.

“Just Drake is fine, my dear.”

“Ok, Drake. Why is my mommy Chaotic when you’re Chaotic?” She asked confused.

“Well Dinky, when your mother does something ponies tend to get hurt regardless if it was intentional or not.” I replied back as nicely as I could.

“That’s not true!” Ditzy cried out in embarrassment and accidentally knocked over a vase. “That was an accident!” She exclaimed only to knock over another one. “So was that one!” She cried out again only to yet again knock another one over.

“Der-Derpy stop you-you’re killing me.” Minuette said in-between laughs.

“I-it’s not funny Minuette.” Ditzy said as she slammed her hoof down on a nearby table while her muzzle turned a shade of red. The table buckled under the pressure which threw some well placed pies towards yours truly and hit me right in the face. I just gave her an ‘you were saying’ kind of look. “But…it was…I just don’t know what went wrong.” She said and flopped to the ground. The wood creaked under her weight and gave way causing the piece of wood to hit me right between my legs…did I mention that castle floors were originally cemented like how other castle were modeled.

As I clutched my…you know what, any male would know the pain of getting hurt there, so I’ll save myself the trouble. “That’s why, Dinky. Also, Derange, hold this” I said as I handed him my drink and fell over withering in pain. The next few minutes were spent trying to regain some feeling back into my family jewels.

After a couple minutes of silence, mostly me trying to get over the pain, I was finally able to get back up. “Soooooo, we going to go now or are we going to chill here?” Derange asked as he handed back my drink.

“Yeah, but let’s see if there’s a train going towards our destination.” I said and started to head out only to turn back around and ask, “So who knows where the train station is?” Silver offered to lead the way and as we followed her--the girls making idle chit chat--Derange pulled me to the back of the group.

“Drake.” He said with a serious tone and then hugged me. “Thank you.”

“Uh, for what?” I asked confused by the random hug. Also just so you know, it was one of those awkward man hugs..
He looked at me tears brimming around his eyelids and pointed towards the front. “Dem flanks.” He said with a happy smile and continued. “I can’t believe you didn’t notice that we're pretty much in an all girl team and were the only male in set team…and it’s beautiful.” He finished while wiping a tear drop away.

“Ok, one: Silver and Minuette want nothing to do with you, two: Ditzy is a mom and three: you do anything to taint Dinky’s mind and I’ll kill you myself.”

“One: that means there single and I can hit on them, two: Ditzy is a milf and a hot one at that and three: come on I’m not that bad…ok, I’ll try to control myself around her, but no promises.” Derange said. “Now come on live a little.” He said and forced my head to look towards their-NOPE!

“Nope! Nope! Nope!” I said grabbed Derange and forced us to walk next to Silver.

Companion Perks added:

Time Lord Assistance: Thanks to that explosion Minuette has become a fourth of a time lord allowing her access to better knowledge of magic. All magic is 15% easier to do.

Natural Clutz: Derpy just doesn’t know what went wrong…ever, but thanks to that either good or bad things will happen. (This perk is affected by your luck)

Foal at Heart: Thanks to Dinky your interaction with children, and some adults, allow unique dialogue choices.

I know a Guy: Silver seems to know or just have a connection with just about everyone. Thanks to that you gain certain dialogue options with certain authorities or crime lords that either get you off the hook or into even more trouble.

~A week later~

So yeah, a week passed and nothing really exciting happened. We took a train down south which took three days then walked the rest of the way towards our destination. Which I still have no idea where or what the place was, so we spent most of our time just talking getting to know one another. We were getting close to our destination--about an hour away give or take--, but the harsh rainforest like jungle was getting to us causing us to take breaks every so often. Looking at my Pip-Boy map, I could see we were about a couple of miles away from the Equestrian border and we were in what was being labeled the Great Southern Rainforest.

Ditzy, Dinky, and Minuette were talking about past events, Silver was keeping quiet though she did come out of her shell a bit. However she still preferred to keep quiet only replying with comments here or there, and Derange was well…

“So, how about this? ” He asked as he started to play the song.

“It’s a good song, but how is that going to be our theme song?” Minuette asked.

“I agree with her. Besides that’s a total rip off and you know it” I said with a nod of my head.

“Geez, fine. How about some Jazz? " He asked.

“Ohhh, I like it.” Ditzy said while Dinky nodded her head in agreement.

“It’s a great song, but it just doesn’t fit us.” I chided.

“Ok, how about something hispanic-ish?”

“No.” Was the group response.

“Alright, how about This?”

“Bwhaahahahahah!” Me and Derange both laughed as we listened to the whole song. The thing that made it hysterical beside the song was the fact that Minuette, Ditzy, and Dinky were actually, and somehow, dancing to the song which was funny to see them stand on their hind legs.

“No.” Was Silver’s only response as she faced hoofed and continued on without us.

“O-okay Derange, th-that was funny, but I agree with Silver.” I said as we caught up and got over our laughing fit.

“I know that was for the lolz.” He said while wiping a few tears from his eyes thanks to all the laughing we just went through.“So how about this?”

“NO!” The girls shouted while covering their ears.

“Well, I thought the song was alright, but again how does this work as a theme song?” I asked

“Geez, first ‘it has to be good’, then ‘it has to sound good’, now it’s ‘it has to work and make sense’. You guys are so hard to please ya know that.” He said and after a couple minutes of searching he asked, “Ok what about this or maybe you want the original?”

“Again, they’re both good songs, but they have nothing to do with us.” I chided.

“Fine, I’ll get back to you guys when I think of something.” He said and began to mutter under his breath.

About a couple minutes later I could see the opening to what looked like a clearing. “Fillies and gentlecolts, behold and welcome to our destination which is-.” I announced while looking towards my Pip-Boy waiting for it to tell me the name of the village. A quiet ding sound could be heard followed by the name of the village. “Ah, there we go. As I was saying welcome to-”

(this is the best I could find for the part I was looking for skip to 4:30 it's Jurrasic Park)

"-Wethoof *Location found plus 10% experience*. Ha, I bet a lot of you thought we were just going to end the chapter without telling you where we were at.” Derange finished for me while adding some…wait, what?

“Derange? Who are you talking to?” I asked.

“Derange, is just talking to himself again, best to just ignore him.” Silver said and continued towards the village.

“Hey, I’m not crazy…scratch that I am, but I was just letting the audience know we weren’t going to pull a S-”

The Amazing Waste

Another week passed and nothing noteworthy happened…well, that’s only slightly true-

~Flash back about three days ago~

We were just now crossing the threshold of Equestria and into the area known as the volcanic waste; the area was covered with steep/sharp looking rocks coming out from the planet and in the distance active volcanoes could be seen. Fortunately we didn’t have to go deeper into the area because let me tell ya volcanoes are hot…and they have lava that could easily burn your skin...but mostly because it’s hot and I didn’t have enough fire tunics to spread around amongst the group.

That and I didn’t want to get sweaty or get ash all over my coat. Oh, you may be laughing now, but it’s not as easy as it looks to keep up your appearance here and also I’m now going to bitch and whine for the next couple of hours about
*Whack*.

Sorry guys that was Derange thought pattern up there not mine. See this is the reason why I don’t allow you to talk, because it’d be filled with adult images/content and you complaining about everything.

Anyways we were just climbing up a steep hill and rather than walking there I decided to fly up to the top much to the complaining of Minuette, but hey it’s not my fault that someone was afraid of heights. Yeah, because of a little fear of heights our traveling time was cut back by a lot, but a small price to pay in the long run I suppose. Plus I can’t in all good faith complain since I fear spiders…well maybe not fear spiders more like I want to gather every single one, burn them to a crisp, dump the ashes into the center of the world, and piss on their dead bodies, but other than that me and spiders are tight.

As I idly stood on top of the hill waiting for the other to catch up I noticed the most beautiful and majestic looking skywhale thing a majig ever to soar through the sky. Which is close to zero and none since I’m pretty sure flying whales don’t exist back home. The skywhale thing had a deep blueish scale coat--whatever whales have for skin--with a light blue underbelly. It had bright yellow whisker like eyebrows and a grayish looking beard set beard remind me of a cloud. “Hey guys, come check out these…what whale...yeah I’ll go with that. A what whale.” I hollered as I continued to watch the majestic creature soar through the sky.

“Huh, would you look at that.” Silver said as she got to the top looking at the whales in surprise. “And here I thought you were going nuts.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.” I replied back sarcastically. I may or may not have told Silver one night that I felt like I was slowly losing my mind and bless her kind heart decided to be such a caring and loving individual…and by that I mean she constantly teases me about it and second guess everything I do.

“My pleasure.” She said with a small grin. Just as the rest of our group was about to join us the most bizarre/terrible thing happened. Three slaver ships appeared from out of the clouds and harpooned the living shit out of it. We watched in horror, well more like I had my mouth agape in shock/surprise while Silver watched with little to no interest, as the majestic creature was brought to nothing more than a giant meal for those mangy mutts. Then as quick as they came they left hauling their newly acquired meal.

“Where is it?” Dinky asked as they finally join us scouring the sky for any signs of the creature. “I don’t see any what whales.” She continued squinting her eyes trying to locate it.

“Exactly.” Silver deadpanned and continued walking right past me as I still looked at the spot where the whale were moments ago.

“See, told ya Derange. You owe me twenty bits.” Minuette said and walked passed me as well.

“So there isn’t any What whales, mommy?” Dinky asked as she now rested on her mother’s back.

“It doesn’t look like it muffin.” Derpy said as she walked by me.

“But…no. Wait…this is all your fault.” Derange said, smacked me upside my head, and flew after them. “Wait Colga…I mean Minuette, can’t we work something out?”

I stood there for a while staring up into the sky and finally said, “But…Wait…what…Why?” And then made my way towards the others still flabbergasted at the events that took place.

~Flashback over~

‘Those poor What whales…Oh well, moving on.’ I thought as we continued on our journey which wasn’t very exciting to say the least. The only exciting parts were when we stop along the way at a couple of small towns and spread some Chaos/Order, but other than that nothing. Granted that was before we even arrived in the Volcanic waste and it was like three small towns that we stopped in to ask for supplies...and a place to stay...and the latest news...and I’m rambling great just great…moving on.

“First mate Dinky, do ye see anything?” Derange asked in a pirate accent as he sat on the end of my tail while wearing a pirate get up and I’m referring to cheesy blackbeard, pirate hat, small parrot on his shoulder, and a peg leg kind of get up.

“Nothing yet, Captain.” Dinky responded as she sat on top of my head using my horns as a resting/holding place as she kept a vigilant eye out for, well, pretty much anything really.

“I see what about ye first wench Colgate?” Derange asked.

“First off, I’m not a wench, second, it’s not Colgate you little fuzz ball.” She snapped and tried to smack him, but Derange just lazily floated away from her reach. “And thirdly, I answered you five minutes ago. Rocks, rocks and big surprise more rocks.”

“Excusssseeeee me, princess, for trying to make this trip somewhat enjoyable/entertaining.” He responded back with a huff.

“*Sigh* You're right. Sorry for snapping at you.” She said with an apologetic look.

“Yeah, well, sorry for calling you a wench.” He half assed said.

‘…well, it’s a start.’ I thought.

“And?” She said.

“And what?” He asked, she just responded with an annoyed glared and huffed.

‘You do that just to piss her off don’t you?’ I thought to him.

‘Eeyup.’ He thought back and flew towards my head and rested on Dinky’s head. “Wake me up when something happens.” He said and curled up into a crown like shape on her head…we’re apparently flexible enough to form a crown and sleep comfortably…seems legit.

After another agonizing ten minutes of complete silence I turned towards Silver and asked, “So how are your supplies doing?” Since I could literally summon most things, without them blowing up, I never really needed to carry any food related items, that and being able to eat pretty much anything helps.

“They’re fine. We have enough supplies to last us another week or two depends on the environment/situation.” Silver monotone.

“Hey Derpy, you see anything up there?” I hollered up to her.

“No, I don’t see anyth-Wait, I think I see somepony, but it’s hard to tell.” She responded back.

Curious, and not completely bored out of my mind, I decided to join her up in the air to get a look. “Hold on tight, Dinky.” I told her as I flexed my wings real quick. I got an ‘ok’ response from her and felt her hooves grab onto my horns.

‘Mental note to self: If I see Twilight again ask her how ponies hold things with hooves.’ I thought and with a powerful flap of my wings joined Derpy in the sky. Scanning the area I could see active volcanoes which were thankfully a good thousands miles away give or take, green hills and or pastures in the distance, and the flat terrain we had entered which was void of anything living and or life, just a shit load of rocks and dead tree shrub things.

“I think I saw something over there, but I’m not sure.” She said as she pointed towards the area while scrunching her eyes.

As I looked towards the flat plains that connected towards the rocky field that we were in, seeing nothing, I heard the familiar sound of wings flapping near my left side. “You see…anything…” I turned and asked my counterpart only to stop and raise one eyebrow. “Really? You just had to use that joke.” I said while shaking my head.

“Hey, I’m dressed as a pirate, so I obviously have to make a pirate joke at some point.” He said as he looked through a telescope that was about five feet long, set telescope somehow managing to stay in one piece and surprisingly not breaking under its own weight.

“So do you see anything?” I asked straining my eyes to see the pony and or individual that’d be dumb enough to travel near volcanoes…Hey, don’t look at me like that, we’re about a thousand miles, away totally different.

“Pffft, no.” He said and chucked the telescope away. “That thing was defective or something. Kept on showing me weird, but pretty cool looking triangles and other colorful shapes. And there was glitter, Lots and lots of glitter.” He said with a reminiscent smile.

I facepalmed. “That was a kaleidoscope wasn’t it?”

“Ow. Who the hey threw this telescope down here!” Minuette yelled now sporting a small bump on her head.

“Apparently it’s a kaleido-something and that’d be yours truly.” He responded with a bow only to dodge a well thrown kaleidoscope to the face. “Hey, hey, hey, watch the face. How else am I going to pick up the mares.” He hollered.

“Sometimes, I don’t even know why I bother asking you stuff.” I told him while resuming my search for the individual.

“Because you love me/yourself.” He said while fluttering his eyes and continued, “And for the lulz…ok, mostly for the lulz.”

I snorted as a response and continued my search. ‘And still nothing though then again it is rather unbelievable that Derpy could see anything that far away to begin with.’ I thought and no I’m not making fun of her eyes it really is rather a long distance like maybe twenty miles give or take and the farthest a human can see, and be able to clearly make out an object/individual, is about 2.9 miles. ‘So for her to be mistaken or to see some sort of mirage is rather like-’ I thought until I was brought out of my musing.

“Oh, there it is. Can you hoof me a binocular?” She asked.

“Yeah, uh huh.” I replied half listening as I handed her one.

‘Now where was I…ah, yes. So the human eye, or in this case equine, could easily be fooled…wait what?’ I thought.

“Ah, ha. I knew I saw something.” She said triumphantly and pointed at the area. Looking towards the direction she was pointing at I could definitely see some sort of movement, but it was too hard to make out who and or what it was. “Should we go check it out?” She asked me.

“It’d probably be in our best interest to go see considering we’re lost.” Silver said as she flew right next to me.

‘….HOLY MOTHER OF NINJA RAPTOR JESUS!’ I thought and jumped.

“Don’t do that, Silver, you scared the…heck out of me.” I said and calmed my heart beat down. “Also were not lost, I know exactly where we’re going.”

“You were taking too long.” She replied with a wing shrug, which by the way doesn’t even make sense since she’s flying. Though that’s coming from the guy who just jumped in the air…Draconquai, why do you make no sense. “Also keep telling yourself that.” She responded with a smirk.

‘Troll.’

“Hey, what’s going on up there?” Minuette yelled.

“We’re making a group decision.” Ditzy yelled back.

“Wait, how can it be a group decision if I’m not a part of it.” Minuette yelled back confused.

“I don’t know. Hey Drake, how can it be a group decision if Minuette not here to help?” Ditzy yelled right into my ear.

“Ow Derpy, I’m right next to you.” I said back to her and yelled to Minuette, “And it’s not a group decision since it’s already decided that we’re going that way anyways that we might as well see what’s going on.”

“Geez guys, why don’t we just put up a big sign saying, ‘Hey we're on our way to kick your ass’.” Silver yelled sarcastically.

“Don’t worry, I’m way ahead of you.” Derange responded as he moved a cloud above us and placed five signs each basically saying where we were, what we were going to do, and some sort of insult about their mother.

“Were the insult to their mother's necessary?” I asked my other half.

He just responded with a shrug.

“I’m surrounded by idiots.” Silver muttered to herself, face hoofed, and then took off leaving a silver trail in her wake.

“*sigh* Why can’t things ever be simple.” I said out loud.

“Because you’re a Draconequus.” Minuette yelled.

“Because we didn’t pack enough muffins.” Derpy stated.

“Because we’re the most sexiest thing in the world and the gods are jealous of us.” Derange answered.

“Because we’re kind.” Dinky chimed in.

I just chuckled at Dinky’s response and then glared at Derange. “You are a bad influence.” I stated.

“Or the greatest foalsitter to ever exist.” He proclaimed to the heavens while posing.

“Doubt it.” Yelled Minuette.

“Sorry Colgate, can’t hear you over the sound of nobody caring.” Derange yelled, but then quickly changed to a sly grin as he gently floated Dinky over towards her mother’s back. “So why don’t we change that.” He said as he prepped his fingers to snap.

“Don’t you even thi*snap*-” Minuette said with a panicked look, but didn’t get to finish her sentence as she poofed away in a violet cloud of smoke.

And then there was screaming, lots and lots of screaming. Oh and choking, can’t forget about the choking. “Minuette. Can’t. Breath.” I managed to choke out.

“Put me down. Put me down. Please, put me down.” Minuette cried as she seemed to squeeze my lungs even tighter.

“OK. Just. Loosen. Grip. Please.” I choked out as I flew to the ground. The moment I reached the surface of Equis, Minuette was off me faster than a June bug doing something…What? I was almost choked to death by an adorable pony. You know, blood circulation and what not and wow, did I just say she was adorable?

…Derange is influencing me everyday… Lauren help me and my sanity.

“Oh sweet mother of Celestia, I missed you.” Minuette said as she hug the earth and gave it a few quick pecks on the cheek, or in this case the ground. She then quickly turned towards the sky and pointed a hoof at Derange. “Don’t you ever do that again or so help me I don’t know what I’ll do.” She threatened.

“Gonna have to get over your phobia at some point, Colgate.” He responded back with a shrug.

“So you just dump somepony in the sky and let them free fall!” She retorted angrily.

“Didn’t say it was the smartest way to go about it.” He responded back with another shrug.
Minuette was about to say something but Derpy interrupted their little squabble. “Shouldn’t we go after Silver, before she gets hurt?”

“Ha, we should be more concerned with the schmucks then Silver.” Derange said.

“True, but we should probably try the diplomacy route first and Silver tends to let her blade do the talking.” I said and closed my eyes to help me think.

‘Okay, it’s about twenty or thirty miles--give or take--and Silver already has a few minute lead on us. We can’t fly because of Minuette and even if we could, we wouldn’t be able to catch up with her since Derpy can’t fly that fast. To the best of my knowledge, I can’t just summon a Ferrari/v-zero, so that’s out. Teleporting out of the question since I don’t know where I’m going which doesn’t make sense since I shouldn’t have to follow the rules, but you know Draconquai are confusing. This only leaves one option.’ I thought and reopened my eyes looking towards the area where we were heading to.

“Were going to have to run aren’t we?” Derange asked as he snapped his fingers and grew to the same size as myself.

“Looks like it.” I stated while turning to look at him and asked, “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“That running sucks and that we should just leave Colgate behind?” He asked hopefully.

“Excuse me?” Minuette said as she shot a glare towards Derange.

“OK, wow, totally on different thought patterns.” I said shaking my head. “Nope now pick your shoes I choose-” I started to say, but Derange beat me to it.

“Dibs on the white, black, and red colored jet shoes.” Derange said and grabbed the pair before I could.

“But...you're an asshole, you know that.” I said as I glared at him.

“Snooze you lose.” He responded back as he slipped on the pair of sneakers

“Fine then, but I call carrying Ditzy and Dinky.” I replied back while putting on a pair of red and white sneakers.

“What about us?” Ditzy asked.

“Yeah, you mind filling us in on the plan.” Minuette said.

“Well, thanks to you my mademoiselle, we are now forced to run to our destination and since you girls run to slow him and I have to carry you there.” Derange answered and beckoned Minuette over. “Come here.”

“Uh, no.” Minuette said flatly.

“I don’t like the arrangements either, poppet, but you have to honor the sacred rule of dibs.” Derange responded back while Me, Ditzy, and Dinky--who were now on my back--nodded sagely towards Minuette.

“What…but…him!” Minuette said as she pointed at Derange.

“You know what.” Derange began and looked at Minuette. “Screw formalities.” He said and as quick as a snake’s strike grabbed her and placed her on his back.

“What the hay!? Put me down!” She yelled and tried to get off, but was somehow magnetized to Derange’s back.

“SoSinceWereAllSetLet’sHaveARace.LoserHasToBuyIceCreamForEveryone.Ready.Set.GO!” Derange said at Pinkie Pie speed and ran off towards a sea of jagged spikes poking out from the world. The second he left two things happened: one a familiar song started to play and two-

“OH YOU DIRTY CHEATER!” I yelled and dashed off after him.

The world around me exploded into a blur of fast moving obstacles. Demonic, twisted, and any other descriptive word for, ‘holy crap this looks evil/creepy’ whizzed by me as I chased after Derange. The pathway--or track I guess--split into two: the right path lead to a chasm while the left path lead to a pathway that ran alongside it. Derange at first went to the right, but not even halfway up the path he did a 180 and sent a raspberry my way.

My response was to give him the good old one finger salute, but it didn’t seem to even faze him as he turned his body back around to land neatly allowing him to continue running. I decided to go with the right path and pushed my legs as hard as I could to catch up with him. It didn’t take long to catch up with him as we were now neck and neck in this so called race.

“Well, look who decided to join us.” Derange said as he flashed me a smile while running backwards.

‘Show Off.’ I thought. I noticed that Minuette seemed to be screaming her lungs off and frantically beating Derange, yet not even a peep was coming out of her lungs. Though I should count him lucky in that department because my passengers felt the opposite about the current situation.

“WHHHHEEEEEEEEE~” Derpy and Dinky yelled out excitedly while waving their hooves in the air as if they were on a roller coaster. How they were still attached to my back and not falling off, I’ll never know.

“You’re a cheater, you know that.” I yelled towards my counterpart.

“Sorry, I’d love to stay and chat about this, but I have a race to win so-” He said as he flipped himself back around while he grabbed a green looking emerald from his feathery coat. “Later, Chaos Control.” He yelled and in the blink of an eye he was gone.

“I call hax!” I cried out loud to no one in particular. “Well two can play that game.” I said with a sinister smirk and scanned through my Pip-Boy inventory until I found a red emerald. As I selected set item it appeared a few feet in front “Chaos-” I started to say as I grasped the emerald in my claw. “-Lance” I yelled.

A few seconds later I was rewarded with a loud explosion followed by, “OH, IT. IS. ON.”

“Well you’re going to have to catch up with me first.” I yelled as I passed by a small meteor like indent in the ground were a charcoaled looking Derange was poking his head out. Then I ran, ran as fast as I could. Straining each and every muscle in my leg to outrun the evil little devil that was after me. The course/track we were on seemed to become a jungle of spikes as I was now forced to run in figure eight like patterns.

“Yo, what up?” Derange said from the left of me. Taking a glance I could see him not running beside me, but was instead jumping from spike to spike.

‘Goddamn show off.’ I thought to myself.

“Homing Attack!” He yelled as he scrunched himself into a small ball.

“No, no, no, no!” I screamed as I quickly ran towards a spike just barely passing it by as Derange boulder on right through it, which forced him out of his little ball and to continue his wall/spike jumping to catch back up. As the first song in our race came to a close a new melody started to play.

We’d just existed the minefield of spikes to enter a steep hill. My speed increased by ten folds and I wouldn’t be surprised if I broke the speed barrier anytime soon. Derange was right beside me, neck and neck, as we continued our way down the hill. A cave seemed to present itself at the end and with no other choice we entered the dark cave.

It was pitch black for not even a second as the cave’s crystal gave off an unnatural lime green glow illuminating the cave just barely enough to see a few feet ahead of us. We then began to figure eight one another and if we weren’t racing it would have been a pretty cool stunt to show off. The cave then descended into a small underground passage where we were forced to run along the side of the cave-- think of a spiral effect-- to give us enough room to fit through the passage and out into an underwater cavern.

Luckily the water wasn’t too deep because it would have sucked to have an underwater race. I shuddered at the memoires of the levels that involved water. Yet it would have been deep enough to hinder our movement, would have being the keyword. Because of how fast we were moving, we were literally running on top of the water. I cannot even begin to describe how awesome it felt to be doing this.

Oh wait, I can. It was bucking amazing! It felt like flying, only you were running, a sense of freedom that you could never really get back home. No responsibility. No care in the world. Just you and the wind under your wings. It’s an amazing feeling to feel one that I will never truly forget.

Back to the race, the underwater cavern didn’t last long as we speed on by and back into a normal dry cavern. The cavern was just like the one before the only difference being that there were more stalagmites--Yes I looked up the differences sue me--sticking out from the ground of the cave.

“We must kung fu fight.” Derange said as he tried to high jump kick me.

I easily dodged out of the way and kept my momentum up. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I hollered.

“Less talking and more fighting.” He said as he close the gap between us and started to swipe at me with his claws. I was then left with no choice but to dodge, block, and counterattack Derange since he seemed to have gone crazy…Ok, crazier. Man the way we were fighting reminded me of DBZ the only difference being that I was in a world of magical talking ponies and I’m currently fighting myself, but other than that I felt like by the end of the day I was going to question everything that happened so far *Spoiler alert he doesn’t*. Wait a tick. If this world exists then it’s possible that DBZ does….or a universe with MLP characters in the fighting universe of DBZ…by the Gods there could be a universe with MLP characters in the fighting universe of DBZ while there’s a chess game going on…my brain hurts.

Anyways back to the fighting. We were trading blow after blow in succession giving neither side room to breathe. Minuette was still the same screaming in panic, with no sound coming out, while Ditzy and Dinky were happily cheering me on. We then grasped one another’s hands trying to see if we could overpower the other. Side note we were still running while doing set action. I stared into Derange eyes while he stared back into mine. He had a friendly smirk on his face which I returned full hardly. We were like this for no longer than a minute until, “Look at!” Derpy cried out as she pointed towards a giant pillar sized stalagmite.

At the last second we broke apart only for the cave to split off. ‘Crap! I can’t turn around now and that was the way out of here.’ I thought and how did I know that? Because there was a little sign above my head saying, ‘You’re going the wrong way’. The cave went into a steep climb as I continued my running, sections of the wall opened up towards the outside giving me a clear view of the layout. I could see Derange making his way out of the cave and into the second to final stretch of the track…which had loops lots and lots of loops. That and deadly spikes, pitfalls, pitfalls with deadly spikes, random mechanized looking creatures, and explosions. But yeah, nothing totally out of the ordinary.
Back to the problem at hand...or is it claw...whatever you get the idea.

I had to find a way to get back onto the right path and to also make sure I didn't lose to Derange, because if I do lose I’d never hear the end of it. That and I don’t have any type of currency on me so how would I pay for set ice cream. Oh and I know what you’re thinking, but you can just summon food. Yeah well I like the feeling of spending money every once and awhile so get off my back. Getting over my little rant, I took notice that the cave would split off into three different directions in about a minute or two giving me plenty of time to think this carefully.

“Drake…Drake…Use the force.” Said the strange yet familiar voice.

“Morgan Freeman?” I asked with hope because let’s be honest, if I had Morgan goddamn Freeman in my head telling me what to do or giving me advice that would be the most epic thing of all times.

“What? No this is Lauren.” She said confused.
“Oh.” I replied back disappointed.

“Did I do something wrong? Did you not get the joke?” She asked uncertainly.

“No, no I got the reference and yes that totally helps.” I said sarcastically and continued, “So any particular reason as to why you’re calling me?”

“Hmmmm, no, not really. Just wanting to check in is all. Oh and I must apologize, but it appears that I distracted you and now you’re going towards a dead-end…Oh dear, it appears I forgot to turn off my tea kettle. We should really talk again soon, toodles.” She said and ended the…wait what!?

And just like she said, I was so distracted by our conversation that I unintentionally went towards the left path. Which I might add lead to another sharp skyward climb that had a dead-end sign…perfect. The dead-end was nothing more than a bunch of shoddy looking wood hammered in a crisscross pattern that was done by an amateur. I mean a ten year old could have done a better job than whoever did this monstrosity.

Which lead me to a brilliant idea. ‘If I could just gain enough speed it should work.’ I thought to myself as I took a hold of my red emerald once more. “Chaos-” I began already pushing my body to its limits. Knowing that this would be the last time I’d be able to get away with using my gem’s power and that I’d have to rely on my own strength afterwards. “-Boost!” I yelled and shot forward merely moments away from crashing into the blockade, but I still wasn’t going fast enough.

‘Come on, just a bit-’ I didn’t even get to finish that thought as I was suddenly deafened by a ‘Boom’ sound followed by me shooting forward at even insaner speeds…wait. Does that even make sense….oh wait, Draconequus. Daring to take a glance behind me, I was surprised to see a rainbow trail following me in my wake. Ignoring the strange phenomenon--and the cheers from Derpy and Dinky--, I turned back just in time to burst through the blockade and to shoot out of set cave. And just like that we were now soaring over the track. It had the same feeling as flying only there was also the feeling of falling.

“What the buck?” Said a familiar dark coated Pegasus.

“HI, Silver!” Derpy cried out while chewing on a muffin--don’t ask how, where, or why. She’s Derpy, enough said--and waved at her at the same time. “Bye, Silve!r” She cried out once more while waving since we were going sonic speed + rainboom speed and I’m no mathematician, but I can only assume we were going really really fast. Taking a look back I could barely see Silver anymore either too flabbergasted by the events that she had to stop or she stopped to facehoof or we were going that fast, but I felt the first two were the more plausible ones. Looking down now I could see that I was right above Derange as the former was just existing his final loop before the area to turned into a flat spot for miles.
Right before we were about to crash land into Derange I yelled, “Look at below~.” The latter skillfully dodging out of the way and by that I mean he ducked and rolled out of the way. While I rolled myself into a ball, making sure that Dinky and Derpy were safe, and bounced against the ground a few times before I retracted myself out of ball form and resumed my run once more.

“And here I thought I was the cheater.” Derange yelled a few feet behind me.

“Hey, at least I gave you a warning.” I retorted only to feel a shove from the left of me Derange just now catching up with me. “Oh two can play that game.” I said and returned the shove sending Derange a few feet away. He then charged me once more, but I was prepared this time as I charged towards him effectively cancelling out his shove. We were now pushing against one another, trying to see who could overpower the other. Our heads were pushed against one another and our eyes lined up not even paying attention to where we were going.

“LOOK OUT!” Minuette said as she forced her way in-between us-- wait does that count as a threesome?--and pointed towards a steep cliff. Too late to stop or change our course we ran straight off the cliff and we were now free falling. One thought passed through my head as we plummeted to our doom, ‘If two mind readers read each other’s minds, who's mind are they reading?’

What? Who said all my thoughts had to make sense.

Vision of the Future

War. War never changes.

The once beautiful fields that were full of life and color were now stained with the blood of the fallen lives of friend and foe. An endless battle where neither side gave way, never faltering, in this war for survival. Ponies, Diamond dogs, Dragons, Griffins, Bast, and many other creatures working together to fight this common foe instead of amongst themselves. They fight with purpose, a reason. Each and everyone fighting for their own be it for themselves, loved ones, or for the fate of the world.

They fight.

And to think this wouldn’t have happened or not happened, but would have been a one sided battle, if it wasn’t for the spark that started this all.

The Chess Games.

A seeming less random tournament started by Discord, lord of Chaos and Disharmony, if he hadn’t brought that one human over none of the other gods and goddess would have even considered to do the same. It begs the question if Discord foresaw this inevitable outcome or if he was doing it to bring about a new era.

Too long have the pony kind lived in a ‘Utopia’ world only for others to suffer. Too long have the Griffin and Diamond Dogs being slaves to not only themselves, but to the Dragon as well. Too long have the Bast lived independently instead of under one banner. And this endeavor of harmony can be thanks to the very pieces of this chess game themselves. If not for each and every one of them doing what they did this battle would have been over in a matter of seconds.

It is sad yet beautiful. Beautiful that all these being can but their differences aside to fight a common enemy, yet sad that the only time this can happen is in war. And like we all know, war never changes.

Far above the battlefield sat a lone rainbow colored cloud and sitting on that particular cloud was a familiar Draconequus. He sat there with an analytical yet bored look on his face as he watched the battle rage on. While doing so he was silently singing a song: (Blue is Drake, red is Derange, and green is both)

They Fall in line, One at a time, Ready to play.

He sang as soldier on the battlefield grouped together and charged towards the enemy. In the background, though not visible, came a familiar yet a highly disliked voice:

Time 33 seconds

Loud explosions rang out not even a second after the group of soldier left and were now reduced to nothing.

Time 37 seconds

Up above the skies cruiser of enormous size turned to face their foes and let loose a barrage of pure magic.

Time 43 seconds

Only too then be blindsided by another ship on the enemy side. The cruiser slowly falling towards the planet. Then both voices sang as one, their voice meshing over one another as they sang in unison:

Fire your gun, it’s time to run, blow me away

Another loud explosion could be heard in the distance.

Time 52 seconds

A crater in the distance could be seen as the cloud of dust slowly started to dissipate.

Time 57 seconds

In the crater of dead bodies, both of friend and foe, figures could be seen getting up. One particular one was just a normal griffon as he walked over towards a diamond dog that was having trouble getting up. They locked eyes for a second, but to them it was years.

The griffon had a look of pain, suffering, rage, and a sense of glee to see the dog incapacitated. It would be simple just to kill the dog and act as if it was their enemy who had done him in. Which is why the dog feared the griffon before him yet was also not afraid to accept his fate for he and his kind brought this upon themselves. The griffon hand shot out causing the dog to flinch and shut his eyes waiting for the inevitable finishing blow.

After a minute of waiting the dog dared a glance. Only to be surprise to see the griffon holding out his claw ready to help him up while giving the dog a playful smirk. Though it took much longer than necessary for the dog to respond he did respond back with his own smirk as he was hoisted up. The rest of the group started to gather about reforming their number and then headed off to fight once more.

Only the strongest will survive

Lead me to heaven when we die

I am the shadow on the wall

I’ll be the one to save us all-

Back above the battlefield the Draconequus stopped his singing, though the song continued its course, as a figure appeared behind him. “Sadly fitting isn’t it?” He said not turning around to greet his guest.

“Yes, yes it is.” Came the voice of a grayish Alicorn. “It’s good to see you again regardless of the situation.” Faust said as she laid down next to him though he didn’t even give her a glance.

After a couple minutes past the Draconequus asked without looking at her “Faust, why are you here? And what do you want?”

“To know what you are doing.” She responded “It’s not good to keep the other waiting especially when they could use a hand.”

“You act as if I care about this battle. That I care about the outcome of this war.” He responded back his voice cold and heartless.

“But don’t you?” She asked with a motherly tone.

“Honestly? This very battle is pointless. It is nothing more than a battle of attrition. For every soldier they lose two more take its place, but every soldier we lose that’s just one more towards their victory. It’s rather sad really to see these guys fighting with everything they got only to know in the end we’re just going to lose. The only, and I say this loosely, chance of victory would be to find the head honcho and take him out, but that doesn’t guarantee that will end this war.” He said his tone never changing and continued.

“Beside even if we did win somehow the second this war is over and people have licked their wounds who’s to say we won’t go back to fighting amongst ourselves once again. All intelligent creatures are like that, fighting over the most pointless of things when instead we could be just bettering one another and paving a road for a better future.”

“So you will just let your fellow allies perish just because it is a pointless battle?” She asked her tone never changing.

“We all die eventually.” He said with a shrug. “Some sooner than others.”

“…So that is your response, hmm?” She asked.

“Yeah, it is.” He said as he slowly got up and made his way towards the edge.

“Where are you going?” She asked.

“To get my ass out there and help.” He said with a casual shrug.

“But you just said that this battle was pointless.” She said confused.

“Yeah that is the case, but people are relying on me to help. And though it may be true that this war is pointless that doesn’t make it hopeless. There is still a chance, slim as it may be, that we can win this and change the world for the better. No more slavery, no more discrimination, no more unnecessary violence just peace and harmony. A fool’s dream to be sure because we both know that will never happen, but I’d rather die trying than not trying at all. And I have you to thank.” He said and held out his hand. She brought her hoof to him and both shook.

“If it wasn’t for you bringing me here, letting me experience the things I’ve seen and done, I’d still be the sad little man who gave up on the world and would have let everyone down…though I’m still ticked off that you kept me in the dark most of the time.” He said as they both released one another appendage.

“Rules are rules and even I’m not allowed to break them.” She said in a motherly tone.

“Heh, rules, right.” He said sarcastically and turned to face her. “Well I’m off.” He said leaning backwards and letting gravity take its course.

“Just when I think I understand you, you change your views so randomly it is hard to keep up, but there is one trait I will always know: it is that no matter what you will always help someone in need regardless of the situation or the odds. And good luck my future son in law.” She said with a smile and vanished from thin air.

A few minutes later a large crash could be heard at the heart of enemy forces. Standing in the center of the large crater the Draconequus stood up and cracked his knuckles. Surround in mere seconds he just laughed a mad laugh. “Derange is the care package ready?” He asked, the enemies blindly charging towards him.

“Hell yeah it is!” A familiar voice shouted a second later a red laser dot appeared above Drake. “Firing the C.O.F.C (Chaotic Orbital Friendship Cannon)!” He yelled and not a moment too soon as the enemy was just about to converge on top of him. A bright red beam of pure chaotic energy came raining down from the heavens, hitting directly where Drake stood, and causing a massive blast radius to consume a few hundred miles. When the dust and smoke cleared up it revealed the once dead lands as a field of life once more. Trees, bushes, flowers, and rivers that were once dead now flourished with life. Soldiers that were caught in the blast radius were cured of wound or alignments and felt reinvigorated.

And standing there in the heart of the very blast was Drake no harm even done to him “ETA?” He asked to no one in particular as he turned to face the incoming horde, the soldier nearby forming up behind him.

“Two minutes.” Derange responded.

“Here’s Dracky~” He said with a smirk,while snapping his neck and slowly making his way towards the enemy, varies soldiers right on his tail. At first it was a slow jog, then a light run, and finally it turned into a full blown charge. Just as both armies were about to clash Drake roared at the top of his lungs, “You think you have won, you think all is well, but kiss my ass the Prince of Madness is here to stay! Also I suck at rhyming!”

“DYNAMIC ENTRY!” He cried out as he dove feet first towards his foes.

Author's Note

As of November 6, 2013 it is not allowed to put song lyrics into stories. So I used the time punches of the song lyrics to allow readers to know what line is being sang as well as give the audience an idea of what is going on.

Trouble in the Waste what a surprise

PoV: ???

I had been running for two, maybe three days? It’s hard tell out here in the waste sometimes especially if you spend most of your time hiding from a group of diamond dogs that are chasing after you. ‘I better get a move on while it’s still early’ I thought as I got up and stretched my sore limbs. I decided to do a quick look over of my materials one more time just to be sure that I didn’t leave anything behind. As I opened my old tattered bag and dumped the contents out onto the ground. I started to do a mental check list of my items as I put them back into the bag. My dull green colored canteen which was half full, some old dried out hay (which tasted awful, but it was either that or starve), some twigs I picked up along the way so that I could make a campfire at night, a small piece of flint, my grandpa’s old dull knife (not useful for cutting, but combined with the flint it could still help me light a fire) and my compass that had a crack going along the center of glass frame though worn out I still consider it to be lucky since it has helped me on numerous occasions. I stared attentively at the object fond memories flashing before my light orange eyes. Shaking myself out of my thought I decided to put the compass around my neck instead of putting it away in the bag since I knew I was going to need it later.

Satisfied that I didn’t leave anything behind I secured my saddlebags to my sides and crawled out of the hidey-hole cave that I resided in the night before. Keeping myself close to the ground I poked my head out to see if the coast was clear the morning light just barely crossing over the horizon. My ears flickered in each direction listening for the sounds of my pursuers or wild life. Hearing/seeing nothing I crawled out of the hole and stretched my limbs once more just to make there wasn’t any…kinks I think is the word before the long day ahead of me. As I lifted my hoof towards my compass I noticed my once brilliant yellow coat was smudged with dirt spots all over. Looking at the rest of my body I could see that I was more of a dull dirty yellow rather than a brilliant yellow. Taking a whiff of myself, mostly out of curiosity, I almost gagged at the stench ‘wow I really need to wash more often…or at least wash off some of this dirt’ I thought to myself, but shrugged it off for now. Grasping my compass I watched as the needle span around a bit until it lined up facing East. If I remembered correctly the closest town was Port Redstone, but even then I still have to travel a bit away from the town just so I could get there safely. With a nod of approval I let the compass fall down, a slight tug signifying that it was still secured around my neck, and I began a fast trot towards my destination.

~A couple of hours later~

I was now resting/bathing at a small water reserve that I stumbled upon. The surprisingly cold water brought goose bumps all over my body, yet it still felt refreshing. The water washed away the grime, dirt and sweat that once covered my body from head to hoof. As I retracted my head from the water and shook the water from my mane I felt my hair slap me across the face. “Need a hair cut” I said out loud to no one in particular while inspecting my maroon colored hair. It was way over due really. You see I like my mane to be long so that when I sweat my hair keeps some of the moisture near my head which helps me keep cool, but not too long to get in the way of seeing which it was right now. With a sigh I combed my mane back with a hoof to make myself look somewhat presentable.

‘Just a few more days everypony just wait a bit longer’ I thought memoires flashing before my eyes as my fellow townsponies rebelled against the dogs. Disregarding their own well being to buy me enough time to run and get help. “I wonder how everypony’s doing?” I thought out loud. “I hope….NO! I can’t afford to think like that right now” I said lightly slapping myself. I then finished my bath, filled upped my canteen, gathered my belongings and headed out once more.

~Time about midday~

‘Crap. Crap. Crap’ I thought as I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. Turning a corner I had only a few precious seconds before they caught up AND THERES NO WHERE TO HIDE OH BUCK ME. So with no other option I pushed my sore legs even harder and ran. ‘Just a few more feet’ I thought not even half way towards the valley of spikes when the very ground below me began to shake. Suddenly I found myself falling face first to the ground “Ouff” I said and quickly tried to get back up only to feel something grip my leg.

“Told you we get pony” said a diamond dog and it was obvious since they’re the only one who naturally speak like that.

“Only cause we use my plan” said another.

“Both you shut up” said the dog that was holding me by the leg. He then hoisted me up and held me right in front of his ugly/smelly face “Pony thought he could get away, but we outsmart little pony by digging”. ‘Yeah because doing the one thing your good at makes you so much smarter than everypony else’ I thought sarcastically and then tried to wiggle my way out from his grip, but to no avail.

“What now?” asked one diamond dog.

“Pony made us come out really far. I say we eat it” said another while licking his lips.

“Would agree, but Alpha says keep all ponies alive” the leader of the group responded back though he look quite upset about that statement.

“Could say that pony fell from high place and died” chimed another one as he popped out from the hole.

“No not take chance. Alpha to smart, figure out it a lie” said the leader and gave a look that said ‘and that’s final’.

“Let me go” I yelled as I swung at him only to hit nothing but air.

“Quit moving” the leader growled, but I didn’t listen and kept on trying to hit him. “Grrrr pony annoying. Where rope” he barked out and a second later one of the dogs was coming towards me with a menacingly look a piece of rope in his paws.

“Ahhhhhhh~” screamed a female voice from out of the blue.

“Wheeeee~” screamed another though this one was a mix of two voices.

The dogs immediately tensed up and started to search the land for the screaming voices.

“This is all your fault!” yelled a male voice.

“Mine! You’re the one who wanted to have a race!” yelled another male voice.

“Yeah, but you could have said no!” the first male voice retorted.

“And you could have not began the race to begin with!” retorted the first male voice.

“It’s both of your faults and would you hurry up and think of something before we crash!” yelled the first female voice.

“If you’d stop chocking me to death I’d have a chance to think of something” yelled the first male voice though it seemed more chocked out if that made any sense. The dogs utterly confused/lost at the events playing out gave up looking for the voices and stood there with a dumb expression which is rather difficult for them. Hint hint that was sarcasm.

“Oh I have an idea” yelled another female voice. “Why don’t we fly” she said like it was obvious which in fact should have been if they had wings to begin with.

“But that’s too easy and boring~” whined the first voice. “We have to be more creative…OH! I got it. How about we…” he didn’t get to finish his statement as the first female voice and the second male voice yelled

“SHUT UP AND FLY!”

“FINE! Geez you guys are no fun at all” he complained.

“Well does this look like a game to you?” retorted the second male voice.

“Do you really want me to answer that? Because by golly I wil…” he said right before a loud earth shattering crash could be heard.

The force of the impact caused the very earth to shake and kicked up a small dust storm obscuring my vision, but it only lasted a minute before it started to clear up. The dogs surrounded their leader ready to protect him from this possible unknown threat while the figures in the center of the dust cloud started to move about. Their silhouettes making them look like some demonic monster caused the dogs to shake in fear only for the cloud of dust to dissipate and reveal three ponies, two mares and a filly I noted, and two strange looking creatures. They seemed to be squabbling amongst themselves something about racing, a bet, cheating and muffins?

The dogs were confused about the situation and looked towards their leader for advice. He seemed to be contemplating the situation and without knowing shifted his arm, with me going along with the ride, closer towards his mid section which was awfully close to his private area. ‘You know as a male pony I know what I’m about to do is a low blow, but desperate times call for desperate measures’ I reasoned to myself as I rocked back and forth a bit trying to get enough momentum for what I was about to do, the dog completely oblivious of my action and ignoring me. Satisfied with how far I rocked I then swung forward right towards his tender area and smacked him as hard as I could. The results? The dog yipped in pain, threw me to the ground and went into the fetal position while massaging his manhood. Shaking off the blow from the throw I quickly got up and made my way towards the odd travelers, one of the travelers I think a giant lizard snake goat pony thing…he was a lot of things Ok and I may have fallen asleep during history class, but honestly who doesn’t. Anyways he seemed to have been watching the exchange between me and the dog and did a subtle gesture with his head to hide behind him. With no real choice I decided to oblige with his request and was now hiding behind his pink tail flipper thing… again like I said he was a lot of things. Looking out from my hiding spot I could see the lead dog make his way towards the front of the pack, a scowl present on his face, as he tried to intimidate the creature before him though it had little to no effect since the creature was much taller than him, about three feet taller than him if I had to guess.

The creature had a stoic look as he eyed the dog with little to no care, his companions realizing what was happening and ending their squabble to witness the exchange of words “I know I’m quite the looker, but is there something I can help you with?”

My PoV:

I asked, the dog recoiling back in surprise, but then resumed his death glare at me. He then pointed towards the colt “Pony ours return him” he said broken grammar…oh great now I doing it…’Bob Saget!’

“Ohhhh, he’s yours is he?” I asked the dog condescendingly.

“Yes” the dog said oblivious to my attitude.

“Hmmm I see” I said to him while nodding my head sagely. I then picked up the colt by his neck and inspected him “Strange I don’t see Mutt face anywhere on here” I said and placed the colt behind me once more noting that the colt was unnaturally light for his size and age, his age being around thirteen or so if I had to guess.

The dog looked at me confused and asked “How does strange looking lizard know Mutt’s name?”

‘………..(multiply the dots by a sideways eight)………Are you bucking kidding me’ I thought as I epically mentally face palmed. Doesn’t make sense? Well when do I ever, by epic I mean I imagined Chuck Norris busting into my mind like a boss and round house kicking me in the face…yeah it was pretty epic…and painful, but that’s neither here nor there. Derange was laughing hysterically at not only the image that played out but the audacity of the name of the dog in front of us.

“You’re kidding me right? Please tell me your joking….your not are you?” I asked with a sense of dread and disbelief. The dog responded with a simple nod of his head “Somewhere fate is laughing at me” I said as I rubbed my eyes with my index fingers.

“What do you think I’m doing over here” Derange said in-between his laughing fit Ditzy and Dinky oh so helpfully join in on the laughter.

The diamond dog, know as Mutt, cleared his throat to get our attention “Well?” he said while tapping his foot against the ground.

“Well what?” I asked feigning ignorance.

“Is weird looking lizard going to give Mutt his pony” he growled at me annoyed.

“First off chief…” I said only to be interrupted by the dog

“Me no chief me Gamma” he said with a sense of accomplishment.

“Yeah whatever” I waved him off and continued “First off I’m a Draconequus not some bucking lizard and Second…” I tried to say only to be interrupted once more.

“But isn’t your right leg a lizard leg?” Dinky asked confused.

“Well yes technically young Dinky, but Draconequi come in many shapes and sizes, also yes that is what she said, we just happened to draw on the ‘not very creative’ stick” Derange answered.

“LIKE I was saying” I said before anyone else could chime in “And Thirdly…no wait Secondly why should I?”

“Because he ours” the dog answered.

“And why is he your?”

“Because Mutt says so”

“So I say he isn’t therefore he’s no longer yours”

“That not how it works” he yelled angrily.

“Oh? Please enlighten me on how it does work?” I asked only to get a confused look from the dog “How does it work then?” I asked simply ‘stupid dog with their small vocabulary and terrible grammar. I mean honestly go look at a Sweetie bell or something’.

“Dogs bigger and stronger than ponies so ponies don’t get choice. Ponies have to listen to dogs” he simplified.

“Slavery at its finest” Minuette said with disgust.

“Quite pony Mutt is speaking” he yelled at Minuette.

She sent a death glare towards the dogs and was about to say something, but I interrupted “At any rate I believe our business here is done so we’ll just be going on our way now” I said and motion the others to follow, including our newest little companion, only for our path to be blocked by a different group of diamond dogs. With our path blocked we tried to proceed around them, but apparently they weren’t having any of that as more and more dogs seem to pop out from the ground eventually surrounding us completely. “Look I know what you’re thinking, but serious don’t” I warned them as I glared at the lead diamond dog.

“Mutt thinks ponies and stupid looking lizards are coming back with us to den” Mutt said with a devious look.

“Hey~ I’m not stupid looking your stupid looking” Derange whined childishly.

“Quite lizard” Mutt yelled and barked out orders to his fellow Diamond Dogs to bring out some more rope.

While the dog was distracted I closed the distance between us and yelled “Alright no body move or else Mutt is going at like Old Yeller” I said as I held him point blank range with a revolver. The revolver had a reddish colored grip with a black cylinder. I pointed the gun right between the eyes of the dog, yet the dog looked more curious then scared.

“….What lizard holding?” he asked confused.

“This?” I said nonchalantly as I twirled the gun in every which way I could my audience captivated at my twirling skills. “This is the greatest handgun ever made” I said and tossed it in the air. With a quick turn I span around once in place while I also reached into hammer space and brought out a tattered Desperado cowboy hat. The once deep black hat was more of a dark gray then a black and the white band at the base had dirt splotches on it, it also conveniently had holes to accommodate my horns which in all honestly kicks ass because you know how hard it is to find a hat like, pretty damn hard. Placing the hat on my head, also seeing at the very top left corner of my vision I noticed a plus 1 in perception, I held out my other hand and caught the gun, the gun pointing towards the dog of course, and finished my dramatic little speech with a mad grin “The Colt Single Action Army Revolver. Six bullets being more than enough to kill anything that moves”. My audience was so shocked with surprise that they were breathless, stupefied, amazed or any other word I forgot to mention. Hiding underneath the brim of my hat I had a huge grin going on at being able to pull off something so amazing so spectacular that…

“Uh what is a ‘handgwuan’?” a random dog asked confused getting a couple of similar question from the sea of dogs and worse from my own companions, Derange being the exception.

“You know in retrospect we should have know that there were no guns here, which explains why they don’t understand what it is” Derange said offhandedly.

“Hmmm yes we should have foreseen this dilemma that we are now in. Perhaps we should give a demonstration?” I asked my counterpart while readjusting my hat so that everyone could see my eyes.

“Indubitably” he responded back like a sir, a top hat and monocle now resting on his head and eye, respectively.

“Which we will if you move one more step” I threatened as I glared at Mutt while pulling back the hammer on the revolver, a satisfying click resonating from the gun. We then glared at one another for what felt like hours, everyone else remaining deadly silent. Like a ticking time bomb the situation was ready to blow up at any given second. The dog’s eyes took a quick glance towards my companions, then back to me, to my companions once more and then back to me again. Then faster than a whip he sprinted right towards me, but thanks to my unnaturally quick reflexes I was able to jump back away from his strike. I readjusted my aim and fired, a loud bang echoed out for miles. Time slowed down to a crawl as the bullet existed out of the gun and made its way towards the dog’s skull. As I watched the bullet go towards its target it made me think back to my life back home. Normally I wouldn’t even considered killing a living thing, unless of course in self defense, yet here I was now killing a dog for merely doing what he had to do to survive.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not supporting slavery in any shape or form, but I can’t fully despise every slaver for doing what they have to do to survive. Especially since my own people did in fact enslave one another, though to be fair we eventually saw the error in our ways and ended it, none the less that is exactly what they should be doing. I applaud this ‘Griffon’ chap for getting the ball rolling, but that is where it should end. It’s like how a child doesn’t understand the meaning of pain until they experienced it. Sure they can understand the concept, the idea, but they’ll never truly understand it until they feel it. Though I highly doubt the ponies would have cared if Grif, yeah I’m being informal deal with it, didn’t tell them the pain and suffering that slaves were going through since to me they live an ‘Ignorance is bliss’ kind of life style. So in a nutshell I understand why they do what they do, but I don’t agree with it and I know my point of view is never considered the favorable one, or coherent one, yet it’s just who I am and how I think.

Anyways back to the story. The bullet was merely an inch away from reaching its target, Mutt having a look of utter shock as the bullet slowly made its way towards him. The bullet shot true in the end as it hit Mutt right between the eyes causing his body to flail backwards. I stood there, a gentle breeze blowing by, right beside his limb body and then glared at the remaining dogs. The sea of dogs shying away from me as I pointed my weapon towards them “Anyone else want to come at me” I asked casually. Their eyes were a mixture of fear, surprise and confusion which is hard not to be since I just killed their leader with a strange weapon and why do I get the feeling that they aren’t looking at me.

“Ow” was the response I heard followed by the sound of someone getting up. Turning around quickly I jumped back in surprise to see that Mutt was completely unharmed except for the red dot on his forehead. There was an awkward silence in the area as I gaped at Mutt while the latter rubbed his head wincing every so often as he touched the red mark. “That hurt” he said and eyed the weapon with a fearful yet curious look.

“Eh to be fair it wasn’t technically supposed to hurt” Derange said surprisingly surprised as well.

Then suddenly he reached for a bag on his belt, but before he could even open the strap I aimed and shot his hand. He yipped in pain and began to wave his hand back in forth in the air to try to relieve some of the pain. Just as the first bullet did to his head the second did the same to his paw leaving a small red dot on his hand instead of a bullet hole in it, though the difference between the two was that second red mark seemed smaller than the first and the bang of the shot seemed to be quieter. Without waiting for an excuse this time I quickly fired off the remaining shots in succession.

*Bang* One in the knee…I will keep at least some of my dignity and not make the obvious joke.

‘Wait when the buck did we ever have any!?’ Derange asked in my head.

“Ow” Mutt yipped as he rubbed his knee.

‘That was also the last day he was an adventure. A moment of silence for our fallen brother’ *Derange bows his head for no longer than a second* ‘Aaaannnnnnd done now let’s cap this bitch yo’ Derange said in a terrible imprecision of a ‘gangster’.

*Bang* *Bang* Two in the chest “Quit that!” he yelled as he swiped at me like how one would swipe at a fly.

*Bang* and the last bullet in the head once more though it just simple bounced off like a BB gun pellet. Mutt looked at me unamused as I continued to fire the empty revolver an empty click sound oh so helpfully reminding me how much I bucked up.

Eventually I stopped firing and gave a sheepish grin “Ok so yeah that’s totally not how I imagine this working out” I said while rubbing the back of my neck.

With a glance and a subtle nod the dogs began to encircle us with menacing smirks plastered on their faces. “WAIT!” yelled Derange making him the center of attention. He then calmly walked over towards me, grabbed the gun out of my hand, walked over towards Mutt and…pistol whipped him in the face…I don’t even…

“OW!” Mutt yipped as he glared at Derange.

“Wait” Derange said with a realizing look as he glanced at the gun “That wasn’t the idea I had” he said and tilted his head in a thinking like posture “What was it again?” he asked himself until he got suckered punch in the gut courtesy of Mutt. “Dude…not cool” he said as he fell to one knee while holding his gut. ‘Says the man who pistol whipped him’ I thought sarcastically until another thought occurred ‘Wait he just got hit so why aren’t I…’ then I felt the same gut retching pain as Derange did and buckled over. “But on the bright side I remember what I was going to do originally” he proclaimed as he got back up and stood in front of Mutt calmly though Mutt was in a defensive like stance just in case Derange was going to sucker hit him again. Derange then tossed the pistol towards Mutt; who clumsily caught it; pushed him towards his fellow brethren (who also caught him) and said “HIT THE DECK” while comically/dramatically jumping away from them.

Before I could even question why Derange would do something like that a memory occurred. The last few times items I summoned didn’t work they’d usually….oh piss on a barby. “ITS GONNA BLOW” I yelled and dove under the nearest source of cover while making sure my hat stood in place. What? Don’t judge it a pretty nice hat it just need some re-coloring and cleaning. I then covered my ears and closed my eyes waiting for the inevitable outcome. After five minutes of hiding I dared to take a glance from my hiding spot only to notice that one: everyone was looking at me strangely, two: the pistol did not explode in a fire bomb of explosionness and three:…

“Why the buck were you hiding behind me?” Minuette asked as she glared at me.

“Eh because you were the closest and big…” I said calmly until I barely caught my mistake.

Though she must have heard some of it as her glare turned to a death glare “What was that?” she asked rather calmly.

‘Whatever you do, do not say she’s big and or fat’ Derange warned me though at the same time putting some distance between me and the scary little mare. Though I had only one really thought going through my mind ‘I’m going to die. I’m going to die. Oh buck I’m going to die’. Ladies and gentlemen one of the only times you’ll ever see me panic, case one: Having to deal with pissed off women.

“Well? I’m waiting” she said in a low growl as she bored holes through my skull.

“What I was saying was that you were the closest *gulp* and most beautiful unicorn mare so the uh bomb wouldn’t dare hit such a thing of beauty” I said while sweating a monsoon and oddly enough only a small puddle was forming below me.

“Ahem” Mutt coughed out to get our attention. He and the rest of his pack mates resumed the whole ‘were evil and going to kidnap you’ bit until,

“Wait” Derpy cried out holding a blueberry muffin “It’s muffin time” she said.

“You kidding right?” he deadpanned.

Her response was to put on a serious look and say “There is nothing funny about muffin time”. She then proceeded to hand out varies kinds of muffins to well everyone, where she got all those muffins I’ll never know. After about half an hour, which was spent mostly talking amongst our own groups, we were all done eating our delicious muffins ‘Double chocolate chip muffin. Classic, delicious and satisfying’.

Mutt was standing there arms crossed and asked “Anybody else want to interrupt?” after a couple minutes of silence he smiled deviously and said “Good” the dogs once more stalking towards us.

‘You know in retrospect we should have made a plan to escape’ I thought to Derange.

‘Yeah also couldn’t we have drugged the muffins to put them to sleep or something?’ he asked.

I stood there and thought about that for not even a second before I mentally face palmed and screamed in my head ‘FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF’.

Hey so yeah i think i know what. 'Seriously about four months for 4000words' well no actually all toghther it summoned up to a thousand and sadly i was barely half way done so in the end i decided to chop it up a bit. Anywho more action coming up in the next chapter though hopefully it won't take that long.

One dog, Two dogs, Red dog, Dead dog

Lauren Frost PoV:

Today had been a rather slow uneventful day as I watched the world go by. Nothing even remotely exciting happened with any and all chess pieces. Today felt like a bad Sunday after partying all night on Saturday and had to rest up/get rid of the hangover for the next day. “Huh to be young again” I mused out loud reminiscing days gone by. ‘I was such a light head back then’ I thought to myself with a slight chuckle “Oh speaking of chess pieces I wonder how Drake’s doing?” I question.

With a simple thought I created a mental link to speak to him only to hear a loud scream “UUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKKKK”. As quickly as I open the link I closed it and sat there for a few minutes, though I could still hear a loud ringing sound, it wasn’t as bad a few moments ago. Curious as to the situation I opened up an image to see him and his companions surrounded by a group of Diamond dogs. He had a stoic look on his face with his eyes scanning each and every dog as they stalked closer and closer while his companions were huddled together holding one another in fear…including Derange.

“I wonder what he’s planning?” I asked out loud and cautiously reopened the mind link making sure to turn down the volume just incase.

“Why the *Yay~* didn’t we *Yay~*-ing think of that while we were eating those *Yay~-ing awesome muffins. We could have been *Yay~*-ing gone by now and those *Woohoo~* suckers wouldn’t have been the wiser, though to be fair they’re as smart as pile of *Yay~*. I mean seriously just what the actually flying *Yay~* was I thinking. Oh that’s right I wasn’t because of *Yay~*-ing Derange and his…” he continued on his little rant, but I cut off the link once more with a surprised look on my muzzle.

“… I think I’ll just talk to him later” I said out loud and closed the image.

My Pov:

‘And that’s why I hate Kiddy land’ I thought as I got over my rant and boy let me tell ya it was a doozy. Wait wasn’t something bad happening…oh yeah dogs encircling us menacingly almost forgot about that. Just as they were about to completely encircle us Derange yelled out “WAIT!”

“What now!?” Mutt yelled out annoyed.

Derange then began to dig into his feathery coat on occasion muttering ‘No’ when he yelled triumphantly “Ah ha nobody move or else” he threatened as he held up a bag full of pure white crystal, set item giving off a beautiful holy glow courtesy of the sun’s rays “I’ve got Charlie and I’m not afraid to use it” he yelled holding the bag in front of everyone, but the only response he received were confused looks. “Oh wait forgot that Charlie Sheen doesn’t exist here” he said as he started to list off different names, also is that a bag of what I think it is?!?!? “…Blow, coke, crack (and not just your momma’s), and my least favorite name snow” he said as he finished off his list though for the most part no one, thankfully, knew what he was even talking about. “….it’s a drug” he deadpanned.

“Ohhhhhhhhh” everyone said at the same time.

“Wait what the hay is a drug going to do to them?” Minuette asked confused by, which is hardly a surprise anymore, Derange’s logic.

“Uh I was going to throw it at them and get them really really high thanks to their sensitive noses and what not, then I was going to kick him *points towards Mutt* in the balls, then ????? And finally profit off of Mares gone wild” he said summarizing his oh so wonderful plan.

“….That makes no sense” Mutt stated the obvious.

“Besides” I said before he could rebuttal “One: I’m not going to introduce crack to Equestria” I said while grabbing the bag from Derange though while during the motion I took a real hard look at the drug and notice something quite interesting about set contents, but you know spoilers. “Two: even if we were able to spread this about there’s also the chance that we would get high and or shit faced. Three: and more importantly” I said and held it up in the air. “This is not crack, but something much better and plausibly more dangerous” I said finishing off my little speech with a mischievous smile.

“Ah ponies and lizards are bluffing” Mutt said clearly done with having to deal with our shenanigans “Tie up ponies and lizards and let’s go” Mutt ordered the other dogs obeying their Gamma’s instructions and converging towards us once more.

“When I give the signal we’re going to make a break for it towards the valley” I whispered to my companions only getting nods in response. “This” I yelled though the dogs continued to advance on us “is fulminated mercury aka a bucking time bomb just waiting for the right action or in this case reaction, see what I did there, as I shall now demonstrate” I yelled with a crazy grin as I chucked the bag towards Mutt who went bugged eyed and jumped out of the way. Now you’re probably thinking ‘How the hell did he know that from just a simple glance?’ Well just like how I know if you times 111,111,111 by 111,111,111 it turns out to be 12,345,678,987,654,321 or how bats, given their body size, have larger brains than birds or like how there is a law in Haiti stating it’s a crime to turn someone into a zombie. I kid you not there is an actual law stating that if I recall it’s under Article 249. Anyways back to my point….I just know some very random things. I don’t know if I should be annoyed because of my ability or not, though completely random and sometimes useless, it also does bring up some useful information I never knew about. Anyways back to the story,

“LEG IT! WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP!” I screamed, while holding onto my hat to not lose it, and what else ran right through the dogs knocking some over and creating a pathway for my companions who were right on my tail.

“I thought you said it was suppose to explode, but I’m not hearing anything!” yelled our newest member who I forgot to ask for his name. Damn you social etiquettes!

“That’s because we summoned it” Derange answered.

“WOULD YOU STOP MAKING THAT SOUND!” Minuette yelled at me ‘Huh didn’t even realize I was still making that noise’ I thought and muttered an apology to the angry little mare beside me.

“That doesn’t make sense” the colt yelled back.

“Story of my life kid” I responded with a shrug and continued “Besides it will explode in about three….two….one” I counted off and was rewarded with a loud boom.

“Wait then why did it explode?” he asked beyond confused.

“Cause we/they summoned it” we all said at the same time.

“You guys are crazy” was his response after a good full minute of silent running.

“But the good kind” I said.

“Is there any other kind and yes that was rhetorical” Derange said stopping the others from responding to his remark. And then we ran entering the sea of jagged spikes in hopes of either losing our pursuers or at least using the environment to our advantage by using the enclosed space to squeeze them in making their sheer size in number, well in other word ‘won’t count for shit’.

“What’s the plan now?” Derpy asked as she flew above us Dinky riding on her mother’s back.

“Hopefully we’ll lose them if not we’ll use the enclosed space to our advantage and beat the hay out of them” I answered though our odds of winning was still 30 to 70 and I did not like those odds ‘Silver where the buck are you we could use your help right about now’ I thought though I had to keep up this facade of confidence for the sake of everyone else. I don’t like fighting because I always had some problems with it. For starters it is such a pointless endeavor to solve problem and or situation with when words could be used instead, but that usually doesn’t work on the average drunk American. Granted that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to fight, though in my childhood I basically learned the ‘punch in the face as hard as you can’ style though I did learn a particular fighting style when I was in my high school years, but it was mostly self taught. You see I learned how to use…’Oh buck me sides ways’ I thought as we exited out of the tunnel and into a good sized dome like room. The cavern (I’m going to go with cavern for three hundred Bob) itself was about fifty feet tall and twenty feet wide, how I knew this I had no idea. Hazy clear crystal adorned the wall of the cavern with some cliff mixed in there as well as it lead to the open blue sky. Boulders about the five feet tall and four feet wide were placed about the very layout of the cavern like area. “Everyone get ready to fight they’ll be here any moment now” I said grimly. Tipping my hat to cover my eyes I then enter into the room more cautiously my companion right behind me.

“Wait how do you know?” the boy and Minuette asked at the same time.

I then gestured towards the well placed/sized boulders “Strategic cover”.

They looked at me as if I lost my mind, which as far as I know I haven’t (because it in your head duh), and Minuette said “That is probably the dumbest thing I’ve heard come out of your mouth. I expected this from Derange, but from you…honestly just wow” adding a disappointed shake of her head.

Before I could respond back Derange said with a rather serious tone “Do not question the ‘Strategic cover’ logic of video games…ever”.

“Pfffft please” Minuette said with a dismissive wave. “How about I prove you’re little ‘theory’ wrong right now” she said walking farther ahead of us and over towards one of the covers. After a couple minutes of standing there she said “See nothing bad happen…” but was interrupted as the pathway that lead us into here was blocked by a random cave in. “Ok I know what you’re going to say” she said as Derange and I gave her a skeptical look. “But that was just pure coincidence” she continued only for a loud crash to be heard.

“There ponies and lizard are” yelled a diamond dog as he ran out from a cloud of dust. More and more diamond dogs seemed to come out of every which way filling up the cavern in seconds.

Derange was about to say something until “Don’t you dare say it out loud” Minuette growled at him. Surprisingly he obliged to her request and instead brought out a piece of paper and quill, wrote something down and held it in front of. “’Dear Minuette, I told ya so’” Minuette read out loud. Taking a glimpse of the note I saw a small doodle of Derange blowing a raspberry at her. I couldn’t help but chuckle at Derange’s shenanigan though it didn’t last long thanks to miss party pooper Minuette and her glare of doom.

“Would you guys stop goofing around!” yelled the boy.

“Alright alright just give me a second” I told him dismissively, though in reality I was slightly freaking out. ‘OK so completely surround by oh three…ten…twenty five…thirty dogs with our only means of escape blocked off, can’t just fly us out of here because they’ll use those net launcher on us (plus my hearing just returned and I’m quite fond of it), and the people who I know can somewhat fight our me and Derange…….Well this is definitely not looking good’ scanning the sea of dogs I located Mutt commanding his brethren all the way from the rear and Not One Word Derange!

“You never let me have any fun” he whined getting confused looks from our companions.

Ignoring him I went back to my own thoughts trying to figure a way out of this mess. ‘Ok so what do I know about Diamond Dogs. Well they smell, they have bad teeth, bad grammar, flees…lots and lots of fleas and…No wait that’s not what I should be thinking about. Damn you random knowledge you and your randomness ways. Ok come on focus *internal slap* Ok they seem to follow a ranking system as Alpha being the highest to Beta being the next though if I remember wasn’t it suppose to end there or something and any D-dog could challenge the Beta to fight the Alpha for control? …Ah whatever I’ll remember eventually. What I do know is that if I beat Mutt I’ll be considered their Gamma and they’ll have to listen to me!’ I thought triumphantly finding a loophole to their system. “Hey Mutt I challenge you for your title and leadership level of the back” I said while pointing at him dramatically.

“Mutt’s clan no follow rules of other clan. Mutt’s clan system is chosen by Alpha and Alpha alone” he yelled back with what I could imagine as a smug smirk.

I then turned to my friends and said “Well that’s all I got” adding a wing shrug to mix things up a bit. “Derange!” I yelled out as I turned to face our foes.

“Sir yes sir!” he cried out as he stood by me while saluting.

“You’re going to stay here and keep them safe while I go take out Mutt understood?” I asked never taking my eyes off of the target.

“But sir that’s suicide” he cried out “At least use the boy as a pony shield” he said and presented the colt in front of me.

“Hey! Put me down” the boy said while trying to break free from my alter-ego’s grip.

“…No…Just…No” I said as I shook my head at him. His response was to shrug and release the colt though he should have at least held him closer to the ground when he let him go. “Ready?” I asked.

He walked over next to me a shovel in his hand “Ready” he said in a Russian accent as he cocked the shovel, a shell casing flying out from the shovel…he was also wearing the Tower Pillar of Hats. ‘….Celestia, Luna, Faust, Discord and any other god/goddess that I forgot to mention damit.’

“That’s not funny at all and you should feel bad…except the shell casing now that was funny” I said as I shook my head once more though that didn’t last long as I turned my attention back to the problem at hand. I then got into a low stance my legs tightening up as I got ready to charge head first into the incoming mob of dogs. My breathing was calm and steady though my heart was beating a mile a minute as I felt the great feeling of adrenaline coursing through my veins. The plan was simple charge towards the dogs, kick Mutt’s ass, cause confusion amongst the ranks and take charge hoping that they’ll fall back on the old ways of leadership though this wasn’t guaranteed to work since for all I know the Alpha could have devised a ranking system so that if the Gamma fell the next what it’s called would come up next and etcetera etcetera. A long shot yes, but it was all I had at the moment so got make it count. As I took in one final deep breath, steeling myself for what I was about to do, I then released all the tension I was building up in my legs and charge.

“What the buck did you guys get yourself into!?” cried Silver and might I say Thank you Celestia, Luna, Discord, Faust and any other god/goddess I neglected to mention. I would have literally stopped to hug the mare for showing up in our time of need, but I choose to continue with my plan.

“Dogs. Slavers. Protect them. Derange go nuts.” I yelled as I passed her by and just as I was about to clash with the dogs I jumped as high as I could, the momentum sending me right over the charging dogs, and took to the skies.

“For Narnia!” Derange screamed as he charged head first swinging his shovel though it was what he said next that made me really ticked off at him “Boink. Boink. Boink. Bonk”. No not that the next thing “Need a dispenser here. Need a dispenser here. Need a dispenser here.” I mean really if you’re going to make fun of something at least do it right and or coherently though my train of thought was lost as a net came flying past me. With a quick flick of my wing I narrowly dodge the next one and continued swerving out of harm’s way as I slowly made my way towards Mutt.

Derange’s PoV:

“Dogs. Slavers. Protect them. Derange go nuts” Drake yelled and boy let me tell ya I was stocked at not only Silver showing up, because in all honesty we would’ve got our ass handed to us on a silver (ha I’m making a funny) platter, but also at the aspect of me showing the ladies my moves. “For Narnia” I screamed as I charged head first my weapon of choice for the day in tow. What came next was the most epic of lines ever to leave one's mouth “Boink. Boink. Boink.Bonk”…okay maybe not the first but it’s around there somewhere… “Need a dispenser here. Need a dispenser here. Need a dispenser here” I said in tangent though I was paying more attention to the noise in the background.

“Double Kill” yelled out an announcer as I whacked two D-dogs in the face though I’m sure I didn’t kill them the voice still rang out. “*Whack*Triple kill. *Whack*Overkill. *Whack*Killtacular, Killing Spree” the voice rang out as I smacked the fifth dog that was in range.

“Must. Go. For. Ten. Kills” I said panicky as I charged towards the sea of dogs. The bloody cowards had a look of fear as most of them backed off though a few of them were still dumb enough to take their chances with yours truly.

A dog came charging towards me head first his sharp claws swiping at my head. I dodged to left and hit him with the end of my improp weapon his lifeless, or unconscious, body falling to the ground. “Killtacular” the voice continued to ring out. Another dog charged at me from behind trying to catch me off-guard. He thrust his spear (Mind out of the gutter people) where I was at only moments ago as I did a back flip, my face merely inches away from the spear, as I reappeared behind him and busted his balls…Ok I kicked him in the balls and they didn’t burst but the previous sentence sounded so much epicer than just ‘kick’. The dog yipped in pain as he fell to his knees as he caressed his manhood. Not feeling sorry for him I smacked him in the back of his head knocking him out like the others and also sending him face first towards a boulder, but meh that bit wasn’t really important. “Killtrocity”. Then two dogs tried to double team me, and it wasn’t the good kind, one with a worn out spear while the other came at me with wicked sharp claws. Just as they were about to strike at me I simply side stepped out of the way and watched as they smack right into one another, a loud whack sound echoing within the cavern, causing them to slump to the ground both rubbing their snouts. I then aimed a well placed shot at both of their heads and smacked them with my weapon knocking them out like the others. “Killimanjaro. Killtastrophe”.

“Two more to go…I’m going to do it” I said with a wickedly awesome, though I’ve been told it’s rather creepy, smile. The sea of dogs seemed to back off not wanting to face the awesomeness of yours truly…wait but that means I can’t…oh hell no. “You are not going to ruin this for me” I threatened as I took a step towards them. Their response was to take a step back. I growled at them as I took another threatening step towards the dogs though they responded much the same and took another step back. I growled once more ready to just bum-rush them until I noticed a dog making its way towards me from the back. He was a huge pit bull looking dog, which can translate to an ugly one, who was about an inch taller than me. He had black coat with yellow eyes though the most distinguishing feature was the massive bulge of muscles that were protruding from his arms, legs and rib cage. “Damn kid do you lift or what?” I asked rather surprised at the beast before me.

The dog didn’t respond to my comment as he sprinted towards me with a mad look in his eye foam also foaming at the mouth. ‘Well some people just don’t appreciate a good joke anymore’ I thought as the dog was merely moments away from crashing into me and introducing ‘thunder and lightning’. I calmly leaned my weapon against me, spit into my hands and furiously rubbed my hands together. I then picked up my weapon and got into a batter stance. “Bottom of the ninth. The scores are tied 9-9. Bases are empty. Two outs, with three balls and two strikes. The crowd is silent with excitement as Derange their star player gets ready to send them off to the championship. And the ball is loose and it’s a fast one does Derange have any hope of hitting it? Can he lead team Chaos to victory?” I said with an announcer like fashion. Just as the dog was only a few feet away I swung the shovel has hard as I could, the dog had a smirk on his face knowing full well that the shovel wouldn’t do jack shit in its current form, current being the key word as I pressed a small red button on the side of the handle.

The small shovel seemed to transform before everyone’s eyes as steam and gears seemed to spring up and out as it changed form. The once small weapon was now a towering mass of steam punkyness (too lazy to describe) over the dog though it was now firmly planted into the earth. The dog had originally stopped to watch the sudden transformation, but after a few seconds he began making his way over towards me once more a menacing look on his face while cracking his knuckles. I had a look of panic as the dog continued his walk towards me, but that quickly changed as I adopted a smug smirk on my face as I clicked a blue button on the opposite side of the handle. Steams and gears presented themselves once more as the back side of the shovel adopted a rocket like property and lit a flame, a brilliant blue I might add, as the shovel was launched towards the dog and smacked him with great force sending him flying off into the wall of the cavern. “AND IT’S A HOMERUN! TEAM CHAOS TAKES THE JAWS OF VICTORY FROM TEAM D-DOGS! IT’S ALL OVER FOLKS!” I cried at in triumph though I had to stop to make sure my weapon wouldn’t fly off as I re-pushed the red button and watched the shovel revert back to its original form.

“Killapocalypse” the voice rang out over the silence that presented itself after the whole I smacked that big guy with a shovel. I mean honestly it’s like they never seen steampunk before or something.
Getting over my epicness I gave them a wide toothy grin and said “Who’s next? No wait let me choose. Eeny, meeny you” while looking at a dog whose eyes went to the size of dinner plates and froze up. I then began to sprint over towards him only to feel something hit the back of my skull effectively knocking me face first to the ground. Quickly, and totally not rolling on the ground crying my eyes out, recovering from the blow I cried out “Motherbucker that hurt” while rubbing the back of my skull.

I turned and glared at the culprit noticing a small D-dog holding a broken rock, the bits and pieces still falling from his hands, who responded with a sheepish grin followed by a sheepish wave “Uh hi” he said.

I was on him faster than the eye could see as I brought up my weapon to smack him like the others. The end of the shovel was a few inches away from hitting him when the announcer announced, heh yo dog… “Killjoy, Game Over” he announced.
The end of the shovel stopped right before it was going to hit his face while I mulled over what was said. “But…I was…one more…”I then fell to my knees and cried the dog running back to his pack to watch the scene unfold. I raised my fist to the heaven and brought it back to the earth multiple times, a small crater beginning to form, “Damit! Damit! Damit! Damit! Damit! Damit! I was so FUCKING CLOSE” I raged...and yes I did lose, but some things take priority. Then I heard the sound of a stampede coming towards me and wouldn’t you know it was the D-Dogs coming towards me trying to take advantage of my state right now. “This is all your fault” I said in a low voice as I slowly got back up and letting the shovel fall lifelessly to the ground. The shovel dissipating into nothingness before it even hit it “And you all are going to pay the price” I said as they converge over top of me all the while a smile plastered on my face.

Silver PoV:

“Dogs. Slavers. Protect them. Derange go nuts” Drake yelled as he passed me by a look of relief going across his face as he jumped into the air and started to make his way towards the rear. I could already guess what was happening: They ran into some slavers, Drake/Derange said something stupid, they ran and are now trapped.

“For Narnia” Derange screamed as he charged head first a shovel in tow while also sporting a tower of hats…no really he had a hat for a hat that was on top of another hat. What came next was the most annoying things ever said “Boink. Boink. Boink.Bonk” no not that what came next “Need a dispenser here. Need a dispenser here. Need a dispenser here” he said in tangent.

‘I swear if I ever find out what a ‘dispenser’ is I am going to shove one so far up his a…’ I thought though I was brought out of it as a dog tried to knock me out from behind. I rolled backwards right between the dog’s legs and bucked him as hard as I could. The dog yipped in pain, as he fell over and began caressing his manhood. I didn’t stop there as I then bucked him in the back of the head causing his face to fly straight down into the ground knocking him out cold. Scanning the area were the others were I saw three D-dogs making their way towards them. Minuette was throwing well sized rocks at them, but they merely brushed them aside while Ditzy was standing in front of the children wings spread out threateningly, amateurs. With a quick flick of my wings I dashed off and crashed right into one of the dogs. Thanks to the force of the impact they were sent tumbling over one another, but soon recovered and three more dogs joined their ranks.

“You guys alright?” I asked Minuette as I watched the dogs come towards us though they were being more cautious now.

“Yeah we’re all fine” Minuette said trying to join me on my side, but I held a wing up preventing her from going any further.

“I appreciate the gesture, but leave this to the professionals” I monotone to her. Before she could retort I flapped my wings once more and charged head first towards the pack.

The dogs were surprised by my charged though they recovered quickly as the lead one reacted by throwing a vile of knockout gas where I was going to be. ‘Wow a D-dog with a brain’ I thought surprised as I continued my charge into the cloud while holding my breath. Just as I exited out of the cloud I jumped onto the dog’s face and push off him. The force of the blow caused him to fall over and head face first towards a boulder. Continuing the momentum I shot off from the ground just as a D-dog pounced at the spot I was at moments ago and right towards another one making contact with his gut causing him to buckle over as I shot off again. Opening my wings to slow myself down I then landed right in the center of the remaining dogs. Two of them without missing a beat charged towards me spears ready to skewer my body. With one hoof I forced the spear towards the ground while I used another one to push the spear towards the sky causing both of the dogs to lose their footing. Using the momentum I spun around and smacked the dog below me towards the ground while prying the spear from his paws. The sound of a dull thud and the ease at which it was to acquire the spear from him signified that he was unconscious. As I swiftly turned about to face the other dog my body took on a bipedal stance as I used my wings to help me balance. Before the other dog could get his footing back I span the spear with my hooves around and smacked him hard in the back of the head his body falling to the ground as unconsciousness took hold of him.
I then placed the spear behind my head to block a sword strike from a D-dog trying to catch me by surprise. The blade was worn out and uncared for as I noticed it was rusted in a few place and the blade had a few chips missing from the blade itself. It was a disgrace for the dog to even be alive let alone to be holding a weapon in such a sorry state. The blade started to become much heavier as the dog pushed with all his might trying to cut me in half. Though this is what I wanted him to do I became concerned after I heard the sound of a crack followed by the spear starting to bend towards me. The dog noticing the spear starting to cave in and began to press down even more, but I was ready as I moved the spear down diagonally forcing him and the blade to fall downward. I wasn’t done yet as I placed my rear hoof in front of his leg the momentum forcing him to trip and fall hard onto the ground. Without missing a beat I jumped into the air, using my wings to give myself a boost, and began my descent back towards the ground which so happen to be where the D-Dog’s skull was. His head sank deep into the ground as I landed on top of him at full force a dull thud echoing out as his limbs flailed about for only a moment, but then laid there motionless.

There were only two D-dogs remaining left from the group of six as I slowly started to walk towards them. Taking a glance at the spear I could see it was barely holding together so I threw it away and brought my hoof towards my blade. The two D-dogs huddled together in fear as I continued my walk towards them my hoof gripping my blade just in case they wanted to try something they’d regret. Though I was much shorter than them I seemed to tower over them as I glared down at them. There reaction was to shake in fear and hold each other even tighter. Heck they looked like they were going to piss themselves and it took all of my willpower not to beat the crap out of them. “Boo” I said in a low voice my face merely inches away from theirs. Then they both promptly fainted while still holding onto one another. I rolled my eyes and sighed as I went back to all fours “Cowards” I said as I looked back amongst the sea of dogs trying to find Drake and Derange.
Derange was the first one I spotted and he seemed to be crying of what I didn’t know nor did I want to. His crying didn’t last long as the sea of dogs charged towards him and dog piled on top of him though just as they were about to cover him completely I could see that he had a mad grin on his face. With another sigh I began to track over towards him to give him a hoof when I noticed the pile of dogs shift.

“I AM ZE UBERMENSCH!” Derange cried out in a Gerpony accent, the pile of dogs were then unceremoniously thrown off of him in a cartoony fashion. Standing in the center of the D-dog pile was Derange, but he was now covered head to toe in a rainbow like outer shell. The shell seemed to move in a nonexistent breeze as the colors would shift from red to orange and excreta. Without missing a beat he charged head first towards a D-dog and started to beat him to a bloody pulp. The other dogs reacted quickly trying to claw, bite, slice, hold back and skewer him, but to no avail as the attacks would either break on contact or simply bounce off him. Derange cried out in triumph, with an odd accent, “I AM BULLET PROOF, YOU WANKERS” and continued on his rampage.

I watched him beat the shit out of three dogs before I shrugged “I’ve seen weirder” and started to look for Drake though I was brought out of my search by a loud girly scream. Turning towards the sound I face hoofed at the scene playing out.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” screamed Drake as he flailed his arm around like an idiot as he was being chased by some D-Dogs.

“GET BACK HERE!” cried, who I assumed, was the leader of the pack followed closely behind by three other D-dogs.

“I really don’t get paid enough for this” I complained to no one in particular as I watched him with a bored expression as he continued to run around in circles while the dogs continued to chase after him. “Don’t even think about” I threatened in a low voice. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see the figure was caught off guard as he stood there motionless. It took him only a second to regain his wit, which is an accomplishment on its own, and then swung down his weapon towards me. “Hidden skill” I said in a low voice as I felt the wind gather around me. Time slowed down to a crawl as I sped off towards the wall of the cavern, which took me no longer than a few seconds, and used the momentum to shoot back towards the D-Dog who was none the wiser as my after image was still standing there. The war hammer came crashing down on top of ‘me’, but it simply went right through the image and completely shattered the illusion. The D-Dog was surprised at this and tried to locate where I was at, but sadly for him he’d never get the chance. “Dolosa Ventus” I whispered into his ear though that was after I crashed into his face with all four of my hooves. The momentum sent the dog flying off into the cavern wall as his head was now lodged within the very same wall.

“AH HA I got it finally!” Minuette cried out in triumphant as she held her weird looking item that she received from Drake in front of her.

*Click*

*Whiirrrrr*

The device rang out, a light blue glow emulating from the device. To a Equine it was nothing more than an annoying low Whirl sound, but to the D-Dogs it was the most painful thing they’ve ever heard as they all one by one fell to their knees while grabbing their ears and howling in pain. For the most part it was a brilliant idea, heck if we could harness this power fighting the D-Dogs would be much simpler/easier though it appeared to have a negative effect on our group in particular as both Drake and Derange were in pain as well. Drake was doing the same thing as the other dogs while Derange not only lost is rainbow like armor, but also tore his ears off, stomped on them, lit them on fire, and ate the ashes…so far that’s probably the weirdest thing I’ve seen him do. Though in the end it was all for naught as Derange was still clutching his head in pain.

“Minuette your idea is having a negative outcome though I would like to discuss it later” I told her as I appeared right next to her.

“Gah! Would you not sneak up on me like that? Also yeah you're right” she said as her horn flickered with magic followed by a *Click* and the whirling sound slowly dying out.

“Old habits die hard” I responded back with a shrug. “Also it appears you’ve made yourself a prime target” I duly noted as most of the D-Dogs who weren’t busy with Drake and Derange were now coming towards us.

“Ah ponyfeathers” she muttered to herself as she quickly started to fiddle with her…I’ll classify it as a ‘weapon’. “Eh let’s see here if I turn this and this it will calibrate the rate and distance of the frequency. And by connecting this wire with this wire it’ll change the output of the sound wave and allow the charge of the screwdriver to last longer” she muttered to herself as she continued to fiddle with the device.

“Why can’t anything ever be simple” I muttered to myself as I charged towards the oncoming horde of dogs. *Because you’re in the company of three civilians and a Draconequus with a repressed psyche running about* ‘Gee really I had no idea that was my current situation’ I replied back sarcastically to my inner monologue. Gathering the wind around me once more I gave a mighty flap of my wings and shot off closing the distance in seconds. Just as I reached the first dog, set dog bringing his weapon to bear, I slid right between the dog’s legs and grabbed set legs causing him to fall face first. Continuing with the momentum I rolled out of the way just in time to dodge an axe as it left a scar in the earth. Getting back on all fours I continued to dodge and counter attack the horde of dogs as best as I could hoping to make myself the prime target rather than the others. That was until I made a rookie mistake as a rock slipped from underneath my hooves causing me to slip. ‘SHIT!’ I screamed in my head as I tried to get back up quickly glancing my surroundings I could see a trio of D-dogs trying to dog pile on top of me. Just as the dogs were merely upon me a decenstly size rock smacked into the side of one of them and caused a chain reaction as it forced all three of them off course and away from me.

“HA HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES!” Minuette cried out in glee as she came up to my side a huge smug grin on her face.

Quickly getting up I pushed her out of the way just in time as a claw swiped down from behind her. Following the motion I jumped backwards, using my wings to boost me up, grabbed onto the D-Dog’s head and forced him to the ground followed up by a swift stomp to the head causing his head to go deeper into the earth.

“Heh thanks” she said as she rejoined my side once more.

“To you as well” I responded back. “Now please go back to the others you’re just going to get in the way” I stated as nicely as possible.

“Hey I just saved your flank” she said annoyed.

“As did I” I retorted.

“And besides I think I figured out the problem” she said as she brought out her item once more “Now all I have to do is-” she tired to say before a D-Dog smacked her hard as she skidded against the ground towards the other and laid there motionless.

“MINUETTE” I cried out turning towards her prone body and sprinting towards her only to be blind sided half way there. “DAMMIT GET OFF!” I roared as I shoved the dog off of me only for another to take his place. More and more seemed to join in on the pile as I continued to push, shove, bite and kick them off though with little to no result as the pile continued to get heavier and heavier with each passing minute. I tried to gather the wind around me once more only for a dog to swipe at my blade causing it to slide against the ground a few feet away from me and for the wind to die down. ‘Dammit’ I thought as I reached my hoof towards my weapon though I was barely able to even touch the damn thing let alone grab it. My vision became dark and my hearing became muffled as I was finally consumed by the pile of D-dogs. ‘Dammit’ I thought as I let my body relax deciding to save up my strength rather than wasting it. Minutes past by as I awaited for the dogs to get off me taking slow and steady breaths to not only keep my heart calm but to preserve what little oxygen that was able to seep in. ‘What the buck is going on out there?’ I questioned as a pang of panic swept through me for only a moment.

Then I heard the scream of a familiar little filly...and it wasn’t Drake or Derange I was referring to. ‘No.No.No.No.No.’ I thought my breathing becoming rampant as I struggled against my oppressors once more though with little to no results as the only thing that got free was my front right hoof. More screaming and shouting could be heard as I continued my fruitless struggles. My breathing becoming more panic and my vision became darker. ‘No...not like this...not again’ as my consciousness slowly faded away.

“S...r” cried out a quiet yet familiar voice.

‘No’ I thought with a sense of dread though I couldn’t make out the words I knew who and what they were saying.

“S...r ...lp ...e” she cried out again.

“Please no I don’t want to remember this”I whispered pleadingly clutching my head with my remaining hoof.

“S...r ...lp ...e” she cried out once more.

“Don’t call me that! Leave me alone!” I cried out pleadingly as unwanted memories began to surface.

“S...r ...lp ...e p...a...e it h...ts” she echoed out making her voice sound like a thousand cries for help.

“shut up” I muttered amongst the dozen of voices though they persisted on getting their message across. “SHUT UP. SHUT UP. SHUT UP!” I cried tears streaming down my muzzle then the world faded to black.

A few moments later and the world came back into focus. No longer was I trapped underneath a pile of D-Dogs but was now standing tall in a cramp dark cave. The ceiling of the cave was only two ponies high and wide as I began my track deeper into the cave. Hours past by as I continued walking further in the only company I had were the echo of my hoof steps. Then I heard something. Turning around quickly I could see milky white eyes staring at me whispering in quiet hushed voices. Making my way over towards them I noticed that for every step I took towards them they would always stay the same distance away.

“Hello?” I called out though I didn’t get a response as they continued to stare at me whispering amongst themselves. With a huff of annoyance I resumed my track once more every so often checking behind me to see if my ‘guest’ were still following me.

More time past by as I continued my endless track through the cave. That was until I stepped into something wet and moist. Looking down at my hooves I couldn’t tell what it was thanks to the nonexistent light, but I knew for a fact that it wasn’t water since it stuck to my hooves. Turning my gaze behind me I wasn’t surprise to see more of those lifeless milky white eyes still staring at me though their whispering increased in volume yet it was still too hard to hear it. I grew tire of their presence and their consistent whispering as I yelled “WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME”. Their whispering stopped for only a moment as they gazed lifelessly at me, but then they resumed it once more. I roared in anger as I charged head first towards them pushing my body to the limit trying to catch up to them though just like before they were always able to stay out of my grasp by a few feet. Eventually I grew tire of the endeavor and stopped to catch my breath thankfully the whispering had stopped for the moment. Looking towards the eyes I noted that more joined in on watching me as they now again resumed whispering amongst themselves. ‘I need to get out of here before I lose it’ I thought as I barely kept my composure. Turning around back towards the way I was heading I began a quick trot the only company now were the squishy yet disturbing sound of my hooves against the ground and the still persistent eyes.

Hours, days, months and years all seemed to be an illusion in this cave as I continued aimlessly trotting further and further down. Never resting or taking a break since apparently that too was an illusion as I never felt tired, hungry or thirsty. Though it seemed my persistence paid off as I walked out into a small pit like cavern. The ceiling was a good ten feet high and the room was spacious about eight feet wide enough to fill a good hundred ponies in. It was a good thing too since I was not the only one in here as black shaded figures stood in the room all looking at something in particular. Taking a step further into the room I was unnerved as all the figures stop staring at what it was they were looking at and gazed upon me. There were a multitude of different species in the room such as griffons, all types of ponies, some weird bipedal cat looking things and even some D-dogs though they all shared one thing in common as they continued to gaze at me with those lifeless white eyes.

Instinctively taking a step back I found that I could no longer go back the way I came as the tunnel was gone. Without much of a choice I began tracking towards the figures set figures would move out of my way as I reached them as if leading me to something. I became paranoid walking through the group as I constantly looked every which way. Then they began their whispering once more though this time I was able to hear what they were saying.

“We didn’t have a choice” said one.

“There was no other option” agreed another.

“We didn’t mean to we were just scared” another joined in.

My walk turned into a fast trot as I tried to make my way out of here as soon as possible. The voices became louder and louder as I made my way further into the center of the cavern.

“She said we could”

“She said that it was alright”

“She said that she didn’t care”

My trot turned into a full blown sprint as unwelcomed memoires sprang out. Like a symphony of a thousand voices they continued their singing repeating the same lines over and over again. I ran, ran as fast as I could trying to get to the center of the room where she would be the innocent victim who was taken from this world cruelly and unjustly. My sprint then abruptly stopped as I finally made it to the center of the cave my breathing quick and rampant. The voices stopped their pleading as I slowly made my way towards the limp body.

Back in the academy one of the things they taught the night guards was how to remember the littlest of details. Scenery, body language and how one speaks were an important part of the job since it was usually too dark to get a good description of any perpetrators, but it also just a handy skill to have in general...this is the only time I wish I wasn’t so diligent in the class as I gazed down at the small stiff body.

She was a pegasus filly no older than seven by the looks of it, she also didn’t have a cutie mark I noted, with a snow white coat and a robin blue mane. Her once lovely white coat was littered with cuts, gashes, blood stains, bruises and a white substance that was sticky all over her small frame. Her wings though small, but usually energetic for her age were now beyond repair as the bones were bent the opposite way and feathers littered the floor next to her body. Her long robin blue mane that could easily be mistaken for the sky on a lovely sunny day was covered in grime, blood and the same white substance from before as well as patches of hair missing from her head as it mixed with the blood and feathers on the floor. Turning her over gently I got a good look at her face as cut and bruises adorned her once beautiful face much like her body. Her once lively and kind silver eyes were now nothing more than hollowed and dead.

Tears started to follow down from my muzzle as they either fell on the body or mixed with contents on the ground. After a few minutes of crying I decided that enough was enough as I subtlety closed her eyes with my hoof and laid her back down in a peaceful manner. Then the symphony of voices returned in full volume crying out their words of justification towards their action. Louder and louder they cried out their voices echoing off the cavern walls making it that much more louder all the while they began to converge on top of me.

“shut up” I said quietly instinctively reaching for my blade which just so happened to have just appeared right when I gripped the handle. This did not deter them as they continued their wailing and surrounding me. “SHUT UP!SHUT UP!SHUT UP!SHUT UP!SHUT UP!SHUT UP!SHUT UP!” I cried as I drew my blade and chopped the first being to be in sword reach. My blade easily slicing through the cat thing’s head as blood sprayed all over the general vicinity though this did not discourage them in the slightest. I fought back as best as I could making sure none of these sick fuckers no where near her body as I chopped and sliced away mauling down any who were dumb enough to get close. Gathering the wind around me I charged up my technique waiting for a large enough group to come near me. “Hidden Skill:” I said in a low voice the bastards just about to converge on top of me “Filii Tenebrarum Temperstatem” I cried out as a tornado of wind either sliced through my enemies like they were nothing or blew them far away towards the wall of the cavern.

Drake’s PoV:

‘Man either I’m the greatest dodger ever to exists or these guys have really shitty aim’ I thought as I literally stood; or is it flew?; in place while rocks, nets, spears and bottle soared by me. Shrugging off the randomness that I call my life now I began to search for my target when I spotted him at the very rear of the pack. With a grin I nosed dived towards him and closed the gap between us in seconds. As I landed a few feet away from him I stood to my full height as I glared down at him “Ya know in some cultures denying my challenge would be considered rude” I chided and continued “But now I only have one thing to ask you” my expression turning serious “Do you feel lucky punk? Do ya?” I asked him.

With a nod of his head three D-dogs appeared behind him all sharing menacing looks “Yes Mutt does” he said with malice smile. *Intimidation speech failed*

“…Oh…uh wow I didn’t plan for this” I stated awkwardly as I tipped my hat back over my eyes and might I add I really love doing that.

Without a moment’s notice the three dogs sprang towards me two brandishing a sword while the other had an axe. My mind went into overtime as I planned out my next few moves carefully. The first one to reach me was the axe wielder as he swung the heavy weapon with reckless ambition. Dodging just by the hair on my chin, while keeping my hat in place, I leapt back just in the nick of time as the two sword wielders tried to pincer me. With a mad grin, which looked more badass with the hat on (see having nice stuff almost always pays off in the end), I had formulated a sound plan and began to initiate it. Hopping in place like that of a boxer would I pointed towards the axe wielder and taunted him most of which were insult to his mother which he responded back kindly.

“My mother was a saint!” he roared in anger barely on the threshold of sanity.

“Yeah saint sucks a lot” I retorted with a smug grin. His pack mates winced at the insult, and just as planned, the axe wielder roared in anger and charged head first towards me. Continuing my hop in place the dog reached me in seconds and swung once more, but this time I was ready as I dodge inwards. Then using both of my arms I brought my left arm up and my right arm down on the axe wielder’s lead arm. A loud satisfying crack rang out as his arm bended in an odd angle, the axe falling from his hands and landing on the ground with a clank. Before the dog could even register the broken arm I span around quickly and chopped him in the throat. The dog tried to let out a scream of pain, but nothing came out as he now used his remaining good hand to hold his throat. Every breath he took looked like his last as he struggled to breathe, the life in his eyes slowly fading away. Feeling ever so slight sorry for the dog I decided to end his pain with a good old fashion Krogan greeting…and by that I mean I head butted his face and knocked him out cold allowing him a somewhat painless death.

Turning towards my two remaining foes I did the good old fashion ‘Come at me bro’ hand signal as I beckoned them over though during the taunt my tail seemed to constrict around the axe like that of a snake. Both dogs turned to one another and both nodded in agreement as they charged towards me. Trying to pincer attack me once more they came at me from both sides, but I easily dodged out of harm’s way. “Come on guys make this a challenge I’m dying of boredom over here” I taunted as I yawned while still dodging the onslaught of sword swipes. This seemed to only anger/encourage them, I wonder why, to continue their assaulted. Just as they were about to swing at me I jumped high into the air, using my wings to give myself a boost, and began my descent back to the ground though this did not deter the dogs as they came charging towards me trying to skewer me from both sides. With a shake of my head I tossed my hat higher into the air and once more reached into hammer space pulling out a card, but this card was special. It had an image of me clad from head to toe in a black tattered cloak and at the bottom of the card it had the words Speculatrix Clandestina. As I brought the card in front of me I said “Adeat” a bright light shined out from it momentarily blinding me.

3rd Person:

“Adeat” the Draconequus said as a bright light shined out from the card for a moment to only then reveal the same being the difference being that he was now wearing a black grim reaper like cape. “Tengu no Kakuremino” he said all the while the very cloak he wore seemed to be swallowing him into nothingness.

Just at the point of landing both of the dog’s blades pierced through the cloak a sick slicing sound echoing out as they had triumphant smirks plastered on their faces only to then make a 180 as it changed to one of shock. Looking down they could see that not only did their swords go through the cloth, as well as a portion of their arm, but also their blades seemed to pierce out from the other side striking one another through the chest. As their brains started to catch up to their development they released their blades and brought their hands towards their wound in hopes of slowing down the bleeding. As the dogs stood there shell shocked at the predicament it only escalated to worse as a lion paw and an eagle claw shot out from within the cloak and grabbed both blades protruding from their chest. Before they could even react the hands seemed to spin, the cloak following along with the motion, as the blades were both forced out from the dogs bodies. Another sick slicing sound echoed out as the blood of both dogs covered the ground of the cavern as well as their weapons and standing in the very heart of the blood filled carnage was a familiar looking Draconequus. He had an eerily calm expression on his face as he cleansed the blood off the blades with a quick swipe in the air, the blood leaving the blade and creating a bloody streak from the recently made corpses, he then slowly made his way towards Mutt.

To say the dog was scared would be far off from the truth…he was beyond terrified as his eyes went to the size of atoms as he stood there motionless. Each step the Draconequus took towards him felt like an eternity, his heart beating a mile a minute and sweat soaking up his fur coat, the creature stood before him before the dog even realized it. The dog fell down to the earth and slowly backpedaled away though this only made the situation more frightening as the creature was not deterred by the dog’s action and continued his slow march. Eventually the dog ran out of space to run as he backed himself into a wall effectively trapping him as the Draconequus caught up to him. He then brought both blades up towards Mutt’s neck while the axe was raised high above his head.

“Please no” the dog said barely audible. “Mutt do anything lizard want just don’t kill Mutt” he pleaded panic all too evident in his voice

The dog visibly flinched as the Draconequus leaned into his ear and whispered venomously “That’s just not how it works”. Before the dog could plead for his life both swords sliced through the dog’s neck like butter while the axe split his body into two. Blood and guts sprayed everywhere as the Draconequus was drenched from head to toe though he showed little to no care as he tossed the weapons aside and turned to the remained D-Dog that stayed/watched the scene unfold. Those who were brave enough to stay for the whole show quickly turned tail and ran as fast as their feet could carry them though not before they lost their lunch of course. With the once full cavern of D-Dogs gone the Draconequus turned towards his companions only to get tackled by set friends. All were happy, hugging and cheering his name as they, somehow, threw him into the air only to then catch him and repeat the action. Joining in the celebration was Luna, Celestia, the main six and the whole of Ponyville heck he was even rewarded the ‘Your Awesome’ medal from Dash herself eight years in a row champion. All was right in the world and him and Luna got married a year later….

Drake’s PoV Back to reality:

‘Oh yeah that’s totally what’s going to happen in the next five minutes’ I thought as I put the final details of my plan together. ‘Now all I have to do is implement my plan and I’ll be good ta go’ I thought as I reopened my eyes to see the four dogs standing there looking at me oddly. Pointing dramatically at the dog in the middle I cried out also dramatically “You’re mother is a bitch”.

We stood there for a couple minutes me holding up the air of drama queen while the dogs looked at me beyond confused. Eventually he responded with “Uh yes my mother is a bitch” he said warily.

“Oh…right I forgot that it means female dog” I snapped my fingers in disappointment. “Okay plan B” I said quietly to myself and once more pointed dramatically at him again “Your mother is a whore!”

“Hmmm yes yes she was” he nodded in agreement not even slightly annoyed.

“Uh” I said with a blank expression apparently not planning for this to happen.

“Enough!” Mutt cried out beyond done with this situation. “Get him” he roared the dogs immediately following his command.

My brain barely had time to catch up as all three dogs took a swipe at me with their weapons. Ducking down below the swipes I was able to avoid them though the same couldn’t be said about my hat as it slipped from its perch and was now shredded into tiny little piece. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a message saying ‘Perception -1’ though I didn’t have time to cry for my lost accessory as they continued their bombardment of swipes. With my plan crumbling before my very eyes I decided that a tactical retreat was in order as I turned and ran away all the while a ‘bee’ was trying to sting me so I began swiping at the little bugge…you guys aren’t buying this are you? “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” I screamed as I ran away.

“GET BACK HERE!” Mutt screamed as he continued to chase me his pals right behind him.

“HOW ABOUT NO AND WE SAY WE DID!?” I cried back though his response was to chuck a bottle full of, apparently, acid at the spot I was at moments ago set spot dissolving into a pile of nothingness. “I’LL JUST TAKE THAT AS A NO” I cried back once more. So yeah the next few minutes was of me running around in a circle failing my arms trying to get that damn bee while Mutt and his pals tried to catch me and beat the ever loving shit out of me. Sadly this was going to happen soon since I was slowly being forced into a corner.

‘Crap I’m about to be put between a rock and a hard place, metaphorically and physically, if I don’t think of something quick’ I thought as the dogs continued to herd me towards a corner. Looking around I noticed a lot of flat like rocks placed about though not big enough to hide behind or to be used as a distraction but enough to do something with of what I was not sure. ‘Come on brain think of something anything!’ I pleaded as I was at the last stretch before I was completely and utterly screwed. ‘Do a barrel roll…no that’s just stupid, throw barrels…no they’ll just jump over them, Blue shell of death…no I’m technically in first place so that’d just help them, how about a care package….no that could potentially help them plus I don’t have a kill streak going, the cake is a lie…well granted it is that doesn’t really…wait a tick could I do that?’ I question but I really didn’t have that much time left to think about it as I was merely moments away from crashing head first into the wall. Without a second thought I aimed my right hand towards the wall and my left hand towards one of those nicely placed flat surfaced rocks on the ground. ‘If there is a god…well technically there’s like dozen of them I guess…at any rate please help a guy out’ I pleaded to whoever was listening. Like how one acts like they’re shooting someone with their hands I to did that and ‘fired’ from both hands though at the time I didn’t hear it a portal gun sound (for the life of me I can’t determine aka type the sound effect so here a link to it

) ranged out which was followed by a blue and orange ball of energy shot out from my hands. And just in the nick of time as I ran right through my portal and shot out from the other side incidentally ramming right into one of the dogs chasing me and knocking him out cold from the force of impact.

Now many things were running through my head as I looked at not only the terrain I was in, but at my well placed and moving ‘cushions’ but there was only one thing that I had to say before I could continue “….Ahhhhhh yeahhhhhh” I screamed out as I got back onto my feet, shot both portals a foot away from me and jumped out from the others side. I jumped in and out of my portals a few times getting the feel of it. Satisfied after the tenth or so time I turned to the remaining dogs that chased me with a devious smile “My turn” I said as I charged towards them.

Mutt roared in anger as he charged me as well his remaining body guards right on his tail. Just before we were about to clash with one another I aimed my right hand at the ground in front of me while my other hand was pointed to a smooth flat rock on the left of the incoming dogs. Just like before a blue and orange energy ball shot out moments later two portals appeared where I was aiming at. I jumped into the blue one and thanks to gravity/momentum I was shot out of the orange one and crashed feet first into Mutt’s body guards sending them soaring towards a wall. Doing a flip in the air I landed perfectly on the ground while Mutt simple turned and had a look of panic as he lost his remaining men though he quickly calmed himself down and became much more wary of me getting into a defense like posture while holding his dagger in front of him.

I just smiled devious while looking around the area once more and asked him “Ya know what I’m thinking?”

“Mutt doesn’t and doesn’t care what lizard is thinking” he said in a low growl as he slowly approached me.

“I’m thinking with portals” I stated and fired my blue portal below his feet. Before he could react the portal opened beneath him and he was sucked into it. He yipped in surprise as he fell through the other end and since he didn’t have a sense of where up and down was he responded by flailing his arms around like an idiot. Before he could fall to the ground I shot an orange portal underneath him set portal forming at the spot as he fell through the portal once more and out the blue one, but thanks to the momentum he was shot pretty damn high into the air. Continuing his plan of ‘wave my arms enough that I’ll eventually fly’ I aimed an orange portal at a wall and stood a few feet away and to the side of it waiting for the dog to come back down to the planet. “What goes up” I stated as I held my lion arm in the pathway of the soon to be projectile. Mutt then fell back into the blue portal and like plan rocketed out of the orange one right into my arm. Now you’d normally think he’d smack into my arm and fall to the ground knocked out thanks to the speed at which he was traveling and the object in which he smacked into. This was not the case as he literally span around my arm a good few dozen times before he was launched face first to the ground forming a small crater. “Must come down” I said finishing off my previous statement adding some flare to it by blowing on both of my index finger like it was a smoking gun. Though my victory was short lived as Mutt slowly got up though a bit disoriented it took him only a moment to regain his sense of balance before he turned towards me pointed his blade at me.

“Really come on guy you can end this pain, suffering, and annoyance by just calling off your pack” I said as we slow began circling one another. He chose not to respond as he continued to glare at me. I sighed and shook my head in disappointment “Alright you asked for i-“ I tried to say before an ungodly noise started to ring out. It sounded like the offspring of Dubstep, Justin Bieber and Rebecca Black or in other words just plain awful as I went into the fetal position while covering my ear, to no avail, and silently prayed to the gods to smite the one causing the noise. Thankfully it didn’t last long as the noise eventually subsided though it didn’t come without repercussion as I now had the distinct taste of skittles in my mouth…no wait not skittles blood is what I meant sorry I get the two mixed up so easily now. Groggily getting up it took me a moment to get my bearings and what I saw could only be described in one word: hell. Everything went to there after Minuette tried to help out as the D-Dogs found a new sense of strength in them and started to overpower us. Derange was slowly losing as the D-Dogs continued to dog pile on top of him though he didn’t go down without a fight as he punch, bit, scratched and head butted any dog within rang though odds were still not in his favor. Silver was having similar problems as she was slowly being forced down into submission her weapon only an inch away from her as she struggled to reach for it.

Turning towards the other I could see that Minuette was on the ground unconscious while Derpy stood in front of her and the kids protectively. As my brain caught up to the scene I quickly tried to get over there only to be blindsided as I was tackled to the ground. Struggling against my foe I brought my hands out and fired two portals one underneath the girls, don’t ask how I was able to hit there, and one high above on a rocky alcove. Like plan they fell in and out of the portal landing high above and away from the D-dogs though what I didn’t account for was that the kids weren’t close enough to fall in. As I tried to fire another portal underneath the children I felt my hands being forced to my side as three other dogs joined in on restraining me both portals vanishing into thin air.

“Aaahhhhhh” Dinky screamed as a sleazy dull red looking D-Dog made his way towards her. The colt charged towards the dog bravely trying intending to buck him, but was merely slapped aside by the Dog as he continued stalking towards her.

“DINKY!!!” Derpy cried as she flew down from her perch only for a dog to dig out from the side of the cavern wall and tackled her back to the ground a few more dogs having to help him hold her down.

‘No, no, no, no, no! I swore that I’d keep them safe!’ I cried out as a newfound sense of strength came over me. Wiggling my tail free I slapped all three of my holders away and sprinted over towards her, but my path was being blocked by a huge pit bull looking dog. “OUT.OF.MY.WAY!” I cried out as I punched him in the face only for my arm bone to shatter into millions of pieces, okay not a million peices but it still felt like a punched concrete or something, as I fell to the ground holding it though not for long thanks to the lingering Chaos in the air. Confused as to why my attack did nothing I took a glance at my pip-boy and saw that my unarmed skill was at ten. The huge pit bull looking dog just laughed at my feeble attempt and continued to ‘cock’ block me from getting over towards Dinky.

She eventually ran out of space to run away and was slowing being put in a corner. The sleazy dog still smiling creepily at her yelled out towards his leader “Hey boss! Alger has been good and you promise a reward, so Alger want use of reward now” he said as he licked his lips hungrily, but not in the way of food but of desire.

“Normally Mutt would say no, but ponies and lizard has made this very difficult so go ahead” Mutt responded back.

“NO!” Derpy cried out streams of tears rolling down her muzzle and continued “Please don’t touch her you can do whatever you want to me, but please not her”.

“Don’t worry pony everyone here is rewarded to do what they want” Mutt cried out to his fellow dogs with a sickening smile all the dogs responding with a cheer of gratitude.

“NO!” I cried out trying to tackle the dog out of my way to no avail as he pushed me back to the ground hard. “PLEASE stop this madness” I pleaded to Mutt all the while bowing low towards him.

Mutt just looked at me with an evil grin and said “Don’t you remember what Mutt said earlier: ‘Dogs bigger and stronger than ponies so ponies don’t get choice. Ponies have to listen to dogs’ and so do stupid looking lizards” he quoted himself and laughed evilly.

A sense of dread came over me as I remembered the conversation and to what he was detailing. “No” I stated quietly as I got back up my legs were ready to buckle over, but I refused to go down. The pit bull seemed to be done messing around with me as he cracked his knuckles while making his way towards me. ‘I will not lose’ my screen glowed a bright green though it was obscured by the natural rays of the sun. ‘I swore I’d keep them safe’ number and letter danced down the screen eventually settling back into place though the words were in their correct place numbers were drastically changed as my pitiful score of ten unarmed was now amped up to eighty-five. The pit bull was upon me as I felt his repulsive breath hit my neck as I felt the heat from his hands reach towards me. “And I always keep my mother fucking promises” I stated quietly once more and faster than the dog could react my right hand tore through the ground like it was non-existent. As my arm was almost towards its target I noticed it was surrounded by a golden flame as the fire danced around my hand and fingers. My attack made contact with the dog’s chin as I followed the motion I couldn’t help but scream “SHORYUKEN!” as we were both sent into the air the flame transferring over towards the dog as he was lit ablaze. The dogs were quick to react as they tried to grab me from below, but I opted to use them as stepping pads and hopped my way towards the others. As I was near my landing descent I spread my arms far apart and felt the wind gather around my arms and finger tips. Slicing towards my intended targets I cried out once more “SONIC BOOM!” only for both of my attacks to miss as I was blinded sided once more. My first attack was towards the pedo, but the attack barely missed him as it sliced by his face while the other one went way off target as it flew past Silver though it hit something as a loud ding sound echoed out within the cavern.

I struggled as best as I could, but the dogs were persistent on holding me down as more and more continued to dog pile on top of me. ‘Is this…is this really how it’s going to end?’ I thought as I stopped my struggle and looked towards my companions once more. Time slowed down as the event played out: Alger reaching towards Dinky with a disturbingly sick smile, Derpy being repositioned to better…accommodate for the ‘fun’ activities, Derange and Silver both still underneath the dog pile of dogs. I tried to gather my chaos magic once more, but it seemed to be ignoring my request as it did the opposite and flew away from me, if that makes sense. ‘No, please no you can’t do this to me. I’ll do anything just please no!’ I pleaded to the magic but I was simply ignored.

Time continued once more as Dinky was picked up by her torso tears flowing down her muzzle as she let out another high pitched scream.

“DINKY!!!” Derpy screamed again and struggled to break free, but got nowhere as the dogs beat her back into submission.

Remember how I said everything went to hell earlier…I wish to take back that statement and use it now.

The very skies darkened as black ominous cloud covered the skylight while thunder and lighting arched across the sky. The wind began dancing about randomly yet at the same time it seemed to be gathering towards the pile of D-Dogs that were holding down Silver. “Hidden Skill: Filii Tenebrarum Temperstatem” cried out Silver as a small tornado of wind explode from the pile either shredding any who were holding her down or sending them flying away from her. As bodies, blood and body parts splattered the ground around her before anyone could even react she disappeared in a flash. Barely able to keep up with her instantaneous movement she reappeared right beside of Alger as her blade was held out below his arms. The dogs finally catching up with where she appeared they were able to witness how Alger’s arms were sliced off cleanly. Dinky fell to the ground with a soft thump all the while both arms still holding onto her torso. Alger looked at Silver then to his now missing arms as his brain slowly caught up to the events that happened. Blood spilling out all over Silver, Dinky and the ground was the first thing to happen followed by Alger’s eyes going to the size of peas. He tried to let out a scream of pain and fear, but was silenced as Silver’s blade tore through his neck and up his skull cutting his head into two like it was nothing. Blood and brain matter litter the area around Silver and Dinky as Alger’s blood ran free from his body before it eventually was taken over by gravity and fell to the ground lifelessly the blood still streaming from his corpse like a river.

Everyone was silent as we watched the scene unfold. My captors released me from their grips as they slowly backed away from the scary mare while I slowly got up into a crouching position. She stood perfectly still as she looked at the recently made corpse with disgust though that wasn’t the only thing I saw in those eyes as a deep chill went up my spine as I recognized the look of untold rage. Swinging her sword away from her a trail of blood was left in its wake as she turned towards Dinky. She had freed herself from the arms grip thanks to the help of the colt though they both froze in fear as she turned and looked at them. Admirably the colt stood in front of Dinky and tried to look intimidating though failed miserably as he was shaking like crazy. Without even a second glance she walked by the two and slowly made her way towards the closest dog all the while smiling a spine chilling smile. The dogs all slowly started to back away while Silver continued her march both parties falling in step with one another as they continued their odd dance. Derange made his way over towards me wide eye in surprise while holding onto his right arm while Derpy made her way towards the kids to comfort them as best as she could.

Eventually Mutt came over his fear for only a moment and stuttered out “K-k-kill her!” His pack looked at him like he was crazy, and continued to back away from her though a couple fool hearted one did do as their Gamma commanded and charged head first towards her.

“Heh heh” Silver laughed under her breath as she stopped to wait for her foes to get closer. Only for her laugh to become loud and twisted as she laughed demonically “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA” her eyes were beyond sane in any nature or form as she continued her laughter. The dogs backing away from her froze in place once more as they were near the point of either passing out, pissing themselves or more than likely both. The few brave dogs that were charging towards her didn’t deter as they were merely moments away from skewering her each wielding a different variety of weapons. Just as they were upon her she vanished in a blink of the eye and reappeared a few feet away from them. Just as the dogs skewered the ground where she was at moments ago they fell apart body part by body part as a puddle of blood started to form from underneath their once whole bodies.

Without missing a beat she disappeared once more only to reappear beside a dog in the middle of the pack. The dogs all backed away from the two while the latter didn’t move still complete paralyzed by her prowess. Daring to take a glance at her he soon found his head turning to far as it slowly began to slide off followed by his arms and legs. After that everything became a chaotic mosh pit as dogs pushed, shoved or ran away from the deadly mare though they could never get away as she would always block their escape route.

“This…this is no longer a scuffle…this is just…” I stated out loud trying to still process how things escalated so quickly.

“A massacre” Derange said shocked as well all the while we continued to sit on the sidelines and watch this awful scene unfold.

The once proud, if you can call them that, slavers stood tall and strong at thirty were now reduced to eight…I mean seven as they were now cowering in fear near one another. Silver continued her slow march towards the cowering dogs and apparently she wasn’t being creepy/scary enough as she decided to hum a tuneless tune all the while a disturbing smirk plastered across her face. The dogs began to plead for their lives as they offered anything and everything from wealth, to clothing/armor, to weapons and hell even themselves though it fell on deaf ears as she continued making her way towards them blood dripping from her body and blade.

Eventually one of the dogs cried out “It-it-it was Mutt’s doing” while point at him as he separated himself from his leader. “We only do what Mutt says cause he’s leader. We dogs would never do such things, but Mutt and Alpha forced us” he lied through his teeth while Mutt denied these allegations though in the end it didn’t matter as they promptly threw Mutt in front of her.

“Please spare us and kill bad leader” they all said in unison while bowing their head low to the ground.

Mutt got up quickly only to fall back on his ass as Silver stood in front of him all the while humming and smiling. “N-n-no wait” he stuttered out as he threw his bag full of potions and his dagger to the ground. “Mutt gives up so pony can’t hurt Mutt” he cried out desperately though Silver obviously didn’t care as she brought her blade up ready to slice him cleanly in half. “NO! STOP Mutt was only doing what Mutt was order to do. Military pony has to understand” he cried out once more.
Silver hesitated for only a moment as her blade began to slightly shake in her grasp the smile and humming abruptly stopped as she glared down at Mutt. “There is always a choice, you just choose wrong” she roared in anger as she brought her blade down upon him.

“Enough” I said quietly as I got up. Time slowed to a crawl as I used the last bit of my strength to sprint over towards the two. “Silver STOP!” I cried out as I stood in-between the two. This didn’t deter her in the slightest as her attack continued anyways ‘Oh fuck’ I thought as I reflexively raised my arms in front of me waiting for my inevitable demise.
*Clink* echoed the sound of metal hitting metal as her blade scratched against my pip-boy. I would’ve celebrated if it wasn’t for the fact that she was still trying to cut me in half as she applied more pressure into her blade. “SILVER SNAP OUT OF IT!” I yelled as I pushed back using my pip-boy as an improp shield as I held her off. Nothing I said or did reached her as she continued putting more and more pressure into her attack slowly, but surely she would overpower me in a few moments.

*Click*

*Whiiirrrrrr*

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH” Silver cried out in pain as she held her hoof over her head her blade falling lifelessly to the ground.

Turning towards the sound I saw Minuette making her way towards me as fast as she could though she had a slight limp in her step. “What…what the hay happened?” she asked out of breath as she reached my side.

“Turn it off” I said as I felt the chaotic energy return to the room once more. Quickly I reached into hammer space and pulled out a bucket of water and tossed it towards Silver. Minuette complied with my request just as the water splashed Silver in the face.

“Wahhhhh what the buck?!” she cried out annoyed like how one would be rudely awaken from their sleep only to make a one-eighty as the events played back in her mind a sense of dread spreading across her muzzle. Only to change once more as it adopted a neutral look as she then without another word cleaned off her blade and walked far enough away that she could help in case of an emergency, but not close enough to hold a conversation with.

“Silver…” I said as I hesitated for a moment only to then feel something hug my leg.

Looking down I saw Mutt who was kissing the ground on which I stood as he cried out in joy “Thank you thank you. Mutt knew that liz…I mean Draconequus would understand”.

Before he could say another word I brought my arm back and smacked him in the snout as hard as I could. A loud satisfying crack echoed out as he was then launched towards the remaining dogs. Mutt howled in pain as he covered his snout with his hands though that didn’t stop the blood from bleeding out. “Let’s get one thing straight here” I yelled as I closed the distance between us while glaring down on him. “I didn’t save you out of the goodness of my heart for all I care you can go rot in hell. The only reason I ‘saved’ you was because enough blood has been spilled today” I roared in his face. “So this is what’s going to happen you fleabags are going to dig us a way out then you’re going to bury the remains of your fallen brothers and finally you are going to your leader and telling him that if he fucks with us well…” I stopped as I took a glance at Silver she just sat there back turned to us as she watched the cavern walls with an almost dead look “I won’t stop her again. Got it” I threatened him.

“Y-y-yes” he said barely audible.

“Good now get to work” I said nodding my head towards the way we came in originally. The dogs got to work fast as they easily tore through the wall like a hot knife through butter.

As they continued their work my legs buckled over and I fell on my ass completely and utterly exhausted “You okay?” Minuette asked as she sat next to me rubbing one of her back hooves.

“Yeah I just need to rest for a bit” I said as I felt the chaotic magic do its magic and slowly healed my wounds and exhaustion. Derange made his way over towards us on a light pink cloud now back into his originally small size “How are they doing?” I asked nodding my head towards Derpy and the kids.

“The colt is doing okay though Dinky on the other hand not so much” he said as they made their way towards us I noted that Dinky was clinging to her mother not leaving her side for even a moment. “And Derpy says she’s alright but…I just don’t know” he said finishing up his report.

I sighed as I slowly got back onto my feet what chaotic energy that was left would not make a difference to my healing process “Let’s try to put some distance between this place” I stated as we all got up and made our way towards the exist.

“So uh…” I said trying to lead the kid to introduce himself.

“Wild Hunt ” he stated in a low voice.

“Do you know if there a river of water or something nearby?” I asked.

“Yeah it’s only a few hours away” he said though it was half-hearted as his young mind was still trying to comprehend the previous events.

“Would you mind?” I asked hoping he’d understood what I was asking for. He didn’t say anything as he made his way towards the exit and disappeared into the darkness the other quickly following though I decided to linger back for a second as I turned towards Silver. She was still following us at a distance and the second I turned towards her she would actively not make eye contact with me. “Silver…” I said as I took a step towards her though she responded by taking a step back. I tried once more, but was rewarded with the same action. I sighed once more as I decided to drop it for now and catch up with the others, Silver still trailing behind us, as we made our way out of the valley of spikes and back into the wastes.

“Hey” Derange said as he ushered me over. Complying with his request I did so as we walked a bit away from the group.
“What’s the plan?” he asked.

“For now I want to know what the connection between the dogs and the kid was” I answered and continued “Besides I’m getting an…odd vibe from the direction that we were heading towards and by the looks of it the kids came from that very same area” I stated as I glanced at the kid once more feeling the very same energy I kept on feeling from the destination we were heading towards.

“And what about the D-Dogs? What if they come back again with more numbers? We were barely able to hold them off let alone beat them” he said concerned.

“I just don’t know!” I said that a bit louder than I wanted to. “But I do know that I will at least make sure they get out of this unharmed” I said as I turned to make my way back towards the group I turned to him once more and said in a low, but serious voice “No matter what”.

~A few hours later~

It didn’t take us long to find the stream as we all opted to wash the mud, sweat and grime from our bodies…and the blood too can’t forget that I suppose. Wild Hunt and I bathed further downstream from the girls, apparently there was some sort of mares and colts bath separately rule which is odd since they don’t wear any clothing so why have such a thing, regardless it was me and the colt as the cold water felt nice against the hot sun though this wouldn’t last much longer as the sun slowly began to set. Getting all of the…stuff off of us we made our way back towards the campsite, which was a few feet away, as the bag leaned against a few boulder though I was surprised to see that we weren’t the first ones there as Silver was laying down finding great interest in a pebble the second we walked in. The kid instantly huddled closer towards me as if I’d keep him safe from her. I tried to be as friendly as possible as I waved at her casually “Hey Silver done alre…”

“I’ll get the firewood” she blurted out as she took to the skies and flew away.

“Heh heh something I said?” I said trying to pull it off as a joke, but got no comment from the colt as he silently began unpacking his sleeping supplies. While he was busy unpacking his stuff I noticed that his cutie mark resembled a small campfire with small white little stars above it ‘Either he’s good at making campsites or the more likely one that I notice is that he’s a natural outdoors type’ I mused while setting up a pit for the campfire. Soon after the girls joined us and they too began unpacking as well though when Silver came back with the firewood the camp became eerily silent. Though it didn’t last long as Silver took a small bundle of firewood for herself and walked off behind some boulders. With the campsite all set and done it became quite as we watched the fire burn and the sun set. “I guess I’ll whip up some dinner” I stated, but received no response. With no objection I began digging into their supplies, randomly throwing out some pans and ingredients hoping to get some sort of response (though I got none) and began cooking up a meal.

~a few more hours later~

After the meal, which was creamy potato soup and some bread, I was pleased to see that Derange was doing one of the things he’s somewhat good at: entertaining kids as he told a random story that he made up on the spot. Though I wasn’t really paying attention to the story as I continued to stroke the campfire I was pleased to see Dinky eyes back to their childlike innocence while Wild Hunt was enamored by Derange’s story telling ability. Derpy and Minuette were near one another talking of what I couldn’t tell, but from the look on their faces I could only guess it wasn’t pleasant.
Reaching for another bundle of timber wood I heard a *bing* noise come from my arm and a message flared in my upper left vision that stated I had mail. Curious as to why I would have mail or even how it was possible I shifted through the screen towards my notes and read the following letter:

Dear Drake,

You may be wondering how and why I know your name right about now-(“…” totally wasn’t but out of curiosity I shall keep reading.)But that is not important (Boo~). What is important right now is that you know that you need to be checking your stats and perks every so often since we shall not let you know when you level up you lazy prick. (…) Also if you use me as a shield again I’ll make sure you pay. Thank you and have a pleasant evening.

Love, Jane

“…Even though I’m creeped out I’m still going to keep you” I stated after a few minutes passed. I then got up, dusted myself off and looked at the screen once more “Also I make no promises”. Jane’s, who I guess I shall refer to my pip-boy, responded kindly by jolting me with a few watts of electricity. “OW” I cried out quietly as I shook my hand to rid myself of the tingling sensation. I glared at the offending screen and whispered annoyed “Your lucky I’m a huge Fallout fanboy…and I’m not referring to the band”. I then proceeded to make my way towards Silver trying to be as nonchalant as possible while I scrolled through my pip…‘Jane’ and was meet with: You leveled up by three levels, what the hell man! We’ve been waiting for quite awhile now you dick! (Excuse me for being busy with running for my life and fighting off slavers. Next time I’ll ask them politely to wait a moment):

New Perks:

Slow Learner: You’re a slow learner costing you minus 5% experience point, but thanks to the time and effort you take to learn you tend to remember things more clearly and effectively.

Slippery Eel: Just like the saying ‘Slippery as an eel’ your foes have trouble keeping up or holding you down +10% in speed and dodge.

Also yes your spells count as Perks (That’s BullShit!) think of it as a punishment.

Portals: (Rank 1) Thanks to many years of playing Portal you’ve gain the ability to what else shoot portals. (Only two portals can be created at the current rank)

Hammer Space: You’ve gained the ability to reach into hammer space allowing you to store or bring out random items. (though technically you’ve been able to do that for some time now we are putting it down on fine print) Note: It is different from summoning items as it is only common items that exist in the world you reside in that can be brought out. Also Perk ‘What the F…’ does affect this Perk but only at a one and fifth chance of happening.

Quest Perk:

Reboot: (Random Skills are Random required) No you are not a robot, but through sheer force of will and determination once per day you can change all of your skill points though they will of course be at random.

: Please wait while we sort this out.

Bringing my arm back to my side I began to ponder the new abilities I acquired ‘Kind of BS that spells count as perks and what the heck is with the code error message, but I guess theres nothing I can do about it’ I thought as I shrugged it off. Turning a corner I saw Silver set up for the night in a miniaturized size version of our camp. She was tentatively cleaning her blade as she was putting the finishing touches on her job by applying choiji oil (thanks random knowledge) to both sides of her sword with a piece of cloth. Her ears perked up giving me the hint that she knew I was there though she continued to ignore me and proceed with the finishing touches. I sat down across from her watching her every stroke as she went up and down with a soft and gentle touch like that of holding a newborn foal.

“Hey” I said after a few minutes of silence her once burning fire began to slowly die out. She didn’t responded, which I was already expecting to happen, as she continued to clean her blade. With a sigh I got up, made my way over towards her and tossed a bundle of twigs into the dying fire set fire roaring back to life as it re-illuminated the small area. I then sat down next to her playing with fire for a moment to make sure it wouldn’t go out anytime soon though she continued to ignore me cleaning her blade to the point that it would be a frickin light saber as the light from fire reflected from the blade and nearly blinding me as well. ‘Enough of this’ I thought as I promptly snatched her blade from her grip and with a quick, and might I add cool, flourish I returned it to its sheathe and set it down beside her. She glared offendedly at me while I responded with an even look. We sat there like that for a full minute until she was done and turned her gaze towards the fire.

“We need to talk” I said all the while keeping my gaze on her.

Author's Note

And here it is the long awaited chapter, if you could tell me how i did on the fighting parts it would help greatly since I'm not that confident yet on typing as so.

Midnight Sonata

Drake PoV:

“…There’s nothing to talk about” she said after a few moments her gaze still fixated on the burning flame.

“There isn’t?” I asked mockingly. “Oh I’m sorry is it that time of the month” I don’t know if she was embarrassed, pist or both as her muzzle turned a shade of red “Is that why you had that little…episode back there because if so then yes you are right we totally don’t have anything to discuss”.

“It’s nothing. I’m fine” she stated the blushes on her cheeks dissipating quickly.

“You know that could be interpreted to ‘I’m not fine. Everything is wrong’” I stated back.

“And that can be interpreted too ‘I don’t know what I’m talking about’” she retorted annoyed “Now please leave”.

“Nope” I stated as I leaned in towards her “Now you forced my hand Silver” I said my voice taking on a serious tone as the shadows covered my face giving me a more menacing look. “Now it’s time to…play a game” I said the shadows leaving my face to show me with a huge crazed grin.

“…” she just stared flatly at me and got up to leave though before she could take off I brought her into a hug and held her by my side.

Though she squirmed about she wasn’t able to get out of my grip “Oh don’t be such a spoiler sport. It’s a game where you don’t have to do anything anyways” I stated though she continued to squirm regardless. “Now where to begin?” I asked out loud all the while carrying the, if I don’t say this she’d kill me, light mare while pacing back and forth. “You’re upset about something, no not upset though it plays a part I’d say you're angry about something, but about what?” I mused remembering the only thing she said during the whole episode.

“You got ‘upset’ about how Mutt was following orders and stated he had a choice, but what could be the connection with you? Though let’s take a step back for a moment” I said literally taking a step back and once more resumed my pacing. “Something tragic must have happened though not to you, but to somebody close” I said though adopting a smug grin when I felt her visibly flinch. “Father? No could explain why you join the guards though, but not enough to explain your behavior. Mother? Again no would show signs of unease around Derpy or any other motherly figure. A sibling perhaps-” I stopped my train of thought after I noticed her becoming stiff as a plank. “Ah a sibling, but what could have happened to cause this?” I mused out loud.

“Please stop” Silver said barely above a whisper.

“A horrific injury?” I asked waiting for her to involuntarily flinch though never received one. “A miscarriage?” again no flinch. “Slavery?” she flinched. “Okay taken by slavers and you’ve been searching for her ever since?” no flinch. “You found her, but she was dramatically traumatized?” I felt a slight reaction to the first part of my statement. “You found her, but she was...killed?” she flinched. I mulled over what I learned so far making sure to tread carefully with my future questions...or interrogation...yeah that sounds cooler.

“Please stop” she said once more as she began to lightly shake though I didn’t hear her and pressed on.

“So when you found her she was dead though that raises the question why is this affecting you so much?” I mused out loud once more hoping, more like I figure since this is a cartoon world full of ponies and that this was one of those sad scenes going where she would eventually break down crying and explain to me what happened though so far nada, to get a response from her though all she was doing was shaking. “Now let’s bring back the piece of resistance the bit with you speaking to Mutt. You were angry that he was following order, but for a guard to say that is a bit hypocritical. I mean sure I bet they want you to question some stuff, but other than that they want you to follow orders passed down by your superiors. So with that in mind, and I’m just pulling this out of the top of my head, but they ordered you not to go after the slavers” flinch. “And that you knew where they were located” flinch. “Probably some political bullshit that was preventing you from going” flinch.

“Though this still doesn’t really answer the question” I stated as I shifted her to my other arm while stroking my imaginary beard. “Untold rage? No you’d snap at every living thing for just existing. Profound sadness? No you’d be more of an anti-social than you already are. Regret? Possibly. Guilt-” before I could finish my sentence I felt something smack me hard in the gut.

Releasing Silver from my grasp I bent over in pain while she made her way towards her blade. Continuing with the momentum she shot towards a rock and then back towards me her mouth on the grip of her blade ready to cut me to pieces. Recovering from the blow instead of dodging I went towards her my hand reaching out to stop her from unsheathing her weapon. Though my plan of stopping her worked she didn’t deter in the slightest as she pushed off with her legs causing me to lose my footing. As we both began our descent she tried to unsheathe her blade once more, but I didn’t let her as I defied gravity by constricting around and pushing down on her blade once more.

She responded by kicking, biting and using her wings to slap me across the face surprisingly wings hurt...either that or I’m a cry baby. Anyways we struggled for a bit as we tossed and tussled over one another to see who’d come out on top, Derange.Not.One.Word. During the tussle I decided that it would be best if we took this somewhere else rather than getting the others involved. Charging my magic I focused on teleporting a few feet away from, thinking of the place that I wanted to go, and snapped my fingers.

Derange’s Pov:

It was a cold winter’s eve as I strolled down the desolate streets of Boston. The only company to call my own were the hollow steps of my own two feet along with the low roaring winds as trees would sway to and fro. Turning down through the park my feet stepped on the cold pure white snow that fell not too long ago littering the park in a beautiful white blanket. In the distance I could see the hypnotic flashes of red and blue go by followed by a low siren echoing out for all to hear.

Then a huge gust of wind bellowed down on me causing the snow on the trees to fall from their perch and towards the ground with a loud thump. Bringing my dark brown coat closer to protect me from the forbidding gust of wind I pushed forward determined to reach my destination.

A few moments later I had arrived at my destination, yellow caution tapes placed all about while royal guards stood around in a perimeter keeping the public and news reporters out of the crime scene. ‘Vultures’ I sneered as I pushed my way towards the head of the pack much to the complaints I received.

Just as I was about to enter a generic guard stood in front of me“Sorry no civilians allowed” he cried out blocking my entryway.

Before I could retort a familiar voice cried out “At easy rookie” a white pony with sapphire blue hair, moderate cerulean eyes and a cutie mark of a shield walked up placing a hoof on his shoulder. “He’s with me”. The guard nodded and lifted the tape to allow me entry “Sorry about that” Shining said as we walked towards the apartment. “Everypony is just a bit on edge considering the...situation” he said with an easy going smile.

“So what seems to be the problem that the great and mighty Prince Shining can’t solve?” I asked venomously still not forgetting what he had done to me.

“...I can see you’re still...upset about what happened, but like I keep telling yo-” he tried to say but I didn’t let him as I pushed my head against his and glared down at him.

“Partner. Don’t. Betray one another” I roared in anger and then left him outside as I went indoors. The interior of the apartment was rather plain and dull as yellow and lime green wallpaper passed me by an occasional flower pot placed to add life to the rather dull entry way. Turning a corner I began my ascension up the stairs each sound of my step echoing off the walls though it wasn’t the only noise as another pair of hoof steps accompanied me.

“What was I suppose to do!?” he cried back as he came up beside me matching my steps the further we went up. “It was either you or my wife, my wife and future family! I was left with no choice!” he cried out justifying what he did to me.

I turned to him ready to yell at him once more glaring down at him with the untold rage of a thousand suns, but I couldn’t as he stood there with a sad, mad yet apologetic look on his face. Huffing in annoyance I turned down another corridor and said “I’m done having this conversation. Now why did you call me?”

“You’ll see shortly” he said grimly and then we both became silent as he led me towards the crime scene.

Guards were placed all about standing still and unmoving as they kept the inhabitants inside their homes and away from the crime. Just as we were about to enter the one person I never wanted to meet or speak to again walked out “Oh hey guys *snort* what’s up?” Drake said. He was wearing a pair of light blue overalls with a checkered button shirt with a pocket protector full of pens and note paper. His black mane was curly like that of cotton candy and was wearing a pair of red glasses that made his eyes bigger than what they truly were.

“Drake” I stated my voice matching the weather outside.

Sensing my displeasure he jumped back in surprise and said in a shaky voice “Ha ha well it was uh nice seeing you again, but I need to get back to the uh lab” and as quickly as I saw him he left.

“Remind me again why you don’t like him?” Shining asked jokingly adding a jab to lighten the mood.

I shrugged him off and entered the room “Reasons” I simply stated. The apartment room was small consisting of a poorly cleaned kitchen/bedroom combo and a bathroom in the back that was also probably in bad condition as well. The room was vacant except for me, Shining, two ponies with a stretcher and the dead unlucky bastard face first into his cereal.

Scanning the room I noticed a few interesting things: One that the door hinges were busted meaning a force entry, two the poor sand colored pony had a hole in his head going through the other side leaving a dent in the wall where the bullet stopped, three the window was opened leading me to believe the assailant shot the poor bastard and escaped down the fire escape. Though there was something still bugging me “This seems like a closed case” I said fixing Shining with an even look “Now for the third time. Why. Am. I. Here?” I asked punctuating each word to get my point across.

He fixed me with an even look as he reached into his coat pocket and threw an evidence bag on the table “This is why” he said and pushed it towards me.

Reaching for the bag I brought it up to eye level and froze as I looked at the offending item. “No...that’s not possible” I said with disbelief as the bag slipped from my hand and landed on the table. Shifting my gaze towards Shining hoping that this was some sick twisted joke he responded with a shake of his head confirming that it wasn’t.

Looking at the item once more in hopes of it being a mistake or a mirage a sense of dread came over me as my legs began to buckle from underneath me. Using the table as a support I looked long and hard at the object taking in every detail I could. The item was a slightly bloody joker card, set joker wearing a predatory smile while holding a sickle in one hand and the head of a pony in another, specifically created by the perp themself though at the bottom written in a black quill ink it read ‘Ante up’.

“...”

“...this is impossible” I said in a low voice turning to look at Shining once more “WE were there when it died!” I cried out.

“...It looks like it didn’t stay dead” he responded in a low voice and continued “And he’s back for us” throwing another evidence bag on the table next to the playing card. It held a picture of us back in the day when I could call him a friend. I was holding him in a choker hold while rubbing his mane vigorously while he tried to get out of it though big grins were plastered on our faces. In the background Cadance was rolling her eyes with a playful smile while Drake was jumping out of his seat as Shining and my prank unfolded as his drink spilled all over his shirt.

Their was writing down below in the same writing style as before reading ‘Bets are placed and bets are won. Bets are placed and bets are lost. The game goes on and on though never ending, time to put up or shut up. I’m all in what say you? Time to ante up boys or all held dear shall be lost’ signed the-

*THUMP!*

“What was that?” Minuette asked as her ears swerved about trying to locate the source of the noise though more importantly interrupting my story.

Derpy was the first one to act as she took to the skies scouring the area. “I don’t see anythin...Hey where did Drake and Silver go?” she asked landing down near the children just in case something was amiss.

“Oh they just went off to go make out” I said offhandedly “Now where was I ah yes-” I said about to tell my story once more only for it to be interrupted.

“What no way...wait do they?” Minuette asked looking towards Derpy for confirmation.

“I don’t think they have that kind of relationship” she responded back with a shrug.

Before I could totally mess with them Dinky muttered though not low enough “I hope she doesn’t come back”.

Derpy turned towards her daughter with a shock expression “Dinky! You shouldn’t say things like that” she yelled like only a caring mother would.

“But mom-” Dinky protested, but Derpy wasn’t going to have any of that as she held her hoof up to silence her daughter.

“No buts young filly” she said in her ‘mom’ voice. “Now when Silver gets back I want you to apologiz-”

“no...” she said quietly her small frame lightly shaking while her face was turned towards the ground.

“What was that young lady?” Derpy said with a scowl as she glared down at her daughter ready to punish her only for Dinky to match her mother with a fierce gaze tears streaming down her muzzle.

“I SAID NO” she screamed her breathing becoming rampant. Everyone in the camp site cringed in surprise to her sudden outburst as we all fell silent the only noise were the sounds of heavy breathing and the crackling of the fire. “YOU WEREN’T THERE...you weren’t there...” she cried out once more though lost the intensity in her voice as memories of a few hours ago sprang back up causing her to bawl her little eyes out. Derpy brought her daughter into a hug though Dinky resisted at first she eventually caved in as tears began to soak up Derpy’s gray coat causing them to turn into a dark shade. Minuette soon joined in on the hug comforting the young filly by gently stroking her mane. “I hate her” she mumbled in between breaths.

“Oh Dinky...” Derpy tried to say but I decided to throw in my two bits.

“Then you should tell her properly” I said making myself comfortable as I leaned back into the wall. Derpy and Minuette looked at me aghast while Dinky and Wild looked at me oddly “What? Something on my face?” I asked removing my face and pasting it on the wall next to me. “Beep beep I’m a rock” I cried out in a silly voice getting a couple of giggles from the kids and more confused looks from the adults though I think it was the fact that the rock was flying rather than the previous comment.

“What do you mean tell her properly” party pooper Minuette asked Derpy nodding in agreement though had a slight smirk on her face.

*sigh* Returning the rock to its original place I then removed my face and placed it back on my face, yeah I’m getting tired of noting that joke so moving on, though it was placed upside down. “I think it is quite obvious what my statement means” I said like a sir “Also you appear to be upside down”.

“That’d be you genius” she said flatly though I was sadden by not getting any giggles this time.

“Ah yes well...whatever” I replied back with a shrug and righted my face. “And what I mean is that she should tell her instead of holding it in” I answered.

“And why in all of Equestria would you want her to say something so horrible to her” Minuette cried out. “I admit I don’t agree or condone with what she did, but to say something so harsh for doing her job of protecting us. It just doesn’t seem right”.

“What!?” Derpy turned on Minuette and continued “It doesn’t matter if it’s her job or not she did something terrible...no something devastating in front of two foals that could leave ever lasting scars”. It was slightly interesting to see two very close friends get into a heated debate like they were right now. I sat on the sidelines for a few minutes before I decided enough was enough. Snapping my fingers I summoned two water balloons above their heads and let gravity do its job.

Before they could both gang up on me I snapped my fingers again and summoned two blow dryers that quickly dried them off. “Now I want both of ya to keep your mouth shut for the next five minutes okay” I said throwing the blow dryers into the fire to keep it going. Directing my attention to Dinky I looked her in the eyes and said “And you are going to listen to my tale attentively”.

They tried to protest, but became silent as I looked them over with a serious expression which must be rather effective since I suppose I’m hardly ever serious. Satisfied that they weren’t going to interrupt I started my tale “So a long time ago back in our, aka Drake’s, college days we were just about to go into the real world when we hit a lucky break. Long story short I saved a teacher, who was awesome and on friendly terms with, and offered to talk to his friend to get us a sweet job which we did. Excited about the news I gathered up my friends and family and told them the news. They were all excited for me wishing me the best of luck and what not and congratulated me” I said taking a moment to reminisce them. Shaking my head I continued to tell my tale “Anyway about near the end of the party, which means happy hour (and you kids will understand what I mean when you’re older), I got into an argument with my stepfather and yes my family divorced save your question till the end please” I said glaring at Minuette who smiled sheepishly and put her hoof back down.

“So yeah we got into an argument, which I don’t remember what it was about but probably something stupid. Anyway my stepfather was to sum him up a respectable ass. I admired him since he was there for me most of my life stepping in as a father figure when my real dad couldn’t be there for me, though he did visit whenever he could and was always there for me when I needed him, but he was also a huge asshole that could drive anyone up a freaking mountain. We both said some things that shouldn't have been said, we got into a brawl and then I left never looking back” I said solemnly though continued “About half a year passed and we came back onto neutral grounds at least greeting one another instead of ignoring one another's existence. Another half a year passed when I got a call from my mother telling me he was in the hospital something about failing heart condition or something, but didn’t really know at the time. As quickly as I could I got onto the next flight home” I said my tone turning sadder and sadder by the second the girls slightly getting teary eye and huddling together while Hunt was trying to play off his sadness for me.

“I arrive back home and immediately make my way towards the hospital he’s staying at. Wasting no time I ask the nurse for the room, make my way up a flight up stairs and arrive to see my family in tears comforting one another. Before I could ask what was wrong or what happened I look past them to see a white sheet over a prone body. Slowly making my way towards it I lift the sheet up to see a tired old man with a peaceful smile on his face. The worst part of it all was that I never did get to talk to him before he left...so many things left unsaid” I said with a sad smile on my face the others had tears in their eyes, the occasional sniffle here and there.

Minuette was the first to recover and asked “So *sniff* what you’re trying to say is that you regret what you said to him all those years ago and never got the chance to apologize?”

“What? Buck no I never once regretted giving him a piece of my mind” I said they looked at me aghast once more, but before they could say anything I added on “But I do regret not letting him also know that even though he was a completely asshat that I always did and would respect him and love him like a real father”. I then turned towards Dinky with a sad yet serious expression “I will always be haunted by that day always knowing that he never really knew how I felt about him, but you...you still have a chance don’t let it go by like I did”.

She gave me a sad smile and nodded “Okay”.

Before anything else could be said I clapped my hands together and said “Enough of this emotional garbage and let’s get back to the story” though Derpy and Minuette wanted to talk to me about what was said I pleaded with them to just let it go for now and they complied, but I assume it was because of the two little foals getting excited for me to finish my tale. “Now where was I-Oh now I remember *ahem* signed the-

Drake’s PoV:

There are many point in one life where they make an honest mistake. When someone makes a mess, when someone files the wrong report or when someone sends out an email that wasn’t suppose to be sent to their boss and coincidentally gets them fired. Simple yet honest mistakes that tend to not have huge ramifications...though in my current situation I could not say such a thing as I royally fucked up. Pushing the mad, and I do mean in both meaning of the word, mare off of me I rolled away from her and into a kneeling position only to not see hide nor hair of her. Taking in my surrounding I recognized the area that we were at since we passed through here only a few hours ago. The land was scarce of anything noteworthy, the occasional rock as big as my head placed about, and in the distance I could see the jagged sea of spikes were are previous battle took place. Turning towards the skies in hope of locating the pist off mare I was mildly disappointed of not discovering her up there though the view was breathtaking.

Back home during my college years such a sight was common place, but after so many years of being in cities/high populated areas I had forgotten what the night sky truly looked like. Stars as bright as the sun itself illuminated against the endless black sea of space each and everyone taking on familiar shapes like that of Leo while other took on shapes that I did not recognize though could still see their connection with one another. The moon was a beautiful orb of light that brighten the sky as well as the land on which I stood. Though I was brought out of my hypnotic gaze by the sound of hoof steps followed by the sound of a blade being drawn.

Reacting on instinct I jumped out of the way and once more rolled back into a kneeling position. It was a good thing too as I saw Silver slice down where I was at moments ago. She tsked in annoyance and sunk into the shadows completely erasing her presence ‘Okay I have a pissed off night guard who’s an expert in swordsmanship, it is currently night time meaning she has the field advantage, and she is extremely pissed off...not looking good so far’ I thought grimly. I tried to ascertain where she was at once more though this time I decided to use my sense of hearing rather than sight to locate her. My ears turned to and fro reacting on even the slightest of sounds though she was very crafty or quick since every time I thought I knew where she was she’d somehow end up right behind me. “So I can assume that we can’t just sit down and talk about this?” I asked my ears flickering back and forth and side to side, honestly I was surprised that they weren’t twisted up like a pretzel given the fact at how fast they were moving.

Her response was “Mucronibus Ventus” followed by the slash of her blade, the blade reflecting off the moon’s light, and three blades of winds soaring towards me at high speeds. As they tore through the ground I rolled out of harms way once more and watched the destructive path they took as they passed me by.

“So I’ll assume that's a no” I stated warily once more trying to locate her, but to no avail. After a few moments of silence, except the occasional shuffling of hoof steps, I sighed “Though I except that this is my fault and wish to apologize I don’t think you are in the right state of mind” I said calmly hoping to get some sort of reasonable response, but again to no avail. “So I suppose you leave me no choice, but to force you to listen” honestly I really wanted to avoid confrontation at this level, but if she was going to follow the ‘Kill first ask question never’ way of things than this...partnership was going to end rather quickly.

She laughed at my choice of words and finally responded back with “You expect me to believe You of all things to even have a chance of coming even close to touching me”. I just kept silent as she continued to laugh, once more playing with my senses and misleading me, and continued “Besides who says I’m just going to let you walk away” her tone turning deadly serious.

“So you’d just betray your leader’s trust by getting rid of me for no reason?” I asked though I had to once more jump out of harms way as her blade came crashing down.

“HA” she laughed sarcastically “ME betray them? They BETRAYED me first” she cried out and disappeared into the shadows once more.

“And this justifies what you’re thinking about doing?” I cried out into the darkness. “Haven’t you heard of ‘Two wrongs don’t make a right’ or ‘An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind’?”

“Yes I have heard those sayings” she spat out and continued “They are the ones who preached out love and harmony, when they don’t even know the meaning of the words pain and suffering. They are the ones that pretend nothing is wrong with the world and only cry out for justice, but when the ultimate decision is in their hoof’s they turn away and let those who deserve to suffer walk free because ‘they have a chance to change’. They are the ones who never had to be by someone’s side and sit there while they suffered a slow and agonizing death while you could do nothing to relieve them of their pain” she said though it seemed to struck close to home as she cried out sadly at the last part.

“And what of your sibling?” I asked, low blow I know but I’d was hoping not to have to resort to using them, and continued “What would they think about this is they were sti-”

“DON’T YOU DARE BRING HER IN!” she screamed and release a torrent of five blades of wind towards me. Rolling to the side I quickly found myself rolling out of harms way again as her blade pierced the ground I was at moments ago. “She has nothing to do with this!” she cried out tears streaming down her face as she glared at me, the moon perfectly in-sync as it stood behind her giving her a radiant glow.

“THIS HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH HER!” I cried back and tried to continue but she was done talking as she pointed her blade at me.

“ENOUGH” she said and slowly sank back into the darkness. “I’m done talking. You have one minute to draw a weapon or else this will be over quickly” she said and completely erased her presence.

Trying to locate her I found that I couldn’t even hear her anymore as the only sound that I could hear was the fast pacing bumps of my own heart beat. ‘Okay calm down’ I thought to myself and slowed my heart beat down by taking a couple of deep yet steady breaths of air. ‘She has to be here somewhere, but the question is wher-’ I thought though I was soon brought out of it as I was then surrounded in complete and utter darkness. Looking up towards the sky I soon realized why she gave me a minute to get a weapon as a massive cloud covered most of the sky and all of the moon.

‘But that’s impossible! There’s not way she could have gathered enough cloud to cover the sky unless...she was doing it from the very start’ I realized and tsked at my own carelessness. “Of course she’d have tried to bring the area into complete darkness rather than having some light since not only does her blade reflect from the moonlight, but so do her wings” I berated quietly to myself.

“Thirty seconds” she called out from the side of me.

“Well two can play at that game” I said with a devious smile. Clapping my hands together, resulting in a loud echo, I brought my hands towards the ground and was happy to get the results that I wanted. The moment my hands made contact with the ground yellow sparks of energy raced out from my hands and all around the surrounding area. Small yellow transmutation circles began to form about, each one similar to the next, and slowly began to reshape the land around us. Thin beams of rock began to rise from the ground below and eventually reached their full height, which was about six feet tall and three feet wide, though there was now a lingering scent of lantern oil in the air.

Reaching into hammer space I brought out a white glove, which also had a lingering scent of oil on it, and placed it on my left hand though I noticed that there was a red transmutation circle on it. After the glove was secured I prepped my finger to snap and I half sang “Let there be light!” followed by the sound of my finger snapping. An arch of red energy sprang out from my fingers and towards the dozen of small rocky spikes. *Fwoosh* Came the sound as the newly made spike torches lit ablaze each one dancing with a small fire, but more importantly lighting up the area enough to see a few feet away. “There was light” I sang though I had a mad grin plastered on my face.

Clapping my hands once more I touched the ground again and watched in amazement as the very earth below me began to mold around my right arm and left leg. Though the very earth began to sink back in on itself I watched as a metal protector slowly formed around both of my limbs. A few moments later both my arm and leg were covered in a light, though rather strong, steel like sheathe the fire giving them a nice gleam in the darkness.

Standing to my full height I prepped my fingers once more and got into a defensive stance, using my arm as a shield. Putting on the biggest cockyest grin that I could muster I continued my song “Let there be sound~” a familiar rock song began to echo out from nowhere “And there was sound. Let there be roc-” only for the song to make a 180 and began to play this. Midly dissapointed that it wasn’t rock I did have to admit it sound much cooler given the context. “Eh that’ll work” I shrugged and looked out into the field of torches “Shall we begin?” I said still wearing that same cocky smile.

Silver Pov:

He had the biggest cockiest grin plastered on his bucking face as he continued to stand there unmoving. Quickly yet silently I circled around him towards his left side making sure to hide where the light from the torches couldn’t reach. I gripped the handle of my blade in my mouth and got into a running stance, my legs tensing up, while my wings were ready for take off.

Though I was ready to go I couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong. Looking around the area he was still standing at I looked for any kind of trap that he might have placed, but couldn’t find anything. Changing my gaze towards his ‘new’ equipment I once more looked for anything out of the ordinary, but again came up empty. ‘What the hell is wrong with me’ I berated myself. ‘I’ve seen what he’s capable of, which isn’t much, and the only thing I need to look out for is his magic’ I thought and steeled myself for what I was about to do.

Tightening up my muscles even more I then released the tension in my body and shot off towards Drake from the side. My blade was halfway drawn out, ready to slice him cleanly in two when at the last second he ducked out of harms way and brought his left leg towards my left side. Twisting my body, with the aid of my wings, I was able to turn my body just enough to use my sword to deflect the blow though the force of the impact sent me off course. Recovering quickly I sank back into the shadows and made my way over towards his right side though all the while he stared at the place I was last seen.

‘What the buck!? How did he do that!?’ I screamed in my head in frustration. I took a moment to replay the events quickly in my mind, but the more I thought about the more I became enraged from it. ‘It must have been a fluke’ I said taking a deep breath to calm myself down. ‘Yeah that’s it a bucking fluke’ I reasoned with myself and got into a sprinting position one more.

With my next move planned out I sprang into action once more though this time I quickly sprinted towards him from behind. Just as I was about to unsheathe my blade once more he turned again and used his right arm as a shield. Sparks danced in front of our eyes as he deflected my attack and he followed up his counter with a roundhouse kick. Quickly ducking out of the way I then followed up with a vertical slash,but he simply side stepped out of the way. Cocking his arm back he then took a swing at my exposed back though he wasn’t quick enough as I backpedaled out of there and into the shadows once more although he did leave a nice crater in his wake.

He pulled his arm out from the ground, gave it a light shake and resumed his battle stance while looking into the shadows for any sign of me. ‘No.No.No.No this isn’t right’ I thought in frustration. ‘There has to be some sort of trick’ scouring the battlefield again I came up with the same results as before. ‘Buck it then’ I screamed as I gathered the wind around my blade, set blade ready to slice down towards him and release the payload.

‘Let’s see how you handl-’ though I didn’t get to finish my thought as I realized that A) he was staring right at me and B) he had his fingers prepped to snap. A loud audible snap echoed out followed by a small red electric like current heading towards me. Using the wind I gathered I speed off and out of harms way just in time as an explosion rang out where I was at moments ago. Though the explosion wasn’t enough to kill, more like cause some bruises or possibly break some bones, I was beyond furious to even notice at the time.

‘This is fucking impossible! If he had this kind of skill then why was he holding back!?’ I roared in my head my blood boiling with rage. ‘Unless...he wanted to play the hero’ I thought and continued on with that train of thought all the while clenching my teeth ‘He was probably waiting for the right moment to show off and come off as the ‘big’ hero earning himself respect and recognition for his hard work’.

Unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable! Without even a second thought I charged at him with blind recklessness my blade already unsheathed as the wind danced around the tip of the blade. Caught off guard he barely jumped back in time to dodge my strike though he wasn’t able to dodge the small blades that I released towards him. Small blades of winds nicked and sliced his entire body covering him head to toe with small gashes though they weren’t deep enough to hinder his movement blood still poured out of his wounds.

He winced in pain, but soon recovered has he charged towards me. Closing the distance between us he kicked at my left side with his metal encased leg. Ducking underneath the blow once more I then slashed at him from a lower angle though he proved to be rather flexible as he bent his body back barely dodging my attack as it left another gash on his body. Tsking in annoyance he backpedaled out of range, but I wasn’t going to let him off so easy as I gathered the winds around me once more.

Seeing this as an opportunity he snapped his fingers again, a red spark heading towards me once more, while I continued to gather more and more of the wind causing the torches to waver. Getting ready to dodge the explosion again I was surprised to see the spark reach about half way before it shot back to its master. “Oh buck me sides way!” he exclaimed as he quickly tore the glove off and tossed it away from him while jumping out of harms way. As the spark reached towards the object a loud explosion roared out as dust and debris scattered all over the area.

Though he dodged most of the explosion he was still disoriented by the blast as he slowly got back up. I didn’t waste anytime as I began a slow run towards him, the wind picking up with each step I took, which eventually changed into a full on sprint. The winds roared to life as I became a small tornado of wind, the ground breaking apart with each step of my hooves, as I nearly closed the distance between us.

He went bugged eyed as I merely came upon him though for his credit he reacted rather fast as he clapped his hands together and touched his right encased arm. A yellow light shined out in the darkness as his arm began to glow momentarily blinding me. The once encased arm was now only attached around his mid arm forming a casing around it. Sticking out was a simple rounded shield big enough to cover half of his body. Just as I was about to crash into him he brought his shield up to bare and planted his feet firmly into the ground.

Unable to change my course I charged head first into the shield, a loud and audible thud echoing out, as the wind exploded towards him. The shield bent inwards thanks to the blow, but it did its job well as it didn’t break though thanks to the force he skidded a few feet away as a trail was left in his and my wake.

I growled feraly as I watched him stand to his full height the wind dancing around my very body once more. I noticed his wounds slowly patching themselves up as he tossed his now ruined shield to the ground. He then reached down, unhooked his leg protector and tossed it near the shield as well. “I see that you really aren’t holding back anymore and it would be an insult to do the same” he said stoically. Clapping his hands once more he brought them down on his creations, the items shining a brilliant yellow, and placed his right hand above them.

The items began to reshape once more as a long column of light extended out from the center. As if answering his call it reached out towards him the column following his hand as he slowly stood back up to his full height. Just as he stood to the epiphany of his height the yellow column of light dulled down revealing a pole. The pole stood easily as tall as Drake, maybe a few inches shorter, with a beautiful silver metal body and black lines weaving around from the very tip of the pole to the bottom. With a quick twirl he got into a low position, one end aimed towards me, and said “Last chance Silver don’t make me get serious”.

I didn’t say anything as his words confirmed my suspicions. My left eye involuntarily twitched as I stood there, the wind gradually picking up even more, as my body lightly shuddered. My blood began to boil in rage as I gradually lost what little control I had as my body took on a bipedal position, my wings spread out to help me balance, as I held my blade towards the heavens. Thunder and lightning began to dance across the skies as the already dark cloud seemed to take on an even darker shade. As if answering my call a loud and thunderous boom echoed out followed by a streak of lightning heading towards it. My blade already deadly became even more so as it was now coated with a purplish streak of electricity sparks occasionally flickering off of it.

Honestly I was never very good at wielding lightning, even though it was natural for a Pegasi, I just could never get the hang of it. Sure I understood the concept of it and could shoot a streak out from a thundercloud, but I always had trouble when it came to more complex stuff. Though it is also the strongest element of magic that I have in my arsenal and at the moment I really didn’t care as I wanted to completely and utterly evaporate him from the face of Equis. Pushing off with my rear hooves, while using my wings to give me a boost, I closed the distance within seconds and brought my sword down upon him.

But before I made it even half way a gut wrenching pain shot through me as something struck me. The sparks from my blade dispersed as I lost concentration on it and instinctively reached down to console my pain only to feel something long and cold. Looking down I was surprised to see the very same pole sticking out of the earth...no it wasn’t sticking out from the earth but a portal as I noticed a rather small and distinct blue outlined circle in the ground.

Pulling his weapon out, the portal disappearing a few seconds later, he gave it a quick spin and brought one end down on top of my back. Getting slightly over the gut wrenching pain I turned my body in time to block the attack, though thanks to still being in the air, I was then sent to the ground hard. Shaking off the blow I tried to bring my weapon to bare but felt a sharp jab forcing me to let go. He then jabbed at my blade forcing it to be out of hoof reach as it landed blade down into the earth. Rolling onto my gut I tried to get away but fell back to the ground as a massive amount of weight forced me to the ground. I tried to wiggle and kick my way out from underneath the weight, but to no avail as I was now stuck in place.

As I continued my attempt to escape I felt my hoof brush against the back edge of my blade. Desperately reaching out for it I almost had it until “Ah ah ah” came the voice of the most annoying bastard of a whore as my blade was lifted away from my grasp also he was the fat ass that was sitting on top of me. “You’ll get this back once you don’t want to dismember me” he said while, I could only assume, wagging his finger towards me.

I roared in rage as I thrashed about “I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”

Though he didn’t even budge or flinch as he responded back “Yeah saying things like that doesn’t help your case out” and there we were me underneath him while he sat there with what I could imagine was a bored expression. There were many things going through my mind at the moment but one of them stood out the most ‘I swear when we get back I’m aski-No demanding for a raise’.

Drake PoV:

A few hours passed as I stared up at the night sky, the clouds making themselves scarce many hours ago, as I held Silver’s blade in one hand and my pole in the other. I sat on my rather comfy spot and admired Luna’s beautiful work once more though was brought out of it as Silver smacked my side again. “For the...hundredth time I’m not getting up until we talk about it” I stated firmly though she ignored me as she continued to smack my side in a rhythmic pattern. After the tenth executive hit I decided that retaliation was in order. Shifting my body to look at the back of her head I prepped my finger and began flicking her ear matching her pace with every blow.

She flickered her ears after the sixth time and growled out “Quit it” follow by another blow to the side.

“You first” I retorted.

“No you”

“No you” I said during our childish little bout also each time we responded back to one another our blows seemed to have increased in strength.

“You started this”

“Nuh uh”

“Yeah huh”

“Nuh uh”

“Yeah huh”

“Nuh uh you started hitting me on the side”

“You’re the one who brought us out here to begin with!” she cried back.

“And you’re the one who just won’t talk about what happened” I retorted though was surprised that she didn’t smack my side like before. She just layed there with, what I could only imagine, an angry pout huffing in annoyance every so often.

Bored once more I brought her blade up and decided to examine it. It looked like any other kind of katana a simple black handle with yellow like diamonds pattern going down the middle of it with a yellow/goldish like hilt and a steel like material though I wasn't sure about that. Though something felt off about it. Examining the hilt more closely I could feel a strange magical like energy gathering towards it. ‘Peculiar’ I thought as I continued to look at the hilt. ‘This could be the reason why she can use her magic which explains why she hasn’t escaped and beat the shit out of me yet...damn and I honestly thought that we were making progress’.

“You know I was always a fan of wind magic” I said absent mindedly and continued “Care to know why?”

“No, not really” she stated back flatly.

“Well it’s simple my dear” I said completely ignoring her comment. “One reason is because its the most versatile of magic out there, granted I don’t know all of the school of magics but let’s make it simple. Water: take at the oxygen and poof it’s gone, Fire: same thing plus if you put too much air into it it’ll put itself out and Earth: You could either cleave the pieces of earth being thrown at you into dozen of little pieces or use the wind to force it away from you” I said while holding her blade up towards the sky the moonlight reflecting off of it.

“Really don’t care” she responded though was ignored once more.

“But I also like Wind magic because it can be viewed as a metaphor for freedom” I said sadly reaching towards the heaven with my other hand. “Absolute freedom. Nothing to hold you down nor hold you back as you go wherever you please. But at the same time being anywhere and everywhere when you are needed. Subtly helping those that you care for and making sure they’re safe” I said finishing off my little monologue.

After another moment of silence Silver spoke up “How’d you do it?” Sensing my confusion she clarified her question “How were you able to know/keep up with my speed?”

“Oh well it’s quite simple really once you think about it” I responded.

“...And?” she asked.

“Well where's the fun in me telling you” I answered with a sly grin “Besides you’re smart you’ll get it...or we could do a trade” I mused and continued “You tell me your secret and I’ll tell you mine”.

“Or I’ll tell the others about your actually secret” she threatened. I raised an eyebrow towards her and thought about what she could be talking about. Then it hit me like a pie to the face...speaking of which that sounds delightful right about now.

Snapping my finger I summoned a slice of pie and slowly began eating it. While in between bites I said feigning ignorance “And what secret might that be?”

“Don’t play dumb...well dumber in your case” she said with a cruel smirk and continued “About how you're not from this world and are currently in the middle of some massive game”.

Finishing off my pie I licked my lips remembering the sweet flavor of it, it was jelly bean flavored, and responded “So either you were listening in on one of our conversations, the princesses informed you or all of thee above”.

“Doesn’t matter” she responded back and pressed on “So either you get off me right now and never speak of this again or I’ll not only tell the others, but inform any other ‘chess piece’ about who you really are”.

“No you won’t” I said half heartedly while lazily twirling my pole in the air using one finger to balance it while I flicked it with my tail.

“Wanna bet” she growled.

“No because it’ll be a losing bet on your part” I replied back and continued “It’s also the fact that deep down you wouldn’t do that because it’ll inadvertently bring harm towards the others, but mostly you don’t want to cause any physical or mental harm towards Dinky”. I paused for a moment to think of any other reasons and finished up with “Also it’s not really a secret and honestly do you really think that’d change their opinion about me hell if anything it’d explain my very reasoning/logic”.

“Fine then!” she cried. “Then how about the fact that you were holding back during the fight!” she said her voice becoming desperate as she continued “In the end who do you think they’ll side with then!” I had to admit it was a valid point. In the end I was the cause for everything that could have and did happen.

“You’re right I am at fault just as much as you are” I said somberly. “And I could only hope that they would except my reason why...”

“Oh how I’d love to hear this” she said venomously.

“You really don’t get the burden that I have do you” I asked though it sounded more like a statement.

“Burden? Pfft Please” she responded back. “Do you know how many ponies would kill for the powers you have?”

“My point exactly” I agreed with her and continued “Think about it for a moment the power to essentially alter, change and will reality to do whatever you want though I admit that with my level of power it is quite limited, but nonetheless it’s very...tempting to miss use.” I won’t deny that I’ve haven’t been tempted to just leave Equestria far out of reach from not only the princess, but the EoH bearers as well to live my life as I see fit. With my power I could probably rule an empire, start a harem and many other of things that would be too long to list out. But something kept me here something driving me to stay. Responsibility, loyalty, honoring a deal again the list could go on, but the fact remains that my power could easily be misused in the wrong hands.

I chuckled hollowly as a thought occurred to me. Sensing her confusion I elaborated “Back home we had this device called a gun. It was rather simple really point it at the man you want dead, pull the trigger and bam falls over dead. But there were always...issues revolving around it. Anyways there was this quote and again it was rather simple ‘Guns don’t kill people, people kill people’. Now you can imagine there were two sides to the argument, but I always felt that the previous quote was true. Guns, swords, bows, magic or hell a rock all have one thing in common...they have no will. They do not have a will to decide what to do or how to act, but merely go with the flow of things. In the end they are merely tools and how they are used is up to the individuals. Now where was I going with this?” I thought out loud, but then remembered. “Oh right, anyways in the end I not only fear the raw power that I wield, but fear what could happen if I lose myself”.

Silence came quick as we sat there processing what we had said to one another. “Why...why is it so important for you to know? Why can’t you just let it go?” she asked me though I couldn’t see I could tell she was starting to tear up as memories from long ago sprang back up.

I thought about the question carefully. Why did it really matter? People are entitled to their own dirty secrets yet why am I persisting on forcing her to talk to me about it. I’m no shrink or have any really experience with comforting other yet here I am sitting next to, well technically on top of, her in the hopes of comforting her. In all honesty there was only one real reason why I persisted though it was also the most cliche one. I calmly stood up, much to the voice in the back of my mind telling me otherwise, and stood in front of her hand held out to help her up “Because you're my friend” I said with a small smile.

We stared at one another for what felt like minutes, me holding out my hand to her while she continued to stare at me. Until she suddenly snorted though caught herself as she began to lightly chuckle. A few seconds later I was joining her in laughing because in all honest that was probably the lamest/cheesiest thing I’ve ever said. “That...that was so lame” she said getting over her laughing fit.

“Well technically you're the first friend I’ve made since the past fives years or so, but yes it was a completely lame statement” I agreed with her still holding out my hand to her. She tentatively accepted my offer as I helped her back onto her hooves. With a quick flourish she sheathed her blade and put it back in its rightful place. Following along with her idea I gave my pole a quick flourish as well and then placed it into the recess of hammerspace for later use.

When I turned to look at her I noticed she had a contemplative look across her muzzle. I opted to stand there and wait for her to think though it didn’t last long as she sat down “Back when I was first starting my military career I was already way ahead of everypony else” she began her somber tale. Taking a seat in front of her I listened attentively “Passing my test with flying colors, whipping my fellow recruits into shape and getting recommendations to the best of the best. Hell there was even talk of putting me on the list of candidates to one day replace Captain Barricade of the Pegasus Guard” she said with a sad yet reminiscing smile.

“Though that quickly changed” she said and elaborated “Back then the borders and laws involving the D-dogs coming into Equestria and taking slaves were non-existent. Sure we stopped them as best as we could, but it wasn’t enough. Anyways I was away on business, patrolling the western borders, when one of my CEO inform me that my sister was taken” sadder and sadder her tone was going as she continued though the occasional tone of rage would seep its way in.

“I head back and rally up as many ponies that I could, but was ultimately shut down because there was a ‘chance’ that a D-dog embassador was lodging where my sister was taken. So then I turn towards my grandfather for help, being an influential stallion, it’d be easy for him to gather a small task force to help out, but no he was too busy using his power to send a message to a group of thugs rather than helping his own granddaughters!” at this point she was screaming an angry glare now spread across her face.

She took a moment to compose herself, though it didn’t do much, and continued “So with no one to rely on I opted to go on my own and headed there as fast as I could. When I arrived it wasn’t difficult to sneak my way in, but then...then I...I found her...” tears streaking down her muzzle as her voice began to waver. “She was in the center of some sort of arena surrounded by all the other captives...just...just lying there...and” it was obvious at this point that she wouldn’t be able to continue without going back into some sort of relapse.

Scooting over towards her side I brought her into a comforting hug and said as comforting as possible “That enough for now.”

She didn’t return the hug nor did she resist as we sat there a few minutes in silence. A few moments later she composed herself “Thanks” she said and got up. Taking a few steps away she stared intently at the moon for a moment, the light giving her a radiant glow, and turned back to me with a smile “Shall we head back?”

“Of course” I replied back as I joined her by her side opting to walk on all four instead of bipedal because I do what I want. “But first you’ll have to tell me what you did with the real Silver since she doesn’t look so adorable when she smiles” I cooed jokingly.

She responded with a quick smack to my face and said in a sweet yet threatening voice “And if you ever tell anyone about this I’ll not only beat the shit out of you but shove your manhood so far up your ass you’d wish you were a mare”.

I saluted mockingly and said in a french accent “Message received Capitan”.

A few hours passed as we arrived back to our campsite. The girls were all snuggling together while the colt was in his own sleeping bag though we were greeted with a wave from Derange as he stroked the fire “Took ya two long enough” he said quietly gesturing for us to take a load off. Silver sat across from the others while I sat next to my other half “So Silver must like it rough since during my story I had to stop from all the cuts and bruises that covered my body” he said while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively towards Silver.

She just gave him a flat look and asked jokingly, or I hoped so, “Can I please kill him?”

“Sadly no” I said with a shake of my head and continued “We, and I hate saying this, need him”. Derange started to make funny faces at her in attempts of provoking her though she kept her composure well and just ignored him “But you can beat the shit out of him later” I said with smug grin. He instantly stopped his attempts to provoke her and slightly leaned towards me in hopes of using me as a meat shield.

Silver just gave a creepy smile aimed towards Derange and said “Can’t wait” though she immediately let out a loud yawn.

Deciding it was way past bedtime we opted to take shifts keeping an eye out “I’ll take the first watch” came a voice from my right side that sounded similar to Derange.

“Thanks Derange. Wake me up in a few and night Silver” I said as I leaned back into a comfortable position.

“Night” Silver said already laying down.

“Don’t know why you’re thanking/asking me about taking the first shift, but night” Derange said as he copied my laying posture to the left of me.

“Well technically it’s morning, but that's neither here nor there. Have a nice rest” came Derange’s voice again.

As I slowly began to drift off into sleep I shot back up and looked at Derange. My other half and Silver copying me a few moments later as we looked at one another in confusion “But I thought you were going to take the first shift” Derange and I asked one another at the same time. “Me! No you said it” we continued. “Stop copying me!” we both cried out at the same time. “...Nick nack patty wack give a dog a bone~!” we sang in unison.

“Ahem don’t mean to interrupt but singing could possibly wake up the others” came a voice from my right. Turning to look at the individual I gawked in surprise at him.

“Oh Celestia, Luna and Faust not another one” Silver said as she flopped back down to the ground followed by a facehoof.

The creature sitting next to me was Derange’s mirror image; so his wings, hands, legs and horns were on the opposite side; though unlike Derange he gave off a rather calm yet peaceful aura. “I assure you Miss Silver I’m nothing like my alter ego” he said in Derange’s voice those it was more refined now that I listened carefully.

“And who the buck are you suppose to be?” Derange asked though made sure to keep his voice down.

The copy gave him a once over and continued “I’m like you who is a part of everything Drake is or isn’t in your case” he said summoning a teacup full of tea, taking a quick sip and continued “I’m every aspect of order and harmony within his very mind and soul you may call me Jyggalag” finishing his introduction with a slight bow.

“So you're the pansy side of us” Derange said with a nod.

Jyggalag just looked at him with little to no interest and said “I assure you I’m not a ‘pansy’ by any means”.

“Also you stole that name from Elder Scrolls” Derange pointed out which explained why I was familiar with that name.

“And you stole your name from Discord’s son by using a synonym of disarray” he responded back evenly.

“Yeah well...Drake’s name is unoriginal” he said trying to weasel out of...actually I wasn’t sure what he was trying to weasel out of.

“That may be true, but we’re talking about us not him” he said taking another sip from his cup and added on “Granted ignoring the fact that he is us as much as we are of him”.

“Yeah well...Shutup Mr. I think I know everything pants” Derange quietly cried out.

“Not everything just more than your infinitesimal brain can handle” he replied back as he then took a quick sip of his drink. Derange just looked at him dumbly, which wasn’t hard, and scratched his head in confusion. Jyggalag just sighed in annoyance and answered him while shaking his head in disappointment “It means small”.

“I knew that I was just testing you” he lied through his teeth.

“No you didn’t”

“Yes I did”

“No you did-” Jyggalag tried to say, but I interrupted.

“Children please stop before I have to separate the both of you” I said too tired to listen to them argue.

“Very well” Jyggalag said with a nod.

“Kiss ass-OW that hurt jackass!-OW why the buck did you hit me!?” Derange said as I hit him first followed by Silver.

She shrugged in response as she returned to her seat and said “It looked like fun”.

“Look we need to get some sleep and I’m rather tired right now” I explained the past few hours catching up to me. “And no offense Jyggalag, but I don’t trust you...also no Derange I don’t trust you that much either which is why I want you to stay up with him” I clarified to my copies since Derange was giving him the bird during my explanation.

“Of course, perfectly reasonable for you to be suspicious of me” Jyggalag responded back knowingly. “And you will have my full cooperation”.

“Brown nosing kiss ass” Derange quickly coughed out.

Before I could tell Derange to shut it “Speaking of which I should point out that he” Jyggalag said while pointing at Derange “Has been lying to you...Well not lying, but not telling you everything”.

I just raised an eyebrow towards Derange who was wearing a nervous smile and said “Please do tell” gesturing for him to continue.

“For starters did he tell you that we are currently fighting for con-” he started but didn’t finish has Derange clamped his mouth shut.

“HA HA HA GOOD one buddy” Derange laughed nervously while patting him on the back “This guy right here is such a kidder” he continued. He then leaned in closely to Jyggalag and whispered though not low enough “Shut your pie hole you idiot”.

“We heard that” Silver said while I nodded.

“Eh well uh you see” Derange said trying to think of a way out of it. Eventually he gave up and crossed his arms in annoyance “Fine whatever go ahead and tell him, but I only didn’t tell him for his own good” he clarified as he sat to his other...other half?....yeah let’s go with that...I think.

“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted” he said give Derange a quick glare before continuing “That we are all currently fighting for, and I say this loosely, head control of your body”.

I mused over what he told me while Silver looked between the three of us. “So far I’m rooting for you Drake if not then Jyggalag is the runner up”.

“Oh I see how I rank on your list” Derange said acting disheartened towards Silver. “Well at least I’m above dirt and bugs” he continued.

“No that’d be insulting towards the bugs and dirt” Silver said with a sly smile.

Before another comment could be made I threw in my two bits “Technically wouldn’t it just be between you and me since this moron over here lost a bet to me?” I asked.

“No and I believe I should have been more clear with what I said” Jyggalag replied and continue “Have you notice anything different the past few days?”

“Besides being and gaining magic here not really ” I answered.

“Really?” he asked me dubiously and continued “What about different thought patterns, moods, expressions and interactions with other being?”

“...Well recently my thoughts have been more...spontaneous” I answered truthfully then it hit me. Looking at him he nodded his head subtly letting me know that I had the right train of thought.

“From the way you look you understand now what I meant” he said though decided to explain it anyways “There are many different variety of fighting, but the kind we” he said gesturing to me, Derange and himself “are doing is within the mind” he said while tapping lightly against his noggin.

“And how exactly does that make sense?” Silver asked half-heartedly.

“It doesn’t” we all answered at the same time.

Though Jyggalag continued “But a famous man once said ‘When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth’. Besides it’s more along the lines of...dominance. Whoever has the most control in the end wins and therefore gets main control of the body in which we reside in”.

“...Yeah I’m done” she said as she made herself comfortable and closed her eyes.

“Yeah I agree” I said while pinching my eyes with my index fingers. Today has just been too long with what had happen that all I wanted to do was sleep the night or day technically away. “Derange and Jyggalag take the first watch and wake me up in a few hours” I said while getting into a relaxing position.

“Right sweet dreams” Jyggalag said as he threw in a bundle of firewood into the fire.

“Yeah whatever” Derange said with annoyed pout. I would have said something to him, but I was just done with the night/day that I decided to apologize later. And then sleep came to me quickly.

I awoke to the sound of sizzling deliciousness as the aroma filled the area we were in. I groggily leaned up and looked at the fire where Minuette was cooking. “Mmmm bacon” I said my mouth drooling up thanks to the smell of the food.

“Technically hay bacon, but all the same it taste very similar to the bacon from home” Jyggalag said not even bothering to look at me as he continued to read his newly acquired book.

“Doesn’t matter still bacon” Derange said through a mouthful of bacon.

“Morning” Minuette said finally acknowledging my presence. Flipping the bacon over she then turned to me and said “So when were you going to mention him?” while gesturing to my new double or is it triple.

“Well in my defense you guys were asleep and I know how much you girls need your beauty rest” I said jokingly while platting up some food. “Though I’m surprised you’re taking this rather well” I admitted.

“At first I was a little hesitant” she admitted with an awkward smile. “But after talking with him I realized he’s way different then Derange is and I enjoy his company”.

“As do I Miss Minuette” Jyggalag responded back.

“Though do let us know if there’s going to be another one running around” she said sternly towards me which didn’t make much sense since I didn’t have any control over the situation to begin with.

“I can assure you Mi-”

“Just Minuette, Jyggalag” she said.

“Ah yes of course ‘old habits die hard’ as they say” he said apologetically and continued “But I can assure you that I’ll be the last one popping out of his head”.

“Oh, Why’s that?” she asked while plating the last of the hay bacon on the plate and setting the cooking utensils down so that she could join in on this meal.

“Really?” Derange said surprised though it came out more offensive than he intended it to be. “I thought you of all ponies would connect the dots” he said and chugged a bottle of mouthwash...or I’m hoping it was some sort of drink in a mouthwash container.

Before Minuette could respond Jyggalag beat her to it “Derange what one level of intelligence is has nothing to do with this” he berated his double and continued “It could be simply that Mis- I mean Minuette was not fully informed of the situation revolving around us”.

“Yeah jerk” Minuette said as she finished dishing up her own plate.

“Yes with that in mind where shall I begin” Jyggalag said going into deep thought on how to explain the past events.

“Basically Derange is chaos me, Jyggalag is order me and I’m neutral me. We are currently duking it out to see who'll have head control over my body with me being the winner so far and with that being said there’s no more of me to split up” I clarified.

“Oh yeah cause that totally explains it” Minuette said sarcastically.

“Well it’s more of an abridged summary, but essentially that is the case” Jyggalag said with a nod of approval.

Just as I sat down and began to dig into my meal a chocolate chip muffin was placed in the center of my plate “Morning also don’t forget your muffin” Derpy said causing me to jump since she kind of appeared out of nowhere.

“Gah” I cried out almost losing my breakfast, but luckily caught it. She just smiled happily at me oblivious to what she nearly made me do while Dinky shook her head at her mother’s antics “Morning Ditzy, Dinky” I said returning back to my seat though I did make sure give them a quick hug because I do what I want. Taking a bite into my breakfast of hay bacon, hay hashbrowns, a muffin and eggs; though if they were artificial or not was something I didn’t want to go into; I notice Silver and Hunt were not present. “Where Silver and Hunt?” I asked in between bites though I notice Dinky didn’t flinch when I mentioned her name.

“Scouting” Minuette answered around a mouthful of eggs.

“Ah” I replied taking another bite into my breakfast. “Did she say why?” I asked in between bites once more.

“Make sure the path is clear and free of any bandits or slavers” Silver said from right behind me causing me to jump once more.

“GAH!” I cried out almost losing my meal again. “What day is it today ‘Surprise Drake from behind day’!” I cried out annoyed.

“Don’t be so easy to sneak up on” Silver said with a shrug as she leaned down allowing Hunt to jump off of her back.

“From where?” Derange asked while holding back his giggling fit.

“Oh for the love of” Jyggalag said while facepalming knowing exactly where his double was going with this.

“From behind?” Hunt said confused not understanding Derange’s question.

“Derange don’t-” though I didn’t get to finish my sentence.

“That’s what she said” Derange said and then started to laugh though he was the only one laughing.

“I don’t get it” Dinky said adorably doing that head tilting thing that dogs do.

“Pray that you never do” I told Dinky as I finished my plate off.

After the breakfast we packed up the camp, filled up our canteens and grabbed anything else useful nearby before we began to leave. Though we didn’t make it far as Dinky abruptly cut Silver off and stood in front of her with a determined look in her eye. “Silver...there’s something I need to say” she said making sure to keep eye contact with her though faltered at random times.

Silver for her part stood there stoically with a, bet you didn’t see this coming, stoic expression and said “Yes?” though I could tell she was rather uncomfortable with this.

“I-I don’t like what you did” she said in a low voice though it gradually picked up to her normal level of volume. “At first I hated you for it” she admitted her ears splayed back against her head. Silver stood there unmoving though deep down this was hurting her. “But after hearing what everypony had to say I realized that you were only doing your job of keeping us safe” she said and continued “And after really thinking about it that’s not the reason why I was mad at you”.

This caught most of us off guard because honestly for a little filly to be okay with death and murder just sounded...wrong. I mean sure I admit she rather smart for her age, but to be okay with the concept of death and killing is just...dafuq man. “Wait hold up back up for a second here” Derange said what we were all thinking. “Then why did you hate being near her to begin with?” he asked.

“I didn’t realized it either till I really thought about it, but it was the way she looked” she admitted sheepishly.

“The way I looked?” Silver said confused.

“Uh huh” she nodded. “You looked so sad, hurt and angry that it made me realize that you were hiding something from us...that and you didn’t look like the Silver I looked up to.” she said as tears started to well up in her eyes. Sniffling a bit she rubbed her snout and pressed on “Cool and strong with an air of knightly justice that makes sure those who deserve punishment would get what was coming to them...I-I didn’t see that, that day. All I saw was...a monster.”

Silver didn’t say anything as she took interest towards the ground with a downcasted look. Dinky shuffled her way towards Silver and continued to look her in the eye. She then surprised everyone by giving Silver a hug around her neck “Please don’t go. I’ll do anything, but please...please don’t go” she whispered as tear streamed down her muzzle.

Silver returned the hug in full force as tears threatened to reveal themselves to the world “Okay” was her reply.

Soon the girls joined in on the hug while Jyggalag, me and Hunt looked at the scene warmly. “Gag” Derange said effectively ruining this heart warming scene. Annoyed by his remark he still had a point as we needed to get moving. Separating themselves from the group hug we began our long march towards Hunt’s home. Silver, Dinky and I took the lead though Dinky was riding on Silver’s back with a happy expression while Minuette, Derpy and Hunt were in the center of the group leaving Derange and Jyggalag to take the rear.

About a few minute into our journey Dinky asked hesitantly “Um Silver can I ask you something?”

“Sure” was her one worded response though it came out much more gentler than usual.

She started to make little circles in the air like how a child would make little circles in the dirt when they were confessing their feeling for their teacher “Can...can I call you sister?” she asked

“She usually does that with ponies that she really likes or respects” Minuette chirped in “For example sometimes she calls me Auntie”.

Silver looked rather conflicted as she thought about it. Before I could inturpt and steer the conversation elsewhere she said solemnly “I’m...I’m sorry Dinky, but i’m not ready for that title yet”. Dinky was upset to say the least, but before she could say it was fine “But I do promise that when i’m ready you’ll be the first one to know” Silver said as she, somehow, reached behind her back and gave Dinky a quick nuggie.

Dinky giggled at the affection and responded with an ‘Okay’. After that the journey went rather smoothly and uninterrupted, taking us only a day and half to reach our destination.

Hunt bolted as he ran up the steep hill and stood there waiting for us to catch up. Catching up with the energetic colt the sight was rather something. There was nothing as far as the eye could see as a flat plain of nothing extended out however there was one thing in the sea of nothingness. A mountain that looked very close to a volcano sitting there as if mocking the world by saying ‘buck you I do what I want’. Near the mountain was a small village from the looks of it, but it was too far away to tell. The colt made a dramatic sweep of his hooves and said “Welcome to La Montaña Solitaria or in Equestrian the-” he didn’t get to finish as I translated it.

“The lonely mountain” everypony looked at me oddly. “What? I’m just a natural translator” I said while shrugging. Shrugging it off as a Draconequus thing we then made our way down to the town the sun hanging dead center in the sky. ‘Gentleman be prepared for anything’ I told my other halfs.

‘Roger squad leader’ Derange responded.

‘Affirmative’ Jyggalag said.

A few days ago:

Deep within the confines of La Montaña Solitaria the D-dogs pack known simple as Basanite made their homes. Caves and tunnels twisting and turning all over the inside, but also deep underneath the mountain as well. In the center of the warren was a great big chamber fit for a king, if the king was a dog that like to live underground. Torches burned brightly against the wall giving the room light while tapestries, painting, cushions to sit on, and a regal looking chair adorned the room.

Sitting on the throne was a D-dog about average height with a clean light brown coat and dark brown splotches. His eyes were a deep beautiful shade of blue that were focused on a piece of parchment he was reading. Though he was brought out of his reading as a massive dark gray pit bull walked in. The pit bull kneeled down before the smaller dog and said with an unintelligent yet gruff ascent “Mutt return. No good news”.

The smaller dog sighed in annoyance and waved for him to stand “Send him in” though he spoke with great intelligence which was odd for most of the D-dog species.

The dog gave a small bow and left only to return a few seconds later dragging a familiar yellow colored dog. “A-a-alpha” the dog bowed on all four getting as low as he could to the ground.

“Mutt please have a seat” the Alpha said though the message wasn’t for him as the beta grabbed Mutt by the back of his neck and threw him hard against the wall causing some of the decorations to shake.

The Alpha slowly got up and made his way over towards Mutt’s prone body as he coughed up a streak of blood. Cuts and bruise could be seen covering his body while the remainder of his coat had missing patches of fur revealing skin. The Alpha lifted up Mutt’s head, though rather easy as Mutt showed no resistance whatsoever, and gave him an even look “So am I to believe that three ponies, two foals and two ‘lizards’ were able to take out twenty three of my men”.

“N-no, Yes” he blurted out as the Alpha unceremoniously let his head drop back down.

“Hmm both you say such a shame too and I had high expectations for you” he said dully and stood up. Mutt tried to get back onto all fours to at least make himself look so pathetic that his Alpha might spare him, but the Beta grabbed onto the back of his neck his massive claw completely gripping Mutt’s windpipe and held him up into the air.

“NO wait please!” Mutt choked out and continue “Lizard was not lizard but assortment of things and had strange magic!”

The Alpha made a stooping gesture towards the Beta to ease up a bit allowing Mutt to breath though unable to move. “Strange magic?” he asked curious as to what Mutt was talking about. As if remembering something he walked over to a bookshelf in the room, pulled out a book and began scouring through it.

“Yes yes strange magic” Mutt cried out in hope, hoping to at least get a harsher beating than before, but he’d still be alive rather than dead. “Shot out orange and blue plob that act as eh what word tweleportwer?”

“Teleporter?” the Alpha said.

“Yes, yes that word teleporter. Before he threw bag of stuff called it culminated turkey that exploded”

“...Fulminated Mercury *sigh* I really must speed up the learning process” the Alpha said disheartened as he turned another page in the book he was still holding. “Though that is a rather common chemical to come by so for him to have it is not very unique”.

“But he summoned it out of nowhere”.

“Nowhere? As in he made it from thin air?” the Alpha asked curiosity evident in his voice.

“Yes well maybe not air couldn’t see as he turned around, but still he carried no bags in which to store it”.

“Fascinating...Ah” he said finding the page he was looking for he then brought the book over towards Mutt and held it in front of him to see “Was this the creature per chance?”

The picture was Discord though it showed him as a statue rather than his actual living form while words surrounded the image giving a short description of the once power god. “Yes creature looked similar to him” Mutt cried out as he felt more and more ecstatic that he might have the prospect of living.

“Draconequus a creature that has a head of a pony and a body of all sorts of other creatures. Draconequus are beings imbued with chaos energy by not only feeding off set energy, but using it as their main source of power. Their power allows them to do many things such as summoning items, shaping reality to their will and using the other branches of magic though it is hard to be sure because of their being only one of their kind to exist (that has been noted and document) and he is currently turned to stone. Not much is know about them as again there's only one in existence and is currently being used as a decoration for Canterlot Garden” the Alpha said reading the passage out loud. “Curiouser curiouser” he said almost giddily and continued “And you’re telling me that a Draconequus is heading this way as we speak?”

“Yes exactly!” Mutt said crying out giddily as well only to receive a smack to his face.

“So you're telling me that a creature that no one knows about is going to be coming to my domain and you let it live!” the Alpha roared in his face “A creature as far as I know with limitless power and have control over the universe itself!”.

“Y-yes” he replied back quietly waiting for the other hit to come but it never did.

“*sigh* I see” the Alpha deflated as he returned the book back to its resting place, sat on his throne and rubbed his eyes with his index fingers. “We have much to prepare for our...guest”.

“H-h-h-he also asked me to deliver message” Mutt said. The Alpha gestured for him to continue “He said ‘Don’t fuck with us and we won’t fuck with you’”.

“I see...” he said while contemplating on what to do. After a few seconds the Alpha said towards the Beta “Send out a scout to let me know when they arrive, but to not engage”

“And him?” the Beta said while holding Mutt up towards him ever so slowly crushing his neck.

“Please...Mutt promise to not make mistake again” he said though it was barely heard as the beta continue to choke him.

Making his way towards Mutt he gave the dog a pat on the head and said “I know you won’t”. Before Mutt could register what was said the Beta crushed his neck in two the body limping lifelessly as the Beta continued to hold onto him. “Make sure to let the others know that failure will not be tolerated” he said as he returned to his seat. “You may leave”. The Beta bowed his head in acknowledgment and carried Mutt over his shoulder as he left. “Heh” the Alpha chuckled barely holding in his excitement, but eventually failed as his low chuckles turned into a full blown laugh “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHaha” just as soon as it came it left a sickening smile was splayed across his face “Let the games begin”.

Friendly note from Jane,

Hey folks Jane here just letting you know that we both know Drake is too lazy to remember if new perks/abilities pop up, but that doesn't mean you guys don't deserve to know so I'll be taking the liberty of informing you if anything comes up.

New Perks:

Corrupted data restored!

Pole Mastery (Rank 1): Through self discipline and hard work you are a basic in the use of any pole arm like weapon (Lance, spear and etc.) adding a plus 15 to your melee skill as long as it is equipped.

Author's Note

Same old same old let me know how i did. Also I've been forgetting to do this so might as well get it out of the way. Ahem any joke, reference, character, place or items belong to their respected party please support them in anyway possible. Okay not very formal, but I hope it does get the point across.

Big Trouble in Little Town Pt 1

Abandon.

That was the first thought I had as we reached the outskirts of the town. The buildings were old and rotted out as the occasional breeze would cause them to groan all at once. It was a miracle altogether that they hadn’t fallen apart. The farther we went in the more I question if Hunt wasn’t some crazy serial killer that killed his entire village and somehow coerce the D-dogs to gain the trust of random travels to follow him back to his town and then butchered them...huh I have a very active imagination.

The buildings in the center of the town showed what you’d expect normal ones to have: An Inn, bar and varies stores ranging from clothing to food. “Well welcome to Solitude...or what’s left of it” Hunt said as he lead the way.

“Its uh...nice” Derpy said with a sheepish smile.

“Nice! This place SU-HMHMHM” Derange tried to say but was effectively shut up courtesy of Minuette’s magic.

“No its fine I know this place is a dump right now” he said sadly.

“What happened?” Minuette asked while we continued our journey further into the town. Derange giving her an annoyed glare but was promptly ignored.

“I’m not sure except the fact that the D-dogs broke our agreement” Hunt said unsure.

“Wait what kind of deal?” I asked.

“Not to sure honestly” Hunt shrugged and continued “But all I know from the adults is that they broke it and forced us into slavery”.

‘Peculiar’ Jyggalag thought to me.

‘Yeah somethings not right. D-dogs agreeing not to make them into slaves sure plausible, but highly unlikely’ I thought back.

‘You know what's wrong? Me being denied the ability to speak!’ Derange cried out.

‘...I like you better this way’ I responded back.

‘As do I’ Jyggalag agreed.

‘Either tell her to let me talk or I’ll not only keep talking in our mind, but spam your retina with porn’ he threatened.

Not willing to take the chance on his threat I asked Minuette to release him. After much convincing she did though swore she’d do it again if he went out of line.

We were now entering the residential area I believe as more and more buildings looked like homes rather than places to gather. It didn’t differ from the area before maybe a bit...livelier looking, but not by much. “So out of curiosity was that mountain a volcano once?” my more intelligent clone asked.

“Wait you guys built your homes near a volcano? Isn’t that oh I don’t know dangerous” Minuette asked.

“No by the looks of it, it has been inactive for quite sometime” Silver chimed in while still caring Dinky on her back set filly looking over the village with a curious yet sad expression.

“Yeah the volcano has been inactive way farther back than when my grandpa first settled down here” Hunt said with a sense of pride.

“Oh so this town is still pretty young” I commented.

“Could explain why it’s not on the map and why help hasn’t come” Silver added on.

“That and we haven’t been able to send anypony to get help...besides me of course and the fact that the new Alpha has been sending in false reports” Hunt said with a hint of anger.

“Sending in false reports? That’s...different” Silver said shocked trying to mull over this new information.

“Hunt do you know anything, anything at all about this new Alpha?” I asked because as far as I knew most D-dogs were unintelligent. Sure the Alphas and Betas were probably taught better, but I didn’t think they be smart enough to think way in advance and make proper countermeasures for most situations.

“Well not much honestly” he said in deep thought. “From what I heard he had arrived about two maybe three months ago and suddenly made his way to head of the pack in less than two weeks of his arrival. After that he subtly cut us off completely from the rest of the world and we’ve been slaving away ever since”.

“Hmm I see” I said as we continued our journey deeper into the town a building in the distance that I assume was the place we where heading.

Same day in the den:

The sound of knocking could be heard as the Alpha awoke from his nap “Come in” he said half heartedly while shifting up to look at who would awake him from his rest.

The Beta came in and gave a respectful bow “Scouts come back and report. Group has arrived” he said.

“And where are they now” he replied back now more awake and interested in the conversation.

“Heading to where other slaves at”.

“Ah of course probably to gather information on what happened” he mused out loud. Getting up he walked over towards a nightstand, reached underneath it and ripped out a journal that was tapped to the underside of it. “Tell the scouts to give this to their leader and tell them to be on their best behavior. And while they're at it tell them to ask how long they’ll be lodging here and if they wish to speak with me that I’ll be here” the Alpha instructed as he held the journal towards the Beta.

The Beta gave a respectful bow once more and left ready to complete the task handed out to him by his leader. As the doors closed the Alpha went back to his couch, laid down and went back to his nap though a smug grin was plastered on his face.

My PoV:

Well I can safely throw out my early idea of how Hunt was a random social path as we arrived at the town hall. The actual building had been...upgraded I guess as makeshift rooms were added on allowing them all to fit in there comfortably. A variety of different kinds of ponies mild about as they aimlessly walked around though they all shared the distinct characteristic of being malnourished. At first they simply didn’t realize we there as if lost within their very mind, but soon changed the closer we got as they looked at us with expression that ranged from great joy to utter fear.

“Strange” Hunt said out loud as he looked around at the wandering ponies. “Usually everypony working at the mine digging deeper into the mountain”.

“Volcano” Minuette corrected calmly but then made a 180 “Also isn’t that still dangerous!”

“Inactive volcano that is now a mountain” Hunt corrected her correction.

“And unless they dig too deep into the volcano towards the mantle or heat source of the volcano causing it to become active once more then it should in theory become/be extinct” Jyggalag responded though add on “Granted it has to be about a thousand years or so for that to hold true”.

“Hmm” I said not truly participating in the conversation. When we first arrived I had been getting strange...vibes from the area, but passed it off anxiety. Now though I wasn’t too sure. Playing it off I would occasionally scan the area though came up with nothing. Though I kept telling myself that I was just being paranoid a small part of me disagreed and persisted that I keep looking for something. Of what I still wasn’t sure.

Alas I was brought out of it as a tired yet lovely female voice joined in on their conversation “What your friend here says is true in that with nowhere else to dig it has now become a simple task of gathering rather than digging and gathering though from what I’ve heard the Alpha plans to expand the mines by sending some of us towards the valley of spikes”.

Turning towards her I saw a yellow coated earth pony mare with basil green hair and moderate rose eyes. Her once luminous yellow coat was covered in dirt and mud while her frame was much better than the other malnourished ponies it wasn’t by much as her rib cages could still be seen. Her mane was disheveled, long and covered in filth forcing her to give the appearance of a druid. Her eyes though tired looking were still lovely to look at as a sense of kindness poured out from them. Looking towards her rear, in a non-perverted way, I saw that her cutie mark was that of violet wild flower next to a light grey grinding stone causing me to believe she was an alchemist or potion maker. Without warning Hunt ran over towards the mare and hugged her deeply. The mare responded in kind, tears ready to burst out from her eyes, and said “Welcome back Hunt”.

“I’m back Sis” Hunt responded back to his sister.

As we stood there watching the heartwarming scene, me of course making sure Derange doesn’t f*** this one up for a change, they release one another in a matter of minutes and turned their attention to us “Everypony this is my older sister Wild Flower and Sis this is Silver, Minuette, Derpy, Dinky, Derange, Jyggalag and Drake” he said making sure to point out who was who.

“A pleasure” Flower said giving us a short bow.

We all responded back in kind and followed her inside to allow us some needed relaxation from our journey. The inside is what I imagine it to be: makeshift beds, tables, bathrooms and a kitchen for the residents to live in comfortably as possible. As we navigated our way through more and more ponies seemed to realize that we weren’t some figment of their imaginations and followed closely behind us. We were eventually led to the assembly hall where chairs were pushed off to the side hazardously while mats and toys of different variety were placed about though this room hadn’t obviously been used in a while as a thin coat of dust covered the area.

“Sorry about the mess” Flower said as she pushed some toys away giving us room to sit “The children haven’t used this room in quite sometime” she said tiredly.

As we all sat down and got comfortable I didn’t realize how many ponies actually followed us until I looked up. The whole room was filled with a variety of different colored ponies each looking at us with a sense untold happiness.

As is as one my group realized we were being looked at like gods and goddess themselves and smiled nervously at them. “Why are they staring at us” Minuette asked with an awkward smile.

“These ponies have been suffering from slavery for months and until now probably gave up hope of help coming to their aid” Jyggalag said wearing a convincing smile to hide his nervousness.

“You know this would be so much better if A) they were all mares, B) had a bit more meat on them and C) if you guys weren’t here” Derange said with a thoughtful yet pervert look on his face.

Before any of us could tell Derange to never open his mouth again a dark tangelo male unicorn walked up. He had a light brilliant orange mane with lime green eyes and a cutie mark of a scroll tied together with a blue ribbon. “Are you the folks going to be the ones to help us with our situation” he said a bit anxiously though quickly corrected himself as he realized he was two inches away from my face. “Ah sorry if I came off as a bit high strung” He apologized backing away a bit and continued “Things have just been a bit tense around here is all and I hope that doesn't’ affect you helping us”.

“Uh” I tried to say, but he interrupted me.

“Oh yes sorry almost forgot my name is the Mayor” he said while shaking my hand.

“Uh right hi” I said awkwardly as he shook my hand vigorously and quickly released myself from his grip, but then realized what he just said. “Wait your name is just ‘the Mayor’?” I asked dubiously.

“That’s correct my good sir” he said flashing me a small smile. “When I was born my mother said that I had the face for running the town”.

“...right” I said slowly realizing that ponies had really, really odd ways of naming their kids. “Anyways about your situation” I tried to say only to get interrupted by Derange.

“Quick question Mayor. Do you know any Toms perchance?” he asked and continue “Especially those who are entrepreneurs and you take his ideas and twist them into bizarre or embarrassing situations”.

He blinked as if considering if the question was a serious one or not and answered warily “No I can’t say that I do”.

“Dam” Derange said while snapping his finger in disappointment.

Ignoring Derange’s randomness I turned my attention back to the Mayor “Okay so back to the problem at hand. I don’t know if we can-” I tried to say, but was interrupted by him once more.

“Can’t help us without knowing the whole tale? Right” He said while clearing his throat.

“What? N-”

“Well the story begins back in Las Pegasus to our very own Hunt and Flower’s grandfather Wild Luck” he said gesturing to the two siblings.

“Yes that nice, but-”

“But before that theres a thing or two you need to know about Luck” he continued completely ignoring me.

‘Now you know how I feel’ Derange thought as he laid back with his eyes closed ignoring the mayor all together.

“You see Wild Luck had well wild luck” he said and chuckled at his own pun. Knowing that I wasn’t going to get out of this I sat back and listened. Glancing at the others I could see Jyggalag and Minuette listening attentively, Silver looked bored, Derpy was...well Derpy and Dinky ran off to play with the other children with Hunt. “In that it would fluctuate at random time from either being the luckiest stallion in the world or to the most misfortunate soul to exist.The other thing you need to know about Luck is that he was an avid gambler.”

“He was in his mid thirties when it happened to him. For one week he had the worst possible luck know to pony kind. Losing his bits and possessions. His fiance cheating on him and leaving him for his best friend. Heck he had a gang of mobster chasing after him on of account of him looking like one of their employes who was running away with the bosses daughter” the Mayor spoke as if he was a bard telling a tale to a king.

“But that quickly changed!” he exclaimed and continued “Luck was at his wit's end as to the terrible luck that was plaguing him and was contemplating suicide at the time. As he was nearing the highest point in Las Pegasus he bumped into a drunken mule. At first he ignored the poor sob, but became interest when he over heard the mule talk about a mountain full of endless jewels. As he followed the mule who continued to bellow about it to random citizens. Luck convinced that this place was real outwitted the mule into telling him where it was. With nothing truly keeping him here he went to any friends and acquaintances who were the same and told them about the mountains with endless jewels. Of course they were skeptical at first, but eventually caved in and they all left Las Pegasus behind. The journey to this legend of a mountain was a perilous journey, one that should be remembered by all of pony history” he continued though paused to gauge our reaction which was a unanimous get to the point already kind of look.

“But for the sake of speeding things up we’ll skip that part of the tale” he said sheepishly and continued “After many trial and errors they eventually, and with a bit of luck, reached their destination. Excited about the prosper of setting up a new town to call their own they ran into a bit of a snag. You see a pack of D-dogs calling themselves Basanite resided within the mountain. When they first arrived the dogs tried to enslave everypony, but luck was with them as the dogs were too malnourished to really force them to do anything. After a few days of Luck and his group setting up their homes and dealing with the dogs he decided to make a deal with them. In exchange for some of their gems and if they promised not to enslave them they would bring the pack food and water. The Alpha was a stubborn dog, but caved in to the demands as his number were steadily declining. After that everything went smoothly. The dogs were being well fed and hydrated allowing them to dig further into the mountain while the ponies did of course help, but were now getting the benefit of gems and a new place to live. And everyone lived in peace and harmony” he said finally summarizing up the odd journey.

“That is until this new Alpha took over” Jyggalag said.

“Yes, over eighty or so years of peace and harmony between us ruined in less than three months thanks to him” the mayor said with disgust.

“Right anyways it was a very...interesting story, but if you would have let me finish earlier I don’t know if we can-” I tried to say once more only to be interrupted by the slam of the door.

“Help you without knowing real story” a diamond dog cried out as he walked into the room accompanied by three dogs. The ponies instinctively backed away from them though they made sure to stand in front of the children. As the dog made his way towards me I quickly got up and towered over him though he showed no sign of fear. He then did something unexpected as he got down on his knee, head hung down low and held out a green faded out journal. Warily reaching for it I took it and held it closer to get a better look. It was a dark faded out green thanks to the sands of time with a grey faded out streak going around its edges. Looking at the dog he rose back up slowly and said “Alpha said to give this to...guest so that you know what really happened here”.

Glancing around the room I noticed a few faces going pale at the site of the journal I held. “I-I thought you burnt that” the Mayor hissed quietly to a mare with a yellow mane and dark shade of pink coat.

Before the mare could respond the D-dog responded back “Alpha much smarter than dumb lying pony. Alpha knew you’d try and get rid of...of...uh evdwence?” he said confused looking for help from his pack

“Evidence” Jyggalag said.

“Yes that word evidance” he said triumphantly though he still messed up on the spelling. “Wanted to make sure that guest knew full story before siding with no good ponies”.

“As if he’d want to work with a bunch of flea ridden slaver skums like you” a mare in the audience shouted out a chorus of agreements could be heard.

Then they began to go back and forth like selfish little brats. Each pony throwing their wonderful vocabulary while the dogs counter back with their limited yet surprising effective rebuttals. Now I’d like to think of myself as a rather calm individual, a ration individual if you will, but moments like these are the kind of things that bug me to no end. Not that they both don’t have valid points, but it is when it doesn’t matter that piss me off. On one hand the town straight up lied to me. How do I know this? The way they reacted to this journal...either that or the Mayor has a bunch of embarrassing/illegal things in here. Though the dogs aren’t any better. For starters they are a bunch of slavers and though I normally don’t have a problem with that, which I explain a while ago, they made an agreement and broke it. Which is rather bucked up and unless they have a good reason to then I’d be inclined to side with the ponies because in the end slavery is a big no no.

Back to the pissing match between the two parties I was at my limit with them. I brought my fingers to my mouth and blew as hard as I could causing everyone in the room to flinch and cover their ears to block out the noise. Satisfied with the results I stopped and allowed them to regain their sense of hearing before I shouted out “I really, really hate it when people ignore me when I’m trying to explain something to them”. They all stood there confused waiting for me to continue.

Not letting my audience wait I continued “I have neither agreed nor disagreed with helping either side and as such I will remain neutral until I have gather all the possible information available and can then make a rational decision before I act”.

Everyone went silent at my proclamation of neutrality as they looked at me baffled including my fellow companions though excluding my other halfs and Silver. “What? Why would you do this to everypony” Hunt said as everyone parted ways to allow him to be the center of attention. “Saying such a terrible joke at a time like this of course you’re going to help us...aren’t you?” He said at first with great confidence though it shattered as he looked at me with dread.

“Hunt...” his sister said trying to comfort the young colt, but it didn’t work as he pushed his sister away, tears threatening to stream out, and screamed

“Why would you do this to everypony!? Not only did you give us false hope, but you also prevented me from getting somepony that would have helped!” he said pausing for a moment to catch his breath. He then resumed yelling at me with an angry yet hurt glare “But worse of all you promised that’d you help-” though I interrupted him by holding my hand up to him.

“Do not put words into my mouth child” I said in a low yet threatening voice while staring at him evenly. If he looked hurt before he was devastated now as he remained quiet while I continued “I never once said that I was going to help you or your town. I admit I said that there was a chance of us possibly helping, but it was never guaranteed. And it is even more complicated now with the...circumstances that our now presented before me”. The dogs had sicking smug looks plastered on their faces while some of the ponies had looks of great frustration aimed at me. I glared at the dogs and yelled “That doesn’t mean I’ll be helping you either you fleabags” while staring them down.

The dogs flinched at the abruptness of my voice though they were able to hide it pretty well. As if taking it for their time to leave they gave a bow towards me and said “If you wish to speak with Alpha he said only to ‘knock on door, though question remain what will be behind the door- a friend, or a tiger” he said cryptically. Then without another word they turned and left leaving us to head back to their warren.

As they left I felt the tension in the room decreased by a bit though there was still remnants left...pointed directly at me and my friends. Without even acknowledging their gaze I made my way towards the doors my companions following in line. Just as I was at the threshold of leaving I turned towards them with an even expression and said “Two days...by then I’ll make my decision”. With that declaration said and done we left. The sun was beginning to set as we made our way outside. Wordlessly we set off to find somewhere to sleep since I was quite certain the townsponies would not appreciate our company.

It didn’t take us long to find a place to set camp up. We were taking shelter in an abandoned home that looked rather new compared to the others leading me to believe it was vacant from the start. Though it was rather dusty inside luck was on our side as the water seemed to be turned on. As we set up some lanterns to illuminate the house we then set up our sleeping bags, cooked some grup up, ate and then sat around the lit chimney trying to keep warm.

As I brought a lantern towards me, while getting comfortable, I brought the journal up to me to read, but before I could get started Minuette cleared her throat to get my attention. Not wanting to hear her complain I lowered the book and gave her a flat look “Yes?” I asked her.

“What the hay was that all about?” she asked with a scowl.

“I have no ide-” I didn’t get to finish my smartass remark as she interrupted me.

“Bullshit” she said while making sure to cover Dinky’s ear and continued “You said we were coming here to help him yet-” though she didn’t get to finish as Jyggalag interrupted her.

“No you are making an assumption like that colt was” he said calmly and continued “Drake specifically said there might be a chance that we could help him and nothing more”.

“And so what we’re going to just let these ponies suffer while we sit by and do nothing! You’ve seen what they almost did to us think about what they been going through for the past three months!” she yelled while Derpy shook her head in agreement matching her friends scowl with her own.

Jyggalag was going to counter their point with his own, but I decided enough was enough and said “Then go ahead” while bringing the journal up so that I may read it.

“...Pardon?” Minuette asked confused.

As I finished the first page of it I casually turned the next page and responded back “Then go ahead it’s that simple. If you want to help them, then help them. I’m not your babysitter, lord knows I already have one, nor am I in charge of you the last time I checked. No the last time I checked you were a full grown mare able to make your own decisions” I said simple while turning the page once more. Without stopping my reading, since it was going to take a while, I asked “Silver didn’t you say we had about at least two weeks worth of food?”

She thought about it for a moment and said “Spread between us then yes, though for what you’re planning I’d say more like two to three days worth”.

“And if I recollect the nearest town would be Port Redstone though the closest military outpost that could help, in the event that we do help them, would be Trottingham” Jyggalag said while pointing to it on a map.

“Traveling wise it would take about one to two weeks and with no food we’ll have to scavenge or own, but it is plausible” Silver said already making plans.

“So just to make sure we can help them right?” Dinky asked innocently.

“I’m not going to stop you” I said with a shrug never pausing for a moment in my reading. Before I knew it the others were fast asleep. Probably tired from all the planning and talking. After a few more minutes of reading I decided to move elsewhere as to not bother the others. Making my way outside, as quietly as I could, I set up on the porch outside and took a momentary break from my reading to admire the sky once more. Luna just never seems to disappoint as the sky looked as beautiful as before. After a few more minutes of admiring the sky I then reopened the journal and resumed my reading.

Same evening back at the Den, Alpha’s PoV:

The scouts had returned and reported what had happen...it was most interesting. A creature of pure Chaos not wanting to add in on it, but to possibly alter it. There were many conclusions as to why he would do such a thing, but I already deduced why. Though nothing could ever be certain or simple, but if things worked out as they should then either he’ll leave us alone or become a nuisance. “Either way I’m left in quite the predicament” I said to no one in particular as I combed the top of my head with my claws. “And this book tells me nothing of use as well though in its defense it’s a few years out of date” I continued as I tossed the book of creatures down on the table. Getting up I stretched my limbs, a satisfying crack echoed out, and began pacing back and forth.

After a few moments of thinking, I sighed and flopped down on my bed. Though it wasn’t the most comfortable one I’ve ever slept on it was better than what the rest of the pack slept on. “So it appears the best course of action is to eliminate this threat even if he shows no signs of helping either side, but there are still too many unknown factors”. Yes still too many things unknown. How strong he is, How strong are his companion , How will his companions react if an foreign input is placed, and many more. “Or I could take his word that he’ll leave us alone” I thought and continued “So far, according to the report I received, he has followed his ‘rules’ to the letter and has shown that he doesn’t intend to break them otherwise”.

“But that is also a foolish assumption” said a raspy voice. Jumping up and readying myself to attack the intruder I noticed no one there. Searching the room for the creature behind the voice I came up with nothing until I felt a presence behind me. Reaching for my hidden dagger I felt a cold hand placed on my arm. “Peace child I’ve only come here to give you advice...though if you wish to continue I’ll obliged you and send you to your death” he said as he released my arm.

I believed those words as an unnatural chill went up my spine towards my brain that sent off alarms. Which was telling me that this man not only could keep his promise, but would not hesitate to do so. Placing my hand back to my side I turned towards the guest slowly and finally got a glimpse of him though it didn’t help at all. He was about the same height as me, though appeared taller as he crouched on my bed, and was wearing a black tattered cape that hid his true species, but if I had to take a guess it was something bipedal. I nodded in his direction to continue and with a curt nod of his own he did so “If there’s one thing you should know about Draconequai is that they are tricksters, liars and deceivers. Let your guard down for even a moment and it’ll spell the end for you” he said pausing for a moment and continued “But this one is different from the norm. If we were to compare him to a normal Draconequai then he’d be the crazy one which also makes him a greater threat”.

“So then I’ve no chance of winning? If you are here to waste my time then I’d appreciate it if you’d leave no-” I didn’t get to finish my sentence as I felt the cold sensation again though now it was around my lips. My eyes bulged out in surprise as the figure was now standing face to face with me, though his cape still obscured his face, I could now see at least something distinguishable about him...it was his eyes. His eyes were as black as the cape he wore while his pupils were a bloody shade of red like that of feline.

“Children should learn how to speak to their elders before they make such a comment” he said toyingly and released me from his grasp. Taking a step back while covering my lips on instinct he decided to continue while staring at the hand he used to cover my mouth. “Though I say he’d be more dangerous that is relatively speaking. The reason he is more powerful than his fellow brothers is that he can formulate schemes and plans to battle his foe, but he also loses the fundamental...no defining characteristic of what it means to be a creature of pure chaos. To do the unexpected, to cause confusion amongst the smartest of being and without that he can be easily predictable” he said as he slowly began to sink back into nothing.

“Wait then how do I face him?!” I cried out and gave chase though by the time I reached the distance between us he was already gone.

“A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link” was his final words before his presence was gone.

It took me no longer than a second to understand what he was referring to. Plans and ideas began to spring out as I started to put them together to chose the one that would work out the best. With the finer points of my plan complete I couldn’t help but smile as I made my way towards the scouts to relay their next assignment.

Author's Note

Sorry i'm a day late but summer classes plus work is kicking my ass. Also sorry about splitting this chapter in to two I, like I implied earlier, haven't had the time to really work on it. The good news is though that the other part is almost complete so you might get it early it just depends on the free time I have though I might save it up to help me get a head start on the next one who knows.

Big Trouble in Little Town Pt 2

The next day, My PoV:

The sun began to rise from the horizon as I finished the journal. Closing it I mulled over what I had read...and my assumption were spot on. There were many things that the Mayor had neglected to inform me about. He certainly didn’t lie about Luck being an avid gambler as most of the entries described him and his gambling habit, but he neglected to inform me of how much of one he was. Most of the entries describe him taking loans or running away from loan sharks as he’d lose the bits that he’d borrow or, in the event he won and made triple his profit, how he’d not pay them back and use it on drugs and hookers. Bender would be proud.

Later on it does describe him bumping into that mule though the Mayor once more neglected to inform me on how he actually got the information by taking the mule into a dark alley and beating the living hell out of him for the information. Once he gathered the information instead of keeping his end of the deal of letting the poor sob go he killed him and left him to rot. Afterwards he did go to people to inform him of the location with the gems, but instead of friends; though I guess they could be considered that; they were a bunch ponies in debt to the local casinos that were hiding out and were coerced into leaving with him. Then taking the available money that they all had left he went into the bigger casinos and robbed them blind in big stake games where he used his good luck to win.

After that it just describes the journey they took to get there and some tidbit of information such as dirty secrets the ponies in the group kept or who he ranked as the hottest mare he’d shag with. The next few pages are just the same, but things pick back up again as they arrive at the base of what will be Solitude. It describes the first meeting between the dogs and ponies which is that the dogs were literally on death doorstep when they arrived being unable to get a steady stream of water to their area causing them to be dehydrate, but more importantly unable to defend themselves. As the ponies were just about to kill them all off Luck decided to use them as slave for digging the mines and gathering the gems for them. Talking everyone into agreement they portrayed themselves as saviors who wanted to live with the dogs in peace and harmony. The dogs being a bit lucid, stupidly believed them and agreed upon working with them. Then it just describes how they barely gave the dogs food and water to sap them of their strenght to make sure they’d be unable to fight back if they saw through their plans. Afterwards it describes Luck’s life as Solitude started to become livable were he then settled down and raised a family.

Normally that’d be the end of the story, but it continued. It seemed that once Luck died his journal was passed on to the father of the Mayor today, which by the way is still a stupid name to name your kid, to a pony named Smooth Lips who was the mayor not to long ago where he died in a terrible construction accident. During Smooth’s reign as mayor some of the younger generation found it to be wrong to enslave the dogs and tried to help/tell them what was going on, but were quickly silenced. After the fifth time it happened the adults agreed that they’d keep it a secret until their kids grew of age were they would then be just as much at fault as they were forcing them to continue the tradition.

I looked at the cover of the book with cold malice. Just the sight of the book made me want to puke my guts out while shredding it into pieces though I refrained myself deciding to keep it for later use. Shoving it into the recess of hammer space I stood up to my full height and stretched my tired limbs. A yawn escaped my lips as I blinked the tiredness out of my eyes. It hasn’t been the first time I’ve lost sleep like this and something told me it wouldn’t be the last. Taking my first step into the new day I began my journey towards the mountain though soon enough I was not going to be doing it alone as the sound of hoof steps accompanied me.

Without turning to see who it was I asked her “Don’t you have two others being more important/dangerous than I to be keeping an eye on?”

“No” Silver said as she caught up and matched my pace. “One will behave while the other will miss behave though the one that will behave will make sure to keep the other in check meaning it’d be pointless to watch them” was her reply.

I couldn’t help but smile a small smile at her response as we continued our journey in silence.

Minuette’s PoV:

I was always an early risers though I guess it did help that my cutie mark represented being on time. Waking up I could see the sun coming over the horizon. Shifting out of my sleeping bag quietly I stretched my limbs and made my way over towards Derpy. Though I didn’t make it as far or as quietly as I was hoping to as I tripped over a bunch of pots and pans that were hazardously placed near my bag.

“AHHH WE’RE UNDER ATTACK” Derange cried out as he clinged to the ceiling “PROTECT THE GUMMY BEARS!” he cried out ludicrously.

Everyone just stared at Derange while he continued to breath heavily. “Well that is one way to wake up” Jyggalag said dryly while looking towards me.

“Sorry, but in my defense somepony left these here” I said apologetically.

“AHHH THE CHOCOLATE BUNNIES ARE INVADING GUMDROP HILLS! RETREAT! RETREAT!” Derange continued.

“Look what I found” Dinky said as she brought out a note from behind my back.

“Minuette figuring that you’d help these ponies here so I empty most of our cooking and food supplies for you to use tomorrow-Silver” Derpy read out loud.

“AH GUMMY WORMS IN THE TREES! GUMMY WORMS IN THE TRE-” he continued his shouting though was silence by a well placed pan to the face.

“Give it a rest already!” we all shouted at him.

Derpy as if noticing something turned the paper around and said “P.S. Derange was the one who probably moved the pans next to you causing you all to wake up early”.

“...” We just stared at him while he replied back with a sheepish smile though thanks to the recent blow to the face it looked...odd.

As if waiting for a good explanation as to why he’d do this to us he said with that same damn smile “I did it for the lolz”.

Resisting the urge to bash my or his skull against the wall I gathered up the supplies instead, making sure to split it up evenly between me and Derpy, and placed my bag on my back.

“Come on Derpy let’s give these ponies a proper breakfast for a change” I said to my friend.

“Right” she replied back with a happy chirp and placed her own bag on her back though it was placed upside down. With a roll of my eyes the five of us made our way towards town hall.

Drake PoV:

It was a little after four now as Silver and I continued to watch the warren go about its day and I had to say it was a rather effective method. The ponies were split into two groups consisting of one group entering the mines and bringing out gems or precious ores, that could be crafted into metal like iron and steel, while the the other group separated the piles by gems and types. About every two hours or so the groups would rest for a minute and then switch places allowing those who did the heavier lifting in the beginning to, relatively, relax for a spell by doing a simpler task. Of course the dogs kept an eye on both groups with the occasional whip being used, but other than that they were mostly there for the intimidation factor.

Silver remained by my side throughout the whole ordeal of spying on them though her anxiety of wanting to help the ponies flared up as she would tap the ground in a rhythmic pattern. I was able to keep her in check reminding her that we’d be sorely outnumbered, though something told me she could take them all on, and acting rashly could lead to terrible consequences.

A few more hours passed by when the ponies eventually ran out of materials to gather up. With their work done for the day they returned home while the dogs milled about for a few seconds, but then returned to their duties. With no one to observe or watch I scuttled away from our observing spot and lied down on my back staring at the sky mulling over what I had learned so far. Silver joined my side once more though she opted to laying down on her stomach. As if reading my mind she said “Usually D-Dogs work their slaves to death rather then work them methodically like this to the point of exhaustion where they can’t fight back”.

“So this is odd then?” I asked her.

“Technically yes. There have been rare reports of D-Dogs treating their slaves...decently, but nothing of this scale”. We sat there in silence for the next few minutes: Silver observing/keeping an eye out while I continued to wait for something. I don’t know why, but the feeling I had when we arrived was much stronger here causing me to assume something was going to happen, but nothing did.

After a few more minutes I grew tired of waiting for it and realised that if it wouldn’t come to me then I’d go to it. Closing my eyes I felt my chaotic magic flow through me. Having magic is still pretty foreign to me let alone being able to utilize it so quickly like I’ve been doing, but I guess that’s just one of the perks of being a Draconequus. Gathering enough magic I then felt my mind separate from my body leaving me in an astral like plain. Opening my eyes the world around me was a shade of dark gray that highlighted mostly everything. Taking a glimpse at my body I saw that I was surrounded by a whitish gray aura while Silver had a light green surrounding her.

The way that I was perceiving things felt familiar, but I ignored it for the time being as I scoured the area for anything noteworthy. After a few minutes I was left disappointed once more as nothing appeared abnormal. ‘Must be losing it. Note to self: Seek help’ I thought with a slight chuckle, but soon took it back as I looked down. Down way below the earth’s crust was...something beyond extraordinary. White lights weaved about below the earth’s crust in an intricate pattern that lead to the base of the volcano. Though I couldn’t look at it too long, since it was brighter than the sun itself, forcing me to turn my gaze towards where it was coming from. The way it lead to the volcano reminded me of how a tree roots grew and spread apart though the difference being that it seemed to stretch on for miles upon miles as I could still see it going far and wide beyond what my keen eyes could see.

My time was up apparently as I felt my astral body being forced back to my physical body. Re-opening my eyes to see everything dark, wow time flew by, I mulled over what I had saw. I believe what I had just saw is called a leyline the thing that connects every living thing to magic or something...What? Science was never my expert field of study and when you throw magic into the equation then I’m totally lost. Anyways the thing that concerns me about it is the fact that so much is gathered in one place. Could this be the reason why this mountain never runs out of gems? But what could cause this to happen? Unless it’s normal for leylines to collect a huge amount of magic into one spot though I don’t think that is the case. My thought continued to try and piece together this puzzle, but it still seemed I was missing a few pieces to complete it.

Sighing in defeat I stood up, Silver following my motion, and we began our journey back towards the town. It didn’t take us long to return back to the town hall. It was about nine o'clock or so when I took a glimpse inside to see ponies lining up to eat. Minuette and Derpy look tired, but continued to cook food for the town. They were serving a soup of some type with garlic bread probably going with the quantity idea rather than the quality to help maximize the amount everypony could get.

At first I was going to go in and see if they needed help, but I chose against it. It was good that the girls were able to regain the trust of the town, but as for me I was quite certain they’d still despise me being there for quite some time regardless of what good I did.

Just as we were about to leave I could feel a pair of eyes staring at me. Unnerved by the action I turned towards the source to see Hunt’s sister standing a few feet away. She stood there with an even expression and said “I need you to come and take a look at something...It may be important”. Not even waiting for me to respond she turned the opposite direction and began walking towards what she wanted to show me.

Normally I wouldn’t agree to something like this without really thinking about it first...actually scratch that. Being here now the first thought that would pop, involuntarily, into my head would be-

‘Bow chika bow wow’

Well yes something like tha-Dammit Derange!

‘Tee hee’ Derange giggled like a madman.

‘Do you literally have nothing better to do than screw around?’

‘No, but you are doing a better job of it than I am. Fist Silver and now Flower, talk about a player’ he praised me.

‘....Go buck yourself’ I said too tired to deal with him at the moment.

‘Already tried’ he said matter of factly.

‘I could have sworn we promised never to bring that up again’ Jyggalag chimed in and continued ‘Also no I was refering to him wanting to masterbate back to back’.

‘I don’t know why you refer it to back to back when we are the-’

‘NOPE’ I thought and disconnected just in time to avoid hearing anything else.

Waking up from my inner monologue I decided to humor her and see what was so important. Silver my ever faithful companion followed along with me as we trailed behind Flower towards the outskirts of Solitude.

Derpy’s PoV:

‘And that’s the last of it’ I thought as I put the finishing touches on cleaning the dishes. Setting it off to the side to dry I then used a towel to dry it off as well as dry off my hooves. Hoofing the last dish to Minuette she put it back in her bag and placed it off to the side.

“Man am I tired, but damn if we didn’t do a good job” Minuette said while stretching though the way in which she was could cause most ponies into thinking she was being...alluring.

I turned away with a slight blush on my cheeks but soon felt the aches and pains of todays work as well. Stretching my sore limbs, though more aware than Minuette, I could feel the relief immediately as the sound of popping filled the small room. Looking outside I could tell it was way past Dinky’s bedtime. “Hey Minuette I think I’m going to go to sleep” I told my friend and soon after released a low yawn.

She nodded her head in understanding and said “Yeah we really should stop making this a habit”.

Exiting out of the kitchen we made our way towards where everypony else was only to walk in on a strange scene. “MWAHAHAHAHAHA” Derange laughed while wearing a black cape with a cheesy curly mustache giving himself a cartoonish evil look. “HENCHMAN BRING ME THE TOYS!” he cried out pointing one hand at Jyggalag while the other was used to twirl his facial hair.

Jyggalag stood there with an unimpressed look while holding a couple of the childrens toys. “Henchman? I thought we agreed upon this being a partnership?” he asked.

Derange rolled his eyes and said “Come on man just roll with it the audience is getting impatient” he said breaking the fourth wall in their...play I believe. The two continued to banter back and forth causing the audience to laugh at their antics while a group of six children, who were playing the heroes, stood there and laughed as well. It was nice to see the town smiling for a change rather than being all gloomy and depressing. Scouring the area I found my little muffin off to the side in the front row enjoying the play.

Making my way over towards her I laid down next to her and immediately got her attention. “Hi mommy” she said giving me a quick nuzzle, which I returned, and looked at me with bright eyes “You're just in time too the play is just starting”.

“Oh and what is it about?” I asked her.

“Derange is an evil sorcerer who stole toys from an orphanage so the Princesses charge six brave knights to go and defeat him while retrieving the toys for the foals” she said with a hint of excitement.

“Oh~” I replied back with a hint of interest.

“AH Henchman number 2 I’m so glad you finally arrived” Derange said and with a snap of his fingers Minuette appeared on stage. She was surprised to say the least as she tried to politely decline the spot though Derange wouldn’t have any of that as he had a comical side conversation with her which lead to the audience laughing up a storm and convincing her to stay up there as well.

“Mommy?” Dinky asked trying to get my attention. Looking down at her she asked “Where’s Drake and Silver?”

I thought about it for a moment and said “I’m not too sure muffin, but they’re probably working really hard” though I didn’t want to tell her that Drake would probably be unwelcomed here.

“But there going to miss out” she said with a little pout and added on with a cheerful smile“Plus Silver would make an awesome guide for the heroes or maybe even a mentor!”

“I’m sure she would muffin” I said to her and then a thought crossed my mind. ‘I wonder what they're doing and why it is taking so long? What if they’re in trouble though I highly doubt that, but still we haven’t seen hide nor hair of them for quite sometime’ I thought. After mulling over it some more I decided to at least go check up on them.

Getting up I didn’t even get a chance to turn and leave when my daughter said “Where are you going Mommy?”

“Just going to go check up on them muffin” I said. Without another word she got up ready to head out “But muffin don’t you want to stay and be a part of the play?” I asked her.

“At first I did, but after seeing all of the other kids so...sad looking I thought it’d be better to let them have fun” she said with a smile.

Giving her a quick hug I said “That’s very considerate of you” and then we both made our way outside. Exiting the room I thought about where they could be until I bumped into somepony. Shaking the stars out of my eyes I looked over towards the stallion “I’m so so sorry about that sir”.

“Oh, uh no it’s okay reckon ah should have been looking where ah was going” he replied back. He was short for an earth pony stallion barely an inch taller than me with a white bluish mane and dark green coat. Helping me up I thanked him and began my way outside again when he said “Uh miss?”.

“Yes?” I replied back as Dinky climbed onto my back.

“You wouldn’t happen to be going out to look for your friend would ya?”

“Actually-” I tried to say but my daughter interrupted me.

“Yes we are mister” she said with a chirp. “This play is going to be the best play in the history of ever and it’d be a shame if they missed it”.

“Dinky it’s rude to interrupt” I scolded my daughter and then return my attention to the stallion “But what my daughter says is true”.

“Well ah guess it’s your lucky day since ah just saw them heading towards the eastern fields not too long ago”.

“Really? I wonder why he’d go there?” I questioned out loud though Drake was prone to do seemingly random things that had a way to connect to the problem at hoof.

“Not to sure miss said somthing about ‘finding the truth’” he replied back with a shrug.

I shrugged back as well and gave a short bow “Thank you very much” I said and left the building.

“Hope you enjoy the show” Dinky cried out as I closed the door behind us. He just gave wave of his hoof before turning and leaving towards the main hall.

Spreading my wings I took off into the air and made my way towards the eastern field though about half way Dinky correct me and pointed in the right direction. Better late than never we arrived at the field though some clouds made it hard to see it didn’t take me long to spot Drake and Silver standing near one another as they observed the field.

Landing a few feet away from them I began walking towards them to join them. “Hey you two what...are you doing...?” I asked though the closer I got the chunkier and more distorted looking they looked. Straining my eyes to get a better looked a sense of panic rose in me as their true shapes became noticeable. Standing there and taking on the appearance of my friends were two crudely made statues.

Realizing now that it was a trap I spread my wings and took off though didn’t make it far as something caused me to fall back to the ground. Hitting the ground and shaking the stars out of my eyes I saw a red paw gripping my back hoof accompanied by a Diamond dog with a smug grin on his face. Looking down the hole he created he yelled out in triumphant “Ha told you pony fall for statue” though when he turned his gaze back to me it was meet with a hard buck to the face. Crying out in pain he released me and held his nose now as blood began to pour out from it and dyed his red coat a darker shade.

As I was about to take off I didn’t feel a familiar weight on my back. Scouring the area I found Dinky a few feet away probably falling off from the sudden force earlier. She looked no worse for wear and slowly got back up. Making my way towards her quickly I soon put it into high gear as another D-dog appeared next to her this one a dark blonde. With a quick flap of my wings I rocketed over towards her and used the momentum to slam into the dog knocking him out of his hole and away from my daughter. “Dinky Run!” I cried out.

“Bu-” she tried to say.

“RUN!” I screamed as the orange furred dog I was laying on top of pushed me off of him.

Without another word she turned and ran as fast as her little hooves could carry her. Getting up I barely dodge the dog from before as he tried to pin me down. Keeping an eye on Dinky all the while I saw the dog I bucked earlier catching up to her. Dodging the dog once more I then raced over towards the red one. About a few feet away I used my wings once more and tried to slam into him though he was quick as he ducked out of harms way although now he was focused on me rather than Dinky. He tried to lunge at me like his fellow brother, but was easily dodged as I took to the sky.

Looking as to where Dinky was I could see she was well out of reach of them. Getting ready to fly back towards the town a vial was thrown in front of my path. Raising my hooves to protect my face the glass broke against my hooves,leaving me in a small cloud. Instinctively taking a breath I found myself growing tired by the second. Trying to stay awake long enough to make it to the town I pumped my wings hard to help. Though after a few second longer I began to lose the will and strength to stay awake and crashed towards the ground hard. Barely staying awake, thanks to the pain from the crash, my vision was too blurry to see though I did hear one dog say “Small pony got away” and then everything went black.

Drake’s PoV:

‘I guess one's definition of interesting does play a part in this’ I thought as I looked over a field though to be fair it was more like a big garden rather than a field of wheat or apples. The ‘field’ consisted of a variety of different vegetables such as tomatoes, lettuce, carrots and etc. with a few fruits such as apples and pears. I guess the ‘interesting’ part about it was the fact that they looked shriveled up so either ponies don’t know how to grow food;which I doubt; we have a Bunnicula running about; which I also doubt; or there’s *put on shades* more than meets the eye.

“Why are you wearing sunglasses and where did you get them from?” Flower asked confused.

Before I could answer that Silver said “Trust me don’t ask” effectively ruining my chances to make a joke.

With a sigh I casually threw my shades away and said “So this is it? What special about it? Given the environment it isn’t a stretch to say that the heat caused this”.

She just gave me a thoughtful nod and plainly said “This is just the eastern field” and soon began walking towards, using my college level of education with a bit of Doctor Who/ Sherlock Home deductive reasoning, the western field.

Raising my brow as she left I felt like humoring her some more and followed after her. Silver, being the ever faithful companion, joining us on this wonderful night stroll. A few minutes later and we arrived at the other filed though the difference was that all of the fruit and vegetables were picked clean leaving it barren, but the plants also looked quite healthy. “Uh huh I see very interesting” I said laced with heavy sarcasm with a side of snarkiness.

She didn’t react to it at all and plainly said “Any minute now” while eyeing the field with a bored expression.

A few minutes passed and I grew bored of this game. Without saying anything I turned and began my journey back to the town. Not even a few steps away I felt a spark of chaotic energy flow through the earth and towards the field. Turning towards it I was meet with a dried up field like the eastern side though the difference was that it look like the sands of time ran up as it looked all greyed and worn out. A simple breeze was all it took to cause the entire field to fall apart as the dust spread out amongst the ground. As the breeze continued to cool the evening the dust was picked up by it and began to float away into the night sky until it stopped causing the moon’s light to be blocked out casting an ominous shadow to cover the land. As if watching an old vhs recorded rewind the previous scenes played back in full detail. Reaching the end, or technically the beginning, the plants looked the same before the only difference was the abundance of food sprouting out were they weren’t before.

Silver looked at the scene with a mild curious stare, but said nothing while Flower looked at the scene as if it was a normal occurrence. She turned to me and stared deep into my eyes “Is this interesting enough?” she asked with a slight annoyance in her voice.

I continued to stare at the field with a childlike innocence as a smile splayed across my face. Wait I was smiling? Why would I be smiling? I wasn’t too sure as thoughts began to swarm about in my head like a bee hive trying to find the answer. “Oh very interesting indeed” I said with a hint of excitement in my voice. Closing my eyes I felt the familiar feeling of chaotic magic flow throughout my body. Once more I felt my consciousness slip out from me and brought me to the astral plain wor-Assassin’s Creed Eagle vision that’s why it looked so familiar!

Ahem anyways. To explain what I was seeing would be rather difficult to do so, so I’ll be laz-I mean efficient and just explain what was happening. A loop, but not just any kind of loop but an *pause for dramatic effect* infinite loop. I didn’t realize it back at the volcano because of how bright it was, but now much farther away from the main source I was able to ascertain that this area was caught in a loop being forced to repeat the same day over and over again. It explained why the fields to the east were forced to be dead or not existent since farmers tend to let one field rest for a period of time to allow the nutrients in the ground to regain it’s potency while this field though suppose to be dead is full of life and fresh food. This could also explain why the mountain seems to have an endless supply of gems, but the question remains is that could order and chaos really cause this effect. I’d like to think not, but with these two fields being rarely study; if any at all; then who’s to say that it isn’t the reasoning behind these events.

I guess I was smiling because I was able to put the pieces all together, but it now laid a problem before me one that I had already knew was going to happen. This place was in harmony and not as in friendship and magic plus the other things the ponies preach about, but as in this place both consisted of order and chaos following throughout the area. Even the slightest action could cause the scales to tip in eithers favor which would be bad either way. I sighed a tired sigh as I plopped to the ground while rubbing my tired eyes with my index fingers. “Nothing can ever be simple can it?” I asked no one in particular.

“Of course not” Silver said doing a piss of a job of cheering me up. “I mean you are a Draconequus after all. Master of Chaos and Disharmony awhoo” she said in a silly voice.

I looked at her oddly and said “Who the fuck are you and what did you do with Silver?”

“You already made that joke a few nights ago” she said flatly.

“Who said I’m kidding this time?” I said with a shit eating grin. She just slapped me upside the head and even though I was in pain I did feel a bit better than a few moments ago. I just smiled at her and said “Thanks”.

“Don’t expect this to often” she said with a stern yet soft look “I mean it’s saying a lot when I’m the cheery one in the group”.

“Point taken” I nodded my head and stood back up. “Speaking of which we should head back now” I said gesturing to the town with my head. “Thank you for showing this to me. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have been able to figure it out let alone come to a decision so quickly” I said to Flower followed by a small bow.

“And given by that look it means you aren’t going to help us” she said with a sad expression.

I tried to search for a word any at all to comfort her or show her that it was going to be okay, but nothing came to mind. I just nodded my head, turned towards the town and began walking back. As if remembering something I paused and said “We’ll at least let the guards at Trottingham know about the situation”.

“Heh like they’ll help us. Outside of Equestria’s borders and being...slavers ourselves they’d have no reason to spend resources on us”.

“Well they do say that money makes the world go round and I’m sure with all those gems you’ve been collecting they’d at least be interested” I mused.

“Wrong” she stated and continued “The Alpha has been either feeding it to the clan or spending it on supplies to keep his operation going”.

“That may be true, but if they were to be informed about an endless supply of gems and the only thing stopping them from getting to it was a bunch of D-dogs I'm quite certain they’d reconsider.”

“I’m guessing you never been to Trottingham before have you?” she asked me rhetorically and continued “That place is filled with nothing but greedy selfish scumbags that only look out for themselves”.

“What is that all?” I asked mockingly as thought of home came rushing through my mind. Ignoring them for the time being I continued “In any case that’d give them even more reason to be the first to ‘help’ out”.

“Or maybe you could stop being selfish for once in your life and help” she sneered at me.

The change in her demeanor threw me for a loop, but I quickly recovered. “Selfish?” I asked mockingly placing my eagle claw against my chest as if she wounded me. “Oh pray do tell how selfish I am” I said giving her the stage.

“Gladly” she responded back venomously. “You who holds great power uses it selfishly for your own personal gain instead of others. Spreading order and chaos to bring balance to the world” she laughed mockingly, also note to self don’t talk out loud anymore because everyone tends to hear what I say, and continued “What makes you so knowledgeable in the idea of a balanced and fair world. Probably from your own biased subjective point of view” she glared at me. Taking a deep breath she resumed once more “Going back to your power you refuse to help innocent ponies because of your damn pride or beliefs and that you’ll let them die before lifting a finger to help them even if they’re in arms reach” she spat at me as her rant came to a halt.

I mulled over what she said for a moment and said “I’ll concede to one point that you said in that I don’t have any fair, reasonable or certainty that I can bring harmony to the world. However I’m not blind like most who seek perfection believing that the world can be full of peace and harmony where people don’t die and no one ever has to suffer. That being nothing more thans a fool’s dream at least I try my best in seeking a path that is plausible where a system can be place to help prepare and react to most situations at hand making it so the least amount of people have to suffer”.

“Now about using my power selfishly I disagree. It is that I haven’t found or seen any good reason to use it for besides my friends and myself because most if not all of the inhabitants of Equis have shown me no reason to do otherwise. Racism amongst one another, slavery and worse of all discrimination not only amongst one another, but to ones own kind. Don’t give me that look and deny you haven’t felt more superior to say a unicorn for having more stamina and the ability to tend to plants and the earth better than they ever could. Just like how the unicorns hold themselves so high in that they can use magic of various kinds while you and the Pegasia cannot.”

“And last but not least refusing to aid those near me and the ‘innocent’. Please don’t make me laugh. You of all ponies know how ‘innocent’ you really are. Stealing, lying, deceiving and the icing on the cake slavery” I said letting the word hang in the air for a moment. She flinched in response though valiantly held her ground as I continued “The only innocent ones here are the children and though slightly malnourished are perfectly fine. *snorts* If anything that’s one thing I’m glad about this Alpha in that he knows not to cross that line, but back to your point. Is it selfish of me not wanting to help people, who not only deserve no help whatsoever, but to also risk the lives of my comrades as well. To possibly put them into harms way or if we were to fail put them into slavery as well. Especially to those who chose for this inevitable outcome”.

“Chose?Chose!?” she snapped at me tears threatening to pour out. “I didn’t-”

“THERE’S ALWAYS A CHOICE” I roared at her effectively shutting her up. Glaring at her worth a thousand suns she balled up in on herself to escape my gaze. Continuing to stare at the mare I eventually eased up and waited for her to come out of her fetal position. A few more minutes passed as she continued to hide shaking like a leaf all the while. Eventually she dared to take a peak and was meet with a less harsher, though rather angry, glare from me still. “There’s always a choice” I started my voice filled with malice. Lifting her head towards me to listen I could see tears and snot streaming down her face as they fell to the ground forming a puddle of snot, tears and shame.

“You could have chose to tell the truth to the dogs, the residents of nearby towns or even to the princesses themselves via letters and accepted the reward/consequences of set actions. You could have chose to fled with your younger brother and lived a new life altogether away from this vile place. You could have chose death then and there when they revealed the truth to you rather than submitting to their will like a slave. You could have chosen many of things, but you didn’t and instead of blaming others for your terrible choices you should instead live up to them. Instead of seeking help because you’re too pathetic to face your own problems you could embrace it and willingly accept it or grow a pair and deal with it because life is not fair and it will never be fair” I finished off as I turned my back to her. Beginning my walk back to town I could hear the sound of crying, stopping and looking at her over my shoulder I said softly “I promise to do everything within my power to convince them to send aid as soon as possible”. And with that said and done Silver and I left heading back towards town hall.

We arrived back at town hall around three or so in the morning. When we walked in I was surprised to see ponies milling about since they’d have to get up early and work. They were all in small pockets of groups talking and what looked like celebrating something that their child did. Confused I decided to just ask one of my clones what we missed. It didn’t take long to find them as they were on the stage in the way back. Making my way over there the ponies didn’t even bat an eyelash as I passed them by either completely ignoring my presence or no longer angry at my proclamation earlier which was probably the former rather than the ladder. Though apparently I learned, listening in on conversation, that a play had been held here explaining why everypony was so cheery.

“Ah welcome back” Jyggalag said as we joined his group consisting of Minuette and Derange “I hope that it was rather productive”.

“What are you talking about don’t ya remember our mind conversation from earlier?” Derange asked berating his other half. “He’s been scre-” he tried to say but a quick bonk on the head shut his mouth up “OW! eh bit me tongue” he said while his tongue lolled out.

“Yes it was Jyggalag” I said though took notice that we were two ponies shy of completing our group “Where’s Derpy and Dinky?”

“I think she went to bed. She said she was tired from toda-” Minuette tried to say.

“Yesterday” Derange corrected.

Minuette gave him a flat looked and continued “She said she was tired from YESTERDAY'S work and probably went to bed”.

“Though that doesn’t explain Dinky since she was more hyped up than Pinkie Pie”Jyggalag stated while rubbing his chin in thought “I could only imagine how upset she was about going to sleep and wonder how Derpy could have put her to sleep to begin with”.

“Well they both left I remember that much” Derange decided to be useful for once.

“When was that?” Silver asked.

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhh around the very beginning of the play so about a few hours ago”.

“And I don’t recall seeing them outside” I mumbled to myself. Looking towards Silver she nodded her head in agreement knowing already what I was thinking. “I’m going to go check up on them” turning to head outside with Silver tailing along.

But before I could leave I felt a pair of hands grab my shoulder, spin me around like a top and forced me to sit down “Ah quit being such a worry wart” Derange said with...concern of my well being? “I’m sure they’re fine. Probably dreaming of a field of muffins” he said while Minuette tried to hold back a snort of laughter. “Anywho you’ve been working too hard and need to learn to take a breather now and again brochacho”.

“Derange is, surprisingly, right in that they are fine and that you really must stop overworking yourself” Jyggalag added on.

“Yeah Derpy may be a natural disaster waiting to happen, but she’s smart and tough enough to handle most situations” Minuette chimed in and continued “Plus you look dead tired. So just take a load off and quite worrying.”

Derange and Jyggalag then transformed back to their original sizes and rested on my shoulders. “You really should rely and trust your companions more” Jyggalag lightly scolded me.

“Yeah I mean they’re more than eye candy” Derange said agreeing with Jyggalag fully though earned dubious looks from us. “What? They can cook can’t they” he stated with a trollish smile.

We just shook our heads in disappointment though we couldn’t help but smile at our internal antics. “Yeah you guys are right...except Derange naturally” I said with a small smile.

“Naturally” Silver said with a nod of approval.

“So anyway back to the matter at hoof” Minuette said drawing a confused look from me. “It’s way past the time of when you were going to tell everypony your final decision”.

I gave a look of realization as I nodded my head “Yeah you're right and now would be the perfect opportunity to do so”.

“But” Jyggalag and Derange began for me.

“But as you can see these guys actually look happy right now so to tell them that I’m not helping them would really kill the mood” I said.

“You’re not going to help us?” asked a young female voice.

“Well it’s not like I can’t help you it’s just that...” I stated nonchalantly, but soon realized I wasn’t talking to anyone in my group. Turning my head towards the voice ever so slowly I saw a small white furred filly with a light pink mane and garden green eyes. Behind those sad hurt eyes were the eyes of everypony in the room some staring at me in anger others in sadness while a couple gave me sad yet understanding expressions. I tsked at my own stupidity and really planned to now stop talking out loud from now on...though a part of my mind knew that was probably never going to happen.

The filly looked at me with those sad little eyes and asked “But why?”

It sent a pang of guilt through my heart causing me to briefly change my mind for a moment, but then I came back to reality and steeled my heart for what I was about to say. Also side note why have we not weaponized this yet? I mean can you imagine ‘I’m sorry mister, but I brokeited your toy’ heart attacks everywhere. Getting down on one knee to be on a somewhat same level I looked at her with a soft look while patting her head “I’m sorry sweaty I want to help I really do, but I...” I thought about my next words carefully and continued “I’m just not the Draconequus for the job”. Not entirely true I suppose since it’d be an easy task to get rid of the dogs via either diplomacy or violence I wouldn’t mind ending a few lives. Don’t get me wrong killing is very unpleasant and I wish such a thing could never happen, but I will not shy away from it especially if set individual deserves no less than such. But what I’m not ready for and incapable of doing is watching the aftermath of saving this town and what could/would happen.

“What a bunch of horse feathers” cried out one pony in the crowd soon electing a chorus of agreement. I ignored them as I was now scratching behind the filly’s ear since apparently they love a good scratch. It’s not like I was being forced to unless you account for those puppy eye’s they use when they don’t get what they want...but other than that total self control over my actions.

I didn’t care to listen to what they were saying probably nothing good or noteworthy anyways. Tired at having to pretend to listen to them I reached into hammer space and quickly threw a ordinary dagger at the closest stallion.

“EEEEEEEP” he scream like a girl as he backed away from the dagger. Everypony became silent as I stood to my full height and glared at them.

“You ponies keep asking and telling me to save you because of how much you have suffered or how it is my responsibility when I don’t care and it is not” I stated in a cold voice. “Do you even have any idea how I’d go about saving you to begin with or were you just hoping that I would already have a plan?” I asked them mockingly when I already knew the answer. “In the end it wouldn't matter which route I take because it would just end in violence and DON’T try to tell me otherwise” I glared at the brave soul who wanted to speak up, but then watched as he shied away. “I can’t try negotiating with them since YOU brought this upon yourselves and even if I were to they are surprisingly equally as stubborn as you so the only means to do anything would be to beat their Alpha in a duel and seize control over the clan thus allowing me tell them to leave, but that would be unfair since they were here first and as the old saying goes ‘The early bird get the worm’”.

“Now I bet you're thinking ‘Well then why don’t cha just beat him?’ because they don’t just fight till one gives up, well even if they did it wouldn't matter, since they usually fight to the death meaning that I’d have to kill him in the process or in the event I spared him the other members of his clan would likely just kill him off, force him into slavery or banish him”.

“And so what!?” cried out the pony I threw the dagger at. He was a unicorn with a dark blue coat, shiny black mane and dark shade of yellow eyes. The crowd parted ways to let him speak as he stood there with his own glare“They’re a bunch of flea ridden no good slaving mongrels” he snarled at me and continued “They were the ones who began all of this since the beginning of time and deserve nothing less than death”.

I just looked at him with a bewildered expression ‘How...how can they act and be so clueless. So...irresponsible to the action they've done yet ask for justice when it happens to them! They’re like children who cried to their parents after a kid stole their toy yet have no problem whatsoever in stealing someone else’s toy’. I just...you know what no just...no. Without batting an eyelash or showing emotion whatsoever I grabbed the filly I was scratching not too long ago by the scruff of her neck electing a cry from her.

Everypony gasped in surprise though most of them were ready to bombard me a simple glance was all it took to make them back off. Walking towards the brave yet naive stallion with the filly in tow ignoring the cries of pain she wailed out I continue my emotionless journey towards him. He didn't move either though was shaking in the knees. Getting down to his level I held the filly in front of him and simply said “Kill her”.

He looked at me dumbly and said “W-w-what?!”

“If it’s so simple then kill her” I replied back evenly and continued “Kill this filly right here and right now and i’ll go do as you ask”.

Everypony was dead silent including my own companions as they watched this scene with horror. He tried looking for help, support or even an answer but no pony dared to say a thing or even breath in fear of me bringing my wrath down upon the filly. His eyes began to dilate and shift back and forth while his breathing became rampant. Then a light grayish aura surround the dagger as it hazardously began to wobble up into the air. Reaching about eye level with the filly his magic began wavering causing it to almost fall to the ground, but persisted in holding it up. His breathing remained the same as his chest would rise back in forth in short fast burst while his eye adopted a sad yet desperate look.

“I’m sorry” he blubbered out as tears began to streak down his cheek “I’m so sorry” he said one last time before he willed his magic to send the blade towards the filly. As the blade made it’s way towards her everypony’s eye clamped shut not wanting to witness the bloodshed that was about to happen. A slick slicing sound filled the air followed by the pitter patter sound of blood falling to the ground.

“You know it’s funny” I said as pain shot through out my hand. Everypony dared to take a peak and gasped in surprise. Only a millimeter away from the fillies’ skull was the dagger and the only thing stopping it was my eagle claw halting its trajectory. I watch with no care as my blood began to form a small puddle of blood. Interestingly enough my blood was rainbow colored and not only that, but it had the effect of blowing in the wind like the princesses manes. Initially it hurt like no tomorrow. Hell I almost allowed it to continue with it’s path, but after a few moments I could feel the pain subside as Chaotic energy flowed towards the wound halting the blood from leaving my body but not healing the wound since it’d leave the dagger in there and let me tell ya that would hurt even more. “Usually people think I’m the monster because of what I am and what I can do yet it makes me wonder who the real monster is in this world” I said with a calm demeanor while taking out the dagger lodge in my hand with my tail. The moment I took it out my wound began to close up leaving me with a scarless hand and a bloody up dagger. Tossing the dagger into hammerspace I turned my attention back to the crowed.

As if it dawned upon the stallion he realized what he almost did and began crying hysterically. As he curled up into a ball I set the filly down gently and tried to apologize, but before I could she ran. Ran as fast as her legs could to her family and when she reached them she cried. “How could you!?” the father cried out and before he could say anything else I shouted

“ISN’T THAT WHAT YOU WANTED ME TO DO TO THE DOGS” they backed off from the volume of my voice, but I pressed on “Didn’t you want me to go into their din not a few minutes ago and kill every single one of them!” Pointing at the stallion I shouted “The Fathers!” then towards his wife “The Mothers!” then to the sob on the ground “The Fools!” and finally towards the filly “And the Children!”

The room was silent once more as it finally dawned upon all of them as well what they had asked me to do. No one dared to speak or moved as they processed what had been said and done. So I was the first “I’m done with this place and its people” I sneered at them heading towards the back door. Turning back to give them one final glare I said “Be grateful that I’m heading towards Trottingham and am willing to let them know about the situation to begin with”. Satisfied that I had said everything that needed to be said I continued to leave my friends taking a few second to register what happen but soon fell in line as we were about to leave.

Only for the sound of the door being flung open to break the silence. Standing there breathing heavily was Dinky. She was covered in dirt, bruises and a cut or two around her legs and torso. Scouring the area frantically she soon found us and quickly made her way towards us tears streaming down her face all the while.

Minuette was the first to act meeting her more than halfway and embracing her tightly while the filly bawled and spoke incoherently to Minuette. A sense of dread came over me as I guessed what had happen. Every fiber of my being tried to deny it but no matter how hard I tried I knew deep down what had happened.

“Shhh, Shhh it’s okay I’m here now” Minuette said like a mother while stroking Dinky’s mane. It calmed her down immensely, but tears continued to stream down her face. “There we go” she said with a calm yet kind smile wiping the tears away with her hoof. Dinky continued to cry and sniffle, but it wasn’t as bad as before. Continuing to hold her tight like a newborn foal she asked “I know this will be hard, but what happened and where's your Mom?”

‘Please don’t answer’

“*sniff* She...”

‘Please don’t say it. I don’t want to be right’

“*hiccup* she...”

‘Don’t say it! Don’t say it! Don’t-’

“She was taken by the Diamond dogs” she cried out and resumed bawling her eyes out into Minuette’s coat.

We all stood there and tried to process what she said. I didn’t want to believe it, Minuette didn’t want to believe it, nor did Silver, but the fact of the matter is...it happened. My claw clenched in on itself as I gripped as hard as I could. Every pony was silent as well not daring to make a sound. Derange and Jyggalag disappeared back into the recess of my mind seeing that it was not the time to make any jokes or comments.

Silver was the first to act as her wings spread out ready to fly she was about to say something, but I beat her to the punch “Minuette stay here and look after Dinky. Silver and I will handle this” I said in an eerily calm voice as we both headed towards the exit.

“Buck no she’s my friend an-” she tried to say, but stop as I glanced back at her. Her eyes dilated to pinprick and were unable to turn their gaze away from mine. Her breathing altogether stopped and she looked like a deer just as it was about to be hit by a vehicle.

“Stay here and look after her” I said neither commanding nor as a friendly suggestion as I tore my gaze away from her, the sound of her breathing rapidly could be heard, and we headed towards outside. Neither sprinting nor walking we began our rapid pace towards the din though dark ominous clouds loomed over the area.

There were two things that I knew at this moment. One a storm was brewing and it looked like it was going to be a big one. Two I was not mad nor angry at what had happened. My grip on my claw clenched even tighter as I felt droplets of blood leak out from my fist. Our pace picked up even faster as the sound of thunder was heard in the distance accompanied by lightning arcing across the sky. If I could say anything I was beyond furious.

Alpha Vs Draconequus pt 1

Warning this chapter and the next couple will go towards the darker side of things. This chapter implies minor rape and will be marked encase some people can not stomach it.

Rain

I always loved the sound of rain. With the mesmerizing yet soothing pitter patter of rain droplets. I remember most of the time I’d just sit at home and stare off into space while it rained. Lost in the recess of my mind daydreaming about the most randomness of things. My folks at first thought it was me bored since I couldn’t go out and play, but eventually they realized that I’d rather be alone with my thoughts then to be bothered though in their defense I was tenish or so, so not a lot of philosophical or deep meaningful thoughts ever really crossed my mind. The best time the rain could ever come would be in the Spring. Where the warm glaring sun would be cooled by the light spring showers yet warm enough that one would not have to wear heavy clothes to keep them dry.

The rain that fell down today was more akin to a hail storm as each droplets would smack hard against my already drenched coat. The dark ominous clouds covered the skies only letting the minimal amount of light to shine through. While thunder and lighting made itself known as it would arc across the sky briefly illuminating the day even more for a few precious moments.

Though Silver and I continued. Never stopping never resting to reach the warren.

It was about six or seven in the morning, though hard to tell without being able to see the sun, when we arrived at the entrance of Basanite warren’s home. It was a simple cave entrance holding a banner representing their clan with a crudely made outpost though the guards, instead of keeping watch, were talking to a panicked looking dog. The short yellow looking dog took notice of me and said something to the others as he then ran back inside. We were at the lip of the cave when the guards promptly stopped us though far enough inside that the rain couldn't hit us.

The lead guard was a black Labrador with yellow eyes and stood as tall as six foot seven. He glared down at us intimately though failed since I stood to most of my full height, since the cavern ceiling prevented me from reaching my full potential, thus having no real effect on me while Silver wore a ‘don’t give a buck’ expression towards him. We stood there eyeing one another for a few minutes neither side backing down.

“Pardon us” I said and tried to walk by him though he side stepped into my way. I tried again once more, almost succeeding, when the others guards blocked our path. This went on a few more times until I took a step back and glared at them “I’m here to see your leader and was told I was always welcomed regardless of when” I stated flatly towards them my tone remaining eerily calm.

“Alpha worked hard last night and needs rest” the Labrador growled. “Come back later” he said still matching my glare with his own.

A minute past by as we continued to stare down the other into submission. Seeing that this wasn't going to get us anywhere I turned and left, Silver following after me, while the dogs silently cheered for their victory.

A victory that’d be short lived.

Walking back into the rain we were a good lengths away from the entrance when we stopped. Turning back towards the entrance I closed my eyes and said “Buy me some time”. Wordlessly I heard the sound of her stepping in front of me ready to keep me out of harms way.

Gathering chaos magic towards me I soon felt the familiar warmth of its power course through my veins. After a few moments I then initiated the first phase of my plan. Focusing it took a few moments of concentration, but eventually it happened: an aura, though more akin to a small flame, appeared before my mind’s eye. I focused more and more of my chaos magic into what I was doing as more and more auras began to flicker to life.

“What you doing? Leave!” hollered out the guard though I ignored him. The sound of footsteps could barely be heard as they began to come towards us.

As I continued to focus my senses began to fade away. The sound of thunder, lightening and the rain were the first to go though the last thing I heard was the sound of loud splashing and metal striking against metal. Then my sense of touch faded away as I was unable to feel the rain pellet against my coat. Though blind to the world around me I had no reason to be scared as Silver would make sure to keep me safe. As I pumped more and more chaos magic into what I was doing deep below the ground more and more auras flickered to life.

Satisfied that I was sure I got all of them I then began the slow process of picking out the D-dogs from the other life forms. Satisfied once more I raised my hands to the heavens and prepped my fingers to snap, an almighty roar of thunder accompanied me in my action, as I said in a low voice “Show time”.

Alpha's PoV:

“You WHAT!?” I screamed at the two dogs cowering before me.

“B-b-big pony got in way and little pony was too quick” the red one blurted out while still using his arms to shield himself from being hurt.

“Besides you told us to send message to lizard anyways so we thought it be smarter to let little pony tell him” cried out the dark blonde one.

“Yes under normal circumstances I’d be proud” I said calmly the two stopping their cowering for the moment and looked at me with proud expressions. “Though this isn’t one of those times!” I yelled and backhand both of them. “You.Damn.Moronic.Simpletons.” I said emphasizing each word with a swift kick to their guts. I kicked them for about a minute or so until all the anger I had towards them was gone. Even though I was done beating them they continued to make themselves as small as possible while I panted in exhaustion over them. Taking in steady and deep breaths I finally regain my ability to breath properly and said “You two are dismissed for the moment” I hissed at them.

Quickly taking the hint they bowed low to the ground and sprinted back to their chambers. “Dammit” I said in a low voice while pacing back and forth.

“Dammit.Dammit.Dammit to all hell” I said continuing my pacing though more erratic now. “Okay calm down” I said to myself and took a steady breath of air once more. Releasing it slowly I felt much better than I did a few moments ago. “There’s nothing to worry about, I can still get her to submit to me I’ll just have to be more...forceful than I was intending to”. The sound of a door being opened brought me back to the situation at hand. A short yellow dog that I dubbed Scaredy since he was always a ‘scaredy cat’ and would be frighten by the most stupidest things. He woke up the whole clan one night because he thought he saw a snake slither into his room, but soon found out it was his own tail.

“Well?” I asked him. Though the biggest chicken you’ll ever meet he knew his way around a knot.

“Y-y-yes Alpha I have finished the task you asked me to do” he said with a slight stuttered. He was also one of the few dogs here that could speak fluently enough to hold a real conversation with.

“Excellent” I said and walked back towards my room. As I entered the threshold I turned to him and said “Go tell the guards that if the Draconequus shows up that they must delay him for as long as possible”. He gave a short bow in response and left to complete his task. ‘Another reason why I kept him is that he also has a brain and can think’ I thought and soon entered my room closing the door behind me to make sure the others wouldn't interrupt.

Strolling over towards my bed not even halfway there I began to take note of my new captive. She was a Pegasus with a gray fur coat, blonde hair and a ‘cutie mark’ that represented bubbles. She was rather young for a mother. If I had to harbor a guess maybe around the age of twenty six to twenty eight, but her young features masked her true age quite well. Under normal pretenses she would have looked ridiculous the way she was tied up, which was spread eagle as her legs were bound to the bedpost; though her tail curled up instinctively hiding her private area;, but oddly enough it looked rather sexually appealing.

Reaching her side I lightly tapped her on the cheek to wake her up. A few moments of doing that and she began to stir. Her bright yellow eyes opened slowly taking in her surrounding before a sense of realization rose up as she began to struggle against her restraints. Though she struggled valiantly the rope held true and she eventually stopped while giving me a death glare though looked ridiculous as one eye was looking off towards the side.

I responded back with my best smile “I do hope that the ropes are not too uncomfortable. The last time I needed Scaredy to tie up someone they had ropes burns for weeks” I said with a friendly attitude.

She responded back with a puff of hot air and said “You’re not going to get away with this. Drake will stop you and come save me”.

“Ah yes your Draconques friend I presume” I said with little to no care while brushing her mane out of her eyes. She tried to snip at me, but I was much faster than her leaving her to bite the air. “I can assure you miss that by the end of the day he’ll be working for me just like the others” I said leaning my face towards her mane and taking a big whiff of her scent.

She shuddered in disgust and tried to smack my nose with her head, but once again failed to do any really harm towards me. “Oh yeah and how do you plan to do that?” she asked with malice.

“Why you’ll be telling him to...Well more like begging him to, but mere technicalities” I said dismissively.

“Fat chance!” she said snidely and continued “It’d be a cold day in Tartarus before I do anything for the likes of you!”

I just smirked at her “Then you better put a sweater on because your not going to have much of a choice” I said to her and continued “Unless of course you’d rather that I make your daughter be the one to ask him” my tone filled with evil intent.

“You're lying she got away” she said with a triumphant smirk.

“Oh and what proof do you have of that” I said lying through my teeth. “Because of what those buffoons said” I said followed by a slight chuckle and continued “Did you really think that I’d only send those two by themselves to capture you?” a look of doubt crossed her face for a moment before her confidence came back albeit very little.

“Let’s say you're telling the truth. How’d do you plan to get Drake to follow your every whim loyally? The moment he finds a chance to save us or to stop you he’d take that chance”.

“Ah that my dear is rather simple” I said while moving towards my desk. Opening the bottom drawer I removed a small red case. Bringing the case back towards her I opened and revealed a small silver bracelet with a fire red ruby that could hook around most limbs. “This my dear” I said while hooking it around her left fore hoof “Is an enchanted accessory that when a certain phrase is spoken will bind the one wearing it to me” I said while revealing a golden armband with a crystal clear diamond on my right arm. “Because the recipient would be bound to me that would mean his life is connected to my own” I said with an evil smirk.

“But he could just take it off or cut his own limb off”.

“Ah but the thing you’re forgetting is that he is connected to me as in my very own life force.” I chided while booping her nose. She growled in response as I continued “So instead of thinking him as a separate individual think of him as a part of my own body. So in essence if he were to remove, amputate or kill me he’d be basically killing himself”.

A sense of panic began to arise in her features until she took a glance at the bracelet once more. Studying its design carefully she said with little confidence “There no way such magic exist where it could do that let alone be accessible by the likes of you so easily out here in the middle of nowhere”.

“Oh you poor naive girl” I said while tutting in disappointment “Did someone already forget their lessons about magic and that everything has some sort of magical essence in it”.

“No I didn't” she growled at me. “But that doesn't mean you have the means to make it work” she continued while I unclasped the bracelet off her and placed it into my bag.

“Oh contraire” I said while fishing thru my pouch pocket. Feeling the object I was looking for I held a small blue sapphire before her and said “Lux”. The little blue gem then began to glow a bright white light illuminating the room even more. A few minutes past before the gem ran out of juice and then the light died out.

She just stared at me mouth agape trying to find the words to describe how that couldn’t be possible, but I didn’t let her as I turned and began to leave. “Wait! Where are you going?” she asked.

As I reached the door I turned to look back at her and said “Well with the explanation out of the way I decided to give you a choice on how this will end”.

“Option A: You convince him to put it on and let me do whatever I want with you” I said with a lecherous smile and continued “Or option B: I let your daughter convince him to put it on and I do whatever I want with her”.

“If you lay one hand on her I’ll-” she tried to say.

“You’ll what Miss? Break out of those bonds and fight a whole warren by yourself? Ha the probability of that happening is how you so lovely put it earlier ‘A cold day in Tartarus’”.

“But you won’t!” she cried out desperately. “Even you wouldn’t do something like that to an innocent child”.

“Normal circumstances yes I wouldn’t, but if it’s an option to achieve my goals than well” I said and finished my sentence with an evil smile “Some sacrifices will have to be made”. Panic/desperation spread across her face as she tried to find any lies so far in my statements, but came up empty. Deciding to push her into making a decision I said “You have ten seconds to decide Miss: Either you or your daughter”.

“Ten. Nine” I began the countdown.

“Don’t do this you can still-”

“Eight. Five. Four”.

“Hey you skipped three numbers!”

“Three. Tw-”

“Stop! Just stop! You win, Okay!” she cried out as tears began to stream down her face.

“Sorry Love didn’t quite catch that” I said while placing my hand towards my ear giving off the impression that I’d hear her better now.

“I’ll...I’ll do whatever you want just don’t touch my muffin” she said occasionally letting out a low sniffle.

“Of course you have my word that me nor my clan shall bring harm to her” I said making my way back towards her. As I reached her side again I said “Come now how about a smile hmm” while brushing her mane once more.

[This is where it starts]

It took her a moment to compose herself, but when she did her eyes instead of full of life were dull and voidless while her smile was rather fetching was noticeably forced. ‘It appears someone had already began the foundation and the structure’ I thought while my paw began to brush against her side making its way towards her perfectly shaped flank. Giving it a tight squeeze she let out a low moan of pleasure, but more importantly showed no sign of resisting.

‘Excellent now all I have to do is put on the finishing touches’ I thought as I started to kiss her along her neck. Starting from there I worked my way down towards her stomach while one hand caressed her rump and the other was used to rub her inner thigh. Another moan escaped her lips as her breathing picked up. The beats of her heart could be heard, though that may have been my new hearing doings it’s job, as it began to pick up the pace.

An animal instinct took hold of me for a moment as I jumped on the bed and spread her rear hooves apart to see her mare hood, but was able to stop myself before I could preceded any further. ‘Now now, boy settle down’ I thought with a slight chuckle. Back under control I licked my lips hungry and slowly made my way towards her lovely bits.

[This is the safe area]

The next few parts were a blur. At first I was mere moments away from going down on her, but then found my lips smacking against the cold wet earth. In between I could hear the sound of my door being slammed open and someone shouting something, but again it happened too fast for me to make sense out of it. Finally I tried to get up and get a look as to where I was, but soon found that I couldn’t as a massive weight forced me to stay down. My entire vision was surrounded by a multitude of different fur coats followed by the wet sensation of water and finished off with the overbearing stench of wet/sweaty dog fur.

It took the dogs on top of me a few moments to regain their wits, but soon began to get up lessening the weight that threatened to crush me. Finally the last of them got up and helped me up while they brushed the mud that coated my fur. Getting most of it off I shooed them away to allow the rain to get the rest off while also taking in my surroundings. I was outside that much easy to note, but soon recognized the area to be the entrance to our warren. Noticing that my pack was staring at something I forced my way towards the front, since most of them were far taller than I, and was astonished at the sight before me.

The Draconequus before me was described quite accurately in the book in that it had the head of a pony while the rest was a mix match of different creatures. Though what made him more astonishing was the gray aura that surrounded his very body. The aura that not only covered his body but a few feet away from him glowed with radiance that brighten the area much better than the sun could on this cloudy day. Standing in front of him was a dark coated Pegasus with a white mane and piercing crimson eyes. Clutched between her muzzle was a slightly bloodied katana, the rain long since wiping most of the blood off, and surrounding her on all four sides were the dead bodies of the five guards I posted.

Both sides just stood there: the mare holding a glare that dared anyone to challenge/approach her while the dogs spanned out to not only protect me, but to show that they were not afraid to attack. For what felt like a few minutes the glow from the Draconequus began to dim down casting the area into a low darkness. Eventually the glow was gone and he opened his eyes to see a small army against his two man team. Though he showed little to no care as he now looked amongst us with an even expression. As if searching for a needle in a haystack he soon found it as he stared right at me.

I didn’t let it get to me as I strolled over towards him. My pack tried to stop me, but with one glance they stopped and instead surrounded the two. The Draconequus matched me as he strolled over towards me while on the way lightly tapping the pegasus’s shoulder to ease up though she didn’t she still acknowledge him with a curt nod. Meeting each other halfway we stood in silence as we sized each other up.

I broke the silence first since I couldn’t get anything from his stoic like features “Drake I presume?” I asked while holding my hand out to be shook.

He didn’t even acknowledge my hand and said “Yes and I can presume you’re the Alpha of this clan”

Bringing my hand back towards my side “Yes, but you do not need to refer to me as such” I said with a cheery smile and continued “Now my name is Clayton and what is your other name?”.

His eyes glinted with interest, but was able to keep himself in check “Rob” he responded back “Short for Robert”.

I could tell he was lying “You are a fairly below average lair”.

“True, but I see no reason to give you any other name that may or may not be my own”.

“Unless in the event that we may know one another”.

“I know who my friends are and sadly you’re not one of them”. I tsked mentally in annoyance, but decided to back off for the moment. “So how’s the game treating you so far?” he asked casually.

“Oh a pain at first, but I’m quite the...convincing sort of individual that also knows how to make do with what resources one gets” I said casually as well. “And you?”

“Wouldn't know. Technically I’m not apart of the game, but yet at the same time I am”.

“That hardly makes much sense, but no point brooding over things that don’t add up”

“For the time being anyways, but you and I both know I didn’t come here for small talk” he said with slight anger in his voice.

“Ah yes about your friend” I said with a nod and continued “I’m afraid all it is, is a slight misunderstanding”. He raised a brow in skepticism but elected to say nothing. Taking the opportunity I explained “You see at night we forbid the townsfolk from entering the mines and your friend was just close enough to the perimeter that the dogs thought she was trying to sneak in. So naturally they did what was instructed and captured her. But I can assure you that no harm was brought onto her”.

“That’s good to know” he stated simply.

‘I’ll give him one thing he does know how to keep his emotions in check’ I thought with a slight grimace at his response. Forcing a pleased smile I said “Yes and with that business out of the way I shall personally go fetch your companion and bring her here”. Turning towards the entrance I began a steady pace, the dogs parting ways to let me through, though stopped in surprise as I noticed the dark coated mare standing in front of the entrance. Shifting my gaze back towards where she was suppose to be I soon realized that she no longer stood there.

My pack realizing my sudden movements put two and two together as it dawned upon them that the mare switched positions faster than the eye could see. Making sure to show no sign of fear or worry I took a steady breath of air and turned to look at the Draconequus once more. “Is something the matter? Or is there more you wish to discuss?”

“Not really” he said lazily though still kept that angry tone. “It’s just a policy of mine to be wary around those who lie to me”.

Not flinching in the slightest I tried to say “Lying? Me? Why I’d never-”

“‘You see at night we forbid the townsfolk from entering the mines and your friend was just close enough to the perimeter that the dogs thought she was trying to sneak in. So naturally they did what was instructed and captured her’ were your exact words correct?” he said.

I nodded and he continued “Yet I too was at both of the fields the previous night, accompanied by a pony from the Solitude, yet was not bothered or disturbed”.

“Ah well I ordered the dogs to give you permission to walk about freely including those that accompanied you”.

He nodded in understanding to that part though continued “That could be true, but then why only me and not the rest of my friends? You obviously know what we look like”.

“Yes but most of the dogs here are poorly educated. To give them such complex order as such would be to difficult or could have the risk of them screwing it up. Where as since it is you, a different species altogether, it is rather simple than say your Pegasus friend over there”.

“Smell and sight” he stated. Noticing my confusion he continued “Canine have a great sense of smell allowing them to be able to know if the scent is familiar or not while also having great sight in low-lighting/nighttime vision allowing them to make out who or what is out there.” I mentally tsked in silence though showed no signs of backing down from my statement. “Yet you wish for me to believe that the dogs just happened to mistaken my companion as one of your slaves?” he asked mockingly.

“It matter not how or why it happened since in the end what happened happened” I said completely blowing him off. “What matter now is that we return your friend for you safe and sound, but unless you let us go get her for you then we seem to be at an impasse”.

“No since there’s a third option” he said while casually strolling past me. “You wait up here and I’ll go get her.

Timed slowed down to a crawl as I planned out my next move. Considering he wasn’t going to listen to me anymore let alone trust me I’d have to resort to plan B. Ever so quietly reaching into my pouch I felt the familiar cold touch of the bracelet. Turning on the spot to face him I then dashed over towards him aiming for his green colored lizard leg’s ankle. He was too slow to react as the bracelet clamped shut around it. “Vincio!” I cried out the two bracelets glowing to life as the magical links connect to one another. “Sit!” I command just as his fist was about to connect with my face. Merely a centimeter away his hand shaked ever so lightly as he tried to resist my command though it slowly went back to his side as he sat on the cold muddy ground.

He was shocked to say the least as he tried to get up, but found that he couldn’t. He eventually put two and two together as he examined the bracelet trying to find a way to remove it himself. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you” I said while wagging my finger side to side.

“Why’s that?” he asked skeptically with anger all to present in his voice as his hands felt around the bracelet for a means to unclasp it.

“Quite simple really, I used magic to bind your life to mine. My life is your life, my will is your will. Disobey me and I’ll let you die. Betray me and you die. Remove that bracelet with out my command and you die. Remove my bracelet and you die.”

He gave me a death glare that last for a full minute until “Pfft” he slipped as his facial features began to turn into sly smile. A low yet audible laugh filled the area for all to hear.

Annoyed I gripped his throat causing him to choke rather than to continue his laughing fit. “Oh do pray tell what’s so funny? Is it that you finally realized your place and have cracked or is it the insanity within you finally coming out?” I snarled at him showing him who ran the show is the first step into making people submit.

As if unhindered by my grip he asked “When did it occur to you that I ever left my spot to begin with?”

I blinked. I blinked a second time. Then blinked again once more. Again and again I continued to blink as if hoping I would wake up from this dream. Grasped in my hands was not the Draconequus, but in his place sat Scaredy. As if waking from the same dream he began to struggle against my grip. Releasing him and turning around there I saw the Draconequus standing there arms crossed with an angry yet smug look on his face.

“That’s not possible” I simply stated as fear and dread began to creep into my forethoughts.

“Yet it still happened” he responded back.

I tried to think of something, anything to say to him that would justify my previous action yet I drew a blank. The detail of the illusion still haunted my thoughts as I tried to push them away and say something rather than to continue standing there like an idiot.

A low splash sound brought me out of my thoughts as my ears located where the source of the sound came from. Though it was rather unnecessary as I saw who made the noise as the Draconequus slowly made his way towards me. An instinctual fear began to rise in me clouding all my thoughts with one simple idea: Flee. Another step he took towards me which I mimicked with a step back. We soon fell into a dance of sorts: me taking a step back while he pressed forwards towards me.

“S-s-s-someone s-s-stop him!” I cried out one paw shaking in fear as I pointed towards him. There was no response. I turned to see what could be stopping them from listening to me only to gasp in surprise.

Nothing. Nothing as far as the eye could see. An endless black void surrounded the area except the small arena like landscape we were originally in except the ground was hard instead of muddy and no rain fell down from the heavens.

My heart began to beat loud enough for my ears to hear perfectly. My breathing began to pick up at a fast steady rate. ‘Can’t think need to calm down’ a single yet sensible thought burst through the haze that surrounded my mind. A deep breath later and my thoughts were manageable once more. “This is just another one of his illusions” I muttered to myself as a plan began to formulate in my mind albeit a poor one. Grasping my left pinkie finger while clenching my teeth I mentally prepared myself for the task I was about to do. Ready as I’d ever be with a power yet swift motion a loud audible snap echoed out as my pinky bent at an odd angle. A hiss of pain escaped my lips followed by a list of curses were garbled out.

A smug smile formed as I panted from exhaustion ‘There that should have done it’ I thought, but soon lost my smile as the landscape remained the same. Flabbergasted I tried to think of another plan until I realized that the Draconequus was standing right in front of me. He was much taller than I thought he was as he seemed to tower over me like a giant. His blue and purple ires eyes stared down at me with displeasure. Like a person stepping on an ant I too felt so insignificantly small compared to the being before me.

My body trembled in fear while my feet planted themselves firmly to the ground. I tried to think of something to get me out of this situation, but any plan or idea that popped into my head seemed to just as quickly disperse back into the recess of my mind. Without even realizing it my hand made its way towards the hidden dagger that was strapped to my back. He raised one brow at what I was doing, but soon put two and two together and...smiled.He...he was daring me to. Anger and desperation took hold of me as I quickly unsheathed my blade and made to stab him in the shoulder.

The blade was a stiletto made of something akin to steel though proved to be more durable with a sharp point able to pierce through iron and steel quite easily. The handle was made of silver in the image of a snake that seemed to always looked polished and clean. It was a gift from my patron which had the ability to paralyze my foes with nothing more than a simple scratch so that I may either tie them up and make them my own or to give them a quick painless death.

Without batting an eyelash he simply grasped the blade between his index fingers while using little to no force in stopping the blade from continuing its path. Baffled I tried to release the blade from his grasp, or at the very least give him a light cut, but soon found that I couldn’t make it even budge. A simple flick of his wrist was all it took for the blade to shatter into pieces.

I fell back to the ground staring at the once proud weapon that was now reduced to a can opener. I looked at him my mind unable to comprehend what was going on anymore. ‘No this can’t be real! This is nothing more than an illusion!’ I screamed hoping that if I believe in those words it would be true.

As if hearing my thoughts he said “Is this an illusion or is this reality?” followed by a flick of his tail that lightly tapped against my broken pinkie.

An explosion of pain engulfed my entire left hand forcing me into the fetal position for a brief moment. Once the pain died down I chucked my broken weapon towards him in the hopes of it still being able to work. He responded back by simple leaning to the right which was exactly what I wanted him to do as I sprung from my spot, my right claw aimed at his neck. My claws able to penetrate the earth with little resistance could easily tear through flesh as well. Nearly a few seconds away he showed no sign of concern, which was unnerving, but it was a chance I needed to take.

By now I should have felt the warm trickle of blood running down my claws. I should have felt the spray of blood covering my body from head to toe. I should have at least felt his flesh being ripped. I should have felt many of things, but alas I did not as my claws ripped through nothing. No not nothing it was more akin to slicing at a cloud of mist as his body momentarily was distorted but soon regain his mist like form.

Without a moments notice he simply vanished an erie chuckle escaping his lips as he disappeared. All presence of his existence was gone leaving me in this area alone. Searching the area to be sure I was able to confirm my suspicion of him being gone though that now posed a new problem. How the hell was I suppose to get out of here!?

Though before that I had to worry about my injury first. Reaching into my pack I pulled out a roll of gauze and set it to the top for a moment. Clenching my teeth I snapped my finger back into place and wrapped it up to another finger to keep it stable. With that task out of the way I returned the gauze back into my sack and looked around the area once more.

Nothing noticeable popped out so with no better idea I picked a random direction and began to walk. Time seemed to stretch out much like the area as it kept going on and on for ever. After what felt like hours I decided to rest while chewing on a small emerald. While I was resting I scratched into the dirt of an idea of what the area looked like, but soon found it pointless. Feeling rejuvenated I began my journey once more.

A few minutes passed, with nothing changing whatsoever, until I saw something out of the corner of my eyes. Curious I walked over towards it only to stumble back in surprise. Rubbing my eyes and relooking at the spot once more it finally occurred to me why this place seemed to go on endlessly.

A poor excuse for a map laid sketched there in the dirt...the very same one I made not even ten minutes ago. Reaching into my pack once more I grabbed a well size gem and chucked it at high/far as I could muster. A few seconds passed and I began to think I was just being paranoid as well as somehow retraced my steps until something smacked into the ground a few feet behind me. Turning towards the noise I was not only taken back at the gem laying there on the ground but also at the figure that appeared before me.

There standing before me was a man I thought I’d never see again in my lifetime...it was my father.

Alpha Vs Draconequus pt 2

Author's Note

Whelp here it is. Sorry for the long wait, but I can't afford to do bad this semester so I'm focusing most of my time on studying. I'll try to write if there's any free time, but don't be surprised if it takes a while.

Like I said in the last chapter the next few will be rather dark for character building. Of cross I'll try to throw some comedy in there-and the comedy will come back later-, but please do bear with me for a few chapters.

Alpha Vs Draconequus pt 2

Alpha's Pov:

My father was a tall man about five foot eleven with forest green eyes and silky blonde hair. He wore a dark brown jacket with pants sharing the same color and a tannish brown button up shirt with shiny black shoes.

An image flashed from my past that showed a picture of the man before me. Wearing the exact same clothes while standing next to a beautiful blonde haired woman with sea blue eyes and a pure white dress with a tannish sunhat. Held affectionately between the both of them was a child no older than a few months wrapped up in a robin blue blanket.

From what my memory served of me he rarely wore his clothes loosely as the buttons on his shirt were unbutton about half way revealing a simple white undershirt while his steel gray tie hung loosely around his neck.

He was in his study a bottle of brandy in one hand and a glass in the other. His clothes were worn loosely as he stumbled around his office. He reached into a drawer and pulled out a beautifully crafted locket. Opening the locket he gazed at the image with longing and soon began to cry.

It was unbelievable how much time had past as I now stood at equal height where as before he seemed to tower over me. In fact he looked exactly the same as the last time I saw him...which was in his study where he was poisoned.

Sitting in his chair was his motionless body with a glass forever gripped in one hand while his choice of drink was on the floor. Its flavor forever lost as the carpet soaked it up.

His eyes locked with mine and the world seemed to stop at that very moment. Without having to say a word I knew exactly what he wanted to convey to me. The disappointment in what I had become, the regret in how he treated me, the anger of what I did and the sadness in what he had to do...wait had to do?

He took a step towards me albeit rather clumsy and slowly, but a step none the less. I stood there unsure of what to make of this. I knew for a fact that I was still under the Draconequus’ illusion, but had no means of escape. I also knew that pain felt very real in here and could-possibly- cause me to die not only here, but in reality as well. Before I even realized it he stood before me, hands reaching out to grab my throat. Without even thinking I shoved him away, but used more force than intended. A loud and sickening crack echoed out as his arms, legs and head bent at a new angle.

Shaking like a leaf I fell to the ground and stared at my paws. These new hands of mine just like the old killed my father once more.

A young bruised child no older than seven scoured through the gardener’s shack. Finding a box of rat poison he soon scrambled off towards his father’s study. Reaching into his father’s liquor cabinet-while wearing disposable gloves-he places a few drops of the poison into his father’s favorite drink. With the deed done he returns everything back while throwing the gloves into a fire and returns to his room. Only to find his father there waiting for him, a scowl present on his face.

I-I-I didn’t have a choice. He continued to beat me harder and harder to the point where I couldn’t feel anymore...to the point where I wanted the pain to end. And seeing that no one in that house of mine wasn’t going to do anything to stop him, I had to take matters into my own hands.

The police sealed off the area and began to look for clues as to how this could have happen. Eventually they gathered a substantial amount of evidence to take one of the gardeners in for questioning. With no alibi and being that the murder weapon came from their shed they convicted him of the murder of my father.

While the case was going on I felt something that would change my life forever...the thrill of being caught. The thrill that I could get away with my father’s death. The thrill that I was in control of the event and was able to point people away from me...I felt like a god amongst men.

The unnatural sound of bones snapping brought me out of my memories as I watched my father’s corpse stand back up. His legs were bent at an unnatural angle-much like his head and shoulders-, but it didn’t stop him from wobbling towards me again. Tentatively standing back up I got into a simple stance as I waited for my fat-... no for that thing to get close enough where I could rip it to pieces. Only a few seconds away I got ready to lunge at it until I heard something from behind me.

Rolling by my fat- it. I nearly dodge both it and the new creature before me. It was a woman about five foot four around the age of thirty with black luscious hair, light brownish skin and brown eyes. She was wearing a red cock tail dress with matching red lipstick that added beauty to her already stunning features.

A hispanic woman in maid clothes is comforting my father by being a shoulder to cry on. She whispers comforting words while lightly stroking his back. Noticing a child watching she beckons him over-a kind smile splayed across her face-as she begins to comfort both father and son.

Her name was Liana at first a simple maid, but soon turn into something more.

She walked down the aisle with a beautiful white dress and a veil to cover her face. The father waited at the end of the aisle and stood next to his son and a priest.

She was there for my father and I when we had lost hope. She was there for us the good and the worst of times. She was someone I thought I could trust...until that fateful night.

A few years had past after my fathers death. Restless one night I awoke and headed to the kitchen to get something to drink. Walking by my father’s study I could hear the sound of scuffling. Curious I peaked into the room to see my stepmother half naked lying on my father’s desk. Standing over and kissing her passionately was my father’s best friend/business partner Ralph. I froze in place as I watched and heard what they said.

‘I can’t believe how easy it was to get that man to fall in love with me’ said Liana, while laughing though an occasionally moan of pleasure escaped her lips.

‘Yes and with him out of the way the company is as good as ours’ said Ralph, as he continued to feel her up. ‘All we have to do is get the brat to agree to let us take care of it until he’s old enough’ he said then asked ‘Think you can do it?’.

Switching positions she now stood on all fours on my father’s desk as she cried out ‘Yes, yes of course I can now hurry up I’m almost-’. I didn’t stay to listen any longer as I ran.

Tears streaming down my face as I tried to find a safe place to hide. Turning a corner too sharp I tripped and stumbled into the wall hard. However instead of stopping there it opened revealing a hidden room. Before I could get my bearing the door slammed shut leaving me trapped and momentarily blind until some lights turned on. They weren’t very bright, but it still allowed me to see more clearly than before. It originally looked rather spacious as it could have held a small party though because of the different plants, bottles, chains and...adult toy it now was only capable of holding two to three people max.

Shocked and surprised I began to look in more depth of the room and was rewarded with a journal that belong to my father. In his grief he constructed the room as to have a place to let off some...excess steam/stress and would coerce some of the maids by paying them off. Though by the way he wrote in his journal he made sure no one would ever know about this room.

I didn’t know what to think or do at the moment, but taking the journal I was able to ascertain a way out and went back to my room to read more of my father’s journal.

I had trusted that woman and she had played my father and I like a fiddle. And for what the rights to a stupid business!? Access to all the money instead of some that was still much better than what most people could ever hope to earn!

None of that even matter to me. In the end the thing that made me furious was that she thought she could control me like my father...but I’d show her...I’d show her and Ralph who was really in control...Of who was really in charge.

A year past. I was about fourteen though bony for my age my height was beginning to bear fruit. Ralph and Liana were out in the garden talking about business is what they told me, but I knew what it was really about. With their talk done they said their goodbyes-Ralph groping her ass before he left-while Liana retired to her room.

Everything was ready and in place as I waited a few minutes before knocking at her door. Telling me to enter I did as instructed and offered her a cup of warm tea to help wash away the soreness of her days work. Thanking me she took a small sip and flashed me a heart warming smile. I waited knowing it would only take a few minutes for it to work and was soon rewarded as she fell onto her bed completely knocked out.

I remember how I dragged her into my father’s secret room and tied her up. How I tortured her in a variety of ways from pain to humiliation to pleasure and anything else in between...I did it all...and loved every second of it.

A month had past when the police notified us that her body was found. Her body had scratches, burns and bruises which they told us the sick psychotic bastard tortured, raped then killed her. Of course I acted sad about finding out about her demise, but inside I felt the familiar rush of excitement that I felt during my father investigation.

Another shuffling sound caught my attention. Another familiar face revealing itself. It was Frank, sweet, kind Frank. He stood as tall as six foot five with a very muscular body, a clean shaved head and forest green eyes. He was an ex-convict--who was wrongly placed in jail for a few misdemeanors--,but had a heart of gold. That is until I used him to help torture, kill and later frame Liana’s death on him.

Frank stood before me as he screamed with untold rage. I sat on the park bench with an indifferent look as he threatened to go to the cops. I laughed and then had to explain the situation to him. How that I took every precaution in making sure not even one strand of my hair would ever be found in that room and that the only thing the police would find is evidence of him being in there. I left him there shell shocked though I did leave him a parting gift of a bottle full of rat poison.

Frank lunged at me, but was easily dodged. Liana and my father tried to double team me though I was easily able to send both of them to the ground The trio from my past continued to come at me while I continued to starve them off.

More scuffing could be heard.

Even more familiar faces reveal themselves.

Ralph, Linda, Mitchell, Sarah. I continued to dance around my adversaries only occasionally having to fend them off. Quick punches or kicks was all it took to knock them down though they always refused to stay down.

Molly, Andrew, Tom, Amanda. No longer able to dodge I had no other choice but to fight. Claws ripped through flesh while my strength tossed them about like ragdolls. I fought and fought and fought and fought, but they never stopped. They just kept coming.

More and more familiar faces continued to come. Each more familiar than the last, but I was unable to stop and think about who or what I did to them as I continued to fight. For if I stopped for even a moment it would be the end of me.

The sins of my past was never ending as soulless eyes illuminated the black canvas area. Hot searing pain erupted from my right leg. Glancing down I could see one of the many faces from my past clamping down on my leg. Trickles of blood began to seep through his teeth as a small puddle began to form below us. Gritting my teeth I ignored him and continued to fend off the rest. That is until another flash of pain erupted from my left leg. Howling in pain I could feel similar teeth sinking into my flesh as my life fluids began to drain towards the earth.

Fighting through the pain I continued to hack, slash and overpower my sin’s until one of them jumped onto my back. Another howl of pain escaped my lips as it’s teeth sunk into my left shoulder. I began to feel light headed as my life fluids rolled down the back of my pelt. Reaching behind me I threw the creature off my back though it didn’t go empty handed as a part of my flesh and fur accompanied it. Tears began to form and roll down my muzzle obscuring my vision.

The world around me began to spin causing me almost to fall though was unable to as the creatures held me up while taking bites out of my fur and flesh. Another howl attempted to escape my muzzle, but I was unable to muster the voice necessary to do so. The world around me began to go dark while a chilling sensation rocked me to the core. Barely able to see I attempted to at least take one down with me, but soon stopped as that only made my arms a bigger target.

As I stood there waiting for the pain to end a loud crack echoed out for all to hear. “It appears-” came Drake’s voice as more and more cracking sounds could be heard. “-your time is up”, as an almighty glass shattering sound roared out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awoke back to the real world. The skies still grey-though more light illuminated them-with only a light shower raining down on us. Looking around I could see my clan, some staring at me with concern while the majority eyed the Draconequus with a warily look. My vision began to grow fuzzy while what strength I had was gone, forcing me to one knee. Blinking it away I looked at the Draconequus once more though his eyes were different from what I remember as they took on the appearance of a pinwheel spinning. That didn’t last long as the spinning stopped and with a simple blink of his eyes they were back to normal.

“So tell me, did you have a pleasant dream?” he asked me, knowing exactly what horror I went through.

I tried to find my voice, but ended up empty handed. Unable to support myself any longer I feel to the cold muddy ground. It felt rather nice given what I had experience not a few moments ago. My clan was shell shocked as they stood there-uncertainty in their eyes-as they decided what to do. With fear grasping at their hearts they fell to one knee and bowed before their new Alpha. Anger and sadness welled up in me as the bloody cowards went against everything that I taught them.

Though one remained loyal. My Beta bellowed out a war cry and charged head first towards Drake. It brought some satisfaction to see him go, showing that at least my influence affected one of them. However that didn’t last long. Just before Pace could tear Drake to pieces, he ducked and smacked Pace’s leg hard with his tail. Pace was unable to keep his balance as he fell face first to the ground though Drake wasn’t done yet. Following the motion Drake swung his tail back around and smacked Pace in the back sending him hard towards the ground.

I waited for the sound of Pace hitting the floor, but it never came. Looking around I barely caught sight of him flying out of an orange circle. Where he then soared towards the ground only to fly out of a purple circle and then into a red one. He was thrown about every which way-his speed increasing with each second-until Drake had enough of this game. Firing a blob towards the wall once more Pace flew out and crashed into the opposite wall hard, leaving a decent crater as he flopped to the ground. Even through that ordeal he was alive-his chest moving up and down-, but he was clearly down for the count.

My attention was brought back as a shadow loomed over me. Drake had crossed the distance between us without my knowing as he gave me a cold hearted stare. “It appears that this is check mate”.

Drake’s PoV:

Though that one liner was beyond lame it felt right at the same time. “Five days” I said, catching him off guard. “Five days is all I’m giving you and your pack to leave. After that I’ll make you”. With that said I turned and walked towards the entrance of the warren. The sea of dogs parted way as I walked by them. They didn’t dare move or look at me in fear of their new Alpha.

“No” said Clayton, just as I hit the halfway point. Turning to look I could see him trying to stand up. He was breathing heavily as it took all of his strength just stand on all four. Being cautious I casually walked back to his side. With a gentle push from my foot I knocked him back onto the ground. He grunted in pain as his breaths came out ragged.

“And pray tell do you mean no?” I asked, mockingly. “I won. You lost. Be grateful I’m sparing your life and the life of your clan”.

“I will not obey to the likes of you”, he told himself more so than me. “Nor a god, my father or any other. I choose my destiny not blindly follow the whim of another”. His eyes were hollowed though held a madness in them. “I shall rebuild my empire no matter how many times it’ll crumble. AND NOTHING WILL STAND IN MY WAY” he roared, reaching for his dagger he tried to pierce my foot, but stumbled as the blade fell out of his hand. He tried to reach out to it, but my tail beat him to it.

Shoving the blade into the recess of hammerspace I shook my head in disappointment. “That’s fine I suppose. I don’t think one dog will affect the town that much, however as leader MY clan will listen to their Alphas order” glancing around I could the see the dogs had conflicted looks, but eventually shook their head in agreement.

Then a mad laugh filled the air. It was coming from Clayton as he laughed and laughed. Eventually he stopped and snarled, “You are no different from those back home that thought they could control not only me, but everyone around them. Using peace, unity and a fake reason you force those around you into your decision without asking them! Nor caring how it will affect them. No, you just take and take and take till there’s nothing left! And leave them to their own demise!”

That was hardly true. I was just following their means of leadership: the strongest makes the decision.

An excuse is still an excuse even if it's justified.

It wasn’t an excuse! And even if it was I’m in a new world where the rules from the old one don’t apply.

So then because you are not from this world either the rules don’t apply to you?

What? No, of course they do.

But only when it’s convenient?

No, all the time.

Then why don’t the dogs get a say in what they want to do? Supposing you follow the rules from Equestria then they should get a say in the end.

They lost their right to choose when they chose to enslave the ponies.

You mean after the ponies enslaved the diamonds dog here, that we're also here first.

That doesn’t mean their excused for their actions.

The same applies for the ponies.

But the diamond dogs have been doing it first.

It doesn’t matter who threw the stone first, only that it was thrown. You are also assuming that all diamond dogs are bad and that all ponies are good.

Well no some of the town folks here aren’t exactly good, but-

So then you're saying that some diamond dogs are good too, since some ponies are bad that means some dogs are good.

Yes, I mean no. I mean maybe.

So then why are you siding with the ponies who are to blame for this situation to begin with?

It’s because...

Is it because you like them more?

No. It’s not about who I like more, but because I have to save my friend, Derpy.

You already accomplish that the minute you showed Clayton who was stronger, but you’re not stopping there. You’re asserting yourself into a conflict that never affected you. I ask once more why are you doing this?

It’s...I...

Is it because your patron sympathizes with the pony race and you wish to be on her good side? Or because you wish to get on the princesses good side as well? Or maybe because you want your friends to except you?

No, it’s none of those reason! It’s because-

Do you see yourself as a crusader of justice that must help the innocent and punish the wicked.

N-

Is it out of self satisfaction and praise that you seek? Maybe acceptance or acknowledgement for your ‘good’ deeds?

Of course no-

Then why are you doing this? What is motivating you to go up and beyond what was expected of yo-

BECAUSE I DON’T KNOW! I roared at the internal voice until it sunk in.

Clayton picked up on my look and cried out in laughter, “Has it sunk in finally!? Do you finally realize that you’re merely a fellow man amongst men. That you are no better than the others back home” and with a crazed smile he finished “That you’re no better than me”.

He continued to laugh his mad laugh while the internal voice in my head continued to pester me with never ending questions. Unable to handle the voice and laughter I snapped “Shut up!” Pouncing on Clayton I mustered all of my strength and began to punch him in the face. With each blow the anger that was bubbling within me soon began to simmer down. As I delivered my last punch a new anger and irritation began to slowly boil. His face was completely unscathed.

Kneeling over him I panted in exsertion. “Oh the look on your face is so priceless” he cackled. I glared daggers at him, but that didn’t stop him, “Like a mighty king who has everything he ever wanted only for it to be gone the next day. Such a wonderful expression to see on someone who held himself as high and might only to then become nothing more than a faceless face in the crowd”.

I had enough. My anger reached a new level as a red glare invaded my vision. My hands grasped around his neck as I lightly put pressure on it. It didn't deter him from shutting up and had the opposite effect as he laughed madly once more. “Shut up” I said, in a dangerously low voice though it did nothing to stop him. “I said shut up!” tightening my grip his laughter stopped for a moment as he struggled to breath. For a few precious moments he stopped, but then resumed once more. “SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” with each shout I’d lift his body up and slam him hard on the ground, a small crater forming under his body. “I swear that if you don’t, I’ll end your life here and now!”

He choked out one final laugh and croaked, “No you won’t”.

Squeezing even further I looked straight into his mad eyes, “Do you really want to try me”.

“Sure because I know I’m right and do you want to know why?” he asked. He didn’t wait for my response as he continued, “It’s because you’re to nice, I can see it in your eyes. You may boast/think about how easy it could be to kill or finish anyone off, but the underlying truth is that you won’t kill unless under extreme circumstance and even then you’d shy away” his mad smile returning in full force. “And that will be also your downfall”.

I envisioned myself doing otherwise. I could see and feel his life slowly fading away as the light in his eyes faded away. The beat of his heart slowly died down while the air he breathed was his last. I could feel tricklets of blood on the tip of my fingers as they pierce through his flesh while the heat of his body slowly became cold to the touch.

I could feel, hear, smell and see it all, but in the end it didn’t matter. For no matter how real my sense perceived the event happening before me the underlying truth still remaind. It was nothing more than a vision. My hands still grasped his neck, but refused to tighten any further. I willed every ounce of my being towards the task, but something prevented me from doing so.

Oh and why does he have to die?

Because he’s insane and dangerous to everyone around him.

Odd, last time I checked you weren’t a doctor nor a psychiatrist. So how did you diagnose him as crazy or dangerous, Doc?

Based on what he’s done and what he plans to do.

Odd this sounds more like about you than him.

...WHAT!?

Think about it. Your goal is ‘bringing’ balance to the world, but the very idea seems crazy to anyone normal. And the means to fix it: Chaos fighting chaos to create order? What kind of backwards logic are you using? That’s like me saying ‘I’m going to get ice cold by throwing a bucket of ice on it’.

Okay maybe from a normal perspective I agree, but at least my insane goal isn’t dangerous or detrimental to anyone involved.

Danger is not defined as what damage you can cause, but what threat you can have on others, Baka. Look at you. You took down a whole warren of dogs by merely using an illusion on the Alpha. You struck fear into a small army with nothing more than a look. In my book that’s grade A danger right there.

But I wasn’t using it for evil or personal gain. I used my power to stop him for the greater good.

What is good and evil? Or right and wrong for that matter?

Good is bringing the most happiness to everyone involved while evil is bringing the most unhappiness.

So what you’re, the master scaler that scales and see’s who the most happiest amongst the crowd or vice versa? Or is this an average and we see who’s the highest? Hell if we’re going to do that we might as well make it into a game. It’ll be called Who’s Happy or Sad where we’ll bring someone random from the crowd and they’ll have to guess the percentage of happy/sad on a randomly picked individual.

No it can’t be individually based it has to be an average of everyone affected.

Oh if that’s so why aren’t we using that scale right now to solve this issue? Or did you already and that’s why you’re siding with the ponies?

There are more ponies than dogs so-

I thought we were measuring based on ‘how much happiness is created’ not by how many individuals are happy. You’re assuming that just because the ponies have a majority in number means that they’ll have a higher average number in happiness, but just because there’s more of them doesn’t mean jack shit.

Who in their right mind would be happy about being a slave?

Good question, did you ask them?

What? No, why would I? Of course they wouldn’t-

There you go again making another assumption. I swear if this was a ‘who’s the biggest ass award’ you’d win hands down. The point is that you didn’t. You continued to base things off of what you’ve seen and nothing more.

I fail to see the problem when most of their faces show signs of suffering.

What are you retarded? The point is that you didn’t ask. You just jumped to your own conclusion and asserted yourself into the problem.

Only because I had to! Derpy got kidnapped as such it became my problem.

No saving her was your problem. Solving the situation between them was their own.

And what was I suppose to do!? Tell them that I’m sorry and...I can’t...help them…But I did didn’t I. I did tell them that I couldn’t and that I’d send help as soon as we could.

That’s right you did. You let your anger get the better of you and you made a rash decision. Because of your nature you let it control you into thinking it was YOUR job to save not only your friend, but the town as well.

‘Your kindness will be your downfall’ Clayton’s word echoed in my head.

And he was right it did. Because of me we stayed here long enough for my friends to get into harms way. Because of my weakness, Clayton was able to use it against me-though not as he predicted-but still, he was able to cut me deeper than any blade could. Because of me I almost lead myself down a path I wasn’t ready to commit. Because of me I was almost my own downfall.

I felt my hands release Clayton’s throat and slump to my side. Unable to handle the uncertainty that plagued my mind I continued to kneel over him as the rain relentlessly fell from the heavens. The once burning sense of justice that steeled my heart flickered away into nothing as I desperately tried to light it once more.

I remember at one point stating that I understood why the dogs continued slavery. How I told myself unless it affected me-or anyone close-I didn’t really care. Yet here I was doing what others have been doing. Sure under a noble cause, but could I handle the burden of doing so. Was I willing to continue to go above and beyond saving every and all slaves or just when it was ‘convenient’? Was I willing to inflict pain and horror to strike fear into my adversarios or just give them a quick and painless death? Was I willing to reach out to them and show them the error of their ways or just to leave them to their own demise?

Was I willing to be a hero or a villain?

Those terms had a foreign feeling in the pit of my stomach. I never saw myself as one or the other. To me I was just the guy who sat in the middle. Neither afraid to do wrong when it brought right and to do right even if it brought wrong. But as of right now I wasn’t sure anymore as to where I stood. Was Clayton right that I held myself so high that for a moment I considered myself as a knight of justice? Or was I a villain much like him as I tried to force my reality onto another?

For that matter where my thoughts even reliable now? Was my way of thinking the ‘right’ and kind way-as many of folks have told me-or was it a perverted byproduct of the power that I now possessed? Poisoning my mind and twisting my thoughts to better fit the situation that I’d find myself in. Perhaps I wasn’t though. Maybe my thoughts and feelings were so foreign-so hard to explain with normal words-that I was just needlessly question myself. Needlessly beating myself up while trying to justify my actions when they didn’t need to be.

Shaking off some of the doubts that plagued my mind I was able to come to a conclusion: Clayton needed to be punished. Perhaps it was a selfish wish on my part. Considering that he kidnapped my friend I felt that it was right, but there was more. He was the spark that started this all. If it wasn’t for him and his interaction with the town things would still be the same. Granted for better or worse, but I’d like to have some optimistic ideas that maybe things would have been different.

In the diary there were signs of the next generation seeing the mistake of the old. Maybe within a year or less they would have realized their mistake and actually made a fair compromise with the dogs. Leading into a new era of peace and harmony, but now that wouldn’t happen. Thanks to Clayton a new deep scare was placed into both sides likely ending any thoughts of working together in harmony.

I tried to think of an appropriate punishment for him, but drew a blank. I tried thinking about what I knew of Clayton: He didn’t like to be controlled or not in charge so maybe I could do something along those lines. As I thought about it more and more ideas began to spring from my mind. Each idea more alluring than the last. Satisfied I gather the chaotic energy surrounding me.

The magic that was considered my life blood avoided me like I was a plague. It was the same random action that it did when I found myself almost defeated by the pack of Diamond dogs a few days ago. I tired to think of why this could be happening, but couldn’t fathom why.

“I’m not allowed to participate in the ‘Chess Game’ I’m just the spectator making sure no one cheats”, Faust’s voice echoed out in my head. Was that the reason why I couldn’t gather my magic? Was Faust preventing me from doing so because it would break the rules and reason why I was here to begin with. Part of me didn’t believe that. If that were the case why hasn’t she contacted me and told me otherwise. On the other hand it’d explain why my powers were not working. Being the one who brought me here and giving me my new form/powers than I wouldn’t doubt she had some sort of backdoor to stop me from going beyond what I was meant to do.

I felt enraged, cheated and upset. If Faust was preventing me from doing so, then I’d have to question why. Wouldn’t she want me to either stop or keep the status quo? Wouldn’t she want me to stop the chess pieces from needlessly bringing harm to this world? Wouldn’t she want me to save both ponies and dogs from themselves?

Or maybe I was simply a pawn stepping over what I was meant to do? I don’t know if there was a rule stating that one god gets one piece or what not, but what if they could? I could just be another needle in a haystack to a grand master scheme that Faust was planning. The thought alone made me want to laugh, yet I couldn’t. Dark thoughts covered my mind with a black fog as the very notion became plausible.

In retrospect it made sense. Like pointed out Chaos fighting Chaos to create harmony was ludicrous and made no sense whatsoever. Not only that, but I wasn’t really needed to do so. With this cluster fuck of a game going on the other pieces were balancing each other and the world-in general-out. Meaning my very presence made no sense unless I was meant for something bigger and grander. And Faust. She’s been around for quite sometime meaning she’s learned many things. Evening being able to put on a fake smile and good hearted nature.

The rational part of me agreed, but my heart cried out no. For some reason no matter how much it made sense or if the pieces fit into place I just couldn’t bring myself to see her as manipulative. If anything she’d be straight up honest with me or only reveal anything if the right question was asked.

So lost in thought I didn’t notice the individual rain drops before me stay in place while everyone in the vicinity remain still as statues. Taking notice I jumped in surprise only for my body to remain in place as I stood behind me in a new body. Looking towards a puddle I was-somehow?-able to get a look at myself only for my eyes to nearly pop out of my skull.

It was my old human body. I looked the same as the day that I left the only difference was that I lacked body hair and any visible genitalia. Also I was naked, but I didn’t feel cold or wet as the rain droplets would move away from my touch. A moment later and I now resided in space. Stars, galaxies, nebulae and whatever else that I neglected to mention floated around me as if I was the center of their universe.

The sight was breath taking to say the least-if not slightly disorienting-but I didn’t take in my surroundings with wonder. Scouring the area I tried to find any signs of the individual who brought me here, but came up with nothing. Keeping my guard up I mentally prepared myself for anything that could happen. Looking around once more I blinked at the being present before me as I tried to process why she was here.

It was Luna. She stood a little away from me as she simply just observed me from afar. It was odd considering we knew one another, but the way she was looking me over said otherwise. About to call out to her I held my tongue as I really got a better look at her. Luna’s coat was the same as I remembered: a dark bluish coat with matching wing and horn with a starie (that moved in a non-existent wind)mane. Though thats where it ended. Her cutie mark-though a picture of the moon-was surrounded by a purple sky then a black one. Her eyes were still a lovely shade of cyan though they now resembled more like feline eyes then pony eyes.

For a moment I thought she was Nightmare Moon in the flesh though I found it unbelievable. The way she presented herself was...uninterested I suppose. She just had a very eerie calm demeanor about her rather than a cold, evil hearted nature like Nightmare Moon. A simple blink of an eye and she now stood as a female human. If I was acting normal I’d have blushed in embarrassment as she stood naked-technically, granted she shared a similar unrevealing naked body like myself-, but at the moment I didn’t care.

I glared at her as she returned me an even look. “Do you wish for power?” she asked, catching me off guard. Another blink of the eye and she was gone. I tensed up as her hands wrapped around my chest while her upper body rest against my back. “If power is what you seek, we can give it to you” she continued, her voice on the verge of seduction though her neutral tone held strong.

“I’d be a fool to not ask what the catch is” I responded back evenly. Brushing her off I turned to look at her. Her uninterested demeanor never changing, causing my teeth to clench in annoyance, “For that matter who are you?”

“We are-” she paused as the fake Luna searched for the right words. “-a memory, a piece, a fragment and a shard of a once power individual”.

“That didn’t answer my question”, I growled at her.

“We find no point answering a question when the answer is already know”, her monotone voice causing my right eye to involuntarily twitch.

Taking a deep breath and releasing it I calmed myself down a bit. “All I got is speculation so unless you’re Nightmare Moon then either say yes or give me a name”.

“We’re not, yet are at the same time. We also do not require a name”, good lord I really want to punch her.

“Fine, whatever”, as I shook my head in annoyance. “What’s the catch then?”

“We wish to be whole”.

“Look I’m really not in the mood for some cryptic bullshit or twenty questions. Either tell me what you want or go the fuck away”.

“We wish for a part of your soul to be whole once more”.

I reeled back in confusion, “You want a part of my soul? First: What? Second: No, seriously what? and finally: How would that even work?”

“We are merely a fragment of who you refer to as Nightmare Moon. A mere sliver of our former self. To be whole once more we either need the other fragments that are scattered all over Equis or a new catalyst may be used. To your second query we just answered”, Oh ha ha someone has jokes. “And for the final query we do not know if it will work, but we have deduced that a fifty one percent chance of success”.

“And the forty nine?’

“We die” her flat tone making it seem like a rather casual conversation to have at dinner parties, celebrations or a wedding. To clarify she finished off, “By ‘we die’ I refer to both we and you”.

...Yeah I really don’t like this idea. I voiced it out as well, “So yeah I don’t think so. The gamble is a bit too risky for my taste”.

Trying to find a way out I walked away from her though didn’t make it far, “Isn’t it though? Weren’t you the one frightened at the prospect of your patron betraying you?” I stopped ready to yell at her for invading my thoughts until she continued, “Besides wouldn’t this be a good way to test your theory”.

I held my tongue and thought about it for a few moments. It wouldn't be the best idea I’ve ever had, but she did have a point. “Let’s say I went through with this and did survive. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’m not expendable, it could just mean I’m not expendable at the moment”.

“Even if that were the case you’d have an ace up your sleeve. A hidden variable that she may not have accounted for”, her offer becoming more and more tempting by the second.

“I...I just can’t”, the black fog continued to cloud my mind as I stumbled for any rational reason why I should not accept her deal.

“And if it were to fail than at least it would be by your own hands rather than someone who’d hide in the shadows”, she whispered into my ear.

I didn’t even care nor reacted to her teleporting behind me once more-her hands seductively wrapping around my upper body as well-as I was too busy trying to search for an answer still. I felt a cold sweat against my brow while my brain worked overtime to lift the fog from my mind. Then all of a sudden I just stopped. With nothing more than a nod she moved to look me in the eyes. She gently raised my head to look into her eyes, “Then you accept our deal?”

I nodded.

“And regardless of the outcome you will be fine and swear to never take back the part of your soul”, she asked with a strangely serious look on her face.

I nodded once more.

“Then we swear to uphold our end and to make sure to use our power for your survival”, with a wave of her hand the endless sea of space was gone and was replaced with a black sea of nothing.

With another wave of her hands magic sickly purple runes lined the area around us. Each rune more complicated than the last as they eerily began to glow. Clenching her hand for a moment it glowed a bright purple flash that died down just as quickly as it came. Unclenching her hand she held a black shard. It was almost unnoticeable thanks to the endless sea of nothing. If it wasn’t from the glow of the runes I’d never had gotten to see a glance of it at all.

Setting it down between us she beckoned me to step closer. Mindlessly I gave into her request and stood in front of the shard as she stood across from me. Focusing on the ritual her arms began to glow the same sickly purple color surrounding us. Reaching towards my chest I asked her in a low voice, “Will it hurt?”

She hesitated for a moment and was considerate enough to give me a sympathetic look, “Yes”. That was the last things I remember apart from an unfathomable pain that caused me to black out.

~~~~~

I awoke from my daze. Grasping at my heart-it beating beyond what was considered safe-as I breathed heavily. I could feel a cold sweat covering my entire body though thanks to the rain no one had noticed. My surroundings were the same the only difference being the looks that I was receiving not only from the dogs, but Silver as well. It was a mixture of curiosity, fear and concern. And I soon understood why.

A cold sensation against my chest made me aware that I was holding something. Moving my hand to get a better look I open my palm up and stared at the items before me. It was a shard that was blacker than the night sky as well as cold to the touch. A black fog surrounded the object giving it a very spine chilling vibe though for some reason I did not fear the little thing. In fact I felt something that could not easily be put to words, but if I had to take an attempt I’d say...whole. As if I were to ever be separated from it I’d feel something was missing.

Then like a wave the memories came to me. It...it had worked. I laughed. I just laughed at how close of a call it was. However I was interrupted by a voice, “What form shall I take?”. It sounded almost identical to the fake Luna, but felt different. She sounded more...life like than before.

Her question was difficult to answer to say the least. Especially at how sudden it was. The shard wasn’t very big and even though magic soul binding of whateverness was simply amazing I knew that I wasn’t going to be getting a suit of armor to wear. Besides it seems my kind relies on mobility so armor-even soulbound-would slow me down or affect my movements.

I also wasn’t going to be able to get any weapon bigger than a dagger since you can’t make something without nothing. It’s just a rule of the universe, which is a ironic considering what I am. And this measly shard would be pushing it to make a dagger alone, but I never liked or trained for close combat. Besides dodging and getting some distance thats the limit of my self training for close quarter situations.

It then hit me. I knew what form it-eh she?- could take. Without even realizing it I began to imagine the item in my mind, knowing that it/she would be able to pick up on the mental image. The shard before me gathered the small black fog around itself and began to move. The once metal like substance in my hand reduced to a pile of black sludge that began to sway back and forth between my palm. After a few moments it soon began to harden in random parts as the basic form began to take shape. The first distinguishable part was the grip fitting nicely into my open palm. Granted the black sludge color was still present I-somehow-knew that wasn’t going to last long.

Distracted by how quickly my new weapon was forming I barely realized that the process was done. In the palm of my hand was a beautiful magnum-a .44 one according to my new random knowledge of firearms-with a midnight black barrel and a moderate blue sapphire grip. The black sleek like metal was perfectly clean to the point where I could see my own reflection. Etched on both sides of the handle was the image of a gibbous moon surrounded by a dark splotch possibly to resemble the night sky.

“Heh, how creative though fitting I suppose” Clayton spoke, as he looked at the sky with a tired sigh.

Popping open the barrel-I noted that it could hold six shots-on the left side, I instinctively spun the barrel to the left three times. With a flick of my wrist it went back into place, but there was more.

(‘But wait there’s more’ lol).

[Oh how original].

The gibbous moon on the left side of my gun changed to that of a new moon. Repeating the process on the right side I was rewarded with the same results. With that done I pulled the hammer back and shot into the air. A loud click sound echoed out for all to hear. I felt a drain of my magic immediately as the shot charged up. Again I wasn’t sure where I was drawing this knowledge from, but at the moment it didn't matter.

“To be done in by a human weapon by another human seems such a waste of what the game was suppose to represent” as a low chuckle escaped his lips.

Another clicked echoed out as more magic was put into my gun.

“Well at least it shall be quick-”, another click. “-and painless”.

I could feel sweat begin to form against my brow as I focused all my magic into containing the shot from firing. I clicked once more my finger weakly pulling back on the hammer as my magic began to waver.

Another click. Just one more and it would be ready, “What are you waiting for just get it over with!” he roared.

Click.

“This is not the end, but merely the beginning” as the barrel aimed right between his eyes.

A flash of lightning arched through the sky.

I pulled the trigger.

A loud deafening boom of thunder almost drowned out the roar of my magnum as it struck him as point blank. A black fog erupted surrounding us momentarily only to than enter into Clayton’s body. He spasmed for only a moment before he went limp, his eyes complete white and hollowed.

I breathed heavily once more as I rested my poor abused body. Though I told my body to get over it after a minute or so as I shakingly stood up. Walking a few feet away my body gave out for a moment causing me to fall. Silver was there in a flash as she supported me. She had a concerned look on her face-which surprised me though maybe not as much as it should have-as she held me up. It was kind of awkward as I towered over her yet her small form was keeping my ass from falling to the ground. Gathering my bearings I thanked her and made my way to the front of the remaining dogs.

Clearing my throat I spoke, “You will go down into the tunnels and release everypony you have down there. After that you will then begin constructing carts or wagons to help you on your trip. You have five days to pack up any essential item for your trip and then you will leave” I let that sink in for a moment and gave them my best glare. “Am I clear?”

They just nodded. I wasn’t surprise. I mean what could they say after witnessing all of that. Only one was brave enough to speak up, “W-w-what about the old Alpha, uh Alpha?” He was a short yellow dog ready to either piss himself, pass out, run the other way or all three. “Will he be alright?”

“He’s fine”, the dog had a relieved smile across his face. “Though he’ll never be the same”. Confused he tried to ask, but fell silent as the sound of someone approaching distracted him.

Clayton’s head was facing down as he slumped his way over towards us. The yellow dog was ecstatic to see he was alright and ran over towards his side only to pause. He gave a horrific expression as he looked at his previous Alpha and stood there speechless.

Clayton didn’t even blink or acknowledge what was once one of his most loyal of dogs. Standing a few feet away he gave a respectful bow, “Orders?”

I felt a pang of remorse at the once proud being before me as he was now reduced to a shell of his former self. The feeling passed quickly as memories of what he tried to do resurface to the fore front of my mind. Shoving those thoughts into a knapsack I then bludgeoned them to death with a wet noodle and afterwards tossed the remains to Tartarus. “Ask him. He’s in charge of you” I said, pointing towards the short yellow dog. With a nod he moved over to ask for his orders. I didn’t linger any longer as I found myself a nicely shaped rock to rest on.

Silver sat next to me as we silently sat there while the dogs were listening to the short yellow dog giving out orders. As the dogs moved about to get to work Silver finally broke the silence between us, “What...What did you do to him?” Her normal strong demeanor faltered for a moment as her voice wavered, but she valiantly kept her composer.

I was silent as I tried to remember what I did as well. Searching through the archive of mind for an answer I came up with one as it randomly came to me, “Have you ever had a nightmare? One so scarily real that you could do nothing, but shake in fear and hope for help to come. One that caused you to go stiff as a board and to pray to any higher power to either save you or to end your suffering”. I knew the answer already and continued, “That is what I did to him”.

“You showed him a nightmare, but how did he get to...well that?” she questioned, but soon understood the full weight of what I did. “It wasn’t just one was it? But possibly multiple”.

“Close, but no. I made him live the same one over and over and over again. Infinitely many times until one of three things happened.” Raising three fingers to her I started, “One: he would be unable to cope with his fears and take the cowards way out by taking his own life”.

Lowering one finger two remained, “Second: Watch him break the shackles of his fears and face them. Thus allowing him to become stronger than he was before”.

One finger remained, “Third: Watch as he scumbed to his fears. Unable to shake loose from the binds and drown as he becomes a shell of his former self”.

With a gesture of my head I nodded to him, “Bet you could guess which one it was”.

Silence reigned between us once more.

Silver stayed by my side for a moment longer, but soon joined the dogs in letting the slaves go. Beams of sunlight pierced through the grey skies warming the area up. It felt pleasant as the feeling of warmth spread throughout my body though a low drizzle of rain persisted in staying.

Derpy and Silver were the first of many to leave the den. Those who were down there for so long stared up at sky as some broke down and cried while others cheered in joy. My two friends were about half way to me as I jumped up and quickly made my way over towards them. Just as I was about to reach them Derpy shrunk away from me as a pure look of terror spread across her muzzle. Hiding behind Silver she covered her muzzle with her hooves and cried incoherently.

I stopped and just stared at her. A new pang of guilt seeping into my heart. “Drake it’s-” Silver tried to say, but I shook my head in understanding.

“I know. Just-” my thoughts going to darker places as I should have killed Clayton. Shaking the thoughts from my mind I continued, “-get her to the others. She needs them”.

She wanted to bring me some form of comfort/reassurance, but the words died as she merely nodded. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Just...just don’t do anything rash”, were her last words as she lead Derpy back to the town.

The other slaves followed suit as they went back to their love ones and home while the dogs lingered about out front. Shouts from within the cave forced the dogs to go back inside as they began packing up for their long journey home.

I returned to my spot and sat there taking in the warth that the sun provided. Staring off into space I lost track of time as the clouds slowly began to close up the sky. As the last of the clouds blocked off the sun I could see Silver in the distance making her way back here. With no reason to stay I got up and made my way towards the town. About half way I felt my legs give out on me once more. It was strange considering that I didn’t feel tired or fatigue, but my body just felt heavy. Silver my ever faithful companion held me up once again as we slowly made our way back to the others.

Level Up:

Portals: (Rank 2) Your knowledge and use of portals has tripled the amount you can summon. (Three portals in total which includes entrance/exist equaling six) Not only that, but the shape and size can be some what manipulated for creative purpose (as in how big/small or what shape).

New Item acquired: .44 Magnum, (Name to be decided). Ammunition comes from your magic source, though taxing if held or done in quick succession.

Quest Trait Gained:

Soul Bound: (Name to be decided) is connect to you down to a soul level. As such if you were to ever be separated or if she were to be damage you will suffer a harsh reduction in your SPECIAL. However in a time of crises (Health below 35%) she can draw on her own internal source allowing you to either reserve your magic or combine both magic for even more devastating results.

All good things must come to an end

Drake PoV:

I awoke to the sound of an empty home. My sleep was restless offering little to no rest, but the act itself was better than nothing. I laid there, listening to creaks and groans that the house admitted. Even though we’ve been here for only a day or two, I memorized the pattern: Creak from the front door, than the hallway, a groan from the kitchen, than the floor, and finally a mixture of both from the attic.

A loud yawn escaped my lips as I hoisted myself out of my make shift bed. The room was empty-accept for me and my sleeping bag-as the others had left early in the morning. Rolling my bag up, I shoved it into hammer space and pulled out a canteen of water. With a quick swig, I swallowed the contents greedily and placed it back where it belongs.

I sighed deeply wishing that my friends were here. It’s funny how the simple act of their presence brought inner peace where as now my mind was a swarming hive of activity. “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone, I suppose.” A low chuckle escaped my lips though was met with silence.

...I miss them. Hell I even miss Derange and I barely like the guy. Granted if I were to like him it could be consider narcissistic since he is me after all. Though at the other end of the spectrum I could then be seen as self-loathing.

...Okay time to go before I drive myself insane.

...Well insaner.

...Is that even a word?

...Whatever.

Eating some bread, I set out towards the center of town. My thoughts and prayers went out towards them in hopes of a safe journey. Though their destination wasn’t far, it was still going to be a dangerous one.

Dredgemane.

A place surrounded by semi-active volcanoes and dragons. I could not understand why Silver suggested such a thing. Yet for whatever reason I trusted not only her judgement, but her ability to keep them safe.

A sharp pain caused me to stop momentarily. Clutching my head, I gasped for air for a few moments. Just as quick as it came, it was gone. Leaving me in a kneeling position while regaining my breath. ‘Must have developed a migraine.’ I thought. Quickly composing myself I continued on my way towards the center of Solitude.

Reaching the heart of the town, I steeled myself for what I was about to do. Clearing my throat I yelled loud enough for all to hear, “Friends! Ponies! Lend me your ears! A catast-”

~Three Days Later~

Silver’s PoV:

It had been three days since we left Solitude behind along with Drake. I wanted to protest and stay with him-making sure to not only follow my orders-, but to make sure he was okay. However after much convincing, I decide to play along with his idea. Plus I understood why he wanted me to go.

Derpy was in no condition to really be moving around. What she needed was time alone surrounded by friends, family and loved ones. Dinky was to young to truly understand what had happened and the only thing she could do for her mother was be there for her. Minuette-though her closest and longest friend-knew that she needed time to recover. And given that the only one who could protect them was a psychotic little dumbass, it fell to me to keep them safe.

It was amazing how quick the journey took to get to Dredgemane. If it wasn’t for Derange ‘sneakily’ teleporting us a few distance every night we slept, it probably would have taken us longer. Though the question that plague my mind was, ‘Why?’

Whenever I tried to confront him about it, he would either ignore me or just answer cryptically. And by cryptically I mean he would say things like, ‘The all-seeing toilet bowl prophecizes divine anarchy at midnight’ or ‘The crows caws at midnight and the cat sours the basil.’

...I know I really shouldn’t expect much from him, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be serious for once in his damn life.

At any rate we now sat at the train station waiting for the next train to arrive. We didn’t do any sightseeing, but it was certainly different compared to other cities that I’ve been to. We also didn’t talk much as we kept to ourselves. Derpy, Minuette and Dinky huddle next to one another on one side, I sat by myself lost in deep thought and Derange was-surprisingly-waiting patiently for the train.

Hours passed by with nothing noteworthy happening, unless the patient Derange waiting for anything counts. Finally the train was in sight as it began to slow down. Gesturing to the soon arriving train we got up and got their things ready to be loaded. A few minutes passed as passengers made their way off and on the train allowing us a few minutes to say our goodbyes.

“Guess this is it.” I said. I might not have been the most social of ponies, but seeing them leave hurt more than it should have. I guess this is what it feels like saying goodbye to a friend that you may never see again.

“For now maybe, but who knows.” Minuette responded back with a sad smile.

“Bye Derange, I’ll miss you.” Dinky said as she hugged Derange.

“See ya Dinky, its been a blast.” He said as he returned the favor. Breaking apart from each others embrace he added on, “Also make sure to stay out of trouble and listen to your mother.”

“You should take your own advice.” She playfully teased back while sticking out her tongue.

Derange didn’t responded back as he smirked towards her while lightly shaking his head.

“Bye Silver, I’ll miss you too.” Dinky said as she came over towards me and nuzzled me.

Returning the nuzzle I brought her into a hug and combed her mane. “I’ll miss you too. Behave yourself, okay?”

Breaking away from the hug she looked at me with bright eyes and nodded her head. “I will.”

Making her way over towards Minuette to help load up their bags, Derpy was the last to say goodbye. Looking towards Derange they didn’t exchange any words, but still acknowledge one another and their farewells with a simple nod to one another.

“Derpy I’m-” I tried to say, but was cut off.

“Don’t.” She said rather harshly and continued though in a softer voice. “This wasn’t your fault. So don’t blame yourself. That goes double for you.” She said while gesturing to Derange. “I just need some time thats all. I’ll be back in the game before you know it.” She finished with a forced smile.

Not knowing what to say I just nodded and forced a smile of my own. With a quick hug shared between us, Derpy entered the train and took her seat with her daughter and friend.

As the train got ready to depart I felt a pair of shades placed on my head. “Put these on.” Derange said though I didn’t really have a choice as they refused to come off. Knocking on the window, Minuette opened and gave him a questioning look. Reaching into his pockets he pulled out two items: a tape recorder and a weird silver object.

“What’s this?” Dinky asked as she turned the tape recorder over in her magic.

“A message from Drake.” He said while placing a pair of shades on. Holding the object in front of them he messed with a few dials on the back.

“And what’s that?” Minuette asked as she stared at the object in his hands oddly, with Dinky and Derpy staring at it as well.

“Your last memory of us.” He said solemnly followed by a bright flash of light.

With perfect timing the train began to take off though before it could fully leave he reached into the train and pushed play on the recorder.

With a snap of his fingers both shades and the silver item disappeared. Not waiting for the train to be out of sight he took off into the skies and began to make his way back to Solitude. I sat there for a few moments until I took off after him.

Easily catching up with him in a few seconds enough was enough as I prevented him from going any further. “I want answer.”

“Well what do you want answers to?” He asked jokingly. “The secrets of the universe? How ponies hold things without opposable appendages? Batman’s secret identity? The secret recipe to Bush’s baked beans? Oh! How about why mares look hot with socks-” He listed off until I grabbed his feathery chest.

“You damn know what I want to know. So spill it or-”

“Or else what?” He asked mockingly. “You’re going to slap me silly? Kick my ass? Torture me? Well go right the fuck ahead then because I’m not telling you shit.”

“I have a right to know! Not only as your ‘baby sitter’, but-” I screamed only to loosen my grip on him and whisper softly, “-as your friend.”

We stayed silent for quite some time as we floated up above Dredgemane. The sounds of the city going about it’s day being the sole reminder that we weren’t alone. With a dejected sigh Derange was the first to speak, “I can’t. I swore to him I wouldn’t say anything, but I can at least tell you two things.” Giving him my full attention I listened intently. “Shit is just spiralling out of control and Drake is trying to fix it as best as he can, but the more he tries the more damage he does.”

“And the second thing?”

He hesitated for a moment before he decided to answer. “We won’t be seeing those three again. I erased their memories of the past few weeks. That tape recorder is leaving them with a cover up story that will put false memories into their psych while letting them forget about the time they spent with us.”

It took me a few seconds to process what he told me, but when I did I had only one question to ask. “Why?”

“Do you mean why we didn’t do this earlier or why did we do it now?” He asked though didn’t wait for a response. “We all knew deep down that this wasn’t a good idea. It wasn’t until recently that Drake realized that this was in fact a really bad idea and that it was time to send them home. Who knows what else we’ll have to face and who knows if next time we’ll be able to save them or not.”

With a sigh followed by a nod, I agreed. “No this is the right decision. I only wish we could have done this earlier and allowed them to keep the better memories of the time we spent together rather than making them forget all of it.”

“Heh, for once we’re in agreement.” He said with a small smile. “But alas we cannot cry over spilled milk.”

Nodding our heads in agreement we began to make our way back to Solitude. “Derange?” I hollered out which he acknowledged with a nod of his head. “Just two more question: Did Drake leave them with some happy memories and...his he okay?”

“For you first one, yes he did. Just a simple spa memory of them having a good time.” He responded back.

“And the other?”

He stayed silent for the longest time before he answered in a very serious yet quiet voice. “I can only hope so.”

~Back in Solitude. Two days later.~

We made it back in record time thanks to our wings. Landing a few feet from the town we-and by that I mean me as Derange just floated on by-entered the town to see it bursting with activity. A few dozen construction projects were going on at the same time as tools and supplies were placed all over the area. Construction workers were working double time while a few citizens pitched in wherever they could. Only a few days passed and already more than a third of the town was back to its prestige self.

Those who weren’t working were cleaning up the town as best as they could. Ponies pushing wheelbarrows full of unusable materials strolled by as they went to the edge of the town and dumped it to be burned later. Others were cooking non-stop to provide for the whole town a hearty and fresh meal. Fillies and colt ran by as they playfully helped, until they were shooed off and sent to school.

“The big boss, said to meet up in about an hour.” Derange said, forcing me to look away from this peaceful scene. Pointing towards a direction he continued, “Said he’ll be waiting over there.”

His finger pointed towards a steep hills in the distance near the volcano. I remembered that was the hill we used to spy on the diamond dogs. Before I could ask why, Derange was already gone.

Looking towards the sky it was about midday though in the distance, I could see clouds building up. ‘Seems like a storm is coming. Which explains why they’re in such a hurry to finish these building.’ I mused. A low growl from my stomach reminded me how little I ate this morning. With time to kill, I strolled over towards the makeshift kitchen and asked for some food. They happily gave me a bowl and pointed me towards where I could sit down and eat.

It was a good stew, but it wasn’t the best either. Granted I’m not a fan of radishes, but the taste wasn’t that amazing either. Leaving my bowl, I took to the skies and made my way towards our rendezvous point. On my way there I noticed most of the ponies who were working on the buildings were missing. About half way there a massive crowd of ponies baring a variety of weapons and torches stood in front of the Diamond Dog den.

“Leave! Your kind is no longer welcomed here!” A group of ponies chanted.

“These are our mines now, you flea ridden varmints!” Another group shouted.

Only a few dozen dogs stood defiantly in front of their entrance as they barred their claws, whips and spears.

“Mines don’t belong to ponies! They belong to dogs!” A dog shouted, followed by barks of agreement.

A familiar yellow fur dog stepped forward and with a surprising strong voice shouted, “We will not be bullied out of our home. We were the ones to claim this land before your precious Goddesses even cared about the other nations. You and your damn ‘friendship and equality’ don’t mean a damn thing, so long as you profit! We may be selfish and use cruel methods, but at least we do not lie to ourselves, like you!” With his speech ended the dogs howled and growled in agreement.

The argument between both sides continued as such. With only words being thrown back to one another, but that wouldn’t last long. With each statement thrown both sides positioned themselves for battle.

Circling above the soon to be battlefield, I could see Drake waving me down. Complying, I landed next to him and anxiously waited for him to explain what was going on. A wave of his hand and he soon began to lead me towards the cliff. Following him I soon saw our destination as both Derange and Jyggalag worked in unison on something. Lines upon lines were drawn on the ground-each one more different than the last-, I wasn’t to familiar in the teaching/lesson of magic so it was beyond me on what they were making.

Stepping into the circle my patience finally grew thin. “What’s going on?” I demanded.

“All set?” He asked his clones, ignoring me completely. They both nodded and disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. With a snap of his finger a shimmering shield of grey sprung up and surrounded us.

Before I could demand an answer once more he turned to me with a tired look in his eye. “They’re going to war. Even after everything we did...everything we offered them, they decided to spit in our face and kill one another.”

“What? Why? Don’t they see that there’s no point?”

“Apparently not.” Was his dull response.

“Then what’s the plan?” I asked, while getting all of the kinks out of my body. After stretching I flew towards the sky only for the barrier to prevent me from leaving. Turning my gaze towards him I asked in confusion, “You do have a plan, right? You’re not going to let them kill one another are you?”

“Of course not.” He said. The once sunny day was soon gone as a blanket of clouds covered the area. A flash of lightning was the only sign we got as rain fell from the heavens.

“FOR EQUESTRIA!” Shouted a pony, as he charged head first towards the dogs. In reaction both sides charged one another, each releasing their own war cry.

Drawing my sword I gathered the magic around me to help burst through the barrier, but I was unable to as the barrier drew in any and all magic towards it. I fixed my gaze towards him in rage, yet he never made eye contact with me. Instead he was solely focused on the town and the battlefield.

Turning my gaze back towards the field, I was able to witness something that I thought was not possible. Just before both sides could clash against one another a loud thunderous boom echoed out followed by a streak of lightning. The bolt of electricity struck at the very heart of where the armies met and completely evaporated any caught in the blast. It caused both sides to pause momentarily, but they soon charged one another once more. As they fought-both sides suffering casualties-the storm persisted in attacking the field. Frying any unlucky souls to get caught in the blast.

Any Pegasi attempt to bring the storm under control was met with a quick electrifying death. Both sides stopped as the very area began to shake. The effect even reached Solitude as ponies of all kinds walked outside to see what was going on.

“I’m going to let nature take it’s course.” Was Drake’s answer.

I didn’t have time to responded as the Lonely Mountain erupted with molten hot fire. The screams of both ponies and dogs cried out as pockets of lava began to erupt all over the battlefield. Chaos broke loose as everyone fought to escape the pools of flesh burning fire. Creature bound to the earth pushed, shoved, stomped, clawed, sacrificed and many other horrendous actions as both sides did whatever it took to survive. Creatures of the skies attempted to fly away only to either be blasted by bolts of lightening or blown down into the pools of burning flesh by gale force winds.

A high pitched scream brought me out of my gaze as I turned towards the village. Rocks of molten lava rained down upon the village. The entire village was set ablaze a brilliant crimson orange as ponies ran around attempting to subdue the fire. Those that weren’t fighting the fire were directing others to safety towards the edge of town.

Mothers, fathers, children and elderly all ran towards the outskirts until the earth shooked once more. A giant chasm opened up around the outskirts preventing any from leaving. Those in the front and those unable to slow down all plunged into the bottomless pit. Their screams echoing out in unison, causing everyone in the vicinity to cover their ears.

Once their screams died down pandemonium broke loose.

Those that were desperate attempted to jump the chasm only to fall to their demise. Adolescents that wanted to enjoy one of the few pleasures of life either consented or were forced into sex. Adults that tried to bring back any order were simply ignored while small group would form and pray to any god for help. Finally families huddled together as they spent their last moments with one another.

This…

This isn’t right!

Bringing my sword to bare, I lashed out at the barrier once more. Ripples formed with each strike of my blade, but no matter how fast or how strong my strikes were the barrier held strong. Realizing this was getting me no where, I turned my blade towards Drake.

No, that’s not right. The thing before me was not the same person I thought I knew. He neither acknowledge me nor my blade as he continued to watch the scene before us. He held no emotion as the light of the fires reflected off of his eyes and the screams of the damned fell on deaf ears.

I didn’t hesitate. Lives were counting on me. For every seconded I wasted a life could be saved.

My blade moved to pierce through his head. Everything around me was gone. Sight, smell, sound, and feeling were nothing more than an afterthought.

I was an empty husk.

An emotionless void.

Yet no matter what I did, thought or willed my blade refused to pierce him. It just merely rested against his lower chin.

Why?

WHY? WHY? WHY?

There were innocent ponies dieing down there! For what reason would we need to do this?

A part of me wanted to believe in him. That there had to be a good reason to do this, yet I couldn’t fathom why. The doubt. The uncertainty. The rationale. I just couldn’t understand what he was thinking.

The screams of the damned soon returned in full force, causing me to let my blade fall to the floor. My eyes no matter where I looked could only see the sight of burning flesh.

“Make it stop.” I whispered, as tear drops threatened to fall. “Please make it stop!” I pleaded, as tears flowed freely down my cheeks.

My eyes turned to look at his as I fell to my haunches. “I can’t.” Was Drake’s solemn response. “As much as I hate these words: this is their fate.”

The morally good image of Drake that I held shattered into pieces. My brain refused to think or responded anymore as I wept like a foal. At one point the screams and the images were too much as I hid underneath my hooves and closed my eyes. At one point or another I blacked out.

~Later, Drake’s PoV~

Grey.

That was the first thought that came to me as I walked the empty streets of Solitude. The town was nothing more than a pile of ash with only a scarce few burnt out support beams standing tall and strong. The skies were now a plain grey overcast with only a very light breeze blowing through, causing the remaining beams to groan in protest or fall and scatter ash every which way.

A flash of light caught my attention as Silver flew by once more. She quickly dug through the ash pile for any signs of life. When nothing showed up, she quickly abandoned the pile and moved onto the next. I did the same though at a much slower and less hopeful pace.

Moving to the next pile my foot stepped onto something soft. Removing my foot, I caught sight of a stuff toy. Kneeling down, I picked the object up and turned it around to get a better look at the object. Before I could turn it fully, the toy turned to ash and slipped through my fingers as the wind carried it off.

I don’t remember how long I kneeled there as I contently stared at the my hand. Though I do remember the sound of a low thunder bringing me back to the world of reality.

Getting up I made my way towards Silver, who was still searching for any signs of life. Her hooves pushed ash away only for more to fill its place. She sat there for minutes-continuously moving the same pile away-while I stood behind her.

“We need to find shelter. We can come back tomorrow.” I said in a low voice. Even though I knew it would be pointless to come back, I at least owed her that much if not more.

She ignored me as she continued her digging. My hand reached out to her shoulder to comfort her only for her to lash out at me. Her attack caught me off guard as her hooves met my chin. I stumbled back and tried to get my bearings only for another blow to hit the side of my head. However this time I was able to catch myself before I fell to the ground. Using the momentum I rolled out of harms way and got into a low stance.

She flew off and came at me towards the right. Ready this time, I prepared to block the blow only to see tears streaming down her face. I was able to block the blow, but her features distracted me as I lost my footing. She capitalized on this as she sweeped my feet from under me and followed up with a kick to the stomach. The combo sent me to the ground disoriented and out of breath.

Regaining my sense of breathing and orientation, I attempted to get up only for a pair of crimson orbs to glare down at me. “WHY?” Silver cried out, as her tears flowed freely. Gesturing all around us she continued, “IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED?”

“Of course not, but what else could I have done.” I mumbled.

“What else could you-WHAT ELSE COULD YOU HAVE DONE?” She cried once more. “You could have jumped in there and stopped them, for starters! You could have used your magic and send them somewhere else! You could hav-”

“NO, I COULDN’T HAVE!” I roared causing her to stumble away from me. Getting up she shot me an angry glare which I returned.

“You’re right in that I had a lot of options, but they would have always required ME to be there. If I intervened it would only be temporary. The second that I’d look away they would be back at each others throats. If I teleported them else where, they would eventually come back and fight over the land once more. It would be an endless cycle that would constantly require MY presence which I do not have the time for. This place was unproportionally Orderly and it NEEDED to be fixed. It is unfortunate that they all had to die, but it was unavoidable.”

“UNAVOIDABLE? YOU could have fixed it with YOUR own power instead of letting them all die!” She cried out while pointing a hoof at me. “You’re always spouting about ‘bringing balance to the world’ that you could have easily done it.”

“You don’t think I thought that already?” I asked her.

“I think my answer is right in front of me.” She responded back coldly.

The air around us was heavy as we glared at one another. One wrong move, one wrong word and another fight would occur. The sound of thunder caused our ears to swerve in its direction. A single drop of water was our only sign as a low drizzle began to fall from the sky.

“And would you have me condemned another town?” I asked as I broke our gaze and looked towards the sky.

“What? What do you mean?” She asked bitterly.

My eyes no longer held anger towards Silver as I stared at her. “If I were to have redirected that energy elsewhere, it would have caused this level of destruction elsewhere.” I explained. It took her a few moments to grasp the implication, but soon the anger she originally had was gone and replaced with a conflicted one.

“Tell me, Silver. Where should have I directed it? To Stalingrad? To Wethoof? To Canterlot? To the Zebrican islands? To the Dragon Badlands? To Gem Fido? No matter where I choose anypon-NO! Thousand upon thousands of innocents would have lost their lives this day. So please do tell, Silver. WHERE SHOULD HAVE IT GONE TO?”

She didn’t answer. For the longest time she tried to give back a retort, but never did. Like an angry child who didn’t get there way she stomped the ground in frustration. “You could have saved those that were innocent here-.”

I didn’t let her finish as I laughed hollowly at her remark. She bared her teeth and glared at me once more. Composing myself I gave her a solemn look. “Did you know for the past five days straight. Day and night. Morning to noon to evening. I stood in the center of town and warned them about what was coming.” Silver gave me a puzzled look for only a moment, but soon returned to glaring at me.

“I told them what was coming. I pleaded to them to pack up their things and leave. Do you know what they did? At first they ignored me. Claiming that the heat was messing with my head, but soon enough they turned on me. Throwing snarky remarks was the least of my worries until they began to ridicule me and eventually lash out at me. The one who ‘saved’ them. The one they ‘owed’ their lives to. Unable to reach the adults I tried the children. At first they listened, but eventually they turned on me as well. As they threw rocks, stones, and bricks at their supposed ‘hero’. And do you know why they did that? Because their parents, teachers and adults told them to. They told them that I was a menace to their livelihood and that I needed to leave. That I was ‘secretly’ behind ALL of this. So even if I did save those that were ‘innocent’ they would have eventually come back to repeat history.”

With my rant done we stood there in silence as the rain continued to fall.

Minutes passed by until she finally asked, “Than you admit to the genocide in Solitude?” She didn’t meet my gaze as she stared at the ground. Her voice no longer held anger, but of duty.

“...Yes.” I answered. My eyes focused solely on the mare before me.

“By per agreement, the Princesses shall be informed.” She monotoned while taking off into the air. “If you are not back within Canterlot in the next few days, you’ll be seen as a wanted criminal: dead or alive. Do you understand?”

There was nothing left to say. I just simply nodded my head. With that sufficing as a confirmation she took off though in a low voice I heard, “And to believe I thought better of you.”

I stared up into the sky for a few minutes as she disappeared over the horizon. The sky around me turned a darker shade of grey as lightning dance around the sky and thunder boomed above me.

“Heh…” I laughed. Falling to my knees while holding my sides, I could no longer hold it in anymore. “Heh. Heh. Heh.”

Within the contents of my mind stood a beautiful glass image of Equestria. The image was generic really. It showed a glorious sun accompanied at the other spectrum with an equally glorious moon. A luscious field of flowers, trees and random critters like squirrels and bunnies were near the inner part of the image. In the very heart were a multitude of different creature all wearing big happy smiles as they appeared to be celebrating a special occasion. Sure there were cracks here and there, but the image still held together.

*Crack*

A large crack formed down the center causing a gradually steady chain of cracks to branch out. More and more cracks began to form, threatening to completely shatter the image all together. I tried to stop the image from breaking. I tried to find examples to prove that this image existed out here. But the cracks just continued to keep growing more and more and more in strength and numbers.

*Crack*

The image was completely and utterly cracked beyond recognition. It was honestly a miracle that it held together at all. It held on by a single measly shard that refused to crack. It was my last line of defense and I tried effortlessly to save it from its fate. But then like a hammer, Silver’s words echoed within my mind.

“And to believe I thought better of you.”

*Crack*

*Shatter*

The image shattered into dozen upon dozen of millions of pieces.

“HA! HA! HA! HA !HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!” I laughed madly. The roar of thunder boomed to match my laugh while lightning soared across the sky, briefly illuminating the area.

For once I was happy to be standing out in the rain instead of inside. For the rain helped covered the tears that streamed down my face.

~Later~

I sat there for who knows how long while staring off into space. Both my throat and eyes were dry which was ironic given that the rain hadn’t let up yet.

…

That attempt of humor was bad and I feel bad. Well worse, but now I’m just pulling hairs.

Mustering what strength I had left, I got up and made my way out of Solitude. My pace was slow and difficult as each step sent a pain of burning agony through my limbs. Images of the townsfolk shifting from the regular daily lives to their final moments caused me to briefly pause, but only to then solemnly continue. Bringing my Pip-Boy to bare, I flicked it towards the map section and reorientedmyself towards Equestria.

Existing out of the town and making it a few miles away, I paused on top of a hill. Every part of me wanted to look back. To just...To just see that I was merely dreaming and that the town was still there. Though now it was better as both parties saw the error in their ways and were now working in harmony with one another.

With one last tear being shed, I continued to move forward. Because I knew that if I didn’t, I’d fall into despair.

All companion perks lost.

Quest Perk add:

Solitude: The disaster of Solitude has affected your very understanding of the world and how to interact with others. Minus 3 to Charisma and Intelligence.

Welcome to Equestria Arc: Complete.

Echo of the Past: Reflection

Date: Two years ago
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

The ping of the elevator alerted me its ascension to the top floor. Leaning back against the wall, I stared off into space as I recalled the day I had. Me and my...associates, were called in to help a government hired company called Specen--or something--to purchase a plot of land out in the desert, so that they may build a testing area for their projects. Of what we weren’t told--classified and all of that garbage--, but it was pretty obvious that they wanted it to be kept a secret.

Regardless we took the job and within three days we made a deal that the owners couldn’t refuse. You must think I use this in jest, but I assure you I don’t. I mean we literally made a deal that they couldn’t refuse, because our employers hired a group of mercs to kidnap their kids and live stock, threatening to kill them both if they didn’t agree to the demands.

Of course we didn’t know about it until one of the representatives let it slip from their lips, but hey it was still a victory...according to them and my colleagues anyways. The elevator gave a small rumble signifying that I had arrived at my destination. Heading towards the door my timing was impeccable as the doors opened, though I wasn’t surprised at what I saw next.

Techno lights of different colored flared around the room while beats blasted out from the stereo as random party goers danced to the rhythm and lights. Their clothing all ranged from high class to slutty and everything in-between, but they shared the distinct accessory of glow necklaces either hanging around their neck, arms or even some on the ladies waist. In all honesty the only thing that surprised me about this was the fact that they payed a DJ this time to play some beats, since they usually cheaped out and played a variety of songs from their phones.

Without batting an eyelash, I weaved through the crowds of party goers towards my room--being carefully to not bump into or make eye contact with them--until a blonde haired girl bumped against me. Feeling as if she was going to fall and hurt herself, I reach underneath her and kept her steady, though I was mistaken as she slumped into me, her breath reeking of alcohol.

“Hey baby you looking for a good time?” She slurred to me while attempting to bash her eyelashes.

I tsked at my own kindness and helped her up regardless. Then I aimed her at some random hipster looking wanna be. “No, but my friend over there does. He’s been watching you the whole night and would love to meet you.” I said and gave her a light push to help her along her way.

As if forgetting about our encounter she stumbled her way over towards him and repeated the process she did with me. Continuing my journey I eventually made it to my room. You see we were in a ‘secret’ private suite at the Paris, Las Vegas. We currently resided a few stories high in the Eiffel Tower that was used as a suite for some of the more...influential guest. It had four rooms with bathrooms, a living room with a plasma--though I think it was smashed now--TV, and a kitchen/dining room area. It was where my colleagues and I were staying for the duration of our job and since this was our last night to use this room, I guess they wanted to go all out.

Reaching for the door handle I had forgotten that I locked my room since the last time I left it unlocked I walked in on a small orgy going on in my room. Also no I didn’t stay. I gathered up anything that looked clean of mine, went down stairs, and reserved a room for myself with my own money.

Reaching into my pocket I pulled out a small sliver key, unlocked the door, and entered my room. As soon as I entered, I then quickly closed, and locked it behind me. The room I was residing in was spacious. It had a king size memory foam bed with white covers mixed with red ones. The carpets were a mixture of black and a dark tannish color with white walls. A dark brown stand stood underneath a smaller--though pretty nicely sized--plasma TV with a light brown desk, and red cushioned chair off to the side.

Sighing I loosened my dark navy blue tie from my neck and laid it down on the chair followed by my dary grey coat. I then made my way towards the outside patio to enjoy the view one last time. Opening the sliding door my ears were assaulted by the music being played, but it didn’t deter me as I leaned against the metal railings and looked at the city of Las Vegas.

Lights shined out from all over illuminating the whole of Las Vegas with a radiant glow. Like a pearl at the bottom of the cold desolate sea it shined a beautiful glow giving the area a ray of hope that it could too one day be as wonderful as it was. Though technically it is considered a diamond in the Fallout universe, I thought the connection wasn’t lost.

However that is not what I saw when I looked at the city before me. No, what I saw was a place of misery and despair. A place with the misleading pretense of winning big or going home though without the going home part as people would be forced to pay with their lives, bodies or blood. A dog eat dog worl-no, that’s wrong. It was a place where the house always win either because the game was rig to end as such, because lady luck didn’t smile down upon you or the odds were just not in your favor.

I sighed a tired sigh as I looked towards the midnight sky only for the light of the city to block out most if not all of the stars. I stared for the longest time at the empty black canvas hoping for the sky to be painted in a beautiful tapestry of heavenly bodies, but alas nothing change. Turning my gaze back to the city, I couldn’t help but glare at the offending place with disgust and hate. As I stared intently my thoughts began to drift back to when I made the dreaded choice of taking on this line of work. Yes, I can remember it just like it was yesterday.

Time: Four year ago
Location: New York, New York

“Mr. Anderson? Mr Anderson?” Kelly asked as she waved her hands in front of my face to snap me out of my daze.

“Huh?” I said as if waking up from a dream. Blinking my eyes in succession, I looked towards her. “Sorry about that. As you were saying.” I said with an apologetic smile.

“Paul, Chet, Marsha, and Sophia have returned with extraordinary results while Ted, Angela, and Kevin have returned with the same results as last time. Also sir are you alright? You seemed...distant a few seconds ago.” She said while handing me a stack of papers, her forest green eyes looking me over with concern.

“Those three again? *sigh* If they don’t shape up soon we’re going to have to let them go.” I replied back skimming through the three troublemakers reports. As if remembering her question I answered honestly, “Also yes Kelly, I’m fine. Just...still getting use to this I guess.”

She just gave me a reassuring smile. “Well if you ever need to talk about it, I’ll be here to listen. Now, unless there’s anything else Mr. Anderson, I must be on my way.” She said with a slight bow, her short red hair bouncing a bit as she did so.

“No. Thank you Kelly, that’ll be all. Also, I believe I told you to call me by my first name.” I replied back though she responded back with a knowing smile and left to go finish up todays work. As she left my eyes couldn’t help, but linger on her prone form. How her skirt fit just right to show off her hourglass curves and how her shirt made her...well I’ll leave that to the imagination.

I mean sure she was several years my senior--her age being around thirty five I think--, but she still had a pretty nice body.

...Is it wrong that I’m checking her out? I mean sure she’s older than me and internal relationships is frowned upon, but she’s a very nice, gentle, and attractive looking woman. Is it truly wrong to pursue such a woman as her? One that I’ll--probably--never meet or have such a close relationship with.

The sound of my door closing snapped me out of my daze. With a sigh I went back to work. Reading through the reports, I noticed that Angela was given an unfair assignment compared to the other two, so I’d be willing to give her another chance if she screwed up again. Typing up my own report, I then printed it out, read it over for any mistakes, signed at the bottom, put it in an envelope, and placed it in the out box.

Flopping back down into my chair I stretched my arms--a satisfying cracked echoed out--and promptly settle down into my seat feeling my eyes begin to fall. Not wanting to fall asleep here, I returned my position up right. With nothing else to do for the next few minutes, I turned my chair around and looked out the window. It was still hard to believe that out of a hundre-No, a million people in the world, I was the lucky one to land this sweet job.

I watched the hussle and bussle of the streets of New York go about its day. Traffic was pack while dozens upon dozens of citizens walked the streets all in a hurry to reach their destination. It was a breathtaking sight to behold. Hell it was amazing enough that I was here to begin with, but then it made me think: why me of all people? Was it just because of being in the right place at the right time or maybe I had the right credentials for the job. Question began to plague my mind which caused my mood to turn sour.

A knock on the door brought me out of my thoughts. “Come in.” I called out.

“AH! Ronald me boy! So glad I caught you before you left for the day.” Mr. Salmond said as he walked and closed the door behind him. He was a short man standing as tall as five foot two though he was a bit chunky as his body fat would shift with every step he took. His cloths were casual with a blue teal hawaiian shirt, tan colored shorts, white socks, and a pair of sneakers.

Not wanting to be rude, I got up and met him halfway. “Mr. Salmond, this is a surprise.” I said while shaking his hand. “I thought you were out because of your daughter’s illness. How is she doing by the way?” I asked while offering him a seat.

“She’s stable for the moment, but it looks like there’s no treatment for it either.” He said with a sad expression. The things he’s going through right now makes me glad that I’m not a father yet.

“Heh, it’s ridiculous. Top dollars going to my baby girl for years and they are just now telling us what it is. Years of symptoms just, dangling right in front of their noses, but they do not have the brains to connect the dots.” He said in a low growl. It was very rare to see him mad though it was understandable. Usually he was a jolly man that never let the little things bother him though, I guess it just goes to show that when a parent’s child is in harms way that they’ll do anything to protect their own flesh and blood.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” I said not to sure of what to say or do at the moment. Getting up I went over towards my mini fridge and offered him something to drink which he kindly declined. “If there’s anyway that I can help sir, please don’t hesitate to ask, and that I pray for her well being.” I said feeling it was the only thing I could do to show my support/condolences.

“Heh, pray...yes. I just hope the gods will smile down on my baby girl.” He said with a disconsolate smile though it didn’t feel like it was for his daughter. “Anyway, enough about this for now, I came here for a different reason rather than to talk your ear off about my problems.” He said as his cheery demeanor returning in full force.

“R-right” I said as I returned to my seat.

“Do you remember last years new years eve party?” He asked me which I nodded with a knowing smile. “Heh, still can’t believe Tim from accounting did that.” He said as he matched me with his own knowing smile. “But anyways do you remember Richard Damon?” He asked.

I thought about it for a moment. “Wasn’t he the brownish blonde haired gentleman you went to college with?”

“Yes.” He nodded in approval. “Where as he went into mediation, I went into consulting.” He said with a nostalgic look, but soon continued. “Anyways his company like our own is doing well, but it seems a major worker in his firm passed away recently and he has been asking around for any talented individual interested.”

“And you threw out my name and are now telling me about this.” I said taken off guard at his sudden abruptness.

“Always one not to beat around the bush.” He said with that same jolly tone.

“I’m-” I paused for a moment to gather my thought. I mean sure I was used to this abruptness from him, but this was on a whole new level. “I'm flattered sir that you’d do this for me, but I’m not sure if I’m the guy he’s looking for.” I said honestly.

“Now, now, me boy, don’t sell yourself to short.” He said as he moved over to me and gave me a reassuring pat on the back. “You work well with others, you go about things in an orderly fashion, and you make rational decisions before you make a choice. If that isn’t what a mediator is I don’t know what is.” He said followed by a bark of laughter.

“Heh, heh, right.” I replied back with my own laughter though mine was much quieter compared to his.

He then turned to me with a serious expression. “I’m not going to lie to you.” He began as he continued to stare into my eyes. Under the normal context I’d be a little freaked out, but knowing him for so long, I knew that I needed to shut up and listen. “The job isn’t easy or usually fair, but someone has to do it regardless of the outcome. Hearing from him the pay is a little less than what you earn here, but the perks are damn well worth it. I will not convince you to stay or to leave, but I will leave you with this.” He said and placed an airplane ticket on my desk.

“You have three days to think about it. During those days, I do not want you to come to work. Instead I want you to spend your time really thinking about it.” He said while making his way out.

Opening the door he turned back and continued, “Know that I will not scorn you for leaving or staying and that I hope for the best of you.” As he began to close the door he muttered something under his breath though I couldn’t hear what exactly.

I sat there for the longest time as I tried to process what had just happen. I literally couldn’t believe the events that were playing out in my life. First a out of college graduate with the only experience in business is flipping burgers, lands the dream job of his life, and then gets probably another dream job after working there for a few years. The odds of that happening are way beyond the skills of math that I have. Slumping back into my seat, I stared at the ticket for the longest time. Before I even knew it the janitor came in, empty my trash can, and asked if he could clean. Not wanting to be rude I apologized and left. Heading back to my apartment I went straight to bed though sleep didn’t come to me that night or the next few ones. As my mind was plague with one question: Do I accept or not?

Time: Present
Location: Back at Las Vegas

I was brought out of my staring contest/thoughts as the sound of party goers teased and jeered at me for not joining in on the...festivities. I ignored them like how one ignores the dishes in the dishwasher, by not even acknowledging its existence. But alas they then began to become more rowdy and ambitious as they would throw miscellaneous things towards me. It made me wonder how many people would be killed by terribly thrown booze bottle, but then again I really didn’t care as I turned and went back into my room. Closing the screen door behind me--much to my annoyance as the drunken morons thought that they had scared me off--, I unbutton my shirt, slipped off my shoes, and left them near the chair that continued to hold my tie and coat.

Heading towards the shower to wash away the shame and filth of what we had done, I was half way there when suddenly a knock from the living room door echoed out. Normally I would have ignored the knocks--assuming it was a bunch of drunken idiots going at it there and now--, but how it was evenly spaced apart made me realize who it was.

The knocking came once more and soon I realized he was trying to get away from someone. Making my way towards the door, I unlocked it and held it open long enough for him to enter. Like a bat out of hell he entered the room in less than a second. Quickly closing and locking the door behind me, I turned around to see what it was this time. “So who’s the lucky lady this time?” I asked already knowing what happened.

The man before me was easily five foot eleven with a forest green button up shirt--though the top few buttons were undone giving him a more relaxed look--with olive green pants, and a black coat. He was about twenty eight years old with short slick black hair and a beautiful pair of blue eyes with a matching smile that caught all the ladies attention. “C-c-car- Oh, man I’m out of shape.” He wheezed while taking in slow and steady breaths.

Eventually regaining the ability to breath easily he finally answered, “Carline, and let me tell ya she is one fine lady.” His name was Wesley Taylor though Wes for short. He was my mentor into the world of mediation and I once considered him a friend.

“And let me guess boyfriend?” He shook his head no. “Oh, brother perhaps?” Though he once more shook his head. “Wait don’t tell me...her father?” I asked and received a nod.

“Yup.” He said with a big old grin on his face. “And let me tell ya, he didn’t mind me talking to her, in fact he was a rather cool older gentleman, but once my hands started doing the talking well, things went south.” He continued and shrugged.

I just groaned at his stupidity and pinched the bridges of my nose. “And exactly how long are you going to be in here?”

“Hopefully not that long maybe an hour or two.”

“Fine whatever, but I swear if you let people in here like the last time I’m throwing you out the window.” I said while gathering some cloths. He gave me a curt nod of understanding and immersed himself into the TV. A few minutes later and I came out feeling refreshed and ready to sleep the night away wearing a simple pair of pjs and a white shirt.

“Oh yeah, harder. Harder!” Came the moans of a female voice. Turning towards the source, I wasn’t surprised to see a porno of some sort being played while Wes laid down on my bed watching it with a bored expression.

As if realizing my presence he quickly got off my bed, sat on the chair, and changed the channel though he turned it to another porno. Noticing his blunder he stumbled for the remote and eventually turned it off. “So how was your shower?” He asked with an innocent smile.

“...It was fine.” I finally said after processing the very being that sat before me. Walking over towards the mini fridge, I opened it up and looked for something to drink. There were plenty of good/expensive choices but one stuck out amongst them all. Pulling it out I looked at the bottle with a nostalgic smile. It was called PranQster a Belgian golden ale and it was my frist *cough* legal *cough* drink that I ever had. I like the taste of it since it didn’t have a very strong bitter taste to it.

Regardless it brought a smile to my face that didn’t go unnoticed. “Oh~ Looks like someone’s finally joining in on the festivities~” Wes said in a sing song voice joining my side before I even realized it.

Popping the top off of the ale, I took a quick swig of the drink and turned towards him with an angry glare, though he ignored me as he popped open a beer for himself. “And pray do tell what are we celebrating for? A job well done.” I sneered at him as I walked away towards the balcony. Just as I was about to reach there I noticed a bag of bouncing balls lying near the TV. Grabbing them, I pocketed them into my pockets and went back outside the night air giving me a cool breeze, though the music continued to blare out. Not even a minute of standing out there the drunken morons were back trying to get me to either leave, join them or dance. I wasn’t sure nor did I care.

Taking another swig of my drink, I almost up chucked it as Wes patted me on the back. “Of course for a job well done.” He said while leaning dangerously too far off the railings. Pulling him back down he regained his footing and leaned on the railing, facing away from the city, and took another swig of his drink. “Thanks to us those farmers got a rather great deal for that piece of land. Way I figure it, if they move to the valley or somewhere else, they should still have enough left over to start up a new one”.

“...Are you joking.” I sneered at him now facing him with a hateful glare. “That land was worth fifty times the pitiful amount we ‘offered’ them!” I screamed at the top of my lungs though the music was able to drown it out. “And the only reason they accepted the offer was because our clients threatened to kill everything they held dear! So excuse me if I don’t see that as a reason to celebrate or a reason to believe that we were successfully!” I took in deep breaths of air as I finished my ranting at him. We stood there for what felt like hours as he thought about what I said with a thoughtful expression, while I continued to gasp for air.

I waited and waited and waited more, but he continued to remain silent. The things that we had done were unforgivable. Lying, cheating, stealing, bribing, threatening...hell I wouldn’t be surprised if we killed people.

And all in the name of fairness.

Of equality.

I had a vile taste in my mouth one of which that no matter what I did continued to linger. I leaned against the railing and looked down to the streets below. The people from up here looked like ants as they scurried about down below. It would be so simple to. Just lean a bit further and let gravity do the rest. Sure for the first few seconds I’d probably see my life flash before my eyes, causing me to possibly want to change my decision, but it’d hopefully be over in a second as well. It’d also be a pretty good cover up since this is probably the most happening place in Las Vegas right now, meaning heavy drinking and partying. It could be ruled to reckless ambition or drunken stupidity, either way it didn’t matter to me...nothing did right now.

I felt hollow.

Empty.

I no longer had any real reason to continue this lie of a life I lived and if I continued doing so, only more pain and suffering would follow suit.

I didn’t even feel my body as it began to lean over the railing allowing me to see below the penthouse. My beer felt like it was floating as I felt it loosen from my grip. I closed my eyes and embraced gravity as I leaned even further off it. I reached about half way until I felt someone grab the back of my collar. The forced jolted my eyes open and I realized what I was about to do.

A few moments later and I was back on the patio my heart racing a mile a minute while Wes and I gasped for air. Wes was the first one to regain a steady flow of air though it took me much longer to as I realized what I had almost done. Sure my life wasn’t the greatest, rather dull and boring, but it wasn’t miserable or terrible than other people to warrant suicide.

“You’re right.” Wes admitted, after the longest time while he leaned against the screen door. Leaning against the railing I looked at him perplexed. “They didn’t get a fair deal, nor did the people before that and the people before that, and well, you get where I’m going at.” He said with a sad smile. Picking up his drink he took another swig, but then realized it was empty. With a sad sigh he placed the bottle next to him and looked at the stars in deep thought. I waited for him to gather his thoughts though was caught off guard as he began to chuckle.

“You know, I still remember the first thing that came to mind when I saw you get off that plane, ‘Too kind for his own good’.” He said with another chuckle and continued, “I actually wanted to tell you to go back home and to forget about joining us.” I scowled at him and was ready to retort, but was unable too.

“But I also saw something in you.” He said softly and looked me in the eyes with a tired yet sad look. “Your eyes gave off a sense of kindness while in the background showed determination to not be pushed around. Your posture showed professionalism yet gave off a friendly vibe. The way you spoke was curt, but was never intended to be rude or condescending.”

“I think you have the wrong person than.” I muttered, but not low enough.

“Well, maybe I’m a little drunk right now and I’m merely egasterating.” Wes admitted. “But the point is, is that you’re a good person. Even if you don’t see it or want to admit it. You’re one of the few people I’ve meet who really wanted to compromise a fair deal for both parties rather than subcoming to bribes or threats.” He said as he continued his drunken rant.

In a low voice--so that only I could hear-- he said, “You inspire me to stop drinking to ease my heart and to forgot what I’ve done. You inspire me to stop running and hiding from the truth. You-you...You inspire me to be a better person.”

I was left speechless as I stared at him dumbfounded while Wes just sat there staring intently at his bottle. “I...I really don’t know what to say-WOULD YOU GUYS SHUT THE HELL UP AND LEAVE US ALONE!” I began only to roar in rage at the drunk crew across from us. “WE WERE HAVING A HEART TO HEART MOMENT AND YOU GUYS ARE SERIOUSLY FUCKING IT UP!”

Breathing heavily while glaring at them they were dead silent as they tried to comprehend what I yelled at them.

“HA! GAY~” One of them said and roared in laughter followed by the others joining in.

“In a sense you were asking for that.” Wes said with a slight laugh though quickly kept his mouth shut as I glanced back at him.

“Oh yeah?” I asked rhetorically and grabbed one of the bouncy balls within my pocket. “Then that means they were asking for this.” I said while tossing it towards one of them. It is funny what you can forget when you don’t practice for quite sometime. For me it was the few many years of me playing baseball and how hard I could throw when I was really motivated.

The ball struck one of them hard in the forehead that also sent his drunk ass to the ground. Granted the sheer level of alcohol in his system helped, but I’d like to think that I was pretty damn strong. We stood there in silence as the poor sod laid there knocked out while the ball rolled away.

“Dude…” One said wide eyed.

“Dude~” Another said.

“DUDE!” The last one cried out as he ran away followed by the others fleeing for their lives.

“Sir, please drop the weapon and put your hands on your head.” Wes called out jokingly.

I just threatened to reach into my pocket and watched as he clawed his way back into my room. With a slight laugh shared between us, I entered back into my room. With a quick glance back outside to stare at the city before me, I felt a rise of confidence wash over me. The doubts and uncertainties that plague my mind were gone and now replaced with purpose. It was going to be a long and difficult road, one that would challenge me relentlessly. Though with my...friend by my side, I knew we could handle anything that came our way.

Though little did I know that a year from now, would be the beginning of my trip down insanity lane.

Denial

"The mind of the subject will desperately struggle to create memories where none exist." - Opening Title Card To Bioshock Infinite

Dark clouds covered the skies leaving the area in an all consuming darkness. The rain fell hard, lashing at me with its icy fangs digging deep into my skin. The forest around me was a forsaken maze that seemed to lead nowhere and everywhere at the same time. My legs burned in agony as each step threatened to be my last.

Yet through it all, I still moved forward.

The low green light from my Pip-Boy pierced through the darkness that surrounded me and made my travels a little bit easier. Tripping over a rock, I soon found myself rolling down a hill and falling face first into a pile of mud.

Easier though not safer.

Hoisting myself back up, I glanced at my Pip-Boy screen, re-positioned myself, and continued on my way.

Not even a few minutes back into my journey did I have to stop and grasp my head.

Voices.

Million upon million of voice screamed in my head like nails against a chalkboard. Of what I could not tell--though by the tone, I could tell they were arguing about something--that forced my own voice to join in. I cried out in pain while I fell to the cold wet earth. Tears threatened to flow as I continued my scream while sinking my head into the ground, in the hopes to shut out the noise.

Just as quick as it came did it leave, leaving me to gasp for air while shivering from the experience. Composing myself within a few minutes, I got up once more and continued on my way.

A flash of lightning caught me off guard as it blinded me momentarily. Instinctively I covered my eyes even though it was too late. Waiting for a few seconds to regain my ability to see, I opened them and nearly lost it at the sight before me.

A simple opened wooden door laid before me, but that wasn’t what truly surprised me. I was entering a cave packed full of ponies and dogs that were celebrating with one another. Different colors of balloons and streamers littered the area while banners were hung above different section of the walls. In the back I could see a table full of refreshments of different food and gems laid out for all to share. To the side I could see a pony and a dog working together to hand out drinks for the adults of the party and further back I could see a group of drunks celebrating by singing an odd tune.

“Geez, Drake, took you long enough.” Silver said as she held the door open for me.

Speechless I simply stood there.

To the right I heard a cry of joy as Derpy and Dinky won a muffin eating contest. The pair hugged one another in joy as the judges of the event brought over a trophy for the two of them.

“Yo, Drake!” Cried out Minuette. Turning towards her, I watched her hazardly walk over towards the two of us. “I bet I can pass out before you can!” She exclaimed and promptly went face first to the floor.

“Another pony down!” Cried out a dog as he carefully carried her off.

“Kept telling her to pace herself, but she didn’t listen.” Silver said while shaking her head. Turning to walk over towards the bar she nodded for me to follow. “First few round are on me. So get that scaly butt in here already.” She teased and soon began to walk away.

A small smile crept its way across my face as I continued to look at the scene before me.

‘Yes, this is what I wanted to happen. Hell, this is probably more than I could’ve hoped for. Actual peace and harmony between them.’ I thought while a feeling of accomplishment and joy take hold of me.

With a spring in my step, I walked in to finally join in on the festivities.

Only to then smack my face hard against a tree.

Shaking the stars out of my eye, I looked around the area once more. I was in a small clearing while row upon row of trees went as far as the eye could see. In the very center of the clearing stood a lone tree that had nothing special going for it. Unless you want to count the fang indent created by yours truly.

Rubbing my eyes vigorously, I then began to look around the clearing to make sure what I saw wasn’t an illusion or that I wasn’t in one right now. Certain that I wasn’t in an illusion, I huffed angrily and resumed my trip.

~Sometime later~

The voices came and went in odd intervals, though they were thankfully a low whisper instead of a scream. My current path was taking me deeper into the forest as I pushed tree branches or bushes aside. Glancing at my Pip-Boy once more--incase it was leading me astray--it was telling me to keep going further in. Given that my body felt heavy--meaning I couldn’t just fly--, my magic wasn’t being very cooperative, and I had no idea where I was, I snorted in annoyance and pushed on.

Pushing a low branch away from me, I took a step forward only to then feel something grip my right leg. Before I could react, I was pulled, thrown against a tree to the left of me, and then to the right of me. Both blows knocked the air out of my lungs as I gasped for breath. Dark green vines began to wrap around my body as my attacker came into view.

Obvious ‘I’ve seen enough hentai’ joke is obvious.

It was a mid-sized tree that had those same vines growing from the top of its head. Its tooth maw was big enough to eat a whole pony in one gulp, while its black soulless eyes stared at me with hunger.

I could feel the vines pulling me towards its mouth, while the creature smacked its lips in anticipation.

“Like hell I’m going to be your lunch!” I screamed. Taking in a deep breath of air, I could feel a warmth coming from the bottom of my stomach to my mouth. Exhaling, I released a torrent of crimson fire into the beast open maw, causing the creature to screech in pain.

With the creature in pain its vines loosened up, which allowed me to squirm my way free of its grip.

“What’s wrong? Too spicy for you.” I spat, another small ball of fire hitting the creature causing it to lean away. Noticing that the creature was in fact rooted to the ground, I smiled wickedly and reached into the hammer space.

Pulling out a chainsaw, I revved up the machine and smiled in glee as it roared to life. The creature screamed in pain once more as the chainsaw began to cut through its thick bark. A yellow-blackish sap sprayed from the wound, as its life fluid covered me and the surrounding area.

The creature tried desperately to pull me away with its vines, but I had more control over my body than it did at the moment. The chainsaw finally cut through the creature and with nothing holding it in place, it fell to the muddy floor.

But I wasn’t done yet.

My chainsaw began to cut the creature’s face in two. It let out one last cry of a pain before it went silent. That however did not stop me as I continued to cut the creature’s corpse over and over again until its entire body was nothing more than kindling. Panting in exertion, I stood over the body of the creature while my chainsaw remained lodged in one part of its body.

I believe it was it’s spine.

...Or maybe it’s femur? I always get the two mixed up.

Catching my breath, I soon began to untangle myself from the vines until another flash of lightning blinded me once more. Once more it took a few moments for me to regain the ability to see and once more, I was left dumbfounded.

I was no longer surrounded by a cluster of trees or wrapped up in vines. I was instead in the same clearing with the lone tree. Me nor the surrounding area was covered in the abominations life fluids and the chainsaw I summoned was nowhere to be found.

“No, that’s not right!” I cried out, only to be meant with a low rumble and breeze. Searching the area desperately, I tore through any piles of leaves, grass, and dirt for any signs of the tree creature.

The voices whispered amongst themselves. Their words ranging from concern to calling me insane.

“It was just here a sec-” I began though stopped.

Who was I trying to convince?

The voices?

The universe?

...Myself?

I wasn’t sure anymore. My body decided that it was time for a rest as I lost the feelings in my legs. My mouth opened and closed as I tried to find something, anything to say that would help me make sense of this. The wind picked up, threatening me to loose my balance. Through reflex, I was able to regain my balance before I fell.

That however didn’t count for much as to what happened next.

A solid object smacked right between my eyes that sent a burning pain through my skull. The force of the blow also knocked me to the ground, but at least the cool tiles did wonders for my head.

...Wait, what?

Opening my eyes, I could see I was no longer outside or even in Equestria. I was in a familiar kitchen that had a stainless steel workstation with a variety of toppings. To my immediate left was a freezer that held some fry products and a cooking vats.

Dumbfounded I tried to get up, only to be stopped by someone. “Ron, don’t get up. Just lie down.” Came a concerned female voice. Listening to her, I did as she instructed. Turning my head slightly I was able to get a look at her.

Stacey was her name. She was about in her late twenties with chocolate colored skin, long black hair tied up in a bun, brown eyes, and a beautiful smile. She wore a black button up shirt with matching pants, shoes, and socks.

“W-what happened?” I asked confused.

“You were unlucky, is what happened.” She said while carefully placing a towel underneath my head.

“You were getting some products from the freezer in the back and Miguel didn’t see you when he opened the freezer door.” She said while gesturing to the freeze to the left of me. “Not only did the door smack you in the face, but you hit your head pretty hard on the floor.”

“The ambulance should be here in a few minutes.” Came a familiar males voice. “How you doing, buddy?”

Looking over towards him, I recognized him immediately. His name was Stan, he was about my height with short dirty blonde hair, tannish skin, and sea blue eyes. His cloths were the exact same as Stacy's except he wore an all red tie.

“A bit confused...How long was I out?”

“Oh about five to eight minutes, give or take.” Stan answered.

I just laid there taking everything in. The throbbing of my skull, the cool tile against my skin, the smell of food being made, the sounds of my co workers doing their job, and then my ‘dream’. How real it felt. From the detailed scenery to the interaction with those I conversed with to the physical activities, it was hard to believe that it didn’t happen.

Though at the same time it was a blessing in disguise. Knowing that I didn’t cause a mass genocide was a huge weight off of my shoulders. A part of me was also grateful to know that my life would be returning to its boring daily routine. A small part of me would miss the freedom, but it was quickly knocked out and thrown into a closet.

A small smile splayed across my lips while tears of relief rolled down my cheeks. Stan noticed my tears and attempted to cheer me up with a joke. However, Stacey didn’t find it funny and started to scold him for such an inappropriate/ill-timed joke. The scene before me was a welcomed one as I chuckled at the two of them.

The paramedics must have arrived as Stan got up to usher them over here. Drying the tears from my eyes, I watched as Stan explained to the paramedics what happened, though I had the strangest feeling that I was forgetting somethi-

…

Stan wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. Rubbing my eyes, I looked once more and still couldn’t see hide nor hair of his wedding ring. But that didn’t mean anything. It just meant that he took the ring off--which he never did--and put it somewhere as to not lose it.

Yeah, that’s what happened. I’m just not thinking clearly is all. Taking a deep breath to calm myself down, I noticed Stacey moving around out of the corner of my eyes.

“Do you want some water or anything?” She asked.

Turning towards her to answer her question, I opened my mouth to reply, but my response never came out.

“Ron?” She asked me while her white hand moved her blonde hair from her face.

I blinked not once, not twice, but three times though her new appearance still remained.

“Hey, Stan, you might want to get those two over here.” She called out in concern.

Looking over to Stan, I saw him wrapping up whatever he was telling the paramedics and lead them over towards us. Looking to his left hand, I was now able to see a wedding ring on his finger...though it was a gold one instead of a silver one.

With a despondent sigh I stared at the ceiling for who knows how long. I could hear the occasional question from the paramedics as they got to work, but I didn’t respond to any of their queries. The weight of what I did slowly came back, but it was not in full force yet...though it would be soon enough.

Turning my head towards the freezer, I looked at my reflection. It was blurry, but I was able to make out my face. Oval shaped head with dark brown hair, matching eyebrows, and white skin. However instead of my brown eyes a pair of purple snake ires surround by cyan blue stared back at me.

I wanted to cry. I wanted to run away. I wanted to find a rock and hide underneath it. But I was unable to as the all too familiar oppressive weight came down on me.

Shifting into a sitting position, I was quickly stopped as eight pairs of hands tried to hold me down. Tried being the key word as I easily overcame their combined strength like that of a feather in a harsh breeze. As I stood up my surrounding began to fade away except for one lone door in the distance.

Making my way towards the door each step took more and more away of the surrounding area. Reaching and opening the door I was momentarily blinded by the bright room. The room was a stark contrast to the room I was in now. Instead of an all consuming black void it was an all consuming white void.

...Okay, maybe not that different, but it was definitely in the right direction.

Just as I was about to take a step into the next room, I could hear voices calling out to me.

“It’s not your fault.”

“Don’t leave. We can show you what you truly desire.”

“Leaving will only bring more pain.”

The voices continued with their siren call to have me come back and I’d be lying if I didn’t consider it for a moment. I thought long and hard between the threshold of both worlds. Turning to the shadows I could hear some in the distance cheer in delight.

“You’re partially right that it wasn’t my fault.” I began with a dejected look. “I didn’t kill them, they killed themselves even after all of my warnings.”

“However-” I continued with a determined look. “I could have still done something, but choose not to.”

A sad chuckle escaped my lips as a memory from college came to me. “The lever to the train tracks was right in front of me and I choose to ignore it instead of choosing to save the life of a group or an individual.”

I looked upon the endless black void with longing as my thoughts drifted to what they showed me. “You probably could show me what I truly want. From the way it could have ended to me being back home amongst friends, but it still wouldn’t change the things that I did. To the choices that I made.”

Taking a step into the white void, I could feel a warmth that I hadn’t felt in quite sometime. As the door began to close between both realms, I couldn’t help but shed a tear to the ‘reality’ that I was giving up.

“There probably will be more pain. More choices that will decided the fate of not only myself, but others. Choices that will make me question my morality. My fate. My sanity. But it is the path that I have chosen.” I said just as the door closed before me.

Opening my eyes I could see the dark overcast still looming over me, though thankfully it decided to take a break. Getting up, I then preceded to dust myself off of the leaves and mud that caked my body. Looking at my Pip-Boy, I oriented myself towards the point and made my way out of the clearing.

Just as I was at the threshold of the clearing, I stopped as I felt a part of me want to stay. Taking a deep and calming breath, I gathered all of the courage and willpower at my disposal to take the final step.

“I’m responsible for the death of the inhabitants of the Lonely Mountain. I killed them by doing nothing.” I confessed. A small weight was lifted from my shoulders as I took that final step from the clearing.

And then another.

And another.

And another once more.

By that point I was able to walk with no problem as I continued on my journey.

If you talk to a stranger in a library you’re going to have a bad time

“Of course I would love to go there, but you and I both know, Miss, that Equestria doesn’t exist.” I said to the woman that was sitting across from me.

The woman took a quick sip of her herbal tea and flashed me an understanding smile. Let me tell you her smile could melt the heart of any man or woman, if they swing that way. “Let’s say hypothetically that Equestria did exist would you leave everything behind to start a new life?” She asked calmly, her grayish blue eyes staring right into my brown ones.

“Hmmm, let me think about th….yes. Yes I would.” I answered matter of factly.

“And what would you be?” She asked, taking another sip of her tea.

“A pony.” I answered, getting an ‘are you serious look’ from her. “Uh, a unicorn pony.” I said with a shrug.

She gave me a disappointed look, “Not the most creative one are you?”

Hey in my defense who’s ever heard of a human going to Equestria and changing into a pon--actually, never mind.

“Ok, Miss Creativity, what do you think I should be then?” I asked sarcastically.

“Hmmm, well for a lack of a better word you seem to be…a neutral kind of individual and quite frankly that would be boring.” She mused out loud while tilting her head into a thinking position.

I would have retorted, but she had a point. Truth be told I never really cared to socialize with anyone yet with my line of work I didn’t have a choice. It was also a challenge to make sure my opinion/ thoughts were perceived as neutral rather than my own. Because of this I became a mindless program that simply told people what they were suppose to do rather than think up a solution.

The repetition was one of the things I hated the most about my life. Wake up, go to work, and go to sleep. Rinse and repeat. But sadly it was also the most comforting part of my life. It was just the same thing over and over again. So I never had to worry about anything going wrong or having to go fix/do something about it.

But maybe I’m getting ahead of myself and should probably introduce myself. My name is Ron. I’m twenty five years old with dark brown hair, brown eyes, about five foot twelve, and have a fair amount of muscles. I was an average student in College getting either straight B’s or a few A’s, it depended on the classes. After College I got hired into a consultant company- -thanks to being as other would put it ‘organized’ and saving a life-- that worked with other companies. My job was to go around and make sure everyone was up to date and doing their jobs right.

Thanks to my job I traveled all over the U.S. and I know what you’re thinking, ‘Oh that sounds like fun being able to see our country and yada yada.’

Well stop because it’s not fun, in fact it sucks. For one thing, I’m always running around the huge ass building making sure everything’s up to date, sometimes having to stay there till five in the morning only to come back in a few hours to check on their progress. So I would rarely get any sleep.

Whenever I go to different companies, I don’t obviously know anyone and they automatically don’t like me, but I can understand since I’m one: much younger than the people I tell what to do, and two: have to tell people what to fix or change. This usually ends with either them complaining on how hard it is or how it could be done faster. Which I respond with do it or gtfo, but of course much nicer than that. Although half the time I wish I could just say that, because let me tell you if you don’t know this, people can be really, really stupid.

Anyways today was suppose to be my day, the one day of the week I take off no matter what’s going on. I tell them to deal with it and not to bother me on this glorious day known as Wednesday. Wednesday, the day where I go out and have fun and by that I mean go somewhere where I won’t be bothered and catch up on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episodes and fan fics.

It was a peaceful day as I walked around a bit in the city of New York--by the way almost getting mugged by some thugs--until I came upon a bookstore with free wifi. Sitting down in a remote location, I powered on my laptop and began to browse through some MLP fanart. Alas my peaceful time was interrupted as a woman passed by and saw my computer screen.

Being a closet brony I almost panicked and quickly left, until she started to talk to me about the show. Let me tell you she knew her ponies pretty well. In fact she was really into the hypothetical stuff, like the founding of Equestria, the origins of the Princesses, and even some of the theories behind the Elements of Harmony.

Now truth be told, I was having a great time. Even though I’m not the smoothest ladies man out there--and also not the most talkative person out there--I was still happy to talk to a fellow fan of the show. Though my mood turned sour at the prospect that was in store for me tomorrow, I still consider this the best day of my life.

She was one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever had the pleasure of even talking to,which is below five. She had long crimson red hair that seemed to flow with the wind--even though there wasn’t a breeze--with grayish blue eyes. She was about my age--maybe older--,stood as tall as five foot five, and was wearing a white summer dress with matching high heels.

One way or another the big question that every brony wants to hear came up and of course I responded with a ‘hell yeah’ answer, as you saw. And that’s the story so far. Though now that I’m not rambling I think she’s trying to tell me something. I should probably stop thinking and actually listen to her.

“Well?” She said as she looked at me.

“Well, what?” I asked back confused.

She rolled her eyes, “If you could actually go to Equestria would you go?”

“Yes.” I said with a determined look.

“And your life? Friends? Family?” She queried.

“Well my life sucks, most of my friends and family are back in California, but I hardly see them anymore so I won’t be missed.” I said with a shrug. “Besides as you said earlier I’m rather ‘boring’ so this would be a nice change of pace if you could actually do it.”

“Alrighty then, off you go.” She said followed by the snap of her fingers.

I then found myself being flung towards a black portal on the ceiling just as I was about to pass through I yelled, “Wait! You didn’t tell me what I was going to be?”

Her response was, “Wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.”

And then everything went black.

~Later~

My body felt sore like I went a couple of rounds with Mike Tyson and lost. Every part of me ached in pain like I was hit by a bus. Wait? Didn’t I already compare my pain to being hit by Tyson or was it by a bus driven by Tyson…Fuck it. I’m in pain, you get the idea. Slowly, but surely I fluttered my eyes open only to be meet with absolute darkness.

‘Oh god I’m dead! Or Blind?’ I thought until my eyes started to give form to a stone ceiling. ‘Oh hey, it’s just a dark room. Probably night time.’ I mused. Turning my head towards the only light source I was meet face to face with the lovely night sky, but it seemed different. Familiar yet different.

I put that into the back of my mind, but first let’s take stock of what’s happening. ‘Mental check list activate: Told work I was taking the day off, check. Walked around a bit and found someplace to relax, check. Meet some random lady who said she could send me to Equestria,…uhh.’ I thought and tried to roll my head the other way to see the rest of my surroundings.

As I did so I could see row upon row of beds with shadowy lumps sleeping on them. Focusing my eyes on one of the closer beds I could make out a figure lying down on the bed. His chest going up and down in a rhythmic pattern signifying he was still asleep….oh and I forgot to mention he was a pony, specifically a white royal guard. Strange how I didn’t mention that before, but first HOLY MOTHER OF SWEET BABY RAPTOR JESUS, I’M IN EQUESTRIA!

Getting over my little fangasm there I decided to get a feel for my new body, in case I was something large or noisy because in all honesty how would it look if some random guy walked in and was sitting next to you while you were asleep. Yeah it be pretty fucking creepy. That and the fact that I’m in a place I’m pretty sure I’m not suppose to be.
I started off with my fingers and was happy to find out that I did in fact have fingers, but there were two things off about them. My right hand felt skinnier than my left and I also felt like I was missing one of my fingers. If I had to harbor a guess it felt like the finger that goes in-between my pinkie and middle finger. Don’t know what it’s called, but it was definitely that one. Truth be told it wasn’t that big of a deal losing that particular finger, because I couldn’t remember a time where I would actually use it except for grabbing stuff, but even then you could still grab stuff just fine with just your thumb, index and middle finger. I then went to lift my arms, the previous pain now a mild soreness though I still felt wrongness of one side being skinnier than the other.

Ok so far I have hands, that’s good because I really didn’t want to know how ponies picked things up with their hooves. Besides who could resist having the almighty power of thumbs. I then proceeded to try and wiggle my toes-wow that sounds so lame-,but could only feel some toes wiggling on my right side…and I also count three toes missing. So my left leg has no toes and my right leg has two…well this will be interesting. I guess it’s time to answer the question of ‘What the hell am I exactly?’

With a heavy sigh I forced my mind ready for the great and direing task I was about to do. Which was getting my ass up to get a better look at myself. With a deep breath I forced myself up, ready and prepared for the worst only for a lone cloud to block my only source of light.

‘Oh, fuck you universe.’ I thought, muttering curses to the one tiny cloud to block the huge radiant moon. Thinking up a new game plan I decided to try and find my way out of the room and towards a bathroom or something, in the hopes of finding a mirror. Getting up I was glad to find the familiar feeling of walking on two legs or in this case whatever I am/have. Using my right hand to guide me I began my epic journey towards what I hope would eventually be a way out. About two minutes into my journey my hand felt an object hanging on the wall. Running my hands over it I could feel that it was a mirror. Ignoring the random question of why would the guards need a mirror in their barracks, I tried to get a look at myself.

I don’t know if the universe wanted to throw me a bone or was just trolling me from the beginning, but as soon as I looked towards the mirror the lone cloud decided to be on its way and brought forth the full light of the moon once more. I almost screamed out in panic, but was able to catch myself before that could happen. Reaching out towards the creature in front of me, I could feel my hand touch the smooth and cold surface of the mirror. My hand slumped back towards my side as I continued to look at my new form with disbelief.

I knew what the creature before me was, but my mind refused to let the words escape my lips. The creature was feared by all other or at least known, but not because it was scary looking or because it was strong. No, it was because the creature was unpredictable and would always cause problems. Although I guess that would be an unfair assumption given the fact that all of brony kind knows only about one of them.

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That’s when it hit me. I remembered the name of the creature that stood before me, “Draconequus…”

I looked pretty similar to Discord, it was…highly disturbing. I mean I could pass off as a distant relative or something. I had the head of a pony like discord with razor sharp teeth. My eyes were a cyan blue and my pupils were a shade of dark purple that went into slits like that of a snake. Instead of his floppy ears mine were pointed straight up like that of a canine or wolf, my mane was a light shade of black and on the top of my head I had two horns. On the left side I had a bone white deer antler and on my right side I had a black horn that had a lot of holes in it. It reminded me of Swiss cheese.

My fur coat from my head to about my neck was a dark grayish brown while my chest down was a dark amber color, and instead of being a fur coat it was instead feathers like that of an eagle or hawk. Speaking of eagle, my right arm was that of an eagle while my left arm was that of a lion. Looking down at my legs I could see my left leg was a light brown goat leg or maybe a Minotaur--wait aren’t those the same thing?--while my right leg was an emerald green lizard leg. My tail was a violet red sea serpent tail with pink rounded spikes going along the base and at the end was a pink flipper to match with it. While I was looking at my tail I took notice of two lumps on my back. Turning so I could get a better look I could see two wings folded up on my back. My left wing was a moderate magenta bat wing while my right wing was a fiery orange Pegasus wing.

“Ok, so I’m a Draconequus…and I’m currently sitting in the heart of Equestria where there are two powerful princess that could send me to the moon/sun or summon the Elements of Harmony and turn me into stone…Well this is a bunch of crap.” I said to myself and continued, “So either I learn how to use my chaos magic fast or high tail it out of here before I’m caught. And why did it suddenly get brighter?” Turning towards the light source I took notice of a particular looking bird staring right at me.

It was a Phoenix that seemed to radiate a burning glow that reminded me of a campfire…I believe that’s Philo-something, Celestia’s pet Phoenix. Now a few things were running thru my mind. One: how were the guards not awake yet? Because the light show the bird was giving off would have woken me up. Two: why is there a random table in the middle of the walkway with an expensive looking vase on it. Finally: why does she have a mischievous smile on and slowly making her way towards the table.

As she plopped onto the table--set table barely big enough to hold her and the vase--she returned her gaze towards me and spoke, “So are you yet another one of those aliens that Celestia has been talking about or are you just Discord and decided to get a makeover? Because let me tell you I’m digging the new look.” She said her voice was around the age of a seventeen year old and more importantly she was checking me out.

“Did...did you just talk?” I asked my mouth hanging out as I gawked at the bird.

“What do you think genius? And answer my question.” She deadpanned.

“I’m not Discord and are you saying there are more humans here?”

“Well I don’t know about them being humans, but then again as much as I love Celestia, I sometimes just can’t stand her talking so much, so I kind of tune her out.” She responded back with a shrug and slowly started to push the vase towards the end of the table.

“Uh, wh-what are you doing?” I asked as I watched the vase near the edge.

“Hm? Oh nothing really.” She said feigning ignorance.

“Please don’t.” I begged.

“I’ll think about if you do something for me.” She said with a sly grin.

“Anything.” I eagerly responded back.

“Say my name.” She said.

“…..I’m sorry what?” I asked not sure if I heard her correctly.

“Did I stutter? I said say my name unless…you don’t know it.” She said the vase one fourth of the way off the table.

“Uh, I mean of course I know your name. The name of the most pretties…No, I mean the most beautiful Phoenix in all of Equestria.” I said lying through my teeth.

“Well?”

“It’s uh Phi(mumbles).”

“Come again?”

‘That’s what she said.’

“Philo(mumbles again).”

“Say it right now or else.” she threatened moving the vase three forth of the way off the table, set vase breaking the laws of physics.

“Philo…Philome….” I said stumbling with her name. Just as she was about to let go I spluttered out, “Philomeena!” Quickly covering my mouth I took a glance around to see if I woke up any of the guards. Only one guard seemed to be irritated, but he simply turned the opposite direction and continued to sleep.

She stared at me with a suspicious look. “You got lucky.” She finally said and placed the vase back on top of the table.
Releasing the breath I didn’t even know I was holding I smiled in triumph at the crisis I averted and *Crash*…I turned my gaze towards the ground were the vase was now broken into a millions of pieces. Shifting my gaze towards the culprit, who had a huge grin on her face. “But you promised!” I shouted to her as she took off towards the window.

“I promised nothing!” She shouted back and quickly made her escape.

“That damn turkey I swear if I get my hands on her I’m gonna!” I shouted until I realized more than half the guards were up by now, some staring at me with hate while others looked at me with fear. I put on my friendliest smile, “So if I were to tell you guys that I didn’t break your vase and that I’m not the person you think I’m would you believe me?” They all in unison shook their heads no as they started to block off my one and only exit. “So I guess that means you're now going to send out the alarm that there’s an intruder in the castle?”

Their response to my question was for all the unicorn guards horns began to glow which was followed by sound equal to that of the Royal Canterlot Voice, “DISCORD HAS ESCAPED”.

As a group of Earth pony guards rushed towards me time slowed to a crawl as my brain went into overtime and I was given three options. Option 1 surrender and hope for the best, Option 2 fight my way thru them and make my way towards the door or Option 3…fuck it I’m going with number 3. Quickly turning back around towards the window I made a mad dash for it and without a second thought jumped out the window.

Let the game begin...Oh wait they already have

Author's Note

First off let's give some love to the badass artist/Lunar Legend himself Aoi for drawing an epic picture of your truely . Second the title is a quote from Anchorman the legend of Ron Burgundy you know "News team asssmble~" and the end joke will be answered shortly if you read the first line if not look it up. Now as the good Doctor would say onwards and upwards

Let the game begin...Oh wait they already have

“…Sopranos and it just cuts off in mid sentence.” Derange yelled as he caught up with the group.

We just ignored his comment and continued our way towards Wethoof. The town was pretty big so I was impressed with the giant wall that encompassed it. The area around Wethoof was cleared of trees and half of the area had deep scars in the earth from a huge battle…or those giant corpse of Hydras that are being used to fertilize the land, damn ponies don’t let anything go to waste.

As we reached the gate, I noticed that the ponies working the field didn’t even give us a look over and just simply ignored us. ‘Damn and I was missing all the attention I was getting too.’ I thought sarcastically.

“HALT!” yelled an Earth pony as he blocked our way in.

‘Criminal scum, pay the court a fine or serve your sentence, your stolen goods are now forfeit.’ Derange thought to me and we both started to snicker much to confusion of everyone there.

“What business do you have here?” The guard asked while looking us over.

I was about to respond only for my head to make a one eighty as my instincts told me to go a different direction. “Apparently none.” I said and tried to get a better feel of which way to head next, which consisted of me licking my finger and holding it up in the air to feel for the Chaos currents…and yes I just compared Chaos to wind deal with it.

“Actually Drake, we are running low on supplies and it would be in our best interest to stock up.” Silver said.

“Yeah, plus I want to sleep on an actual bed and not outside for a change.” Minutte chimed in.

“Oh, does little Colgy want to sleep on a bed.” Derange spoke as if he was talking to a baby.

“Little Colgy is going to kick, Dewange little butt if he talks like that again.” Minutte responded back.

“Ohhh, I didn’t know you were into Femdom.” Derange said and brought out a ball gag. “Be gentle I bruise easily.” He finished and put it in his mouth. Minuette was blushing profusely and tried to stammer out a response, but came up with nothing. Derpy was much the same, but instead was covering Dinky’s ear much to the fillys charge of wanting to listen, while I was laughing my ass off. Hey, I might not like him, but he still has a good sense of humor every so often. While Silver and the other guard were idling chatting away about guard stuff.

Silver and the guard quickly gave one another a quick salute and he walked back towards his post. “You guys about done?” She asked.

“Hmphphrhg.” Derange said with the ball gag still in his mouth.

“…I’ll take that as a yes.” She said and continued. “I filled them in while you guys were messing around and they offered to give us some supplies and a place to stay for the evening.”

“*sigh* So there’s no way to convince you girls to just sleep in the mildly creepy and dangerous forest?” I asked sarcastically since I already knew the answer. “Fine. You girls have fun while Derange and I go check something out.” I said and motioned for Derange to follow.

“Not going to happen.” Silver and Derange said at the same time. They both looked at one another in surprise.

“I’m not allowed to let you out of my sight.”

“And I don’t want to go.”

“Ok, fine whatever, Derange stay here and don’t cause any problems. Minuette, Derpy, and Dinky keep an eye on him. Let’s go Silver” I said and took to the skies Silver right behind me.

~Derange PoV~

‘Annnnnnndddd there gone, finally.’ I thought as I watched those two spoilsports take off. ‘Now then, I just need to ditch these losers and I’m all set.’ I thought while rubbing my hands together mischiefly.

“Ahem.” Coughed Minuette as she brought me out of my thoughts. “Derpy and I are going to go get those supplies and spend some time catching up while you keep an eye on Dinky.” She said with a I’m in charge attitude.

“Yeah, no. I’m going to go have some fun.” I deadpanned and prepped myself to fly off only to be caught in a magic glow.

“You.Owe.Me.” She said as she glared at me.

“Correction, Drake owes you, not me. I never agreed to that part.” I replied back.

“Derange.” Minuette growled.

“*sigh* Fine~, I’ll watch her.” I said grudgingly. ‘This is total bullshit, but who’s to say I have to wac…’

“Derange~” Derpy sang out trying to get my attention. When I turned to look at her, I felt my body tense up and all thought seem to just stop, my mind focusing on the scary yellow mane pegasus in front of me. “If anything were to happen to my little muffin or if she were to learn something inappropriate, I just don’t know what I’d do to set pony. Understand?” She threatened nicely which just added to the ‘holy shit’ o-meter.

“Yes, ma’am.” I said barely audible…Fluttershy would be proud.

“Good.” She said, instantly switching from scary mom to nice mom “Now Dinky, don’t get into any trouble, okay muffin.” She said nicely.

“Yes mommy, I’ll make sure we don’t get into any trouble.” Dinky responded back.

“Ok, then. Have fun you two.” Derpy said as she headed towards the village.

“Yeah, have fun.” Minuette snickered as she walked by me.

Dinky and I kind of stood there for a couple of minutes in awkward silence. “So…want to take a look at the town?” I asked.

“Ok.” she said and started to head towards the village.

“*sigh* This is going to be a long day.”

~Drake PoV~

We’ve been flying for about a couple of minutes now, every so often I would stop mid flight, check to make sure we were going the right way, and then continue our journey in relative silence. About an hour later or so I could see/feel where the chaotic magic was coming from. It was a tall pyramid structure like those of ancient Egypt back home. With a silent gesture of my hand, I motioned towards the structure. Silver responded with a simple nod and we both landed on the top because in all honesty, who in their right mind would walk up or down the stairs…don’t look at me like that, it was a shit load of stairs and I didn’t want to walk up to the top.

As we landed my Pip-Boy ranged out naming the pyramid ‘The Temple of Chaos’, the only thing on the flat top was a stone container. As we approached the container I could feel traces of leftover Chaos magic, inside the container was a room, but it was too dark to see anything else down there.

“Drake.” Silver called out and pointed towards something. As I moved over there I could see what she was looking at, inscribed on the lid of the coffin/container was

The Sun burns bright

The Moon shines at night

The Oceans swirl around

While the Earth remains the ground

If you want in, just press down.

Here lies a poor dog who took a deal

Who dared to chose to spin the wheel

Did he win?

Did he lose?

It's up to the mangy mutt to choose

Oh, and thanks for the coffee.

Love,

Discord

“Any ideas about what it means?” Silver asked as she looked it over.

“I have a theory, but nothing conclusive.” I said completely avoiding the question and returning to looking down the container trying to see what the bottom looked like. You know that saying ‘if you stare into the abyss long enough it’ll stare back’ I was getting that deep chill to the bones kind of feel.

“Are we going down there?” she asked with a stoic look.

“No, no we don’t need to.” I said as I backed away from the opening and proceeded to sit down a few feet away from the container, Silver laying down a foot away from me.

As I started to focus on the chaos magic around me, trying to find the source. “Might want to get comfy since I don’t know how long this will take.” I told her, but before I could hear her response everything went white.

~Derange PoV~

“*exhales deeply* Ahhh, this is so peaceful, relaxing, and most importantly boring as buck.” I deadpanned. We were in a meadow like area in the village. Flowers of all color and shape were spaced about and Dinky was going around drawing pictures and coloring them to show Ditzy later…and I was completely bored out of my mind. This area reeked of *gags* Order and I would have fixed that in a heartbeat if it wasn’t for the Draconequus with a stick up his ass and a blond haired Pegasus who scared the buck out of me, but such is life. A cruel heartless bitch who’ll do anything just to fuck with your life.

Wait, what’s that? You want to know about what happen in the town, well…absolutely fucking nothing that’s what happened. This place was boring as hell, well was being the keyword and I may or may not have played a few pranks here or there. Which included a storm cloud following some poor sap as it rained gumdrops--by the way the kids loved that bit--, made some toy do the Macarena-- which again the kids loved--, put a few stink bombs here or there-- most of the town didn’t find that funny…I wonder why--, and then was promptly chased out of town for finding the girls bathing quarters…and yes I took some pictures, sketches, and a few tapes before I was caught and they’ll be on sale for a certain price, the bundle coming up to seventy bits.

“You could always draw some flower like you did with those rocks that were near the bathing area Mr. Derange.” Dinky said innocently.

’Must…resist urge…to hug.’ I thought as I slowly gathered my thoughts to be coherent, which is a major accomplishment in my opinion.

“Thanks, but no thanks kid, I think I got all my drawing out for the day.” I said nervously which quickly changed to annoyed. “Also just Derange, kid, I’m not that old yet”.

“It’s not kid then.” She replied back.

“Heh, Touché.” I said to her with a nod of approval. ‘Kid learns fast’.

“Hey, Derange?” She asked a bit hesitantly.

“Yeah?”

“Why does everypony dislike you?” She asked with a curious, yet innocent look.

“I wouldn’t say dislike. It’s more like, they hate my guts and want to make a little Derange puppet out of me for a show, so they could make me look like dummy.” I replied back evenly.

“But why?” she asked confused.

“Lots of reasons kid.” I half-assed answered as I motioned for her to let it go. She responded back with a glare which was really more of a cute little pout. “There’s just too many to list kid. Besides you're still too young to understand this kind of junk.”

‘But more importantly, I don’t want to die.’ I thought and shivered at the thoughts of what Derpy would do to me.

“I’m not a little foal. I’m a big pony.” She said with a pout, crossed her hooves and turned her back towards me.

‘Must…resist…the D’awwwwssssss’ I thought.

And there we were back to where we began or in other words, we went in a complete circle…sort of. Me laying down completely bored and Dinky sitting there ignoring me. “Fine, if you’re just going to sit there and do nothing, I’m going to go somewhere else.” I said to her and proceeded to dust myself off.

“No you won’t.” She said without looking at me.

“Oh really?” I said to her and proceed to leave.

“Yes, because if you do I’ll tell my mommy that you left me all alone the entire day.” She said.

‘Why you no good little shit….I’m so proud of you.’

“Heh, seems like I’m between a rock and a hard place.” I said to her casually and return back to my laying spot.

“Fine, fine, since I can’t go anywhere/do anything and since I’m assuming you're ignoring me, I guess I’ll rant a bit about that question that was asked earlier.” This caught her interest as she turned to face me while I closed my eyes thinking of the right words.

“There are many words to describe a Draconequus: improbable, loony, crazy, insane, insane in the min brain, insane-- Yes I know I used the same words and yes, I know I repeated a word let me finish. Geez, kids now a day’s no longer patient enough to let their elders speak. Oy Vey what has this world come too…What? Oh right, so yeah back to my little rant.-- Anywho the best way to describe us or in a nutshell would be the unknown. For you see little one, the unknown scares people, it drives some to insanity or others to hide from it, but nonetheless the unknown is just as it sounds unknown and for creatures who are naturally curious. Who naturally want to solve question, it’s very tempting to dive head first into it to gain knowledge and answers yet dangerous because of what they might find out isn’t what they weren’t expecting.”

“And because of that it’s why most folks hate us, because Draoncaquai are to…random, spontaneous, illogical and etcetera creatures. We do things that break down the metaphorical walls of the minds of other creatures to the point of insanity, so they instinctively respond back with disgust or hate or others words that involve hate. Don’t look at me like that, what do I look like a Sweetie Bell? And no, I’m not going to explain what that statement means.” I said finishing up my little rant, a few minutes passed as her mind tried to process the information I told her.

‘Uh, oh, did I break her?’ I thought as I opened one eye to take a glance at her. She had her eyes close in deep thought like really really deep thought, what don’t judge me what do I look like a Sweetie….wait. Didn’t I already make this joke?, oh well.

‘Better fix her before Derpy see her…where did I put that wrench at.’ I thought as I started to search through my feathers.

“Well that seems silly.” She finally said as she opened her eyes and looked at me.

“Uh, what does?” I asked her while I put away the wrench that was going to be used to ‘fix’ her with.

“Why should we fear the unknown if we know what the unknown is.” She said waiting for me to responded, but she only got a ‘What in the bloody hell are you talking about’ look from me which she responded with a roll of her eyes and continued talking to me like I was a child…oh the irony.

“It’s simple, all we have to do is get to know the unknown, like you. At first I thought you were pretty scary, but after being around you for so long I learned that you’re not scary, but fun to be around. It’s like mommy always say, ‘you can never judge a muffin by its description’. So with that all we have to do is let others know that you’re not scary and that there’s no reason to be mean to you or afraid of the unknown.” She said with a smile.

We sat there for five minutes, me looking at her dumbfounded while she sat there with a nervous smile; which was totally, maybe, more than possibly my fault.

“Pffft…BWHAHAHAHAHAHA” I laughed no longer able to hold back my laughing fit and fell back to the ground clutching my side as I laughed.

‘Ah the mind of a child such a wonderful thing.’ I thought somehow without laughing.

“What so funny?” She said annoyed.

“Tel…tell you what.” I said to her as I got my laughing fit under controlled. “Let’s make a deal ki…I mean Dinky”.”

“What kind of bet? Also I don’t think mommy would approve.” She said hesitantly and confused.

“Don’t worry this is a friendly wager, so only I will hold up the end of the deal.” I explain to her and continue, “If in a few years you don’t feel the same way as you do now about the subject, I plainly get to say I told ya so, but if you win well Je vais vous prendre pour un bon dîner de fruits de mer, puis nous aurons le temps smexy.(I'll take you out to a nice seafood dinner and then we'll have smexy time.) Sounds good?” I said.

‘Ah the language of love, I knew I could make a debauchery of it.’ I thought.

“What’s that suppose to mean?” She asked me.

I just ruffled her mane, much to her annoyance. “When you’re older, now come here you.” I said and gave her a quick hug which was returned. Ha, I got a hug from a cute little pony suck it everyone…I mean I got a manly hug from a cute litt…You’re not buying this are you?

“Welp that’s enough of that.” I said and broke away from the hug. “Now it’s getting a bit late we should probably…WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU LOOKING AT!” I yelled at the creature who has been watching us for the past ten minutes.

“Uh Derange, who are you yelling at?” She asked looking all over the field for the creature.

“I’m yelling at that jack off right there.” I pointed towards the creature and its black evil little beady eyes.

“…But that’s a-” She didn’t get to finish her sentence as I walked over towards the jackass.

“You want start something pal, huh? Do ya?” I yelled in a Boston accent.

“But Derange-”

“No I’m going to teach this little F…I mean, jerk who’s boss.” I said and cracked my knuckles. “Let’s dance.”

~Drake PoV~

An empty void much like the one I was in during my mind trip and no I’m not referring to that time I was in college and…oh, wait. I never told you guys that story…moving on. It was practically the same the only key difference was that the void like area I was in was a light grey void of nothingness, is what I’d like to say but it appears to be moving towards my destination. I guess you could say my final…wait. Technically it’s not so I can’t make that joke…yet. Mark my words, I’ll make that joke dammit!

…by the gods I’m losing it. Anyways getting over my little freak out there I noticed I that I was in front of Wethoof once more the only difference being that it was night time, everything was in black and white and that it was silent as well.
‘Now what am I waiting for?’ I thought to myself as I flew up into the midnight sky to get a better view. I didn’t have to wait long as a dark silhouette came out from the forest and dashed right towards Wethoof itself.

‘Curious.’ I thought as I made my way towards the figure, it was a diamond dog with a sweater on carrying a sack on its back. His hands--yes I found that out, don’t ask how or why--were glowing with magic as he used his hands to write out in Equestrian probably talking to someone that I can’t see.

‘Seems upset about something.’ I thought as I noticed a scowl on his face, only for him to throw a chunk of dirt up towards the watchtower and to then break down the front door of the village

‘…holly shit dude.’ I thought as the memory or vision faded out.

My vision returned and I was no longer in Wethoof, but now in a wasteland, awfully dull really nothing in sight except a dead bush, dead tree, a griffon, and a dragon….wait what? Yes, a dragon and from what I know--now anyways--that it was huge and it was a black dragon the strongest kind out there and that griffon was going to fight it bare handed…that screamed ‘genius’ right there. Only for him to then fly right towards the dragon grab one of its scale, use it as a shield to protect himself from the flames--yes, I found that out too, quit asking--, flew right down the dragon's throat, after a minute of the dragon thrashing about it died, he came out of the dragon's mouth, perched himself on top of the corpse, and let out a victory cry.

‘What.The.Fuck?’ I thought as I watched the scene before me and the world faded once more.

Only for me to be in the exact same place I was originally at the only difference being that I was a distance away in the air.

‘Wait what?’. I then noticed to the left of me a black wingless dragon standing on top of a tree

‘…Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee much?’ I thought till I noticed the battle with the dragon being finished and the two griffons flying off. The girl dragon--I’m not going to answer so leave me alone-- jumped down and crawled over towards the big dragon her whole body shaking as tears started to form around her eyes. She seemed to be talking to the big dragon a sad look spread across her face, then she cried to the heavens releasing a huge breath of fire the second that she stopped it started to rain covering up the tears that were going down her face. The world faded once more.

I came back to the world or vision…whatever it is that’s happening to me, as I was now in a city…surrounded by a group of guards.

‘Well, shit that sucks. This next person must have been really unlucky…should have bribed the guards. It always works in Skyrim.’ I thought as I noticed the two figures in the center. One was a old looking cat person like from Skyrim, but I think the proper term is Bast while the other was a younger looking Bast with a wooden arm for his right hand. They then broke away from one another and started to fight the guards and were pretty much kicking ass until a net caught them and a unicorn charged some sort of spell and fried them. The world faded once more.

I came back only to be in a large cave where a giant wolf thing was at. He seemed to be talking to someone. As I turned around I came face to face with a…bugbear? Yeah let’s go with that. The most noticeable thing about him was his left arm being made of some sort of metal. He then walked up towards the beast shook its paw--making a deal perhaps--and cut off a piece of rope/string that was around the wolf’s neck. They then proceeded to leave the cave killing all the diamond dogs that got in their way while also freeing all the slaves. The world faded once more.

I came back only for my scenery to be a blur of trees and bushes passing me. Speaking of which there was a bipedal wolf dog thing running towards a town…and there was a dragon there.

‘Really are ALL the Chess Pieces insane.’ I thought as we arrived into the town only for him to jump onto a roof and make his way over towards the dragon while dodging the fireballs it shot out. He then jumped onto the dragon's back, slowly made his way to the head of the dragon, jumped in front of it, dodge a bite by slashing it, grabbed a barb thing on its face, and used the momentum to place the blade through its head effectively killing it. He then stumbled out of a cart, made his way towards the dragon and grabbed his sword from the dragon's neck.

‘What.The.Actual.Flying.Fuck.Just happened?’ I thought as the world faded.

I was now in an arena diamond dogs sitting in the bleachers and a huge ass Minotaur charging towards me…wait what?

‘Oh shit!’ I thought and flinched as the Minotaur ran right through me leaving me completely unharmed.

‘Oh right, astral projection memory thing a ma jig.’ I thought as I turned around and noticed that A) the minotaur was now stuck to the wall and B) there was a dancing stag on top of its head.

‘…what the fuck…I don’t even.’ I thought as the world faded.

I was now free falling, and yes I was humming the lyrics while I was falling. The creature that was falling looked like hellboy in all honesty, a couple of minutes passed and at the last second we passed an airship. The hellboy look alike grabbed a piece of rope from the anchor and crash right through a cement wall.

‘Ohhhh, that’s going to hurt.’ I thought as I winced, then the world faded.

I came back to see that I was in a field a giant snake man thing relaxing in the sun only for him to snap up and wave his hand to cast some sort of spell and slithered on over towards a group of dogs. He talked to the dogs for a bit the longer they talked the more scarier looking he became and then faster than a bullet he killed them all and freed the slaves.

‘Holy shit, dude.’ I thought as the world faded.

I was in a lit cave tall enough for me to stand without slouching and next to me was…Spitfire? And she was yelling at some winged wolf thing, Cynogriffon I believe being the term. The wolf made some sort of reply and then ran off killing all the diamond dogs that got in his way, or was he tracking them down? I was not sure. He then seemed to pause at a door as if thinking about if he should go in or not. A moment passed and he did as he tackled a dog holding a whip and killed the dogs in the room. Then…Octavia? Started to yell at him while the wolf just had a ‘I don’t give two fucks about what you’re saying’ look, then they talked and he once more resumed his bloodshed of the dogs. The world faded just as he reached a massive door.

‘Awww, it was just getting good to. Boooo~ I want my money back.’ I said as I threw a bag of popcorn into the void of nothing.

I was next to a really really huge ass fucking tree and was slowly making my way up, a timber wolf right next to me was climbing set tree.

‘I don’t know why, but I have the strangest feeling of putting fires out for some reason.’ I thought as I looked at the wooden creature. Then I noticed a shit load of spider webs the father we climbed up.

“Nope. Abandoning thread…Celestia, Dammit.” I said while I faced palm and jumped, even though I was in mid air, and proceeded to free fall the world faded once more.

I was now on…a spaceship…you know I’m not even surprised anymore. There standing in front of an alien was…sonic the hedgehog only in a werehog form…ok. That doesn’t seem right, let’s call him a werehog that happens to look like a sonic character and he was showing a video of the…other chess pieces…insert inception joke…followed by profit joke. Then the alien seemed to pale at the sight of all the badass amongst the chess pieces and the werehog seemed to say something witty. Then the world faded once more.

There were dogs surrounding a caravan of ponies and rounding them up. A dog separated from them and brought back a cat. The dog holding the cat smelt the cat made a comment and the cat-- I assume since everyone was staring at the cat--said something. Then out of nowhere the cat turned into a freaking dragon.

‘…nope, still not surprised.’ I thought as the dog and ponies both fled from the dragon and the world faded.

I was back in the void of grey the only difference now that it showed all of the chess pieces flying by at a fast pace each one doing some sort of amazing stunt. A giant armor man, a troll--must resist joke--a bipedal changeling with a sweet ass looking guitar as he played it, a female human commanding an undead army, a cow talking to the princesses, a zebra sending out some sort of shock wave towards a blob and a dragon, and many other chess pieces each doing something amazing/spectacular. The images eventually became a blur as I flew past them at ludicrous speeds, then I stopped. The images disappeared and I was alone once more…or so I thought as I was now cover by a dark silhouette. The second I turned around my eyes went to the size of pin bricks as I looked at the massive creature before me, the creature staring right back at me. The last thing I remember is the creature laughing which was covered by the sound of my screams.

~Real World~

“Snap out of it!” Silver screamed as she slapped me with her hoof in rapid succession.

“Ahhh! OW! STOP! STOP I’M GOOD.” I told her as I grabbed her hoof to prevent her from slapping me anymore.

“Obviously you weren’t, I was just taking a nap when suddenly you started screaming.” She retorted.

“Wait, I was screaming?” I asked confused.

‘Why would I be screaming? I was just getting an idea about what the other pieces looked like and then-’ I thought trying to remember what happened after that, but I was drawing a blank.

“Are you sure you’re fine?” She asked with a bit of concern.

“Who are you and what have you done with Silver?” I asked joking only to receive another smack across the face. “OW! That hurts ya know.” I whined now rubbing my sore cheeks.

“Get over it.” She replied back.

‘Ah, that’s the Silver I know.’

“Now what was with the screaming?” She asked.

‘Crap, that the Silver I know.’

“*Sigh* I don’t remember.” I answered truthfully. “Just getting some info on the other piece like what they look and or what they can do, but then it’s all a blank.” I said with a shrug.

“Oh well, it must’ve not been that important if I forgot about it.” I said and clapped my hands. “Best be heading back to town before it gets dark.” I said and dashed off to the sky.

“You coming or what?”

“Yeah...” she said and gave me a look that said ‘this isn’t over’. I just pretend to not see it and we flew back to town.

~Later~

“There you are. We were starting to get worried.” Minuette said as she and Ditzy greeted us at the front gate.

“So did you get all our supplies Colgate?” I asked as Silver and I landed.

“It’s Minuette, and yes we did.” She said and added a glared at me, but I thought it was adorable looking.

“And you guys had a good tim-Where’s Derange?” I asked as I looked for that little troublemaker.

“Oh, he ‘offered’ to babysit Dinky for the day while Derpy and I caught up on old times.” She said.

“And to have some fun.” Ditzy added. “I mean, I love my little muffin with all my heart, but it’s nice to go out with some friends and cut loose.” She said with a sheepish grin.

“Yup, totally understandable.” I said with a nod. “And speak of the devils, or actually devil, there’s Dinky.” I said and pointed towards the little yellow haired filly as she walked over towards us.

“Hi, muffin.” Derpy said as she nuzzled Dinky. “How was your day?” She asked.

“It was fun. Derange and I walked all over the town and then we drew and colored for a bit.” Dinky said with a smile which then turned into a frown. “But then he got into a scuffle with a-” She tried to say, but then a loud audible moan range out.

“Deran-WHAT THE BUCK HAPPENED TO YOU?” I yelled. Laying on Dinky’s back was--obviously--Derange, but he was now sporting bruises and cuts all over his body. Both of his wings were bent in odd directions, his antler horn was gone while is changeling horn was barely hanging on. Both of his eyes had nasty black eyes around them and his tooth that stuck out was missing. “Derange what happen you look like-” I tried to asked, but was interrupted.

“You look like shit.” Silver bluntly stated and then added with a grin. “I mean you look even more like shit”

“Buck you too, Silver.” He said and attempted to show her the bird, but instead cried out in pain at the attempt of lifting his arm.

“Derange what happened?” I asked again.

“…tripped down some stairs.” He said.

“…Horse feathers.” We all said at the exact same time.

“I got slapped by some random lunatic with a large trout.” He said.

“That doesn’t even make any sense.” Minuette said while we nodded in agreement.

“Ok, I got caught peeping.” He said.

“Well, that is the most likely case, but I don’t think mares would beat you that senseless.” I said.

“We would.” Was the female response I got back…and that just happened to be every female in ear shot.

Dinky raised her hoof like how a kid holds up their hand to answer/ask a question. “Yes Dinky? I asked.

“I know what happened, but Derange told me not to tell you.” She said.

“Dinky, you promised.” Derange said with a low growl.

“But-” She said but was interrupted.

“Nope you-” Derange tried to say but his mouth was sealed up by a light glow.

“Don’t worry, Dinky, now why don’t you tell us what happened.” Minuette said with an evil grin spreading across her face.

“But mommy always told me never to tell somepony’s secret.” She said with a conflicted look.

“That’s right muffin, you shouldn’t, unless it could bring harm to somepony else.” Derpy said as she gave a reassuring nuzzle.

“Well, Derange got into a figh.t” she said.

“Not surprised.” I said with a roll of my eyes. “So who did he get into a fight with?” I asked.

‘Hopefully I won’t have to go apologize or something like that.’

“With a butterfly.” She said.

We were all silent as we processed this information. “I’m sorry, Dinky, I think I misheard you. Did you say a butterfly?” I asked getting a ‘Yeah’ from her. We all looked at one another than to Derange and then back to one another.

“Bwhahahahahahahaha!” We all laughed and broke down to hysterical laughing fits. Me on the ground clutching my side, Derpy and Colgate leaning against one another and having trouble breathing while Silver holding back her laughter while clutching her side.

“I hate you all.” Derange said now being released from Minuette’s magical grip.

~Even Later~

After getting over our laughing fit, which lasted a good hour straight, we finally decided to go get some grub and then retire for the evening. Silver and Minuette were sharing a room, while Dinky and Ditzy shared a place to sleep so that left me with Derange.

“Ow~” He whined as he laid down on a pillow.

“Shut up already. You reap what you sow.” I said as I laid down on my back staring at the ceiling.

“I got suckered punch…and kicked…and slapped…and-” He said making a huge list about how he got owned by a butterfly.

‘That shit is still funny.’ I thought as I snickered at the image of Derange getting his ass handed to him by one.

“Screw you” He said.

“Hey, stay outta my head and that wouldn’t happen.” I retorted.

“It’s our mind so it can’t be helped.” He spat back.

“Whatever. Maybe next time you won’t pick a fight you can’t win.” I said with a cheeky grin.

“….Shut up and go to sleep.” He said and turned his back towards me.

With a yawn I turned to my side as well and took a look outside the window the heavenly bodies glowing beautiful just as I was about to call it a night, I remembered something important, a piece of information I didn’t want to share at the time with Silver.

“Derange?” I asked making sure he was still awake.

“Yeah?” He responded.

“Does the term ‘End Game’ ring any bells?” I asked thinking since he’s more attuned to chaos magic than I am he would have a better idea or at least a thought.

He was silent for a few moments either contemplating the answer, trying to remember or was asleep. “No, but it does scream bad news.” He responded. We then said goodnight to one another and then fell asleep.

The next few days came and went as we made our way back to the borders of Equestria and made our way west along her borders. Nothing of great interest happened…except the fact that because of Derange, Dinky was now sporting a plush size version of the companion cube on her bag…I hate him so much right now. If he hadn’t been acting like a child, we wouldn’t have been forced to ‘give’ it to Dinky in the first place. Though I guess she’d get more of kick out of it then I would have and besides I was considering showboating it in front of the other chess pieces anyways.

So, meh, I guess life suck, move on and etcetera etcetera. Anyways like I was saying nothing of interest happened and we set up camp for the evening. Dinky and Ditzy were fast asleep, Ditzy using her wing as a blanket for Dinky while Dinky used Ditzy’s body as a pillow. The d’aws were so much. Minuette was wide awake messing around with that sonic screwdriver occasionally muttering profanity and resuming her work. Silver was lying down and looked like she was asleep. Looked being the keyword as every so often her ears would move to the sound of a twig snapping or a bush rustling. I was passing the time by keeping the fire alive every so often stroking it with a stick or throwing another log of wood into it.

I then as quietly as I could, got up and started to head away from the camp. “Where are you going?” Silver asked not even opening her eyes to look at me.

“Evening stroll.” I replied back.

“…Very well.” She said and got up to join me.

“That won’t be necessary and besides I would rather be alone.” I consoled with her, but she just gave me a look that said too bad.

‘Derange give me a hand here.’ I thought to Derange.

“What he means is that he needs to go take a piss and while if you’re into that you’re more than welcome to join us, but-” Derange said as he popped on out of my head and onto my shoulder, but didn’t get to finish his sentence as a pinecone hit him right in the face.

“Ow~” He whined now rubbing his face. Derange was pretty much healed up the day we left, when asked how his response was ‘I got better’ and we left it at that. Silver was back to lying down while Minuette continued her work and completely ignoring her surroundings.

After walking far enough away so that we could barely see the fire from the campsite I stopped in the middle of the forest. The wind blowing my hair dramatically as I waited for the ninjas to appear…oh wait not ninjas, but you know that scene where the hero stands in the open and gets surrounded by like a group of people imagine that.

‘Derange did the others have…it on them.’ I thought to my counterpart.

‘Not that I saw.’ He replied as he hovered in the air behind me.

‘On my mark catch it.’ I thought to him as I stared up towards the moon. A minute passed and as I gazed up towards the heavens I shouted,“Now Derange!” I then felt something jump off my back and tried to fly away, but it wasn’t quick enough as Derange swiped a glass bottle in front of it.

“Ha! Got you, you…whatever you are.” Derange shouted with glee.

For a lack of a better word--or more like having trouble describing it--it was a dead bug that was somehow alive and trying to escape my magical bottle thing…Zelda logic. “So, what’s your take on this…thing Derange.” I asked my counterpart as I held the bottle in my hands, the bugs unnaturally purple eyes watching my every move.

“Hmmmmm.” He said and grabbed the bottle starting at the contents like how one inspects wine before they drink it. He then turned the bottle in different direction, the bug still watching us, and then literally started to shake it, twist it, and other means that would make someone dizzy. “I’d have to say it’s a ‘bug on the wall’ or a spy in layman terms.” He answered as he threw the bottle carelessly towards me, which I caught. Thank you seven years of baseball.

“So, we're being spied on…I don’t think I like that.” I said as I looked the bug over once more, surprisingly the bug seemed fine and dandy granted it is an undead bug spy thing. “Then again if I was given the chance/opportunity I’d do the same thing.”

“So what’s the verdict?” He asked me.

I stared right into the creature's eyes and said in a cheery mood, “Let it go, though whoever you are if you’d be a sport and spy on me from a distance that would be swell-” then Derange finished for me,

“But if you harm anyone close to us, well, let’s just say I have a particular set of skills. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you just continue to spy on us and do nothing about it, then that will be the end of that. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t take my warning serious and harm someone, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you.” He said and threw the bottle at a tree. “Got it pal?” With that said and done we made our way back to camp.