Chapters Doctor Whooves sat in his office and heard kissing outside, he was curious and looks, he saw Twilight Sparkle with Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and Flurry Heart, he looks around more and sees Big Macintosh with Sugar Belle, Mr. and Mrs. Cake were sharing a meal, Cranky and Matilda were hanging out with one another, and Maud Pie and Mudbriar were spending time together. Doctor Whooves then remembered that it was Hearts and Hooves Day, he looks around and sees a male earth pony walking to him, he had a black coat, a red mane and tail, purple eyes, and was wearing a light black blazer, white shirt, and black pants, which was rare in Equestria, and had black shoes on his hind hooves, he also had a red flower on the left pocket of his blazer, he walked over to Doctor Whooves,
"Are you the patient?" Doctor Whooves asked, Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and Flurry Heart stop what they were doing and look,
"Yes." the pony replied,
"This way then." and they go into the house, the two sit,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Gogh... widower." the pony said,
"What did you do before that?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"I was a painter, mainly, I was also a writer, a fashion designer, a musician, a poet, and a singer, but I was terrible at all of them except for painting." Gogh replied,
"I assume you're here to talk about your wedding day." Doctor Whooves said,
"Yes, it was five months ago, I'm still sad about it." Gogh replied,
"Well, go on." Doctor Whooves said, and Gogh begins to talk about his wedding day.
Gogh was living in a small village just west of the Crystal Empire, he was getting his groom's outfit ready for the wedding, he looked at his paintings and sees he had paintings of a winter landscape, a desert landscape, a forest landscape, a jungle landscape, a volcanic landscape, a water landscape, and an urban landscape, he also had a self-portrait of himself, he was wearing a black suit of armor, with only his head exposed, he had a spear in his front right hoof, and a sword on his left side that was sheathed, it was his village's military outfit, while Gogh was never in the military, he did like the outfit, so he painted himself by using a mirror and his memory, it took a while, and he got it done, he returned it shortly afterwards.
Gogh was marrying a mare named Eurydice, he was very happy and almost ready for the wedding tonight, but he hears growling coming from the painting of himself in the armor,
"I can't believe she would marry you and not me." his portrait said, Gogh exclaimed in shock,
"What? How?" Gogh asked in shock,
"You didn't know, every painting you make opens a portal to another world." Alternate Gogh replied,
"Who are you?" Gogh asked,
"I'm you, I was going to marry Eurydice in my world, but I didn't win her over, she went over to marry my world's version of Narcissus instead." Alternate Gogh replied, Gogh was a bit uneasy at hearing Narcissus' name, the one in his world wanted to marry Eurydice as well, he and Gogh got into a fight in public over who was going to marry Eurydice, neither won because the other ponies broke it up, Eurydice eventually chose Gogh, which made Narcissus very bitter.
Gogh comes back to the present and sees his alternate self was still looking at him,
"Were you created when I painted you?" Gogh asked,
"No, I existed the whole time, the painting you made only opened the portal between my world and your world." Alternate Gogh replied, Gogh was still agape at this.
Gogh's door bursts open and a unicorn comes in, he was wearing the black armor, he had a dark purple coat, long dark red mane and tail, and black eyes, he was also very muscular, it was Narcissus, he was angry and walked towards Gogh, he got ready to defend himself but Narcissus uses telekinesis to hold him up and proceeds to punch him several times with his front hooves, Gogh let out several exclaims of pain since his punches hurt a lot,
"This is insanity! She would choose you over me! You're not half the colt she needs!" Narcissus said angrily,
"Maybe she would have chosen you if you actually cared about her and not just her physical appearance." Gogh retorted, Narcissus kicked Gogh in his abdomen with his front left hoof,
"Fool! I am the most handsome colt in this village! Only the most beautiful mare is right for me!" Narcissus said angrily,
"What about her personality and interests?" Gogh asked,
"I don't care about her character or what she likes, all she has to do is clean the house, cook my meals, and bear my sons, nothing else matters about her." Narcissus said,
"No wonder why she didn't choose you." Gogh said, Narcissus growled,
"How can she not love me?! I am the most handsome colt in this village, I'm also a commander in the military, and I have the biggest muscles in the village! She is making a mistake to marry you when she hasn't seen the heaviest weight I can lift!" Narcissus said angrily,
"As I said, no wonder why she didn't choose you." Gogh said, Narcissus becomes enraged and stomps on Gogh's left jaw with his front left hoof,
"I'm going to try again, and if she doesn't change her mind, you will suffer." Narcissus said and he ran off.
Gogh gets up and sees Alternate Gogh was still watching him,
"Look at that, you can't even take blows like a colt." Alternate Gogh said,
"He snuck up on me." Gogh replied,
"You should've fought back." Alternate Gogh said,
"That would've made things worse." Gogh replied,
"What do you mean it would've made things worse?" Alternate Gogh asked,
"Eurydice is a pacifist, she despises fighters and violence, she wants us all to live peacefully and quietly." Gogh replied,
"I see, the Eurydice in my world loves fighting and is into independence, I love her, but she doesn't love me, and I don't like mares who are strong and violent, I like them weak and obedient." Alternate Gogh said, Gogh was uncomfortable,
"What is your job in that world?" Gogh asked,
"Blacksmith." Alternate Gogh replied, Gogh was very uncomfortable,
"What do you see in Eurydice? Why do you want to marry her?" Gogh asked,
"I see her as a testing bag, I want to marry her so I can test my toys on her." Alternate Gogh replied with an unnerving smile,
"Sorry, but the Eurydice in my world would never fall for you, she would never want to marry somepony who would do such a thing to her." Gogh said, Alternate Gogh glared at him and moved in the painting, he comes out of the painting and was in Gogh's room, Gogh screamed in shock,
"Relax, I'm not here to ask her out, I'm just curious about your world's village, I won't cause any trouble." Alternate Gogh said, Gogh partially believed him, but decided he should keep an eye on him,
"What caused you to fall in love with Eurydice anyway?" Alternate Gogh asked,
"Her singing, she has a beautiful voice." Gogh replied, Alternate Gogh chuckled,
"I need to hear this." Alternate Gogh said, and he ran out of the house, Gogh decided to follow him and watch him closely.
Gogh sneaks around and watches Alternate Gogh closely, the citizens look at Alternate Gogh and were confused, they thought he was Gogh, he follows Alternate Gogh and sees him going to Eurydice, she was a Pegasus, she had a light yellow coat, long straight pink mane and a long straight tail, her eyes were a sharp blue, her cutie mark was a black treble clef, she was speaking with Narcissus,
"I told you, Narcissus, the answer is no! No big muscles, fighting, or macho behavior will win my heart!" Eurydice said angrily,
"You are making a mistake!" Narcissus said angrily,
"No, I am not! I don't love you, and that's final!" Eurydice replied angrily, Narcissus walked away while grumbling.
Alternate Gogh goes to Eurydice and she looks at him with surprise,
"That is why you chose me, your loving husband after tonight." Alternate Gogh said, Gogh becomes angry and was about to go to him,
"Imagine me when I paint your portrait with only the color red." Alternate Gogh said,
"Who are you?" Eurydice asked,
"It's me, your fiancé, Gogh." Alternate Gogh replied,
"No, you're not, the Gogh I'm marrying is a kind and gentle colt, posing as him and passing off as him is not going to win my heart." Eurydice said,
"But my name really is Gogh." Alternate Gogh replied,
"Well, you're not the Gogh I'm marrying." Eurydice said,
"You sure about that? I know a few tricks on how to make you sing better." Alternate Gogh replied,
"My singing is fine, I do not need somepony giving me advice, now please, leave me alone." Eurydice said, and she closed the door.
Alternate Gogh walks away and was going to Gogh's house, Gogh becomes relieved and thought he has given up, he decides to go to him,
"Sorry, but she seems to be able to tell that you're not me." Gogh said,
"Yeah, I guess you win, congratulations." Alternate Gogh replied,
"Wow, you took rejection quite well, I would've broken down crying if that happened to me." Gogh said,
"I see, say, me, I like that outfit you're wearing, I want to buy one as a souvenir of this world, and then I'll leave, I promise you." Alternate Gogh said,
"Okay, just go north of here, and you'll be at the store, I have to go home and get ready for my wedding now." Gogh replied, and the two went their separate ways.
Gogh was in front of the door and ready, he looks at his paintings and admired them, his alternate self was not home yet,
"Well, he sure is taking a while." Gogh said to himself, knocking is heard at the door and he opens it, he sees Alternate Gogh was wearing the exact same outfit as him, including the red flower, it was impossible to tell the difference between the two now since they looked exactly the same and had the exact same voice, he also had a piece of dark purple cloth with him,
"Sorry I'm late, the outfit was expensive, and getting this cloth was also hard, it was expensive at another store." Alternate Gogh said,
"Well, you were starting to worry me, come on in, I think it's time for you to go back to your world." Gogh replied, and Alternate Gogh walked in while Gogh closed the door, he then turned around and walked forward a little.
Alternate Gogh tackled him onto the floor and Gogh grunted,
"Sorry, but Eurydice is mine." Alternate Gogh said, and Gogh rolled over and was now on top of Alternate Gogh, Alternate Gogh kicks Gogh in his flank with his right back hoof and Gogh flies off, he screams and goes into the painting of his self-portrait, he gets up and runs to the portal, Alternate Gogh quickly covers the painting with the cloth, closing the portal,
"NO!!" Gogh yelled, Alternate Gogh laughs on the other side,
"Personal beating and hitting bag, here I come." Alternate Gogh said and laughed,
"The fourth step of the plan is complete, let's go." Gogh overheard Alternate Gogh say, and it was silent afterwards.
Gogh tries to jump through where the cloth was at but he bounced back and fell, he gets up and sees Alternate Gogh's world, the village was mostly the same, but the people were very different, the merchants from his world were thieves in this world, the regular citizens and police were criminals, with the mayor of his world being the leader of the criminals in the alternate world, and vice versa with the criminals of his world, Gogh was a bit dumbfounded, but he decided to look for somepony for help.
Gogh walks around trying to get help, he was also wondering what Alternate Gogh was doing, since he said trapping him in this world was the fourth step of his plan, he looks around and sees Narcissus and Eurydice walking around, he was surprised to see this world's version of Narcissus was a painter, since he had painting supplies, he looks and sees Alternate Eurydice was wearing battle armor, she slapped the painting supplies out of Alternate Narcissus' hoof with her right front hoof,
"What are you doing?! I said no painting!" Alternate Eurydice said angrily,
"I'm sorry, I'm very sorry." Alternate Narcissus replied tearfully,
"You better be! Remember your place, or I'm going to put you in it next time!" Alternate Eurydice said, Alternate Narcissus was in tears and Alternate Eurydice walked away.
Gogh ran to him and was going to try to ask for help,
"Excuse me." Gogh said, Alternate Narcissus looked at him,
"Be gone, Gogh, Eurydice chose me, you lost." Alternate Narcissus said, the words did sting Gogh a bit,
"No, no, no, I'm Gogh from another world, the Gogh from this world threw me in here." Gogh replied, Alternate Narcissus was a bit speechless,
"Well, that explains why you're not wearing your armor, we may be criminals, but we still have rules to follow." Alternate Narcissus said,
"Please, I need help getting back to my world, he's going to marry my world's version of Eurydice." Gogh said, Alternate Narcissus' attention was caught,
"What's your world's version of Eurydice like?" Alternate Narcissus asked,
"She's a pacifist, she doesn't like fighting, but on the negative side, she can't defend herself very well, and she's a singer." Gogh said, Alternate Narcissus becomes shocked,
"Come on, we have to go, she's not going to live very long if she marries him." Alternate Narcissus said, and he and Gogh run to his home.
Gogh and Alternate Narcissus run to Alternate Narcissus' house and he knocks on the door rapidly with his front right hoof, Alternate Eurydice opens it with an angry face,
"What are you doing?!" Alternate Eurydice asked angrily,
"Please, Eurydice, this is an emergency." Alternate Narcissus replied quickly and frantically,
"No, I am not helping you, Gogh, you're a sick pony." Alternate Eurydice said,
"No, no, no, no, no, Eurydice, this Gogh is from another world, he was thrown in here by our world's Gogh." Alternate Narcissus replied,
"Oh, well, that would explain why you're not wearing your armor, but I'm not fully convinced." Alternate Eurydice said,
"Please, I need help, the Gogh from this world is going to steal my bride." Gogh replied, Alternate Eurydice becomes shocked,
"Did you say he's going to marry your bride?!" Alternate Eurydice asked, Gogh nodded frantically,
"Come with me." Alternate Eurydice said in a calm tone and Gogh follows her.
Alternate Eurydice leads Gogh to where his house was at and sees a gravestone,
"This is what happened to the last pony who dated Gogh." Alternate Eurydice said,
"Who is it?" Gogh asked,
"Rose, she and Gogh dated when they were younger, Gogh was already a blacksmith, and whenever he made new weapons for the military, he would test them by using them on her. Rose was a mare who worked with roses, she loved the flowers, and Gogh seduced her." Alternate Eurydice said,
"The Rose in my world was also my first love interest, but she rejected me, and she also liked roses, but she was more interested in the thorns, she was also into fighting other colts to prove to them that mares can be just as dangerous in fighting." Gogh replied,
"I see, this Rose didn't like fighting, and she obeyed everything Gogh said, that is why I married Narcissus, because he is too weak to stand up for himself, and as you can see, he's frail, I know he's a trophy husband for me, but it was also for my protection." Alternate Eurydice said,
"Okay, that's nice and all, but I have to hurry, I need to get back to my world before this world's version of myself marries my bride." Gogh replied,
"I see, there's another portal to your world in the forest, this way." Alternate Eurydice said, and they run to it.
Gogh and Alternate Eurydice run through the forest together to get to the portal,
"How many portals are in this world?" Gogh asked,
"I don't know, but several of them opened in this world." Alternate Eurydice replied, the two keep running and were just going straight for the time,
"What's the Narcissus in your world like?" Alternate Eurydice asked,
"Big, muscular, still a unicorn, full of himself, commander in the military, he just wants to marry my bride based off her physical beauty." Gogh replied,
"I still say that's a better alternative than this world's Gogh." Alternate Eurydice said,
"I still have to deal with him, he's very bitter he didn't win my bride's heart, he actually broke into my house and physically attacked me earlier today." Gogh replied,
"Yup, that sounds just like this world's Gogh. That's the portal right there." Alternate Eurydice said, Gogh looks and sees it, Gogh gets ready to go through,
"Wait, one question." Alternate Eurydice said, and Gogh looks at her,
"What am I like in your world?" Alternate Eurydice asked,
"Pacifist, and a singer, she flies a lot too, and believe it or not, she's my bride." Gogh replied,
"Oh, so you're marrying me in your world, I don't fly unless I have to, I like running better, well, good luck on your quest." Alternate Eurydice said, and she ran back home, Gogh runs and jumps into the portal.
Gogh goes through the portal and comes out of a painting, he gets up and sees he was in somepony else's house instead of his own, he looks around and sees another painting of a forest landscape, he jumps into it and runs around and looks for a portal, he sees another one and goes into it, he was in another pony's house again, he looks and sees a winter landscape, he goes into it and runs quickly while enduring the cold, he sees a portal close by and runs into it, he arrives into another pony's house once again, he sees a jungle landscape in it and goes into it.
Gogh runs through the jungle and hears growling, he sees wildlife watching him and stalking him, he keeps running but runs face first into a spider web, he wipes it off and keeps running on the uneven ground. Gogh starts to go downhill and could not stop, he looks and sees another portal in front of the waterfall in front of him, he takes a deep breath and leaps, he closed his eyes in case he misses the portal and falls to the bottom, but he goes into the portal, and arrives into a stranger's house again, Gogh growled and looked for another painting, he saw one of a volcanic landscape, he sighs and goes into it.
Gogh pants heavily while enduring the heat from the erupting volcanoes, he was careful not to get close by and saw another portal just up ahead, he sighed in relief and ran into it only to arrive into another stranger's house, he looks around and sees a painting of a desert landscape, Gogh groaned silently in disappointment, he hears running and quickly goes into the painting before the pony living in the house could spot him.
Gogh was sweating heavily as he ran through the desert and saw everything looked the same, he can also see the sun's waves in the air, he keeps looking and sees a portal far away, he runs to it while panting heavily and goes into it, he pants heavily he catches his breath, he looks and sees he was still not in his house yet, he looks around and sees a painting of a mountain landscape, Gogh did not like mountains, so he did not paint them, but he goes into it nonetheless.
Gogh enters onto the side of one of the mountains and begins to slide down, but he manages to get a grip and looks for a portal, he sees one at the end, he just decided to slide down on the snow and go to the portal and entered it, he looks and sees he was in another pony's home, he soon sees a painting of a water landscape with a ship in it, Gogh runs into it.
Gogh lands in the water and swims around, his clothes get wet and soggy, he made sure the flower did not come loose, Gogh swims around and sees another portal far away, it was in front of another ship, he swims to it and enters it after a while and was tired, Gogh was in somepony's house again, he sighs and sees an urban landscape painting nearby, he goes into it.
Gogh walks around while panting and sees a portal nearby with the cities and buildings hurting his eyes, he keeps walking and sees a portal nearby, but his attention is caught, it was the buildings from his painting of an urban landscape, Gogh runs into the portal and comes back into his own house,
"Okay, time to go to the wedding." Gogh said to himself, and he leaves his house and runs to where the wedding takes place.
Alternate Gogh stood in front of a crowd of very few ponies, there was only about ten ponies attending, Gogh did not have many friends in the village, but Narcissus had many friends, and was loved by many, they thought he would have been a better decision as a groom.
Eurydice walks down the grass to Alternate Gogh, she was wearing a white and gold dress, her mane was tied in a bun with yellow flowers in it, and had a veil behind her head, she walks forward while Alternate Gogh smiled evilly at the mare who was about to become his bride.
Gogh runs to where his wedding was going to take place and sees her walking, she stood next to Alternate Gogh's right and they looked at the marriage officiant,
"WAIT!!" Gogh yelled, the others looked at him, the ponies gasp at seeing him,
"Eurydice, that pony is a fake, I'm the real Gogh!" Gogh said, the others were confused, Alternate Gogh smirked at him,
"Why don't you prove it?" Alternate Gogh asked,
"How?" Gogh asked,
"Come, fight me." Alternate Gogh replied,
"No." Gogh said,
"Why?" Alternate Gogh asked,
"Because she would never love somepony who fights or hurts others just to win her love." Gogh replied,
"Oh, Gogh, you're pathetic, you can't even stand up for yourself." Eurydice said,
"She's right, you know, you're a weak, pathetic, sniveling loser, she only married you out of pity of the loser you are, you're just going to be a trophy husband." Alternate Gogh said, Gogh becomes enraged and runs to up to him and jumps onto him.
Gogh begins punching Alternate Gogh in the face while the ponies present gasp, Alternate Gogh had a small bruise on his left cheek, Eurydice just stood and watched,
"Eurydice, please, I'm the Gogh you love, I'm the one who promised to paint our wedding portrait after we got married." Gogh said,
"Oh, Gogh, you're such an idiot." Eurydice replied,
"What?" Gogh asked in confusion, and a purple aura appears around Eurydice and she changes to Narcissus, shocking Gogh into standing still, Alternate Gogh stood up and looked at him,
"It was me the whole time." Narcissus said,
"Wait, my bride, WHERE'S MY BRIDE?!" Gogh asked angrily, Narcissus uses telekinesis while smiling with a purple aura on his horn, it goes into the forest close to the village and Gogh hears the ground burst open, Narcissus pulls Eurydice's body forward and lays her on the ground in front of Gogh, in her wedding wear.
Gogh checks Eurydice and sees her neck was broken, he screams in agony and grief while he cradled his bride's lifeless body,
"This was the plan, trapping you was the fourth step, the first step was disguising myself as you, the second step was convincing Narcissus to help me, and the third step was to kill the bride and have Narcissus to disguise himself as her, to show the world just how mentally weak you truly are, and Eurydice's punishment for choosing you over me and Narcissus." Alternate Gogh said,
"Why didn't you two just take my life?" Gogh asked while looking at Alternate Gogh and Narcissus,
"That would've been too easy." Narcissus replied while smiling,
"I find dealing with enemies directly boring, I prefer to break them and make them suffer." Alternate Gogh said while smiling with his teeth exposed, Gogh still had tears in his eyes,
"You lost before you even started." Alternate Gogh said while smiling, Narcissus was smiling as well.
Gogh screams in rage and tries to run to attack Alternate Gogh, but Narcissus shoots him back with a zap from his horn and knocks him back, the two jump up and Narcissus uses a spell to make him and Alternate Gogh disappear and they were gone in a flash while their laughs echoed, the other ponies left shortly afterwards and Gogh cradled Eurydice even more and cried while he buried his face into her abdomen while holding her back and the back of her hind knees with his front hooves.
Doctor Whooves sat there in a little surprise at what Gogh said,
"Great whickering stallions." Doctor Whooves said,
"You actually don't sound that surprised." Gogh said,
"That's because I've had a similar experience myself, several versions of me from an alternate worlds tried to replace me in this world once too, that is why there are almost no painters in Equestria, painting a picture means opening a portal to another world." Doctor Whooves replied, Gogh was a bit unnerved by this information,
"Did your alternate self go back to his world?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"I don't know, he wasn't in the picture the last time I checked it, Narcissus wasn't there either, nopony knows where they disappeared to." Gogh replied,
"What happened to Eurydice?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"I buried her the next morning, after that, I cleaned my groom outfit, which I'm wearing right now." Gogh replied,
"Have things been rough for you ever since?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, about a week after the incident, word about it got out to the nearby areas, I've been receiving gift cards from the Crystal Empire recently, they were all mad, but for some strange reason, Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence were especially angry, I don't know why, though." Gogh replied,
"I guess what happened at your wedding hit them close to home." Doctor Whooves replied,
"I wouldn't know about that, but the two have been sending me money monthly, fifty bits every time, they have also sent their condolences to me, and have promised that they will find my alternate self and Narcissus." Gogh said,
"Are you leaving after this meeting?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, I'm moving into this town, I'm going to continue being a painter." Gogh replied,
"Very well, and remember, I'm here if you want to talk about more things on your mind." Doctor Whooves said,
"Thank you, doctor." Gogh replied, and he paid Doctor Whooves ten bits and went out.
Gogh heads over to his new home and saw it was dark and everypony has left, he just slept, the next day comes and Gogh goes outside and looks for something to paint, he decided to paint Fluttershy's cottage, he kept his other paintings out on display in case anypony was interested,
"My, what beauty." a mare said, Gogh looks and saw Rarity was looking at them,
"Interested?" Gogh asked,
"Why, yes, what good craftsmanship, and what a lovely outfit you're wearing." Rarity replied,
"Thank you, I'm Gogh, I'm a painter." Gogh said,
"Oh, where are my manners, my name is Rarity, I'm this town's fashion designer." Rarity replied, Gogh smiled,
"If it's okay with you, I'd like to use your paintings as inspiration for my next set of fashion designs." Rarity said,
"Sure." Gogh replied,
"This way then, darling." Rarity said as she used telekinesis to carry the paintings,
"Hey!" they heard Pinkie Pie say as she ran to Gogh,
"I've never seen you around here before." Pinkie Pie said,
"Yeah, I moved here last night." Gogh replied,
"Oh, no wonder why, I'm Pinkie Pie, this town's party planner, I'm going to need to prepare your welcoming party." Pinkie Pie said,
"Thank you, but I have things to do first." Gogh replied,
"Don't worry, I'll be waiting." Pinkie Pie said and she went to Sugarcube Corner.
Gogh follows Rarity to her home and she begins using Gogh's paintings as inspiration for her next outfits, Gogh thought about the place and thought that maybe Ponyville was not so bad after all, and decided that he would stay and let Shining Armor and Cadence look for Alternate Gogh and Narcissus and bring them to justice.
Doctor Whooves was walking around outside and buying groceries, he puts them away in his home and walked around a bit more. He heard Twilight Sparkle in her castle working on an experiment, an explosion happens and she is sent out of her home, along with Spike, Starlight Glimmer, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Cadence fly down to go see them,
"Is everyone alright?" Princess Celestia asked, the others nodded and stood up, Twilight Sparkle saw Doctor Whooves standing nearby,
"Oh, Doctor Whooves, are you here to help us?" Twilight Sparkle asked as she walked to him,
"Sorry, but I have patients today." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Oh, come on, can you help us a little?" Rainbow Dash asked,
"Please, doctor?" Fluttershy asked,
"Well, what are you all trying to do?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"We're tryin' to open a portal to the future so we can see what Equestria will be like long after we pass." Applejack replied,
"Great whickering stallions! No. Opening a portal between the present and the future can be very dangerous." Doctor Whooves said,
"That is why we're supervising them, it's to make sure nothing comes through the portal." Princess Celestia said,
"Don't any of you have experience with such things?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"I do!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly,
"Besides Pinkie Pie." Doctor Whooves said, they look at one another,
"Well, I guess no one here does." Spike said,
"Can you give some advice on how to open a portal, doctor?" Rarity asked,
"Well, it involves shifting the quantum fabrics, and if my research is correct, a black hole in space can be used to travel through time as well." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Uh, what's a black hole?" Starlight Glimmer asked, the other ponies looked at him as well,
"I'll explain later, we should get back to work." Princess Luna said,
"Be careful this time, Twilight, we don't know how many mistakes this experiment can take, let's continue." Cadence said, and they all go back into the castle.
Doctor Whooves went to his home and waited for his next patients, he had three patients today, he was friends with their parents, all six of them were studying science and technology, their daughters were his patients, he met them when they were fillies, they were now teenagers and studying science with their parents, their names were Inertia, Solute, and Data.
Inertia was an earth pony, she was the oldest of the trio, and the leader, she had a red coat, a long straight orange mane and tail, her eyes were yellow, her cutie mark was a yellow gear with six teeth. Solute was a Pegasus, she was the youngest of the trio, she had a blue coat, a long wavy purple mane and tail, her eyes were green, her cutie mark was a light blue and white wave crashing. Data was a unicorn, she was the middle pony of the trio, she had a yellow coat, a long curly green mane and tail, her eyes were orange, her cutie mark was a light blue graphing chart.
Doctor Whooves hears walking outside and it sounded like it was coming near his house, so he went out,
"Doctor Whooves!" three female voices said in excitement to Doctor Whooves' left, he saw Inertia and Data running to him, Solute was limping and had bandages on her unfolded right wing and a cast on her front right leg, they go to him and knock him down and hug him,
"Okay, that's enough, I need to get up." Doctor Whooves said, and they let him stand up,
"This way." Doctor Whooves said, and the three mares follow him into his house.
Doctor Whooves sat across from Inertia, Solute, and Data,
"Okay, your parents' and I go back, and I am sorry about what has happened last week." Doctor Whooves said,
"Thank you, doctor, we're still having bad dreams about it." Inertia replied,
"I have heard, well, let's get started with the session." Doctor Whooves said, and the three ponies get ready to talk about their experiences.
Inertia, Solute, and Data all lived in the woods, isolated from the town, their parents were renowned scientists, they were well known on how they found ways to do things without magic, Inertia's parents were Modules and Kinetic, they found ways to grow food without using earth pony magic. Solute's parents were Solubility and Solvent, they found ways to control the weather in the sky through weather seeding. Data's parents were Graph and Storage, they created technology to do things that unicorns needed magic to do.
Modules had a light red coat, yellow mane and tail, and orange eyes, his cutie mark was a black lowercase x. Kinetic had a dark red coat, red mane and tail, and yellow eyes, her cutie mark were five silver spheres. Solubility had a light blue coat, purple mane and tail, and dark blue eyes, his cutie mark were a drop of water and a grain of salt. Solvent had a blue coat, dark blue mane and tail, and green eyes, her cutie mark was a grain of salt. Graph had a yellow coat, green mane and tail, and orange eyes, his cutie mark was a line graph. Storage had a dark yellow coat, orange mane and tail, and green eyes, her cutie mark was a vacuole.
Inertia, Solute, and Data were in high school, and bored, while they aced the Equestrian science and math subjects, they failed the other subjects, especially grammar class; while they loved history, there were parts where they had trouble. The three were more interested in their electives, Inertia was doing visual arts, Solute was doing choir, and Data was doing hoofball, they did not want to become scientists and technicians like their parents, Inertia wanted to be a painter, Solute wanted to be a singer, and Data wanted to be an athlete.
Class ends and the three walk home together, they were bored with their days,
"Any of you have homework?" Inertia asked,
"Nope, nothing." Solute replied,
"I have a little." Data said,
"What subject?" Solute asked,
"History." Data replied,
"What about you, Inertia?" Solute asked,
"Math." Inertia replied,
"You two need help?" Solute asked,
"No, it's fine, and we told you, Solute, we'll meet up if we do need help." Data replied,
"I'm just asking as a friend." Solute said,
"Thanks, Solute, but as Data said, we'll meet up if we do need help." Inertia said,
"Okay." Solute replied,
"Well, let's finish quickly, Inertia, our moms and dads have a new thing to show us today." Data said,
"Oh right, the portal to Equestria's future, I can't wait to see how it works." Inertia replied,
"Wait, that's today?" Solute asked,
"Yes, Solute, it's today." Data replied a bit annoyed,
"Data, calm down, I forgot a few times too." Inertia said,
"I swear, you two should write down important events on paper." Data replied,
"Like our birthdays?" Solute asked, Data slaps her own forehead with her front left hoof,
"Yes, Solute, like our birthdays." Inertia replied while laughing a little,
"Come on, let's hurry up and finish our homework." Data said, and she and Inertia head home, leaving Solute by herself, the two went their separate ways, so Solute headed home as well.
Inertia finished her homework and she went on to try to paint the dirt road in front of her house, she messed up and rolled her eyes, so she decided to do something else; she lifted barbells with her back to have herself develop physical strength to be even stronger when she helped her parents attend the garden in the backyard, and to do any manual labor, she was the physically strongest of the trio.
Data took a break from doing her homework since her eyes were tired from reading, she did several cardio exercises in her room and then went outside to play with her balls, she did basketball first, and then soccer, and last was football. Data liked sports, and used to be the physically weakest of the trio, something she was very insecure about when she was younger, Data believed that since she is the one who can cast magic, she must also be in the best physical shape as well. Data keeps playing and exercising for a while, she then practices her telekinesis, she had an orange aura, she did target practice with her horn shortly afterwards. She goes back into her home and was shocked to see how much time has passed and quickly goes back to doing her homework and soon finishes.
Solute was in her bedroom and was practicing ballet, she loses her balance and falls on the floor, she gets up and tries again, she did alright the second time. Solute got bored and decided to fly around outside do aerial stunts, what surprises many ponies was that Solute is an ex-Wonderbolt, she quit four months after becoming one because she did not enjoy doing all the aerial shows, and it made her tired. She met Rainbow Dash once during her time, it was when they were in the locker room, Rainbow Dash walked in on Solute while she was taking a shower, she was singing and Rainbow Dash went in to check, Solute smiled when she saw Rainbow Dash,
"Hi, Rainbow Dash." Solute said,
"Why are you singing?" Rainbow Dash asked curiously,
"I always sing in the shower." Solute replied,
"Can you stop? You're annoying me and the other Wonderbolts with it." Rainbow Dash said,
"Oh, I am? I'm sorry." Solute replied, and she stopped, Rainbow Dash then walked away.
Solute continues flying and decided to work in the backyard, she uses weather seeding to make the clouds rain and was watering her personal flower garden, she sang while watering as well. Solute did not do exercise because she thought that dancing and walking to school was exercise enough, while she was the physically weakest of the three, Data was stronger than her by only a small margin.
Data realizes that it was time to leave to see the portal to Equestria's future, she walks outside of her home and saw she was on her own, she shook her head and walked to where her parents wanted her. Data hears running and sees Inertia coming,
"Sorry I'm a little late, I almost forgot." Inertia said,
"Well, it looks like Solute forgot... again." Data replied,
"I noticed that too, she always is the last one to find things out." Inertia said,
"What about you? You're our leader, we can't have you forgetting things so often." Data replied,
"Yes, I know, but I'm very busy, so are you and Solute, we all forget things." Inertia said,
"That's why I write things down." Data replied,
"I guess I should too." Inertia said, Data rolled her eyes.
Solute saw the two walking and she quickly flew to them,
"Sorry, I was busy attending the flower garden." Solute said,
"You forgot again, didn't you?" Data asked,
"Data, relax, she just said she was occupied." Inertia replied,
"She can at least remember." Data said annoyed,
"Well, where are we headed?" Solute asked,
"This way, Solute." Inertia replied, and the three go see their parents'.
Modules, Kinetic, Solubility, Solvent, Graph, and Storage finish the portal and were waiting for their daughters to come, they were excited to see how it will work,
"There, it's finally done." Modules said,
"Thank goodness, making this took forever." Storage replied,
"If only Doctor Whooves was here to see this." Solubility said,
"Who knows, maybe he has one of his own." Kinetic replied,
"Probably, I wouldn't be surprised, he has invented more things than we have." Solvent said,
"If we can, I'd like to go through the portal and see what our daughters become if we have the time." Graph said, the other five parents nod in agreement.
Inertia, Solute, and Data arrive at where their parents' were and were happy to see them, they hug their parents',
"You three ready?" Modules asked, they nod excitedly,
"Here we go." Solvent said, and they activate it by moving two levers down, the levers manipulated quantum fabric and a clock to go through time, the portal activates and they see Equestria far into the future, long after everypony has passed away, magic was gone, and everything was replaced with technology, they were surprised to see that there were no organic creatures, the changelings, griffins, yaks, dragons, and hippogriffs were all mechanical as well. The unicorns could not use magic, they shot beams and lasers out of their horns, which destroyed things. The Pegasi had jetpacks for wings, and rocket thrusters in their hooves. The earth ponies were using watering cans and the weather to grow things, the Pegasi used weather seeding to control the clouds, the earth ponies also had physical capabilities beyond those of an organic earth pony.
The changelings looked the same, but were metallic, they had holograms on themselves so they can morph into others, they were also equipped with jetpacks and rocket thrusters, their horns also shot out destructive lasers. The yaks were mostly the same, but faster and stronger than organic yaks. The dragons were stronger than organic ones, they also had flamethrowers in their mouths, along with being made out of some of type of hardened alloy not found in Equestria. The griffins had rocket thrusters and jetpacks on them, along with wings based off of aerodynamics to help them fly, they had blades for their talons, and a sharp metallic beak. The hippogriffs had wings designed by aerodynamics, along with jetpacks and rocket thrusters to help them fly, their talons and beaks were sharp blades, and they had fins as tails so they can swim in the water.
The nine ponies watch in awe at what they saw,
"Can we go through the portal?" Solute asked, Inertia and Data look at Solute with impressment, they thought she just asked a good question for the first time in many years,
"Of course, people can come through from the other side too." Solubility replied, the three daughters were impressed.
They all watch in excitement while Solute shook her legs around and bit her lip,
"Now, now, Solute, we know you're excited, but please control yourself." Graph said,
"Actually, I have to go to the bathroom." Solute replied, Inertia and Data slapped their foreheads with their front right hooves, they all just watch silently for the time.
Nothing happens for the time being, but after several minutes, a rift appears in it and a male unicorn comes through, he had a sky blue coat, his mane and tail were yellow, he was wearing a black leather jacket with silver zippers and buttons on it, it had shoulder pads that were buttoned down, the jacket's collar was also buttoned down, two zippers on the left side, a diagonal zipper on the left chest, a pocket flap on the left side, above the waist, and belt loops and a belt with a silver buckle at the bottom of the jacket, he had black gloves on his front hooves, black mid-calf length boots on his hind legs, a dark gray shirt under his jacket, light brown cargo pants, and black sunglasses.
The nine ponies look at him with shocked and scared expressions,
"Please, do not be afraid, I come in peace. My name is Paragon, I am a historian, I was sent here to document the past, and study how organic ponies lived back before machine ponies were built." the unicorn said, the others were still nervous,
"Who's the ruler of Equestria in the future?" Inertia asked,
"We have three rulers, a unicorn, a Pegasus, and an earth pony, all machines, the organic ponies act as advisors, while magic is no longer around, we have found ways to make technology duplicate it." Paragon replied,
"Do you know any of us?" Data asked,
"Only you three, you're Data, a unicorn, your parents are from Canterlot, you have a liking for sports, and is adept in magic, and you want to be a professional athlete when you're older." Paragon said, Data nodded while smiling,
"What about me?" Inertia asked,
"You're Inertia, an earth pony, your parents are from Ponyville, you've liked drawing and painting ever since you were a kid, and want to be an artist. You are a health freak, you care about staying in shape, and you train hard to be peak physical condition." Paragon replied, Inertia smiled,
"How about me?" Solute asked,
"You're Solute, a Pegasus, your parents are from Cloudsdale, you like singing and dancing, and want to be a singer. One thing that caught my mind was despite the fact that you don't play sports or exercise like your two friends, my files at home say you're ex-military." Paragon replied,
"Oh, yes, I used to be a Wonderbolt." Solute said,
"I see, interesting, well, go on, ask me anything you like." Paragon said,
"What happened to create machine ponies?" Storage asked,
"Many years from now, Tirek will return, and when that time comes, rather than absorbing the magic of the ponies, he will absorb magic from the yaks, changelings, griffons, dragons, and hippogriffs as well, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, and Princess Twilight Sparkle will transfer their magic to Princess Flurry Heart, but since Tirek has more magic than before, she is not powerful enough to confront him, and will lose, and Tirek will absorb the powers of five alicorns, along with the Elements of Harmony, and last but least, he will absorb and destroy Discord. Every nation will be forced to band together and come up with a way to confront Tirek, eventually, mechanical versions of ourselves will be created, and thus, the machine ponies will exist, they will be created with fake skin to confuse Tirek into thinking they are normal creatures, they will then use their concealed weapons in them and destroy him completely, the weapon that will destroy him is a unicorn horn that shoots out a disintegrating ray." Paragon explained,
"What happened to the alicorns?" Modules asked,
"They... lost their lives, so did Shining Armor, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and their entire families, and all of their friends, they're all gone." Paragon replied,
"What about Trixie?" Inertia asked,
"She didn't make it, either." Paragon replied, the nine ponies become sad,
"Anyone else gone?" Solvent asked,
"Everyone, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, the Cake family, Derpy, Lyra, Octavia, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Rara, Cheerilee, Zecora, Coco, Sunburst, they're all gone, the only pony still around in my time is Doctor Whooves, he's the one who came up with the idea of having machine ponies." Paragon replied,
"Is there anything else to know?" Graph asked,
"A unicorn named Sunset Shimmer was summoned by Princess Twilight Sparkle to come to this world and help them against Tirek, unfortunately, she lost her life, too." Paragon replied, the others become sad,
"What about the crystal ponies?" Kinetic asked,
"The crystal ponies are gone too, but we managed to create machine ponies that have prism coats, it replicates their crystal coats pretty well." Paragon replied, the others were impressed,
"That is all for now, I need to speak to your parents in private now, I'll come see you three after I'm done." Paragon said,
"Thank you, I want you to come to me first." Solute replied,
"Solute." Inertia and Data said, scolding her,
"Come on, please, you two have a lot of friends at school, I don't have any." Solute replied,
"I guess it shouldn't hurt, Solute has been lonely quite recently." Inertia said,
"Oh, alright, I suppose her giving Paragon a tour wouldn't hurt." Data replied,
"Oh, I would love to." Solute said happily,
"Well, thank you, now, please leave, what I have to discuss is only for your parents." Paragon said, and the three daughters left them and went home.
The trio walked home and were together for the time being, and were about to go their separate ways,
"You two have free time for us to hang out tomorrow?" Solute asked,
"Sorry, but I'm seeing my boyfriend tomorrow." Data replied,
"Yeah, I'm seeing my boyfriend tomorrow, too, sorry, Solute." Inertia said, and they walked away while Solute looked at them sadly, she walked home by herself and the three went on with their days, Inertia planted seeds into the soil in her backyard, Solute watched her flowers grow, and Data practiced her magic, she was using telekinesis, and then did target practice by zapping targets she set up earlier, the three finish what they were doing and sleep.
Data wakes up the next morning and sees her parents were not home yet,
"Mom? Dad?" Data asked, she looked around her home and saw they were not in the house, she becomes worried and teleports to where they were at yesterday, they were gone, so was Paragon, she searches for them and they were not around, the portal to the future of Equestria was closed as well, she becomes worried but teleports back home and gets ready for the day.
Inertia's alarm clock goes off and she presses it, she wakes up and stretches while yawning,
she has breakfast, brushes her teeth, and straightens her mane, and puts a little makeup on her face to hide any acne or blemishes she may have,
"Mother, father, I'm off. Mother? Father?" Inertia asked, she walked around her home and checked outside, they were not home, she thought they were probably working on another experiment, this was not the first time they were away for more than one day, they were away for over a month sometimes, Inertia finished getting ready and went to school.
Solute overslept but woke up early enough to get ready for the day, she had breakfast, checked her flowers, used the bathroom, and then put on her makeup, she put on midnight blue eye shadow and eyeliner, she made wings with the eyeliner as well,
"Mommy, daddy, I'm off." Solute said, there was no answer,
"Mommy? Daddy? Where are you?" Solute asked as she flew around the house, they were nowhere, she thought they were alone for another science experiment, this made Solute feel more lonely than she already was.
Solute opens the door and Paragon was standing in front of it, it surprised her,
Oh, uh, hi, Paragon." Solute said,
"I'm ready for my tour." Paragon replied,
"Of course, follow me, we're going to meet up with Inertia and Data first." Solute said, and they walk together.
Inertia and Data meet up and were going to the school, Solute walked to them a few minutes later with Paragon,
"Paragon, where are our parents?" Data asked,
"They went to the other side of the portal, somepony from the future wanted to see them, it was some unicorn named Newton." Paragon replied,
"Oh, I remember him, mother and father used to talk about him all the time, he was a rival scientist back when our parents were in college, there was a science contest and he got second place behind our parents." Inertia said,
"I thought there was a seventh and eighth partner." Solute replied,
"Yeah, Doctor Whooves and Roseluck." Data said,
"Oh, right." Solute replied,
"Well, I'll be following Solute today, I'd like to get to know about you two later." Paragon said,
"Sure." Inertia and Data said together while smiling,
"Okay then, let's go, Solute." Paragon said, and the four go to the school.
The four arrive at the school and head to their classes, the trio were all juniors, it was their third year in high school, their points of views on high school were different, Inertia liked it, Data thought it was alright, and Solute hated it, the four walk through the halls and they look at Paragon with awe,
"Is that a new student?" a male unicorn asked,
"Oh my Celestia, that outfit is so cool." a female earth pony said,
"I'd do anything to have shades like those." a male Pegasus said, the similar comments were heard.
The four walk to class and almost everypony they pass waves or says hi to Data and Inertia, while they glare at Solute, some tell her to go away, some shove her to the sides as well, Paragon just stood and observed. Solute took Paragon to the principal's office so he can get a visitor's pass, he also told the principal that he has to wear sunglasses because his eyes were sensitive to light, which the principal accepted, they then go to her first class, it was math, Solute sat far away and alone from the other ponies,
"They're not your friends?" Paragon asked,
"I don't have any friends in this school." Solute replied,
"I see." Paragon said stoically, and Solute works on her work, she did fine, but she did not have the highest score, class ended and Solute went to her second class.
Solute goes to her next class, which was grammar, she struggled and failed almost everything,
"What's your score in this class, Solute?" Paragon asked,
"She has the lowest grade out of all of my students." Solute's grammar teacher replied, the other classmates laugh at Solute while she clutched the sides of her head and put it on the desk,
"Please, make it stop." Solute said with her head against the desk,
"Get back to work, Solute, the assignment's not going to do itself." Solute's grammar teacher said, and she worked reluctantly and slowly, the other ponies make fun of her under their breaths for doing bad in the class, Solute held back her tears and worked slowly, class ended and everypony turned their work in and went to third period.
Solute's third period was choir, she sang with a mezzo-soprano voice, while she was the only pony who can get her pitch right, the other ponies did not cheer for her or hug her like how they did with the other classmates, they glared at her and booed at her, they only clapped and cheered when she messed up, or laughed at her when she failed something, they all leave for lunch when the class was halfway over.
Solute sat alone at lunch and ate while sad, Paragon did not pay attention, he was busy looking around, lunch ended and he and Solute went back to choir class and continued class,
"How do you do in this class?" Paragon asked,
"I'm passing, most students only take this as an elective to fill up their periods, I took it because I like singing." Solute replied, Paragon was stoic and just watched until class ended, and he followed Solute.
Solute went to fourth period next, it was history, they were studying about the time when Nightmare Moon returned, Solute was having a little trouble,
"Are you failing this class too, Solute?" Paragon asked,
"It depends on the subject, there are some parts of history I'm good at, and other parts, I'm terrible at." Solute replied, Paragon was just looking around, Solute feels herself having to go to the bathroom during class and clutches her groin with her front legs while biting her lower lip, she put her hind legs together as well,
"Shouldn't have drank all that water at lunch." Paragon said,
"Hey, I was thirsty, and it's summer, I need my hydration." Solute replied, she was already done with her work and waited for class to end, it ended and Solute began walking to fifth period, the last period of the day,
"You're not going to the bathroom?" Paragon asked,
"It's all the way on the other side of the school, I'll be late to class if I go." Solute replied, and they enter fifth period.
Solute's last class for the day was science, she does her work and worked quickly,
"What's your grade in this class?" Paragon asked,
"I'm passing, I don't have the highest score, though." Solute replied, she bit her lower lip again and clutched her groin with her front hooves while she worked, she wrote with the pencil in her right wing. She finishes and waited for class to end so she can use the bathroom, but she wetted herself during class, the students and teacher noticed it and they laughed,
"You're going to have to clean up the desk again after class, Solute." Solute's science teacher said, Solute put her head on the desk in embarrassment while her classmates laughed,
"Has this happened before?" Paragon asked,
"Yeah, I have a weak bladder." Solute replied while she had her head down and the students keep laughing, the teacher was laughing a bit as well.
Class ended and Solute cleaned up her urine quickly, she was sad and looked downwards as she cleaned; Solute finished and she began to walk home quickly as she heard the conversations in the hallway,
"What? For real? Solute wetted herself again?" a male unicorn asked,
"Yup, and this was right in the middle of class." a male Pegasus replied, the two then laughed,
"Why are they not going home?" Paragon asked,
"They do after school activities, so does Data and Inertia, I don't do anything after school." Solute replied,
"I still need a tour of this place, starting with the school." Paragon said,
"Alright, follow me." Solute replied in an exasperated tone, and she shows him the school.
Paragon sees the cafeteria, the library, the music hut, the visual arts room, the theatre arts room, the culinary arts room, the parenting and early childhood class, the grammar classes, the math classes, the science classes, and the history classes, the two then headed outside,
"Over there is the hoofball field, Data will be there after school." Solute said,
"Where is Inertia after school?" Paragon asked,
"It's different every day, she goes wherever she wants to paint, so she's not in one place." Solute replied,
"What do you know, there she is right there." Paragon said, Solute looks and saw Inertia was on the hoofball field, she was with an earth pony who had an orange coat, his short mane and short tail were yellow, his eyes were red, and his cutie mark was a brown plowed field,
"Friend of hers?" Paragon asked,
"That's Geo, Inertia's boyfriend, he's a gardener, but does sports as a pastime." Solute replied, Paragon watched him carefully,
Solute sees Data go to Inertia and a unicorn was with her, he had a green coat, his short mane and long tail were blue, his eyes were yellow, and his cutie mark was a black pentagram,
"Who is that stallion with Data?" Paragon asked,
"That's Witchcraft, he's a magician, he's Data's boyfriend." Solute replied,
"Do you have a boyfriend?" Paragon asked,
"No." Solute replied,
"You still haven't showed me the place." Paragon said,
"*sigh* fine, this way." Solute replied, and they go to the field.
Paragon and Solute arrive into the field and Inertia and Geo see them, Geo runs to them,
"Solute, we can't have you here today." Geo said,
"I'm just showing him the place." Solute replied, and Geo looks at Paragon, Inertia ran to them,
"Oh, right, Geo, this is Paragon, he asked Solute to show him around the school and town today." Inertia said,
"Oh, okay, but make it quick." Geo said in a somewhat stern and annoyed tone, and Solute shows Paragon around the area, Witchcraft tackles Solute and lifts her up with his telekinesis, his magic aura was orange,
"Get out of here, you annoying brat!" Witchcraft said angrily, and he put her down,
"But..." Solute said, Witchcraft tackled her and held her up against a fence with his front left leg across her neck,
"If you ever say one word to me, if you ever try to talk to me, I will have your tongue! Don't talk to me, EVER!!" Witchcraft said angrily,
"It's alright, Witchcraft." Data said as she walked to them,
"She's just here to give that pony a tour of the school, she'll be gone as soon as she's done." Data said,
"And what if she isn't?" Witchcraft asked,
"Don't worry, I'll make sure she does." Data replied, and Solute and Paragon walk around the field, they finish after several minutes and they leave, Geo looks at Solute with an annoyed face while Witchcraft glares at her and showing his teeth,
"I still need a tour of the town." Paragon said,
"Yes, I remember, this way." Solute replied tiredly, and they go into town.
Solute shows Paragon around the town and the other ponies laugh at her for wetting herself in class today, she was very uncomfortable in town today, she showed Paragon the shops, the market stands, the stores, the library, and the inn for where travelers stay,
"Thank you, Solute, that is all." Paragon said,
"You're welcome, now, if you'll excuse me, I have grammar, math, science, and history homework today, I have to do them." and she heads home, she does her homework and struggled on a few parts, she finished after hours of doing homework, she sighed and went to bed while having a headache and slept.
Inertia and Data were having fun on the hoofball field, Inertia and Geo were painting a picture together while Data and Witchcraft were practicing for their next game, Data was the kicker, and Witchcraft was the goalkeeper,
"Say, Inertia, how did you become friends with Data and Solute?" Geo asked,
"Our parents are all friends with one another." Inertia replied,
"I see." Geo said,
"What? You don't like them or something?" Inertia asked,
"No, I'm fine with Data, it's Solute, I don't like her very much." Geo replied,
"Yeah, I know, you don't like how clueless she can be sometimes, we talked about this before." Inertia said,
"I know, but I still don't understand how you and Data remained friends with her." Geo replied,
"Because underneath her somewhat clueless and curious nature, she's a really nice person, and she is helpful sometimes." Inertia said,
"I see." Geo replied, and they continue painting the picture together, it was the hoofball field in front of them.
Data and Witchcraft keep playing and were having fun, they finish after a while and they rest,
"You ready for the next game?" Witchcraft asked,
"You're darn right I am." Data replied, Witchcraft chuckled,
"Say, Witchcraft, what do you have against Solute?" Data asked,
"I hate her, she asks too many questions, she doesn't do anything after school like us, she's annoying, and she has no ambitions, she's a loser." Witchcraft replied,
"I mean, yes, she can be annoying, but she does try to help others." Data said,
"I don't need any help, I'm already the best." Witchcraft replied,
"Best at what?" Data asked,
"Everything I do, I'm the best and most competent goalkeeper in the school, I'm the best magic user of my class and family, and I'm the best fighter in my family." Witchcraft replied, Data chuckled,
"Excuse me." Paragon said as he walked to them, Data looked at him normally while Witchcraft glared at him,
"I need to see what you do tomorrow, Data." Paragon said, Witchcraft walked over to him,
"Hang on a minute, you want to hang out with my girlfriend, don't you?" Witchcraft asked in a stern tone,
"I am acting on behalf of a friend of her parents." Paragon asked,
"Which friend?" Data asked,
"Newton." Paragon replied,
"I need proof first." Data said, Paragon opens the pocket flap on the left side of his jacket that was above his waist, he showed a folded sheet of paper, Data took it out and unfolded it with her telekinesis, she read the letter,
Dear, Inertia, Data, and Solute,
I am working on a new science experiment on the other side of the portal, and I need your parents' help to complete it. It pains me to take your parents away from you three like this, and they won't be back for a while, that is why I'm sending Paragon over, he is going to watch over you three to make sure you three stay safe, and will take care of you three, your parents will be back as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Newton"
Data just looks at the paper and takes it,
"Do you believe me now?" Paragon asked,
"No, I need to compare this writing and Newton's hoofwriting and make sure it's not forged." Data replied,
"Do you have any proof?" Paragon asked,
"Yeah, my parents kept some of his notes, my mom and him worked together on an experiment once." Data replied,
"Fair enough, I'll be waiting for you tomorrow." Paragon said, and he left,
"I don't trust that guy, Data." Witchcraft said,
"Yeah, I'm a bit suspicious about him, too." Data replied,
"Well, it's almost time to go home, that idiot took up most of our time." Witchcraft said,
"It's alright, Witchcraft, there's always tomorrow." Data replied, Witchcraft smiled and they started to walk home together.
Inertia and Geo were almost done painting and Data and Witchcraft stood in front of them,
"Guys, you're blocking the view." Geo said,
"When you're done, paint a picture of me." Witchcraft said,
"I don't remember you asking me to do that, Witchcraft." Inertia replied,
"I'm not asking for it, I'm demanding it, since I am the best at what I do in my family, it is fitting that only I have a picture of myself in the house." Witchcraft said, Inertia and Geo give him a disapproving look,
"Okay, if it makes you happy." Inertia said, Witchcraft smiled and he and Data went home,
"Are you really going to do it, Inertia?" Geo asked,
"No, of course not." Inertia replied,
"Well, we should head home, it is getting late." Geo said,
"I agree, see you tomorrow, Geo." Inertia replied and the two kissed one another and they went home.
Data goes through her parents' old experiment notes from college, some were written by Newton when he and her mother were working on an experiment together when they were in class, Data finds a sheet of paper with his hoofwriting on it, and to her surprise, it was a perfect match, which convinced her that Paragon was telling the truth, she does her math and history homework and heads to bed.
Inertia was doing her grammar homework and had trouble, she finished after a few hours and was not tired yet, so she goes outside for fresh air, it was dark, and there was nothing, Inertia looks at the moon but eventually gets tired and falls asleep outside.
Data wakes up the next morning and checks her house, her parents were not home yet, which made her a little sad, she uses the bathroom, has breakfast and gets ready to leave, she opens the door and saw Paragon, which made her scream a little,
"Morning, Data, I'm ready to observe your schedule." Paragon said,
"How did you get my address?" Data asked,
"Your parents gave it to me before they left to help Newton, I have Inertia's and Solute's addresses as well." Paragon replied,
"Well, that makes sense, this way then, and try to keep up." Data said, and they head to the school.
Solute wakes up after oversleeping a few minutes and was very tired, she uses the bathroom and cleans her makeup off from yesterday, it was hard, but she got it off, and put on new makeup, she then puts her homework in her saddlebag and leaves the house.
Data and Paragon walk together while Solute flew to school, her weight was unbalanced due to the weight in her saddlebag, it caused her to lean to her right side instead of flying straight, she keeps flying and saw Inertia sleeping outside in front of her house's door, Solute flew down to check on her,
"Inertia?" Solute asked as she shook her with her front hooves, Data heard her and looked, she saw Inertia sleeping as well, she groaned and walked to her, she kicked Inertia in the face with her front left hoof,
"Inertia, wake up!" Data said, and she did,
"What time is it?" Inertia asked tiredly,
"We're about to go to school." Solute replied,
"Wait?! It's time for school? Oh, no! I overslept!" Inertia said with shock, and quickly runs into her house and gets ready, she skipped breakfast since she did not have time for it, she comes out and the four head to school.
The four arrive at school and everypony waves at Inertia, some wave at Data, while some glare at her and jeer at her, and everypony glares and jeers at Solute, some throw water balloons at her and make fun of her for wetting herself in class yesterday,
"You wetted yourself again, Solute?" Inertia asked,
"It's not my fault, I was born with a weak bladder." Solute replied,
"Still though, you're in high school, Solute, and you're still wetting herself." Data said, Solute groaned in disappointment, the three then went their separate ways with Paragon following Data.
Data and Paragon walk together and meet up with Witchcraft, he glares at him,
"Why are you here?" Witchcraft asked,
"Supervising." Paragon replied,
"She doesn't need you, you're not half the stallion she needs!" Witchcraft said,
"That is not why I am with her." Paragon replied,
"I don't care why you're with her, get lost, you lamebrain." Witchcraft said,
"Witchcraft, calm down, he's not competing with you." Data replied,
"I don't care if he's competition or not, I don't like him, and needs to leave." Witchcraft said, Data glares at him,
"Well, what are you waiting for? Get out of here, you ugly scumbag!" Witchcraft said, and Paragon went out of his sight, he watches the two and follows them, Witchcraft kisses Data when she got to class and left, Paragon entered after he left.
Data's first class was grammar, she conversed with some of the other ponies, she was friends with most of the students,
"How do you do in this class, Data?" Paragon asked,
"I'm just barely passing, but thankfully, I have friends to help me." Data replied while smiling, Paragon did not show any emotion, which made Data suspicious about him, but she continued class, the bell rung and it was time for second period.
Paragon and Data left and he followed her, he saw her standing in the hallway, Witchcraft walked over to her, Paragon stood out of his sight and watched the two, he noticed Witchcraft kept his front right leg over her body. He got aggressive whenever anypony tried to see Data, he rudely shooed them away, males and females. They walked together and arrived at Data's next class, they kissed again and Witchcraft walked away while Data entered the classroom, Paragon went in after Witchcraft was gone.
Data's next class was math, she did great in the class, and she offered to help the other students, everypony finished quickly,
"You seem quite enthusiastic about this class." Paragon said,
"Of course, it's math, I need math to calculate my shots right whenever I play hoofball." Data replied,
"Right." Paragon said stoically, Data speaks with her female friends in the class and helped whoever came to her for help, a male Pegasus came to Paragon for help, but he did not help the pony. The class was peaceful and friends were conversing with one another, the teacher smiled and class soon ended, everypony went on to their next class.
Data waited and Witchcraft came to her again, one of Data's female friends tries to see her, but Witchcraft raises his voice and tells her to stop speaking to her and to go away in a very rude manner, causing the mare to leave in tears, Paragon watched stoically while staying behind Data and far away so that Witchcraft does not see him.
Data arrives at her third period class, it was gym class, her elective, Witchcraft was a classmate of hers in this class. The two played against another team, they were both aggressive at playing, but while Data was careful not to hurt anypony, Witchcraft did, and he smiled and laughed at them when they had to rest from injuries, and he was using magic to cheat.
Lunchtime comes and Data and Witchcraft sat alone, they conversed and had fun together, Paragon sat afar and monitored Data's behavior, he was careful to stay out of Witchcraft's sight.
Lunch ends and everypony goes back to class, Paragon watched Data play and she and Witchcraft kept playing until class ended.
Data and Witchcraft went to Data's fourth period class, Witchcraft's male and female friends went to see him, he greeted them all kindly, Data just watched, they arrived at Data's fourth period class, they kissed again and she entered her class, Witchcraft turns around and leaves. Witchcraft sees Paragon walking by and glares at him, he tries to use telekinesis on him to make him trip, but Paragon jumps and dodges it, his horn was just a millimeter off from touching the ceiling, much to Witchcraft's shock, Paragon just went to class while Witchcraft looked on in pure shock.
Data's next class was science, she aced everything and worked fast,
"How good are you at this class, Data?" Paragon asked,
"I have the highest score in this classroom, everypony comes to me for help." Data replied with her eyes closed and smiling,
"I have realized that you do not use magic when you work." Paragon said,
"Yeah, I only use magic at home, it's a school rule, Pegasi can't fly in the school either." Data replied, several ponies go to Data and ask for help, and she helped them, she had a smile on her face as well, the ponies thanked her and they left,
"Do you like your classmates, Data?" Paragon asked,
"Yeah, they're nice and friendly, most of my bullies are only in the hallways now, I like helping other ponies." Data said, Paragon did not reply or show any emotion.
Class ended and Data got ready to go to fifth period, Witchcraft walked to her, they walk together to class while nopony went near them, they arrive and the two kiss again and Data goes to her class, Witchcraft walked forward this time, Paragon went into Data's last class.
Data's fifth period class was history, she did good on some parts, and not so well on several parts,
"You seem to be just like Solute when it comes to history, good in some areas, bad in other areas." Paragon said,
"Everypony's like that." Data replied, she continued to work and soon got up to ask another pony for help, a male earth pony helps her on what she was having trouble with, she thanked him and went back to her seat, the teacher was silent and watching the class happily, it was mostly quiet,
"Are you staying after school today?" Paragon asked,
"Yeah, I have practice today." Data replied, and she keeps working until class ended.
The bell rings and Paragon saw Witchcraft coming again, he goes to Data and they head outside,
"Hey, I made a new spell last night, it makes other ponies turn away and walk away if they're hit with it." Witchcraft said,
"That's wonderful, it might help against those we don't want to see." Data replied,
"That's right, now that I created it, anypony who tries to interrupt our time together will be hit with it." Witchcraft said, Data chuckled, and they walk silently to the hoofball field while Paragon followed from behind.
Data and Witchcraft practice and were doing the same thing over and over, Paragon was not bored watching, though, they finish after many hours and they kissed one another and went their separate ways. Data headed home and did her math and science homework, she finished in less than an hour, she goes to her backyard to practice other sports she enjoyed,
"Want to play, Paragon?" Data asked,
"No, I'm fine, thanks, though." Paragon replied, Data smiled and practiced the other ball games she played,
"You're not going to follow me tomorrow too, right?" Data asked,
"No, tomorrow, I watch Inertia, after that, I will be done observing." Paragon replied,
"Well, go ahead and sleep here tonight, it's the least I can do." Data said, and Paragon slept on the floor while Data slept in bed.
Inertia was shopping as soon as fifth period ended, she bought some weights and muscle supplements from one of the stores, she begins to head home and saw Solute come to her, she was completely wet, her mane was covering her face, and her makeup was ruined,
"Got soaked today?" Inertia asked,
"Yeah, again." Solute replied,
"Well, come to my home, I'll clean you up." Inertia said,
"Thank you, Inertia, you're like a big sister to me." Solute replied while smiling, Inertia smiled and they went to her home. Inertia cleaned Solute and they did homework together, Inertia had grammar and history homework, so did Solute, they worked together and had fun, Solute headed home while waving bye at Inertia, she decided that she was tired and went to sleep on her bed, Solute slept in her bed immediately after she got home.
Inertia woke up on time the next morning, she got her homework and had breakfast, she did not have to use the bathroom, but she did put on her makeup. She opened the door and saw Paragon walking over,
"This is my last day observing." Paragon said,
"I know, well, let's go, Paragon, Data and Solute are waiting for us." Inertia replied, and they walk together.
Solute overslept several minutes again, but she used the bathroom and put her makeup on again, she remembered to wipe it off last night, she had breakfast, got her homework, and headed out.
Data woke up on time as always, she used the bathroom, had breakfast, and got her homework, she walked out and went to go see Inertia and Solute.
Inertia walks to school with Paragon and Solute and Data soon join them,
"Are you two staying after school today?" Solute asked,
"Yup." Data replied,
"Yes, sorry, Solute, I know you're lonely, but we have things to do after school, I'll come see you when I have the time." Inertia said, Solute smiled, but was still sad, and they go to school.
Inertia and Data were greeted nicely, but nopony greeted Solute, one male earth pony who was walking by punched Solute in her lower teeth with his front left hoof and knocked her down, she held onto her jaw with her front left hoof while in pain, Data and Inertia helped her up, and they went their separate ways, with Paragon following Inertia.
Inertia heads to class and met with Geo, he looked at Paragon,
"You're observing her today?" Geo asked,
"Yes, today is my last day." Paragon replied,
"Alright then." Geo said, and he and Inertia walk together, they greeted whoever came to see them, they were kind and friendly to anypony who conversed with them, they arrived at Inertia's first class and they kissed one another, Inertia went into her class and Paragon went in after Geo began to leave.
Inertia's first class was science, she aced everything in the class, everypony greeted her and spoke with her,
"You seem to have a lot of friends here." Paragon said,
"I'm friends with everypony in my classes." Inertia replied,
"How are your grades in this class?" Paragon asked,
"I have one of the highest grades." Inertia replied,
"Okay then." Paragon said, he watched Inertia converse and have fun in the class until it ended and she left the class.
Inertia headed onwards to her next class, Geo was nowhere to be seen, and she spoke with whoever came to her, and everypony said hi to her, Inertia smiled and waved back at them, she went into her second period class when she was done greeting her friends.
Inertia's second period was history class, Inertia was having trouble on a few parts,
"How do you do in this class?" Paragon asked,
"I'm good at most parts, there are some parts I struggle at, though." Inertia replied, she keeps trying to work but was having trouble, Inertia began to become angry and exhaled sharply, a female Pegasus goes over and helps her, Inertia thanked her and she continued working until the bell rung.
Inertia walked with Paragon and many ponies went to go see Inertia, she was having fun and enjoying her day. She went into third period, which was visual arts, Inertia painted and enjoyed her class, she conversed with every classmate as well,
"Are you passing this class, too?" Paragon asked,
"Uh-huh, this is my favorite class." Inertia replied,
"How did you and Geo meet?" Paragon asked,
"We were classmates freshman year." Inertia asked,
"And Witchcraft?" Paragon asked,
"He and Data met during lunchtime freshman year." Inertia replied, Paragon looked on stoically.
The bell rung for lunchtime and everypony went to lunch, Inertia sat with Geo and had lunch together, they let Paragon sit with them,
"You're not going to eat, Paragon?" Geo asked,
"I'm not hungry." Paragon replied, Inertia was confused, since she has not seen him eat or drink anything ever since he appeared, this caught her attention, but she ignored it, many male and female ponies went to go see Inertia and Geo, they greeted them all kindly and conversed with them.
Inertia swallows a food with strong flavor and she coughed and vomited it up,
"Is something wrong?" Paragon asked,
"It's fine, it's just... I have a weak stomach." Inertia replied, Paragon just sat there and watched.
Lunchtime ended and everypony went back to class, Inertia continued painting and finished after a while, the teacher looked at it and said Inertia did a good job, she smiled and class ended shortly afterwards.
Inertia walked through the hallways and conversed with her friends, which was basically everypony, she was enjoying her conversations, she went into her class when the bell was about to ring and Paragon went in with her.
Inertia's fourth period was math class, she aced the class as well,
"How are you in this class?" Paragon asked,
"I have the highest score, I also tutor the other ponies that need help." Inertia replied, a female earth pony soon comes to her for help, and Inertia helps her with whatever she had trouble with, the pony thanked her and left, Inertia helped whoever else came to her until the bell rung.
Inertia walks by herself to her last class and entered early, her fifth period class was grammar, Inertia was having trouble,
"Are you failing this class?" Paragon asked,
"Not failing, but close to failing." Inertia replied, she was struggling, a male unicorn goes over and helps her, she thanks him and he left, Inertia keeps trying and class ended, she turned in her work with a just barely passing grade.
Inertia went to the art room after school and got a canvas and palette, she went outside to go paint a garden that Geo was working on. She also sees Witchcraft practicing his magic by doing target practice, he was shooting the other ponies with beams from his horn, which really hurt the other ponies, he was smiling when he hit a pony, Inertia and Geo glare at him and they continue doing what they did while Paragon watched.
Data saw what he was doing and pulled him down with her magic,
"What are you doing?" Data asked,
"Simple, just practicing my accuracy with my magic by hitting these lowlifes." Witchcraft replied,
"Witchcraft, they're not lowlifes, they just weren't born into the upper-class like how you were." Data said,
"That makes them lowlifes, and deserving of being hit." Witchcraft replied, Data glared at him,
"If you want to practice your magic, go ahead, but don't hit the other ponies." Data said,
"That's no fun, though." Witchcraft replied,
"Witchcraft." Data said sternly,
"Alright, fine, geez." Witchcraft replied, and he shot the moving clouds with his magic instead while Data practiced her shots for hoofball.
Solute was feeling her own jaw due to the punch from this morning, she decided to rest before she did her homework, which was grammar, she did some ballet in her bedroom and did not mess up this time, she decided to try to do her homework, but could not focus, she felt lonely, so she picked up her homework and decided to go see her friends.
Inertia and Data continue doing what they were doing and soon say goodbye to Geo and Witchcraft, they kiss their boyfriends and they go their separate ways. Inertia and Data walk home together with Paragon behind them,
"You got any homework today, Data?" Inertia asked,
"Grammar." Data replied,
"Yeah, I have grammar homework today, too." Inertia said,
"Well, I guess we can work together." Data replied,
"Good idea, I need help on it." Inertia said, Solute sees her two friends and flies down to them, she walks with them,
"Are you two free now?" Solute asked,
"Well, we are about to work together on our grammar homework." Inertia replied,
"Oh, I have grammar homework today, too." Solute said,
"Look at that, all three of us have homework on the same subject today, we can all work together." Data replied,
"Come on, let's go to my place today, then." Inertia said, Solute and Data become happy and walk with her to her home with Paragon behind them.
The four arrive at Inertia's house and do homework together, Inertia had snacks and drinks for her two friends, Paragon stood to the left side while the three were sitting,
"Hey, Paragon, aren't you going to help?" Data asked,
"Sorry, but I was told to just watch over you three and make sure you three stay safe, not help you with homework." Paragon replied, the three groaned,
"Say, Paragon, are all the organic creatures in your Equestria gone?" Solute asked,
"No, the organic creatures build the machine creatures, they also clean them and make sure they run fluently, machine creatures may run and control the world, but organic creatures also act as advisors, and have parts in running the government as well." Paragon replied,
"What's Newton like in your time?" Inertia asked,
"He is gone, but is kept around by having his brain in a jar, he can still speak and has machines connected to his jar, he uses those to build machine ponies, but he is immobile, so Doctor Whooves helps him whenever he is needed. Newton is in a wheelchair, Doctor Whooves pushes him around." Paragon replied, the three were a bit uneasy, but continue doing homework.
The three finish homework after several hours of helping one another, Solute and Data head home,
"My days of observation is done, I have things to do tonight, so I will not be staying." Paragon said,
"You never do stay." Inertia replied,
"You're right, I don't, I'll be back." Paragon said,
"Okay, see you next time." Inertia replied, and Paragon left, Inertia was tired and went to bed and slept.
Data and Solute were bored in their homes without their parents, they have been gone before, sometimes for months, they were hoping they would be back soon, they went to bed at night and slept.
Paragon went to Solute's home and saw she was asleep, he goes into her backyard and destroys her flower garden by stomping on them and ripping them out of the ground. He went into Data's backyard and stomped on her soccer ball, her football, and her basketball, smashing and deflating all of them. Paragon opened a window to Inertia's home and ripped her paintings apart, he destroyed all of the canvases as well, he then left to go elsewhere.
The next day comes and the three mares wake up at different times, they get ready with their days, and become shocked when they see their damaged things, they ran to them,
"What the? My paintings!" Inertia said, she looks at them with shock, unable to believe that somepony broke into her home and destroyed her things,
"My balls!" Data said angrily, she holds them up and then looks to her right while growling,
"My flowers! Years of hard work and dedication. Ruined!" Solute said as she held them, she buried her head into the flowers and began crying, the three picked themselves up and got ready and went out to go to school.
The three meet up and walk to school together,
"Can you believe this? Somepony got into my house last night and destroyed my paintings!" Inertia said,
"Really? All of my balls were popped this morning." Data replied,
"You two as well, somepony got into my garden and destroyed my flowers." Solute said,
"Wait, all three of us were targeted, I wonder who it was." Inertia said,
"I think it was Paragon." Solute replied,
"That is possible, but I'm not too sure about that." Inertia said,
"Come on, Inertia, it's really the only explanation that makes sense." Data replied,
"I need to be a hundred percent positive first." Inertia said, they keep walking and see Paragon in front of them,
"I won't be able to watch you three today, I need to explore the area around the town and here." Paragon said,
"But there's nothing but wildlife everywhere." Solute replied,
"I still need to explore, I'll return to you three once when I'm done." Paragon said, and he walks away,
"I don't know about you two, but I'm suspicious about him." Data said,
"So am I, I noticed that he has not eaten or drank anything ever since he came here." Inertia replied,
"Me too, and he's following and watching us everywhere we go." Data replied,
"I don't know if this is just me, but I think Paragon's sides look disproportionately bigger when compared to the rest of his body." Solute said, Inertia and Data look, Paragon's sides stuck out a bit,
"Hey, you're right, it does." Inertia replied,
"Yeah, it looks almost like... he has wings under his jacket." Data said,
"Well, let's head to class, we should ask our boyfriends about our things after school." Inertia said,
"I agree, stay with us after school, Solute." Data replied,
"Okay." Solute said, and the three go to school.
School ends and Inertia and Data confront Geo and Witchcraft about their things, Solute stayed behind the two so they do not see her,
"What? No! We didn't do any of those!" Geo said,
"What about Solute's flower garden, did you destroy it, Witchcraft?" Data asked,
"No, of course not, I mean, I hate her, but I would never break into her home and destroy her things." Witchcraft replied,
"Where were you two last night?" Inertia asked,
"We were right here, just hanging out and talking." Geo replied,
"Yeah, Geo and I were just having a friendly conversation." Witchcraft said, Inertia and Data were convinced,
"I see, we're sorry to interrogate you two." Inertia said,
"It's alright, we'll let you know if we find anything." Geo replied,
"Alright, thank you, both of you." Data said, and Geo and Witchcraft leave; Solute goes to them,
"Well, it wasn't those two." Inertia said,
"Then that leaves only Paragon, he's the only one who sees us at home." Data replied,
"I agree, let's wait for him tonight." Solute said,
"Right, and Solute, please wait a little, I'll get you some new flowers when I grow them." Inertia replied,
"Thank you." Solute replied,
"Well, come on, let's go home." Data said, and the three go home, do their homework, and wait for Paragon, he does not come, the three give up and go to sleep.
Geo and Witchcraft were hanging out on the school premises and conversing,
"Say, Witchcraft, do you have any pictures of yourself in your home?" Geo asked,
"Plenty, I have a picture of myself in every room of my house, and only me." Witchcraft replied,
"What about the rest of your family?" Geo asked,
"I destroyed them." Witchcraft replied,
"What? Why?" Geo asked,
"Because I'm the best magic user in my family, it's fitting that pictures of only me be hung in the house." Witchcraft replied, Geo glares at him.
Witchcraft points to the west with his front left hoof,
"Hey, somepony's coming." Witchcraft said, Geo looks and he and Witchcraft saw it was Paragon, he walks to them and stops when he was in front of them,
"Hey, friends only, get lost." Witchcraft said,
"I have business with you two." Paragon replied,
"Didn't you hear me? I said don't talk to me." Witchcraft said,
"That is why I'm here, prepare to be silenced, both of you." Paragon said,
"Why do you have those sunglasses on for? It's in the middle of the night." Geo said,
"I need them." Paragon replied, Witchcraft uses his telekinesis and flings his sunglasses off, the two become shocked at what they saw, Paragon's eyes looked normal, but they were red with black pupils, the red parts then lighted up, scaring the two,
"What are you?" Witchcraft asked, Paragon proceeded to punch Witchcraft in his left chest with his front right hoof, Geo heard a crack and Witchcraft groaned in pain from the hit, his eyes went white and he fell onto the ground, unconscious.
Geo looked on in horror at seeing Witchcraft knocked out, Paragon proceeds to try to hit Geo in the head with his front left hoof, Geo crosses his front legs together and lifts them up to block Paragon's attack, he blocks it, but he became buried waist-deep into the ground, much to Geo's horror. Paragon turns around and kicks Geo in the face with his hind hooves. Geo flew out of the ground and about six inches into the air, he hit the school's wall that was behind him and about three yards away from him, the impact of his body put a dent in the brick wall and cracks around it, Geo was unconscious, and his body fell onto the ground.
Paragon walked away from the two and put his sunglasses back on, he goes to the town and stays at a vacant home that caught his mind when Solute was showing him around.
Inertia, Solute, and Data wake up the next morning and they get ready for their days at school, they head to school and become shocked when they hear the news that Geo and Witchcraft were found injured and unconscious earlier in the morning, they were called into the gym for an assembly meeting, and then went to class.
It was third period and the principal was in her office, she was a unicorn, Paragon snuck in through the back window and walked behind her, he snuck up behind her and does a rear naked choke on her with his front legs, she gagged a little and became unconscious after nine seconds, he choked her for a few more seconds so it will take her longer to recover.
Paragon puts the principal's body under the desk and goes to use the intercom,
"Excuse me, pardon this interruption, but Inertia, Solute, and Data are checking out, Paragon is waiting for you three at the front of the school." Paragon said with the voice of the principal, and he headed out.
Inertia, Solute, and Data were confused, they did not know why they were being checked out, but headed out anyway. The three ponies walk together and look for Paragon, they see him standing at the entrance of the school,
"What's going on, Paragon?" Data asked,
"Follow me." Paragon replied, and they do.
The four arrive in front of Inertia's house and Paragon stops, he turns around and his sides stretch out, his jacket rips at the sides and Pegasus wings came out, surprising the three,
"Paragon... you're an alicorn." Inertia said,
"Yes, I couldn't show you in public, considering how the others would react." Paragon replied,
"That's it? That's the only reason why you had us checked out?!" Data asked angrily,
"Is something the matter?" Paragon asked,
"Why, yes, Paragon, this means we have to stay after school tomorrow to do makeup work." Solute replied,
"I'm sorry, but I thought this was important, I'll make it up to you three tomorrow, goodbye." Paragon said, and he left, the three mares went home with Data groaning angrily. The three did their homework and realized they forgot to ask Paragon about their destroyed things, but it was too late, so they went to bed.
Inertia, Solute, and Data wake up the next day and go to school, they stayed after school to do makeup work for their third, fourth, and fifth periods. Paragon flew into the school after everypony has left, with the three the only ones in the school, he checks their third, fourth, and fifth period classes, they were in their fifth period classes, he watched them and the three mares went outside as soon as they finished their work, Data finished first, Inertia finished next, and Solute finished last.
The three met up outside and were about to go home, but Paragon attacked Data from their rights by flying into her, she grunted from the impact, Data threw him off with her front legs and stood up. The three look at Paragon and saw his sunglasses broke from him landing face-first onto the ground, Paragon stood up and looked at the three, they see his red eyes and they light up, this scared the mares,
"Targets acquired, entering battle mode." a female robotic voice in Paragon's body said,
"Run!" Inertia said, and Data uses telekinesis on herself while Solute picks up Inertia and they fly away.
The mares go through the sky and watch frantically, red plasma beams are shot at them and they dodge them, they look back and see Paragon's sky blue coat on his horn has burned off, revealing a curved and sharp red horn, it emitted a red light as well, he was flying to them. Paragon's horn glows red and shoots out many red beams like a fully automatic weapon, Data and Solute fly around to dodge them. The three look back and see Paragon was chasing them, but his entire eyes begin changing color randomly and quickly, the colors were red, blue, green, white, and pink, the bright flashes disoriented the three and they became dizzy, Solute and Data fell while Solute let go of Inertia earlier by mistake.
The three mares vomit a bit and were dizzy, they stand up after sometime and were having trouble seeing, their eyes fix after a few minutes and they see they were in the wilderness,
"Oh my gosh, this can't be real, mother, father, Geo, save me!" Inertia said while scared, she held her head down with her front hooves over her head, Data and Solute look at her with a confused look. Paragon sees the three and flies to them,
"Come on, Inertia, Paragon's coming, we have to go." Solute said,
"Save me, save me, save me, save me, save me, somepony save me." Inertia said while scared, ignoring Solute,
"INERTIA, NOW IS NOT THE TIME!!" Data yelled,
"Please, somepony save me, Geo, where are you?" Inertia asked while scared, Solute rolled her eyes and carried her while Inertia continued to cower. Solute flew while Data used telekinesis on herself and flew, Inertia was still too scared to act, they hear charging and they look back, Paragon's horn glows a bright red, it shoots out a big red plasma blast which Solute and Data dodged by flying to the sides, it destroyed everything in front of it, shocking the two, Paragon flew through the destroyed area. Solute and Data keep flying and look for a place to hide, they see a cave up ahead and fly into it, Paragon keeps flying around.
Solute and Data look out while Inertia was still scared,
"I think we lost him." Data whispered,
"It looks that way." Solute whispered,
"Come on, let's check." Data whispered, Solute nodded and they fly up, they get startled and fall back down when they saw Paragon was at the entrance, waiting for them, they look up and saw Paragon walk forward, he opens his mouth and a black gun in his mouth shoots fire into the cave,
"Flamethrower!" Data said with horror, and they quickly fly out when the cave was set on fire, Paragon flies after them.
Solute and Data fly and Paragon chases them, he shoots many lasers out of his horn and the two dodge them, they were getting tired and land, Solute put Inertia down as well,
"Oh my gosh, please, let this just be a bad dream, Princess Luna, please make it stop." Inertia said,
"INERTIA!!" Data yelled, Inertia shrieked and saw her two friends,
"You don't have to yell." Inertia said,
"You're our leader, Inertia, you have to be strong." Data said,
"Yeah, you're the physically strongest of us, show that Paragon that you can fight back." Solute said with a smile, Data nodded with a smile,
"You know what? You're right, I shouldn't cower, I am an earth pony, and I lift weights, I am the strongest an earth pony has to offer." Inertia said bravely, Solute and Data smiled.
Paragon sees the three and flies down to them, Inertia watches him while looking back, Paragon jumped down and he broke the ground upon impact, he walked forward to them, Solute and Data smiled, Inertia then kicks Paragon in the chest with her hind legs, they heard a metal clank, and a crack, Solute and Data become nervous. Inertia was in pain from the impact, kicking Paragon really hurt her legs, she pressed her teeth together and fell onto the ground and rolled around, Paragon's eyes change colors again and it made Inertia nauseous, Paragon then hit Inertia in her left temple with his front right hoof, knocking her out,
"INERTIA, NO!!" Data yelled in shock, Solute was too shocked to speak, Paragon then looked at the two and started walking to them, scaring them,
"Come on, Solute, let's go." Data said, Solute nodded and they flew away, Paragon flies after them.
Solute and Data fly away while Paragon chases them, he shoots more red plasma beams from his horn, Data turns around and tries to zap him with her magic, but a red force field appears in front of him and deflects Data's magic,
"What the?" Data asked, she shoots more zaps out of her horn at Paragon, they were all deflected by the force field, shocking her and Solute,
"I have an idea, Solute, I need you to distract him, I'm going to try to shoot him from behind." Data said,
"Got it." Solute replied, and Data teleported to behind Paragon, Solute flew straight and then landed, so did Data.
Paragon walks forward and Solute waited for him to come, he did not know where Data was, she was hiding behind a gray rock. Data watched Paragon carefully and was ready to zap him, just when he was close to Solute, Data shot a zap from her horn at him to hit him from behind, but the force field appears and deflects her magic, much to Data's shock. Paragon turned around and shot plasma beams like a fully automatic weapon at where the unicorn magic came from, Data laid on the ground and put her front hooves over her head,
"Oh my gosh, this can't be true, mom, dad, Witchcraft, save me." Data said, Solute heard her and flew to her, she picked her up and carried her and flew away, Paragon gave chase.
Solute flies around and Paragon watched her closely, Solute hears whirling sounds and many red small laser beams shot out, Solute flew up and looked back, Paragon was now shooting beams out of his eyes, but Solute flew in the center of his vision, and the beams went to her sides instead, missing her. Solute hears the horn charging up again and sees she was flying between two cliffs, she flies upwards and the big red plasma blast comes out again, everything was obliterated, Paragon flies through the destroyed area, Solute was seeing signs that he was using the blasts to destroy things in its way rather than trying to harm her, she keeps flying nonetheless.
Solute was getting tired and flew down to rest, she sighed and watched Data,
"Please, please, tell me this is a dream." Data said while scared, Solute was worried. Paragon shoots a red beam at Data, she screams when she was hit by it,
"Data!" Solute said with shock, Data groaned and could not move, Solute saw no signs of injuries on her, Paragon flew down to her and put his hind right hoof on her neck, she lost consciousness after a few seconds. Paragon looks at Solute next while she looks at him with fear, but quickly flies away, Paragon gives chase.
A male unicorn, a female unicorn, a male Pegasus, a female Pegasus, a male earth pony, and a female earth pony were playing outside, they were all fillies,
"Okay, Mare Do Well test one, starting now." the male unicorn said, and he uses a controller to move her around, it had two levers, a horizontal one, and a vertical one, and two buttons, one button to make her fly, and another button to make her use her horn, which made a magenta light appear on it, the other five fillies clap. Solute flies around and sees the six fillies, Paragon was chasing her as well,
"Hey look, trouble!" the female Pegasus said,
"Never fear, Mare Do Well is here." the male unicorn replied, and he controls it, he makes Mare Do Well tackle Paragon from his right side and knocks him down, Solute looks and lands and watches. Paragon gets Mare Do Well off of him and turns her around with her on her hind knees, he punches his front left hoof into her hat, through her head, electricity was heard, Paragon then pulls his leg up and rips Mare Do Well's head off, revealing she was a robot, with wires and electricity coming out of her neck. The six fillies shudder in fear,
"Oh my gosh, he killed Mare Do Well." the female unicorn said,
"Run!" the male earth pony said, and the six fillies run away screaming, Solute was not familiar with Mare Do Well, but she has heard Rainbow Dash mention her several times in the past. Paragon throws the robotic Mare Do Well's head to his left side and Solute quickly flies away while Paragon gives chase.
Solute flies around and sees a thundercloud up ahead, she got an idea, she flies up into the clouds and runs on them, Paragon flies up and he tried to land on the cloud but fell through it, Solute realized that Paragon cannot land on clouds. She runs to the thundercloud and gets on top of it, Paragon flies towards her and she jumps on it, a lightning strikes Paragon and it stuns him, red electricity appears on him and he explodes.
Solute is blasted off of the cloud and onto the ground from the explosion, Solute sees pieces of Paragon's clothes land on the ground, they were burned, so was his sky blue coat, and his yellow mane and tail, his eyes were on the ground as well. A piece of his body's coat falls on her and Solute feels it, it shocked her, it was latex, Paragon's coat, mane, and tail were fake, this also disturbed her, she heard a noise of a machine powering down, much to her relief.
Solute becomes worried when she hears a machine coming back on,
"Activating alternate power source, alternate power source activated." a female robotic voice said, Solute looks to her left and watches.
Rubble moves around on the ground and Solute sees something standing up, she was horrified at what she saw, it looked like a pony with no mane, but its entire body was silver and metallic, its eyes were entirely red, its white teeth were exposed, and its tail was made from vertebra, Solute realized it was Paragon's true form because she recognized the red horn on his forehead, she also sees that his Pegasus wings were silver and metallic as well. Paragon was starting to walk towards her, he was making a lot mechanical and whirling noises with each move. Fire comes out of his hind hooves and Solute sees that he had rocket thrusters, she knew that rocket thrusters required fuel, and thus, it was limited. Solute flies back to the thundercloud and jumps on it, nothing came out, she realized it was out, so she flew back down. Solute got another idea, she was going to fly around until his rocket thrusters ran out of fuel,
"Wonderbolt training, don't fail me now." Solute said to herself, and she flew into the sky, Paragon chased her.
Solute flies around and Paragon shoots more red plasma beams out of his horn at Solute, she flew to her right side and then to her left while doing several aileron rolls to dodge the beams, she hears the horn charging up and it shoots out the big red beam, Solute flew over it and to the right to dodge it, it did not destroy anything this time. Two red small versions of the big red beam are shot at Solute, she dodges them by flying under them, she looks back and sees Paragon's front legs have changed into plasma cannons, they were red on the inside, and black around it. Solute thinks for a minute and wonders if his blasts and beams from his horn and front legs came from the same power source, she hoped it did, because she knew that a machine's capacity is limited with nopony or nothing to help refuel them. Paragon's rocket thrusters run out of fuel and stop working, Solute looks and smiled, but Paragon's Pegasus wings change, his feathers fold in and the ends of the wings open up, fire comes out and Solute becomes shocked, Paragon's wings have just changed into a jetpack.
Solute keeps flying and Paragon shoots two long red laser beams from his eyes, they missed Solute, she does a loop-the-loop while flying in hopes that Paragon will follow her and waste fuel, she realizes that he has lost her, Solute flies behind Paragon and turns around, she starts to fly away. Paragon looks around slowly and does not see Solute, he turns around and sees Solute flying away, he goes after her.
Solute flies up into the clouds and looks for her home, she was wondering how lightning will work against the endoskeleton since it destroyed the fake coat, she looks forward and sees her home, she begins flying to it and was still in the woods. She hears Paragon behind her and looks back, his eyes start changing colors in rapid succession again and Solute grunted, she looked forward and tried to ignore the lights, she leans to her left side and goes into a gap between two tree branches, Paragon did as well, Solute flies up and goes between the next gap, so did Paragon, Solute goes down and to her right, she leans to her left side again and goes through another gap, Paragon did so easily as well, Solute sees no gap up ahead and flies above the next branches, so did Paragon. Solute hears something behind her going on and off, she looks and sees the jetpack was turning on and off, she realizes that it was out of fuel, the jetpack stops working and Paragon begins to fall, his jetpack reverts back to his regular wings and he flies normally, Solute was hoping that Paragon's weight will make him slow, but it did not, he flew faster than the average Pegasus, much to her horror, but she kept flying.
Solute tries to think of ways to take Paragon out, she flies down to where all the plants were, she sees vines with thorns in them up ahead, she flies up when Paragon was near her, he got caught in the vines before he could fly up, Solute watches him to see if he has given up. Paragon pulls his front legs inwards and he rips the entire vines out of the cliffs they were growing out of, he flies up and rips the vines on his hind legs out of the cliff walls as well, he destroyed part of the cliff in the process, Solute was shocked, she flies forward and sees a pile of rocks to her left, she flies to it. Paragon's front left hoof changes to the plasma cannon and he fires, Solute heard it and flew to her right and dodged it, he hit the pile of rocks and they begin to fall, Paragon was buried under a pile of rocks. Solute stopped flying and turned around, she did not see Paragon anywhere, but a few seconds later, Paragon jumped out of the pile of rocks unharmed, much to Solute's shock, she keeps flying and sees a lot of trees up ahead.
Paragon jumps to the nearest tree and wraps his tail around it, he spins around the tree once and releases his tail, doing a backflip in midair, he was higher than Solute now, he aims his hind legs at her and hits her on her right wing and a cracking sound was heard, sounded like somepony breaking wooden boards by stomping on them, she screams as she falls.
Solute lands on the ground hard and screams in pain, Paragon stays on her wing and wraps his front left leg around her neck to knock her out, Solute lifts her front right leg up and hits Paragon in the face, it disoriented him a little, and he stumbled off of her wing, Solute gets up and runs.
Solute runs through the woods and tries to head home, her wing was completely broken, she could not move it at all or even fold it, she was in great pain, but her adrenaline numbed the pain, she tries to run home but decided that she should stay and make Paragon waste his energy for his plasma shots until he ran out.
Solute hides and waits for Paragon to come, she picks up a rock with her front hooves and throws it away, Paragon hears it and begins firing red lasers from his horn and eyes around the area to make the objects fall. Solute sneaks around Paragon and looks for another rock, she saw one, she picks it up and throws it at a nearby tree, Paragon looks and he changes his front hooves into plasma cannons, he shoots out two red beams, one from each cannon, and an even bigger one from his horn, he destroys the trees around the area and does not see Solute, so he walks over to go check. Solute keeps hiding and looks for something else to throw, she saw a stick, she picks it up and throws it, it lands onto the grass, Paragon did not hear it, so she looks for something else, she sees another stick, but she decides to try something else, she breaks it, Paragon hears the crack and starts shooting lasers from his horn at where he heard it, Solute ducked and dodged the attacks.
Paragon walks over to check and sees Solute, she quickly runs and Paragon chases her, he was catching up to her easily, Solute was shocked to see that he ran a lot faster than the average earth pony, Solute keeps running and was getting tired, she soon saw a body of water up ahead,
"Wait, metal, water, that's it, rust." Solute said to herself, and she goes into the water.
Solute swims around and goes to the other side, red lasers were shot at her and she looks back, she saw Paragon swimming towards her, Solute was horrified because even though Paragon was metallic, the water had no effect on him, Solute goes up to the surface for air and comes out of the water, she runs forward and Paragon soon comes out, he shoots more lasers from his horn and eyes at her, Solute dodged each one, Paragon fired again, and Solute hid behind the trees, the lasers hit them instead, Solute keeps running, he fires a big red blast and two smaller blasts from his plasma cannons, Solute got down and it missed her, she got back up after they were gone. Solute hears a sound that sounded like something powering down, she looks and sees Paragon's horn was not lit anymore, it was just dark red, his plasma cannons no longer had red on it anymore either, so he decides to try to fire laser beams from his eyes, only red sparks came out, Solute realized that he was out of power, she sighs in relief and keeps running, Paragon chases her.
Solute continues heading to her home and Paragon chases her, he flies up and opens his mouth, the flamethrower in his mouth comes out and he shoots the fire in front of Solute to block her path, she jumped over it because the fire was low, she also used her left wing to give her a boost by flapping it. Solute keeps running and Paragon shoots more fire in front of her, she jumped over it as well. Paragon got an idea and shoots fire onto the trees, the branches begin to fall and Solute moved around them to dodge them, she was scared as well, Paragon continues using the flamethrower in his mouth to burn things down and block Solute's path, the flamethrower stopped working after two more uses, Solute sees he was out of fuel, much to her surprise, it had a lot less fuel than she thought, but she keeps running and goes forward.
A trio of unicorns were practicing their magic while deflecting them off of mirrors to hit their targets, Solute runs past them, she did not notice them, they continue shooting their magic and their blasts deflect off of mirrors and start going behind them, Solute hears the zaps and looks back, she sees the unicorn magic in midair going near Paragon, but the force field reappears and deflects them, Solute realized that the force field was still on, but she keeps running.
Paragon sees trees up ahead and jumps, he almost landed on a tree branch, he kicks a tree with his hind left hoof, the top half of the tree broke off, it flies near Solute and she dodged it, she climbs over it and keeps running, she was shocked that Paragon was this strong, he jumps to the next tree to his right and kicks it with his hind right hoof, the top half of it broke again, it lands in front of Solute, she climbed over it, Paragon flew down and grabbed the bottom of the nearest tree and ripped the entire tree out of the ground, Solute heard the noises and looked back, she was horrified at what she saw, and runs faster, Paragon jumps into the air and throws the tree.
The tree lands right onto the joint of Solute's front right leg, she screamed in pain when she heard the cracking sound of her leg, Paragon flies to her and goes on top of her, Solute got an idea, she moved her head to her leg, Paragon tries to hit her in the head with his front right hoof, but she moved back at the last second and he broke the tree, the area right above Solute's leg. She takes it out and she hits Paragon in the face with her front left hoof, which disoriented him, Solute climbs over the tree with trouble and crawls away while Paragon was stunned.
Solute crawls away and tries to head home, she hears Paragon coming and decided to hide under a rock, Paragon appears and looks for her, Solute stays silent and was waiting for Paragon to give up. Solute feels uncomfortable and clutches her groin with her front left hoof,
"No, not now." Solute whispered, as she tried to hold her bladder, but she could not, and wetted herself.
Paragon hears Solute urinating and goes to go check, Solute quickly crawls back and tries to head away, Paragon sees her and runs to her, he wraps his front hooves around her neck and Solute leans her head back and hits him in the face, it disoriented him and she crawls away again.
Solute continues to head home and sees she was close by as she recognized the area she was in now, she keeps crawling to her home and her leg was no longer in pain, she gets up and limps forward, she decides to start hopping and was getting close to her home. She hears Paragon coming and decided to go hide, she hid behind a tree in hopes that Paragon will pass, but his footsteps go away for a while,
"Solute, where are you?" Solute heard Solubility ask,
"Daddy?" Solute asked with surprise,
"Solute, we're back, tell us where you're at." Solute heard Solvent say, Solute becomes happy,
"Mommy, daddy, I'm over here." Solute said happily, she waits for them. Solute continues to wait but Paragon tackles her onto the ground, he begins to choke her,
"Mommy, daddy, I need help." Solute said while wheezing,
"Don't worry, daddy's here." Paragon said with Solubility's voice, Solute was horrified,
"It's okay, mommy's here too." Paragon said with Solvent's voice, Solute was horrified again, she realized that Paragon can mimic other voices, she punches him in the face with her front left hoof and disoriented him, he let go of her and Solute crawled away.
Solute sees her home up ahead and crawls to it, she keeps going and looks back, Paragon was not following her yet, she keeps crawling and soon saw Paragon was flying around to look for her. Solute arrives at her house and goes into the backyard, she uses the weather seeding machine to change one of the clouds into a thundercloud, she jumps and uses her left wing to give her a boost, she goes onto the cloud above her, she grunts while she climbs onto the top of it. Paragon hears her grunts and he looks, he sees her on a cloud, he begins to fly to her. Solute crawls to her right and gets on top of the thundercloud and sees Paragon coming, he arrives and Solute jumps onto the cloud, lightning comes out and it hits him. Red and yellow electricity appears on Paragon and he was stunned, he was completely paralyzed, his eyes change to the colors red, green, blue, pink, and white in rapid succession, Solute grunts and she looks away and closes her eyes, but she falls off of the cloud in the process, onto the ground. Paragon falls over onto his left side and his eyes continue changing color while Solute looks away with her eyes closed, she hears the sound of Paragon turning off, she looks and sees Paragon's eyes were now black.
Solute sighs in relief and pants heavily, she checks Paragon and sees he was not going to get up, she also checks to see if he had anymore alternate power sources, she did not see one. She goes into her house and has dinner on her own, which she had trouble making.
Solute eats hay and vegetables for dinner and drinks water, several hours pass and she hears running,
"Solute?" Solubility asked, Solute becomes surprised and heads outside, she goes out and sees Modules, Kinetic, Solubility, Solvent, Graph, and Storage,
"Solute, oh, thank goodness you're okay." Solvent said as she hugged her,
"Where were you six?" Solute asked,
"Newton held us captive in a room, he forced us to watch you, Inertia, and Data go up against Paragon, Doctor Whooves found us and helped us escape, we just finished reopening the portal from there to here, it's closed now." Modules replied, Solute was very relieved,
"Go ahead and rest, Solute, we'll go look for Data and Inertia, we'll treat your wounds when we come back." Storage said, and she and Graph fly by using telekinesis, Graph's aura was green while Storage's aura was orange, Solubility and Solvent fly as well, they carry Modules and Kinetic, the six left and go look for Inertia and Data.
The three were rested at night after their parents came back, they put bandages on Solute's right wing, every bone in it was broken, and a cast on her front right leg, her knee joint was broken, Inertia and Data groan and wake up,
"Mother? Father?" Inertia asked,
"Mom? Dad?" Data asked,
"Yes, it's us, sorry we didn't help, Paragon threw us into the portal and we were held captive by Newton, everything's fine now." Kinetic replied,
"Where's Paragon?" Inertia asked,
"I hit him with the thundercloud, he's completely powered down, he was a robot underneath his pony disguise." Solute replied,
"I see, good job, Solute." Data said, Solute smiled,
"We already made arrangements for you three to see Doctor Whooves seven days from now, you three will be going to Ponyville, in the meantime, we'll be here, we're going to examine Paragon and study him." Graph said, the three become relieved and they all go home and went to sleep, even though Inertia and Data stayed up late.
Inertia, Solute, and Data stood across from Doctor Whooves while he sat,
"Where is Paragon now?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Our parents are still studying him." Inertia replied,
"Well, that is all the time I have today, so pay up now." Doctor Whooves said, the three groaned in disappointment,
"Can you make it free for us? Please, doctor?" Solute asked,
"Sorry, but this is a job, and I require payment, ten bits, from each of you." Doctor Whooves said, they groan in disappointment and pay him,
"Wait, what happened to Geo and Witchcraft?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"They recovered, they're still in the hospital, though." Data replied,
"I've also heard about the aftermath, Inertia and Data were given sympathy and support from the others, while Solute got nothing because the other ponies at school and in town don't like her." Doctor Whooves said, Inertia and Data nodded while Solute groaned in disappointment,
"Doctor Whooves." they heard Kinetic say, the four become surprised and head outside.
The four look and see Inertia's, Solute's, and Data's parents coming over to them,
"We actually need your help, doctor, we can't study Paragon's programming thoroughly." Modules said,
"Hang on." Doctor Whooves replied, and he goes in his house, he comes out with some kind of scanning bed, Paragon is put onto it with scanners attached to his head, he was very heavy, all ten ponies had to work together to lift him up,
"Look, Paragon is a pseudonym, his real name is APM-1." Solvent said,
"APM?" Data asked,
"Alicorn Project Model." Storage replied, shocking the others,
"Hey, wait, let me see that." Twilight Sparkle said as she ran to them, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Cadence went with her,
"Wait, is that you, Solute?" Rainbow Dash asked,
"Yes, Rainbow Dash, it's me." Solute replied,
"You know her, Rainbow Dash?" Rarity asked,
"Yeah, she used to be a Wonderbolt." Rainbow Dash replied,
"Yay! A new friend!" Pinkie Pie said,
"Where did this come from?" Princess Luna asked,
"A portal we opened to Equestria's future, this thing came through." Kinetic replied, they continue analyzing it,
"No wonder why, it was programmed not to take lives, it was also commanded by Newton capture Inertia, Data, and Solute as revenge." Graph said,
"Wait, revenge? Mom, dad, what's going on?" Data asked, the six parents look down, so did Doctor Whooves,
"You three see, when we were in college with Newton, he had a son from a failed marriage, it was his one thing that brought him comfort during that time of his life, since he always wanted to win the science experiments, but he was always second place behind us, but one day, he created a portal that allowed ponies to go into the past or future, he was certain he would win, but we didn't want to lose our first place, so we did a prank, one day, Newton's son came over to see him, and when he entered Newton's dorm, us six dropped a piano on him, it immobilized him, Newton desperately tried to heal his son, he tried to give him robotic parts to make him move again, but his body rejected them, he got infected, and he lost his life, the reason why he sent Paragon after you three was so that he can kidnap you three, take you to the future of Equestria, and erase your memories and brainwash you three into thinking Newton was your father, and he was going to send you three to attack us." Solubility explained, shocking the three daughters, princesses, the bearers of the elements of harmony, Starlight Glimmer, and Spike,
"I see, so it was a prank-gone-wrong." Solute said,
"No, it didn't go wrong, we did it on purpose, and during that time we took Newton's lab notes." Modules said,
"Wait, you mean, that portal...?" Inertia asked,
"Yes, that was Newton's creation, we stole it, and we regret it now, but don't be mad at Doctor Whooves, he had no part in the incident." Modules replied,
"I still can't believe it, though, a robotic alicorn." Princess Celestia said,
"I don't understand, how did something like this slip under our noses?" Princess Luna asked,
"One thing I can't believe is that there are many machines ponies in Equestria in the future, and I'm the one who created them." Doctor Whooves replied, shocking the others,
"Wait, Doctor Whooves, why did you create them?" Cadence asked,
"Many years from now, Tirek will return, and he will absorb magic from everycreature, not just the ponies, changelings, hippogriffs, griffins, dragons, yaks, Tirek absorbed all of their magic, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, and Princess Twilight will transfer their magic to Princess Flurry Heart, she will battle him, but Tirek's new powers were too much and Flurry Heart lost her life, the five bearers of the elements of harmony tried to fight him as well, they lost their lives too, so did the other four princesses, all of your friends will try to fight him too, they also lost, also during that time, Princess Twilight asked Sunset Shimmer to come over and help, but she lost too, and after absorbing all of the magic in this world, Tirek absorbed and destroyed Discord, with no hope left, I created robots known as machine ponies to combat Tirek, they destroyed him since I managed to create anti-magic technology, but when Tirek was destroyed, the magic did not return, and thus, mechanical creatures replaced the organic ones and ran the land while the organic creatures advised them and took care of the mechanical creatures when they needed cleaning or had to be refueled, while they all live in peace, some are being created for warfare purposes, like this one." Doctor Whooves explained, shocking the six bearers of the elements of harmony, the princesses, Starlight Glimmer, and Spike,
"Don't worry, if Tirek does return, we'll be ready, and we'll make sure something like that doesn't happen." Princess Celestia said,
"So, what can this thing do?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"It's stronger and more durable than an earth pony, it has more stamina and can run faster than one too." Inertia said,
"Oh, come on now, how bad can it be?" Applejack asked, and she kicks it in the chest with her hind legs, she presses her teeth together from the pain,
"Oh, never mind, that didn't even put a mark on it." Applejack said as she limped forward, Twilight Sparkle was shocked,
"It also flies faster than a regular Pegasus." Solute said,
"What?! This thing flies as fast as me?!" Rainbow Dash asked in horror,
"No, not that fast, but it's a lot faster than the average Pegasus." Solute replied, Rainbow Dash was still shocked,
"Also, don't use unicorn magic, it doesn't work." Data said, this shocked the others,
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, what do you mean unicorn magic doesn't work?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"It's got a force field on it that deflects any type of magic shot at it, unicorn magic is completely ineffective against it." Data replied,
"Wait, no unicorn magic, there must be a spell that works." Rarity said,
"Well, any spell directed at it will not work, even if its hit by mistake, the force field will deflect it." Storage replied,
"How was that created?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"It was crafted from some kind of anti-magic rock, Newton modified it so it can be worn." Modules replied,
"How strong is this pony physically?" Fluttershy asked,
"It can rip entire trees out of the ground, and one hit from it was able to bury somepony halfway into the ground." Data replied, shocking the others,
"How about endurance?" Applejack asked,
"I made a pile of rocks fall onto him, it did nothing." Solute replied, the princesses were shocked by this,
"That's not all, it also came equipped with weapons." Inertia said, making the others uncomfortable,
"Weapons?" Pinkie Pie asked, the three daughters nod,
"What were they?" Princess Celestia asked,
"It was able to shoot lasers and plasma beams out of its horn, eyes, and front hooves, the lasers are shot as fast as a machinegun." Solute replied,
"What else?" Princess Luna asked,
"It also had a flamethrower in its mouth." Data replied,
"Its eyes had some kind of strange weapon in it as well, it made its eyes change color in rapid succession, it disorients whoever looks at it." Inertia said, making the others uncomfortable,
"One more thing, it also had rocket thrusters in its hind hooves to make it fly faster, and its wings can change into a jetpack, which makes it fly faster as well." Solute said,
"Are there anymore?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"This thing also came through the portal with a fake mane, tail, and coat, he had clothes on too, so it looked like a regular pony, and one last thing, it can also mimic other people's voices, male and female. Another thing it has is an alternate power source, so you have to take it down twice to put it down permanently." Solute replied, shocking the other ponies,
"Does it have any weaknesses?" Cadence asked,
"Yes, its power core is in its head, any hit to the head will disorient it for sometime, but doesn't do any actual damage to it, it still hurts to hit it in the head too, though." Modules replied,
"The plasma shots and fire for its jetpack, rocket thrusters, and flamethrower come from the same power sources inside its body, its limited, so it can run out." Solvent said,
"Lastly, and the most effective, lightning, it will fry its systems, the alternate power source is guarded by a lightning resistant covering, the covering opens up and removes itself when the primary power source is fried so it can power the pony." Storage said,
"Yes, we do have a way to fight it after all." Rainbow Dash said,
"One more thing, it can't go onto clouds." Solute replied,
"Alright, that makes it easier." Rainbow Dash said,
"Yes, it does for Pegasi and alicorns, but what about the rest of the creatures?" Applejack asked,
"I mean, it's made from metal, shouldn't it rust in water?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"I tried that, it didn't work." Solute replied, this shocked the others,
"Well, if you guys are done, give it to me, I'd like to study it too." Twilight Sparkle said, shocking the three daughters,
"Don't worry, I'm a student of science, too, I have knowledge and experience in things like this." Twilight Sparkle said,
"Okay, but be careful." Storage said,
"Don't worry, I'll be watching her, I want to learn about this thing too." Princess Celestia said,
"I'm still nervous, though, this is only the first model, it's basically a prototype, Newton is going to try to make an improved version of it that has no weaknesses, and can fly as fast as Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust combined, so if another one does come, it's going to be stronger than the last one, and when he thinks its perfect, he's going to mass-produce it for warfare." Kinetic replied,
"We will prepare for it, we'll make sure to have several security precautions if this does happen again." Princess Luna said,
"Yes, please have fate in us, we'll be going now." Princess Cadence said, and they leave with the robot.
The three daughters, their parents, and Doctor Whooves just stand there and watch,
"If you three want to, you can move here instead." Modules said, they agreed,
"Okay, we'll get things ready for it." Storage said,
"Remember, my door is always open." Doctor Whooves said, the three smiled.
Several days pass and Inertia, Solute, and Data lived in Ponyville now, Geo and Witchcraft wrote letters to Inertia and Data, the three daughters transferred to the School of Friendship, which they enjoyed.
Solute went to go speak to Rainbow Dash in private and told her about the Mare Do Well incident she saw when Paragon ripped its head off, which caused Rainbow Dash to burst into laughter. The three daughters live in Ponyville and continue doing science experiments with Twilight Sparkle and Doctor Whooves helping them.
Author's Note
This story has two endings, whichever ending you want canon is your choice.
Friendship Absorbers
Doctor Whooves was outside of his home and waiting for his next patient, this was a pony he called personally, he knew about the threat this pony dealt with, it was like nothing he has seen before. He hears walking and saw his patient, it was a male earth pony, he had a dark yellow coat, his mane and tail were short and were mostly light orange, with a small moderate yellow streak and a big dark green streak in them, he also had bangs, his eyes were a moderate yellow, and his cutie mark was a black pentagram.
The earth pony sees Doctor Whooves and walks to him,
"I've been waiting for you, Daylight Dimmer." Doctor Whooves said,
"How did you find me?" Daylight Dimmer asked in a deadpan and stoic tone,
"I'm a time traveler, I know about your deeds." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Very well." Daylight Dimmer said,
"Come in, I'd like to hear about you, and the three creatures you fought six months ago." and they enter the home.
Doctor Whooves sits across from Daylight Dimmer,
"I don't understand, even if you are a time traveler, you shouldn't know about my battle with the Friendship Absorbers, regular people cannot see, hear, feel, or sense them." Daylight Dimmer said,
"I have my ways, I just wish to hear your story, I'm not here to judge you, but first, I also need to know your occupation." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Assassin." Daylight Dimmer said,
"There, now we can begin, I've wanted to hear your tale for a long time." Doctor Whooves said, and Daylight Dimmer begins to tell his story.
Daylight Dimmer lived with his family on a farm, they were poor and struggling to live, his father was Daylight Sunshine, his mother was Bright Sky, and his older sister was Sunburn, he did not get along with any of them. Daylight Sunshine was a lazy and filthy stallion, he did not do any work on the farm, Bright Sky was a stay-at-home pony and cared more about running the farm than attending her family, and Sunburn was the leader of a gang of thieves, she started it because she hated the farm life and wanted a life of luxury.
Daylight Sunshine had a dark orange coat, an even darker orange mane and tail, and purple eyes, his cutie mark was two small suns, he looked just like Daylight Dimmer. Bright Sky had a red coat, an orange and yellow striped mane and tail, and green eyes, her cutie mark was three white clouds. Sunburn had a light yellow coat, a red, orange, and yellow mane and tail, and bright orange eyes, her cutie mark was a sword with fire behind it.
Daylight Dimmer was a sad and angry colt, his family treated him and one another with nothing but disdain and disrespect, they argued and fought every day; his teachers in school were mean and only cared about money, he was the only student in his class with no friends, while every other pony was friends with one another, and had the lowest score on every assignment. The one thing that Daylight Dimmer hated more than anything was reading, he could not stand books, he found them to be boring and him having to look down to read hurt his neck, his family made fun of him for this, while his classmates made fun of him for being poor, and being the only student to not have an extracurricular activity outside of school.
One day, there was news going around that Princess Celestia was looking for a pony to have as a protégé, Daylight Dimmer wanted to be her student, but his parents refused, and he found out that Princess Celestia was only accepting unicorns from a conversation he overheard. Daylight Dimmer became enraged, he growls and screams in anger, he runs around the farm and destroys things in his blind fury at his one chance to leave the life he hated so much, Sunburn already left to start her life of crime, and her room was unattended, Daylight Dimmer went in there and destroyed her things as well, he punches and kicks the fences to destroy them. He was finally caught and restrained by his parents, he calms down and looks around, his parents point to the exit of the farm and he leaves.
Daylight Dimmer wanders through the desert around his home, it was very hot, he sits down and sighs, he thought that this might actually be worse than living in an area where everypony was mean to him. He hears walking from behind and saw a big male unicorn coming to him, he was very tall, he had a black coat, his mane and tail were long and dark purple, gray, dark red, and dark brown, it was not flowing, his eyes were red, and his cutie mark was a red sun with a skull in the center of it, he was also wearing silver horseshoes,
"I saw your fit of rage back there, I think you may have potential." the unicorn said in a deep voice,
"Who are you?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"I am Demonicus, I was Celestia's magic rival back when we were students of Star Swirl the Bearded." the unicorn replied,
"Wait, you know Celestia?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"Yes, I now hear she is seeking a protégé, I am too, and I think you may be the one, come with me, and I will make you stronger than you ever will be." Demonicus replied,
"But I don't have a horn." Daylight Dimmer said,
"You don't need a horn to cast magic." Demonicus replied, Daylight Dimmer becomes surprised,
"What do you say, young one?" Demonicus asked,
"Sure, I don't have anywhere to go, anyway." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"What is your name?" Demonicus asked,
"Daylight Dimmer." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"I see, from now on, you will address me as Master." Demonicus said,
"Understood." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Follow me now." Demonicus said, and they walk together.
Daylight Dimmer follows Demonicus and he enters an underground cave, it was dark and dirty inside, he uses his magic to light up the cave, his magic aura was red, there was a magical reflection in the water on the ground,
"What's with the water?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"That is to watch Celestia, I am planning to prove to her that I can raise a better student than she can." Demonicus replied, Daylight Dimmer and Demonicus saw Princess Celestia in her castle, Daylight Dimmer starts to become angry at seeing her,
"Is something the matter, Daylight Dimmer?" Demonicus asked,
"I wanted to be her protégé, but not only did my parents refuse, but she wouldn't accept me anyway because she's only taking in unicorns to be her student." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"I see, Celestia was always close-minded when it came to casting magic, Pegasi and earth ponies can use magic too, but not like unicorns, they learn magic differently." Demonicus said,
"How do they learn magic?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"Meditation, and also memories and emotions, I noticed that you hold many painful memories." Demonicus replied,
"What did you mean by I have potential?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"As you know, Celestia wants to spread friendship throughout the land, but even friendship requires balance, the opposite of friendship is enmity, hatred, it is as equally powerful as friendship, as you know, friendship will not always work, trying to befriend someone can cause them to hate you. There is also a threat in Equestria that cannot be beaten with friendship, I'll let you know about them when they do appear." Demonicus replied, Daylight Dimmer was liking this so far,
"You have potential because you are sad and angry about your life, you are also lonely, and jealous about of your classmates being able to do things that you cannot do, and they all build up to your hatred, I will teach you how to use that hatred as magic, and many more." Demonicus said while smiling,
"Wait, just one thing, Master, I hate reading, and don't like books." Daylight Dimmer said, Demonicus chuckled,
"Don't worry, none of my lessons will require reading, I believe that experience is more powerful than knowledge." Demonicus replied,
"Yes." Daylight Dimmer said as he pumped his front left hoof, Demonicus chuckled,
"Let's get started, you have a lot to learn, Daylight Dimmer." Demonicus said, and Daylight Dimmer begins his training.
Daylight Dimmer began his training by doing planks to get into shape, and then discussed military tactics with Demonicus, he taught him about the wars Equestria have had by using his magic to replay the events, Demonicus was at some of the wars. The two had a strict diet of hay, fruits, vegetables, and water, they had six small meals a day, and they meditated when they had free time, Daylight Dimmer was growling and angry when he meditated since his memories flooded his mind,
"Remember, Daylight, patience, this takes time, years of training, and my first lesson of advice to you: short temper is a weakness." Demonicus said while he meditated next to him to his left, he was floating in midair as well, Daylight Dimmer continued meditating, he was liking Demonicus so far because when he had him do something as his training, Demonicus was doing it with him.
Four months pass and Daylight Dimmer was still getting into shape, learning military tactics and history, having the same diet, and meditating, his exercises were now pushups, sit-ups, crunches, pull-ups, chin-ups, stretching, running, and weight lifting. Demonicus supported him and praised him for what he did right, while using constructive criticism for the things he did wrong, the training was hard, but Demonicus tried to make it fun, the water glows white and it catches Daylight Dimmer's attention, who was busy doing a plank,
"Master, the water." Daylight Dimmer said,
"Let's go check it out." Demonicus replied, and they stop doing the plank together, they look and see Princess Celestia,
"What's going on?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"It seems Celestia has finally got a protégé of her own." Demonicus replied, the two watch and see Princess Celestia's protégé was Sunset Shimmer,
"Look at that, she finally got a student." Demonicus said,
"Yeah, I can tell just from looking at her that she's younger than me." Daylight Dimmer replied, Sunset Shimmer was a filly in the reflection, while Daylight Dimmer was a teenager,
"Let's keep an eye on her, I'd like to see how she does with her pupil." Demonicus said, Daylight Dimmer was interested as well, and the two keep training.
Three years pass and Daylight Dimmer was now learning martial arts from Demonicus, this day was when he learned a very important lesson. Daylight Dimmer runs towards Demonicus to fight him, he hit Daylight Dimmer with his front right hoof and it sent Daylight Dimmer flying into a wall, he grunted when he hit it, he stands up and growls, he runs towards Demonicus again and he was kicked away again, Daylight Dimmer was getting angry because he could not get a scratch on Demonicus when practicing martial arts with him,
"Why?! Why can't I land a hit on you?!" Daylight Dimmer asked angrily,
"Two reasons, one, you're being too loud, you have to sneak and be silent, and two, you're attacking from the front, never attack from the front unless you have no choice, Daylight, always attack your opponent from behind or their blind spots." Demonicus replied calmly,
"But that's dishonorable." Daylight Dimmer said with shock,
"Honor is a fool's tool, Daylight, it will only make your chances of winning harder, use whatever you have at your disposal to win, use the environment, taunt them, hit them in the groin, sever their limbs, conceal your weapons, do what you must to win, if you try to fight fairly or honorably, you will have a higher chance of losing, and in worst cases, you will die." Demonicus replied, Daylight Dimmer was convinced,
"Now, go on, attack me from behind or my blind spots, and be quiet as you move." Demonicus said, and Daylight Dimmer walks backwards into the shadows.
Demonicus walks around and looks for Daylight Dimmer, he sneaks around in the shadows and creeps up on Demonicus from behind, he bucks Demonicus' hind legs, he grunts and falls,
"Yes! I got you!" Daylight Dimmer said loudly and happily, Demonicus stood up and bucked him, he grunted and fell,
"Two more lessons, Daylight, first lesson: most of your opponents will not give up after one hit, you have to keep fighting, when they are stunned or incapacitated, that is your chance to severely damage them, and if the fight is a fight to the death, that is your chance to kill them; second lesson: never, ever, brag or gloat, that will leave you vulnerable, and the enemies will know what your next plans are, if you have plans, keep it to yourself, I cannot count how many of my enemies have fallen because they have gloated about their plans in front of me when they captured me, and then put me in a trap that I escaped, and I tracked them down and put them down, therefore, do not gloat or boast about your plans or achievements." Demonicus explained,
"Understood, Master." Daylight Dimmer replied, and they keep training.
Two years pass and Demonicus had Daylight Dimmer do discussions on leadership, he was taught how to lead a few days ago,
"Okay, now, Daylight, you know how to lead, but here's the tough part, would you rather lead from the front or the rear?" Demonicus asked, Daylight Dimmer thought about it, they both had their advantages and disadvantages,
"If I lead from the front, I'll be able to lead others without giving orders, but if I go into battle first, I'll be more likely to die, and if my comrades have no leadership skills, they'll be in turmoil. If I lead from behind, I'll be able to watch from afar and see how things go, along with being heavily guarded, but I'll have no one to protect me from behind, so if I'm attacked from behind, I'll likely die, and the others will have to look back at me when I give commands, along with some of them misinterpreting what I say. They both have pros and cons." Daylight Dimmer thought to himself,
"I would prefer to lead from the middle." Daylight Dimmer said,
"Really? That is the riskiest one." Demonicus replied,
"I know, I choose that so that I will be guarded from all directions, and I can see everything coming to me as I command my troops." Daylight Dimmer said,
"On the downside, if you try to escape, you can't, you're not a Pegasus, so you can't fly, also, if your allies turn against you, you'll have nowhere to run." Demonicus said,
"The reason why I choose it is because I can see two advantages from it, while leading from the front or the back only have one, even though I can see two disadvantages to all three of them." Daylight Dimmer replied, Demonicus chuckled,
"I like your answer, let's keep training your martial arts." Demonicus said, and they keep training.
One week passes and Daylight Dimmer keeps using his suppressed anger of his family, classmates, and Princess Celestia to learn martial arts, and his hatred of his previous life to make himself stronger, he meditates shortly afterwards and his anger and hatred overflow him, he begins to float off of the ground, even though he did not feel it, Daylight Dimmer growls under his breath and dark green auras appear around his hoofs, he hears it and opens his eyes, he saw himself floating off of the ground,
"You are ready, stop meditating and aim your hooves at the target." Demonicus said, the two float down and Demonicus makes a wooden target appear, Daylight Dimmer focuses on his anger and hatred of his past life and lets out a scream of rage, he holds his front legs out and shoots out a dark green energy blast, it hits the target and destroys it with wooden shards flying everywhere, Daylight Dimmer was in awe,
"Whoa!" Daylight Dimmer said, a white flash appears and Daylight Dimmer gets his cutie mark,
"You're ready to learn your next form of fighting, it's called ponyjutsu, I will teach you how to use your anger and hatred as a weapon, and as a way to defend yourself." Demonicus replied,
"Whoa, wait, now using hatred to hurt, I understand, but I don't get how it can be used for defensive reasons." Daylight Dimmer said,
"Just like how your anger and hatred give you offensive abilities, you also don't want the thing angering you to be around anymore, you can use that memory or the thing angering you at the moment to give yourself defensive abilities." Demonicus said,
"Oh, so that's how that works." Daylight Dimmer replied, Demonicus nodded and Daylight Dimmer gets ready to train even more, excited about the new fighting style.
Daylight Dimmer was taught how to use his hatred and anger to form swords, spears, staffs, and bow and arrows, Demonicus trained him in all of it, he was taught how to attack, and counter with different weapons that Demonicus used by using his own hatred and anger to summon them, his was red just like the aura around his horn whenever he casted magic. Daylight Dimmer was only taught two defensive moves, but they were effective, the first one formed a shield all around him to block any attack from all directions, the second one made him become dark green like his aura, it made him invincible to all attacks and unicorn spells,
"You did very well today, Daylight, but remember, it's okay to have friends and be loved, you just use your anger and hatred to fight, as I said, love and hate must be balanced, if you feel nothing but hatred and anger at all times, your magic will be too powerful for you to handle, so keep it in check." Demonicus said,
"Understood." Daylight Dimmer replied, Demonicus smiled and they keep training.
A year passes and the water glows again, the two look and saw Princess Celestia and Sunset Shimmer arguing, they argue and Sunset Shimmer leaves to the other side of the mirror, the two chuckle,
"Looks like I win, Celestia." Demonicus said,
"What happened between you and Celestia?" Daylight Dimmer asked, Demonicus uses his magic and changes the picture in the water, Daylight Dimmer saw a younger Demonicus, his mane was completely dark red, he was with Princess Celestia, who had a pink mane and was a unicorn, they were the same height in the picture,
"Don't you grow tired of these enemies invading us again and again, Celestia?" Demonicus asked,
"Well, yes, I do, but it is for the better, I'm always hoping they'll accept friendship one day." Princess Celestia replied,
"Celestia, some of them are not going to accept friendship, and will keep invading us, I say it's about time we invade them and make them feel what we feel." Demonicus said,
"No, it will make us no different than them." Princess Celestia replied,
"That's not the point, the idea is if we invade them, they'll feel our pain and stop." Demonicus said,
"And what if they don't, and invade us again?" Princess Celestia said,
"Then we fight back, as always, and if we win, we help the ponies rebuild, but for extra measure so that they don't invade us again and hurt the other ponies, we capture and execute them all, starting with the leader of the invasion." Demonicus replied, Princess Celestia's jaw dropped, horrified at the plan,
"No! That will make us worse than them!" Princess Celestia said sternly,
"You would rather choose to be invaded again and again than finding a way to stop it permanently?" Demonicus asked,
"If it involves taking the lives of the invaders, then yes, they have family and friends, too, Demonicus." Princess Celestia replied,
"And what if they kill a pony?" Demonicus asked,
"We're still not taking their lives, Demonicus." Princess Celestia replied,
"That's enough, you two, you're both wrong." Star Swirl the Bearded said as he walked to them,
"Demonicus, it is wrong to take a life, regardless of reason or motivation, and Celestia, while yes, it will make us no different, the main reason why we cannot take their lives is because if we are at war, it only escalate the war and make things worse, this argument is done." Star Swirl the Bearded said,
"But Star Swirl, what about morals?" Princess Celestia asked,
"Yes, those are important, but the facts are more important, you will make a fine ruler, Celestia, by this argument alone, I have decided that it is you and Luna who shall be alicorns, as for you, Demonicus, your beliefs make you too dangerous to be an alicorn, be gone, I will not teach my magic to someone who has morals and beliefs like you." Star Swirl the Bearded said, and Demonicus walked out of the castle.
Demonicus changes the water back to Princess Celestia crying over Sunset Shimmer leaving,
"Wait, Master, how did your mane and tail become multicolored like now?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"Potion, I absorbed some of Celestia's alicorn magic through this water, I mixed it into a potion made from the nutrients needed to live, combined with the alicorn magic, but I took a little too much, so when I drank it, my mane and tail became like this, I don't have the magic of an alicorn, but I have their lifespan with me, if I have the time, I'll teach you how to make the potion." Demonicus replied, Daylight Dimmer was excited, and they keep training together.
Many years pass and Daylight Dimmer's training was complete, he was taught how to use his hatred as other forms of travel, he realized that he can walk on water with it, and float in midair with it. Demonicus also taught him other forms of ponyjutsu, such as predicting the weather, telling time without a watch or clock, finding directions with the sun, and what colors to wear at night when infiltrating, he wore white on a full moon, black on a new moon, and dark blue on other nights. Daylight Dimmer was still full of anger and hatred from his foalhood, he used it whenever Demonicus sent him to deal with threats around Equestria, he always hid in the shadows and attacked his opponents from their blind spots or behind, they were usually dangerous wildlife and changelings. Daylight Dimmer has a flashback one day while he walked around in a town,
"Daylight Dimmer, always keep this information in your mind, when you fight your enemies, offer them a chance of redemption first, and if they reject it and run away, let them go, but if they come back and attack again, then kill them if you win that fight, they were offered a chance, and they rejected it, therefore, they must die." Demonicus said, Daylight Dimmer took those words to his heart, he thought it sounded reasonable. Daylight Dimmer was shopping for food and drinks for him and Demonicus, he leaves and goes back to the cave, they have the same strict diet and the water glows white again.
Daylight Dimmer and Demonicus walk to the water and see Princess Celestia has gotten a new student: Twilight Sparkle, she was a filly, the two chuckle,
"Celestia has to start over again." Demonicus said,
"No kidding, plus, look, she's only a foal, I'm already an adult." Daylight Dimmer replied, Demonicus chuckled,
"Not only that, your training's been done for two years now, while Celestia's back at square one, I think this more than proves that I'm the better teacher." Demonicus said, Daylight Dimmer smiled, even though Demonicus adopted him in order to prove that he is better at teaching than Princess Celestia, he can tell that Demonicus still cared very deeply about him, because he complimented him when he did good, only gave constructive criticism when he messed up, got him into shape, treated his wounds, and trained him to defend himself, Daylight saw Demonicus as his best friend.
Daylight Dimmer continues training and dieting to stay in shape, he and Demonicus watched Twilight Sparkle learn under Princess Celestia until she was sent to Ponyville, the two were stoic in watching Princess Celestia, time passes and Nightmare Moon returned, Princess Celestia forgave her and Princess Luna came back. Demonicus senses something and looks to his left and at the ceiling,
"What is it, Master?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"I sense a familiar presence, it may be the threat I've been training you for, but I can't say for sure yet." Demonicus replied, Daylight Dimmer was uncomfortable but suppressed it.
Time passes and Discord reappeared,
"Master, I wish for permission to stop Discord." Daylight Dimmer said,
"I'm sorry, Daylight, but you can't, Discord is on a higher plane of existence than us, if I could, I would send you to take his life, but he can't die, you're going to have to sit this one out." Demonicus replied, Daylight Dimmer watched the Mane Six fight Discord and saw Demonicus was right. Discord gets redeemed and Demonicus feels the same presence as before, but it was stronger than last time.
Daylight Dimmer continues doing jobs for Demonicus and he takes the lives of people who rejected their chance of redemption and forgiveness and attacked again, Daylight Dimmer made sure not to expose himself, he hid the bodies as well. Demonicus eventually sees Queen Chrysalis at the wedding and sees her defeated, he feels the same hostile presence from before get stronger when Shining Armor and Cadence marry, he still could not make out what it was.
King Sombra appears and he gets defeated, love and friendship was spread throughout the Crystal Empire, Demonicus feels a strong presence, he recognized it that time, but it was still weak, he decided to keep watching the world while he kept an eye on the presences he was feeling.
Twilight Sparkle becomes an alicorn and Demonicus decided to teach Daylight Dimmer the potion, he took some of Twilight Sparkle's magic through the water and liquefied the food and water needed for ponies to survive, Daylight Dimmer drank it and he was granted the lifespan of an alicorn, he felt great as well. Demonicus feels the same presence when Twilight Sparkle got crowned the Princess of Friendship, one of them was much stronger now,
"I know what the presence is now, Daylight, it's these three creatures of unknown origins, we call them the Friendship Absorbers, no one knows the true name of their species, there's three of them." Demonicus said,
"Who are they?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"The first one is Hathor, she's the Absorber of Friendship, any act of kindness, generosity, laughter, loyalty, or honesty will empower her, the Elements of Harmony except for the Element of Magic is her main power source, also, anyone becoming friends with another person or an animal will make her stronger. The second one is Eros, he's the Absorber of Love, his powers mainly come from marriages, Shining Armor and Cadence's marriage is a big example, other people's love for one another grant him his powers, like boyfriends and girlfriends. The last one is Himeros, he's the Absorber of Forgiveness, anyone forgiving another for past actions and that person reforming grants him his powers, he is the leader, and the strongest one." Demonicus replied,
"Where are they now?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"Their powers are not strong enough yet for me to pinpoint their locations." Demonicus replied, Daylight Dimmer was worried,
"Let's keep honing your abilities." Demonicus said, Daylight Dimmer nods and they continue testing one another's skills and abilities against each other.
The two see Sunset Shimmer return and saw that she was still vengeful and was angry at not being the princess, it made the Friendship Absorbers weaker, the two snicker at watching Twilight Sparkle and her five friends chase after her.
Sometime pass and Tirek started absorbing magic in Equestria, Demonicus felt the presence of the Friendship Absorbers get weaker while Tirek causes chaos, but the ponies who work together feed their acts of friendship to the Friendship Absorbers and make them stronger, their powers increased drastically when Tirek was defeated and put into Tartarus.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon reforming made the Friendship Absorbers stronger, while Starlight Glimmer leaving and vowing revenge made them weaker, it was during this time that Daylight Dimmer was told by a townspony that his sister wanted to see him back at the farm, so he went.
Daylight Dimmer goes to the farm and saw Sunburn with an earth pony who had an orange coat, a gray mane and tail, and his cutie mark was an erupting volcano, it was Volcano, Daylight Dimmer's foalsitter when his parents were away shopping for things they did not need and when his sister was busy with her thieving, Volcano would babysit Daylight Dimmer, he was lazy and neglectful, and only started foalsitting him so that he can get close to Sunburn and marry her for her physical appearance. Daylight Dimmer looks and sees Sunburn was holding a baby, much to Daylight Dimmer's shock, but he goes over,
"What took you so long, abomination?" Sunburn asked,
"I was just taking my time, hoping you would leave." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Rhetorical question, numbskull." Volcano said,
"So why am I here?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"Just wait, you idiot, mom and dad aren't here yet." Sunburn replied, and they wait.
Daylight Sunshine and Bright Sky walk out and see them,
"Why are you three still here?" Daylight Sunshine asked,
"I have something to show you three." Sunburn replied,
"We wasted our time waiting for you guys to leave, so make it quick." Bright Sky said,
"Okay, family, say hello to my son: Starburn." Sunburn replied, and she moves the blanket off, revealing an earth pony baby, who had a red-orange coat, a yellow mane, and orange eyes. Daylight Sunshine and Bright Sky look at it with disgust,
"What is this abomination?!" Daylight Sunshine asked angrily,
"It's your grandson!" Sunburn replied angrily,
"Grandson?! You just had to marry into our family!" Bright Sky said angrily,
"Hey! It's not my fault your daughter's beautiful!" Volcano replied angrily,
"And it's not my fault that he's rich!" Sunburn said angrily, the four keep arguing and Starburn begins to cry, Daylight Dimmer becomes shocked and picks up the baby,
"If you guys aren't going to accept it as family, then I'll raise it!" Daylight Dimmer said angrily,
"Good! Volcano and I only brought him here so somepony else would adopt him!" Sunburn replied,
"You weren't planning on raising him?!" Daylight Dimmer asked angrily,
"Having him was an accident, we never meant to have a baby." Volcano replied,
"Fine, I'm raising the baby." Daylight Dimmer said,
"Good, because there is no way I'm keeping that annoying noisemaker in the house." Daylight Sunshine replied,
"Well, now that's settled, our goals are done, we're leaving now." Sunburn said, and she and Volcano leave together, Daylight Dimmer left with Starburn shortly afterwards.
Daylight Dimmer goes to the cave and Demonicus sees the baby,
"Who's the foal?" Demonicus asked,
"Starburn, my baby nephew, my sister didn't want to raise him, so I adopted him." Daylight Dimmer replied, Demonicus chuckled,
"Hold on a minute." Demonicus said, and he casts a spell on him, Starburn became a four year old foal,
"What the? Whoa, I can talk, and uncle, it's you, thank you for taking me in." Starburn said,
"Now, now, my name is Demonicus, I am his master, I'm going to give you the same training I gave your uncle." Demonicus said,
"Yay." Starburn said, the two chuckled,
"Good luck, Starburn, and remember, it takes time, so be patient." Daylight Dimmer said, Starburn nodded excitedly,
"Very well, you start tomorrow." Demonicus said, and they all rest for the day.
Starlight Glimmer reforms and the power of the Friendship Absorbers get stronger, Daylight Dimmer and Demonicus help Starburn train, he was having a lot of fun, Demonicus also taught him to use his hatred of his mother, father, and grandparents to fuel his powers. The three see Queen Chrysalis reject being reformed, it made the presence of the Friendship Absorbers weaker, but they continue training.
Daylight Dimmer keeps doing jobs in Equestria, he was tasked with hunting down Queen Chrysalis, he could not find her, so he went back to the cave to help Starburn train.
Starlight Glimmer befriending Trixie made the Friendship Absorbers stronger, so did solving the friendship problems, eventually, the Pillars and the Stygian reform, which also made them stronger, so did the reformation of Tempest Shadow and Grubber, it increased their powers drastically, Demonicus was almost able to pinpoint their locations. Princess Celestia and Sunset Shimmer reconciling also made the Friendship Absorbers stronger. Twilight Sparkle's School of Friendship gets opened and it was spreading friendship throughout the entire land, Demonicus becomes shocked by this and it increased the power of one of the Friendship Absorbers by a tremendous amount,
"Daylight, I am finally able to pinpoint the location of the Friendship Absorbers, they're in the Dragon Lands, hurry, friendship is being spread throughout all of the countries, if they absorb all of the friendship, love, and forgiveness in this entire land, they will have enough power to wipe us all out, they must be destroyed." Demonicus said,
"Why didn't Celestia do anything about them?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"She has never encountered them, now go, destroy them before they use the friendship in this land as weapons." Demonicus replied,
"Why can't you fight them yourself?" Starburn asked,
"I would if I could, but Celestia would sense me, and I doubt she'll be happy to see me again, she did not sense those three since they are filled with friendship and love, now go, Daylight, the Elements of Harmony will make one of them stronger as she absorbs it from the bearers, go and destroy them." Demonicus replied, and Daylight Dimmer runs to the Dragon Lands.
Daylight Dimmer arrives into the Dragon Lands and sees several dead dragons, he also saw orange mist coming out of them and going into the sky, he follows the mist and sees a being in an orange robe floating in the sky, he looks and sees two dragons,
"Please, I apologize from the bottom of my heart, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings like that." the male dragon said,
"Really? You didn't?" the female dragon asked, the male dragon shook his head,
"I forgive you then." the female dragon said, and they hug one another, but they then scream and their skins turn into orange mist, their skeletons are left on the ground while the mist goes into the being floating above them,
"Yes, forgive one another so you can feed me and give me power." the orange robed being said with his deep voice echoing, Daylight Dimmer was able to figure out that he was Himeros, other sources of orange mist appeared as well, he was absorbing the lifespan of the enemies of the Mane Six that were forgiven, he then floated away. Daylight Dimmer is contacted telepathically,
"Remember, Daylight, the Friendship Absorbers absorb from all over the land at once, it also absorbs your lifespan away, the closer they are, the more of your lifespan they will take, but if they are extremely close to you, and do an act of friendship, love, or forgiveness, then they will take all of your lifespan and kill you, this is why they need to be stopped." Demonicus said telepathically, Daylight Dimmer kept an eye on Himeros and saw him float away.
Daylight Dimmer hears something to his left and he looks, he saw a newly wed dragon couple walking together, they were alone, they kiss one another and then scream as their skins turn into red mist and they are absorbed into a being with a red robe and hood above them, the being snickered, his voice echoed, Daylight Dimmer realizes it was a male voice, and was able deduce that he was Eros,
"That's right, love one another, so that I may take it and use it as my weapons." Eros said, Daylight Dimmer also saw a big red mist going into Eros, Daylight Dimmer gets onto to a bigger volcano and saw it was coming from the Crystal Empire, he looks carefully and sees that Shining Armor and Cadence were unknowingly using their love for one another to empower him, Daylight Dimmer sees him float away.
Yellow mist appears everywhere and everyone was oblivious to it, he hears six male dragons screaming and he jumps from volcano to volcano to see it, he sees six dragon skeletons, he hears a female laughing and he looks up and saw a being in a yellow robe, he was able to tell that she was Hathor, she was laughing maniacally, her voice echoed as well,
"Yes, yes, yes! Give me your friendship! Give me your powers so that we may destroy you all, and then conquer and rule all of this land!" Hathor said loudly, six yellow mists were coming from Ponyville, she was absorbing the lifespan of Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack, Daylight Dimmer notices that she was absorbing Twilight Sparkle's lifespan because she was the Princess of Friendship, she then floated away while laughing maniacally,
"I don't understand, how does no one see, hear, feel, or sense them?" Daylight Dimmer asked himself, he was contacted telepathically,
"Only those who are filled with hatred and anger like yourself can notice them, people who feel friendship cannot, that is why Celestia never noticed them, but I have, I have grown to hate Star Swirl for kicking me out and anger at Celestia for not agreeing with me, now focus, Daylight, use what I taught you, and decide on which one you should kill first." Demonicus replied, and he ended the contact.
Daylight Dimmer watches Himeros, Eros, and Hathor carefully, he sees the three float around and he follows them, orange, red, and yellow mists appear from everywhere, a male dragon screams,
"Guys, look, up there!" the dragon said, several other dragons look at where the three Friendship Absorbers were at,
"I don't see anything." another male dragon replied,
"But they're right there." the male dragon said,
"You're probably just tired from being mad about losing the game, you should go get some rest." a third male dragon replied,
"I'm not tired! I can see them just fine!" the male dragon said angrily,
"Come on, let's get you some rest." a fourth male dragon said,
"But I'm not tired, and I can see them completely fine, I'm telling the truth!" the male dragon said angrily while the three other dragons drag him away so he can sleep.
Daylight Dimmer watches the three Friendship Absorbers float away while they continue absorbing the friendship, love, and forgiveness of others in order to empower themselves, they were draining their lifespans in the process, he follows them from behind and was ready to destroy them without them finding out. Daylight Dimmer lets his suppressed anger of Princess Celestia not accepting Pegasi or earth ponies as her protégé since she did not believe they can cast magic, dark green mist comes out of him and it goes into all three of them because he did not have any friends, he was filled with hatred at the time, and he has not forgiven Princess Celestia or anypony from his foalhood for how they treated him. The Friendship Absorbers absorb the dark green mist and they grunt in pain, they turn around and see Daylight Dimmer, he was looking at them, they float down to him and walk to him,
"Who are you?" Eros asked,
"I'm your challenger." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"You? Ha. Celestia can't even hurt us, we'll destroy you." Hathor said,
"Never say "I will" unless you are completely certain it will happen, otherwise, use the phrase "I might."" Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Wait, that saying, you don't serve under Celestia, you were sent by Demonicus." Himeros said,
"So he's still alive after all." Eros said,
"Oh, just imagine how Celestia and Twilight Sparkle will feel when they find out that their desire to spread friendship will only empower us." Hathor said,
"Hathor." Eros said a little sternly,
"And when we are strong enough, we will attack them and destroy them, I also can't wait to see their reactions when they find out that the Elements of Harmony don't work on us, it just makes us stronger and gives us more power, well, I don't absorb the Element of Magic, but that one can't exist without the other five, so we're immune to it." Hathor said,
"Hathor." Eros said sternly,
"And shortly after we take their lives, we conquer the other areas of this land, and rule it, and then conquer all of the other lands out there." Hathor said,
"HATHOR, THAT'S ENOUGH!!" Eros said angrily, Hathor shrieked and stopped speaking,
"It seems you've got yourself a chatterer." Daylight Dimmer said,
"That's our little sister for you." Himeros replied calmly while glaring at Hathor,
"Hey! I'm not little!" Hathor said angrily,
"Well, you are the youngest one out of the three of us." Eros replied,
"The tongue is but three inches long, yet it can kill someone who is six feet high." Daylight Dimmer said,
"Still though, Demonicus has to send his servant to deal with us instead of confronting us himself." Himeros said,
"That's because if he comes, Celestia will sense him, and she probably won't be happy to see him again." Daylight Dimmer replied, the three Friendship Absorbers chuckle,
"Well, let's see what you got." Himeros said, and the three throw off their robes, all three of them had crystalline bodies, they were glowing brightly as well, they also lacked mouths and were bipedal. Himeros had an orange body, glowing eyes that were completely orange and slanted, he had a bald head that was shaped like an upside-down triangle, a muscular body, and claws in place of fingers and toes, he was the tallest of the three. Eros had a red body, glowing eyes that were completely red and slanted, he had claws in place of fingers and toes, his head was completely round with bright red fur on the back of his head and neck, and red tusks at where the sides of his mouth would be. Hathor had a yellow body, glowing eyes that were completely yellow and slanted, and claws in place of fingers and toes, she had a round head, a long light yellow semi-transparent fish fin-like hair that covered the sides of her head and went down to her lower-back, she was the shortest of the three, about the same height as Garble.
Daylight Dimmer stands on his hind legs and focuses on his hatred and anger from his fillyhood to empower himself,
"Oh please, you think that's going to help you? You're not going to harm us." Hathor said,
"Hathor, that's enough, let's see just how powerful he is." Himeros replied in a calm and stoic tone, and Hathor remained quiet.
Dark green auras appear around Daylight Dimmer's front hooves, the auras form into a big beam, he shoots it at the three and Hathor screams while Eros grunted. Daylight Dimmer looks and sees that Hathor flew all the way across the ground, into the side of the volcano behind her, Eros was pushed back a few centimeters, and Himeros was completely unfazed, he was not pushed back a bit. Daylight Dimmer notice that Eros might be just a little weaker than Himeros, but Hathor was a weakling when compared to the other two, he was curious on why that was the case.
Hathor floats back and was angry,
"I can't believe you would hurt a girl." Hathor said,
"An enemy is an enemy, regardless of race, gender, age, social class, or species." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"A great, a pessimist." Eros said sarcastically,
"Never be optimistic or pessimistic, be realistic, so you can see both, the positives and the negatives." Daylight Dimmer said,
"What did Demonicus teach you about being passive or aggressive?" Himeros asked,
"Don't be passive or aggressive, be assertive, and the goal in life is to become an assertive realist." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Yup, you're definitely Demonicus' pupil, only he would say something like that." Himeros said,
"Enough talk, time to fight, I might win, you might win, but we will battle here and now." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Very well." Himeros said, he lifts his arms up, orange auras appear around his hands and feet, Eros summoned a sword in his right hand and a shield in his left hand, they were red with fire around them, and Hathor summoned three bladed claws made from yellow energy in her right hand, and two more in her left hand, energy is taken from the five claws and a sixth one is formed in Hathor's left hand.
Daylight Dimmer can sense how their weapons were formed, Himeros just had energy auras because forgiveness usually begins by holding hands with someone, Eros had a sword and shield because of a knight in shining armor cliché, and the fire due to people thinking that love is a burning passion, and Hathor had five bladed claws because each one represented an Element of Harmony, they fused together to make the sixth one, which represented the Element of Magic.
The Friendship Absorbers fly towards him and Daylight Dimmer does a somersault and jumps over them, Hathor holds her left hand out and yellow butterflies go towards him to attack, he cuts them all down with two dark green swords and they disappear with yellow flames appearing around them.
Eros swings his sword around and sends waves of red fire to Daylight Dimmer, he uses his suppressed hatred of his family to make a dark green shield around himself and blocks it.
Daylight Dimmer sees the red mist on him and notices that Eros was getting most of his powers from Princess Cadence, he was slowly killing her by secretly absorbing her lifespan from a faraway distance.
Himeros holds his hands together and shoots an orange energy blast at Daylight Dimmer, the blast disabled his shield completely, Daylight Dimmer does a flip to his right side when he saw another orange energy blast coming to him, he jumps in the air and does another somersault, he tries to slash Himeros with his two swords, but an orange barrier appears in front of Himeros and it blocks Daylight Dimmer's attack.
Daylight Dimmer is shot back and he falls; Hathor slashes her claws around and it made yellow diamond shaped energy blasts appear, they were shaped like Rarity's cutie mark, Daylight Dimmer rolls to his left, the diamonds left diamond shaped cuts on whatever it hit. Daylight Dimmer jumps over one of the energy diamonds and uses his anger and hatred to make his own dark green energy stronger, he slashes Hathor on her shoulders, she screams in pain while dark green flames appeared on her shoulders.
Eros swings his sword around again and sends fire to Daylight Dimmer, he rolls to his right and turns around, he shoots a dark green energy blast of hatred to Eros, he holds his shield forward and a force field of fire appears in front of him, he deflects it and sends it to Daylight Dimmer, who just simply absorbed it.
Daylight Dimmer looks for Himeros since he was nowhere to be seen, he looks up and sees him in the air, Himeros does a counterclockwise spin while in midair and kicks to his left three times, first with his right leg, and then his left leg, then his right leg again, each one sent an orange wave of energy to Daylight Dimmer.
Daylight Dimmer gets hit and he grunts, the three waves restrain him, one at his head, one at his waist and front hooves, and one at his hind hooves, he tries to break free but could not,
"Okay, now, finish him off." Himeros said as he got ready to do an attack, he lifts his arms up and the orange auras get bigger, Eros lifts his arms up and Himeros absorbs some of the red aura from him, Hathor screams as she tries, Daylight Dimmer's wounds has left her unable to move her arms completely,
"My shoulders, I can't move them." Hathor said,
"Really, Hathor? Now?" Eros asked in a very annoyed tone,
"I'm sorry, but my injuries are preventing me from doing our finishing move." Hathor replied,
"See, this is what you get for not training!" Eros said angrily,
"But I hate training!" Hathor replied angrily,
"We have no choice, Eros, I know it's frustrating for you, but we have to treat Hathor's wounds." Himeros said,
"Ugh, fine, you got lucky this time, but don't count on it next time." Eros said, and the three Friendship Absorbers float away.
Daylight Dimmer breaks free from his restraints and stands up,
"What was that about?" Daylight Dimmer asked to himself, he was then contacted telepathically,
"They were about to do a finishing move on you, since you're filled with hatred and anger, they were going to put the friendship, love, and forgiveness they absorbed into you and destroy you, they do it to make sure their opponents stay dead, because people they fought in the past survived their normal killing attacks due to their anger and hatred giving them resistance to being killed by one of them, so they combine their powers into one to kill now." Demonicus replied,
"Oh." Daylight Dimmer said,
"Well, go on, Daylight, after them." Demonicus said telepathically,
"Right." Daylight Dimmer replied, and he runs after them.
Daylight Dimmer sees the three Friendship Absorbers floating away and he watches them carefully, Hathor was still in pain,
"I'm starting to get bored from just going after them, Demonicus." Daylight Dimmer said quietly,
"Well, since you're bored, I guess I'll talk about my early days. When Celestia and I were students, she and I always had arguments and fights, one thing I found funny when we were younger was that Celestia would get really mad whenever I said I'm a better actor than her, she always wanted to be in a play when she was younger, but couldn't, so rubbing that in her face would anger her. Luna and I got along better though, she and I would prank Celestia together sometimes and it would annoy her, one prank I did that made both of them mad was when I took Celestia's pound cake with frosting and Luna's grilled cheese sandwich and swapped them around, they looked exactly the same, they were both so livid, but they didn't find out that it was me who did it." Demonicus said, Daylight Dimmer chuckled a bit,
"What did you do before you left Star Swirl?" Daylight Dimmer asked quietly,
"I controlled the sun, while Celestia only raised it, I controlled how strong and intense it would be, I sent people to the sun too, but I made sure it was blazing hot so it would burn them, Celestia was so mad when she found out, the sun is not strong now because I'm not there to control its power. I was going to send the Friendship Absorbers into the sun for them to get burned, but I was kicked out by Star Swirl before I had the chance, I don't control it now because if I do, Celestia will find out that I'm still around." Demonicus replied, Daylight Dimmer was stoic at the revelation,
"That's nice, Master, but I think I found their hideout." Daylight Dimmer said in a quiet tone,
"Alright, good luck." Demonicus replied, and he ends the telepathic communication.
Daylight Dimmer was at Mount Aris, the hippogriffs have come back after the Storm King's defeat, they float away while the hippogriffs do not see, hear, feel, or sense them. The hippogriffs were partaking in traditional activities, which made them befriend several other hippogriffs, Hathor absorbed the friendship and it made her stronger. The three Friendship Absorbers go under the mountain and into their hideout, Daylight Dimmer followed them while he hid from the hippogriffs and stayed in the shadows.
Himeros healed Hathor's wounds by touching her shoulders, she groaned in pain from it for a few seconds before she was fully healed, Eros was not happy with waiting,
"See, Hathor, this is why you need to train, you'll never get better if you don't." Himeros said,
"But I have the most powers out of all of us." Hathor replied,
"You're still the weakest one, though, friendship may be more abundant, but it's the weakest because that's the easiest thing for people to achieve, falling in love and forgiving others are hard." Eros said in an annoyed tone,
"Well, let's train, we have to get stronger in case we have to face either Discord or Tirek in the future." Himeros said,
"What about Chrysalis and Sombra?" Eros asked,
"Sombra's dead, and Chrysalis is barely worth noticing." Himeros replied,
"Alright." Eros said, and the two spar with one another.
Daylight Dimmer hid on a beam of their hideout's ceiling and watches Himeros and Eros battle one another, Eros was swinging his sword around and Himeros grabbed and parried every strike with his hands, Eros also tried to hit Himeros with the shield, which he parried with his right arm, Eros makes a flame shaped heart with his sword and shoots it at Himeros by stabbing his sword through the center of it, it set everything it touched on fire, Himeros jumped over it and kicked Eros in the chest with both of his feet, he grunts and falls.
Hathor claps and Eros glares at her,
"I don't see why you're happy, you're not training again." Eros said annoyed,
"I don't like training, it makes me short of breath and it's exhausting." Hathor replied,
"That's why you have to focus, come on, we got more energy to absorb in the land." Himeros said, and they get ready to leave.
Daylight Dimmer jumps down and aims for the back of Hathor's head, he hits her with his hind hooves and Hathor screams as she falls. She gets back up and faces Daylight Dimmer along with her two older brothers,
"Haven't you ever heard of fighting fair?!" Hathor asked annoyed,
"Honor and fairness only decrease your chances at winning a fight." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Let's hear you say that after we take over the land." Hathor said,
"Hathor!" Eros said sternly, she shirked, and then growled at him,
"Hathor, watch your emotions." Himeros said, Hathor stops growling and reluctantly calmed down,
"Are you here to fight us?" Himeros asked,
"Of course, I might win this time if I'm lucky." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"You still have some stamina left, Eros?" Himeros asked,
"A little." Eros replied,
"Very well, let's see how well you fare this time." Himeros said, and the three Friendship Absorbers get ready to battle him.
Eros swings his sword around and sends fire towards Daylight Dimmer, he jumps onto the wall to his right with his hind right leg and then turns his body ninety degrees counterclockwise, he spins in midair and kicks Eros in the face with his hind left hoof, Eros grunts and falls.
Hathor laughs and it echoes, it was hurting Daylight Dimmer's ears, she then holds her hands out and shoots out yellow apples, Daylight Dimmer bent his spine and dodged them, he summons a dark green staff in his front hooves and spins it around to deflect the incoming apples. Daylight Dimmer jumps up and hits Hathor on the head with the staff, she grunted in pain and stumbled, Daylight Dimmer then hits her shins and her left cheek, she grunts and falls onto the floor.
Daylight Dimmer makes the staff disappear as he focuses on Himeros, he holds his arms out and shoots an orange energy blast at him, Daylight Dimmer runs towards it and then moves his body back, he slides with his hind right leg out, he gets close to Himeros and punches him in the groin with his front right hoof, his eyes widen and he falls from the hit.
Daylight Dimmer looks at the Friendship Absorbers, he decided to try Demonicus' teachings about offering them redemption first to see if it will work, he holds his front right hoof out,
"I'm offering you three forgiveness and redemption, stop what you're doing, and befriend me, or reject it, and leave this place, but don't invade us again, the choice is yours." Daylight Dimmer said, Himeros looks at him, he grabs Daylight Dimmer's hoof with his left hand, his stare becomes sharper and he pulls Daylight Dimmer forward,
"Fool." Himeros said as he began to absorb Daylight Dimmer's forgiveness and kill him, Daylight Dimmer uses his anger at the moment to make his orange mist change to dark green and Himeros absorbs it instead, he grunts and lets go of him,
"Retreat, we have to find a new hideout." Himeros said, and the three float out of the hideout.
Daylight Dimmer watches them and he was contacted telepathically,
"See, that is why I told you they have to be destroyed." Demonicus said,
"I thought it was worth a try, it was also what you taught me." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Yes, I know, but these three are exceptions." Demonicus said, Daylight Dimmer looked down,
"Do you know what happens if you win against them next time?" Demonicus asked,
"Kill them." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Exactly, now go after them, try to take them out before they find a new hideout." Demonicus said, and he ends the contact, Daylight Dimmer heads out and looks for the three Friendship Absorbers.
Daylight Dimmer comes out and sees red, yellow, and orange mists everywhere, he follows the mists and sees two male hippogriffs forgiving one another for mistakes they made, orange mists came out of them and Daylight Dimmer followed it. Daylight Dimmer looks and sees that the three color mists went their separate ways after a while, he thought about it and decided to take Hathor out first because her absorbing was affecting the most people, he follows the yellow mist.
Daylight Dimmer arrives into a forest and gets onto the ground, he saw Hathor in front of him, she was glaring,
"I've grown tired of you! You have gotten on my nerves long enough!" Hathor said angrily,
"Short temper is a weakness." Daylight Dimmer replied, Hathor growled at him,
"The more emotional you are, the easier you are to manipulate." Daylight Dimmer said, Hathor growled at him even more,
"How does it feel to be the only female on the team?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"I hate it! Those two don't understand my way of thinking!" Hathor replied angrily,
"How about being the youngest?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"I hate that too, I'm the one who's picked on the most!" Hathor replied angrily, Daylight Dimmer had dark green auras around his hooves,
"If you wish to stop being picked on by your brothers, then defeat me in combat." Daylight Dimmer said,
"Fine, it'll make domination easier, too, and then we'll be able to travel to other lands and destroy them." Hathor asked,
"What are you going to do after everyone's dead and all lands are conquered?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"I will have every animal under my command." Hathor replied,
"Alright, but you have to take me down first." Daylight Dimmer said, and Hathor summons her six claws and gets ready to battle him.
Hathor moves around as fast as Rainbow Dash can fly, Daylight Dimmer closes his eyes and watches her in his mind, he sees her appear in front of him and he makes the dark green shield appear around him to shield the attack,
"What?! Impossible! I'm moving as fast as Rainbow Dash can fly!" Hathor said,
"It's still not fast enough to strike me." Daylight Dimmer replied, Hathor growled and she jumped back,
Hathor uses Applejack's strength and kicks a tree with her right foot, it made the pinecones fall, Daylight Dimmer stepped back one step and it all missed.
Hathor was shocked, she shoots the butterflies, diamonds, and apples towards him, Daylight Dimmer makes a dark green staff appear and he spins it around to deflect them all, they disappear after engulfing into yellow flames.
Hathor exclaims with anger and she jumps from tree to tree while shooting small yellow energy beams at him, Daylight Dimmer makes a dark green bow and quiver with arrows appear on him, he had unlimited arrows, he shoots the yellow beams and they canceled each other out, he tried to hit Hathor in the process, but she was too fast, she laughs and it messed him up, he makes his entire body turn dark green when she tries to shoot the beams at him, they extinguished upon touching him.
Hathor growls at seeing none of her moves work, she jumps off of the tree and gets ready to slash her six bladed claws into his front legs, Daylight Dimmer changes his body back to normal and makes a dark green spear appear in his front right hoof, he holds it up when Hathor was about to slash him.
Hathor screams in pain and Daylight Dimmer heard a noise that sounded like glass shattering, he looks and sees something coming down, he looks and notices that it was Hathor's right arm, the bladed claws go into the ground, Daylight Dimmer realizes that he has severed her arm, it was still glowing yellow and glass shards fell off of it, there was no liquid of any kind in it. He hears whimpering behind him and looks, Hathor was on her knees and holding the stump of her arm with her left hand, he makes the spear disappear and he walks to her, she looks back and sees him,
"No, no, please, I give up, just stop." Hathor said,
"Is that really all the powers you have?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"Yes, it is." Hathor replied, Daylight Dimmer summons his two swords, Hathor turns around, falls onto her legs, and holds her left hand out,
"No, please, Himeros, Eros, save me." Hathor said while begging,
"No." Himeros said from behind Hathor, she and Daylight Dimmer look, they see him walking forward with Eros to his right,
"Since you have revealed our plans to him earlier, and refuse to train to get stronger, I have no reason to help you." Himeros said,
"What?!" Hathor asked with shock,
"Mouth is the origin of disaster." Daylight Dimmer said,
"See, there you have it right there, Hathor, since you wouldn't stop running your mouth, and revealed things you weren't supposed to, we are not going to help you." Eros said,
"Like Eros, I too, have grown tired of your ramblings and weakness." Himeros said,
"Come on, I'm your sister." Hathor said,
"That doesn't excuse your mistakes." Eros replied, Hathor then turned to Daylight Dimmer,
"Can I join you, please?" Hathor asked,
"No, you were offered a chance at redemption and rejected it, there are no second chances." Daylight Dimmer said,
"You really messed up this time, you always were a fool, Hathor, and I've grown tired of your foolishness, you're on your own now." Himeros said,
"Please, take me to Demonicus so I can learn, and not be a fool anymore." Hathor said, Daylight Dimmer stabs the sword in his front right hoof into the back of her neck and she screams,
"A fool is only cured by dying." Daylight Dimmer said, and he puts his anger and hatred into Hathor, she screams in agony and fades into yellow mist and she and her arm disappear completely, killing her. Yellow mist goes back into the land and those Hathor killed were revived, and those whose lifespans she absorbed returned to their rightful owners,
"Farewell, little sister." Himeros said, Daylight Dimmer gets ready to fight him and Eros,
"We'll deal with you another time." Eros said, and they disappear, the mists disappear as well, Daylight Dimmer realizes that they have stopped absorbing for now and went into hiding, so Daylight Dimmer went to the cave.
Demonicus, Daylight Dimmer, and Starburn were all having a meal and watching a flashback in the water with Princess Celestia and Demonicus dueling with wooden swords, Princess Celestia was getting angry at the fact that Demonicus was deflecting and blocking all of her attacks, he eventually uses his wooden sword to undo the white bandages wrapped around Princess Celestia's abdomen. Princess Celestia's abdomen was exposed and she was worried, they hear a boing sound and Princess Celestia's stomach sticks out, revealing a pot belly. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn laugh at the fact that Princess Celestia used to be overweight, she was completely embarrassed, and her face was all red. Princess Luna and Star Swirl the Bearded were watching them, Star Swirl the Bearded had a shocked face while Princess Luna was laughing, her mane was light blue in the past. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn keep laughing,
"See that, you two, that's why I have you two on this strict exercise and diet regime, Celestia had a mostly cake and pancake only diet, with the only healthy thing in her diet being fruits, it took her a long time to lose all the weight." Demonicus said, the two stop laughing loudly and chuckle at the sight, still finding the fact funny.
Six months pass and the Friendship Absorbers have still not appeared, Daylight Dimmer did several jobs for Demonicus, Starburn was also trained enough to protect Equestria as well, the two tracked down whatever threats were threatening the ponies and took their lives, it was usually wildlife, but they spared the animal if it had children or was a youngling itself, it was one of the first things Demonicus taught them about dangerous wildlife that threaten the citizens. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn often stayed in the shadows, and shot the beasts in the back of the head with arrows made from their hatreds and angers, Starburn's aura was a light red-orange.
Daylight Dimmer and Starburn were in the cave and Demonicus goes to them,
"Daylight Dimmer, you have a letter from Doctor Whooves, he wants to see you in Ponyville." Demonicus said,
"Who is he?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"Well, let's just say he's a man who has seen it all, he's older than me and Celestia." Demonicus replied, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn were shocked,
"Well, go on, Daylight, don't keep him waiting, he has his address on here too." Demonicus said, Daylight Dimmer sees it and he heads onwards to Ponyville to go see Doctor Whooves.
Doctor Whooves and Daylight Dimmer sat across from one another,
"Then you tracked down the address and that's how you got here." Doctor Whooves said,
"Yup." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Have you found the other two Friendship Absorbers yet?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, but I do have a target Demnoicus gave me." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"And who would that be?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Queen Chrysalis." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Alright, but one thing, since you operate in the shadows, I think that's cowardly, and I think you're weak, I want you to prove me wrong by beating Chrysalis in a direct fight." Doctor Whooves said,
"Very well, but I expect payment if I win." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"A hundred bits." Doctor Whooves said,
"Deal, all of this killing from the shadows has been making me bored recently, anyway." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Alright, good luck, and you don't have to pay since I'm the one who tracked you down." Doctor Whooves said,
"Alright, thanks." Daylight Dimmer replied, and he leaves the house and goes to track down Queen Chrysalis.
Queen Chrysalis was walking around in a forest all by herself and she sees Daylight Dimmer approaching her,
"Who dares approach the queen of the changelings?" Queen Chrysalis asked,
"My name is Daylight Dimmer." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Wait, Daylight Dimmer? I know you, you're the one who fought the Friendship Absorbers." Queen Chrysalis said,
"Killed one, Hathor." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Oh, so that's what happened, I've always wondered why the yellow mist disappeared." Queen Chrysalis said, Daylight Dimmer summons two dark green swords,
"What are you doing?" Queen Chrysalis asked,
"For the safety and protection of Equestria, you have to die." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"What? Why?" Queen Chrysalis asked,
"You have attacked us again, and again, and again, and you rejected forgiveness and friendship, some of us have grown tired of your attacks." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Even before I invaded, my changeling minions have been diminishing." Queen Chrysalis said,
"I probably killed some of them." Daylight Dimmer replied, Queen Chrysalis becomes shocked,
"So you're the one who has been making my changelings go missing!" Queen Chrysalis said angrily, Daylight Dimmer was ready to fight,
"You made my invasion of Canterlot harder than it had to be, you will die for your interference!" Queen Chrysalis said angrily,
"I'm ready for that, the question is, are you?" Daylight Dimmer asked, Queen Chrysalis growls and the two were ready to fight.
Queen Chrysalis shoots a green blast from her horn and Daylight Dimmer jumps onto a tree branch to dodge it, he jumps down and tries to slash Chrysalis' horn horizontally with the sword in his front left hoof to sever it. Queen Chrysalis moves her head around to dodge the attack aimed at her horn. She shoots Daylight Dimmer away with another blast, he gets hit and is shot back, he does a backflip in midair and lands on his hind hooves.
Daylight Dimmer jumps in the air and aims his swords at Queen Chrysalis' horn, she shoots another green blast at him. Daylight Dimmer makes his entire body turn dark green and Queen Chrysalis' attacks become ineffective, she becomes shocked and then growls as she fires more green beams at him, they were ineffective on him.
Queen Chrysalis changes to Cadence and shoots a beam of love at Daylight Dimmer grunts and he changes back to normal, he sees that Queen Chrysalis used love to counter his hate.
Daylight Dimmer focuses and sees Queen Chrysalis shoot another beam of love, he jumps over it and changes his swords to a bow and arrows, he shoots Queen Chrysalis in the horn with an arrow, she screams while the dark green arrow burns her and it disappears shortly afterwards, Queen Chrysalis changed back to normal.
Queen Chrysalis growls and shoots a big green blast while screaming with rage, Daylight Dimmer quickly makes his bow and arrow and disappear and shoots a dark green blast out of his front hooves, it was the same size as Queen Chrysalis' blast, and the two enter a deadlock.
Ending A
Queen Chrysalis focuses on her blast and it overpowers Daylight Dimmer, he is shot back and falls onto the ground, Queen Chrysalis walks to him and he had no energy left to get up. Queen Chrysalis shoots him in the face with a green beam while he just glares at her and accepted his fate, he loses his life and Queen Chrysalis laughs since she has claimed victory.
Doctor Whooves was watching through one of his devices and saw that Daylight Dimmer has lost his life, Doctor Whooves sighs and shakes his head,
"I knew you wouldn't win in a direct fight." Doctor Whooves said, and he walked back to his office and waited for his next patient.
Demonicus was watching through the water's reflection and was not surprised,
"So you lost after all. Starburn." Demonicus said, Starburn walks to him,
"Yes, Master." Starburn said,
"Your uncle has lost his life, remember, I said it could happen to you and him anytime, it's now your turn to go after Chrysalis, use the anger you have because of your uncle's death, and your hatred of Chrysalis for taking his life, to combat her, now go, take her out before she can recover, and if you can, kill her from her blind spot or behind with one hit. Recover your uncle's body as well, we'll bury him and pay him our respects if you win." Demonicus replied, Starburn nods and he leaves to go fight Queen Chrysalis.
Ending B
Daylight Dimmer gives into his anger and hatred of his foalhood and any mean ponies he encountered while doing his jobs for Demonicus. Daylight Dimmer overpowers Queen Chrysalis and she is hit. Queen Chrysalis screams as she flies back from the blast, she tries to move but cannot,
"Wait, this feeling. No! Hatred! The one thing that is poisonous to a changeling!" Queen Chrysalis said with shock, she screams in pain from the hatred that just hit her. Daylight Dimmer walks to her and she looks at him with a worried face, he makes his two dark green swords appear and he slashes her neck with a horizontal slash going from left to right with both swords and Queen Chrysalis screams.
Daylight Dimmer went back to Ponyville the next day and Doctor Whooves paid him a hundred bits the next day, happy that Daylight Dimmer proved him wrong. He was about to walk out of the town but he saw Thorax fly into Ponyville and he ran to the School of Friendship, Daylight Dimmer decided to follow him.
Thorax goes to Twilight Sparkle's office, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Starlight Glimmer, and Spike were there as well, Daylight Dimmer was outside the office with his left ear on the door,
"Thorax, what are you doing here?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"I need Ocellus to come home now, it's urgent." Thorax replied,
"What's going on?" Starlight Glimmer asked,
"Queen Chrysalis was killed yesterday." Thorax replied, the eight present gasp in shock,
"Where was she found?" Applejack asked,
"In a forest just northeast of our kingdom." Thorax replied,
"Do you have any idea who did it?" Spike asked,
"Not a clue." Thorax replied,
"Well, come on, let's go investigate." Rainbow Dash said,
"I agree, I'll tell the princesses about this." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"No matter what you say, I am not touching the body." Rarity said,
"There is no need to, we can just move it with our magic." Thorax replied,
"There weren't any animals that got hurt, were there?" Fluttershy asked,
"Nope, the animals are fine." Thorax said,
"Alright, and Pinkie, no playing around, this is serious." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"No fun? Okay, I'll just sit and watch." Pinkie Pie said in a sad tone,
"Well, let's go." Twilight Sparkle replied, and they leave the office, Daylight Dimmer stood behind the door to hide from them, it is closed with Twilight Sparkle's telekinesis, he becomes a bit worried and goes to where he and Queen Chrysalis fought.
Daylight Dimmer jumps from tree to tree and sees Queen Chrysalis' body, the nine people from the office were there, along with Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, Sandbar, and Ocellus. Ocellus was very uncomfortable at seeing Queen Chrysalis' lifeless body, Sandbar came along so he can comfort her, Rarity exclaimed in shock at the sight, and almost fainted,
"I don't understand, who would do such a thing?" Princess Cadence asked,
"Was there anypony suspicious in the Crystal Empire yesterday?" Sandbar asked,
"No, everypony was acting normally." Shining Armor replied,
"Still, who could have done this?" Princess Celestia asked,
"I mean, we were enemies with her, but we would never go as far as to take her life." Princess Luna said, Ocellus senses Queen Chrysalis and becomes uncomfortable,
"What is it, Ocellus?" Sandbar asked,
"Thorax, her body has the same sense as the others." Ocellus said, Thorax feels her and becomes uncomfortable,
"No way, you're right." Thorax replied,
"What's the matter?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"Even before we invaded you guys at Canterlot, when we were still enemies with you guys, someone was hunting us down and killing us, this person had the same magic like Princess Cadence, but it was hatred instead of love." Thorax replied, the ponies become shocked,
"Is that bad?" Princess Cadence asked,
"Yes, hate is extremely toxic to a changeling, it paralyzes us and we cannot cast magic, the person who hunted us down took us down with hate, if Thorax and I are right, then Queen Chrysalis was killed by the same person. We stopped being hunted after Queen Chrysalis was overthrown, and we became allies with you guys, but this person might be back to hunt us again." Ocellus replied, the ponies were uncomfortable,
"Well, you two should stay in your kingdom for now, we promise, we will get to the bottom of this and find the culprit, that person is going to the sun, I refuse to have enmity and hate spread throughout the land." Princess Celestia said, she then senses Daylight Dimmer and looks to where she was sensing him, the others look,
"You there, come out." Princess Celestia said, Daylight Dimmer did not move, she shoots a yellow beam of telekinesis at him, he jumps to a different tree and flees, they hear him, but do not see him,
"Who was that?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"Who knows, but we got a mystery to solve, we'll let you know what we find." Princess Luna replied,
"Okay, come on, Ocellus, let's head home." Thorax said, and they all leave while the changelings take Queen Chrysalis' body to bury her.
Daylight Dimmer goes to Canterlot the next day and posed as a regular citizen, five days pass and he was at the castle, outside, just standing around, pretending to be a tourist. He hears the double doors to his right open and saw Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Starlight Glimmer, Spike, and, to his surprise, Sunset Shimmer, who was called over to help them investigate Queen Chrysalis' death,
"I don't understand, we haven't found a single unicorn who knows how to use hatred as magic." Rarity said,
"Rarity's right, y'all, this is goin' nowhere so far." Applejack replied,
"I tried asking the animals in the forest for information the other day, all they said was that the blast of hate was dark green." Fluttershy asked,
"Dark green? Do any of you know anypony or changeling with a dark green blast?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"Nope, not that I can think of, I don't think I've ever seen a pony with a dark green magic aura." Pinkie Pie replied,
"Me neither, I've never seen a dark green magic aura before, either." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Well, let's focus, we'll have every unicorn use magic to see what color their magic auras are." Shining Armor replied,
"And I'll sense their auras, if there's hatred in their magic, then the love in my magic will be able to find it." Princess Cadence said,
"Well, come on now, let's go see the unicorns use their magic." Princess Luna replied, and they walk past Daylight Dimmer.
Twilight Sparkle stops walking for a minute and runs back to Daylight Dimmer and looks at him,
"What the?" Twilight Sparkle asked as she looked at him, he was stoic and did not move, he was also the same height as the alicorn, completely surprising her,
"What is it, Twi?" Applejack asked as she and the others went to her and looked at Daylight Dimmer, surprising the others,
"Whoa, he looks like a male version of you, Twilight." Rainbow Dash said,
"I know, I'm surprised to see this, too, but his mane, tail, coat, and eyes are all complimentary colors to my own, even the two streaks in his mane and tail are the opposite colors of the streaks in mine." Twilight Sparkle said,
"What a coincidence!" Pinkie Pie replied,
"Excuse me, but are your mane and tail dyed?" Fluttershy asked, Daylight Dimmer shook his head,
"I'm Twilight Sparkle, this is Rainbow Dash, this is Rarity, this is Pinkie Pie, this is Applejack, this is Fluttershy, that's Spike, that's Starlight Glimmer, that's Sunset Shimmer, this is Shining Armor, my brother, this is Princess Cadence, that's Princess Celestia, and that's Princess Luna." Twilight Sparkle said, Daylight Dimmer just watched stoically and did not respond,
"Well, what's your name?" Pinkie Pie asked,
"Daylight Dimmer." Daylight Dimmer replied, Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer were surprised,
"Wow, even his name rhymes with mine and Sunset's." Starlight Glimmer said,
"Well, that's enough now, let's continue with our investigation." Princess Celestia said, and they get ready to leave.
They walk away and Daylight Dimmer waits for only Sunset Shimmer to be out,
"Sunset Shimmer?" Daylight Dimmer asked, she looks at him and goes to him,
"Yes, Daylight Dimmer?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Has Celestia failed you, too?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"Well, initially, yes, I thought Princess Celestia was a bad teacher, but she and I had made amends, after I met Princess Twilight, I realized I was wrong, and asked for forgiveness from Princess Celestia." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"I see." Daylight Dimmer said in a somewhat stoic and sad tone, a tear rolled down his right eye,
"What's wrong, Daylight?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"Celestia has failed me completely." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"What do you mean?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"When Celestia was accepting somepony to be her protégé, I wanted to be her student, it was so I could get away from my life, a lazy father who doesn't do anything and was mean to everypony, a mother who cared more about running a farm than her own family, both of my parents were materialistic, an older sister who left home to become a career thief, and a foalsitter who would eventually become my brother-in-law, who neglected me and was only sitting me to get close to my sister, he only married her for her physical appearance, while my sister only married him for his money. I was bullied in school too, I had no friends, the lowest grade on every assignment in every subject, and the poorest student in the class, I was picked on all the time, and was the only pony who didn't do extracurricular activities. The teachers cared more about getting paid than teaching us, a lot of the information they taught us was false, especially in history class. When I heard Celestia was looking for a protégé, I thought it was my chance to leave that life behind and go somewhere happier, but my parents refused, but that didn't send me over the edge, what sent me over the edge was she was only accepting unicorns, and as you can see, I'm an earth pony, so even if my parents did agree, Celestia wouldn't take me in anyway, I got mad and destroyed my home, and then my parents disowned me." Daylight Dimmer explained, keeping himself stoic and prevented himself from crying, even though looking back hurt him a lot on the inside,
"Oh, I am so sorry." Sunset Shimmer said, very sad about it as well, she asks "Did you find a new home?", Daylight Dimmer nodded,
"Yes, I got adopted by a unicorn, I think four months after that, you became Celestia's protégé." Daylight Dimmer replied, Sunset Shimmer was very surprised,
"How old were you at that time?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"I was a teenager." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Oh my god, you're older than me." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Many years later, my sister and foalsitter had a baby by accident, they showed me and my parents, they got mad and called it an abomination, the only reason why they brought was so that one of us would adopt it so they would not have to take care of it, so I took it and gave it to the unicorn who adopted me, he and I raised him together." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"How is he?" Sunset Shimmer asked,
"He's happy with his life." Daylight Dimmer said, Sunset Shimmer smiled,
"I was going to tell Twilight Sparkle, but I thought that I should tell you instead because I thought you would be able to understand me better since you and Celestia had a falling out while Twilight Sparkle never did, well, she did, but not as big as the one you and Celestia had." Daylight Dimmer said,
"I see, we did reconcile recently, though." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"I see, well, I have one more thing to say, lean forward, this might make you laugh." Daylight Dimmer said, Sunset Shimmer leans forward,
"Celestia had a pot belly when she was younger." Daylight Dimmer whispered, Sunset Shimmer chuckled a bit and then burst out laughing,
"Princess Celestia used to be overweight? I can totally see that, I mean, all her diet consisted of was cake, pancakes with syrup, and fruits, and she ate cakes the most, and drank nothing but tea, oh, this is too good." Sunset Shimmer said,
"Well, that's all I had to say, sorry for taking up your time." Daylight Dimmer said,
"It's alright, stay safe, Daylight." Sunset Shimmer replied, and they hugged one another and Sunset Shimmer ran to her friends.
Daylight Dimmer continues to stand outside and was pretending to be a normal citizen, it was night time and the ponies and dragon he saw earlier already went home. He hears walking and he ignores it,
"Daylight Dimmer." Princess Celestia said, he becomes surprised and looks at her,
"I couldn't help but listen to what you said to Sunset Shimmer this afternoon, I want to have several words with you." Princess Celestia said,
"You heard what I said?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"Yes, I have excellent hearing." Princess Celestia replied,
"Oh." Daylight Dimmer said,
"Daylight Dimmer, my reason for accepting a protégé wasn't so a pony can escape their old life to go to a happier one, it was so unicorns with naturally strong magic can learn how to use it and control it with the powers of love and friendship." Princess Celestia said,
"You're still a failure to me, and not just because you wouldn't have accepted me." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"What makes you see me in such a way?" Princess Celestia asked,
"The threats you gotten rid of in the past came back again in the present, you banished Nightmare Moon, she came back, you imprisoned Discord, he broke out, you fought Chrysalis and lost, you couldn't save the Crystal Empire from Sombra's curse, he came back too, you and Luna imprisoned Tirek, he broke out, Chrysalis came back again and you and your family and friends got captured, the pony of Shadows came back and you didn't do anything, and you were turned to stone while talking to Luna instead of trying to dodge the obsidian orb, and lastly, when these things happen, you're not doing anything to help, you're just standing back and watching most of the time." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Daylight Dimmer, you must understand, I don't wield the Elements of Harmony anymore, I can't defeat them today because of that reason." Princess Celestia said,
"You can still try to do something to help though." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"For example?" Princess Celestia asked,
"Evacuate the citizens." Daylight Dimmer replied, Princess Celestia was stunned, she has never thought of that,
"I see, and Daylight Dimmer, suppress it all you want, I can sense the hatred and anger in you at your family and bullies." Princess Celestia said, Daylight Dimmer looked down, Princess Celestia lifts Daylight Dimmer's chin up with her front right hoof,
"Daylight Dimmer, I'm sorry I let you down, and I couldn't accept you as a protégé, I'm also sorry that I didn't learn about your old life sooner, I would've sent Cadence to spread love there if I did. Learning that you wanted to be my pupil but couldn't because you aren't a unicorn actually really hurt my feelings as well, but I am still willing to try to help you, if you have something on your mind or need advice, the door to my throne room is always open, I promise I'll try to help you in any way I can." Princess Celestia said, Daylight Dimmer felt tears roll down his eyes because Princess Celestia has finally reached out to him,
"There, there, Daylight Dimmer, let it out." Princess Celestia said, Daylight Dimmer felt the tears roll down his eyes, but he did not cry,
"If you have the time, you should spend time with Twilight Sparkle, she is the Princess of Friendship, you should go to Ponyville and you two should get to know each other." Princess Celestia said, Daylight Dimmer was silent and thought about it,
"It's time for me to rest, stay safe, Daylight Dimmer." Princess Celestia said, she hugged him and went into the castle.
Daylight Dimmer wiped his tears away and looked around, it was quiet, he then saw orange and red mists appear, he realized that the two remaining Friendship Absorbers have resurfaced, he was contacted telepathically,
"They finally returned, now go, Daylight, seek them out and destroy them, as long as they're still around, friendship and hatred must be balanced, when they are destroyed, then we can let friendship spread, now go and destroy them." Demonicus said, and he ends the contact. Daylight Dimmer jumps off of the castle and runs north to where the mists were going and where the full moon was at, he heads into the night to go hunt down and kill Himeros and Eros.
Doctor Whooves was walking home in Ponyville and he saw Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Starlight Glimmer, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle all hanging out with one another, they see him and wave at him while smiling, he waves back at them, he also saw Derpy flying around, Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops hanging out with one another, and Cup Cake and Sugar Belle working together. Doctor Whooves hears limping and sees a male earth pony who came into town about three weeks ago goes to him, he had a black coat, a short black mane and tail, and blue eyes, his cutie mark was a pink heart with two black silhouettes in front of it, one of a male earth pony, another of a female earth pony, they were holding hooves,
"Oh right, your therapy session's today." Doctor Whooves said,
"Yeah." the male earth pony said,
"This way." Doctor Whooves said, and the two walk to his home. The two head to Doctor Whooves' home and the Mane Six, Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Starlight Glimmer run to him,
"Hey, take it easy, sugar cube, you ain't done recoverin' yet." Applejack said,
"I know, but my therapy session's today." the earth pony replied,
"Oh right, you did schedule for that today." Apple Bloom asked,
"What happened to you before you came to Ponyville?" Scootaloo asked,
"It's a long story." the earth pony replied,
"Where are you staying?" Sweetie Belle asked,
"Sweet Apple Acres." the earth pony replied,
"Yeah, Granny's watchin' over him." Applejack said,
"Didn't he get injured on the farm a few days ago?" Starlight Glimmer asked,
"No, he was already heavily injured when he came here three weeks ago, I was outside and I saw him limpin' here, mah family and I ran to him and took him in to treat his wounds." Apple Bloom replied,
"I remember that, Fluttershy and I flew down to see him." Rainbow Dash said,
"Yes, I remember that too, nopony knew how he got injured." Fluttershy replied,
"I always did admire you six, especially you, Fluttershy, you were my favorite one of the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony." the earth pony said,
"Oh, why thank you." Fluttershy replied,
"Yeah, it's always nice to meet a fan." Rainbow Dash said,
"Well, that's enough chitchat, he and I are late for today's session." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Alright then, make sure ya come home on time, okay? You'll make Granny worried if ya don't." Applejack said,
"Alright." the earth pony replied, and he and Doctor Whooves go to his house.
The two sit across from one another in Doctor Whooves' home,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Equality, I was going to be a marriage counselor because of my cutie mark, but then it happened." the earth pony replied,
"Well, go on, we're already behind schedule." Doctor Whooves said, and Equality begins to tell his story.
Equality was living in a town that was south of Ponyville, very far away, it was isolated and did not have any train tracks at the town, so trains never came in. Equality has just graduated from school and was living with his father, Casanova, his mother passed away from complications while giving birth to him. Casanova had a black coat, a long black mane and tail, turquoise eyes, and his cutie mark was a pink heart, he was the town's marriage counselor, he was training his son to be one so he can retire. Equality was bored with his life, he was laying down in his bed and looking at a poster of Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack, the ponies he admired the most, he wanted to go on an adventure and save the land like how they have, he groaned in disappointment that he will never do the things they do.
Casanova walks into his room and sees him,
"Son, I know you want a different life, but marriage counseling is something our family has done for generations." Casanova said,
"I know, but I want something different for a change." Equality replied,
"Equality, what those six do is dangerous, you'll be better off doing our family's job." Casanova said,
"It's also that I wish the girls in this town were nicer, the boys are friendly, but the girls always make fun of me for not having a mother." Equality replied,
"I know how you feel, I was picked on by girls when I was younger too, also, Mars is here to see you." Casanova said, and he enters. Mars had a light red coat, a long yellow mane and tail, and sky blue eyes, his cutie mark was a black mars symbol, he was a unicorn who was the same age as Equality.
Mars walks to him while Casanova leaves the room,
"You're still looking up to those six?" Mars asked,
"Of course, I wish to go on adventures like them." Equality replied,
"Oh please, I can take them out easily if I wanted to." Mars said,
"Why's that?" Equality asked,
"I've been working on perfecting a special spell of mine." Mars replied,
"Is that the only reason?" Equality asked,
"Oh no, I have another spell so that their Cutie Map won't be able to detect this town." Mars replied,
"I think you're bluffing, like you always did when we were younger." Equality said,
"I'm not bluffing this time, I'm serious." Mars replied,
"Prove it to me." Equality said,
"Alright, but first, I need to do tests to make sure my spells work alright, I have four of them." Mars replied,
"Alright, I guess I'll come to see if you're right, seeing is believing." Equality said, and the two go out together.
Mars and Equality walk to a female earth pony, she had a gray coat, red eyes, a long dark red mane and tail, her cutie mark was a fist that looked like it was about to punch someone, that mare was Rock Fist, she was a pony who despised Equality and Mars, more than the other mares in town,
"Hey, Rock Fist." Mars said,
"What do you want?!" Rock Fist asked angrily,
"I have something I want to try with you." Mars replied, and his horn glows gold, a black mars symbol appears in front of him,
"I'm ready, try to hit me if you can." Mars said,
"You are so dead." Rock Fist replied, and she ran to him and tried to tackle him, but she went through him,
"Huh?" Rock Fist asked, she tried hitting Mars with her hind legs but it went through him,
"What sort of sorcery is this?!" Rock Fist asked,
"New spell I made, no mare can hurt me now." Mars replied,
"I see, but I still got Equality here to beat." Rock Fist said, and she walks to him, Equality got ready to defend himself,
"Fight all you want, you can't overpower me." Rock Fist said, and she proceeds to attack Equality, she overpowered him easily and beat him, he grunted from each hit, she finished after a few minutes,
"You're a tough one, Equality, unlike that crybaby, Mars." Rock Fist said, and she walked away while chuckling. Mars was deeply hurt by the name calling, Mars used to cry a lot when he was bullied by the mares in the town when he was a colt, and his mother would not let him retaliate or fight back, and she would give him beatings if he did,
"What do you think of my new spell, Equality?" Mars asked,
"What's it do?" Equality asked,
"It's a gender restraining spell, one of a kind, created by me, this spell allows me to decide which gender of the pony gets to touch me, when this mars symbol is on me, only males can touch me, any physical contact or magic spell from a female pony is completely ineffective against me." Mars replied, Equality was impressed, but uncomfortable about that spell,
"Okay, let's try my second spell." Mars said, and the two walk together.
Equality and Mars walk together and saw a big family together, it had two grandmothers, two grandfathers, a mother, a father, an uncle, an aunt, a son, a daughter, a niece, and a nephew,
"Okay, that's the perfect target, time for my next spell, but only a small scale version of it, the regular version will affect the entire town at once." Mars said, and he casts his next spell on the family with a zap, the family feels dizzy, the grandfathers, father, uncle, son, and nephew remember one another, but they had no clue on who the grandmothers, mother, aunt, daughter, and niece were, this scared the female members of the family,
"Now, for my third spell." Mars said, and his horn glows, the six female members of the family were made unconscious and they disappear. Equality becomes shocked when he saw this,
"Where did you send them?!" Equality asked,
"I'll leave that up to your imagination." Mars replied, much to Equality's shock,
"Now, for my last spell." Mars said, and he casts it, an entire barrier appears around the entire town, the ponies see this and they glare at Mars, especially the mares,
"There, now with the barrier up, the Cutie Map can't detect this town, not only that, anypony outside the town won't be able to see this town." Mars said while smiling,
"How long do these spells last?" Equality asked in a worried tone,
"Forever, it'll never go down until I take it down, so even if I die, the spells will stay up, oh, and one more thing, I made the spells so that only I can control them, other unicorns won't be able to dispel them." Mars replied, Equality was worried,
"Equality, it's getting dark, you should come home." Casanova said loudly,
"Well, Mars, we should head home." Equality said,
"Yes, be ready to wake up to a new and improved town tomorrow." Mars replied while smiling,
"It's not possible for things to be new and improved at the same time." Equality said,
"I just like how it sounds." Mars replied, and the two walk home.
The mares in the town tackle them, Equality receives several beatings while Mars goes past them unharmed, the zaps from the female unicorns go through him as well. Equality crawls on the ground to evade the mares, Casanova sees him and grabs him. The two run home while the mares in the town throw things at Equality, they have been doing this ever since he was a colt because he did not have a mother. Casanova and Equality arrive home and Casanova treats his son's wounds,
"It's getting late, you should head to bed." Casanova said,
"Yes, dad." Equality replied,
"Good night, son." Casanova said,
"Good night, dad." Equality replied, and he goes to his bedroom.
Equality laid down on his left side and looked at his poster of Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack, he looks at it wistfully before falling asleep and was dreaming about going on an adventure with them, he was having fun with the six, and Fluttershy was his best friend, she was his favorite of the six in real life, they were fighting the changelings and defending Equestria. Mars was wide awake and he casts two of his spells that affected the entire town, Mars snickered and he went to sleep.
Equality wakes up the next morning and saw Casanova was at the table and reading the newspaper,
"Morning, dad." Equality said,
"Morning, Equality." Casanova replied, Equality looks at a picture that Casanova had on the wall, it was his marriage to Equality's mother, but Equality's attention was caught, the picture of his mother was cut out,
"Dad, why did you cut mom out of your wedding picture for?" Equality asked,
"Mother? What mother? I was never married, you just appeared to me all of a sudden when I was in the hospital, I don't know how that happened." Casanova replied, Equality's eyes widen at what Casanova said,
"Wait. Dad, you forgot mom?" Equality asked,
"I don't know what a mom is." Casanova replied,
"How about daughter?" Equality asked,
"Nope." Casanova replied,
"Sister." Equality said,
"Are you okay, Equality, do you need to have your head checked out?" Casanova asked,
"No, I'm fine, I'm just... wondering what Mars has been doing." Equality replied,
"Oh, he should be out right now, just be home by night time." Casanova said, and Equality walked outside.
Equality walks outside and notices that the town seemed peaceful, everything was the same as before, except for one thing, the town was only filled with males, there were no females in the town. Equality walks around and saw the males all wave at him and say hi, he waved back. Equality walks around a bit more and did not see any mares in the town, he sees several pets running around, and to his shock, even all of the female pets were gone, only male animals were in the town, they were all playing and having fun. Equality decided to go to the town's library and decided to check the town's history, and to his shock again, anything about the historical female figures or any mention to a female was completely written out of the history books, he checked the biology book next, everything about the female's body was cut out, Equality was very shocked at this.
Equality walks outside and goes to the school, there were only male students and male teachers, he was very curious about the history and science classes, he stands by the windows to overhear history class, he ducked to avoid being caught. He hears the ponies talk about the town's history, but everything the female historical figures did were left out, they were not mentioned either. Equality crawls to the class that was teaching biology, they were teaching how ponies reproduce, but the teacher said colts instead of foals, the fillies was not mentioned, and the teacher said how they exist is a mystery, Equality found this to be disturbing, he crawled away after hearing enough.
Equality walks around the town to see what else has changed, and to his shock, all of the landmarks made by the female historical figures of the town were gone. Equality runs to where the statues of the town's founders and sees the statues of the female founders were all gone. Equality runs around the town and sees everypony was living peacefully, he notices a wedding going on and looks at it, he sees only male ponies were present, he looks and notices that the marriage was between two grooms, there was no bride, much to Equality's surprise, the town has never had such a marriage, Equality leaves nonetheless.
Equality walks around and looks at the families, they only had fathers, sons, grandfathers, uncles, and male cousins, there were no female family members, Equality was not surprised because there was not a single female pony or animal in the town, but he was wondering where they were, he runs to the nearest stallion,
"Excuse me." Equality said, the pony looks at him, he asks "Where can I find Mars?"
"Don't worry, he'll appear to you." the pony replied, and he left,
Equality ran around and was in the town square, he turns around and looks to the west,
"Where is Mars?" Equality asked himself, he heard a poof behind him,
"Good to see you, Equality." Mars said, Equality turns around and looks at him,
"Mars, what is this?" Equality asked,
"Paradise, welcome to Stallionville, Equality, the town where there are no female ponies, and male ponies can live in peace." Mars replied,
"You mean Stallion Town or Colt Town." Equality said,
"They didn't roll off the tongue very well, Coltville didn't sound good to me, either." Mars replied,
"Look, Mars, I know that the female ponies in the town and your mother have been very mean to you ever since you were a colt, but this is not the right thing to do." Equality said,
"I have my reasons, Equality, I think you were tired of those female ponies picking on you as well." Mars replied,
"Well, yes, I was." Equality said,
"See, consider this a getaway from those mean mares, go on, Equality, enjoy yourself, and come see me again when you're done exploring the things I have done to this town." Mars replied,
"*sigh* Fine, but one more thing, I'd like to know why you didn't erase my memories of the mares." Equality said,
"Because you were my only friend when I was growing up, I didn't want to mess up your memories." Mars replied,
"Okay then." Equality said, knowing full well that it will backfire on him if he gets out of the town and spreads the news of what Mars has done all over Equestria,
"Well, I hope you enjoy yourself, have fun, Equality." Mars said, and he disappeared, Equality sighed and walked around the town.
Equality walks around town and decided to go check the market square, he notices that the stores only sold weapons, armor, business suits, and healthy foods and drinks, everything else was gone, the fashion shop was gone, so was the art shop and the music shop, the literature shop was still there, but only had books of history, science, and how to cast magic, children's books and other books for entertainment were gone.
Equality goes to where the town's mayor works, he was present, so were his assistants, but only the male ones, he goes and sees the mayor coming to him,
"Oh, hi there, Equality, what can I do for you?" the mayor asked,
"Uh, do you know what a female is?" Equality asked,
"Why, no, I have never heard of them, that word's not in the dictionary, either." the mayor replied, Equality was a little surprised,
"What are you and your assistants doing, mayor?" Equality asked,
"We are making a new flag for our town, I think it came out splendidly." the mayor replied, and he shows Equality the flag, which shocked him, it was a red flag with a black mars symbol in the center of it,
"One gender is all we need." the top motto said,
"Fathers, sons, male cousins, uncles, nephews, and grandfathers are all equal." the bottom motto said, Equality was uncomfortable,
"What do you think?" the mayor asked,
"Uh, it's great." Equality replied while uncomfortable, he thought the flag was hideous,
"Good, I'm glad you like it." the mayor said,
"Well, mayor, I have to go now, see you next time." Equality replied, and he left.
Equality walks around more and saw the town's museum, he walks in and was shocked to see the area where they had statues of Equestria's heroes and rulers have changed, the statues were now of Prince Shining Armor, Star Swirl the Bearded, Clover the Clever, Rockhoof, Flash Magnus, and Spike the Dragon. The original statues were Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Star Swirl the Bearded, Clover the Clever, Somnambula, Rockhoof, Mistmane, Flash Magnus, and Mage Meadowbrook. Equality could not believe that Mars has changed even the museum, he looks around and sees the plaques, Star Swirl the Bearded, Clover the Clever, Rockhoof, and Flash Magnus were famous for saving Equestria from Discord and Tirek, while Prince Shining Armor and Spike the Dragon were famous for destroying King Sombra and saving the Crystal Empire.
Equality walks around the museum a bit more and saw that even the skeletons of the female animals that were extinct were gone, every single art piece was gone as well, not a single painting was in the museum, but there were swords and spears everywhere, along with old royal guard and Wonderbolt uniforms. Equality walks out after a while and saw male adult ponies training colts for combat, he was a bit happy to see it, Casanova taught him martial arts when he was a colt, it made him remember some fond memories of his colthood,
"I knew you'd be happy to see that." Mars said from behind Equality, he turned around and looked at him,
"So, what exactly is your idea of paradise, Mars?" Equality asked,
"A town with no females, every male wearing nothing but armor and military clothing, everypony being trained to be able to defend themselves, everypony having extremely high education in math, science, history, and knowledge about different cultures, everypony having weapons, and everypony living in a happy family, I just finished my spell to make it real." Mars replied, and he casts it, a white flash happens.
Equality opens his eyes and was a bit surprised at the new Stallionville, every building and house was fortified with cannons on them, every single house and building was also black, the sky was filled with nothing but thunderclouds, and the sky itself was red. Everypony was covered entirely in black armor, and everypony had a sword and a spear with them,
"See, Equality, this is Stallionville, isolated, but militaristic and peaceful, welcome to paradise." Mars said, Equality looks around and saw he was the only one not wearing black armor, even Mars was wearing it,
"Say, Mars, can I have the armor, too?" Equality asked,
"Sure, sorry about that, I changed my spells around so they wouldn't affect you." Mars replied, and he zaps the black armor onto Equality, he makes a mirror appear with his magic to show Equality his new armor,
"I would also like for a skull to be painted on my helmet." Equality said,
"Now, that sounds really cool, hang on." Mars replied with a smile, and he zaps the helmet, Equality's helmet now had a white skull painted on the facial area, Equality nodded and Mars makes the mirror disappear,
"Alright, enjoy, Equality, I hope you like this Stallionville." Mars said and he disappears.
Equality walks around and sees male ponies marching in unison while they patrol the town, they were all stoic and did not say anything, the animals were also armored, they stood and guarded several areas. Equality decides to walk around a bit and saw the colts were still being trained in fighting, he saw Casanova was training them as well, which did not surprise him, because Casanova was a martial artist, he made up his own style in order to defend himself from angry male ponies when he was younger.
Equality goes to the market square and saw Stallionville was only selling weapons, armor, food, medicine, dumbbells, barbells, resistance bands, and other workout equipment. Equality knew where Mars got the idea of Stallionville from, his father, who was a retired royal guard who used to work at Canterlot, and misses those days, Mars was planning to be in the royal guard when he gets older, but his mother will not allow it, and was a control freak and had a fear of germs.
Equality was curious and decided to go to the town's farm, he sees the earth ponies there were growing organic food, they were being stored and preserved, along with the clouds making rain fall to speed up growth. Equality goes over and sees the male ponies who were on break were doing exercises to stay in shape, they see him and wave at him, he waved back. Electricity is heard in the sky and Equality looks, the Pegasi were storing electricity in the clouds, they were wearing shockproof outfits, which were also black, it actually made Equality a bit worried, all of the yellow electricity made him a bit uncomfortable, but he decided to look elsewhere.
Equality decided to walk around and saw something new, he goes over and sees the colts and stallions were taking a bath in a pool of water in the ground, they laid their armors on the ground. Equality's attention was caught when he saw Casanova was there as well,
"Come on in, the water's nice and cold." a stallion in the water said, Equality smiled, he always liked a cold bath and shower better than a hot one, he thought it had more health benefits.
Equality takes his armor off and goes to the bath,
"Son, over here." Casanova said, Equality smiled and got in the bath while sitting across from his father,
"Equality, look who else is here." Casanova said, and he sees a male Pegasus swim forward, it was a foal, he had a gray coat, a short black mane and tail, and red eyes, he did not have a cutie mark yet. His name was Marine, he has just lost his parents in an accident recently, they were working at the weather factory, but a thundercloud got filled with way too much electricity, and it exploded, his parents were caught in its shockwave and lost their lives, Casanova has considered adopting him since he was close friends with his father. Marine swims towards Equality,
"This place is awesome, I can finally become strong and defend myself here." Marine said,
"I must admit, I kind of do like this town, too." Equality replied, even though he tried to hide it, he was actually enjoying the current Stallionville,
"Do you like the water, Marine?" Casanova asked,
"Sure do, this beats bathing in warm or hot water any day." Marine replied, even though the water was a bit cold, it was too warm for Equality's liking, he liked his baths and showers ice cold, so did his father,
"Say, what do you two do in this town?" Equality asked,
"I'm a counselor, I help ponies deal with intergenerational male bonding problems." Casanova replied,
"I'm a student at the school, it's really cool, they're teaching math, science, history, martial arts, and military tactics, they have us do gym and running, and there's a special class for each type of pony, using magic for unicorns, controlling the weather for Pegasi, and growing food for earth ponies." Marine said, Equality smiled at hearing this, but was not comfortable with the history subject.
A trumpet is heard and Equality looks up, he saw Pegasi flying around while playing trumpets,
"Come on, son, that means the next shift for patrolling and exercising is about to start, it's our turn to do some marching, try to keep up." Casanova said, and they dry up, put on their armor, and Equality follows Casanova and Marine, they line up with other stallions and colts and begin running,
"Up in the morning to the rising sun." the leader of the running group sang,
"Up in the morning to the rising sun." Casanova, Equality, and Marine sang with the rest of the runners,
"Gonna run all day till the running's done." the leader sang,
"Gonna run all day till the running's done." the runners sang,
"Discord is a son of a gun." the leader sang,
"Discord is a son of a gun." the runners sang,
"When he saw us, he was on the run." the leader sang,
"When he saw us, he was on the run." the runners sang,
"I love serving Shining Armor." the leader sang,
"I love serving Shining Armor." the runners sang,
"Wish I could serve him some more." the leader sang,
"Wish I could serve him some more." the runners sang,
"One, two, three, four, I serve Stallionville." the leader sang,
"One, two, three, four, I serve Stallionville." the runners sang,
"One, two, three, four, I love Stallionville." the leader sang,
"One, two, three, four, I love Stallionville." the runners sang,
"My ville." the leader sang,
"My ville." the runners sang,
"Your ville." the leader sang,
"Your ville." the runners sang,
"Our ville." the leader sang,
"Our ville." the runners sang,
"Stallionville." the leader sang,
"Stallionville." the runners sang,
"If I die in the combat zone." the leader sang,
"If I die in the combat zone." the runners sang,
"Box me up and ship me home." the leader sang,
"Box me up and ship me home." the runners sang,
"Pin my medals upon my chest." the leader sang,
"Pin my medals upon my chest." the runners sang,
"Tell my dad I've done my best." the leader sang,
"Tell my dad I've done my best." the runners sang,
"Meatball. Meatball. Spaghetti underneath." the leader sang,
"Meatball. Meatball. Spaghetti underneath." the runners sang,
"Ravioli. Ravioli. Great Barrier Reef." the leader sang,
"Ravioli. Ravioli. Great Barrier Reef." the runners sang, and they finish their running.
Equality, Casanova, and Marine stretch and were ready to get on with their days,
"Say, are there any tourist attractions in this town?" Equality asked,
"Tourist attractions, Equality, we don't have time for such pointless things, being prepared for combat, staying in shape, being highly educated in many different subjects, researching to cure illnesses and diseases, and male bonding are important, tourist attractions aren't." Marine replied,
"What do you guys use for currency?" Equality asked,
"Food and water, son, everystallion and everycolt here knows that." Casanova replied,
"Do you guys have visual arts?" Equality asked,
"We only use that to determine where the other colts are at." Marine replied,
"What about theatre arts?" Equality asked,
"Pointless, don't need to learn it." Casanova replied,
"Culinary arts." Equality said,
"Just simple hay, fruits, vegetables, and water is enough to keep you healthy." Marine replied,
"Fashion." Equality said,
"That's what the armor is for." Casanova replied, the armor was surprisingly comfortable,
"Music." Equality said,
"We only need to make simple noises for anystallion or anycolt to determine our locations." Marine replied,
"Romance." Equality said,
"That's another word for male bonding." Casanova replied,
"What is a full family in this town?" Equality asked,
"Grandfather, father, son, half-brother, older brother, middle brother, younger brother, twin brother, cousin, uncle, and nephew." Marine replied,
"One more question, where is Mars?" Equality asked,
"He's in the underground area of the town, he's making sure we live peacefully and that there are no crimes, he's the one who informs us if something bad does happen." Casanova replied,
"Uh, where is the entrance to the underground again?" Equality asked,
"In the town square, very center, it is a bit hard to miss, it's the same color as the ground." Marine replied,
"Alright, thanks." Equality said, and he ran to the town square.
Equality runs to the town square and several things caught his eyes, he notices that the makeup and cosmetic store was gone, so was the clothing store for the mares, it was replaced with a store for buying and selling armor, the manespray and perfume store was gone as well. Equality sees the store for buying supplies for babies and sees even the babies in the town were wearing black armor, but they still had milk bottles and diapers, they had toy daggers and very small toy spears to play with. Equality hears a baby crying and he looks, he saw a male pony shaking it and feeding it, he smiled at the fact that the male ponies were willing to take care of the babies, the male pony was also speaking in a pitch higher than his usual voice to calm the baby, Equality was happy watching but focused and went to the town square, and saw a newly placed area where the pets were being trained to defend themselves, he ignores it and goes to the town square.
Equality arrives into the town square and he saw the flag the mayor made on top of the building he works in, which was now a fortress; Equality sees the hatch on the ground and he opens it, it was the same color as the ground, and he enters. Equality walks down the stairs and it became dark, his vision was black. Equality arrives at the bottom of the stairs and walks forward, he looks and saw projections of the entire town up ahead. Equality hears dripping and saw red liquid fall, he looks up and was horrified at the sight, he saw all of the female ponies and animals in the town being held in some kind of gold crystalline substance on the ceiling, they were unconscious and skinny, almost like skeletons,
"Mars, what did you do?" Equality asked, a gold flash appears and Equality grunts as he is hit, he is shot out of the area and was back in the town square with Mars floating in the air, his armor was gone,
"This is what Stallionville needs, Equality, while the male ponies get to live peacefully and happily, the female ponies stay trapped in those crystals, with it slowly eating away their lives, it serves them right for being mean to us all the time." Mars said,
"Mars, I know you're mad, but did you really have to put the fillies and animals in there, too?" Equality asked,
"Yes, the females try to control us, they can't be argued with or reasoned with, and only look at their own sides of the story instead of all sides, it's always either things go their way, or it's no way, we're better off without girls." Mars replied, Equality can already see several flaws in Mars' idea of paradise,
"What about the other creatures, Mars, you know, the dragons, the yaks, the griffins, the hippogriffs, the changelings, what about the males of those creatures?" Equality asked,
"It's called Stallionville for a reason." Mars replied,
"Okay, but what if a friendship problem happens in this town?" Equality asked,
"Equality, remember, there's a barrier up around the town that makes this place undetectable by the Cutie Map, so if there is a friendship problem in this town, nopony will be called here." Mars replied,
"What if an outsider comes here?" Equality asked,
"The same barrier around this town prevents outsiders from seeing this town, they can't hear what goes on, either." Mars replied,
"What if Princess Celestia finds out about this?" Equality asked,
"Oh, I actually wish that will happen, remember that I'm the only one who can control these spells, and I've got a spell on me so that females can't harm me, I can imagine Princess Celestia's face when she finds out that she can't undo my spells, and none of her moves work on me just because she's a female, same with the other princesses and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, just imagine their faces when they realize that they can't harm me just because they're girls." Mars replied while chuckling,
"You forgot Prince Shining Armor, Spike, Big Mac, and Discord." Equality said, Mars became speechless,
"Lastly, how are you going to preserve this town?" Equality asked,
"What do you mean?" Mars asked,
"When the male ponies start dying from sickness or old age, what are you going to do?" Equality asked, Mars was completely speechless,
"See, exactly, Mars, we cannot reproduce if we have just one gender, we need females so they can give birth to children, while they need males so we can give them the love and affection they need for them to have children in the first place, one gender can't survive on its own, Mars, males and females need each other." Equality said, Mars was still speechless,
"Are you saying that you don't like Stallionville?" Mars asked in a surprised tone,
"No, don't get me wrong, Mars, I do, I really do, but to have male ponies live in paradise while having female ponies held captive and have their lives drained from them is wrong." Equality replied, Mars growled at him,
"What do you know about living with a woman?! You don't even have a mom!" Mars said angrily,
"No, but I know about her from what dad said, she was a warm and loving pony, the only mare who truly loved my father for who he was, and not just for his appearance." Equality replied, Mars just glared even more,
"I know you're mad, and I know you hate girls because they're all mean to you, but not all girls are like that, Mars, if you head out into the world, you'll meet some nice ones, just ask my father." Equality said,
"Did you ever go out yourself?" Mars asked,
"No, but I know for certain that what you're doing is wrong, and I ask you to stop, you're my friend, Mars, I don't want to hurt you." Equality said,
"Fine, since you don't agree that we're better off without girls, and wish for them to be free, I have no choice, I'm sorry, Equality, but since you don't agree with me, I have no choice but to label you an enemy." Mars replied, and his horn glows, a spell is cast and the stallions and colts in the town look at him, they run towards him,
"You are an enemy now, Equality, I have to stop you, this is a paradise for stallions, since you don't like it, you can join the girls. Stallions, colts, pets, attack!" Mars said, and he disappears.
The stallions run towards Equality and he gets ready, but his armor glows gold and it disappears, shocking him. The stallions run towards him with swords and try to attack him, Equality moves around and stays calm while the two stallions try to slash him, he ducks and goes behind them. he presses pressure points on their backs to knock them out. The third stallion tries to attack him with a spear, he dodged the thrusts easily, he grabbed the spear and wrestled for it, the stallion pulls it forward and Equality lifts his hind legs up, he kicks the stallion in the face, his helmet protected him, and it had no effect, much to Equality's surprise, because he did that move on a fully grown stallion in the past, and it knocked him out with one hit.
Equality sees the next stallion had a short sword, he swings it around and it was fast. Equality dodged it but had trouble, he was looking for an opening, front legs are wrapped around the stallion's neck while his hind legs were pulled back to knock him down, Equality saw Casanova and Marine, the stallion was knocked out, so was the stallion with the spear. Casanova and Marine run to him and were ready to help Equality against the stallions, their armors glow gold and they disappear,
"Dad? Marine?" Equality asked,
"One of the things taught in this town: family is the most important thing, more important than friends." Casanova replied,
"Right, you were talking about adopting Marine." Equality said,
"I'm already adopted." Marine replied,
"Oh." Equality said, the stallions surround them,
"Okay, Equality, Marine, remember what I taught you two." Casanova said, the two nod, and the ponies and animals run forward.
Casanova fights with his bare hoofs, he was strong enough to send ponies flying back a few centimeters with his hits, he punches one stallion in the face with his front right hoof, he spins around and hits the stallion again with the back of his front left hoof and knocks him out. Equality did grapples and kicked the stallions in their temples with his hind legs, one stallion tries to attack him from the front with a spear, he makes it stop in midair by clapping the back of his front hooves together, catching the spear, another stallion tries to attack him from behind, Equality lifts his hind legs up and kicks him in the face, knocking him out, he then pulls the spear forward and brings the stallion forward, Equality presses pressure points on his face to knock him out. Marine was using leg locks and chokeholds to deal with the colts, he pressed on the necks of the animals to knock them out, he was very uncomfortable with hurting animals, so he tried to make their knock outs as painless as he could.
Casanova was dodging short swords and the stallions were almost cutting one another because of where Casanova was moving. Equality sees another pony with a spear coming to him, he thrusts it and Equality grabs it and throws him forward, he stumbles,
"Dad, behind you!" Equality said, Casanova sees him, he grabs the spear and throws it into the air, the pony went into the air as well, he hit a wall and was knocked out as he slid down. Marine finishes knocking out the colts and animals with his locks and chokeholds, he jumps onto an adult's back and wraps his front legs around his neck, the pony moves his front hooves into Marine's front legs to undo the chokehold, Equality runs behind him and pulls his hind legs back to make him trip, Casanova then hits him in the back of his neck with his front right knee and knocks him out,
"You alright, Marine?" Casanova asked,
"Yeah, I'm running out of stamina, though." Marine replied,
"Well, you're still young, dad and I will train you if we get out of this." Equality said, and more stallions come to them.
Casanova presses the pressure points on the stallions to knock them out, Marine was surprised that Casanova only needed to press one spot on the body to knock them out. Equality throws the stallions on his shoulders and pressed a few pressure points, he did not know as many as his father, but it was enough to knock out the stallions. Marine continued doing chokeholds and locks to distract the enemies Equality were fighting, Casanova would help at times as well, all three teamed up a few times to knock out an enemy.
The three pant and see everypony and animal were knocked out and breathing, they were not heavily injured,
"Everyone alright?" Casanova asked, Equality nodded, Marine groaned, the two look and see Marine had a purple spot on the right side of his mouth, he got it from a punch from one of the stallions,
"The only one left now is Mars." Equality said,
"Yeah, we'll go after him next." Casanova replied, Marine grunts and falls,
"Marine!" Equality said while Casanova ran to him, he got on his hind knees and holds Marine up with his front legs,
"You go on and deal with Mars, son, I'll stay here and treat Marine's wound." Casanova said, Equality nods and he runs to the underground area.
Equality arrives into the area under the town square and saw Mars was not there, he looks up and sees the female ponies and animals were skinnier, he can tell that they were about to lose their lives, he looks around and sees a white paper in the area,
"I'm waiting for you at the top of the mayor's fortress." the letter read, Mars heads out and sees it, it had the flag at the top of it. Mars runs through the fortress and arrives at the top in less than a minute, he saw Mars standing in front of him, he uses telekinesis to throw a short sword at Equality, which he catches into his front right hoof, Mars was holding one as well,
"It's just you and me, Equality, fair fight, one weapon, no armor, and no magic, if I win, you must clean up the mess you have caused and treat everypony and animals of their wounds, along with your father and Marine." Mars said,
"Very well, if I win, you must restore this town back to its old self, and have the female ponies and animals back here, along with everypony's memories being fixed." Equality replied,
"Alright, enough talk, let's go." Mars said, and the two run to each other.
Equality and Mars swing their swords around and were hitting the blades against one another; Casanova and Marine hear the blades clashing against one another and they look; Equality and Mars keep swinging their swords around and were only hitting the blades of their swords at the time. The two enter a deadlock with their swords and press it against one another,
"You're vulnerable right now." Equality said while smiling, Mars looks at him with a confused look, Equality lifts his hind right leg up and kicks Mars in the groin, he grunts loudly and Equality smacks Mars' sword off of the ledge, he then threw his sword off the ledge. Mars stood up while growling, he charges forward while screaming in rage, Equality puts his guard up, but Mars jumps up and kicks Equality in his chest with his hind legs, Equality grunts loudly and falls, he struggles to get up,
"See, Equality, what you did was against a stallion's code of honor." Mars said, Equality groans and stands up, he was having trouble focusing,
"I can still fight." Equality said weakly,
"Prove it to me." Mars replied and he runs to him.
Mars jumps and was about to do another kick to Equality with his hind legs, Equality turns ninety degrees to his right and dodges the kick, Mars lands and turns around, he runs and he tries to hit Equality with his front hooves, which Equality blocked and parried, he was also trying to hit Mars with his front hooves, Mars blocked and parried all of his moves as well. Equality grabs Mars' hind hooves and throws him over his head, Mars landed on his front hooves and then wrapped his hind legs around Equality's neck, he flips his body forward and the front of Equality's body hits the roof of the fortress hard, he grunted loudly from it. Mars rolls off of him and the two stand up, Equality was starting to run out of energy, while Mars still had plenty, Mars runs forward and lifts his hind legs up and was about to stomp on Equality's head with his front hooves, Equality quickly gets behind Mars and puts his front legs under Mars' front legs, and press his hooves against his head, he also wraps his hind legs around Mars' hind legs and the two fall with Mars grunting.
Mars grunts and tries to break free,
"I win, Mars, change everything back to what it once was." Equality said,
"No, remember, you did something against a stallion's code of honor." Mars replied,
"So did you." Equality said,
"That was to make you feel what I felt." Mars replied,
"I still won, now change everything back." Equality said,
"No!" Mars said, and he tries to break free, the two roll off the ledge during the struggle and fall onto the ground, Equality grunts loudly from the fall, it really hurt him as well, Casanova and Marine ran to them, Mars got up and looked at Equality,
"The answer's no, Equality, you cheated on that one part, Stallionville stays." Mars said, he then grunts while he was knocked down, Casanova held one of the short swords at Mars' throat,
"Mars, you look up to your father the most, and he always kept his ends of the deals he has made, regardless if his opponent cheated or not, he would be very disappointed in you right now." Casanova said, Mars had a surprised face while thinking about his father,
"Change things back, Mars, and if you do, I promise to look past this and still be your friend." Equality said, Mars was surprised,
"You will?" Mars asked, Equality nods and replies "Yes."
"Alright then, but I don't have a spell that can erase your memories of this place." Mars said,
"That's okay, I enjoyed it here." Marine replied,
"I did too." Casanova said,
"So did I, and maybe them, too, Mars, maybe doing Stallionville once a year will be fine." Equality said,
"Sure, that's fine with me, now we have to decide on a date." Mars replied,
"How about every year on Father's Day?" Marine asked,
"No, that won't do, some fathers only have daughters, and they won't get anything." Casanova replied,
"Well, we can decide later, let's go back to our old life, Mars." Equality said,
"Wait, Mars, can we have our armors back, too?" Marine asked, Mars nods and makes the three have their black armors back, he then uses his magic to create a white flash. Equality looks around and sees everypony and animal was back, it was night time as well,
"You should head home, Equality, it's late." Mars said,
"Okay, I'm going to Ponyville, I want to meet my idols." Equality replied,
"Okay then." Mars said, and he teleports away.
Equality goes into his house and was limping from his fight with Mars, he gets a letter and writes with his mouth,
"Dear dad,
I am moving to Ponyville, I always admired Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and especially Fluttershy, and I want to meet them. If you, Marine, or Mars wish to see me, you will know where to find me.
Your son,
-Equality
P.S.
I love you, dad."
Equality puts the letter on the table and goes to Ponyville.
Equality grunts and groans as he limps to Ponyville, it took him six hours to arrive, he pants heavily from his injuries from his fights. He sees the sun rise and saw Sweet Apple Acres up ahead, he groans while he walks and saw Apple Bloom up ahead. She sees Equality and quickly runs to her family,
"Applejack, Big Mac, Granny, there's somepony comin' here from the back, he looks hurt." Apple Bloom said, the three walk with her to go see, they see Equality limping forward, they become shocked at seeing him,
"Hang on, sugar cube!" Applejack said while she and Big Macintosh ran to him, they pick him up by his front legs and carry him, he groans in pain while he is carried.
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were flying together, they see Equality and become worried, they quickly fly down and check on him,
"Hey, you okay, buddy?" Rainbow Dash asked as she checked him,
"Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack." Equality said weakly,
"You mustn't speak, you need to rest." Fluttershy said, and they watch him as he is carried,
"Get him into the barn." Granny Smith said, and he is carried in.
The six ponies present go into the barn with Equality, he was laid into a bed with hay on it,
"What happened to you?" Fluttershy asked,
"Fight." Equality replied weakly,
"Look at that outfit he's wearin'." Apple Bloom said,
"I know, Apple Bloom, Ah never seen any armor like that before." Applejack replied,
"How bout you, Big Mac?" Apple Bloom asked,
"Nope." Big Macintosh replied, they hear dashing and see Pinkie Pie come in,
"Pinkie Pie?" Equality asked weakly,
"The one and only." Pinkie Pie replied, and she came forward with bandages,
"How did ya know, Pinkie?" Apple Bloom asked,
"Pinkie sense." Pinkie Pie replied,
"Hang on, I'll go tell the others." Rainbow Dash said, and she flew out.
Rainbow Dash came back and Rarity and Twilight Sparkle came, they had medical supplies with them,
"We came as fast as we could, where's the injured?" Rarity asked, and they show her, the two were surprised at seeing him, the two use their magic to take his armor off, they see his back was badly injured,
"Rarity, Twilight Sparkle." Equality said weakly, they were surprised,
"I always admired you six." Equality said weakly, the Mane Six become surprised and happy,
"Oh, well, it's good to meet an admirer, what's your name?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"Equality." Equality replied weakly while the others treat his wounds,
"You okay? What happened to you?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"It's complicated." Equality replied weakly, and he grunts loudly,
"That's enough, y'all, he needs to get his rest." Granny Smith said, and they leave and Equality falls asleep.
Doctor Whooves and Equality sat across from one another,
"It sounds like you had quite the journey three weeks ago." Doctor Whooves said,
"Yeah, I want to take a break now." Equality replied while smiling,
"Say, I've wanted to do another guys night or something similar, can you do another Stallionville for some of us in this town?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Well, I could try, but I'm still injured." Equality replied,
"Okay, well, it's almost dark, you should head home, session is ten bits." Doctor Whooves said, Equality pays him and he heads out.
Equality was about to go back to Sweet Apple Acres and saw Spike in front of him,
"Is it true that you're from a town with only male ponies?" Spike asked,
"Well, it's not like that anymore." Equality replied,
"Well, if you can make it happen again, I'd like to go there, too, I can finally have a party on my own without those six ponies." Spike said, Equality chuckled,
"I'll see what I can do." Equality said, and he heads to Sweet Apple Acres and goes to sleep.
Morning comes and Equality was having breakfast with the Apple family,
"Let me get this straight, yer from a town where there ain't any female ponies." Applejack said,
"No, there are, always been." Equality replied, the Apple family look at one another,
"Well, if ya say so." Applejack said, they hear walking outside,
"Excuse me." Casanova said from outside,
"Dad, I'm here." Equality replied, he comes in with Marine, they both had the black armor on, surprising the Apple family,
"Good news, son, I finished the papers for adoption, you have a younger brother now." Casanova said, Marine runs to Equality and they hug one another,
"We have to go back home, dad, we have to talk to Mars." Equality said,
"Alright, let's go." Casanova replied, and the three head home.
Equality talks to Mars about doing Stallionville again because other males outside of the town wanted to do it, Mars agreed and others that Spike invites to come to party while Mars makes the first Stallionville appear. Equality, Casanova, Mars, and Marine walk together and see the many males who came, who were having fun with the native male ponies of the town, the female ponies were put asleep by a new spell that Mars has created; they saw Soarin, Bulk Biceps, and Sky Stinger were flying around, Pipsqueak, Truffle, Featherweight, and Button Mash have come as well, the four also see Carrot Cake, and to their surprise, Pound Cake, who was a baby, the two see Sandbar and Gallus have come as well, they see Doctor Whooves was having fun, he was attending a big party being hosted by Cheese Sandwich and Discord, with Feather Bangs singing, and Filthy Rich was busy selling his products in the town,
"Those guys over there are having fun." Marine said, the three look and saw Night Light, Shining Armor, Spike, Bow Hothoof, Mr. Shy, Zephyr Breeze, Igneous Rock Pie, Hondo Flanks, Grand Pear, and Big Macintosh dancing together,
"I thought there'd be more males than this." Mars said,
"Well, that dragon over there is the one who invited them." Equality replied, while they look at Spike, he did not invite Mudbriar because he did not know him, he also did not invite Snips, Snails, or Flash Sentry because he did not like them, he gave Sunburst an invitation as well, but he threw it out with the rest of his mail. Everyone parties and they go home at the end, they made a promise to Mars not to tell their female friends about it.
A month and a half passes and Casanova, Equality, and Marine were at Sweet Apple Acres, Equality has finally fully healed, the three were playing with short swords, they finish after a few minutes,
"Wow, having a father and a brother is awesome!" Marine said,
"I forgot, your parents were always away." Equality replied, Marine nodded,
"Wait." Twilight Sparkle said as she and her five friends ran to them,
"Guys, he can't just have a father and a brother, for foals to fully develop, they need mothers and sisters, too." Twilight Sparkle said,
"Sorry, but my mom passed away while giving birth to me." Equality replied,
"Well, if that's the case, then we'll act as his mothers and sisters." Applejack said,
"Well, Equality, now that you're fully healed, I think you're ready for our family job." Casanova said,
"Yeah, I think I am, marriage counselor, here I come." Equality said while chuckling, Rarity screamed in shock at the job, she ran to him,
"No, you are wearing black armor and are covered from head to hoof, and you have a skull painted on the part of your helmet that covers your face, this outfit definitely will not do, come to my store and we shall give you a more proper outfit for your job." Rarity said,
"Also, Marine, there's more to life than military and fighting." Fluttershy said,
"Like what?" Marine asked,
"Books." Twilight Sparkle said,
"Parties!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly,
"Fashion." Rarity said,
"Taking care of animals." Fluttershy said,
"I'll give them a try one day." Marine replied, the Mane Six smile,
"Bath time, Marine." Equality said, and he fills a bucket with cold water, Marine goes in it and exclaims in shock while shivering,
"Something wrong, Marine?" Equality asked,
"Too cold." Marine replied,
"But I thought you liked your baths and showers cold." Equality said,
"I do, but not this cold." Marine replied,
"Oh, sorry, I made it the way I like it, I like my baths and showers ice cold." Equality said, the Mane Six become shocked, Twilight Sparkle takes him out with telekinesis,
"No, no cold baths or showers, those are very uncomfortable. Come on, Marine, let's get you into a nice, hot one." Twilight Sparkle said, and the two go to her castle so she can give Marine a hot shower. Marine comes back uncomfortable,
"How was the hot shower?" Casanova asked,
"Uncomfortable, and my skin's itchy." Marine replied, the two chuckle and they head to bed.
Mars comes to Ponyville a week later and they go to Carousel Boutique so Rarity can get Equality a more fitting outfit for his job as a marriage counselor,
"Now, Equality, dear, as your job as a marriage counselor, you must dress to impress, it will be best if you wear an outfit a groom would wear on his wedding day." Rarity said, and she tried putting a black tailcoat on Equality, he liked it. Casanova, Equality, Mars, and Marine walk over to Rarity to pay her, Sweetie Belle was standing to Rarity's left,
"Go on, Mars, this is your first test." Casanova said, and Mars was nervous, he paid the bits while hesitant, Rarity just took it without being rude, much to Mars' surprise,
"Thank you for your payment, please come again." Sweetie Belle said, Mars was surprised,
"I have never met a friendly female pony before." Mars said, Rarity and Sweetie Belle were surprised,
"You don't have any female friends, Mars?" Sweetie Belle asked, Mars shook his head,
"Yeah, all of the girls in our hometown are mean." Marine said,
"I'm sorry to hear that, but go on and try to make female friends here, Mars, you can start with me and Sweetie Belle." Rarity said, Mars nodded, Marine was infatuated with Sweetie Belle,
"Wow, you're beautiful." Marine said,
"Thank you." Sweetie Belle replied happily, Rarity chuckled,
"Go on now, have a good day, you four." Rarity said, and the four left.
Two days pass and Equality and Marine were waiting by the train station with Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadence, who has come to spend time with her earlier this morning, they were waiting for Shining Armor to arrive, who was done with his patrolling shift. Marine has been training in martial arts with Equality and Casanova, Rainbow Dash joined them when she had the time, Mars decided to go back home to see his parents. Equality was training Marine in stamina by making him run in place while waiting for Shining Armor, Equality was running with him, the two were singing together so that their hooves touch the ground with the words,
"Pin my medals upon my chest, tell my dad I've done my best." Equality and Marine sang together,
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, guys, wait." Twilight Sparkle said,
"Equality, Marine, hold on a minute." Cadence said, the two looked at them,
"I know that you two have just one parent, but we're watching over you guys, too, so don't forget the mother, try that again." Cadence said, the two ran in place again,
"Pin my medals upon my chest, tell my mom and dad I've done my best." Equality and Marine sang together,
"Better, now go on and do the rest." Twilight Sparkle said while smiling,
"One, two, three, four, I serve Stallionville. One, two, three, four, I love Stallionville. My ville. Your ville. Our ville. Stallionville." Equality and Marine sang together, Twilight Sparkle and Cadence chuckled,
"Wow, but I think it'll be better if you replace the second counting part with "five, six, seven, eight" instead." Twilight Sparkle said,
"One, two, three, four, I serve Stallionville. Five, six, seven, eight, I love Stallionville. My ville. Your ville. Our ville. Stallionville." Equality and Marine sang together, they did not like how it sounded,
"No, I like the original better." Equality said,
"Yeah, the syllables fit better." Marine replied,
"Alright, suit yourselves." Twilight Sparkle said,
"Meatball. Meatball. Spaghetti underneath. Ravioli. Ravioli. Great Barrier Reef." Equality and Marine sang together, Twilight Sparkle and Cadence laughed,
"Sunshine. Sunshine. Ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake." Twilight Sparkle and Cadence said together, Equality and Marine shrugged. The train arrives and Shining Armor gets off,
"Oh yeah, Cadence said you two would be here, come along, I have a lot of tales to share about parenting." Shining Armor said, and they go to the castle with Shining Armor talking about parenting Flurry Heart.
The next day comes and Equality was about to start his first day as a marriage counselor,
"Good luck, sugar cube, we wish you luck." Applejack said,
"Remember, dear, you can call us for help." Rarity said,
"Good luck, Equality, and remember, my door is always open." Doctor Whooves said, and Equality goes into the house Casanova rented, Marine was there as well, the first couple comes in and Equality begins his first day as a marriage counselor.
Doctor Whooves was walking around with Derpy and looking around Ponyville, the two see several of Doctor Whooves' patients, the two see Equality acting as a marriage counselor while Casanova and Marine sat with him. The two walk more and saw Gogh with Twilight Sparkle,
"Hey, Gogh, my name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm Shining Armor's sister, he and Cadence told me about your wedding day, I am so sorry for your loss." Twilight Sparkle said, Gogh nodded,
"Thank you." Gogh said, Twilight Sparkle touched the back of his neck with her front right hoof to comfort him while he looked down, a mail pony flies to him and he got an envelope, it had fifty bits in it, and a letter from Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence sending their condolences to him, Princess Cadence was especially sympathetic.
Doctor Whooves walks to Twilight Sparkle while Derpy shrugs and walks with him,
"Excuse me, Miss Sparkle." Doctor Whooves said, Twilight Sparkle and Gogh looked at him,
"Have you heard anything from Jones?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, me and the other five have been looking for him, my five friends were especially suspicious about his tale with the cult in the abandoned town, but all six of us were in utter disbelief when we discovered his tale was true, the eleven members of the cult weren't there when we investigated, though, we've been very worried about him." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"You mean that unicorn who encountered the eleven ponies who were trying to summon the four horseponies?" Gogh asked,
"Yes, that's the one, he was one of my patients before you, Gogh." Doctor Whooves replied,
"I told Princess Celestia about what we found, she was in complete shock as well, she and Princess Luna are searching for the cult members right now." Twilight Sparkle said,
"Any luck?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, we haven't found any of them yet." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"I see, well, I have to get going, have a good day, you too, Gogh." Doctor Whooves said, they smile and wave bye at him and Derpy while they walk away.
Doctor Whooves and Derpy walk together and hear a female voice,
"Doctor Whooves." the female voice said, they look and see it was Solute, she limped towards them since her front right leg and right wing were still broken,
"I'm off from school today, and Data and Inertia went home to see their boyfriends, I have nothing to do, so I thought I could come see one of your therapy sessions." Solute said,
"Of course, Solute, I'd be honored to have you." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Thank you, but first, I need some help, because of my broken leg, I can't get my dress and earrings on." Solute said,
"I can help you with that." Derpy replied,
"Oh, you're Derpy, I remember hearing about you, thank you, please, this way, Derpy." Solute said, and the two walk away.
Doctor Whooves waits for a few minutes and heard walking,
"Doctor, we're done." Derpy said, and he saw Solute, she was wearing a long simple one-piece black dress that were just above her hind hooves, there was no opening in the front of the dress, it was sleeveless on her front legs, the dress also had holes on the sides so her wings can go through; she had a small earring in each ear, they were silver chain drop earrings with a light blue water drop at the bottom of them; Solute was also wearing black high heel shoes on her hind hooves. Doctor Whooves thought Solute looked beautiful, she had her dark blue eye shadow on as well, but her long purple, wavy mane and tail were still the same style,
"I thought you would style your mane and tail too, Solute." Doctor Whooves said,
"Oh no, Doctor, I don't like styling my mane and tail, I like having them down like this, I don't like tying my mane and tail, either." Solute replied, Doctor Whooves chuckled. The three hear running and they look, to their surprise, it was Roseluck, she hugged Doctor Whooves and he hugged her back, they let go after a few seconds,
"I heard your house bills got too high to pay, and needed another job." Roseluck said,
"It's alright, dear, I'm a therapist now, it pays enough to cover my expenses." Doctor Whooves replied, Roseluck smiled,
"Roseluck, honey, you remember Derpy and Solute, right?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Of course I do, you were always a great friend, Derpy, and wow, Solute, you have grown, I remember back when you were a filly." Roseluck replied, Solute chuckled while blushing and smiling, she had her eyes closed as well,
"I have a patient today, but he is a little late so far." Doctor Whooves said, hooves then touch Derpy's wings, which makes her exclaim out of shock, they look and saw a male unicorn, he had a whitish blue coat, a short bright blue mane and tail, and purple eyes, his cutie mark was a fox's head with black eyes, and orange and white fur.
The unicorn smiled while looking at them,
"Hiya, I'm the patient you were waiting for, Doctor Whooves." the unicorn said,
"Well, come along, you're already late." Doctor Whooves replied, and the four walk to Doctor Whooves' house, Doctor Whooves sat with Roseluck to his left, and Derpy and Solute to his right, with Solute to Derpy's right,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"My name's Joker, and no, I'm not the guy with the white face, green hair, red lips, and purple suit." Joker replied,
"What is your occupation?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Does comedian or prankster count?" Joker asked, Solute chuckled a little,
"Well, if you are them, then yes." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Well, I'm not, I'm just a college student." Joker said,
"So you don't have a job?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"This is my fourth job after elementary school student, middle school student, and high school student." Joker replied,
"What kind of jokes do you do, Joker?" Derpy asked,
"I do pranks, comedy skits, stand-up comedy, yo mama jokes, and whatever else I can think of." Joker said, the three mares chuckled,
"Well, moving on, let's start, and talk about yourself if you like, I'm already enjoying this session." Doctor Whooves said, Roseluck, Derpy, and Solute nodded while smiling,
"Say, who's that pretty Pegasus?" Joker asked,
"I'm Solute, family friend of Doctor Whooves." Solute replied, Joker smiled,
"Well, let's get started." Joker said, and he begins to talk about himself.
Joker grew up in Canterlot and was about the same age as Twilight Sparkle, but he lived far away from her, so they did not get to know each other. Joker's parents were scientists, Joker's father looked just like him, except his cutie mark was a white portal, and his mother had a bright red coat, long dark red mane and tail, orange eyes, and her cutie mark was a black motherboard, Joker also had a younger sister named Flamma, she looked just like their mother, but her cutie mark was a roaring tiger with an angry face.
Joker's parents were studying traveling between other dimensions, they created a portal for them to enter the human world, his parents would always come back with souvenirs for him, the first one was a big TV, they managed to connect it to the human world for him to watch, the TV shows were in white and black, Joker's favorite show was The Outer Limits, his favorite episodes were The Galaxy Being, The Man Who Was Never Born, Corpus Earthling, The Zanti Misfits, ZZZZZ, The Children of Spider County, Specimen: Unknown, Second Chance, The Mutant, Fun and Games, The Special One, A Feasibility Study, The Chameleon, Demon with a Glass Hand, Cry of Silence, I, Robot, and The Premonition. Joker also tried watching other human shows, he also grew to like Thunderbirds, he thought it was great for a puppet show, he liked The Prisoner as well, along with Kung Fu, and Kamen Rider, even though the special effects of Kamen Rider made him laugh, he took particular interest in the Shocker monster, Unicornos, even though it looked terrible.
Joker's mother gave birth to Flamma when he was eight years old, but as she grew up, she had no interest in human culture, anytime Joker tried to share it with her, it would anger her. Joker's parents got a Super Nintendo one day and Joker played a few of the games, the games were Super Mario All Stars, Super Metroid 3, Chrono Trigger, and Killer Instinct, his parents got a Sega Genesis as well, the video games were Sonic the Hedgehog, Golden Axe, Revenge of Shinobi, Shadow Dancer, Super Hang On, Streets of Rage, and Mortal Kombat. Joker's favorite Nintendo game was Chrono Trigger while his favorite Sega Genesis game was Mortal Kombat, his favorite character was Johnny Cage, his favorite move was the split punch, but he was disappointed the game only had seven playable characters, and he was never able to get Reptile to come out.
Joker and Flamma went to a school in Canterlot but they took their studies differently, Joker was carefree and did badly in school, while Flamma was serious and did great. Joker often got in trouble for trying to mimic human TV shows in the school, and telling jokes, there was one joke that still Joker still laughed to this day about,
"A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z." Joker said,
"You forgot P." the students said together,
"It's halfway down my leg." Joker said, the teacher and students screamed in shock and he was taken to the principal's office because they thought he really did wet himself and the floor.
Doctor Whooves, Derpy, Roseluck, and Solute were laughing at the joke, Joker had a smile on his face as well,
"That's one I haven't heard in a while." Doctor Whooves said,
"Joker, can you please keep those type of jokes to a minimal?" Solute asked,
"Is something wrong?" Joker asked,
"I have a weak bladder, and I'm prone to wetting myself, so please keep those to a minimal." Solute replied,
"Alright, it would suck if you did pee in that dress of yours." Joker said,
"Thank you." Solute replied, Joker noticed her hind legs twitching a little,
"Have to pee already?" Joker asked,
"Yeah, I'm training myself to hold it longer." Solute replied,
"Well, go on, Joker, I'm enjoying this." Doctor Whooves said, and Joker continues his tale.
Joker's parents were laughing at what Joker did while his teacher and the principal shook their heads. Another day came and the teacher screamed when Joker wrote the s word on the board, he was taken to the principal's office again and his parents were called,
"Your son wrote **** on the board." Joker's teacher said, causing his parents to burst out laughing.
Doctor Whooves, Derpy, Roseluck, and Solute burst out laughing while Joker laughed along with them,
"Well, that's a joke you don't hear everyday." Doctor Whooves said,
"Can I continue?" Joker asked,
"Hold on." Doctor Whooves said, and he and the three mares with him stop laughing,
"Alright, continue." Doctor Whooves said, and Joker begins to talk more about himself.
Joker's shenanigans constantly got him in trouble at school, especially his hallway pranks, one he liked doing in particular was releasing stink bombs his parents got for him from the human world, another prank he loved doing was going into the colts' bathroom, he would sit on the toilet and make extremely loud fart noises with his front legs and mouth, which made the students look at the bathroom, some of the students laughed at the sounds. A male teacher would have to take him out of the bathroom to make him stop, which got him in trouble, Flamma was always mad at him, he remembers one day when he was home with his sister,
"Joker! I am trying to study!" Flamma said angrily,
"Sorry, sis, but I'm practicing." Joker replied calmly,
"Practicing?! All you do is act stupid and make a fool of yourself! I'm tired of your pranks and jokes, you're not funny!" Flamma said angrily,
"Mom and dad think I am." Joker replied calmly,
"That's because mom and dad are not normal ponies, do me a favor, and start acting normal for once!" Flamma said angrily,
"Alright, I'll try." Joker replied calmly,
"No! Don't try! Do it!" Flamma said angrily, and she leaves in a huff while Joker sighs.
Joker did not share with the fact that he was actually sad and lonely, he had no friends in school, and the only ponies who were nice to him were his parents, but they were always busy helping Flamma with her studies, and she did not like him that much either. Joker was often bullied and the butt of cruel jokes in his classroom, one prank a student did on him was at lunch, the pony gave him a sandwich disguised as an act of generosity, he bit into it and screamed in pain, he noticed there was a metal fork in it, it cut the inside of his mouth, the students laugh while he was in pain. Joker was also excluded from doing other things with the other students, and when the students did pranks, he did not like them, especially the pranks they did to the kindergartners, one prank a female classmate of his did to a male foal who was playing a trumpet, the female classmate secretly put lit firecrackers in his trumpet and they exploded, scaring him and hitting his teeth on the mouthpiece, which really hurt him, he cried from the pain while Joker's classmates laughed at him.
Joker was unpopular in school, and highly disliked by other students and the staff, especially by the females, who thought he was not funny, and a loser. Joker got in trouble in middle school for beating up ponies who did a cruel prank to a foal, ponies around Joker's age were busy sharing a pack of candy that was very rare and one of a kind, a foal was hanging out with them, they were all talking about how delicious the candy was, the foal asked constantly if he could try one, the ponies finish and give him the bag, he was happy and reached in, but it was empty, the ponies laugh at him and he began to cry while they walked away. Joker watched the whole thing and began to feel his rage build up, he uses his telekinesis to hold them up, his magic aura was light blue, he runs towards them and attacks them while in a fit of rage. He stops and sees the beaten up ponies, he looks at the foal and noticed he was not paying attention because Pinkie Pie was giving him a full bag of the same candy the ponies ate in front of him, which made him happy.
Joker was in trouble with the royal guards and his parents were present,
"Now, son, we know you got mad, and you love foals, but you overreacted." Joker's father said,
"But they hurt the foal's feelings." Joker replied,
"Calm down, Joker, they're in trouble too, they're not badly hurt, but you're still grounded, no TV for a week." Joker's mother said,
"Yes, mom." Joker replied,
"Good, and try to control your temper next time, Joker." Joker's father said, and they headed home. Joker arrived home and Flamma punched him in the face with her right front hoof, knocking him down,
"YOU IDIOT!!" Flamma yelled angrily, Joker stood back up,
"Hey, what gives?" Joker asked,
"I was busy working on a hard math problem, with mom and dad, but then your stupidity had to get in the way and interrupt my train of thought!" Flamma replied angrily,
"Your train of thought? I was busy dealing with bullies harassing a foal!" Joker said angrily,
"So what?! Maybe that foal was a brat and deserved it!" Flamma replied angrily, Joker glared at her for her response, he did not say anything and went to his room,
"Come on, Flamma, let's get back to work." Joker's father said, and the family works together.
A few days pass and Joker practices doing jokes in his room, one comes to his mind,
"Yo mama so stupid, when an intruder broke in, she tried to dial 9-1-1 into a microwave to call the police." Joker said to himself, another came to his mind,
"Yo mama so ugly, when Discord saw her, he turned back into stone with his eyes missing." Joker said to himself,
"Yo mama so ugly, she turned Nightmare Moon back into Princess Luna with just her face." Joker said to himself,
"Yo mama so ugly, when a changeling tried to change into her, it died." Joker said to himself,
"Yo mama so fat, when Princess Celestia sent her to the sun, she ate it and it came out of her other end as ice cubes." Joker said to himself,
"SHUT UP, YOU ANNOYING BUFFOON!!" Flamma yelled angrily at him, which made Joker lose his train of thought.
A week passes and Joker spent his time watching TV and playing video games from the human world, he watched the cartoons Powerpuff Girls, Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Looney Tunes, Popeye, Codename: Kids Next Door, Teen Titans, The Batman, Young Justice, Adventure Time, Regular Show, The Amazing World of Gumball, Sonic X, Ultimate Muscle, Johnny Bravo, Yu-Gi-Oh, Samurai Jack, The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, King of the Hill, Rick and Morty, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Black Dynamite, The Boondocks, Metalocalypse, Robot Chicken, Moral Orel, Titan Maximum, Fist of the North Star, Hellsing, Pink Panther, G Gundam, and Steven Universe.
Live action shows Joker watched in his free time were Chappelle's Show, Fear Factor, Ash vs. Evil Dead, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Sons of Anarchy, Better Call Saul, Ghost Whisperer, Are You Being Served?, One Foot in the Grave, Waiting For God, Blackadder, and Mr. Bean, he was still looking for good live action shows to watch.
Joker enjoyed playing video games the most out of all of the human activities, he loved it so much, he always asked his parents to come back with a video game for him to play, he had Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Parasite Eve, Parasite Eve 2, The 3rd Birthday, Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil: Director's Cut, Resident Evil Remake, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Resident Evil Survivor, Resident Evil: Dead Aim, Resident Evil Outbreak, Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2, Resident Evil: Code Veronica X, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, Resident Evil: Revelations, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 5: Golden Edition, Resident Evil: Revelations 2, Resident Evil 6, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, God Hand, Viewtiful Joe, Viewtiful Joe 2, Okami, Dynasty Warriors 4, Samurai Warriors 2, Warriors Orochi 2, Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage, Soul Calibur II, Soul Calibur III, Soul Calibur IV, Gex, The Unholy War, Akuji: The Heartless, Kingdom Hearts, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, Persona 3 Fes, Persona 5, Catherine, Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, Silent Hill 4: The Room, Silent Hill Origins, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Silent Hill: Homecoming, Silent Hill: Downpour, Mortal Kombat II, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, Mortal Kombat 4, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Mortal Kombat: Deception, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, Mortal Kombat 9, Mortal Kombat X, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy, Area 51, The Suffering, The Suffering: Ties That Bind, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice For All, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, Ace Attorney Investigations 2, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice, Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Red Dead Redemption, Contra: Shattered Soldier, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Dishonored: Definitive Edition, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, Dead Space, Dead Island, Chrono Cross, Ninja Gaiden: Sigma, and Demon's Souls.
Joker has decided to try other human entertainments, he tried live action movies first, he watched Howard the Duck, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Full Metal Jacket, Heartbreak Ridge, Red Dawn, The Breakfast Club, Scarface, The Crow, V for Vendetta, The Mask, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Child's Play, Scream, Saw, The Thing, Phantasm, Poltergeist, Jeepers Creepers, Gremlins, Alien, Predator, The Goonies, The Shining, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, The Terminator, The Terminator 2: Judgment Day, First Blood, Hellraiser, Hellbound Hellraiser II, Animal House, The Big Boss, Enter the Dragon, Way of the Dragon, Game of Death, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from New York, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Shane, Django, and A Fistful of Dollars.
Joker tried watching animated movies next, he watched The Secret of NIMH, The Secret of NIMH 2, Anastasia, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, Mulan, Mulan II, Chicken Run, Grave of the Fireflies, The Illusionist, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, and Castle in the Sky.
Joker was playing Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and was enjoying the game, he looked at Phoenix and the judge,
"I swear, that guy in the blue suit and that guy with the beard look very familiar." Joker said to himself, and he continued playing the game.
Joker was in high school a few years later and he was about to start his last year, he was chasing after a foal who has kicked a baby fox into the river and almost drowned it, it was saved by a passing unicorn stallion, the foal was an earth pony. Joker and another pony caught up to him and held him down, the other pony pins him down and was about to kill him,
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Joker asked as he pulled the earth pony away, he had a dark yellow coat, his mane and tail were short and were mostly light orange, with a small moderate yellow streak and a big dark green streak in them, he also had bangs, his eyes were a moderate yellow, and his cutie mark was a black pentagram.
Doctor Whooves was in complete shock at what Joker just said,
"Great whickering stallions. You've met Daylight Dimmer!" Doctor Whooves said,
"You know him?" Joker asked,
"Yes, I had him as a patient three months ago." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Who is he?" Solute asked,
"I'll tell you later." Doctor Whooves replied, Joker looked and saw Solute's hind legs were shaking a bit,
"Say, is it okay if I hold onto one of the mares while I continue talking about myself?" Joker asked, the four ponies chuckle,
"Of course, choose your favorite." Derpy said,
"That would be Solute." Joker replied, they chuckle and Solute limps to him, he holds her at her mid-back and the back of her hind knees, Solute wrapped her front left leg around the back of Joker's neck as he held her,
"I'll admit, you really are pretty today." Joker said,
"Thank you, and did you know, Joker? Most boys feel better if they're touched by girls who they think are pretty." Solute replied, Joker chuckled,
"How about a kiss?" Joker asked, Doctor Whooves, Roseluck, Derpy, and Solute chuckle,
"Sorry, but no, you can look at me, you can touch me, just don't hit me." Solute replied,
"If I do, then it's by accident." Joker said,
"That's fine, just don't hit me on purpose." Solute replied, Joker nodded and continued his tale.
Joker and Daylight Dimmer look at one another while the colt watches in fear,
"What were you thinking?!" Joker asked angrily,
"I'm just doing what should've been done, this pony has been hurting the animals around here for a while, some of them have lost their lives." Daylight Dimmer replied calmly,
"It's a kid!" Joker said angrily,
"Doesn't matter, a murderer is a murderer, and all murderers must die." Daylight Dimmer replied calmly,
"But what if he doesn't know better?" Joker asked,
"That doesn't excuse his actions." Daylight Dimmer replied, Joker was shocked,
"What if it was in self-defense?" Joker asked,
"That's a different story, the animals he hurt were not in self-defense, he is guilty." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Haven't you ever heard of second chances?" Joker asked,
"I'm aware of forgiveness and giving second chances to the guilty, but there are times where simply killing them is more effective." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Can we try to give him a second chance first? Explain what he did wrong, and hopefully, he'll stop?" Joker asked,
"Alright, I'll give it a try, but if it fails, and if he does the same things again, I'm killing him." Daylight Dimmer replied, and he walked away, the foal sighed in relief. Joker explains what the foal did was wrong and to his delight, he stopped, so Daylight Dimmer will not come to take his life.
A few weeks pass and Flamma got into an accident at home while working on an experiment, it exploded and knocked her back, hurting her back when it hit a wall, their parents were in the human world at the time. Joker went to Flamma's room to bring her food and water, she just glared at him,
"Here comes your..." Joker said,
"Shut up, bring me my stuff, and get out." Flamma replied, Joker frowned, he just gave her the food,
"Sorry about your back." Joker said,
"I don't need sympathy from weak and stupid people like you." Flamma said, Joker glared and just left, he wished he could connect with his younger sister, he was not happy with the fact that Flamma does not appreciate his help, she said to him a few weeks ago that she hates him, and does not care about the fact that he was the one who took care of her when their parents were away.
Joker finishes school and tried to join the royal guard, but got disqualified due to his history as a class clown, much to his dismay, so he decided to go for a long walk, he walked out of Canterlot and was in the woods, he did not mind but came to an abandoned town while he was trying to think of yo mama jokes, he hears voices and saw the Mane Six, he decided to hide from them,
"Well, this is the place." Twilight Sparkle said,
"What was that pony's name again, Twi?" Applejack asked,
"Jones, if I remember right." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"Let's head on home, we did not find a thing." Rarity said,
"Wait, I remember, I think down over there is where he encountered the cult and unicorn horns." Twilight Sparkle replied as she looked to her right, the others look there,
"Really, Twilight? We haven't found anything." Rainbow Dash said,
"I agree, and I want to head home too, this place is scary." Fluttershy said,
"Let's just check this one last area, and we'll leave, where's Pinkie, by the way?" Twilight Sparkle asked, they hear Pinkie Pie scream and they run to where she was at, Joker ran with them.
Joker sees Pinkie Pie up ahead, the other five mares go to her and look on with shock, they see wooden structures of the four horseponies, and white, red, black, and pale unicorn horns nailed to the trees,
"Oh my gosh." Rainbow Dash said in a mortified tone,
"I can't believe it, his tale is actually true." Twilight Sparkle said,
"Unicorn horns, of four colors, I wonder who they belong to." Applejack asked,
"Did you find anypony, Pinkie?" Twilight Sparkle asked, Pinkie Pie was too shocked to speak,
"I'll take that as a no." Rainbow Dash said, Pinkie Pie snaps out of her daze,
"Hello? Anypony?" Pinkie Pie asked,
"Let's spread out and look, there are eleven cult members, we have to stop them." Twilight Sparkle said, and they look around, they came back after a few minutes,
"I didn't find anypony, how about the rest of you?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"Nope, not a single pony is here." Applejack replied,
"Rainbow Dash and I flew and searched, we didn't see anypony around here." Fluttershy said,
"Okay, I'll go tell Princess Celestia about this, I hope Jones is okay." Twilight Sparkle replied, and they left, Joker left as well.
Joker decides to attend college, which he found by himself, his pranks and jokes made him hated once again, one student in particular who hated him was a male earth pony in his final year of college, his name was Ace. Joker was impressed that he was literally everything in school except for club leader and student council president, he was the valedictorian, he had the highest grades in all honors and AP classes, he was the captain of every sports team, he lifted the heaviest weights in the gym, was the strongest hoof wrestler, the fastest runner on the sports team, and the boxing team's best fighter, and every girl wanted to date him, he had a whitish blue coat, short but well kempt white mane and tail, turquoise eyes, and was tall and extremely muscular, his cutie mark was a gold trophy with words "1st place" on it. Joker did not like Ace's personality, he was hostile and mean to everypony, and he will not help anypony who was in need of help. Joker highly disliked that despite the fact that Ace was the biggest bully in the school, he was never punished because of his good academic grades.
Joker was being watched by the student council president of the college, it was a female unicorn, she had a light purple coat, long light blue mane and tail, light blue eyes, and her cutie mark was a silver tiara, her name was Royal Sapphire, she was from a rich family. Joker was going to the student council's office to see her because she contacted him, he sat across from her,
"Now, Joker, I have recently received news that your sister has gotten in trouble the other day for her behavior." Royal Sapphire said, she had a very soft voice,
"How do you know about that?" Joker asked,
"As student council president, it is my duty to make sure everypony is okay and does fine, so if anything happens to anypony, it is my duty to check up on them, and try my best to help." Royal Sapphire said, Joker knew why Flamma was in trouble, he watched the whole thing. A colt came to the house and wanted to see Flamma, Joker was the one who answered the door,
"Flamma, you have a visitor." Joker said, and Flamma walks to them,
"Well, get out of here." Flamma said to Joker in a calm tone, and Joker walked away, he stood behind her,
"What do you want?" Flamma asked in a somewhat stern tone,
"I would like to learn the math subjects you study and do good on, I was hoping you would help me." the colt replied with a smile, Flamma glared at him,
"I would like to know why you're here asking me to waste my time to help you when you should be studying it on your own!" Flamma said very angrily,
"But the area I live in doesn't have the books to teach me." the colt replied in a timid tone,
"Not my problem, I'm not teaching you, get lost, you idiot." Flamma said in a calmer but still angry tone, the colt stood there scared,
"GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE I GIVE YOU A BEATING!!" Flamma yelled in rage, the colt screamed and ran away crying. Flamma slammed the door and saw Joker looking at her angrily,
"Why are you giving me that look?" Flamma asked in an annoyed tone,
"Flamma, you can't talk to foals like that, you're going to give him nightmares." Joker replied,
"That's not my problem, stupid people like him deserve it." Flamma said, and she went to her room. Joker went outside to go look for the colt, he looks for him, and to his surprise, he was being comforted by Princess Luna, who was holding him while he cried. Joker ran to him,
"Hey, kid." Joker said,
"Your sister's mean." the colt replied tearfully,
"I'm sorry, but my sister has always had anger issues, ever since she was a foal." Joker said,
"Joker, if you can, try to have your sister control her anger, the last thing I want is this poor foal having nightmares about her." Princess Luna said,
"I tried to reach out to her in the past, it never worked." Joker replied,
"Well, try to find a way to help her with her anger, I'll keep an eye on the foal." Princess Luna said, she looks at the colt and says "Come now, let's get you some ice cream." and the two walk together,
"Boy, the last thing I want is me and Flamma having a relationship like Dexter and Debra." Joker said to himself, and went back in. A few days pass and Joker's parents were back from the human world, they heard about what Flamma did and she was reprimanded by them, all she did was look down, the two also brought Joker a laptop, he uses it and enjoyed it, he remembers the fighting games he played and the fighting cartoons he watched, he tried to look up how to do them in real life, the main move he wanted to learn was Johnny Cage's split punch, he found Street Fighter on there as well, and taught himself how to do the Shoryuken, he used telekinesis on himself to give himself a boost, he tried to mimic Hokuto Shinken, Nanto Koshu Ken, Nanto Suicho Ken, Nanto Kokaku Ken, Nanto Hakuro Ken, Nanto Ho-oh Ken, Gento Koken, and Hokuto Ryu Ken, but he could not mimic them, not even close to the original, the closest one Joker could mimic was Gento Koken, but he had to make the energy waves come from his horn instead of his front hooves, and it was nowhere near as effective as the original.
Joker stops looking back and saw Royal Sapphire sat across from him,
"Do you have a girlfriend, Joker?" Royal Sapphire asked,
"You looking to be my girlfriend?" Joker asked jokingly, Royal Sapphire chuckled,
"No, but a boyfriend would be nice." Royal Sapphire replied,
"I'm still single." Joker said, Royal Sapphire chuckled,
"Sorry, but I don't want a boyfriend right now, I just called you here because I wanted to make sure everything was alright at home." Royal Sapphire replied,
"Well, my sister and I never got along, she's always had anger issues ever since she was a filly, anger management hasn't been able to calm her down, either." Joker said,
"I see, well, I just wanted to make sure you were alright, that will be all, Joker, have a good day." Royal Sapphire replied, and Joker stood up and left.
Joker was in the hallway and saw a mare standing in front of him, it was a Pegasus, she had a light greenish gray coat, wavy greenish white mane and tail, they were down and long, her eyes were a light bluish turquoise, and her cutie mark was a white cirrus cloud. It was High Flyer, one of his few friends in college, he only had her and three other mares as his friends in the college,
"Is everything okay, Joker?" High Flyer asked,
"Yeah, it's just, my sister got in trouble a few days ago for yelling at a foal and threatening to hurt him." Joker replied,
"I never did meet your sister, what's she like?" High Flyer asked,
"Angry, like the Hulk." Joker replied, High Flyer was confused,
"Say, I'm ready for another tongue twister battle with you." High Flyer said, Joker smiled, that was how they met.
Joker and High Flyer were in the same class, High Flyer challenged other students to do a tongue twister, to see who had the better tongue twister,
"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers." High Flyer said, she used it all the time, the other students could not think of one, until she got to Joker,
"This valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin, vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition." Joker said, much to High Flyer's surprise.
The bell rings and it was time to go home,
"Sorry, High Flyer, but I have to go home now." Joker said,
"Alright, stay safe." High Flyer replied, and they hugged one another and went their separate ways.
Joker walks home and hears a foal scream, he runs to the scream and saw an injured colt, he looked and saw Ace was fighting him,
"You're pathetic, I'll never be able to be captain of the royal guard by beating up somepony as durable as you." Ace said, and he looked at the other foals, who were all either sick or injured,
"You, you're my next punching bag." Ace said, the sick foal shook his head and quivered in fear, Ace then proceeded to punch and beat the foal,
"You guys are pathetic, I can't down any of you in one hit, tell the hospital that they need weaker foals for me to fight." Ace said,
"Hey! Ace!" Joker said as he walked to him, Ace glared at him,
"I'll be your opponent." Joker said,
"No." Ace replied,
"Why?" Joker asked,
"I only fight and hurt sick and injured children." Ace replied, Joker was disgusted,
"You hurt foals?" Joker asked calmly by angrily,
"They are my test subjects, the weaker, the better, if I can take a sick and injured foal out in one hit, then I am fitting to be the captain of Princess Celestia's royal guard." Ace replied, Joker was angry, he ran to Ace and jumped, he tried to kick him with his hind legs, he hits Ace and knocks him back a little, but he hurts himself in the process, Ace laughed,
"Give up, Joker, you're a worthless weakling, you can't ever wish to beat me." Ace said, and he walked away. Joker notices that Ace was walking on his hind legs and was writing in a book with a pencil in his front left hoof, this caught his attention, but he was still angry and followed Ace. Joker watches Ace as he continues to write in the book, which made him curious, he sees foals line up in front of him and Ace proceeded to hit them to hurt them, Joker was confused and watched, he sees Ace look around and saw a house of a pony he did not like, so he writes something in the book, and the entire house falls, much to Joker's horror, Ace chuckles as he goes home. Joker runs to the fallen house, he saw it was High Flyer, she was injured as well, High Flyer was in tears at her house being taken down, Joker glares and runs to Ace.
Joker arrives at Ace's house and saw he lived in a manor, he had gold decorations everywhere, statues of himself, pictures of himself, and many unnecessary things only the rich can afford. Joker looks around the area and disliked it,
"Even Tony Montana wasn't this flamboyant with his rich life." Joker said, and he begins to use his telekinesis, he was having trouble, it was very rare for him to use it, so it was weak. Joker focuses hard and grunts, he pulls the supporting beams of Ace's house out and the entire thing falls, Joker then looks and was horrified at what he saw, there were baby animals with injuries on them, he could not believe it, Ace was also beating up animals to make himself stronger. Ace ran out of the debris and held Joker down with his front right hoof on his neck,
"Do you know who I am?! I can mess your life up if I wanted to!" Ace said angrily,
"You just did the same thing to another pony a moment ago!" Joker replied angrily,
"It was the right thing to do!" Ace said angrily,
"Why is that?" Joker asked,
"One, I don't like that person, and two, that girl is a loser like you, I'm a winner." Ace replied,
"I get it, you have good grades, and you're the most athletic pony in the college." Joker said,
"No, I'm a born winner, I was already the best of the best on the day I was born into this world." Ace replied, Joker was starting to get angry, he was starting to dislike Ace as much as he disliked him,
"Just you wait, you won't be telling your stupid jokes, starting tomorrow." Ace said, and he stood up and walked away, Joker headed home.
Joker remembered that today was Flamma's wedding day, she was marrying a male unicorn named Scholarship, a name that Joker thought was a bit funny, he was focused on his academics and grades just like Flamma, but he was much calmer and friendlier than her, and he and Joker got along great. Joker, Scholarship, and the groomsponies have decided to try a prank on Flamma for her wedding day, the two thought it would be funny.
Scholarship had a dark purple coat, a light purple mane and tail, purple eyes, and his cutie mark was a rolled up scholarship, he usually did not wear clothes, he and Flamma wore a tuxedo and pants for their wedding, Flamma hated dresses, the only difference was Scholarship's outfit was black while Flamma's outfit was white, and Joker was wearing the same outfit as Scholarship and the other groomsponies, he was elected to be the best stallion of the wedding.
Scholarship and Flamma were standing together, Flamma was getting impatient with the groomsponies, she hears Joker gasping and wheezing,
"Help me, the wedding's too far, I'm not going to make it." Joker said, everypony looks and they see Joker and the other groomsponies were on the floor, Joker was crawling and pretending he was dying while the other groomsponies were pretending to already be dead. Scholarship, the bridesmaids, and the others present at the wedding laugh while Flamma looks at Joker with shock.
Doctor Whooves, Derpy, Roseluck, and Solute were laughing at Joker's prank,
"Oh gosh, I can't help it, that is too funny." Roseluck said,
"Yeah, but that prank made me have a complete falling out with my sister." Joker replied,
"What about your brother-in-law?" Solute asked,
"He and I still get along, doing that prank was his idea." Joker replied,
"Did he tell your sister?" Derpy asked,
"Yeah, she doesn't care, though, she's mad at me for doing the prank, she doesn't care that it was his idea." Joker replied,
"Well, that's a shame, let's keep going, and try to speed things up a bit, Joker, we're starting to run a bit short on time." Doctor Whooves said, Joker continues talking about himself.
Joker was in his room the next morning, listening to I Ran (So Far Away) by A Flock of Seagulls while thinking about his sister, who was enraged at him for his wedding prank, he was looking back at his old pranks.
One day when Flamma was four and Joker was twelve, Flamma was taking a shower, it was hot and steam was everywhere in the house, Joker snuck to the door and placed his flank at the small gap at the bottom of the door, he let out a silent fart and snuck away, Flamma began coughing and gagging at the smell a few seconds later while Joker was in his room snickering.
Another day when Joker was in middle school, when the school was getting ready to celebrate a holiday, he did a prank that he greatly regrets. He was making apples on sticks with caramel on them, he decided to prank the school and replaced the apples with onions, the ponies ate them and they began coughing and gagging from how spicy it was, he got in very big trouble with the school for the prank. He grew to regret it because some of the ponies who ate the onions were foals, and they were crying from the spice.
Joker tries to remember more but could not, so he sleeps. He wakes up the next day and goes to college, he looks sees the students were all jeering and glaring at him, Joker began to has flashbacks of his foalhood when he was in elementary school. Students throw paper balls at him, but he uses his telekinesis to hold them back. He walks calmly and silently because he knew that he will only make things worse if he loses his temper. Joker walks forward and saw Royal Sapphire waiting for him,
"Joker, we've had enough of your pranks and jokes, one more prank or joke from you, and you're expelled!" Royal Sapphire said, Joker was immediately suspicious,
"What about my friends?" Joker asked,
"High Flyer, Holy Diva, Sorceress, and Jester have all been expelled for being associated with you." Royal Sapphire replied,
"What? But they didn't do anything." Joker said,
"It's your own fault, Joker, as punishment for your annoying behavior, we got rid of your friends in the school, good luck being hated and lonely, the only two things you deserve." Royal Sapphire replied, and she walked away.
Joker walks through college and everypony glared at him, some of them insulted him, and some of them stuck their tongues out at him,
"Ace, where are you?" Joker asked,
"Ace is too pure to have his presence tainted by yours, if you have any problems, you go to Royal Sapphire." a male Pegasus student replied,
"Does this apply to everypony?" Joker asked,
"No, just you." a female earth pony replied, Joker glared and just walked away.
Joker walks around and looks for Ace, he saw him in the principal's office, acting as the principal. Joker tries to approach Ace, but he writes in the book and two royal guards suddenly appear in front of him, Joker then realized that the book was not normal, he zaps the two guards and Ace away, he then takes the book with his telekinesis and runs away.
Joker runs to a private area and opens the book, he saw the book was updating itself at the end, orange flames appeared and he saw words appear on the page with him opening the book. The book was very thick but light, he skims through the book, and to his shock, every single event that has ever happened in Equestria and beyond was in the book, he saw that every single thing that the Mane Six, Cutie Mark Crusaders, the Princesses, and the Pillars of Equestria have been through were written in the book, along with several other things that caught his eyes; a male unicorn named Jones encountering a cult led by Claudius, a male earth pony named Gogh meeting an alternate version of himself from inside a painting, three female ponies named Data, Inertia, and Solute encountering a robotic alicorn, a male earth pony named Daylight Dimmer fighting some creatures called the Friendship Absorbers and other creatures, a male earth pony named Equality being in a town with only stallions, colts, and male animals in it, and many more events.
Joker could not believe his eyes, every single event that has happened in the world was written down in the book, right down to the smallest detail, he looks at the book and can clearly see the parts that Ace has changed because his hoofwriting looked nothing like the original writing, which was in cursive. Joker looks and sees what Ace has changed, he notices that Ace has written himself to be the smart and strong stallion he was now, he reads Ace's past and sees that Ace was a happy pony with many friends when he was a foal, but he finds the first part Ace changed and saw it said that he had the highest grade on every test. The next part that he changed was being in the best shape of any pony his age. The third part he changed said that he was the only one passing his classes, and made everypony else fail, much to Joker's shock. He finds the next one and it said that Ace wanted ice cream, but his parents refused, so Ace changed history by writing his parents died in an accident as karma, and he got all the ice cream he wanted because the vendor gave it to him out of sympathy, much to Joker's disgust. Joker finds that Ace kept changing parts of his life around so that he will always be the only one passing his classes, and the only pony to be in shape so he can hurt and bully the other students for his pleasure, Joker also finds several parts where Ace would write to make foals sick and injured just so they cannot defend themselves when he beats them up just so he can test his own physical strength and fighting skills, he did the same to animals as well. Joker finds another one and sees it was his and Flamma's parents dying in an accident in the human world so that Flamma's studies can be undermined, Joker could not believe his eyes, Ace has killed his parents as well. Joker finds that the college does not punish him for his cruelty because he is writing the events in the book and changing history.
Joker is tackled from behind and Ace takes the book,
"You want to mess with me?! Fine! Prepare to die!" Ace said angrily and he changes several parts in the book, a white flash happens and it blinds Joker's eyes for a bit. Joker opens his eyes a bit and saw he was in the middle of Equestria, he uses telekinesis on himself and floats up, he becomes shocked at seeing the new land, Equestria was ruled by Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker, with unicorn versions of Midnight Sparkle and Demon Shimmer as their pupils, the royal guards were under the command of Starlight Glimmer, and an evil version of Shining Armor, the changelings were under the rule of Queen Chrysalis, the Crystal Empire was ruled by King Sombra and an evil version of Cadence, the dragons were ruled by Discord, the yaks, griffins, and hippogriffs were under the rule of the Storm King, with Tempest Shadow and Grubber as his two commanders, and the rulers were all serving under Tirek, with the Pony of Shadows serving as his bodyguard.
Joker grunts and feels his horn disappear, he fell to the ground and looks around, he hears laughing and saw Ace in the sky with the book in his front right hoof, Joker can see that Ace has changed history to make himself an alicorn,
"There, now the battleground is set, you will never win." Ace said, he uses unicorn magic to make a shield around himself, it had a light blue magic aura, magic lines connect to the rulers and Joker realized he had to take out the rulers first before he can face Ace, Ace then disappeared while laughing.
Joker looked around and was nervous on where he should go first, he saw four royal guards coming to him, he tries to fight back but they overpower him. A red blast is shot at them and they disappeared, Joker got up and looked behind him and saw Daylight Dimmer and Starburn,
"Wait, it's you again." Joker said,
"I'm a bit surprised you're here too." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"Where did that zap come from?" Joker asked,
"That was me." Demonicus replied from behind Daylight Dimmer and Starburn, he walked to them,
"What the? You look a bit like Princess Celestia." Joker said,
"Well, she and I were students under Star Swirl the Bearded, and I got kicked out for wanting to kill our enemies." Demonicus replied,
"How did Equestria become like this?" Starburn asked,
"A student from my college has this book with him, it looks like a history book, it has every single event in the world written down in it, and it updates itself all the time, any changes to the book changes history." Joker replied, much to Starburn's shock,
"I thought so, I know that book, it's called the Tome of Equestria and Beyond, any change written in that book alters history, and the book will change itself so that the information in it does not contradict the new writings, nobody knows who created it or how it was created, it didn't work on me and my two pupils because I casted a spell to make us immune to its changes." Demonicus said,
"Well, this pony's name is Ace, and he has made himself an alicorn, and he has a shield up that won't go down until we take out the rulers." Joker replied,
"Well, let's get to it, then, you three deal with Twilight and Sunset, I'll handle Celestia and Luna." Demonicus said, and they run together. The royal guards try to stop them but Demonicus zaps them with his magic and they disappear, he runs to Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker while Joker, Daylight Dimmer, and Starburn went to fight Midnight Sparkle and Demon Shimmer, Midnight Sparkle tries to open portals to the human world and Joker sees the human world was unaffected by the book; Demon Shimmer tried to put the three ponies under mind control and threw fireballs at them, but Daylight Dimmer and Starburn resisted it while Joker was being taken over, he tries to think of something to throw their attentions off,
"Princess Celestia's behind you two." Joker said, Midnight Sparkle and Demon Shimmer look back, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn shoot energy blasts out of their front hooves and hit the two from behind, they scream and disappear.
Joker sees the evil version of Shining Armor and Starlight Glimmer,
"Let's go, Shining Armor." Joker said,
"My name is Sour Armor." Sour Armor replied,
"Different name, same pony." Joker said, and Shining Armor tries to charge towards Joker, he had a spear with him as well. Joker keeps him distracted by moving around and dodging the spear thrusts, a dark green blast is shot from behind and Sour Armor screams, he disappeared from the blast, Daylight Dimmer ran to him,
"Good job." Daylight Dimmer said,
"You too." Joker replied, and the two look around. They saw Starlight Glimmer was having trouble against Starburn, since he was still a colt, she could not hit him,
"Hold still!" Starlight Glimmer said, she then says "Guards! Seize him!" but nopony answered, she looked back and saw all of her royal guards were gone, Starburn used that time to shoot a red-orange energy blast from his front hoofs and hits Starlight Glimmer in the back, she screamed and disappeared. Starburn runs to Joker and Daylight Dimmer and they look around,
"Where's Trixie?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"I guess Ace didn't write her in." Joker replied, the three hear fighting in the sky and saw Demonicus fighting Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon, Daybreaker was laughing manically,
"I am the goddess of the sun, I don't need anypony to help me!" Daybreaker said,
"That's what you think, I will show you that I am superior to you in every way by defeating him." Nightmare Moon replied, Daybreaker shoots a fiery blast at Demonicus that was from the sun while Nightmare Moon shot a blue blast at him, Demonicus used his telekinesis to fly around and used his horn to make the sun cooler, weakening Daybreaker's powers, he then shot her with a red blast, which overpowered her fire blast easily and she screamed, Daybreaker exploded into pieces,
"I told you I'm superior to you." Nightmare Moon said, and she flew around while shooting zaps at Demonicus, which he dodged by flying around, Demonicus fires a red blast from his horn and Nightmare Moon fired a blue blast from her horn, the two were in a deadlock, Demonicus shot red blasts from his front hooves that was made from his anger and hatred of his memories at Nightmare Moon, she did not see them, she was hit in the chest and she screams and explodes as well.
Demonicus floats down to the three,
"You all alright?" Demonicus asked, the three nod, but they hear noises in the sky and they see Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker reform, Midnight Sparkle, Demon Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, and Sour Armor came back as well,
"So that's Ace's plan, he's just going to keep reviving them so that we can't win, no matter how hard we try." Joker said,
"That's okay, watch this." Demonicus replied, and he casts a spell with his horn, it undoes what Ace has written,
"WHAT?! IMPOSSIBLE!!" the three hear Ace yell,
"What did you do, Master?" Starburn asked,
"I have a spell that undoes what has been written in the book, but it can only undo the most recent written thing, so whatever he wrote back then, I cannot undo." Demonicus replied,
"Can you undo the most recent thing before what you undid if you cast it again?" Joker asked,
"No, it only works if I cast it as soon as he writes it, I'm still working on perfecting the spell, though." Demonicus replied, he says afterwards "Let's go to the Crystal Empire next." and the four go together.
The four ponies run to the Crystal Empire but the evil version of Cadence stood in front of them,
"I used to admire you." Joker said,
"Used to?" Cadence asked,
"Yeah, until you became what you are now." Joker replied,
"You should have helped me when was I a foal, Cadence." Daylight Dimmer said,
"I'm not Cadence, my name is Love Stealer." Love Stealer replied,
"What happened to Shining Armor?" Starburn asked,
"Shining Armor's love was not enough for me, so I went to Discord, he couldn't give me enough love, so I'm now with King Sombra." Love Stealer replied, the four ponies get defensive,
"Guards, attack!" Love Stealer said, and they run to them, Joker remembers the moves from Killer Instinct and Mortal Kombat, he mimics them in real life and they work to an extent. Love Stealer shoots out a big light blue beam shaped like a heart from her horn, Starburn shoots a red-orange blast of hate from his front hooves and it was nowhere near powerful enough to stand against Love Stealer, she makes the other ponies' loves of one another to make a shield around herself. Daylight Dimmer tries shooting his energy blasts at her, his were too weak as well, he does a backflip to dodge her blast. Love Stealer shoots at Demonicus next, he fires a red blast from his horn and enters a deadlock with Love Stealer, Demonicus was overpowering her a bit, so Love Stealer flew up in hopes that it will mess up Demonicus' aim. Demonicus eventually overpowers Love Stealer's blast and hits her shield, it disabled and Demonicus immediately shot two red blasts of hatred from his front hooves and hit her, she screamed and exploded, she comes back due to Ace writing her revival, Demonicus casts the same spell again and Love Stealer disappears. They hear Ace groan loudly and angrily,
"Again?! What is wrong with this book?!" Ace asked angrily, which caused the four ponies to chuckle,
"Now's not the time to laugh, onwards to Sombra." Demonicus said, and the four go together. The four ponies run across the snow and arrive at the Crystal Empire, the guards were waiting for them, they saw King Sombra on the balcony as well,
"It's been a long time, Sombra." Demonicus said,
"Indeed, I am lucky that Celestia came after me instead of you." King Sombra replied,
"Well, Celestia's gone now, so is Luna and Cadence, so you have to deal with me." Demonicus said, King Sombra orders his guards to attack, only for Demonicus to cast a spell to obliterate all of the guards at once. King Sombra turns into his shadow form and goes down to the four,
"Oh great, a shadow Shoggoth." Joker said sarcastically,
"Focus now." Demonicus replied, and King Sombra came down. King Sombra shoots his dark magic and the four dodge it, black crystals form around him in the process,
"Master, we don't have any magic to counter this." Daylight Dimmer said,
"Leave this to me." Demonicus replied, and he uses dark magic, his eyes turn green with purple mists around them and on his horn. Demonicus turns into a shadow form just like King Sombra, he uses his hatred and anger of Princess Celestia and Star Swirl the Bearded to make long red spears come out of his body. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn summon their energy swords and try to attack King Sombra, the hatred that powers their magic had no effect on him. Demonicus and King Sombra were fighting with their heads, trying to bite one another, King Sombra went through the spears with no harm done to him, the two still try to bite one another with the other three watching, Joker was feeling useless and weak since he could not stand up against the enemies. King Sombra suddenly screams and he explodes, Demonicus changes back to normal and makes the spears disappear. The four look up and saw a hooded figure in a black cloak in the sky, it looked like a unicorn, but it had no facial features, its horn and entire body was black like a shadow, and its eyes were red and slanted, Joker remembered reading the book and realized it was Claudius. Claudius floats down and goes to them,
"Long time, no see, Demonicus." Claudius said,
"I'm not here for pleasantries, you're my enemy, always will be." Demonicus replied,
"Not this time, the book that changed this land's history is being changed, I wish for this land to be back to how it used to be, that's why I'm going to team up with you just this once." Claudius said,
"Alright, but if we survive this, we're enemies again." Demonicus replied,
"We always were, let's go to the Dragon Lands, I wish to take out Discord as soon as possible." Claudius said,
"Actually, I was thinking we should go to Queen Chrysalis next." Demonicus replied,
"Which one do you two want to go to first?" Joker asked,
"Queen Chrysalis." Daylight Dimmer and Starburn replied together,
"Alright, it really doesn't matter, as long we take out all of them in the end, let's go." Claudius said, and they go to the changeling kingdom next.
The five ponies go to the changeling kingdom next with Joker, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, and Demonicus running, while Claudius was floating in midair, Joker looked at him and saw that not only was he not casting telekinesis with his horn, but he can clearly tell from his cloak that he did not have wings, this caught Joker's attention, but he ignored it and the five go to the kingdom. The changelings stand by and Queen Chrysalis laughs as they were ready to fight her and her army,
"You fools, you face the queen of the changelings, I sit on this throne, and this throne makes me immune to all magic." Queen Chrysalis said,
"Why are you telling us that?" Starburn asked,
"Why are you all here?" Queen Chrysalis asked,
"To tell you Shang Tsung said he wants his souls back." Joker said jokingly, Queen Chrysalis exclaimed in shock,
"How dare you! You will pay for such insolence! Attack, my changelings!" Queen Chrysalis said, the ponies get ready to fight, but Claudius floats down and holds his front right hoof out, the head of every changeling explodes and they fall. Joker and Starburn looked on in horror at Claudius' magic, Queen Chrysalis was in shock as well,
"Impossible! Such magic does not exist!" Queen Chrysalis said in shock,
"Be blind." Claudius said, and Queen Chrysalis' eyes exploded, causing her to scream in agony,
"Be deaf." Claudius said, and Queen Chrysalis' ears exploded, which made her scream,
"Be mute." Claudius said, and Queen Chrysalis' tongue flew out of her mouth, shocking her.
Claudius holds his front right hoof out again and Queen Chrysalis screams and her entire body explodes, much to Joker's horror, Ace tries to revive her but Demonicus makes her disappear,
"WHAT?! COME ON!!" Ace yelled with rage,
"Okay, let's go to Discord next." Claudius said, and the five go to the Dragon Lands.
The five arrive at the Dragon Lands and the dragons were ready to fight them,
"Now, now, everyone, it's no fun to just take them out immediately, let's toy with them." Discord said,
"Hey, Discord, Q wants his powers back." Joker said,
"Does he really? Well, tell him he can't have them." Discord replied, and he makes it rain chocolate from cotton candy clouds. Demonicus gets ready to zap the clouds to undo Discord's magic, but Claudius walks forward and the dragons eyes' glow red, they become put under mind control. Discord becomes scared and turns the dragons into stone to prevent them from rebelling against him, he then tries to make Claudius' horn disappear, but could not,
"What? No, this can't be right!" Discord said worriedly,
"Give up, your reality warping powers don't work on me." Claudius replied, Discord becomes scared and tries to use his powers on him, Joker was shocked to see that Discord's reality warping powers did not work on Claudius. Claudius uses telekinesis to lift up Discord and bends and contorts his body,
"Hey! Ow, that hurt!" Discord said, Claudius then makes Discord's head explode telepathically, he also makes comets fall from the sky and land in the Dragon Lands to destroy the dragons. Joker was having flashbacks of his TV shows as he watched Claudius, he could not believe it, Claudius had the exact same powers as Mr. Salacia from Metalocalypse, which horrified him.
Daylight Dimmer and Starburn notice Joker was scared of Claudius,
"I've never seen a pony like him before." Joker said,
"He's not a pony." Demonicus replied,
"Is he a shadow pony?" Starburn asked,
"He's not that, either." Demonicus replied, making the other three uneasy,
"He's something else." Demonicus said, Claudius goes to them and saw that Discord and the dragons were returning, Claudius holds his front right leg out and he freezes them in time completely, making Ace's writing in the book ineffective, they then explode with their bodies flying around like shards,
"COME ON, WORK, YOU PIECE OF JUNK!!" Ace yelled with rage, causing the five to chuckle,
"Alright, let's take out the Storm King next." Demonicus said, and they go to Mount Aris.
The five ponies go to them and Joker looked around,
"Are there any creatures Ace missed?" Joker asked,
"Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk, they're creatures from this world, but they were sent to another world, I don't think that book affects the world they're in, and he probably doesn't know about their existence, he must've skipped over it when he first found that book." Demonicus replied,
"Well that explains a lot." Joker said,
"We're here." Daylight Dimmer said, and they see Tempest Shadow leading the storm guards with Grubber,
"You wish to challenge us?" Tempest Shadow asked,
"Who are you?" Joker asked,
"I am Tempest Shadow, the second-in-command of the Storm King." Tempest Shadow replied,
"Really? You're the second-in-command? I thought that guy was the second-in-command." Joker said as he pointed his front right leg to Grubber, Tempest Shadow looked at him as well,
"Former second-in-command, I was demoted to third-in-command when Tempest Shadow joined." Grubber said,
"Oh, so I was right." Joker said,
"I have no patience for people like you." Tempest Shadow said, and she fires an unstable blast from her broken horn, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn make their bodies made out of their magic, while Demonicus and Claudius floated up, and Joker jumped to his left,
"What?! Earth ponies can cast magic, too?!" Tempest Shadow asked in shock, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn shoot energy blasts at her while she was distracted, she screams and exploded, Joker sneaked behind Grubber and proceeded to choke him to knock him unconscious, he drops him and Demonicus fires a red blast from his horn at him and destroys him,
"You should've choked him to death." Demonicus said,
"Sorry, but he looked like a kid to me, I don't like hurting children." Joker replied, Demonicus chuckled,
"Neither do I." Demonicus said, they hear walking and saw the Storm Guards going,
"Go, attack, my minions!" Storm King said from his airship, Claudius' eyes glow red and the Storm Guards had red eyes, they turn on the Storm King,
"Wait, what are you guys doing?!" Storm King asked, he did not know that his guards were currently under Claudius' mind control, he was scared. His airship gets destroyed from the inside-out and the Storm King falls in front of the five ponies,
"I bring you a message." Joker said,
"What is it?" Storm King asked,
"The Storm King from the Shrine of Storms said he's suing you for stealing his name." Joker replied,
"What?! There's another Storm King?!" Storm King asked in shock and confusion, Demonicus uses the opportunity to take the Storm King's staff and breaks it with his telekinesis,
"NOOOOOO!!" Storm King said, Claudius' eyes glow red once again and the Storm King and the Storm Guards were turned into scarecrows, surprising Joker. Ace tries to write have them come back, only for Demonicus to use his magic to undo what Ace wrote, Ace screamed in rage,
"WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING?!" Ace yelled,
"Alright, only the Pony of Shadows and Tirek remain, let's go." Demonicus said, and they run.
The Pony of Shadows appears before them and roared,
"My darkness will consume this land!" Pony of Shadows said,
"Uh-huh." Joker said sarcastically,
"Got any jokes to throw him off guard?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"I'm trying to think of one." Joker replied, the Pony of Shadows fires a black blast at them, Demonicus and Claudius combine their magic blasts together and they enter a deadlock, Demonicus also fires a red blast from his front hooves and hits the Pony of Shadows in the chest, he winced in pain, but it did not stun him. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn shoot blasts from their front hooves as well, Joker got an idea and ran behind the Pony of Shadows and tries to do Liu Kang's flying kick from Mortal Kombat, he hit the Pony of Shadows in the back of his head, he screeched and was distracted, the four ponies hit him with their blasts and destroy him. Ace tries to write him to come back but Demonicus casts the spell again to undo the writing,
"COME ON!! WHY IS THIS FAILING ALL OF A SUDDEN!!" Ace said angrily,
"Alright, time for Tirek." Claudius said, and they run to him.
The five ponies go to Tirek and saw he was in his complete form,
"What is this? You two have alicorn magic inside of you." Tirek said as he looked at Demonicus and Daylight Dimmer, and he summons orbs of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Spike, he then proceeds to absorb the magic of Daylight Dimmer and Demonicus,
"Master! Uncle!" Starburn said in fear, he tried to fire an energy blast from his front hooves, it had no effect on Tirek, Daylight Dimmer and Demonicus fire energy blasts of hatred at him, it had no effect. Joker sees that Tirek was distracted and runs behind him, he jumps and grabs onto his tail, only for Tirek to smash it down. Tirek finishes absorbing magic from Daylight Dimmer and Demonicus, Demonicus' mane and tail were now only dark red instead of four colors,
"Uncle!" Starburn said,
"It's alright, Starburn, I can still fight." Daylight Dimmer said, and he and Demonicus stand up. Joker holds onto Tirek's tail while he continues to swing it down, Joker was getting weaker and was out of strength, he felt useless again. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn try shooting their energy blasts at him, it had no effect on Tirek, he laughs at their efforts,
"That tickles." Tirek said, Demonicus fires a red blast from his horn and it hit Tirek, it was not very effective on Tirek either, he fires a big orange blast from his mane and it hits the three, they grunt and are shot back. Demonicus stands up while Daylight Dimmer and Starburn were out of energy, he uses dark magic and changes to his shadow form, he uses his hatred and anger to fire red energy arrows out of his body and at Tirek, they had no effect on him, Tirek fires another orange blast at him and Demonicus moves around to dodge it, he fires a red blast from his horn while Tirek fired another orange blast, they hit one another and cause an explosion, but Demonicus' energy blast was not strong enough to hold Tirek's back, and the shockwave knocks him back, he pants and changes back to normal,
"You're a tough one, but even you should have limits." Tirek said, and he saw Claudius walking forward,
"Wait a minute, you're not from this world." Tirek said,
"My origins don't matter." Claudius replied, and he floats up and shoots a black blast from his horn, Tirek fires another orange blast and the two were in a deadlock, Joker was shocked to see that Claudius can match Tirek in a deadlock, the two continue and they were going nowhere. Tirek throws two orange orbs at Claudius with his hands, they miss him. Claudius holds his front hooves out and shoots black blasts out of them, Tirek shoots two orange blasts from his hands, they enter a deadlock with those as well. Claudius exhales sharply and his hood and cloak fly off, Claudius' eyes glow a brighter red than usual and a red aura appears around him, his mane and tail turn red and float around behind him, his unicorn horn also turned red, Claudius exhales and revealed a mouth, it was filled with fanged teeth, black tentacles came out of his mouth as well, scaring Joker.
Claudius' three blasts were bigger but still not powerful enough to overpower Tirek, Claudius' eyes glow even brighter and Tirek's eyes glow red,
"What's going on?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"Claudius is putting a vision in Tirek's mind." Demonicus replied, Tirek becomes horrified at the vision,
"Yes, no matter how hard you try, you are doomed to fail." Claudius said in a voice that sounded like the control voice from the original Outer Limits series on the DVD menu when trying to choose an episode to watch. Tirek stops firing his blasts and uses telekinesis on Claudius, he opens his mouth to absorb his magic,
"Go ahead, absorb me." Claudius said, and Tirek does, but he gasps and screams as his body turns black and becomes a shadow like Claudius,
"That's right, you can't absorb me." Claudius said, and Tirek screams in pain and the black shadows consume him and eat him alive, much to Joker's horror,
"Master, am I going to have to fight him one day?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"No, Claudius is the one enemy I will never send you or Starburn to fight unless I have no choice, he is the strongest enemy I have ever faced." Demonicus replied, Claudius floats down and changes back to normal, with the cloak flying back onto him magically and the hood going back onto his head on its own. Tirek's magic goes back to Daylight Dimmer and Demonicus and they get their powers back, with Demonicus' mane and tail being dark red, dark purple, gray, and dark brown again. Tirek was about to come back but Demonicus undoes the writing again,
"ARRRGGGHHHH!! WHY?! WHY ARE MY WRITINGS UNDOING THEMSELVES?!" Ace asked in rage,
"He's the only one left, let's go get him." Joker said, the four just stand there,
"What?" Joker asked,
"Didn't he make this place because of you?" Starburn asked,
"Uh, yeah." Joker replied,
"See? He's your enemy, this is your fight." Demonicus replied,
"What about you four?" Joker asked,
"We'll undo anything he tries to write, now go on ahead and take him down if you can." Demonicus replied, Joker nods and he runs to where he heard Ace's voice many times.
Joker runs to where he heard Ace, he saw his manor from before, but he notices that there were foals working on his house, they were exhausted, starving, sick, and had bruises all over them, he realizes that Ace had foals working as his slaves. Joker walks past them while they plea for his help and cry, Joker was very sympathetic and angry at the same time,
"Where is Ace?" Joker asked,
"I'm sorry, but we can't tell you, we'll be killed if we say anything about it." a colt Pegasus said, much to Joker's disgust, he decides to just look around on his own and saw more fillies and colts being forced to move heavy statues of Ace, the unicorns had a magic restraining lock on their horns, and the Pegasi had metal bands on their wings so they cannot fly. Joker goes past them and sees some of them were collapsing from exhaustion, Joker goes past them and continues to look for Ace. Joker arrives at the front of Ace's manor, and saw baby animals had to work too, they were exhausted, starving, sick, and injured as well, most of them were kittens and puppies, the puppies were whimpering as they worked.
Joker was in disgust at seeing baby animals being forced to work for Ace while not being fed or treated properly, some of the animals go to him in hopes that he would have food for them, he did not, all he could do was pet them to comfort them, he gets up and goes to the front door of Ace's manor and goes into his home.
Joker looks around and sees Ace had statues and paintings of himself everywhere, much to his disgust, he then hears a dog whimpering in pain and whipping sounds,
"This is a message to all of you stupid animals and foals, you do not work, you get a beating, those who question me will get an extra beating, your job is to build my home and put my statues where I want them, that is your life's duty, make my home the way I want it, or face death." Ace said, causing the foals to whimper in fear.
Joker runs to where he heard Ace's voice, he sees the head of many adult animals on Ace's wall, he notices that they were the pets of other ponies. Joker keeps running and arrives at where he heard Ace's voice, he saw many foals and baby animals in pain with scrapes and bruises on them, he can tell that some of them were sick as well,
"Where is Ace?" Joker asked the foals, they point to the doorway on the other side of the room, Joker enters it and goes to the next room. Joker looks around and saw mares in the room, they were all making sandwiches and living in the kitchen, he saw High Flyer and Royal Sapphire there, he also saw a female earth pony there, she had a light red coat, long light blue mane and tail, turquoise eyes, and her cutie mark was a black music note, it was Holy Diva, one of his friends. Joker looks and sees a female unicorn, she had a dark purple coat, a long black mane and coat, dark red eyes, and her cutie mark was a light brown spell book, Joker realized it was Sorceress, another one of his friends. Joker walks forward a bit and saw another mare, she was a unicorn, she had a light purple coat, the right half of her long mane and tail was red while the left half was blue, she had green eyes, a round yellow earring in each ear, and her cutie mark was a red and blue jester's hat, Joker can tell it was Jester, his last friend.
Joker walks past them while the mares ignore him, Ace has completely erased their memories on him, he arrives into the next room and hears slapping, he heard a grunt, he realized it was Flamma, he runs as fast as he could and saw her on the floor, he also saw Ace walking to her,
"I didn't say you can question my authority, Flamma, I am the ruler of this land, your job is to cook, clean, make me sandwiches, work in the kitchen, and let me beat you." Ace said,
"Y... Yes, Ace." Flamma said, Joker becomes angry and runs to them,
"What did you do to my sister?!" Joker asked, Ace chuckled while Flamma walks to him,
"Stay away from him, Joker, I don't care if you're my brother, I won't let you harm my husband." Flamma said,
"Hu... Husband?!" Joker asked in shock,
"That's right, I'm your brother-in-law." Ace said while he smiled at him,
"Where's Scholarship?" Joker asked,
"Buried six feet under the ground." Ace replied,
"Scholarship? Who's Scholarship?" Flamma asked,
"Nopony important." Ace replied,
"Ace, if you don't accept me as family, then you and I will have to fight." Joker said,
"I'm not fighting you, I only fight sick and injured children." Ace replied,
"Why?" Joker asked,
"It's more fun." Ace replied,
"Why are you like this anyway?" Joker asked,
"Why? Why?! I was always the best and the winner at everything as a colt, but then, I did a math contest, and somepony did as equally good as I did, and it was called a tie with both of us winning! I'm a born winner! I can't be a winner if there are two winners!" Ace replied angrily,
"That's it?! That's your reason?!" Joker asked angrily,
"No, those annoying baby animals would cry at night and keep me up, them serving me and receiving beatings until they die is their punishment for keeping me up at night!" Ace replied,
"What about the foals, why are you hurting them?" Joker asked,
"I beat up foals when I was a foal, I just wish to continue it, I never liked facing strong opponents, that is why I only hunt and hurt the weak." Ace replied, Joker was disgusted,
"If you could have, why didn't you make yourself the captain of the royal guard?" Joker asked,
"Why be a captain when you can be a ruler, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence were never fit to rule." Ace replied,
"Why is that?" Joker asked,
"Because they're girls, girls are meant to serve us, men, they were always physically weaker than us, we hunt, we fight, women are too soft and gentle to rule." Ace replied,
"Dude, Queen Chrysalis!" Joker said,
"I was forced to give her the throne, Thorax is too much of a weakling to rule, which sucked." Ace replied,
"Enough talk, let's fight, Ace." Joker said, Ace takes the book out and writes for Flamma to protect him,
"Joker, if you're going to hurt my husband, I will beat you to your last breath!" Flamma replied,
"This guy is actually harming you and making you do things you don't want to do, I'm the one who took care of you!" Joker said,
"It doesn't matter, I'd rather take his beatings and be bossed around by him than live with you and deal with your annoying jokes any day!" Flamma replied angrily, Joker growled. Ace proceeded to write in the book to make Flamma attack him, Joker grunted and watched Ace run away while he wrote in the book, a spell is cast and Ace's writing was undone,
"WHAT?! NOW TOO?!" Ace yelled angrily, Joker realized that Demonicus was still casting his magic to undo Ace's writings. Joker hits Flamma on the right side of her neck with his front left hoof to knock her out and he runs after Ace.
Joker chases Ace and saw he was flying away with his Pegasus wings, he looked back and shot zaps from his unicorn horn at Joker, he ran past them with ease, his magic aura was sky blue. Ace tries writing in the book to make obstacles block Joker's path, he ran past them all easily. Ace growled and he made the ground break apart, Joker jumped over it and continued chasing Ace, he got angry and shot another zap from his horn while flying away, Joker ran to his right and dodged it. Ace began to pant and was flying slowly, he was falling as well. Joker jumped up and tackled him onto the ground, he grunted and fell.
Ace stood up and quickly opened the book to write in it, but a red blast hits the book and Ace was startled,
"I don't think so." Demonicus said from behind Joker, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, and Claudius were there as well,
"What?! Why aren't you guys attacking him?!" Ace asked,
"Not everyone is affected by the book." Claudius replied, Ace was shocked and tried to write something, but the pencil turned black and was shot out of his hoof, he exclaims in shock as he looked at Claudius,
"I choose my fate, and a mere book cannot change it." Claudius said, everypony except for Demonicus was shocked, Claudius was completely immune to the effects of the book,
"Let's go, Ace, you and me." Joker said,
"No, I'll fight him instead, to the death." Ace replied as he pointed his right front hoof to Starburn,
"He's actually stronger than me." Joker said,
"What?!" Ace asked, Starburn uses his hatred and anger to summon two energy swords, Ace exclaimed in shock,
"You have no choice, Ace, I'm the weakest of the five." Joker said, Ace was shocked and tried to run away, but there was a black wall in front of him, he tries to write in the book to make the wall disappear, Claudius held his front right hoof out and made the book turn black, Ace could not get the pencil onto the page, he growled in anger,
"You didn't know? You can only use the book a certain amount of times." Demonicus said, which was actually a lie,
"What?!" Ace asked,
"That's right, the amount of history you can change is limited, and you have run out." Claudius said, Ace growled and threw the book and pencil behind him,
"Fine, I'll just kill you with my bare hooves." Ace said, and he and Joker were ready to fight.
Ace runs towards Joker and was trying to do several knife-hoof strikes with his front hooves, Joker dodged them all easily, he eventually went to Ace's blind spot to his left and did a knife-hoof strike with his front left hoof onto Ace's back, he exclaimed in pain and Joker ran to the book, he quickly made a few changes with the pencil in his front left hoof. Ace lost his horn and wings while Joker got his horn back, he also made Ace less durable. Joker heard Ace getting back up and he quickly ran to Ace.
Ace turned around and saw Joker use telekinesis on himself, he flies towards him and does Liu Kang's bicycle kick. Ace is kicked in the face five times and was stunned, he growled at Joker's move, he tries to punch Joker with his front right hoof, Joker got ready to block it but Ace moved his hoof back and hit Joker in the left side of his face with his front left hoof, he grunts and looks at Ace. Ace punches his front hooves forward several times and Joker dodged them all with ease, Joker tried to do a hook punch with his front right hoof, only for Ace to punch him in the chest with his front right hoof, making him grunt, he then punches him in the face with his front left hoof and Joker was knocked down.
Joker gets up and focuses on him, Ace runs forward and stands on his hind hooves, he kicks his right hind hoof up and aimed above Joker's head, missing him, Joker uses telekinesis on himself to make himself do a split, he then punches Ace in the groin with his front left hoof, Ace's exclaims in pain and his eyes widen, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, Demonicus, and Claudius chuckle, Joker stands up and decided to try the technique Ganzan Ryozan Ha, he does a knife-hoof strike with his front right hoof and hits Ace in the center of his face with it, he screamed in pain from it, but it did not have any of the same effects as the real move. Ace recovers and proceeds to choke Joker out of anger, Joker puts his front legs between Ace's front legs and punches him in his eyes, he screams and gets off of him while Joker stood up,
"I don't understand, how can I be losing? I know karate." Ace said, and he ran towards Joker, he decided to try something,
"Endokuken!" Joker said and shot a light blue energy blast out of his horn and at Ace, he screamed when he was hit by it and was shot back, he fell onto the ground as well,
"Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat, and Fist of the North Star beat karate any day." Joker said, Ace growled and was moving slowly, Joker can tell that Ace was nearly out of stamina, he tries to run but could not, Joker used the opportunity and ran to him, he tried to mimic the technique Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken, but it was not even close to how it was performed. Joker punched Ace about twenty times before running out of breath, it was surprisingly effective, Ace tried to get up but had trouble, Joker quickly ran to the book and looked through it, one thing that caught his mind was when Ace was younger, he threw a party and invited everypony except for one pony because he did not like him, a few weeks later, that pony threw a party of his own, and did not invite Ace, Ace broke into his house and took his life. Joker keeps flipping through the pages and sees the part where Ace was born; Ace got up and was ready to run; Joker quickly got the pencil and held it in his front left hoof, he erases the part where Ace was born and wrote down that his mother did not get pregnant, and Ace was never born. The book changes itself so it had no contradicting information in it, Ace floats in the air and screamed while he faded away and was erased from existence, everything Ace has changed undone itself and everything was back to normal, Demonicus put a barrier around himself, Daylight Dimmer, and Starburn so the book does not affect them, Claudius just watched.
Everything turned back to normal and they were in a grassy field, away from society,
"If I remember right, this is where Ace found the book when he was a foal." Joker said,
"So this was where it was found." Claudius replied,
"Why didn't the book affect me for?" Joker asked,
"The writer is unaffected by the book unless they write about themselves." Demonicus replied,
"I still wonder, though, where did this book come from?" Daylight Dimmer asked, the others shrug, a light blue and white portal opens to the west and a colt walks out, he was an earth pony, he had a sky blue coat, a short white mane and tail, and pale yellow eyes, he did not have a cutie mark yet,
"That book is not from this realm." the colt said,
"Wait, I remember reading about you in the book, you're Walker, you're in another realm." Joker said,
"Yeah, the realm I'm traveling in is called the Void, that book is from that realm." Walker replied,
"I see, so he's the creator of the book, I'd figured it'd be him who created it." Claudius said, and he disappeared completely,
"Are you here to take the book back?" Demonicus asked,
"No, I'm just here to let Joker know that the book must be protected, if that book is destroyed, then this world will be erased from existence." Walker replied,
"I will." Joker said,
"And Walker, can you tell Spirit I said hi?" Demonicus asked,
"Sure thing, I'll be going now, I have my own journey to go on, till we meet again." Walker replied, and he went back into the portal and it closed,
"Master?" Starburn asked,
"Yes, Starburn?" Demonicus asked,
"Why haven't you or Celestia dealt with Claudius earlier?" Starburn asked,
"Claudius can't be sensed by our magic." Demonicus replied,
"What? Claudius can't be detected by magic?" Joker asked,
"No, not at all, I tried, Celestia hasn't detected him either, if she did, she would've known about him a long time ago." Demonicus replied, Joker was very scared of Claudius, he is immune to Discord's magic, Tirek cannot absorb him, he is unaffected by a history changing artifact, he cannot be detected by magic, he can take the lives of many in a second, he can transform, he can turn people into scarecrows, he can give people visions, and he can teleport, Joker was wondering what the full extent of Claudius' power was, he was still having thoughts that he was a real life version of Mr. Salacia from Metalocalypse, and the fact that he is of unknown origins and not from this world made him believe even more that he was Mr. Salacia in a pony form.
Joker stops thinking and thought he should go home, but decided to ask something,
"What is Claudius after?" Joker asked,
"I don't know, but when I last met him many years ago, he was trying to summon the four horseponies, it will end this world if they are summoned, but if Claudius is still the same, then he has other goals in mind with them." Demonicus replied, Joker was uncomfortable,
"What is he?" Joker asked,
"Nobody knows, and one more thing, Claudius can take on more than one form, that form he took when he fought Tirek was not his true form." Demonicus replied,
"How do you know that, Master?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"I've seen his true form before." Demonicus replied, making Joker uneasy,
"We'll be going home now, good luck with your life." Demonicus said,
"Alright, you too." Joker replied, and Demonicus teleported himself, Daylight Dimmer, and Starburn home, Joker then went home.
Joker arrived home and saw Flamma was still angry at him,
"That press to my neck really hurt!" Flamma said angrily, Joker was confused on how she was able to still feel the pain, but he got angry, but he then remembered that he just did a prank on her recently, he snuck up on her and pressed his front right hoof on the side of her neck, it hurt when he moved his hoof away, but he decides to try saying the truth to her before changing the book,
"I just saved your life!" Joker said angrily,
"I DON'T CARE!!" Flamma yelled angrily and stormed off to her room, Joker growled and looked at the book, he has had enough of Flamma's anger and ungratefulness, so he goes into his room and writes in the book that he and Flamma were really close, and she had no anger issues. Joker walks out and saw Flamma run to him and hug him, she had a smile on her face,
"Thank you for taking care of me when I was injured, big brother, you're the best sibling ever." Flamma said happily, Joker was very happy with the change he has made,
"You're welcome, but I'm tired, I'm going to rest." Joker said,
"Go on, Joker, you deserve it, Scholarship and Star Shooter are coming to study tomorrow." Flamma replied,
"Star Shooter?" Joker asked,
"You know, that colt who asked for my help in his studies, I took him in." Flamma replied, Joker smiled,
"Okay, good luck, I'll be going to bed now." Joker said, and he went to his room and fell asleep.
Joker wakes up the next morning and goes out,
"Good morning, Joker." Flamma said,
"Morning, sis." Joker replied, Flamma smiled and she and Scholarship continued teaching the colt. Joker reads the book and found that Limestone Pie said she was not jealous of Maud Pie getting a boyfriend, so he decided to go see her with a joke in his head. Joker arrives at the rock farm and saw Marble Pie, she went to go get Limestone Pie and she went to the front of the farm,
"Why are you here?" Limestone Pie asked,
"To tell you Johnny Bravo wants to be your boyfriend." Joker replied while smiling and laughing on the inside,
"I don't know who that is!" Limestone Pie said angrily while blushing,
"Oh, you don't?" Joker asked,
"No!" Limestone Pie replied,
"Oh, I see, sorry for wasting your time, then." Joker said, and he walked away while Limestone Pie and Marble Pie just watched.
Joker went back to Canterlot and went to his college,
"Joker!" a voice called out, he saw it was Holy Diva, High Flyer, Sorceress, and Jester were there as well, they hug him,
"Has everything been alright?" High Flyer asked,
"Why you ask?" Joker asked,
"You don't remember? You hurt yourself on your last prank." Sorceress replied,
"No, I don't remember, I'm fine, though." Joker said,
"That's good, come on, High Flyer's got some tricks she wants to show us." Jester replied, and the five walk together and watch High Flyer fly around, Royal Sapphire was watching as well,
"Is it okay if I ask you girls, but did you girls ever meet a pony named Ace?" Joker asked,
"Nope." High Flyer replied,
"Never heard of him." Holy Diva said,
"No." Sorceress said,
"No clue who that is." Jester said, much to Joker's happiness. High Flyer flies down and walks to them,
"Have you decided which one of us you want to date, Joker?" High Flyer asked,
"Why are you asking that for?" Joker asked,
"Isn't your sister married?" Jester asked,
"Uh, yeah." Joker replied,
"See, she's younger than you, Joker, you should get into a relationship too." Sorceress said,
"Well, if I could, I'd date all four of you." Joker replied, his four friends laugh,
"That would be nice, but you can only choose one, go on, Joker, choose one of us." High Flyer said,
"I'll need some time to think about it." Joker replied, the four chuckle and Joker headed home.
Joker headed home and slept, he began having bad dreams about Ace and Claudius, he woke up and it was still daytime, he headed out,
"You didn't sleep that long, Joker." Scholarship said,
"Yeah, I had a bad dream." Joker replied, Flamma ran to him,
"You okay, big brother?" Flamma asked,
"Yeah, I'm fine." Joker replied,
"What was the bad dream?" Star Shooter asked,
"It's hard to describe, I saw this pony in a black cloak and red eyes." Joker replied,
"Never mind, I don't want to know, that sounds scary." Star Shooter said, and Joker went into the bathroom.
Joker washed his face and opened the cabinet so he can use the dental floss, he looked and saw a piece of paper in the cabinet, he takes it out and unfolded it,
"I'm behind you, don't freak out, I just want to talk, and don't turn around." the letter read, Joker closes the cabinet and saw Claudius in the reflection, which scared him a bit,
"Relax, I'm not here to kill you." Claudius said, Joker was still scared,
"You have seen my powers and capabilities, don't speak to it about anyone, because if you do, I will kill you, and don't contact me, I don't answer, is that clear?" Claudius asked, Joker nodded while scared,
"Good, don't say anything, or you will die, remember that." Claudius said, and he disappeared. Joker decided to look for a psychiatrist to help him with his dreams, but nopony believed him, he then found the information for Doctor Whooves as a therapist in Ponyville, so he went to Ponyville to go see Doctor Whooves.
Joker sat across from Doctor Whooves, Roseluck, and Derpy, and he was holding Solute in his front hooves,
"So those two are enemies." Doctor Whooves said,
"Something catch your mind, Doctor?" Joker asked,
"This is the second time for me to hear about Demonicus and Claudius." Doctor Whooves replied,
"I was surprised now that I look back, a pony named Solute dealing with a robotic alicorn." Joker said,
"That was me." Solute replied,
"Wait, you were the one who dealt with the robotic alicorn?" Joker asked, Solute nodded,
"I still have bad dreams about my experience, too." Solute said, she was tightening her hind legs since she had to use the bathroom,
"Can I take a look at that book?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Wait, what are you planning?" Joker asked,
"One of my patients named Jones has gone into hiding, his whereabouts are unknown, I was wondering if I can find out what happened to him." Doctor Whooves replied,
"What was his story?" Joker asked,
"He came across a cult when he was five years old, Claudius was the leader of that cult." Doctor Whooves asked,
"Wait, Doctor Whooves, is this the same Claudius?" Roseluck asked, Doctor Whooves nodded, shocking the other four ponies,
"This Claudius is scary." Derpy said,
"I know, I find him to be scarier than Paragon." Solute replied,
"Well, I'll be back." Joker said, he went outside and to Canterlot. He went to his home and saw nopony was present, he goes into his room and gets the book out from under his bed, he takes the train back to Ponyville and goes to Doctor Whooves' office. The five ponies look into the book, they find that while Jones seeing Doctor Whooves was in the book, him encountering the cult and where he went afterwards was not,
"Great whickering stallions! It's not here!" Doctor Whooves said, horrifying the other ponies, Solute's attention was caught when she sees Gogh was one of Doctor Whooves' patients,
"Wait, Doctor, that painter in the town was another one of your patients?" Solute asked,
"Yes, what happened to him was tragic, you're welcome to read about it." Doctor Whooves replied, and Joker finds it, he reads it with Solute, Derpy, and Roseluck, the mares gasp at learning about his wedding day, Solute was nearly crying,
"Hey, don't get tears in the book." Joker said,
"I can't help it, that is so sad." Solute replied, and Joker closed the book before the tears fall on the pages,
"Well, that is all the time I have today, till next time, Joker." Doctor Whooves said,
"Say, Solute how about a date?" Joker asked, the other ponies chuckle,
"Sorry, but I want my boyfriend to be a Pegasus like me." Solute replied,
"Oh." Joker said sadly,
"Sorry. Do you have a bathroom, Doctor? I'm about to wet myself." Solute said,
"Bathroom's in the back." Doctor Whooves replied, and she went while Joker exited Doctor Whooves' house with the book in his saddlebag after paying him ten bits.
Joker headed out and saw Gogh looking at a picture in his front left hoof, he saw a glimpse of it and saw it was a picture of Eurydice, Sweetie Belle walked to his left,
"You really do miss her, don't you?" Sweetie Belle asked,
"Everyday." Gogh replied,
"Well, my sister wanted me to check on you and see if you were in the mood for painting today." Sweetie Belle said,
"Not right now." Gogh asked,
"Do you want me to leave?" Sweetie Belle asked,
"No, it's fine." Gogh replied, Joker realized that he was Gogh, he was sympathetic over the loss of his lover, Solute came out shortly afterwards and saw Gogh,
"Oh, Gogh." Solute said as she limped to him,
"Have you been managing fine?" Solute asked,
"So far. Who are you?" Gogh asked,
"I'm Solute, I'm another one of Doctor Whooves' patients." Solute replied,
"I see." Gogh said while smiling, Casanova, Equality, and Marine went to him as well,
"Hey, Gogh, I'm Equality, I'm a marriage counselor, would you like to schedule an appointment?" Equality asked,
"I don't think I need it right now." Gogh replied,
"I understand your pain, Gogh, I lost my loved one, too." Casanova asked,
"Your loved one was killed, too?" Gogh asked,
"No, she died while giving birth to my son." Casanova replied,
"I lost both of my parents recently, these two adopted me." Marine said, Gogh was sympathetic as well,
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Sweetie Belle asked,
"Not at the moment, Sweetie Belle, but I really do appreciate the sympathies you, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Apple Bloom, Applejack, Scootaloo, and Rainbow Dash have given me." Gogh replied, Sweetie Belle smiled,
"I'll be going home now, tell Rarity I'll paint another time." Gogh said, and he hugged the ponies around him and went home.
Joker decided to walk around and try the book out, he saw Fluttershy's cottage and saw many animals, he decided to try something, he writes in the book that the dog in the bear trap from Resident Evil 4 was in the Everfree Forest, he hears the dog whimpering and goes to it, he saw the dog with its left hind leg in the bear trap, he hid behind a tree and saw Fluttershy flying around since she heard the whimpering, she exclaims in shock when she sees the dog with its leg in the bear trap, she tries to free the dog with her wings but could not,
"Hang on, I'm going to go get help." Fluttershy said and flew away, she came back with her friends and they see the dog, they run to it while Rainbow Dash flew,
"Oh, you poor thing, hold on." Twilight Sparkle said and she uses telekinesis to open the bear trap, the dog yelps and walks out while Twilight Sparkle stops using magic and the bear trap closes,
"Let me take a look at that leg." Applejack said and she does,
"It ain't too bad, he should be able to move fine." Applejack said, the dog went to Fluttershy and licked her, she laughed,
"Come along now, I have a home just for you." Fluttershy said, and she takes the dog to her cottage while her friends left, Joker smiled as he watched.
Joker walked to Ponyville, and looked around, Pinkie Pie dashed in front of him,
"Hiya." Pinkie Pie said, Joker recognized her from many years before,
"Pink Diamond?" Joker asked,
"No, silly, I'm Pinkie Pie, still though, Pinkamena Diamond Pie. Hey! That actually sounds pretty good." Pinkie Pie replied,
"How many sisters do you have?" Joker asked,
"Three." Pinkie Pie replied,
"Look at that, three older sisters, and their names are Bluie, Yellowy, and Whitey." Joker said jokingly,
"No, silly, I have two big sisters, and a baby sister, they're Maud, Limestone, and Marble." Pinkie Pie said,
"Oh." Joker said,
"What's your name?" Pinkie Pie asked,
"Joker." Joker replied,
"Well, nice to meet ya, Joker." Pinkie Pie said,
"I won't be here for long, I'll be going back to Canterlot soon." Joker replied,
"Aw, that's too bad, I was about to plan your welcoming party." Pinkie Pie said,
"Sorry, but I'm not moving here." Joker replied,
"Aw." Pinkie Pie said, and she walked away.
Joker decided to try to a few pranks in hopes of seeing if the town shares his sense of humor, he writes in the book to make several pranking supplies appear, and he was ready.
Joker decided that his first victim should be Cheerilee since he hated school, he put a whoopee cushion behind her desk, she sat and it made a loud fart noise, causing her students to laugh,
"RAINBOW DASH!!" Cheerilee yelled, Joker's attention was caught and he looks through the book and read that Rainbow Dash was the resident prankster, he decided to target her next so she does not become a scapegoat to his pranks. Joker took a cardboard toilet tube out of his supplies, he ripped it into several pieces, put water on it, and reshaped it to make it look like a stool, he uses telekinesis on himself and the cardboard tube and puts it into Rainbow Dash's bed, under her blanket. Rainbow Dash came a few hours later and laid down in her bed, she felt the wet cardboard tube on her back, she moved back and saw the smashed cardboard tube, she screamed in horror really loudly. Rainbow Dash flew out while her friends went to her,
"What's wrong, Rainbow Dash?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"Somepony pooped in my bed!" Rainbow Dash replied, disgusting the others while Pinkie Pie screamed in shock, Twilight Sparkle takes the cardboard tube parts of Rainbow Dash's back with telekinesis and examines it,
"Wait a minute, this is cardboard." Twilight Sparkle said, shocking Rainbow Dash,
"Okay, everypony, we've got a prankster, and this time, it's not Rainbow Dash, let's spread out and try to find out who it is." Twilight Sparkle said, and they split up.
Joker decided to target Rarity next, he can tell by just looking at her how much appearance and fashion mattered to her, fortunately for him, and unfortunately for her, it was currently a very hot and humid summer afternoon, and Joker had just the prank for her.
Joker gets a bottle out and puts the bottle into Carousel Boutique and sprays it everywhere with telekinesis, he hid and snickered when he saw Rarity enter her home, she picked up the scent,
"What is that smell?" Rarity asked, and she exhaled deeply, she screamed in shock and ran out while gasping for air, Joker moved away and laughed hard, what he sprayed in her home was bait spray, rotten potato scent,
"I cannot work under these conditions!" Rarity said, she then gagged and wheezed from the smell, Joker snickered and walked away.
Joker decided to keep pranking,
"Hey, I know you!" a colt said, Joker looked and saw Pipsqueak,
"You're Joker, I've heard about you and your pranks, I think you're funny." Pipsqueak said,
"Thank you, I didn't think I'd meet a fan here." Joker replied,
"Actually, I was hoping you would perform for me and my friends." Pipsqueak said,
"Sure." Joker replied,
"Great, follow me." Pipsqueak said, and he does.
Joker arrives at Pipsqueak's house and they get ready, Joker heard clapping,
"Okay, everypony, a friend of mine in Canterlot told me about him, and I thought he was funny, so to you guys, I give you all: Joker!" Pipsqueak said, the ponies clap and Joker jumped out from behind the red curtain,
"Good afternoon fil.... hey, where are the fillies?" Joker asked, Pipsqueak only had three other colts with him, one of them was Truffle,
"Sorry about that, Joker, a lot of my friends are busy today." Pipsqueak said,
"Oh, well then, I'm going to talk about a play I had to do when I was your age, I was the fifth and the last pony, and boy, did I get in a lot of trouble for it, we were animals, and had to describe why we were called that, it was of our choice, here goes." Joker replied,
"They call me the tiger because I'm on four legs." Joker said, the colts were silent,
"They call me the dog because I'm loyal." Joker said, the colts were still silent,
"They call me the bear because I'm strong." Joker said, the colts were beginning to glare,
"They call me the lion because my voice sounds like a roar." Joker said, the colts glare even more,
"They call me the elephant because I've got the trunk in the front." Joker said while he pretended to show off his groin, the colts laugh and were grossed out at the same time, they finish after a few minutes,
"Okay now, when I was younger, one I used to do was Doctor Stupid, it never did well back at home, but I'm willing to try here, here goes." Joker said, and he uses telekinesis to make himself look different, he had a goofy smile, big buck and crooked teeth everywhere in his mouth, and a black tie that was half hang off of his neck, he also made a desk prop and a chair appear, he sat in it,
"Hi, everypony, I'm Doctor Stupid, list your problems and I'll try to help you with them." Joker said in a goofy voice,
"I have chronic flatulence." Truffle said, which made the other colts laugh,
"Eat plenty of gassy foods and proteins, drink carbonated drinks, and if you have the courage, let out a loud one by your crush." Joker replied, the colts chuckle,
"Next problem." Joker said,
"My house's floor is uncomfortable." Pipsqueak said,
"Cover your entire floor in legos." Joker replied, confusing the colts,
"Next." Joker said,
"I can't do a sonic rainboom like Rainbow Dash." the Pegasus colt said,
"You'll go sonic boom when you fart." Joker replied, the colts chuckle,
"Next problem." Joker said,
"My magic is nowhere near as strong as Princess Twilight's." the unicorn colt said,
"Try cutting off your own horn and replacing it with hers." Joker replied, the colts did not find that funny,
"Are you colts enjoying this skit?" Joker asked in his regular voice,
"Not really." the four colts replied, Joker took the fake teeth out and the tie off,
"Tell you what, one I used to like doing was fooling around with other ponies in town, take me to one." Joker said,
"Wait, I have an idea, come on, guys." Pipsqueak replied, and they walk outside.
The colts and Joker head to Scootaloo while Pipsqueak talked about her, they saw her walking around and Joker stood in front of her while she was distracted, she screamed in shock when she saw him,
"Who are you?" Scootaloo asked,
"Name's Joker, comedian." Joker replied,
"Don't sneak up on me like that." Scootaloo said,
"Well, you didn't see me coming, so be careful, or next time, I'll photobomb your pictures of Rainbow Dash." Joker replied, shocking Scootaloo while the four colts laugh. Rainbow Dash overheard Joker and screamed out of shock, she flew down to Joker's left and confronted him,
"I heard that! That is not cool, don't you ever photobomb her pictures of me!" Rainbow Dash said angrily,
"That's if she can catch me first." Joker said, Rainbow Dash growled,
"I swear! If you photobomb my pictures, you're gonna get it!" Rainbow Dash said angrily and flew away, Joker decided to walk away before things got worse.
Joker walks with the four colts behind him and saw Apple Bloom, she looked at him,
"Say, mister, Ah've never seen you in town before." Apple Bloom said,
"Just passing by, I won't be here for very long." Joker replied,
"Where are ya goin'?" Apple Bloom asked,
"Room 302, South Ashfield Heights." Joker replied jokingly,
"Like I will ever go there." Joker thought to himself,
"Ah've never heard of that place." Apple Bloom said,
"It's not on the map." Joker replied,
"Oh." Apple Bloom said,
"Well, I have to get going, nice talking to you." Joker replied,
"Alright, later, mister." Apple Bloom said, and Joker walks with the four colts behind him.
Joker walked away from the town and saw it was nearly night time,
"Okay everypony, let's try a game, I'm going to say a speech, your goal is to count how many words in my speech start with the letter V." Joker said, the four colts were ready to listen,
"Alright, here goes." Joker said, and he inhaled deeply,
"Voila! In view humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin, vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that its my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V." Joker said, the four colts were completely lost and could not keep up. Joker gave up when the colts did not answer,
"I have another skit, this involves you four, we need something filled with water, and big enough for the five of us." Joker said,
"I've got a bucket at my house we can use." Truffle said,
"Let's go then." Joker replied, and they go.
Truffle's bucket is filled with warm water and the five lay in it with Joker in the center,
"This feels so good." Joker said in another goofy voice, which made the four colts laugh,
"Look over there." Joker said, they turn to their lefts and Joker farts, making bubbles appear in the water, the colts snicker,
"There's something behind us too." Joker said, and they turn a hundred eighty degrees, Joker lets out a bigger fart, the colts laugh a bit,
"Ooh, there's somepony over there, to the west." Joker said, they all turn a hundred eighty degrees again and saw Applejack, Joker let out an even bigger fart with big bubbles in the water, Applejack chuckled at hearing the fart, so did the colts,
"Oh, look over there, to the east, everypony." Joker said, they all turn a hundred eighty degrees once again and saw Rarity, Joker lets out a big fart with big bubbles coming out, Rarity exclaimed in shock and she looked to her left while the colts laugh a bit,
"My, how ill-mannered, you can at least say excuse me." Rarity said, and she walked away,
"Ooh, look to the front." Joker said, and they do, there was nothing, Joker lets out a loud and humungous fart that makes the water go into the air and fly out of the bucket, the four colts scream and run out. Applejack and Rarity hear it and look back,
"What the?" Rarity asked,
"What in tarnation?" Applejack asked;
the four colts look at the bucket with shock after Joker finished farting, there was white mist all around it,
"Something stinks." Joker said, causing the four colts to laugh, Applejack chuckles while Rarity looked on with shock,
"I have time for one more game with you foals, it's hide and seek, go hide somewhere, but you must stay together, starting... now." Joker said, and the four colts run away.
Pipsqueak, Truffle, and their two colt friends were camping in a forest, and by coincidence, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Starlight Glimmer were camping beside them, the seven were nice enough to let them share their tent,
"I don't think Joker will find us here." the Pegasus colt said,
"Trust me, I'm sure he will." Pipsqueak replied,
"Well, he's taking a while." the unicorn colt said,
"Yeah, he's right, I think he would've found us by now, it is dark." Truffle said, the tent zipper opens and Joker bursts in while using telekinesis to hold a two handed axe with a wooden handle and silver blade on his front hooves,
"HERE'S JOHNNY!!" Joker yelled while smiling menacingly, scaring everypony except Pipsqueak,
"See, I told you he'd show up, eventually." Pipsqueak said, the seven mares look at him disapprovingly,
"What?" Joker asked,
"That wasn't funny." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"Wait a minute, you're the guy who said you'll photobomb all of Scootaloo's pictures of me." Rainbow Dash said,
"You were the guy who was fartin' in that tub." Applejack said while chuckling,
"I remember, you said you weren't staying." Pinkie Pie said,
"Yeah, I'm leaving tomorrow." Joker asked,
"What are you?" Starlight Glimmer asked,
"A comedian." Joker said,
"Well, you're not funny." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"Everypony has a different opinion." Joker said,
"Are you staying overnight, Joker?" Truffle asked,
"Yeah, trains are down right now." Joker replied,
"You can stay with us, but no jokes or pranks." Twilight Sparkle said, and Joker laid down and went to sleep.
The next day comes and Joker was going to Ponyville to board the train to go back to Canterlot, he saw the four colts again, a party cannon goes off and streamers come out, Pinkie Pie popped up,
"Here's Pinkie!" Pinkie Pie said, the four just looked at her,
"What?" Pinkie Pie asked,
"We heard you coming." the unicorn colt replied,
"Aw, I need to work on it, I wonder how Joker did it." Pinkie Pie said, Joker saw Twilight Sparkle's castle and got an idea for one last prank, before he could do it, he saw Solute, she was still wearing her black dress, black high heels on her hind legs, and earrings in her ears,
"You're leaving today?" Solute asked,
"Yeah, I'm going back to Canterlot." Joker replied,
"It was nice getting to know you, hope to see you again one day." Solute said, Joker smiled and they hugged one another,
"Hey, watch my injured leg and wing." Solute said, Joker nodded and made sure not to touch them, Solute smiled and she limped to the School of Friendship.
Joker goes through with his last prank for Ponyville, he uses telekinesis and puts a fake cockroach in Twilight Sparkle's castle. Joker walks to the train station and he hears Twilight Sparkle scream, she runs outside,
"Help! Roach!" Twilight Sparkle said, Rainbow Dash flew in and got it out, she comes out and the other four friends were there,
"Shame you got one of these, Twi, these are mighty hard to get rid of." Applejack said,
"Still, where did it come from?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"Uh, Twilight, hate to anger you, but this is a toy bug, it's not real." Rainbow Dash replied, Twilight Sparkle's right eye twitched and she let out a scream of rage,
"JOKER!!" Twilight Sparkle yelled in rage, Joker was already on the train and he left for Canterlot.
Joker arrives home and enters,
"Welcome back, big brother." Flamma said,
"Thank you." Joker replied, and he goes to his room, he puts the book in the wall so nopony will find it, he knew that one day, Princess Celestia will find out about the book he has, and she will ask for him to give to her so she can put it somewhere secure, but until that day, Joker was going to keep the book with him at all times, and make sure that someone like Ace never gets ahold of it ever again.
Doctor Whooves was in his office and seeing patients today, they were mostly talking about family problems and personal relationships, Equality was nice enough to divide the work so Doctor Whooves would not be overwhelmed. The most recent patient leaves and Doctor Whooves hears walking, and much to his surprise, the people who came in were Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, Flurry Heart, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Applejack, Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, Starlight Glimmer, Sunset Shimmer, Sunburst, Spike, and Derpy all walk in,
"What are you all doing here?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"You don't remember, Doctor? We have heard about the stories you were receiving from your patients, so we decided to come today so we can watch and find out what else went under our noses." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"Oh, right, that was today, I didn't think it'd be this many people, though." Doctor Whooves said,
"Well, Doctor, the tales your patients tell have caught the attention of all of us, so we decided to come today so we can find what else we missed." Princess Celestia replied,
"Well, go on and stand to my sides behind the desk." Doctor Whooves replied, and they all do.
Everypony waits for the next patient with Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down,
"I'm so excited for the next patient." Pinkie Pie said,
"You ain't the only one." Applejack replied, and she nudged towards Flurry Heart, who cooed and smiled,
"I'm kind of excited too." Derpy said,
"Stay calm, guys, still though, I don't understand how you all are excited for listening." Rainbow Dash replied, the next patient came in afterwards, it was Gogh, he sat across from Doctor Whooves,
"What's with them?" Gogh asked,
"They're curious about what tales my patients say." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Oh." Gogh said,
"What is on your mind today, Gogh?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"I've been thinking about Eurydice, I wonder how things would've been different if she was still alive right now." Gogh replied,
"Would you have still moved here?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Probably not." Gogh replied,
"Gogh, I hope you understand, since I am the Princess of Love, I can feel your grief, every time you are sad, I feel it wherever I'm at." Princess Cadence said,
"I know, but I'm still sad about the loss of who would have been my wife." Gogh replied,
"Gogh, remember, we're your friends, and through the power of friendship, we too, feel and share your pain, we will do what we can to help you." Twilight Sparkle said,
"Thank you, all of you." Gogh replied,
"You're welcome, Gogh, it is very tragic about what has happened, it really pains me as well, I will do what I can to help you as well." Princess Celestia said,
"So will I, your grief is painful to watch, I wish to relieve you from it." Princess Luna said,
"What about the rest of you?" Gogh asked, they all nod,
"Thank you." Gogh said,
"We're still looking for them, Gogh, we promise, we will find those two and bring them to justice." Shining Armor said, Gogh nodded,
"Doctor, another thing that has been on my mind was that you said you had met your alternate self as well." Gogh said, surprising the others,
"Indeed, I have." Doctor Whooves replied,
"What, you too?" Starlight Glimmer asked,
"Yes." Doctor Whooves replied,
"I met my alternate self in the human world once, too." Twilight Sparkle said,
"I remember that, she's a friend of ours now." Sunset Shimmer replied,
"Oh yeah, I remember Twilight talking about that." Spike said,
"Can I ask you something, Gogh?" Sweetie Belle asked,
"Go on, Sweetie Belle." Gogh replied,
"What was Eurydice like?" Sweetie Belle asked,
"Friendly, pacifist, singer." Gogh replied,
"Awwww." Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle said together,
"She really would've liked meeting you three." Gogh said,
"Was she nice?" Scootaloo asked,
"Very nice." Gogh replied,
"Ah would've to like meet her, too." Apple Bloom said,
"I don't blame you, but Eurydice would've liked meeting Flurry Heart the most." Gogh replied, Flurry Heart chuckled and smiled,
"Still though, Ah can't believe what happened to ya, to lose yer loved one at such a young age, Ah lost mine a few years back." Granny Smith said,
"Is she on your mind right now?" Sunburst asked, Gogh nodded. Twilight Sparkle was looking down while she listened,
"What's wrong, Twilight?" Derpy asked,
"It's just... the more I hear about her, the more I wish I could revive Eurydice." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"I wish I could revive her, too." Sunburst said, the others were sad,
"Say, Doctor, what was your alternate selves like?" Spike asked,
"There are four alternate versions of me, one is called Doctor Hooves with no W in the last name, another one is called Time Turner, the third alternate me is a Pegasus version of me, and the fourth one is a unicorn version of me, they all tried to replace me, so I had to go to their realms through paintings and come back here, I took them down afterwards." Doctor Whooves replied,
"That was all, Doctor, thank you for listening." Gogh said,
"You're welcome, session is ten bits." Doctor Whooves replied, and Gogh pays him,
"Remember, Gogh, not just Doctor Whooves is here to listen to you, we're all here to help." Princess Celestia said,
"Is that true?" Gogh asked,
"Yes, as your friends, we all feel your pain, we want to ease it anyway we can." Fluttershy replied,
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh said,
"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind." Gogh replied,
"Uh, Gogh, darling, are you in the mood to paint today?" Rarity asked,
"Already finished for today." Gogh replied,
"Oh, well, I'll take a look at it after I'm done here." Rarity said, Gogh smiled and he exited the home.
Twenty minutes pass and a pony enters the home, it was a unicorn, she had a bluish-black coat, her mane and tail were long and straight, they had pink, green, yellow, blue, violet, orange, and white streaks in them, her eyes were dark purple, and her cutie mark was three northern light streaks,
"Oh right, I was having a new patient today." Doctor Whooves said, and the unicorn sat,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Aurora, northern lights creator." the unicorn replied,
"Oh, I remember you, I deliver your mail to your home." Derpy said,
"Yeah, I know you, Derpy, you're famous throughout all of Equestria." Aurora replied, Derpy smiled,
"So, what is on your mind, Aurora?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"There was an incident in my hometown a few days ago, I'm still having trouble accepting it and coming to terms with it." Aurora replied,
"Aurora, trust me, you won't believe how many strange stories I have heard with this job." Doctor Whooves said,
"Yeah, I've heard, I thought you would be able to understand, I'm sorry, Doctor, but I'm another one of those patients who has a strange story." Aurora replied,
"It's alright, I've seen and experienced many strange things myself, go ahead and start." Doctor Whooves said, and Aurora begins her tale.
Aurora lived in the northernmost town of Equestria, the town was famous for its northern lights, which Aurora created. Aurora's parents passed away a few days ago, and things have been hard, she had two brothers, one older, one younger, her older brother's name was Borealis, while her younger brother's name was Australis, they both had the same coat color, same mane and tail colors, and same cutie mark as her, Borealis' mane and tail were long while Australis' mane and tail were short. The three were easy to tell apart from one another, Borealis was a stallion, Aurora was a teenager, and Australis was a foal, all three of them were unicorns.
Aurora was at home making dinner with Borealis while Australis sat at the table,
"I wanna help." Australis said,
"You can when you get older, Australis, there are some things in the cabinet you can't reach yet." Aurora replied,
"But I've got a horn." Australis said,
"Have you been practicing your telekinesis?" Borealis asked,
"Yes." Australis replied,
"Show us then." Aurora said, and Australis uses telekinesis his magic aura was a light blue, he gets a white plate from the top of a cabinet and moves it forward, Borealis and Aurora watched with impressment, thinking he may be able to help after all, but Australis sneezed and dropped the plate on the floor and broke it,
"Oh, I'm sorry." Australis said worriedly,
"It's okay, Australis, it's not your fault." Aurora replied,
"Yeah, sneezes can't be controlled, try it again." Borealis said, and Australis does, he got the plate on the table that time,
"You may be able to help after all, keep doing it." Borealis said, and Australis does, they finished making dinner faster than usual.
The three have dinner and converse and laugh as they talk about their days. Aurora thought she was lucky that she and her siblings got along great, because the last thing she wanted to deal with after losing her parents were siblings who did not get along, and argued and fought all the time. The three continue having dinner until they hear an explosion outside, they run out of their house and look around the town, they saw smoke and other ponies looking around, a male unicorn emerged, he had a light turquoise coat, a long bright blue mane and tail, purple eyes, and his cutie mark was a flask with a purple liquid in it and light brown goggles. The unicorn was Darwin, the town's resident mad scientist,
"Ugh, what is Darwin doing this time?" Borealis asked,
"Probably blowing up his own home again." Australis replied,
"Guys, now's not the time, he might be hurt." Aurora said, and they watch.
Darwin comes out and looks, he saw a fusion of his current experiment in front of him, it looked like a pony, it had a unicorn horn, Pegasus wings, a fin of a seapony in place of its tail, it was black like a shadow, and seemed to have had a crystalline body, it turned into mush and dissolved,
"Ha-ha! Yes! Yes! I final did it! I have created the formula to make the ultimate alicorn!" Darwin said,
The ponies except for Doctor Whooves were in utter disbelief,
"Did you say the ultimate alicorn?" Princess Celestia asked with shock,
"Yes, please hear me out, this pony was a mad scientist." Aurora replied,
"Still though, one can only become an alicorn by doing a princess worthy deed." Twilight Sparkle said,
"Wasn't that foal there born as an alicorn?" Aurora asked while pointing her front left hoof to Flurry Heart,
"Well, yes, but we don't understand that, either." Princess Cadence replied,
"See, there's more than one way to become an alicorn, and what Darwin became surpassed you five." Aurora said,
"Well, let's continue, our time is limited." Doctor Whooves said, and Aurora continues her tale.
Aurora watches with her two brothers and wondered what Darwin was doing, he was panting tiredly at the moment,
"At last! My creation is complete, revenge is mine. Mom, dad, Emma, my child, you all will be avenged!" Darwin said loudly, the ponies were unimpressed,
"Oh, that Darwin." Australis said,
"Revenge? In his dreams." Borealis said,
"It's almost night time, I have to go to work now." Aurora said,
"Okay, see you in the morning." Borealis said,
"Take care." Australis said,
"You two take care, too." Aurora replied, and she hugged Borealis and kissed Australis on the forehead and she went into the house to get her saddlebag and she headed to work.
Aurora went to a factory where she worked with other Pegasi, Aurora used her magic to make the northern light colors while the Pegasi put it in the clouds and skies, Aurora's magic aura was pink. Aurora was the most outgoing and sociable of her siblings, she was friends with almost everypony in the town, not only was she considered one of the most beautiful ponies in the town, but she was also one of the kindest and friendliest ponies others have met.
Aurora continues making the northern lights for the Pegasi to put in the sky, she loved her job, Borealis did the job before he quit, he was leaving soon to join the royal guards in Canterlot. Australis would come over to help when he had the time, the three were well liked by the townsponies, and they all had many friends. Aurora's life was perfect until their parents passed away from an unknown illness, the ponies remember the day of their funeral, Borealis was completely stoic and emotionless, Australis tried to hold his tears back but cried a few, and Aurora was crying her eyes out and bawling loudly, the ponies knew that while Aurora was the most sociable and friendly of the three, she was also the most emotional and sensitive of the siblings, so the other ponies were careful not to upset her.
Aurora was working far into the night and heard a pony coming, it was a male earth pony, he had a dark yellow coat, a short dark blue mane and tail, orange eyes, and his cutie mark was a brown gavel. Aurora did not recognize him,
"Why, hello, beautiful." the earth pony said, Aurora chuckled,
"Thank you, compliments might just get you a new friend." Aurora replied, the earth pony chuckled,
"I'm Comet Strike, I'm friends with Cloud Buster, Houdini, Shadow Trail, Navy, and Crystal Coat." Comet Strike said, Aurora knew all five of them, Cloud Buster was a Pegasus, Houdini was a unicorn, Shadow Trail was an umbrum, Navy was a seapony, and Crystal Coat was a crystal pony, they were all stallions, and Cloud Buster and Houdini bullied Darwin in the past, which made Aurora suspicious of Comet Strike. Aurora keeps working while Comet Strike watches,
"What is your name?" Comet Strike asked,
"Aurora." Aurora replied,
"You know, you'll have to watch me, if you're not careful, I'll steal a kiss from you." Comet Strike said,
"Please don't." Aurora replied, and she continues using her magic to put the northern lights in the sky,
"We're alone right now, my dear, Darwin would be so crazy if you and I were dating." Comet Strike said, Aurora turns around walks to him while using her telekinesis,
"I know Darwin very well, he doesn't have feelings for me, and he had a lover before she was killed, so I doubt he would be jealous." Aurora replied, Comet Strike was infatuated with the pink aura on her horn,
"Your horn." Comet Strike said,
"What about it?" Aurora asked,
"It's beautiful when it glows like that." Comet Strike replied,
"There's nothing special about it, it's only a magic aura when I cast magic with it." Aurora said, Comet Strike reached with his front right hoof and touched her horn while the pink magic aura was around it,
"What are you doing?" Aurora asked,
"Your horn is very pretty with that pink aura around it." Comet Strike replied, which made Aurora very uncomfortable, she tried to think of a lie to get Comet Strike to stop rubbing her horn,
"Uh, Comet Strike, I have to file my reports on my job now." Aurora said,
"No, you don't, this factory doesn't document workdays." Comet Strike replied, Aurora was surprised that Comet Strike knew it was a lie, she tries to think of something else,
"My shift is about to end, I need to get ready to go home." Aurora said,
"You should come home with me instead." Comet Strike replied,
"Sorry, but I have a little brother to watch over." Aurora said,
"How old is he?" Comet Strike asked,
"Six." Aurora replied,
"He's old enough to take care of himself." Comet Strike said,
"No, he isn't." Aurora replied, Comet Strike was still touching her horn, he began caressing it, which made her blush. Aurora tried to think of something to say in order to get Comet Strike to leave, but she only had one thing to say, she sighed, unable to believe what she was about to say,
"Comet Strike, I have to pee." Aurora said,
"I'm sure you can hold it longer for me." Comet Strike replied,
"Comet Strike, I am serious, I really do have to use the bathroom." Aurora said a little sternly,
"Oh, sorry, go on then." Comet Strike replied while taking his hoof off of her horn,
"Thank you." Aurora said, and she went to the bathroom while she stopped using her magic.
Aurora uses the bathroom and finishes quickly, she heads back out and saw Comet Strike was gone,
"Comet Strike?" Aurora asked while she looked around, he was nowhere to be found, she continued her work late into the night and headed home many hours later.
Aurora heads home just when the sun was rising, she hears loud static noises at Darwin's newly built house, which he rebuilt with his magic, light blue and white electricity shot out of the home while Aurora watched with curiosity.
Doctor Whooves' eyes were wide at hearing about Darwin,
"Is something wrong, Doctor?" Aurora asked,
"Sorry, it's just that, this Darwin is bringing back memories of my teacher." Doctor Whooves replied, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack had widened eyes afterwards,
"What's the matter?" Aurora asked,
"Doctor Whooves' teacher came to the School of Friendship as a guest last week, he taught in Applejack's class." Twilight Sparkle said,
"Yeah, that's one lesson Ah'll never forget, it was a disaster." Applejack replied,
"What happened?" Aurora asked, and Applejack recalls the events.
Doctor Whooves' teacher was in Applejack's class and was about to show the class something he made,
"Gentlemen, behold!" Doctor Whooves' teacher said,
"Ahem!" Ocellus, Yona, Smolder, and Silverstream said angrily along with the other female students,
"Sorry." Doctor Whooves' teacher said, and he tries again,
"Everybody, behold! Corn!" Doctor Whooves' teacher said, everycreature except Silverstream was unimpressed, she flew up close to it,
"Wow! It's as exciting as stairs!" Silverstream said as she had her hands on her cheeks and smiled,
"Good! Then let the mating begin!" Doctor Whooves' teacher said, and the corn laughed, stood up on its own, and several of them shot onto Silverstream, with the husk going onto her face. Silverstream screamed as she hit the wall, the students screamed in terror while Applejack looked on in shock.
Aurora had a shocked face at the story,
"What happened to Silverstream?" Aurora asked,
"She had to go home for a few days, the corns that shot onto her injured her, removin' that husk from her face was a hassle." Applejack replied,
"Sounds like something you'd create, Doctor." Derpy said,
"Trust me, you won't believe what kind of things my teacher did." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Can you list a few, Doctor?" Aurora asked,
"One time, he grafted a deer antler to his groin so he can fit in with the rest of the herd." Doctor Whooves replied, everybody around him had shocked faces,
"He did what now?" Apple Bloom asked,
"What else did he do?" Aurora asked,
"He once talked with his flank into a microphone, he called himself Doctor Buttocks." Doctor Whooves replied, surprising the others, Rainbow Dash laughed while Applejack and Granny Smith chuckled a bit,
"What type of pony is Doctor Whooves' teacher?" Princess Luna asked,
"An earth pony." Starlight Glimmer replied,
"What a surprise, we should study this as well." Princess Cadence said,
"Well, that's enough, let's continue, Aurora, our time is limited." Doctor Whooves said, and Aurora continues her tale.
Aurora watches Darwin's house and it explodes once again, the neighbors were not bothered because it has happened many times, and it was almost time to wake up anyway,
"Yes, it's done." Darwin said, Aurora did not see him until he stood up, she looked at him in shock,
"I have done it, I have it all, the magic of a unicorn, flight of a Pegasus, strength of an earth pony, the coat of a crystal pony, the shadow powers of an umbrum, and the fin and gills of a seapony, I have become the ultimate alicorn." Darwin said. Darwin walks forward and he had a black shadow-like coat, it was also crystalline, his mane was still the same, but his tail was replaced with the tail of a seapony, and his unicorn horn was now red, and he had Pegasus wings on him, his cutie mark was still the same.
Darwin looks at the moon and watched the sky,
"Just you six wait, the world will soon know what you all did." Darwin said, Aurora watches Darwin as he looks at the moon,
"No, let's leave Borealis be, he never truly done anything bad to me." Darwin said to himself, what surprises most ponies was Darwin was a lot older than he looked, he looked like he was around Aurora's age, but he was almost the same age as Borealis, and the two have never truly gotten along, but they can tolerate one another. The sun begins to rise and Aurora heads home, she saw Borealis and Australis were already awake and having breakfast,
"Welcome home." Borealis and Australis said together, Aurora chuckled,
"Thank you, I'm going to go get some sleep." Aurora replied,
"Alright, off to school now, Australis." Borealis said, and Australis hugged his brother and sister and left, Aurora went to her bedroom and slept in her bed.
Aurora wakes up later and sees she has slept for four hours, she felt that something has woken her up, she listens and realizes it was foals playing outside that woke her up, she smiled and did not mind because she did the same thing when she was a filly, and it angered the adults, there was one incident when Aurora was playing with other fillies and colts in the afternoon, one earth pony stallion got angry with the noises they were making, and ran to them and started physically attacking her and the other foals. Aurora's parents had to take her home and treat her wounds while she cried in pain, Borealis stood by and walked with her to make sure it did not happen again.
Aurora stops looking back and went downstairs, Borealis was practicing for the royal guard boot camp,
"You're up early." Borealis said,
"Foals playing outside woke me up." Aurora replied, Borealis chuckled and continued doing pushups.
Aurora headed outside and walked around, she looked and saw Australis outside, he was hanging out with his friends, and having a good time, much to her happiness. Aurora becomes curious about what Darwin was doing and went to go check on him, but saw that he was not home. Aurora walks around and saw five friends walking together, it was Cloud Buster, Houdini, Shadow Trail, Navy, and Crystal Coat.
Cloud Buster had a white coat, a long pale mane and tail, whitish-blue eyes, and his cutie mark was two white clouds. Houdini had a dark purple coat, he had a long dark red mane that was tied at the bottom, and a dark red tail, his eyes were dark red, and his cutie mark was black chains. Shadow Trail had a black coat, a short black mane and tail, a red horn, his eyes were reddish-brown with green sclerae, he did not have a cutie mark, and was a living shadow. Navy had a dark blue coat, a short and spikey light blue mane, a light blue tail that was divided, light blue hands and hooves, light blue eyes, and had a necklace with a purple pearl on it, he was in his hippogriff form. Crystal Coat had a light pink coat, a long mane and tail with light blue and white streaks in it, green eyes, and his cutie mark was a white hexagon-shaped crystal, he had a crystalline coat.
Aurora watches them and they laugh as they converse, she decides to walk to them,
"Excuse me." Aurora said as she went to them, the five look at her and smile,
"Where's Comet Strike?" Aurora asked,
"Sorry, but Comet Strike is busy right now, he wishes not to be disturbed." Cloud Buster replied,
"Doing what?" Aurora asked,
"Planning, he's the leader of our group." Houdini replied,
"And why is that?" Aurora asked,
"Cause he's the oldest." Shadow Trail replied,
"That reminds me. Shadow Trail, Navy, Crystal Coat, what do you three think of this town?" Aurora asked,
"It's alright, but could be better." Shadow Trail replied,
"Well, it's good, but I still liked the Crystal Empire better." Crystal Coat said,
"It's okay, but I do miss the water." Navy said,
"I see, well, I'll be going now, talk to you guys later." Aurora said, and she walked away.
The five friends walk together and Aurora watched them, Cloud Buster was a member of the royal guard, Houdini was a schoolteacher, and Shadow Trail, Navy, and Crystal Coat did not have any jobs because they been in the town for only six months, but Cloud Buster and Houdini bullied Darwin a lot when he was a foal, Aurora was not sure if Comet Strike was a foalhood bully to Darwin as well, the five friends converse and go their separate paths, Aurora was curious and decided to follow Navy since he was a hippogriff, and she was curious about his kind of people.
Aurora walks behind Navy and watches him, he was snickering and looked at the grave of Darwin's parents, Aurora was immediately suspicious of him, her gut feeling was telling her that he had a role in the deaths of Darwin's family. A black mass appears in front of Navy and it scared him and Aurora, it comes downwards and forms into Darwin. Aurora and Navy were in complete shock at what he looked like, his coat was black and shadow-like, his entire body was crystalline, his eyes were reddish-brown with green sclerae and purple mists coming out of them, his mane was black and flowing, his pony tail was replaced with a seapony tail, its fins were red, he still had his cutie mark, his unicorn horn was red, his front hooves had changed to the feet of a hippogriff with red talons, he had four wings, two Pegasus wings, and two hippogriff wings, red seapony fins on his back, and he had the beak of a hippogriff, which was red.
Aurora and Navy looked on in surprise and shock at what they saw,
"Remember me, Navy?" Darwin asked, to Aurora's relief, Darwin's voice has not changed,
"Yes, I do, your parents died along with your lover and child." Navy said smugly while smiling, Aurora did not like his tone of voice, Darwin began to growl, Navy smiled widely,
"Your family were idiots, and lowlifes, they deserved to die." Navy said, Darwin screams in rage and changes into a shadow form. Aurora was angry at what she heard, Darwin's parents were friends with hers, the two were very friendly and good ponies. Darwin's horn had purple mist on it and he fires a black blast of dark magic towards Navy, he exclaims in terror and flies away, Darwin changes back to his alicorn form and chases Navy by flying,
"Darwin, wait!" Aurora said as she ran to him.
Darwin chases Navy and the two were flying, but Darwin was catching up to him easily, due to him having four wings, he flew two times faster than an average Pegasus, this caught Aurora's attention as she ran and followed him, because she knew there was no way Darwin can master flying with wings that fast. Navy looks back and sees Darwin coming up to him, he becomes scared and looks around, he sees a body of water and he flies to it, he uses his necklace to change to a seapony and he goes into it. Navy swims away but he hears swimming behind him, he looks back and sees Darwin's fins and seapony tail gave him the ability to swim in the water, but he was slower than a typical seapony. Navy smiled and swam away, but Darwin's horn had a purple aura around it and he teleports to behind Navy, he exclaims in shock and swims faster, but Darwin changes to his shadow form and chases him, he was able to keep up with him easily. Navy jumps out of the water while Darwin's shadow form just grows bigger, Navy tries to use the necklace to change back to his hippogriff form, but Darwin shoots black crystals onto it so Navy cannot use it. Navy flops around on the ground and could not move, Darwin had an angry face and he shoots a purple blast at Navy's head,
"Now, to expose what you have done, to everyone else." Darwin said, and a white screen appears in midair, everybody in town sees it and a projection appeared. A picture appears on it and everypony sees Navy break into Darwin's home and he attacked Darwin's parents by scratching them with his talons, there were two black silhouettes there with him as well, but nopony can tell who it was. Darwin's parents scream as they were attacked, Navy laughs as he walks away from the lifeless bodies of Darwin's parents.
Navy was frozen in terror at his crime being exposed, Darwin growls and shoots a purple blast from his horn onto him, Navy screams as the explosion hits him. Aurora looks on in shock at what Darwin did, the smoke clears and Navy was obliterated, only his shadow remained.
Darwin changes back to his alicorn form and looked at the shadow stoically, only Navy's necklace remained, Darwin took it with him,
"Darwin!" Aurora said as she ran to him, he turned around and faced her,
"You can't do that!" Aurora said,
"I have my reasons." Darwin replied,
"But still, it's wrong." Aurora said,
"Are you saying he should have gone unpunished for his role in the death of my family?" Darwin asked,
"Well, no, but you should've let society punish him." Aurora replied,
"Tried it, didn't work." Darwin said, Aurora was shocked, Darwin turned to his shadow form and went away,
"Darwin! No!" Aurora said as she ran after him.
Darwin moves around the land and saw Shadow Trail up ahead, he heard soft growling to his right and looked, he saw Darwin coming. Darwin arrived at him and glared at Shadow Trail while showing his teeth,
"Who are you?" Shadow Trail asked, Darwin turned into his alicorn form and revealed himself,
"It's me, Shadow Trail." Darwin replied, Shadow Trail became shocked and he immediately turned into his shadow form, knowing exactly why Darwin has come after him. Shadow Trail's horn had purple mist on it and he shoots a blast of dark magic to Darwin, Darwin moves around and dodges it, the two were making black crystals come out of the ground. Shadow Trail uses his magic and puts black crystals on Darwin's horn so he could not cast magic, Darwin simply grabbed the crystals with his hippogriff talons and took it off. Shadow Trail becomes surprised and shoots a blast of dark magic at Darwin, but he moves around and dodges it, he then shoots a purple blast at Shadow Trail's forehead and another projection popped up.
Everypony sees the other projection and it was the same one as the one with Navy, but they see Shadow Trail to his left and behind him, Aurora realizes that Shadow Trail also had a role in taking the lives of Darwin's family because he put black crystals in their horns so they cannot cast magic. The projection goes down shortly afterwards,
"No! My good pony image! Ruined!" Shadow Trail said in shock, Aurora was shocked to see that Shadow Trail cared more about his public image than morals,
"Exposure complete, time to put you down." Darwin said, and he fires a big purple blast at Shadow Trail, he screams and it fades away, he was obliterated as well, only his shadow on the ground remained.
Aurora looked on in horror while Darwin changed back to his alicorn form,
"DARWIN!!" Aurora yelled as she ran to him,
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Aurora asked angrily,
"It is simple, Aurora, they took the lives of my family, so I'm taking theirs as revenge." Darwin replied,
"Darwin, you need to stop this." Aurora said with tears in her eyes,
"Why?" Darwin asked,
"You will become even worse than them, you are stooping lower than your targets." Aurora replied,
"Don't give me that crap." Darwin said, Aurora became shocked at what she heard,
"You just think what I'm doing is wrong because it's wrong to you, everyone's beliefs on what is right and what is wrong is different, while it's wrong to you, it's right to me, just stay out of my way." Darwin said, and he flew away with his Pegasus and hippogriff wings.
Aurora was sitting across from the other ponies present with tears in her eyes,
"I see, so Darwin is one of those types of people." Doctor Whooves said,
"What do you mean he's one of those types of people?" Aurora asked tearfully,
"There are people out there who's belief what is right and what is wrong is different from most of us, it's likely his belief on what is justice is different from most people as well." Doctor Whooves replied,
"What causes someone to think like that?" Aurora asked tearfully,
"Usually, past experiences, and cultural beliefs." Doctor Whooves replied,
"I tried to tell him that he will be worse than the people he was targeting, but he didn't care." Aurora said tearfully,
"I'm sorry, Aurora, but I know from experience, sometimes, taking a life is more effective than forgiving your enemies." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Why? Why does the world have to be like that?" Aurora asked,
"I'm sorry, Aurora, and it is unfortunate, I have been alive for many years, most of the time, in almost every situation, nothing is straightforward, everything is twisted, there is no black or white morality in such situations, only gray." Doctor Whooves replied, Aurora was crying softly at what Doctor Whooves said,
"Uh, Doctor, can you please give us some insight on what you mean?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"There are times in life where the hero and the villain are not what they seem, the hero may be saving the world, but they are doing bad things, such as stealing and taking lives in order to save the world, while the villain may be doing bad things, but they have good intentions and noble goals, there are also times when it looks like it's clear who the hero and who the villain is, but if you dig into the history, watch their actions, and learn about them, who is the hero and who is the villain is actually reversed, one of the most common ones I have seen and heard is the villain having lines he or she will not cross, but the hero will, for example, the villain will not take the life of a child or an animal, but the hero will. I can go on forever about this, but I'll stop here since time is limited." Doctor Whooves explained, surprising the others,
"So, what you are saying is that sometimes, the villains do bad things because they good intentions, while the hero will also do bad things, but it is so it will stop the villain." Rainbow Dash said,
"That's one way, there are many, but Aurora has to continue, our time is limited." Doctor Whooves replied, Aurora sighed,
"Okay, I'm ready to continue." Aurora said, and she continues her tale.
Aurora runs after Darwin as he flies through the air and he was going to Crystal Coat, who was gloating and posing in front of regular earth ponies,
"That's right, you regular ponies, I've got a crystal coat because I'm special, unlike you regular ponies." Crystal Coat said, Aurora groaned in disgust while shaking her head. Darwin flies to behind Crystal Coat, the four earth ponies look on in shock and run away, Crystal Coat turns around and saw Darwin, he landed on the ground,
"Who are you?" Crystal Coat asked,
"I am Darwin, the ultimate alicorn." Darwin replied,
"Oh, it's you, hope you like the spit and kicks I put on your family's graves." Crystal Coat said smugly while smiling, Darwin glared at him, he shoots a purple blast at Crystal Coat to zap him, but he strafes to his left and runs to Darwin, he turns around and then tries to buck him with both of his hind legs, it did not do well, Crystal Coat looks and sees Darwin had a crystalline coat as well,
"I too, have a crystalline coat, my body's defense is equal to yours." Darwin said, Crystal Coat becomes scared and runs, Darwin flies after him while Aurora runs to him to stop him.
Crystal Coat runs as fast as he could to escape Darwin, unfortunately for him, he was an earth pony without the crystalline coat, and thus, was powerless against Darwin. Darwin flies down and lands on his back, he grunts as he fell,
"Now, to expose what you did." Darwin said, and he shoots a purple beam to Crystal Coat's head and a projection pops up for everypony to see.
The projection showed Crystal Coat attacking Darwin's wife, he ran to her before she could zap him, he bucks her with his hind legs and hits her in the stomach, she screamed as she flew through the air, Crystal Coat smiled at seeing her fall, he walked to her while she was down,
"I'm not aiming to take your life, I'm just taking yours to take the life of the child." Crystal Coat said, Darwin's wife screamed and Crystal Coat bucked her in the head. The projection changes and Crystal Coat was at the graves of Darwin's family, he spat on them and bucked them, damaging the gravestones,
"Hope you all rot, I'll enjoy watching Darwin's suffering." Crystal Coat said smugly while smiling, and the projection went down.
Crystal Coat was paralyzed in terror at his crimes being exposed, Darwin then shot a purple blast out of his horn and obliterated Crystal Coat, he screamed in the pain in the process, it faded, and all that remained was his shadow on the ground.
Aurora has had enough and ran to Darwin, she zapped Darwin in rage and he grunted as he fell, he stood up and faced her,
"DARWIN, THIS HAS GONE ON LONG ENOUGH!!" Aurora yelled angrily,
"I have my reasons, Aurora." Darwin replied,
"But what you're doing is wrong!" Aurora said,
"And it's right for them to take lives and go unpunished?" Darwin asked,
"That's what we got justice for!" Aurora replied,
"They escaped justice, that's why I've delivering it, myself." Darwin said,
"This isn't justice!" Aurora replied angrily,
"You don't have the full story." Darwin said,
"I don't need it to know the difference from right and wrong." Aurora replied,
"I would like to know why you're judging my actions when you don't even have the details on what happened. Even your brothers have some knowledge on my situation." Darwin said, Aurora was speechless, she did find it a bit suspicious that Borealis and Australis were not with her, they normally would be here to help her and support her,
"Don't believe me? I have proof right here." Darwin said, and he fires a projection of himself grieving at the graves of his family, he was on his hind knees with his head down, crying softly, Borealis and Australis walk behind him, but they stop and look at him,
"Hey, look, it's Darwin." Australis said,
"Yeah, he just lost his family, somepony took their lives." Borealis replied, Australis smiled mischievously and was about to sneak up on him and scare him, Borealis touched Australis' left shoulder with his front left hoof,
"Don't, Australis." Borealis said, Australis looked at him with surprise,
"What happened to Darwin was tragic, and shouldn't happen to anypony, your child passing away before you is the biggest fear of anypony, we may not like Darwin, but he didn't deserve this, if there's anything you should feel now, it's sympathy, just leave him be for now." Borealis said, Australis was very surprised, because Borealis usually did not have nice things to say about Darwin,
"Come now, let's go buy the groceries." Borealis said, and the two walked away.
The projection goes down and Aurora was in disbelief,
"See, your brothers only knew a small part, but it was very important, they know exactly why I'm doing this, and that is why they're not here for you." Darwin said, Aurora was still in disbelief, she let out a disappointed grunt and ran home while Darwin watched her.
Aurora ran into her house and saw Borealis and Australis were playing a card game at the table,
"How could you two?" Aurora asked sternly and sadly,
"How could we what, sis?" Australis asked,
"Know something about Darwin's situation and not stop what he's doing." Aurora replied, Borealis and Australis were caught off guard,
"Wait, what's going on?" Borealis asked,
"Darwin is killing the ponies who killed his family!" Aurora replied, Borealis and Australis were a bit surprised,
"I didn't think he would actually go through with it." Australis said,
"Me neither." Borealis replied,
"Why aren't you two stopping him? Why weren't you two there to help me?" Aurora asked a little angrily,
"We didn't know." Australis replied,
"What?!" Aurora asked with shock,
"That's true, Aurora, we didn't." Borealis said,
"Didn't you guys hear and see the projections?!" Aurora asked, losing her temper, Borealis and Australis become shocked, realizing they were caught,
"Wait, I knew it! You guys do know!" Aurora said angrily,
"We have no reason to go after Darwin." Borealis replied,
"But he's taking lives!" Aurora replied,
"Lives of the guilty." Australis said,
"IT'S STILL A CRIME!! WHY WON'T YOU TWO HELP ME?!" Aurora asked angrily,
"Aurora, who do you think is the guilty one? The one taking revenge out of grief over the loss of his family? Or the ones who took his family away from him in the first place?" Borealis asked calmly, Aurora was speechless for a minute,
"They're both guilty." Aurora replied in a calmed down but still angry tone,
"Which one do you think is more guilty?" Borealis asked, Aurora could not decide, because they were both equally guilty to her, she breathes hard while she tries to decide, her brothers realize she could not, she screams in rage while clutching her head, she ran to her bedroom while Borealis and Australis watched her and shrugged.
The ponies who were listening to Aurora's tale were a little surprised,
"Care to explain why you screamed?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Because I had no idea on what happened, while everypony else did, I was so frustrated, I ended up crying in my pillow afterwards, that was also the very first time I ever fought with my siblings." Aurora replied,
"You still bothered by it?" Applejack asked,
"Kind of." Aurora replied,
"I know that feeling." Fluttershy said,
"I think we all do." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"What about you, Doctor, who do you think is more guilty?" Aurora asked,
"The ponies who took the lives of his family, of course, they're the ones who made him like that in the first place." Doctor Whooves asked,
"But Darwin's a criminal, too." Aurora replied,
"Aurora, listen to me, Darwin wouldn't be called a criminal in this situation, what he would be called is a vigilante, he is delivering justice his own way, the way he believes is right." Doctor Whooves said,
"What? What about the criminals?" Aurora asked,
"There are a lot of criminals out there, the justice system can't catch all of them, that is why vigilantes exist, if they escape the justice of society, then they will deliver their own form of justice, and usually, it's taking that criminal's life." Doctor Whooves replied, Aurora was speechless but shocked,
"Why do such people exist?" Aurora asked tearfully,
"Because they feel the justice of society is not enough, or those who wronged them escaped justice, so they take matters into their hands or hooves, I'm sorry, Aurora, but that's just how the world is." Doctor Whooves replied, Aurora put her head down and cried a bit, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Derpy went to go comfort her,
"Aurora." Princess Celestia said, Aurora held her head up,
"Yes, Princess Celestia?" Aurora asked,
"Do you feel like stopping?" Princess Celestia asked, Aurora wiped her tears away,
"I'm ready to continue." Aurora replied, and she continues her tale.
Aurora was on her bed and crying into her pillow, she felt like she was left out of whatever was happening, Borealis and Australis did not mind because they knew she was just acting on her emotions, like she always has, so they just leave her be, and continue playing card games.
A loud blast is heard outside and Aurora looks out the window, she saw Darwin chasing Houdini, Aurora ran outside to go see them, Borealis and Australis,
"Wait, Aurora." Borealis said, but it was too late.
Aurora ran to Darwin and tried to stop him, Houdini looked back and fired red zaps at Darwin, he was currently in his shadow form and dodged them, he teleported towards Houdini as well, he fires a zap at Houdini's horn and puts black crystals on it, shocking Houdini.
Darwin fires a purple beam at Houdini's forehead and a projection comes up. It showed Darwin trying to make friends when he was a foal, only for Houdini to intervene and cut him off from them, along with stealing his lunch. The projection changes and Houdini was talking to foals at the school,
"Everypony, there's this unicorn in town named Darwin, he is a bad pony, and a nerd, and you all know what we do to nerds." Houdini said, the projection changes to the foals physically attacking Darwin at his home,
"Good job, kids, you all got extra credit." Houdini said,
"Yay." the foals said, Aurora was shocked. The projection changes and she saw Houdini standing outside of Darwin's house while screaming was heard,
"Get back here!" Darwin said angrily, and Navy, Shadow Trail, and Crystal Coat run out while Darwin came out, Houdini pointed his front left hoof,
"That's him! That's the culprit!" Houdini said,
"What?" Darwin asked, the projection changed to Darwin being in court and was found guilty for the deaths of his family, Houdini was in the crowd, along with Cloud Buster, Navy, Shadow Trail, and Crystal Coat, the five laugh at him while he was taken to the dungeon.
The projection goes down and Darwin growls, he begins to shoot a blast at Houdini, but Aurora zapped him and knocked him back, Houdini used that time to run away,
"What are you doing?!" Darwin asked,
"This can't go on, if you're not going to stop, Darwin, then I will no choice but to fight you." Aurora replied, Darwin growled and shoots a blast at Aurora's horn, she tries to fire back but could not, she looks and saw black crystals on her horn,
"My horn!" Aurora said with shock while she looked, Houdini turns around and throws a rock at her and hits her, she exclaims in shock and Houdini runs away while laughing. Darwin teleports to in front of him and above him, Houdini tried to run around him, but Darwin shoots a purple blast at him and obliterates him, Houdini screamed in the process, and only his shadow remained.
Aurora watched in horror as Darwin continued his revenge, a spear is thrown at Darwin but he uses telekinesis to hold it up, he looked up and saw Cloud Buster coming, he was in his royal guard uniform,
"You're under arrest, Darwin." Cloud Buster said, Darwin flew around with his four wings and was twice as fast as Cloud Buster, he could not keep up. Darwin went behind him and grabbed his wings with his hippogriff hands and Cloud Buster fell onto the ground, Darwin shoots a purple zap at the back of Cloud Buster's head, and a projection came up.
Cloud Buster was bullying Darwin as a foal, and severing whatever friends he tried to make, along with locking him in the classroom when class ended, he was always late and got in trouble. The projection changes and Cloud Buster was standing on the roof of Darwin's house, Navy, Shadow Trail, and Crystal Coat run out, Houdini accused Darwin of being culprit, and Cloud Buster landed behind him and held him down, he then arrested Darwin and took him to court,
"Please, you have to believe me, I'm innocent." Darwin said,
"Tell that to the judge." Cloud Buster replied, and he took him away. The projection changes and Cloud Buster was with the other royal guards in the town,
"There is no need to investigate the crime, the evidence was very specific, it all pointed to Darwin being the culprit." Cloud Buster said,
"But we didn't even get to check it." a male earth pony royal guard replied,
"I already did, it was very clear, no need to investigate." Cloud Buster said,
"Well, if you say so." a male unicorn royal guard replied, and Cloud Buster left with a smile on his face.
The projection goes down and Darwin proceeded to blast Cloud Buster and obliterate him, he screamed in pain, and only his shadow remained,
"Okay, one more." Darwin said to himself, and he flew up into the clouds, he stood on one and looked around, he sees his next target and teleports there.
Aurora looks around and tries to find Darwin, she hears him appear to the northwest of her position, so she runs there. Aurora arrives and sees Darwin, and to her surprise, Comet Strike,
"I've waited long for this kill." Darwin said,
"I am superior to you in every way." Comet Strike replied,
"Not this time." Darwin said, and Comet Strike ran to him and bucked him with his hind legs, he pressed his teeth against one another, Darwin's crystalline coat made him more durable than before,
"Now, to expose what you done." Darwin said, Comet Strike moved back in fear,
"No, Darwin, please, Celestia have mercy." Comet Strike said, and Darwin shoots a purple beam at Comet Strike's head.
A projection comes up and it showed Comet Strike and Darwin as foals, Comet Strike bullied Darwin by taking his stuff away, and his lunch, it was like a typical bully routine, Comet Strike was a jock, and Darwin was a nerd, Comet Strike had many friends while Darwin had none. The projection changes to Darwin befriending a female earth pony as a foal, only for Comet Strike to get involved in it and sever their friendship, Darwin cried while Comet Strike smiled at him. The projection changes to many years later where they are adults, the mare gives birth to a colt, only for Comet Strike to leave her and she had to raise the child on her own. Projection changes several times to show Comet Strike seducing female unicorns, Pegasi, and earth ponies, he got them all pregnant and left them once when the foal was born.
The projection changes and Comet Strike was in Canterlot, reading about what was going on in the town, he found that Darwin has gotten married, so he left. The projection changes to him meeting up with Cloud Buster, Houdini, Crystal Coat, Shadow Trail, and Navy,
"For you three who don't know me, my name is Comet Strike, I'm an old friend of Cloud Buster and Houdini, I have a job for you five, we're going to destroy Darwin's life." Comet Strike said,
"Why him for?" Navy asked,
"Because I don't like him, never did ever since we were foals, and if I don't like somepony, then nopony can." Comet Strike replied,
"What do you have in mind?" Cloud Buster asked,
"Since Darwin has a child coming, we're going to target his family, we're going to take the lives of all of them, and let Darwin take the blame, think of it as a prank. Shadow Trail, Navy, and Crystal Coat, you three take their lives, Cloud Buster, you arrest him and make sure none of the royal guards investigate, and Houdini, you act as a witness so we can have somepony say they saw him in court, and I'll do my part." Comet Strike replied,
"You always did take pleasure in a job well done." Houdini said,
"True, but Darwin's suffering is my pleasure, too. He doesn't know I'm coming back, we haven't seen one another ever since we were foals, just imagine his face when he discovers I've returned." Comet Strike replied, and they snicker.
The projection changes to Darwin being in court, and Comet Strike was the judge,
"Comet Strike, is that you?" Darwin asked,
"Yes, but I'm not here to look back, Darwin, the evidence speaks, and we have a reliable witness, you're guilty, Darwin, I sentence you three months in the dungeon." Comet Strike replied,
"What?! But what about my testimony?" Darwin asked,
"Don't need one, the evidence was solid, and there were five people who saw you, they're all here in this courtroom." Comet Strike replied,
"But there should be a trial, I can prove I'm innocent." Darwin said,
"No, we have evidence of your guilt, three ponies saw you attacking your family, two heard you, the three ran out in fear when you tried to take their lives to cover up your own crimes, the first pony who heard you revealed your crime, and the second one restrained you, giving you a trial will be a waste of time." Comet Strike replied, Darwin was shocked with tears in his eyes,
"Take him away, boys." Comet Strike said, and the royal guards take him away while Cloud Buster, Houdini, Shadow Trail, Crystal Coat, and Navy laugh at him, and Comet Strike smiled as Darwin was taken to the dungeon. The projection changes to today and Comet Strike was outside early in the morning, the other five conspirators ran to him,
"Comet Strike, it's Darwin, he's transformed himself." Houdini said,
"It's fine, we can stay out here in the public, Darwin is still hated by the townsponies." Comet Strike replied,
"You sure?" Cloud Buster asked,
"Of course, just hang out and have fun, I'll catch up to you guys tomorrow." Comet Strike replied,
"Well, if you say so." Navy said, and they walk away, Comet Strike proceeded to pack his things and was getting ready to leave the town.
The projection goes down and Aurora could not believe it, Comet Strike was the mastermind behind the deaths of Darwin's family, he also sacrificed his five friends just so he could escape, and he was planning to get her pregnant and was going to leave her with her to tend to the child on her own.
Comet Strike was in tears at his crimes being exposed,
"No, please, don't do this, Darwin." Comet Strike said tearfully, Darwin looked at him angrily,
"May your soul rot in the afterlife." Darwin said, and he blasted him, he screamed and was obliterated, leaving only his shadow behind.
Darwin sighed in relief and had tears fall from his eyes,
"Mom, dad, Emma, my child, you have been avenged." Darwin said, Aurora cannot believe it has been six months since their deaths, Aurora was scared, so she ran back to her home.
Aurora arrives home and Borealis and Australis saw black crystals on her horn, the two look at it, the door opens and Darwin comes in, Borealis got defensive,
"What did you do to my sister?" Borealis asked,
"I'm not here to fight, I'm just here to remove the crystals." Darwin replied,
"Wait, you're not here to take our lives?" Australis asked,
"No need to, my revenge is done." Darwin replied,
"So what are you going to do now?" Borealis asked,
"I'm going to continue living my life, I wish to be left in peace." Darwin replied, Borealis and Australis agreed, Darwin uses his magic to take the crystals off of Aurora's horn, she can use it again, and Darwin went out.
Darwin walked forward and Aurora ran out,
"Everypony, this pony has taken the lives of six people." Aurora said, the ponies just looked at her, but did not react,
"What? Why aren't you ponies arresting him?" Aurora asked,
"Let it go, Aurora, Darwin had his reasons." a male earth pony replied,
"What? But what about their lives?" Aurora asked,
"We've seen what they did, Aurora, even the law enforcement punished him for a crime he didn't commit, Darwin is innocent." a male unicorn replied,
"Come on! He just committed murder!" Aurora said angrily,
"Let it go, Aurora." Borealis said from behind, Aurora exclaimed in shock, Australis was standing to his right,
"Yes, Darwin took lives, but his reasons were justified, and he was framed for a crime he didn't commit, despite his punishers knowing full well he was innocent, let him go, Aurora, Darwin's suffered enough." Borealis said, Aurora cannot believe that even her family sided with Darwin, Aurora felt tears rolling down her eyes because she felt helpless once again, she ran into her bedroom crying and stayed there for the rest of the day while Darwin walked off scot-free.
Aurora was sitting at across the table while the others looked at her,
"What happened afterwards?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Borealis left to join the royal guard the next day, and I took a vacation from my job, Australis will be doing my job for me." Aurora replied,
"Are you still frustrated and upset, Aurora?" Derpy asked,
"Yes, I am." Aurora replied, some of the ponies comfort her,
"Who did you think was right, Doctor?" Aurora asked,
"I'm sorry, Aurora, but I'm going to have to side with Darwin on this." Doctor Whooves replied,
"What? You too?" Aurora asked,
"As I said, this is not straightforward, this is complicated, Darwin did do wrong things, but he did it for the right reasons." Doctor Whooves replied, Aurora was crying a bit from it, Princess Celestia touches Aurora's right shoulder with her front left hoof,
"Aurora, how do you see it?" Princess Celestia asked,
"Darwin committed murder, regardless of reason, so did the other six, they're all equally guilty to me." Aurora replied,
"Perhaps you should see things differently, those six did cause him to become like that." Princess Luna said,
"I know, but still." Aurora replied,
"Where is Darwin staying now?" Princess Cadence asked,
"My hometown, I told Australis to send me weekly letters on Darwin so he doesn't cause any problems." Aurora replied,
"Let's go then, we have a pony to get." Shining Armor said,
"Are you going to arrest him?" Aurora asked,
"Well, I was hoping we could bring him here and have him speak, yes, I'm still going to arrest him, but if possible, we also wish to help him, he has a lot of grief within him as well." Shining Armor replied, Aurora smiled,
"Well, we're out of time, Aurora, till next time, price is ten bits." Doctor Whooves said, and Aurora paid him, and she was about to go out,
"Wait, Aurora, there's something I want to ask you." Twilight Sparkle said,
"Yes?" Aurora asked,
"What is that spell Darwin used to expose their crimes?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"It is a slightly advanced spell that allows the spell caster to reveal memories of that person to others, the caster chooses the memories, it's very accurate, I've tried it once, myself." Aurora replied,
"I see, well, that's all I wanted to know, let's go get Darwin." Twilight Sparkle said, and Aurora headed out along with everybody else.
Aurora walked forward and saw Casanova in front of her,
"Is everything alright?" Casanova asked,
"No, I've been wondering if what I did was right." Aurora replied,
"Well, if it's what you think was right, then you're not completely wrong." Casanova said, Aurora smiled,
"I'm Casanova, by the way." Casanova said,
"Oh, so you're Casanova, my mom dated you once." Aurora replied,
"I thought you looked familiar." Casanova said, Aurora chuckled,
"Can you look over my brother for me?" Aurora asked,
"Sorry, but I have a son and an adopted son to watch over." Casanova replied,
"Oh." Aurora said,
"Well, come with me, let's get you some comfort." Casanova said, Aurora smiled and followed him.
Aurora arrived at his home and met Equality and Marine,
"Are you here to be another surrogate sister for me?" Marine asked,
"Sorry, but no, I have my own little brother to watch over." Aurora replied,
"You know, I'm also a patient of Doctor Whooves." Equality said,
"Really?" Aurora asked, Equality nodded,
"What's your story?" Aurora asked, and Equality talked about it, it made Aurora speechless,
"A town with no female ponies?" Aurora asked,
"Yeah, there are females there now." Equality replied,
"I see." Aurora said,
"Go on, take your time here, make yourself at home." Casanova said,
"Thank you, you're as kind as my mom said before she passed away." Aurora replied,
"How long are you staying?" Marine asked,
"A week." Aurora replied, and she began to unwind. A week passes quickly and Aurora left Ponyville and went back to her hometown to continue her job.
Doctor Whooves walked around and saw a new holiday was being celebrated, it was called Pony Day, the unicorns, Pegasi, earth ponies, crystal ponies, umbrums, and hippogriffs gathered around to celebrate it. There was plenty of activities going on, and Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Twilight Sparkle, Queen Novo, and Princess Skystar were hosting them. Doctor Whooves did not participate because the holiday bored him, while he saw Roseluck and Derpy having the time of their lives, he still did not know why the ponies were celebrating the holiday.
Doctor Whooves waited for his next patient and he decided to schedule it today, he looked and saw his next patient coming, it was an earth pony colt, he had a green coat, short dark blue mane and tail, and light blue eyes, he was wearing a black one-piece outfit that covered his entire body except for his head, tail, and hooves, and had light blue guards on his forehooves,
"I've been waiting for you, I heard that you discovered something astounding a week ago." Doctor Whooves said,
"I wouldn't call it that, more like surprising." the colt replied,
"Well, let's get on with it, it has piqued my interest, and we have plenty of time today." Doctor Whooves said, the colt smiled and they began walking to Doctor Whooves' home. Doctor Whooves and the colt walk together and stopped when they saw Solute standing in front of them, wearing her black dress and high heel shoes on her hind hooves, and her small earrings,
"You have a session today, Doctor?" Solute asked,
"Yes, why are you here?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"I'm bored, the activities aren't fun." Solute replied,
"I see, you can come, you may like today's session as well." Doctor Whooves said,
"Where's the patient?" Solute asked,
"I'm here." the colt said, Solute was surprised and limped to him,
"Aw, you're so cute." Solute said happily while she rubbed his mane with her front left hoof, the colt smiled,
"I can say the same about you." the colt replied,
"Thank you." Solute said,
"This is Solute, she's one of my former patients, her parents are scientists." Doctor Whooves said, Solute smiled,
"Where's Data and Inertia, Solute?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"They're over there, partying." Solute replied, and Doctor Whooves saw the two partying with Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich,
"Well, come along now, we don't have all day." Doctor Whooves said, and they walk together, Solute limped due to her injured leg, the colt stayed behind to help her, Solute smiled while Doctor Whooves waited for them. The two catch up and they continue to Doctor Whooves' house, only to be met by Aurora,
"I'm bored, Doctor, I'd like to spend time with you." Aurora said,
"Where are your brothers?" Doctor Whooves asked, Aurora points with her front left leg and they see Borealis and Australis were just walking around,
"Another patient?" the colt asked,
"Yes, this is Aurora, one of my more recent patients." Doctor Whooves replied, she sees Solute's injured leg and wing and walked to her,
"Oh, you're hurt, are you okay?" Aurora asked,
"I've gotten used to it, my leg and wing are going to take a while to heal." Solute replied,
"What happened?" Aurora asked,
"It's a long story." Solute replied,
"Come along now, my house is close by." Doctor Whooves said, and the three follow him.
The four were very close to Doctor Whooves' house and they stopped once again, Equality was standing in front of him,
"Hey, Doctor, I've got nothing to do, I don't have any patients today." Equality said,
"You're not going to celebrate?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Stallionville was enough." Equality replied,
"Stallionville?" Solute asked in confusion,
"He told me about it, Stallionville was his home, it's a town with no female ponies." Aurora replied,
"No female ponies?" Solute asked with shock,
"Yeah, it was created by unicorn magic, complicated stuff." Equality replied,
"What was it like?" the colt asked,
"Militaristic." Equality replied, Solute and Aurora were shocked,
"Come along now, my house is right there." Doctor Whooves said, and they all walk in.
Doctor Whooves sat across from the colt, who sat as well, Equality stood to Doctor Whooves' left, Aurora stood to Equality's left, and Solute stood to Doctor Whooves' right,
"Why do they have to stand for?" the colt asked,
"I usually don't get visitors or assistants, but when I do, it's usually either Roseluck or Derpy." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Oh." the colt said,
"Well, let's get started, state your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Shinobi, ninja in training." the colt replied, the others chuckled,
"Have you gone on any missions lately?" Doctor Whooves asked jokingly,
"No, I've been training." Shinobi replied,
"Where did you get the idea of being a ninja from?" Solute asked,
"Uh, well, somepony who was talking about it, I overheard it." Shinobi said, the others chuckled,
"Maybe Marine can play with you." Equality said,
"That's a good idea, I think Australis will like you, too." Aurora replied, the others smiled,
"Well, go on, let's start, I've been looking forward to hearing about your discovery." Doctor Whooves said, and Shinobi recalls what he encountered a week ago.
Shinobi was a wannabe ninja and living close to Appleloosa, his home was just south of it, he lived with his mother's younger sister and her husband, Shinobi's parents were ashamed and embarrassed of his antics, so they sent him away. Shinobi originally lived in Los Pegasus, where he was disliked by the residents due to him wanting to be a ninja, the foals avoided him, the stallions and mares chastised him, and he often got in trouble in school for hiding, his parents were so angry, they sent him away, and the last thing they said to him was they wish he was never born, which greatly hurt his feelings, but his aunt and uncle were a lot more tolerable of his antics, and sometimes played along. One day while he was playing along, he came across a unicorn who was acting as a traveling comedian, he saw Shinobi and went to him,
"Want to become a ninja?" the unicorn asked,
"Sure do." Shinobi replied,
"What gave you the idea?" the unicorn asked,
"I heard somepony in town talk about being a ninja, I asked him what it was, and he told me, it sounded cool." Shinobi replied,
"What's your name?" the unicorn asked,
"Shinobi." Shinobi replied,
"I'm Joker." Joker said,
"That's a really cool name." Shinobi said,
"Hey, watch this." Joker replied, and he took a book out, he wrote in it for Shinobi to have a ninja outfit, and a sword, it appeared on him,
"Whoa! That is so cool!" Shinobi said,
"Wait, wait, wait, what? A book that can make things appear?" Aurora asked,
"I've seen it, it's real." Solute replied,
"I shouldn't be surprised, considering what I dealt with before I came here." Equality said,
"Well, let's go on, I'd like to hear what Joker did." Doctor Whooves replied, and Shinobi continues.
Shinobi looked at his outfit and enjoyed it,
"Okay, here comes your first opponents." Joker said, and he made five bipedal people appear by writing in the book, they all wore spandex, and all had on elbow-length gloves and knee-length boots, their helmets were round and had black visors, there was a symbol on their sternums,
"Honest Ranger, Apple." the center one said while posing, her outfit was orange, her gloves and boots were yellow, and she had three red apples on her sternum,
"Generous Ranger, Rare." the center-right one said while posing, her outfit was white, her gloves and boots were purple, and she had three light blue diamonds on her sternum,
"Loyal Ranger, Dash." the center-left one said while posing, her outfit was sky blue, her gloves and boots were red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet, and she had a white cloud with a red, blue, and yellow lightning strike coming out of it on her sternum,
"Kind Ranger, Shy." the far-right one said while posing, her outfit was yellow, her gloves and boots were pink, and she had three butterflies on her sternum,
"Laughing Ranger, Pink." the far-left ranger said while posing, her outfit was pink, her gloves and boots were dark pink, and she two light blue balloons and a yellow balloon on her sternum, the five pose together,
"Magic Sentai Friendshipger!" the five said as they posed and five explosions appear behind them, they were orange, white, sky blue, yellow, and pink,
Doctor Whooves, Solute, Equality, and Aurora were laughing at what Shinobi was saying,
"I'm serious, that really did happen." Shinobi said,
"Well, considering this is Joker, I'm not surprised." Doctor Whooves replied,
"How's he been, Shinobi?" Solute asked,
"I'm not sure, that was the only time I encountered him." Shinobi replied,
"Oh." Solute said,
"Well, go on, I'm looking forward to hearing about this." Doctor Whooves said, and they continue.
The five rangers run towards Shinobi and he was ready to fight with the sword, Dash was the fastest runner of the group. Shinobi uses a sword fighting style he taught himself and it was not very effective. Apple grabbed his sword with a lasso and tried to pull him forward, he resisted, he sees Rare aiming a bow at him with a harpoon and rope on it. Rare fires it and Shinobi ducked to dodge it, she ended up hooking it to Dash,
"Hey!" Dash said angrily, she jumped in the air and brought Rare up with her, she screamed in the process,
"Let me down, you ruffian!" Rare said angrily,
"Get your harpoon off of me!" Dash said angrily, Pink grabbed onto Rare,
"Now, this is fun!" Pink said,
"Y'all focus!" Apple replied, Shinobi pulled her forward with his sword and she exclaimed in shock, Shinobi turned around and kicked her, she grunted and fell. Dash landed on the ground and checked Apple, so did Rare and Pink. Shinobi ran to them and tried to attack them, but Dash punched him in the face with her right fist and knocked him down, he grunted and got back up. Shinobi runs to Dash again but he dodged her punch that time and went under her, he jumped onto Rare's helmet and she screamed in shock,
"Hold still, I got him." Dash said, and she punched her right fist forward, Shinobi jumped off and Rare got hit in the face,
"Hey! It's not nice to hit your friends!" Pink said angrily,
"Why are you getting mad at me for?!" Dash asked angrily, and the three argued. Shinobi looked around and saw Shy cowering in fear, he went to her and placed his front left hoof on her right arm, she looked,
"Oh, thank you, you are so kind." Shy said,
"Your friends are arguing." Shinobi replied, Shy looks and turned away, she was still scared,
"Well, what do you think?" Joker asked,
"Too easy, give me something harder." Shinobi replied,
"Alright then." Joker said, and he wrote in the book, a purple explosion appeared and it scared the rangers, Apple exclaimed in shock and looked. A figure walks forward and they see it was another ranger,
"Magic Ranger, Twilight." the ranger said as she posed, her outfit was purple, her gloves and boots were dark blue with a dark purple and light reddish-pink lines on the middle parts, and the symbol on her chest was pink six-pointed star with a white six-pointed star behind it, and five white six-pointed stars around it. Twilight runs to him and shoots beams from her hands, Shinobi deflected them with the sword's blade, much to his surprise, it actually worked, Joker wrote in the book to give Shinobi shuriken as well, he threw them with his mouth, and was careful not to cut himself.
Pink, Rare, and Dash keep arguing and Apple was trying to break them up, while Shy cowered, Twilight ran to Shy and tried to encourage her. Shinobi smiled but did not know what attack to use, Joker writes in the book to give Shinobi magic powers. Shinobi floats up and moves his front hooves around, orange flames appear to make a circle and Shinobi fired them, they homed and hit the six rangers, making them scream. The six rangers stand up and look at him,
"Ready! Formation Friendship!" Twilight said, and they got ready to touched each other's shoulders and began to run away.
Joker wrote in the book to take them out of existence and he walked over to Shinobi,
"Not bad, maybe you'll be a real ninja one day, after all." Joker said, and he wrote to take away Shinobi's powers, but left him with the sword and shuriken, and Joker left.
Doctor Whooves was chuckling a bit while Solute, Equality, and Aurora smiled a little,
"I am a bit curious, where did he get the idea about those six?" Shinobi asked,
"A show he saw when he was younger, I bet." Doctor Whooves replied,
"What did your original outfit look like, Shinobi?" Equality asked,
"I'm wearing it right now." Shinobi replied,
"I see, before I came here, I was covered from head to hoof in black armor, my helmet had a skull on it." Equality said,
"That is seriously freakin' cool." Shinobi replied,
"Oh, boys will be boys." Solute said while smiling and had her eyes closed,
"Do you wear dresses too, Aurora?" Shinobi asked,
"Sometimes, but not often, I usually don't wear clothes." Aurora replied,
"Focus now, we're getting off track." Doctor Whooves said, and Shinobi continues.
Shinobi was bored and his guardians were not home, they were at work in Appleloosa, so he decided to travel south and find something to do. Shinobi walks on the dirt road and tries to look for something to do, he sees posters up for a new holiday called Pony Day, it was a day of celebration for unicorns, Pegasi, earth ponies, crystal ponies, umbrums, and hippogriffs. Shinobi did not want to go because he saw a lot of parties in Los Pegasus, and it tired him out, and he wanted a time of quietness and solitude. Shinobi keeps walking south and he saw something walking up ahead, it was a bipedal creature,
"Uh, excuse me." Shinobi said as he held his front right hoof out, he walks to the creature and sees it had brown fur, black hooves, it had a black tail and a black mane on the back of its head. The creature turns around and looks at him, it had brown eyes with black pupils, it had ears on the top of its head, its forehead was long and flat, and its snout and mouth areas were black. Shinobi looked at it in fear, it looked just like a regular horse from the human world, but was bipedal,
"Begone, child. Quadrupedals are not welcome here." the creature said, it was a male creature, Shinobi was too confused to move, the creature looked at him,
"Shocked? Don't you know what I am?" the creature asked,
"No, I don't." Shinobi replied,
"They don't teach you about my kind in school?" the creature asked,
"Never." Shinobi replied,
"I see, so you're just a naïve quadrupedal, come with me, I'll show you my tribe." the creature said, and they walk together.
Shinobi walked with the bipedal creature,
"I'm Shinobi, and you?" Shinobi asked,
"Mustang." the creature replied, and they arrived at their destination. Shinobi looked on and saw a tribe of the same bipedal creatures, they all got defensive, which scared Shinobi,
"Relax, he's just a naïve child, he means us no harm." Mustang said,
"You know the rules, Mustang, no quadrupedals allowed here, especially after what Star Swirl did to our kind." an elderly male creature replied,
"I just wish to teach him, apparently, the quadrupedals don't teach them about us, or what their ancestors did to us." Mustang said, the members of the tribe gasp,
"What are you guys talking about?" Shinobi asked,
"You really don't know, do you?" a female bipedal creature said,
"No, nothing." Shinobi replied, the tribe murmurs,
"Where do you live right now?" Mustang asked,
"In a wooden house, away from civilization." Shinobi replied,
"I guess it's fine, it shouldn't hurt much to teach him." the elderly bipedal creature said,
"Wait, I live with my aunt and uncle." Shinobi replied,
"I guess that's fine, let's tell you the truth." the elderly bipedal creature said, and Shinobi sat with Mustang,
"As you know, it is believed there are six types of ponies: unicorns, Pegasi, earth ponies, crystal ponies, umbrums, and seaponies, we are called bipedal ponies, we are the seventh, forgotten race, of your kind." Mustang said,
Solute, Equality, and Aurora had shocked and surprised faces,
"So that's what you encountered, I've seen bipedal ponies before, myself." Doctor Whooves said,
"You know about them, Doctor?" Shinobi asked,
"Yes, but first, I'd like to hear what you discovered, I'll share my information if there's anything you didn't learn." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Wait a minute, how do you know about them, Doctor?" Aurora asked,
"I'm a lot older than I look." Doctor Whooves replied, shocking the other three,
"Well, if it's alright with you, I'll continue my story." Shinobi said, and he continues his tale.
Shinobi sits with the bipedal ponies as the elder talks about their kind,
"Thousands of years ago, Equestria was bigger than now, it included Mount Aris as well, back then, all seven pony types lived separately, and did not get along with each other, we all had flags, and different cultures. Shortly after the Fire of Friendship was casted by Clover the Clever, the unicorns, Pegasi, and earth ponies united, so did the crystal ponies, umbrums, and hippogriffs. Clover the Clever tried to have us united as well, but Star Swirl and the other kinds refused, we were not called true ponies, so we lived here peacefully and alone, but we were sad that we were not taken in." the tribe's elder said,
"Wait, are there unicorn and Pegasus versions of you guys?" Shinobi asked,
"No, just our type, always only one type of us." Mustang replied, Shinobi nodded,
"Continuing on, several years after the tribes united, the Storm King attacked Mount Aris and the hippogriffs were forced to flee to an unknown place. The crystal ponies and umbrums disappeared shortly afterwards, and the crystal ponies became ruled by King Sombra, with his tyranny enslaving them. The three remaining ponies migrated here and demanded our home, we refused, so Star Swirl used his magic to attack us, taking some of our lives in the process, and thus, a war between the bipedals and quadrupedals broke out. Star Swirl led the quadrupedals and he was ruthless, he cast spells on us to take our lives, destroy our homes, and took away some of our magic." the elder said,
"Magic?" Shinobi asked,
"We're masters of wind magic." Mustang replied,
"So you fly like Pegasi?" Shinobi asked,
"We run on the wind." a female bipedal pony replied,
"Oh, so did Star Swirl take away all of your magic?" Shinobi asked,
"Not all of it, we can still use our magic, Star Swirl casted a spell on some of us to take away that pony's magic, they passed away several years ago, so all of us have magic again." the elder replied,
"So what happened during the war?" Shinobi asked,
"Star Swirl had no mercy and took the lives of our people, children included, he forced us out of our home and the quadrupedal ponies settled in our home, they destroyed our antiques and the things that represented our culture, our flag was burned, and we were forced to go south, the quadrupedal ponies hunted for us after the war under Star Swirl's orders, he ordered them to kill us if they saw us, so we fled to here and we were never found." the elder replied, Shinobi looked on in surprise,
"What if one traveled out of the tribe?" Shinobi asked,
"We were careful to watch, the children were especially guilty of this, we had to watch them so the quadrupedal ponies would not find them and take their lives." the elder replied, Shinobi had a disappointed face,
"Have you all thought about trying to make peace with our kind?" Shinobi asked,
"We tried that a long time ago, Star Swirl took their lives with his magic." the elder replied, Shinobi had a shocked face,
"Do you have any magic?" Mustang asked,
"Passive, I just grow crops, that's the only magic I have." Shinobi replied,
"That's it?" a female bipedal pony asked,
"Yeah, but other than that, I have enhanced strength and stamina due to me being an earth pony." Shinobi replied,
"What's with the sword, and those bladed stars?" the elder asked,
"I'm going to grow up to be a ninja." Shinobi said, the bipedal ponies were interested in what a ninja was,
"Shinobi's not your real name, is it?" Mustang asked, Shinobi looked down,
"No, it isn't." Shinobi replied,
"What is your real name?" a male bipedal pony asked,
"I don't want to say it." Shinobi replied sadly,
"Is something the matter?" the elder asked,
"The meaning behind my real name is mean." Shinobi replied,
"I see." the elder said,
"Where are your parents?" a female bipedal pony asked,
"In a city, far away from here, they sent me here because they think I'm an embarrassment to my family, they even said they wish I was never born." Shinobi replied, the bipedal ponies were shocked,
"You should head home, don't tell your kind we're here, it is likely they will hunt us down and kill us if they find this place." Mustang said, Shinobi nodded and headed home.
Doctor Whooves had a stoic look on his face while Shinobi looked at him,
"The elder actually left out a few details." Doctor Whooves said,
"Like what?" Shinobi asked,
"During the war, our kind would enslave the bipedal ponies as well, a black bipedal pony named Cassius led a revolt and managed to escape, he fled and went south with the other bipedal ponies, he received a dark red scar under his left eye from a Pegasus who tried to attack him with a spear." Doctor Whooves replied, the other four ponies look at him with suspicion,
"That was kind of specific, Doctor." Equality said,
"Let's just say I know my history." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Wait, black coat, scar under left eye, that's exactly how the elder looked." Shinobi said,
"I see, maybe he is still alive after all." Doctor Whooves replied, he had a hopeful smile on his face, the other four saw it,
"Doctor, did you fight in that war?" Aurora asked, Doctor Whooves was caught off-guard,
"Uh, um, well, I have seen a lot of things back in my days before I became a doctor." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Are you three military?" Shinobi asked,
"Nope, but I came from a militaristic town." Equality replied,
"No, but my older brother is, he's a royal guard." Aurora said,
"Used to, I was a Wonderbolt when I was younger." Solute said, much to Shinobi's, Equality's, and Aurora's surprise,
"You don't look like a former Wonderbolt." Equality said,
"Looks can be deceiving." Solute replied,
"Did you get injured while doing a show?" Aurora asked,
"No, my leg and wing got broken long after I quit." Solute replied,
"Well, let's move on, I'd like to hear what happened with the bipedal ponies." Doctor Whooves said, and Shinobi continues his tale.
Shinobi was living in a wooden house with his aunt and uncle, they were having dinner,
"I met this pony named Joker when I was outside today, he gave me this cool sword and outfit." Shinobi said,
"That was really nice of him, you're one step closer to being a ninja." Shinobi's uncle replied, Shinobi and his aunt smiled,
"Did you find anything interesting outside today, Shinobi?" Shinobi's aunt asked,
"I met this pony who looked like a regular horse, but was on two legs, he said he was a bipedal pony." Shinobi replied, his guardians widened their eyes',
"Shinobi, you mustn't go near them, they do not like quadrupedals." Shinobi's uncle said,
"But they were nice and friendly to me, they even showed me their history on why they're living there." Shinobi replied, Shinobi's parents were surprised,
"That's unusual, they usually attack us on sight if we're near." Shinobi's aunt said,
"They didn't attack me, one of them said something about me being a child." Shinobi replied, his guardians were surprised,
"That's different, too, they attacked us when we first saw them, and be careful, Shinobi, they can blend with the wind and fly." Shinobi's uncle said, Shinobi nodded and they finish dinner together, and wash the dishes together.
Shinobi heads outside again and went back to where the bipedal ponies were at, they see him come and look at him,
"What brings you back here?" Mustang asked,
"I want to learn more about you guys." Shinobi replied,
"There is nothing more to learn, we taught you everything." the elder said,
"What about culture?" Shinobi asked,
"There is no need for you to know that, you've got your own culture to learn." Mustang replied,
"But if we learn each other's cultures, maybe we can form an understanding." Shinobi said,
"What do the rest of you say?" the elder asked, they all disagreed,
"They refuse, because the last time we did that, your kind refused, and slaughtered us, go home, kid, it's almost dark." the elder said, and Shinobi headed home.
Shinobi could not sleep at night and had trouble, he headed back out and practiced fighting with his sword, he held it in his mouth, he was careful not to hit anything. Shinobi continues swinging the sword around and sweated from practicing after a few minutes. Using the sword was hard, but Shinobi still wanted to be a ninja, he tries throwing his shuriken in the trees in front of him, all of them missed, so he walked over to pick them up and try again, he got one in the tree, but the other five shuriken missed, he sighed and looked at the sky,
"Joker, I would like some more ninja weapons." Shinobi said, not expecting anything to happen, but to his surprise, he did get more ninja weapons, he got four kunai, a kusarigama, a blowgun, two sai, two nunchaku, and two more swords. Shinobi realizes he can wield the swords on his front hooves, so he held two of them on his hooves, and had the third one in his mouth, they were all straight ninjatos, and were short. Shinobi tried using the kusarigama and was careful not to hit himself with the sickle, he liked it but decided to try something else. Shinobi uses the sai but did not know how to properly wield it, so he set them aside. Shinobi used the kunai next and he tried throwing them, they were more accurate than the shuriken, he picked them up and put them away. Shinobi aimed the blowgun with his mouth but had nothing to shoot, so he put it on his back. Shinobi tried the two nunchaku and was terrible, he kept hitting himself in the face, he hit himself in the groin and fell, he got up and put them away, he then went into the house to get some rest.
Shinobi wakes up early and has breakfast, he heads out and saw two bipedal pony foals playing, Mustang and a female bipedal pony were there. Shinobi just stopped and looked at them, so did the four bipedal ponies,
"So, this is where you live." Mustang said, Shinobi did not respond, too surprised at the moment.
Shinobi's guardians walk out and see the bipedal ponies,
"Come on, Shinobi, in the house." Shinobi's uncle said,
"But they're friendly." Shinobi replied,
"It's not that simple, child." the female bipedal pony said,
"What?" Shinobi asked,
"We only let you go because you're a kid, and you didn't know, these two, on the other hoof, do." Mustang replied,
"What? Aunt, uncle, is that true?" Shinobi asked,
"Yes, this area was originally their home, our ancestors destroyed it, we are ashamed of what our kind did to them." Shinobi's aunt replied,
"This place looks fine to me." Shinobi said,
"It isn't, there used to be beautiful jars and vases here, along with houses made from the woods of the trees that used to be here, and statues made from the rocks that used to be around here. Star Swirl the Bearded and our ancestors destroyed their home when they refused to move when the quadrupedals were migrating to settle a new home in this area, and war happened, the quadrupedals won, but they took the lives of the bipedals, burned their homes down, destroyed their statues, and smashed the jars and vases they used to decorate their homes with. That is why we don't have any records on their existence or what has happened, we are too ashamed to look back on it, and we deeply regret what our ancestors did, so we destroyed every book and document about them." Shinobi's uncle replied, the bipedal ponies were surprised,
"You're not like your ancestors." Mustang said,
"What do you mean?" Shinobi's uncle asked,
"When the quadrupedal ponies took our lives and destroyed our culture, they didn't regret it, they smiled, they laughed, they enjoyed the pain they caused us." Mustang replied,
"Wait, which side of my family fought in the war, my mother's, my father's, or my uncle's?" Shinobi asked,
"All three of them." Shinobi's aunt replied, Shinobi was shocked,
"Of course, we did learn over the war, not all quadrupedals are bad, two of them actually tried to save us." Mustang said,
"Celestia and Luna?" Shinobi asked,
"No, they were both males, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had no part in the war, it was also before they became princesses." Mustang replied,
"How do you know so much about the war, Mustang?" Shinobi asked,
"I fought in it, all of the adults in our tribe did." Mustang replied,
"But that war would have been over a thousand years ago!" Shinobi said with surprise,
"Bipedal ponies have a really long lifespan." Mustang replied, a whistle was heard to the south and they look,
"Let's go, kids, the elder has something to discuss." the female bipedal pony said, and they turn into black gusts and go south, much to Shinobi's surprise,
"Come now, Shinobi, inside." Shinobi's aunt said, and the three enter.
Shinobi sat and looked at his ninja weapons, he did not practice with them in the house because he was worried he might hit and break something, so he just sat on his bed, he did not go to school because his guardians were worried the students will bully him or dislike him like how the students in Los Pegasus did. Shinobi heard gusts in the sky and was curious, he looked through the window and saw the bipedal ponies traveling through the wind. The bipedal ponies land and Shinobi hears screaming in Appleloosa,
"Guys, wait!" Shinobi said as he ran outside, he ran to them,
"What are you guys doing?!" Shinobi asked,
"We have waited long enough for the quadrupedal ponies to let their guards down, it is time we take our home back!" Mustang replied, and the bipedal ponies invade Appleloosa,
"Wait! Please! You can't do this!" Shinobi said,
"We have our reasons, first, you guys don't accept us as ponies or friends, next, you all invade our home and destroy it, and now, you're saying we can't have our home back." Mustang replied, Shinobi ran into his house and came out with two swords, one on each front hoof, and a third one in his mouth,
"Then I have no choice but to fight you guys, to protect my kind." Shinobi said,
"Stand down, Shinobi." Shinobi's uncle said,
"What?" Shinobi asked, his mouth was wide open with surprise, causing him to drop the sword in his mouth,
"This was originally their home, and we took it from them, this is our punishment." Shinobi's uncle said,
"But there has to be another way." Shinobi replied,
"There isn't, the quadrupedal ponies still don't see them as ponies, they see them as animals, and even now, they won't know about them, all documents about the war we had between them have been destroyed, it's erased from history." Shinobi's uncle said,
"See, there you have it, you all may not know, but southern Equestria was originally our home, and you all have refused to negotiate or come to an understanding back then, we tried to offer them a peace treaty and have us live together in peace, but you quadrupedals refused, and started attacking us and taking our lives." Mustang said, Shinobi picked up his third sword with his mouth,
"I still have no choice but to fight you guys, to defend my kind." Shinobi said muffled,
"You challenge me? Very well, may strength be with you." Mustang replied, and Shinobi ran forward.
Shinobi ran forward and tried to slash Mustang, but he was dodging each slash from the sword, and leaving afterimages of himself behind, Shinobi was shocked at how fast Mustang was. Mustang appeared behind Shinobi and hit the back of his head with his right arm, he grunted and fell, dropping his swords, he grabbed the sword in front of him with his mouth and then stood up while picking up his other two swords. Shinobi moves around carefully and Mustang watched him closely, Shinobi lunges forward and tries to attack Mustang, but he did not go far enough and fell onto the ground,
"You don't have enough training, you should fight when you have improved." Mustang said, Shinobi growled and tried to attack Mustang, only for Mustang to hit Shinobi with his right arm, Shinobi screamed as he flew in the air, he hit a cliff close to the house and grunted, the cliff cracked. Shinobi growled as he stood up,
"You're tough, I'll give you that, that usually knocks a foal out in one hit." Mustang said, Shinobi screams and runs towards Mustang, dropping his third sword in the process, Shinobi tries to slash Mustang with his swords, but Mustang dodged them all easily with his wind magic, which gave him enhanced speed. Mustang restrains Shinobi's front legs with his arms and he drops his swords,
"Stand down, Shinobi, you can't win, you don't have any knowledge or experience in battle, you need to learn to get stronger." Mustang said, Shinobi tried to break free while screaming in rage,
"Calm down, my nephew." Shinobi's uncle said he touched Shinobi's shoulders, he calmed down and looked at his uncle,
"You tried your best, but it wasn't enough, keep practicing, and you'll be a true ninja one day." Shinobi's uncle said, Shinobi was surprised at his uncle's words, his parents would have never said that to him, Mustang lets him go,
"I'm sorry, Shinobi, but I have to fight your kind, we'll try to avoid unnecessary casualties." Mustang said, and he jumped up, turned into a black gust of wind, and went to Appleloosa, Shinobi watched in terror. He hears screaming and sees the buildings get destroyed, Shinobi runs to the town and sees the bipedal ponies were using their wind magic to teleport and move around quickly, they appeared, attacked somepony, and disappeared, they were also running really quickly, only leaving blurs behind, the town was destroyed soon. Shinobi's aunt walks out while Shinobi watches in terror,
"Appleloosa was once filled with grassland and trees, but the quadrupedals used their magic to change it into the desert it is now, it was so that the bipedals do not try to come back, since they don't have the magic abilities to change the landscape back to normal, but we were wrong, they still want their home back, even though it is nothing like how it used to be. Remember, Shinobi, not all conflicts is between good and evil, some people fight because they believe it's right, just like you, the quadrupedals are fighting to defend their own kind, and the bipedals are fighting to take their home back. The quadrupedals brought onto themselves, though, this isn't a misunderstanding, our ancestors refused to come to an understanding, and began attacking and killing them immediately, but our ancestors are dead, and only us remain, to bear the sins of what they have committed." Shinobi's aunt explained, the two and Shinobi's uncle watch.
The bipedal ponies continue attacking Appleloosa and were winning, but yellow, blue, and light blue blasts come out and hit the town, the bipedal ponies use their wind powers to retreat. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence fly to the town and land,
"Is everypony alright?" Princess Celestia asked, the natives of Appleloosa look at them and see their destroyed town, but luckily, no lives were taken,
"What were those?" Princess Cadence asked,
"I don't know, I only saw blurs and black gusts of wind, maybe it's a new type of creature." Princess Luna replied,
"We'll worry about that later, we need to help them rebuild their homes." Princess Celestia said, and they do, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack were also called to help. They rebuild the home and Shinobi tried to go check on the tribe, his guardians restrained him,
"No, Shinobi, they must want some time alone, it'll be best to just go in the house." Shinobi's aunt said, and they do, Shinobi spent the whole day thinking about Mustang and his kind until he fell asleep.
A week passes and his guardians were getting ready to go to Ponyville,
"Come on now, Shinobi, it's Pony Day." Shinobi's uncle said, and Shinobi walked forward while looking down, sad that the bipedal ponies could not attend,
"And Shinobi, I'm sorry to say this, but your parents will be there, they said they don't want to see you." Shinobi's aunt said, Shinobi was even sadder,
"I thought them saying they wish I was never born was just a moment of anger." Shinobi said,
"I thought that, too, I'm sorry, Shinobi, but it wasn't, they really meant it." Shinobi's aunt replied, Shinobi looked down very sadly,
"Come on, let's go." Shinobi's uncle said, and they walk to Ponyville, and by coincidence, Shinobi said he wanted to see a therapist four days ago, and they found Doctor Whooves' address, he got scheduled today, which was good for Shinobi because he always found big parties boring, so he decided to go with that day and went to go look for Doctor Whooves.
Doctor Whooves sat across from Shinobi with Solute, Equality, and Aurora standing,
"Well, it's good you sought me out on your own, most children don't understand things like this." Doctor Whooves said,
"Did you and your parents get along before that argument, Shinobi?" Equality asked,
"No, never." Shinobi replied,
"You know, Shinobi, I never knew my mother, she died while giving birth to me." Equality said,
"Do you have a dad?" Shinobi asked,
"Yeah, he's partying right now, you should come see us sometime, he would like to have a child like you." Equality replied, Shinobi smiled,
"Do you still live with your aunt and uncle?" Solute asked,
"Yeah, my parents said they don't want me back ever again." Shinobi replied, Solute and Aurora were shocked,
"I can spend time with you during the festival if you want to." Aurora said,
"I'll think about it." Shinobi replied, Aurora smiled,
"Well, if that is the end of your tale, price is ten bits." Doctor Whooves said,
"Oh, shoot, I didn't bring any money." Shinobi replied, the other four chuckle,
"It's alright, I'll pay for you." Equality said,
"Oh, thank you." Shinobi replied, and he does, and Shinobi got up and hugged Solute, and then Doctor Whooves, then Equality, and Aurora, all four of them hugged him back, everypony except Doctor Whooves then goes out.
Shinobi walks around and sees everypony and everygriff having the time of their lives, he also sees several foals doing the same shenanigans and antics he did back at Los Pegasus and their parents were enjoying it rather than getting angry about it. Shinobi was sad and he just sat on the grass with his head buried into his front legs. Shinobi hears walking behind him,
"What's wrong, sugar cube?" Shinobi heard a female voice ask, he looks over his left shoulder and saw Applejack, smiling at him, Shinobi just buried his head back into his front legs, Applejack walked over to Shinobi's left and sat,
"Ain't ya havin' a good time?" Applejack asked,
"That's not what it is." Shinobi replied,
"Well, what is it?" Applejack asked,
"It's my parents, they said they don't want to see me here." Shinobi replied,
"What? Don't want to see ya?" Applejack asked,
"Yeah, they said I'm an embarrassment." Shinobi replied,
"What are yer parents like?" Applejack asked,
"High class, fancy, always talking about public image and appearance." Shinobi replied,
"Oh, you have one of them types of parents." Applejack said, Shinobi nodded,
"Several weeks ago, they sent me away to live with my aunt and uncle, far away from any civilization or school, they said to me they wish I was never born, I thought it was only a fit of rage, but I found out this morning they actually meant it." Shinobi replied, Applejack was a little shocked and touched Shinobi's left shoulder with her front right hoof,
"Honey, look at me." Applejack said, and Shinobi does,
"There's nothin' wrong with ya, you're fine the way you are, you just have bad parents, anypony who says that to their child shouldn't have children in the first place, maybe you're lucky to be livin' with your aunt and uncle 'stead of them." Applejack said, Shinobi smiled,
"Yeah, you're probably right, they do enjoy the things I do." Shinobi said,
"See, sugar cube, things'll be fine, come on now, let's go see Pinkie Pie, she'll cheer you up." Applejack replied, and the two walk together.
Doctor Whooves stood in his house and cleaned up,
"You can come out now." Doctor Whooves said, and the elder of the bipedal pony tribe appeared behind him,
"It's great you're still alive, Whooves, your help during the war was greatly appreciated." the elder said,
"You're welcome, you haven't changed a bit, Cassius." Doctor Whooves replied, Cassius chuckled,
"How did you live for so long?" Cassius asked,
"I became a time traveler after the war, this isn't my regular time." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Have you stayed in touch with the other pony who has helped us during the war?" Cassius asked,
"Yes, Demonicus is just fine, he, Spirit, and I, are trying to find a way to restore your home." Doctor Whooves replied, Cassius smiled,
"Thank you, you and Demonicus are forever in our debts for trying to spare us, and free us from slavery." Cassius said,
"It's appreciated, but we also need your help, there's a creature named Claudius roaming around in this world, he has to be stopped before he destroys us all." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Of course, you have helped us, it's time that we help you." Cassius said,
"Alright, this way then." Doctor Whooves replied, and he activates one of his devices to open a portal, it led to Demonicus' cave, the two go in and the portal closes.
Doctor Whooves was on a date with Roseluck and they were walking together, the two look around and see Ponyville has not changed much. Doctor Whooves did not have much time left for his date, he had a patient today, he was sitting at a table outside and having lunch with Roseluck,
"Have you thought about taking a day off, dear?" Roseluck asked,
"Can't, Derpy's not fully trained yet, she's making a lot of mistakes." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Where is she now?" Roseluck asked,
"Work." Doctor Whooves replied,
"You should take a day off, Doctor, you look exhausted." Roseluck said,
"Well, luckily, I only have one patient today, but I don't know how long his story is going to be." Doctor Whooves replied,
"See, there you go again, you need to unwind a bit, dear, maybe a few days off will work." Roseluck said,
"I'll think about it. Well, I have to go now, goodbye, sweetheart." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Bye, dear." Roseluck said, and the two kissed each other briefly and Doctor Whooves trotted back to his home.
Doctor Whooves trots home and sees Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Pipsqueak, Truffle, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and other students playing outside during recess with Cheerilee watching them, they all seemed to be having the time of their lives. Doctor Whooves walks past them and sees Casanova, Equality, and Marine playing with swords, they were all having fun. Doctor Whooves keeps walking and sees Big Macintosh dating Sugar Belle, Maud Pie dating Mudbriar, Lyra Heartstrings dating Sweetie Drops, they were all having fun. Doctor Whooves was almost home and saw Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack sitting at a table together and conversing, they were all having fun, especially Pinkie Pie, they see him and wave at him, Doctor Whooves waved back with his front left hoof while the six mares smiled. Doctor Whooves walks past them and saw Sandbar, Gallus, Ocellus, Yona, Smolder, Silverstream, and Spike hanging out together and having fun, he walks past them without them noticing him. Doctor Whooves was near his home and he saw Shining Armor and Princess Cadence with Carrot Cake, Cup Cake, and Granny Smith, they were sharing photos of Apple Bloom, Applejack, Big Macintosh, Pound Cake, Pumpkin Cake, and Flurry Heart, they were having fun, Doctor Whooves just walked past them.
Doctor Whooves arrives at his house and saw a male earth pony waiting for him, he had a purple coat, a white mane and tail, dark blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a house, he was old with wrinkled skin, he looked like he was Granny Smith's age,
"Are you the patient?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes." the stallion replied,
"This way." Doctor Whooves said, and the two enter his house and sit across from one another,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Homesick, retired." the stallion replied,
"Wait, aren't you the new guy moving here?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes, I plan to move here today." Homesick replied,
"What was your occupation before you retired?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Street sweeper." Homesick replied,
"Well, let's get started." Doctor Whooves said,
"Before I came to Ponyville, I actually lived in a house in the woods, I can't believe it's been a week since I lived there." Homesick replied,
"Well, go on, I don't have all day." Doctor Whooves said, and Homesick gets ready to talk about his experiences.
Homesick was born into a regular family, he had two parents, and an older sister, he had many friends growing up and great teachers, he was friends with everybody growing up, and did not have any bullies. His sister married a stallion when she was eighteen, and he and Homesick got along greatly. Homesick met a mare named Nostalgia when he was fourteen, they married when they were eighteen and were happy, he moved out after he finished school. Homesick and Nostalgia moved into a home, but it was filthy and falling apart, so Homesick had to get a job to pay for damages, he became a street sweeper and cleaned roads, he hated the job, but continued because he had to make money. Homesick made enough money and fixed the home, he and Nostalgia had a son after that, and a daughter two years later, the two fought and argued all the time, he and Nostalgia had to stop them, and their son was being a bully in school, while their daughter was being bullied.
Homesick's children failed every subject in school, and he had to lecture them, and due to them not having enough money to take care of them, Nostalgia had to get a job, she worked as a waitress, a job she also hated, because the customers were rude. Many years pass and their two kids were grown up and moved out of the house, but tragedy struck a few years later, Nostalgia's parents passed away, the next year, they got a letter saying Homesick's parents passed away, and then two years later, they got a letter saying their daughter became depressed and took her own life, the two were devastated, but many years later, when Homesick and Nostalgia were middle-aged, they got a letter saying their son passed away from illness, the two were distraught, and wanted to have a third child, but it was a tragedy, not only did Nostalgia have a miscarriage, but the complications took her life, he got a letter shortly afterwards that his sister and brother-in-law passed away in an accident.
Homesick was distraught and began longing for his childhood, when everything was perfect, he continues sweeping roads because he needed the money, nopony worked with him, he was always working alone. Homesick was now old and he retired, he decided he wanted to move out, since the current home had many painful memories for him. Homesick looks at houses he could live in, he could not afford any of them, but he found a house in the middle of the woods, it was free, and did not have any bills to pay, he decided to take it because he wanted to bury his memories of his current home.
A female earth pony realtor shows him where the house is at,
"This is the home, hope you enjoy it." the realtor said,
"Has anyone every lived here?" Homesick asked,
"Yes, but we haven't heard from them, and when we open up to check, they're gone." the realtor replied,
"Hold on a minute, did you say the previous residents went missing?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yeah, I found it strange, too, but it was too late at that time." Homesick replied,
"What did the advertisement say about the house?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Relive your happiest moments." Homesick replied, Doctor Whooves was skeptical,
"Where was this house located again?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"In the middle of the woods, trees all around it, no neighbors." Homesick replied,
"I see, continue." Doctor Whooves said, and Homesick continues.
The realtor left and Homesick opened the door, it was unlocked, much to his surprise, he enters his new home, and even more to his surprise, the inside looked just like the inside of his childhood home.
Homesick was in awe and walks into his new home, he was in denial at first, but he checks out the house and sees everything was replicated of his childhood home, all the way down to the smallest detail. Homesick enters his bedroom and was in awe, he went onto his bed,
"It feels just like the soft blanket I always slept in when I was a foal." Homesick said, and he laid down in the bed and fell asleep.
The next day comes and Homesick wakes up, he smells something familiar, he heads out and saw breakfast on the table, it was a salad with olive oil dressing on it, and hay to the side. Homesick looked on in awe,
"My favorite breakfast as a foal, mother and father always made it for me." Homesick said, and he eats it. Homesick felt better already, he felt like it was missing something, he realized what it was,
"Of course, second helping, let's see if I can make it." Homesick said, and he went to the kitchen. Homesick makes his favorite meal again for him to eat, and had a glass of water with it this time. Homesick walks around his home and jumps on the furniture, it was the exact same furniture his foalhood home had, he was having fun as he did when he was a colt.
Homesick finishes jumping on the furniture and he decides to check under the table in front of him,
"*gasp* it's here." Homesick said happily, he took it out,
"My favorite board game." Homesick said, it was Ogres & Oubliettes, he takes it out and plays on his own, he had a lot of fun playing by himself, but he did miss playing it with his parents and sister, he continues playing while he pretended to be the player and monsters in the game. Homesick finished after a few hours, it was a little late into the afternoon,
"Wait, I think I know what time it is." Homesick said, and he runs to the front door. The pet's door at the bottom opens and a box slides in, Homesick opens it and saw ice cream inside,
"Yes, of course, it's the time of the day when the ice cream pony delivers ice cream to the homes." Homesick said, and he opens it, he saw it was vanilla ice cream with actual strawberries on top of it, his favorite flavor and topping, he eats it quickly and develops a brain freeze, it disappears and he laughs it off. Homesick was hit with extreme nostalgia, he has missed the days of his foalhood ever since he moved out, he was ecstatic to relive his happiest memories again, but he wanted his family and friends in the place, he wondered about what was outside, so he opened the door, but only the woods was there instead of the area he grew up in, he became sad and closed the door.
Homesick daydreams and runs around the house, he remembered everything he did to pass the time as a colt, he did them again, and they were as fun as now as they were back when he was a foal. Homesick got tired, and it was almost dark, so he had the same salad and hay for dinner, he then headed to bed and slept.
Homesick begins his second day in the house and he sees everything was still the same as yesterday, his favorite meal was on the table again, he eats it for breakfast, he begins to hear music outside,
"The marching band, I used to dance to them every morning before I came out of my room." Homesick said, and he began dancing in the living room happily, the music stopped and Homesick sat on the couch while panting and smiling. Homesick waits for his energy to come back and the box with the ice cream comes in again, he eats his favorite ice cream and he saw something on the table, he looks at it and saw it was a letter. Homesick opens the letter and saw it was a thank you letter from all of his classmates in school, Homesick had the highest grades in his class, and he tutored and helped those who were failing, all of the students were friends with one another, and the teachers were good and caring ponies, school was fun for everypony, and they all looked forward to the next day when class ended, Homesick and the students all did homework together, and played in the neighborhood together, Homesick greatly missed those days.
Evening came and Homesick was hungry again, he felt that the days were getting faster, he brushed it off with him being an elderly stallion and has his favorite meal again and headed to bed and slept comfortably.
The third day comes and Homesick woke up in his new home, he heard voices of happiness outside his bedroom, they sounded familiar as well, he walks out and to his surprise, he saw his parents and sister,
"Good morning, Homesick." his mother said in a sweet and gentle voice,
"Mother, father, sister." Homesick said with nostalgia in his voice,
"Hold on, you said your family appeared?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yeah, I couldn't believe it at first, but my family appeared in the home, their hugs and kisses felt real." Homesick replied,
"How many more days after this one?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Four more." Homesick replied,
"I see, go on." Doctor Whooves said, and Homesick continues his tale.
Homesick walks to his family and his father and sister hugged him while his mother kissed him on the forehead,
"We already made breakfast, it's your favorite." Homesick's father said, and he saw it was the same meal, Homesick never got tired of it,
"Okay, I'm off to school." Homesick said,
"Homesick, today's a weekend, there is no school." Homesick's sister said, Homesick was a bit sad, but also happy since he got to spend time with his family. The toilet in the bathroom flushes and Homesick sees another person, it was his brother-in-law,
"Hey, good morning, Homesick." Homesick's brother-in-law said as he ran to him, the two hugged one another,
"Uh, how old am I right now?" Homesick asked, his family laughed,
"Don't be silly, Homesick, you're currently eight years old." Homesick's father replied, Homesick realized his age, he was the age of his favorite year of his life, everything seemed perfect when he was eight years old,
"Good news, Homesick, your sister and I are getting married." Homesick's brother-in-law said, Homesick was elated, since he and him always got along,
"Come on, let's play Ogres & Oubliettes, our favorite board game." Homesick's mother said, and they do, they had so much fun, they lost track of the time, and realized they skipped lunch, which they laughed about, they continue playing until they hear the doorbell ring, and the ice cream came in, everybody had their favorite flavors and toppings, they continued playing and having fun. Night time comes and everyone has dinner,
"How have things been at school, son?" Homesick's dad asked,
"Great, I helped a student pass his class today, he and I are good friends now." Homesick replied, his family clapped at the news, Homesick realizes he just said that subconsciously,
"How about you, Memory?" Homesick's dad asked, Memory was Homesick's sister,
"I made it into the journalist club, I'm ready to start writing about the things that go on in town." Memory replied, Homesick and his family smiled,
"Well, I'll go next, I just made to the highest rank in the Royal Guard ROTC." Homesick's brother-in-law said, they were happy for him,
"I just got a promotion at work." Homesick's mother said,
"I finally finished the project at work, we're going to start getting paid more." Homesick's father said, everybody had a good time at dinner and they finished. Everybody gets ready for bed,
"Goodnight, Homesick." Homesick's family said to him,
"Goodnight." Homesick replied, and he enters his bedroom, goes into his bed, and sleeps.
The fourth day comes and Homesick wakes up and he saw his family there,
"Good morning, Homesick, today's a good day for you." Homesick's mother said,
"What day is it, again?" Homesick asked,
"Nostalgia's coming over, your sister and I came over just for the moment." Homesick's brother-in-law replied, Homesick was elated when he heard that,
"I'm here." Nostalgia said, Homesick looks to the front door and saw Nostalgia, she looked like when he first met her, he was very happy to see his wife again, he could not help but run to her and hug her,
"Oh, Homesick, it's good to see you, too." Nostalgia said as she hugged him back, he let go of her,
"I missed you." Homesick said, Nostalgia laughed,
"You saw me yesterday, too, Homesick." Nostalgia replied, Homesick becomes surprised,
"What day is it?" Homesick asked,
"Today's the day Nostalgia and us talk about the possibility of you two marrying, and what it means to us." Memory replied, Homesick remembered this day, it was one of the happiest days of his life, he sat with them and Nostalgia joined them. Memory and Nostalgia were great friends like how Homesick was with his brother-in-law, they all converse while Homesick ignored most of it because he already knows it is going to end with his family accepting Nostalgia into his family. They hear the marching band outside again and they dance to its music, Homesick's family always enjoyed hearing them every morning, so did the rest of the people in the neighborhood, they all decided to play hide and seek in the home to pass the time. Homesick and his family continue conversing and Nostalgia was accepted by Homesick's parents to marry, she was so elated, she cried tears of joy.
Lunch time comes and Homesick had his favorite meal again to celebrate his happiness on Nostalgia being accepted by his parents for marriage, Memory and her husband were already married. Homesick remembered that day, his sister was the wedding's best mare while his brother-in-law was the best stallion, Homesick and Nostalgia were happy to get married, they moved out shortly afterwards.
Homesick and his family have dinner and they all went to sleep shortly afterwards.
The fifth day comes and Homesick noticed something weird, he felt physically weak, and had trouble getting up, but he brushed it off as him being old, he walks out of his bedroom and saw his parents, sister, brother-in-law, and Nostalgia,
"Good morning, love." Nostalgia said, Homesick could not help by cry, it has been a long time since she has called him that endearing term, he walked over to her and they kissed one another for a second, he sat down and had breakfast. Homesick felt physically weak for some reason, he did not know why, but he continued to get on with his day. He and his family played Horse-opoly and they had a good time. Homesick was playing but he began to hear other voices and laughter of joy echo through his home,
"Do any of you hear that?" Homesick asked,
"Hear what?" Homesick's father asked,
"I just heard other voices throughout this house." Homesick replied, his family listens,
"I don't hear a thing." Homesick's mother said,
"Me neither." Memory replied,
"How about you, Nostalgia?" Homesick asked,
"No, nothing." Nostalgia replied,
"You're probably just hearing the foals and ponies playing outside, Homesick." Homesick's brother-in-law said, his family agreed, but Homesick knew that was not the case, he was hearing them inside the home, but he did not bring it up and continued playing. Afternoon comes and Homesick has lunch with his family, he continues to hear other voices of happiness, he heard foals laughing in the house, he looks around and notices his parents did not notice him acting strangely, so he finished lunch and went on to check the house.
Homesick checks the laundry room and sees there was nopony in there but himself, so he checks the kitchen next, nopony was there, and then the living room, nopony was there except his family, he then checked the bathroom, nopony was in there, and lastly, his bedroom, nopony was in there, either. Homesick was certain they would be in his bedroom because Memory slept in that bed when she was a filly, and she began to sleep in the living room with the rest of Homesick's family when she grew up, only Homesick slept in there now, because he was the youngest.
Homesick did not do anything in the afternoon because he kept hearing other ponies having fun and laughing in his house, and he was physically tired, he wondered what was going on, but did not have the energy,
"Homesick, dinner's ready." Homesick's mother said,
"I'm not hungry." Homesick replied,
"Okay, I'll leave your dinner in the kitchen, eat when you get hungry." Homesick's mother said, and Homesick yawned, he was very tired as he laid down in his bed, he fell asleep shortly afterwards.
Homesick wakes up on his sixth day in the house and he felt physically weaker than yesterday, he can just barely get up, but he did, the voices of joy were louder than yesterday. Homesick opens the door and everything was still normal, even though he can hear more people having fun in the house. Homesick walks out and saw his family,
"Good morning, dear." Homesick's mother said,
"Morning." Homesick replied and he went to the kitchen to get his dinner from yesterday, it was not there, Homesick walks to his family,
"Where's my supper?" Homesick asked,
"Uh, supper?" Memory asked,
"I went to bed early last night and skipped dinner." Homesick replied,
"You were probably dreaming, Homesick, you gobbled dinner down like a pig last night." Nostalgia said,
"Uh, what was last night?" Homesick asked,
"The day we celebrated your father's retirement." Homesick's mother replied, Homesick remembered that day, that was a fun night for them all, but the next day was a day of pure joy because Homesick's father did not have to go to work for the first time, and it was a weekend. They all have fun by playing tag in the house, Homesick hears foals laughing and having fun, even though there were none in the house, and he did not have any energy to run, so he walked, he wondered what was going on, he continues playing until lunch time came.
Homesick has lunch with his family and he ignores them while they converse, he keeps hearing foals playing and laughing in the house, but does not see any, Homesick was soon out of energy and went to sit down at the table in the living room to catch his breath. Homesick did not catch his breath and felt exhausted, he could just barely eat dinner,
"I'm tired, I'm going to bed." Homesick said,
"Good night, love." Nostalgia replied, the two kissed one another and Homesick lied down in his bed.
Homesick wakes up the seventh day and felt very weak physically, he struggles to get up and grunted, he fell out of bed, and he crawled to his bedroom door, opened it, went out, and closed it. Homesick looks forward and to his surprise, the foals and ponies he has been hearing in his home were visible, so were many other rooms that were not part of his home, each foal and pony was playing around, laughing happily, and having the time of their lives. Homesick tries to touch them to contact them, but he went through them, and they did not notice him, so Homesick went to see his family,
"Good morning, dear." Homesick's mother said,
"Who are those people?" Homesick asked,
"What people? We're the only ones here." Memory replied,
"What about those extra rooms in our home?" Homesick asked,
"There are no extra rooms in our house, Homesick." Homesick's father said,
"What about those rooms back there?" Homesick asked as he pointed his front right hoof to the wall across from him, his family looks,
"I don't see any rooms, only a wall." Homesick's brother-in-law replied, Homesick was confused,
"Come on, you must be hungry, have some breakfast, love." Nostalgia said, and Homesick ate his breakfast. Homesick's family played around in the house while Homesick sat at the table and watched the other ponies and foals in his home, he begins to cough and felt weak, Homesick realized what was going on, the house was haunted, and it was slowly draining his life and killing him, the other ponies here must be those ponies who lived here and gone missing, the house drained them of their life while making them relive their happiest memories, and since these ponies did not move out, the house took their lives, and they were now stuck, reliving their happiest memories for all eternity.
It was around lunchtime and Homesick felt his life draining away, he was deciding if he should lose his life and relive his happiest memories for all eternity, or leave and go live elsewhere, he decided the latter, since reliving his happiest memories every day was starting to get a bit boring. Homesick heads to the exit and was walking slowly, he groaned as he moved, he lost more of his energy about halfway and began crawling, he breathed heavily and kept crawling slowly. Homesick arrived at the front door and put his front right hoof on it, he turns the black knob to the right slowly and opens the door, he saw the outside area was still the same, he was still in the woods. Homesick walks out and closes the door, he turns around, goes to his left, and walks away.
Homesick sat across from Doctor Whooves,
"So you got out of there exactly one week ago, today." Doctor Whooves said,
"Yes, I found the realtor and told her I'm moving out, I stayed at a hotel with my retired money before coming here." Homesick replied,
"How was that place?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Normal, quiet." Homesick replied,
"I'm surprised you didn't stay in that house, a lot of ponies would love to relive their happiest memories for all eternity." Doctor Whooves said,
"I'll admit, leaving there was a double edged sword, I did enjoy reliving my happiest memories, but it got a bit boring near the end, and I'm retired, so maybe I can start over without the hardships of my young adult and middle aged life." Homesick replied,
"Was there any other reason why you left?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"I'm also hoping to create a new happy memory instead of just keeping and reliving my old ones all the time." Homesick replied,
"I see, well, welcome to Ponyville, I'll be around, and price is ten bits." Doctor Whooves said, Homesick paid him,
"Okay, it seems we are done, you may leave." Doctor Whooves said, and Homesick headed out.
Homesick memorized where his new home was at, he walks around Ponyville and sees it, he enters his new home and found the bedroom, he lays in it and falls asleep immediately.
Doctor Whooves walked around town again and saw Homesick in his new home, he was still longing for his childhood, he looked and saw him with somepony, he saw it was Rarity,
"Oh, I thought I recognized you, I remember seeing you sweeping the roads in Manehattan." Rarity said,
"Yeah, I remember seeing you, too, I'm retired now." Homesick replied,
"Welcome to Ponyville, darling." Rarity said,
"Thanks." Homesick replied, Pinkie Pie trotted to him,
"Hi there, I'm Pinkie Pie, I'm here to plan your welcoming party." Pinkie Pie said,
"Well, thank you, but I'd like to unwind first, I'm not as energetic as I used to be." Homesick replied,
"Sure, I'm ready anytime." Pinkie Pie said, and she and Rarity left. Doctor Whooves kept walking and saw everypony getting on with their days, he saw Sweet Apple Acres putting up scarecrows,
"Is this good?" Apple Bloom asked,
"Yeah, that should work, Apple Bloom, let's now put up some scarecrows by the corns, the crows will get 'em if we don't." Applejack replied, and they keep working. Doctor Whooves looks at the sun and noticed it was almost time for him to see his next patient, so he went to his home and office. The patient came in, it was a mare, and a Pegasus, she had a white coat, pink eyes, a long sky blue mane and tail, and she wore the royal guard armor, but did not have on the helmet, it was in her front left hoof, she sat,
"Are you Doctor Whooves?" the Pegasus asked,
"Yes." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Good, I got the right pony, I'm your patient." the Pegasus said,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Searchlight, royal guard, I'm looking for Jones." the Pegasus said, Doctor Whooves' attention was caught,
"Any luck so far?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, but I did stumble across something I believe is related." Searchlight replied,
"Well, go on and share it." Doctor Whooves said, and Searchlight begins her tale.
Searchlight was flying around Equestria and looking for Jones,
"Jones, where are you?" Searchlight called out loudly, she got no response, so she keeps flying around.
Searchlight arrives where he reported the cult was at, she sees the wooden structures of the Four Horseponies of the Apocalypse, and the unicorn horns on the trees, she flies around and sees nothing there, so she flies away and looks for Jones elsewhere, she was making no progress. Searchlight keeps flying around until she stumbles upon a town, it was abandoned, but something caught her mind, there were scarecrows everywhere, which startled her, she flew down to investigate the town,
"What happened here?" Searchlight asked herself, she looks at the scarecrows and was uncomfortable with how ponylike they looked, almost like some kind of spell changed the ponies to scarecrows. Searchlight stops flying and looks at them with fear, she kept getting the feeling that the scarecrows move and face her when she was not looking at them, she gets over her fear and investigates the town. Searchlight looks around the place and finds nothing but more scarecrows, but she shrieked with shock with she saw there were scarecrows of animals in the town as well, Searchlight flies around while uncomfortable to look for clues.
Searchlight checks every house in her sight and sees more and more scarecrows, it was scaring her, she comes across one house and saw a letter on the table, she did not want to read it, but she had to because it was her job,
"A black unicorn with red eyes came to the town today, he was wearing a black cloak and hood that concealed his facial features, he said he's a traveler from another town, and he was just coming here to rest, but I'm getting a bad feeling from him. My dad has taken a liking to him, I am very nervous about who he is, it is making me uneasy everyday, I am thinking about doing my own investigation, for the record if anyone happens to stumble upon this letter, my name is Polonius, and my father's name is Fortinbras."
Searchlight kept the letter with her and looked around the town, she saw more and more scarecrows,
"What the?" Searchlight asked herself as she flew up, she saw scarecrows on the roof of one of the houses, which shocked her, she immediately knew something was wrong, a scarecrow on the roof did not seem right to her, so she checked it, the scarecrow looked like a Pegasus mare, she had a face of horror, which scared Searchlight, she looks around and she saw a letter in the mud of another house, she flew to it,
"What is this doing here?" Searchlight asked, she opened it and saw it was another letter by Polonius, it was covered in mud, but still readable,
"That black unicorn with the red eyes would not take his cloak and hood off, he said it has sentimental value to him, and wanted to keep it on, he went to go see the two local town idiots, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, those two were always highly disliked by the town, and I don't blame the town, the two are always doing stupid things and causing trouble, and now, those two have taken an obsessive liking to the visitor just like my father, I need to find out what's going on."
Searchlight was very uneasy and keeps looking around, but she was getting the feeling the scarecrows in town were moving when she was not looking at them, she turns around and saw the scarecrows have not moved, but she was still uneasy. Searchlight keeps investigating the town and was uneasy, she felt more and more uneasy as she walked around, sweat began to drop from her head, she was very scared at the moment,
"I didn't sign up for this." Searchlight said to herself, she keeps investigating the town and soon shrieked when she bumped into a scarecrow, she looks and the scarecrow looked like an earth pony colt, he had a face of surprise, Searchlight was curious about it, she keeps walking and sees most of the ponies had facial expressions of surprise, she checks a house and sees a pony family turned into scarecrows, but one thing that caught Searchlight's attention was they had a pet cat, it was also a scarecrow, she checks the house and sees another letter by Polonius, it was open,
"Our town's firewood supplier, Fireball, was visited by the pony in the black cloak just now, he too has fallen to blind devotion and following him, I have tried to call out to him, my dad, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern, they did not answer to me, they kept following that black pony with the red eyes, I lost sight of them while I wrote this letter, I'm going to look for them now."
Searchlight was very concerned and wondered what happened to Polonius since she has not found him yet, she hoped he was alright, she was going to try to find him while she investigated the town, she also hoped she would find Jones as well. Searchlight keeps walking around and looks for Jones,
"Jones? Polonius?" Searchlight asked, there was no answer, she was very worried and scared, she noticed her own breathing getting heavier, but she continued since it was her job, and she did not like it, she wanted to go home and relax, she wanted something to eat, and wanted to play board games, but she continued with her job. Searchlight decides to fly around and look for any areas in the town,
"Jones? Polonius?" Searchlight asked again, she got no response, she keeps looking and saw another letter on the ground,
"Hey, a letter." Searchlight said, she opened it,
"Our town's food preserver, Freeze, has now fallen victim to being loyal to that black pony, I don't know what is going on, but they are blindly loyal to that black pony, they do everything he commands, and he doesn't have to say anything or lift a hoof, it's almost like they're being told what to do telepathically, I have tried to warn my mom, but she has disappeared, I don't know where she went, my only hope now is to watch those six stallions, and see what they do next."
Searchlight was very uneasy, she was wondering what happened in the town, she keeps going and comes to a farm. She looks and sees more scarecrows, she was shocked to see all of the animals on the farm were also scarecrows, she keeps going and sees a letter inside the house,
"How did that get there?" Searchlight asked, and she looked for the door, she opened it and saw a male earth pony as a scarecrow, one thing that greatly startled her was there seemed to be red liquid soaked onto the straw on the left side of the scarecrow's neck, he also seemed to be in agony. Searchlight goes to the letter and opens it, it was also written by Polonius,
"I heard a strange noise at this farm just now, so I arrived to investigate, I saw the black pony in the cloak again, my dad and the other five stallions were with him again, this home is our town's farmer, he has an adopted daughter named Violet, she's a unicorn, I came here and I couldn't believe my eyes, Violet was trying to attack her adopted father with a knife, he held her back, but she managed to cut his throat, I then saw him turned into a scarecrow, Violet then walked away and began following the black pony alongside my dad, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Fireball, and Freeze."
Searchlight was horrified by the note, she realized the scarecrows were in fact the ponies and animals who lived in the town, she was very scared that the black pony was nearby, but she did not see him anywhere, she flew around in fear, she wanted to get out of the area as soon as possible. Searchlight keeps flying around and sees scarecrows everywhere, she keeps going and looks around more, she saw another letter on the ground, she flew down and opened it,
"I cannot believe it, our town's candy makers and sellers, Watermelon and Cotton Candy, have fallen victim to following that black pony, I just saw him turn their bosses into scarecrows, I don't know if he is casting a spell, but his eyes glowed red when he changed them to scarecrows, I am staying as far away as I can from him, I am watching him, he scares me to death, I hope he doesn't see me."
Searchlight was getting a bad feeling, she was sweating profusely, it soaked the ground, Searchlight decides to keep flying. Searchlight flies around while panting a bit, she was very scared,
"Control yourself, Searchlight, you're sweating a lot, last thing you want to do is wet your armor again." Searchlight said to herself, she keeps flying while looking for letters, that was her only focus now, she was planning to leave the place after she found every letter. Searchlight keeps flying and was filled to the brim with fear and paranoia, she still thought the scarecrows moved when she was not paying attention to them, she also does not remember their original positions, she was too scared at the moment to remember what the scarecrows originally looked like. Searchlight keeps flying around and saw another letter, she flies down to it, she opens it and reads it quickly,
"I just saw our town's fire bringer, Supernova, attack somepony, it's almost like she's under some kind of influence, she burned him to a crisp, and he was then turned into a scarecrow, I fear something bad has plagued us all, I need to keep an eye on this black pony, I have not approached him due to me getting a bad feeling about him."
Searchlight takes the letter and puts it in her helmet, she keeps flying around and looks for more answers, she hoped she could find them, her fear was so great at the moment, she could feel herself about to wet herself out of fear, she sweated a lot, her entire armor was soaked with it on the inside. Searchlight decides to keep flying and find the last of Polonius' letters as fast as she can. Searchlight keeps flying around while extremely scared, she got the feeling that the scarecrows were moving while she was not looking at them, she sees hoof prints on the ground and sees they were very old, Searchlight saw another letter on it, she opens it,
"I cannot believe it, Ophelia, our town's flower mare, and my girlfriend, has fallen victim to the black pony's control, I am restraining my tears as I read this, I can't believe he took my girlfriend, she was the only thing I had left after he took control of my father, I could not help but call out to Ophelia, that black pony turned around and he saw me, he's coming to me, I need to leave!"
Searchlight can tell the last part was written in a hurry, it was messy and scribbled, Searchlight realizes that the black pony must have chased him and Polonius ran, she decides to fly up and see if there were anymore letters to find. Searchlight looks around and was scared, she keeps flying and was not finding one, she looks around the entire town with every scarecrow in the area scaring her. Searchlight keeps flying and eventually saw a letter on the ground, in front of a scarecrow, she opens it,
"I heard the ponies in this town say the black pony's name, it's almost like they worship him, that pony, Claudius, he is not a pony, he is not a changeling either, the best word I can use to describe him is a demon, a monster, nothing like Equestria has ever seen. My time is almost up, Claudius is too fast to outrun, and he has changed the entire town to scarecrows. I hope the news reaches Princess Celestia, I hope I can finish writing this before I am..." and the letter ended,
Searchlight looks up and saw a grayish white unicorn stallion, he had a horrified face, she was able to deduce that he was Polonius, she looked down in sorrow and took his last letter. Searchlight flies out of the town and wondered what to do next,
"Right, I have to find Doctor Whooves." Searchlight said, and she flew to Ponyville.
Searchlight and Doctor Whooves sat across from one another,
"How long ago was this?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yesterday." Searchlight replied,
"I'm surprised the royal guards are looking for Jones." Doctor Whooves said,
"All of us are, all of Equestria is being investigated, Princess Celestia has been very worried." Searchlight replied,
"Are you going to take the letters to Princess Celestia?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, I thought they should remain with you, I think they're more valuable to you, I'll be leaving now." Searchlight replied,
"Alright, session is ten bits." Doctor Whooves said, and Searchlight paid him and she flew back to Canterlot after exiting his home. Doctor Whooves was very worried about Jones, he walks outside and sees everything looked normal, he went back into his home and rested.
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Doctor Whooves walks around Ponyville and watches the foals, they were all playing and having fun, he also sees a funeral going on at the outskirts of Ponyville, he also saw a colt unicorn showing off a birthmark on his right side to his friends. Doctor Whooves was waiting for his patient, but unlike most patients, who come to him, he called out to this patient personally to see him, he hears walking and sees three unicorns coming to him, one was a stallion, he had a light green coat, short gray mane and tail, a full beard, blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a chisel, one was mare, she had a red coat, long sky blue mane and tail, dark orange eyes, and her cutie mark was a hammer, one was a colt, he had a dark gray coat, short purple mane and tail, and dark yellow piercing eyes, he did not have a cutie mark, but he was covered in birthmarks, he had a birthmark across his neck, on the back of his head, on his chest where his heart is at, on his hind left and right thighs, on his front leg pits, and one on his back,
"Oh, good, you two are early." Doctor Whooves said,
"So, why exactly did you want to see our son?" the mare asked,
"I thought his birthmarks would embarrass him, and wanted to comfort him." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Well, thank you, doctor, but nopony at school bullies him for it." the stallion said,
"He still might be uncomfortable, and I want to assure him everything's fine, I'll contact you two when our session's over." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Okay, we'll be waiting." the mare said, and the parents leave while Doctor Whooves entered his home with the colt following him, they sit across from one another,
"Alright, let's get started." Doctor Whooves said,
"How did you find me?" the colt asked,
"You forget, I know of Spirit and the Void as well." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Fair enough, so you know about the souls of the dead." the colt said,
"So, what is your name now, Janis?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Tao." the colt replied,
"Alright, state all of your names and occupations." Doctor Whooves said,
"Janis, Hindu, Buddha, Judas, Sikhism, Druze, and Tao, former debt helper, and paranormal investigator." Tao replied,
"Just two occupations?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Well, I'm also a time traveler, but other than that, those were my only occupations." Tao replied,
"Alright, let's begin with your origins so I can get a better understanding of you." Doctor Whooves said,
"I am from a time before Equestria was formed, I am more ancient than Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, I was born when Princess Platinum was the ruler of the unicorns, before we had the Elements of Harmony and the Pillars of Old Equestria, we had the Seven Virtues, they are humility, kindness, charity, temperance, diligence, chastity, and patience, all but kindness and charity have been forgotten by the ponies." Tao replied,
"Ah, I know the Seven Virtues, but how do they come into play here?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"When I was young, I was told that the virtuous are reincarnated, that the virtuous will rule, that reincarnation is the reward of achieving pure salvation. I led a virtuous life. I was never proud of my achievements nor bragged about them. I shared my things with others and was happy for those who got what they wanted. I helped others in need without worrying about the cost to my personal self. I controlled how much I ate and drank, along with what I ate and drank. I trained my body to be in peak physical shape and studied magic to have a sharp mind. I controlled my desires and wants so I would not be tempted by the opposite gender. I never got mad at anyone or anything and never held grudges. I outright admitted I was a good person to others to achieve pure salvation." Tao replied,
"Okay, so what went on?" Doctor Whooves asked, Tao looks at him in his eyes,
"Sometimes, death is just the beginning." Tao replied, and he begins his tale.
Janis was a unicorn living under Princess Platinum's rule, he had a dark orange coat, short black mane and tail, his eyes were purple, and his cutie mark was a purple wizard hat, he was a talented magic user who shared his knowledge with those wishing to learn, also, due to his physical shape, he was a royal guard to Princess Platinum, she highly valued him, but Janis did not like her arrogant and haughty attitude,
"What is with that face, Janis?" Princess Platinum asked,
"Your highness, you could at least give the Pegasi and earth pony captives the equal treatments of the unicorn criminals." Janis replied,
"Bah! Those Pegasi and earth ponies are beneath us, they are especially beneath me, they deserve to be treated like animals and trash." Princess Platinum said,
"Princess Platinum, please, you must, it will prevent a war from escalating." Janis replied,
"Let the war keep going, those Pegasi and earth ponies are no match for our magic." Princess Platinum said,
"They are still people, your majesty." Janis replied calmly,
"You're starting to sound like Clover the Clever, they are animals, they are savages, unworthy of being treated with decency, I must go now, I have better things to attend to." Princess Platinum said, and she walks away. Janis goes to the Pegasi and earth pony prisoners and offers them food and treats the sick,
"Thank you, it seems not all of you are bad." a female Pegasus said,
"Times are rough right now, I am just trying my best to be a decent pony being." Janis replied,
"Bless your kind heart, sir, if only all ponies were like you." a male earth pony said,
"Unfortunately, most are not, ponies like me are very rare." Janis replied,
"I have noticed, I'm surprised a pony like you doesn't have a girlfriend." the female Pegasus said,
"I'm not really the romantic type, I'd rather be alone than be seduced by a witch." Janis replied, the Pegasus and earth pony laugh,
"I must say, what shape you are in, you look almost as fit as us earth ponies." the male earth pony said,
"I do my best to stay in physical shape, really helps at certain times." Janis replied,
"Do you read?" the female Pegasus asked,
"Yes, I study academics and magic, I study war tactics every now and then, Princess Platinum is not one to study such things, she thinks she's untouchable." Janis replied,
"She will regret it one day." the male earth pony said,
"We'll see, I must go now, for I will be punished if I am caught helping you all." Janis replied,
"Okay, thank you for your help." the female Pegasus said, and Janis left. Janis went to a feast with the unicorns and Princess Platinum ate like a pig with the others while Janis only ate healthy food and just the right amount to sustain his energy, he also gave his leftovers to the others,
"Do you not like the food, Janis?" Princess Platinum asked,
"No, I'm not hungry." Janis replied,
"Oh, well, Celestia? Luna?" Princess Platinum asked, and they walked forward, they were still foals, Celestia's mane and tail were pink while Luna's were light blue, they have Janis' leftovers and were grateful, Janis just sits and waits patiently for the feast to end. The feast ends after about an hour and Janis was outside, patrolling the area, an explosion happens to his left and the unicorns scream, they run away and Janis hears a stallion laughing manically, Janis looks and saw a unicorn, he had a black coat, short red mane and tail, red eyes, and his cutie mark was a red head of a goat with brown horns, the goat's eyes were yellow and monochromatic. The pony had a red aura on his horn and he shoots beams out while laughing manically,
"DIE!! DIE!! DIE!! DIE!! DIE!! DIE!! DIE!! DIE!!" the pony said with a smile on his face. The unicorns run away screaming while Janis runs to him and his horn had a grayish-white aura on it, he fires a beam at the pony and hits his chest, but the beam did no damage to him and he was completely unfazed, Janis was caught off guard and the pony laughs manically,
"YES!! This feeling! This power! I will spread evil across this land!" the pony said gleefully, and Janis shot a beam at him again, he jumps over it and runs to Janis. The pony jumps onto Janis and tackles him down, he begins punching Janis with his front hoofs and laughs manically. Celestia and Luna look forward and become shocked, they run to go help Janis, they shoot beams at the pony but he uses a spell to teleport to them and he begins to kick them with his hind hoofs while floating in midair. Celestia and Luna were paralyzed in midair while the pony kicked them, he laughed while he hit them with each kick as well. Janis gets up and turns around, he shoots a beam at the pony and he screams as he fell, he turns around and growls, he runs to Janis and he gets shot on his neck by Janis' beam, he screams and it burns him, he begins to fall and he shoots a beam at Janis, he was hit in the neck and he grunts, Janis' neck gets a small cut on it and he was bleeding, he falls to the ground and dies,
"JANIS!!" Princess Platinum said with horror as she ran to him, Celestia, Luna, and Clover the Clever went to him as well. Princess Platinum checks him and saw he was dead, she cries while she cradles his body.
Janis saw his own dead body and he was being drifted somewhere, he sees himself enter a light blue area, he arrives at an area he did not recognize, he saw fifteen people in front of him, the one in front of him and behind the podium was a bipedal humanoid figure, he was big and muscular, he was bald and had glowing blue skin, he had a black blindfold over his eyes, he wore a black judge's robe, he wielded a sledgehammer, but it was strange looking, the right half of the hammer was blue and white, it had a feathered wing at the top, and a female angel's face carved on it, while the left half of the hammer was red and black, it had a bat wing at the top, and a male demon's face carved on it. There were fourteen bipedal humanoid figures behind him, they were all robed and hooded, their faces could not be seen, two wore purple robes, two wore green robes, two wore yellow robes, two wore orange robes, two wore light blue robes, two wore blue robes, and two wore red robes. Janis looks and sees balancing scales behind him, the scale to his left was white while the scale to his right was black,
"The creature is a male, he is from the world Equestria, he is a pony, a unicorn to be specific." the humanoid figure with the blindfold said,
"He has lived a humble life, never bragged or boasted even once." the humanoid figure wearing the purple robe to Janis' left said in a female voice, the white scale goes down,
"He was never jealous of those superior to himself, and he helped those inferior to himself." the humanoid figure wearing the green robe to Janis' left said in a female voice, the white scale went down even more,
"He shared his possessions with those less fortunate than himself." the humanoid figure wearing the yellow robe to Janis' left said in a female voice, the white scale goes down even farther,
"He never ate or drank more than he needed to, and never desired an excess amount of anything." the humanoid figure wearing the orange robe to Janis' left said in a female voice, the white scale goes down even more,
"He has trained himself physically and mentally for his entire life to improve himself." the humanoid figure wearing the light blue robe to Janis' left said in a female voice, the white scale goes down even farther,
"He never went after a woman, and never desired power or authority." the humanoid figure wearing the blue robe to Janis' left said in a female voice, the white scale goes down even more,
"He has never lost his temper and has remained calm in every dire situation he has been in." the humanoid figure wearing the red robe to Janis' left said in a female voice, the white scale goes down even more,
"He has outright admitted he is a good person." the humanoid figure wearing the purple robe to Janis' left said in a female voice, the white scale goes down even farther,
"It is decided, this soul is to receive pure salvation." the humanoid figure with the blindfold said, and he hits his gavel with the angelic side of his hammer, a light blue portal opens to his right and Janis floats into it. Janis floats into an area he did not recognize, he was in a place full of gold, he sees a temple up ahead and he was going there, almost like something was controlling him, he sees clouds everywhere, he arrives at a stairway and Janis feels his body form. Janis walks up the stairs and he saw more humanoid figures, they all had white feathered wings and were wearing white robes, they all had yellow halos above their heads. Janis looks and sees they looked like humans, a type of creature Janis did not recognize, he walks forward and sees more winged humanoid creatures, they wore armor and had spears,
"Hello, Janis." a female voice said, Janis looks and sees a female bipedal figure flying to him, she was wearing a red robe, was holding a gold sceptre, and wore a silver crown with many points at the top,
"Welcome to the overworld, this is where those who have received salvation come to stay after death." the being said,
"You mean...?" Janis asked,
"Yes, you are dead, and since you have lived a clean and virtuous life, you were sent here as a reward, you will have an easy and fun time here, I guarantee it." the being replied,
"Are you the ruler of this world?" Janis asked,
"No, of course not, the ruler is God, I am a principality, there are many of my rank, those white robed beings are angels, and the armored ones are archangels, the ones you see here are the ones under my command." the being replied,
"What do you guys do?" Janis asked,
"The angels, archangels, and principalities like myself help mortals, usually, the angels go, the archangels every now and then, and principalities like myself command them, we also protect nations." the principality replied,
"I see." Janis said, the principality is contacted by a white orb floating down to her,
"What is it? What? Okay. I'll do it now." the principality said, and the white orb disappears,
"That was God, he just said I have to send you back to where you were just earlier, the ruler of that place has a job for you to do." the principality said,
"What job?" Janis asked,
"He said it's about that crazy person you saw before your death, he has something to say about him." the principality replied,
"Sure, I'd like to know more about him as well." Janis said,
"Actually, you have no choice." the principality replied,
"Oh." Janis said,
"Well, here goes." the principality said, and a yellow light appears and it blinds Janis. Janis was laying on the floor and he looks around, he was in a black room and saw bookshelves everywhere, each one had books on them as well, he gets up and sees a bipedal humanoid being up ahead sitting in a black throne, Janis moves back with surprise, he had slightly tan skin, light blue eyes, a round face shape with a pointed chin, and short black hair, he wore a blue trench coat that was open in the front and went down to his feet, blue pants, blue wrist-length gloves with the ends under his trench coat, blue mid-calf length boots that his trouser legs were tucked into, a blue belt with a light blue buckle, and a light blue long-sleeve shirt that was tucked into his pants,
"Hello, Janis, welcome to the Void." the being said,
"Who are you?" Janis asked,
"My name is Spirit, I run this realm, I write down the history of the worlds and judge the souls of the dead, I have done so since the beginning of time." the being replied,
"What about those fifteen beings I saw before?" Janis asked,
"They are beings created by me, the one with the hammer is The Judge, he does the judging of the souls, the other fourteen are the seven Virtues and the seven Sins, the purple robes are Humility and Pride, the green robes are Kindness and Envy, the yellow robes are Charity and Greed, the orange robes are Temperance and Gluttony, the light blue robes are Diligence and Sloth, the blue robes are Chastity and Lust, and the red robes are Patience and Wrath, they list whatever virtue or sin you have committed in your life, the virtues grant your soul salvation, and the sins grant your soul damnation." Spirit replied,
"I am familiar with virtues, but I have never heard of sins." Janis said,
"Well, that's irrelevant right now, I've been waiting for the right person from Equestria to come, and it seems to be you." Spirit replied,
"What are you talking about?" Janis asked,
"You see, those who receive salvation may continue to roam their home world as a ghost, but those who receive pure salvation may be reincarnated, and live a new life, usually, those who are reincarnated have no memory of their previous lives, but due to the nature of the task I have for you, I'll make an exception with you." Spirit replied,
"What is the task?" Janis asked,
"That pony that killed you in your regular life was actually originally reincarnated from a previous life due to receiving pure salvation beforehand, but it turned out to be a trick, that pony was actually a rotten person, and upon receiving pure salvation, he has been causing chaos and destruction throughout Equestria, he has committed all seven sins, and you just saw him commit the sin of gluttony due to his excessive taste for violence and hurting others." Spirit replied,
"He also talked about spreading evil." Janis said,
"Yes, he's proud to be evil at heart, that is committing the sin of pride, and outright admitting you're evil damns your soul even more." Spirit replied,
"What is the task?" Janis asked,
"Kill him, and bring his soul here, but be careful, since he has already received pure salvation, he can reincarnate as much as he wants after death, he managed to create two spells, one allows him to remember his previous lives, the other allows him to travel through time, so he can reincarnate in any time period of Equestrian history." Spirit replied,
"I'll do it, to keep the other ponies safe." Janis said,
"Good, I knew you'd be up to the task, I will also grant you the ability to travel through time as well, his soul must be brought here to receive pure damnation so he does not hurt others again after he is caught." Spirit replied,
"Agreed. What is my target's name?" Janis asked,
"His original name was Chaos, the name he used in your time was Dirge. Alright, I'll be sending you now, I wish you good luck." Spirit replied,
"Thank you." Janis said, and Spirit holds his right hand out and shoots a light blue beam onto Janis, he grunts a little since it hurt, he feels something in his mind, he realizes Spirit just made him learn the spell to travel through time,
"There, I will now send you to the time period he has reincarnated, but one more important thing, when you look for your target, make sure he is a male unicorn with a birthmark on his neck, if someone dies due to an injury in their previous life, Janis, a birthmark will appear in that area." Spirit said,
"Birthmarks?" Janis asked,
"Yes, birthmarks are scars of the wounds that killed you in your previous life." Spirit replied,
"Understood." Janis said,
"Okay, I will send you back to Equestria now, and remember, you don't have to wait years for your target to come, you can use your time traveling spell to fasten things, good luck." Spirit replied, and Janis turns into a light blue flame and flies upwards.
Janis floats around in the Void, it was light blue everywhere, he floats through the area and sees a white light up ahead, he speeds up to it and sees Equestria, Janis' soul floats to the white light and he enters, his vision was engulfed with white light. Janis sees a male unicorn looking at him with a smile, he had a midnight blue coat, short purple mane and tail, purple eyes, and his cutie mark was a purple wizard's hat,
"It's a boy." the stallion said, he picks Janis up and he sees a mare, she was also a unicorn, she had a yellow coat, a long orange mane and tail, dark pink eyes, and her cutie mark was a black pentagram,
"What shall we name him, dear?" the stallion asked,
"I already decided, his name is Hindu." the mare replied,
"Welcome to the world, Hindu, I'm Vishnu, your father, and that's Shiva, your mother." the stallion said,
"*gasp* Vishnu! His neck!" Shiva said with shock, Vishnu looks, his face changed to a surprised expression,
"My, this looks like a birthmark." Vishnu said, and Hindu looks for a mirror, he sees one and sees he was a baby, he had a green coat, dark orange mane and tail, and his eyes were light blue, he did not have a cutie mark, he sees the birthmark on his neck, it was red, he remembers his death during his life as Janis and focused on finding his target, he also notices that he still had all of his knowledge from his previous life as well, Hindu waits for Vishnu and Shiva to leave until he casts a spell that allows him to fast forward time. Hindu enters the Void again and saw pictures of his life to his sides, he saw what happened during his lifetime, he saw himself being calm and learning magic, he also saw himself go to school and was at the top of his class, he helped anypony who needed help, he was liked and respected by many, he also saw pictures of Vishnu and Shiva proud of his doings. Hindu decides not to waste time and uses a spell to look for his target, he senses him and sees he was in a memory to his left, Hindu saw himself as a young adult, he was standing in a crowd with Vishnu and Shiva, he floats into that memory and lives that moment of his life.
Hindu enters the moment of his life and the ponies were cheering, they look and see a marching parade was going on, Hindu looks and sees Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were still young, but older than before, their manes and were long and flowing, with Princess Celestia's mane and tail being four different colors, he also saw Star Swirl the Bearded, Rockhoof, Flash Magnus, Somnambula, Mistmane, and Mage Meadowbrook with them. Hindu wanted to go see how Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were, but did not since he knew they would not recognize him, and it would be rude to interrupt the parade in such a way, he decided to look for his target with his magic so he can stop him as soon as possible, he looks and senses his target, he saw he was now a royal guard, his coat was purple, his eyes were blue, and his tail was green, his mane and cutie mark were hidden by his armor. Hindu watches and waits for the parade to end, he closes his eyes and meditates in the meantime to improve his mental strength, he sees his target in his mind again, he saw he was having other royal guards pull him forward while he stood on a stand, he meditates while he waits for the parade to end,
"Hindu." Vishnu said, Hindu opened his eyes,
"The Pillars of Equestria are about to address us." Vishnu said, and he watches,
"Attention, everypony, we have done many things for you all, and you all have been grateful, and for that, we appreciate it, and now, a few words from our captain of the guard, Caligula." Flash Magnus said, Hindu and the other ponies clap, he looks around and sees the unicorns, Pegasi, and earth ponies lived together peacefully now, which made him happy,
"Hello, you stupid peasants, look at me, I'm the highest ranking person in the military of Equestria, and you peasants are beneath me. All of you citizen scum should be proud to be in my presence, especially you Pegasi and earth pony savages..." Caligula said, the six Pillars of Equestria and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had shocked faces,
"It is an outrage that I have to be below these eight here, I should be the sole ruler of Equestria, and these eight are given royal titles, I can't believe that you all accepted Somnambula, Flash Magnus, Rockhoof, and Mage Meadowbrook to be Pillars, Pegasi and earth pony scums don't deserve such titles, only us unicorns deserve it, and Celestia and Luna shouldn't be alicorns, that should only be for me, I'm the one who built this country from top to bottom with my own hoofs, and these eight idiots get to be..." Caligula said before Rockhoof covered his mouth with his front right leg,
"Sorry about that, lads and lasses, I guess he didn't have the time to rehearse beforehoof." Rockhoof said, Caligula moves his hoof off and runs away, Hindu runs past the crowd and chases him,
"Hindu?" Shiva asked as he runs after Caligula. Hindu chases Caligula and was a much faster runner than him, Caligula begins to use his magic to teleport forward, Hindu was still catching up to him, Caligula stops and pants and hears Hindu stop running,
"Turn around and face me, at least have some honor." Hindu said, Caligula turns around,
"What do you want from me?!" Caligula asked angrily,
"It's been a while, Chaos." Hindu said,
"How do you know that name?!" Caligula asked angrily, Hindu casts a spell and reveals to Caligula that he is Janis,
"*gasp* It's you!" Caligula said,
"Yes, I have returned from the dead to bring you to justice." Hindu replied,
"You'll never take me!" Caligula said, and he casts a spell, his magic aura was blue, a big explosion appears and it puts a crater in the ground, Hindu teleported away while Vishnu and Shiva ran to them,
"There you are, Hindu, we've been looking for you." Vishnu said,
"Yes, good, more people for me to inflict physical pain onto." Caligula said, Hindu stood ready to fight him with Vishnu and Shiva joining him. Caligula laughs maniacally as he shoots a blue blast from his horn, it was destructive and destroyed a tree since Hindu, Vishnu, and Shiva teleported away when he shot the beam. Hindu shoots a green beam at Caligula and he hits him, he screams as he got hit, he turns around and runs away and Hindu chases him, Vishnu and Shiva were confused, but they run after him as well. Hindu chases after Caligula as he runs away and was soon out of energy,
"Attack!" Caligula said, and Hindu hears flying, he sees Pegasi royal guards flying down to attack him, Hindu zaps them away with his magic and Caligula screams with rage, he begins to shoot magic beams from his horn in random directions in a fit of rage, Hindu just stood there and waited patiently for Caligula to calm down. Hindu hears grunting and he turns around, he saw Vishnu and Shiva fighting off the royal guards Caligula commanded, he saw Vishnu had a purple magic aura, while Shiva had an orange magic aura, they shoot the royal guard away, Caligula runs away while Hindu was distracted, he looks and runs after him, but Caligula sees a filly with a blue coat and a long purple mane and tail up ahead, Caligula shoots a zap from his horn at her hind right leg and breaks it, the filly screams while Hindu runs to her to go treat her,
"That's what you get for being the good guy." Caligula said as he ran off. Hindu treats the crying filly with his magic and heals her leg,
"You okay?" Hindu asked, the filly nods,
"Thank you." the filly replied, and Hindu teleports after Caligula, he sees him running and he shoots him in the back with his unicorn horn, Caligula screams and falls. Hindu walks to him while Vishnu and Shiva run, they catch up to Hindu and see he has subdued Caligula,
"Wow, son, I didn't think you'd be that determined to catch him." Vishnu said,
"I have my reasons, father." Hindu replied,
"Now, remember what Princess Celestia taught us about friendship, Hindu." Shiva said, Hindu was able to deduce he had to forgive Caligula, he noticed Princess Celestia was always like that since when she was a filly, he holds his front right hoof out and Caligula looks over his own left shoulder and sees it. Caligula casts a spell and disappears, Vishnu and Shiva become bewildered while Hindu looks for him, Caligula appears behind him and casts a spell with his horn, he hits the three in the back of their heads at once, Hindu grunts while Vishnu and Shiva scream, Caligula laughs maniacally but he passes away. Hindu arrives into the Void and sees the next memory, he saw a funeral going on for him, Vishnu, Shiva, and Caligula, he saw Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were very shocked at friendship being rejected, Hindu made a note in his mind that his target was not one to accept forgiveness or friendship.
Hindu floats through the Void and sees a white light up ahead, he goes to it and enters his next life, he saw he was a baby again, he looks at his front hoofs and saw he now had a dark blue coat, he also noticed he was on a floor, he crawls around and sees himself in a mirror, he had blue eyes, and a dark purple mane and tail, he had a red birthmark on his neck, he also sees another red birthmark on the sides of his head, he realized he had a birthmark on the back of his head,
"Oh, you're up, Buddha." a mare said from behind, he turns around and saw a female unicorn with a dark pink coat, short bright yellow mane and tail, green eyes, and her cutie mark was silver garden shears,
"Come to mommy now." the mare said and she picked him up, she holds Buddha and shakes him around,
"You're a good pony, yes, you are, oh, yes, you are." the mare said, Buddha casts a spell and enters the Void. Buddha travels through the Void to look for his target, he looks and sees his father had a bright purple coat, short bright red mane and tail, dark orange eyes, and his cutie mark was a twig with a single green leaf on it, Buddha also sees he had three siblings, they were all older than him, the oldest and second youngest were colts while the second oldest was a filly, the oldest colt had a red coat, short orange mane and tail, and orange eyes, his cutie mark was a light blue flame, the filly had a blue coat, long purple mane and tail, and purple eyes, her cutie mark was a pink brain, and the second youngest colt had a yellow coat, short green mane and tail, and green eyes, his cutie mark was the fist of a right hand, Buddha decided to enter a memory to see what his new family was like.
Buddha was having dinner with his new family, they all had vegetables for dinner,
"Okay, now, everypony, let's be thankful for those earth ponies who grew these for us." Buddha's father said,
"Bah! Those earth ponies are nothing but a bunch of scatterbrains who can only make slop." Buddha's oldest brother replied,
"Lancelot, that is not very nice of you." Buddha's mother said,
"Lancelot is right, mother, those earth ponies are more obnoxious than a cat yowling while in heat." Buddha's sister replied,
"Now, now, Izanami, I'm sure they have many stories to share, the hardest working one is starting to develop a runny nose like young Sobek there." Buddha's father said,
"I'd rather have a runny nose than a runny brain." Sobek replied, Lancelot and Izanami laugh,
"Sobek!" Buddha's mother said with disapproval,
"What about the Pegasi?" Buddha asked,
"What about them?" Lancelot asked,
"Are they obnoxious like the earth ponies?" Buddha asked,
"Yes, but not to the same extent." Izanami replied,
"Why not?" Buddha asked,
"Because they have some form of magic, the earth ponies don't." Lancelot replied,
"Lancelot, the earth ponies can grow food, unicorns and Pegasi can't do that." Buddha's father said,
"That's still not magic." Sobek replied,
"You three are so cruel to our servants, they work hard to provide for us." Buddha's mother said,
"Those earth ponies are nothing but a bunch of scum and yokels, while those Pegasi are barbarians, they don't deserve to be treated like regular ponies." Izanami replied, Buddha was already disliking his siblings and decided to use his spell to go forward in time. Buddha travels through the Void and sees a picture of his parents, his father's name was Augustus, and his mother's name was Victoria, he travels through his memories and saw himself tending to sick foals, he decided to enter to help them. Buddha was outside at night and feeding earth pony foals, he saw Lancelot, Izanami, and Sobek were playing pranks on them that made them either sick or too injured to work,
"Thank you, at least one of the children in this family has some decency." an earth pony stallion said,
"I'll deal with them after this." Buddha replied,
"Please do, your siblings have hurt us enough." an earth pony mare said, Buddha looks and sees many of the sick and injured foals, Buddha uses his horn and saw his magic aura was blue, he uses it to get the toys from his room and give it to the foals,
"What about yourself?" the earth pony mare asked,
"I'll be fine, I have other things to do." Buddha replied,
"Buddha, it's bedtime." Victoria called out from inside the house,
"I'll be going now, goodnight, you four." Buddha said,
"Goodnight." the four earth ponies replied, and Buddha entered his house, he casts a spell to travel through time even more. Buddha enters the Void again and travels through, he sees more memories and saw himself standing behind Augustus and Victoria while they reprimanded Lancelot, Izanami, and Sobek, Buddha looks and sees the reason why was because they played a prank on a Pegasus colt that has left him hanging from a rope and covered in scrapes and bruises, he decided to go see what happened and entered the memory to help the colt. Victoria reprimanded Lancelot, Izanami, and Sobek for their actions while the three looked down, Buddha can clearly see the three felt no regret over their actions, he gets the Pegasus down with his magic and saw his wings were bent, Buddha casts a spell to fix the Pegasus' wing, the colt smiles while Buddha checks him to make sure he was alright, he then casts his magic again to travel through time.
Buddha travels through the Void and casts a spell to see where his target was at, he saw he was just up ahead, so he quickly goes through time and enters the memory where he sensed him. Buddha enters a memory and saw Equestria in chaos, everypony was screaming and running away, he hears a male laughing and saw Discord, he has taken over Equestria,
"Yes, time to add chaos!" Discord said loudly and he makes fire appear on the ground, inanimate objects come to life, the trees grow faces on them and groan, which scared the ponies and animals, disasters struck the land, acid comes out of rain clouds, snow comes out of the ground and goes up into the sky, and wind changed directions at random times. Buddha runs around and casts spells to undo Discord's chaos, along with creating shields to protect himself, he also used his magic to free anypony suffering from Discord's rule, while Discord laughed at the chaos he caused. Buddha arrives at his home and finds it on fire, he runs there to go help the ponies who served his family, but he saw the place was deserted, much to his relief, he also saw gravestones for Augustus and Victoria, he pays his respects and then uses his magic to look for the location of his target.
Buddha senses his target was just up ahead, so he runs there, he sees him and saw he now had a dark purple coat, short gray mane and tail, yellow eyes, and his cutie mark was a black top hat, he was beating up a mare,
"YOU PROMISED ME CHOCOLATE PUDDING!!" the stallion yelled,
"Now, now, dear, mommy can't give you pudding if you don't eat your dinner, Spoiled Rotten." the mare replied calmly, Spoiled Rotten screamed with rage,
"THEN MAKE CHOCOLATE PUDDING MY DINNER!! I HATE BROCCOLI!!" Spoiled Rotten said,
"I can't do that, you'll grow overweight and unhealthy." the mare replied, Spoiled Rotten lets out another scream of rage and begins to beat up the mare while she screamed,
"ALSO, HOW COME MY SIBLINGS GET TO SPEND TIME WITH YOU MORE, WHILE I HAVE TO WAIT FOR THEM TO FINISH?!" Spoiled Rotten yelled,
"That's enough!" Buddha said, Spoiled Rotten looks at him and realized who he was,
"You again?! Leave me alone, will ya?" Spoiled Rotten asked,
"I can't do that." Buddha replied,
"Why not?" Spoiled Rotten asked,
"You've been a bad pony, you need to be punished." Buddha replied, Spoiled Rotten uses his telekinesis to make his mother fly away, she screams as she was shot back, his magic aura was purple, Spoiled Rotten focuses and gets ready to fight Buddha. Spoiled Rotten fires zaps from his horn while Buddha just did simple turns and sidesteps to dodge the zaps, Spoiled Rotten looked on with his mouth wide open, Spoiled Rotten growls and uses his telekinesis to throw a rock at Buddha, he punches it with his front right hoof and breaks the rock in half, it flies past him, much to Spoiled Rotten's surprise, he uses his magic to throw a spear at him, Buddha catches it with his telekinesis and throws it back at Spoiled Rotten, he screams as he teleported away. Spoiled Rotten reappears and uses his telekinesis again, he throws a glass panel at him, Buddha jumps and does a back flip while in midair so his legs do not get hit, he lands and Spoiled Rotten was very shocked,
"How?!" Spoiled Rotten asked,
"Years and years of intense physical training." Buddha said, Spoiled Rotten whimpered and ran away while screaming, Buddha casts a spell to teleport onto him and holds him down, but Spoiled Rotten uses telekinesis to get him off, he casts a spell and hits Buddha in the heart, he screams and explodes, Spoiled Rotten laughs but Discord makes the ground erupt and Spoiled Rotten screams as he fell into the lava.
Buddha enters the Void and travels to his next life while passing the visions of what happened after his death, he sees the earth pony and Pegasus servants gathering at his gravestone and paying their respects, which made Buddha happy, he decides to travel forward and go after his target, he sees a white light up ahead and enters his next life. Buddha looks at his hoofs and sees he now had a bright orange coat, he was in the woods, he crawls around and sees himself in a water's reflection, he saw he had green eyes, and his mane and tail were black, and he had red birthmarks on his neck, the back of his head, and on the left side of his chest where his heart was at, he looks around and does not see any ponies anywhere, he hears animals everywhere and they surround him, he feels fear but keeps himself composed, the animals surround him and rub their heads on him, he realized the animals were friendly and they take him in. Buddha casts a spell and travels through time, he floats through the Void, he looks and sees he was able to understand the animals after a few years, he sees the animals have named him Judas, they tell him about how his parents have abandoned him in the woods and left him to rot, and they found him because a being named Mother Nature used her magic to contact them telepathically.
Judas floats around and watches the memories, he enters a memory he saw was at night, he looked and saw the moon looked different, there seemed to be the shape of a blue mare in it, he enters the memory to see what was wrong. Judas enters the memory and looked at the moon, the wolves howled at it in sorrow,
"What happened?" Judas asked, the wolves bark and Judas was able to understand them,
"What? Luna?" Judas asked, he looked down with sorrow,
"I'll be back." Judas said, and he casts a spell to teleport, his magic aura was now orange. Judas teleports around Equestria and looks for Princess Celestia, he hears her crying in the distance and casts a spell to find where it was coming from, he arrives into the Everfree Forest and finds the Castle of the Two Sisters, he hears faint crying in it and he teleports in. Judas arrives at the throne room and saw Princess Celestia,
"Forgive me, Luna." Princess Celestia said as she cried, a being that looked like an alicorn came out of the floor and behind Princess Celestia to her right, it walks to her and comforts her. Judas was surprised by its appearance, its main body, head, legs, and hoofs were made out of brown wood, its horn was made out of black obsidian, its eyes were regular eyes and were gold with black pupils, its mane was blue flowing water, its wings were red fire, and its tail was green flowing wind, it physically resembled Princess Celestia, it touched Princess Celestia's right shoulder with its front left hoof,
"I am very sorry about Luna, Celestia, you have my deepest condolences." the being said, Judas was able to tell from its voice that it was a female,
"Thank you, Mother Nature, but I wish I could undo what I just did." Princess Celestia replied while covering her eyes and crying, she continued to cry while Mother Nature comforted her. Judas felt empathy and walked to them,
"Celestia?" Judas asked, Princess Celestia and Mother Nature look at him,
"Where's Luna?" Judas asked,
"I just banished her to the moon." Princess Celestia replied, Judas felt sad,
"How many years has it passed since you and I last met?" Judas asked, Princess Celestia looks at him,
"I don't recognize you." Princess Celestia said, Judas casts a spell and an afterimage of Janis appears,
"*gasp* Janis? Is that really you?" Princess Celestia asked, the afterimage disappears,
"Yes, I have been revived ever since I have lost my life all of that many years ago." Judas replied, Princess Celestia looks at him with bafflement and hugs him,
"I missed you so much, Janis, I never got to thank you for all of the good things you did all of those years ago." Princess Celestia said, Judas hugs her back,
"I appreciate it, Celestia, but I have things to do, I can't stay here for long." Judas replied, Princess Celestia looks down with sorrow,
"Um, Janis, can you come with me for a minute?" Mother Nature asked, and she walks to the exit of the room while Judas follows her,
"Look, Janis, I know you want to comfort Celestia, but you should hunt down Chaos as soon as possible, Spirit is waiting for his soul so he can punish him, I'll keep an eye on Celestia, she's my friend, too." Mother Nature said,
"I'm counting on you, and thank you for finding me as a baby in this body." Judas replied,
"You're welcome, Janis, now go and take down that evil pony you're after, before he hurts anybody else." Mother Nature said, Judas nodded in agreement while Mother Nature went to go comfort Princess Celestia, Judas casts a spell and travels forward through time. Judas passes through his memories and he saw himself getting a job that involved taking care of foals at an orphanage, he becomes happy and keeps going forward, he sees himself take care of the orphans, he also took up a job to protect others from malevolent magic, he was also working at an animal shelter for orphaned animals, which Princess Celestia opened, he works there and feeds the animals, Judas soon senses his target up ahead and goes to it.
Judas was now a stallion and his cutie mark was a black grimoire, he was in front of a two story house and saw light coming out of the left window on the second floor, which he was looking at, he uses a detection spell and saw his target was in that room, so he walks to the door. Judas knocks on the door with his front left hoof three times,
"Hurry, go and hide." a female voice said, it sounded like a teenager, the door opens and Judas saw a teenage mare, it was an earth pony, she had a bright green coat, long sky blue mane and tail, yellow eyes, and her cutie mark was a trumpet,
"Who are you?" the teenage mare asked,
"Judas, there's a criminal pony wandering around Equestria that I'm trying to hunt down, my magic says he's here." Judas replied, the teenage mare was stunned for a moment but then sighs with relief,
"Thank goodness, I thought you were mind controlled by the ghost haunting us. My name is Adagia, I'm a musician, please, come in, Judas." the teenage mare said, and he does while Adagia closes the door. Judas and Adagia walk forward,
"It's okay, it's a pony who's here to help." Adagia said, and Judas hears walking, he saw a filly and a colt come out of hiding, both were earth ponies, the filly had a light pink coat, long white mane and tail, and turquoise eyes, the colt had a dark orange coat, short black mane and tail, and gray eyes, they both did not have cutie marks,
"This is Flute, my sister, and Presto, my brother." Adagia said,
"Where are your parents?" Judas asked,
"That ghost haunting us already took them." Presto replied while in tears, Judas felt sympathetic,
"What can you tell me about this ghost?" Judas asked,
"He calls himself Pontefract, it's a unicorn in a hooded black robe, we haven't seen his face." Flute replied, Judas took note of it, he kept his nerves suppressed so he could focus. Judas, Adagia, Flute, and Presto feel gusts of wind blowing around them and Judas got ready to cast a spell with an aura around his horn, white powder forms in midair and falls, along with white orbs floating around the home, Judas was ready to fight while Adagia, Flute, and Presto were scared. Judas casts a detecting spell and saw Pontefract was still on the second floor, he runs there and saw the stairs, a chair forms out of thin air and was thrown at Judas, he casts a spell and destroys the chair into several pieces, Judas heads up to the room where he sensed Pontefract.
Judas arrives into the room and saw it was a bedroom, there was nopony in there, he walks around slowly and was cautious about where he stepped, he looks around while sensing the room with his magic, it said Pontefract was everywhere in the room, he looks to his left and saw a small mirror, he looks at it and sees himself, Judas sees something move behind him in the mirror, it stands up and Judas saw a unicorn that was as black as a shadow, his eyes were also black, he did not have any eyes, and he wore a black robe that covered his entire body, and was hooded. Judas quickly turns around and fires a big blast from his horn, he hit the wall, he saw the pony was not there. Judas casts a spell with his magic to look for Pontefract, he senses he was everywhere in the house, he hears a deep voice snickering and the objects in the room begin to float around. Judas gets on the floor and uses his magic to put some of the items down, but they went back up and floated around again, Judas ran to the door and saw it was locked, he shoots a zap out of his horn to break the door down and he runs out of the room.
Judas runs down and saw Adagia, Flute, and Presto hiding in fear,
"Come on, you two, let's sleep at our neighbor's home." Adagia said, and they get ready to leave, but the door was locked,
"What?! No! Please! Not another night!" Adagia said, Flute and Presto become terrified,
"Stay with me, we'll sleep together." Judas said, and they do, they all hid in the closet and slept while Judas slept lightly in case Pontefract decided to attack. Morning comes and the four slept peacefully, Adagia was getting breakfast ready in the kitchen while Flute and Presto were getting ready for school, and Judas stayed with the foals in case something happened. A racket was heard in the kitchen and Adagia screamed in terror, Judas teleports into the kitchen and saw everything in the kitchen flying around and was being thrown. The knives Adagia used for cutting food fly out of the wooden knife block and the blades point towards Adagia, they home on her while they were in midair and Adagia screams in terror as she tries to run out of the kitchen. Judas casts a spell with his horn and changes the knives to sponge balls, he hears the window to his left break and the glass shards fly around in midair, they fly to Judas while Adagia screams as she watches, Judas casts a spell to change the glass shards to rubber duckies. The wooden table and five chairs begin to be thrown around the room violently and they hit the walls, Judas holds Adagia and shields her with his body in case something happens. Dragging was heard and Judas turns around, he sees a black refrigerator moving forward on its own, it falls over and floats in midair, it is thrown and Adagia screams while Judas shoots a beam out of his horn and destroys it.
Judas kept his guard up while Adagia cried,
"When is this going to end?" Adagia asked, Judas hugged her,
"There, there, let's go see Flute and Presto." Judas said, and the two go. Judas and Adagia look for Flute and Presto and saw the two watching them with fear,
"Let's go somewhere safe, I need to ask you three something." Judas said, and they go into the closet Flute and Presto were hiding in when Judas first arrived,
"How long has this been going on?" Judas asked,
"Ever since we moved here, our parents bought this house without knowing it was haunted." Adagia replied,
"Has anybody on the outside done anything to help?" Judas asked,
"No, Pontefract cast some kind of spell so nopony can hear what goes on in here." Flute replied,
"What about seeing it?" Judas asked,
"They can't see, either." Presto replied,
"I see." Judas said,
"What about you, Judas, why did you come here?" Adagia asked,
"You see, I am actually somepony else from a different timeline, my original name is Janis, I was born before Equestria was formed, I died because Pontefract killed me, he was known as Dirge at that time, I managed to kill him as well, and he has traveled throughout time and has caused misery to others, I have been traveling throughout time to catch him and bring him to justice, he has killed me several times, these red birthmarks on me are scars from the wounds that killed me in previous lives." Judas replied, the three were shocked, unable to believe what he was saying,
"It's late, you two, you should head to school." Adagia said, and Flute and Presto walk out,
"Do these neighbors you mentioned last night know what's going on?" Judas asked,
"No, but they can sense something is wrong with the house, they're unicorns like yourself." Adagia replied,
"Alright, let's go and watch the other two." Judas said, and they walk out. Judas and Adagia walk out and saw Presto walking upstairs while they heard the shower running upstairs, Presto is pushed down by an unseen force and he grunts as he fell, he then screams in pain while an unseen force drags him up the stairs by his neck. Presto screams while a mark appeared on his neck since he was squeezed there tightly, Judas shoots a beam out of his horn and at where he thought Pontefract would be, the beam extinguishes itself when it hits something invisible, but it lets go of Presto and he was about to fall down the stairs. Adagia and Presto scream while Judas uses his telekinesis to catch him, he brings him down and puts him beside Adagia,
"Stay with your sister, I'm going to go investigate." Judas said, and he runs up the stairs. Judas arrives onto the second floor and looks for Pontefract, he sees him suddenly appear in front of him, Judas shoots a beam on impulse and it goes through him while he jumps back, Pontefract disappears while snickering. Judas decides to teleport to where he kept his spellbooks during his life as Janis, he finds the place and saw it was in ruins, he looks for whatever was left and goes through his spells, he saw he did not have one for dealing with ghosts, so he had to make one of his own, he teleports back afterwards.
Judas arrives back at the home and was in front of the bedroom door on the second floor, he hears gurgling behind the door to his right and runs there. Judas tries to open the door but could not, he feels something on his hoofs and looks down, he saw water coming out from the bottom of the door, he shoots the door with a zap from his horn and destroys it, he sees water floating in the bathroom, but it was not coming out, he looks and sees Flute was in the water and drowning. Judas tries to get her out with his telekinesis, but his magic was deflected by the water, so he runs to it and tries to jump in, but an unseen force holds him back and prevents him from entering, so he decides to try a teleporting spell, it did not work, Judas thinks and looks back on his previous spells, he decides to try to combine a few of them to create an original spell, he casts them and several beams came out of his horn, he hits the water and it flow out of the room. Flute comes out with the water and stopped moving when she was in front of Judas, she was coughing while catching her breath,
"You okay?" Judas asked, Flute shook her head,
"I wanna leave!" Flute said, running is heard and Adagia and Presto run up, they see the water and the wet Flute, Adagia becomes shocked and runs to comfort her,
"What happened?" Adagia asked,
"Bathroom was full of water, she was drowning." Judas replied, Adagia and Presto become horrified,
"Pontefract doesn't haunt us when Flute and Presto are at school, only before school and at night." Adagia said,
"What have the teachers and classmates said about him?" Judas asked,
"They think Pontefract is just an imaginary friend." Presto replied,
"I see, I'll be staying here until either this is over, or I lose my life." Judas said,
"Thank you, go on to school now, you two." Adagia said, and the two left,
"I'm going to need to go through my old spells to create a new one, hopefully, it will make Pontefract have a body." Judas said,
"Okay, I'll leave you to your studies." Adagia replied, and she does. Judas goes back to his old studies and goes through the remains of his spell books, only a few survived throughout the times, he looks through his spells that allow him to change objects into other things, he tries combining them together and was trying to create a new spell, he trying to create a spell that could change Pontefract back to normal instead of being a soul, he guessed that Pontefract casted a spell on himself to make himself like that, so he was busy trying to create a spell that could undo the effect permanently, along with creating a spell that allows him to absorb souls, he keeps trying for hours and teleported himself to the nearest grave. Judas appears in a cemetery and casts a spell on the grave, the soul appeared, Judas casts a spell on the soul and it changes back to a body, a skeleton pony, and it fell over,
"Okay, it works." Judas said, and he teleports himself back to the home. Judas arrives home and saw Flute and Presto were coming home, they were about to open the door, Judas got ready to cast a spell in case Pontefract tried anything, but the two enter the home with no problem,
"You two have homework?" Adagia asked, the two nod,
"Okay, let's do them together." Adagia said, and they do. Judas helps the three on the homework,
"Why aren't you in school for, Adagia?" Judas asked,
"I already finished." Adagia replied,
"Oh." Judas said, and the four work until it was dark. Judas keeps the three ponies by his side and was ready to cast a spell on Pontefract while he was scared internally, but nothing happened, so the four go in the closet in an attempt to sleep, but loud noises were heard and it scared them, Flute and Presto scream while they hear banging from outside the house, along with the roaring sounds of a bear and a tiger, Judas casts a detecting spell and saw there were no animals around the house, he realized it was another one of Pontefract's hauntings,
"It's okay, it's just noises." Judas whispered calmly, but the banging on the doors and windows get louder, scaring Flute and Presto even more, the two scream,
"Make it stop!" Flute said,
"I don't wanna live here anymore!" Presto said, the two whimper in fear while Adagia tried to comfort them, Judas glares and exits the closet to deal with Pontefract. Judas heads out and had an aura around his horn, ready to zap anything that Pontefract threw at him, banging was heard to his left and he sees the front door being banged on by an invisible force, he stays calm and goes forward, parts of the wooden floor break and the splinters fly towards Judas, he shoots a spell to change them into vegetables, they fall on the floor while Judas walks forward slowly. Judas walks forward and looks for anything reflective, he did not find one, so he goes to the bedroom where he first sensed Pontefract, he enters with no problem and he hears panting, he goes to the mirror where he first saw Pontefract and saw him there again, he was tired, so Judas decided not to take any chances by shooting a beam at him directly, he shot a beam on the mirror, it bounces off and goes behind him, the beam hits Pontefract and he screams.
Judas turns around and sees Pontefract change back to normal, he pants heavily and Judas sees the birthmark on his neck,
"What?! How?!" Pontefract asked,
"I created a spell to disable your ghost form." Judas replied,
"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!" Pontefract yelled angrily,
"You're hurting others." Judas replied calmly,
"So what?! Why can't you just let me be evil?!" Pontefract asked,
"Because there are others suffering because of you, I can't allow that to continue." Judas replied, Pontefract growls and shoots beams at him while screaming with rage, Judas moves his head around and dodges them, Pontefract growls and casts a spell to teleport, Judas teleports out of the room. Judas teleports back to Adagia, Flute, and Presto and saw they were okay,
"Did you stop him?" Adagia asked,
"Not completely, but I did manage to turn him back into a body." Judas replied,
"Does that mean the hauntings are over?" Flute asked,
"I think so." Judas replied, the three hug him,
"Thank you, mister." Presto said,
"Thank you very much." Adagia said, he lets the three go,
"You're welcome, but there's still work for me to do." Judas replied, and he runs out of the closet while the three exit to go pack their things. Judas runs out and he senses Pontefract halfway up the stairs, he runs there and Pontefract appeared to his right when he was about to go up the stairs, he floated in midair, he fires a black blast from his horn and Judas sees he was actually aiming at Adagia, Flute, and Presto, Judas casts a shield spell to protect himself and the three from his blast, the shield keeps the blast at bay and Judas makes the shield explode to subdue Pontefract, he screams as he was shot back.
The house explodes due to Judas accidentally overdoing his spell, the three walk around in surprise and saw the house was gone, Judas looks for Pontefract and saw he was gone, he hears growling and Pontefract appears to his right again, Judas sees him and the two shoot a beam at one another, Judas' orange blast and Pontefract's black blast enter a deadlock with one another, the two were on equal hoofing for now, they continue the deadlock while Adagia, Flute, and Presto watch with worry, the two continue the duel and Judas was about to increase his magic, but a red beam and a blue beam join his beam and holds back Pontefract's beam, Judas looks back briefly and saw two unicorns, a red stallion and a blue mare,
"Look! It's our neighbors!" Flute said, Adagia and Presto look on with surprise, Judas continues to focus and Pontefract was still resisting, he sees the two unicorns' magic was not strong enough to overpower him, so he powers up his magic and overpowers Pontefract's beam easily,
"WHAT?!" Pontefract asked with shock, he is hit and screams as he falls. Judas gets ready to zap Pontefract and take his soul to The Judge, but Pontefract quickly teleports away and shoots Judas in his hind thighs, he grunts but quickly turns around and shoots Pontefract with his magic, he screams as he disintegrated. Judas casts a spell and sees his target's soul has escaped again was entering another life, but he ignores it for now and sees Adagia, Flute, and Presto running to him, they hug him,
"Thank you, I never thought it would end." Adagia said,
"You're welcome. What will you do now?" Judas asked,
"We'll take them in." the blue mare replied,
"Yes, we've sensed strange things in this house, and they've told us about them being haunted by a pony in a black robe, we didn't think it was true, we'll adopt them." the red stallion said, Judas smiled while he was on the ground, he decides to go after his target and stop him.
Judas enters the Void and sees his memories, he sees the wounds on his hind thighs required him to be hospitalized, but the doctors could not treat it, and he passed away, he goes through his memories and see Adagia, Flute, and Presto paying their respects to him at his grave, he saw Princess Celestia there as well, Judas continues to his next life, while he did not show it, he was starting to get a little irritated catching his target, but he remained calm and goes to the next white light.
Judas enters his next life as a colt, he looks at his own front hoofs and saw he now had a white coat, he also looks and saw the mare holding him, she had a white coat, long yellow mane, and blue eyes, he looks and sees the stallion who was his father, he had a black coat, long red mane and tail, and purple eyes, they were both unicorns,
"Welcome to the world, Sikhism." the mare said, and she rubs her right cheek on him, Sikhism felt comfort from her and smiled,
"Oh my, look, Chakra, he's covered in red marks." the stallion said,
"Oh my Celestia, you're right." Chakra said, she was very surprised at seeing him, Sikhism sees a mirror out of the corner of his right eye and nudges there,
"You want to see yourself? Okay." Chakra said, and she turns around and he looks at himself in the mirror. Sikhism looks at himself and sees he was in a blue blanket, he sees his mane was a yellow-orange color, and his eyes were brown, he sees his old birthmarks on himself as well,
"What are we going to do with these birthmarks, Qi?" Chakra asked,
"There's nothing we can do, I just hope it doesn't cause any trouble for him." Qi replied, Sikhism casts a spell and enters the Void, his magic aura was the same color as his mane and tail. Sikhism floats through time and uses the detection spell to find his target, he finds him and to Sikhism's surprise, his target was his older brother in this life, he sighs and enters the memory. Sikhism was now a little kid and sees he was now in Canterlot and saw he was now living the life of the upper-class,
"Well, well." a colt said from across him, Sikhism looks and saw his target, he had a black coat, short dark orange mane and tail, and brown eyes,
"Look at that, we're now brothers." the colt said,
"You're still my enemy." Sikhism said, the colt chuckles,
"Now, now, Sikhism and Sadism, let's try to get along now, you will upset Princess Celestia." Qi said, they hear walking and they see Princess Celestia come, she takes a seat and there were many more upper-class unicorns seated with them,
"You all know the good news, everypony, now that my sister has returned, I believe a celebration is called, a toast, and a welcome back banquet to my sister once when she gets settled and comes here." Princess Celestia said, and the banquet begins. Sikhism eats very little and only had the healthy food while Sadism ate an excess amount of everything, the other ponies watched him,
"Oh my, you've got quite a big eater here, Chakra and Qi." Princess Celestia said, Sikhism looks and can see Chakra and Qi were very embarrassed by Sadism's excess eating, Sikhism watches with disappointment while he ate slowly and only ate just the right amount of food he needed to function,
"You're not eating much, Sikhism, are you distracted?" Princess Celestia asked,
"No, just not that hungry." Sikhism replied, and he watches Sadism carefully, the other unicorns and Princess Celestia watch him with surprise at the fact that Sadism was still eating, Sikhism was no longer hungry and heard a stomach growling below him to his left, he looks and saw somepony brought their pet cat over, and it was hungry, Sikhism takes some of his food and gives it to the cat, it eats it and purrs. The banquet ends after sometime and Sikhism went to his new home, it was a mansion, he entered it with his family and read a book on learning new magic while Qi and Chakra reprimanded Sadism for his excessive eating, and the two were met with angry remarks and insults from him, which resulted in him being grounded and sent to his room, Sikhism decided to travel forward through time to see if there was an opening in the future to get his target. Sikhism travels through time and sees himself get a cutie mark at a young age, it was a heart with the head of a foal and a dog to its sides, he smiles but continues going through time, he sees Sadism's cutie mark was a broken heart, he thinks he sees an opening and goes into the picture.
Sikhism enters the event and hears Sadism arguing with Qi and Chakra,
"How come Sikhism gets a lot of bits, and I get a rock that's barely worth anything?" Sadism asked,
"Because Sikhism worked to mow that neighbor's yard, you didn't, you just sat and commanded him." Qi replied, Sadism growls,
"Sadism, your father and I have had enough of your attitude, we've put up with it for many years now." Chakra said,
"But it's not fair, Sikhism was born with this naturally strong magic, and I wasn't!" Sadism replied,
"Hmm, true, but you're still a naturally gifted unicorn, maybe if you train a bit, you can overcome him." Qi said,
"But I don't wanna ruin my appearance by getting all sweaty." Sadism replied,
"I understand your reason, Sadism, and honestly, neither do I, but it's a part of life, and we all have to deal with it when we train." Qi said, Sadism growls,
"We'll be leaving now, behave yourself, Sadism." Chakra said, and the two leave. Sikhism reads a book and Sadism comes into his room,
"Hey, don't you ignore me, I'm still older than you, little girl." Sadism said, Sikhism continued reading,
"I came before you did, I've going to inherit our parents' fortune after they pass!" Sadism said, already getting annoyed,
"Hey, are you listening?!" Sadism asked angrily, Sikhism continues reading,
"ANSWER ME!!" Sadism yelled angrily, Sikhism kept reading, Sadism growls and screams with rage, he runs to Sikhism to beat him up, but Sikhism quickly reacts and holds his front hoofs back with his own, he bends Sadism's front elbows a bit and he exclaims with pain, Sikhism begins to punch Sadism in the face several times, he does a powerful punch with his front right hoof and it sends Sadism into the air, he screams as he fell onto a table and it broke, he hears running and Sikhism quickly goes back to reading his book since he knew he was in trouble,
"WHAT IS THIS?! WHY DO YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH OF AN EARTH PONY?!" Sadism asked angrily,
"I trained my body and mind for many years." Sikhism replied calmly as he read,
"So you won't fight if you're insulted or made fun of?" Sadism asked,
"I have no reason to, you do not fight one unless they begin to physically attack you or another person or animal." Sikhism replied, Sadism smiles since he had an idea. Chakra and Qi run and see the beat up Sadism,
"Go to your room, Sikhism, you know the rules about fighting in the house." Qi said, and Sikhism stands up and goes to his room stoically, he enters the room and casts the spell to go forward in time. Sikhism travels through time and sees Sadism constantly picking on him and insulting him, it never worked, which angered Sadism, Sikhism continues to travel through time and looks for an opening, he sees Sadism graduating from school and Sikhism was smiling and clapping for him, he continues and sees himself get a job before Sadism did, which angered him and demanded that Qi and Chakra find him a job, he keeps going and does not see an opening until he sees Sadism and himself at the funeral of Qi and Chakra, he enters the memory.
Sikhism was at Qi's and Chakra's graves while Sadism was to his right, he grieved while Sadism smiled,
"Finally, these two annoying idiots are gone, I can now have their inheritance." Sadism said,
"They were your parents, you should at least pay your respects to them." Sikhism replied,
"No way, they always got in my way, now that they're gone, I can now do whatever I want when I have their inheritance, the money is all mine." Sadism said,
"You'll have to take me down first." Sikhism replied,
"With pleasure." Sadism said, and they face one another. Sadism shoots several blasts from his horn but Sikhism moves around quickly and dodges them, Sadism growls and runs to Sikhism, he does several punches with his front hoofs, he dodges them easily and kicks Sadism in his left side and then in the left side of his head with his hind right leg, he stands firm on his hind legs and then does a counterclockwise spin and kicks Sadism in the face with his hind left hoof, Sadism grunts while spit flies out of his mouth, he growls and runs towards Sikhism, he does a punch with his front right hoof and Sikhism blocks it with his front legs, it pushes him back and Sadism went in while Sikhism sidestepped to Sadism's right and went behind him, Sadism growls and turns around, Sikhism does several punches with his front hoofs and Sadism struggles to dodge them, he sees Sikhism's front right hoof coming forward, he lifts up his front right leg and blocks it with his foreleg while Sikhism uses his front left hoof to punch Sadism in his right scapula, he screams from the pain and was panting, nearly out of stamina, he tries to punch Sikhism with his front right hoof, only for Sikhism to push it down with his front right hoof and does a quick attack with the right side of his front left hoof while his hoof was facing upwards and hits Sadism in the right side of his neck. Sadism screams and falls to his hind knees, he holds the right side of his neck with his front hoofs and Sikhism begins to cast a spell to take Sadism's soul, he growls and shoots a beam out and hits Sikhism in his front right leg pit, he grunts and falls, Sadism shoots another beam and hits Sikhism's front left leg pit, he falls and feels his life draining, he continues to try to take Sadism's soul, but lost his energy, he sees Sadism snicker while he casts a spell to enter his next life while Sikhism's vision fades to black.
Sikhism travels through the Void and sees him be buried with Sadism by random ponies who find them and were beside Qi and Chakra, he travels through the Void and sees the white light up ahead, he goes into it and starts his next life. Sikhism wakes up and sees he had a bright red coat as he looks at his front hoofs, he is picked up and sees a mare holding him, she had a bright yellow coat, long orange mane and tail, and purple eyes, her cutie mark could not be seen,
"Oh, Druze, you're so beautiful, if only your father was alive right now." the mare said, Druze looks around and does not see any mirrors around for him to see his own reflection this time, so he decides to go forward in time. Druze enters the Void and travels through time, he sees himself and sees his mane and tail were a little long and bright green, and his eyes were blue, he looks and sees his mother's cutie mark was a crystal ball, he also saw he had an older sister, she had a bright yellow coat, long wavy pink mane and tail, cerise eyes, and her cutie mark was a bag full of bits, he enters the memory where he was having dinner with the two. Druze looks at his dish and sees only a small amount of food, he was able to see his new family was poor,
"And this is your father, Druze, his name was Self Made, he was born homeless, his mother passed away when he was ten, and he never met his father, worked his hoofs and horn to the bone just to become a middle-class pony, he passed away when I was pregnant with you for five months." Druze's mother said, he smiles at hearing the story, it reminded him of himself,
"I still wonder why Druze has all of those red marks on him for, mom." Druze's sister said,
"Now, now, Fortune, those are birthmarks, foals are born with them randomly." Druze's mother replied,
"Still, it looks kind of ugly." Fortune said,
"What was your name again, mother?" Druze asked,
"Crystal." Druze's mother replied,
"What was life like before father passed?" Druze asked,
"Mostly the same, but you and Fortune have to help me around the house since Self Made isn't here for me and him to divide the work like before." Crystal replied, Druze smiled at what he heard,
"Go on and eat up, Druze, you're going to need the energy to do work around the home." Crystal said, and he does, Druze decides to use his magic to go forward in time. Druze continues traveling through time and sees a snowstorm hit Equestria, he enters the memory and sees he was working in the snowstorm with Crystal and Fortune, they were busy making a spot to sleep since the house was destroyed from the snowstorm, Fortune's blanket flies off into the wind and she uses her magic to try to get it back, her magic aura was pink, but the wind blows it away. Fortune begins to freeze and Druze hurries to her, he takes his blanket off and puts it on her, he continues working to dig a hole in the ground to make a sleeping spot,
"Thank you, little brother." Fortune said, Druze uses his magic and hoofs to dig and made a hole big enough, his magic aura was white, Crystal uses her magic to put blankets and pillows in the snow, her magic aura was purple, the three enter and Crystal uses her magic to make the top be covered with snow,
"There, nasty storm this year." Crystal said,
"Mother?" Druze asked,
"Yes." Crystal said,
"Did anything important happen in Equestria recently?" Druze asked,
"Yes, Twilight Sparkle just became a princess." Crystal replied, Druze was surprised, he did not recognize the name,
"Come on, you two, it's late, and you both worked hard, you both deserve a well earned rest." Crystal said, and the two sleep while Druze decides to go forward in time, he travels the Void and sees his cutie mark was a yellow star, he also sees himself be bullied in school for his birthmarks, but he ignored the insults and went on with his day, he only reacted when a bully tried to physically attack him, he keeps traveling and sees himself at Fortune's graduation, he decides to go watch it. Druze stands in a crowd with Crystal to his right, her mane and tail were graying, he smiles and claps with her as Fortune graduated school, he was proud of her, she trots down with others in her grade and she goes to them,
"Congratulations, Fortune." Druze said,
"Thank you, Druze, I have to thank you for helping me with my academics, you're the best little brother one could ask for." Fortune replied,
"Thank you, but you don't have to say I'm the best, I'm just being a good pony." Druze replied, Fortune chuckled,
"I'm so proud of you, Fortune, you're going to have a decent job after school." Crystal said,
"I know, I'm going to work in Canterlot." Fortune replied,
"Good luck, my daughter." Crystal said,
"Thank you." Fortune replied, and the graduation ended. Druze goes back into the Void and goes forward, he sees his own graduation and enters, he goes to go see Crystal, who was now elderly with a white mane and tail, Fortune came as well,
"Oh, congratulations, little brother." Fortune said and kissed him on the forehead, Druze smiled,
"You two have made me so proud, I'm glad I got to see you two finish school before I pass, and you both did great, you both have bright futures." Crystal said, Druze and Fortune smile,
"Let's go home, it's time to celebrate." Crystal said, and they begin heading home, Druze decides it was time to find his target and he goes forward in time. Druze goes forward in time and sees Fortune got a job in Canterlot where she worked as a financial adviser, she was successful, Druze keeps going and sees the memory where Crystal has passed and was at her grave with Fortune, he goes there briefly and pays his respects, he leaves and heads to where he was sensing his target, he sees he had trouble getting a job, so Fortune lets him work the same job as her in Canterlot, just at a different area, he sensed his target at his workplace and he goes there.
Druze was in his workplace and saw it was a small room, and the office was just behind the desk in front of him, he saw a mare sitting at a chair and look at a list, she had a light pink coat, long light blue mane and tail with yellow streaks in them, and turquoise eyes, she had cerise eye shadow on, and a small white drop earring in each ear that had a small red sphere at the bottom, Druze goes to her and sees she was an earth pony, her cutie mark was a brown clipboard with a white paper on it, and she was in a wheelchair,
"Good morning, Druze." the mare said in a sweet and soft voice,
"Morning, um?" Druze said,
"Venus." the mare said,
"Morning, Venus." Druze replied, Venus chuckled,
"Dandy will be here soon, he's dropping his kids off to school with his wife right now." Venus said,
"Dandy?" Druze asked,
"Hmm-mm, our coworker, he just retired from the royal guard recently, and has been a devoted father, he's such a gentlecolt, I would've married him myself if he wasn't taken." Venus replied, Druze was wondering about him. Druze hears walking and saw a male unicorn come from the office in the back, he had a peach coat, light pink mane and tail, his mane was slicked back, and blue eyes, he was wearing a pink suit where each button on his double breasted blazer was a blue octagon cut diamond, he wore a collared button-up gray shirt under his blazer, it had silver glitter trimmed on it and on the seams, Druze saw the cuffs through his blazer's sleeves, so he noticed it was long-sleeve, and there was glitter around the ends of the cuffs, he sees the buttons on the shirt were made of small white octagon cut diamonds, he also wore pink pants, which was rare in Equestria, the button on his pants was a small light blue octagon cut diamond, he had on a gold tie with small white diamonds on it, he also wore a black belt with small white princess cut diamond studs, the buckle was made from silver polished chrome, and black polished dress shoes on his hind hoofs that shined, Druze looks and sees him smile, his teeth were two different colors, there was a pattern of gold and white teeth in his mouth, and he had what appeared to be a small transparent diamond on each white tooth. Druze looks at him with bafflement and sees he also sees he had a gold ring with small white princess cut diamonds in them on his front hoofs, and five small gold hoop earrings in each ear, the stallion stands up on his hind legs and uses his front hoofs to put black sunglasses over his eyes, they were completely black, so were the frames, he then stood on all fours again,
"Venus, where's the new guy?" the stallion asked,
"He's right there, Midas." Venus replied, he looks at him and Druze casts a detecting spell on him and realizes he was his target,
"Well, well, I'm your boss now, so you have to do what I say." Midas said, Druze did not respond,
"As for you, Venus, I hope you like your stay here as well." Midas said as he leaned towards her and begins smelling her, Venus exclaimed with disgust and Midas walked back to his office, Druze was ready to physically attack him at anytime. The door opens and a male Pegasus entered, he had a white coat, long yellow mane and tail, blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a sword with a gold handle and a silver kite shield,
"I'm here." the Pegasus said, he had an accent,
"Ah, good morning, Dandy." Venus said,
"A fine morning to you, too, Venus, and good morning, Druze, welcome to your second week of working here." Dandy replied,
"Thank you." Druze said, Dandy trots and looks at the paper,
"Come over here, Druze, these are the ponies having financial problems." Venus said, Druze trots to behind the desk. Druze looks at the list and sees a lot of ponies were in financial debt,
"How did this happen?" Druze asked,
"Ever since Princess Twilight and her friends have defeated Tirek, a lot of Equestria was destroyed, and ponies have been working to rebuild what was destroyed, but it has costed a lot of bits, and some of them are now in debt, it's our job to help them pay for them, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are trying their very best to help them pay as well." Venus replied,
"When was that?" Druze asked,
"About a month ago." Venus replied, Druze keeps looking and sees the amount of debt some ponies owed, the highest debts were in the hundreds place,
"I'll do that one." Druze said as he put his front right hoof on the one with the highest debt,
"You sure?" Venus asked,
"Yes." Druze replied,
"Okay, here's the paper that says you're with us and there to help, and the location is marked on this map, good luck." Venus said, and he goes. Druze goes to the area and sees he was helping a construction pony,
"Excuse me." Druze said, and the pony looks at him,
"Oh good, you're here, I've been waiting for you." the construction pony said,
"Sorry for the wait, I'm ready to help." Druze said, and he tries to sort the financial problems, but the banking systems and change of running currency from his original time made it very hard for him, Druze remained calm and composed as he tried to think of alternate solutions,
"When I was younger, it was said the best way not to go into debt was not to spend unless you had to." Druze said,
"Yeah, I know that one, but the amount of bits we have to pay to rebuild the destruction caused by Tirek is ridiculous." the construction pony replied,
"Can I pay you my own money?" Druze asked,
"No, it's fine, it won't be enough, either." the construction pony replied, Druze tries to think of a solution, he did not feel any irritation or frustration as he tried to think of a solution,
"You alright?" the construction pony asked,
"Yeah, I'm just trying to think of a solution, running currency now is so different from when I was younger." Druze replied,
"Well, you don't have to fix it all in one day, you can always come back." the construction pony said,
"I'll take my leave then, I cannot think well in this noise." Druze replied, and he leaves. Druze goes back to work and saw Venus sitting at the desk and Dandy was absent,
"How'd it go?" Venus asked,
"Not too well." Druze replied,
"Give it time, you'll get better." Venus said, Druze smiled,
"Where's Dandy?" Druze asked,
"He's off helping another pony in debt." Venus replied,
"Hey! Newbie!" Midas said as he came out of his office,
"You didn't get me my money! You're fired!" Midas said angrily,
"Midas!" Venus said as she looked at him with shock,
"Quiet, woman, official stallion business." Midas said, Druze glares at him,
"Pack up, and get out, you're fired." Midas said,
"Why?" Druze asked,
"You didn't get me any money!" Midas replied angrily,
"Midas! It's his first time." Venus said,
"Quiet!" Midas said angrily as he punched her in her right cheek with his front left hoof, she screams and fell out of her wheelchair,
"Now, I suggest you be quiet, I sure don't want to scar or bruise that pretty face of my dreams." Midas said, Venus was very uncomfortable while Druze got ready to zap Midas with his magic,
"Well, pack your things." Midas said, Druze just stood there and did not respond,
"PACK YOUR THINGS!!" Midas yelled angrily, Druze just stood there and was silent, Midas ran to him and was about to physically attack him, Druze shot a zap at him and he grunted as he flew back, he gets up and growls,
"You're going to regret this one day." Midas said, and he goes back to his office. Druze goes to Venus and picks her up, he puts her back in her wheelchair,
"Are you alright?" Druze asked,
"Yes, thank you." Venus replied,
"Why didn't you fight back?" Druze asked,
"My entire body is paralyzed, I can't." Venus replied, Druze took note of it since he noticed she did not move a muscle while she sat. The door opens and Dandy comes in,
"I'm back." Dandy said,
"How'd it go?" Venus asked,
"I got it fixed." Dandy replied,
"Good job, Dandy." Venus said, and Druze smiled, Dandy goes to the list and he picks up a pen with his mouth and crosses out the name of the pony he just helped get out of debt,
"How was your first time, Druze?" Dandy asked,
"Complicated, money isn't ran in Equestria like how it used to be." Druze replied,
"Yeah, a lot's changed over how to run currency in Equestria throughout history." Venus said,
"Better luck next time, Druze." Dandy said,
"Thanks, I'm going to need it." Druze replied, Dandy smiled,
"You won't believe it, Dandy, Midas tried to fire Druze for failing his first job." Venus said,
"What? His first job? How come?" Dandy asked,
"Because I didn't bring any money in." Druze replied,
"Ah, yeah, Midas is always focused on money, when we fix debts, those bits all go to him." Dandy said,
"And what does he do?" Druze asked,
"Nothing, he just sits at his desk all day." Venus replied, Druze was not surprised,
"Well, it's closing time, see you all tomorrow." Dandy said, and he goes behind the counter to move Venus' wheelchair and take her home, he smiles while he decides to go see Midas, he enters his office and sees Midas has already teleported out of the place, but Druze noticed something that made him uncomfortable, there were pictures of Midas all over the office, along with pictures of Venus and another pony he lusted for, what Druze did not know was that other pony Midas had lustful feelings for was Pinkie Pie, he decided now was not the time to focus on it, so Druze decides to go forward in time. Druze enters the Void goes forward through time, he keeps looking and was looking for an opening to get Midas since nopony could enter his office unless he called them, he sees Midas with Venus one day and he enters the memory.
Druze enters the memory and was at work, he saw Midas with Venus, who was still paralyzed and in a wheelchair,
"Venus, I don't understand how you are attracted to that snob Dandy, and that peasant Druze, I have all of the money you need to live happily." Midas said,
"It's not about the money, Midas, it's about friendship, Princess Twilight and her friends should've taught you that." Venus replied,
"Well, if you're not going to accept me, then I'll force you." Midas said as he leaned towards her, he begins smelling her,
"Pretty smell as always." Midas said, and he begins to lick the right side of Venus' face. Druze shoots a zap from his horn and shoots Midas away, he grunts and growls, but sees his mane become undone and cover his face,
"What? No! My mane! My beautiful mane!" Midas said, and he runs into his office and begins fixing his mane,
"Thank you, Druze." Venus said,
"You're welcome. How did you get injured?" Druze asked,
"I was on my way to work, and somepony used magic and dropped a wagon full of heavy farming equipment onto me, it has left me paralyzed, I don't know who did it, but I know it was on purpose, whoever did it had a pink magic aura." Venus replied, Druze kept it in mind. Dandy comes in and he sees Druze comforting Venus,
"Did Midas mistreat her again?" Dandy asked,
"He was licking her." Druze replied, Dandy had a repulsed face, he trots to her and sees the wet spot on her face, he gets a napkin from the beside the drinking water across from them, he wipes the wet spot on Venus' cheek,
"How long has this been going on?" Druze asked,
"Ever since Venus got injured, there has been times when Venus spotted Midas watching her at home from outside before she got injured, I would take her home to my place the next day after work." Dandy replied, Druze was becoming worried,
"Well, I finished working for today, we all should rest now." Dandy said, and the three converse and have a good time. Closing time comes and Dandy begins to roll Venus' wheelchair out of the workplace, Druze watches and he sees a Pegasus mare, colt, and filly there, he deduced they were Dandy's wife and kids, he sees Dandy take Venus home and the three smile while Dandy takes Venus home, Druze decides to enter Midas' office and saw he was not there, so he decides to follow Dandy, his wife and children wave at him, and he waves back with his front left hoof and follows Dandy. Druze arrives at Venus' home and saw she lived in a middle-class home, Dandy rolls Venus' wheelchair into the house and puts her in front of an area she liked, Dandy exits the home and flies home. Druze looks around and hears rustling in the bushes behind him, he looks to his left and sees Midas hiding in the bushes and watching her, he looks and can see the red birthmark on the right side of his neck from the hit that took him down when he was Sadism.
Druze tackles him and he grunts and Venus looks out the corner of her right eye, she sees Druze and Midas, which shocked her,
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Midas asked angrily,
"I got you now." Druze said, and he begins to cast spell, but Midas quickly teleports away before Druze can see the color of his magic aura, Druze uses his detecting spell and saw he was gone,
"Drat." Druze said, and he entered Venus' home,
"Venus?" Druze asked,
"Over here." Venus replied, he walks to her,
"Are you alright?" Druze asked,
"Yes, and thank you." Venus replied,
"How do you do your home chores when you're paralyzed?" Druze asked,
"I don't, Dandy comes here early to do them for me." Venus replied,
"How do you have your meals?" Druze asked,
"Dandy comes here to feed me, I eat big and heavy meals before that." Venus replied,
"What about using the bathroom?" Druze asked,
"I hold it until Dandy comes back." Venus replied,
"I'll stay here for tonight, then." Druze said,
"Oh, thank you, Druze, I do get lonely here sometimes." Venus replied, and Druze stayed with her to keep her company, he made meals for her, and took her to the bathroom when she had to use it, Venus was having a good time,
"Say, Druze, are you single?" Venus asked, Druze sensed Venus was developing romantic feelings for him,
"Yes." Druze replied,
"Will you go out on a date with me?" Venus asked,
"I am sorry, but I have made a vow as a child not to pursue any romantic relationships of any kind." Druze replied,
"Oh, come on, Druze, one wouldn't hurt." Venus said,
"I'm sorry, but breaking that vow is considered a very bad thing." Druze replied,
"Huh? You're not the only one who made that vow?" Venus asked,
"No, a lot of foals did when I was a foal." Druze replied,
"Was it a cultural thing?" Venus asked,
"Yes, when I was a colt, we followed the seven virtues, they are humility, kindness, charity, temperance, diligence, chastity, and patience." Druze replied,
"Wow, I never knew, we obey the Elements of Harmony now." Venus said,
"Elements of Harmony?" Druze asked,
"You know, laughter, honesty, loyalty, kindness, and generosity, they all make up the sixth element, which is magic." Venus replied, Druze was confused,
"What happened to the virtues?" Druze asked,
"I've never heard of them, not even Princess Twilight knows about it." Venus replied, Druze was confused,
"Okay, still, a lot has changed." Druze said,
"Maybe to you, maybe the part in Equestria you grew up in still practices the virtues." Venus replied,
"I'll check another time." Druze said, Venus smiled,
"Tell me, when did the Elements of Harmony become practiced through Equestria?" Druze asked, but he heard snoring and saw Venus has fallen asleep, he casts a spell and goes forward through time. Druze goes forward through the Void and watches his life, he sees Venus making a slow recovery, which made him smile, he goes through his memories and saw himself at work, he saw Dandy and his family arriving, he decides to enter the memory.
Druze enters the memory and Venus was going over the papers, she was reading it and looking for anymore jobs to do,
"Nope, it doesn't seem we have any debts to fix today." Venus said,
"What's with those three over there?" Druze asked,
"Today is Take Our Foals to Work Day, Druze, my wife also came along since there's nothing to do around the house today." Dandy replied, he looks and sees Dandy's wife basically looked like a female version of him, even her coat, mane, tail, and eyes were the same colors as Dandy, her mane and tail were longer than Dandy's, and her cutie mark was a black cast iron, a white towel, and a baby's bottle, the colt and filly also had the same coat, mane, tail, and eye colors as Dandy and his wife, the two did not have cutie marks, their manes and tails were growing out. The door opens and an earth pony stallion enters, he had a dark peach coat, shoulder-length black mane and a short tail, a short full beard and moustache, just barely grown past being a stubble, his eyes were brown, he had scars on his face, the most noticeable ones were two on his right cheek, and one across his snout, he was wearing a long-sleeved beige button-up collared shirt with the sleeves rolled halfway up his front forelegs and the top button of his shirt was unbuttoned, he wore a black denim jacket over his shirt, the sleeves were cut off at the shoulders and it had a pocket on each side on the chest area, the jacket had gold buttons on it, and the two buttons at the bottom were unbuttoned, black leather gloves on his front hoofs, his shirt was tucked into gray pinstriped pants with black stripes on it, they were over the brown boots on his hind hoofs, he had silver spurs on his boots, he also wore a brown belt with a big silver buckle with a lasso hanging on the left side of it, a brown gun belt with a silver buckle with revolver bullets in bullet loops and a revolver in the holster on his right side, a second holster to hold a rifle on his back with the strap going around his left shoulder and right side, a tan leather bandolier with rifle bullets around his right shoulder and left side, a tan saddlebag on his left side with a knife sheathed over it, a red neck cloth, and a black hat on his head with a black crown that had silver studs in it, and a small white feather on it,
"Oh, good morning, Marston." Venus said,
"Morning." Marston replied,
"You need help?" Dandy asked,
"Not right now, I'm just here to pay off more of my mortgage of my new ranch." Marston replied,
"Oh, sure, just place it here on the desk." Venus said, and Marston does,
"What are those things on your side and your back?" Druze asked,
"Guns, they're self defense weapons for earth ponies, they were created to counter unicorn magic and to give earth ponies a way to defend themselves from Pegasi that attack them." Marston replied,
"I've never seen those before." Druze said,
"Yeah, a pony named Gunslinger used to sell guns in Equestria until Princess Celestia outlawed them." Venus replied,
"How come?" Druze asked,
"Princess Celestia saw a lot of problems with guns, too loud, recoil hurts one's hoofs, and one getting hit by a bullet caused excruciating pain and infection." Venus replied, Druze thought outlawing guns was a good thing for Equestria,
"Well, here are the bits." Marston said, and he places it on the desk,
"Thank you, Marston." Venus said, Druze, Dandy, and his family smile,
"No, give it here, it's mine." Midas said as he walked out of his office and took the bits for himself, he took the bits for himself,
"Raise the debt." Midas said,
"What?" Venus asked,
"You heard me, raise his debts." Midas said,
"But... our job is to help them pay them off." Venus said,
"Don't worry, my love, once when I have enough bits, you and I can spend quality time together." Midas said as he leaned towards Venus,
"After I have enough bits, you're going to be working only for me." Midas said and he begins smelling Venus' mane and then starts kissing her right cheek and sticks tongue out afterwards and moves it side-to-side to lick Venus' cheek. Druze, Dandy, and Marston run to Midas,
"Get off of her!" Marston said, and Druze pulls him back, Dandy pulls Venus away, and Marston punches Midas in the face with his front right hoof, making him fall, Dandy holds Venus while his wife and children stand up and watch with shock,
"What's the big idea?!" Midas asked angrily,
"That's no way to treat a lady!" Dandy said angrily,
"You're going to regret this, all of you." Midas said, and he casts a spell to teleport away, his magic aura was pink,
"Wait, that's the same color as the magic aura used on the wagon that fell on me." Venus said, Druze and Dandy were able to put two and two together,
"So he's the one who injured her." Dandy said,
"Well, I should get going, I have a ranch to run." Marston said,
"Alright, take care." Druze replied, and he left,
"I found Midas watching her from outside at her home last night." Druze said,
"Again? I'll take Venus to my home today, I think she'll be safer there." Dandy replied, Druze nodded,
"Come on, Venus." Dandy said, and he rolled her wheelchair to his home while his wife checked on her and made sure she was okay, Dandy and his family left with Venus while Druze casted a spell to see if Midas was anywhere near, he was not, so he travels forward through time, Druze goes through the Void and through time, he sees Midas hire private security and does not pay him, Dandy, or Venus for their jobs, which led to complaining, he enters the memory where he sees Midas. Venus and Dandy were angry with Midas,
"We demand payment, Midas!" Venus said angrily,
"No! The money's all mine! I want millions of bits! I want billions of bits!" Midas said angrily,
"Then do the work yourself!" Dandy said angrily,
"That's your job!" Midas said angrily,
"Midas!" Dandy said angrily,
"Security!" Midas said, and the earth ponies restrain them while he sees Midas run away, Druze shoots zaps from his horn to get the security guards off of Dandy and Venus and he and Dandy chase Midas. Druze and Dandy see Midas running and teleporting away, the security guards Midas hired tackle Druze and Dandy down, Druze zaps them with his magic and they fall easily, Dandy flies into the sky and looks for Midas,
"Druze, he's heading to the west." Dandy said, Druze casts a detection spell and finds Midas, he runs after him. Druze runs and teleports to Midas while Dandy flies after him, more of Midas' security appear to block their paths, Druze zaps them unconscious while Dandy flies past them, Druze casts a sleeping spell to put them asleep and uses telekinesis to put them down softly, the two continue going after Midas as he runs away, he teleports away and Druze loses him,
"He's in the alleyway, Druze, hold on." Dandy said, and he flies down and carries Druze,
"I see him, thank you." Druze said, and he casts a spell and teleports there. Midas was at a dead end and was about to turn around, but he saw Druze and he casts a force field around the area, Midas tries to teleport out but was teleported back in,
"There's no escape this time." Druze said, Midas growls and was ready to fight him,
"Why did you injure Venus?" Druze asked,
"Because I love her, and she wouldn't return my feelings, so she had to be paralyzed." Midas replied, Druze glares at him,
"Defend yourself." Druze said, and Midas was ready. Midas shoots zaps out of his horn and Druze moved to the sides and dodged them easily, he shoots a big beam at Midas and he teleports to behind Druze and shoots a big beam at him, Druze jumps behind Midas while doing a back flip and shoots Midas in the back of his head, he screams and falls, he was about to cast another zap onto Midas but he teleported to another place in the force field and shoots beams at Druze, he teleports to be on the ground and dodged it, he shoots more zaps at Midas and he was hit, he screams and falls, he growls and shoots out a big blast, Druze activates a shield with his magic to protect himself, Midas' blast was very powerful, so he had to absorb his force field into his shield to withstand the blast, Midas soon stops and was pants, Druze casts a spell to take his soul but Midas quickly teleports away and reappears on Druze to tackle him, Druze casts a teleporting spell.
Dandy and his family were back at the workplace and comforting Venus, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were there and giving the two their own bits to pay them for their work, a teleporting spell was heard and they see Druze and Midas fall, Midas floats up and shoots a big blast from his horn, Druze shoots one from his own and the two were in deadlock. Druze and Midas fire with all of their might while the others watch,
"What the?" Princess Luna asked,
"What's going on?" Venus asked, they look and see Midas have afterimages of his past incarnations appear, they see Sadism, Pontefract, Spoiled Rotten, Caligula, Dirge, and a form the others did not recognize, he had a black coat, short dark red mane and tail, blood red eyes, and his cutie mark was a white skull, Druze deduced that was Chaos. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna look and recognized Dirge and Caligula, Princess Luna was shocked,
"It's you." Princess Celestia said, they look and see the other reincarnations of Druze, they saw afterimages of Sikhism, Judas, Buddha, Hindu, and Janis appear, shocking the two princesses,
"Janis!" Princess Luna said,
"Come on, sister, we have to help him." Princess Celestia said, and the two fly to him and fuse their magic beams with his own, the two enter a deadlock with Midas and hold him back, the two focus more and make their beams bigger, so did Druze, they overpower Midas and hit him and he screams. Druze pants and looks for Midas with a detecting spell, he a zap behind him and he was hit in the back with a big beam, he grunts and falls, he sees Midas appear in front of him and was about to shoot a spell onto him, but Druze fires a beam at Midas and breaks his horn,
"NOOOOOOO!!" Midas yelled,
"It's over, Chaos." Druze said, and he casts a spell onto Midas and absorbs his soul, he screams as he was absorbed into Druze. Druze crawls to Venus, and Dandy and his family,
"Is that really you, Janis?" Princess Celestia asked,
"Yes, Princess Celestia, I was reincarnated once again." Druze replied,
"What? What's going on?" Venus asked,
"Janis was Princess Platinum's court wizard when Celestia and I were fillies, a pony named Dirge attacked us one day, Janis stopped him, but lost his life in the process." Princess Luna replied,
"Yes, I have been reincarnated throughout time to catch his soul, he has appeared throughout different times in Equestria as a different pony as well." Druze said,
"Please, Janis, I'd like to see." Princess Celestia replied, and Druze casts a spell to show his experiences with hunting down his target, shocking those present,
"Oh my, you went through all of that danger just to catch him, and helped those in need, I am proud of you, Druze." Venus said,
"Thank you, but I must go now, I must bring his soul to the afterlife to receive punishment." Druze replied,
"Go on, then, Druze, may his punishment be an excruciating one for the suffering he has caused." Dandy said, and Druze casts a spell and goes to the Void. Druze enters the Void and was in the area where The Judge was at, the fourteen figures were behind him,
"NOOO!!" Chaos said,
"You have tricked us into receiving pure salvation, and then you have reincarnated and committed all seven sins, along with outright admitting you're evil, your soul is to receive pure damnation." The Judge said, and the black scale goes down a lot, he hits the gavel with the demonic side of his hammer, a light blue portal opens to his left and Chaos' soul begins to go into the portal, Chaos' body appears and he tries to fight his way out,
"NO!!" Chaos said as he tried to break free, The Judge hits him in the face with the demonic side of his sledgehammer and Chaos goes into the underworld while screaming and the portal closes as the scales revert back to normal. Druze is taken elsewhere and was back in the throne room with Spirit sitting in his throne,
"Good work, Janis, I knew you'd get the job done." Spirit said,
"What's going to happen to Chaos?" Druze asked,
"He will cease to exist, those who receive pure damnation have their souls destroyed." Spirit replied, Druze thought the punishment was a little cruel, but did not argue with it,
"You have a choice, Janis, you can choose to be reincarnated once again, or I can return you to the overworld, and you can enjoy the afterlife." Spirit said,
"Reincarnation." Druze replied,
"Really?" Spirit asked,
"Yes." Druze replied,
"Why?" Spirit asked,
"Because there's always a chance someone like Chaos will appear again, and if that does happen, I'll be around to stop them." Druze replied,
"Very well, your next life is just up ahead." Spirit said, and Druze begins to float through the Void. Druze goes through the Void and sees the rest of his life, he sees Venus make a full recovery, which made him smile, he sees his back injury catch up to him and he passes away, he sees his own funeral and saw Venus, Dandy and his family, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna were there, he saw Fortune was absent, so he assumed she passed away earlier, he sees a white light up ahead and he goes to it. Druze was a baby again and he looks at his front hoofs, he had a gray coat,
"Welcome to Equestria, Tao." a mare said to his right, he looks and saw her, she had a red coat, long sky blue mane and tail, and dark orange eyes,
"My name is Hard Work, I'm a construction pony, and that over there is Woodwork, your father." the mare said, Tao looks and sees him, he had a light green coat, short gray mane and tail, a full beard, and blue eyes,
"Hello, Tao, I do carpentry for a living." Woodwork said, Tao sees a mirror to his left and looks, he sees he had a purple mane and tail, and dark yellow piercing eyes, Hard Work kisses him on the forehead,
"Let's take you to your home." Hard Work said, and they go while Tao casts a spell to go through the Void. Tao enters the Void and he looks at Equestria, he sees how much it has changed, and word was spreading about Twilight Sparkle's School of Friendship, he keeps going and sees a suspicious part of his life, he enters it. Tao was now four years old and Woodwork was reading a letter,
"It's from Doctor Whooves, he said he wants to speak to Tao." Woodwork said,
"About what?" Hard Work asked,
"It says he'll tell us when we go, we already prepaid to see him." Woodwork replied,
"Well, let's go, the trip to Canterlot is going to have to wait, Tao." Hard Work said, and they go see him.
Doctor Whooves and Tao sit across from one another,
"Wow, well, it's good you got your job done." Doctor Whooves said,
"Thank you, now tell me, how did you find me, exactly?" Tao asked,
"Spirit gave me a vision in my dreams about you, he said you could be useful for taking down Claudius." Doctor Whooves replied,
"I need time to rest first." Tao said,
"Understandable. Well, what do you think of Equestria now?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"So much has changed, I'm still trying to adjust." Tao replied,
"Well, good luck, and your parents already paid, I'm going to contact them now." Doctor Whooves said, and Tao watches him, he sees Doctor Whooves use a communicating device to reach them, and Tao goes outside. Tao waits for his parents and they come shortly,
"Wow, that was actually fast, and we still have time to go to Canterlot as you requested, Tao, come on." Woodwork said, and they go. Tao explores on his own and goes to where he used to work, he saw Venus and Dandy there,
"Oh, hello there." Venus said,
"Hi, Venus, Dandy." Tao replied,
"How do you know our names?" Dandy asked, Tao casts a spell, his magic aura was purple, the two see an afterimage of Druze,
"It's me." Tao said,
"*gasp* Druze? Is it really you?" Venus asked,
"Yes, I have reincarnated since my last death." Tao replied, the two hug him,
"Oh, Druze, I've missed you so much." Venus said while crying tears of joy,
"You should go, Druze, we're about to close and go home." Dandy said, and the two leave together. Tao trots to Canterlot's castle and sees it has changed, he sees Princess Celestia walking in the hallway, he trots to in front of her,
"Oh, hello, what can I do for you?" Princess Celestia asked, Tao casts a spell and Princess Celestia sees an afterimage of Janis,
"It's me, Celestia." Tao replied, Princess Celestia was surprised,
"Janis?" Princess Celestia asked, Tao nods while the afterimage disappears, Princess Celestia becomes elated, Tao trots to her and the two hug one another,
"Welcome back, Janis." Princess Celestia said while crying tears of joy, the two let go and Tao leaves to go find his parents,
"There you are, we've been looking all over for you, let's go home, it's getting late." Woodwork said, and Tao goes home with his parents and begins to live his next life.
Doctor Whooves walks around and saw Applejack working at Sweet Apple Acres, she was planting crops for the spring season,
"Yee-haw!" Applejack said as she bucked trees,
"Come on, Applejack, help me and Apple Bloom plant the corn while Big Mac makes the scarecrows." Granny Smith said, and Applejack does, Doctor Whooves sighs and continues heading home, he sits and waits for his next patient, he hears walking and his patient comes in, it was a male earth pony, he had a light orange coat, shoulder length mane and a moderately long tail, they were yellow, his eyes were green, he was wearing a dark yellow straw hat, blue denim overalls that also doubled as pants, they had two gold buttons on them to hold the straps on, he had no shoes on, and his cutie mark could not be seen, his teeth were all crooked, and he had a piece of straw in his mouth. Doctor Whooves looks at him with surprise while he sat across from him,
"Howdy, pardner." the earth pony said,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Mah name's Hillbilly, and um, Ah don't know what mah job is called, but's kinda like raisin' food and vegetables." the earth pony replied,
"I believe you mean farmer." Doctor Whooves said,
"That's it, there we go, Ah ain't good with them fancy words." Hillbilly said,
"Well, let's get started, we're already running late." Doctor Whooves replied, and Hillbilly begins his tale.
Hillbilly was a poor country pony who lived on a farm with his paternal uncle, who was his father's older brother. Hillbilly was an only child and his parents passed away from trying to drink water straight out of the soil, believing it would be safe to drink unfiltered since they used the same water for their sink in the house through a well. Hillbilly was harvesting crops to sell and was not having a good year, and his uncle never helped, since he had lumbago, and could not work, so Hillbilly did everything.
Hillbilly heads into his house and saw his uncle sitting in a chair, he had somewhat dark brown coat, blue eyes, a white tail, beard, and moustache that were connected and grown out, he was bald on the top of his head, he wore a dirty brown hat with a black crown since he only had his mane on the sides and back of his head, he also wore an orange button-up long-sleeve shirt that was unbuttoned from his chest to the top, he also had on gray pants, beige suspenders to hold up his pants, and black knee-length boots on all four of his legs, his shirt and pants were tucked into them,
"We ain't doin' good with the crops dis year, uncle." Hillbilly said,
"What'cha mean we ain't doin' good?" Hillbilly's uncle asked,
"Food ain't growin', and we ain't got any good enough to sell." Hillbilly replied,
"Well, don't cha got dat little scarecrow competition comin' up?" Hillbilly's uncle asked,
"There's no way Ah'll win with da scarecrow Ah have now." Hillbilly replied, the scarecrow was made from straw and falling apart, and its head was hanging off, it was in the shed to the left of the house,
"It would help if ya helped me, uncle." Hillbilly said,
"Ah would, but Ah got dis dang ol' lumbago, and Ah can barely move." Hillbilly's uncle replied,
"Hold on, uncle, Ah'll make ya some dinner." Hillbilly said, and he goes to the kitchen.
"Hold on, before we go on, does your uncle really have lumbago?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes." Hillbilly replied,
"Alright, continue on." Doctor Whooves said, and Hillbilly does.
Hillbilly makes a meal for his uncle and brings it to him, he eats it and Hillbilly also brought a jug of cider for him,
"Thanks, Hillbilly, you were always the one who did da most work." Hillbilly's uncle said,
"Yeah, you did more than me 'fore you got lumbago." Hillbilly replied, his uncle chuckled,
"Well, ya should rest, it's late." Hillbilly's uncle said,
"Alright, Ah'm goin' to da store tomorrow, see ya in the mornin', uncle." Hillbilly replied, and he went to bed.
Hillbilly woke up early and has corn for breakfast, he saw his uncle was still asleep, so he went to the store. Hillbilly heads to the store and saw a unicorn selling a green drink in a dark green plastic bottle, Hillbilly did not recognize him, so he went to him. Hillbilly goes to the unicorn and saw he had a whitish blue coat, a short bright blue mane and tail, and purple eyes, his cutie mark was a fox's head with black eyes, and orange and white fur,
"Hi there. Would you like to try my new soda?" the unicorn asked,
"Ah've never seen ya 'round here before, pardner, what's yer name?" Hillbilly asked,
"Name's Joker, I'm a traveler across Equestria." the unicorn replied,
"What'cha doin' all da way out here?" Hillbilly asked,
"I'm making money by selling this carbonated drink of mine, it drinks like a soda, and kicks like an energy drink." Joker replied,
"Sorry, pardner, but dis don't sound appetizin'." Hillbilly said,
"Really? You won't know until you actually try it." Joker replied,
"It's fine, Ah don't think Ah'll be needin' it." Hillbilly said,
"I'll be giving everypony a free first sample, once when you drink it, you will come back for more." Joker replied,
"And how do ya know that'll happen?" Hillbilly asked,
"One taste, and you'll know." Joker replied, Hillbilly thought about it,
"Alright, Ah'll take one, but only cause it's free." Hillbilly said, and Joker gives him one,
"Here you go." Joker replied, and Hillbilly takes it, he walks away while Joker watches him with a smile on his face.
"So you've met Joker, too." Doctor Whooves said,
"Ya know him?" Hillbilly asked,
"Yes, he's one of my previous patients." Doctor Whooves replied,
"What did ya think of him?" Hillbilly asked,
"I enjoyed him, I thought he was funny." Doctor Whooves said,
"Oh, well, continuin' on." Hillbilly said, and he continues.
Hillbilly arrives home while holding the drink in his front left hoof,
"Ya got the groceries?" Hillbilly's uncle asked,
"Yup, Ah also got this for free." Hillbilly replied,
"What is that? Looks like some kind of new drink made by Princess Luna to make us have dreams about a smilin' sun, and hills with eyes and smileys, and the ground movin' up n down." Hillbilly's uncle said, Hillbilly smiled, trying not to laugh,
"Ah'll be puttin' the groceries in the fridge now, uncle." Hillbilly said,
"Alright, can ya get me a root beer as well?" Hillbilly's uncle asked, and Hillbilly went to the kitchen. Hillbilly put apples, oranges, broccoli, cauliflower, and blueberries, there was also corn, peppers, squash, carrots, pumpkins, and radishes in the refrigerator, Hillbilly and his family grew them in the fields around the home, he finishes and gets a root beer for his uncle. Hillbilly goes to his uncle and gives him his root beer,
"Thanks, Hillbilly, mah next doctor's appointment is a week from now, dey're plannin' to give me medicine for mah lumbago." Hillbilly's uncle said,
"Good for ya, uncle, Ah'm gonna go attend to da crops now." Hillbilly replied, and he went outside. Hillbilly works outside in the blazing sun and was planting seeds to grow vegetables, this year's harvest was not sprouting, and it was getting worse every year,
"Whew, man, it's hot today." Hillbilly said, and he went to get the drink he bought from Joker and drinks it, it tasted like a lemon and lime carbonated soft drink, Hillbilly feels intelligent all of a sudden and his pupils grow bigger and he has sees strange things in his vision. Hillbilly sees nutrients being drained out of the soil because he and his family have been planting the same food in the same soils for years, and had to switch them around, Hillbilly then came back to reality,
"Whoa." Hillbilly said, he was in awe at what the drink did, he also liked the taste, and he got back to work. Hillbilly begins to plant the food in different areas to mix up the soil, he was not thirsty for the rest of the day, which confused Hillbilly, but he was happy to be done working, he had lunch and then went back outside to switch the food more, he had dinner and then went to bed. Hillbilly sleeps and woke up early, he yawns and was craving more of the drink, he drinks it from the refrigerator and he begins to see things more clearly again, he saw that his uncle's lumbago could be cured if he drank the drink, he runs to him and saw he was awake,
"Uncle!" Hillbilly said, his uncle looks at him,
"Ya gotta drink dis! It's gonna cure yer lumbago!" Hillbilly said,
"Now, where in tarnation did ya get dat idea from?" Hillbilly's uncle asked,
"Ya just gotta drink dis, uncle, it'll cure ya." Hillbilly replied,
"Oh no, Ah ain't drinkin' dat new Equestrian stuff, Ah'll stick to mah good ol' water and cider." Hillbilly's uncle said,
"Come on, uncle, Ah'm serious, dis'll cure ya if ya drink it." Hillbilly said,
"No, Hillbilly, dat ain't gonna convince me, you'll need more than just a claim to prove it to me." Hillbilly's uncle said,
"Ah tried it, uncle, it enlightened me." Hillbilly replied,
"Well, ya go on and continue drinkin' it, Ah ain't puttin' mah lips on it." Hillbilly's uncle said,
"Oh come on, uncle, it's enlightenment." Hillbilly replied,
"No, it ain't, it's just a new drink you like, now tend to the crops." Hillbilly's uncle said, Hillbilly felt sad but went outside to tend to the crops. Hillbilly tends to the crops and began switching the plants around on where they grew, he drinks the carbonated drink again and he has another vision, he saw the crops will grow if he poured the drink into the soil, he decides to try it and one corn he just planted fully grew completely, much to Hillbilly's surprise, he gets his bits and runs to find Joker.
Joker was at his stand and business was slow, he hears running and saw Hillbilly coming,
"Ah, you again, what did you think?" Joker asked,
"No time to explain, Ah need all of da drinks Ah can buy with mah bits." Hillbilly replied,
"I told you you'd like it, here you go." Joker said, and he gives Hillbilly about fifteen more bottles of his drink, Hillbilly runs back home,
"Works every time." Joker said as he looked on. Hillbilly puts the bottles of his drink in the refrigerator and took one out with him, he dumps it into the soil to grow food and they all grow completely,
"What in tarnation?" Hillbilly's uncle asked, Hillbilly becomes surprised and runs into the house,
"Dis drink is a fertilizer, uncle, it grows the food fast." Hillbilly said,
"Nuh-uh, Hillbilly, hard work is da best way to go." Hillbilly's uncle replied,
"Well, we got food, and it's almost lunch, so Ah'll pick the crops." Hillbilly said, and he does, he also washes and cleans the vegetables he picked. Hillbilly and his uncle have fruits and vegetables for lunch and Hillbilly's uncle was surprised,
"Wow, this tastes just like regular food." Hillbilly's uncle said,
"How's yer back feelin', uncle?" Hillbilly asked,
"Actually, Hillbilly, mah lumbago feels a bit better." Hillbilly's uncle replied,
"Ah grew dem with dis little drink here." Hillbilly said,
"Ah still ain't drinkin' it." Hillbilly's uncle replied, Hillbilly becomes annoyed and finishes his meal and does the dishes. Hillbilly goes back outside and slams his front left hoof onto the ground since his uncle would still not believe him, he watches the crops and he hears something coming all around the farm. Hillbilly looks and he sees small bipedal creatures coming, they were mostly silver and white in color, they had large, round, glowing orange eyes, large heads, bat-like ears, eagle-like talons on their hands and feet, and needle-like teeth,
"What in tarnation?" Hillbilly asked, the creatures come and they begin eating the crops, Hillbilly runs into his house,
"Uncle, there's some kind of strange creature Ah've never seen eatin' the crops." Hillbilly said,
"Let me see what dey look like." Hillbilly's uncle replied, and Hillbilly pushes his chair outside. Hillbilly's uncle looks around and sees the creatures,
"It's dem hopkinsville goblins, dey come here and eat our crops when we grow 'em too tall and too many, our crops are done for dis year." Hillbilly's uncle said, Hillbilly was determined to keep his crops and ran inside and drank the carbonated drink and has a vision, he saw he had to improve his old scarecrow in the shed, so he went in there. Hillbilly begins working on his scarecrow and knew what to do, flashes of light were seen in the shed while noises of electrical sparks were heard. Hillbilly opens the shed while the goblins ate the crops, a silver robotic scarecrow with round red eyes walked out, it walks forward and the eyes shoot lasers out, the goblins that got hit were disintegrated and disappeared from existence, the scarecrow also shot fire out of its mouth and cooked a goblin, Hillbilly smiled since he thought the scarecrow was perfect for defending the crops.
The goblins continue ignoring the scarecrow that Hillbilly controlled with a remote controller and the scarecrow continued zapping the goblins, they soon see the scarecrow and run away when they realize they were being attacked,
"Yeah, and stay off mah property." Hillbilly said,
"Dey'll be back, Hillbilly, dey always come back." Hillbilly's uncle replied,
"And Ah'll be ready for 'em." Hillbilly said,
"Well, come in and have yerself a meal, I think ya earned yerself one." Hillbilly's uncle replied, Hillbilly smiled and he went inside to have lunch while his uncle sat outside and patrolled the front and sides of the farm. Hillbilly has fruits and vegetables for lunch and rested a little, he already felt better, he rested a bit and fell asleep,
"Hillbilly! Dey're back!" Hillbilly's uncle said from outside, Hillbilly wakes up and looks at the clock and saw he slept for five hours, he was satisfied and headed back outside with a bottle of the carbonated drink. Hillbilly looks and sees the goblins were back and eating the crops, but they spread out farther and hid under the plants, he saw the goblins were taking the corn and carrying them underground. Hillbilly drinks the carbonated drink and has a vision on what to do,
"Uncle, where are da grenades at?" Hillbilly asked,
"In da shed, behind yer parents' stuff." Hillbilly's uncle replied, and Hillbilly entered the shed. Hillbilly goes through the gardening tools his parents left in the shed and finds the grenades that his father tried to build on his own many years ago, the grenades had delayed actions as well, Hillbilly takes them and gets out the paint he used to decorate his scarecrows in the past with, he paints the grenades yellow and places them on the corn plants, the goblins take them and burrow underground, the grenades explode and the ground erupted, Hillbilly smirks but he saw the goblins were still alive and charred in black, they glare at him and just walk away afterwards. Hillbilly was happy and he got two mugs of Sweet Apple Acres cider out of the refrigerator, he went outside and gave one to his uncle, the two laugh,
"Ah think you showed 'em, Hillbilly." Hillbilly's uncle said,
"Got dat right, dey shouldn't be comin' back after dat." Hillbilly replied, his uncle laughs a bit and the two hit one another's glass and they drink the cider. Hillbilly and his uncle watch happily until they saw the goblins come back, they run to them and begin scratching and biting Hillbilly and his uncle,
"Ow, dat hurt." Hillbilly said,
"Get mah gun from da house, Hillbilly." Hillbilly's uncle said, and Hillbilly ran in after shaking the goblins off and got the rifle, he gave it to his uncle and pulled the goblins off of him and threw them back. Hillbilly's uncle aims the rifle and fires, he hits one goblin and it becomes black and charred again,
"Ah! Ah forgot dis is a blank gun, curse Princess Celestia for outlawin' guns!" Hillbilly's uncle said as he threw the gun onto the ground, he screams and holds onto his lower back with his front hoofs,
"Ah! Mah lumbago!" Hillbilly's uncle said,
"Uncle!" Hillbilly said as he ran to him and carried him into the house. Hillbilly puts his uncle against the wall and he sat,
"Oh, mah lumbago, the recoil from da gun must've agitated it." Hillbilly's uncle said,
"Go ahead and rest, uncle, Ah'll fend dem off." Hillbilly replied,
"Good luck, mah nephew, and Ah'll leave da rifle to ya." Hillbilly's uncle said,
"Thank ya, uncle." Hillbilly said, and he went back outside. Hillbilly heads outside and saw the goblins taking the crops again, Hillbilly drinks the carbonated drink again and has a vision on his scarecrow again, he saw what he had to do, so he ran into the shed and got to it. Hillbilly adds components to his scarecrow and replaces it's feet with wheels, he uses the remote control to send it out and the scarecrow had two extra arms, the upper left arm shoots shed tools at the goblins, one got hit and flew away from the hit, the scarecrow shot screwdrivers and chisels at the goblins. The scarecrow lifts its lower left arm up and hits the goblin to its left with the back of a digging shovel, the goblin squeaks as it got buried into the ground from the hit. The scarecrow continues going forward and it shoots laser beams out of its eyes, disintegrating a few goblins, and shoots fire out of its mouth, which cooks them, the goblins burrow into the ground and run away,
"Yee-haw!" Hillbilly said as he held his hat in his front right hoof, and he went back into the house. Hillbilly goes to his uncle,
"Dem goblins are gone, uncle." Hillbilly said,
"Heh-heh, Ah knew ya could do it, Hillbilly." Hillbilly's uncle replied, Hillbilly smiled,
"Let's have dinner, Hillbilly, Ah think we've earned it." Hillbilly's uncle said, Hillbilly agreed and the two have fruits and vegetables and they drink cider, the two went to bed three hours later. Hillbilly wakes up the next morning and yawns a bit, he opens the refrigerator and sees there was a hole at the bottom and all of his carbonated drink was gone,
"What in tarnation?!" Hillbilly asked,
"What is it, Hillbilly?" Hillbilly's uncle asked,
"Somethin' ate through da fridge at da bottom and got in." Hillbilly replied,
"Let me see it." Hillbilly's uncle said, and Hillbilly went to his uncle and carried him to the refrigerator,
"What da?" Hillbilly's uncle asked as he looked at the hole at the bottom,
"What'd ya think, uncle?" Hillbilly asked,
"Ah don't know what to think, Hillbilly, Ah've never seen teeth marks like dis before." Hillbilly's uncle replied, Hillbilly becomes nervous and went outside to tend to the crops.
Hillbilly tends to the crops and did not see any goblins around, so he just tended to them, he hears a burp in front of the house and he looks, he saw the goblins, and the bottles of his drink, they were open and empty,
"Aw, man, them varmints drank mah brain juice." Hillbilly said, he hears a machine and saw the goblins built a fighting bot out a wagon and several electrical wires from a nearby house. The fighting bot walks forward and Hillbilly quickly got his scarecrow, he begins to use the flamethrower on its mouth to burn the wooden parts, but he saw metallic parts under it, which surprised him. The fighting bot begins to beat up Hillbilly's scarecrow and Hillbilly tries to control the scarecrow,
"C'mon, get up." Hillbilly said as he tried to control it, but it did not respond, so Hillbilly ran to get the rifle, he looks for the goblin controlling the fighting bot and saw it, he fires a blank at it and its face turns black, it got distracted and stopped for a minute, Hillbilly then shot another blank at the fighting bot, it actually damaged the fighting bot and he hit the battery powering it, and the fighting bot shuts down. Hillbilly watches and the goblins begin to take the corn and put it in a machine that was removing the silk and husk easily, Hillbilly runs to his shed and saw the tools were gone, he saw the goblins used the items inside the shed to build the machine, Hillbilly becomes angry and his face contorts and turns red, he runs back outside and grabs the rifle, he runs to the machine and the goblins become scared and run away while Hillbilly fires every blank bullet left in the rifle into the machine and destroys it. Hillbilly pants and walks to the machine, he saw the tool and materials from the shed were destroyed, Hillbilly growled under his breath and went back, he went inside his house,
"Uncle, dem goblins used up da things in our shed." Hillbilly said,
"What?! Dem things were expensive!" Hillbilly's uncle replied,
"Ah know, and dem goblins just used it to build a machine to pick corn." Hillbilly said,
"Where is dis dastardly machine?" Hillbilly's uncle asked,
"Ah already destroyed it." Hillbilly replied,
"Oh, good, come on, Hillbilly, we have to leave, 'fore dem goblins destroy our home." Hillbilly's uncle said,
"No way, uncle, Ah'm defendin' mah property till da very end." Hillbilly replied,
"Quit bein' foolish an' go, ya still have yer whole life ahead of ya." Hillbilly's uncle said,
"Oh no, uncle, our family has lived here for generations, Ah ain't givin' it away to some lowlife pests." Hillbilly replied,
"These goblins ain't regular pests, Hillbilly, dis is why we don't grow much crop here, it attracts dem and dey eat 'em, leavin' us with nothing to sell till next year." Hillbilly's uncle said,
"Ah ain't gonna let that happen, Ah'm gonna get rid of 'em once an' for all." Hillbilly replied, and he went outside. Hillbilly looks around and saw the goblins missed the old carbonated drink Hillbilly was drinking yesterday,
"Yes." Hillbilly whispered, and he took it, he takes a sip and had a vision on how to build a cart, he goes into the shed and dismantles the scarecrow, he uses the remains of the robotic scarecrow to build a silver metallic cart that only had two wheels, but it worked,
"Alright." Hillbilly said, and he went into his house,
"Uncle, is there anyplace them hopkinsville goblins can't go?" Hillbilly asked,
"Them goblins can't handle bright areas, their eyes are meant for dark places, they ain't good swimmers, either." Hillbilly's uncle replied,
"Come on, uncle, let's lure them to the river." Hillbilly said,
"Now, ya know Ah can't move with mah lumbago." Hillbilly's uncle replied,
"Then drink dis, it'll cure yer back." Hillbilly said,
"We've been through this, Hillbilly, Ah ain't..." Hillbilly's uncle replied, and Hillbilly shoves it into his mouth and forces him to drink it, Hillbilly's uncle has a vision on what to do and his back felt better, he becomes surprised,
"Wait a minute." Hillbilly's uncle said, and he stands up and moves around,
"Look at dat, dat really was da cure to mah lumbago, Ah'm sorry for not listenin' to ya, Hillbilly." Hillbilly's uncle said,
"Yeah, thank ya, but we got work to do right now, uncle." Hillbilly replied, Hillbilly's uncle nods while smiling,
"Then let's get to it." Hillbilly's uncle said, and they go outside. Hillbilly and his uncle pack up some of the crops and Hillbilly's uncle was having a hard time moving,
"Whoo, movin' after havin' lumbago after a while sure is hard." Hillbilly's uncle said,
"Come on, uncle, let's find where dey're hidin'." Hillbilly said,
"Ah already know where dem goblins go, dey're in dat cave over dere." Hillbilly's uncle replied as he pointed his front right leg to the southwest, Hillbilly did not see it,
"Let's go, uncle." Hillbilly said, and they get in cart after Hillbilly's uncle has trouble and he drives it. Hillbilly drives southwest and sees the cave after a few minutes, he saw the goblins inside, they look and see the squashes, carrots, and radishes he put on the back, he drives away while he watches the goblins, they go back to the farm and watch, the goblins did nothing,
"Maybe we left too fast." Hillbilly said,
"No, dey're plannin' somethin', give 'em time." Hillbilly's uncle replied, they hear loud stomping and see a big mecha coming to the farm,
"What in tarnation?" Hillbilly asked, they see a mecha made from the nearby houses and trees around the area, they see every goblin on it, and one piloting the whole thing,
"Come on, uncle." Hillbilly said,
"Hey, now, Ah just lost mah lumbago." Hillbilly's uncle replied,
"Well, hurry up and get in da cart, 'fore dey step on ya and give ya super lumbago." Hillbilly said, and he entered, Hillbilly turns the cart on and watches the goblins coming, he drives away when they were near. Hillbilly drives the cart to the northeast and watches the goblins come after him for the corn, he keeps driving and enters the stream, he drives quickly and makes it to the other side, the goblins try to cross, but the sun there was too bright for their eyes to handle, and they got distracted, and the stream knocked the mecha over onto its left side. The goblins screech as they are washed down a stream,
"Yee-haw! We did it, uncle!" Hillbilly said,
"We sure did, Hillbilly." Hillbilly's uncle replied,
"What's gonna happen to dem goblins?" Hillbilly asked,
"That stream leads into a town, so dey'll probably find a new home." Hillbilly's uncle replied,
"Let's go home, uncle." Hillbilly said, and he drives home. Hillbilly plays music on a record player while he and his uncle danced and drank cider from Sweet Apple Acres, they have fun until dark and sleep. The next day comes and Hillbilly was getting things packed up on the cart,
"What'cha doin', Hillbilly?" Hillbilly's uncle asked,
"Ah'm gonna go into town and sell our crops, and make some money." Hillbilly replied,
"Alright, good luck." Hillbilly's uncle said, and he went, and he began making money by selling his crops while his uncle tended to the crops that were already grown.
Doctor Whooves and Hillbilly sat across from one another,
"Did you have fun getting rid of those goblins?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, of course not, Ah'm glad dat's done." Hillbilly replied,
"How long ago was this?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"About a month ago, and mah uncle got to cancel his lumbago appointments to da doctor." Hillbilly replied,
"Okay, well, I'll admit, I did find your story to be a bit entertaining, price is ten bits." Doctor Whooves said,
"About dat, Ah don't have any money, but Ah've got food Ah can sell ya." Hillbilly replied,
"Sure, I'll take it." Doctor Whooves said, and they went outside and Doctor Whooves bought vegetables from Hillbilly and paid him, and Hillbilly walked around,
"Excuse me, can Ah interest y'all in buying some freshly grown vegetables?" Hillbilly asked, and many ponies came, Applejack was his first customer, and Hillbilly begins selling food in Ponyville.
Doctor Whooves was walking around Ponyville and saw Cheerilee with her class of foals, they have fun and enjoy the day while Cheerilee watched and smiled. Doctor Whooves walks around and sees several older foals running around Ponyville and having fun, they were playing tag, he smiled and let them pass in front of him. Doctor Whooves continues walking and overheard a conversation,
"Did you hear, Twilight? The Wonderbolts were talking about new weapons." Rainbow Dash said,
"Yes, I know, but I don't like the sound of that, Princess Celestia once outlawed a weapon created by an earth pony to use against unicorns and Pegasi since it hurt so much." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"What was this weapon called?" Rainbow Dash asked,
"I don't remember. A gun, I think." Twilight Sparkle replied, and Doctor Whooves walks into his office.
Doctor Whooves sat at his office and was waiting for his next patient, he sighed as he waited. An hour passes and he hears walking, a male earth pony entered, he had a dark medium blue coat, a short blue mane and tail, purple eyes, and his cutie mark was a silver revolver with a brown wooden handle, he was as tall and as muscular as Big Macintosh, the earth pony sat across from Doctor Whooves,
"Are you the patient?" Doctor Whooves asked, the earth pony nods,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Gunslinger, candy store clerk and owner of an orphanage." the earth pony replied in a calm and barely audible voice,
"You sound like an introverted pony." Doctor Whooves said, Gunslinger nods in agreement,
"You were mentioned by one of my previous patients." Doctor Whooves said,
"Who?" Gunslinger asked,
"Tao, he meant a pony named Marston, he said he had two guns with him, and one of his friends said he bought it from you." Doctor Whooves replied,
"I made and sold guns before my current occupations." Gunslinger said,
"I need to know that as well, I need your backstory along with your tale." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Why?" Gunslinger asked calmly,
"So I can get a better understanding of you, I'm required to write down every patient I have and their backgrounds." Doctor Whooves replied,
"I wish to get this done in as few words as possible." Gunslinger said,
"I understand, but I still need to know your background." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Very well." Gunslinger said, and he begins his tale
Gunslinger was an outlaw who was in a dangerous gang of ponies who hated every other type of creature, they operated outside of Equestria and drifted from place to place, there were six members, Gunslinger, a male earth pony named Zulu, a male Pegasus named Gladiator, a male Pegasus named Spartan, a male unicorn named Bushido, and a male unicorn named Templar, the hierarchy of the gang from highest to lowest was Templar, Gladiator, Zulu, Spartan, Bushido, Gunslinger, all six of them were very dangerous. Gunslinger made a new weapon and the others looked,
"What is that, Gunslinger?" Bushido asked,
"A new weapon, a long ranged weapon to be exact, I call it the gun, it's a weapon for earth ponies to use against unicorns and Pegasi." Gunslinger replied, and they all see the semi-automatic pistols,
"I use rocks to carve its ammo, I call them bullets." Gunslinger said, and he loads the pistol, he wraps his front right hoof around and trigger guard and holds it straight, he fires the pistol and it was very loud, but it worked, the other five ponies cheered and Gunslinger continued making more guns after that, he started with pistols, he improved it overtime with the help of Templar, who used his magic to make springs and gun parts appear for him, but Gunslinger had to shape them first, then Templar casted a duplicating spell, Gunslinger made one hoofed shotguns next, and then two hoofed shotguns, then rifles, he also made grenade launchers after several years of practice, the grenades were improvised explosive stage props he bought from Trixie, he began to make rocket launchers a few months later, a year later, Gunslinger made automatic weapons, he made machine guns and assault rifles, he made machine pistols last.
Gunslinger made blueprints of his weapons in case he had to build them again since he had too many to carry, and Templar used his magic to destroy them so nocreature would find them and use them, it also destroyed evidence of where they went. Gunslinger and his gang were in Mount Aris and were robbing the hippogriffs of their valuables, the six were on the run and a male hippogriff and a female hippogriff flew down in front of them, Gunslinger took the two hoofed shotgun off of his back while Bushido held a katana with his telekinesis, his magic aura was red, Templar had a lance, his magic aura was white, and Gladiator, Spartan, and Zulu had swords, Zulu held his sword in his mouth while Gladiator and Spartan held theirs in their front right hoofs,
"Halt!" the female hippogriff said, Gunslinger fires two shots from his shotgun and kills the two hippogriffs, the six run away and lose the hippogriffs. Gunslinger waited for the heat to die down and went back to Mount Aris, he hears crying and looked, he saw a female toddler hippogriff crying over the two hippogriffs he just killed, he realized the crying hippogriff was their daughter, and he felt deep remorse, he saw Terramar and Silverstream run to the crying hippogriff and comfort her.
"Wow, that must've been hard to watch." Doctor Whooves said,
"It was." Gunslinger replied,
"Does it still affect you to this day?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Still having nightmares about it." Gunslinger replied,
"How does this tie in to later?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"That memory is the reason why I developed a soft spot for children, it's also why I built an orphanage." Gunslinger replied,
"Ah, I see, well, go on." Doctor Whooves said, and Gunslinger continues.
Time passes and Gunslinger and his gang continue robbing the other creatures around Equestria and they receive word of the changelings invading Canterlot, so Gunslinger and his gang found their hideout around the time the Crystal Heart destroyed King Sombra. Templar, Bushido, Gladiator, Spartan, Zulu, and Gunslinger rob the changelings of the things they found valuable and began to run,
"Stop them!" Queen Chrysalis said, and several changelings appear in front of them, Gunslinger opens fire with the assault rifle he had and kills them, Queen Chrysalis looked on with horror, she has never seen such a weapon, the six ponies make it outside,
"Okay, barricade them inside." Templar said, and the other five ponies seal the only entrance and exit in the changeling kingdom, Templar then uses his magic to set the entire changeling kingdom on fire, the changelings scream and try to get out of the changeling kingdom while Gunslinger and his gang went into their cart and Templar drove off while he and the other five ponies hoped for the fire to burn the changelings alive. Templar drives the cart away from the changeling kingdom and they hear flying above them, they look up and saw Pegasi royal guards coming,
"What the? Royal guards?" Spartan asked,
"It must be Princess Celestia, she's not happy with us." Bushido replied, and Templar keeps driving, they see more Equestrian royal guards up ahead,
"What the? What is this?" Gladiator asked,
"Yeah, why are there so many guards?" Zulu asked, Templar speeds up the cart while he and Bushido shot zaps everywhere, and Gunslinger fired from his assault rifle, the royal guards exclaim with surprise and covered their ears' since the bullets were very loud, it distracted them and some of them fell and covered their ears' since the bullets were too loud for them to handle. Templar drives the cart forward and saw unicorn and earth pony guards up ahead, they barricaded their way with wagons, Gunslinger fires bullets into the air, the loudness of the gun hurt the ears of the guards and Templar speeds up and drives past the wagons and destroys them,
"Drat, there's more up ahead." Templar said, and they see Pegasi guards flying to them with spears, Bushido shoots them down with zaps from his horn, and Gunslinger fired more bullets, the loud gun hurt their ears'. Templar, Bushido, Spartan, Gladiator, and Zulu laugh,
"We made it." Spartan said,
"Yup, we sure did. Okay, next stop, Yakyakistan, the usual, explore the place, find their goods, rob them, escape, and kill anyone who gets in our way." Templar replied,
"Train!" Zulu said, and Templar speeds up and just barely misses it, all but Gunslinger laugh as Templar drives to Yakyakistan. The six enter the snow covered area of Equestria and a blue zap hits the ground right behind them, starling all but Gunslinger, who looked up to see what it was,
"STOP RIGHT THERE!!" a loud, booming, female voice said, they all look up to the sky and saw Princess Luna flying after them, Templar, Bushido, Gladiator, Spartan, and Zulu had very shocked faces and Templar speeds up the cart with his magic. Templar drives the cart as fast as it went while Princess Luna flew after them, she fires zaps at them and Templar swerved the cart around and dodged them easily, Bushido shot zaps from his horn at her and Princess Luna flew around to dodge the zaps, Gunslinger opens fire with the assault rifle and Princess Luna's ears were hurt, she gets angry and casts a spell to make the assault rifle silent when it was fired, Gunslinger noticed the assault rifle still worked and continued firing, but Princess Luna flew around and dodged the bullets, Princess Luna casts a spell and makes all four wheels on the cart fly off, leaving the six stranded. Princess Luna casts a restraining spell on them and flies down to them,
"All six of you are under arrest, you will be seeing Princess Celestia shortly." Princess Luna said, and she teleports herself and the six to Canterlot.
Gunslinger was in Canterlot with his other five gang members and Princess Celestia stood on her throne with Princess Luna standing to her left. Princess Celestia was reading a letter that she held up with her magic, she soon closes the letter,
"I have received information about the actions of you six, all of the goods you six have stole from the dragons, yaks, hippogriffs, griffons, changelings, and kirins will be returned soon. I am very disappointed in all of you, because of you six, I have to issue an apology to them and the changelings since you all set their home on fire." Princess Celestia said,
"It was justice, Princess Celestia." Spartan said,
"Yeah, they attacked us first, we're just fighting back." Templar said,
"That doesn't mean rob them of their goods, and then trapping them in their own home and setting it on fire, that is not how we deal with problems, and speaking of problems, I also have to give money to the relatives and loved ones to the lives of those you six have taken, I am very upset with you six." Princess Celestia replied, they all look down,
"I have the hierarchy of your gang in my reports as well, Templar, Gladiator, Bushido, Spartan, and Zulu, you five are going to serve time, as for you, Gunslinger, since you're the lowest in the hierarchy, and my reports state you're just an enforcer with no authority and has no role in the planning of the crimes, and you're just doing what you're told when you done those bad things, I believe you can reform if you try hard enough, I am going to let you go and have a second chance, but on one condition, if you commit any crimes in Equestria, I will have you jailed." Princess Celestia said, Gunslinger just nodded,
"Quiet one, aren't you?" Princess Luna asked,
"My reports do say he's the least talkative of the six." Princess Celestia replied,
"I see, this way, you five." Princess Luna said, and she leads them away,
"I have received reports that your parents passed away while you were not in Equestria, Gunslinger, so I could not inform them, but since you're old enough to support yourself, I suggest you do not share your past with others, and just start a new life somewhere. That is all, Gunslinger, you may leave." Princess Celestia said, and Gunslinger left and the doors closed behind him while Princess Luna walked back to Princess Celestia,
"How's the changeling kingdom?" Princess Celestia asked,
"I already have Pegasi dousing the fire with rain clouds, I hope they can save the changelings trapped inside." Princess Luna replied,
"Good, I must depart now, Luna, I have to go to the Dragon Lands, Yakyakistan, Griffonstone, Mount Aris, and Kirin Grove and issue a public apology, I can't go to the changeling kingdom now since Chrysalis is still the ruler, I hope they all understand that they were criminals and we didn't know about them until now." Princess Celestia said,
"I wish you good luck, sister, be careful." Princess Luna replied, and Gunslinger continued walking to the exit.
"Six months after that, I became a merchant and..." Gunslinger said,
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You're not going to talk about your family?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Irrelevant." Gunslinger replied,
"You sure?" Doctor Whooves asked, Gunslinger nods,
"Okay, go on." Doctor Whooves said, and Gunslinger did.
Six months pass after Gunslinger gave up the life of crime, he was now a merchant who traveled across Equestria and sold his guns to earth ponies, he found an old and abandoned wagon in a junkyard six months prior and took it and cleaned it, he spent the next six months making new guns to sell. Gunslinger traveled around Equestria and sold his guns to earth ponies as self defense weapons against unicorns and Pegasi, he kept track of his customers.
"Now, hold on, you were mentioned by two people I had previously as patients, one met a stallion named Marston, who had guns bought from you, and another one was a stallion named Hillbilly, he and his uncle had a gun." Doctor Whooves said,
"Marston was one of my customers, and Hillbilly's mother bought the rifle from me, but that was later." Gunslinger replied,
"Wait, one more thing, the patient who met Marston said he had a gun that had a thing to pull back and then pull the trigger to fire." Doctor Whooves said,
"A revolver, I only made them to give them a try, they're not very practical for defense since you have to pull the hammer back after each shot." Gunslinger replied,
"Okay, that is all, continue." Doctor Whooves said, and Gunslinger did.
Gunslinger sold his guns at between fifteen bits and thirty bits, since the guns took a long time to make and were one of a kind, some earth ponies only bought the guns to have as antiques, some actually used them, and Gunslinger kept a record of every customer he had. Gunslinger sold his guns to whoever had money, but after a week, a male Pegasus royal guard flew down to him,
"You're wanted in Canterlot's throne room, and bring those items with you." the royal guard said, and he flew away, Gunslinger walked to Canterlot.
Gunslinger went to Canterlot and was in the throne room, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were present,
"Well, well, we find ourselves here once again, Gunslinger." Princess Celestia said,
"You should ashamed of yourself! Selling such a weapon in Equestria!" Princess Luna said, Gunslinger remained silent,
"*sigh* Look, Gunslinger, those things you sell are too loud, they're waking us up when we try to sleep, but that's not the reason why you're in trouble, the reason is one of our citizens got hurt by these weapons you are selling, take a look for yourself." Princess Celestia said, and Princess Luna brings the victim forward with her magic. Gunslinger hears crying and saw it was a purple Pegasus filly with a blue mane and tail, her right wing was open with a hole in it,
"It took us a long time to get the projectile out, Gunslinger, and as you can see, the wound was infected, and she now has a hole in her wing, she will be unable to fly for the rest of her life." Princess Celestia said,
"What do you have to say for yourself?" Princess Luna asked, Gunslinger just looked down in shame and regret and was silent,
"Gunslinger, I would like for you to say something." Princess Celestia said, Gunslinger did not,
"Answer us!" Princess Luna said sternly,
"Sorry." Gunslinger said,
"That's it?! You're sorry?!" Princess Luna asked angrily,
"I did not foresee something like this happening." Gunslinger said in a calm and barely audible tone, surprising the two princesses,
"I'm going to let you go since I can clearly see you are really trying to reform, but you must give those weapons to me, I am outlawing them since they are loud, and they cause whoever is hit excruciating pain, I understand the need to fight back against threats, Gunslinger, but causing as much pain on them as possible in the process is unacceptable." Princess Celestia said, Gunslinger gave his guns to them and Princess Luna uses her magic to destroy them,
"You may go, Gunslinger, you can keep the money you made." Princess Celestia said,
"Are the filly's parents filing any complaints about me?" Gunslinger asked,
"They have not decided yet, now go, I wish you better luck reforming next time." Princess Celestia replied, and Gunslinger left while he heard the filly cried, he walks out of Canterlot and went elsewhere.
Three weeks pass and Gunslinger wandered around north of Canterlot, he had enough bits to purchase a large house made entirely from wood, Gunslinger then wandered around the area and bought furniture for the house, he bought a tea green chair that could seat three ponies, the house already had an oven, a stove, a fireplace, and ventilation shaft. Gunslinger begins looking for rocks and wood around the area and begins shaping with his hoofs to make guns again, he also bought brass instruments from a music store from a town that was a little far away, he begins using his hoofs to shape them into bullets, it was hard, and it took time, but he managed to make new guns, he made two pistols, a one hoofed shotgun, a two hoofed shotgun, and a rifle.
"You're not going to tell me where you put them?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Irrelevant." Gunslinger replied,
"Don't worry, Gunslinger, the princesses won't hear about this." Doctor Whooves said,
"Where I put them has nothing to do with my tale." Gunslinger replied in a calm and emotionless voice,
"Oh, well, go on, then." Doctor Whooves said, and they continue.
A week passes and Gunslinger was exercising every day to keep himself in shape, he was fast and strong for an earth pony, and he wished to keep that, he started a charity by going to the nearby town, he asked ponies to donate money to him so he can build an orphanage, and most of the ponies agreed and donated money to him, liking the idea, he worked in the town by selling candy to foals, one day ends and a male earth pony royal guard enters the shop,
"Are you Gunslinger?" the royal guard asked, Gunslinger nods,
"Good, I'm just here to let you know that Archer has just become a deputy captain, you are invited to attend the banquet in Canterlot to congratulate them, banquet is tonight at six o'clock." the royal guard said,
"I can't come." Gunslinger replied,
"Why not?" the royal guard asked,
"I'm still working at that time." Gunslinger replied,
"Well, banquet lasts until nine, you can still come by then." the royal guard said,
"My shift doesn't end until eleven thirty." Gunslinger replied,
"Oh, wow, well, I'll tell Archer you can't make it, even though it'll make her upset." the royal guard said, and he left.
"Who is this Archer?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Relative." Gunslinger replied,
"Is she relevant?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Little." Gunslinger replied,
"Okay, go on." Doctor Whoves said, and Gunslinger does.
Gunslinger continues working at the candy shop and he sold candy to foals who entered to buy, while those who did not have enough money to buy what they wanted were given to them by Gunslinger for free, which made them happy, he finishes for a day and Gunslinger closes the shop. Gunslinger heads home and begins exercising, he did stretches, cardio, and weight lifting, he was in great shape for his age and for an earth pony stallion, he stretched his legs, back, neck, and abdomen, he did push ups and clapped his front hoofs behind his back and below his chest before putting them back on the floor, abdominal crunches, lunges with both of his hind legs while holding dumbbells, jump squats, squats while holding his front legs out, military presses with a barbell, wood choppers with a shovel that he got as a gift from one of ponies in the town who did not need it, dumbbell curls with his front legs, and reverse curls with his front legs. Gunslinger begins to do shadow boxing while standing on his hind legs, he does punches and kicks and saw he can still do flips and somersaults, and spin kicks while in midair, he went outside with his guns and went far away from the town.
Gunslinger enters the woods to the north of his home and begins doing target practice with his guns, he saw he was still a sharpshooter, and hit his targets with pinpoint accuracy, no matter how far away the target was, he did it in the woods since his guns were very loud, and would scare the ponies, he continues shooting until he was out of bullets, he hit all of his targets, he went home after picking up every casing. Gunslinger heads home and was meditating, he opens his eyes when he hears wheels rolling outside, he goes out and sees a male Pegasus walking, he had a powder blue coat, a short dirty white mane and tail, dark reddish pink eyes, and his cutie mark was a magnifying glass. Gunslinger watches him and was uncomfortable looking at him, he was suspicious of him since he had two big wagons with him, one was red, and the other was blue, the red one was behind the blue one,
"Excuse me." the pony said as he walked to Gunslinger,
"Where's the nearest town?" the pony asked, Gunslinger shrugged,
"Oh, you don't know, well, if you haven't heard of me, my name is Archaeologist, I'm an archaeologist turned show magician, I do small shows." the Pegasus said, Gunslinger just stood there,
"So, you don't know where the nearest town is at?" Archaeologist asked, Gunslinger shook his head,
"Oh well, I'll just fly up and look." Archaeologist said, and he does, he sees the nearby town,
"Uh-huh!" Archaeologist said, and he flew down,
"I have found my next destination, I'm going to enjoy entertaining the foals in the town." Archaeologist said, and he began to walk there. Gunslinger watched Archaeologist leave and was suspicious, he noticed his mouth water when he said the word "foals", Gunslinger did not trust Archaeologist at all, and was ready to grab his guns and fire at him if he harmed any of the foals in the town. Gunslinger exercised in his house and slept lightly, three hours pass and he hears chatting in the town, so he decides to go out to see what was going on.
Gunslinger stands in a crowd and saw the two wagons from earlier, the blue wagon opens and Gunslinger sees a stage,
"Come, all children! Come and witness the talented Archaeologist perform his art with perfection!" Archaeologist said, smoke appears and Archaeologist appeared, the foals were surprised,
"Now, watch in fear as Archaeologist performs a horror show for you all, you all will not sleep again after tonight." Archaeologist said, and he begins using strings he had at the bottom of the stage and flies up to pull the curtains behind him open. Gunslinger and the others see a graveyard, they see a puppet colt walking forward, the foal was a bluish purple color with red marks all over his body, they appeared to be teeth marks. The foals were scared by its appearance, the foal begins to dance while he stood on his hind legs and his knees bend backwards at times, scaring the foals,
"Come on, Postmortem, smile for the children." Archaeologist said, and he flies down and places strings on the sides of his mouth, his smiles a very wide smile, it scared the foals.
The ground bursts open and a stallion comes up, he was wearing clown makeup, his face was white, the area around his eyes were blue, his ears were pointed, and he had his upper row of teeth, his eyes and lower jaw were missing, which made the foals scream,
"Hello there, young one, what are you doing here?" Archaeologist asked as he controlled the stallion,
"I... I'm here to see my grandmother's grave." Archaeologist replied as he controlled the colt,
"Your grandmother? I know where she is, but surely, you would like a souvenir." Archaeologist said as he controlled the stallion,
"Sure, I want a balloon!" Archaeologist replied as he made the colt jump up and down,
"Very well, in a minute." Archaeologist said as he controlled the stallion, he made him turn around and controlled its front legs as if he was making a balloon animal,
"How about...?" Archaeologist asked as he controlled the stallion to make it look like he was making a balloon animal, the foals watch with fear,
"A balloon animal made up of your relatives?" Archaeologist asked as he made the stallion turn around and was holding a balloon animal shaped like a giraffe, but the balloon animal was made up of what appeared to be the body parts of various ponies stitched together, each part was a different color with black stitches, the foals scream in terror. The colt backs away in fear while the stallion stood there, the ground erupts to the stallion's right and a mare appeared, her coat was a dark white color with black spots of dirt on her, she had teeth in her ears as piercings, she was scalped on her head and her brain was exposed, she also had scabs on where her cutie mark should be, and silver wires were pressed against her head and wrapped around it at the back of her head, she also had stitches on her chest, where her heart is, which Gunslinger took note of. The foals scream in terror at the mare's appearance,
"Hello, there, I've got a gift for you, too." Archaeologist said as he controlled the mare, he made his own voice raspy to do the mare's voice,
"No, thank you." Archaeologist said as he controlled the colt,
"Don't worry, I promise you will like it." Archaeologist said as he controlled the mare, she puts her own front right hoof in her mouth and she gags, the foals watch with fear, the mare gags and looks down, bile falls out of her mouth, which disgusted the foals, the mare finishes and vomits out a skeleton, which made the foals scream. The skeleton walks towards Postmortem and tried to hug him, but he backs away,
"Come, don't be afraid, I'm a dancer, like you, watch." Archaeologist said as he controlled the skeleton, it begins to dance with its joints bending backwards and its bones falling off,
"You're falling apart." Archaeologist said as he controlled the foal,
"Don't worry, my parts are replaceable, but come to think of it, my parts are old, and I need new ones." Archaeologist said as he controlled the skeleton,
"No, get away from me." Archaeologist said as he controlled the colt, the skeleton grabs him and tries to restrain him, but he fights back, the stallion and mare walk over and restrain him, the skeleton opens its mouth Archaeologist screams as he voiced the colt being eaten alive, the foals watching were scared, he also flies around to put bones on the skeleton while he ate the colt, he finishes and continues,
"Bleh!" Archaeologist said as he controlled the skeleton and spits up what appeared to be the skin of Postmortem, the foals scream in terror,
"I am young once again." Archaeologist said as he controlled the skeleton,
"Remember kids, be afraid, be very afraid, or somepony like this may come to your house at night." Archaeologist said as he controlled the stallion,
"And that's the end, foals." Archaeologist said as he stood in front of the stage on his hind legs and holding his front legs out to the sides, the foals were too scared to say or do anything, they quivered in fear, Archaeologist smiled menacingly while Gunslinger watches him with suspicion,
"You're a phony!" a purple filly said,
"What was that?" Archaeologist asked,
"Those aren't real, those ponies are just props!" the filly replied,
"Really, then come on up here and feel them for yourself." Archaeologist said, and the filly did, she feels the stallion, mare, colt, and skeleton, she screams,
"They're real!" the filly said, Gunslinger was instantly alarmed and got defensive,
"That's right, these are all real, now don't sleep, kids, or someone or something will come for you." Archaeologist said, the foals quiver with fear while Archaeologist closed the blue wagon and he goes to another part of the town while the foals leave. Gunslinger walks around the town and sees foals scared already, he saw Archaeologist resting and his two wagons closed,
"Go on, get out of here, scat." a male voice said, Gunslinger sees a stallion shooing away foals, he saw a colt and a filly running away while whimpering, Gunslinger saw the stallion shooing them away, he had a pale red coat, short black mane on the sides and back of his head and a black tail, he was bald on top of his head, his cutie mark was a black cash register with three gold bits going into it, Gunslinger recognized the stallion, it was Slimeball, he also sold things for a living, but he only sold his things to adults, but they were expensive and made of cheap quality. Many ponies in the town dislike Slimeball, mainly for his personality, but he is unfriendly with children, Gunslinger knew if he wanted to have an orphanage built, Slimeball will try to prevent it from being built since he hated children, and was an obstacle. Slimeball looks and saw Gunslinger,
"Ah, Gunslinger." Slimeball said as he trotted to him,
"As the only other merchant in town, I think we should work together to accomplish a certain goal." Slimeball said,
"What?" Gunslinger asked,
"Get rid of these annoying brats that want to buy from our stores, and to keep them out." Slimeball replied, Gunslinger shook his head,
"Oh, come on, Gunslinger, it'll mean less noise, and less annoying people in the shop, I can already imagine seeing those foals cry as they cannot buy what they want from us anymore, and only their adults have to." Slimeball said, Gunslinger shook his head again,
"Give me one reason why we should continue to allow children in our shops." Slimeball said,
"No money." Gunslinger replied,
"Well, for you, but not for me, since only adults can spend in my shop, you can do the same thing." Slimeball said,
"No." Gunslinger replied,
"Why not?" Slimeball asked,
"All of my customers are children." Gunslinger replied,
"Not a single adult comes in to buy candy?" Slimeball asked, Gunslinger shook his head,
"Well, that's a shame, but you should come to my store one day, the quality of your candy will be hundred times better if you buy them from my store." Slimeball said, Gunslinger did not respond even though he knew Slimeball was lying,
"Hello." a stallion said,
"Oh, I have a customer, hope you change your mind, Gunslinger." Slimeball said, and he goes to his store, Gunslinger sighs and heads back to his home. Gunslinger enters the wooden house he lived in and it was untidy, he had paperwork for his job by the couch he sits on, he also had free candy due to his job, he had wrappers of them laying on the floor, he did not eat candy often, he usually ate pizza from the restaurant in the town, he had boxes of them laying on the floor, opened and unopened, he also had empty bottles of water and energy drinks littered across the floor, and empty orange pill bottles of muscle supplements, Gunslinger also had flies, spiders, and cockroaches in his home. Gunslinger meditates in his house while he waits for night to come, he keeps waiting and he was now tired, so he laid down on the wooden floor and sleeps.
"I woke that night and..." Gunslinger said,
"You're not going to talk about your dream?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Irrelevant." Gunslinger replied,
"You sure, Gunslinger? Dreams can say a lot about your feelings and situation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Flashback." Gunslinger replied,
"Those usually say a lot, too." Doctor Whooves said,
"Of me living with my family." Gunslinger replied,
"I see, you're not like my other patients." Doctor Whooves said,
"How?" Gunslinger asked,
"Well, first of all, you talk in a quieter and calmer tone, and compared to my other patients, you talk very little." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Can I continue?" Gunslinger asked,
"Yes, continue on." Doctor Whooves replied, and Gunslinger does.
Gunslinger wakes up at night and gets his two pistols, he heads out and goes to the town, he looks and hears voices, he sneaks around and sees Archaeologist greeting the parents of one of the foals, he shakes hoofs with the stallion and the mare, Archaeologist seemed friendly and pleasant, and the two ponies were smiling and enjoying conversing with him, but Gunslinger still did not trust him, so he watched Archaeologist and saw him knocking on doors and meeting the adult ponies in the town, he looks and sees a few foals in their beds since it was their bedtime, but they were all too scared to sleep due to Archaeologist's show, he decides to watch Archaeologist, he sees him greet Slimeball and he likes him immediately since Archaeologist was an adult, but he did not shake hoofs with him, he leaves and Gunslinger continues sneaking around to watch Archaeologist.
Gunslinger sneaks to in front of a house and jumps, he lands on the roof and continues watching Archaeologist, he aims the pistol in his front right hoof at him in case he tried to hurt anypony, but he did not, he finished greeting every adult pony in town and shook hoofs with them, he went back to his two wagons and slept, Gunslinger jumps down onto the ground, he goes back into his home and sleeps. Gunslinger wakes up the next morning and does his morning exercises and takes protein and muscle supplements afterwards, he was careful not to squash any of the bugs in his home, he was especially careful not to squash the spiders so he does not get bitten, he finishes his morning routine and heads to work.
Gunslinger works at the candy shop and he hears Slimeball outside shooing away a filly asking for candy, she runs away crying when Slimeball threatened to hit her, he looks and sees she wanted a chocolate bar that he sold, Gunslinger looks and sees the chocolate bars of that type were gone, he realized that Slimeball has stolen items from the candy store and put them in his own store once again. Gunslinger sees foals come in and realized school was done for today, he tends to the customers and gives them the candies they wanted, but they see several candies were missing and the foals began to cry, Gunslinger exits the shop to confront him.
Gunslinger goes to Slimeball's store and saw him standing outside,
"Why, Gunslinger, fancy meeting you here, my lovely, equally competent partner." Slimeball said,
"Return them." Gunslinger said,
"Return what?" Slimeball asked,
"The candy." Gunslinger replied,
"Oh, Gunslinger, I am sorry, but I am low on stock with those candies, so I am merely borrowing and will return it when I am done." Slimeball said, Gunslinger knew he was lying by the tone of his voice,
"Well, if you wish, I can give them back to you, at a fair price." Slimeball said,
"How much?" Gunslinger asked,
"A thousand bits." Slimeball replied,
"For all?" Gunslinger asked,
"A thousand bits per piece of candy." Slimeball replied,
"What do you need that money for?" Gunslinger asked,
"Personal reasons." Slimeball replied, Gunslinger remained silent for a minute,
"I'll see what I can do." Gunslinger said,
"Okay, Gunslinger, I will be waiting for your answer." Slimeball replied, and Gunslinger went back to the candy store. Gunslinger reenters the candy store and the foals look at him eagerly, Gunslinger shook his head, which made the foals cry, Gunslinger trots to them and begins to hug them to comfort them, their crying got so loud, the natives to the town and travelers heard them and went to the store, the natives look and realized Slimeball has taken the candy again, they go to his store and bang on the door,
"Slimeball!" a female earth pony said angrily,
"Open the door, Slimeball!" a male unicorn said angrily, he comes out,
"What can I get you fine adults today?" Slimeball asked with a smile,
"Are you stealing candy from the candy store again?!" a female Pegasus asked angrily,
"I am merely restocking, the candy in my store is relatively low." Slimeball replied,
"You are stealing candy from the candy store again." a male Pegasus said,
"Return it to the store, Slimeball." a male earth pony said,
"I am willing to sell it to you all if you all have the money." Slimeball replied,
"How much money do you want?" a female earth pony asked,
"A thousand bits per piece of candy." Slimeball replied,
"WHAT?!" a second female earth pony asked,
"It's now two thousand bits per piece." Slimeball replied,
"SLIMEBALL!!" a second female Pegasus yelled angrily,
"Four thousand bits per piece." Slimeball said,
"Come on, Slimeball." a second male Pegasus said,
"The more you complain, the higher I'm going to raise the price." Slimeball replied, the ponies growl,
"Forget it, let's just go." a second male unicorn said, and they leave while Slimeball smiles. The travelers enter the candy shop and give the foals whatever treats they had, the foals were still upset,
"I'm going to contact Ponyville." a male unicorn said,
"Good idea, let's have one of those six mares come down here for help." a female Pegasus replied, Gunslinger overheard them and listened, he did not think of the six saviors of Equestria very highly, he thought Twilight Sparkle was a worrywart and too emotional to rule, he thought Rainbow Dash was too impulsive and naive, he thought Fluttershy was too passive, he thought Pinkie Pie was too loud and too childish, he thought Rarity was too nitpicky, and he thought Applejack was too stubborn and too honest, he thought Princess Celestia choosing Twilight Sparkle to be a princess was a poor choice.
"Why are you sharing that for?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Thought it'd be useful information for you." Gunslinger replied,
"How did you come to that conclusion?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Just thought you could try to persuade Celestia to make better decisions, I hoped my opinion could be helpful with that." Gunslinger replied,
"Oh, it isn't, go on." Doctor Whooves said, and Gunslinger continues his tale.
Gunslinger sells whatever he had in the store and was soon sold out, which saddened the foals, they hear dashing and wheels,
"It's Pinkie Pie!" a filly said, and they run outside excitedly. Pinkie Pie throws a party for the foals and delivers free candy to the foals, she also played music and sang for the foals, which they all enjoyed. Slimeball was very annoyed by Pinkie Pie's antics and stepped outside his store, he had a steel five pound dumbbell in his front right hoof, he throws it and at Pinkie Pie and hits her in the head, she screams as she fell onto her left side,
"Get out of here, you stupid pink pony!" Slimeball said angrily, Pinkie Pie cried from the pain and the foals went to check on her, Slimeball went to Pinkie Pie's wagon and took her candy and party supplies and carried them into his store,
"God, I hate that Pinkie Pie." Slimeball grumbled as he walked back to his store, Gunslinger looked at Pinkie Pie, she was still crying and in pain, he went to go check on her and see her head was swollen, he goes home and gets a napkin wet with cold water from the sink and comes back, he presses it onto the area where the dumbbell hit her, she screams in pain,
"THAT HURTS!!" Pinkie Pie said,
"Hold her." Gunslinger said, and the foals do, Gunslinger continues to press down and Pinkie Pie felt the pain go down. Pinkie Pie stands up shortly afterwards,
"Where are my things?" Pinkie Pie asked, she looks around and saw all of her treats, musical instruments, and party materials were in Slimeball's store,
"HEY!!" Pinkie Pie yelled angrily as she dashed into his store, he quickly runs after her and grabs her, he throws her out of his store,
"GIVE ME BACK MY THINGS!!" Pinkie Pie yelled angrily,
"My store is not open to the likes of you." Slimeball said,
"LET ME IN!!" Pinkie Pie yelled angrily as she tried to run inside, but Slimeball grabs her, holds her back, and begins punching her in the face with his front hoofs several times, he throws her away from his store and Pinkie Pie screamed while she was in midair, she falls onto the ground while Slimeball enters his store, closes the doors, and locks them. Pinkie Pie cries while she laid on the ground in defeat, the foals went to her and were sad to see Pinkie Pie upset, Gunslinger went into the candy store and got whatever candy he had left and went out to give them to Pinkie Pie, she stops crying and looks at Gunslinger, she takes the candy and smiles,
"Ooh, I've never seen a candy bar like this one." Pinkie Pie said, and she eats the chocolate bar,
"It's... it's..." Pinkie Pie said while the foals look at her nervously,
"Scrumdiddlyumptious!" Pinkie Pie said happily as she flew around, she landed on the ground afterwards, she gives out the candy to the foals and they become happier,
"Sorry, everypony, but I can't come back here until that big meanie of a pony is gone." Pinkie Pie said, the foals groan with disappointment,
"Don't be sad, you all can always come see me in Ponyville." Pinkie Pie said,
"Yay!" the foals said,
"I'll be going now, till next time everypony." Pinkie Pie said,
"Bye." the foals said as they waved at her while she left. Gunslinger closed the shop early since everything was sold out and he walked around. Gunslinger looks for Archaeologist and sees his two wagons nearby, he decides it would not be wise to approach unarmed, so he goes back to his house, grabs a pistol, and heads back, he checks the wagons and sees the blue wagon was unlocked, and had the stage he used, he checks the red wagon and saw it was locked, he did not shoot the lock since the gunshots from his guns were loud, and it would alert Archaeologist, so he looks for a gap in the space between the side door and the wagon to try to see what was inside. Gunslinger looks through and sees various colors inside, they were moving as well, Gunslinger places his left ear on the red wagon and hears moaning and whimpering,
"Somebody's coming." a female voice said, Gunslinger realized it was a filly,
"Keep your voice down." a male voice said, Gunslinger realized it was a colt, he looks around and saw Archaeologist was not in his sight, so he jumps and lands on a tree branch, he looks around and saw Archaeologist was away from the town and eating something, but he could not see what it was, so he jumps up and climbs onto the tree branch above him, he still could not see what Archaeologist was eating, he finishes and flies away and leaves his meal behind, Gunslinger looks and sees red liquid dripping from Archaeologist's mouth from behind while he flew away. Gunslinger jumped from tree to tree and landed on the branches, he then begins to jump down the tree he was on by landing on the branches, he was on a branch and saw what Archaeologist was eating, it was a skeleton, Gunslinger continues looking at it and sees it was the skeleton of a foal. Gunslinger quickly jumped from tree to tree and climbed down when he was at the one nearest to his house, he runs into the house and grabbed his guns, he heads outside and jumps onto a tree branch, he jumps up to reach the one above him until he was at the top of the tree, he looks for Archaeologist while holding his rifle in his front hoofs.
Gunslinger watches carefully and scouts the town, he also looked behind himself for Archaeologist, he was nowhere to be seen, he hears a lot of chatter and saw the adult ponies arguing with the foals, this caught his attention and he listens carefully,
"But mommy, I don't wanna see Archaeologist, he's scary." a filly said,
"Oh, don't be like that, Archaeologist is actually a very nice and friendly pony in person, you should hang out with him." the filly's mother replied,
"Do I have to go see Archaeologist, mom?" a colt asked,
"Yes, you do, go make a new friend." the colt's mother replied, Gunslinger heard enough to know something was wrong, he gets down from the tree and puts the rifle on his back and heads into town. Gunslinger trots into town and saw the adult ponies forcing the foals to see Archaeologist, some talked back, but to no avail, the foals look down and leave the town. Slimeball laughs at seeing them leave,
"Yes! Those brats and idiots are finally leaving." Slimeball said and he goes into his shop and puts up a sign that said everything in his store was seventy five percent off for the adults. Gunslinger runs to the adults and they look at him, he sees their eye colors have changed, they were now dark gold,
"Ah, Gunslinger, just the pony, can you be a dear and lead our children to go see Archaeologist?" a mare asked, Gunslinger got defensive,
"Don't worry, Gunslinger, Archaeologist won't hurt the children, he loves children." a stallion said, Gunslinger just walked away,
"Don't go, Gunslinger, Archaeologist needs the children now." the stallion said, Gunslinger kept walking and saw Slimeball's eyes were not dark gold like the other adults,
"This way." Gunslinger said, and the foals were shocked,
"Go on, you all will like where he leads you all." a second mare said, and the foals reluctantly follow him. The foals follow him and Gunslinger leads them to his home, they enter and exclaim with disgust at how untidy his house was, Gunslinger barricades the door with his couch and locked the windows,
"Hide." Gunslinger said quietly, and the foals get down, they were disgusted by the cockroaches, scared by the spiders, and nervous by the flies. Gunslinger gets the pizza boxes scattered around the floor and opens them,
"Dinner." Gunslinger said, and they eat them,
"What do we do for now, Gunslinger?" a light black colt asked,
"Hide." Gunslinger replied, he was thinking about how to do deal with Archaeologist,
"You said you were raising money to build an orphanage, Gunslinger." a green filly said,
"I am." Gunslinger replied,
"Where's the money?" the green filly asked,
"There." Gunslinger replied as he looked to his right, the foals saw the bits, he did not have enough to build an orphanage. Gunslinger stayed on high alert and watched through the windows, they hear Archaeologist scream with rage from outside, it scared the foals while Gunslinger got ready to fight,
"That Gunslinger tricked me! Where did he take those kids?!" Archaeologist asked with rage, Gunslinger decided not to take the chance of investigating the town,
"Get down." Gunslinger whispered, and he and the foals lay on their stomachs on the floor, they hear Archaeologist growling and grumbling from afar, it scared the foals, he did sounded like a monster rather than a pony,
"Don't just stand there, all of you, look for them!" Archaeologist said angrily, his voice changed as well, it was more distorted, it sounded like demonic snarling and it echoed, which scared the foals, Gunslinger crawled around his home and got his two hoofed shotgun, he crawled to the front door and opened it slowly after moving the couch a little bit, he squeezes out and closes it slowly and heads out.
Gunslinger arrives outside and watches his surroundings carefully while carrying the shotgun on his back, he goes into the town and saw Slimeball was selling his items to the adult ponies, they come out and the items from his store quickly break apart from use, the adult ponies gather around his store,
"You all know the rules, no refunds." Slimeball said, the adult ponies stopped arguing and just left. Gunslinger walks forward slowly and looked back occasionally, he looks into Slimeball's store and saw he was selling items of cheap quality, and can tell they would break apart by just simply touching them, he leaves and looks for Archaeologist. Gunslinger walks around and was quiet, he hears wagon wheels nearby and he jumps up and goes onto a roof, he takes his shotgun off of his back and holds it in his front hoofs, he looks around and saw Archaeologist with his two wagons, he goes to the woods and disconnects the red wagon, he comes back into town with only the blue wagon, he walks around was looking into the houses, he grunts loudly in anger while kicking a trash bin down with his hind left leg, he grumbles while looking into houses. Gunslinger jumps down and walks quietly to the red wagon in the woods, he holds the shotgun out in front of him, he quickly looks back and saw no one following him, so he turned forward, but stopped when he saw Archaeologist in front of him,
"Hello again." Archaeologist said, Gunslinger aimed the gun at him,
"Oh, come on now, you don't need to be defensive around me, I'm perfectly harmless." Archaeologist said, Gunslinger kept his guard up,
"Where are the children?" Archaeologist asked, Gunslinger did not answer,
"Where are the children?" Archaeologist asked in an annoyed tone, Gunslinger just continued to aim the shotgun,
"Where are the children?!" Archaeologist asked in an angry tone, Gunslinger just stood there with the gun aimed at him. Archaeologist tries to lunge forward and attack Gunslinger, but he fires and shoots him in the head, the gunshot was very loud. Archaeologist was only shot back a few inches, Archaeologist slowly moves his head and looks at Gunslinger, the bullet was in the center of his forehead, but it did not go through his skin. Gunslinger looks and sees pink flesh around the bullet, he realized something was wrong, the bullet falls off and Archaeologist's head mutates, it was now pink, his eyes remained the same, his mane was gone, his ears become pointed at the top, his snout becomes two small holes, and his teeth become yellow, razor sharp, fanged teeth. Four pink tentacles come out of the area of Archaeologist's head that Gunslinger shot, three more pink tentacles came out of his mouth, Gunslinger realized those three were his tongue, the tentacles roar and Gunslinger saw yellow, razor sharp, fanged teeth inside the tentacles as well, they stretch out and try to bite Gunslinger, he jumps back and fires another bullet from his shotgun, he hits Archaeologist in his chest, the rest of his body begins to mutate. Archaeologist's body turns pink, he had yellow, razor sharp, fanged teeth going down the center of his chest and abdomen, his muscles grew bigger, he had three yellow claws on each hoof, his wings also grew bigger, the wings now had black arms and the digits at the bottom that were also black, the patagium on the wings were pink, and Archaeologist's tail was pink with a sharp yellow tip.
Archaeologist holds his front right hoof up while Gunslinger watched, paralyzed at the moment, but he snaps out of it when he hears walking around, he looks around and saw the adult ponies except for Slimeball surround him, he realized Archaeologist was controlling them telepathically, he slams his front right hoof onto the ground and the adult ponies run to Gunslinger. The adult ponies run to attack Gunslinger, but he runs back and jumps and lands on a house's roof, much to Archaeologist's shock,
"Get him!" Archaeologist said as he held his front left hoof out and pointed his right claw, the adult Pegasi fly after him, Gunslinger jumps off of the house's roof and hides under it while the adult Pegasi fly past him, he sneaks back home and hides under the houses and goes around the corners of them to avoid detection, he had his shotgun ready just in case, he sneaks out of town and heads to his house while the mind controlled adult ponies look for him. Gunslinger arrives to his home and opens the door quietly, he enters and closes the door quietly, he then locks it slowly and rearranges the couch to barricade it,
"Stay in here." Gunslinger whispered,
"What's wrong, Gunslinger?" a blue filly asked,
"Keep your voice down, Archaeologist is not a pony, he was disguised as one." Gunslinger whispered,
"You mean, Archaeologist is a changeling?" a yellow colt whispered, Gunslinger shook his head,
"Something else." Gunslinger whispered,
"What is he?" an orange colt whispered,
"Don't know, but eats ponies." Gunslinger whispered, the foals gasp and were about to scream in fear, but Gunslinger places his own front right hoof over his own mouth to quiet them down,
"Keep your voices down, and stay down with me." Gunslinger whispered, the foals nod while Gunslinger crawled around to get his other guns and went back to the front of the door. Gunslinger guards the front door while he looks through the windows to his sides, he was wondering about the red wagon that was outside in the woods, he hears coins clanging behind him and saw the foals giving their bits to Gunslinger so he can build an orphanage, he looks back and stands up while aiming his rifle, he puts it on his back with his one hoofed shotgun and two hoofed shotgun, he had holsters on his sides for his pistols,
"I'll be back." Gunslinger whispered, and he goes out again. Gunslinger sneaks around and goes around the town with the mind controlled adult ponies, he goes around the left side of the town and heads into the woods, he hears Archaeologist laughing manically and his voice echoed through the woods, he hears flying in the air and saw him flying down, he opens his mouth with the intention to bite him, Gunslinger jumps and rolls to his right while taking the pistol on his left side out. Gunslinger aims the pistol with both of his hoofs and pulls the trigger with his front left hoof, he fires a few shots from the pistol at Archaeologist while he flew in the air, he turns around and shoots white fluid out of his mouth at high speeds, Gunslinger jumps back and the fluid hits the ground and melts it, Gunslinger realized it was acid. Archaeologist shoots more acid out of his mouth and Gunslinger ran around and did several rolls and somersaults to get behind trees faster to avoid the acid, he fired his pistol whenever he had an opening but the bullets kept missing, he fires one and finally hits Archaeologist, but it bounces off of his body, Gunslinger realized his pistol bullets were too weak to harm him.
Gunslinger runs away into the woods and Archaeologist flies up higher to look for him, he did not see him, so he leaves. Gunslinger comes out from behind a tree and saw Archaeologist was gone, so he jumps up onto a tree branch and saw the red wagon was still in the same area, he saw the blue wagon was also nearby, Gunslinger sheathes his pistol and jumps from tree branch to tree branch and he climbs down when the blue wagon was under him. Gunslinger looks at the blue wagon and saw it was closed, but he takes his two hoofed shotgun off of his back and fires a few shots into it and destroys it, he shot all four wheels off as well, he hears Archaeologist eating loudly in the woods and a colt screaming, he realized what was going on and he jumps back into the trees and goes from branch to branch. Gunslinger arrives at the red wagon and listens inside, he heard whimpering, he tightens the harness around himself and begins to run. Gunslinger begins to run and he hears Archaeologist scream with rage, Gunslinger looks over his right shoulder and saw Archaeologist flying to him,
"COME BACK HERE WITH MY FOOD!!" Archaeologist yelled angrily, and Gunslinger continues running. Gunslinger runs through the woods to his home while the ground was bumpy, he hears screaming in the wagon, he keeps running and looks over his own right shoulder, he saw Archaeologist was flying after him, he also hears running up ahead and saw the adult ponies from the town coming as well, Gunslinger runs to his right to avoid them, he sees fallen trees on the ground and he jumps over them, he hears more screams inside the wagon while the wagon hit the ground hard, he also heard thuds inside the wagon,
"AFTER HIM!!" Archaeologist yelled angrily, and Gunslinger hears the adult ponies running after him, he sees shrubs up ahead and he ducks his head to avoid them, he soon enters mud and keeps running, the wheels on the red wagon get dirty and the ground gets bumpy again, the screams resume and Gunslinger hears thuds in the wagon again, he soon hears the running get quieter, Gunslinger realizes he has lost the adult ponies after him, he keeps running home and he saw his house up ahead, he arrives at home,
"It's Gunslinger." a filly said from inside, and he hears the couch blocking the front door being moved and the door opens, he sees the foals waiting for him, he arrives and then parks the wagon. Gunslinger looks for the door and finds it again, he saw it was locked, he saw he had the door facing to the town, so he puts the wagon back on and turns it around, he grabs the door with his front hoofs and pulls with all of his strength to pry the door open, and he got it open on the third try, he pants and saw there were many foals in the red wagon, they cover their eyes' from the light outside. The foals' eyes' readjust to the light and they look out the door, they see Gunslinger and many foals behind him, they become surprised,
"Get in." Gunslinger said, and they do, Gunslinger puts the wagon back on and moves it far away, he bucks it with his hind legs and destroys it, he goes back home, enters it, closes and locks the door, and barricades it with his couch. The foals from the red wagon stay down with the others while Gunslinger looked at them,
"Comfortable?" Gunslinger whispered, the foals from the red wagon nod,
"What happened to you guys?" a sky blue colt asked,
"Archaeologist came to our town acting as an entertainer, he did a horror show, he met our parents afterwards, but after that, our parents began to act strange, and they took us to Archaeologist against our wills, he put us in that red wagon for who knows how long, he's been eating us as food." a purple filly from the red wagon replied, greatly scaring the foals from the town,
"Who are you?" a red filly from the red wagon asked,
"Gunslinger, I am trying to raise bits to build an orphanage." Gunslinger replied, the foals from the red wagon smile,
"Wait? Gunslinger?! As in, the criminal?!" an orange colt from the red wagon asked, the other foals look at him with confusion,
"I don't live that life anymore." Gunslinger replied, the foals become shocked at the fact that Gunslinger admitted it was true,
"You should be in jail, I know what you, Templar, Gladiator, Spartan, Zulu, and Bushido did, you all operated outside of Equestria, you all are robbers, you stole valuables from the dragons, yaks, griffons, changelings, hippogriffs, and kirins, you six also killed whoever got in your ways." the orange colt from the red wagon said, the other foals gasp,
"They are in jail, Princess Celestia let me go because she saw the potential that I could reform." Gunslinger replied,
"How?" the orange colt from the red wagon asked,
"I was the lowest ranking member of the gang and an enforcer, I obeyed without question, and had no role in the planning of the robberies we committed, so I was let go." Gunslinger replied,
"Why did you follow them for, Gunslinger?" a red-orange filly from the town asked,
"Loyalty, they were my childhood friends." Gunslinger replied,
"Were they loyal back to you?" a purple colt from the town asked, Gunslinger nodded,
"Why do you want to build an orphanage for now?" the orange colt from the red wagon asked,
"Always liked kids." Gunslinger replied,
"Any other reasons?" a gray colt from the red wagon asked,
"Archer." Gunslinger replied,
"What?" the gray colt asked,
"Relative that I care for also likes small creatures, me doing this is something she would want." Gunslinger replied, the foals smile. Gunslinger gets down on his abdomen while taking out his one hoofed shotgun, he watched for Archaeologist and he did not come,
"I'll be back." Gunslinger whispered, and he left the home. Gunslinger sneaks out and saw Slimeball watching him, he ignored it for sometime and went to the town to look for information, he was looking for posters of Trixie in hopes of finding her again and buying fireworks from her again to make improvised explosives, he hides behind the houses to avoid the adult ponies, he goes to one house that he knew were fans of Trixie, he saw her poster on the wall as well, he uses the butt of his two hoofed shotgun to press again the window pane out, he puts the two hoofed shotgun back on his back with his rifle and one hoofed shotgun while he picked up the window pane and set it to the side. Gunslinger crawls on the floor to avoid being spotted by the adult ponies, he looks at the poster and saw her next show was all the way in Baltimare, which was too far, he looks around the home to see if he could use anything as a weapon against Archaeologist, he saw firework props in the house, so he took them, he carried them in his front hoofs and carried them out carefully. Gunslinger heads home and balances himself on his hind hoofs while he walked, which was pretty easy for him to do,
"They're in that house over there." Gunslinger overheard Slimeball say, he hears glass breaking and foals screaming, Gunslinger realized what was going on and put the fireworks down and ran to his home, he saw Slimeball walking to his store with bits in his saddlebag. Gunslinger runs home and saw Archaeologist flying at his house's windows and was hitting them with his hind hoofs in an attempt to break them, he scratched them with his claws as well, the foals screamed in fear. Gunslinger takes his two pistols out of their sheathes and holds them in his front hoofs, he opens fire and shoots both pistols at Archaeologist, the bullets bounce off of his body and he looks back with an angry face. Archaeologist flies to him while screeching, his mouth opens wide with the intention of eating Gunslinger whole, he does a back flip and jumps over Archaeologist, but his two shotguns and rifle fall onto the ground, he quickly puts them back on his back and fires at Archaeologist as he turns around in midair. Archaeologist looks at Gunslinger while smiling menacingly, he flies to him and his head splits in half vertically, pink tentacles with yellow teeth come out and they stretch out in an attempt to eat Gunslinger, the foals become scared as they watch Gunslinger jump around and fire bullets at Archaeologist, he aims his one hoofed shotgun in his front left hoof and fires at the tentacles, they get destroyed and Archaeologist's head fixes itself. Archaeologist opens his mouth and acid falls onto the ground and melts it, Gunslinger jumps back while he puts his one hoofed shotgun back on his back and takes his two pistols out, he fires his pistols at Archaeologist, he flies around to dodge the bullets and laughs manically as he flies to Gunslinger. Archaeologist flies to Gunslinger and tries to slash him with the claws on his front legs, but Gunslinger dodges them all easily, he did not touch Archaeologist because he did not look safe to touch, he dodges one slash from Archaeologist's front left hoof by ducking, he fires a pistol bullet into Archaeologist's right eye, he screams and holds his eye with his front right hoof and flies away.
Gunslinger enters his house and saw the foals were scared,
"Everyone alright?" Gunslinger asked, the foals nod, he looks around and sees the money he was raising to build an orphanage was gone, he quickly looks back and realized Slimeball stole the money and told Archaeologist where the foals were, he turns back,
"Anypony know how to tie a constrictor knot?" Gunslinger asked, the foals shake their heads, Gunslinger gets a strap off of one of his holsters and shows the foals how to make one, Gunslinger put the knot down,
"Rope." Gunslinger said, confusing the foals,
"We need it." Gunslinger said,
"For what?" a blue colt from the town asked,
"Tie up the adult ponies with that knot." Gunslinger replied,
"Oh." the foals said,
"There's plenty in my home, my parents use it for their jobs." a yellow filly from the town said,
"Let's go." Gunslinger replied, and the two leave. Gunslinger and the filly go through the town and Gunslinger led, the two hide and the filly pointed out where her house was at, the two sneak in with Gunslinger slowly pushing out a window pane and setting it aside, they get the rope and get out the house, Gunslinger puts the window pane back in place and Gunslinger leads the way sneaking out of the town, almost getting caught in the process.
Gunslinger and the filly enter and Gunslinger measures the ropes, he pulls them apart at where he thought the length was long enough to restrain an adult pony,
"What happened to our parents anyway?" a green colt from the town asked,
"We don't know how, but Archaeologist is mind controlling them." a black colt from the red wagon replied, shocking the foals from the town,
"How are we going to win, Gunslinger? They're bigger and stronger than us, and scarier, we can't tie them up." a pink filly from the town said,
"I already have a plan, I will lure them while you all hide, when I give the signal, you all attack. This is the signal." Gunslinger replied as he held his front right leg up, the foals took note,
"Tackle the ponies down from their blind spots and behind them, not the front, there's more of you than of them, so overwhelm them." Gunslinger said, the foals nod,
"Let's go." Gunslinger said, and they exit. Gunslinger leads the foals and holds his front left leg out,
"Half of you, hide behind the houses on that side." Gunslinger said, and they go, he puts his leg down and holds his front right leg out,
"The other half, over there." Gunslinger said, and they do, Gunslinger then walks to the center of the town. Gunslinger arrives and claps his front hoofs, the adult ponies go to him and see him,
"Ha-ha, you made this too easy, Gunslinger." a red mare said,
"Yes, you'll make a good meal, since you get in the way too much of my main meals." a purple stallion said, and they all walk forward slowly while they smiled menacingly with their mouths watering, Gunslinger realized Archaeologist was trying to scare him. The ponies all surround him and he saw the foals hiding behind the houses, the adult ponies surround him and Gunslinger holds his front right leg up as the signal and the foals run, the adult ponies become were quickly tackled down by the numerous foals from behind and they tie constrictor knots with the ropes onto the adult ponies' hoofs,
"NO!! THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MY FOOD!!" a red stallion yelled,
"Any leftover rope?" Gunslinger asked, the foals showed him several,
"Tie the ropes in their mouths so they don't try to bite you." Gunslinger said, and they did, tying constrictor knots with those as well, Gunslinger then proceeded to hit the adult ponies on the sides of their necks with his front hoofs to knock them out,
"Excuse me a minute." Gunslinger said, and he went back to his house to get his guns, he then entered Slimeball's store,
"Ah, you finally decided to come buy something, Gunslinger." Slimeball said,
"The brass instruments." Gunslinger said, and Slimeball puts the trumpets on the counter in front of him,
"They're top quality, good for music." Slimeball said, Gunslinger can tell the brass was very cheap quality,
"The lumber wood." Gunslinger said, and Slimeball put it out,
"Now, those are good, you can build almost anything you want, anything else?" Slimeball asked,
"The salt." Gunslinger said, and he puts it on the counter,
"What else?" Slimeball asked,
"The charcoal." Gunslinger said, and Slimeball puts it on the counter,
"What else?" Slimeball asked,
"The sulfur." Gunslinger said, and Slimeball gives him a package,
"Don't inhale too much, what else, Gunslinger?" Slimeball asked,
"The lead." Gunslinger said, and Slimeball puts the lead weights on the counter,
"Those are good for working out, what will it be, Gunslinger?" Slimeball asked,
"All." Gunslinger replied,
"*chuckle* I'll be closing early today so..." Slimeball said, he continues to speak while Gunslinger takes the candy he stole from the candy shop and held his two hoofed shotgun in his front right hoof in case Slimeball caught him, he takes the candy back and Slimeball sees him out of the corner of his left eye for a brief second,
"Hey! You have to pay for that!" Slimeball said as he quickly turned to Gunslinger and pointed at the candy with his front right hoof,
"Wrong." Gunslinger replied as he aimed his two hoofed shotgun with both of his hoofs, Slimeball looks at it with fear and Gunslinger fires a bullet into his head and kills him. Gunslinger takes the things Slimeball put on the counter and tries to make more bullets, even though it will be cheap quality and possibly not fire, he was still willing to try, and made them in case he runs out of his original bullets, he makes the bullets and puts them in his saddlebags, which were dark blue with the clip to close them being the shape of revolvers, he also improvises with the fireworks he got from the house and makes them into explosives, he exits with his saddlebags and his guns and left to go hunt down Archaeologist. Gunslinger looks around and sees the town was mostly empty now, he hears grumbling in the sky,
"Can't believe he took my food source, I'll just have to eat back at home." Archaeologist grumbled, Gunslinger looks to his left and saw him flying away, Gunslinger runs after him. Gunslinger runs to the west and saw nothing but grassland, he follows Archaeologist but was careful to stay behind him so he was not spotted or heard, Gunslinger follows him and runs slowly and quietly, he goes west and soon saw Archaeologist turn to his right, so did Gunslinger, he goes north and saw it was getting dark, Gunslinger follows Archaeologist for about ten minutes and arrives at an abandoned carnival. Gunslinger walks forward slowly and it was night time, he jumps onto a tree branch and looks, he saw foal skeletons laying around the carnival,
"Archaeologist, you're back." a mare said,
"Leave me alone, keep an eye on the foals, I'll eat one later." Archaeologist replied,
"Why do we have to be locked up in here?" a colt asked,
"Because you're a kid, and we hate kids." a stallion replied,
"But I'm your son." the colt said,
"Still hate kids, having you was mom's idea in the first place." the stallion replied, Gunslinger looks around and sees adult ponies patrolling the carnival, and foals locked behind iron bars, some of them were scared, Gunslinger also looks and sees the adult ponies did not have dark gold eyes, they were various colors, he realized they were acting on their own free will instead of being mind controlled. Gunslinger jumps down and walks to the entrance of the carnival. Gunslinger walks forward and several adult ponies look at him,
"Here to help...?" a Pegasus mare asked, Gunslinger stood on his hind legs and took out his pistols with his front hoofs, he opens fire and begins shooting the adult ponies, the adult ponies helping Archaeologist run to where they hear the noise and see Gunslinger shooting the adult ponies, the unicorns use telekinesis on him but he shoots them with his pistols, he lands on his feet and shoots his pistols more at the adult ponies coming to attack him, he hears the foals screaming in fear from the loudness of the gunshots. Gunslinger shoots and fires at the ponies who came to attack him first, he shot the unicorns first since they had magic and could take his guns away from him. Earth ponies kick boulders at him and hit him several times, but Gunslinger did not flinch, he continues to fire and Gunslinger noticed his pistols were almost out of bullets, but the ponies there working for Archaeologist was little since most adult ponies liked children.
Gunslinger runs behind a tent and reloads his pistols with the bullets he made from Slimeball's materials, he hears running and takes an improvised firework from his saddlebag, he holds it in his front left hoof and throws it around the corner of the tent to his left, it hits the ground and explodes on impact, he hears several yelps and foals screaming in fear. Gunslinger continues to walk forward and shot anypony who stood in his way, he always shot the unicorns first, then the Pegasi, and the earth ponies last, some stood still in shock at his weapons, Gunslinger realized most of them have never seen a gun before, Gunslinger continues firing and Slimeball's cheap quality material were actually working, he soon throws another improvised firework and it explodes, the adult ponies within the blast range scream when they were hit, he keeps walking and saw an earth pony kick a boulder and it hits Gunslinger right on the top of his head, but he did not flinch and kept coming forward, greatly shocking the ponies,
"No way!" a male earth pony said, Gunslinger used the opportunity to gun them down and did not see anymore adult ponies.
Gunslinger walks forward and sees Archaeologist up ahead, he growled with anger and opened his mouth while screaming with rage, he shoots acid out of the three tentacles that made up his tongue and Gunslinger jumped back, he fires his pistols and they jam after a few shots, the bullets bounced off of Archaeologist, he puts the pistols away while Archaeologist flies down to him and tries to bite him, he jumps over him and turns around while in midair, he takes the rifle of his back after putting his pistols in their holsters and fires at Archaeologist. Gunslinger fires the rifle and Archaeologist flies around to dodge them, he noticed Archaeologist was beginning to panic and was flying into things around the carnival, he ripped some of the tents and they fell, Gunslinger saw the foals in the jails, he noticed some of them recognized him,
"Gunslinger!" a rose colored filly said,
"No way, so he is still around after all." a turquoise colt said,
"Who is he?" a yellow-orange colt asked, and some of them explain who he was. Gunslinger continues to fire and Archaeologist kept flying around to dodge the bullets, Gunslinger stopped firing and Archaeologist laughs manically as he flies to Gunslinger and opens his mouth wide to eat his head, Gunslinger fires the rifle into his mouth and Archaeologist screams in pain, he groans with rage as he flew back,
"You tricked me!" Archaeologist said angrily,
"Your fault." Gunslinger replied calmly and stoically,
"I lost my food source because of you!" Archaeologist said angrily,
"Should've ate them as soon as you got them." Gunslinger replied,
"Foals are tastier when they're scared." Archaeologist said,
"Why do you eat kids?" Gunslinger asked,
"Because I have to eat meat to survive." Archaeologist replied,
"Then eat what's already dead." Gunslinger said,
"Those taste terrible, I find ponies to be the tastiest." Archaeologist replied,
"Why children?" Gunslinger asked,
"Because they're easy prey." Archaeologist replied with a big smile on his face, the foals become scared while Gunslinger readied his rifle. Archaeologist flies to Gunslinger and he fires his rifle at him several times, Archaeologist shot acid out of the three tentacles in his mouth at the rides around the carnivals, they melt the metal and begin to fall, Gunslinger notices them and runs and jumps around to dodge some of them, he does a back flip while jumping back to dodge the falling debris, Archaeologist watches with shock until debris falls onto Gunslinger,
"NO!!" a filly said, Archaeologist laughs triumphantly,
"Time to eat." Archaeologist said, and he approaches a jail cell while the foals whimper with fear. A banging sound was heard and it startles Archaeologist, some of the debris is thrown into the air and Gunslinger emerges from the rubble, shocking the foals who did not know him and Archaeologist. Gunslinger fires his rifle at Archaeologist and the bullets did not do much, Archaeologist flies towards Gunslinger and flies up, he tries to grab Gunslinger with the claws on his hind hoofs and Gunslinger ducks to dodge them, he puts the rifle on his back and takes out his two hoofed shotgun, Archaeologist pants heavily and had an expression of anger and exhaustion, he flies away and Gunslinger runs after him, Archaeologist looks back and saw Gunslinger was a really fast runner, faster than some of the animals, Archaeologist looks on with fear and flies away faster while Gunslinger gives chase.
Archaeologist flies to where the most tents were at and he looks back, he saw Gunslinger jump and land on a tent's roof, he runs across it and jumps onto the next tent's roof, he runs across it and jumps onto the next tent's roof, then the next, then the next, then the next, Archaeologist watched with shock at what Gunslinger could do. Archaeologist flies away and Gunslinger continues giving chase, he keeps flying while Gunslinger runs faster and jumps from one roof to another, he was soon under Archaeologist and throws a firework at him, it explodes on impact when it hits him, Archaeologist screams in pain and falls. Gunslinger jumps down and runs to Archaeologist, who was groaning in pain, Gunslinger realized that Archaeologist was weak to explosives, he sees Gunslinger coming and he shoots acid out of his mouth again and Gunslinger strafes left to dodge them, he fires his two hoofed shotgun and shoots the tentacles, Archaeologist screeches in pain with the tentacles fall onto the ground. Gunslinger realized his two hoofed shotgun was out of ammo, so he put it on his back and took out his one hoofed shotgun and held it in his front right hoof, Archaeologist flies up and towards Gunslinger, he holds his tail up and tries to stab Gunslinger, but he shoots it with his shotgun and the tip falls off, Archaeologist falls onto the ground in pain, he looks at Gunslinger with fear and tries to fly away, Gunslinger shoots him in his right wing and he screams and falls, Gunslinger quickly reloads his shotgun and then shoots the left wing, Archaeologist screamed in pain from that as well, Gunslinger holds his rifle in his front left hoof and shoots Archaeologist in his knees of all four of his legs, he screams and Gunslinger puts the rifle back on his back.
Archaeologist whimpers with fear at seeing what Gunslinger could do, he sees Gunslinger stand on his hind legs and sees him aiming the one hoofed double barreled sawed off shotgun at his head, he held it in his front right hoof and his body was turned to the left with his head facing Archaeologist, and his front left hoof to his side,
"I don't understand, I know of your gang, you're the lowest ranking member and just an enforcer!" Archaeologist said,
"Celestia made the same mistake." Gunslinger replied,
"What?" Archaeologist asked,
"I may have been lowest ranking member, but I was the most competent and most dangerous member." Gunslinger replied, Archaeologist looks at him with horror, he sees Gunslinger pulling the trigger slowly,
"No! NO!!" Archaeologist said, and Gunslinger pulls the trigger and blows his head off, Archaeologist falls over and completely disintegrates, leaving no trace of himself behind. Gunslinger walks around while he heard the foals cheer, he kept his guard up in case somepony was hiding and waiting to attack him, he explores the carnival to find anymore prisoners, he found another prison of foals, he pulls the iron doors from their hinges and they break, the foals run out,
"Hold on." Gunslinger said, and he walks around, he finds an office and saw a photo that caught his mind, he two ponies in it, the one to the left was Archaeologist, and the one to the right was a female pony, also a Pegasus, Archaeologist was smiling while the female pony had a stoic and bored face, Gunslinger puts it down and leaves, he moves his front right hoof forward to tell the foals to follow him and they do. Gunslinger leads the foals to his home and they see many more foals, he saw the ones from the town crying,
"What's wrong?" Gunslinger asked,
"Our parents disappeared." a yellow filly from the town replied, Gunslinger realized destroying Archaeologist did not free the adult ponies, it made them die with him, Gunslinger lets the foals stay at his home even though there was not enough space for all of them,
"What now, Gunslinger?" a blue filly from the red wagon asked,
"Raise money, build orphanage." Gunslinger replied, the foals from the carnival became excited,
"First, rest." Gunslinger said, the foals smile and they all sleep. Morning comes and Gunslinger got all the bits from the town, Slimeball's store had the most, it was still not enough money, so Gunslinger got buckets and gave them to the Pegasi foals,
"Spread the word." Gunslinger said, and they fly around. Gunslinger buries Slimeball far away from the town and then heads home and meditates while he waits, the other foals were impatient, some were grossed out by how untidy Gunslinger's home was, they see the Pegasi foals come back with a lot of bits, the foals were excited while Gunslinger opened his eyes, they arrive home with bits and the foals cheer, Gunslinger takes all of the bits he had and saw he had enough, so he left. Gunslinger travels around looking for lumber to buy and found one after a while, he buys them and heads home with a wagon full of them, he saw roof shingles,
"My dad had leftover from fixing the house the last time it got destroyed." a white colt from the town said, Gunslinger looks and saw it was enough,
"Let's get building." Gunslinger said, and they all begin. Gunslinger and the earth ponies carry the heavy materials while the unicorns used their magic on the tools, and Pegasi flew around to put up the support beams and the shingles on the roof, they all work for hours every day and build the orphanage, they were making it a part of Gunslinger's home, he gave the foals the pizza he had in his house, which they liked, they all work for about eighteen days and finish the orphanage, the foals cheered while Gunslinger just looked on stoically,
"What now, Gunslinger?" a blue filly from the carnival asked,
"Put up fliers around Equestria, list the grand opening and looking for ponies to work here." Gunslinger replied, and the foals make the poster, Gunslinger saw it was colorful and highly decorative, but he did not mind it, each foal made each poster by hoof, so each poster felt special to the foals, the Pegasi fly around Equestria and put them up everywhere. Two days pass and many ponies have arrived to work at the orphanage, much to the delight of the foals, they look and saw Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence were there as well, Princess Luna was already with the foals,
"Oh, you're such a good foal, yes you are." Princess Luna said as she rubbed her snout against the colt in front of Gunslinger,
"Hello there, you look happy, I brought candy for every foal." Princess Cadence said,
"Yay!" the foals said as they run to her, she gives out candy to the foals. Gunslinger watches and he saw Princess Celestia walk to him,
"I'm proud of you, Gunslinger, I saw the potential for you to reform, and you did, I'm also here to assure you that Templar, Spartan, Gladiator, Zulu, and Bushido are doing well." Princess Celestia said, Gunslinger just looked on, and he saw Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack have arrived to the orphanage's opening as well,
"I brought books for everypony to read." Twilight Sparkle said, they all trot to her and she shows them the book,
"You're awesome. You're awesome. You're awesome..." Rainbow Dash said as she pointed to each foal,
"Oh, you all look so happy, come here, you." Fluttershy said, and she hugs the foals and rubs her snout on them,
"Grand opening party!" Pinkie Pie said as she shot her party cannon,
"Yay!" the foals said, and they all party while Gunslinger walked around stoically and quietly, he looked around at his surroundings,
"Wow, he's a quiet one." Applejack said,
"Yes, he hasn't said anything." Fluttershy replied,
"Who is he?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"Oh, that's Gunslinger, he's always been one of few words." Princess Celestia replied,
"Over here, darlings, I got outfits." Rarity said, and the foals run to her, she shows them the outfits and try them on, Applejack also gave out apple desserts to the foals, they all have fun,
"Well, let's get these books in." Twilight Sparkle said, and they all see the inside of the orphanage, Pinkie Pie and Rarity scream with shock, the orphanage had paperwork for Gunslinger's candy store job by the couch he sits on, there was also candy wrappers on the floor, pizza boxes on the floor, along with slices of pizza that foals stepped on when moving in and out of the house while building the orphanage, empty bottles of water and energy drinks were littered across the floor, empty orange pill bottles of muscle supplements, and flies, spiders, and cockroaches crawling across the floor. The people who arrived at the grand opening were shocked,
"What is this?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"Um, this is the orphanage." a yellow-green filly replied,
"There is no way they can live in this, this is disgustin'." Applejack said,
"What do you kids say?" Gunslinger asked,
"It's fine." a red-orange colt replied, they agreed,
"No! No, no, no, it is not fine, ponies are going to be living here and working here, it must be cleaned, and what is this outside? It's all brown and made from wood, and the roof is just regular pale red shingles, this can use some decorations." Rarity said, the others agreed,
"Well, let's get cleanin'." Applejack said, and they do, they also had the foals paint the walls of the orphanage while Twilight Sparkle put books in, Rainbow Dash brought Wonderbolt material, Fluttershy brought board games, Pinkie Pie brought candy, Rarity brought clothes, and Applejack brought recipes involving apples,
"Okay, it's done." Twilight Sparkle said, and they all look and thought it looked much better,
"I wish you all good luck, and a good time." Princess Celestia said, and they leave, the ponies who wanted to work remained there,
"Work starts tomorrow." Gunslinger said, and they all sleep at the orphanage. Gunslinger wakes up the next morning and began working at the candy store again, with ponies from outside the town coming in to buy candy.
Doctor Whooves and Gunslinger sat across from one another,
"That's all." Gunslinger said,
"When did this happen?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Just after Twilight Sparkle first encountered Starlight Glimmer." Gunslinger replied,
"Ah, I wasn't doing this job yet at that time." Doctor Whooves said, Gunslinger shook his head,
"You didn't talk much compared to my other patients." Doctor Whooves said,
"Your point?" Gunslinger asked,
"Don't you want to talk more about your tale?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Like what?" Gunslinger asked,
"Your feelings of the situation." Doctor Whooves replied,
"My feelings are irrelevant." Gunslinger said,
"What about how Archaeologist mind controls the ponies?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Not interested." Gunslinger replied,
"I still find your tale hard to believe." Doctor Whooves said,
"Look for news about missing ponies in small towns, I think you'll find it." Gunslinger replied,
"Are you traumatized by your experiences?" Doctor Whooves asked, Gunslinger shakes his head,
"Then why come here?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Thought I'd let you know." Gunslinger replied,
"I see." Doctor Whooves said, Gunslinger just watched,
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about anything else?" Doctor Whooves asked, Gunslinger nods,
"Okay, price is ten bits." Doctor Whooves replied, and Gunslinger pays him and leaves. Gunslinger went back to the orphanage and the foals greet him, so did the ponies working there, he waves at them and went to go continue selling candy at the store.
Doctor Whooves goes through the newspapers of Equestria and found several papers of small towns where everypony went missing, and some mentioning seeing a pony carrying a red wagon and a blue wagon, those who talked to him said his name was Archaeologist, and he was at every town before the ponies disappeared. Doctor Whooves saw Gunslinger was actually right, which shocked him a bit, but he looks at the entrance of his house, unable to shake off the feeling that Gunslinger was lying in several parts of his story.
Doctor Whooves walks around Ponyville and saw Fluttershy tending to her animals and overheard her,
"Good boy, now go on and share your food with the others." Fluttershy said, Doctor Whooves looks and saw she had a new raccoon, she was showing it what the rules at her cottage were. Doctor Whooves walks around more and hears laughing and cheering, he saw foals doing target practice with a bow and arrow, he saw Marine was there, and Equality was watching him, he keeps walking forward and saw Raging Tornado fly by, she was leaving, but Doctor Whooves continued to his home.
Doctor Whooves' patient was recommended to him by Shining Armor, he got reports on her and was said to have had a mental meltdown, and would break down into babbling and crying when talking about certain parts of what happened to her and her unit when they were sent into an unexplored forest to map the area. Doctor Whooves arrives home and saw the papers on his desk that detailed what the animals in the nearby area said when Fluttershy went to go ask them what happened, he hears walking and sees his patient, it was a female earth pony, she had a pale red coat, long straight light pink mane and tail, pink eyes, and her cutie mark was a brown wooden bow and an arrow with a black tip, a light tan shaft, black fletchings, and a black nock, she was shorter than the average mare and was skinny, she had almost no muscle on her body, she also had dark red eye shadow on, and black mascara, she seemed normal so far, and she sat across from him,
"Good morning, Doctor Whooves." the mare said,
"Good morning." Doctor Whooves replied, he looks at her and she seemed a little upset already, but he went on,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Archer, deputy captain of the royal guard, my rank is just below Captain Shining Armor's rank." the mare replied,
"Wait, I remember hearing about you, one of my previous patients mentioned you." Doctor Whooves said,
"Who?" Archer asked,
"Gunslinger." Doctor Whooves replied, Archer becomes surprised but pulls herself together,
"I'm his younger sister." Archer said,
"I see, well, let's get started, I got my report on you here, and remember, if you feel uncomfortable, you're welcome to stop anytime." Doctor Whooves replied, Archer nodded while almost crying,
"Thank you." Archer said,
"Still, I imagined you being as muscular as your brother." Doctor Whooves said,
"I tried, I really did, it's not fair." Archer replied, Doctor Whooves took note of what she just said,
"Well, go on and start." Doctor Whooves said, and he opens his report while Archer begins her tale.
Archer was born into an average family and was the youngest child, Gunslinger was older than her by six years, their father was Shooter, and their mother was Quiver, Shooter had a dark purple coat, short pale purple mane and tail, purple eyes, and his cutie mark was a light tan crossbow, Quiver had a light purple coat, long dark purple mane and tail, purple eyes, and her cutie mark was a brown quiver full of arrows.
Archer was four years old and walked to her ten year old brother, who was sitting on a couch and reading a book,
"Big brother." Archer said, Gunslinger looked at her,
"What are you reading?" Archer asked,
"A math book." Gunslinger replied,
"On what?" Archer asked,
"Multiplication." Gunslinger replied,
"What kind of multiplication problems?" Archer asked,
"Basic." Gunslinger replied, Archer frowned,
"Come on, big brother, talk to me, I'm bored." Archer said,
"I am." Gunslinger replied, Archer began to grumble and growl while pulling her own mane,
"I wanna have an actual conversation, big brother, I'm tired of these one or two word responses." Archer said, Gunslinger just looked at her stoically,
"Please, big brother?" Archer asked, Gunslinger gets off the couch and walks to her, he shows her the math book and explains the problems. Archer tries to listen, but the math bored her and she blocked out most of the things Gunslinger said,
"ARCHER!!" Shooter yelled, Archer was startled and jumped up while he and Quiver walked to them,
"Gunslinger is studying, stop interrupting." Quiver said,
"But..." Archer said,
"QUIET!!" Shooter yelled, Archer was silent with fear,
"You should know better, why are you reading with your brother?" Quiver asked,
"I... wanted to study with him." Archer replied while scared,
"No, you are too stupid to understand any of it, go to your room, you're grounded, and no dinner." Quiver said, Archer was nearly crying,
"Go now, Archer, or I'll get the belt." Shooter said, Archer stood there in fear,
"GO!!" Quiver yelled, Archer jumps back and runs to her room while crying.
"Did that happen often?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Almost every day." Archer replied tearfully, Doctor Whooves' eyes widened,
"Go on, tell me what else was common in your childhood home." Doctor Whooves said, and Archer continued while nearly in tears.
Shooter, Quiver, Gunslinger, and Archer were about to take a family photo, Shooter, Quiver, and Archer were smiling while Gunslinger had an expressionless face, Shooter and Quiver stop smiling and see Archer,
"No! Out of the photo!" Quiver said as she shoved Archer, she exclaimed with shock,
"You heard her, get out." Shooter said as he shoved her out as well, they shove her out of the photo with enough force to knock her down, she looks on with shock and Shooter and Quiver smile while Gunslinger did not, the camera goes off and the picture was taken,
"Hang up the picture with the rest, Archer." Shooter said, and they leave. Archer puts the picture in a brown wooden frame and hangs it up, every single family photo in the house was a picture of Shooter, Quiver, and Gunslinger, Archer was never allowed in the photos, she cried every time she looked.
"How often did that happen?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Every time we took a photo." Archer replied tearfully,
"I'm sorry, go on, Archer." Doctor Whooves said, and she does, Doctor Whooves was surprised by how different Archer was from Gunslinger, she did a lot of head and hoof gestures while she spoke while Gunslinger did none, but he continues listening to Archer.
Archer was in school and had no friends, and she was constantly bullied by her classmates and belittled by her teachers, who often called her the dumbest student in the class, and the students present often would not let her join in on games during recess, steal her lunch, steal her school supplies, which sometimes made her fail an assignment, and get punished by the teacher, Archer also sometimes got punished with extra work for not showing her work on math work because she did not know how to, either because she was absent that day from school, or her parents would not show her, Archer would sometimes also not be allowed to go to lunch, and given extra work on the weekends for falling behind.
Archer was speechless with her mouth open and tears rolling down her face,
"Archer." Doctor Whooves said, she was startled and jumped,
"Are you alright?" Doctor Whooves asked, Archer wiped the tears away,
"Sorry, I had a really bad time growing up as a filly." Archer said,
"Would you like to end the session early?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No." Archer replied,
"Then pull yourself together." Doctor Whooves said calmly, and Archer did,
"Okay, I'm ready." Archer said,
"Go on, then." Doctor Whooves replied, and Archer continues her tale.
Archer did terrible in PE class and could not keep up with the class, but she saw Gunslinger exercising at home, he was doing push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, weight lifting with dumbbells and barbells, and stretching, Gunslinger also clapped three times while in the air from a push-up before putting his front legs back on the floor,
"Gunslinger." Archer said as she trotted to him, he looks to his left and sees her coming,
"Did you get in shape with those exercises?" Archer asked, Gunslinger nods,
"How long did it take you?" Archer asked,
"Four years." Gunslinger replied,
"Can I try?" Archer asked, Gunslinger nods, and Archer joined him.
Archer was grumbling and growling while she remembered training with her brother,
"Is everything alright?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No! Nothing's alright!" Archer replied angrily,
"What is the matter?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"I did the training for exactly four years, all of the hard exercising, the strict diet, and the joint aching stretches for four years, and a diet of only hay, fruits, vegetables, and water, I hate hay, fruits, vegetables, and water! I exercised and dieted every day, and I didn't get the same results as my brother. It's not fair!" Archer replied angrily,
"How old were you when you started?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Six." Archer replied,
"Was that all you did to get into shape?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, Gunslinger's outside training and endurance training were insane." Archer replied,
"Can you go into detail? And please try to remain calm." Doctor Whooves said, and Archer continues.
Archer did the training with Gunslinger and she struggled with everything, but Gunslinger would correct her body's position if it was wrong, she tries while Gunslinger stood by and watched her train and exercise. Gunslinger was running around outside and jumped up, he grabbed tree branches with his front hoofs, swung in a circle, let go, go through the air, and grab onto the next branch, Archer tried but she could not jump high enough and fell onto the ground every time. Gunslinger did somersaults and back flips outside and Archer tried, but she fell onto the ground every time, hurting herself a few times, but Gunslinger ran and got her out of the hurting position before she screamed in pain and alerted Shooter and Quiver. Gunslinger's endurance test involved his friends throwing rocks and baseballs at him, often at his head, and Gunslinger would not flinch or feel any pain, he walked away and it was Archer's turn, but whenever she was hit, she flew back and screamed in pain whenever the rocks or baseballs hit her, especially if it hit her in the head or her eyes, she cried sometimes as well.
Archer had to force herself to eat hay, apples, oranges, lettuces, celery, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, boiled potatoes, and drink water, she hated the taste of all of them, she liked sweet stuff, especially candy. Shooter, Quiver, and Gunslinger would have dinner and Archer was not allowed at the table,
"Can I have some?" Archer asked,
"You know the rules! You can have whatever's left!" Shooter replied angrily, and they ate while Archer had to watch while hungry, she would eat the leftovers when they left, but sometimes, there were no leftovers, so Archer had to go to bed with no dinner and cried on those nights, one thing that made her really sad was that Gunslinger got to sleep on a big and comfortable mattress, while Archer had to lay down on the hard wooden floor.
Four years pass and Archer exercised and dieted every day, she was exhausted in PE class and did worse, the last day for Archer doing Gunslinger's training and diet passed and Archer tried to do the things Gunslinger could do, but she could not, she even less physical energy, anything physical was harder for her to do, she was more hungry than before, and her body broke down her muscles in order to give her the energy she needed to do Gunslinger's training. Archer grumbled and exclaimed with anger, and soon screamed with anger and threw things around outside,
"IT'S NOT FAIR!! WHY DOES MY BROTHER GET INTO SHAPE AFTER A HARD TRAINING AND DIET REGIME FOR FOUR YEARS AND I DON'T?! IT'S NOT FAIR!!" Archer yelled angrily, she soon fell onto the ground and cried while pounding her legs on the ground,
"It's not fair." Archer said tearfully, and she bawled her eyes out all afternoon.
"Hold on, are you saying that Gunslinger's endurance and being able to jump from one house's roof to another is not made up?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No." Archer replied,
"I thought he was lying when he said that." Doctor Whooves said,
"No, he can really do that." Archer replied,
"What about him not feeling any pain or flinching from a rock thrown to his head? That's not exaggeration?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, he really is that durable." Archer replied,
"Can I see your front legs?" Doctor Whooves asked, and Archer did, he saw Archer's front legs were skinny with nearly no muscle, he can see how Gunslinger's training regime has eaten away her muscles,
"Okay, that's enough, continue on." Doctor Whooves said, and Archer continues while Doctor Whooves looked at his report on her, he saw it started at when she was in the woods with her unit, he listens to Archer.
Archer was friendless in school and did terrible in school, she was just barely literate because Shooter and Quiver refused to teach her, and Gunslinger taught her in secret, but it was still not much, she looks and sees Gunslinger have top grades on every assignment and project he did, he also had to build models of technology and make them work. One day, school ended and Gunslinger was outside with Shooter and Quiver, they look at his report card and saw he had a perfect grade on everything,
"Perfect as always, good job, Gunslinger." Shooter said, Archer ran to them and showed them she had passing grades in school for the first time, she smiled as she showed them, but Quiver slaps the paper out of Archer's front hoofs with her front left hoof, shocking her and saw Quiver had an angry face,
"Nopony cares what you got." Shooter said, Archer had a distraught face,
"Don't give us that look, do your homework." Quiver said, and she entered the house. Archer had the same problems every day and often saw Gunslinger hanging out outside with five friends, while she had none, she went outside to them one day,
"Big brother." Archer said as she ran to them, Gunslinger and his five friends look at her,
"Can I come with you?" Archer asked,
"We're not going anywhere." Gunslinger replied,
"Wait, you're not?" Archer asked, Gunslinger shook his head,
"What did you think we were doing?" Gunslinger asked,
"Go camping." Archer replied,
"Where are your friends?" a unicorn asked,
"Parents don't allow her to have friends." Gunslinger replied, the five colts look on with shock,
"Can I be your friends?" Archer asked,
"Well... sure." a second unicorn replied, Archer becomes excited,
"I'm Templar, that's Bushido, this is Spartan, that's Gladiator, and that's Zulu." the second unicorn said,
"I'm Archer." Archer replied with a smile,
"Nice to meet you, Archer, but it's getting late, and we have to head home, we'll be looking forward to seeing you again." Templar said,
"Okay, bye." Archer replied happily, and Templar, Bushido, Gladiator, Spartan, and Zulu head home. Archer waited every day for the five to come, but they never did, she soon screamed with rage afterwards. A few years pass and Gunslinger was now a teenager, Shooter and Quiver would still not allow Archer at the table for their meals, and had to have leftovers, so Gunslinger ate and drank no more than his body required so Archer could have something, and Archer enjoyed eating and drinking, every time she ate or something, she craved to have more of it.
A few years pass and Gunslinger begins receiving bits from Shooter and Quiver so he can go to college, she went to Shooter and Quiver about it,
"What about me receiving bits?" Archer asked,
"Make your own money." Quiver replied, and Archer left without questioning them. Archer looks for a job and saw the only place hiring was the animal shelter near the home, she goes there begins working there, she saw the many animals there and they all begin looking at Archer, she instantly liked them,
"Aw, you all are so cute." Archer said as she got on her knees and looked at them,
"Hey, stop looking and get to work, start feeding them." a female unicorn said, and Archer saw each food was labeled for each animal to eat, Archer also had to give them water, clean up their waste, play with the young, and take them outside for them to get their exercise.
Archer was grumbling and growling while she spoke about her job,
"Is something the matter?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Sorry, that boss of mine makes me so mad! I'm working and taking care of them, and she was just sitting around and eating doughnuts! She did nothing to help the animals, she only hired me because she didn't want to take care of them on her own!" Archer said angrily,
"Did you have any coworkers?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No." Archer replied while concealing her anger,
"Is there anything in particular that angers you?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"She never shared a doughnut with me! I love doughnuts. She also kept the animal shelter filthy, she did that to give me more work, and I would often fall asleep in class, she gave me no days off, and she never gave me a raise. Whenever a health inspector came and said the place is great and the conditions are perfect, she'd get all the credit, I did all the work!" Archer replied while raising her voice a little,
"There, there, Archer, let it all out." Doctor Whooves said, Archer sighs,
"Anyway..." Archer said, and she continues.
Archer was home one day and saw the bits she made from work were missing, she searches frantically and saw her bits were nowhere to be found, she runs out of the bedroom and looks around, she saw Shooter, Quiver, and Gunslinger together, and a pile of bits with them,
"Here you go, Gunslinger, your money for college, and thanks to Archer, we know have another source of income, we'll be using your sister's money to pay off your supplies for college." Quiver said, and they give to him while Archer gasped, she runs to them,
"GIVE IT BACK!!" Archer yelled as she ran after to her parents, she tugs on Quiver's front left hoof,
"GIVE BACK MY BITS!!" Archer yelled, but Shooter pulls her off of Quiver, takes her to the next room, and begins punching her in the head and back with his front hoofs as hard as he could, Archer screamed since each hit bashed her head against the wooden floor and she sometimes heard her bones crunch from a few hits, Shooter threw her away from himself when he was done, he walked back to Quiver while Archer cried from the pain,
"Gunslinger, take that idiot to the room, and eat all of your dinner tonight, leave nothing for her." Shooter said, and Gunslinger took her to the bedroom, he examined her wounds and tried his best to nurse her back to health. A few weeks pass and Archer made the amount of bits Shooter and Quiver took from her, she hid the bits this time, she was inspired by the other girls in the school to start buying cosmetics and makeup, she tried them and messed up the first few times, but she put facial powder, lipstick, eye shadow, eyeliner, fake eyebrows, mascara, facial moisturizer, and facial cleansers, Archer looked at herself in the mirror and thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world, she also used her bits to buy candy.
Archer was smiling and happy as she talked about her makeup,
"What kind of candy did you buy, Archer?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Bubblegum." Archer replied,
"What is your favorite flavor?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Strawberry." Archer replied,
"Well, as much I want to talk about this as well, we have to move on, we don't have an unlimited amount of time." Doctor Whooves said,
"Okay." Archer replied, and she continued talking about herself.
Archer saw the other girls at school also trying on fancy outfits and dresses, Archer overheard where they got them and went to the stores when she had enough money to buy them, she thought they were beautiful when she tried them on at home, and she became interested in fashion, but she made sure to hide them so Shooter and Quiver do not discover them.
Archer went to work at the animal shelter one day and saw the animals were starving and injured, along with the entire shelter being filthy, she was shocked and went to go confront her boss,
"Excuse me!" Archer said, her boss looks at her,
"What?" Archer's boss asked,
"The shelter's filthy again! And the animals are hungry and hurt!" Archer replied,
"Well, get to it." Archer's boss said,
"Isn't that your job?!" Archer asked angrily,
"I'm not touching those filthy things." Archer's boss replied,
"Then why are you working here?" Archer asked,
"Simple, I have others do the work, and I don't have to lift a hoof, I am the one who opened the shelter in the first place." Archer's boss replied, Archer was disgusted,
"That's it, I quit." Archer said,
"No, you're not, I'll call the royal guards if you do, who do you think is going to get arrested and in trouble when they investigate?" Archer's boss asked, Archer looked at her with shock while her boss smiled,
"Well, get back to work." Archer's boss said, and Archer almost began to cry while she worked and her boss smiled.
Archer was on the verge of tears in Doctor Whooves' office,
"There, there, Archer, it's okay, you're not there anymore, let's move on to the next part of your life." Doctor Whooves said, Archer was still on the verge of tears and did not respond, so Doctor Whooves touched her shoulders to snap back into the present,
"It's okay, Archer, you're not there anymore, let's continue." Doctor Whooves said, Archer nods and she continues.
Archer was in school and just barely passing, she saw posters that was talking about becoming an officer in the royal guard, she decided to apply so she could prove to her family that she is just as capable of achieving something like Gunslinger,
"Gunslinger, I'm going to one up you this time." Archer said to herself as she walked away.
Archer arrives home and she saw Shooter and Quiver teaching Gunslinger how to use the bow and arrow,
"Very good, Gunslinger, you're already improving for a first timer." Shooter said,
"At this rate, you'll be a master archer." Quiver said, and Gunslinger continued shooting the arrows, Archer became excited and trotted to them,
"I wanna try!" Archer said,
"Go away, you brat." Quiver said,
"Gunslinger, shoot an arrow at her." Shooter said, and he shot one right beside her right ear, she yelped with shock,
"No, Gunslinger, not by her, right into her, shoot an arrow into her knee." Shooter said, Archer ran into the house screaming with fear before Gunslinger could fire. Archer laid on the floor and looked out the window, she saw the bow and arrows were left there, she still wanted to try it, so she heads out and tries using the bow and arrow.
Archer heads outside and begins firing the bow and arrows, she had terrible accuracy, and her posture was poor, she also had trouble getting the arrow on the string and firing, she acted on her own and she could not aim properly,
"HEY!! DON'T TOUCH THAT!!" Quiver yelled, she was startled and looked to her right, she saw Shooter and Quiver were home from shopping, they run to her and they grab her and bring her into the house. Shooter begins beating her while Quiver whipped her back with a belt, she screamed from the pain,
"Don't touch the family heirloom, that is an expensive antique, and you'll break it." Quiver said, the two continue hitting her and Archer was soon crying from the pain and bleeding,
"Stay away from the bow, or I'll fire the arrows at you." Shooter said, and he and Quiver walked away while Archer was on the floor and crying.
Archer laid on the floor one day after finishing school, work, and her homework, she hears walking looks to her right, she saw Gunslinger come with the bow and arrows, he puts it on the floor and pushes it forward with his muzzle,
"Really, Gunslinger?" Archer asked, Gunslinger nods, Archer smiled and hugged him,
"Thank you, big brother." Archer said, he hugged her back with his front left hoof, and they went outside. Archer continues shooting with the bow and arrow while Gunslinger corrected her posture and showed her how to pull the string back properly, Archer soon starts firing and almost every arrow hit the center of the targets,
"I did it! I hit it, Gunslinger!" Archer said happily, Gunslinger places his front left hoof on his lips, Archer became embarrassed, she nodded while smiling and continued practicing with the bow and arrow, she used it whenever only she and Gunslinger were home and Shooter and Quiver were at work or out shopping.
A few weeks pass and Gunslinger was getting ready to leave, Shooter and Quiver kiss him on the forehead, he walked out of sight and Archer was there waiting for him, the two hug one another,
"Good luck in college, Gunslinger." Archer said, and he walked away while Archer smiled, she saw Templar, Spartan, Gladiator, Zulu, and Bushido waiting for him, and they leave.
"How did you feel about your brother going to college?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"I was happy for him, it's been over four years, so he should be done by now, I am so happy for my big brother, going out to get himself a good future." Archer said, almost crying tears of joy, Doctor Whooves could not help but feel bad for her since she clearly had no idea what Gunslinger was really doing,
"Well, go on, Archer." Doctor Whooves said, and she did.
Archer was about to finish school, she went through high school with no friends because she was afraid to speak up and get bullied again, she was at work and put down a paper saying she was quitting,
"You know the rules, you have to work here or I'll call the royal guards and have you arrested for poor treatment of the animals." Archer's boss said,
"That's not why, my parents are moving, I have to go with them." Archer replied, her boss calmed down,
"Oh, so you guys are going away." Archer's boss said, Archer nod,
"Leave, I'll just find somepony else." Archer's boss said, and Archer left the animal shelter, she looked back and felt bad for the animals, but she headed home.
Archer finished school and went to go see her parents,
"Mother, father, look, I'm joining the royal guards." Archer said happily,
"Good, go on and go, that's one less mouth to feed." Quiver replied,
"What? You're not going to congratulate me?" Archer asked sadly,
"Just go, we've been waiting for the day for you to move out." Shooter replied,
"Is it so you can be proud of what I do?" Archer asked,
"No, it's so we don't have to see you anymore, now go, get out." Shooter replied, and Archer left, she walked to the royal guard academy while crying.
"That was the last time I ever saw my parents." Archer said,
"Oh, right, I heard from Gunslinger they passed away." Doctor Whooves replied, Archer nods,
"How did you feel about them passing away?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Actually, I felt relieved when that happened." Archer replied,
"Did you feel any sadness?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, I was actually glad." Archer replied,
"I see, well, go on." Doctor Whooves said, and she does.
Archer was at the royal academy and Shining Armor was the drill instructor, Archer was having trouble with the exercising just like everypony else, and she was semi-literate, so she had trouble reading, which Shining Armor noticed, so he helps her become a better reader. Time passes and Archer had trouble with the physical exercises, Shining Armor noticed it and helped her through,
"Remember, Archer, take your time, and you'll get there, I had a hard time in training, too." Shining Armor said, and he went on to go help the other ponies who had trouble. Archer ate more than the other ponies, even though she hated the food, the others noticed it, but they all also noticed that Archer was skinnier than most mares her age,
"Um, Archer?" a greenish-blue mare asked, Archer looks up,
"Didn't you have a lot to eat at home?" the mare asked,
"No, my parents played favorites, and I couldn't eat with them, there are some days when I was growing up where I would have no food at all." Archer replied,
"Oh, no wonder why you have such a big appetite." a blue stallion said,
"Look at her stomach, too, she's very skinny, almost unhealthy." a yellow stallion replied, Archer ate with proper etiquette, and was eating mostly vegetables, which she hated. Archer just sat and waited for the others to finish,
"Archer." Shining Armor said, she turns around and sees him,
"Can I speak to you for a minute?" Shining Armor asked, and Archer trotted to him and followed him. Archer was in Shining Armor's office and they across from one another,
"Okay, Archer, I'll get to the point, you're consuming too much food, we don't have an unlimited supply." Shining Armor said,
"I'm sorry, but I'm starving." Archer replied,
"Yes, I know, but there are others here, too, they have to eat as well, also, if you do that on a diplomatic mission, you will make us ponies look bad." Shining Armor said, Archer took Shining Armor's words to heart and felt bad,
"Try to control your appetite, okay, Archer? You'll embarrass all of Equestria if you do that on a diplomatic mission." Shining Armor said, Archer nods,
"Good, I'm glad you understand, you may go." Shining Armor said, and she leaves his office and goes back to the mess hall.
Archer gets farther into the officer training and a male Pegasus royal guard came,
"Archer?" the royal guard asked,
"Yes." Archer said,
"We just got word that your parents have just passed away." the royal guard replied, Archer was speechless for a second,
"Oh, well... I'll go visit their graves after I finish my training." Archer said,
"But you still have another two years to go." the royal guard replied,
"That's alright, I'll go pay my respects after I graduate." Archer said, and the royal guard left, Archer smiled at the news and went to go continue her training. Two years pass and Archer was about to finish her training, Shining Armor's support and kind words caused her to develop romantic feelings for him, and she would feel happy and safe when he was near her, she smiled at him, which made him smile back, and Archer began to have dreams about Shining Armor.
Two years pass and Archer finished officer training, she walked out of the academy happy and proud of her success, she stood up straight full of pride and confidence as she left, she was out of earshot shortly afterwards,
"Gunslinger, just you wait." Archer said to herself, and she was ready to work as a royal guard. Archer received more training on how to lead a unit and was given the earth pony royal guard armor, she started at the lowest rank and she decided a laissez-faire leadership would be best, because she hated every minute of physical training, and wanted to take a break as long as she could. Archer kept her office open at all times where she was busy applying her makeup, which was eye shadow and mascara, she also had a picture of Shining Armor in her office, it was in a picture frame in the far right corner of her desk from her point of view. Archer was always trying to get a raise whenever possible, Shining Armor eventually took note of it and called her to his office,
"Okay, Archer, sit." Shining Armor said, and Archer did, her romantic feelings of him began to fill her mind,
"Alright, Archer, I'm going to have to ask you to stop asking for raises so often." Shining Armor said, Archer became flustered,
"Sorry, captain." Archer said,
"No, Archer, I'm not mad, I just wanna know why you're asking for a raise so much for." Shining Armor replied,
"Oh, well, my parents never got me anything, so I had to get a job and make money and buy it all, myself." Archer said,
"Ah, that's why, well, Archer, I would like for you to stop asking, you'll get your raises as you serve in the royal guard, there are some things money can't bye." Shining Armor replied,
"Like what?" Archer asked,
"Friendship." Shining Armor replied,
"That's it?" Archer asked,
"No, but that's the main one, you may go, Archer, and please stop asking for money." Shining Armor replied, and Archer left his office.
"Can I ask you something before you go on, Archer?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Go ahead." Archer replied,
"Did you ask for promotions in your rank the same way you asked for raises?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, of course not, promotion in rank is not earned that way." Archer replied,
"Why did you join the royal guard anyway?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Because Gunslinger has all of these achievements and successes under his name, I wanted one, just one." Archer replied,
"Hmm, I see, go on." Doctor Whooves said, and they continue.
Archer was on guard duty for her job as a royal guard and she hated it, it bored her, she eventually made a lot of bits as her rank went up, she eventually bought herself a brown bow with a black string and a quiver full of arrows, she did target practice while patrolled in Equestria,
"Excuse me, Archer." Princess Celestia said from behind Archer, she turned around and faced her,
"I'm going to ask you to practice elsewhere, arrows are dangerous, so don't shoot it out in the public like that." Princess Celestia said, Archer nodded and Princess Celestia left, Archer began practicing shooting at the base she was stationed at or around it for long distance shots.
Archer was stationed at a royal guard base in Baltimare while she shot arrows outside,
"Did you hear? The wedding's tomorrow, the captain is getting married." a female royal guard said from inside the base,
"Yes, he's marrying Princess Cadence, what a lucky stallion he is." a male royal guard said, Archer stopped what she was doing and looked on with tears in her eyes. The next day comes and Archer went to Canterlot, she tried to hold the changelings back, but she was overwhelmed by how many of them there were. The changeling invasion was thwarted and Archer watched Shining Armor from the very back of the crowd, she watched Shining Armor and Princess Cadence get married with tears in her eyes, and Shining Armor walked by her without noticing her.
Archer returned back to her quarters in Baltimare later that night and trashed her working quarters while letting out angry grunts, she hit the papers off of the desk, threw her chair across the room, and then hit her picture of Shining Armor off of her desk with her front right hoof, she then put her hoofs over her own face and cried with her face and hoofs on the desk.
Archer was crying in Doctor Whooves' office and he tried his best to calm her,
"I understand, Archer, and I'm sorry you didn't get the stallion you loved." Doctor Whooves said,
"You're sorry? He's still married to her, and I thought he would love me." Archer replied, she cried more shortly afterwards, the ponies in Ponyville could hear her, Doctor Whooves did not take note of it because he thought it would be unwise to let Shining Armor and Princess Cadence know about it. Archer cried for sometime and sat back up to look at Doctor Whooves, she got her mascara on his desk,
"Are you ready to continue, Archer?" Doctor Whooves asked, Archer nods,
"Go on, then." Doctor Whooves said, and she continues.
Archer continued practicing archery and doing her job as a royal guard with nothing really happening until King Sombra appeared, Archer worked as a royal guard for sometime and sometime after Twilight Sparkle became an alicorn, Archer made it up to the deputy captain rank. A banquet was held at night for the new deputy captains and Shining Armor was the host, it was six o'clock,
"Okay, as you all know, these are the new deputy captains, it is the second highest rank in the royal guard, only below my rank, and it is not easy to achieve, so let us enjoy this banquet to honor and congratulate these ponies for reaching the deputy captain rank, you all deserve it, cheers." Shining Armor said, and they all do a toast with a glass full of wine. The banquet begins and everypony had a great time, their families, relatives, and friends were there to celebrate with them, but Archer looks around and did not see Gunslinger anywhere, a male royal guard approached her,
"Archer?" the royal guard asked,
"Yes?" Archer asked,
"I spoke to Gunslinger earlier today, he said he won't be able to attend." the royal guard said,
"Why not?" Archer asked,
"He said it's his job, his shift doesn't end until eleven thirty tonight." the royal guard replied, Archer felt extremely sad and almost cried that her brother did not come to visit her, but she was also happy that he was dedicated to his job,
"Okay, thank you." Archer said, and the royal guard leaves while the banquet continued. Archer eats and looks at her food while the other ponies who became deputy captains conversed and laughed with their families and friends, she could not help but feel lonely while she ate, the banquet ended at ten o'clock and Archer went to sleep.
Archer was sad and had a wavy mouth while she talked about the banquet,
"Gunslinger mentioned that, too, I asked him who you were, and all he said was you were a relative of his." Doctor Whooves said,
"I'm still upset he didn't come." Archer replied while crying,
"How much more until we get to the part where you're in the woods with your unit?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Just a little more, we're almost there, just two more events." Archer replied,
"Okay, go on, then." Doctor Whooves said, and Archer continues.
Archer was being a deputy captain and spent her first job walking with Shining Armor and to defend him, she stood as close as she could to him since she still had romantic feelings for him, he did not notice and smiled at the fact that Archer was very determined to protect him, Archer felt comfort whenever she was close to Shining Armor and walked behind him. Archer was in at her desk one day and putting her makeup on, knocking was heard at her door,
"Come in." Archer said, and the door opened, it was Princess Cadence, Archer felt a chord struck in her at just seeing her since she married the stallion of her dreams. Princess Cadence sat across from Archer,
"Archer, we need to talk." Princess Cadence said,
"Yes, your highness?" Archer asked,
"I understand it's your job to protect Shining Armor whenever he goes on a trip, but you're standing too close to my husband for my liking." Princess Cadence replied,
"I'm just doing my job, your highness, it is my upmost duty to be on guard and ready to protect the captain at anytime." Archer said,
"Yes, I get that, but you're too close to him, I'd like for you to more to the side instead of right behind him, it makes me very uncomfortable." Princess Cadence replied, Archer felt her anger raising but suppressed it,
"You want me to move because you're uncomfortable? What about him?" Archer asked,
"I haven't asked him." Princess Cadence replied,
"Well, let's go ask him how he feels about it." Archer said,
"He's not available right now." Princess Cadence replied, Archer looks at her schedule on her desk and saw she will be with Shining Armor later that day,
"Well, I'll be with him later today, so if you wish, I can ask him for you." Archer said,
"I have your schedule, Archer, I'll be there as well." Princess Cadence replied, and she left while Archer watched her. The day passes and Archer was in the Crystal Empire a few hours later, she was walking with Shining Armor and acting as his bodyguard, Princess Cadence was walking with him to his left, and Archer was to his right and right behind him, his hind right hoof almost touched Archer's front left hoof as they walked,
"Hey, um, captain, I have something to ask you." Archer said,
"Yes, Archer?" Shining Armor asked in a friendly and fatherly tone, it made Archer's feelings for him come up again,
"Uh... um... how do you feel with me being this close to you?" Archer asked,
"I don't mind, just be careful not to step on my hoofs." Shining Armor replied, Archer was happy that Shining Armor did not mind her being so close to him,
"Um, Shining Armor, dear, I mind, seeing her so close to you is making me nervous." Princess Cadence said,
"Oh, I see, sorry, Archer, but you're going to have to move back a bit." Shining Armor said, Archer felt angry but obeyed, she looks at Princess Cadence and to her surprise and confusion, Princess Cadence was smiling happily and affectionately with her eyes closed and looking forward rather looking at her and smirking smugly. Archer moved to her right a bit and walked with Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, she saw she can still almost touch Shining Armor's hoof, which made her feel better, and she continues walking with them.
"And ever since then, I have to keep my distance like that whenever I march with the captain." Archer said,
"Well, try not to touch his hoof, he'll be mad at you as well if you try to pursue a romantic relationship with him." Doctor Whooves replied, Archer tried not to cry, Doctor Whooves could not help but feel sympathetic since he can tell that Archer was still heartbroken, she pulled herself together after a few seconds,
"Do you feel better?" Doctor Whooves asked, Archer nods,
"You said one more event before we get to when you were in the woods, right?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes, this was shortly before I got my first unit to lead." Archer replied,
"Okay, well go on and say it." Doctor Whooves said, and Archer continues her tale.
Archer was shopping and buying herself a birthday present, she was exhausted and could not see straight, she saw a snow globe and thought it was beautiful, she saw the clerk and went to him, who was a unicorn,
"Excuse me." Archer said,
"What do you want?" the clerk asked,
"I'd like that snow globe there, please." Archer replied,
"What does some poor slob like you need it for?" the clerk asked,
"Poor slob? I'll have you know that I am a deputy captain in the royal guard." Archer replied,
"Well, miss deputy captain, since you're with the royal guard, price for the snow globe is fifty bits." the clerk said,
"Fifty bits? That's insane." Archer replied,
"Can't you afford it with your job?" the clerk asked,
"*sigh* Fine." Archer replied, and she paid him fifty bits, he puts the bits behind him in a molten machine and melts the bits,
"What are you doing?" Archer asked,
"I don't do refunds." the clerk replied, and he held out the snow globe with his front right hoof, Archer reaches for it with her front left hoof, but the clerk moves his hoof back,
"Uh, uh, twenty more bits." the clerk said,
"What?" Archer asked,
"Earth pony tax." the clerk replied,
"You gotta be kidding me." Archer said,
"Pay it, or you don't get the snow globe." the clerk replied,
"Oh, come on, today's my birthday." Archer said,
"That means you have to pay an additional thirty bits." the clerk replied, Archer let out an annoyed grunt and she paid him, he put the bits in the molten machine, he holds the snow globe out again and Archer reaches for it, but the clerk lifts his front right hoof up and throws it past her, she watches and saw the snow globe shatter, she looks back at the clerk with shock while he laughs,
"I forgot, you're a girl, nothing in my shop is on sale for you." the clerk said, Archer becomes shocked while he laughs at her and she sees her bits that he has melted. Archer growls while the clerk laughed at her, she jumps over the counter and begins to beat up the clerk, he screams while Archer gave him a beating. Archer was sitting in her office a few days later and she got the message that the clerk she beat up was in the hospital, he was on life support and had to eat and drink through a feeding straw, the door opens and Shining Armor came in, he walks to her and places a paper on her desk. Archer reads it and was in disbelief,
"What? I have to forgive him and offer him my friendship?" Archer asked,
"Yes, Archer, you have to tell him you're sorry for beating him." Shining Armor replied,
"What?! Oh, come on, captain, you're more logical than this." Archer said,
"I didn't make this order, my sister did." Shining Armor replied,
"WHAT?! Princess Twilight is ordering this?! She's not even a part of the royal guard!" Archer said,
"But she is a princess, so she commands us." Shining Armor replied,
"Come on, Shining Armor, convince her that it's his own fault why he got a beating, you're her older brother." Archer said,
"Yes, but her title is higher than my own, so I can't override this decision." Shining Armor replied,
"Come on, captain, you can at least talk some sense into her." Archer said,
"Now, now, Archer, I understand you're upset, and if it was up to me, I wouldn't give you this order, but my sister's title is higher than mine, and I can't override it, so when you have the time, make amends with that pony." Shining Armor replied, Archer groaned loudly and Shining Armor left, Archer looked at her schedule and saw she was going to be deployed soon anyway, so she got ready to leave and command her first unit.
Archer was grumbling and growling as she remembered, she then growls completely,
"Archer!" Doctor Whooves said, it startles her back into reality,
"Are you here?" Doctor Whooves asked, Archer nods and then sighs,
"This is where that report of yours starts, so go on and read it if you want to." Archer said,
"This report only says what has happened, I need to know about your feelings and thinking process." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Okay, well, here goes." Archer said, and she sighs while she begins to explain what has happened while Doctor Whooves reads the report and listens.
Archer was deployed into the woods and led the unit, she had five ponies under her command, they were Xenophobe, Macho, Consigliere, Mean Streak, and Old Hag, Xenophobe was a male unicorn, he had a white coat, blue mane and tail, purple eyes, and his cutie mark was a chart with a unicorn at the top, a Pegasus in the middle, and an earth pony at the bottom, his rank was lieutenant, Macho was a male Pegasus, he had a light red coat, bright orange mane and tail, yellow eyes, and his cutie mark was a blue mars symbol with two arms that were flexing its muscles, his rank was lieutenant, Consigliere was a female Pegasus, she had a dark red coat, long pale red mane and tail, dark reddish pink eyes, and her cutie mark was a black history book, her rank was captain lieutenant, she was Archer's adviser and second-in-command, Mean Streak was a female Pegasus, she had a light gray coat, long purple mane and tail, green eyes, and her cutie mark was a wine glass, her rank was lieutenant, and Old Hag was a female Pegasus, she had a dirty white coat, white mane and tail, blue eyes, and her cutie mark was a black witch's hat, her rank was lieutenant, her skin was wrinkled since she was elderly.
Archer led them and they were in the woods, Archer was looking for a spot to set up camp, she wanted to be around a place where she could hear the woodland creatures since she grew to love animals from her past job at the animal shelter,
"Right here is good." Archer said, and they begin to set up camp,
"Really, in the middle of the woods?" Old Hag asked,
"Well, yes, the captain did say to patrol out here in the woods." Archer replied,
"This is just to test you, we're not the ones who have the pressure of how well somepony does at their job." Mean Streak said, the others nod,
"Come on, let's just set up the camp." Archer said,
"Deputy captain, I think it would be better if we go out farther into the woods." Consigliere said,
"Consigliere, please, I want to make my own decision this time, you've been a good adviser, though." Archer replied, Consigliere remained silent, and they all set up camp,
"Okay, everything's set up, Xenophobe, Macho, help me map out the area." Archer said, the two did not obey her, she gets annoyed and turns around,
"I just gave out an order." Archer said,
"From you, an earth pony?" Xenophobe asked,
"Like I'm going to be bossed around by you." Macho said, Archer glares at them,
"Come on, you two, stop being stubborn, or I'll report both of you for insubordination." Archer said,
"I am not taking orders from an earth pony." Xenophobe replied,
"I'm not going to be bossed around by a mare." Macho said, Archer growls,
"Fine, Mean Streak, Old Hag, you two help me." Archer said,
"You? A lower-class filth who had to go some days without eating? No way." Mean Streak replied,
"I'm older than you, woman, your orders mean nothing to me." Old Hag said, Archer becomes very angry and growls again,
"I'll scout the rest of the forest, deputy captain." Consigliere said,
"Thank you, Consigliere, I wish you good luck." Archer replied, and Consigliere flew away, Archer sighs and went to scout the area a bit more while Xenophobe, Macho, Mean Streak, and Old Hag stayed behind.
Archer walks around the woods and was having a peace of mind already, she hears crickets chirping and birds singing, which she loved, she maps the area out in her mind and wanted to keep exploring forever since she loved the animals so much, the crickets chirping and birds singing were making her relax, she also saw deer eating, a sight that she thought was very pretty, she smiled at seeing all of the animals walking around and running around the forest, she smiles and keeps walking around aimlessly,
"Deputy captain." Consigliere said, it startled Archer and she turns around,
"It is almost dark, we should head back." Consigliere said, Archer nodded and the two went back to camp. Archer and Consigliere arrive back at camp and they saw Xenophobia, Macho, Mean Streak, and Old Hag sitting at a campfire and having dinner,
"Excuse me, can you all gather around me for a minute, please?" Archer asked, they rolled their eyes and did,
"I know it's been a rough few days, and we're all tired, but I am willing to put myself in danger for the safeties and protection of you guys, and I wish for you all to do the same with me. We are in this together, and we must function as a team in order to make it out together, that is how ponies survived, through helping one another and friendship, we forgive one another for past actions and mistakes, through love and friendship for one another, we will finish this with no problem, and move on to better and happier positions after this, but until then, we must work together. As your leader, I have plans and ways to get through scouting these woods, but I need you all to trust me and believe in me, and I know we will be able to get through with no problem, so for now, we listen to one another, help one another, and never keep secrets from one another, you all may rest now." Archer said, and the five ponies under her command go into their tents.
Archer wakes up the next morning and yawns, she begins decorate the inside her tent, she put up pictures of herself and Shining Armor around the perimeter of the tent, she reaches into her saddlebag and takes out a wrapper, she opens it and has breakfast, she was eating strawberry pop-tarts, she also had a pack of cookies, a pack of doughnuts, lollipops from Sugarcube Corner, several Danish pastries glazed with frosting, cinnamon rolls, and a pack of honey buns, while they were not healthy, Archer felt full for the whole day whenever she had them for breakfast, she finishes the pack of pop-tarts and leaves the wrapper in her saddlebag and heads out. Archer arrives outside and saw the ponies serving under her were not awake yet,
"Huh, everypony's still asleep?" Archer asked, a tent to her left opens and Consigliere comes out,
"Good morning, deputy captain." Consigliere said,
"Good morning." Archer replied, Consigliere walks over to Archer and stands to her right,
"What are you thinking about doing today?" Consigliere asked,
"I want to keep mapping the area for the captain, so when he deploys more guards, they'll know where everything is." Archer replied, Consigliere chuckled,
"You are so determined to impress Shining Armor, is something going on between the two of you?" Consigliere asked, Archer blushes,
"What? No, I just want to show him that I'm a good and competent leader." Archer replied,
"Doesn't every deputy captain want to?" Consigliere asked, Archer smiled,
"Well, come on, let's wait for now." Archer said,
"No, let's map the place out now, it'll look good on your record, it'll show Shining Armor that you are going above and beyond your call of duty, and that you are scouting the place first to protect those under you." Consigliere replied, Archer thought about it,
"You know what, you're right, let's do it now." Archer said with a smile, and the two begin scouting the forest. Archer walks around the forest and sees the animals having a peaceful time, she felt happy watching them and saw squirrels and raccoons looking at her, she walks to them and leans down,
"Hello." Archer said, the squirrels and raccoons saw she was friendly and went to her, she pets them and they all gather around her and rub their heads on her legs, Archer smiled and the deer came to her, so did the bugs in the forest, she saw the foxes coming to her, and then the bears, then the snakes, then the moose, Archer pets all of them and soon saw the birds come down to her, she has memories of her time at the animal shelter and was enjoying spending time with the animals,
"Come here, you." Archer said as she held her front left hoof out and petted the animals, she hugged the animals that came near her, she puts them down while the animals smiled at her, the animals make various noises, Archer understood what they were saying due to her time at the animal shelter,
"Play along, now, I've got a job to do." Archer said, and she stood up and walked away while the animals left. Archer explores the forest and memorizes it the best she could so she will know where to go, she liked seeing the animals everywhere and walked around while admiring the forest, she keeps walking around slowly and decided she has been gone long enough and went back to camp. Archer arrives back and saw Consigliere was not back yet, so she enters her tent and opens a second saddlebag that had her makeup and cosmetics in it, she begins to put on dark red eye shadow, she soon saw a shadow at her tent's entrance,
"Come in." Archer said, and Xenophobe entered, he sat across from her while Archer put her makeup kit down and smiled, Xenophobe looks at her in strange way since she had eye shadow on her right eyelid, and no eye shadow on her left eyelid,
"Um..." Xenophobe said as he looked at Archer's makeup,
"Ignore it, how can I help you?" Archer asked,
"I haven't seen Consigliere around, I was wondering if you knew where she was at." Xenophobe replied,
"She went to go around and map the forest, I thought she would be back by now, too." Archer said,
"Shouldn't you be out looking for her?" Xenophobe asked,
"As I said, I thought she'd be back by now, and you know Consigliere, if she has trouble, she'll call for us." Archer replied,
"Right, I'll be looking for her if that happens." Xenophobe said,
"Good for you, Xenophobe, caring about your teammate." Archer replied with a smile,
"It's because Consigliere's a Pegasus, she is worth looking for, but not as much as unicorns." Xenophobe said, Archer stopped smiling,
"What about earth ponies?" Archer asked,
"They're not worth anything, we should leave them to die if they get lost." Xenophobe replied, Archer becomes shocked at what he said,
"Well, is there anything else concerning you, Xenophobe?" Archer asked,
"No, just wanted to make sure that Pegasus was alright, I'll leave you to your affairs." Xenophobe replied, and he exits her tent. Archer puts her makeup on and was getting ready for the day,
"What is she doing?" Macho asked from outside the tent,
"Same, she's putting on her makeup and eating those sweets." Xenophobe replied,
"Oh, you youngins and your sweets, no wonder why you all are out of shape these days." Old Hag said,
"I don't even know why a lower-class filth like her is eating such luxuries, she should eat trash like the rest of her class." Mean Streak said, Archer glared at them,
"Plus, she's an earth pony, she should be a slave to us unicorns." Xenophobe said,
"And she's a mare, she should be cooking my dinner and bearing my children, just like the rest of you mares." Macho said,
"Don't push it, Macho." Mean Streak said,
"What do you think the class of ponies should be, Xenophobe?" Old Hag asked,
"Well, since us unicorns are the ones who cast magic, we should be the rulers and the upper-class, while you Pegasi should be the ones who control the weather and our soldiers, and the earth ponies like her should be slaves and do all the physical labor." Xenophobe replied,
"I actually kind of like that." Mean Streak said, Archer saw Macho and Old Hag nodding as well, Archer finishes putting on her makeup and walks out to them,
"Okay, everypony, let's look for Consigliere since she hasn't returned yet." Archer said, and everypony except Macho went to go look for her,
"Come on, Macho, that includes you, too." Archer said,
"I'm not going anywhere." Macho replied,
"Look, I know you don't want to take orders from me because I'm a girl, but I'm still your superior." Archer said,
"That doesn't mean you're the boss of me." Macho replied, she soon sees the other three come back,
"You three didn't even look." Archer said,
"Like I'm going to let an earth pony tell me what to do." Xenophobe replied,
"A lower-class pony like you should be obeying me instead." Mean Streak said,
"If I remember correctly, you're the youngest out of all of us, so to me, you're the lowest ranking pony around here." Old Hag said, Archer growls,
"Come on, guys, our ally could be in danger." Archer said,
"Like we're going to obey you." Mean Streak replied,
"Come on, you four, Consigliere could be missing, she's a part of the team, and need to be found if she's hurt." Archer said,
"Go look for her, yourself, you're the laziest one on the team." Old Hag replied, the other three agree, Archer's anger rose even higher,
"That's it, I'm reporting you four for insubordination." Archer said,
"How? We're all in the middle of nowhere." Mean Streak replied,
"Yeah, you've got no one to report to." Macho said, Archer let out an annoyed groan, she goes into her tent and puts her armor on, her royal guard outfit was gold with purple jewels in it, and the helmet was gold with a purple outline all around it, and had purple horse hair on the back, Archer also gets her quiver and puts it on her back, she puts her bow around herself and runs out.
Archer runs around the forest and was looking for Consigliere,
"Consigliere!" Archer called out,
"I'm here, deputy captain." Consigliere said from afar, Archer looks to her left and sees her in the air,
"What are you doing?" Archer asked,
"Just looking around and double checking the place, I already scouted the entire forest." Consigliere replied,
"Oh, okay, hurry up then, the others are worried about you." Archer said,
"Okay, I will be done soon." Consigliere replied, and she flies away. Archer goes to a part in the forest with several trees, Archer begins using her bow and arrow and shoots the trees with it, she fires her arrows and hits each one of her targets perfectly, it made her smile since all of those years of practice really paid off for her, she continues firing her arrows and has a flashback. Archer was in Canterlot and set up targets, she fires her arrows at the targets while the other ponies watch her,
"Excuse me. Archer." Princess Celestia said, Archer looks to her left and saw Princess Celestia coming,
"I'm going to have to ask you to practice your shooting elsewhere, I already had a foal with a permanently damaged wing from a long-ranged weapon." Princess Celestia said, Archer became uncomfortable at hearing that and felt bad for the Pegasus,
"You can practice, Archer, but only use your bow for sport, do not use it as a weapon, or I will have to outlaw it." Princess Celestia said, and she walked away, Archer goes elsewhere in Canterlot and practices there instead, which did not bother anypony. Archer's flashback ends and she continues firing arrows at the trees, she kept firing until there were no more regular arrows in her quiver, she reaches on her back and feels a ribbon, she realizes it and stops, she tied blue ribbons around her explosive arrows, which she made by buying fireworks from Trixie and tying them onto her arrows with rope. Archer gets her arrows and puts them back in her quiver and heads back.
Archer arrives back and saw Xenophobe, Macho, Mean Streak, and Old Hag were sitting around a fire and conversing, they were laughing as well, Archer arrived at the fire,
"Well?" Xenophobe asked,
"She's fine, just still scouting the area." Archer replied,
"Have you ever checked Consigliere's background?" Mean Streak asked,
"Yes, it says that she was an average Pegasus with parents who worked at the weather factory." Archer replied,
"Did you check ours as well?" Macho asked,
"Of course I did." Archer replied,
"What are our backgrounds, then?" Xenophobe asked,
"You're from Equestrian nobility, and you joined the royal guard because it's a tradition in your family for stallions to serve in the royal guard. Macho is from the middle-class, your mother passed away when you were a baby, and you were raised by your father, and you inherited your beliefs about girls from him, you also looked up to him, and joined the royal guard to follow in his footsteps. Mean Streak is from Equestrian nobility, and grew up in a fancy house full of maids and servants, you only got in the royal guard because of your parents' wealth. Old Hag is an average pony who was the oldest sibling in her family, and you bossed them around, you joined the royal guard just for the experience." Archer replied,
"Well, miss informed, I see you've done your homework." Mean Streak said,
"I have to, or I will lose my job." Archer replied,
"Well, aren't you going to report Consigliere for insubordination?" Old Hag asked,
"No, she's doing her job, just more than what I asked for, that's a good thing." Archer replied,
"Still, I don't think scouting the woods would take this long." Xenophobe said,
"Well, it's a big place, and unexplored." Archer replied,
"That's good, come on, Xenophobe, let's go together." Macho said,
"No, Macho, we're going together." Archer replied,
"With you and a bunch of girls? No way." Macho said,
"Macho." Archer replied a little sternly, they hear flying and Consigliere came back,
"Sorry I took so long, I was busy exploring the woods piece by piece." Consigliere said,
"I see, good work, Consigliere, and thank you." Archer replied,
"Well, what do we do now, Archer?" Mean Streak asked,
"Um..." Archer said as she thought about what to do next,
"Let's remain here, it'll show the other guards that we have the courage to stay in a place filled with the unknown and danger." Consigliere said,
"Sure, that'll look good on our records." Xenophobe replied,
"Alright, I'll listen to a mare just this once." Macho said, Archer smiled,
"I'm going to go rest, I'll be in my tent if anypony needs me." Consigliere said, and she went into it,
"Well, since everything has been done for us by Consigliere, I guess all we can do is stay in our tents and rest, you all can explore this forest, but don't travel out too far." Archer said, and they go into their tents and Archer took her uniform off. Archer could not sleep in her tent and it was dark, she hears the animals whimpering and squeaking in the forest, along with growls and roars, Archer quickly sits up and gets her quiver and bow and runs outside. Archer runs to where she hears the animals and saw the adult animals attacking the baby animals, she becomes shocked and runs to them,
"What are you all doing?!" Archer asked, the adult animals turn around and Archer saw they now had dark gold eyes', much to her bafflement. The adult animals turn their attentions to her and begin running and flying to attack her, Archer exclaimed while she got pinned down by an adult bear, the bear roars in her face while Archer held its front claws back with her front hoofs, she grunts with effort and throws the bear over herself, she pants heavily since while she was physically stronger than unicorns and Pegasi, she was still weaker than the average earth pony. Archer was uncomfortable with shooting the animals with her bow and arrow, she sees the adult birds fly down to her and they begin attacking her with their talons, she exclaimed while she blocked them with her front hoofs, the baby birds distract their parents and they turn around and begin attacking their own children. Archer tries to call for the animals but they ignore her, Archer feels bad but takes her bow off of her back and fires an arrow, she hits an adult bird and it falls, she fires more arrows and hits an adult squirrel, which squeaked in pain, she hears the adult bear behind her and she fires an arrow into it, it roars in pain and all of the adult animals run and fly away.
Archer puts the bow back on her back and leans down to look at the baby animals,
"Are you all okay?" Archer asked, the animals let out various noises,
"One at a time, please." Archer said, and the animals become quiet,
"Now, what happened?" Archer asked, a squirrel squeaks and Archer listens,
"You all saw a shadow of your parents, and someone touched them." Archer said, the animals nod and the squirrel squeaks again,
"When they came back, they were already behaving that way?" Archer asked, the animals nod,
"What did the shadow look like?" Archer asked, the squirrel squeaks again,
"A pony?!" Archer asked with shock, the animals nod, Archer becomes suspicious of her unit,
"Okay, that is all, thank you." Archer said, and the animals leave. Archer walks around and looks around the woods, she gasps when she sees white objects in her sight, she runs to them and saw they were skeletons of baby animals, they looked new as well. Archer puts her head down and cries on the skeletons since the sight of dead animals saddened her, it always did, even when she worked at the animal shelter, Archer finishes grieving and went back to camp. Archer arrives back to her camp and stood outside,
"Consigliere, come out here for a minute." Archer said, Consigliere came out and walked to her,
"Yes, deputy captain." Consigliere said,
"Did you touch the animals while you scouted the area?" Archer asked,
"Yes, I greeted them kindly." Consigliere replied,
"Really, because I saw the adult animals attacking their own children just now." Archer said,
"You think they could be disciplining their young?" Consigliere asked,
"No, I know animals very well, Consigliere, and their eyes have changed color." Archer replied,
"Your point?" Consigliere asked,
"What did you do to them?" Archer asked,
"Nothing, I just petted them and greeted them, maybe the animals are under mind control from a spell Xenophobe cast." Consigliere replied,
"No, I doubt he even knows such a spell." Archer said,
"Excuse me, can you four come out for a minute?" Consigliere asked, Xenophobe, Macho, Mean Streak, and Old Hag came out,
"Do you all know why I called for you four?" Consigliere asked,
"Yes, we've been listening." Xenophobe replied,
"Well, can you cast a spell like that?" Archer asked,
"No, that is a very advanced spell, even the best unicorns have trouble with mind control spells." Xenophobe replied,
"Did he cast any spells while Archer and I were gone?" Consigliere asked, Macho, Mean Streak, and Old Hag shake their heads,
"Well, that leaves you, Consigliere, what did you do to those animals?" Archer asked,
"I told you, I did nothing, I just greeted them." Consigliere replied, Archer was very suspicious of Consigliere due to her calm and emotionless way of speaking,
"I'll be in my tent." Archer said, and she entered. Archer lays down and relaxes since trying to find out what happened was already hurting her head, she just lays down and was almost sleeping, she looks and watched the five ponies under her command, she saw Consigliere go back to her tent,
"What do you all think about Consigliere?" Xenophobe asked,
"I'm finding her to be a bit creepy, she always speaks in a monotone." Mean Streak replied,
"I do find it a bit strange, do you have any spell to bring up our background info, Xenophobe?" Old Hag asked,
"Yeah, it's a pretty simple spell, not too hard to cast." Xenophobe replied,
"Well, cast it, let's see if we can find info on Consigliere." Macho said, and Archer peeked out of her tent to look, curious as well. Xenophobe casts a spell and his magic aura was yellow, he makes a screen appear and it had information on all six of the ponies present,
"Let's see, Consigliere, here she is." Xenophobe said, and he enlarges it,
"What the?" Xenophobe asked, the other four look and see Consigliere's real name was Anthropologist, and she was an explorer along with her younger brother, Archaeologist, the two explored an ancient temple in the woods many years ago, and they stopped exploring suddenly after that trip, Archer and the other four were confused, they look and see there was no more information on her,
"That's weird, that's all it says." Mean Streak said,
"She must be a reserved pony, let's watch her tomorrow." Old Hag said, and they enter their tents and sleep. Morning comes and Archer woke up early, even though it was still kind of dark in the forest, she walks out of her tent and saw the others come out,
"Consigliere, we need to talk." Archer said,
"Yes, deputy captain." Anthropologist said,
"Why did you change your name?" Archer asked,
"I just wanted to leave my old life behind, it reminds me of that life." Anthropologist replied,
"That's it?" Mean Streak asked,
"That's it." Anthropologist replied,
"Well, come on, everypony, let's move farther into the forest, Consigliere will lead us." Archer said, the four did not move,
"Come on, guys, not now, your records will be destroyed if you all disobey me." Archer said,
"No, it won't, it's yours that will be destroyed." Old Hag replied,
"What?" Archer asked,
"She's right, it'll show that you're a failure who can't keep her own soldiers in line." Xenophobe replied, Archer becomes shocked at what he said,
"Well, stop disobeying me and follow my orders, we still have to go out of the other side of this forest and see what's there." Archer said while raising her voice a little,
"Didn't you already find it on your own?" Macho asked,
"No, I just scouted a small part of it on my own." Archer replied,
"Apparently, Consigliere can get more done than you can." Xenophobe said,
"I can't fly like how she can." Archer replied,
"But don't you have more stamina than she does?" Mean Streak asked,
"No." Archer replied,
"That's what you get for eating all of that junk food all the time, typical young people stupidity." Old Hag said,
"Hey!" Archer said while raising her voice, Xenophobe, Macho, Mean Streak, and Old Hag laugh a little,
"Still, how is some poor pony like you able to afford that stuff?" Mean Streak asked,
"They're very cheap." Archer replied,
"Which explains why you're out of shape." Mean Streak said, Xenophobe, Macho, and Old Hag snicker,
"Enough, now come on, we've got a place to go to." Archer said,
"Considering where you had us camp for here, I don't think so." Xenophobe replied,
"Just like what my dad said when I was a foal, never have girls like her make decisions because they can't think straight." Macho said,
"HEY!!" Archer yelled while raising her voice on impulse,
"Is that your voice cracking I hear? Look out, everypony, we're being told what to do by a shrew." Macho said,
"MACHO!!" Archer yelled angrily while Xenophobe, Mean Streak, and Old Hag laugh, Macho smirked at her,
"Plus, you can't cast magic or fly like the rest of us, you should be at the bottom of the hierarchy, so do what you earth ponies were born to do, be slaves, and carry us five with you." Xenophobe said,
"We don't have a wagon!" Archer replied while raising her voice,
"Of course you wouldn't, there's no road between your tent and the kitchen." Macho said, Archer growls while Mean Streak and Old Hag laugh a little,
"My, my, Archer look at that, you're a young, child-breeding, kitchen cooking, lower-class slave, I wonder what else we can add." Mean Streak said, Archer let out of lot of growls and angry grunts,
Archer was in the chair and growling and grunting angrily as she remembered the memory, the ponies outside hear her and were worried,
"Archer." Doctor Whooves said, Archer stops remembering and looks forward,
"Calm down, I know you're mad, but you don't need to raise your voice, take a few deep breaths, and then continue." Doctor Whooves said, Archer takes several slow deep breaths and pants slowly after a few minutes,
"Do you feel better?" Doctor Whooves asked, Archer nods,
"Well, let's continue." Doctor Whooves said, and he continues to listen to Archer.
Archer growled and began twitching her face around since she was very angry,
"Deputy captain." Anthropologist said, Archer turned around,
"Go for a walk and cool off, I'll have a talk with them." Anthropologist said,
"Okay, thank you, Consigliere, as usual." Archer replied, and she got her bow and arrow and went for a walk. Archer walks around the woods and was still angry, the baby animals look at her with worry,
"I'm fine, I just need time to calm down." Archer said, and the animals stop being worried, she continues to walk around and sees more skeletons up ahead, Archer exclaims and runs to them, she saw they were more baby animals and recent, Archer grieves over them and continues to walk through the forest. Archer keeps walking and calms down after several minutes, she sighs and gets on her knees,
"Can you all gather around me for a minute? Please?" Archer asked, and the animals did,
"What happened to your parents?" Archer asked, a fox lets out a few barks and Archer understands it,
"So, let me get this straight, when the pony touched your parents, some small pink bug was on them, it went into their noses, and then they started acting the way they act." Archer said, the animals nod,
"How small was this pink bug?" Archer asked, a raccoon squeaks,
"Smaller than a flea?" Archer asked, the animals nod,
"That means they can't feel it, that bug must be some kind of parasite, it entered their noses to get to their brains and control them." Archer said, the animals look at her with shock, Archer was wondering about Anthropologist as she spoke to the animals,
"I'll be going back now, I'll have a look around." Archer said, and she leaves. Archer walks back to camp and saw an adult hawk carrying a baby snake, Archer looks and sees the hawk had dark gold eyes, she takes her bow off and fires an arrow at the hawk, it screeches when it got hit in the head and falls, Archer runs and then jumps, she falls on the ground but catches the snake, she looks and sees a small pink parasitic-like bug crawl out of the hawk's nose, it looked like a six-legged spider, Archer quickly takes her arrow back and stabs the bug with it and kills it, she thinks about Anthropologist and wondered about her,
"Quick, go hide." Archer whispered, and the snake slithered away while Archer headed back to camp. Archer runs back to camp and saw the other five were in their tents, she hears eating in Anthropologist's tent and looks, she gasps when she sees the shadows, Anthropologist was eating an animal. Archer quickly takes an arrow out of her quiver and aims her bow, she fires it through the tent and hits Anthropologist in the head, but it did not seem to do anything, much to Archer's shock, since she can see Anthropologist was not wearing a helmet, she puts the animal down and walks to the entrance of her tent. The tent's zipper opens and Anthropologist walks out with the arrow in the center of her forehead and red stains around her mouth, Archer backs away in fear,
"I wish you hadn't done that." Anthropologist said,
"What are you doing?" Archer asked,
"Surviving, I need some source of food." Anthropologist replied,
"But you're eating animals." Archer said,
"I need to eat meat to survive." Anthropologist replied, much to Archer's disgust,
"Why animals?" Archer asked,
"Because there's plenty of them, and it's not my fault I have to eat here, it's Fluttershy's." Anthropologist replied,
"How?" Archer asked,
"Because of her, ponies are more aware of animals, and there's no more roadkill, that was my primary source of food, but now that's gone, I have to search the wilderness." Anthropologist said, much to Archer's shock,
"But why baby animals?" Archer asked,
"They're easier prey." Anthropologist replied,
"What about those adult animals?" Archer asked,
"I'll eat them after the baby animals are gone, I'll need them for the time being." Anthropologist replied, Archer's eyes and mouth were still wide open,
"Well, since you have discovered what I am, I have no choice but to silence you." Anthropologist said, and she flies towards Archer. Anthropologist tries to tackle Archer but she gets on her stomach and goes under her, she rolls over while her quiver spilled, she gets an explosive arrow and fires it at Anthropologist, it hits her and explodes on impact. Xenophobe, Macho, Mean Streak, and Old Hag wake up and come out of their tents, they look and see Anthropologist land while on fire, it disappears and the five were shocked to Anthropologist's true form, she had pink skin, her eyes remained the same, her mane was gone, her ears were pointed at the top, her snout becomes two small holes, and her teeth become yellow, razor sharp, fanged teeth. Four pink tentacles come out of the area of Anthropologist's head that Archer hit with the arrow, three more pink tentacles came out of her mouth and act as her tongue, the tentacles roar and Archer saw yellow, razor sharp, fanged teeth inside the tentacles, Anthropologist's entire body was pink, she had yellow, razor sharp, fanged teeth going down the center of her chest and abdomen, her muscles were bigger, she had three yellow claws on each hoof, her wings also grew bigger, the wings now had black arms and the digits at the bottom that were also black, the patagium on the wings were pink, and Anthropologist's tail was pink with a sharp yellow tip.
Archer and the others back away from Anthropologist at seeing her true form,
"I wish you hadn't done that." Anthropologist said, her voice was distorted and made the other five ponies uncomfortable, her stomach grumbles and she flies away. Archer was in disbelief and in denial,
"No, this isn't true, my best friend isn't a monster." Archer said with sorrow, the other four look at her and smile at seeing her upset,
"Come on, you four, let's stop her before she kills all of the animals." Archer said,
"No way." Xenophobe replied,
"WHAT?!" Archer yelled,
"Those annoying animals have been keeping us at night with their noises, she'll be doing us all a favor." Macho said, the others nod, Archer was shocked,
"If anything we should be helping her." Mean Streak said,
"Yes, hunting animals, just like the old days." Old Hag replied,
"Princess Celestia will be very upset if you all do that." Archer said,
"Who cares what she says, Celestia's words mean nothing to me." Macho replied,
"Shining Armor will be mad with you as well." Archer said,
"I'm not listening to him, he's younger than me." Old Hag replied,
"You still have to respect the chain of command, Old Hag." Archer said,
"Respecting your elders is more important." Old Hag replied, Archer groaned with anger,
"I say we leave, we're not staying with that thing here." Mean Streak said,
"I'm the commander! I'll decide what to do!" Archer replied,
"We'd rather take orders from that creature than from you." Xenophobe said, Archer becomes shocked while the others stood there in agreement. Animals are heard roaring and running, they see them coming,
"Run!" Mean Streak said, and she, Old Hag, and Xenophobe run away,
"I'm not taking orders from a mare." Macho said,
"Let's go, Macho." Xenophobe said,
"Okay." Macho said, and he goes. Archer runs after the four ponies while Macho, Mean Streak and Old Hag flew away, and Xenophobe used telekinesis on himself, Archer runs to escape with them but Xenophobe uses telekinesis to send her back into the forest,
"Hey!" Archer said, and she was put back in the forest while Xenophobe used his telekinesis to make the trees fall and block the exit, Xenophobe, Macho, Mean Streak, and Old Hag laugh as they leave,
"NO!!" Archer yelled, she began to tear up and went into her tent, she sits and cries with her front hoofs over her face,
"Why? Why must I fail at everything I try to do?" Archer asked while crying,
Archer was crying at Doctor Whooves' desk and he watches her,
"Archer." Doctor Whooves said to snap her out of it, she just barely came back to the present,
"What happened next?" Doctor Whooves asked, Archer begins to remember and cried again and began hyperventilating, Doctor Whooves realized the next part has traumatized her, so he decides to read the report.
Archer continues to cry in despair over being trapped and the things in her life going wrong ever since she was a child, and she now had no way of leaving the forest, she continues to cry until she heard the baby animals let out cries of fear. Archer stops crying and looks to her right, she continues to hear the baby animals, she becomes scared of Anthropologist,
"Remember, Archer, they're more scared of her than you are, they can't fight back, you have to do it." Archer said to herself, and she puts on her armor, quiver, and bow, she stands up and runs out of her tent. Archer arrives outside and hears the animals to her right, she runs there and was a bit slow, she pants as she runs, Archer pushes herself and saw the adult animals trying to get the baby animals for Anthropologist to eat. Archer continues to run and takes her bow off of her back and holds it in her front right hoof, she holds an arrow in her front left hoof and fires it, the adult animals she hit all let out roars and angry grunts, they turn around and face her, which made Archer stop in fear. The adult bears and moose begin running after her and Archer becomes scared, she runs to the nearest tree and begins to climb, she pants and sweats as she struggled to climb up, but she made it.
Archer pants and looks down while scared, the adult bears reel up on their hind legs and grab the tree, they begin to shake it and Archer exclaimed as she was rocked back and forth, her arrows fall out of her quiver,
"No." Archer said as she saw them fall, birds soon fly to her and begin attacking her with their talons and beaks, she screams as they scratch and peck her, Archer falls off the tree branch and screams. Archer falls onto the ground and screams in pain when she hits the ground, the adult animals run and fly to her to attack her. Archer hears various animal noises and sees the baby animals running and flying to her, they begin attacking the adult animals to distract them, the birds work together to pick her up, Archer saw them pick up her arrows as well, they carry her away and the baby animals go with them, they run away and squeaks were heard, Archer looks and sees rats and mice calling for them, the birds put Archer down and the animals surround her.
The animals rub their heads on Archer while she laid on the ground, she breathed a little hard and was catching her breath, she lays down a bit and then begins to stand up slowly, she groans since she was still in a little pain, she stands up and sees her arrows, she puts them in her quiver,
"Thank you, all of you." Archer said, the animals smiled,
"You all should go hide, I'll deal with that pony, and I'll try to see if destroying her will free your parents. Go on now." Archer said, and the baby animals leave to hide from their mind controlled parents, Archer watched them leave and she went to go look for Anthropologist. Archer walks forward and was looking around, it was quiet, the ground below her gives away and Archer jumps back, the grass falls and Archer saw a hole filled with sharpened sticks in it, Archer sighs with relief and keeps walking forward, she feels ropes wrap around her hind legs and she exclaims with shock when she was pulled up. Archer was hanging upside-down while in the air, her helmet fell off, her arrows fell out of her quiver, she tries to bend down and reach for the rope tied around her hind hoofs,
"Come on." Archer said while grunting, she continues to grunt but could not reach the rope, so she decides try to pull her hind hoofs apart to break the rope, she could not, so she takes her bow off of her back and puts it between the space between her hind right hoof and the rope, she manages to break the rope apart and she falls. Archer hits the ground and falls again, she stands up and puts the arrows back in her quiver, she looks around more and sees adult birds flying around, she stands with her back to the tree while breathing a little loudly in fear, they fly by and Archer looks for Anthropologist. Archer puts her helmet back on and walks around the forest while scared, she could not see Anthropologist anywhere, so she tries to climb a nearby tree to look around but slides down, she tries to jump onto the tree branch like how Gunslinger does but she only got a few inches off of the ground, she let out an annoyed groan and was trying to think of something, she decides to keep walking and trips a cord that Anthropologist had in her tent, a bent stick flies forward and Archer screams as she jumps back from the stick swinging forward, it had sharpened sticks on it. Archer hears running and realized the mind controlled animals were coming to her, she gets scared and runs as fast as she could, she runs and hears flying to her left, she looks and sees Anthropologist coming to her, she flies to her and the mouth on her chest and abdomen opens, Archer ducks her head and the mouth grabs her helmet and takes it off, she looks and sees the mouth close and it destroys her helmet completely, scaring her, Anthropologist turns around and flies to Archer again, she tries to grab Archer with her claws, but Archer gets on her stomach and she misses, Archer quickly gets back up and fires an arrow at her, Anthropologist is hit in the back of her head, tentacles come out and they grab the arrow and pull it out, the tentacles drop the arrow while they went back into Anthropologist's head and the wound heals, much to Archer's shock.
Archer hears running and saw the adult animals have found her, she gets scared and runs on impulse while getting her arrow back and putting it back in her quiver, she keeps running and slides down a cliff, she exclaims as she swings her front legs around to stop herself, she did not, and she arrived at the bottom of the cliff. Archer tries to climb back up but could not, she sees the adult animals look at her and they leave, she sighs in relief but soon hears flying, she sees the mind controlled birds come after her, Archer got scared again and looked for a place to hide, she sees the shadows of trees nearby and she goes under them, she sees the birds fly around and look for her, they do not see her, so they fly down lower and look again, Archer hid under a tree while scared, she moves around slowly and hides in the shadows to avoid being detected by the birds, they stop after a while and fly away, Archer sighs in relief and goes on to look for Anthropologist.
Archer walks around and watches her surroundings for anymore traps, she looks around while scared and sees a patch of grass covering the ground, she realized it was a trap and walks around it, she looks and sees more baby animals hiding and watching her, she looks around and looks for Anthropologist and sees her nowhere, she keeps walking and comes out of the shadows, she saw the sun was setting, and it was darker, she decides to walk forward while looking around. Archer walks forward but comes to a steep ledge, she looks and sees Anthropologist in her sights, she was walking slowly towards a baby fox unaware of her presence, Archer quickly takes an explosive arrow out of her quiver and aims it, she fires the arrow and Anthropologist hears the arrow, she looks to her right and the arrow hits the log she was on, the arrow explodes and destroys the log while the baby fox escapes, Anthropologist flies after the baby fox and Archer chases her.
Anthropologist flies down and grabs the baby fox with her hind claws, the fox cries for help while Archer chases her, the baby animals hear the fox and they look, they saw Anthropologist flying away with it and Archer chasing her, Archer keeps running and was panting since she was nearly out of stamina from earlier, she sees baby birds fly after Anthropologist and attack her, she pushes herself to keep going but triggers a trap, a bent stick swings forward and hits Archer in her left chest, she screams and falls from the pain, several other birds arrive and hold her up and carry her, Archer pants and recovers, she sees Anthropologist in her sight, she takes out another explosive arrow and aims it at Anthropologist, even though her aim was shaky, she had a decent shot, she fires it and Anthropologist snarls in pain when the arrow explodes on her, she drops the baby fox and the baby birds fly down to catch it. All of the birds put Archer down and check her,
"I'm fine now, thank you, you all should go hide." Archer said, the baby animals all let out noises of protest,
"I'll deal with her on my own, I lost all hope already, so please, let me destroy her and save you all, it's the least I can do." Archer said, the animals leave and go hide while Archer walked farther into the woods to hunt down Anthropologist.
Archer walks through the woods and stops when she sees more skeletons of baby animals on the ground, Archer grieved over them and continued heading into the woods, she stops with shock when she saw the adult animals patrolling the area up ahead, she looks and saw Anthropologist was flying around as well, she realized Anthropologist was having the animals patrol the area and were looking for her, she was scared at the moment, but she thought about the baby animals and decided to go forward. Archer puts the bow on her back and gets onto her stomach, she begins to crawl forward and saw traps up ahead as well, she crawls around a patch of grass in front of her, she keeps going and sees rope tied in front of her, she looks and sees the rope was connected to a bent stick, she saw she could not crawl under it, she stands up and quietly walks over it, she gets back down onto her abdomen and crawls forward. Archer keeps crawling while looking around herself, she soon sees Anthropologist land to rest from flying, Archer gets the bow off of her back and holds it in her front left hoof and an explosive arrow out of her quiver with her front right hoof, she quickly stands up and fires the arrow, she hits Anthropologist and she snarls when the arrow exploded, the adult animals run and fly to where the arrow came from and Archer quickly runs away.
Archer tries to run but could not, her legs hurt as well, so she turned around and fired arrows at the animals, but it did nothing to them, Archer got scared and ran again, she runs and was over a patch of grass, it falls and Archer screams. Archer grabs onto an edge of the pit with her front hoofs, she looks down and saw sharpened sticks under her, she pants with fear when she saw the adult animals circling around her from above, she saw they were waiting for her to climb up so they can attack her, Archer becomes scared and sweats profusely, she looks and saw Anthropologist was waiting for her as well, she was smiling at her. Archer was hanging onto the ledge while scared since she saw the sharpened sticks below her waiting to stab her, and Anthropologist and the mind controlled animals above her waiting to eat her, Archer did not know what to do. Archer feels herself losing her grip on the edge she was grabbing, she soon loses her grip completely and begins to fall, she screams as she fell to the sticks. Archer begins to fall to the sticks, she lands and the sticks stab her, she screams in pain from what she felt, she was stabbed in her lower legs', but the sticks were not completely sharp, so it did not stab through her completely, she moves her legs around and breaks the sticks off, and stepped away from the other sticks carefully, she looks up and sees the animals and Anthropologist were still waiting for her. Archer gets an idea and sits on the ground in despair,
"It's hopeless, just eat me now." Archer said as she covered her face with her front hoofs, Anthropologist flies down and grabs Archer by her shoulders with her front legs, and she flies away. Archer looks at Anthropologist's body and sees small holes on her hoofs, she realized that was where the mind controlling parasites came from, she sees Anthropologist carry her to an isolated area far in the woods, she lifts Archer up and was about to eat her with the mouth on her abdomen and chest, but Archer struggles and eventually bucks Anthropologist in her abdomen, she snarls and drops Archer, she lands on a tree branch and climbs onto it. Archer sees Anthropologist flying down to her and opens her mouth, the three tentacles come out and were ready to eat her, Archer aims her bow and fires an explosive arrow, it enters Anthropologist's mouth and explodes, she snarls as she falls, Archer tries to climb down but her hoofs slide on the tree bark, which really hurt.
Archer lands on the ground and walks to Anthropologist while panting, she sees she was too injured to move at the time and was sitting on the ground,
"I have underestimated you." Anthropologist said,
"Why? You were my best friend." Archer replied,
"Friend? You were never my friend, you're a weakling, and an idiot." Anthropologist said, Archer was struck hard by her words,
"I am still willing to forgive you and put all of this behind us." Archer said,
"Oh, I am ready to put all of this behind me, alright." Anthropologist said, and Archer sees the adult animals come to her with some of them growling and snarling while Anthropologist smirked, Archer gets scared and quickly fires an explosive arrow at Anthropologist, it hits her in her clavicle and explodes, Archer is shot back and grunts while she falls onto the ground, she sits up and looks. Anthropologist falls over and she disintegrates completely, leaving no trace of herself behind,
"Wait! No! NO!!" Archer said as she saw the mind controlled animals disintegrate as well, Archer sobs loudly when they were gone, the animals hear her and go to her, she looks and sees them,
"I couldn't free them, killing the one controlling them killed them as well." Archer said tearfully, the baby animals let out noises of grief while Archer cried, she stops a while after the animals stopped and saw she was lost, so she just sits in defeat and despair. Archer sits while the animals left and she soon hears running to her right,
"Archer? Archer?" Shining Armor called out, Archer becomes surprised and stands up,
"Archer! Where are you?" Shining Armor asked loudly, she hears zaps and saw a pink light, she sees he was destroying the traps, he keeps running he was soon in her sight,
"Archer!" Shining Armor said while he ran to her, she was surprised to see he has come out so far to look for her. Shining Armor runs to her and hugs her while Archer had tears roll down her face,
"Oh, thank goodness, I was worried you were dead." Shining Armor said, and he lets go of her,
"How did you find me?" Archer asked,
"I was worried when your unit except for you and Consigliere came back, so I decided to go look for you myself when those four said you and her got attacked by a wild animal, and they ran away to escape being eaten, a few birds also flew to Fluttershy and told her what happened, and she told me, that is why I came." Shining Armor replied,
"Wait, the baby animals." Archer said,
"I know, they told us about Consigliere and what she really was, we know what happened, help will be arriving for them soon." Shining Armor replied, Archer hears flapping and saw Fluttershy arrive with bags of food, she lands nearby,
"I'm here, everycreature, I came as fast as I could." Fluttershy said, and she saw the baby animals going to her and eat while sad, some of them cried as well,
"Oh, I am so sorry about what happened to your parents, that big mean creature sounded scary, too, I'll be taking you all to my home shortly after you all are fed." Fluttershy said, Archer becomes surprised and relieved,
"Let's go home." Shining Armor said, and he leads Archer back to civilization. Archer was taken to a hospital in the Crystal Empire and she was bandaged up at her legs' and still in tears over what happened, she remained there for a few days. Archer was walking around the Crystal Empire and Shining Armor ran to her, she sees him to his left and smiles,
"Archer, your letter of inheritance came while you were practicing leading a unit." Shining Armor said, and Archer takes the envelope. Archer smiles while reading but soon stops smiling, she read Shooter's and Quiver's will, she reads that they were in debt when they were still alive, and while Gunslinger will inherit all of their money and use it however he wishes, Archer will inherit their debt, and she has to pay them off, which was two hundred thousand bits. Archer puts her head on the ground and begins bawling, Shining Armor becomes worried and takes the letter with his telekinesis, he reads it and becomes very shocked, he runs away for a minute. Archer continues to cry, ignoring the running coming to her from her left,
"Archer." Shining Armor said, Archer looks and saw him coming with a lot of bits, Princess Cadence was running behind Shining Armor,
"Here, go ahead and take my money, just go to the debt collector in this empire and pay him, you've been through enough." Shining Armor said, Archer calms down and takes the bits to the debt collector to pay while Shining Armor and Princess Cadence watch with sorrow. A few hours pass after Archer paid off the debts and she was standing outside behind Shining Armor, who was reprimanding Xenophobe, Macho, Mean Streak, and Old Hag, she looks down with sorrow while Princess Cadence stood to her right and had her front left hoof on Archer's right shoulder,
"You four should be ashamed of yourselves! I have never seen such disobedient guards join our ranks, all four of you disobeyed your superior because of what kind of pony she is, her gender, her background, and her age, you four also abandoned her when she was in danger, and trapped her there so she could not escape! You four have made fun of her and hurt her feelings, so all four of you, hand over your uniforms and rank insignia, all four of you are dismissed and fired!" Shining Armor said angrily, they give him their uniforms and rank insignias and walk away with no regrets. Shining Armor walks over to Archer,
"Go ahead and take a few weeks off, Archer, I think you deserve a vacation, Cadence and I already have a house for you." Shining Armor said,
"Thank you, captain." Archer replied in a soft and sad tone,
"This way, Archer." Princess Cadence said,
"Wait, can you do a background check on Anthropologist really quickly, captain?" Archer asked,
"Of course, hold on a minute." Shining Armor replied, and he casts a spell, he finishes a minute later,
"She and Archaeologist were once friendly ponies who liked exploring, but when exploring an ancient temple in the woods, Archaeologist rushed them into a room and they were heard screaming, they came out and were like completely different ponies, the native ponies said they had entered the room where two deadly parasites were in, it entered through their noses, went into their brains, and took control of them, they were heard trying to fight back as well." Shining Armor said, Archer began to feel bad,
"Well, that's all, go on and take a break, Archer." Shining Armor said, and Princess Cadence leads Archer to her new home.
Archer was sitting across from Doctor Whooves with tears in her eyes and he finishes reading the report,
"When did this happen, Archer?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Just after Princess Twilight and her friends came back from that town controlled by Starlight Glimmer." Archer replied,
"Ah, so around the same time the male one was met." Doctor Whooves said,
"WHAT?! There's two of them?!" Archer asked with horror,
"Archer, relax, the male one has already been destroyed, too." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Really? What happened to him?" Archer asked,
"Gunslinger got him." Doctor Whooves replied, Archer becomes very surprised,
"Big brother?" Archer asked, Doctor Whooves nods, Archer was still surprised,
"Say, um, what about that pony you tried to buy a snow globe from?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"I'm not apologizing to him." Archer replied,
"Okay, well, go ahead and wipe your tears away, Archer, you're safe now, come here." Doctor Whooves said, and he hugs her to comfort her since he can see she was still upset, she hugged him back and still had tears roll down her eyes, the two let go of one another,
"Price is ten bits." Doctor Whooves said, and Archer pays him and leaves while Doctor Whooves gets ready to send his report to Shining Armor. Archer walks to Fluttershy's cottage and the baby animals she met in the forest run and fly to her,
"Hey, good to see you all again." Archer said as she petted them, Fluttershy walks to her,
"They talk about you all day, I'm surprised you actually understand them." Fluttershy said,
"I worked at an animal shelter when I was a kid, I grew up with animals." Archer replied,
"Really? That's wonderful, I'm glad to see I'm not the only pony who cares about animals." Fluttershy said,
"Well, I'm just here to make sure they're okay, I'll be leaving soon." Archer replied,
"They've been fine, I've been taking good care of them." Fluttershy said,
"Thank you, I might stop by to check on them again another day." Archer replied,
"Please do, they really miss you." Fluttershy said,
"Okay, well, I have to get home, bye now." Archer replied,
"Goodbye." Fluttershy said, and Archer went back to her home.
Archer sits at home and saw the royal guard ball was tonight, and she decides to attend it, so she gets ready for it, she puts on a simple bright pink sleeveless dress that went down to her hoofs, she also wore bright pink high heel shoes that glittered on all four of her hoofs, she did not style her mane and tail because she liked having them down, she heads to the castle.
It was night time and the ball began, Shining Armor wore his red uniform and danced with another mare, who seemed to be a close friend, Archer watches and Shining Armor sees her, he finishes dancing with the mare and looks at Archer, who had a longing face, Shining Armor smiles and takes her front hoofs and they start dancing together. Archer waltz dances with Shining Armor and she felt elated, she dances with him and smiles, she sees the ponies were all switching their dance partners and realized it was a friendship dance, she smiles and dances with Shining Armor for the time,
"I got your file from Doctor Whooves already, Archer, I'm sorry about how hard you had it growing up as a foal, but tell me, why do you have feelings for me?" Shining Armor asked,
"Because you are the first stallion besides my brother who has actually been nice and caring towards me." Archer replied,
"Ah, that's why, I'm sorry, Archer, but romance is not that simple, and I met Cadence long before I met you." Shining Armor said,
"Am I still allowed to be close to you?" Archer asked,
"Of course, just as long as you don't act weird, my daughter seems to like you as well." Shining Armor replied, Archer smiled,
"Well, let's dance a bit more." Shining Armor said, and the two do, they danced until Princess Cadence arrived, she was wearing a short-sleeve purple gown,
"Sorry, Archer, but my wife's here, we have to stop dancing." Shining Armor said,
"No, it's fine, Shining Armor, I'll take over." Princess Cadence replied,
"What?" Archer asked,
"Come on, Archer, let's dance, as friends." Princess Cadence said, Archer was hesitant but danced with Princess Cadence and they enjoyed it, they hugged each other at the end and Shining Armor and Princess Cadence danced together while Archer felt happy and began drinking fruit punch until the ball ended.
The next day comes and Archer was in her home and eating honey buns, she was paid bits during her time off and she would spend it on more sweets and cosmetics, she also kept her home extremely clean, she finishes her morning routine and went outside, she boards the train and goes back to Ponyville. Archer arrives back in Ponyville and runs to Doctor Whooves,
"Excuse me, doctor." Archer said, Doctor Whooves turns around and sees Archer,
"Ah, back already, do you need something?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes, where is my brother?" Archer asked,
"Follow me, I'll take you to him." Doctor Whooves replied, and they board the train again and it goes north. Doctor Whooves and Archer get off the train and leads Archer to the town where Gunslinger works, she sees him outside with foals at his orphanage, she smiles while Doctor Whooves boarded the train to go back home. Archer runs to Gunslinger while he was with the foals,
"Big brother." Archer said, Gunslinger turns around and sees her coming, she arrives to him,
"I've been wondering what you've been doing, you haven't contacted in years." Archer said,
"Busy." Gunslinger replied,
"Doing what?" Archer asked,
"Selling candy and running an orphanage." Gunslinger replied,
"Who is this, Gunslinger?" a green filly asked,
"Archer, my sister." Gunslinger replied,
"What do you do?" a blue colt asked,
"I serve in the royal guard." Archer replied, the foals become excited,
"What happened to you, Gunslinger, I thought you were going to college." Archer said,
"I chose not to be what our parents wanted me to be." Gunslinger replied,
"What? How come?" Archer asked,
"I hated mom and dad, too." Gunslinger replied, Archer becomes surprised,
"Well, what happened to these foals' parents?" Archer asked,
"Dead." Gunslinger replied,
"What happened?" Archer asked,
"Archaeologist got them." a yellow colt said,
"Wait, that reminds me, I met his sister when I was in the royal guard, her name was Anthropologist." Archer said, scaring the foals,
"Was she a pink creature with yellow claws, too?" an orange filly asked,
"Yes." Archer replied, the foals begin to exclaim with fear,
"It's okay, I destroyed her." Archer said, the foals become relieved,
"Hold on." Gunslinger said, and he goes into the orphanage and gets the picture of Archaeologist and a female Pegasus, he shows it to Archer and the foals,
"Yeah, that's her." Archer said, and Gunslinger puts the photo away,
"I heard you destroyed the male one." Archer said,
"Yes." Gunslinger replied,
"It's okay, Gunslinger, I got the other one." Archer said, the foals smile excitedly,
"What was Archaeologist doing?" Archer asked,
"Killing and eating children." Gunslinger replied, Archer becomes horrified,
"Was Anthropologist eating children, too?" a purple filly asked,
"No, she killed and ate baby animals." Archer replied, the foals become horrified,
"It's okay, kids, they're both gone." Archer said, and they feel happier again,
"Well, I have to go back to work tomorrow, so hold on." Archer said, and she reaches into her saddlebag and takes sweets out,
"Here you kids go." Archer said, and the foals take them and thank her, which made her smile,
"I have to go home now, I'll try to come here if I have the time." Archer said, and she leaves while the foals say bye to her, she saw the train was far away, so she decides to walk back to the Crystal Empire.
Archer was in her home and putting her royal guard uniform on, she got a new helmet since Anthropologist destroyed her original one, she puts her uniform on and heads out while smiling to resume her job as a royal guard, positive that her life will finally get better.
Doctor Whooves was walking around Equestria and it was peaceful, Queen Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow have been defeated, and everycreature was living in peace with them gone. Doctor Whooves walks around and was comfortable, he looks and sees Rainbow Dash do the Sonic Rainboom and it filled the sky, Doctor Whooves smiled and he went back to his office, he entered and waited for his patient.
Doctor Whooves hears stumbling outside and his home and saw a male earth pony enter, he was panting and his mouth was dry, he sweated profusely as well, he had a light gray coat, a black shoulder-length mane and a short tail, gray eyes, and his cutie mark was a gray block of stone, his hoofs looked worn out, and he had whip lashes on his back. The stallion sits and pants,
"Are you alright?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, where were you guys when me and the others needed you?" the stallion asked,
"Others?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes, me and several other earth ponies were enslaved by a unicorn and forced to build him a tower of stone with our flesh and bone." the stallion replied,
"Alright, calm down, first of all, state your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Stone Cutter, former sculptor." the stallion replied,
"Alright, so, what happened?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Nopony knows? Me and many more earth ponies were slaves for who knows how long. Were we really unnoticed?" Stone Cutter asked,
"Relax, start from the beginning." Doctor Whooves replied, and Stone Cutter does.
Stone Cutter lived in a small town just south of Appleloosa, there was a pony named Stargazer living in the town, he had a black coat, his mane and tail were dark blue with yellow streaks in it, and his eyes were purple, his cutie mark was a white star, he was treated like royalty because he was the only unicorn in the town, everypony else was an earth pony, he watches the sky and sees Rainbow Dash fly by while doing the Sonic Rainboom, he was enamored by the sight of it, and got an idea, he decided that he wanted to try to fly like Rainbow Dash.
A few years pass and Stone Cutter got huge demand to make thousands of blocks of stone by Stargazer, which confused him, but he did it, he made the blocks after a few years and Stargazer called for everypony in the town,
"Alright, everypony, I'm going to need your help, I need you all to move the blocks since I'm too weak to do it on my own, I need you all to carry it for me, now let's go." Stargazer said, and he uses his magic, his magic aura was light blue, he puts chains on every earth pony in the town with Stone Cutter in the front,
"There, now move, all of you, there's too many things in the way here for me to try to fly around here, so we need to go to an area of open space, now let's go." Stargazer said, and everypony began moving the stone blocks with chains, Stargazer used his magic to float above them and held whips with him, Stone Cutter looks up and sees a hot air balloon, he saw Twilight Sparkle and Spike going to Ponyville for the first time, he is hit by a whip and he was startled and he begins walking forward.
Stone Cutter leads the earth ponies while Stargazer floated above them with his magic and whipped them while he was eager to achieve his dream, the ponies go south and they enter the Bone Dry Desert, they all keep walking through the Bone Dry Desert and it was blazing hot with heavy winds, the earth ponies and were thirsty, the colts and fillies collapse from exhaustion and die, shocking the adult ponies, but Stargazer whipped them more,
"Keep going, there will be time to mourn them later." Stargazer said, and they all keep going while the sun was blocked out by Stargazer's shadow. Stone Cutter and the other earth ponies walk through the heat and rain of the desert while Stargazer whipped them and they carried the stone blocks with chains, a lot of ponies die from exposure while Stargazer just told them to keep going, it poured heavy rain from time to time as well as they walked through the desert, Stone Cutter and the others only kept going because they believed in Stargazer's dream to fly.
Stone Cutter and the earth ponies keep going and they come to a spot where nothing was in sight,
"Okay, this looks like a good spot, put the stone blocks here." Stargazer said, and the earth ponies begins building the tower, Stargazer floated in the air and whipped the earth ponies into building, several ponies died in the process, but they built the tower of stone, Stargazer watched with excitement as his tower got built,
"No, it's not big enough, we need more stone blocks." Stargazer said, and he and the earth ponies walk back to town and Stone Cutter got more stone blocks made, he saw Tirek was ravaging Equestria,
"Ignore it, we got a job to do." Stargazer said, and Stone Cutter made more blocks of stone and the earth ponies moved them with chains. Stone Cutter and the remaining earth ponies continue to build the tower of stone while their skin got worn down to their bones, they walk through the heat and rain while whipped and chained, they keep working for sometime and Stone Cutter saw dark clouds in Equestria, he looks and saw the Storm King invading Equestria, he keeps working and they all soon hear panting in the desert. Stone Cutter and the others look and see Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Spike walking through the desert, they call out to them but they do not hear them and go past them to Klugetown,
"No! Wait!" Stone Cutter said, they were whipped again by Stargazer,
"Come on, guys, we're getting there." Stargazer said, and they keep building while sad, Stone Cutter began to feel his back aching as he worked, he panted as he and the others stack the blocks of stone on top of one another, they keep working for who knows how long and he saw Applejack going through the desert to Mount Aris,
"Hey." Stone Cutter said, but Applejack did not hear him and went to Mount Aris, she leaves and Stone Cutter soon saw General Seaspray and Silverstream fly to Equestria, Stone Cutter tried to call out to them but he had no breath, and his throat was dry, they keep working and the tower of stone was finally finished after a long time,
"Yes, it's done." Stargazer said, and he runs inside of the tower and stood at the top of it, it was very high, it reached to the highest star in the sky, Stone Cutter was ready to watch Stargazer fly, feeling that his efforts were actually worth it.
Stargazer puts on a harness with silver metal wings on his front legs, he flaps them and was ready to fly, it was dark and there was a sandstorm going on,
"Here I go." Stargazer said as he jumped off of the top of the tower and tried to fly, he flaps his front legs and thought he was flying, even though the sandstorm obscured his view, he goes through the air but soon sees the ground, his eyes and mouth open widely just before he hits the sand. Stone Cutter looked in disbelief and saw red stains in the sand, he felt crushed since he believed that Stargazer would fly,
"Why? Why? We all believed in him." Stone Cutter said, he looks forward and saw a rainbow to the north, Stone Cutter looked on with his bloodshot and bleeding eyes and watched, he decided that he should head home after sometime. Stone Cutter sat on the sand and looked at the place, he was upset since all of the deaths and work was for nothing, he looks and sees everypony involved in building the tower for Stargazer was dead, and he was the only pony still alive. Stone Cutter looks to the north and sees a white light in the black sky, it felt like it was calling for him, he stands up and walks to it,
"Hang on, Equestria, I'm coming home." Stone Cutter said, and he begins to walk through the Bone Dry Desert while remembering Stargazer's excited and eager face to achieve his dream of flying. Stone Cutter pants and walks through the desert at night while his back ached, and his hoofs were worked to the bone, he wondered if how much time has been lost, and felt his life was a crazy dream, he keeps walking and arrived home after a while, he finds his abandoned home and entered it, he looks down with sorrow and slept. Stargazer wakes up the next morning and was ready to leave town, he drank water for the first time in forever and walked north, he saw Equestria was at peace and heard about a therapist named Doctor Whooves in Ponyville, he heads there to go see him.
Stone Cutter and Doctor Whooves sat across from one another,
"Where were you guys?" Stone Cutter asked,
"We didn't know about it." Doctor Whooves replied,
"How long was I gone?" Stone Cutter asked,
"When did you start building the tower?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"When a hot air balloon was coming here." Stone Cutter replied, Doctor Whooves remembers it and calculates how long Stone Cutter was gone,
"Great wickering stallions." Doctor Whooves said,
"What?" Stone Cutter asked,
"You were gone for nine years." Doctor Whooves replied, surprising Stone Cutter,
"Well, price is usually ten bits, but since you're broke, I'll make your session free." Doctor Whooves said,
"Thanks, I'll go explore Equestria now." Stone Cutter replied, and he left.
Stone Cutter was outside and looked around,
"Hey, what is that?" Rainbow Dash asked, he saw her looking at the tower of stone that he helped build,
"Wow, that thing sure is tall." Applejack said,
"Let's go check it out." Twilight Sparkle replied, and she went to the tower of stone with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Spike, he also the saw the creatures of the other countries going to the tower to look at it as well, Stone Cutter sighs and leaves to go explore Equestria to see what has happened while he was away.
Doctor Whooves was walking around and he saw Twilight Sparkle with Shining Armor, Night Light, Twilight Velvet, Princess Cadence, and Flurry Heart, he smiled and kept walking, he soon saw Applejack with Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, Sugar Belle, Granny Smith, Grand Pear, and Goldie Delicious, he kept walking and saw Pinkie Pie with Carrot Cake, Cup Cake, Pound Cake, and Pumpkin Cake, Pinkie Pie waved at him and he waved back, Doctor Whooves went into his home and sat. Doctor Whooves waited for his patient and she soon arrived, it was an earth pony, Doctor Whooves' attention was caught at her outfit, she was wearing a suit of armor that resembled a pony's skeleton, it covered her entire body except for her abdomen, mid and lower-back, her spine was covered with armor, and there were spaces between the armor on her chest since it resembled a rib cage, her skeletal-like armor was dark gold while the one-piece suit she wore under it was dark red, she also had on a cape that was dark gold on the outside and dark red on the inside. Doctor Whooves watched the mare walk forward and looked at her helmet, it covered her entire head and was shaped like a pony's skull, the eyes of the helmet also glowed dark red, the mare sat in front of Doctor Whooves,
"Good afternoon, Doctor." the mare said in a muffled voice,
"Um, what are you wearing?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"This is a magically enchanted armor passed down throughout my family, we have two, my brother has the other one." the mare replied,
"Well, take the helmet off, it's making me uncomfortable." Doctor Whooves said, and she did, Doctor Whooves was caught off-guard for a second at her appearance, she had a dark yellow coat, a long and flowing bright yellow mane, and gold eyes,
"Wow, you're beautiful." Doctor Whooves said,
"Thank you." the mare replied with a heartfelt smile,
"Anyway, state your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Kinkaku, I'm a farmer." the mare replied,
"A farmer?" Doctor Whooves asked while he looked at her suspiciously,
"Yeah, my family bloodline is cursed." Kinkaku replied,
"Cursed? With what?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Unicorns cast a curse on my ancestors, their spirits are unable to pass to the afterlife, they were bad ponies when they were alive, and they haunt the living, well, used to haunt." Kinkaku replied,
"Well, go on." Doctor Whooves said, and Kinkaku began her tale.
Kinkaku lived on a farm and had no neighbors, she lived with her parents and older brother, her mother's name was Golden Light, her father's name was Gray Silver, and her brother's name was Ginkaku, Golden Light had a bright yellow coat, long dark yellow mane and tail, and gold eyes, her cutie mark was a gold helmet and a sabre with a gold handle and silver blade, Gray Silver had a whitish-gray coat, short black mane and tail, and silver eyes, his cutie mark was a silver suit of armor with a big double-bladed broadsword that was black with white edges and a silver handle, and Ginkaku had a dark gray coat, short white mane and tail, and silver eyes, his cutie mark was a silver tragedy mask.
"Hold on, what does your cutie mark look like?" Doctor Whooves asked, Kinkaku takes her outfit off and Doctor Whooves sees it, it was a gold comedy mask,
"What do they represent?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Apparently, our special talents are in how we make others feel, I bring people up while my brother brings them down." Kinkaku replied,
"Uh... okay, I don't understand." Doctor Whooves said,
"My brother and I behave in almost opposite ways." Kinkaku replied,
"Oh, well, go on, then." Doctor Whooves said, and Kinkaku continued her tale.
Kinkaku trained in sword combat with her brother and parents, she used a sabre that had a gold handle and hoof guard, its blade was silver, and Ginkaku used a double-edged broadsword that had a silver handle, and a black blade with white edges, Kinkaku was trained by Golden Light while Ginkaku was trained by Gray Silver,
"Okay, Kinkaku, you must know your strengths and weaknesses, that sabre is a family heirloom, so is that armor, you'll learn your strengths and weaknesses through doing." Golden Light said, and Kinkaku was already distracted and chased butterflies that flew around,
"KINKAKU!!" Golden Light yelled, Kinkaku became startled and ran back to her,
"Focus! If you keep acting like that, you're going to fail your training." Golden Light said, Kinkaku looked down,
"*sigh* Anyway, let's get started." Golden Light said, and they began training. Kinkaku swung the sabre around while Golden Light blocked each hit with a wooden sabre,
"*gasp* Wow, I'm fast in this outfit, I feel like a cheetah." Kinkaku said,
"Focus on your training." Golden Light said in a stern tone, and Kinkaku got back to it, she swung her sabre around and Golden Light blocked and dodged them all easily, Kinkaku growled since she kept missing, Golden Light sidestepped to Kinkaku's right and hit her in her front right leg. Kinkaku screamed loudly from the hit,
"That hurt!" Kinkaku said,
"Well, get used to it." Golden Light replied, and the two continued training. Kinkaku looked and saw Gray Silver and Ginkaku training, Ginkaku had a double-edged broadsword as big as he was while Gray Silver had a wooden sword that looked like the broadsword,
"*pant* *pant* This armor's heavy, dad." Ginkaku said, Kinkaku saw Ginkaku's armor looked just like hers, but his skeletal armor was a grayish-silver, and his one-piece suit was blue, his cape was silver on the outside and blue on the inside,
"Quit your whining, keep training." Gray Silver said, and the two swung their weapons around, Kinkaku got hit in her back and she exclaimed and fell,
"Focus on me, you idiot, you'll die in a real battle if you get distracted like that." Golden Light said, and the two continued training. Kinkaku and Ginkaku trained everyday, the two also had to work on the farm,
"Big brother, look." Kinkaku said, Ginkaku looked up and saw Kinkaku balancing vegetable seeds on her sabre,
"Focus on your work, Kinkaku." Ginkaku said,
"But it's so boring, I wanna make farming fun." Kinkaku replied,
"I doubt the plants would be entertained." Ginkaku said,
"Come on, Ginkaku, join me." Kinkaku said,
"I will after I'm buried in the ground." Ginkaku replied,
"Big brother!" Kinkaku said,
"We've got gardening to do, Kinkaku, you need to help before your procrastinating causes a famine and makes us all starve to death." Ginkaku replied, Kinkaku whined but helped him with the chores. Kinkaku and Ginkaku planted the seeds by hoof, Ginkaku planted the seeds in a straight line and far apart while Kinkaku planted the seeds to make pictures, she made a pony's head, a skull, a sword, and a timberwolf's head,
"Brother, look, I'm making art." Kinkaku said,
"I did not notice." Ginkaku replied in a dry tone,
"Come on, Ginkaku, it'll make our garden look more interesting." Kinkaku said,
"For now, but not later." Ginkaku replied, Kinkaku frowned and they continued their chores. Kinkaku and Ginkaku began going to school shortly afterwards, the two came home with their report cards one day and Golden Light and Gray Silver looked at them, Kinkaku sweated a lot because she had all F's,
"It's alright, you two, we won't punish you two for doing bad in school." Golden Light said,
"Huh?" Kinkaku asked while Ginkaku's eyes' widened, the two look at each other's report cards and Kinkaku sees Ginkaku had all F's as well, even though his scores were just a little higher than hers,
"It's okay, you two don't have to do your homework, either." Gray Silver said,
"Why not?" Kinkaku asked,
"Because school is full of stupid ponies who try to think they're smart by brainwashing you two, so if you don't want to do your homework, don't do it." Golden Light replied, Kinkaku smiled while Ginkaku's expression remained the same,
"Well, go on and do what you two want to do, we train again tomorrow." Golden Light said, and Kinkaku and Ginkaku go to their room, the two shared it together, Ginkaku's side was clean and organized while Kinkaku's side was messy,
"Have you ever thought about cleaning your side, Kinkaku?" Ginkaku asked,
"No way, it's fun being able to play with all of my toys on the spot." Kinkaku replied,
"I bet you also have fun stepping on them in the morning." Ginkaku said,
"Come on, big brother, let's go to sleep, so we can be replenished for tomorrow's training." Kinkaku replied,
"I bet you're going to oversleep again." Ginkaku said, Kinkaku let out an annoyed groan while Ginkaku chuckled and the two slept. Kinkaku and Ginkaku trained and worked,
"Very good, Ginkaku, you'll be a good warrior in no time." Gray Silver said,
"Focus, Kinkaku, try to hit the targets with the sabre." Golden Light said,
"Look, mommy, no hoofs." Kinkaku said while she balanced her sabre on her snout, Golden Light groaned loudly while slapping her own face with her front left hoof, she looked down and shook her head in the process. A few days passed and Kinkaku saw her classmates doing theater arts,
"I wanna try." Kinkaku said as she trotted to them, the foals let her join,
"I am Kinkaku, daughter of Golden Light and Gray Silver, student at school, farmer at home." Kinkaku said,
"No, add some adjectives in, put emphasis on your words, too." a filly said,
"I am... Kinkaku! Precious daughter of the great and magnificent Golden Light and the fair and honorable Gray Silver. Glorious student at school, hard working and playful farmer at home." Kinkaku said, the foals clapped,
"Not bad, but we need to work on a few parts." a colt said, Kinkaku smiled and continued to practice. A few days passed and Kinkaku practiced theater arts in her and Ginkaku's room,
"And the pony SLAIN the dragon with its shiny, silver sword as it reflected in the holy sun of light. The sword PIERCED the dragon's red, still beating heart, the heroic pony jumped in the sky! And he cut the dragon's head off with its sharp, shiny, bloodstained sword of justice. The pony..." Kinkaku said,
"Can the chatter! You're being annoying." Golden Light said from another room, Kinkaku slouched her head for a second but looked up again,
"The pony stood..." Kinkaku said,
"Enough, Kinkaku, save that stupid acting for school." Gray Silver said from another room,
"The pony..." Kinkaku said,
"I wonder how you have any breath left, Kinkaku." Ginkaku said from outside, Kinkaku growled and stomped outside and went elsewhere to practice. A few days passed and Kinkaku and Ginkaku were together, Golden Light and Gray Silver stood together,
"Okay, now that you two have grown accustomed to your weapons and armor, you two will start training together." Gray Silver said, and the two got ready,
"From now on, all four of us train together, so, Ginkaku, good luck, Kinkaku, focus." Golden Light said,
"Ooh, this is so exciting, Ginkaku, we're finally training together." Kinkaku said,
"Keep acting like that and it'll be just me training and you dead on the ground." Ginkaku replied,
"Enough, you two, let's get started, you two are to work together." Golden Light said, and the training began. Kinkaku ran to Gray Silver while unsheathing her sabre while Ginkaku watched the two carefully, Kinkaku tried to slash Gray Silver with her sabre, but he hit her on her head with his wooden broadsword and Kinkaku screamed as she fell,
"You idiot, you're supposed to work with your brother, not face us on your own." Gray Silver said, Kinkaku panted heavily and soon stood up,
"Alright, let's get started, we've wasted enough time." Golden Light said,
"Sis, I'll go after mom, I leave dad to you." Ginkaku said,
"Okay." Kinkaku replied, and the two ran to them. Kinkaku took her sabre out and tried to land a hit on Gray Silver, he blocked every hit with his wooden broadsword, Kinkaku let out several annoyed grunts and eventually stepped to Gray Silver's right, she entered his blind spot and was about to strike, but he swung the broadsword from left to right and hit her, Kinkaku screamed and fell, she looked and saw Ginkaku tried swinging his broadsword around and Golden Light dodged each hit easily, she hit Ginkaku on his legs and he grunted a little and fell,
"Pathetic, you two are supposed to work together, not attack us one at a time." Gray Silver said, Kinkaku and Ginkaku looked down,
"*sigh* We'll try again tomorrow, training's done for today." Golden Light said, and the two went into the house. A few weeks passed and Kinkaku and Ginkaku worked together against Golden Light and Gray Silver, Ginkaku entered a deadlock with Gray Silver and Kinkaku slashed his hind legs, he grunts and falls, Kinkaku entered a fencing fight with Golden Light and Ginkaku hit Golden Light on the back of her neck with his sword and she fell,
"Good, you two are improving, that's all for today." Golden Light said, and they entered the house. Three weeks passed and the plants Kinkaku and Ginkaku planted began to grow, Ginkaku looked at the plants he planted and picked the vegetables while Kinkaku ran around and looked at hers,
"No, don't overlap like that, come on, grow and spread." Kinkaku said, the plants she planted soon fell over,
"Aw." Kinkaku said while she looked down,
"That's why you have to space them out a bit, Kinkaku." Ginkaku said, Kinkaku whined a little as she looked at her fallen plants while Ginkaku continued to pick the vegetables. Five years passed and Kinkaku and Ginkaku were under the house with Golden Light and Gray Silver, they were at a dark blue double gate,
"This gate contains the souls of our ancestors, unicorns cursed our family so we cannot pass into the afterlife, some of our ancestors are genuinely malevolent, if they break out, it is our jobs to stop them." Golden Light said,
"What will happen to you two?" Kinkaku asked,
"Our souls will be sucked into the gate after our deaths, it will close when we are in, but no matter the circumstances, you two must not open the gate." Gray Silver replied,
"How is it opened?" Ginkaku asked,
"Those swords of yours are the keys, they and the armors are magically enchanted to harm and defend against ghosts, they originally belonged to the unicorns until our ancestors stole them, if they break out of this gate, you two are to hunt them down and destroy their souls." Golden Light replied,
"Wait, I don't see any keyholes." Kinkaku said,
"You have to stick the swords in between the gates." Gray Silver replied,
"Are both swords required?" Ginkaku replied,
"No." Golden Light replied,
"When will our training be done?" Kinkaku asked,
"It'll never be done, it is family tradition to train for life." Golden Light replied, Kinkaku groaned while she slouched,
"That's enough, let's get back to training." Gray Silver said, and they went outside. Kinkaku was in school one day and it was lunchtime, Kinkaku was standing in the hallway,
"Kinkaku." a mare said,
"Huh?" Kinkaku asked, she saw three of her female classmates coming to her,
"Have you ever thought about pursuing any feminine hobbies?" the mare in the center asked,
"Like what?" Kinkaku asked,
"Well, I'm doing cooking and knitting." the mare to the left replied,
"I'm doing jewelry making, flower arranging, and ballroom dancing." the mare to the right said,
"And I'm doing singing and gardening." the mare in the center said,
"Oh, I do gardening, too." Kinkaku said,
"What do you grow?" the mare in the center asked,
"Vegetables." Kinkaku replied,
"Oh, no, Kinkaku, a proper lady would grow flowers." the mare in the center said,
"Flowers?" Kinkaku asked,
"Uh-huh, it makes the yard pretty." the mare in the center replied,
"Huh." Kinkaku said, the mare to the right gasped,
"What?" Kinkaku asked,
"You have blackheads in your snout." the mare to the right replied,
"So?" Kinkaku asked,
"You have to get rid of it, you should wear some makeup, too." the mare to the left replied,
"Sorry, but my mom and I don't have any makeup." Kinkaku said,
"Have you ever wore a dress?" the mare to the right asked,
"No." Kinkaku replied,
"What about jewelry?" the mare in the center asked,
"Nope." Kinkaku replied,
"How about styling your mane?" the mare to the left asked,
"Never done it." Kinkaku replied,
"You should give it a try, Kinkaku, maybe you'll like it, we got guides to help." the mare to the right said,
"Alright, I'll give it a try." Kinkaku replied, and the three left and gave her books.
Kinkaku went home later that day and tried cooking, she cooked the vegetables while her family went on with their days, it was dinner by the time she finished and her family sat at the table,
"Dinner is served." Kinkaku said as she put her cooked food down, her family looked and saw most of it was burned. Golden Light, Gray Silver, and Ginkaku tasted Kinkaku's food while she smiled,
"This tastes horrible." Golden Light said, Kinkaku frowned,
"Disgusting." Gray Silver said, Kinkaku frowned even more,
"Starving would be preferable." Ginkaku said, Kinkaku's frown deepened,
"But... I made that with all of my love." Kinkaku said,
"Well, put less love in it next time." Gray Silver replied, Kinkaku groaned, she ate with her family and managed to swallow her own cooking. Kinkaku tried ballroom dancing in her room, she moved her toy weapons aside and tried to dance,
"Ginkaku, can you help me?" Kinkaku asked, Ginkaku walked over to her,
"What is it?" Ginkaku asked,
"Can you help me with trying to waltz dance?" Kinkaku asked,
"What got you interested all of a sudden?" Ginkaku asked,
"Well, my classmates said I should try to expand my horizons and be more feminine." Kinkaku replied, Ginkaku just looked at her,
"Let's get this over with." Ginkaku said, and the two started dancing. Kinkaku and Ginkaku stood up straight and held each other's front hoofs, the two tried to dance, Kinkaku kept getting her steps wrong while Ginkaku kept stepping on her hind hoofs,
"Ow." Kinkaku said each time her hind hoofs got stepped on, the two kept trying and eventually stopped,
"I don't think I'm going to get the hang of this." Kinkaku said,
"What else are you planning to try?" Ginkaku asked,
"Knitting, painting, growing and arranging flowers, singing, and making jewelry." Kinkaku replied,
"I'll be surprised if those flowers don't die when you touch them." Ginkaku said,
"Hey!" Kinkaku said,
"Well, go on and do what you wish, I'll be available to help." Ginkaku said, Kinkaku frowned and left the bedroom. Kinkaku went to the store and bought needles and thread to knit, she tried but failed,
"Ow." Kinkaku said as she cut her own front left hoof with the needle,
"Need a hoof?" Ginkaku asked,
"No." Kinkaku replied, and she kept trying and could not get it, Kinkaku growled and threw the needles across the room,
"I give up." Kinkaku said, and she and Ginkaku headed to school. Kinkaku tried painting a few days later and could not get it,
"No, that's not the color I wanted." Kinkaku grumbled while pulling her own mane,
"You're putting snowflakes in your painting, Kinkaku." Ginkaku said, Kinkaku stopped pulling her mane and looked, she saw white flakes on her painting, she realized she had dandruff, Kinkaku scratched her own mane a little more,
"What do you know." Kinkaku said, and she went to go see Golden Light and Gray Silver, the two were sitting and reading newspapers,
"Mommy, daddy, I have dandruff." Kinkaku said,
"You'll be fine, just don't get it on your food." Golden Light replied,
"But what if the kids at school make fun of me?" Kinkaku asked,
"Beat them to a pulp." Gray Silver replied, Kinkaku was speechless but left the room. Kinkaku tried singing a few days later but her voice was scratchy,
"You sound like a cat choking on a furball, Kinkaku, please stop, I'm trying to meditate." Ginkaku said, Kinkaku went outside and walked into town, she tried to practice her own singing and the ponies booed her,
"Oh, come on, I just started today." Kinkaku said,
"Well, your singing is terrible." a male pony replied, Kinkaku glared and went home. Two days passed and Kinkaku tried arranging flowers that she picked from around the house, she found herself disliking the activity, so she stopped, she trained with her family afterwards,
"Mommy, daddy, can I try jewelry making?" Kinkaku asked,
"No." Golden Light replied,
"Why not?" Kinkaku asked,
"You have more important things to do, like your training." Gray Silver replied, Kinkaku looked down,
"Well, go ahead and take a break, we'll continue training tomorrow." Golden Light said, and Kinkaku and Ginkaku went into the house. Kinkaku was in school the next day and saw the three mares from before,
"Hey, I tried your things, I failed, I didn't like the flower thing, and my parents said no to making jewelry." Kinkaku said,
"That's why you need to keep practicing, Kinkaku." the mare in the center replied,
"I'll just stick to theatre arts." Kinkaku said,
"Theater arts is a masculine hobby." the mare to the left replied,
"What? It looks feminine to me." Kinkaku said,
"It isn't, a long time ago, all actors in theatre arts were males." the mare to the right replied,
"What about female characters?" Kinkaku asked,
"They were played by male actors." the mare in the center replied, Kinkaku became speechless,
"I'll just stick to what I'm good at." Kinkaku finally said, and she walked away.
"Phew, now that's out of the way, I can start on the important part." Kinkaku said,
"You're not going to talk about school?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, it was boring, I fell asleep a lot, too." Kinkaku replied,
"But did you improve your grades?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, Ginkaku and I both dropped out when we turned sixteen." Kinkaku replied,
"So what do you two do for a living?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"We're farmers, I'm still practicing theatre arts in hopes of becoming an actress." Kinkaku replied,
"Well, good luck with that, continue." Doctor Whooves said, and Kinkaku continued her tale.
Kinkaku and Ginkaku trained one day and the two fought Golden Light and Gray Silver, Kinkaku blocked all of Golden Light's hits with her sabre while Ginkaku entered a deadlock with Gray Silver with his broadsword, the two ran to their parents' blind spots, Kinkaku went to Golden Light's left blind spot while Ginkaku went to Gray Silver's right blind spot, they hit the two in their front legs' and they grunt and fall, the two then hit their parents' on the back of their heads. Golden Light and Gray Silver stood up,
"You two have completed your training, but remember, we train for life, so make sure you two keep training so your skills don't get rusty." Golden Light said,
"*gasp* Our swords." Kinkaku said, everypony saw a gold aura around the blade of Kinkaku's sabre and a silver aura around the blade of Ginkaku's broadsword,
"You two are determined individuals, the swords are powered through the willpower and determination of the individual who wields it, the stronger their will, the brighter the aura, and the more powerful your strikes will be." Golden Light said,
"My teacher said friendship conquers all." Kinkaku said,
"What are you getting at now, Kinkaku?" Gray Silver asked,
"Shortly before I dropped out, one of my teachers talked about how friendship is the most powerful thing there is." Kinkaku replied,
"Your teacher's an idiot." Golden Light said, Kinkaku became speechless,
"Friendship is not powerful, it means you're only powerful when you work together, but when you have to do things alone, you are weak, that is why the swords are powered by willpower, not friendship, if our ancestors break out of that gate, you two will be alone, there will be nopony to help you two, and you two must be able to endure being injured and keep going, that is why our family chose willpower over friendship." Golden Light said, Kinkaku continued to look on with a dropped jaw,
"Anyway, training is over for today, let's go back into the house." Golden Light said, and the four did.
A few years passed and Kinkaku was twenty and Ginkaku was twenty one, and their parents have passed away recently, the two buried them and Kinkaku had tears roll down her face while Ginkaku had an expressionless face,
"They were my light and happiness combined into one, they were hard, but they loved us beneath their rough and mean exteriors because they did not know how to show it. Their presence will always be remembered and felt, even though it may feel harsh, we must remember the love behind the mean facade they put up. Their names shall go down in history as Golden Light and Gray Silver, they shall live on in our memories and hearts as memories and spirits of the past that has already passed. Though they cannot go to the afterlife, they will remain as ghosts in our home with our ancestors, their everlasting love will be felt from beyond the grave and they will possess us in our times of despair to make us happy and let us know we are not alone. The light they give in the darkness shall..." Kinkaku said,
"That's enough, Kinkaku." Ginkaku said,
"Oh, come on, big brother, I'm practicing my words for theatre arts, I want their spirits to hear it." Kinkaku replied,
"I think their bodies are going to dig themselves up and run away if the rest of your eulogy is that bad." Ginkaku said, Kinkaku glared at him, the two stood and bowed their heads down in a moment of silence,
"Come on, Kinkaku, mom and dad left a document of our family's history for us to read." Ginkaku said after several minutes of silence,
"Oh, come on, big brother, we've training all of our lives, let's have some fun." Kinkaku replied,
"Do what you wish, but I'm going to continue training." Ginkaku said, and he entered the house. Kinkaku went to the town and decided to try wearing a dress for the first time, she headed home and tried it on, she tried walking but she stepped on the dress and fell over, she tried walking and practicing theatre arts and kept falling,
"Grr, I hate this!" Kinkaku said as she took her dress off and threw it across the room,
"I'm never wearing a dress ever again!" Kinkaku said, and she stomped over to her side of the room and slept on the floor. Kinkaku woke up later that afternoon and walked to a couch while drinking cider, she sat on the couch and looked at a paper on the table that contained her family tree. Kinkaku sat and read her family history, she saw her first two ancestors were a stallion named Argenti and a mare named Aurum, Argenti had a dark gray coat, short black mane, and light gray eyes, and Aurum had a bright yellow coat, long dark orange mane, and yellow eyes, she read that Argenti and Aurum were twins with Argenti as the older twin, the two were farmers in the earth pony tribe, the two disliked the other two tribes, so they began a conquest and began attacking and destroying unicorn and Pegasus based areas and earth ponies settled in, the two continued until the unicorns one day had enough and cast a spell on them, it cursed them with them and their family being unable to pass to the afterlife after death, and are forced to stay in Equestria for all eternity. Kinkaku looked at the next generation, she saw a stallion named Silver Sword and a mare named Golden Sword, Silver Sword and Golden Sword looked the same, they both had long manes, only their colors were different, Silver Sword was all silver while Golden Sword was all gold,
"Ugh!" Kinkaku said as she saw how her family created children, she continued to read and read that Silver Sword and Golden Sword fought Aurum and Argenti and killed them in battle, the two atoned for what they did but were never accepted. Kinkaku yawned and looked at the next generation, she only saw the names Gray Stallion, Silver Horse, and Yellow Lightning before falling asleep and fell onto the floor. Kinkaku snored while she laid on the floor,
"Hey." Ginkaku said,
"Huh?" Kinkaku asked as she opened her eyes,
"I figured you would fall asleep, finish reading our family's history, I highlighted the interesting parts for you." Ginkaku said, and he walked away, Kinkaku looked and saw the parts in yellow highlight, she read the first part, it was on a stallion named Gin and a mare named Kin, Gin had a light gray coat, black mane, and black eyes, and Kin had a light yellow coat, dark orange mane, and dark orange eyes, she read and Gin was a brute and bully who beat up others with his strength while Kin played on others' feelings and made them break, the two were imprisoned when they turned eighteen and remained there for the rest of their lives. Kinkaku read the next highlighted part about a stallion named Silver King, he had a gray coat, light silver mane, and black eyes, she read that he was a battle strategist and known for being a cruel pony, she browsed over it and went to the next highlighted part, it was about a mare named Golden Queen, she had a yellow coat, dark gold mane, and orange eyes, she read that Golden Queen was a mad magic user who tried to create spells that violated the laws of magic, Kinkaku looked at the rest of the highlighted parts and decided to take a break, she put the sheet of paper down and walked outside.
Kinkaku arrived outside and began to swing her sabre around,
"And there she goes! With her swift and elegant slashes, she brought the dragon down to its knees. Everypony looked on in awe at her grace and beauty in combat. The knight STRUCK the dragon and he never terrorized the village ever again. The knight in golden shining armor took her place as the captain of the Equestrian guard and..." Kinkaku said,
"Lost her armor and got fired on her first day." Ginkaku from inside the house, Kinkaku exclaimed and looked at the house with disapproval since he messed her up, she sighed and tended the farm since she could not remember where she was at. Kinkaku watered the plants and picked whatever vegetables that were already ripe, a bright glow appeared under the house and Kinkaku ran into the house. Kinkaku ran into the home and the bright white glow disappeared, she heard Ginkaku panting heavily under the house, she ran to him, he came up while sweating and his mane was unkempt,
"Big brother? You okay?" Kinkaku asked,
"That gate that contains our ancestors has to stay closed." Ginkaku said while trembling,
"What do you mean? What was in there?" Kinkaku asked,
"It's pitch black, full of our ancestors, they tried to attack me." Ginkaku replied,
"I wanna see." Kinkaku said,
"No, I barely escaped on my own, I almost got sucked in." Ginkaku replied,
"I wanna see." Kinkaku said,
"No, it's too dangerous." Ginkaku replied, and he panted a bit more, Kinkaku saw how tired and scared Ginkaku was,
"Well, judging by the way you look, big brother, I'm going to have to assume you're right, come on, relax, I'll cook you a meal." Kinkaku said, and he sat.
Kinkaku cooked the vegetables and Ginkaku sat at the table and meditated, Kinkaku finished cooking after twenty minutes and walked to Ginkaku,
"It's ready." Kinkaku said as she put the food on the table, Ginkaku smelled the food and its scent was putrid,
"What spoiled vegetables are you serving me this time?" Ginkaku asked,
"Hey! I put all of my love and all of my heart into that dish." Kinkaku replied,
"Well, your love and heart have rotted it." Ginkaku said, Kinkaku seethed and growled while her face turned red, Ginkaku tried to eat and swallow Kinkaku's cooking, he struggled but finished the meal,
"I'm done, Kinkaku." Ginkaku said,
"No, you do the dishes." Kinkaku replied, and Ginkaku carried the dish into the kitchen and washed it.
A year passed and Kinkaku and Ginkaku were selling their vegetables that they grew, Kinkaku yawned and almost fell asleep while Ginkaku watched and waited, customers came quite often,
"Here, go on and take it, don't want my sister making another burned and spoiled meal." Ginkaku said,
"Hey!" Kinkaku said,
"Anyway, price for each vegetable is five bits." Ginkaku said, and the ponies bought them and the two began paying the house bills.
Another year passed and Ginkaku was still uneasy thinking about what he saw through the gate, Kinkaku saw him sitting at the table in the kitchen and walked to him,
"Ginkaku." Kinkaku said as she walked to him, Ginkaku looked at her,
"I think it's time you told me what was inside that gate." Kinkaku said,
"I'm not comfortable looking back." Ginkaku replied,
"Come on, big brother, I think I have a right to know." Kinkaku said, Ginkaku froze in place and became speechless,
"Come on, Ginkaku, tell me, it's my family, too." Kinkaku said in a very annoyed tone, Ginkaku still remained frozen in place and did not speak,
"Oh, fine, I'll go take a look, myself." Kinkaku said, and she got her sabre and put her armor on and headed into the basement. Kinkaku entered the basement and went to the gate, she sighed and stuck her sabre between the two doors, they opened and a bright white light came out, Kinkaku looked and saw the spirits of her dead family members, she saw them fighting one another and torturing the weak willed family members, she also heard screams of agony and tried to block them out. Kinkaku's vision adjusted and she saw skeleton ponies laying everywhere, her ancestors grabbed her and tried to pull her in, Kinkaku screamed and tried to fend them off with her sabre. Kinkaku swung her sabre around and the ponies winced in pain when they got hit, Kinkaku continued to get pulled in by an invisible force until Ginkaku grabbed her and pulled her out, the souls escaped in the process and entered the world of the living,
"I told you not to open the gate." Ginkaku said,
"I'm sorry, Ginkaku, I really wanted to see what was in there." Kinkaku replied,
"And you unleashed the souls." Golden Light said, Kinkaku turned around and saw her and Gray Silver walking to them,
"First, our son, now, our daughter, both of you are idiots." Gray Silver said,
"Hey! I wanted to see what was inside." Kinkaku said,
"I was curious as well." Ginkaku said,
"Well, look at what your curiosities did, you two are on your own, undo what you two did, you brought them out, you destroy them, especially you, Kinkaku." Golden Light replied, and she and Gray Silver walked away.
Kinkaku and Ginkaku walked to the kitchen and Kinkaku sat at the table with her head down and her front hoofs around her head,
"What have I done?" Kinkaku asked,
"It's not your fault, Kinkaku, I was curious as well." Ginkaku replied,
"But they got out because of me." Kinkaku said,
"And you went in because I went in, and you wanted to see what was there, so part of it's my fault, too." Ginkaku replied, Kinkaku looked to her left and at her brother,
"We are free at last, now, to conquer all of Equestria." a female voice said outside, Kinkaku and Ginkaku looked out a window and saw Argenti, Aurum, Gin, Kin, Silver King, and Golden Queen,
"Our time is now, we shall all now go out and conquer Equestria, and remember, our family values individual willpower, not friendship, so we all act individually." Aurum said, they cheered and their turned into mist and floated away,
"Well, I guess three for each." Ginkaku said, Kinkaku nodded in agreement,
"I'll handle the girls, I leave the guys to you." Kinkaku said,
"Alright, let's go." Ginkaku replied, and the two went outside. Kinkaku and Ginkaku looked around and wondered where their targets were, they heard screaming in the town and ran there. Kinkaku and Ginkaku ran to the town and saw ponies being attacked and everything being destroyed,
"What is going on?" a mare asked,
"Everything just destroyed on their own." a stallion said, Kinkaku and Ginkaku realized the others could not see the ghosts,
"Alright, that's enough, onto the next area." Golden Queen said,
"No way, I wanna cause more destruction." Gin said,
"Me too, I wanna see more tears fall." Kin said,
"Alright, go on, then, just make sure you two catch up later." Silver King replied, and the two floated away. Gin begun punching other ponies and they exclaimed as they fell,
"You shouldn't love her, she's garbage and is full of crud, you should tell her that she'd have better luck dating a tree." Kin said to a stallion,
"I can't do it!" the stallion said and he ran away crying. Kinkaku walked to Kin while Ginkaku went to Gin,
"Well, well, well, well, well. The next wielder of the sabre, I was a better sword fighter than you ever were." Kin said,
"Oh, really? I'd want you to prove it." Kinkaku said, and Kin unsheathed her sabre,
"En garde." Kin said, and Kinkaku took out her sabre. Kinkaku stepped around on her hind hoofs methodically while she watched Kin do the same thing,
"Come on, rookie, I'm not scared of you." Kin said, and Kinkaku tried to slash Kin, she jumped back and then dashed forward and tried to stab her sabre into Kinkaku's abdomen, Kinkaku blocked it with her sabre and the two entered a deadlock, the two tried to overpower one another while they growled at one another. A gold aura appeared around Kin's sabre and Kinkaku felt Kin's sabre pushing against hers harder,
"What?" Kinkaku asked, Kin swung her sabre and knocked the sabre out of Kinkaku's hoof, she did a horizontal slash and Kinkaku jumped back, but the tip of the sabre still cut her abdomen, Kinkaku exclaimed in pain and there was black smoke coming out of the wound,
"Don't tell me you didn't know that willpower makes your weapon stronger, you really are a pathetic loser, do you even have any willpower, or do you rely on friendship to get you out of sticky situations because you're too mentally fragile to handle problems on your own?" Kin asked, Kinkaku growled, she ran to get her sabre but Kin teleported to it and got it first. Kin begun thrusting the two sabres forward while laughing, Kinkaku moved to her sides and backwards to dodge the sabres,
"You're a pathetic successor to me." Kin said, Kinkaku continued dodging while sweating and panting, she soon grabbed Kin's front left hoof and went to Kin's left blind spot and wrestled her sabre back. the two hit each other's sabre and Kinkaku saw Ginkaku and Gin fighting one another out of the corner of her left eye, she saw the two swing their swords around and there were silver auras around their swords, the two entered a deadlock and Ginkaku focused while Gin chuckled with a smile on his face, Kinkaku is slashed from behind and she screams when she felt the cut across the back of her hind knees,
"Stupid girl, distracted over something so trivial, you could use some discipline on that as well." Kin said, Kinkaku growled a little and lunged towards her while letting out a snarl, Kin jumped back but Kinkaku slashed her chest with the tip of her sabre, Kin screamed in pain from the slash,
"It hurts." Kin said, Kinkaku's sabre had a gold aura appear around it,
"Wait, your willpower went up? How?" Kin asked,
"I'm tired of your rambling, I'm now determined to silence you." Kinkaku replied, and Kin focused and tried to slash Kinkaku diagonally, the two entered a deadlock and they tried to overpower one another. Kinkaku focused and her determination to win grew, the gold aura glowed brighter and she let out a grunt and hit Kin's sabre out of her hoof, she slashed her and Kin screamed while she caught on fire, the gold flames engulfed her until she disappeared, her sabre also disappeared. Kinkaku looked and saw Ginkaku do a horizontal slash on Gin, silver flames engulfed him and he screamed until he disappeared, he walked over to Kinkaku,
"You alright?" Kinkaku asked,
"Yeah, Gin proved to be a bit tough." Ginkaku replied,
"What now?" Kinkaku asked,
"We need to find a way to track down the others." Ginkaku replied,
"How?" Kinkaku asked, their swords glowed and it shot out beams at where the other four were at,
"Let's go." Ginkaku said, and the two headed north.
Kinkaku and Ginkaku walked together and kept their guards up,
"What do you think of hunting down our family members, Ginkaku?" Kinkaku asked,
"It's our duty to prevent them from destroying Equestria, so it has to be done." Ginkaku replied,
"Well, I do wonder what we should do with that gate after we destroy them." Kinkaku said,
"Maybe I'll lock you in there so you don't torment Equestria while you're alive." Ginkaku replied,
"Hey!" Kinkaku said,
"Relax, of course I wouldn't do that, but I don't know what to do with the gate, either." Ginkaku said,
"Maybe we'll just leave it." Kinkaku said,
"Probably have to, there's not much we can do, anyway." Ginkaku replied, and the two kept walking through the woods. Ginkaku and Kinkaku walked through the woods and Kinkaku began to pant and sweat,
"You never did train much after mom and dad died." Ginkaku said,
"Yeah, I have to use the bathroom, too." Kinkaku replied, Ginkaku looked at the sun and saw it was setting,
"It's almost dark, we'll have to rest soon, just hang in there a little longer, Kinkaku." Ginkaku said,
"Okay." Kinkaku replied, and Kinkaku panted as she walked slowly. The sun set and Kinkaku and Ginkaku rested a bit, the two sat together,
"Ginkaku." Kinkaku said, Ginkaku looked at her,
"What do you want to do with your life?" Kinkaku asked,
"I haven't thought about it, I just work on the family farm as a living." Ginkaku replied,
"Really? I want to be an actress." Kinkaku said,
"That'll be the day." Ginkaku replied,
"Ginkaku, I'm serious, I want to be a theater actress." Kinkaku said,
"You would have a bigger audience in the cemetery than on the stage." Ginkaku replied,
"Is my acting really that bad?" Kinkaku asked,
"Your voice can use some work." Ginkaku replied,
"I am working on it, *yawn* I need to rest, goodnight, big brother." Kinkaku said,
"Goodnight." Ginkaku replied, and Kinkaku fell asleep. Kinkaku woke up the next morning and yawned, she saw Ginkaku was nowhere to be found,
"Ginkaku?" Kinkaku asked, she heard walking and quickly unsheathed her sabre, but she saw Ginkaku emerge,
"Don't wander off without me." Kinkaku said,
"I didn't, I'm just gathering things to eat." Ginkaku replied, and Kinkaku saw the plants and berries,
"You sure these are okay to eat?" Kinkaku asked,
"Yes, I remember my teachers talking about them, it's probably the only thing I remember from class." Ginkaku replied, the two ate the plants and berries,
"Bleh! These taste horrible!" Kinkaku said,
"It's better than nothing." Ginkaku replied, and the two endured the bitter and sour tastes and stood up, their swords still glowed,
"You ready?" Ginkaku asked,
"Yeah, let's go." Kinkaku replied, and the two walked together. Kinkaku and Ginkaku walked through the forest and their swords glowed brighter as they walked through the forest,
"How much more?" Kinkaku asked,
"I don't know." Ginkaku replied, and the two kept walking, they soon made it out of the forest,
"Oh, a clearing already? That was fast." Kinkaku said,
"Let's keep going, we still have a ways to go." Ginkaku replied, and they walked together. Kinkaku and Ginkaku walked and their swords glowed brightly, they looked forward and saw a building up ahead,
"I don't recall that being there." Kinkaku said,
"How? We never traveled out here before." Ginkaku replied,
"Yeah, but I think we would've saw it from back there." Kinkaku said,
"You might be right, well, we should examine it a bit." Ginkaku replied, and the two went to the building. Kinkaku and Ginkaku entered the building and saw many stone-cut statues of ponies, the stallions were to the left while the mares were to the right,
"It looks like our ancestors." Ginkaku said,
"Wow, I didn't know we had so many." Kinkaku said,
"That's because you didn't read our family tree." Ginkaku replied,
"It was boring." Kinkaku said, her sabre glowed brightly while Ginkaku's broadsword glowed a little dim, he looked to his left and his sword glowed brighter, he walked forward and saw a doorway,
"My target's this way." Ginkaku said,
"Okay, good luck." Kinkaku replied, and Ginkaku left the room. Kinkaku walked forward and the lights went out,
"What the?" Kinkaku asked, a spotlight appeared and Golden Queen was in it,
"Well, well, well, well, well. Look who is here, the current wielder of thy sabre, she may have friendship, but does she have the willpower to win against me?" Golden Queen asked, the spotlight turned off and one appeared on Kinkaku,
"Oh, I know that I do, I have slashed and destroyed the one named Kin, for her form was DESTROYED by the sharpness of my blade." Kinkaku said, the spotlight turned off and appeared on Golden Queen, she had unicorn horns around her,
"Yes, but Kin was but a FOOL!! She only understood willpower and not... actual... magic, magic that the unicorns have, magic that can bring together the unicorns, Pegasi, and earth ponies and form a land called Equestria. I... need... that... POWER... so... I... can... EVOLVE!!" Golden Queen said as thunder appeared when she shouted, the spotlight turned off and appeared on Kinkaku, she was sitting with her hind legs crossed,
"What is this? A pony in my family tree unsure of her own strength? 'Tis UNACCEPTABLE, for I have trained and fought ever since I was a filly to be where I stand now, confident in my own abilities, and do not need the magic of unicorns to hide my insecurity of weakness." Kinkaku said, the spotlight turned off and it appeared on Golden Queen,
"*gasp* How dare you! You insult my abilities as a sword fighter when you yourself uses one as dull as a straight palette knife! I am an ACCOMPLISHED sword fighter, and only using magic to IMPROVE what already masterful skills! I! Will! Show! You! That! I! Am! SUPERIOR!!" Golden Queen said as she swung her sabre around at the end and stabbed it into the floor as she said the last word, it broke part of the floor and sent debris flying, the spotlight turned off and then appeared on Kinkaku, who had her sabre unsheathed,
"Well! Let me say that it is an honor for me to be here, in all of the land and history of Equestria, to meet a person as delusional as you, and to slash you with my sabre and knock your head back into reality." Kinkaku said, and she got ready to fight Golden Queen.
Golden Queen made the gold aura appear around her sabre and Kinkaku made the gold aura appear around her sabre, Golden Light stabbed her sabre a few times and it made the unicorn horns around her shoot beams out,
"What the?" Kinkaku asked,
"I found a way to make the severed horns obey my sword through enchanting them through magical artifacts, something your feeble mind will never understand." Golden Queen said, and she swung her sabre around and made beams shoot out of the horns in the same directions she swung her sabre. Kinkaku turned her body left and right to dodge the horn beams, they stopped and Kinkaku ran to Golden Queen and tried to slash her, but she blocked Kinkaku's sabre with her own and the horns made a shield appear around her, Kinkaku tried to slash through the shield but could not, Kinkaku growled while she caught her breath. Golden Queen held her sabre up and the unicorn horns began flying around in the air, they flew around Kinkaku in a spherical pattern and they began shooting zaps at Kinkaku, she grunted and fell from each hit, she growled as she got up. Kinkaku lunged herself towards Golden Queen and tried to slash her with her sabre, but Golden Queen blocked it again, a unicorn horn to Kinkaku's left shot a zap and Kinkaku and she grunted as she was shot away. Kinkaku growled loudly as she stood up, she looked at the horns flying around her and she tried to slash them with her sabre, but they moved away from her when she tried to hit them, she growled, the gold aura on her sabre glowed brighter. Golden Queen commanded the horns with her sabre and they moved around Kinkaku and began shooting at her multiple times, Kinkaku spun around while holding her sabre out, a gold wave came out of her sabre and it went out,
"What?!" Golden Queen asked, the gold wave hit her unicorn horns and disintegrated them. Golden Queen growled and the gold aura on her sabre glowed brighter, she did two diagonal slashes, a horizontal slash from her right to her left, and vertical slash that went down, Kinkaku jumped to her left and got on her stomach and dodged all four waves, Golden Queen did another horizontal slash while she faced downwards and sent a gold wave at Kinkaku, she jumped and dodged it, she did a horizontal slash while in midair and sent a wave at Golden Queen, she got on her stomach and dodged it. Kinkaku landed on the floor and Golden Queen stood up and jumped, she spun counterclockwise in the air and swung her sabre around, several circular gold waves came out and Kinkaku jumped back while the gold waves cut the floor and walls, Kinkaku saw an opening when Golden Queen landed and she did a diagonal slash and the wave hit the left side of Golden Queen's neck and her face, the wave burned her and she screamed, she growled and her sabre's aura glowed even brighter. Golden Queen swung her sabre diagonally as fast as she could and sent out gold flames, Kinkaku got on her stomach and waited for Golden Queen to stop, she stopped after ten seconds and panted, Kinkaku slashed her sabre vertically and the wave hit Golden Queen, she screamed and almost fell, she panted and tried to move, Kinkaku rolled her eyes and stood up, she ran to her and slashed her chest with her sabre, Golden Queen screamed and fell to the floor.
Golden Queen looked up and saw Kinkaku walking to her,
"NOOOOOOOO!! How can this BEEEEEE?! My magic! My research! Gone! Is friendship really magic rather than willpower?!" Golden Queen asked,
"'Tis not friendship that made me won, it was my willpower and determination to win, and my pride of my heritage, the sun, moon, and stars are smiling upon my victory." Kinkaku said,
"How? How is your willpower stronger than mine?!" Golden Queen asked,
"You wanna know? Train harder and experience more failures." Kinkaku replied, and she slashed Golden Queen's neck, gold flames began to engulf her,
"NOOOOOOO!!" Golden Queen said, and she disappeared,
"And the rest is silence." Kinkaku said, and she sheathed her sabre.
Kinkaku walked to the doorway to her left and saw a trapdoor to her right, she heard the door in front of her open and Ginkaku came out while panting,
"Ginkaku! You okay?" Kinkaku asked,
"Yeah, Silver King was in that room, I just beat him." Ginkaku replied,
"I just beat Golden Queen, she somehow was able to command unicorn horns with her sword." Kinkaku said,
"That's weird, Silver King put some shards of his sword into the back of pony heads, and he was able to mind control them." Ginkaku replied,
"What? Golden Queen achieved control over the unicorn horns by using magic artifacts." Kinkaku said,
"We'll worry about those later, let's look for our last targets." Ginkaku replied, and their swords glowed again, they looked to the trapdoor and their swords glowed brighter,
"I guess they're down there." Kinkaku said, a gold flame flew out of the room Kinkaku was just in and a silver flame came out of the room Ginkaku was just in, they go to the trapdoor and the left half of it became silver while the right half became gold, the trapdoor opened on its own,
"Let's go." Ginkaku said, and they went down the trapdoor. Kinkaku and Ginkaku went downstars and entered a swamp of black tar, Kinkaku exclaimed while she and Ginkaku got stuck and had to walk slowly, the two pushed forward through the swamp and they struggled with each step,
"*pant* *pant* Ginkaku... how much longer?" Kinkaku asked,
"I don't know." Ginkaku replied, and the two kept walking forward. Kinkaku and Ginkaku pushed through the swamp and Kinkaku panted while Ginkaku looked back, she was about to fall over, but Ginkaku grabbed her and put her on his back, he walked through the swamps while Kinkaku panted,
"Thanks, big brother, I do wish mom and dad could've told us about this." Kinkaku said,
"I don't think they predicted us going through something like this, I'm losing my energy, too." Ginkaku replied,
"What do you want to do after we get out of here?" Kinkaku asked,
"Well, I hope we can find some solid ground and rest, my hoofs feel stuck in this water." Ginkaku replied,
"Okay, I'm going to try to rest, let me know when you get tired." Kinkaku said,
"Alright." Ginkaku replied, and Kinkaku rested her eyes while Ginkaku walked through the swamp. Kinkaku opened her eyes and heard Ginkaku grunting, he walked through the swamp slowly and fell to his knees, Kinkaku got off of his back and let him grab her back, he got on her back and Kinkaku grunted loudly,
"You're really heavy, Ginkaku." Kinkaku said,
"Sorry about that, my sword's bigger than yours, and my armor is heavy, yours is light." Ginkaku replied, Kinkaku sighed and walked through the swamp. Kinkaku grunted and sweated as she walked since Ginkaku's sword and armor were heavy, she pushed through while Ginkaku caught his breath,
"How are you feeling, Kinkaku?" Ginkaku asked,
"Not all of my energy's back, but I can push through a bit." Kinkaku replied, and she walked through the swamp while she grunted since it was thick and dense to walk through, she walked a bit and panted heavily after about a minute, she fell to her knees and panted heavily,
"Want me off?" Ginkaku asked,
"Yes, please." Kinkaku replied, and Ginkaku got off her back and the two rested in the swamp. Kinkaku and Ginkaku caught their breaths and panted as they recovered,
"How much more, Ginkaku?" Kinkaku asked, Ginkaku looked forward,
"I don't know." Ginkaku replied, and Kinkaku looked forward and saw nothing but more swamp, Kinkaku groaned and looked down, Ginkaku stood up,
"How are you feeling?" Ginkaku asked,
"I need to rest a little longer." Kinkaku replied, and Ginkaku waited, Kinkaku stood up a few seconds later and the two walked together. Kinkaku and Ginkaku pushed themselves through the swamp and they saw a light up ahead,
"Is that it? Is that it?!" Kinkaku asked, the two walked together and saw solid ground,
"*gasp* It is!" Kinkaku said happily, she and Ginkaku pushed themselves to walk faster and made it out of the swamp,
"Oh, thank you, I'm never going into a swamp ever again." Kinkaku said and she then began kissing the ground, their swords glowed and they saw Argenti and Aurum up ahead,
"Let's rest, we should catch our breaths before we confront them." Ginkaku said, Kinkaku nodded and the two sat together and soon fell asleep. Kinkaku slept a bit and woke up, she yawned and stretched and saw Ginkaku meditating, he opened his eyes and looked at her,
"You're finally awake." Ginkaku said,
"When did you wake up?" Kinkaku asked,
"Long before you did." Ginkaku replied, Kinkaku stretched a bit,
"You ready?" Ginkaku asked, Kinkaku stretched a little more,
"Yeah." Kinkaku replied, and she went to confront Aurum while Ginkaku went to Argenti. Aurum was looking at a map of Equestria and deciding where to attack next, she heard walking behind her and saw Kinkaku coming,
"So, you've made it this far, I thought Kin and Golden Queen would be too hard for you." Aurum said,
"They were tough, but I managed to beat them." Kinkaku replied, Aurum glared and summoned her sabre in her front right hoof, a gold aura appeared around it,
"No speech like Golden Queen?" Kinkaku asked,
"Golden Queen was a time waster, and Kin was an idiot, I'll just deal with you, myself." Aurum replied, and she pointed her sabre at Kinkaku.
Aurum swung her sabre three times and sent three gold waves after Kinkaku, Kinkaku stepped to her right to dodge the first two waves and rolled to her left to dodge the third one, Kinkaku got on her hoofs and lunged towards Aurum, she tried to slash her with her sabre but Aurum moved to her sides and dodged each hit easily, Kinkaku tried to do a horizontal slash to Aurum's neck, but she ducked and slashed Kinkaku across her chest, Kinkaku tried to do a diagonal slash downwards from her right shoulder to her left side, Aurum stepped to Kinkaku's left blind spot and tried to stab her sabre into the left side of Kinkaku's head, Kinkaku ducked and faced Aurum, she tried to stab her sabre into her heart, Aurum turned ninety degrees to her left and then slashed Kinkaku's spine, she grunted loudly,
"How? It's almost like she knows my every move." Kinkaku said,
"Don't you remember? I'm the one who came up with the sabre fighting style, so I know all of its strengths and weaknesses." Aurum said, Kinkaku focused and watched Aurum. Aurum stabbed the ground with her sabre and sent five gold waves out that cut the ground, they homed on Kinkaku and she jumped back, the waves continued to go to her and they hit her and exploded on impact, Kinkaku grunted from the hit, Aurum did more slashes with her sabre and sent more waves out. Kinkaku got ready to dodge them but she saw the waves change trajectory in midair and homed on her, they cut Kinkaku and she screamed as she fell. Kinkaku growled and stood up while looking at Aurum angrily, her sabre's aura glowed brighter, she tried to slash Aurum and she moved to her sides and did a back flip to dodge the last wave Kinkaku sent out by doing a horizontal slash, Kinkaku growled and her sabre's aura glowed brighter, she did more slashes and Aurum began running around. The waves from Kinkaku's sabre began homing on Aurum, she jumped over one and spun counterclockwise in midair, Aurum held her sabre out and sent out circular waves, Kinkaku grunted as the waves hit her and cut the one-piece suit she wore under her armor. Aurum propelled herself into the air with her hind legs and was about to stab her sabre into Kinkaku's head, she jumped back and dodged it. Aurum jumped and did a back flip and sent out a vertical wave to Kinkaku, she ran around while the wave homed on her, Aurum slashed her front right leg from Kinkaku's right blind spot, she gruntted loudly and fell, the wave then hit her and Kinkaku screamed as it cut her. Kinkaku panted and tried to stand up, but Aurum stomped onto the back of Kinkaku's head with her front left leg, she fell and Aurum got ready to stab her sabre into Kinkaku's head, Kinkaku rolled over and blocked her sabre with her own, Kinkaku and Aurum get into a deadlock and Kinkaku forced the sabre out of Aurum's hoof and stood up. Kinkaku panted and smiled under her helmet,
"I won." Kinkaku said, Aurum punched her in her left cheek with her front right hoof, Kinkaku grunted and fell,
"No, you haven't, that's one thing that made me mad about you and my descendants, while you all practice with the sword, none of you practice hoof-to-hoof combat." Aurum said, Kinkaku stood up and got ready to fight while Aurum reeled up on her hind legs and raised her front legs over her own face. Kinkaku readied her sabre and tried to slash Aurum, she ducked under the horizontal slash and then rose up and punched Kinkaku's helmet with her front left hoof, Kinkaku tried to do a diagonal slash from her left shoulder to her right side, Aurum went to her right and ducked under the wave and punched Kinkaku in her heart with her front right hoof, Kinkaku exhaled sharply for a brief second through her snout, Aurum grabbed Kinkaku's shoulders and moved her down, she hit Kinkaku in her abdomen with her hind right knee, Kinkaku grunted and the aura around her sabre glowed brighter. Kinkaku hit Aurum in her face with the handle of sabre and Aurum grunted, Kinkaku did slashes with her sabre and gold fire came out instead of gold waves, they homed on Aurum and she ran around to outrun them, she grabbed Kinkaku's sabre and tried to snatch it from her. Kinkaku wrestled with Aurum to have the sabre, Kinkaku got on her back and kicked Aurum in the face with her hind legs, Aurum landed on her feet and Kinkaku got up. Aurum ran to Kinkaku and jumped again, she does a spinning kick with her hind left leg while in midair, Kinkaku jumped back and Aurum landed on the ground, Aurum did a somersault while jumping into the air again, she unfolded her body and was about to hit Kinkaku with the back of her right hind hoof, Kinkaku did a horizontal slash and the gold fire hit Aurum, she screamed and fell to the ground while on fire, she stood up and lunged towards Kinkaku while snarling and Kinkaku slashed her throat on impulse, but she still grabbed Kinkaku's neck and began to strangle her while growling. Kinkaku tried to grab her sabre but it was out of her reach, so she began punching Aurum in the face with her front hoofs, Aurum continued to strangle Kinkaku and would not let go, so Kinkaku moved her left hind leg up and kicked Aurum in the abdomen, she grunted and fell on Kinkaku. Kinkaku rolls over while panting, she reached for her sabre and grabbed it, she slashed Aurum across her forehead and more gold flames engulfed her, she screamed and disappeared.
Kinkaku fell to the ground and panted heavily, she sweated and she heard sword clashes to her left, she realized Ginkaku and Argenti were still fighting, she heard a scream and somepony disappearing, she heard walking and saw Ginkaku come to her, he was panting heavily,
"Oh, good, you won, too, I was worried you lost." Ginkaku said,
"I just won my battle." Kinkaku replied,
"Me too." Ginkaku said, Kinkaku smiled,
"Come on, let's rest." Ginkaku said, and the two did. Kinkaku and Ginkaku slept and recovered their energies, they woke up and yawned and stretched, the two went through the swamp again and rested when they got tired, they got out of the swamp and left the building, they looked and it disappeared,
"Let's go under the house." Kinkaku said, Ginkaku nodded and the two headed home. Kinkaku and Ginkaku went under their home and Golden Light and Gray Silver glared at them,
"You idiots, part of Equestria got damaged by our ancestors, you two are lucky you two stopped them before they did any real damage." Golden Light said,
"What's going to happen now?" Kinkaku asked,
"We'll remain in the gate, those six souls are gone forever, don't open the gate again." Gray Silver replied,
"Do you want us to have children?" Ginkaku asked,
"That is your choice, we won't force you two, goodbye now." Golden Light replied, and the two walked into the gate and it closed,
"Let's not have any kids." Ginkaku said,
"Good idea, it might create more bad ponies, let's make us two the last of our bloodline." Kinkaku replied, and the two walked away.
Doctor Whooves and Kinkaku sat across from one another,
"I was fine with what happened af first, but after a week, I began having nightmares about my experiences, so Ginkaku suggested that I see you." Kinkaku said,
"Well, it's good you came now instead of after your nightmares developed, that is all the time I have today, price is ten bits." Doctor Whooves replied, and Kinkaku paid him and she put her outfit back on and left.
Kinkaku arrived outside while putting her helmet on and looked around, she heard Rarity scream to her right and looked, Rarity dashed to her,
"What is this ridiculous outfit?!" Rarity asked,
"It's armor passed down throughout my family." Kinkaku replied,
"Family outfit? It looks like a skeleton, you should wear a different outfit, if you don't have one, come to my shop, and I'll get you something more fashionable." Rarity said, and she left, Kinkaku sighed and walked home.
Doctor Whooves was on a date with Roseluck and the two had lunch together,
"How's work been?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Alright, I haven't been getting many customers recently, nopony wants to buy flowers recently." Roseluck replied,
"I haven't been getting many patients either, I guess there's not that many more that have to talk their problems out." Doctor Whooves said,
"You sure they're not going over to Starlight Glimmer?" Roseluck asked,
"That's also a possibility, but I haven't heard any of them talk about it." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Well, maybe you should look, I think they're all going to her recently." Roseluck said,
"I will when I have the time." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Come on, Doctor, we still have time together." Roseluck said,
"Yes, but I have a patient today." Doctor Whooves replied,
"When?" Roseluck asked,
"About an hour from now." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Well, come on, let's enjoy our time together." Roseluck said, and the two talked and had lunch together,
"It's time for me to see my patient." Doctor Whooves said,
"Okay, goodbye, dear." Roseluck said, and the two kissed one another and Doctor Whooves went to his home.
Doctor Whooves sat in a chair and heard walking outside, a colt came in, he was a Pegasus, he had a light purple coat, short blue mane and tail, blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a pair of brown feathered wings,
"Are you the patient?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes." the colt replied,
"Alright, sit." Doctor Whooves said, and the colt did,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Ventus, I don't have a job, I'm still a kid." the colt replied,
"Well, I was sent a letter that said you're here because your parents thought you were going crazy about a tale you told them and they wanted to make sure you're okay." Doctor Whooves said,
"That's the problem, nopony believes me, I'm telling the truth." Ventus replied,
"Well, let's hear it." Doctor Whooves said, and Ventus began his tale.
Ventus was the only child of a rich and influential family and he lived in luxury, his parents were at Canterlot to discuss politics with Princess Celestia, and their servants looked after Ventus,
"Ventus, lunch is ready." the house's chef said, and Ventus had lunch,
"Thank you." Ventus said when he finished, he went to the kitchen and washed the dishes with the servants,
"Thank you, Ventus, you're going to make a fine successor at this rate." one servant said, Ventus smiled and helped the servants do the dishes and cleaned the house with them,
"Nicely done, Ventus, it's almost like you don't need any servants." Ventus' butler said,
"Well, mom and dad did teach me to take care of myself in case none of you are available." Ventus replied, his butler chuckled,
"Okay, that's all for now, go ahead and relax now, everypony, I'll be leaving now." Ventus said, and his servants said bye to him as he left his home. Ventus walked out of his mansion and went to town, everypony waved at him and he waved back, he kept walking and went to go see another colt, he heard other ponies laughing and he saw several teenage foals messing with a colt around his age, it was his best friend, Hydro, he was a unicorn, he had a dark purple coat, short dark blue mane and tail, blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a light blue drop of water,
"What's the matter, Hydro, too weak to cast telekinesis?" one colt asked,
"Get your trash bag if you can." another colt said, and they threw it around while Hydro tried to get it and fell over from exhaustion while the colts laughed at him. Ventus flew to them and he punched the bullies and they fell, they got up and faced Ventus,
"You with him?" one colt asked,
"Leave my friend alone." Ventus said,
"Oh, yeah, what are you going to do about it?" another colt asked, Ventus did a gesture that told the colts to come forward. One colt ran forward and tried to attack Ventus and he flew up and punched the colt in his jaw and he fell, another colt charged after him and Ventus flew to him and kicked his face multiple times with his hind legs and knocked him down, the third colt ran to him and Ventus grabbed his front hoofs and threw him over his own shoulder, he got back up and ran to him and Ventus focused on him while the last colt grabbed him from behind and restrained him, the third colt ran to him and Ventus lifted up his hind legs and kicked the colt in his face with his hind hoofs and then kicked the last colt restraining him in his abdomen to let him go, he turned around and punched the colt in his face and knocked him down, the four colts got up and ran away. Ventus walked to Hydro and held him up,
"You alright?" Ventus asked,
"Yeah, I wish more ponies were like you." Hydro replied,
"Well, my parents do bring back a lot of the friendship lessons Princess Celestia teaches them in Canterlot, Princess Twilight published a book on it, too." Ventus said,
"Well, it didn't come here." Hydro replied,
"Yeah, I know, maybe if the book did come here, ponies would accept you and you'd have more friends." Ventus said,
"You're still my only friend, Ventus." Hydro replied,
"You have anything to eat today?" Ventus asked,
"No, my parents are gone today, they got a job on a farm, it's not fair, they've got food, shelter, and ponies to befriend, and they on purposely left me behind." Hydro replied,
"Did you ask them why?" Ventus asked,
"They said I'm an embarrassment and I would humiliate them if I came along." Hydro replied,
"So, your parents don't want you around, either, my parents have told me several times that you and I shouldn't be friends due to different social class." Ventus said,
"Even you can't see me in public, everypony's telling everypony else not to be my friend." Hydro replied,
"Well, hopefully things will change." Ventus replied,
"I hope so, because only the marine animals at the shore like having me around." Hydro said,
"That reminds me, how's your water magic practice been?" Ventus asked,
"I've taught myself a new trick, I'll need some wind to complete it, though." Hydro replied,
"Come on, show me." Ventus said, and the two ran to the beach. Ventus and Hydro arrived at the beach and Hydro cast a spell to make himself walk on the water, he cast a spell while a blue aura appeared on his horn, the water began to rise and float around him,
"Okay, Ventus, now, I need some wind." Hydro said, and Ventus flapped his wings and created gusts of wind, Hydro fused the water and wind together and created a big tornado and Ventus got sucked into it. Ventus and Hydro exclaimed as they spun around in the tornado, it died down and they went ashore, they washed up on an island to the east and they groaned, the two stood up and looked around and saw a lot of earth ponies looking at them, they stood up and saw the earth ponies continued to look at them,
"Um, hi?" Ventus asked,
"Look." a mare said,
"That one has wings, and that one has a horn." a stallion said,
"Um, yeah, I'm a unicorn, and he's a Pegasus." Hydro said,
"They must be gods." a second mare said,
"No, no, no, you're mistaken, we were washed up from the shore." Ventus said, the earth ponies bowed down to them,
"Guys, we're not gods." Ventus said,
"Come on, Ventus, roll with it, we're worshiped here." Hydro said, and the earth ponies stood up,
"Who are you guys?" Ventus asked,
"We're a tribe of ponies that have been here for centuries, we have never seen a pony with a horn or wings until now." one stallion replied,
"You never saw a pony with wings fly over?" Hydro asked, the earth ponies shook their heads,
"How about ponies with horns casting magic to fly around with telekinesis?" Ventus asked, the tribe shook their heads again,
"A pony with a horn appearing suddenly?" Hydro asked, the earth ponies shook their heads,
"You guys never saw a unicorn or a Pegasus before?" Ventus asked,
"Is that what you two are called?" a stallion asked,
"Yes, I'm the unicorn, he's the Pegasus." Hydro replied,
"Do you two have names?" a filly asked,
"Yes, I'm Ventus, and he's Hydro." Ventus replied,
"Welcome to our tribe unicorn god Hydro and Pegasus god Ventus, we are your servants." another stallion said,
"Yes, let us provide you two a life of comfort." another mare said,
"I think I'm going to enjoy this." Hydro said,
"*chuckle* Just imagine how they will react if they see an alicorn." Ventus replied,
"We are yours to command, Hydro and Ventus, what decors would you like for our tribe?" a third stallion asked,
"Sorry, but it's getting late, we have to head home." Ventus replied,
"You all have homes?" a third mare asked,
"Well, he does, I don't." Hydro replied,
"Then stay with us, we will make you a home." an elderly mare said,
"It's fine, the others on the land across the water will get suspicious if I don't go back." Hydro replied,
"Yeah, we don't want to worry the others, bye now." Ventus said, and he flew back home while carrying Hydro and the earth ponies said bye to them. Ventus and Hydro arrived back at their home land and stood by the shore,
"Nopony will miss you here, will they?" Ventus asked,
"Of course not, you've seen how the ponies pick on me and beat me up here, even my own parents left me behind." Hydro replied,
"Well, try to sleep well tonight, Hydro, I'll come see you again tomorrow." Ventus said, and he walked to his home while Hydro slept on the beach.
Ventus woke up the next morning and his servants made breakfast for him, he had it and washed the dishes on his own and then began to make breakfast for his house servants, they finished and Ventus was then home schooled by his butler, he passed everything and then went outside to go play with Hydro. Ventus headed to town and he saw Hydro running away while covering his own head from adult ponies throwing scraps and trash at him, they laughed as they threw sharp and heavy objects at him and Hydro cast a teleporting spell and the stallions and mares went back on with their days while laughing. Ventus flew to the beach and saw Hydro there covered in trash, he used his magic to get water from the shore to wash himself, he finished and saw Ventus standing to his right,
"How long have you been here?" Hydro asked,
"Just got here." Ventus replied,
"Oh, alright, come on, let's go see the tribe." Hydro said, and he cast telekinesis on himself and floated and Ventus flew and the two went across the water. Ventus and Hydro arrived at the island across the water and the earth ponies ran to the others,
"Our gods have returned." a stallion said, and the entire tribe walked to the shore. Ventus and Hydro landed and the tribe bowed down to them,
"That's enough." Hydro said, and the tribe stood up,
"We are yours to command." a mare said,
"What have you all done so far?" Ventus asked,
"We have already created thrones and statues of you two." another stallion replied as they moved to the sides and showed the two thrones and a statue of Ventus and Hydro,
"One half of the tribe will be under your command, Ventus, while the other half will be yours, Hydro." another mare said,
"Which throne you want, Hydro?" Ventus asked,
"Doesn't matter to me." Hydro replied, Ventus walked to the throne on his left and sat in it and Hydro sat in the throne to his right,
"It has been decided, Pegasus god Ventus will rule the north, while unicorn god Hydro will rule the south." an elderly stallion said, and they carried the thrones to the northern and southern ends of the island. Ventus and Hydro looked around the island and saw it was quite small, and there were no animals nor bugs on the island,
"Where is all the fauna?" Ventus asked,
"The birds that once inhabited this island flew off to elsewhere, and the marine animals swam away." a stallion replied,
"What about land animals?" Hydro asked,
"Land animals?" a mare asked,
"You know, like cats, dogs, lions, elephants..." Hydro replied,
"What are those?" the mare asked,
"I guess they never had land animals." Ventus said,
"Yeah, probably not." Hydro replied,
"Well, let's begin ruling." Ventus said, Hydro smiled and the two went to their respective thrones. Ventus and Hydro directed the tribes under their command, they began building a palace for the two, and they carved stones and rocks, Ventus helped them build while Hydro sat on his throne and directed them,
"Hydro, you could at least help them." Ventus said,
"Nuh-uh, I'm done with having to fight to get everything in my life, I can finally have people do it for me." Hydro replied,
"What is he talking about, Pegasus god Ventus?" a stallion asked,
"He's not treated kindly from where he comes from." Ventus replied,
"Really?" a mare asked,
"Yes, ponies beat me and steal my things, I'm broke, too, so I can't go to school and get an education." Hydro replied,
"Oh my, stay with us, Hydro, you will live comfortably here." a second stallion said,
"I would like to, but others will notice I'm gone if I don't show up again." Hydro replied,
"Come on, everypony, we got architecture to build." another mare said, and the tribe worked while Ventus helped them and Hydro sat on his throne and observed,
"What's your life like away from here, Pegasus god?" a colt asked,
"Great, I live in a big, comfortable house and I have servants that take care of me." Ventus replied,
"*gasp* You're a god at other places, too?" a filly asked,
"No, I just come from an influential family, I'm not a god there." Ventus replied,
"But you said you have servants." the colt said,
"Who serve my family, it's their job." Ventus replied,
"Job?" the filly asked,
"It's a task one does for a living." Ventus replied,
"Oh, like a role." the filly said,
"Yeah, pretty much." Ventus replied,
"Unicorn god, Hydro, would you kindly help us lift this stone up?" a colt asked, and Hydro cast telekinesis to put the stone onto another piece of stone,
"Continue." Hydro said, and they all worked for hours until it was afternoon and the two went back home. Ventus had lunch at home and studied while Hydro went through trash cans to find lunch since he was broke, several ponies spotted him and chased him away, Ventus walked around town to see his other friends while Hydro hid since the ponies chased him and beat him up when they caught up to him, Ventus continued playing with his friends and had dinner while Hydro was beaten up by others and went through another day with no dinner, Ventus went to the beach to see Hydro after dinner,
"Hey, I brought you some dinner." Ventus said,
"Thanks." Hydro replied as he took and ate the sandwich,
"You ready?" Ventus asked,
"Yeah, let's go." Hydro replied, and the two went to the island across the water. Ventus and Hydro went back to the island and saw the tribe panting and resting, they looked and saw they were still building their palaces,
"What are you guys doing?" Hydro asked,
"We need to catch our breaths, unicorn god Hydro." a filly replied,
"Get back to work, the palace isn't going to build itself." Hydro said,
"Hydro, you'll work them to death if you do that." Ventus said,
"Really?" Hydro asked, Ventus nodded,
"Fine, take a break, but make it quick." Hydro said, and the two walked to their thrones. The tribe continued to build the palaces with the rocks that were available on the island, they worked for hours and rested when they were exhausted, Ventus worked with them while Hydro sat in his throne and would use his telekinesis to put the rocks where the tribe could not reach,
"There, the building is done, now the carving." the stallion said, and they begun using their hoofs to carve the palace and they made the palaces shaped like Ventus and Hydro, the two looked on and nodded while smiling,
"What decorations would you two like?" a stallion asked, the two looked and thought about it,
"I was thinking about adding some animal decorations." Ventus said,
"Yeah, me too." Hydro said,
"What would you two like to decorate first?" a mare asked,
"My throne." Hydro replied,
"Yeah, mine, too." Ventus said,
"What do you two have in mind?" a colt asked,
"Well, you guys can decorate the thrones by adding a carved animal head at the top of the throne." Ventus said,
"Sounds good, what animal do you two want?" a filly asked,
"An eagle." Ventus replied,
"A shark." Hydro said,
"Let's get started." a second stallion said, and they walked to the thrones to work on them. Ventus and Hydro walked together to explore the island and saw there was pretty much nothing but grass and rocks,
"Tell me, Hydro, why do you still go back to home when you can stay here?" Ventus asked,
"Because ponies will notice I'm gone, and my parents will be mad if they're informed." Hydro replied,
"How?" Ventus asked,
"Somepony will send a letter to them, they will come back, angry, and give me beatings." Hydro replied,
"Oh right, that did happen once." Ventus said,
"Yeah, and the rest of the town laughed at me and beat me up after they finished." Hydro replied,
"Well, try to stay here as long as you can, Hydro, you're admired here." Ventus said,
"They don't have the foods I like, though." Hydro replied,
"Oh, right, there are no fruits or bread here, but maybe they can make a salad." Ventus said,
"I'm not a fan of salad, though." Hydro replied,
"It's still better than nothing." Ventus said, a stallion trotted to the two,
"The throne decorations are done." the stallion said, and the two walked with him. Ventus and Hydro went back to the tribe and they showed them their thrones, Ventus' throne had an eagle's head at the top of the throne along with its wings on the armrests and talons at the bottom while Hydro's throne had a shark's head at the top, fins on the armrests, a tail at the bottom of it, and a fin on the back of it, the two nodded while smiling,
"What would you two like next?" a filly asked,
"Um... how about statues?" Ventus asked,
"We already made them." a colt replied,
"No, I mean, like statues of animals, like two statues of eagles for him, and two statues of sharks for me, put them beside our palaces, one on each side." Hydro said, the tribe nodded and begun working while Ventus and Hydro watched. The tribe built the statues to the sides of the palaces while Ventus helped them and Hydro watched, he only used his telekinesis to put the carved rocks in spots the tribe could not reach, the tribe began carving the rocks into statues of eagles and sharks, they finished after hours of work and the eagles were standing up straight with their wings spread and the sharks were had their mouths open as if they were about to bite something,
"Looks good." Hydro said, the tribe smiled,
"Thanks, guys, but we have to head back now, see you all tomorrow." Ventus said, and the two headed back home while the tribe waved bye at them and Ventus went to bed and slept while Hydro slept on the sand and endured the cold. The next day came and Ventus got out of bed and had breakfast while Hydro scavenged the shore of the beach for any food he could find to eat, several ponies also came to the beach and gave him beatings, he tried to fight back but the ponies knocked him down from behind and beat him up more, they walked away while laughing. Ventus finished his home school lesson for the day and he went to go see Hydro, he gave him a bag of potato chips and he ate it,
"Come on, let's go." Hydro said, and they went across the water. Ventus and Hydro arrived at the island and the tribe gasped at seeing Hydro,
"Unicorn god Hydro." a mare said as she ran to him and looked at the bruises all over his face,
"What happened?" the mare asked,
"The people outside of here beat me up, I had nothing to eat, either." Hydro replied,
"Come on, unicorn god Hydro, let us get you some food and medicine." a stallion said, and they escorted him to his palace. Ventus went to go check on Hydro and saw him having paste made from mashed plants rubbed onto him and being fed grass, flowers, and nuts,
"Thank you, that will be all." Hydro said, and the earth ponies left,
"You feel better?" Ventus asked,
"Yeah." Hydro replied,
"I was thinking about teaching them how to make basic homes." Ventus said,
"Nah, I'd rather have clothes made for us first." Hydro replied,
"But what about them? What about what they want?" Ventus asked,
"We're their gods, Ventus, they'll always put us first, so let's get our priorities out of the way and then focus on them." Hydro replied,
"But still, how do they feel about it?" Ventus asked,
"It's fine, Pegasus god Ventus." a stallion behind him said,
"See, there you go. I would like an outfit made for me now." Hydro said,
"Yes, unicorn god Hydro, we will make one from the softest and most comfortable material we can find." the stallion replied,
"No, I don't want a fancy robe or fine clothing, I want my outfit to be a suit of armor." Hydro said,
"That can be arranged." the stallion replied, Hydro smiled,
"Wait, how do you guys know about armor?" Ventus asked,
"Our ancestors had to fight avian and marine animals that are extinct now since they would attack them, they passed down information about weapons and armor orally, it is in case we do get attacked again." the stallion replied,
"Okay, good, I'd like my armor made now." Hydro said,
"Would you like for your armor to have a shark theme as well?" the stallion asked,
"Sure." Hydro replied, and the stallion left,
"Don't overwork them, Hydro, you won't have any ponies to serve you if you do." Ventus said,
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind, you should go see your people now." Hydro replied, and Ventus left, he walked to his palace and a mare walked to him,
"Would you like an outfit made for you, Pegasus god Ventus?" the mare asked,
"Sure, armor, please, and make it eagle themed." Ventus replied, the mare bowed to him and Ventus went into his palace and sat on his throne. Ventus and Hydro waited while the earth ponies made their armor, the door opened to Hydro's palace and he saw his suit of armor, the helmet was shaped like a shark's head with its mouth closed, and it had fins on is front knees, it also came with a cape that appeared to be made from skinned tree bark interwoven with one another,
"No, guys, I can't use my horn if it's covered, that part needs to be removed." Hydro said, and the tribe took the helmet off and walked out, they came back with the horn on the helmet gone and a hole there,
"Good, that'll work." Hydro said, and he walked over to try on the armor, the earth ponies put it on him and he moved slower than before since the armor was a little heavy,
"I can get used to this." Hydro said, the tribe smiled while Hydro adjusted to his new armor. Ventus walked around his kingdom and saw the earth ponies working on making his armor,
"Guys, wait." Ventus said as he trotted to them, they looked at him and he saw his armor was being made from carved rocks,
"I can't have my armor made from rock." Ventus said,
"Huh? Why not?" a filly asked,
"It's too heavy, I can't fly with that on, I need my armor to be lightweight." Ventus replied,
"Okay, it's good you caught us before we even got halfway finished." a stallion said,
"Also, i need holes on the sides, I can't use my wings if they're covered." Ventus replied, the earth ponies nodded and they begun knocking their own trees down, they peeled the tree bark and they began carving with their hoofs, they made Ventus' armor, the helmet was shaped like an eagle's head with the beak closed, the back of the knees were carved to be shaped like feathers, and the armor on the hoofs were shaped like talons, Ventus saw they also carved the helmet to make it look like it had feathers, and there was a cape on it made from interwoven tree bark,
"Wow, you guys really are something." Ventus said,
"Come on, Pegasus god Ventus, try it." a mare said, and he wore the armor, he walked easily, he tried flying and he could fly just fine,
"Do you like it?" a colt asked,
"Yes, thank you." Ventus replied, the earth ponies smiled,
"We also lacquered it with tree sap." a filly said,
"Thanks, preserve it, Hydro and I have to go back now and attend to our other subjects." Ventus replied,
"The one that disrespect unicorn god Hydro?" a stallion asked,
"Yeah." Ventus replied in a distraught tone,
"Don't be sad, I'm sure unicorn god Hydro will be alright." the filly said,
"I hope so, come on, Hydro." Ventus said, and the two went back home. Ventus had lunch while Hydro did not have anything to eat, Ventus also went outside to go play with other foals of his social class while adult ponies ran after Hydro and attacked him, he flung them away with his telekinesis but they got back up and went back to attack him again, the adult ponies laughed as they looked at the beaten and battered Hydro on the ground, they left while Hydro laid on the ground in pain, a few foals came to play on the beach and they threw sand at him, he used his telekinesis to fling them away, they went back to him and threw more sand and then rocks at him until their parents called them and they went home. Ventus had soup and bread for dinner and drank cranberry juice, he washed the dishes on his own and yawned, he was tucked into bed by his butler while one servant read a book to him and he slept while Hydro recovered from his injuries and slept in the sand and endured another cold night.
The next day came and Ventus was served breakfast in bed while Hydro hid behind a rock so the ponies would not beat him up even more, Ventus finished breakfast, washed the dishes on his own, and then was home schooled by his butler, he finished his lesson for the morning and went outside with a sandwich, he walked over to Hydro and gave him the sandwich and he ate it, the two then went across the water. Ventus and Hydro arrived at the island and the earth ponies under Hydro's rule treated his wounds and fed him, he finished and put on his armor,
"Alright, everypony, let's start making weapons." Hydro said,
"Weapons?" a colt asked,
"Uh-huh, we're going to start training to fight today." Hydro replied, and the earth ponies began making swords and spears while Ventus watched,
"What do you want us to do, Pegasus god Ventus?" a colt asked,
"Oh, um... let's build some homes for you guys." Ventus replied, and he showed them how to build basic houses using sticks and dirt, he also put dirt in the water to turn it into mud and used it to hold the sticks together, the earth ponies began copying him to build small houses. The tribe under Hydro's command made swords and spears and practiced with them, Hydro got one and he began training them in combat,
"Alright, everypony, copy me." Hydro said, and he stabbed the spear forward and then did a kick, they all practiced using the spear while Hydro instructed them, Ventus watched the tribe train while the tribe under his control stood behind him,
"Come to think of it, we should also do some combat training, you guys will have to defend your home if it's invaded." Ventus said, and they made swords and spears carved from the rocks and sticks and Ventus tried to help them, they finished after hours of work and they began training, the ponies Hydro were training began to sweat and pant and fell over,
"Get up, keep going." Hydro said, and they tried to stand but could not,
"Unicorn god Hydro, can we take a break?" a colt asked,
"No, you need to build strength and stamina." Hydro replied, he continued to instruct the tribe, the sun began to set while the tribe trained for combat,
"We have to go home now, keep training while I'm gone." Hydro said, Ventus looked at Hydro while he began to leave,
"That's enough, guys, we'll continue tomorrow." Ventus said, and the tribe under his command stopped and rested while the two went back home,
"What are you doing, Hydro? They're going to collapse from exhaustion." Ventus said,
"I need them trained." Hydro replied,
"For what?" Ventus asked,
"So they can defend themselves." Hydro replied, Ventus raised an eyebrow at Hydro and he just walked away and Ventus headed home. Ventus woke up the next morning and ran out of the house before his servants began working, he ran to the beach and saw Hydro was getting ready to head over already, the two went together and arrived at the island. Ventus and Hydro arrived the tribe under Hydro's command were asleep,
"Wake up!" Hydro said, the earth ponies were startled awake,
"I didn't say you all could sleep, get back to training." Hydro said,
"But unicorn god Hydro, we've been training all night." a filly replied,
"Doesn't matter, get back to training." Hydro replied, and he showed them how to use the sword next and they begun swinging them around while Hydro observed. Ventus walked around his kingdom and the earth ponies bowed to him when he was near them, they stood up and got on with their days on building homes and gathering food for others to eat, he watched Hydro while he observed his ponies training to fight, a filly swung a sword in the wrong direction,
"Wrong!" Hydro said and he punched her in her jaw, she yelped as she fell,
"When any of you mess up, you will get hit, it is so you all can build tolerance to pain." Hydro said, and the filly got back up and continued training in fighting, Hydro punched and kicked whoever messed up,
"Wait, Hydro." Ventus said as he ran to them, Hydro looked at him,
"A good ruler doesn't hit their subjects." Ventus said,
"I need them to build endurance, so it's necessary." Hydro replied,
"Then why are you only hitting them when they mess up?" Ventus asked,
"So they will learn, every time they make the same mistake, the harder the hit will be next time." Hydro replied, the earth ponies under his command began to train while trying to keep themselves composed,
"Also, Hydro, you yourself have to train with them." Ventus said,
"Yeah, why aren't you training with us for?" a colt asked,
"Because I have weaknesses you guys don't have, one of them is I don't have the physical capabilities of you guys." Hydro replied, the tribe stopped training and looked at him,
"Wait, really?" a mare asked,
"Yes, Ventus and I do not have the strength nor stamina of you earth ponies, we cannot grow crops, either." Hydro replied,
"What can you two do, then?" a stallion asked, Hydro's horn glowed and he manipulated the water, the tribe watched with awe, Ventus flew up into the sky and stood on a cloud, the tribe gasped,
"You two really are gods." an elderly mare said,
"Yeah, yeah, back to training." Hydro said, and they did, the foals and elders began to collapse from exhaustion, Hydro kicked them to make them get up but they did not,
"Unicorn god Hydro, please, I can't train any longer." an elderly stallion said,
"Get up." Hydro said, the stallion tried but fell back down and panted,
"Execute him." Hydro said, the tribe exclaimed with confusion and shock,
"You heard me, he can't continue and is now useless, so execute him." Hydro said,
"Please, unicorn god Hydro, have mercy, my husband has been training nonstop." an elderly mare said,
"He's unable to train and has no energy, now you will execute him, that's an order as your god, make it as quick and as painless as you can." Hydro said, the tribe looked on with shock and then at Ventus' kingdom, they were all happy and foals were running around and playing,
"Focus on your own kingdom, I will also be choosing who will be married with who." Hydro said, the earth ponies exclaimed again,
"But why?" a filly asked,
"You guys can't have weak and sick foals born, they need to be strong and healthy so your tribe can continue to prosper for generations to come." Hydro replied,
"With all due respect, unicorn god Hydro, all of this training is starting to make me feel miserable." a colt said, the tribe nodded,
"I know it's unpleasant now, but trust me, it will all pay off in the end, now, as your next phase of training, execute that stallion, you can't have your personal feelings get in the way of battle." Hydro said, the tribe looked at the stallion,
"It's alright, everypony, I've already lived out my life, go through with it, for the sake of our tribe not having any weak ponies in it." the elderly stallion said, and they did,
"Good, I'll make arrangements for him to have a proper burial later, continue training." Hydro said, and they did while Ventus watched him with shock,
"Are you going to choose our partners for us, too, Pegasus god Ventus?" a filly asked,
"No, choose somepony you genuinely love." Ventus replied, the filly smiled and ran back to her family. Ventus watched Hydro train his ponies for combat and he hit the ponies whenever they messed up and ordered them to execute whoever collapsed from exhaustion or was sick,
"Hydro!" Ventus said as he ran to him, Hydro faced him,
"This needs to stop." Ventus said,
"Why? I am merely weeding out the weaklings so everypony in the tribe will be strong and healthy when I'm done." Hydro said,
"What are you going to do when all of them are gone?" Ventus asked,
"That won't happen, those who can still train will get to live." Hydro replied, Ventus turned his attention to the earth ponies,
"What's do you guys think of his actions?" Ventus asked,
"Unicorn god Hydro is doing what's right." a stallion replied,
"Yes, he's executing the weak ponies so we can be a strong tribe." a mare said,
"Look, there's another exhausted pony on the ground right now." Ventus said as he pointed to a filly,
"I was too weak to keep up, execute me so I don't weaken the tribe." the filly said, Ventus reeled back at what she said,
"No, keep her alive, send her to my kingdom so she can recover." Ventus said, and they did,
"You would heal that weak foal?" Hydro asked,
"Yes, I would." Ventus replied, Hydro looked at the sky and saw the sun high in the sky,
"It's time for us to return, we'll be back tomorrow." Hydro said, and he and Ventus went across the water. Ventus and Hydro arrived back home and Ventus went home to have lunch while Hydro looked for food on the beach's shore and there was nothing, Ventus stayed home for the rest of the day and helped his house servants while Hydro was found and beaten up by the other ponies in the town, one pony hit him in the back of his head with a glass bottle and it broke on impact, he grunted a little and the other ponies began throwing sand into his eyes, he tried to stand up and one pony behind him stomped his head back down into ground and other ponies around him began kicking him, the sun began to set and they ran home while laughing,
"Just you wait." Hydro grumbled, and his head fell back down onto the ground and he lost consciousness.
The next day came and Ventus had breakfast, he cleaned the dishes on his own and then ran to the beach, he saw Hydro panting on the ground,
"Hydro!" Ventus said as he ran to him, he held him up and Hydro looked at him,
"Let's go to the island." Hydro said weakly, and Ventus flew there while carrying Hydro. Ventus arrived at the island and the tribe quickly treated Hydro's wounds and fed him, he and Ventus put on their armors and Hydro watched the ponies who continued to train, he saw a pile of dead ponies behind the tribe,
"Okay, stop, I think that's enough training, now to make some bow and arrows." Hydro said, and the tribe began to make bow and arrows from wood, sticks, and rocks, Hydro used his telekinesis to help them make them, the bowstrings were made from tree fibre and they were twisted into a single cord, the bow and arrows were made and the tribe began doing target practice, the foals were too weak to pull the strings back,
"Alright, this one will be adults only." Hydro said, and they shot the bow and arrows at targets that Hydro pointed at,
"Wow, you guys are actually pretty good, it's almost like you all are naturals, let's train a little more." Hydro said,
"What is the point of this, unicorn god Hydro? Why are we doing all of this?" a colt asked,
"Revenge." Hydro replied,
"Revenge?" a filly asked,
"Yes, you've all seen me come here all beaten up and hungry, after training is complete, we're going to go to where I'm from and begin attacking them." Hydro replied,
"Oh, so you want to get back at them." the colt said,
"Exactly, I've had enough of their beatings, and the things they tell us to do on how to solve the problems don't work." Hydro replied,
"I support your reason, unicorn god Hydro." the filly said,
"Me too, I think it's time for those who made you that way feel what they made you feel." the colt said,
"No, when we do attack, don't leave a single one alive, and then after that, we go after the rulers and take over." Hydro replied,
"Wait, Hydro." Ventus said as he ran to him, Hydro looked at him,
"Why do the rulers need to be attacked?" Ventus asked,
"Because their methods on dealing with those who bully you don't work. I mean, seriously, to stop people from bullying you, all you need to do is smile, pffft, that's stupid, that doesn't solve anything, that makes your bullies think you're a masochist." Hydro replied,
"That still doesn't explain why our rulers need to be attacked." Ventus said,
"Because they always talk about friendship and how it helps things, their friendship lessons didn't help me, they wasted my time, I will overthrow them and take over Equestria and solve problems with other methods besides friendship, they will have better results, too." Hydro replied,
"Hydro, you're directing your revenge to the wrong people." Ventus said,
"Am I now? Is it wrong to direct my revenge to the rulers since their methods and advice didn't work?" Hydro asked,
"Yes." Ventus replied,
"What do you suggest, then?" Hydro asked,
"Just attack those who bullied you directly, leave the others alone." Ventus replied,
"Attack? I'm killing them." Hydro said,
"That's going to cause more problems." Ventus replied,
"I don't care, they hurt me, nopony helped, those who noticed joined in, and they find tormenting me to be funny, I think it's more than enough reason to warrant their deaths." Hydro said,
"Fine, I'll just leave you and let you think about it, I'll be running my kingdom for now." Ventus said, and he walked back. Ventus attended to his subjects and helped them with things like building homes and finding food, they also built weapons in case they get attacked, Ventus trained along with them and they taught him how to fire the bow, the sun was high and Ventus and Hydro went back home. Ventus had lunch and was home schooled while Hydro hid from the ponies, Ventus finished his home school lesson and went back to the beach and he and Hydro headed back to the tribe,
"You sure about what you want to do, Hydro?" Ventus asked,
"Yes, I have nothing to lose." Hydro replied,
"Okay then." Ventus said, and they arrived back at the island. Ventus and Hydro arrived back at the island and Hydro continued watching his subjects train,
"Alright, I think that's good enough. Ventus, I need your people." Hydro said, the tribe under Ventus' command looked at him while Ventus ran to him,
"No, I'm not giving you my subjects." Ventus said,
"I'm going to return them with I'm done, Ventus, I just need them for my revenge." Hydro said,
"You already got half the tribe under your command." Ventus said,
"I need the entire tribe." Hydro replied,
"No way, I am not leading them to their deaths, you're going to lose if you try to fight Equestria." Ventus said,
"It'll be fine if we make it back in one piece, I'll stay here while Princess Celestia lives in fear that I'm still out there somewhere, I'm going to be the sword hanging above her throne." Hydro said,
"Forget it, Hydro, I'm not giving you my people." Ventus said,
"Then I'll take it by force." Hydro said, and his tribe got ready to attack him,
"Stand down, this is between me and him." Hydro said, and they did. Hydro used his telekinesis to remove his cape and threw it to the side, Ventus then took off his cape and threw it to the side, the tribe backed away and Hydro cast magic to make water from the shore come up and tried to smash Ventus with it, Ventus flew up into the sky and then flew to Hydro and tackled him down, he grunted as he fell to the ground, Hydro began punching Ventus with his front hoofs and he punched Hydro in his helmet with his wings, Hydro used his telekinesis to throw Ventus off of him, he grunted as he cast telekinesis on himself, he shot water out of his horn and Ventus flew side-to-side to dodge them, he flapped his wings and made strong gusts of wind appear, the tribe's houses in his kingdom got blown apart while Ventus continued creating gusts of wind to distract Hydro. Hydro cast a spell and made water rise up and take Ventus in, the water went down and Ventus was underwater, he flew out of the water and towards Hydro, he shot more zaps out of his horn and Ventus strafed to dodge them, he got in front of Hydro and Hydro cast telekinesis and threw him back, he made a tidal wave come up with his magic in an attempt to take Ventus down. Ventus flew up higher and flew back to land, he flew around quickly in a circle and created a tornado, it went to Hydro and he exclaimed he got caught in it and was thrown into the water. Ventus flew above the water and Hydro came back up with his magic, his armor rusted, so he took it off, he cast telekinesis on himself and Ventus flapped his wings again to distract Hydro with strong gusts of wind, Hydro glared and shot water at Ventus, his armor began to get soggy and the lacquer did not protect it anymore, so he took his armor off and let it fall into the ocean. Hydro cast a breathing sphere around himself and dived into the water while Ventus flew up into the sky, he began flying in a circle to create a tornado over the water while Hydro cast a spell and was creating a whirlpool, Ventus formed the tornado and it went down while the whirlpool formed and began to suck in Ventus while Hydro was being sucked into the tornado. Ventus and Hydro struggled not to get sucked into the tornado and whirlpool, but they did and went between the two, they wrestled with one another while growling, the two punched one another while they spun around between the two and were shot out of the tornado and whirlpool and back onto the island, Hydro landed on the ground with Ventus on top of him and he hit his head on a rock. Ventus panted and looked at Hydro,
"Hydro? Hydro?" Ventus asked, he checked him while the tribe walked to him, he saw Hydro was lifeless and he cried into his chest, he looked at the tribe,
"So, gods have a limited lifespan, too." a stallion said,
"That means even Pegasus god Ventus will be gone one day, too." a filly said, Ventus finished grieving and he picked up Hydro's body and flew back to his home.
Ventus sat across from Doctor Whooves and held his tears back,
"Shortly after I brought Hydro back home, nopony mourned him, those who heard the news were glad he was gone." Ventus said,
"So, about all of this ponies beating him up and stealing his food, how do you know that happened?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"The beach he stays at is close to my home, I can hear it, I also sleep on my house's second floor, so I can see it sometimes, too." Ventus replied,
"Ah, okay." Doctor Whooves said,
"Well? Do you believe me?" Ventus asked,
"I have heard stranger tales, but I would like for you to take me to the island." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Yes, come along." Ventus said, and the two walked together. Ventus arrived at the beach Hydro stayed at and picked up Doctor Whooves, he grunted loudly and began to fly, he held onto Doctor Whooves as tightly as he could and they arrived at the island, Doctor Whooves looked and saw the unicorn and Pegasus shaped palaces and the statues of the eagles and sharks,
"Great whickering stallions! It's just like how you described it." Doctor Whooves said, the tribe of earth ponies walked forward to him and Ventus,
"Look, Pegasus god Ventus has returned." a stallion said, and the tribe bowed down to him,
"Who are you?" a colt asked,
"I am Doctor Whooves, I'm a time traveler." Doctor Whooves replied,
"*gasp* Are you the god of time?" a filly asked,
"No, I just record history, I'm not a god." Doctor Whooves replied,
"I see, so gods have a horn or wings." a mare said,
"I guess you can say that." Ventus replied,
"Well, Ventus, I have to go back now." Doctor Whooves said,
"Alright." Ventus replied, and he grunted as he picked him up and flew across the water,
"Say, are your parents back yet?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yeah, they're home." Ventus replied,
"What's going to happen to Hydro?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"His funeral's tomorrow." Ventus replied,
"I'm sorry to say this, Ventus, but ponies will think you're crazy or dreaming if you talk about that place, so it's probably for the best you keep it to yourself." Doctor Whooves said,
"Okay." Ventus replied in a disappointed tone, and he soon arrived back at Equestria's mainland and Doctor Whooves headed back home.
The next day came and Hydro's funeral began, only Ventus and his family and servants attended,
"Ventus, you shouldn't associate with lower-class ponies like him." Ventus' mother said,
"I just thought I'd be a decent pony and pay my respects." Ventus replied,
"Still, where is his family?" Ventus' father asked, Ventus continued to pay his respects until a stallion walked to them,
"I have brought a message from his parents, they said they could care less about the loss of their son and are glad that he is gone now that they live in comfort without him, they also said that's why they left him behind here in the first place." the stallion said, Ventus and his parents and servants looked on with disgust,
"What kind of parents are they?" Ventus' mother asked,
"I know, right, leaving him behind for their own selfish desires." Ventus' father replied, and they paid their respects to him and went home after a while. Ventus woke up the next day and had breakfast and did his home school lesson, he then went outside and flew to the island, he went to the tribe and the entire tribe bowed to him,
"I'm sorry to say this to you all, but Hydro will no longer be around." Ventus said,
"It is alright, he is now in a better place, free from the cruelties of life." a mare said, the rest of the tribe nodded,
"I guess you can say that." Ventus said, and he walked to his palace and put on a newly made eagle themed wooden armor and cape, he then sat on his throne and continued ruling over the tribe as a god.
Doctor Whooves was walking around Ponyville and he saw Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack at the park with their pets, they watched them playing, he walked past them while waiting for his next patient, he looked at Fluttershy's sanctuary and saw the animals getting along just fine, he kept walking while waiting for his new patient, he knew that he was not like a normal pony. Doctor Whooves arrived back at his home and heard a deep male voice grunting, he looked and saw the stallion,
"Great whickering stallions!" Doctor Whooves exclaimed as he reeled up onto his hind legs, the stallion was a muscular earth pony, he had a dark yellow coat, orange eyes that were bloodshot, long straight black mane and tail that were greasy, and he was wearing a mask on his face made from the skin of several animals sewn together with sinew dyed black that covered everything except his eyes, snout, and mouth, and was wearing black jeans that were torn at his hind hoofs, his cutie mark could not be seen,
"Are you the patient?" Doctor Whooves asked, the stallion nodded,
"Come with me then." Doctor Whooves said, and they entered his home, the stallion walked on his hind legs like a bipedal creature.
The patient stood across from Doctor Whooves, who sat in his chair,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said, the stallion looked for something and went outside, he came back with hoofful of dirt,
"Hey, careful with that." Doctor Whooves remarked, and the stallion put it on his desk, he began making symbols in the dirt with his hoof,
"Great whickering stallions! This is a dead language." Doctor Whooves stated, the stallion looked at him,
"It's alright, I can understand it." Doctor Whooves remarked, and the stallion made more symbols,
"Your name is Feral, and your job is survivalist?" Doctor Whooves asked, the stallion nodded,
"Go on, I can read what you're writing." Doctor Whooves stated, and he wiped the dirt around and then made more symbols in it,
"You can understand our language but can't speak it." Doctor Whooves read, Feral nodded,
"How did you learn?" Doctor Whooves questioned, Feral made more symbols in the dirt,
"Your parents taught you before they passed away, they were historians who taught you how to write this language." Doctor Whooves read, Feral nodded while smiling and grunting,
"Well, let's get started." Doctor Whooves said, and Feral began writing and drawing his experiences in the dirt.
Feral lived in a jungle filled with wildlife in western Equestria, he has lived there ever since he was three years old, his parents passed away from getting attacked by an animal that terrorized the jungle, they were killed before they could teach him how to speak, he found their reports and learned how to write the ancient language while pony travelers taught him the pony language and gave him what he needed to survive. Feral walked through the jungle and made weapons with wood and rocks, he ate meat and drank water for his breakfast, he finished and went to go see how the other animals were doing, they ran to him and he petted them as they licked him, he let them go and the animals ran back to their families. He got his spears and his bow and arrows, his bowstring was made from natural fiber, and the arrows were made from bones and rocks, he walked around and looked for his lunch, he saw a stag eating grass, he shot it in its head and it fell, he went to the stag and put his head down and closed his eyes to apologize for killing him, he picked him up and carried him back home.
Feral cooked and ate the deer for his lunch and burped when he finished, he walked around on his hind legs and heard snickering,
"We're going to get a lot of money from this beaut." a male voice said,
"Yup, we can use its teeth to make jewelry, too." a second male voice responded, they snickered while Feral looked and saw two stallions with a fox on the ground and tied up, they were about to put it in their wagon. Feral jumped up a tree and jumped to a cliff next, he jumped down in front of the two poachers while growling, the two screamed at seeing his mask, they took their wagon and ran away while Feral threw spears at their wagon. He bit the restraints off of the fox and it got up and ran away, he walked around and went back to patrolling the jungle. He walked around and saw everything was peaceful at the moment, he picked some plants to eat while he walked around. Feral stopped walking for a minute when he saw a family of tigers around, he walked over to them and saw they were around a dead tiger that was bigger than all of them, it had arrows and spears in it, its head was missing as well. Feral jumped into a tree and landed on a branch, he looked around to see anything suspicious, he saw a blood trail and footprints on the ground, he jumped down and followed it.
Feral jumped from the tree and onto the ground, he checked the footprint and saw it had four paws and a pretty big heel, he ran again and jumped onto the next tree when it was in his sight, he crawled on the longest branch and looked forward, he saw more footprints and drips of blood on the ground, he jumped down again and followed the trail. He kept following the footprints and soon smelled the blood, he followed the scent and began walking forward slowly, he walked on his hind legs while using his front legs to balance himself, he walked forward to see what killed the tiger. Feral walked slowly and saw four bipedal cougar-like creatures, they all had reddish-brown fur that covered their entire bodies, they had spears, bow and arrows, knives, and hatchets, they all spoke in an unknown language and had deep male voices, they turned around and Feral saw leather straps across their chests with a metal plate on the center of them that had a cougar skull carved on them, they were also wearing necklaces with severed heads on them, he saw various animals and pony heads on the necklaces.
"Wait, did you say they had reddish-brown fur and feline features?" Doctor Whooves asked, Feral nodded,
"Werecougars, they're a tribe that like to hunt dangerous animals and people for sport, they consider those who give them hard hunts and fights to be worthy opponents." Doctor Whooves explained, Feral wrote something in the dirt and he looked, it asked if they had a leader,
"Yes, they are led by a tribe chief, usually male, he becomes the chief by proving himself to be the strongest of his tribe, that doesn't just mean killing an animal more dangerous than what the rest of his tribe hunts, he also has to fight the other werecougars for the title." Doctor Whooves explained, Feral wiped the dirt around again and made another sentence, he asked if there were anymore creatures like them that hunted others,
"Yes, three more tribes just like them, werewolves, werecoyotes, and werebears." Doctor Whooves replied, Feral wiped the dirt around and made another sentence, it asked why were they in the jungle and where they were from,
"My best guess is those four you encountered are there to test their own skills or seek out a worthy challenge, you said they had deep voices, so they're not teenagers that are there to hunt down and kill a strong animal as a rite of passage to show the adults they are ready to hunt with them, as for where they're from, I'm not sure, they have tribes all over Equestria." Doctor Whooves said, Feral nodded and continued writing in the dirt.
Feral watched the werecougars and they smelled the air, they began running on all fours and he followed them. He arrived back in the jungle and saw the four watching a tiger. The werecougars stalked it and one shot an arrow into the back of its head, the tiger roared as it died. Feral watched the four and the one who killed it cut the tiger's head off with a hatchet, he then undid his necklace and used one end to stab through the tiger's head on the side, it came out on the other side and he slid the head onto the necklace and put it back on, the four werecougars went elsewhere. Feral walked to the dead tiger and mourned it, he finished and went back to tracking the four foreign creatures. He tracked them by their paw prints and he saw them again, their ears' flicked each time he took a step, Feral realized they heard him and he got on the ground and crawled slowly. He crawled to them slowly and they still heard him, they quickly turned around and shot arrows at him, he quickly got up and jumped back, he ran away while the werecougars chased him.
Feral ran back to where he stayed last night as quickly as he could and got his weapons while the werecougars chased him and shot arrows at him, he faced them and shot an arrow from his bow at them, one werecougar caught it and shot it with his bow. Feral ducked while the arrow hit a tree, he saw the four werecougars throwing their spears at him, he threw one of his spears and one caught it and threw it back at him, he turned his body to his right and dodged it. He ran and jumped on the trees and tackled one werecougar down, but he threw Feral over himself and got back up. Feral got back up while the werecougar took out a knife and tried to stab him, he held him back with his front hoofs, he struggled while sweating while the werecougar continued to try to stab him. Feral wrestled with the werecougar while the other three watched, he growled while the werecougar remained silent, he pushed him back while cutting the werecougar's right cheek with his own knife. He stumbled a little but remained standing, he felt his own cheek and looked at the blood, he smiled and chuckled, Feral tried to punch him but he grabbed his hoof and began squeezing it, he lifted Feral up in the air and he tried kicking him with his hind hoofs, the werecougar threw him back, Feral got up and ran away while the four werecougars smiled and chased him.
Feral ran away while he heard the werecougars behind himself, he ran faster and went into the jungle, he began jumping from tree branch to tree branch, he heard the werecougars jump and they jumped from tree branch to tree branch as well, he jumped higher into the tree in an attempt to lose them, he heard them still coming, Feral continued jumping in the leaves and tried to lose the werecougars, he went as far as he could and jumped out of the trees and began running. Feral went ran through the jungle and reached into a tree to take a sword out that he found buried in the ground many years ago that was with a pony skeleton, he ran around more and got rope made from animal hairs and furs and other trash that he collected from pony travelers. Feral kept running and came across two trees, he quickly tied rope between the two to set up a tripwire, he dug a hole in front of the rope and put his knives in it, he covered it with leaves and grass. He ran a bit and heard the werecougars catching up, he saw them running and the one in the front tripped over the rope and fell into the hole, the other three stopped and looked at him, they paid their respects to their ally and took his weapons, they began hunting down Feral again.
Feral ran through the jungle and set up another trap, he tied more rope and put it through a tree branch with a log tied on it, the rope was held in place on the ground by being tied to a stick stabbed into the ground, he ran forward and hid behind a rock while he heard the werecougars coming, he saw the three remaining ones arrive and one kicked the stick out of the ground. The log on the rope began to fall but the werecougar grabbed it and stopped it mid-motion, Feral's eyes widened while the werecougar threw the log and rope behind himself, he and the other two began sniffing and they look at where Feral was hiding, they ran and Feral began running away, the three werecougars shot arrows at him and he laid on his stomach to dodge them, he got back up and ran more. One werecougar took a spear off of his back and aimed it at Feral. He looked back and saw two werecougars were chasing him while the third one was in the back and aiming a spear at him, he threw the spear and he ducked to dodge it, the spear landed on the ground. He ran more and the werecougars jumped into the trees and he heard them jumping past him. The third werecougar was chasing him and catching up to him quickly, he tackled Feral down and he grunted. Feral tried to get up but the werecougar wrapped his tail around his neck and began to strangle him, he gagged and tried to breathe while the werecougar wrapped his tail around his neck even tighter, he lifted his hind left leg up and kicked the werecougar in his chin. He grunted as he fell over and his tail unwrapped itself, Feral took it off and ran away, the werecougar got up and rubbed his own chin, he and the other two continued chasing him.
Feral ran through the jungle and saw an open area with very little trees, he also saw a panther with its cubs walking by, they stopped and looked at him. Feral bowed to them to say hello and they rubbed their heads on him, he then used his hoofs to tell them to leave, they heard the tree branches move, they looked back and saw the three werecougars, one aimed his bow at the adult panther and shot an arrow at it. Feral took out his sword and cut the arrow while it was in midair, he took a spear off of his back while the panthers ran away, the same werecougar aimed at the adult panther again and Feral threw his spear at him and hit him in his heart. He looked at the panthers running away and then focused on the two remaining werecougars while holding his sword, the two shot arrows at him and he cut them with his sword, one threw a spear and Feral cut it with his sword while the other shot another arrow at him while he was distracted, he moved his own face back quickly and just barely dodged the arrow, it put a cut on his mask on the left cheek. He ran away while the two continued throwing spears and shooting arrows at him, he knew what was up ahead and took his supplies off, he came across a waterfall and threw his gear as far as he could, they landed on the ground in front of it, he then jumped down into the water as the werecougars came.
Feral swam up to the surface and gasped for air, he got out of the water and picked up his gear, he went deeper into the jungle and looked around his surroundings, he made more traps, he tied rose vines around two trees, dug a hole and put his spear and sharpened sticks in it and covered it with leaves, a tripwire rope set to send a tree log falling down, and a bunch of knives between two trees, he thought about the risk of making a fire to dry himself since the werecougars will see the smoke, but he decided to make it. Feral got some dirt and peeled some tree branches off of trees, he rubbed them on himself to mask his own scent, he heard the water splash and noticed the two remaining werecougars have arrived. He ran to go hide in the bushes while carrying his bow and a few arrows. The two werecougars arrived at the fire and saw the traps around it, they set them off and then began taking the weapons in the traps for themselves. Feral sneaked through the bushes and saw one werecougar taking the spears and sharpened sticks out of the ground while the other one cut the rose vines with his hatchet, he aimed his bow slowly and shot an arrow, the werecougar taking the spears and sharpened sticks out of the ground heard it but was soon hit in the back of his head and fell. The last werecougar shot arrows from his bow at where Feral was at, he got on his own stomach and dodged them, he crawled away slowly.
Feral kept crawling in the bushes and went slowly to reduce rustling sounds, he peeked up and saw the werecougar taking the other one's weapons for himself, he bowed to him while making a strange gesture, he had his hands together and claws intertwined with his index claws pointing upwards, he finished bowing and went back to exploring the area. Feral crawled away and noticed he was low on weapons and supplies, he went uphill and saw the last werecougar, he got ready to shoot an arrow at him, but he heard the bowstring get pulled and quickly turned around and threw a knife at Feral, he ducked and it hit a tree, he grabbed it and took it and ran away while the werecougar chased him. Feral ran and he was looking for a place to set more traps, but the werecougar caught up to him and tackled him down, he grabbed all of his gear and threw them away, the werecougar then threw his own gear away, he scratched his own right chest right under his own collarbone, he then wiped his own blood on his face, Feral did not recognize the symbol.
"Wait, can you point to the symbol he painted on his face?" Doctor Whooves asked, Feral did,
"I see, in their language, that symbol means he considers you a worthy opponent, and he is honored to have met you." Doctor Whooves explained, Feral raised an eyebrow,
"I know it's confusing to you, but werecougars love a challenge, they consider anybody who gives them a hard hunt to be worthy of their respect." Doctor Whooves explained, Feral groaned,
"Well, go ahead and continue." Doctor Whooves remarked, and he did.
Feral stood and just looked at the werecougar, he lifted his arms up and told Feral to come forth with his hands, he did, the werecougar then did another gesture that told Feral to lift his front hoofs up, he did. The werecougar punched him in his face and he fell over, he did a gesture that told Feral to get up, he lunged towards him and punched him in his face, the werecougar stumbled while Feral stood back up. He focused and saw the werecougar about to punch him again, he ducked and punched him in his abdomen, the werecougar growled as he stumbled a little, Feral then punched him in his chin and he stumbled back, Feral was about to punch him in his face but the werecougar did a quick punch and hit him on his snout, he grunted loudly as he fell onto the ground. He quickly stood up and the werecougar was about to punch him again, he ducked and punched him in his chest, the werecougar did not react, he grabbed Feral's head and began to squeeze it as he lifted him off of the ground, he kicked the werecougar in his chest with his hind legs and he stumbled back as he let go of him. Feral remembered his own hunting experiences and decided to try a few things, the werecougar came forward again and was about to punch him again, Feral shifted all of his weight into his next punch and hit the werecougar in the side of his neck, he became disoriented and Feral did more hard punches to the werecougar's head, he fell over while Feral panted, the werecougar looked at him and smiled and chuckled, Feral raised his hind right leg and stomped it down onto his neck and broke it.
Feral got his gear back and undid his traps, he took the werecougars' weapons and climbed back up the cliff, he went back and forth and got the four werecougars, he cut them with their hatchets, cooked them, and ate them, he kept their bones to be used for carving. The few days went on peacefully until a pony came looking for him,
"Feral?" the pony asked, he looked at him while reeled up on his hind legs, he saw it was a colt who looked a little scared, unbeknownst to him, the colt was Walker,
"Can you understand me?" Walker questioned, Feral nodded, he gave him a paper,
"This is written in a language I don't understand, but a stallion in Ponyville named Doctor Whooves said to give this to you." Walker said, Feral took it and he left. Feral looked at it and saw it was a note that instructed him to come to Ponyville and talk about the werecougars, Doctor Whooves' address was on it, he folded it and put the paper in his mask and headed there.
Doctor Whooves was sitting across from Feral and he wiped away the dirt and wrote another sentence in it, it asked how did Doctor Whooves find him,
"I have many devices that show me what goes on around the world, since the werecougars are not native to the jungle you live in, I was a bit worried you would start having nightmares about your experiences with them." Doctor Whooves explained, Feral shook his head,
"You're fine right now?" Doctor Whooves asked, Feral nodded,
"Good, I also called you here because there is a being named Claudius threatening all of Equestria, he is undetectable by magic, we can use your strength and resourcefulness against him." Doctor Whooves stated, Feral thought about it and nodded,
"Thank you, this way." Doctor Whooves said, and he used a device to open a portal and the two went in it and it closed.
Doctor Whooves and Feral arrived into a cave and Feral saw many people there, he told Feral their names, they were Jones, Inertia, Solute, Data, Modules, Kinetic, Solubility, Solvent, Graph, Storage, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, Joker, Darwin, Cassius, Walker, Runner, Sprinter, Raging Tornado, Earthquake, Tsunami, Meteorite Hellfire, Tao, Gunslinger, Archer, Kinkaku, Ginkaku, Mother Nature, Spirit, and Demonicus,
"Good, you're here, we need your help, Feral, Claudius threatens us all, we need all the help we can get to take him down." Demonicus said, Feral nodded,
"We'll cover it for you, this is Claudius and his cult." Doctor Whooves explained as he showed him pictures and explained everything to him,
"Alright, everything's covered, let's get back on with our days." Spirit stated, and they all left. Doctor Whooves and Feral arrived back into the office,
"Be careful traveling from now on, Feral, all werecougars will now see you as a worthy opponent and will hunt you down to test their own skills." Doctor Whooves warned, Feral nodded and left.
Feral headed outside and saw everypony looking at him with shock, he walked like a bipedal creature and headed back to the jungle, he heard rustling in the trees and saw more werecougars stalking him, he shrugged and walked back to the jungle.
Doctor Whooves was helping ponies put up decorations for Nightmare Night, he saw foals running around in costumes already and laughing, he smiled and put up more decorations,
"There, that's all I can do for now, I have to go see my patient." Doctor Whooves spoke,
"You have to work today?" Roseluck asked,
"Of course, my dear, my next patient is a bit traumatized from his experiences." Doctor Whooves answered,
"Oh, well, can you finish early, dear?" Roseluck requested,
"I'll try, Rose, I'll try." Doctor Whooves said, and they kissed one another for a moment and he left. Doctor Whooves entered his office and sat, his patient came in, he was a teenage unicorn, he had a light blue coat, long white and gray mane and tail, gray eyes, and his cutie mark was a brown tome,
"A teenager?" Doctor Whooves asked, the colt nodded,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Soul Medium, I'm an exorcist and a shaman." the colt answered,
"You? A communicator of spirits?" Doctor Whooves questioned,
"The tribe I'm from considers us adults when we turn 13, so in my home area's native culture, I'm already a fully grown pony." Soul Medium explained,
"I see, do you have the money to afford my session?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes, sir." Soul Medium responded, and a dark purple aura appeared on his horn while he took money out of his saddlebag,
"Okay, let's begin." Doctor Whooves instructed, and Soul Medium began to tell his tale.
Soul Medium was an orphan from a tribe of unicorn exorcists and shamans, they all chanted and played music to communicate with ghosts, he and the other foals were also trained in using bow and arrows, spears, swords, and shields. Soul Medium left the tribe to live on his own when he turned 13 and began creating charms, kept herbs and spices, and cast spells to protect his home from evil spirits. He lived isolated in the woods in a cabin he built by himself, he prayed and said incantations every night to keep evil spirits at bay. He stopped one night when he heard running and panting outside, he headed outside and saw a teenage earth pony filly running; she had a dark purple coat, long white mane and tail, dark red eyes, and her cutie mark was a microphone; he looked and saw two transparent ponies running and chasing her. A magic aura appeared on his horn and Soul Medium chanted while his voice echoed, dark purple fire appeared on the two ghosts and they turned into light blue orbs and broke apart.
Soul Medium watched the filly continue to run away and four more transparent ghosts appeared, they flew into the trees and they came to life. The trees began to swing their branches down while the filly screamed, Soul Medium shot beams out of his horn and destroyed the trees, the pieces then floated around in midair and he chanted an incantation that set the wood on fire, the four ghosts came out and flew into the filly's body. She screamed and began foaming from her mouth while she had muscle spasms, Soul Medium quickly picked her up and carried her into his cabin. He laid her onto a table and cast bindings onto her and then proceeded to mix various powdered herbs and spices together, he finished and used his magic to open her mouth and pour the mix of powdered herbs and spices down her throat, the filly screamed while white light came out of her eyes and mouth, the four ghosts came out and Soul Medium shot dark purple fire out of his horn at them, they moaned as they turned into orbs and broke apart.
Soul Medium made the bindings disappear while the filly coughed,
"You alright?" Soul Medium asked,
"I think so, thank you." the filly responded,
"What is your name?" Soul Medium inquired,
"Soprano, and you?" Soprano asked,
"Soul Medium." Soul Medium answered,
"I have to get home, my parents are worried about me." Soprano said,
"What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?" Soul Medium questioned,
"I was walking home from school, I passed by this old village in the woods and those ghosts went after me, only those six chased me while the others watched from afar." Soprano explained, Soul Medium's attention was caught,
"Take me there." Soul Medium demanded,
"What? Why? It's dangerous." Soprano warned,
"I'm an exorcist, maybe I can exorcise those spirits and make it safe for others to travel through the woods without fear of being harmed or haunted." Soul Medium stated,
"Okay, but I'm not going anywhere near that place." Soprano said,
"I understand your reason, if you start having nightmares of that place, come see me again, it might mean the ghosts there are haunting you in your dreams." Soul Medium explained,
"Oh, Celestia, I hope not." Soprano lamented,
"You'll know if they appear in your dream, let's go now." Soul Medium spoke, and he got his weapons, herbs, spices, and charms and followed her. They walked through the woods while Soprano panted and sweated a little heavily, they arrived at a path,
"This is the farthest I go." Soprano said,
"Where do I go from here?" Soul Medium asked,
"Just follow the path and you'll be at the village, there's a house bigger than the others just past the village, too." Soprano explained,
"Okay, thank you, head on home now, I'll see if I can get rid of these ghosts." Soul Medium replied,
"Please do, I have to travel this path every day when going from home to school and back to home." Soprano stated,
"You go home this late every night? What kind of school are you attending?" Soul Medium questioned,
"No, only tonight, I was helping my school set up an activity and finished late." Soprano answered,
"Oh, well, I'll be going now." Soul Medium said, and he went to the village while Soprano went home.
Soul Medium walked to the village and fog began to engulf the woods, he heard whispering and looked around but saw no one, he continued heading to the village while the whispering stopped. He continued walking while keeping his guard up, Soul Medium heard tumbling up ahead and he cast a spell to make the fog disappear. He saw boulders tumbling down the hill and he quickly shot a zap from his horn to destroy the one closest to him, two more boulders tumbled down to him and he quickly shot them with more zaps to destroy them. Three ghosts formed and Soul Medium looked at them, they were all unicorn stallions, they had dark yellow-orange coats, long light turquoise manes and tails, and dark red eyes'. The ghosts went into the ground and long vines with thorns began to grow out of the ground and Soul Medium said an incantation while his voice echoed, the vines caught on fire and the three ghosts floated up into the air. Soul Medium aimed his bow and dark purple flames appeared on his arrow tips, he shot arrows into the ghosts and they moaned as they winced back, they then turned into light blue floating flames and went to the village.
Soul Medium continued onward and kept his guard up, he heard rustling in the grass but saw nothing, he listened and realized wild animals were stalking him, he walked forward and arrived at his destination. He looked and saw the houses were made from wood and logs with roofs made from thatch, he walked to the bundle of sticks in the center of the village and lit a fire with the rocks and tinder around it. Soul Medium cast a spell and the fire turned dark purple, he saw everypony in the village had the same color coat, manes, tails, and eyes, but their cutie marks were all different from each other's. The ponies were dancing around the fire while drums played, the dancers all wore wooden masks of various shapes and colors that covered their entire faces while the drummers all wore bright red and yellow robes with abstract patterns on them. Soul Medium looked and noticed they were all unicorn stallions, there was not a single mare, Pegasus, or earth pony in the image, five stallions in the image stood out, the one in the center wore a completely black robe, a war bonnet on his head and a pony's skull as a mask, the other four with him wore robes, kufi hats, and masks that looked like the heads and faces of animals, their robes and kufi hats were either red, blue, yellow, or green, the one in red wore a salamander mask, the one in blue wore a fish mask, the one in yellow wore a deer mask that had antlers, and the one in green wore an eagle mask.
The black robed stallion began dancing on top of the fire while the other four danced around him in a circle, he then held his front legs up with still beating hearts on his hoofs. Soul Medium's eyes widened as he watched the stallion put the hearts into the fire and the orange flames flew up into the night sky and two big red slanted eyes appeared, beams shot out of its eyes and the entire village was engulfed by a red light. The stallions exhaled with ghastly voices, the stallions stopped what they were doing and looked straight at Soul Medium, the black robed stallion shot a black and red blast out of his horn and Soul Medium quickly ducked as the blast came out of the fire and it extinguished itself in midair before it hit anything. Soul Medium listened and heard screaming inside the blast while the fire extinguished itself,
"He is here." a male voice stated from elsewhere, Soul Medium looked up and saw the ghost of the green robed stallion. Black clouds and fog formed around the village while he heard thunder, lightning came out of the sky and was about to strike him, but one of Soul Medium's charms put up a force field and deflected it, crows and mosquitoes then began to fly down and tried pecking and biting him. Soul Medium got pecked and bitten until he teleported away from them and shot zaps at them, they flew around and dodged his zaps as they chased him. Soul Medium took his spear off of his back and spun it around, he cut the crows and mosquitoes apart and black mists came out of them and flew into the green robed stallion. More thunder was heard and lightning tried to strike Soul Medium again, one of his charms deflected it back into the sky, it began to rain afterwards and it froze whatever it touched. Soul Medium cast a spell and made fire surround himself, the fire at the bundle of sticks then lighted again and he saw a salamander's face in it, it roared and threw fireballs at him, he shot zaps out of his horn to extinguish them. The ground shook and began shifting with several parts moving up, down, and to the sides, Soul Medium cast telekinesis on himself to fly up and the green robed stallion threw balls made of wind gusts at him, he held his shield in front of himself and blocked them while they put slash marks on it. A pony's skull appeared to the north while Soul Medium looked to his right,
"Wait, stop fighting him, we have more important matters at hoof." the pony skull spoke without its mouth and jaw moving, Soul Medium realized the voice was of the pony who announced his arrival. The red robed stallion formed out of the fire,
"But, Chief, this stallion is an exorcist and can fight back against us." the red robed stallion said, the blue robed stallion formed out of the rain while the yellow robed stallion formed out of the ground,
"I understand that, but we must pray, or our god will strip us of our powers." the chief spoke, the four stallions' eyes' widened,
"Let's focus on this first, leave him to our citizens for now." the chief commanded,
"Yes, Chief." the four stallions replied, and they all disappeared while the ground fixed itself.
Soul Medium walked around the village while sensing the ghosts, he entered one of the houses and looked for anything suspicious looking, he saw various skulls on a shelf in front of him and a small shrine with pony skulls on it, a stallion's ghost appeared in front of him and the skulls began floating around. Soul Medium shot fire out of his horn and the ghost winced back when one hit him, the stallion made the skulls fly forward and Soul Medium shot them apart with zaps. He destroyed all of them and the ghost floated around frantically while Soul Medium shot fire out of his horn and the ghost screamed, he turned into an orb and it broke apart and disappeared. Soul Medium examined the house and found nothing else, he dug a hole with his magic and buried the skulls in them and exited the house.
Soul Medium stood in the center of the village and cast a spell that allowed him to see what was inside the houses, he saw animal heads in one house and entered it. He looked at the home and saw all of the deer, lion, bear, and wolf heads had not decomposed, they were also frozen in positions as if they were roaring. Soul Medium looked at them closely and the animals' eyes moved around and focused on him, they glared at him fiercely while he tried moving around but the eyes moved and focused on him. The animal heads floated up and they roared with distorted and demonic sounds, they floated to him and the lion, bear, and wolf heads tried to bite him while the deer heads tried to ram and stab him with their antlers.
Soul Medium exclaimed loudly in pain as the lions, bears, and wolves latched onto him and bit into his body, he cast telekinesis as the deer heads began to stab their antlers into him. He took powdered spices out of his saddle bag mixed them together, he then made a circle around himself with it and a symbol inside the circle, he then chanted an incantation with his voice echoing and dark purple flames appeared in the circle, the animal heads on him screeched as they burned and disappeared. The remaining animal heads floated and watched while Soul Medium took a small bottle out of his saddlebag and took a sip of the liquid in it, his wounds healed instantly. Soul Medium cast a spell and made the circle expand until the entire house was in it, all of the animal heads screeched and as they burned and disappeared, the ghosts possessing them also disappeared, he then headed outside.
Soul Medium looked inside the houses and saw one more house of interest, he entered it and saw a lot of dolls in the house, they all had angry expressions. Soul Medium looked at each doll and they were all highly detailed, one doll that caught his eye looked exactly just like him. The doll of him floated up and the yellow robed stallion appeared, he held the doll and began stabbing needles into it, Soul Medium screamed in pain as he fell to his knees. The dolls jumped off of the shelves and began running to him and jumped onto him, they then started biting him and trying to tear him apart. He used his telekinesis to fling the dolls away but they stood back up and ran to him again, he used his magic to tear the dolls apart while the yellow robed stallion tore the horn off of the doll he was holding. Soul Medium screamed in agony and winced in pain on the floor while the dolls fixed themselves and ran to him again, they began to pile up on him and tried to tear him apart. Soul Medium cast a spell and dark purple fire engulfed him and burned the dolls and the ghosts in the dolls floated away.
They began shooting blasts out of their horns at him, they were black and red and bubbling, another one of Soul Medium's charms blocked and deflected their magic blasts, they touched the walls and disintegrated them. Soul Medium still panted from the intense pain in his horn and the yellow robed stallion got ready to bend and break the doll's legs, Soul Medium quickly shot a big blast at him out of his horn and the stallion held his front hoofs up to block the blast while he dropped the doll. Soul Medium used his telekinesis to drag the doll to himself and then chanted an incantation in another language while his voice echoed, the entire house caught on fire and the ghosts screamed as they got burned by the dark purple flames, the yellow robed stallion resisted the flames better, they all turned into floating flames and flew into the floor.
Soul Medium cast a spell to lessen the pain in his body while putting the doll that looked like him into his saddlebag, the ground that made up the house's floor cracked and broke into multiple parts, the pieces of the ground began moving up and down while Soul Medium had trouble keeping his balance, the ground burst open and a creature made of multiple pony and animal bones came out while roaring. Soul Medium readied his spear and shield while the skeletal creature walked to him. The creature punched his shield and the force pushed him out of the house, it continued walking forward while Soul Medium looked for a weak spot, he jumped back when the skeleton's upper-body began spinning around with its arms stretched out and its fists destroying anything they touched. He cast a spell to see which part of the skeleton had the most energy in it, he saw light blue fire on its head and where its heart should be, he ran forward while the skeleton tried to punch him, he jumped while it put a crater in the ground with its fist. Soul Medium ran up its arm and stabbed his spear through its bones at where its heart should be, he watched the flames in that area of its body move elsewhere. The skeleton threw him off and he grunted when he hit the ground, the rocks and trees around the area broke and then flew onto the skeleton's body to form makeshift armor.
Soul Medium got back up and used his magic to fly around while the skeleton shot red and black blasts out of its mouth, one of his charms deflected it, it then tried to punch him and he blocked it with his shield, he got pushed back again while he noticed a big dent in his shield. The skeleton ran to him while Soul Medium tried to pry the rocks and tree parts off with his telekinesis, they did not come off, so he put his shield on his back and took his sword out. The skeleton punched its fists into the ground and made jagged rocks grow out, he ran and jumped over them, he stabbed his spear and sword into the gaps on the rocks and tree parts on the skeleton's head and tried to pry the parts off. Soul Medium grunted as he tried to pry them off but could not, he looked and saw they were held together by tree sap, the skeleton threw him off while he shot dark purple fire into the armor's gaps located around the skeleton's forehead.
Soul Medium fell onto the ground and got back up while the skeleton turned dark purple and its armor exploded into pieces, floating flames flew out of the skeleton and into each piece of armor and the houses. The pieces of the homes and the materials inside them began floating around, the wooden logs and thatch tried to ram and stab him, he cast a spell to burn them while the rocks and logs made from the skeleton's armor began trying to ram him. He saw the skeleton hold its arms out and began shooting bones out of its bodies at him, he quickly put his shield up to block them while casting a magic shield around himself to block the flying objects. He took his bow out and aimed carefully, he shot an arrow into the skeleton's body where its heart should be through its ribs, he hit a flame and the skeleton roared as its body exploded with a flame floating out and its head floated around, Soul Medium quickly shot another arrow at its head and it exploded while a flame floated out.
Soul Medium quickly cast a spell while chanting an incantation and dark purple flames engulfed the entire area, everything got destroyed while the ghosts wailed in agony, they all turned into light blue orbs and broke apart. He sighed with relief and looked at the destroyed area for a brief second shortly before heading elsewhere, he walked a little and saw a big house to the north and headed there. He arrived and saw a seal on the door, it was a big black circle with four other symbols around it, the symbol above it was an eagle's head, the symbol to its left was a salamander's head, the symbol to its right was a deer's head, and the symbol below it was a fish's head,
"So I have to take out those four robed guys first." Soul Medium commented, and he walked around the house to look for the other areas around, he saw four temples, he began to think which one he should go to first until he heard voices back at the village,
"Help. Help." a stallion called out, Soul Medium headed back. He went back into the village and saw more floating flames, he got ready to fight them while earth pony stallions and mares of many different colors formed,
"Wait, don't attack us, we come in peace." one stallion spoke, Soul Medium relaxed,
"Who are you guys?" Soul Medium asked,
"We're the original residents of this village, those ghosts haunting this place are a tribe not from around here, they killed all of us and took over this place." a mare explained,
"What can you tell me about those five stallions commanding them?" Soul Medium questioned,
"They're the leaders of the tribe, that stallion in the black robe with the skull mask is War Chief, he's the tribe's leader, that pony with the red robe is Fire Priest, the one in blue is Water Priest, the one in yellow is Earth Priest, and the one in green is Wind Priest." another stallion answered,
"Wait, before you continue, are you familiar about Mother Nature and the four who inherited her elements and powers?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes, I was taught about them when I was a kid, Mother Nature is seen as a deity in my tribe." Soul Medium replied,
"Oh, I see, go ahead and continue then." Doctor Whooves said, and he did.
"War Chief's four priests guard his home, they also pray with him to the one who granted them their powers to haunt others in the first place." a mare added,
"We don't know who it is, but we know that person is real, he constantly demands prayer since it empowers him, and the souls of this village's residents are offered to him to make him stronger." a third stallion explained,
"What? Are your souls not sent to the Void?" Soul Medium inquired,
"We are, but the ones offered to their god were caught before they could arrive, we made it to the Void, we're here now because Spirit summoned us to explain to you who those ponies haunting this place are." the first stallion spoke,
"I'll put a stop to War Chief and his tribe, I'll see if I can free the souls of those offered to their god, too." Soul Medium declared,
"Thank you, we miss them to this day, please, free our relatives and friends, we must go now before War Chief and his priests detect us." the first mare spoke,
"Wait, one more thing, is there a certain order I have to take out the priests?" Soul Medium asked,
"Well, there's no certain order other than you have to take out Fire Priest last since he's War Chief's second-in-command, and his temple is guarded by the other three priests, but other than that, you can take them out any order." a second mare replied,
"Okay, thanks." Soul Medium said, and the ghosts disappeared. He looked around and at the temples while trying to decide which one to go to first, he also noticed blue, yellow, and green force fields around Fire Priest's temple. He thought about which one to go to and looked at the sky and saw birds and bugs flying away, he decided to take out Wind Priest first and headed to his temple.
Soul Medium headed north and walked up the path,
"He is here." Wind Priest's voice spoke, he kept his guard up while fog engulfed his vision again. He walked forward slowly while his breathing got a little heavier, he heard thunder in the sky and lightning tried to strike him and one of his charms to deflected it. Soul Medium ran up the hill but stopped when he heard the wind get stronger and boulders began tumbling down the hill, he quickly shot them with blasts from his horn to destroy them. He ran up the hill and shot and destroyed more boulders, strong gusts of wind then began blowing and Soul Medium grunted as he tried to stand on the hill and not get blown down.
Plants got torn out of the ground and began getting blown to him, they did not knock him down, so the wind got stronger and rocks began getting blown at him, he shot them with a blast from his horn and destroyed them. Soul Medium tried to step forward but fell to his knees and got blown downhill a little when he took his leg off of the ground. He looked up and said an incantation and then shot a big dark purple fireball out of his horn. The fire hit Wind Priest's temple and it caught on fire, the gusts of wind stopped and the fog cleared.
Soul Medium panted while he noticed the ghosts putting out the flames and he ran up the hill. He arrived at the temple and he heard crows above him cawing and buzzing, he looked up and saw crows, mosquitoes, and wasps,
"Destroy him." Wind Priest commanded with his voice echoing, and they all flew down to peck, bite, and sting him. Soul Medium shot more fire out of his horn and burned them, he then ran into the temple and saw a big gravestone in its center with an eagle ornament on the gravestone's top, his attention was caught when he saw a painting of a unicorn wearing a black cloak, he had a black coat and red eyes, there were no facial features on him. He looked and saw bird skulls stacked on the shelves to the sides of the picture and they all cawed and screeched at him with their mouths moving. Soul Medium looked at the picture with discomfort since he sensed the figure in the picture was alive and watching him, the figure glared at him and shot red beams out of its eyes, Soul Medium screamed as he was shot out of the temple.
Soul Medium grunted as he fell on the ground, he got back up and saw Wind Priest on his temple's roof,
"It seems our tribe's citizens have failed in dealing with you, looks like I have to deal with you myself." Wind Priest said, and he jumped into the air and transformed, he now had the head, body, and beak of a crow, green hornet eyes, bird feet with bug legs coming out the soles of his feet, he also had four bug wings coming out of his back and a stinger in place of his tail, he let out a demonic roar.
Soul Medium took his bow off of his back while tornadoes formed and moved around, Wind Priest swung his front legs forward and sent out gusts of wind, they cut whatever they touched as they homed on Soul Medium, he held his shield up and the wind gusts cut it. Wind Priest flew down and got ready to grab Soul Medium with the talons on his hind feet, Soul Medium ducked to dodge him and grunted as the winds created by him flying over the ground knocked him down and cut his body a little. Wind Priest turned around and began flapping his wings to create powerful gusts that destroyed the ground. Soul Medium stood his ground and struggled not to get pushed back by the powerful gusts, he growled and shot fire blast out of his horn, Wind Priest screeched when he burned but the flames extinguished themselves. Wind Priest screeched and his eyes lit up, crows, mosquitoes, and wasps formed in the sky and flew down to attack Soul Medium, they began pecking, biting, and stinging him as he used telekinesis on his spear to cut them apart, more formed and joined in. Wind Priest inhaled deeply and then shot a big gust of wind out of his mouth that blew Soul Medium away and he screamed as he fell onto the ground.
Soul Medium laid on the ground while the crows, mosquitoes, and wasps flew to him and began attacking him again while Wind Priest used the bug wings on his back to fly faster. Soul Medium heard him coming and he cast a spell while growling, fire appeared around him and burned away the crows, mosquitoes, and wasps, he stood up and saw Wind Priest about to ram him with his body. Wind Priest flew up at the last second and tried to sting Soul Medium with his stinger, he blocked it with his shield. He flew up and then began to fly back down and got ready to grab Soul Medium with his talons. He aimed carefully while roaring and Soul Medium got on his back slashed Wind Priest's hind feet with his spear, he screeched loudly and flew back up.
Soul Medium stood up while Wind Priest got ready to flap his wings to make more gusts, he took his bow off of his back and shot Wind Priest in his body four times with his arrows, he screeched and began to stagger and fall while Soul Medium also aimed carefully and shot arrows past his bug wings to destroy them. Wind Priest began to fall but mustered his strength to fly up, he got ready to shoot a gust of wind out of his mouth but saw Soul Medium aiming an arrow at him, he stopped and then began to fly down to get ready to bite him. Soul Medium quickly unsheathed his sword and stabbed it into Wind Priest's forehead, he screeched loudly and flew up while shaking his head around in pain, the spiritual energy in Soul Medium's sword went into Wind Priest's body and he turned dark purple and exploded. Soul Medium quickly cast telekinesis on himself to bring himself down onto the ground and landed, Wind Priest's temple and gravestone collapsed while a stream of black mist flew out and went into War Chief's home, Soul Medium sighed and went back.
Soul Medium headed back to War Chief's home and the seal shaped like the eagle's head was gone, he looked to the east and then to the south on which priest he should fight next, he thought about the rain freezing him in place, he decided to get rid of Water Priest next and headed south.
Soul Medium walked down the hill and began to almost lose his balance as the ground suddenly became frozen and slippery, he soon slipped and slid down the hill into ice cold water. Soul Medium quickly swam up and gasped for breath, he stepped out of the water and shivered,
"Kill him." Water Priest's voice called out, and Soul Medium quickly cast fire on himself to warm himself up. He looked around and saw the temple was in the center of the lake and at the bottom, he reached into his saddlebag and took out two containers, one had herbs while the other powdered spice in it. He wrapped the powdered spice in the herb and smelt it while taking a deep breath, he exhaled and then ate it, he then jumped into the water. He swam down while casting a spell to put fire around himself to keep himself warm, the herb and powdered spice he smelled prevented the water from entering his nostrils. He heard swimming around him and looked around, it was too dark to see anything, so he cast a white light to see the area better, he saw the temple up ahead and a lot of fish, sharks, eels, octopi, jellyfish, and stingrays around him.
The marine animals began swimming at high speeds and towards him, the sharks tried to bite him while the octopi tried to wrap their legs around him and trap him with their suction cups. Soul Medium cast a teleporting spell to escape them and went into the temple, he entered and saw another gravestone with a fish ornament on its top in the center of it and a painting of the black hooded figure again, there were fish skulls everywhere on the floor inside the temple. He looked at the picture again and figure glared at him, it shot a black blast out of its horn and shot him out of the temple. Soul Medium went back into the ice cold water and the stingrays and jellyfish tried to sting him while the eels tried to electrocute him, he quickly swam away and the fish intercepted him and began biting him, he quickly cast a spell and teleported.
Soul Medium appeared above the water and cast telekinesis on himself, something on the water's surface lunged at him and he floated back quickly,
"Whoa!" Soul Medium exclaimed, he saw snakes slithering on the water's surface, he flew up higher so they could not reach him, the fish and sharks then began jumping out of the water and tried to bite him, so he floated up higher. He cast a spell and shot fire into the water, the marine animals got engulfed in flames but did not extinguish, Soul Medium then teleported onto the land and waited, his eyes widened when all of the animals came to the surface and began coming after him. Soul Medium ran away while the marine animals flopped around or slithering to him while they burned with their flesh melting off, he ran back but his exit was blocked by a wall of ice, he looked back and saw the marine animals catching up to him, he quickly shot more fire at them and turned into skeletons. The skeletons continued coming towards him and he kept shooting fire at them, he said an incantation and made his fire stronger, the skeletons burned away, Soul Medium sighed with relief and went back to the body of water.
Soul Medium arrived back at the water and saw Water Priest standing on its surface,
"I didn't think you'd actually win against my pets, looks like I have to deal with you myself, I will avenge Wind Priest." Water Priest declared, and he went into the water and transformed, he had the head of a shark, crab pincers, octopus tentacles with jellyfish legs coming out of his suction cups, a stingray's stinger for his tail, and electricity around his body. Soul Medium used his telekinesis to fly up above the water but Water Priest grabbed him with his jellyfish legs and he screamed as they cut him and injected him with venom, he got pulled into the water and breathed differently as the venom took effect. Soul Medium became paralyzed while Water Priest summoned sharks to eat him, he tried to force himself to move while the jellyfish venom continued to immobilize him, he tried to grunt but could not as he struggled to move. He began to move very slowly and tried to reach into his saddlebag while also trying to cast a spell, the sharks continued biting into him, he focused as hard as he could and barely had enough energy to cast a healing spell.
Soul Medium moved normally again and he cast a ring of fire around himself to burn the sharks away, Water Priest summoned jellyfish around himself to sting Soul Medium, he used his magic to teleport around since the water slowed his movement, he could not say his incantations, and his powdered herbs and spices did not work underwater. More fish, sharks, octopi, stingrays, and eels appeared and they swam after him while he teleported away and shot fire at them to burn them away. Water Priest generated electricity from his body and electrified all of the water, Soul Medium screamed and quickly teleported out of the water. He appeared above the water and used his telekinesis to float above it, he aimed his bow at Water Priest but he opened his mouth and four long snakes came out, Soul Medium quickly aimed and shot an arrow into his mouth and he winced in pain.
The fish and sharks began jumping out of the water and trying to bite Soul Medium, he floated around to dodge them while Water Priest summoned rain that froze whatever it touched. The water eventually froze with the marine animals in it while Water Priest slithered onto its surface, he stood on the ice and opened his mouth to make the snakes come out again. He tried to grab Soul Medium with them alongside his octopus and jellyfish legs, they got a hold of him before he could move and he was bitten by the snakes and stung by the jellyfish legs. Soul Medium became more paralyzed than before while Water Priest drags him to himself and then stings him with his stingray stinger to make the paralysis stronger. He then proceeded to grab him with his pincers and got ready to tear Soul Medium in half, Water Priest watched him trying to break free from the paralysis with his willpower again, he began stinging him with his jellyfish legs to paralyze him even more while also trying to rip him in half.
Soul Medium felt his bones and body stretch out and he tried to break free from the paralysis, he mustered every ounce of his strength to try to cast a healing spell, sparks came out of his horn and Water Priest noticed it. He proceeded to pull Soul Medium towards himself and bit his neck, he tried to rip his head off while Soul Medium endured immense pain, he continued trying to cast a healing spell and his horn glowed, he exhaled loudly as he cured himself of the paralysis. Soul Medium teleported out of Water Priest's grip and mouth and stood on the ice, he took more powdered spices out of his saddlebag and put a circle around himself. Water Priest made it rain again and the circle blocked Soul Medium from them, he then slammed his octopus legs on the ice to make icicles grow out, they began cracking the ice and Soul Medium used his magic to float up.
The sharks began jumping out of the water again and trying to bite him while he floated and teleported around, Water Priest aimed his octopus legs at him and shot ice and lightning out of them, the circle deflected them away from Soul Medium until Water Priest broke the part of the ice Soul Medium was standing on to make the powdered spice float away in the water. Soul Medium breathed deeply while being submerged in the ice cold water, Water Priest shot lightning into the water to electrify it and Soul Medium screamed while the marine animals swam to him. He quickly teleported out and decided Water Priest had to be taken out quickly, he began shooting arrows into his head while he winced in pain from each one, the snakes on the water's surface tried to lean up and bite him while the sharks leaped out of the water and tried to eat him alive. He cast fire into the water and said an incantation to empower it, the entire water caught on fire and all of the marine animals disintegrated and got absorbed into Water Priest, he then quickly shot more arrows into Water Priest's head and he got stunned, he quickly teleported to him and stabbed his sword into his heart, Water Priest screamed as he got engulfed by dark purple flames and exploded.
Soul Medium got knocked back and fell onto the ground, he stood up while Water Priest's temple and gravestone collapsed with a stream of black mist heading to War Chief's home, he sighed and left the area. He walked up the hill that was not frozen anymore and the ice wall was gone, he headed back and began sneezing, he ate a herb to stop it and continued walking. He saw War Chief's house up ahead with the seal shaped like the fish's head gone, he hid behind a tree when he saw War Chief, Fire Priest, and Earth Priest together,
"Wind Priest and Water Priest have fallen." Earth Priest reported,
"I'm aware, even with their best efforts, they couldn't beat him, you and Fire Priest are not to underestimate him." War Chief replied,
"You're our last line of defense, Earth Priest, don't fail us." Fire Priest added,
"I don't intend to, plus, our tribe's citizens are standing by and ready to fight, too." Earth Priest stated,
"Good, because at this rate, he will take out all of us, we have to stop him." War Chief commented,
"I will continue the prayers to the one who granted our powers for now, but if you fall in battle, Earth Priest, I will try to stop him." Fire Priest declared,
"Okay, I'll be on my way to my temple now." Earth Priest responded, and he and Fire Priest walked in opposite directions while War Chief disappeared. Soul Medium walked up to his house and turned to his right, he saw the elevation of the path to Earth Priest's temple was the same as his current location, he began walking there.
Soul Medium walked and quickly lost as his balance and fell as the ground began shaking,
"Whoa!" Soul Medium exclaimed as the ground broke into pieces and moved up and down randomly, he began running and big stones formed out of the ground in front of him to block his path. He strafed around to run past them and sinkholes began appearing while Earth Priest moved his temple farther away with his magic, he ran around them and jumped over one that was too wide to run around. Earth Priest continued to move his temple farther away while the ground shook with pieces of it moving around and vines began growing out of the cracks and holes as they attempted to entangle Soul Medium. He shot fire out of his horn to burn them and continued running while trees began to grow in front of him and two grew very close to one another and Soul Medium got stuck between them. He cast fire again to burn them and saw the road to Earth Priest's temple become covered with sharp and jagged rocks growing out of the ground, he decided to teleport there to avoid them.
Soul Medium teleported into Earth Priest's temple but saw nothing inside, he realized it was an illusion while the temple moved farther away from him, he cast a spell and the illusion disappeared. He looked at his surroundings and saw trees everywhere, he heard growling and realized the wild animals were stalking him again,
"Destroy him." Earth Priest commanded, and the wild animals jumped out of hiding. Soul Medium saw bears, lions, deer, and wolves come out, they began running at him and the wolves jumped and tried to bite him, he ducked to dodge them while the bears and lions ran after him, he quickly said an incantation and shot a beam into the sky. The beam spread out in the sky and the animals stopped attacking and bowed to him,
"Do your job." Earth Priest commanded as he broke the spell and the animals began attacking Soul Medium again. He held his spear and shield out and stabbed the wolves when they jumped at him, one jumped over his spear and he quickly held up his shield to block its bite, the wolf jumped back and tried again, Soul Medium slashed it with his spear and it disappeared. The bears and lions began running to him and they bit his shield and put holes in it, he quickly shot fire out of his horn and they burned until they turned into skeletons, they tried to bite him again but fell apart. The deer began charging at him and he teleported to behind them, he said an incantation and they caught on fire and soon disappeared, he then headed to the temple.
Soul Medium ran to the temple but stopped when he saw arrows in the sky, he put up his shield to block them, he saw the remaining citizens up ahead and they shot more arrows at him. Soul Medium waited for the arrows to come near him and said a word in a foreign language while his voice echoed, the arrows got engulfed in dark purple flames and shot back at the ghosts, they quickly floated away while the arrows hit the ground and the flames went out. The ghosts flew into the various trees, rocks, and boulders around the temple and they began moving on their own and attacked Soul Medium, the trees swung their branches down while the boulders tumbled around and tried to ram him. He rolled to his right to dodge a boulder and a tree close to him began to swing its branches down, he shot a zap out of his horn and broke the branch off, he heard another boulder tumbling his way and he shot a zap to destroy it.
Soul Medium continued to the temple but rocks grew out of the ground and blocked his path,
"Get the doll in his saddlebag." Earth Priest ordered, and the citizen ghosts got more aggressive. Soul Medium began shooting zaps in every direction to destroy the boulders and trees, the ghosts came out and combined their blasts together into one big blast. Soul Medium quickly put up a magic shield while he shot a blast at them. He entered a deadlock and was overpowered immediately, he teleported when the blast was right in front of him and reappeared behind the ghosts, he shot a big blast at them and they screamed as they got engulfed by dark purple flames, they turned into light blue orbs and broke apart,
"War Chief, the last of our citizens have fallen." Earth Priest reported with his voice echoing throughout the woods,
"It's up to us now, I wish you good luck." War Chief responded while his voice echoed,
"Thank you, Chief." Earth Priest said, and the voices stopped, Soul Medium headed into the temple. Soul Medium entered the temple and saw another picture of the hooded figure, the skulls on the shelves to its sides were lion, bear, deer, and wolf skulls, and Earth Priest's gravestone in front of the painting in the very center of the temple's interior, the gravestone had a deer ornament on its top. The the animal skulls growled at him while the figure in painting eyes glowed and Soul Medium was shot out of the temple by an invisible blast, he grunted when he hit the ground and stood back up, he saw Earth Priest standing in front of him,
"I didn't think our citizens would fall to you, I will not allow you to reach Fire Priest and War Chief." Earth Priest declared, and he transformed, he took the form of a quadrupedal creature, he was covered in brown fur with snake scales visible in the areas where he had little fur, he had spider fangs in front of his mouth and snake fangs sticking out of his upper lip, antlers and horns growing out the top of his head, tusks and ant mandibles growing out of his cheeks, a turtle shell on his back, scorpion pincers coming out of his shoulders, and a scorpion's tail with a stinger on it.
Soul Medium got ready to fight while Earth Priest got into a fighting stance, he walked forward and tried to grab and restrain Soul Medium with his pincers, he jumped back and shot fire out of his horn, the flames extinguished themselves when they touched Earth Priest. Earth Priest lifted his front legs up and tried to slash Soul Medium with his claws, he blocked the slashes with his shield. He shot sand out of his mouth and into Soul Medium's eyes, he grunted and got stunned, Earth Priest leaned forward and got ready to bite into him but Soul Medium quickly turned around and slashed his throat with his spear. He panted but his eyes widened when he saw no cut on Earth Priest's body, he snickered while Soul Medium saw his spear was chipped, he looked and saw armadillo scales under his fur that made his entire body armored.
Earth Priest shot sand out of his mouth again and tried to shoot it into Soul Medium's eyes, he held his shield up to block it and Earth Priest then slammed his front legs on the ground, it cracked into pieces and each piece moved up and down randomly. Soul Medium stumbled around and Earth Priest made big boulders appear to the sides and they quickly collided into one another while Soul Medium quickly teleported. He reappeared in front of the boulders and shot fire out of his horn at Earth Priest, it extinguished when it touched his body; Earth Priest summoned lions, bears, deer, and wolves to help him fight, they ran to Soul Medium and he quickly said an incantation to make them disappear. Earth Priest raised his front legs up into the air and vines with thorns grew out of the ground, they wrapped around Soul Medium and he screamed as the thorns cut him, he cast fire magic to burn them while more vines with thorns grew out, he teleported away and Earth Priest pressed his front legs on the ground to make him get imprisoned in rocks and metal.
Soul Medium tried to teleport out but Earth Priest encased his horn in rock, he shot a zap out of his horn and broke it, he looked and Earth Priest was nowhere to be found. He appeared behind Soul Medium and bit his neck. He screamed loudly while Earth Priest injected venom into him from his spider fangs and snake teeth, he began to breathe a little hard while feeling nauseous, his neck began to swell up as well. He began to get dizzy but still tried to cast his healing spell, Earth Priest quickly bent down and stung him in his neck with his scorpion tail, he began twitching around and drool fell out of his mouth, his vision blurred while the venom took effect. Earth Priest put one of his pincers around Soul Medium's neck and got ready to close them and sever his head, he tried to move but Soul Medium had an aura on his horn and chanted an incantation under his breath to hold his pincer back, Earth Priest could not get near Soul Medium, he then tried to cast his healing spell while having trouble focusing but managed to cast a weaker version of it.
Soul Medium regained his vision slowly as he healed himself, he soon saw things clearly and teleported out of the rocks and metals imprisoning him. Earth Priest charged after him with his head down and aimed his horns and antlers at him, Soul Medium enchanted dark purple fire onto his spear and swung it around, he sent waves of fire forward and Earth Priest exclaimed as he caught on fire with them cutting through his scales, Soul Medium smiled while Earth Priest growled. Earth Priest held his arms out to the sides and all of the rocks and trees in the area floated off of the ground and broke apart, they attached to Earth Priest's body and formed armor. Soul Medium held his shield out but Earth Priest caught him off guard by burrowing underground, he moved around while destroying the part of the ground he went to, he went to where Soul Medium was at and rose to the surface, he slammed his front legs down and made jagged rocks grow out of the craters. Soul Medium jumped back and swung his spear a few times, the fire waves did not penetrate his new armor, he tried shooting arrows at him but they bent and broke when they hit his body, Earth Priest smiled and burrowed back into the ground.
Soul Medium ran backwards and sideways while Earth Priest continued moving underground, his head came out of the ground and he opened his mouth, a lot of sand came out and a sandstorm began. Soul Medium coughed while covering his eyes and Earth Priest made more vines with thorns grow, they wrapped around Soul Medium and Earth Priest came out from under him with his mouth open. Soul Medium jumped and used his telekinesis to float up higher, the vines held him down and he used his telekinesis to destroy them, he floated up higher and shot arrows into Earth Priest's mouth, he swallowed the arrows and then shot them back out alongside a lot of sand with rocks in it. Soul Medium stopped using his telekinesis and put up a magic shield while pointing his spear down, he fell while being hidden in the sand and stabbed the spear into Earth Priest's forehead. Earth Priest's eyes widened while the flames on the spear's blade engulfed his body and his armor exploded.
Earth Priest stood and glared at Soul Medium, he then slammed his front legs on the ground again to create another earthquake. Soul Medium jumped and tried to stab his spear into Earth Priest's head, but it did not penetrate his scales, he jumped back while Earth Priest held his front legs out and shot logs and rocks forward. Soul Medium put his spear and shield on his back and unsheathed his sword, he moved his front hoof across the blade to engulf it in dark purple fire. He jumped again and Earth Priest shot sand and rocks out of his mouth again, Soul Medium put up his magic shield as he fell and stabbed his sword into Earth Priest's forehead, his eyes widened as the scale Soul Medium stabbed got cracked and penetrated, the dark purple fire engulfed him and Earth Priest screamed and exploded.
Soul Medium stood up while Earth Priest's temple and gravestone collapsed and a stream of black mist came out and floated to War Chief's house, he panted while he looked around and saw nothing of interest, he sighed and headed back. Soul Medium arrived back at War Chief's house and the seal shaped like a deer's head was gone, he looked at the path in front of him that led to Fire Priest's temple, it was a downhill path, Soul Medium took a deep breath and headed there. He walked down the path and the ground soon began to shake, it broke apart in several areas and lava began to erupt out of the ground, he ran around while lava covered the path and ash blocked out the sky. Soul Medium continued dodging the parts of the ground that erupted and Fire Priest used his magic to make the entire path be set on fire, he cast his magic shield while sweating profusely, he continued running and stopped when he saw fire blocking his path. He teleported and appeared on the other side of it, he continued running while enduring the heat and dodging the erupting craters in the ground, he saw another fire blocking his path and he teleported past it, he kept running and soon saw Fire Priest's temple up ahead, there was another fire in his path and he teleported past it.
Soul Medium arrived at Fire Priest's temple and a circle of lava surrounded it, he quickly teleported into the temple, he saw a painting of the black hooded figure again, to its sides were shelves with pony skulls on them, and in the temple's center was a gravestone with a salamander ornament on its top. The figure in the painting eyes glowed and Soul Medium got shot out of the temple again, he grunted when he hit the ground and quickly stood up, he saw Fire Priest standing in front of him,
"To think our entire tribe has fallen to the likes of you, even Earth Priest, their best fighter, couldn't win against you. As War Chief's personal bodyguard and last line of defense, I'm not going to let you pass so easily, prepare to die." Fire Priest declared and he transformed, he took the form of a dark red dinosaur looking quadrupedal creature with black stripes on his back, he had claws on his four legs, a tail with a sharp end, and razor-sharp teeth in his mouth.
Fire Priest roared loudly while Soul Medium readied his spear and shield, he opened his mouth and shot fire out while Soul Medium blocked it, his shield began to turn red and became too hot to touch. Soul Medium tried shooting Fire Priest with a zap and it had no effect, the shield turned red and he threw it at Fire Priest's head, it bounced off while it also had no effect and Fire Priest laughed at him. Soul Medium held his spear with both of his front hoofs and jumped high into the air, he aimed for Fire Priest's head but the ground erupted and a wall of lava appeared around Fire Priest while he also made a circle of fire appear around himself,
"Whoa!" Soul Medium exclaimed as he used telekinesis to get himself away from it while he felt the heat from them. Fire Priest shot fire out of his mouth and Soul Medium used telekinesis to fly around and dodge them, he looked for an opening across the fire and lava around his enemy but did not see one. Fire Priest jumped out and landed in front of him, the ground exploded around his four feet while lava erupted and a big explosion happened around him that sent out an orange shockwave, Soul Medium put up his magic shield to block it while the shockwave sent him flying into a wall. A crater appeared on the path that he fell on and he quickly stood up while rubbing his back, he teleported to Fire Priest and tried to stab his spear into his body, he heard a clank and saw his spear was not sharp enough to cut through Fire Priest's hide.
Fire Priest lifted one of his front legs up and slammed it down, Soul Medium jumped back before he made impact with the ground, his foot put a crater in the ground and made lava shoot out. Soul Medium rolled to his right to dodge the lava about to fall on him, he then enchanted his spear's blade and dark purple flames appeared on it, he swung it around and sent fire waves at his target, but they stopped and turned orange when they reached him and went back to him, he rolled to his left to dodge them while he realized Fire Priest's fire was stronger than his own. Fire Priest focused his gaze on Soul Medium's spear and it caught on fire, he exclaimed while he dropped it, Fire Priest then jumped and tried to land on him. Soul Medium ran elsewhere and almost fell into one of the holes, he took his bow off of his back while Fire Priest landed.
Soul Medium aimed and shot arrows at the back of Fire Priest's head, but they bent and broke on impact when they touched him, he put his bow on his back and unsheathed his sword. Fire Priest made the ground under Soul Medium's feet break open and erupt, he fell into the hole and held himself up with telekinesis while lava shot up, he cast a magic shield around himself to block the lava while Fire Priest used his powers to close all the holes and craters on the ground. The lava flowed up quickly and completely filled in the underground area, Soul Medium teleported onto the ground's surface and it was completely engulfed in flames. His vision was blocked by the fire and smoke and could not see anything, Fire Priest's head burst out of the ground and broke through his magic shield, he bit into Soul Medium's abdomen. Soul Medium screamed loudly while Fire Priest shot fire into his body, he quickly stabbed his sword between Fire Priest's eyes as hard as he could and stabbed through his hide this time, the spiritual energy in the sword went into Fire Priest's body, he turned dark purple and exploded.
Soul Medium watched and the fire and lava did not disappear, he heard movement underneath himself and saw Fire Priest moving around underground. He readied his sword while he watched Fire Priest move around since wherever he went made the ground crack open and lava spewed out, he soon came out of the ground and sent a wave of fire out, Soul Medium saw it was too big to jump over or dodge, so he teleported. He reappeared behind Fire Priest and he got ready to slash him with his sword, but Fire Priest lifted his tail and slammed it on the ground, it made a circle of fire appear and it spread out everywhere, Soul Medium jumped over it. He landed while Fire Priest turned around swung his front legs around, his sent waves of fire from his claws forward, Soul Medium put up his magic shield to block the flames and ran to Fire Priest, he made a wall of fire appear between them and Soul Medium jumped over it, he continued running to Fire Priest and stabbed his sword into his sternum, he turned dark purple and exploded again.
Soul Medium got pushed back by the explosion and he stood up, he realized Fire Priest was not down yet since the fire did not disappear and his temple was still intact, he saw him moving under the ground again with lava coming out of the cracks he created by moving around. Fire Priest rose out of the ground and his body was now made completely out of fire with lava dripping off of it, he shot fire out of his back and into the sky, it began to rain down and one of Soul Medium's charms deflected them, he said a word in a foreign language with his voice echoing and the falling flames extinguished. Fire Priest opened his mouth and shot about ten lava streams in different directions while more came out of his eyes, they burned everything they touched and caused explosions, Soul Medium summoned his magic shield again while the lava breaths pushed him back. Fire Priest transformed into a big blob made of fire and lava and began slithering towards Soul Medium, he got to him and Soul Medium began to sweat profusely as he felt the heat past his magic shield, he quickly teleported elsewhere.
Soul Medium appeared behind Fire Priest and shot a big beam out of his horn, Fire Priest divided into two and went around it and slithered towards him again. He formed back into one and became a bigger body of fire, he began shooting streams of fire and lava out in every direction and burned everything they touched, he shot a big blast at Soul Medium and he laid on the ground to dodge it. He watched Fire Priest carefully while he continued moving forward slowly and shot fire and lava blasts everywhere, he readied his sword and enchanted dark purple flames onto it. Fire Priest continued moving and soon got to him, Soul Medium put his magic shield down and Fire Priest began to move down to consume with his body of fire and lava and burn him, he lowered himself and Soul Medium stabbed his sword into him, Fire Priest's body turned dark purple and he screamed as he winced back and exploded.
Soul Medium got shot back and he grunted as he hit the ground, he panted heavily and sweated profusely while all of the fire and lava in the area extinguished themselves, and Fire Priest's temple and gravestone collapsed, a stream of black mist then came out and floated to War Chief's house. Soul Medium stood up after a few minutes and gathered his things, he saw his shield was still red and too hot to touch and his spear's wooden handle was charred, he checked it and saw it was still useful, so he put it on his back and carried his shield with telekinesis, he then left the area. Soul Medium arrived back at War Chief's house and the seal in front of his door was gone, he cast a healing spell on himself and swallowed a few herbs and powdered spices, he then headed in. He entered the house and saw another painting of the hooded figure and the skulls of ponies, birds, fish, lions, bears, deer, and wolves on the shelves, he heard the birds cawing and the animals growling, he also looked and saw a big gravestone in the house's center with a pony skull ornament on its top.
Soul Medium walked forward and saw War Chief behind his grave and looking at the painting, he turned around and faced him,
"We finally meet face to face." Soul Medium commented,
"You're the first one to ever make it to me." War Chief said,
"Why? Why did you seek out power from that hooded figure in your paintings?" Soul Medium inquired,
"He is our god and provided us to continue being here instead of going to the Void, we offer him prayer in exchange of our own powers, hail Claudius." War Chief explained,
"Claudius?! Great whickering stallions!" Doctor Whooves exclaimed,
"You know him?" Soul Medium questioned,
"Yes, some of my former patients mentioned encountering him, too." Doctor Whooves answered,
"What? You mean... he's actually real after all?" Soul Medium inquired as his eyes widened,
"I hate to say this, but yes." Doctor Whooves responded, Soul Medium's eyes widened,
"Let's continue, our time is almost up." Doctor Whooves said, and Soul Medium continued.
"Claudius? Why did you seek him out to get powers after death?" Soul Medium asked,
"So me and my tribe can continue doing what we do to others." War Chief answered,
"So you can offer their souls and grow stronger." Soul Medium deduced,
"No, he only needs our prayers and worship." War Chief corrected,
"Then why do you all harass, torment, and kill others?" Soul Medium questioned in a stern tone,
"No reason, we just like doing stuff like that." War Chief answered,
"I will end you and your tribe, I will send you to the Void to be judged." Soul Medium declared while seething, and the figure in the painting eyes' glowed red and shot him out of the temple.
Soul Medium stood up and saw War Chief standing in front of him, he jumped into the air and transformed, he changed into a winged dragon with claws on his four legs and two big horns coming out of the top of his head, he was completely black like a shadow with glowing red eyes. He flew up high into the sky and flapped his wings, waves of black energy appeared and everything they touched became corrupted with dark magic, he continued sending waves of dark energy forward and Soul Medium shot arrows at him, they got absorbed into his body and then shot back out. Soul Medium jumped around and dodged them while War Chief flew elsewhere, he went behind Soul Medium and shot red lightning out of his eyes, they destroyed every part of the ground they touched and summoned zombie ponies, they moaned as tried to grab and eat Soul Medium, he cut them apart with his sword and disappeared. He turned around and War Chief shot a purple blast out of his mouth, Soul Medium held his shield forward with his telekinesis to block it, the shield began to liquefy and fell onto the ground, a blast shot out of the liquid and faces of screaming ponies appeared in it.
Soul Medium watched as the purple blast began spreading out in different directions and burrowed into the ground, he heard more screams while plants and rocks made of black energy came out with screaming ponies embedded in them. He stepped back carefully while he felt his life energy get drained from the dark energy corrupting the environment, he heard loud noises upwards and saw War Chief flying down to him, he had the claws on his hind feet spread open and mouths with sharp teeth opened on the bottom of his feet, tongues came out of them and wrapped around Soul Medium to restrain him, he tried to break free but War Chief grabbed him with his claws and flew up. He flew through the air while Soul Medium screamed from the mouths biting into him, he felt dark magic go into his body and it weakened him, he groaned while War Chief let go of him and let him fall. Soul Medium's vision blurred as he tried to see what he was falling to, he could not see and cast his healing spell on himself, his vision fixed and his eyes widened when he saw sharp and jagged crystals growing out of the ground at where he was falling, he quickly teleported and reappeared on the ground.
Soul Medium stood on the ground and he saw War Chief flying above him, he flew down again and a big mouth filled with razor sharp teeth going from his collarbone down to the bottom of his abdomen opened, more tongues came out and wrapped around him, Soul Medium said an incantation and they exploded while pushing War Chief back. He slashed War Chief with his sword and he grunted while the dark purple flames engulfed his body and exploded, he flew back and opened his mouth, he got ready to shoot dark energy out and Soul Medium shot an arrow into his mouth, he winced back while Soul Medium shot more arrows into his body. War Chief absorbed the arrows and they went into him, he spread his limbs out and shot them back at Soul Medium with dark energy on them, he ran around to dodge them while watching War Chief carefully, the mouths on his feet opened and dripped acid out, they melted the ground and he began flying around. Soul Medium summoned his magic shield and teleported around while the streams of acid got bigger and harder to dodge, he looked carefully and saw War Chief flying over him, he put his magic shield down and took his spear off of his back, he threw it and it went into War Chief's abdomen, he screeched loudly while and soon exploded.
Soul Medium got knocked back by the explosion and he stood up while he saw his spear got destroyed,
"Fire Priest, Water Priest, Earth Priest, Wind Priest, follow my lead." War Chief commanded in a distorted voice while four streams of black mist came out of his house and went into his body, his body was still shaped like a dragon's but now had various animal parts on him; his face had was a salamander's, bear's, shark's, and bird's face fused into one, he had a sharp beak and rows of teeth with venom dripping out of them inside his mouth, fur and feathers covering his body along with shark hide and armadillo scales under them, salamander claws and bird talons on his feet, and an octopus tentacle with a stingray's stinger on its tip and octopus suction cups on its bottom with jellyfish legs coming out of them. War Chief flapped his wings and sent out waves of fire and sand blown by strong gusts of wind, Soul Medium teleported to behind them and shot fire out of his horn at War Chief, it turned orange when it reached him and got shot back. War Chief made the ground shift up and down while lava erupted from the cracks, he also froze Soul Medium in place and flew down to him while entangling him in the jellyfish legs and the tongues coming out of the mouths on his feet, the jellyfish legs and stinger stabbed through the ice and injected Soul Medium with paralyzing venom. He remained paralyzed while War Chief made the ice disappear and proceeded to bite into his neck; Soul Medium used his willpower to resist the venom and heal himself, he moved slowly at first but soon got faster, he regained his full speed quickly and slashed War Chief's body with his sword, it had no effect. War Chief flew back up and summoned rocks around himself, he made fire appear on them and shot them forward as meteors, Soul Medium slashed the rocks with his sword to break them and then shot them back with his telekinesis, War Chief caught them with his front legs and enchanted them with dark magic, he threw them forward and Soul Medium jumped up on them and stabbed his sword into his body, War Chief screamed as he got engulfed in flames and exploded.
Soul Medium fell to the ground but quickly stood up, War Chief glared as his eyes glowed and it began raining fire and icicles, lightning also tried to strike Soul Medium but one of his charms deflected it, the fires and icicles fell everywhere while War Chief made rocks and boulders grow out of the ground to block and trap Soul Medium as he dodged them. He tried to run and strafe around but rocks and boulders appeared in his path every time, he was soon trapped and War Chief shot a breath of dark energy, fire, lava, water, ice shards, sand, rocks, and wind out of his mouth, they destroyed the ground and Soul Medium screamed as he got caught in it and everything hit him. He put up his magic shield to try to block the debris in the breath, he tried teleporting out of it but it homed on him, the debris in the breath hit his magic shield and he saw it was getting weaker, he looked past the debris in the attack and saw War Chief flying in the sky and watching him, he shot fire out of his horn at him, it turned orange and got shot back at him. He ducked to dodge it and noticed War Chief continuing to direct his breath attack with his mind, Soul Medium got an idea and ran forward while his magic shield lost its energy from the many attacks, he began to grunt in pain and soon fell while War Chief smiled, Soul Medium stood back up and walked slowly, he then used telekinesis on himself to float up and went to War Chief, the debris in his breath attack had no effect on him, so Soul Medium stabbed his sword into him again, he turned dark purple and exploded.
Soul Medium landed on the ground and all of the rocks and boulders disappeared, he cast a healing spell on himself while he saw War Chief's new form, he was now made of black energy, red fire, blue water, yellow rocks, and green wind. He shot red and blue lightning out of his eyes and Soul Medium jumped and dodged the red lightning strikes while his charm deflected the blue ones, tornadoes made of fire then formed on the ground and moved everywhere. Soul Medium ran around and dodged them carefully while War Chief made the ground break apart and water appeared below the parts, he then summoned crows, mosquitoes, wasps, fish, sharks, octopi, eels, stingrays, jellyfish, snakes, lions, bears, deer, and wolves, they all went after Soul Medium while he took his sword out and enchanted it, he sent dark purple flames flying everywhere and the spiritual energy burned them away. He ran and jumped from ground piece to ground piece and strafed to dodge the fire tornadoes, War Chief made boulders and mountains appear in his way but Soul Medium teleported on top of them, he jumped and stabbed his sword into War Chief's heart, he screamed as he turned dark purple and exploded.
Soul Medium landed on his hoofs and the environment returned to normal, he saw War Chief's house was still standing, he reappeared in front of him in his pony form holding a sword. Soul Medium unsheathed his sword and the two began fighting one another more, their swords clanged against one another and War Chief shot black and red bubbling zaps from his horn and Soul Medium dodged them by moving his head around. He enchanted his sword and swung it around, waves of fire went forward and War Chief jumped over them, he swung his sword downwards and sent a black wave with the sound of screaming ponies coming out of it. Soul Medium's eyes widened when he heard them but sidestepped to dodge it, War Chief teleported to in front of him and tried to cleave his head, Soul Medium blocked his sword with his own and forced it back, he forced War Chief's front legs up above himself and then slashed him across his neck, War Chief yelled as he stepped back.
Soul Medium ran up and tried to slash War Chief again, but he quickly recovered and blocked his sword with his own, he shot him back with his magic and Soul Medium grunted. He began teleporting around and slashed Soul Medium at his blind spots, he grunted loudly and he began teleporting, the two appeared in random areas for a while before clanging their swords against one another, they teleported around again and their swords hit one another from now on, they soon stopped and the two began doing combos and their swords clanged against one another with each attack until Soul Medium saw an opening and slashed War Chief across his chest, he yelled and teleported away. War Chief began shooting dark magic forward and it homed and engulfed Soul Medium, he screamed as he felt his life energy being drained, he focused and began shooting dark purple fireballs, War Chief deflected each one with his sword, so he teleported to him and slashed War Chief's horn, he yelled as he stopped casting his magic. War Chief slashed Soul Medium across his chest and he grunted, he quickly lifted up his sword when he saw War Chief swinging his down, he blocked War Chief's sword, the two began swinging their swords around again and they clanged each time, the two soon entered a deadlock and Soul Medium stood up, he forced War Chief's front legs up and he quickly recovered and blocked Soul Medium's next attack, he forced War Chief's arms to his right and then stabbed his sword into his forehead through his skull mask,
"IMPOSSIBLE!!" War Chief yelled as he got engulfed in dark purple flames and exploded while he screamed.
Soul Medium got pushed back a little while panting heavily, War Chief groaned while he was on his knees, Soul Medium walked to him and War Chief quickly moved and tried to stab his sword into him but Soul Medium dashed past him and did a horizontal slash across his throat,
"Game over, War Chief." Soul Medium declared, and he floated into the air while screaming. The entire village turned light blue and Fire Priest, Water Priest, Earth Priest, and Wind Priest appeared behind him, they all screamed while explosions appeared in the area,
"NOOOOO!!" War Chief screamed as he and his four priests turned into spheres and broke apart one by one. War Chief's house and gravestone then collapsed,
"It's finally over." Soul Medium said as he sheathed his sword, he walked back to the entrance and saw the ghosts of the village's original natives,
"Thank you so much, we can now finally rest." a mare stated,
"Were you able to free those whose souls were taken by the tribe?" a stallion asked,
"I'm sorry, but no." Soul Medium answered,
"You have our utmost thanks, now that they are gone, others can pass our village with no fear of being harmed any longer." a second mare spoke,
"We will be in the Void if you need us, we'll help you now to repay what you've done." a second stallion stated,
"Thank you." Soul Medium said,
"We'll be going now, have a good life." a third mare spoke, and they disappeared. The sun began to rise as he walked down the path he used to enter the village and arrived back into the woods,
"Soul Medium?" Soprano called out, he looked to his left and saw her running to him,
"Did you do it?" Soprano asked,
"Yes, I've exorcised the village." Soul Medium replied,
"Oh, thank Celestia, I was worried all night about you." Soprano stated as she hugged him,
"Thank you, I just finished exorcising the village a few minutes ago, too, it wasn't easy, but it's done." Soul Medium spoke, Soprano let go of him,
"I'll be heading home, I need to get some rest." Soul Medium stated,
"Yeah, you should, you look exhausted." Soprano replied, and he walked home while she watched him and smiled.
About a month passed and Soul Medium was visited by Soprano every now and then, he began to have bad dreams about his experiences in the village and sprung awake panting and sweating, he performed a ritual and chanted to see if any ghosts were haunting him and sighed with relief when he saw they were not. A few days passed and Soprano arrived with bits,
"Soul Medium, uh..., drat, how do I say this? I've noticed you've been having nightmares recently and I convinced my parents to give me some of their money to give you so you can, like, go see a therapist or something." Soprano spoke,
"Thanks, I can use that right around now." Soul Medium replied as he took the money,
"I do hear that Doctor Whooves in Ponyville might be a good choice." Soprano suggested,
"I agree, he'd probably understand my situation without calling me crazy, too." Soul Medium replied, and he looked at a map and teleported to Ponyville.
Doctor Whooves and Soul Medium sat across from one another,
"Soprano still comes over and checks on me, her company has helped me with the nightmares quite a bit." Soul Medium spoke,
"That's good, when you recover, I'd like to recruit you, me and several others can use somepony like you in fighting Claudius." Doctor Whooves stated,
"I'll join, but after I take a break and recover from my bad dreams." Soul Medium responded,
"Of course, I have a medicine that might help you. Here." Doctor Whooves said as he gave it to him,
"Do you also need a shield and a spear?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, I made new ones after exorcising that village." Soul Medium responded,
"Okay, well, that's all the time I have, if you continue having nightmares or want to talk about your experiences, my door is always open." Doctor Whooves spoke,
"Thank you, I'll be taking my leave now." Soul Medium responded, and he paid him and left. Soul Medium looked around Ponyville and saw everypony getting ready for Nightmare Night, he remembered his experiences in the village again and shook his head to stop the flashbacks, he teleported back home and the bottle's instructions on how to take his medication, he swallowed a pill with water and then continued on with his day.
Smuggling Ring (Part 1 of 3): Criminals
Doctor Whooves was walking through Ponyville and stopped when he saw Gogh standing with two royal guards that had a pony who looked just like him and a unicorn,
"Is this them, Gogh?" one royal guard stallion asked,
"Yes, this is them, my alternate self and Narcissus, the two that killed my bride." Gogh answered,
"Alright, off to the Crystal Empire with you two, you two better hope Princess Cadance is feeling merciful today." the other royal guard said, and they carried them away while Alternate Gogh and Narcissus screamed and tried to break free. Doctor Whooves walked into his house and stopped in his tracks when he saw Inertia, Solute, and Data in his office,
"Hi, Doctor Whooves." the three teenage fillies stated,
"Great wickering stallions! Inertia! Data! I didn't think you two would ever join me." Doctor Whooves exclaimed,
"Well, they had nothing to do, so I brought them with me." Solute explained,
"Yeah, we heard about your sessions from Solute, so we thought we'd join because they sounded interesting." Inertia added,
"So, how many patients do you have today?" Data asked,
"By coincidence, three, they're coming in together, they're also all girls like you three as well, and by another coincidence, one's a unicorn, one's a Pegasus, and one's an earth pony." Doctor Whooves responded,
"Um, Doctor Whooves, a group of three consisting of a unicorn, a Pegasus, and an earth pony is pretty common." Inertia stated,
"I know, I'm just stating it's a coincidence my patients for today is a group of the three pony types and all girls just like you three." Doctor Whooves explained,
"When do they arrive?" Data asked,
"They should be here pretty soon." Doctor Whooves answered,
"I hope what they encountered isn't like what we encountered." Solute remarked,
"Me too, Solute, ever since you dealt with the machine pony from the future, I've been worried about you, considering you have bad grades in school and are bullied often." Doctor Whooves remarked,
"Please don't remind me, Doctor Whooves, ever since my wing and leg got broken, I've been picked on more than before." Solute stated,
"I'm sorry, Solute, I hope things get better for you after you graduate." Doctor Whooves stated,
"I hope so, too." Solute responded, they heard footsteps outside and looked at the door.
They saw three mares come in and they looked on with surprise. The unicorn had a light blue coat, long, wavy, dark yellow mane and tail with bangs across her forehead, and purple eyes, she was wearing a blue long-sleeve lace dress with flower patterns on it and a white long-sleeve dress under it, it was closed in front of her hind legs and went all the way down to her hoofs, and she had black high heel shoes on all four of her hoofs, she was the middle of the three mares in terms of height. The Pegasus had a bright green coat, long, straight, light sky blue mane and tail, and yellow eyes, she was wearing a black leather tricorne with one corner facing forward and the other two corners in the back, a black leather waist-length coat with three gold buttons and gold trimmings around the button holes that was open, a black vest with three black buttons, a white cravat that was tied to have three layers, a light brown leather belt with a gold buckle around her waist, white pants, and light brown mid-calf length leather boots on her hind legs, she was the shortest mare. The earth pony was tall and wearing a dull gray suit of armor that covered her entire body, there were small holes in the helmet for her to see but too small for others to see her eyes, she had a sword sheathed on her left side and a kite shield on her back, she was the tallest mare.
The three mares walked forward and sat with the unicorn to the left, the Pegasus to the right, and the earth pony in the middle,
"Are you three the patients?" Doctor Whooves asked, they nodded,
"Can you take your helmet off please?" Doctor Whooves asked, and the earth pony did, she had a bright red coat, a long straight orange mane, pink eyes, and two scars on her left eye,
"State your names and occupations." Doctor Whooves said,
"Paladin, knight for life." the earth pony answered,
"Arcana, mage for life." the unicorn responded,
"Robin, ninja and assassin for life." the Pegasus replied, it became silent,
"He meant as in the jobs you all do to earn money." Inertia explained,
"It is what we do for a living." Paladin stated,
"Yeah, Paladin fights in combat for bits, Arcana casts magic for bits, and I sneak around for bits, so long story short, we're mercenaries." Robin added,
"Where are you three from?" Data asked,
"Dreaming Paradise." Arcana answered,
"Dreaming Paradise? I've never seen that place on the map." Solute commented,
"It isn't, it's hidden by magic." Paladin stated,
"Say, doctor, are these three your angels?" Robin asked,
"No, they're my assistants, and usually, only one of them comes, it's that Pegasus there, she only brought her two friends with her today because they have nothing to do." Doctor Whooves explained,
"Still, a unicorn, a Pegasus, and an earth pony, and all girls, just like us, what a coincidence." Robin remarked,
"Can we start? I only have a limited time with each patient." Doctor Whooves said,
"Of course, I'll go first." Paladin replied, and she began her tale.
Paladin was a resident of Dreaming Paradise who lived in its center and in a fortress just like its other earth ponies, she was her generation's best fighter and helped train the other students while also acting as the personal bodyguard and last line of defense for Commander Lionheart, the place's earth pony ruler, he had a dark red coat, short white mane and tail, and orange eyes, he was wearing a dull gray and battered suit of armor that covered his entire body except his head, his helmet was behind him, a red cape, he had a sword sheathed on his left side and a shield on his back. The ponies of Dreaming Paradise were often contacted and hired around Equestria to act as mercenaries and bodyguards to others, the earth ponies were often hired to be fighters, the unicorns were hired for magic jobs, and the Pegasi were hired for infiltration jobs. Paladin was on break one day and exploring outside of Dreaming Paradise with Arcana and Robin,
"Wow, a whole month and no contact from the outside world on hiring us." Robin commented,
"Well, ever since Equestria has dealt with Cozy Glow, things have been quiet, I think the ponies are grateful to be at peace after the amount of destruction she caused." Arcana responded,
"Even then, there are still smaller, minor threats throughout the world, some are outside Equestria, too." Paladin said,
"Dreaming Paradise is relieved, too, and it really is nice to have a slower change of pace after that." Arcana added,
"Well, I'm a little bored." Robin remarked,
"Come on, you two, maybe we can find something interesting while exploring." Paladin stated, Arcana and Robin smiled and they walked together. They went to the Equestrian and Yakyakistani border and saw a suspicious looking Pegasus stallion flying into the country, he had a dark green coat and was bald,
"Let's follow him." Paladin whispered, Arcana and Robin nodded and they did. They arrived into Yakyakistan and saw the Pegasus meet up with a unicorn stallion that had a light blue coat and was wearing a cop's short-sleeve shirt and hat, his cutie mark was a black nightstick, a dark blue aura appeared on his horn and he reached into the Pegasus' saddlebag, he took out vials filled with red liquid and brought them into Yakyakistan, the Pegasus flew away while the unicorn gave the vials of red liquid to five more unicorns in white lab coats,
"This isn't looking good." Arcana whispered, the unicorns in lab coats teleported back into Yakyakistan and Arcana teleported herself and her friends around and they watched the unicorns in lab coats put the red liquid into syringes and injected the sick yaks with the red liquid,
"Let's watch one and see what happens." Paladin whispered, Arcana and Robin nodded and they walked.
They followed one yak who got injected, they watched him in his home through a window while Arcana made herself, Paladin, and Robin invisible, they watched the yak sleep peacefully until he suddenly sprung awake and roared loudly and charged outside and began attacking the other yaks and destroyed property, four more male yaks then charged around and destroyed more property, Arcana used her magic to restrain them while Paladin held back the yaks coming to her and Robin flew around to pick up and hold yaks to avoid them getting hit while grunting. Arcana cast a spell to make the yaks sleep while Paladin and Robin lifted debris to rescue trapped yaks, Paladin lifted the heavy debris while Robin lifted the light and medium debris. They gathered the yaks together and then looked at the five violent yaks that were unconscious,
"Is everyone alright?" Paladin asked, the yaks nodded,
"Yak attacks keep happening! But yaks not know cause." one male yak said,
"I guess we'll just have to wait for those five to awaken." Robin stated,
"Well, let's rebuild while we wait." Arcana responded, and they did. They rebuilt the homes and the five male yaks groaned and regained consciousness,
"Where is yak?" one yak asked,
"Is yak dreaming?" another yak asked,
"We got some questions for you five." Paladin responded while she stood in front of them with Arcana and Robin,
"Who are three?" a third yak questioned,
"We're just visitors from Equestria, and you five suddenly became violent and started destroying everything." Paladin responded,
"Violent? Destroy? Yaks do no such things." a fourth yak rebuked,
"Yak have ways of destruction, we artistic, not senseless!" a fifth yak added,
"What do you call that behind us then?" Arcana asked, the five yaks saw the destroyed homes,
"We did that?" the second yak asked, Paladin, Arcana, and Robin nodded,
"We saw one of you yaks get injected with a red liquid when seeing a pony doctor before you all went on a rampage." Robin explained,
"Which one of us?" the fourth yak questioned, Paladin, Arcana, and Robin pointed to the yak in the center,
"Yak have no memory of being injected with red liquid." the first yak stated,
"But do you remember seeing the pony doctor?" Arcana asked,
"Yes." the first yak responded, Arcana cast a spell and the yaks looked on with shock at seeing her aura was red, blue, yellow, and green and four times bigger than an average aura. Arcana played the memory of the unicorn doctor injecting the yak with the red liquid, she then cast a spell on the other four yaks to see their memories, she saw them get injected with a red liquid as well while the yaks gasped,
"Is yak being injected with evil energy?!" a female yak exclaimed,
"I can't say yet, I'm going to need to get a hold of one of the syringes and examine its contents." Robin responded,
"Well, looks like it's time for one of usual jobs, so, Robin, go ahead and gather info, Arcana and I will be waiting for you back at home." Paladin said, Robin nodded and Arcana teleported themselves back to Dreaming Paradise, she then cast a spell on Robin to turn her into a ghost and she left.
Paladin and Arcana trained while waiting for Robin, Paladin trained in hoof-to-hoof combat and using her sword and shield along with a bow and arrows while Arcana meditated and focused her mind while fire, water, rocks, and wind floated around her. Robin appeared and Arcana changed her back to normal,
"Okay, I got the info, here's what we encountered." Robin stated, and they gathered at a table,
"What we encountered was a small part of a smuggling ring, the red liquid that made the yaks go berserk is being distributed to the changelings, griffons, dragons, seaponies, hippogriffs, kirins, and the Saddle Arabian ponies as well, from the info I gathered, the members of the smuggling ring are using this red liquid to make it look like the other non-Equestrian countries are dangerous and unfriendly when compared to Equestria so other creatures will move into Equestria to tighten relations and be willing to share their military weapons, armor, and strategies so the smuggling ring can use them to not only conquer the other countries, but know the weaknesses of them when used against them so they can exploit it." Robin explained,
"What have you found out about the smuggling ring and its members?" Paladin asked,
"It's a little big, the three pony types are all divided like a caste system, too, the unicorns seem to be the brains and leaders, the Pegasi are the scouts and delivery ponies, and the earth ponies are the muscle, also serving as delivery ponies if a Pegasus isn't available, the unicorns will move the liquid if neither pony type is available." Robin answered,
"So, are we talking like a mafia or something?" Arcana questioned,
"About that, this smuggling ring doesn't just have criminals in it, I've also noticed law abiding citizens and authority figures are members as well." Robin replied, Paladin's and Arcana's eyes' widened,
"And Princess Celestia never noticed?" Arcana inquired,
"It seems it's because this smuggling ring operates mostly outside of Equestria, the members that are citizens and authority figures don't seem to have committed any crimes either." Robin explained,
"And the known criminal members?" Paladin asked,
"Princess Celestia is aware of them, but it looks like she doesn't know about the red liquid they're distributing outside Equestria, so long story short, Princess Celestia is slightly aware of this group, but she doesn't realize it's bigger than she thinks and is unaware of this berserk liquid injected into non-Equestrian pony creatures." Robin answered,
"Alright, I think that's enough info on the ring, Robin. How many members are there and what are their names and roles?" Arcana asked,
"As for the criminals, I have found seven members, the one who moves most of the red liquid around is a Pegasus named Associate, he has an earth pony body guarding him, his name's Enforcer, the guy who scouts and tells them where to go is a Pegasus named Soldier, the one who oversees them is a unicorn called Caporegime, the third-in-command and advisor to them is a Pegasus named Consigliere, he's also the entire smuggling ring's lawyer, the second-in-command is an earth pony called Underboss, and the leader of the criminal group is a unicorn named Don." Robin responded,
"And the other two?" Arcana questioned,
"I started by tracking down those seven ponies we saw that were involved in moving the red liquid in Yakyakistan, that Pegasus we saw is named Deliverer, there are several delivery ponies like him distributing the red liquid into the countries, he's the one who delivers it to Yakyakistan, the one delivering it to the Changeling Hive is a Pegasus named Air Service, the Pegasus going to the Dragon Lands is Speedy Delivery, the Pegasus going to Griffonstone is Box Mover, the Pegasus going to Mount Aris is Peregrine Falcon, the Pegasus going to Kirin Grove is Wind Gust, and the Pegasus going to Saddle Arabia is Sound Barrier, I looked into their backgrounds and discovered every single one of them is a former Wonderbolt. I then looked into the five doctors we saw, they're Brain Surgeon, Medicine Pony, Red Cross, Scientist, and Experimenter, I have also found four unicorn doctors in the Dragon Lands injecting the red liquid into them, they're Fuel Injector, Liquid, Freezer, and Bio Med, one in the Changeling Hive, his name's Oral Cleaner, three in Griffonstone, their names are Avian Doctor, Ornithologist, and Beak Fixer, two in Mount Aris, their names are Bird Cleaner and Marine Biologist, he's injecting the liquid into the seaponies in Seaquestria, two in Kirin Grove, their names are Fire Starter and Serenity, and two in Saddle Arabia, their names are Magic Doctor and Witch Doctor. I watched them and discovered there are two traveling earth ponies using their businesses as a front to hide the fact they're making the red liquid in the back, the first guy is Tofu, he runs a traveling restaurant called Tofu Services that serves tofu in place of hay for food, the other is House Cleaner, he puts tents over dirty houses and they make the red liquid inside them. I watched and discovered their leader is a unicorn named Philanthropist, he's using his wealth to buy the materials needed to make the red liquid, his second-in-command is a Pegasus named All Seer, he works as a security guard, and his bodyguard is an earth pony named Body Sculptor, spends a lot of his time in the gym." Robin explained,
"What have you found out on the authority figures?" Paladin asked,
"That law enforcer we saw is Border Patrol, he checks the stuff going out of Equestria and into Yakyakistan, the one for the Changeling Hive is an earth pony named Law Enforcement, the one for the Dragon Lands is a Pegasus named Air Marshal, the one for Griffonstone is a Pegasus named Air Police, the one for Mount Aris is a Pegasus named Sky Police, the one for Seaquestria is a unicorn named Coast Guard, the one for Kirin Grove is a unicorn named Firefighter, and the one for Saddle Arabia is a unicorn named Desert Storm. I also looked into the world's train system and Equestria's banks, and surprisingly, there's no one in the train system who is a member, but no members in the banking company didn't surprise me, since hundreds to thousands of bits suddenly coming in and being brought in by the same ponies would draw suspicion, they are also operating independently and avoiding the train systems. I also checked Equestria's police and military services, there are no members in the military, but there are in the police, I have found four members, the third and final leader of the smuggling ring is a unicorn cop named Police Sergeant, his bodyguard is an earth pony named Police Corporal, and the two overseers of the ring's movement are two Pegasi named Police Officer and Police Constable. I looked farther into Equestria's police and was surprised to discover that the sergeant rank was highest ranking member within it, I'm guessing the smuggling ring is mostly trying to keep a low profile." Robin explained,
"Is that every member?" Paladin asked,
"Yup, I also looked into seeing if there was one secret member who was the actual leader with Don, Philanthropist, and Police Sergeant acting as his second-in-commands, there isn't. Only the criminal members are known, the citizens and authority figures have gone under Equestria's radar." Robin stated,
"Alright, so, what's the connection between Don, Philanthropist, and Police Sergeant?" Arcana asked,
"It looks like the three grew up in a town in Equestria and they didn't like all of the non-Equestrian pony creatures coming in, so they decided to band together, found some more like-minded ponies later, and they all decided to make the red liquid after traveling to other countries and make them look violent, the other creatures move to Equestria for safety reasons, they do deals with the ponies to strengthen relations, and eventually, our polices and militaries start working together to maintain world peace and exchange weapons, armor, and strategies, and the smuggling ring gets their hooves on them and launch secret stealth attacks to wipe out all non-Equestrian pony creatures." Robin answered,
"Hmm, I wonder why they want the Saddle Arabian ponies gone then." Arcana stated,
"From what I've gathered, it's because they consider them defected ponies and have to be eradicated." Robin replied,
"This smuggling ring could be a big problem in the future." Paladin stated,
"I agree, we need to destroy it now." Arcana added,
"I agree, too, so who wants to go after who?" Robin asked,
"I'll deal with the criminals, Arcana, you go after the citizens, Robin, you deal with the authority figures." Paladin answered,
"Alright then, I'll go ahead and give you two pictures of your targets then." Robin said, and she did. Paladin looked at the pictures of Associate, Enforcer, Soldier, Caporegime, Consigliere, Underboss, and Don. Associate had a gray coat, long white mane and tail, gray eyes, and his cutie mark was a light brown clipboard. Enforcer had a bright red coat, short red mane and tail, red eyes, and his cutie mark was a yellow muscular arm flexing. Soldier had a light green coat, short yellow mane and tail, light purple eyes, and his cutie mark was a green peaked cap with a black visor. Caporegime had a dark yellow coat, short sky blue mane and tail, light pink eyes, and his cutie mark was three bit coins. Consigliere had a light purple coat, long dark red mane and tail, yellow eyes, and his cutie mark was a set of pink lips. Underboss had a bright blue coat, short dark blue mane and tail, blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a gray syringe. Don had a dark purple coat, short dark red mane and tail, red eyes, and his cutie mark was a black tome.
Paladin put the pictures in her scabbard's strap on her hind left leg and stretched,
"A few more questions, Robin. Do they have anybody helping them that are not members of the smuggling ring, whether they know it or not?" Arcana asked,
"Nope, only the official members are involved." Robin replied,
"Okay, what about families, do they have any parents, siblings, spouses, or children?" Arcana questioned,
"Nope, I followed each one to their homes, I was very surprised to see not a single one of them had a family, I'm guessing they chose not to start a family so they wouldn't have to deal with things raising kids, helping them with school, and so on, so they focus on their smuggling ring full-time, their parents, aunts, and uncles likely already passed away, too." Robin responded,
"Okay, one more thing, I've noticed every single member is a stallion, you think you could've missed some?" Arcana asked,
"No, I looked into that, too, there's not a single female within the smuggling ring, everyone is an Equestrian pony and male, there are no kids involved either." Robin responded,
"Well, it's settled, let's put a stop to them." Paladin declared,
"Alright, and Paladin, the criminals are known in Equestria for being thieves and bringing in lots of money, I'm assuming some of the lower ranking members could be loan sharks." Robin said,
"Well, whatever the reason, I'll put a stop to it, let's go." Paladin stated, and they went their separate ways.
Paladin got on the train and asked the passengers on Associate, Enforcer, Soldier, and Caporegime, the ponies shook their heads while some told her she should not get involved with them, she asked more passengers on their whereabouts and several reported seeing Associate, Enforcer, and Soldier walking around in a town close to the north of Equestria, she was given the nearest stop to it and one unicorn stallion pointed her to it, she thanked him and went to the town. She walked around and heard a thud and a stallion whimpering, she ran as fast as she could while her armor hindered her,
"You didn't meet your monthly payment again, guess that means I'm going to have to give you another beating." a deep male voice threatened,
"Please, I still have to pay my bills and feed my family, give me more time to make more money." the stallion begged,
"You should've thought about that before you married and had children." another male voice stated, Paladin saw Associate, Enforcer, and Soldier walk into her view,
"If you don't make your next payment, you won't have a family to have to take care of." Soldier threatened,
"No, please, don't hurt my wife and kids!" the stallion begged,
"Then give us our money! The boss is losing his patience with you." Associate said,
"Just give us what you have now." Enforcer demanded,
"I'm broke right now." the stallion said, Enforcer and Soldier walked forward and began beating him while he screamed. Paladin ran to them while her armor clanged loudly and they heard her coming,
"Slowpoke's not gonna get to us, let's get his money." Soldier ordered, and he, Associate, and Enforcer took the stallion's saddlebag and ripped its bottom open,
"No!" the stallion hollered, Associate, Enforcer, and Soldier began to walk away and Paladin grunted while she punched Associate with her front right hoof, he screamed as he flew several yards away and knocked a house over,
"Give back his money!" Paladin ordered,
"Oh, look who we got here, someone who wants to play hero." Enforcer snarked, Associate got back up and flew to them,
"Get out of here, I'll deal with these loan sharks." Paladin said, the stallion nodded and ran away, Associate flew to her and bucked her but he exhaled sharply due to her heavy armor protecting her, Enforcer and Soldier looked at each other and Enforcer ran forward to fight her. He tried to ram her but she picked him up and held him above herself while he exclaimed,
"Where is the red liquid?" Paladin questioned,
"Red liquid? What are you talking about?" Enforcer asked,
"Don't play dumb with me, what is the money for and where is the red liquid?" Paladin inquired, Associate let out a battle cry and hit her on her back with a wooden chair, it broke on impact and had no effect on her, she threw Enforcer onto the ground and created a crater and then smashed Associate's head into the ground. Soldier looked on with shock,
"Quick! Let's get the money to the boss before he gets mad." a male voice from above ordered, Soldier ran to a brown wagon and Caporegime flew down with his magic and they carried it away. Paladin looked at Associate and Enforcer and they groaned,
"I'm going to have a word with you two." Paladin commented, and she picked them up carried them away.
Paladin went back to Dreaming Paradise and tied Associate and Enforcer to a wall, she began punching them and they screamed from the pain and strength of her attacks,
"What is the money for?" Paladin inquired,
"You'll tire yourself out eventually." Enforcer remarked, Paladin punched him in his jaw with her front right hoof and he grunted loudly while a cracking sound was heard,
"I can do this all day." Paladin remarked, and she punched them in their abdomens and Associate and Enforcer grunted,
"What is the money for?" Paladin asked, Associate and Enforcer snickered and she punched them again and they began panting heavily, Associate and Enforcer did not respond and she punched them again,
"Answer me!" Paladin ordered, Associate and Enforcer began wheezing and Paladin got ready to punch them again,
"Paladin." a stallion's voice called out from behind, she looked back and saw Commander Lionheart,
"Archmage Astral Plane, Master Nocturne, and I have heard what you, Arcana, and Robin saw, your way of interrogation isn't going to work, it's clear they're not going to break, no matter how much you beat them." Commander Lionheart stated, Associate and Enforcer snickered,
"What am I supposed to do then?" Paladin asked,
"Don and his criminal organization are already well known in Equestria for being loan sharks and extortionists, and you already have two of them who flew away, you need to go back to where you originally were and ask around for where the other two went." Commander Lionheart explained,
"And these two?" Paladin asked, Enforcer flexed and stretched his legs and broke his restraints while Associate wiggled out of his. They ran to Paladin and proceeded to attack her, Associate tried punching her with his front legs and wings but her armor was too hard and he did no harm, he then turned around and bucked her helmet with his hind legs, Associate clattered his teeth together while intense pain ran through his hind legs, Paladin punched him away with her front right hoof and he screamed while he flew back to the wall and hit it and fell onto the floor. Enforcer ran forward and began punching her, Paladin did staggered a little since Enforcer's attacks were stronger, he bucked her and pushed her back a little, she punched him and he grunted, he did a backflip and landed on the wall with his hind legs, he did a somersault and tried to kick Paladin with his hind legs, she ducked and dodged him. Enforcer landed on the floor and did a backflip and tried to land on the back of Paladin's head, she jumped back and took her shield out, she put it on her front left leg while Enforcer landed on the floor. He ran to her and was about to punch her with his front right hoof, Paladin bashed the left side of his face with her shield and sent him flying, he hit the wall behind her and grunted, he then fell on top of Associate.
Paladin looked at the two and brushed her armor with her front hoofs,
"Go ahead and go after the other five, Paladin, plus, the criminal organization is well known, so tracking them down shouldn't be too hard, I'll go ahead and bury these two." Commander Lionheart, and she left while he did.
Paladin went back to the town and asked where Soldier and Caporegime went, the ponies pointed the directions to her and she soon went out of town, she then asked any pony around about the two while showing pictures of them,
"Why do you wanna go after them for?" a purple earth pony mare asked,
"They're targeting innocent people, it's about time someone put a stop to Don and his lackeys." Paladin replied,
"Don's headquarters is to the north of here in Fillydelphia, he lives in a big mansion with many floors, can't miss it." the mare stated,
"Thank you." Paladin responded, and she headed there.
Paladin walked into the woods and came out to a small and weak water stream, she stopped when she saw about forty earth ponies made of gray stone waiting for her,
"Golems, huh, must be Don's magic." Paladin said, she heard magic being cast in the sky and saw Caporegime casting telekinesis on himself with a white aura around himself and his horn, he held his front right leg out and the golems ran forward. Paladin punched and kicked the golems away but they reformed and continued attacking her, she grunted while she got staggered from the golems combining their bucks together, she punched four golems in front of her with her front right hoof while grunting and sent them flying away in pieces. She took her shield out while the golems swarmed her and she bashed them with her shield, they broke into more pieces and flew farther away, they reformed and ran to her. She looked up and noticed Caporegime was not casting any spells to control the golems, the golems swarmed her again and she stood up and threw them off while grunting loudly, she saw Soldier and Caporegime watching her while smiling smugly. She took her bow off of her back and held it in her front left hoof while also using her leg to swat some of the golems away, they fixed themselves and got back up and ran to her. Paladin punched all the golems away and bashed them with her shield, she realized the golems took longer to regenerate if they were broken into more pieces, she bashed and smashed them with her shield and then aimed an arrow with her bow. She shot an arrow at Soldier and he flew to dodge it, he laughed at her and Paladin then shot another arrow at him, it hit him in the center of his collarbone and he screamed while falling onto the ground.
Soldier stood up while shaking his head and pulled the arrow out, he flew to her while Caporegime cast a spell and gave Soldier armor made of rocks, he flew to Paladin while Caporegime used his magic to put short and pointed rocks on the front and back of Soldier's hoofs to act as spikes. The golems ran and surrounded Paladin and restrained her, Soldier flew to her and began punching her in her jaw while the pointed rocks cut her armor, she grunted while throwing the golems at Soldier and he caught them, he spun around and threw them back at her and Paladin swatted them away with her front forelegs, she saw Soldier coming and she punched him in his face with her front right hoof and pushed him back a little, she saw no cracks or damage on Soldier's armor and realized it was made of stronger material than the stone the golems were made of. Soldier flew forward and began punching Paladin constantly, she staggered back while he put dents and cuts in her armor and the golems stood by and watched.
Paladin grabbed Soldier's front legs with her own and he flew up while carrying her, he grunted while holding her due to her heavy armor and it slowed him down and made him unable to fly as high as usual, Caporegime used his telekinesis on her and Paladin felt lighter but the anti-magic properties of her armor still made her able to move, she began to headbutt Soldier's abdomen repeatedly and the rock cracked after the fourth strike, she did another headbutt and the rock armor on Soldier's abdomen broke off. She did another headbutt to his abdomen and he screamed while a bone was heard cracking, he fell onto the ground and the golems ran forward to swarm Paladin. She swatted them away with her shield and then bashed Soldier with it, the armor on his chest cracked and broke off, she then unsheathed her double-edged sword and stabbed it into Soldier's heart with her front right hoof, he screamed while Caporegime looked on with horror, Soldier groaned and fell into the water and the stream washed him away.
Caporegime teleported away while more golems appeared, Paladin ran to Fillydelphia and thick concrete walls grew out of the ground and blocked her path. Paladin rammed the first wall but she did not get through and cracked it, she hit it with her front forelegs and broke it, she saw more golems up ahead and they ran to her, she swatted them away with front forelegs and ran to the next concrete wall, it was thicker than the last one, she bashed it with her front forelegs and broke it and ran forward. Paladin saw more golems and the ones behind her caught up and began grabbing her, she threw them forward and knocked down the golems up ahead, she charged to next concrete wall which was also thicker than the last one, she growled while sprinting, she jumped and rammed her head against the wall, she began to go through it and punched her front legs into it, she jumped out of the other side and left a hole in it. Paladin saw even more golems up ahead and she grunted while picking up the concrete wall, she grunted loudly and threw it at the golems and knocked down the next concrete wall. A dark red-purple aura appeared on the fourth concrete wall and put it back up, Paladin saw it was too thick for her to get through, so she looked around while punching, bucking, and swatting the golems away, she saw the trees were tall enough for her to get past the walls.
Paladin climbed one tree slowly while her armor's weight made the tree crack in some areas, she got onto a branch and walked on it, it cracked and bent down more, Paladin kept her balance and walked forward a little, the branch broke and she jumped onto the top of the fourth concrete wall. The wall became electrified by the same dark red-purple magic aura and Paladin screamed and she got shot off and back to where she previously was. Paladin stood up while growling and the golems began to swarm her, she hit them away and tried to go around the wall but it grew wider, she got an idea and ran to the biggest tree that was near her. She grabbed it and grunted while she ripped it out of the ground and held it, she spun it around and hit the golems away, she then jumped and swung the tree down while grunting loudly, she smashed the concrete wall and ran forward.
Paladin panted while the tree made her slower, she swung it down and smashed the next concrete wall, she put the tree on her shoulder and walked to the next wall. The golems ran to her and swarmed her and Paladin spun around while holding the tree out and hit all of them far away, she then let go of the tree to let it fly forward and it smashed the next wall. Paladin saw that was the last concrete wall and ran forward, she saw Fillydelphia in view and hundreds of golems up ahead. Paladin ran to her right while the golems chased her, she looked back and saw the golems she swatted away jumping from tree to tree to catch up to her, she looked forward and saw more golems coming to her. She swatted the ones near her away while looking around, she saw two big trees up ahead with branches close to one another. She ran there while swatting the golems away and getting as many of them behind her as she could, she arrived at the trees and jumped, she grabbed two branches and pulled the trees' roots out of the ground, she swung forward and fell onto the ground while the trees fell and barricaded the path, she stood back up and saw magic make the golems disappear, she smiled under her helmet and walked to Fillydelphia.
Paladin arrived into Fillydelphia and looked around, everybody looked at her due to her weapons and armor making her stand out,
"I'm looking for Caporegime, I'm here to see Don, too." Paladin announced,
"Are you crazy? They're gonna make you disappear if you interfere with their businesses, they got the law enforcement under their hooves, too." a bright pink Pegasus mare stated,
"That is why I'm after them, my home has been a common target for Don and his lackeys, four of his loan sharks have been demanding bits from the ponies and lots of it, most are usually given two weeks to a month to try to meet their outrageous demands, and those that don't are beaten, and failing to meet their demands several times means their spouses and children get beatings or worse." Paladin explained, the ponies looked at her with shock,
"Don's mansion's that way, it's very big and fancy." a dark blue unicorn stallion stated while he pointed to the direction,
"Thank you, you just did my home a big service." Paladin responded, and she headed there.
Paladin ran and saw the mansion, it was made of white wood with a brown roof and many windows, it was mostly square shaped while the top roof was pyramid shaped,
"It really does stand out." Paladin commented, and she walked forward. Golems came out of the bushes and shrubs and began attacking her, she punched them away and stomped on their heads to smash them, they began reforming and she ran to the mansion's entrance, Caporegime teleported to between her and the mansion's double doors,
"You actually came all the way to here, I won't let you reach the boss." Caporegime said,
"Step aside if you wanna live." Paladin threatened, Caporegime shot a zap at her from his horn and she grunted and staggered her. The golems ran to her and she swatted them away with her front forelegs and Caporegime shot her several times and staggered her and the golems tried punching and kicking her but it had no effect, she swatted them away and threw a few at Caporegime and he teleported around. Paladin watched him carefully while Caporegime appeared in random spots and shot zaps at her, she ducked and swayed to dodge them, she gathered several golems and threw them in all directions to block his view. Caporegime used his magic on himself to float up and look for Paladin, she threw golems into the sky in all directions and he teleported around and looked for an opening, Paladin heard him teleport closer and closer each time to look for an opening and Paladin heard him close by, she ran and jumped and punched her front right hoof through the golems. Caporegime quickly tried to teleport while putting a concrete wall between himself and Paladin, her hoof broke through the wall and he made his own body out of metal, Paladin punched a hole into his sternum and he screamed while his metal body dented and broke open, he flew several yards away and onto the ground, he slid several more yards away and got buried deeper into the ground. Paladin ran to the mansion and noticed the double doors were locked and barricaded, she also saw the windows were window were barricaded with magic barriers, she grabbed the double doors' handles and grunted a little while pulling them to the sides, she screamed and ripped the double doors open and broke the door frame and walls,
"She's in!" an unfamiliar male voice exclaimed,
"Quick! Stop her!" another unfamiliar male voice ordered, and Paladin ran into the mansion.
Paladin ran inside but stopped when she saw the room was full of red lasers, she took her quiver off of her back and shot an arrow past the lasers, they all triggered crossbows on the walls that shot bolts everywhere, Paladin looked at her surroundings everywhere and stepped over the first laser with her front left leg and then crouched to avoid the laser above her, she moved her front right leg forward and went over the laser, she then moved her hind left leg through it and then her hind right leg. She moved very slowly while crouching and swaying around to dodge the lasers,
"Begin moving the lasers." the second unfamiliar male voice from before ordered, and the lasers began moving,
"Boss, you should summon some golems in there to trigger the crossbows." a third unfamiliar male voice suggested,
"Good idea, Consigliere, let's do that." the second unfamiliar male voice responded, and stone golems appeared in the room. They began running around and triggered the lasers, crossbow bolts shot everywhere and Paladin grunted while they put holes in her armor and pushed her around, the golems ganged up on her and she punched them and broke them into pieces, they reformed and continued running to her. Paladin punched the golems away and then shot the crossbows with her bow and arrows and destroyed them, more golems jumped on her and she shook them off. She grabbed one golem and blocked a crossbow bolt, the bolt went into its stone body and she threw it at the crossbow and destroyed it, she grabbed and threw five more golems and destroyed five more crossbows. She ran around while triggering the lasers and punched and destroyed the remaining eight crossbows,
"All of the crossbows have been destroyed!" the first unfamiliar voice exclaimed,
"Relax, Underboss, it's only the first line of defense in the mansion, we got more up ahead." the second unfamiliar voice responded, Paladin deduced he was Don. She ran past the lasers and bashed any golem in her way with her shield, she ran to the stairs at the other end of the room and they began moving down like an escalator. Paladin jumped up the steps but slid down while standing up straight, Paladin tried to hang off of a rail and the golems jumped and grabbed her hind legs, she slammed them together and broke the golem's front legs and heads. She moved quickly when she heard the rail cracking and it began to fall apart, she jumped when it broke and grabbed the next floor's rails and quickly climbed it, she ran to the double doors and they were locked, she grabbed the knobs and grunted while pulling on them, she grunted loudly and pulled the doors to the sides and broke part of the walls, ceiling, and door frame, she then ran into the next room.
Paladin ran into the room and saw a room with light blue lasers everywhere, she looked at the floor, walls, and ceiling and saw explosives. She shot her arrows into the room and they tripped the lasers and made the bombs explode, a dark red-purple aura appeared on the bombs and floated to her. She quickly fired her arrows and one explosive made several others explode with it, the golems from the previous room caught up to her and began running to her. She grabbed and threw them into the next room's lasers and the bombs exploded, the golems got destroyed but reformed themselves, she destroyed every explosive and ran into the next room. Paladin sprinted and saw the stairs moving down like escalators again, she grabbed the rails to her left and they moved down with the stairs. She moved up a little while the golems grabbed her hind legs and weighed her down, she hit them together and smashed their heads, she then moved up the rail quickly and then jumped onto the next floor's rail. She climbed on top of it and saw more light blue lasers and bombs on the floor and ceiling. She jumped to the left side of the floor and grabbed the explosives carefully, she threw all four of them at the golems and they exploded, she then unsheathed her sword and let the lasers touch it to make the bombs on the ceiling explode. She then grabbed the double doors and grunted while she forced them open, she grunted loudly when she opened them and broke its frame and wall around it and entered the next room.
Paladin entered the next room and saw the entire floor was electrified, she looked up and saw the double doors to the next floor also had a magic force field around it. She looked around and saw nothing was generating the electricity and it was created magically, she ran in and she grunted a little while her metallic armor conducted the electricity on her body but was reduced due to its anti-magic properties. She ran slowly while enduring the pain and got an idea, the golems entered and the electricity had no effect on their stone bodies. Paladin grabbed them and spun and threw them at the ceiling, they went through it and put holes in it, she jumped and climbed onto the next floor. She grabbed more golems and threw them at the ceiling to make holes in it and jumped up into the room above her,
"She's getting past our defenses!" Consigliere exclaimed,
"I know, Consigliere, go. Now. Send the remaining bits Associate, Enforcer, Soldier, and Caporegime gave us to our doctors." Don ordered,
"And me, boss?" Underboss asked,
"Stand by my side, you're my last line of defense." Don replied, Paladin threw her shield at the ceiling and broke it, it fell down and she grabbed it and then jumped up into the next room.
Paladin arrived into the next room and saw she was near the top of the mansion, Consigliere turned around and saw her while he was loading bits into a brown wagon,
"You'll pay for what you done!" Consigliere declared, Paladin looked and saw samples of the red liquid behind him along with papers written and signed by Brain Surgeon, Medicine Pony, Red Cross, Scientist, Experimenter, Fuel Injector, Liquid, Freezer, Bio Med, Oral Cleaner, Avian Doctor, Ornithologist, Beak Fixer, Bird Cleaner, Marine Biologist, Fire Starter, Serenity, Magic Doctor, and Witch Doctor, they were reports on the development of improving the red liquid's effect with new and expensive medical equipment and letters of thanks for the extra bits they put in their donations to buy and develop better medical equipment to improve the red liquid,
"So that's what you guys' loan shark business is for, you're getting lots of bits and then giving it to the smuggling ring's doctors and they put them in their donations to disguise the ill gotten gains as honest ones in order to buy and develop better medical equipment to make your red liquids stronger so the non-pony creatures and Saddle Arabian ponies can go berserk for longer and permanently if possible." Paladin deduced,
"Clever girl, our bosses thought you were the dumb one of your friends, but I guess you aren't, but now that you do know, I'll have to silence you." Consigliere stated,
"You don't look like much of a fighter." Paladin commented,
"I'm not, but that doesn't mean I can't defend myself, I'm not just the boss' advisor, I'm also the entire smuggling ring's lawyer, you'll soon learn that I have other skills outside of my profession." Consigliere stated, and he flew to her.
Consigliere rammed Paladin and she slid on the floor a little, she grunted while she grabbed him and threw him away, he did a backflip while in midair and flew to her. Consigliere tried punching her with his front legs but Paladin swayed side-to-side while dodging his attacks easily, she saw an opening and punched him in his face with her front right hoof, Consigliere grunted while he flew through the room, he grunted and fell when he hit a wall and cracked it. He stood up and flew to her, he tried to buck her but he exhaled very sharply while flying away, Paladin grabbed his hind legs and pulled him towards herself,
"Boss, I need some help here." Consigliere stated, stone golems magically appeared in the room and ganged on Paladin to distract her and he flew away. Paladin slammed them into the floor and they fell to the lower floors, Don then made double-bladed knives appear in Consigliere's front hoofs and held by his wings' feathers. He flew as fast as he could and tried to cut Paladin's metallic armor but only scratched it, he continued slashing it the armor and tried to cut it, he only scratched it a little and Paladin punched him with her front left hoof, he screamed while he flew across the room and hit the wall and put a crater in it. Consigliere tried to stand but could not,
"Can't... move." Consigliere said very weakly, Paladin grabbed him and spun around, she let go and threw him at the window, the glass broke and he fell from a very high height while screaming and the ponies watched with horror while Paladin threw golems at the ceiling and climbed into the next floor.
Paladin arrived onto the next floor and saw nothing on it,
"Boss, Consigliere has fallen." Underboss reported,
"I know, it's not just them either, her two friends are taking out the other members of our ring, too." Don responded,
"Maybe we should send more stone golems at her?" Underboss questioned,
"I got more up ahead, go ahead and go, Underboss, my golems will aid you in battle." Don stated,
"What about you?" Underboss asked,
"I'll remain here and fight her myself if you fall." Don replied,
"Okay, boss, I'll try my best." Underboss stated, Paladin jumped and punched the ceiling with her front left hoof, she put a hole in it and got stuck, she punched her front right hoof into the ceiling and then headbutted it to make another hole, she moved her front legs around to break the ceiling more, she then moved her head around to make the third hole bigger, she thrusted herself forward and made one big hole and got on the next floor.
Paladin arrived at the next floor and Don began making its floor, walls, and ceiling close in on themselves, Paladin grunted while they began to smash her and her armor and shield cracked. She grunted while pushing the walls away and the floor and ceiling closed in on her, she grunted very loudly and pushed two walls away and broke them. Don used his magic to move them while Paladin began pushing back the floor and ceiling, she grunted loudly when she pushed on them as hard as she could and broke them, she then pushed the last two walls back and screamed when she pushed them back and broke them. Paladin panted heavily while Don used his magic to make them move again and tried to smash her, she punched the walls and ceiling several times to break them and jumped onto the next floor after the floor pushed her up high enough.
Paladin arrived and saw more stone golems and Underboss waiting for her,
"So you're next, I must be close to your boss." Paladin commented,
"Thought we'd be able to take you down like how we did with many others snooping around on our businesses, but it's apparent you're a trained warrior and very strong even by earth pony standards, I won't let you reach the boss, he's needed to rebuild our group." Underboss said, and he ran forward.
Paladin got ready and Underboss began punching her cracked and damaged armor, she grabbed his front legs and held him back, he jumped and kicked her with his hind legs and pushed her back. Underboss began punching her head and stunned her with each hit, Paladin punched him with her front right leg and he grunted while he slid back a few inches, he quickly recovered and watched her carefully. The golems swarmed Paladin and she swatted them away while Underboss grabbed a few and threw them back at her, she grunted while they grabbed her and tried to rip her armor off. Underboss ran to her and punched her in her sternum with his front right hoof, Paladin grunted while she flew back a few inches, Underboss ran to her again and Paladin threw a golem at him and he ducked and dodged it, he arrived and tried to punch Paladin's helmet, she ducked and he punched a crater into a golem's face while she looked on with surprise.
Underboss tried to punch and kick Paladin but she positioned herself to make him hit a golem each time instead, they let go of her and moved back and Underboss began trying to punch and kick her while Paladin used her front forelegs to block his attacks and swung her front legs around to redirect his attacks. She grabbed his front right leg and went behind him and wrapped her front left leg around his neck, Underboss struggled to breathe while the golems swarmed Paladin and tried to get her off,
"Boss, a little help here." Underboss requested while struggling for breath, and a dark red-purple aura appeared on him and he turned into ballistic gel and slid out of her grip, Don then used his magic to make a war hammer appear and Underboss held it. He ran forward and Paladin punched him many times but his body jiggled around and absorbed her punches' shocks, he swung his war hammer at Paladin's abdomen and she grunted while she slid back several inches with a big dent in her armor,
"Of course, you're armored, blunt weapons are more effective against you than sharp weapons." Underboss commented, and he ran to her. Underboss bashed her armor in with his war hammer until Paladin held her shield up and it got dented, she then bashed him with it but his body jiggled and absorbed the attack, he smiled and continued attacking her with his war hammer while the golems grabbed and restrained her. Underboss began bashing her armor, she headbutted him and pushed him back a little, she leaned down a bit and several golems got on her back and made her fall. Underboss got ready to hit her head with his war hammer and moved it back and hit the floor, he lifted it up again and she moved her head farther down and the golems stepped aside, she jumped into the air and the golems jumped up to her. Paladin swatted them away and one knocked Underboss away, she stood up while Underboss threw the golem away and ran to her while Paladin unsheathed her sword. She cut his ballistic gel body apart until he was just a bunch of pieces lying on the floor,
"Ooh, this isn't good." Underboss' severed head said, Paladin then sheathed her sword and then picked up a golem and threw him down onto Underboss' body and smashed it, he changed back to normal while Paladin ran to the double doors and grunted loudly while she pulled it open and broke the wall surrounding them, she ran up the stairs and into the next room.
Paladin entered and saw she was on the top floor and Don was sitting at a brown wooden desk on the other side of the room,
"Hard to believe our entire smuggling ring has fallen to just three people, everybody who has fought us in the past lost." Don said,
"That's because they weren't fighters and trained since birth for combat like how me and my friends were." Paladin replied,
"Even so, they still went down, and the princesses only know my group as part of the smuggling ring, Celestia and Luna do nothing because we are a nuisance in their eyes' rather than a threat, all my group does is collect money, we don't destroy the country." Don remarked,
"But your loan sharks are hurting innocent people and destroying lives." Paladin reminded,
"All part of the job, the smuggling ring needs lots of money to develop the red liquid, and it has to come from somewhere." Don explained,
"You might as well give up now, your mafia is through, Don." Paladin spoke,
"As long as I'm active, I can recruit more members and rebuild, but with someone like you on my back, you're just going to come after me and destroy my group over and over again, that's why I have to take you out now." Don declared, and he stood up,
"Prepare yourself." Don said, and he ran forward.
Paladin saw Don running to her at fast speeds and he began punching her armor and each hit put a dent in it, she tried to punch him but Don held his forearms up and then moved them around to redirect and parry her attacks, he grabbed her front left leg and then jumped and wrapped his hind legs around her neck. Paladin tried to shake him off but he remained on her, she positioned herself so Don's back faced the wall, she jumped to her right side and rammed Don into the wall, he teleported and she fell back onto the floor. Don appeared behind her and shot her in the back of her head with a zap, she grunted and staggered while Don appeared in her left blind spot and shot a zap at her, she grunted and staggered again while Don teleported into her right blind spot and shot a zap at her. Paladin fell to her knees while Don continued teleporting into her blind spots and behind her and shooting her with his horn, he appeared behind her and Paladin quickly turned around and punched him in his face with her front right hoof and he slid back a few centimeters while blocking her punch with a magic shield.
Paladin saw Don do hoofsprings and then jumped in the air while doing somersaults, she grabbed him and then turned around and threw him, he landed on his hoofs and then ran to her. He grabbed the sides of her helmet and tried to squeeze it, Paladin punched him in his abdomen several times and he used his magic to make his body get covered in chitin. Paladin ripped them off while Don spun and kicked her helmet with the back of his hind right leg, Paladin staggered a little while she tried to punch him, he slapped her front hoofs down with his own. Paladin slammed her front left hoof down onto the floor to break part of it, she kicked the piece to Don and he jumped in the air while doing a backflip and dodged it, he landed on the floor with his hoofs on the floor and his abdomen facing upwards, he jumped again and did a somersault, he opened his body and kicked Paladin in her sternum with his hind legs, Paladin grunted while staggering back a little.
Paladin saw Don coming and she quickly went behind him and wrapped her front legs around his neck, they struggled with one another and he tried to do a somersault to break out of her grip but she was too heavy. He moved himself to the wall to his left and then put his hind legs on it and ran up it, he bent his body over Paladin's head and then wrapped his hind legs around her neck. Paladin tried to shake him off but could not, she turned around and then jumped back and rammed Don into the wall, she landed on the floor while Don teleported. Don appeared in front of her and shot many zaps out of his horn at the speed of a machine gun, Paladin grunted and fell over from the many zaps, Don teleported closer and closer to her slowly while continuing to shoot zaps at her, he got in front of her and she bashed his face with his shield and stunned him, she then did eight haymaker punches to his face and he teleported away.
Paladin looked for Don while she heard running behind her, the stone golems ran to her and began attacking her while she punched them away, Don reappeared and there was now three of him, they teleported to Paladin's blind spots and behind her and began shooting zaps at her at the speed of machine guns. Paladin exclaimed as she fell over and the golems piled up on her and began punching and biting her, she grunted loudly as she swung her legs around to get them away from her and threw the ones on her back away. The three Dons continued shooting Paladin in her blind spots and behind and she tried to face them but they teleported into her blind spots and behind her every time she looked in a different direction, she got the golems around herself to block his zaps and they extinguished themselves when they hit the golems. Paladin got her bow and arrow out and tried to aim at the three Dons but they teleported out of her vision each time, she shot an arrow while spinning around and turned her head around to position one Don right where she wanted him, the arrow went to him but he grabbed and caught the arrow while Paladin's eyes widened when she heard it.
The three Dons continued shooting her and Paladin swatted the golems away in all directions and all three of them teleported, they reappeared after all of them hit the wall or floor and continued shooting Paladin. Paladin fell onto the floor and stopped moving, the three Dons continued shooting her and she did not react, they gathered around her and looked at her, they stood in front of her and she quickly grabbed the left and right Dons and rammed them and the middle Don's heads' together and they disappeared. She stood back up and saw Don reappear as one pony and tried to cast a spell to break her armor off, she punched him with his front right hoof and he slid back a few inches, he teleported to behind her and Paladin quickly turned around and punched him with her front right leg again and he fell over. Don teleported onto his desk and slammed his legs on them and destroyed it into pieces, he threw them into the air with his magic and then jumped and did several spin kicks to send the jagged and sharp wooden shards towards Paladin, she hit and broke all of them with her front hoofs and forelegs.
Don scowled at her and cast a spell on himself, his body turned to dark purple liquid and he slithered towards Paladin. He grew bigger and tried to drown her, she tried punching him and it did nothing, she then tried bashing him with her shield and slashing him with his sword and it did nothing, he slithered inside of her armor and Paladin held her breath while he tried to drown her. Paladin flayed around while trying to hold her breath and took her helmet off but the liquid did not fall onto the floor, she put it back on and the stone golems began attacking her, she swatted them away while holding her breath. She reached into her own armor and tried to grab Don, she managed to pull off small pieces of his liquid body and then pulled on him with a lot of force on the liquid body in her helmet, she pulled it out and gasped very loudly for breath while the dark purple liquid on the floor formed into one body.
Paladin took her armor off and ripped off the rest of Don's liquid body of herself, it formed together while she punched the golems away and put her armor back on. She threw them into Don's body but he crushed them apart and slithered towards her but was slower than before, she looked for his horn and did not see it, she looked around for anything that could work while she saw Don slithering to her, she threw the golems at him and they slowed him down, he got slower and heavier as more got into his liquid body and Paladin got an idea. She threw all of the stone golems at him and he began crushing them while Paladin ran and cut the floor with her sword, she made a circle around Don and he began to fall with the golems weighing him down. He changed back to his unicorn form and Paladin quickly cut his horn off with her sword and the golems disappeared, she then punched him in his face with her front left hoof and he flew across the room, he fell when he hit the window. Everybody around heard the noise and looked and walked forward, they saw Paladin and Don, Don stood up slowly while groaning but fell over.
The ponies outside cheered while Paladin smiled, the mansion began to crumble and she jumped down through the holes to get onto the lower floors, she got the bits they stolen and then sprinted outside. She arrived and the mansion crumbled while she ran away, she looked forward and saw many ponies in front of her and cheering,
"Don's mafia has been wiped out!" one stallion announced,
"No more loan sharks and threats!" another stallion added,
"Thank you so much." a mare stated,
"You did us all a great service, I'm sure Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are proud of you." a fourth stallion stated,
"Thanks, I need to find the Lost & Found section now, I would like for these bits to be returned to their rightful owners." Paladin responded, and a stallion led her to it, she then left the town while everybody said bye to her.
Paladin was sitting across from Doctor Whooves with Arcana to her right and Robin to her left,
"I went back to Dreaming Paradise and got myself a new suit of armor afterwards, I had my shield repaired, too." Paladin said,
"It seems like you only focused on yourself taking out the smuggling ring and took out your time tracking them down." Doctor Whooves commented,
"I think it'd be pretty boring if I went into specifics." Paladin stated,
"Okay, we'll go ahead and take a break, if you want to eat or have to use the bathroom, the time is now." Doctor Whooves said, and Paladin, Arcana, and Robin left his office for the moment.
Smuggling Ring (Part 2 of 3): Citizens
Doctor Whooves was taking a short break from today's therapy sessions while Inertia, Solute, and Data sat and talked about their days, they waited for several minutes and Paladin, Arcana, and Robin came back after twenty five minutes,
"Are you three ready to continue?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes, I'll go next." Arcana replied, and she began her tale.
Arcana was a resident of Dreaming Paradise who lived in its left side and in a tall tower just like its other unicorns, she was her generation's best magic user and helped train the other students while also acting as the personal bodyguard and last line of defense for Archmage Astral Plane, the place's unicorn ruler, he had a dark blue coat, a long white mane and tail, a long full beard, and purple eyes, he was wearing a blue wizard's hat, a long blue robe, brown knee-length gloves on his front legs, black mid-calf length boots on his hind hoofs, and a blue cape.
Arcana was meeting Paladin and Robin and given the pictures of her targets. Deliverer had a dark green coat, was bald, had a purple tail, pale blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a delivery box. Air Service had a light blue coat, short white mane and tail, blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a blue peaked cap with a black visor. Speedy Delivery had a dark blue coat, slicked back dark purple mane, a long dark purple tail, gray eyes, and his cutie mark was a speedometer. Box Mover had a light brown coat, a very short red mane and tail, orange eyes, and his cutie mark was a cardboard box. Peregrine Falcon had a light brown coat, short yellow mane, a long yellow tail, black eyes, and his cutie mark was a pair of bird wings. Wind Gust had a light green coat, long dark gray mane and tail, light gray eyes, and his cutie mark was a gray tornado. Sound Barrier had a white coat, long white mane and tail, white eyes, and his cutie mark was a white supersonic cloud. Brain Surgeon had a light pink coat, long gray mane and tail, red eyes, and his cutie was a brain with a scalpel in it. Medicine Pony had an orange coat, short blue mane and tail, green eyes, and his cutie mark was a white medicine bottle. Red Cross had a red coat, short red mane and tail, red eyes, and his cutie mark was a first aid kit with a red cross on it. Scientist had a white coat, short light blue mane and tail, yellow eyes, and his cutie mark was a syringe. Experimenter had a light purple coat, short dark green mane and tail, black eyes, and his cutie mark was a white paper with red check marks on it. Fuel Injector had a dark brown coat, medium-length red mane and tail, orange eyes, and his cutie mark was a red gasoline bottle. Liquid had a light blue coat, long red mane and tail, purple eyes, and his cutie mark was a water drop. Freezer had a light blue coat, long white mane and tail, bright blue eyes, and his cutie mark was an ice cube. Bio Med had a light green coat, long pale green mane and tail, red eyes, and his cutie mark was a test tube with blue liquid in it. Oral Cleaner had a light pink coat, short pink mane and tail, red eyes, and his cutie mark was a glass with red liquid in it. Avian Doctor had a brown coat, medium-length yellow mane and tail, black eyes, and his cutie mark was a black crow. Ornithologist had a white coat, short black mane and tail, gray eyes, and his cutie mark was an open book. Beak Fixer had a light red coat, long dark purple mane and tail, dark green eyes, and his cutie mark was a bald eagle's head. Bird Cleaner had a blue coat, short black mane and tail, green eyes, and his cutie mark was a white napkin. Marine Biologist had a dark pale blue coat, long dark green mane and tail, bright green eyes, and his cutie mark was a green fish. Fire Starter had a red coat, long orange mane and tail, yellow eyes, and his cutie mark was a lit match. Serenity had a blue coat, short purple mane and tail, and green eyes, his cutie mark was a water ripple. Magic Doctor had an orange coat, long pink mane and tail, purple eyes, and his cutie mark was a black tome. Witch Doctor had a black coat, long pale orange mane and tail, pink eyes, and his cutie mark was a bone. Tofu had a white coat, short white mane and tail, white eyes, and his cutie mark was a tofu block. House Cleaner had a gray coat, short pale blue mane and tail, black eyes, and his cutie mark was a brown scrub brush. Body Sculptor had a dark orange coat, short brown mane and tail, red eyes, and his cutie mark was a gray barbell with three black plates on each side. All Seer had a light yellow coat, short blue mane and tail, green eyes, and his cutie mark was an eyeball with no iris. Philanthropist had a dark red coat, short dark yellow mane and tail, dark blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a yellow bit coin.
Arcana closed her eyes and meditated, she looked for her targets and saw Deliverer, Air Service, Speedy Delivery, Box Mover, Peregrine Falcon, Wind Gust, and Sound Barrier were moving across the world and laying low while Tofu was making red liquid in the back of his traveling restaurant and House Cleaner was in a dirty house with a tent over it and making the red liquid while the other ponies believed he was cleaning the vacant house. She kept watching and saw Brain Surgeon, Medicine Pony, Red Cross, Scientist, Experimenter, Fuel Injector, Liquid, Freezer, Bio Med, Oral Cleaner, Avian Doctor, Ornithologist, Beak Fixer, Bird Cleaner, Marine Biologist, Fire Starter, Serenity, Magic Doctor, and Witch Doctor were giving the other creatures regular medicine for the time, she then looked for Body Sculptor and saw him lifting weights in a gym. She then looked for All Seer and saw him in a mansion standing to Philanthropist's right, he cast a spell with a bright blue aura on his horn,
"Philanthropist, that same rival is trying to buy out the medicine company you're investing in to make better equipment and we buy from again." All Seer reported,
"Again? Keep an eye on him, I'll start making arrangements for his disappearance now." Philanthropist responded,
"Shall I inform Body Sculptor to take care of him?" All Seer suggested,
"No, it'll be messy if he handles this job personally, we need this job to be as clean as possible to draw away any unwanted attention." Philanthropist explained,
"Wait, Philanthropist, an outsider's watching us, Body Sculptor, Tofu, House Cleaner, our doctors, and our delivery ponies." All Seer said,
"I thought so, I'll go ahead and cast a spell to block the outsider." Philanthropist stated, and his horn had a dark blue aura around it and he got ready to cast a spell while Arcana quickly stopped watching her targets, she had a red, blue, yellow, and green aura on her horn and she teleported.
Arcana arrived in Yakyakistan and watched for Deliverer, she saw the border patrol pony was also absent, she looked into the border patrol station and saw no vials of red liquids in it, she cast a spell and looked for Deliverer, she saw him with Speedy Delivery, Peregrine Falcon, and Sound Barrier at Tofu's restaurant and guarding it while posing as customers while Brain Surgeon, Medicine Pony, Red Cross, Scientist, Experimenter, Fuel Injector, Liquid, Freezer, Bio Med, and Oral Cleaner were using their magic to make red liquid in the back of Tofu's restaurant and Tofu was helping them with the cooking process. Arcana got curious and looked for House Cleaner and eventually found him, she saw Air Service, Box Mover, and Wind Gust patrolling a house he was cleaning, she looked in and saw Avian Doctor, Ornithologist, Beak Fixer, Bird Cleaner, Marine Biologist, Fire Starter, Serenity, Magic Doctor, and Witch Doctor making the red liquid inside the dirty house while House Cleaner used a vapor machine to put vapor out through the house's chimney to make it look like he was cleaning it. Arcana watched both areas and they finished around the same time, all of them met at the same place and Body Sculptor came to collect the vials,
"Here you go, Body Sculptor, we're still having a hard time removing impurities from the finished product." Experimenter explained,
"Thank you, Philanthropist is currently spending money for the medicine company to develop better equipment, so wait a bit, let's hope the new equipment they make can remove said impurities, I'll go ahead and take these All Seer now." Body Sculptor responded,
"Judging by the fact he's not here, he must be busy right now." Tofu deduced,
"Yes, he discovered somebody watching him and Philanthropist, they're busy taking out a rival right now, too, he and All Seer are going to make him disappear, family too if he has any, and erase the memories of everybody who knows him or has met him, well, I'll be going now." Body Sculptor said, a transparent image of All Seer appeared,
"Wait, we got a problem." All Seer spoke,
"What is it?" Serenity asked,
"That same unicorn I discovered watching me and Philanthropist is watching you guys now, she knows about our operations, lay low for now, Philanthropist will have golems protecting you guys." All Seer stated,
"Alright, we'll just go on with our jobs like normal, we're ready for Philanthropist to give us more of the rage inducing drug for us to distribute to the other countries anytime." Deliverer said,
"Good, we'll let you all know when it's okay to continue, come on, Body Sculptor, Philanthropist and I need you by our side right now." All Seer replied, and his image disappeared while Body Sculptor ran away,
"Alright, time to lay low, everypony." Brain Surgeon stated, and everyone went their separate ways, Arcana stopped watching and teleported.
Arcana appeared in midair close to Yakyakistan and used telekinesis to hold herself up while also casting a spell to turn invisible, she saw Brain Surgeon's, Medicine Pony's, Red Cross', Scientist's, and Experimenter's workplaces were being guarded by earth ponies made of gray stone, each place had eight of them,
"So those are the golems." Arcana remarked, she teleported herself closer to Brain Surgeon's workplace and looked inside, she heard loud running and saw the golems running to her, the golems at Medicine Pony's, Red Cross', Scientist's, and Experimenter's workplaces also came. All forty golems jumped on Arcana and she grunted from being weighed down by their heavy bodies, she teleported away and the golems ran to where she appeared,
"What the? How can they see me?" Arcana inquired, she shot red, blue, yellow, and green beams from her horn at the golems but they extinguished themselves and became smoke upon touching the golems,
"So they're magic resistant, too." Arcana commented, she cast a spell to look at her targets and saw Philanthropist was casting a spell to let his underlings know her location, she quickly stopped casting the spell and focused. She grunted while trying to push a golem back but it was too heavy, so she teleported out of the pile and saw five beams coming to her, she teleported and saw Brain Surgeon with a light red aura on his horn, Medicine Pony with a white aura on his horn, Red Cross with a red aura on his horn, Scientist with a blue aura on his horn, and Experimenter with a dark orange aura on his horn, she got ready to cast a spell but she grunted when she got tackled and knocked down from above and behind, she looked back and saw Deliverer,
"I got her! Finish her now!" Deliverer ordered,
"Come on, all together now." Red Cross stated,
"Can't just one of us put her down?" Scientist asked,
"No, Philanthropist said since she's a unicorn, she has the potential to do the most harm to our operations when compared to her Pegasus friend and earth pony friend." Experimenter answered,
"Come on, guys, we're wasting time." Medicine Pony stated, and the five unicorns shot their beams at Arcana. Arcana cast a shield around herself and Deliverer screamed while the red, blue, yellow, and green shield burned him, shot high pressure water streams at him, rocks pelted him, and wind gusts cut him, it shot him away while the five zaps got deflected and homed on the unicorns, they had shocked expressions and quickly put up shields that extinguished the zaps,
"That's a highly advanced spell, she isn't an ordinary unicorn, come on, take her down, quickly." Brain Surgeon ordered, and they ran to her. The golems charged to Arcana and they got through her shield unharmed, she tried to buck one but she exclaimed in pain from kicking its stone skin with her hind hoofs, she teleported elsewhere and reappeared as four different Arcanas, one was red, one was blue, one was yellow, and one was green. Red Arcana threw fire out of her front hoofs while shooting it out of her mouth, nostrils, and horn, Blue Arcana shot high pressure water streams out of her front hoofs and horn, Yellow Arcana held her front legs up and made rocks appear, and Green Arcana floated in the air while holding her front legs out to the side and made a tornado appear around herself. She shot all of them forward and the unicorns teleported around and shot zaps at her, the four Arcanas teleported around while Deliverer flew down onto Yellow Arcana and tried began punching her with his front hoofs and wings, she and Red Arcana switched places and Deliverer caught on fire when he touched her. Deliverer screamed loudly while the five unicorns stopped attacking and looked on in shock, Deliverer flew away but he soon turned to ash and fell into the snow.
Brain Surgeon, Medicine Pony, Red Cross, Scientist, Experimenter and the golems went to attack the four Arcanas and they teleported around while they cast fire, water, earth, and wind magic, the five unicorns blocked them with shields while the golems were unaffected, Yellow Arcana tried to control the stone that made up the golems' bodies but could not. She formed back into Arcana and the five ponies began teleporting around and Scientist bucked her in her left blind spot, she grunted loudly and flew through the air a few inches and fell onto the ground,
"Wait, she's weak physically, come on, guys, let's kick her some more." Brain Surgeon said, and they began teleporting and kicking Arcana in her blind spots and behind, she fell onto the ground and struggled to get up after the third kick. Arcana turned herself into a pitch black shadow and their kicks went through her, she disappeared into the ground and Brain Surgeon, Medicine Pony, Red Cross, Scientist, Experimenter, and the golems got attacked by their own shadows, the five unicorns cast spells to undo it and they formed into Shadow Arcana, she changed back to normal and the five unicorns and golems ran to her, she shot a big blast out of her horn and they screamed and got disintegrated while smoke came out of the golems. Arcana panted and cast a healing spell on herself, she then held up the photos of Deliverer, Brain Surgeon, Medicine Pony, Red Cross, Scientist, and Experimenter with her telekinesis and burned them with her fire magic, she saw the golems running to her and she quickly teleported elsewhere.
Arcana appeared near the Dragon Lands and saw Speedy Delivery flying around, she meditated and looked at the country, she found Fuel Injector's, Liquid's, Freezer's, and Bio Med's workplaces, they quickly packed up their things and got ready to leave. Arcana screamed when she suddenly got electrocuted, she looked around the world and saw All Seer and Philanthropist were casting a spell on her together, she stopped watching the world and saw Speedy Delivery, Fuel Injector, Liquid, Freezer, and Bio Med arrive at her location with fifty golems, they ganged up on her and Speedy Delivery began punching and kicking her while the golems rammed her and the four unicorns tried casting spells on her, Fuel Injector had an orange aura on his horn, Liquid had a white aura on his horn, Freezer had a blue aura on his horn, and Bio Med had a pink aura on his horn.
Arcana felt her body becoming softer and turning into mush,
"We got her!" Bio Med hollered,
"Keep going just to be sure." Fuel Injector ordered, and the golems kept piling up on her, Arcana cast a spell to make her body elastic, Speedy Delivery noticed her body stretching out,
"We got a problem." Speedy Delivery said, the unicorns saw Arcana's body stretching out,
"She made her body like rubber." Liquid remarked,
"Not a problem, watch this." Freezer responded, and he used his telekinesis to pull on Arcana's eyes. Arcana screamed in pain while the unicorns pulled and stretched her eyes out with their magic and Speedy Delivery held and restrained her front legs while pressing his body down onto her hind legs, Arcana cast a spell and a big explosion appeared around her, Speedy Delivery and the golems got knocked back, she quickly shot a beam at Speedy Delivery and he screamed while his skin disappeared and he became a skeleton. The four unicorns looked on in shock and Bio Med tried to cast a healing spell on Speedy Delivery but he did not heal, Arcana controlled Speedy Delivery with necromancy and had him ram and pin down Bio Med, she then shot fire out of her horn and blew them up while Bio Med screamed and turned into ash.
Liquid cast a spell to make acid float around himself while Freezer cast a spell to make his body out of ice and Fuel Injector cast a spell to make fire and explosions appear around him. Arcana got ready while Freezer cast a spell to freeze her into a block of ice, Liquid then shot the acid at her and controlled where it flew, he burned a small hole into the ice and began to surround Arcana, she let out loud muffled grunts while the acid surrounded her. She cast a spell to send her soul out of her own body and control her shadow while Fuel Injector had his fire surround her and burn her body, she cast a spell to make her skeleton jump out of her body and break the ice. The three unicorns began casting spells to try to put Arcana's soul, shadow, and skeleton back in her body but they cast spells to deflect theirs, the unicorns began shooting more fire, acid, and ice at her while Shadow Arcana shot lava at the ice to melt it, Freezer screamed and he melted away. Shadow Arcana disappeared into the ground while Skeleton Arcana charged forward and Spirit Arcana flew around, Shadow Arcana appeared in Freezer's shadow and he got startled while trying to freeze her in ice but it did not work, Shadow Arcana cast a spell and blasted him away while he screamed and disintegrated, Spirit Arcana flew to Liquid and he shot acid at her but it went through her, she shot water into his acid and it reacted violently, it exploded and Liquid screamed while he melted completely. Skeleton Arcana went to Fuel Injector and dodged his fire blasts and explosions erupting from the ground, she jumped and knocked him down and he grunted, Skeleton Arcana then shot a big blast at his head point-blank range and he screamed and was soon completely obliterated. Shadow Arcana then blasted the ice her body was trapped in and went back into her alongside Skeleton Arcana and Spirit Arcana, she held up the photos of Speedy Delivery, Fuel Injector, Liquid, Freezer, and Bio Med with her telekinesis and burned them with her fire magic, she then teleported elsewhere.
Arcana arrived near Griffonstone and used her magic but it suddenly got blocked out, she tried again and her horn extinguished itself, bright blue lights appeared around her and All Seer made twenty golems appear around her. They ran to her and Arcana tried to teleport but a dark blue light appeared on her horn and blocked her magic out, she realized Philanthropist has cast a spell to nullify her magic. Vines with thorns grew out the ground and Arcana exclaimed in pain while they wrapped around her and cut her, Philanthropist then used his magic to make a boulder appear above her and fall, she grunted when she got smashed. Arcana pulled on the vines weakly but could not break free, she heard three ponies appear and a fourth pony land near her, wings lifted the boulder and Arcana saw Box Mover with Avian Doctor, Ornithologist, and Beak Fixer watching her from afar,
"Is she dead?" Avian Doctor asked,
"Looks like it." Box Mover replied,
"Good riddance, she already shut down our operations in two countries." Ornithologist commented,
"Good thing we got her before she could do any damage in this country." Beak Fixer responded,
"Well, come on, let's take her to the boss." Box Mover commented, a transparent image of All Seer appeared,
"That won't be necessary, Philanthropist can see her with his magic, he has ordered her disintegrated now." All Seer stated,
"Yes, All Seer." Box Mover, Avian Doctor, Ornithologist, and Beak Fixer said together, All Seer smiled and disappeared. Arcana began biting the vines while enduring the pain of the thorns stabbing into her lips and inside of her mouth, the ponies heard her and the unicorns shot blasts at her, Avian Doctor had a brown aura on his horn, Ornithologist had a white aura on his horn, and Beak Fixer had a red aura on his horn. Arcana quickly moved her front legs up and their beams hit the vines and destroyed them, she grunted while standing up and trying to get the boulder off and the golems jumped on her and weighed her down while she grunted, more golems and Box Mover jumped on the boulder to make it heavier and press her down, Avian Doctor, Ornithologist, and Beak Fixer then shot more blasts at her and she buried herself in the vines to make them shoot and destroy them. They destroyed the vines in the way and Arcana quickly moved her front hoofs to dig into the ground but Beak Fixer quickly held her with his telekinesis and restrained her, Avian Doctor and Ornithologist then shot big blasts at her. Arcana meditated and focused her mind on Philanthropist while he continued casting the spell to nullify her own, she glared and focused on Philanthropist's horn and he began to feel a presence, he got distracted and Arcana quickly cast a spell to disable his nullifying spell, he grunted when an explosion appeared on his horn and smoke came out of it.
Arcana controlled the vines around herself with her magic and wrapped them around Box Mover, Avian Doctor, Ornithologist, Beak Fixer, and the golems, the unicorns cast fire magic to burn the vines while the golems stretched their legs out and broke free, Box Mover screamed while the thorns cut him and Arcana cast a spell to make some of the vines move in the opposite direction while they wrapped around Box Mover completely, she then cast a spell to make the ground erupt and lava burst out under Box Mover, he and the vines burned to ashes. The golems tried to buck Arcana and she teleported around while Avian Doctor tried to freeze her in place, she shot powerful wind gusts out of her horn and Avian Doctor screamed while he got cut into pieces until there was not one part of him left. Ornithologist and Beak Fixer cast a spell and fused together into a two-horned unicorn, they cast spells two times stronger than normal and their zaps destroyed things easily, Arcana teleported and dodged their zaps and they then began mind controlling the birds and bugs around them. They surrounded Arcana and began biting, stinging, pecking, and kicking her, she exclaimed while putting up a shield to block them and Ornithologist and Beak Fixer teleported them into her shield, Arcana shrieked while she tried to swat the birds and bugs away. The golems tried to attack Arcana but her shield protected her, she quickly cast a spell and froze the fusion of Ornithologist and Beak Fixer in ice, she then shot a big beam at them and destroyed them, she set them on fire and the ice melted and evaporated. Arcana held up the photos of Box Mover, Avian Doctor, Ornithologist, and Beak Fixer with her telekinesis and burned them with her fire magic and then teleported elsewhere.
Arcana appeared close to the water near Mount Aris and began looking for Peregrine Falcon, Bird Cleaner, and Marine Biologist, black clouds suddenly appeared and lightning struck and destroyed the ground, Arcana cast a spell to turn the clouds white while the waters rose and tidal waves appeared, more black clouds appeared and lightning struck and electrified the waters, Arcana quickly cast a spell to undo the lightning. Twenty five golems appeared and one punched Arcana from behind, she exclaimed loudly while she flew through the air and slid on the ground, she stood up while casting a healing spell on herself and another golem jumped and body slammed her into the ground, she grunted and teleported. She cast a healing spell on herself and stood up while hearing the golems come and more thunderclouds appeared, Arcana got ready to make the clouds disappear but heard fast flying in the sky, she looked up and saw Peregrine Falcon arriving, she noticed he was a really fast flier but not as fast as Rainbow Dash. Peregrine Falcon soared through the sky and flew down, he tried to ram Arcana but she teleported to behind him and saw Bird Cleaner floating in the sky far away and Marine Biologist under the water, Bird Cleaner had a white magic aura around himself and Marine Biologist had a blue magic aura around himself.
Arcana got ready to fight Peregrine Falcon while Bird Cleaner made thunderclouds appear and Marine Biologist summoned tidal waves, Bird Cleaner shot lightning out of all of the thunderclouds and they either destroyed the ground or electrified the water and Marine Biologist made big tidal waves rise, Arcana tried to cast a spell but Peregrine Falcon quickly rammed her into the water, she screamed while getting electrocuted. Peregrine Falcon landed on the ground while Bird Cleaner and Marine Biologist appeared by him,
"You think that'll be enough to put her down?" Peregrine Falcon asked,
"It should be, water and lightning make a deadly combination." Bird Cleaner responded,
"Then again, this unicorn has magic we've never seen before, let's keep our guards up in case she has any tricks up her sleeve." Marine Biologist suggested, and they watched her carefully. Arcana teleported out of the water and into the clouds, she used her magic to control the water, winds, and lightning and all of them struck Peregrine Falcon, Bird Cleaner, and Marine Biologist, they screamed and Peregrine Falcon flew as fast as he could into the clouds. He looked for Arcana and could not find her, he did rolls and flips to dodge the lightning strikes and flew through the black clouds several times while Arcana teleported around, she made a boulder appear in front of him and he grunted when he flew into it and fell to the ground while Arcana made it fall onto him, she then shot a big beam from her horn and obliterated him and the boulder. Bird Cleaner shot fire out of his horn while Marine Biologist shot water out of his horn and into the sky, Arcana decided she did not have time to deal with them and cast a spell to make freezing rain fall, they shivered and became frozen and Arcana shot a big beam between them and shattered them. Arcana held up the photos of Peregrine Falcon, Bird Cleaner, and Marine Biologist with her telekinesis and burned them with her fire magic and then teleported elsewhere.
Arcana appeared near Kirin Grove and looked around the forest, she heard angry screaming up ahead and saw niriks running around and shooting fire everywhere while ramming and destroying homes, Arcana quickly cast a spell to put them asleep and they turned back into kirins. She flew up into the sky by casting telekinesis on herself and looked for Wind Gust, Fire Starter, and Serenity, fire and water began to get shot at her and she flew to her right to dodge them, she looked and saw Fire Starter with a red aura on his horn and Serenity with a blue aura on his horn. They shot more fire and water at her and she swayed around and dodged them easily until she heard the wind blowing behind her, she looked back and saw Wind Gust flying to her, she grunted when he tackled her down and she teleported away,
"Quick! Find her!" Fire Starter ordered, and thirty golems ran forward,
"You think we'll be able to take her down?" Serenity asked,
"I hope so, at this rate, our organization will lose its operations in every country if we don't." Wind Gust answered,
"Don't just stand there talking, come on, let's look for her together." Fire Starter said, and he and Serenity teleported while Wind Gust flew around. Arcana appeared at the closest train stop to Kirin Grove and healed herself with her magic, dark blue lights appeared in the sky and she realized Philanthropist was casting a spell, meteors appeared and fell to the ground, she used her fire and earth magic to break them apart. She heard lots of running and saw the golems coming to her while Wind Gust flew to her,
"She's over here!" Wind Gust called out, and Fire Starter and Serenity appeared. Fire Starter made the ground erupt and lava flew everywhere while Serenity shot blocks of ice forward, Arcana divided herself into Red Arcana, Blue Arcana, Yellow Arcana, and Green Arcana and teleported around. Red Arcana shot fire and lava at Serenity while Blue Arcana shot water and ice at Fire Starter and Yellow Arcana and Green Arcana tried to stop Wind Gust by making trees appear around him and blowing him back with wind magic, the golems were unaffected. Fire Starter and Serenity saw their fire, water, lava, and ice spells getting canceled out and they cast spells on themselves that changed their bodies, Fire Starter was now made out of magma with a shield of fire around himself and Serenity was now made out of ice with a shield of water around himself, they held their front legs out to the sides and explosions of fire and water appeared while molten rocks and icicles flew everywhere. Wind Gust flew down and tried to ram and tackle the four Arcanas but they teleported around and switched places with one another each time, he exhaled sharply and grunted when Yellow Arcana made a boulder fall on him, she then cast a spell to bury him in the ground, she then went to go fight Serenity while Green Arcana went to go fight Fire Starter.
Red Arcana and Yellow Arcana use fire and earth magic to block out Serenity's ice and water magic while he shot icicles at them and tried to freeze them, Red Arcana's fire melted the ice while Yellow Arcana shattered the ice with floating rocks, Red Arcana shot lava out of her horn and extinguished Serenity's water shield, Yellow Arcana then crushed him between two boulders and his ice body shattered into pieces, Red Arcana then cast fire magic to make his body melt and evaporate. Fire Starter looked on in disbelief while Blue Arcana and Green Arcana used water and wind magic to extinguish his fire shield while Green Arcana was careful not to make the fire spread. Fire Starter opened his mouth and shot fire out while using his magic to make volcanoes erupt around him, Blue Arcana extinguished the flames while Green Arcana used wind magic to blow the lava elsewhere, Fire Starter made more fire appear around himself and he ran forward. Blue Arcana shot water and ice at him while Green Arcana summoned a tornado that blew his flames and the golems away, Fire Starter screamed and fire and lava exploded out of his body, Blue Arcana cast a spell and froze him and Green Arcana's tornado tore him into pieces, his body melted into water and got absorbed into the ground. The four Arcanas reformed into one Arcana and she heard movement underground, Wind Gust came out and he flew up into the sky, he flapped his wings to make strong gusts of wind appear and Arcana shot a big blast at him and he screamed while he got obliterated. Arcana held up the photos of Wind Gust, Fire Starter, and Serenity with her telekinesis and burned them with her fire magic and then teleported elsewhere.
Arcana appeared outside the Changeling Hive's entrance and heard angry snarling inside, berserk changelings came out and attacked other changelings and destroyed property, she cast a spell to put the berserk changelings to sleep and healed the injured changelings,
"Thank you, they just went berserk all of a sudden." a female changeling said,
"Where did they come from before they lost control?" Arcana asked,
"Just past here, a unicorn doctor gave them some red liquid while saying it's medicine, he did say its formula is not perfect yet and there were risks of side effects." a male changeling responded,
"I'll go pay him a visit." Arcana stated, and she ran. She saw a wooden hut up ahead and a dark pink aura appeared around it, the hut broke into pieces and she saw Oral Cleaner surrounded by his hut's pieces with a dark pink aura on his horn. He shot the wooden pieces forward while also shooting beams from his horn, ten golems appeared around him and charged towards Arcana, she tried to hold them up with her telekinesis but her magic got canceled out, Oral Cleaner cast a spell and made a crater appear on the ground to trap Arcana and put a shield up around her, she tried to cast a spell but could not, he then teleported four golems into the shield and they began bucking her, Arcana grunted very loudly and she went down after three hits,
"Okay, we got her." Oral Cleaner said, Air Service arrived and looked inside the shield,
"She's still breathing." Air Service reported, and the golems began jumping and stomping on her, they stopped and Arcana did not breathe anymore,
"Alright, I think she's down, took us long enough to stop her, we're the only non-pony country left operating." Air Service commented,
"Well, it's done, I'm going to have to rebuild my hut, good thing Saddle Arabia didn't get targeted." Oral Cleaner replied, a transparent image of All Seer appeared,
"No, Philanthropist said obliterate her and leave no trace of her, we can't risk the changelings reporting you guys to Equestria's law, too." All Seer stated,
"Alright, I'll do it now." Oral Cleaner responded, and All Seer's transparent image disappeared. Oral Cleaner teleported to inside the shield and he got ready to obliterate her with a big beam, Arcana quickly sprung up and punched his horn with her front left hoof, he exclaimed while he staggered and his magic got messed up, the shield went down and she teleported. Arcana created doppelgangers of herself and they cast fire, water, earth, and wind magic while also summoning skeletons, shadows, and ghosts to help her. Air Service and Oral Cleaner screamed and ran away while the golems got overwhelmed, Arcana and her doppelgangers shot big blasts at them and the two ponies while Oral Cleaner cast a shield around himself and Air Service, two doppelgangers teleported to inside Oral Cleaner's shield and kicked his horn to mess up his magic and put the shields down, one doppelganger shot a big blast at him at point-blank range while the other one shot a big blast at Air Service, both of them screamed and got obliterated and the doppelgangers, skeletons, shadows, and ghosts disappeared. Arcana held up the photos of Air Service and Oral Cleaner with her telekinesis and burned them with her fire magic and then teleported elsewhere.
Arcana appeared close to Saddle Arabia and looked for Magic Doctor and Witch Doctor with her magic, she looked into the country and saw they were not in it, she grunted when she suddenly felt something ram her from behind. She stopped casting her magic and the pony held her front legs to the sides and wrapped their hind legs around her neck, she teleported out of the pony's grip and behind them, she saw it was Sound Barrier, she shot a zap at him but he quickly flew up into the sky and her jaw dropped when she saw a vapor cone appear around him and he flew at blinding speeds with a vapor trail behind him. She created doppelgangers of herself and shot beams at Sound Barrier but he flew very fast and dodged each beam very easily, Arcana and her doppelgangers got hit from behind by a green blast and a purple blast, she screamed while her doppelgangers disappeared. She looked back and saw Magic Doctor with a green aura on his horn and Witch Doctor with a purple aura on his horn,
"Come on, we have to take her out, we're the only country left with our operations still going." Magic Doctor said,
"I'm right with you, let's destroy her now." Witch Doctor replied, and they shot big blasts at her while Arcana teleported,
"Keep her distracted, I'll handle the physical attacks." Sound Barrier stated, and he flew at blinding speeds. Arcana saw Magic Doctor shoot a zap out of his horn and she ducked, it hit a tree and it turned to stone, Witch Doctor shot a zap from his horn and Arcana jumped back but Sound Barrier rammed from behind while she was in the air, she fell and the zap hit her, she screamed when she began to freeze, Magic Doctor began to turn her to stone while Witch Doctor cast electricity to paralyze her. Arcana cast a spell to make her shadow come to life and it cast spells to cancel Magic Doctor's and Witch Doctor's spells, Sound Barrier tried to ram Shadow Arcana but went through her, fifty golems appeared and they tried to attack her but went through her. Arcana released her soul and Spirit Arcana flew around and summoned a tornado. Sound Barrier flew around while Magic Doctor cast a spell to cancel it, Shadow Arcana cast a spell to make gravity stronger and Witch Doctor cast a spell to counter it, Sound Barrier flew a little slower but still had a vapor trail behind himself.
The golems tried attacking Arcana and she grunted while she flew through the air and her soul and shadow went back into her body, she cast a healing spell on herself,
"No choice, I have to use it." Arcana stated weakly, and she began casting dark magic, a purple haze engulfed her horn while her eyes glowed green with purple mist flowing from them. Black crystals appeared and the unicorns and Sound Barrier stopped and looked on in shock, dark crystals got embedded into Magic Doctor's and Witch Doctor's horns and nullified their magic, Arcana undid their spells and shot a big red, blue, yellow, and green blast out of her horn and obliterated them while they screamed. Sound Barrier looked on in shock at seeing there was not a trace of them left, he flew away and Arcana set him on fire with a spell and he screamed until he turned to ash. She held up the photos of Sound Barrier, Magic Doctor, and Witch Doctor with her telekinesis and burned them with her fire magic,
"Okay, all citizen members of the smuggling ring outside Equestria taken care of, now to look for Tofu and House Cleaner." Arcana said, and she watched the world with her magic. She looked around Equestria and found Tofu walking alone and Body Sculptor appeared,
"Tofu, all of our unicorns and Pegasi operating outside Equestria have just been taken out, this Arcana is likely going to go after Philanthropist eventually, he needs you at his mansion to guard it." Body Sculptor stated,
"What? We need to inform House Cleaner." Tofu responded,
"All Seer is telling him the same thing now, and Arcana's not the only one damaging our operations, turns out she has two friends, a Pegasus named Robin and an earth pony named Paladin, Robin has been destroying Police Sergeant's operations while Paladin has been destroying Don's operations, almost all of their underlings have been taken out, too." Body Sculptor reported,
"Shoot, I'm ready to go to the mansion now." Tofu remarked, and a dark blue aura appeared around him and Body Sculptor while Arcana realized Philanthropist has teleported them, she looked at his mansion and saw Tofu and House Cleaner entering it, she finished watching the world and teleported.
Arcana arrived at Philanthropist's two story tall mansion and saw sixty golems in his front yard and waiting for her, she teleported past them and a dark blue shield surrounded the mansion, the golems swarmed her and Arcana cast telekinesis on herself to float up, red lasers shot out of the grass while the black clouds above the mansion shot lightning strikes at her. She moved the clouds with her telekinesis while also destroying the hidden laser guns, the golems jumped and tried to grab her, she noticed they were avoiding stepping on certain parts of the ground, she shot a zap at the parts of the ground the golems avoided and they exploded, Arcana realized there were landmines in the grass and flew around. She flew up higher while the clouds shot more lightning strikes at her, she meditated and focused her mind on Philanthropist, he quickly made the clouds shoot snow, hail, and freezing rain at her, she teleported around and appeared above them, she exclaimed when red lightning strikes from high in the sky came out and almost struck her, Philanthropist teleported the golems onto her to weigh her down, Arcana grunted and began to fall while All Seer used his telekinesis to make a landmine fly to her, she shot a zap at the landmine and it exploded, she focused her magic and mind on Philanthropist and he soon grunted with smoke coming out of his horn, the shield went down and she quickly teleported into the mansion.
Arcana arrived in the mansion and saw security cameras with assault rifles under them, they spotted her and opened fire, she quickly put up a shield while she heard running from behind and the golems knocked the front door down. They went to fight her while she teleported into the room to her left, she saw five more golems in the room and they charged at her while destroying all of the furniture in the room, Arcana ran to the room in the back and came into the kitchen. All Seer used his telekinesis and began throwing the kitchen knives at Arcana, she shot zaps at them and destroyed them and All Seer then began sending the frying pans and cast irons after her, she destroyed them with her magic. She ran into the next room and arrived at a set of stairs with nails in each step, she teleported to downstairs and saw a makeshift lab for making the red liquid and noticed it was made from medicine equipment,
"So that's the trick, huh? Making a harmful drug from tools meant to make medicine and pass it off as medicine that heals others, that's a dirty trick." Arcana commented, Philanthropist used his telekinesis to break the glass vials into pieces and had them fly towards Arcana, she shot a big beam from her horn and destroyed the entire lab and the glass, she teleported back upstairs and went into the room to her left. She arrived in a hallway with the bathroom to her left, four more security cameras with assault rifles opened fire and she destroyed them with telekinesis while five more golems came out of the bathroom and went to go fight her, she ran to the doorway across the hall and came back to the front entrance, she turned to her right and ran, she turned to her right again to go upstairs but stopped when she saw Tofu was guarding it,
"I can't believe just one pony was able to take out Philanthropist's operations outside of Equestria, I won't let you stop him so he can rebuild, it took us a long time to build our operations, I'll stop you with my life." Tofu declared, and he ran to her. Arcana tried to hold him with her telekinesis but Tofu ran fast and got right in front of her, he began punching her in her temples with his front hoofs, she exclaimed loudly while the forces of his punches staggered her, he did a straight punch with his front right hoof at her horn and she exclaimed when it made her reel up on her hind legs, he then punched Arcana in her liver with his front left hoof and she screamed while falling onto the floor. Arcana winced and groaned in pain while clutching the right side of her body, Tofu ran and got on top of her and then tried to rip her horn off with his front hoofs, she quickly teleported away and began casting a healing spell while Tofu sprinted to her. She managed to heal herself and stand up and saw Tofu coming to her, he did multiple straight punches, hook punches, and jabs while Arcana panted and sweated heavily while stepping back to dodge them, he did a very fast straight punch with his front right hoof and punched Arcana in her snout, she screamed while she fell over. She put up a shield and Tofu tried punching through them, she healed herself and teleported to onto the stairs, she put her shield down and shot a big blast at Tofu, he screamed while he got obliterated, she then ran to the second floor.
Arcana arrived on the second floor and beds began flying out of the rooms to her left and right and towards her, she shot blasts at them and destroyed them, drawers and dressers flew out next alongside business suits and she shot and destroyed them while setting the suits on fire, mirrors came out next and she destroyed them with her magic blasts, twenty golems came out with ten coming out of each room. Arcana looked and saw there was a door down the hallway between the two bedrooms and she ran there, four golems and House Cleaner came out of the bathroom to her right,
"I didn't think Tofu would go down so easily, it's up to me then." House Cleaner stated, and he ran towards her. Arcana shot zaps and beams at him but House Cleaner swayed and dodged each one easily, she made doppelgangers of herself appear and shot bigger blasts at him, he ducked under a few of them and ran to Arcana's left blind spot, he punched her in the base of her neck with his front right hoof and Arcana screamed while falling over, the golems then attacked her doppelgangers and made them disappear. Arcana groaned while laying on the floor, House Cleaner then began stomping on the back of Arcana's head with his hind hoofs and smashed her face into the floor, four golems ran to her and began kicking her back while Arcana let out several grunts of pain. She teleported into the bathroom and healed herself, she used her water magic to make it shoot at high speeds out of the sink's faucet, toilet, bathtub's faucet, and shower head, the waters broke the walls and soaked House Cleaner and the golems, House Cleaner exclaimed loudly when he felt the water cutting his body and he screamed louder when Arcana used her magic to heat up the water. She then cast her fire magic and House Cleaner caught on fire, he screamed loudly and ran and rolled around while setting the mansion on fire and Philanthropist quickly put the flames out with his magic while Arcana quickly cast a spell to set House Cleaner on fire again and he got reduced to ashes quickly, Arcana held up the photos of Tofu and House Cleaner with her telekinesis and burned them with her fire magic, she healed herself and teleported to the door down the hall and tried to open it, it was locked, so she tried to teleport but a bright blue force field appeared and kept her out, she shot a blast out of her horn and blew up the door, she then ran into the next room.
Arcana ran into the next room and saw Philanthropist sitting at a desk with All Seer standing to his left and Body Sculptor and four golems in front of them,
"So not even Tofu and House Cleaner were able to take you down, it's up to me then, I'm not like those two, you will learn what it means to cross us." Body Sculptor said, and he and the golems ran forward. Arcana kept her guard up while shooting blasts at Body Sculptor and he swayed to his left at blinding speeds and dodged the blasts, Arcana's eyes widened and she shot more blasts at him but he swayed to the sides so fast, it looked like he was teleporting and dodged them, he ran forward and appeared in front of Arcana instantly and punched her in her sternum with his front right hoof, she screamed while she flew back and put a crater in the wall. Arcana fell onto the floor while groaning and wincing in pain while Body Sculptor and the golems sprinted to her and got ready to stomp and smash her head, she quickly teleported to behind him and shot a big blast at him, he jumped in the air while doing a backflip and kicked Arcana in the back of her neck with his hind right leg, she screamed while she flew forward and All Seer and Philanthropist shot big blasts at her, she put up a shield but the blasts still pushed her back and Body Sculptor then turned around and bucked her forward, she yelped since his kicks were still strong enough to get past her shield.
Arcana got shot back by All Seer and Philanthropist and Body Sculptor and the golems kicked her forward, she teleported to the right and shot a big red, blue, yellow, and green blast at Body Sculptor, he moved to his left at blinding speeds but still got caught in the blast, he grunted loudly when fire burned him, high speed water hit him, rocks pelted him, and wind gusts cut him, the golems tried to ram and tackle Arcana but she teleported to the other side of the room while also making a doppelganger in her last spot and they shot big blasts at Body Sculptor together. He ran to Arcana while enduring the pain but she teleported to the doorway while having a second doppelganger in her last spot continue shooting blasts at him, the golems from the previous rooms came in and Arcana made an explosion appear around herself to make them fly away.
Body Sculptor began stumbling and Philanthropist cast a spell to make Body Sculptor's body change to the same stone material as the golems and Arcana's magic no longer worked on him, she stopped casting her magic and looked on in shock while Body Sculptor ran to her and began punching her with his front hoofs and beat her, Arcana fell onto the floor after about twenty punches to her face, she tried casting dark magic on Body Sculptor but her horn had smoke come out of its tip while she looked in disbelief, Body Sculptor then stomped his front right hoof on Arcana's head to smash it into the floor while he, All Seer, and Philanthropist smiled. Arcana cast healing spells on herself while enduring the pain and then cast a spell on herself to make her muscles grow, Body Sculptor got ready to smash her head but she teleported to elsewhere, All Seer and Philanthropist tried to restrain her with their magic and she teleported around while creating doppelgangers. Arcana cast earth magic to make rock armor appear on herself while also making her shadow, spirit, and skeleton fuse with her body, Body Sculptor ran to her and Arcana punched him in his forehead with her front left hoof while afterimages of her shadow, spirit, and skeleton appeared behind her hoof and made her punch four times stronger while the muscle increasing spell gave her the strength of an earth pony, Body Sculptor's body began to chip and All Seer and Philanthropist had shocked expressions and quickly cast spells to heal him and summon more golems. Arcana and her doppelgangers punched and kicked them and they began chipping at first but soon began having cracks in their bodies and breaking apart, Arcana's doppelgangers threw the golems at All Seer and Philanthropist and messed them up while she punched Body Sculptor in his knees, sides of his neck, and temples, he exclaimed loudly while each punch broke his body more and more, he reeled back and Arcana punched his head into the wall with her front right hoof and then punched him in the very center of his body with her front left hoof and his entire body shattered into pieces.
All Seer and Philanthropist looked on in shock and horror at Body Sculptor's destroyed body while Arcana's doppelgangers disappeared, her body reverted back to its normal size, and she made her rock armor disappear while she walked forward to them,
"Well? Are you two going to surrender now that I took down your strongest henchman? That's usually the case when I see guys like you two, the underlings are powerhouses while the leader is weak and folds like a wet noodle, I'll go easy on you two if you two stand down." Arcana stated, All Seer ran in front of Philanthropist's desk,
"I'll keep her busy, boss, use this time to escape." All Seer ordered,
"No, she can find me anywhere in the world at anytime, she'll simply come after me next if I leave, I'm staying." Philanthropist rebuked,
"Oh, it seems Mr. Advisor can fight after all." Arcana commented,
"Watch me, boss, I'll show you my skills haven't dulled and I won't need your help taking her down." All Seer said,
"Very well, if you wish to fight her alone, I will grant your wish." Philanthropist replied, All Seer cast a spell to put a bright blue barrier between himself and Philanthropist and got ready to fight Arcana. All Seer shot a big blast forward and it divided into twelve beams while spinning clockwise and homed on Arcana, she a big blast at them but the beams went around it and continued homing on her, she teleported to her left at the last second and each beam destroyed the floor, wall, and ceiling. Arcana shot small red, blue, yellow, and green zaps at All Seer and he put up a shield that deflected the zaps back at her, she ducked and they hit the wall while the red zaps created explosions and set things on fire, the blue zaps made the wall wet and corrode, the yellow zaps changed to rocks stuck in the wall, and the green zaps changed to wind gusts that cut anything they touched. All Seer cast a spell to make vines with thorns appear to wrap around Arcana and she burned them with her fire magic, she cast telekinesis on him and All Seer teleported out of the room. Arcana looked around but All Seer was nowhere to be found, she cast a spell to watch the world and looked for him, she was suddenly hit by a big bright blue blast out of the ceiling right above her, she exclaimed and fell to her knees.
All Seer jumped out of the ceiling and landed on Arcana's back, she grunted loudly and he then shot big blasts at her head at point-blank range, she cast a spell to make an explosion happen around herself and shot him back, she then healed herself and stood back up. Arcana shot boulders at All Seer and he teleported to behind her and healed himself, he shot lightning bolts out of his horn and Arcana shot water at All Seer, he got soaked and screamed when he got electrocuted while Arcana covered him in metal and he got electrocuted more. All Seer teleported to Arcana and tried touching her shoulders to electrocute her, she made fire surround herself to make the metal red hot and All Seer screamed and teleported out, he growled while healing himself and then shot lava out of his horn at her, Arcana put up her shield to deflect it and he teleported. He appeared behind her and shot a small zap out of his horn that cut whatever it touched and Arcana teleported out of its line of fire, All Seer scowled and he teleported around and began kicking her in her blind spots, she grunted and flew through the room until All Seer got ready to buck her from behind and she quickly looked over her own left shoulder and shot a big blast at him at point-blank range, All Seer screamed while he got obliterated and the bright blue barrier went down.
Philanthropist looked on in disbelief at seeing that All Seer has lost,
"Well, considering you hid behind that barrier, I'm guessing you're scared when faced with danger, I'll spare your life if you back down." Arcana said, Philanthropist glared at her and threw his desk and chair to his left with his telekinesis,
"So you're going to stand your ground, too, meeting a criminal leader with strong henchmen who will actually fight back is pretty rare to see, fine, seems I'm going to have to fight and take out every single member of your group after all." Arcana commented, and she healed herself and got ready. Philanthropist shot many beams out of his horn at the speed of a machine gun and they set everything they touched on fire, Arcana cast a shield and deflected his zaps, Philanthropist teleported to inside her shield and on her back, he wrapped his front legs around her neck and she gagged, she teleported to another part of the room and Philanthropist teleported to in front of her and did a fast punch with his front right hoof and she grunted while she fell over. She looked up and shot blasts from her horn while swayed around and dodged them, he shot a blast from his horn and Arcana put up a shield and deflected it, he ducked and dodged it while Arcana put her shield down and kicked him in his abdomen with her hind left leg, he staggered while Arcana made a boulder appear above him, it fell and he quickly teleported. He appeared behind the boulder and cast a spell to break it into pieces, they floated around and flew to Arcana, she teleported to her right and the pieces homed on her, she broke the window behind herself and had the glass shards fly around herself, she teleported to Philanthropist and he exclaimed loudly when the shards cut him, he teleported to near the back of the room and cast a spell to make the house's frames bend and trap Arcana.
Arcana stretched her legs out and tried to break out of her wooden and metallic restraints but could not, Philanthropist cast magic chains around her and she tried to teleport but could not, she then tried to put up her shield but could not, Philanthropist shot a big dark blue blast out of his horn and Arcana screamed while her wooden and metallic restraints got destroyed, she crawled and propelled her body into the air as fast as she could while her magical restraints prevented her from casting magic. Philanthropist continued shooting the big blast out and Arcana jumped out of range, he quickly looked at her and shot the big blast at her while she jumped out of range and closer to him, she kept propelling her body into the air and got in front of him, he stomped his front left hoof onto the back of her head and she grunted while he held her down and shot the big blast at her. Arcana forced her head up and bit his hoof, he screamed while he staggered and stopped shooting a blast of his horn, she propelled her body and bit Philanthropist's horn and he screamed while her magic restraints disappeared. Arcana cast a healing spell on herself and then shot white lightning out of her horn and electrocuted Philanthropist, he screamed while he got paralyzed and then summoned lava on him, he screamed loudly he quickly cast a spell to make it disappear and teleported. Philanthropist held his horn up and electrified the entire room, Arcana put up her shield and all of the lightning strikes got deflected and towards Philanthropist, he put up a shield to block them and he growled, he cast a spell and changed himself into fog.
Philanthropist floated around and shot beams in every direction out of his fog form, Arcana tried casting a spell to change him back but he floated away before she could target him, he expanded himself to cover the entire house's interior and then changed himself to smoke. Arcana coughed while falling to her knees and Philanthropist cast a spell that turned the smoke dark blue, Arcana screamed loudly while his magic attack hit her entire body. She put up her shield and tried to deflect the dark blue lights while creating doppelgangers and looked for Philanthropist's face within the smoke, she and her doppelgangers could not find him nor his horn, they teleported out of the mansion and above it, the mansion's roof exploded while Philanthropist's dark blue smoke expanded and flew up to her and her doppelgangers. Arcana tried to cast a spell to turn him back but Philanthropist quickly cast a counter spell to cancel her out, the smoke then shot dark blue blasts into the sky and Arcana and her doppelgangers shot blasts out of their horns and entered a deadlock with Philanthropist, more blasts came out of his smoke body and shot Arcana and her doppelgangers in their abdomens, she screamed while her doppelgangers disappeared and she fell back into the mansion.
Arcana grunted when she fell onto the floor and coughed when inhaling the smoke, Philanthropist shot dark blue blasts out of various parts of himself, she cast a spell and floated in midair, six more copies of herself appeared and she changed to Red Arcana, Blue Arcana, Yellow Arcana, Green Arcana, Shadow Arcana, Spirit Arcana, and Skeleton Arcana. Philanthropist realized all of Arcana's new forms were immune to smoke inhalation and he shot big beams out that divided into twelve smaller beams and they homed on the seven Arcanas, Red Arcana cast fire and lava magic, Blue Arcana cast water and ice magic, Yellow Arcana summoned rocks, boulders, sand, gemstones, crystals, wood, metal, dirt, and vines with thorns, Green Arcana summoned wind, fog, clouds, mist, and smoke, Shadow Arcana cast dark magic and made dark crystals grow, Spirit Arcana cast light and lightning magic, and Skeleton Arcana cast necromancy to summon skeletal fauna. Philanthropist stopped attacking and moving in stunned silence while Arcana's attacks were not working on him, he tried to cast a spell to turn her back to normal but each Arcana cast a spell to repel it and the smoke moved back. Green Arcana cast a spell to control his smoke body and Philanthropist panicked while realizing she can counter his form, she gathered all of his smoke in one area while Spirit Arcana cast a spell and changed him back to normal.
Philanthropist looked on in disbelief at seeing the seven Arcanas and each of them cast their spells while he frantically teleported around and put up his shields, he summoned ten golems and Yellow Arcana cast a spell to make the floor launch them out of the mansion through the destroyed ceiling. He tried shooting zaps and beams at them but only Yellow Arcana and Skeleton Arcana were affected, they put up shields while the other five Arcanas teleported around the room and shot blasts at Philanthropist and he fell over from each zap. Philanthropist stood up while shaking his head and exhaling very sharply, he shot big blasts everywhere while growling and the seven Arcanas were nowhere to be found, all seven of them appeared behind him and shot him in the back of his head together and he grunted loudly while falling over. Philanthropist stood up while growling angrily, he turned around and floated in the air and shot a big dark blue blast out of his horn, Red Arcana shot a red blast out of her horn, Blue Arcana shot a blue blast out of her horn, Yellow Arcana shot a yellow blast out of her horn, Green Arcana shot a green blast out of her horn, Shadow Arcana shot a black blast out of her horn, Spirit Arcana shot a light blue blast out of her horn, and Skeleton Arcana shot a white blast out of her horn, they entered a deadlock with Philanthropist, they remained at a stalemate for several seconds and transparent images of Arcana appeared on her seven forms and their blasts became four times bigger, Philanthropist's blast got pushed back while all seven Arcanas combined together and she appeared in her regular form with her blast growing seven times bigger, Philanthropist was on the verge of getting struck while struggling to hold back Arcana's blast, Arcana's eyes glowed green with purple mist coming out of them and a purple haze on her horn, dark crystals grew on Philanthropist's horn and sealed his magic, he got hit by Arcana's blast and he screamed very loudly while getting obliterated, not a trace of him was left while the back of the room got blown out completely.
Arcana stopped casting her magic with smoke coming out of her horn's tip, she smiled while she looked out the blown out wall and saw Tofu's restaurant and House Cleaner's tent outside, she shot a blast at them and destroyed them, she then teleported outside and shot a big blast at Philanthropist's mansion and destroyed it, she then held up the photos of Body Sculptor, All Seer, and Philanthropist with her telekinesis and burned them with her fire magic, Arcana smiled while realizing all of her targets have been taken out and teleported. Arcana arrived back in Dreaming Paradise and the unicorns clapped and cheered when she arrived,
"Excellent work, Arcana, you have done Equestria a great service, best you lay low for now, Philanthropist, All Seer, and Body Sculptor were adored by the public for their money donations in developing medicines while Tofu, House Cleaner, the delivery Pegasi, and the unicorn doctors were average citizens with no criminal records, you and Robin should lay low here until the heat dies down, Paladin will be fine since the group she took out were known criminals." Archmage Astral Plane explained,
"How long?" Arcana asked,
"Maybe a few months, Robin will have to hide longer than you." Archmage Astral Plane replied,
"Alright, to you young unicorns, give me some time to rest, I'll help you all train when I recover." Arcana stated, and she went to her tower.
Arcana was standing across from Doctor Whooves with Paladin and Robin to her left,
"Wow, you only mentioned the parts where you fought its members and nothing else." Doctor Whooves commented,
"Well, that's really how it happened, I didn't walk around and ask questions like how Paladin did." Arcana responded,
"Just out of curiosity, Arcana, have you or the other unicorns of Dreaming Paradise ever been to Nature Valley?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes, we have a close connection to Mother Nature and her home, we are acquainted with Spirit and the residents of the Void as well." Arcana replied,
"I see, we'll take a break here. Robin, you go next when we resume." Doctor Whooves spoke, Robin nodded and she left his office with Paladin and Arcana.
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Smuggling Ring (Part 3 of 3): Authority Figures
Doctor Whooves was taking a short break from today's therapy sessions while Inertia, Solute, and Data sat and talked about their days, they waited for several minutes and Paladin, Arcana, and Robin came back after fifteen minutes,
"Are you ready, Robin?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes, sir." Robin replied, and she began her tale.
Robin was a resident of Dreaming Paradise who lived in its right side and in a green hut just like its other Pegasi, she was her generation's best agent and helped train the other students while also acting as the personal bodyguard and last line of defense for Master Nocturne, the place's Pegasus ruler, he had a dark green coat, white shoulder-length mane and a short tail, and yellow eyes, he was wearing a black long-sleeve shirt, black pants, black knee-length gloves on his front legs, black knee-length boots on his hind legs, and a green cape.
Robin floated around the world in ghost form and went back to Yakyakistan to spy on the five doctors, she phased through the solid objects and entered their offices and saw their names were Brain Surgeon, Medicine Pony, Red Cross, Scientist, and Experimenter on the plaques on their desks, she looked for anything that could be used for communicating but found nothing, she soon saw them teleport elsewhere. Robin traveled the world quickly and looked for the five unicorns, she eventually found them at a tofu shop with six other stallions, they were cooking in the back and making more of the red liquid. She listened in on their conversations and learned other six stallions' names were Fuel Injector, Liquid, Freezer, Bio Med, Oral Cleaner, and Tofu. Fuel Injector, Liquid, Freezer, Bio Med, and Oral Cleaner were unicorns who also worked as doctors while Tofu was an earth pony who owned the traveling restaurant, they finished making the red liquid and went elsewhere.
Robin flew and followed them and they met up with another group consisting of ten stallions that had nine unicorns and one earth pony, they had more vials of the red liquid in it. She listened to their conversation and learned the unicorns in the other group were Avian Doctor, Ornithologist, Beak Fixer, Bird Cleaner, Marine Biologist, Fire Starter, Serenity, Magic Doctor, and Witch Doctor while the earth pony was House Cleaner, another earth pony came and he was called Body Sculptor, they talked about there being impurities in the red liquid and Body Sculptor mentioned two ponies named All Seer and Philanthropist were currently working on investing more money into some of Equestria's medical companies in making better equipment and they went their separate ways.
Robin flew up high in the air and watched where the others went, Tofu went back to his restaurant and traveled Equestria, House Cleaner went into a house tent over a dirty house, Fuel Injector, Liquid, Freezer, and Bio Med went to the Dragon Lands, Oral Cleaner went to the Changeling Hive, Avian Doctor, Ornithologist, and Beak Fixer went to Griffonstone, Bird Cleaner and Marine Biologist went to Mount Aris, Fire Starter and Serenity went to Kirin Grove, and Magic Doctor and Witch Doctor went to Saddle Arabia, she saw they were doctors just like the five unicorns in Yakyakistan. She looked for Body Sculptor and saw him at a mansion, he met with two unicorns and heard them be called All Seer and Philanthropist,
"They're still struggling on getting impurities out of the drug." Body Sculptor reported,
"Figured, even the medical companies Philanthropist gave his money to are having a hard time perfecting the drug, too." All Seer replied,
"I'll inform the delivery ponies the next batch is ready to be delivered into the other countries, meanwhile, us three will work to try to make the product more pure ourselves, I'm hoping our doctors can find something we miss, too." Philanthropist stated,
"What are the other two parts of our operations doing?" Body Sculptor questioned,
"Don and his underlings are collecting money as fast as they can, he reported that they will have enough bits to give to our doctors soon so they can disguise them as honestly earned money and donate them to those medical companies to make better equipment to help improve purifying our drugs." All Seer explained while Robin's eyes widened,
"And Police Sergeant?" Body Sculptor asked,
"His border patrol rangers are doing their best to hide the drugs, and don't worry, his two watchers are very good at making sure they stay hidden and will have the law turn a blind eye to them if they're discovered." Philanthropist answered while Robin's jaw dropped,
"Well, I'll go ahead and teleport these drugs to our delivery ponies so they can be better hidden, Tofu and House Cleaner should have the next batches ready a bit soon." Philanthropist stated, and he teleported the drugs while Robin went elsewhere.
Robin floated around in Equestria and looked for the Pegasus who brought the red liquid to Yakyakistan borders, she checked every delivery company in Equestria until she found the Pegasus, the company he worked for was called Equestrian International Delivery Services, she watched him carefully and saw him go to his locker, his name was on it and Robin saw his name was Deliverer. He opened his locker and carefully loaded the red liquid into his saddlebag, she also noticed there were six more Pegasi stallions loading the vials of red liquids into their saddlebags as well, she looked at their lockers' name tags and their names were Air Service, Speedy Delivery, Box Mover, Peregrine Falcon, Wind Gust, and Sound Barrier, she also looked into their lockers and saw certificates that thanked them for their services in the Wonderbolts. Robin saw them leave and fly to the different countries, Deliverer went to Yakyakistan, Air Service went to the Changeling Hive, Speedy Delivery went to the Dragon Lands, Box Mover went to Griffonstone, Peregrine Falcon went to Mount Aris, Wind Gust went to Kirin Grove, and Sound Barrier went to Saddle Arabia, she then saw the border patrol rangers go through their things and they took the vials of red liquid out and hid them while they listed any other thing they had on official documents and sneaked the drugs into the countries.
Robin phased through the Equestrian and Yakyakistani border patrol's booth and saw the unicorn writing down information on what Deliverer had, she looked and saw his name tag on his shirt, it was Border Patrol, she floated to Griffonstone and saw the stallion who brought Box Mover's drugs into the country was Air Police, she looked at the other border patrol rangers and got their names, the one in the Dragon Lands was Air Marshal, the one at Kirin Grove was Firefighter, the one at Mount Aris was Sky Police while the one at Seaquestria was Coast Guard, the one at the Changeling Hive was Law Enforcement, and the one at Saddle Arabia was Desert Storm. She watched all eight of the border patrol stallions finish their shifts for the day and went to a police station in Canterlot and four stallions met with them, they were a unicorn, two Pegasi, and an earth pony, Robin looked and saw their name tags, the unicorn was Police Sergeant, one Pegasus was Police Officer, the other Pegasus was Police Constable, and the earth pony was Police Corporal,
"Did everything go smoothly?" Police Sergeant asked,
"Yes, sir, everything went well." Border Patrol reported,
"Police Constable and I oversaw the shipment like always, no problems this time." Police Officer stated,
"How have things been with the pony who reported us?" Coast Guard questioned,
"No worries, one of Police Sergeant's friends has sent his lawyer to deal with him in court to get the charges and accusations dropped, Police Corporal here has already finished the necessary steps on our end, too." Police Constable responded,
"Wait a little, if things go like usual, we'll be found not guilty and he will disappear." Police Corporal added,
"Maybe we should get a judge in our other job." Air Police suggested,
"Having a prosecutor and defense lawyer wouldn't hurt either." Air Marshal added,
"Police Sergeant's friend's lawyer can already fulfill both roles." Police Sergeant reminded,
"So, what do we do now?" Law Enforcement asked,
"We lay low and do our jobs until the next shipment is ready like always." Firefighter remarked,
"How much longer until it's high quality though?" Sky Police questioned,
"Yeah, we've been waiting for a while now." Desert Storm added,
"Give it time, for now, act natural, me and Police Corporal got to cover Don's underlings' loan shark operations now." Police Sergeant answered, Robin's eyes widened and her jaw dropped while realizing they also had criminal connections, the border patrol rangers, Police Officer, and Police Constable left while Police Corporal and Police Sergeant walked together.
Robin followed the two and arrived in a small town and saw an unconscious earth pony stallion on the ground, they began wiping the crime scene and destroying evidence while four stallions walked to them, they conversed and Robin learned their names were Associate, Soldier, Enforcer, and Caporegime,
"We'll have enough money soon to give to the doctors and they can disguise it as donations and charity money to give to the medical companies." Caporegime reported,
"Good, the border patrol rangers were getting impatient a moment ago." Police Sergeant replied, and the four stallions left while Police Sergeant and Police Corporal continued destroying evidence. Robin arrived at a mansion and saw three more stallions on the top floor,
"Sorry we're late, the last guy was a runner and didn't wanna pay." Associate reported,
"It's fine, you all still got the money, go ahead and get ready to go after the next target." the unicorn behind the desk stated,
"Yes, Don." Associate, Soldier, Enforcer, and Caporegime said and left the room,
"How are things for court, Consigliere?" Don asked,
"Preparations for charges dropped against us are complete." Consigliere reported,
"Still, talk about a pain." the earth pony commented,
"All part of the job, Underboss, there will be messy ones sometimes." Don stated, Robin left the mansion and went elsewhere.
Robin floated high into the sky and watched the stallions' movements, they laid low and Tofu and House Cleaner would sometimes take bits out of Equestria's banks and travel by train, she phased through the wall into each bank and listened to their conversations while also looking into the banks and found no signs of its employees or employers being connected to Don's, Philanthropist's, and Police Sergeant's operations, she listened to them and the red liquid was not brought up once with the bankers, Robin realized the banks had no involvement and phased through into the train. She saw Tofu and House Cleaner board several times and never mentioned anything about the red liquid while the conductor and the ponies working at the ticket booths just did their jobs, Robin realized the train company's employers and employees were also not involved, she phased out of the train and watched the world. Robin watched the stallions move through the world and laid low while the doctors made more of the red liquid outside of Equestria in their offices, she saw them use magic to transmute the ingredients into liquids and mixed them together, they made the red liquid a bit quickly and she then saw the delivery ponies coming with more. She flew up into the sky and saw Don's underlings acting as loan sharks and getting money from other ponies while Consigliere was in court and got a not guilty verdict against Don, the stallion who accused them walked away while looking down and his eyes widened when he was alone, his body turned black and disappeared, Robin looked and saw Don had cast a spell to destroy his body, she then saw Philanthropist's underlings making the red liquid in Equestria and then delivered them in secret to the doctors in the other countries and Police Sergeant's underlings hid them when checking their belongings and put them in the country while Police Sergeant destroyed evidence that could convict them while also forging evidence to increase of their chances of getting not guilty verdicts in court.
Robin watched them more carefully and the non-pony creatures got injected with the red liquid at different times that made them go berserk and attack everyone in sight alongside destroying property, Equestria seemed like the only peaceful country and many non-pony creatures moved there, Robin saw the stallions meeting up in a house in an isolated town and she quickly floated there and phased through the wall. She entered a room and saw Don, Philanthropist, and Police Sergeant sitting at a square table with Underboss, All Seer, and Police Corporal to the rights of their respective commanders while Consigliere, Body Sculptor, Police Officer, and Police Constable stood to their lefts, Associate, Enforcer, Soldier, and Caporegime stood behind Don, Deliverer, Air Service, Speedy Delivery, Box Mover, Peregrine Falcon, Wind Gust, Sound Barrier, Brain Surgeon, Medicine Pony, Red Cross, Scientist, Experimenter, Fuel Injector, Liquid, Freezer, Bio Med, Oral Cleaner, Avian Doctor, Ornithologist, Beak Fixer, Bird Cleaner, Marine Biologist, Fire Starter, Serenity, Magic Doctor, Witch Doctor, Tofu, and House Cleaner stood behind Philanthropist, and Border Patrol, Law Enforcement, Air Marshal, Air Police, Sky Police, Coast Guard, Firefighter, and Desert Storm stood behind Police Sergeant,
"Good, we're all here, I'll go first on how our operations have been. We have finally gotten rid of that guy who found the red liquid and accused us, everything should go smoothly again now, my four loan sharks there should have enough money to give to the doctors again soon." Don reported,
"Good, everything's going fine on our end, too, though me and the doctors are still having trouble purifying the product, we need better equipment, we'll continue donating money while also making rival investors disappear." Philanthropist stated,
"Our operations have been fine as well, the border patrol rangers are doing well at hiding the products while my two overseers have watched for anything going wrong, no evidence incriminating Don's loan sharks has been brought up yet, either." Police Sergeant said,
"Well done, still hard to believe, this smuggling ring began its origins here in this room, none of us liked those non-pony creatures coming to this town and began taking our jobs, we traveled the world to sightseeing, we were lucky to stumble upon the ingredients to make the red liquid." Don stated,
"Yeah, we found a lot of like-minded ponies too who want the non-pony creatures gone, look at how big we are now." Philanthropist added, the other members smiled,
"I know our operations right now is us unicorns are the brains, the Pegasi are the scouts and delivery ponies, and the earth ponies are the muscles, maybe we should change it a bit." Police Sergeant suggested,
"If what we do now starts to fail, as of now, we continue doing what we're doing, the plan stays the same, we make the creatures violent with the drugs, others move here to Equestria for safety reasons, they do deals with us ponies to strengthen relations, and after a while, the world's polices and militaries work together to maintain world peace and exchange weapons, armor, and strategies, we get the supplies and info, then we wipe out the other creatures with stealth attacks." Don stated while Robin's jaw dropped,
"Don't forget the Saddle Arabians, they are defected ponies who don't deserve to exist." Philanthropist reminded,
"We'll save them for last, let's continue laying low for before like always, we should get back to our jobs." Police Sergeant stated,
"Still amusing you worked up to the rank your name is." Don remarked,
"That was coincidence, it's best I don't go up any farther, the higher ranked me and the others become, the harder it will be to lay low." Police Sergeant stated,
"I'm still surprised you chose not to live in a mansion." Philanthropist said,
"My job's dangerous, best I be prepared." Police Sergeant replied,
"Aside from that, I think us not getting married and having children was a smart move, too, no need to deal with family drama that could interfere with our doings, I think us three making our parents, siblings, and other relatives alongside our underlings' families disappear too was a smart move." Philanthropist remarked, the others agreed,
"Well, come on, everyone, let's go." Don stated, and they left. Robin watched them and realized there was no hidden supreme commander with Don, Philanthropist, and Police Sergeant acting as his second-in-commands, she then went to Canterlot to check on Princess Celestia and saw a royal guard reporting to her,
"What? Don and his loan sharks are at it again? I swear, they need to be stopped soon, who knows how many bits they took now or what they're using them for." Princess Celestia stated, Robin realized Princess Celestia did not know about the smuggling ring and then flew to check Equestria's police. She watched the other cops and realized Police Sergeant was the highest ranking member of the smuggling ring's law enforcement members, she then thought about Equestria's military and checked the royal guards and Wonderbolts, and to her surprise, there were no smuggling ring members in Equestria's military, she decided she had all of the info she needed and flew away. Robin arrived at Dreaming Paradise and went into her home,
"Arcana, I need to be changed back to normal for the next part of my investigation." Robin said, and she changed back to normal, she got a camera and left. She hid and flew around and took a picture of the smuggling ring members, she then went back home and developed the pictures and put them in the back of her pants,
"Okay, Arcana I need to be a ghost again." Robin called out, and she got changed to a ghost again, she traveled unnoticed and met up with Paladin and Arcana and explained what she found after Arcana changed her back to normal. They finished their conversation and they took the photos of their targets, Border Patrol had a light blue coat, short white mane and tail, dark blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a black nightstick. Law Enforcement had a dark green coat, short black mane and tail, pure white eyes, and his cutie mark was a yellow police badge. Air Marshal had a white coat, slightly long gray mane and tail, sky blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a pair of white feathered wings. Air Police had a dark blue coat, long black mane and tail, purple eyes, and his cutie mark was a pair of handcuffs. Sky Police had a whitish-gray coat, shoulder-length red mane, a red medium-length tail, black eyes, and his cutie mark was an arrest document. Coast Guard had a blue coat, short dark blue mane and tail, green eyes, and his cutie mark was a white patrol ship. Firefighter had a yellow coat, long black mane and tail, blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a fire extinguisher. Desert Storm had a pale tan coat, short light orange mane and tail, brown eyes, and his cutie mark was a pile of sand. Police Officer had a blue coat, short light blue mane and tail, pale blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a blue peaked cap. Police Constable had a light blue coat, short white mane and tail, blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a Taser. Police Corporal had a pale light blue coat, short white mane and tail, purple eyes, and his cutie mark was a jail cell. Police Sergeant had a dark blue coat, short dark white mane and tail, gray eyes, and his cutie mark was three pistol bullets.
Robin left and flew to hunt down her targets while checking to make sure she had all of her weapons and equipment with her and put the photos in a hidden pocket on a white belly band she was wearing under her vest. She arrived at Yakyakistan and saw Border Patrol was at work, she flew down and went under the snow. She took two daggers out of her coat and held them in her front hoofs, she peeked up and crawled slowly and quietly to Border Patrol, she arrived behind him and got ready to slit his throat with one of her daggers but he quickly picked her up with his telekinesis and threw her away,
"Nice try, but I heard you coming from a mile away." Border Patrol remarked, and he turned around to face Robin.
Border Patrol shot many zaps at Robin and she dodged them easily by flying around and doing flips and hoofsprings, she got in front of him and did another front flip, she opened her body and kicked Border Patrol's horn with her hind hoofs, he grunted while getting pushed back a little, he growled and cast a spell to wrap magical chains around Robin and restrained her and made her fall. Border Patrol got ready to try to rip her apart with his telekinesis but she resisted, he glared and tried to cast a spell to make her disappear, she wiggled around a little and tried to move forward but could not, she stopped and then tried to cut the magical chain around her front hoofs with her daggers. Border Patrol tried to take them from her with his telekinesis but she gripped them tightly and ended up dragging her with them, she pressed buttons under her daggers' guards and electrified the blades, she moved her front legs up a little and pressed the blades on Border Patrol's chin, he screamed when he got electrocuted. Robin's magic chains disappeared and she stood up and got ready to slash Border Patrol's throat but he quickly put up a shield to block her attack, she flew above him and away, Border Patrol saw her leave and cast a spell to teleport her far away.
Robin appeared in the middle of nowhere and there was nothing but snow, earth pony creatures made of gray stone appeared with a dark purple aura around them,
"Golems, huh, Police Sergeant must've summoned them." Robin deduced, they ran to her and tried to attack her, she sheathed her daggers and tried punching and kicking them but grunted loudly from how hard their bodies were and her hoofs were in pain, the golems ran to her and tried to ram and tackle her while she flew back and tried to slash them with her dagger, she only put small slash marks on them while her daggers chipped a little, she pressed buttons on below the guards to electrify the blades and pressed them on two golems, it had no effect, one golem punched her and she grunted while she flew back far. Robin grunted while she slid on the ground, she placed her front hoofs on the ground and did a backflip to stand up, the golems ran to her and she aimed the handle of the dagger in her front left hoof forward and pressed a small trigger, a loud gunshot was heard and she shot a bullet out of the dagger's pommel, she looked and her eyes widened when she saw the bullet only put a tiny crack on a golem's forehead and fell onto the ground. She put her daggers back in her coat and raised her front hoofs, the golems charged to her and she jumped onto one and pulled on its head, she grunted from its heavy weight while she tried to pull it down, she managed to but its weight squashed her and she grunted loudly. Another golem ran to her and tried to stomp on her head, she moved it around and grunted loudly while throwing the golem on her behind herself and stood up while panting heavily.
Robin stood up and saw the golems charging to her, she tried to parry and redirect one with her front right hoof but she grunted very loudly when her leg got rammed and numbed for a bit while she got pushed back, the golem jumped and tried to land on her and she rolled to her left to dodge it. Robin flew up and looked for where she was at, she noticed she was a little far away from the Equestrian and Yakyakistani border but saw Border Patrol, he shot zaps at her and she flew around and dodged them easily. She flew to him at high speeds and rammed him, he grunted loudly while falling onto the ground, he kicked Robin off of himself with his hind right hoof and she did a somersault and landed on her feet. Border Patrol quickly stood up and got ready to shoot beams at her while Robin got her daggers out, she aimed the pommel of the dagger in her front right hoof at him and pressed a small trigger, she shot a bullet and his horn broke off, he screamed while falling to the ground in pain and Robin flew to him quickly and stabbed her daggers into the sides of his neck and took them out, he gasped for breath and soon stopped, Robin picked up his body and buried it far away, she then flew to her next target.
Robin headed to Griffonstone and saw the golems jumping and trying to reach her, some of them appeared in midair and fell to the ground, she rolled around while flying and dodged them. She arrived in Griffonstone and saw Air Police at his station, he saw her coming and quickly flew after her. He took out a steel baton and tried to attack her with it, she flew and dodged his attacks easily and parried some of them, he flew to above her and wrapped his front legs around her neck and began to strangle her while also pushing down to the golems. She struggled to break free but Air Police hit the back of her head with his baton and Robin groaned while becoming dizzy, Air Police then let go of her and let her drop.
Robin fell quickly and the golems waited for her, she fell near them and they began to jump and land on her back, she grunted while she fell faster and saw the ground in front of her, she clicked her hind heels together and made hidden double-bladed knife blades come out of the front of her boots' soles. She kicked her hind right leg over herself and stabbed the knife blade into the golem's eye but it had no effect, she landed on the ground and the golems' weight buried her into the ground. Robin gasped for air while the golems' weight crushed her, she dug the ground quickly and went under the ground, Air Police looked for her but could not find her, he began hitting the ground with his baton while flying around but could not find Robin anywhere. Robin lunged out from under the ground and stabbed spiked rings on her wing joints the same color as her body into Air Police's wings, he screamed and could not fly anywhere, she then slashed across his abdomen with the knife blade on her left boot deeply and he fell down, Robin buried him and quickly flew elsewhere.
Robin flew to the Dragon Lands and saw more golems waiting for her, they began throwing rocks at her and flew and dodged all of them easily, she clicked her hind hoofs together and made the knife blades go back into her boots while lifting her vest up and reaching into another pouch in her belly band. She took out a deck of cards and threw them at the golems but only put small cuts in their bodies. She saw Air Marshal flying to her and was holding a Taser, he shot it at her and she rolled around to dodge the shots. She flew under him and dark purple auras appeared in the lava under her and they flew into the air, the lava chased her while she did flips and rolls to dodge them, dark purple auras then appeared on the golems and they were sent after her.
Robin flew in zigzags while doing flips and rolls and tried throwing her cards at Air Marshal's wings to cut them but he dodged them, he shot his Taser at her and she flew to behind to the golems so its shots hit them instead, they were unaffected by them. Robin continued throwing her cards but the golems were moved to block them from hitting Air Marshal, she flew under the golems and threw the cards at Air Marshal but they were moved and blocked them, Robin let out an annoyed grunt under her breath while Air Marshal flew faster and went above her. He placed his front legs under front legs to restrain her and pressed his Taser on the right side of her head, she did a somersault and threw him over herself. Robin put her cards back in her belly band's pouch and then reached into hind legs' boots with her front hoofs and took out single-shot derringers, she aimed them together while Air Marshal composed himself and she fired them together, the loud gunshots startled him while Robin shot a hole into both of his wings, he screamed while he fell but a dark purple aura appeared around him.
Air Marshal growled while he was moved towards Robin and he got ready to begin punching her, Robin put her one-shot derringers back in her boots while Air Marshal tried to attack her while she was distracted, she quickly kicked him in his abdomen and he grunted loudly. Robin proceeded to punch and kick Air Marshal in his hind legs' shins, abdomen, liver, sternum, sides of his neck, and temples, he wheezed while catching his breath and saw the golems and lava moving towards Robin and they surrounded her, Air Marshal was moved away to redraw him and she quickly flew around them while reaching into her coat and took a garrote out, she flew to Air Marshal and choked him from behind, he gagged while he struggled to break free, he became unconscious and Robin moved the garrote up and he fell into the lava. The volcanoes erupted more and lava flew up everywhere, she flew around them and dodged them easily while the lava began flying around and trying to surround her. She put her garrote in her coat and looked for a way out of the lava, the golems went through it unharmed and tried to ram her down, she flew over the golems while they fell through the lava, she flew and dodged the golems inside the sphere of lava and got an idea, she tackled one forward and created an opening in the lava while shielding her body with the golem, she got out of the sphere of lava and flew out of the country.
Robin flew towards Kirin Grove and a bunch of water and fire extinguisher gas surrounded her, she coughed from the smell but kept flying and got through it. Robin saw the rivers in Kirin Grove rise high with a yellow aura around them, she looked forward and saw Firefighter with several golems, he shot a high pressure water stream out of his horn at her and she rolled to her left and dodged it while the water cut a tree. Firefighter made ice appear around himself and shot them into the sky while Robin rolled around and dodged them, he glared and began shooting icicles out of his horn at her, she flew up and down and dodged them easily while she got closer. Robin reached into her coat with her wings and took shurikens out and held them between her feathers, she threw many of them and Firefighter made an ice shield appear around himself and blocked them, Robin flew down faster and kicked the ice with her hind hoofs and shattered it.
The golems ran and surrounded her and Robin flew around while taking a kunai out of her coat with her front right hoof and stabbed the golems in the sides of their necks and chipped them, Firefighter tried to freeze her but she kept moving around and he could not get her frozen in a block of ice. Robin reached into her coat with her wings and took out more kunais and held them between her feathers, she threw them at him and Firefighter teleported around and dodged them, he saw Robin was standing in one place and a yellow aura appeared on his horn, she quickly flew up and dodged the ice block and Firefighter growled. Robin ran out of kunais and then lifted her vest up and reached into her belly band's left pouch and took a knife out, Firefighter shot a high pressure water stream out of his horn and she flew up to dodge it and moved her hind legs up to avoid the golems, she grunted when the water stream knocked her down and the golems tried to stomp on her and she rolled to her right.
Firefighter began making ice crystals grow out of the ground and Robin flew over them while they grew bigger. Firefighter made icicles appear and fly in the air and they homed on Robin, she did somersaults and backflips to dodge them while also hiding behind trees and the icicles froze everything they touched on contact. The golems tried to ram Robin into the trees or pin her down but she jumped and spun in midair to dodge them, she aimed her knife's blade at Firefighter while he got ready to cast another spell, he made ice crystals grow out of the ground and made fire extinguisher gas appear around Robin. She coughed and flew out of the fire extinguisher gas and Firefighter shot big ice blocks at her, she crouched under them and then aimed her knife's blade at him again and pressed a button on the guard, the blade flew out and into a tree while also cutting Firefighter's horn off, he fell and screamed in agony while Robin flew to him while taking a dagger out of her coat and electrified it, she pressed it on him and electrocuted him, she then buried him and got her ballistic knife's blade and flew out of the country.
Robin flew to Seaquestria while putting the blade back in her ballistic knife's handle and its waters began to rise really high, a tsunami almost hit her and she flew up to dodge it, water then began shooting out of the sea and she flew around and dodged them easily, a big whirlpool then appeared and began spinning around. Robin flew over it and a blue aura appeared around her and began to take her down, she looked and saw Coast Guard floating on the water's surface with his telekinesis with a blue aura on his horn, she aimed her ballistic knife at him but she suddenly felt weight on her back and grunted she looked up and saw Sky Police restraining her and forcing her down. Robin tried to break free from Coast Guard's telekinesis but Sky Police wrapped his front hoofs around her neck and began to choke her, she held her breath while struggling to break free and was close to the whirlpool, she grunted loudly while struggling to move and managed to roll herself over and had Sky Police about to go into the whirlpool first. Sky Police screamed when he felt himself getting sucked into the whirlpool and Coast Guard quickly cast telekinesis on him to move him away, Robin quickly aimed her ballistic knife while reaching into her coat with her front left hoof, she shot the blade at him and Coast Guard caught it with his telekinesis while Robin took out a crossbow and shot it with her front left hoof, he exclaimed when the bolt flew right past him and distracted him, it made him stop casting his telekinesis and Robin flew around.
Robin put her ballistic knife's handle into her coat and then took out another crossbow, she shot it at Sky Police and he flew away while Coast Guard used his magic to make the water rise and put Robin in it. She flew up higher and Sky Police flew to her and tried to kick her with his hind right hoof, she heard him coming and crouched and threw him over herself, he did a somersault and recomposed himself and turned around to face her. He flew to her at high speeds and took rope out of one of his shirt's pockets, he flew around her at blinding speeds and soon tied up her legs, wings, and head, Robin tried to move her body around but could not, Coast Guard then made the water go up with his magic and put her in it. Robin fell farther into the sea while she held her breath and struggled to break free from the rope, she clicked her hind heels to make the knife blades come out of her boots and then bent her upper-body back and moved her front hoofs to in front of her hind hoofs and cut the rope, she then took out a kunai and cut the rope on her hind hoofs, wings, and head, she put it away and flew up to the surface of Mount Aris and gasped for breath, Sky Police landed in front of her while Coast Guard appeared.
Sky Police took rope out of one of his shirt's pockets and got ready to wrap it around her again while Coast Guard cast a spell to make Robin trapped in water and slow her movement, she tried to fly and Sky Police flew to her. He began wrapping the rope around her neck, wings, and hoofs, he finished and she fell over, Sky Police then proceeded to cover her snout and mouth with his wings. Robin struggled to move and tried using her torso to spring herself into the air to jump but she moved very slowly in the water, she tried moving up and rolled over to press Sky Police down onto the ground, he flew out of the water and gasped for breath while Robin looked at him, she wiggled around and moved forward and got her head out of the water, she took a deep breath while Sky Police got ready to attack her, she threw her body forward and got out of the water, she then jumped on Sky Police's body while using the rope part tying her hoofs to choke him but the rope broke, Robin quickly moved her body in multiple directions to snap the rope and then took a crossbow out with her front right hoof and quickly shot Sky Police into his heart, he stood still for a second and fell onto his side.
Coast Guard looked on in disbelief while Robin panted and began flying to him while aiming the crossbow at his horn, he teleported elsewhere and made water surround Robin, she looked for an opening and did not see one, she flew faster and got out of it while shivering. More golems appeared and Robin flew up into the sky to avoid them while they jumped and tried to reach her but could not, she saw Coast Guard up ahead and he shot zaps at her, she rolled around and dodged them while he teleported elsewhere. Robin looked for him and the ground burst open and a lot of water surrounded her, the ground below her erupted and shot her into the sky. Robin rode on the water and flew onto a cloud, she laid on it and saw Coast Guard stopped casting magic and looked around for Robin, she put her crossbow away and swung her front hoofs a little to make two-shot derringers come out of her coat's sleeves, she flew down and Coast Guard heard her, he quickly turned around and she aimed the derringer in her front left hoof and fired a bullet, she shot his horn off and he screamed and she quickly shot another bullet into his forehead, she picked up his body and dumped it into the sea and did the same with Sky Police and flew out of the country.
Robin put her derringers back in her coat's sleeves while shivering, she arrived into the Changeling Hive and the changelings saw her, she landed and they quickly made a fire to warm her up,
"Thank you, I was in the water for a while." Robin stated,
"What brings you here?" King Thorax asked,
"I'm just traveling the world and seeing the countries, I'll be going back to Equestria after this one." Robin answered,
"Oh, well, enjoy the country, there isn't much scenery here, but maybe you'll find something you like." King Thorax commented,
"Thanks, I'll try to have fun here." Robin responded, the changelings smiled and stayed around her until she was dried up,
"Alright, I'm dry, thanks." Robin said, and the changelings put the fire out, she then flew up into the sky and looked for Law Enforcement, she saw him walking by himself near the booth at the Equestrian and Changeling Hive border and flew there.
Law Enforcement ran to her while Robin flew to him and took her garrote out, golems appeared above her and fell onto her back and Robin grunted, she got pinned to the ground and Law Enforcement stood above her and wrapped his front legs around her neck. Robin bent her hind legs back and grabbed the golem's neck, she grunted loudly while she tried to throw it off but it fell over and onto her hind legs, she exclaimed loudly while Law Enforcement continued to try to strangle her. She grabbed his front legs and tried to move them off but he was too strong and he tightened his front legs around her neck, she growled and then moved her front legs up to Law Enforcement's neck and put the garotte around his neck. Law Enforcement gagged and tried to get the garotte off, Robin then swung her head back quickly and hit Law Enforcement in his snout, he grunted and got pushed back while Robin grabbed the golem on her hind legs with her wings and grunted loudly while she lifted it up and freed her hind legs, she then stood up and faced them.
Law Enforcement ran to Robin and tried to punch her, she ducked and dodged each one while the golems tried to stand in her way and she flew over them. Robin went behind Law Enforcement and wrapped her garotte around his neck and he gagged but he grabbed her front hoofs and threw her over himself, she did a somersault and landed on her feet, Law Enforcement lunged towards her and she flew up to dodge him. Robin swung her front right hoof out and made the two-shot derringer come out of her sleeve, she aimed it at the back of Law Enforcement's head and fired, a golem quickly moved in the way and the bullet hit it in the forehead and bounced it while leaving a small crack in its body. Robin flew up high to avoid the golems while Law Enforcement faced her, she aimed her derringer again and Law Enforcement kicked dirt up and into Robin's eyes, she grunted while covering her eyes and shot her derringer's second bullet into the ground, Law Enforcement then jumped and rammed her down while Robin dropped her derringer. Law Enforcement began to choke her while Robin reached for her belt's buckle with her front right hoof, Law Enforcement screamed when he got stabbed in the left side of his neck, the golems stopped and Law Enforcement fell over while Robin moved her front right hoof back and the golems saw she had detached her buckle from her belt and it had a hidden knife blade under it. The golems ran after her while she quickly picked up Law Enforcement's body and flew away while also getting her derringer, she flew elsewhere and the golems disappeared when the changelings arrived to investigate.
Robin quickly flew into the nearest forest and cleaned her belt buckle's hidden blade and put it back on her belt, she then buried Law Enforcement and flew to Saddle Arabia. She arrived and a dust storm suddenly started, she coughed while flying through it and looked for Desert Storm, she could not see through the dust storm and dust devils began appearing in it. She rolled around and dodged the tornadoes while the dust storm got thicker, she flew up higher and the dust storm rose with her, she looked forward before her vision got obscured and saw Desert Storm standing far away with a light brown aura on his horn. She flew faster while the dust storm got thicker and the dust devils got stronger, she rolled around and dodged the dust devils easily while blinking a lot, she got out of it and Desert Storm began shooting zaps at her, she flew and dodged them and went to him and he teleported.
Robin flew high in the sky and looked for Desert Storm, he appeared and shot a zap at her and disappeared, she grunted from the attack and he appeared behind her and shot another zap at her and disappeared again, he appeared above her and shot another zap, she heard it coming and flew backwards and dodged it. Desert Storm teleported to behind Robin again and shot another zap and she flew up and dodged it, he teleported and appeared under her and shot a zap, she flew to her right and dodged it, Desert Storm glared and teleported, he appeared on her back and kicked her down with his hind legs while she grunted. Robin saw she was about to fall into the sand and golems were waiting for her, she grabbed onto one with her wings and threw her body over herself to get Desert Storm off, he landed on his hoofs and turned around to face her. Robin flew in the air while Desert Storm shot blasts at her and she flew around to dodge them, he began teleporting around and shooting at her from different directions, Robin reached into her coat with her front hoofs and took out two double-bladed knives and wrapped its extremely thin and invisible wires on her front hoofs very carefully. Desert Storm continued teleporting around and shooting beams at her while Robin flew around and spun her front hoofs around, the double-bladed knives swung around and Desert Storm crouched to dodge them while noticing the thin wires were invisible to the naked eye, he crouched and moved himself past one double-bladed knife and he screamed when its wire cut his back, he had a shocked expression while realizing the thin invisible wires were razor-sharp.
Robin spun around and made her double-bladed knives move everywhere while Desert Storm moved back while panting heavily, she retracted them back into her front hoofs and threw the knives at Desert Storm, he caught them and the wires with his telekinesis and tried to destroy them while Robin flew to him at high speeds and kicked him in his face with her hind hoofs and he exclaimed loudly while falling onto the ground. Robin flew down to him and he teleported elsewhere, the golems tried to attack her and she threw her knives around but they bounced off of them while the wires did not cut them, Desert Storm summoned dust storms and they made Robin's knives move in directions she did not want, she quickly took them off and put them back in her coat. She flew around and while dodging the dust devils but Desert Storm got a hold of her with his telekinesis and held her in front of them, she got blown away and Desert Storm then teleported to in front of her and shot beams at her while she was distracted, she grunted and did not move, he smiled and let her fall, she then flew to him quickly and grabbed him and rammed him into the ground. Desert Storm scowled at her and kicked her off, he then stood up and cast a spell to make a big dust storm surround them with dust devils spinning everywhere, the golems attacked her from inside the sand while Desert Storm teleported around and shot zaps and beams at her, she got hit several times and grunted from each hit, she looked around and noticed she can just barely see Desert Storm's magic aura on his horn, she reached into a pocket on the inside of her pants with her right wing and took out lipstick, she took the tube off and flew forward, she saw Desert Storm's magic aura and quickly aimed at it, she turned the tube's bottom to the right and shot a bullet out of the hidden gun in it, the dust storm and dust devils stopped and she saw she shot Desert Storm in the center of his forehead and broke his horn, he then fell over. Robin quickly flew to him and carried him elsewhere, she buried him and flew out of the country while putting the lipstick gun back in her pants' inside pocket.
Robin flew up high into the sky and watched Police Sergeant's fortress, she saw Police Officer and Police Constable arrive there while Police Sergeant and Police Corporal were standing in front of its front door,
"All eight of our border patrol rangers have been taken out." Police Officer reported,
"I looked into our attacker, she's not an ordinary pony, she's been trained to be a spy and infiltrator since birth, this isn't your run-of-the-mill nosy pony, our enemy this time is highly trained and highly experienced, she's already proving to be a much harder opponent than our typical enemies, too." Police Sergeant stated,
"What about the ponies destroying Don's and Philanthropist's operations?" Police Constable questioned,
"Same, highly trained and highly experienced ponies who have been raised to be a warrior and trained in combat since birth, they're not faring any better than we are, all three of them seem to be friends and working together, too." Police Corporal responded,
"How did you two not see them? Overseeing and making sure everything ran smoothly was your jobs." Police Sergeant reprimanded,
"They've must've been watching from our blind spots." Police Officer deduced,
"That, or the unicorn found us with her magic." Police Constable added,
"Regardless, we have to take her out, the earth pony has destroyed Don's loan shark business, and the unicorn has taken out Philanthropist's doctors and delivery ponies, we'll be wiped out at this rate." Police Corporal remarked,
"We must stand our ground, I know two are likely scared, but if we don't stop her now, no doubt that Pegasus will track us down and hunt us all over the world if we run away and hide, and we'll have to deal with her again, we have to stop her now." Police Sergeant said,
"We're not running away." Police Officer declared,
"Yeah, we have to stop her, no matter what." Police Constable added,
"Good, come on inside, I'll direct you all from my office." Police Sergeant replied, and all four of them entered the fortress.
Robin flew to the fortress and devices on its roof began shooting electric discharges at her, she quickly flew down but they continued firing at her, she landed and they stopped shooting at her. Robin walked forward and stopped for a second when she saw the entire perimeter around the fortress was covered in vines with thorns and barbed wire, she moved forward carefully while taking knives out of her hind legs' boots and began cutting the vines, they were thick and she had to rub the blades back and forth to cut them. Robin continued moving forward but then heard gunshots from her sides, she crouched and grunted when the thorns cut her, hidden assault rifles began firing at her from under the vines and barbed wire and she tried to move but got tangled in them. The electric devices on the fortress began firing at her again and she screamed when she got electrocuted, the assault rifles then began shooting at her and Robin quickly pulled her front right leg towards herself to break the vines and lifted up her coat, she reached into her belly band's right pouch and took a pistol out, she aimed and shot and destroyed both electrified devices with one shot, she then looked for gunfire and shot in the locations with her pistol and destroyed six assault rifles before running out of bullets.
Robin got on her stomach and crawled through the vines and barbed wires while pulling on them to break the vines apart and freeing herself from the barbed wires, she almost fell into a hidden hole and saw spikes in it, she crawled through carefully while taking a magazine out of her coat and reloaded her pistol, she flew up and shot and destroyed the eight more hidden assault rifles, she flew back down while reloading again and then flew up and shot and destroyed the last six assault rifles. Robin continued traveling through the yard and began to fly up, she went higher than usual and flew past the thorns and barbed wire while holding her front legs out and checking her surroundings, she went forward and felt nothing until she got near the fortress and exclaimed when something cut her front hoofs, she took her knives out of her boots and held them forward, they got chipped and she realized there were very thin razor-sharp wires put up in front of her. She flew around while holding the knives out and discovered the wires were all around the fortress, she put her knives back in her boots and flew back. Robin dug the ground and went under, she began digging underground while going around the holes with spikes in them, she moved carefully and felt for any traps. She dug the top out often to see where she was at until she was past the wires and came out of the ground, she flew to the entrance and tried to open the door, it was locked, she looked at the door's lock and took her ballistic knife out, she put the blade into the gap between the door and the door frame and moved the latch back, she then opened the door and entered the fortress.
Robin entered and held her knife forward to see if any wires were put up in front of her, the blade did not get damaged and she put it down, she walked forward and golems appeared inside. They ran to her and tried to attack her while she flew up to avoid them. The golems jumped and tried to get her down and she rolled around and dodged them, she flew to the door at the other end of the room and tried to open it but it was locked. The golems ran to her and got ready to ram her and she quickly flew up to dodge them while getting an idea, she flew down and stood in one place and the golems ran to her, her eyes widened and she quickly flew up to avoid them. She realized the golems were not going to ram the door down and she lured them around the room while they tried to jump and catch her, she strafed and rolled around and flew to the door on the other side, she took a knife out of her hind right leg's boot and put it between the door and door frame, she moved the latch back and opened the door and entered the next room.
Robin closed the door and saw gun muzzles in the walls and ceilings, they began firing bullets at her and she quickly flew to the end of the room while trying to avoid as many bullets as possible, she looked and saw it had an automated lock, she examined it and saw she had to destroy every gun in the room to unlock it. The muzzles moved a little and aimed at Robin, she stood in front of the automated lock and flew up when the guns fired, the automated lock got destroyed and Robin saw the door's regular lock was different from the last one, there was the regular door lock and a deadbolt on it. Robin realized she could not try to get the door open with the guns shooting at her so she flew around and had the gun muzzles shoot and destroy one another, she panted heavily and felt her own body to make sure she was not shot and felt no bullet wounds, she sighed with relief and went to the door, she looked at the deadlock while she heard golems appear behind her, she rolled her eyes while taking her cards out of her belly band, she used its sharp edges to try to saw through the hinges but it was taking too long, she saw the golems arrive and they tried to attack her, she flew up and down and their punches and kicks broke the hinges, she then flew to the other side and their attacks broke the locks, Robin pulled the door and then turned around while flying backwards to block the golems and entered the next room.
Robin moved the door to block the golems and then looked into the next room, she saw red lasers moving around and the door was to her left while there was no door on the other side of the room. Robin flew carefully through the moving lasers and watched for any patterns, the door behind her came out of the door frame and the golems ran into the room, they charged at her while the red lasers that touched their stone bodies made black smoke appear but did not damage them. Robin flew up to the ceiling while the laser guns moved around randomly and tried to burn her, she noticed she will not be able to fly through the lasers without getting burned, so she took her shurikens and kunais out. She threw them around and cut and destroyed the lasers, the golems stood in front of some the lasers and the shurikens and kunais got stuck in their bodies, she ran out and took her cards out, she threw them and cut the rest of the lasers, she quickly flew to the door on the left wall and tried to turn the knob, it was locked, she stuck a card in the gap between the door and the door frame and moved the latch back, she opened it and saw a chain on the other side, she cut it with her card and then entered the next room.
Robin closed the door and entered a hallway that was empty, she looked around for any booby traps and found none, she got her crossbows out and reloaded the daggers, she shot them and they broke apart in midair and she realized there were thin razor-sharp wires in the room. She reloaded her crossbows and shot one bolt near the ceiling and the other near the floor, they broke apart and she realized she could not go over or under the wires, the golems from the previous room came in and ran after her, she flew up to avoid them and they rammed into the wires and knocked them down, she flew to the end of the hallway and saw a locked door, she moved its latch with her ballistic knife and opened it and entered the next room. She entered and saw wires on the floor, they turned on and electrified the floor, Robin smiled and shook her head but then heard sparks shoot out and she rolled to her left to dodge one. The golems came in and the electricity did nothing to them, Robin did not see a door in the room and looked around and noticed a fake ceiling at the top, she flew up but the walls and ceiling got electrified, she grabbed a golem and lifted it up while grunting very loudly, she threw it at the ceiling and panted heavily while the fake part broke and heavy barrels fell, she flew up the hole and saw another door, she moved its latch back with one of her cards and tried to open it but it was barricaded on the other side, she tackled the door about six times and it opened, she then flew into the next room.
Robin came into a dark room and a dark purple aura appeared on the door behind her and it got locked,
"The golems have failed to stop her, Police Officer, Police Constable, you two are up, make sure she doesn't proceed any farther." Police Sergeant said from the room on the other side, she took her pistol out and reloaded it, she also reloaded her derringers, lipstick gun, and daggers, she listened carefully and soon heard noises above her, she looked and saw two silhouettes moving quickly and went behind her, they flew down and Police Officer and Police Constable put a burlap sack over her. Robin grunted while Police Officer tied the bottom with rope and he and Police Constable began beating her with their steel batons, she rolled around and they flew after her and beat her more, she cut holes into the sack with her knives while holding them in her wings, she saw them and shot her two single-shot derringers through two of the holes, Police Officer and Police Constable stumbled back while their steel batons broke, Robin then leaned out and cut the rope at the sack's bottom and flew out. Police Officer and Police Constable took Tasers out and tried to shoot her, she flew around and dodged the shots while putting her one-shot derringers back in her boots, she removed her belt's buckle from her waist and then took her belt off, her enemies' eyes' widened when they saw her belt was a whip and she began hitting them, they grunted and fell over and dropped their Tasers. Robin hit the Tasers with her whip and destroyed them while Police Officer and Police Constable glared and took knives out, they flew to her and tried to stab her with them while Robin put her belt and its buckle back on her waist, she parried the knives with her front hoofs while the two could not land a hit on her, she disarmed Police Constable and threw him over herself while taking his knife and then blocked Police Officer's knife with it and wrestled it out of his hoof and threw Police Constable's knife away with it.
Police Officer and Police Constable got into fighting stances and they flew around Robin and punched and kicked her from her blind spots, she grunted and began blocking their attacks with her front forelegs and wings. Police Officer tried to buck her in her face but she flew and grabbed his hind legs from under, she did a backflip and threw him at Police Constable, he grabbed him and Robin flew to them and kicked Police Officer in his abdomen with her hind left hoof. Police Officer grunted loudly and got stunned and fell onto the floor, Police Constable flew to her and tried to punch Robin in her face, she ducked under his hoof and punched him in his liver, he screamed loudly and fell onto the floor in pain. Robin got her pistol out and saw Police Officer get up, he stumbled around Robin shot him in his forehead and his body fell over, Police Constable looked on in horror and flew up and charged at her while screaming in rage, Robin quickly shot him in his head and he crashed onto the floor, she put her pistol back in her belly band and flew to the other side of the room, she held her front hoofs out and realized there were wires in front of the door, it also had a regular lock, an automated lock that only Police Corporal and Police Sergeant could access, and a deadbolt, she flew up to the ceiling and felt it, she got an idea and shot bullets and bolts into the ceiling to weaken it, she reloaded her weapons and then punched it with her front hoofs and wings, she made a hole and crawled into the next room.
Robin jumped down and entered the room, she saw Police Corporal in front of her with Police Sergeant behind him and at a desk,
"I'm not surprised Police Officer and Police Constable went down pretty easily, their roles in our operations didn't have them seeing much combat." Police Corporal remarked,
"It's really simple on how we found out about you guys, me and my two friends just happened to see Deliverer going to Yakyakistan and looked suspicious, we watched him and saw Border Patrol hide the drugs and smuggle them into the country, and Deliverer then brought them to Brain Surgeon, Medicine Pony, Red Cross, Scientist, and Experimenter, we then watched Brain Surgeon inject the red liquid into the yak patient with him and it went berserk." Robin explained,
"What? You three should've been spotted." Police Corporal stated,
"We watched from far away, there tends to be blizzards and snowstorms in Yakyakistan that obscures one's vision, too, and our unicorn friend made us invisible when watching Brain Surgeon." Robin answered, Police Corporal and Police Sergeant had dropped jaws,
"Nevertheless, you have to be stopped here, not only do you know things you're not supposed to know, but you've also destroyed all of our operations, you will pay for meddling in our affairs." Police Corporal said, and he got ready to fight her.
Police Corporal charged at her and she flew in the air while turning to her left and dodged him, he jumped up and back and tried to land on her and she flew back, he then turned around and tried to punch her several times, she moved back and swayed side-to-side to dodge his attacks until Police Sergeant shot her in the back with a zap from his horn and she grunted while falling over, she got up and tried to go attack him but he cast a force field around himself with a line connected to Police Corporal, she realized she had to take him out first. Police Corporal began doing hoofsprings and coming towards her, she got ready and he jumped in the air and did a few somersaults, he got ready to kick her with his hind legs and Robin blocked it with her front forelegs while getting pushed back a few centimeters, he ran to her and got ready to punch her, she got ready to block but Police Sergeant restrained her with magic chains and his telekinesis, he then summoned several golems into the room. They began punching Robin in her face and abdomen until she could no longer stand and began to fall and they began stomping on her, Police Corporal stomped on the base of her neck while she tried to move but could not, she looked up and saw Police Corporal's hoof coming down, she bit it and he screamed while jumping back. Robin tried to roll around while Police Sergeant continued restraining her with his telekinesis and she saw Police Corporal coming, she spat on him, he kicked her teeth and she bit his hoof again, he growled and threw her off while Police Sergeant lost his telekinetic grip on her.
Robin tried to break free from her magic chains while Police Sergeant held her in place with his telekinesis again, Police Corporal and the golems ran to her and Robin headbutted him in his front right knee, he exclaimed in pain and Police Sergeant added magic chains onto her neck. Robin wiggled around and tried to break free while Police Corporal held her up and began doing many fast punches in a fit of rage, she fell again and Police Corporal punched her back up and gave her another beating, she began to fall and Police Corporal punched her back up again and did even more punches, she slouched over and bit him in the right side of his neck, he screamed while the golems tried to get her off. Robin bit down as hard as she could while Police Corporal tried to get her off, he pulled on her while Police Sergeant tried to remove her but she did not move, Police Corporal spun around and began bashing her into the golems' bodies but she did not let go, he then began ramming her into the walls but she still did not let go. Robin panted while enduring the pain and continued wiggling her legs around, she felt the magic chain begin to open a little and Police Sergeant tightened it with his magic, she continued wiggling out and spread them again, she got her wings and hind legs loose and pulled them out, she clicked her heels together and made her boots' hidden knife blades come out, Police Corporal's eyes widened and he panicked while trying to get her off, the golems punched the base of her neck and she exclaimed in pain while Police Corporal panted and Robin flew.
Police Sergeant tried to restrain her with his telekinesis again but Robin flew around and he could not get a grip on her, the golems tried to jump and hit her but she dodged all of them while Police Corporal did a somersault and opened his body and tried to kick her with his hind hoofs but she flew above him, she flew to him and tried to slash him with her boots' knife blades but he jumped back and dodged her. Police Corporal ran and jumped high and pressed his hind legs on the sides of her head, Robin flew and rammed him into the golems and walls and he grunted while his head got hit every time, he groaned while getting woozy and she threw him off, she tried to stab her boots' knife blades into his chest but stopped when a golem ran to in front of her. She flew up while the golem got ready to attack her and one jumped and punched her in her back, she grunted while she fell onto the floor and the golems surrounded her and began kicking her, she tried to fly up and they began stomping on her, Police Corporal groaned and got back up. He ran and jumped as high as he could, he did a somersault to propel himself past the golems and landed on Robin's back, she exclaimed in pain while her boots' knife blades got stuck in the floor, he began punching her in the back of her head and base of her neck while Robin wiggled her front legs and got her front left hoof out, she then unwrapped the magic chain from around her front right hoof with her wings and then choked Police Corporal with it, he gagged while the golems tried to free him and Robin pulled her hind legs up with her wings to get the knife blades out of the floor, she threw Police Corporal off of herself and faced him.
Police Corporal growled while Police Sergeant tried to cast spells on Robin and she flew around to dodge them, he ran to her and did hoofsprings and flips and tried to kick her and Robin flew over him, she took her daggers out and electrified the blades, his eyes widened and he got ready. Robin flew to him while the golems tried to block her path and attack her but she swayed around them easily, she got to Police Corporal and he grabbed her front legs and held her back, she flew up and took him off of the floor, he screamed while she flew and rammed him into a wall, she then placed her dagger's blades on his cheeks and he screamed while getting electrocuted. Police Corporal heavily while scowling while Robin looked on in surprise at seeing him withstand the electrical shocks, he got himself out of the crater's wall and she began trying to slash him with her daggers and boots' knives but he dodged them easily and punched her in her jaw, she almost fell but did a backflip and recomposed herself, he tried to punch her again but she grabbed his neck with her hind hoofs and threw him over herself while he screamed and fell on a few golems. Police Corporal growled and began throwing the golems at her, she had trouble dodging them due to how big their bodies were and she put her daggers away while clicking her hind legs' heels to make the knife blades go back in her boots, she took her pistol out and Police Corporal panicked, he ran around while she tried to get a good aim at him but the golems restrained her, she did front flips to throw them off while she grunted and she saw Police Corporal coming straight at her while she was distracted, she quickly aimed her pistol and shot him in the head, the golems stopped fighting while they saw Police Corporal fall over and the force field around Police Sergeant disappeared, he looked on in disbelief,
"Not so tough without any of your lackeys, are you?" Robin remarked, Police Sergeant glared and he broke his desk and chair into pieces with his telekinesis and held them up,
"Oh, so you're actually going to fight?" Robin asked,
"Do you think I just sit here at my desk and bark orders?" Police Sergeant remarked,
"So I have to fight every single one of you after all, it's not often I see a group where every single member has a backbone." Robin commented,
"You destroyed my operations and took out every single one of my underlings, I have to take you down myself, die!" Police Sergeant fumed, and he got ready to fight her.
Police Sergeant threw his desk and chair pieces at her and she dodged them, he then teleported into her blind spots and shot big blasts at her at rapid speeds, she heard them coming and flew around to dodge them, she shot her pistol at him and he caught each bullet with his telekinesis and shot them back, she yelped while she dodged them quickly and panicked a little. Police Sergeant commanded the golems around and they began attacking her together while Police Sergeant teleported to her and began punching her in multiple areas, she grabbed his front legs and he jumped and began kicking her in her chest with his hind legs, it did not phase her, so he teleported out of her grip and appeared behind her and punched her in the base of her neck, she fell over while grunting. Robin growled and shook her head while Police Sergeant took his steel baton out and began bashing her head with it, she flew around and went under a golem while Police Sergeant got rammed into it, another golem stomped on her and made her fall, Police Sergeant teleported to her and put cuffs on her hoofs and then used his magic to wrap magic chains on her wings, head, and body. Robin growled while Police Sergeant held her up with his telekinesis and tried to erase her body from existence while she aimed her head carefully and spat saliva into his eye, he exclaimed while dropping her while she wiggled out of the magic chains and then flew around to avoid the golems, she made them stomp the cuffs' chains and then pulled her body forward to break them.
Police Sergeant growled while Robin took knives out of her boots and held them in her front hoofs, she flew around and tried to slash him with them but he parried each attack, he made Robin spin with one parry and then punched her in her teeth when she faced him, she grunted and fell over. She waited for Police Sergeant to come and he got ready to stomp her head into the floor, she propelled herself into the air with her front hoofs and kicked him in his face with her hind hoofs, he grunted while getting pushed back, she then tried to stab one knife into his temple but he hit her with the back of his front left hoof and swatted her away, she did a backflip to recompose herself and her hind hoofs landed on the wall. She flew to him and Police Sergeant jumped and spun in the air and then kicked her in her face with his hind right hoof, she grunted while getting pushed back and the golems jumped and piled up on her, it gone quiet for a few seconds and Police Sergeant used his telekinesis to drag Robin out from the pile, she did not move, he brought her closer and examined her, she suddenly sprung up and tried to stab a knife into his forehead but he parried it and it pushed her away. Police Sergeant glared and brought her forward and began punching her multiple times and she headbutted him when she saw an opening and stunned him, she let go of him and Robin managed to poke his chest with one knife and he screamed from the pain, he growled while looking at her.
Police Sergeant jumped back and cast a spell to change his body to dark purple fire, Robin's eyes widened while he burned everything around him and she coughed from the smoke, he floated and slithered to her, the heat from his body was very hot and she flew away from him while he chased her. The golems were unaffected by the fire and they attacked Robin, they tried holding her and letting Police Sergeant catch up to her, she moved her legs around while grunting very loudly from their weight and threw them into Police Sergeant's fire body but it did not slow him down. Robin looked for something that could counter Police Sergeant's fire body but did not see anything that could be of use, the entire room was soon on fire and closing in on her, Police Sergeant flew to her and got ready to burn her but she flew around to dodge him, she began breathing a little heavily while seeing she was having less and less room to avoid the flames as Police Sergeant continued flying around. Robin began to cough and saw the room was filled with smoke, she tried to fly out of the room but Police Sergeant flew by her and set the exit on fire, she saw the golems run through the flames unharmed and attacked her, she got an idea and she flew and rammed into one, she flew up and used its body to break through the ceiling and arrived outside, she exhaled loudly and dropped the golem but it tried to grab her, she flew away and it fell back into the fortress.
Robin saw Police Sergeant fly out and chase her, she flew around and saw the thin razor-sharp wires around the fortress catch on fire but were not damaged, she flew into the hole she dug earlier while Police Sergeant chased her, she crawled as fast as she could and arrived on the other side of the wires and flew up while Police Sergeant chased her and set the vines on fire. Robin flew around the fortress and made Police Sergeant burn all of the vines with thorns while the barbed wires were unaffected by him, she noticed something far away and behind the fortress that looked to be a small wooden shack. Police Sergeant went around one area and appeared in front of Robin, he went above her and she felt the heat his body generated and flew to her left, he chased her while Robin kept looking for something to use against Police Sergeant's fire form, she flew through a forest and Police Sergeant set everything on fire while its wildlife panicked, she arrived out of the forest and flew up. Robin looked around and saw a body of water a little far away from her, Police Sergeant arrived at her location and Robin quickly flew around, she headed to the body of water while Police Sergeant went lower and flew close to the ground, she panted and sweated from feeling the fire's heat and smoke engulf her.
Robin coughed and waved the smoke away and Police Sergeant flew up to her while she was distracted, she heard him behind herself and rolled to her left, she continued heading to her destination while enduring the heat. Police Sergeant flew around in different directions while Robin watched him, he burned the nearby trees and made them fall in Robin's direction, she swayed around some of them and dodged them while stopping at others and letting the trees fall and flew over them, she saw the body of water up ahead and stopped in front of it, she pretended to look around and Police Sergeant caught to her, she grunted while catching on fire for a brief second and they fell into the water, Police Sergeant reverted back to his normal form. He scowled and began casting spells to create whirlpools in the water to suck in Robin and he then tried to make her disappear with his magic, but she got out of the whirlpool and flew to him and rammed him down, Robin began to strangle Police Sergeant with her wings and he began punching her in her face with his front hoofs, she began punching him with her front hoofs and he cast a teleporting spell but brought Robin with him. They arrived back in his office and he began shooting big beams at her out of his horn while also commanding the golems to attack her, they restrained her and he tried to shoot big beams at her but she grunted loudly while lifting her legs up and throwing the golems at him, he jumped and spun around in midair to dodge them, she was free from her restraints and saw Police Sergeant about to cast another spell, she quickly took her pistol out and shot his horn off, he screamed while the golems disappeared, he looked at her and growled.
Police Sergeant took his steel baton out and ran to her and tried to bash her with it, she parried each attack while he looked on in disbelief, he continued trying to hit her with it and Robin flew back and shot it with her pistol and broke it, he threw the steel baton at her and she ducked and dodged it. Police Sergeant took his Taser out and tried to shoot her with it, she swayed around and dodged each shot easily, she took her double-bladed knives out and swung them around, Police Sergeant dodged the blades and wires easily by either ducking or jumping and spinning in midair, she threw one double-bladed knife past Police Sergeant and cut his Taser and she then put them away. Robin then took her crossbows out while Police Sergeant took his knife out, she shot a bolt at him and he cut it in midair with his knife, she shot a bolt from her other crossbow and he jumped and kicked the bolt back, Robin flew down and dodged it, he ran to her and tried to slash and stab her with his knife, she dodged and blocked it extremely easily, she eventually grabbed and disarmed Police Sergeant and broke the knife's blade in half. Police Sergeant ran to her and tried punching and kicking her and Robin dodged all of them easily, he did a somersault and tried to kick her and she ducked under him, he landed on his hoofs and turned around to face her while Robin took her daggers out, he tried punching and kicking her and she dodged each one, he reeled up on his hind legs and Robin stabbed her daggers into his abdomen, he screamed and she then electrified the blades and electrocuted him, he screamed very loudly and black smoke came out of his body, she stopped when his body was black with smoke coming out, she took her daggers out and his body fell back and onto the floor.
Robin panted heavily and smiled, she flew out of the fortress and went to the shack she saw earlier, she entered it and saw vials of the red liquid, she smiled and put them in a nearby bag, she flew to Dreaming Paradise and put them in her hut, she then got explosives and went back, she planted them and then pushed a button and Police Sergeant's fortress and shack exploded, she smiled and headed home. She arrived home and the other Pegasi clapped,
"Good job, Robin, you have taken out a smuggling ring, Paladin and Arcana just arrived, too, remain here for now, only Paladin can travel out since Don and his lackeys were known criminals in Equestria, you and Arcana have to lay low for now, but you have to lay low longer since Philanthropist and his underlings were regular citizens while Police Sergeant and his underlings were all law enforcement, and harming any law enforcement official is a very serious crime in Equestria, you're going to have to stay here for a while, so go ahead and rest, Robin, you earned it." Master Nocturne stated,
"Thanks." Robin replied, and she went home, she lit a fire and got the pictures of Border Patrol, Law Enforcement, Air Marshal, Air Police, Sky Police, Coast Guard, Firefighter, Desert Storm, Police Officer, Police Constable, Police Corporal, and Police Sergeant out of her belly band, she put them in the fire and burned them. She laid down for a few hours and everybody was called out to meet outside and they gathered,
"You all heard, Paladin, Arcana, and Robin spotted some kind of red liquid drug going around the world, we'd like to see the ingredients now." Master Nocturne announced, Robin got a vial of red liquid from the bag she took earlier and he and Archmage Astral Plane began messing with it. The red liquid eventually changed to a gray stem with two big leaves in it, a big red mushroom with a white stem, and a light blue liquid,
"No wonder why the creatures went berserk." Archmage Astral Plane stated,
"What is it?" Paladin asked,
"This gray plant is native to the Bone Dry Desert, it has some kind of inhalant in it that makes people go berserk when smelled, this mushroom here is native to the Changeling Hive, eating it rises one's rage levels and makes them more violent, and this blue liquid is native to the Dragon Lands, drinking this makes one more aggressive and violent in combat, the smuggling ring members combined all three of them together into one to make the creatures they put it into super aggressive." Commander Lionheart explained,
"Wow, so a super berserker serum." Arcana remarked,
"Pretty much." Archmage Astral Plane replied,
"Well, go ahead and rest, you three, all three of you did well." Master Nocturne said, and everybody went back home.
Robin was sitting across from Doctor Whooves with Paladin and Arcana to her right,
"Wow, so look at that, every single member of the smuggling ring put up a fight." Doctor Whooves commented,
"Shortly after we wiped them out, Arcana and the other unicorns used their magic to gather up all of the remaining vials of red liquid throughout the world and grouped them up in Dreaming Paradise and destroyed them, the drug no longer exists." Robin responded,
"How long did you have to hide?" Data asked,
"Ten months." Robin replied,
"You three don't sound bothered by the events." Inertia commented,
"We aren't, we sought out Doctor Whooves to help him." Arcana stated,
"Help him with what?" Solute asked,
"Claudius, Dreaming Paradise has spotted him as well, he's nothing this world has ever seen, and he's laying low, which is one reason why our country's heroes haven't spotted him, we need to take him out before he does any serious damage to this world." Paladin explained,
"All of Dreaming Paradise is offering you help, Doctor, our rulers agreed he has to be stopped, no matter what." Robin added,
"Thank you, this way then, I'll take you all to meet the others." Doctor Whooves responded, and he led them to the back of his home and used a device to open a portal, they went in and and it closed.
Doctor Whooves led them to the other allies and Paladin, Arcana, and Robin looked on in surprise,
"Here are the people who have come together to help me take down Claudius." Doctor Whooves stated, and he introduced them to Jones, Modules, Kinetic, Inertia, Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Graph, Storage, Data, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, Joker, Darwin, Cassius, Walker, Runner, Sprinter, Raging Tornado, Earthquake, Tsunami, Meteorite Hellfire, Tao, Gunslinger, Archer, Kinkaku, Ginkaku, Feral, Soul Medium, Mother Nature, Spirit, and Demonicus,
"Wow, quite a team, come on, let's introduce you guys to the others in Dreaming Paradise." Robin remarked, the others agreed and Arcana teleported them there, they introduced one another while Mother Nature had the natives of Nature Valley come,
"Can I be teleported back home, please?", Doctor Whooves requested, and Arcana did, he smiled and took a break for the rest of the day.
Doctor Whooves was looking at the statue of Queen Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow while the paparazzi took pictures of it, he then looked around Ponyville and saw everyone being nice to one another and making new friends, he waited for his next patient that he called from outside Equestria, he had a hard time since the pony lived alone and did not have any family or contact with the outside world, he went back to his home and waited. Doctor Whooves sat and read a book and soon heard walking outside and knocking at his front door,
"Enter." Doctor Whooves said, and the pony came in, it was a muscular unicorn stallion, he had a black coat, long ragged and dirty looking gray mane and tail, red eyes, and his cutie mark was a skull. Doctor Whooves looked at him with discomfort while the unicorn sat,
"Alright, I'm here, I'm ready to start." the unicorn spoke,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves stated,
"Blood Sport, I'm a hunter." the unicorn replied,
"You're... a hunter?" Doctor Whooves questioned,
"Uh-huh, not an official one, but I do hunt for a living where I live." Blood Sport answered,
"Getting in touch with you wasn't easy, you're my first patient from outside Equestria, too." Doctor Whooves stated,
"How did you find me?" Blood Sport asked,
"One of my patients was traveling the world and heard noises in your house and thought he saw monsters in your home, he told me because he thought you might need therapy and counseling after your experiences." Doctor Whooves explained,
"Oh, well, I'm fine and don't really need therapy." Blood Sport spoke,
"Can I at least know what happened so I can prepare in case I encounter the same threat as you did?" Doctor Whooves requested,
"Sure, here's what you need to know." Blood Sport replied, and he got ready to tell his tale.
Blood Sport was living in the woods outside of Equestria all by himself and hunted animals to hone his fighting and hunting skills, he had no contact with anyone on the outside world and made weapons as a hobby to pass the time. He lived in peace and admired the hanged animal heads on his walls and then his weapons that he crafted by hoof. He looked outside into the woods and saw no bugs or animals, he headed outside and looked around and saw and heard nothing, he watched for about thirty minutes and went back into his home. Blood Sport began sharpening his knives and threw some of them at a punching bag, he heard voices outside and went out to look, he saw three black shadow-like creatures who looked like earth ponies running by his house, he listened to their voices and realized all three of them were female. He looked at where they were at and noticed they have set off his traps and taken the baits he had for the animals.
"Wait, wait, wait. Traps? Animals?" Doctor Whooves inquired,
"Yeah, gotta keep my hunting skills sharp." Blood Sport responded,
"But us ponies don't require the consumption of meat to survive." Doctor Whooves reminded,
"It's mostly to keep wild animals away from my home, there are some dangerous animals living around my house." Blood Sport said,
"And the baits?" Doctor Whooves questioned,
"Keep the animals away from my crops." Blood Sport responded,
"I see, continue on." Doctor Whooves said, and Blood Sport did.
Blood Sport made more traps and put fruits in them and heard their voices again, he watched them carefully while noticing they only appeared in the dark and disappeared when in a light source, he went inside and read a book on surviving skills and suddenly heard rustling again, he looked outside and saw the moon's light has moved and the three creatures were running again, he watched them from afar and they left, he wondered about something and a gray aura appeared on his horn and he made an enchanted item. He began enchanting a chain with light magic and it glowed white, he went outside and began laying it, he buried it in the ground with a very dim white light just on the surface, he hid it with leaves and went back home.
Blood Sport practiced throwing his knives the next day and sharpened his other weapons and tools, he heard rustling at night again and looked and saw the three shadow pony-like creatures again, he heard one exclaim loudly in pain and he watched from afar and in the shadows. He looked and saw one of the creature's hind left hoof touched the hidden light magic enchanted chain hidden in the ground and it burned her hoof a little,
"Can you stand?" one shadow creature asked,
"Come on, the sun's going to be up soon, we have to head home or we'll get burned out of existence." the other shadow creature spoke,
"Wait, Lumen, Umbra, don't just leave me here." the injured shadow creature begged,
"Come on then, Necra, we don't have all day." the second shadow creature stated,
"Umbra's right, we should get going." the first shadow creature added, and Necra limped forward while Lumen and Umbra ran up ahead. Blood Sport enchanted his items and traps with light magic and set them up to catch them next time.
Blood Sport set up his traps during the day the next day and he waited until night time, he noticed the three creatures did not go to the same area as before and were behind his house this time, he watched them run through the shades and shadows and went to his traps, they grabbed the baits and he set them off with his magic, the three creatures screamed when they got wrapped in ropes enchanted with light magic and tightened around their knee joints to make them unable to move, Blood Sport walked over to them and teleported them and himself into his house.
Blood Sport arrived in a room with no lights on and put Lumen, Umbra, and Necra in chairs around a round wooden table and light magic enchanted chains wrapped around them,
"Please, don't hurt us, we just want food." Necra begged, Blood Sport glared while the three sisters looked at him,
"Wait, it's a pony, their country is big on friendship, understanding, and forgiveness, I think we're fine." Umbra remarked,
"Do I look like someone who likes or cares about my own kind's culture?" Blood Sport asked, the three creatures had horrified expressions,
"What do you want? Money? Companionship?" Umbra questioned, Blood Sport did not respond,
"Can you please let us go? We're sorry, we just need food to eat and survive, we'll go look elsewhere if you let us go." Lumen bargained,
"Please, we won't cause any trouble, we just wanna survive and live in peace." Necra begged, Blood Sport threw a light magic enchanted knife past her and she exclaimed when it went into her chair, a small cut appeared on her right cheek and the light magic made black smoke come out of it, she screamed loudly in pain. Blood Sport used his magic to gather more light magic enchanted knives and the three creatures screamed and panicked,
"Please, we're sorry!" Umbra begged,
"You should've thought about that before you began setting off my traps and taking my bait." Blood Sport remarked,
"What do you need traps for? Your kind doesn't need to consume meat to survive." Lumen reminded,
"You're about to learn why I hunt animals." Blood Sport warned, and he cast a spell with his horn and white light appeared on Necra's teeth while she and her sisters screamed and panicked.
"And like that, I began to have my fun and began testing their pain tolerance levels." Blood Sport spoke,
"How was Necra after you were through using the spell?" Doctor Whooves questioned,
"Weak, she was crying like a baby after that, and of course, her cries of pain and tears made me more motivated to hurt her more." Blood Sport boasted while Doctor Whooves looked at him uncomfortably,
"Go on with your story." Doctor Whooves said calmly while sweating nervously and Blood Sport continued his tale while smiling.
Necra was laying her head on the table and crying with black smoke coming out of her mouth and her teeth gone,
"You're actually crying from that? What a weakling." Blood Sport remarked,
"What is wrong with you?! You ponies have always shared your food with us!" Umbra exclaimed,
"I am ashamed and hate my kind's culture, we shouldn't be focused on making friends and forgiving, we should be focused on war, revenge, and hurting others, making friends and forgiving is boring." Blood Sport responded,
"You sound like you were raised by dragons." Lumen stated,
"No, dragons are still too sensitive for me." Blood Sport replied,
"Can you please spare us? We and our family are all that's left of our kind." Necra begged while struggling to speak,
"What is your kind called?" Blood Sport inquired,
"We're shadowbenders, we're an ancient breed of ponies that came into existence when Nightmare Moon first appeared a thousand years ago, we were caught in her magic and changed us to what we are, we're living shadows whose bodies disappear in the moonlight and other light sources while sunlight and light magic harms us, we don't age anymore and we cannot bear children, us three and our family members back home are all that is left of our kind." Lumen explained,
"I see, I never seen you guys around till now." Blood Sport remarked,
"We been around here for years, this house's previous owners used to leave food out for us, too." Necra lamented,
"Well, they're gone now, it's my house now, I'd say your luck ran out when they moved out and sold it." Blood Sport stated,
"We're sorry we trespassed on your property, we won't come here again if you release us and let us see our family." Umbra begged,
"Oh, I'll make sure you never come here again." Blood Sport remarked, and he cast more light magic and it appeared on Umbra's hoofs while she and her sisters screamed.
"I then had my fun with the second sister, she didn't walk again after that, I made sure she felt that, too." Blood Sport boasted while Doctor Whooves had a shocked expression,
"Do you have to be proud of inflicting pain on others?" Doctor Whooves inquired,
"Of course, most fun thing to do in life." Blood Sport responded while Doctor Whooves' jaw dropped a little,
"You do not feel any regret or sympathy over the suffering you caused?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, of course not, it makes me want to harm them even more." Blood Sport responded,
"Why?" Doctor Whooves questioned,
"Makes it more fun." Blood Sport answered,
"Well, go on, I don't have all day." Doctor Whooves stated, and Blood Sport continued his tale.
Blood Sport finished casting his spell while Umbra cried and her hoofs were gone with black smoke coming out of her legs,
"You hurt my sisters and have no remorse, you be ashamed of yourself, I'll never forgive you." Lumen remarked,
"Never forgive? If there's anyone who deserves forgiveness in my life? It's me." Blood Sport responded,
"What? You? Wanting forgiveness? Did you do something you regret when you were younger? Were you abused by your family? Bullied in school? Why do you act the way you do?" Lumen inquired,
"None, Equestria's natives were always mad at me ever since I was a kid due to them being weak and sensitive, I always wanted to fight, kill, and wage war, they didn't, so I punished the foals who didn't agree with me, I beat them, locked them in safes, and teleported them into forests far away from home, my family and the others got mad at me when I beat up and tied up one foal and then teleported him into the Everfree Forest, I was punished, they should've been thanking me, they also punished me when I smashed another foal's pet turtle's eggs when they should've praised and rewarded me for preventing more oversensitive weaklings being born into the world and ruining my fun. As for my parents and siblings, I had enough of their scoldings and sending me to counselors and therapists when I became a stallion and cut ties with them." Blood Sport explained, the three sisters had horrified expressions,
"You're crazy." Umbra commented,
"I'm not crazy, I'm right, they're only mad at me and scold me because they're in denial and not enlightened like me on war and torture being culture." Blood Sport remarked,
"This is your idea of culture?" Lumen asked,
"Yes, it's now your turn to experience it." Blood Sport responded, and he cast more light magic and white circles appeared on her body while she screamed.
"And I then proceeded to make her look like a changeling and she lost it when she cried like a baby and no longer tried to sooth her even weaker sisters." Blood Sport boasted,
"You could have just had them do manual labor if you wanted to punish them for stealing from your traps." Doctor Whooves reminded,
"No way, manual labor and time out is no fun to use as punishment, torture is only way." Blood Sport remarked,
"And you didn't forgive them, did you?" Doctor Whooves questioned,
"No way, atonement is just an excuse to torment someone physically and mentally, and when done, you don't forgive, you're supposed to hate them even more." Blood Sport explained,
"Why?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Because they forced you to waste time of your life when you could've spent it doing something else, finding new ways to hurt others in my case." Blood Sport explained,
"I see, go on then." Doctor Whooves spoke, and Blood Sport continued his tale.
Lumen cried while she had holes in her body and Blood Sport finished casting his spell,
"Now then, I'd like to have more fun, but it's getting late, time to get rid of you three now." Blood Sport remarked, and he got ready to cast a spell and the three sisters panicked, he heard one of his traps go off and he teleported outside.
Blood Sport looked at where he heard the trap went off and checked one, he saw it has been triggered but the animal managed to dodge it, he tried to find the animal but could not and teleported back to in front of his house, he looked for the animal while he heard the three sisters moving around,
"Come on, Umbra and Necra, we have to try to escape while he's gone." Lumen stated, Blood Sport heard three objects fall and them grunt, they screamed and soon panted, he then teleported back into his home.
Blood Sport arrived back in the room and saw the three sisters crawling on the floor, they panicked when they saw him return, they crawled away as fast as they could while Lumen and Necra managed to stand up and they carried Umbra while limping and staggering, they left the room while Blood Sport smiled. He watched them from afar and saw the three struggle to move together, Umbra fell over and Lumen carried her on her back and her injured knees almost gave out, Blood Sport cast a spell to make his throwing knives appear and shot them forward with his magic, he missed them on purpose and the three sisters screamed and moved faster while panicking, they arrived at the end of the hallway and Lumen went left while Necra went right, Blood Sport smiled and teleported to Necra.
Necra limped and staggered while panting heavily and did not focus on where she was going, she turned on impulse and soon arrived at the front entrance while Blood Sport teleported. Necra arrived outside and panted heavily, she limped forward but stopped and looked on in horror when she saw Blood Sport,
"NO!! Please! Don't hurt me! Just let me leave!" Necra begged, Blood Sport's horn glowed and he had white light on his hoofs, he began kicking Necra while she screamed with black smoke coming out of her wounds,
"Necra?" Lumen called out and things were heard falling in the house. Blood Sport kicked her more and she screamed until she saw Lumen at a window with Umbra on her back and they saw them, Blood Sport smiled and shot white light magic out of his horn and Necra screamed while she got obliterated,
"NECRA!!" Lumen yelled,
"NO!!" Umbra yelled, Blood Sport finished casting his spell and Necra was gone, Lumen and Umbra screamed and cried while he smirked. Lumen tried to find a way out of the house while Blood Sport cast his spells to make his weapons and hunting tools fly around and just missed the two and left small scratches on them, they screamed in pain while Blood Sport continued making his weapons and tools fly past them, they got out of the hallway and Blood Sport cast another spell while smirking.
Lumen carried Umbra while looking for another way out and came into a room with suits of armor lined up on the sides, they began swinging their axes around while Lumen panted heavily. She moved slowly while Umbra ducked down and crawled while sweating profusely. Blood Sport smirked while he made the knights swing their axes faster and the two sisters screamed when they were almost hit, Lumen limped and crawled faster while her knees gave out several times and made it out of the room. Lumen entered the next room and saw she was in the kitchen, Blood Sport made his kitchen knives fly around with his magic and turned on his stove to make fire come out of it. She and Necra screamed and quickly ducked, Lumen panted very heavily while Umbra clanged onto her tightly, Lumen crawled under the knives and headed to the exit, they crawled out and came to another hall, Blood Sport made light magic appear above them and begin falling. Lumen limped and hopped forward and fell over several times,
"You're weighing me down, Umbra." Lumen spoke,
"Please, don't abandon me." Umbra begged, Lumen went as fast as she could and had to begin crawling when the ceiling came down far enough, she arrived at the door and grunted while pushing it open, she panted and crawled while Blood Sport shot light magic out of his horn at them. Umbra screamed when she got hit and her body began disintegrating,
"UMBRA!!" Lumen hollered, she saw the light magic coming to her and she quickly went into the next room while Umbra got obliterated.
Lumen arrived into the next room while crying and she screamed at what she saw, there was a fireplace with many animal heads mounted on the wall and stuffed animals everywhere,
"Please, no more, this is a bad dream, it has to be a bad dream, I wanna go home, I want mommy and daddy, I want my sisters back." Lumen said while covering her face with her hoofs and crying, Blood Sport appeared behind her while smiling and began shooting small light magic zaps at her, she screamed in pain and she tried to run away but fell over, Blood Sport smirked while he shot more small holes into her body with his magic and she screamed while crawling to the nearest door, she panted very heavily and sweated all over her body while she crawled, she got to the door and Blood Sport smiled while teleporting out.
Lumen arrived outside and in the backyard and saw moonlight up ahead,
"Yes, moonlight, thank Celestia." Lumen stated, and she crawled into it,
"Huh? What the? Why aren't I disappearing?" Lumen questioned while panicking, the illusion dispelled itself and it was pitch black with Blood Sport standing in front of her and smiling,
"NO!!" Lumen yelled, Blood Sport shot a big white blast out of his horn and Lumen screamed while she got obliterated. Blood Sport looked around and smiled since all three of the shadowbenders were gone and went back into his house.
Blood Sport was sitting across from Doctor Whooves with a big smile on his face while Doctor Whooves watched him uncomfortably,
"The next night, I looked around to see if they actually did have a family, I was bummed out when it turned out they lied and actually didn't because I was going to do the same things to them." Blood Sport spoke,
"So you made them extinct?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Not sure, but there's no more where I live, I hope what I shared will help you if you ever do fight them one day." Blood Sport stated,
"Well, it seems we're done, price is ten bits." Doctor Whooves said,
"Do you accept animal heads as currency?" Blood Sport asked,
"No." Doctor Whooves replied,
"That's too bad." Blood Sport replied, and he paid him and left. Doctor Whooves went to the back room of his home and contacted Demonicus with his devices,
"Demonicus, I just had myself another criminal as a patient." Doctor Whooves reported,
"I heard everything, Lumen's, Umbra's, and Necra's souls are still in the Void." Demonicus responded,
"I'd like to see them." Doctor Whooves said, and Demonicus cast a spell. The scenery changed to the Void and The Judge was looking at the three sisters' souls,
"That stallion has lied, these three actually did try to fight back a few times, Lumen has also reported seeing unmarked graves in his backyard and no crops anywhere, the house's previous owners didn't move out, he killed them, same with his family and the foals who didn't agree with him." The Judge explained,
"I see, so he was a bad seed ever since he was a child, it's a shame we didn't hear about him and these three until it was too late, but thanks to their souls' reports, we can get him ourselves so he doesn't harm anyone ever again." Doctor Whooves remarked, The Judge nodded and declared that Lumen, Umbra, and Necra receive salvation and hit the gavel with the angelic side of his hammer, a light blue portal opened to his right and they went in and it closed. Demonicus finished showing the vision and Mother Nature was with him, he also saw Meteorite Hellfire scowling, Tsunami crying, Earthquake looking down, and Raging Tornado standing by with her eyes closed and tears falling out,
"Where does he live? I'm going to pay him a visit." Meteorite Hellfire declared, and Doctor Whooves told her. Blood Sport was at home at night and smiling while looking at his animal heads and stuffed animals, he saw Meteorite Hellfire in the corner, he quickly began to cast a spell while Meteorite Hellfire ran to him and took her sword out, she swung it once and he put up a magic shield but the force of her swing made him stumble back, she did another swing and Blood Sport screamed loudly and it echoed throughout the woods.
The next day came and Doctor Whooves looked into the Void, he saw Blood Sport's soul panicking while The Judge read out his sins and sentenced him to receive damnation and hit the gavel with the demonic side of his hammer, a light blue portal opened to his left and Blood Sport's soul went in while he begged and cried and it closed. Doctor Whooves smiled and turned off the device and went outside.
Gladiatorial Games (Females)
Doctor Whooves was watching foals play fight and pretend to use fake weapons while he smiled and walked by them, he then noticed Rainbow Dash play fighting with Fluttershy's pets while she quivered in fear, he walked past them and saw it was another peaceful day in Ponyville. He trotted to his home while seeing parents play with their kids and waited a little, he had two patients coming in today, a brother and a sister, he waited and soon heard walking outside and someone limping,
"Hang on, sis, we're almost there." a stallion's voice outside said,
"Thanks, big brother, still a shame our personal servants are still too injured to help us." a mare's voice outside replied, they entered Doctor Whooves' home and he saw they were Pegasi, the stallion had a bright red coat, short red mane and tail, red eyes, and his cutie mark was a red biplane, the mare had a dark purple coat, long dark red mane and tail, dark blue eyes, and her cutie mark was a green biplane, she had her front legs in slings and her wings were bandaged. They sat across from Doctor Whooves with the stallion sitting to the mare's right,
"State your names and occupations." Doctor Whooves stated,
"Red Baron, former Wonderbolt, I'm now a historian for Pegasus history." the stallion answered,
"Night Witch, also a former Wonderbolt, I'm an assistant to my brother now." the mare spoke,
"I see, so, who wants to go first?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"You go ahead and go, Night Witch, the sooner you finish, the sooner you can rest." Red Baron suggested,
"Alright, here goes." Night Witch said, and she began to tell her tale.
Night Witch was living in a mansion built in a traditional Cloudsdale architectural style with Red Baron, she was in her office and translating ancient Pegasus language into modern pony language, she heard walking and saw a Pegasus filly enter the room, it was Airmail, her personal servant, she had a dark green coat, long black mane and tail, olive colored eyes, and her cutie mark was a white envelope with angel wings,
"Mistress, the next historical texts have just arrived." Airmail reported,
"Just put it here beside me." Night Witch stated, and she did,
"Thank you, sun's going to set soon, Airmail, you should head on home." Night Witch stated,
"Can I have today's payment?" Airmail requested,
"Of course, here you go." Night Witch said as she gave her bits,
"Thank you, see you tomorrow, mistress." Airmail spoke,
"See you tomorrow, Airmail." Night Witch replied, and they hugged one another and Airmail left. Night Witch continued translating the old language into modern Equestrian language and yawned while she saw she had a lot more papers to translate, Red Baron came in to check on her and began translating the new papers, they smiled at one another and worked together. They finished and then went to their home's training room, they had many weapons and armor from Pegasus history and they began training with them. They did hoof-to-hoof combat first with them mainly doing boxing and wrestling, they then ran and flew while racing one another. They then trained their own flexibility, agility, and acrobat skills, they finished after a while and then did parkour on a makeshift obstacle course, they rested while smiling for several minutes and then practiced with weapons. They trained with knives, daggers, swords, spears, javelins, throwing darts, bows, crossbows, axes, and shields, they mixed up the combinations and used their front legs and wings to wield and use up to four weapons at a time while they would hold the knives and daggers between their feathers,
"Okay, I think that's good for today." Red Baron said,
"I agree, we might have to make training harder soon." Night Witch replied,
"*chuckle* Maybe, even when we were Wonderbolts, this training we do here was harder than theirs." Red Baron stated,
"Yeah, probably none of the Wonderbolts would've handled this, but from what I've seen now, maybe Rainbow Dash has a chance." Night Witch commented,
"I think so, too, she's certainly the fastest one I've ever seen, I'm seeing a lot of potential in her." Red Baron spoke,
"Me too, she even broke our records on being the fastest flier, I wonder what else she will set for the Wonderbolts." Night Witch responded, Red Baron smiled and he and Night Witch packed away their weapons and armor and then went to their beds and slept.
The next day came and Night Witch woke up early and began translating more of the ancient Cloudsdale language into modern Equestrian language, she watched the time and noticed Airmail did not arrive,
"Airmail." Night Witch called out,
"Airmail?" Night Witch hollered, she flew around her mansion and did not find her, she went outside and did not see her, Red Baron then arrived and stopped beside her,
"Oh, big brother, have you seen Airmail? I can't find her anywhere." Night Witch reported,
"It's not just her, Blue Thunder's missing, too." Red Baron replied,
"What? Your servant didn't come either?" Night Witch asked, Red Baron shook his head,
"Come on, let's go check their homes." Red Baron said, and they flew. Night Witch looked around and did not see Airmail anywhere, she looked at the grass and clouds for any signs of fighting or struggling but saw none, she arrived at Airmail's home and saw it was in perfect condition, she checked the door and windows and they were locked. She knocked on the door and there was no answer,
"Airmail? You there?" Night Witch asked, there was no answer, she looked into the windows and saw Airmail was not home, she noticed her bed was empty, she flew up and began looking around. Night Witch looked for any signs of something happening to Airmail but found nothing, she examined the ground and trees very carefully and stopped when she saw old hoof prints on the tree branches and grass, she examined them and noticed they were too big to be a foal's, she looked at the ground and saw small hoof prints and part of Pegasus foal's body layout on the grass, Night Witch had a shocked expression and flew up. She went into the sky and looked for Red Baron, she went to him and he stopped,
"Red Baron, I think something's happened to Airmail." Night Witch said,
"Blue Thunder, too, I've found signs he got into a fight and got kidnapped." Red Baron replied,
"It looks like Airmail got attacked, too, but I've seen no signs of where she could've been taken." Night Witch spoke,
"Come on, let's see if we can find any clues." Red Baron stated,
"Right." Night Witch responded, and they flew together. They looked for their servants but did not see any hoof prints on where they could have been taken, they called out for them while flying around but got no answer, they flew farther out but still saw nothing and no one,
"What could've happened?" Night Witch asked,
"I'm wondering, too." Red Baron replied, and they flew up higher and looked around more, Red Baron tapped Night Witch's right shoulder and then pointed at a group of foals,
"Let's go." Night Witch said, and they flew. They arrived and heard the foals crying and begging while they got closer, they flew faster and saw adult ponies forcing the foals to hold weapons and fight one another, they refused to fight and two adult ponies began slapping and punching them. Night Witch and Red Baron dived down and tackled the two ponies down, they grunted and noticed one was a stallion and the other was a mare, Night Witch confronted the mare and they began punching one another, running was heard and fourteen more ponies came, seven of them went to Night Witch while the other seven went to Red Baron. They grunted and got overpowered and restrained quickly and easily, a blue aura appeared around Night Witch, a black aura appeared around Red Baron, a green aura appeared around the filly, and a gray aura appeared around the colt, they all got carried while the fourteen ponies walked elsewhere. Night Witch and Red Baron got led to two earth ponies that were completely covered in heavy silver metallic armor,
"These two here intervened and interrupted the game." a unicorn mare reported,
"We saw, I wonder what made them decide to intervene." one armored earth pony replied with a female voice,
"Maybe they know these foals?" the other armored earth pony theorized and had a male voice,
"Where is Airmail and Blue Thunder?" Night Witch questioned, the two armored ponies looked at the others and they shook their heads,
"So none of you know them?" Red Baron asked,
"Sorry, but no." the filly answered,
"Can't say I do." the colt responded,
"Let's go, but keep them away from the other foals, and as usual, we'll divide this by gender, my group, we handle the mare, my brother and his group will handle the stallion." the armored mare spoke, and they walked forward and the split into two, the armored mare and other eight mares walked away while carrying Night Witch and the filly and the two unicorns then teleported everybody elsewhere.
Night Witch and the others appeared in the middle of a desert and the armored mare took her armor off,
"Who are you? What is this?" Night Witch inquired,
"I am Amazon, my brother and I are warriors, these eight mares here with me follow my beliefs, same with the eight stallions with my brother, we are doing battles like the gladiators of old Cloudsdale to weed out weak ponies, we're using foals since they will give us the most time for us to train in getting stronger, me and my mares handle the girls, my brother and his group handle the boys. These two Pegasi here with me are Spiked Wings and Bladed Wings, my personal bodyguards, those two unicorns are Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout, my scouters and planners, those two earth ponies are Brawn Hilda and Valkyrie, my hired muscles and disciplinarians for misbehaving foals, and the other two Pegasi are Sweet Talker and Lip Service, they handle talking to authority figures if we're questioned." the mare explained, Night Witch looked at them very carefully, Amazon had a red coat, long yellow mane and tail, orange eyes, and her cutie mark was a muscular arm flexing its bicep with it hand balled up into a fist; Spiked Wings had a dark gray coat, long black mane and tail, dark gray eyes, and her cutie mark were three spikes; Bladed Wings had a light gray coat, long white mane and tail, light gray eyes, and her cutie mark was a double-edged sword; Azure Eyes had a light blue coat, long purple mane and tail, light blue eyes, and her cutie mark was a black microscope; Emerald Scout had a dark green coat, long yellow mane and tail, purple eyes, and her cutie mark was a hawk; Brawn Hilda had a light brown coat, short white mane and tail, dark orange eyes, and her cutie mark was a fist, she was tall and muscular; Valkyrie had a bright yellow coat, short purple mane and tail, pale blue eyes, and her cutie mark was a spear, she was tall and muscular; Sweet Talker had a pink coat, long dark red mane and tail, turquoise eyes, and her cutie mark was a set of dark pink lips; Lip Service had a light red coat, long dark pink mane and tail, purple eyes, and her cutie mark was a black microphone.
Night Witch watched the nine mares carefully while Amazon led them and she saw a group of scared and injured fillies up ahead, she looked at them carefully and saw Airmail was among them, she was crying and injured,
"Sorry for the delay, we had a distraction during our last match, you all will fight the colts later, now then, let us continue finding out who is the strongest amongst you, so, Rosebud, Apple Pie, you two are up for the next round." Amazon spoke,
"I wanna go home." a filly with a red coat begged,
"I want my mommy." a filly with a light white coat begged, Amazon did a gesture with her head and Brawn Hilda and Valkyrie walked to them. They began punching and kicking the two fillies and they screamed while Night Witch heard their bones cracking,
"Stop complaining and crying! Stop showing weakness! This is your home! We are your parents! When we say fight, you fight!" Brawn Hilda scolded and she then punched the filly, she screamed while she flew through the air and slid on the ground, she cried while Brawn Hilda grabbed her and threw her out while Valkyrie threw the other one out. The fillies quivered in fear and looked at one another,
"Well, what are you two waiting for? Fight!" Valkyrie commanded,
"Remember, we want a nice, clean, fair fight, no cheating." Amazon reminded, two fillies quivered and shook their heads, Brawn Hilda and Valkyrie glared at them and then grabbed them and threw them out. Rosebud and Apple Pie stood up and looked at one another, they began slapping one another lightly while the nine mares glared at them, Spiked Wings and Bladed Wings walked to them,
"No, not like that, like this." Spiked Wings remarked and she punched Rosebud and kicked Apple Pie, they cried from the pain and Spiked Wings glared while Bladed Wings shook her head,
"It's hopeless, come on, we'll be your opponents then." Bladed Wings spoke, Rosebud and Apple Pie looked on in fear while Spiked Wings and Bladed Wings flew to them, they began punching them while flying around and they screamed and fell from each punch, the other fillies looked away from while Rosebud and Apple Pie got attacked more,
"NO!!" Night Witch yelled while she tried to break free from Azure Eyes' telekinesis,
"Mistress?" Airmail asked, the others looked at her with surprise. Night Witch moved her legs and wings around to move forward and tried to restrain Spiked Wings and Bladed Wings, they quickly turned around and began attacking her, Night Witch tried to block and counter them while Azure Eyes restrained her more,
"Hmph, how annoying." Azure Eyes remarked, Rosebud and Apple Pie tried to run away but Emerald Scout shot zaps out of her horn and froze them,
"You two aren't going anywhere." Emerald Scout spoke, she then moved them to Night Witch and Spiked Wings and Bladed Wings began beating them,
"That's enough." Amazon spoke, and they stopped. She walked to them and looked at Rosebud and Apple Pie,
"I'll let you two live this time, hopefully, some training and conditioning will change you two into thinking like warriors, as for the mare, I'll let you live if you agree with our beliefs and join us." Amazon spoke,
"While I do understand the need to be trained and strong in order to survive, I don't think your methods is the right way of achieving it." Night Witch said,
"What?" Amazon asked,
"I just believe there's a better method, I've embraced my pony kind's warrior heritage, I can train the fillies if you allow it." Night Witch suggested,
"I'm getting a bad feeling about this, Amazon." Sweet Talker reported,
"Same here, she's probably plotting something." Lip Service added, Amazon remained silent and thought for a moment,
"I'll give it a try, but you will be watched very closely and carefully, you and the fillies try anything, and your lives will be over." Amazon remarked,
"Understood." Night Witch spoke, Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout carried Night Witch and the fillies with their telekinesis while Brawn Hilda and Valkyrie walked to them, the two unicorns then teleported themselves and the others.
Night Witch and the fillies appeared elsewhere in the desert and Brawn Hilda and Valkyrie picked up and threw the weapons to the fillies,
"You all have a new trainer for now, she agreed to train you all to help you all grow, and all of you better take this seriously, if you all don't or try anything funny, your lives will be forfeited." Valkyrie warned, Night Witch picked up four swords and held them with her front hoofs and wings,
"Come on now, everypony, let's start training." Night Witch stated,
"What are you doing, mistress?" Airmail inquired,
"If we don't fight and train, we will die." Night Witch answered, Airmail gulped and picked up four daggers, she groaned while moving slowly and had a pained expression. Night Witch went easy on Airmail and knocked all four daggers out of her hoofs and wings easily, the last swing sent Airmail flying and she fell onto the ground and slid back,
"Next." Night Witch said, and a unicorn filly with a blue coat, long dark red mane and tail, and green eyes went up next. She held a spear and pointed forward nervously, Night Witch swung her four swords and knocked it out of her front hoofs with one attack,
"Grip it tighter next time." Night Witch instructed, the filly nodded,
"Next." Night Witch spoke, an earth pony filly with a yellow coat, long orange mane and tail, and pink eyes stepped forward, she picked up the shields and held them in front of herself nervously. Night Witch hit the shields with her swords and almost knocked them off of the filly's front legs with each hit, she exclaimed while her front legs were in pain and tiring out, she dropped her front legs and screamed when she saw Night Witch's four swords coming, she stopped and the filly sighed with relief,
"Next." Night Witch said, the fillies looked at one another and shook their heads while quivering,
"What are you all doing? Get training." Emerald Scout commanded while she moved the fillies closer to Night Witch. The fillies begged for mercy while Night Witch watched them carefully, the four mares glared at them and Night Witch hit them with her swords' pommels and knocked them out. Azure Eyes, Emerald Scout, Brawn Hilda, and Valkyrie glared at them sharply and walked to them,
"Useless fillies! Amazon would kill you all now if she was here!" Brawn Hilda fumed while she and the other three continued beating the fillies,
"STOP!!" Night Witch yelled, the four mares then attacked her and she tried to block their attacks but Brawn Hilda's and Valkyrie's physical strength knocked her back a few feet,
"You would actually defend these weak and incompetent foals?!" Valkyrie inquired,
"They're foals! Of course they're not going to be trained and experienced!" Night Witch retorted,
"Do your job then, you seem to be slacking off, too." Azure Eyes remarked,
"If I went all out, I would've killed them easily." Night Witch stated,
"Well, try harder, you seem to be going too soft on them." Emerald Scout remarked, the fillies screamed and covered themselves with their own front legs. Night Witch looked at the scared fillies and then glared at the four mares, Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout began throwing the fillies at Night Witch and she caught them and put them down, the two unicorns got angrier and began throwing the weapons at them with their telekinesis. The fillies screamed while Night Witch flew in front of them and blocked them with her swords, she tried to block them but the impact of the weapons pushed her back and knocked her down,
"Useless weakling sympathizer, wait until Amazon hears about this." Emerald Scout scolded, and she and Azure Eyes teleported. Brawn Hilda and Valkyrie walked forward and picked up weapons, Brawn Hilda held a big sledgehammer while Valkyrie held two hatchets, they went to attack the fillies while Night Witch moved them behind herself. Brawn Hilda swung her hammer down and Night Witch blocked it with her four swords and almost fell, Valkyrie jumped over Brawn Hilda and tried to cut Night Witch's neck with one of her hatchets, she flew back and dodged it and Valkyrie jumped and went over Night Witch, she tried to cut the back of her neck but she blocked the hatchets with the swords she held with her wings. Brawn Hilda hit the swords Night Witch held with her front hoofs and knocked them behind herself, Valkyrie then tried to cut Night Witch's neck and she jumped down and grabbed Valkyrie's neck with her hind legs, Valkyrie gagged while Night Witch squeezed her neck and she tried to cut her hind legs until Night Witch threw her over herself and at Brawn Hilda, they both fell over while grunting.
Brawn Hilda and Valkyrie stood up while scowling and Night Witch got ready to fight them more, they ran and jumped on her to weigh her down, Night Witch began flying around and doing rolls while Brawn Hilda and Valkyrie struggled to hold on, she flew up higher and they began screaming and holding onto her tightly when they looked down, Night Witch then dived down and dragged them in the desert's sand while they grunted from the impact and lost consciousness. Night Witch flew to the fillies and pushed the weapons to them,
"Huh? What are you doing, mistress?" Airmail asked,
"Training, come on, everypony, I'm going to teach you all how to fight so you all can stand against Amazon and her goons, after we all become skilled enough, we're going to try to take them down and escape." Night Witch explained, the fillies looked at one another and nodded in agreement and picked up the weapons. Night Witch instructed the fillies how to use the weapons while she had the Pegasi also use their wings to hold more weapons, she did her swings slowly and the fillies mimicked her, they struggled to pick up the two-handed axes and hammers and Night Witch skipped them. She had them put down the weapons and then taught the fillies hoof-to-hoof combat, she started with basic punches, kicks, and bucks, she then taught basic grabs, grapples, joint locks, and throws, she moved as slowly and gently as she could with each attack,
"Wow, mistress, why didn't you ever teach me these back at your home?" Airmail inquired,
"I never thought you would need them at the point of life you're at now." Night Witch answered,
"You serve her or something?" Apple Pie asked,
"Hmm-mm, I'm an orphan, Night Witch here hired me to help her at her home so I can make money and survive." Airmail responded,
"Come on, everypony, let's keep training so we can take on Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout when they come back." Night Witch instructed, and they did. They mimicked Night Witch and fought one another while Night Witch corrected them whenever they held weapons wrong or did not have proper stances, the fillies began to have fun and play fought while Night Witch chuckled, she watched them train and have fun until Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout returned with Amazon, she had her armor back on,
"What's going on here?" Amazon inquired,
"We're training." the fillies responded,
"That is not what I heard." Amazon spoke,
"Well, at first, turns out using different methods can motivate them to actually train." Night Witch stated,
"What was that?!" Azure Eyes fumed,
"Did you say our ways are wrong?!" Emerald Scout questioned,
"If you were nicer, not kidnapping foals against their wills, willing to let the fillies play and have fun, and not have them fight to the death, maybe you all would get your ways." Night Witch remarked,
"Prove it, Azure Eyes, Emerald Scout, take them down." Amazon ordered, and they walked forward.
Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout began shooting blasts out of their horns at the fillies and they exclaimed when the zaps knocked them down, Rosebud tried to block one of Azure Eye's zaps with a shield but she screamed when the zap went through the shield and exploded and knocked her back. Night Witch flew to them and Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout shot bigger blasts at her, she strafed and rolled around to dodge the blue and green blasts, they tried to restrain her but Night Witch flew too fast, she kicked them on their heads with her hind hoofs and they slid back a little. The fillies picked up the weapons and began jumping on the unicorns and attacked them, Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout flung them away while some of the fillies tried punching and kicking them but it had no effect, they swatted them away and the fillies exclaimed and cried. Night Witch flew to them again and Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout held up the weapons with their magic and fought her with them, she flew carefully to dodge every attack but had trouble while they used telekinesis on more and more weapons and there was less room for her to maneuver, they boxed her with the weapons and Night Witch watched carefully, she tried to grab the weapons but grunted loudly when the sharp weapons cut her, she endured the pain and grabbed several with her front hoofs and feathers, she threw them at the two unicorns and they exclaimed while teleporting.
They appeared behind Night Witch and began shooting big blasts at her, she tried to fly but they held her in place with their telekinesis and she screamed from the pain,
"MISTRESS!!" Airmail called out, Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout flung the weapons to her and the fillies quickly got up and ran, they jumped on the unicorns and they grunted while being distracted, Night Witch fell and she flew to them and kicked the two in their foreheads, they grunted and fell and slid a few inches on the ground. They stood up and shook their heads while huffing, they made the weapons fly around Night Witch in all directions and pointed the bladed weapons at her, she kept her guard up and Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout shot them at her, she jumped up and flew around to dodge the ones above her, Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout growled and tried to drop blunt weapons and shields on her but Night Witch flew around them and dodged them easily. The unicorns shot big blasts at Night Witch and she flew around them and dodged them with ease while they teleported away from Night Witch when she got close to them, they reappeared far away from one another and shot more blasts at her while Night Witch flew faster and they lost track of her, she was in front of Azure Eyes and kicked her in her face as hard as she could with her hind left hoof, she grunted loudly and fell on the ground and slid several inches. Emerald Scout looked on in shock and began shooting small zaps rapidly and Night Witch flew around them and dodged them easily, she got in front of Emerald Scout and punched her in her face with front right hoof and she exclaimed in pain and fell over, she tried to get up but fell.
Amazon looked around and saw Azure Eyes, Emerald Scout, Brawn Hilda, and Valkyrie all laying on the ground, she walked to Night Witch and she quickly put her guard up,
"I'm not going to fight you." Amazon said, Night Witch remained defensive,
"You fly with more speed and agility than a typical Pegasus, clearly, you've had training of some sorts." Amazon deduced, Night Witch's eyes widened,
"Just who are you?" Amazon questioned,
"My mistress is just a historian who studies ancient Pegasus history." Airmail responded,
"I didn't ask you, I wanna hear from your boss directly." Amazon spoke, Airmail's jaw dropped,
"I am Night Witch, practitioner of Pegasus ancient warrior culture, former Wonderbolt, and currently a historian of Pegasus history, I was the fastest female Wonderbolt at the time I joined and held that record for a while until Rainbow Dash broke it, I now embrace my warrior ancestry and train in my free time to be somepony my ancestors would be proud of." Night Witch explained, the fillies looked at her with awe,
"Mistress." Airmail said with surprise,
"I figured you were something like a Wonderbolt, you fly with the agility of one, tell you what, I'll let you serve under me and we'll forget this little incident." Amazon suggested,
"No." Night Witch responded,
"What?" Amazon exclaimed,
"I will not have fillies be slaves and trained to fight to the death under your command, I will not kidnap foals from their homes, either, it is why I sought you out in the first place, you took my servant, I'm here to take her back, but after seeing the other fillies, I will free them or die trying." Night Witch declared, the fillies smiled while Amazon scowled,
"You will regret this, nopony who has ever went against me has lived, I'll make sure you go down, come on, you four, recover, we'll deal with her later." Amazon stated, Azure Eyes, Emerald Scout, Brawn Hilda, and Valkyrie stood up and went to each other, Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout teleported themselves and the other three away while they glared at Night Witch and the fillies.
Night Witch let the fillies play and she sat and rested, Airmail limped and looked at her wounds while Night Witch smiled at her,
"Thank you, Airmail, I am glad to see you're okay, you worried me to death when I didn't see you at your home." Night Witch stated,
"Was it just me who got kidnapped?" Airmail asked,
"No, Blue Thunder got kidnapped, too, Red Baron went to go rescue him." Night Witch answered,
"Thank Celestia you showed up, mistress, those nine mares attacked me suddenly out of nowhere when I was heading home yesterday, they beat me up and injured me when I tried to escape, I lost consciousness and when I woke up, I was here with these group of fillies and those nine mares forcing us to fight one another." Airmail explained,
"Hang in there, Airmail, I'm going to see if I can take down all nine of them, they don't seem to be combat trained or experienced like how I am." Night Witch deduced,
"Why didn't you ever say you're combat trained or an ex-Wonderbolt for, mistress?" Airmail asked,
"I didn't think something like this would happen, and with the path in life you're taking now, you wouldn't need combat training to survive, if I knew this was going to happen, I would've trained you a long time ago, same with my brother and Blue Thunder." Night Witch explained,
"Were you going to tell me when I got older?" Airmail asked,
"Well, if you're still around and working for me, probably, most foals don't really develop interest in those kinds of stories until their teenage years." Night Witch replied,
"Did you and your brother go to war?" Airmail questioned,
"Luckily, no, Red Baron and I were in the Wonderbolts during peace times, if there were any threats we were sent to deal with, it was usually against wild animals destroying civilizations." Night Witch stated,
"Oh, I thought it was going to be you and Red Baron went to war and fought other countries." Airmail remarked,
"No, that didn't happen, we only held flying contests on who's faster and who's more agile, I was the fastest and most agile female Wonderbolt at that time while Red Baron was the faster and most agile of the male Wonderbolts, we both competed against one another in our last race, I won, I held the record as the fastest Wonderbolt ever until Rainbow Dash came along." Night Witch explained,
"Wow, maybe you'll be remembered long after we all passed away, mistress." Airmail chirped,
"Maybe for several years, but a century or so, probably not, all of us will probably be forgotten by then." Night Witch responded,
"You never know, mistress, you might still be remembered for your achievements even then." Airmail said,
"I doubt it." Night Witch replied, they heard flying and everyone saw Sweet Talker and Lip Service coming. Night Witch stood up while the two Pegasi landed,
"We heard what has happened, Amazon is very displeased." Sweet Talker reported,
"That's her problem." Night Witch remarked,
"To think you could take down Brawn Hilda and Valkyrie, not many stand a chance against them." Lip Service said,
"You two looking for a fight, too?" Night Witch inquired,
"Well, Lip Service and I aren't really fighters, we're more talkers and try to diffuse problems." Sweet Talker stated,
"Yeah, violence isn't really our style." Lip Service added,
"What do you two want then?" Night Witch inquired,
"Amazon has ordered the fillies to give her a show and fight one another to the death, we've been ordered to pick out the weakest, most sick, and most injured to fight one another." Sweet Talker responded, the fillies panicked and begged for mercy,
"If you want them, you're going to have to go through me." Night Witch declared,
"We'd rather do this with no problems." Lip Service commented,
"You're not taking a single foal as long as I stand." Night Witch retorted,
"Very well, I suppose it can't be helped, come on, Lip Service." Sweet Talker said, and they got ready to fight her.
Sweet Talker and Lip Service flew to Night Witch's sides and into her blind spots, they flew at the average speed of adult Pegasi mares, Night Witch grabbed their manes easily and then slammed their faces into each other, they fell but got back up while groaning. They flew to her and tried to punch her with their front hoofs but they were slow and she dodged them easily, Night Witch punched them in their sternums with her front hoofs and Sweet Talker and Lip Service grunted while the punches pushed them back a few millimeters. Sweet Talker and Lip Service looked at one another and nodded, they reached behind their wings with their front hoofs and Sweet Talker took out two whips while Lip Service took out throwing knives, Sweet Talker swung the whips around while Lip Service threw the knives with her front hoofs and feathers. Night Witch flew around and went back to get out of range of Sweet Talker's whips while dodging Lip Service's knives, she grabbed Sweet Talker's whips with her wings and pulled her forward, she exclaimed and Night Witch headbutted her forehead and knocked her out, Lip Service looked on in fear while Night Witch flew to her and punched her in her left temple and knocked her out.
Night Witch sat back down while the fillies cheered,
"That was amazing, mistress!" Airmail hollered,
"I still don't like doing it, though, Red Baron and I hate fighting and hurting others." Night Witch lamented,
"We all do." one filly spoke,
"Yeah, fighting to the death isn't fun." another filly added, the other fillies agreed,
"Good, I'm glad you all see it that way, just hang in there a bit, everypony, I'll try to free you all, if things keep going like how they've been recently, we'll all be free pretty soon." Night Witch spoke, the fillies cheered. Night Witch rested a little and she instructed the fillies to train without her, they did as she instructed and they began to have fun play fighting, she smiled while she sat and caught her breath, she watched the fillies work together to pick up the big hammers and axes and still had trouble, they managed to hold them together and swung them around slowly while the others moved away from them. About an hour passed and Night Witch was back up and teaching the fillies how to fight, Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout suddenly appeared and scowled,
"What is taking you two so long, Lip Service and Sweet Talker? Amazon is furious." Azure Eyes reported, they looked and saw them laying on the ground, they checked them and saw they were unconscious,
"So you've taken them down, too." Emerald Scout remarked,
"They attacked me first." Night Witch stated, the fillies nodded,
"Doesn't matter, when Amazon gives an order, you follow it, without question or rebelling." Azure Eyes said,
"Why are you eight loyal to her?" Night Witch inquired,
"It was her who showed us the warrior ways ponies were in the past, we don't like modern pony culture, we long for the days of old when we were divided and fighting one another, Amazon wishes to bring it back, and we wish to aid her." Emerald Scout explained,
"That's it?" Night Witch asked,
"Pretty much." Azure Eyes responded,
"Come on, let's go, Amazon's impatient." Emerald Scout remarked, and she and Azure Eyes held everybody with their magic and teleported.
Night Witch and the others arrived in another part of the desert and saw Amazon, Spiked Wings, Bladed Wings, Brawn Hilda, and Valkyrie standing together,
"What took you all so long?" Spiked Wings asked,
"Turns out Night Witch knocked out Sweet Talker and Lip Service." Azure Eyes remarked, they saw the two unconscious Pegasi and Amazon glared at her,
"Still causing trouble for us, I see." Amazon remarked,
"It was defense of others." Night Witch retorted,
"Well, it doesn't matter now, let's start the next game, Azure Eyes, Emerald Scout, gather up the sick, injured, and weak fillies." Amazon ordered, and they did.
Airmail, Rosebud, Apple Pie, and seven more fillies were brought forward and Azure Eyes and Emerald Eyes cast spells and made an Ursa Major and a bugbear appear, they roared and charged forward. The ten fillies screamed while the Ursa Major and bugbear tried to attack them and the fillies recalled Night Witch's training, they tried to use the small and light weapons but they were not able to hit them hard enough. The Ursa Major and bugbear slashed them with their claws and the fillies screamed while the others looked away, Night Witch tried to wiggle forward to them but Emerald Scout moved her away, she watched the fillies get attacked by the mind controlled animals and she swung her front hoofs and wings as fast as she could and moved forward, Azure Eyes cast telekinesis on her to hold her back and she kept moving forward. Night Witch tried to swing herself forward but was now moving a lot slower, she panted heavily while struggling to move forward while Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout smirked.
The fillies struggled to defend themselves and Amazon threw sledgehammers, battle axes, pickaxes, and suits of armor at the fillies, they put on the armor nervously while avoiding the Ursa Major and bugbear, they grunted very loudly since the suits of armor were heavy and slowed them down, they grunted loudly while working together to pick up the two-handed weapons but they exclaimed loudly when the Ursa Major and bugbear began slashing their armors. Night Witch tried to move while panting loudly and sweating, the fillies got knocked down and struggled to get up, the two creatures slashed through their armors and began taking the pieces off, the fillies moved faster when some of their armor came off, they tried to run away while panting heavily and Spiked Wings, Bladed Wings, Brawn Hilda, and Valkyrie went after them. They picked them up and threw them to the Ursa Major and bugbear and they screamed, the fillies got attacked again while Night Witch struggled to move forward and tried to go faster, she got close to Azure Eyes and began gathering spit up her throat and to her mouth, she spat in her right eye and she grunted and stopped casting magic, Emerald Scout looked at her and Night Witch spat in her left eye, she grunted and stopped casting magic, Night Witch then flew to the fillies. The Ursa Major and bugbear were no longer mind controlled and they roared at Amazon and her ponies, they ran away while Night Witch grabbed the fillies and carried them away.
Night Witch examined the fillies and looked at their injuries,
"They need to rest, get them far away from here and stay with them." Night Witch instructed, the fillies nodded and ran to the injured ones and carried them away, she sat and sighed while recovering her stamina, the desert heat made her sweat and she wiped it away. She looked around for any shade and did not find any, she panted and recovered and soon laid down, she panted slower and felt the heat getting to her, she felt her eyes closing and she almost fell asleep. Night Witch kept herself awake but struggled to, her eyes opened widely when she heard roaring and noticed the Ursa Major and bugbear were still fighting Amazon and her ponies, she rested her eyes and exhaled sharply. She listened to the sounds and soon heard loud roaring and they stopped, she opened her eyes and stood up and Amazon and her other eight companions appeared,
"You ruined the game! It was to see if those fillies have improved!" Amazon fumed,
"It looked like setting them up for death to me." Night Witch retorted,
"I've had it with your interference, first, you knock out six of my henchponies, now, you mess with the games, that does it, Spiked Wings, Bladed Wings, deal with her since Azure Eyes, Emerald Scout, Sweet Talker, Lip Service, Brawn Hilda, and Valkyrie have all already tried and failed." Amazon ordered,
"Of course, Amazon." Spiked Wings spoke,
"With pleasure, Amazon." Bladed Wings said, and they flew forward.
Night Witch watched Spiked Wings and Bladed Wings carefully and they began flying around her, they circled her and began moving in on her, she flew up into the sky and they chased her. Night Witch flew as fast as she could while Spiked Wings and Bladed Wings chased her, they circled her and kept up with her, they began kicking her and flying away while she grunted, she eventually grabbed Spiked Wings' hind left leg with her front right hoof and Bladed Wings' hind right leg with her front left hoof, she rolled around and the two exclaimed and began to get dizzy, Night Witch threw them down and they grunted loudly when they hit the ground. They flew up and threw sand at Night Witch, she looked away and covered her eyes while Spiked Wings and Bladed Wings flew to her at high speeds, they rammed her down and pinned her to the ground and began punching her with their front hoofs, she blocked them with her wings and headbutted Spiked Wings in her forehead and stunned her, she then punched Bladed Wings' left jaw and she grunted while falling over, Night Witch threw them off and stood up. Night Witch saw the two fly towards her and she punched them away and they grunted, they growled and tried to attack her from above but she jumped back and dodged them, Spiked Wings and Bladed Wings charged at her and Night Witch flew up a little and kicked them in their faces with her hind hoofs and knocked them back, they grunted in pain and fell onto the ground.
Night Witch panted while keeping her guard up and saw Spiked Wings and Bladed Wings stand up, they scowled at her while reaching for their backs, they flew up and put weapons on their hind hoofs and then on their front hoofs and feathers, Spiked Wings had grieves on her hoofs and rings on her feathers that had spikes on them while Bladed Wings wore grieves with sword blades on them on her hoofs and sharp sword-like sheaths on her feathers. They flew around and Spiked Wings tried to stab Night Witch while Bladed Wings tried to slash her, Night Witch flew back and swayed side-to-side to dodge them and watched them very carefully while the fillies watched fearfully. Night Witch flew backwards and Spiked Wings and Bladed Wings flew to her at high speeds, she flew over them and dived down and hit Spiked Wings in her back with her hind hoofs, she grunted loudly and fell, she got up and faced her and Night Witch kicked her in her face with her hind right hoof and Spiked Wings exclaimed loudly and got knocked down, she tried to get up but fell. Bladed Wings flew to her and tried to slash her with her weapons and Night Witch watched her for any openings, she saw one and punched her in her liver, she screamed and got stunned and Night Witch then punched her in her face and she fell and groaned, Night Witch landed while Azure Eyes, Emerald Scout, Brawn Hilda, Valkyrie, Sweet Talker, and Lip Service looked on with dropped jaws and disbelief while Amazon glared at Night Witch and walked to her.
Amazon took her armor off and raised her front legs while Night Witch got defensive, Amazon began trying to punch her and Night Witch blocked and dodged each one, she saw an opening and punched Amazon in her forehead with her right wing very quickly, she grunted and fell on her back. She lunged her body forward and jumped back onto her hoofs, she jumped and did a somersault, she opened her body and tried to kick Night Witch with her hind hoofs but Night Witch grabbed her and threw her over herself, she grunted while her eight followers watched in shock and the fillies clapped. Amazon stood up and saw Night Witch flying to her, she tried punching and kicking her but Amazon parried all of her attacks and made Night Witch attack in different directions, Night Witch noticed her parries were basic moves, she did one punch and Amazon parried it, Night Witch did a full spin and punched Amazon in her left jaw and she grunted. Amazon growled and tried to buck her but Night Witch blocked it with her front forelegs, she got knocked back several inches and felt her front legs get a little numb, she saw Amazon sprinting to her and Night Witch headbutted her in her forehead and she grunted while she fell, she growled and stood up but Night Witch bucked her, she exclaimed when she flew away a few inches and fell onto the ground.
Amazon glared sharply while bearing her teeth and she lunged forward while snarling, she tried punching Night Witch as much as she could while Night Witch flew back and dodged her pretty easily, she saw an opening and punched Amazon in her face and knocked her down while she screamed. Amazon exhaled very sharply and shook her head while getting up, she ran to Night Witch and then jumped forward while spinning, she aimed her hind left hoof at Night Witch's forehead and she sidestepped her and then struck Amazon's lower spine with her hind right hoof, she exclaimed and fell down while the fillies clapped. Amazon scowled at her and ran to a sword and a shield, she held the sword in her front right hoof and the shield in her front left hoof, she jumped forward and tried to slash Night Witch's neck with the sword, she ducked and landed past her, she turned around and tried to slash Night Witch's head and neck but she ducked and dodged each attack. Amazon bashed Night Witch's face with her shield and she got knocked back and grunted, Amazon then tried to slash her head with her sword and Night Witch moved back sloppily, she became disoriented and had double vision, she tried to slash her again and Night Witch flew back to dodge each attack, she jumped and kicked both Amazons in her vision in their faces with her hind hoofs and she grunted while falling over.
Amazon jumped and did a somersault, she tried to stab her sword into Night Witch's head and she laid on her stomach and dodged her, Amazon landed past her and turned around and ran to her, Night Witch flew around to avoid Amazon. Night Witch saw her vision returning to normal and began moving at normal speed, Amazon tried to bash her with her shield again but Night Witch grabbed and pulled on it, Amazon pulled her forward and tried to stab her with her sword but Night Witch grabbed her front right leg with her wings and twisted it, Amazon exclaimed in pain and dropped the sword. Amazon tried to get Night Witch off of her shield but could not, Night Witch began strangling Amazon with her wings and the fillies looked away, Amazon gagged and could not breathe, she could not get Night Witch off of her shield and threw it off, Night Witch's wings were taken off of her neck and pulled Amazon down. Amazon panted while Night Witch did a back flip and threw the shield at her, it hit her in her head and Amazon became disoriented, Night Witch flew to her and began punching her many times with her front hoofs and wings, she did one last hard punch and knocked Amazon onto the ground and she grunted, she could not get up and the fillies clapped and cheered while Amazon's subordinates had dropped jaws and looked on in disbelief.
Night Witch panted while Amazon had an enraged expression on her face,
"How?! A weak and light weight Pegasus win against a combat trained and disciplined earth pony like me?! This isn't right! This isn't fair! It is not the natural order of things!" Amazon ranted,
"Your moves are basic and easy to telegraph and read, your fighting skill level is a beginner level, I'm assuming all of your previous victims were ponies who had no combat or warrior background or training and experience like how I do, while you are trained and have experience, it's not as long as how long I trained or consistent, you seem to leave the work to the others too instead of doing stuff on your own, it's no wonder you lost." Night Witch explained, Amazon growled,
"That does it! Spiked Wings, Bladed Wings, Brawn Hilda, Valkyrie, Azure Eyes, Emerald Scout, Lip Service, Sweet Talker, let's set up the final game for her and see if she can win, get everything in place now!" Amazon ordered, Night Witch glared and the eight mares tackled her down together and she grunted, the fillies screamed and ran over to help but they and Amazon began attacking them, Night Witch tried to break free but Amazon punched her in her left temple and knocked her out.
Night Witch groaned and woke up when she felt the desert sand blowing on her, she panted and stood up slowly,
"Airmail?" Night Witch called out, there was no answer, she regained her vision and saw no one was around and there was a paper and map on the ground in front of her, she saw a note written on the paper and picked it up,
"If you wake up and read this, me and my eight partners are waiting for you, this is your final battle, we left a map that has our and your location marked and a trail to follow marked with a red marker. You will face various animals on the path and if you make it to us, you must face me in my armor, you have until the sun sets to reach us, if you win, we'll let the fillies go, if you lose, you and your servant die, I'm waiting for you." Night Witch read, she picked up the map and unfolded it, she saw her name written on the map to show where she was at and a trail was drawn as a red line with an X at Amazon's and the others' location, she quickly unfolded her wings and began flying.
Night Witch panted heavily while she flew as fast as she could and noticed the sun was already beginning to set, it began to cool down a bit and Night Witch flew up since the scenery looked the same to her. She looked around and tried to find the others but did not see them, she heard hisses and saw vultures flying to her, their eyes' were either blue or green, they began pecking Night Witch with their beaks and she swatted them away and flew forward while they chased her. The vultures got back up and began chasing her again, Night Witch did strafes and rolls to avoid the vultures and they had trouble keeping up with her, she bucked them with her hind legs and punched them with her wings whenever they got close. She realized she was going off course of the map and everything looked the same, she flew back to where she was but could not remember the location, she flew to where she woke up and began flying on the trail again.
Night Witch tried again while the sun went down and stopped whenever the vultures surrounded her, she flew more and stopped when she saw mind controlled foxes and coyotes running to her. They jumped and got on her, she grunted when they knocked her down, they began biting her and Night Witch tried to throw them off but could not, she tried rolling around but the foxes and coyotes continued biting and scratching her, she flung her legs and wings hard while grunting and threw a few of them off. The vultures continued attacking her and Night Witch swatted them away while grunting and flew up, she continued flying on the trail that was marked on the map while the animals chased her, she flew up higher and the vultures continued chasing her, she flew straight as fast as she could and the animals had trouble keeping up with her. Night Witch looked at the map and forward while flying quickly and came to a slight turn to her left, she turned slowly and continued going forward while the vultures, foxes, and coyotes chased her, she kept flying and saw nothing up ahead and everything still looked the same.
Night Witch began to groan and her stomach growled as she became hungry and thirsty, she began to slow down and the vultures began to catch up to her again, she flew as fast as she could while panting and she began to sweat profusely. She flew forward while looking at the map and stopped for a minute to swat the vultures away, she noticed she was losing her strength and stamina and the vultures came back more quickly this time, she flew under them and went forward while panting, the foxes and coyotes jumped and tried to bite her but she flew up and avoided them. She panted while flying forward and began to slow down, she realized that she will not reach her destination at this rate and was having trouble knowing where she was at since all of her surroundings were barren and looked the same, the bright visuals also strained her eyes. Night Witch decided to fly up as high as she could and saw the entire desert, she noticed there were no clouds in sight while looking at how far her destination was, she looked forward and realized there were no ponies in sight and Amazon has lied about her location, she ripped the map into pieces while flew around when the vultures got to her,
"Airmail!" Night Witch called out, she soon saw small zaps shot in the sky and realized the fillies were in the opposite directions, they soon stopped and Night Witch flew there.
Night Witch flew quickly while panting and the vultures caught up with her again, she tried to swat them away but did not have the energy, she began to stall and fall slowly while trying to force herself to keep flying. The foxes and coyotes jumped and tried to pull her down but just barely missed her, she flapped her wings to get herself up but the vultures knocked her down and the foxes and coyotes ran to her, they began biting her while she screamed and she heard more running up ahead, she looked and saw lions running to her. They panicked and began trying to get the animals off of herself but could not, the lions arrived and Night Witch tried to get up but the other animals weighed her down, the lions slashed her and she screamed. She fell down and crawled as fast as she could to avoid the mind controlled animals but they caught up to her, she realized she could not escape and began striking the sides of the animals' necks to knock them out, the lions continued attacking and she punched them in their temples as hard as she could while grunting loudly and knocked them out, she panted heavily and stood up to catch her breath, she sighed and flew up into the sky.
Night Witch flew up as high as she could and looked for the others and saw them, the fillies had blue and green magic chains on them alongside regular chains, she flew to them and Azure Eyes teleported them elsewhere while Emerald Scout teleported her elsewhere, she looked around again and saw nothing, she flew up and saw them again and began flying to them, Azure Eyes teleported herself and the other ponies elsewhere again while Emerald Scout teleported her to another part of the desert. Night Witch thought about what to do and got an idea, she flew up high again and stopped when she could just barely see the others, she flew back down quickly and began flying to the others, she arrived and the others were gone. She flew up again and looked for them, she saw them and quickly flew down and went to her left, she flew just off of the ground and saw she was behind the others, she flew and they heard her, Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout looked back and saw her, they shot zaps at her but she flew around them and arrived, Azure Eyes teleported the others away and Emerald Scout teleported the others elsewhere. Night Witch flew up high while panting saw the others watching her, she kept flying up high and was out of sight, she flew to the others and then dived down, she pressed her hind hoofs on Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout and knocked them down, the fillies cheered while the other mares looked in disbelief,
"I win, Amazon, it's time to fight one last time, you and me." Night Witch declared,
"Very well, let's do this fair and square." Amazon answered, and they got ready.
Amazon ran slower than before due to her armor being a bit heavy and jumped forward, she knocked Night Witch down and she grunted while trying to move but was slow due to hunger and fatigue, Amazon began punching her in her face rapidly and many times, Night Witch became disoriented and had triple vision, she poked the center Amazon's eyes with her wings and she exclaimed and covered them. Night Witch grabbed Amazon's shoulders and tried to lift her up but Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout began casting spells on her, Azure Eyes made her sick and Emerald Scout made her lose her muscles, Amazon recovered and overpowered her and began punching her head into the ground while the fillies looked away, Spiked Wings, Bladed Wings, Azure Eyes, Emerald Scout, Brawn Hilda, Valkyrie, Sweet Talker, and Lip Service joined in and beat up Night Witch together,
"MISTRESS!!" Airmail screamed, Night Witch became unresponsive and they stopped. Night Witch laid on the ground and Brawn Hilda kicked her in her face, there was no response, they smiled while the fillies stopped covering their eyes' and looked, Night Witch suddenly sprang up and poked her feathers into the mares' eyes' and flew around, they exclaimed and Azure Eyes teleported Night Witch and Emerald Scout cast another spell, Night Witch became more sick and started coughing. Night Witch panted and struggled to fly, she went to the nine mares and they knocked her down easily and they began beating her again, Night Witch kicked Lip Service in her chin and pushed her back a little, Spiked Wings tried to strangle her and Night Witch bit her right wing, she screamed and tried to get her off, Emerald Scout then teleported her away.
Night Witch fell onto the ground and panted while Azure Eyes made the vultures, coyotes, foxes, and lions appear and they began attacking her, she struggled to get them off and panted very heavily and felt herself collapsing, she stumbled around and swatted the small animals away while going to Amazon and her mares, she saw Amazon running to her and tackled her down, Amazon began headbutting her and tried to smash her head into the ground. Night Witch swayed her head to her right and barely dodged Amazon, she grabbed her helmet and tried to take it off but it was secured tightly, Amazon got ready to punch her and Night Witch spat in her left eye, she exclaimed and moved back while Night Witch flew. Spiked Wings and Bladed Wings flew to her and they dived down and landed on Night Witch's wings, she fell and screamed when loud crunches were heard in her wings, they got off and Night Witch saw her wings were broken, Spiked Wings and Bladed Wings then began jumping on the broken parts and she screamed loudly,
"NO!!" Rosebud screamed, they continued jumping until Night Witch threw her front legs up and punched them in their chins and knocked them down. Night Witch panted heavily from the pain and stumbled around, Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout cast spells and had Night Witch wear become cuffed and wrapped in chains, they then made heavy armor appear on her body and weighed her down and then made a sledgehammer appear in her front hoofs and she almost fell, she grunted loudly and struggled to stand while they took out their weapons, Amazon had a sword and shield, Spiked Wings had spiked grieves on her hoofs and spiked rings on her feathers, Bladed Wings had grieves with sword blades on them on her hoofs and sharp sword-like sheaths on her feathers, Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout made blunt and bladed weapons fly around, Brawn Hilda held a sledgehammer, Valkyrie held two hatchets, Sweet Talker had two whips, and Lip Service had throwing knives.
Amazon, her eight mares, and the animals attacked Night Witch together, she fell down while the heavy armor protected her, she grunted while swinging her legs around to roll over and saw Amazon in front of her, she grunted loudly and bashed the sledgehammer's handle on her and pushed her back, she moved her body around to make Bladed Wings and Valkyrie cut her cuffs and chains and free herself, she fell over and crawled away while the others went to her. Night Witch got attacked and endured the pain while trying to crawl forward, she panted and kept going, Amazon stomped down onto her front legs' knees and she screamed when crunching sounds were heard, she struggled to move and saw Valkyrie throw her hatchets at her, Night Witch grunted loudly and managed to kick them with her hind legs, Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout saw them coming and quickly teleported away. Lip Service flew forward and tried to slash and stab Night Witch with her knives but her armor protected her, Night Witch bashed the sledgehammer's handle on her head and disoriented her, she kicked her wings with her hind legs and Lip Service dropped her knives, Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout teleported them away and Night Witch saw them nearby, she kicked sand in their eyes' and they grunted and got distracted, the floating weapons dropped and Night Witch grabbed two nearby spears, she threw them at Azure Eyes and Emerald Scout and took them out, the other mares looked in shock while the animals were no longer mind controlled and Night Witch was no longer sick and got her muscle mass back and the blue and green chains on the fillies disappeared.
Night Witch focused on Sweet Talker and Lip Service next, Sweet Talker's whips could not damage Night Witch's armor and she grunted very loudly and threw the sledgehammer with her broken front legs, she screamed from the pain and fell again, she grabbed the nearby swords and got back up, she grunted loudly while swinging them sloppily and cut Sweet Talker's whips, she then cut her neck and she fell over, Lip Service looked on in shock and flew away, Night Witch threw the sword in her front right hoof at her and into the back of her head and she fell into the sand. Amazon, Spiked Wings, Bladed Wings, Brawn Hilda, and Valkyrie looked on in shock and ran to the fillies, Night Witch hopped to them and the fillies screamed while Amazon and the others held them forward and Night Witch stopped attacking, they went forward and tried to attack Night Witch and she blocked them with the swords, Night Witch tried to counter but the five mares held the fillies in her path and she tried to stop herself but could not, her swords scratched them a little and they screamed while Amazon and her four remaining followers smiled, they began attacking her from behind the fillies with their front hoofs while Spiked Wings used her spiked grieves, Bladed Wings used her bladed grieves, and Valkyrie used a hatchet, Night Witch jumped and kicked Brawn Hilda and Valkyrie in their faces with her hind legs, she knocked them down and then landed and stumbled, she recovered while Brawn Hilda and Valkyrie got back up and Night Witch grunted while moving her front legs and did horizontal slashes, she cut their necks and they fell over. Spiked Wings and Bladed Wings flew to her while keeping the fillies in front of them, they tried to slash and stab Night Witch with their wings and Night Witch struggled to block them, she fell over and kicked them in their faces with her hind legs, they stumbled and dropped the fillies and Night Witch quickly stabbed her swords into their hearts and they fell over while she panted. Amazon saw only she remained and ran to Night Witch, she slammed her front legs down on Night Witch's front legs and she screamed, Night Witch tried to headbutt her but she held the filly in front of her, she stopped and Amazon then began jumping on Night Witch's front legs and she screamed loudly, Night Witch punched her in her throat with her right wing and Amazon coughed and stumbled back while Night Witch stood up and picked up two daggers, she cut the strips on Amazon's neck and then pulled her helmet off, she grunted while swinging her body side to side and punched Amazon in her face with each one stunning her, she panted heavily and tried to stab Night Witch with her sword, she tried to push back with her front legs but struggled, she spat in Amazon's left eye and she grunted while Night Witch began to slowly overpower her and managed to turn the sword around and stab it into her neck, the fillies' eyes' widened while Amazon fell onto the ground.
The fillies looked on with surprise while Night Witch fell onto the ground and panted heavily, the fillies cheered while Night Witch picked up a dagger and crawled to the fillies, she cut the chains on Airmail and freed her, she then cut the chains on the other fillies and freed them,
"Mistress, thank you, mistress, thank you for rescuing me." Airmail said while she hugged Night Witch and cried,
"Thank you, Celestia, thank you." Apple Pie stated while praying,
"We're not safe yet, we need to find a way out of the desert." Night Witch spoke weakly,
"True, but look on the bright side, mistress, you took out Amazon and her mares, they will never kidnap or kill another pony ever again." Airmail brought up,
"Let's rest for now, you unicorns, shoot signals into the sky, if we're lucky, somepony will find us." Night Witch ordered, they nodded and began shooting zaps into the sky. They shot zaps for about ten minutes and there was nothing,
"Night Witch?" Red Baron called out, Night Witch and Airmail smiled,
"Over here, big brother!" Night Witch hollered, Red Baron flew to her and landed with Blue Thunder on his back,
"Did you win?" Red Baron asked,
"Yeah, I took out the mares who kidnapped my servant and the others." Night Witch reported,
"Good work, so did I with the ones that took the male ponies, I got them back to civilization, come on, let's get you all back, too." Red Baron said, the fillies smiled and Red Baron carried the fillies on his back and did many trips, he took Night Witch to the hospital and had bandages put on her wings and her front legs in slings, she was discharged after about a month and went home with Red Baron.
Night Witch and Red Baron were sitting across from Doctor Whooves,
"I'm trying to resume daily life now, but it's been a bit hard, Airmail's doing her best to take care of me, too even though she's still injured as well." Night Witch reported,
"Wow, I'm impressed you survived." Doctor Whooves said,
"I sometimes can't believe it either." Night Witch replied,
"Is that all?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes." Night Witch responded,
"Alright, let's take a break here, you're up next when we resume, Red Baron." Doctor Whooves stated,
"Understood." Red Baron replied, and he and Night Witch went outside.
Gladiatorial Games (Males)
Doctor Whooves was counting his bits and saw he will soon have enough money to pay his house bills for the rest of his life, he put them away and locked them in a chest under his table. He waited a little and Red Baron came back in and sat,
"Is Night Witch alright?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes, she's laying down and enjoying this town's scenery." Red Baron replied,
"Good, go ahead and tell your side of events now." Doctor Whooves spoke, and Red Baron began to tell his tale.
Red Baron was in his and Night Witch's mansion and cleaning and examining pieces of ancient Cloudsdale architectural structures, he examined them closely and estimated when they were built based off of architectural style and the previous findings he found, he heard walking and a Pegasus colt came in, he had a blue coat, a short light blue mane and tail, dark blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a blue bird with yellow lightning around it, he was Blue Thunder, Red Baron's personal servant,
"Here's the new delivery, master." Blue Thunder reported,
"Thank you, Blue Thunder, it's getting a bit late, you should head on home." Red Baron stated,
"No training or talking about your Wonderbolts days today?" Blue Thunder asked,
"Sorry, but Night Witch got a lot of work today and I have to help her or she'll get overwhelmed." Red Baron responded,
"Oh, it's unusual for you two to have more work than the other." Blue Thunder commented,
"It is, but this is one of those days, go on home now, Blue Thunder, I'll give you your next assignments tomorrow morning." Red Baron said,
"Okay, goodbye, Red Baron." Blue Thunder spoke, and he flew out. Red Baron saw Blue Thunder and Airmail leave and then went to go help Night Witch with her work, they finished them together and then trained and slept at the end of the day.
"Next part is basically the same as Night Witch's, I woke up, called out for Blue Thunder, got no response, flew out, looked for him a bit, didn't find him, reunited with Night Witch, revealed to one another Blue Thunder and Airmail are both missing, then flew to his home." Red Baron reported,
"Go ahead and continue from there." Doctor Whooves responded, and he did.
Red Baron arrived at Blue Thunder's house while not seeing any signs of a fight or struggle while on the way there, he knocked on the door and there was no answer,
"Blue Thunder, you there?" Red Baron called out, there was no answer, he flew around and looked into the windows, Blue Thunder was not home, he flew around and did not see anything broken, hoof prints, or fur from ponies' manes or tails lying around,
"Hmm?" Red Baron asked while looking for any clues, he flew from his home to Blue Thunder's home and stopped when he saw adult hoof prints on the grass, he flew around and found more hoof prints and a layout of Pegasus foal's body nearby, he looked at the layout's snout's shape and saw it was a colt, he then flew up higher and looked for them.
"Night Witch already went over the next part, we regrouped, reported seeing signs that our servants were attacked, looked for clues, I then spotted the foals fighting, we went over and saw adult ponies forcing them to fight, we tried to break it up, fourteen more ponies came and overpowered us, we got captured, met the leaders, then got divided by gender and separated." Red Baron stated,
"Okay, we're now at where your stories separate from one another, explain everything down to the littlest detail." Doctor Whooves replied, and Red Baron continued his tale.
Red Baron and the others appeared in an area filled with vegetation and a mountain far back, the stallion that commanded the others took his armor off,
"And you are?" Red Baron inquired,
"Hercules, an earth pony warrior, these eight are my helpers, these two Pegasi here are Blunt Wings and Sharp Wings, my personal bodyguards, these two unicorns are Shadow Controller and Fog Maker, they act as my group's stealth members and scout for new colts to train, those two earth ponies there are Staff Master and Sword Master, extra muscle when me, Blunt Wings, and Sharp Wings aren't enough, and those two Pegasi there are Persuader and Convincer, our speakers when we are questioned by law enforcement." the earth pony stallion explained, Red Baron looked at them carefully. Hercules had a blue coat, short white mane and tail, blue eyes, and his cutie mark was two yellow muscular arms flexing. Blunt Wings had a dark pink coat, short dark red mane and tail, dark purple eyes, and his cutie mark was a hammer. Sharp Wings had a light purple coat, slightly long bright blue mane and tail, light orange eyes, and his cutie mark was a dagger. Shadow Controller had a black coat, was bald, had no tail, black eyes, and his cutie mark was a dark blue ninja hood. Fog Maker had a light gray coat, long white mane and tail, dark gray eyes, and his cutie mark was a gray cloud. Staff Master had a dark brown coat, short black mane and tail, blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a three-section staff connected with chains. Sword Master had a bright gray coat, short black mane and tail, red eyes, and his cutie mark a double-edged sword. Persuader had a bright green coat, short bright red mane and tail, black eyes, and his cutie mark was a white speech bubble. Convincer had a bright yellow coat, slightly long bright purple mane and tail, blue eyes, and his cutie mark was a pair of pink lips that were open.
Red Baron looked at the colts and saw Blue Thunder among them, he was panting and laying on the ground with injured legs, he saw Shadow Controller and Fog Maker cast spells with Shadow Controller having a black aura on his horn and Fog Maker having a gray aura on his horn, the colts got healed,
"Alright, boys, obstacle course time, let's see if you all can climb those rocks over there and swim while running the whole thing." Hercules stated, the colts looked and saw sharp and jagged rocks and a river stream with a strong tide, the colts quivered,
"Stop being scared, you won't achieve anything if you stay like that, and even if you're scared, you still gotta try or you won't learn anything or grow." Persuader spoke,
"Do we have to?" Blue Thunder asked,
"Yes, you do, you'll become faster, stronger, more durable, and more agile doing this." Convincer answered,
"Get to it now, it'll make you stronger later." Staff Master said,
"Um, can we have partners?" one colt requested,
"Nope, this must be done individually." Sword Master answered,
"Come on now, we don't have all day." Blunt Wings remarked,
"He's right, let's start." Sharp Wings added, the colts looked on in fear,
"Well, I guess we don't have a choice." Shadow Controller said,
"Yeah, might as well." Fog Maker responded, and he and Shadow Controller teleported them into the air and above the obstacle course, they fell and screamed. The colts fell onto the ground and they screamed in pain from landing on the rocks and hard surfaces, they heard running and saw cougars coming, the colts screamed and the unicorns and earth ponies sprinted while the Pegasi flew, Shadow Controller and Fog Maker cast spells to bind them to the ground, they ran as fast as they could while the cougars continued running after them. The colts panted very heavily and came to the obstacle course, they began jumping over rocks and vines with thorns, climbing rocks, crawling under tight spaces, and avoiding the wild animals, mind controlled hawks flew down and attacked the colts and they exclaimed while trying to swat them away. Red Baron flew as fast as he could and fought the cougars and hawks off while the colts watched,
"Master?" Blue Thunder asked, the other colts looked at him with surprise, Red Baron punched, kicked, bucked, and swatted the animals away and the colts watched,
"Come on, let's go." one colt ordered while patting another one's shoulder, they nodded at one another and ran forward. They did the obstacle course and arrived at the river stream, they began swimming but struggled against the strong tides, mind controlled piranhas began swimming to them and biting them and the colts screamed. Red Baron heard them and quickly flew into the water and swam, he grabbed and pulled the piranhas off of the colts and swatted them away with his wings, he moved much slower due to being submerged under water, the colts swam and some of them panted while Red Baron flew up into the sky and rolled around to get the piranhas off. The colts ran while panting and sweating and began traversing through sharp rocks, they screamed in pain while trying to go forward and got cuts on their hoofs, they went uphill and panted heavily, Red Baron flew as fast as he could and carried the colts to the end.
Hercules, Blunt Wings, Sharp Wings, Shadow Controller, Fog Maker, Staff Master, Sword Master, Convincer, and Persuader walked to Red Baron and the colts,
"What do you think you're doing?" Persuader inquired,
"This is too hard for beginner training, they would do better in a safer environment like indoors and having soft floors and mats." Red Baron explained,
"You saying those colts are too weak and soft to train in nature?" Staff Master asked,
"No, they're just not experienced enough, after some proper training and experience, they can do a course like this." Red Baron answered,
"What do you know about training to get stronger?" Blunt Wings questioned,
"I'm a former Wonderbolt, I also study and learn my pony kind's warrior history and practice them at home, so I'm trained in using the weapons of my ancestors as well." Red Baron responded, everybody except Blue Thunder looked at him with surprise,
"Well, that's interesting to know, what is your name?" Hercules asked,
"Red Baron." Red Baron replied,
"Red Baron, you say, I think I've seen your name somewhere before." Hercules remarked,
"Fastest male Wonderbolt ever, third fastest now behind my sister and Rainbow Dash." Red Baron answered,
"Oh, I recall now, I saw a picture of you and your name in a record book once." Hercules recalled,
"Fourth fastest if we count Lightning Dust." Sword Master spoke,
"I never saw that name in the Wonderbolts." Red Baron replied,
"Didn't think so, she was stripped of her position early into the Wonderbolts and left before she can really achieve anything." Sword Master stated,
"Tell you what, since you claim to be properly trained, I'll let you try to train the colts, I expect results, no improvement, and it's off with your head." Hercules warned,
"Training and improvement takes months, not an hour or two." Red Baron remarked,
"Regardless, I expect results, we'll be back in about an hour." Hercules stated, and he and the other eight stallions left.
Red Baron instructed the colts in a calm and commanding tone and they showed him what they have already learned and been trained to do, they showed him basic punches, kicks, grabs, grapples, joint locks, and swung sticks around like swords and used rocks as makeshift shields,
"That's it?" Red Baron asked, the colts nodded,
"Come on, I'll have you all do traditional beginner Pegasus warrior training from ancient times." Red Baron said, and he taught them in a calm and gentle manner, the colts were taught basic ways to block, dodge, and counter attacks and Red Baron taught them one colt at a time, they began to have fun and smile,
"Alright, that's good for first day, go ahead and play, guys." Red Baron said, the colts cheered and began play fighting. The colts had fun while Red Baron supervised them and corrected their postures and techniques when they messed up, Blue Thunder had trouble keeping up with the others while Red Baron held him up since he still had trouble due to his injuries, the colts play fought with him and he had fun with them while Red Baron smiled, the colts began to learn and memorize the techniques but stopped when they heard running, they saw Hercules and his eight stallions coming and they faced them,
"What is going on?" Hercules inquired,
"I'm letting them play and have fun so they can learn and remember the moves better later." Red Baron answered,
"Play? Have fun? That is not why they are trained, it is action and pain that is supposed to teach them!" Hercules fumed,
"Pain is not a good teacher from what I've seen in the past." Red Baron remarked,
"How is it not?" Sword Master inquired,
"I've seen ponies in the Wonderbolts make mistakes and get injured, the memories haunted them and the pain they felt at that moment was felt again when they remembered it." Red Baron responded,
"They sound weak and pathetic to me." Blunt Wings said,
"It can happen to anypony." Red Baron spoke,
"It hasn't happened to us." Convincer said,
"Have any of you actually been through painful training or got hit in a fight?" Red Baron questioned,
"Yes, we have." Sharp Wings replied,
"Well, you guys don't seem to have had any permanent or really painful injuries like how they have, those who experience trauma and still feel pain often have crippling and life changing injuries." Red Baron stated,
"Enough talk, we see the results of your training now." Hercules spoke,
"But one session isn't enough to make one improve." Red Baron snapped,
"No excuses, we see the results now, come on, kids." Persuader stated, the colts quivered,
"What's wrong, guys?" Blue Thunder inquired,
"We're gonna have to fight for real now." one colt answered,
"You mean like standing up to bullies in school?" Blue Thunder asked,
"No, like ancient warriors, with real weapons and can kill you if you get hit." another colt responded, Red Baron's eyes widened while Blue Thunder had a shocked expression,
"Hey, let's go!" Shadow Controller called out, Fog Maker teleported them closer to himself and the other eight stallions.
Red Baron and the colts appeared in an area that had flat ground and green grass everywhere, Shadow Controller and Fog Maker cast spells to put magic chains on them, Staff Master and Sword Master grabbed two colts and they begged while they got picked up and thrown forward, Blunt Wings and Sharp Wings then threw weapons to them. The colts picked up the swords and began hitting each other's blades while their hoofs got hurt, they panted and soon dropped their front legs from the pain,
"Use your hoofs." Persuader ordered, and they began punching and kicking each other slowly and softly,
"No, like this." Sharp Wings remarked while he and Blunt Wings walked to them, they punched and kicked them hard and they colts screamed from the pain, they laid on the ground and cried, Shadow Controller and Fog Maker moved them around with their telekinesis. The two colts began punching, kicking, tackling, and bucking one another while Red Baron watched uncomfortably and Blue Thunder had a shocked expression,
"Stop this! This isn't the way!" Red Baron begged, Shadow Controller and Fog Maker continued making them fight one another and one colt fell over and panted heavily and could not move,
"Kill him." Hercules ordered, Blue Thunder looked on with horror while Red Baron's eyes widened and his jaw dropped a little,
"No!" the colt begged while Shadow Controller moved him closer to the injured colt and he tried to resist. Red Baron flew as fast as he could and got through Fog Maker's telekinesis, he got between the two colts and he got attacked instead, Fog Maker teleported him away but Red Baron quickly moved back and protected the colt from getting attacked,
"Stop, it's hopeless, he's just going to keep coming back." Hercules said, and Fog Maker let him go,
"I see you're going to protect them and get in the way of us weeding out weak colts, it's really a shame, I was hoping you could be another addition to my group." Hercules spoke,
"If your actions is kidnapping random kids and forcing them to kill one another, then I will not support, this isn't weeding out weak ponies, this is forcing them to harm one another and traumatizing them." Red Baron retorted,
"It has to be done, if they can't endure pain and stomach making hard choices, then they are weak, we will be hunted by the dragons and changelings in the future if we don't toughen up now." Hercules spoke,
"We have won them over with love and friendship, so that seems unlikely, I think those foals have parents and families who miss them." Red Baron stated, the colts began to tear up,
"Crying over missing mommy and daddy, pathetic." Staff Master said,
"It is natural for kids as young as them to miss their parents." Red Baron retorted,
"I suggest you leave and pretend you never saw this." Hercules remarked,
"I am not going anywhere." Red Baron declared,
"Very well, since you refuse to leave, you must fight all nine of us in one-on-one battles to the death, if you win, you can take your servant pony with you, if you lose, you die." Hercules announced,
"No, if I win, I take all the colts with me." Red Baron declared,
"Fine, let's set the arrangements." Hercules stated, and Shadow Controller and Fog Maker teleported themselves and the other seven stallions elsewhere. Red Baron began stretching and Blue Thunder walked to him,
"Where's Night Witch and Airmail, master?" Blue Thunder asked,
"Elsewhere, turns out Airmail got captured by Hercules' sister and her group of mares, Night Witch has went to go free her." Red Baron answered,
"So they got her, too, I hope they're okay." Blue Thunder spoke,
"Me too, if one of us manage to take out the group we're fighting, we'll go look for each other, and that's if we do, there's no guarantee I'll win or survive this situation." Red Baron said,
"Aren't you scared, master?" Blue Thunder questioned,
"I am, but Wonderbolts training taught me how to stay calm and in control of my emotions in stressful situations, so yes, I do feel fear, but I can't let it control me and cloud my judgement and thinking and act on impulse." Red Baron answered,
"Oh." Blue Thunder said, the nine stallions reappeared,
"It's ready, let's begin." Hercules said, and Shadow Controller and Fog Maker teleported themselves and everybody else elsewhere.
Everybody arrived at a flat environment with a lot of grass and dirt everywhere, Blunt Wings, Sharp Wings, Staff Master, and Sword Master threw various weapons at Red Baron's front legs,
"You will fight us nine to the death, one at a time, we will be healed between every battle, too, you have a choice, you can either fight with weapons, or use hoof-to-hoof combat." Hercules announced,
"What about you guys?" Red Baron asked, Hercules held a sword in his front right hoof and a shield on his front left hoof, Blunt Wings held small rods in his front hoofs and had rings on his feathers' joints, Sharp Wings had knives in his front hoofs and spikes on his feathers, Shadow Controller had a spear in his front hoofs and more floating around him, Fog Maker had a big double-bladed axe in his front hoofs, Staff Master had a staff divided into three sections and connected with chains in his front right hoof, Sword Master had two swords and held them with his front hoofs, Persuader had wraps on his front hoofs that had three sharp bladed claws on them, and Convincer had a set of cards in his front hoofs, Red Baron picked up two shields with his front hoofs and held two swords with his wings,
"Very well, let's begin, Convincer will be your first opponent." Hercules said, and he walked forward.
Convincer bent the cards and moved them between his front hoofs and got ready, he threw them and Red Baron ducked, Convincer began flying around and throwing his cards while Red Baron strafed to his right while hiding behind his shields and Convincer's cards scratched them. Red Baron looked for an opening while Convincer flew around and went above him, he threw cards at his back and Red Baron cut them with his swords, he looked and saw the cards have put small cuts in the blades, he rolled a little and blocked the cards with his shields. Red Baron noticed they were getting a little wobbly, so he cut the cards with his swords and quickly flew when he saw more cards coming, he grunted under his breath when one card went past him and cut his cheek, Convincer saw an opening and threw cards with his wings as fast as he could, Red Baron strafed and rolled around and cut the cards that were near him while they cut the blades. Convincer saw Red Baron coming to him and he quickly flew back while his eyes widened and threw more cards at him faster than before, Red Baron blocked them with his shields while charging to him and Convincer panted while Red Baron caught up to him and then used a sword to cut his cards, his jaw dropped while he looked at his destroyed cards and Red Baron slashed his throat with a sword and he fell to the ground while the colts looked away, Red Baron landed and Fog Maker healed his wounds,
"You're up, Persuader." Hercules stated, and he walked forward.
Persuader ran forward and tried to slash Red Baron with his claws, he scratched the shields while Red Baron used his swords to block some of his attacks, his claws eventually got caught on the sword blades and they entered a deadlock, Persuader flew up and tried to kick Red Baron in his face with his hind legs but Red Baron laid on his back and kicked him away and over himself with his hind legs and Persuader grunted when he fell and slid on the ground. Persuader shook his head and exhaled sharply, Red Baron flew up a little and spun and threw his shields at him, Persuader flew up and dodged them and then charged forward, he tried to slash Red Baron with his claws but he hit them with his swords each time and the blades clanged, they slashed at one another but hit each other's blades each time. Red Baron watched carefully and looked for an opening, he saw Persuader about to do a downwards slash with his claws and he tried to slash his abdomen but Persuader quickly blocked the sword with his claws, he tried to slash Persuader's throat with his other sword and he quickly blocked it with his front right hoof's claws. Persuader tried to slash Red Baron's several times but he swayed side-to-side while flying backwards and dodged his attacks easily, he readied his swords and flew above Persuader and behind him, he did a downwards slash onto Persuader's six claws and broke them off, he looked on with bewilderment and then tried to punch Red Baron and stab the broken parts into him, he flew back quickly and threw the sword in his right wing at him and into Persuader's head, the colts looked away while cringing and Shadow Controller healed Red Baron's wounds, he then picked his weapons back up,
"Okay, next, Fog Maker." Hercules announced, and he walked forward.
Fog Maker cast a spell and made fog appear everywhere while Red Baron watched carefully, he ran around while Red Baron heard rustling and listened carefully, the rustling get louder behind him and he quickly put up his shields and blocked Fog Maker's axe, he then teleported and hid in the fog. Red Baron closed his eyes and listened carefully, he heard more rustling and listened to Fog Maker's footsteps, he arrived at Red Baron's right blind spot and tried to cut his neck but Red Baron blocked his axe with a sword and shield, he then bashed Fog Maker's face with the shield and disoriented him, he tried to slash his forehead with a sword and Fog Maker quickly teleported. Red Baron looked for Fog Maker but did not see him anywhere, he soon saw a black silhouette of his axe floating around in the thick fog and realized he has changed himself into fog, he watched the silhouette and it did not get any closer, he grunted loudly when he felt something cut into his back, he fell onto his knees and quickly blocked his back with his swords, he heard a clang and looked back and saw another axe, the other axe then began flying to him quickly and he blocked it with his shields, he tried to slash around the fog and nothing happened, he realized Fog Maker was currently invincible. Red Baron focused on the two axes while flying back and panting, he stumbled a bit and had trouble focusing, the two axes flew to him and tried to cut him, he threw his swords and shields away and Fog Maker held them up with his telekinesis, Red Baron grabbed one axe with his front hoofs and then moved it down onto his front right knee and broke the handle in half, they floated up into the air and tried to attack Red Baron, he then grabbed and broke the other axe, Fog Maker then threw the swords and shields at Red Baron but he grabbed them and rearmed himself, Fog Maker turned back to his unicorn form and tried to punch Red Baron but he stabbed him in his heart with a sword and he fell over, Shadow Controller then healed him while sweating,
"Shadow Controller, you're up." Hercules stated, and he walked forward.
Shadow Controller aimed his spears carefully and threw them at Red Baron, he blocked them with his shields and Shadow Controller then began trying to stab and slash him with the one in his front hoofs, Red Baron blocked it with his shields and hit it away with his swords. Shadow Controller cast a spell and made more spears float around him, he shot them forward with his magic and Red Baron flew around to dodge them but they flew and homed on him, Shadow Controller then used his magic to take his spears out of Red Baron's shields and made them fly and home on him, they flew to Red Baron's blind spots and he flew up higher and rolled around while the spears closed in on him and he blocked them with his shields, Shadow Controller jumped high into the sky and dived down while aiming the spear downwards, Red Baron pointed his swords upwards diagonally and stabbed Shadow Controller in his chest and the colts looked away, he turned pitch black like a shadow and disappeared. The spears continued flying after Red Baron and he blocked them with his shields and they flew out, he looked for Shadow Controller until his own shadow suddenly grabbed him and pulled him down, it tried to attack him with its swords and shields and Red Baron blocked them, the spears flew after him again and he hit their handles with his swords and broke them in half, they continued flying around and tried to attack him and Red Baron flew back while his shadow chased him and tried to stab its swords into his abdomen, he slashed its head and Shadow Controller jumped out, and went into one of the spears' shadows, Red Baron got an idea and flew to him, Shadow Controller jumped out of one shadow and into another a few times until Red Baron threw a sword into the shadow he was in and he exclaimed loudly and Red Baron's shadow returned to normal. It suddenly became pitch black and Red Baron's shadow began attacking him again, it punched and kicked his shields while more spears appeared in the air and flew around Red Baron, he flew up to dodge them when they came to him in all directions and their blades broke, he looked for Shadow Controller and did not see him anywhere, he saw his own shadow come to him and Red Baron stabbed his swords into it, Shadow Controller jumped out and began multiplying, they turned pitch black like shadows and began shooting spears at him with their magic, Red Baron flew at high speeds while holding his swords above and in front of himself, he slashed every Shadow Controller and they disappeared except for one, he tried to jump into a shadow but Red Baron slashed his neck with one sword and he changed back to normal while screaming, Red Baron then slashed his throat with his other sword and he fell over while everything changed back to normal, Hercules then threw a drink to him,
"What's this?" Red Baron asked while he saw Blunt Wings, Sharp Wings, Staff Master, and Sword Master looking on with disbelief,
"Healing potion, now drink up." Hercules replied, and he did and became fully healed,
"Staff Master, your turn." Hercules stated, and he walked forward.
Staff Master reeled up on his hind legs and spun his three-section staff around, Red Baron watched carefully since it was a weapon he was not familiar with, Staff Master spun it around and held the three-section staff above his head, Red Baron blocked the staff ends with his shields and Staff Master then spun around while bending his knees and tried to hit Red Baron's legs, he saw the staff ends and quickly flew up. Staff Master stood up while spinning his staff around and began making the staff ends bounce off of his own body and hit Red Baron's shields, they clanged loudly and hurt his front legs, they went around Red Baron's shields and hit the sides of his body, he grunted a little from the pain and tried to slash the staff but left scratches on it. Staff Master let the ends of his staff move around and Red Baron blocked each hit with his shields but the staff began denting them, he ducked under one attack and tried to slash Staff Master across his chest but he extended his staff out and spun around, the staff wrapped around the sword and got tangled, Red Baron tried to cut the chain with his other sword and Staff Master quickly bucked him and he grunted while his sword slid out from the staff's chain, he then began spinning it around again while moving the staff above his own shoulder or in front of himself. Red Baron watched carefully while Staff Master's staff moved very quickly and he did not see an opening, he swayed around and ducked to dodge each attack while watching Staff Master closely, he saw the staff get closer to him and noticed an opening, he flew up and Staff Master tried to hit him with the his staff's ends but they got blocked by Red Baron's shields, he blocked the staff from all sides and slashed Staff Master's back with both of his swords, Staff Master exclaimed loudly and glared and scowled at Red Baron and jumped back.
Red Baron flew around and Staff Master tried to hit him with his staff but Red Baron flew out of range and tried to pin the staff to the ground with his swords and shields, Staff Master quickly changed the direction he moved his staff and tried to hit Red Baron on his other side instead and Red Baron rolled a little on his sides and dodged it. Staff Master began running forward while spinning his staff and tried to hit Red Baron as quickly and as much as he could, he saw the staff was about to break through his shields and he bashed Staff Master's face, he grunted while reeling back, Red Baron tried to slash his throat but he quickly recovered and blocked it with his staff. Red Baron flew over Staff Master and tried to bash his back with his shields but he rolled to his right and dodged them, he held one end of his staff and swung it forward, the chains extended it a little and Red Baron saw the free end was about to hit his cheek, he blocked it with a shield and tried to cut the nearby chain with the sword in his right wing but Staff Master quickly moved his staff away, he then spun around and tried to hit Red Baron's left cheek with his staff's free end and he quickly flew down and dodged it while Staff Master held both ends of his staff and got ready. Staff Master began spinning his staff around quickly and in all directions, Red Baron blocked it with his shields and he noticed they were cracking and Staff Master's staff was about to break through them, Staff Master then jumped and got ready to hit Red Baron on his head, he quickly flew to his left and dodged Staff Master's attack, he flew away while Staff Master looked for him, he saw Red Baron close by and flying to him quickly, he held up his staff and held the ends out to hold Red Baron back, he flew into the staff and then cut its chains with his swords and the two ends fell, Staff Master looked on in shock while Red Baron quickly stabbed a sword's tip into his forehead and he fell over while the colts looked away, Hercules then threw another healing potion to him and Red Baron drank it while the other three stallions looked on in shock,
"Sword Master, you're up." Hercules stated, and he walked forward.
Sword Master held his two swords up while Red Baron held his two swords up with his wings and put his two shields in front of himself, Sword Master swung his swords around and then jumped and spun around, he headed downwards and spun his swords around, Red Baron blocked him with his swords and Sword Master's swords spun against them and sparks flew out everywhere, Red Baron pressed against Sword Master's swords to stop him and then jumped back. Sword Master jumped back and landed on his hoofs, he ran forward and did diagonal slashes with his swords while Red Baron blocked them, he separated his shields from one another and then pressed them together to catch Sword Master's swords between them, he then jumped and wrapped his hind legs around Red Baron's neck, he held his breath and exhaled sharply and then jumped back and landed on his back while Sword Master grunted when his face hit the ground. Red Baron jumped up while Sword Master spun a hundred eighty degrees and tried to slash Red Baron's hind legs, he heard him moving and jumped over his swords, Sword Master stood up and tried to stab his swords into Red Baron's hind legs but he flew up and Sword Master jumped in the air and spun around, he held his swords out and they left a red trail behind and around him while he cut anything his swords touched, Red Baron held his shields up while flying around and avoiding him, he noticed Sword Master's sides were not protected and he flew to his right blind spot and held a sword out, he cut Sword Master's side while flying by him and he fell while screaming. Sword Master stood up while exhaling sharply and shaking his head, he jumped and aimed his swords downwards at Red Baron's neck, he came down and Red Baron flew back while Sword Master's swords got stuck in the ground, Red Baron flew to him and Sword Master grabbed his swords' handles and tried to kick Red Baron with his hind legs or wrap them around his neck, he got his swords out of the ground and did a back flip and tried to cut Red Baron but he blocked the attack, Sword Master ran and slid under Red Baron and tried to slash his abdomen but he swung his body up and dodged him, he grunted under his breath when Sword Master's swords scratched his back, Sword Master then jumped back and tried to stab his swords into Red Baron's spine but he quickly turned around and bashed him with a shield as hard as he could, Sword Master grunted loudly as he fell onto his side and slid on the ground.
Sword Master got back up while scowling and Red Baron watched him with a stoic expression and focused, Sword Master ran forward and jumped and tried to cut Red Baron's wings off, he blocked Sword Master's swords with his swords and then bashed him in his face with a shield and disoriented him, Sword Master recovered in seconds and tried to kick Red Baron's shields up, he held them firmly in place and Sword Master exclaimed in pain. Red Baron tried to slash Sword Master's forehead but he ducked and a small part of his mane got cut, Sword Master tried to jump over Red Baron but he pressed his other shield on his abdomen and threw him over himself, Sword Master landed on his hoofs and then quickly turned around and jumped while doing diagonal slashes, Red Baron blocked the two slashes with his swords but got pushed back, Sword Master saw an opening and ran, he tried to stab one sword into Red Baron's forehead and his other sword into his heart, Red Baron blocked them with his shields and held them back with his swords and jumped back, he stumbled but stood on his hoofs. Sword Master ran and jumped, he spun his swords around with a red trail appearing behind them and going in a diagonal direction, Red Baron looked for an opening and noticed Sword Master did not stay in the air for long, Sword Master did the same move again and tried to send grass and dirt flying at Red Baron, he flew up and dodged them while noticing Sword Master was unprotected above and below himself, he came forward and Red Baron flew up and tried to slash and stab Sword Master in the back of his head, back of his neck, and spine, he felt a small cut on his back and he grunted loudly and fell over, he got up and charged towards Red Baron while having an enraged expression, he tried to slash Red Baron but hit the shields instead, he hit them as hard as he could while Red Baron blocked them. Red Baron front legs began to ache from how hard Sword Master was hitting his shields, he felt them vibrate while watching the swords carefully, he spread his front legs out and then quickly moved them away from one another and quickly pressed his shields together and caught Sword Master's swords between them, he tried to pull his swords but could not, Red Baron turned his front legs sideways and broke the swords, Sword Master jumped back while having a shocked face and Red Baron threw one of his swords at him and into his heart, the colts looked away while Red Baron took his sword back and Hercules gave him another potion while Blunt Wings and Sharp Wings had shocked expressions,
"Blunt Wings, your turn." Hercules said while Red Baron drank the potion and healed himself, and he walked forward.
Blunt Wings flew forward and tried to hit Red Baron in his joints and pressure points with his small rods but he swayed around and dodged them with ease and moved his shields around to block the rods, he saw Blunt Wings try to punch him with the rings on his feathers' joints and noticed they had small hammer-like heads protruding from them, he flew under Blunt Wings while he punched the ground and his rings put holes in it. Red Baron flew to Blunt Wings and tried to slash him from behind but Blunt Wings quickly unfolded his wings and covered himself and his rings blocked the swords, he turned around and tried to press his rods on the sides of Red Baron's neck but he held up his shields and blocked them while the rods put holes in them, Blunt Wings then tried to punch Red Baron with his rings and he moved his head around to dodge him, the rings hit him a few times and he had a pained expression since it felt like the rings cracked his bones. Blunt Wings continued punching Red Baron with his rings and he tried blocking them with his swords but the blades got damaged and shards fell off of them, Red Baron flew up and kicked him in his face with his hind legs and Blunt Wings grunted while the kick made him look away, Red Baron then tried to stab his neck but Blunt Wings held his wings out in front of him and blocked the sword with his rings, he then flew forward and tried to ram Red Baron but he flew over him and tried to slash Blunt Wings' back but he flew down lower and dodged it, he turned around and Red Baron bashed him with a shield while Blunt Wings held a rod out and it left an indent in it, Red Baron then bashed the back of Blunt Wings' neck with the bottom of his other shield and he grunted while falling onto the ground. Blunt Wings got back up and tried to hit Red Baron with his rods and he flew around to avoid him and Blunt Wings chased him, he could not catch up to Red Baron and he then rolled to be upside-down and kicked Blunt Wings over himself with his hind legs and held his swords up, they scratched his wings and he screamed while falling onto the ground.
Red Baron got ready to attack Blunt Wings but he jumped in the air and did a back flip, he tried to kick Red Baron in the back of his neck with his hind legs but he reeled up on his hind legs and flew back and dodged him, Blunt Wings flew to him and tried to punch Red Baron, he ducked and swayed back to dodge every punch. Red Baron looked for an opening and noticed Blunt Wings' sides were vulnerable, he flew to his right blind spot and tried to cut the side of Blunt Wings' neck but scratched him, he screamed and quickly turned to face him, he tried to punch Red Baron with his rings and he flew back and then over him, he slashed the rings from behind and they fell onto the ground. Blunt Wings had a shocked expression and then scowled at Red Baron, he tried hitting him with his rods but Red Baron blocked them with his shields, he noticed rings on Blunt Wings' front hoofs that sometimes made the rods spin around, he continued trying to hit Red Baron in the sides of his neck, shoulder blades, knees, and sternum while he blocked and dodged each attack, he saw Blunt Wings about to do another attack with his rods and he blocked them with his swords, they entered a deadlock and Red Baron pushed Blunt Wings back and he staggered a little, he tried to slash Blunt Wings' throat but he moved his head back and screamed when the sword's tip scratched him. Blunt Wings panted and he flew as fast as he could and tried to jab his rods into Red Baron's eyes, he looked down and Blunt Wings then hit the base of Red Baron's neck, he fell onto the ground and Blunt Wings flew down to him, Red Baron laid on his back and held his shields up and blocked Blunt Wings' rods, he flew up and went behind Blunt Wings and slashed the rings on his front hoofs, he gripped the rods more tightly and tried to attack Red Baron with them, he slashed his front legs' knees and he screamed while dropping them, he then did two horizontal slashes across Blunt Wings' chest with his swords and he fell onto the ground, Hercules gave him another potion and Red Baron drank it while Sharp Wings looked on with shock,
"Sharp Wings, it's up to you." Hercules spoke, and he walked forward.
Sharp Wings flew around and tried to stab his knives into Red Baron's forehead and he ducked and dodged them, he tried to slash Sharp Wings' head and he moved his head back and dodged it, he then tried to slash Red Baron's sternum and he blocked them while Sharp Wings put a hole in both of the shields, he then lifted his front left leg up and tried to stab his knife over the shields and into Red Baron's head, he tried to cut his leg but Sharp Wings unfolded his left wing and blocked the attack with the spikes on his feathers, Red Baron grunted a little and moved his right wing back, he looked and saw the spikes cut him and put cuts in his shields. Sharp Wings flew around and tried to attack Red Baron with his knives and he blocked and dodged all of his attacks while Sharp Wings unfolded his wings and tried to cut him whenever he got out of range of his knives, the spikes cut the shields several times, he watched Sharp Wings carefully while he flew around, he flew above and around Red Baron and the spikes on his wings cut him, he watched him carefully and saw Sharp Wings flying above him again, he got above Red Baron and he quickly laid on his back and held his swords up, the tips cut Sharp Wings' chest and abdomen as he flew by and he stumbled and screamed. Sharp Wings continued flying and turned around, he flew to Red Baron and tried to slash him with his knives while Red Baron blocked them with his swords and Sharp Wings tried to go around them and Red Baron blocked them with his shields, he flew and pressed Sharp Wings back while he held the shields back, he flew up and spun around, the spikes on his feathers cut the shields several times and Red Baron quickly flew back while Sharp Wings flew to him and tried to cut him with his spikes, he blocked them with his swords and they got long scratches on the blades, he rolled a little and flew upside-down and kicked Sharp Wings in his liver and he grunted while stumbling and fell. Red Baron flew to him and got ready to slash him but Sharp Wings quickly unfolded his wings and Red Baron heard a tinging sound, he flew back while Sharp Wings folded his feathers and there were cuts on his shields, Sharp Wings flew up and spun around while trying to cut Red Baron but he was out of range, he flew to him and tried to cut his body with his spikes while Red Baron leaned back and watched him carefully, he saw an opening and tried to cleave Sharp Wings' head but he blocked the sword with a knife, Red Baron then tried to stab his other sword into his heart but he blocked it with his other knife, they entered a deadlock and Red Baron threw Sharp Wings over himself and he fell onto the ground.
Sharp Wings flew to him and began spinning around with his wings unfolded and moved like a circular saw blade, Red Baron flew to his left and held a sword out, the tip cut Sharp Wings and he screamed and stopped spinning, he growled a little while Red Baron watched him stoically. Sharp Wings ran to him and jumped and tried to kick him with his hind hoofs, Red Baron held his shields up and Sharp Wings kicked them, Red Baron then lifted his front legs up while rolling to fly upside-down and threw Sharp Wings over himself, he saw Sharp Wings has unfolded his wings and pointed the feathers downward, they cut his shoulders and he grunted loudly, Sharp Wings landed on his hoofs and then flew to Red Baron and tried to stab a knife into his head but he flew up and dodged him, Sharp Wings then flew below Red Baron and tried to slash his abdomen but Red Baron kicked him with his hind hoofs and he grunted while falling onto the ground and put a crater in it. Red Baron flew down and aimed his swords at Sharp Wings' head and heart but he flew away and went above Red Baron, he tried to stab his knives into the base of his neck but Red Baron blocked it with his swords, he then did a back flip and kicked Sharp Wings with his hind hoofs and made him go in front of him, Sharp Wings landed on his hoofs and then flew to Red Baron and tried to slash him with his spikes but he held up his shields and noticed the spikes were now cutting through them, he kicked Sharp Wings in his abdomen with his hind right hoof and he grunted while falling and he quickly flew back up, he tried to cross his wings and place them to the sides of Red Baron's neck, he closed them and tried to cut his head off but Red Baron held his wings back with his front legs and shields, he headbutted Sharp Wings in his forehead and he grunted while becoming disoriented and Red Baron flew backwards. Sharp Wings scowled at him and flew to him as fast as he could, he tried to stab his knives into his face but Red Baron held his shields up and the knives stabbed through them and got stuck, Red Baron then turned his shields and front legs sideways and broke the blades, Sharp Wings then tried to fly by him and cut him with his spikes and he flew downwards and dodged him, he did upward slashes and cut the joints closest to Sharp Wings' body, he screamed and fell and got back up, he faced Red Baron and ran to him but Red Baron swung a sword down and into the center of Sharp Wings' forehead, the colts looked away while Sharp Wings fell over backwards, Hercules looked on with disbelief while Red Baron flew to the nearest potion and took it, he flew back and drank it and was fully healed,
"Your turn, Hercules." Red Baron said, and he composed himself and walked forward.
Hercules raised his sword and shield while Red Baron watched him carefully, he ran very fast and tried to slash Red Baron with his sword, he blocked it with his shields but they got knocked around with each hit and his front legs began to get tired, he saw Hercules' sword coming and he blocked it with his swords, his wings got pushed back and he entered a deadlock with him, Hercules began to overpower him easily and Red Baron began to fall over, he quickly kicked Hercules in his chin and he grunted and stumbled, his sword went down and Red Baron flew away. Red Baron stood back up and Hercules tried to slash his throat and he blocked it with his shields and then tried to slash Hercules' forehead with his swords but he blocked them with his shield, he then bashed Red Baron in his face with his shield and he grunted and fell onto the ground while becoming disoriented and his head became numb, he grunted while getting up and jumped back when he saw Hercules in front of him and about to stab his sword into his forehead, he hit the sword with a shield and swatted it away and then tried to cleave Hercules' forehead but he blocked it with his shield and Red Baron's blade shook and vibrated while his wing hurt. Hercules jumped and tried to stab his sword into his Red Baron's spine and he quickly covered his back with his shields, Hercules stabbed a hole in one shield and then wrapped his front left hoof around Red Baron's throat and began to strangle him, he gasped for breath while Hercules tried to move his leg and break Red Baron's neck, he did a somersault and landed on his back and pressed Hercules onto the ground, he grunted and struggled to breathe and he kicked Red Baron into the air with his hind legs and he flew and stopped himself. Hercules sprang himself into the air and jumped and landed on his hoofs, Red Baron flew to behind him and tried to slash Hercules' spine but he blocked his swords with his shield and then bashed Red Baron's face with it, he grunted but focused while Hercules jumped and spun in midair, he held his sword out and tried to cut Red Baron's throat but he blocked his attack with his swords and they clanged while Hercules' sword went past them, he bashed Hercules' face with a shield and he grunted while falling onto the ground, he tried to stab a sword into Hercules' heart but he rolled backward and stood back up.
Red Baron got his swords and shields ready while Hercules held his sword and shield up and watched him carefully, he jumped and Red Baron saw him coming down, he flew back but Hercules rolled in the air and opened his body, he kicked Red Baron's swords and shields with his hind legs and almost broke them while pushing Red Baron back, he ran and did diagonal slashes with his sword and tried to hit the back of Red Baron's neck with the bottom of his shield, Red Baron punched him in his jaw with his wing and pushed him back a little. Hercules jumped over Red Baron while doing a somersault and cut Red Baron's spine a little, he grunted a little under his breath and got ready to stab his sword into the base of his neck, he quickly laid on the ground and dodged the blade while Hercules went past him and landed, they quickly turned around and faced one another, Hercules began swinging his sword around a few times and Red Baron blocked each attack with his swords, he pressed his shields together and squeezed Hercules' neck between them, he gasped for air and then did a back flip and took Red Baron into the air, he flew and prevented Hercules from falling, he kicked Red Baron in his abdomen with his hind knee and he grunted while losing his grip and Hercules freed himself and landed on his hoofs while taking a deep breath. Hercules jumped and spun around with his sword held out and he tried to slash Red Baron, he held his shields up and Hercules began cutting through them like a saw, Red Baron stabbed Hercules in his sides with his swords and he screamed while falling down, he jumped and kicked his hind legs around and Red Baron jumped back, Hercules then landed on his hoofs and lunged forward towards Red Baron, he held his shield in front of himself and tried to tackle Red Baron, he flew over him and dodged him, he landed and then turned around and jumped, he got ready to stab his sword into Red Baron but he bashed him with a shield and he grunted while falling. Red Baron flew to him and tried to slash Hercules but he blocked one sword with his shield and held the other back with his sword, he moved his front legs up as hard as he could and broke Red Baron's sword blades and got back up while Red Baron threw the sword handles away.
Hercules got back up and tried to slash Red Baron with his sword but he blocked him with his heavily damaged shields and they began to fall apart, Hercules bashed them with his shield and dented them, he saw an opening and Red Baron flew up and wrapped his hind legs around Hercules' neck and choked him, he gasped for air while trying to get him off but Red Baron stayed on him, Hercules fell onto the ground and then rolled around and Red Baron's body hit the ground a few times, Hercules bashed Red Baron's back and he grunted while loosening his grip and Hercules stood up, he tried to slash Red Baron but he held up the shield on his front left hoof and blocked it, the attack broke the shield into pieces and Red Baron took the straps off. Red Baron held his remaining shield in front of himself while Hercules readied himself while smiling, he tried to slash and stab Red Baron's defenseless side and Red Baron flew around and moved the shield around to block his attacks, he bashed Hercules' face a few times but it only stunned him for a second, Hercules bashed him in his face and Red Baron grunted, he saw Hercules' sword coming and blocked it, he continued doing horizontal, vertical, and diagonal slashes and Red Baron held his shield up while small pieces of it broke off, he bashed Hercules' face again and he grunted while the shield cracked and more pieces fell off, Hercules smiled and began attacking more, the shield cracked more and then bashed it with his shield, Red Baron saw it was about to break and flew back while taking the shield's straps off of his front right leg, he threw it and hit Hercules in his jaw, he grunted loudly and fell while the shield broke into pieces on impact. Red Baron lifted his front legs up and saw Hercules stand up, he ran to him and tried to slash, stab, and bash him, Red Baron flew and dodged each attack while remaining calm but sweating profusely, he saw Hercules about to try to slash him again and he punched him in his jaw, he grunted and got staggered a little, he looked at Red Baron and he got punched in his face again, he bashed Red Baron's face and stunned him and then tried to stab him but Red Baron recovered and moved back, he saw another slash coming and he ducked but his back got scratched, Red Baron grabbed Hercules' shield and reached for the straps with his wings, Hercules tried to stab him in his abdomen but Red Baron kicked his front right leg away with his hind left hoof and knocked the sword out of his hoof and away, he then undid the straps and took the shield off and flew away, he pulled on the sides and dropped the shield on his hind right knee and broke it in half. Hercules raised his front legs and he and Red Baron ran to one another and began punching each other, Red Baron kicked Hercules in his liver with his hind knee and he grunted a little, Hercules spun and did a kick with his hind left leg and kicked Red Baron in his sternum, he grunted loudly and he flew back a few inches and slid on the ground, Hercules lunged to him and got on top of him, he began to strangle Red Baron and tried to headbutt him but Red Baron jabbed his front hoofs into his eyes and he exclaimed while moving off of him, he got up and looked for Hercules' sword and saw it, he flew to it but Hercules tackled him and they began punching one another, Red Baron eventually locked Hercules' front legs' knee joints and twisted them and he grunted loudly, Hercules began kicking Red Baron in his abdomen with his hind knees and he grunted, they began strangling one another and rolled around on the ground, Red Baron saw Hercules' sword to his right and he punched him in his throat with his wing, Hercules screamed and got off of him while Red Baron grabbed Hercules' sword with his front right hoof, he saw Hercules recover and about to attack him again but Red Baron flew and went above him and stabbed the sword into the top and center of Hercules' head while he had a shocked expression, Red Baron landed in front of him and faced away while the colts had dropped jaws,
"You lose, Hercules." Red Baron said, and Hercules fell over backwards.
The colts cheered while Red Baron fell to his knees and Blue Thunder stumbled to him,
"I can't believe you did it, master, you actually took out all nine of them." Blue Thunder stated,
"It wasn't easy, and I'd like to rest for now, I'm tired, I'll look around and see where we're at and try to get you all home after I recover." Red Baron replied,
"Anymore of those healing potions there?" Blue Thunder asked,
"Nope, that was the last one." a colt answered,
"I'll take a break now, you all go ahead and have fun, you all are free now." Red Baron spoke,
"Thank you so much, we can finally go back home to mommy and daddy." another colt stated, Red Baron smiled and the colts played around. Red Baron rested for about three hours and then flew up to see where they were and went back down,
"I'll go ahead and take you all to the nearest town and report you all to the police station, Blue Thunder will be coming with me afterwards so we can look for my sister and her servant." Red Baron spoke, and he carried four colts at a time to the nearest town and dropped them off to the police station, all of them said bye to him and wished him and Blue Thunder good luck on finding his sister and her servant, Red Baron then flew back and put Blue Thunder on his back,
"They all wished us good luck, Blue Thunder." Red Baron said,
"That's nice of them, I hope they can reunite with their families." Blue Thunder stated,
"Me too, well, let's go look for Night Witch and Airmail now." Red Baron stated, and he flew away.
Red Baron was sitting across from Doctor Whooves,
"Blue Thunder and I found Night Witch, Airmail, and the fillies in the desert after about maybe an hour of flying, we took them to the nearest town too and they reported to law enforcement on what happened." Red Baron reported,
"Well, that was rather quick, it seems you didn't have much interaction with your opponents like how your sister did with hers." Doctor Whooves remarked,
"Well, Amazon did give Night Witch several chances, Hercules found out quickly I wasn't going to support or approve of what he was doing, I guess he wanted to get rid of me immediately." Red Baron deduced,
"I guess, you don't sound traumatized by your experiences, though." Doctor Whooves said,
"I'm not, if anything, I regret what I did, I know it was a life or death situation, but I'm still not happy on how it turned out, same with Night Witch, that's why we came here, to get it off of our chests." Red Baron replied,
"Well, if you wish, I could use skilled and experienced ponies like you and Night Witch, there's a powerful creature named Claudius in this world wreaking havoc, I've been gathering ponies throughout Equestria to help us take him down." Doctor Whooves spoke,
"Sure, I'll go ahead and meet the others." Red Baron answered, and he walked out and brought Night Witch back in,
"I'll help after I recover." Night Witch stated,
"Great, let's take you two to meet the others." Doctor Whooves spoke, and he led them to the back of his house and used a device to open a portal and they entered and met the others,
"Alright, I think this is enough, Doctor Whooves." Demonicus said,
"Alright, you'll have time to heal, Night Witch, I got two more patients to see, and I'll be done being a therapist and we can go after Claudius together." Doctor Whooves stated, Night Witch smiled while Doctor Whooves went through the portal and back into his house, Red Baron and Night Witch soon came out and Red Baron paid him twenty bits, they went home and Doctor Whooves rested for the rest of the day.
Doctor Whooves was watching the unicorns make talismans with their magic and enchanted any good luck charms the Pegasi and earth ponies made, everybody went on with their days happily while Roseluck ran to him,
"Here you go, dear, a charm to protect you from anymore evil patients since you've already had two of them." Roseluck said,
"Thank you, though I doubt it will work." Doctor Whooves remarked,
"It will, darling, the next time you get an evil patient, it will glow and alert you that they are bad at heart." Roseluck stated,
"I'll give it a try." Doctor Whooves said, Derpy flew to him and crashed, she stood up and held a badly made wooden doll of him and herself,
"Here, you go, Doctor, I made you a good luck charm that will heal you when you're injured or mentally tired, I made it shaped like this as a symbol of our friendship." Derpy explained,
"Thank you." Doctor Whooves replied while he took it,
"Will you have time to hang out today?" Roseluck asked,
"Depends, but from what I've heard and read about my patient today, unlikely." Doctor Whooves responded,
"Oh, that's too bad, I'd like to hang out with you as a friend again like how we used to." Derpy lamented,
"Come on, Derpy, let's go have fun ourselves since he said he probably have time to hang out with us today." Roseluck said, and they walked away while Doctor Whooves went home. He entered his house and then sat at his desk while waiting for his patient, he sighed while looking at the gifts he just received until he heard walking outside about twenty five minutes later, he saw the earth pony stallion come in, he had a white coat, short bright blue mane and tail, and blue eyes, his cutie mark was a white amulet with a sapphire in the center of it. He sat across from Doctor Whooves,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Stone Enchanter, I'm a talisman maker by using natural materials and alchemy." the stallion responded,
"Alright, let's get started." Doctor Whooves spoke, and Stone Enchanter began to tell his tale.
Stone Enchanter was an alchemist who lived alone in the woods, he went outside to collect natural materials and smashed them to make them into liquid, he then got a rock and used tools to shape and polish it, he then got one of his jewels and examined it carefully, he put it in the newly made amulet and then connected a chain to it and poured a little bit of his newly made liquid on it to magically enchant it, he smiled and put it in a cardboard box and started writing a letter, he went outside and walked to the nearest post office and filed it in. A few days passed and a Pegasus stallion arrived at his house, Stone Enchanter gave him the newly made talisman and the Pegasus paid him fifty bits, they thanked one another and the Pegasus left, Stone Enchanter put his money away and then looked at a list and saw he had no more clients at the moment, he headed outside and began collecting more natural materials.
Stone Enchanter collected leaves, grass, tree bark, honey, clovers, dirt, rocks, stones, and water, he put them in his house and examined them carefully, he cracked the rocks and looked for any precious stones inside, he found a few and stored them in his home. He sat and looked out a window and smiled while taking in the view of nature, he relaxed for a few hours and felt comfort when the wind blew on his face, his attention got caught when he heard fast running in the grass and panting, the rustling got louder and it was coming to his house's door, he stood up and walked to it. He opened the door and saw an earth pony stallion sprinting while panting very heavily and sweating profusely, he had a dark gray coat, long and disheveled black mane and tail, red eyes, and his cutie mark was a striped prisoner uniform, he arrived and almost ran into Stone Enchanter, he grabbed the stallion's shoulders and held him back,
"Thank goodness I found you, I'm being hunted, cursed, I need a talisman made to ward off the evil spirit or I will die." the stallion explained quickly while panicking,
"Slow down, what is it you need?" Stone Enchanter asked,
"A talisman that wards off ghosts, please hurry, I don't have much time yet." the stallion begged,
"Ghosts? I've never made a talisman that wards off one before." Stone Enchanter stated,
"Please, if you don't, my fate will be sealed, I'll pay you anything and any price." the stallion stated, Stone Enchanter suddenly heard a shattering sound behind the stallion a white flash appeared, the stallion had a cut appear down his entire spine and he fell over while Stone Enchanter stood back, he touched the stallion's neck and there was no pulse. He looked up and jumped back a little when he saw an earth pony stallion a little far away, he had a black coat, a long red disheveled and unkempt mane and tail with split ends, red eyes, and his cutie mark was a gray statue of an earth pony stallion, he was very skinny with red scabs and boils all over his body and was holding a knife in his front right hoof, Stone Enchanter saw the stallion looking at him, he then held up a miniature statue of Stone Enchanter in his front left hoof and showed it to him, he then moved backwards and vanished into thin air.
Stone Enchanter sweated heavily while panting a little hard, he checked the stallion and he did not have anything to identify him nor any references to his family or friends, he made a wooden gravestone and buried the stallion and paid his respects, he watched his surroundings for the other stallion and did not see him anywhere, he headed home quickly and went through his family's book on making talismans to repel ghosts. He flipped through the pages quickly and noticed he did not have enough ingredients and materials to make one whole talisman, so he took parts and pieces of the various talismans he could make and smashed them together, he then poured various ghost repelling liquids on it and sighed while hoping it will work. Stone Enchanter looked at the talisman while panting a little heavily and prayed for it to work, he held his front hoofs together and kept his head down while waiting for the stallion to reappear, he soon heard a strange noise outside and the same noise when the stallion cut a miniature statue with his knife. Stone Enchanter felt a sudden sharp pain on the back of his head until the talisman glowed and repelled the attack, he gasped and panted heavily, he looked at his door and saw the stallion there,
"You actually repelled my spell, what a surprise." the stallion spoke with a deep and hoarse voice,
"Who are you?" Stone Enchanter questioned,
"That is no concern of yours, I'm here to give you proposal, I've grown bored, since you can make talismans to repel my powers, why don't you try to save my next victims?" the stallion suggested,
"I'm not taking part in a sick game of yours." Stone Enchanter stated,
"Shame, I guess you wouldn't mind me going after your customers then." the stallion remarked, Stone Enchanter looked at him and the stallion then held a small gold pocket watch in his front right hoof, he then showed him a miniature statue of a unicorn stallion who had a green coat, short dark red mane and tail, pink eyes, and his cutie mark was a watermelon, he stood up when he realized it was one of his previous customers and the ghost disappeared. Stone Enchanter looked and saw the talisman was still intact, he quickly ran out of his house and through the woods.
Stone Enchanter ran to the nearest post office and looked up the address of the stallion named Watermelon Seed, he quickly left and sprinted to the train station and got a ticket, he boarded it and watched outside anxiously, the train arrived at the stop closest to Watermelon Seed's farm and he got off quickly. He ran to his home and he saw Watermelon Seed tending to his fields, he ran as fast as he could while Watermelon Seed looked at him,
"Wait! Watermelon Seed!" Stone Enchanter called out,
"Oh, Stone Enchanter, what are you doing here?" Watermelon Seed asked,
"Here, take this talisman, there's a ghost going around killing ponies and you're its next target." Stone Enchanter explained,
"Oh, nonsense, you know that Princess Twilight and her mentors would've dealt with it already." Watermelon Seed remarked,
"Well, if that's the case, they didn't get this one, now take it." Stone Enchanter insisted,
"Alright, how much do I have to pay you?" Watermelon Seed asked,
"This one's free." Stone Enchanter responded, Watermelon Seed looked at him and got ready to take the talisman until Stone Enchanter suddenly turned to his right when an invisible force pulled him, the ghost appeared in front of him and held his pocket watch in Stone Enchanter's face while Watermelon Seed looked on in shock, the ghost then held the miniature statue of Watermelon Seed with his front left hoof while his clock disappeared and his knife appeared, he then cut Watermelon Seed's statue and a shattering sound was heard while Watermelon Seed's statue got engulfed in light red flames and disappeared, a white light appeared and Watermelon Seed had a big cut down his entire spine and his lifeless body fell onto the ground, Stone Enchanter looked on in horror while the ghost forced him to look at him and he held a new statue in his front left hoof, it was a Pegasus with a light blue coat, bright orange mane and tail, orange eyes, and his cutie mark was two paintbrushes where one had blue paint on it and the other had orange paint on it, the ghost then disappeared.
Stone Enchanter realized the ghost's target was Color Contrast, another one of his previous customers, he ran to the train station and got a ticket, he boarded the train and got off at the nearest town, he ran to the post office and looked up Color Contrast's address and went back to the train station to get another ticket and boarded the train. He looked outside while sweating very heavily and the other ponies noticed, he waited for the train to arrive at the nearest stop to Color Contrast's home and breathed heavily, the train arrived at it about an hour later and Stone Enchanter ran off of the train quickly.
Stone Enchanter sprinted through the woods and Color Contrast's home was far away, he ran as fast as he could while panting very heavily. He sprinted through the thick grass and saw a wooden shack with four canvas' up ahead, one had an image made with red and green paint, one was made with blue and orange paint, one was made with yellow and purple paint, and one was made with white and black paint. He ran to them and saw Color Contrast using a talisman to make his paintbrushes move on their own and paint more images on all four canvas', he looked to his right and saw Stone Enchanter coming,
"Stone Enchanter? What are you doing here?" Color Contrast asked,
"You gotta take this talisman, Color Contrast, you're marked for death by a ghost." Stone Enchanter explained,
"Let him come." Color Contrast said,
"What?" Stone Enchanter blurted out,
"Look at my conditions, Stone Enchanter, I'm basically broke and living in a rundown shack, all of my family is gone, I have no friends, I can't get employment, and I haven't been able to forget all of the bullying and mistreatment I went through before I moved out here to get away from them, I'm ready for my life to be over, I'm only painting now as a way to pass the time while I wait for death." Color Contrast explained,
"You don't want to be my friend or stay in touch with me?" Stone Enchanter questioned,
"I don't have any way of communicating with the outside world, and even when I did meet you at your home to have a talisman made to help me paint, I was meant with physical attacks and insults by other people, I lost my desire to form bonds ever since." Color Contrast stated,
"What about painting?" Stone Enchanter asked,
"I'm burnt out over it, I only started to escape from the reality of living in a dysfunctional household with family members not approving of my cutie mark talents." Color Contrast responded,
"How long have you been painting?" Stone Enchanter inquired,
"Ever since I was four years old." Color Contrast responded,
"Oh, I see, I'd be tired by now too if I made talismans for that long." Stone Enchanter said,
"See, you do understand, let the ghost come, I'm tired of life, I hope my life after reincarnation or the afterlife will be better for me if they are real." Color Contrast spoke,
"Well, I suppose there's no changing your mind, I'll pay my respects to you after the ghost takes you." Stone Enchanter stated,
"Thank you." Color Contrast replied, and they waited, an invisible force made Stone Enchanter look to his left and the ghost reappeared, he showed his pocket watch and Stone Enchanter saw Color Contrast's time was up, he then cut the miniature statue of him with his knife, a white light appeared and Color Contrast had a big cut down his entire spine and he fell onto the grass, the ghost then held up a new statue, it was a unicorn stallion with a white coat, a short black mane and tail, turquoise eyes, and his cutie mark was a chef's hat, the ghost floated backwards and disappeared, Stone Enchanter realized his next target was Gourmet Cook, he paid his respects to Color Contrast and sprinted to the faraway post office, he found Gourmet Cook's address and then went to the train station to get a ticket and boarded the train. Stone Enchanter sat and looked outside, he closed his eyes and looked down while thinking about Color Contrast, he waited for the train to arrive near Gourmet Cook's home and he got off.
Stone Enchanter ran to Gourmet Cook's house and knocked on the door frantically, there was no answer, he looked through one window and saw he was not home, he ran around and looked into the cafes and diners around the area and did not see him, he saw a restaurant in the center of the town and entered, he called out for Gourmet Cook and he looked at him,
"Can I talk to you?" Stone Enchanter requested,
"Hold on, it's not my break time yet." Gourmet Cook answered, Stone Enchanter nodded and he sat and waited while Gourmet Cook cooked exotic dishes for the customers and everybody cheered while he did tricks with the cast iron and oils to make fire fly up, he then spun and threw his silverware around and put on a show while the customers clapped, he then took a talisman out and Stone Enchanter realized it was the one he made for him, he held it up and the jewel in its center glowed, the flames took on pony forms and began dancing in the cast iron, they danced and then gathered in the center of the cast iron and exploded with a small mushroom cloud of fire going into the air and fizzled out. The ponies cheered and Gourmet Cook took his break, he then walked and sat across from Stone Enchanter,
"What can I do for you, Stone Enchanter?" Gourmet Cook asked,
"A ghost is coming for you, I'm here to give you this talisman so you can repel him." Stone Enchanter answered as he showed it to him, Gourmet Cook looked at him and then took it,
"I don't believe you, but since your last talisman worked and you don't seem to be lying, I'll take it, how much does it cost?" Gourmet Cook questioned,
"This one's free." Stone Enchanter responded,
"Okay, I can make you a dish if you wish." Gourmet Cook suggested,
"I spent a lot of my money on train tickets already." Stone Enchanter responded,
"How much money do you have left?" Gourmet Cook asked, Stone Enchanter took out his remaining bits and he did not have enough money to buy anything in the restaurant,
"Oh, that's too bad, I could've made you something delicious, but it is nice to see you again." Gourmet Cook commented,
"I'll stay by you for now in case the talisman doesn't work." Stone Enchanter stated,
"Okay, just don't get in the way when I'm working." Gourmet Cook said,
"Noted." Stone Enchanter responded,
"Good, I'll go ahead and continue my shift now." Gourmet Cook spoke, and he walked away. Stone Enchanter sat and watched Gourmet Cook work until it was time for him to go home, they went to his house and Stone Enchanter watched Gourmet Cook carefully, nothing happened and Gourmet Cook sat and read a cooking magazine, Stone Enchanter looked at the cover and saw the magazine was about famous chefs and restaurants throughout Equestria, he then suddenly felt something pull him to his left and he looked while Gourmet Cook noticed, the ghost appeared and held his pocket watch in front of Stone Enchanter's face while Gourmet Cook's eyes widened, the ghost's pocket watch changed to a knife and he then cut the miniature statue of Gourmet Cook and it turned into flames and disappeared, a brief white light appeared and a big slash down Gourmet Cook's spine appeared and he fell onto the floor while the talisman shattered, Stone Enchanter looked on in shock while the ghost made him focus on him, he held the next statue in his front left hoof, it was a unicorn stallion who had a dark purple coat, long dark red mane and tail, orange eyes, and his cutie mark was a sewing needle, the ghost then moved back and disappeared. Stone Enchanter noticed the ghost's next target was Thread Spool, he quickly went to the train station to get a ticket and boarded it, he panted heavily while he waited for the train to stop at the nearest stop at his home and he got off.
Stone Enchanter ran home and quickly began making another talisman while panting heavily, he thought about Thread Spool and soon heard running coming near his house, two stallions ran into his home, one was a unicorn who had a red coat, short black mane and tail, purple eyes, and his cutie mark was a brown wide brim hat, the other was a Pegasus who had a blue coat, long white mane and tail, yellow eyes, and his cutie mark was a gold police badge, they held Stone Enchanter down and he grunted while the unicorn had a black aura appear on his horn and cuffed Stone Enchanter's hoofs, the Pegasus picked him up and flew elsewhere while the unicorn teleported. Stone Enchanter got taken to the nearest police station and tied to a chair,
"Stone Enchanter, you are under arrest for the murders of Petty Crook, Watermelon Seed, Color Contrast, and Gourmet Cook, how do you plead?" the Pegasus asked,
"Wait, I don't know anypony named Petty Crook." Stone Enchanter responded,
"He's that earth pony we found buried by your home." the unicorn stated,
"Oh, him, he came to me demanding to have ghost repelling talisman made, he was killed shortly afterwards by said ghost, the ghost targeted me next but I made a talisman and repelled him, he then began targeting my previous customers, Watermelon Seed was first, Color Contrast was next, and Gourmet Cook was his most recent, I managed to give Gourmet Cook my talisman to repel him but it shattered and didn't work that time, if I don't make a new talisman, a unicorn stallion named Thread Spool will die next." Stone Enchanter explained,
"A ghost? Princess Twilight and her friends or Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would've already dealt with it by now." the unicorn stated,
"Well, they missed this one, this one is killing ponies by destroying miniature statues of them." Stone Enchanter replied,
"You mean like a voodoo doll?" the Pegasus inquired,
"Pretty much." Stone Enchanter stated,
"We got several reports on Equestria's train since many ponies saw you sweating and panting a lot before and after Watermelon Seed, Color Contrast, and Gourmet Cook died." the unicorn reported,
"I was trying to save them, the ghost gives me a time limit to get to them." Stone Enchanter spoke,
"Really? All of your panting, sweating, and running has made you look suspicious to many." the Pegasus remarked,
"I get that, but I'm trying to save them, I think you two would be nervous when there's a time limit on somepony's life, too." Stone Enchanter responded,
"Yes, we would, same if we were dealing with a ghost like how you're saying you are, but if what you're saying is true, you should've contacted us and have us try to deal with this ghost, it may be hard, but I think we would stand a better chance against it than you since you're not trained to deal with threats like how we are." the unicorn spoke,
"Can any of you make ghost repelling talismans?" Stone Enchanter inquired,
"Well, no, but I do have spells to restrain others." the unicorn responded,
"Do they work on ghosts?" Stone Enchanter asked,
"I haven't tried." the unicorn admitted,
"There's also the fact that the living can't touch ghosts unless a spell or magically enchanted item is used but ghosts can touch the living." the Pegasus added,
"I'd like to go free, Thread Spool's life is in danger." Stone Enchanter stated,
"Relax, another police pony have went to go get him, he'll be here eventually to meet you, until then, we'll keep you detained." the Pegasus said,
"Wait? What? No! I've got a talisman to make or Thread Spool will get killed!" Stone Enchanter begged,
"Now, now, I've got magic to protect him, calm down and wait for now, Stone Enchanter, we'll ask about the circumstances on the four stallions' deaths afterwards." the unicorn responded,
"Please! I have to get home and complete the talisman!" Stone Enchanter implored,
"It can wait, Stone Enchanter, we promise you everything will be fine, just calm down and wait for Thread Spool to arrive." the Pegasus remarked, and the unicorn teleported him into a holding cell. Stone Enchanter panted heavily while trying to find a way out, he did not see anything that could help him get out, he checked the floor and walls for any holes he could crawl into but did not find any,
"Don't bother, the cell's escape proof unless you can cast spells." the Pegasus remarked, Stone Enchanter tried to pull the cell door open but it was locked, he then tried to squeeze through the bars but could not fit,
"You're wasting your energy, Stone Enchanter, if what you say is true, then I suggest you calm down and conserve your energy for dealing with this ghost you mentioned." the unicorn said,
"Can I at least have my ingredients and materials for making talismans?" Stone Enchanter requested,
"Nope, can't give you anything that might help you escape." the Pegasus responded, Stone Enchanter groaned under his breath while rolling his eyes and he sat and waited. An hour passed while Stone Enchanter waited impatiently, they heard footsteps and he and the two law enforcement ponies looked, they saw Thread Spool arrive with an earth pony stallion, he had a yellow coat, medium-length gray mane and tail, brown eyes, and his cutie mark was a blue peaked cap with a black visor,
"Here he is, guys." the earth pony reported, and Thread Spool walked forward,
"Wait, Stone Enchanter, you in jail? I never took you to be a criminal." Thread Spool spoke,
"Thread Spool, please listen, a ghost has marked you for death, I can make a talisman to save you." Stone Enchanter persuaded,
"I find that hard to believe, Equestria hasn't had a ghost haunting others in years, almost every evil ghost has been dealt with by either Princess Twilight and her friends or Princess Celestia." Thread Spool spoke,
"Well, they didn't get this one." Stone Enchanter said,
"Unless you show proof of your claims, we find it hard to believe you, we haven't had a case involving ghosts in decades." the earth pony remarked,
"That would mean Thread Spool has to die." Stone Enchanter stated,
"You're not helping yourself, Stone Enchanter." the Pegasus warned,
"I'm just saying." Stone Enchanter remarked,
"What do you think, Law Follower?" the unicorn inquired,
"He doesn't seem to be lying. How about you, Law Bender?" the Pegasus questioned,
"I don't trust him completely." the unicorn remarked,
"How about you, Rescue Squad?" Law Follower asked,
"He doesn't seem to be lying, but let's wait just in case." the earth pony spoke,
"You guys are endangering Thread Spool." Stone Enchanter protested,
"It's fine, Stone Enchanter, I can defend myself with magic, I'll be fine." Thread Spool reassured, and they all waited. Stone Enchanter panted heavily while wondering when the ghost will appear, it was silent for a few hours and Stone Enchanter then felt an invisible force pull him and he faced the back wall of his cell, the ghost appeared and held his pocket watch in front of his face while the other four became startled. Law Bender and Thread Spool cast spells and a black outline and dark red shield appeared around Thread Spool, they then tried casting restraining spells and tried to make him disappear but they did not work on the ghost, his pocket watch changed to his knife and he then cut the miniature statue of Thread Spool, a white flash appeared and Thread Spool had a long cut down his entire spine and he fell onto the floor while Law Bender, Law Follower, and Rescue Squad looked on in horror, the ghost then held another miniature statue, it was an earth pony colt who had a bright green coat, long bright orange mane and tail, pink eyes, and no cutie mark, the ghost then disappeared. Law Bender and Law Follower quickly opened the cell and let Stone Enchanter out,
"We're sorry for doubting you, Stone Enchanter, go ahead and make your ghost repelling talisman, we'll look for that colt he had a statue of as well as who he is." Law Bender stated,
"The colt's name is Traveling Caravan, he's an orphan, he didn't have a home last time I met him." Stone Enchanter spoke,
"Don't worry, we'll find him." Rescue Squad reassured, and he and Law Bender and Law Follower left and Stone Enchanter ran home.
Stone Enchanter sprinted and looked for any settlements, he found an inn and looked for a map, he found one and saw where he was at, he then ran to the southeast and began to see familiar surroundings, he ran more and arrived at his home. He quickly checked his ingredients and materials and saw he might have enough to make another talisman, he went through his family book and looked for any talismans that could either make a ghost become physical form or destroy them, he found one ghost destroying talisman and realized he did not have the necessary materials or ingredients, so he went through the pages and looked for a talisman that could make their bodies become physical, he found several and discovered he had bits and pieces of each one, so he combined all of the materials together, he then made the alchemy chemicals he needed and soaked the talisman in them, he then read the instructions and saw he had to place the talisman on the ghost's body in order for it to work, he took a deep breath and then made another ghost repelling talisman and then headed outside.
Stone Enchanter ran to the police station and looked for Law Bender, Law Follower, and Rescue Squad, he did not see them and called out for them, there was no answer, he went into the office and looked through the place's local crime reports, he found reports of mostly robberies, larceny, embezzlement, blackmails, money laundering, bribery, and scandals, he noticed the reports on violent crimes and deaths were extremely low. He searched frantically but found nothing, he then ran to the post office and asked about Traveling Caravan, the stallion at the desk shook his head, he then ran out and went to the train station and got a ticket, he boarded the train and waited impatiently to arrive at the next town, the other ponies murmured about him and the train stopped, he ran off and went to the next post office, he asked the stallion there about Traveling Caravan and he shook his head, he ran out but stopped when he heard Law Follower call out to him, he looked and saw him and Law Bender coming,
"Rescue Squad found Traveling Caravan, he's near Fillydelphia, we also found out who that ghost is." Law Follower stated,
"Who is he?" Stone Enchanter inquired,
"His name's Statue Maker, he's a serial killer from ancient Equestria back when Discord was the ruler, he must've been a small-time criminal since it seems Princess Celestia and Princess Luna overlooked him, we've also found signs that he stopped killing after Discord was overthrown and the Royal Sisters became the rulers, he died bitter and angry about it and continued killing others again after his death since most ponies don't have methods to resist and fight ghosts." Law Bender explained,
"I couldn't make a talisman to destroy him, but I did make one that can change his ghost body back to its physical form, I need to know the location of his body and place the talisman on it for it to work." Stone Enchanter said,
"You don't have the necessary ingredients to make the ghost destroying one?" Law Bender asked,
"Truth be told, I don't have enough materials and ingredients to make a pure talisman, I took bits and pieces of each ghost repelling talisman in my family's book and merged them together." Stone Enchanter answered,
"Go ahead and go see Rescue Squad, Stone Enchanter, we'll go through you family's talisman book and gather the ingredients to make the ghost destroying one." Law Follower stated,
"You sure about that? The steps are pretty complicated." Stone Enchanter remarked,
"I'm sure we'll figure it out, go on now, I'll go ahead and teleport you to Rescue Squad's location." Law Bender stated,
"You will? Thanks." Stone Enchanter chirped,
"You're welcome, let's hope we can stop Statue Maker and the ghost destroying one works on him regardless of him being in physical or spiritual form, if we can't, we'll have to contact Princess Twilight." Law Bender responded,
"Good luck, Stone Enchanter." Law Follower stated,
"Good luck to you two, too." Stone Enchanter replied, they smiled and Law Bender teleported him.
Stone Enchanter arrived near Fillydelphia and he looked for Rescue Squad and Traveling Caravan, he heard their voices and ran to them, they saw him coming and Stone Enchanter got the talisman out,
"See, told you Stone Enchanter was coming." Rescue Squad said,
"Traveling Caravan, please listen to him, there's a ghost killing my former customers and you're his next target, I got a talisman to repel him." Stone Enchanter explained,
"Wait? You're serious?" Traveling Caravan inquired, Stone Enchanter and Rescue Squad nodded,
"The ghost killed one of his former customers in a police station, me, him, and two others witnessed it." Rescue Squad spoke,
"Here's the talisman, Traveling Caravan, the other two are going to make a talisman that can destroy him." Stone Enchanter stated,
"What about you?" Traveling Caravan questioned,
"I need to find the ghost's body so I can put another talisman on it to make his ghost self change back to its physical form, I don't know where his body is, all I know is the ghost's name is Statue Maker." Stone Enchanter responded,
"Let me come and help you." Traveling Caravan said,
"Good idea, I can protect you better that way, too." Stone Enchanter stated,
"Let's go to the nearest obituary and find out about Statue Maker, maybe we can find out where his body's is." Rescue Squad suggested, and he led them. They arrived at the nearest obituary and the stallion gave them a list, they looked for Statue Maker's name and did not see it, they left and Rescue Squad led them onto a train to the nearest settlement, they ran to the newspaper company's building and looked through them for any signs of Statue Maker's burial site, they found nothing, they left and then asked the funeral services about Statue Maker and the stallions shook their heads, they got more train tickets and went to the next settlement. They arrived and checked the newspapers and funeral services on Statue Maker and found nothing, they were heading to the train station until Stone Enchanter felt something pull him to his left, Statue Maker appeared and held his pocket watch in his face, he then destroyed the miniature statue of Traveling Caravan with his knife, a white flash appeared and Traveling Caravan felt pain on the back of his head and the talisman shattered, he exclaimed loudly and panted heavily, Statue Maker then held another miniature statue of Traveling Caravan and disappeared. Rescue Squad rubbed the back of Traveling Caravan's head and he stood up,
"Ow, that really hurt." Traveling Caravan remarked,
"We have to hurry, you'll die if we run out of time this time." Stone Enchanter spoke,
"Come on, onto the next place." Rescue Squad said, and they got train tickets and boarded the train. They arrived at the next settlement and checked the newspapers and obituaries, there was no information on Statue Maker,
"Dang, still nothing, we're not going to make it at this rate." Traveling Caravan said,
"Didn't you see any clues on Statue Maker's location back when he was alive, Rescue Squad?" Stone Enchanter asked,
"Nope, reports only had his name and when in history he was alive, my guess is he drifted all across Equestria." Rescue Squad answered,
"Great, he lived in ancient Equestria, too, so he might be buried in an unmarked and forgotten grave for all we know." Stone Enchanter stated,
"Let's keep trying, I'm hoping Law Bender and Law Follower can join us soon, too." Rescue Squad replied, and they got train tickets and boarded the train. They got off at the next settlement and checked for any reports on Statue Maker and did not find any, Law Bender and Law Follower appeared and they were worn out,
"There, sorry we took a while, we managed to make the ghost destroying talisman, getting the ingredients was hard, we had to teleport all around Equestria to get them." Law Follower spoke,
"Good job, we can't find any reports on where Statue Maker might be buried, we're stumped right now." Stone Enchanter responded,
"Let's try teleporting around, I can try to use my magic to find him, too." Law Bender stated,
"Oh, good, let's start." Stone Enchanter remarked,
"Alright, back to your home we go, let's see if I can detect anything on Petty Crook's body." Law Bender said, and he teleported them.
Everybody arrived at Stone Enchanter's home and Law Bender picked up Petty Crook's body with his telekinesis, he cast a spell and on his spine and traced the source of the magic attack, a trail appeared in the air and created a path, Law Bender cast telekinesis on himself and followed the magic trail, he arrived at the end and teleported the others to his location. They arrived and the trail went into the ground, Law Bender dug the ground up with his magic they gagged from the stench, Law Bender reached into the hole with his telekinesis and picked up pieces of a stallion's skeleton with parts of it turning into dust and withering away and the bones falling off,
"This is Statue Maker's body, also, Stone Enchanter, about the talisman that destroys ghosts, we have revert Statue Maker back to his physical form first because we and the talisman will phase through him if we try to touch him with it while he's in spiritual form." Law Bender stated,
"Alright, I'll go ahead and put the talisman on him." Stone Enchanter said and he coughed and gagged from the stench, Law Bender cast a spell to look for Statue Maker and noticed he was watching them from afar and had miniature statues of all five of them, he got ready to destroy them with his knife and Law Bender cast a spell to make the miniature statues disappear and Statue Maker disappeared, Stone Enchanter tried to put a talisman on the skeleton but Statue Maker pulled him away and appeared out of thin air. He tackled Stone Enchanter down and he dropped the talisman, Law Bender tried shooting zaps at him but they phased through him, he tried to stab his knife into Stone Enchanter but he moved around and dodged it, Traveling Caravan ran and got the talisman and Statue Maker looked, he made the miniature statue of him appear and got ready to destroy it with his knife but Law Bender moved it away from him with his telekinesis, Traveling Caravan then threw the talisman to Rescue Squad and he put it around Statue Maker's skeleton's neck, Statue Maker wheezed and his body was no longer transparent. Law Bender, Law Follower, and Rescue Squad ran and tackled Statue Maker down, he grunted and could not move, Traveling Caravan ran and took his knife and Stone Enchanter pressed the ghost destroying talisman on Statue Maker's forehead, smoke came out and he screamed and he exploded and shot the others back. Everybody stood up and saw the ghost destroying talisman has shattered,
"It worked!" Traveling Caravan chirped,
"Good work, everypony." Rescue Squad said,
"Thank you, guys." Stone Enchanter spoke,
"You're welcome, come on, guys, we got a report to file." Law Bender stated, and he, Law Follower, and Rescue Squad left,
"What are you going to do now, Stone Enchanter?" Traveling Caravan asked,
"I'm going to continue making talismans for a living." Stone Enchanter responded,
"That's good, I'll keep traveling, maybe we'll run into each other again." Traveling Caravan said,
"I hope so." Stone Enchanter replied,
"Well, I'll be going now, see ya, Stone Enchanter." Traveling Caravan remarked,
"See ya." Stone Enchanter replied, and they went their separate ways. Stone Enchanter arrived home and paid his respects to Petty Crook, Watermelon Seed, Color Contrast, Gourmet Cook, and Thread Spool and prayed for their families and friends to recover, he slept and began having nightmares about his experiences a few months later, he looked up therapists and counselors at the nearest town and found Doctor Whooves and headed to Ponyville.
Stone Enchanter was sitting across from Doctor Whooves and panted while remembering,
"Wow, I don't blame you for being scared of ghosts, he still went down easier than I thought he would." Doctor Whooves said,
"Well, I did have three ponies trained in combat and restraining others there with me, he didn't look like a fighter either, if it was just me, Statue Maker definitely would've been a lot harder, I'm not a fighter myself." Stone Enchanter replied,
"Well, price is ten bits, and remember, I'm always available to talk even though I'm going to finish doing this job soon, I'll still do sessions if you have nightmares." Doctor Whooves spoke, and Stone Enchanter paid him and left. Doctor Whooves looked at the time and saw it was pretty early, he headed outside and went to go hang out with Roseluck and Derpy.
Doctor Whooves was in Canterlot and stood by Gogh's side while he watched Alternate Gogh and Narcissus get restrained with magic by Shining Heart and Princess Cadance, they begged for mercy and the two rulers shot zaps at them and obliterated them,
"It's over, Eurydice." Gogh remarked,
"What are you going to do now, Gogh?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"I'm going to continue painting in Ponyville, I've been able to make a pretty stable living by having Pinkie Pie and Rarity help me." Gogh answered,
"Help as in?" Doctor Whooves questioned,
"Pinkie Pie is using my painting as themes and decorations for her parties, and Rarity is looking at my paintings of nature to help her brainstorm new outfits." Gogh explained,
"I see, I'll still be available for counseling and therapy after today if you wanna see me." Doctor Whooves stated,
"Today's your last day, right?" Gogh asked,
"Yes, today is my last patient before I finish the job for good, I will be financially secure for the rest of my life if nothing bad happens to me." Doctor Whooves answered,
"Wow, you've had a lot of things to hear about, well, good luck with your last patient." Gogh said,
"Thanks." Doctor Whooves replied, and they boarded the train and went back to Ponyville. They went their separate ways and Doctor Whooves saw foals putting jigsaw puzzles together and solving mystery games around Ponyville that Pinkie Pie had set up for them, he walked around more and saw foals doing scavenger hunts, he smiled and went into his home and waited for his final patient, he heard walking and saw an earth pony stallion come in with a unicorn mare on his back, the stallion had a light blue coat, slightly long white mane and tail, gray eyes, and his cutie mark was a black and blue puzzle piece, the mare had a dark pink coat, long dark red mane and tail, bright purple eyes, and her cutie mark was a board game,
"Hello, Doctor." the stallion said,
"Are you the patient?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes." the stallion replied,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves stated,
"Jigsaw, I'm unemployed, but I'm basically a caretaker now." the stallion spoke,
"And you?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Uh... um..." the mare remarked,
"Sorry, she's not comfortable around anyone except me and my maid and her kids back at my home for the time being, her name's Game Arranger, she's with me because she feels safe around me." Jigsaw explained,
"Oh, I see, well, let's get started." Doctor Whooves spoke, and Jigsaw began his tale.
Jigsaw was a young stallion adult whose parents had passed away recently and he inherited their wealth, he lived in a mansion and spent his time solving puzzles and making jigsaw puzzles, he made a big puzzle and an earth pony mare came in, she had a black coat, long white mane and tail tied in buns, blue eyes, and her cutie mark was a feather duster, it was Scullery Maid, his personal servant,
"Jigsaw, I have finished cleaning everything." Scullery Maid reported,
"Thank you, Scullery Maid, I can make you a meal if you wanna rest." Jigsaw offered,
"Thanks, Jigsaw, but I already made lunch for myself at home." Scullery Maid stated,
"Oh, is the amount of money I pay you enough to support you and your family?" Jigsaw asked,
"Yes, I have been able to support my kids with this job, your parents were already paying me enough to provide for them." Scullery Maid reported,
"That's good, I was thinking about giving you a raise since my parents were pretty miserly sometimes." Jigsaw spoke,
"They still paid me enough to support me and my children, we've actually never had money problems because of your parents refusing to pay me more." Scullery Maid responded,
"Alright, remember that you can ask me for more money if you need it, you can go home now if you're done with all of your chores today." Jigsaw stated,
"Okay, goodbye, Jigsaw." Scullery Maid said,
"See you tomorrow." Jigsaw replied, and Scullery Maid left. Jigsaw put a puzzle together and enjoyed the image he was making, he finished after about thirty minutes and then went on to work on a scavenger hunt that he made, he went around his house and yard and looked for items from his childhood, he looked through his late mother's flower garden and found a bug collection from his childhood, he smiled and then went through the hedges in front of his mansion and found a royal guard figurine, he then went to the pool at the side of his house and found a toy model of a rare fish in the world, he went into his house and to his late father's library, he went through the books and found a book on the world's wild animals, he went to his room and put them all together and placed them in glass lids and labeled them 'Gifts from Mom and Dad', he exhaled and looked down while remembering them, he laid in his bed and slept with a tear rolling down his right cheek.
The next morning came and Jigsaw got out of his bed, he went to his kitchen and looked at a paper he had by his oven, he saw it was a puzzle on what to make for breakfast, he opened his refrigerator and began moving the shelves around like a sliding puzzle until he found the ingredients he needed, he then arranged them to make an image of a dragon with its head in the center piece, he pushed it and its prongs fitted into a door behind it and it unlocked, Jigsaw opened it and got the hay out and then closed and rearranged the sliding puzzle pieces randomly. He then began messing with the switches on his oven until only the red lights lit up and the blue and green lights were off, the burners turned on and he cooked the hay while making animal head shapes in the cast iron with the hay, it finished and he then opened a drawer and looked at the various doorknobs, he took one out and put it in a cabinet and opened it, he got a plate out and closed it, he put the hay on it and onto the table and then turned the stove off. He had breakfast and ate slowly while he heard his house's front door open and Scullery Maid came in,
"Good morning, Scullery Maid." Jigsaw said,
"Morning, Jigsaw, oh, you made your own breakfast, I'm glad to see grief hasn't prevented you from getting daily tasks done." Scullery Maid responded,
"I'm managing pretty well so far, I'll go ahead and wash the dishes myself after I'm done, and feel free to call me if you need my help." Jigsaw stated,
"I'm fine, but I appreciate the offer, I'll go ahead and start my tasks now." Scullery Maid replied, and she took her saddlebag and overcoat off and walked away. Jigsaw had his breakfast and had fun moving the hay, fruits, and vegetables around to make shapes and smiled, he looked at the time and he finished his breakfast and washed the dish and cast iron. He went into his room and looked at his next jigsaw puzzle to solve, he was about to take it out and scatter it on the floor but stopped when he looked out his window and saw a strange light blue light, he got a dagger out from under his pillow and headed to the front door,
"Scullery Maid, I'm going to go check a strange light outside, I'll be back." Jigsaw called out,
"Okay, be careful." Scullery Maid said, and he left. Jigsaw ran to the light blue light while keeping his guard up and saw it disappear, he heard frantic panting up ahead and he sprinted. He arrived and saw light blue and dark purple magical chains around a Pegasus stallion and a unicorn mare farther away casting,
"No!" the mare called out while light blue lights appeared on her head and forced her to cast spells while also restraining the Pegasus and Jigsaw, he frantically began trying to solve a sliding puzzle and Jigsaw saw it was a picture of a dragon, he tried to tell him where to slide the pieces but a spell was cast to make him lose his voice, the Pegasus tried to solve the puzzle but struggled, Jigsaw tried to reach over and help but light blue chains suddenly appeared and restrained him, the Pegasus tried to solve the puzzle desperately while Jigsaw watched the mare and it looked like she was bound against her will by a spell, he looked past her and made out a pony's silhouette that appeared to be a unicorn stallion, he held up something and the mare shrieked while she cast a spell against her will,
"NO!!" the mare screamed while she cast a spell against her will, the Pegasus screamed while he turned light blue and exploded, a portal opened and he was dragged into it and it closed. Jigsaw and the mare looked on in horror and saw the silhouette walk forward, it was a unicorn stallion who had a dark orange coat, long gray mane and tail, purple eyes, and his cutie mark was a brown wooden magic staff with a green orb on its top,
"Another loser who couldn't solve my games and puzzles, nevertheless, it's always fun to see their souls sent to another realm of soul torturers." the stallion remarked,
"Please! No more!" the mare begged,
"SILENCE!!" the stallion screamed as he slapped the mare's left cheek with the back of his front left hoof, she shrieked as she fell over,
"Useless and rebellious little cretin! You always resist at the most crucial and climactic event of the games! You are always trying to spoil my fun, maybe I should've destroyed your body and sent your soul to the realm of soul torturers instead of enslaving you!" the stallion ranted, Jigsaw ran to them while scowling,
"Stay out of this, peasant!" the stallion thundered while flinging him away with his magic,
"You almost ruined the game as well!" the stallion thundered,
"Leave while you can." the mare said,
"QUIET!!" the stallion yelled as he shot a zap at her, she yelped as she got shot away, he then cast telekinesis on Jigsaw,
"As for you, trash eater, since you tried to intervene, you will be my next player, the game is simple, there will be various types of games to play, your job is simply solve them and win, if you win, I'll let you go, if you lose, I destroy your body and send your soul to another realm to be tortured for eternity." the stallion remarked,
"I refuse." Jigsaw stated,
"SILENCE!! You have no choice, you're playing whether you like it or not." the stallion said, Jigsaw looked at the mare and saw her shaking her head frantically,
"Game Arranger, make the arrangements." the stallion ordered,
"No, please, Warlock, I've done enough." Game Arranger begged, he cast a spell with a bright orange aura on his horn and controlled her body, a dark purple aura appeared on her horn and Jigsaw screamed while he felt his soul get pulled inside his body and bound to a small gray statue shaped like a bipedal creature, Jigsaw's soul became bounded to it and Warlock smiled,
"There, now, you will play games that I choose and where they take place, I will summon you tonight." Warlock remarked, and he exploded into dark orange flames and Game Arranger also disappeared. Jigsaw panted and stood up while feeling his own body and noticed nothing unnatural, he ran back home while panting and sweating,
"Jigsaw, what's the matter?" Scullery Maid questioned,
"I... I've been bound to a guy who is making others play life or death games, he has my soul in his grip." Jigsaw explained, Scullery Maid's jaw dropped,
"Please, Jigsaw, rest, I'll make you some soup and medicine if you feel sick." Scullery Maid said,
"I feel fine, Scullery Maid, and the guy who got my soul will bring me to him, I don't know if he's going to teleport me or drag me, this guy also seems to have a liking for puzzles and games." Jigsaw stated,
"Oh, I'll support and help you any way I can, even though puzzles and children's games aren't really my thing." Scullery Maid remarked,
"I'll let you know if I need your help, but for now, I'll see if I can free myself on my own first, he's also seems to have a mare under his control against her will as well, I'll see if I can free her as well." Jigsaw stated,
"Okay, you should rest, call me if you need anything." Scullery Maid responded, and Jigsaw went to his room and rested. Jigsaw laid in his bed while sweating and thinking about what awaited him, Scullery Maid came to check on him every once in a while and left when she finished her chores, night time came and Jigsaw grunted when he felt himself getting pulled into his bed and disappeared, he saw him falling into a room and he grunted when he hit the floor. Jigsaw looked up and saw Game Arranger casting spells against her will while Warlock controlled her from behind,
"Welcome, lowlife, this is your first challenge of the game, I hope you'll be more entertaining than the last idiot, I'll make your first game simple, balance the two scales in front of you by moving the objects around until they're even, now, my useless and worthless trophy, make the objects appear." Warlock stated, Game Arranger did not, Warlock cast a spell that forced her to set up the pieces against her will, injured foals fell in and they screamed and cried when they landed on the floor. Warlock placed them in the scales and one side began to tip down and the other scale went up, the foals screamed when they saw spikes protrude from the ceiling, the foals in the scale going down screamed when the floor opened and there was lava under them,
"Here's the deal, you have to balance the scales perfectly, if you win, I'll let you and the others go, if you lose, I send you all to your dooms." Warlock said, and Jigsaw got ready. Jigsaw jumped and grabbed the scale and tried to pull it down but he did not weigh enough, he climbed into it and it went down faster while the foals screamed, he saw lava appear under the scale while the other scale went up and spikes appeared above it. Jigsaw quickly grabbed the foals and threw a few into the other scale, they screamed from their bones cracking and the scales began to balance a little and stopped, he sighed with relief and jumped out and the scales shifted a little, he began moving the foals gently from one scale to another and it went up and down according to their weight, he noticed the scales will never be perfectly balanced after trying the last combination, he grabbed the two scales with his front hoofs and their balanced themselves perfectly and he sighed with relief. Warlock cast a spell and broke the scales and made the foals either fall and go up and they screamed,
"Hey! I won! You said you'd let them go!" Jigsaw complained,
"Yeah, I decided keeping my word is no fun, and going back on it makes the game more exciting." Warlock replied, Jigsaw ran and tried to get the foals but could not, Game Arranger struggled to break free from Warlock's control and used her magic to move the foals out of danger and she panted,
"Dang it, you ruined the game again!" Warlock shouted as he shot a zap at her, she tried to put up a shield but he canceled it out and Game Arranger exclaimed when she got hit and blasted away, he then cast a spell and a portal opened, the foals screamed when their souls got ripped out of their bodies and sent to another realm while their bodies turned light blue and exploded. Jigsaw and Game Arranger watched in horror while Warlock cast a spell that teleported Jigsaw back home and in the air, he screamed when he fell onto the floor and broke part of it, he groaned while he lost consciousness and passed out. Jigsaw remained asleep for hours and it was pitch black with no noise,
"Jigsaw? ...Jigsaw." a very faint voice said and echoed, Jigsaw groaned and opened his eyes, he saw he was in his bed and Scullery Maid was with him,
"Oh, thank Celestia, you were out cold ever since I came in this morning." Scullery Maid said,
"How long was I out?" Jigsaw questioned,
"I don't know, you were already passed out when I came to work." Scullery Maid responded, Jigsaw's jaw dropped a little,
"What happened after I went home anyway?" Scullery Maid asked,
"A portal opened under me and I was transferred somewhere, the pony who bound my soul had me play a game where I had to balance foals in two balancing scales and they would lose their lives if the scales went too high or too low, I managed to win, but he turned back on his word on letting them go and destroyed their bodies, I was sent back here afterwards." Jigsaw explained,
"What happened next?" Scullery Maid questioned,
"I passed out." Jigsaw replied,
"Oh, well, it seems you weren't taken elsewhere, I did see news in the newspaper this morning about foals suddenly disappearing from a hospital." Scullery Maid remarked,
"I hope your kids didn't see it." Jigsaw commented,
"Unfortunately, they did, it wasn't fun explaining to them why some people do stuff like that." Scullery Maid stated,
"In this case, they were kidnapped by somepony to force me to play one of his sick games, he's likely kidnapping more people right now." Jigsaw answered,
"You should rest for now then, Jigsaw, save your energy for his next game." Scullery Maid advised,
"I wish I could, I can't help but feel uneasy, I wish you could be there to help me sometimes, too." Jigsaw spoke,
"You know I'm not much of an action pony, but if you need any help in any game that involves academic or historical knowledge, I'll tell you what I know." Scullery Maid said,
"Thanks, any help is better than no help." Jigsaw stated,
"Go on and rest, Jigsaw, I'll make meals for you today." Scullery Maid stated, and she left. Jigsaw rested and recovered while Scullery Maid took care of house duties and fed him, he got up in the afternoon and thought about last night's game and the foals, Scullery Maid noticed him walking slowly with a disturbed expression on his face, she waved her right front hoof in his face and he did not respond, he walked forward while distracted and went outside into his backyard, he thought about the foals and him being unable to save them while Scullery Maid watched worriedly, Jigsaw stood still and looked at his garden and began to sweat when he wondered what Warlock's next game will be, he stood still until a paper suddenly appeared in front of him and flew into his face, Jigsaw came back to reality and looked at it, he saw it was a scavenger hunt, Scullery Maid trotted to him and looked at the paper,
"A scavenger hunt?" Scullery Maid asked,
"Yup, I guess the guy who has my soul has finished setting up his new game." Jigsaw deduced,
"You're leaving now?" Scullery Maid questioned,
"Have to, if it's like my last game, somepony's life is at stake, he's going to bring me by force with his magic, too." Jigsaw replied,
"Please, let me help." Scullery Maid said,
"Of course, I can use all the help I can get." Jigsaw replied,
"What's the first item?" Scullery Maid questioned,
"A leaf, it's shaped like a circle, it's not among the trees here, come on, Scullery Maid, we have to leave the home." Jigsaw stated, and they did. Jigsaw ran and looked at every tree in his sight but did not see a matching leaf,
"Jigsaw, wait up, I'm not used to running for this long." Scullery Maid said while walking and panting, he waited for her to catch up while looking around and she did, he walked fast and she kept up with him easily,
"I think that's it right there." Scullery Maid said as she pointed to a tree to their rights, Jigsaw looked at the tree and the picture on the paper,
"It is, let's get it." Jigsaw stated, and they went. Jigsaw let Scullery Maid climb onto his back and she tried to reach for a leaf, he lifted his legs up a little and she grabbed a leaf and pulled it off, she lost her balance and fell,
"You alright?" Jigsaw asked,
"I'm fine." Scullery Maid replied as she stood up, she looked at the leaf and saw it was a perfect match of the picture on the paper,
"Next is... an ox's skull." Jigsaw remarked,
"An ox's skull? You sure?" Scullery Maid asked and she looked at the list and saw it,
"Um, Jigsaw, I think these may be ingredients for some kind of ritual." Scullery Maid deduced,
"Let's see here, we got the leaf, next is an ox's skull, after that is six white candles, next is two gold candelabras that hold three candles each, and the last is a can of red spray paint." Jigsaw read,
"This doesn't sound good, Jigsaw." Scullery Maid remarked,
"I'm suspicious, too, but I don't have any information on where Warlock is, best we can do right now is play along." Jigsaw responded,
"Alright, let's look around." Scullery Maid stated, and they did. They looked for an ox's skull but did not see one anywhere, they also looked for the other items but did not find them, they walked to the nearest store and looked for the items and only saw a can of red spray paint, they went in and Scullery Maid paid for the item and they left, they looked around for the next items and did not find them, they went to the next nearest store and saw birthday candles,
"Those don't look like the right candles." Jigsaw stated,
"I agree, let's check out another store." Scullery Maid replied, and they walked. They arrived at a holiday store and entered,
"Excuse me, do you have any candles?" Scullery Maid asked,
"I sure do, our Nightmare Night's candle selection is the best in this area, it's over there and down two aisles." the clerk said as she pointed to it, and they went, Jigsaw got six white candles and two gold candelabras that both held three candles, Scullery Maid bought them and they left,
"Okay, all that's left is the ox's skull." Scullery Maid stated,
"We'll probably have to buy a prop, no way will Equestria sell one of those, trying to get one directly from an ox will land us in jail, too." Jigsaw suggested,
"I agree, let's see if we can find a costume or prop store." Scullery Maid responded, and they walked. They looked for any stores while the sun began to set and there were no stores around, they decided to head home and began working together to make paper mache and made an ox skull,
"There, it's finished, wait for it to dry now and we'll paint it afterwards." Jigsaw spoke,
"Still, wow, I've never done anything like this, I'm impressed you know this, Jigsaw." Scullery Maid commented,
"I did it a lot as a kid." Jigsaw responded,
"I can see that, it was fun learning." Scullery Maid stated, Jigsaw smiled and they got on with their days while waiting for it to dry. The sun set and the paper mache ox skull was still drying, Jigsaw and Scullery Maid looked at it and a portal suddenly opened under Jigsaw and he began to fall in,
"Jigsaw!" Scullery Maid called out as she grabbed him but fell into the portal alongside him and the items from the scavenger hunt, they fell into a small and empty room with Warlock and Game Arranger standing in front of them,
"Your time is up, it's time to collect your items." Warlock spoke, and he took them with his telekinesis,
"Wait a minute, this skull is fake, you cheater! You were supposed to take it directly out of the animal!" Warlock fumed,
"What?! Are you crazy?!" Jigsaw exclaimed,
"It's how the game works, same with your slave here buying the stuff!" Warlock remarked,
"Hey!" Scullery Maid remarked,
"You were supposed to steal them from other people, you broke the rules and made the game boring, I'll go ahead and end your next game now." Warlock remarked, and he cast a spell. The items needed for the ritual were set in place with another set Warlock had with him and the leaf glowed white in the center of a pentagram made with red spray paint, the six white candles' flames turned purple and went up high into the air, a portal opened and chains came out and wrapped around an earth pony stallion under the floor, he screamed and began to get pulled in, Jigsaw and Scullery Maid sprinted to him while Game Arranger tried to close the portal with her magic but Warlock sped up the chains and cast a spell to make his body explode into light blue flames and his soul was sent to another realm and he closed the portal,
"Now, since you didn't do the scavenger hunt properly, you yourself will be the object of the next game." Warlock, and he used his magic to force Game Arranger to cast spells. Jigsaw got wrapped in chains and they began to pull him into saw blades, he saw red buttons on a ceiling and realized he could not move, Scullery Maid tried to jump and grab him but Warlock held her back with his telekinesis,
"No, this is a game for him to play alone, having you interfere would be cheating." Warlock remarked, Scullery Maid watched in horror while Jigsaw tried to free himself but could not move, he moved closer to the saw blades and Game Arranger struggled to break free from Warlock's control and cast a spell while struggling with smoke coming out of her horn, she broke the red buttons and the chains and saw blades stopped, she also made the chains disappear. Warlock shot a blast at her and she screamed while she flew through the air and hit a wall,
"You nosy little snake! You ruined the game again! I swear I'm going to make you one of the players again!" Warlock fumed,
"No! Anything but that!" Game Arranger begged,
"You won't be let off so easily this time." Warlock said, and he and her disappeared. Scullery Maid ran to Jigsaw and helped him up,
"You okay, Jigsaw?" Scullery Maid asked,
"Yeah, being dragged on the floor hurt though." Jigsaw responded,
"So, what do we do now?" Scullery Maid asked,
"Try to find out where we are and get home." Jigsaw replied, and he walked. He saw the room was small and square shaped and he began feeling the walls and floor for any hidden areas, he did not find any and found the door that led out, he tried to pull it open but could not, Scullery Maid helped him pull the big sliding door and it did not move,
"Come on, let's see if there's a key anywhere." Jigsaw said, they looked but did not find anything, a dark purple aura appeared on the door and it opened, Jigsaw and Scullery Maid walked out. They walked through an old and rusted hallway and Scullery Maid quivered at the sights, Jigsaw held her to himself closely and they walked together, Jigsaw exhaled a little while sweating and they walked through the hallway, Jigsaw did not see any devices or traps and held his front right hoof out to feel anything up ahead, he and Scullery Maid walked forward slowly and held one another close to each other tightly. They walked and Scullery Maid quivered a little while Jigsaw struggled to remain calm, they heard magic behind them and a timberwolf appeared, it growled and Jigsaw's eyes widened while Scullery Maid's jaw dropped, it chased them and they sprinted, metallic fences with spear tips on the top began to come up in front of them and they ran faster while the fences went down to let the timberwolf through. Jigsaw and Scullery Maid panted heavily and looked around frantically as they sprinted through the pitch black and narrow hallway, Jigsaw hit his head on a pipe and fell over and Scullery Maid stopped, she helped him up and the timberwolf began catching up to them, Jigsaw got up and ran with Scullery Maid but stopped when they came at a closed door and it would not open, the timberwolf sprinted to them and Jigsaw put Scullery Maid behind himself while he got ready to fight it. The timberwolf lunged forward and pinned Jigsaw down, he held its muzzle back while it tried to bite him and Scullery Maid tried to pull it off of him but could not, Jigsaw tried kicking the timberwolf in its abdomen with his hind legs' knees but it did nothing, the timberwolf tried to bite him and he struggled to hold it back until a dark purple aura appeared around it and made it and the fences disappear and the door opened, Scullery Maid sighed with relief,
"Come on, Scullery Maid, let's go." Jigsaw said, and he stood up and they walked outside together. They saw they were in the middle of nowhere and Scullery Maid began panting heavily, Jigsaw looked around with a shocked expression and every direction looked the same as one another, he took a deep breath and climbed the tallest tree he could find. Jigsaw climbed to the top and looked around, he did not see any settlements and he began to sweat,
"You see any towns or buildings, Jigsaw?" Scullery Maid asked,
"No." Jigsaw answered, Scullery Maid hyperventilated a little,
"What's going to happen to my kids at home? What are they going to eat if I don't cook for them?" Scullery Maid quivered,
"Scullery Maid, calm down, let's try to find a way out." Jigsaw stated, and he climbed down, he saw the sun setting and figured out where the directions were and decided to try heading north. They walked together but did not see anybody or anything around but trees and animals, they panted a little heavily and continued walking forward for several minutes before they collapsed,
"Game Arranger, we can really use some help now." Jigsaw said, there was no response,
"Nothing, we might have to hunker down here tonight." Jigsaw remarked,
"No, I have to get home, my children are worried." Scullery Maid begged,
"I'll rest a bit and we'll continue trekking a bit more." Jigsaw said,
"I just hope I can get home before dark." Scullery Maid remarked,
"Me too, but it seems unlikely, I'll continue walking soon." Jigsaw stated, and he rested for ten minutes and then stood back up and walked with Scullery Maid holding him. Jigsaw stumbled and almost fell a few times but Scullery Maid held him up and they kept going forward, they did not see anything and Jigsaw began to panic a little,
"Game Arranger, we really could use your help now, Scullery Maid and I are lost and have no idea on where to go." Jigsaw called out,
"Please, Game Arranger, send us back to civilization, I've got foals to take care of back home." Scullery Maid called out, they saw brief glimpses of dark purple auras appearing them and the objects,
"Game Arranger?" Scullery Maid asked,
"She must be trying to resist Warlock's control to help us." Jigsaw deduced, dark purple auras appeared in random areas and a portal briefly opened and flickered, Jigsaw and Scullery Maid tried to sprint but could not, it began to close and Scullery Maid jumped in and pulled Jigsaw in and Game Arranger closed it. They looked and saw they were in a town, they looked for a map and found where they were, Scullery Maid bought tickets and they boarded the train while everybody looked at them, they got off at the nearest train stop to their homes and they went their separate ways, Jigsaw arrived home and laid in his bed and slept.
Jigsaw slept all night and most of the morning and woke up late, he groaned while trying to move and he had sore muscles in his legs and back, he tried to move and fell out of bed and onto the floor, he groaned a little and managed to stand up, he walked slowly and saw Scullery Maid has not arrived yet, he made his own breakfast and moved slowly while solving the puzzles to get his cooking utensils out, he made an easy meal and ate slowly, his sore muscles made it hard for him to use his silverware and he struggled to move a little. He heard the door open and his attention got caught, he saw Scullery Maid arrive and she had a haggard appearance with her mane and tail being unkempt,
"Morning, Jigsaw." Scullery Maid said as she put her saddlebag down,
"Scullery Maid, you don't look so good." Jigsaw commented,
"I had to take care of my children as soon as I got home yesterday, I haven't slept well either, I ended up oversleeping today and hurried here, I didn't have time to style my mane and tail and put on my makeup this morning." Scullery Maid explained,
"Were you at least able to use the bathroom and take a shower?" Jigsaw asked,
"Yes, I was able to get those done, thankfully." Scullery Maid answered,
"You can go ahead and get ready for today in my house's bathroom." Jigsaw stated,
"Oh, thank you, Jigsaw, I'll go ahead and get ready then, I'm going to be in the bathroom for a while." Scullery Maid spoke,
"Go on then, I'll do the house chores while you get ready." Jigsaw said, Scullery Maid smiled and went to the bathroom. Jigsaw did Scullery Maid's daily chores while she styled her mane and tail and put on her makeup in the bathroom, he thought about yesterday and sighed with relief over no longer being in the middle of nowhere, he thought about Game Arranger and worried for her safety, he decided to draw a portrait of her and colored it and then wrote her name on the paper, Scullery Maid came out of the bathroom with her mane and tail neatly styled and her makeup on,
"Okay, I'm ready. Oh, Jigsaw, you did my chores for me, thank you." Scullery Maid chirped,
"You're welcome, there's still things to get done, I'll leave them to you since I'm about to leave." Jigsaw replied,
"Where are you going?" Scullery Maid asked,
"The royal guard station and post office, I'll see if I can find any info on Game Arranger." Jigsaw stated,
"What are you hoping to find out about her?" Scullery Maid questioned,
"Her past and home, I'm hoping she can have some kind of clue on taking down Warlock." Jigsaw answered,
"Oh, good idea, I'll go ahead and finish my chores, good luck and be careful, Jigsaw." Scullery Maid spoke,
"I will, thank you." Jigsaw responded, and he left while Scullery Maid smiled.
Jigsaw headed to the post office and went to the mare behind the desk,
"Excuse me, do you have any info on this mare?" Jigsaw asked as he showed her a picture of Game Arranger,
"Friend of yours?" the mare asked,
"Well, not exactly, but she did help me, I was hoping to send her a thank you gift directly." Jigsaw responded,
"Oh, well, I'm unfamiliar with the name, but I might have files on her." the mare stated,
"Can you dig them up please?" Jigsaw requested,
"Hold on." the mare said, and she did,
"Here's her address." the mare stated, and she handed it to him,
"Thank you." Jigsaw said, and he left. He headed to the nearest royal guard station and went to go see the stallion at the desk,
"Can I help you?" the stallion asked,
"Yes, I was hoping for some information on this mare." Jigsaw stated as he showed him his drawing of her,
"Game Arranger, hmm, where I have heard that name? Oh, I remember, she's actually been reported missing about three weeks ago." the stallion said,
"Three weeks ago?" Jigsaw exclaimed,
"Yeah, she was at home and she suddenly disappeared and was never heard from ever again, nopony knows what happened to her, her neighbors called the royal guards and reported her missing, we did a welfare check and she was nowhere to be found." the stallion explained,
"Do you have info on a unicorn stallion named Warlock?" Jigsaw questioned,
"Yes, he's originally from the northwestern part of Equestria, he's had a fascination of dangerous games ever since he was a foal, he's never been caught though." the stallion responded,
"He was never caught?" Jigsaw asked,
"About that, he's never in the same place, and he's not big enough of a threat for Princess Twilight and her friends to go after, so we're stuck trying to get him instead." the stallion remarked,
"What? He's destroying other ponies' souls in his games and sending them to a realm to be tortured, he sounds like he should've been caught by them if you ask me." Jigsaw said,
"Well, he's not a national threat, that's why they don't go after him, but if you have any info on him, we'd appreciate it." the stallion stated,
"He's got my soul bound to some kind of object that will kill me if he destroys it, I don't know where he's staying either, it's him teleporting me to random places, he seems to have Game Arranger under his control with a spell, too." Jigsaw explained,
"Game Arranger's under his control? That's new to us, I'll go ahead and let the others know and try to get a warrant to search his childhood home." the stallion reported,
"Okay, I'll be going now, good luck." Jigsaw stated,
"Thank you, you too." the stallion replied, and he left and looked at Game Arranger's address and headed to the train. He asked the passengers on the location of Game Arranger's address and the nearest train stop, they told him the name of the stop and one stallion showed him where it was on a map, he thanked them and sat back down, he waited for the train to arrive at his destination while keeping his guard up in case Warlock teleports him, nothing happened and he got off the train and headed to Game Arranger's home. He walked to her home and saw it was old and plants were overgrown, he tackled the door open and vines broke off and he entered.
Jigsaw looked around and saw a lot of flowers and paintings around, he walked through her house and saw she had many children's games alongside board games and jigsaw puzzles, he looked at the papers on a table and saw they were crossword puzzles and word searches, he smiled and then looked at scratchcards on the table that were for winning prizes and children's toys, his attention was caught in the next room and he went there, he smiled when he saw toy carts, toy trains, toy bugs, dolls, and figurines in it, he also saw toys won from scratchcards found inside of cereal boxes and smiled wider, he then left the room to look for clues on Game Arranger. He looked through the other rooms but did not find anything, he entered her room last and went through her dairy, he saw it was written in cursive with black ink and a quill and had a little trouble reading at first until he read a little more and it became easy, he saw the pages were about her days and he skipped them, he found a page mention Warlock and he began reading about how Warlock had a previous pony under his control and he destroyed his body and sent his soul to the realm to be tortured while bounding Game Arranger's soul to one of his relics after she won one of his games easily even after he cheated,
"So, that's what's going to happen to me if I win." Jigsaw remarked, and he closed the dairy, he got ready to leave but he suddenly saw a portal open under him and he fell in.
Jigsaw grunted when he landed on the hard floor and he stood up, he saw an obstacle course in front of him and heard ponies begging for help, he looked forward and saw Scullery Maid and her two sons and two daughters chained and shackled under a tube,
"Welcome back, you peasant, the game now will be you trying to save your poverty stricken maid and her kids, I have made an obstacle course for you, your goal is to find the keys in the course and try to free them before they are covered in tar and get stuck, you may begin now." Warlock said, and he cast a spell to turn on a timer. Jigsaw began climbing, crawling, and jumping around while tar began moving towards Scullery Maid and her children, they tried to free themselves and begged for help, Jigsaw found a key and Warlock moved it elsewhere and sped up the timer,
"Remember, Jigsaw, it's to make the game more entertaining." Warlock remarked while smirking, he glared and focused. Jigsaw saw the tar began moving towards Scullery Maid and her children while they screamed and tried to break free, Jigsaw looked around for anymore keys but did not find any yet, he looked and saw one up ahead and jumped to it, he landed in front of it and got ready to grab it but Warlock began to move it with his telekinesis, Jigsaw picked up a pipe and threw it at him, he made it disappear while Jigsaw grabbed the key, he began sprinting around while panting and looked for the next key, Warlock moved them around and began adding traps into the obstacle course, Jigsaw saw circular saw blades moving across the floor and he jumped onto the pipes. Jigsaw saw the timer has began going down faster and he realized he might not find all of the keys before the tar comes out, he struggled to find the keys and Warlock activated flamethrowers to spew fire out in random areas of the obstacle course, Jigsaw got stuck in place and began jumping from pipe to pipe and almost fell onto the moving saw blades, he saw the tar was about to start dumping onto Scullery Maid and her children and Jigsaw quickly broke pieces of the obstacle course and began heading to them but Warlock sent back to the beginning of the obstacle course. The tar began to pour out and Scullery Maid and her children screamed until a dark purple aura appeared and made them disappear, Game Arranger struggled to appear and used her magic to teleport them away while Jigsaw watched her,
"You wretched tumor! You messed up the game again!" Warlock raged, and he got ready to shoot a blast at her but Jigsaw threw a pipe at him,
"Whoa!" Warlock exclaimed and he disappeared. Jigsaw ran to Game Arranger and saw her injuries,
"Are you okay?" Jigsaw asked, Game Arranger nodded,
"How did you end up under his control?" Jigsaw questioned,
"He chose me for one of his games and I won even after he began breaking the rules and cheating, he then destroyed the body of the previous pony under his control and sent his soul to the realm to be tortured, he then took control of me and bound my soul to another talisman that he keeps to himself, I hate having to serve him against my will, but I'm scared of him destroying me any day, too, if you manage to win and impress him, he will destroy my body and have my soul sent to the realm of torture and you will become the next pony under his control." Game Arranger explained,
"Is there a talisman or relic that his soul is connected to?" Jigsaw asked,
"I haven't seen one." Game Arranger answered,
"Let's try to make one." Jigsaw said,
"Alright, we have to hurry, Warlock will likely be active again soon." Game Arranger responded, and she teleported him and herself.
They arrived at Jigsaw's home and Jigsaw began going through his things,
"Wow, board games, puzzles, books, what wonderful stuff you have." Game Arranger chirped,
"Gifts from my parents before they passed." Jigsaw replied,
"Well, let's try to make something discreet and I'll see if I can bound Warlock's soul to it." Game Arranger spoke,
"Do you know how to send his soul to the realm where he sends souls or how to contact them?" Jigsaw questioned,
"No, can't say I do, but maybe we can find out something." Game Arranger suggested,
"The royal guards are trying to get a warrant to search his childhood home in hopes of finding clues on him." Jigsaw revealed,
"Oh, good, well, let's try to make something now." Game Arranger said, and they did. They looked for something that would not be out of place and Jigsaw got a plastic bottle, Game Arranger shook her head and Jigsaw got a spare piece from one of his board games, Game Arranger nodded while smiling and began using her magic to change its material to make it easier to break,
"Okay, I don't think Warlock will suspect this." Game Arranger stated,
"Alright, go ahead and rest, I hope the royal guards will be here soon." Jigsaw responded, and she did. Jigsaw fed her and she cried uncontrollably at having a meal while Scullery Maid arrived and saw her, she trotted to her began comforting her and thanked her for saving her and her children,
"Don't your kids have a father?" Game Arranger asked,
"My husband left my and their lives after he and I divorced, I've been forced to be a single mother since, Jigsaw and his parents were kind enough to give me a raise when that happened." Scullery Maid answered,
"When Scullery Maid's kids were younger, she had to bring them here for me and my parents to look after while she worked here." Jigsaw added,
"I figured." Game Arranger responded, and she finished her meal and Scullery Maid did the dishes, they heard knocking at the door about an hour later,
"Jigsaw, this is the royal guard, we finished investigating Warlock's home." a stallion said, and he went to the door. He opened it and the royal guards came in with various objects,
"Are you Game Arranger?" a royal guard asked, Game Arranger nodded,
"Where have you been? You've been reported missing for three weeks." another royal guard stated,
"Three weeks? It's been that long?" Game Arranger asked with her voice breaking,
"What happened to you?" the first royal guard asked,
"Warlock chose me as a random player of his sick games, I won even after he started cheating, he was impressed and bound my soul to an object in his possession for him to control me, he destroyed his previous slave's body and sent his soul to another realm to be tortured." Game Arranger explained,
"Another realm, you say? That would make sense considering we found this in his home." the second royal guard stated as he showed them what appeared to be a map of other realms with one circled with a red marker,
"According to his notes here, this place here that connects all of the other realms is called the Void, he found it by chance when members of some group called the Anti-Spirit cult appeared in his home suddenly one day, the beings from this realm seemed to have powers to can trap one's soul and do what they please, Warlock questioned them and seemed to have persuaded them to teach him their magic on sending souls to their realm." the second royal guard explained,
"You know how to open the portal to their realm, Game Arranger?" Jigsaw asked,
"No, but if there's notes on how, maybe I can." Game Arranger responded,
"Or you can ask Warlock." Scullery Maid suggested,
"I doubt he'll teach me, but I can try." Game Arranger replied,
"We've been after Warlock for a while, but it seems he's been a bad seed since he was a colt, looks like he made his first deadly game when he was maybe seven years old, first ponies to play them were his parents, he disappeared completely after that for years before reemerging as an adult on our maps." the first royal guard said,
"He must've been honing his craft till then." Jigsaw deduced,
"Probably, if you two manage to catch him before we do, we ask that you two bring him to us alive." the second royal guard requested,
"We'll try." Jigsaw responded,
"Alright, we'll look for him now, good luck on your ends." the first royal guard spoke, and they left. Game Arranger sat nervously while Jigsaw and Scullery Maid watched her, she was then suddenly teleported away and she dropped the spare piece from Jigsaw's board game, they got worried but a dark purple aura appeared around it and it got teleported. Jigsaw and Scullery Maid waited and got on with their days while Jigsaw played with his board games and jigsaw puzzles to pass the time and Scullery Maid read a book when she finished her daily chores, they waited for the day to pass anxiously but nothing happened, Scullery Maid headed home quickly when her day was done and Jigsaw laid in his bed and worried about Game Arranger and could not sleep. The next morning came Jigsaw yawned, he stood out of bed and the floor suddenly disappeared and he screamed while he fell.
Jigsaw grunted when he landed on a hard floor and he saw Warlock standing in front of him with Game Arranger having a fearful expression,
"It seems my slave here has tried to play against the rules, tried to ask me the spell to send souls to the realm I send them and then trying to bound my soul to this game piece, since she wishes to mess with the game of survival against my current player, I have decided it is time to get rid of her, I have made a replica of this piece over there and have your soul in it while hers is in this one since she destroyed the original item with your soul in it with her magic, you two are to race through the maze that is about to appear and destroy the piece, if you win, you will be my new apprentice." Warlock explained,
"No, Warlock, I challenge you." Jigsaw declared, Game Arranger's eyes widened,
"You dare speak against this game's best player?" Warlock questioned,
"If you're the best, then prove it." Jigsaw said,
"Me being the designer of the game is proof enough." Warlock fumed,
"Well, it's not enough proof for me, I wanna see you in action." Jigsaw retorted, Warlock glared and threw Game Arranger aside with his magic and she yelped, he walked forward while Game Arranger secretly bounded his soul to one of the pieces with her magic, he stood beside Jigsaw and cast a spell to make walls rise out of the floor,
"Ready, go!" Warlock declared, and he teleported while Jigsaw sprinted. He watched the walls shift around and he strafed around and bumped into them a few times, the walls opened and fire began spewing out from the sides and Jigsaw ducked under them while he felt burns on his body. He ran through them and walls appeared in front of him, he looked up and saw they went up to the ceiling and he could not jump or climb over them, he prepared himself and ran forward and punched holes in the wall, he then grabbed them and pulled them apart and broke them, he sprinted before the wall fixed itself and trapped him, he saw circular saw blades moving on the floor and spinning around, Jigsaw jumped and held his legs out to the side to avoid them. Warlock cast telekinesis on the saw blades to make them float in the air and turned them around vertically, he shot them at Jigsaw's body and legs and he grunted as they cut him, the walls began closing in and pushing his legs back, he took his legs off the walls and fell, he stumbled a little but managed to stand. Jigsaw punched the walls and broke them apart, he looked and saw dead ends in the front wall and right wall, he went to his left while Warlock tried to fix the wall and trap him in it, Jigsaw jumped past the wall but fell over. Jigsaw stood up while panting heavily and the floor changed to acid, he jumped and pressed his hoofs on the walls to the sides but Warlock moved them farther away and he fell, he screamed and moved as fast as he could, Game Arranger made the acid and saw blades disappear and healed Jigsaw and he sprinted while Game Arranger made walls disappear and he went through them.
Jigsaw arrived at the end and the game pieces were gone, he saw Warlock floating far away with the game pieces and he cast a spell to restrain Jigsaw and got ready to obliterate him with a blast, Game Arranger appeared in front of Jigsaw and grunted while struggling to control herself and cast a shield, she blocked Warlock's blast and it knocked her away, she quickly cast a spell to free Jigsaw while she fell onto the floor. Jigsaw sprinted and Warlock teleported elsewhere with the game pieces and shot blasts at Jigsaw, he strafed and ducked to dodge them and Warlock saw him lunge forward, he teleported the game pieces away while Jigsaw knocked him down, he looked for the pieces while Warlock held him up with his telekinesis, he began shooting blasts at him while Jigsaw grunted. Game Arranger cast a spell to make the game pieces appear and sensed them, her eyes widened when she saw Warlock has detached his soul from his game piece and bounded her and Jigsaw's souls to both of them, she quickly began rearranging them, she got her and Jigsaw's souls off of one and bounded Warlock's soul to it, he shot a blast at her and she yelped while he began rearranging the souls on them. Jigsaw spat in Warlock's mouth and he gagged and let go of Jigsaw, he tried to grab the game pieces and Warlock teleported them to himself, he bounded Game Arranger's soul to both of them while Jigsaw tackled him and wrestled him. He headbutted Warlock and he grunted while getting staggered and he screamed when his horn broke, he broke free and looked for the game pieces, he looked and saw Jigsaw holding both of them, he held up the one in his front right hoof,
"NO!!" Warlock begged while Game Arranger cast a spell to free her and Jigsaw's souls from the game pieces,
"Game over." Jigsaw said, and he squeezed and broke the game piece. A portal opened and Warlock tried to crawl away but creatures from the other side got him, he went near Game Arranger while his body got destroyed and his soul went to their realm. Game Arranger screamed as she got dragged into the portal,
"NO!!" Jigsaw shouted as he ran to her and grabbed her front hoofs, she yelped while Jigsaw began pulling her and the creatures tried to pull her in, Jigsaw grunted as he pulled her as hard as he could and Game Arranger tried casting magic but it did not work on the creatures, he bent his back down a little and grunted as he freed Game Arranger slowly, he pulled her out and she soon suddenly got released from their grip and they fell over while the portal closed. Jigsaw panted while Game Arranger looked back, she hugged Jigsaw and cried,
"Thank you, I thought I was never going to be freed." Game Arranger said,
"It's okay, let's go home." Jigsaw replied, and she teleported him and herself back to his home.
Jigsaw was sitting across from Doctor Whooves while Game Arranger held onto him tightly,
"Scullery Maid and her kids have helped me and Game Arranger recover, she lives with us now, we told the royal guards what happened and they decided to let Game Arranger go, we soon began having nightmares of our experiences while Scullery Maid has been recovering her own way." Jigsaw explained,
"It's good you survived, and while you are my very last patient before I finish doing this job for good, I'll always be here if you want to talk some more about your experiences." Doctor Whooves said,
"Thank you." Jigsaw replied,
"You're welcome, price is ten bits, and with that, I officially end my job as a therapist." Doctor Whooves spoke, and Jigsaw paid him and left. Doctor Whooves locked his door and placed his bits with the rest of his money, he now had enough money to pay his house bills for the rest of his life, he went to the back of his home and opened a portal and met up with Jones, Modules, Kinetic, Inertia, Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Graph, Storage, Data, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, Joker, Darwin, Cassius, Walker, Runner, Sprinter, Raging Tornado, Earthquake, Tsunami, Meteorite Hellfire, Tao, Gunslinger, Archer, Kinkaku, Ginkaku, Feral, Soul Medium, Paladin, Arcana, Robin, Night Witch, Red Baron, the residents of Dreaming Paradise, the residents of Nature Valley, Mother Nature, Spirit, and Demonicus,
"Everyone, it's time." Doctor Whooves said, and they planned their attack on Claudius.
Doctor Whooves, Jones, Modules, Kinetic, Inertia, Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Graph, Storage, Data, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, Joker, Darwin, Cassius, Walker, Runner, Sprinter, Raging Tornado, Earthquake, Tsunami, Meteorite Hellfire, Tao, Gunslinger, Archer, Kinkaku, Ginkaku, Feral, Soul Medium, Paladin, Arcana, Robin, Night Witch, Red Baron, the residents of Dreaming Paradise, the residents of Nature Valley, Mother Nature, Spirit, and Demonicus gathered together and looked at the pictures of their eleven targets,
"Here are the ponies we have to take down, Ophelia, Supernova, Cotton Candy, Watermelon, Violet, Fireball, Freeze, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Fortinbras, and Claudius." Doctor Whooves stated,
"Where would they be now?" Kinkaku asked,
"I'm guessing they're most likely still at the town Jones found them." Arcana deduced,
"It's been years since I went there, I'd be surprised if they are still there collecting horns." Jones remarked,
"How many severed horns would they have there now?" Robin questioned,
"Considering Jones was a toddler when he met them, it's possible they might have all one hundred now." Meteorite Hellfire deduced,
"Will we be able to return the horns to their victims?" Tsunami asked,
"Unlikely, when a unicorn loses a horn, that's usually it, there is no reattaching it." Data replied,
"Oh." Tsunami stated while looking down,
"Let's get going, the sooner we stop Claudius, the better." Demonicus said,
"I agree, seeing what Claudius is capable of and what he appears to be, it wouldn't be surprising if he's stronger at night when the moon rises." Mother Nature added,
"Let us go then." Spirit stated, and Archmage Astral Plane teleported everybody.
Everybody arrived at the place where Jones first encountered Claudius and his followers, they looked around and he saw the horns were no longer on the trees, the wooden structure of the four horses were also gone,
"Looks like they left after all." Jones commented,
"Let's check and see if they left anything behind." Robin stated, and they did. Everybody checked the town and found nothing, the unicorns cast spells on the pitch black room with the red candles for anything that could be hiding,
"I'm not finding anything." Tao reported,
"Me neither." Soul Medium replied,
"Hey, Joker, what does it say in that book of yours?" Arcana asked, he opened it and read,
"The cult left this place a long time ago and went back to their hometown, they continued their actions there and have already gotten twenty five unicorn horns of the four colors they need, the ceremony to summon the four horseponies will commence on the next blood moon and they are waiting for it." Joker explained,
"Anything on Claudius?" Paladin asked,
"Nope, as always, his actions are not recorded." Joker answered,
"Strange, I wonder why that supernatural book has no effect on him." Paladin stated,
"Not the time, we need to focus." Sprinter reminded, and they continued searching. Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Darwin, Raging Tornado and the air ponies, Robin, Master Nocturne, the Pegasi from Dreaming Paradise, Night Witch, and Red Baron flew around and looked for any clues and watched for any oncoming danger,
"Nothing over here." Robin reported,
"It's clear over here, too." Night Witch replied,
"Any of you find anything?" Raging Tornado asked, the air ponies shook their heads,
"It seems this place is barren after all." Master Nocturne remarked,
"I'm seeing signs of that as well, there doesn't seem to be anything here." Red Baron responded,
"I agree. Doctor Whooves, can we leave?" Solute requested,
"Hold on, the others down here are not done checking this town and its surroundings." Doctor Whooves answered,
"That reminds me, have any of you detected anything strange about the pendants?" Earthquake asked,
"They seem to be enchanted, don't know what it was when I scanned them with my magic though." Darwin answered,
"Me neither, if I had to take a guess, it's enchanted with magic or energy from another realm that can only be accessed by a certain type of power or spell that only Claudius knows." Arcana responded,
"Did you find anything, Spirit?" Runner asked,
"A little, there seems to be traces of Claudius' powers in them, they're dormant, but once when the four horseponies are summoned, they will activate, I don't know what will happen afterwards." Spirit explained,
"How about you, grandpa, did you find any realms with creatures like Claudius?" Walker questioned,
"No, I think Claudius might be one of a kind, I haven't seen any members in the Anti-Spirit cult like him either." Sprinter responded,
"What is he then? It seems like no one has any idea on who he is, what he is, or where he came from." Paladin commented,
"None of us know, but what we do know is he's dangerous, and he can't be detected with magic, technology, or whatever other methods the other realms use." Ginkaku remarked,
"You have any idea on what he is, big brother?" Archer asked, Gunslinger shook his head,
"You?" Gunslinger questioned,
"No clue, but hearing about him is scaring me." Archer responded,
"I think all of us are scared, but we might be able to take him down if we work together." Soul Medium reminded,
"Indeed, if we go after him one at a time, then no doubt we will likely lose." Tao added, Feral grunted in agreement,
"Me and the others are done checking over here." Commander Lionheart reported,
"I'm done over here." Cassius responded,
"We're done looking over here." Modules spoke,
"Alright, we're done here, you ponies in the sky can come down now." Doctor Whooves stated, and they did. Everybody gathered together and discussed what to do next,
"Where do we go now?" Inertia asked,
"The town with the scarecrows." Kinetic answered,
"I hope nothing bad happens there." Solute commented,
"All of us hope things will be fine and we're scared to go, but we have no choice." Solvent answered,
"It's alright, dear, we'll stick together." Solubility reassured, Solute smiled,
"I'm not sure if our technology will help against a creature like Claudius." Data remarked,
"If we can't do anything against him, let's at least try to take down his ten followers." Graph responded,
"Yeah, it's probably the most we can do." Storage added,
"I think we should get going to that scarecrow village now." Starburn suggested,
"Agreed, I'd rather kill those cult members before they can summon the four horseponies." Daylight Dimmer added,
"I'd rather free those ten from Claudius' control." Paladin interjected, the others agreed,
"We'll see, we'll be going now." Archmage Astral Plane stated, and he teleported himself and everybody elsewhere.
Everybody arrived at the town with the scarecrows and they noticed they were all facing them,
"I'm getting an uneasy feeling." Archer commented,
"Same." Gunslinger added, the unicorns from Dreaming Paradise sensed the scarecrows with their magic,
"The scarecrows are infected with some kind of energy, best word I can use to describe it is demonic, it seems these ponies and animals are still alive, too." Archmage Astral Plane observed,
"Can we free them?" Tsunami asked,
"I'm not seeing signs we can, they seem to have been twisted and transformed by the demonic energy, their minds are warped, too." Arcana spoke,
"I thought so, the royal guard who told me about this town said she always felt like she was being watched here." Doctor Whooves stated,
"Let's investigate and see if we can find anything here." Demonicus spoke, everybody nodded and split up while Daylight Dimmer and Starburn summoned knives with their hatred magic, Walker, Runner, and Sprinter summoned spiritual swords and pistols, Meteorite Hellfire took her sword off of her back, Gunslinger got his shotgun ready, Archer held her bow, Kinkaku unsheathed her sabre, Ginkaku held his big broadsword, Soul Medium got his spear and shield ready, and Night Witch and Red Baron pointed their spears while flying around. Everybody investigated the town and looked for Claudius and his followers but they found nothing, they saw the sun setting and everybody got ready while the pendants around the scarecrows' necks floated up, four lights appeared on them, the bow glowed white, the sword glowed red, the scales glowed black, and the scythe glowed pale, everybody got defensive and the sky turned dark red while a blood moon appeared,
"That's not a natural blood moon." Soul Medium spoke,
"Get ready, everybody." Demonicus ordered, and they did. The pendants glowed brighter and one hundred severed unicorn horns floated around the full moon with the twenty five white horns in the upper-left quadrant, the twenty five red horns in the lower-left quadrant, the twenty five black horns in the upper-right quadrant, and the twenty five pale horns in the lower-right quadrant, they spun around clockwise extremely quickly and blurred, images of a bow, a sword, a set of scales, and a scythe appeared and they spun around with the horns, they heard Claudius snickering and his voice echoing, lightning strikes of the four different colors came down and struck the scarecrows, the scarecrows came to life and were they were now covered in black mass with many red eyes and mouths moving around on their bodies randomly, they roared and charged at everybody.
Doctor Whooves and the others got ready while the monster ponies ran to them and more ponies and animals came out of unmarked graves around the town, they screamed while black tendrils and tentacles broke, contorted, and reshaped their bones, they began roaring and tentacles with many mouths and teeth came out of their mouths. They ran to them and everybody fought back, Doctor Whooves punched, kicked, and headbutted the creatures when they got near him, Jones shot blasts with his horn, Modules, Kinetic, and Inertia used robotic attachments on their legs' to increase their strength to kick the creatures away, Solubility, Solvent, and Solute flew around and dodged the creatures while kicking them with their hind legs, Graph, Storage, and Data summoned machines with their magic and they shot lasers everywhere, Gunslinger shot everything with his pistols and shotgun, Archer shot everything with her bow and explosive arrows, and Night Witch and Red Baron flew around and stabbed the creatures with their spears. The others watched and they noticed Ophelia, Supernova, Cotton Candy, Watermelon, Violet, Fireball, Freeze, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Fortinbras appear in the sky and they floated down, they began shooting spells out of their horns that took on the form of black tendrils and dark crystals that corrupted everything. The others moved away and Tao put up a shield while Soul Medium said an incantation in a foreign language while his voice echoed, dark purple flames appeared on the creatures but they kept coming while unharmed. Kinkaku slashed the creatures while Ophelia and Violet shot blasts at her and she deflected them with her sabre, she swung her sabre around and sent gold energy blasts at them, they teleported around and dodged them while Fireball and Freeze appeared behind her and shot fire and ice at her, she ducked while Ginkaku jumped and swung his big broadsword down, he sent a silver energy blast to Ophelia and Violet and it exploded and they disappeared.
Raging Tornado created tornadoes with her mind while Earthquake changed her body into stone and had plants wrap and entangle Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, they teleported elsewhere and shot big blood red blasts that tainted the ground and created more creatures and they shot dark magic everywhere. Meteorite Hellfire swung her sword around to destroy Claudius' monsters and shot fire out of her horn at Freeze while he shot ice at her, Tsunami summoned rain and made water burst of the ground to wash away the creatures, she also shot water at Fireball to cancel out the fireballs he shot out of his horn, she tried washing away all of Claudius' creatures with a tsunami but they tainted the water and it turned pitch black, it rose up while roaring and shot black balls of dark energy everywhere. The air ponies, ground ponies, water ponies, and fire ponies worked together and combined their elements and bodies together to fight off the creatures, the unicorns from Dreaming Paradise enchanted them to make their elements stronger, Arcana shot blasts and deflected all of Cotton Candy's magic with her force field, Paladin went after Supernova and she summoned big blasts with her magic, and Robin went after Watermelon and threw her kunai and shuriken at her while Watermelon teleported around. Darwin teleported after Fortinbras and he teleported away and shot dark magic out of his horn, Darwin shot big blasts at him and Fortinbras held the other creatures around himself to shield his blasts and they got destroyed instead, Cassius appeared behind him and punched him in the back of his head and then turned into wind and moved around while Mustang and the other bipedal ponies arrived to help him, he punched Fireball and Freeze in the back of their heads to stagger them and Meteorite Hellfire and Tsunami hit them with their magic and destroyed them.
Portals opened and members of the Anti-Spirit cult appeared and they were corrupted by Claudius' powers, they were twisted and contorted with extra tendrils and bones growing out of their bodies that shot dark red acid that split into smaller pieces and homed on everybody. Walker, Runner, and Sprinter teleported around and slashed them with their swords and shot them with their pistols, they transformed more and fused with Cotton Candy and Watermelon, they began shooting more blasts out and Daylight Dimmer and Starburn quickly changed their swords to crossbows and shot them from afar, Soul Medium said an incantation in a foreign language with his voice echoing and they got engulfed in dark purple flames, Cotton Candy and Watermelon screamed while their bodies and souls got destroyed. Supernova summoned big explosions everywhere and everybody backed away, the fire ponies went through them unfazed and tried to restrain her but she teleported elsewhere, she arrived near Paladin and she punched Supernova with her front right hoof, she grunted very loudly while she got sent flying and slid on the ground while getting buried, she stood up while growling and Robin shot her horn off with one of her revolvers and she screamed in agony while Tao cast a spell and destroyed her. Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Fortinbras began combining their blasts together and shot them while Claudius began fusing them together into a three-headed pony, their blasts combined with one another and they shot three blasts at a time, the skeleton of their new body grew bigger and out of their body, it began shooting dark energy out of its three mouths and everybody dodged it, Arcana cast a spell to separate them while Soul Medium shot arrows with his bow and dark purple flames engulfed them, she then cast a spell to empower Soul Medium's magic, the creature shot its blasts at Soul Medium and one of his charms blocked them, the corrupted members of the Anti-Spirit cult ganged up on him and he fended them off with his shield and spear while Night Witch and Red Baron dived down stabbed their spears into the spine of the three-headed pony, it roared and continued attacking and Archer and Feral shot their arrows at it and stunned it while Cassius and Mustang appeared behind it and restrained it, Gunslinger then shot their heads with his shotgun and they exploded, he then shot the skeleton and destroyed the creature.
The bodies of Ophelia, Supernova, Cotton Candy, Watermelon, Violet, Fireball, Freeze, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Fortinbras turned into black streams that floated up into the moon, they divided into four sections and began changing color, a portal opened and more corrupted members of the Anti-Spirit cult appeared, everybody got ready to fight but became surprised when they saw the harpies, vulcans, and onis appear with them. Alexia, Adetokunbo, and the other harpies threw their bladed boomerangs around and attacked up close with their spears, Elder Hephaestus, Diana, Hera, Athena, Echidna, and the other vulcans fired their pistols, rifles, and automatic weapons while attacking up close with axes, sledgehammers, glaives, broadswords, and spears, and Champion Lucius teleported around while using his hand-to-hand combat skills along with his electrified telekinesis and his fire and lightning magic, the red onis attacked with their mace-whip hybrid weapons and fire magic while also ripping the creatures apart and crushing their skulls with their bare hands while the blue onis used sabres and katanas and lightning magic while using hand-to-hand combat attacks that targeted a body's weak spots and pressure points. Several of the ponies stopped fighting and looked on in shock and disbelief at seeing the onis gang up on their enemies and rip them apart while collecting their skulls as trophies, Claudius' creatures began attacking them and Genghis appeared and held them off with his various weapons, everybody got overwhelmed and Joker wrote in his book to give everybody extra weapons and armor to fend off the many creatures. The souls of the creatures flew up into the moon and the unicorns from Dreaming Paradise realized what was happening, Walker, Runner, Sprinter, and Spirit tried to take their souls but Claudius' hold was too strong and he overpowered them easily and the souls went into the blood moon, it turned white, red, black, and pale, they heard four deep male voices laughing and four alicorn-like ponies wearing black cloaks came down, one was white and holding a bow and wearing a crown, one was red and holding a sword, one was black and holding balancing scales, and one was pale and holding a scythe.
The four horseponies rode down and began affecting the world, the white horsepony began destroying settlements and spreading illnesses while shooting everybody in his sight with his bow, the red horsepony attacked everybody with his sword, the black horsepony moved his scales and made crops wither and die, and the pale horsepony attacked everybody with his scythe and took their souls while every plant he stepped on died, Joker wrote in his book and tried to erase them but it did not work. Mother Nature, Meteorite Hellfire, Tsunami, Earthquake, and Raging Tornado cast their nature magic together to counter the horseponies' destruction while Archmage Astral Plane, Arcana, and the unicorns of Dreaming Paradise cast spells to aid them and enhance their powers, the four horseponies continued destroying everything and the area became desolate. Archer and Soul Medium shot their arrows at the white horsepony while Soul Medium enchanted them with his magic, he had a white aura on his horn and the white horsepony took control of the arrows and made them home on others, he shot thirty arrows at a time and they multiplied in midair and homed on his targets, they also had a pale green trail behind them that made anybody touched by it sick, the red horsepony rode around and he had a trail of fire behind him and burned everything he touched, his sword sent out fire waves that burned everything and made those it passed start fighting one another, the black horsepony moved his scales up and down and all of the plants withered and died while locusts appeared behind him and ate the plants out of his reach, and the pale horsepony killed everything he touched with his hoofs or attacked with his scythe while a green trail shot out of his scythe and killed anything it touched. Everybody tried to stop them but Claudius summoned more members of the Anti-Spirit cult to hinder them, Walker, Runner, and Sprinter changed to their spirit forms and phased through them and tried to shoot the four horseponies but they cast spells to block their bullets and flew and teleported around.
Kinkaku and Ginkaku swung their swords around and sent gold and silver energy trails after the four horseponies and they flew and teleported around to dodge them, Kinkaku growled while Ginkaku stayed calm and tried to come up with a plan, the four horseponies shot their blasts everywhere and corrupted everything they touched while the harpies threw their bladed boomerangs and the white horsepony shot them out of the air while the black horsepony blocked them with his scales and the red horsepony and pale horsepony swung their weapons and destroyed them. Champion Lucius summoned red and blue circles on the ground that moved around randomly and the red circles summoned fire while the blue circles summoned lightning, he also tried to hold the four horseponies in place with his electrified telekinesis but they teleported out of his grip. Gunslinger hid behind a house and saw them coming, he readied his pistol and saw them ride by him, he came out of hiding and shot them in their backs, they stopped moving for a moment but began running again while they healed and the bullets flew out, they turned around and sprinted to him while he jumped back and onto a roof, the white horsepony shot his arrows at him while the black horsepony sent locusts flying after him, the red horsepony and the pale horsepony cut the house down with their weapons, Gunslinger ran away while doing a lot of acrobatic flips and parkour to avoid their attacks and would turn around to shoot them with his pistols a few times, he ran out of bullets and saw them catching up with him, Robin flew over and grabbed him and pulled him out of danger, she tossed one of her revolvers to him and they shot their guns together, the four horseponies caught the bullets with their magic with and shot them back and Robin grabbed Gunslinger and flew away. Paladin got teleported in front of the horseponies by Arcana while Joker wrote in his book to give her an exoskeleton to wear over her armor, she punched and swatted the four horseponies away and they grunted while flying away several feet, the others smiled while the four horseponies did backflips and recomposed themselves, Kinkaku and Ginkaku sent gold and silver energy waves at them with their swords, they exploded and they grunted loudly and they smiled, the smoke cleared and the four horseponies were gone.
Joker teleported out of harm's way and stood behind everyone while he wrote in the book to give everybody more weapons and armor, stronger magic, and robotic exoskeletons to wear to increase their physical capabilities, Doctor Whooves punched the enemies away and went after the four horseponies with a rocket thruster on his back and shot missiles out of guns on front legs, they grabbed them with their telekinesis and threw them back at him and flew back with rocket thrusters in his hind legs by moving them forward and jumped. The vulcans flew after the four horseponies and shot their guns at them and they flew around to dodge them, Kinkaku and Ginkaku sent more energy waves after them and Arcana cast a spell to make them bigger and more destructive, the energy waves caught up to them and they grunted when it exploded on them, Paladin got teleported to in front of them and she bucked them while wearing an exoskeleton to enhance her strength, Demonicus then shot a big red blast out of his horn and then changed to his shadow form and shot red spears at them to pin them to a wall. The unicorns from Dreaming Paradise shot fire, water, earth, and wind magic at them and combined them with the elemental ponies from Nature Valley, Mother Nature, Meteorite Hellfire, Tsunami, Earthquake, and Raging Tornado combined their elemental magic together while Walker, Runner, Sprinter, and Spirit shot light blue spiritual blasts at them, Soul Medium said an incantation in a foreign language to engulf the four horseponies in dark purple flames and Tao cast a spell to enchant Night Witch's and Red Baron's spears, they stabbed them into the ground to mix with the spells of the others and Daylight Dimmer and Starburn swung their swords to send energy waves of hatred magic into it and Kinkaku and Ginkaku swung their swords to add their willpower magic into it, the big wave hit the four horseponies and it exploded on them, they screamed and got obliterated, the harpies, vulcans, and onis fought off the Anti-Spirit cult and other enemies and Mother Nature and Archmage Astral Plane shot big blasts at the blood moon and destroyed it.
Everything returned to normal and some of the people cheered,
"Don't celebrate just yet, Claudius is still at large." Doctor Whooves reminded,
"What happened to their souls, Spirit?" Walker questioned,
"I'm sorry, Walker, but Claudius absorbed them, they won't be arriving at the Void to receive salvation or damnation." Spirit responded,
"Our realms got invaded by Claudius as well, everything is corrupted like here." Adetokunbo stated,
"What? Claudius can travel through the Void?" Jones asked,
"It would appear so, none of us know who or what he is or where he's from." Elder Hephaestus responded,
"Us onis managed to hold him off a little, we went through a portal that led here after he began corrupting everything." Champion Lucius said,
"This is why I wanted Equestria to be full of trained and experienced warriors, not these friendship and forgiving kinds of creatures." Genghis remarked,
"So, what do we do now?" Alexia asked,
"Wait, Claudius will likely reappear sooner or later." Demonicus answered,
"Well, let's back to our hideout then." Mother Nature replied, the others agreed and Demonicus teleported them. They arrived back and the bipedal ponies, harpies, vulcans, and onis looked around,
"While we wait, I'd like to see what you four creatures are capable of in combat, especially that big purple guy with the fire and lightning powers." Arcana stated, the others agreed,
"Alright then, I guess we can train in the meantime while we wait." Champion Lucius said, the others agreed and everybody began sparring while Doctor Whooves looked at the sky nervously and waited for Claudius to reemerge.
Doctor Whooves, Jones, Modules, Kinetic, Inertia, Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Graph, Storage, Data, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, Joker, Darwin, Cassius, Mustang and the other bipedal ponies, Walker, Runner, Sprinter, Genghis, Raging Tornado, Earthquake, Tsunami, Meteorite Hellfire, Tao, Gunslinger, Archer, Kinkaku, Ginkaku, Feral, Soul Medium, Commander Lionheart, Paladin, Archmage Astral Plane, Arcana, Master Nocturne, Robin, Night Witch, Red Baron, the residents of Nature Valley, the residents of Dreaming Paradise, Mother Nature, Spirit, Demonicus, Adetokunbo, Alexia and the other harpies, Elder Hephaestus, Diana, Hera, Athena, Echidna and the other vulcans, and Champion Lucius and the onis trained and sparred with one another. Everybody went easy and paced themselves so they do not exhaust themselves or seriously injure one another, some rested and sweated and recovered while the others continued, they trained until Demonicus, Mother Nature, and Spirit sensed something and looked up,
"What is it?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"It's Claudius." Demonicus answered, everybody became alert,
"Where is he?" Archer questioned,
"He seems to be in a forest in the northeast of Equestria." Mother Nature responded,
"Let us go, but be ready for anything, we don't know what Claudius has in mind." Spirit warned, everybody nodded and the unicorns teleported themselves and everybody else. They arrived and there was only woods everywhere and no animals in sight, Feral grunted with sounds of distress,
"Is something wrong?" Raging Tornado asked, Feral nodded,
"What is it?" Earthquake questioned, Feral grunted and showed all of the animals were gone,
"They must've sensed the danger Claudius posed and left before he could act." Tsunami deduced,
"I mean, it would make sense considering what we've been told on what he looks like." Meteorite Hellfire remarked,
"I do have an idea on his powers to an extent from my own experiences in the haunted village." Soul Medium said,
"I've seen what he can do, he's actually pretty strong." Joker replied,
"I've saw a bit of his powers before, too, but it really scared me at that time." Jones added,
"I mean, you were a foal, you being scared of him at that time makes sense." Tao reminded,
"You didn't have any special powers to defend yourself like how I do, either." Walker added,
"Let's go, we'll waste time if we sit here and converse." Demonicus reminded, and they went forward. Everybody kept their guards up and looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary, they heard Claudius snicker while their environment and sky turned black, mouths appeared everywhere that had sharp red teeth and black tentacles in them, they shot black ball shaped blobs with tentacles on them everywhere and the unicorns quickly put up shields to block them, they began to become corrupted and the tentacles tried to strangle them, everybody fought the tentacles off by either shooting them with magic, arrows, or bullets, cutting them with blades, smashing them with blunt weapons, destroying them with punches, or burning them with fire, Joker tried to write in his book to make them disappear but they did not. More mouths appeared on the ground and sky and they roared an ear piercing screech, everybody covered their ears' while the mouths shot dark red fireballs out, Walker, Runner, Sprinter, Genghis, Meteorite Hellfire, Kinkaku, Ginkaku, Feral, Soul Medium, Commander Lionheart, Paladin and the earth ponies of Dreaming Paradise, Master Nocturne, Robin and the Pegasi of Dreaming Paradise, Night Witch, Red Baron, the harpies, vulcans, and blue onis cut them apart with their bladed weapons, the fireballs grew back and multiplied while their weapons got corrupted and caught on fire, the tentacles then grew back and tainted their weapons. The unicorns cast magic to try to undo Claudius' powers but they could not, Mother Nature tried to control her environment to make the four elements obey her command but Claudius took over, the wind began cutting things like blades, the earth began taking on various forms and everybody began to sink into the ground with tentacles entangling them, the water turned blood red and engulfed them and began to freeze, and dark red fire appeared on them with angry screaming faces in them.
Soul Medium said an incantation in a foreign language while his voice echoed and the corrupted elements of wind, earth, water, and fire disappeared while the mouths around them began shooting tongues and tentacles out and he cast another spell to undo them, he and the others grunted and screamed when they felt the insides of their bodies mutating, Champion Lucius burned and electrocuted the inside of his own body to destroy them while the red onis burned themselves and the blue onis electrocuted themselves. Modules, Kinetic, Inertia, Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Graph, Storage, and Data used their technology and their eyes' widened when they saw Claudius was growing inside of them and Tao tried casting a spell to get him out of them, everybody screamed as he got black blobs with tentacles and red claws on them out of their mouths, they all gathered together and formed into Claudius. He wore his cloak and his eyes glowed red, five red claws then grew on each hoof, he shot red beams out of his horn, eyes, and front hoofs and they homed on his targets, Archmage Astral Plane shot big blasts at them and Claudius' beams absorbed them and grew bigger, black crystals grew out of the ground and crystals began to grow on the unicorns' horns, Demonicus' eyes glowed green and he had a purple haze come out of his eyes and on his horn, Claudius absorbed the dark magic and got stronger, he then turned into black mist and moved around. He shot black and red blasts everywhere while the sky had dark red circles appear, they got bigger and everyone noticed they were meteors, Meteorite Hellfire and Earthquake quickly tried to use their amulets to undo them while Spirit shot light blue blasts out of his eyes and destroyed them but they continued flying forward, Walker, Runner, and Sprinter summoned transparent light blue pistols and shot and destroyed them, Joker wrote in the book to give everybody extra armor and it protected them from Claudius' attacks.
Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, Kinkaku, and Ginkaku combined their hatred magic and willpower magic together and they destroyed the many tentacles and meteors, they shot them at Claudius and he shot red beams out of his mist form and they created craters everywhere, everybody moved back while Doctor Whooves, Modules, Kinetic, Inertia, Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Graph, Storage, and Data shot missiles and lasers at him, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn shot blasts out of their front hoofs, Joker wrote in his book to make artillery appear and fire at Claudius while he also shot blasts out of his horn, Cassius and Mustang turned into wind gusts and attacked from various areas along with the other bipedal ponies, Raging Tornado created tornadoes to destroy Claudius' tentacles, Earthquake summoned boulders to smash them and shot sand at him while trying to make trees grow and pierce his body, Tsunami sent large waves of water splashing against him alongside making a blizzard and thunderstorm appear, Meteorite Hellfire shot fire out of her horn and made the ground erupt to hit him with lava, Gunslinger shot his pistols, shotgun, and rifle in all directions, Archer shot explosive arrows at the tentacles and meteors in front of her, Demonicus, Mother Nature, and Spirit shot blasts at the tentacles and meteors far away and punched and kicked the ones close to them, and everybody else cut them apart with bladed weapons or smashed them with blunt weapons. Claudius' eyes glowed red and he summoned skeletal creatures of various creatures native to Equestria and from other realms connected through the Void, the harpies threw their bladed boomerangs and destroyed the bones easily, the vulcans destroyed them easily with their fists and various weapons, and the onis smashed and slashed them apart with their weapons, Claudius cast a spell to fuse them together and made mishmashes of the bones to create new creatures, they grew extra mouths and teeth on their bodies and shot dark crystals out. Soul Medium used his runes and charms to repel them, Claudius made more appear and he began saying an incantation in a foreign language while his voice echoed,
"Be mute." Claudius said, everybody felt their tongues about to fly out of their mouths and the unicorns quickly cast a spell to cancel it out,
"Be blind." Claudius said, everybody felt their eyes' about to explode and the unicorns countered it with their magic,
"Be deaf." Claudius said, everybody felt their ears' about to explode and the unicorns cast a spell to counter it, Claudius held his front right leg up and everybody screamed when they felt their heads expanding and about to explode, their visions and heads turned red and the unicorns quickly cast a spell to stop it, they panted heavily and fell while everybody had big headaches. Claudius continued to hold his front right leg up and everybody felt their bodies beginning to bend and contort in unnatural ways, the unicorns tried to undo them but Claudius' eyes glowed red and he put a vision in everybody's minds. Everybody saw visions of civilizations being destroyed, fire and skeletons everywhere, and various creatures screaming while a black liquid coming out of the ground consumed them and their bodies bent and contorted in various ways and their bodies began tearing open, their body parts got absorbed into the black liquid and began to take the form of a creature, it had big arms, a big body, and a head with six horns, the creatures' bloods formed its red eyes on its head and then its big red teeth and claws, smaller mouths then formed all over its body and the creatures' teeth went in them. The creature shot black tentacles out of its many mouths and homed on the many creatures out of range and wrapped around them, they were dragged into the forming creature and they screamed while their bodies turned pitch black from the inside-out, they then bent and contorted in unnatural ways and got absorbed into the creature, its red thick fur formed and grew legs with tentacles appearing on its body. The creature's eyes glowed while it opened its mouth and exhaled with a raspy voice, black bones shaped like blades came out and homed on more people, the creatures got stabbed and screamed when their insides got corrupted and they bent and contorted and the black creature shot black liquid at the buildings in front of it and soaked them, they broke apart and wrapped around the natives, they broke and bent with their bodies and intertwined with their body parts and insides, they screamed and got absorbed into the creature. Archmage Astral Plane cast a spell and stopped the vision while panting heavily from the pain and brought everyone back to reality, Mother Nature and Arcana tried casting a spell to change Claudius into a solid form but he did not, he shot red beams out of his eyes and the unicorns blocked it with their magic.
Joker wrote in his book to give everybody alicorn powers and everybody surrounded him and protected him and the book, Claudius began shooting black javelins shaped like carved bones out of his body, they fell everywhere and grew out black tentacles and tried to stab into the others, the bipedal ponies disappeared into the wind and tried to appear in Claudius' mist and attack him but they went through him, Claudius summoned tentacles out of himself and their stabbed into the bipedal ponies and they screamed. Raging Tornado summoned wind gusts and tried to get them out while Jones shot blasts at him and they went through Claudius, Mother Nature combined her wind magic with Raging Tornado and Archmage Astral Plane combined his magic with theirs, they grunted while trying to change Claudius and managed to change him back to his regular form after a few seconds. Claudius summoned more monsters made of bones and black tentacles and he sent them forward, Joker wrote in the book to give himself and others extra weapons and armor and they shot missiles at them and destroyed them easily, Demonicus, Mother Nature, Spirit, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, Darwin, Walker, Runner, Sprinter, Raging Tornado, Earthquake, Tsunami, Meteorite Hellfire, Modules, Kinetic, Inertia, Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Graph, Storage, Data, Tao, Kinkaku, Ginkaku, Soul Medium, Archmage Astral Plane, Arcana, the unicorns from Dreaming Paradise, and Champion Lucius combined all of their powers and technology together and shot a big blast at Claudius, he shot blasts out of his horn, mouth, eyes, and front hoofs and combined them into a big blast, he shot the blast at them and entered a deadlock with the blast created by regular magic, hatred magic, spiritual energy, the four elements of nature, lasers created by powerful weapons, and willpower magic, they hit one another and the shockwave almost shot everybody except Claudius back. Joker wrote in his book for himself and everybody else to have the same powers and equipment and they joined in on fighting Claudius, they began to overpower his blast and his hooded cloak flew off, a red long mane and tail flowed wildly and his blast got bigger and remained in a stalemate with them, the two blasts began to absorb one another and everybody stopped firing and looked on in shock, it exploded and a huge shockwave sent everybody flying and they exclaimed.
Everybody groaned and woke up while Claudius cast a spell to undo all of Joker's power ups and equipment he gave them while they stood up, they all saw Claudius has multiplied and each one had a different weapon, one stood on his hind legs and raised his front legs, one had knives, daggers, and swords, one had spears and javelins, one had a whip and a cat o' nine tails, one had big and small hammers, one had hatchets and axes, one had maces and clubs, one had a bo staff, one had a three-sectioned staff, one had sickles and a scythe, one had bows and crossbows, and one had guns. Joker tried writing in his book to give everybody weapons but all of the Claudius' shot blasts at him and Spirit quickly teleported to in front of him and put up a light blue shield to block them, all of the Claudius' then lunged forward, Fist Claudius led them and he began doing hoofsprings and somersaults and Commander Lionheart ran to him, Claudius began doing various punches, kicks, grapples, and swaying while he and Commander Lionheart blocked and parried each other's attacks, they eventually held each other's front hoofs and Master Nocturne flew to behind Claudius and stabbed the back of his neck with a hidden knife, it did nothing and Claudius made a duplicate of himself grow out of his back and shot blasts at the people behind him. Blade Claudius made his knives, daggers, and swords float around him while holding two of them in his front hoofs, Walker, Runner, Sprinter, Meteorite Hellfire, Kinkaku, Ginkaku, and Paladin tried to make his floating swords fly away or hit them out of their air with their swords, he teleported around and shot beams at them that made anything they touched explode on impact, he made more blades appear and float around him and he ran and jumped towards them while swinging the two swords in his front hoofs, Ginkaku and Meteorite Hellfire blocked his attacks and did horizontal swings to make his blades move to the sides and Paladin tried to slash his head with her sword while Kinkaku stabbed her sabre into his left chest, Claudius teleported and and shot knives out of his horn and Walker, Runner, and Sprinter put up shields to protect themselves and the others.
Spear Claudius threw his spears and javelins everywhere while Soul Medium caught them with his magic and shot them back, he made javelins fly out of the ground with his magic and into the air while the others jumped back, they then began to fall and Jones stopped them with his telekinesis and shot them back, he hit Claudius and they got absorbed into his body, he then shot them out at them and everybody moved to the sides and dodged the many javelins, Claudius made many clones of himself appear that had spears and javelins, they teleported around while shooting the spears and javelins with their magic and the vulcans put the ponies behind them while they bounced off of their armors. Whip Claudius sent red waves out with each swing that destroyed anything they touched when traveling through the air and ground, Night Witch and Red Baron flew around and threw spears at him and Claudius hit and destroyed them with his whip and cat o' nine tails, the harpies threw their bladed boomerangs at him and he destroyed them with his weapons, he hit and broke the ground with his weapons and sent ten red waves moving forward on the ground as they cut it apart, everybody flew out of the way and they hit trees and made them explode, Claudius then made afterimages of himself appear and sent many more red waves forward with his weapons. Hammer Claudius swung his two small hammers onto the ground and created small earthquakes that shook the ground and made the others stumble, Earthquake created armor from the various earth elements to make herself heavier and immune to the earthquakes, she then tried to smash Claudius between rocks and boulders but he jumped over each one and hit the ground with his big sledgehammer, it made the ground erupt under everybody and rocks and sand flew up, the unicorns cast a spell to make everybody float in midair, Claudius then hit his two small hammers against one another to make a loud clanging sound and everybody covered their ears' while a shockwave came out and destroyed everything it passed, Earthquake made big and thick walls appear to block it and put them down after the shockwave was gone. Axe Claudius spun the hatchets around and they floated around him, they cut anything they touched while he pointed his front right hoof forward and shot the hatchets at his targets, Tsunami summoned water and ice to stop them in midair while Raging Tornado summoned winds to make them go off course, Claudius swung his big axe around and teleported the blade around so it hit everybody, Raging Tornado flew to get them out of the way while Tsunami froze the axes and hatchets with her powers.
Club Claudius hit his clubs and maces on the ground and shockwaves appeared, Genghis ran around and dodged them while trying to slash him with his sword, Claudius teleported away and cast a spell to extend his club and mace, he swung them down and red lightning struck the two areas of the ground he hit, Genghis jumped back while spinning in the air and the lightning strikes shot smaller bolts out that tried to strike him and flew and homed on him, the blue onis absorbed them into their bodies and weapons and shot them back at him. Bo Staff Claudius and Three-Sectioned Staff Claudius swung and spun their weapons around and created wind gusts that cut anything they touched, Darwin flew around them and shot blasts at him while Tao teleported around and shot blasts at him from his blind spots and behind, Claudius made afterimages and doppelgangers of himself appear on his two bodies and many more wind gusts appeared, they teleported around and the two Claudius' extended their staffs and they teleported more while it became harder to dodge them. Sickle Claudius swung his sickles around and did faster-than-light slashes, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, and Feral grunted from the cuts and tried to move out of the way but the cuts homed on them, they grunted loudly from the pain and Daylight Dimmer put up a shield with his hatred magic and shot blasts out of it, Claudius moved his scythe with his telekinesis and swung it around, it pulled body parts of them closer to him and they grunted loudly when they felt their body parts getting pulled apart, Starburn shot a blast at him and Claudius teleported and appeared behind him and the others, he cut them with his sickles and they grunted loudly from the cuts. Bow Claudius and Gun Claudius hid in the back and away from the others, they shot their bow, crossbows, pistols, shotgun, submachine guns, and rifle at them, Modules, Kinetic, Inertia, Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Graph, Storage, Data, Gunslinger, Archer, Archmage Astral Plane, Arcana, Master Nocturne, and Robin tried to shoot them but they created clones of themselves and teleported around, they hid behind trees while the unicorns put up shields since all of the arrows, bolts, and bullets homed on them, they tried to shoot the Claudius' in the back but they hid behind trees, teleported around, and created doppelgangers of themselves with more bows and guns.
Doctor Whooves, Demonicus, Spirit, Mother Nature, and Champion Lucius tried fighting all of them and Claudius' various attacks hit everybody, they struggled to repel him and Doctor Whooves tried using his technology to rewind time and undo Claudius' attacks but it had no effect on him, extremely fast red slashes hit his machines and went away while red circles flew past him and missed him, they hit the trees and they exploded,
"Great whickering stallions!" Doctor Whooves exclaimed as he looked ahead and saw two more Claudius'. Boomerang Claudius threw boomerangs at his targets while more floated around him and homed on the others and also blocked attacks, they flew at the others and tore fabrics in existence and floated through space while a new tear appeared near his targets and cut them while Demonicus tried to shoot them out of the air and made them disappear. Shield Claudius had shields floating and spinning around him and they flew after his targets and homed on them, the wind around it drew in various objects as they were torn apart by them, everybody rolled to the sides while the shields hit trees and exploded. All of the Claudius' held their front legs' out to the sides and shot their respective weapons out of their bodies and they homed on them, the unicorns quickly put up shields and teleported themselves and the others around, Claudius' weapons homed on them and exploded on their shields, everybody grunted and felt their shields weakening while Walker, Runner, Sprinter, and the bipedal ponies moved around and tried slashing and hitting every Claudius in sight, they got stuck in their bodies and screamed when they began to get absorbed into them, Mother Nature, Raging Tornado, Earthquake, Tsunami, and Meteorite Hellfire combined their powers together and a big explosion appeared on them and everybody was knocked back and fell, they grunted when they hit the ground and everyone stood up and saw all of the Claudius' were gone.
Everybody kept their guards up and looked for all of the Claudius' but did not see him, blades, javelins, hatchets, arrows, bolts, bullets, boomerangs, and shields came down and everybody looked up and saw them in the sky. All of the Claudius' began to come down and everybody with long-ranged attacks shot at them, all of the Claudius' teleported, multiplied, and had afterimages of himself that created more weapons and attacks, Master Nocturne, Robin, and the other Pegasi from Dreaming Paradise shot their crossbows and guns at them and went through the Claudius', Shield Claudius surrounded himself and the others with his flying shields and created a magic shield around himself. The unicorns tried shooting bigger spells to try to destroy them but the shields corrupted their magic with Claudius' magic and shot them back, the red blasts came and everybody jumped back while each blast hit the ground and put craters, many shockwaves appeared and destroyed everything, Spirit teleported himself and everybody with his powers while Kinkaku and Ginkaku pointed their swords at the sky and shot gold and silver blasts out of their swords at the Claudius' in the sky, they focused their willpowers as hard as they could and shot two big blasts at them, the Claudius' shot red blasts at them and began overpowering the two easily, their willpowers got stronger and the blasts got stronger and much bigger, they overpowered the many blasts and exploded on the Claudius in the center. The Claudius' disappeared but all of them reappeared elsewhere and tried to attack everybody from their blind spots and behind, they teleported around and hit everybody in their blind spots and behind before they could react, Champion Lucius used his electrified telekinesis and the Claudius' grunted when they got electrocuted, he gathered all of them in one place and everybody shot many different types of blasts at them, the smoke cleared and they were gone.
Everybody kept their guards up and it was silent for a moment, all of the Claudius' reappeared and had their weapons again, wind gusts, red lightning strikes, and red waves went everywhere and homed on everyone while Claudius multiplied and created afterimages of himself, the ground shook and many different types of blades appeared and disappeared while cutting everybody and Joker wrote in his book to give everybody armor and magic shields to block them. Soul Medium shot blasts and tried casting spells to destroy the weapons while saying an incantation in a foreign language, his voice echoed and the runes and charms flew onto all of the Claudius', they pressed on their foreheads and they exploded, all of the Claudius' disappeared and reappeared a few seconds later, their weapons continued creating environmental hazards and Soul Medium blocked them with his shield and attacked with his spear, he got knocked over by a hatchet and his spear got knocked out of his hoof, he saw another hatchet coming and he unsheathed his sword and hit it out of the air. Tao tried casting a spell to contact the angels and archangels for aid and Spirit used his powers to enhance it, they managed to reach them and portals opened, they threw spears with yellow lightning on them and the Claudius' grunted when they got hit, they grew back and began fighting again. Spirit used his powers to contact the demons and more portal opened, black spears with red magical energy on them got thrown at the Claudius' while the angels threw more spears, everybody combined their various magics, powers, and technologies and shot them in a big blast, the Claudius' exclaimed in pain and a huge crater appeared, the smoke cleared and everybody smiled when the Claudius' did not regenerate and the portals closed.
Everybody looked for Claudius but he was nowhere in sight, everybody turned pitch black and floated in front of them and around Claudius, they formed into skeletons held together with black energy and everybody realized they were doppelgangers of themselves, they went forward while Claudius led them, they copied the powers, abilities, and weapons of everybody and Claudius had his weapons float around him and he shot them around while casting spells that controlled nature. Everybody used all of their powers, abilities, magic, technology, and weapons against them and everybody was in a stalemate, Darwin shot regular magic and dark magic everywhere while his crystal pony body made him more durable, he shot blasts at the doppelgangers and tried to destroy them, his doppelganger knocked him into the water and they swam around with their seapony parts, they tried to bite one another and Darwin teleported himself and his doppelganger onto the surface while Claudius gave Darwin's doppelganger nirik fire, Kinkaku and Ginkaku had their willpower magic attacks go everywhere due to their doppelgangers hitting and redirecting them with their own, they almost hit everyone else and they rolled out of way while Claudius' doppelgangers regenerated, Meteorite Hellfire and her doppelganger hit one another's swords against one another and an explosion appeared with fire and lava flying everywhere and everybody got shot around from the impact. Claudius floated around and shot many blasts at once and they destroyed the ground, the pieces of the ground that got destroyed flew around and tried to hit the others, Paladin swatted them away and picked up her doppelganger and threw her at Claudius, he grabbed her and threw her back and the doppelganger did a somersault and tried to kick her with her hind hoofs and Paladin grabbed her and spun around and threw her away, Claudius made her reappear and tried to fight her more. Arcana and Robin tried to attack Claudius but he strafed around in midair and dodged them easily, Arcana summoned fog and made doppelgangers of herself, she and her doppelgangers shot at Claudius from various directions and teleported after shooting, Claudius swatted them away with his front hoofs and summoned more doppelgangers of Arcana to fight them, Robin shot her guns at him while evading her doppelganger, he grunted loudly when a bullet hit his horn and he shot a blast at Robin, she flew back and her doppelganger went after her.
Claudius used his magic to make the doppelgangers' shadows come up and fight with them, everybody began to fall while they got attacked by two of their respective doppelgangers, everybody switched around and fought others, the harpies cut the oni doppelgangers with their boomerangs, the vulcans overpowered the harpy doppelgangers, and the onis destroyed the vulcan doppelgangers. Doctor Whooves, Modules, Kinetic, Inertia, Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Graph, Storage, and Data used exoskeletons, powered armor, lasers, and missiles to destroy the doppelgangers of themselves alongside Genghis', Gunslinger's, and Archer's, Jones and Tao destroyed Paladin's and Robin's doppelgangers, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn destroyed Kinkaku's and Ginkaku's doppelgangers, Joker destroyed Walker's, Runner's, and Sprinter's doppelgangers, Darwin destroyed Tao's doppelganger, Cassius, Mustang, and the bipedal ponies destroyed the ground ponies' doppelgangers, Walker, Runner, and Sprinter destroyed the doppelgangers of the residents of Nature Valley and Dreaming Paradise, Genghis destroyed Doctor Whooves' doppelganger, Raging Tornado destroyed Earthquake's doppelganger, Earthquake destroyed Raging Tornado's doppelganger, Tsunami destroyed Meteorite Hellfire's doppelganger, Meteorite Hellfire destroyed Tsunami's doppelganger, Gunslinger and Archer destroyed several air pony and ground pony doppelgangers, Kinkaku and Ginkaku destroyed Night Witch's and Red Baron's doppelgangers, Feral destroyed Jones' doppelganger, Soul Medium destroyed Arcana's doppelganger, Commander Lionheart destroyed Master Nocturne's doppelganger, Paladin destroyed ground pony doppelgangers, Archmage Astral Plane destroyed Commander Lionheart's doppelganger, Arcana destroyed water pony and fire pony doppelgangers, Master Nocturne destroyed Archmage Astral Plane's doppelganger, Robin destroyed Feral's doppelganger, Night Witch and Red Baron destroyed Modules', Kinetic's, Inertia's, Solubility's, Solvent's, Solute's, Graph's, Storage's, and Data's doppelgangers, Mother Nature destroyed Spirit's doppelganger, Spirit destroyed Demonicus' doppelganger, and Demonicus destroyed Mother Nature's, Daylight Dimmer's, and Starburn's doppelgangers. Claudius looked around and saw the doppelgangers were gone, he floated down and tried to create more doppelgangers but Demonicus shot a blast at him and he quickly teleported. He reappeared far away and Demonicus turned into black mist and shot red spears out of his body and Claudius quickly teleported and disappeared.
Everybody watched carefully and they heard many noises around them, they saw all of the animals were now under Claudius' control and had glowing red eyes, they went to them and began attacking them. Mother Nature tried to free them with her magic but Claudius' hold on them was too strong, Joker wrote in his book to make machine guns appear around them and they opened fire, many people looked away and Raging Tornado nearly cried while Feral shot his arrows at them, Gunslinger shot his guns at the animals while Archer could not bring herself to fire her bow at them. The creatures soon began to overwhelm them and some of the ponies began stomping and smashing the bugs, the harpies, vulcans, and onis fought the animals and destroyed most of them, the Ursa Majors, manticores, chimeras, and bugbears fought the others and everybody had a hard time against them, parasprites began swarming them and the unicorns shot beams and zaps at them to destroy them. The vulcans and onis overpowered the manticores and chimeras a little easily and punched their heads off, the Ursa Majors and bugbears took them down by swarming them and Tao tried to put up a shield while Soul Medium cast a spell to make spears surround them in all directions, it did not help against them as they stepped on them and destroyed them, Gunslinger shot the bugbears in their heads with his shotgun and rifle and they fell over while Champion Lucius used fire and lightning magic against the Ursa Majors but it did nothing, he saw timberwolves coming and he and Meteorite Hellfire shot fire at them and they burned into ash, Spirit shot spiritual energy out at the Ursa Majors and they screeched when he pulled their souls out of their bodies and absorbed them into himself, the animals then disappeared.
Demonicus tried to sense out Claudius but did not find him anywhere, the ground erupted and began to shift and everybody got separated, Claudius floated in midair and he had a creature floating behind him, it was pitch black that floated in midair and had no lower-body, it had red eyes, claws, and teeth all over its body and octopus-like tentacles and thin limbs that looked like vines with thorns, more grew out of the tentacles and even more tentacles and vines came out of the mouths and eyes, the creature shot them out alongside red blasts from its eyes and mouth and everybody took cover. Claudius floated in midair with the creature behind him and it swung its arms upwards and red waves flew forward and destroyed whatever they touched, everybody stepped to the sides and the red waves multiplied into many and homed on them, the Pegasi flew and the red blasts going after them flew into the air to attack them, the creature behind Claudius threw red discs at them and they homed on them, Night Witch and Red Baron threw their spears at the creature and it got absorbed into its body while Joker wrote in his book to give them extra spears. Claudius teleported around and tried to slash everybody with his claws and several people blocked him with their powers and weapons, everything he touched began to turn black and become corrupted, duplicates of himself came out of them and tried slashing and biting the others and teleported around with his magic, Modules, Kinetic, Inertia, Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Graph, Storage, and Data fired machine guns that were on their bodies at them and the bullets tore them apart but each Claudius regenerated and his severed parts grew into more Claudius', Ginkaku tried swinging his sword around and sent the Claudius' flying without cutting them, the Claudius' teleported back and tried to slash the others with their claws and bite them from behind, everybody grunted loudly and several screamed when they felt Claudius growing out of their bodies and trying to possess them, the harpies threw their boomerangs and cut the Claudius' off of their bodies and they formed into full bodies.
The creature behind Claudius teleported around and tried slashing everybody with its claws and Kinkaku tried slashing it as much as she could with her sabre while sending gold energy waves into the creature's body, the creature flexed its arms and tentacles and the gold waves turned black, it shot the waves out of its body and many different beams shot out of its claws and began destroying the environment. Jones ran and jumped past Claudius' clones and shot blasts at the original Claudius, he held his arms up and black spheres floated around him, he thrusted his front legs forward and they turned into small beams and flew to him at high speeds, the unicorns put up shields and the debris flew around and pelted everybody, Earthquake controlled the debris with her magic and shot them at the original Claudius, he absorbed them into his body and shot them out in all directions, Meteorite Hellfire cut the ones coming to her and then swung her sword around and sent waves of fire at him, Claudius caught on fire but it extinguished itself and he was unharmed. Raging Tornado used her wind powers to have the bipedal ponies move faster with the wind and tried attacking Claudius, he blocked and parried all of their attacks and threw them back, Raging Tornado summoned wind gusts and tornadoes around Claudius and the creature behind him and they teleported away while the creature shot dark red blasts out of its many mouths at her and she flew up while turning into wind gusts and appeared elsewhere, Tsunami tried sending tsunamis at the creature and it stood there unaffected, she tried sending snow and ice at it, it got frozen but broke free a few seconds later. Mother Nature combined the four elements of nature together and Raging Tornado, Earthquake, Tsunami, and Meteorite Hellfire went to her combined their magic with hers, a big tornado with a lot of water, hail, big boulders, fire, and lava in it engulfed Claudius and the creature while Champion Lucius added his fire and lightning magic into it, Doctor Whooves saw Mother Nature surround Claudius and the creature with her magic and they turned into a sphere, he shot a rocket launcher at it and it exploded, the unicorns teleported themselves and the others away while a huge explosion and shockwave appeared and destroyed the land.
Daylight Dimmer and Starburn sent their hatred magic at Claudius and his creature while Adetokunbo threw his boomerangs at the hatred magic waves and they got covered in it, Elder Hephaestus flew forward with a glaive and put it in Daylight Dimmer's hatred magic to enchant it, he flew forward and tried slashing the creature apart, Claudius snickered while he and his creature regenerated. The creature punched its arms forward and sent red waves shaped like its fists in multiple directions, it then threw more red discs that homed on everybody and Red Baron looked at them and got an idea, he tried to deflect one red fist with a sword but it knocked him down, Night Witch then tried to deflect one of the discs with a shield but she got knocked down and the shield broke, Walker, Runner, and Sprinter tried to deflect them with their weapons but they got overwhelmed and put up shields, they teleported to behind Claudius and the creature and tried to shoot him with pistols, the creature flexed its black and shot red thorns out at them and they quickly teleported to in front of them, Claudius' duplicates began to restrain everybody and they threw them at Claudius and the creature, the parts of their bodies that touched them began to become corrupted. The creature began shooting red beams out of its tentacles and bug legs and Meteorite Hellfire ran and strafed around to dodge them, she did a somersault and then tried to slashing Claudius and the creature with her sword, he blocked her and then pushed her back with his front right hoof, she grunted loudly and fell over, Doctor Whooves tried shooting laser beams out of his armor's eyes and burn Claudius, it began to cut and burn him and his creature apart but they regenerated, Archer shot explosive arrows at them and it had little effect, she shot more while Arcana enchanted them with her magic, they exploded and magic beams flew everywhere, Claudius grunted and stumbled a little. Archer, Feral, and Soul Medium got an idea and they shot arrows at Claudius and the creature while the unicorns from Dreaming Paradise enchanted them with magic, Claudius grunted and stumbled while the creature winced back, the vulcans and Pegasi from Dreaming Paradise began shooting arrows and bolts at them while their projectiles got enchanted with magic, the ponies with guns then began firing and their bullets got enchanted, the creature screeched loudly and Claudius' duplicates disappeared, the smoke cleared and Claudius' eyes glowed red while his mane and tail moved around wildly,
"I see my usual attacks and methods aren't going to take you all down, let's see how you all fare against my true form and full power." Claudius said in a deep but distorted and echoing voice, a black flash engulfed everybody and they exclaimed as they got transported elsewhere.
Everybody groaned while waking up and stood up, they looked around and saw it was pitch black everywhere,
"Where are we?" Solute asked, Spirit looked around and noticed the place,
"We're in the Void." Spirit said,
"What? But why is everything pitch black?" Walker questioned,
"Claudius must have corrupted it." Spirit deduced, they heard fighting and saw the Senses, the Seven Virtues, Seven Sins, The Judge, Optimist, Pessimist, Passive, and Aggressive were thrown into the place with the others,
"Taste, what is going on?" Spirit questioned,
"Claudius suddenly appeared here and took over immediately and we've been trying to fight him off." Taste explained,
"Wait, where's Diplomat and War?" Walker asked, the two statues then fell in from above,
"We have tried summoning monsters you and your father and grandfather have fought in the past to fight Claudius." Diplomat stated,
"They are not faring well, but we hope it can buy time." War added, they heard various screams and screeches and Claudius snickered,
"There, now I have you all in one place and all obstacles out of the way, it's time to destroy you all." Claudius said, and the black energy around them disappeared,
"Great whickering stallions!" Doctor Whooves exclaimed while everybody except Demonicus, Diplomat, War, and Champion Lucius reeled back in shock and horror, Claudius was now a big bipedal creature with big red slanted eyes on his head and smaller round red eyes all over his body, mouths with sharp red claws and teeth in them, and many octopus-like tentacles, plant-like vines with red thorns, and bug-like legs coming out every part of his body, his long red hair and tail flowed wildly and had tentacles, vines, and bug legs coming out of them,
"Is this... his true form?" Kinkaku asked, everybody felt themselves suddenly getting headaches and they fell over,
"What's going on?" Night Witch questioned,
"It must be another one of his powers." Red Baron deduced, Archmage Astral Plane tried casting a spell to block Claudius out of his head while the residents of Dreaming Paradise meditated and tried to block Claudius out,
"Meditate, block him out of your mind, he's trying to invade our heads and destroy us from the inside-out with his powers." Commander Lionheart commanded, and everybody did, they repelled Claudius and panted, Claudius then shot big red blasts out of his mouths, eyes, tentacles, vines, and bug legs that destroyed everything and everybody tried running away and dodging while the unicorns put up magic shields and teleported, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, Walker, Runner, and Sprinter put up shields with their powers, and Joker tried writing in his book to give the others extra protection. Everybody tried using all of their weapons and powers on Claudius and he swatted the projectiles and magic beams out of the air, Claudius slammed his fists down onto the floor and it created a red explosion, everybody got shot away and they fell over, Aggressive did a backflip and landed on his feet, he screamed with rage and fire flew everywhere, he punched forward and sent flames shaped like his fists at him and hit Claudius, he was unaffected, Sight and Touch held their free hands out and he and Hear, Smell, and Taste jumped forward while holding hands with one another, five light blue razor wires appeared connected to the fingers and thumbs of Sight's right hand and Touch's left hand, they tried cutting Claudius but their attacks did not cut deep, Claudius swatted them away and they landed on their feet, Demonicus and Mother Nature combined their powers together and shot a big blast at him and Claudius grunted a little while wincing back, everybody else joined in and attacked him together and Claudius swatted them away, black portals opened under them and several screamed while they got sucked in and transported elsewhere.
Doctor Whooves saw he was in a pitch black area and clones of Claudius began coming out of the ground, he shot lasers and missiles out of his armor and used the exoskeleton that increased his physical strength to punch them away. Claudius' clones regenerated and skeletal creatures began appearing in the place, they had various weapons and began attacking him. Doctor Whooves summoned laser blades out of his front legs and slashed them apart, he then shot beams out of his eyes and shockwaves out of his forehead, the bones floated around and formed into new creatures, they tried slashing and biting him but he swatted them away. Claudius began summoning dark red fire, dark red icicles, and dark red lightning strikes and Doctor Whooves used his armor's gear to increase his physical abilities to evade them, he rammed and slashed the creatures and they kept getting replaced, he noticed there will be no end to them and tried slashing a black wall, it broke open and he saw an exit and went in it.
Jones shot blasts out of his horn and his mind got plagued with flashbacks of where he first met Claudius when he was a colt and he got distracted by the flashbacks forced into his head, he grunted when red blasts hit him and knocked him down, he shot beams out of his horn and tried destroying Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures but could not. Jones panted heavily and tried shooting blasts and beams out of his horn but it did not help much, so he ran and ducked to dodge the attacks but one of Claudius' clones punched him in his collarbone and he grunted loudly while he flew through the air and across the area, he hit the wall and fell onto the floor. He groaned and tried to get up and Claudius' clones held him up with their telekinesis and tried to tear him apart, he teleported out of their grips and shot blasts at them, it did not harm them, he tried destroying the skeletal creatures and managed to destroy them after using a lot of energy, he sighed and his eyes widened when the bone shards flew around and some of them formed into new forms. Jones realized he will not survive much longer if he remains and looked for a way out while panting heavily, Claudius' clones put images of his first meeting with Claudius and distracted him, he tried to block the visions out and got massive headaches, he teleported to the wall in front of him and shot a big blast at it at point-blank range, a hole was made and he went in it.
Modules used the mechanical armor he was wearing to shoot out bullets, lasers, and missiles at his attackers and Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures reformed from each attack and continued attacking, he shot beams out of his eyes and split his attackers in half and all of them regenerated and there were now more enemies. Hammers and staffs began flying around the area and homing on him, they tried to dent and break his armor but it withstood the attacks, boomerangs appeared in the area and they hit his armor and got a few dents, he used his armor's built-in endoskeleton to enhance his own physical strength and he punched and bucked them and destroyed the weapons and skeletal creatures while Claudius' clones did backflips and landed on their feet. He felt an unseen force trying to pull and destroy his armor and boulders appeared and tried to smash him, he flew with a jetpack on his back and big rocks and ice blocks began falling from ceiling, he flew around and dodged them while punching any enemy in front of him and destroyed them, he flew away while they regenerated. He realized he will not last long and the enemies will keep coming back, so he flew to the floor and punched a hole in it, he flew in it and it got darker, he saw a boulder falling and about to land in the hole and on him, he shot a missile at it and destroyed it and went into the hole.
Kinetic shot lasers out of her eyes and punched and bucked any skeletal creature near her, Claudius' clones used their magic to shoot bullets at her but she activated a force field in her armor and deflected them, they cast spells to make boomerangs and shields appear in midair and flew to her, the force field deflected them. She ran around while the armor enhanced her physical abilities and she ran faster, she rammed the skeletal creatures with her helmet and destroyed them easily, Claudius' clones grabbed and stopped her and she summoned laser swords out of her front forelegs and cut them, tentacles, vines, and bug legs came out of the cuts and began attacking her. She cut all of them and shot lasers out of her eyes and burned the enemies, rocks grew out of the floor and tried to smash her onto the ceiling but she grabbed and broke them and threw them at her enemies while landing on the floor, Claudius' clones cast a spell to break them apart and shot them at her, she punched and broke them while more rocks grew out and tried to smash her into the ceiling. She dodged them and they began breaking on their own and flying to her while rocks came out of the walls and tried to smash her, she quickly punched into the floor and another rock grew out, she punched and broke it and went into the hole and exited the area.
Inertia flew around with jetpacks and rocket boots and used the flames to burn the floating black blobs and they continued shooting tentacles and vines at her, she grunted when she felt the fire burn her and through her armor and she shot beams out of her eyes and destroyed them. The tentacles and vines took root in her armor and began growing on it while the other severed parts grew their own bodies, they tried to pry her armor off and scratch it into small pieces, she shot flamethrowers out of her forelegs and tried to burn them off but it did not work, she made laser blades come out of her front forelegs and cut them off and then flew around and cut apart the floating black blobs and skeletal creatures. The creatures regenerated and continued attacking her, she opened her mouth and shot an electromagnetic blast out and it destroyed every enemy in the area, they came back and Claudius' clones cast magic to make sledgehammers fly around and hit her armor, she grunted and spiraled out of control from the attacks and she fell onto the floor, the ceiling came down and was about to smash her and she rolled to her left and dodged it. She realized she will not last much longer if she remains in the area and looked for an exit but did not see one, so she cut the floor around her with her laser blades and fell into it, a boulder began to rise up was about to push her back into the room, she punched and broke it and left the area.
Solubility flew around and shot missiles off of his wings and slashed his attackers with bladed claws on his hoofs, he shot blue beams out of his armor's chest that exploded on anything they touched and Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures were destroyed but regenerated. He held his front legs out and shot lightning bolts out of his hoofs and paralyzed Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures, red lightning strikes began appearing and striking randomly in the area and he jumped and flew around to dodge them, small sparks shot out of them and tried to zap him while smaller bolts flew out and homed on him, he stumbled a bit from the small zaps and spun around and cut apart any skeletal creature that came near him with his bladed claws. He shot more missiles off of his wings and tried destroying them, small lightning strikes came out of the big ones and destroyed the missiles before they could hit anything, heads appeared and began flying around and shooting red blasts out of their mouths at him, he looked and saw they were Claudius' heads, he shot missiles at them and destroyed them but they came back. More lightning bolts began striking down and got faster, he flew around as fast as he could and saw he cannot keep up much longer, he shot missiles at the wall closest to him and made a hole, he flew to it while slashing any head in his way with his bladed claws and left the area.
Solvent flew around and cut apart the floating black blobs and floating heads of Claudius and skeletal creatures with blades on her wings, knives, rocks, and ice shards began flying out of the walls and trying to pelt her while big rocks and ice blocks fell out of the ceiling. She shot white blasts out of her front hoofs and destroyed them but the black blobs and heads regenerated while more knives, rocks, ice shards, big rocks, and ice blocks appeared, boomerangs and shields then appeared and tried to hit her but she flew and spun around to cut them and knock them out of the air, she shot more blasts out of her front hoofs and destroyed them. Lightning strikes appeared and tried to strike her but she dodged them, red tornadoes appeared and spun around violently, she grunted when she felt them trying to rip her apart and there were bone shards and rocks spinning in them that dented and cracked her armor. She realized she will not last much longer if she stays in the area and looks for a way out but does not see one, so she flew to the nearest wall and punched her front hoofs into it, she pulled and ripped a part off and made a hole, she quickly flew into it.
Solute flew and spun around to dodge the many big red blasts appearing in the area and trying to hit her while fire engulfed the floor and boulders fell out of the ceiling, she flexed her limbs and blades covering her entire armor unfolded and cut anything they touched, she then shot lasers out of a horn on her forehead and missiles out of her back. Floating heads of Claudius and skeletons of various creatures appeared and they shot blasts and beams at her out of their eyes' and mouths, she flew around to dodge them and grunted whenever they hit her and they burned holes into her armor, she punched her front hoofs together and white electricity appeared on them, she then slammed them onto the floor and a big explosion appeared and destroyed everything but they came back. She grunted loudly from the fire melting her armor and getting to her skin, she quickly flew out of it and boulders fell out of the ceiling, she rolled to her left and dodged them while they fell into the fire, more fell and she around and dodged them while sharp ones shaped like spikes began growing out of the floor and tried to press her against the ceiling. She realized she will not last much longer and looked for an exit but did not see one, she panted a little heavily and the floating heads shot more blasts and beams at her while others tried to bite pieces of her armor off, she unfolded the blades and cut them apart again and flew to the wall behind her, she spun around and the blades on her armor cut a hole in the wall and she flew into it.
Graph used the exoskeleton and endoskeleton on his armor to increase his physical abilities and punched and destroyed Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures, he cast a spell with his horn and its power got increased by his armor's equipment and he shot a big yellow-green blast out that obliterated everything in its path. He saw a hole in the wall and he teleported to it but teeth and vines grew out and they tried to bite and smash him, he jumped back while his attackers regenerated and they shot red beams and blasts and bone shards at him, parts of his armor opened and he shot machine guns at them and destroyed them and they grew back while he put up a shield in his armor's equipment and with his magic and blocked the attacks. Red ice began appearing and he got frozen in place, the enemies regenerated and Claudius' clones summoned guns and began shooting him while hammers flew through the air and began breaking Graph's armor apart, they were careful not to free Graph and they continued attacking him, his armor began to fall apart and he felt his body in pain, Claudius' clones then made a hole appear in the floor and put teeth in it, it closed and broke the ice, he quickly held the mouth open and teleported out. He panted heavily while he was freezing cold and could not stand, he teleported to the ceiling and shot a hole into it with his horn and teleported into it and out of the area.
Storage shot missiles out of her shoulder blades and multiple laser blasts out of her horn that turned every Claudius clone and skeletal creature into dust, tentacles, vines, and bug legs came out of the walls and ceilings and she opened her mouth, a gun shot a laser and severed them. Saw blades began flying through the air and coming out of the walls, she got scratched by a few of them and they put scratch marks on her armor, she exclaimed when more came out of the floor and scratched the armor parts on her hoofs, she flew up with rockets in her hoofs and they let out streams of fire that burned anything they touched, it did not do much and Claudius' clones cast spells to freeze her hoofs and she began to fall, she shot big laser blasts out of her horn and destroyed the attackers again and cast telekinesis on herself. Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures reappeared and they shot tentacles, vines, and bug legs out of their mouths while their heads severed themselves from their bodies and began flying around, they shot beams and blasts out of their eyes' and mouths while the ones close to her tried to bite her, she punched and swatted them away and they broke apart easily, they reformed and continued flying around. She realized her enemies will keep regenerating and will not stop, Claudius' clones tried to cast a spell and freeze her but she teleported around and more buzz saws began flying around the area, she shot a blast and lasers out of her horn at the wall behind her and made a hole, she flew into it and teleported farther inside.
Data shot many lasers out of her horn like a machine gun while her armor had built-in fully-automatic guns that shot apart Claudius' clones, the skeletal creatures, floating black blobs, tentacles, vines, and bug legs, more parts of her armor opened and shot at the attackers behind her and they were all destroyed, smoke came out of her horn and gun muzzles while she smiled. Her enemies reformed and their severed body parts grew bodies of their own while Claudius' clones and skeletal creatures grew extra heads and limbs out of their injuries, the clones made assault rifles appear in midair and they fired at her, they began destroying her armor and she teleported around frantically while Claudius' clones tried to cast a spell and freeze her in ice, they missed and made boulders come out of the floor and tried to smash her between them but she shot big blasts out of her horn and destroyed them. Bone shards began falling out of the ceiling and Data grunted when they hit her back and parts of her armor got chipped off, she teleported around and the bone shards kept falling out of the ceiling and onto her, red teeth and claws soon began falling out afterwards. Data grunted while she fell to her knees and Claudius' clones tried to freeze her and she teleported away, she panted and teleported again when two boulders appeared to her sides and tried to smash her between them, she shot a blast out of her horn at the floor and made a hole, she fell in it while bone shards fell into it, she shot a blast and destroyed them and teleported farther down.
Daylight Dimmer summoned two dark green swords with his hatred magic and cut down all of the bone shards flying to him alongside the tentacles and vines trying to restrain him and the bug legs trying to cut him, they grew back and the severed parts grew new bodies. Some of the flying bone shards tried to attack from behind and he made four dark green blades grow out of his back and cut them, black blobs and floating heads appeared in the area and they began attacking him, the black blobs latched onto him and the tentacles and vines tried to burrow into his body, he held his legs out and a dark green explosion came out and destroyed every enemy around him in all directions. He began shooting dark green blasts out of his hoofs and tried to destroy every enemy in the area but they reappeared, claws and teeth began flying around and attacking him, he cut them apart with his swords and they grew back, he shot another hatred blast and hit the floor in the center, it expanded alongside a shockwave being produced and it destroyed every enemy in the area but they came back a second later. Daylight Dimmer realized he will not last long if he keeps fighting and looked for a way out but did not see one, he shot a blast at the wall behind himself and made a hole, he quickly jumped in it while teeth grew out and it changed to a mouth, it closed and tried to smash him but he already made it out.
Starburn summoned two bright red-orange swords and swung them around and the waves cut Claudius' clones and the black blobs but did not affect the skeletal creatures, they spun their bodies around while arms grew out of their torsos and abdomens and they tried punching him, he jumped back and the fists began shooting bone shards out of their knuckles. He grunted and the bone shards knocked him down, he made bright red-orange light appear in his wounds and shot the bone shards out and he screamed in pain, they got embedded into a few of the skeletal creatures and Claudius' clones and they exploded and destroyed them, they then reformed and continued attacking him. He shot bright red-orange blasts out of his front hoofs and eyes at the many projectiles and vines came out of the floor and wrapped around him, he screamed when the thorns cut him and a bright red-orange magic blast came out of his body and made them explode, more vines came out of the ceiling and tried wrapping around him, he made spears appear around himself with his hatred magic and all of them got cut, the pieces that fell inside the spears and around him set into the floor and became more vines. Starburn realized the enemies will keep multiplying and he will only waste his energy if he continues fighting, he made swords appear and float around him and made them go into the floor, they cut a hole and he fell in it while making the weapons made by his hatred magic disappear.
Joker wrote in his book frantically to give himself weapons and shot beams, arrows, bolts, bullets, lasers, and missiles at his attackers but they kept coming back and tentacles and vines coming out of the floor, walls, and ceiling, and floating black blobs tried to take and destroy the book and he teleported around while holding onto it tightly. He wrote as fast as he could with his magic to give himself extra armor and withstood the attacks, he shot big blasts out of his horn that divided and homed on his targets, they exploded on impact but the attackers regenerated, vines tried to wrap around the book and he created duplicates with his magic, the vines wrapped around all of them and tore them apart with their thorns, nothing happened and Joker kept the real book on his back and teleported around while shooting blasts and missiles at his attackers. Knives and hatchets began appearing and flying through the area and Joker put up a shield to block them and protected the book from them, he tried catching them with his telekinesis but they resisted and continued trying to fly into him and slash him alongside cut the book apart, he wrote in it with his magic and made a bomb appear and fall, the explosion engulfed the entire area and he put up a shield, it cleared and he smiled when he saw all of his enemies were gone but they reappeared a second later. Red fire engulfed the place and Joker grunted loudly from the pain and the book began to burn, he put a magic shield up around it but it still burned, he shot missiles at the walls and ceiling and destroyed them, he quickly teleported out and cast water on the book to douse the flames.
Darwin floated around as black mist and shot dark magic everywhere while making dark crystals grow out of the floor, Claudius' clones cast spells to break them apart and made them fly after him, they went through his mist form and he was unharmed. Black blobs appeared and their tentacles, vines, and bug legs tried attacking him but they went through him and he was unharmed, he floated around and shot blasts out of his horn and nothing harmed him, Claudius' clones cast a spell and changed him back to his regular form, he flew around while shooting blasts at his enemies and punching and bucking them. The skeletal creatures tried punching and smashing him with their fists and balls made from bones and his crystal pony body protected him, he teleported around and shot zaps at his enemies and they were blown apart but regenerated. Claudius' clones cast a spell to fill the area with red water and he used his seapony parts to swim around and evaded the attacks, Claudius' clones then had red lightning strike the water and he grunted loudly when the water conducted the electricity and paralyzed his body, they shot blasts at him and tried to destroy him and his crystal pony body began cracking a little, red tornadoes appeared and tried to suck in his body and rip him apart, he struggled to cast spells but managed to change himself to his mist form. He floated to the ceiling and shot a hole in a ceiling with his magic, he flew in and Claudius' clones changed him back with their magic, he jumped in and flew as fast as he could and he saw a red lightning bolt coming down, he put up a shield and blocked it while it pushed him down, he teleported through the area and lightning and made it out of the area.
Cassius moved quickly with his wind magic and he phased through every attack, he punched and kicked the skeletal creatures and ripped the black blobs apart, Claudius' clones tried to catch him with their magic but he flew around and evaded them easily. Tornadoes made of fire appeared and pulled him in and he changed back to his regular form, he panted from the heat and claws and teeth flew in the area and tried to stab him, he blew them away with his wind magic and vines then grew out of the floor and wrapped around him, he exclaimed loudly when the thorns cut him and he used his wind magic to destroy them. Bullets began shooting out of the walls and he exclaimed loudly when they hit him, he got on his abdomen and crawled, tentacles grew out and tried to entangle him and he turned into gusts of wind and flew around while avoiding the tornadoes, Claudius' clones tried to turn him back into his regular form and his wind gusts moved in different directions and zigzags to evade them. He arrived at the wall and he changed back to his regular form, he punched a hole in it and went in, tentacles, vines, and bug legs flew up to him from farther inside and he punched and destroyed them, teeth and knives grew out of the walls to his sides and tried to close in on him and he quickly flew forward in his wind gust form and exited the area.
Mustang ran around with afterimages behind himself and used his wind magic to evade the tentacles, vines, and bug legs, he punched and destroyed the skeletal creatures while also grabbing the vines and ripped them apart easily. The vines began to grow into his hoofs and he quickly threw them away, they took root in the floor and continued trying to wrap around him, black blobs appeared in the air and tentacles, vines, and bug legs came out of them while they floated around, he ran around with the tentacles and vines trying to wrap around him but went to his afterimages and phased through them. He moved with the wind and nothing could hit him, Claudius' clones made tornadoes appear in the place and Mustang got pulled into them, Claudius' clones then made axes and hatchets appear in the tornadoes and he grunted loudly when they cut him, he punched some of them out of the tornadoes but they flew through the air and homed on him, he tried to turn into wind gusts and fly but the tornadoes pulled him in, he quickly reformed himself and flew around with afterimages around him and dodged the flying axes and hatchets. Claudius' clones cast magic to make the room filled with fire, he grunted loudly and tornadoes now had fire in them, he quickly flew up to the ceiling and axes and hatchets flew to him, he moved at the last second and they cut a hole in the ceiling, he flew in it and exited the area.
Walker made guns appear in his front hoofs and shot his attackers while panting heavily at seeing the many enemies, he teleported around and made dark blue skulls float around him and attack his enemies. Claudius' clones took control of the ghosts and began using them on him. They split the souls into pieces and Walker covered his ears when they let out high pitched screeches and screams, Claudius' clones then put them in the skeletal creatures and they began teleporting around and spun their bodies around and tried to smash him. Walker teleported away and continued firing bullets at them but they bounced off of the skeletal creatures while Claudius' clones healed and shot the bullets out of their bodies and they homed on him, he put up a shield and blocked it but he got pushed back. Walker hit the wall and fell, he saw the creatures were about to gang up on him and he shot the floor with his guns while panicking and made a hole, he quickly jumped into it and teleported farther away.
Runner attacked Claudius' clones and floating black blobs with a sword and blocked them with a shield, the blobs shot tentacles and vines onto his shield and began corrupting it, he made it disappear and teleported when the tentacles and vines were about to wrap around him and made his shield reappear. He shot dark blue flames out of his eyes and tried burning the creatures, Claudius' clones caught on fire while the skeletal creatures were unaffected, he bashed them with his shield and the bones broke off and began flying around the area. Claudius' clones shots beams, blasts, claws, and teeth out of their eyes', mouths, and horns and they floated around and bug legs out of the tips of the claws and teeth, he cut them with his sword and blocked them with his shield and teleported around to evade them. He noticed every enemy was multiplying and there was no room to move around, he teleported to the ceiling and cut it with his sword and teleported out.
Sprinter attacked with two short swords and slashed as many as his enemies as he could, he cut Claudius' clones apart and their pieces grew and there were now more enemies, he put up a shield and teleported around to dodge their attacks. He saw many bones, tentacles, vines, bug legs, and blobs flying around and tried to stab and latch onto him, he held his front legs out to the sides and dark blue flames flew out in all directions and shot all of his attackers away, they floated back up and continued attacking him and he tried slashing them apart with his swords. The bones, blobs, tentacles, vines, and bug legs grew back while the severed parts grew their own bodies and began attacking him, Sprinter did various slashes with his swords and tried cutting them down and then tried to obliterate them with spiritual blasts but they came back and attacked him, he changed to his alicorn-like form with dark blue flames around him and he sent out dark blue and orange flames with every slash and tried destroying the attackers but they came back. Sprinter flew and teleported around and the tentacles, vines, and bug legs grew out of the walls and ceiling and tried to stab into his body and he cut and burned them, he spun and flew up to the ceiling and made a hole and flew out of the area.
Genghis fought Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures with a broadsword and cut them all and blocked them when they got close to him, he ran and jumped around and cut his enemies while spinning in midair. He landed on his hoofs and all of his enemies regenerated and grew new bodies from their severed body parts, he sheathed his sword and took a spear off of his back, he slashed his attackers with diagonal attacks and spun it around when he got surrounded, he got backed into a wall and he stabbed the blade into the floor and then propelled himself into the air and landed behind some of his attackers. The floor changed to fire and he quickly ran around and tried to find a way out since the fire was harming his ghost form, he put his spear on his back and took a sledgehammer off of his back and began hitting his attackers away and destroyed the skeletal creatures, they continued to grow back and formed new limbs that attacked him and he panted heavily from the flames burning him. A skeletal arm grabbed and pinned him to a wall and he tried to pull it off but could not, the tentacles, vines, bug legs, and bone shards began flying into him and he grunted from the pain while he saw black blobs appearing in the air alongside red claws and teeth and floating heads, the claws and teeth flew into him while the floating heads either bit him or shot red blasts out of their eyes' and mouths, he grunted loudly and reached onto his back and took a shield off, he slammed it down and destroyed the skeletal arm, he then put it back on his back and picked up his sledgehammer, he hit the wall behind himself and destroyed it, he went in the hole and left the area.
Raging Tornado turned into wind gusts to evade the attacks while creating tornadoes with her mind to destroy the skeletal creatures, Claudius' clones shot red beams at her and she flew around and dodged them while using their magic to corrupt the tornadoes and they turned red. She turned into wind gusts and flew around and every attack phased through her, Claudius' clones changed her back to normal with their magic and cast a spell to show her images of Hurricane, Cyclone, and Gusty holding onto one another and scared while the Claudius' clones, she flew to them as fast as she could and a lightning bolt struck down and she grunted loudly, she got paralyzed while the image disappeared. She made wind gusts and tornadoes appear with her mind and held her attackers back and Claudius' clones made knives and spears appear in her tornadoes and controlled them to make them fly to her, she made clouds appear with her mind and they absorbed the lightning around her, she sighed but the clouds became corrupted and turned red, she flew around and dodged the flying weapons and tried making new tornadoes to destroy Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures. Red fire appeared in the tornadoes and flew around and Raging Tornado screamed in agony, she flew around quickly while panting heavily and panicking but did not find an exit, she used her wind powers to try to blow and cut the wall in front of her but could not, she flew up and evaded the knives and spears that were in the tornadoes and they hit the wall, she grabbed and moved them around and cut a hole in it and flew into it.
Earthquake made plants, soil, sand, dirt, rocks, stones, grass, wood, and clay appear and tried to entangle and smash Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures, they did not do much so she changed her body into stone and grew bigger, she punched and destroyed them easily and then jumped and created shockwaves and earthquakes that destroyed Claudius' clones and they regenerated. Claudius' clones cast an illusion of her family being in danger and holding onto one another while watching the skeletal creatures surround them, Earthquake rolled her eyes and plants and trees grew out of the floor and broke apart Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures and the illusion disappeared, they regenerated and continued attacking. She made rocks and stones appear to smash and destroy them but red ice began covering them and they fell faster, she felt herself lose control over her earth powers and the big rocks and stones began falling out of the ceiling and above her, she turned into sand and moved in different directions but Claudius' clones made red water appear with their magic and she fell to the floor and could not move, she quickly reformed and made vines with thorns grow out of her body but Claudius' clones corrupted them with their magic and they attacked her instead. Earthquake struggled to breathe and got cut, she turned her body into rock and grew as big as she could and broke the floor with her weight, she then changed back to her normal form while making stone appear to block the corrupted vines.
Tsunami turned into water and slid around on the floor while every attack went through her and did not harm her, she took the shape of various spikes and shot into Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures and destroyed them, they grew back and she shot fast streams of water at them and cut them. Claudius' clones made oil and rocks appear in her water form and she moved slower, they then cast a spell and froze her body in red ice, they then cast spells to make hammers, boomerangs, and shields fly through the air and hit her body, she let out muffled grunts while they destroyed her body and Claudius' clones shot red blasts at her and the skeletal creatures were about to smash her with balls made from bones on their arms'. Tsunami let out muffled grunts while trying to control and free herself and her body got shattered by the blasts and big balls made from bones smashing her, the smaller parts of her body melted from the ice and became liquid, they regrouped and her entire body was one body of water again, she made her the puddle bigger and tried to drown her attackers, Claudius' clones cast a spell and made her see an image of her family and their servants being attacked and holding one another in fear, she reeled back for a second quickly went to them, she was about to protect them but the illusion disappeared, Claudius' clones then froze her and made an ice block fall from the ceiling and smashed her. The small parts of her water body melted and they reformed, Claudius' clones then made the room become engulfed with fire and she screamed, she quickly shot streams of water at the wall in front of her and cut a hole, she quickly flowed into it and left the area while changing back to her hippogriff form and flew in it.
Meteorite Hellfire swung her sword around and used telekinesis to destroy the skeletal creatures and throw their bones at Claudius' clones and the floating black blobs, she shot fire out of her horn at the tentacles, vines, and bug legs that tried to wrap around her, she turned her body into fire and burned them and they flinched away. She shot more fire out of her horn and tried destroying her enemies with her sword and telekinesis, floating heads of Claudius and skulls of various creatures appeared and tried shooting beams and blasts at her out of their eyes' and mouths, she deflected all of them with her sword and some of them flew close and tried to bite her, they went through her fire body and turned around and shot claws and teeth out of their eyes' and mouths, she slashed and deflected them with her sword. Tornadoes appeared in the area and spun around, she grunted while her fire body got absorbed into them and Claudius' clones summoned water and ice inside of them, Meteorite Hellfire formed back into her kirin form and shot fire out of her horn but it did not harm Claudius' clones or the skeletal creatures, floating heads went to her and began biting her, she grunted in pain and punched and broke them, she changed to her nirik form and shot a big fire blast out of her horn while screaming with rage. Every attacker got destroyed but regenerated, her eyes' widened and realized she cannot continue fighting much longer, she looked for a way out but did not see one, she cut the floor under her hoofs and fell into the hole, teeth, claws, tentacles, vines, bug legs, and knives appeared inside it and tried to close and smash her, she changed to her fire form and phased through them while burning them.
Tao shot zaps at his attackers and did many jumps, rolls, sidesteps, flips, and hoofsprings to evade the attacks, he cast a spell Archmage Astral Plane taught him and he had afterimages of Janis, Hindu, Buddha, Judas, Sikhism, and Druze appear behind him, he shot seven blasts at a time and his physical attacks were now seven times stronger. Claudius' clones filled the area with red water and he still swam a lot faster than normal due to his seven incarnations in life working together and enhancing his physical abilities, they tried freezing him but only froze Tao and his other six incarnations cast spells to teleport themselves and Tao out of the ice, they shot blasts in all directions and obliterated Claudius' clones alongside the skeletal creatures and floating black blobs. They reformed and bullets began flying through the area, Tao and his incarnations tried teleporting and dodging them but got hit by them, he tried contacting the angels with his magic but saw the angels have become corrupted by Claudius' magic, his clones then cast a spell on it to open a portal to the demon realm and demons corrupted by his magic came in, they threw their spears at him and shot magic blasts at him, he teleported around and shot blasts everywhere. Tao began to gasp for air and noticed he will not last much longer, he continued teleporting to try to evade the bullets and put up magic shields but it did not stop them, he began to fall from the bullets hitting his body and he and his previous incarnations shot a blast at the floor and they went in, the water fell out while the angels and demons threw spears down the hole, Claudius' clones then summoned lightning bolts to strike the water and Tao and his incarnations teleported farther down and left the area.
Gunslinger fired an assault rifle at his enemies and shot Claudius' clones, the skeletal creatures, and black blobs into pieces with the bullets, they regenerated and the body parts grew their own bodies, he ran out of ammo and quickly reloaded it, he fired more bullets and the enemies regenerated. Claudius' clones cast a spell on the assault rifle and he saw the red aura, he quickly threw the assault rifle away and it exploded, he took another assault rifle off of his back that Joker wrote to give him and it shot out homing missiles, the black blobs reformed and shot tentacles, vines, and bug legs came out of them, he took a shotgun off of his back and shot the tentacles and vines and destroyed them, they took root in the floor and formed new bodies. He put the shotgun on his back and took out two pistols that Master Nocturne and Robin gave him, they blew Claudius clones' heads off and they grew back while the bullets went into the walls, Claudius' clones shot red beams and blasts at him while heads of Claudius came out of the walls and shot fast beams at him, he laid on his abdomen and dodged the attacks. He saw them homing on him and he ran around quickly, he shot any Claudius clone or skeletal creature in front of him and blew them apart and ran past them, he heard them regenerate and realized his weapons were not going to work, he saw Claudius' heads come out of the walls and shot blasts at him, he ducked and dodged them and shot them with his shotgun and destroyed the heads, he then shot the wall in front of him and blew a hole in it, he jumped in and exited the area.
Archer shot arrows at Claudius' clones, the skeletal creatures, and floating black blobs with her bow and hit all of them either in the center of their foreheads or in the very center of their bodies, they regenerated and shot the arrows out, Archer shrieked while getting on her stomach and avoided them. She stood up and saw Claudius' clones running to her and ready to attack her, she swung her bow around and cut them with blades Paladin put on the top and bottom ends, they regenerated and she quickly took explosive arrows out and shot them, they destroyed their bodies while the explosions knocked her back and down, she stood up and saw they were gone but they came back. The skeletal creatures reshaped their bodies and shot bone shards out of their torsos at her, she ran while panting and took two crossbows off of her sides that Robin gave her, she shot them and they pierced the bones better, they beeped red and exploded while Archer's jaw dropped, the skeletal creatures regenerated and she panicked a bit but relaxed when she saw the crossbows held more than one bolt, she shot three more from each one and hit the floating black blobs and they exploded but regenerated. She realized she will not last long and looked for a way out but did not see one, she turned around and tentacles, vines, and bug legs grew out of the walls and black blobs and tried to wrap around her, she shot them at the wall in front of her and she screamed when the vines' thorns cut her, the explosion destroyed some of the tentacles, vines, and bug legs and blew a hole into the wall, she aimed while her limbs were pulled and she shot them at the other three walls and they exploded, she was free and sprinted to the hole while teeth grew inside it and she jumped in before it closed.
Kinkaku swung her sabre around while she had a gold aura around her sword's blade and sent waves everywhere, they cut Claudius' clones and skeletal creatures easily while she ran and jumped around and she smiled when she saw she has destroyed all of her enemies but stopped smiling when they regenerated. The skeletal creatures had bones gather together and form big arms that had a big ball in place of a hand, the sections of their bodies spun around and Kinkaku exclaimed when the balls made from bones hit her and knocked her down, pieces of her armor flew off and went everywhere, she stood up while growling, she saw another ball coming and she got on her abdomen and swung her sabre horizontally, waves hit the skeletal creatures' legs and made them fall but they tried to fall on her, she rolled to her right and dodged one about to fall on her. Floating heads of Claudius and various skulls appeared and shot beams, blasts, claws, and teeth out of their eyes' and mouths at her, she did quick slashes with her sabre and cut them down easily, she then saw tentacles, vines, and bug legs come out of the walls and she cut them easily, she then sent gold waves at the walls to destroy them entirely but they took root in the floor and continued attacking her. The room was becoming overcrowded and she noticed she will soon be overwhelmed, she went to the wall to her left while doing slashes with her sabre and sent out gold waves and they cut the wall open, she jumped in and exited the area.
Ginkaku swung his big double-edged broadsword around while a silver aura appeared around the blade and it went in all directions and knocked all of his enemies into the walls and exploded, Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures regenerated and shot big blasts at him and he ran around while his armor withstood the blasts. He swung his sword around and destroyed the skeletal creatures easily while some of them tried to smash him with balls made of bones and he blocked them with his sword, he jumped and slammed his sword onto the floor and the skeletal creature in front of him got cut in half, he then turned around and ran while doing diagonal swings to his sides and cut Claudius' clones and the black blobs while silver waves came out and exploded on them. Knives, spears, axes, hatchets, boomerangs, shields, arrows, and bullets began flying through the air and in and out of the walls while boulders and ice blocks fell out of the ceiling, he blocked the flying weapons with his sword and used it to cut the boulders and ice blocks, he stumbled back when bullets hit his armor and put holes in it, he fell onto the floor and rocks grew out of the floor while more came out of the ceiling, they tried to slam into one another and smash him, he swung his sword upwards and sent a wave out and destroyed the rocks coming out of the ceiling and then jumped down and cut the rocks coming out of the floor. He got pelted by the flying weapons and the bullets made him stumble, Claudius' clones shot red blasts at him and he spun his sword around and sent a silver circle in all directions, it hit the nearest skeletal creature and a big explosion happen, he got covered by smoke and then quickly cut a hole in the floor with his sword and fell into it.
Feral swung his spear around while growling and grunting and slashed Claudius' clones while he punched the skeletal creatures with his front hoofs and sent their bones flying, they regenerated and the black blobs got close to him and were about to attack him, he took his knife out and cut them in half quickly but they regenerated and multiplied. Tentacles, vines, and bug legs grew out of the black blobs and went after him, he ran and jumped around while doing parkour to dodge them, they wrapped around Claudius' clones and they went through them and continued going after him, Feral spun his spear around and destroyed them, they grew back and continued trying to attack him, they could not catch him so Claudius' clones had mouths appear on his body and they shot teeth and claws out and they flew after him, he took his hatchets out and cut them and they broke but continued flying around. Feral realized he will not last long if he did not escape and looked for a way out but did not see one, he tried cutting the floor with his hatchets but Claudius' clones filled the area with red water, he swam around and evaded the flying projectiles and cut the floor and made a hole, the water fell out of the area and he moved around to evade the tentacles, vines, and bug legs, the water was gone and he jumped into the hole while Claudius' clones made more water appear and it fell into the hole and then sent a red lightning strike down, Feral heard them and adjusted his body to make himself fall faster.
Soul Medium ran around while shooting his arrows that had dark purple flames on their tips at Claudius' clones and the black blobs while having a shield up with his magic and another shield created by his runes and charms, he saw visions of Wind Priest, Water Priest, Earth Priest, Fire Priest, and War Chief and said an incantation in a foreign language while his voice echoed, they disappeared and he realized they were illusions. Black blobs and floating heads flew to him and he used his magic to make a circle with his powdered herbs and spices around himself and said another incantation in a foreign language with his voice echoing, they got engulfed in dark purple flames and repelled them, he shot his arrows at them and they disappeared with dark purple flames engulfing them but they came back, tentacles, vines, and bug legs grew out of the floor and inside his barriers, he held his shield with his telekinesis and tried to smash them, they wrapped around it and then went to him, he used his sword and spear with his telekinesis and cut them, they grew back and he teleported elsewhere. Knives began flying through the area and his barriers deflected them, Claudius' clones cast spells that destroyed his barriers and made him see the haunted village again, he screamed when the knives flew into him and out of his body, he could not see anything and vines tried to go into his mouth and prevent him from saying his incantations, his eyes widened when their thorns began cutting the inside of his mouth and he teleported, he panted and began saying an incantation Archmage Astral Plane and Arcana taught him, his voice echoed while he said words of a language he never heard before and a dark purple explosion appeared, the flames spread and all of his attackers and illusions were gone, Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures came back. He realized he will not last long if he remained and used his telekinesis to cut the floor with his sword and spear, a hole appeared and he fell in while putting up a magic shield.
Commander Lionheart cut Claudius' clones with a battle axe while bashing and smashing the skeletal creatures with a mace, he watched them regenerate and tried cutting and bashing them again, they regenerated and multiplied. Floating heads appeared in the area and they tried to shoot blasts at him and bite him, he swatted them away while running and evading the beams and blasts, they noticed he was fast even though he was wearing heavy armor and carrying weapons, they tried casting boulders onto him to slow him down but he jumped and did a backflip and made them fall onto Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures. Tentacles, vines, and bug legs came out of the walls and ceiling and tried to restrain him but he used his weapons to bash and cut them and ran around and evaded them, boulders and ice blocks appeared in front of him and tried to smash him, he punched and broke some of them and jumped and rammed into the others and broke them. Claudius' clones cast a spell to flood the place with red water and then made red lightning strike down, Commander Lionheart grunted loudly while the water and his metallic armor conducted the lightning and shocked him, a skeletal creature slammed its fist down and smashed him into the floor, it broke and he gasped for air, Claudius' clones then pulled him back in with their telekinesis and he punched and he swatted his attackers away, he swam to the floor and punched his front hoofs into floor and then pulled them and ripped a hole, he went in and fell into it while the water followed him.
Paladin fought off her attackers with her sword and shield and swatted the floating heads and black blobs away, she cut Claudius' clones and black blobs with her sword and bashed the skeletal creatures with her shield, the vines tried to wrap around her but she held her shield out and they wrapped around it and began cutting it, she then cut them with her sword, they took root in the floor and grew new bodies. They shot beams and blasts at her and she repelled them with her shield, they shot claws and teeth at her and she cut them with her sword, they then tried to make boulders fall on her and she punched and broke them, they made ice blocks fall from the ceiling and she swatted them away and broke them. Paladin ran around and she attacked her enemies with her sword and shield and red lightning strikes began falling out of the ceiling, she jumped back and dodged them, small sparks came out of them and struck her, she grunted in pain from the zaps and her metallic armor conducted them and shocked her entire body, she almost became paralyzed but continued running around and looked for an exit, she did not see one and more lightning strikes came down and she jumped and spun around in midair to dodge them. Claudius' clones filled the room with water and she quickly swam to the floor, she tried to cut it with her sword while swatting away the floating heads and black blobs, she cut down a little and then pulled with her front hoofs and ripped the floor open, she fell in it with the water falling in and a lightning strike came down, she rode on her shield and exited the area faster.
Archmage Astral Plane had a red, blue, yellow, green, purple, orange, white, black, and gray aura around his horn and he shot streams of fire, lava, water, and mists of ice alongside rocks, stones, hail, and gusts of wind in all directions, he also made white lightning strike down and they destroyed the skeletal creatures. Tentacles, vines, and bug legs grew out of the floor, walls, and ceiling and tried to wrap around him and he made a shield of fire appear around himself and burned them, black blobs appeared in midair and tried to attack him and he shot big white blasts out from inside his fire shield that obliterated everything in front of him, they regenerated and floating heads of Claudius and skulls of various creatures appeared, they shot blasts out of their eyes' and mouths and he teleported around and shot homing blasts at them and destroyed them. Red fire appeared in the area while red ice blocks fell from the ceiling, red rocks and boulders grew out of the floor, red tornadoes spun around the area, and red lightning struck down in various areas, he turned into mist and flew through everything while Claudius' clones tried to change him back, he teleported around and they could not get him, bullets began flying through the area and he noticed it was getting overcrowded, so he changed back to normal and shot a blast that obliterated everything in front of him and blew a hole in the wall, he then teleported out.
Arcana had a red, blue, yellow, and green aura around her horn and she shot fire, water, and gusts of wind everywhere while making boulders fall from the ceiling and smashed some of her enemies between two of them, Claudius' clones shot beams and blasts at her and she put up a shield that blocked and deflected their attacks to them but they were unharmed. Spears and javelins flew through the area and she put up a shield made from stone that made them break on impact when they touched the stone, Claudius' clones cast spells to disable her shield and she grunted loudly when she felt them trying to rip her apart, she teleported out of their grip but their magic immediately caught up to her when she reappeared, she divided herself into Red Arcana, Blue Arcana, Yellow Arcana, and Green Arcana, they shot fire, water, earth, and wind magic at them and Red Arcana's magic did not have much effect, Blue Arcana's magic slowed down Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures, Yellow Arcana's magic smashed and destroyed the skeletal creatures easily, and Green Arcana's magic cut apart Claudius' clones. Spells got cast on them and they were held in place, they teleported elsewhere and got caught again, Yellow Arcana and Green Arcana used their magic to destroy them and become free from the telekinetic grips, they tried to look for an exit but did not see one, Red Arcana and Blue Arcana cast fire and water shields that burned the flying spears and javelins or made them stop moving. Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures began to reform and the four Arcanas formed back together, she looked for an exit but did not see one, she cast a spell to rip the floor under her open and she fell in, vines grew out and tried to wrap around her and cut her and she teleported past them.
Master Nocturne flew around and slashed his enemies with daggers in his front hoofs and blades coming out of his hind legs' boots, he cut the black blobs easily and two of them tried to go to his sides, he folded his wings and then unfolded them quickly, he cut them with blades worn on his feathers that were painted to be the same color as his coat. The skeletal creatures tried to attack him and he flew around and evaded them, he aimed his daggers' handles at them and shot bullets out of them, they put a hole in the skeletal creatures but it did not put them down, he then swung his daggers around and sections of it expanded and turned them into whips, a very thin razor-sharp line that connected them cut the skeletal creatures and Claudius' clones, they regenerated while their severed body parts grew their own bodies. Floating heads of Claudius and skulls of various creatures appeared and tried to bite him, he grabbed his own cape and flew in a circle and cut them with the edges of his cape, he also cut them with the blades on his feathers and bladed rings he wore on his wings' joints, he took revolvers out of the back of his pants and fired them at Claudius' clones, their heads' healed and the bullets shot out. He flew around and evaded them while holding his front legs out and cut his enemies with his razor whips, he then used them to cut the wall in front of him and flew out of the area.
Robin fought off her attackers with her daggers and blades coming out of the front of her hing legs' boots, she pushed a button to electrify her daggers' blades and pressed them on two of Claudius' clones, they got electrocuted but it did not harm them, she quickly flew back before they could attack her and then flew around and cut the floating heads near her with the bladed rings on her wings' joints. She flew around and tried attacking every creature with her daggers but it did not do much, she then aimed her handles at them and shot bullets out of her daggers' pommels, she hit two skulls but they regenerated and shot the bullets back out, she flew around quickly and evaded every attack, tentacles, vines, and bug legs came out of the walls and tried to attack her but she cut them apart with her daggers and the blades coming out of her boots. She took kunais and shurikens out of her jacket and threw them with her wings, she hit all of her targets and Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures regenerated and shot them out of her bodies, she flew around and evaded them while noticing her weapons were not working, she took another knife out of her jacket and pushed a button and shot the blade out and at one of Claudius' clones, his forehead healed and shot it out and she caught while it was in the air. She realized she will not last long if she did not get out of the place and looked for an exit, she did not see one, so she flew to the nearest wall and quickly cut it open with her daggers and flew out of the area while red beams and blasts were shot at her.
Night Witch flew around while holding a spear and attacked all of the black blobs and floating heads while evading Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures, more appeared and she flew around and spun her spears around and destroyed the tentacles and vines that tried to wrap around her limbs. Claudius' clones began trying to cast spells and she shot bolts at them with a crossbow, they got distracted but their wounds healed and shot the bolts out when they regenerated, she flew and strafed around and dodged them while the bolts homed on her. She cut them with a sword and flew around and slashed the floating heads and black blobs but they regenerated, spears and javelins began shooting out of the walls and she cut the wooden parts with her sword, the broken parts continued flying and she flew down to evade them. The skeletal creatures tried to smash her and she flew to her right and dodged an attack, she then tried to cut the bones with a hatchet but it did not do much, she saw the area was getting overcrowded and she will not last long if she remained, red lightning strikes came down from the ceiling and she flew back and evaded one, she flew to the floor and cut it open with her hatchet, she flew in it and exited the area.
Red Baron flew as fast as he could and wielded two swords and used them to cut the black blobs, floating heads, tentacles, vines, and bug legs that went to him, he then flew and cut Claudius' clones' heads off but they regenerated and the severed heads grew their own bodies. Claudius' clones tried shooting beams and blasts at him but he flew around and dodged them while he sheathed one sword and took a crossbow out, he shot bolts at them and they regenerated and the bolts got shot out, they homed on him and he cut them with his other sword. The skeletal creatures shot bone shards out of their bodies and he held a shield in front of himself and blocked them, he flew around quickly and held another shield with his wings and put it on his back, he flew around and threw the shield in his front hoofs at a skeletal creature and destroyed it, it reformed and continued attacking, he then flew around and tried punching the skeletal creatures with his front hoofs but it did not do anything. Red fire appeared in the area and he grunted a little while the heat burned him, Claudius' clones shot teeth and claws out of their mouths and they homed on him, he realized he will not last much longer if he remained in the area and looked for an exit, he did not see one and then flew to the ceiling, he cut it with his axe and made a hole, teeth grew in it and tried to bite him, he flinched back and the hole reopened and red water with red lightning in it began falling out, it stopped and he then flew in and upwards quickly while tentacles, vines, and bug legs grew out of the walls and went after him, he cut them with his swords, he saw more water with electricity coming down to him and he cut the wall to his left with his axe and quickly flew in and went elsewhere.
Mother Nature made flying rocks, storms, wildfires, and tornadoes that had fire, water, plants, soil, sand, dirt, rocks, stones, grass, wood, and clay in them appear and fight off Claudius' clones, the skeletal creatures, floating heads, black blobs that grew tentacles, vines, and bug legs out, the tentacles, vines, and bug legs coming out of the floor, walls, and ceiling, and the arrows and bullets flying across the room and out of the walls. She cast her magic and made rocks and stones fall from the ceiling and trees grow out of the floor to destroy her attackers, she also burned them with fire and submerged some of them in water, Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures shot red blasts at her and she put stones up around her and blocked them but they turned red and became corrupted, they tried to smash her and she teleported out and saw all of her spells have turned red and become under Claudius' clones' controls, they sent her spells after her and she teleported around while creating tornadoes around the area that tore her attackers apart and they regenerated. The floating heads flew to her and tried biting her but she shot fire at them, she burned them and they moved away, sickles and scythes began appearing and flying around her and tried to cut her, she cast a spell and destroyed them, she then cast water around herself to stop the arrows and bullets near her and she shot them back, Claudius' clones regenerated and shot them out of their bodies. She realized she will not last long if she remained and looked for an exit but did not see one, she made trees and stones grow around herself alongside summoning a water shield and a tornado, she then shot a blast at the floor under her and cut a circle in it, she fell in and exited the area.
Diplomat tried using mind control on the creatures in the area and tried to make them docile and stand down but Claudius' clones did not and continued attacking, the skeletal creatures stopped attacking and made various grunt sounds as a way to communicate. Claudius' clones broke them apart with their telekinesis and shot the bone shards at him but Diplomat's statue body made them bounce off and had no effect on him, Claudius' clones tried changing the materials that made the statue and break it apart with their telekinesis but Diplomat resisted. He summoned creatures of the Anti-Spirit Cult to fight back but Claudius' clones mind controlled them and made them attack him. Diplomat realized he was not going to last long if he stayed and summoned a creature under the floor, it moved around him and cut a hole in the floor and he fell in it.
War tried using mind control on the creatures around him and tried to make them attack Claudius' clones, they shot red blasts at them and destroyed them easily. War tried to mind control Claudius' clones and make them fight one another but they resisted and shot red blasts at him, his statue body withstood the attacks and he did not feel any pain, Claudius' clones then tried to change the materials that made up his body and break him apart with telekinesis. He tried to resist and summoned creatures of the Anti-Spirit Cult to attack Claudius' clones but they mind controlled them and made them attack War instead, he dismissed them and tried summoning parasites inside of Claudius' clones but his body corrupted and destroyed them. War realized he will not last long and summoned a creature to destroy the walls, floor, and ceiling around him and he fell out of the area.
Passive sat on the floor while tentacles and vines tried to wrap around her, she exhaled and her breath froze everything in front of her, they fell onto the floor and shattered. Claudius' clones made fire appear in the room and Passive emitted a white mist out of her body and it froze the fire, they made oil surround her and they froze when they touched her, the skeletal creatures let themselves freeze a little and began to try to attack her with their new ice weapons. She floated and teleported around and dodged the attacks and tried freezing her enemies in ice blocks, Claudius' clones turned into blobs and slithered out of the ice blocks and shot them at her, she floated above them and dodged them and moved around when some began falling from the ceiling. She realized her powers were not doing much and looked for a way out, she made icicles appear around herself to defend herself and stabbed holes into the ceiling, she dismissed them and a part of the ceiling fell and she floated out.
Aggressive punched and kicked in all directions while letting out angry grunts and flames shaped like his fists and feet flew everywhere and every Claudius clone, skeletal creature, tentacle, vine, and bug leg exploded when they were hit by the flames. Claudius' clones tried to freeze him but his fire melted the ice and they began shooting fast streams of red water at him, he grunted when it cut him and black tentacles began growing out of his wounds, he ripped them off of his own body while screaming and threw them back at Claudius' clones, they landed on the floor and grew into more Claudius'. He got entangled by many tentacles and vines and the bug legs began cutting him, he screamed in rage and fire shot out of his body in all directions, it destroyed them and melted the skeletal creatures but Claudius' clones stood firm, they tried casting a spell to put gasoline in his body and it set him on fire but did not him, he shot fire out of his mouth and tried to burn them but it did not. Aggressive realized his powers and fighting skills were not faring well and looked for a way out, he saw his enemies coming and he screamed, an explosion came out of his body and knocked them back, he turned around and punched the wall as fast as he could while screaming with rage, it soon broke and he jumped out of the area.
Optimist danced around and did ballet and waltz dancing and dodged all of the flying bones, red beams, tentacles, vines, and bug legs. A red tornado appeared in the center of the room and she hopped and skipped around while the skeletal creatures tried to smash her with their fists and shoot bone shards at her, she continued dancing and dodging. Claudius' clones filled the area with water and she stopped moving around and tried to breathe, everything attacked her and she felt immense pain while trying to swim around and dodge the attacks but could not, she propelled herself and swam as fast as she could and tried to dodge everything. The red tornado grew bigger and began to suck her in, she tried to swim away but red lightning struck down and paralyzed her, she got sucked into the tornado and sharp bone shards and knives flew around in it and cut her, she rode the tornado while enduring the pain and the top threw her into the ceiling and out of the area.
Pessimist sat on the floor and touched the heads of the skeletal creatures and made them fall under his mind control, they lost the will to fight and gave up and disassembled themselves, Claudius' clones took their place and vines appeared in the room and began entangling him. He tried to break free and the floor shook, red blasts of energy erupted out of the floor and flew everywhere, a few splattered on him and he grunted when it began to melt him like acid, he grunted and pulled his arms towards himself and ripped the vines. The entire area caught on fire and the flames took the form of Claudius' head, the heads appeared everywhere and shot many beams and blasts, they hit him and he grunted from the pain. He saw the room was becoming overcrowded and he watched his enemies carefully, Claudius' heads in the flames tried shooting blasts at him at point-blank range and he quickly ducked and they shot a hole in the wall behind him, he quickly went in it before any of the Claudius' could restrain him.
Humility summoned weaker creatures to fight for her while she punched and broke the skeletal creatures that appeared to attack her, Claudius made an earthquake happen and made her and her allies stumble, the ground erupted and lava shot up everywhere and destroyed her allies. Humility jumped around and dodged the lava while stumbling when she landed, Claudius then made bones and bladed weapons fly out of the walls and fly towards her, she summoned more beings and they stood in the way of the flying bones and weapons and got attacked, the projectiles made them fly through the air and they got pinned to the walls. Claudius made blades fly out of the ground and big blocks of ice and rocks fall from the ceiling, Humility panted heavily and noticed there was almost no space for her to move around. Red tornadoes appeared in the area and began trying to tear her apart while each one tried to suck her in, she summoned creatures to try to destroy the walls but they were absorbed into the tornadoes and destroyed, lightning then began striking the areas and Humility went to the most damaged wall and punched it desperately, she broke it after several punches and quickly left the area.
Pride summoned wheels that rolled around and crushed the skeletal creatures, he heard cracking sounds everywhere and some of the big skeletal creatures punched and broke the wheels, he summoned a bigger wheel that entangled them and he used his magic to roll them around and crush them when they touched the floor. Tentacles, vines, and bug legs came out of the walls and Pride summoned more wheels to block them while the bug legs slashed them apart with their tips and they tried to slash him but he jumped and swayed around and dodged them. Claudius' clones began appearing and they cast spells to destroy the wheels and shot the pieces at him, he ducked and jumped around to dodge them and summoned wheels on them to roll over them but Claudius' clones grabbed them and threw them at him, he jumped over them and dodged them. He summoned more wheels but Claudius' clones touched them and they became corrupted with black energy, they rolled to him at high speeds with tentacles and vines growing out of them and trying to restrain him, he grunted when they wrapped around him and he summoned more wheels to fall onto them and break them, he saw his powers were no longer helping him and looked for a way out but did not see one, so he summoned big wheels to fall from the ceiling and onto the floor, they broke the floor and made a hole and he went in it.
Kindness summoned creatures from other realms Claudius did not reach and she made them all fast and strong, they protected her while she punched and swatted her attackers away. Red lightning bolts began appearing and striking Kindness' allies and destroyed them and she summoned more from other realms to help her, more lightning strikes shot out of the walls and the smaller bolts began flying and homing on them. Kindness floated around and used her powers to make herself and her allies immune to the lightning strikes, Claudius' clones began appearing and they punched and kicked the creatures but they withstood their attacks, bug-like legs grew out of the walls and its tips slashed and destroyed anybody they touched. Skeletal creatures appeared and sucked the skeletons out of Kindness' allies and added their bones to their bodies and tried smash her, she ran and jumped around to dodge their attacks while summoning more creatures but their skeletons got absorbed into the skeletal creatures, she realized her powers will not help her much anymore, she stood in one place and one bug leg tried to slash her and she moved to her left, the leg cut a hole in a wall and she floated out.
Envy made freezing cold water appear and it filled the area to its ceiling and Claudius' clones swam around while the skeletal creatures moved much more slower. Claudius' clones cast a spell and Envy screamed when the entire water turned red and filled with Claudius' magic and energy and he felt himself becoming corrupted, he made the water disappear and Claudius' clones made it reappear and only went up to the bottom of Envy's robe. The water had Claudius' face appear everywhere and shot beams and blasts at him and ceiling, red ice blocks began falling from the ceiling and Envy and ran and jumped around to dodge them, bug legs came out of the floor and tried to stab Envy and he turned his body to the sides and dodged them. He saw his powers were not working and felt himself becoming corrupted, he moved to the wall behind himself and the faces of Claudius in the water shot blasts from his eyes, he heard them coming and ducked and a hole was blasted into the wall, he went in it and exited the area.
Charity tried summoning gifts that could be used as weapons and tried to fight off her enemies but it did not do much, she then tried summoning a lot of gifts from above to smash and bury her enemies. Claudius' clones shot blasts out of their eyes' and mouths and destroyed the gifts, they then made the shards fly around and pelt Charity, she grunted and stumbled back a little and tentacles and vines grew out of the floor, walls, and ceiling and wrapped around her, the shards of the broken gifts were shot at her and bone shards then got shot out of the walls, she grunted loudly and tried to think of something. She got an idea and summoned ornamental weapons and had them fall and stab her enemies and the shards of the broken gifts stopped floating around. She then summoned ornamental bladed weapons to cut the tentacles and then used them to cut the wall behind her and she left the area.
Greed shot boiling oil at his targets and the skeletal creatures got stuck and began to melt, the new liquid then began floating around and formed into a blob and began shooting the oil back at him. Dark red fire appeared and mixed with Greed's oil and burned brighter, he grunted loudly from the heat and burns and the flames formed Claudius' head and multiplied, they began shooting red blasts at him and he fell to his knees. He ran and jumped around while Claudius' heads in the flames shot fire at him and he dodged them, tentacles appeared and wrapped around him and the fire moved towards him, he panted from the heat and tried to free himself. Greed made oil appear on his robe and the tentacles could not grip him, vines appeared and he grunted when the thorns moved on him and he pulled his limbs inwards and ripped them off, he saw Claudius' faces shoot fire out and he ducked while they hit the wall behind him and put a hole in it, he quickly went in it and exited the area.
Temperance threw the creatures into the walls to destroy them but they reformed and continued attacking her, bone shards began shooting out of the walls around her and she ducked to dodge them, vines came out of the floor and she grunted when they wrapped around her robe's hood and neck area. Thorns cut into her robe and more appeared and to try wrap around her wrists and feet, she used her enhanced strength to stretch her limbs out and break them, she swung her sleeves around and cut Claudius' clones with the thorns but it had no effect, she grabbed the flying bone shards and threw them at her enemies, Claudius' clones grunted loudly when she hit them in their eyes. She began trying to slash her enemies with the bone shards and the skeletal creatures absorbed them into their bodies and grew bigger, the bones that hit them formed new limbs and they tried to smash her with them, she punched the limbs and the bones broke and flew everywhere. The area began to become overcrowded and she could not move much, she turned around and tried punching the wall, the bone shards flew into her and she grunted a little, she did a hard punch and put a hole in it and she went in it.
Gluttony made rats, toads, and snakes appear in the stomachs of Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures and they tried biting them but they were corrupted by Claudius' clones' presence and they fell out of his abdomen and went to go attack Gluttony. They began trying to bite him apart and he made them disappear with his magic, vines grew out of the floor and wrapped around him, the thorns began cutting into him and he summoned rats and they tried to chew the vines while he tried to break them. Claudius' clones began shooting red blasts at him and tried to make tentacles grow out of his body but Gluttony summoned snakes to appear on their heads and distract them, he then made toads appear and jump around on their heads and Claudius' clones obliterated them with their magic. Gluttony realized he was not going to do well and he made rats try to chew and nimble on the wall behind him but they could not, so he pulled and broke the vines and rubbed the thorns on them to cut a hole, more vines tried to pull him back but he made rats, snakes, and toads appear in midair to block them and exited the area.
Diligence used enhanced physical abilities to fight off her attackers and telekinesis to move the tentacles, vines, and bug legs away from herself. More appeared and she began breaking them apart with her telekinesis and saw there were many more enemies in the area, she shot spiritual blasts out of her robe's sleeves but Claudius' clones caught them with their claws and redirected them to her, she jumped over them and Claudius' clones shot red beams out of their eyes' and at her and she did a backflip in midair to dodge them. The skeletal creatures shot black blobs with tentacles in them out of their mouths at her and she rolled to her left and dodged them, the wall that got hit grew more tentacles out and went after her, she jumped and kicked the blob and destroyed it, she then did a backflip and kicked a skeletal creature and its body broke apart, she then punched and kicked holes into Claudius' clones. More reappeared and the enemies regenerated, she realized there was no end to them and looked for an exit and did not see one, so she bent her knees and jumped as high as she could, she broke the ceiling and exited the area.
Sloth summoned snakes and they entangled themselves on the skeletal creatures, Claudius' clones, tentacles, vines, and bug legs, they bit quickly and aggressively and but their venom had no effect on them. Claudius' clones grew tentacles, vines, and bug legs out of the back of their heads and flanks and replaced their manes and tails, the skeletal creatures stretched their bodies out and destroyed the snakes, their bodies regenerated and there were more snakes now, they continued biting and the skeletal creatures rotated their bones around and changed their forms. The skeletal creatures began shooting bone shards out of their mouths and torsos while Claudius' clones aimed their front hoofs at him and shot their claws while their teeth flew out of their mouths and homed on him. Sloth grunted loudly as he got hit and tried making pits appear to make his attackers fall in, they jumped out and Claudius' clones cast a spell to make red spikes fly out of the pits and hit him, he quickly made a pit appear below himself and he fell into the floor and exited the area.
Chastity tried using her powers to make Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures fall in love with one another but it did not work, she summoned love from other realms that were not corrupted by Claudius and used it to empower herself. She grew stronger and shot blue blasts at the creatures to destroy them but they reformed, tentacles and vines grew out of the walls and entangled her, she used the love she absorbed to get stronger and broke free and then shot more blasts at Claudius' clones. The skeletal creatures latched onto her and tried to attach themselves onto her robe and take control of her, she had a blue aura surround her body and it exploded and shot them away while their bones flew everywhere, they formed into new creatures and spun their bodies around while trying to punch and swat her multiple times. Chastity began to get entangled by more tentacles and vines and Claudius' clones shot red blasts at her, she grunted and tried to break free but could not, she absorbed more love from the realms Claudius did not corrupt and another blue aura appeared around her, it expanded and a big explosion engulfed the small space, she saw tears in the ceiling and jumped out of the area.
Lust summoned fire and tried to burn Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures, he floated around and left a trail of fire behind himself. Claudius' clones summoned dark red acid rain and a blizzard filled with bones shaped like hail, he grunted loudly as the bones pelted him and knocked him back, Claudius' clones had more mouths appear on their bodies and they shot red and black streams of dark energy at him. Lust made a shield of fire appear around himself and tried to burn Claudius' clones but they had no effect on them, he bent his knees and held his arms out to the sides and a big fiery explosion appeared that knocked them back and destroyed the skeletal creatures, the clones did a backflips and shot blasts out of their eyes' at him while they landed on the walls. Lust realized his attacks were not doing much and looked for a way out but did not see one, he went to the wall to his right and shot fire onto it, he burned a hole and Claudius' clones held him with their telekinesis, he put his robe's sleeves together and set them on fire, it did not affect them so he raised his arms to make them explode, they got shot around and he exited the area.
Patience used her powers to make the joys of life appear and tried to distract Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures but it did not work, so she picked them up and began throwing them at them. She began making lots of food and money appear and threw them at the creatures while also trying to bury them in it, Claudius' clones and the skeletal creatures reemerged and tried attacking her and she made herself have the strength of a physically fit person and held them back. She punched the creatures away and threw them around while doing somersaults and backflips to dodge some of the attacks, she did several jump kicks and destroyed the skeletal creatures and then began ripping the bones apart before they could reform. The creatures regenerated and more appeared, she looked around and saw there was almost no space for her to move around, she ran and did a jump kick and tore a wall and left the area.
Wrath summoned blades and ropes and tried to use them to cut and pull apart the skeletal creatures but they reformed and grew back after he pulled a limb or head off, some of the bones rotated around and tried using different attacks. The skeletal creatures switched between shooting black energy out of their mouths, smashing him, and slashing him, he made bladed weapons appear inside them and destroyed them from the inside-out and they grew back and had a different form. Claudius' clones began appearing and tentacles, vines, and bug legs came out of the walls, Wrath summoned ropes to wrap around them and pull on them, they fought back and tried to break free. The skeletal creatures shot bones out of their mouths while Claudius' clones shot beams out of their eyes' to destroy the restraints, Wrath got entangled by the tentacles and vines and the creatures and bug legs attacked him, he quickly made blades appear around himself and inside his attackers and destroyed them, they began to regenerate and he quickly cut the wall behind him and jumped out of the area.
The Judge hit Claudius' clones and skeletal creatures with his hammer and destroyed the skeletal creatures easily but Claudius' clones withstood the attacks, they shot beams and blasts out of their eyes' and mouths and he winced back a little. The skeletal creatures broke apart and the bones shot at him, he hit them with his hammer and destroyed them easily, he hit the floor with his hammer's angelic side and a portal opened, angels corrupted by Claudius' powers flew out and began attacking him, he looked in the portal and saw Claudius' clones were in the realm and attacking the angels, he hit the floor with his hammer's demonic side and opened another portal and demons corrupted by Claudius' powers came out, he looked in and saw Claudius' clones were also in their realm and attacking the demons. He hit his attackers away with his hammer but it did not knock them down much, the angels and demons threw spears at him and he hit them out of the air, they then shot arrows at him and he hit and broke them. The Judge grunted when he got hit by Claudius' clones' beams and he closed the portals but the corrupted angels and demons reopened them, he ducked under the beams and they hit the wall behind him and broke it, he jumped into it and left the area.
The Senses held one another's hands' and did not let go while getting sucked into an area, Taste tugged and pulled the other four into its area, they held one another tightly and skeletal creatures began appearing. Sight and Touch summoned blue wires on their free hands' fingers and thumbs and connected to one another, they ran and jumped around at high speeds and cut the skeletal creatures apart, their bones floated around and shaped and formed different creatures, they shot bone shards at them and the five siblings moved around together at blinding speeds and cut the skeletal creatures apart. They disappeared and Claudius' clones replaced them, they tried to cut them but they turned into black mist and reformed, the clones made their claws and teeth fly and home on them while they shot red blasts and beams at them out of their foreheads, eyes, mouths, and claws, they moved quickly and dodged most of them while the ones that hit them knocked them back a little, the clones began trying to freeze them but they moved and dodged them easily. The Senses cut apart the tentacles, vines, and bug legs were grew out of the floor, walls, and ceiling, they grew back and the severed parts grew their own bodies and took root into the floor, they cut all of them apart again and cut the wall on the other side of the area and went in the hole.
Spirit shot dark blue blasts everywhere and summoned creatures from the uncorrupted realms to aid him, he punched, kicked, grappled, and neck locked the creatures and tore the skeletal creatures apart with his bare hands while summoning a dark blue ghost form of himself to fight off more enemies. The skeletal creatures broke apart and their bones flew around and Spirit swayed and dodged them while trying to catch some of them but could not, he grabbed two bones and slashed Claudius' clones and they grew another head out of their cuts, they shot their teeth and claws out of their mouths and they flew around and Spirit's ghost flew around and tried to possess them but Claudius' clones shot him out, he began shooting dark blue blasts out of his hands and feet and destroyed some of the clones. Spirit summoned a grenade launcher in his hands and fired explosions at his enemies and destroyed them but the clones regenerated and multiplied, arrows and bullets then shot out of the walls and Spirit grunted when they hit him and Claudius' clones cast a spell and tried to control Spirit's ghost and he quickly absorbed it back into his body. He teleported around and tried to dodge the attacks but he got hit and grunted, he saw the area was overcrowded and there was almost no room to move around, he shot two blasts out of his hands and destroyed his attackers again and tried to teleport out but could not, he shot blasts at the ceiling and made a hole and flew out of the area.
Demonicus shot red blasts out of his horns and front hoofs at Claudius' clones, the skeletal creatures, floating black blobs that grew out tentacles and vines, the flying bone shards, knives, daggers, hatchets, sickles, shields, boomerangs, and red claws, teeth, and rocks. Tentacles and vines began growing out of the walls and the area became filled with red fire and tornadoes, the flames spread and Demonicus turned into his shadow pony form and floated around while red spears grew out of his body, he shot them around and destroyed the many projectiles, Claudius' clones grew new heads and limbs out of their cuts, they summoned bows and arrows, crossbows, and guns and began shooting at him. He teleported around to dodge the bullets while shooting blasts at the arrows and bolts and destroyed them, he tried casting a spell to make the bullets disappear but Claudius' clones made them reappear, he floated around quickly and began shooting big red blasts out of his horn and mouth while shooting bullets out of his body. Everything got destroyed but came back, they continued attacking him and he quickly changed back to his unicorn form, he teleported to the ceiling and shot a blast at it to make a hole and went in it.
Adetokunbo slashed his opponents with his boomerangs and threw them around to cut the tentacles and vines and they grew back, they got stuck in the skeletal creatures and he used his magic to electrify them and they were stunned. He flew and got his boomerangs back while Claudius' clones appeared in the area and they began freezing him, he fell onto the floor and the clones tried to corrupt and destroy him from the inside with their magic, he grunted loudly and moved his arms as hard as he could and broke the ice, he slashed his own abdomen and a black blob fell out. The blob floated in midair and shot tentacles and red beams out in all directions and Adetokunbo threw his boomerangs at it and cut it apart while panting heavily, it formed into two floating blobs and they attacked him. He realized it will multiply more if he cuts them more and looked for a way out and did not see one, he cut the ice on his wings and then flew up and tried cutting the ceiling with his boomerangs, he cut a hole and quickly flew out.
Alexia flew and spun around and cut anything that came near her with her two boomerangs, red boomerangs began flying around in the area and she flew around to dodge them. Vines appeared and wrapped around her and she grunted when they cut her, Claudius' clones then appeared and began casting spells to freeze her, she growled while trying to move her arms and grunted loudly when she broke free, she threw her boomerangs at Claudius' clones and they cast shields to appear and block them. She flew around and dodged everything and tried to get her boomerangs but she got shot by Claudius' clones' blasts, she grunted loudly and fell, she saw a boomerang coming and she rolled to her left and dodged it, she grabbed the shields and spun around and she grunted when they began to corrupt her and black tentacles wrapped around her wrists and tried to go under her skin, she held her arms up and Claudius' boomerangs cut them. She flew down and grabbed her boomerangs and she panted heavily while seeing the boomerangs and shields flying around, she flew upside-down and then spun around while holding her boomerangs above her head, she cut a hole in the floor and flew in it.
Elder Hephaestus fought off Claudius' clones with a broadsword and cut them apart but they regenerated and the severed parts grew new bodies, Claudius' heads appeared in the area and began flying around and shooting black blobs at him out of their mouths. They flew away from him and shot their blobs with tentacles, vines, and bug legs growing out of them and trying to wrap around and cut him, he flew around and shot them with his one-handed gun, each shot sent out a scattershot that hit multiple targets but did not stun them, their wounds healed and the bullets were shot out and back at him. Elder Hephaestus got pelted by several bullets and they put holes in his armor, bones then appeared in midair and flew around and he cut them and destroyed them easily. He flew around while dodging all of the projectiles and saw the area will soon be overcrowded, he flew up and tore the ceiling open and flew out.
Diana flew around and attacked with a spear and destroyed the flying black blobs that shot tentacles out everywhere, red fire erupted under her as she flew around and fireballs began shooting out of it and homed on her. She spun her spear around and cut the tentacles while flying around and dodging the fireballs, she spun around with her wings around her and dodged some of the fireballs, she grunted when a few hit her and began melting her armor, she tried flapping her wings to put the flames out but it made them bigger, she tried rubbing the flames but they did not extinguish. Streams of fire flew out and homed on her while bones began shooting out of the walls and vines grew out, Diana panicked while she flew around and could not douse the flames, the fire rose higher and began to burn and melt her armor, she panted heavily and realized she could not see the flying blobs, vines, or bones through the fire. She flew quickly and panicked while looking for an exit, she flew forward as fast as she could while her armor got scratched by thorns, shot at with bones, and burned by fire, she felt parts of her armor getting loose and about to slide off and she tried flying faster, she arrived at a wall and cut it with her spear and flew out.
Hera fought off the creatures with her sledgehammer and smashed and destroyed the skeletal creatures easily, the tentacles, vines, and bug legs winced back from each hit but continued trying to attack her, they wrapped around her sledgehammer and she wrestled with them. Claudius' clones appeared behind and under her alongside more tentacles and vines that restrained her and the clones shot red blasts and beams at her and her armor protected her, she spun around and flew and destroyed the tentacles and vines and then pulled on her sledgehammer and destroyed the tentacles and vines wrapped around it, she flew down and hit the clones away. A red tornado formed in the center of the area and felt it trying to tear her armor off, she flew away from it and black blobs shot out of the floor, walls, and ceiling at her and she flew and spun around and dodged them. She realized fighting and surviving will get harder for her the longer she stayed and looked for a way out but did not see one, she flew to the wall behind her and hit it with her sledgehammer, she broke a hole in it and flew out.
Athena swung axes around and cut the tentacles and vines around her and the flying black blobs near her, skeletal creatures appeared and she could not cut through their bones while Claudius' clones were cut but regenerated and their body parts grew new bodies. She flew around and tried cutting everything but they were replaced and more of Claudius' clones appeared, she stopped cutting them since they were multiplying, she flew and dodged their attacks and more clones came out of the floor, she cut the floating blobs, tentacles, and vines and flew around while looking for a way out. Bones floated around and formed into balls and flew and hit her, she grunted when she got hit and noticed her armor was getting dented and cracked, she took a rifle off of her back and shot them and they fell apart, she shot the blobs and they disintegrated. Claudius' clones shot red blasts and beams at her and they homed on her, she exclaimed when they began melting parts of her armor, she flew around and cut a hole in a wall with her axes and flew out.
Echidna attacked the skeletal creatures and Claudius' clones with a glaive and destroyed them easily, she spun and swung it around and bones scattered everywhere, she slashed the floating black blobs and the tentacles, vines, and bug legs growing out of them and the walls got cut and flew everywhere. The area filled with red water and she began swimming, she swung her glaive much slower than before and her enemies hit her a lot more, she tried punching and kicking them away but her movement was much slower and she could not land a hit, she got entangled by tentacles and vines and the bones flew to under her armor and tried to pry the parts off. She struggled to move and tried to flex and stretch her limbs around, she managed to destroy a few vines, she grabbed the ones around her torso and ripped them apart, she moved slowly and more tentacles and vines appeared and caught up to her quickly and restrained her and pulled her down. She realized she will die if she stayed in the area and moved her limbs around to break her restraints, she then grabbed and ripped the tentacles and vines on her torso, she then grabbed and ripped a hole in the floor while more tentacles and vines wrapped around her, she flung around and ripped them off and then swam out of the area.
Champion Lucius punched and kicked Claudius' clones, the skeletal enemies, floating black blobs, tentacles, vines, bug legs, flying knives, shields, and boomerangs and destroyed them easily, more floating black blobs appeared and tentacles came out of them and tried to restrain Champion Lucius, he pulled them forward and punched and destroyed them. Skulls of various creatures and Claudius' clones' heads appeared and flew in midair while shooting bones and red blasts out of their mouths at him, he got them with his electrified telekinesis and electrocuted and paralyzed them and then tore them apart, he then caught the boomerangs and shields and threw them at his enemies and destroyed some of them. He shot red fire and blue lightning everywhere and he destroyed his attackers easily, they regenerated and there were more enemies than before, he teleported around and began punching and kicking his attackers from their blind spots and behind and destroyed them, the area got filled with water and he continued teleporting. He summoned fire and lightning and the fire extinguished while the lightning electrocuted everybody and Champion Lucius was unaffected, his attackers exploded and all of them and their severed parts regenerated and there were more enemies, he punched the floor and broke it and fell out of the area.
Claudius stood around and watched while his enemies got attacked in his smaller areas, he saw red cracks appear everywhere and everybody came out of the areas and stood up,
"Is everyone here?" Raging Tornado asked, everybody checked and noticed some of the residents of Nature Valley and Dreaming Paradise alongside some harpies, vulcans, and onis were not among them, Claudius exhaled loudly and everybody looked at him, he shot black blasts out that corrupted everything it touched and everybody moved elsewhere, Soul Medium tried firing his arrows at him while Walker, Runner, Sprinter, and Spirit shot spiritual blasts at them to make his exorcism magic stronger and they exploded when they hit Claudius' body, he was unharmed and Claudius swung his arms around and threw red energy shaped like discs that had claws and teeth moving around all over them. Everybody moved or teleported away while the flying discs homed on them and exploded when they hit walls the unicorns put up shields with their magic, the claws and teeth flew everywhere and the harpies cut them with their boomerangs. Claudius punched his fists forward and sent out corrupted versions of fire, water, earth, and wind magic that destroyed everything they touched, Kinkaku jumped over them and did slashes with her sabre and sent out gold waves, they hit Claudius' body and cut him in a few areas, tentacles, vines, and bug legs grew out and all of them had screaming mouths on them with teeth, claws, eyes, tentacles, vines, and bug legs growing out of them. Mother Nature summoned her magic and destroyed the corrupted elements of nature and shot her magic at Claudius, red flames floated out of the hole in his body and they took on faces that let out high pitched screams and everybody covered their ears',
"What the?" Gunslinger asked,
"It's the souls of the natives from the realms that Claudius corrupted." Spirit explained, the souls flew forward while screaming and they shot black blobs and red bullets out of their mouths, Soul Medium said an incantation in a foreign language with his voice echoing and they got engulfed in dark purple flames, Walker, Runner, and Sprinter then shot dark blue flames out of their front hoofs onto them but they continued flying forward.
Claudius held his hands close to one another and red electricity appeared between his claws, big bolts came out of them and began going in all directions, they destroyed everything and the Senses ran forward while all five of them evaded the lightning strikes, they jumped forward and used their razor wires to cut Claudius' body, black liquid spilled out and it took the form of screaming faces that let out high pitched screams, they shot claws and teeth out of the holes that made up their eyes' and mouths, they then transformed into knives and javelins and homed on everybody. Ginkaku hit them away and broke them apart while silver waves coming out of his broadsword hit the ones far away, Claudius then had parts of his body detach themselves from him and they took the forms of angels and demons but were pure black, they flew forward while screeching and roaring, Diplomat and War summoned various creatures who were members of the Anti-Spirit Cult and they attacked them, the red onis smashed them with their weapons while the blue onis cut them apart. Doctor Whooves, Modules, Kinetic, Inertia, Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Graph, Storage, and Data fired all of the bullets, lasers, and missiles in their futuristic armors and used their laser blades to cut and destroy the flying black blobs, claws, teeth, tentacles, vines, and bug legs, Claudius' body opened and heads of many different types of creatures slithered out while roaring, knives, daggers, swords, spears, javelins, whips, cat o' nine tails', big and small hammers, hatchets, axes, maces, clubs, bo staffs, three-sectioned staffs, sickles, scythes, arrows, bullets, boomerangs, and shields flew out of their eyes', mouths, and nostrils. Joker wrote in his book to put up shields and barricades to block the weapons but the bullets still got through and everybody got on their abdomens, he wrote more and made machine gun turrets and missile launchers appear, they fired at the weapons and destroyed them and hit Claudius, he shot a big red blast out of his mouth and it destroyed the barricades and weapons and the unicorns teleported everyone and themselves elsewhere in the area, Tao and his previous incarnations shot blasts at Claudius and destroyed the parts of him that held the various creatures coming out of his body.
The heads of the various creatures that came out of Claudius' body floated around while screeching and continued shooting weapons out of their bodies, Genghis ran and jumped around and cut them with his sword while Gunslinger and Archer shot down the ones he did not get, some of them flew into the floor and formed bodies of their original selves, Master Nocturne flew to Claudius and swung his daggers around and tried to cut him with their razor wires but they scratched him. Black liquid came out of his cuts and took the form of sharp objects and tried to slash and stab everyone, Kinkaku and Ginkaku sent gold and silver waves at him with their swords while Raging Tornado, Earthquake, Tsunami, and Meteorite Hellfire used their elemental magic and made them appear inside his body, The Judge opened portals to the angel realm and demon realm to redirect the flying weapons and corrupted angels and demons came into the area, they attacked everyone and Claudius summoned meteors to fall and everybody's eyes' widened, Archmage Astral Plane cast a spell to multiply everyone and put shields up while Soul Medium used his magic to put his powdered herbs and spices in a circle and said an incantation in a foreign language, his voice echoed and a barrier of dark purple flames appeared. The meteors hit all of the shields and every impact triggered an earthquake and shockwaves, the ponies exclaimed while they got knocked back, the meteors broke into pieces and began flying around and trying to go through the shields, Archmage Astral Plane cast a spell and shot the pieces back at Claudius, they merged with his body and formed armor. Everybody realized Claudius will use more spells if they did not put him down now and Archmage Astral Plane put the shields down, Doctor Whooves, Modules, Kinetic, Inertia, Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Graph, Storage, and Data shot lasers and missiles, Jones, Joker, Darwin, Tao, Soul Medium, Archmage Astral Plane, Arcana, Demonicus, and the unicorns of Dreaming Paradise shot magic blasts, Demonicus, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn shot hatred magic, Cassius, Mustang, and the bipedal ponies shot wind magic, Walker, Runner, Sprinter, and Spirit shot spiritual energy, Raging Tornado, Earthquake, Tsunami, Meteorite Hellfire, Mother Nature, and the residents of Nature Valley shot magic blasts of the four elements of nature, Gunslinger, Master Nocturne, Robin, the Pegasi of Dreaming Paradise, Elder Hephaestus, Diana, Hera, Athena, Echidna, and the vulcans fired guns, Genghis, Archer, Feral, Commander Lionheart, Paladin, Night Witch, Red Baron, and the earth ponies of Dreaming Paradise fired bows and arrows, Kinkaku and Ginkaku swung their swords and sent out waves with their willpower magic, Adetokunbo, Alexia, and the other harpies threw boomerangs with yellow electricity on them, and Champion Lucius shot fire and lightning magic while the red onis shot fire magic and the blue onis shot lightning magic, all of them aimed for the center of Claudius' body and a big explosion appeared and seemed to destroy him.
Claudius did not reform but everybody kept their guards up since the places were still corrupted, Claudius reformed and he now had two big bat-like wings made out of black liquid and interwoven bug legs come out of his shoulder blades, he flew around and flapped his wings, he created wind gusts that destroyed everything they touched while red claws flew out of his wings, Demonicus turned into his shadow pony form and shot red spears and arrows out of his body and destroyed them. Claudius clapped his hands together and it created a loud sound and everybody covered their ears' while a shockwave came out and destroyed everything it touched, small red beams then shot out of the mouths, eyes, claws, teeth, tentacles, vines, and bug legs on his hands and a big red blast shot out of his fists afterwards, the beams burned anything they touched while the blast destroyed the floor and it spread, Champion Lucius tried to hold him in place with his electrified telekinesis but he teleported out of it. Claudius made duplicates of himself appear and screaming faces grew out of their bodies, they shot bone shards out of their bodies and Doctor Whooves locked onto all of them, he shot lasers out and destroyed them, Claudius and his clones then began shooting acid out of their mouths and they homed on everybody, Kinkaku's eyes widened and she quickly swung her sabre and the waves destroyed them but there was now more flying acid. Tao and his other six incarnations used their magic together and tried to gather all of the Claudius' together, Arcana got an idea and cast a spell on them and made skeletal, shadow, and soul versions of them appear, all twenty eight of them shot a blast at Claudius and his clones and they grunted loudly but were not destroyed.
Claudius snickered and he made skeletal clones of himself appear and their bones moved separately from one another and tried to smash them, the earth ponies from Dreaming Paradise attacked with their blunt weapons while the ponies wearing futuristic armor with endoskeletons and exoskeletons punched and destroyed them with their enhanced physical strength. Ginkaku swung his sword around and sent silver waves at all of the enemies and they were cut apart, the skeletal clones got cut into pieces while Claudius and his clones received deep cuts but they regenerated,
"Nothing's working!" Meteorite Hellfire said,
"I'm getting to my wit's end as well." Night Witch added,
"Any of you got a plan?" Solute questioned,
"I can try giving you all more weapons and armor." Joker suggested,
"Thanks, but it's not helping." Elder Hephaestus reminded,
"What about that spell you all taught me?" Tao asked,
"That's only for those who have reincarnated." Arcana answered,
"Do you guys have anything similar?" Soul Medium inquired,
"Best we got is a spell that creates an afterimage of yourself to double all of your power." Archmage Astral Plane stated,
"I'll take it." Jones said, the others agreed,
"Alright, let's cast it." Arcana said, and she and the unicorns of Dreaming Paradise did. Claudius and his clones and skeletal clones continued their attacks and shockwaves appeared from their claws, teeth, and bone shards growing bigger and hitting the floor, everybody had an afterimage behind themselves and all of their powers and abilities doubled, Claudius' weapons began flying around and attacking them again and everybody shot all of their long-range weapons again and they were now twice as powerful, they all aimed at the original Claudius and a shockwave appeared and it destroyed him and all of his clones. Claudius and his clones came back and they made the entire area get engulfed in fire, flooded with water, have rocks and boulders grow out of the floor and fall from the ceiling, ice blocks fall from the ceiling, red tornadoes appear everywhere, and red lighting strikes come down that sent out smaller bolts and sparks, everybody had trouble moving while Diplomat and War were stuck in place, they summoned marine animals from various realms and tried to swim to the enemies but the fire burned them and the tornadoes tore them apart, Greed shot boiling oil but it floated in the water and did not go anywhere, Lust tried to control the flames but could not, Spirit teleported to Claudius and the clones and used dark blue whips made of razor wires and tried cutting them apart, tentacles and vines grew out and went after him and he teleported. Darwin swam around easily with his seapony part and he tried making dark crystals grow in Claudius' body, he made them break apart and the shards flew after him, he teleported around and shot big blasts at him and blew parts of him off but they grew back, Champion Lucius used his electrified telekinesis on all of the attackers and they shot beams, blasts, bone shards, and bladed weapons at him, he teleported and dodged them and then ripped all of them apart and the disasters disappeared.
Everybody except Darwin, Genghis, Spirit, Diplomat, War, Optimist, Pessimist, Passive, Aggressive, The Judge, the Seven Virtues, the Seven Sins, the Senses, Mother Nature, Tsunami, the elemental ponies, and the vulcans gasped for air, Joker looked at his book and saw it was still fine, he wrote in it to give everyone oxygen tanks and they caught their breaths quickly and made it disappear, Claudius and his clones then reappeared and began attacking while Claudius' head detached itself and another grew in its place, it then multiplied and they floated around. Some of them shot beams, blasts, claws, teeth, tentacles, vines, and bug legs out of their eyes', mouths, nostrils, and where their ears' should be from afar while some went to the others and tried to bite them, Pessimist ran around and touched the heads to make them lose the will to fight and Aggressive punched them while shooting fire out of his fists at the heads far away. They caught on fire and the flames rose, faces appeared in the fire and smoke and had angry expressions while they screamed and screeched, they flew forward while shooting knives out of their mouths and Gluttony made rats, toads, and snakes appear in their mouths and stomachs, Claudius, his clones, and his skeletons flexed their bodies and shot them out at them, they became corrupted by Claudius' body and had black liquid on them, they changed into Claudius' pony form and Demonicus shot a blast and destroyed them. Archmage Astral Plane and Arcana cast a spell and made everybody except Diplomat, War have skeleton, shadow, and soul duplicates of themselves while Genghis got a clone of his body before he died, everybody was now four times more powerful and they fought off Claudius and his clones while Diplomat and War continued summoning creatures from other realms to aid them, everybody focused on Claudius and shot all of their long-range weapons and magic at him, they aimed for the center of his body and he grunted, the smoke cleared and he was still standing, he shot his weapons out of his body while making red water appear and faces of him appeared in it, they shot beams and blasts out their eyes' and mouths, Archmage Astral Plane cast another spell and afterimages appeared behind everybody and their duplicates, they were all now eight times more powerful and shot their weapons and magic at the center of Claudius' body again, he screamed and everything disappeared, everybody kept their guards up and there was nothing for a few seconds,
"You all are proving to be more troublesome than all of my opponents, it seems I have to absorb you all into my body and make you a part of me after all." Claudius said, he was nowhere to be seen but heard under them, a black liquid appeared at everybody's feet and they got absorbed in, they screamed and struggled to break free but could not, everybody fell in while Claudius reappeared in his true form and watched them get consumed.
Claudius stood and looked around, he turned around and opened portals to different realms while chuckling and looked for the next ones to corrupt, explosions appeared behind him and he quickly turned around hearing walking, he saw Demonicus, Mother Nature, and Spirit come out first, he then saw Champion Lucius emerge and then Darwin and Tao with his six previous incarnations behind him, they walked forward and scowled at him while Claudius raised his fists. Champion Lucius tried to hold him in place with his electrified telekinesis but he absorbed it into his body and shot it back at him, he dodged it while Darwin charged at him and tried to ram him with his horn, Claudius swatted him away and Tao and his previous incarnations shot blasts at him, he ran and dodged each blast and punched Tao in his face, he grunted while he flew through the air. Mother Nature shot boulders at him and he jumped and kicked them, they broke into pieces and went to her, she jumped over them and tried to freeze him in an ice block, he flexed his body and broke out while Spirit made dark blue spears float around him and shot them at him, he grabbed and threw two of them back while punching and kicking the others out of the air, Demonicus then pressed his hoofs on where his ears should be and then jumped back and tried to land on the floor with his abdomen and smash Claudius' face into it, he bent his lower-body over himself and wrapped his feet around Demonicus' neck and then moved him to under himself and he grunted when his body hit the floor with Claudius standing on him. Darwin and Tao teleported back to him and they combined their blasts together and Claudius crossed his arms across his torso and blocked it while shooting claws and teeth out of his forearms at them, Champion Lucius teleported around and hid behind the smoke, he punched and kicked Claudius from his blind spots and behind while trying to burn and electrocute him with his fire and lightning magic, Claudius made clones of himself grow out of his sides and back and they punched Champion Lucius away, he did a backflip and landed on his feet.
More explosions appeared out of the floor and Genghis, Commander Lionheart, Paladin, Archmage Astral Plane, Arcana, Master Nocturne, Robin, The Judge, the Seven Virtues, the Seven Sins, the Senses, Elder Hephaestus, Diana, Hera, Athena, Echidna, and the other vulcans emerged, they went to go fight Claudius and The Judge tried to hit him with his hammer, Claudius kicked him in his abdomen and he grunted and got stunned and Claudius then punched him in his temple and tried to inject black liquid into his head from his arm, the Senses moved at blinding speeds and cut him apart with their razor wires and The Judge threw Claudius' arm off, all of his body parts went together and reformed into him. Commander Lionheart jumped to him and tried to tackle him down, Claudius hit him in his chin with his wrist with an upwards strike, he grabbed Claudius' head with his hind hoofs and threw him over himself while he fell onto the floor, Claudius got ready to do a somersault and land on his feet but Master Nocturne and Robin flew to him and cut his spine with their daggers, he fell on the floor and Paladin then smashed his head with her shield, he regenerated and everybody tried to jump on him but he got up and spun his feet around, he kicked everybody away and then landed on his feet. Archmage Astral Plane and Arcana looked for the others with their magic and saw Claudius shoot beams and blasts at them, they put up shields while the vulcans tried attacking him with their various weapons and he grabbed the close-range weapons and turned them against them and threw the vulcans at the ones that were flying and shooting at him with long-range weapons, they grabbed the vulcans he threw at them and he shot beams and blasts at them out of his entire body, Tao teleported around and tried blocking them with his shields but could not, the red and blue onis then climbed out of the black liquid on the floor and they tried attacking Claudius with their weapons and magic. Claudius swayed and dodged their attacks while the ones that hit him did not phase him, he shot claws and teeth out of his torso at them and they smashed and cut them while Darwin appeared behind him and shot a big blast at Claudius' back, he made a duplicate of himself grow out of his back and shot red beams and blasts at him while Darwin teleported and Archmage Astral Plane then shot a destructive blast from above Claudius, it hit him and destroyed part of the floor.
Everybody tried destroying the floor and looking for the others but Claudius came out of each hole and everybody fought his arms off, he came back up and shot spears and javelins out of his mouth, the floor broke in more places and Daylight Dimmer, Sprinter, Meteorite Hellfire, Kinkaku, Ginkaku, Soul Medium, Adetokunbo, Alexia and the other harpies emerged. They all joined in to fight Claudius but he slid and flew around while making duplicates of himself and they blocked and parried all of their moves with their hands' and punched and kicked them, they grunted while his attacks made them fly away and they felt black blobs on their bodies trying to burrow into them, they thew them off and Daylight Dimmer, Sprinter, Meteorite Hellfire, Kinkaku, Ginkaku, and Soul Medium shot their magic and powers at him, Claudius and his duplicates jumped to their sides and dodged them. The floor broke and Starburn, Joker, Cassius, Mustang, the other bipedal ponies, Runner, Earthquake, Gunslinger, Feral, Night Witch, and Red Baron emerged, they joined in fighting Claudius and he shot red lightning out of his body while Joker wrote in his book to make an artillery shell fall on Claudius, a big explosion happened and the unicorns teleported everybody and themselves away while Earthquake made rock and stone shields with her powers, the smoke cleared and Claudius was unharmed with his arms across his torso and his hands on his shoulders, he shot the artillery shell shards out of his body and it flew to them, Gunslinger ran and dodged them and shot at his head, left side of his chest, and center of his body with his assault rifle, the bullet holes disappeared and the bullets shot out of his body, Arcana teleported him back to behind their shields and the bullets soon stopped. Demonicus broke the floor with his magic and found Diplomat, War, Passive, Aggressive, Optimist, and Pessimist, he brought them up with his telekinesis while Doctor Whooves, Jones, Modules, Kinetic, Inertia, Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Graph, Storage, Data, Walker, Raging Tornado, Archer, the residents of Nature Valley, and the residents of Dreaming Valley emerged, Claudius looked on in disbelief and everybody quickly fired their magic and long-range weapons at him together and he grunted when he got hit and exploded, the smoke cleared and he regenerated.
Claudius multiplied and he made Blade Claudius, Spear Claudius, Whip Claudius, Hammer Claudius, Axe Claudius, Club Claudius, Bo Staff Claudius, Three-Sectioned Staff Claudius, Sickle Claudius, Bow Claudius, Gun Claudius, Boomerang Claudius, and Shield Claudius reappear,
"Oh, not this again." Kinkaku complained, Fist Claudius then cast a spell and gave himself and the other Claudius' skeletal duplicates and everybody's eyes' widened. Red fire, water, ice, boulders, rocks, tornadoes, lightning strikes, non-elemental magic waves appeared while arrows, bullets, shields, and boomerangs flew everywhere, the skeletal Claudius' also shot bone shards everywhere, everybody exclaimed when they got hit and the harpies threw their boomerangs and they homed on all of the Claudius', they teleported around and evaded them while Sickle Claudius and Skeletal Sickle Claudius moved at blinding speeds and cut everyone. Bo Staff Claudius, Skeletal Bo Staff Claudius, Three-Sectioned Staff Claudius, and Skeletal Three-Sectioned Staff Claudius extended the length of their weapons and hit everyone while sending out wind gusts that cut anything they touched. The unicorns from Dreaming Paradise tried casting spells to dispel all of the Claudius' but they teleported around and evaded the zaps, Club Claudius and Skeletal Club Claudius hit the floor with their clubs and maces and they created shockwaves and lightning strikes, everybody moved carefully while Darwin and Demonicus turned to their shadow pony forms and shot their blasts at them while Demonicus shot spears out of his body with his hatred magic, Fist Claudius and Skeletal Fist Claudius punched and kicked them while Blade Claudius and Skeletal Blade Claudius cut and broke them. Whip Claudius and Skeletal Whip Claudius hit their whips and cat o' nine tails' in all directions and sent red waves out that cut everything, Diplomat and War summoned creatures to help them fight while Wrath summoned rope and blades to restrain and cut all of the Claudius' but they broke free, Archmage Astral Plane cast a spell and gave everybody except Diplomat and War shadow, skeletal, and soul duplicates of themselves while Genghis got a duplicate of his original body instead of a soul duplicate, everybody became four times more powerful and he cast a spell to give everybody an afterimage and double their current powers and abilities, everybody evaded and destroyed the Claudius' easily and only Fist Claudius remained, he quickly shot a big red blast at them and a big explosion appeared and a mushroom cloud appeared while Archmage Astral Plane cast another spell.
Claudius watched and waited for the smoke to clear to see if anybody survived, he watched and saw a silhouette of Champion Lucius, he got ready and the smoke cleared, he saw him and he quickly a big red blast at him and Champion Lucius ran at blinding speeds and punched him in the center of his body, Claudius' body broke apart and he grunted when he hit the floor, he looked on and his eyes' widened when he saw transparent images of everybody else and their shadow, skeletal, and soul duplicates alongside Genghis' body duplicate and an afterimage behind them,
"No, it can't be." Claudius said while reeling back a little,
"It is, we all fused into one and can use each other's magic and powers now alongside the spells making each of us eight times more powerful than our usual selves, follow my lead, everyone." Champion Lucius said, and all of them went into him. Claudius shot blasts as quickly as he could and desperately while Champion Lucius ran and an afterimage of his shadow, skeletal, and soul self alongside everybody else and their duplicates appeared behind him, he punched Claudius in his face and he screamed when his head and torso split open and quickly regenerated, he tried punching him but Champion Lucius ducked and then kicked the back of his right leg with his right ankle, it broke alongside his abdomen and he fell over while regenerating. He sprung himself back up and Champion Lucius began kicking him in his chin with his right foot, each kick made his neck and shoulders stretch out and they soon tore open but healed, Claudius shot beams, blasts, claws, teeth, tentacles, vines, and bug legs out of his body and Champion Lucius shot blasts of multiple colors out of his hands and destroyed them, Claudius' eyes widened when he saw it was hatred magic, spiritual energy, fire magic, water magic, earth magic, wind magic, lightning magic, exorcism magic, light magic, and willpower magic all fused together. Claudius began flying and teleporting away and Champion Lucius caught up to him easily and punched and kicked him, he grunted and screamed while each hit split open or severed parts of his body and they regenerated, he teleported and grabbed Claudius' head with his feet and tried to throw him over himself and ripped his head off, it regenerated and Champion Lucius began doing punches and kicks at blinding speeds while Claudius made regular shields and magic shields appear alongside extra arms, tentacles, vines, and bug legs to block him but he broke each one with one hit, he punched his right arm through a layer of vines and shot the various types of magic at Claudius' head, he screamed and got stunned while Champion Lucius punched his right fist into his forehead and shot the various magic types into him, he got destroyed and screamed but regenerated and groaned while stumbled and dizzy,
"Hmm, Joker, I would like the endoskeleton that enhances one physical capabilities even farther." Champion Lucius requested, and Joker wrote in his book to give him a black frame on his body,
"Done." Joker said,
"Thank you." Champion Lucius replied, Claudius still moved side-to-side while groaning and Champion Lucius put all of his weight and strength into his right arm and punched Claudius in the center of his body as hard as he could while grunting loudly while afterimages of everybody else and their duplicates appeared behind him and his duplicates, Claudius screamed loudly while Champion Lucius shot the magic types into his body and blew him away and the shockwave made them spread to his entire body.
Everybody appeared around Champion Lucius and their duplicates disappeared, Claudius tried to regenerate but his body became formless and he screamed while the punch and various types of magic broke his body apart, eyes and mouths appeared everywhere on him and they screamed and screeched loudly, they exploded and faded into black mist,
"NO!!" Claudius screamed and his body floated in the air and exploded while everybody's magic spreading in all directions and everyone took cover while Claudius' corruption in the realms became undone and everything returned to normal. Everybody groaned and woke up and saw the Void was back to normal, The Judge, Seven Virtues, and Seven Sins went to their stations and tried to judge Claudius' soul,
"Strange." The Judge commented,
"What?" Jones asked,
"Claudius has no soul." The Judge replied, everybody murmured,
"Well, let's go home." Doctor Whooves stated, and everybody went back to their hideout. They looked at the uncorrupted realm and everybody smiled slowly and began cheering,
"We did it!" Tsunami chirped,
"We won!" Kinkaku hollered,
"I believe this calls for a celebration." Mother Nature stated, everybody agreed and they all partied, played music, and danced all afternoon, everyone then did a funeral for everyone that died against Claudius when nighttime came and The Judge, Seven Virtues, and Seven Sins judged how they were in life and sent their souls to appropriate place for them to go to and spend the afterlife in,
"Well, it's time for us to home, pay us a visit sometime." Alexia stated,
"We'll be waiting for you guys." Elder Hephaestus added,
"We have to rebuild first." Echidna, everybody laughed,
"Come on, everypony, let's go home." Doctor Whooves said, and they did and they all rested. Doctor Whooves woke up the next morning and looked at all of the money he made from his job as a therapist and locked it away since he now had enough money to pay all of his bills for the rest of his life, he headed outside and saw it was bright and sunny day and Ponyville was peaceful with everybody getting on with his days, he smiled and walked out of his home to go enjoy his day and went to go see Roseluck and Derpy.
Doctor Whooves sat in his office and was ready for the patient coming in, who came in shortly afterwards, it was a male adult unicorn, he had a light red coat, messy bright yellow mane and tail, purple eyes, and his cutie mark was a map, he sat across from Doctor Whooves,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Jones, explorer." the patient replied,
"Let's get started, what seems to be the problem?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"I'm still having bad dreams about my first journey, I remember it like it was yesterday, even though it was fifteen years ago." Jones replied,
"Please, start." Doctor Whooves said,
"When I was five years old, I discovered my special talent was exploring, I was excited and ready to go on my first journey, but it turned into a real life nightmare." Jones replied, and he begins to recall the events.
Jones was walking through a forest while excited, he was looking at the trees and animals in awe, they were all beautiful to him, he could not use magic yet, so he just walked around and admired the beauty around him, he saw butterflies flying in front of him and he watched them, he was at a brown bridge and walked across it slowly, he crossed it after a while.
Jones walked around and was careful not to wander too far from home, his parents have already packed his supplies in his saddlebags, which was food, water, and other tools to explore, he walks around and was getting a little tired, so he decided to walk on the trail he was on right now, he looks and sees a brown wooden sign in front of him, it said there was a nearby town to the west, Jones becomes happy and decides to go, hoping he can meet and make new friends.
Jones walks on the trail and was admiring everything he saw, he was smiling as he looked around, but stopped when he saw a message carved into a tree,
"Turn around." the message read, Jones was confused, but he decided to keep going to see what was there, he soon saw another message carved into a tree,
"Do not enter this town." the message read,
"Okay, this is getting a bit creepy." Jones said to himself, and he kept walking, not knowing what to do since he was only five years old, and he was curious, he went and saw another message in a tree,
"They will get you." the message read,
"Who's they?" Jones asked, and kept going, he saw another message, but it was incomplete,
"You will lose yo..." the message read, Jones was curious and went to it, he saw hoofprints on the ground, and it was only around the tree, Jones keeps walking on the trail and sees the town, he becomes excited and runs to it.
Jones arrives into the town but it was empty, it was a ghost town, Jones was confused,
"Hello, anypony here?" Jones asked, there was no answer, Jones was a bit unnerved, so he walks around a bit.
Jones checks out the town and sees nopony, he was wondering what happened, he takes out binoculars from his saddlebag and tries to look at where he came from, he can see his hometown from where he was at, much to his relief, he puts the binoculars away and walks around the town, he saw nopony again, he was getting nervous, but he decided to explore a bit, he saw a house that was missing its door, he goes into it and saw it was empty, he was a bit confused.
Jones hears a whistle behind him and he looks, he saw a pony, the pony was wearing a black cloak and was hooded, and had red eyes, Jones becomes excited but the pony runs to the right,
"Hey! Wait up!" Jones said as he chased the pony, he could not keep up because he was only a colt, and the pony he was chasing was an adult, and he was still too young to use magic with his horn, he keeps chasing the pony and was being lured into another open house, the pony goes into it and Jones soon entered, but he is grabbed by his hooves and pulled upwards,
"Hey! Let go!" Jones said as he struggled to break out of their grips, he looks and sees his four restrainers were wearing the same black cloak and hood, their faces could not be seen, neither could their snouts or muzzles, the pony he was chasing walks over to him,
"Relax, what we're going to do is not going to hurt, so stop resisting, you'll be fine, we promise you." the cloaked pony said, he had a deep male voice, and he leads them while the other four hold and carry Jones.
The ponies arrive into the woods after walking west, Jones looks and sees six more members with black cloaks, Jones was very scared and tried to fight back, but the pony in front of them hits him on the side of his neck with his front left hoof and knocks him out.
Jones wakes up and sees it was pitch black with red candles around him, he looks around and sees the eleven cloaked ponies again,
"He has awoken." a female member said,
"Continue with the ritual." a male member replied, Jones was shocked,
"Wait? What's going on?" Jones asked,
"Do not worry, young one, this will be quick and painless." a male member replied, and one starts to walk to him, the pony grabs his horn with their front hooves,
"In the name of this cult, as I sever this horn, I ask that it be powerful with magic so that it may be used to summon four horseponies." the pony said, Jones was horrified when he saw they were going to rip his horn off, he realized that the unfinished message he saw earlier was going to say that he was going to lose his horn, the pony carving it must have got caught by them.
Jones kicks the male pony in his stomach with his hind legs and he loses his grip, Jones runs out of the area,
"After him!" a male member of the cult said, and the eleven ponies chase him.
Jones runs upstairs and sees light up ahead, he goes to it and sees he was in the middle of the woods, he looks around and was gagging and almost vomiting at the sight, there was a wooden structure of four horses in front of him, and the trees around it all had a severed unicorn horn nailed to it, he looks around and does not see the other unicorns around, he then sees the eleven cult members in front of him,
"There is no need to be afraid, we were just going to take your horn and let you go." a male member of the cult said,
"Where are the other unicorns?" Jones asked,
"We let them go, but you won't be able to talk about us." a female cult member replied,
"I'm telling my town there's a cul..." Jones said, his voice just suddenly disappeared,
"See, we used our horns to cast a spell on you so that you cannot speak about us, we must remain secret, and even if you could speak, nopony would believe you." a male cult member said,
"What are these horseponies?" Jones asked,
"That's none of your concern, we just need your horn, it's the right color used for summoning one of them." a female cult member replied, Jones looks and sees there were red unicorn horns on some of the trees, the other colors of the remaining unicorn horns were white, black, and pale, Jones was very nervous,
"Enough talk, get that horn." a male member of the cult said and they go after Jones.
Jones runs around the woods and was lost, he looks behind himself and sees the eleven members of the cult were nowhere to be seen, he keeps running and did not look to his sides, one of the members of the cult tackles him from his right and knocks him down, the cult member grabs his horn and tries to rip it off, Jones grabs the cult member's hooves and tries to get them off of his horn, he moves his head around and rolls to his left and the cult member grunts, it was a female, her hood came off as well, her coat was a very light aquamarine, and her mane was long and white, her eyes were green, Jones sees she was a unicorn, she lost her grip and Jones quickly ran to the town.
Jones keeps running north and sees four members of the cult standing nearby, they were in the trees, they use their unicorn magic and Jones sees auras under their hoods, the ground breaks open and Jones almost falls, he opens his saddlebag and tries to take out his binoculars, but the members of the cult zap his saddlebag and destroy it and its items, much to Jones' shock, he gets out of the pit since it was very small and easy to go over, the four members of the cult use telekinesis and they drop a net on him, he grunts and tries to break free, he hears running and sees the female cult member from earlier coming over, she arrives and was behind him,
"Relax, we're not going to hurt you, we just need your horn." the aquamarine pony said,
"Who are you?" Jones asked,
"Fine, since you already saw my face, I'm Ophelia." the aquamarine pony said,
"And you four?" Jones asked,
"We're the other female members of the cult." the hooded figure to the far-left replied,
"Why are you guys doing this?" Jones asked,
"To summon the four horseponies, we need unicorn horns, they have to be white, red, black, and pale, we need twenty five of each color." the center-right cult member said,
"Too bad, you can't have mine!" Jones replied, and he tried to break out of the net, he could not, he sees the bottom was not secured, so he goes under the net and tries to run, but the four hooded cult members grab him, so does Ophelia, Jones struggles and gets them off after some time, he looks back and sees the other four female members of the cult had their hoods come off, one had an orange coat, a long bright red mane and tail, and yellow eyes, she was a unicorn; the second one had a pink coat, long light pink mane, and blue eyes, she was also a unicorn; the third one had a green coat, long dark red mane, and pink eyes, she was also a unicorn; the fourth member had a dark purple coat, long light purple mane, and very bright purple eyes, she was also a unicorn, she also had three claw marks on her right eye that formed a light purple scar, this scared Jones.
Jones looks and sees the five mares had a necklace on their necks, he sees a dark yellow rock with black stains and four symbols carved on it, the upper-left symbol was a bow, the lower-left symbol was a sword, the upper-right symbol were balance scales, and the lower-right symbol was a scythe, this caught Jones' attention,
"Who are you four?" Jones asked,
"Should we answer him?" the orange unicorn asked, Jones recognized her voice,
"Go on, he's only a kid, he'll likely forget when he's older." the purple unicorn replied,
"Very well, I'm Supernova." the orange unicorn said,
"I'm Cotton Candy." the pink unicorn said,
"I'm Watermelon." the green unicorn said,
"I'm Violet." the purple unicorn said, Jones was very confused, they all had normal sounding names, Ophelia tackles him from behind and the other four females use magic on Jones' horn in hopes of ripping off his unicorn horn and taking it, Jones crawls out from under Ophelia and she then uses magic on Jones' horn in hopes of taking it. Jones looks and sees the colors of their auras, Ophelia's was sky blue, Supernova's was red-orange, Cotton Candy's was dark pink, Watermelon's was pink, and Violet's was dark purple, Jones runs away as fast as he can and the five females chase him, Jones pants and keeps running but the five females stop and were tired,
"He's getting away." Jones overheard Supernova say,
"It's alright, let him go, the male members are waiting for him up ahead." Violet replied, Jones was able to deduce that the other six members of the cult were males, but he kept running north in hopes of reaching the abandoned town.
Jones keeps running north and the five female unicorns were out of sight, he stops running when he sees several blurs in front of him, he realized that it was a male member of the cult because of the afterimage he left behind, he hears running around him, he sees the six male members running around him in a counterclockwise formation. Jones watches them and looks for an opening, but does not see one. Six auras appear on Jones and holds him up, he was screaming as he was lifted up, the colors of the unicorn magic auras were red, blue, brown, gray, white, and black,
"Give up, there's no escape." the unicorn with the black aura said,
"Can I know who you guys are? Since the females already revealed themselves to me." Jones said,
"Name's Fireball." the male unicorn with the red aura said,
"I'm Freeze." the male unicorn with the blue aura said,
"My name is Rosencrantz." the male unicorn with the brown aura said,
"I'm Guildenstern." the male unicorn with the gray aura said,
"I am Fortinbras." the male unicorn with the white aura said,
"My name is Claudius." the male unicorn with the black aura said, Jones realized that he was the one that he followed earlier,
"Please, let me go, I won't come back here." Jones said with tears in his eyes,
"No can do, we need your horn, then you can leave." Claudius replied, and they proceed to use telekinesis on his horn, Jones screams in agony at feeling it torn, the six members of the cult were caught off guard and stumble a bit, they realize that the spell they casted on him so he does not feel any pain must have worn off, Jones falls and he runs north,
"He's going to the town." Guildenstern said,
"Your orders, leader?" Fortinbras asked,
"Let him go, we'll be waiting for him there." Claudius replied, and Jones keeps running north.
Jones arrives at where he saw the eleven cult members the first time, he sees the abandoned town up ahead, he becomes happy and runs to it, he was about to leave the town and go down the path he came from, but a black force field appears around the entire town, Jones looks on in shock, he tries to run through the force field but could not,
"Give up, you can't go through." Jones heard Violet say, he turns around and sees the eleven cult members standing behind him, from left to the right was a hooded pony, Ophelia, another hooded pony, Watermelon, a hooded pony, Violet, a hooded pony, Supernova, another hooded pony, Cotton Candy, and a hooded pony,
"Give us your horn, and you can leave in peace, this is your last chance." Fireball said,
"No! I'm keeping my horn!" Jones said angrily,
"We didn't want to do this, but you leave us no choice." Supernova replied, and her horn glows orange, she shoots out orange fire and Jones ran to dodge it, Fireball shoots fire out of his horn while Freeze shoots ice out of his horn, they mix their zaps together and Jones runs to dodge it, he goes behind a home, Watermelon appears in front of him and shoots a pink beam out of her horn and Jones ducked to dodge it, it hit the force field and burned it a bit, Jones runs under Watermelon and Cotton Candy was waiting for him, she shoots a dark pink beam at him and he runs to his left to dodge it, the beam burned the ground.
Jones keeps running and sees objects floating in front of him with white and brown auras around them, he looks and sees Rosencrantz and Guildenstern floating in the air, they try to block Jones' path but he runs past them, Ophelia appears in front of him and shoots a sky blue beam at the ground in front of Jones, it gets destroyed and he stops at the holes, seeing it was very deep and big enough for him to fall in, he prepares himself and tries to jump over the hole, but a dark purple aura appears on him and he sees Violet holding him up with her magic, she puts him into the hole Ophelia created and he screams while he falls.
Jones falls and sees it was not deep, he grunts when he landed at the bottom, he punches his hooves into the dirt and climbs back out, he sees the eleven cult members waiting for him at the top, Fortinbras uses his horn's magic to grab Jones' horn and tries to rip it off, he screams in pain and it startles the cult members, it also causes Claudius to dispel the force field by mistake, Jones quickly ran to the exit of the town but stops when he sees the sky turn black, he turns around and sees Claudius floating in the sky, his eyes were slanted and glowing red,
"Give us the horn." Claudius said in a deep, demonic voice, this scared Jones, he noticed that Claudius may not even be a pony, but rather, a creature disguised as a pony, he floats down in front of Jones, blocking the exit, Jones steps back in fear while the other ten members stood behind him, Jones watches Claudius and his horn glows black, he shoots out a black beam and it goes onto Jones' horn, he screams in shock, Violet then zaps him with a spell to make him feel no pain, the end of Claudius' beam turns into two hands and they grab Jones' horn and try to rip it off, Jones moves around and tries to move around to get the spell off, Jones runs under Claudius and leaves the town while the eleven cult members watch him.
Jones runs around and was trying to get the hands off of his horn that were trying to rip it off, he runs into trees and rocks in an attempt to make the hands lose their grips, he keeps running into things and was grabbing the hands with his front hooves, they would not lose their grip, he hears a small crack and realizes the hands were ripping off his horn,
"Okay! I give up! I'll give you my horn! Just get these things off of it." Jones said sadly, Claudius appeared in front of him by taking the form of a shadow,
"Good, you've come to your senses, hold still now." Claudius replied, and he makes the hands disappear, the other ten cult members appear around him, Ophelia, Supernova, Cotton Candy, Watermelon, and Violet still had their hoods off,
"Why can't some of you use your own horns for summoning the horseponies?" Jones asked,
"We're needed to cast the spell to summon them, the hundred horns is required to make our magic strong enough." Violet replied,
"Oh." Jones said,
"Do not worry now, this won't hurt, and it'll be quick." Freeze said, and they all get ready to use their telekinesis to sever his horn, but Jones ducks under the zapping spells and runs under Claudius, he sprints to his hometown,
"He got away." Ophelia said,
"Do not despair, there's a lot more horns we can use." Claudius replied,
"But he's escaped, we're going to be exposed." Guildenstern said,
"Do not worry, we already put the spell on him where he cannot speak about us, and he's only a colt, he'll forget about us as he gets older." Claudius replied, and they watch Jones run back to his hometown.
Jones runs back to his hometown and sees everypony was alright, he goes to his home and tries to tell his parents what he encountered, but the spell put on him makes him unable to speak about what he encountered, which confused his parents, but they decided from now on, they would travel with him since he lost his supplies and looked a bit hurt, and Jones kept traveling and went to much better places.
Jones was sitting across from Doctor Whooves who was just sitting there a bit shocked,
"There is something I don't understand." Doctor Whooves said,
"What would that be?" Jones asked,
"How are you able to speak about it now if you said that they put a spell on you to make you mute if you tried to?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"I spent my adult years trying to create a spell that will destroy the spell they put on me, I made one a few years ago and used it on myself, and it worked." Jones replied, Doctor Whooves smiled,
"Did you find any other pony who met this cult?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes, I found several during my travels, they were all either white, red, black, or pale, and their horns were broken, I asked them how did they lose their horns, and they said they have no memory on how, so I think the cult put some kind of spell on them to make them forget about the events. One thing that has caught me when speaking with one is they prefer to sever the horns when the victim is asleep, I just woke up by chance." Jones replied, Doctor Whooves was a bit uneasy by this information,
"There's more, I've also seen the cult members walking around in various places of Equestria, acting like normal citizens, nopony suspects a thing." Jones said, Doctor Whooves was shocked by this,
"There's another reason why I came here, Doctor." Jones said, and he reaches into his saddlebag and takes out the necklace the cult members wore, this startled Doctor Whooves,
"This came into my mail yesterday morning, I'm getting the feeling that they have found me, please Doctor, if you can, use one of your devices to send me elsewhere, and let me go into hiding." Jones said,
"I'm not too sure about this, give it time, if they are coming after you, then I'll see what I can do." Doctor Whooves replied,
"Thank you, Doctor, and I'll try to stay safe." Jones said,
"Alright, that is all the time I have today, till next time." Doctor Whooves replied, and Jones left the room.
Jones was outside and stops when he sees Twilight Sparkle in front of him, he quickly gets defensive,
"Wait! I just want to talk! Please." Twilight Sparkle said, and Jones puts his guard down,
"I couldn't help but listen to your story, please, come with me." Twilight Sparkle said, and they go to her castle, she shows him the cutie map,
"Where is this abandoned town located?" Twilight Sparkle asked, Jones looks at the map,
"Around here." Jones replied, touching the map with his front right hoof, Twilight Sparkle sees it was in a part of Equestria that she and her friends have never been to before,
"Okay, I'm sorry we didn't learn about this sooner, I'm going to gather the others and investigate this place." Twilight Sparkle said,
"Be careful." Jones replied,
"You too." Twilight Sparkle said, and Jones left.
Jones hears running and sees Rainbow Dash flying to the castle, while Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack ran into it, Jones just ignored them,
"Okay, everypony, as you all know, Doctor Whooves has become a therapist recently, and is listening to others, I contacted you all here because I think one of his patients encountered a threat that we have missed." Twilight Sparkle said,
"Uh? Can I sit this one out?" Fluttershy asked,
"No way! We need to be together to take down threats!" Rainbow Dash replied,
"It's more fun if we all go together too." Pinkie Pie said,
"So, what exactly is the threat, Twilight?" Applejack asked,
"According to one of Doctor Whooves' patients, there's an abandoned village here, and a cult of eleven members that have been taking unicorn horns of the colors white, red, black, and pale, they need twenty five horns of each color and are trying to use them to summon someponies called the four horseponies, and those who are victim to them have spells cast on them so that they cannot speak about them, and those who lose their horns have their memories erased, Doctor Whooves' patient managed to create a spell to dispel the silencing one, and has brought them to light." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"Unicorn horns? I'm sorry, but I wish to keep mine, thank you very much." Rarity said,
"That's not all, according to Doctor Whooves' patient, the leader is a creature that is disguised as a pony, almost like a shadow pony." Twilight Pony replied,
"What are the identities of these cult members?" Applejack asked,
"The cult consists of six stallions and five mares, the mares are Ophelia, Supernova, Cotton Candy, Watermelon, and Violet, while the stallions are Fireball, Freeze, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Fortinbras, and their leader, Claudius, but Doctor Whooves' patient only saw what the five mares look like, he has no clue on what the stallions look like." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"I'm not too sure about this, this village is in a part of Equestria we've never been to." Rainbow Dash said,
"That is why I called you all here, I think this is worth investigating, and if the story's true, we have to stop them, let's go." Twilight Sparkle replied, and Jones sees the six heading to where the abandoned village was at, he ignores them and leaves Ponyville to go into hiding.
Doctor Whooves was in his office and training Derpy to be his assistant, she was causing a lot of havoc,
"No, Derpy, you have to watch your flank, too, you're hitting a lot of things that are out of your sight." Doctor Whooves said,
"Okay, Doctor." Derpy replied, and she kept making a mess in the room,
"No, no, no, you don't sit there, you sit in the chair." Doctor Whooves said, and Derpy did,
"Okay, Derpy, when your patient comes in, you tell them to state their name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Okay." Derpy replied, Doctor Whooves can tell by her tone that she was not getting it.
An hourglass to Doctor Whooves' left beeps and he goes to check it,
"Oh, Derpy, it's time for you to return to the post office." Doctor Whooves said,
"Okay, see you next time, Doctor." Derpy replied, and the two stepped out, Derpy walks back to the office while Doctor Whooves waves bye at her with his front left hoof. Doctor Whooves sighs and he goes back into his office, he was startled when he saw a colt, he was an earth pony, he had a sky blue coat, a short white mane and tail, and pale yellow eyes, he did not have a cutie mark yet,
"Whoa!" Doctor Whooves said with surprise,
"Spirit should've informed you that my session is today." the colt said,
"Oh, yes, he did, please, take a seat." Doctor Whooves replied, and the two sat across from one another,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Walker, most recent inheritor of Spirit's powers." the colt replied,
"No, no, no, what is your current job in Equestria?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Oh, elementary school student." Walker replied,
"So, what exactly brings you here?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"I feel bad for fighting my great grandpa, I also know where Gogh's alternate self and Narcissus are at." Walker replied,
"Well, go on, I'll let Gogh know later." Doctor Whooves said,
"Okay, here I go." Walker replied, and he begins to tell his tale.
Walker was born into a family that has made a deal with a humanoid entity all the way back when the unicorns, Pegasi, and earth ponies lived separate from one another, and relations between the types of ponies was bitter. Walker's ancestors were on the verge of dying, and not having a future generation due to the unicorns and Pegasi attacking them the most often, so one of them did a ritual and came into contact with a humanoid being named Spirit, who resided in a realm called the Void. Spirit had slightly tan skin, a round face shape with a pointed chin, and short black hair with fringes of hair for his bangs, he wore a blue trench coat that was open in the front and went down to his feet, blue pants, blue wrist-length gloves with the ends under his trench coat, blue mid-calf length boots that his trouser legs were tucked into, a blue belt with a light blue buckle, and a light blue long-sleeve shirt that was tucked into his pants, Spirit had light blue eyes, but sometimes, his eyes had flames in them, his sclerae had dark blue flames, while his irises and pupils had orange flames. Spirit watched the other realms, and was the controller of the history of every realm in existence, and the collector of the souls of those who were dead so they could go to the afterlife, Equestria was among them, he wrote the history of the worlds in books, anything he wrote down in his books made them happen in real life, and if contradicting information was written, the book would change itself so history does not contradict itself anymore, his books were very dangerous if they fell into evil hands.
Spirit dragged a stallion who was Walker's ancestor into his realm, masses of land floated everywhere and aimlessly in the light blue realm,
"Welcome to the Void, I am Spirit, I knew you would come, I have written it down in Equestria's history book." Spirit said,
"Please, I seek your aid." Walker's ancestor replied,
"I know why, your family has been attacked quite often by the unicorns and Pegasi, and your family is on the verge of being wiped out of existence." Spirit said,
"Yes, I found out about you by chance, I saw a deceased earth pony's soul get collected by you." Walker's ancestor replied,
"Indeed, I am also the one who brings the spirits of the dead to this realm so they may be judged, I have many powers and responsibilities." Spirit said,
"I wish for your powers." Walker's ancestor replied,
"Of course, the ritual you performed was in my name, and it was satisfying." Spirit said,
"Will you help?" Walker's ancestor asked,
"Yes, but it'll cost you." Spirit replied,
"What are they?" Walker's ancestor asked,
"I will grant you and your descendants some of my powers, but with three prices. One, the mare you marry has to be an earth pony, a unicorn or Pegasus wife will result in a miscarriage. Two, when you and your descendants have children, you can only have sons, any daughter you attempt to have will result in them not being born, they will always change to a colt, if you have a twin colt and filly, the filly will not be born. Three, your wives will pass away as soon as they give birth to your sons and grandsons." Spirit replied,
"Can uncles, cousins, and nephews have your powers?" Walker's ancestor asked,
"No." Spirit replied, Walker's ancestor thought about it and the survival of his family,
"It's a deal." Walker's ancestor said, and he shook Spirit's right hand with his front right hoof. Spirit's eyes had dark blue and orange flames in them, Walker's ancestor screamed while the dark blue and orange flames engulfed him, it disappeared and Walker's ancestor opened his eyes, his irises and pupils had orange flames on them for a second,
"There you go, now go out there and use my powers as you please, I will summon your sons and grandsons here when they become four years old." Spirit said, and he disappeared. Walker's ancestor headed out and he returned to Equestria.
Over a thousand years pass and Walker was celebrating his fourth birthday, he lived with two people, the first one was Runner, his father, and the other pony was Sprinter, his paternal grandfather, they both looked exactly the same as Walker, just Runner was a stallion, and Sprinter was an elder, they did track and running as their careers, Sprinter has retired, while Runner was taking a break from his career. Runner had a light blue running shoe with a white sole as his cutie mark, while Sprinter's cutie mark was a black running track. Runner and Sprinter sing happy birthday to Walker and he blows out the candles, the two clap and give him his present.
Walker opens his present and was excited, but it soon went away and became confused when he saw his present was some kind of drink with strong caffeine,
"What the? Daddy, grandpa, I wanted a toy." Walker said,
"Sorry, son, but the present you wanted was sold out." Runner replied,
"Yes, we tried to improvise, and thought you would like this instead." Sprinter said,
"But why a strong tea?" Walker asked,
"Uh, well, it's so... you can stay up longer to enjoy your birthday." Runner replied,
"But there's nopony here but us three, and we live in the woods, I'm tired of doing things without ponies my age." Walker said,
"But you have those students at your school." Sprinter replied,
"I don't feel like I belong with them, everypony is so different from me." Walker said,
"Oh... um... I see, I'm sorry, Walker, but this really is the best we can do this year." Runner replied,
"This birthday stinks, I'm heading to bed." Walker said, and he walked to his bedroom and laid down.
Walker just laid down and Runner came in a few hours later to give Walker his drink, he drank it and saw the drink was warm and a little sweet, he liked it overall but still laid down. It was dark and Walker hears Runner and Sprinter conversing,
"I don't want him to be visited by Spirit, us having his powers is bad enough, dad." Runner said,
"Now, now, son, let Walker choose how to use it, it's his choice, and we should support him no matter what." Sprinter replied,
"Support?! I can't stand the idea of Walker becoming a monster like us!" Runner said,
"You never were able to go with the flow, Runner, let's let him see Spirit, and let Walker choose what to do." Sprinter replied,
"But he has no idea on who or what Spirit is." Runner said,
"He would if I told him yesterday, but you didn't allow it." Sprinter replied,
"Let's check on him tomorrow, if he's still willing to live after what happens tonight." Runner said, and the two walk to their beds, Walker was confused and wanted to ask them, but he was too tired at the moment, and he closed his eyes and slept.
Walker dreamed and he woke up in a light blue realm,
"What the? Where am I?" Walker asked, and he walks around. Walker looks around and sees land floating in midair like Cloudsdale, he walks forward carefully and Walker soon saw a lot of portals, Equestria was one of them, and there were portals to other worlds,
"Whoa." Walker said with awe, he walks forward with curiosity. Dark blue flames appear in front of Walker,
"Whoa!" Walker said, and the dark blue flames form into Spirit, who was floating in midair,
"Hello, Walker, your fourth birthday has come, has it not? Welcome to the Void, it is time for you to receive powers that were bestowed upon your ancestors by me, and passed down through the males of your paternal bloodline. My name is Spirit, and I grant you some of my powers, just like how I did to your father and paternal grandfather before you, when they were four years old." Spirit said, and dark blue and orange flames engulf Walker, he screams in pain while he gets burned, but the flames and pain soon disappear, he holds his four legs out while he floated in midair,
"See, there you go, now go and test out your powers, I think you will like what you can do." Spirit said, and he disappeared. Walker walks forward and he noticed his first powers, he saw the ghosts of the deceased in the portals of the worlds, they were light blue in color and transparent, he watched the deceased walk around and mind their own businesses. Walker feels powers in his front hoofs and he lifts them up, some of the ghosts disappeared and reappeared around him, Walker moves his hoofs around and the ghosts did whatever they thought he commanded, Walker smiled and lowered his front hoofs, the ghosts disappeared into the ground.
Walker sees a far away land he wanted to go to, he teleports there with his mind, Walker noticed he can hear the wind blowing in the realm, and realized he had enhanced hearing, Walker wondered about something and decided to try looking, his vision was sharper and more clear than before, Walker was enjoying his newfound powers. Spirit appeared in front of Walker and floated in midair,
"You have more powers as well, close your eyes for a few seconds, and reopen them." Spirit said, and Walker did, to his surprise, his entire vision was a different color, his vision was dark blue, while people were light blue, and objects were a regular blue, Walker saw he can also tell how people felt, if they were watching him, if they had any wounds or items hidden on them, and can read their heartbeats, he closed his eyes again and reopened them to make his vision normal,
"You have two more of my powers, go over there and jump around, don't be afraid, just hold one of your hoofs out." Spirit said, and Walker ran to the nearest floating land, he jumped and held his front left hoof out. A black skeletal hand came out of Walker's hoof and it grabbed a ledge, the arm moved forward and disappeared, Walker swung around with the skeletal arms and was high in the air,
"Whoo-hoo!" Walker said, and he landed on the farthest floating land since there were no more after it, Spirit reappeared in front of him,
"You have one more power, you can open portals with your mind, you can travel between Equestria and the Void at will, you can come back here anytime, but you can't do it in your sleep, you have to do it in real life." Spirit said, Walker smiled,
"What do you think of my powers, Walker?" Spirit asked,
"This is awesome!" Walker said, Spirit chuckled,
"Would you like to see how your father and paternal grandfather reacted when they got my powers?" Spirit asked, Walker nodded enthusiastically, Spirit made dark blue flames appear and it showed a colt Runner, he looked just like Walker,
"No! I can't believe it! I've become a monster, just like my father!" Runner said, Walker was surprised and shocked, the picture then changed to show a colt Sprinter, who looked just like Walker as well,
"Oh well, this is normal for our family bloodline, my father has it, too." Sprinter said, Walker was surprised that his paternal grandfather was not excited to have the powers. The dark blue flames disappeared,
"Time for you to wake up now, Walker, go see Sprinter to train your powers." Spirit said, and he disappeared while Walker's vision became pitch black.
Walker wakes up the next morning and he saw the sun rising, he remembered his dream clearly,
"Aw, it was just a dream." Walker said sadly, he was about to head to the kitchen to get breakfast, but he teleported there,
"Wait a minute, it wasn't a dream, it was real, this is awesome!" Walker said, he hears running and sees Runner and Sprinter coming to him, they were able to sense Spirit's powers within him,
"Oh no, not you, too." Runner said with shock,
"What's wrong, daddy?" Walker asked,
"You've become a monster as well, just like me and dad." Runner replied,
"Monster? I like these powers." Walker said,
"Now, now, grandson, it is normal for the males from the paternal side of our family to get these powers, but you must restrain yourself, do not, under any circumstances, show off your powers at school or in public." Sprinter replied,
"What? Why not?" Walker asked,
"Because! It will draw unwanted attention." Runner replied,
"There you go, Walker, show it to a pony, they tell the others, it spreads through Equestria, Princess Celestia gets involved, she questions us, and if she discovers the Void, who knows what she will try to do to Spirit, I don't think she will like the fact that Spirit is the one who made her the ruler of Equestria in the first place, since he wrote it in the book." Sprinter said, Walker realized what his father and paternal grandfather were saying,
"Come, let's train you, Spirit only taught you the basic of your powers, you can actually do a lot more." Sprinter said, and he leads Walker outside.
Sprinter and Walker stand together while Runner watched, worried his father would teach his son things he did not want him to learn,
"Okay, grandson, I assume Spirit taught you the same things he taught me and Runner, those are the basic powers, you have three more powers." Sprinter said,
"Really?! I wanna learn them now!" Walker replied with ecstasy, Sprinter laughed,
"Patience, my grandson, we'll start with the first thing, an explanation, there is another type of energy in this world besides magic, it is called spiritual energy, it is not visible to the naked eye, spiritual energy is released into the air when someone or something dies, and it can be conjured, taking on any shape, form, or sound the conjurer desires, and when the conjurer is done using that spiritual energy, it is released back into the air, ready to be reused. Ponies in this world cannot see, hear, or use spiritual energy, only the males from the paternal side of our family can because of the deal we made with Spirit." Sprinter said, Walker nodded while excited, he was already finding this to be very interesting,
"Okay, now that's out of the way, the first other power you have is you can conjure any weapon you please with spiritual energy, this is the one Runner and I preferred personally." Sprinter said, and he makes a sword appear in his front right hoof, which Walker did not recognize, and in Sprinter's front left hoof was another weapon he did not recognize, it was a pistol with a wheel and lock mechanism,
"What is that, grandpa?" Walker asked,
"This is a gun, a pistol to be more specific, when I was in the Void, I saw these several times in one of the portals to another world, and I saw these were accurate and deadly, so I decided to use it, but unlike the regular one, which only holds one bullet, since this is a spiritual weapon, it holds infinite." Sprinter replied, Walker was excited,
"Just hold the gun out and pull that trigger down there." Sprinter said, and Walker summons it in his front left hoof and aims it, along with the same type of sword in his front right hoof, he fires the pistol and a bullet made out of dark blue fire comes out, Walker exclaimed with shock, jumped back, stumbled, and blinked his eyes, the loudness of the gun scared him,
"Now, now, Walker, you can use your spiritual energy to nullify the sound, but always remember this with your weapons, a long range weapon will always be weaker than a close range weapon." Sprinter said,
"What? Why?" Walker asked,
"That's just the way it is." Sprinter replied, Walker looked down,
"Now, your second power Spirit didn't tell you about." Sprinter said, and Walker stood up,
"Every time you land a hit with your attack, you absorb spiritual energy, they allow you to do special moves, you have four special moves, but first, you must attack me, and land a hit, you'll feel your spiritual energy get stronger." Sprinter said, and Walker used his spiritual energy to make the gun mute, he fires many times at Sprinter, and felt his spiritual energy getting stronger very slowly,
"You can make your spiritual energy charge up faster with your sword." Sprinter said, and Walker begins slashing Sprinter with the sword, while Sprinter just endured the hits, Walker felt his spiritual energy meets its maximum charge,
"Whoa, what is this dark blue aura around me?" Walker asked,
"That's for later, now, focus with your spiritual energy, and use your mind to decide which of the four abilities you want to use, the stronger it is, the more spiritual energy it will take." Sprinter said, and Walker saw his four spiritual abilities in his mind, he places his front left hoof on the ground to do the first one, four light blue round heads came out of the ground and went to attack Sprinter, he shot them with his gun and they got destroyed. Walker tries his second spiritual ability and made himself turn transparent and light blue, Sprinter fires bullets at him and Walker realize his second spiritual ability made him invincible,
"That one lasts as long as you have spiritual energy in you, Walker, once when it's drained, you change back, but you can change back at will, and you can't touch or hurt anyone when in that form, either, unless it's in spirit form as well." Sprinter said, and Walker changed back. Walker tries his third spiritual ability but nothing happens,
"What the?" Walker asked,
"You don't have enough spiritual energy, you need to attack me again to recharge it." Sprinter replied, and Walker did, he puts his front right hoof on the ground, dark blue flames surround him and spin counterclockwise around him,
"Whoa!" Walker said,
"That move is used for offensive and defensive purposes, anyone who touches those flames will get hurt, so it also protects you from close range harm, it won't work against long range, though." Sprinter said, the flames disappear and Walker nodded, he tries his last spiritual ability, he holds his front left hoof out and he shoots out a stream of dark blue and orange fire, it burns whatever it touched,
"Wow." Walker said,
"That's your strongest spiritual ability right there, it kills almost anything in a single burn. The color of the fire is also important, orange flames are stronger than dark blue flames." Sprinter said, Walker nodded,
"Okay, now your last ability, focus on the dark blue aura around you, and absorb it into yourself with your mind." Sprinter said, Runner realized what Sprinter was going to teach him and was very uneasy. Walker absorbs the aura into himself and he floated in midair, he spun around slowly counterclockwise and let out a grunt when he finished spinning in a circle, he lands on the ground. Walker looks at himself and realizes he has transformed, he was made out of dark blue flames, and he had a horn on his forehead, and bat wings on his sides, Walker realized he has transformed into an alicorn-like creature, he was able to tell he was about as tall as Princess Celestia, he soon changed back,
"What was that?" Walker asked with curiosity,
"That, there was your spiritual form, your most powerful ability, when you transform into that form, all of your powers and abilities increase tenfold." Sprinter replied,
"Whoa!" Walker said,
"Walker, wait." Runner said as he ran outside to them,
"You mustn't use that form, it is monstrous and dangerous." Runner said,
"Oh, come on, dad, it was awesome." Walker replied,
"It's his choice, son, let him use it as he pleases." Sprinter said,
"Okay, but restrain it, Walker, don't use your powers unless you have to." Runner said,
"Yes, dad." Walker replied,
"One more thing, Walker, do not, under any circumstances, use it at school, while regular ponies cannot see the dark blue flames of your powers, they can see the damage it causes, also, you will see deceased ponies at school, the other ponies cannot see them, so do not call out to them." Sprinter said,
"Yes, granddad." Walker replied,
"Good, off to school now, it's about to start." Sprinter said, and Walker walks to school.
Walker arrives at school and just went on with his day, he hated school, he found it boring and tedious. The school was known for teaching friendship instead of academics, ever since Twilight Sparkle published the letters she and her friends wrote to Princess Celestia, that was all the school taught, and Walker took them to heart, even though he still did not like the methods his teacher taught them.
Walker was in class and was almost asleep while his teacher taught, almost all of his classmates were females, including his teacher, he did not like how Equestria was mostly female dominated, he thought it was unfair, he did not like how the most powerful ponies in Equestria were females, along with the fact there were no male alicorns, and the six ponies chosen to keep Equestria safe were all females, all of this made him more and more happy to have Spirit's powers, he thought it was a nice change to have in the female dominated country.
Walker sits in class and does not interact with his classmates, he always headed home as soon as class ended, he was not bullied or hated, he just felt like he did not fit in at school, and did not do any after school activities, Walker noticed that a lot of fillies look at him with concern since he does not say anything in class and does not communicate, along with leaving school as soon as the bell rings, Walker has admitted a few times that there were several fillies his age he found to be very pretty, but he did not say that at school, Walker heads home and decided he should practice his powers.
Walker tries his powers outside of his home after finishing his homework, Sprinter instructed him while Runner reluctantly became his sparring partner, the two use their powers as well, Walker sees his father and paternal grandfather had the exact same powers as he did, but they used them skillfully and carefully, Walker watched them carefully and mimicked them. Dark blue flames surround the three and they notice something was happening, the flames disappear the three were in the Void,
"No, not this place." Runner said,
"Relax, my son, Spirit just wants to speak with us." Sprinter replied, and Spirit appeared in front of them, floating in midair,
"Welcome back, Walker, nice to see you two, too, Runner, Sprinter, I have a job for you, Walker." Spirit said,
"What? Why me?" Walker asked,
"Because you're the newest member of our family to have his powers, Walker, Spirit wants to see how your training's been coming along." Sprinter replied,
"Oh." Walker said,
"Alright, your first job is a stealth job, so no weapons, there's a stallion who just saw another stallion named Doctor Whooves." Spirit said,
"Wait, I remember Doctor Whooves, he's friends with you and Demonicus." Sprinter replied,
"Yes, Sprinter, that Doctor Whooves, one of his patients talked to him during his session, he actually encountered Claudius, one of the oldest enemies of me and Demonicus, Claudius and his cult have found him, your job is to bring him here to safety." Spirit said,
"That doesn't sound too hard." Walker replied,
"Walker, it is hard, since you have Spirit's powers, these creatures called liches will be drawn to you and try to take your soul." Runner said,
"That actually sounds pretty fun." Walker replied, Runner groans while he looked down,
"Remember, Runner, everyone is different." Spirit said,
"I know, I just want my son to be safe." Runner replied,
"I understand your reasons, but Walker has to carve his own path in life, just like how you and your father did." Spirit said,
"Didn't you already write down what Walker will do in the book of our world?" Sprinter asked,
"Well, not exactly, the future writes itself as time goes on, only the past and present are written in the book." Spirit replied,
"Where is the book now?" Runner asked,
"A pony in a college at Canterlot has it, his name is Ace, but I am sensing pure malevolence within him." Spirit replied,
"I see, but I still don't want Walker getting into danger." Runner said,
"Don't worry, dad, I'll be fine, I promise I'll return." Walker replied,
"Okay, but you better not come back injured, and you'll be punished if you're not home by bedtime." Runner said,
"Alright then, go, Walker, the stallion's name is Jones, get him and bring him into this realm." Spirit said, and he disappeared, Walker ran forward while Runner and Sprinter teleport back home. Walker ran around in the Void, he saw three ghost ponies appear in front of him, Walker sees they were royal guards, they attack him with their spears and Walker just shoots them with his pistol, they change to light blue flames and float away,
"Oh no!" Walker said in horror,
"Relax, you didn't destroy their spirits, you just made them formless again, they'll reform overtime." Spirit said as his voice echoed throughout the realm, Walker keeps running forward. Walker was running and getting bored, so he teleports forward a bit, but he was having a little trouble over how far he should teleport, even though Runner and Sprinter just trained him, he jumps up and makes two black skeletal arms come out, one from each of his front hooves, he grabs the ledges of the floating lands and swings around in midair, he threw himself and was high in the air as he moved forward,
"Whoo-hoo!" Walker said happily as he swings around, he lands on one land and more ghost ponies appeared, there was four of them, they surrounded him, Walker shoots them with his pistol but the bullets bounced off and disappeared as dark blue flames engulfed them,
"There are some creatures that cannot be harmed with long-range weapons, and some can't be harmed with short-range, I'll let you figure that out on your own." Spirit said as his voice echoed through the Void, the ghost ponies slash their spears around and Walker grunted in pain as he got hit, he tries to slash them with his sword and it cut through their bodies easily, they become light blue flames and float away. Walker swings forward by making the black skeletal arms appear and teleported while he was in midair, he keeps going forward and sees a portal that leads to Ponyville, he saw Jones was just walking out of the town,
"That's Jones, Walker, bring him into this realm." Spirit said, and Walker goes through the portal.
Jones was heading to a place that was cut off from the rest of Equestria, it was a house in the woods that had no communication with the others. Walker appears in front of him and Jones looks at him with surprise,
"My name's Walker, you have to come with me if you want to be safe." Walker said,
"I can't do that, there are these eleven unicorns after me." Jones replied, Walker closed his eyes and reopened them, his vision was dark blue, he saw eleven light blue figures, he realized they must have been the people after Jones,
"Come on, those eleven are nearby, we have to hide, I'll explain everything after we get you to safety." Walker said, and they walk into the forest. Walker walks through the woods and he looks around, he did not see the eleven ponies anymore, so he opens a portal with his mind, much to Jones' surprise, and he leads Jones in and the two enter the portal.
Walker and Jones arrive into the Void and Jones was surprised, Spirit appeared in front of Jones, which surprised him,
"Welcome to the Void, Jones, my name is Spirit, you encountered one of my enemies, Claudius, he is a being of unknown origin, not even I, recorder of history of worlds, including yours, knows where he originated from." Spirit said,
"How are we going to fight him?" Jones asked,
"That, I do not know, Claudius is a dangerous person, he is not native to your world, but I do not know which world he is from, as the books of the worlds have no mention of him." Spirit replied,
"Books?" Jones asked, he looks around,
"Oh, never mind, I see them." Jones said,
"Those books are the histories of your and other worlds, by writing in it, you can alter that world's history, and the book will change itself to get rid of and replace old information with new ones, so the book does not contain any contradicting information for the new thing that has been written down." Spirit said, much to Jones' surprise,
"Come, Jones, we must take you to meet Demonicus." Spirit said, and he floated away while Jones walked with him,
"You need to come as well, Walker." Spirit said, and they go through a portal.
Demonicus was training Daylight Dimmer and Starburn, the three appear and meet them, Walker was surprised to see Demonicus, he looked just like Princess Celestia, but did not have wings, his coat was black, his mane and tail were long and dark purple, gray, dark red, and dark brown, it was not flowing, his eyes were red, and his cutie mark was a red sun with a skull in the center of it, he was also wearing silver horseshoes,
"Ah, Spirit, good to see you." Demonicus said,
"Have you heard about Jones here?" Spirit asked,
"Yes, he already saw Doctor Whooves, I have been informed about it by him." Demonicus replied,
"Since Claudius is our enemy, I was thinking about allying with you again." Spirit said,
"Yes, I agree, we should." Demonicus replied,
"This is Walker, he's Sprinter's grandson." Spirit said,
"Hello, my name is Demonicus, I, too, was a student under Star Swirl the Bearded, Celestia and I were rivals at that time." Demonicus said,
"You know my grandpa?" Walker asked,
"Yes, I met him many years ago, he brought Runner here when he was a colt, and he was scared of me." Demonicus replied, Walker can clearly see why,
"Did you find yourself a protégé of your own yet?" Spirit asked,
"Yes, he's right there, Daylight Dimmer, meet Spirit, an old ally of mine." Demonicus said,
"Hello." Daylight Dimmer replied, Walker was shocked to look at Daylight Dimmer, he was an earth pony, he had a dark yellow coat, his mane and tail were short and were mostly light orange, with a small moderate yellow streak and a big dark green streak in them, he also had bangs, his eyes were a moderate yellow, and his cutie mark was a black pentagram,
"You look like you saw something strange." Daylight Dimmer said,
"Sorry, it's just you remind me of someone." Walker replied,
"I think I know who, over here." Demonicus said, and they go to the body of water in the cave, its reflection showed Princess Celestia speaking to Sunset Shimmer, who has returned to seek answers on why her friends do not remember her,
"No, that's not her." Walker said,
"No, the mare behind her." Demonicus replied, and Walker sees Twilight Sparkle,
"Oh, that's her, the Princess of Friendship." Walker said,
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"I'm Starburn, Daylight Dimmer's nephew." Starburn said, Walker saw Starburn had a red-orange coat, a yellow mane, and orange eyes,
"You don't have a cutie mark?" Walker asked,
"Actually, he's still a baby, I used my magic to make him older because I wasn't in the mood to deal with a baby." Demonicus replied, Starburn smiled,
"Ah, yes, good. Demonicus, old friend, I was thinking, why don't we have your apprentice and the most recent receiver of my powers fight one another?" Spirit asked,
"That's a good idea, it'll let us see how skilled they are." Demonicus replied,
"Okay, now, go on and fight, you two, may the best fighter win." Spirit said, and Daylight Dimmer and Walker stood across from one another.
Daylight Dimmer stood on his hind legs and made two swords made out of dark green energy appear, one on each front hoof,
"What the?" Walker asked,
"You didn't know? Friendship isn't the only thing that grants magic, enmity is also magic, equal and opposite to friendship." Daylight Dimmer replied, and Walker made a sword appear in his right front hoof, and a gun in his left front hoof,
"Remember, this isn't a fight to the death, it's just to see who's the better fighter." Demonicus said,
"Go, uncle!" Starburn said to cheer on Daylight Dimmer, Daylight Dimmer scoffed while smiling,
"Alright, fight." Spirit said, and the two do. Walker fires several bullets from his gun and Daylight Dimmer cuts them down, much to Walker's shock, but he focuses, he saw Daylight Dimmer coming to him and swings his two swords around, Walker blocks with his sword, a white flash appeared, Daylight Dimmer hits Walker's sword constantly while Walker defended, each hit made a white flash happen, Walker focuses and sees a few ghosts around the area, he commands them with his front right hoof and they appear out of the ground.
The ghosts surround Daylight Dimmer and attack him, but Daylight Dimmer jumps and spins around in midair in counterclockwise direction and was upside-down, he holds his front legs out and the dark green swords change to beams coming out of Daylight Dimmer's front hooves, he hits every ghost and they disappeared, much to Walker's shock. Daylight Dimmer lands and he then puts his front hoofs together and shoots a dark green blast out, Walker teleports to behind Daylight Dimmer and places his front left hoof on the ground, four round light blue heads come out around him and fly to Daylight Dimmer to attack him by flying around his body and burning him, Daylight Dimmer got attacked but he places his front hoofs on the ground and makes blades of dark green energy come out of the ground around him, they stab the floating heads and they disappear. Walker watches with shock and tries to think of something while Daylight Dimmer runs to him and was about to stab the dark green energy sword on his front right hoof onto Walker's neck, Walker changes the gun to a round shield and blocks the attack, he tries to slash Daylight Dimmer with his sword but Daylight Dimmer blocks it with the dark green energy sword on his front left hoof.
Daylight Dimmer makes spears project from his body and Walker became scared at seeing them, he impulsively uses his spiritual power that makes himself turn light blue and was invincible, much to his relief,
"Hmm, interesting, what you're looking at there is a pony's ghost, Daylight Dimmer, those with Spirit's powers can change between body and ghost at will." Demonicus said, Daylight Dimmer changes his swords to crossbows and fires at Walker, the hate powered magic goes through Walker and does no harm on him, Walker laughs,
"Not so good now, are ya?" Walker asked,
"Remember, Walker, that move only lasts as long as you have spiritual energy, once when it's out, you revert back." Spirit replied,
"You're forgetting another thing, Walker." Demonicus said,
"What?" Walker asked, Demonicus' horn has a red aura on it and Walker changes back to his regular form,
"What?! What the?!" Walker asked with shock,
"There are spells that can change you back to normal." Demonicus replied, much to Walker's shock.
Daylight Dimmer makes the dark green energy change back to swords and swings them forward, throwing two beams of dark green energy, Walker ducked and dodged them, he uses a spiritual ability and makes dark blue flames surround him, but the dark green energy beams go past them and hit Walker, he screams while he was electrocuted, he was shot back and landed face first on the ground.
Starburn claps since Daylight Dimmer has won, Walker groans while he lays on the ground,
"See that, Walker, you have to train, you may have the power, but you lack the skills, I would like for you to go back home every now and then to have Runner and Sprinter train you." Spirit said,
"Why can't you do it?" Walker asked,
"He doesn't look like it, Walker, but Spirit is a very busy individual, he doesn't have the time." Demonicus replied, Walker was surprised,
"Come now, Walker, I have something for you to do before you start your journey." Spirit said, and dark blue flames surround him and Walker.
Walker appears in the Void and Spirit was nowhere to be found, Walker hears walking and saw himself coming, much to his shock, he had the same sword and pistol as him,
"It's me, Walker, I'll be mimicking you, before you can fight anyone else, you must know how to defeat yourself first." Spirit said, and Spirit walked forward,
"You will never know who your mother was." Spirit said, that very thought always made him very sad, sometimes put him on the verge of tears,
"I mean to defeat yourself physically, Walker, not mentally." Spirit said,
"Oh." Walker said, and Spirit was ready to fight,
"Defend yourself, Walker." Spirit said, Walker did.
Walker fired bullets from his pistol but Spirit just shot the bullets with his own gun and they all hit one another and fall, much to Walker's shock, Spirit holds his front right hoof out and shoots a stream dark blue and orange fire out of it, Walker teleported to behind Spirit to shoot him in the back of the head, Spirit teleported away before the bullets could hit him. Walker closes his eyes and reopens them to look for Spirit, he sees twenty four light blue objects moving around, and two blue objects that stood still, Walker realized the Void actually had natives in it. Spirit appears in front of him and was about to slash Walker with his sword, Walker uses his sword to clash with it, the two get into a sword fight and their blades clang against one another, Spirit eventually hits Walker's sword out of his front right hoof and slashed Walker's chest, he grunted loudly in pain and looked at his wound.
Walker focused and growled, he makes the sword reappear in his front right hoof and gets into another sword fight with Spirit, their swords clang against one another again and Walker eventually shoots Spirit in the face with his pistol, he smiled when he appeared to have hit Spirit, but stopped smiling when he sees Spirit was light blue and transparent, he realizes the bullets went through him and he was unharmed, Walker was getting irritated and was clenching his teeth.
Spirit teleported back and made himself change back to normal, he holds his front left hoof out and a black skeletal arm comes out, it grabs Walker and pulls him forward,
"Whoa!" Walker said as he flew through the air, Spirit shoots him with the pistol several times and Walker fell, he panted and was tired,
"I give up." Walker said, and Spirit changes back to his regular form,
"Pathetic, Walker, you can't even defeat yourself, you have a lot of training to do, go back home and train." Spirit said, and he disappeared, Walker slams his front right hoof on the ground.
"Wait, what happened to Jones?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"I'll get to that." Walker replied,
"Alright, go on and continue." Doctor Whooves said,
Walker was home and Sprinter and Runner were training him, Sprinter did not mind while Runner was reluctant, Walker kept attacking and learning Sprinter's and Runner's moves, they were doing the same attacks and tactics as Spirit, Walker kept grunting and swinging angrily. Walker kept losing to Sprinter and Runner, no matter how hard he tried, he eventually screamed in rage and turned into the alicorn-like form made out of dark blue flames, and was the same size as Princess Celestia. Walker swings his sword around, it made dark blue flames fly out of each swing and it burned whatever the flames hit, Walker also shot his pistol at his father and paternal grandfather, the bullets were replaced with dark blue flames, but Sprinter and Runner dodged them all easily and took Walker down with the black skeletal hands and Walker changed back when he fell to the ground. Walker grunted loudly and angrily,
"I don't understand! Why can't I win any fights?!" Walker asked angrily,
"Patience, my grandson, you just started training, you have a lot of time to grow." Sprinter replied,
"But still, so far, I've lost every duel." Walker said,
"How many duels?" Runner asked,
"One with Daylight Dimmer, one with Spirit copying me, and this one with you two." Walker replied,
"Daylight Dimmer?" Runner asked,
"Demonicus' student." Walker replied,
"Who's Demonicus?" Runner asked,
"Oh, I remember Demonicus, he was also an apprentice under Star Swirl the Bearded, he and Princess Celestia were rivals back then." Sprinter said,
"Back when?" Runner asked,
"Back when Celestia was still training under Star Swirl the Bearded, before she became a princess. Spirit and I took you to meet him when you were Walker's age." Sprinter replied,
"I don't remember him." Runner said,
"Well, I'm right here." Demonicus replied, Runner was startled and he turned around and saw Demonicus, Daylight Dimmer stood to his right, and Starburn stood to his left,
"I am Demonicus, Runner, your father and I met many years ago." Demonicus said,
"Which one is Daylight Dimmer?" Sprinter asked,
"I am." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"And I'm Starburn, his nephew." Starburn said, Walker was angry at seeing Daylight Dimmer,
"Now, now, Walker, you just started training, Daylight Dimmer has been training under me ever since he was a colt." Demonicus said,
"I'm still mad at losing against him, daddy and grandpa aren't making me feel any better, I'm losing to them, too." Walker replied,
"Maybe a teacher would be good for you." Demonicus said,
"I'd rather train on my own." Walker replied,
"Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher." Daylight Dimmer said,
"What is that supposed to mean?" Walker asked in an annoyed voice,
"If you get a good teacher to train you, you will perform better than training by yourself." Starburn replied,
"Remember, Walker, if you do train and master your powers, you must not use it, it will draw unwanted attention, and you will embrace your monstrous self." Runner said,
"Wait, even if I do master my powers, I can't use them?! That's it, I quit." Walker said,
"You shouldn't give up so easily, grandson." Sprinter said,
"But I won't be able to use my awesome powers, even if I do master them, and I keep losing my fights, I quit, it's over." Walker replied,
"If you lose, it's not over. If you quit, then it will be over." Daylight Dimmer said,
"I didn't ask for advice." Walker replied,
"So, what do you want to do, Walker?" Runner asked,
"I quit, I'm not using my powers ever again!" Walker replied, and he stormed into his home and slammed the door.
Walker sulked in his bed and just laid there, the door opened and Starburn came in,
"Walker?" Starburn asked,
"Leave me alone." Walker replied, Starburn walked to him,
"Demonicus had a talk with your daddy and granddaddy, it turns out your daddy didn't want the powers to begin with." Starburn said,
"I know, but I can't use them in public, even if I do master them, it's not fair." Walker replied,
"Uncle and I can't use our powers very often in public, either." Starburn said, Walker sat up a little and looked at Starburn,
"Really?" Walker asked,
"No, Celestia wants to Equestria to have friendship, the magic my uncle and I use are powered by our hatred." Starburn replied,
"Hatred of what?" Walker asked,
"My parents not caring about me, so uncle took me in, and my uncle's hatred of his family, he was bullied all the time in school, his teachers were mean and didn't care about their students, and he was bullied by everypony for being from a poor family and not doing any extracurricular activities." Starburn replied,
"Why didn't he do any?" Walker asked,
"His parents wouldn't let him." Starburn replied,
"What were their names?" Walker asked,
"Uncle's father's name was Daylight Sunshine, his mother's name was Bright Sky, Daylight Sunshine was a lazy and dirty stallion, he did no physical work, and would complain about work if he had to do it, and still not do it, and Bright Sky cared more about money and working, to the point where she would not see her family." Starburn replied,
"I can tell him the rest, Starburn." Daylight Dimmer said from the bedroom's entrance, he walked forward,
"I grew up on a farm, I was poor and struggling, everything was too expensive because my mom kept all of the money to herself. I had an older sister named Sunburn, she's Starburn's mother, she left the farm and joined a gang of thieves, she eventually became the leader, she did it so she can steal things and then sell it so she can live a life of luxury on her own. Sunburn fell in love with a stallion named Volcano before she joined the thieves, he was my foalsitter when my parents spent mom's money on things they didn't need, and my sister was stealing things, the two had Starburn when I got older, but by accident, they didn't intend to have a child, so they brought him to the farm so someone else would raise him instead, none of my family would, so I took Starburn in, Master made him into a colt with his magic." Daylight Dimmer explained, Walker was shocked,
"Why did Sunburn and Volcano fall in love?" Walker asked,
"Volcano just wanted my sister as a trophy wife because of her physical appearance, while Sunburn just wants his money." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"How are things in school for you, Walker?" Starburn asked,
"Neutral, I don't have any friends or enemies in school." Walker replied,
"I had the lowest grades in my classes." Daylight Dimmer said,
"That sucks, I'm around the average area." Walker replied,
"Uncle failed because he had to read books." Starburn said,
"You don't like books, Daylight Dimmer?" Walker asked,
"No, I hate reading, I find it to be boring, and it hurts my neck." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"So, how did you learn?" Walker asked,
"By experience." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"How long have you been serving under Demonicus, Daylight Dimmer?" Walker asked,
"Have you ever heard about Sunset Shimmer?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"Yeah, everybody knows she was Princess Celestia's pupil before Princess Twilight was." Walker replied,
"I served under Demonicus before she became Celestia's student." Daylight Dimmer said, much to Walker's shock,
"No offense, Walker, but to me, Celestia is a failure." Daylight Dimmer said,
"How?" Walker asked,
"Think about it, when there's a threat in Equestria, she isn't doing anything, she fought against Queen Chrysalis and lost, and she got captured by the vines Discord planted, along with the fact that she doesn't evacuate the citizens when danger appears." Daylight Dimmer replied, Walker saw his point,
"There's also a personal level of disappointment to me, when she was looking for a pupil, I wanted to be her pupil, it was so I can escape my old life of a cruel family and bullies in school, not only did my parents refuse, which I wasn't surprised about, but she was only accepting unicorns to be her pupil, I became so mad at the fact that I had to stay with my old life, I destroyed the farm in a fit of rage and my parents restrained me after a while, they pointed to the exit and I left, I wandered the desert and rested, that was when Demonicus approached me and took me in." Daylight Dimmer said, Walker was surprised,
"What did you want to do before Demonicus came to you, Daylight Dimmer?" Walker asked,
"I was planning to join the royal guard when I got old enough." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"I guess you were taught to deal with your enemies differently from others." Walker said,
"I was, I only offer my enemies forgiveness and friendship once, if they reject it and leave, I move on, but if they cause trouble again, and if I win my second fight against them, I'm killing them." Daylight Dimmer replied, Walker was shocked by how ruthless Daylight Dimmer was,
"You should try again, Walker, I could use some training, too." Starburn said, Walker sighed and went outside while Daylight Dimmer and Starburn, the two smiled and walked out with him.
Walker and Starburn train together, Starburn could make any weapon he wished appear, his hate energy was red-orange instead of dark green, he was not as creative as Daylight Dimmer when fighting, Daylight Dimmer also trained, with Runner training him, and Sprinter and Demonicus conversed. The four got tired and Runner was panting,
"I'm not as good as I used to be." Runner said,
"Well, that's what you get for not training as you got older." Sprinter replied, dark blue flames appear under Walker,
"It's Spirit, he has something for you to do, good luck, Walker." Sprinter said, and Walker went into the flames.
Walker appears on gray platforms floating in the Void, dark blue flames appear in front of him and Spirit appeared,
"I have a job for you, Walker, there's a threat in Equestria right now, in the Everfree Forest." Spirit said,
"Is it a friendship problem?" Walker asked,
"No, an actual threat." Spirit replied,
"Why can't we let Princess Twilight handle it?" Walker asked,
"Because there are many threats in Equestria, and Twilight and her friends can't deal with all of them, also, even if they knew of this threat, they could not help." Spirit replied,
"Why not?" Walker asked,
"Because these hostile 'creatures' in the Everfree Forest are actually spirits of the dead, they cannot be seen or heard by ponies who are still alive, and magic does not work on them, it will only go through them, your job is to fight those spirits, destroy their ghost form, and have their souls transferred here, when you're done, I'll let you explore the Void." Spirit said, which made Walker excited,
"You have a deal!" Walker said happily,
"Good, now get out there and subdue those ghosts." Spirit replied, and he disappeared.
Walker sees the portal to Equestria and runs to it, but a force field appears in front of him, a floating blue robe appeared in front of him, Walker looks and sees he had a white human skull for a face,
"Careful, Walker, that's a lich, they absorb souls." Spirit said telepathically, the lich opens its mouth and Walker grunts and falls, he felt his soul being absorbed, which was painful. Walker aims his pistol and shoots at the lich, it did not flinch, so Walker made a black skeletal hand appear from his right front hoof to grab the lich and pull it down, Walker begins attacking it with his sword, he destroyed it after a minute, it let out an ear piercing screech when its body was destroyed.
Walker sees two more liches appear and they open their mouths to absorb his soul, Walker screamed in pain as he felt his soul literally get torn apart, he changes his pistol and sword to unicorn horns, he begins firing zaps at a rapid rate, it destroyed the liches after sometime.
The force field disappears and Walker runs to the portal, he sees white skeletal ponies appear, he noticed they were the deceased, some had wings,
"Remember, Walker, unicorn horns don't have bones, they can still cast magic, even if they are dead, these enemies are called the Revived, they are dead people whose souls go back into their dead bodies to come back to life." Spirit said telepathically, and Walker focuses. Three of the skeletal ponies shoot zaps out of their foreheads, Walker dodged them by teleporting, he was lifted up by a Pegasus skeleton, and then dropped and kicked by the hind legs of an earth pony skeleton, he grunted as he fell. Walker got back up and teleported to the unicorn skeletons and tried to attack them with his sword, they teleported and shot zaps at him from elsewhere, he tried teleporting and slashing them, they just teleported away,
"Come on." Walker grumbled under his breath, the Pegasus skeleton picks him up again and Walker teleports out of his grasp, he shoots his pistol at the Pegasus skeleton's head and blows it off, a dark blue flame came out of him and it changed to a male Pegasus, he was light blue and transparent, Walker realized it was his ghost,
"It's not over yet." the Pegasus said, the skeleton earth pony tramples him from behind, but Walker teleports and appeared behind it, he cut the earth pony skeleton's head off, a dark blue flame came out of it and it changed to a male earth pony.
Walker grunted as he was hit by a unicorn zap, he sees the three unicorn skeletons, Walker lifts his front hoofs up and the souls of the deceased ponies of Equestria come from the other side of the portal and attack the unicorn skeletons, they got destroyed, Walker looks at them and saw the ghosts he summoned to help were earth ponies, the unicorns soon came back as ghosts themselves,
"I wonder." Walker said, and he holds his front hoofs up again, all of the ghosts were bent to his will, including his five enemies that he just fought,
"Whoa! I can make the spirits of my enemies obey me! This is awesome!" Walker said loudly and happily,
"Yes, but remember, Walker, not all ghosts will serve you, some will not obey you." Spirit said telepathically,
"Why did they attack me earlier?" Walker asked,
"The souls of the dead act on impulse with no one to guide them, but remember, for you to command a ghost or a soul, they must not be in a physical body, if they are skeletons, you cannot control them, since a skeleton is still a physical body." Spirit replied telepathically,
"Got it." Walker said,
"Good, go, deal with that threat in the Everfree Forest." Spirit replied telepathically, Walker pressed his front hoofs on the ground to dismiss the spirits under his command, and he ran into the portal that led to his home world.
Walker arrives in the Everfree Forest and he sees light blue flames float around, he realized they were the souls of the deceased, they go into the ground and skeletons of earth ponies and light blue spirits of timberwolves climb out. The earth ponies and timberwolves run to Walker and he got ready, he makes his sword become big and long, he swings it around destroys the skeletons with one hit, but it did not do well against the timberwolves, so Walker changed his big sword into a hatchet, he tries to attack the timberwolves, but they slash him and knock him down, he grunted as he got hit, and it hurt a lot.
Walker places his front left hoof on the ground and makes the light blue round heads come out, they go to the timberwolves and attack them, but he hears noises and realizes the earth pony spirits have appeared, he shoots them with his pistol but it did not do much, the earth pony spirits buck him and kick him, he grunted from each hit. Walker slashes them with his sword and destroys their spiritual forms after a few hits, each spiritual form was destroyed after about four or five hits from Walker's sword. Walker sees the four round heads have destroyed the timberwolves, they disappear and Walker sees the souls float around,
"Good, now absorb them into your body and come back to the Void." Spirit said telepathically, and Walker held his body out and the souls went into him, Walker opens a light blue and white portal with his mind and he goes back into the Void.
Walker arrived back into the Void and Spirit appeared in front of him,
"Good, bring their souls to me." Spirit said, and Walker held his front legs out, the souls float around Spirit,
"Judgement is at hand." Spirit said, and the souls disappeared,
"What happened to them?" Walker asked,
"I sent them to another resident in the Void, as promised, you are now granted permission to travel the Void." Spirit replied, and he held his right hand out, a blue portal appears Jones walks out,
"Take Jones with you, I think you two will enjoy exploring the realm more if you two go together." Spirit said, and he disappeared while a black bridge formed in front of them, the two go together.
Walker and Jones walk down the bridge and keep going,
"You explored this realm yet?" Walker asked,
"Nope, I've been hiding with Spirit." Jones replied,
"So, what do you do for a living, Jones?" Walker asked,
"I'm an explorer, I travel Equestria to look for new places." Jones replied,
"Really? That sounds fun." Walker said,
"It is. How about you, Walker, what do you do?" Jones asked,
"I'm still a student in school, I was only taken here because my ancestors made a deal with Spirit, my daddy and his daddy before him been here before, too." Walker replied,
"What did they say about this area?" Jones asked,
"Nothing." Walker replied,
"Well, let's go, I see a place up ahead." Jones said, Walker also sees it and the two keep walking.
Walker and Jones goes to the area and saw it was a building, it looked like a black fortress, the two shrug and enter, they see a bipedal humanoid figure that scared them, he was big and muscular, he was bald and had glowing blue skin, he had a black blindfold over his eyes, he wore a black judge's robe, he wielded a sledgehammer, but it was strange looking, the right half of the hammer was blue and white, it had a feathered wing at the top, and a female angel's face carved on it, while the left half of the hammer was red and black, it had a bat wing at the top, and a male demon's face carved on it. Walker and Jones look and see balancing scales, the right side was white, and the left side was black, he also had a double-edged broadsword sheathed on his left side,
"Ah, Walker and Jones, I have been expecting you two." the being said in a deep voice,
"You are?" Jones asked,
"I am just called The Judge, you're actually serving me indirectly, Walker." the being replied,
"What? How?" Walker asked,
"Every soul of the dead you absorb from Equestria or elsewhere is brought to me after you give them to Spirit, I see the lives they lived, their deeds are weighed on the Scales of Virtue and Sin behind me, whichever one goes down farther will decide their fate, if the white part goes down farther, salvation, the black part, damnation. And if you wish, you can just give the souls to me directly instead of through Spirit." The Judge replied,
"What if they're both down equally?" Walker asked,
"Yeah, what happens if that happens?" Jones asked,
"Then their personality and desires of their hearts will decide where they will go." The Judge replied,
"Wait, there's one thing I don't understand." Walker said,
"What is it?" The Judge asked,
"What happens to the souls I don't bring here?" Walker asked,
"Demonicus sends them here with his magic, but only the souls in Equestria, and he can't get all of them. Daylight Dimmer has actually given us lots of souls." The Judge replied,
"Really?" Walker asked,
"Yes, believe it or not, but he actually had a hand in stopping the Canterlot invasion caused by Chrysalis, before the invasion happened, Daylight Dimmer was lurking in the shadows, and killing the changelings." The Judge replied, shocking Walker,
"Do not be so shocked, those ponies who save Equestria sent a soul here once as well." The Judge said,
"Who?" Walker asked,
"King Sombra." The Judge replied,
"Oh right, the crystal heart shattered him." Jones said,
"Yes, and his soul was brought here by Demonicus, he has received damnation." The Judge replied,
"What happens to the souls after their sentence?" Walker asked,
"Those who receive salvation are sent to the overworld, those who receive damnation are sent to the underworld." The Judge replied,
"Are they a part of the Void?" Jones asked,
"No, they're two completely different worlds, now get going, I got souls to judge." The Judge replied, and the two turn around and see the souls coming in, the two see the exit behind The Judge and they go through it.
Walker and Jones come outside and see several places to go, they saw a palace up ahead, along with a temple to their lefts, and a place filled with skeletons to their rights,
"Those skeletons are not just pony skeletons." Jones said,
"Yeah, I don't recognize any of those creatures." Walker replied, Jones proceeded to go,
"What are you doing?" Walker asked,
"I'm an explorer, Walker, it's my job to explore dangerous areas." Jones replied, Walker gulped and went with him.
Walker and Jones walk around and saw two big black statues, they were both wearing robes and were hooded, and had skulls for their faces, the left statue was holding a quill in its right hand, and a document in its left hand, while the right statue was holding a double-edged sword in its right hand. They turn on their own and face Walker and Jones, which made them uneasy,
"So, you have come, Walker." the left statue said in a gravely voice,
"We have been waiting for you, we will test your ways of dealing with conflict." the right statue said in a ghastly voice,
"Who are you two?" Walker asked,
"I am Diplomat." the left statue said,
"And I am War." the right statue said,
"We will watch how you resolve conflict, and new enemies you encounter can be summoned here for you to fight and learn their moves and weaknesses." Diplomat said,
"Princess Celestia taught us friendship always wins." Walker replied, Diplomat and War laugh,
"Perhaps, but what if friendship doesn't work?" War asked,
"I don't get it." Walker replied,
"What if the friendship you try to offer ends up being rejected, and you are attacked?" Diplomat asked, Walker was a bit speechless,
"There you go, Celestia's ways of friendship and forgiveness doesn't always work." War said,
"You will learn during your travels that he is right." Diplomat said, and the statues turn away, Walker was a bit uncomfortable,
"Come on, let's go somewhere else." Jones said, and the two walk away.
Walker and Jones go back to the pathway and go to the temple to the west next,
"Hello?" Walker asked, there was no answer, Jones knocked on the temple's door with his front right hoof three times, nothing happened,
"No one's here." Jones said, but just as he finished saying that, the temple's double doors opened, the two shrug and enter.
Walker and Jones look around and saw the inside of the temple was empty, there was only dark gold walls, a light tan ceiling, and a dull white flat floor in the area, they only see four white pillows on the floor across from them,
"Heh, there's no one here." Walker said, but he began to grunt and a duplicate came out of his body, he stood on the center-left pillow, shocking him and Jones,
"Hello, Walker, I am your body." the Walker duplicate said,
"What's going on?" Walker asked,
"Hang on, the others will be here shortly." Body Walker replied, and Walker grunted more, a dark blue flame floated out of him and went to the center-right pillow, his brain floated out and went to the far left pillow, and his heart floated out and went to the far right pillow. The dark blue flame forms into a blue transparent version of Walker, his brain makes a body of Walker made out of blue electricity, and his heart makes a body of Walker made out of red fire,
"I am your mind." the Walker of blue electricity said,
"I am your spirit." the blue transparent Walker said,
"And I am your emotions." the Walker of red fire said,
"So, what do you guys do?" Walker asked,
"We are your trainers, as well as reflections of yourself." Mind Walker replied,
"How are you guys reflections of me?" Walker asked,
"Depending on your physical shape, knowledge, willpower, and feelings, the weaker or stronger we will be." Body Walker replied,
"So, what do you guys train me in?" Walker asked,
"If you want to train in improving your body and fitness, you come to me." Body Walker replied,
"I am a teacher of knowledge, come to me if you wish to learn." Mind Walker said,
"I will make your willpower and determination stronger, as well as help you clear out your mind, come to me if you wish to meditate." Spirit Walker said,
"If you wish to improve your empathy, and understand the feelings of others, come to me, I will teach you how to read one's feelings and emotions through their bodies, faces, and eyes', even the stoics have emotions." Emotion Walker said,
"Is there one for this guy, too?" Walker asked,
"Yeah, I'd like to do one of these." Jones said,
"You'll have to speak with Spirit if you wish for it." Body Walker replied, Jones nodded,
"Well, we are always here, and inside of you, Walker, remember, we represent your inner self, so we will always be with you as well." Body Walker said,
"I already train my mind and body at school." Walker replied,
"PE class will not be enough." Body Walker said,
"Academics and learning about friendship will not help you out of every problem." Mind Walker said,
"Oh." Walker replied with realization,
"Well, get going, you still have a lot of people to meet." Spirit Walker said,
"Yes, they are waiting for you in the palace." Emotion Walker said, and they disappear,
"Come on, Walker, let's meet them." Jones said, Walker agreed by nodding his head and they leave the temple.
Walker and Jones go to the palace that was up ahead and they see five humanoid figures standing at the entrance of the palace, they were all wearing black business suits with a white long-sleeve shirt under the blazers, they were bald with oblong face shapes, and peach colored skin. Walker and Jones found their appearances a bit unsettling, the center-left, center, center-right, and far right men had black blindfolds on their eyes', the far left man did not have one, and his eyes were blue, the far left, center-left, center, and center-right men wore black leather gloves while the far right man did not, the center-left man had ears while the other four did not, and the center-right man had a nose while the other four did not.
Walker and Jones look at them with surprise,
"What is it?" the center man asked, surprising the two,
"Who are you guys?" Jones asked,
"We are the Senses, we represent the five main senses, I am Taste." the center man said,
"What are the names of you four?" Walker asked,
"They cannot speak, as they do not have tongues." Taste replied, shocking Walker and Jones,
"So, what are their names?" Jones asked,
"The one with eyes is Sight, the one with ears is Hear, the one with a nose is Smell, and the one without gloves is Touch." Taste replied,
"How do you all get around?" Walker asked,
"By touching someone, we establish telepathic contact, so when we are together, we act as one." Taste replied, impressing Walker and Jones,
"What are your functions in the Void?" Jones asked,
"We act as Spirit's scouts, if there is an intruder or danger coming, we will be the first ones to know, and we inform Spirit." Taste replied,
"I see." Walker said,
"You guys don't look like you're native to this realm." Jones said,
"We are not, we are from a different world entirely." Taste replied,
"Wow, I didn't think that'd be the case." Walker said,
"We are quintuplets, all five of us got cursed by an old enemy that took away all but one of our senses, we contacted Spirit through a ritual and we were brought here." Taste replied,
"Wow, five identical twin brothers." Walker said,
"Actually, we are genderless, we can choose to be either male or female, we chose male because it gives us better physical strength and stamina, while being a female makes our bodies more flexible." Taste replied, Walker and Jones just look at them,
"And just when I didn't think things could get weirder." Walker said,
"My thoughts exactly." Jones replied,
"You two should get going, there are eighteen more people for you two to meet." Taste said, shocking Walker and Jones,
"Do not worry, they are in groups, now go." Taste said, and the two enter the palace.
Walker and Jones enter the palace and see it the first floor had a gray interior, there were fourteen people there, but two of them all wore a robe of the same color, the colored robes were purple, green, red, light blue, yellow, orange, and blue,
"So, you are the one Spirit called here." the blue robe to the left side of the room said, it had a female's voice,
"Who are you guys?" Walker asked,
"I am Humility." the purple robe to Walker's and Jones' lefts replied in a female voice,
"My name is Pride." the purple robe to Walker's and Jones' rights said in a male voice,
"My name is Kindness." the green robe to Walker's and Jones' lefts said in a female voice,
"My name is Envy." the green robe to Walker's and Jones' rights said in a male voice,
"You will know me as Charity." the yellow robe to Walker's and Jones' lefts said in a female voice,
"I am Greed." the yellow robe to Walker's and Jones' rights said in a male voice,
"My name is Temperance." the orange robe to Walker's and Jones' lefts said in a female voice,
"My name is Gluttony." the orange robe to Walker's and Jones' rights said in a male voice,
"I am called Diligence." the light blue robe to Walker's and Jones' lefts said in a female voice,
"You shall know me as Sloth." the light blue robe to Walker's and Jones' rights said in a male voice,
"I am known as Chastity." the blue robe to Walker's and Jones' lefts said in a female voice,
"You will refer to me as Lust." the blue robe to Walker's and Jones' rights said in a male voice,
"I am Patience." the red robe to Walker's and Jones' lefts said in a female voice,
"And I am called Wrath." the red robe to Walker's and Jones' rights said in a male voice,
"What do you guys do?" Jones asked,
"We help The Judge, when a soul achieves salvation or damnation, we will reward or punish the soul with whichever virtue or sin they committed the most." Humility replied,
"What are the rewards?" Walker asked,
"I reward people with the joys of life." Patience replied,
"I reward those who commit my virtue with true and everlasting love." Chastity said,
"I reward people with success at whatever they were trying to achieve." Diligence said,
"I reward people with enhanced physical abilities, and the simple joys they had in life." Temperance said,
"I reward those who commit my virtue with love and appreciation from others." Charity said,
"I reward people by making them all the same to one another, so they are all equal." Kindness said,
"I reward people with power and authority since they do not see themselves as superior to another." Humility said,
"And the punishments?" Jones asked,
"I have the angry dismembered alive." Wrath replied,
"I make the lustful feel physical torment for all eternity by having them burn in fire and brimstone." Lust said,
"I make the slothful and apathetic get thrown into snake pits." Sloth said,
"I punish the gluttonous by force feeding them rats, toads, and snakes." Gluttony said,
"I have the greedy boiled alive in oil for all eternity." Greed said,
"I punish the envious by having them put in freezing water for all eternity." Envy said,
"I punish the prideful by putting them on the breaking wheel." Pride said, Walker and Jones had no idea what a breaking wheel was,
"Are you in Equestria, Kindness?" Walker asked,
"No, I know Fluttershy represents my virtue, but me and the others here do not interfere with mortal affairs." Kindness replied,
"Even though those six represent the Elements of Harmony, they themselves are guilty of committing a sin, so are their family and friends." Pride said,
"Like what?" Walker asked with shock,
"Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack are all guilty of the sin of pride. Twilight Sparkle takes pride in being Princess Celestia's personal pupil, Rainbow Dash cares too much of her self image, Pinkie Pie is too proud of being Ponyville's party planner, Rarity admires her own appearance, and Applejack takes pride in overcoming challenges. Trixie has committed the sin of pride as well." Pride said,
"Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack have also committed the sin of gluttony." Gluttony said,
"Pinkie Pie committed the sin of envy when she met Cheese Sandwich." Envy said,
"Fluttershy has also committed the sin of wrath when Iron Will trained her to be assertive." Wrath said,
"Speaking of sins, her brother, Zephyr Breeze, has committed the sin of sloth many times. Rainbow Dash is partially guilty of sloth as well." Sloth said,
"Rarity has committed greed as well, but she gives as much as she receives, so if she is punished by me, it will be lessened. Spike has committed greed, too." Greed said,
"Speaking of Rarity, she has also committed the sin of lust, due to her desire to fit in with the upper-class of Equestria." Lust said, surprising the two,
"What about virtues?" Jones asked,
"Twilight Sparkle has committed humility, so has Fluttershy." Humility said,
"Rarity has committed temperance, mainly to keep her weight down for her appearance." Temperance said,
"Obviously, Fluttershy has committed my virtue, she represents it, Rarity has committed my virtue at times as well." Kindness said,
"All six of them have committed my virtue, since they waited long enough for some of their enemies to become their friends." Patience said,
"Rainbow Dash and Applejack have committed diligence several times, look at how hard Applejack works, and how long it took Rainbow Dash to become a Wonderbolt." Diligence said,
"Rarity has committed charity too many times to count, she has given out many things." Charity said,
"Twilight Sparkle has also committed chastity due to her lack of desire for more power after becoming an alicorn, her friends have also committed it due to them not trying to overthrow her and take her alicorn powers for themselves." Chastity said, Walker was surprised while Jones was not,
"Go up the stairs behind us, the last four and Spirit himself are waiting for you." Humility said, and the two go up the stairs.
Walker and Jones walk up the stairs and come to a new room, it was strange looking to the two, the left side of the room was orange and yellow with a yellow and orange sun while the right side was purple and blue with a white moon. There were two humanoid figures in the room, on the left side looked like a little girl, she had an inverted triangular face, fair skin, yellow eyes, and straight bright blonde hair that went down to her scapulae, she was wearing a light yellow, knee-length, sleeveless dress, and yellow sandals; on the right side looked like a teenage boy, he had an inverted triangular face, pale white skin, blue eyes, and messy jet black hair, he was wearing a gray long-sleeve shirt, blue trouser jeans, white socks, and black running shoes,
"Yay! New visitors!" the girl said while jumping up and down happily,
"Yeah, that also means more work for us." the boy said in a deadpan tone,
"Who are you guys?" Walker asked,
"Oh, I'm glad you asked, I'm Optimist, I am a manifestation of one's positive thinking and view on life, I am so glad to meet you, that means a new friend for me!" the girl said, Walker and Jones smiled,
"You wouldn't remember me or care who I was if I died." the boy said, shocking Walker and Jones,
"Yes, I would." Walker said,
"No, you wouldn't, it is everyone's destiny to be forgotten." the boy replied,
"Not everyone's forgotten after they pass." Jones replied,
"Oh, that's just Pessimist being Pessimist, he's a manifestation of one's negative thinking and view on life." Optimist said,
"So, what do you guys do?" Walker asked,
"It wouldn't matter if I told you, you'll forget anyway." Pessimist replied,
"You can come to us for help when you have to make a decision, I'll list the pros, and Pessimist will list the cons, also, as your views change on your journeys, our presence will either grow or fade." Optimist said,
"Meaning?" Walker asked,
"Depending on how idealistic or cynical your view on life is, the stronger or weaker our presence will be, if you're completely pessimistic, then Optimist over there will not be present." Pessimist replied,
"Oh." Walker said,
"Well, go upstairs, Walker and Jones, the last two are waiting for you, but be warned, one of them is a bit lively." Optimist said,
"Meaning..." Jones said,
"He's aggressive, try not to get yourselves killed by him." Pessimist replied, Walker and Jones were uneasy and go up the stairs.
Walker and Jones go up the stairs and see the next floor was also divided into two, the left half was blue while the right half was red, they hear a male grunt and the two were grabbed, they see a male humanoid figure, his skin was red, he had a square face shape, short black hair, and red eyes with orange fire coming out of them, he was wearing black pants that went halfway down his calves, since the rest of the pants below there was ripped, the humanoid figure was extremely muscular,
"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?!" the male asked loudly and angrily, scaring the two, the two look and saw a female humanoid figure on the left side of the room, she was wearing a light blue, long-sleeve, floor-length dress, had straight long white hair, an inverted triangular face, whitish blue skin, and her eyes were closed,
"Who is that over there?" Walker asked,
"I DEMAND YOU ANSWER ME FIRST!!" the male said angrily,
"It's alright, they're Spirit's guests." the female said, she opened her eyes and they were blue with light blue ice coming out of them, the male lets go of them and goes back,
"I am Passive, and that's Aggressive, we are the representations of your behavioral beliefs, Walker, we have the same roles as Optimist and Pessimist, but rather than dealing with decision making, we deal with how you act." the female said,
"Meaning?" Walker asked,
"Are you stupid?! It means we help you decide the best course of action along with Optimist and Pessimist, is it best to avoid conflict and walk away, or is it best to have conflict and hurt those who wronged you?!" Aggressive replied sternly,
"Oh, that's what you two are." Walker said,
"Yes, we are your advisers when dealing with problems between others, is it best to avoid conflict, or engage in it, while Optimist and Pessimist will tell you the pros and cons of the two in the situation." Passive replied,
"Wait a minute, you two sound just like Diplomat and War." Jones said,
"Diplomat and War are not advisers! They make problems appear to train Walker just in case they actually do happen! Our job is to monitor his behavior!" Aggressive replied angrily,
"We are just like Optimist and Pessimist, Walker, the more passive or aggressive you become, the weaker or stronger we will be." Passive said,
"Got it." Walker replied,
"Now get up those stairs! Spirit doesn't like waiting!" Aggressive said, and the two go up.
Walker and Jones go up and arrive into a black room, they see a bunch of books around the room,
"Wow." Walker said,
"Taken a liking, Walker?" Spirit asked, they see him sitting in a black throne,
"Is this the entire Void?" Jones asked,
"No, only the main part and center of it, there are many things in this realm, most of the landscapes you see in the Void are either created by me or your memories." Spirit replied,
"What are these books?" Walker asked,
"The history of the worlds, they update themselves all the time, those books tell the past and present of their respective worlds, any changes made inside the books will change that world's history." Spirit replied, surprising Walker and Jones,
"Is everybody here a foreigner?" Walker asked,
"No, only the Senses are, everybody else here, I created, myself." Spirit replied,
"Wait, one thing, if Optimist, Pessimist, Passive, and Aggressive represent my views on the world, and my behavior, why isn't there a Love and Hate?" Walker asked,
"Because romances aren't my concern." Spirit replied,
"But they're still a part of one's thinking." Walker said,
"Yes, I know, but romances aren't mine to control, Love and Hate will also be redundant, there's already a Lust, a Chastity, and a Wrath." Spirit replied,
"Oh, you do have a point there." Walker said,
"Exactly. Now, onto business, as I said before, there's a lot of threats in Equestria, and Twilight Sparkle and the other five bearers of the Elements of Harmony can't deal with all of them, there is a particular threat going around right now that they can't face at all, not even the princesses can face it." Spirit replied,
"What is it?" Walker asked,
"As you saw, the souls of the dead come here to be judged, but some malevolent souls escape and go to a world, these souls wander around and cause trouble, and can only interact with others by taking control of others, these people are called the Possessed, and they can control another group of creatures called the Undead, they are just dead bodies brought back to life, but without their souls, so they act mindlessly unless directed. There is a powerful soul going around doing just that not just in Equestria, but in other worlds as well, your job, Walker, is to destroy the threat." Spirit replied,
"I'm ready." Walker said excitedly,
"Good, now go on home, it's getting late, and as for you, Jones, you should stay in here, Claudius can't get you in this realm very easily, I'll give you full access to the Void, you can train yourself here as well, and visit the other worlds." Spirit replied,
"Thank you." Jones said while smiling,
"You're welcome, now go on, you two." Spirit replied, and they left, Spirit opens a portal for Walker and he was back home, it was dark, and he was tired, so he went to bed and slept.
Walker woke up the next morning and talked about the Void to Runner and Sprinter while he was eating cereal,
"Walker, you don't need to tell me and your father, we've already met them." Runner said,
"So, when do I go on my first adventure?" Walker asked,
"Spirit will contact you telepathically, grandson, just wait for the call." Sprinter replied, Walker nodded excitedly, he quickly finished breakfast and ran to school, excited about traveling to another world.
Walker sits in school and was bored, he wanted to go to the Void, and did not focus on learning, he was daydreaming about traveling through the Void,
"Walker." Walker's teacher said, she startled him and he focused,
"Repeat what I just said." Walker's teacher said,
"There will be a quiz tomorrow." Walker replied,
"Oh, you were listening, my apologies, Walker." Walker's teacher said, much to Walker's relief. Walker keeps working in class with nothing by boredom,
"I still wonder why Passive is female and Aggressive is male." Walker whispered to himself, he felt tingling in his head,
"It is because of cultural and society beliefs of other worlds besides Equestria, Walker, males tend to be the aggressive and loud ones, and act on impulse, while females are quiet and prefer to think than do, they are also the ones who have prevent the male from doing something reckless." Spirit said telepathically, Walker was extremely confused, to him, it was the other way around, it were the females that were loud, aggressive, and emotional, while the males are calm, calculating, and do not speak unless necessary. Walker looks at his class and sees his thoughts were right, the fillies were more emotional and outgoing while he and the other colts were stoic and quiet, he also noticed the fillies were jumping up and down with excitement at several things while the colts were just sitting and watching.
The bell rings and Walker gets ready to head to the Void,
"Walker?" a filly asked, Walker turns around and saw the filly, it was a unicorn, she had a light pink coat, a long light gray mane and tail, purple eye shadow, and dark red eyes, she did not have a cutie mark. Walker recognized her, it was Cherry Blossom, one of his classmates,
"Are you leaving?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Yeah, I have stuff to do at home." Walker replied,
"You're the only one in our class who doesn't stay after school or do any extracurricular activities, and we don't see you wandering around out of school, so me and the others were wondering what you do after class." Cherry Blossom said,
"I just head home and spend time with my family." Walker replied,
"You don't do anything else?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Not really." Walker replied, he wanted to tell her about the Void, but decided it would be wise not to,
"Well, take care." Cherry Blossom said, and she walked back while Walker headed home.
Walker did his homework and was rushing, Runner checked his homework,
"Walker, come back here, you got every problem wrong." Runner said,
"Ugh!" Walker said with annoyance as he was about to go to the Void, he does his homework and put down random answers,
"Walker, no, answer with accuracy." Runner said, Walker growled,
"Walker." Runner said sternly,
"Fine." Walker replied, and he did, he finished a lot later than he hoped, Runner checked his homework,
"Good job, Walker, now you can go." Runner said, and Walker opened a portal with his mind and went into the Void while still bitter.
Walker walks into the Void bitterly and he sees something was wrong, he saw creatures he has never seen before fly to him, they looked humanoid, but with gray skin, they had four feathered wings on their back, which were black, they had the ears and beak of a hippogriff, the beaks were a yellow color. The humanoid creatures reach onto their sides and take out bladed boomerangs, they open their mouths and a light blue aura comes out of them, their eyes' glowed light blue as well.
The four creatures throw their boomerangs at Walker, and he dodged them, he made his sword and pistol appear, he shot at the creatures with his pistol to knock them down, it did not work, he teleported around to dodge the bladed boomerangs, but he got hit a few times, he grunted each time since they cut his coat. Walker makes a black skeletal arm come out of his front left hoof and grabs one creature and pulls it forward, he looks at its face and closed his eyes and reopened them, his vision was dark blue, people were light blue, and objects were just blue. Walker looks at the creature he grabbed and tries to read its feelings, he noticed it was possessed, and not itself, he also sees the creature was trying to force the spirit possessing it out of its body.
Walker gets cut across his chest diagonally by one of the boomerangs and he screams from the pain, he looks at the other three creatures while the one he pulled forward tried to peck him with its beak, Walker saw they were all possessed, but one thing he noticed was they were all possessed by the same spirit instead of four different spirits. Walker makes it his priority to free the souls, but did not know how,
"Darn, how do I free the souls?" Walker asked himself, he felt tingling in his head,
"You can't, Walker, when someone is possessed, they are gone unless they have a strong willpower to resist, the only way to release them is to kill them." Spirit replied telepathically,
"What? But Spirit." Walker said,
"I know it's hard, Walker, but it's the only way, you may not know it, but the soul that has possessed them already mutated them, even though they are fighting to regain control of their bodies, their spirits and willpowers are too weak, they have to be killed." Spirit replied telepathically, Walker closed his eyes with sorrow,
"Don't cry, Walker, no tears, it has to be done." Walker said to himself, and he focuses. Walker watches the creatures and the bladed boomerangs go back into their hands, they throw them again and Walker decides to try something, he shoots a boomerang with his pistol and it falls out of the air, he gets an idea and changes his sword to another pistol, he begins running around and shoots the boomerangs, he begins shooting at the possessed creatures and they fall, the creatures gasp while light blue lights come out of their eyes' and mouths, their bodies disintegrate and their souls float around, Walker absorbs them into himself and heads farther into the Void.
Walker arrives farther into the Void by teleporting, he goes to The Judge and offers the four souls to him, Walker saw Humility, Pride, Kindness, Envy, Charity, Greed, Temperance, Gluttony, Diligence, Sloth, Chastity, Lust, Patience, and Wrath were behind him. The Judge looks at the first soul,
"A female, from the world Aerostia, creature is a harpy." The Judge said,
"She was known to restrain herself despite her falling in love with so many men." Chastity said, the white scale went down a bit,
"It appears she was quite the eater as well." Gluttony said, the scales revert back to normal,
"She trained long and hard to be a good fighter." Diligence said, the white scale went back down,
"She was known to be a calm fighter." Patience said, the white scale moves down even more,
"That is all, this soul shall receive salvation." The Judge said, and he hits his gavel with the angelic side of his hammer, a portal opens to his right and the soul floats into it.
The portal closes and the scales revert back to normal, The Judge looks at the second soul,
"Also from Aerostia, male." The Judge said,
"This one admired his own appearance." Pride said, the black scale weighed down,
"He was also jealous of those who were better than him." Envy said, the black scale went down even more,
"He did not care about those who he hurt to get what he wanted." Sloth said, the black scale went down again,
"Damnation, it is." The Judge said, and he hits his gavel with the demonic side of his hammer, a portal to his left opens, the soul goes in it and the portal closes as the scales go back to normal.
The Judge looks at the third soul,
"Aerostia, female." The Judge said,
"She was obsessed with money and things of value." Greed said, the black scale weighs down,
"She did not see herself as superior to others." Humility said, the black scale moves back up,
"Oh, that is everything, she is neutral, let's take a look at her personality." The Judge said, and he does,
"She had a good heart overall, this soul shall receive salvation." The Judge said, and he hits the gavel with the angelic side of his hammer, a portal opens the soul floats into it, the portal closes while the scales remain the same, this surprised Walker.
The Judge looks at the final soul,
"Aerostia, male." The Judge said,
"This one was full of himself." Pride said, the black scale weighs down,
"He was driven by envy, jealous of those better than him." Envy said, the black scale weighs down,
"He desired riches and wealth for himself." Greed said, the black scale weighs down even more,
"He ate and drank more than he needed." Gluttony said, the black scale goes down,
"He did not want to train, and worked when money was involved, he also did not care about those he hurt." Sloth said, the black scale goes down even more,
"He has had relationships with many females, even those who were married." Lust said, the black scale goes down even farther,
"He had a short temper, and attacked those who provoked him even the slightest, even children." Wrath said, the black scale goes down even farther,
"Damnation, it is." The Judge said, and he hit his gavel with the demonic side of his hammer, a portal to his left opens, the soul floats into the portal and it closes while the scales revert back to normal,
"You do not need to watch, Walker, you can head on forward through that door behind me." The Judge said, Walker nodded and he went forward.
Walker arrives at the pathway and decided to go to the arena, and to his surprise, Jones was there, he was fighting what appeared to be skeletons, all different sizes and shapes. Jones blew them apart with his magic, Diplomat and War laugh,
"See, Jones, sometimes friendship doesn't always work." Diplomat said,
"You should travel to the other worlds that are connected to the Void, and see how the natives view forgiveness." War said,
"I'll keep that in mind." Jones replied, and he used his magic to teleport away, he appeared in front of Walker,
"What were you doing?" Walker asked,
"Testing my fighting skills, apparently, that arena there is so you can have the enemies you have encountered appear, and learn their fighting abilities better." Jones replied, Walker was interested,
"I was also waiting for you, we can travel through the worlds at will, I wanted to travel with you." Jones said, which made Walker happy,
"Sure, let's go." Walker replied,
"Okay, the portals are at that pathway." Jones said, and they go back.
Walker and Jones arrive and they see portals open, there were four worlds they could travel to, they see the southeastern portal was to Equestria, the name of the country was under the portal; the southwestern portal led to a world of bipedal creatures who had fiendish faces, there were two types, one had dark red skin and orange monochromatic eyes, while the other had light blue skin and purple monochromatic eyes, they were all muscular and had two black curved horns on the top of their heads, and four fangs protruding from their mouths, they were all shirtless and wore black pants with gray metal plates on them, and black mid-calf length boots, the place was called Yomi, it looked hot and dark; the northwestern portal was to a world of bipedal creatures, they had bat-like wings on their backs, a thick tail with two fish fins on the end coming out of their coccyges, and were all wearing dull gray armor, so their faces were not seen, one turns around and Walker and Jones saw they had a third eye on their foreheads, the area looked like an underground armory, the place was called Chrysaor; the northeastern portal was the one with the harpies, they did not have beaks like the ones Walker just fought, he realized it was Aerostia, it had white and gold architecture with yellow lights everywhere.
Walker was extremely excited and did not know where he wanted to go first,
"Well, where do you want to go first, Walker?" Jones asked,
"I actually can't decide, I wanna go to all of them." Walker replied,
"Hmm, why don't we go to Aerostia first? Since you just fought some of them." Jones said,
"Okay." Walker replied, and the two enter the portal.
Walker and Jones arrive into Aerostia and were immediately seized by the harpies putting spears in front of them,
"Halt!" a female voice said, her voice echoed, Walker and Jones see her flying to them, she had short raven black hair,
"What are you two doing in Aerostia?" the harpy asked,
"I was attacked by your kind several minutes ago." Walker replied, surprising the harpies,
"What did they look like?" the female harpy asked,
"They had beaks, and their eyes' glowed blue." Walker replied,
"My god, you encountered the Possessed." a male harpy said,
"Where were you at that time?" another male harpy asked,
"Uh..." Walker replied,
"The Void." Jones said, Walker looks at him with surprise,
"Ah, so you're from Spirit's realm, Spirit is a god in our culture, to be specific, he's our god of the dead, so I assume you two are his messengers." the female harpy said,
"Actually, I'm not, I'm just staying in his realm, a cult from my world is after me." Jones replied,
"The Anti-Spirit cult?" the female harpy asked,
"No, this cult is trying to summon something called the Four Horseponies of the Apocalypse, they need unicorn horns like my own to summon them." Jones replied, the harpies murmur,
"What world are you two from?" a third male harpy asked,
"Equestria." Walker replied,
"Wait, are you the most recent receiver of Spirit's powers?" a second female harpy asked,
"Yes." Walker replied,
"I see, let them go. What's your name, young one?" the first female harpy asked,
"Walker." Walker replied,
"And you?" the female harpy asked,
"Jones." Jones replied,
"I see, I am Alexia, come with me, you two." the female harpy said, and the other harpies let the two go, they follow her as she flew.
Walker and Jones follow Alexia into a brightly lit room, they saw gold statues of the harpies everywhere, and big bronze orbs with yellow lights on them, the two also saw harpy wings and heads carved onto several doors. Walker and Jones sit together, across from Alexia,
"Alright, Walker, I know your family's history with Spirit, one of your male ancestors from your paternal side of the family made a deal with Spirit to ensure the survival of your family, two people from your family came to this world before." Alexia said,
"Really?" Walker asked,
"Yes. Now, who are you living with?" Alexia asked,
"My daddy, and my grandpa." Walker replied,
"Maternal or paternal grandfather?" Alexia asked,
"Paternal." Walker replied,
"What are their names?" Alexia asked,
"My daddy's name is Runner, and my grandpa's name is Sprinter." Walker replied, Alexia's attention was caught,
"Runner? Sprinter? Those are the two who came here. And believe it or not, Walker, but your paternal grandfather and I actually had crushes on one another when we were kids." Alexia said,
"Really?" Walker asked in a playful tone while Jones chuckled a bit,
"Yes, I actually have a gift for you, Walker, here, take this amulet." Alexia replied, and she hands it to him, Walker and Jones see it was a light blue sapphire in a black frame,
"This will allow you to see what Runner and Sprinter did in the past, and learn more about their adventures." Alexia said, Walker was interested, but decided to ask Alexia more about her relationship with his paternal grandfather,
"So, what was it like between you and grandpa?" Walker asked,
"You'll see it if you use that amulet." Alexia replied,
"Come on, tell me, Alexia." Walker said,
"I think it'll be better if you see it with your own eyes than asking me." Alexia replied, the two were laughing a little,
"Come on, Walker, you still want to see the other worlds, let's just watch and see what happened." Jones said, Walker agreed and the two left while Alexia smiled.
Walker and Jones walk together and Walker wanted to go back to where they entered because he was curious to see how Runner and Sprinter reacted when they entered the world,
"Sorry to drag you into this." Walker said,
"It's alright, exploring new areas is my special talent." Jones replied, Walker smiled and holds his front right hoof out, with the amulet on his hoof, a blue light shoots out and it made transparent creatures appear. The harpies surround a pony and they see a colt who looked just like Walker, they also saw a young Alexia, she had scapula length raven black hair,
"What are you doing here?" a male harpy asked,
"I... I just came here to see if the portal would lead me back home." the colt replied,
"Who are you?" a female harpy asked,
"R... Runner." the colt replied,
"Daddy?" Walker asked with surprise, Jones' attention was caught,
"Wait, you look just like Sprinter." Alexia said,
"Th... that's my father." Runner replied,
"Ah, you must be the new receiver of Spirit's powers from the Void, welcome to Aerostia." a second male harpy said, Runner was quivering with fear,
"Please, I don't want to use the powers." Runner said,
"Why?" a second female harpy asked,
"It... it... makes me feel like a monster instead of a pony when I use them." Runner replied, the harpies murmur,
"Well, let him through, he looks harmless." the first male harpy said, and they left Runner, who was frozen in fear of the place in front of him.
A blue light comes out of the amulet again, the transparent images change again, they see Alexia again, but she was a toddler, and her hair went down to her ankles, it looked long, even though she was short, shorter than an average foal, another portal appears and they see a colt who looked just like Walker and a colt Runner appear, spears and arrows were aimed at him while he was surrounded by harpies everywhere,
"We have never seen your kind here, who are you?" a female harpy asked,
"Name's Sprinter, I come from the Void." the colt replied in a calm voice,
"The Void? What were you doing in there?" a male harpy asked,
"My ancestors made a deal with Spirit a long time ago, he gave us his powers so my family can continue living on to this day." Sprinter replied,
"I see, what brings you to Aerostia?" a male harpy asked,
"Spirit has sent me here to deal with a threat that has been threatening the Void, I am looking for two creatures, the male is named Samedi, and the female is named Brigitte." Sprinter replied,
"Don't know them." the second male harpy said,
"How do I know you're being honest?" Sprinter asked,
"Come with us, we'll introduce you to everyone in this world." the first male harpy replied, and he flies away while Sprinter followed him, Alexia and Sprinter look at one another and smile before the vision disappeared,
"So, what do you think?" Jones asked,
"I think I'm going to like this." Walker replied mischievously, Jones laughed a little,
"Well, let's go." Walker said, and he and Jones walk together.
Walker and Jones walk around Aerostia while trying out the amulet, it did not work in every place, the two look around and see a lot of harpy sculptures on their doors, the amulet activates eventually and they see more transparent visions appear.
A young colt walks around and they saw Alexia fly down, she was a young adult, the two realized the colt was Runner,
"Hi there." Alexia said, Runner was scared,
"I'm Alexia, I knew your father." Alexia said,
"I just wish to leave, ma'am." Runner replied,
"You don't want to explore our world?" Alexia asked,
"I only came here to fight the souls of the dead, not to meet the natives." Runner replied,
"So... you're not going to explore?" Alexia asked,
"Don't have the time." Runner replied,
"Aw, you're no fun." Alexia said, and she flew away while Runner walked forward, the images disappeared.
Walker and Jones walk forward and they hear laughing, a lich appeared in front of them,
"Careful, Jones, that's a lich, it'll take your soul is you're not careful." Walker said as he made his sword and pistol appear, the lich opens its mouth and Walker and Jones grunt while it starts to absorb their souls. Walker makes a black skeletal arm come out of his right front hoof to pull the lich forward, it distracted it and flew through the air, Walker shoots it in the head with his pistol, it screeches and disappears,
"Uh, Walker, have you tried offering friendship to it in the past?" Jones asked,
"No, I get the gut feeling that they will reject it." Walker replied,
"Not all gut feelings are right, Walker, you should try offering friendship, then we won't have to fight them, I guess all we can do now is just continue." Jones said, and the two walk forward together.
Walker and Jones walk forward and see the amulet shoot out another beam, transparent harpies appeared, they look and saw Alexia as a kid, they look and saw a male harpy flying with a colt walking behind him, they realized it was Sprinter,
"That's Alex, that's Alexander, that's Alexandra, that's Alexandria, that's Ariel, that's Amber, that's Aaron, that's Atkins, that's Amir, that's Artemis, that's Apollo, and I'm Alfred." the male harpy said,
"Wait, all of your names begin with the letter a." Sprinter replied,
"Exactly, you wasted your time to come here to look for Samedi and Brigitte." Alfred said,
"Well, I'll still explore this place, in case I do have to come back here later." Sprinter replied,
"Very well, be careful." Alfred said, and he flew away. Sprinter walked forward and Alexia flew down to him,
"Hi." Alexia said,
"Hi, you were the cute one." Sprinter replied, Alexia chuckled,
"Would you like to spend the night here, just you and me?" Alexia asked, Sprinter looked around and thought about it,
"Okay." Sprinter replied while smiling, Alexia chuckled while smiling,
"Come on, my house is this way." Alexia said, and she flew while Sprinter walked to follow her.
The images disappear and Walker and Jones walk forward,
"What do you think of this place, Jones?" Walker asked,
"Interesting, very unique and exotic, the bright colors are hurting my eyes, though." Jones replied,
"Yeah, same here." Walker said,
"Say, Walker, what was your mother like?" Jones asked,
"I never met her." Walker replied,
"You don't know your own mother?" Jones asked,
"Mommy died as soon as she gave birth to me, and daddy never talked about her." Walker replied,
"What about your grandparents?" Jones asked,
"Only my paternal grandpa's still alive, my paternal grandma died as soon as she gave birth to daddy." Walker replied,
"What about your maternal grandparents?" Jones asked, Walker was speechless,
"I... actually don't know anything about them." Walker replied, and the two keep walking together. Walker and Jones walk forward and come to floating ledges, Walker makes the black skeletal arms appear and he swings around while Jones flew by using telekinesis on himself, the two land on the farthest ledge and Walker was panting from exhaustion, Jones chuckled,
"Maybe you should train your body back in the Void." Jones said,
"Yeah, probably." Walker replied, and the two come to a round door, there were words of an unknown language inscribed on it,
"What does it say?" Walker asked,
"I have no clue." Jones replied, and they read it, Walker let out several grunts and growls under his breath,
"No need to get frustrated, Walker, we're still new here." Jones said,
"But I wanna keep exploring." Walker replied, Jones casts telekinesis on Walker and himself to see if they can fly over it, he saw they cannot, since there was nothing ahead. Jones floats back down and Walker jumped down while letting out several grunts of anger,
"We should ask for help." Jones said,
"No, that'll be embarrassing." Walker replied,
"Walker, it's better than to be embarrassed than to be stuck somewhere forever, I'll admit, I do feel a bit embarrassed asking for help, too, but it's our only option, I'm sorry, Walker." Jones replied, Walker looked down,
"Hey! A little help here?" Jones asked out loud, flying was heard and Alexia came to them,
"Yes?" Alexia asked,
"That was quick." Jones said,
"I was right there, what is it?" Alexia asked,
"Can you translate this?" Jones asked, and Alexia looks at the words inscribed on the round door,
"Basically, it's saying this is a vault for a dead harpy warrior, and whoever takes his weapons and armor from his grave will be cursed." Alexia said, she noticed Walker looking down, she walks to him,
"What's wrong, Walker?" Alexia asked,
"I feel embarrassed needing help from someone over something like this." Walker replied,
"Hey, it's okay, you're still new here, of course you won't understand our language." Alexia said, Walker still looked down,
"Well, I'll be doing combat training if you guys need me, see you two around." Alexia said, and she flew away,
"Come on, Walker, I know I'm supposed to explore places, but curses have to be taken seriously, let's go somewhere else." Jones said, and he and Walker go elsewhere while Walker looked down in shame.
Walker and Jones travel together and Walker was nearly out of energy while Jones still had stamina,
"I'm hungry, let's get something to eat." Walker said,
"Alright, let's see what they have." Jones replied, and they go back, Walker was tired, so Jones had to carry him with his telekinesis, they arrive back to the harpies and Alexia took them to her home, she lived in a small house made from white stones with gold decorations on it, they see Alexia had a lot of bladed boomerangs in her home, she made a meal and she came out with it, but it looked sloppy and inedible,
"Sorry, but I'm not a very good cook, I'm not good at preparing meals, either." Alexia said, Walker looks and sees it was mashed beef with what looked like gold seeds,
"Us ponies don't eat meat." Jones said,
"What? Don't like it?" Alexia asked,
"No, our bodies can't digest it." Walker replied,
"Oh, well, just eat the seeds then." Alexia said, and they do, they endured the meat taste and ate the seeds,
"Where does the meat come from?" Walker asked,
"Spoils from battle, us harpies don't always get along, and when that happens, a fight to the death breaks out, the one who dies is the one that is eaten." Alexia replied, Walker and Jones were uneasy,
"Well, thanks for the meal, Alexia." Walker said nervously,
"You're welcome." Alexia replied happily,
"Well, we have to get going now." Jones said, and the two exit her house while Alexia begins to eat the meat.
Walker and Jones walk around and were about to vomit from the taste of the meat, it tasted terrible to them, but they continue going and Walker sees the highest floating land,
"Hey! I bet something's up there, let's go." Walker said, and he makes the black skeletal arms appear from his front hoofs to swing up while Jones used his telekinesis to go up there, but he got tired, so he had to stop, and Jones made him go up to the highest floating landscape with his telekinesis while making himself float. Walker and Jones arrive at the top of the landscape and look around,
"Wow, it looks great." Walker said,
"Yeah, this is a nice view." Jones replied, and the two smiled and looked around. Walker decides to try using the amulet and a transparent image appears, they saw Sprinter and Alexia sitting together on the landscape, but they see it was night time around them. Sprinter and Alexia were sitting together and watched the area,
"What do you think of this place?" Alexia asked,
"It's alright, all of the bright colors hurts my eyes, though." Sprinter replied, Alexia chuckled,
"I want you to stay forever." Alexia said,
"Sorry, but I have places to go." Sprinter replied,
"Please?" Alexia asked,
"Nope, I won't be leaving instantly, though." Sprinter replied,
"I still want you to stay forever." Alexia said,
"Don't worry, my family will be seeing Spirit as well, so maybe if something happens, I'll come back for them." Sprinter replied,
"I hope so." Alexia said,
"Well, you should head home, I think your parents are worried about you." Sprinter replied, and Alexia flew home while Sprinter slept. The transparent image disappears and Walker and Jones were seeing the sky get darker, it was night time, the two look around,
"Wow, this place is beautiful at night." Walker said,
"Yeah, I like it, too." Jones replied, a portal opens in front of them and Runner and Sprinter come out, Runner was running was Sprinter was walking,
"There you are, let's go home, Walker, it's way past your bedtime." Runner said,
"But I wanna keep exploring." Walker replied,
"I understand your eagerness, Walker, but your health always comes first." Sprinter said,
"Oh, come on, please?" Walker asked,
"Nope, I think you had enough adventure for one day." Runner replied,
"But daddy..." Walker replied, the harpies hear them and laugh, they look around,
"I used to be like that as a kid, too." a male harpy said,
"Me too." another male harpy replied, Alexia flew to them,
"Sprinter?" Alexia asked,
"Hello, Alexia." Sprinter replied, and the two hugged one another,
"Hey, I missed you so much when you left." Alexia said, and the two let go,
"Wow, you have aged, I remember when you were a kid." Alexia said,
"You've aged well, too, Alexia." Sprinter replied, Alexia chuckled,
"Who is this?" Runner asked,
"Name's Jones, I'm an explorer from Equestria." Jones replied,
"Where are you going to stay, Jones?" Walker asked,
"If you want to, you can stay with us for the night." Runner said,
"Sure, that'd be nice of you guys, I'll be staying with you, Walker." Jones replied, Walker smiled,
"Well, let's go, we have to sleep." Sprinter said, and they go through the portal and it closes while Alexia watched them leave with a smile on her face.
Walker, Runner, Sprinter, and Jones go to the Void and go into the portal that leads to Equestria, it was night time, they arrive at their home, which was in the woods with no neighbors. Walker stops walking for a minute,
"What the?" Walker asked, he saw the souls of the dead ponies and animals wandering around,
"What's wrong, Walker?" Jones asked,
"I see dead ponies." Walker replied,
"You see, Walker, souls of the dead like to appear at night for some reason, they come out the most at three AM to four AM, that's also when they like to haunt the living, come on, Walker, it's midnight, we all need to head to bed." Runner said, and they enter the home and sleep with Walker sharing his room with Jones.
Walker and Jones wake up the next morning and have breakfast, the two talk about their time in Aerostia,
"I see, so they haven't had you two fight, yet." Runner said,
"Fight?" Jones asked,
"The harpies have a warrior culture, they value honor and fairness above all." Sprinter replied,
"What do they have for literature?" Walker asked,
"Walker, they're warrior creatures, they don't have literature." Runner replied, Walker looked down with disappointment,
"I'd like to hear their music, too." Walker said,
"I don't know if they have music." Sprinter replied,
"What about art?" Walker asked,
"Well, if you count the decorations on some of their weapons, then yes." Runner replied,
"What about cuisine?" Jones asked,
"Meat and seeds." Sprinter replied,
"Where do the seeds come from?" Walker asked,
"The yellow lights around the place come from that world's unseen sun, the yellow beams from it hit the grounds, and make the seeds appear magically." Sprinter replied,
"I don't get it." Walker said,
"I didn't think so, their magic is different from ours, now finish your meal, you'll be late for school." Runner replied, and he and Jones finish their meals,
"Thanks for the meal, guys." Jones said,
"You're welcome." Runner replied,
"I'll explore this area, have fun at school, Walker." Jones said,
"Alright, thanks." Walker replied, and he was about to go out,
"Wait, Walker." Sprinter said,
"Yes, grandpa?" Walker asked as he turned around,
"If you see a ghost unicorn around here, you can go to him to receive some hoof-to-hoof combat training." Sprinter replied,
"Okay, bye, daddy, bye, grandpa, bye, Jones." Walker said, and he went outside.
Walker heads to school but looks around, he saw the souls of dead ponies walking around, minding their own businesses,
"I don't get it, why aren't they being judged?" Walker asked himself, he felt tingling in his head,
"Two different reasons, one reason is because either, you, a male member from the paternal side of your family hasn't sent them to The Judge, or Demonicus hasn't. The other reason is because the souls that have received salvation can go back to their home worlds as ghosts to enjoy the land, they can see and hear you as well, Walker." Spirit replied telepathically, and he exited Walker's mind, Walker continues walking to school.
Walker keeps walking to school and sees a soul of a dead unicorn, he was zapping trees and making them fall, Walker was curious and went to him,
"Excuse me." Walker said, the unicorn turned around and looked at him,
"You can see me and hear me, I assume you're from that family." the unicorn said,
"Family?" Walker asked,
"There were two earth ponies in the past who could see me, they were father and son, I'm guessing you're related to them." the unicorn replied,
"Were their names Runner and Sprinter?" Walker asked,
"Yes." the unicorn replied,
"I'm Walker, I'm Runner's son." Walker said,
"I see, you look just like them when they were kids." the unicorn replied,
"Who are you?" Walker asked,
"Genghis, I could've had friendship spread throughout the land, but Celestia hindered my plans and ruined my dreams!" the unicorn replied,
"What happened?" Walker asked,
"I was going to raise a military of ponies, earth ponies were going to be my army, Pegasi be my air force, and unicorns to serve as my magic branch, I was going to lead them to conquer the other countries, I was going to take over Seaquestria, Mount Aris, and Kirin Grove first, and have the hippogriffs be added to my air force, the seaponies serve as my navy, and the kirins as my fire branch, I was going to spread friendship throughout the world by conquering all of the other countries of the other creatures, I was going to destroy their culture and replace them with pony culture and customs, and force them to adapt. I could've had friendship spread far and wide throughout the land, but Celestia said no, and she had to get involved and throw me in Canterlot's jail when I was raising my army! We could have spread friendship far and wide a long time ago if she just let me conquer their land and destroy their cultures and replace them with our own!" Genghis replied, Walker just looked at him like he was crazy,
"Dude, I literally cannot even begin to describe how many problems you would've caused if you did do that." Walker said,
"But our job was to spread friendship far and wide, if I forced the other creatures to adapt to pony culture, we could've had friendship throughout the land." Genghis replied,
"We already have it with the friendship journal." Walker said,
"Well, it took you guys long enough. Now, I trained Runner and Sprinter with bucking and kicking, they became very good, I'll teach you as well, since I liked your father and grandfather." Genghis replied,
"Thanks, but I have to get to school." Walker said,
"Alright, you should go, and be good to your teachers." Genghis replied, and Walker went to school.
Walker goes to school and was learning in class, he was bored when he compared class to the Void, and wanted to go back immediately, he was impatient for class to end. Walker works in class but was extremely uncomfortable, he saw ghosts of dead ponies in his classroom, he can hear them, too, which made him uncomfortable, but he tried to focus on his math work, he feels something strange to his right and saw Mind Walker standing there, his brain got bigger and the blue electricity that made up his body got brighter and stronger as Walker studied. Walker keeps hearing the souls of the dead and it was irritating him since he could not focus, he heard crackling to his left and looked, he saw Emotion Walker standing there, his heart was beating faster while the red fire that made up his body was rising and burning faster as Walker got more irritated, he tries to focus more and he saw a dim blue glow in front of him, he looks and saw Spirit Walker, whose glow got brighter as Walker became more determined to focus.
An hour passes and it was PE time, Walker and the other foals exercise, they did jumping jacks and running in place until it was time to run the track. Walker jogs on the track and had to do two laps without walking or stopping one time, he sees Body Walker appear to his right, his body got more muscular and toned as he and Walker ran together, Walker tried to pace himself and he saw Mind Walker appear to his left, Walker realized his intelligence increased as he tried to find the right pace to run that was not too slow nor tired him out. Walker's mood began to improve as he continued to run, he saw Emotion Walker appear to Mind Walker's left, his heart beats fast while the fire was a little high since Walker was in a pretty good mood at the time. Walker keeps running and he saw the end of the first lap in sight, he sees a bright blue glow appear and he saw Spirit Walker to Body Walker's right, he glowed brightly because Walker was very determined to make it to the end since it was in his sight.
Walker finishes the first lap and keeps running at his current pace, Mind Walker's electricity began to crackle as Walker controlled his breathing as he continued to run, he began to feel pain in his abdomen which made Emotion Walker's flames go down a little since Walker was not happy anymore, but Spirit Walker glowed brighter since it made Walker more determined to finish and he keeps running. Walker runs the lap and he sees Body Walker's body kept getting more and more fit, he sees the end in his sight and Spirit Walker glows very bright, he runs faster and finished the second lap. Walker was elated and Emotion Walker's flames went up very high, he sees the other foals were tired, and the fillies were more tired than the colts.
Walker went to go have a drink of water which made Emotion Walker's flames go up even more, and Body Walker's body become even more fit, he sighs and went back out and watches,
"Walker." Cherry Blossom said as she ran to him, she was panting heavily,
"You're still running?" Walker asked,
"No, I just finished." Cherry Blossom replied, she continued to pant,
"Hold on, I'm going to get a drink of water." Cherry Blossom said, and she left, she came back after about a minute,
"Have you been exercising at home?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"No." Walker replied,
"Then how did you get good at running all of a sudden?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Maybe my body just adjusted." Walker replied nervously, Cherry Blossom was suspicious,
"What is that on your hoof there?" Cherry Blossom asked, Walker looks and sees Alexia's amulet wrapped around his front right hoof, much to his shock, he has forgotten to leave it at home,
"Oh, uh... I... decided... to try making an amulet... as a... new hobby... and... uh... this... is... the... first one... I... uh... made." Walker replied extremely nervously,
"It's actually very pretty, Walker, but I think the amulet would look better if the frame was whitish gray, and the jewel was a light pink instead of light blue." Cherry Blossom said,
"Well... I have to put it away." Walker replied,
"No, you don't, the other foals have those things, too, see." Cherry Blossom said and Walker looked and saw some of the fillies had bracelets, jewelry, earrings, necklaces, and makeup on, some of the colts had necklaces on as well, which made Walker uncomfortable, he and Cherry Blossom sit and wait for the class to finish running,
"Say, what do you do at home?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"I do my homework, and help my family with whatever they need." Walker replied,
"I noticed you looking around nervously in class earlier today, is something wrong?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"No, I'm just not feeling normal today." Walker replied,
"You okay? Are you sick?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"No, maybe I'm just tired." Walker replied,
"Probably, you should get some rest, you look a little exhausted." Cherry Blossom said,
"Yeah, probably." Walker replied, and the class finishes running and go back into class.
Walker continues to sit in class while his teacher talks, Walker sees and hears more dead ponies, which distracted him, it was time to do more classwork and Walker tried to focus, but was a little distracted, school was worse now than before since he found traveling through the Void more fun, and the voices of the souls made it more distracting in class, he was almost growling, he was very impatient for class to end, he worked as slowly as he could to pass the time. Lunchtime comes and Walker sat with Cherry Blossom,
"You alright, Walker? You've been a bit jumpy all day." Cherry Blossom said,
"Yeah, I guess I'm just a bit nervous." Walker replied,
"Nervous? About what?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"The upcoming test." Walker replied,
"Oh that, I'm ready, our home's annual cart race is several days from now, I'm going to be participating this year, you should, too." Cherry Blossom said,
"Sorry, but I don't have the materials to build a cart." Walker replied,
"Well, you can always come and cheer me on." Cherry Blossom said,
"I'll think about it." Walker replied,
"Please, oh, please come, Walker, it would mean a lot to me." Cherry Blossom said as she leaned forward and held her front hoofs together in front of her own face,
"Okay, I'll try." Walker replied,
"Yay! I'll be looking for you." Cherry Blossom said as she hugged him tightly, he looks and saw several souls snickering at him, which embarrassed him,
"Well, let's finish lunch, it's almost time to go back to class." Cherry Blossom said, and they finish their lunch.
Walker heads back to class with Cherry Blossom and do their work for the rest of the day until the bell rung,
"See you all tomorrow, class, no homework today." Walker's teacher said, which made him happy,
"Yes." Walker said as he jumped from his seat and ran outside,
"Wait! Walker!" Cherry Blossom said after she finished packing her saddlebag, she ran after him.
Walker arrives outside and was excited to enter the Void and travel more,
"Wait, Walker!" Cherry Blossom said, she catches up to him,
"You're supposed to wait for friends to finish packing and leave together." Cherry Blossom said,
"Wait, you consider me a friend?" Walker asked,
"Of course, you look lonely and bored, so I thought I should befriend you, that's something Princess Celestia taught us." Cherry Blossom replied,
"Oh yeah, she did." Walker said,
"See, friends go home together." Cherry Blossom replied,
"But we live in different places." Walker said,
"My house isn't far from here, come on, let's go." Cherry Blossom replied, and she walks to her home, Walker rolled his eyes and followed her. Walker and Cherry Blossom walk together while they head to Cherry Blossom's home, Cherry Blossom leads the way while Walker was not happy, he was impatient and wanted to enter the Void already,
"Here's my home." Cherry Blossom said, they were there after ten minutes, he saw Cherry Blossom lived in a somewhat messy yard, and saw the cart she was building, it was a regular cart, he also saw a lot of clothing material,
"What do you think?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"A bit messy." Walker replied, Cherry Blossom chuckled,
"Sorry about that, I've been working on trying to create a new dress." Cherry Blossom said,
"A new dress?" Walker asked,
"Uh-huh, I want to be a fashion designer when I get older." Cherry Blossom replied,
"Oh, well, I have to go now, Cherry Blossom, I got things to do at home." Walker said,
"Okay, stay safe." Cherry Blossom replied, and she went into her home, Walker sighed exasperatedly,
"Finally." Walker said under his breath, and he teleported back to his home when he was out of Cherry Blossom's sight.
Walker arrived home and explained to Runner and Sprinter that a filly from his class wanted to walk to her home with him, and he had no homework,
"It's alright, Walker, and Jones here told us why he's in the Void, he mentioned a cult being led by someone named Claudius." Runner said,
"Yeah, I remember that, when I brought him to the Void, my vision showed me eleven ponies watching him from areas that were out of my and his sights." Walker replied,
"Do you guys know anything about this cult?" Jones asked,
"I cannot say I do, I never encountered a Claudius before, either." Runner replied,
"Claudius... that name sounds familiar." Sprinter said,
"Well, since I have no homework, I'll be heading to the Void early." Walker said,
"Son, wait, you can't just go and enter there when you come home and finish homework, your grandfather and I need your help around the house, too." Runner replied,
"Oh, come on, I've been wanting to go back all day." Walker said,
"Not today, Walker, we'll let you know when we need your help." Sprinter replied,
"Oh, good. Yes. Let's go, Jones." Walker said, and he opened a portal to the Void with his mind and walked in while Jones smiled and entered with him, eager to explore even more as well.
Walker and Jones arrive into the Void and were at the four portals, they decide to go back to Aerostia, the two arrive and see it was much the same,
"I don't see any new areas around here." Jones said,
"Me neither, come on, let's use the amulet, I wanna see what daddy and grandpa did when they were here." Walker replied,
"Sure, I'd like to see it, too." Jones said,
"Are you just agreeing with me?" Walker asked,
"No, I really want to see, too, if I disagree with something, I'll let you know." Jones replied,
"Alright." Walker said, and the two explore Aerostia.
Walker and Jones trot around and Walker uses the amulet to see more events of the past, he saw a colt walking around the place, Walker and Jones were able to tell it was Runner,
"Excuse me." Alexia said as she flew down to Runner's right, he was startled and exclaimed with fear at hearing her,
"Don't scare me like that!" Runner said,
"I'm sorry, I just thought I could hang out with you, I knew Sprinter." Alexia replied,
"Sorry, ma'am, but I wish to be alone right now." Runner said,
"Really? You look lonely." Alexia replied,
"I'm not, I'm just thinking about the girl I love." Runner said,
"What's her name?" Alexia asked,
"None of your business." Runner replied, Alexia was sad,
"If I was the same species as your father, I could have been your mother." Alexia said,
"I'd rather not think about that." Runner replied,
"Say, how many other worlds have you been to?" Alexia asked,
"This is my second one." Runner replied,
"Where'd you go before here?" Alexia asked,
"That's not your business, now leave me alone." Runner replied, and he walks past her while Alexia looked on sadly.
The transparent image goes away and Walker and Jones were surprised,
"He didn't have to be rude about it." Jones said,
"I know, I've never seen daddy like that before." Walker replied,
"Come on, let's see if we can find more." Jones said, Walker nodded and the two walk together.
Walker and Jones explore Aerostia and see there was almost nothing left, the place was pretty small, but they saw a lot of harpies, Walker's amulet activates again and another transparent image appeared, they saw a colt and Alexia as a kid, they realized the colt was Sprinter,
"So, how many worlds have you traveled to?" Alexia asked,
"This is my third one." Sprinter replied,
"What were the name of the other two worlds?" Alexia asked,
"The first one I visited was Yomi, the second one was Chrysaor." Sprinter replied,
"I hope they're fun." Alexia said,
"Well, I'm not really the type that experiences pleasure easily, but I did like Yomi better than here and Chrysaor." Sprinter replied,
"That reminds me, the harpies want to test your fighting abilities, come on, this way." Alexia said, and she leads him.
The transparent image disappears and four harpies appear in front of Walker and Jones, their eyes' glow light blue and the four harpies mutate, they grow six more arms and had bladed boomerangs in them while they take the two boomerangs off of their sides. The possessed harpies fly around and throw their boomerangs, they bounce off of the floors and walls, Walker teleports around to dodge the boomerangs while Jones uses his telekinesis to bring them down, Walker summons his sword and pistol, he fires his pistol at them and it does almost nothing, so he shoots the boomerangs out of the air, they fall, but go back into the air, Walker lets out an annoyed grunt while Jones shoots zaps at the possessed harpies with his horn. The four possessed harpies grow razor sharp teeth in their mouths, they fly down in an attempt to bite Walker and Jones, Walker shoots them with his pistol to hold them back, one flies around and Walker could not get a decent aim with his pistol, so he makes a black skeletal arm come out of his front right hoof and grabs and pulls the harpy towards him, he fires his pistol and shoots it in the head, it did almost nothing.
The possessed harpies have blue electricity appear on them and they make their boomerangs electrified when they catch them, they throw them around again and Walker was hit by one, he became electrified and paralyzed, Walker growls angrily at the fact he was losing, he saw Jones was not faring any better, which actually made him feel a bit better. Jones was soon hit by an electrified boomerang and was paralyzed, he grunts while trying to move,
"Can't move." Jones said with his mouth closed, he could not cast a spell with his horn. Bladed boomerangs fly around and hit the four possessed harpies, they see Alexia and other harpies arrive to help, they throw their boomerangs to cut the harpies and their throats were slit, Walker and Jones watch with shock and horror at the harpies killing their opponents, the battle was only about fifteen seconds long because so many harpies came to help. Alexia and the other harpies fly to them and they undo the electricity on the Walker and Jones by touching them,
"Good, you two are alright." Alexia said,
"Who's possessing them?" Walker asked,
"That, we cannot say." a male harpy replied,
"Yes, we think the one responsible is from another world." a second male harpy said,
"Come on, I think you two have seen enough, let's head to the arena." Alexia said, and they fly there, Walker teleports and follows them while Jones used his telekinesis to fly there.
Walker and Jones follow the harpies and they arrive onto a floating landscape that was bigger than the others, they see the vault from before, the harpies use a spell to make many more vaults visible,
"What's with the vaults?" Walker asked,
"They are the honorable harpies who died in combat, they were given proper burials." a male harpy replied,
"But why is that one vault over there always visible while the others aren't?" Walker asked,
"That is the vault of Achillas, the most honorable harpy that has ever lived, he lived a warrior's life, and fought with honor and fairness, we keep his vault visible to remind us of his honorable and fair ways in combat, he died the most honorable way possible, killed in combat by an equally honorable warrior." the male harpy replied, Walker was uneasy,
"The rules are simple, Walker, no hitting your opponent when they're injured or incapacitated, no using any of Spirit's powers for you, no changing your weapons, no hits to the eyes, no hits to the groin, no body breaking attacks, and most of all, no running away, all of these are punishable by death, and shame and disgrace shall follow you to the afterlife." Alexia said, Walker was very nervous, so was Jones. An elderly male harpy flies to them,
"I am Adetokunbo, I will be your opponent, I fought Runner and Sprinter as well." the harpy said, Walker makes his sword and pistol appear,
"Wait, Walker, you have to use the same weapons as your opponent, so change them to our boomerangs." Alexia said, and Walker did,
"May the best fighter win." Adetokunbo said,
"Wait, I can't fly." Walker replied,
"But you can teleport, I think that's fair enough." Adetokunbo said, Walker just got ready to fight,
"Alright, ready, set, fight!" a female harpy said, and they do. Walker watches carefully and Adetokunbo throws the boomerangs, they home onto Walker and he teleports around to dodge them, he was running around and teleporting at the same time, he was screaming with fear as well. The harpies laugh at what they saw,
"Just like Runner before you." Adetokunbo said, Walker keeps running around while scared, he sees them homing and had an idea, he teleports to behind Adetokunbo, the boomerangs were about to hit him, but Adetokunbo catches the boomerangs with his hands while they were in midair, much to Walker's shock. Adetokunbo turns around and flies towards Walker, he tried to slash him with the boomerangs, but Walker held his front hoofs up and made Adetokunbo hit his boomerangs instead, Walker teleports to the other side of the arena and throws his boomerangs, Adetokunbo turns around and throws his boomerangs as well. Adetokunbo flies to Walker and tackles him down, he grunts while he fell, Adetokunbo began punching Walker in the face several times, Walker teleports onto Adetokunbo's shoulders and tries to pull him back, but Adetokunbo's boomerangs go to Walker and cut his front hoofs, he exclaimed with pain while Jones watched nervously. The boomerangs fly around while Walker stood in place while in pain, his front legs hurt badly, he hears one coming and he throws the one on his front left hoof, he hits one of Adetokunbo's boomerangs out of the air and it falls off the landscape while Walker's boomerang went back to him, he saw Adetokunbo only had one boomerang now, so Walker makes the boomerang in his front left hoof disappear.
Adetokunbo throws his other boomerang with his right hand and it flies towards Walker, he watches carefully and teleports around since his front legs were too hurt to move at the moment, he throws his remaining boomerang and hits Adetokunbo's boomerang, it lands on the ground. Adetokunbo flies to get it, but Walker jumps forward and lands, he falls with his front hoofs on the boomerang, but he could not move them, Adetokunbo takes the boomerang and Walker focused while he made the boomerang reappear in his front right hoof. Adetokunbo throws it again and so did Walker, he hits Adetokunbo's boomerang again and it fell off the ledge this time,
"Yes." Walker said under his breath, and Adetokunbo saw Walker still could not lift up his front hoofs, so he flies down and bows to Walker while the harpies cheer, Walker was elated he won the fight, he could not help but smile,
"Well, go on, kill me, I wish to die an honorable death." Adetokunbo said, Walker began to feel better and he held his right front hoof out to offer his friendship to Adetokunbo, confusing the harpies,
"What are you doing?" Adetokunbo asked,
"Uh... this is what we do back in Equestria, we forgive and offer friendship." Walker replied while feeling very embarrassed,
"Who taught you that?" Adetokunbo asked,
"Uh... our world's ruler, Princess Celestia." Walker replied while feeling very uneasy, the harpies look at Walker with surprise,
"You have a ruler?" Alexia asked,
"Don't you guys?" Walker asked,
"No, we are all equal, we see having a ruler as a sign of arrogance." Adetokunbo replied,
"Arrogance?" Walker asked,
"Yes, we believe someone who wishes to rule over others is an arrogant person who sees themselves as superior to others." Adetokunbo replied,
"Oh." Walker said,
"Don't you have foreign cultures in Equestria?" a female harpy asked Jones,
"Plenty, I'm a unicorn, he's an earth pony, our cultures are different, there's also the Pegasi who also have their own culture, along with dragon culture, griffon culture, yak culture, changeling culture, hippogriff culture, buffalo culture, donkey culture, zebra culture, crystal pony culture, and kirin culture, some of pony culture is also different depending on where in Equestria you're at." Jones replied,
"Yeah, but the one thing we all do is accept friendship." Walker said, the harpies murmur,
"Okay, I'll accept your offer since you fought honorably." Adetokunbo said, and he shakes Walker's hoof with his right hand and Walker smiled, the harpies fly away and Jones goes to Walker while the vaults of the dead harpies except for the vault of Achillas disappear.
Walker was curious and decided to use the amulet in the area while Jones walked to him, the two saw a younger Adetokunbo appear,
"Alright, Runner, a fair and honorable fight, if you cheat, you will be executed." Adetokunbo said, Runner chuckled,
"I cannot turn down a worthy foe." Runner replied, and he made the boomerangs appear while Adetokunbo smiled, so did the harpies. Adetokunbo throws his boomerangs at Runner and he became scared, he ran around while screaming while the harpies laugh, Runner keeps running but was out of breath,
"Hmm, it seems your previous fight with those rogue harpies have worn you down a bit, very well, I'll go easy on you." Adetokunbo said,
"It's fine, I can still fight." Runner replied,
"You sure?" Adetokunbo asked, Runner nodded,
"Very well, I respect your determination." Adetokunbo said, Runner got ready and saw the boomerangs coming, he teleports back while the two boomerangs home on him, he was nervous and watches them, Runner teleports past the boomerangs and lands on Adetokunbo, he uses his body to tackle Adetokunbo to the ground, he was about to punch Adetokunbo in the face with his front right hoof, but Adetokunbo rises his left hand and grabs his hoof, he begins to squeeze Runner's hoof and he grunted loudly. Adetokunbo's boomerangs fly forward and cut Runner's hind legs, he screamed in pain and fell to the ground while Adetokunbo flew back up and grabbed the boomerangs while they were in midair. Runner could not get up and had to crawl,
"Can you stand?" Adetokunbo asked, Runner shook his head, Adetokunbo landed on the ground and slashed his own knees with boomerangs and he fell to the ground, Runner was surprised to Adetokunbo would do such a thing to make the fight more fair for him, but Runner smiled. Adetokunbo and Runner crawled towards one another and had two boomerangs with them, Adetokunbo throws the one in his right hand but Runner moves his head down and dodges it, he hears the boomerang fly around and hears it coming back, it was to his right, he throws the boomerang in his front right hoof to knock Adetokunbo's boomerang out of the air, his boomerang fell as well. Adetokunbo throws his other boomerang and Runner rolls onto his back with a struggle, he dodges the boomerang and throws his remaining boomerang at Adetokunbo's boomerang and they both fly out of the air. Adetokunbo and Runner crawl towards one another and begin punching one another in their faces, but Adetokunbo went down first, the harpies cheered,
"I have lost, go on and kill me." Adetokunbo said,
"No." Runner replied, Adetokunbo looked at him,
"Why?" Adetokunbo asked,
"I cannot bring myself to kill an honorable warrior, I may be only four years old, but I know a good person when I see one, you are an honorable fighter, that is why I am sparing you, because you are a worthy foe to me." Runner replied, the harpies cheered while Adetokunbo smiled,
"You are already better than your father." Adetokunbo said, Runner and Walker were surprised, the harpies flew and carried Adetokunbo and Runner away to be treated of their wounds.
The transparent picture changes and they see a teenage Adetokunbo with a four year old Sprinter,
"Okay, Sprinter, we understand you're not from here, but we fight honorably, so may the best fighter win." Adetokunbo said, and he took his two boomerangs off of his hips, Sprinter made a big double-edged sword with a handle appear, it was about seventy eight inches long, shocking the harpies,
"No, no, you have to use the same weapons as me." Adetokunbo said, Sprinter's body language told Walker he was not happy as he made the big sword disappear, he had two boomerangs and got ready,
"Fight!" another male harpy said, Adetokunbo throws the boomerangs at them, but Sprinter teleports to behind Adetokunbo and cuts his wings, he screams and falls to the ground, Sprinter then used his boomerangs to cut Adetokunbo's elbows and the back of his knees, he then dodged the boomerangs as they came to him by teleporting behind them. Adetokunbo could not move and Sprinter threw his boomerangs at Adetokunbo, they were aimed at his face, the female harpies scream with terror while two male harpies flew down and grabbed the boomerangs,
"You lose, that's cheating." the male harpy to Sprinter's left said,
"You fight with dishonor, you are sentenced to death." the male harpy to Sprinter's right said, and two more harpies fly down, they begin to drag Sprinter away,
"Wait! I can explain!" Sprinter said, and they stop,
"There is no honor from where I come from, it's win by any means necessary." Sprinter said,
"How many worlds have you been to before you came to Aerostia?" the male harpy to Sprinter's left asked,
"This is my third one." Sprinter replied,
"They didn't teach you honor or fairness?" Alexia asked, Sprinter shook his head, the harpies think,
"Very well, we'll let you go since you didn't know better, but do it again, and you will be executed." the male harpy to Sprinter's left said, and they fly away while they carried Adetokunbo away so he could be treated.
The transparent pictures disappear and Walker and Jones were surprised, Walker was also shocked at what Sprinter did,
"I don't think there's anything else here." Jones said,
"Well, I wanna see their architecture, I love the artwork." Walker replied,
"I don't think there's anymore, I'm not seeing anything." Jones said, Walker looks and was distraught, Walker exclaims with shock and screams while his eyes glow light blue,
"Walker?" Jones asked, and Walker opened a portal to the Void and entered, Jones ran after him. Walker and Jones arrive in Equestria and go to Walker's home, they arrive and Walker places his front left hoof on the ground and makes light blue transparent earth ponies appear. Runner and Sprinter run outside to go see Walker but Runner was shocked,
"Stay back, Jones, he's possessed!" Runner said while he and Sprinter summoned their swords and pistols, shocking Jones. Walker commands the souls to attack Runner and Sprinter while he ran to Jones, Jones teleports around to dodge Walker's attacks, he could not see the sword or pistol in Walker's front hoofs in Equestria for some reason, Runner and Sprinter teleport to Walker and restrain him, but he touches the ground with his front left hoof and makes four light blue round heads appear around him, two go to attack Runner while two went to Sprinter, Runner shoots them down while Sprinter stabs them, Walker teleports away but Jones uses his telekinesis to hold him in place, Runner and Sprinter teleport to him and Sprinter summons a knife in his front right hoof and cuts open Walker's upper spine while he screams in pain, Sprinter holds his front left hoof out and shoots a stream of dark blue and orange flames into the cut, Walker screams in pain and his eyes stop glowing, he pants heavily while Runner absorbs the soul into himself, he makes a portal to the Void open with his mind and brings the soul to The Judge before coming back shortly,
"What happened?" Walker asked,
"You got possessed, you need to train your willpower, Walker." Runner replied,
"Oh, Celestia, I was aware of what I was doing, but couldn't control myself." Walker said,
"That's why you need to train yourself, Walker, if you have a strong willpower, you can force the soul trying to possess you out." Sprinter replied, Walker was surprised,
"Well, can I go back to the Void?" Jones asked, Sprinter opens a portal for Jones and he goes back to the Void, Sprinter closed it afterwards,
"Come on, you should rest, Walker." Runner said, and he did, the three slept for the rest of the day.
Walker sleeps but he feels a familiar energy, he opens his eyes and sees he was in the Void,
"Oh no, I've been spending too much time here." Walker said,
"No, you're not dreaming, Walker, I pulled you in, go explore a bit, you'll find some new things." Spirit said telepathically, and Walker teleports around.
Walker teleports to the arena and Diplomat and War face him,
"You can now use the arena." War said, and a harpy appeared, Walker exclaimed with shock,
"Do not worry, what you wish to learn about a creature will be determined by your mind, we are just showing." Diplomat said, and the harpy disappears,
"This arena will allow you to meet the creatures you have fought so far, and you can learn their moves and abilities, and probably some new weapons." War said,
"You will also learn how some creatures take friendship and forgiveness as well." Diplomat said,
"Go now, you should go see the people in Spirit's palace." War said, and Walker teleported, he went to the palace and saw the Senses watching him,
"Did you enjoy your stay in Aerostia, Walker?" Taste asked,
"It was alright, too many bright colors." Walker replied,
"We saw you get possessed, you should train at the temple." Taste said,
"What about you guys?" Walker asked,
"We already did, before you ask, the portals do not lead to our world, our world is called Anima." Taste replied,
"Why can't I go to other worlds besides those three?" Walker asked,
"Because Aerostia, Yomi, and Chrysaor are the worlds where Spirit has the most power, in Aerostia, he is a god, in Yomi, he is just a deity who neither, good nor evil, in Chrysaor, he is the grim reaper." Taste replied,
"Well, what is he?" Walker asked,
"He is a being who has been around since the beginning of time, he connects all worlds to one another, and has books of everything that has happened in existence, past and present, they always update themselves, his job is to keep track of history, and send the souls to the afterlife, The Judge, the virtues and sins, and those four are beings created by him." Taste replied,
"What about Diplomat and War?" Walker asked,
"I do not know where they're from, but Spirit has said they are from Yomi." Taste replied,
"What is this place supposed to be?" Walker asked,
"The Void is the place where the souls of the dead arrive to be judged, other worlds found this place by chance via magic and rituals, before your family made a deal with Spirit, he would travel world to world to get the souls, himself, Demonicus found this world many years ago as well, he has agreed to help Spirit gather souls for him, and there was another pony who once found this realm a long time ago during his experiments." Taste replied,
"He's referring to me." Doctor Whooves said,
"How did you find the Void?" Walker asked,
"I'll tell you if we have any time left after your session, continue." Doctor Whooves replied,
"You should go, I think the other four would like to see you." Taste said, and he and Sight, Hear, Smell, and Touch walk away, Walker teleported upstairs since he was still injured. Walker arrives at the next floor and sees Optimist and Pessimist,
"Yay! You won the tournament and showed them friendship." Optimist said,
"However, you are heavily injured and cannot move, you shouldn't push yourself too hard, or you will injure yourself even more." Pessimist replied, Walker looks and saw Optimist was glowing a little dimmer,
"What happened to her glow?" Walker asked,
"It is caused by you, your view on the world became a bit more negative from the harpies not having any kind of artwork or architecture, and you don't like their warrior culture very much, and they didn't accept friendship as easily as your kind does." Pessimist replied,
"It's okay, Walker, I've still got a lot of energy and fun left inside of me." Optimist said,
"You should train, your willpower's not strong enough, you got possessed, if you don't train your spirit, you will get possessed again, training will be hard and time consuming, though." Pessimist replied,
"But you'll be stronger than ever when you do train, you should try it, also, we'll be appearing in your world when you try to make decisions, our jobs will be to tell you the positives and negatives of a decision, and you decide if it's best or not." Optimist said, Walker smiled,
"Well, you should go, Passive and Aggressive are waiting for you." Optimist said, and Walker teleported to the next floor.
Walker arrives onto the next floor and Aggressive was laughing loudly,
"Yes! You showed that little birdie who the boss was, and you squashed him beneath your hoof!" Aggressive said,
"It was a fair and square fight, Aggressive." Walker replied, Aggressive laughed,
"You didn't run away like a coward, you faced it like a real man! You should've clobbered him some more!" Aggressive said,
"Perhaps, but he was not cheating, so Walker did right to restrain himself." Passive replied, Walker looks and saw both Passive and Aggressive were glowing brighter,
"Since you have saw the harpies fight honorably and restrain themselves, I have glowed brighter, while Aggressive glows brighter due to you getting angry and frustrated when you begin to lose a battle." Passive said,
"Isn't everybody like that?" Walker asked,
"No, for some, the harder the fight, the better, and when they start losing, that is when the fight is the way they like it." Aggressive replied, much to Walker's confusion,
"Like Optimist and Pessimist, we will be your advisers in the world, we will help you when dealing with people." Passive said,
"Isn't that the same thing as Diplomat and War?" Walker asked,
"Well, yes, but on a smaller scale, we advise you with your interactions in your personal life, while Diplomat and War handle the other worlds." Passive replied,
"Oh." Walker said,
"Now get out there and prove you're not to be messed with." Aggressive said,
"Why are you guys coming to help me now?" Walker asked,
"Because your first world was just to get you accustomed, now that you have been to your first world, we will be helping you, you can also come here if you wish for help, me, Aggressive, Optimist, Pessimist, Diplomat, War, your body, your mind, your spirit, and your emotions are your advisers, we represent your inner self." Passive replied, Walker nods,
"Good, you may go." Passive said, and Walker teleported to the temple. Walker arrived into the temple and was confused,
"I'd like to train my spirit." Walker said, Spirit Walker came out of him,
"You don't have to say it, just sit down, cross your hind legs, and put your front legs in your hind lap." Spirit Walker said, and he did,
"Now, close your eyes, inhale through your nose, and exhale through your mouth." Spirit Walker said, and Walker did, he just sat and breathed, he felt like he was in a state of sleep, even though he was awake, his vision was pitch black,
"Now, clear out your mind, and focus on your goal, increase your willpower so souls will not possess you." Spirit Walker said, and Walker focused, he focused but began to have the memory of when he got possessed earlier today,
"Do not focus on it, stay in the present and increase your willpower, do not think of the future, either." Spirit Walker said, and Walker tried his best, it was hard, but he managed to suppress it,
"Good, now stay that way until it's time for you to wake up, Spirit will transfer you back when it's morning." Spirit Walker said, and Walker meditated for the rest of the night.
Walker wakes up the next morning and has breakfast, he talked about being taken into the Void while he was asleep,
"That happens sometimes, Walker, the Void can be entered through dreams as well." Runner said,
"Can anyone do it?" Walker asked,
"No, only those with Spirit's powers can." Sprinter replied,
"Well, Optimist, Pessimist, Passive, and Aggressive are going to be with me in my personal life, too." Walker said,
"Yeah, they're with us, too, those four can appear anywhere at anytime, but remember, nopony in school or outside can see or hear them except us, so try not to speak to them in class, other ponies will think you're talking to yourself." Runner replied, Walker nods,
"Well, you finished breakfast early, you should go out and explore a bit, you might find something interesting." Sprinter said,
"I already did, thanks, grandpa." Walker replied while smiling,
"You should go more, you'll find some more interesting and beautiful things." Optimist said from behind Walker, he was startled and saw her and Pessimist,
"You'll tire yourself out faster if you explore, plus, you can get lost." Pessimist said,
"Keep your guard up, anybody can attack you outside, you need to show them who's stronger!" Aggressive said from behind Pessimist, Passive was behind Optimist,
"If you restrain yourself, you can make friends, and will not have to fight." Passive said, Walker was surprised when he saw Body Walker and Mind Walker to his left, and Spirit Walker and Emotion Walker to his right,
"I didn't think you guys would be here." Walker said,
"Walker, look at us." Runner replied, and Walker did, and to his surprise, there were two more Optimists, Pessimists, Passives, and Aggressives, they looked the same, but Runner's Optimist was a little dim and his Pessimist was a regular glow, while Sprinter's Optimist was very dim and weak while his Pessimist glowed strongly, but the Passives and Aggressives of the two were glowing the same brightness as Walker's Passive and Aggressive, Walker also saw the mind, body, spirit, and emotion versions of his father and paternal grandfather as well, Body Runner was skinny with no muscle while Body Sprinter was as muscular as Bulk Biceps, Mind Runner and Mind Sprinter had blue electricity glow brightly and crackle loudly, along with big brains, Mind Sprinter had the bigger brain, Spirit Runner and Spirit Sprinter glowed much brighter than Spirit Walker, but the two were equal to one another, and Emotion Runner had slightly high flames and a medium sized heart while Emotion Sprinter had almost no fire on himself and his heart was very small and not beating.
Walker stared at them with disbelief,
"Daddy, you're not in as much shape as I thought." Walker said,
"I never liked physical training." Runner replied,
"Part of it's my fault, Walker, it's the environment I raised your father in." Sprinter said,
"Did you grow up on a farm, grandpa?" Walker asked,
"No, the environment I grew up in was much worse, so were the people." Sprinter replied,
"There you go, Walker, your grandfather had to be physically fit to survive." Runner said,
"But grandpa, your emotions." Walker said,
"It's a coping mechanism, Walker, almost nothing makes me feel emotion." Sprinter replied,
"But... why are you so pessimistic for?" Walker asked,
"Trust me, if you grew up with the people I grew up with, and in the same environment, it's easy to be pessimistic." Sprinter replied,
"But it made him a strong person. Woo-hoo." Sprinter's Optimist said very weakly, she lifted her right arm up with her hand balled up into a fist, but had a lot of trouble, which made Walker very worried, Emotion Walker's flames went up to the ceiling,
"Relax, Walker, she won't die." Runner said,
"But still, it's hard to see someone like this." Walker replied,
"Walker, it's getting late, you'll get in trouble if you don't make it to school." Walker's Pessimist said, he became shocked and ran out of the door while the people who represented who he was on the inside went with him.
Walker runs with Body Walker, Mind Walker, Spirit Walker, Emotion Walker, Optimist, and Aggressive, Passive just floated in midair, and Pessimist just slid across the ground as he sat, they keep going but stop when they see Genghis,
"You again, what brings you here?" Genghis asked,
"I want to train more in bucking." Walker replied,
"Very well." Genghis said, and he trained Walker, Body Walker got more muscular while Aggressive roared, Walker bucks several trees and knocked apples down,
"Impressive, you're improving already." Genghis said,
"Yes." Walker said, Emotion Walker's flames went up while Walker was happy, and he trotted to school with a satisfied smile on his face.
Walker arrives to school and was almost late, hearing the souls of the dead still annoyed him, Body Walker, Mind Walker, and Aggressive stood to his left while Pessimist sat on the floor, and Spirit Walker, Emotion Walker, and Optimist stood to his right while Passive floated in midair, Emotion Walker's flames rise a bit from Walker's annoyance,
"You need to attack them! Smash them! Clobber them! Tell them to pipe down so you can focus!" Aggressive said,
"That will draw unwanted attention to you, along with making more enemies than necessary, you will also look crazy to your classmates and teachers since they can't see, hear, or feel the souls of the dead." Pessimist said,
"It will make them quiet, and you can focus more." Optimist said,
"Just relax and try to ignore them, it is unwise to make a scene." Passive said,
"You will get through the day without gathering any unwanted attention towards yourself, along with keeping a good relationship with the souls, and you won't look weird to your classmates." Optimist said,
"The souls will continue to distract you, and you must endure it for the rest of the school day." Pessimist said, Walker thinks and sighs, he leaves the souls be and continues working, which made Mind Walker's electric body glow brighter and crackle louder, none of his classmates noticed him acting strange. Walker soon had to go outside for PE, he runs two laps again and finishes them both without stopping,
"Yay! You did it again." Optimist said while jumping up and down, Emotion Walker's flames went up from Walker's happiness,
"You have anything to say, Pessimist?" Walker asked,
"Not at the moment." Pessimist replied, Walker sighed while he sat,
"Walker." Cherry Blossom said, Emotion Walker's flames remained the same since Walker did not mind having her around, she ran to him while panting,
"How do you run two laps without tiring like that?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Well, maybe because I'm an earth pony, and you're a unicorn." Walker replied, he noticed from Cherry Blossom's face that he has hurt her feelings,
"Don't you know a spell to give yourself more stamina?" Walker asked,
"The only spell I know is telekinesis, plus, that'd be cheating." Cherry Blossom replied,
"Didn't you learn magic when you were younger?" Walker asked,
"Yeah, when I was a baby, I'm only four years old, Walker." Cherry Blossom replied,
"You're the same age as me." Walker said,
"No, I'm not, our birthdays are on the board, Walker, you're two days older than me." Cherry Blossom replied, Walker was surprised,
"Do you want to meet my parents after school?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Depends on how much homework we get." Walker replied,
"True, but if it's not much, then you wanna meet them?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Don't your parents have work?" Walker asked,
"Don't yours?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Uh, yeah, but my daddy's on vacation right now." Walker replied,
"What do they do?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Track, running, I'm planning to do the same thing when I get older." Walker replied,
"Oh, well, my parents plant cherry blossoms for the spring." Cherry Blossom said,
"You don't want to do it?" Walker asked,
"No, I'd rather be a fashion designer." Cherry Blossom replied,
"Oh." Walker said,
"Say, where is that amulet you had yesterday?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"I didn't bring it today." Walker replied,
"Why not?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"I just didn't feel like bringing it." Walker replied slowly and nervously,
"Oh, I see, well, I think it's almost time to go back in." Cherry Blossom said, and they do. Walker works in class while the walking and voices of the souls continue to irritate him, Optimist, Pessimist, Passive, and Aggressive stay silent since Walker already made up his decision, he works until it was lunchtime. Walker sits at lunch and saw he had a chocolate bar for lunch today, he wonders if he should eat it,
"It'll make you happy and feel good on the inside." Optimist said,
"It'll deteriorate your health." Pessimist said,
"It'll taste good on your tongue." Optimist said,
"It'll rot your teeth." Pessimist said, Walker groans with annoyance,
"I can't decide." Walker said, Cherry Blossom soon sat with him after getting her lunch,
"Are you going to eat that chocolate bar?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"You're just going to let her ask you like that?! Tell her no! Stab her hoof with your fork if you have to!" Aggressive said,
"It would be better if you just give her half, or if you wish, give her the whole thing." Passive said,
"Half would mean a tasty treat for both of you, giving her the whole thing will make her happy and grow you two closer." Optimist said,
"Having half of it means worse health for both of you, giving her the whole thing will make her health worse than it already is." Pessimist said, Walker thought about it and decided to give Cherry Blossom the entire chocolate bar,
"Thank you." Cherry Blossom said with a smile,
"Yay! You just strengthened your friendship with her!" Optimist said while jumping up and down,
"At the cost of making her health and teeth worse." Pessimist said, Walker did not smile, Pessimist's words were getting to him. Walker began to feel his stomach grumble from the lunch,
"Hold on, I have to use the bathroom." Walker said, and he went. Walker uses the bathroom and washes his front hoofs, he was about to head out, but he heard noises behind him, he saw the ground burst open and saw skeletal ponies come out, they were Pegasi, they were ready to attack him, so Walker summoned his sword and pistol. The six skeletal Pegasi fly towards him and Walker swings his sword around to keep them at bay, he makes the black skeletal arms come out of his left front hoof to grab and pull them forward, Walker stabbed the first skeletal Pegasus in the skull, it fell down and its soul appeared, it was a male Pegasus, Walker quickly shoots him with his pistol to absorbs his soul. Walker focuses on another Pegasus and it was flying around Walker in a counterclockwise circle, Walker watches closely and holds his front left hoof out, he shoots a dark blue and orange stream of fire out, he burns the skeleton's tail, but its body engulfs and its soul appeared, another male Pegasus, Walker shoots him to destroy his soul's body form and absorbs it into himself.
The four remaining Pegasi surround Walker and begin attacking him at once by flying around him in a circle, they changed by going clockwise and counterclockwise every few seconds, they were punching Walker with their front hoofs in the process. Walker growls as he cannot seem to aim a hit on the four skeletal Pegasi, so he makes dark blue flames surround him, they spin in a counterclockwise direction and burn the four skeletal Pegasi, their souls also appear, they were all males, the flames hit them and they become floating light blue flames, Walker absorbed their souls into himself.
Walker goes back to lunch and everypony looked at him,
"What?" Walker asked,
"You were loud in the bathroom." Cherry Blossom replied, Walker smiled embarrassingly while blushing, Emotion Walker's flames went up a little,
"They're viewing you at your weakest! Pick yourself back up! Yell and threaten them!" Aggressive said,
"Just ignore it, this emotion is temporary, if you give in now, you will feel regret later." Passive said, Walker thought about it,
"How loud was I?" Walker asked,
"Very loud, the teachers are wondering what you did in there." Cherry Blossom replied,
"Oh, uh..." Walker said,
"Lie! Come up with something! They know nothing of the souls of the dead!" Aggressive said,
"Sometimes, it is better to stay silent." Passive said,
"Well, uh, you see, I accidentally locked myself in the stall." Walker said, the students laugh, Walker sat down with Cherry Blossom while she glared at him,
"Seriously, Walker? That's the best thing you can come up with?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Well, yeah." Walker replied,
"Lunch is about to end, so you'll be passing that bathroom again." Cherry Blossom said, Walker gulped and the bell to end lunch rang a second later. Students look into the colts' bathroom and saw the bones of the Pegasi skeletons, which confused the foals,
"Why are there skeletons in the colts' bathroom?" a filly asked,
"Well, if I remember right, there are actually ponies buried under our school from hundreds of years ago, maybe Walker was curious and dug them up." a colt replied, the foals murmur with interest,
"Walker, you don't have to go that far to learn history." Cherry Blossom said, Walker did not respond and he just walked to class. Everypony works in class while the fillies murmur about the colts' bathroom, the colts did not say anything,
"Girls, focus." Walker's teacher said, and they did, Walker saw the colts look at him, while they were not glaring or angry, he still felt uncomfortable, which made Emotion Walker flames go up a little bit, he keeps working and Mind Walker's electricity gets brighter, while Body Walker began to lose muscle, and Spirit Walker glowed brighter due to Walker trying to ignore the souls of the dead in the classroom. The bell rings and Walker had math homework, he sighed and waited for Cherry Blossom, who was a bit slow while she filled her saddlebag with her supplies, he was getting a bit impatient, even though he did not show it, he thought Cherry Blossom was taking too long. Cherry Blossom finished packing her things and trotted to Walker,
"Come on, let's meet my parents." Cherry Blossom said, and they trot to Cherry Blossom's home.
Walker and Cherry Blossom arrive at Cherry Blossom's home and they see two ponies, the mare looked just like Cherry Blossom but without makeup, her cutie mark was a cherry blossom tree, while the stallion had a brown coat, a short light pink mane and tail, and light pink eyes, his cutie mark was a black spring,
"Walker, meet my mommy, Sakura, and my daddy, Spring." Cherry Blossom said,
"Hello, Walker, our daughter talks a lot about you." Sakura said,
"Since when?" Walker asked,
"Since the second week of this school year, she's always seemed interested in knowing about you." Spring replied, Walker's attention was caught, he closes his eyes and reopens them, his vision was dark blue, people were light blue, and objects were a regular blue, he reads Cherry Blossom's emotions, he thought she had a crush on him, but to his surprise, she did not,
"So, why do you have this interest in me for?" Walker asked,
"Because you rarely do anything at school, you're the only one in the class who doesn't help out after school." Cherry Blossom replied,
"What about you?" Walker asked,
"I'm done for now, I start getting the school ready for the cart racing starting tomorrow." Cherry Blossom replied,
"Oh." Walker said,
"Would you like some cherry blossom root tea, Walker?" Sakura asked,
"No, it's fine." Walker replied,
"You're leaving already?" Spring asked,
"Yeah, I have homework today." Walker replied,
"Oh, yeah, we do." Cherry Blossom said,
"Come on, Cherry Blossom, let's finish it." Spring said, and the three go in their home while Walker trots out of their sights and teleports back home.
Walker arrives home and does his math homework, he answered accurately since he knew Runner would check his homework, and if Runner checked it, Sprinter would check if Runner was not available, which he was not happy about, he finishes faster than he thought he would and tells Runner he was done, Runner checks his homework,
"Good job, you got all of them correct." Runner said, much to Walker's happiness, he opens a portal with his mind to go to the Void and enters.
Walker arrives into the Void and brings the souls to The Judge, the virtues and sins were there to decide should the six souls receive salvation or damnation,
"You don't need to stay here, Walker." The Judge said,
"But I like to watch." Walker replied, The Judge does a quick glimpse at them,
"Long story short, they're all from Equestria, and are bad souls, you should go, I still have souls from other worlds to judge as well." The Judge said, and Walker went past him. Walker arrives at the portals,
"Jones, I'm here." Walker said, he hears trotting and saw Jones come from the temple,
"Where do you want to go this time?" Jones asked,
"I don't feel like going to Aerostia this time." Walker replied,
"Yeah, same here, I think we've learned everything we're going to learn there." Jones said, Walker looks and decides whether to go to Yomi or Chrysaor,
"Let's try Chrysaor." Walker said,
"Okay, let's go." Jones replied, and the two go into the portal.
Walker and Jones arrive into Chrysaor and the natives look at them with confusion, Walker and Jones stand up,
"Halt, that small one looks familiar." a male native said,
"State who you are." a second male native said,
"I am Walker." Walker replied,
"Who is your father?" a third male native asked,
"Runner." Walker replied, the natives become surprised,
"I thought you looked familiar, we remember your father." a female native said,
"What are you guys?" Walker asked,
"We are vulcans, master blacksmiths, we also create other forms of art." a second female vulcan said,
"Like what?" Walker asked,
"Take a look around." a fourth male vulcan replied, and they leave. Walker decided to use the amulet and see what it was like when Runner and Sprinter first came, he uses the amulet to make it appear and Jones watched with him. They see Runner appear in the place first, the vulcans point spears and arrows at Runner, which made him exclaim with fear,
"Are you related to Sprinter?" a male vulcan asked,
"H... he's my father." Runner replied, the vulcans gang up on him,
"Your father was an unfaithful one, he had no interest in what we made, only in fighting, he said our weapons are impractical and useless." a female vulcan said,
"I have no idea with what he did before I was born." Runner replied, the vulcans look at one another,
"You don't know about four of our girls loving him, and turning them down and breaking their hearts?" another male vulcan asked,
"No." Runner replied,
"Who is he married to now?" a second female vulcan asked,
"No one, he's a widower, his wife died after birthing me." Runner replied,
"Well, good, he deserves it for his unfaithfulness, who knows how many women he swooned over before coming here." a third female vulcan said,
"As I said, I have no idea what my father did, I'm just here to fight off the Possessed and Undead." Runner replied,
"That's what your father said." a third male vulcan said,
"Was it true?" Runner asked,
"Yes, but he had four of our females go with him in the process, and turned down their feelings. I'm sorry to say this, but I assume you're here to do the same thing, we have to arrest you and put you in a jail cell." a fourth male vulcan replied, Runner had his hoofs tied with ropes and was carried away while he cried,
"Wow, I never saw daddy cry before." Walker said,
"Remember, this was when he was only four years old, of course he's going to cry." Jones replied, and the amulet shot out another beam and showed another event. Sprinter arrives into Chrysaor and the vulcans look at him,
"Who are you?" a male vulcan asked,
"Sprinter, inheritor of Spirit's powers from the Void." Sprinter replied, surprising the vulcans,
"You have direct contact with our culture's grim reaper?" the vulcan asked,
"Uh, grim reaper?" Sprinter asked,
"You know, a person who comes to collect your soul when you die." a female vulcan replied,
"Oh, yes, I do have contact with him, along with several of his powers." Sprinter said, the vulcans murmur,
"Where are you from?" a second male vulcan asked,
"Equestria." Sprinter replied,
"Is this your first time traveling?" a third male vulcan asked,
"No, second time." Sprinter replied,
"Where did you go the first time?" a second female vulcan asked,
"Yomi." Sprinter replied, confusing them,
"Well, go on and look around, I think you'll like our artwork and craftsmanship." the first male vulcan said, and Sprinter walked forward. The picture disappears and Walker and Jones trot forward, they go and were in awe, they saw architecture made in the shape of helmets, the door was shaped like a visor and it moved up to open, the two trot out of the place and they arrive into a hallway, they can tell it was carved rather than made by nature,
"Jones, look at this." Walker said as he looked to the left wall, Jones looked and saw a painting, they look and saw paintings all over both walls of the hallway, they were very detailed and completely colored,
"Wow, this is just what I've been looking for." Walker said,
"Me too, this is what being an adventurer is all about to me." Jones replied, they walk forward and they see more pictures,
"What do you think?" Walker asked,
"It seems these paintings are to tell the history of their kind, these are probably the most important events of their history." Jones replied, Walker looks and can see how Jones came to that conclusion, they keep walking but the hallway eventually had no paintings, they walk forward and hear clanging, so they start trotting. Walker and Jones arrive at the end and saw vulcans up ahead, they saw them working on building weapons and armor, they look and see all of their weapons had plant and animal decorations on them,
"Whoa, now this is why I would travel, to see the art of one's culture." Walker said, Jones chuckled,
"Good hobby, Walker." Jones replied, Walker smiled and the two continued walking and left the place. Walker and Jones were outside and there was flat grassland everywhere, they look and see three dark gold sculptures, the left one was a big eagle, the right one was a big whale, and the center one was a hybrid creature between a lion and a boar, Walker was in awe at the appearance,
"Do you like them?" a male vulcan asked from behind, Walker and Jones turn around, the vulcan's armor was gold instead of dull gray,
"Who are you?" Jones asked,
"I am Elder Hephaestus, ruler of Chrysaor." the vulcan replied,
"Is the elder a part of your name?" Walker asked,
"No, young one, it is my title." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"Well, I'm Walker, and this is Jones, we're from Equestria." Walker said,
"Yes, just like your father and grandfather before you." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"You met them?" Jones asked,
"Yes, I was about to become the ruler when Runner was here, and was just a kid when Sprinter was here." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"What was it like meeting my daddy and grandpa?" Walker asked,
"Both of them were fighters, but in different ways, Runner was a fair and honorable fighter, while Sprinter was dirty and would use any tactic he could think of to win, and Runner relied on speed and skill, while Sprinter relied on brute strength. Another thing we noticed about your father and grandfather is their views of love, which we can sense, Runner had his heart set on one woman even before he came here, while Sprinter would have his heart set on any woman who was nice to him." Elder Hephaestus replied, Walker felt embarrassed from Sprinter's antics while Jones restrained his laughter,
"What can you tell me about your culture?" Walker asked,
"You do not have a guide back at home?" Elder Hephaestus asked,
"Actually, none of us do." Jones replied,
"I see, we are artistic people, we value visual arts, theater arts, literature, and music. We are muscular and stay in shape under our armor, it ties into the visual arts and theater arts as well." Elder Hephaestus said,
"What about fashion?" Jones asked,
"Fashion?" Elder Hephaestus asked,
"You know, what style of clothing is popular to wear." Jones replied,
"We do not have that in our culture." Elder Hephaestus said,
"What about culinary arts? Cooking?" Walker asked,
"We do not have that, either, we just cook and eat, how the food looks matters not to us." Elder Hephaestus replied, much to Walker's and Jones' surprises,
"Are there any personal values in your culture?" Jones asked,
"What are personal values?" Elder Hephaestus asked,
"Honor, courage, wisdom, family, friends, education, those type of things." Jones replied,
"Ah, we value courage, physical strength, and endurance, while we do value emotions as entertainment, we value intelligence in real life, we also highly value family." Elder Hephaestus said, Walker and Jones smiled,
"I've been wondering about those statues over there." Walker said,
"They are our gods, they represent the three environments, the left one is Ziz, our god of the sky, the right one is Leviathan, our god of the sea, and the center is Behemoth, our god of the land and chief god." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"Well, it was nice speaking to you, we'll be off to explore now." Walker said,
"Alright, have fun, and be careful." Elder Hephaestus replied, and he walked away while Walker and Jones smiled. Walker and Jones walk forward a bit and saw three paths that were made from gray dirt, the left path went uphill and there was a green tornado etched on the ground, the right path went downhill and there was a blue water drop etched on the ground, and the center path had a yellow rock etched on the ground and it was straight and flat,
"Where do you want to go first, Walker?" Jones asked,
"Let's go uphill first, I hate uphill." Walker replied,
"That's unusual, most people would do what they despise last." Jones said,
"Well, it's something my daddy and grandpa taught me, I'm the same on schoolwork, I do the hard problems first because I hate challenges." Walker replied,
"Do you like fighting, Walker?" Jones asked,
"No, I'd rather be friends than fight, I only fight the Possessed and the souls because I have to, I don't enjoy it the slightest." Walker replied,
"Ah, no wonder why you lose your temper easily." Jones said,
"That, and I don't like losing." Walker replied,
"Well, let's go." Jones said, and they go. Walker just teleported to the top since he did not want to walk uphill, Jones casts a spell with his horn and teleports to the top,
"Let's look down that path, make sure we didn't miss anything interesting." Jones said, and he and Walker did,
"Nope, I don't see anything." Walker said,
"Me neither." Jones replied,
"Come on, Jones, let's explore." Walker said, Jones smiled and the two turned around and walked. Walker and Jones walk around slowly and look everywhere, but they stop when they see about twelve vulcans up ahead, their three eyes' glow light blue, Walker and Jones realize they were Possessed,
"Be careful, you two, the Possessed are abundant in that world." Spirit said telepathically, and the twelve possessed vulcans go to them. Walker summons his sword and pistol and was ready to fight, he makes a black skeletal arm come out of his front right hoof to grab the closest vulcan, but rather than pulling the vulcan towards him, Walker went towards it, but he prepared his sword and tried to cut the vulcan's armor, it did not cut through, so he fires a bullet from his pistol, it bounced off, Walker let out a slight exhale of annoyance and changed his sword to a bladed boomerang from Aerostia, he throws it but it bounces off of the vulcan's armor, Walker growls since nothing was working. Jones tackles Walker away when a gunshot was heard and it hits the ground, it was loud, it hurt Walker's and Jones' ears, they look up and saw a flying vulcan had a pistol in its right hand,
"Wait, that pistol." Walker said, he looks at it and at his own and realized it was the exact same pistol he uses, more gunshots were heard and Walker and Jones saw the vulcans were flying in the sky and had rifles with them, they hear more gunshots and saw several of the vulcans had fully automatic weapons with them, Walker gets an idea and changes his pistol and boomerang to the two handed rifles, since his weapons were spiritual in nature, they weighed nothing, he aims two of them and fires them, he hits two vulcans, but the bullet got caught in their armors and put a dent in it, Walker fires several more and they only put dents in their armor, not doing anything else,
"Oh, come on." Walker grumbled under his breath, he saw Jones running around and firing zaps from his horn, they were doing nothing against the vulcans,
"Walker, try something else." Jones said, Walker places his front left hoof on the ground and four light blue round heads came out of the ground and go to the twelve possessed vulcans to attack them, four of them got destroyed, but light blue tentacles come out from under their armors and made their armors come to life, their wings and tails grew black talons on them, and black claws came out of their hands', the four Possessed fly faster than before and try to scratch Walker and Jones with their talons, Walker teleported around to dodge them while Jones held them back with telekinesis. Walker makes the four light blue round heads reappear and they attack four more vulcans, he also held his front hoofs up above his head and summoned several vulcan souls to help him fight the Possessed, the souls of the vulcans used mostly two handed weapons to fight the Possessed, they had axes, sledgehammers, glaives, broadswords, and spears, Walker sees they had several long-range weapons as well, they had the pistol Walker usually uses, the rifle, a single action one-handed gun, and a gun that sent out a scattershot.
Walker, Jones, and the souls of the vulcans under Walker's command fight off the Possessed, one gets destroyed and its soul goes into Walker, the other three Possessed who mutated got destroyed and Walker absorbed their souls, Walker and Jones pant and retreat since they were too tired to fight anymore, they watch the vulcans under Walker's command fight off the remaining eight Possessed, they mutated into the same thing one at a time, they were eventually destroyed and Walker does gestures with his front hoofs to dismiss them,
"Wanna continue?" Walker asked,
"No, I'm tired for today, let's go tomorrow." Jones replied, and Walker opened a portal to go back to the Void and Jones stayed there while Walker went back to Equestria and had dinner and went to bed.
Walker was in the Void in his dream, he realized what he could do, so he went to the temple, Body Walker, Mind Walker, Spirit Walker, and Emotion Walker were there,
"What would you like to train in?" Body Walker asked,
"Uh, my emotional part." Walker replied, and Body Walker, Mind Walker, and Spirit Walker disappear,
"I don't understand why I need your training if I have Spirit's powers that allow me to read one's feelings." Walker said,
"Not every male from the paternal side of your family likes using Spirit's powers, that's why I'm here, to train you without the use of that vision power Spirit gave you." Emotion Walker replied,
"Oh, no wonder why, well, I'll give it a try." Walker said,
"Alright, the place is going to change, we'll start easy. I'll be using people from your world, your job is to watch their expressions and act accordingly to their emotions, and guess what that emotion is." Emotion Walker replied,
"I'm ready." Walker said,
"Alright, here goes." Emotion Walker replied, and he uses his mind to change the environment. Walker sees everything was blurring and the environment changed, he saw the place and recognized it,
"Wait, I recognize this place, this is Fluttershy's cottage." Walker said,
"Yes, since it's your first one, we'll start easy." Emotion Walker replied, he stood to Walker's right, Walker walks around and saw Fluttershy, she sees him and trots to him,
"Hello, you're a cute looking little foal." Fluttershy said, Walker blushed,
"Your job is to watch her facial expressions and body language, and act accordingly, along with guessing what her overall feeling is." Emotion Walker said,
"Well, she's happy right now." Walker replied,
"Good, you're already getting it right, let's continue." Emotion Walker said, Fluttershy began to hug him with her wings, he felt comfort,
"Come on, make yourself at home." Fluttershy said, and she trotted into her cottage, he followed her. Walker and Fluttershy enter the cottage and Fluttershy let him sleep in her bed,
"She's very welcoming right now." Walker said,
"What do you think so far?" Emotion Walker asked,
"Too easy." Walker replied,
"Alright, let's try someone else." Emotion Walker said,
"Just give me your hardest one." Walker said,
"Very well." Emotion Walker replied, and he changes the scenery to a place of rocks, Walker sees Maud Pie, which startled him,
"Well, go on and try to guess her emotions." Emotion Walker said, Walker tried looking at Maud Pie's facial and body expressions, but had no clue what she was feeling, he looked at her with a confused face, Maud Pie turned her head to the left and saw Walker,
"You need something?" Maud Pie asked,
"Sorry, but I'm trying to pass a test." Walker replied,
"What test?" Maud Pie asked,
"Try to correctly guess what emotion you're feeling right now." Walker replied,
"Would you like a hint?" Maud Pie asked,
"Okay, I'm sensing hostility from you now." Walker replied,
"I'm not mad. You're just trying to pass a test, right? I have no reason to be mad at you." Maud Pie said, Walker just looked at her nervously while Maud Pie looked back with an expressionless face,
"I give up." Walker said,
"See, this is why you have to train. Would you like to try another one?" Emotion Walker asked,
"No, I'll just stick to using Spirit's powers." Walker replied,
"Then you don't need my training." Emotion Walker said,
"No, I'll still try, I think it's still worth training in this." Walker replied,
"Would you like to try another one?" Emotion Walker asked,
"No, I'll stop here for now." Walker replied, and the area changed back to the temple. Walker sees Body Walker, Mind Walker, Spirit Walker, and Emotion Walker in front of him,
"Which training would you like to try next?" Body Walker asked,
"Let's try body." Walker replied, and Mind Walker, Spirit Walker, and Emotion Walker disappear,
"Alright, here goes." Body Walker said, and the scenery changed. Walker felt cold and saw he was in a place with a raging blizzard, Body Walker appeared to his left,
"The cold will help your body adjust, ponies adapt better to cold weather than hot weather." Body Walker said,
"I'll admit, I do like cold weather better than hot weather, but this is too cold." Walker replied,
"Well, then I suggest you brace yourself." Body Walker said,
"Why?" Walker asked, Body Walker pointed his front left hoof forward and downwards, Walker was shocked when he saw a pool of water,
"Your first physical training is swimming, great for building muscle." Body Walker replied, Walker was scared,
"Well, go on, you have to finish that first before you go to the next one." Body Walker said, and Walker was pushed into the water, he immediately went into shock, he fell underwater and began panicking, Body Walker pulled him out,
"You need to stay calm, Spirit Walker can help you with that through meditation, as for now, I'll show you how to swim properly." Body Walker said, and he did, Walker watched him carefully,
"There, now you try." Body Walker said, and Walker did, he tried to copy Body Walker but still failed,
"You should practice a bit more, would you like to continue?" Body Walker asked, Walker's nose was runny and he sneezed,
"No, I'll stop here." Walker replied, and the scenery changed back to the temple. Walker looks at the four across from him,
"Let's try the mind, since that's the only one left." Walker said, and Body Walker, Spirit Walker, and Emotion Walker disappear,
"Alright, here goes." Mind Walker said, and he made books appear, Walker sees they were books on math, science, literature, government, different cultures and customs of Equestria, history of Equestria, how to build architecture, history on art, cuisine, fashion, music, and literature, and a guide to plants and animals that described how dangerous they are and their behavior,
"Take your pick." Mind Walker said,
"What about learning from experience?" Walker asked,
"You get that through your travels and personal life, you're learning new things all the time, and since you're only four years old, your brain is like a sponge, and your childhood experiences will stay with you for your entire life." Mind Walker replied, Walker was surprised,
"Well, go on and read." Mind Walker said, and he decided to read about pony culture and customs, he was not learning anything and threw the book,
"I can't learn this way." Walker said,
"How about this one?" Mind Walker asked, and he made a book appear, it was on how friendship between males and females differ,
"How is that going to help?" Walker asked,
"Because male and females form friendship differently, males become friends by going through the same experiences, while females become friends by feeling the same emotions as one another." Mind Walker replied,
"Now that you mention it, I do feel closer to daddy, grandpa, Jones, and Genghis than I do to Cherry Blossom." Walker said,
"See, there you go, you should read this so you can bond with her." Mind Walker replied, and he did. Laughing was heard and the temple area disappeared,
"W... Who's there?" Walker asked with fear, the laughing was heard again and Walker saw a stallion form in front of him, he was hiding in the shadows, but looked like he had the same mane and tail style as him, Runner, and Sprinter, his mane, tail, eyes, and coat all seemed to be the same color as them as well, Walker sees his cutie mark appeared to be some kind of metallic shoe, he was almost as tall as Princess Luna, and was muscular,
"So, you're Walker, I knew that Sprinter would taint the family." the stallion said,
"You're... almost as muscular as Big Mac." Walker said with surprise,
"Big Mac?" the stallion asked,
"There are six mares who protect Equestria, Big Mac is the brother of one of them." Walker replied,
"Well, it's good to see not all ponies have become weaklings over time." the stallion said,
"Weakling?" Walker asked,
"Yes, earth ponies were once big and muscular like me, a long time ago, we've lost our strength and stamina when we decided to pursue other things other than farming, harvesting, and fighting." the stallion replied,
"Who are you?" Walker asked, the stallion snickered,
"I normally don't share my name, but I'll tell you since you're family, my name is Jumper." the stallion said,
"Jumper? Family?" Walker asked,
"Yes, and you may not know this, but we already met a long time ago." Jumper replied, and harpies, vulcans, and the natives from Yomi surround him, they all had light blue eyes,
"Wait, you're the one commanding the Possessed." Walker said,
"Yes, and the Undead, but there are still two more types of enemies you haven't encountered yet, I don't command them, but they're waiting for you." Jumper replied, and he disappeared while laughing and Walker was shot out of the Void while he screamed.
Walker woke up in his bedroom and sat up while panting heavily and sweating, he walked out of his bedroom and went to have breakfast. Walker had his breakfast while Runner and Sprinter watched him,
"Daddy, grandpa." Walker said, the two look at him,
"I met the guy who is controlling the Possessed and Undead in my dream last night, he said he's family." Walker said, Runner's and Sprinter's attention were caught,
"Did he say what his name was?" Runner asked,
"Jumper." Walker replied, Runner reeled back in shock with his eyes and mouth wide open while Sprinter's eyes only widened,
"You two know him?" Walker asked,
"Walker, he's your paternal great grandfather." Runner replied, Walker jumped back in shock,
"Great grandpa?!" Walker asked,
"Yes, Walker, he's my father, and he was a bad one." Sprinter replied,
"What did he do?" Walker asked,
"My father was the leader of a group of criminals, Jumper forced himself onto a mare, she became my mother, but of course, because of Spirit's powers on our family, she died as soon as I was born, Jumper beat me and insulted me all the time, he forced me to physically train and I had to become physically strong at a young age because the other ponies who served under him were told to kill me, so I had to fight back, when I got Spirit's powers when I was four, the first thing I did was kill Jumper, he is also the reason why I don't make decisions based on emotions, he was driven by them, and did horrific things, he is also the reason why I choose to be pessimistic, because Jumper was optimistic to the point where he could not see the negative things happening." Sprinter explained, Walker was speechless,
"You should finish your meal, Walker, school is going to start soon." Runner said, and Walker did,
"How has your training with Genghis been?" Runner asked,
"He hasn't really taught anything useful, yet." Walker replied,
"Well, just wait until you get to the advanced techniques, you're going to be impressed, trust me." Sprinter said, Walker nods and he heads out. Genghis was doing target practice with his horn and zapping the trees, he hears trotting behind him and turns around, he saw Walker coming,
"I'm ready to learn more bucking." Walker said,
"What's the matter? You're shaking a bit." Genghis said,
"Sorry, my last training to condition my body had me swimming in ice cold water while it was snowing." Walker replied,
"Ah, I remember how cold Equestria can get during the time of Hearth's Warming, come now, let's teach you a few tricks." Genghis said, and they train, Walker was now being taught how to jump and kick with his hind legs in midair,
"Good, you're learning quickly, but it's time for the strength test, since you're an earth pony, your test will be harder than for a unicorn or a Pegasus." Genghis said, and he uses his horn to make a piece of gray steel appear, Walker prepares himself and he bucks it with his hind legs, he destroys the piece of armor and it flies into the air,
"Alright, next one requires a jump kick, let's do it." Genghis said, and he makes a royal guard helmet appear and he holds it in the air, Walker jumps and kicks it with his hind right hoof, he destroyed the helmet and he was shocked at his own improved physical strength,
"Alright, next one is going to take two jump kicks." Genghis said,
"Uh, Genghis, I'm sorry, but I have to go to school." Walker replied,
"Very well, we'll continue when you return." Genghis said,
"One question before I go, did you ever meet a stallion named Jumper?" Walker asked,
"No, I have not." Genghis replied,
"Oh, just wondering, well, I'll be going now." Walker said, and he walks to school.
Walker was doing his classwork and was bored, he was impatient for school to end again, and he saw Body Walker, Mind Walker, Spirit Walker, and Emotion Walker standing around him, Aggressive and Optimist stood behind him, while Pessimist sat to his left, Passive was floating to his right. Walker daydreams about doing Genghis' tests since he actually found them to be fun, he daydreams about himself doing the jump kick test he just did and ends up kicking his desk with hind right hoof, which made it fly into the air and turn upside-down, the foals look at him, the colts just looked on with expressionless faces while the fillies had very shocked faces. Walker's desk lands upside down on the desk of the Pegasus filly sitting in front of him,
"Well, Walker?" Walker's teacher asked,
"Sorry, got scared by a bug." Walker replied, the fillies laugh while the colts smiled, the teacher smiled,
"Go on and get your desk back, Walker, maybe you should go to Ponyville and have Fluttershy teach you a few things." Walker's teacher said, and he walks and grabs his desk,
"Sorry." Walker said,
"It's okay." the Pegasus filly replied, and he sat and continued his work after finding where he left off. Walker continues working until it was PE time, he ran the two laps perfectly again and did not get tired, he was the first to finish, which made him happy, he sat and waited while the fillies were shocked while the colts just watched and tried to improve. Walker sighed and he just sat and looked at the souls of the dead walking around the school, he hears panting to his right and saw Cherry Blossom arrive,
"Hold on, I'm going to go have some water." Cherry Blossom said while panting and out of breath, she came back after about a minute, she sat with him,
"What did you think of my parents?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"I like them." Walker said, Cherry Blossom smiled,
"Can I meet your parents today?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Uh, about that." Walker replied,
"What is it?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"I... don't have a mommy." Walker replied,
"You don't have a mommy?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"No." Walker replied,
"Then who are you living with?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"My daddy, and my grandpa." Walker replied,
"Maternal or paternal grandpa?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Paternal." Walker replied,
"So, you live with your daddy, and your daddy's daddy." Cherry Blossom said,
"Yes." Walker replied,
"What happened to your mommy?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"She died as soon as she gave birth to me." Walker replied,
"Aw." Cherry Blossom said, she asks "Did your daddy and grandpa ever talk about her?"
"Actually, no." Walker replied,
"You should ask them, she's your mommy, you have every right to know." Cherry Blossom said, Walker thought about it, and they went back to class after PE was over. Walker worked in class until it was lunchtime, he just wanted school to be over so he can go back to exploring the Void, he was in line at lunch and an earth pony colt cuts him in line, Walker was angry,
"He cut you in line! Fight him, and show him he can't push you around! Beat him until he can't move!" Aggressive said,
"It will show him not to be rude to others, and have him consider others' feelings." Optimist said,
"You will draw unwanted attention to yourself, get in trouble with the teachers, and become embarrassed and ashamed of your actions." Pessimist said,
"If you wish, you can try to talk things out with him and explain how you feel." Passive said,
"It might make him rethink his actions and apologize, and he will learn in the future not to do it again." Optimist said,
"He might ignore you, and possibly attack you for trying to talk to him, and there is a possibility that he does know what he did was wrong, and doesn't care, and is happy about what he did." Pessimist said, Walker thinks for a minute and decides to use Spirit's vision on him since he cannot see the colt from the front or read his emotions, Walker sees the colt does know what he did was wrong, and is happy about it, and was ready to attack Walker if he tried to speak to him. Walker changes his vision back to normal,
"On second thought, let's ignore him." Walker said,
"What?! You're just going to let him go?!" Aggressive asked,
"I'll get in trouble if I try to confront him, I say we let someone else attack him." Walker replied,
"Oh, okay, I like that." Aggressive said while smiling, and they go through the line and Walker waited for his lunch.
Walker and Cherry Blossom have lunch together and the same colt cuts more colts and fillies in a line for the microwave to heat up homemade lunches, a filly tries to explain to him that she was there first, but he turns around and begins to physically attack her, the other colts and fillies restrain him while the filly was pulled back, the filly was bleeding from her nose and she was panting from being in pain, the colt smiled when he saw her bleeding nose, the fillies look at him angrily while the colts just glare at him, the teachers take him to the principal's office while everypony just watches him. Walker and Cherry Blossom have lunch together,
"You look nervous, Walker." Cherry Blossom said,
"Sorry, I had to do swimming after school yesterday." Walker replied,
"Oh, yeah, swimming is hard, if you want, I can give you lessons." Cherry Blossom said,
"Wait, you know how to swim?" Walker asked with surprise,
"Uh-huh, I know how to climb trees and mountains, too, my parents taught me a few months ago." Cherry Blossom replied,
"Well, I guess you have to stay in shape if you want to be a fashion designer." Walker said,
"I don't just want to be fashion designer, I want to be makeup artist, too, and a mane and tail stylist." Cherry Blossom replied,
"Do your parents approve?" Walker asked,
"Hmm-mm, they think it's a great idea, they're going to use the flowers and cherry blossoms they grow in the spring to put on my outfits, they think it's great since they can help, too." Cherry Blossom replied, Walker smiled,
"What about hobbies?" Walker asked,
"Well, I like reading, poetry is my favorite thing to read, I like buckball, and I especially love making new friends." Cherry Blossom replied, Walker smiled a bit,
"What are your hobbies, Walker?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Well, I if I had to choose, probably art." Walker replied,
"What kind of art?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Drawings, paintings, and architecture." Walker replied,
"That's it?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"No, I also found myself enjoying learning history as well." Walker replied,
"That's great, maybe if we go somewhere together, you and I can learn new things, by using your knowledge of art and architecture, and my knowledge of fashion, we can learn history together." Cherry Blossom said, Walker saw Emotion Walker's flames go up because he was starting to enjoy Cherry Blossom, he noticed himself developing a crush on her, the bell rung and everypony went back to class, Walker waits until the bell rings and went home with Cherry Blossom following him. Walker headed home and Cherry Blossom ran a bit to keep up with him a bit since he was teleporting a little, but Cherry Blossom saw it as him speed walking,
"Walker, why are you walking so fast?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Sorry, I guess I just want to head home and get started on the homework." Walker replied,
"Oh, don't start without me, I have to use the bathroom when we get to your home." Cherry Blossom said,
"Why didn't you go after class ended?" Walker asked,
"I didn't have to." Cherry Blossom replied,
"Okay, but don't take too long." Walker said,
"Why do you say that for?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Because I once overheard my grandpa talking about how grandma would keep him waiting a long time while she did her makeup in the bathroom." Walker replied, Cherry Blossom chuckled,
"I promise you, Walker, I won't be doing my makeup, I'm just going to use the bathroom." Cherry Blossom said,
"Okay. Well, we're here." Walker said, and Cherry Blossom saw Walker lived in the woods with no neighbors,
"Wow, I didn't know you lived isolated." Cherry Blossom said,
"Yeah, it gets lonely sometimes." Walker replied,
"Well, I'm here, come on, let's have fun together." Cherry Blossom said, and Walker enters his home with Cherry Blossom behind him,
"Daddy, grandpa, I'm home." Walker said, and Runner and Sprinter saw him with Cherry Blossom,
"Who is this?" Runner asked,
"Hi, I'm Cherry Blossom, I'm one of his classmates." Cherry Blossom said,
"Well, hello, Cherry Blossom, it's rare for us to get visitors." Sprinter said,
"Thank you. Where's the bathroom?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Right behind us." Runner replied,
"Okay, don't start homework without me, Walker." Cherry Blossom said as she headed to the bathroom, she entered a moment later, Runner and Sprinter turned to Walker, who was sitting at the table,
"What are you doing, Walker?" Runner asked,
"She's my friend, so I brought her to our home since she took me to her home yesterday." Walker replied,
"If you're trying to take her to the Void, she can't enter, Spirit decides which living people can enter and who can't." Sprinter said, Walker looks and sees Emotion Runner and Emotion Sprinter had their flames go up a little, he realized the two were a little annoyed with him,
"I'd like to get to know more about Jumper." Walker said,
"You see, Jumper was..." Sprinter replied, but he was interrupted by the sound of liquid splashing in the water very loudly in the bathroom, Walker was not happy, he saw Runner and Sprinter were annoyed as well, the liquid splashing noise stopped,
"Jumper was..." Sprinter said, but was interrupted again by the toilet flushing,
"Jumper..." Sprinter said, but was interrupted a third time by the sound of water running, which annoyed him, along with Runner and Walker. Cherry Blossom came out of the bathroom and walked to the table and sat to Walker's left,
"Sorry I took so long, I really had to go." Cherry Blossom said,
"I have to do my homework now, daddy and grandpa." Walker said,
"Alright, get it done." Runner replied, and Walker and Cherry Blossom work together, they do their homework while Runner and Sprinter watch them,
"You guys aren't going to talk about anything?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"There's really nothing to talk about." Runner replied,
"Sure, there is." Cherry Blossom said,
"Like what?" Sprinter asked,
"What were Walker's mommy and grandma like?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Nice, friendly, lovable, the usual." Runner replied,
"She was a friendly pony, tolerable at the best." Sprinter said, Cherry Blossom was suspicious,
"Don't you guys have any aunts, uncles, or cousins?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Maternal side of the family only." Runner replied, shocking Cherry Blossom,
"What were my maternal grandparents like?" Walker asked,
"Really nice and welcoming, a shame they passed away before your mother and I married." Runner replied,
"What about my maternal great grandparents, grandpa?" Walker asked,
"They were already dead before I met your grandmother." Sprinter replied,
"What are your names?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Runner." Runner replied,
"Sprinter." Sprinter said,
"Cherry Blossom, I'd like to finish homework as soon as possible." Walker said,
"Oh, sorry, let's get started, then." Cherry Blossom replied, and they worked together, Walker had to take his time and check his work with Cherry Blossom, which made him unhappy because he wanted to explore Chrysaor more, and Cherry Blossom was taking up his time, but they finished after a while,
"Well, I'll be heading home now, mommy and daddy are waiting for me. Bye, Walker." Cherry Blossom said,
"Bye." Walker replied, and Cherry Blossom left. Runner checks Walker's homework to make sure Cherry Blossom did not give him the wrong answer,
"You missed one, Walker." Runner said, and Walker trotted to him while smiling, believing that it was going to be an easy problem, he saw the problem,
"Hey, Cherry Blossom gave me the answer on that one." Walker said,
"Well, she got it wrong, too." Runner replied, and Walker solves it on his own, he took about fifteen minutes of reading the textbook and wrote down what he thought the answer was, Runner checked it,
"That's correct." Runner said,
"Yes." Walker said,
"So, how have things been in the Void?" Sprinter asked,
"I'm exploring Chrysaor now." Walker replied,
"Did you meet the elder?" Runner asked,
"Yeah, Elder Hephaestus." Walker replied,
"Well, good luck, and be careful." Runner said, and Walker entered the Void, he saw Jones coming from the temple, he realized Jones was training himself,
"I'm ready to go back." Walker said,
"Yeah, I actually couldn't wait much longer." Jones replied, Walker chuckled and the two went to Chrysaor. Walker and Jones arrive in Chrysaor and go back to where they left off last time, they see the path was getting flat, they look around and see paintings on the cliff sides, along with pictures of small eagles on the wall,
"What are these?" Walker asked,
"Must be eagles, they look like the ones from Equestria." Jones replied, the amulet reacts and shoots a beam, the two see transparent images. A colt walks forward and he looks at the paintings,
"Not really my interest." the colt said, Walker and Jones realize it was Runner, he trots around and looks at the paintings, he hears screeching in the sky and saw the eagles, he became startled and was scared, they hear a female chuckling from behind and Runner turned around and saw a vulcan,
"Don't worry, they won't hurt you." the vulcan said,
"What are they?" Runner asked,
"Eagles, children of Ziz, it is a crime to hurt them." the vulcan replied, Runner looked at them and saw them screech more,
"Well, go on, the temple is up ahead." the vulcan said, and Runner continued down. The picture changes to a colt Sprinter coming, he looks at the eagles and did not mind, Sprinter just looked around without saying anything and went forward with four female vulcans following him. The pictures disappear and Walker and Jones shrug, they go forward to where Runner and Sprinter went. Walker and Jones walk down the path and see no Possessed, much to their reliefs,
"I almost forgot, I met the person controlling the Possessed in my dream last night, it's actually a pony from Equestria." Walker said, Jones was surprised,
"Is it Claudius?" Jones asked,
"No, a pony named Jumper, my paternal great grandfather." Walker replied, Jones was relieved,
"Good, I'm glad it's not Claudius, I doubt you'd stand a chance against him." Jones said,
"Hey, Jones, look." Walker said, and Jones saw a gold temple up ahead, it was in the shape of an eagle, the eagles were on the temple, perching on the wings of the temple, Walker and Jones were in awe,
"Wow, this must've took forever to make." Walker said,
"Probably did, stuff like this sometimes take generations to make." Jones replied, they walk forward and the eagles screech while unfolding their wings, Walker got ready to defend himself,
"Wait, Walker, I think they're welcoming us." Jones said, and they walk forward, the eagles did not attack, they see the entrance was the mouth of the architecture, Walker and Jones teleport into the beak of the gold eagle and walk into its beak. Walker and Jones walk into the temple and see a statue of Ziz to be worshiped, they saw two paintings, they were to the sides of the statue, the left painting had vulcan wings on it, and the right painting had guns on it, which made Walker and Jones laugh a little,
"I'll admit, they are creative." Walker said,
"Yup, also, temples usually have treasure in them." Jones replied, Walker was excited and was about to search it, but Jones restrained him with his magic,
"Hold on now, Walker, we still have to respect their culture, and the treasures could be cursed." Jones said,
"What kind of curse?" Walker asked,
"Usually, it's sickness, death, or bad luck against you and your family, we have to be careful." Jones replied, Walker and Jones walk forward together. Walker and Jones walk forward and see a table with a book on it, they look and see it appeared to be a history book, it had Ziz on the front cover,
"That must be a history book." Jones said,
"Come on, let's read it." Walker replied, and they were about to, but blue lightning struck in front of them, which made them stumble back, the lightning disappears and they see a muscular bipedal being, he wore light blue armor on his entire body, his helmet exposed his face, it was black and skeletal, he seemed to have no eyes,
"Disgusting beings, all of you need to perish." the creature said with a deep voice,
"Who are you?" Jones asked,
"That is not your concern." the creature replied,
"Are you the treasure's guardian?" Walker asked, the creature glares at him and summons a big double bladed spear in his right hand, and a shield in his left hand, which scared the two,
"It is my sacred duty to destroy all who worship Spirit, prepare to die." the creature said,
"What? I don't worship Spirit." Walker said,
"But you have his powers, don't you?" the creature asked,
"Well, yes." Walker replied,
"Then you have to die." the creature said,
"But I'm only four years old." Walker replied with fear,
"Your age doesn't matter to me, it is my sacred duty to kill all connected to Spirit, including children." the creature said,
"I have no role with Spirit, I'm just traveling with him to see the other worlds." Jones said,
"That makes you guilty by association, you have to die, too." the creature replied, shocking Jones,
"In the name of the Anti-Spirit cult, you two shall perish." the creature said, Walker's and Jones' attentions were caught,
"Oh yeah, a harpy in Aerostia did mention that cult." Walker said,
"What about Jumper, that guy possessing people and making them kill one another?" Jones asked,
"The threats others face from the souls of the dead does not concern the Anti-Spirit cult." the creature replied, shocking Walker and Jones,
"Enough talk. Die." the creature said, and he swings his spear down, a blue electrified wave flies forward on the floor, Walker and Jones teleport away to dodge it, the wave hits the wall and disappears, every part of the floor and wall the wave touched was black and burned. Jones fires a beam from his horn at the creature, but when it touched his shield, the electricity travel into Jones' beam and electrocuted him, he screamed in the process. Walker teleported to behind the creature and summoned his weapons, he aims his pistol and fires, but the spiritual bullets bounced off, Walker changed his pistol to a rifle and fired it, the bullet bounced off as well. The creature turns around while swinging his spear horizontally, sending another electrified wave, Walker got on his stomach and dodged it, the wave disappears when it hit the wall and burned and blackened it, Walker watches with fear and makes his sword change to a boomerang, he throws it and it bounces off of the creature, shocking Walker, he then made his sword reappear and teleported to him, he tries to slash him, but the electricity travels through the sword and electrocutes Walker and he screams, he was shot back afterwards.
The creature walks towards Walker since he was paralyzed and unable to move, he looks and saw Jones was paralyzed as well, Walker thinks for a minute and makes his body change to his soul form, the creature scoffed,
"Foolish child." the creature said, and he places his spear on Walker and he screams as he gets electrocuted,
"What?! How?!" Walker asked,
"Spiritual energy can take on any shape or form, my electricity isn't regular electricity." the creature said, Walker grunts while he struggles to break free, he sees Jones recover from his paralysis and fires a zap from his horn at the creature. The zap hits the creature in the back, but the zap got deflected and hits the wall, the creature turns around and hits his spear on the floor, sending a wave of electricity towards Jones, he teleports to dodge it, the creature slams his shield down and sends a wave of blue electricity shaped like his shield at Jones, he teleports and dodges that as well. Walker recovers and changes back to his regular form after running out of spiritual energy to use, he floats in midair with blue flames behind him, the creature turns around and Walker grunts while he changes into an alicorn-like form made out of dark blue flames. Walker walks forward slowly and summons his sword and pistol, he does a slash with his sword and hits the creature's spear, it got destroyed, Walker then fires his pistol at the creature's shield, it breaks in half and flies out of his left hand,
"What?" the creature asked, Walker hits the creature with his sword again, he grunts and flew out of the temple and screamed, he fell onto the ground as well. Walker changes back to his normal form and pants,
"What was that?" Jones asked,
"My ultimate form, it's my strongest power, it increases all of my powers and abilities tenfold, but I can't stay in it for long." Walker replied,
"That reminds me, I wondered what Runner and Sprinter did here." Jones said,
"Maybe another time." Walker replied, Jones smiled and the two head out to go see the creature. The creature was on his knees and the eagles and vulcans surround him, Walker and Jones go to him, the vulcans watch and Walker holds his front right hoof out to offer the creature his friendship. The vulcans jeer at him and the eagles screech loudly while the creature from the Anti-Spirit cult was confused,
"What are you doing?!" a male vulcan asked, his voice scared Walker a bit,
"This is what we do in my home culture, when we defeat someone, we forgive them and offer them friendship, no matter how bad their actions or motives were." Walker replied, the vulcans jeer,
"That is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard!" a female vulcan said,
"Befriend your enemy? That is just stupid!" a second male vulcan said,
"It is what Princess Celestia teaches us, friendship with others is what powers our country's defenses." Walker replied,
"Well, tell her she's an idiot." a third male vulcan said, Walker continued to hold his hoof out and the creature grabbed it with his left hand, he snickered,
"Fool." the creature said, he pulls Walker forward and was about to stab a dagger into the back of Walker's neck, but Elder Hephaestus stood behind the creature and punched his head off with his right fist, the creature's soul appeared and Walker absorbed it into himself. Elder Hephaestus walked to Walker and Jones, Walker was confused,
"Wait, you guys aren't mad at me?" Walker asked,
"Not at all, you just said it is what this Princess Celestia teaches you about forgiving, you are not at fault, but I must admit, forgiving and befriending your enemy is idiotic." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"What do you guys do to your enemies?" Walker asked,
"We kill them. Duh." a fourth male vulcan replied, the other vulcans nod, which made Walker and Jones uncomfortable,
"Jones and I heard of the Anti-Spirit cult before, but this is the first time we met one of them." Walker said,
"Spirit is a deity in many worlds, the Anti-Spirit cult is made up of beings from other worlds that see Spirit as an evil deity, they managed to get into contact with the other worlds, and formed the cult in an attempt to destroy Spirit and all of his followers, they don't appear just in this world, they appear in other worlds as well, their goal is to kill Spirit, and everybody who is connected to him or worships him." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"I assume they come here often." Jones said,
"Yes, they have attacked us on occasion, but most of them are not even powerful enough to even put a dent in our armor." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"What can you tell us about this area?" Walker asked,
"This is the Temple of Ziz, those eagles are his children, they protect us from the Possessed, Undead, and evil spirits that come back here to haunt us, while they cannot deal with all of them, there is a lot less of them than before." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"How important are they when compared to the land and the sea?" Jones asked,
"The sky is as equally important as the sea and the land, the sky provides us with the sun that allows us to see the things we create, along with giving us space to make things as tall as we wish for them to be, the sea provides the water required to cool down our creations, and the land provides us with the resources required to make them in the first place." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"So far, this is the only architectural thing we have seen." Jones said,
"Ah, you must be speaking of homes, our homes are down the path of the land, the path of the sea will take you to the Temple of Leviathan, we do not live in the sky or in the water." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"Well, Jones, I guess we're going to the water area next." Walker said,
"Good luck, we have magic to make us breathe underwater." Elder Hephaestus said, and the vulcans left. Walker and Jones went back into the Temple of Ziz, and Walker uses the amulet to see what Runner and Sprinter did when they came. Runner entered and he looked around the temple, they noticed Runner had pecking marks on him, realizing the eagles outside attacked him,
"Curse you, father." Runner grumbled under his breath, he looks at the place,
"Wow, I wonder if daddy stole money from here to buy the house I grew up in." Runner said to himself, Walker's and Jones' attentions were caught, but they see Runner look around and about fifteen souls of dead vulcans appear,
"Hey, look at your and Runner's swords." Jones said, Walker does and he sees the sword he used was also from Chrysaor, they watch Runner fight the souls and with speed and finesse, he moved around quickly and teleported while he took down the vulcans, some of them had weapons, Runner kicked them back to them when they dropped them to make the fight more fair,
"Looks like your father was always honorable, even before he went to Aerostia." Jones said,
"I wouldn't do that, I'd rather finish the fight as soon as possible." Walker replied, they watch Runner fight and he only hit and shot the souls in non-fatal areas, he absorbed their souls into them and kept walking,
"Wow, all of this fighting is starting to get a little tiring." Runner said to himself as he looked around, he saw nothing of interest,
"There's nothing here, I'm out." Runner said to himself and he left. The picture changes and they saw Sprinter enter, there were four female toddler vulcans with him, they wore the dull gray armor, they chuckled as they traveled with him,
"This is the Temple of Ziz, Sprinter." one female vulcan said, Sprinter just looks around,
"What do you think?" a second female vulcan asked,
"It's alright." Sprinter replied,
"You don't like it?" a third female vulcan asked,
"I do, it's just hard for me to feel emotion." Sprinter replied,
"Why?" a fourth female vulcan asked,
"I had bad experiences before I came to this world." Sprinter replied,
"What kind of experiences?" the second female vulcan asked,
"Sorry, but I am not comfortable looking back." Sprinter replied,
"Oh, well, come on, let's go, we'll tell you what the things in here are." the third female vulcan said, and they walk forward, but they hear screeching and the eagles burst through, their eyes' glowed light blue, the four female vulcans screamed in terror while Sprinter summoned a gargantuan sword, Walker and Jones did not recognize it, Sprinter does one big swing with the sword and hits the possessed eagles, they died in the process, and Sprinter absorbed their souls,
"It's clear." Sprinter said, and the four female vulcans come back, they explain the paintings first, the wings and guns were tributes in the paintings, they said Ziz lets the vulcans fly while Ziz uses his magic to guide the bullets in battle, they then explain the book is about Ziz's influence on vulcan history, but since it was sacred in their culture, it was forbidden to touch the book, the picture disappeared as Sprinter and the four vulcans exited the temple. Walker and Jones were surprised they could not read the book, but they look and see the creature from the Anti-Spirit cult has destroyed the inside of the temple,
"Well, I guess that's everything." Jones said,
"Yeah, let's go to the underwater place next." Walker replied, and the two teleported out. Walker and Jones teleport to the area of the three paths, they go to the right path, which was downhill, so Walker and Jones trotted faster than usual, they soon arrive at water and enter, Walker panicked a little while Jones was able to swim, they hear chuckling, they see a male vulcan and a female vulcan flying in the air, they fly down and shoot yellow blasts out of their left hands at Walker and Jones, they feel strange and decide to try going underwater, the two realize they could now breathe underwater, they smiled and saw the gold temple up ahead, it was shaped just like a giant whale, Walker was about to squeal with joy at seeing it, but realized he could not speak underwater, and the two swim to the temple. Walker and Jones see dark blue whales swimming around, they were singing and welcoming Walker and Jones, but they stop and the whales had light blue eyes', Walker and Jones realized they were becoming possessed, the whales mutate and sword blades replace their fins, Walker and Jones became nervous.
The whales swim around and try to cut Walker and Jones with their bladed fins, one whale opens its mouth and it tried to swallow Walker and Jones, it had spinning buzz saws in its mouth, the two swim away but the whale was catching up to them, Walker grabs Jones and teleports out of the water, the whales swim away, but a lich appears and begins to absorb Walker's soul, Walker jumps up and kicks the lich with his hind right hoof, he kicked the lich's head off, it screeched and died,
"What did you just do?" Jones asked,
"I've been seeing the soul of a dead unicorn named Genghis, he's teaching me how to fight with my hoofs." Walker replied,
"Genghis, I think I know him." Jones said,
"You've met him?" Walker asked with surprise,
"No, I read about him in a book before, I've been to some of the places he's conquered before, too." Jones replied,
"He conquered Equestria?" Walker asked,
"A little bit, he was planning to conquer all of the countries of the other creatures and force them to adapt to pony culture and accept friendship, but Princess Celestia found out and stopped him before he could set his plans into motion." Jones replied,
"I wonder why he's not in Equestrian history books." Walker said,
"I believe it was because Princess Celestia saw it as a black mark on Equestria's history, I don't think the other creatures would be comfortable knowing there was once a pony who was planning to conquer their lands and destroy their culture to replace them with our culture." Jones replied, Walker saw Jones' point. The ground shakes and Walker and Jones stumble, the ground bursts open and a creature comes out, it was as tall as an adult dragon, the creature was a skeleton, and its skull was shaped like a human's skull, and a horn on its forehead,
"In the name of the Anti-Spirit cult, you shall die." the skeletal creature in a deep voice, Walker and Jones realize it was male. The creature dives into the ground and begins moving underground, a trail of dirt and debris appear, he goes under Walker and Jones while moving around underground, the two grunt since it really hurt, they look and see the creature's spinous processes looked like blades, and it hit them, the two stand up and get ready to fight him, but the whales jump out of the water and begin shooting balls of metal and blades at the ground, which exploded on impact and sent shards flying, the two teleport to dodge them, the ground erupts and Undead vulcans came out of the ground, there was about twenty of them,
"Are you kidding me?!" Walker asked,
"Come on, Walker, let's withdraw, there's too many." Jones replied, and the two run away. Walker and Jones run back to where the three paths were at, but Walker sees fifteen vulcan souls appear, ready to attack them, the ground bursts open and about twenty Undead vulcans came out, they hear flying and saw twenty five vulcans fly down, they were possessed, the two look and were scared at seeing the many enemies, even though Jones could not see the souls that were ready to attack them. Red and orange fire was shot from Walker's and Jones' left, the fire hits the Undead and Possessed vulcans and destroys them, Walker absorbed the souls of the possessed, they see the vulcans flying from where the two originally came from and they go to fight the skeletal creature from the Anti-Spirit cult,
"Jones, there are souls of bad vulcans in front of us, I'll deal with them." Walker said,
"Alright, good luck." Jones replied, and Walker went to them and began slashing his sword around, but his sword could not even damage their armor, he remembers Genghis' training and kicks one with his hind hoofs, he hits the vulcan in the chest and breaks its armor, another one comes to attack him with a sword and Walker jumps up and kicks it in the face with his hind left hoof, its helmet came off, Walker sees the vulcans were bald and had pointed ears. Walker keeps attacking with his sword to charge up his spiritual energy, the dark blue aura that made him transform into the alicorn-like creature was back, Walker felt his spiritual energy was completely back, he has the souls of the vulcans surround him, Walker holds his front right leg up and makes dark blue fire surround him and spin counterclockwise, he destroys the body form of the fifteen vulcans and their souls float up in the form of light blue flames, Walker absorbs them into himself,
"Okay, we're done." Walker said,
"Alright, I think we have a chance, look." Jones replied, and Walker did, he saw the vulcans fighting the Possessed whales and the skeletal creature, Walker nodded in agreement and they go back. The skeletal creature holds the vulcans back by shooting light blueish white beams out of its eyes, fingers, and its ribs as its rib cage opened up, it sees Walker and Jones coming and it opens its mouth and shoots a big beam out, the two teleport to dodge it, it destroyed the ground when it hit it. Walker and Jones teleport to the creature and Jones shoots a beam out of his horn to subdue the creature, but it absorbed Jones' magic into itself and shot it back, Walker tries shooting his pistol at the creature but its bullets bounce off of it,
"Walker, bones are a lot harder and stronger than flesh, so I don't think your pistol and sword are going to work on him." Jones said,
"Well, in that case, let's try this." Walker replied, and he places his front left hoof on the ground, souls of dead vulcans appear and they go to fight the skeletal creature, it shoots a beam out of its left palm and destroys them, their souls floated away. The skeletal creature sees Walker and Jones and leans down, its spine stretches out and was about to hit the ground, the two see he was aiming to stab them with his horn, the two jump to the sides and dodge it, the creature's spine reverts back and it was pulled forward to where its head was at, the creature burrows into the ground and moves around, Walker and Jones teleport around to dodge getting hit by him, they hear beams in the water and see the vulcans shot beams out of their eyes', they saw them cleanse the whales from being possessed, which surprised them, the whales were back to normal, which caught their attentions, the skeletal creature comes out of the ground and opens its rib cage to shoot beams out, the two teleport to dodge it, Walker was beginning to reach his breaking point because he was tired of the fighting, he also had enough with fighting tough enemies, but he focuses and sees the skeletal creature coming out to rise again. Walker and Jones look for weak spots since they have seen signs that their magic and Walker's powers will not work on it, Elder Hephaestus flew up and to the skeletal creature and punched its bones out of its body, the creature died when he punched its head off with his right fist.
Elder Hephaestus walks to Walker and Jones,
"You two should be careful, that skeletal creature is one of the stronger types of creatures in the Anti-Spirit cult, only brute force and high physical strength works against it." Elder Hephaestus said,
"What about skill?" Walker asked,
"Afraid not, that creature has no weakness." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"I watched you guys free the possessed whales, you guys can cleanse the Possessed?" Jones asked,
"Yes, it is a magic spell that was developed over the centuries, created by my father, Elder Asclepius, and my mother, Eldress Panacaea, they were attacked by the Possessed as children, so they devoted their lives to studying it and looking for a way to cure it, they studied for centuries, and made the spell that cleanses one of being possessed shortly before their deaths." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"Please, you must teach me the spell, there are Possessed in Equestria, too." Jones said,
"We have never taught an outsider, so we do not know how high the possibility is that you will learn it." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"We can at least try." Jones said,
"True, the greater risk is to do nothing, we shall try whenever you wish to." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"Okay, I'd like to learn after Walker and I see the rest of your land." Jones said,
"Very well, I'll be in the blacksmith area when you are ready." Elder Hephaestus replied, and he and the other vulcans left. Walker and Jones went back into the water and could still breathe underwater, the whales sing to welcome them, Walker and Jones smile and go into the Temple of Leviathan, the entrance was the mouth of the whale shaped architect, the two swim into the temple and enter. Walker and Jones enter the temple by swimming, the water stopped at the end of the mouth on the inside, the two see it was gold everywhere inside as well, they see another thick book, this one had Leviathan on the front cover, along with two paintings on the wall, the left painting had vulcan tails and gills on it, while the right painting had guns on it as well, and a statue of Leviathan was between the two paintings,
"Aw, it's basically the same as the last temple." Walker said,
"Well, the outside was basically the same, too, just a different shape." Jones replied, Walker sighs,
"Okay, here goes." Walker said, and he uses the amulet to see what Runner's and Sprinter's experiences were like. A colt Runner enters the temple and he looks around,
"I fight the Possessed, and the I enter this temple, this wasn't worth it, all of this gold hurts my eyes, I'm going to go out and look for someone to fight." Runner said, and he walked to the mouth of the temple and swam out, Walker was shocked to see Runner enjoyed fighting. The picture changes and they see Sprinter enter the temple with the four vulcans from before,
"Here you go, Sprinter, the Temple of Leviathan." the first female vulcan said,
"It looks just like the Temple of Behemoth." Sprinter replied,
"But the paintings on the sides are different, the book's different, and there's a different statue." the second vulcan said,
"Other than those, it's the same, give me someone to fight." Sprinter replied,
"Not in here, Sprinter, this is a sacred place." the third vulcan replied,
"Yeah, you can't just destroy our things, it's against our laws." the fourth vulcan said,
"Well, I'm out of here, then." Sprinter replied, and he walks to the exit and swims out with the four female vulcans following him. Walker was in disbelief at what he just saw,
"No, I don't believe it, daddy and grandpa never talked about fighting." Walker said,
"Hey, there's still one more path to go, let's go." Jones said, and the two teleported back and go down the center path.
Walker and Jones walk down the final path and come across another area full of grass and there was a lot of houses, they were all made from stone, and each one had a white symbol painted onto it, they look and saw the vulcan children running around and playing, they also see the adult vulcans training the children on how to defend themselves in case the Possessed, Undead, liches, or Anti-Spirit cult come,
"Wow, each house is different, Jones. What do you think those symbols on them are?" Walker asked,
"Well, judging by the fact that each symbol is different on each house, I would probably say they're the crests of their families." Jones replied, Walker decides to use the amulet to see what Runner and Sprinter did when they first arrived. The two see Runner being transported away with two adult vulcans in front of him, four teenage female vulcans exclaim with disgust and turn away from him, Walker and Jones decide to follow Runner, they go behind a golden architecture that was shaped like a creature that was a hybrid between a lion and a boar, it was in the pose as if it was about to hunt down its prey, Walker and Jones ignore it and follow the transparent images. Walker and Jones arrive at an area filled with jail cells, they see two types of jail cells, they were able to tell what they were by the symbol at the top of the cells, those who were serving time were put in gray jail cells that had a clock carving on it, while those sentenced to death were put in black jail cells that had a skull carving on it, Runner was put in a gray jail cell in the very back and the two vulcans escorting him turn around and guard the cell.
Walker and Jones see the amulet pass the time faster since Runner was just in jail while grumbling about Sprinter, he was crying a little since he was scared as well. The vulcans scream and the two vulcans guarding the cell become Possessed, they grow two times their average size and try to smash Runner with their fists, Runner teleported out of the cell and fought and killed the two vulcans, he ran to the village to help the vulcans fight the Possessed. The picture disappears and Walker and Jones go back to the village and they now see a colt Sprinter come to the village, the vulcans greet him kindly and Sprinter smiled, Walker and Jones see the four female vulcans who followed him, they were infatuated with him at first sight,
"Wow, I didn't think they'd fall in love with my grandpa." Walker said,
"Well, he is very muscular for a kid." Jones replied, and Walker saw Jones was right,
"Hi, welcome to Chrysaor." a male adult vulcan said,
"Thanks." Sprinter replied,
"He is so handsome." the first female vulcan said,
"Hey, I saw him first." the second female vulcan replied,
"No, I did." the third female vulcan said,
"He's mine!" the fourth female vulcan replied,
"Ladies, it's alright, all four of you can come with me." Sprinter said, the four were happy and went to him,
"What are your names?" Sprinter asked,
"Diana." the first female vulcan replied,
"Athena." the second female vulcan said,
"Hera." the third female vulcan said,
"Echidna." the fourth female vulcan said,
"Well, you four can accompany me while I explore this place." Sprinter replied, and they were elated, they lead him to the gold temple in the back of the village and the transparent images disappear. Walker and Jones see the vulcans saw the transparent images as well, four adult female vulcans look away, Walker and Jones walk to them,
"Excuse us." Walker said, and they look at him and Jones,
"Are you four Diana, Athena, Hera, and Echidna?" Walker asked, they nod,
"What did grandpa do to you four?" Walker asked,
"He broke our hearts." Echidna replied tearfully,
"How?" Walker asked,
"He rejected all of us, he said something about us not being able to help him in the long run." Hera replied,
"I believe what he meant was you four can't have children with him, to have Spirit's powers, his mate has to be the same type of creature as him." Walker said,
"Same type of creature?" Diana asked,
"You know, had to be a pony, like him." Jones replied,
"Now that you mention it, you two do look different." Hera said,
"I'm a unicorn, I cast magic, he's an earth pony, there's a third type called a Pegasus, they have wings and can fly and walk on clouds." Jones replied,
"What do you do?" Athena asked,
"Grow crops and food, earth ponies also have better physical capabilities than unicorns and Pegasi." Walker replied, shocking the vulcans,
"The unicorns and Pegasi are even weaker than you guys?!" Echidna asked,
"Is that a problem?" Walker asked,
"When compared to us, you earth ponies are extremely weak physically." a male elderly vulcan replied,
"That's strange, in our world, his kind is the strongest of the three." Jones said, the child vulcans laugh,
"They must be really weak then." a male toddler vulcan said,
"Which one is physically weaker, unicorn or Pegasi?" a female toddler vulcan asked,
"Unicorn, and Pegasi is the plural form, the singular form is Pegasus." Walker replied,
"Well, do you want us to bring Sprinter here so he can apologize?" Jones asked,
"No, it will not undo the damage." Diana replied, the other three agreed,
"Well, I'm sure grandpa loved you four as friends, but he wanted to continue his family's bloodline, and he had to marry a female earth pony for that to happen, since Spirit's powers forbids him from having children from different kinds of creatures." Walker said,
"How do you know that?" Hera asked,
"I overheard my daddy talk about it a few weeks before I got Spirit's powers." Walker replied,
"Well, we should get going, nice talking to you four." Jones said,
"Wait, what did you four think about my daddy?" Walker asked,
"Runner was a good man, we learned he was nothing like Sprinter, and he had his heart set on one person when we met him, we like him." Hera replied, Walker smiled,
"Well, we'll be going now, we have children of our own to take care of." Athena said, and the four left,
"Come on, Walker, let's check the last area." Jones said, and the two go to the mouth of gold architectural temple that was a hybrid between a lion and a boar, they see the creatures that the temple's building resembled, they all had brown fur and white tusks, Walker and Jones go past them and enter. Walker and Jones enter the last temple of Chrysaor and see it was the same as the other two temples, only the left painting now had vulcans with no wings or tails, and the right painting had close range weapons on it, a statue of Behemoth was between the two paintings, and there was a table with a book on it in front of the two, Behemoth was on the book's front cover. Walker uses the amulet to see what Runner and Sprinter did, the transparent image shows a colt Runner entering the temple and had a bored expression, the objects in the temple glow light blue and float in midair, much to Walker's and Jones' shocks, while Runner was scared, he teleports around to dodge them when they were lunged at him, the temple was soon a wreck, and Runner ran out of the temple scared. The images change and Sprinter enters the temple with the four female vulcans,
"This is the Temple of Behemoth, there are three temples, we go to them to pray." Diana said,
"For what?" Sprinter asked,
"To give our three gods our appreciation for having their children here to protect us from the Possessed." Hera replied,
"I see, I keep getting the feeling the one doing the possessing is someone I know." Sprinter said,
"Hey, ignore that, what do you think of this temple?" Athena asked,
"All of this gold hurts my eyes." Sprinter replied,
"You don't like it?" Echidna asked,
"No, I'm neutral with this area." Sprinter replied,
"Well, come on, then, we'll take you to see the other two." Echidna said, and they walk out with the four female vulcans leading Sprinter, Walker and Jones just look around after the transparent pictures disappear and they decide to go back at where the three paths were at. Walker and Jones go back and saw Elder Hephaestus waiting for them,
"So, what do you two think of our land?" Elder Hephaestus asked,
"I like it, very creative." Walker replied,
"Me too, this place is actually pretty nice." Jones said,
"I am glad someone finally enjoys the hard work and dedication we put in our art, it took us years to make." Elder Hephaestus said,
"What is the point of the three paths?" Walker asked,
"We have three gods, three temples, three paths, one to the land, one to the sky, and one to the sea, they are also elements, Leviathan is water, Ziz is wind, and Behemoth is earth." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"I'm getting a strange feeling that there's a fourth element." Walker said,
"Yes, the element of fire, it does not have a god, because it does not make up the world like how the other three do, we use the fire to craft, as we do with the earth and the water, the wind spreads the fire when we need it for more complex things." Elder Hephaestus replied,
"Well, it was nice meeting you guys, but we have to go back now." Walker said,
"Walker, you go on without me, I'll stay here and try to learn the magic spell that cleanses the Possessed." Jones replied,
"Very well, come with me, I'll try my best to teach you." Elder Hephaestus said, and he walks back to the blacksmith area with Jones following him, Walker opens a portal to the Void and goes in it, and the portal closes.
Walker arrives into the Void and goes to go see The Judge, the Virtues and Sins were there as well, he gives the two creatures of the Anti-Spirit cult to The Judge,
"I just want to know what world they're from." Walker said,
"Very well, this creature with the electricity is from the world Electra, and this skeletal one is from Necromanca." The Judge replied, Walker was surprised, but he then teleported to Spirit's throne room, Spirit sat in his throne with the Senses standing to the left side of the room,
"Welcome back, Walker, I assume you enjoyed Chrysaor." Taste said,
"I did, thank you, but I'm here to see Spirit." Walker replied,
"I know why you're here, Walker, it's about those two creatures, isn't it?" Spirit asked,
"What are they?" Walker asked,
"Creatures from the worlds beyond, one of them found a way to connect the other worlds, this creature was from a world where I am an evil deity in its culture, it found the worlds of those that also saw me as an evil deity, and they came together to form the cult." Spirit replied,
"Did my great grandpa have a hoof in it?" Walker asked,
"No, the cult existed centuries before Jumper was born, but now that I think about it, the Possessed began to appear when Sprinter killed him when he was four years old, so this whole time, it was him." Spirit replied,
"Did my great grandpa receive salvation or damnation?" Walker asked,
"Neither, since when he died, his soul disappeared before Sprinter could absorb it, it never appeared again, but if he did come here, he would have without a doubt received damnation." Spirit replied,
"What happens when someone from my family with your powers dies?" Walker asked,
"You become a soul, just like everyone else, but since you all have some of my powers, your souls are harder to catch than most, since it can teleport around rather than just floating in the sky." Spirit replied,
"I've also been wondering if you chose to make only the males in my father’s side of the family have your powers because Equestria is female dominated." Walker said,
"Not at all, I chose to make only the males from your family have the powers because the ancestor who summoned me was male, and from the paternal side of your family, so I just decided to make the males of the paternal side of your family have it." Spirit replied,
"One more question, I've been wanting to ask this for a long time, what if the next generation of my family to receive your powers has brothers?" Walker asked,
"That is impossible." Spirit replied,
"What?" Walker asked,
"I have rigged my powers to control how the foal forms in the mother, not only will the female change to male if it is a female, but the mother can only have one child at a time, I made it that way to prevent sibling rivalry or fighting, so whichever child the parents want first, I bring that one to the world, while I absorb the soul of the other." Spirit replied,
"Why?" Walker asked,
"Think about it, brothers fighting with those powers and causing destruction, that'll draw Celestia's attention, and worse yet, brother and sister, what would the sister do if she saw what the brother can do?" Spirit asked, Walker realized what Spirit was saying,
"What if we have adopted siblings?" Walker asked,
"Then use the powers in private." Spirit replied, Walker nodded,
"Since you have encountered the cult, Diplomat and War can have you fight them at the arena, since those creatures are not native to any world you travel to at the time being, and learn their strengths and weaknesses, so you will know what to do if you encounter them again." Spirit said, Walker nods,
"Thanks, but I'm tired, I'm heading home." Walker said,
"Alright, be careful, there is still one more type of enemy you have to watch out for, they only appear at night." Spirit replied, and Walker went back to Equestria. Walker arrived home and to his surprise, he saw a dark brown golem-like creature on the floor,
"Daddy? Grandpa?" Walker asked, Runner and Sprinter run to him,
"Oh, good, you're okay." Runner said,
"What happened here?" Walker asked,
"The Anti-Spirit cult found us." Sprinter replied,
"What? I got attacked by this electrified guy with a spear and a skeletal creature in Chrysaor." Walker said,
"No way, so the Anti-Spirit cult came after you, too." Runner replied,
"Come on, you two, let's have dinner together as a family." Sprinter said, and Sprinter made dinner and the three sat together at the table. Walker talks about his experiences in Chrysaor and Jones staying behind to learn the vulcans' spell that cleanses the Possessed,
"There's one thing I don't understand, when I saw daddy enter the Temple of Behemoth, the inanimate objects began to float up and be thrown at him." Walker said,
"That's another form of the Possessed, Walker." Runner replied,
"What?!" Walker asked with shock,
"It is, the Possessed does not just apply to people, Walker, inanimate objects can become possessed as well." Sprinter replied, Walker was in disbelief,
"You look tired, grandson, you should rest." Sprinter said, Walker agreed, he finished supper and went to bed early. Walker woke up in the Void and went to go see Diplomat and War, the electrified creature of the Anti-Spirit cult appeared, Walker tries his attack that has the dark blue flames surround him, it did no harm to the creature, he then tried shooting a stream of dark blue and orange fire at the creature, he was immune to that as well, Walker remembers the weapons the vulcans had and changes his sword to a giant hammer, he hits the creature and breaks his armor and shield,
"There we go." Walker said happily, and he hits the creature in the head with the hammer and it disappears. The skeletal creature appears next and Walker tried using the hammer, it was very effective, he destroyed it with ease, Diplomat and War laughed,
"You are learning, you will make a fine fighter at this rate." War said,
"Remember, Walker, this isn't Equestria, so peaceful relations and friendship will usually not work." Diplomat said, Walker nodded and he went to the temple, he divided the four training parts by time, he did Body Walker's training first and swam, he then had to weight lifting, which was hard, he panted heavily at the end, he finished and did Mind Walker's training next, he read about the cultures and arts in Equestria and beyond, which made him tired since reading was boring to him, he did Spirit Walker's training afterwards, he meditated and cleared out his mind, any feelings of anger and revenge he had before were gone, he did Emotion Walker's training last, he made Twilight Sparkle appear and Walker guessed her feelings and emotions easily, Walker finished his training for the night and decided to wake up.
Walker wakes up the next morning and it was a weekend, so he was off from school, he had breakfast with Runner and Sprinter,
"I'm going to Yomi next." Walker said,
"Be careful there, the natives are dangerous in fights." Sprinter replied,
"We'll go to the Void as well, we have to help the others fight the Anti-Spirit cult." Runner said,
"That reminds me, grandpa, I heard one of your past visions mention a Samedi and Brigitte, who were they?" Walker asked,
"Members of the Anti-Spirit cult." Sprinter replied,
"Oh." Walker said with surprise and bewilderment since he thought they were the ones creating the Possessed,
"Should I go get Genghis?" Walker asked,
"If you want to." Sprinter replied, Walker thinks about it and remembers Genghis' desire to conquer other countries and replace their cultures with pony culture,
"On second thought, probably not." Walker said,
"Well, let's go, then." Sprinter replied, and Sprinter opens a portal to the Void and the three enter. Walker, Runner, and Sprinter go to Chrysaor next and see Jones,
"Jones." Walker said, and he turns around and saw him with Runner and Sprinter,
"I'm about to go to the next world." Walker said,
"I'm still busy trying to learn the spell that cleanses one of the Possessed, so you go on without me, I'll go there when I have the chance." Jones replied, Walker felt sad,
"I'll remain here and help the vulcans fight the Anti-Spirit cult." Sprinter said,
"Okay, be careful, dad, I'll be in Aerostia." Runner replied, and he opened a portal and went in, Walker also entered and Runner went to Aerostia, Walker looks at Yomi and sighs, he goes into the portal and enters the world. Walker arrives into Yomi and sees the world was dark red and black, there was lava everywhere, he also sees skulls and bones being used for decoration, which made him very uncomfortable, Walker looks around and he soon heard walking, he saw the native creatures surround him,
"Another one?" a blue skinned creature asked with a deep voice,
"It seems so." a red skinned creature replied with a deep voice,
"What is your name?" a second red skinned creature asked,
"W... Walker." Walker replied with fear, scared of them, the world's natives chuckle a bit,
"Look at this one, it's scared of us." a second blue skinned native said,
"Uh, what are you guys called?" Walker asked,
"Why you ask?" a third blue skinned native asked,
"So I don't end up calling you guys something offensive by mistake." Walker replied, the natives laugh,
"Don't worry, we don't get offended easily." a third red skinned native said,
"Still, what are you guys called?" Walker asked,
"Well, if you really want to know, we are oni." the first blue skinned native replied, Walker looks around and sees a statue of a pony in front of him,
"Who is that statue there?" Walker asked, the onis look at it,
"That is the statue of Sprinter, he may have been an outsider, but his way of thinking was very similar to ours, and embraced our culture, we made a statue of him because of his acceptance of our culture." a fourth blue oni replied,
"We'll let you explore our world, we hope you enjoy it." a fourth red oni said, and they leave while Walker uses the amulet to see what Runner and Sprinter did. The transparent images appear and Walker saw a colt,
"Okay, my last world." the colt said, Walker realized it was Runner, the onis see him and Runner screams with fear,
"Who are you?" a blue oni asked,
"Runner." Runner replied while scared,
"Are you from Sprinter's world?" a red oni asked,
"Actually, he's my father." Runner replied, the onis cheer and they bow to welcome Runner,
"What are you guys doing?" Runner asked while confused,
"Welcome to Yomi, son of Sprinter, your father showed us there are worlds out there that have similar beliefs and values of our culture." a second red oni said,
"Yes, please, feel free to look around, and tell Sprinter we said hi." a second blue oni said, and they walk away while Runner walked forward while scared. The images changes and Walker sees a colt Sprinter come to the world,
"Okay, my very first world." Sprinter said to himself, and he walks forward slowly, but blades come down in front of him, the onis jump down and surround him,
"Who are you?" a red oni asked,
"Name's Sprinter." Sprinter replied,
"How did you get here?" a blue oni asked,
"Through the Void." Sprinter replied, the onis suddenly become surprised,
"So, Spirit sent you." the blue oni said, Sprinter nodded,
"The being who judges souls has sent you, he has made other beings to help him, Spirit is neither good nor evil in our culture, he is just a collector of dead souls to send to the afterlife, you are welcome to travel our world, good luck getting the souls." the red oni said, and they leave while Sprinter walks forward. The transparent images disappear and Walker goes forward, he sees Sprinter had two statues, one to the left, and one to the right, Walker just walks past them. Walker arrives at the next area and saw several dead onis hanging from the ceiling with nooses around their necks, which made him very uncomfortable, he walks up the stairs and sees a waterfall of red blood up ahead, Walker was very uncomfortable, and the room had a foul stench, the heat of the area made it smell even worse.
Walker looks and sees two stairways, the one to the left led up, and the one to the right led down, he was wondering which way he should go until black spears came up and out of the floor and blocked both ways, two onis jump down and Walker looks at them, the one to his left was blue, and the one to his right was red,
"Red or blue?" the blue oni asked,
"What?" Walker asked,
"Which one of us do you side with?" the red oni asked,
"Wait, I don't even know your ways of living, yet, so I can't decide until I see both of them, first." Walker replied, the two chuckle while Walker sees the other onis watching, they were laughing a little as well,
"Well, in that case." the blue oni said, and he held a sabre with a silver blade and black handle and hand guard in his right hand while the red oni had a big black mace in his left hand,
"Speed and skill, or brute force and strength? Your pick." the blue oni said,
"I'll have to go with the skill, since I'm still small and growing." Walker replied, the onis laugh,
"I like you, but before we grant you access to our tribes, you must prove yourself in combat, show us your prowess." the red oni said, and the two onis were ready to fight Walker. Walker summons his sword and pistol and watches them carefully, he notices that two onis had weapons on their backs as well, the blue oni moves around swiftly and does slashes with the sabre while Walker teleports around to dodge it, the blue oni charges towards him and tries to slash him, Walker moves around nervously and with fear since the blue oni was fast, he hits Walker on his left side and he grunts a little, he saw the sabre did not hurt very much, the red oni jumps and tries to hit Walker with the mace, Walker teleported away and he saw the mace broke part of the floor, which scared him, Walker sees the red oni swing the mace above his head and it swings out, Walker was shocked to see the mace was also a whip, but Walker was uncomfortable when he saw the whip parts were made from white bones, Walker jumps up to dodge the mace parts of the whip, but the red oni swings it the opposite direction and one part of the mace hits Walker on the right side of his mouth, he screamed in pain and fell.
Walker feels his mouth with his front right hoof and saw he was bleeding, his teeth felt loose as well, he saw the blue oni do slashes with the sabre and it sent purple waves of electricity forward, Walker teleports back and he saw the blue oni had purple electricity on him, which made him even faster, the red oni slams the mace-whip hybrid weapon down and Walker teleports away, an explosion of fire comes out of it, Walker and looks and sees the red oni now had orange fire on him, he looks and sees his weapon broke the floor, he realized the red oni was now even stronger, Walker was scared but he swallows his feelings and gets ready to fight. Walker watches the weapons carefully and wondered if each one could correspond with the other, so he changed his sword to the mace-whip hybrid, and his pistol to the sabre, Walker decided to go after the blue oni first since he was faster.
Walker uses the mace-whip hybrid weapon on the blue oni and hits him easily since he just swung it around, but the red oni interlocks Walker's mace-whip hybrid weapon and the red oni pulls it out of Walker's front right hoof, the weapon disappears and reappears in Walker's hoof. The blue oni does several stabbing moves with his sabre, it sends out more electrified projectiles and they hit Walker at his joints, he grunts loudly and was stunned a bit, Walker got angry and growls a bit, he teleports to the blue oni and tries to slash him with his sabre, the onis laugh when they see Walker did not know how to use it properly, Walker got even more angry and swung the mace-whip hybrid weapon to his right and he hit the blue oni in the face and knocked him down, the mace parts also broke the sabre into pieces, it only stunned the red oni for a few seconds and he quickly recovered despite getting hit in the face. Walker makes the black skeletal arm come out of his front right hoof in an attempt to pull the oni forward, but he ended up going to the oni, the red oni swings his mace down and made a fiery explosion appear, Walker teleported away before it hit him, he then focused while the red oni makes the whip parts come out again, Walker uses his sabre and cuts the bones apart until there was nothing left of the mace-whip hybrid, Walker was about to slash the red oni in the right knee, but the oni grabs his front left hoof with his right hand and lifts him up, the red oni snickers and throws him back.
The blue oni stands up and he takes out the weapon on his back, it was a katana, he held it in his right hand, Walker stood there surprised, he has never seen such a weapon, the red oni also took the weapon off of his back, it was a long broadsword, about sixty six inches long, its grip was two-handed, the blade was twelve inches wide, wide enough to hide the oni behind it, the blade was also tall enough to cover the oni wielding it, it was also double-edged, which scared Walker. The onis laugh when they see Walker was scared of the big sword,
"You know, Walker, this was the weapon Sprinter preferred to use when he chose what to wield." the red oni said, Walker was still nervous, but he watched them. The blue oni does fast and precise cuts with the katana, it sent the electrified waves at Walker as well, he dodged them by teleporting, the red oni does diagonal swings with the big sword, it sent orange waves of fire out, Walker ducked to dodge the big sword, he was extremely scared of getting hit by it. The blue oni does more slashes with the katana, Walker jumped to his right and dodged the waves, he was wondering about something, he changes his saber back to his pistol and he shoots the katana, the blade broke, he tried it on the red oni's sword, but the bullet bounced off, he changes his pistol to a rifle and fires it, the bullet bounced off again. The blue oni attacks Walker from his left blind spot and he grunted as he was knocked down, the blue oni tries to stab the broken katana into the left side of Walker's neck, he holds the blade back with his front hoofs and teleported away while the blue oni stabbed the broken sword into the ground. Walker appears behind the red oni and jumps onto his back, the red oni jumps back and hits Walker into a wall, he grunts while the wall cracked, the red oni jumps down while Walker groaned, he fell off of the wall and got back up. Walker focuses and watches the big sword carefully, he changes his mace-whip hybrid weapon to a two handed hammer, the red oni swings the big sword horizontally, Walker teleports up and falls down, he hits the big sword with the hammer while grunting loudly, dust flies up everywhere, it clears and everyone saw Walker broke the big sword, which made him smile.
The blue oni punches Walker at his left blind spot and he fell, Walker got up and saw the two onis had their fists raised, Walker growls loudly since the fight was not over, and he was tired. Walker gets back up and the two onis begin punching and kicking him, Walker tried to buck them, but they caught his hoofs and parried each kick he did, which angered him, Walker remembers Genghis' training and he jumps up and kicks the blue oni in his chin with his hind right hoof, it knocked him down, Walker jumped again and kicked the red oni in his right cheek with hind left hoof and knocked him down.
Walker panted heavily and saw the two onis were out of energy and on their knees', the onis watching them cheered at the fact that Walker won, but Walker did not feel any joy since he hated fighting, he goes to the two onis and holds his front hoofs out,
"What are you doing?" the red oni asked,
"In my culture, we forgive and offer friendship to our enemies when the fighting or arguing is done." Walker replied, the onis boo at him,
"Coward!" a blue oni said, the onis agreed with him,
"Wait, what's going on?" Walker asked,
"You just brought shame upon yourself." the blue oni replied,
"What? How?" Walker asked with shock,
"What you're doing is seen as an act of cowardice in our culture, when we fight, the choices are either kill your opponent, or die trying, there is no forgiveness or offering friendship." the red oni replied, Walker was in disbelief,
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go on and kill us, or we will get back up and try to kill you, we will not accept your friendship, that would be surrendering, which will bring disgrace to our names as well, even after death." the blue oni said, Walker was in pure shock, but he closes his eyes and was about to cry, he makes a pistol appear in his front left hoof, and he shoots the two in the head and kills them. The onis cheer and the spears go down while Walker stood in place with deep sorrow,
"Princess Celestia, you were wrong, friendship isn't magic, friendship is a concept, offering friendship to your enemies is confusing to some, seen as an act of stupidity by several, and seen as an act of cowardice that brings disgrace and shame to your name by others. Friendship is not magic, friendship is just something we use to stay on good terms with others." Walker said to himself,
"Hey." a blue oni said,
"Hmm?" Walker said as he came back to reality,
"Save your laments for later, now choose, red or blue?" the blue oni asked,
"I can't decide, yet, I need to see what you guys do first before I decide." Walker said, the onis agree,
"Alright, feel free to look around." a red oni said, and they leave, Walker looks at the two paths and sighs, he decides to go upstairs first. Walker was about to go to an upper area until he felt tingling in his head,
"Walker, you have a guest at your home." Spirit said telepathically, and he shows Walker the vision, he saw Cherry Blossom at his home, she knocked on the door with her front right hoof three times,
"Walker, I'm here. Walker?" Cherry Blossom asked, she goes to one of the windows and jumps while grunting a little, she looks and sees he and his family were not home, much to Cherry Blossom's surprise, she became sad and left. The vision goes away and Walker felt bad, but he ignores it since he had something else to do, he goes to see the blue onis and sees them practicing with their weapons, Walker sees the blue onis made weapons that were mainly designed to be fast and swift, along with hitting the target in specific parts of the body, most of them used sabres and katanas, sabres were used for mostly stabbing, while the katana was used for slashing. Walker watches the blue onis fight and train, he sees the blue onis were attacking their targets either from behind or their blind spots, he also saw the blue onis eating dead red onis as food, which almost made him vomit,
"Welcome to our tribe, Walker." a blue oni said,
"So, what do you guys value?" Walker asked,
"Speed, skill, agility, and courage, you need courage to be accepted by both types of onis." the blue oni replied,
"You guys don't value honor?" Walker asked,
"Honor is a fool's prize to us, we prefer win by any means necessary." the blue oni replied,
"Wait, so I could use Spirit's powers in that battle there?" Walker asked,
"Of course, do what you have to in order to win, fighting fairly and honorably will only make it harder for yourself." the blue oni replied,
"I've met people who saw friendship and forgiveness as an act of stupidity, but never people who outright despise it." Walker said,
"We value family over friends, remember, friends are just people you're on good terms with, it's good to keep them close, but keep your enemies closer." the blue oni replied,
"Is there anything all onis respect?" Walker asked,
"Revenge, there is no law in Yomi, so vigilante justice is accepted, if our family is attacked, then vigilante justice can be carried out." the blue oni replied,
"Okay, I think I'm ready to see how you guys live." Walker said, and he walks forward. Walker goes forward and sees the blue onis were still fighting, he looks and sees the blue onis built statues out of bones, which made Walker uncomfortable, he also sees the blue onis making weapons and armor out of flesh, bones, and organs, and the onis kept the skulls of those they have killed in battle, Walker was very uncomfortable in Yomi, he saw electricity appear every now and then since the blue onis were training, he sees the blue onis were orderly and strict. The dead onis hanging from the ceiling come to life and spin around to broke the nooses, they come down and go to fight Walker, he became scared but summoned his weapons, the blue onis run in front of him,
"Stand back, we'll handle this." a blue oni said, and they use their weapons, Walker looks and sees the blue onis also had spears, some also used small hammers and pickaxes, the blue onis rush to the Undead and attack them from their blind spots or behind, and when one Undead was injured to the point where it cannot move, the onis ganged up on it and attacked it from all directions, Walker was shocked to see how violent the onis were in battle. All of the Undead were then killed and the blue onis went back to what they were doing, Walker also sees the blue onis practicing hand-to-hand combat, they struck others with mostly their claws, the areas they hit their opponents were very specific, they hit their opponents in their eyes, noses, the sides of their necks, sternums, biceps, shins, and groins, which made Walker uncomfortable,
"So, what is that divides you blue onis from red onis?" Walker asked,
"We wish to be in charge of Yomi, and bring law and order to our world." a blue oni replied,
"So, you guys want to stop fighting and live in peace." Walker said,
"No, we wish to be in charge, and have others do what we say, and have those who disobey or resist be killed." a second blue oni replied, much to Walker's shock,
"Well, I'll be going now, nice learning about your ways." Walker said, and he went back to where he fought the two onis and goes downstairs to go see the red onis. Walker arrives downstairs and saw the red onis were also training, Walker sees the red onis used big and flexible weapons designed for crushing, all of their weapons were made from metal or bone, he also saw the red onis training in hand-to-hand combat, but he saw the red onis can crush heads with one punch, which scared him, he also the red onis ripping off the limbs of other onis with their bare hands as well, Walker was very scared of them,
"Do not worry, we have magic to cure them." a red oni said,
"So how do you guys train for combat?" Walker asked,
"Brute force and strength, our tribe is naturally stronger than the blue oni tribe, but they're smaller and swifter, so they train in speed and skill." the red oni replied,
"So, why are you guys at conflict with the blue onis?" Walker asked,
"Because they wish to rule us with an iron fist, we don't want rulers, we value our freedom to do what we want, no law means more fun, more fighting, more destruction, more killing, we like Yomi being the anarchic state it is." the red oni replied, Walker was in disbelief. The ground erupts and a monster made from lava appeared,
"All who do not see Spirit as an evil entity must die." the monster said, Walker realized it was another creature from the Anti-Spirit cult,
"We'll deal with him." a second red oni said, and the red onis jump onto the creature's arms and it uses its magic to make pillars of lava come out in an attempt to hit Walker, but he got scared and changed to his soul form, making him immune to the attacks, he watches the red onis fight the Anti-Spirit cult monster, they rip his arms off with their bare hands and then one grabs his head from behind and breaks his neck. Walker changes back to his regular form and absorbs the creature's soul,
"Be careful here, creatures of the Anti-Spirit cult and liches are common in Yomi, especially outside this area." the red oni from before said, Walker was uncomfortable when he saw the red onis taking the lava monster's skull as a trophy from the battle,
"What did you guys and the blue onis think of my daddy and grandpa?" Walker asked,
"Sprinter will always be welcomed here, his ruthlessness in battle won many of us over, as well as his desire to win by any means necessary, as for Runner, well, it's mixed at most, Runner did not like our ways and was willing to fight us, but he was stopped by Champion Lucius." the red oni replied,
"Champion Lucius?" Walker asked,
"Yes, he is the supreme ruler of Yomi, even though he does not really have any power. We live in a meritocratic society, he is the last of his kind of an ancient oni tribe, but he is the strongest oni in the world as well, his fortress is outside, go to where you fought us and you will see a door on the wall." the red oni replied,
"Okay, well, I'll be going, thanks." Walker said, and he left the tribe. Walker walks back to where he fought the two onis and decided to use the amulet just to see what Runner and Sprinter did, even though he was not in the mood to do it, he sees transparent images appear with Runner fighting a red oni and a blue oni, they both had the same weapons as the two Walker fought, Runner liked the sabre, so he made one appear for himself, he fights fairly and honorably, but it got him beaten, but Runner eventually had enough and started fighting dirty, he did win, but he felt very bad about fighting dirty and looked down with regret. Walker then sees Sprinter fight them, he sees the red oni had a big sword on his back, so Sprinter makes one appear for himself, teleports behind the two onis, and does one slash and kills them both, the onis cheered while Sprinter was stoic and cold. The transparent images disappear and Walker was in disbelief, he hears floating and sees twenty liches in front of him,
"I don't have time for this." Walker grumbled, and he just made rifles appear in his front hoofs and fires them, he destroys the liches easily, he sighs and goes back to the blue oni tribe and uses the amulet, he sees Runner speaking with the blue onis and arguing with them, Walker ignored it because he did not like hearing people fight and argue, a lich appeared and Runner fought it, but the blue onis did not help him, Runner fought and destroyed the lich and left in anger. The picture changes to the blue onis talking to Sprinter, they were laughing while Sprinter spoke, they enjoyed having him around, six liches appear and Sprinter takes them down with the blue onis, he waved bye at them while the blue onis watch him leave while they smiled. The images disappear and Walker goes back to the red oni tribe,
"Okay, let's get this over with." Walker said, and he uses the amulet, he sees Runner with the red onis, they argue and try to attack Runner, but he holds them back and he leaves them while the red onis watch him with anger, the images change to Sprinter with the red onis, they were laughing and having a good time while Sprinter talks about his childhood, he leaves and says bye to them while the red onis wave bye at him, the images disappear and Walker sighs as he goes back to where he fought the two onis, he looks at the wall and sees it was a door, the door had a lot of oni skulls in it, he opens it and goes out. Walker arrives outside and sees he was in a stronghold the whole time, he looks and sees Yomi had a blood red sky with black clouds, he saw a black fortress up ahead, but Walker was extremely uncomfortable with its design, it looked like a black Gothic fortress, it had spikes on it, oni faces carved on it, and dead onis hanging from nooses on the roofs of the fortress, Walker also looks at the fortress and saw waterfalls of blood on the sides of it, which made Walker sick to his stomach, he walks forward but feels sharp pain on his hoofs, he looks down and saw the bridge leading to the fortress was made out of bones. Walker hears laughing around him and looks to his sides, he saw blue onis to his left, and red onis to his right, they go to him and Walker realized from their voices that they were females, they looked just like the males, except for having bigger chests,
"So you're the next generation's inheritor of Spirit's powers, what do you think of our land?" a female blue oni asked,
"I don't like it." Walker replied,
"What is wrong with it?" a female red oni asked,
"It's hot and uncomfortable, and you guys' weapons and architecture make me sick to my stomach." Walker replied,
"Ah, just like Runner." the female blue oni said,
"We loved having Sprinter here, a lot of the girls fell in love with him." the female red oni said,
"Did you two fall in love with him?" Walker asked,
"To an extent, yes." the female blue oni replied,
"Of course." the female red oni said,
"Why aren't you guys fighting?" Walker asked,
"We would, but the Anti-Spirit cult is a bigger threat, we'll continue our war when the cult is destroyed." the female blue oni replied,
"Yes, they attack our children as well, onis value family, the Anti-Spirit cult does not, we have had members of the cult come here to attack us, and they would send their children to fight while the parent stands in the back and watches." the female red oni said, much to Walker's shock,
"Well, it was nice meeting you two, but I have to go see Champion Lucius." Walker said,
"Ah, yes, he is through that fortress, if you're lucky, he's right at the entrance when you enter." the female blue oni replied, and the two left and Walker enters the fortress. Walker opens the door of the fortress and enters, he saw a black bridge ahead of him, he looks and saw orange lava below the bridge, Walker looks forward and saw a black throne up ahead, the top of the throne had a big oni's skull on it, and the throne was outlined with bones, Walker looks and saw Champion Lucius sitting across from him, Walker was scared by his appearance, he had two black curved horns on the top of his head, white teeth with four big fangs, he was a purple oni, his skin was a very dark purple, he was more muscular and toned than the other onis, he had a six pack just like all of the other male onis, he also had white monochromatic eyes, he was shirtless just like all of the other oni, but his pants and boots scared Walker, his pants were black, and he wore black mid-calf length combat boots just like the rest of the oni, but his entire pants was covered in bones, so were his boots, he had black knee pads on which had an oni skull on them, Walker looks and sees he had black elbow pads with an oni skull on them as well, all four of those skulls had bones carved and shaped to resemble their horns, along with black gauntlets that were fingerless to expose his claws, they were covered with bones as well, and covered his hands and lower half of his forearms. Walker walks forward and Champion Lucius looks at him,
"So, the next inheritor of Spirit's powers stands here before me, despite his training being incomplete." Champion Lucius said, he had a very deep voice,
"I'm not here to offer my friendship." Walker said,
"Yes, Princess Celestia's teachings only work in Equestria." Champion Lucius replied,
"How do you know about Princess Celestia?" Walker asked,
"There is very little you can hide from me, Walker, I will be waiting for Jones when he comes here." Champion Lucius replied,
"What do you know, then?" Walker asked,
"You have no school life, Cherry Blossom is your only friend in school, and your only female friend by extension, you are also training with a dead pony's soul, Genghis, a conqueror from ancient Equestria, and Jones, a unicorn brought to the Void to be protected from Claudius." Champion Lucius replied, Walker was in disbelief, Champion Lucius smiled and disappeared, he reappears in front of Walker and thrusts his left hand forward, a barrier of red fire and blue lightning appeared and it pushed Walker back, he grunted when he hit the double doors he entered through and cracked it, Walker fell and groaned,
"Pathetic. Runner and Sprinter were stronger than you when they were your age." Champion Lucius said, Walker stood up,
"I've had enough with all of this fighting." Walker said,
"Yes, you have overcome many problems to make it this far. But will you overcome this one?" Champion Lucius asked,
"Why must we fight?" Walker asked,
"Because I tested Sprinter's fighting ability long ago to see if he was as powerful as us oni, I did the same with Runner, and now it's your turn, just like your father and paternal grandfather before you." Champion Lucius replied,
"I'll show you... I'm tougher than I look." Walker said, and he made his sword and pistol appear, he tries to swing his sword but Champion Lucius holds his right hand out with his palm open and makes the fire and lightning barrier reappear in front of him, he teleports back into his throne,
"Prove to me that you are as strong as Runner and Sprinter." Champion Lucius said with a smile on his face, and Walker was ready. Walker fires his pistol at Champion Lucius and the bullets miss him, Walker focuses and aims more carefully, but Champion Lucius disappeared and reappeared behind Walker, he slams his fists down onto Walker's back and he screams while the floor got destroyed, he got back up and Champion Lucius punches Walker in his left cheek with his left fist from Walker's left blind spot, he teleports and punches Walker in his right cheek with his right fist from his right blind spot, Champion Lucius continues until Walker turns to his left and tries to slash him with his sword, but Champion Lucius disappears and reappears above and behind Walker, he goes down with his right foot out and he kicks Walker in the back, he grunts and falls onto the floor again, the floor broke again, Walker growls loudly and stands back up, he hears Champion Lucius appear behind him and he teleports to behind Champion Lucius and slashes his back with his sword, he did cut him, but Champion Lucius was unfazed, Champion Lucius teleports away from Walker and holds his right hand out, he shot red fire and blue lightning out of each of his five claws, Walker teleported to behind the fire and lightning beams, but they home on him and fly around, Walker sees them and becomes shocked, he teleports around and they eventually hit Champion Lucius, but he was unharmed by them.
Champion Lucius teleports to his throne and makes two spheres come up, the left sphere was red, and the right sphere was blue, he uses his magic to shoot the red sphere, Walker teleports to dodge it, but the sphere changes to a pillar of fire when it hit the floor, and began moving around on the floor and chasing Walker, he teleports around in midair until the fire disappeared. The blue sphere goes next and hits the floor, the entire floor was electrified, Walker teleports around in midair to avoid getting electrocuted, it disappeared after a few seconds and Walker went back down. Champion Lucius teleports to in front of Walker and Walker makes the dark blue flames appear around him and they spin counterclockwise around his entire body, but Champion Lucius grabs Walker by his throat with his right hand and lifts him up, Walker sees Champion Lucius smiling through the flames, he was in utter disbelief that one of his spiritual powers did not work on someone, Champion Lucius tightens his grip and Walker gets burned and electrocuted at the same time, Walker screamed in agony in the process, he tries to teleport but was paralyzed, Champion Lucius lets go of him and Walker could not move for a few seconds before recovering, he was about to stand back up but Champion Lucius kicks him in the face with his right foot, Walker grunts and hits the wall again, creating a crater in the process.
Walker pants and places his front left hoof on the ground, four light blue round heads appear and they fly to Champion Lucius, but he grabs them with his hands and squashes them, much to Walker's shock, he lifts his front hoofs up, but no oni souls appeared to help him,
"What?" Walker asked,
"Onis don't like being told what to do." Champion Lucius said, and he teleported and begun punching and kicking Walker in his blind spots and from behind again, Walker panted heavily and changes to his soul form, but Champion Lucius holds his right hand out with his palm open and claws apart, Walker grunts and he changes back to normal,
"What the?" Walker asked, he felt tingling in his head,
"Remember, Walker, just like Demonicus, some creatures have magic to change you back to your body form if you enter your soul form." Spirit said telepathically, and he saw Champion Lucius teleport back to his throne, Walker teleports to him and changes his sword to a big sledgehammer, he hits Champion Lucius in his left cheek with it, but the sledgehammer did no harm to Champion Lucius, not from what Walker saw, Champion Lucius smiles and holds his right hand up and uses telekinesis on Walker, it was purple, Walker was surprised because Champion Lucius did not use his horns for telekinesis, but he screamed in the process and was electrocuted, Walker was shocked to see Champion Lucius' telekinesis was electrified, he throws Walker back and he was paralyzed, Champion Lucius made the red sphere and the blue sphere appear again, he shoots them both at Walker at the same time, he recovers and teleports into the air, the pillar of fire follows him again while the entire floor was electrified, Walker sees Champion Lucius use his electrified telekinesis again, he teleports away and changes his pistol to a bladed boomerang, he throws it and it homes on Champion Lucius, but he holds up his right hand and catches it, he throws it back at Walker, who just made it disappear and reappear in his front left hoof, he then changes it to a rifle and he fires it at Champion Lucius, he hits him in his right chest,
"Yes." Walker said, but Champion Lucius smiles, which made Walker uncomfortable, the wound heals itself and the bullet flies out, which shocked and angered Walker, he changes his rifle to a sabre and teleports to Champion Lucius, he tries stabbing him but he could not land a hit on him since Champion Lucius just strafed side-to-side to dodge each hit, Walker changes the sabre to a katana and tries slashing him, but Champion Lucius' armor protected him completely, Walker growls and changes his sledgehammer to a mace-whip hybrid weapon and spins it around, but Champion Lucius' armor protected him again, Walker then changed it to a big sword and swung it around, Champion Lucius' armor was still undamaged, Walker growls and made his weapons disappear, he teleports back and holds his right front hoof out and fires a stream of dark blue and orange fire out at Champion Lucius, he catches on fire, but he holds his arms out to the sides and makes the flames extinguish themselves. Walker comes up with an idea and runs to Champion Lucius quickly before he can teleport away, he turns around and bucks Champion Lucius in his abdomen with hind legs, but Walker clenched his teeth together and his eyes widened, he has hurt his own hoofs, Champion Lucius snickers and kicks Walker away with his left foot, he hits a wall and grunts when his head left a crater in it. Walker was angry and faces Champion Lucius, he spins counterclockwise in midair and he lets out a grunt and changes to his alicorn-like form, he swings the sword in his front right hoof and damages Champion Lucius a bit, he teleports to his throne and sits there wounded while Walker changes back.
Walker runs to Champion Lucius and tries to slash him with his sword, but Champion Lucius holds his left fist up with his middle claw and index claw raised and blocks the sword, Walker was shocked to see Champion Lucius was unharmed, he teleports out of his throne and holds his arms out to the sides, he now had red fire and blue lightning around him, red and blue circles appear and move around on the floor, pillars of fire and lightning came out, they move around and burn and electrify different parts of the floor each time, Walker teleports around and slashes Champion Lucius however he could while Champion Lucius continued to attack him from his blind spots and behind him, Walker was exhausted but continued, he soon had the dark blue aura around him again, he teleports up to the ceiling and transforms into his alicorn-like form again, he falls down and begins swinging his big sword around to attack Champion Lucius, the fire and lightning did nothing to him, Champion Lucius teleported into his throne while the pillars of fire and lightning disappeared, Walker changed back to normal and he punches Champion Lucius in his right cheek with his front left hoof and finishes the fight.
Champion Lucius breathes a little hard while Walker was panting heavily,
"You are not as strong as your father and grandfather, but probably strong enough to survive." Champion Lucius said,
"How do you know that?" Walker asked,
"They didn't need to transform in order to fight me on equal footing." Champion Lucius replied, much to Walker's shock,
"Go on and rest, Walker, I can tell you are about to pass out." Champion Lucius said,
"I've been to several parts of this world, and not a single Possessed appeared." Walker said,
"Us oni have very strong willpowers, it is hard for a soul to possess us." Champion Lucius replied, Walker then looks at his amulet,
"Go on and use it, this is the last area where you'll see anything, I'll be in my actual throne room in the meantime." Champion Lucius said, and an explosion of fire and lightning appear and he disappears. Walker uses the amulet and sees Runner fighting Champion Lucius, it was basically the same as his fight just now, but Walker saw Runner had a smile on his face, he was enjoying the fight, much to Walker's confusion, the picture changes and Walker watched Sprinter fight Champion Lucius, it was mostly the same, but Sprinter had a big smile on his face and Walker was in disbelief, but one thing that really shocked Walker was Champion Lucius taking his gauntlets off, it made his entire body be engulfed in fire and lightning, and increased all of his physical capabilities, making the bones fly off of his pants and boots also increased his physical capabilities. Walker could not believe it, not only did Runner and Sprinter have no need to transform, but Champion Lucius held back against him, he also saw the bones and gauntlets Champion Lucius wore for armor was not to protect himself, but to conceal his true power, he was even more powerful without them. The images disappear and Walker walks back. Walker walks back to where he fought the two onis and saw a red oni and a blue oni waiting for him,
"Well? Red or blue?" the red oni asked,
"Neither." Walker replied, the two onis were surprised,
"Why?" the blue oni asked,
"Because you blue onis want to rule with an iron fist and be tyrants, and you red onis want a lawless land where you can do any bad thing you want and get away with it. I'm sorry, but I must disagree with both of you." Walker replied,
"You know, Runner liked the blue oni tribe better, while Sprinter preferred the red oni tribe." the red oni said,
"Well, I don't like either one, I want to learn about art and architecture when I travel." Walker replied, the two onis were silent,
"I'll be heading back now, good day." Walker said, and he opens a portal with his mind and goes to the Void.
Walker arrives into the Void and he saw Runner and Sprinter there,
"Daddy? Grandpa?" Walker asked,
"Yes, Walker, it's us, we were waiting for you." Runner replied,
"How's Jones, grandpa?" Walker asked,
"He's still learning the spell, all we can do is wait." Sprinter replied, Walker nods,
"Come on, let's go home, it's late." Runner said, and they all go to Equestria and to their homes and sleep.
Walker was tossing and turning in his bed with discomfort, Walker was dreaming and realized he was not in the Void, he was in a pitch black area, Walker was nervous and looked around, he gets attacked and he grunts, Walker had claw marks on his chest, he makes his sword and pistol appear and he got attacked again, on his back this time, he grunted loudly, Walker exhaled sharply and closed his eyes and reopened them, and reopens them, the area was now dark blue, he looks for a light blue figure so he can see his attacker. Walker looks around and sees it, it was tall and bipedal, its head was round, and it had arms and legs, it disappears and Walker looks around, he sees it reappear out of the corner of his left eye, Walker shoots a stream of dark blue and orange fire at it and burns it, the creature moves around and tries to put the fire out, Walker changes his vision back to normal to see what it looked like, and to Walker's shock, it was pitch black with no features, it was like a shadow, it disappears after getting burned and Walker wakes up.
Walker wakes up in his bed and it was still dark, but Walker looks and saw another humanoid black creature walking to him from his bedroom's doorway, Walker tries to move but he could not, he tries calling for help but he realized he could not speak either, Walker tries to move and call for help but to no avail, he sees the creature was teleporting towards him slowly and its head was twitching, it was getting closer slowly and Walker felt intense fear. A gunshot is heard and the creature was hit in the head and disappeared, Walker exhales sharply and realized he could move again, he looks and saw Sprinter at his bedroom's door, he had a pistol in his front right hoof, the creature turns into a soul and goes into Walker, and to his surprise, he felt two souls inside of him, he realizes the one he fought in his dream also contained a soul. Sprinter walks to him,
"You alright?" Sprinter asked,
"Yeah." Walker replied and then asks "What are those?"
"It's late, I'll explain tomorrow." Sprinter replied, and he leaves the bedroom and closes the door while Walker goes back to sleep.
Morning comes and Walker has breakfast,
"What were those things last night?" Walker asked,
"They are called Shadows, they only appear at night, there are very few, but very dangerous." Sprinter replied,
"I saw two of them last night, one in my room, and one in my dream." Walker said,
"The Shadows can attack you in your dreams and in real life, attacking you in real life is more dangerous." Runner replied,
"How?" Walker asked,
"Shadows that decide to attack you in real life inflict sleep paralysis on you, so you're stuck in bed, you can't move a muscle, so you can't use your powers, and they attack you until either the night ends, or until you're dead. The difference between them is if they attack you in your dream, you can defend yourself, but if they attack you in real life, you can't." Sprinter replied, Walker was very scared with sweat building up on him,
"Why can't Princess Luna zap away the ones in my dreams?" Walker asked,
"Walker, remember, Shadows are still souls of the dead, Princess Luna can't see nor hear them." Runner replied,
"How are they formed?" Walker asked,
"There are souls that receive damnation after being judged, they escape from the world of damned souls, they become Shadows in the process, it represents their malice, the more malevolent they were in real life, the stronger the Shadow will be." Sprinter replied,
"These Shadows don't look like ponies." Walker said,
"They don't have to be, Shadows can appear in any world." Runner replied, Walker was uncomfortable,
"Well, moving on from that. Which world was your favorite?" Sprinter asked,
"Chrysaor." Walker replied,
"I see, I liked Aerostia the best." Runner said,
"Yomi was my favorite." Sprinter said,
"You should send those two souls to The Judge after breakfast." Runner said,
"I don't feel like going to the Void today, I realized after going to the three worlds that friendship is not magic." Walker replied,
"Oh right, your school teaches Princess Celestia's sayings on friendships almost every day, and you always took them to heart." Runner said, Walker nods sadly,
"What about you two, do you two think friendship is magic?" Walker asked,
"Nope, friendship is nice to have, but not magic, it's a thing that helps me get through my day sometimes." Runner replied,
"What about you, grandpa?" Walker asked,
"Never, Princess Celestia teaches friendship on a personal level, having good business relationships is also considered friendship." Sprinter replied,
"I still don't feel like going to the Void." Walker said,
"I'll take the souls to the Void, then." Sprinter replied, and he absorbs the souls out of Walker's body and opens a portal to enter the Void, Walker just sits and has breakfast while looking down, Runner sat to his right side and comforted him with his front left hoof. Walker finished breakfast and decided to go see Genghis, he saw him doing target practice with his horn, Walker goes to him and Genghis sees him,
"I'm ready to continue my training." Walker said,
"Very well, let's start where we left off." Genghis replied, and they do, Walker does a lot of jumping and kicking with his hind hoofs, since Walker was off from school today, he had a lot of time to train, he did great until he had to start doing flips and spinning in the air, which he could not do,
"You should train your body some more, maybe somepony can help you." Genghis said,
"I already have one." Walker replied,
"Good, you should train with them before you try this test again." Genghis said, and Walker went to the Void. Walker arrives at the Void and saw Runner was in Aerostia while Sprinter was in Yomi, he looks at Chrysaor and saw Jones was still training, he heads to the temple shortly afterwards, he does Body Walker's training and had to do stretching, weight lifting, cardio, and flexibility and agility tests, Walker sweated and panted before calling it quits. Walker trains with Mind Walker next and reads on the history of visual arts in Equestria, he quits after he was about to fall asleep from reading, he did Emotion Walker's training next and had to guess Rarity's and Applejack's emotions next, Applejack was mostly easy while Rarity was a little hard a few times, but he got it right, he finished and did Spirit Walker's training next, he just sat and meditated while clearing out his mind, he finished after a while and left the temple. Walker goes to the arena next and he feels tingling in his head,
"Your friend is at your home again, Walker." Spirit said telepathically, and he shows Walker a vision, Cherry Blossom was at his house again, she looks through the windows and sees he was not home, Runner and Sprinter were not there either, Cherry Blossom was starting to grow irritated and left. Walker kept Cherry Blossom in his mind and headed to the arena, he jumped down to enter it,
"What do you wish to have?" Diplomat asked,
"That lava creature that I saw in Yomi." Walker replied, and it appears in front of him, Walker tries all of his moves and discovered only his alicorn-like form works on it, it got destroyed a few seconds later. Walker changes back and he hears walking behind him, he saw Runner and Sprinter arrive, they jump down and enter the arena,
"I thought you weren't in the mood to enter the Void." Runner said,
"I have to improve my body before I can do Genghis' next training." Walker replied,
"Well, while we're here, let's have you fight the other creatures of the Anti-Spirit cult Runner and I encountered in the past, so you'll know what to do if you encounter them." Sprinter said, Walker nods,
"Very well, here goes." War said, and the golem-like creature Walker saw in his home the other day appeared, Runner and Sprinter tell Walker what works best against it, he saw blunt weapons were really effective against it, the next creature to appear was a humanoid vulture, Sprinter shows the flames from their spiritual powers worked well against it, its screeches of pain made Walker uncomfortable. The next creature appeared to be made purely out of metal, it had a rolling sphere for its lower body, it had long ranged attacks only, mainly missiles, Walker dodges them with ease, Runner shows Walker the back of the creature's head and he saw it was a machine, Runner shows which button to press to turn it off, which relieved Walker because he was tired of having to kill his enemies most of the time. The next enemy was half organic, half machine, which surprised Walker, it shoots red beams out of its robotic left eye, which Walker dodged, it also had a machine gun built into its right hand, a cannon in its feet, missiles in its shoulders and back, and a flamethrower in its mouth, Sprinter shows Walker that the best thing that worked against it was to have the dark blue flames spin around him and teleport to it and it got destroyed. The next creature had ice all over it, it froze whatever it touched, Walker guessed his fire attacks would work best against it and destroyed it easily,
"Alright, Walker, last type of enemy." Runner said, and the arena filled with water, Walker could swim better than before, but still had trouble, it was a merman-like creature, Walker was nervous when he saw the creature had electricity on its body, it dives underwater and electrifies it, Walker teleports to the top of one of the pillars in the arena,
"Do you know how to fight it?" War asked,
"I think so." Walker replied, and he changes his pistol to a rifle and aims it, the merman-like creature comes up and looks for Walker, he fires his rifle and hits the creature, it disappeared, along with the water. Runner and Sprinter smile and teleport to Walker,
"Very good, son, you're learning." Runner said, Walker smiled, even though he felt bad killing them, the three teleport back to where the four portals were at and they saw the Senses,
"Spirit and The Judge have a job for you in Equestria, Walker." Taste said,
"What is it?" Walker asked,
"King Sombra's soul has escaped, it has been haunting Princess Cadence and Flurry Heart in their dreams recently, find him, and bring his soul to the Void so we can send him back to the afterlife." Taste replied,
"Why can't you do it?" Walker asked,
"I cannot absorb souls." Taste replied,
"What about Spirit?" Walker asked,
"He is busy gathering the souls of the other worlds you don't have access to." Taste replied,
"What about daddy and grandpa here?" Walker asked,
"They can if they want to." Taste replied,
"Let's look for him together, Walker." Sprinter said, Walker agreed,
"Alright, hurry, and good luck." Taste said, and the three exit the Void. Walker, Runner, and Sprinter headed to the Crystal Empire by teleporting and looked around, they see the souls of the crystal ponies who died before King Sombra's rule was over, Walker sees Sunburst, Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and Flurry Heart together with several royal guards, Walker follows them while the royal guards ignore him since they thought he was just a visitor, he follows them and saw Flurry Heart was asleep, he hears laughing and saw King Sombra's soul appear, he enters into Flurry Heart's head, she begins panicking and the ponies were alerted, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence try to wake her up since they thought she was having a bad dream, other ponies go to try to help her wake up while Flurry Heart begins to make panicking noises in her sleep, she shoots a beam out of her horn that startled everypony, she continues shooting magic from her horn until black crystals formed on her horn and she could not cast anymore magic. Flurry Heart wakes up from her bad dream and sees Shining Armor and Princess Cadence looking at her with shock, Flurry Heart looks up and sees the black crystals on her horn, it scared her and she tried to reach to them with her front hoofs but could not, so she used her wings and tried to remove them, she could not get the crystals off, she then tries to cast magic but could not cast a single spell, Flurry Heart began to cry at not being able to use her horn, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence comfort her while Sunburst tries to find a spell to undo the dark crystals.
Walker sees King Sombra's soul come out of Flurry Heart's head and laughs, he changes to his unicorn form and was about to cast a spell on Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, but Walker makes a pistol appear in his front left hoof and aims it, he fires and hits King Sombra in the back of his head, his soul's body form was destroyed and changed to a floating light blue flame, Walker absorbed his soul into his body by holding his front right hoof out. Runner and Sprinter heard the gunshot and run to where they heard it, they see Walker and he turns around to face them,
"Did you get it?" Runner asked,
"Yes." Walker replied,
"Let's go, then." Sprinter said, and they leave to go somewhere private, Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and Sunburst overhear them and look at them, they just shrug and Sunburst continues looking for a spell to undo the crystals on Flurry Heart's horn.
Walker, Runner, and Sprinter enter the Void and go to The Judge, Walker gives him King Sombra's soul,
"Male, from Equestria." The Judge said,
"He desires to rule more than the Crystal Empire." Lust said, the black scale weighs down,
"He had slaves do his work." Sloth said, the black scale weighs down even more,
"He was a cruel tyrant." Wrath said, and the black scale goes down even more,
"Damnation, it is." The Judge said, and he hits the gavel with the demonic side of his sledgehammer, a portal opens to his left and King Sombra's soul goes in there. Walker, Runner, and Sprinter head home and they sleep for the night, the three have trouble and realize the Shadows were attacking them again, they fight back and destroy them and sleep in peace for the rest of the night.
Walker wakes up the next morning and headed to school while Runner and Sprinter brought the souls of the Shadows to The Judge, he went to go see Genghis first and saw he was not yet ready to do the next hoof-to-hoof combat training course, so he headed to school. Walker was bored in school now, the teacher was teaching about friendship, which made Walker feel annoyed, he did not view friendship as he used to, he saw it as a term that means you are on someone's good side. Walker's teacher also did lectures from the letters Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack wrote to Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle was sending them all over Equestria, which annoyed Walker even more, he found the lectures to be more annoying than hearing the souls of the dead,
"Don't just sit there! Stand up and tell that teacher to shut her mouth!" Aggressive said,
"You won't have to hear the lectures anymore." Optimist said,
"You'll get in big trouble if you do that." Pessimist said,
"It would be best just to sit and listen, and wait until class ends." Passive said,
"You will learn some new things if you listen carefully." Optimist said,
"You will be stuck listening to the lectures for hours to come." Pessimist said, Walker looks and sees Aggressive and Pessimist glowed brighter due to his view on friendship being changed, and him fighting all of the time, while Passive's and Optimist's glows were dimmer, Walker sighs and continued listening, he looks and sees all of the other colts were bored as well, but the fillies were smiling and having fun, the teacher goes on until it was PE time. Walker runs and he was considerably faster than before, he was the first in his class to finish running, the fillies were shocked while the colts just ignored him and kept running, Walker looks and sees the colts were coming, they always finished before the fillies due to them having more energy, the earth pony colts always finished first, then the Pegasi colts, and the unicorn colts, and the fillies would come next in the same order. Cherry Blossom finishes near the end and went to go have a drink of water, she came back and saw the foals looking at Walker with worry, she goes to him and sees Walker's eyes were bloodshot,
"Walker, you don't look so good." Cherry Blossom said,
"Couldn't sleep well last night." Walker replied,
"Oh, well, now's a good time, you should rest before we go back to class." Cherry Blossom said, Walker agreed and closed his eyes until the bell rung to go back to class. Walker does his classwork until lunchtime and he had lunch with Cherry Blossom,
"I went to your house yesterday and two days ago, you and your family weren't home." Cherry Blossom said,
"Sorry about that, we're busy when I come home, and we have a lot of things to do." Walker replied,
"Like what?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Well, ugh, I don't know how to put it into words." Walker replied,
"What time did you come home?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"I don't know, but it was already night time and dark." Walker replied, Cherry Blossom was surprised,
"Well, try to get a good night's sleep tonight, the Friendship Festival is tomorrow." Cherry Blossom said,
"Friendship Festival?" Walker asked,
"Uh-huh, Princess Twilight is throwing a big festival in Canterlot tomorrow, our class and our families are going there as a field trip." Cherry Blossom replied, Walker groaned under his breath and rolled his eyes, the bell rung afterwards and they go back to class. Walker was in class with the other classmates and it was almost time to go,
"Walker, I need you to stay after school today." Walker's teacher said, confusing everypony, the bell rung afterwards,
"Have a good day, everypony." Walker's teacher said, and everypony left, Cherry Blossom watched and everything seemed fine, so she went home. Walker's teacher closes and locks the door, and closes the blind to every window,
"You think you're worthy of living?" Walker's teacher asked,
"What?" Walker asked with confusion,
"You are a disgrace to the family, just like Runner, Sprinter have made you two into weaklings." Walker's teacher replied, Walker looks and sees his teacher's eyes were pale yellow,
"Wait a minute, you're not my teacher." Walker said, the eyes then glow light blue and Walker's teacher grew a horn and wings made from light blue flames, along with her teeth changing to fangs, Walker realized his teacher was possessed,
"You are weak, and you are interested in visual arts instead of the art of killing, I will not have somepony like you taint our bloodline!" Walker's teacher and Jumper said in unison, and Walker summoned his sword and pistol. Walker's teacher walks around while watching Walker, she begins to swing her front right hoof around and sends five projectiles of dark blue flames to Walker with each swing of her leg, Walker teleported around to dodge it, he makes the black skeletal arm come out of his front left hoof and tries to pull his teacher towards him, but he ended up going towards her instead, he climbs onto her back and cuts it open with his sword, he shoots a stream of dark blue and orange fire out of his front left hoof, but Jumper's soul did not leave the teacher, she grows two tentacles out of her back and they hit Walker, he grunts and falls onto the floor, he got back up and saw her walking around again, she begins to fly and the desks become possessed by Jumper, they float around and Walker dodges them when they were thrown at him, they move around on the floor on their own and Walker teleports into the air, the desks fly up into the air on their own as well,
"I am the only one in the family worthy of Spirit's powers." Walker's teacher said, and she begins to shoot dark blue fire out of her horn, Walker dodges it by teleporting and he lands on the floor, he picks up a desk and throws it at his teacher, she hits it to her right with her front right hoof and Walker teleports onto her and stabs his sword into her left wing, he changes his pistol to another sword and stabs the right wing, but Walker's teacher grew two more wings, Walker gets an idea and teleports onto the floor,
"May your soul be damned!" Walker's teacher said, and she begins swinging her front right hoof around again, sending five dark blue fire-like projectiles towards Walker, he crouches and dodges them, the tentacles wrap around him and Walker's teacher shoots a blast out of her horn, Walker just teleports out of the tentacles and enters his soul form, Walker's teacher just shoots a stream of dark blue and orange fire out of her front right hoof at Walker and burns him, he was not surprised that spiritual powers can hurt other souls. Walker decides to try something and fires a dark blue and orange stream of fire at his teacher's heart, she screams without Jumper's voice in her voice and she became unconscious, but her mutations from becoming possessed remained on her, so Walker carries her and teleports to his house. Runner and Sprinter were waiting for Walker to come home, he teleports into the home and saw he had his teacher, the two look and see she was possessed,
"I tried what you did to cure me, but it didn't work." Walker said,
"My way of curing you only works on weak willed souls, Walker, Jumper isn't the only one who possesses people." Sprinter replied,
"So, what do we do?" Walker asked,
"There's nothing we can do, plus, your grandfather and I were busy fighting more Possessed today, Jones is almost done learning the magic spell." Runner replied, Walker smiled and Jones appears in the home by casting a teleporting spell,
"Okay, I just finished learning the cleansing spell." Jones said,
"Good timing, my teacher here got possessed." Walker replied, and Jones sees her waking up,
"Here goes." Jones said, and he fires a yellow beam from his horn and at Walker's teacher, her wounds heal and the mutated parts from being possessed disappear. Walker's teacher coughs and groans,
"What happened?" Walker's teacher asked, and she sees Walker,
"Walker?" Walker's teacher asked,
"Yes?" Walker asked,
"What am I doing here?" Walker's teacher asked,
"You got tired on your way home, so we took you in so you can sleep." Sprinter replied,
"Oh, I remember now, thank you." Walker's teacher said, and she left,
"Okay, it works." Jones said,
"Yeah, but they have no memory of what happened." Runner replied,
"That reminds me, we have to go to Canterlot tomorrow for the Friendship Festival." Walker said,
"You guys go on without me, I'm going to go to Yomi tomorrow." Jones replied, and he uses his magic to teleport into the Void while Walker, Runner, and Sprinter went to sleep.
The next day comes and Walker, Runner, and Sprinter go to Canterlot with Walker's classmates and their families, Walker looks and sees Shining Armor was not present, he thinks that he and Sunburst stayed behind to try to get the dark crystals out of Flurry Heart's horn. Walker's classmates have a good time while Walker felt down, he felt like all of this friendship stuff was pointless,
"Walker." Cherry Blossom said as she ran to him,
"Come on, let's have fun together." Cherry Blossom said, and they do, Walker and Cherry Blossom try the ciders and drinks, everypony had a good time until the Storm King's ships arrived, Walker, Runner, and Sprinter teleported away before the Storm King's guards could get them, they go back to their home and decide to wait until the threat was dealt with,
"Come on, Walker, let's go help the people fight the Possessed." Runner said, and the three go into the Void. Walker, Runner, and Sprinter go to Aerostia and they see the Possessed, the Undead, several liches, and vulture-like creatures of the Anti-Spirit cult attacking the harpies, the three join and help the harpies defend their home, they command the harpies to tie down the Possessed since Jones was curing them in other worlds,
"That reminds me. Alexia, I don't need this anymore." Walker said as he showed her the amulet,
"That's yours to keep, Walker." Alexia replied,
"It is?" Walker asked,
"Yes, it's a gift." Alexia replied, Jones arrives hours later and he cures the Possessed, the harpies kept them tied down,
"Is that all of them?" Jones asked, the harpies nod, Walker then began to tell Jones about his experiences in Yomi,
"Yeah, mine was a bit similar, but Champion Lucius didn't fight me, he welcomed me." Jones said,
"Well, the Possessed are gone for now, you should wait in the Void, Equestria is being invaded by someone called the Storm King." Sprinter said, Jones nods,
"Well, I'll train myself until it's time to go home, then." Walker said, and he goes to the Void. Walker trains in the temple, he did all four types of training, he was now able to do flips after hours of intense physical training, he also read books on Equestrian customs, meditated to increase his willpower, and had to read the emotions of Maud Pie, he tried his best, but still got them wrong, which annoyed him. Walker finishes his training and went to where the four paths meet, he looks at Equestria and sees the Storm King has been defeated, he has turned to stone and fell down, shattering him, Walker was tired and decided to head home and sleep for the night, his dream got invaded by three Shadows, he fights them off and absorbs their souls and sleeps peacefully for the rest of the night.
Walker sends the Shadows to The Judge as soon as he woke up and had breakfast with Runner and Sprinter, he then left and went to go see Genghis, he does his training and did the flips easily,
"Your training is complete, I have taught you everything I know." Genghis said,
"Did you know about the Storm King?" Walker asked,
"No, I have never heard of him." Genghis replied, Walker was surprised and headed to school. Walker does his schoolwork and saw everypony was relieved with the Storm King defeated, Walker just goes on with his day and did PE, Cherry Blossom was busy getting ready for the annual cart race, so she did not have time to see Walker at lunch today. Walker does his classwork and he was contacted telepathically,
"Walker, the Storm King's not gone just yet, his soul still haunts the mortals, he is targeting Tempest Shadow as retaliation for turning him to stone, find Tempest Shadow, and bring the Storm King's soul to the Void." Spirit said telepathically, and Walker waited for class to end and he left when the bell rung. Walker heads outside and he hears running behind him, he sees Cherry Blossom coming,
"Can we spend time today?" Cherry Blossom asked,
"Sorry, but I have stuff to do today." Walker replied,
"What?! Come on, Walker! I've been wanting to hang out with you, but you're always either gone or doing something else!" Cherry Blossom said in an exasperated tone,
"I'm sorry, I really am, but I have to help my daddy and grandpa today." Walker replied, Cherry Blossom sighs,
"The cart racing's tomorrow." Cherry Blossom said in a calm tone,
"I'll come to cheer you on." Walker replied,
"You promised you'd come, so you better." Cherry Blossom said, and Walker heads home while Cherry Blossom watched him. Walker, Runner, and Sprinter teleport around Equestria and look for Tempest Shadow, they see a Storm King ship in the air and it was malfunctioning, they hear laughing and saw the Storm King's soul tampering with the airship, they hear an annoyed grunt and the three realized it was Tempest Shadow, she lands the ship and goes on to repair the engine, but the Storm King's soul causes havoc and makes objects fall on Tempest Shadow, the three ponies shrug and Runner just shoots the Storm King's soul with a pistol and destroys its body, he absorbs the Storm King's soul and the three head to the Void. The three go see The Judge and he looks at the Storm King's soul,
"He desired to conquer all lands." Lust said, the black scale weighs down,
"He desired it all for himself." Greed said, the black scale goes down more,
"He named the currency after himself." Pride said, the black scale goes down even more,
"He outright admitted that he was evil." Pride said, the black scale goes down even more,
"Wait, what?" Walker asked,
"Outright admitting you're evil damns your soul even more, while admitting you're good makes you receive more salvation." The Judge said,
"Oh." Walker said,
"This soul is to receive damnation." The Judge said, and he hits the gavel with demonic side of his hammer, a portal opens to his left and the Storm King's soul floats into it,
"Thank you, all of you, Spirit appreciates the help you three have given him." The Judge said, Walker smiles,
"Come on now, the cart racing's tomorrow, you should go to bed early, Walker." Runner said, Walker nods while smiling and heads home and goes to sleep, there were no Shadows in his sleep that time, so he went to the Void, he decided to spend his entire dream meditating. Walker woke up early the next morning and the cart race was not time yet, he hears somepony chewing and he goes out of his bedroom, he saw Jones was there again, he was with Runner and Sprinter, Jones looks to his right and saw Walker, he turns to face him,
"I've cleansed Aerostia and Chrysaor of every Possessed so far, Yomi doesn't seem to have any, and since I am cleansing the Possessed, Spirit has given me the ability to see, hear, and communicate with the souls of the dead." Jones said,
"Well, since you're here, I was thinking about taking you to meet Genghis." Walker replied,
"Sure, I'd like that." Jones said,
"I'll go, too, I never did thank him for his combat training." Runner said,
"I'll go as well, he and I are actually friends." Sprinter said,
"Well, come on, then, the cart racing's gonna start soon." Walker replied, and the four leave. Genghis was doing his own hoof-to-hoof combat training, he was able to do the same training he gave Walker with no problem,
"Genghis." Walker said, Genghis turns around, he saw Walker coming with Runner, Sprinter, and Jones,
"I'd like you to meet a friend of mine." Walker said,
"Name's Jones, I'm an explorer." Jones said,
"Have you been to the places I've conquered?" Genghis asked,
"Yes, I've read about you in books as well." Jones replied,
"Ah, so you are familiar with me. Who are these two?" Genghis asked,
"It's me, Genghis, Runner." Runner replied,
"I'm Sprinter, you trained us when we were four years old." Sprinter said,
"Oh, you two have grown a lot." Genghis replied, Runner and Sprinter chuckle,
"Have you seen any Possessed around here?" Jones asked,
"Don't worry, I've been keeping this place free of the Possessed, there is nothing to worry about right now." Genghis replied, the five hear engines revving,
"Oh, the cart race is about to start, we have to get going." Walker said,
"Alright, have fun, Walker, I'll explore this area and look for any Possessed." Jones replied,
"I'll remain here and watch out for any souls, you four are welcome to come here anytime." Genghis said, and Walker, Runner, and Sprinter went to see the cart race while Jones went the opposite direction, and Genghis remained at the area.
Walker, Runner, and Sprinter sit in the crowd and see the foals were ready to race with their carts, Cherry Blossom's cart was completely white, she looks at the crowd and saw Walker with his father and grandfather, she was elated that he came, she waves at him with her front right hoof and Walker waved back with his front left hoof. Cherry Blossom got into her cart and put on a light pink helmet,
"On your marks." a male announcer said, every foal got ready,
"Get set." the male announcer said, the foals were ready to step on the gas pedal,
"Go!" the male announcer said, and the foals begin driving their carts.
The foals race with their carts and Walker cheers on Cherry Blossom, Runner smiled while he watched Walker cheer for his friend while Sprinter was just sitting there quietly and watching. Cherry Blossom continues driving and was picking up the pace, but Jumper possesses the cart and begins controlling it, Cherry Blossom exclaimed with shock,
"What the?" Cherry Blossom asked as the cart began to drive on its own,
"What's going on?" Cherry Blossom asked as she tried to steer the cart and use the brakes to stop it, but the brake pedal did not work, and the steering wheel went the opposite direction very sharply, almost throwing her front hoofs off of it. Sakura and Spring watch with worry while Walker, Runner, and Sprinter stand up and look on, Walker had a fearful expression on his face, Runner had a worried expression, and Sprinter had a stoic expression, while he was worried on the inside,
"What's going on?!" Walker asked with worry,
"Look!" Runner said, and they see light blue outlines on the cart's wheels, steering wheel, and engine,
"It's possessed by Jumper." Sprinter said,
"Come on, we gotta go!" Walker said,
"No, you won't catch up to her by teleporting." Sprinter replied, Walker looks and saw Cherry Blossom's cart gaining speed,
"If you teleport, the cart will be ahead of you, and if you appear in front of it, you will get hit, and there are many ponies watching, I'm sorry, Walker, but there is nothing we can do but hope she can make it to the finish line in one piece." Sprinter said, Walker felt bad while he watched with worry, he sees Runner was scared as well.
Cherry Blossom struggles and grunts as she tries to regain control of the cart, but Jumper continues to control it, she swerves around on the track with the tires screeching loudly and the other foals watch her, the fillies were worried while the colts watch carefully, the cart continues to gain speed and Cherry Blossom's helmet flies off,
"Come on." Cherry Blossom said as she grumbled, the cart continues acting on its own while Sakura and Spring watch fearfully, Cherry Blossom continues to struggle to regain control of the cart but the cart does an extremely sharp turn to the right and the steering wheel locks in place, Cherry Blossom tries to move it but it was stuck. The cart goes off course, the steering wheel goes back to normal while the cart goes downhill, Cherry Blossom sees she was heading right into a tree, she screams in horror and the cart drives into the tree and explodes on impact.
The race stops and everypony rushes to the fiery cart,
"Cherry Blossom? Dear?" Spring asked worriedly, there was no response, Sakura and Spring teleport to the burning cart and use their magic, they get Cherry Blossom out of the cart and see she was unconscious,
"No. No!" Sakura said with horror,
"Come on, get her to the hospital." a male earth pony said, and everypony ran to the hospital while Walker stayed behind and looked at the burning cart with shock,
"Why, great grandpa?" Walker asked wistfully, he hears the other carts behind him turn on, he looks back with surprise,
"Die." Jumper's voice said, and the carts begin driving towards Walker. Walker teleports away when one was about to hit him, it hits Cherry Blossom's cart and explodes, Walker was on the track and he saw three more carts driving towards him, Walker runs while scared and the carts catch up to him, he teleports and appears behind them and one cart hits the area where the crowd sits and stopped working. The two carts turn around and drive towards Walker, they do a pincer attack on him and turn to the sides, they were going to smash him in between, Walker jumps forward and dodges it while the two carts collide with one another. Walker hears more driving and saw another cart coming to him at high speeds, but the cart flies in midair and flips over, Walker teleports to his right and dodged it while the cart hit the ground, it catches on fire and explodes, Walker grunts as the explosion knocked him down, he hears more driving and sees the last cart coming to him, it was charging towards him, Walker runs and jumps over the cart while it crashes into a tree and catches on fire, it was about to explode, but the cart turns around and speeds towards Walker, he runs away while scared and jumps away when the cart explodes, Walker pants and decides to go to the hospital.
Walker arrives at the hospital and he saw Sakura crying while Spring comforted her, he sees his classmates and teacher were there as well, Walker enters the room and saw Cherry Blossom was unconscious, she had an oxygen mask on her mouth, white bandages wrapped around her entire body except for her head, and a lot of hospital equipment around her, Walker looks and sees the machine to measure Cherry Blossom's heartbeat, he looks and realizes she was alive, but was still sad about Cherry Blossom being in the hospital bed, he felt tears roll down his eyes,
"How is your friend?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"She's still in the hospital." Walker replied sadly,
"I see, I'm sorry, continue." Doctor Whooves said, and he does.
"Excuse me, make way." a female voice said, everypony sees Princess Luna enter the room, she goes to Cherry Blossom and looks at her with a shocked face, she placed her front left hoof on Cherry Blossom's head and then places her head onto Cherry Blossom's chest, Princess Luna began to cry a little as well,
"Come on, everypony, let's go home for today." Walker's teacher said, and they all leave the room, Walker looks and sees Princess Celestia comforting Sakura and Spring, Walker just heads home for the day. Runner and Sprinter were already home and they see Walker come, he still had tears in his eyes,
"Walker, would you like dinner?" Sprinter asked, Walker shook his head, he went to bed and slept sadly,
"I am sorry for what has happened, Walker, I really am, but her soul has not been released, so don't despair, there's a chance she will survive." Spirit said in Walker's dream, it cheered him up a little bit,
"Well, I know this may not be the best time, but I think it's time you learned about your mother and paternal grandmother, I'l send you the visions in your dream." Spirit said, and Walker slept.
Walker dreams and sees Runner as a colt, he saw him speaking to Sprinter, he was a young adult in the vision, he looked just like how Runner looks in the present day, the two were arguing but Walker realizes he could not hear their voices, so he did not know what they were arguing about, he then sees Runner visiting an earth pony filly, she had a light green coat, long pale sky blue mane and tail, and purple eyes, the two were very close. Walker sees the house Runner grew up in and saw Runner lived in a fancy mansion and had neighbors everywhere, Sprinter and Runner were often at odds with one another, Walker sees the inside of the house and saw Runner had access to all types of knowledge through books, and sports equipment for him to use so he can get into shape, Walker sees Runner liked how the royal guards were into being fair and honorable, along with chivalrous, Runner vowed to be the same way, but he did not like the fancy outfits of the high class ponies, Runner also had a uniform for his school, he went to one of the best schools in Equestria. Walker sees Sprinter had one mare after another in his home with him to watch over Runner, which annoyed Runner to no end, Sprinter had at least one new mare a week come into the home.
Walker sees Runner obtain Spirit's powers and he was scared, declaring he has become a monster, but the vision quickly changes and Runner was with the filly again, the two grow up together, but Jumper possesses her at one time when they are teenagers and Runner is forced to attack her to defend himself, this caused an argument between Sprinter and the filly's parents, but they stop when the filly tries to attack her own parents, the parents apologized to Runner and Sprinter and Jumper left her body shortly afterwards and she returned back to normal. Walker then sees Runner as a stallion and the filly was now a mare, her cutie mark were three blades of grass, they have made rings for one another, Runner's ring had his name on it, the other ring had the mare's name, Grass Field. Walker watches the vision and sees Grass Field wanted children, she wanted a son and a daughter, which made Runner uncomfortable, Sprinter did track and boxing and made enough bits to support two children, Runner was crying in his room while Sprinter comforted him. Walker sees Runner holding him when he is a baby and he looks at Grass Field, who was lifeless, he closes her eyes with his front left hoof and cuddles with Walker.
The vision changes and Walker sees Sprinter as a baby, he was crying on the black wooden floor, Walker sees a lifeless mare on the ground, she had a purple coat, long light blue mane and tail, sky blue eyes, and her cutie mark was a sword, Walker sees Jumper take in Sprinter, who looked just like Runner in the present day, but much more muscular, and his cutie mark were four silver grieves. Sprinter grew up with male criminals who committed all kinds of crime, Jumper was also physically abusive towards Sprinter, beating him on a daily basis and smiled when he saw Sprinter bleeding and smiled even more when Sprinter cried from the pain. Jumper ordered his gang to kill Sprinter if they see him, so he had to hide and fight for his life as a child, he was nervous and scared all of the time, he was distrustful of people in his early years, whenever a pony tried to approach him, he was ready to attack them, and had to hold himself back sometimes as well. Sprinter developed a muscular body and physique because of the life had was born into, it made other fillies develop crushes on him, Sprinter would spend time with them while jealous colts would attack him, Sprinter had to fight them off.
Sprinter got Spirit's powers when he was four years old and the first thing Sprinter did was kill Jumper and his gang, Sprinter traveled alone and was homeless, fighting any Possessed, Revived, Undead, Shadow, lich, or creatures of the Anti-Spirit cult he came across. He had to beg for bits since he was too young to get a job, and did not go to school, he hung out with any filly who had a crush on him, some ended on a good note, some ended on a bad note, some ended with the filly's brothers and father angry at Sprinter. Walker sees Sprinter entering a race to win bits, he runs the race and got first place, he decides to keep doing it since it was the only way for him to earn money, and he did not do sports because he did not like the rules for most of them, Walker sees Sprinter teleport to win some of his races, he only teleported a few steps forward so the other ponies do not notice he was cheating, Sprinter also had a lot of mares fall in love with him, Sprinter was given a chance to be a professional track runner, which he accepted. Sprinter runs one track after another, and became a professional runner in Equestria, he dated his female fans and settled down with an earth pony mare who had a bright red coat, long pink mane and tail, light purple eyes, and her cutie mark were three blue and yellow pills, the two fall in love and have Runner, with the mare passing away, Sprinter continued to date other mares so they could foalsit Runner for him. Sprinter eventually had enough bits to buy the fancy mansion Runner grew up in and bought books on every subject to teach himself and left them for Runner.
Sprinter had to get another job to pay for the bills and the mares who foalsitted Runner, so Sprinter decided to become a boxer since he liked fighting, he won every match and used the bits to pay for Runner's care, all of his opponents respected his reason for doing the job, Sprinter smiled at seeing Runner and rubbed his snout on him as Runner enjoyed his company.
Walker wakes up the next morning and sees Runner sitting at the table and thinking,
"Daddy?" Walker said, Runner looks at him,
"Spirit showed me your past and mommy last night." Walker said,
"So you saw Grass Field, that is your mother." Runner said,
"What did she do for a living?" Walker asked,
"She grew grasses into artistic shapes, she made mostly animal faces." Runner replied,
"I also saw you crying in your room." Walker said,
"That's because Grass Field wanted a son and a daughter, I was sad because not only will Grass Field pass away, but she couldn't have a daughter because of our family's connection to Spirit and his powers." Runner replied,
"What were you going to name my sister?" Walker asked,
"Grass Blade." Runner replied,
"Do you blame me for why mommy died?" Walker asked,
"No, not at all, Grass Field wanted to have you, and I wanted children, too, I'm just sad she's not here to see you, and you couldn't have a sister." Runner replied, Walker felt sad as well, he sees Sprinter join them, Walker walks to him,
"I saw your childhood in my dream last night, grandpa." Walker said,
"I see, I still have bad dreams about it sometimes." Sprinter replied,
"What was grandma's name?" Walker asked,
"Peacemaker, she was a doctor, she watched track as a hobby." Sprinter replied,
"I wanna meet mommy and grandma." Walker said,
"Well, if you're lucky, The Judge can get their souls to communicate with you, but it's unlikely." Runner replied, Walker felt sad,
"You should head to school, it's getting late." Sprinter said, Walker saw the time,
"One more thing, is mommy dying the reason why you call yourself a monster, daddy?" Walker asked,
"Yeah, because I knew she would die if I had you, it still saddens me to this day." Runner replied,
"It's my fault, I told him about Spirit a few days before his fourth birthday, and the consequences of our family having his powers. Head to school now, Walker, you're going to be late." Sprinter said, and Walker heads to school. Walker ignores the souls of the dead and was sad, he sees the fillies and his teacher were crying a bit, while the colts were stoic, Walker felt lonely without Cherry Blossom in the class, he just wanted the day to end. PE comes and Walker was the first one to finish again, he waits for Cherry Blossom but remembers she was in the hospital and unconscious, which saddened him, he just sat and waited for PE to end. Walker works in class until lunchtime and sat alone, he felt lonely and sad without Cherry Blossom, so he just ate and drank slowly until it was time to go back to class. Walker works until class ended and he headed home, he went to the Void when he was out of everypony's sight, he goes to The Judge,
"I'd like to meet my mommy and paternal grandma." Walker said, The Judge tries to contact their souls, they answer and two light blue flames float into the area,
"What are your names?" Walker asked,
"Grass Field." the soul to the right said,
"Peacemaker." the soul to the left said, Walker was happy,
"I'm Walker, I'm Runner's son and Sprinter's grandson." Walker said, the two souls form into bodies and see him, they run to him and hug him with Grass Field rubbing her snout on him,
"How's my baby been?" Grass Field asked,
"Uh, a little tired." Walker replied,
"Is Sprinter behaving himself?" Peacemaker asked,
"Uh-huh." Walker replied,
"Walker, I'm sorry I didn't get you a sister." Grass Field said, Walker felt sad,
"I wish I had a sister, too." Walker replied,
"Having Runner wasn't really in my plans, but I'm happy nonetheless, I guess Runner grew up into a fine stallion." Peacemaker said,
"Daddy believes in being fair and honorable, along with being chivalrous." Walker replied,
"Oh, so he didn't grow up to be like Sprinter, always liked fighting and dating any mare who had a crush on him." Peacemaker said,
"Really? Runner didn't do that, he developed feelings for me when he and I were foals, and he stayed faithful to me until the end. Runner liked fighting too, but fair fighting, he hated fighting dirty." Grass Field said,
"How about you, Walker, do you like fighting, too?" Peacemaker asked,
"No, I hate fighting, I want to learn about visual arts and architecture." Walker replied, the two mares laugh,
"I guess it is nice to have a change every now and then." Grass Field said, Walker smiles,
"Look at you, all friendly and healthy, I am glad to call you my grandson." Peacemaker said, Walker was happy,
"Time is up, you two have to return." The Judge said, and the two mares hug Walker,
"Have a good life, Walker." Grass Field said,
"Thank you." Walker replied, and the two left, Walker exited the Void and did his homework, he corrected the problems he got wrong, and then went to sleep and trained his body, mind, spirit, and emotions, he had to read Mudbriar's emotions for his emotion test. Walker wakes up the next morning and has breakfast while upset, Runner's and Sprinter's attentions were caught, they close their eyes and reopen them, their visions were dark blue, Walker was light blue, and objects were a regular blue, the two read his emotions and realize he had romantic feelings for Cherry Blossom,
"Walker, you shouldn't have feelings for Cherry Blossom." Runner said,
"Why not?" Walker asked,
"Do you want children when you get older?" Runner asked,
"Yes." Walker replied,
"Then you can't have them with Cherry Blossom, your son's mother has to be an earth pony." Runner said,
"What will happen if I try to have children with Cherry Blossom?" Walker asked,
"Not only will Cherry Blossom lose her life, but the child will be a miscarriage." Runner replied,
"What's a miscarriage?" Walker asked,
"Runner, calm down." Sprinter said, Runner becomes a bit surprised,
"Sorry, Walker, your father got a little worked up." Sprinter said,
"It's okay." Walker replied, and he left to head to school,
"Remember, Runner, Walker's still a foal, he can find his special somepony when he gets older." Sprinter said,
"Yeah, but what if it's a unicorn or a Pegasus? He can't have a son with them." Runner replied,
"Let him grow, my son, he still has his whole life ahead of him." Sprinter said, and the two enter the Void to fight the Anti-Spirit cult. Walker was heading to school,
"There you are." Walker hears Princess Luna say, she lands in front of him,
"Is everything alright? I haven't seen any of your dreams in the dream realm recently." Princess Luna said,
"I've been sleeping without dreaming lately." Walker replied,
"Oh, no wonder why, well, I'm just here to make sure you're okay." Princess Luna said,
"Yeah, just been thinking about that pony in the hospital." Walker replied,
"Oh, I'm sorry that has happened, I have been busy making sure she doesn't get nightmares." Princess Luna said, Walker still felt sad,
"Well, I'm off now, take care." Princess Luna said, and she flew away and Walker went to school. Walker sits in school and was lonely without Cherry Blossom, he still sat and the teacher revealed that Twilight Sparkle and her friends have opened the School of Friendship, which annoyed Walker a bit, he just waits for school to end and he leaves. Walker goes to the nearby hospital and went to Cherry Blossom's room, she was still unconscious with the oxygen mask on her mouth, Walker looks at her and he was sad, he closes his eyes and tears fall down his cheeks, he wipes them away and decides to go see how Sakura and Spring were doing, he sees them grieving outside, it made him sad and he wanted to go comfort them, but he decided now was not the time and he went home to do his homework.
Walker heads home but he sees seven liches appear to take his soul, Walker just makes the big sword he saw from Yomi appear and slashes them and destroys them, ten more appear and Walker grunts loudly while he swings the sword to destroy them. Souls of dead unicorns, Pegasi, and earth ponies appear, Walker sees there were hundreds of them, he becomes shocked and he tries to run away, a unicorn shoots a beam at him and Walker keeps running, he sees the Pegasi souls flying to attack him, he keeps running until Walker hears gunshots and all of the souls changed to flames, Walker sees Runner and Sprinter absorb them,
"Daddy! Grandpa! Behind you!" Walker said, the two turn around and saw more souls of dead ponies arriving, they attack Runner and Sprinter, Walker teleports to them and swings his big sword around to destroy their body forms, he absorbs their souls into himself, they hear snickering and saw Jumper leading them from the back,
"Go, first we kill these three, and then take over Equestria. Celestia is too weak and soft on her enemies to be a ruler, it's time we rule and crush those who were our enemies." Jumper said, and he leads the souls to attack his son, grandson, and great grandson. Walker, Runner, and Sprinter saw they were greatly outnumbered and were going to lose, a light blue beam hits the souls and destroys their body forms, Genghis arrives to help and had his own army of ponies with him,
"I will not allow Equestria to fall to the likes of you." Genghis said, and his army fights Jumper's army. Walker, Runner, and Sprinter joined Genghis' army to help him fight off the souls of the dead that were planning to invade Equestria, they were easy for the most part, Sprinter eventually sees the criminals that served under Jumper when he was alive and fights them, the souls keep fighting while Jumper just stays in the back and relaxes. Equestria begins to suddenly shift around and the souls disappear,
"What the?" Walker asked, a portal opens and Spirit takes them all into the Void. Walker, Runner, Sprinter, Jumper, and Genghis arrive into the Void,
"It's been a while since I've been here, never mind taking over Equestria, take over the Void, and I can rule more worlds." Jumper said, and he disappeared while laughing,
"What happened?" Walker asked, Spirit appears in front of him, Runner, Sprinter, and Genghis,
"Remember when I told you someone in your world had the book on all of Equestria's events?" Spirit asked, Walker nods,
"He has written in the book and changed it, Equestria's history has shifted." Spirit said, shocking Walker and Runner, they look at Equestria and see it has changed, they saw Demonicus, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, and another unicorn dealing with the threat,
"Who is that?" Walker asked,
"Joker, comedian, he's enemies with the pony who just changed Equestria." Spirit replied,
"Hey, there's someone else there, too." Genghis said, and they saw a black pony in a black cloak with red slanted eyes,
"Where's Jones?" Walker asked, Spirit contacts him telepathically and he comes out of the Yomi portal,
"Who is that?" Walker asked, and Jones looks, he was shocked,
"That's Claudius!" Jones said,
"There you go, Walker, Claudius isn't like the others, for some reason, I am not sensing a soul in him, and I don't know if he can see the souls of the dead as well or not." Spirit said,
"Do you have a job for us, Spirit?" Runner asked,
"Actually, yes, Jumper is in the other three worlds, he is gathering the souls of the dead to come here and take over the Void, I, myself, will be participating in this fight as well." Spirit replied,
"Come on, let's get the harpies, vulcans, and onis together." Sprinter said, and he goes to Yomi, Runner goes to Aerostia, and Walker goes to Chrysaor while Jones and Genghis remained in the Void. Walker arrives into Chrysaor and saw the vulcans doing a play and everybody clapped,
"Excuse me, everyvulcan." Walker said, and they look at him, he saw Diana, Hera, Athena, and Echidna within the crowd,
"What is it?" Elder Hephaestus asked,
"The person who is creating the Possessed is named Jumper, he is my paternal great grandpa, he is going to raise an army of dead souls to attack and try to take over the Void. Spirit and my family need you guys' help to stop him." Walker replied, the vulcans stand up and were ready,
"We'll help, your family and Jones have cleansed our world of the Possessed, and for that, you have our gratitude, it's time we help you." Elder Hephaestus said, Walker was elated,
"This way, follow me." Walker said, and he opens a portal to the Void and he and the vulcans enter. Walker arrives into the Void at the same time as Runner, who arrived with the harpies, and Sprinter, who arrived with the onis, they were surprised to see one another,
"Wow, you three really do have a lot of allies." Alexia said,
"Hello again, Walker." Adetokunbo said, Walker smiled at him,
"Do I recognize you?" Champion Lucius asked as he looked at Genghis,
"Name's Genghis, I am a conqueror from Equestria." Genghis replied,
"Interesting, perhaps Equestria will not be enough for you." Champion Lucius said,
"There are more lands than just Equestria in our home." Genghis replied,
"Hey, is that Equestria right there?" Diana asked, and the harpies, vulcans, and onis look and see Demonicus, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, and Joker fighting Tirek,
"Yeah, someone got a hold of the book from this realm and changed our world's history." Walker replied,
"Now's not the time, we have to rally together to stand a chance against Jumper." Sprinter said, and they do, the harpies were going to act on their own, Elder Hephaestus was going to lead the vulcans, and Champion Lucius was going to lead the onis,
"Say, Elder Hephaestus, how did your family become the elders?" Walker asked,
"By being the most intelligent and wise of the vulcans, we value intelligence over all things." Elder Hephaestus said, Walker took note of it in his head. Spirit appeared in front of them and floated in midair,
"Good, you all are here, Jumper will be arriving soon, I have people here to help us fight him." Spirit said, and everybody saw the Senses, Optimist, Aggressive, and The Judge have arrived to help,
"You fight, Taste?" Walker asked,
"Yes, me and the other four use razor floss as weapons." Taste replied,
"I am ready to fight, bring me the enemies so I can crush them!" Aggressive said, the onis laugh a little,
"Together, we can make a difference." Optimist said, Spirit senses Jumper,
"They're about to appear, get ready." Spirit said, and they do, Spirit makes the harpies', vulcans', and onis' weapons spiritual in nature so they can fight the souls. Jumper appears with his army of souls and they go to attack Spirit, everybody begins fighting and Spirit was taking control of the souls from Jumper's army and he shot dark blue flames out of his fingers and thumbs that destroyed every soul on impact, he also teleported around and destroyed the body forms of souls by just touching them, everybody saw it was just more pony souls for now. The souls of harpies, vulcans, and onis appear, they fight and the harpies were disgusted by how the onis fought, the vulcans fight the oni souls since their armor can defend them against their weapons, the onis fought the harpy souls since there was many of them, and the harpies fought the vulcan souls since their boomerangs can cut through their armor easily. Elder Hephaestus punches the souls while he had a yellow magic aura on his fists, he holds his arms out and releases a blast that destroys the bodies of the souls, Alexia, Adetokunbo, and the other harpies threw the boomerangs to destroy bodies of the souls. Jones was cleansing any harpy or vulcan that got possessed, he stood back since he could not harm the dead. Genghis used his hoof combat skills and magic with his horn to hit several dead souls, and Walker, Runner, and Sprinter absorbed the souls.
Aggressive was screaming with rage and doing many punches and destroyed many bodies of the souls, Optimist swung a sword around in her right hand and was having fun. The Senses teleport around and release light blue razor flosses from their fingers and thumbs of Sight’s right hand and Touch’s left hand, they cut the bodies of the souls and they become flames, which Walker, Runner, Sprinter, and Spirit absorbed while they fought. The Judge uses his sword and he slashes the souls and destroys their body forms. More souls appear again and two orange fireballs come from behind Walker and the others, they look and see War and Wrath have joined the fight, they shoot fireballs at the enemies. Champion Lucius held back his powers and only did punches since the souls were really weak to him, he smiled since he was having fun fighting.
Jumper teleports to Walker and Runner, he grabs them and teleports away while Sprinter sees him,
"Go after him, Sprinter, we'll hold off the souls." Spirit said, the others agree and Sprinter teleports to find Jumper. Sprinter teleports around the Void and sees Jumper holding onto Walker and Runner, he eventually teleports into Equestria and Sprinter follows him, he arrives at his current home and Jumper was waiting for him,
"This is where you live now? I am disappointed with you, you have raised my grandson and great grandson to be weaklings." Jumper said,
"Weaklings?!" Walker asked,
"Yes, you and Runner are too weak physically and mentally, I knew I should've killed you when you were born, Sprinter." Jumper said,
"Your mistake, Jumper." Sprinter replied,
"I do have to thank you for killing me, though, through death, I have become more powerful than ever, Equestria is mine for the taking, Princess Celestia is going to be in for the shock of her life when I overthrow her, there is nothing she can do against me, because she cannot see, hear, touch, or harm what is already dead, her magic doesn't work against the souls of the dead, either." Jumper said, Sprinter summons a sword and pistol,
"You'll have to kill me and absorb my soul first." Sprinter replied, Jumper smiled sadistically,
"Good, I was hoping you'd say that, I've waited long to kill you myself after seeing what your son and grandson have grown up to be." Jumper said,
"I like fighting, just honorably and fairly." Runner said,
"Honor and fairness is a fool's prize, it's always win by any means necessary, and the ends justify the means." Jumper replied,
"I don't wanna fight, I want to learn visual arts and architecture." Walker said,
"See, you're wasting your potential, wanting to learn visual arts when you should be learning the art of killing." Jumper replied, Walker becomes shocked,
"Why did you send Cherry Blossom to the hospital?" Walker asked,
"Because she was making you soft, making you weak, so she had to die." Jumper replied, much to Walker's horror,
"Do you think friendship is magic, great grandpa?" Walker asked,
"No, friendship is not magic, friendship is just what you say when you're on somebody's good side." Jumper replied,
"I never believed friendship was magic, either." Runner said,
"Neither did I." Sprinter replied, and he gets ready to fight Jumper,
"Nor do I believe in forgiveness, I always believed in revenge, and still do." Sprinter said, and Jumper gets ready to fight him.
Jumper's eyes glow light blue and he possesses Walker and Runner and makes a shield appear around himself, Walker and Runner summon swords and go to attack Sprinter, who summons a pistol and fires at them, but they teleport to the sides and dodge it, the two run to Sprinter from his sides to attack, Sprinter was about to fire again, but Jumper appears behind Sprinter and attacks him, he grunts and falls, he got back up and sees Runner was about to attack him from his left, he gets ready to defend himself but Jumper appears in Sprinter's right blind spot and punches him in his mouth with his front right hoof, Sprinter grunts and stumbles and Runner slashes Sprinter with the sword in his front right hoof, hitting Sprinter to the left side of his neck, Sprinter sees Walker coming to him and was about slash Sprinter across his abdomen with both of his swords, Sprinter was about to catch them with his front hoofs but Jumper appears in Sprinter's left blind spot and punches him in his mouth with his front left hoof, it makes him stumble and Walker slashes Sprinter's abdomen.
Sprinter realizes Jumper's strategy, it is the exact same strategy the onis use in battle, and Sprinter uses it as well, he waits for Walker and Runner to try to attack him, he gets ready to block their attacks with his front legs, Jumper appears behind him and was about to buck him, but Sprinter teleports onto Jumper's back and after making a long cable appear in his front hoofs, he wraps it around Jumper's neck and begins to strangle him, but Jumper teleports away and raises his front hoofs to summon pony souls to help him fight,
"Lazy as always." Sprinter said, and he changes the cable to a big sword the red onis use and he does one horizontal swing and destroys all ten souls, he sees he hit Walker and Runner in the process. Jumper summons chain whips and begins swinging them around, Sprinter watches for an opening and kept an eye on Walker and Runner since they were coming after him,
"You will never beat me." Jumper said, Sprinter shakes his head since he has beaten him before, Walker and Runner come to him and Sprinter changes his big sword to knives and teleports onto the two, Jumper swings his two chain whips forward in an attempt to ensnare Sprinter, but Sprinter hears them and teleports away while holding Walker and Runner, he cuts open the upper spines of Walker and Runner, he shoots dark blue and orange flames into the cuts and the two gasp, they regain control of themselves, Sprinter shot more fire out than usual to increase their chances of breaking free from Jumper's control.
Jumper tries to use his powers to possess Walker and Runner again, but they use their willpowers to resist him, and he could not possess them, Sprinter makes one knife disappear and changes the other to a big sword, Runner summons a sabre in his front right hoof, and Walker summons a sword and a pistol. Jumper slams his front hoofs onto the ground and four light blue round heads appear to attack the three, they make dark blue flames appear around them and they spin counterclockwise, the heads were destroyed, Jumper shoots out a stream of dark blue and orange fire at Sprinter, but he runs and jumps over it, he teleports to in front of Jumper and burns him, he grunts and teleports back, only for Walker to be behind him and burn him more, he teleports away and Runner appeared in front of him, burning him as well. Jumper floats in midair and spins counterclockwise, he lets out a grunt and changes to his alicorn-like form, Walker, Runner, and Sprinter change into theirs as well. The dark blue flames around them disappear and they teleport to Jumper, Walker appeared in Jumper's left blind spot, Runner was in his right blind spot, and Sprinter was behind him, the three attack him at once with the swords in their front right hoofs and Jumper was constantly stunned, he runs out of spiritual energy and could not get up, Walker, Runner, and Sprinter change back a few seconds later, Sprinter teleported and appears between Walker and Runner,
"I thought you didn't like fighting dirty, daddy." Walker said,
"I make exceptions sometimes." Runner replied, Jumper pants heavily while he looks at the three,
"You three are still disgraces to the family, Sprinter, using his powers to help instead of ruling, Runner, who likes to be fair and honorable, even when it is a fool's prize, and Walker, does not wish to fight and wishes to learn visual arts instead, you are the biggest disgrace out of all three of you." Jumper said, the three listen to him rant,
"Walker, you still believe in friendship right, will you forgive me?" Jumper asked, Walker was persuaded and walks to him, Runner sees Jumper had a dagger in his front left hoof, he realizes Jumper was going to stab Walker in the back of his neck and kill him if he forgives him and offers him his friendship, he was about to warn Walker, but Sprinter touches his left shoulder with his front right hoof and shakes his head, Runner watches with worry.
Walker goes to Jumper and was about to forgive Jumper and offer him his friendship, but he has flashbacks on the times he has done it, the harpies saw it as confusing and only became friends with him because he was an honorable and fair fighter, the vulcans and onis got mad at him, the vulcans saw it as an act of stupidity, and the onis saw it as an act of cowardice that brings shame and disgrace to one's name. Jumper holds his front right hoof out and Walker looks at it, he was about to grab his hoof with his front right hoof, but Walker makes a sabre appear in his front left hoof and stabs it into the right side of Jumper's neck and destroys his soul's body form, Runner and Sprinter smile while Sprinter absorbs Jumper's soul, but Walker just stood there,
"I... just killed... a member of my family." Walker said with deep regret in his voice, his father and paternal grandfather go to him,
"It's okay, Walker, you did what had to be done." Runner said,
"But still, I feel bad." Walker replied,
"I know it's hard, Walker, but you had to do it for the safety of Equestria, Aerostia, Chrysaor, and Yomi. Come on, The Judge is waiting for his soul." Sprinter said, and they go to the Void. Walker, Runner, Sprinter, Jones, Genghis, the harpies, the vulcans, and the onis stood together to watch Jumper's judgement,
"Male, Equestria." The Judge said,
"He desired to rule the entire land." Lust said, the black scale weighs down,
"He had others do his dirty work." Sloth said, the black scale goes down more,
"He was physically and verbally abusive to Sprinter." Wrath said, the black scale goes down even more,
"This soul is to receive damnation." The Judge said, and he hits the gavel with the demonic side of his hammer, a portal opens to his left and Jumper's soul goes into it and the portal closes, Spirit appears in front of them,
"Equestria has changed back to normal, one of you should go see Joker and tell him about the book, and tell him to keep it protected at all costs, since Equestria will be erased from existence if that book is destroyed." Spirit said,
"I'll go." Walker replied, and he opens a portal with his mind and goes to Equestria. Walker arrives and was in front of Demonicus, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, Joker, and Claudius,
"That book is not from this realm." Walker said,
"Wait, I remember reading about you in the book, you're Walker, you're in another realm." Joker said,
"Yeah, the realm I'm traveling in is called the Void, that book is from that realm." Walker replied,
"I see, so he's the creator of the book, I'd figured it'd be him who created it." Claudius said, and he disappeared completely,
"Are you here to take the book back?" Demonicus asked,
"No, I'm just here to let Joker know that the book must be protected, if that book is destroyed, then this world will be erased from existence." Walker replied,
"I will." Joker said,
"And Walker, can you tell Spirit I said hi?" Demonicus asked,
"Sure thing, I'll be going now, I have my own journey to go on, till we meet again." Walker replied, and he went back into the portal and it closed. Walker arrives back into the Void and saw everybody was gone,
"Spirit, Demonicus says hi." Walker said,
"I heard him, your father and grandfather are in Aerostia now, they're celebrating, you should go, too." Spirit replied telepathically, and Walker did. The harpies have fun and celebrate, they eat meat and seeds and drink water, everybody partied while Runner and Sprinter just sat together, and Walker was dancing with the other harpies, Jones was studying more harpy culture, and Genghis was teaching the harpies war tactics, Sprinter and Alexia sat together and they kissed, much to Runner's annoyance, the harpies dance and Adetokunbo taught Genghis how to use the boomerangs, the ponies had fun after a while but then left and went to Chrysaor. The vulcans enjoy doing a play and were playing music, the vulcans were also making statues of Walker, Runner, Sprinter, and Jones, Sprinter was hanging out with Diana, Hera, Athena, and Echidna, Walker and Runner saw they were making up and were on good terms now, Sprinter also apologized about breaking their hearts, which made Walker and Runner smile. Elder Hephaestus went to go see Walker and taught him how the vulcans made their paint, Walker painted with it and enjoyed it, he also saw the vulcans ate plants, and ate the meat of the dead native fauna, which made him sick to the stomach, but he continued painting and had fun, the ponies leave after a while and went to Yomi. The onis were celebrating by fighting and having fun, the female onis had fun as well, and the kids play fought, Runner and Sprinter enjoyed it, while Walker and Jones did not, and Genghis got along with Champion Lucius,
"Come now, everybody, it is time for the ceremony for these five foreigners." Champion Lucius said,
"Don't take what he says seriously." Sprinter said, and he stood in the center, with Runner and Genghis to his right, and Walker and Jones to his left,
"We are here to honor these five foreigners from Equestria for their brave acts in battle and helping us fight the Possessed and Anti-Spirit cult, these five will go down in our history as heroes. Walker, the fiery tank of rage, you are the fire that lights up any battle, your flames of rage shall go across the battlefield and burn your enemies." Champion Lucius said, Walker looks at him with disbelief,
"Runner, the lightning of pain, your speed and skills shall bring pain to those you fight, may your hits be swift and deadly. Sprinter, the cold soul reaper of hate, your emotionless personality and desire to win by any means necessary shall freeze your enemies on the battlefield with fear, and grant you the spoils of many victories and the deaths of your enemies, you are hatred incarnate. Jones, the explorer of destruction, you have destroyed the Possessed with your magic, and is always discovering new places, may your magic bring the downfall of all Possessed and evil places. And Genghis, the conqueror from the shadows and bringer of death, your desire to rule other lands from the shadows shall catch your enemies by surprise, and you shall kill all who oppose you, may your conquest bring death to all of your enemies. These five are the foreign heroes of Yomi, may they feast upon the blood of their enemies." Champion Lucius said, Walker was in disbelief while the other four were just stoic and accepted it,
"Don't take it personally, Walker, it's just a title that is appropriate for their culture, come on, let's have fun." Sprinter said, and they do, Walker was not having fun in Yomi, he did not like the sight of lava and blood flowing instead of water, along with the dead onis on the nooses,
"Why are there onis hanging from the ceiling for?" Walker asked,
"It is to scare whoever tries to fight us." a female blue oni said, and they go, Walker and Jones went to Chrysaor while Runner went to Aerostia, Sprinter and Genghis stayed in Yomi and they all have fun until it was bedtime, Jones stays in the Void while the other four go back to Equestria when it was dark and they sleep, Walker, Runner, and Sprinter had their dreams invaded by Shadows, they fought them off and Sprinter absorbed their souls and gave it to The Judge, the three sleep peacefully for the rest of the night.
Walker wakes up the next morning and he hears the ponies talking about how Twilight Sparkle and her friends saved Equestria from the Storm King, which angered Walker, but he suppressed it,
"We got a gift to make up for your birthday, Walker." Runner said, and he and Sprinter bring him painting supplies, he was elated,
"Thank you, daddy and grandpa, it was worth the wait." Walker said,
"We also got some pictures of landscapes for you to practice painting." Sprinter said, and they give them to him. Walker decides to paint before he goes to school and made one landscape of the sea, but it was sloppy,
"Help." a female pony said behind Walker, he looks and saw a soul of a female Pegasus,
"Please, my name is Eurydice, I need your help, hear me out." the soul said, and Walker learns about her marriage of Gogh, how an alternate self of him came into their world through a painting, and how he and Gogh's love rival, Narcissus, killed her and vanished, and Shining Armor and Princess Cadence were looking for them, Walker was very sympathetic,
"I'll see what I can do." Walker said,
"Thank you, I can't pass to the afterlife until those two are caught." Eurydice replied, and she disappears, Walker painted every landscape Runner and Sprinter brought, he looks and sees alternate worlds of Equestria in the paintings, he paints an airship and looks, he saw Alternate Gogh and Narcissus,
"Wait, so the two are in a world accompanied by airships?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes, there seems to be no land." Walker replied,
"Okay, I'll inform Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence later. Continue." Doctor Whooves said, and Walker did.
Walker saw he had nothing to paint, so he finished and went to school. Walker was at the school and saw Cherry Blossom was still not back, which saddened him, he saw the fillies were still nearly crying with Cherry Blossom still not back, while the colts were sad but did not cry, Walker's teacher was on the verge of tears while she taught as well, PE comes and Walker just does it, he hears the foals constantly talk about how Twilight Sparkle and her friends saved Equestria and the other lands from the Storm King, which angered him, he hears about it at lunchtime and when it was time to go home, the talk of the Storm King annoyed Walker to no end, he arrived home and tried to have supper, but the constant talk of the Storm King and Twilight Sparkle and her friends being heroes beyond Equestria made him mad, he grunts when he pushes his supper and his plate onto the floor with his front left hoof,
"What is the matter, Walker?" Runner asked,
"It's the people here! They're talking Storm King this, Storm King that!" Walker said,
"Well, Twilight Sparkle did save Equestria from being conquered by him." Sprinter said,
"I get that, what about us?! What about us stopping Equestria from being conquered by the souls of the dead?!" Walker asked angrily,
"Your point?" Sprinter asked,
"Why aren't we getting the same respect and rewards as they are?!" Walker asked angrily,
"Walker, remember, the magic in each world is different from one another, the ponies and other creatures of this world cannot see, hear, feel, or sense the souls of the dead." Runner replied,
"So what?! I'd like a thank you and some rewards at least, we even saved Princess Celestia from being overthrown!" Walker said angrily,
"Walker, you are on the verge of committing the sins of lust and wrath." Sprinter replied,
"I don't care! I had to kill a member of my family to..." Walker said, he stopped being angry and was in deep discomfort when he realized he had to attack a member of his family, Runner and Sprinter realize destroying Jumper's body form of his soul still weighed heavily on him, the three were contacted telepathically,
"I see he's still uncomfortable, I'll have him see the pony who came to the Void through his experiments long ago talk with him, you should send him to Ponyville tomorrow." Spirit said telepathically,
"You should go rest, Walker." Runner said, and he went to bed while crying at the fact he had to destroy Jumper's body form, even though it was just his soul, Walker still felt like he has killed his own great grandfather, and cried until he slept while Runner and Sprinter comforted him, Walker was in the Void for his dream that night, but did not do any training, he just sat there and cried. The next day comes and Runner tells Walker's teacher that he was sick that day and could not attend school,
"Ponyville's that way, you'll be seeing an earth pony named Doctor Whooves, he's a therapist, Spirit should have already sent you his appearance and address into your mind earlier, we'll be waiting for you, grandson." Sprinter said, and Walker teleports to Ponyville and appeared in Doctor Whooves' office.
Doctor Whooves sat across from Walker and finished listening to his tale,
"Wow, sounds like you had quite the adventure." Doctor Whooves said,
"I did." Walker replied,
"Does fighting Jumper still bother you." Doctor Whooves asked, Walker nods,
"Yes, it does." Walker replied, he then asks "How about you, Doctor Whooves, how did you find the Void?"
"I was doing one of my experiments to find worlds I've been to in my past, and I found the Void by mistake, I met Spirit, The Judge, the Senses, the Virtues, the Sins, Diplomat, War, Passive, Aggressive, Optimist, Pessimist, and the representations of my body, mind, spirit, and emotions there, I know all of them." Doctor Whooves replied, Walker was surprised,
"Would you like to explore Ponyville?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, I already took up a lot of time talking about my experiences." Walker replied,
"Well, in that case, come with me, Spirit wants me to take you somewhere." Doctor Whooves said, and he uses one of his devices to open a light blue and white portal and the two go in it.
Doctor Whooves and Walker arrive at the area and Walker recognized the place, it was the cave Demonicus, Daylight Dimmer, and Starburn lived in,
"Stand there, Walker." Doctor Whooves said, and he walks forward and turns around, Walker looks around and saw Runner, Sprinter, Jones, Genghis, Demonicus, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, Sight, Hear, Touch, Smell, Taste, Humility, Pride, Kindness, Envy, Charity, Greed, Temperance, Gluttony, Diligence, Sloth, Chastity, Lust, Patience, Wrath, The Judge, Optimist, Pessimist, Passive, Aggressive, Diplomat, War, Body Walker, Body Runner, Body Sprinter, Mind Walker, Mind Runner, Mind Sprinter, Spirit Walker, Spirit Runner, Spirit Sprinter, Emotion Walker, Emotion Runner, Emotion Sprinter, Alexia, Adetokunbo, Elder Hephaestus, Diana, Hera, Athena, Echidna, Champion Lucius, and all of the harpies, vulcans, and onis,
"Why are all of you here for?" Walker asked,
"It was a request from Spirit, we called them here." Sprinter said,
"What's going on?" Walker asked, he sees dark blue flames appear in front of him and he saw Spirit has changed to the physical form of Walker,
"You have grown and learned new moves throughout your travels, Walker, now a retest of your first test, you have defeated many, it is now time for you to defeat yourself." Spirit said,
"I'm sick of all of the fighting, Spirit." Walker said,
"Then win, this is your last fight, Walker." Spirit replied, and the two get ready while the people present watch. Walker summons his sword and pistol and fires at Spirit, but he teleports and dodges the bullets, so Walker changes his pistol to a rifle and does a scattershot with it, Spirit just teleported around and dodged them as well. Walker realized long ranged weapons were not going to help him much against Spirit, so he changes his rifle to a second sword and teleports to him, Walker tries slashing Spirit, but he made two of his own swords appear in his front hoofs and hits Walker's swords with them, Spirit jumps and has the sword in his front right hoof slide on the sword in Walker's front left hoof and stabs Walker in his front left bicep, he grunts loudly, Spirit was about to slash Walker with his other sword, but Walker holds his front right hoof up and blocks it with the sword, Spirit teleports back and makes the black skeletal arm and hand come out of his front left hoof, it grabs Walker and pulls him forward, Walker changes the sword in his front right hoof to the mace-whip hybrid weapon from Yomi and swings it down, the whip part comes out and was about to hit Spirit, but he changes the sword in his front right hoof to a sabre and cuts the weapon apart, Walker was about to land in front of Spirit, but he teleports onto Spirit and wraps his front hoofs around his neck to choke him.
Spirit jumps and lands on his back, smashing Walker into the ground, he grunted loudly and Spirit jumped in the air again and was about to land on Walker's chest with his hind hoofs, but Walker stands up and jumps, he does a counterclockwise spin kick with his hind hoofs, he hits Spirit and he begins to fly away, but Spirit does a back flip while in midair and his hind hoofs land on the wall, Spirit then does a somersault and opens his body to kick Walker with his hind hoofs, but Walker changes the sword in his front left hoof to a pistol and shoots him, Spirit was hit in the chin and he falls, Walker was happy, but Spirit gets back up and Walker sees him disappear. Walker looks around and closes his eyes, his vision becomes dark blue, the people watching were light blue, and the objects nearby were a regular blue, he sensed the emotions of the people and saw they wanted him to win, he looks for Spirit and could not find him, Spirit appears behind Walker and cuts his back with a sabre in his front right hoof, Walker grunts and turns around, Spirit was gone, he appears in his left blind spot and cuts his neck, Walker faces him and he was gone again, Spirit reappears in his right blind spot and cuts his neck again, Walker realizes what Spirit's strategy was, he remains calm and waits for Spirit to appear while making two katanas appear. Spirit appears in his right blind spot and Walker blocks the sabre with the katana, Spirit teleports into Walker's left blind spot and he blocks Spirit's sabre with his other katana, Spirit then teleports to behind Walker, he quickly turns around and changes his two katanas to a big sword and blocks Spirit's attack again.
Spirit teleports away and holds his front legs up and the souls of four earth ponies appear to help him fight Walker, Walker presses his front hoofs onto the ground and four light blue round heads come out of the ground and they attack the souls of the earth ponies and they destroy one another's body forms, Spirit teleports around and fires bullets from two pistols, Walker changes his big sword to two pistols and aims them, he could not get a good shot of Spirit, so he changes them to two bladed boomerangs, he throws them and they home on Spirit, he teleports around when the bladed boomerangs were going to hit him, he keeps teleporting and was eventually above Walker, he saw the bladed boomerangs were going to hit him, so he teleported farther back so the boomerangs could hit Spirit. Spirit catches the boomerangs in his front hoofs and he turns around and throws them at Walker, he catches them in his front hoofs. Walker sees Spirit land and he runs towards him, Spirit summons a big sledgehammer and proceeds to smash Walker, but he teleports forward while changing the boomerang in his front right hoof to a sabre and tries to slash Spirit, but goes through him, Walker turns around and sees Spirit has changed to his soul form, so Walker changes to his soul form.
Spirit changes the sledgehammer and had a sword in his front right hoof, Walker changes his sabre to a sword and the boomerang in his front left hoof to a pistol, the two begin clashing with their swords, the two enter a deadlock with their swords, Spirit makes the black skeletal hand come out of his front left hoof, he grabs Walker's right hind leg and pulls him forward and he falls, but Walker keeps his sword up and intercepted Spirit's slashes, Spirit's changes back to his body form and so did Walker, he also changed his vision back to normal. Walker teleports and attacks Spirit as much as he could to replenish his spiritual energy, but Spirit blocked every attack with his sword, so Walker teleports around and slashes Spirit at his blind spots and behind him, he also slashed his back from above, and his abdomen from below, Spirit eventually begins intercepting Walker's attacks with his sword and summons a pistol in his front left hoof and shoots Walker every time he blocked one of his attacks. Walker was shot back by a pistol bullet, he was about to fall, but he lands on his hoofs, Spirit makes the dark blue flames spin counterclockwise around him and he runs to Walker, Walker changes his sword and pistol to the sledgehammer and hits Spirit with it, but Spirit holds the sledgehammer up and was unharmed, Walker shoots a dark blue and orange stream of fire out of his front left hoof and it goes through Spirit's spinning fire, it burns him, but he was still able to fight.
Spirit's spinning fire disappears and he teleports to Walker with a sword in his front right hoof and a pistol in his front left hoof, Walker changes his sledgehammer to the same two weapons and the two begin clashing with their swords once again, they hit one another's sword and were intercepting one another, the two enter a deadlock again and Spirit shoots Walker with his pistol, but he did not relent and continued to be in a deadlock, he teleports to behind Spirit and tries to slash the back of his neck, but Spirit holds his front right hoof behind his head and blocks Walker's attack, he teleports to above Walker and kicks him down his hind hoofs, Walker grunts as he hit the ground and put a small crater in it. Walker gets back up and teleports away in case Spirit tried to do anything, he looks back and sees Spirit place his front right hoof on the ground and summons four light blue round heads, they go to Walker to attack him, but Walker jumps and kicks one with his hind right hoof, it disappears and Walker does a back flip and kicks the one behind him with his hind left hoof and destroys it, he begins to fall and he does a counterclockwise kick with both of his hind hoofs and hits the remaining two round heads, he lands on the ground shortly afterwards. Walker teleports to Spirit and tries to slash him, but Spirit teleports to behind him and grabs Walker by his abdomen with his front hoofs, and bends his back and does a suplex on Walker, he screamed for a short time and panted heavily since it really hurt.
Walker teleports away and he could still stand, he pants heavily and sees Spirit was a really tough opponent, he spins counterclockwise in midair and lets out a grunt, he changes to his alicorn-like form and lands on his feet, Spirit covers his face with his front right leg and changes to the alicorn-like form as well. Walker and Spirit swing the swords in their front right hoofs around and attack one another, the two ignore the pain they receive from one another, they change back to normal after several seconds and Spirit begins attacking Walker with his bare hoofs. Walker blocks and parries all of Spirit's hoof attacks with his front hoofs, Spirit stomps onto Walker's hind left hoof with his hind right hoof and Walker almost stumbled but stood his ground, even though it really hurt. Walker begins to use the hoof-to-hoof combat training Genghis taught him and Spirit mimicked him perfectly, they block and parry one another's attacks and they eventually press their front hoofs against one another, Walker lifts his lower body up and kicks Spirit in his chest with his hind hoofs, it knocks him back and Walker summons his pistol in his front left hoof and fires it at Spirit's head, but he teleports forward with the sword in his front right hoof, he was about to swing it down, but Walker makes his sword reappear in his front right hoof and the two begin clashing with one another's swords once again, they hit one another's swords ten times and enter a deadlock, Walker hits Spirit's front hoofs to his left side with a firm push from his front right hoof, the force also caused Walker do a clockwise spin, Walker finishes spinning in a full circle and uses the sword to slash Spirit's throat, Spirit moves back and changes back to his regular form with no wounds on him.
Walker pants heavily and he sees Runner, Sprinter, The Judge, the Senses, Optimist, Pessimist, Passive, and Aggressive were smiling, Spirit smiled and chuckled,
"Congratulations, Walker, you went beyond just proving you know how to defeat yourself, you know how to kill yourself, you have beyond passed the test." Spirit said, everybody present claps and smiles except for Diplomat and War, Alexia flew to him and hugged him,
"Congratulations, Walker." Alexia said, Walker smiled,
"Master, what should we do with Cozy Glow?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"I will admit, this Cozy Glow intrigues me, I have never seen a pony who views friendship as power, that would mean animosity is power as well." Demonicus replied,
"Did you two fail this test, daddy and grandpa?" Walker asked,
"Nope, I passed my first time." Runner replied,
"I did, too." Sprinter said, Walker felt bad,
"Well, you have passed, and you have grown, go on and rest, Walker, you earned it." Spirit said, and everybody left when Sprinter opened a portal to the Void, with Aggressive carrying Diplomat and War,
"Have you been alright, Jones?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes, it's good to see you again, Spirit is keeping me protected in the Void." Jones replied, Doctor Whooves smiles,
"Come on, Walker, let's go home." Runner said, and he does, Walker, Runner, and Sprinter went to sleep for the rest of the day. Walker dreams and he was in the Void, he was in Spirit's throne room,
"Well, Walker, if you wish, you can continue fighting the souls of the dead and bringing them here, liches and Shadows will still appear to attack you every now and then, and now that Jumper is gone, the Possessed and Undead will not be as common anymore, you may run into a few Revived in the future as well." Spirit said,
"Actually, Spirit, I want to go to the other worlds." Walker replied, Spirit was surprised,
"You... want to see all of the worlds?" Spirit asked,
"Yeah, I wanna meet new people and learn their cultures, I love traveling the Void and going to new worlds, and I want to use their landscapes and architecture as inspiration for my paintings." Walker replied happily,
"Okay, I'll open the portals to all of the other worlds for you, then, you are the very first one in your family that has wanted to do such a thing." Spirit said,
"Not now, I need a break from traveling, Spirit, I'll let you know when I'm ready." Walker replied, Spirit smiled while scoffing,
"Very well, I'll be waiting for you." Spirit said, and Walker woke up the next morning and just went on with his day and made up the work he missed from school yesterday. Walker went to go see Cherry Blossom in her hospital room and saw she was still unconscious, he saw she had a very strong heartbeat and was going to be fine, he smiled and went home. A week passes and Walker was home from school and painting, knocking was heard at the door and Walker saw Runner answer it, he saw Sakura and Spring, they were smiling, they converse and leave and Runner closes the door, he goes to Walker,
"Good news, Walker, Cherry Blossom has made a full recovery, she's well and just got out of the hospital, she's outside right now." Runner said,
"Cherry Blossom?" Walker asked with surprise, and he ran outside. Walker ran outside and looked around,
"Walker!" Cherry Blossom said, he looks to his left and saw her running to him, she hugs him tightly,
"Oh, I missed you so much." Cherry Blossom said,
"I missed you, too." Walker replied,
"Come on, take me to your home, I wanna learn what has happened while I was unconscious." Cherry Blossom said, and they enter Walker's home, she sees him painting and was excited to see it, she thought his paintings were beautiful, Walker talks about what has happened, but leaves out the Void, going to the other worlds, the souls of the dead, and Jones and Genghis since he knows she will not believe him, he also lies about seeing Doctor Whooves to help him cope with her being in the hospital and unresponsive, Cherry Blossom hugs him,
"This whole time, you have cared about me, thank you, Walker." Cherry Blossom said,
"Want to watch me paint?" Walker asked,
"Sure." Cherry Blossom replied, and Walker paints his next picture, he has fun with Cherry Blossom until it was time for her to go home, Walker still went to go see Jones, Genghis, the harpies, the vulcans, and the onis in his free time to see how they have been, Walker thought his life was now perfect, he paints more with Runner, Sprinter, and Cherry Blossom supporting him, he begins to improve and was taking a break from traveling, and was going to travel across the Void once again when he was ready.
Deli's & Butcher's Poultry Products
Doctor Whooves was eating a rose and tulip sandwich outside on a table with Roseluck,
"Are you working today, dear?" Roseluck asked,
"Yes, I have only one patient today." Doctor Whooves answered,
"Who is it?" Roseluck questioned,
"Deli, he's a unicorn who runs his own food business mostly outside of Equestria, he's had a falling out with his business partner and it's bothered him ever since." Doctor Whooves explained,
"Well, I hope you can help him recover." Roseluck said,
"I hope so, I may have called him, myself when the arrangement of his session was made, but he was very skittish and nervous when I was notifying him." Doctor Whooves replied,
"How did you do that?" Roseluck asked,
"It was simple, I'm well known at my job now, and word of mouth spread, I saw news of him in the newspapers about him closing down his food business for an indefinite amount of time after he had a falling out with his business partner since he now has to run everything on his own, one of my previous patients went to him as a customer and told him I might be able to help him." Doctor Whooves explained,
"That is very kind of you to reach to him like that, darling." Roseluck stated,
"Yes, I am hoping I can help him recover, too." Doctor Whooves spoke,
"Well, let's finish our meals." Roseluck said, and they did,
"I'll be off now, bye, dear." Doctor Whooves stated,
"Goodbye, darling." Roseluck responded, and they kissed one another and Doctor Whooves left.
Doctor Whooves walked to his home and waited, he heard wheels outside and they stopped and a unicorn came in, he had a light purple coat, short white mane and tail with a widow's peak on his head, and gray eyes, his cutie mark was a black booklet with a menu in it,
"Please, sit." Doctor Whooves instructed, the unicorn panted and sweated heavily while he walked to the chair and sat across from Doctor Whooves,
"Are you comfortable?" Doctor Whooves asked, the unicorn looked at him with his mouth a little open and nodded,
"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"D... Deli, I run my own food business, it... it's closed right now, but I... I plan to reopen eventually." Deli spoke nervously,
"I understand you're shaken up by your falling out with Butcher." Doctor Whooves spoke, Deli nodded nervously,
"Well, let us begin." Doctor Whooves spoke, and Deli began to tell his tale.
Deli was living in a small village on the western border of Equestria and has just graduated from college with a degree in business finance management and culinary arts, he wondered what he should do with his life, he walked outside and looked for inspiration on what he should do with his degrees. He watched ponies cooking and saw them serving hayburgers and salads to various creatures,
"Here you all go, hayburgers and salads served nice and fresh." a Pegasus waitress said,
"You're still serving this stuff?!" a male griffon fumed,
"Is... is something the matter?" the waitress asked while smiling and sweating,
"We're tired of all of your hay, fruits, vegetables, and grains that are served in this country!" a male dragon thundered,
"Uh, I can give you gems if you want." the waitress said,
"No! We're tired of eating gems, too!" a second male dragon refuted,
"Same with us, griffons! We're tired of eating scones!" a second male griffon added, the dragons and griffons agreed about being tired over eating the same foods,
"Hmm." Deli spoke as he observed,
"What do you guys want then?" the waitress asked,
"Something new." the first dragon replied,
"Yeah, something we never had before." the second dragon answered, the customers agreed angrily while the waitress walked back nervously,
"Something new." Deli said to himself, and he walked away to look elsewhere in hopes of getting inspiration.
Deli walked to the west and looked around but saw nothing of interest or inspiration, he continued walking until he went into the forest near his hometown and out of Equestria's borders. He saw a tribe in the forest and they were all earth ponies with light green coats and dark green manes and tails, they stared at him,
"Wait, I come in peace." Deli said, the tribe got ready to get their spears,
"Please, I'm just looking for inspiration for what to do with my life." Deli spoke,
"What brings you here?" a stallion asked with a heavy accent,
"I was thinking about opening my own food business, and I'm looking around for inspiration in making a theme." Deli explained,
"Begone, foreign ponies are not welcome here." a mare said,
"Okay, okay, I'm going." Deli responded, and he left.
Deli walked back and looked at his surroundings but found nothing of interest, he arrived back in his hometown and saw dragons and griffons protesting for more variety in food, he sighed and went into his home. He looked around and got a pencil and papers, he then began cooking the dishes he learned in culinary arts class in college and then wrote down the prices on the papers with his pencil, he got tape and taped the paper to his dishes, he then got a picnic blanket and headed outside.
He had a light blue aura on his horn and set up everything, he sat while he had his dishes on display and ready to sell,
"What are these?" a unicorn mare asked as she walked to him,
"I'm selling the foods I make." Deli answered,
"What? Like this, your display looks so dull, no theme and no class." the mare stated,
"Well, I just started today." Deli replied,
"Oh, today is your first day?" the mare questioned, Deli nodded,
"My deepest apologies, but if you really want to be successful, you should try to look more fancy, you'll get more customers that way, a theme and colors will work, too." the mare explained,
"I was looking around for inspiration in making a theme a moment ago." Deli responded,
"Did you find anything you like?" the mare asked, Deli shook his head,
"Well, if you're just going to use color, I suggest using the color red, that stimulates creatures' appetites." the mare stated,
"I can't see red very well." Deli responded,
"Well, maybe I can help you with setting up the basics of your shop, here, I'll buy everything." the mare stated, and she did and gave him five hundred bits,
"No need for change, you need to use every bit of that money to get everything to set up." the mare spoke,
"Really? Thank you." Deli said,
"You're welcome, come on, I'll take you to a store where you can get things set up and started." the mare responded and she led him.
"Hold on, she bought everything at once?" Doctor Whooves questioned,
"Yes." Deli stated while raising his voice a little,
"I find that a bit hard to believe." Doctor Whooves said,
"I'm not lying! That really happened!" Deli stated angrily, Doctor Whooves looked at Deli carefully and he panted loudly while glaring,
"Please continue." Doctor Whooves spoke, and Deli calmed down and continued his tale.
The mare took him to a junkyard and showed him the wagons,
"The ones with the ovens are over there, they would really help you with your business in starting and making your dishes." the mare stated,
"Do they work?" Deli questioned,
"Moving the wagon around and about is doable, but you'll need to fix the oven yourself and repaint it on your own." the mare explained,
"That wagon better not be five hundred bits." Deli remarked,
"No, not at all, it's much cheaper than that." the mare answered,
"Good." Deli spoke,
"Well, it's a suggestion, you can buy whatever you want." the mare said,
"I think your suggestion will work fine once when everything's fixed. Thank you." Deli spoke,
"You're welcome, good luck with your food business." the mare stated, and she walked away, Deli bought the wagon for ten bits and headed home.
Deli began checking everything and used his magic to move everything around, he tested the oven and it did not turn on, so he got another paper with his magic and wrote on it with pencil that he was now hiring anyone who can fix an oven. He waited and watched with boredom until he saw an earth pony stallion walking to him, he had a slightly light yellow coat, short brown mane and tail, and orange eyes, his cutie mark was a meat cleaver,
"You hiring?" the stallion asked,
"Well, I'm waiting for someone to come and fix this oven." Deli answered,
"Can I take a look at it?" the stallion inquired,
"Sure, help yourself." Deli replied, and he stepped aside. The stallion examined the oven and its interior, he looked at it and moved the parts around,
"It's an electric oven." the stallion spoke,
"What? I need a gas oven to cook my dishes." Deli responded,
"How much money do you have?" the stallion questioned,
"Four hundred ninety bits." Deli answered,
"You have enough to buy one then." the stallion stated,
"Might as well then." Deli replied, and he trotted to the store.
Deli entered the home improvement store and looked for an oven, he went to the ovens section and looked for a gas oven, he found several and looked at each one carefully,
"Can I help you?" a storepony stallion asked, Deli got startled,
"Yes, I'm looking for a gas stove to install into my wagon." Deli explained,
"What kind of gas do you wish to use?" the storepony questioned,
"Propane." Deli answered,
"Can I take a look at your wagon?" the storepony asked,
"Sure." Deli replied, and he teleported his wagon into the store. The stallion in the wagon stepped out while the storepony measured the size of the oven in the wagon,
"I think I know one that would fit." the storepony stated and he got an oven,
"Here, try this one." the storepony spoke, and Deli and the storepony brought it into the wagon and the stallion hooked it up,
"It's ready." the stallion said, and Deli turned the oven on and it worked,
"Yes! Thank you." Deli spoke,
"You're welcome." the storepony responded,
"How much does it cost?" the stallion asked,
"Eighty bits." the storepony revealed, and Deli paid him and teleported himself, the wagon, and the stallion back.
"You had a home improvement store where you lived?" Doctor Whooves questioned,
"You're doubting me again?!" Deli asked angrily,
"It's not that, it's where you said you're from, that's mostly forest and village, home improvement stores like that are usually not found in that kind of area." Doctor Whooves explained,
"The town I'm from had one!" Deli responded quickly and angrily,
"Alright, no need to get mad, this session is to help you come to terms with the events bothering you." Doctor Whooves spoke,
"Sorry, I've been high strung ever since my partner and I had a fight and we split." Deli replied in a monotone,
"It's alright, go ahead and continue." Doctor Whooves said, and Deli continued his tale.
Deli arrived back at his home and lit up the gas oven and began cooking,
"I think we can work well together, you cook, and I serve the food and handle the customers." the stallion spoke,
"Sounds good, I'm Deli, by the way, and you?" Deli asked,
"Butcher." the stallion answered,
"Is there anything you can do?" Deli questioned,
"Yeah, turns out I'm good at cutting things apart and making certain cuts with dishes." Butcher replied,
"I can use that, culinary arts class taught me that how the food looks is important, including being cut cleanly and neatly." Deli said,
"Leave it to me." Butcher replied,
"*chuckle* Well, let's get started, I'll begin cooking, I leave the cutting to you." Deli spoke,
"Yes, sir." Butcher chirped, and they began working. Deli cooked fruits, vegetables, and grains while Butcher cut them with a kitchen knife in a specific ways to make the food look like art, the first customers came soon, it was a male dragon and a male griffon,
"Hi, welcome." Deli said,
"What are you selling?" the griffon asked,
"Everything on display." Deli replied,
"Where's the menu?" the dragon inquired,
"I haven't made one yet." Deli answered,
"Well, you should." the griffon remarked,
"I just started this today, I'm making sure everything works before I make the menu and theme." Deli responded,
"Should've done that before you opened business." the dragon spoke,
"I'll get to it soon, are you two here to buy or not?" Deli questioned,
"How much do the meals cost?" the griffon asked,
"Five bits each." Deli answered,
"No free sample?" the dragon inquired,
"Maybe later down the road when I open officially." Deli answered,
"Well, I guess they wouldn't hurt to try." the griffon spoke, and they bought everything. The dragon and griffon tried every food while Deli and Butcher watched anxiously,
"Bleh! This is the same hay, fruits, and vegetables as everything else in Equestria!" the griffon complained,
"Yeah, don't you guys have any variety?!" the dragon added,
"This is just what I was taught to cook in culinary arts class." Deli explained,
"You ponies are taught to cook with the same ingredients for every dish?" the griffon inquired,
"Uh, I can give you two scones and gems if you two wish." Butcher suggested,
"No! No scones, I'm tired of scones!" the griffon fumed,
"I'm tired of eating gems!" the dragon thundered,
"Okay, hold on, we'll try to find something new to serve." Butcher answered,
"Good! Because you all have no variety in your cuisine!" the dragon stated,
"Whatever you two serve better be good." the griffon said, and they left. Deli and Butcher watched them leave while Deli looked at his dishes,
"You gonna quit?" Butcher questioned,
"No, I'm gonna try to get something different to serve." Deli responded,
"What do you have in mind?" Butcher asked,
"Well, I was thinking bugs, I know Equestria teaches us to respect all life and befriend all animals, but I might have to make an exception this case, if I don't find anything that my customers like, I'm going to go out of business." Deli explained,
"You have a degree in business finance, right?" Butcher asked,
"Yeah." Deli replied,
"You could be a financial advisor to companies that are struggling financially." Butcher suggested,
"No, I can't, I need a license and certificates, too to get that job." Deli spoke,
"Oh." Butcher said,
"What about you, why did you join?" Deli asked,
"I just needed a job, and you looked like you were hiring, I just want to make a living and was a bit desperate for any job." Butcher explained,
"Desperate for a job?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"That's what he said." Deli replied,
"Was he dirty, poorly groomed, or dressed in rags when he came to see you?" Doctor Whooves questioned,
"No." Deli answered,
"Hmm, strange, thought he was a beggar." Doctor Whooves commented,
"He didn't look like one." Deli remarked,
"Did he at least have a home?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yeah, we teleported out of Equestria for our business but came back at the end of the day, so he slept in his house." Deli explained,
"Ah, go on then." Doctor Whooves instructed, and Deli continued his tale.
"That's it? You don't have any dreams on what you want to do with your life?" Deli questioned,
"I do, I want to work in the culinary industry as one who cuts and shapes food, I think I can do it through you." Butcher explained,
"Oh, okay, go ahead and head on home, Butcher, I'll try to see if I can get some ingredients." Deli spoke,
"Okay, good luck, I'll try and see if I can find something as well." Butcher stated, and he walked home.
Deli walked into the forest and began gathering honey with his magic from the forest's bees, he made a glass jar appear from his home and put the honey in them, he stopped when arrows were shot at him, he saw the tribe around him,
"What are you doing stealing our honey?" a stallion inquired,
"I'm just gathering ingredients for my food business." Deli explained,
"You actually have pompous and snobbish civil ponies who want to eat honey?" a mare asked,
"No, my customers are dragons and griffons, and they're tired of our cuisines containing the same ingredients." Deli responded,
"Wait, did you say dragons?" another stallion asked,
"Griffons?" another mare exclaimed,
"Quick! Quickly! Head back home and secure your stuff before they come and try to destroy and steal everything!" a third stallion ordered and the tribe quickly ran home. Deli resumed collecting honey and kept the bees away with his magic, he eventually filled five jars and teleported home.
Deli began cooking more and put honey on them, he then remembered honey being pretty common in dishes when he was in culinary arts class, so he teleported bees into his house and put them in his cast iron, he cooked them and made dishes of fried bees with honey on them, he finished and went outside. He put the fried bees covered in honey on display and wrote on paper that each dish was five bits, the ponies gasped at seeing what he served,
"Sorry, everypony, but my customers said they're tired of every dish in Equestria having the same ingredients." Deli explained,
"Pony customers?" a stallion questioned,
"No, dragons and griffons." Deli answered,
"Ah, yeah, they have been troublesome around here." the stallion commented,
"You shouldn't let Fluttershy find out you're serving bugs as food." a mare suggested,
"Don't worry, I don't plan to." Deli replied,
"Normally, we would disapprove, but since your customers are not ponies, we'll leave you be, dragon and griffon tongues are completely different to pony tongues." the stallion said,
"I'm sorry, everypony, I really am." Deli commented,
"It's alright, good luck with your dishes." the mare spoke, and everybody got on with their days.
"You weren't reported?" Doctor Whooves questioned,
"Is something the matter?" Deli questioned defensively,
"Normally, you would've been reported to the authorities regardless of reason if you served bugs as food in Equestria." Doctor Whooves explained,
"What? I don't recall that being a law." Deli said while sweating profusely,
"Technically, it isn't, but Princess Twilight and her friends' lessons in friendship have made serving bugs or animals as food highly frowned upon in Equestria." Doctor Whooves replied,
"So I haven't broken any laws, have I?" Deli questioned,
"No, but doing that is greatly looked down upon, you would normally be ostracized by ponies for it." Doctor Whooves answered,
"Oh." Deli said,
"Well, let's resume." Doctor Whooves spoke, and Deli continued his tale.
Deli put the fried bees covered in honey on display and a female dragon and a female griffon came forward,
"You're serving bugs now?" the griffon questioned,
"Just trying something new." Deli responded,
"Well, I do see honey often in pony food, but never bees, I say we give them a try." the dragon suggested, the griffon nodded,
"Five bits for twenty bees." Deli said,
"That's not bad, I'll try them." the griffon spoke, the dragon nodded and they bought them. They ate the bees while Deli watched anxiously,
"Hmm, not too bad, but it doesn't really suit my tastes." the griffon spoke,
"Mine neither, but it's an improvement over the fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, and plants and flowers we've been eating a lot of in this country." the dragon added,
"So am I on the right track?" Deli questioned, the griffon and dragon nodded while smiling,
"Okay, I'll see what else I can make." Deli spoke, and the two customers left. He began using his magic to gather wild bugs from around the town and cooked them in his gas oven, he also got a pot from inside his house and filled it with water, he then carried it out and put it on top of his stove and boiled some of the bugs, he cooked all evening and finished when it was dark, he teleported everything into his house's refrigerator and slept.
The next morning came and Deli heated up the food he cooked and went out to his wagon with plates and bowls from his house,
"Oh, good morning, I couldn't find anything yet on my end, so I decided to clean the wagon and polish the wagon before you open." Butcher spoke, Deli looked and saw everything was clean and shiny,
"Hmm, I see, thanks." Deli said, and he put his new dishes on display and wrote the price of each one on them. Deli and Butcher watched the ponies react with disgust at them serving bugs in their dishes while a male dragon, a female griffon, and a female yak came to them, they bought one of each dish and paid five bits for each one. They tried to the new dishes and they spat out the soup,
"Yuck! Yak demand real soup!" the yak hollered,
"Is it the bugs or the soup?" Deli asked,
"Both!" the griffon answered,
"These sautéed spiders don't taste good, either." the dragon added,
"Looks like pony bugs taste bad, too." the yak said,
"If you want, we can keep trying different bugs." Butcher suggested,
"No, don't bother, especially if they taste this bad." the dragon responded,
"Yeah, especially if they taste like these deep fried centipedes, they're awful." the griffon added,
"What do you all suggest then?" Deli questioned,
"Yak want something exotic and new." the yak declared,
"Uh..." Deli said,
"Wait, Deli, I got an idea, leave it to me." Butcher spoke,
"Well, I heard about you guys from other griffons and dragons, but it looks like you all are a work in progress." the dragon said,
"You two are on the right track, though, we'll come back and give you all another try when you two get everything figured out." the griffon stated, and they walked away. Butcher trotted away before Deli could ask him what he had in mind, so he put all of his dishes in his refrigerator and closed for the day.
The next day came and Deli heard sizzling at his wagon, he trotted there and saw Butcher cooking,
"What are you making?" Deli questioned, he smelled the cooking and it smelled pleasant. Butcher opened his pot and Deli got alarmed when he saw Butcher cooking mice, rats, squirrels, chipmunks, and gerbils,
"Don't worry, they're all wild, I promise you they're nopony's pets." Butcher spoke,
"I'm... not comfortable serving animals as food, Butcher." Deli said,
"I want to give it a try at least once, I'll stop if it proves to be a failure." Butcher responded,
"Well... okay, since everything else we've tried so far has failed." Deli spoke, and Butcher continued cooking. He finished after about an hour and Deli opened for the day, a male dragon, a male griffon, a male yak, and a male hippogriff came, they each bought a rodent and paid five bits each,
"Hmm, say, this is actually pretty good." the griffon said,
"Yeah, it's nice to have protein again in so long." the hippogriff stated,
"Yaks usually don't eat meat, but yak like taste." the yak added,
"Finally, something different from the usual stuff." the dragon chirped,
"You all like protein?" Deli questioned,
"Yeah, meat is a staple in griffon diet." the griffon stated,
"Dragons eat meat, too." the dragon added,
"Well, us hippogriffs don't eat land animal meat, but we do eat fish sometimes." the hippogriff spoke,
"I'll see if we can get those in." Butcher said,
"Okay, we got a business that serves meat in Equestria." the griffon spoke, the dragon, yak, and hippogriff replied happily and ate all of Butcher's cooking and left,
"Wow, I gotta hoof it to you, Butcher, you found something that works." Deli said,
"Yeah, we can serve meat, the other creatures and travelers like it, now we can focus on things like making a theme, a menu, and naming our business." Butcher responded,
"Well, come on, let's get a theme on and decorate the wagon." Deli spoke, and he teleported supplies from inside his house into the wagon. They went through the colors and tried to decide what colors to use,
"Any colors you have in mind on wanting to use?" Butcher questioned,
"Uh, well considering that we might end up serving bugs, I was thinking maybe brown and trying to put a wood pattern." Deli replied,
"We're probably better off getting actual wood for that." Butcher suggested,
"Yeah, you're probably right, I'd like to get a grill and some charcoal for cooking, too." Deli said,
"Well, do you still want to paint?" Butcher asked,
"Yeah, I think we can get started, I was thinking black would go good with wood." Deli responded,
"Hmm, I mean, it depends on the type of wood you're planning to use, too." Butcher spoke,
"I'm thinking of using wood of a pretty light color, so there would be a light and dark contrast." Deli explained,
"Sounds good, one question though, where are you going to get the wood?" Butcher questioned,
"I'll have to travel to another town for that." Deli responded,
"Oh, well, I'll go ahead and start painting." Butcher spoke, and they did. They painted everything black and Deli painted the higher and hard to reach parts while Butcher painted the lower parts,
"You decided on a name for our business, yet?" Deli asked,
"Nope, how about you?" Butcher asked,
"Not yet." Deli replied, and they painted until they finished in the evening,
"There, it's done, I'll let it dry now, I'll go to another town and buy wood tomorrow." Deli said,
"Alright, I'll look for a grill." Butcher responded,
"Okay, see you tomorrow, Butcher." Deli stated, and they went to their homes and slept.
The next day came and Deli went to his wagon and saw the paint was dry, he saddled it onto himself and trotted out of town. He went to the nearest town and looked for a lumber store but did not find one, so he floated into the air with his magic and looked around. He saw the nearest lumber store was in the town to the west of Ponyville, he sighed while moving his wagon up with his telekinesis, he grunted and strained due to its weight but got it saddled onto himself, he then teleported to the store. He looked at the wood and bought big wooden boards of the lightest color and paid two hundred bits for them, he carried them with his telekinesis and put them on the wagon, he then teleported himself and his stuff back to his home.
Deli appeared outside his house and saw Butcher standing by with a grill, hammers, pencils, tape measures, wrenches, electric drills, black metallic legs, an electric saw, nails, nuts, and sandpaper,
"There you are, I found a grill." Butcher said, Deli looked at it,
"It's a bit small, but I think it'll do." Deli stated, Butcher smiled,
"Well, come on, let's start making benches for the customers." Deli instructed, and they started working. Deli and Butcher measured everything twice with their tape measures and marked everything before they began cutting, they cut the wood into thick boards with the electric saws and then sanded them, they then began hammering and drilling nails and tightening nuts to connect the metallic curved legs to the front of the wagon and then connected the wood to them and made the benches,
"There, it's done." Butcher spoke,
"Next, the menu." Deli stated, and they began. Butcher cut the leftover wood into a rectangle and Deli drilled nails into it to hang it behind the serving counter, he then used black paint to put the names and prices of the foods he and Butcher served,
"Okay, that's done, we'll update it as we go along, now, to cut the woods into small shapes so they can be used as charcoal." Deli said, and they did,
"Alright, everything's set up, all that's left is the name." Deli spoke,
"I haven't gotten anything yet." Butcher said,
"Me neither, let's rest for today, Butcher, we'll try to come up with something tomorrow." Deli stated, and they went to their homes and slept.
"You two got all of that done in one day?" Doctor Whooves questioned,
"Yeah." Deli answered,
"That's a lot of work for two people." Doctor Whooves remarked,
"Well, we did start early, but it was still almost dark by the time we finished." Deli spoke,
"How fast did you two work?" Doctor Whooves inquired,
"We... tried to work as fast as we could and as carefully as we could." Deli responded nervously while tightening up his muscles and sweating profusely,
"I see, go ahead and continue." Doctor Whooves stated, Deli sighed with relief and continued his tale.
The next day came and Deli and Butcher opened for business, Butcher brought more wild rodents and bugs and Deli began cooking them in different methods and taste tested them, they added the foods they liked to the menu. They saw their customers coming and saw a male dragon, a male griffon, and a female hippogriff coming, they all had food with them,
"Are you two taking requests?" the griffon asked,
"What's this?" Deli questioned,
"Well, since you all are serving meat as dishes, we were wondering if you would also cook the meat of other animals, I brought fish for you two to cook and serve." the hippogriff explained,
"What I have here is rabbit meat." the griffon spoke,
"And my meat is ichneumon meat." the dragon said,
"Come on, Deli, let's try, they'll get tired of eating bugs eventually, too." Butcher stated, Deli nodded and he took the meats with his telekinesis while the three customers smiled. Butcher cut the meats into the shapes Deli instructed and he cooked them different ways, he fried, sautéed, boiled, and grilled the pieces of meat and put salt and pepper on them. Deli served the meats and each customer paid ten bits for each piece, they tried them and liked all of his cooking,
"Wow, these are delicious." the griffon chirped,
"Yum, you're a good cook, you should serve more meat and fish." the hippogriff suggested,
"Yeah, it's better than all of this herbivore dishes all around the country." the dragon added, the griffon and hippogriff agreed and they left while Deli and Butcher smiled,
"Well, I guess serving meat will be our focus." Butcher suggested,
"Agreed, it's the only thing they like besides bugs." Deli responded,
"Plus, we have to find more types of meat, they'll get tired of our current ones and the bugs eventually." Butcher remarked,
"True, getting new meats won't be easy, though, Equestria has dangerous animals, we might earn the wrath of our country's heroes as well." Deli reminded,
"As long as Fluttershy doesn't find out." Butcher stated,
"Tell you what, let's gather animals from outside Equestria, I don't think we'll get in trouble for that." Deli said,
"Sounds good, I'll leave that to you since you're the one who has the magic, I'll try to catch more stuff in the forest." Butcher stated,
"Alright, it's a deal, good luck." Deli spoke, and Butcher trotted away.
Deli used his magic to float up into the sky and watched the other countries' natives to see what they ate, he saw the dragons eating gems and meat, the griffons ate meat, fish, and scones, the changelings ate fruits and vegetables, the yaks ate grass and vegetables, the hippogriffs ate kelp and fish, and the kirins ate plants and fruits. He decided that he would have the best business in the Dragon Lands, Griffonstone, and Mount Aris, he teleported to them and introduced himself to them and got caught off guard when he heard that word of his food business has already reached their countries. He asked what meats and bugs they liked the best and which fauna were protected by the countries' laws, he finished after a while and teleported back home. He arrived home and counted his bits, he decided that he should get a freezer and waited for Butcher to return but he did not, it got dark and he went into his house and slept.
The next day came and he went out to his wagon but Butcher was not there, he got ready to look for him but heard running,
"I'm here, sorry I'm late." Butcher said while running, he stopped and panted,
"Did you get anything?" Deli asked,
"Yes, I managed to get a lot of meat yesterday, but it took all day, I already cut them into pieces and put them in my house's freezer." Butcher explained,
"I'm thinking of getting a freezer today, I need your help installing it." Deli stated,
"Sure." Butcher remarked, Deli smiled and they walked to the home improvement store.
They arrived and looked around,
"Hey, there, it's you two again, what are you two looking for this time?" the storepony asked,
"A freezer." Deli answered,
"Ah, what type, one to install, or a portable one?" the storepony questioned,
"I was hoping for one I can install onto my wagon." Deli replied,
"I think I know one that would work." the storepony stated, and he trotted away. He came back with a short but wide freezer,
"I think this will do the trick." the storepony spoke,
"Let's check it." Butcher stated, and they went outside. They measured the freezer and saw it would fit in the wagon and Deli wanted it across the oven, the three stallions worked together and installed it,
"There, it's ready." the storepony said,
"Thanks as always." Deli responded,
"You're welcome, price is seventy five bits." the storepony spoke, and Deli paid him and he went back to the store.
Deli and Butcher went back by Deli's house and they began cooking the animals Butcher caught yesterday,
"That reminds me, Butcher, we should teach one another our skills in case we can't work one day, I'll teach you how to cook, and you teach me on cutting meat and what the cuts are called." Deli suggested,
"Great idea." Butcher answered, and Deli taught Butcher how to cook different methods while Butcher taught Deli how to cut meat properly and what each cut was called, they practiced cooking and cutting and taught one another their respective skills,
"Okay, I think you got the hang of it." Deli spoke,
"You too, I'll start cooking the meat I got yesterday tomorrow." Butcher replied,
"Alright, see you tomorrow." Deli stated, and they went to their homes and slept.
Deli woke up the next morning when he smelled meat cooking and heard sizzling, he trotted outside and saw Butcher cooking meat that he has never seen before and a female dragon and a female hippogriff were waiting,
"Here you two go, thank you for waiting." Butcher spoke, the customers tasted the well done meat,
"Hmm, this is good." the hippogriff spoke,
"Wow, this meat's fantastic." the dragon said,
"Thank you, this is a meat I can't serve very often." Butcher stated,
"What creature is this meat from?" the hippogriff asked,
"I can't tell you that, it wouldn't be called secret meat if I told you the answer." Butcher answered,
"Well, it's great, one of the best foods I ever tasted." the dragon stated, and they paid him fifteen bits,
"Thank you, come again." Butcher said, and the dragon and hippogriff left. Deli walked over and Butcher looked at him with a smile,
"You're up early." Deli said,
"Yeah, I put all the meat I got the other day in our freezer." Butcher replied, Deli opened it and saw ten small piles of the meat he just served, he closed the freezer afterwards,
"Well, I don't know what that meat is, but it's a hit, we got everything all set for our business, but we still need a name." Deli suggested, they thought for a few seconds and they got their ideas,
"Deli's and Butcher's Poultry Products." Deli and Butcher said together and pointed at one another, they chuckled together,
"I'll put it on the wagon." Deli spoke, and he got the black paint and painted 'Deli's & Butcher's Poultry Products' on the wagon's top,
"There, we're ready to travel abroad." Deli said,
"I agree, do you have any family or friends to say goodbye to?" Butcher asked,
"Nope, my parents passed away a few years ago and I'm an only child, I don't have any other relatives, either, I also kind of grew up friendless, how about you?" Deli questioned,
"Nope, same, my parents are gone, I'm an only child, and I have no other relatives, I don't really have any friends here, either." Butcher responded,
"It's settled then, we leave Equestria, first stop, Mount Aris, I don't think anyone's going to miss us here, either, and we won't be gone all day, Butcher, I'll teleport us back here at the end of the day." Deli remarked,
"Oh, okay, and as for people missing us, probably not, let's go." Butcher spoke, and Deli teleported himself, Butcher, and the wagon.
They appeared on Mount Aris and the hippogriffs looked at them,
"Oh, it's you two, my daughter wrote to me about you two." a male hippogriff spoke,
"My son, too, he said your foods are fantastic." a female hippogriff added,
"Thank you, getting the meat we serve in high quantity's not easy." Butcher replied,
"Do you all have any rodents or vermin in your homes that you guys want gone?" Deli asked, the hippogriffs spoke with agreement and told them the pests in their houses. Deli rounded up all of the wild mice, rats, flies, spiders, ants, and cockroaches that invaded the hippogriff's homes and he and Butcher began cooking them, they finished after about forty five minutes and the hippogriffs ordered their foods. They served them quickly and the hippogriffs ate happily,
"What's the special meat?" a female hippogriff asked,
"Oh, that's the meat preserved in the freezer, what type of meat it is is a secret." Butcher explained,
"I wanna try." a male hippogriff answered, a few more agreed and Butcher cooked them by how many each hippogriff wanted and how they wanted the meat cooked. He finished about two hours later and served the meat to the customers,
"Hmm, this is fantastic." the female hippogriff said with her mouth full,
"Best meat ever!" another female hippogriff hollered, the hippogriffs enjoyed the meat while Deli got a bad feeling about the meat, they got many customers in the afternoon and it slowed down in the evening and they closed when the sun began to set,
"Are you two going to be staying here?" a male hippogriff questioned,
"Sorry, but we'll be here again three days from now, we have griffon and dragon customers, too." Deli explained,
"Yeah, we have to work in the Dragon Lands and Griffonstone, too." Butcher added,
"Okay." the male hippogriff said sadly,
"Well, we'll be going now, see you all in three days." Deli stated, and he teleported himself, Butcher, and the wagon while the hippogriffs said bye to them.
Deli and Butcher appeared back in their hometown and Butcher began counting the money,
"Here's your half." Butcher said as he gave the bits to Deli and he began to walk home,
"Butcher." Deli called out, Butcher stopped walking,
"What creature is the meat in the freezer from?" Deli questioned,
"Just some inferior breed of us." Butcher answered,
"What do you mean inferior breed?" Deli asked,
"Exactly what I mean, and look around you, nopony cares they're gone." Butcher responded, Deli raised an eyebrow,
"I'll be heading to bed now, I got to think of what drinks to serve our customers, see you in the morning, Deli." Butcher said, and he headed home.
Deli looked at the forest to the west and then at his wagon's freezer, he walked and headed there. He looked at the forest and saw all of the bugs and animals were gone, he headed farther into the forest and stopped when he saw all of the tribe's homes were destroyed and they were missing. He ran into their village and looked for any clues on their whereabouts but found nothing, he floated into the air with his magic and looked around and saw a big circle on the ground with no grass farther into the forest and teleported there. Deli began digging frantically while also tossing soil and dirt out, he soon got all of the dirt and ground out and his eyes widened and he panted heavily when he saw pony skeletons.
"How many ponies made up this tribe?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"About maybe thirty or forty earth ponies." Deli answered,
"I find that Butcher was able to overpower and take down thirty or forty earth ponies at once all by himself to be rather hard to believe." Doctor Whooves spoke after being silent for a few seconds,
"But he did." Deli retorted while raising his voice,
"Then how did he do it?" Doctor Whooves questioned,
"I don't know! I wasn't there!" Deli replied angrily,
"Deli, I need you to calm down and try to think it through, and if possible, deduce how you think he managed to take them all down." Doctor Whooves instructed, Deli took a deep breath,
"I still don't know, they were all skeletons when I found them." Deli commented,
"Were they cut and broken into pieces." Doctor Whooves questioned,
"Yes." Deli replied,
"Hmm, I guess he cut them apart with a blade or something, but continue, we only have a limited time for your session." Doctor Whooves said, and Deli continued his tale.
Deli panted heavily and struggled to process what he was seeing, he began to recollect himself after a few minutes and then reburied the skeletons and paid his respects to the tribe. He then walked back into the town and looked into Butcher's home, he saw him cooking bugs and animal meat in different ways and putting different seasonings on them, he taste tested each one and decided on what he should serve while also trying out different drinks and mixing them together, Deli walked back to his home and slept.
Deli woke up early the next day and teleported to his wagon, he waited for Butcher to arrive and soon heard him coming, he arrived and saw Deli standing in front of the freezer,
"Butcher, we need to talk." Deli said, and Butcher looked at him,
"You didn't say you were serving pony meat to our customers." Deli remarked,
"Well, our previous stuff didn't meet much success, so I had to go to other sources for food to serve." Butcher explained,
"It's still not right." Deli reminded,
"I'd rather try something morally questionable than going out of business and becoming broke and homeless." Butcher retorted,
"Don't you know what you've done, Butcher? You've committed a crime, our business will be endangered if Equestria's authorities find out." Deli explained,
"Look around you, Deli, nopony here seems to notice, pretty much no one went into that forest anyway as well, so I doubt anybody will notice, it seems like the natives and tourists here never knew that tribe existed in the first place." Butcher responded,
"It's still not right." Deli retorted,
"Well, they brought it onto themselves as well, they were hostile when you and I were in the forest and threatened us." Butcher reminded,
"We were in their territory, Butcher, they were defending their home." Deli said,
"It didn't look like that to me." Butcher responded,
"What do you mean?" Deli asked,
"I was heading back home after exploring the forest once and they attacked me from behind." Butcher answered,
"When?" Deli inquired,
"Shortly before you hired me." Butcher replied,
"I still don't appreciate you serving them as food to other creatures." Deli stated,
"Well, it's the most popular ingredient we have now, we'll lose a lot of customers if we take it off the menu." Butcher reminded,
"I also don't appreciate you making changes to the menu without my knowledge and without letting the customers decide." Deli said,
"What I've done so far has worked, and I do let the customers decide, them liking or disliking dishes is what makes me decide what to keep on the menu or take off." Butcher explained,
"If you're going to add or take anything off the menu, I would like to know beforehoof." Deli stated,
"Sure, I can do that, and as of now, I'm thinking about introducing drinks to our customers, mainly soft drinks." Butcher spoke,
"I guess it wouldn't hurt, go ahead and put it in the refrigerator, and I'm reluctant to say this, but keep the pony meat for now, but once when we find something just as or more popular and liked, I'm getting rid of it." Deli remarked,
"Oh, Deli, you really should rethink it through." Butcher replied, and he put the soft drinks in the refrigerator and Deli then teleported himself, Butcher, and the wagon.
They appeared in the Dragon Lands and the children ran to them while cheering, Deli and Butcher asked if there were any pests in their homes they wanted gone and they were told. Deli rounded up the pests with his telekinesis and he and Butcher began cooking them, the dragons also helped them cook with their fire breaths, they served the cooked pests and pony meat and the dragons cheered. Deli watched while frowning and Butcher entertained the kids by cutting food and meat in midair and making the fire rise on the oven and grill, the dragons cheered and they soon gave them ichneumon meat and they cooked and served them,
"Yum! This is better than the meat in the freezer." a male child dragon stated,
"I agree, this is delicious." a female child dragon added,
"I'll go ahead and store the rest in the freezer then." Butcher stated, and he did, the sun began to set and Deli teleported himself, Butcher, and the wagon while the dragons said bye to them. They arrived back at home and Deli saw the pony meat in the refrigerator was almost gone, he smiled while Butcher counted the bits and gave Deli half,
"Well, that's all we made today, see you tomorrow, Deli." Butcher said, and he went home while Deli went into his house and slept.
The next day came and Deli and Butcher set up everything for the day and Deli teleported to Griffonstone, the griffons cheered while running to their wagon. They cooked while the griffons fought for seats,
"Guys, no fighting, line up in a straight line, you all will get your turns." Deli instructed, and they did but the griffons began fighting and arguing for their places in line while several skipped others,
"Oh, it's hopeless." Deli said while shaking his head,
"I'm getting a feeling that something bad will happen when we serve the dish." Butcher remarked, and they cooked and cut their foods and served the first dish. The griffons began fighting one another for the food while Deli and Butcher reeled back,
"Guys, one customer at a time." Deli stated, but the griffons continued fighting and broke the plate,
"ENOUGH!!" Deli screamed, the griffons stopped fighting and looked at him while he held the pieces of the broken plate with his telekinesis,
"Look at what you all just did. You guys have just broke company property, I needed this plate to serve food to you all, until you all get me a replacement plate bought with your money, my wagon is closed." Deli responded, the griffons complained angrily while Deli put shutters down. He and Butcher looked at the broken plate and saw it could not be fixed,
"Can you believe this, Butcher? I've never had customers like this." Deli said,
"I know, I knew the griffons were greedy and unfriendly, but I didn't think they would be this bad." Butcher replied,
"They better get me a replacement plate, and a good quality one, I'm not serving them until I do." Deli declared,
"Agreed, but I wouldn't be surprised if they try something to avoid spending money." Butcher spoke, knocking was heard at the wagon and they opened the shutters. They saw an old male griffon with a white plate,
"Here you go, Grampa Gruff bought this with his own money." the griffon stated, Deli examined the plate and saw it was a high quality plate,
"How much did it cost?" Deli asked,
"Fifty bits." the griffon answered,
"Okay, that's actually more expensive than my current plates, good, business is now reopen." Deli announced and the griffons ran to them while cheering. They served the griffons pony meat and Deli gathered rodents from their homes and cooked them, the griffons ate and drank slovenly while Deli watched uncomfortably,
"Sorry, everyone, but we're sold out of the special meat." Butcher announced, the griffons groaned, but they ate whatever else they could make,
"Well, sun's setting, so we have to close everything now, see you all in three days." Deli spoke, and he teleported himself, Butcher, and the wagon while the griffons said bye to them. Deli and Butcher arrived home and Butcher gave Deli his half of the bits,
"Pretty bad business today, but better than nothing, see you tomorrow, Deli." Butcher spoke, and he walked home. Deli looked at the freezer and smiled when he saw all of the pony meat was gone, he put a lock on the freezer and then went into his house and slept in his bed.
The next day came and Deli went out to his wagon, he stopped when he saw the lock on the freezer was on the ground broken and Butcher putting more pony meat in the freezer,
"Good news, Deli, I got more special meat, we can continue keeping our customers satisfied." Butcher stated,
"Whose meat was that he was putting in the freezer." Doctor Whooves asked,
"I don't know, I think it could've been some random pony I never met or heard of since we already sold all of the tribe's meat to the others." Deli answered,
"Did you ever find out who that pony was?" Doctor Whooves questioned,
"No." Deli replied,
"Hmm, maybe I can do some digging in my free time." Doctor Whooves suggested,
"I would appreciate that, I don't think that pony's family and friends know what happened, so I would like to give them closure. I'll go ahead and continue." Deli said, and he continued his tale.
Deli trotted to Butcher and slammed the freezer closed,
"What's wrong, Deli?" Butcher asked,
"This needs to stop." Deli demanded,
"You should be grateful that I came up with this idea since it's making your business a success." Butcher retorted,
"Get rid of the pony meat, or I report you to the authorities." Deli spoke,
"Like they're going to do anything, the royal guards will just tell you to forgive me and offer me your friendship just like how Princess Twilight and her friends do." Butcher remarked,
"I'll take matters into my own hoofs if that happens." Deli said,
"A scrawny and bony unicorn like you against a big and muscular earth pony like me, I'm going to wreck you." Butcher boasted while smiling smugly,
"Butcher, I will overpower you with my magic if you don't stand down, you're on the verge of being fired, too." Deli spoke calmly,
"What?" Butcher exclaimed,
"You heard me, if you don't stop threatening me, you're fired." Deli declared,
"FIRED?! I'M THE ONE WHO MADE YOU SUCCESSFUL!! GETTING RID OF ME IS THE LAST THING YOU WANNA DO!! I AM THE LAST PERSON YOU WANNA FIRE!!" Butcher screamed,
"I will if you don't calm down." Deli retorted, Butcher huffed and puffed while gnarling his teeth and he calmed down,
"Sorry I got riled up, but making money and becoming famous in the food industry is everything to me." Butcher stated,
"It's okay, let's get rid of the pony meat now." Deli instructed,
"We can't do that, it's our most popular ingredient, we'll lose customers if we do." Butcher said,
"Really?" Deli inquired,
"Really, I don't know if you paid attention, but we got customers who come to us just to eat that meat." Butcher explained,
"How many customers is that?" Deli questioned,
"About sixty to seventy percent." Butcher answered, Deli's eyes widened,
"Exactly, the business will be much less successful if we take it off the menu." Butcher spoke,
"Well, let's open early, we got customers to serve in this town as well." Deli suggested, and they did. Deli and Butcher cooked and served dishes to the dragons, griffons, and hippogriffs, they watched as the customers ate and drank happily and Deli hid his discomfort, a few ponies came and looked at the meat and left, the customers left and the pony meat was all eaten and sold out,
"Darn, we're already out of the meat, hold on, I'll go get more." Butcher announced,
"Oh, no, Butcher, we've already opened, we'll have to think of something after we close for today." Deli spoke,
"Well, okay, we did promise Mount Aris we would be back today." Butcher stated, and Deli teleported himself, Butcher, and the wagon.
They arrived at Mount Aris and the hippogriffs trotted to them,
"Hold on, everygriff, I have an important announcement to make." Butcher said, and they stopped,
"We are sold out of the special meat that many of our customers have loved." Butcher announced, the hippogriffs groaned,
"We'll try to see if we can find something just as tasty since that meat of ours is not easy to get." Deli added,
"Oh." the hippogriffs said with realization, and they ordered their other dishes and drinks. Butcher carried Deli to the back of the wagon,
"What are you doing?" Butcher whispered,
"I'm just telling them the truth." Deli whispered,
"No, you're not, getting that meat is easy, it's getting a lot to feed every customer that's hard." Butcher whispered,
"What will you serve when we run out of meat and we're the only ponies left in existence?" Deli whispered,
"Simple, we move on to other creatures, granted, some of them will be hard to catch and cut up, but it's worth trying." Butcher whispered,
"Are you crazy? You're going to make us criminals in other countries." Deli whispered,
"Whatever it takes to keep our business afloat." Butcher whispered,
"We'll be closed down for good if you do that and have criminal records." Deli whispered, Butcher became speechless,
"Just out of curiosity, which creature's meat were you going to serve after we were out of pony meat?" Deli whispered,
"I was thinking changeling." Butcher whispered,
"What? We can't do that, we're close allies with the changelings now, Princess Celestia would be furious, same if she found out about us serving pony meat, and even if you did, I don't think it'd be popular, I bet those changelings taste like bug meat, and our customers don't like those very much." Deli whispered, Butcher's eyes widened,
"Ahem." a male hippogriff said,
"Oh, sorry, come on, Butcher, let's get back to work." Deli stated, and they did. They served their bugs to the hippogriffs and they chewed them slowly, Deli also noticed that he had a lot less customers, the hippogriffs left and business stopped before closing time,
"See, told you that meat of ours is what draws in customers." Butcher remarked,
"I see that, I'll try to make an alternative if possible." Deli spoke,
"Have you ever tasted that meat yourself?" Butcher asked,
"No." Deli replied,
"Then how do you plan to replicate it?" Butcher questioned,
"Can you get me a piece of it, Butcher?" Deli requested,
"Sure, if we can mass produce the meat, then great." Butcher replied, they watched and saw no customers come, closing time came and Deli teleported back home, he and Butcher left the wagon and Deli went home and slept.
Deli woke up the next morning when he heard knocking at his door and he opened it and saw Butcher,
"Here you go as promised, I already cooked it, and good luck replicating it." Butcher said as he handed a piece of pony meat to him and left. Deli carried the meat with his telekinesis and hovered it above his table, he then got his seasonings and a plate, he then put tofu on his plate. He braced himself and moved the pony meat to himself slowly and put the tip of his tongue on it while barely not vomiting, he took his tongue off after he got a taste of it and then broke apart the tofu. He then began experimenting by putting different seasonings on each piece and mixed them together to try to replicate the meat's taste, he heard sizzling outside several minutes later and Butcher serving customers. He continued working and got startled when he heard knocking at his door,
"It's time for us to go to the Dragon Lands." Butcher said on the other side of the door and Deli teleported him and the wagon to himself and then teleported everything.
They arrived at the Dragon Lands and the dragons ran to them while cheering but stopped when they saw Deli in the back of the wagon and working,
"What's Deli doing?" a male dragon child asked,
"Working, since our most popular dish is hard to supply in large quantities, Deli is trying to replicate its taste in hopes of mass producing it ourselves." Butcher explained,
"Oh." the dragons said, and Butcher began cooking and serving food. Deli continued experimenting with the tofu and seasonings and his eyes began to get a bit tired, he tried one combination of seasonings and it tasted close to the meat,
"Hmm." Deli stated, and he kept experimenting while using the combination of seasonings as the base. He added different seasonings in various amounts but they made the tofu taste less like the meat, he kept trying until he found a combination of seasonings in various amounts made the tofu taste more like the meat,
"Hey, Deli, I'm getting kind of overwhelmed, a little help here?" Butcher requested, Deli put his things down and trotted over to help. They served the dragons and Deli noticed he had less customers again, things slowed down and he got back to experimenting and Butcher served the customers. Deli experimented and tasted the tofu pieces all day and the sun began to set,
"Deli, the sun's setting." Butcher remarked, and Deli teleported them back home. They arrived home and Butcher gave Deli half of the bits,
"Any luck?" Butcher asked,
"I almost got it." Deli answered,
"Oh, okay, hope you'll be done by the time I come here tomorrow." Butcher stated, and he went home. Deli continued working all night and looked up when he heard ponies conversing and a mare sobbing, he saw a royal guard comforting the sobbing mare and a missing pony poster put up. He looked more carefully and his eyes widened when he saw it was the storepony who installed his oven and freezer, he seethed and glared at Butcher's house, he decided to finish experimenting for the night and went into his house, he put the tofu in the refrigerator and his seasonings back on their shelves and slept.
"You don't know how Butcher took him down, either?" Doctor Whooves inquired,
"I can easily see Butcher overpowering him with just his strength, that storepony was short and scrawny, Butcher's pretty tall and muscular for an earth pony." Deli replied,
"Hmm, I can see that happening, too." Doctor Whooves remarked, Deli smiled,
"Can you hurry up a bit, we're almost out of time on your session." Doctor Whooves stated,
"Sure, I'm kind of close to the end, too." Deli responded, and he continued his tale.
Deli woke up the next morning and quickly got back to experimenting, he tried as many seasonings as he could and found one combination that tasted almost exactly like the meat, he got a paper and wrote down the seasonings, what order to apply them, and how much of each seasoning, he smiled and began putting the combination on the tofu, he then put brown food coloring in the tofu to make it almost the same color as the meat when cooked and headed out. He put the tofu in the refrigerator and Butcher soon came,
"Did you replicate the taste?" Butcher asked,
"Not completely, but a formula I just found tasted extremely close to it, so I decided to go with it since every other combination I've tried hasn't come close to what I put in the refrigerator." Deli answered,
"Wow, good job, I hope our customers will be satisfied." Butcher said, and they opened business. They watched dragons, griffons, and hippogriffs come and they tried Deli's tofu,
"What's this?" a male griffon asked,
"I'm trying to replicate the taste of the meat you all love since getting it is a hassle." Deli explained,
"Should've guessed, you all have been low on it recently." a female dragon remarked,
"Well, let's give it a try." a male hippogriff said, and they did,
"Well?" Deli asked,
"Hmm, it does taste almost exactly the same as the meat, but it doesn't have the texture." the dragon answered,
"We don't serve meat here in Equestria, I don't eat it, myself, and what you're eating is tofu, completely different." Deli explained,
"Then how did you know how it tastes?" the hippogriff asked,
"I gave him a piece and he tasted a little so he can replicate it." Butcher replied,
"Yeah, I put the tip of my tongue on it and got an idea." Deli added,
"Do you have any cooking credentials, Deli?" the griffon questioned,
"Yes, I was a culinary arts student in college, the different cooking methods and seasonings I used to replicate the meat's tastes are all a result of what I learned." Deli responded,
"Well, gotta hand it to you, the tofu's taste is almost spot on, but why tofu?" the hippogriff asked,
"Because it has no taste, it makes it very versatile in adding flavors to it, I can basically make it any flavor I wish." Deli explained,
"Hmm, that's pretty interesting." the hippogriff commented, and they ate the tofu,
"Do you three like it?" Deli inquired,
"Well, it's not as good as the meat, but I'm satisfied." the griffon responded,
"Me too." the dragon added,
"So am I." the hippogriff said, Deli smiled and they finished and left. They got ready to serve food in Griffonstone and they got everything prepared,
"Wow, you've come a long way." a familiar voice said, Deli looked and saw the mare who gave him bits to start his business coming,
"I knew you'd be successful." the mare spoke,
"Yeah, I owe it all to you, I got the wagon cleaned, everything installed, a menu, a theme, and a coworker." Deli responded,
"Say, out of curiosity, what is that meat you two are serving?" the mare inquired,
"Oh, uh..." Deli said,
"Cockatrice." Butcher answered,
"Oh, that's very impressive that you two are catching them, those are some nasty critters, and I know Equestria teaches us to be friends to all animals, but I think you two are doing us a favor by getting rid of them, those things are pests." the mare stated,
"I agree, I think we can all agree that there are circumstances where Princess Twilight's friendship lessons don't work." Butcher remarked, all three agreed,
"Well, if you two are serving anything other than meat, I'd like to have it." the mare spoke,
"Sure, I'll get the ingredients out of my house." Deli replied, and he teleported.
Deli appeared in his home and got his fruits, vegetables, dairy, and grains, he began making a dish he was taught to make in culinary arts class, he sharpened his knives and began cutting the food,
"So, why did you two decide on cockatrice meat?" the mare asked, Deli stopped working and listened,
"Deli and I were just trying any meat for the tourists here and they have liked cockatrice meat the best so far." Butcher answered, Deli continued working while he listened,
"Which part of their body is the meat from?" the mare questioned,
"Their backs." Butcher responded, Deli finished cutting and began seasoning,
"Really? The meats seem awfully too big to be from a cockatrice's back." the mare stated, Deli's eyes widened and he sweated,
"Deli and I are going for the biggest ones, there are some big cockatrices out there, but they're rare, that's why our special meat is low in quantity." Butcher explained,
"Ah, gotcha, an oversized cockatrice is always possible to see." the mare commented, Deli sighed with relief and finished seasoning and began cooking, he focused while blocking out the mare's and Butcher's conversation, he finished cooking and teleported outside.
Deli appeared and gave the mare the meal,
"Here you go, cooked fruit and vegetable salad with a side dish of toast with cheese." Deli said,
"Oh, why, thank you, it looks very appetizing." the mare replied, and she ate it with a fork,
"You want a drink, ma'am?" Butcher suggested,
"No, it's fine, thank you." the mare responded, and she finished the food after about twenty minutes,
"Thank you, it was delicious." the mare commented, and Deli teleported the plate into his house's sink,
"I'm proud of you, Deli, but maybe you shouldn't sell meat, you got ponies here, too, and since the ponies have been curious about the kind of meat you're serving, I'll go ahead and start telling them to relieve their minds." the mare announced, Deli's and Butcher's eyes' widened,
"I'll be going now, and thank you." the mare said, and she walked away,
"We have to keep her quiet." Butcher stated,
"Relax, just let her say it's cockatrice meat and I think we'll be fine." Deli remarked,
"But it'll unveil the mystery of our special meat." Butcher reminded,
"Let her, Butcher, I think keeping it a secret has worn its welcome." Deli said,
"That's part of its attraction, Butcher, if it's unveiled, we might have slower business." Butcher spoke,
"I'm okay with that, serving many customers each day is tiring for both of us, we could use a break." Deli stated,
"I think we're fine with our current flow." Butcher commented,
"We'll see how this develops, time to go out of town." Deli said, and he teleported himself, Butcher, and the wagon.
They arrived in Griffonstone and served the customers, the griffons tasted Deli's tofu and chewed slowly, they ate it and Deli noticed less customers than usual. They served one griffon at a time and watched them carefully in case they get violent, they also served the pony meat but the griffons refused to share, they soon sold out of the pony meat and everything slowed down. Deli watched the griffons eat messily and he washed the plates at the sink in the back of the wagon, closing time soon came and Deli teleported back home, Butcher gave him half of the bits and they went to their homes and slept.
The next day came and Deli went to the wagon and stopped when he saw Butcher putting more pony meat in the freezer, he heard a mare crying and his eyes widened when he saw a missing poster of the mare who gave him the bits to start his business,
"Butcher!" Deli called out, Butcher looked at him,
"What were you thinking?! I can replicate the meat's taste now!" Deli reminded,
"Even then, the customers still don't like it as much as the real thing, they will eventually get tired of your tofu and demand the meat to make a comeback." Butcher remarked,
"My point is there is no need to go after other ponies anymore!" Deli said,
"She was very close to unveiling the secret of our meat with a lie, that would've made the meat lose part of its attraction, so she had to be stopped." Butcher replied, Deli's facial muscles twitched and contorted while his rage skyrocketed,
"Pack up your things and go. You're fired, Butcher." Deli stated, Butcher's eyes widened with shock but he soon glared and gritted his teeth, he jumped onto Deli and tackled him down while snarling.
Butcher held Deli down and began choking him while growling angrily, Deli shot a zap to get him off but Butcher quickly got back up and ran to him. Deli tried to hold Butcher back with his telekinesis but he rammed him down and began jumping and stomping on him, Deli teleported elsewhere and shot beams out of his horn. Butcher strafed while running and dodged the beams and Deli shot a big blast out, Butcher jumped over it and was about to land on Deli's back but he teleported. He reappeared behind him and tried to restrain Butcher with his telekinesis, he kicked the ground up with his hind legs and some of the dirt got in Deli's eyes, he grunted while looking back and Butcher ran to him and then bucked him, Deli grunted while he hit his wagon and his kitchen appliances fell.
Deli stood up and saw Butcher running to him with a scowl on his face, he used his telekinesis to throw his cutting board at his head but it did not stop him, he saw Butcher was close to him and picked up his cast iron with his telekinesis and bashed Butcher's head, he grunted and growled. He ran forward and Deli tried to hit him on his head with the cast iron again but Butcher smacked it away and went behind the oven, he got his kitchen knife and Deli's eyes widened. Butcher ran to him and tried to slash him and Deli teleported around and blocked every attack with the cast iron, he panted heavily while having thoughts of getting cut. Butcher continued trying to slash him with the knife while Deli moved the cast iron around to block Butcher's attacks and bashed his head when he saw an opening, he got stunned and Deli used his telekinesis to break the knife.
Butcher lunged forward while snarling and knocked Deli down and began bashing his head on ground and punching his face, Deli teleported out of his grip and held Butcher up with his telekinesis. Butcher spat in Deli's eye and he got distracted while losing his grip, Butcher jumped on his back and wrapped his front legs around Deli's neck. Deli gagged and struggled to breathe and he tried to teleport but Butcher tightened his grip, Deli moved his neck back a little and shot a zap at Butcher and got him off. Deli stood up and gasped for air while Butcher quickly got back up and jumped on Deli's back, they rolled around and ended up in the wagon.
Deli held Butcher's front legs back while Butcher looked to his left and reached to the side, he got a cleaver and Deli's eyes widened, Butcher swung it down and Deli quickly threw Butcher over himself and stood up. Butcher stood up and swung his cleaver around and damaged everything, Deli ducked and swayed back to dodge each swing while he panted heavily; Butcher jumped forward and swung his cleaver down at Deli's horn, he quickly put up a magic shield and blocked it while the force pushed him back and made him fall. Butcher jumped forward again and swung his cleaver down but Deli put his legs up to hold him back and grabbed his front legs, they wrestled one another and Butcher overpowered him easily, Deli saw the cleaver coming near him and he quickly used his telekinesis to shatter the blade into pieces. They wrestled one another and soon rolled out of the wagon, they stood up and began punching one another in their faces with Butcher striking harder, Deli noticed him getting tired and used his telekinesis to choke him, Butcher gasped for air and fell and soon became unconscious.
Deli panted while he watched Butcher and he did not respond, he thought about reporting him to the authorities but had thoughts about the guards telling him to forgive Butcher and offer him his friendship, he decided not to and then got all of the meat in the freezer with his telekinesis and cast a spell to burn them to bits. He looked at his damaged wagon and checked everything, he sighed with relief when everything still worked and made plans to buy new kitchenware. He looked at Butcher and saw he was still unconscious, he sat in his wagon while watching him and eventually fell asleep.
The next morning came and he saw Butcher was up,
"I'm sorry, Deli, I lost control of myself." Butcher said,
"No, you are done, Butcher, you're fired, you don't work for me anymore." Deli remarked, Butcher's eyes widened and he began walking away but soon turned around,
"Just you wait, Deli, I'll open my own business and show you I'm better at this than you, just you wait." Butcher declared, and he walked out of sight. Deli got a wet towel from his house and wiped the business' name off, he then teleported to Mount Aris,
"Huh? Where's Butcher?" a female hippogriff asked,
"About that, he and I had a falling out and we're not working together anymore, also, I'm going to be closed for a while, I have to replace my damaged stuff and I'm not selling that meat anymore, I got a lot of changes to do as well." Deli explained, the hippogriffs groaned with disappointment,
"I know, but please be patient, I'll try to make a comeback after I get everything fixed, goodbye, everygriff." Deli stated, and he teleported to the Dragon Lands and Griffonstone and said the same thing. He arrived home and closed the shutters on his wagon, he then put a closed sign on one shutter and went in his home. Deli sat in a chair and put his head on the table while clutching it,
"I knew I should've just stuck to serving ponies." Deli said, and he kept his head on the table until he fell asleep in his chair. A week passed and Deli reopened his business, he served fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, and the tofu, business was very slow and he did not make much money,
"Not in high spirits now, are you?" a male unicorn asked, Deli looked at him,
"Are you familiar with the therapist Doctor Whooves?" the unicorn questioned,
"Yeah, he's been quite popular recently." Deli replied,
"I'm Joker, one of his previous patients, I think you should go see him, I felt much better after talking with him." Joker remarked,
"Now that you mention it, I am having bad dreams recently about what had transpired, tell you what, I'll give it a go." Deli spoke,
"Great, I'll let him know and I'll teleport him to you and he'll say when your appointment is." Joker said,
"Okay, thanks." Deli responded, and Joker paid for his meal and teleported away, Deli closed his business later in the day and went to sleep.
Deli was sitting across from Doctor Whooves and sweating profusely,
"I didn't work again and I'm still closed, but after talking with you, I do feel a bit better and more willing to reopen my food business." Deli said,
"That's good, just don't push yourself, and remember, if you're still bothered by your experiences with Butcher, my door is always open." Doctor Whooves replied, Deli smiled,
"Price is ten bits, and I might stop by your business one day to order something." Doctor Whooves commented,
"I would appreciate that." Deli stated with a smile, Doctor Whooves smiled back,
"You're not going to tell Fluttershy that I served animals and bugs as food, right?" Deli questioned,
"Oh, Celestia, no, she would be devastated if she found out." Doctor Whooves responded,
"Good, I'm very relieved to hear that, well, I'll be going now, thanks for everything." Deli spoke, and he paid him ten bits and left, he sighed with relief and teleported himself and the wagon out of Ponyville.
Doctor Whooves continued sitting at his desk and reached under it and took out various newspapers and posters, he looked at them and saw reports of a wagon, an oven, a freezer, a sink, and lumber all being stolen, missing posters of a mare, a tourist pony, and a storepony, a newspaper of Deli opening his food business and already serving a mysterious meat immediately, another newspaper with Deli and Butcher working together with Deli smiling and serving meat with his telekinesis and Butcher in the back of the wagon looking unhappy, a newspaper from Mount Aris with Deli and Butcher arguing about the meat, a newspaper from the Dragon Lands on Deli getting angry at Butcher for serving tofu that has been seasoned to taste like the meat, a newspaper from Griffonstone with Deli and Butcher arguing and the article saying Butcher being angry about his salary, a newspaper on Deli's food business being reported by Butcher to a royal guard about what he was serving and the royal guard going missing the next day, and a newspaper on Butcher quitting his job after getting into a fight with Deli and going missing the next day. Doctor Whooves walked to the back of the room and to a crystal,
"Demonicus." Doctor Whooves said, Demonicus' face appeared,
"What is it?" Demonicus asked,
"I got someone for you to send Daylight Dimmer and Starburn to hunt down, my patient is a liar and a criminal." Doctor Whooves revealed,
"Thought so, I'm still surprised the authorities haven't discovered him, I'll make the arrangements for his assassination now." Demonicus spoke,
"Thank you, I'll go ahead and try to contact his victims' families and relatives and give them closure." Doctor Whooves responded,
"Okay, good luck on your side." Demonicus stated, and his image disappeared and Doctor Whooves walked out of his house.
Deli appeared in the Dragon Lands and dragons ran to him while cheering, he opened the freezer and got three pieces of meat out, he looked at Butcher's skeleton in the back and smirked and then closed the freezer.
Doctor Whooves and the others were resting and waiting for Claudius to reemerge but he did not reappear yet, everybody trained while Demonicus, Mother Nature, and Spirit looked around the world with their powers, Modules, Kinetic, Inertia, Solubility, Solvent, Solute, Graph, Storage, and Data worked together to make new technology to look for Claudius while Joker wrote in his book to help them build faster and looked around for any signs of where Claudius could be. The elemental ponies from Nature Valley and the unicorns from Dreaming Paradise looked for Claudius with their magic,
"Anything on you guys' end?" Raging Tornado asked,
"No." Arcana replied,
"We're not having much luck either." Tsunami stated,
"Same, we haven't been able to detect him either." Archmage Astral Plane reported,
"This book of mine isn't giving any clues either." Joker added, Demonicus' attention got caught and everybody looked at him,
"Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, I need you two here." Demonicus said, and they ran to him,
"Is it Claudius?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"No, the two remaining Friendship Absorbers have reemerged." Demonicus responded, and he cast a spell with his magic and it showed an image of Himeros and Eros floating around the Changeling Hive, the changelings spread love and Eros absorbed it and their lifespans while Himeros absorbed the lifespans of the changelings who forgave those who have angered them,
"So they have finally came out of hiding." Starburn commented,
"Claudius hasn't reappeared yet, if possible, I would like for these two to be destroyed before he does." Demonicus said,
"Agreed, I already killed one." Daylight Dimmer stated,
"True, but Hathor was the weakest of the three, her two brothers here are stronger than her." Demonicus reminded,
"I remember." Daylight Dimmer remarked,
"Sorry to interrupt, but who are these guys?" Archer inquired, the others murmured in agreement,
"The Friendship Absorbers are creatures of an unknown origin who are empowered by positive emotions, they absorb one's life energy through said actions and make them weaker and lives shorter, since this world is powered by those feelings, they are invisible to most people in this world, Twilight Sparkle and her friends have unknowingly and unwittingly made them stronger due to them being unknown to them." Demonicus explained,
"That's weird, me and the others in Dreaming Paradise should've been able to see and hear them." Earthquake stated,
"Yeah, the elemental ponies don't run on things like love and friendship, I don't get how they managed to evade our notice." Meteorite Hellfire added,
"They rarely appear and only appear when those positive emotions are abundant in one place, even Equestria usually doesn't have enough of those feelings in one area at once to make them appear." Mother Nature explained,
"Seriously? Equestria is a love, friendship, and forgiveness spreading country, and it's still not enough to make them appear?" Walker asked,
"Afraid not." Mother Nature answered,
"Equestria has it spread out across the country, those positive feelings have to be abundant in one place to make them appear." Spirit explained,
"Oh." Walker remarked,
"Would you like for us to go help you guys against them?" Arcana questioned,
"Only magic filled with hatred can destroy them." Demonicus responded,
"Will magic cast in a fit of rage do?" Archmage Astral Plane asked,
"I'm not sure, if anything, it will likely stun them for a short time since fits of rage are usually short-term, pure hatred that is long-term is the most effective against them." Demonicus stated,
"I'm guessing rage filled magic will stun them for a short time." Archmage Astral Plane theorized,
"Go on, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn, and remember, if you two fail, I'll go after them myself." Demonicus stated,
"Will you two be alright by yourselves?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"My uncle will be fine, me, I'm not sure, I never fought an opponent like them." Starburn responded,
"Starburn, I'll go after Himeros, you deal with Eros." Daylight Dimmer said,
"Okay." Starburn spoke,
"Will you be okay, Starburn?" Paladin asked,
"Don't worry, I've been trained in combat and using hatred magic." Starburn replied,
"But will it be enough?" Robin questioned,
"I hope so." Starburn remarked,
"You can make any weapon you wish, right?" Archer questioned,
"Yes." Starburn answered,
"Then maybe some of us can train you and your uncle." Archer suggested,
"I agree, never hurts to expand your skills." Kinkaku added,
"Thanks, come on, Starburn, let's go before they disappear again." Daylight Dimmer stated,
"Right." Starburn responded, and they left.
Daylight Dimmer and Starburn ran to the Changeling Hive and noticed the days were going on peacefully with them being unaware of Himeros and Eros,
"Yes, good, keep loving and forgiving to empower us." Himeros said,
"Thank goodness Hathor is gone, absorbing life energies has been easier without her." Eros remarked,
"You got that right, our weak and annoying little sister being dead has truly helped us in the long run, I know she mostly absorbed friendship and took in more life energy than you and I, but she still took too long." Himeros replied,
"What do we do after this, brother?" Eros asked,
"Go into hiding, this will be our main source of getting empowered since we no longer really have a reason to go to Equestria now unless forgiveness is happening or you need to absorb love in the Crystal Empire, I say we come here from now on to shorten lifespans." Himeros answered, and he and Eros snickered, they turned around and got ready to float away and Daylight Dimmer shot a dark green energy blast out of his front hoofs at Himeros while Starburn shot a bright red-orange energy blast out of his front hoofs at Eros, they heard the blasts coming and they quickly floated to the sides and dodged them,
"What the?" Eros exclaimed, and he and Himeros turned around,
"So you've returned, I was wondering when I would see you again." Himeros remarked, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn summoned two energy swords in their front hoofs',
"Wanna fight and nothing else, very well then." Eros stated, and he summoned his sword and shield while Himeros had orange auras around his hands and feet. Daylight Dimmer went to go fight Himeros while Starburn went to go fight Eros, Daylight Dimmer swung his swords around and sent dark green energy waves forward while Himeros punched and kicked with each attack sending out orange energy waves and they cancelled out one another, he crouched and did spin kicks and aimed the waves at Daylight Dimmer's hind hoofs, he made a dark green shield appear around himself to block them but one orange energy wave destroyed the shield and he jumped and did a back flip to dodge the rest. Starburn swung his swords around and sent bright red-orange energy waves at Eros and he blocked them with his shield, he pressed it forward and tried to bash Starburn with it, he blocked it with his swords and he got pushed back a few feet while a big red energy blast shaped like his shield shot out and Starburn's eyes widened, he jumped and did a back flip and just barely dodged it, the shockwave pushed him back and almost knocked him down, he saw Eros running to him at high speeds and was about to slash him with his sword, he held his two swords up to block it and the force of his attack pushed his hind hoofs into the ground and made a crater. Himeros saw Starburn was having trouble keeping up and he did several punches and sent orange energy waves to him, his eyes and mouth opened widely while Daylight Dimmer went in front of him and made a dark green shield appear around himself, the first orange wave destroyed the shield and pushed him back while he blocked the rest with his swords, Starburn began to grunt a little while his front legs began to give out and Eros' sword moved down, Daylight Dimmer and grabbed Starburn and moved away while Eros' sword went into the ground, Himeros shot an orange blast out of his hands while Eros pointed his sword and shot a red blast out of its tip, they fused together and flew to Daylight Dimmer and Starburn, they made energy shields come up to block it and they grunted when the impact shot them away, they used their hatred magic to dig holes and hide underground, the smoke cleared and Himeros and Eros looked for them.
Daylight Dimmer and Starburn hid underground while Himeros and Eros looked around, they burrowed deeper and crawled in opposite directions, they began crawling back up and Daylight Dimmer had no problem while Starburn stopped and panted a few times. Daylight Dimmer dug the ground out above him and moved slower and quieter as he got closer to the surface and stopped when he heard Himeros walking, it went silent and he burst out of the ground and put Himeros in a chokehold from behind, he looked forward and saw Eros was still there and Starburn was not up yet. Starburn panted and recovered, he climbed up through the ground as fast as he could and emerged from underground, he saw Daylight Dimmer restraining Himeros from behind and Eros trying to slash him with his sword but Daylight Dimmer moved Himeros in his sword's path and he stopped moving his sword, Starburn ran and lunged forward and jumped, he wrapped his front hoofs around Eros' neck. Eros spun around and Himeros shot energy blasts out of his hands and feet at Starburn, he got hit in his back and he screamed while they cut his body and entered while orange light came out. Daylight Dimmer looked on in shock while Himeros hit Daylight Dimmer in his liver with his elbow and stunned him, he then threw Daylight Dimmer over his own shoulder while Eros spun around and threw Starburn off of himself, they hit one another and grunted when they fell on the ground, Himeros' eyes glowed and the orange energy waves in Starburns body exploded and he and Daylight Dimmer screamed, Eros pointed his sword and shot red energy waves at them and it exploded on them and they screamed, the smoke cleared and saw a crater and Daylight Dimmer and Starburn were gone and they floated away.
Daylight Dimmer and Starburn hid underground while panting, they came out and saw Himeros and Eros were gone,
"Drat, they got away." Starburn remarked,
"Let's go back and recover, we'll look for them again after we heal." Daylight Dimmer replied, and they went back while the changelings watched them from afar with confused expressions. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn arrived back at the hideout and went to Demonicus,
"Himeros and Eros got away." Daylight Dimmer reported,
"I know, that doesn't mean you two have failed, go ahead and recover, I'll let you two know when they resurface." Demonicus replied, and they walked away. They walked together and saw Commander Lionheart and Paladin standing in front of them,
"You two don't seem to be completely polished in your fighting skills, you two really could use some more training." Commander Lionheart remarked,
"Which weapons?" Starburn asked,
"All kinds, you two can't just stick to dual wielding swords for every combat situation." Paladin responded,
"I do use different weapons from time to time." Daylight Dimmer stated,
"But it doesn't seem to be often, come on, us and the Pegasi from Dreaming Paradise have much to teach you two." Commander Lionheart said, and they went. The earth ponies from Dreaming Paradise trained Daylight Dimmer and Starburn in hoof-to-hoof combat, swords, regular shields, spears, battleaxes, war hammers, maces, bows, and crossbows while the Pegasi from Dreaming Paradise trained them in stealth, how to conceal weapons, voice mimicry, freerunning, parkour, lock picking, how to disguise oneself as another pony, how to make medicine and poison, how to use and fix technology, and meditating, Meteorite Hellfire also taught them how to use her sword, and Archer trained them in aiming bows better,
"Not bad, Demonicus have trained you two pretty well on his own, but there is always something new to learn." Master Nocturne said,
"I was trained ever since I was a foal." Daylight Dimmer replied,
"So were we, but it seems you and your nephew were not trained by professionals." Robin observed,
"My brother and I were trained by our parents and didn't have professionals either." Kinkaku spoke,
"We can train you two, too, even though your swords are completely different from one another, it seems they can compliment one another perfectly if you two fought together." Commander Lionheart stated,
"Hmm, true, my fighting style is meant to be fast but weak while Ginkaku's is slow but strong." Kinkaku remarked,
"See, there you two go, you two are supposed to work together, fight using your strengths while also covering the other's weaknesses." Paladin spoke,
"It hasn't come to that yet, when Kinkaku and I had to fight our ancestors, we had to fight them separately and our respective opponents used the same weapons and fighting style as us." Ginkaku responded,
"Maybe next time, you two will have to work together." Robin stated,
"That reminds me, Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, I've been wondering if you guys' hatred powers is weaker or stronger than our willpower powers." Kinkaku stated,
"I think it depends on the individual." Daylight Dimmer observed,
"I know, but I wondered which one is more powerful without being empowered by someone." Kinkaku replied,
"I'd like to test." Starburn spoke,
"Alright then, here goes." Kinkaku said, and she pointed her sabre at him and shot a gold blast out of it while Starburn shot a bright red-orange blast out of his front hoofs and they entered a deadlock. They were at a stalemate and both remained calm, they stayed in the deadlock while Starburn and Kinkaku kept their minds clear of any thoughts, they began to fuse together and the two noticed and stopped,
"What was that?" Raging Tornado questioned,
"It seems the hatred magic and willpower magic began to combine." Archmage Astral Plane observed,
"I'm assuming willpower magic can combine with love and friendship magic as well." Tao theorized,
"Let's give them all a try, maybe all of our different types of magics can be combined to form more powerful attacks." Mother Nature stated,
"Love and friendship magic cannot combine with hatred magic, they cancel out one another." Demonicus said,
"What kind of magic do you use, Soul Medium?" Solute asked,
"It's mostly shaman magic alongside enchanted talismans and runes, they are neutral magic, no love and friendship or hatred in them." Soul Medium explained,
"It might be able to combine with the others then." Tao deduced,
"I think it's worth trying, too." Doctor Whooves said, the others agreed and they tried. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn used their hatred magic, Walker, Runner, and Sprinter used their spiritual powers, Raging Tornado used her wind magic, Earthquake used her earth magic, Tsunami used her water magic, Meteorite Hellfire used her fire magic, Kinkaku and Ginkaku used their willpower magic, and Soul Medium used his shaman magic and all of them were able to be combined and create stronger attacks,
"Interesting, maybe they can help against Claudius." Cassius suggested, the others agreed,
"You think you guys and the air ponies could work together?" Doctor Whooves suggested,
"Well, I'm not sure if our powers can combine with the others or not." Mustang stated,
"Let's rest now, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn, I'll let you know when either Himeros and Eros or Claudius resurface." Demonicus spoke, and they rested. Four days passed and Daylight Dimmer and Starburn were learning how to use guns while Gunslinger and Robin taught them how,
"Back." Gunslinger said, Starburn noticed his back was a little bent forward and he straightened it, he and Daylight Dimmer fired pistols and revolvers and they hit most of their targets, they finished and Gunslinger gave Daylight Dimmer shotguns and rifles,
"I wanna try." Starburn said,
"Nope, they're very heavy." Robin responded,
"Really?" Starburn questioned, Gunslinger let him hold the shotgun and rifle and his front hoofs,
"Oof, this is heavy." Starburn commented as he could not lift his front legs up,
"See, there you go, you can try when you get older." Robin stated, and Gunslinger gave them back to Daylight Dimmer and he began shooting, Starburn covered his ears while Daylight Dimmer tried and the recoils made his front hoofs move up a lot, his front hoofs hurt after a few shots and put the shotgun down, he tried the rifle and he only shot one round and put it down after the strong recoil hurt his front legs,
"I'll stick to the pistol." Daylight Dimmer remarked, Robin chuckled, and he and Starburn took a break. They rested and recovered while the harpies, vulcans, and onis continued training with one another and the others conversed and had fun,
"Starburn, Daylight Dimmer, they're back." Demonicus stated, and they walked to him, they saw an image of Himeros and Eros in a new hideout and walking out,
"They seem to be between Equestria and the Changeling Hive." Starburn deduced,
"Indeed, look more closely to their surroundings, too." Demonicus instructed,
"The Crystal Empire seems pretty close by, too." Daylight Dimmer observed,
"Exactly, Eros can access Princess Cadance's love magic quickly and absorb it alongside her life energy, Himeros can absorb life energy from ponies forgiving one another, too." Demonicus explained,
"Would you two like backup this time?" Arcana asked,
"I'll try one more time, if we fail again, we'll take the backup." Daylight Dimmer stated, Arcana nodded,
"Come on, Starburn, let's go." Daylight Dimmer said, and they left.
Daylight Dimmer and Starburn ran and avoided the ponies patrolling the countries' borders, they arrived at Himeros' and Eros' hideout that was between the Changeling Hive and Crystal Empire, they saw the two finish training and walk together,
"Nice job, little brother, you're getting better." Himeros remarked,
"Thanks, it sure is nice that we can finally train seriously now that Hathor is gone." Eros spoke,
"You got that right, lazy bum who hated training and ended up weaker than you and I, it's really no surprise she was the first one to die." Himeros responded,
"Yeah, looks like we really were better off without her." Eros said, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn moved carefully and tried to sneak up on them, they went just below the ground's surface and moved quietly while Himeros and Eros continued to converse, they jumped out of the ground while they tried to turn around but Daylight Dimmer wrapped his front legs around Himeros' neck while Starburn wrapped his front legs around Eros' neck. They gasped for breath and grunted while trying to get them off, Eros began to fall while Himeros did a somersault and threw Daylight Dimmer off of himself, he did a somersault and kicked Eros in his chest with his hind hoofs, he grunted and fell over while Starburn swung his body over Eros' head and continued to choke him while he fell over. Eros summoned his sword in his right hand and tried to stab Starburn while he summoned a shield around himself to block it, the force shot him into the sky while his shield got destroyed and Eros shot a beam out of his sword's tip, Daylight Dimmer changed his swords to spears and threw them at Eros, he summoned his shield and blocked them. Himeros moved really fast and looked like he teleported and he punched his left fist into Daylight Dimmer's spine, he grunted loudly while reeling back and Eros tried to stab his sword into him while pointing his shield at Starburn and shot a big blast shaped like his shield out, Starburn managed to do a back flip while using his hatred magic to create pistols and shot at Eros, he blocked them with his shield while Daylight Dimmer summoned pistols with his hatred magic and jumped and shot Eros in his head a few times, he grunted while being pushed back a little and he then swung his shield out and sent a big red energy wave at him, Daylight Dimmer jumped and dodged it and it hit Himeros, he combined it with his magic and did punches and kicks to send the waves to him and Starburn and they grunted while it pushed them away.
Daylight Dimmer and Starburn began to fall and Starburn grunted while he fell onto the ground while Daylight Dimmer did a back flip and landed on his hoofs, Himeros and Eros shot more energy waves at them and Daylight Dimmer jumped back but they hit the ground instead and smoke went up, they looked around and saw silhouettes of Himeros and Eros moving around them, they got ready while summoning spears and shields, the smoke cleared and they saw they were energy waves shaped like them, they lunged forward and Daylight Dimmer and Starburn stabbed them and they exploded, they grunted and flew through the air and fell. They looked up and saw Himeros and Eros were nowhere to be seen, the ground rumbled under them and turned red and orange, they created shields with their hatred magic and quickly moved away while the ground erupted and red and orange energy erupted out of the ground and went into the sky, they began falling onto the ground and they ran around to dodge them, Eros' energy powers bounced off while Himeros' energy powers knocked them down and almost destroyed their shields. Himeros and Eros jumped out of the ground and landed on the ground, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn ran in circles while Himeros and Eros had little trouble tracking them, they made their hatred magic surround themselves and dark green and bright red-orange flames surrounded them and closed in on them, Himeros and Eros shot orange and red beams at them and they put up shields and then jumped over them, Eros blocked the flames created by their hatred magic with his shield while Himeros took no damage, they then exploded and Eros grunted loudly. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn charged to them while the smoke remained and Eros spun around while holding his sword out and sent waves everywhere, they summoned spears and Starburn tried to stab Eros with it and he blocked with his shield, Daylight Dimmer then hit Eros' sword with his spear and then tilted it upwards, he summoned a long sword out of his front left hoof and it stabbed Eros' throat, he let out a slight grunt while dropping his sword and shield, Starburn stabbed his spear into Eros' left chest and put his anger and hatred into him, Eros screamed in agony while turning into red mist and he disappeared while the mist went back into the people whose lifespans he absorbed and those he killed got revived, Himeros looked on in shock for a second and quickly left.
Daylight Dimmer and Starburn made guns with their hatred magic and aimed them but Himeros was nowhere to be found and they made them disappear,
"Okay, got one." Starburn said,
"Good job." Daylight Dimmer stated,
"Thanks." Starburn spoke,
"Let head back." Daylight Dimmer stated, and they went back to the hideout. They arrived and walked to Demonicus,
"Good job on taking out Eros, Himeros is currently nowhere to be found, since he absorbs forgiveness, he can appear anywhere in the world due to Equestria spreading forgiveness to all countries, I'll let you know when he reemerges." Demonicus stated,
"I'm still surprised, he doesn't use any weapons like how his brother and sister did and he seems to somehow be stronger than them." Starburn said,
"Well, he is the oldest one, and likely the most experienced, he more than likely had more time to train and hone his fighting skills and powers when compared to Eros and Hathor as well." Demonicus deduced,
"What about Claudius?" Daylight Dimmer questioned,
"Nothing yet, me and the others haven't found him yet, we'll let all of you know when he reemerges." Demnoicus responded,
"So we rest for now?" Starburn asked,
"Yes, I'll look for Himeros in the meantime." Demonicus replied, and they walked away. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn walked and saw Master Nocturne standing in front of them,
"Your target is more skilled than a typical hand-to-hand combat fighter, his moves seem basic now, but he seems to be hiding some of his own moves, you two can use some training in fighting someone who uses his style." Master Nocturne stated,
"You guys got tricks to show us?" Daylight Dimmer asked,
"Of course, Master Nocturne will show you ways to fight and counter someone like him." Robin replied,
"Thanks, but we need to recover first." Starburn stated,
"No need, the unicorns can heal you guys." Master Nocturne responded, and Archmage Astral Plane cast a spell and healed them,
"There, let's begin now." Master Nocturne said, and they did. He mimicked Himeros' fighting style and showed Daylight Dimmer and Starburn how to block, dodge, and counter them while he and the other Pegasi from Dreaming Paradise helped them do the moves properly, they noticed Master Nocturne mimic Himeros' attacks easily and he began fighting them, they blocked and dodged his attacks but still had some trouble, they managed to punch and kick him a few times but he did not go down. Robin, Night Witch, and Red Baron helped them perform the attacks and Daylight Dimmer did stronger hits while Starburn was more flexible, they continued training and they collapsed after forty minutes,
"Okay, I guess that's enough for today, go ahead and rest, guys." Robin said, and they did. They sat and looked at the sky and watched the clouds pass by, they smiled while guessing the shapes of the clouds, they waited for the time to pass while their energies came back and the others continued training, they fell asleep while the others continued with their days. Champion Lucius mimicked Himeros' fighting style the next day and his attacks sent Daylight Dimmer and Starburn flying,
"Typical impact, not many can handle the strength of my attacks." Champion Lucius remarked, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn got back up and ran to him, Champion Lucius smacked Starburn away and punched Daylight Dimmer and he fell, they got back up and ran to him, they jumped over Champion Lucius' fists and did somersaults and tried to kick him with their hind hoofs but he swayed to the sides and dodged them. They did back flips and tried to land on Champion Lucius' shoulders but he grabbed their necks while they were in the air and choked them,
"If you two can stand a chance against me, then you will be able to stand up against Himeros." Champion Lucius said, and he threw them forward and they coughed,
"Daylight Dimmer, Starburn, Himeros has reappeared." Demonicus reported, and they ran to him, they saw Himeros floating in Equestria and absorbing the life energies of ponies forgiving one another,
"Of course he'd be in Equestria." Daylight Dimmer remarked,
"Go on and hunt him down before he disappears again." Demonicus said,
"Let's go, Starburn." Daylight Dimmer stated, and they left.
Daylight Dimmer and Starburn arrived in Equestria and saw Himeros absorbing life energies out of the ponies forgiving one another, they saw there were too many ponies around them and did not summon their weapons, they walked away and hid from the others while watching Himeros, he absorbed more and then floated away. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn followed him and went out of Equestria, they ran and jumped while Himeros heard them, he quickly turned around and kicked them away, they grunted and Daylight Dimmer did a back flip and landed on his hoofs while Starburn slid on the ground,
"So you two did come back after all, I didn't care much about Hathor, but I did care about Eros, I'll avenge him if it's the last thing I do in my life." Himeros declared, and he floated down while Starburn stood up and he and Daylight Dimmer ran to him while summoning their swords.
Himeros punched his fists into the ground and orange explosions erupted and went into the sky, it divided into smaller projectiles and homed on them, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn spun their swords around to try to cut and cancel out the projectiles but each one sent them flying back and they grunted, Himeros' eyes then glowed and he shot two orange beams out of them and Daylight Dimmer and Starburn ran and jumped over them, they tried to slash him with their swords but he teleported back while a doppelganger made from his orange energy took his place and clapped their swords together between his palms. Himeros' body double began transferring the energy in his body into their swords and the hatred magic began to become overpowered, they let go of their swords and dropped down, Himeros' body double absorbed them into his body and then shot them out as small orange beams, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn summoned shields but each projectile destroyed them and pushed them back, they got on their backs and let themselves get buried underground, Himeros' body double stomped his right foot on the ground and it began to turn orange, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn noticed and dug deeper, they saw where the orange energy was originating and Daylight Dimmer shot a dark green blast out of his front hoofs while Starburn shot a bright red-orange energy blast out of his front hoofs and they hit and destroyed Himeros' body double. They looked for Himeros but did not find him anywhere, they jumped up and there was no sign of him anywhere, an orange circle appeared on the ground and surrounded them, orange energy blasts came out everywhere and homed on them, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn landed and sprinted but long beams came out instead and they became trapped. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn put their shields up and they grunted while Himeros' beams and blasts hit them and put craters in the ground, they grunted loudly and the entire ground got encircled by the orange energy and turned orange, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn quickly ran and jumped out of the circle and a big explosion happened, they heard people coming and they ran away quickly.
Daylight Dimmer and Starburn sprinted and recalled Master Nocturne's training and they dodged and jumped around every object in their path and got past them easily, the objects turned orange and exploded, they dodged them easily and ran forward while the explosions changed into beams and homed on them. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn shot hatred magic everywhere to try to cancel out Himeros' beams but theirs got destroyed instead, Himeros then appeared above them and punched his fists into the back of Daylight Dimmer's and Starburn's necks, they fell over and his projectiles hit them and they grunted very loudly while Himeros tried to put his orange energy into their bodies, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn screamed while the orange energy began to poison them. They growled and used their hatred magic to make spears grow out of their backs and impale Himeros, he grunted a little while his fists were pushed out of the back of their necks and they stood up and used their hatred magic to put spikes on the back of their front legs' knees', they stuck Himeros in his torso with them and tried to put their hatred magic in him, but he grunted and the orange energy in his body shot them out. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn stood up and summoned crossbows, they shot arrows made from their hatred magic but Himeros caught the arrows easily and they turned orange, he threw them back and they rowed to the sides to dodge them and the arrows exploded when they touched the ground, Himeros lunged to them and tried to shoot orange blasts out of his palms at them but they ducked and dodged them and then grabbed Himeros' feet and grunted while throwing him over themselves, Himeros did a somersault and landed on his feet.
Himeros flexed his muscles and shot a big orange blast shaped like his body at them and Daylight Dimmer and Starburn rolled to the sides and dodged it, it hit an object out of sight and exploded and orange beams came out of it and homed on them, they quickly faced Himeros and shot blasts at him out of their front hoofs and he grunted a little when he got hit in the back, he turned around and shot two blasts out of his hands and they laid on their stomachs and dodged them. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn shot beams out of their front hoofs and at Himeros' legs, he grunted and stumbled a little but did not fall, the beams caught up to them and they put up shields, they got hit and flew forward Daylight Dimmer held his front right hoof out to the side while Starburn held his front left hoof out to the side, they summoned straight lines with their hatred magic and tried to cut Himeros at his waist, he jumped over them and Daylight Dimmer and Starburn landed, they jumped and tried to cut his body apart and shot small projectiles out of their free front hoofs, Himeros created doppelgangers of himself and he moved side-to-side while in midair, his doppelgangers shot blasts out of their hands at them and then floated around them to encircle them and began punching them with orange waves coming out of each punch. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn grunted loudly from each punch and fell onto the ground, Himeros and his doppelgangers shot orange energy blasts out of their hands and they rolled to the sides, they panted while Himeros' doppelgangers shot more blasts at them, they dodged them again but the blasts homed on them, they put up shields to block them and let the impacts bury them underground while the body doubles did kicks and sent orange energy waves at them, Himeros punched his fists into the ground and shot orange energy into the ground, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn screamed while getting shot into the sky, they shot blasts everywhere and destroyed Himeros' doppelgangers while their anger and hatred made their magic stronger and Himeros crossed his arms across his torso and blocked the attacks. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn landed and stumbled, Himeros lunged towards them and they did back flips and dodged him while he shot blasts out of his back, they put up shields and got pushed back and they panted, Starburn summoned pistols while Daylight Dimmer summoned a shotgun, they shot hatred magic into Himeros and he grunted a little but it did not do much, Himeros flexed his body and the hatred magic in his body turned orange and shot them out, they ducked while panting and Himeros lunged towards them again, they quickly summoned spears and stabbed them into Himeros' abdomen and put their hatred magic in him, Himeros screamed while turning into orange mist and he disappeared while the mist went back into the people whose lifespans he absorbed and those he killed got revived.
Daylight Dimmer and Starburn panted heavily and saw they have succeeded,
"Good job, Starburn." Daylight Dimmer said,
"Thanks, you too." Starburn replied,
"Let's hide and recover." Daylight Dimmer suggested, and they went underground while they heard people coming, they recovered after about five hours and crawled away. They left the area and came to the surface and went back to the others, they arrived and everybody clapped,
"Good work, Himeros has been destroyed, and with that, the Friendship Absorbers are gone for good." Demonicus stated,
"Were those three from a realm in the Void?" Starburn asked,
"I did not see anyone like them in the other realms." Spirit answered,
"If we had to take a guess, they're native to this world, they're probably a kind of creature that is from the prerecorded parts of history, they are so ancient, not only are there no records of them, but they have become extinct until only those three remained and they have become forgotten over time." Robin deduced,
"Considering they were empowered by love, friendship, and forgiveness, them being native here is possible." Daylight Dimmer stated,
"Indeed, maybe we'll find something about them one day." Doctor Whooves stated,
"Go ahead and rest now, guys, we'll watch for Claudius." Demonicus said, and they laid down and recovered and everybody else either trained or looked for Claudius.
