Author's Note

Done with this chapter, and finally got this story updated, sorry it took so long everyone! I'll be doing some more story writing soon and getting more chapters out now that quarantine is up, but please stay safe!

And as always, stay terrifying!

Out of the Icy pan Pan and into the Demonic Fire

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“Alex~!” I heard a voice call as I sat up from my sleep, I didn't go into Emerald’s shared dream last night, as I was too exhausted to talk to them, and I couldn't feel Emerald’s presence in the dream anyways.

“Mhhmm?” I ask as my head turns to the side to look at my new roommate Midnight.

“Come on you lazy colt, we've got breakfast ready and then we’re going to work.” she says standing in the doorway, she has a jacket and pants on, with a long sleeve shirt that looks like it's made of wool on.

“I'll be out in a second Midnight, I just need to adjust my armor.” I say as I sit up in bed, the blanket sliding off my bare chest, immediately making the cold cling to my skin and making me shiver.

“O-okay, just… h-hurry up Alex, there's some new c-clothes for you on the d-dresser.” she says blushing like wild, I just nod, letting her rush away from my door.

“Dreamless sleep again… I wonder what will come after my life this time.” I think as I get out of bed and put on some fresh clothes that Midnight had brought in yesterday.

You see, anytime I didn't go into that shared dream of Emerald’s, I would have a dreamless sleep or a memory dream, usually from my own perspective. Now I've come to realize that usually a good five hours after I wake up from a dreamless sleep, something bad happens and I have to fight it. This time I'm hoping that it's nothing too bad, after all I just got into civilization. Anyways, I go about checking my armor, and putting it on piece by piece and then checking my weapons, sharpening my blades so they can cut down whatever I'll be facing better. After that i came out of my room and into the kitchen where i saw Midnight and a tan earth pony mare with a silver mane and tail, and I could just see her pink eyes from the angle i was at, Midnight noticed me immediately.

“Ah, there you are Alex, I hope you like raspberry pancakes.” she said smiling, also gaining the other mare’s attention which quickly switches from her to me as I walk up to her.

“Hey Midnight, sorry if i took a bit, my wakizashi needed to be sharpened, and my arrows too.” i say as i sit down, she simply nods before noticing the other mare that is staring at me.

“Ah right, Alex this is Silver Steel, Black Steel’s daughter, my best friend here in the village.” she introduced the mare, who started to look at me suspiciously.

“Greetings Ms.Silver, I'm Alex, and Nova’s letting me crash here until I can find my friends.” I say as I sit across from Midnight, she studies me a bit longer before sighing.

“It's nice to meet you Alex, it's rare for anyone to be outside the barrier unless they’re from border patrol like Mid here, speaking of which, how long were you out there for?” she asks leaning up against the counter, Mid’s ears perk up at the question.

“Yeah, I've been meaning to ask that too, I just didn't have time.” she says before both pairs of eyes settle on me.

“About a week and a half, I originally came here to look for a magical disturbance that's been fluctuating recently, it pointed me just east of here, a few others are also here, but they're on a different mission.” I reply casually, shrugging my shoulders, they look at me like I'm crazy.

“A week and a half!? How did you survive the blizzard?” Midnight asks as she leans towards me, it was definitely curious.

“Mostly luck, I was able to find a few caves west of this place that are just about a day’s travel apart, I was able to hole up in those for my time in the tundra, until Midnight here found me.” i explain to them before starting to eat the pancakes that have been set before me.

“So much better than rations…” I think as I eat the fluffy goodness that's before me.

“Interesting, so you slept in the Eastern Jaw for a week and a half… I'm surprised you aren't dead.” Silver exclaimed while leaning against the counter next to the stove.

“Why is that surprising?” I ask looking up at her curious.

“Because when anypony who goes into the Eastern Jaw, they are mauled within the first two days by Crystal Wolves.” she explains, making me remember seeing a small pack of shimmering wolves go past the cave i was in during my fourth day in this storm.

“Yeah, i think i saw a small pack run by one of the caves i was staying in, i thought it was just a trick of the light at first.” I say leaning back in the chair, they looked terrified.

“You… you were t-that close to a p-pack?” Silver asked, I could see them trembling.

“Yeah, but that was days ago, I doubt I'll see them again.” I reply waving off their concerns, they seem to calm down just a bit before a small bell is heard, gaining our attention.

“Oh shoot, I knew I was forgetting something! Come on Alex, we've got to go, or we’ll be late for our shift.” she says before grabbing a bow and a covered quiver by the door.

We quickly left the house after quickly saying goodbye to Silver. We headed towards the center of town, there were only eight ponies in similar armor and clothing in the square, the one in black armor seemed to be the leader. We quickly got over to them at the end of roll call, which had our two names.

“First Private Midnight and Private Alexander, nice of you to join us, you're lucky you got here when you did, otherwise you would be doing fifty on the spot.” a pegasus stallion said as we came up in line, Midnight immediately saluted.

“Sorry sir! I was just catching our new recruit up on how we do things sir!” she said in a loud voice that made it look like she was ready to take any order.

“Very well Midnight, you're given a pass, this time.” the stallion said, before looking over to me, i was making sure my blades were ready to be drawn.

“Private Alex.” he called out, making me look up.

“Yes sir?” i asked looking at him, he definitely was curious.

“What are you doing private?” he asked, walking closer to me, I could see he was watching my hands as they worked on autopilot.

“Just double checking my blades sir.” I replied calmly before looking back down at my weapons, everything seemed to be in order, ready for anything that should come my way.

“I don't think you'll need four weapons. Private, most of us only have one or two.” he said making everyone notice my bow and quiver along with my three swords.

“Trust me sir, when you've gone through what I've gone through, you'd know it'd be best to be prepared for everything.” I replied by making sure my bow was good, it was a little stiff, but nothing like a few arrows to fix that.

As I placed my bow back next to my quiver, I heard a snort, looking over I saw a unicorn with a simple short sword and buckler shield, he was glancing over at me while trying not to laugh.

“What's so funny?” I ask looking right at him, he just chuckles once more then looks right at me.

“You say that as if you've been in combat before, which I can tell you haven't, your hands a fidgety, meaning you're nervous.” he said and I could tell he was trying to get under my skin, but I knew my hands were fidgeting for a different reason.

“I've been through wars, I killed thousands, I've saved just as many, and I've faced the end of the world itself, what have you done compared to that?” I asked, everyone started to get quiet, as I was issuing a challenge.

“I've defended this town for seven years, defended Canterlot for six, and faced down threats like you wouldn't believe.” he replied, getting me to chuckle as everyone looked back at me.

“Have you faced down any gods?” I ask, getting him to raise his eyebrow. “Thought so, I've faced the god of destruction and wrath and lived, and not many can make that claim.” I say getting him to scoff at that.

“Enough, you can have your ego contest at a later date, for now, we must secure the village perimeter.” the Master Sergeant said, gaining our attention. “Now, I want everypony in teams of--” he told us before a deafening roar pierced the calm atmosphere of the town, I immediately grabbed my wakizashi and ran towards the noise.

I could tell everyone was impressed with my speed and reaction time, but they soon realized I was running towards the sound and ran after me. I was about twenty feet away from the barrier when I saw the outline of a White dragon, likely an adult by the size of it, but it was hard to see with the blizzard. Everyone else came up behind me thinking I was scouting for whatever it was.

“Alex, what's going on? You just sprinted out like you were a stallion on a mission.” Midnight asked as she placed her hand on my shoulder.

“We’ve got a problem… a draconic problem.” I replied before activating my ‘Honorable Stand’ ability, this will help against dragon fear. “Midnight, take everyone inside the barrier, this dragon may be the weakest of the chromatic types, but it's also the most dangerous, I'll handle this in close combat myself, make sure every unicorn who knows any fire spells are at the edge, this thing hates those.” I say before the crimson aura of my Honorable Stand takes hold, as my fear disappears.

“Are you insane!? A dragon will kill you!” she screams, getting everyone's attention to focus on us.

“No it won't, I've faced dragons before, in fact, two of my family members are dragons, so I know their weaknesses, so just use fire spells, powerful ones, while I distract it with what i'm about to do.” I say before getting closer to it, pulling out a scroll.

This was one of the more minor spells I have, but against a dragon, it was extremely useful, and so I attempted to perform the spell ‘Protection from Evil’ and thankfully it goes off without failing or any repercussions, sadly the scroll burned away after the use, but a small white transparent barrier sprung up with me at the center, the dragon must have sensed the spell because it turned towards me and roared. It was trying to scare me with ‘Dragon’s Fear’ which failed thanks to my ‘Honorable Stand’, and now that I have it's attention I activate my more active skill ‘Challenge’ which will both improve my chances and make those fire spells a lot more effective as long as i'm in combat with it. I roared in response and prepared to charge, it's ice aura would definitely do some things to me over time but I didn't plan to be in combat for very long.

“Přineste si to na zarostlý ještěr!”(Bring it on you overgrown lizard!) I call out, getting the dragon to roar in anger before charging, fun fact: Dragons don't like being called lizards.

“Zemřít!” (Die!)it roared out before trying to clamp it's jaws onto me.

The dome of energy held as the dragon recoiled, it was then that streaks of fire hit it in the chest, while a couple flew past it. Stealing a glance backwards, I could see Midnight with about ten unicorns on the edge of the border. They all had their horns glowing and were shooting small fireballs at the dragon, looking back, I could see the dragon was pissed.

“No tak, ještěrko! Udeř mě!”(Come on lizard! Hit me!) I called out as I gripped my katana and prepared for a ‘Draw Strike’, the dragon roared and tried to bite down on me again.

This time, I moved to the side and drew my sword, my wakizashi was already on the move towards the dragon’s throat, and with both blades, I sliced clean through the neck and dropped the dragon where it stood, just as its head impacted where I was standing before. Once I was sure I had cut clean through, I twirled my blades to get any excess blood off and then put them in their sheaths. Midnight was already running towards me as I started walking towards the barrier, the rest of the border guards, I've started calling them that, followed her.

“Alex! Are you okay?” she called as they neared, I just smiled.

“I'm fine Mid, just a little cold, but that’ll go away soon..” i respond as she gets closer, the snow near the dragon starts turning red with its blood.

“Are you sure? It tried to bite you in half!” she said coming up next to me.

“Ah right, don't worry, no bite marks here, i’m smarter than that.” I say as the rest of the guard comes up, the stallion from before is looking at the dragon with wide eyes.

“Hey, what’s wrong man, never seen a beheaded dragon before?” I asked him, making him turn towards me.

“How are you taking this so calmly? You just fought a dragon for Celestia’s sake!” he exclaimed as he pointed towards said dragon.

“Because that's not the first dragon I've ever fought, nor is it the scariest or even the biggest, it was mediocre at best.” I say, shrugging my shoulders before walking over to the dragon and starting to pluck off his scales.

“Um, what are you doing private?” The unicorn who I met today as my superior officer asked as I used my katana to get under a few of the more stubborn scales.

“Just stripping it of its scales sir.” I call out as I start to place them in a bag of holding I've been carrying for occasions like these.

“Why?” he asked as I finished clearing about thirty scales cleanly.

“Because a dragon’s scales hold special properties when it comes to elemental affinities, such as this white dragon… its domains are usually cold climates with a lot of mountains… which means that this area is a perfect fit for that… it also means that the scales of the dragon have slight resistances against their own element… and because of where white dragons such as this one like to reside, its scales hold a special property to resist the cold, and… if the scales, when made into armor, and enchanted correctly, then that magic can be increased even further.” I explained as I continued to collect all of the scales I could.

“So what you’re saying is that these scales could be beneficial to us if we were to enchant them correctly.” one of the pegasi guards spoke up as I finished one side, I had about a hundred and thirty-five scales just from that one side.

“Exactly my observant friend, now if you excuse me, I will be collecting as many scales as I can, a hundred and thirty-five will only go so far.” I said before circling around the body before continuing to collect the scales. It was a hard and long process, but I was able to grab about four hundred and sixty scales in total. “Okay, I've got enough scales for a couple good sets, maybe one for everyone if i'm careful enough, but it'll take some time and hopefully the blacksmith will lend me his forge…” I say coming up to the group, the dragon’s body now unprotected started to freeze over.

“So what do you need private?” the commander asked as I walked back to the barrier.

“Honestly I just need the forge and a bit of time, hopefully i'll be able to craft scale armor for everyone.” I replied as we reached the barrier, I immediately noticed the head mare was waiting for us inside the barrier. “Mayor Nova.” I say as I pass through, she nods to me and looks at the bag on my waist, before looking me in the eyes.

“I believe that you have some explaining to do private.” she says as the rest of the guards pass by us.

“Of course ma’am, I will explain as much as I can, but that will have to wait. I need to go see Black Steel for something that will help the guard.” I say before walking off towards the forge, its smoke guiding me like a beacon.

I get there and it seems like every other forge I've seen in my travels, there being a wall of weapons to my right, and to my left was the actual forge, along with all of the necessary equipment that I needed to make this armor, and it was just my luck as Black Steel and his daughter came out of the back just as i stepped in.

“Hey there Alex, what can i do for you?” Silver asks as she comes up to me, her father going towards the piles of metal.

“Hey Silver, sorry for coming in at such short notice, but I wanted to ask your old man something concerning armor.” I said as he was about to place some metal in the forging pot.

“What can I do for ya lad?” he asks as he looks at me, the hunk of metal still in his hand.

“I was wondering if I could borrow your forge for a day or two.” I reply, making Silver cough in surprise while her father just raises an eyebrow at me.

“An why do ya need to borrow ma forge?” he asks, putting the hunk of metal down in its stack while never taking his eyes off of me.

“I wanted to make some better armor for me and the rest of the guards.” I said as I brought up the pouch of scales, he looked at me confused.

“Well I guess that depends on if you know your way around this place, cause if ya don't, then ya might hurt yourself or even others in that process.” he says as he comes up to me looking me in the eyes.

“I know my way around a forge, I made my own weapons and armor before, as well as rings and other small trinkets.” I say just before a familiar roar rips through the air, making me run outside looking for the source of the noise.

It didn't take me long to find the source, as it was just outside, it wasn't something that I wanted to face yet, especially since I wasn't with the others yet, and the guards here didn't know how to face one of these… my eyes trailed up the crimson red body seeing its massive broadsword that was crackling with electricity, the massive muscles and then its heaving chest, white flames were coming out of its maw in puffs as it chest heaved, it's great demonic wings were spread halfway out, and its curved black horns and piercing white eyes were very visible… the strongest demon was at this town's doorstep… and it was mad… the Balor was mad…

"Oh fuck me..." was the only thought I had before it charged the shield.