The Everfree Forest

A small deer and its family grazed in a clearing in the forest canopy, unaware of the danger they were in. For a hunter was stalking them, and he was close. Despite his size, he made no sounds and had been watching his prey for quite some time. Kratos scoffed under his breath. Easy prey, indeed. If these ponies did not hunt for their food, it was no wonder that their animals would be weak, just like them. It was now the time to strike. The deer had their backs to him, so he left his hiding place and came up behind them. The animals turned around, confused, but they were doomed. He picked up the heads of two of them in his hands and bashed them together, crushing their skulls. The third did not even have the sense to run and was taken down with a strong punch, its neck, and windpipe broken. Although quite smaller than what he was used to, they looked plump, a product of plentiful and rich foods in the area. Kratos immediately took to skinning the animals, retrieving a small knife from one of his packs, and after a couple minutes, had three smooth pelts, some brittle bones, as well as quite a bit of meat. This would sustain him for the next couple of days if he could find a drying rack or some salt to preserve it.

Kratos placed the meat into one of his bags, tied the bones together, and folded up the skins. It would be good to head back now. In this world, there was no fun in hunting. The prey was too easy. The man placed his goods onto his shoulder and followed the trail back to Ponyville. It was then that he heard growling, like a bear or some other wild animal. Kratos turned around, facing his foe. At first sight, it appeared to be a lion, but with a set of strange horns and wings, as well as a scorpion's tail. Kratos had heard of this creature before. A manticore, he recalled. He had fought one of them before, but, just like everything else in this world, it was very small and barely reached up to his chest. He heard more growls, and more manticores closed in around him. Kratos cracked his knuckles. It certainly wouldn't hurt to have even more meat.

Friendship School

"Twilight, we've checked the entire school! Kratos isn't anywhere!" Starlight said. The school's staff had spent at least half an hour looking for their guest, and Twilight was busy having a mental breakdown in the corner.

"Did you check outside?" She replied, sweat pouring down her face.

"Uhh...No."

"Then what are you waiting for?!" Starlight galloped away, looking for the other members of their friend group. Just what had Twilight gotten herself into? What would Princess Celestia think if she lost her guest the day after his arrival? A few minutes later, Twilight entered into the school's grounds, searching frantically. But there was nothing. As she gave up, she began trotting back towards the castle, only to trip into a large furrow in the ground, the dirt and filth smearing into her purple coat. Twilight whined and began wiping out the mud from her face. She was encountered with an identical indentation right next to her, as well as several more leading in the direction of...The Everfree Forest. Twilight cursed under her breath, sitting up. There was only one creature that could have left such markings, but she never expected him to be this strong. With little time to waste, so she cast a quick cleaning spell on herself and set off to find her friends. Her heart pounded like a jackhammer in her chest as she ran, teleporting every chance she got. Kratos was in great danger, and she needed to save him!

Everfree Forest
Kratos was having a splendid time. Another manticore pounced at him, only to be punched aside, its neck broken. It lay on the ground, hissing, before Kratos crushed its skull, putting it out if its misery. The chunks of brain and bone covering his boot did not disturb him in the slightest, he would wash them once he got back to the castle. More manticores approached him and were cut down just like their brethren. Kratos noted that these manticores were, well...weak. Eventually, the animals stopped their assault and retreated into the forest to lick their wounds. It had taken less than a minute for them to lose over a dozen of their pack. Kratos picked up the food he had dropped during his fight and slung it over his back once again. As he walked, he observed a small trail of dust was kicked up on the road several hundred feet away. As it came closer, it turned out to be Twilight and her friends, terribly out of breath.

"W-Where were you?" Twilight asked, in between breaths. "We've been looking everywhere for you!" Kratos raised an eyebrow, motioning to the blood stains visible in his pack, and the folded deer skins he was carrying. Fluttershy gasped and started breaking into tears, muttering something about the poor animals. The rest of the ponies (Except for Twilight) showed similar signs of shock.

"He's gonna eat us!" Pinkie half screamed, half shouted. In the next few seconds, complete chaos overtook the scene. Applejack readied her lasso, Rarity powered up her horn, Rainbow made a couple kicks in the air, and Pinkie had already fled. Fluttershy was too busy crying to do anything.

"Girls! Wait!" Twilight said, but it was already too late. With a shout, Rainbow flew full speed at Kratos, trying to kick him in the face. To her surprise, she found that her leg had been caught in Kratos' iron grip, and he flung her back at the ground. Rarity's spell was simply absorbed into the man's body and did minimal damage. Instead of wrapping around him and pulling him to the ground, Kratos wouldn't budge an inch and snapped the rope with ease. Unwilling to give up just yet, the three ponies renewed their efforts, much to Twilight's distress, who was more concerned for her friends' health than Kratos'. Judging by the scars on his body, this fight was nothing but child's play to him. Several minutes of failed attacks passed, and Fluttershy had finally picked herself up from the ground. Her mane was disheveled, and an unusually angry expression was present on her face. She flew up to Kratos' level and unleashed the stare.

"YOU LISTEN HERE, MISTER! YOU'VE HURT POOR, INNOCENT ANIMALS, AND NOW MY FRIENDS! YOU SHOULD BE VERY DISAPPOINTED IN YOURSELF!" She shouted. Unfortunately, it didn't affect Kratos one bit, as was shown by his ever-present frown. With an unbelievably fast motion that made even Rainbow jealous, he grabbed her by the neck and forced her to look him in the eyes. Fluttershy let out a little squak as she was lifted with great ease.

"Mind. Your. Tone with me, Girl." That's all it took to make Fluttershy break into tears once more, and Kratos allowed her to flop onto the ground. The other ponies crowded around their friend, trying to comfort her. Kratos turned his head towards Twilight. "You." The Alicorn snapped out of her daze. "Fix this, and explain." She nodded, following Kratos' orders with great caution. What she had just witnesses scared her immensely. Kratos was able to withstand Fluttershy's voice and had just defeated half of the elements of harmony with close to no effort. As she began to explain the details of Kratos' dietary needs to Fluttershy, several thoughts ran through her head. The first, most important one was that she didn't want to get on Kratos' bad side. An obvious decision. The second was more simple. Fluttershy took care of animals that ate meat. Why was she so disturbed? It might have been the skins. Twilight thought.

Several more minutes passed, and the butter yellow pegasus had calmed down. Just as they were about to apologize to Kratos, a loud thumping could be heard, like footsteps. A gigantic shadow covered the group, and a bit of drool landed on Kratos' shoulder. Twilight's jaw hit the floor. Behind the man was an Ursa Major. Never had they been seen during the day, so something was definitely wrong. Kratos turned around, facing the beast. It snarled at him, spraying him with mucus and saliva, before raising a gigantic paw to swipe the man out of its way. To the ponies' surprise, Kratos caught it and used the Ursa's arm to fling it into the forest. Unsurprisingly, It threw off the impact rather easily and got back onto its feet. Kratos turned around.

"Go. Now." Although Twilight wanted to stay and fight, she simply nodded and fled, along with her friends. As they ran, she could hear the sounds of two powerful opponents shaking the earth. From that far away, it was impossible to tell which one was winning, but she certainly hoped it was Kratos. Several minutes later, she burst into the Friendship Castle and got busy writing a letter to Princess Celestia. She had hoped to send one to her mentor later that day, but at that moment it was a situation of emergency. Usually, she would have Spike send the letter with his fire, but however, he was nowhere to be found. With a quick teleportation spell, Twilight transported the piece of paper to Canterlot. Hopefully, Princess Celestia would arrive soon.

Back at the edge of the Everfree
The Ursa Major roared, charging towards Kratos. His frown deepened as he braced for impact. From what he could tell, he could deal with the creature rather easily, but it was good to be cautious. If anything went wrong, he could always call for his ax, or use his blades (a last-resort measure). The animal appeared to be large, slow and not very agile, all things in his favor. As it charged towards him, he sidestepped it and punched it in its stomach, sending it flying once again into the thick, lush forest, while knocking over dozens of trees and creating a wide furrow in the dirt. The creature had sustained heavy damage from its impacts with the ground and boasted plenty of scratches, bruises, and a particularly nasty stab-wound from a tree branch that was embedded in its side. Hopefully, that would be enough to deter it from attacking further. However, the animal persisted still and stood unsteadily on its feet. It growled once more, preparing to maul Kratos. The man grunted in displeasure. What a waste of time. It was time to end the fight, it was becoming boring. He held out his hand to the sky, calling his ax to him to finally kill that annoyingly stubborn animal.

A couple miles away, Twilight paced in her chambers, a look of concern present on her face. Suddenly, the runes covering the ax lying on her desk began to glow a bright blue, and the entire weapon moved, crashing through the crystal walls of the castle and out into fresh air where it would reunite with its master, all the while creating a loud wooshing sound as it tore through whatever lay in its way.

As the creature charged towards Kratos for the third time, the man could see his ax approaching at an insane speed. Realizing that he wouldn't have enough time to catch it before the starry bear mauled him, he pulled his knife from his belt and started to charge at the animal, much to its confusion. Just before they made contact, Kratos dropped down onto his back, sliding underneath his opponent and slicing the knife through its gut, creating a long gash from chest to the pelvis that spilled out a plentiful amount of thick, steamy blood and organs. The Ursa roared in pain and confusion as it effectively killed itself, gutted by its own momentum. As Kratos slid out from underneath the animal, his ax reached his hand, and he flung it towards the direction of the dying Ursa, to end its suffering. And that it did. Much to the man's surprise, it somehow sliced the bear completely in half and made its way back towards him in an oval trajectory, staining the ground with copious amounts of blood and cleaning off its surface in the wind. Kratos caught the ax in his left hand and surveyed the scene of his destruction. His enemy certainly wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, that was for sure. What had once been a symbol of danger and power, something that struck fear into the hearts of all ponies, was now nothing but a steaming, mutilated corpse. Checking over his ax once more, Kratos was about to leave, before he heard a loud gasp. Behind him, on a nearby hill stood a rather tall pony, as well as what looked like a couple dozen of...guards? Their armor was terrible, that was certain. Those same guardsponies were now emptying the contents of their stomach on the ground, and their leader was doing no different. It certainly wouldn't be pleasant when they recovered.

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait. I'll try to have the next chapter out soon, and if anyone wants to be my editor, that would be great.

Have an ax.