Chapters Author's Note
i'm a novice of a writer and always looking for improvement. any tips given are greatly appreciated and i hope you all have as much a good time reading as I did writing it
New arrival
It was a cool afternoon in the country town of Appleoosa as the Diamond Dog, Rufus strolled leisurely into the local pub. "Hey barkeep," Rufus smiled as he approached the bar, "Got any honeyed cider? I'm as thirsty as the dirt is brown." A mug was slid down the bar to Rufus, which he caught in his paw and chugged down. "Whoo wee that's sweet!" Rufus pulled an apple out of his bag and ate as the barkeep trotted over to him.
"That'll be twelve bits my good sir." Rufus nodded as he finished eating and left the last of his money on the bar before leaving. Despite the cloak was wearing, he knew it wouldn't be long before he had to leave, so with a full stomach and a sweet taste in his mouth, Rufus strolled on to the train station.
On the train Rufus sat in the last car as he looked through his belongings,a few apples, some old books, and a sewing kit for his patchy cloak. to pass the time Rufus borrowed a brush from another passenger and began brushing his fur to straighten out a few knots and soon arrived to a small, quaint little hamlet called Ponyville. As soon as Rufus stepped off the train he saw friendly faces all around as ponies trotted and cantered about between various stores and stalls. As Rufus glanced around, he saw a vendor selling a fur hooded jacket with elbow patches sewn onto it. "Excuse me sir, how much for that jacket?"
The vendor smiled kindly with a toothy grin, "two bits is all i ask, or you could trade in that cloak." Rufus pulled his cloak closer and growled,
"Never mind, I don't want it anymore." Douglas and the older stallion shook paw and hoof politely and left keeping the cloak pulled close. It was warm and had an odd smell to it, but it was very comfortable and it belonged to Rufus since he was a pup.
As Douglas wandered about Ponyville it began to get dark, and as the residents went home and locked up for the night Rufus curled up in an alley pulling his cloak closer to his body. As he sat there he summoned an orb of green fire in his paw and sighed, " What the hell is this power?" He sighed as he stared at it for almost an hour before the mesmerizing flames lulled him to sleep. The next morning Rufus awoke to the constant bustling of pony life and smiled as he stood up. Pulling his hood over his head he wandered about with no real direction until he noticed an earth pony in full body armor and an all too familiar insignia etched on her breastplate. He hid behind a corner and watched her like a leering crow until he saw her cutie mark, a blooming lotus flower that matched her insignia. She was Quiet Lotus, the leader of the Lotus Guard, an old mercenary company in the badlands, and if she's here her army is close by. Rufus ducked into the crowd and tried to sneak away but she shouted grabbing the attention of all the ponies nearby.
"Everypony of this... Charming little hamlet, there is a diamond dog hiding among you and I must find him for he holds something very special to me. If you comply we will not hurt you, but if you insist on harboring him we will converge upon your pathetic little homes and destroy them looking for him!" All the ponies began whispering to each other and Douglas twitched as a hoof touched his back but as he turned he saw a slender orange unicorn with a snail cutie mark.
"Follow me," he whispered softly, "I have somewhere you can hide."
Ater evading the crowds , the unicorn, who's name is Snails, brought Rufus to a small house. "Snips and I crash here a lot. Nopony ever really finds us here. You looked like you were in trouble so I wanted to help."
Rufus smiled and hugged Snails, "Thanks Snails, you're rally helping me out of a tough situation." Rufus found his way to the bathroom and pulled off his cloak and stared at himself in the mirror. His pale grey fur barely hiding his scars he collected from a cannon years ago. Rufus sighed and kicked himself for losing his favorite twin axes back in the Badlands as Snails came in with a bath brush and a towel. He looked at the floor then at Rufus,
"Uhh, I gotta take a bath real quick." Rufus nodded and found his way to the bedroom and sighed as he threw his cloak on the floor,
"I haven't slept in a real bed in years." He climbed in the bed covered himself up and soon fell asleep.
About an hour later Rufus was awoken by Snails climbing in the bed and he chuckled, "oh sorry did i wake you?" Snails covered up leaving everything silent again and Rufus soon fell back asleep.
The next morning was calm as Rufus stood outside letting the cool breeze blow through his fur as the sun steadily climbed into the sky. Snails soon came out with a cup of coffee and held it out to Rufus as he yawned, "Here Rufus, I made you some coffee."
Rufus smiled as he sipped the hot liquid from the cup. "Thanks Snails, you've been a great friend for the short time we've known each other."
Snails was silent for a moment then spoke up with a fun idea, "Hey, me and snips were going to stop by Sweet Apple Acres today for some cider, you wanna come too?"
Rufus chuckled as he stretched, "Sure Snails, getting drunk sounds fun."
Rufus and Snails stopped by Snips house and after a short introduction with the stubby colt, the three of them all went on to the apple farm where a large line of ponies were already lined up. As they took their spots a cyan blue pegasus landed right behind them, her eye catching rainbow mane was hard to miss.
"Aww, darn it! Why is there always such a huge line when AppleJack is selling her cider?!" Rufus chuckled as she groaned assuming she was an alcoholic.
"Well if you need to feed your addiction that bad maybe you should have arrived earlier." Rufus smirked as her eyes flashed with anger,
"Excuse me!? You should mind your own business buster, you don't know who I am!"
Rufus smirked somewhat snidely, "Is that so? Well with your obvious arrogant attitude combined with your eye catching colors i'd say you're Rainbow Dash the so called 'greatest flier in all of Equestria', what a joke." Before Rufus could say anything else, Rainbow Dash hit him in the chest making him stagger back.
"Watch it buster, I'll beat you into the dirt in ten seconds flat." Rufus scoffed and turned back to face the line.
After an hour Rufus, Snips, and Snails arrived to the front of the line and ordered a cider for themselves and as they were poured the youngest pony, a mare named Applebloom shouted,
"That's all the cider everypony! We're all out!" As she shouted Rainbow Dash groaned,
"Aww darn it!" Rufus smiled and as they were about to leave AppleJack called after them,
"Hey wait just a minute, aren't you that diamond dog that Lotus mare was looking for yesterday?"
Rufus sighed and nodded, "Yeah just don't tell her you saw me, ok? She's after something I... borrowed a while back." Applejack approached Rufus and looked him over,
"I dunno Rufus, you don't seem very trustworthy to me."Rufus sighed again, "Look I'm trying to keep an ancient amulet from her that can destroy all of Equestria as we know it so back off." Applejack stood silent for a moment but burst into laughter,
"Wow partner you ain't a good liar."Rufus was surprised at how easily she saw through his lie and as everypony around him laughed he slipped away.
On the outskirts of Ponyville Rufus sat against the wall of the train platform starting to doze off as Lotus approached him, "Rufus," She sighed as tears began welling up in her eyes, "Give me back my pendant! You know how important it is to me!" Rufus sighed and pulled a beautiful opal pendant out of his cloak and put it around her neck.
"I'm sorry Lotus. I was just so tired of those empty fights and I acted thoughtlessly. I didn't mean to steal your pendant." Lotus hugged Rufus and smiled a little,
"It's ok Rufus, if you're truly done with mercenary work I won't bother you anymore. I have what I came for." As Lotus walked away Rufus decided to climb on the train to find a new town to make some semblance of a home but was stopped by a purple alicorn.
"Excuse me!," She shouted running over, "My name is Twilight Sparkle and I could sense that you have a strange type of magic. Could I have you over at the palace tonight for an in depth study?" Rufus smiled a bit and nodded,
"Y-yeah sure, I'd love to help." Twilight smiled and took Rufus' paw in her hoof and dragged him back through town to the large crystal palace. When they arrived Twilight gathered a book and a quill and sat down,
"Ok, whenever you're ready please tell me about this magic you have."
Rufus sat silent for a few minutes before speaking. "I was born in the Diamondia but my parents moved me to the Badlands claiming it was for my protection. I grew up as a farm pup cultivating plants during rough weather. It was a hard life but it was even harder when the raiding gangs rolled in. A band of minotaurs would come in and take our entire haul every two weeks. This went on until I was ten, and I decided to stop them. Needless to say they beat me into the dirt, but as they kept punching and kicking me I exploded into a torrent of green flames. After that the minotaurs took me away from home and trained me to be a raider. The next year they said I was too weak and they abandoned me in a nearby town so I started working odd jobs for money for three years and when I was fourteen I met Quiet Lotus who recruited me into her brigade. I fought along side her for an entire year fighting against skilled warriors and unskilled farmers. As time drew on I lost my nerve, stole small valuables and took off, but I didn't realize that I had taken Lotus' pendant. I've been running for three years now..."
As Twilight finished writing her notes she yawned, "that's quite interesting. Oh my look at the time it's late, do you have a place to stay?" Rufus stood up and stretched, "I'll manage, the streets are safe.
After leaving the crystal castle Rufus found a dimly lit alley to spend the night in, so he pulled his cloak closed and quickly fell asleep from humming a quiet tune. Not even a half hour passed before he was awoken by three diamond dogs,
"Hey stray wake up. We'll take you home." Rufus rubbed his eyes and sat up,
"What? I don't have a home, and my name's Rufus." As his eyesight adjusted he saw Rover, the leader of the three holding out his paw,
"We know, we'll take you home to our pack, you don't have to be a stray anymore." Rufus smiled tearfully at the prospect of family and hugged the three of them.
"Oh I'd love to come home!" Rover led Rufus to the tunnels leading into the mine shafts,
"Just through the tunnel brother, welcome home." Rufus smiled and leapt headfirst into the tunnel and crawled down into his new subterranean home, the moist, dank air welcoming him.
"By the hounds I'm home!" Rufus excitedly sniffed the air as Rover chuckled,
"It's late, you should get some rest." Rover led Rufus to a room with a comfortable looking bed in the corner and Rufus climbed right in.
As Rufus slept a mysterious midnight blue mare appeared in his dreams. "Rufus, "she cooed softly, "Your home is in danger, you must warn the others and defend yourselves." Rover soon woke Rufus up from his dream,
"Are you ok? You're in a cold sweat." Rufus shuddered but nodded,
"I'm fine, but we need to prepare for an attack. A pony warned me in my dreams about it." Rover shrugged but nodded as he handed Rufus some strange devices,
"Bury these under the ground, if we're attacked they'll get a nasty surprise." Rufus hurriedly did as he was told and as day began to break he sat in a mine cart panting hard with fresh dirt under his claws. Rover then approached him as Fido, the larger of the three grabbed an axe off of a table and spot, the smallest of the three, grabbed a sword, "You did good Rufus I'm quite surprised, now grab a weapon off the table and be ready for anything." Rufus stood up and ran for the table but was thrown aside by an explosion as swarms of insectoid ponies flooded the mine shafts. When he rose to his feet a large amount were surrounding him and Rufus summoned the green fire in his hands,
"I'll kill all of you!" Relying on his instincts Rufus charged forward throwing wild punches that caught the changelings off guard and gave him space. Riding his momentum, Rufus grabbed a war hammer off the ground and spun around slamming through their forces with untamed wild ferocity.
Before long the changelings fled unable to break through the solid defense of the diamond dogs. As they fled as Rufus barked after them, "That's right! Fly away you bug freaks!" Rufus stood by Rover panting hard as he dropped the hammer.
"That was quite the fight," Rover chuckled, "You're quite the warrior." Rufus chuckled as he layed himself down to rest,
"Yeah I guess I am." Rufus yawned and closed his eyes for a well deserved nap.
As Rufus slept his ears twitched at the sound of wooden wheels clattering over the uneven ground before being awoken by a crash and shouting. "Damnit,"Rufus shouted climbing up to the surface to find a blue unicorn with a crashed cart, "What the hell is going on?" The light blue unicorn looked from her cart and scowled,
"The problem is that my cart was caught in one of your mud holes now fix it you filthy mud dog!" Rufus' ear twitched at the insult,
"Did you just call me a mud dog?" The pony growled,
"Yes now fix this!" Her shouting made Rufus flinch, but he cracked his neck and spat on the ground,
"I'll fix it alright!" Rufus reached under the cart and lifted it overs head before throwing it right into orbit. "Go fetch!" He growled as he started towards Ponyville trying to slow his breathing.
When he arrived in town, Rufus decided to find and apologize to Rainbow Dash and after asking around he found her napping on a cloud. With no way to reach her Rufus picked up a pebble and hit her on the head with it making her shoot up, "What the buck was that for?" Rufus raised his paw and smiled a bit,
"I wanted to apologize about yesterday, I was out of line and I'm sorry." Dash hopped off the cloud and smirked a bit,
"Yeah I guess it's partly my fault too so we're ok now." Rufus smiled and patted Dash on the head before going to Twilight's palace, the large crystalline structure was somewhat out of place in the small hamlet, but he couldn't worry about that now. As soon as he knocked on the large doors Twilight opened them seeming surprised,
"Oh Rufus, I wasn't expecting you please come in." Rufus put his paw on Twilight's shoulder,
"Twilight I was visited last night by a midnight blue mare in my dreams, and she warned me about an attack that we just fought not five hours ago." Twilight took a deep breath and nodded,
"That sounds like Princess Luna, if she contacted you through a dream it must be important. "I'll take you to her." As they turned to leave Rufus fell to the ground with a splitting headache as a vision flooded his mind.
A pony and a centaur stood before him both grinning wickedly. "Ah the diamond dog. Your power is starting to surge." Tirek laughed as he stared down at Douglas, "You won't survive this fight even with the powers you possess. You'd do better alongside us." Sombra slowly approached Douglas,
"You shouldn't trust them, they don't care about you. Your people dig in the mud while they live in luxury. Join us and we can make your people live like royalty." Before Rufus could have replied he woke to see Twilight above him looking worried,
"Are you ok you just fell over." Rufus just stood up and scratched his ears,
"I'm fine, let's get to the castle."
In Canterlot Rufus and Twilight passed by multiple noble ponies who simply scoffed as they passed staring at Rufus jeeringly, "They're all staring at me Twilight, I don't like their eyes." Twilight took Douglas' paw in her hoof,
"just ignore them, they don't know you." As they walked on, Rufus heard barking and shouting as Rover, Fido, and Spot ran up to them,
"Rover? What are you guys doing here?" Rover was panting but sighed as he stood up,
"You just vanished an we got worried, we wanted to find you." Spot jumped up and grabbed Rufus' paw,
"Yeah, we're family and you should trust us!" Rufus smiled a bit and nodded,
"You guys are right, I should trust you like a family. Come with me and Twilight to the castle."
As Rufus, Rover, Fido, Spot, and Twilight arrived to the castle they were surrounded by the guards and before anything could be said Rufus punched a guard in the muzzle and the others jumped into a brawling pile but Celestia separated them before it could get any worse. "This is hardly the place for horse playing," Her voice was calm and smooth like a river, "You're Rufus right?" Rufus could only nod as he stood before this monarch calm and cool from years of experience. "Don't be afraid, you're not in trouble." Rufus glanced at Luna,
"You, you're the mare from my dreams." Luna nodded as she approached Rufus,
"Yes I warned you of the threat to your new home. I am glad to see you still live." Celestia smiled,
"Rufus we have a gift for you," A large jug was levitated towards Rufus, "Please drink all the liquid in this container." With shaky paws Rufus reached out and took the jug and without hesitating started to drink. It was thick, creamy, and viscous that threatened to choke him despite how easy it went down. As Rufus finished the jug he fell to his knees gagging and choking.
"Treachery!" Rover shouted as he rushed to Rufus' side. Rover's paw only touched Rufus for a moment before pulling away as it burnt him while Rufus' body began to smoke as small tongue's of flame danced across his body before dying out as Rufus began vomiting.
"What the hell was that?" Rufus stood up and leaned on Rover for support as Celestia smiled.
"It was a special concoction made to free your powers from their limitations. Twilight notified me of you're magic and I had decide to bestow this gift of trust upon you." Rufus chuckled as he stood on his own.
"There's more to this than you're letting on Princess. What's really happening?" Luna sighed and nodded to Celestia who replied solemnly,
"I regret to admit this but out of our curiosity we continued searching through different dimensions and in our absence Tirek has once again escaped Tartarus, and Sombra has somehow returned. They have joined forces with Chrysalis to bring destruction to all of Equestria. Rufus opened his mouth to speak but fell into a hacking fit coughing and retching up his guts. "That will pass, your body simply has to adjust to this new magic within you now." After the fit subsided he stood up and smiled a bit,
"Ok, I'll help you out. You have the diamond dogs on your side.
Back in Ponyville Rufus, Twilight, Rover, Fido, and Spot were stopped at Sugar Cube Corner for a bite to eat as Pinkie Pie droned on about old stories and trips she had been on with Twilight over the past year, but Rufus was preoccupied with his thoughts. As Rufus absently ate an all too familiar voice pulled him from his thoughts as a minotaur walked in flanked by two others. Confident and arrogant he smirked at Rufus, "Ah, I thought I recognized you runt, What are you doing here Rufus? It's been ages since i've seen you." Rufus sighed as he finished his cupcake,
"Oh, it's you Torbin. I've got enough to deal with right now, so get out of here. This isn't the Badlands, and you won't find what you're looking for."
Torbin laughed as he sat beside Rufus with a twisted grin on his face, "Oh, but it seems I have found who I've been looking for." Torbin grabbed a mug from the counter and chugged the contents right down before speaking again. "You've been making quite a name for yourself around here, I've heard you've got some better handling on your powers. So, your old uncle Torbin thought he should bring you back into the fold." Rufus finished his cupcake as he stood up and glared into Torbin's eyes before planting a muzzle-breaking punch into his face, and sending him flying into the street.
"Now you want me back," Rufus growled as his breathing grew faster and his eyes began to water, "You abandoned me because I was too weak! I'll never forgive you for that!" Rufus grabbed Torbin by his arm and threw the bulky minotaur through a tree as dark green tongues of fire began to rise from his smoldering fur, but before Rufus could follow up the cart he threw that morning crashed down upon Torbin. "I was wondering when that'd fall back down." As Rufus began to calm down and the fire on his body died away Twilight and Pinkie ran to him.
"Are you ok Rufus? That was crazy, what did he do?" Before Rufus could answer Pinkie held a cupcake out to him,
"Here this'll help you calm down." Rufus took the cupcake and ate silently as he dried his tears and sat down panting as he hugged Twilight and Pinkie close,
"I'm sorry I broke down like that. Torbin was a brutal and cruel minotaur. It felt good to put him in his place though." As Rufus began to calm down Pinkie poked him in the stomach with a wide grin on her face,
"I want to throw you a welcome to Ponyville party. I haven't had the chance yet but I think now would be a perfect time to do it for you." Rufus smiled and nodded as he poked her back,
"That sounds like fun."
Later that evening Rufus, along with Rover, Fido, and Spot were walking through the streets of Ponyville on their way to Sugar Cube Corner when they crossed paths with Snips and Snails. "Snails? You're heading to the party too?" Rufus asked as the two groups walked side by side. Snails nodded with a somewhat dopey smile,
"Yeah, Pinkie's parties are the best. She always knows how to make every pony smile wide." As they continued walking together Snails moved closer to Rufus, "Are you doing ok Rufus? You kinda took off in a hurry last I saw you. Did every pony laughing at you hurt your feelings?" Rufus shook his head and gave a slight smile as he grabbed Snails and scrubbed his fist over Snails' head,
"No I'm fine, I just had something to do is all. I have a thick skin."
When they arrived, there was a large group of ponies outside as well as inside as loud music was playing and every pony was dancing, eating, or drinking as the air was ecstatic with the joy and energy from the party. As Rufus entered Pinkie rushed over and hugged him tightly, "You came! I knew you would," Pinkie took Rufus' paw in her hoof and led him to the bar where Twilight, Rainbow and a few other ponies were waiting, "These are my friends. I know that you know Dashie and Twilight but you haven't met the others. This orange farm pony is none other than Applejack, a hard working and one hundred percent honest owner of Sweet Apple Acres." The orange mare tipped her hat to Rufus as Pinkie continued on. "This is Rarity, She's the best seamstress in all of Equestria." The snow white mare smiled politely as she shook Rufus' paw,
"A pleasure to meet you darling." Pinkie then turned Rufus to a timid looking pegasus with a beautiful pink mane,
"This is Fluttershy, she's a very kind and shy type of pony but she's the best friend a pony could have." Rufus smiled a bit to be polite as she smiled back obviously somewhat uncomfortable with the situation,
"Umm, hello, it's nice to meet you." With introductions done and the party still only just started, Rufus went straight to the snack table and began eating and drinking his weight in snacks and punch with the sudden onrush sugar giving him a high burst of energy as he danced, sang, and socialized, -all quite poorly- through the night until he suffered a sugar crash and passed out late into the night.
As the sun began it's slow wayward climb into the sky Rufus started to recover from his sugar crash as he sat up with a throbbing headache. Looking around he realized both his vest and collar weren't on his body and looking around he found his vest on the floor and his collar on Fluttershy's neck of all places. Rufus yawned and pulled on his vest as he gently shook Fluttershy awake. "Hey Flutters, you're kinda wearing my collar." When Fluttershy opened her eyes she yawned and pulled it off holding it towards him. "Yeah, you lost it during the party so I put it on to make sure you didn't lose it since I don't have any pockets." Rufus smiled and pulled on the collar as he walked outside letting the warmth of the sun seep into his fur while watching the black clouds oddly pass through the sky. He watched somewhat dazed as they came closer to the ground before realizing that they were Changelings! They came swarming down to Ponyville as far as the eye could see, but Rufus let a smirk play across his lips as he subconsciously summoned a sword into his paw and charged headfirst into the swarm swinging it wildly as he blasted dangerous and destructive magic from his free paw as they struggled to fully prepare a counter attack at first. As Rufus kept battling other Ponies began to realize the threat and charged to the defense of their homes with whatever they could grab as a weapon to use as the changeling forces snarled and hissed. With a full blown battle in their midst Rufus began to struggle as the changelings properly moved to defend themselves from his guerrilla-like fighting style. As Rufus struggled to keep on the offensive Rover, Fido, and Spot all erupted from the earth with weapons in paw as they grouped back to back with Rufus forming an outward facing wall of swords giving Rufus much needed respite from the sudden Changeling assault and pushing them back. As the battle raged on for an hour the Royal Guard of Canterlot swooped in forming a pincer attack upon the attacking bug ponies as the residents of Ponyville fought valiantly despite their lack of training or ability. As the battle dragged on the Changelings began to flee by flying away through the sky pushing past the few pegasi that were in the air, but Rufus wasn't satisfied. "They're fleeing! Onward comrades, CHARGE!!" But before Rufus could follow them Twilight and Rover grabbed him.
"Now isn't the time to chase after them Rufus, it could be a trap or they could be trying to regroup with possible reinforcements," Twilight exclaimed trying to clutch his sword paw without getting stabbed by the sword as Rover held the wrist of Rufus' free paw,
"The pony's right, you'll just get yourself killed!" Rufus growled and snarled trying to pull away from them like a wild beast for a moment before regaining his composure and calming down.
"Right, you're both right. Sorry I guess no matter how hard I try I'm still a savage raider." Rufus gave a slight smirk to hide the anger he was feeling as he calmed down. After the ponies had a moment to calm down they took stock of the small amount of destruction caused to Ponyville as the guard captain, Shining Armor, rushed towards Twilight,
"Hey Twilight, are you ok? Did you get hurt?" She only gave a small chuckle and nodded,
"I'm ok Shining, really. They couldn't cause any real trouble because our friend Rufus was able to stop them at the beginning and help hold them off." Shining smiled and hugged his sister as he turned to Rufus.
"Hey Rufus Celestia said for you and the other diamond dogs to come to the castle as soon as you can." Rufus gave a nod as Rover, Fido, and Spot smiled at him and the four wasted no time to get to the castle rushing through the busy Canterlot streets ignoring the scoffs and rude remarks of the wealthy ponies as they ran to the castle. When they arrived Celestia and Luna were both looking quite worried as Twilight and her friends entered just a minute behind them. Rufus stepped forward and bowed politely,
"You wanted to see us, Princess? What is the occasion?" Celestia took a deep breath and studied diamond dogs and ponies before her,
"There is an urgent matter that must be dealt with. The changelings have been scouring an island not too far from the coasts nearby. We need you all to travel there and acquire an ancient artifact that we fear the changelings are searching for. If they find it first we will be that much closer to destruction. Rufus you have the most combat experience so I'm putting you in charge of this quest."
Rufus smirked as he imagined the endless slaughter of changelings before him. Despite leaving it behind, Rufus knew his old raider life would never leave him. "I won't fail you Celestia, you have a diamond dog that'll fight a few dozen ponies for a mug of cider. It'll be no different with this artifact."
After almost an hour Rufus and the others were gathered at the docks as the boat arrived to take them to the Shuddering Isles where the Changelings were scavenging for the artifact Celestia sent them to find. As they boarded the boat and sailed for the nearby island they saw it was rife with bat ponies, minotaurs, dragons, and other races but the boat stopped short, "This is as close as I'm getting to that infernal place. You'll have to swim the rest of the way."
Rufus let out a small sigh before giving his orders, "Fluttershy and Rarity are staying here, everyone else swims for the island. Be prepared for anything, we don't know what to expect here so stay on guard." Rufus dove into the frigid, slimy murk water first and swam for the shore as the others followed except for Twilight and Dash who flew to the shoreline and waited for them there. When everyone was through and dried off Rufus summoned an axe into his paw and walked on signaling for the others to follow him as they walked through the cobblestone streets as the paper lantern lights slowly danced a slow and elegant spotlight upon the path leading to a large building that stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the dark misty air of the island. When they entered it was flush with all kinds of different races from ponies to griffons to dragons and more. Rufus immediately walked to the bar signaling for the group to disperse into the crowd. When he arrived to the bar he sat beside none other than Quiet Lotus sipping on a fruity looking drink and smiled at her. "Ahh, Quiet I see you still like those fruity drinks." He smiled trying to be friendly so a conversation would start up. "Have you been ok this past week?" Lotus smiled and moved a strand of her mane from her eye as she ordered another drink and gave it to Rufus.
"Why yes I am still drinking them, I remember you liking them too." She kissed Rufus' cheek, "What brings you here? I thought you gave up on mercenary work. Are you here to reconsider?" Rufus chugged down the drink he was given and licked his lips to get the rest as he smiled,
"Actually no but I do have a job for you. I'm willing to pay you to bring your brigade to Ponyville and offer Celestia your services to help in this coming war. Don't do this just because t's the right thing to do, but do it because we were good friends back before what happened..." Rufus sighed as he ordered another drink trying to hide his tears from Lotus. "Please just do it for a young pup that you were friends with." Before he could take another drink Lotus hugged Rufus tightly and smiled,
"Rufus you big dolt, I'll do it for free. Just stop crying ok?" Rufus sniffled and nodded wiping his eyes as he finished his drink. Rufus grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down the directions to the boat and Lotus left with a smile on her face.
Rufus waved over the bartender, but something smelled off. When the bartender came closer the smell got stronger, the smell of a changeling.
"Want another drink?" Rufus remained wordless as he grabbed the bartender's horn and slammed his head on the table making him revert to his changeling form as the others rushed over. As the changeling struggled he hissed and shouted, "You will die!" as other changelings swarmed into the building sending all the others fleeing in a panic as Rufus threw the changeling into the swarm and charging in with an axe in each paw completely foregoing his magic as he carved a path through the horde of insect ponies cleaving through to the boat.
When they got to the shoreline Rufus stood guard fighting off the attacking swarm as the others swam back to the boat before launching a magic blast into the water and sending the boat flying away through the sky before turning back to face the swarms again. Rufus lost that battle.
When Rufus regained consciousness he saw Chrysalis the swarm queen standing before him,
"Ah, so you're the diamond dog Tirek warned me about? The love you feel for those ponies will be delicious when i suck it from your corpse." Rufus growled and snarled as his paws were restrained by strange changeling goo keeping him still for the moment. "you were a fool to stand against us. Now you will die, and I will take your place and grow powerful from the love your friends feel for you until I am powerful enough to destroy Sombra and Tirek myself." Rufus snarled as tongues of flame once again danced across his arms and shoulders.
"NO!" Rufus erupted in fire as he rose to his feet forming an orb of magic within his paws, "I'll DESTROY YOU!" Rufus' pure hatred welled within him. All his negative emotions increasing the heat of the flame within him until he exploded in a torrent of pure fire, burning everything to ash as Chrysalis shrieked in agony and fear until Rufus stood in a scorched hole with nothing but ash and soot around him, panting hard. "My friends will not suffer at the hooves of a monster!!" Rufus waited a while until his energy returned and began his trek back home to find his friends.