Infamous: Equestria’s Second Son

Chapters

My First Good Deed and New Faces
Bad Dream and The City of The Snob
House Arrest
Innocent or Guilty?
The Unexpected and Uninvited
20 Questions
My Worst Half
Conflicting Impressions
Agree to Disagree and Train Bandits
The Demon of Ponyville
Demanding Explanations and To Party Like a Conduit
Finding Honest Work
I’m Not A Babysitter
It’s Just A Hobby
Heated Retaliation
One Opportunity
My Moral Code
Chaotic Karma
Beginning of Infamy
The Other Big Apple
Downtown Derby
Crime Does Pay
Just Another Day At The Farm
A Fine Line
Tricks and Pains
The Temple of The Vanishing Snake Part 1
The Temple of The Vanishing Snake Part 2
The Red Hawk’s Debut
Symphony of Infamy
Go Ahead. Make My Day.
It Can Get Dirty, Or It Can Get Harry
The Falcon and The Wolf
It’s Good To Be Home
Orion’s Daring Tale
Meeting the Merchant (Edited)
Welcome To The Gala
Unfinished Business

My First Good Deed and New Faces

Chapter 2

“My word, this Cole MacGrath and Delsin Rowe sound like incredible people,” Nightmare said in awe.

I had just got done telling Delsin’s story and I was leaning against one of the pillars while Nightmare was was standing near by. It’s as if she was holding on to every word I said as she listened to each Infamous storyline and what Cole and Delsin did since I knew each choice they had to make by heart.

“Yup, I imagine Delsin is still leading other Conduits to a brighter future, it’s still a shame what happened to his brother,” I said.

“Indeed, that no good wretch Augustine tried to corrupt poor Delsin to make him the villain she lied to the public about,” Nightmare sneers.

“Well you have to remember, even though both Cole and Delsin are seen as heroes, they could’ve easily looked the other way and gave in to using their powers for their own selfish gain,” I said.

“Why didn’t they?” Nightmare asked.

“Guess they used their better judgement,” I said. “Cole lost the woman he loved when he could’ve saved her but he had to make the hardest choice by saving those who could help more people. Cole could’ve easily used the mourning of his loss as fuel to his anger and unleashed it upon everyone around him. But Trish, his lover, kept his broken heart and enraged soul at bay when she told him how proud she was of him that he used his power to help others. Thanks to her I feel like Cole had a better handle on making the toughest decisions, despite Kessler pulling the strings preparing him for the end,” I said.

“And what of Delsin Rowe?” Nightmare asked. “That witch was the cause of his dear brother’s demise and he had plenty of power himself to put her in her place, especially the lies and slander she spouted about him.”

“Sometimes making the right decision is the toughest call to make, Delsin knew that during his quest. His friends, Fetch and Eugene I told you about, Delsin could’ve corrupted them and turned them into killers but he didn’t. He especially could’ve gave in to the darkness when Augustine killed his brother but chose not to because he knew it wasn’t what his brother would’ve wanted him to become after helping so many other people,” I said.

“But both Cole and Delsin lost so much despite their victories,” Nightmare said with a frown.

“In times of conflict, no victory comes without a price,” I said.

“I suppose you’re right,” Nightmare sighs. “Even I know that to be true.”

I felt kinda bad for Nightmare due to her current state being all transparent and unable to leave the castle. It’s not like she wanted to engulf this world in eternal night anymore right?

“Hey Nightmare, do you mind of I ask you something?” I ask.

“Of course, Ax, what would you like to know?” Nightmare said.

“If you were given a second chance, would you still want to engulf the world in eternal night?” I ask.

“Honestly, I’m not sure I want to anymore,” Nightmare said with a frown. “During my banishment I thought of nothing but to fulfill my goal but after I was cleansed from Luna I suppose I myself was cleansed of any dark thoughts. I realize that my actions would have doomed this world would I have succeeded. I suppose this is my just deserves, being transparent, unable to leave the castle without fading away, from one prison to the next, such is the fate of the ill hearted.”

“If you don’t want to continue your plans then shouldn’t you find a way to revert back to normal? You already paid for your mistake and living the rest of your life as an apparition isn’t a life to live. From the looks of it this world looks like it has much more to offer,” I said.

“But you forget, Ax, I am seen as a villain in this world who threatened the land and it’s people. Who would want to befriend a being such as I? Staying here is the best I can do for anyone,” Nightmare said looking away.

I starred at Nightmare for a little bit thinking about what she said. True she probably did deserve staying here, but she also feels immense regret for her actions. I looked down at my hand until I got an idea. I’m guessing she needs a sufficient amount of energy to reclaim her physical form so maybe my power would be able to help her. Although on the other hand I could just keep this to myself and let her figure out how to do it herself or just let her stay here.

…

“I would,” I said.

“What?” Nightmare said.

“I said,” I respond walking over to her, “I would befriend you, in fact I consider you friend already.”

“You do…?” She said looking up at me.

“Yes, personally I believe you already atoned for your mistakes and it’s as I said, staying here by yourself and unable to see the world and show everyone you’re not the same usurper as before is not a life to live. So if you want a friend, you got one cause he’s standing right in front of you,” I said.

I stare into Nightmare’s eyes as she stares into mine and I see a warm smile stretch across her lips as I see a tear fall from her eye. “You’re a very kind person, Ax, thank you. If I was still in my physical form I would be happy to show you my appreciation.”

“About that, I think I might be able to help you,” I said surprising her.

“How would you be able to do that?” Nightmare asks.

“Well I’m guessing you’d need a sufficient amount of magic to to gain a physical form again, right?” She nods. “Well what if you used my power?”

“Your power? I’m not sure,” Nightmare said skeptically.

“Why not? This could be your chance to leave this castle so that you can see the world. Plus you’ll have me by your side to support you every step of the way,” I said with a kind smile.

“You would really go this far to help me?” Nightmare said.

“Nightmare,” I said looking deep in her eyes. “I want to help you.”

Nightmare’s face seemed to blush again despite being transparent as she looked into my eyes. She smiled and nodded making me nod back as I raise my hand.

“I may use more of your power than I need, are you sure about this?” Nightmare said meeting my hand with hers.

“Take as much as you need to make this happen,” I reassured her.

Nightmare smiles again as her hands glow a deep midnight blue color. I respond to her actions by activating my Electricity as the lighting bolts travel along my arm. I watch as Nightmare uses her magic to absorb the electricity and she gasps at the sudden shock of energy flowing through her. I felt like she needed more so I raised my power making more Electricity flow from my arm and into her as she continues to absorb it all. Soon I notice her arm becoming solid as it travels up to her shoulder and spreads throughout her body. I hadn’t realized before, since she was transparent, but as she becomes more physical I see how much of a well defined body she has. Even under her armor dress I could tell she had a body similar to that of a supermodel. Even though her figure was well shaped, what caught my eye making my breath hitch a bit was her face. As her face came more into view, even if it was covered by her helmet, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful woman in my life. Her eyes seemed to shine more as my power gave them physical form and her lips seemed to look more luscious as they formed a smile.

After what seemed like minutes of Nightmare absorbing my power, the task was finally complete. I deactivated my Electricity and stepped back to gaze at Nightmare. Her body seemed to be glowing in the moonlight as she breathed in deeply and examined herself. She raised her hand and it glowed a bit as I saw a small rock in the corner lift into the air and fall down and she gasped. Tears flowed out of her eyes as she looked at me with the happiest smile I’ve seen her make. She reaches up with her hands and lifts her helmet off her head as it was my turn I gasp. Just as I thought, she’s so very beautiful. Her very face made my heart beat faster than ever as she placed her helmet on the floor. She slowly walks up to me as she continues to stare into my eyes as she slowly raises her hand. I can barely move as I’m completely captivated by her eyes as she gently touches my face.

“I can…feel you,” Nightmare said happily.

“And I feel you,” I said.

“You have done me a great kindness, Ax, I never thought I would get a second chance like this again. Thank you so very much,” she said still smiling happily.

“I…you’re welcome, it’s the least I could do for a friend,” I said.

“I feel as though I should reward you for this kindness,” Nightmare said softly.

“It’s not necessary, I just felt like you deserved this,” I said.

“You’re also quite the humble one, but I must insist,” Nightmare said leaning up.

“What’re you…”

I didn’t get to finish my sentence as Nightmare leaned up and kissed my cheek. The world seemed to slow down as she kissed me and my heart felt like it was going a million miles a minute. I got sent to a different world by The Merchant, somehow got Conduit powers like Cole and Delsin, met someone who’s basically a goddess, and now she’s kissing me on the cheek as a reward for me helping her. Nightmare leans back with a now noticeable blush and she lifts her hand from my face and brings it down to grasp mine with hers.

“I hope you enjoyed your reward, Ax. It’s not much but it is the least I could do for a noble soul like yourself,” Nightmare said.

“I…uh…yeah, no problem,” was all I could say still in a daze.

Nightmare giggles as she then leans into me and lays her head on my chest. She wraps her arms around me, hugging me as she hums into my chest. My arms seemed to act on their own as they slowly wrapped around Nightmare as I hugged her back. I was able to slightly catch a scent of her hair which smelled like forest pine that I enjoyed very much. We just stood there under the stars, hugging each other like we needed to hug someone for a long time.

“It has been a long time since someone has embraced me this way, in fact I believe this is the first time someone has embraced me at all,” Nightmare said.

“Really? Well to be honest I’m not much of a hugger myself,” I admit.

“Is that so? You seem to be a natural at it,” Nightmare teases as she continues to hug me. “I feel safe being embraced by you, especially since I feel my magic is almost at its peak thanks to your power. I thought I would be stuck here in this castle forever but now you’ve given me a chance to see the world. But would the world accept me? After what I tried to do?” Nightmare wondered nervously.

“Even if they don’t, I’ll still stick by you if things get tough,” I said. “Besides if you show them you’re not the same as before I’m sure they’ll accept you for who you are now,” I said hugging Nightmare closer.

“I hope you are right, Ax,” Nightmare said looking up at me. “And thank you for saying you will stay by my side,” she said giving me another kiss on the cheek. She leans her head on my chest again as we hug each other, I look up to the sky and see the moon still high above as the stars twinkle. This may be my first night in this unknown world but I managed to help someone in need already and it felt good to help her.

I’ve…missed this feeling, I think as I continue to hug her.

As Nightmare and I hug each other, my new senses seem to spike a bit making me tilt my head up. I glance over at the entrance of the castle and see a few stray lights in the distance, which meant we would soon be not alone.

“Nightmare, someone’s approaching the castle,” I said making her flinch and look in the same direction.

“But why? At this hour? Everyone should be asleep by now,” Nightmare said nervously clutching me.

I glance at my watch and see it’s around 10pm, not sure how it changed time when I never touched it since I got here but I’m guessing The Merchant had something to do with it. I look back towards the lights and see they’re getting brighter which means whoever’s on their way they’re getting closer. I can tell Nightmare is getting more nervous and doesn’t want to meet anyone just yet so I have to think fast.

“Nightmare, can you hide behind that pillar over there?” I ask.

“You wish for me to hide?” Nightmare repeats.

“I can tell you’re yet ready to reveal yourself and whoever these people are they’re probably investigating the bright light caused by the Blast Core I held. Just let me handle them and I’ll make sure you’re not discovered,” I said.

“But what if they try to attack you?” Nightmare asks nervously.

“Don’t worry, I can handle myself, just go hide and don’t come out. And if you can, make yourself invisible just in case,” I said.

Nightmare hesitated for a moment but nodded as she gave me one last kiss on the cheek before retreating behind the pillar and uses her magic to become transparent. I nod and face the lights that are almost to the entrance. I then look up and see a beam stretching across the roof through a hole. I squat down and jump in the air while activating Video and my digital wings appear on my back as I fly up to the beam. I land on top of it and perch myself looking down and I see Nightmare look at me with an in awe expression, probably due to my digital wings. Before whoever walks up to the entrance, I deactivate my wings and stick to the shadows of the beam. As I wait for our new visitors, I activate Smoke to cover my body in smoke. Black strands of smoke cover my body making my appearance harder to spot in the darkness. If these visitors aren’t hostile I’ll choose wether or not to reveal myself and say hi, however the same cannot be said should they prove otherwise and I have to take action if they become a problem.

The group of visitors walk in and I get a proper look at them, they’re all female, 6 girls aged around 18-20 and 2 grown women leading them. The two full grown women have fancy dresses on, one has a white dress with gold trim and a picture of the sun on the side and the other has a dark blue dress with a silver trim and picture of the crescent moon on the side of her dress. They both have crowns on along with other fancy jewelry and on each of their backs were a pair of wings which can only mean they’ve the Princesses Nightmare told me about, Celestia and Luna I believe their names were. If I’m being honest I’d say they were also as pretty as Nightmare but now’s not the time for that. The other younger girls were following the Princesses and they all seemed to be a mix match of humans.

One girl with deep sapphire blue hair and a two toned pink stripe running through. She was wearing what looked like a school uniform consisting of a white collared shirt, pink sweater vest over it, a pink striped tie with a symbol of a six pointed star with sparked around it on the tie, a purple checkered skirt, and white high socks with little black shoes.

Next was a girl who seemed to have a thing for glamour since she was wearing a fancy white dress with a picture of three diamonds on its side like she was trying out dress everyone. She also must’ve used like 8 different hair products on her deep purple wavy hair and 3 different perfumes since I could smell her fragrances from up here.

Next was a rainbow haired tomboyish looking girl who wore what looked like athletic pants and a and a jean jacket with a white T-shirt underneath that had a rainbow lighting bolt on it and a pair of smaller wings on her back. She looked like she was ready for anything which told me she was a bit of a reckless one.

Next to her was a light rose haired girl who looked like a sneeze would frighten her she looked so timid. She was wearing a light yellow loose sweater with a picture of three butterflies sewn on the side, dark green jeans, brown boots, and also had a pair of wings on her back as she walked with the group looking around the interior and sometimes flinching at the slightest sound.

Behind her was a blonde haired girl wearing a stetson hat, beige button up a picture of three apples embroidered in the pocket, dark blue denim jeans, and brown western boots. She seemed to be the more fit one of the six since I could see a fair amount of muscle on her body even from my perch.

Finishing the group was a poofy pink haired girl wearing a pink shirt that had a picture of a few balloons on the front, pink short shorts, light yellow and pink knee socks, and pink sneakers. Instead of walking like the others she seemed to be bouncing in and had a wide smile across her face.

I gazed at the group as they all walked in through the entrance and stopped just below my perch and near Nightmare’s hiding spot that was just off to the side. The two princesses looked around cautiously with their magic coating their hands being used to light their surroundings. I glance at Nightmare who looks up at me with a very worried expression but I gesture her to stay calm.

“Twilight,” The Princess who I assumed was Celestia said, “are you quite certain you saw the strange light come from here?” She asks.

“Yes, Princess,” the girl called Twilight said. “As I mentioned in my letter to you I was in the library when I saw the light from my window. I knew it came from the old castle so I wanted to write to you just in case.”

“Sister, perhaps tis just a false alarm?” The other Princess who I knew was Luna said in old English.

“Perhaps, but if it was why here of all places?” Celestia said.

“Ah still don’t see how it could even be possible,” the cowgirl said. “Ah mean we were just here a couple of weeks ago, and we managed ta best her and save Equestria.”

“Indeed, why is it we must stay awake at this dreadful hour when we should be asleep?” The fancy girl asks in a posh tone. “A lady needs her beauty rest after all.”

“Yeah! Even if it was true, we’d all just do the same thing as last time! We did bring the Elements after all,” the tomboy girl said pulling out some kind of necklace. Upon closer inspection it was a red lighting bolt hanging from a gold chain, similar to the picture on her shirt. When I glanced at the others I noticed they too had necklaces matching the pictures on their clothes, excluding the girl named Twilight when she revealed a sort of crown that had the same six pointed star.

“Um…maybe it wasn’t what you thought it was, Twilight. At least…that’s what I think,” the pink haired girl said softly.

“Or someone was having a party here!” The poofy haired girl chirped.

“Pinkie, I doubt there’s a party happening here of all places,” The rainbow tomboy said.

“Well whatever made that light was I just hope we find the cause soon, and hope it wasn’t what I think it was,” Celestia said.

I look over at Nightmare again and see she’s got a very nervous expression since it’s now clear they’re probably looking for her. As they continue to investigate the area some start to move in on Nightmare’s position. I could just let them find her and if things get to heated I’d make my presence known, but she’d probably hold it against me since she’s not yet ready to make herself known. I could also jump down right now, let her hide somewhere else until I can convince them to leave so Nightmare could be spared but I too would expose myself a little earlier than I wanted.

…

As the Princess Luna and Celestia were about to walk up to the pillar Nightmare was hiding behind, I jump off my perch and use Smoke to make turn myself into smoke trails and dive down on a nearby pillar. This seemed to gain the attention of the Princesses and some of the girls as they noticed my smoke trails lingering in the air.

“What the…smoke?” The rainbow tomboy said. “Is there a fire here?”

“I don’t believe so,” the posh girl said. “But the smoke seems to be coming from over there,” she said pointing in my direction.

All eyes face my direction as my body becomes solid and reforms behind the pillar. I’ve come this far so might as well see it through to the end. I slowly walk out from behind the pillar as the smoke trails linger from my arms as I face the group. We both stare at each other for a moment before I start to approach the group and stop just before them.

“Seems like a fairly large group of people just to visit just me, don’t you think?” I ask sarcastically.

“Who…are you?” Twilight asks me.

“Before I answer that, I’d like to know what you are all doing here,” I request.

“That’s our line!” The rainbow tomboy said flying up to me. “You come out of no where and ask what we’re doing here? And you’re acting all suspicious with that weird metal thing on your back and smoke coming off your arms and-”

She cuts herself off when she finally notices the smoke trails still coming off my arms and goes wide eyed along with the others. I cross my arms with a smirk as I slowly deactivate Smoke as they all stare at me unable to speak at the spectacle they’re witnessing.

“Finally noticed, did you?” I chuckled. “But I suppose you have a point, a stranger in a place like this coming out from the shadows at this time of night? I guess even I would be a little suspicious. So to answer your question,” I said looking at Twilight. “My name is Axel Rickert, you could say I’m not from around here and I just arrived about…” I said while glancing at my watch. “I’d say a good hour ago.”

“How did thee come by this place?” Princess Luna asks.

“Honestly I’m not quite sure myself,” I shrug. “One minute I’m in a place that’s familiar to me and the next thing I know I’m here in an unfamiliar place. I was investigating my surroundings until you all showed up, heard you were all wondering about something, or someone, and I got cautious that you were looking for me.”

“We apologize if we caused you any alarm, Mr. Rickert,” Princess Celestia said with a curt nod. “However it does beg the question why you are even here at all? You say you just appeared out of no where but you did not specify where it is you came from. More so, you also have strange magic not any of us have seen before and you claim we were searching for you when we did not even know you were here. Would there be someone else here with you?” Celestia questions as if she knows already.

Clever woman… I think.

“I will answer your questions as it is your right to know since I am someone who is but a stranger in your former home. However before I do I must ask you and Princess Luna something very important,” I said.

“Pray tell, what be that, Mr. Rickert?” Luna asks.

“You’re are all here investing the strange bright light Ms. Twilight saw, aren’t you?” I ask and they all nod slightly. “Well to help ease your nerves a bit that bright light was caused by me,” I said making their eyes go wide.

“How were you able to create such a bright light? Was it come kind of strange magic?” Twilight asks.

“I would explain but it would take too long but that is not the main issue at the moment,” I said. “I also heard you mention someone who I kinda figured wasn’t me but I might have an idea who it is. See I know what happened here a few nights ago, despite me just arriving here a couple hours ago, because my friend told me,” I said surprising the group.

“Who exactly is your friend?” Twilight asks.

“We’ll get to that in a minute, now to my real question,” I said in a more serious tone. “This friend of mine made a mistake long ago and she’s payed for it by serving her time. While most believe she still has to suffer punishment for what she did, I for one believe otherwise. She no longer wishes to continue pursuing her dark goal and is ready to repent and as her friend I will stand by her every step of the way. So my question is this, would you all be willing to forgive my friend for what she has done?”

Everyone was silent for a good long while contemplating my words. Celestia and Luna, on the other hand seemed to catch on who I was referring to which made them wary about the whole situation. Celestia steps up and looks straight at me with a serious gaze.

“You seem to make quite the bold claim about your friend, you know of what transpired here and you must also know what this friend of yours has done in the past. Yet you claim she has been reformed so soon?” Celestia asks.

“I do, even though she did something very wrong I believe everyone deserves a second chance if they’re willing to seek forgiveness,” I said with conviction as I starred back at her.

“Pray tell, Mr. Axel,” Luna said stepping next to Celestia. “Why does thee believe thy friend is worthy of our forgiveness?”

“Because she's my friend and I know she does,” I said with a smile. I heard a light gasp from Nightmare and I smiled more knowing she heard every word I said.

Celestia and Luna look at each other and back at me and sigh. “If who you say is your friend who we believe it to be, and you insist she isn’t a threat, then we suppose we can give her a chance,” Celestia said.

“What?!” Twilight yelped. “But Princess what about the Elements? What about the safety of Equestria?”

“Ah gotta agree with Twi here,” the cowgirl said. “After what we went through tha last time how can we be sure she won’t try nothin’ ?”

“What’s your name miss?” I ask.

“Name’s Applejack, partner,” she answers.

“Well Applejack, you seem like someone who can tell the difference between a lie and a truth so if she were here to tell you she’s not the same as before would you believe her?” I ask.

“Ah guess it depends on what she says,” Applejack said.

“Couldn’t agree with you more,” I said walking towards Nightmare’s hiding place. I see her silhouette hide behind the pillar and I smile as I hold my hand out. “It’s ok, I’m here for you. I said we’d do this together and I meant it.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Rickert, but whoever are you talking to?” The posh girl said.

I smile as Nightmare slowly reaches out and takes my hand. As I pull her out into the open she cancels her invisibility revealing herself making the group gasp. Once she’s out in the open she looks very nervous as she spots the two Princesses but I reassure her with a gentle squeeze of her hand. We both step forward towards the group as they are still speechless seeing her in person and with a physical form.

“I’m sure most of you know her but allow me to introduce you all to Nightmare Moon, now reformed and ready to repent on her actions,” I said happily.

“U-um…hello,” Nightmare said nervously.

Celestia and Luna step towards us in a calm yet stoic pace. I know I assured them she’s no longer a threat but I instinctively had my hand ready to unravel my chain in case they did anything. Celestia and Luna both stare at Nightmare and she trembles a little at their gaze. I try to ease her nerves gripping her hand and she glances at me and I give her a slight not for reassurance. She smiles as she stares back at the two Princesses but is still a little nervous.

“You were the cause of our battle,” Celestia said.

“Thou whispered dark thoughts into our mind and made us loose sight of reason,” Luna said.

“If it wasn’t for you maybe I could have reasoned with my sister better,” Celestia said.

“We knew we were displeased how the people always preferred the day than our nights, but that does not mean we had to suffer banishment,” Luna said.

“I…I know,” Nightmare said sadly.

“However,” Celestia said. “Mr. Rickert insists that you no longer wish to engulf the world in eternal night, correct?” She nods slowly.

“How can thee give us thy word thee shall not do what thee has done in the past?” Luna asks.

“I know that what I did was an unforgivable crime,” Nightmare said. “I don’t expect any of you to forgive me for what I almost did. But know that I will do whatever I can to earn your trust and your forgiveness, if you’ll let me.”

Celestia and Luna, along with the others, were silent for a moment until Celestia steps closer to her. Nightmare flinches and Celestia raises her arm and I instinctively twitch my hand ready to unravel my chain but she gently places a hand on her shoulder.

“I may not get trust you due to our history,” Celestia said. “But I do believe in second chances since you are so honest with your misdeeds.”

“You mean…?” Nightmare said.

“For the time being I believe it would be wise if you came with Luna and I to the castle where we can monitor you properly. Until you can prove yourself that is where you shall reside, is that ok?” Celestia asks. Nightmare smiles but then looks at me as I smile back.

“May I…request something?” Nightmare asks.

“Of course,” Celestia answers.

“Can Ax come with me?” Nightmare requests surprising me.

“You want me to come with you?” I ask.

“Yes,” she said clinging to my arm. “I…I want you to come with me, besides you did promise me you would remain by my side, didn’t you?”

“Heh, I guess I did,” I chuckle scratching the back of my head. “If that’s alright with you,” I said looking at Celestia.

“If that is all she requests then I do not mind,” Celestia said. “Besides I would like to know more about you and where you came from.”

“Fair enough,” I said as she turned around to face the others.

“I shall call upon you all to come to Canterlot in two days so we may properly welcome our new guests. In the mean time please return to your homes for it is late in the night,” Celestia said. They all bowed as they begin to leave the Castle. The girl named Twilight looks over her shoulder at me but then continues on and out of the castle.

“So how exactly are we going to this other castle of yours?” I ask. “Is there a means of transportation we’re gonna use?”

“If we used a carriage, perhaps,” Luna said. “But we used a different means of traveling here,” she adds while her hands glow as does Celestia’s.

“You might want to prepare yourself,” Nightmare said. “Teleportation tends to leave those who are new to it a little nauseous.”

“Wait what?” I said.

Before I could react, Celestia’s and Luna’s hands glow brighter as we all begin to float in the air slightly. I feel my stomach churn as I feel the need to barf but my head also gets dizzy. As the light gets brighter and my body becomes lighter, I lose more and more of my consciousness and soon everything turns to black.

Bad Dream and The City of The Snob

Chapter 3

If there’s one thing I need to make a mental note of during my time here in this world, is to never EVER let myself be part of any teleportation spell. I mean, I can fly and run at top speed for crying out loud and this teleportation of theirs just made me feel extremely nauseous and even pass the hell out. I opened my eyes and expected to be laying on some bed but instead I found myself floating in mid air in some starry void. I looked around to see more of the void which made me very confused since I didn’t know where the hell I was. I looked down at my body and saw I was still wearing my clothes and pack while I reached back to see if my Amp was also still there. After thinking about what had happened in the past few hours I came to the conclusion that I was somehow dreaming of a starry void.

“Yup, definitely not teleporting again that’s for damn sure,” I grumble.

Suddenly, I felt a presence behind me making me turn my body around and look up. A moon seemed to appear in the sky and it looked like some sort of gateway as the presence I felt grew closer and closer as I saw a silhouette of someone fly through. The figure flew at me at top speed making me try and get on the defensive but it crashed into me making us spin around in mid air.

“Thank the stars you’re ok!” I looked down at the figure to see it was Nightmare and she was burying her face in my chest with her arms wrapped around me.

“Nightmare? How’re you in my dream?” I ask as she looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

“When we teleported at the castle you collapsed and I was so scarred you wouldn’t wake up. Celestia and Luna had you placed in one of the guest rooms and I begged them to let me look after you until woke. I waited for over an hour but you didn’t show any signs of waking up so I used my magic to enter your dream,” Nightmare explains.

“Huh, well that was considerate of them,” I said with a smirk. “Wait, you said you entered my dream? As in, is this actually you I’m taking to?” Nightmare smiles as she releases me and nods.

“Not only do we have the power to move the moon but we also have the power to watch over peoples dreams as they sleep. This is indeed my physical form you are seeing while your own body is still unconscious in the real world,” Nightmare said.

“I see, well I’ll definitely be still feeling that nausea I felt before I passed out. Damn near came close to emptying my guts out for a second there,” I grumbled making Nightmare’s eyes widen.

“You were on the verge of disemboweling yourself?!” She shrieked with a horrified expression.

“What? No, I meant I was about to vomit,” I said relaxing her mood. “Have you ever heard of exaggerated word play?”

“In my defense I have not been accustomed to how people normally speak to one another nor am I familiar with any crude exaggerations they use,” Nightmare deadpans.

“Oh…” I said now feeling like an ass. “Sorry about that.” Nightmare smiles as she floats over to me and hugs me to which I return.

“It’s quite alright, I could never stay mad at you Ax,” Nightmare said looking up at me.

“How can you not? There may be a time where I might say or do something that would cause you to think otherwise,” I said.

“I wouldn’t really care to be honest, because you gave me something I never would’ve expected to receive had you not arrived in this world,” Nightmare said.

“And what’s that?” I ask. Nightmare leans up and kisses me on the cheek again before laying her head on my chest as she hugged me tighter.

“You gave me a chance of redemption and my first true friendship,” she answered.

“Well, I mean I only said and did what I thought was the right thing,” I said sheepishly.

“It seems you’re also quite the modest one, Ax,” Nightmare giggles. “So tell me, I’d like to know what your home world is like. You look and speak like us but you have no magic yet you have such interesting powers. Do all of your people have abilities like you?” She asks.

“Not exactly, most of my world has no one else besides me. You see I was actually given my powers by some strange man I met before I got here. I guess you could say I’m the only Conduit here in Equestria,” I said.

“I see, is there anything else about your world that is similar to ours?” Nightmare asks.

“That depends, do you know what a car is” I ask and she tilts her head already giving me my answer. “Then my world and this one would be much different than each other.”

“Interesting, what about you Ax? What did you do before you came here?” She asks. I was about to answer when the starry void around us began to change. Soon we were standing in front of a house I quickly recognized, making me frown.

“Ax? What’s wrong?” Nightmare wonders.

“This…” I sighed. “This is my old home, it seems I’m dreaming an old memory,” I said as I watched a car pull up in the driveway and saw my old man. “And that’s my father, judging by the clothes he’s wearing and the season it is I know exactly what this memory is,” I said as I watched my dad trudge to the front door.

“Axel Rickert! Get your ass out here right now and explain why the hell you weren’t at school today!” My dad yells as he slams open the door. Nightmare and I walk in after my dad as we gaze through the walls and see my younger self. I couldn’t have been older than 10 as I stared up at my dad with a scowl as my dad glared at me.

“Is that you?” Nightmare asks and I nod. “You are so small, yet you look quite displeased. Why?”

“You’ll see,” I said emotionlessly.

“Why do I gotta go to that stupid school?!” My younger self snapped. “Those kids always pick on me and the teachers are always making me look stupid!”

“Maybe if you paid more attention in class you’d have a better experience! And just because you’re not having a fun time means jack shit to me! Now I gotta take you back to your school so you can keep being enrolled otherwise you’ll be expelled!” My dad yells.

“School is stupid! I hate it! I don’t wanna go back!” My younger self said, stomping his foot.

“You forget, you little brat,” my dad said grabbing my arm. “I don’t give a shit what you do or don’t wanna do. So you’re gonna come with me back to school so you can at least get a decent education for that piece of shit you call a brain!”

I watch as my dad yanks my arm and into his car despite my protest. Nightmare seems to glare at my dad for how he treated my younger self and I place a hand on her shoulder making her turn to me.

“You shouldn’t get mad at my old man,” I said. “I was the one at fault in the first place anyway. As you saw I was in fact a brat who always caused trouble every chance I got. It was like this throughout the rest of my elementary and middle school years. Then I entered high school and it all became much harder,” I said as the memory faded and changed.

Soon we were in front of my old high school and I again knew what memory it was due to the season and time of day. I led Nightmare through the campus and entered a building I knew to be the principal’s office. I saw my younger self again and I was older now, about 15 or 16 to be exact. I was sitting in front of a large desk all by myself waiting for the principal with a look on my face that said I did not give a fuck whatsoever. Soon the door opens and I see the principal walk in with my mother and she had the classic disappointed look in her eye as she sat down next to me.

“Axel, I’ve spoken to your mother and-”

“Ax.”

“Pardon?” The principal said surprised I cut her off.

“I said my name is Ax, not Axel. Axel is a dumb name and I hate it. And I know what you tow were talking about out there, I’m not as stupid as I look. If you’re expecting me to apologize then you can forget it, asshole got what was coming to him when he kept bugging the shit out of me constantly,” My teen self shocking the two of them for my language.

“Axel please! That was very rude!” My mother lectures.

“Oh you think that’s rude?” My teen self snaps. “Try telling that to the kids who always give me a hard time just because I always wear a beanie. They always give me shit over the most retarded bullshit and no one here does jack about it. And I told you my name is Ax, not stupid Axel!”

“Axe-” I glare at the principal as she catches herself. “Ax, please be reasonable. You broke a students nose and his parents are insisting you apologize or it would mean suspension.”

“I’d rather take a bullet to the knee than apologize, asshole deserved it and I ain’t saying shit!” I said making my mother scowl at me.

“Your mother should be supporting you in this endeavor,” Nightmare said. “You were clearly the victim in this ordeal, no?”

“In a way, I guess,” I shrugged. “But that doesn’t excuse the fact I broke some kids nose for something I honestly would have handled better. However you did have a point earlier, my mother should have indeed had my back yet she didn’t. Neither me mom or dad ever really supported me in times like this. It was mostly my fault for my shitty behavior but it’s times like this where I kinda wished they would’ve at least tried a little harder to have my back. All they really cared about was how they looked in front of other parents through me. This may surprise you but this isn’t my first offense, in fact I got into many other kinds of trouble before and after my suspension but I still managed to graduate no thanks to my parents.”

“You make it sound like you were an outsider in your own home,” Nightmare said pityingly.

“In a way I guess I was, but this all doesn’t compare to when I moved out,” I said as the memory faded again. We were in front of my house and I saw a car parked in front that I recognized as one of my old roommates cars. I saw my last self walk out with 2 large duffle bags and I looked to be 20 years old now. Soon my mom and dad came out and watched me put the bags in the car but my dad still had that scowl on his face.

“You better rethink this right now, Axel,” my dad said coldly.

“I don’t have to listen to you or Mom anymore,” was all I said as my past self returned to the house to get the last of his belongings.

“Sweetheart please,” my mother begged. “We know we haven’t always been there but to move out so soon?”

“Oh spare me the woa was me bull crap, Mom,” I spat. “If you really cared then you would’ve supported me for all I’ve done instead of shooing me away and caring more about your damn image.”

“Don’t talk to your mother that way,” my dad snapped. “We raised your as parents should have, and now you want to throw it all away?”

“Raised me?” I hissed and glared at my parents. “RAISED ME?! THAT’S A LOAD OF HORSE SHIT AND YOU FUCKING KNOW IT! YOU BARELY GAVE ME THE TIME OF DAY, NEVER TOOK MY SIDE, FORCED ME TO APOLOGIZE FOR STUFF I NEVER DID, AND YOU HAVE THE GALL TO SAY YOU RAISED ME?!? WELL YOU KNOW WHAT?! FUCK YOU AND YOUR SHITTY PARENTING BECAUSE I’VE BEEN ON MY OWN SINCE DAY FUCKING ONE! NOW GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!” I screamed shoving them aside with the last of my luggage in my hand.

“If you leave now, then don’t ever bother coming back!” My dad barks as my mother sobs. My past self paused for a moment and then looked back at my dad with a scoff.

“Then I guess this is the last we see of each other, Frank and Trisha,” I said, calling them by their names and stepping into the car.

I watched as I drove away with my roommate and my parents watched as my mother continued to sob. The memory fades as we were met with the same starry void and I look down and clench my fists. I was trying so damn hard not to crack a tear since this was something I never wanted to remember. Nightmare must’ve seen my discomfort and wrapped her arms around me bringing into a hug.

“You seem like such a gentle soul, yet you have gone through so much heartache,” Nightmare said while rubbing my back. “And you haven’t spoken with your parents since?”

“No, aside from the occasional glances at any social media they were on I never bothered to contact them. Frankly I still don’t give a damn if I didn’t, if they wouldn’t bother to contact me why should I?” I said dismissively.

“Do you miss them?” She asks.

“I’m not sure,” I admit. “After that falling out I hadn’t spoken to them ever since. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t know about me being gone until much later.”

“Would you…like to go back if given the chance?” Nightmare wonders.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” I said looking at my hands. “I didn’t really have much back in my world. Yeah I had friends I made over the years but they never really stuck around. It all feels like I’ve been on my own most of my life.”

Nightmare frowns and rests her head on my chest as we continue to hug each other. She’s so warm when I hug her, not to mention she’s a very beautiful woman.

“I know what it is like to be alone, Ax,” Nightmare said. “But just know that you shouldn’t feel alone anymore now that you’re here. I will always be by your side so that you never do.”

“Thanks Nightmare, I appreciate it,” I said with a smile. The area around us starts to distort around us making me arch a brow and Nightmare releases her grasp around me.

“It appears you are about to wake up,” Nightmare said as she fades away. “I’ll see you in a little while.”

I nod as she fades away and my vision soon begins to darken. I don’t know what waits for me when I wake, but I’ll soon find out.

I woke up to the sounds of birds chirping as I slowly opened my eyes. Naturally, I thought everything that had happened so far was just a dream and I was in my apartment laying in bed, dreading to get up and deal with the shitty customers at my shitty job. Only as my vision became more clear, I noticed the bed I was laying on was a lot more comfortable than my usual creaky one. I blinked and noticed I was in an entirely different room and I felt something on my chest. Looking down my eyes seemed to bug out as I saw Nightmare, as beautiful as ever, laying on my chest with her arms wrapped around me. Now it wasn’t the face that she smelled like fresh pine in the wilderness, but the fact that she had her breasts pressed against my side which made me blush up a damn storm. Back home I’ve had my share of relationships but they didn’t last due to either the girl being a complete Stacy, Debbie, or sometimes even a Karen. Yes, I admit it, I’m a virgin but so what? I wanna save my first time for someone I truly love so sue me but that’s not important right now.

I slowly inched my way out of Nightmare’s grip, careful not to wake her, while also trying not to cause her breasts to press more into me. Unfortunately I had my hopes up too soon as she then pulled me back towards her making her breasts press more into me making a certain someone downstairs wake up.

For the love of god, please don’t come out! I plead in my head.

Nightmare seemed to finally stir from her slumber as she slowly opened her eyes and looked up to me. I gave her a sheepish smile as she looked down and saw she was still hugging me which made her eyes widen and jump away and straighten her dress out.

“Oh my goodness!” She yells while also fixing her hair. “I’m so terribly sorry Ax, I should have stayed in the appropriate distance. I-“

“Whoa, whoa, slow down Nightmare,” I said, waving my hand while also trying to calm my blush down. “It’s fine, you don’t have to be so frantic, I’m not mad at you.”

“You’re not?” She asks shyly.

“Course not,” I said as I stood up from the bed and stretched my limbs. “In fact, despite the surprising awakening, I feel pretty well rested. That bed sure is comfy, hell of a lot more than my old bed that’s for damn sure.”

Nightmare sighs and smiles as I stretch my body. I looked down and noticed I’m only wearing my pants, hoodie, and socks. I look around the room and notice my pack, Amp, chain, vest, beanie, and shoes all huddled beside a small table with my personal belongings like my phone, wallet and earbuds on the table. I walk over to my stuff and grab my vest, though I noticed something different about it. When I held it up in front of me I saw that the star on the back was tilting a little to the right which made me arch a brow since it should be level and even.

“Huh, that’s weird, why’s it look like this?” I wonder to myself. Shrugging it off I put it and the rest of my clothes on while slinging on my pack and Hopkins my Amp to it and wrapped my chain around my wrist and tuck my belongings in my pocket. Satisfied with my clothed being back on, I turned around to face Nightmare who was patiently waiting for me. “So, wanna head out and explore?” I ask.

Just as she was about to answer we hear a knock on the door which made me roll my eyes and walk over to answer it. When I opened the door I was greeted by a young woman wearing a maid's outfit. She had short light brown hair and chocolate brown eyes as she smiled up at me and gave me a curt bow.

“Good morning, sir,” she greeted me. “Her majesty, Princess Celestia, and her sister, Princess Luna, have requested your presence with them as soon as you’re able, along with your guest.”

“Did they now?” I said. “Did they say exactly when I should go and see them?” I ask.

“Well,” she said, tilting her head. “Not exactly, but I would advise you go and see them-”

“Then I’d like you to relay a message to them,” I request cutting her off. “Please tell them I’d like to do a little sightseeing with my friend before I have my official meeting with the. See, I’m new around here and I’d like to get used to my new surroundings with my friend. I understand it’s important to listen to what they say, since they’re Princesses and all, but sometimes I like to live for the moment instead of being cooped up inside all day.”

“But Princess Celestia-”

“Will get over it,” I said, again cutting her off. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some touring to do.” I looked back at Nightmare who was giggling a bit at my little monologue. “Shall we Nightmare?” I offer holding out my hand. She smiles and grasps my hand.

“Thank you Ax, I’d love to,” she replies. I nod and we both walk past the bewildered maid and out the room. I take in a deep breath of fresh air and notice we were in a sort of tower as I took in the sights of the fancy city. This place looked like it could put the ritz of London to shame it all looked so fancy and clean. Though as I looked down I saw some of the people walking about and noticed that some of them had their noses up in the air which meant that there were a few snobs here and there.

“So what shall we do first?” Nightmare asks me.

“Hmm, well we could walk down and see the city but I feel like we might run into more of the staff on the way down,” I said as I glanced at Nightmare with a smirk. “Would you like to fly down?”

“Fly?” She repeats. “But you do not have wings.”

“Have you forgotten already?” I tease as I step back. I close my eyes while activating Video and a pair of digital wings appear from my back making Nightmare gasp.

“My stars, I forgot you could do this,” she said in awe as she gazed at my wings.

“Oh there’s more I can do with my abilities, Nightmare, but we’ll save that for a later date,” I said.

Nightmare nods as she too spreads her wings and we both take to the skies. At first I was a little nervous about flying since this is my first time flying on my own, with wings no less, but I actually felt more calm than usual. As we flew I took in the sights of the city and admired how clean it was, probably cleaner than my own bathroom back home. We eventually make it to the center of town and land on the side of the street. Some of the people stare at us a little surprised but when they see Nightmare they scowl at her and I notice she is a little uneasy.

“Hey don’t worry about them,” I said reassuring her. “I’m sure they’ll eventually warm up to you once they see that you’re no longer the same woman as before.”

“I hope you’re right…” Nightmare said.

As we walk I feel something grip my hand making me look down and see Nightmare was holding it. I blushed a little at the action but let her hold on since she needed me to stick by her since the residents always shot her the stink eye. Nightmare and I soon come up to what looks like an open park with a bunch of benches and walkways all around. I smile as Nightmare kneels down to smell the flowers and take in the sights as she never once lost her smile during our walk.

She’s got quite the smile, I think.

Soon we stopped to take a little break and sit on a nearby bench. I take off my sling pack and set it beside the bench as I sit down. I extend my legs and cross them while leaning back and hang my arms out while Nightmare sits close to me while she has her hands in her lap.

“You enjoying yourself?” I ask.

“Yes, very much so,” she said smiling. “The world has changed so much since my banishment. It's hard to believe this is still Equestria.”

“This is why you should look forward to the day when the people accept you more,” I said. “That way you can choose to see the rest of the world as you see fit. I may not know too much about this place yet but I’ll be sure to stick by your side.”

Nightmare smiles at me and then leans on my shoulder. I decide to do something bold and reach over and wrap my arm around her while stroking her hair and she hums in content.

Maybe things won’t be so bad after all, I think.

“Well, well, well. I heard a rumor she was back but I didn’t expect her to actually be in Canterlot.”

Me and my big mouth… I groan as I glance over to the voice in question.

A douchey looking man comes strutting towards us with two beef head guards following behind him. This guy’s hair must have so much gel in it, it seems to sparkle in the sunlight even though there were a few strands of hair hanging out in the sides. He wore a pristine suit with a bow tie that looked like it was begging to get dirty, he seemed to keep it so clean.

“And who might you be?” I ask.

“You should watch your tone, peasant,” the man snaps. “That’s not a way to speak to me, Prince Blueblood.”

“You’re the Prince?” I ask, not convinced. “I thought the only rulers were Celestia and Luna?”

“That’s Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, peasant. And I’d advise you keep that in mind the next time you address my Aunts,” he huffs.

Oh this guy must be a real card around here, I think sarcastically.

“Now then,” he said looking at Nightmare who had an irritated look in her eye. “I don’t know why my Aunts insisted you stay here in Canterlot but I suppose it’s that good nature of theirs always preventing them from doing the right thing, but not me.”

“What exactly do you mean?” Nightmare accuses.

“I am here to bring you to the dungeons where you shall spend the rest of your days where you belong,” Blueblood said snapping his fingers as the guards start to advance on her.

This ticked me off but I paused for a moment. I could just let this happen and watch Nightmare beat the shit out of them and maybe this prick, but that would probably set a bad example on her part and make it harder to convince the public that she means no harm. Not wanting to let Nightmare get involved, I could also step in and take care of these guys but that could also make me look bad in the face of the public.

…

Yeah, fuck this guy, I think.

I stood up while unraveling my chain while activating Video. The chain glows and a digital longsword appears as I hold it out in front of Nightmare in front of the guards.

“Take another step, and you get hurt,” I warn. “Bad…”

“How dare you threaten royalty?!” Blueblood shouts. “Take him and the witch at once! I declare they will be imprisoned with no food or water until further notice!”

The guards obey by charging while brandishing their swords at me as I take my stance. One tries to slash at me but I side stepped and slashed him in the back making him wince as he tumbles to the ground. The other tries to tackle me but I jump in the air doing a front flip as I kick off his back and land on the ground. The other guard recovers and I’m caught in between the two as I hold my digital sword in my hand.

“What are you two waiting for?!” Blueblood snaps. “Take him down this instant or you shall be the ones to suffer the consequences!”

Both guards charge at me at full speed trying to slash at me from both sides. I smirk as I crouch down and summon my digital wings and jump high into the air, dodging each attack leaving them and everyone around in a shocked state. I backflip and land but they again charge at me with their swords raised. I’m not sure how but I was able to read their movements pretty easily and was able to either dodge or block their attacks. I punched one of them in the face as I kicked the other in the side then cartwheeled to the side and roundhouse kicked one in the head making him topple over the other. Taking this opportunity I quickly step up to the downed guards and raise my hands in the air. My hands glow all digital as three swords appear in mid air with the blades pointing downwards. The guards panic as I thrust my hands down making the swords plummet towards them. Instead of impaling them as everyone expected the words pierced the ground around them at hairs length, subduing them into the ground.

I sighed as I stood up straight and glanced over at Blueblood who had a very funny looking shocked expression. I deactivated Video and flicked my wrist, wrapping my chain again as I walked over to Blueblood. I stared deep in his panicked eyes, menacingly as he started to cower in fear.

“You think that just because you’re related to Celestia, and that you have some dumb royal status, that you can choose to walk all over everyone whenever you want? Well I got news for you pal, I’m not someone you can order to jump and I’ll ask how high and neither is Nightmare. She’s my friend and she’ll always be my friend, no matter what this new world throws my way.” I stated proudly. “And in case you’re wondering, my name is Axel Rickert, I’m the first Conduit of Equestria.”

Author's Note

Ax… IS BACK! Thanks for hanging in there for this story’s return!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

House Arrest

Chapter 4

You know, something about putting a spoiled brat like this Prince, as he calls himself, in his place is somewhat therapeutic. I had just put his two meat head guards in the dirt and completely owned their asses after this jackass threatened to imprison Nightmare. And the feeling of testing my Conduit abilities a little was arguably the best feeling I’ve ever had, even if it felt so unreal I was able to do such things with ease. Blueblood was staring up at me with a bewildered expression as I stared back with a shit eating grin. Blueblood then blinks and glares at me as he then raises his hand in the air and it begins to glow. I arched a brow as he fires a strange beam in the air and it explodes like a small firework and a mark in the shape of an eight point star.

“Was that supposed to do something?” I ask.

“Yes, it is a signal for you and that witch’s execution,” he said with a smug attitude.

Soon there were the sounds of sirens coming down the streets and I turned to see a bunch of carriages being driven by armored men whose hands were glowing due to their magic and stopped all around us. The doors from each carriage burst open and dozens of men ran out, some with swords drawn and others their hands glowing as they surrounded me. I quickly walked over to Nightmare and grabbed her hand and pulled her close to me as I slung over my pack on my shoulder as she held my arm while trembling. I noticed that some of the guards had the eight point star mark on their chest plates and others had a symbol of a shield with a six point star on it and three normal stars on top. From the crowd of guards another man with two toned blue hair, wearing fancier purple and gold plated armor, walks out with his sword drawn. He looks at me, the Nightmare, and then Blueblood to which he gives a somewhat forced bow.

“Prince Blueblood, you used the signal to call us?” The man asked.

“Indeed, Captain Shining Armor, this criminal had the audacity to raise his hand against me, so my order to you is to execute him and the Nightmare witch at once! Do so, and you shall receive the praise you deserve for saving Equestria from being plunged in eternal night,” Blueblood proclaims. Nightmare clings my arm more and I give the bastard prince the stink eye of stink eyes.

“Now wait just a goddamn minute!” I bark, halting their advance for a moment. “This guy is spouting the biggest nonsense I’ve ever heard in my life! We didn’t assault him at all, Nightmare and I were just minding our own businesses and he just waltzed up out of nowhere and threatened to throw us in prison when we didn’t even do anything. Besides I was just acting on self defense when he sent his two meatheads after us,” I said in an irritated tone.

“Silence you worm! You should have obeyed me from the beginning and kept your head under my shoe where it belongs! Captain, carry out your orders at once!” Blueblood snaps.

“Shining Armor, was it?” I ask, gaining his attention. “You look like a guy who’s a good judge of character so let me ask you this, does he have any visible injuries on him?” I ask. He pauses for a moment and glances at Blueblood, to which he shakes his head. “You see the look of fear in Nightmare’s eye right? Can you honestly tell me she would wanna hurt anybody?”

“You look like you’re not from around here, but that woman has a reputation for being an infamous villain who tried to plunge this world in eternal night,” The Captain said.

“I realize that, but you should know that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have decided to pardon her of her crimes so long as she proves herself of not being who she was before,” I said, surprising him. “I take it this is the first you’re hearing this?”

“Lies! She and this criminal are a threat to everyone! Don’t let this fool deceive you! Do as you’re told this instant, Captain!” Blueblood commands.

“You’re the one holding the sword, Captain,” I said as I sheathed my Amp. “I mean you and everyone else around here no harm, the same applies to Nightmare here.”

“How can you be so sure she’s not the villain everyone knows her to be?” Shining asks.

“Because she’s my friend, that’s why,” I said, making Nightmare look up at me with happy tears.

“Bah! A monster like her does not deserve friendship! Captain, I won’t ask again, I order you to carry out your duties!” Blueblood demands.

The Captain and I just stare at each other for what seemed like hours. The guards all just looked at each other and their Captain as they waited for him to make a move. The Captain then sighs heavily and sheathes his sword, “Men! We’re heading back,” he said as he turned away.

“What?! Get back here this instant, Armor!” Blueblood yelled.

“With all due respect, Prince Blueblood, but I refuse to carry out an order that obviously wasn’t true. While I’m still skeptical about Nightmare Moon, this man is innocent and he vouches for her and that’s good enough for me. Now if you’ll excuse me, my men and I have some more important business to attend to,” he said while walking back to the carriages and the others follow.

“Grr, 100,000 gold coins to the one who brings me his head!” Blueblood shouts, making all heads snap to him. “And another 200,000 for the witch’s head!”

“If any of you value your position as a guard, you will belay that order and return to post!” Shining snaps harshly.

The guards who had the symbol of the shield and three stars hesitated and backed off via Shining’s warning, however the ones who had the eight pointed star kept their weapons at hand and looked at me and Nightmare with a greedy look in their eye. I scowled as I made Nightmare release my arm and activated Electricity making me arms spark bolts as I widened my legs.

“Only warning, follow your Captain and leave, or I’ll fry you all good enough to leave you paralyzed for weeks,” I said in a low tone.

For a moment they were hesitant, but shook their nerves away and two of them foolishly charged at me with their swords raised. I sigh as I thrust my arms down while using Electricity to jump high in the air, dodging their attacks. I front flip over the guards and as I flip I fire two Lightning Bolts at them making them cry out in pain as they fall and I land on my feet. The others start to gain a backbone as they too charge at me and I quickly pull out my phone and earbuds and scroll through my playlist for a song.

Let’s do this in style, I think as I hit play.

I unsheathe my Amp and flow my Electricity through it as the tesla coils light up and electric bolts spark in between them and I twirled my Amp in my hand. One guard tries to blast me with magic but I swat it away with my Amp and point my Amp to him and blast him away with electricity, sending him flying and tumbling in the ground unconscious. A few more guards charge at me and I create a Shock Grenade in my free hand and toss it their way. It shocks them on impact and when it detonates it shocks other guards within range and they all fall to the ground either paralyzed or unconscious. Two more of them rush past the downed guards and come at me from both sides. I unravel my chain and activate Video to create my digital longsword in my right hand block both attacks with my Amp and sword. The Video power seems to have affected my Amp since both coils have digital energy running up and down which soon creates another digital blade in between the coils. The two swordsmen take turns trying to land a hit on me by either trying to fake me out by attacking me from different angles or together from the same direction. I parry one of their attacks again and counter their advance by sliding under their swords before they take my head off. I jump to my feet and turn around but they’re both already on me and I block another attack from one of them but the other manages to land a swift kick to my side making me grunt and stagger a bit. I’m at a bit of a disadvantage since these guys are obviously the more skilled pair of the group but I do not falter since I’m not one to give up to some pansy ass like Blueblood. With Video still being active, I summon my digital wings and give them a hard flap as I lunge past them and swipe at their legs making them lose their balance and fall to the ground. I somersault and jump forward towards the two downed guards who were trying to pick themselves up and raise my arms to the sky, summoning more flying swords and bringing them down to the ground and subdue them both before they could recover.

“Whew, that was a workout,” I said as I wrapped my chain back on my wrist.

I look up and see a few winged guards aim crossbows at me and I ready my Amp ready to deflect. They fire and I either deflect or dodge the bolts as sparks of digital power fly off my Amp, but two of them manage to pierce my shoulder and leg making me grunt in pain as I fall to my knee.

“Ax!” Nightmare cries.

I’ve never been shot before, but holy fuck does this hurt! I instinctively activated Smoke and trails of smoke and small cinders cover my wounds and the pain begins to fade. Soon the smoke pulls the bolts out of my shoulder and the wounds close up and there’s not a drop of blood left where my shoulder and leg got shot as I smirk wickedly and pick myself up.

“Oh, this fast-healing stuff is gonna come in real handy,” I chuckled.

The guards attempt to shoot me again but I reactivate Electricity and charge my power in my arms and thrust them forward firing an Electromagnetic Shockwave. They all float in the air, unable to move properly, and I rush forward and swing my Amp at them to bring them down to the ground and knock them out. More guards rush me all around and I sheath my Amp and active Neon to turn my body into light. With quick movements, I effortlessly dodge their attacks and fire Neon Beams at their hands making them drop their weapons and I run all around them making them dizzy as they fall to the ground completely subdued in a neon like trap. I glance over at Blueblood and he’s absolutely fuming that I haven’t gone down yet which makes me chuckle as I ready myself for more enemies. I hear a yelp from Nightmare and I look to see guards were about to jump her, but I wasn’t gonna have that. I quickly activated Video and a blue digital ring appeared around me as I summoned an Angel who appeared in front of me.

“My lord, what is your order?” The Angel asks.

“Protect that woman and don’t let any harm come to her! But don’t kill the enemy, just subdue them!” I tell it.

“By your command, my lord,” the Angel nods and flies towards the guards and begins fighting them. Before I could turn my head I felt something big slam into my side, sending me flying a few feet. I shake my head as my fast-healing repairs my cracked bones and see a larger guard with a war hammer-like weapon and heavy armor come charging at me.

“Yes, Sir Shatter Star! Crush that whelp and end this farce!” Blueblood ordered.

I growl in annoyance as the huge soldier charges at me and I activate Concrete and I thrust my hands down in the ground. Large concrete walls shoot up in front of him but he just bulldozes through them with ease. He swings his hammer and I barely dodged out of the way and tried to fire Concrete Shrapnel at him, but his armor absorbs most of the shots and he even deflects them with his hammer. Not seeing any more options I start to dash towards my opponent while covering myself in concrete and charge at him with Boulder Dash. Shatter Star raises his war hammer and brings it down and I lunge forward with a body check and his hammer slams down on me, but the momentum of my speed and thickness of my concrete armor was too much and I completely overwhelm him and knock him and his hammer to the ground. He tries to pick himself up but I run over to him and place my hand on his chest, making a concrete shell envelope and glue him to the ground so he can't move.

“You just rest there for a while, big guy,” I said as I stood up. “Meanwhile I’m gonna deal with the rest of your buddies.”

I look over my shoulder and see the remaining guards stare at me with wide eyes and some back up a bit since I just took down their heavy hitter. I look over to where Nightmare is and see the guards that were about to jump her we’re on the ground but still alive as the Angel I summoned stood by her in a protective manner with his sword in his grip.

“Still wanna test me?” I said to the remaining guards. They all drop their weapons and raise their hands in defeat and I smirk as I activate Smoke. I run past all of them while shoving each of them to the ground and smoke trails press into them subduing them. I sigh and look back at my work as I sheathe my Amp and walk towards Blueblood as the song ended who was now trembling like a leaf. The Angel I summoned flies up to me and bows his head.

“My lord, I have done what you ordered,” it tells me.

“You are dismissed until your next summons,” I tell it. It nods and fades away as I stand over Blueblood who was trying his best to keep his composure.

“What kind of freak are you?!” He demands. “I’ve never seen magic like that, it’s unnatural!” I grab his shirt collar and hoist him up to look in my eyes.

“It ain’t magic, jackass,” I spat. “And it’d be a waste of my breath to explain it to someone who doesn’t deserve to know. Now all that’s left is to decide what to do with you.”

“You cannot do anything to me and you will soon regret your actions and words this day! My aunts will hear of this and you will spend the rest of your days behind bars!” He shouts in my face.

This little snot has gotten on my last nerve after the shit he pulled. I glanced over at Nightmare and she was looking at me with pleading eyes as if saying not to escalate this any further than it already has since all the commotion I caused drew in a crowd. I’ve had my run-ins with pricks like him and he won’t learn until he’s taught properly not to mess with me. I wanted to set a personal reminder to him so I had the option of using my chain and maiming him with Smoke, threatening to take his life the next time he tries to be a prick to me or anyone else. Although I still didn’t want to cause any more trouble than I probably already had so I could also encase his lower body in Concrete and write something humiliating on his forehead, make a fool out of him for the public eye so people could see he’s not as intimidating as he boasts to be.

…

“You’re right Blueblood, I can’t really harm you in any way because that would just set a bad example for me and Nightmare,” I said, dropping him on his feet. I then activated Concrete and flicked my wrist as slabs of concrete grew from his feet all the way up to his waist.

“What have you done?! Release me at once!” He demands, trying to move from his stoney prison.

“I’ll let someone else chisel you out,” I smirked as I raised a finger while activating Neon. “In the meantime I’ll leave you with a little something.” With quick movements I wrote on his forehead which made the crowd both gasp and some snicker at what I wrote.

“What did you do?!” Blueblood asked, checking his head.

“I’ll see you around, Blueballs,” I snort, looking at the exact word written on his forehead.

“How dare you! I shall make you pay for this humiliation! You hear me?! You shall pay!” He shouts as I walk back to Nightmare. As soon as I’m within range she walks up to me and brings me into a hug and trembles as I hug her back.

“Sorry for the mess, Nightmare,” I said, rubbing her back. “I couldn’t let that prick say and do whatever he wanted and try to lock you up.”

“You stood up for me,” Nightmare whispered, still hugging me. “You even fought for me and risked being imprisoned, why?”

“Because you deserve the chance you were given to prove you’re not the same woman they all accuse you to be,” I said as she leaned back to look up at me, tears still leaking from her eyes. “Besides, I made a promise to you that I intend to keep.”

Nightmare smiles and hugs me tighter and even wraps her wings around me as she whimpers happily. Just as we were about to separate, a flash of light appeared beside us and I looked to see Celestia and Luna both give me a harsh glare with both their arms crossed under their busts.

“Sir Axel Rickert.” Luna said.

“You have some explaining to do,” Celestia said.

“Sure,” I shrugged. “I guess I do.”

“And then I wrote that on his forehead because he was being a total prick to me and Nightmare,” I said.

Celestia had teleported the five of us back to the throne room, much to my nauseous misfortune, and I told them everything on my side of the story. I had to shut Blueballs up by covering his mouth with Neon and he was still encased in concrete as the servants tried to chisel him out. It was entertaining to see him flail his arms after every sentence I said like he was trying to either protest or spout some ridiculous lie to try and make me and Nightmare look like villains. Celestia was silent the whole time while I noticed Luna every so often was snickering at some parts of my story and even more so when she looked at Blueballs. Guess she hates the prick more than I thought which was good to know for future reference.

“I see, though I understand you were only acting out of self defense, you still raised your hand against the guard. As co-ruler of Equestria, it is only appropriate I respond to your actions appropriately,” Celestia said as she and Luna sat on their thrones.

“So what kind of punishment are we talking about here? Imprisonment, trial by combat, community service?” I guess as Nightmare hides behind me.

“No, none of that, since you were still acting out of self defense,” Celestia said, earning more outraged flailing and muffled screams of protest from Blueballs. “You only wished to show Nightmare Moon the city and it was clearly my nephew’s fault for disturbing you. However you also ignored my summons this morning so I believe a suitable punishment should be that you are to remain within the castle grounds until further notice.”

“So…you’re placing me under house arrest?” I ask.

“Indeed,” Luna said. “You are still a stranger in our world and are a wielder of even stranger abilities, not to mention the fact that you were able to face such a large squad of soldiers and subdue them all with ease.”

“To be fair I didn’t subdue all of them, just the ones that were following his orders,” I try to defend.

“Be that as it may, this seems like a suitable punishment for your actions this day,” Celestia said.

“Please wait!” Nightmare spoke up, standing in front of me. “I was the reason for this whole ordeal to happen, if anyone should be punished it should be me! Not Ax!”

“You are also being punished the same way, Nightmare Moon,” Celestia corrects.

“I-I am…?” She asks.

“Whoa now, hold on a minute,” I interject, getting in front of Nightmare again. “I’m the one who threw fists and hurt the guardsmen, Nightmare was just an innocent bystander.”

“You forget, Sir Axel Rickert, Nightmare Moon still has a reputation in these lands,” Luna said. “Someone like her, out in the open for all to see, could mean unnecessary conflicts and misunderstandings. She needs to remain within the castle as well until we can figure out how to address her to the public. Your word for her wanting to prove herself to be not the villain she’s known as is unfortunately not enough, especially since she was the reason for the rift against my sister and I a thousand years ago.”

I was about to protest but she had a point, much as I hated to admit it. I screwed up by not doing what I should have this morning and went to the damn summons and now I’m being placed under house arrest. Not to mention that after all I had heard from how Nightmare is known around here it would indeed lead to unnecessary conflict, especially since Celestia and Luna look like they already have enough on their plate.

“Fine, I accept those terms,” I said with a forced nod.

“And…I too accept,” Nightmare said.

Both Princesses nod and they light their hands and point them towards us. Small orbs leave their hands and fly towards the both of us and into our chests.

“This tracking spell is set to go off if either of you vacate the vicinity of the castle,” Celestia said. “Should either of you leave, or even attempt to leave, we will know and you shall receive a more harsher punishment, understood?”

“Yes…” Nightmare said sadly.

“Loud and clear,” I said, waving my hand.

“MMMMMMMFFFFF! MMMMMFFFFF!”

We all turn to see Blueballs look like he was about to pop a vein he was so upset wit Celestia’s verdict as the servants continued to try and chisel him out.

“Can you please release my nephew now?” Celestia requests.

“Sure, but I’m still keeping him gagged and the neon on his head and mouth will wear off in a few hours,” I shrugged as I approached Blueballs. He continues to glare at me as I simply kick the concrete covering his lower body and it crumbles and he falls to his knees. He tries to stand up but ends up falling flat on his face which makes me snicker and I thought I heard a small giggle from Luna. “Yeah, you’re not gonna be able to walk for about an hour but don’t worry it’ll wear off,” I said with a mocking grin.

“MMMMFFF MMMMFFFF MMMMMFFFFFF!!!” He muffled pointing at his mouth and forehead.

“Why you are most welcome, Blueballs, I’m glad I could show you the error of your ways,” I said with a curt nod.

“MMMMMMMMMMMMMFFFFFF!!!”

“Yeah, you’re right, maybe we should get something to eat,” I said scratching my chin. “If that's ok with you two,” I said looking back at the two Princesses.

“That seems alright with me,” Celestia agrees. “I shall have a maid take you there,” she said, gesturing to one of the maids who walks over to me and bows slightly.

I recognized her as the maid who came to pick us up this morning and I give her an apologetic smile and she just shakes her head slightly with a small grin as I follow her out the door. Nightmare walks up with me and hugs my arm and leans her head on my shoulder. I smile at how adorable she’s being as we both walk out of the throne room with a Blueballs still screaming behind his neon gag. As we’re walking towards the kitchen and following the maid, I noticed the guards were all staring at me cautiously and even more so at Nightmare but I just ignore them and bring Nightmare closer to me to comfort her.

“It’s ok, they’ll soon see what I see,” I said patting her shoulder with my free hand.

“Maybe, but maybe this was a mistake…” she said with a frown.

“Hey,” is said, stopping our walk and facing her and the maid stops with us. “I made my choice to protect you back at the park and I don’t regret it. To be honest I wanted nothing more than to do something worse to that little turd and scare him shitless but I didn’t because even he didn’t deserve something like that.”

“But you could have just walked away and left me to my fate,” Nightmare said as she began to cry. “I was the cause for the rift between Celestia and Luna and I’m known as a terrible villain who seeks only to plunge this world in darkness. You saw how the people of this city looked at me, they see me as only a monster. Perhaps it would be best if I was sent to the moon again…”

I couldn’t bare it anymore as I quickly wrapped her in a hug, startling her.

“Ax, please release me,” Nightmare said, trying to push me away. “I’ll only cause you more trouble.”

“Don’t ever say such things in front of me,” I said as I hugged her tighter. “You are no longer the villain they claim you to be, you have to know that.”

“But-”

“But nothing!” I snap. “I don’t care if I have to travel across all of Equestria to convince the people of this world that you’re not who they say you are. It’s as I told you before, Nightmare, I believe everyone deserves a second chance.”

Nightmare said nothing as she wraps her arms around me and cries into my chest. People are staring at us and some have sad expressions or some guilty frowns since they’re now starting to see that they were wrong about Nightmare.

“Do, sniff, do you really think, sniff, even I deserve a second chance…?” Nightmare sobs.

“Especially you,” I said as I rubbed the back of her head.

Nightmare looks up at me with a happy teary smile and I smile back at her. I looked at the maid and she was dabbing her eyes a little at how sad Nightmare was and she smiled at me as we continued our trek to the kitchen.

When we arrived at the kitchen and the whole room was just as fancy as the throne room. The maid sat us down and told us to wait until the food arrived and I took off my sling pack and placed it beside me. As we waited, Nightmare and I talked about different things to pass the time, which was mostly her asking me questions about my world and I answered them to the best of my ability but they were mostly questions about how this world and mine differ from one another. She even asked me questions about Delsin and Cole which I was happy to provide answers for. The look on her face when I told her that Kessler was actually Cole from the future was priceless, she was so shocked. I reassured her he did it for good intentions, even if he forced his past self to sacrifice the woman he loved and make seemingly impossible decisions, all for preparing to face The Beast. As we were talking, I was making Nightmare laugh as I quoted the things Delsin said when he tagged billboards and called out the operator whenever he faced the D.U.P. and some chefs came out with platters of food.

“And then Delsin asked the operator what she was wearing and she thought he was her husband. She was so flustered, she had more than the usual troops be sent in to take him down,” I chuckled.

“Hahahaha! Oh stars, that is quite funny!” Nightmare giggled. “Delsin Rowe truly is a young man of choice words.”

“That he is,” I agreed.

Soon the platters were set in front of us and the chefs lifted the lids off of them. Nightmare got a simple caesar salad looking dish and I got a sandwich with some hash browns on the side.

“Will you have anything else, sir?” The chef asks.

“No thanks, but thanks anyway,” I said as I began to eat.

“Nothing for me either, thank you,” Nightmare said. He bows and returns to the kitchen with his fellow chefs and we begin to eat.

“Ax?” Nightmare said, pausing from her eating.

“What’s up, Nightmare?” I ask after swallowing a bite from my sandwich.

“Um…I have a small request, if you don’t mind?” She said, blushing a little.

“Of course, what do you need?” I wonder after taking a sip from my water.

“Would you…please call me Moon from now on?” Nightmare asks slowly and shyly, glancing away every so often.

“Moon?” I repeat. “As in just Moon?”

“Yes, I thought if I were to call you just Ax then maybe you can call me just Moon?” Nightmare said.

“Moon…you know, it has a nice ring to it,” I said, nodding with a smile. “I’d be happy to call you that from now on, Moon.”

Moon blushes and smiles happily after I called her by her new name. She then leans forward and kisses me again on the cheek leaving me to blush a little.

“Thank you Ax, you truly are a wonderful person,” Moon said.

I smile as we continue eating and we enjoy each other’s company. Even though we’re stuck in the castle for the time being, I don’t think I’ll complain any time soon so long as I’m with Moon.

Author's Note

Aw, such a wholesome moment and another Karma decision is made. More will soon follow, but how long will Ax keep up these good decisions?

Also sorry for the late posting, I’ve been busy with my other stories and also irl stuff but I’ll be sure to try and post more often so bare with me and I hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Innocent or Guilty?

Chapter 5

“Ax?”

“Mmm…”

“Ax, wake up.”

“Don’t wanna…”

“Please Ax? For me?”

I groggily open my eyes and see a pair of cyan cat-like eyes staring back at me along with a warm smile. I smile lazily at Moon and blink my eyes more awake and yawn loudly and sit up. She’s wearing a midnight blue nightgown that goes down to her ankles and I am wearing a white shirt and night pants that I was loaned.

“How long were you watching me sleep?” I asked while rubbing my eyes.

“Oh, just a few minutes,” Moon said innocently. “You mumble when you sleep.”

“I didn’t say anything weird, did I?” I wonder, arching a brow.

“Don’t worry,” Moon giggles. “You only said a word here and there but nothing too embarrassing so you can rest easy.”

“Well that’s good, so today’s the day,” I said as I sat on the edge of the bed.

“Indeed,” Moon agreed while sitting next to me. “Are you prepared for this?”

“To be honest, not really,” I admit. “Why they gave me such an important decision is beyond me.”

“Well I believe it’s only fair, Ax. They’re the ones who tried to kill you after all,” Moon said, putting a hand on mine.

“I guess, but I’m not really the diplomatic type so it’s a bit overwhelming to me,” I said.

“You needn’t worry so much, Ax. I will be beside you through the whole trial,” Moon reassured me.

I smile and bring her in for a hug to which she returns. It’s been a few days since Moon and I were put on house arrest and I’ve been bored out of my mind since there’s nothing to really freaking do around here. Granted the only saving grace to my current situation is that I spend a lot of time with Moon, and maybe read in the royal library that Celestia and Luna were kind enough to let us use it, but other than that it’s been very uneventful. Although I will say, I have managed to somewhat change most of the staff’s view on Moon since now most of the guardsmen and servants now look to Moon with kind smiles. It took some doing but thanks to a little convincing and some good old fashion one on one conversations, Moon is slowly but surely starting to warm up to everyone. As for any of the noble snobs with 8ft sticks up their buttholes I try to keep Moon away from them since all they’d do is give her a hard time, especially Blueballs since he’s been hounding us ever since I humiliated him at the park and wrote that hilarious little nickname on his head. I felt a sense of pride whenever I passed by a few people and they called Blueballs by his new name and snickered at how he spent the next few hours in his chambers trying to wash the Neon off his forehead. Bloody fool almost scrubbed his forehead to the point where it would blister which made me chuckle. However all this still didn’t stop him from trying to order any guard he approached to either arrest Moon and I or execute us on the spot. Thanks to Celestia his word didn’t mean jack to them they simply ignored him which made him even more pissed, much to my amusement.

As for the guards who attacked me and Moon, Celestia and Luna had them all detained and sent to confinement until further notice, of course after I freed them from their bindings. Celestia even caught me off guard by approaching me with deciding what to do with them for their actions. At first I refused since they should be the ones to carry out such an important verdict but Luna told me, as Moon said, it should be my right as the victim to decide their fate. Seeing how I felt boxed into a corner, I accepted the offer and today was the day I decide what to do with them.

“Hey Moon,” I said as I stood up and stretched my limbs. “We’ve been sleeping in the same bed together for a few days now, you sure you wouldn’t rather have your own room?”

“Why would I?” Moon wonders. “I’m more than satisfied with sharing a bed with you, not to mention you’re quite comfortable to lay on,” she said playfully.

“Heh, guess you got me there,” I chuckled as I smiled at her. “It’s just I wonder if people might get the wrong idea.”

“Oh let them think what they please,” Moon said, waving her hand dismissively as she stood up. “You and I are simply enjoying each other’s company as we slumber and if they have a problem with that they can, how do you say, suck it?”

“Pfft hahahahahaha!” I laughed, clutching my stomach. “Holy shit, you did not just say that! Hahahaha!”

“What? You say it all the time to those nobles!” Moon accuses, pointing at me in a flustered tone.

“Yeah but when I say it, it sounds more natural,” I counter. “When you say it, it sounds so foreign and weird.”

Moon crosses her arms under her bust and huffs with a cute pouty face with puffed cheeks. I chuckle and place a hand on her shoulder which relaxes her a bit.

“I feel like I’m a bit of a bad influence on you if you start talking like that. You’re also a Princess after all, not the kind of lingo you should say out loud in public,” I said.

“Well I for one don’t really care what I say or how I sound,” Moon said, still pouting cutely. “I can tell whomever I want to suck it!” It was then she realized how that sound which made her blush up a storm and cover her face with her hands. “Oh dear…it seems you are a bad influence on me.”

“Nah, honestly I hope you keep talking like that,” I said. “Makes you sound more normal and laid back, and it makes you sound cute.” Moon gasps as she looks up at me with a small smile and tinted cheeks.

“You…think I’m cute?” Moon asks, shyly.

“Well of course I do, why wouldn’t I?” I ask. Moon smiles more and hugs me again while also wrapping her wings around me and I return the gesture.

“You’re so very sweet, Ax, thank you,” Moon said happily.

“Any time,” I said. “Now you go on and take the first shower, meanwhile I gotta figure out what I’m gonna say for today’s trial.”

Moon nods and releases me and walks to the bathroom. I noticed she walked away with a slight sway in her step which made me stare a bit more than I should but I managed to pry my gaze away as she closed the door behind her.

“Now then,” I said to myself, crossing my arms. “How should I approach this?”

Moon and I are now making our way to the royal court room to start the trial for the guards who attacked us. I was dressed in my usual attire with my sling pack and Amp sheathed into it along with my chain wrapped around my wrist and Moon was dressed in a fancy light blue dress with black trimming that hugged her body just right. She was also wearing her jewelry consisting of her tiara and necklace and even did her makeup which she used light purple lipstick and magenta eyeliner. I always thought Moon was pretty before but seeing her so done up like this made me glance at her more often than usual. She told me she was a goddess when we first met and seeing her now, how much more gorgeous she is, made my heart skip a beat every so often. Especially whenever she kissed me on the cheek which made my very being tense up because it felt like the best feeling ever being kissed by someone like Moon. Moon looked over at me as I glanced at her and smiled which made my cheeks tint a bit and I smiled back. Her smile caused a very warm feeling of content wash over me and I felt like I could stare at her smile for hours. I placed my left hand over my chest and felt my heart beat faster than normal.

What’s up with me? I think. I always feel so at peace whenever I’m with Moon, but why?

“Is everything alright, Ax?” Moon asks.

“Hmm? Oh sure yeah,” I said, smiling innocently. “Everything’s fine, just nervous is all. Never had to play judge before so I’m still a little on edge.”

“I’m sure you will be fine,” Moon said.

I nod as we near our destination while also trying to calm both my nerves and heart down. We opened a set of double doors and entered the room which had rows of seats going along the walls facing the middle of a large stand. The stand was facing the double doors that were used to enter the room and on the stand were two thrones for the princesses. I saw Celestia and Luna sitting on the thrones and the seats were all filled with noble people who were talking amongst themselves. To the side of the room were a large group of men guarded by a couple of armored men who I recognized as the ones who attacked me, especially the big guard who slammed me with his hammer who’s name I remembered was Shatter Star. They were all in shackles and hanging their heads in shame, some actually looking pissed at the situation they were in, as they all sat together. When I neared the main podium in front of the stand with Moon, they all noticed me and shot me death glares to which I just ignored since they have themselves to blame for their predicament. I stepped up on the podium with Moon and we gave Celestia and Luna a curt nod in respect and they did the same to us.

“Ladies and gentlemen we shall now begin the trial,” Celestia announced. “A few days ago this man, Sir Axel Rickert, along with his friend, Nightmare Moon, were attacked by these men under the command of my nephew, Prince Blueblood. More so, not only did they attack the two but went as far to claim their lives which is something that can only be labeled as attempted murder.”

“Lies!”

We all turned to see Blueballs stand from his seat and point at me and Moon.

“I was attacked! That monster used his dark magic to threaten my life! These two heathens should be put to death for attempting to kill me!” Blueballs shouted. The nobles in the room murmured to each other and I clenched my hand as small smoke trails billowed from my fist. Moon placed a hand on my shoulder to calm me down and I took a breath and the smoke dissipated and I relaxed my hand,

“Blueblood, this shall be your first only warning, be silent,” Luna said harshly. Blueballs was about to protest but after a cold gaze from Celestia he shut up and sat back down. The nobles kept murmuring to themselves and Celestia picked up her gavel and banged it a few times.

“Order, please,” Celestia said. “Now then, Sir Axel Rickert, you and Nightmare Moon have been summoned to confirm the actions of these men. Did they attack you by Blueblood’s command?”

“Yes they did,” I said.

“Did they attempt to take your life?” Asked Luna.

“Yes, but not only that, Blueba- I mean Blueblood also offered a hefty reward to any of the men who, and I quote, brought him our heads,” I said, earning gasps and a few comments of disbelief.

“Did the prince really say that?”

“Surely this man is exaggerating, Prince Blueblood wouldn’t call for blood, would he?”

“Maybe he’s just making it up to protect the usurper.”

“And Blueblood said he used dark magic, perhaps we should be wary of this one as well.”

“There shall be order in this courtroom!” Luna snapped, slamming the gavel this time.

“These allegations are quite serious, Sir Rickert, we were informed of the knowledge of these men attacking you but were not aware that Blueblood offered a reward for your lives,” Celestia said, giving Blueblood another cold glance.

“Well it’s true,” I said. “In fact I’d like to call someone up to back up my claim, if I’m allowed to.”

“You may,” Luna said.

“If I remember right, I believe his name was Shining Armor? I’d like to call him forth,” I said. Celestia nods and she glances to a servant who nods to her and walks through a set of doors to the side of the stand. A few minutes later, the servant walks back in and with him the same man from before, wearing his usual Captain’s armor. He notices me and I give him a small wave to which he just nods at me.

“Captain Shining Armor, thank you for joining this trial on such short notice,” Celestia said. “We have called you here to provide your case of what transpired a few days prior between these two and the group of guards who attacked them. Sir Axel Rickert has informed us that Prince Blueblood offered a reward to any who were successful in taking their lives, is this true?” The Captain pauses for a moment and he nods, earning more gasps from the audience of nobles.

“My men and I were patrolling the streets like we usually do and we saw the signal flare spell sent by Prince Blueblood. Naturally, we responded to the call and drove to his location by magitech carriage. When we arrived, Prince Blueblood demanded I execute them on the spot which is a violation of the royal guards code. Although I was skeptical about Nightmare Moon, Mr. Rickert informed me of what really happened despite the Prince’s highly embellished accusations. Seeing that the Prince was not harmed in any way, nor did any of his words ring true, I recalled my men to return to our duties. That’s when Prince Blueblood blurted out a reward of large amounts of gold for the heads of these two. I tried to tell all my men to stand down and while the ones directly under my command obeyed, the ones barring his cutie mark, these men, ignored my order and attacked without question. I would’ve intervened but Mr. Rickert had already used his strange magic to combat and subdue his attackers,” Shining explained.

Geez, how many times are they gonna call it magic? I think.

“It appears that is all that needs to be said,” Celestia said and turned to the crowd and us. “As co-ruler of Equestria I, Princess Celestia, find these men guilty of all charges ranging from insubordination, attempted murder, and mutiny,” she said with a swing of her gavel. The men all had shocked expressions and I noticed that now most of them were giving me and even dared to give Celestia death glares.

“This is an outrage!”

“We shouldn’t be punished for putting this freak in his place!”

“He aligns himself with that Nightmare bitch! He deserves death for aiding the usurper!”

“And he uses black magic, which makes him a terrorist of Equestria!”

“SILENCE!”
Luna bellowed in an abnormally loud voice.

“Jeezus, the hell was that?!” I asked, rubbing my ear from the slight ringing.

“I believe that is the royal Canterlot voice,” Moon explains. “Beings like Celestia, Luna, and I can amplify our voices to properly address the subjects or when we want to draw attention to ourselves.”

“Oh she definitely drew attention to herself,” I said, still rubbing my ear.

“You all have yourselves to blame for attempting such a dishonorable act of attempt to claim someone’s life for your own selfish gains! If anything, you deserve any form of punishment Sir Rickert as in store for you,” Luna lectures harshly.

“You’re letting that freak pass judgment?!”

“That’s not fair! He has now right to do that!”

“I demand a retrial! This is ridiculous!”

I walk out of the podium and approach the shackled men leaving Moon by herself. The men turn their attention to me as I stand before them and they all look like they wanna finish the job they were ordered to by Blueballs, especially Shatter Star since he looks like he’s about ready to blow a gasket. Their fate now rests in my hands, I can decide to do whatever I want with them. Since they tried to kill me, maybe it’s only fair they get a taste of their own medicine by sentencing them to death. I could even use my Video power to summon a few Angel’s and execute them one by one in front of everyone, use their deaths as an example to all those who would think of even trying to come near me and Moon. However that would just make me look like a monster to the eyes of the public and a mass murderer, plus I can probably guess some of these guys have families, so who am I to take the lives of those who’re not worth killing?

…

“Here’s my verdict,” I said, making everyone go silent. “Effective immediately, the lot of you are hereby court-martialed and stripped of your ranks as royal guardsmen and are released of your duty by dishonorable discharge. Your actions will be known to the whole city and you will from this day forth, never wear a suit if armor bearing the royal sigil again.”

Each of their jaws go slack and Shatter Star is now trembling in rage and glares at me with unbridled hatred.

“You bastard! You can’t do this to us!”

“I worked hard to get where I am, you think you can just say whatever the hell you want and it’ll happen?!”

“Actually he can,” Celestia said, making all heads turn to him. “As we said, he has the right to pass whatever judgement he pleases and he has done just that. Now that judgement has been passed, I hereby make it official,” she said, banging her gavel and sealing their fate.

“I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”
Shatter Star roared.

He ripped his shackles apart and lunged at me while swatting away the two guards in front of him with a mad look on his face. Everyone started to panic at his enraged actions but I kept my ground. With a flick of my wrist while activating Concrete, a shard of stone shot out from his leg making him fall and cry out in pain. The raging man looked down at the shard and up at me and stood back up as he attempted to charge at me again. I flicked my wrist once more and a couple more shards shot out of his legs making him cry out in pain again and fall, yet he still kept going and even went as far to crawl towards me. I sighed and flicked my wrist for the last time and shards of stone shot out from both his arms and legs, leaving him immobilized and grunting and crying out in pain as he fell on his back. I walked up to him and stood over him as he gave me another death glare but I just scoffed at him.

“Yeah, I’m told that hurts,” I mock. “I think this one should be locked up in a cell of what he’s attempted to do yet again.”

“I…believe that is wise,” Celestia said, still completely shocked at what transpired. More guards swarmed in and began to shackle Shatter Star up again and carry him out of the courtroom and to the dungeons. Moon runs up to me and hugs me and trembles as I hug her back and try to calm her down by rubbing her back.

“Hey now come on, I’m ok so there’s no need to worry,” I said in a soothing tone. I hear groaning behind me and look to see the two downed guards that were swatted away. They looked to be in pain so I walked up to them and kneeled in front of one of them. “Hey man, you ok?” I ask.

“Ugh…I think he cracked some of my ribs,” he groaned.

“Me two, and I think my arm’s busted…” the other groaned as well.

I thought for a moment until I got an idea and activated Smoke. I raised both my hands over their bodies as smoke trails and tiny cinders enveloped the two of them and around the areas where they were injured. Soon I deactivate Smoke and the lingering trails dissipate and the guards both sit up and look at each other.

“It…doesn’t hurt anymore,” one of them said.

“Yeah, a little sore, but it doesn’t feel broken,” the other said in awe.

“I repaired most of the damage but you should both still check yourselves in just to make sure,” I said as I stood up.

“Wow, thanks a lot,” one said with a smile. I looked up to the former guards still shackled and they all flinched when I laid eyes on them.

“You all have some serious rethinking to do, next time don’t let your impulses speak for you and learn to not give in to your selfish desires,” I said. And with that they all resumed to hang their heads in shame and were escorted out of the room by Shining and the rest of his men. Meanwhile the nobles, all still in complete shock at my little display of power, slowly began to collect themselves and exit the room.

“My word, that boy just bested that behemoth without even moving!”

“And did you see his hand? I’ve never seen such magic like that.”

“Is it truly black magic? I thought black magic couldn’t heal like that.”

As they left, I spied Blueballs giving me the stink eye which only gave me an idea to mess with him.

“Oh and Princess,” I said, making Celestia turn to me. “Can I suggest something for your nephew?” Celestia arches a brow and looks at Luna who simply shrugs and looks back at me.

“I suppose you may, what is it?” She wonders.

“Maybe you should cut Blueblood off any funds from your treasury so that he won’t be able to try and bribe others to attempt to kill Moon and I anymore,” I suggested, making the douche prince go wide eyed. “This could also prompt him to get a real job so he won’t mooch off you two anymore, wouldn’t you agree?”

“NOW SEE HERE, YOU DEPLORABLE INGRATE!” Blueballs barks. “YOU HAVE NO RIGHT WHATSOEVER TO DECIDE SUCH AN OUTRAGEOUS THING!”

“Hmm, I suppose that’s only fair,” Celestia nods, scratching her chin.

“WHAT?! AUNTIE?!” Blueballs shrieks.

“You have yourself to blame, Blueblood,” Luna snapped. “You dared to use the royal funds as a reward for taking a life, you should be lucky that Sir Rickert doesn’t pass judgement on you.”

“But-I…why are you two defending that wench?!” Blueballs demands. “She corrupted Auntie Luna and tried to usurp the throne by force and plunge the world in eternal night! She should be imprisoned or sent to the moon once again for what she’s done, not be allowed to roam free!”

“Blueblood,” Luna hissed, making the prince flinch. “Shut your mouth and leave at once. As of now, you are officially cut off from spending any funds from the treasury. And about time too, since you’ve been spending every chance you get on frivolous things and throwing those ridiculous parties.”

Blueballs was about to protest but both Celestia and Luna turned away, ignoring anything else he might have to say. He scoffed and marched towards the doors but not before shooting me a glare to which I just smirked mockingly back at him.

“This isn’t over, freak! I have friends all around, and I’ll be sure to make you pay for this humiliation!” Blueballs sneered.

“Good, maybe next time you’ll finally give me an excuse to kick your ass,” I shot back. With that he brushes past me and slams the doors behind him. I exhale and sit in a nearby chair and Moon sits next to me.

“You did well, Sir Rickert.” I look up and see Celestia and Luna walk up to me while smiling.

“You think so? To be honest I was just saying what came natural, I know little to nothing about how exactly trials like these go,” I said.

“On the contrary, you spoke the appropriate words and passed proper judgment,” Celestia complements. “Especially how you handled Blueblood.”

“Indeed, it was quite amusing seeing him so upset, perhaps without any funds to spoil him he won’t be so difficult from now on,” Luna said.

“No offense but I doubt it,” I said. “People like him don’t really change when you want them to, I should know since I’ve met people like him before back in my world. Even so, how could he be your nephew? Did either of you give birth to him or something?”

“No, his family’s ancestors had done a great service for me hundreds of years ago. As a reward for their efforts I bestowed the family a royal title. They were all noble souls who served with me and ruled by my side whenever needed however you could say I am to blame for the way Blueblood is now,” Celestia said with a small frown.

“Why say that?” I wonder.

“When he was a small child, his parents passed away leaving me to raise him. I did my best to raise him as my nephew by giving him whatever he desired which in turned spoiled him rotten. I only wished to give him the best life possible in honor of his late parents but it seems I gave him too much of a good life,” Celestia said.

“You shouldn’t blame yourself for how he turned out, Princess,” I said as I stood up. “It’s like you said, you wanted to give him the best life possible so he wouldn’t be saddened by the death of his parents. It was his decision to take advantage of the luxuries of having a royal title so anything he does and says at this point is on him. You just need to put him under your thumb more often, like just now by cutting him off, so he’ll hopefully not be such a pain in the ass.”

Celestia smiles and surprises me a little by wrapping her arms around me and hugging me, she smells like fresh sunflowers.

“You are wise beyond your years, Mr. Rickert. I shall hold your words to heart for the sake of my nephew,” she said. I smiled and hugged her back and then she stepped away. I look over at Luna who was glancing away and at me every so often which made me tilt my head. “Something the matter, Princess Luna?” I ask.

“Um, well Sir Rickert, if it’s not too much to ask, may I…also have a hug?” Luna asked shyly.

“Uh,” I looked at Moon who was giggling at me and I looked back at Luna and shrugged my shoulders. “Sure, I guess.”

Luna smiles and quickly wraps me in a hug to which I respond in kind. I’m a head taller than her and she smells like pine trees and morning dew.

“I take it you two are pretty affectionate huggers?” I ask Celestia as Luna steps away.

“Only with those we wish to be friends with,” Celestia said.

“Wow, we’re friends? So does that mean we don’t have to be on house arrest anymore?” I ask with hope in my voice.

“Don’t get too excited, Sir Rickert,” Luna said with a coy smile. “We’re still wary of Nightmare Moon and you have yet to prove yourself trustworthy as well, given that you still snuck out of the castle without our permission.”

“Aw come on, I said I was sorry,” I complain. “Besides, no offense, but there’s nothing to really do around here. Can’t you just increase the range of the spell so we can at least go out of the castle? We promise not to leave the city and you can still keep the repercussions if we do.”

Celestia and Luna ponder my offer and whisper to one another then look back at me and Moon.

“I suppose that’s fair, but you must promise not to do anything brash or leave the vicinity of the city, understand?” Celestia said, wagging her finger at me like a mother would a child.

“You have my word,” I said.

“As do you mine,” Moon said.

Celestia and Luna nod and their hands glow in front of us. The glow dissipates and they lower their hands after the spell is complete.

“Thank you Princess Celestia,” I said with a curt nod.

“You’re welcome, and since we’re now to be friends you may just call me Celestia when we are only to ourselves,” Celestia said.

“And you may address me as Luna,” Luna said.

“Well in that case you both can call me Ax since that’s what my friends call me,” I said with a kind smile. They both nod and proceed to exit the room leaving me and Moon to ourselves.

“Oh and Ax?” Celestia called out, poking her head through the doorway. “I received a letter from my student that she and her friends will be arriving in Canterlot in a couple of days to officially meet you.”

“You talking about that group of girls I met back at that old castle?” I wonder.

“Indeed, and they all are looking forward to meeting you,” Celestia said.

“Heh, didn’t know I was that popular,” I joke. Celestia giggles and leans back as she closes the door. “Whew, man that was all very stressful,” I sighed.

“I told you that you would be fine, you handled the whole situation very admirably,” Moon said.

“Thanks, so now that we can roam the city, what do you wanna do?” I ask.

“Since you asked, I was wondering if we can try and walk to the park again since our last trip was so rudely interrupted,” Moon said.

“Sounds good,” I said as I stuck out my arm. “Shall we?”

Moon blushes and smiles as she wraps her arm around mine and nods. We walk out the door and make our way to the park and I’m smiling the whole time. Now that most of the drama is out of the way, I now have to prepare what to say to the new arrivals I’m to meet in a couple of days. What they have in store for me, I can only wait and see.

Author's Note

The Main Six are on the way to meet The Conduit. Next chapter, an interview and possibly new friends made.

Thanks for reading!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

The Unexpected and Uninvited

Chapter 6

“So what do you think those girls will ask you?” Moon wonders.

“Hmm, not sure.” I shrug. “Probably questions about my world, my powers, and the history of Conduits.”

Moon and I were having breakfast in our room and we were enjoying each other’s company. Ever since the trial I had received many words of respect from some of the nobles, to my surprise, how I handled the situation. Especially after how I took down Shatter Star after he tried attacking me who has now been imprisoned. To my delight, I even was able to make friends with Captain Shining Armor who approached me and asked if I would be willing to visit his training grounds sometime. I accepted his offer and told him I’d stop by one day and even offered if he’d like to just hang like buds to which he accepted as well. As Celestia scheduled, those girls I met back at old castle were on their way to Canterlot to officially meet me. To be honest I was kinda looking forward to seeing some new faces since the only people I’ve ever really interacted with since I came here are Moon and the other Princesses. Not that I’m really complaining since I always enjoy my time with Moon and Celestia and Luna have been good company whenever I see them.

“How exactly does the power of a Conduit work?” Moon wonders as she takes a bite of her toast.

“Well Conduits are the result of a rare genetic mutation within some humans and animals. The gene is for the most part dormant within their hosts bodies with carriers of the conduit gene normally displaying no powers at birth and could potentially live their whole lives without realizing what their naturally inherent abilities are, with a few ways of identifying Conduit potential.” I explain as I bite into my waffle.

“Even animals can have this gene?” Moon asks, fascinated at my words.

“Yup, according to the several audio surveillance tapes of Kessler that Cole gathered during his quest, several animals such as rats can also hold the Conduit gene. Animals were used as test subjects for the Ray Sphere, which resulted in very unstable results, or worse, the death of the subject.” I explain.

“This gene sounds both interesting and terrifying.” Moon shuttered slightly. “I suppose you are one of the few humans blessed with the gene and those powers.”

“Blessed or cursed.” I said, confusing her. “Conduits are still humans, Moon. And there are many humans from my world who aren’t what you would call friendly. There are those who would use these powers, if they had them, for evil and selfish purposes. Like how Sasha used her tar manipulation to create the Reapers and try and corrupt Cole and Alden Tate who used his powers solely for revenge against Kessler with his army of Dust Men, not caring who he hurt along the way. Especially Augustine and her D.U.P. who tried to make Delsin look like the villain and Conduits always being labeled as criminals. Plus Conduits are frowned upon by those who do not possess the gene. Normal humans, either out of fear, jealousy, or prejudice often detest and reject Conduits, calling them freaks, deviants, or bioterrorists and, on many accounts, physically abusing them or those suspected to be one.

“I see, but you aren’t like that.” Moon said as she placed her hand on mine. “You’re a kind man who I’m very glad I met. If it wasn’t for you I would still be stuck in that castle all by myself.”

“I guess.” I shrugged.

“You guess?” Moon questions.

“I’ll be honest with you Moon, I’m not exactly good natured as I seem.” I said. “There have been times in my life where I had a choice to do right or wrong and I did a little bit of both. Even here I had an opportunity to do something very bad but decided to do the right thing, only because I didn’t want to scare you.”

“Scare me? How could you scare me?” Moon asks.

“I could’ve, no, I wanted to hurt Blueblood.” I said darkly. “More than that, I wanted to maim him for what he pulled that day.” I said, making Moon’s eyes widen. “And those guards from the trial? I could’ve put them to death instead of sending them to prison. And that Shatter Star asshole? I wanted to kill him, wrap my chain around his neck and tear it off.”

“Ax, do you really mean that…?” Moon asked, now a little scared and I nod slightly. “But why?”

“Because I’m a Conduit, more than that, I’m human. I come from a world filled with humans with even darker thoughts than mine. But again, I didn’t want to make you avoid me or anything like that when I had those choices. Although now that I just told you what I really felt you probably already want to steer clear of me. Not that I blame you, after all who’d want to stay friends with a freak like me?” I ask.

Moon stood up from her seat and walked around the table and took beside me. I closed my eyes, expecting her to slap me and leave, but instead she gently wrapped her arms around me and hugged me close.

“You’re still my friend, Ax.” Moon said. “You will always be my friend.”

“Even if I make the wrong decisions?” I ask.

“To others they may seem wrong, but you must believe that they are right even if they are bad. Just because you might make bad decisions doesn’t make you a bad person, Ax, please and always remember that.” Moon said. I smiled and nodded as I hugged her back. She was right, I’ll always have a choice how and when I use my powers. Cole and Delsin had plenty of opportunities to turn their backs but didn’t, they had others to help them through their quests and I have Moon. I looked at Moon and stared into her cyan cat-like eyes and she into mine. As usual she looks so beautiful, even if she didn’t have any makeup on. I couldn’t help but lean in and she did the same and our lips were but a mere inch apart.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“Sir Rickert? Nightmare Moon? Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have requested your presence.”

We both blink and I mentally curse whatever deity caused this interruption and sighed as we both broke our hug since the moment was officially ruined.

“Yes, thank you Feather Duster, we’ll be out in a moment.” I sighed, rubbing my temples. I glanced at Moon and she was blushing quite a lot and rubbing her arm. I stood up and gave her a comforting pat on her shoulder.

“Come on, let’s see what those two meddlesome sisters want with us.” I said, making her feel a little better and giggle a little.

Moon and I made our way down the halls, me dressed in my normal clothes with the exception of a different shirt and jeans with my sling pack and Amp on my back and Moon dressed in a pretty sky blue dress, but I was in a bit of a foul mood due to this morning’s interruption. Moon and I were having a special moment and were interrupted like a bad joke. Hell we were this close to…My face began to heat up since I had just realized what we were about to do, we were about to kiss. I mean her kissing me on the cheek is one thing, but this is an actual kiss on the freaking lips. More importantly, why am I so flustered about it? I may still be a virgin, but this certainly isn’t the first time I’ve kissed a girl due to my former relationships back home. Yet when I almost kissed Moon, I felt a little spark in my heart and not the kind from my Electricity. I’ve been in this world for over a week and it feels like I’ve known Moon for longer than that. She’s so kind, fun to be around, has a warm atmosphere, and her smile does something to me that makes me smile back.

This…can’t be what I think it is, can it? I think.

“Ax?”

“Uh, y-yeah Moon?” I stutter like a fool.

“You seem a little flustered, are you alright?” Moon wonders.

“Oh yeah, totally fine, best as can be!” I said, smiling sheepishly.

Smooth genius… I grumble in my head.

We approached the throne room doors and the guards were about to open them when we heard something that sounded like an argument.

“It matters not how many times he sends however many of you to our kingdom, my answer shall be the same regardless.” I hear Celestia say in a cold tone.

“Come now Princess, my King simply wishes for the best of both our kingdoms.” I heard a rough voice say that made me furrow my brows.

“False words such as that are exactly the reason why we want nothing to do with you.” I heard Luna snap.

“True, our ways may differ in some aspects but it is simply how we operate. Would you have us act any differently?” The rough voice questions.

“I shall not repeat myself again, my sister and I want nothing to do with you or your so-called King and his totalitarian rule. Not now, not ever.” Celestia stated.

“Hmph, you may soon come to regret those words, Princess.”

That was my cue to enter the room. I didn’t wait for the guards as I pushed the doors open with Moon following me. Celestia and Luna were both sitting on their thrones and at the bottom of the small staircase were a few large men wearing what looked like plated armor adorned with a variety of furs of different animals. When the men turned around they all had bushy beards and if their voices weren’t enough, their eyes told me that they were nothing but trouble. Moon stayed behind me as I instinctively had my hand ready to use my chain and I subtly activated Smoke as small black trails of smoke danced around my fingers.

“Sir Axel, we were not expecting you here so soon.” Celestia said.

“Well I figured since this is where I’d have my little questionnaire with those girls when they arrive I’d wait here with you and Princess Luna.” I shrugged. “Although I wasn’t aware you were in the middle of a meaning, my bad.”

“Hmph, and just who is this rude little runt?” The man on the right scoffed. “Judging by his attire I’d say he’s nothing more than a peasant.”

“Watch your tongue, sir, you just might lose it.” I hissed.

“Sir Axel please.” Celestia pleaded.

“You have spirit, boy, just be careful it doesn’t get you killed.” The man in the middle smirked. His gaze then fell on Moon and his expression went from neutral to a hungry look which made me grit my teeth. “And who’s this little minx?”

“She is Nightmare Moon, like Sir Axel she is a guest staying here in the castle.” Celestia said.

“A guest, you say?” The man repeats. “Well if she is a guest then perhaps she would like to accompany me and my men back to our homeland so she can be our guest?”

Moon steps behind me and I clench my fist as the smoke from my hand swirls around a bit more violently. I glare at the man and raise my hand in front of Moon, stopping his advance.

“Move aside, boy.” One of the other men orders. “This does not concern you.”

“Like hell it doesn’t.” I spat. “You stay the hell away from her.”

“Oh? And what can a little runt like you do?” The man mocks as he rests his hand on his sword’s handle. “You’re nothing but a little mutt that’s all bark and no bite. That woman you’re trying to protect is very much out of your league, she deserves a proper man to satisfy her needs.” He said and the others also eye Moon with the same sick gazes making Moon hide behind me.

“General Regin, you shall cease this immediately!” Celestia orders, standing from her throne.

“Give her to me, boy, or I will take her.” The man named Regin warns.

“Sir Axel please do not do anything, the guards will be here to escort these heathens out of the castle at once.” Luna informs me.

“Oh come now, Princess Luna, why must I leave without an exotic creature such as her?” Regin questioned as he took another step. “I’m sure my King will reward me handsomely and even offer your kingdom an even better offer for the alliance.”

“You shall do no such thing!” Celestia barks.

“Axel?” Moon whimpered fearfully.

As all this was happening, I was absolutely seething. Both my fists clenched and smoke was now trailing up and down my hands which everyone seemed to notice. Small cinders also flickered off my hands as my anger and hatred for this fucking bastard grew.

“Ho? That’s some interesting magic boy.” Regin mocks as he draws his sword, and the others follow suit. “But what can mere smoke do?

“Sir Axel!” Luna said, standing from her throne. “Stand down, please! And Regin, you are out of line! Leave the castle at once or we shall have you thrown out!”

I was trembling, my whole body shaking in utter rage and the voices around me became deaf. This asshole and his shit-for-brain companions took another step forward as smoke and cinders danced violently along my arms and body. I lowered my body and widened my legs ready for any of them to make a move as I continued to glare daggers at them. But then I was reminded of Luna’s protests to have me stand down despite my anger, but they wanted to take Moon. Celestia was also trying to quell the situation since the guards were on their way, but I wanted to hurt him…no…I wanted to kill him.

…

“You know, you’re a new kind of asshole I’ve had the displeasure of meeting this day.” I said darkly.

“What did you say you lit-GAK!”

I cut the fuckers words off when I quickly unraveled my chain and whipped it forward and wrapped it around his neck, all the while having an enraged grin plastered on my face.

“You wanna know what I can do with this mere smoke as you called it?” I ask.

“SIR AXEL, STOP!” Celestia cried, but it was too late.

My chain glowed and started to heat up as Regin screamed in pain as the metal burned his flesh. With a strong pull of my chain I tore his head clean off, leaving a bloody stump as blood sprayed from his open wound. The head of the former general fell at his soldiers feet as they began to panic at the sudden brutal display. I didn’t give them time to react and with my rage still at its peak, I activated Video to summon my sword. Only instead of my sword, red digital demonic claws grew from my hands as I lunged forward. One of the men tried to run away but I skewered him from behind and tore out his spine with his skull still being attached. The other soldier stood frozen in fear as I slowly walked to him as I dropped my second prey’s spine and my claws were still dripping with blood. He fell to his knees as I gazed down at him with a soulless stare.

“P-p-please…” he whispered as he pissed himself. “Mercy…”

“Mercy?” I repeated as I raised my hand. “What’s that?”

“Axel?”

I blinked and shook my head slightly. I was brought back to reality after being completely lost in my own imagination when Moon called out to me. Regin and his men were still alive, Celestia and Luna were still protesting, and I still had Smoke activated and I was still pissed beyond belief. I was lucky that Moon had brought me back because I was mere seconds away from acting out what had transpired in my head. Regin, the smug fucker, was still trying to advance but I kept standing in between him and Moon. Though I really didn’t want to fucking admit it, hurting, let alone killing, this bastard would only escalate the situation in the worst way possible. I then took a deep breath, deeper than I usually do, and exhaled all the oxygen in my lungs as my smoke started to dissipate.

“Is this really how an representative of another country is supposed to act?” I question.

“What are you on about?” Regin wonders.

“You’re supposed to be representing your King yet you act out and insult me, even though you don’t know me, and threaten to take someone with you who clearly doesn’t want to go anywhere with you. Not to mention you even went as far as to draw your weapons when all I did was give a little smoke show. Now, I may not know who your King is, but something tells me he wouldn’t be impressed with your diplomacy skills.” I said.

Regis was silent as his men were about to advance again but he raised his hand. He smirked as he reluctantly sheathed his sword and the others followed suit.

“You may be a mutt, but I suppose you have more guts than I gave you credit for.” Regin chuckled. Just then the door burst open and multiple guard, Shining Armor included, ran in and surrounded the three men.

“Princess Celestia, you ordered for us to escort these men out of the castle?” Shining stated.

“No need, we were just leaving ourselves.” Regin said as he walked past Moon and I. “Heed my words, Princess Celestia, my King is a patient man, but not as patient as you think.” He said as he and his men exited the throne room.

“Ax?” Shining said.

“Sup Shining, thanks for the assist. Damn near came close to ripping his head off.” I said as he approached me and we fist bumped.

“Don’t sweat it, we’re still on for Friday night?” Shining asked.

“Of course dude, I’ll see you later.” I said, waving him goodbye and he left with his men. Celestia and Luna stepped down from their thrones and approached me with looks of concern.

“Are you ok, Sir Axel?” Luna asks.

“I don’t know…” I said looking away. Moon comes up from behind me and hugs me.

“You protected me again.” Moon said.

“Of course, I always will.” I said as I placed a hand on her arm.

“I apologize for those men, Axel, they hail from a kingdom that lies across the North Sea. They have been sending representatives, such as those men, to try and negotiate with us but their offers have been more ridiculous than the last.” Celestia explains.

“What exactly did he want?” I wonder.

“You see, Axel, he-”

“Aunty! I must please beg you to reconsider cutting me off the royal funds!”

My anger spiked up once again as I snapped my head to the doors to see the arrogant piece of shit strut in. I growled and activated my Electricity and thrusted my arms downwards creating Gigawatt Blades in both my hands. I sprinted forward, despite the Princesses protests, and kicked him in his chest making him fall on his back. I then raised my electric blades and slammed them on the marble floor mere inches away from his head as I seethed at the little bastard.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU ANNOYING LITTLE BITCH OF A CUNT BEFORE I SHOVE MY FOOT UP YOUR ASS AND FRY YOU FROM THE INSIDE FUCKING OUT!!!”
I roared in his face.

Blueballs took this opportunity to completely pass the funk out as foam bubbled out of his mouth and his eyes rolled back in his head. I scoffed as I slowly rose back up to my full height and canceled my Electricity and turned to the Princesses, only I wish I hadn’t. Celestia looked like she wanted to scold me, Luna looked somewhat satisfied for my outburst at Blueballs but looked at me like I was a thug, and Moon had her ears covered because of my gutter mouth. I frowned while turning and walked away leaving them to themselves.

I felt so ashamed of myself, I let my anger lash out again and I said such obscene things in front of the Princesses, in front of Moon. I walked through the halls with my head hung low until and didn’t bother looking at anyone who tried to wave at me. Blueballs was an irritating prick but because of those assholes saying such things to me and eyeing Moon the way they were just sent me over the edge. Blueballs was just the trigger but that still doesn’t excuse my behavior in front of the freaking Princesses of Equestria. I didn’t see where I was walking when I bumped into someone making them fall to the floor with a yelp which snapped me out of my depressed mood. I looked up and saw a maid on the floor rubbing her head with books scattered around her. She had clean white skin and her hair was a bright blond with pink streaks in it and tied up in a bun.

“Aw jeez, I’m sorry about that ma’am.” I apologized with a sigh, offering her my hand.

“Oh please it is my fault.” The maid said as she reached up to take my hand. “I was always the clumsy one of my family.” She then looked at me with a smile and her eyes were a pretty deep purple. If I was honest with myself, she was actually pretty cute.

“Please allow me to at least help you pick these up.” I said.

“Oh you don’t have to, it’s my-”

I activate Smoke and snap my fingers as trails of smoke rise over the books and lift them in the air. One by one they all fall in my hands and are stacked neatly leaving the maid dumbfounded.

“Oh my, that’s quite the impressive magic you wield.” The maid said, fascinated in my little display.

“Hate to break it to you but it’s not magic.” I chuckled as I handed her the books. “So where are you headed Miss…”

“Oh whoops! My name is Cherry Drop, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Cherry said with a polite bow.

“Axel Rickert.” I said with a curt nod.

“Axel Rickert? As in the visitor from another world, Axel Rickert?” Cherry said.

“I guess word gets around.” I chuckled. “But yeah, I am indeed from another world.”

“Wow, no wonder you use abilities that seem so foreign.” Cherry said in awe. “But I’ve heard from the other maids you are always with Nightmare Moon, how come you’re by yourself?”

“I…lost my temper and said some pretty nasty things to Blueblood in front of the Princesses.” I admit, hanging my head again. “I felt like I needed some time to myself so I left the throne room not to mention I had to deal with those pricks who came here as representatives from that other country I heard about.”

“What did you say?” Cherry wonders.

“You don’t wanna know.” I said.

“Come on, I can handle it.” Cherry insists.

“Doubt it.” I counter.

“Sure about that?” Cherry smirks.

“Positive.” I said.

“Well what if we make things interesting?” Cherry offers.

“Meaning?” I ask.

“If I can handle whatever you said, then you have to accompany me to the library to drop these books off. If I can’t, I’ll leave you to your thoughts and we’ll meet again another day.” Cherry said.

“Hmm…ok.” I shrugged. “Fair warning, you asked for it.” Cherry nods and I lean in and whisper what I said in her ear word for word. When I lean back her eyes were the size of dinner plates which made me sigh.

“Told you, guess you cou-“

“Hahahahahaha!.” Cherry laughed, surprising me. “Oh Celestia! You really said that?! I can only imagine the Prince’s face!”

“Heh, well actually the little shit passed out with his eyes rolling in the back of his head.” I said, making Cherry laugh more. I also chuckled along with her and I suddenly felt a lot better from my sour mood.

“Hehehe, so now that I successfully handled your little outburst so well, you have to come with me to the library.” Cherry said.

“A deal’s a deal, I suppose.” I shrugged. Cherry nodded as we both made our way to the library. “I’m surprised you were able to take what I said so well.“

“Well I may not look it, but I grew up in a family with three brothers so you can imagine the kind of things they say to each other all the time.” Cherry said.

“Interesting, how long have you been a maid?” I ask.

“Only a year, I always wanted to be a maid and work in the presence of the Princesses so I polished my skills for as long as I could remember. I was a little clumsy, as you just saw, but in the end I was able to get the job.” Cherry said.

“Well you certainly have your work cut out for you.” I tease. We both laugh and make more small talk on the way to the library. I always let her tell me about her family to which I was happy to listen. I would only chime in a few times mentioning some of the good memories from my world and a few little funny moments about Delsin which made her laugh. We eventually made it to our destination and Cherry dropped off the books as I waited for her.

“Well that takes care of that chore.” Cherry said happily.

“Glad I could help Cherry.” I smiled. “I’ll see you later.” I said as I waved goodbye.

“Where are you going, Axel?” Cherry asked. “The throne room is the other way.”

“I don’t think they want to see me after my outburst.” I said glumly.

“I don’t know about that.” Cherry argues. “I mean yeah, what you said was pretty bad and would probably poison the minds of children for years to come but I doubt it’s anything they’d hold against you.”

“Maybe but that doesn’t change the fact that I said, no screamed those things for all to hear. So much for my good reputation, if I had one.” I said. Cherry walks up to me and flicks my forehead making me wince.

“Did that snap you out of your silly depression?” Cherry huffs.

“Uh…what?” I ask, rubbing my head.

“Axel, we’ve only known each other for about five minutes and you have not said a single rude thing to me. More than that, you even helped me and gave me company all the way to the library when you could’ve easily just left me to my business. You’re a kind soul who I don’t think would intentionally hurt someone, even if it’s someone like that arrogant Prince. Do you honestly think that a few harsh words here and there would be enough to make someone like Princess Celestia hate you? Scold you, yes. But honestly hate you?” Cherry questioned.

“I…” I said looking at her dead in the eye. “No, no she wouldn’t, none of them would.” I sighed.

“Then that’s all you need to know.” Cherry smiled as she stepped forward and hugged me. “Never doubt yourself, ok? And let’s hang out again sometime.”

I smiled as I gave her a small hug back before she stepped away and left me with a skip in her step. I was about to make my leave as well but then pondered on Cherry’s words. I still felt shitty for my immature outburst in front of Moon and the others but maybe Cherry was right, something like this probably wouldn’t be enough to make them hate me and even though I went a little too far on Blueballs maybe they still wouldn’t hold it against me. I rolled my eyes and threw my hands up in defeat as I made my way back to the throne room. I could only imagine what I would be told by them but whatever needed to be said I needed to take it like a man. I rounded the corner and approached the double doors that led to the throne room. My thoughts then brought me back to those assholes who visited with the Princesses. Who were they? What did they want? What did they offer to the Princesses that was so bad that it was denied multiple times? Whoever they were and whatever they were after did not sound good to me and I had a gut feeling that this wouldn’t be the last time I see them or any others like them. I then stood in front of the doors and the guards were about to open them for me but I raised my hand.

“I got it, thanks.” I said.

They nodded and with a deep breath I pushed open the doors and re-entered the throne room. Inside were Celesita, Luna, and Moon and with them were the girls I saw the night of my arrival. They were all sitting at a table talking amongst themselves until they all started to notice me. Moon quickly stood up and walked up to me and I looked away as she approached me.

“Ax.” She said. I didn’t answer.

“Ax please look at me.” Moon said. I slowly turned to her and she was right in front of me with her face mere inches from mine despite me being a few inches taller than her.

“Why did you leave?” Moon asked.

“Because…I said such obscene things in front of you.” I said.

“And?” Moon questions.

“I’m so sorry.” I said sadly.

Moon smiles and brings me in for a hug to which I return and she even wraps her wings around me.

“I forgive you.” She said, holding me close. “We all get mad sometimes, he just came in at the wrong time.”

“Thanks Moon, I appreciate it.” I said. We separate and make our way to the table where everyone is waiting for us. I sit down as I take my sling pack off and set it to the side and look around as the girls all wait for me to speak.

“So, we meet again.” I said, earning nods all around. “I assume you all have some questions for me?” I ask and they all nod again. “So who’d like to go first?” As soon as I asked that, my vision was clouded in pink as a pair of baby blue eyes stared at me along with a wide smile plastered across a face.

“HI! I’M PINKIE PIE! DO YOU LIKE PARTIES?!”

Author's Note

It is as Cherry said, we all get angry and say unnecessary things sometimes. So long as we learn from them then no harm no foul. Just who were the strange individuals who made themselves known? Axel better keep an open mind when it comes to these strange people, for his sake and those whom he is close to.

Hope you all enjoyed it!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

20 Questions

Chapter 7

“I said I was sorry…” I groaned.

The rainbow haired and stetson wearing girl were both glaring daggers at me while the poofy pink haired chick was sitting in her chair…with dark burn marks on her clothes and skin and her hair all statically charged, and she was twitching every so often.

“We don’t take too kindly to people who blast our friends out of nowhere.” The country girl snapped as she stood protectively in front of the pink girl.

“Yeah! What’s your problem, pal?!” The rainbow haired chick accused, getting ready to charge at me.

“In my defense, she startled the shit out of me after literally appearing out of fricken no where!” I shot back. “And how’d she even do that anyway? Did she teleport or something?”

“She can’t use magic, that’s just Pinkie being Pinkie.” Rainbow girl said.

“I’m gonna pretend that makes sense.” I said, rubbing my temples. “And again I’m sorry for blasting your friend, I just don’t do well with people sneaking up on me like that.”

“Still, don’t mean ya had ta blast her.” Stetson girl said.

“Ax apologized, isn’t that enough?” Moon asked.

“Not to us!” Rainbow girl said. “And since when are you all friendly, Nightmare Moon?!”

“Hey, don’t yell at her like that!” I snarl. “She has every right to be here just as much as all of you!”

“Oh yeah?!” The Rainbow girl countered as she flew up to me and got in my face. “And why’s that?!”

“Because…she’s my friend, plain and simple.” I said crossing my arms.

Rainbow girl went silent along with the rest of the group at my statement. I glanced over to Celestia who was smiling a little at my proclamation Luna even gave a little nod of approval.

“You’re friends with her?” Rainbow repeats.

“That’s right, and like you all, I also don’t like it when people are rude to my friends.” I said. “So don’t go pointing fingers at someone who wants to prove she’s a changed woman.”

“Well what about you?” She asked, pointing at me. “You still blasted my friend with that weird magic of yours and you could’ve seriously hurt her!”

“Fine, I admit it was uncalled for but I would never intentionally hurt anyone. And to prove it, as a gesture of god faith, I’ll do this.” I said as I walked towards the pink haired girl. She looked up to me with curiosity as I placed a hand on her shoulder, making her and the others flinch. I could feel a little electricity coursing through her body so I closed my eyes and began extracting it from her body while also healing any stiff joints and muscles of hers. She soon starts to relax and once I finish extracting the electricity her hair puffs out to its natural poofy state, which I chose to ignore how that was possible.

“There, all better?” I ask.

“What did ya do?” Stetson girl wondered.

“I extracted the electricity from her body while also healing her joints and muscles that were all stiff from the blast.” I explained.

“Wowie! I feel so relaxed and loose!” The pink girl chirped as she literally bent over backwards on her hands.

“Uh…ok that’s weird, but you’re welcome.” I said. “So is all forgiven?”

“I’m not sure.” Rainbow girl said, crossing her arms. “You still seem like a loose cannon.”

“Rainbow Dash, darling, maybe we should forgive him.” The posh girl said. “After all he did heal Pinkie Pie and apologized. Despite his rugged appearance he does seem somewhat of a gentleman. And that healing of his sounds like an intriguing electric therapy massage.”

“Uh thanks, I guess?” I said.

“Oh please, maybe he did that to get on our good side.” Rainbow girl dismissed.

“Well then how’s about this then.” I said as I walked back over to her. She stared up at me with a cautious look in her eye and I just raised my hands out beside my hips.

“Hit me.” I said.

“Huh?” She said, gaining a shocked look.

“Hit me.” I repeat.

“Ax?” Moon asked.

“I’d like you to hit me as hard as you want.” I said.

“WHAT?!” Everyone shouted.

“Sir Axel, is that really necessary?” Luna asked.

“Why not? I don’t want any bad blood on a day when they’re supposed to get to know me. Granted, it was the pink girl’s fault for startling me but I honestly would have handled it better than blasting her two ways to Sunday. What better way to ease the tension by getting even with me?” I offered, looking back at Rainbow girl. “So go on, hit me wherever you want as hard as you want.”

Rainbow girl was silent the whole time as she gazed up at me still surprised at my offer. She looked down at her hand and even raised it to punch me which made the others brace up but I just kept my open stance. After a few moments of hesitation, she sighs and lowers her fist.

“You’re really weird, you know that?” She said.

“Oh trust me, you don’t know that half of it.” I chuckled.

“I guess I can forgive you, since you would go this far. But I’m still gonna keep my eye on Nightmare Moon.” She said, glancing at Moon.

“Fair enough.” I shrugged. “Name’s Axel Rickert by the way.” I said, holding out my hand.

“Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Ponyville!” She said proudly and shook my hand. After the shake she flew back to her seat and the others took the opportunity to introduce themselves.

“Mah name’s Applejack, partner.” The Stetson girl said, tipping her hat. “Y’all already met Pinkie Pie.” She said, gesturing to the girl now doing a handstand and smiling widely at me.

“In more ways than one.” I said. “Oh and by the way, yes I do like parties. Loud ones, to be specific.” I said, making her smile widely.

“I am Rarity Belle, darling, a pleasure.” The posh girl said with a curt nod.

Playing the charming card, huh? Ok, I’ll play along. I think.

“Miss Rarity, a grand pleasure to make your acquaintance.” I said with an English accent and bowing my head. “And I must say, my lady, your attire is simply divine.” I said with a wink.

“Oh my~” Rarity swoons, fanning herself with her hand. “He really is a gentleman with class.”

“I try to be.” I smirked. I looked over to the shy girl who was trying to hide behind her hair and avoid eye contact. “Hello miss, what’s your name?” I asked as calm and softly as possible.

“I’m…Fluttershy…” She whispered.

“Pardon?” I ask.

“My name…is Fluttershy.” She whispered but a little louder.

“Sorry miss, once more please?” I said leaning in.

“My name is Fluttershy!” She said a little louder.

“Ah, Fluttershy.” I said, silently chuckling to myself at the irony of her name. “Well it’s nice to meet you Miss Shy. Tell me, is there anything in particular you like?”

“What, um, do you mean?” She asks.

“Like what are your interests? Hobbies, dislikes, that sort of thing.” I said.

“Oh, well, I like animals.” Fluttershy said. I smiled and walked over to a wall in the room.

I may not be as good as Fetch, but hopefully I can do this just as well as her. I think as I activate Neon.

I fire a light Neon ray on the wall and move my hands around. The image in my head is as clear as can be as I work to try and get it just right. I start with the body and make sure it’s just the right size along with the legs. I glance over my shoulder and see they’re all staring at me with both fascination and awe at my work. I smile and continue drawing as I put on the finishing touches. Once the last details are touched up, I turn around and present my display to the girls.

“Ta da.” I said.

“Holy…” Rainbow said.

“…Celestia.” Applejack said.

“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy squealed as she ran around the table and up to the wall. “Look at the little kitties! They’re so cute!”

“Glad you like them.” I said with a smile. “I’ve always been a cat person and I used to own a few back home. Figured I could appeal to your likes by making this. Sorry about the wall, Princess, it’ll wear off in a few hours.” I said looking at Celestia.

“Oh it’s quite alright, Luna and Nightmare seem to like it.” Celestia said. It was then I had just noticed the two moon Princesses were not at the table and had joined Fluttershy in cooing at the cat art.

“Aw, this one is trying to catch the light~” Luna said.

“They’re all so adorable!” Moon coos.

“I know, oh now I love these little kitties!” Fluttershy agrees.

“Wowie! That’s some pretty wall art Axy!” Pinkie chirped.

Axy? I think. “Thanks, it’s just a little something I put together.” I shrugged.

“How in the world did you do that?” The school girl asked in awe as she scribbled on a piece of paper. “I’ve never seen magic like that before.”

“And you are?” I ask.

“Oh right, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” She introduced herself.

“Nice name.” I complimented her. “Although it’s not magic, it’s just my power.”

“Your power?” Twilight repeats.

“Yup.” I nod as I leave the three giggling girls and sit back down. “I’m what’s known as a Conduit.”

“And what exactly is a Conduit?” Celesita asked.

“Conduits are the result of a rare genetic mutation within some humans and animals. The ostensibly named Conduit Gene is naturally occurring.” I explain as Twilight scribbles more on her paper. “The Gene is for the most part dormant within the hosts bodies with carriers of the Conduit Gene normally displaying no powers at birth and could potentially live their whole lives without realizing what their naturally inherent abilities are, with a few ways of identifying Conduit potential. There are rare exceptions to this, but these demonstrated abilities are minor. The Gene was a distinctive part of the human anatomy, and can only be seen by a select few. I am one of the select few who possess the gene and gained the abilities I now possess.”

“What other powers do you have?” Rainbow asks. To answer her question I raise my hand up and activate Electricity. Static sparks begin to dance along my hand and up my arm leaving everyone stupefied at the spectacle.

“This is Electrokinesis, or just Electricity for short.” I said.

“Fascinating!” Twilight said, still scribbling. “How exactly does it work?”

“Well Electrokinesis gives me powers through the neuro-electric energy of others. With this ability, I’m able to channel electricity in and out of my body, which can be made use of, both as a weapon, and as a way of recovering from injuries.“ I said.

“You can heal your injuries?” Rarity asks.

“Yup, be it an arrow to the knee or someone slashing me across the chest my power can heal pretty much any injury. Well of course when it comes to missing limbs I’m not so sure but I’d rather not test that theory.” I said. “I can even heal others with my power like I did with those guards back at the trial.”

“Trial? What trial?” Rainbow wonders.

“It’s…a bit of a sore subject, Rainbow, I don’t really wanna talk about it.” I said. She was about to insist when Applejack placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry Axel, if y’all don’t wanna talk about it then we won’t pester you about it.” She said.

“Thanks, anyone else?” I ask.

“I do.” Luna said, raising her hand. “I have seen you carry that strange object strapped to your pack every time I see you, what exactly is it?”

“What, my Amp?” I asked, pointing at it and she nods. I unhook the Amp and hold it out for everyone to see. “The Amp is a melee weapon built and designed by an extremely talented engineer by the name of Zeke Dunbar, made especially for his best friend Cole MacGrath, another Conduit from my world, to channel his powers into it, thereby creating a much more efficient way of taking down enemies. I can utilize the Amp mainly for melee and close quarter combat with any hostile I would encounter. Channeling my powers into the device, the Amp is capable of unleashing a thousand volts into every strike made through these tesla coils.“ I explain.

“A thousand volts?!” Twilight yelped.

“Yup, hurts like hell when hit.” I said.

“How did you acquire such an item?” Luna asks.

“And pardon the interruption, but is that made of gold?” Rarity asks with sparkling eyes.

“To answer Luna’s question, this actually isn’t the original Amp. This is just a modified version of the original that was left with Cole after he died. And to answer Rarity’s question, yes in fact it is made of gold.” I said.

“Oh my stars!” Rarity squeals. “It must be at least 20 karats!”

“24, but who’s counting?” I corrected, leaving Rarity speechless.

“Holy moly, you could be set for life if you sold that thing to the right guy.” Rainbow said.

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?!” I sneer while I set my Amp back down.

“N-nothing! I was just saying-”

“That’s your first mistake, you spoke before you thought.” I cut her off. “This Amp and sling pack are very important items to me and I’ll be damned if I ever get rid of them. The Amp is a permanent reminder of who Cole was and what he sacrificed to save everyone from a terrible enemy that once threatened the world. I could give a shit if this was made of diamonds, I wouldn’t part with it for all the god damn money in the world, so don’t go spouting stupid shit like that in front of me again, understand?” I hiss. Rainbow then looks down with a guilty look in her eye and nods as I take a deep breath to calm myself down. Moon walks up behind me and places a hand on my shoulder making me look up to her as she smiles sadly at me. I smile a little back as she sits down next to me and Fluttershy and Luna even sit back down. “Sorry, it’s just the Amp is a bit of a touchy subject since the original once belonged to a great man.”

“Who exactly was this Cole MacGrath? If you don’t mind me asking.” Celestia asks.

“Cole? Heh…Cole, some would say, was the beginning of it all.” I said as I pulled out my smartphone to show them a picture of him and then told them all of Cole’s story like I did Moon.

I told them what happened to him in Empire City, the history of the Ray Sphere and Prime Conduit activation, how Cole became a Conduit after the Ray Sphere exploded, how he fought against Sasha and her Reapers, Alden Tate and his Dust Men, and Kessler and his First Sons all throughout the city, his loss of Trish, his final battle with Kessler, the Invasion of Empire City, his imprisonment by Moya, his fight against Bertrand through the city of New Marais, and finally his last quest and how he met his end against John White, the Beast. As my long tale started to come to an end, all the girls were left completely shell shocked at all that Cole had been through and Twilight seemed to write every word I said since there was a large pile of papers next to her.

“Cole put all his power into the RFI however the surge of energy proved fatal, as Cole and the nearby Conduits, the Corrupted and the Vermaak 88 included, died. The surge burst through the atmosphere, affecting the entire planet, killing most Conduits and potential Conduits on different countries and continents. Though thousands died, the rest of the populace were saved, as the RFI was able to eliminate the plague, saving those critically affected by the plague. He knew it was the right thing to do, despite it costing him and others their lives. The citizens of New Marais, fully aware of Cole's selfless act, brought the body for a grand funeral, where his original Amp still sits in the stone in front of the Cathedral. Cole's selfless act regarded him among citizens as a saint, beloved by them.” I said.

“Oh…my stars.” Luna said in utter disbelief.

“He sounds so awesome, yet he gave his life in the end.” Rainbow said.

“Ah sure would like to meet the feller if he were still around.” Applejack said, taking off her hat.

“I as well, a noble soul such as Sir MacGrath probably received much praise for years to come after all he had been through.” Rarity said.

“Unfortunately not all things turned out for the better.” I said confusing them. “Seven years after Cole's presumed death, Conduits once dubbed as Bioterrorists continued to roam the Earth. Normal humans, either out of fear, jealousy, or prejudice often detested and rejected Conduits.”

“Even after all Sir Cole had done?” Celesita asked, a bit irritated.

“That’s so messed up! How could they do that to Conduits?!” Rainbow asks.

“It’s because humans from my world can be a very ignorant bunch.” I sighed. “Even after all Cole had done, the media and government still dubbed him as a notorious felon. However there still were a few people from the public here and there who still remembered what Cole did. Everyone would probably still view Conduits as nothing but dangers individuals, if it hadn’t been for a very special Conduit by the name of Delsin Rowe.”

“And who is Delsin Rowe?” Luna asked.

“Delsin, as most would call him, was the Second Coming of Cole.” I said smiling and scrolling through my phone again to show them another picture.

Once again I told the tale of Delsin Rowe and his fight against Brooke Augustine and her D.U.P. They were all equally impressed with Delsin’s efforts to prove that not all Conduits should be used as criminals. They especially found the parts when Delsin helped Fetch and Eugene better themselves for the public eye. However when I told them about Delsin’s brother, Reggie, and how he died, most of them had tears in their eyes and Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked like they were about to blow a gasket they were so upset how he was unfairly killed. But I managed to put them all in a brighter mood when I told them of the final battle between Delsin and Augustine and now he mopped the floor with her and exposed her for all she had done to the captured and brought to Curdun Cay.

“With Augustine captured, Delsin was able to expose the D.U.P.'s operations to the world. As Augustine was hauled away by authorities, the crowds, finally free, cheered for Delsin and his friends. Delsin implicitly noted the irony of a government figure being, and I quote, taken down by a gamer, an ex-junkie, and a small town delinquent.” I said, making them all snicker at the irony. “Delsin's actions set off a Second Age, where Conduits and humans can coexist. Delsin also commented that the Conduits of Curdun Cay were also free to live as they see fit.“

“Yeah! Go Delsin Rowe!” Rainbow cheered.

“Serves that brute right for all she did!” Rarity said.

“Is this why you are dressed so similarly like him?“ Twilight wonders.

“Heh, yeah I guess you could say that.” I said while rubbing the back of my head. “He and Cole had done so much for the world. I imagine Delsin is still leading the Second Age with flying colors.”

“You also seem to possess a similar gift to Delsin, like how he was able to wield multiple abilities at once.” Celesita comments.

“Guess you could say he and I are kindred spirits.” I said. “I’m just lucky to be one of the ones to possess the Conduit Gene.”

“Well I think it suits you Ax.” Moon said with a smile.

“Thanks Moon.” I said. “So is there anything else you all wanna ask me?”

“I do.” Twilight said. “We saw you do that light show on the wall and the electricity thing that ran up and down your arm, but what other powers can you do?”

To answer her question, I stood up from my chair and raised my arms as I activated Smoke and black trails danced along my arms and body as tiny cinders floated in the air.

“This is Smoke, which refers to the ability of absorbing, controlling and redirecting smoke, fire, and embers.” I explain. “For example, I can fire mini fireballs as projectiles and use this chain on my wrist as a powerful whip that explodes in a small puff of embers and ash upon contact.“

“What about your Amp?” Applejack asks.

“Hmm, not sure actually.” I said scratching my chin. “I’ve only used it with Video and it turned the Amp into a large sword but other than that I haven’t tested it out.”

“Can you test it out now?” Rainbow asks with anticipation.

“Maybe another time.” I chuckled, causing her to pout. “As for what you see on the wall, that’s a power I call Neon.” I said as I canceled Smoke and activated Neon. My hands and arms glowed a bright pink and blueish color. “Neon refers to the ability of absorbing, redirecting, and controlling Neon light.”

“Oh my, it’s so pretty.” Fluttershy whispers.

“And you used that to make the cats?” Twilight asked.

“Yup, but don’t let the pretty lights fool you. This power can be a force to be reckoned with, especially since it allows me to run at high speeds.” I said, making Rainbow perk her head up.

“How fast are we talking?” She asked.

I smirked as I backed up a tad and made the Neon spread around my body. My body seems to be made entirely out of Neon light and I immediately break into a sprint. I run across the room, up the wall, over the table, and in between the girls all the while leaving a pink and blue Neon trial behind me. I eventually stop and each and every one of them, excluding Moon since she’s seen me do this before, all go slack jawed at my little display.

“That answer your question?” I ask.

“Wowie zowie! That was super duper fast!” Pinkie chirped.

“That…was…AWESOME!” Rainbow cried. “You were running so fast you lit up the whole room!”

“Quite impressive, Sir Axel.” Celestia said.

“Indeed.” Luna agreed.

“That was incredible!” Twilight shrieked, scribbling so fast I thought the paper was gonna catch fire. “Please tell me you have more to show us! The power of the Conduit is so amazingly interesting!”

“Heh, well I do have another power to display. Which is kinda my personal favorite.” I stated. My arms and hands then became all glitchy and digital as I activated Video which made them look like they were pulled out of a TV screen as the girls stared with interest. “This power is called Video, which is the ability to absorb and control digital projections.”

“Wait, ya mean you can control TV?” Aapplejack asks.

“Not exactly, more like I can make digital objects summon beings from my Video power.” I explain.

“Summon?” Twilight repeats.

I nod a I raise my hand and the large blue digital ring from before expands around me. Soon a digital Angel manifests above me and lands beside me, startling all in the room.

“My Lord, what is your command?” The Angel asks while bowing in respect to me.

“Sweet Celestia! Who the heck is that?!” Twilight shrieks.

“This is an Angel warrior, he’s not a real person, just a projection I created with the power of Video. I can summon many of these guys to help me and they follow anything I tell them.” I explain as the Angel disappears.

“So cool…” Rainbow said.

“It’s like you’re a lord with his own personal army.” Luna complimented.

“Naw, it’s nothing like that.” I said, waving it off.

“To be able to summon manifestations with your own power…” Twilight said, scribbling with a fury. “Extraordinary!”

“Oh but I’m not done yet.” I said. “I’ve got one last trick to show you all.” And with that I activated Concrete and small shards of concrete floated around my arms with a faint glow. “Last, but not least, I present Concrete. The power of absorbing, manipulating, and redirecting concrete.“

“That is the same power Augustine possessed, correct?” Celestia asked.

“Yup, the same power Delsin needed to heal his people. This power is arguably one of my most powerful abilities, in both attack and defense. There’s also a wide variety of things I can do with Concrete such as create large structures and shields from the earth and cover myself in concrete armor.” I explain. To show them an example, I focused my power and my body was slowly covered in a thick concrete shell. “This is one of the many things I can do with Concrete during combat.”

“All these abilities, and you’re just one man who possesses so much power.” Luna states. “And you’re saying there are others like you back in your world?”

“I would imagine so.” I said. “All I can hope that Delsin is doing as good a job as any to ensure that Conduits have as much of a future as any other human.”

“As do we, you truly are an interesting individual Sir Axel.” Celestia said. “We thank you for sharing the history of your kind and the incredible tales of Sir Cole MacGrath and Sir Delsin Rowe.”

“I agree! I’ve learned so much about Conduits it’s like I’m meeting an entirely different species!” Twilight said.

“Jeez Twilight, be more of an egghead why don’t you?” Rainbow mocks. I chuckled and glanced at the window and saw that the sun was about set which made me raise my eyebrows a bit.

Good grief, just how long was I talking? I think. “Guess I took up more time than I realized.” I said, pointing to the window.

“Indeed, we were so caught up in listening to your tales we almost forgot to perform our royal duties.” Celesita said as she and Luna stood up and walked over to the balcony.

“What are you two doing?” I ask.

“I believe they are about to lower the sun and raise the moon.” Moon said.

“Eh? That’s impossible, no one can do that on their own.” I said.

“Take a look outside, Axel.” Applejack said, pointing to where the two sisters were standing.

I looked to the balcony and watched as Celestia lifted her hands to the sky and Luna’s were beside her waist. Both their hands glowed, Celestia’s a golden glow and Luna’s a midnight blue glow, as their bodies began to shine. At first nothing happened but soon the sky began to darken and I noticed the sun started to set as Celestia lowered her arms, making my jaw go slack. Luna’s arms rose up as I watched the moon come into view and pass by the sun and the sky darkened. One by one, stars started to appear in the sky as the moon replaced the sun. Soon Celestia and Luna stopped shining and their hands stopped glowing and they both turned to face me. I was frozen, speechless, utterly stupefied at what I had just witnessed that these two Princesses moved the freaking sun and moon on their own.

“Holy shit…” I muttered.

“Careful Ax, you might catch flies if you leave your mouth open like that.” Moon said, snapping me out of my trance.

“Jeezus that was a total mind blow.” I sighed. “And I thought I was trying to impress you lot.”

“Do not fret, Sir Axel, you were equally impressive with your own power.” Celestia giggles.

“Doesn’t your world have beings who control the sun and moon?” Luna asks.

“I wish, but my worlds sun and moon rise and set on their own.” I explain, hearing more scribblings from Twilight. “So now that we got the history of Conduits over and done with, what happens now?” Celestia and Luna looked at each other and turned their backs to whisper to each other for a moment. Soon after, they turn to face me with smiles of content.

“Sir Axel, Luna and I have been discussing and we believe that perhaps you deserve to see the rest of the world instead of being cooped up here in the castle.” Celestia said.

“So wait, you’re saying my house arrest is being lifted?” I asked with hope in my voice.

“Indeed.” Luna said as she snapped her fingers and an orb of light flew out of my chest and disappeared.

“Oh hell yeah!” I said, pumping my fist. “I finally get to see what this world is all about!” I was about to bolt off when a thought occurred to me. “But wait, what about Moon?” I ask, turning to face Moon.

“Nightmare Moon will still have to remain here at the Castle for the time being. She is still seen as a villain in the face of the public eye so until then she cannot leave the castle.” Luna said.

“She…has to stay here? While I go see the world?” I ask, saddened by the information. Moon smiles and walks up to me and takes my hands in hers.

“Ax, there’s no reason for you to be sad. It is quite alright if I remain here, you deserve to see what this world has to offer.” Moon reassures me.

“I don’t know…it seems kinda selfish if I get to leave but you have to stay. Speaking of which, where would I even go?” I wonder.

“I have a suggestion.” Celestia said. “Perhaps you would like to stay in Ponyville for the time being?”

“Ponyville?” I repeat.

“It’s where we’re from.” Twilight said. “I recently just moved there myself and it’s a very friendly town.”

“Even if I were to go there, where would I stay?” I ask.

“You’re more than welcome to occupy one of the vacant rooms at the library I’m staying at.” Twilight offers.

“I suppose.” I said, turning back to Moon. “But are you sure about this? I’m more than willing to stay behind with you.”

“That’s very sweet of you Ax, but if I’m to prove to everyone I’m no longer still the villain they proclaim me to be I must face my challenges myself. Besides it’s not like this will be the last we see each other, you can also always write to me.” Moon said. After mulling over it all, I sighed and nodded my head.

“I guess you’re right. I just thought we’d be seeing the world together.” I said.

“And we will, one day.” Moon reassures me while hugging me.

“Ok Celestia.” I said, looking at the sun Princess. “I’ll take you up on your offer, I’ll go to Ponyville.”

“Splendid, you may leave tomorrow with the others.” Celestia said.

“And you’re ok with me crashing at your place? I’d hate to be a freeloader.” I said looking at Twilight.

“Oh don’t be silly! If you’re staying with me I get to ask you more questions about your world! I can tell there’s still so much to learn about Conduits!” Twilight said with glee.

“Heh, I guess. Now all there is to do is to head to bed. All that talking has left me very tired.” I said.

“Then we shall see you all off in the morning, my precious subjects. May you all have sweet dreams.” Celestia said.

I nod and we all leave the throne room to return to our guest rooms. When the other girls were out of view, Moon grasped my hand and leaned her head on my shoulder making my cheeks heat up a bit but I let her stay there. I also noticed that her hand was trembling a bit which could only tell me that she was not looking forward to saying goodbye tomorrow, not that I could blame her since this would be the first time we’d be apart. Hopefully it wouldn’t be for that long so we just walked back to our room in silence, not saying a word, just enjoying each other’s company for what time we had left before tomorrow.

Author's Note

Ax is on his way to Ponyville! I wonder what’s in store for him once he arrives?

Hope you all enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

My Worst Half

Chapter 8

The void, a strange place to dream of when sleeping soundly yet somehow I find myself floating in mid air with nothing but the starry surroundings. I expected Moon to show up, maybe even Luna since she also can enter people’s dreams but they both seem to be taking their sweet time. I could wake up, but I thought it would be a pain trying to fall asleep again so I was stuck in a bit of a conundrum of what to do. I crossed my arms as I floated aimlessly, bored out of my freaking mind since I was kinda looking forward to spending one last dream with Moon before I head to Ponyville tomorrow. As soon as the thought of me leaving Moon comes to mind I frown and hang my head. Moon has been such a great company, I dare say she’s the best friend I could ever ask for. Yet…do I only view her as a friend? Granted, we still are kinda getting used to one another but it’s like I can smile all day whenever I’m around her. I’d do anything for her, especially keep her safe from anyone who wanted to do her wrong like…like those fuckers who wanted to take Moon.

My fists clenched at the memory of those assholes, the nerve of them looking at Moon like she was some kind of piece of fresh meat they could toss around. Why did I hesitate? Why didn’t I just abandon my reason and carry out what played out in my mind? They deserved what I had in store for them, so why are they still alive?

“I can feel your bloodlust.” A voice all around me whispers making me snap to attention.

“What the, who’s there?” I ask, still looking around.

“Why did you spare them?” The voice asked. “If anything, they deserved death instead of still sucking air.”

“I…I didn’t want to scare Moon.” I answered, only for the voice to cackle maniacally.

“Scare her? That’s your best excuse? God, you’re a fucking tool.” The voice mocks.

“What did you want me to do? Kill them? I’m not a murderer!” I shot back.

“Really?” The voice questions. Soon I see a black shadowy figure with red glowing eyes I’m front of me and a very unsettling crooked smile. “You sure about that?”

“Damn right I am.” I said. “Besides, who the hell even are you?”

“I’m the one who’s here to remind you that you’re not as innocent as you claim to be. Look at you, you’re a Conduit, you have the power to bring everyone you come across to their knees yet you squander it like a fucking child. That Merchant gave you these powers so you could fulfill what you were meant to do.” The figure said.

“And what might that be?” I ask.

“To take all this world has to offer as your own.” The figure said.

“And why the fuck would I do that?!” I snap. “This world is a hell of a lot more peaceful than it is back home, I already made more friends than I ever did, and I’ve met the most wonderful girl who respects me for me.”

“Would she still respect you if she knew the truth?” The figure questions.

“What are you on about?” I demand.

“Don’t you remember? Five years ago? The alleyway?” The figure said. My eyes widened as my breathing hitched and my body started to tremble. That day…that horrible day I desperately buried in the back of my mind resurfaced as I glared daggers at this unknown fucker.

“You…” I hiss as I activate my electricity and lunge at him through the void.

“HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?!?”
I roar as I fire a huge blast of electricity.

The figure fades away before the blast makes contact as it chuckles darkly all around me.

“It’s been five long years since that night, and no matter how much you want to, you’ll never be able to forget what you did.” The figure said.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!”
I screamed as I blasted all forms of my power around me.

“An accident he says. Sure the public viewed it an accident but I know better, as do you.” The figure said as it appeared again in front of me.

“Shut up!” I demand.

“Or what? You gonna try and blast me again? Sure worked out before, now didn’t it?” The figure mocked sarcastically.

“You don’t know jack shit! It wasn’t my fault!” I yell. The figure was silent for a moment before it lunged at me this time and it grabbed my neck and started to choke me.

“You’re like a broken fucking record, you know that? So fucking misguided and naïve, you still won’t accept the truth despite it hanging over your god damn head for five fucking years. You remember the feeling, don’t you? That rush of adrenaline that washed over you as quick as the deed was done. It felt good, didn’t it? But you cast it aside and let your insecurities speak for you. But then, when those ugly bearded fucks come out of nowhere and blatantly bad mouth you to your face, you had a golden opportunity to send a message to whoever sent them that you were not to be fucked with. And yet…” The figure hissed as it then punched me in my side making me grunt in pain. “You did not act, you held back when you could’ve easily tore them apart like you had envisioned. So why, and don’t fucking say that you didn’t want to frighten that woman because that’s a load of horse shit excuse! Why did you hesitate?!”

“Gak! Because…I am not…a killer!” I said between breaths.

“YES YOU ARE! YOU HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS SO WHY NOT DRENCH THEM IN MORE BLOOD?!” The figure screams in my face before tossing me aside, sending me flying. “Who the fuck cares if you scare those around you?! Let them be scared if they can’t handle it!”

“I care, you son of a bitch!” I shout. “I never wanna relive that night ever again! I don’t even know who the fuck you are and you don’t have the fucking right to tell me otherwise!”

“You wanna know who I am?“ The figure asks. The shadow surrounding him begins to fade and his body takes form. My eyes widen in both shock and fear as his appearance takes on a familiar form. It’s like I was staring in a mirror as the figure looked just like me except for the red eyes and the cocky smile. “This is who I am.”

“How…the hell?” I wonder.

“Don’t act all surprised, I’ve been around since that night and have been the lingering voice that urged you to commit the more entertaining decisions and glorious bloodshed. I only have myself to blame for not stepping up my game, then maybe people around here would be singing a different tune with me around.” The figure said.

“No…no you can’t be me! I’m not some psycho bent on terrorizing everyone around me! My name is Axel Rickert, and what I choose to be is my decision and my decision alone!” I said.

“Hmph, so you still wanna be Axel huh?” The figure scoffs. “Then if we’re going by names then I suppose it’s only fair I choose one for myself.” Suddenly, red bolts of electricity spark from his arms and legs making me panic and try to activate my own Electricity but for some reason it wouldn’t come out.

“From here on, call me…Dante.” He said as he flew forward with what looked like Gigawatt Blades in his hands and impaled my chest with both his blades making me scream in pain. “And you best remember that.” Dante hissed as he electrocuted me through my insides making me scream out in more pain before blacking out.

“Ax!”

“Axel, wake up!”

“AAAAAHHHHRRRRGGGH!!!”
I scream as I spring to my feet and blast a bolt of electricity in front of me, destroying a chair in the process.

I pant heavily and look frantically around me to see I’m still in the guest room as my arms spark violently with electricity. My chest feels like it’s been torn apart but when I look under my shirt there was no wound. I felt a presence behind me and spun around ready to blast whoever it was, only to be met with a very terrified Moon.

“Ax…?” She mumbled, trembling a little.

“Moon…? Oh my god Moon!” I cried as I immediately canceled my power. “I’m so sorry, I-I-I had this awful dream and I just acted on instinct!”

“It’s ok Ax.” Moon said, trying to calm me down.

“No it’s not!” I snap. “Look at what I did! I almost shot you! And if I did, how could I live with myself?!” I cried as I fell to my knees and clutched my head. “Why did this happen?! Why did he have to show up after all these years?!”

“Ax…” Moon said as she approached me but I scooted away.

“Please don’t come near me, I’m dangerous, a loose cannon. I don’t know if I’ll snap and do something I’ll regret and you’ll be caught in the middle of it. I-”

I didn’t get to finish my sentence as Moon quickly knelt down and embraced me in a hug. I was about to push her away but she just held onto me tight and refused to let go.

“It’s ok Ax, I’m here.” Moon soothed. “I’ll always be here for you.”

I’m not much of a cryer, but damn did I let the waterworks flow. I wrapped my arms around her as I let my tears fall and the pain in my chest began to subside. Moon rubbed my back as I started to calm down and eventually we stood back up and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Do you feel better?” Moon asks.

“…I almost shot you.” I mumbled.

“You were scared, Ax, I don’t blame you. I tried to enter your dream but something was preventing me from doing so. I was even about to seek out the aid of Luna but something forced me from entering your dream. What happened Ax? Why did you shut me out?” Moon asks.

“It wasn’t me…” I said. “It was…the other me.”

“Other you?” Moon repeats.

“Moon, there’s something I haven’t told you about me, something I’ve wanted to take to the grave with me but wouldn’t stay buried. It’s something that happened five years ago back in my world.” I said, not looking at her.

“Do you wish to share what happened?” Moon asks.

“If I tell you, you’ll probably never look at me the same way.” I said.

“But Ax, don’t you remember what I told you? No matter what happens, I’ll always remain by your side.” Moon said.

“No matter what, huh?” I question and she nods. “Even if my hands are dirty?”

“Of course, I-”

“Dirty with blood?” I cut her off, making her eyes go wide.

“Ax, what do you mean?” Moon wonders. I glance at her to see her look at me with confusion and sight fear as I sigh and begin my tale.

“It was about six months after I moved out of my parents home, I was living with a couple roommates in a dorm and we were just hanging out. To me and everyone else it was just a normal Friday evening and we had just got done studying and were enjoying each other’s company. I started a bit of a routine every night to go out for a stroll and grab a snack or something at the local convenience store so I grabbed my wallet and keys and left. I remember it being a cold night as I walked through town and didn’t think anything would happen in such a quiet town. A little while later I had arrived at the convenience store and purchased my snack and headed back to the dorm. But as I rounded the corner to my building I noticed someone was crying down an alleyway between two buildings. At first I didn’t think anything of it and thought that they had their own issues and it wasn’t any of my business. But as I walked away I got a slight twinge of regret that I could’ve at least asked if everything was alright. Little did I know it would soon be the worst decision I ever made.” I said, clenching my fists.

“What happened?” Moon asked.

“I approached the person crying and saw it was a younger boy, probably about 16 or 17, and he looked homeless from what I could tell from his clothes. I asked him what was wrong and he said he had nowhere to go since he’d been homeless for a few years now. I thought I’d give him some money so he could at least feed himself but what happened next threw my whole world upside down…” I said as my arms began to tremble.

“He…pulled a gun on me, a weapon that could end one’s life in an instant, and pointed it straight at me. The fucking son of a bitch mocked me for being so fucking stupid, for falling for his act and demanded I give him all my belongings in exchange for my life. I was so scared I’d die, but more scared that if I gave him my keys he’d go to my dorm and rob my friends or worse kill them. I tried to bargain with him by offering to go to the bank and giving him as much money as he wanted but all he did was scoff and attempt to pull the trigger. I don’t know what came over me, the fear of being killed, the desperation of trying to beg for my life, or the adrenaline from my anger for being lied to, but I lunged at him before he could kill me which made him drop his gun. I wrestled and fought him, punches and kicks flying against each other, until I saw his gun on the ground. I was the quicker one and grabbed his weapon and pointed at him, all the while scared out of my mind that I had never held a gun in my life.” I closed my eyes as the memory of that night burned as it played through. “The shoe was on the other foot since now I was the one threatening his life as he did mine. I was angry, scared, in shock, and not really registering his protests and begging to let me spare him.” I said solemnly.

“But you were just defending yourself, yes? He did not expect you to fight back but you managed to keep your life and your pride.” Moon said.

“Maybe…if I wasn’t such a fucking hypocrite.” I said.

“Hypocrite?” Moon repeats. “Didn’t you spare him?” She asked but I remained silent for a moment.

“The robber, he looked like he was about to jump me again and I…I panicked.” I said as I buried my hands in my face. “My hands just reacted on their own…I didn’t mean to do it!”

“Ax…what-”

“DON’T YOU GET IT MOON?! I KILLED HIM! I KILLED SOMEONE IN COLD BLOOD!” I screamed in her face, shocking her out of her mind.

“You…killed him?” Moon trembled and I nodded solemnly.

“My finger was on the trigger and I just acted on impulse.” I said. “The shot echoed throughout the town, causing lights to flicker on everywhere as the robber’s body fell to the floor. His chest had a hole in it as blood flowed out and he had the blankest, shock filled look I’ve ever seen on anyone until he breathed his last breath. It then hit me like a sack of bricks…I killed someone, I had just murdered someone in an alleyway and it was the first life I ever took.”

Dead silence was all I heard from Moon as she looked away from me, still trying to process my words. I sighed as I decided to continue my story.

“When the authorities showed up, they didn’t know what to think when they saw me and the body. I was detained and brought in for questioning and spent the night in the police department. They then sat me down and asked me to tell my story, to which I told them every last bit of detail down to the letter. I thought I was gonna go to prison for murder, which is what I expected to happen to me. When the day came when I had to stand trial in a courtroom, I told my story again to the judge and jury while also trying to fight the urge to vomit. I just sat there, still petrified at all that had happened and was convinced I was gonna go to prison. But then…a thought occurred to me.” I said shamefully but still no response from Moon.

“I thought to myself, why did I deserve to go to prison? He was the one who threatened my life and I just acted out of self-defense. I thought that if I went to prison then it would just prove how selfish and corrupt the system was that I would be punished for fighting for my life. I even thought that if I had the chance to do it over again I’d shoot the robber without a second's notice. For a whole week I had to spend my days in a cell at the police precinct, like a criminal doomed to spend the rest of my life in an actual cell in an actual prison. My friends tried to help me feel better by saying it wasn’t my fault but I knew better. These swirling emotions in my head, whether it was wrong or right to take his life ate away at my soul which made me feel like I was losing my mind. Then the day came when my sentence would be passed and I had fully expected to be tried guilty and sent off to prison. But instead, I was found innocent and all charges were dropped since it was all ruled in self-defense.” I said. Moon glanced at me for a moment then looked away but I still continued.

“As soon as I heard I was found innocent, my whole world came crashing down on me. I was so sure I was gonna be thrown in jail while they toss away the key, leaving me to rot for the crime I committed. Yet they seemed to have taken pity on me and let me walk. I wanted to be happy, but I wasn’t. I wanted to be relieved, but I was still upset. I may have been proven innocent, but I knew I was still guilty and would carry the weight of murdering someone for the rest of my life. I didn’t bother to stick around in the town I was in so I switched universities and moved out to seclude myself and just get my general education over and done with. For 3 years I kept to myself but that night just kept coming back to me like a bad song that wouldn’t stop playing in my mind. During those years of solitude the voice that kept telling me I was a murderer kept lingering in my head. I wanted to forget that night so desperately so I did everything I possibly could to bury the memory so it wouldn’t plague my soul any longer. I saw a therapist, took up multiple hobbies, played a variety of games to distract myself, and eventually after a couple more years later I had managed to find a sense of peace.” I said. Moon still didn’t look at me as I sighed and rose from the bed.

“You hate me now…I get it. Who’d wanna still be friends with a murderer like me?” I ask as I head for the door. I reach out for the doorknob but then feel something tug at my shirt from behind. I look behind me to see Moon still looking down and pulling the sleeve of my shirt and I see a few teardrops fall from her face.

“Do you…still regret what you did?” Moon asks.

“I don’t know…” I said.

“Tell me.” She said.

“…yes.” I nod.

“And this voice who lingers in your mind, is it something you also tried to keep buried?” Moon asked.

“He’s been locked in my subconscious for a long time but now he’s back in my head, always whispering in my ear to commit the same actions as I did before. I let him out when I thought about killing those bearded bastards who threatened to take you.” I said.

“Is that why I couldn’t enter your dream? Because of this inner voice?” Moon asked.

“He feels more like an alternate persona who was created from my dark thoughts. He even named himself Dante like he’s an actual person. The worst part is that I can actually feel his presence in my mind and no matter how hard I try to lock him away again he’ll always be there.” I said, clutching my head. “This is why I need to stay away from you Moon, to stay away from everyone because I don’t know if Dante will ever take over and hurt you or anyone else for that matter.”

“Ax, please don’t go.” Moon pleaded.

“I need to.” I said trying to pull away.

“No, don’t leave me!” Moon begged, still pulling on my shirt.

“Why Moon?!” I demand turning back to her. “I would never forgive myself if something happened to you! Dante is all my worst thoughts put together and he won’t care who he hurts along the way! So why try to convince me I’m still a good person when I’m a ticking time bomb of bad karma and also have blood on my hands?!”

“Because you fool!” Moon shot back yanking me towards her and hugging me tightly. “I…I LIKE YOU!”

My whole world stopped as I just stood there in Moon’s embrace. That one small string of words echoed in my mind. Moon…likes me? Of all people, a murderer, she likes me?

“Moon…” I said,

“Don’t speak!” She said, still hugging me. “Just listen. This Dante persona of yours is nothing but a curse your subconscious created and is trying to make you what I know is not who you are. If you were anything like this Dante then the both of us wouldn’t be standing here together, I wouldn’t be embracing you like this and telling you how I truly feel about you. It is just as you said, you acted in self-defense and protected yourself from danger. That does not make you a bad person.”

“But someone is dead because of me.” I countered.

“And it was his fate to die due to the poor choices he made, you still are not at fault. You have been a calm and noble soul since the night we met and the time we spent with one another and now you say you’re automatically bad because of what Dante said? Well to use your own words against you, that is bullshit!” Moon snapped, surprising me a little at her language. She then looks up at me with tears leaking out of her eyes and sniffles every so often. “I don’t hate you Ax, I’ll never hate you for what you’ve done. So please don’t turn me away because I care about you too much to lose you!”

“But you haven’t killed anyone before.” I said.

“Yet I almost took away this world’s light which would have been a fate worse than death for the planet. So if you still believe you are who Dante says you are, then feel free to leave right now.” Moon said, stepping back from me. “Or you can prove him wrong and come back to me.” She said holding her arms out to me. “Come to me and embrace me like you always do and…tell me how you really feel.”

She’s lying… I hear Dante whisper in my head. The minute you turn your back she’ll stab you through your heart. Love? Gag me, this isn’t love. This is just a ploy to fool you. Just leave her, Axel, she’ll never accept you for what I know you really are.

…

Fuck you, Dante. I hiss as I step forward and hug Moon back.

You’re a fucking idiot, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Dante sneers as he faded away back into my subconscious.

“Have you made your decision?” Moon asks as she relaxes in my embrace.

“Yes, it’s as I told Dante in my dream, who I choose to be is my decision and my decision alone. And I choose to be better than what he is. I won’t run away from my problems anymore, I’ll face them head on and…” I trailed off as I looked back down at Moon and cupped her cheek with my hand. “I want you with me all the way.”

“So…do you mean?” Moon said as she smiled widely and tears formed in her eyes.

“Heh, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t share the same feelings for you as of late, so I guess I kinda like you too.” I confess. Moon squeals a little and hugs me again and I chuckle as I hold her close.

“You’re very precious to me, Ax, never forget that.” Moon said.

“I won’t, and you’re also precious to me.” I said.

Moon looks up at me again with that same smile. There was a brief silence between us as we both slowly leaned in. Our lips were but a mere inch apart and I could feel her breath on my lips which sent a tingle down my spine. Not wanting to drag the anticipation out, I closed the gap and our lips finally met. What could only be described as fireworks going off in my mind, body, and soul erupted as I kissed Moon. Her lips were so soft and she wrapped her arms around my neck as we continued our moment. After about a minute later, we separated and I opened my eyes to see Moon with a wide smile and a blush spread across her face.

“That was…incredible.” Moon sighs.

“I agree, and you’re sure you’re ok with someone like me?” I ask once more.

“Of course, there’s no one I’d soul rather be with than you Axel.” Moon said as she leaned her head on my chest.

I smiled as I hugged my official new girlfriend close and we both basked in our embrace. Moon even unfurled her wings and wrapped them around me so that she could hug me closer which I didn’t mind since her wings felt so sensually soft. My mind drifted back to that night again and I felt a twinge of regret but it was soon brushed away since I was not alone now to relive it.

I never knew your name. I thought to myself. I don’t know where you ended up after you died, but I am truly sorry your life ended so soon by my hand. I hope you found some kind of peace.

“Hey Moon?” I said.

“Yes?” Moon said, still leaning into me.

“I want you to come with me.” I said.

“Come with you? Where?” Moon wondered as she looked up at me.

“To Ponyville, I want you to be by my side and I don’t want to be apart from you.” I said.

“But Ax, Celestia and Luna said I needed to stay here for everyone’s sake.” Moon said.

“Well tough shit, if anyone has a problem with you then they can talk to me about it. If you really want them to trust you then come with me to Ponyville to show you can live amongst the public without worry.” I said.

“You would go so far as to go against the Princesses wishes?” Moon asks.

“Yes, you deserve a future just like everyone else.” I said. Moon grins with joy and kisses me again to which I return.

“How did I end up being so lucky for you to show up in my life?” Moon wonders.

“Guess you could say fate is sometimes a mystery.” I said. “But I’m glad I was sent here.”

“As am I, Ax.” Moon said. She then yawned cutely which made me chuckle since it was still in the middle of the night.

“I guess we should go back to sleep, tonight sure was an eventful one.” I said.

“Indeed.” Moon agrees

We both climb back into bed and Moon rests her head on my chest as she wraps her arms around my torso. I smile as I lean back and stroke her hair with my hand and she hums in delight.

“I love you Ax.” Moon mumbles as she drifts off to sleep.

“I love you too, my sweet moonlight.” I whisper and kiss her forehead. I lay there for a few minutes waiting to fall back to sleep until an unpleasant and unwelcome presence makes itself known in the back of my mind.

I have nothing else to say to you. I sneer in my thoughts.

This won’t last, you know. Dante said in my head. I am what some would call inevitable in these kind of situations.

You are nothing but a curse, born from my ill intent after that terrible night. I have a fresh start in this word and I won’t let you ruin it. I snap.

You honestly think there won’t be a time when I will be the one in control? Even I could tell by the tone in Celestia’s voice that there are other conflicts Equestria she and Luna are dealing with besides the bearded bastards. Your whole “fight with words” routine won’t always work and it’ll cost you more than you realize. Dante warns.

If that happens I, and I alone, will deal with it. I said dismissively.

Just remember, Axel, I’m along for the ride too. So you better watch your back because I’ll be sure to watch it for you. Dante said as he faded away.

I pondered his words but decided to ignore them as my eyes grew heavy and I drifted off to sleep. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and I’ll be sure to do my damndest to prove him wrong.

Author's Note

A traumatizing past and an evil persona was born because of it. How will Ax deal with this looming shadow during his time in his new home?

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Conflicting Impressions

Chapter 9

The birds from outside were the first thing I heard as the sun’s rays peered into my room. My eyes lazily opened and I yawned silently with my mouth wide open. I felt a certain weight on my chest and I glanced down to see something that put a smile on my face. Moon had her arms wrapped around me and her head was on my chest with a content smile that graced her lips. The events that transpired last night came back to me which made me both happy and nervous at the same time. I was happy that Moon accepted me despite my dark past and I was able to return the feelings she had for me in full which resulted in us becoming an official couple. However I was nervous due to the unwelcome new resident in my brain.

If one thing’s for sure, I knew that Dante would no doubt try to corrupt me by making me do things that would end up getting me into a lot of trouble. To think something like him was created because of my dark thoughts, and he can use my Conduit powers should I let him take control. All he wants is to take control and claim all who and what exists in this world. But then a thought crossed my mind that probably would sound stupid out loud. Did he actually mean what he said? In a way, Dante is technically an alternate persona of me. Maybe he has the same feelings I do? Perhaps he only said those things to rile me up…

No, it’s stupid to even think about. Dante is nothing but trouble and needs to be kept in check from here on out. I won’t let him ruin this fresh start of mine. Besides, I’m in a world where magic is a thing here, right? Maybe there’s a spell or something that could permanently remove him from my mind and I’d never have to worry about him again. My thoughts are interrupted when Moon began to stir awake and she slowly lifted her head to look up at me. Those cyan cat-like eyes gazed into my bluish green ones and her smile grew wider along with my own smile. Moon then leaned up and gently pressed her lips on mine, welcoming me with a good morning kiss.

“Good morning Ax.” Moon said sweetly as she pulled back. Her lips were still about an inch or two away from mine.

“Morning, Moony.” I said, earning a giggle.

“Are you feeling better?” Moon asked.

“Much, I really appreciate you helping me through all that.” I said.

“Of course Ax, I’ll always be there to support you.” Moon said.

“And I you, especially since we’re now a couple.” I add, making her blush.

“Do you really mean that? We’re a couple?” Moon asks shyly.

“Well yeah, are you saying you don’t want me to be your boyfriend?” I tease.

“What?! No! It’s just…I’ve never had a boyfriend before.” Moon said.

“Really? That’s surprising.” I said.

“When I was still within Luna’s subconscious, she and Celestia would always receive requests for suitors and marriage proposals from the different noble families. As far as having an actual relationship, I don’t recall ever having one” Moon explains.

Seriously? I think in my head. Huh, must’ve been pretty lonely for those two, Celestia especially since Luna wasn’t around.

“So does that mean I'm still a good enough choice for you?” I ask.

“There’s no other man I’d want as my boyfriend, Ax. Your kind heart is what won me over and I’ll always be with you.” Moon said as she pecked me on the lips.

“Well that’s good, cause I don’t think I’ll ever find another girl to love like I do you.” I said.

“You never know, maybe you will.” Moon said, confusing the hell out of me.

“Er, why say something like that?” I question.

“What do you mean? I’m saying there’s a possibility you might like someone else and you can choose to also be with them, so long as you still love me.” Moon explained as she looked up at me, but that only made me more confused.

“Ok back up.” I said as I lifted myself up until I was sitting up straight. “Why would I want to be with someone else when I already have you? I’d never cheat on you, Moon.”

“Oh! I suppose those girls forgot to ask this, but what are relationships like in your world?” Moon asked as she sat in front of me with her legs crossed.

“Uh…well, I guess you could say they’re mostly monogamous. Once someone finds another to choose to be with they usually stick with that person for good. That is if they don’t like each other anymore, they split up and either find someone else or not date again, why do you ask?” I wonder.

“Well Ax, here it’s a little different. You see, the birth ratio between males and females is a tad unbalanced. For every two to four girls that are born, a boy is born. To put it simply, females slightly outnumber males.” Moon explains while holding up a finger.

“You for real?” I ask and she nods. “Wow, must be difficult for the girls to find a proper relationship.”

“True, but there is a remedy for that.” Moon said. “Because of the birth rates being unbalanced, a male can choose to be with more than one female. Of course, so long as both parties agree to it.”

That information seemed to hit me like a cement truck and blow me back to the Stone Age. I just stared blankly at Moon and she tilted her head curiously as I just sat there, frozen like a statue.

“Ax?” Moon said, I didn’t respond. “Ax, are you there?”

“So…y-you’re telling me…” I begin to speak. “Men around here…can have a…polygamous relationship?”

“Yes, as can you. So long as you make sure to love me just a little more than anyone else.” Moon said sweetly.

“…Holy fuck.” I breathed out.

“Is there something wrong?” Moon wonders.

“Uh, yeah there is.” I said. “This new info is A LOT to take in right now. I mean, how would that even work? One guy, dating multiple women at once?”

“Didn’t you notice some of the male residents in the city walking with more than one woman when we ventured out of the castle?” Moon reminded me. My mind drifted back to our outing and I remembered there being a few men walking around with two or three women beside them.

“I mean, yeah I did. Are you saying they were all in a relationship together?” I ask.

“Quite possibly, yes.” Moon answered.

“And this is normal around here?” I ask.

“Indeed.” Moon said.

“And just so I’m clear on this, you, my new girlfriend, would consent to me dating other women along with you.” I question.

“Yes, so long as we have mutual feelings on the matter.” Moon said.

“…Oh good lord.” I breathed out again while running my fingers through my hair. “I figured this world was different but not that different.”

“Are you saying you don’t wish to be with more than one woman?” Moon asks.

“I can’t really answer that, Moon. As I said, this is kinda mind blowing information you just told me. I mean, we literally just got together and now you’re telling me I can expand it like some kind of joint relationship? If I’m being honest, the whole thing sounds too ridiculous for words.” I deadpan.

“Why is it ridiculous?” Moon wonders.

“Better description, it’s just plain dumb.” I said crossing my arms. “If two people, like you and me, wanna share their feelings with one another then by all means they can be together as much as they please. But when it’s something like this, where more than one person can be with one another, it just sounds unnatural. VERY…unnatural.”

“I apologize if you feel that way Ax, however it is just now things are in this world. Men can choose to be with more than one woman, the same can be said in vice versa.” Moon said.

“Yeah…I guess you’re right.” I sighed. “Still doesn’t mean I’m gonna partake in these traditions.”

“And you do not have to if you do not wish to.” Moon reassures me. “I am just as pleased to be your only girlfriend, should you wish for it.”

“Thanks for understanding my feelings.” I said with a smile.

“But you know Ax, fate has a mysterious way of working.” Moon smirked coyly. “Who knows, you might just end up tripping over your own words one day.”

“Doubt it, now let’s get dressed so I can argue with Celestia and Luna about you coming with me to Ponyville.” I said as I climbed out of bed.

“…Ax?” Moon whispered. I looked over my shoulder and saw she was blushing more than usual and her wings were twitching a bit.

“Something else on your mind?” I wonder.

“Would you…care to join me in the bath?” Moon offers.

“Uuuhhh…” I muttered with my own blush. My eyes wandered to gaze at her body. She had a generous bust that I sometimes shot quick glances at and her ass looked plump and round and were both hidden by her pajamas. Honestly, if I had to choose…

That ass, though… I thought to myself.

“I…guess I can.” I shrugged sheepishly. Moon’s blush deepens as she smiles and climbs out of the bed and takes my hand.

“We can bathe each other.” She whispers as she pulls me towards the bathroom. As we slowly walked, I glanced down to her ass and saw it jiggled a little with each step making me swallow hard.

Don’t pitch a tent, don’t pitch a tent, don’t pitch a tent! I repeated frantically in my head.

I was walking down the halls with Moon with a very obvious blush across my cheeks as Moon was practically skipping, she was so happy. I had to pull my beanie over my face because of how flustered I was after our little bathing session. That whole experience has been imprinted in my mind and will never be forgotten for the life of me. The way her body and pristine skin seemed to glow before my eyes, not to mention that I got a full view of her bare breasts and ass, was almost too much to handle. I even had to use my damn Electricity to numb my growing erection so I wouldn’t embarrass myself by popping a boner while we bathed. However…I was fortunate to get to feel those jugs and bubble butt of hers. Now I’m not saying I’m a pervert or anything, but what man wouldn’t find that whole experience as arousing as it was? I’m just glad we managed to finish before things got too escalated. We’re a couple but I don’t think we’re ready for that just yet.

“Is there something on your mind, Ax?” Moon teased.

“Nope.” I quickly said.

“Are you certain?” Moon questioned with a coy smile.

“Nothing at all.” I said.

“Hmm, so you aren’t thinking how you graced your touch all along my body during our bath?” Moon asks. I snapped my head towards her and looked around. Thankfully any guards or maids didn’t hear her quip but that didn’t stop me from giving my girlfriend the stink eye.

“Hush, you!” I snapped. “Ok fine, yes, that whole experience was something I’ll never forget. Happy?”

“Of course, you were honest and that’s what matters.” Moon giggles.

“Why do I get the feeling this was an ulterior motive to tease me about?” I accuse.

“Oh my dearest darling boyfriend, Axel Rickert, whatever could have possibly made you come to such a conclusion?” Moon said with an obvious amount of sarcasm and fake drama.

“You’re enjoying this a little too much, you know that?” I deadpan.

“Oh come now, Ax, I was only teasing.” Moon said before she leaned up and kissed my cheek. “I truly did enjoy your touch, you have strong hands and it made me feel safe to be in your embrace.”

I sighed and smiled at Moon since it was impossible to stay mad at her. “Glad I could be of assistance.” I said.

“Would you mind if we did it again sometime?” Moon wonders.

“I guess, just don’t tease me like that anymore if we do.” I request.

“No promises, Ax.” Moon quipped.

“By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask, since when did you get those tattoos on your shoulders and…er, buttocks?” I asked, trying to find the appropriate word for posterior.

Buttocks? Really? I heard Dante say in my head. What are you, 4? Just say ass.

SHUT IT! I snapped at him.

“Tattoos? Oh, you mean my cutie marks?” Moon answers.

“Cutie marks?” I repeat.

“Indeed, cutie marks are often related to the personality, proclivity, or talent of their owners. They are obtained when people discover a unique characteristic that sets themselves apart from others.” Moon explains. “As you’ve seen, they can appear on the shoulder and our posteriors.”

“Ok but, I can see them showing up on the shoulder, but why the backside?” I question.

“Who knows?” Moon shrugs. “Don’t you want a cutie mark?”

“I don’t think I’d get one.” I dismiss it. “Since I’m not from around here, I doubt one would show up.”

“Are you saying humans from your world do not get cutie marks?” Moon asks.

“Nope, we sort of just figure it out as we go. Some people discover what they wanna do earlier on while others probably never do. As far as marks go, the only kind we get are tattoos.” I said.

“I see, but if you were to acquire a cutie mark, what do you think it would be?” Moon wonders.

“Not sure, but if I could I hope it’d be something cool.” I said.

Moon giggles as we round the corner and walk up to a set of double doors that led to the throne room. As we approached, the guards opened the doors for us and I nodded to them as thanks to which they returned. Celestia, Luna, and even the girls from yesterday were all waiting for me and some had welcoming smiles.

“Good morning, Sir Axel.” Celestia said.

“Morning Princesses, and you all as well.” I greet them all.

“I assume you are prepared for your arrival to Ponyville?” Luna asks.

“Yeah, about that.” I begin, bracing myself for what’s to come. “I want Moon to come with me.”

“Excuse me?” Celestia asked, shocking the others.

“I said I want Moon to come with me to Ponyville, I don’t want her to stay here by herself.” I said.

“Sir Axel, we have discussed this.” Luna reminds me.

“We did, but I’m now against it.” I said.

“Nightmare would not be alone, Sir Axel. She would remain under our supervision where it is safe.” Celestia said.

“Your supervision, or maybe your watch.” I accuse.

“What are you implying, Sir Axel?” Celestia questions.

“What I’m implying is that Moon would in fact be all alone if she stayed here. And if she did, would you two spend time with her? Would you make her feel welcome and not ignored?” I ask while crossing my arms.

“We still have a country to rule, Sir Axel, even if Nightmare is our guest we cannot focus solely on being by her side.” Luna argues.

“And that’s exactly why she should come with me.” I counter. “I can already see what would happen if she stayed here, true she’d be safe, but she’d also not have anyone to relate with. Most of the people still see her as an infamous villain and she’d probably have to isolate herself from the outside to avoid any backlash. You say you would look after her, which I believe you would, but I don’t think you’d actually be there for her. She needs someone who will always be by her side and help show the world she’s not who they say she is.”

“You seem to be very passionate about wanting to be with Nightmare, Sir Axel, why is that?” Celestia asks.

“Because.” I begin and take another deep breath. I reach out and grab Moon’s hand and she smiles up at me, making everyone’s eyes widen. “As of last night, Moon and I are officially together.”

The Princesses and the six girl’s eyes were all staring at us in complete bewilderment at my confession. Twilight blinks and clears her throat while pointing at us.

“You…and Nightmare Moon?” She asks.

“Yup.” I answer.

“Like actually together?” Rainbow adds.

“Uh-huh.”

“Y’all’re fer real?” Applejack asks.

“Very real.”

“Oh my…” Fluttershy whispers.

“I know, right?”

“How…romantic~.” Rarity swoons. “A forbidden love?”

“Uh…I wouldn’t call it forbidden.”

“Will there be a party?” Pinkie wonders.

“I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“Sir Axel.” Celestia spoke up as she rose from her throne along with Luna. “I had no idea you cared for Nightmare so much that you would court her.”

“Let’s just say she’s come to be very special to me.” I said. “So special that no matter what you say, I won’t leave Canterlot without her.”

“But what if she is threatened or provoked?” Luna warns. “She could lash out and any future plans of reconciliation would be for naught.”

“I wouldn’t let that happen, I can guarantee you that.” I said.

Celestia and Luna walk down the small steps and stand before Moon and I. They both look to Moon who was gripping my hand and I held on to comfort her.

“And you believe him?” Celestia asks.

“Yes.” Moon said.

“Would you attempt to harm anyone out of spite towards us?” Luna adds.

“No, I would not. I hold no ill will against either of you. If anything, I truly want to prove I am not the curse I once was. And if it is any consolation.” Moon said as she actually bowed to them. “I am truly sorry for any pain I have caused you.”

The two Princesses were caught off guard by her gesture, as were the rest of the girls, and sighed as Celestia reached out and cupped Moon’s cheek.

“Very well.” Celestia said with a smile. “You have my blessing to see the world with Sir Axel.”

“Mine as well.” Luna said. “I too believe you are true to your word. So with that being said.” Luna raises her hand and it glows a dark blue glow. A small orb of magic leaves Moon’s chest and disappears in front of her. Moon smiles with happy tears in her eyes and wraps an arm around the two Princesses and hugs them close.

“Thank you…thank you both so much.” Moon said. “I will be sure to not disappoint either of you.” Celestia and Luna smile as they return the embrace and I smirk proudly at my girlfriend.

“So.” I said as I turned to the six girls. “Now that Moon is coming along, does that mean you’d also be willing to give her a chance?”

They all looked at each other for a moment and smiled as they all nodded.

“If someone like Nightmare Moon wishes to right her wrongs, then who am I to say no?” Twilight said.

“Indeed, she is a noble soul like you Axel.” Rarity said.

“I guess she’s alright.” Rainbow said.

“She seems a little scary, but I think she deserves friendship. At least, that’s what I think.” Fluttershy whispers.

“She’s as honest as can be, that’s fer sure.” Applejack said.

“Are you sure I can’t throw a party for her?” Pinkie asks.

“Maybe when she’s a little more comfortable with her surroundings.” I said. The three Princesses break their group hug and Moon steps back next to me.

“Sir Axel, we now leave the responsibility of Nightmare Moon under your care. I expect you to keep your word and always look after her as you say you would.” Celestia said.

“Of course.” I nod.

“Twilight, along with learning the importance of friendship, I would also like for you to write about Nightmare Moon. I wish to keep track of her progress of fitting in and maybe have her learn about the importance of friendship as well.” Celestia adds.

“You can count on me, Princess Celestia!” Twilight said proudly.

“Then it is settled.” Celestia said. “I wish you luck on your new surroundings and responsibilities, Sir Axel. And you as well, Nightmare.”

“Thank you Celesita.” I said with a curt nod.

“Yes, thank you so much again.” Moon said.

And with that, the six girls, Moon, and I walked out of the throne room. We made a quick stop by our room to gather any of our belongings and we headed out of the castle.

As we walked through the streets of Canterlot, Moon was striking up a conversation with Twilight and Rarity which made me smile seeing how she was already connecting with the others. Aside from the obvious stares from the snobs, I was thinking about what life was gonna be like now that I can finally leave the castle and see the rest of the world with Moon. Since this was a world filled with magic, I wondered if there were any magical creatures around? It’d be pretty sweet if I could meet a dragon, however I probably would get eaten or something should there be any hostile ones.

I then noticed some men working on a few power lines connected to a circuit breaker. One of the men had wings and was flying a little too close for comfort. I didn’t think anything of it since he probably knew what he was doing and we all passed by the workers.

Suddenly, there was a cry of pain making me stop and spin around to see the flying worker fall to the ground. He groaned as he tried to pick himself up but I noticed sparks of electricity flying from the top of the circuit breaker and one of the power lines broke off and fell down. The power line flailed in every direction and had the man trapped since he was too terrified to move without risking getting shocked as the broken end of the wire had electricity pouring out like a hose. The lights that were on in the area had gone out since there was no more electricity which meant that a blackout had just happened.

“Oh shit! Someone grab the thing with magic!” One of the workers cried.

“I can’t!” Another said as he tried to catch it with his magic. “The power line is moving too fast and I can’t get a grip on it! Go shut off the power!”

“What?! But that will shut down the whole area!”

“We can’t just leave him! He’ll die!”

“SOMEONE HELP ME! I DON’T WANNA GET FRIED! I HAVE A FAMILY!” The trapped worker cried.

“Damnit, fine! I’ll be right back!” The man said and ran off.

“That poor man! He’ll be killed if nothing is done!” Rarity said.

“I’ll save him!” Rainbow said as she unfurled her wings.

“Are you nuts!” Applejack snapped, grabbing Rainbow. “Y’all’ll be crispier than an apple fritter if ya get anywhere near that thing!”

“But we can’t just leave him!” Rainbow shot back.

I looked back at the scene and all the panicked faces, especially the frightened man. I then got an idea that would probably work but might also fail. I could grab that power line and keep it at bay while absorbing the electricity like a battery so that he could escape. But since I’ve never done something like this, I’d probably end up frying myself in the process which would hurt like a bitch. Besides, that other guy said he’d shut the power off, maybe he’ll make it in time?

You really shouldn’t bother. Dante whispered. It was his fault for being stupid enough to end up in that situation. If he ends up dying, then he would only have himself to blame.

…

Yeah, but I’d also blame myself for not doing anything. I shot back as I placed my duffle bag on the ground.

Without warning I dashed towards the power line and downed man, ignoring the screams of protest behind me. The power line whipped around violently until it swung itself in my direction. I raised my hand while activating Electricity and caught the power line with my bare hand by the exposed wires.

BBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRZZZZZZZTTTTTT!!!

“HHHHHOOOOLLLLLLYYYY SHIIIIIIITTT!!!”

I felt the electricity from the wire flow through me like the biggest adrenaline rush I’ve ever gotten. My whole body had bolts of electricity sparking off of me as I held on to the wire tight. I grit my teeth and grunted and tried to stabilize the energy coursing through me and turned my head to the stunned worker still sitting on the ground.

“Get…away…NOW!” I shouted.

The man wasted no time and scrambled out of the way as I resumed my focus on the task at hand. I then reached over and grasped the power line with my other hand and continued to stabilize the flow within me. The sparks along my body danced and sparked as I held on and I felt something within me, like my Electricity was becoming stronger. I began to steady my breathing and my power and the sparks started to dwindle and spark out less. Eventually I finally stabilized the electricity flow and the sparks only covered my hands. I looked over to the girls who were in complete awe at the sight of me and I just smiled at them. The other workers walked up to me and just stared slack jawed.

“How…are you doing that?” One of them asked.

“It’s just my power.” I shrugged. “I can hold onto this for as long I want, but I’ve got somewhere to be. How long until your buddy turns off the power?”

“Uh…he should be at the power station by now so it shouldn't be too long.” The man said.

I glanced over to the buildings off to the side and saw that the lights were back on. Guess since I’m keeping the flow of electricity going they were able to light back up. But eventually I felt the energy from the power line diminish and the lights turned off, which meant that the power was switched off. Feeling that the power line had no more energy coursing through it, I dropped it to the ground and deactivated my Electricity. In doing so, I got a little dizzy all of a sudden and stumbled back a bit and fell to the ground on my ass.

“Are you ok?” The worker asked.

“Ugh, yeah…I just need a minute.” I groaned. “Jeezus, that was a jolt.”

You could’ve been killed. Dante growled.

Yeah well I didn’t, so screw you. I said.

“AX!”

I turned my head to see the girls running up to me and Moon almost tackling me flat on the ground.

“Thank the moon and stars you’re alright!” Moon cried as she peppered my cheek with kisses.

“Easy there Moon, I’m still a little sore from all that.” I said.

“Axel, how in the heck did you do that?!” Twilight yelped. “You should be burned to a crisp right now!”

“Did you forget what I told you about my Electrokinesis? I can absorb electricity like a battery without harm. Though it sure does a number on my body if I don’t control it properly.” I said as I picked myself up.

“That…was…AWESOME!” Rainbow cheered while flying up to me. “You looked so cool with all those bolts flying off you!”

“Ah gotta admit, though it was just plum crazy what ya did, ya sure managed to wrangle that wire up nicely.” Applejack said.

“Darling, are you positive you are alright?” Rarity asks.

“Oh yeah, never felt better.” I said as I stretched my limbs. I then started to hear different whispers here and there from the snobs.

“Did you see that? What in the world kind of magic was that?”

“That didn’t look anything like magic I’ve heard of.”

“It’s unnatural, he’s unnatural.”

“Perhaps he’s not even human if he can do something like that.”

“I agree, he’s more like a Demon.”

“What’s with these guys?!” Rainbow scoffs. “Axel just saved these men, and they say such mean stuff about him?!”

“Relax Rainbow, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.” I said.

“Hey buddy.” I looked to see the injured worker and he had a smile on his face. “You saved my life, I really appreciate that so thank you.”

“No problem, you gonna be ok?” I ask,

“I’ll live, it’s just a burn so it’s not a big deal. I gotta get back to work, thanks again!” He said as he waved goodbye.

I smiled as I turned with the others back in our original direction and I picked my duffle bag back up. All the girls kept making sure I was unharmed along the way, which was a little annoying because of the repetitiveness but I still welcomed it since they cared so much. We eventually arrive at the train station and the train is waiting there for us to board. Twilight shows the conductor the tickets and we all board the train. Once inside, I placed my duffle bag on the top shelf and set my sling pack with my Amp under my seat and sat down. Moon sits next to me as Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack sir across from us and Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy sit on the seats next to ours.

“So Axel, are you looking forward to going to Ponyville?” Twilight asks.

“You bet, Canterlot is nice but it’s a bit too snobby for my taste.” I said.

“Well I’m positive you both will enjoy Ponyville, and we’ll also make sure you fit in just like everyone else.” Twilight reassures me.

“Thanks Twilight, we appreciate it.” I said.

“All aboard!” We hear the conductor call out. Soon the doors close and the train begins to move. I take one last look at Canterlot as the train picks up speed and I smile.

No turning back now. I think to myself.

Author's Note

Axel’s little display of power may have earned him a nickname. Question is, if he’ll be able to prove them right or wrong? Only time will tell.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Agree to Disagree and Train Bandits

Chapter 10

ZAP!

“Ouch! Hey, watch those bolts, would you?”

“Whoops, sorry about that.”

Rainbow gave me a bit of a stink eye as she rubbed her arm where I accidentally zapped her. The electricity that I absorbed after saving that worker was still flowing through my body and sometimes small bolts of static crackled off my arms. I had accidentally bumped into Rainbow Dash when I passed her after coming back from the restroom and one of those bolts zapped her arm. As I sat back down next to Moon, I looked down at my hands and watched as the little bolts would sometimes dance around my fingers. I must’ve absorbed more energy than I thought and it’s starting to affect those around me. As a precaution, I deactivated my Electricity and replaced it with Smoke. The bolts seemed to have disappeared and small trials of smoke whisked around my hands.

“Is there something wrong with your powers?” Moon asked me.

“Hm? Nah, not really. Just a little surprised I was able to do something like that for the first time.” I shrugged.

“The first time?” Twilight inquired. “You mean you hadn’t done that before?”

“Nope, and to be completely honest that’s kind of the first time I’ve actually absorbed something. Normally I’d do it on my own but due to the circumstances, I had to act fast.” I explained.

“How intriguing.” Rarity commented. “Are you saying you are in need of replenishing your abilities from time to time?”

“Bingo, my powers aren’t limitless, per se. There’s still some things even I’m not entirely sure what I’m capable of.”

“How else do you absorb stuff?” Rainbow asked as she lounged on her chair.

“Well, as you’ve seen, Electricity requires a source of static electricity in order for me to recharge. Smoke is self explanatory, just point me to a fire and I can absorb them and the smoke to keep myself ablaze.” I explained as Twilight was writing something down on her paper again.

“Um…what about that pretty light power you used to make those cute little kitties on the wall?” Fluttershy whispered. “If you don’t mind me asking.

“And what about those sweet wings? That’s the first time I’ve seen a pair actually appear on someone.” Rainbow commented.

“Neon and Video? Well, they’re a bit more difficult to explain. First off, you guys have some kind of neon signs and light bulbs and stuff, right?” They all nodded. “Well think of it as me being able to absorb that light to fuel my Neon abilities.”

“Ya sayin’ ya can absorb light or somethin’?” Applejack asked.

“In a sense, yeah I can.” I nodded.

“Fascinating!” Twilight said as she scribbled all I said on her paper. “And what about Video?”

“Just to make sure, you guys have something called television, don’t you?” I asked and they all nodded again.

“I have a small TV screen at the library.” Twilight said. “I always like to watch documentaries.”

“As do I.” Rarity said as she flipped her hair. “I always watch Fleur de Lis’ fashion shows so that I can be inspired for my work.

“The baking channel is so much fun!” Pinkie chirped.

“So you all have TV’s.” I nodded again. “As for my Video power, I can absorb its digital code and make it my own. In turn, I’m able to project things that you’d see on a TV and bring them to life such as that Angel warrior you all saw back in the throne room.”

“Like your wings too?” Rainbow asked.

“That, and other things.” I said as I raised my hands above my lap.

I activated Video as my arms and hands became all digital and crackled statically. I’ve been meaning to test this theory of mine out ever since I played the games back home and wanted to see if it would work or not. I focused on an image in my head as video streams poured out of my hands. The streams swirled around in a circle on my lap like they did whenever I summoned an Angel warrior and an image formed. Suddenly, the image solidified and out plopped a little digital cat. The cat had little digital glitches around its body as its ear twitched and looked around for a moment and yawned. It meowed up at me, leaving everyone around me too surprised for words.

“Huh, I didn’t think that would work.” I said a little surprised myself as I reached up to pet it. It felt like a normal cat’s fur, despite the slight tingling feeling.

“OH MY GOODNESS!” Fluttershy squealed as she rose from her seat and squatted down right beside me and petted it as well, making it purr. “It’s so cute!”

“I’m completely baffled, Axel!” Twilight said as she scribbled more on her paper even faster than before. For a moment I thought she was gonna set it on fire, she seemed to be writing so fast. “There’s no spell on record that is able to do what you can!”

“It truly is a wondrous ability Ax.” Moon said happily as she scratched under the cat’s chin.

“Thanks, this power isn’t normally used like this but I thought I’d test a little theory of mine out. Guess it’s time I make this little guy disappear now.” I said as I was about to snap my fingers.

“Oh please wait!” Fluttershy pleaded as she grabbed the digital cat and hugged it close. “He doesn’t have to go now, does he?”

“Uh…no?” I shrugged. “I mean I suppose he can stay for the rest of the train ride.”

“Thank you!” Fluttershy said as she sat back down in her seat and continued to pet it.

Hmph, wasting your powers like that? You’re really pathetic… I heard Dante scoff in my head.

I scowled for a brief moment but took a small breath to calm myself down. “You all enjoy the cat, I’m gonna get some fresh air.” I said as I stood up again.

“Want me to come with you dude?” Rainbow offered.

“Thanks, but I sometimes like to think about stuff on my own from time to time.” I said as I picked up my pack and Amp. I gave her a mock wave over my shoulder and headed for the caboose.

Dante, you and I need to have a talk. I thought.

I guess we do.

A couple of train cars later, I made it to the caboose and stood just outside as the train chugged along. The sun was still high in the sky as the wind blew against my face. I took off my beanie and let my dirty blonde hair fly free but I wasn’t out here to enjoy the scenery. I closed my eyes and cleared my mind. I never really did that meditating shit before, but I guess now’s as good a time as any. Sure enough, I found myself lost in my thoughts and was within the void of my mind.

“Dante?” I called out

“You got balls reaching out to me.”

I turned around to see Dante standing there with his arms crossed. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the fact that he looks just like me, only thing different was his eyes and hair.

“We need to talk.” I said.

“Do we? Because so far you’ve been ignoring me and making choices on your own. So why the hell are you reaching out to me?” He dismissed as he checked his nails.

“I could just go back to ignoring you.” I said. “You’d be nothing but an annoying voice in my head, slowly fading away the more I ignore you.”

“Maybe, or maybe that’s what I want you to think. This world isn’t as kind as you thought, on account of what happened with Bluebitch and those bearded fuckers. Who knows when you’ll lose your cool again? Once that happens, I might use that to take over and show you how to really cut loose with these sweet powers.” Dante boasted with a toothy grin as he glanced up at me.

“I won’t lie, I did want to make those bearded ass heads suffer.” I admitted bitterly. “I even wanted to smack around Blueballs, but I wouldn’t go as far as killing anyone.”

“Why? You’ve done it before.”

“It was an accident.” I argued. “Self defence.”

“Sure it was.”

“This isn’t why I reached out to you!” I snapped.

“Then why the hell did you?!”

“Because!” I said as I clenched my fist but relaxed my hand soon after and sighed. “Because I just want us to reach some kind of understanding with one another.”

“Humph, and just what kind of understanding?” Dante wondered as he placed a hand on his hip.

“That little playback in my head, when I attacked those bearded guys, you were the reason why I imagined that, weren’t you?”

“Good guess, Sherlock, want some shit with that?” Dante mocked.

“My point is, are you the kind of guy who’d do something like that to anyone? Because you sounded pretty convincing that night, spouting all that shit about world domination and butchering people and stuff.” I questioned.

“Pfft, you really bought all that? I mean, sure, it’d be sweet to let loose and take over but even I have my lines.” Dante dismissed.

“So you said all that to trick me?” I accused, a little annoyed.

“Yes and no. Yes, because I wanted to see how you’d react if I said all that dark shit and no, because who doesn’t dream about taking whatever they want should they have the power to do so?” Dante fantasized.

“Sane people, that’s who.” I retort.

“Whatever, but I did mean what I said earlier, about you wasting your potential by doing all that pointless shit like drawing on the walls or making a fucking cat.” Dante scoffed.

“Since when do you care what I do with my powers?”

“Since it might cost you your life, should you continue to mess around.” Dante sneered. “You may think that this world is all sunshine and rainbows because of how colorful it is, but when in fact it’s got more than a few pieces of trash floating around. You know how to fight, but only a little, but I’m more than willing to do what you claim not to want to do: which is making the more fatal call.”

“I don’t wanna kill again.” I said bitterly.

“But there will be times when you might not have a fucking choice!” Dante hissed. “Call it what you will: an accident, a mistake, you being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It doesn’t matter! You’ve got blood on your hands and it’ll always stay there for as long as you live. That stupid kid from that night made his choice when he tried to mug you, even threatened your life, as did you when you took his gun. Who’s to say we won’t run into degenerates like those Viking looking motherfuckers again, or better yet more of them in the near future? I may run my mouth off by saying shit like I wanna go on a damn killing spree, but I don’t mean I wanna kill anyone who doesn’t deserve it.”

I didn’t want to admit it, but he was right in a way. This world did in fact have people like them, which was a little surprising but at the same time not really. I was too caught up in this foolish mindset that I’d be living the good life and away from any drama and fight only when I needed to. That wasn’t gonna be the case, but that doesn’t mean I had to like the idea.

“Fine, let’s just say that we agree to disagree.” I said, earning a scoff from Dante. “And…maybe you’re right, about what happened that night.”

“Am I now?”

“About the fact that I killed him, because I did, and I’m willing to admit that. What’s done is done and his blood will forever stain my hands. But that doesn’t mean I have to kill again.”

“God, again with this-”

“I said I don’t have to kill.” I said, interrupting him. “But…if you’re willing to do what I won’t, then maybe we can work out some kind of bargain?”

“A bargain?” Dante said, his interest peaked. “What exactly are you offering?”

“You have a point when you say that there will probably be more people like the ones we’ve met back in Canterlot. I’m even willing to guess that there even might be similar people in this town we’re headed to. So here’s my offer: if, and only IF, there comes a time when we come across someone who we agree is a threat to us and everyone’s life, I’ll let you deal with them.” I said.

“Are you saying…you’re giving me a pass to kill?” Dante asked, looking at me in slight disbelief.

“Only if there are no other options and we agree together…then yes.” I said reluctantly.

Dante stared at me for a moment, then smiled wickedly and began laughing out loud. “Hahahahaha! You’re serious?! You’re willing to let me take the wheel?!”

“Only when absolutely necessary.” I reminded him.

“Hah! I guess you’re not so much of a pussy as I thought you were.” Dante mocked, making me roll my eyes. “Fine, I’ll play along, but you have to keep your word on that.”

“I promise I-”

“And I have a condition before we shake hands.” He said, holding up a finger.

“What is it?” I wondered.

“From here on out, no more ignoring me.” He stated strictly. “Just because I’m stuck in the confines of your head doesn’t mean I have to be ignored. Whenever I wanna voice my opinion, you listen. Understand?”

“I can work with that, but I also have a condition.” I countered. “You leave Moon out of this, all of it.”

“Pfft, whatever, you do what you want with your new little girlfriend. I could care less.” Dante shrugged.

“So we have a deal?” I said, holding out my hand. Dante smirked as he reached out and gripped my own as we shook. Dante then looked off to the side, as if something caught his attention, and chuckled a little.

“I guess we’re gonna have to cut this short, Axel, we have company.” Dante said.

“What do you mean?” Before I could question any further, the whole world started to fade away, which meant I was beginning to come out of my trance.

“I look forward to the day I can reveal myself to the world, Axel, I’ll be sure to give them all a show they’ll never forget when they get a load of me.” Dante laughed maliciously as he completely faded away.

I opened my eyes and saw that I was still leaning on the railing and stood back up. I then put my beanie back on as a few shadows flew above me. Looking up, I saw a bunch of winged people flying towards the train, each armed with either swords, crossbows, and some had glowing hands which meant they could use magic. They were all wearing dark clothing and each one had bandanas covering their faces and I narrowed my eyes as they drew in closer.

“Shit, I don’t like the looks of those people.” I said to myself.

I glanced over to see a ladder leading to the roof of the car. I stepped over and climbed the ladder and stood up on the roof. The wind blew against me as my clothes flapped in the air. The group flying towards the train seemed to notice me as they flew down and right above the caboose car. As they hovered above me, I counted at least thirteen or so of them in total as the flyers dropped their passengers on the car.

“Well lookie here, boys. Seems like we got noticed before we had a chance to get the party started.” The leader said. She was a tall woman with a sort of muscular hourglass figure. She’s armed with two swords and has a black mohawk. Her ears and lips had piercings and she had dark red lipstick on. “You know something else?” She purred as she gazed at me flirtatiously. “He’s also quite the cutie~.”

“Thanks, I guess. Now who the hell are you lot?” I demanded.

“Ooh, feisty too.” The cooed. “I love it when the cute ones act tough. Well hot stuff, we’re what most would call a band of thieves, but I’d like to think of ourselves as entrepreneurs. We seek things that are of value to us, sometimes they belong to other people, but let’s not sweat the details.”

“Boss, let’s just get this over with!” One of her bandits pleaded. “This train will be at the next stop soon!”

“Shut it! I’m talking here!” The leader hissed, making the bandit cower away. “As I was saying, the name’s Opal Snatch, leader of the Opal Bandits. And we’re here to repossess some items that the passengers of this train have on them.”

“Hey Boss.” Another bandit said, nudging Opal. “Check out that thing on his back.”

Opal glanced at the handle of my Amp, making her eyes widen and she licked her lips. “That’s quite the shiny little object you got there, cutie pie. Shot in the dark, but that thing looks like it’s made of gold.”

“And what if it is?” I asked.

“Well, if it is, then how’s about a trade?” Opal offered, batting her eyelashes. “If you fork over that golden stick thing, we’ll be on our way, no questions asked.”

“But boss, what about the rest of the loot?” The bandit asked.

“One more word, and I’ll have your tongue!” Opal snarled over her shoulder. “I’ll even sweeten the deal, if you want.” Opal said with a smirk. “Since you look like you can handle yourself, why not join us?”

“Join you? A gang of bandits?” I said.

“Why not? It’s fun as hell, we do what we want, and the authorities haven’t caught us ever since we came together. Plus, I’ll even let you have a little one on one with me~.” Opal said with a husk in her voice. She was even bold enough to lean forward and pull her shirt a little to give me a view of her cleavage.

This chick already has it in for you, Ax. Dante teased in my head. And being a bandit does sound fun.

…

Not interested, Dante. I thought as I spread my legs a bit and unraveled my chain.

Eh, didn’t think so. So much for living life on the lamb. Dante shrugged.

“Sorry, but I’m more into keeping my good karma streak going.” I said as I twirled my chain around. “And as for this train and my Amp, none of you will be robbing anyone.”

Opal frowned and sighed as she twirled her sword. “That’s a shame, you really are cute. Take care of him, boys.”

One of the bandits charged at me with a large hammer and raised it up to smash on me. I activated Neon and poured my power in the chain, making it glow and from into a neon sword. Opal and her bandits looked shocked to see my power as the attacking grunt swung his hammer down; I countered by swiping my chain sword diagonally. I dodged the hammer and lunged forward with my chain as something heavy fell beside the bandit. I glanced over my shoulder to see the top end of his hammer cut off and a wide neon gash across his midsection. The bandit fell to his knee as he gripped the area where I slashed him, which gave me the perfect opportunity to subdue him. I then covered myself in Neon and sprinted in circles around him, enveloping him in binds of light as he fell down completely immobilized. When I stopped running, the neon faded from my body and I smirked at Opal’s shocked face.

“Next, hot stuff?” I mocked with a shit eating grin as I pulled out my smartphone and put in my earbuds.

“GET THAT LITTLE SHIT!” Opal shouted as her men in the air and on the roof charged at me. I quickly scroll through my playlist and hit play as I readied my neon sword.

As Opal’s bandits charged at me, I responded in kind by charging towards them as well. I jumped over one who swung his sword and front flipped as I landed behind him. Before he could turn around, I spun to the right and slashed his back leaving a neon gash. I then pointed my hand to his legs and fired a couple shots, making him fall to his knees as the neon lights bound his legs and body. I felt a couple presences behind me and I instinctively ducked just in time before a sword and a magic blast could hit my head. Two bandits armed with swords then attacked me from my left and right and I was barely able to dodge their attacks. I deflected the bandit on my right and countered him by punching him across his face and kicking him in the gut. The bandit on my left tried to kick me in my side but I sidestepped out of the way. A couple of flying bandits fired crossbow bolts at me and almost hit me, had I not jumped out of the way in time. My two opponents were on me again; I ducked just in time to dodge their attacks and shot neon beams at their chests. The both staggered back in a daze as I then shot at their legs which ended up binding them both in neon. I was about to fire at the flying bandits when I felt a strange draft on my head. When I reached up to feel my head, I felt my hair which made my eyes widen as I took off my beanie. To my anger, I saw that a part of my beanie had been cut off which made me glare at the bandits.

“You fuckers cut my beanie!” I hissed as I stuffed it in my back pocket. “Now you’re all gonna get it!”

I wrapped up my chain back around my wrist and clapped my hands together as my arms glowed bright with neon. I created a Stasis Bubble and hurled it at the flying bandits. A few were able to dodge but the others were caught in the blast as the bubble enveloped them in mid air as they were unable to move properly. I fired more neon blasts at their legs as the lights bound together their limbs and wings and they fell to the roof of the caboose with a thud. Some foot bandits charged at me again and a couple bandit’s hands pointed at me and were about to fire their spells; the others were following it up with their melee weapons. I backflipped after dodging more crossbow bolts and reached back to pull out my Amp. I extended the Amp and poured Neon into it as I reeled it back to swing with both my hands firmly grasping the handle. The neon made my Amp glow bright and turn into a large lightsaber sort of weapon. The magic bandits fired blasts of magic at me as the ones with swords came at me about ready to slash at me from all directions. Twisting my body, I swung my Amp sideways as hard as I could, causing a wave of neon light to shoot out and towards the attackers. The neon wave knocked the sword bandits backwards and flat on their backs and deflected the magic bandit’s spells and knocked them down as well. The wave shot towards the rest of the group and Opal was the only one who ducked in time as the others were caught in its wake. The downed bandits all had a large neon slash across their bodies and could no longer move, some were even knocked unconscious.

“Oh fuck this!” One of the remaining flying bandits yelped. “I didn’t know we were gonna fight some guy with freaky magic!”

“I’m with you, let’s get outta here!” Another said as he and the others flew off.

“The fuck do you think you’re going?!” Opal barked as she seethed at her retreating gang. “Get the fuck back here and fight!”

Not wanting to let them get away, I switched to Video and summoned forth an Angel warrior.

“My lord, what is your command?” The angel asked.

“Chase down the ones in the air trying to escape! Subdue them, and bring them back here!” I ordered it.

“By your command, my lord.” The angel nodded and flew after the fleeing bandits.

“Guess it’s just you and me, Opal.” I said, making her turn to me. “Most of your gang is down for the count and by the looks of it, we’re almost to town.” Opal glanced over her shoulder to see the town which was presumably Ponyville. “If you give up now, I’ll make it so the authorities treat you somewhat fairly.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, cutie.” Opal spat as she charged at me herself with her two swords. “I’m Opal Snatch! I never cower away from a fight! No matter what kind of crazy magic you have!”

“Suit yourself!” I said as I sheathed my Amp and unraveled my chain again.

I ran towards Opal and brought forth my digital sword and clashed blades with her. Opal and I traded blows and we seemed to be evenly matched, or it seemed so in the beginning. I didn’t really have any swordplay skills and Opal was able to land more small slashes on my arms and legs. I ducked down as she swung her sword for my head but I was met with her boot to my chest, which sent me flying and down on the roof. I skidded across until I managed to stop myself just at the edge before I fell off. I then heard a war cry from above to see Opal about to impale me so I spun to my left before her swords could skewer my head. I then scrambled to my feet but grunted in pain as my injuries started to catch up to me.

“You’re not bad, honey.” Opal said as she pointed her blades at me. “But not good enough, it’s time to end this!” Opal crossed her swords and charged at me once more. I shook my head and gripped my digital sword tight with both hands and charged at Opal as well. As Opal raised her swords up to go for a downwards slash, I raised mine out to the side and twisted my body with all my might for a powerful swing.

CLANG!

We both swiped at each other with all our might as we passed each other. There was a brief pause until I heard Opal cry out in pain and fall down to her knees as she dropped her swords and the song ended just in time.

“What?! Boss got hit?!” One of the subdued bandits said in disbelief.

I stood back up straight but grunted in pain as I looked down. There were a couple of gashes across my chest that bled through my shirt but I was thankful that they weren’t life threatening. I looked over to Opal and saw there was blood dripping from her midsection which meant I managed to cut her too. Before she could collect herself, I quickly walked over to her and raised my hands to the air. Blue digital swords appeared and came down on Opal and pinned her down on her stomach.

“What the tartarus?! What’s with these swords?!” Opal barked as she tried to move.

“Don’t bother.” I said as my self-healing started to kick in a little. “You’re all gonna stay put until we get to town. Once there, I’ll be sure to let the authorities take the proper measures to handle you lot.”

“Come on, honey, you don’t wanna do that!” Opal pleaded. “If you let us go…I’ll let you hook up with me!”

“Pfft, as if.” I scoffed as I rolled my chain back around my wrist. “Hate to break it to you, toots, but I already have a girlfriend. You’re just a bandit slut who’d be willing to offer her body for her freedom. Which, come to think of it, might explain why you’ve been able to not get arrested for so long. You just bang any one who means to turn you and your gang in.”

“Hey! It’s worked so far! I’m hot, admit it!” Opal snapped.

“I’m healthy enough to admit that you are attractive, but that still doesn’t mean I’m gonna accept your little offer.” I dismissed as I sat down next to her. I looked up to the sky to see my angel warrior flying back with the bandits subdued and being carried in his arms.

“My lord, I have captured the targets.” The angel said as he dropped the bandits.

“Good work, that’ll do for now.” I said. He nodded and disappeared.

“Wow, how were you able to do all that stuff?” Opal wondered in awe.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I retorted with a shit eating grin. “Now you be a good little bandit leader and keep quiet. I wanna be ready when we get there so I can see the look on everyone’s faces that I caught a group of bandits on my own.”

“Barely, you can’t swordfight for shit.” One of the bandits mocked, earning chuckles from all around. I furrowed my brows and switched to Electricity and zapped his but, making him yelp in pain. I reached around and pulled out my beanie and saw the damage that was done which made me frown a little. This beanie was the one my mother got for me when I was a kid, and the mere memory of her made me a little depressed.

“I wonder if they even miss me?” I wondered aloud as I stared up into the sky.

Author's Note

Axel manages to best the train bandits! Next chapter, entering Ponyville!

Side note, so sorry again for keeping you all waiting. Hopefully I won’t have any more writers blocks with this story.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building...

The Demon of Ponyville

Chapter 11

The train neared the platform at the train station and soon came to a full stop. As I watched the people leave and enter the train, I spied Moon and the others who were all looking for me. All the while, I noticed people looking at Moon in shock and confusion and kept watch to make sure no one did anything to cause any drama. I scanned the platform to see if I could spy anyone wearing guard uniforms or something. I soon saw a few men wearing a sort of armor and armed with weapons which meant those were the people to talk to. I stood up from sitting and cracked my neck and glanced down at Opal.

“I’ll be right back, so don’t go anywhere.” I said with a mocking wink.

Opal clicked her tongue at me as I walked to the edge of the caboose and jumped down on the platform. I winced a little since my injuries were still taking their time to heal and walked over to the guards. One noticed me walk up to them but he saw my bloody chest which made him frown at me with a worried look.

“Hey kid, are you alright? Those injuries look bad.” The guard said.

“Oh yeah, I’m totally fine.” I said as I waved my hand. “I actually need your help with something. Do any of you by chance know of a group called the Opal Bandits?”

“Opal Bandits? The train thieves? They’ve been a real nuisance and we haven’t been able to catch them for months. Why?” The other guard asked.

“Well I actually managed to catch them.” I said. The guards looked at me quizzically but then they all just smirked.

“Yeah right kid, go bother someone else.” The guard said.

“No, I’m serious.” I said, pointing at the caboose with my thumb. “In fact, you can see Opal herself from here.”

The guards then did a double take at the caboose and sure enough, they saw Opal and her gang all subdued on the roof. The guards looked back at me in shock but I just shrugged with a confident smirk. One of them then reached to the side of his belt and picked up a walkie-talkie radio.

“Uh…this is officer Baton Pass requesting a transport carriage to the train station, over.” The guard said.

“This is dispatch, did you say you needed a patrol carriage? What for? Over.” The voice on the radio said.

“The Opal Bandits are sitting on top of the caboose of the train, all tied up and subdued by this kid who claimed to have caught them all, that’s why. Over.”

“Seriously? They’ve been caught? Okay, we’ll send a transport carriage over right away. Over.”

The guards walked with me to the caboose where there was a bit of a crowd staring up at the bandits who continued to struggle out of their restraints. Opal peered over the edge of the car and saw me with the guards and scowled at me.

“Holy crap, you weren’t kidding, it really is Opal and her gang.” The guard said.

“Told you, so how long until that transport carriage gets here?” I asked.

“It should be here in about ten minutes. What’s with those strange lights and swords?” He wondered.

“Oh that’s because of me, is there a way to restrain them yourselves if I cancel their binds? Some of them can use magic.”

“I can use magic.” One of the guards said. “I’ll just cast a binding spell that will keep them tied up and won’t be able to use magic.”

“Fair enough.” I shrugged as we climbed up the latter and stood on the roof.

“Opal Snatch, you are hereby under arrest. You and your gang will be coming with us in shackles.” The lead guard said as he stared Opal down.

“I don’t suppose I can convince you boys to let me go? I’ll make it worth your while~.” Opal cooed as she batted her eyelashes.

“Nice try, but you’re going to prison no matter what.” The guard snapped.

“Damnit…” Opal pouted.

I then noticed that us being on the roof of the caboose had drawn in a crowd. From the crowd came Moon and the others and Moon looked the most worried, despite the few shocked faces who saw her.

“Hang on a minute, that woman looks familiar.” One of the guards said when he saw Moon.

“That’s Nightmare Moon.” I said bluntly, making the guards and even Opal snap their heads to me. “It’s a long story, but Princess Celestia and Princess Luna gave her a pradon to live here in Ponyville.”

“But…if she’s the Nightmare Moon, shouldn’t she be trying to plunge the world in eternal night like she did before?” Baton Pass asked hesitantly.

“She and I explained to the princesses that she no longer wishes to do any of that anymore. I understand her being here may cause some concerns but I assure you she means no harm.” I tried to say.

“So you say, but who’s to say she’s not trying to deceive everyone?” One of the guards questioned.

“You’re all entitled to be as opinionated as you want.” I shrugged as I walked to the edge of the caboose. “All I ask is that you give her a chance, and maybe try and spread the word that she’s here to make amends.”

“I can’t make any promises when I say that the people will just change their minds overnight.” Baton Pass added.

“That’s fine, I’ll be back up here once that carriage arrives.” I said before I hopped down to meet the girls. Moon and the others approached me but Moon gasped when she saw the blood on my shirt.

“Ax?! What happened to you?! Why are you bleeding?!” Moon asked frantically as she started to poke at my body to make sure I wasn’t hurt anywhere else.

“I’m fine, those bandits up there just gave me a bit more trouble than expected.” I said, pointing up to the roof of the caboose.

“Bandits?” Applejack repeated.

“You fought bandits when you stepped out?” Rarity asked.

“But I thought you just wanted to clear your thoughts.” Twilight said.

“Well I was, that is until Opal Snatch and her gang up there ruined my zen.” I shrugged.

“Wait a minute, Opal Snatch? As in Opal Snatch of the Opal Bandits? The same gang that’s been causing trouble for months, Opal Snatch?” Rainbow questioned as she walked right up to me.

“The very same, she and her gang gave me a run for my money but I managed to subdue them all. Damn swords hurt like a bitch though, almost as much as getting shot by a crossbow bolt.” I said, rubbing my chest. Rainbow was silent for a moment until a wide smile stretched across her face.

“You are so cool!” She cried as she flapped her wings a bit. “You have these awesome powers and you battled a gang of bandits on top of a moving train? Is there anything you can’t do?”

“Well I can’t sing for shit.” I joked with a shit eating grin, making her chuckle and slug my arm playfully. Soon there were sirens in the distance as a couple large carriages pulled up. Like the ones I saw in Canterlot, each one had a guy driving it and he was steering it with a wheel. The engine was also visible in the back and there were parts of it that were glowing a little like when someone uses magic.

Guess their tech is as modern as they say, but powered by magic. Who knew?

From one of the carriages, a serious looking woman wearing sunglasses steps out along with a small group of guards. She had long braided steel grey hair that went down to the middle of her back and a pair of fairly large wings. She wore what looked like your typical police hat and it had the symbol of the sun and moon on it. She and her guards walked up to the train and towards me as the girls moved out of the way. When she stood before me, I noticed that she was a few inches taller than me, which was a little vexing since I’m used to being the tallest one of those around me. The lady looked me over and arched a brow as she took off her sunglasses, her eyes were a piercing blue.

“You, what’s this I hear about the Opal Bandits being captured on top of a train?” The lady demanded.

“You’d have heard right…uh, ma’am.” I said, trying to sound polite.

“First off, don’t call me ma’am. Do I look like a ma’am?” She asked one of the guards to which he just shook his head. “Second, my name is Captain Lapis Law and I expect you to tell me the truth for my next question.” I could only nod in response since I got the feeling this is someone I shouldn’t fuck with. “Third, I heard that a kid managed to capture the whole lot of Opal’s gang. I was enjoying a nice cup of coffee back at the office, but then I got that call which managed to sour my whole morning. Next thing I know, I’m in a carriage, here at the train station, there’s an annoying crowd of people, and…” She trailed off when her eyes noticed Moon and they narrowed as she looked back at me. “Of all people to see, Nightmare Moon herself. So since you seem to be the kid in question, you had better start explaining yourself before I slap a pair of cuffs on Opal, Nightmare Moon, and you.”

This bitch sure is annoying with all the badgering she’s giving you. Dante snarled. Maybe show her that it’s us she shouldn’t fuck with.

I don’t think that’s necessary, Dante. She’s just doing her job. I protested.

But you were the one who did all the hard work, who is she to bitch at you for doing their job?

I understand, but I’m more worried about Moon.

Then tell her off! Don’t let her intimidate you just cause she’s got a badge! Stand up for yourself! Slap the shit out her!

…

“You’re really rude, you know that?” I spat as I crossed my arms.

“Excuse me?” Lapis sneered.

“Nah, I don’t think I will.” I said, making the girls and anyone who heard look at me like I had grown a third head. “In fact, I think it’s you who should excuse me.”

“You little punk…” Lapis said as her wings twitched angrily. “You must be pretty damn stupid to mouth off to me.”

“Who are you, the bitch of bitches?” I huffed. Lapis’ eyes widened and was about to punch me. My eyes narrowed as I activated Electricity and sparks flew off my body. Lapis flinched and jumped back a little as she and all the others stared at me in shock. In the corner of my eye I thought I saw some of the bolts were red instead of blue but I chose to ignore that. “Here’s the deal, Captain, I’m new to town and as you can see, I can handle myself just fine. You are an officer of the law and I will respect your rules and whatever else this little humble abode has to offer. As for Opal, I’m the one who took them all on and subdued them. Which means I did you a big favor, I have successfully closed a case that was probably a pretty hefty file on your desk, so you’re welcome. As for Nightmare Moon, she and I just had a talk with the Princesses and they gave her a small pardon so she can roam free and see the world. She no longer wants to cover the land in eternal night because she was able to see there were more cons than pros in her plan, no offence.” I glanced to Moon who smiled a little. “Point is, she’s not a threat and I and those girls who’re standing beside her can vouch for her. I’m not telling you or anyone else around here to believe me right off the bat since she’s got a bit of a notoriety. Just to stand by and observe her for the new woman she is.”

Lapis blinked and glanced at Moon, then to her guards, and back to me. “You’ve got serious guts, no one’s ever talked to me like that.”

“Then allow me to one up myself.” I said as the bolts cracked a bit more around me, along with the red bolts every now and then. “Threaten me or Moon like that again, and I’ll show you what I’m really capable of.”

“Threatening a guard, a captain no less, is a punishable offence.” Lapis said.

“I don’t give a shit, just know that I’m not the bad guy.” I countered.

Lapis and I stared at each other for a moment until she smirked a little and nodded her head. “You are a strange kid, but you seem to have a sense of duty and morality, I respect that. I’ll choose to believe you, both about you nabbing Opal and your claim on Nightmare Moon. However I will still be keeping my eye on you and her.”

“Fair enough.” I said as I deactivated my power and stepped to the side. “They’re all yours.”

Lapis nodded and gestured to her guards to climb the caboose. Once they were in position, I snapped my fingers and my Neon and Video bindings disappeared so they could restrain Opal and her gang themselves. While Lapis was doing her own thing, I turned back to the group of girls who were all staring at me completely slack jawed.

“Sorry about the little rant, I didn’t want to be talked down like that.” I said, scratching my chin.

“Axel, you shouldn’t have talked to Captain Lapis like that.” Twilight said disapprovingly. “She was just doing her job.”

“And what? You expect me to bow my head and be a doormat? That’s not how I operate Twilight.” I dismissed.

“You could’ve been arrested!” Rarity added with a huff.

“For speaking my mind? Talk about a dumb reason for being cuffed.” I rolled my eyes.

“But if you were taken away, how else would you come to the party?” Pinkie asked.

“Party? What party?”

“GASP! OH NO! I GOTTA GET READY!” Pinkie yelped and sped off, leaving a pink cloud of dust in her wake where she stood.

“That…was weird.” I sighed. “Anyway, you all have nothing to worry about. If it makes you feel better, I’ll try not to act out anymore.”

“We’ll be holdin’ ya to that, partner.” Applejack said.

“Come, it’s time to introduce you to Ponyville.” Twilight said.

As we exited the station, Moon took off her tiara and made it disappear with her magic. She then made her hands glow and she made her dress transform into more casual looking attire. She was now wearing a simple dark blue t-shirt, black skinny jeans, and grey heeled shoes with laces. She then snapped her fingers and tied her hair up in a ponytail, which made her look like a completely different person. When she looked up at me, she giggled sue to the fact that my mouth hung open a little because of her sudden wardrobe change.

“Careful, Ax, you will catch flies if you keep your mouth open.” Moon said.

“I…how did you do that?” I wondered.

“I’m still wearing my dress, I just changed them to fit in until I acquire proper clothes.” Moon said. “Do you like it?”

“Yeah, it looks great.” I said.

Moon giggled again as she walked alongside me as we neared towards town. I was looking forward to seeing what this town was all about. Little did I know, I was about to face something that would mean a drastic standpoint from everyone.

The town itself was a cozy looking place and looked like something out of a children’s story book. The people were smiling and waving to each other and some even waved our way to greet the girls. Some people who saw Moon looked to her in surprise and others backed away or didn’t look at her. I noticed Moon seemed a little sad that people were so untrusting of her, but I reminded myself that this is only the first step for gaining their trust.

“Relax Moon, I’m sure they’ll come around eventually.” I said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“I feel as though I made more of a bad name for myself than I presumed.” Moon sighed.

“Well you can’t exactly blame us.” Rainbow commented, glancing over her shoulder.

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity snapped.

“What? I’m just being honest.” Rainbow shrugged.

“No, the Element of Loyalty is right.” Moon said. “Everyone knows of my transgressions from the past and weeks ago. To be honest I am still puzzled as to why Celestia and Luna bothered to forgive me after what I had done.”

“Celestia has always been a kind woman and a benevolent ruler, she always tries to see the good in those when others don’t.” Twilight said.

“And what of Luna, Twilight Sparkle?”

“Well…she seemed to be forgiving, right?” Twilight said sheepishly.

“She and I were once of the same mind, I could tell all she had done and said was because her sister told her to.”

“Come now, Nightmare, Princess Luna wouldn’t say all of that and lift the tracking spell if she was not forgiving.” Rarity tried to say.

“Then why didn’t any of you bother to speak to me when Axel had left us?” Moon accused.

“Hold up.” I said, halting our walk. “You all ignored her?” The girls all looked at each other nervously which only made me more ticked off. “What the hell, why are you all acting like this? Did you lie when you all said you’d give her a chance?”

“No! Of course not!” Twilight pleaded. “It’s just…well.”

“We didn’t mean to make you mad, Axel.” Fluttershy muttered as she hid behind her mane.

“Then why ignore her?” I demanded. “She’s not a villain anymore and she just wants a second chance. So what, when either me or Celeista aren’t around, you give Moon the cold shoulder?”

“It ain’t as simple to forget what happened, Ax.” Applejack said.

“I know that, but that doesn’t mean you need to lie.” I accused.

“We didn’t lie, we just need more time.” She argued.

“Yeah? Well I hope you’re right, because this isn’t just about Moon. This is about you all as well.” I said.

“Why us?” Rainbow wondered.

“I haven’t been here long, but I can tell that this town holds the lot of you in high regard since I’ve seen almost every person wave at you with welcoming smiles. Excluding the fact that you’re all bearers of those element things, you’ve all gained the respect and recognition in your own way. If they see that you lot don’t see eye-to-eye with Moon, they’ll also distance themselves. I’m not trying to make you do anything you don’t want to, but at least try to make an effort.” I said.

All the girls then hung their heads and frowned since they knew I was right. Fluttershy then stepped forward towards Moon and held her hands close to her chest as she raised her head her face wouldn’t cover her face anymore.

“Um…I’m sorry.” She whispered.

Moon smiled and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “No need for apologies, Element of Kindness, I forgive you.”

“Ah guess Ah should apologize as well.” Applejack said as she took off her hat. “You were tellin’ the truth when ya said you weren’t wanting to hurt no one and Ah let mah paranoia get the best of me.”

“I am as well.” Rarity said after clearing her throat. “One must always try to look past the bad to see the good.”

“We will surely try to be better in trying to make a connection with you, Nightmare.” Twilight said.

“Well, I may be sorry, but I still don’t really trust you.” Rainbow stated sternly.

“Rainbow?!” Twilight snapped.

“The same kinda applies to me.” Applejack added as she put her hat back on.

“You too Applejack?!” Twilight said.

“You can complain all you want, Twilight, forgiving is one thing but trusting is on a whole other level. I just want to make sure she doesn’t pull anything like she sis before again.”

“Eeyup.” Applejack agreed.

Twilight was about to protest again but I raised my hand to stop her. “Fair enough.” I nodded.

“Are you sure Ax?”

“She’s right, trust is a two way streak. As a wise man from my world once said: trust, but verify.”

“Wise words.” Moon said. “And I too am content with your feelings, Element of Loyalty and Element of Honesty. I will surely try and not disappoint you.”

Suddenly, a cry for help filled the air and we all snapped our attention to see a few women surrounded by a group of men. My emotions skyrocketed into anger as I recognized the clothing they wore; they were the same as the men we encountered back in Canterlot who threatened to take Moon. Each one had a thick beard and they all had a disgusting look in their eyes. The women they were surrounding held each other nervously. One of them had long ash colored hair that looked like something I’ve seen those fancy cellist people wear with the slacks, vest, dress shirt, and pink bowtie. The other woman had short electric blue hair and wore an outfit like she was some kind of DJ. She wore jeans that were torn at the knees, a white loose tank top with a music note on the front, high top shoes, a pair of snazzy looking violet sunglasses, and headphones over her head.

“Oh no…” Fluttershy whimpered.

“It’s those bastards again.” Rainbow sneered.

“You all know them?” I questioned.

“They’re supposed to be visitors from another country but all they’ve done is give Ponyville a hard time.” Twilight said, also a little agitated. “They’ve been harassing everyone ever since they arrived, but mostly the women.”

“Guards always manage to stop them before they take things too far, but can’t do much since they’re apparently on official business.” Applejack said.

“They’re very mean and always try to take girls with them to…do things.” Fluttershy said.

So the bearded fuckers are even here. Dante hissed. Axel, let me take over.

What?! Are you crazy?!

Look at them, Axel! The bastards are about to abuse those girls and do who knows what to them!

But the guards will be here to diffuse the situation, right?

Oh sure, or maybe they’ll arrive too late! We talked about this Axel, and this is a prime example! Dante argued. I let you off with Opal, but this is something I know even you can’t ignore! It’s something I can’t ignore! You know as well as I that these guys are nothing but scum and will wreak havoc on these people if we don’t run them out! Better yet, I believe they’d get the message if we scare them straight by beating the shit out of them within an inch of their lives!

And Risk becoming a pariah?

Who the fuck cares?! If they didn’t get the memo, that not everything is as harmonious as they make it to be, then we- no, I will show them! Let me out, Axel, and I’ll show you just what I mean!

I was extremely hesitant to let Dante take control because I was anxious about what he would do. I was about to argue with him again, until one of the men grabbed the blue haired woman and slapped her across her face.

“How dare that brute do that to Vinyl!” Rarity cried in anger.

“That’s it, I’m gonna beat the shit out of them!” Rainbow said as she unfurled her wings.

“Wait Rainbow! The guards will be here soon!” Twilight protested.

What the fuck are you waiting for?! What more proof do you need?!

…

Dante…make them fucking scream. I thought darkly.

Oh trust me, it’ll be my pleasure. Dante hummed with malicious delight.

“Moon.” I said, making her look to me. “No matter what happens, just know that this is for the greater good.”

“What?”

“You’ll all thank me one day.” I said as I closed my eyes and lowered my head. I could feel Dante waste no time to pull me from reality as I felt him replace me. I was back in the void, with a front row seat of what Dante was about to do.

Dante 1st POV

The moment I replaced Axel, I took in a deep inhale of fresh air and moved my fingers a bit. The feeling of using actual lungs was…a bit surreal as I slowly raised my head. I then opened my eyes to see the images I only saw through Axel’s mind, all colorful and full of life. When Nightmare and the others looked at me, they all gasped and stepped back a bit.

“A-Axel?” Twilight stutterd. “Why are your eyes red?”

“Aren’t they supposed to be green?” Rainbow asked, a little uneasy.

I slowly raised a hand to look at it, I was in control so I should say it was my hand. After opening and closing it a few times, I smiled widely and began to chuckle a little. My chuckled soon turned into a low laugh, then it grew louder as I activated Electricity. The way the red bolts sparked violently across my arm made me laugh even more as I now looked at both of my hands.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!” I laughed like a mad man, making the group back away from me more and those around to stare at me. “OH, WHAT A FEELING! TO MOVE AND BE FREE INSTEAD OF BEING JUST A DAMN OBSERVER! THE POWER FEELS SO MUCH FUCKING BETTER THAN BEFORE!”

Nightmare gasped as her eyes widened in disbelief. “No…Dante?”

“Dante? Who’s Dante?” Applejack asked, only to glance at Nightmare.

“You catch on quickly, Nightmare Moon.” I scoffed with an evil smirk. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head, Axel will be back shortly. For now, I have some bastards to put in their place.”

I pushed the group away as I made my way over to the group of bearded fuckers who were still hassling the two women. None of them seemed to notice me which was perfect since I wanted to catch them all by surprise. I unraveled the chain and started spinning it around to gain momentum. Red bolts began flying everywhere as I neared my prey and my anger was only growing at the mere sight of these scumbags. Once I was close enough, I swung my hain around and whipped it forward to wrap around one of their necks. The chain flew around the one closest to me and I pulled, making the chain snap around him and electrocute him. I made sure not to put too much juice into the chain so as to not kill him, yet, but he sure did scream like a bitch. His wailing made his companions snap their heads to me as I canceled the Electricity and pulled my chain back. My victim was stiff, occasionally twitching, until he fell backwards and on his back.

“Pfft, what a fucking pussy.” I said as I wrapped the chain around my wrist.

“You dare attack us?!” One of them roared as he came at me with his axe drawn. I smiled devilishly as I activated Video and held my hand up. Red digital claws grew from my hand as I grabbed his axe, shocking both him and his companions.

“So noisy.” I hissed. I made my other hand grow claws and swiped my hand to the side. There was a brief silence until three large gashes appeared on his chest and blood leaked out. The man grunted and staggered back as he fell to his knees and clutched his chest.

“Who the fuck are you to do this?! Do you know who we are?!” Another said.

“Nope.” I said as I made my claws disappear and snapped my fingers. “But you’ll soon know who I am.” A red digital ring appeared around me, making the area glow red. There was then a low growl from the digital strands coming together as they formed a demon. It was taller than me and looked just like the ones from those games Axel played. It snarled at the men who all began to cower as I looked over its shoulder to me. It then turned around and bowed to me by bending his knee.

“Master…” It hissed. “What is your bidding?”

“Help me plant the seed of fear in their hearts.” I said with a wicked smile.

“Yes, Master.” The demon said as he rose to his feet and growled again at the men. They were all staring at me in absolute fear, the two women and the people around me as well, as I chuckled darkly at them all.

“You lot are so cowardly when it comes down to it.” I mocked. “It would be so damn easy to have my little servant here tear you all limb from limb, but I won’t. No, because since this is the first time I’m experiencing the outside, I’ll let you live while you scamper off with your tails between your legs. But I can’t send you off without a parting gift.” I snapped my fingers again and the demon paced over to two of the shivering men. It then raised its claws and swiped it across their chests, leaving the same bloody gashes I did as they cried out in pain and fell to the ground. “None of their injuries are life threatening, not yet at least. This is all only a taste of my power, and warning to you should you be more fucking stupid than you already are. Leave this town, never come back. If your boss, whoever he is, has a problem with me, then he can tell me my damn self. So do us, and most importantly me, a favor…AND GET THE FUCK OUT BEFORE I SLAUGHTER YOU ALL LIKE THE SWINE YOU ARE!!”

The men wasted no time and picked up their fallen friends and ran for it. I glared at them as some more came out from some of the buildings and joined their escape. The demon turned to me and kneeled again.

“Until my next summons, Master.” The demon hissed as it faded away.

“Heh, not a bad entrance for The Demon of Ponyville.” I said aloud as Axel moved in to push me back into his mind.

Author's Note

Dante’s demonic appearance rattles the residence. What new obstacles will Axel face now that he let his darker half run amok?

Hope you enjoyed.

Also, let me know if the background music was acceptable. If not, I'll change it. 😅

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Demanding Explanations and To Party Like a Conduit

Chapter 12

Axel 1st POV

I blinked my eyes as I regained control of my body and I could hear Dante chuckling darkly in my mind. I looked around to see many people staring at me in either shock or fear. I frowned as I knew something like this would happen when I let Dante loose, but I didn’t expect Dante to make such a freaky spectacle for the residents. I turned back to the girls Dante saved and they were both hugging each other with fearful expressions. I sighed as I scratched the back of my head, trying to figure out how to explain to them about what just happened.

“Um…” I tried to speak. “Are you two alright?”

“What the fuck was that about?!” The blue haired girl shrieked.

“I agree! What in the name of Equestria did you just do?” The other girl asked, her voice sounded british.

“Okay, I know this looks bad, but at least you’re safe, right?” I tried to say.

“Safe? From you? You just summoned a damn demon!” The blue haired girl said.

“Okay, fair enough, but it wasn’t gonna hurt either of you.” I said.

“A demon not hurting anyone?!” The english girl snapped. “Since when?!”

“Since me, that’s when.” I argued. “I was the one who brought him forth and there’s no way I was gonna let it hurt either of you. The only ones I allowed it to hurt were those bastards who were harassing you. Now, I get that my actions were very violent and scary, but I can assure the both of you weren’t in any danger.”

“Fat chance!” I heard someone say. “You looked like you were gonna tear them to shreds!”

“It was bad enough that the visitors from the north were giving us a hard time, now you come out of nowhere like a monster out of Tartarus!” A lady accused.

“Yeah! And what’s with that creepy red lighting!” Another man demanded as he walked up to me and got in my face. “You scare these girls and the rest of us half to death with your dark magic, and you have the nerve to say you mean no harm?! You’re just a freak!”

This asshole is pushing it, big time. Dante hissed. Axel, blast him away and send a message to these people that you’re not the kind of person to mess with. They should be grateful we chased off the scum, not hassling us.

I noticed that Moon and the others were making their way to me and some of them looked a little nervous at the sight of me. The man glaring at me smirked a little like he wanted me to react. I could oblige Dante by frying this douchebag, then I’d be showing him and everyone else that I wouldn’t be taking any shit from anyone who wanted to mess with me. But I then glanced over to the two girls who I saved. They still looked uneasy and I wanted to prove to them that I wouldn’t hurt them or anyone else who didn’t deserve it.

…

I get you’re angry, Dante, but you’ve had your fun. We need to play this carefully from now on, but I promise you’ll have another chance to cut loose.

Hmph, whatever, I’ll be holding you to that.

“I’m not a freak.” I said raising my hands. “Strange powers, yes, but not a freak I most certainly am not.”

“Then why did you-”

“I’m not done.” I said holding my hand in front of the man’s face. “My power is nothing you, or anyone around here has seen before.” I gestured to everyone staring and the girls behind him. “I’m new around here and I’ll admit that my introduction could’ve gone smoother and I apologize for scaring the ever loving shit out of you.”

“You can say that again.” The blue haired girl deadpanned and her friend nodded in agreement.

“Hey, you two are welcome for saving your asses.” I shot back, pushing the man aside. “If it weren’t for me, the both of you would be those bearded bastards playthings by now.”

“But did you have to be so…violent?” The british girl asked.

“Wouldn’t you?” I countered. “I saw how they treated the two of you, how they slapped you like a bi- I mean, so disrespectfully.” I caught myself. “I ran into more of those assholes back in Canterlot who were giving the Princesses themselves a hard time. Plus, no one else got hurt besides them, right?”

“Who’s to say you won’t hurt us?” The blue haired girl asked unconvinced.

“Oh for the…” I facepalmed. “I was just pissed off, alright? Those fuckers deserved it and anything else I could’ve done to them. But I swear I won’t hurt anyone who doesn’t deserve it.”

“Is that so?”

I turned around to see Lapis Law with a couple other guards behind her and her arms were crossed. I smiled sheepishly since she obviously either saw and or heard of my, or rather Dante’s, little display of rage.

“Hey there Lapis.” I waved innocently.

“Captain Lapis.” Lapis corrected. “Not even an hour and you’re already making a scene.”

“But I saved these girls.”

“Saved them? From who?”

“Some bearded bastards who were apparently giving this town a hard time.”

“The northerners?” Lapis said surprised. “You drove them off?”

“Yep, they should all be gone by now after I roughed them up a but and threatened to slaughter them.” I said bluntly. Lapis stared at me for a moment until a wide smile stretched across her face and she busted out laughing.

“Hahahahaha! I like this kid!” Lapis’s said as she wrapped her arm around me. “You have no idea how much I wanted to run those bastards out of town!”

“Wait, seriously?” I asked as Lapis held me close.

“Oh, you have no idea! You did what we couldn’t for months! And for that, you’re automatically on my good side. Unless you do something shitty, but I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.”

To say I was surprised would be a bit of an understatement. For a second there, I thought I was gonna be arrested for assault or something and the next thing I know I’m being hugged by the captain of the local guard. Lapis smirked at me before releasing me and cleared her throat to address the crowd.

“Listen up people! This kid’s not a threat! He got rid of the assholes who were giving us a hard time all these months! I say so, and it doesn’t matter what he did and how he did it! He just had more of a spine to do what we couldn’t and we owe him big time!” Lapis announced.

“But what about that demon and those creepy magic?” Someone asked.

“It’s not magic…” I said to myself.

“I am willing to look past it so long as he keeps his little abilities in check.” Lapis said, eyeing me. “And none of you should be so quick to judge based on actions, even though his methods are highly questionable.”

I’ll show her ‘questionable’ if you let me talk with her.

Please don’t, please?

I decided to speak up and cleared my throat. “I know I already said this, but I’m on your side.” I stepped towards the two girls and held out my hand. “So how’s about we start over? Hi, my name’s Axel Rickert, it’s nice to meet you.”

The two girls looked at each other until the blue haired girl decided to step forward and take my hand.

“I still don’t really trust you, but you did technically save us from those jerks. Name’s Vinyl Scratch, I guess it’s…somewhat interesting to meet you.” She said with a half-hearted smile.

“Likewise.” I said.

“Come on, Tavi.” Vinyl sighed as she glanced over her shoulder. “He’s a nice guy so come introduce yourself.”

The other girl glanced around until she also sighed and approached me and held out her hand. “Though I may not agree with your methods, I suppose I too am thankful for your assistance. My name is Octavia Melody, charmed to meet you.”

I grasped her hand and decided to pull a little Prince Charming on her for the hell of it. I got down on one knee and bowed my head and held my other hand behind my back. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Miss Melody. I must apologize for my uncouth behavior and frightening you, but I couldn’t let those men do whatever they pleased.”

The girl was taken back by my gesture as I stood up. Her friend, Vinyl, busted out laughing and slugged my shoulder playfully.

“Ha! You sure got her good, dude! I did not expect you to pull that!” Vinyl laughed. “I’m glad you’re not as bad as I thought, we gotta go but I hope we see you again soon.” She waved goodbye as she dragged her friend away.

The rest of the people seemed to have gotten the message and dispersed, leaving me, Lapis, and the girls. “So, am I seriously not gonna be arrested and stuff?”

“Not unless you wanna do something stupid like actually hurt someone and make me regret speaking out for you.” Lapis said, eyeing me suggestively.

“I don’t plan to.” I said with my hands raised. “But just for future warning, I do have a bit of an unstable temper.”

Hey!

“But it’s stable enough, I can assure you.”

“Here’s hoping.” Lapis snorted. “Well I’d love to stick around to hang over your shoulder, but I have a desk full of paperwork to burn back at the barracks. I’ll see you around, Rickert, you can count on that.”

Once she and her guards left, Moon took the opportunity to march up to me with a very displeased look.

“Axel Rickert, what in the name of my moon were you thinking?!” Moon shrieked.

“Uh, Nightmare?” Applejack said.

“Hey come on, he didn’t kill anyone. Plus it was part of our little agreement that he be let out from time to time.” I tried to say.

“Hey, Axel.” Rainbow said.

“What agreement?! You told me you would never let him take over!” Moon snapped.

“Nightmare, please listen.” Rarity said.

“Well it was either that or he became a liability to me in the near future.” I argued. “He and I came to an understanding.”

“Axel, we need to talk with you!” Twilight said.

“An understanding?! I still don’t-”

“WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL US WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!”

Both Moon and I jumped at Fluttershy’s sudden outburst. When we turned to her, she immediately hid behind her hair and her cheeks flushed red. “I’m sorry, but we really would like to know what just happened, if you don’t mind.”

I really didn’t want to say everything about Dante so soon, maybe try and ease them into it for a couple of weeks, but I guess there was no avoiding it at this point

It’s up to you, man.Dante said. I could care less, but I will warn you that they might not be as forgiving as Nightmare Moon.

“Alright…” I sighed as I walked over to a nearby bench and sat down. “I’ll tell you, everything. Who that was, why he exists, and what happened to me that created him in the first place.”

“Him? But there’s only one of you.” Rainbow pointed out.

“Not exactly.” I shook my head. “What you saw was my split personality. His name is Dante, and he’s all my worst self in a split consciousness.”

Some Time Later

“And so Dante and I came to an agreement back at the train that I would let him take over whenever I couldn’t make the tough decisions. Such as slicing those assholes up and running them out of town.”

The looks on everyone’s face after I finished telling them about my accident and Dante were a mix of expressions. Twilight was shocked, Rainbow was pissed, Applejack narrowed her eyes at me, Rarity was dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, Fluttershy was crying and wiping her tears, and Moon still looked disappointed in me.

“I can’t believe this!” Rainbow gritted her teeth. “What kind of parents neglect their own kid like that and can’t even accept the fact that they were in the wrong!”

“They basically drove ya away by the sounds of it.” Applejack said.

“To think, a noble soul like you, would be forced to take another life for the sake of protecting your own.” Rarity weeped.

Fluttershy walked over to me and embraced me in a hug as she cried on my shoulder, which surprised me a little. “I’m…so sorry you went through all of that, Axel.” Fluttershy whimpered.

“I appreciate it, Fluttershy, but don’t worry, I’m over it.” I said as I gently pat her back.

“But…I don’t understand.” Twilight said. “This split personality of yours, Dante? He can reside in your mind and take control whenever you allow it?”

“Well that is how split personalities work, right? I mean, Moon was a split personality for Luna. So it’s pretty much the same deal with me and Dante, only we managed to work out a sort of truce with one another.”

“Be that as it may.” Moon said, still scowling at me. “I believe you told me that you would never allow yourself to be influenced by Dante, Axel. Why the sudden change of heart?”

“Well I-”

God, I can’t stand listening to this. Move over, Axel.

“What?! No, Dante, Wait! Ugh…”

My eyes grew heavy and my body slumped forward as Dante pushed my consciousness aside.

Dante 1st POV

I opened my eyes and smirked, making the girls flinch and take a step back.

“Sup.” I waved a little. Fluttershy eeped and scurried away behind Applejack.

“Dante…” Nightmare growled.

“Dante? You’re Dante?” Twilight asked.

“What gave it away, the red eyes?” I asked mockingly as I raised my hand in front of me. I activated Electricity a little as small red bolts danced off the palm of my hand. “Or maybe it was the red bolts?”

“Back off, you jerk!” Rainbow snapped as she stood in front of her friends protectively. “Bring back Axel right now!”

“God, you have an annoying ass voice.” I rolled my eyes as I lowered my hand. “Honestly, I’m surprised Axel didn’t slap you for having being so bitchy.”

“What did you call me?!” Rainbow snarled as she unfurled her wings.

“Rainbow Dash, please don’t!” Nightmare said as she raised her arm.

“I’m not here to fight, not yet at least.” I said as I leaned back on the bench. “I’m just here to clear the air with our little situation.”

“What could you possibly want, you brute?” Rarity demanded.

“To get you guys off Axel’s and more importantly my ass, toots.” I said before yawning.

“T-Toots?!” Rarity shrieked.

“Axel was smart to contact me and set up this little agreement, he may be a little bitch sometimes, but he ain’t dumb. I was actually planning on biding my time and forcefully taking over and leaving Axel to watch as I terrorized anyone who was being an asshole, like I did earlier.” Moon scowled at me as I noticed her hands were clenched and began to glow. “But, I’m not unreasonable and neither was Axel. He and I talked it out and he agreed that I would be able to take the wheel every now and then.”

“And ya think we’ll just allow that?” Applejack questioned. “Ya nearly killed those men.”

“And I probably should’ve.” I dismissed her. “Scumbags like them should be rotting in the ground instead of sucking air. But I didn’t out of respect for Axel and you lot.”

“Us?” Twilight said.

“Yes you.” I nodded. “I don’t plan on going anywhere and just disappearing within Axel’s mind. Since I’ll be able to come and go when Axel allows me to, or if I feel like it, I’ll play along with the whole righteous shtick. So you all don’t have to worry about me hurting anyone that don’t deserve it.”

“What makes you think we can trust you? From what it sounds like, I believe the term to best describe you would be a loose cannon.” Nightmare accused.

“More than that, you’re a big jerk!” Rainbow said.

“And you have no manners whatsoever!” Rarity added.

“Sticks and stones, ladies, sticks and stones.” I dismissed them again.

Damnit, Dante, bring me back!

“Whoops, guess I overstayed my welcome.” I shrugged. “Well I’d love to stay and chat but Axel wants to return to the land of reality.”

“Wait! I have more questions!” Twilight said.

“Too bad, be seeing you.” I said as my eyes closed and my head slumped over.

Axel 1st POV

I blinked my eyes and looked up to the girls with an annoyed scowl. “Ugh, I can’t believe he did that…”

“Axel?” Moon asked.

“Yeah, it’s me.” I sighed as I stood up. “Sorry for that sudden takeover, I didn’t think Dante would pull something like pushing me back in my mind.”

“Are you okay, Axel?” Fluttershy asked as she walked up to me.

“I’m good, slight headache, but good.” I sighed, rubbing my head.

“That Dante persona of yours is quite the brute.” Rarity huffed.

“More than that, he’s an asshole.” Rainbow added.

“I agree, but it wasn’t my intention to freak you girls out.”

“Well I’m still disappointed in you, Ax.” Moon said, crossing her arms. “You seemed quite convincing when you said you wanted nothing to with Dante.”

“Give me a break, Moon, it’s as you said, Dante is a loose cannon and I would rather not risk him running rampant. I realized that my only option was to bargain with him so he wouldn’t become a serious threat. Besides, it’s not like I wasn’t gonna tell you later on.” I said.

“Be that as it may, you still worried me.” Moon said.

“Moon, I love you, but I’m 25 years old.” I sighed. “I can take care of myself.”

“You just don’t understand.” Moon said looking away.

“Understand what?” I asked, a little irritated. “Do I really have to share everything and anything I say and do? Why do I need my hand held?”

“Uh, guys?” Rainbow said.

“I’m not trying to hold your hand, Axel, I just worry for you!” Moon said.

“Guys?” Applejack said.

“And I appreciate that, but again, I am a grown man. I can choose to make these decisions for myself!”

“Can you?! We are supposed to be together! Which means we are supposed to make important decisions together!”

“Don’t use our relationship as an excuse to get pissed at me! What gives you the right to even get mad in the first place?!”

“BECAUSE I DON’T WANT YOU TO END UP LIKE I DID! THAT’S WHY YOU DUMMY!!” Moon shrieked.

I was taken back by her comment as tears poured out of her eyes. The girls were also a little surprised as Moon fell to her knees and cried into her hands.

“You dummy! You big, stupid dummy! I care about you so much, that I can’t stand how stupid you are right now!” Moon cried. “How can you not see that if you’re not careful, you’ll end up like what I did to poor Luna?!”

It all soon made sense, I had not realized until now that Dante and I were somewhat similar to Moon and Luna. Moon was once a dark persona of Luna whom she allowed to take control, which resulted in that fight she had with Celestia. Dante was created from my dark thoughts over the years and has managed to manifest into an alternate personality. It’s no wonder Moon is so upset, and I was too pigheaded to realize.

“Moon I…” I tried to say, but I couldn’t find the words. “I didn’t realize you were so paranoid about this.”

“You are the best thing that’s happened to me in over a thousand years.” Moon said quietly. “I thought I was going to stay imprisoned on the moon and spend the rest of my existence trapped at that castle. But then you appeared and gave me a second chance, you helped me reach an understanding with everyone, and…you accepted my heart.” Moon looked up at me with tears staining her face. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you, Ax, I couldn’t bear it.”

I frowned and rubbed the back of my head as my girlfriend wept. She had a point, I did take a big risk of ending up like what happened with Moon and Luna. Dante could’ve easily gone back on his word and kept in control and I would’ve been trapped in my own mind while Dante ran wild. I should’ve at least discussed this with Moon, even the girls, about it instead of jumping the gun. Fluttershy walked up to Moon and knelt beside her. She then placed a hand on her back, to which Moon immediately hugged her as she continued to cry.

“There, there Nightmare.” Fluttershy consoled as she returned the embrace. “I’m sure Axel had his reasons, he only did what he thought was right.”

“He’s still a dummy…” Moon murmured.

“You got that right.” Rainbow agreed, giving me the stink eye. “In case you forgot, Axel, friends don’t keep secrets from friends.”

“Yup.” Applejack said. “Especially when ya got some
kind evil side hunkerin’ in yer noggin.”

“He’s not evil, he’s…complicated.” I guessed.

“Complicated is one of many words I could think of.” Twilight said. “He seems more unstable than complicated.”

“All I can say is that I can vouch for him, somewhat.” I shrugged. “And I can promise he won’t cause too much harm whenever he takes control.” I looked down at Moon who was looking back up at me with a frustrated stare. I sighed as I knelt down in front of her and reached out to take her hand. “I’m sorry, I’m very sorry for upsetting you and not talking to you about Dante. I also care about you, Moon, I just wanted you to not worry for me too much.”

“I am your girlfriend, Ax, I have an obligation to worry for you.” Moon said as she leaned forward and hugged me. “Just promise me you will not keep any more secrets.”

“I won’t.” I said as I hugged her back. “I promise, especially to the rest of you.” I stood back up with Moon. “I want us to be on the same side so from now on, I’m an open book.”

“Do ya Pinkie promise?” Applejack asked.

“Uh…sure?” I shrugged as I held out my pinky finger.

“Naw, sugarcube, like this.” Applejack giggled as she raised her hand and I copied her. “Cross mah heart.” She crossed her chest.

“Er, cross my heart.” I said as I copied her.

“Hope to fly.” She raises her hand to the air.

“Hope to fly.”

“Stick a cupcake in mah eye.” She pointed to her eye with her tumb.

“Stick a cupcake…in my eye?” I repeat as I did the same.

“Yup, that should do it. Right girls?” Applejack asked and the girls nodded.

“Anyone wanna explain why that was so important?” I wondered.

“All ya gotta know is this.” Applejack then glared at me. “Never. Break. A. Pinkie. Promise.”

For some reason, I got a very unsettling tingle that ran up and down my spine. I don’t know why, but I got the sneaking suspicion that I should honor this promise and make sure I never break it.

“Right…” I gulped as we started to walk. “I-I got it.”

A little while later, we eventually arrived at a building that literally looked like something you’d see out of some Whinnie the Pooh book. It looked like a tree but it had windows and a door which made me curious how one could live in a place like this.

“So this is the Library you mentioned before?” I asked Twilight.

She nodded with a proud smile. “Yep, welcome to the Golden Oak Library. I’ve taken up residence here ever since I moved to Ponyville.”

“I see, how exactly do you live here? I mean, it’s a tree.” I questioned.

“It may be a tree, but it’s plenty hospitable inside.” Twilight said as she walked passed me and opened the door.

“Guess this’ll be where we’ll crash for a while.” I shrugged to Moon.

“Crash? Why would you want to crash into this humble abode?” Moon wondered.

“No, I mean…nevermind.” I shook my head. As we walked in, the lights were all off for some reason and I couldn’t really see. Just as I was about to look for a switch, the door closes and the lights turn on.

“SURPRISE!!!”

“HOLY SHIT!!”

I was met with a whole crowd of people who scared the ever loving shit out of me, making me stumble backwards and lose my footing. I fell backwards and ran into someone but the back of my head was pressing against something soft. I groaned as I looked up to see Fluttershy’s blushing face as she stared at me. It took me longer than it should’ve to realize my head was in between her breasts. I gasped and scrambled up to my feet and dusted myself off and cleared my throat as I turned to face Fluttershy.

“Erm…my bad.” I apologized as I offered my hand to her.

“Oh…i-it’s ok…” She whispered as she accepted the offer and I helped her up.

Smooth…

You’ve said enough for one day, jackass!

Pinkie Pie soon hopped up to me with a wide smile as she bounced in place. “Hiya, Axy! So were you surprised? Huh? Were ya? Huh? Huh were you surprised?”

“More than that, you scared me shitless, Pinkie.” I deadpanned. “So what’s all this for?”

“For you and Nightmare, silly!” Pinkie chirped.

“Hold up, us?” I was surprised. “Why us? More than that, how did you put all this together so quickly?”

“I throw parties for all my friends and new people of Ponyville! This is your Welcome to Ponyville and Thanks For Chasing Away The Northerners party!”

That’s a mouthful. I think until I glanced up to see a banner that said those exact words. Touché…

“Miss Pie.” Moon said. “Did you truly put all of this together for Ax and myself? I would understand why you would put this together for Ax, but why me as well?”

“Well why not? Axy says you’re not the same person as you were before and you don’t even look unfriendly.” Pinkie gestured to Moon’s new clothes and hairstyle. “Besides, any friend of a friend is a friend to me!”

“We’re…friends?” Moon asked. Pinkie nodded and Moon gasped as she covered her mouth with both hands. Before Pinkie could say anything else, Moon reached out and embraced Pinkie in a big hug as her wings fluttered happily and she was smiling. “Thank you, thank you so much.”

Pinkie smiled and hugged her back and nodded. I smiled as I looked around and noticed that the crowd were looking at Moon wither surprised or content that she wasn’t what they expected her to be. Maybe things will turn out for the better after all.

Moon released Pinkie and she turned to the crowd. “Let’s party everyone!”

The crowd cheers and party music plays around the room. Moon and I walk through the crowd and start mingling with the people. Though still hesitant and first, some people had made an effort to talk with Moon and get to know her. To my surprise, and slight annoyance, a couple of men tried flirting with Moon but she politely turned them down, leaving them depressed that they couldn’t get lucky with beauty like Moon. Meanwhile I also was experiencing a bit of social hesitance from the crowd. Though I did manage to talk to some people, some preferred to keep their distance or limit the words shared with me. It’s gonna be a drag to get out of this bad limelight I put myself in, hopefully something will happen that will give me a chance with these people.

I set my Amp and pack aside and was chilling with Rainbow and Applejack in the corner of the room, making small talk and enjoying a drink of this stuff called Apple Cider. The stuff was pretty good, like a beer flavored with apples, which is what Applejack grows at yer family farm. Rainbow was going on about this team of stunt flyers. She has a dream of joining them one day.

“They’re called the Wonderbolts.” Rainbow said proudly. “They perform aerial acrobatics and demonstrations and are the fastest most skilled flyers in Equestria!”

“Huh, sounds similar to The Blue Angels.” I shrugged as I took a sip.

“Blue Angels?” Applejack asked. “Who’re they?”

“Similar to the Wonderbolts, The Blue Angels typically perform aerial displays annually in at least 60 shows at 30 locations throughout my home country and two shows at one location in the neighboring country.” I said as I pulled out my phone. “Back in my world, the Blues are a team of humans who fly these flying vehicles called airplanes that are capable of traveling at high speeds through the air. They consist of six F/A-18 Hornet aircraft, split into the diamond formation and the Lead and Opposing Solos.” I scrolled through my photo gallery and tapped on a picture of the famous flyers and showed it to the girls.

“These are The Blue Angels.”

“Whoah, are they those airplane things?” Rainbow asked as she gawked at the photo and I nodded. “How fast can they go?”

“Hmm, if I remember right, I think the fastest recorded aircraft would be the X-15.” I scrolled through my photo gallery again and showed them another picture.

“Last I heard, this thing can go Mach 6.”

“WHAT?! MACH 6?!” Rainbow shrieked, grabbing my shirt. “THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!! NO WAY ANYTHING IS THAT FAST!!”

“Ok, first of all, ears.” I sighed as the ringing died down and I gently removed her grip. “Second, and I hate to break it to you, but I’m telling the truth. My world is just much more advanced than yours.”

Rainbow seemed to be in a dazed state of shock as Applejack started chuckling to herself. “Ah think ya broke her, partner.”

“Can you fix her?” I joked.

“Maybe, but Ah don’t really feel like it.” She shrugged. “She’ll come too eventually.”

“Fair enough.”

While Rainbow was still contemplating how there was something faster than these Wonderbolt guys, the two girls from earlier, Vinyl and Octavia I think their names were, approached me and I raised my cup to them. “Hey there girls.”

“Yo…it’s Axel, right?” Vinyl asked and I nodded. “How are you enjoying the party?”

“It’s not bad, the music’s pretty catchy, compared to my music.” I said.

“Your music?” Octavia asked.

“I’ve got some songs on my phone here that I listen to. Would you care to listen?”

“That depends, what kind of music is it?” Vinyl wondered.

“The kind that even I can sing along to.” I smirked. “Just point me to where I can plug my phone in and I’ll do the rest.”

Vinyl and Octavia looked at each other and Vinyl shrugged and pointed towards the speakers playing the music. I walked over to the speakers and saw that it was already playing music from someone else’s phone. Just when I was about to unplug it, a young looking teen walked up to me. He wore a light purple t-shirt, baggy jeans that had some tears here and there, and white sneakers. His hair was green and spikey and he shaped it as a sort of mohawk down the middle. His eyes, however, were what caught my attention as they seemed to be green but reminded me of those I would see on reptiles.

“Hey there, you’re Axel right?” He asked with a kind smile.

“Uh…yeah?” I said, still gazing down at him.

“Glad to meet you, dude! My name’s Spike, Spike the dragon kid!” Spike greeted as he offered his hand.

Dragon?! Holy shit!

Would you shut the fuck up?! We’re in a world of magic! You really shouldn’t be that surprised!

“Wow, an actual dragon…” I said in disbelief as I took Spike’s hand and shook it. “Never thought I’d meet one in real life.”

“Is this your first time meeting a dragon human?” Spike wondered. “Twilight told me about you a little while ago when she met you at the old castle and said you weren’t from around here.”

“It’s…a long story, but yeah I’m not from around here.”

“So that makes me your first official dragon human friend!” Spike cheered. I smiled at the little human drake, he seemed like a nice kid, even though I was still wrapping my head around the fact that I was face to face with an actual dragon, even though he looked like a human. “So Axel, were you gonna play some music? I can unplug my phone, if you want?”

“Oh, sure thanks.” I nodded. “You’ll love what I have to play, trust me.”

Spike smiled and took the cord and unplugged his phone. I thanked him and plugged mine in and scrolled through my playlist. Once I found the perfect song, I hit play and faced the crowd.

I tapped my foot as the music played and everyone started to get into it. I hummed along with the lyrics and bobbed my head as I walked through the crowd. My head bobbing soon turned into my body moving along with the beat and I started to sing along with the lyrics. Unbeknownst to me, people cleared the center of the room as I sang along and danced a little. I was having so much fun to myself, I ended up doing a full in jig and started singing out loud for everyone to hear. I let the rhythm of the music do the work and guide my dancing. I smiled as I sang and everyone clapped along with the best of the music, even the girls and Moon were enjoying the spectacle of my little performance. Once the song ended, I finally took notice of the crowd watching me and they all broke out in an applause.

“Bravo!”

“Nice song, dude!”

“I’ve never heard this song before, but it was pretty catchy!”

“Huh, guess I got so into it I didn’t notice I got a crowd.” I chuckled. I then got an idea and waved Moon over to me. She pointed to herself and I nodded with a smirk and she walked up to me. “Fancy a duet?”

“A duet? Us? I don’t know…” Moon said.

“I’ve noticed a particular song you listened to when I let you borrow my phone to listen to music. I’ve even heard you sing it a little to yourself, we can sing that one together.” I said.

“But are you sure?”

“Moon, it’s a party, you’re supposed to have fun at parties.” I said.

“Well…ok, but only because it’s with you.” Moon smiled.

I nodded again and walked over to where my phone was and scrolled through my playlist. Once I found the song, I tapped it and pressed play.

I rejoined Moon and she smiled at me as the song began. I started to skip around Moon as I rapped my verse and jumped a little with the crowd. Moon sang her verse while doing a little dance with her hips, which left some of the guys gawking at her. She and I then danced in sync a little as we sang together and we stared into each other’s eyes as we did so. As I sang my verse, I got an idea to add flare to our performance. I activated Video and made my digital wings appear. I flapped them and hovered in the air as I sang and Moon soon joined me as she hovered up with me. The sight of us made everyone cheer and clap along with the music. Moon was singing her verses so perfectly and she looked like she was having so much fun, which made smile proudly at her. As the song was coming to an end, Moon and I descended to the floor and I grabbed her hands and we twirled around in a circle as we neared the floor. The song ended with her and I holding hands and I smiled at her as she laughed and embraced me in a big hug. The crowd cheered again and applauded for us and Moon leaned up and kissed my cheek.

“That was the most fun I’ve had in ages.” Moon said happily.

“Told you it would be fun.” I smirked.

“That was so cool!”

“That was an awesome performance!”

“Encore! Encore!”

“An encore, huh? Well maybe-”

Hey Axel.

Ugh, what do you want?

Let me out.

Yeah, fuck that.

Come on, please?

Why should I?

Cause…I wanna sing a little song.

…Excuse me?

Did I stutter?

Why the hell would you wanna do something like that, of all things?

It looks like fun, so I wanna try. Let me out.

Uh…

“Axel?”

I blinked out of my daze and Moon was looking at me curiously. She seemed to catch on that whenever I stare into space I talked with Dante which made her frown.

“He’s talking to you, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, and he wants to come out again.” I admitted.

“Please don’t, Axel, he will only make things worse again.”

“Actually, he said he wanted to come out and sing something.”

Moon tilted her head in confusion, expecting me to say it wasn’t true, but I just stared back at her.

“Please tell me you are joking.”

“I kinda wish I was.”

“Dante wants to perform?”

“Yep, weird huh?”

“Very, of all things he would want to do. Are you going to grant his request?”

“It’ll probably be alright, I mean it’s just a little song.”

Moon hesitated but nodded reluctantly as she walked away back into the crowd where she was met with a flurry of complaints and praise from the crowd. I sighed as I walked back to where my phone was and prepared to let Dante take over.

Just one song, right?

That’s the plan, in and out, I swear.

Fine. My eyes closed as Dante started to push me back into my mind.

Dante 1st POV

Once I regained control, I smirked as I scrolled through the playlist for the perfect song. Once I found it, I snickered to myself and hit play and faced the crowd.

I paced to the center of the room with my smirk as the crowd watched me. I kept my head low as I stood in the center of the crowd. As soon as my verse came, I looked up and shot my hand in the air.

“YEAH!!”

The crowd started cheering for me and I paused for dramatic effect until I started rapping. I bobbed and weaved my body and the crowd was surprised with my choice of music as I continued to rap. I waved my hands around and clapped my hands to the beat of the music to get the crowd going during my performance. I eyed the girls and Moon who either were clapping along or eyeing me warily, but I didn’t care since I was having a blast at the moment.

“Me for bowing out I ain't taking a bow, I'm stabbing myself. With a fucking knife in the gut, while I'm wiping my butt!” I rapped as I pointed to my ass.

I laughed internally at that as I skipped around the room and tapped away. The people were jumping with me and clapping along with me, I had all of their attention and decided to add some flare. I activated Electricity and red bolts danced around my arms and legs. As the song neared the end. My performance had the whole crowd entranced and cheering for me. As soon as the song ended, I stomped my foot, causing a wave of static shock to pulse around the room as I raised my fist in the air. There was a brief silence until the crowd erupted in a flurry of cheers and praise. I glanced over to the girls, who were still either clapping for me or eyeing me but I just winked at them comically.

Of all the songs, why that one?

Why not? I shot back. Well I’ve had my fun so you can come back.

I guess I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.

Axel 1st POV

I looked around and was met with the sounds of the crowds cheering and some of the girls, Moon, and Spike walking up to me.

“That was…an interesting choice.” Moon said.

“That was wicked!” Spike said. “I’ve never heard music like that before!”

“When Nightmare told us Dante was to perform, we certainly didn’t expect such an…explicit ensemble.” Rarity said.

“It was a cool song, but I’m surprised he only stuck around for just that.” Rainbow said, crossing her arms.

“It’s like I said, Dante is complicated.” I shrugged.

“It would appear so.” Moon agreed.

“I’m just glad you are having fun, Axel.” Twilight said. “Let’s enjoy the rest of the party.”

After a little while later, the sun was beginning to set and the guests had all left. While trying not to stare at Spike, due to the fact that I was still reeling from him being an actual dragon, the girls and I managed to clean up the library. They all said their goodbyes and Twilight showed us up the stairs to one of the guest rooms. It was a comfy looking room with a sizable bed for two people, a nightstand, and a dresser.

“This is where you two will be staying.” Twilight said. “I hope it’s to your liking.”

“It’s perfect, Twilight Sparkle.” Moon said.

“Seconded.” I said.

“Of course, and you may just call me Twilight, Nightmare. I insist.” Twilight said.

“If that is what you wish then I shall comply. Thank you again for your hospitality, Twilight.” Moon said as she hugged her.

Twilight was caught off guard but smiled and hugged Moon back. She then left Moon and I to ourselves as we got undressed in our undergarments. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to how much of a killer body Moon has, especially since her wings make her look so angelic. We both then crawled under the covers and Moon snuggled up to me and looked up to me with a warm smile.

“Thank you for showing me a wonderful time, Ax, I look forward to what else this quaint little town has to offer.” Moon said.

“Me too, the people are nice and I have a good feeling that things are looking up for us. Goodnight Moon.”

“Goodnight Ax.” Moon said as she pecked me on the lips. She then rested her head on my chest and slowly fell asleep. Before I followed suit, I smiled and gazed up at the ceiling as my eyelids grew heavy.

I’m glad I was sent here.

Author's Note

Dante has made his appearance more well known and Axel’s welcome party went smoothly. What else is in store for our Conduit? Tune in next time.

Side note: I wasn’t entirely sure how to depict Spike in this story. I had the choice to make him human like the others or keep him as an actual dragon. As for any other creature, for example the griffons, zebra, etc., they’ll be human while having some characteristics of their species. Like griffon humans having bird claws for hands and zebra’s having stripes on their bodies and black and white hair. If any of you have any different suggestions how else I should do this, feel free to tell me or I’ll just leave it as it is if you’re ok with it.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Finding Honest Work

Chapter 13

My body felt like it was floating in mid air instead of feeling like I was laying down. Once I was able to slowly open my eyes, I was met with the familiar void from before.

“Dante?” I called out, but no response. “Dante, are you there?” Still nothing. “Huh, guess I’m finally on my own in my dreams. But I wonder where Moon is?”

“Actually, I wonder if you wouldn’t mind conversing with me tonight.”

I turned around to see the moon and from it a silhouette of a person stepping through it. Once the light died down, I saw that it was Princess Luna in her moonlight glory.

“Princess Luna?”

“Indeed, how are you fairing this night Mr. Rickert?”

“It’s not bad.” I shrugged. “Also you can call me Axel, calling me mister makes me feel old.”

Luna giggled at that. “Apologies, then I hope you wouldn’t mind if you were to address me as Luna?”

“You sure? I wouldn’t wanna be rude and stuff.”

“I am quite sure, in fact, I insist you do if we are to be good friends.” Luna said with a smile.

“Well alright, whatever you say, Luna.” I said, smiling back.

“How is…Nightmare Moon?” Luna asked hesitantly.

“She’s fine, more than that, we actually had a blast at the party Pinkie Pie threw for us.”

“The Element of Laughter held a celebration for you and Nightmare Moon?” Luna asked, surprised.

“Sure did, I’d even be confident to say that Moon was able to show the people that she’s not as big of a threat as they thought she was. All it takes is to make a strong first impression and she nailed it. Though, I couldn’t really say the same for me.” I said sheepishly.

“What do you mean?” Luna asked warily. “Did you attempt to harm any of our subjects?”

“No, of course not.” I said. “But I did let Dante beat those bearded bastards full size.”

“Dante?” Luna asked, looking confused. “Who is this Dante?”

I sighed since the mention of Dante had to be talked about eventually with someone like Luna or Celestia. I then spent the next hour explaining everything that happened to me from my past, what happened when Dante showed up and who he is, what happened on the train, and what had happened with the bearded bastards in town. Once I finished my story, Luna looked a little disappointed in me.

“Why did you not feel the need to inform my sister and I about this Dante before you had left Canterlot?”

“I don’t know, maybe I just didn’t feel like it was that big of a deal?” I shrugged.

“You call threatening the Northerners with their lives and even attacking them and wounding them not a big deal? Axel, this alternate persona of yours seems to be much more dangerous than you claim him not to be.”

“Look, I’m not naïve enough to say he’s not dangerous. He’s more of a loose cannon, but a manageable one at best. Besides those assholes deserved it after what we saw them about to do. Sounds like they’ve been giving everyone a hard time recently.”

“I shall admit that the Northerners have become much more…overzealous as of late. But that does not mean you or Dante can do as you please.”

“So what, you gonna put me under watch again?” I scoffed.

“No, but all I am asking is that you show just a tad more restraint and not do anything that might jeopardize our kingdom and subjects.”

“Do you honestly expect me to just look the other way when I see people like those Northern bastards do shitty things to innocent people?” I questioned.

“You don’t understand, we can’t afford to provoke the Northerners any more than you already have.”

“If they have a problem with being run out of town, then they can take it up with me personally. I just did what needed to be done for those girls who I knew were about to be tossed around like a couple of common street walkers.”

“Do you honestly believe that?”

“Look me in the eye and tell me that you didn’t get a sickening vibe from those men from the throne room.” Luna was about to retort but she caught herself and didn’t say anything. “That’s what I thought. You and Celestia should really look into forbidding them from setting foot anywhere around here.”

“But we cannot, we are still unfamiliar with this group and what their leader’s motives are.” Luna argued.

“Seemed pretty damn obvious to me.” I grumbled. “Especially the way they eyed Moon, I didn’t like it one bit.

“But Axel-”

“Trust me, whatever they’re here for, it’s not for any friendly relations whatsoever. They’re a bad crowd, the lot of them. And I can promise you this, if I see any of them in this town or even in my field of vision, I’ll fry them like the shit stains they are.”

“But what of the people? They might use them against you and my sister and I. What if they go as far as to threaten them and attempt to bring harm to them?”

“I’ll deal with it.”

“Will you truly? Are you willing to go out of your way to help anyone in danger who is threatened by them? Not to mention that there are a great many other dangers that dwell in this world.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“But not everyone else can. These people are not like you, Axel, they do not have unique abilities such as yours. My sister and I, we have lived for many, many moons, before I was banished. We have faced dangers that have threatened Equestria and at times we put our very lives on the line. You say you insist that this is not as serious a situation as most would believe, when in fact it is quite the opposite. You were able to somehow convince the populace of Ponyville that Nightmare Moon is not a threat, but they are still just as innocent and not used to acts of extreme violence.” Luna explained.

“So what exactly do you want me to do? Sit on the sidelines and let scumbags like those Northern men do whatever the hell they want? I can’t do that, Luna, that’s not what I was sent here to do.”

“You were sent here?” Luna questioned and I nodded. “By whom?”

“I was just a regular two bit guy who made a shitty living at a dead end job. I went to this thing called a convention and met a man who gave me my Amp and chain. He only went by the name The Merchant, and he sent me to this world somehow for some reason I’ve yet to find out. Besides this world is ten times better than my old home, I didn’t really have much going on with my life. But here, I guess you could say this is a sort of fresh start for me. You, Celestia, the girls, and especially Moon have made me feel like I matter and care about me as a friend. I didn’t really have that before and I don’t want it to be taken away when I just found it again. So you know what, yeah, I would be willing to try and help anyone who needs it.”

Luna stared at me questionably but I stared right back with a stern gaze, letting her know I was dead serious about what I said. I was probably pushing my luck by proclaiming myself to be some kind of protector of Ponyville, even though I just got here but I didn’t care. I wanted to finally be proud of something in my life by doing something good for the sake of others and not be a bitter loner.

“Very well, you seem to have your heart in the right place so I shall refrain from changing your mind. All I can ask is that you tread carefully on the path you have chosen for yourself.” Luna informed me.

“I aim to, I just got here after all.” I joked. Soon the world around me began to fade away which meant that I was about to wake up. Luna took the opportunity to leave my dream back the way she came by flying back towards the moon.

“Oh yes, before I forget.” Luna said as she glanced over her shoulder to me. “My sister has informed me to tell you that we would like to invite you back to Canterlot one day for a visit, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“A visit? What for?” I wondered.

“Probably just for a cup of tea.” Luna shrugged. “Celestia seemed very insistent about inviting you.”

I had no idea what she meant by that and before I could question any further, the area around me faded more away along with my vision as I started to wake up.

I slowly but surely began to stir from my sleep as my eyes opened. It didn’t help that there was a little crust in my eyes which was always a damn pet peeve of mine. As my body started to wake up as well, I felt something laying on the left side of my chest. I glanced down to see a refreshing sight as Moon had her head resting on my chest. Although when my eyes trailed down from her face, my cheeks started to heat up a bit. Her night gown had sagged a bit which caused her breasts to show a bit more cleavage than I bargained for.

Not a bad view, eh?

I swear to god, shut your yap!

What, do you swing the other way or something?

No! I just don’t wanna pitch a tent as soon as I wake up!

Why are you getting so flustered? She is your girlfriend, after all.

That’s not the point! I just don’t want to label myself as some creep that likes her for her body, which I don’t.

You ever considered that you might be overthinking this just a tad?

I don’t wanna fuck this up, Dante, so excuse me for keeping my gaurd up.

How can you? She obviously trusts you enough already, I doubt you’d do anything that would make her hate you. There’s no need for you to keep any kind of so-called guard.

Be that as it may, I just don’t want to be left alone anymore. I’ve been alone for too long back home, ever since I had that falling out with my parents.

Ax, you’re in a new world for a fresh start, you’ve already made a bunch of pretty decent friends, you have a wonderful girlfriend who cares about you and your well-being, and you basically told Princess Luna that you would be this town’s self-proclaimed protetor. Honestly, I doubt you’d be alone any time soon.

Yeah, unless you do something stupid like provoke someone in a way that’ll get us into trouble.

I’ll make sure to try and be on my best behavior, but no promises.

“Mmm…” Moon started to stir.

And that’s my cue, smell ya later.

As Dante retreated back into my kind, Moon’s eyes fluttered open and she yearned cutely. She looked up at me and smiled as she lifted her head to bring her face just inches apart from mine.

“Good morning.” She whispered.

“Mornin’.” I said back. “Sleep well?”

“Very well, your heartbeat is nice and soothing to listen to.”

Moon pecked me on the lips and I returned the gesture by pecking her lips back. Only as soon as I did that, she proceeded to actually lock lips with me and brought her arms up to wrap around the back of my neck. It wasn’t anything too intense like French kissing, just our lips pressed against each other. Moon pulled back and stared into my eyes with a smile.

“Your eyes are quite alluring, Ax, they’re so green it feels like I’m starting at an open meadow.”

“You think so? People have said the opposite, that they’re too green and it’s weird.”

“They only say those things because they’re jealous that they don’t have eyes like yours. They’re unique and full of kindness, unlike when Dante takes over.” Moon said a little abrasive.

“Still sore about that, huh?”

“A little, I understand the circumstances but I wish you would have spoken to me first about it. As I have said, your predicament is similar to what I and Luna went through.”

“And you’re paranoid that he might take over and run amok?”

“Yes.” Moon frowned.

“Moon, do you trust me?”

“Of course.”

“Then all I ask is that you have faith in me. I promise, nothing like what happened before won’t happen with me. Dante and I have come to a solid agreement and he’s promised me to play by the rules, most of the time.”

“And you trust him to honor his agreement?”

“I do in fact, otherwise we’d be having a different kind of conversation.”

Moon stared at me for a moment until she sighed in defeat. “Very well, if you are positive that Dante is not a threat then I won’t pester you about it.”

“Thanks Moon, I appreciate it.”

Moon smiled as we got out of bed and got ready for the day. We both took turns using the bathroom and we got dressed and headed downstairs. The scent of freshly made pancakes filled the room as we saw Twilight sitting at the table reading some kind of scroll and drinking a mug of coffee. Spike was at the stove, wearing a simple shirt and pants, and flipped a few more pancakes on the platter next to him.

“Good morning you two.” I greeted them.

“Oh, good morning Axel, Nightmare.” Twilight said back.

“Sup dude, grab a seat. Breakfast is almost ready.” Spike said.

“Smells great, man, I’m starved.” I said, making the dragon kid laugh.

Moon and I sat down at the table and Moon surprisingly sat down next to Twilight as she poured her own mug of coffee. Twilight then began talking with Moon and asking her what Equestria was like a thousand years ago. As they were talking, I pulled out my smartphone and decided to play a little game. Subway Surfer was a good game to pass the time but I always get cocky whenever I get a high score and mess up. I swiped my finger and dodged the train cars and obstacles while trying to collect as many coins as possible. The noise from my game caught the attention of Moon and she scooted over to watch me play.

“What is this?” She asked.

“Oh nothing.” I said while trying to keep focused. “Just an app on my phone I like to play whenever I’m bored.”

“Why is that little human running on the train tracks? Doesn’t he know that it is dangerous to do that?”

“It’s just a game Moon, the characters aren’t real.” I tried to explain as I narrowly dodged a hurdle and used a skateboard.

“I see…then you are controlling this little character?”

“Yep, I can make him dodge the train cars and avoid obstacles by swiping my finger.”

“Is there a point to this?”

“The goal is to get as far as possible without crashing. If you look on the top right corner my score goes up the longer I last. Below is my high score, I made it pretty far before and I’ve been trying to beat it for some time. Shit…!” I cursed as I accidentally swiped too early and the fat cop caught up.

“Who is that large human?”

“Well think of him as a guard. The character I’m playing as painted on something he wasn’t supposed to so this guy is chasing him.”

“So the young human is a criminal?”

“Eh, depends on how you look at it.” I shrugged. “It’s just a game after all.”

“I see.”

I was about to use another skateboard when my finger swiped a little, making the character run straight into a train and making him fly towards the screen and the game ended.

“Damn, not even halfway to my high score…” I sighed as I turned off my phone. “Better luck next time, I guess.”

“Pancakes are ready, everyone!” Spike announced as he walked over to the table with a platter full of pancakes.

He set the platter down and my mouth immediately began to water at the mere sight of them. These flapjacks looked like they could put any diner’s breakfast to shame. Each pancake looked as fluffy as a pillow, softer than a feather, and smelled like I wanted to shrink myself down and smother myself in their pillowy goodness. Spike was kind enough to hand Moon and I a plate and even served us each a few pancakes. I cut my first piece and brought it up to my mouth and took the first bite.

“Holy shit…” I muttered as my tastebuds twitched. “This is so damn good!” I scooped up a bigger piece and scarfed it down. “This is the best damn pancake I’ve ever had!”

“I must say, these are truly delectable!” Moon said as she ate her breakfast with a satisfied smile. “My utmost compliments to the chef, young Spike.”

“Seconded! You sure know your way around the flapjack!” I added.

All these complaints made the dragon human’s cheeks flush red as he smiled bashfully and looked the other way. “Aw, come on guys, they’re just something I make on a regular basis.”

“I certainly wouldn’t mind if I had these every friggin day!” I said as I stuffed my mouth. “I can’t get enough of them!”

“Ax, sweetie, slow down or you will choke.” Moon warned as she ate her breakfast more calmly. “I understand they are delicious but it is not worth the risk.”

I was about to protest when I could see my ballooning cheeks from the corners of my eyes. Twilight was giggling and Spike was chuckling at me, probably because I looked like a chipmunk or something silly like that. I relented and took my time to chew and swallow my food until it was all gone.

“Sorry about that, just goes to show you how good these things are.” I said as I too ate at a slower pace.

“I don’t exactly blame you, Axel, Spike’s breakfasts have always been satisfactory.” Twilight said before sipping her coffee and Spike blushed again. “So what do you have planned to do today?”

“Well I was hoping that I could look around town to get used to my surroundings.” I said as I sipped my orange juice. “And maybe find some kind of employment.”

“Employment?” Twilight repeated. “What for?”

“Well I can’t just live here for free.” I stated.

“Oh but I don’t mind it, Axel.” Twilight protested. “You two are my guests, it’s my pleasure to have you both here.”

“Be that as it may, my morals say otherwise.” I argued. “You are kind enough to let us crash here and even feed us. As a friend, I’ll always be appreciative, but as a man I feel as though it’s only fair I earn my keep. Besides, for someone like me, a Conduit from another world, there’s bound to be something that meets my standards for a job.”

“I agree with Ax.” Moon said. “I no longer don my crown for I hold no royal title at the moment. I may be an alicorn human, but I would still like to try to live as an ordinary citizen.”

Alicorn?

“Well…when you both put it that way, I suppose I can’t argue.”

“Wait, what’s an alicorn?” I asked, making Twilight perk up.

“Oh! I can answer that!” Twilight said excitedly. “First allow me to ask you, have you noticed anything about this world Axel? For example, the names of the towns and cities?”

“Hmm, well now that you mention it, Canterlot, Ponyville, I think I heard Applejack mentioned a city called Manehatten? They all sound like they are horse themed.”

“The correct term is pony, but you would be correct. You see, though we are humans there are specific kinds of humans that differ from others, like how Spike here is a dragon human. There are different human species in this world and we are called pony humans. The reason is because of our deity whom we pray to.”

“I see, so who’s this deity?”

“She is known as the great Lady Faust, the creator of Equestria.” Twilight explained. “There are scriptures that say that she once took the form of an Equine but used her godly magic to transform herself into a human. She is responsible for the creation of these lands and there are three different races of pony humans. The first is earth pony humans who specialize in great strength and endurance, second are the pegasus humans who have wings and can manage the weather, and finally there are the unicorn humans who specialize in magic wielding and spell casting, like me.”

“And I’m guessing that because Faust was once an Equine all the names of the towns and cities are pony themed?” I asked and she nodded. “So which one was this Faust character?”

“Lady Faust was all three in one known as an alicorn human. The humans who were naturally born as alicorn humans were Princess Celestia and Luna, but there are some cases when a normal pony human can become an alicorn human.”

“How do they do that?”

“I’ve read that it can only happen when someone performs a great act. I used to have a babysitter who became an alicorn human.”

“Wow, that all seems pretty interesting.” I said. “But how can you tell the difference between an earth pony human and a unicorn pony human?”

“That’s easy.” Twilight reached up and made her hand glow a little above her head. A magic silhouette of what looked like a small horn appeared on her forehead. “This is how you can tell, just hold a little magic up here and this horn appears. Earth pony humans don’t have this since they can’t use magic.”

“Huh, sounds like I have a lot to remember.” I said. I glanced at my watch and saw it was just past 10. “Guess I better get going.” I downed the last of my juice and wiped my mouth. I stood up and grabbed my pack and Amp that I left in my room and headed to the door. I went to pull out my beanie from my pocket to put on but I remembered that it was still damaged from my fight with Opal and her gang. “Hey Twilight, is there any place in town I can fix my beanie?”

“I know a place!” Spike said excitedly. “You should head for Rarity’s boutique, she can fix anything that has to do with clothes.” He sighed with a dopey smile plastered across his face which made me chuckle a little.

“I guess I’ll look into it, thanks.” I said as I opened the door.

“Goodbye Axel, good luck!” Moon called out and I waved to her over my shoulder.

“Sorry partner, but Ah’m afraid Ah gotta decline.” Applejack shook her head.

Damnit, rejected again…

For the past hour I’ve been walking around town trying to find a suitable source of employment but I’ve had little to no luck so far. I tried asking this guy who ran a shop selling metalworks but he turned me away. I went to this lady who ran a sweet shop but she was still a little spooked after Dante’s little performance so that was a dead end. I even tried to go and see if Lapis would have some kind of part time guard position, but she just slammed the door in my face. I managed to run into Applejack in the market and asked if she needed any extra hands at her apple farm I had heard her talk about at the party but it seems I’m shit out of luck once again.

“May I ask why?” I wondered.

“It’s just mah farm is a family run business.” Applejack said. “ Mah brother, little sister, even mah granny helps out around the farm. We’ve been managing just fine and aren’t really lookin’ fer any extra hands. Ya seem like a dependable feller, but it’s just a matter of principle. I hope ya can understand.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it, Applejack.” I said as I waved my hand dismissively. “I understand you have your principles. I’ll just keep on looking.”

Though I wish you would’ve at least been my saving grace…

“Thank ya kindly, Axel, and sorry again.”

“No worries, I’ll see you later.”

I parted ways from the farm girl and walked through the streets of Ponyville. I was now in a crummy mood since I was having arguably the worst luck trying to find a job. I felt like I was back home and all the good jobs were taken and I’d end up with a shitty job like my manager job at GameStop.

“Hmm, maybe the local post office is in need of an extra delivery boy?” I wondered out loud.

“Pardon me, sir.”

I turned to the sound of a voice to see an older fellow dressed as a butler. He had short curly grey hair on the sides of his head and was bending over slightly.

“Are you perhaps Mr. Axel Rickert?” He asked politely.

“I am, who’s asking old timer?” I asked.

“Oh, pardon me, I am Randolph.” He introduced himself with a small bow. “I am a personal butler for my employer. I was asked to come and invite you to the meeting for an important conversation.”

“Um, did I do something wrong?”

“Quite the opposite, in fact, my employer is interested in offering you an opportunity for employment.”

“A job?” I said surprised. I was about to accept right off the bat but hesitated. “Why me?”

“I’m afraid I do not know. I was merely sent to deliver the invitation.”

“…Screw it, take me to your boss.” I shrugged.

“Very well, follow me.” Randolph said.

I followed the old butler for about ten minutes until we arrived at a house, no, a mansion that looked like something you’d see in the ritzy part of Beverly Hills. We walked up the steps and Randolph opened the double doors that had dollar signs for door knobs. The interior was just as fancy as the outside as Randolph led me through the halls and brought me to a room with a couple chairs and a small table sitting in between.

“Please wait here, my employer will be with you shortly.” Randolph said.

“Sure.” I nodded and took a seat.

I placed my pack beside me as he left to go get his boss. I just sat in the room by myself just humming a tune because I had nothing better to do until I heard footsteps. A fancy looking man wearing a navy blue suit and a tie that had a dollar sign on it walked in. When he saw me, he smiled and approached me while reaching his hand out.

“Ah, you must me Mr. Rickert. I am Mr. Berry F. Rich, a pleasure to meet you.” He greeted with a warm tone.

I stood up from my seat and politely shook his hand back. “It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Rich.”

“I see you have good manners, young lad, a good quality in the world of business.” Mr. Rich said as we both sat down. “Now then, I am a man who likes to get straight to the point so I shall do just that. Mr. Rickert, may you please show me what you can do?”

“Um, come again?” I said confused.

“I am a very resourceful man, Mr. Rickert.” Mr. Rich said as he folded his hands on his lap. “But I didn’t need to try too hard to hear about what you did to those troublesome Northerners. You seem to wield a very unique magic, the likes of which no one has seen before. I wish to see what all the talk is about.”

I was unsure how to respond to his request but seeing how he wanted to offer me a job I guess showing him just a little bit of my power wouldn’t hurt. I raised my hand and activated Smoke. Black trails of smoke swirled around my hand and tiny cinders floated into the air. Mr. Rich watched with deep fascination as I allowed the smoke trails to swirl up and down my whole arm. Just before I let the smoke increase any more, I deactivated my power and exhaled.

“There, that’s what I can do.” I said, making him blink and clear his throat.

“Astonishing, in all my years, I’ve never seen such magic before.”

“It’s not magic.” I commented. “It’s my own special power I can do. That, along with some other abilities.”

“Other abilities? Such as?”

“With all due respect, Mr. Rich, but I have to insist that I not show you any more. The origin of my abilities are a bit on the confidential side. Since there’s only a select few people who know about my power. I usually don’t show off my power to any who ask for it, but since I was told you wanted to offer me some kind of employment I figured I’d take a gamble and show off just a little of it. In time I probably will show off more of my power up front, but for now I must ask you not question it any further. I hope you can understand.”

“Hmm, you seem quite serious about this.” I nodded in response. “May I inquire as to how confidential your situation is?”

“To put it mildly, the Princesses are the select few who know about my power.” I half lied.

“My word, the Princesses? Then you must be someone quite important.”

“I wouldn’t say important, just unique.” I shrugged. “Does this mean I won’t get the job?”

“On the contrary, I believe you are more than a perfect choice for my position.” Mr. Rich said as he snapped his fingers. Randolph walked in with a few papers and a small pouch full of something and placed them both on the table. “You might have been asking yourself just what kind of business I run. I am the C.E.O. of Barnyard Bargains, a trading company that handles the distribution of certain goods. For example, I am business partners with the residents of Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Sweet Apple Acres? Applejack’s place?”

“Ah, I see you already know Miss Applejack. Yes, I do business with her farm and deliver her apple shipments throughout Equestria. My company has been around since I was just a young man with a small trading route. I built this company with hard earned work, but like all businesses there will always be, shall we say, complications.”

“Such as?”

“I have heard rumors.” Mr. Rich said as he glanced out the nearby window. “Those Northerners have been popping up pretty much everywhere in Equestria, but I fear as though that they are not the only concern. There’s talk of a group of people, a sort of syndicate if you will, who have been making moves in the major cities. Manehattan’s crime rate has increased somewhat, the nobles of Canterlot supposedly have some kind of plot to expose one of their own, Las Pegasus is turning into a shadow of its former glory, and Vanhoover’s is facing some kind of financial issue that is causing its residents to lose employment. I have only heard of these conspiracies through my employees who report back to me, and I must admit, it has me concerned.”

“So what does it have to do with me?”

“I care about this kingdom, not just as a businessman, but for the sake of its people and my family. I wish to help, but I’m afraid I do not have the proper manpower to face these supposed threats, even with my vast wealth. But you.” Mr. Rich leaned forward to look me dead in the eye. “You, as you have said, are unique. You have abilities that were able to chase off the Northerners who were giving this town too much grief for anyone to care to admit. I have an agenda to assist those in need within the major cities and any neighboring towns. I would like you to help me.”

“So I’d be like some kind of bodyguard?” I guessed.

“Body guard, running errands, sending messages, a second voice of reason, take your pick.” Mr. Rich listed out. “I personally prefer the term business partner, and rest assured, you will be well compensated for your work.” Mr. Rich grabbed the pouch and opened it. He reached inside and pulled out a blue gem. “This is what I will pay you with.”

“Hold up…gems?” I said, completely shocked. “You’ll pay me in gems?!”

“Indeed, a fitting payment, no?”

“But wouldn’t that be too much? I mean, money alone is one thing, but actual gems? It seems a bit too generous, even for me.”

“Your modesty is also a good quality.” Mr. Rich nodded in approval. “However I believe it is a fitting payment for a young man like yourself. So what say you, Mr. Axel, do you accept?”

I took a moment to process Mr. Rich’s offer, but I also thought about the other things he had told me. There’s something else besides those bearded guys going on around here, something that seems to be one big crime group. Does Celestia know about this? She probably has her hands full with the Northerners, but still. Then there’s that payment, actual gems like the ones in jewelry cases I’ve seen at the mall. It’d be a major raise compared to what I was getting paid at my old job. There’s still so much I don’t know about this world and I might be walking into something bigger than I’d be bargaining for.

Dante.

You called?

You up to speed on everything?

More or less, I say go for it.

You think so?

Hey, you’re the one who wanted to go all protector and shit, I’m just along for the ride. Which has become much more interesting since there seems to be more action opportunities out there. So long as I get my fair share of kicking ass whenever need be, I have no complaints.

“Okay, I accept.” I nodded.

“Splendid! Just sign these papers and our partnership shall begin.” Mr. Rich said.

I nodded and picked up the pen and began initialing the papers. After a few signatures later and explanations concerning the fine print, everything was set and ready.

“Welcome to Barnyard Bargains, Mr. Axel Rickert.” My new employer said as we both stood up and we shook hands.

“Glad to be working for you, Mr. Rich sir, and please, call me Axel.”

Author's Note

New threats seem to be making themselves known throughout the land. At least Axel has found an interesting line of work. Question is, just what kind of agenda does Filthy Rich have planned for the sake of Equestria?

Side note: So very sorry for taking so long with this chapter and my other stories. My finals, the holidays, and work have been quite preoccupying this month. But now I have some free time and will be dedicating it to writing! Also, let me know about what you think about Twilight's explanation about the different humans of this world. Did I do okay? Does it make sense? Also, I decided to make Spike a human instead of a regular dragon or an anthro. I hope that's okay as well.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building...

I’m Not A Babysitter

Chapter 14

“And so if we open another trade route between Appleloosa and Manehatten, our shipments would be able to arrive quicker and more efficiently,” Mr. Rich said to a couple of other businessmen in his office.

“That may be true, but can we afford the manpower? The trip between the two towns isn’t exactly a short one,” one of the businessmen said.

“You let me worry about that, if you pay the right price, anyone would be willing to work any kind of job,” Mr. Rich argued.

I stood in the corner of Mr. Rich’s office as his business meeting continued. About a week has passed since he hired me and things have been pretty mellow so far. When I told Moon and Twilight about my new job, Moon was happy for me but Twilight seemed a bit hesitant about the idea. She told me that Mr. Rich was known to be a friendly fellow to the residents of Ponyville, but also seemed to hide things from time to time. Not to mention that his wife and kid were a couple of jerks, yet I haven’t met either of them.

My job today was to watch over a meeting Mr. Rich had called with some of his partners which was a pretty simple enough job. During the week of my employment, I was able to stop by Rarity’s so she could fix my beanie. I was happy to hear that she’d fix it in a few days so I would have to remember to drop by her boutique to pick it up. Another funny thing that happened was when I came back from her boutique and Spike barraged me with questions about the young fashionista woman. It doesn’t take a genius to know that the poor kid was more love sick than he cared to admit. I just didn’t have the heart to tell Spike that Rarity might be a bit out of his league. As the meeting went on, I noticed one of the men kept glancing at me which Mr. Rich seemed to notice.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Sky Meadow, but may I inquire as to why you keep glancing at my associate like that?” Mr. Rich asked.

“Apologies, Mr. Rich, but with all do respect, I do not see as to why he has to stand there while we discuss business,” Mr. Meadow said, eyeing me again.

“I’m more than capable of stepping outside while you guys talk about your businesses,” I said.

“No, I have explained many times during this meeting, Mr. Rickert is my personal assistant. He has every right to be here as the rest of us,” Mr. Rich said sternly.

“Mr. Rich?” I said, making him turn to me. “I honestly don’t mind. I’d hate for you all to not get any work done because I was too distracting.”

“Oh but Axel, you are anything but,” Mr. Rich said genuinely.

“I appreciate that, Mr. Rich, but if your associates think otherwise, I’ll see myself out,” I said as I made for the door.

“Good riddance, peasant,” one of the men mumbled under his breath, thinking I didn’t hear him. Before I left the office, I pointed my finger at his ass and fired a tiny bolt of electricity, making him yelp in painful confusion.

I chuckled to myself as I left the office and headed to the main room of Mr. Rich’s mansion. It bummed me out a little that I wasn’t taken seriously yet as Mr. Rich’s assistant but I wasn’t one to hold a grudge, most of the time. I eventually made it to the main room and saw that there was already someone there. A younger girl, probably about 13 or 14 years old, sat on one of the chairs and was painting her nails. She wore a pretty light pink frilly dress that went down to her knees and her hair had a two tone look to it, light amethyst with a white streak running through it. On top of her head was a tiara and it had small diamonds encrusted on it. Standing next to her was the butler Randolph who for some reason had a tired frown drooping his face. The young girl looked up to me and arched a brow.

“Who’re you? How did you get in my mansion?” The girl asked in a snooty tone.

“He’s your father’s new personal assistant, young miss,” Randolph said.

“He is? But he looks like a mere peasant!” The girl huffed as she stood up and walked over to me. She was as tall as just below my chest.

This little bitch must have something shoved WAY up her little ass…

Dante, be nice.

The girl stood before me and scowled at me. I already knew her type and judging by what Randolph said about her father and the fact that she called this place her mansion, this kid was Mr. Rich’s daughter. Now, I could act like a total dick and tell her off, but that would just set a bad example on my part and I’d be reprimanded by Mr. Rich. Since she was just a snotty kid, maybe I could try and get on her good side so she wouldn’t be any trouble for me later on.

…

I smiled as I bent down on one knee and bowed to the young girl as I held out my hand. “I apologize for my abrupt entrance, young mistress. I am called Axel Rickert, I was hired by your father as his aid.”

I glanced up at the girl who smirked down at me and daintily put her hand on mine. “Well, so long as you know your place, I will allow you to stand back up,” she said, making me hear Dante snort in annoyance in my head. “I am Diamond Tiara, daughter of Filthy Rich and Spoiled Rich, and since you work for my daddy that means you also work for me as well.”

“As you say,” I shrugged as I stood back up.

Dude, the fuck are you doing? She’s a little shit, slap her!

Oh yeah, that’ll certainly go over well. Slap the daughter of my employer, who is a freaking minor by the way, and risk getting fired or worse.

“So why did my daddy hire you?” Diamond Tiara wondered.

“You could say I have some special skills,” I said vaguely.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Diamond questioned.

“Young miss, with all do respect, but I believe that is personal business between Mr. Rickert and your father,” Randolph tried to say.

“Silence, Randolph! If I want your opinion on something, I’ll ask for it!” Diamond snapped.

“Randolph, it’s okay,” I said, waving my hand. “I apologize for inconvenience, young mistress, but Randolph does have a point.”

“Oh yeah? And what makes you think you can go against what I say?”

“Your father, that’s who,” I stated in a calm yet serious tone, “He gave me strict orders not to show too much to the wrong people who weren’t a part of his affairs. Don’t get me wrong, if I had free roam to do what I want, I would allow you to bear witness to what I am capable of. Alas, I’m under your father’s directions and cannot show you any of what you wish to see.”

Diamond Tiara was about to retort and complain but held her words, seeing as how I must’ve made a solid point she backed down. “Fine, then I want you to do something for me.”

“Sure, anything you want.”

“I want you to escort me somewhere,” Diamond said with a confident smirk.

“Seems simple enough, where-”

“While carrying me.”

“Uh…come again?”

You’re a moron.

I know…

No, a moron would actually have common sense. You’re more of a bonafide idiot.

I know, okay?

Do you? Cause where I’m standing, it doesn’t seem like it.

“Walk more prominently, servant! I want everyone to see how much higher I stand above them!” Diamond scoffed.

“Yes, young mistress…” I groaned.

Like I said, idiot…

Of all the tasks I’ve had to do: be present during a meeting, run a few errands, deliver a message, voice my opinion when asked for it. Why…why was this of all things somehow on that list? As per Diamond’s request, I was told to carry her through town. I thought it would be something cute like a piggyback ride, but no. Oh no, this was much more, shall we say, degrading…This little entitled brat made me carry her princess style while making me wear a bright red cloak that had the words Diamond’s Servant embroidered on the back. I could feel all the stares and judgemental glances everyone gave me as I walked past them to who knows where. Meanwhile, Diamond had her arms crossed and a prideful smirk on her face. It was like she wanted to convince everyone that I was working personally for her and she was somehow already better than everyone.

“Erm…young mistress?” I said in a kind, yet now very forced, tone.

“What is it?” Diamond asked, peeking up at me.

“May I ask where it is we’re headed to?”

“We’re going to the park!” Diamond proclaimed. “I want all the other kids to know who’s working for me so they can be jealous.”

Jeezus, what a goddamn narcissist!

“Sure, whatever you say,” I shrugged.

I carried Diamond over to where the park was. I had seen the park a few times before and it was near the school house that Diamond attends. As we were walking, I thought I saw a few men eyeing me off to the side but when I looked to see them, they quickly looked away like they weren’t staring at me in the first place. I thought that was an odd occurrence, but I didn’t really think anything of it so I just brushed it off as my imagination. We eventually made it to the park and there were already some kids playing around it. One of them spotted us and smiled and quickly ran over. She was a little girl, around the same age as Diamond, and she wore a pair of glasses and a purple top and pink dress.

“Hello Diamond,” the girl in as much of a snooty tone.

Joy, another one…

“Hello Silver Spoon. Servant, you may put me down now,” Diamond commanded.

“Yes, young mistress,” I said as I gently set Diamond down.

You’re an idiot.

How many times are you gonna say that?

As many times as it takes so that you don’t pull this kind of shit again. Or I might just keep doing it whenever you’re around this little bitch.

Dude, she’s only like 13.

Still a bitch, I can only imagine what she’ll turn out like when she gets older. She’ll probably get you to walk on all fours as she rides on top of you, if she hasn’t done so already.

Ugh, just shut up, please? I can at least assure you that this won’t be happening again any time soon.

Yeah, we’ll just have to see about that.

“So who’s this guy,” the glasses girl asked Diamond, gesturing to me.

“It’s nice to meet you, my name is-”

“I don’t remember giving you permission to speak,” Diamond said, giving me the stink eye.

Oh, I’ve got plenty to say about you, you little-

Damnit Dante, SHUT IT!

“But I guess you can introduce yourself,” Diamond said as she flicked hair over her shoulder.

“Thanks, I’m Axel Rickert, by the way,” I said with a polite curt nod. “I have just recently been employed by Mr. Rich as his business associate.”

“So you’re the new butler?” The girl asked.

“That’s not-”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Diamond interrupted me.

“Well that’s nice, I’m Silver Spoon, and since I’m Diamond Tiara’s friend that means you gotta do whatever I say too,” Silver Spoon said with a smirk.

“Uh…”

“That’s right, Silver Spoon, it’s so nice to have a servant to do whatever you want for you,” Diamond giggled.

“Bump bump, Sugar Lump, bump!” They both said as they did a little handshake.

Fucking hell, that had to be the dumbest shit I’ve ever seen…

“So Silver Spoon, you wanna get something to eat at Sugarcube Corner?” Diamond asked her friend. “Rickert here can pay for it with his allowance.”

“But I don’t-”

“Okay! I could use a few donuts!” Silver Spoon said.

“You hear that, Rickert? Now you have to carry both of us!” Diamond leered at me with a shit eating grin.

Hey Axel.

SHUT THE FUCK UP! I KNOW, ALRIGHT?! I’M A FUCKING IDIOT!

I reluctantly bent down so both girls could climb on me and sit on my shoulders, Diamond sat on my right shoulder while Silver sat on my left. I raised my arms so I could balance them and stood up while holding my arms out like a T-pose. The girls giggled as I was pointed in the direction towards Pinkie’s place. As we walked, I saw Diamond eyeing the chain around my wrist and my Amp.

“Hey Rickert, why do you have this chain wrapped around your wrist?” She asked.

“And this weird thing strapped to your back too,” Silver added. “It kinda looks like it’s made of gold.”

“Gold? This thing? Please, there’s no way something this ugly can be made out of gold,” Diamond scoffed.

“First of all, please don’t call my Amp ugly. Second, to put it bluntly, I use them for self-defence,” I said tiredly.

“You use things to fight people?” Silver asked, surprised.

“How do you use a chain and whatever this thing is to defend yourself?” Diamond wondered.

“Maybe one day you’ll be able to see for yourself,” I shrugged. “And for the record, yes, my Amp is made of gold.”

I ignored their shocked expressions of disbelief when we finally arrived at our destination. The girls seemed to snap out of their dazes and were looking at the building with anticipation. I wasn’t looking forward to using my earnings to buy this little brat and her friend a snack, but I wanted to believe that maybe she’ll ease up as time goes by. As we walked through the doors, I glanced over my shoulder and thought I saw some men following me again, but I brushed it off as my imagination since I assumed they were also customers as well.

Inside the shop were a few people at tables enjoying their treats. At the counter was a woman wearing a nice summer dress and an apron. Her hair was all pink swirly and reminded me of raspberry sorbet. Behind her was a lanky looking man with short orange hair and wearing a button up shirt, jeans, and a smock as he looked to be preparing more pastries. When the woman looked up at me, she smiled at the girls on my shoulders and giggled.

“Why hello, Diamond Tiara,” the woman said in a warm tone. “And Silver Spoon as well.”

“Hi Mrs. Cake,” both girls said.

“And who might you be, dearie?” She asked me.

“I’m Axel Rickert, ma’am, it’s nice to meet you,” I introduced myself.

“Axel? Ah yes, Pinkie Pie told us about you from her trip in Canterlot. My name is Chiffon Swirl, but I go by Mrs. Cake since I’m married to my husband Carrot Cake back there.”

“Nice to meet you, sonny!” Mr. Cake called out.

“So what can I get you today?” Mrs. Cake asked.

“We’d like a dozen donuts!” Diamond said. “And Rickert here is paying since he works for my daddy.”

“Very well, just give me a moment,” Mrs. Cake said. “That’ll be 12 bits.”

“Rickert, you may put us down now. Silver Spoon and I will find a table so we may enjoy our snack,” Diamond said.

“Okay,” I said as I set the girls down and reached into my pack.

I pulled out a sack of coins and placed 12 of them on the counter. I walked over with the girls and stood by them as they talked amongst themselves. Despite being talked down to, I would like to imagine Diamond would pass along to Mr. Rich how much of a good job I did making her and Silver Spoon company as they enjoyed their little snack.

Axel, heads up. Dante said, making me perk up a bit.

What is it?

Other side of the store, there are some men eyeing us. More specifically, I think they’re eyeing little miss entitled.

I glanced around to see some men sitting in the corner. They all were dressed rather formally but I could tell that they were glancing at us while trying to pretend not to be noticed.

What are you thinking?

I don’t know, but it can’t be good news.

“Here you are, dearies,” Mrs. Cake said, walking over with a pink box.

“Thanks, Mrs. Cake, we’ll be taking that to go,” I said as I took the box and she left with a smile.

“To go? But we just got here,” Silver inquired.

“I’m sorry, but I must insist that we make our leave now,” I said.

“Rickert, I am also your superior and I say we should stay,” Diamond huffed. “Unless you want me to tell daddy that he has no need for you?”

Alright, fuck this little bitch.

I glared at Dimond, making her flinch, and leaned in close to whisper to her. “You listen to me right now, I was having a good day before you dragged me on your stupid little playdate with your snotty friend over there. I could give two shit’s in a handbasket what you tell your dad, cause I’m willing to bet that my word would mean twice as much as yours. And in case you misunderstood, I don’t work for you, I’m not some babysitter who you can boss around just cause I work for your dad. You even remind me of someone I used to know many years ago and let me tell you, it ain’t a pleasant memory. Now you can either pick your annoying little ass up and walk out of here with me, or I will carry you again, but this time, it’s over my shoulder with you kicking and screaming. So what’s it gonna be?” I sneered begrudgingly.

Diamond Tiara was shocked beyond belief at my words, just as much as Silver Spoon, but my face told her that I could give less of a shit what she thought. All Diamond could do was nod blankly at me. I scoffed as I turned to the door and the girls got up from their seats and followed me.

“Come again soon!” Mrs. Cake called out.

I smiled over my shoulder and waved to her while subtlety glancing at the men who still pretended not to pay attention to me.

You know what comes next, don’t you?

Yep, not a doubt in my mind.

Want me to take over?

No, I got this, I need something to vent out on anyway.

Very well.

Both girls were silent the whole time we walked back to Mr. Rich’s house. I was in a foul mood no thanks to Diamond and Silver but I didn’t really care at the moment. As much as I wanted to just go back home, I couldn’t leave Diamond on her own. Especially with those goons who are no doubt following us. I pretended to look back at Diamond, who was hanging her head and frowning along with Silver Spoon, and noticed the men from earlier behind us before I turned back around. There was no mistaking it, they were after Diamond and no doubt wanted to try and nab her. I tried to make an attempt to lose them by cutting down a street to make a shortcut, only once I did, a man dressed like the goons was waiting for me. He was smoking a cigarette and leaning against a wall, when he looked up at me he took one last puff from his cigarette and flicked it away. I stopped walking and narrowed my eyes at the man as he approached me. Diamond seemed to notice him too so I raised my hand in front of her in a protective manner.

“Afternoon,” The man said with a fake smile.

“Can I help you?” I asked warily.

“You can, as a matter of fact, I have something to ask that girl behind you,” he said as he pointed at Diamond who cowered behind me. “Her father is an old acquaintance of my employer, you see, I would just like to ask her some questions in private.”

“Kinda creepy for a grown ass man to want some alone time with a young girl like her,” I accused. “Plus, if you have business with Mr. Rich, I can set up an appointment for you.”

“You work for him?” The man asked and I nodded. “Then that makes things easier. Why not ditch the old fart and work for us?”

“Us?”

The man looked past me and I looked over my shoulder to see them men from before. A couple of them had wings and I noticed the one in the middle had glowing hands which meant he could use magic.

“You see, our employer cares about her employees and makes sure that they are well compensated for their services. Look at us, as you can see, we wear fancy clothes like this because we’re living it big at the moment. You can live like us to, you know, you can make twice as much as Rich is paying you and our boss would even throw in a little extra if you hand the girl over,” the man said.

I looked down at Diamond and Silver who were both trembling and looking up at me in fear. “Y-You won’t let them take me, will you?” Diamond asked in a shaky voice. “L-Look, I-I’m sorry I was so mean to you before! I promise I won’t boss you around!”

“Is that what she did? Then you must have more of an obligation to give her to us,” the man said more confidently.

“It’s true,” one of the other men said. “We both heard and saw everything she and her little friend did to him. They treated him like a total door mat that they could wipe the crud off their shoe on.”

“She’s a little bitch, and you know it,” another said. “Give her to us, and we’ll definitely make it worth your while by putting in a good word for you to our boss.”

“So what’s it gonna be, old chum?” The man in front of me wondered. “Is she worth all the trouble she’s caused you?”

…

“She has to be the most annoying, most entitled, and spoiled little brat I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting in the 25 years of my life,” I stated coldy, making the man smirk. “But…” I flicked my wrist and let the chain fall down and grabbed it as I glared at the man. “To answer your question, yes, she is, because I am her servant for the day and I will do all I can to protect her.” I glanced down at Diamond who looked up at me in surprise and smiled.

“Hmph, you’re gonna regret that,” the man scoffed. “Take care of him, and take both the girls.”

As the men walked towards me, I turned around to face them and activated Smoke. Black trails of smoke wisped around my body and lit my chain up as I started spinning it around. The spectacle made the men pause and look at me in surprise, but I just continued to glare at them.

“No one touches the girls,” I hissed as I spun the chain around, making small cinders fly through the air.

“What the fuck are you fools waiting for?” Their leader barked. “He’s just one guy, get him!”

The magic human raised his hand and went to fire a spell blast at me. I whipped my chain around and swung it forward, meeting his blast head on as I swiped it away. I then raised my other hand and fired a couple cinder shots his way, hitting him in the stomach and head, making him fall down unconscious with scorch marks on his face.

“Next?” I taunted.

The two winged humans unfurled their wings and flew at me. I ran towards them and whipped my chain around and swung it at them. They dodged my swing and one went on the offensive to try and hit me. I managed to block and dodge some attacks but he was able to get some hits on me. He faked me out by slugging in my nose, leaving me dazed a bit. When he went in for another punch, I barely had enough time to dodge as I quickly wrapped my chain around his arm. I swiped my leg under his feet and made him fall as I then activated Electricity and electrocuted him. Sparks of bolts danced around my arms and chain as the goon cried out in pain until he lost consciousness and went limp. The remaining winged man tackled me off the other, making me lose my grip on my chain. I spun around on my back and raised my arms to block his punches. Thinking fast, I covered my arms in electricity and made him shock himself, making him yelp in pain as he briefly stopped punching me. I took the opportunity to coat my fist in bolts and slammed my fist into his jaw, sending him flying off of me and against the wall. I wiped the blood dripping from my mouth when I heard a high pitched yelp, making me snap my head around. Diamond was in the leader’s grasp and Silver Spoon was on the floor, shaking like a leaf as she clutched her face and the box of donuts littered the ground.

“Don’t move!” The leader snapped. “If you want to see this little bitch in one oiece, you’ll stay down! The boss wants her to get back at Filthy Rich, and I plan to give her just that!”

“H-Help me Axel!” Diamond cried, calling me by my name for the first time.

“SHUT IT! You’ve become more of a pain in the ass than we thought!”

“You’d threaten a little kid? Just how low can you get?” I spat.

“I don’t care! You should’ve taken my deal in the first place, then we wouldn’t be in the mess!”

I glared daggers at the man as I sat on my knees. I glanced at my chain that was still coiled around the other man’s arm. I still had my Amp strapped on my back, but I was afraid of what he might do to Diamond. I then got a crazy idea, but it could maybe end very horribly.

Dante.

Yeah?

I need you to take control halfway.

Halfway? What do you mean?

I’ll try and talk him down, you take control of my hand and blast him when the time is right.

We’ve never been halfway before.

First time for everything, just do it!

Dante did as I asked him to as I felt his consciousness take over. It was such a strange feeling as half of my vision blurred and the left half my body felt numb and I could see in the corner of my eye my left hand moving on its own.

I can’t hold this for long, so I’ll try and make this quick!

“You don’t wanna do this,” I said, buying Dante time to aim.

“Ha! What makes you think I don’t want to do this?” The man scoffed, not seeming to notice that my left eye was red instead of green.

“Do you honestly think you’d get away with the girl? I know your face, and even if you manage to get away, you can be damn sure I will be hunting you down until I find you,” I threatened him.

“I honestly would prefer if you did,” the man said as he started to back away. “My boss can be very brutal to those who go against her, and you and especially this kid are no exception!”

How much longer Dante?

Give me a minute!

“I don’t even know who your boss is. Who is she and why does she want Diamond?” I asked.

“All you need to know is that she’s got a very big grudge against your so-called boss!”

“Big enough to send goons like you to threaten a kid?”

“I ain’t no goon! I’m a loyal follower of Miss Sam Spade!”

The man’s eyes widened and I smirked, knowing I caught him in a trap. “So your boss’ name is Sam Spade?”

“Damn you!” He shouted as he raised his fist to hit Diamond.

DANTE NOW!

Dante pointed my finger and fired a bolt of red lighting at the man’s head. It hit him square in the face, making him cry out in pain as his brain seemed to fry as well as he fell backwards. As I regained control of my left half of my body, Diamond tore herself from her captors grasp and ran over to me with tears in her eyes. I thought she was gonna hit me but instead she jumped into my chest and wrapped her arms around my neck and cried her eyes out.

“Waaaaaah! Thank you! You saved me!” Diamond cried, burying her face in my shirt.

Silver Spoon managed to shake herself out of her shock and also ran to me and jumped on me. I soon had two crying girls hugging me close and bawling their eyes out. I sighed, knowing the craziness was over and gently wrapped my arms around them and held them close.

“I-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry for how I treated you!” Diamond Tiara wept.

“Me too! I didn’t mean any of it!” Silver Spoon added.

“Hey come on now, you two are safe and that’s all that matters,” I said softly. The two soon calmed down a little and looked up at me. I noticed a bit of a bruise on Silver’s cheek which made me frown. I raised my hand to lightly cup her cheek and used my power to heal her. She winced a bit but once I pulled my hand away, the bruise was gone. “There we are, good as new.”

“Thank you…” Silver whispered with a small blush.

I heard groaning beside us and noticed that the one I shot with my Smoak power was coming to. I released the girls and stood up straight and walked over to the man trying to pick himself up. I grabbed his shirt collar and hoisted him up and slammed him against the wall

“You still conscious?” I asked and he nodded. “Good, now you’re gonna listen to me so you can live a little longer. I just kicked you and your buddies’ ass and I’m willing to keep going until my message of you never coming near Mr. Rich’s daughter gets through. Whoever’s the bitch you’re working for, you can tell her that as long as I’m around, she won’t EVER get what she wants. I’m here for the long run, so if she’s got a problem with it, she can tell me herself. So you take your buddies, take my message to your boss, and get the fuck out of dodge before I get more pissed than I already am, clear?”

“Y-Yeah, we’re clear…” he said nervously.

“Now kindly fuck off,” I said quietly so that the girls wouldn’t hear me cussing.

He nodded and I shoved him aside. I walked back over to the girls and smiled and gestured to them to follow me. We walked back together, side by side, until we finally made it back to Mr. Rich’s house. We walked through the doors to see Mr. Rich in the living room enjoying a cup of tea. He looked up to us and smiled as he set his cup of tea down.

“Ah, Diamond Tiara, so good of you to return home,” he said in a warm tone.

“Hi daddy,” Diamond said quietly.

“Hello, Mr. Rich,” Silver Spoon said.

“And hello to you to, Silver Spoon,” Mr. Rich said to the glasses girl. “Randolph told me you had taken my daughter out for a little playdate with her friend.”

“We did, I took them to get donuts at Sugarcube corner. We would have brought the box home, but I accidentally dropped it from tripping,” I lied, sounding sheepish.

“I see, well no matter. I will be sure to reimburse you for your troubles.”

“It’s alright, Mr. Rich, Diamond and Silver enjoyed their outing so that’s all that matters.”

“Your humbleness seems to show more and more as time goes on, Axel,” Mr. Rich smiled.

“Daddy, Silver and I wanna go play in my room now,” Diamond said.

“Very well, and you are also done for the day, Axel,” Mr. Rich nodded.

“Sure, thanks,” I said.

Before I could leave, Diamond walked up to me and gestured to me to bend down at eye level with her. I knelt down and took off the cloak and held it out for her. “I think this is yours?” Diamond stared at the cloak then quickly wrapped her arms around me and hugged me again.

“Thank you, big brother Axel…” she whispered in my ear, surprising me.

She took the cloak and scurried away with Silver Spoon. I blinked for a moment then smiled as I stood up straight and walked out of the house after saying goodbye to Mr. Rich. As I walked home, I couldn’t help but keep smiling the rest of the way.

“Heh, this world seems to get more interesting each day.”

Author's Note

Another satisfying day for our hero, but what other dangers has he brought upon himself?

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building...

It’s Just A Hobby

Chapter 15

“Come on, please?”

“No.”

“Just once, I promise it’ll be different this time.”

“Last time, you made me wear a cloak that said I was your slave.”

“It didn’t say that though!”

“Might as well have.”

It’s been a couple weeks since I took this job and almost a month since I came to this world. Funny how time flies when you’re working for some bigwig and you’re already fighting off scumbag bearded bastards and thugs wherever you go. After I saved Diamond and her little friend from being taken away from those thugs, the kid’s been acting like I’m some kind of role model. Every day I come to Mr. Rich’s house, she’s usually the one to answer the door before Randolph. It was weird how her attitude towards me took a whole 180 degree turn from being a spoiled little brat to a sweet talking young girl in my presence. There had been a few other satisfying developments in town since my stay. Moon was able to acquire a job as Twilight’s aid around the library and helps people find books and stuff. I’ve noticed that she and Twilight have grown quite fond of each other and have both been talking about the fundamentals of magic and the history of Equestria during their spare time. Although, I wish I could say the same for the rest of the town. Though there are some who have accepted Moon into their community, there are those who still give Moon that sideways glance. I guess one party and kind smiles wouldn’t be enough to convince these people to see that she’s not what they know her to be.

“Please, big brother Axel?” Diamond pleaded, folding her hands together.

There it is, the line that has recently been putting me under some kind of spell. I say it’s a spell but it’s more like trigger words, since she’s not a unicorn human. At first, I just thought she called me that once before out of kindness and wanted to be cute about it. However she seems to have a knack for calling me big brother whenever her dad isn’t in the room and it’s just us. I was back at the Rich house after accompanying Mr. Rich on one of his usual business errands. He noticed recently that his daughter had gotten more fond of me and asked if I would use my work days to spend time with her. At first I was about to refuse, but when I thought back to the thugs that attacked us, which I’ve still yet to inform Mr. Rich about but didn’t for personal reasons. He decided to sweeten the deal by telling me there’d be a bonus in my pay if I accepted this offer. Naturally, being the closet money grubber that I am, I accepted. Especially since I was able to pay Rarity for repairing my beanie without any financial worry. Now I’m sitting here in a chair in the living room, and the little girl in question is giving me puppy dog eyes.

“You know, you’ve been calling me that for a while now,” I pointed out. “There any particular reason why?”

“Why can’t I call you big brother? You stood up to those mean people and you were right in what you said, that I was pushy and a spoiled brat,” Diamond said, making Randolph, who was in the room, arch an eyebrow and I smiled sheepishly. “And…I thought you were really cool how you took them all on by yourself.”

“I probably could’ve been a little less harsh with my words,” I sighed. “I sorta have a habit for saying things without thinking. As for those men, I wasn’t gonna just let get away with that.”

“Well I’m glad you did, because I realized that I was sounding like…” Diamond trailed off looking sad. “Like…my mother.”

Seeing her sad made me tilt my head and I noticed Randolph frowning as well. “Is your mother not around anymore?” I asked hesitantly and she shook her head.

“My daddy divorced her,” Diamond said bitterly. “I remember when I was younger that they would always fight. One day, daddy must have had enough of whatever my mother was doing so he decided to split up with her and kick her out. I haven’t seen her since, but I later found out what she did over the years. Daddy had discovered that she was embezzling money from my father’s company and had planned to take Barnyard Bargains for herself. Randolph was forced to keep quiet by her but he soon told daddy after hearing that she was gonna take me away. I haven’t seen or heard of my mother since, and I wanted to prove that I was better than her.”

I frowned at the thought that such a selfish woman would exist and do that to her own daughter. I reached up and pat Diamond’s head, making her look up at me with sad eyes.

“You might find this hard to believe, but I also wasn’t too close with my mother, even my father.” I confessed. “We would always fight and I eventually moved out, which is something I later regretted doing since I basically ran away from my problems. I’m guessing this rich life made you think you could do whatever you wanted and you didn’t realize you were becoming something you were trying to avoid?” She nodded and sniffled a little. “Well you don’t have to worry about that anymore, I’m glad I was able to set you straight.”

“You really mean it?” Diamond asked.

“Wouldn’t be much of a big brother if I didn’t, now would I?” I said with a wink.

Oh gag me…

You’re jealous, I can tell.

You wish, dick.

Diamond gasped after hearing me call myself her nickname and she jumped on me and hugged me close. I smiled and wrapped an arm around her, returning the hug, and noticed Randolph giving me an approving smile.

“So, you said you wanted to go to the park today?” I asked and she looked up at me and nodded. “And you want me to carry you again?” Another nod followed by a smile. I smirked as I stood up and slung my pack over my shoulders. I then reached down and picked Diamond up and hoisted her over my head and sat her on my shoulders. “Then to the park we shall go.”

“Yay! You’re the best, big brother Axel!” Diamond cheered, hugging my head.

“Have fun, you too!” Randolph called out.

I’d be lying if I wasn’t enjoying myself with Diamond. The kid made me take the long way to the park and she had a happy smile the whole time. Anyone who saw us were confused at first as to why she was sitting on my shoulders, since she had a bit of a rep, but we both ignored anyone who looked at us funny. As we neared the park, I spied a few boys standing together and drawing stuff on a wooden fence.

The first boy was a little skinny and wore jeans, white button up shirt, brown sneakers, and a bow tie and had a camera hanging from his neck. His hair was brown and had a bowl cut style to it and his eyes were light brown. The next boy was the tallest of the three. He wore a white t-shirt with brown sleeves, dark blue jeans, and green sneakers. His dark brown hair was a bit more scruffy looking and his eyes were a darker brown. The last boy had orange hair and reddish brown eyes. He wore a brown hoodie, light blue jeans, orange sneakers, and a little propeller hat on his head. They seemed to be bickering about something as we passed by but Diamond tugged at my beanie to get me to stop.

“What’s up Diamond?” I asked.

“I wanna see what those boys are up to,” she said.

“You sure? They’re just minding their own business.”

“I know, it’s just…I kinda wanna go apologize to them. I used to bully them a lot for not having their cutie marks.”

“Ah, in other words, you wanna make amends?” I asked and she nodded.

I changed my direction and walked over to the boys. One of them saw me and then Diamond which made him nudge the others to look at me, to which they all frowned.

“Oh great, it’s Diamond Tiara,” the propeller hat kid complained.

“Can’t you just leave us alone?” The other boy sighed, sounding like he was from London due to his accent.

“Axel, can you please let me down?” Diamond asked and I obliged by kneeling down so she could climb off me. She stepped towards the boys and bowed her head a little. “I’m sorry for being mean to you.”

The act alone surprised the boys as they all looked at each other.

“You’re apologizing?”

“Yes, I don’t expect you to forgive me, I just wanted to let you know that.”

“What brought this on anyway?” The british kid wondered.

“My big brother showed me a better way to treat others,” Diamond smiled as she raised her head and pointed at me.

“Brother?”

“I didn’t know you had a brother.”

“I’m not her brother, she just likes to call me that,” I shook my head. “Name’s Axel.”

“I’m Featherweight.”

“My name’s Pipsqueak.”

“I’m Button Mash.”

“Pleased to meet you all,” I smiled.

“Hey, wait a sec…” Featherweight hummed until he snapped his fingers. “I know you! You’re that guy who took down that train bandit gang and drove off all those Northern men!”

“You know about that?”

“I’m part of the school paper in my class, I take photos for the paper,” Featherweight explained, showing off his camera. “I sorta have a knack for knowing what everyone is talking about in Ponyville, and recently they’ve been talking about you nonstop! They’re calling you the Demon of Ponyville!”

“What?! How dare they! Axel is no demon! He’s a hero!” Diamond shrieked.

Oh wow, the irony in that nickname. I thought, thinking of Cole’s nickname the people gave him in New Marais.

“Relax, Diamond, the people can think whatever they want to,” I said, patting her head.

“But you’re not a demon!”

“Maybe, though I might know someone who would disagree with you.” Wanting to change the subject, I spied the materials the boys were using to draw in the fence. There were chalk sticks, scissors, tape, some cardboard pieces, even a few spray cans. “So what’re you all doing with this stuff?”

“Our teacher assigned us to make an art canvas and turn it in. Featherweight would take the picture for us, but so far we can’t decide what to draw,” Pipsqueak explained.

“I told you! We should draw a big video game controller!” Button Mash said.

“But that’s too boring! We should draw a pirate flag! It’s way cooler!”

As they bickered, I scratched my chin in thought as I thought back in my early years. During high school, I remembered doodling constantly on my papers and eventually started to get more into drawing with chalk on the pavement. I remember I one day met some graffiti artists on the way home and I admired their work so much, I gave a crack at it. I looked down at the spray cans and smiled when an idea hit me.

“Hey boys, why don’t I have a go at this?” I spoke up, grabbing the scissors and cardboard pieces.

“What are you gonna do?” Featherweight wondered.

“Just something I used to do as a hobby.”

I got to work as I took a pencil and sketched out the cutout piece. I then cut the cardboard to shape it and hung it on the fence with tape. I grabbed the spray can with white paint and sprayed the open area. Once that was done with that, I repeated the processes as the kids watched me work. I almost screwed up a few times, due to me being rusty, but I kept working on my little project. I had to be sure I didn’t screw up the little details here and there, but I all looked like it was coming together. About a half an hour later, I sprayed on the finishing touches of my work and nodded confidently and took off the last piece of cardboard to present my finished art.

“I call it: Nut Job.”

The kids were silent for a moment until wide grins grew in their faces and admired my art.

“Woah! That’s so cool!” Featherweight said.

“Hah! Look at those squirrels! That one’s having a hard time cracking it open with that tool!” Pipsqueak laughed.

“Can squirrels even use tools?” Button Mash wondered.

“Who cares! It’s still funny!” Pipsqueak argued.

“Wow, you’re a really talented artist, Axel,” Diamond smiled.

“Eh, it’s just an old hobby,” I shrugged.

“Hey! Can you do another one?” Featherweight asked before he took a picture of the artwork.

“Another one? I don’t know…” I said.

“Come on, please? Just one more,” Button pleaded.

“I also would like to see more of your art,” Diamond said.

“But what about the park?” I asked.

“That can wait, this is much more fun!”

“Jeez,” I sighed. “Okay fine, grab some more of those cardboard cutouts, I think I might know another place to tag.”

The boys nodded and gathered the supplies and followed me. I glanced over my shoulder to see some people admiring my work which made me smirk a little. I looked around to see any other place to tag until my sights set upon Sugarcube Corner. Another idea popped in my head as we headed around back and where a blank wall and two windows waited for me.

“Okay kids, here’s another fun little project.”

I got to work and began cutting the cardboard, outlining, the wall, spraying and tracing while making sure not to mess up. My work began to draw in a small crowd as I put in the finishing touches and wiped my brow.

“I should get paid for this. I call this one: Pastree.”

“Oooohh!” The kids and some of the people said in awe.

“Oh, I get it! It’s a tree with a cupcake on top!” Button pointed out.

“What’s all the noise?” The window opened to reveal Pinkie Pie and she smiled when she saw me. “Oh hiya Axy! What’re you up to?”

“Oh nothing, just adding a little sweet treat to Sugarcube Corner,” I said, pointing out my art. When she looked up and saw it, she gasped and ran back inside. She later came back around with Mr. and Mrs. Cake being dragged along with an excited smile.

“Look! Look! Look! Axy made a cupcake!” Pinkie chipped as she pointed at the wall. When the Cakes saw my work, they were shocked at first but didn’t seem too upset about it.

“My word, did you do this Axel?” Mr. Cake asked.

“Yeah, sorry Mr. Cake,” I said, scratching my cheek. “I guess I should’ve asked you for permission.”

“Well normally we would have preferred that, yes, but since it’s such a lovely piece of art we can let this slide,” Mrs. Cake smiled. “After all, I say that it goes rather well with Sugarcube Corner’s theme.”

“Then I’m glad you all like it,” I nodded as they left. The small crowd admired my work again until the kids stood before me with wide smiles as Featherweight took a picture of the wall. “No, no more.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Please?”

“I said no.”

“Pleeeeeaaaasssee?”

“…ugh, fine, one last one.”

“YAY!”

Once again, I was walking through town, looking for the perfect place to tag. I certainly never expected my day to turn out like this, but if Diamond isn’t complaining then I guess I won’t either. I spotted a random building with a wall and decided to tag it so I could just get it over with. I stood in front of the wall, and scratched my chin as to what should go on it. After making my decision, I took the remaining cardboard pieces and started tracing and cutting. I sprayed, outlined, and once again I drew in a crowd that seemed to grow from last time. Once I finished, I wiped my brow again and nodded at my finished work.

“A man, a plan, and an aerosol can. This one’s called: Origami Airlines.”

“What the tartarus is going on out here?!”

Everyone flinched at the sudden shrill voice and we all turned to see Lapis storm up to us with a pissed off look. When she saw my artwork, she looked even more pissed as she got up in my face.

“You! Did you draw this graffiti on my building?!” Lapis demanded.

“Your building? Is this the barracks?” I leaned over to the side and saw the sign that had a star and more guards coming to and fro. “So it is.”

“Of course it is! I outta cuff you right now for vandalizing!”

“Lapis please calm down, did you even look at the art properly?”

Lapis glanced at the wall but went back to scowling at me.

“It’s just a kid throwing a giant paper airplane, so what? You still vandalized my building! It’s gonna take me weeks to wash this off completely!”

“Sis!”

We both turned to see Featherweight walk up to us.

“Don’t wash away Mr. Axel’s artwork, I was the one who asked him to do it!”

“Featherweight, why’re you hanging around with a guy like him?” Lapis wondered.

“I’m right here you know,” I rolled my eyes.

“Shut it! This is between family!” Lapis snapped.

“I didn’t know Lapis was your older sister,” I said, glancing at Featherweight.

“Well I am, and you manipulated my little brother into tagging buildings?” Lapis growled as she fished from her back pocket a pair of cuffs. “Turn around and put your hands behind your back!”

“Hey! You leave Axel alone!” Diamond huffed as she got in between us. “Axel didn’t do anything wrong! He was just helping Featherweight and the others with the assignment that Ms. Cheerilee assigned to us.”

“It’s true,” Pipsqueak chimed in. “We were having trouble finding a solution for what to draw for our assignment but Mr. Axel and Diamond came along and helped us out. Featherweight took pictures of the other stuff he drew on.”

Featherweight reached into his pocket and held up the photographs to Lapis. She took the photos and examined them while also glancing at me.

“You helped these boys with their homework?” Lapis questioned.

“Well at first I only wanted to give them a bit of inspiration but they wanted to see me tag more walls so I obliged,” I shrugged.

Lapis stared at me for a little while as the small crowd took the opportunity to make their leave. She then walked up to the wall and examined it. Though as she occasionally looked back at me, I noticed her eyes were a pretty pale blue and her hair wasn’t in a braid anymore and tied in a single ponytail. I soon found myself unintentionally checking her out which led to my eyes trailing to her ass, which, by the way, she had quite the nice one.

“Hmm…I guess it’s kinda impressive,” Lapis hummed as she turned around and I quickly looked the other way. “What’re you staring at?”

“Uh, nothing,” I said nervously. “Just…enjoying the scenery.

“Scenery, sure,” Lapis rolled her eyes as she put he cuffs away. “Well, since my little bro and these kids vouch for you, I guess I’ll let you off the hook.” I started to relax until she stepped forward and her nose was just inches away from mine. “But, you now owe me one for not booking you. So whenever I want your help with something, you better be prepared to be at my beck and call. Got it, kid?”

“Would you stop it with the kid shit? I’m 25!” I shot back, surprising her as she stepped back.

“Seriously? Hah! You have such a baby face! I thought you were 15, 17 tops!” Lapis laughed.

“Yeah? Then how old are you?” I wondered.

“Axel, it’s rude for a man to ask a lady how old she is,” Diamond lectured.

“Kid’s got a point, but if you must know, I’m 24,” Lapis smirked, making my eye twitch.

“You mean to tell me you’ve been calling me kid this whole time when in fact I’m older than you?!” I deadpanned.

“It’s your fault for being kinda cute,” Lapis teased. Hearing her call me cute made me involuntarily blush a little but I quickly cleared my throat to regain my composure.

“Whatever, I still gotta take Diamond to the park anyway.” I leaned down and scooped up Diamond and carried her princess style and activated Video. As soon as my digital wings materialized, the boys’ jaws all went slack as I flapped them and hovered in the air. “Be seeing you, hot stuff,” I winked, giving her a taste of her own medicine, making her look away with a huff. As I flew away, Diamond clung to me in my arms and looked down to the town below. She then looked up at me and then my digital wings in awe.

“You never told me you have wings!” Diamond pointed out. “How have you been hiding them this whole time?”

“My wings are just among the many cool tricks I can pull out of my sleeve. Stick around, and you’ll be able to see much more.”

Diamond giggled as I flew towards the park. During my flight, I looked down at the people below as some of them noticed me flying above. They all gave me a mix of expressions which consisted of either giving me friendly smiles, nervous sideways glances, or looks of disdain and hate. I then thought of what Featherweight told me, how the people are already calling me the Demon of Ponyville. It bummed me out that my rep was already in the gutter, in a manner of speaking, but I’m the one who decided to unleash Dante. All I can do now is just let time pass and hopefully they’ll see there’s more than meets the eye with me.

The sun was beginning to set and I was walking back to the Rich house with a sleeping Diamond Tiara in my arms. She had a very fun time at the park after apologizing to more kids whom she used to bully and now she’s starting to make more friends. I decided to entertain her and the other kids by using my Neon to create a little light show for them and using my Smoke to perform some magic tricks. Though once I had finished my little performance, I felt a wave of fatigue hit me and it felt like I just ran a few miles nonstop. Now that I think about it, I haven’t really been keeping track how much power I’ve used without recharging. My Electricity feels like it’s still got plenty of juice, since I saved that electrician back in Canterlot from a broken power line. As for my other abilities, Video, Smoke, and Neon have been the three abilities I’ve used the most so far. It’s strange how I can tell which ability had less energy than the others, but rather convenient at the same time.

I passed by a building that had a small neon sign hanging out on the window. It looked like your typical Open sign you see at your local convenience store. I looked around and people weren’t really paying attention to me so I decided that this might be a good opportunity. I walked over to the sign and held Diamond with one arm and held my hand out. I activated Neon as my hand started to glow. As if acting automatically, the neon lights from the sign were extracted and absorbed into my hand. The sign had shut off as I felt a refreshing wave of energy course through my body.

“Whoo! That felt good,” I smiled as I opened and closed my hand. I looked around for more neon signs and saw a big one for some record store that said DJ Pon-3’s Radical Records. I walked over to the store and held my hand up to the sign as the same process and absorbed the DJ part of the sign. My hand glowed bright and I felt like I could run for an entire day without rest. Although as I looked back up at the sign and how the lights were now off, I felt a little awkward seeing as how I probably should’ve asked the owner first before messing with their sign. “Eh, I’m sure it’ll switch back on soon, right?”

Not wanting to stick around, I made my leave and decided to wait until tomorrow or something to see where I could recharge Video and Smoke. We arrived at Mr. Rich’s house and I opened the door and was greeted by Randolph, but he looked a little sad for some reason.

“Randolph? What’s wrong?” I asked and he put a finger to his lips as he walked up to me and took Diamond from my arms.

“Mr. Rich wishes to see you,” was all he said as he walked away to put Diamond to bed.

I gulped as I pulled my beanie off and made my way up to Mr. Rich’s office. I tried to think of any possible way I might have screwed up but nothing came to mind. I eventually made it to the door and raised my hand to knock.

“Come in, Axel.”

I paused, hearing Mr. Rich’s voice and gulped another lump in my throat and opened the door. Mr. Rich was looking out the window with a glass in his hand as I closed the door behind me and stood at attention.

“You wanted to see me sir?” I said.

“Take a look at my desk,” Mr. Rich said, pointing at an envelope I saw. “Do you know what that is?”

“Um…no sir I don’t,” I shook my head.

“Inside that envelope are two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala, a very special celebration that happens in Canterlot every year,” Mr. Rich explains. “I have attended most of these parties over the years, only choosing to not attend should there be any serious business endeavors to attend to, and my daughter has begged me to take her for some time now.” Mr. Rich looked over his shoulder to me with a frown. “I promised Diamond Tiara I’d take her this year since she’s old enough to attend, but…something of, shall we say, importance came up that requires my immediate attention in Manehattan.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I responded as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Not as sorry as I’ll be once I break the news to my daughter.” Mr. Rich drank the rest of his drink and placed the glass aside. “That poor girl has been through too much, I’m to blame for her brash behavior since I allowed her to act as she pleased. This event should have been a way for me to personally inform her that there’s more to life than wealth and power. Now I’m afraid she’ll go back to being as misbehaving more than she once was.”

“Could this also have something to do with your divorce with your wife?” I wondered, making him quirk a brow as to how I knew that. “Erm, sorry, Diamond told me about her.”

“I see, then yes, that’s also part of it,” Mr. Rich sighed. “My…divorce was something I admittedly never wanted to happen, but my ex wife left me no choice. She was going to take my daughter away and, if I’m being honest, was a bad influence on her.” Mr Rich leaned on his desk and shook his head. “To think, I am a successful business man and well respected in my work, but I seemed to have failed in both being a husband and possibly a father.”

“With all due respect, Mr. Rich, but that’s a load of bullshit,” I said bluntly, surprising him. “I’ve been working for you for about a month now and you’re twice the man as any I’ve met back home. Your daughter always speaks highly of you and you’ve done the best you can raising her on your own. As a single dad like you, that’s all any kid could ask for. I may have had both my parents, but they didn’t really treat me like their son. Who the hell cares what your wife did and where she is now, she’s gone and hopefully will never come back. I’m sure whatever you got going on in your business is important and maybe Diamond would understand. But don’t beat yourself up over something that was never your fault in the first place. Your ex wife made her choice, and so did you. I may be just one of your employees, but as a man I won’t just stand here and allow you to say you’re a lousy father because you’re not.”

Mr. Rich blinked at me but then smiled and chuckled to himself.

“My, my, since when did you become so wise at your age.” Mr. Rich then took the envelope and handed it to me. “I believe you would make for a suitable replacement for the Gala in my stead.”

“Wait, you want me to go?” I asked and he nodded. “But I couldn’t do that, this party sounds like one of those high society things that rich people and nobility go to. I’d stick out like a sore thumb.”

“On the contrary, you wouldn’t stick out too much if you attend as Barnyard Bargain’s representative. Like me, not every C.E.O. or nobleman or woman attends the Gala themselves. They too send people who work for them as their representatives to keep their professional representation. Since you work for me as my personal assistant, I wouldn’t have anyone else in my employment go as my own representative.”

“But I-”

“Also, Diamond seems already fond of you recently. I doubt she would be too disappointed if you brought her with you.”

“I…I don’t know,” I said hesitantly. “Fancy bigwig parties like this aren’t really my style.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much, just think of it as a social gathering. If you wish to mind your business then do so. Whatever small talk you wish to engage in, just keep it brief,” Mr. Rich said, still holding out the envelope.

I was skeptical about the offer, but this was a request not just from my employer, from a dad not wanting to keep his daughter happy.

“Are you sure Randolph can’t go?” I asked.

“Are you sure you want him to take Diamond instead of one of us?” Mr. Rich asked sarcastically.

“Well then my hands are pretty much tied,” I joked as I took the envelope. “Never been to one of these fancy parties, but I’ll at least try to do my best for both yours and Diamond sake.”

“I knew I could count on you, Axel, thank you,” Mr. Rich smiled. “I can tell that you have a bright future in this line of work, just keep it up and you’ll move mountains with that sharp mind of yours.”

“Whatever you say, Mr. Rich, I gotta get going now,” I said as I tucked the envelope in my jacket and turned to leave.

“You take care now, and thank you again,” Mr. Rich called out.

I walked out of his office and saw Randolph with another approving smile. I nodded to him and left the house to return home. If this party was what I thought it was, then I need to get myself some more appropriate clothes than my usual attire. I arrived at the library to see Twilight and her friends all with happy smiles and holding these golden tickets in their hands. Moon soon emerged from the library with her own ticket, followed by Spike who looked excited but calmer himself down when Applejack gave him some kind of knowing look.

“Hey everyone,” I called out.

“Hello Ax, how was work?” Moon wondered as she hugged me.

“Pretty good, what’s got you all in a chipper mood?”

“It’s a long and emotionally exhausting story,” Twilight sighed, looking emotionally exhausted. “But Princess Celestia had sent us all tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala.”

“It’s gonna rule!” Rainbow cheered.

“So you all got tickets too, huh?” I said, making them all tilt their heads at me.

“Too?” Spike said.

“Well yeah,” I said, pulling out my envelope. “Apparently, Mr. Rich gave me tickets too. So I’m going to the Gala as well.”

“What?!” Rarity shrieked. “Filthy Rich gave you tickets as well?! And yet you have nothing to wear for such an important soirée?!”

“Uh…”

“This simply won’t do! You are coming to my boutique first thing tomorrow so I may take your measurements! You’re not going anywhere unless you dress like a proper gentleman!”

“Um…okay?” I shrugged.

“We’ll discuss this later, right now we’re about to go celebrate for getting our tickets, wanna come Axel?” Twilight offered.

“What the hell, I got time to kill anyway,” I nodded.

The rest of the night was just us enjoying ourselves and the girls talking about what they are looking forward to at the Gala. As for me, I was still trying to figure out how I’d pull off surviving a night surrounded by the snob. Only time will tell, I guess, so I’ll just have to wait and see.

Author's Note

The Gala approaches.

Side Note: I’m so very sorry you all had to wait on this chapter for as long as you did. I just had to take a short hiatus for personal reasons, but I think I got my posting schedule handled…I hope.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Heated Retaliation

Chapter 16

Sometimes I wonder if whenever people say that their day has been good for them, if they actually mean it. They could be lying and have a mask on to hide what their true emotions are, or they could actually mean it and continue on with their lives. I tend not to pry in other people’s business since I can’t really speak for them. As for me, I’m sort of on the fence. Before I knew it, another week went by just like that which marks exactly one month since my arrival. The people of this town still call me the Demon of Ponyville, which I can say is a bittersweet feeling. Sure the nickname has a sort of charm to it, but it only caused a sort of invisible rift between me and the townsfolk. While they all greet me with the occasional smile and wave in my direction, I could tell that they still are a bit wary of me ever since Dante drove the Northerners out of town. On top of working for Mr. Rich, I also try to help around wherever I can to at least show them I have good intentions.

One thing I ended up doing was lending Applejack a hand with her farm. After she managed to stop a stampede of cows from barreling through the town, she was awarded some trophy for being dependable or something. Only when she went to accept the trophy, she looked like she hadn’t slept for days. It turns out, after hearing from Twilight and the others, that she was attempting to harvest her whole orchard of apples all on her own since her brother had injured himself. Her fatigue had caused her to end up messing things up with the girls and eventually Twilight and I had seen and heard enough. So after a stern talking to, we managed to convince her to let us help. Which was an easy task for me since I used Neon to run through the whole orchard and harvest all the apples for her. She was so thankful that she had to take me on as a sort of temp for her farm whenever needed.

Another thing that had happened recently was this old friend of Rainbow Dash, Gilda I think her name was, showed up for a visit. She looked like a punk chick from an AC/DC concert, wearing dark clothing and pierced ears, and had white hair that was styled like feathers and a pair of brown wings on her back. Twilight told me that she was a griffin human since her nose kinda looked like a bird’s beak. Long story short, she was a total bitch who had no chill over a few pranks. Last I heard, she stormed off after Rainbow told her off for her rude behavior. All I can say is that she’s lucky I wasn’t there since I was running some errands for Mr. Rich, otherwise I’d let Dante speak his mind.

Besides all that, I think I’m starting to get through to these people that I’m not as bad as they think. If only there was something big that was about to happen that could really show them that I’m an alright guy, but I guess I’ll have to settle with taking this slow and steady. Today I had decided to spend the day with Moon since it was my day off. I had earned a fair amount of funds and I felt like I should take my girl out for a nice meal. I just wish all this damn smoke wasn’t covering the sky, cause I could really use a nice shining day about now.

“I do hope Twilight and her friends will be okay,” Moon said as she held my hand. “That dragon seems to be too much to handle on their own.”

“I’m sure they can handle it,” I shrugged it off. “But what I find weird is how a dragon can produce this much smoke just from sleeping?”

“Is it any stranger than how you can produce smoke?”

“You don’t see smoke coming out of my nostrils when I sleep, do you?”

“No, but you do snore a little.”

“I…touché.” Moon giggled as I looked up at the smokey sky above me. I could barely make out the sun and I noticed the people in town were a little down that they could not enjoy the sun as usual. I then stopped walking when an idea hit me.

“What is it, Axel?” Moon wondered.

“I think I might have a way to bring the sunlight back, if only for a little while.” I scratched my chin in thought. I then activated Smoke and made my hands flicker with embers. “I’ll be right back.” I thrusted my hands down and took to the air as I flew towards the smoke from above. As I neared, I could smell the sulfur-like odor already which made my nose scrunch up. Ignoring the smell, I drew in closer and closer to the smoke trail until I was just beside it. I hovered in mid air using my Smoke Thrusters as the black smoke billowed through the sky. I scanned the trail all the way where the mountain was that I heard Twilight talk about and wondered what the girls could be doing right now.

“I hope they make it back in one piece, but for now I think this down deserves to shed a little light on.” I raised one of my hands and towards the smoke and focused my power.

I wasn’t sure if I would pull this off, since this smoke was from an actual dragon, but my suspicions were soon quelled as I actually began absorbing the smoke. I felt a rush of energy course through me, almost as much as when I absorbed the electricity from that power line back in Canterlot as I continued to absorb the dragon smoke. I didn’t even pay attention to the fact that my efforts were paying off as the sky began to look more clear the more I absorbed. It took about another minute before the sky was clear enough and the sun shined down on Ponyville once more. Only thing now is that I felt as though I could produce more fire and smoke than an actual dragon.

“Whoo! Hot damn, what a rush!” I grinned.

I looked down at my Smoke Thrusters to see that the embers had traveled from my hands all the way up to my arms. As I descended back to the ground, I also began taking deep breaths to get a handle on all the smoke I absorbed into my own power. I finally touched down and was met with shocked faces from all the townsfolk, Moon included, as I deactivated Smoke.

“Sweet stars above, that was incredible Axel!” Moon said.

“Thanks, I guess,” I exhaled as I cracked my neck. “Damn, that sure was a lot of smoke. I didn’t think I’d be able to absorb it all.”

Well I certainly am pleased with the outcome. I mean, I can literally feel the power of a dragon from the smoke you scarfed up! Dante chortled in my head.

It was just smoke, Dante, relax.

“Well thanks to your efforts, the sun is now shining on Ponyville once again.” Moon pointed to the sky and sure enough the sun was visible again. I looked to the outskirts of Ponyville to see more smoke from the mountain and would soon cover the sky again.

“Sure hope those girls take care of that Dragon problem, cause I don’t think I’ll be able to do that again even if I wanted to,” I said.

“I agree, now come, we still have a date to finish,” Moon smiled as she grabbed my hand and pulled me along.

I smiled as we walked and noticed the townsfolk looking at me with a mix of expressions. Some were appreciative about me bringing the sun back and I even heard a few here and there thank me for my efforts. Unlike before, I could tell that they actually meant it this time and their smiles didn’t look fake in the slightest.

“It’s something, it might not be much, but it’s still something.”

“So after we managed to take all the desks out of the classrooms, we put them all on the roof of the school. The teachers were so mad, but they couldn’t punish us all since all the seniors were involved in the first place.”

“Pffft! Hahhahahaha! Oh my, that is quite funny! How were you able to get away with such a crime?”

“Cause we planned it so that it happened at the end of the year and right before graduation so they wouldn’t be able to crack down on us.”

Moon continued to laugh as I had finished telling her about my high school senior prank I did with the rest of the senior student body. My idea, at the time, was to graffiti the bleachers at the football field and draw the rival high school’s mascot getting pantsed by our school’s mascot. However, since the rival school’s mascot was a female tiger and ours was a knight, people would think it was too sexual or some bullshit excuse like that.

“You certainly had quite the interesting youth, Ax,” Moon giggled.

“Eh, it was alright, for the most part,” I shrugged as I sipped my water. We had decided to go to a local café and have a small lunch together and sat at one of the outside tables. I ordered pasta and Moon had ordered a salad, as usual. “I made some pretty interesting people during my high school days, only problem was that we all lost touch when I graduated.”

“Does that happen often in your world?”

“You could say that, it just depends on how much someone wants to stay in contact with another. I would’ve liked to stay connected with my old friends, but when I had that falling out with my parents I didn’t have a choice when I moved away. It’s stupid saying out loud, but since my parents knew my old friends, I was paranoid they’d tell them where I moved to and try to talk to me agian.” I frowned as I placed my fork on the table. “Sometimes I wonder if I should’ve at least given them another chance rather than keep living in the past. I still blame myself for what happened with that guy I…killed. Maybe things could’ve been different, maybe he’d still be alive, imprisoned, but alive.”

Moon reached out and placed her hand on mine with a sad smile. “It is normal for one to have regrets, Ax, I of all people should know that more than anyone. I was the cause of Luna and Celestia’s separation. These people still are wary of me, however I do not blame them. All I can hope is that given time, I will have earned back their trust. I even have, shall we say, a personal goal.” She pulled her hand away and took a sip of her drink.

“Yeah? What’s that?” I wondered.

“Though it may sound a tad far-fetched, I often imagine myself as a long lost sister to Celestia and Luna. We are alicorn humans and I was born from within Luna’s mind, despite the circumstances. My new purpose, if you will, is to one day show them that I can be worthy of their trustworthiness so that they may welcome me into their family.”

“You hold them in such high regard already?”

“How can I not? You forget, Luna and I were once one in the same mind and body. I hold her memories from when she was a child to before we were separated. I even find myself traversing through the dream realm from time to time so that I may aid Luna in banishing nightmares. On occasion, we would cross paths in the dream realm. At first she was highly skeptical of me if I was stable and reliable enough to do as she does and banish nightmares, sometimes she wouldn’t even acknowledge me.”

“That’s a bit harsh,” I mumbled.

“I know, but again, I do not blame her,” Moon shook her head. “It is rather interesting to see what people dream of nowadays. Would you like to hear what I witnessed young Spike was dreaming about?”

“Oh please, do tell,” I chuckled.

“He dreamt that he was a tall, handsome, and muscular knight in shining armor, come to wisk Miss Rarity away and be her betrothed prince charming.”

“Oh, pfft, hahahahahahaha!” I burst out laughing after failing to swallow the bite of my pasta. “Oh damn! That’s the funniest shit I’ve ever heard!”

“I know! I almost gave myself away, I was laughing so much,” Moon agreed.

“That kid is biting off way more than he can chew. No offence, but Rarity is a little too high class for Spike.”

“Love tends to surprise many who are unexpecting of it, Ax, just look at you and I. Most could only dream of courting a princess in their lifetime, yet we managed to find a way.”

“I suppose you have a point, even though we’re still getting to know each other.”

“It is as you said once before, we are merely taking our time with this relationship. Personally, I couldn’t ask for a more suitable man to share my affections with.”

“I appreciate that, Moon, truly I do,” I smiled as I ate some more of my pasta.

We continued our date for about another hour, making small talk and cracking a few jokes here and there, until I heard some kind of ruckus headed our way. It sounded like people raising their voices over something as we looked to see a crowd of people walking down the street.

“Wonder what’s gotten them so riled up?” I wondered. It wasn’t until the group was close enough that I had to do a double take at some of the men among the group. “Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me.” I stood up as I grabbed my pack I set aside and slung it on.

“What is it?” Moon asked as I stood up.

“Some dumb bastards who I thought I put in their place before. Guess they didn’t get the memo that I don’t like repeating myself.” I glared at the group and marched over to meet them halfway.

“Be careful Axel!” Moon called out.

As I made my way down the street, the gang of men were shoving people out of the way and throwing insults and threats wherever they looked. There looked to be about 15 of them this time, and some of the men, who I recognized, still had bandages on their heads from where I blasted them. If I remember correctly, they work from someone named Sam Spade. Whoever this bitch is, it looks like she doesn’t like to be told no or not get the results she wants.

Want me to tear them apart? Maybe burn a few of them alive and decapitate the rest?

…

As much as I would like for you to scare them shitless, we’re still sort of under watch from the public eye. Even though the Northerners were a bunch of scumbags, these guys are just paid thugs.

Hmph, if you say so.

I stopped just a few yards away from the group of men as they all stared me down. Most of them were armed with blades, clubs, and a few were carrying handheld weapons that seemed to catch my eye. They looked like a weird version of a flintlock pistol and had a small orb where the hammer was supposed to be. The small orb had a faint glow to it which probably meant it was some kind of magic weapon.

From the group of thugs, a man stepped forward and gave me more of a stink eye than the others. I then recognized him as the one smoking a cigarette and the leader of the goons from before since he had a scar above his right eye.

“We meet again, brat,” he growled.

“You gotta be the dumbest motherfucker I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting,” I spat. “I’m pretty sure I was very clear that I never wanted to see you again. Yet here you are, with a bigger group of assholes no less.”

“I see that little bitch isn’t with you this time,” the leader pointed out.

“Watch your words,” I snarled as I flicked my wrist to unravel my chain. “Or I’ll burn your tongue.” I began swinging my chain around as I activated Smoke. Small embers and black smoke trails flickered off my body as the chain was encased in embers.

“You sure do talk tough, but I wonder if you would be able to handle these numbers?” the leader mocked.

“15 of you assholes are nothing to me.”

“That a fact?”

“Come at me and find out.”

“You’re a cocky little shit, I’ll give you that, but I came here to get a job done, and I intend to not fail a second time.” The leader then reached into his pocket and pulled out a pouch. “Boys! I got here a handful of precious gems! First one to knock this little prick down a peg gets all of the gems inside. And, since I’m in a good mood, that gold looking thing on his back will also belong to the first to knock him down!”

I glared at the leader since his proposal seemed to fuel their resolve of taking me down. As the men began to approach me, I quickly pulled out my earbuds and scrolled through my smartphone and selected a song.

“Once you’re out of the way, we’ll make these people see that there’s a new name that they’ll answer to. And that’s Miss Sam Spade!” The leader boasted.

“Over my fucking ass,” I said darkly. “Bring it, bitch!”

Two of the men charged at me with clubs as I ran at them myself. One swung his club for my head and I managed to duck just in time and fired a Cinder Shot at his gut. He grunted as I spun around and kicked his side, making him drop his club as the other man swung at me with his own club. I quickly wrapped my chain around his weapon and yanked it out of his grip. Once both thugs were disarmed, I began swinging my inflamed chain at them, whipping them across their bodies until they fell to the ground with large burn marks on their bodies. I saw in the corner of my eye a few more thugs came at me with blades and one managed to get the drop on me by swinging his sword, cutting my left arm a little. I hissed in pain and tried to dodge each of their swings as I reached back and pulled out my Amp. The Smoke affected the Amp by setting both of the rods to be engulfed in smoke and fire. I swung my Amp at them, causing a wave of smoke and embers to blow them back. The wave made them jump backwards in surprise, but one of them wasn’t quick enough and cried out in pain as he fell to the ground.

“What are you idiots doing?!” The leader demanded. “He’s just one fucking guy!”

More thugs came at me and I soon found myself at a disadvantage. I swung my chain and tried to whip them and swung my Amp, but they had me surrounded and were taking turns having a go at me. One bashed me in my right arm with his club and another managed to graze my left leg with his blade. I cried out in pain and twirled my chain to wrap it around one of the thug’s legs. I yanked it back as hard as I could, making him fall to the ground as I followed it up by bringing down my Amp on him. Before another thug could swipe at me, I fired a couple of Cinder Shots at him and hit his head and chest. As he fell to the ground, two thugs tackled me to the ground and forced me to drop my Amp. Another had raised his club to bash my head, but I quickly evaded his attack by turning myself into smoky wisps and got out of their pin as the thug brought his club down to the dirt.

“What the?! How’d he do that?!”

“It’ll take more than that to bring me down!” I said as I raised my hands at them.

Multiple smoke trails twirled around my hands as an orb of smoke formed in between. I raised the orb up behind me and threw it at the group. The orb impacted the ground and exploded into a plume of smoke, causing the thugs to cough and be disoriented from by successful Sulfur Bomb. One by one, I ran up to the affected thugs and shoved them to the ground and subdued them with my smoke. Over half of the thugs were dealt with and the remaining thugs were beginning to lose their edge.

“Who’s next?!”

BANG!

“ARGH!”

I clasped my right shoulder after feeling something a sharp pain shoot out from behind. I looked at my hand to see blood as my fast-healing did its best to heal the wound. I looked over to see one of the thugs aiming his magic pistol thing at me with a smirk. The other two thugs armed with magic pistols aimed their firearms at me and began shooting. I quickly rolled out of the way, ignoring the pain, and made a break for my Amp that I dropped. One thug saw me run for my Amp as I evaded the shots and caught me off guard by running at me with a sword and slashed at me. The blade managed to cut my right arm, and I didn’t have time to see another thug’s fist punch my face. I staggered a bit and got shot in the leg, making me fall down on my knee and a thug with a club struck my back. I fell on my hands, pain coursing through my body, as the remaining thugs surrounded me again. Blood was dripping from my arms and my legs felt weak and unresponsive. I glanced up at the leader and he was chuckling to himself, the smug bastard.

“Guess you aren’t so fucking cocky after all,” he mocked. “Finish him off, boys, this town will be ours as soon as he’s out of the way. Miss Sam Spade still wants that little bitch.”

“I thought I told you to watch your words,” I growled. Before I was shot by the thugs, I thrusted my arms down to the ground with my Smoke Thrusters and launched into the air. I then aimed my hand at the leader and closed an eye to be precise with my shot. I fired at him, and the Cinder Shot managed to hit him in his face, causing him to scream in pain as he clutched his mouth.

“AAAAARRRRRHHHH!!”

I laughed as I landed back on the ground, but staggered a little from the pain. “Told you I’d burn your tongue.”

“You bastard!” A thug cursed as he aimed his pistol.

I was the quicker draw as I fired three Cinder Shots at him, two hitting his torso and one hitting his head as he dropped to the ground. One thug came at me with his club as I swung my chain and wrapped it around his wrist. I yanked him towards me and slammed my fist in his gut, making him wheeze as he fell to the ground. A thug took more shots at me with his magic pistol and I managed to duck and dodge out of the way. He desperately tried to hit me but as soon as I was about a foot away from him, he aimed for my head and pulled the trigger.

Click!

The sound of the gun clicking made him panic as I noticed the small orb on the top of the gun had lost its glow.

“You’re all out,” I said coldly and spun my chain around. With one hard swing, I whipped him across his body, sending him tumbling across the ground and left a large burn mark along his torso. I breathed heavily as there was only a handful of thugs left remaining. As the song was coming to an end, I limped over to my Amp and picked it up as I glared at the thugs.

“You still wanna go?” I challenged them. “Cause I can keep knocking heads all day.”

The thugs looked at each other until they soon dropped their weapons and raised their hands in the air. I smirked as I walked towards each of them and shoved them to the ground and subdued them with Smoke. I grunted as my fast healing was still taking its time to heal me all the way and I glanced at the leader who was still clutching his mouth. I looked around at the spectators from the town and they all stared at me in shock and awe as I tried to catch my breath.

Not bad, Rickert, not bad at all.

“Did you see that?”

“I saw all of it, he took them all down by himself!”

“Those thugs sounded like they were gonna cause a lot of trouble and hurt us, especially since they had guns on them, but that Axel guy stopped them!”

“Does that mean…we were wrong?”

“You just can’t seem to stay out of trouble, can you?” I looked over my shoulder to see Lapis approach me with an arched brow. There were some other guards in tow as they all began to cuff and restrain the downed thugs

“What can I say? I’m a bit of a troublemaker,” I shrugged, wincing in the process.

“You gonna be okay? Those injuries look serious,” she said, almost sounding concerned for me.

“I’ll live, you should see what I did to that guy,” I said, pointing at the leader who was still in pain and his whole mouth had nasty burns and a guard escorted him away.

“What happened to him?”

“He had a foul mouth, so I burned his tongue,” I stated bluntly. “He and his goons tried to stir up trouble so I stepped in and put them in their place.”

“I’ll say, what’s the deal with these jerks anyway? What did you do to piss them off so much?”

“Some lady they work for by the name of Sam Spade sent them to try and kidnap Diamond Tiara.”

Lapis’ eyes widened as she pointed at me. “Sam Spade? As in the Sam Spade?”

“Yeah? Why, you know her?” I wondered.

“Only by name through the higher ups,” Lapis said, crossing her arms. “She’s known to be a big player in the underground world. I’ve heard she is responsible for causing all sorts of trouble in the major cities. Authorities have been trying to track her down for years, yet no one seems to have any luck even catching a glimpse as to what she even looks like. If she’s after Diamond Tiara, then she’s probably making moves.”

“That’s a bit concerning,” I hummed and then sighed. “I didn’t realize it was that big of a deal, which means I probably messed up.”

“How do you mean?”

“It’s complicated, I thought I was doing the right thing. All I can do now is try and fix what I should’ve done some time ago.”

It was later in the day, as the sun was beginning to set, and I returned to Moon to finish our date. She freaked out when I came back with blood stains on my clothes but I assured her I was alright. Twilight and the girls came back after managing to convince the dragon to leave his cave and they talked about how Fluttershy, of all people, was the one to convince the dragon to leave. I told her that I was very impressed that she managed to pull it off, to which she just blushed shyly and hid behind her hair. Before I joined Moon back at the library, I had to make a quick stop at Mr. Rich’s house for something important. How he would react to what I had to say, all I could think is how was gonna fire me for keeping it to myself. Randolph let me in and led me up the stairs to Mr. Rich’s office. I knocked on the door as Randolph left to tend to his other duties.

“Come in.” I opened the door to see Mr. Rich at his desk, going over some paperwork. When he looked up at me, he smiled. “Ah, Axel, I wasn’t expecting to see you today.”

“Yeah, I just had to come and speak with you about something,” I sighed.

“Is everything alright?”

“Well…not exactly,” I said, rubbing the back of my head. “I first wanna apologize.”

“For?” Mr. Rich tilted his head.

“For lying to you, about what really happened when I first spent time with Diamond.”

I then reluctantly told him everything that had happened the day when I first took Diamond out to hang out with Silver Spoon. When I finished my explanation, Mr. Rich had kept silent the whole time.

“I was only trying to keep you from worrying too much about your daughter, since it sounds like you’ve got enough to deal with on your plate already.” I frowned as I reached up to take off my beanie. “I realize now that it was selfish of me to keep such a serious incident from you since Diamond is your daughter in the first place, and I’m just your assistant.” I sighed as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my employee ID I received on my first day. I stepped towards Mr. Rich’s desk and placed it in front of him. “I’m sorry I lied to you, Mr. Rich, maybe your next assistant will be more truthful than I was.”

“Axel, please sit down,” Mr. Rich calmly said. I hesitated but did as he asked and took a seat. “I appreciate you being honest with me, Axel, honesty is somewhat a rare trait for some people. While I am admittedly a little cross with you for keeping what happened with you and my daughter from me, I can tell that you had your personal reasons for doing so.” He reached under his desk and pulled out a bottle of liquor and two glasses. “And you were right, in a way, I have recently had a number of, how shall I say, stressful endeavors with my company. This Sam Spade is a name I have heard many times recently, especially since her little crime syndicate has been targeting Barnyard Bargains more than the other trading companies in Equestria.”

“Just yours? Why’s that?” I wondered.

“Who can say?” He uncorked the bottle and poured the liquid in both glasses. “All I know is that I have had to increase my security for any shipments I authorize and it has been costing me double than what I normally pay. Barnyard Bargains may be a wealthy conglomerate, but in the end I am merely a CEO of a successful trading company. Why this Sam Spade has chosen to meddle in my affairs is beyond even me.” He pushed one of the glasses towards me as he downed half of his own drink. “Now they come after my own daughter? It is unprecedented that they would go to such lengths. Which is why I am thankful to you that you were around to be there for Diamond when you were.”

“You are?”

“Of course, if not for you I would most definitely be getting a call to pay some kind of ransom for my daughter’s freedom. I can’t imagine what they would have done to her, had they gotten a hold of my little girl.” Mr. Rich smiled and pushed my ID back towards me. “You have done me a great service, Axel, which is why I have no reason to terminate your employment.”

“You’re letting me keep my job?” I asked, surprised. “But I lied to you.”

“For good reason, I’m sure. I probably would have done the same thing if I were in your shoes. All that I ask in return is that you are more honest with me from now on. I may be your employer, but I would also like to be considered as a friend as well. Besides, if I did go through with you termination, I’m sure Diamond would be very sad to see you go without a proper explanation.”

I picked my ID up and held it my hand as a smile grew across my lips. I tucked the ID back in my pocket and took my glass and raised it to Mr. Rich. “To new friendships.”

“To new friendships,” he said back.

Clink!

Author's Note

To a prosperous employment with a new and appreciative friend/employer.

Side Note: School sucks…is the reason why I am late with this chapter.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

One Opportunity

Chapter 17

“Okay, I picked up the parcel for Mr. Rich, dropped off Diamond at school, and somehow helped Pinkie Pie with those annoying ass Parasprite things,” I said to myself.

Yeah, those things were strange as hell, Dante said in my head. You think they’ll come back?

Not unless they want another face full of lighting, I scoffed. I was making my way through town with a package under my arm that I got from the post office.

So…Celestia seemed pretty happy to see you.

And what does that mean?

Are you as dense as you are stupid?

I ain’t even gonna dignify that with a response. And for the record, she was happy to see everyone.

Uh-huh, but mostly you.

Would you-!

I was cut off when I accidentally bumped into someone, making me drop the parcel. I turned around to see a guy rub his shoulder and a newspaper on the ground as well.

“Shit, sorry about that, man,” I said as I picked up both the parcel and the paper and handed him the paper. He looked back at me and was a pale fellow. Strange thing about him was his eyes were almost as red as Dante’s and his hair was as white as snow. He looked at the paper and then to me and simply smiled as he took it back.

“No I’m sorry, I should have been looking where I was going,” He said while rubbing the back of his head and bowing.

Dude, what’s with the bowing? This ain’t Japan.

Dante, shut it.

“No need to bow, dude, I was also lost in thought.” I held out my hand to him. “Axel.”

He smiled back and he grasped my hand firmly and shook it. “I’m Orion, nice to meet you.”

“So what brings you to town?” I wondered.

“Oh, um, well you see, I’m looking to find myself a job, and a place to stay. I had to move out of my old town,” He said, a bit saddened.

“Heh, well you’re in luck,” I smiled as I wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “Cause I know all too well what that’s like. So how’s about I lend you a hand in finding work?”

Orion had an almost shocked expression. “R-really? Oh I couldn’t, we just met and I wouldn’t want to trouble you.”

“Aw, come on!” I smirked as I patted his back. “It’s no trouble at all. You seem like an honest dude, looking for honest work, right?” He nodded a little. “See? Of course you are! So answer me this, what’re your thoughts on manual labor?”

“Uhh okay I guess, why do you ask?” He said while cocking his head to the side.

“There’s an apple farm just on the outside of town who’s been looking for an extra pair of hands. And I think you’d make a good fit. What do you say?”

He shrugged his shoulders awkwardly looking unsure of himself. “I guess I could try, I don’t have many options right now.”

“Great! Trust me, I think you’ll fit right in,” I said as we began our way towards Sweet Apple Acres. On the way, I was showing Orion the in’s and out’s of town and he seemed to take a liking to the welcoming atmosphere. As we walked, I overheard some people calling me by my nickname again.

“Look, it’s the Demon of Ponyville!”

“Hey, don’t call him that!”

“Yeah, he might get mad at you!”

Orion was looking over at the people as they ducked away after calling me by my nickname. “What was that all about?”

“Ugh, it’s…a long story. To make it short, I made a bit of a bad first impression on my first day here. How, you may ask? Again, long story, I’ll tell you later.”

“Well I think you seem like a good guy to me, after all you’re helping a complete stranger find a job,” He added with a smile.

“Yeah, I guess, but you just don’t know the real reason,” I said under my breath.

“What was that?” Orion asked.

“Nothing, hey look, we’re here.” We walked past the gates leading to Sweet Apple Acres and Orion was gazing at all the apple trees that we passed by. “Yep, that was my reaction when I saw this place. Still kinda hard to believe that they can take care and harvest all these apples by themselves.”

“Who?” He asked while looking around at all the trees full of bright red apples.

“Howdy Axel!”

As if on cue, a little girl with a cute bow in her hair came running up to me. I came to know her as Applejack’s little sister, Apple Bloom, and I’ve heard that she’s also been Diamond’s new friend recently. The little farm girl had a bright smile stretched across her face as she jumped up and wrapped me in a big hug by wrapping her arms and legs around me.

“Oof! Apple Bloom, how many times do I gotta tell you to not jump on me like this?” I deadpanned as I supported her with my arms.

“Ya haven’t complained before, so why start now?” Apple Bloom asked.

“It’s cause you’re so damn cute, and your siblings and granny will kill me if I so much as harm a single strand of hair on your head,” I chuckled as I put her down. “Apple Bloom, this is Orion, he’s here to answer that add your brother put out.”

“Really?!” Apple Bloom asked excitedly. “Ya really wanna work with us, mister?”

Orion looked slightly nervous before nodding his head. “I sure do, that is if I’m qualified to work here.”

“Well come on then! Mah sister and brother should be around here somewhere.” The little farm girl led us towards the farm house as Orion looked a little anxious.

“If it’s any consolation, they’re all as nice as Apple Bloom is,” I whispered to him.

“I’m just hoping I can land this job, I’ve tried four different places already today,” He whispered back.

We soon made it to the barn and we saw Applejack and her brother Big Mac hauling barrels of Apples on a wagon. Applejack had her shirt tied up halfway, exposing her toned stomach as she took off her hat to fan herself.

You gotta admit, that blonde knows how to work it.

Shut the fuck up!

“Sis! Look who came to visit!” Apple Bloom chirped, gaining their attention.

“Well howdy there Ax, what brings ya by?” Applejack smirked at me.

“Howdy,” Mac nodded.

“Hey you two, I brought someone here who wants to ask you something,” I said as I looked at Orion, who seemed to be eyeing the farm girl before I elbowed him.

“Ugh…I uhh, hi I’m job may I apply for the Orion here?” He spat out nervously.

“You what and you’re where now?” Applejack asked, arching a brow in confusion.

I gave him a firm slap on the back which caused him to speak properly. “Hello my name is Orion and I’d like to apply for the job here!”

“The job? Oh! From the ad Ah put out!” Mac said, tapping his fist on his palm.

“You put out an ad without askin’ me?” Applejack questioned.

“Well we do kinda need the extra hands,” Mac shrugged.

“I’m sorry, but does this mean there is or isn’t a job opening available?” Orion asked, now sounding nervous again that there may not be a job after all.

“Yes/No!” Both Mac and Applejack said. They looked at each other before looking back at us. “Give us a sec.”

Both elder apple siblings walked away from us and began mumbling to each other. Applejack elbowed Mac, Mac scowled at Applejack, and both looked like they wanted to wring each other’s neck for a moment. Soon they both relaxed and came back to us.

“Orion, was it?” Applejack asked, crossing her arms under her bust.

“Um yes ma’am,” he said stiffly while doing his best to remain calm.

“Ah got sort of a personal policy of mine that we Apples be the only ones to work on this here farm. Thing is, this farm’s been run by mah family for generations.” Orion seemed to be a little discouraged. “But, since mah brother put in the trouble askin’ fer help around here, Ah’ll throw ya a bone. So follow me.”

We followed Applejack and she led us to a tree with fresh apples on it.

“Kick it,” she said, pointing at it with her thumb.

“Kick it?” Parroted. “Umm how hard?”

“Hard as ya can, now git to it. Unless ya don’t want the job?”

Orion looked at the tree and gulped nervously. He walked over to the tree and looked it over. “Okay, here goes.” He took a step back and turned his body sideways, with his right foot back, and taking a stance.

Hm? Hang on, is that…karate or something? I thought.

He swung his leg around at a sideways angle. The moment his leg connected with the tree, the bark splintered before shattering. Soon his leg cuts clean through the tree snapping it in half. The top of the tree slammed into the ground, the branches rustling.

All of us went slack-jawed at the display as a few birds nearby were flying away. We all were silent for a solid minute until I shook my head from my shock.

“THE FUCK ALMIGHTY?!”

“Hey! Language!” Mac snapped, covering Apple Bloom’s ears.

“Oh crap, I did it again,” Orion said with a worried look before turning to Applejack and bowing his head repeatedly. “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to break the tree like that.”

“Hot damn on an early mornin’!” Applejack yelped. “How the Celestia did ya do that?!”

“THAT WAS SO COOL!” Apple Bloom cheered.

Orion was tapping his index fingers together looking rather guilty. “I’m still learning how to control my strength properly. Does this mean I failed the Interview?”

“Failed?” Applejack said as she calmed herself. “I say ya overqualified.”

“Ummm…is that good or bad?” He asked rather nervously.

“Ah’ve been kickin’ these trees since Ah was a youngin’, Mac too, and we ain’t never seen anyone kick as hard as you, partner. Ya got a gift, a crazy strong gift, but a gift nonetheless. So here’s mah proposition: if Ah agree ta let ya work on our farm, will ya try your damndest ta keep that leg of yers in check?”

Nodding his head, Orion had the brightest smile I've ever seen on him. “Of course, I promise I’ll do you guys proud!”

“Then put ‘er there, partner,” Applejack smiled as she extended her hand. “Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres, home to the best dang apples in Equestria!”

“Thank you Ms. Applejack, I promise I’ll work as hard as anyone here.” He grasped her hand and shook it hard.

“Just call me Applejack, sugarcube,” Applejack winked.

“Congrats, man,” I nodded until he grabbed my hand and shook it wildly.

“It’s all thanks to you man, I’m so grateful!”

“Okay, okay, I get it!” I said, pulling my hand away. “Oof, you sure are strong. Anyway, now that you got a job, where are you planning to stay for shelter?”

“Umm…I guess I’ll need to find a hotel or an inn around here.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few bits. “Not sure how many nights this will get me.”

“Now wait just an apple pickin’ minute,” Applejack cut in. “Our work place, our hospitality. You’re stayin’ here on the farm with us.”

That caught Orion by surprise as his eyes widened. “Wait, are you serious Ms. Applejack? I wouldn’t want to take advantage of you guys.”

“Nonsense! You’re technically already an Apple by workin’ here,” Apple Bloom said. “And you can use the spare room next to mine! We’ll be room buddies!”

“Besides, it don’t look like ya got anywhere else to go, do ya?” Mac asked.

“Seems like a pretty sick deal, dude, I’d take it,” I added.

“I-I don’t know what to say, thank you guys. This is honestly the nicest thing that’s happened to me since I got here,” Orion said while smiling warmly.

“We’ll go and get your room all sorted out,” Applejack smiled back as she and her siblings left.

“See? What’d I tell you?” I said with a confident smile.

“You were right, I honestly wasn’t expecting this level of kindness. Thanks to you, I now have a place to work and stay. You’re a real hero, Axel.”

“Hero…” I said, feeling bittersweet. “If only the others felt the same way.”

“What do you mean?’ He asked curiously. “Did something happen?”

“Orion, can I show you something? And please promise not to freak out?” I asked him.

“Umm sure I guess.” He shrugged his shoulders before nodding.

I took a deep breath before holding my arms out in front of me. I activated Smoke as small cinders danced around my body and smoke trails coiled around my arms. The whole spectacle seemed to surprise him as I showed off my power by turning into smoke wisps and appearing off to the side, on a tree branch, and reappearing to where I was standing.

“Before you ask, no, it’s not magic. To put a name for it, I’m what’s called a Conduit.”

For a moment he stared at me before nodding his head. “Not gonna lie, that seems pretty cool.”

“Look, I know it’s creepy but-wait, what? Cool?”

“Yeah, that looks kinda cool. And since it belongs to you, I can only imagine how well you use them,” he said as he circled around me, looking at the smoke.

“You…don’t think it’s scary?” I asked hesitantly as I deactivated Smoke.

“You do know there are three headed hydra, manticore, Timberwolves in the world right? No offense but I think those things are scarier,” He added plainly.

“Okay…then what about this?” I asked. I activated Neon and sprinted down the tree line at top speeds and ran back to Orion. “Or this?” I activated Concrete and stomped my foot, making small walls of concrete shot up from the ground. “Or maybe this?” I activated Video and summoned my digital wings, making them flap a little. “Or lastly, this?” I activated Electricity and sparks of lightning danced along my arms and up my shoulders. “People say none of what I can do is unnatural, which is part of the reason why I’m called the Demon of Ponyville.”

“That's it?” He asked somewhat unfazed. “You can’t turn into a fiery winged monster who steals souls?” He asked, looking me over.

“Nope, just the powers I have just displayed,” I said as I deactivated my power.

He seemed somewhat disappointed. “Wow, so much for the people here being nice. I mean, so what if you have abnormal powers? This world is full of magic and monstrous creatures. And yet all it takes to be labeled a demon, is to have powers no one else has,” he huffed as he leaned against the barn.

“True, but you weren’t there when they started calling me that. I literally almost sliced a guy in two.”

He cringed a bit, and I was sure that would have been the moment he turned on me, like everyone else. But then his expression changed. “Did this happen to be a guy who gave you no other choice, and was this done out of pure malice?”

I then told Orion the whole story, minus the part about Dante, and he seemed pretty ticked off by the whole situation. “I heard from Princess Celestia and my boss that these Northerners have been causing a stir all over Equestria. Each one, I imagine, is as scummy as the last and are pressuring Celestia and Luna for a peace treaty, or so they say; which is complete bullshit.”

“This is the first I’ve heard of these Northerners, but from what you told me, they can’t be trusted.” He patted my shoulder trying to comfort me. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t think you’re a demon. They just don’t understand what’s going on.”

“I know, I’ve been trying to show them I’m not all bad, but it’s a slow process,” I sighed.

“Honestly I wish I could help, but I’m so new here that I doubt I could do anything that might work.” He rubbed the back of his head while sighing. “But I’ll do whatever I can to help, after all you helped me, so it’s only fair I try and help you.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” I nodded.

“Welp, your room’s all nice and ready.”

We both turned to see Applejack come out with her siblings.

“It’s got the essentials: a bed, nightstand, dresser, and the bathrooms two doors down to the right,” Applejack explained.

“Yo Mac, we still on for happy hour at Berry’s Bar?” I asked as I fist bumped the farmer.

“Eeyup,” Mac nodded. “Oh and Orion?” Mac smiled warmly as he wrapped his large arm around Orion but glared at him so Applejack couldn’t see him. “Ya try anythin’ with mah sisters, and Ah’ll personally show ya where Ah’ll be stuffin’ apples where the sun don’t shine.”

Orion, not looking the slightest bit nervous, looked at Big Mac with a genuine look of confusion. “Try something? I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean. Also don’t you guys put the apples in the barn?” He asked while pointing to the barn.

“Wha? No, Ah mean don’t do anythin’ funny with them.”

“Oh, so we can’t tell jokes here? Well this is a business, I suppose we have to maintain a professional work environment,” he added honestly.

“Ah…Y’know what, nevermind,” Mac waved his hand as he walked away.

“Pfft, nice one Orion,” Applejack giggled and joined her brother. “Come on, Ah’ll show ya around the Apple acres.”

“Wait for me!” Apple Bloom chirped.

“Wow, never thought I’d see Mac get all flustered,” I said. “You do realize he’s the overprotective type when it comes to his family?”

Orion smiled as he followed the rest of the apple family. “Of course, but he has nothing to fear, I’m not sure if I’m looking for a relationship anytime soon, much less with my employers.”

“Well just make sure you keep an eye on Applejack,” I said as I walked away. “She likes to stick it to people when she wants to. See ya later!”

“Bye, and good luck with everything man!” He called out.

I waved goodbye until I realized that I still had the parcel from earlier. “Shit! Gotta book it!” I activated Neon and sprinted to Mr. Rich’s place.

That Night

I was within the realm of dreams and I dreamt I was sitting at a bar and I was alone with my alter ego, Dante, and we were sharing a drink together. It was kinda weird at first, considering he’s an exact replica of me excluding the eyes, but we were enjoying the ambience of the smooth jazz in the background.

“So what’s your take on that Orion dude?” Dante asked as he sipped his drink.

“What do you mean? He seems alright,” I shrugged as I leaned back on my chair.

“Really? We’ve been here for a month and you don’t find it weird how he managed to destroy an apple tree with a single kick?” Dante questioned.

“He said he can’t control his strength, so what?”

“Axel, the guy may be an earth pony human, but let’s be honest. Mac is arguably the strongest earth pony human in town, and not even he can kick that hard! Something’s up with that Orion, I can tell.”

“So he’s a little stronger than we thought, I still fail to see the point,” I shook my head as I sipped my own drink.

“No one that meek looking can be that strong and act like he can’t help it,” Dante pointed at me. “I’m telling you, he’s not natural. And what was up with that thing he did before he kicked the tree? That sure looked like some kind of karate stance if I’ve ever seen one.”

“Did you maybe consider that this world might have something similar, if not the same, as karate? We may be in a different world, but that doesn’t mean everything is different.”

“Fine, but what about how he acted when you showed off your powers? They guy didn’t even flinch when you showed them off, meanwhile the rest of this prejudiced town avoids you like the plague and calls you Demon.”

“Your fault, by the way,” I reminded him.

“Your choice for letting me, by the way,” he countered. “Those girls and the Rich family are the select few who have accepted you for who and what you are; the Princesses and your little girlfriend included. But the fact that Orion accepted you right off the bat seems too good to be true.”

“What exactly do you want me to do, Dante, spy on him?” I asked as I set my glass down. “He’s just one guy who isn’t as biased as I thought him to be. I helped the guy get a freaking job for crying out loud. Besides, I’m sure you’re well aware that we have more concerning things to worry about than just one out-of-towner.”

“Sam Spade and the Northerners are a different issue,” Dante stated. “I, for one, don’t trust that Orion guy.”

“The day you trust someone else is the day I’ll let you use my body for an entire day.”

“Is that a fact?”

“Don’t know,” I shrugged as I sipped my drink. “We’ve been here a month and you’ve yet to say anything positive about anyone. You don’t even trust Moon.”

“I keep telling you that this little relationship of yours seems too good to be true, since you two did jump into it.”

“We may have jumped into it, but we’re still taking it slow,” I glanced at him. “And you know, that brings up a solid question: do you even trust me?”

“Well sure I do, we-”

“Dante,” I interrupted him and looked at my alter ego dead in his red eyes; I felt like I was looking at a mirror. “Our agreement with each other aside, look me in the eye and tell me that you trust me.”

Dante was silent as he stared at me and we sat like that for several minutes before he decided to speak. “I…I’m not entirely sure.”

“What’s that mean?” I asked.

“I don’t know…” he said as he looked away.

“I agreed to let you share my mind and body so long as you don’t do anything out of line to anyone who doesn’t deserve it. That, in itself, is a big step for me in trusting you. So why can’t you trust me?”

“Well who’s to say that you won’t lock me up in your subconscious again?!” He snapped, making the music stop. “I was created from your dark thoughts that spiraled around that head of yours ever since that night, but then you decided that I was a burden so you pushed me away! Then, all of a sudden, as soon as you came to this world and got these sweet Conduit powers, I somehow was able to free myself! And just because of one little scenario I played out for you back in Canterlot, you freaked out and treated me like I was a curse that should never return.”

“But we came to an agreement.”

“That we did, but I, as you have described me as, am a loose cannon. I’m literally the embodiment of all your sinister thoughts and I want to tear my way through anyone who crosses me and deserves it, like those Northern scumbags. But this world is too uptight for me to do any of that and this is still your body. However, despite the few times you’ve let me out, I still crave more action, more violence! Who knows, I might do something so bad that it will worsen your reputation?”

“Well…maybe I’ll just have to accept that,” I said plainly.

“Accept what?” Dante questioned.

“You said before that you’d fight, or possibly kill, any who deserves it. Does that mean you won’t do that to those who don’t?”

“Even I can see there’s some good eggs around here,” Dante scoffed. “I ain’t some monster who’d hurt kids, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Then that’s why I trust you,” I said firmly. “You have a code, a strict one, but still a code. I could probably let you walk about Ponyville for an entire day and you’d probably just keep to yourself, right?”

“Most likely,” Dante nodded.

“And all the names they’d call you?”

“They got a problem with me, then they can say it to my face.”

“Look Dante, we may not see eye-to-eye on most things, but I’d like to at least try. You’re a part of me and that’s just how things are. I promise that I won’t push you away like I did before.”

“Really? So if I decide to kill a bunch of guys who I say deserve to die, you won’t push me away?”

“No, I won’t.”

Dante stared at me in the eye before he smiled and chucked to himself. “Man, that almost sounded serious.”

“But I was-”

“Kidding, kidding,” Dante waved me off. “Okay Axel, I’ll hold you to that promise of yours, but you can’t say shit for whatever I do when I take the wheel, got it?”

“Yeah, I got it,” I nodded.

“Good.” I looked out the window of the bar to see the sun coming up. “Sun’s about to rise, I’ll talk to you later.”

One Week Later

The day was like any other and it was my day off from working for Mr. Rich. Since it was my day off, I decided to stop by Rarity’s place so I can order some more new clothes for Moon’s wardrobe. Moon told me that she wanted to expand her clothing a little more since Rarity was nice enough to make her casual attire, I decided I’d surprise her. I thought about Orion and how he was doing at the Apple Farm but figured he’d be okay since he’s got that freaky strong kick of his. As I approached Rarity’s boutique, a woman exited the building and her entire atmosphere just screamed important. She wore a fancy looking frilly dress and her makeup looked like it was done by a professional and she wore dark blue leggings that went all the way up her legs and she wore a snazzy looking shirt. Her hair was a brilliant sapphire blue and hung in a nice long ponytail with a small top hat on her head.

“Pardon me,” I said politely as I walked past her.

“Hm? Excuse me,” she said to me, making me turn to her. “Oh I knew it! You’re the talented young man I saw on that video!”

“Huh? What? What video?” I asked. The lady reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out her phone, which unexpectedly looked similarly like mine, and showed me the screen. To my surprise, it was a video of Moon and I singing at the party from a while back.

“You’re a hit on MagiTube!” The lady chirped. “Already over two million views from a sensational song that not even I had heard!”

Seriously? MagiTube? They couldn’t think of a better name?

“I…thanks?” I shrugged.

“Oh! Sorry honey, I forgot to introduce myself! I am Sapphire Shores! The Lady of Pop!”

“Nice to meet you, my name’s Axel Rickert,” I said to her, offering my hand for a shake. She looked at my hand curiously before taking it and I shook it gently.

“Hmm, how curious, most people would freak when meeting someone like me,” Sapphire said.

“Why’s that? Are you famous or something?”

“Famous?! Hah! I’m one of the most influential singers in all of Equestria! I’m about to start my tour throughout the land it’s completely sold out!”

“I’m sorry? I’m not really from around here,” I shrugged again.

“Well I suppose I can’t blame you for that,” She smiled at me. “Anywho, I was wondering how you’re able to sing so interestingly like that?”

“Sing? Oh no, Ms. Shores, that wasn’t singing. That’s rap.”

“Rap? What is this rap?” She tilted her head.

“You don’t know what rap is?”

“Afraid not. Why? Is it a new, growing form of music that I haven’t heard about?”

Wow, that’s a first.

“You could say that, I guess I’m just the first one to introduce something like it.”

“How sensational!” Sapphire chirped. “Mr. Rickert, was it? If you would be so kind, I must ask that you give me a sample of this rap style. I had just ordered a special set of costumes to be made by an upcoming fashion designer who runs this boutique, and I figured I would do a small show in this town while I wait. Something as a sort of dress rehearsal for my tour. And since the winds of fate had drawn us together, you could be my opening act!”

“You want me to perform on your stage?” I questioned and she nodded. “Why? We only just met.”

“And that’s what makes it so…SENSATIONAL~!” Sapphire sang the last part out loud.

Hmm, this could help boost morale for me in town, but it also sounds like a pain in the ass. I mean, what do I care about performing? I can’t even sing for shit. On the other hand…it does sound admittedly fun.

…

“Well…I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”

“Splendid!” Sapphire grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the center of town. “Come! The fans await!”

“What have I gotten myself into?”

I found myself standing behind a curtain of a stage that was set up by the mayor for Sapphire Shores and everyone in town was attending. I’m not entirely sure how they were able to set all this up so quickly, but with an entourage like Sapphire’s, I shouldn’t really be surprised. I started having second thoughts since I never performed on stage until Sapphire came up from behind me with a wide smile.

“Are you ready?”

“Are you sure about this? I’m not exactly the performing type.”

“That’s what everyone says when they’re about to sing! Trust me, this will be simple!”

“Ugh…if you say so,” I sighed as she went to prepare for her own thing.

I pulled the curtain aside to see if I could see anyone I’d know. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the girls or even Spike, but I did see Moon in front; even Lapis and she was decked out in Sapphire Shores merch. I pulled out my smartphone and scrolled through my playlist to choose a song. Once I picked the perfect one, I made my way over to the tech guy who was looking over the speaker system.

“Hey man, you mind hooking this up for me? It’s for the song I’m gonna sing.”

“Oh, you’re Ms. Shores’ opening act,” the tech guy said. “Sure, give it here.”

“Thanks, I’ll give you a thumbs up when it’s time to play it.” I handed him my smartphone and there was a loud round of applause as Sapphire made her appearance to the townsfolk of Ponyville.

“Heeeellllooo Ponyville!” Sapphire called out, earning more applause. “It’s great to visit such a SENSATIONAL town! Such a great place to begin my tour of Equestria for my concert: Sapphire Shores’ Zigfilly Follies! And today, I thought I’d give you all a taste by performing a couple of my own songs!” The crowd cheered for her and I saw Lapis begin to cry. “But first! I have made a recent discovery! A young man whose video on MagiTube caught my attention! I’ve never heard of this genre of music, and I just so happen to meet him by chance! So as an opening act, he shall perform for all of you!”

Taking this as my cue, I gave a thumbs up to the track guy as I was handed a microphone. He pressed play as Sapphire left the stage and I slowly made my appearance, which surprised everyone as the song played and I began.

“You’re all probably wondering why someone like me on Ms. Sapphire Shores’ stage?” The beat began as I face the crowd with now confident smile.

“Cause sometimes you just feel tired, feel weak. And when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up. But you got to search within you, and try to find that inner strength. And just pull that shit out of you. And get that motivation to not give up, and not be a quitter. No matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse.”

I bobbed my head and stomped from one side of the stage to the other. I rapped to the beat and soon the crowd was getting into it as they bobbed their heads with me. I saw Lapis in front and she was having a blast with my rapping by bobbing her head and cheering for me. Moon, surprisingly, was also having as much fun as she clapped to the beat. I decided to up the ante by activating Video and made my digital wings appear. I flapped them so I could hover in the air and fly over the crowd. I pointed and made many hand gestures at the crowd and they were all enjoying every second of my performance. As I rapped, I noticed some of the people had their phones out and were recording me. I landed back down on the stage and continued to rap as the song was nearing its end.

When the ending chorus played out, I raised my fist in the air and struck a pose for them all. There was a brief silence before the crowd erupted in a cheer and applauded for me. I relaxed my pose and bowed for them and waved goodbye as I exited the stage. Sapphire was there to greet me and she had the widest smile possible.

“I take it you enjoyed the show?”

“THAT WAS SENSATIONAL~!” She sang. “Never in my entire music career have I heard anything so unique! It definitely got the crowd going!”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” I nodded. “Welp, I’ll leave you to your own performance.”

“Oh now hold on, honey!” Sapphire stopped me. “Why stop here? You obviously have amazing talent that shouldn’t be squandered! I would be delighted to tour with me!”

“Tour with you?” I was surprised. “Um…look, Ms. Shores, I appreciate the offer, truly I do, but it’s like I said before: I’m not the performing type. I only did this cause you offered and it sounded kinda fun.”

“But you have a gift! Don’t you wish to share this gift?”

“Not so much a gift, more like just a hobby if the occasion arises,” I corrected. “Besides, I sorta have other responsibilities that are a little more important than being on a stage, no offense.”

“Oh none taken, honey,” Sapphire said and sighed. “Well, I’m not one to pry since prying is not very sensational. If you insist, then I’ll just leave you be, dear. But perhaps, if our paths cross again, you’ll indulge me in a duet?”

“Thank you, and sure, I had fun,” I smiled.

Sapphire grinned and gave me a quick hug before she made her way on the stage. I retrieved my smartphone again as I left around the back and walked back to the boutique as the townsfolk enjoyed the rest of the show. Suddenly, I saw something that made me do a double take. I saw Spike hobbling towards town and he had blood trickling down his head and was holding his arm in pain. I ran towards the young dragon kid and he nearly collapsed before I managed to catch him.

“Holy shit, Spike, the hell happened to you?!”

“We…Rarity…gem hunting…Diamond Dog humans…help,” he said weakly.

I wasted no time as I used my power to heal him. Smoke covered his whole body and his wounds managed to close up and he looked a little more healthy. He groaned as I stood him up but he gasped and grabbed my shoulders.

“Ax! You gotta help me! Rarity is in trouble! She got captured by Diamond Dogmen!”

“Diamond Dogmen? Who or what’re they?”

“They’re vicious humans who live underground and in caves! Rarity had gotten some big order from someone important and we went to the gem caves outside of Ponyville to hunt for them! But then the Diamond Dogmen came outta nowhere and attacked us! I tried to stop them…but I ended up getting knocked out.”

“Shit, where’s the cave?” I asked and he pointed to the small mountain range.

“Just below those mountains! We gotta do something! Rarity could be in grave danger!”

“No Spike, I’ll take care of this,” I said firmly. “You go find the others and tell them what happened. Bring the guards too, we’re gonna need them.”

“You’re going by yourself?! That’s too risky!”

“I can handle myself, Spike, don’t worry about me. Just do as I say!” I activated Neon to run to the library to pick up my Amp and pack. “Just when I thought I’d have a good fucking day…”

I sprinted towards the small mountain range with Neon as fast as I could. These Diamond Dogmen fuckers thought they could hurt my friends and get away with it? Big mistake. I eventually arrived at the base and slowed down. I walked around the area to find any clues as to where Rarity was taken. A red spot caught my eye and I went to see that it was blood. I frowned as I examined it, which looked fresh and I noticed gravel kicked around and holes in the earth that looked dug out by claws. I didn’t bother hesitating and jumped down the hole and was met with a cave filled with gems sticking out from the rock. I slowly walked through the cave and had my hand ready to unravel my chain.

Crack!

I stopped in my tracks when I heard a noise from behind me. I waited and stood like a statue for a minute until I quickly unraveled my chain and swung it around my shoulder. My attacker yelped in surprise as my chain coiled around his neck and I pulled him forward and onto the ground. I stomped on his back and held up my Neon powered hand to his face. He looked like a very hairy man with scruffy hair and wore tattered clothing and worn-down armor. He glared over his shoulder at me and I could see he had sharp K9’s. Not to mention that I noticed his nails were long and sharp like claws.

“Shot in the dark here, but I’m guessing you’re one of those Diamond Dogmen fuckers who took my friend?” I growled.

“Who you?!” He asked in broken English. “Why you in cave?! Only Diamond Dog aloud in cave!”

“I’m the one asking questions, asswipe,” I snapped. “Where’s the girl?”

“Who?!”

I sneered at him as I pulled my chain around his neck, choking him. “Where. Is. The girl?!”

“Gak! You mean pony girl?! She deeper in cave! Work as slave! Whiney bitch, she is! We make her bleed to work!”

My entire being shook in anger at his words. “You hurt her…?” My Neon was replaced with Smoke as cinders flared around my hand. “You fucking hurt my friend?!”

“She die if she resist! We want gems! She good at finding them!” He said with a sick grin.

Axel…

You don’t need to ask, do it.

I closed my eyes as my consciousness was pushed away.

Dante 1st POV

I opened my eyes as I glared down at my new victim with a twisted smile which made him on edge.

“So you like hurting girls, do you?” I hissed.

Before he could respond, I raised my fist and slammed it down on his head. I kept bashing my fist into his skull as I tightened my chain tighter and tighter as he tried to escape in vain. My fist was soon bloody and he was barely moving as I loosened the chain from his neck.

“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you just yet.” I used Smoke to pin him down and I stood up straight and walked in front of him. “More of you are farther down this cave, right? Then you get to lay there and listen to the show.”

“Sh-show?” He spoke as he glanced up at me.

“That’s right, you get to listen to all the blood curdling screams of their pain as I slaughter them down to the last drop of blood.”

“N-NO!” He cried, struggling to stand but couldn’t due to the smoke trails pinning him to the ground. “NO KILL! YOU CAN’T KILL! DO NOT!”

“You just sit tight,” I chuckled as I swung my chain around in circles. “I’ll be sure to give you a very descriptive visual.”

“NO! NO KILL PACK! PLEASE! ME BEG! ME BEG YOU NOT TO KILL!”

I ignored his plees and continued down the cave. It felt good to be out again and I could feel Axel’s newfound hatred for these Diamond Dogmen shit brains. This is the kind of action I was hoping for, to unleash my power and show this world that I’m not here to fuck around. I eventually made it to a much larger open area of the cave. The whole place had dozens of Diamond Dogmen, all armed with clubs and hairy as hell. As I scanned the room, my eye caught something on the far end of the room that made my blood boil. That girl Rarity was on her knees, her clothes torn to shreds and multiple bloody wounds on her arms and legs. She was crying and holding her cheek as a bigger and hairy Diamond Dogman loomed over her with his fist raised.

“Stupid bitch! You find gems!” He barked.

“Leave me alone! Someone please help me!” Rarity shrieked. The man was about to bring his fist down on her, but I was NOT gonna let that happen.

“DON’T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!!”

I sprinted towards the man, catching his and everyone else’s attention and raised my hand. I fired multiple Cinder Shots at the man, causing him to jump out of the way just in time. I chased after him and swung my cinder chain, lashing his body and made him cry out in pain. I didn’t bother to give him time to recover as I grabbed his head and slammed it into the wall as hard as I could.

Wham!

“YOU!”

Wham!

“MOTHER!”

Wham!

“FUCKING!”

WHAM!

“COCK SUCKING!”

WHAM!

“PIECE OF!”

WHAM!

“FUCKING DOG SHIT!!”

WHAM!!

I rammed his head into the wall once more as blood splattered across the wall and my hand was drenched in blood. I pulled him back and his face was completely destroyed as he gurgled on his own blood and fell backwards. I breathed heavily as I slowly turned to face the rest and was met with looks of shock and horror.

“Who’s next…?” I growled as Rarity took the opportunity to finally faint and collapse. I raised my foot over the fallen man and activated Concrete as my leg was covered in stone.

CRUNCH!

I stomped my foot down on his head, causing it to explode in a gorey spray of brains and blood. I smiled a wide and sadistic smile, I just killed someone….and it felt exhilarating.

“I. Said…WHO’S NEXT?! WHO WANTS TO FUCKING DIE?!”

The other men growled and charged at me to avenge their fallen comrade. I quickly pulled out my smartphone and put in my earbuds and selected a song and hit play.

I dashed towards the dogmen while activating Smoke and swung my chain at them. The chain whipped across a few of them, leaving nasty burn marks across their bodies. I followed it up by peppering them with multiple Smoke Shots and finished them by tossing a Sulfur Bomb at them. It exploded and blew the dogmen apart, sending bits and pieces of them flying. One dogman ran at me with a club in his hand and swung at me. I side-stepped out of the way thrusted my hand in his face while firing a shot point blank. Part of his head blew off as he fell and I could hear more cries of anger from the other dogmen.

“GIVE ME MORE!!” I screamed as I then activated Neon and a red lightsaber formed from my chain. “I WANT MORE BLOOD AND SCREAMS!!”

I charged at them with my red saber and hacked and slashed my way through the crowd. I cut through their bodies like butter as they tried to hit me with their crude weapons, but to no avail. I bodychecked one dogman into a pile of rubble and I jumped on him and stabbed my saber through his hand, making him scream in agony.

“YOU LIKE BEATING ON GIRLS?! HUH?! YOU LIKE MAKING THEM BLEED?! I’LL SHOW YOU BLOOD!!”

I pulled my saber out and stabbed him in his gut. I pulled my light weapon upwards and cut him up the middle and all the way to his head. Blood and guts sprayed out of him as I laughed maniacally and whipped my head around to face the rest of my victims. Some of them looked fearful as they tried to run away to any nearby holes. I snarled as I replaced Neon with Concrete and stomped my foot in the ground. Spikes of stone shot up from the ground, implaling some, while the fleeing dogmen were encased in concrete shells that covered their bodies all the way up to their heads.

“WHO THE FUCK SAID YOU GET TO LEAVE?!” I snarled at them with hatred. “YOUR ONLY FATE IS DEATH BY EVISCERATION!! SPEAKING OF WHICH, YOU THINK YOU HAVE SHARP CLAWS?!” Wrapped my chain up around my wrist and activated Video. Large red digital claws grew from my hands as a pair of digital webbed wings appeared on my back. I gave them an evil and manic smile as most of them all cowered at the sight of me. “THESE ARE CLAWS, BITCH!!”

“D-Demon…!” One dogman whimpered.

“A demon!” Another yelped.

“THAT’S RIGHT, ASSHOLES, I’M THE FUCKING DEMON OF PONYVILLE!!!” I laughed as I charged at them.

I jumped in the air with a flap of my wings and brought my clawed hands down on two dogmen. They stood there for a moment until their bodies split in two, causing blood to erupt all over the place. I tore my way through the rest of them as they made a feeble attempt to try and fight back. Their screams filled the area as I shoved my hand through one and tore out his still beating heart anc crushed it right in front of him. As the song was nearing its end, there were only a handful of dogmen left. None of them could even speak, let alone breathe, and all of them were literally pissing themselves.

“How fucking pathetic…” I huffed as I deactivated Video

“M-Mercy…” One one of them managed to get out.

“Sorry, not sorry, I’m fresh out,” I said as I raised my hands and activated Electricity. I slammed my electrically charged hands on the ground as bolts shot across the floor and struck my remaining prey. The electricity caused them to all scream in agony as they were burnt to a crisp and bloody foam leak from their mouths, eyes, and noses.

The song then conveniently ended as I stopped my attack as well and I stood back up. I looked around the room to admire my work as bodies littered the area and blood drenched the floor around me. I looked down at myself to see that my hands and sleeves, including my feet and pant sleeves were also covered in blood. I decided to clean myself by burning the blood off my hands and feet with Smoke, which worked well as most of it was burned off. I looked towards where Rarity was left and saw her still unconscious. I sighed as I made my way over to her but then noticed my clothes glowing red a bit from the corner of my eye. I paid it no mind as I kneeled down in front of Rarity and scooped her up in my arms. I slowly walked out of the area and glanced back once more. There was no point in coming back here, since nothing but death is left, so I decided to cover my tracks. I activated Concrete in my foot and kicked the wall hard, causing the room to shake and crack all around. As I left through the entrance I came in, the ceiling in the area collapsed all around, burying all that remained in the room. I eventually saw the dagman from before, still pinned under trails of smoke and he looked like a complete wreck. There was a noticeable puddle under his face, a mix of tears, snot and drool, and he was breathing heavily and barely glanced up at me. He tried to speak, but his voice was so hoarse from screaming that barely anything came out.

“Almost forgot about you,” I scoffed. “They’re all dead, in case you were wondering. Every. Last. One of them.” The dogman croaked out something, but I could barely make out what he said. “I’ll choose to spare you since you’re so pathetically vulnerable right now, the smoke holding you down will wear off in a couple hours, but not without a few parting words.” I glared down at him, making him cower. “Come near Ponyville again, or even think about pulling a stupid fucking stunt like taking someone against their will, and I’ll feed you your balls through your severed head.” I said nothing more as I walked past him, leaving him a quivering mess with an emotionless expression.

3rd POV

Outside the gem caves, most of the main six, Nightmare Moon, Spike, and Lapis Law and a few of her guards were on the scene. Lapis was patrolling the area as she was briefed on the situation by Spike.

“You’re sure he came this way?” Lapis asked Spike.

“Yes, this is where I told him Rarity and I were attacked,” Spike nodded.

“I hope Rarity is okay,” Fluttershy whimpered.

“Me too, damn those Diamond Dogmen! How could they stoop so low?!” Rainbow Dash said bitterly.

“It certainly is strange behavior for them to act so violently,” Twilight said. “They were always a crude race of humans, but to go so far as to attack someone?”

“Whatever the reason, they’re guilty of kidnapping,” Lapis said.

“Ma’am! Look!” One of the guards called out, pointing to an opening in the ground.

Axel jumped out from the hole and was seen carrying Rarity. Everyone gasped at the sight of her as her friends rushed over to her side.

“Axel!” Moon said with a smile. “Thank the stars!”

“Rarity! Oh my goodness, what happened to her?!” Fluttershy cried.

“Those hairy fuckwads roughed her up, but I made it just in time before she was hurt any more,” Axel said.

“Thank goodness she’s only unconscious, thank you Ax-” Twilight was cut off when she noticed Axel’s red eyes. Another strange visual about him was that his hoodie that he wore seemed to have a slight shade of red to it. “Dante…?”

“Glad you’re catching on, Ms. Bookworm,” Dante scoffed as he walked away.

“Axel, what happened down there?” Lapis asked, oblivious to who she was actually talking to.

“I saved her, that’s what happened,” Dante said as he tucked his hands in his pockets. Lapis glanced at his feet and noticed something.

“Hold up, is that…blood?” Everyone turned to Axel as he stopped and looked over his shoulder. He grinned at the group as he raised a finger to his lips and hushed at them.

“What have you done…Dante?” Moon demanded.

“What, indeed…princess,” Dante said maliciously as he continued to walk away.

No one could say anything to the eerie atmosphere surrounding Dante. All they could do was watch him leave and stare at the sigil on the back of his denim vest that looked a little more sinisterly different than before.

Author's Note

A bloody trail left in his wake…

Hope you enjoyed.

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

My Moral Code

Chapter 18

I sat on the tallest point of the roof of the treebrary and watched the people walking around the town with a straight face. It had only been a few days since the incident and I still feel indifferent about it. The images of what Dante did to those Diamond Dogmen were still fresh in my mind. I knew what he’d do to them once I let him loose, but I didn’t expect him to run so rampant like that. After we saved Rarity, she was taken to the local hospital to treat her injuries. I was told she woke up shortly after and didn’t really recall what happened down in that cave. Probably due to the shock, or the trauma to her head, maybe she passed out from the mere sight of Dante? I don’t know…I guess all that matters is that she’s safe and back to making clothes for people. When she was told by her friends that I was the one who saved her, she expressed her gratitude by telling me she’d make me some new clothes free of charge. Part of me didn’t want to accept her generosity, but I knew better than to argue with that girl.

To make things more bittersweet about it all, no one really knows about what I really did. As soon as everyone found out that Rarity was taken, they assumed the worst. I expected to be ostracized for Dante’s killing spree, but I’ve been getting nothing but positive feedback from the locals. More of these people are now greeting me with smiles and the occasional nod of appreciation, which confused the hell out of me. I fully expected to be public enemy #1, but instead I’m treated like I’m the talk of the town. After doing some light digging, I found out that Lapis had informed the mayor that I bravely jumped into action to save Rarity and drove the Diamond Dogmen off. Why Lapis would make up a story to cover my tracks was beyond me, but now Lapis is avoiding me.

Still hung up about it? Dante said in my head.

A little…

They deserved it, you know, they would’ve killed the girl had you not done anything about it.

But was killing them the way to go?

They needed to learn on the spot that they shouldn’t mess with forces they’ve yet to understand. You could’ve taken them all on and beat them into submission, true, but that would only be a slap on the wrist. You heard what the one said to me, didn’t you? That we don’t kill others?

What about it?

It means he probably thought you were one of these pony-humans. And he believed that you’d be as much of a pushover as the girl they took. Which can only mean that the pony-humans are looked down on.

That can’t be true, I’m sure there’s plenty of people who wouldn’t take shit from anyone.

Maybe, or maybe not? Why do you think the Northerners are skulking around? Because they probably believe this whole kingdom is easy pickings. I’d imagine that the ones we drove off had this town under their thumb before we showed up.

Well…what do you think we should do?

It’s as our agreement holds, you just keep being on the good side of the people’s public image while I handle all the gritty shit in the shadows and out of sight, whenever possible.

If people knew what you did, I’d be labeled as a criminal.

Let’s get one thing straight, Axel, I’m the criminal around here.

Yeah…I guess you are.

“Axel?”

I glanced over my shoulder to see Moon flying up behind me and I returned my gaze to the streets below.

“Hey, Moon.”

“Are you alright?” She asked as she landed beside me.

“Couldn’t be better,” I shrugged. “I’m just contemplating the fact that I have a psychopath residing in my head and he had gone on a killing spree, so my day is just peachy.”

“I see…” Moon knelt down next to me and leaned her head on my shoulder. “Do you regret letting him loose?”

“The cave has been sealed shut, the Diamond Dogmen aren’t coming back, my reputation around here has increased somewhat, and I can walk around town without getting the occasional stink eye. So to answer your question, it’s a pretty bittersweet feeling.”

“Why couldn’t you handle the situation yourself?” Moon wondered.

“I don’t know…I was just angry.” I sighed and shook my head. “Hearing that guy say that he and his cronies hurt Rarity set me off enough to let Dante take the wheel. Part of me wanted to handle the situation on my own, but I felt as though Dante would’ve handled it better.”

“He killed the whole pack,” Moon reminded me. “Diamond Dogmen are known to be a very vengeful race of humans. What if they return to seek revenge?”

“Then that’d be their mistake,” I said. “If their encounter with Dante wasn’t any indication that they should fuck off for good, that’s their funeral.”

“Do you truly mean that?” Moon asked, looking up at me.

“I just…despise seeing the weak being looked down on while others take advantage of them. I was too weak to stand up for myself against my own parents and took the coward’s way out and basically ran away from home. Did you know, before I came here, I had not even called or sent a freaking letter to my folks for over 6 years? And it’s not just my parents, it was the majority of my adolescent life!” I began to get agitated in my ranting. “Elementary School, Middle School, and High School. Everywhere I looked, there were kids being bullied the shit out of by bigger kids. There’s usually a reason for it, but most of the time it was so the bigger kids could look tough or do it for their own sick enjoyment. It’s the reason why I got into a lot of fights as a kid. I wasn’t the one being picked on most of the time, but I did my damndest to stand up for those who couldn’t.”

“So you’ve had a sense of justice since you were young?”

“Tch! More like anti-justice,” I corrected. “I was known to be doing all the wrong things for the right reasons, if that makes sense. It’s the same with Dante, he killed those Diamond Dogmen just so he could save Rarity.”

“Would you allow him to take control again if a similar situation arises?” Moon inquired.

“Who knows?” I shrugged. “I guess we’ll just have to hope that something like that doesn’t happen again.”

We sat together in silence for a little while longer until I stood up and stretched my arms. “I’m going for a walk.”

“Would you like me to accompany you?” Moon offered.

“Thanks, but I prefer to be alone right now. Twilight and the girls won’t be back from their trip to that Appleloosa place for a while. Something about a tribe of Buffalo-Humans running amok. I think she’d appreciate it if you kept a close watch on the library and kept it tidy in her place.”

“Well alright, I will see you later then,” Moon nodded and flew back down into the treebrary.

I jumped off the tree and slowed my descent with my Smoke Thrusters and landed softly on the ground. I tucked my hands in my pockets and casually walked through the streets. The people either passed by me as if I was a normal dude, waved in my direction, or smiled at me to which I just responded in kind. I wondered what they all would think of me if they knew the truth about what I really did in order to get Rarity back. This world has been pretty good to me so far, since my arrival. It’d be a damn shame if it all blew up in my face. As I walked, I heard some kind of commotion near the marketplace.

I saw a couple people arguing with each other and it sounded pretty heated. One was a slightly pudgy guy with a scruffy beard and dirty clothing. The lady, on the other hand, was cleaner looking and wore casual clothes and an apron. She had long light brown hair that was tied in a simple ponytail with a red scrunchy. Embroidered on the apron was an image of a heart with a baby bottle in front of it. I almost turned away, since it wasn’t my business to get involved, but I caught the sight of a kid hiding behind the lady. I recognized the kid as Button Mash, one of that kid Pipsqueak’s and Apple Bloom’s little friends. The look on his face told me that he was nervous as hell from the guy giving the lady, who I can only now assume is his mom, a ton of shit.

“You think I give a shit about your little brat?! He ain’t nothing but an eyesore!” The man barked.

“Well I’ve had it with your inexcusable behavior! My son is not some punching bag you can push around whenever you’re drunk off your gourd!” The lady snapped.

“What did you say to me, bitch?!” The man snarled as he raised his hand, making the woman cringe. “I own your sorry ass! You’re nothing without me and that kid needs to grow a pair! If you won’t do it, then I just have to do it for you!”

“Get away from us!” The lady screamed, pushing the man away. The man growled and slapped the lady across her face, making me grit my teeth as I marched over to them.

“Mommy!” Button cried as he knelt down beside her.

“You little skank, I’ll show you to talk back to me!” The man raised his hand for another slap, but I arrived just in time to grab his wrist. “What the?!” He snapped his head to me as I glared at him. “Who the fuck are you?!”

“Someone who doesn’t enjoy watching a woman get beat in front of her son,” I said bitterly as I clenched my hand on his wrist.

“OW! Hey! Let go!” The man shouted as he tried to pull away, but my grip tightened more. I glanced down at the lady to see the bruise on her cheek.

“You fat, sack of disgusting scum,” I hissed. “Is this what gets you off? Beating girls to feel like a big man?”

“Why the fuck do you care?! I said let me-GAH!” I didn’t let him finish as I started to crush his wrist.

“I can’t fucking stand people like you, thinking you can do whatever the fuck you want just because you feel like it.” I kept crushing his wrist as he started to yell out in pain and fell to his knees. “You’re trash, just a piece of fucking trash who should be thrown away.”

“S-Stop! Stop! You’re hurting me!”

“Yeah?! I’m hurting you?! Well guess what, bitch, that’s exactly how she felt!” I glared down at the sorry asshole as my grip was on the verge of breaking his wrist due to my Conduit strength. “Say you’ll never bother her again, and you might keep your hand in tact.”

“Okay! Okay! I swear I’ll leave her alone!”

“Swear to me!”

“I swear to you! Just please stop!”

“Hmph, remember what I said about how you might keep your hand?”

CRUNCH!

“Yeah, I decided against it.”

“AAAHHHHH!!”

The man clasped his crushed wrist in agony as tears streamed down his face.

“Pick yourself up and fuck off, before I curb stomp your sorry ass,” I warned him.

He wasted no time to clammer to his feet and hobble off. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and turned to the two who had to watch the spectacle up close. I was able to get a good view of the lady’s face and I had to admit, she was quite the pretty one despite her bruised cheek. Even though she was a mom in her thirties, her body looked like that of a girl still in her twenties. However, I quickly cast such thoughts aside since she looked up at me in slight fear.

“I’m sorry you had to see all that, ma’am,” I said politely as I offered her my hand. “I just couldn’t stand by and let him hit you like that.”

She hesitated for a moment until she managed to take my hand and I pulled her up from the ground. “Thank you for helping, he just didn’t appreciate me trying to break things off with him.” She rubbed her bruised cheek with her hand.

“May I?” I said, raising my hand to her face. I activated Neon as a thin light shined from my finger and glowed near her cheek, healing the bruise. “There we go.”

“How did you-?”

“Hi Mr. Axel!” Button said as he appeared from behind his mom.

“Hey there kid, you alright?” I said, smiling down at him.

“I sure am! Especially since you drove off that mean guy!” Button nodded.

“Wait a moment, Axel? Axel Rickert? The Demon of Ponyville?” The lady said.

“I see my reputation still holds,” I sighed.

“Oh! Oh please forgive me, I meant no disrespect,” the lady said bowing her head. “I’ve just heard the townsfolk call you that many times.”

“Well I can at least assure you that I’m not the demon everyone thinks I am,” I said.

“I certainly can agree with you on that, considering how my son has told me about how you helped him with a certain project of his.”

“I’m just glad I could help the kid out, Mrs…”

“Cream Heart, but you may call me Ms. Heart or just Cream if you like,” the lady said with a smile.

“Alright, are you going to be okay on your own, Ms. Heart?” I asked.

“Do not fret for me, Mr. Rickert, I have managed just fine as a single mother,” Ms. Heart nodded. “I just will be taking a break from the whole dating attempt.”

“I used to know the feeling all too well, Ms. Heart, sometimes it’s a touch and go kind of thing when it comes to dating. Sometimes you just need to step away for a bit.”

“I’ll certainly try to remember that,” Ms. Heart nodded.

“Wanna join us for a snack, Mr. Axel?” Button asked.

“I’d love to, kid, but I’m a busy man,” I said to the boy as I patted his head. “Maybe we’ll hang out again sometime.”

“Really? That’d be so cool! Can he, mom?” Button asked his mother.

“I don’t see why not? You seem like a kind man, Mr. Rickert,” Ms. Heart smiled.

“Well as long as you’re okay with it,” I shrugged and turned to leave. “I’ll catch you later, Button.”

“Bye, Mr. Axel! And thanks again!” Button waved goodbye along with his mother.

Seeing the kid smile set me in a brighter mood somewhat, especially how Ms. Cream was appreciative of me healing her bruised cheek. It was nice to know I could still do some good around here, even though Dante can fly off the handle.

During my walk, as I greeted the people, they often asked me for help like lifting a cart to fix a wheel or carrying someone’s supplies to their destination; menial stuff like that. Along the way, I spotted a familiar-looking kid with white hair who carried a barrel of apples in his arms. Orion, the kid I met a couple days ago, was lifting the barrel with both hands and had a content smile on his face. Ever since he came to town, he and I would occasionally talk whenever I was running errands for Mr. Rich or little Apple Bloom wanted me to visit the farm. We talked with each other so often, we actually became pretty acquainted with one another.

“Hey Orion!” I called out to him.

He turned to see who was calling and smiled, he tossed one barrel into the air and waved with his now free hand. “Hey Axel, how are ya?” The barrel came back down and he caught it with ease before making his way over.

“Pretty good I guess, just crushed a scumbag’s hand for hitting a defenseless mom in front of her kid. So my day’s just swell,” I said sarcastically.

His smile faded as a look of concern replaced it. He placed the barrel down under a tree with shade and patted one as he sat on the other. “Wanna talk about it?”

“Maybe,” I shrugged. Instead of sitting next to him, I leaned on the tree and sighed. “I’ve been having a shitty few days lately.”

“I can tell. I’m no therapist, but I’m here if you need someone to talk to,” he said calmly.

“Have you heard the recent chatter?” I wondered.

He nodded. “Yeah I did.”

“And? What did you hear?”

“I heard you saved Rarity. That’s enough for me to know,” he said calmly as though he wasn't alarmed or disturbed.

“Yeah well…that ain’t all to it,” I frowned, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I saved Rarity, true, but not without a price.”

“I’m well aware.”

“So you know that…I slaughtered the whole pack of diamond dogmen.” He nodded still with a look of calm on his face, much to my surprise. “How did you figure it out? I told no one what really transpired, and only a few actually know the truth.”

“I have my ways. I was just at the right place at the right time when I found out.”

“But you…Y’know what? Nevermind,” I shook my head. I watched the people walk past us with a frown. “These naïve people have no idea what happened. Imagine what they’d think if they knew a criminal was walking among them.”

“I’m sure word will get around.” Orion said as he started to stare up at the sky through the tree branches. “Look, the truth will come out, so until then you need to remain calm and ignore those who would give you grief.”

“If only you knew what I had inside…” I said under my breath before facing him. “You seem pretty lax for a guy who’s sitting next to a killer like me.”

He didn’t say anything for a while as he stared into the sky. “Tell me something. What’s the difference between someone who kills to protect, and someone who kills for pleasure?”

“Well on one hand the guy has a code when he kills, on the other the guy just kills to kill,” I answered.

He nodded slowly. “Now keep in mind, I don’t condone killing but I know sometimes it’s out of our hands. If you hadn’t gotten rid of those diamond dogmen, do you think that some other woman, or dare I say a little girl would have suffered a similar fate to Rarity?"

“Probably, who knows? I just did what I had to do.”

“Exactly,” he said, turning to look at me. “You had to. That same position could have been on anyone else in this town, and they wouldn’t be able to even lift a finger to help, let alone do what was needed.”

I thought about what Orion said, even though I wasn’t even the one we were talking about. These people are soft, but maybe they’d see reason if they knew why I did what I did. Maybe they’d even look past any other transgressions so long as it was within reason.

“Axel!”

We both turned to see Lapis Law, of all people, march up to me looking very pissed.

“Hey Lapis,” I tried to say but she then grabbed my arm and spun me around, pinning me against the tree and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

“Shut your mouth! You don’t get to call me by my name anymore! I knew you were trouble, but to go so far?! Guess the gods are smiling down on me, cause I finally found the excuse I was looking for! Axel Rickert, you’re under arrest for voluntary manslaughter of the diamond dogmen!”

“What?! Arrested?!” I shot back as she cuffed my hands.

“Wow, so even the police in this world are corrupt and or stupid,” Orion said while watching the scene unfold before him.

“Shut it, kid! Go back to playing farm boy with those apples!” Lapis snapped at Orion as she pulled me away from the tree and glared over my shoulder. “I so much as see a bolt spark off you, I’ll take you down and chalk it up as another crime on your record for resisting arrest!”

“Lapis please, just let me explain,” I tried to say.

“Don’t bother, she’s too thick headed to hear anything but her own voice prattling on about how she is doing her job.” Orion jumped off the barrel and calmly walked over towards us.

“I’m warning you, back off or I’ll arrest you too for interfering with an arrest!”

“This isn’t interfering with an arrest.” He smiled before grabbing the back of her shirt and lifting her off the ground, getting her off me and holding her up. “This is interfering with an abusive cop who doesn’t know shit.”

“HEY! LET ME GO!” Lapis shrieked as she flailed around. “I swear to Celestia, I’ll arrest your sorry ass! And don’t you dare lecture me about how I do my job! If you knew what this…this…CRIMINAL did, you’d be begging me to haul him away as fast as possible!”

“Where were you when Rarity was being abused?” He said in such a cold tone that I’ve never heard come from him before.

“How were we to know she was abducted?! Sapphire Shores had that mini performance for her tour and the guards were asked to run security detail!”

“So instead of protecting the people, you were off protecting a celebrity? Good to know that the guards prioritize famous people over those who aren’t. You mean to tell me that the people meant to protect the innocent needed to all be focused on one pop star.” His cold tone slowly became serious.

“Orion, that’s a little much,” I tried to say. “I mean, you gotta admit, this happened on the outskirts of town by the base of those mountains.” I nodded to said mountains. “Not very many guards patrol that far out.”

“Exactly! You think we can just stretch ourselves out that far?! It’s like you expect a small army to be in charge of Ponyville! Now for the last time, put me down!” Lapis demanded.

“Both your arguments are invalid,” he said, still holding her up. “Axel, how exactly did you know Rarity was in trouble, if this occurred outside of the town as you mentioned?”

“That dragon kid, Spike. After I did a little performance of my own I saw him limping into town with wounds all over. After I healed him, he told me what happened and I told him to get the guard while I went to save Rarity,” I explained.

“Does saving Rarity involve killing an entire pack of diamond dogmen? I didn’t think you’d have it in you to pull something like that off,” Lapis huffed. “Spike came to me directly and informed me of the situation, I immediately took a few of my guards with me after informing the girl’s friends what happened and headed straight for the base of the mountains.”

“Yet somehow you hadn’t gotten there faster than Axel. Tell me something, what do you think would have happened to Rarity if Axel hadn’t shown up?” He asked coldly. “Because clearly you took way longer to get there than he did.”

“He has those crazy powers! He ran VERY fast!”

“To be fair, I did use my power to get there quicker,” I pointed out.

“We’re not like Axel here! Some of us can use magic or have wings, but no one has ever seen the things he can do before! It’s unnatural!”

That last part stung a little, calling my power unnatural.

“Did I ask for an excuse, or did I ask a question?” Orion jerked his arm side to side, causing Lapis to swing in the air.

“Hey stop! I’m telling you to stop! Damnit, I’m the Captain of the Ponyville Guard!”

“Answer the question or I’m gonna toss you up in the air,” he threatened.

“Alright, alright! They would’ve taken her back to their den!” Orion stopped swinging her as she frowned shamefully. “This…isn’t the first time something like this has happened. In fact, Ponyville didn’t even have a local guard some years ago. Recently though, strange occurrences and acts of violence have been springing up all over Equestria. The Diamond Dogmen even threatened to take people away under the dead of night, never to be seen again. When Princess Celestia got word of what was happening, she sent her personal guard here to drive the dogmen away. She then later established the local guard to keep an eye on things, and nothing’s happened ever since. We’ve done the best we can, but then those Northern bastards showed up, crime rates started rising, and now the dogmen took someone again! I’ve only been Captain for over a year, I’m trying my fucking best here! And I don’t need someone like you, Axel, further worsening the situation by killing a whole pack of diamond dogmen!”

“I…I had no idea,” I said.

“Of course you didn’t, you weren’t supposed to, but it doesn’t change the fact that you killed them when you could’ve done something different!”

“Done different? You mean like you doing your job to prevent something like this from happening? Because we both know how well that turned out.” Orion turned Lapis around to face him while still holding her up by the back of her shirt. “Tell me exactly what could have been done differently, because you clearly have the right answer.”

“We would’ve subdued them all with force, if necessary, and taken the correct precautions to rescue the victim. Not everything had to be solved with violence.” Lapis crossed her arms.

“Is this before or after Rarity was raped and or killed?”

“Before!”

“Wrong answer!” Without warning, Orion thrusted his arm upward sending Lapis 5 feet in the air. My mouth was gaped open as I watched her fall only to be caught by the back of her shirt again by Orion. “Wanna try that question again?”

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” Lapis shrieked.

“Dude seriously, put her down,” I said sternly. When he didn’t comply, I groaned as I activated Concrete. I covered my hands in stone and ripped the cuffs off with ease. “Orion, now.”

“Sorry Axel but you’re gonna need to trust me on this.” With another thrust Lapis was sent higher up then before, and like before she was caught. “Still waiting for my answer.”

“Put me down!” Lapis began to cry. “Please! I tried my best! What do you want from me?!”

“Damnit, Orion, you’re scaring her!” I snapped. “What the fuck are you trying to prove?!”

He looked at me and then back to the girl he was holding up. “Seems like you’re scared, miss. Would you say this level of fear you’re feeling is the same as Rarity’s when she was being abused or beaten?” His voice was cold as ice.

“I’m sorry!” Tears were streaming down her face. “I’m a bad captain, alright?! I failed to do my duty! I let someone get kidnapped and hurt! Just please stop throwing me! I wanna come back down!”

“That’s not what makes you a bad captain.” Orion’s voice changed again. “You’re a bad captain for using your authority to try and imprison someone, who despite his flaws, goes out of his way to protect you people.” Slowly he lowered her down till her feet touched the ground. “That fear you just went through is almost as much as what Rarity no doubt went through. Wishing for it all to stop or for someone to save you.” His icy tone slowly disappeared. “Yes he has his flaws, and yeah he can go overboard. But he hasn’t harmed anyone who is innocent. I don’t condone his actions, but I respect that he did what he had to do.”

Lapis fell to her knees and cried like a child as she wiped her tears. I felt bad for her as I knelt down beside her to place my hand on her shoulder, and she turned to burry her face in my chest. I was taken back by the action, but I just reached around and pat her back to comfort her.

“Subtle,” I deadpanned at Orion.

Orion shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry, but I needed to get my point across.” He stepped closer and grabbed another pair of handcuffs from Lapis’ belt. He slipped them onto his wrist and waited. “Welp, I’m ready to go when you are, officer.”

“What…?” Lapis sniffled, looking up at Orion.

“Well I did technically assault a guard, so by that logic I would be put under arrest right?”

Lapis sniffled again as she stood up with me following. She stared at Orion, then to me, and back to Orion as she took out a key and unlocked the cuffs on his wrists.

“I won’t arrest you,” Lapis said quietly. “And I won’t arrest Axel either.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, Lapis,” I tried to say.

“He’s right though, you did what we failed to do. Which means I need to reevaluate the local guard.” Lapis glanced at me but looked away again.

“I’m sorry for trying to arrest you…”

“What was that?” I said, leaning in.

“I said I’m sorry!” Lapis snapped. “And if you tell anyone what happened between us, I’ll cuff your balls together and shove the key up your ass!”

“Uh…okay?” I said sheepishly. In a huff, Lapis walked away, leaving me and Orion by ourselves. “I can never understand that girl sometimes, I swear.”

“My friend, the day men can fully understand the woman’s mind, is the day when pigs fly.”

“I guess,” I rolled my eyes. “Look man, I get you wanted to teach her some moral lesson or some shit, but scaring the piss outta her seemed a little much. And if I’m being honest, I was close to decking you.”

“Well I was expecting you to do that, it was all part of my plan after all.” He shrugged with a smile.

“And why’s that?” I wondered.

“By stopping me to save her, you would have shown her that you aren’t some thug or monster. That despite the fact she was going to arrest you, you would have still saved her.”

“Yeah well…I guess you could say I have a soft spot for not hurting my friends. Especially when they’re moral lesson teachings involve tossing girls two stories up in the air.”

He shrugged and moved to pick up the barrels. “We all have our ways of teaching. But believe me when I say I found no pleasure in what I had to do. But let it also be said I’m not just some nice guy who stands by while his friends are being harassed.”

“I appreciate that,” I nodded. Orion nodded back until we noticed there was a commotion on the other side of town. Not only that, but the people were running away and looked afraid of something. “Huh, wonder what’s got them all worked up?”

“I’m not sure, but maybe we should go take a look.” Setting the barrel back down, Orion sprinted off in the direction the noise was coming from.

I followed him and the noise of screaming was louder than before. We then both stopped dead in our tracks at the sight barreling towards us.

“Oh, you’ve gotta be fuckn’ my shit!”

A group of monster-looking lions, with bat wings and scorpion tails, were charging through the streets and trying to pounce on anyone they could.

“Manticores?! What the fuckn’ shit are these monster cats doing here?!”

“From the looks of it, looking for a free meal.” Orion picked up an empty wagon and chucked it at one of the manticore as it was about to catch a little girl. “We need to get these people to safety!”

“Already on it!” I said as I knelt down in a running position.

I activated Neon and bright colorful lights covered my body. I sprinted towards the nearest set of people. I grabbed them before the manticore could swipe at them and pulled them away to a safe distance before sprinting back. I’ve never really used Light Speed this much before, but thanks to my increased speed the world around me looked like it was moving in slow motion a little.

I saw a manticore looking over a man and was about to take a bite out of his head. I ran towards him and pulled him out from under the beast before he manticore took a bite.

Next was a group of kids trying to run away as a manticore prepared to skewer them with its tail. I hopped over the monster lion and scooped up the kids before the tail had a chance to pierce any of them.

Once I set the kids I saved a safe distance like the others, I ran back to see most of the people were clear of the area. Suddenly, I heard a scream and whipped my head around to see Orion backed into a corner as he stood in front of the cellist girl, Octavia. Orion stood his ground as he held a piece of lumber in one hand, and the lid of a barrel in the other like a sword and shield. I could see that his leg was bleeding as he had three cuts in it, no doubt from the manticore claws.

“Oh no you fuckn’ don’t!”

I sprinted as fast as I could towards the manticore and in front of it. When it tried to swipe at me, I dodged just in time and began running around it in circles. The manticore spun around with me as I bound it in Neon and it fell to its side with its eyes swirling around.

“You two okay?” I asked Orion and Octavia.

“I-I’m fine, but this man is hurt!” Octavia said, pointing to Orion’s wound.

“‘Tis only a flesh wound,” Orion grunted as I could see his leg shaking. “I’m still good to keep fighting.”

“Not an option, pal,” I said as I raised my hand to his leg. My Neon closed the wound and Orion could walk on it better. “Go help steer the crowd away, I’ll handle the rest of these monster cats.

“By yourself?! That’s madness!” Octavia shrieked.

“Trust me miss, he is just the person we need to do this.” Orion patted her shoulder, guiding her away. “I’ll try and lead everyone away, you focus on those overgrown fur balls.”

As Orion left, I turned to face the group of manticore and narrowed my eyes at them. I pulled out my smartphone and earbuds and scrolled through my playlist as I put my earbuds in.

“HEY!” I called out to them, making them all face me. I smirked as I turned around and flipped them off. “YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME?! BITE MY SHINY NEON ASS!”

The manticore seemed to respond to my taunt by roaring and charging towards me. I got into a running stance again and sprinted away. The manticore all chased me through the streets with the intention of making a meal out of me. I kept running but made sure to stay close enough so their attention was focused on me but also making sure they couldn’t get me. A few manticore were flying above me and tried to dive bomb at me. I noticed them and hopped out of the way from each one and made a sharp turn towards a building. I ran up the side of the building and front flipped on the roof and kept running. The manticore were still hot on my trail and most were now in the air as I hopped from building to building. One tried to outsmart me by flying ahead and cutting me off. I saw this a mile away and leaned my body back just as it lunged its tail at me. The stinger was about a foot away from my face as I ran past the attacking manticore and I hopped to another building in front of me. I couldn’t help but laugh as I jumped back down on the ground and resumed my sprint through town. Our chase eventually led us to the outskirts of Ponyville and we were headed to Everfree Forest. I glanced back at my pursuers to make sure they were all accounted for and thankfully they were.

“Time for our game of cat and mouse to end!” I said.

I led the pride back into Everfree and dodged and weaved through the trees. In the corner of my eye, a manticore flew straight at me with its stinger raised. I managed to weave my body out of the way just in time before I got skewered and made the manticore crash into a tree. Once I was satisfied with how far we were, I came to a halt and turned to face the pride. I charged my Neon even more and bolted straight towards the pride. I then began circling the whole pride as fast I could. A ring of light surrounded the whole pride and they couldn’t keep up with my speed as some even tried to bite or sting me. Once the ring of light was strong enough with energy, I jumped out of the ring as it closed in and constricted around the whole pride. The manticore were all tied together in one big pile with Neon light and some were a little dizzy from me running around in circles. I exhaled and wiped my brow as the song ended and I approached the group.

“Phew! Well, that sure was fun,” I smirked as the manticore struggled to free themselves. “Don’t bother, it may be light, but that’s strong enough to keep you kittens in place for a few hours. So if you know what’s good for you, don’t you EVER come near Ponyville again!” I made sure to be as intimidating as possible to them by raising my hand, threatening to shoot them, which seemed to work since some looked a little fearful of me.

I nodded and turned to walk out of the forest, and back home. I stretched my back and arms, earning a few pops here and there. As I walked back home, I realized that this was probably the first time I saved the whole town from a disaster. If it weren’t for me, those manticore would’ve made a meal out of quite a few people. It made me a little proud to know my good deed aided everyone and wondered how much more my reputation would increase; for the better I would hope.

“…mew.”

I stopped in my tracks when I heard a strange noise, something like a meow from a cat. I looked around and arched a brow until I heard the noise again. It sounded like it was coming from one of the hollowed out trees. I slowly approached the tree and peered inside, only to gasp at what I saw. It was a little manticore cub with white fur, black webbed wings, and a red scorpion tail. It was shivering and curled up in a ball and was meowing every so often, probably calling out for its mother. I frowned at the poor cub and looked in the direction where I left the bounded up pride. None of them had fur, wings, or tails like this one and I didn’t think it was a good idea to go back when they’re probably still pissed at me.

“Shit…do I just leave it here?” I wondered as I looked around. “It’s just a cub so it wouldn’t last long on its own, but it’s still a wild animal.”

…

I shook my head from all doubts and leaned in with my hand stretched out. “Hey, little guy.”

The manticore cub raised its head to look up at me. Its eyes were pale blue as I held out my hand to it. It leaned in to sniff my hand as I gently rubbed its nose with my finger. Once it got used to smelling my hand, I placed my hand on its head and lightly patted its head. The gesture made the cub purr a little and leaned into my hand as I started to actually pet it. I smiled at the admittedly cute cub as I pulled my hand away, only for it to meow at me like it wanted me to keep petting it.

“Jeeze, I’m a sucker for cute animals, especially cats,” I said aloud. It was true though, since I remembered when my family always had a pet cat or two, even my grandparents had cats.

“I must be out of my mind, doing this.” I slowly reached back in with both hands and pressed my fingers under the cub’s little body. Sensing the intention, it managed to stand up a little for me to wrap my hands around it all the way so I could pick it up. I lifted the cub out of the trunk and held it in front of me. The cub just stared at me as I stared back at it and it meowed again as its scorpion tail lazily wagged below it.

“Huh, this is the first time I’ve ever held a lion cub, but then again, you’re not really a lion.” I adjusted my hold on the cub so I was cradling it in my arms while being mindful of its little wings and tail. The cub meowed again in a more happier tone as it leaned its head in to nuzzle into the crook of my neck and purred more. My smile widened at the gesture and I continued my trek back home with my new little furry friend.

“I’m definitely crazy for doing this, but maybe it won’t be so bad?” I mused. “One thing’s for sure though, if I’m gonna keep you, I gotta know how to properly take care of you. I just hope Twilight and Moon don’t mind an extra companion in the treebrary.”

I eventually made it out of the forest and returned to town. The people seemed to be shaken up but all were still safe and sound. Suddenly, I felt a searing pain course throughout my body as I staggered and fell to my knee. The manticore cub meowed worriedly at me as I began sweating bullets and my breathing became hoarse. I soon realized the pain emanated from my arm and I looked to see a cut in the sleeve of my jacket and a little blood. My thoughts trailed back to when that manticore almost got the drop on me with its stinger and must’ve managed to graze me, which means I’ve been poisoned. I tried to use my fast-healing to counteract the poison, but my senses were too jumbled up and I was in too much pain. I was too late to notice the cut, which is why I couldn’t get a grip on myself. I dropped the cub in my arms and fell on my hands, sweat was dripping down my face and I coughed up a little blood. My vision began to get blurry as I looked up to see people approach me. I lost feeling in my arms and fell to my side as the cub meowed more loudly and nuzzled its head against me to try and keep me awake. Before I lost consciousness, the people surrounded me and tried to talk to me but my ears were ringing, so I couldn’t hear them.

“Don’t…hurt…him…” I managed to say, hoping they would understand me and not harm the cub.

Author's Note

Good morality goes a long way.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Chaotic Karma

Chapter 20

“Orion, are you sure about this?” I looked at my friend as he and Nala stood off to the side.

“As sure as apple pie.” Orion smiled.

“But I’ve never tested Video like this before,” I shrugged. “The only thing I can do with it is to summon those angel warriors I showed you and my sword that I create from my Amp or chain. Putting armor on myself is a different story.”

“Well I wasn’t aware one of your powers made you into a chicken.” Orion smirked as he flapped his arms while cocking his head back and forth like a rooster. “Bok bok!”

“Merow!” The manticore cub meowed at Orion.

“See, even Nala agrees with me, she’s calling you a pussy,” Orion joked.

“Alright, alright, just give me a minute,” I waved him off.

I activated Video and held my hands in front of me. I’ve never tried to experiment with my powers this way, especially since I didn’t think I could even do it at all. But thinking back, there have been times when I often imagine how much more Delsin could do besides the skills he was given.

“Okay, here goes.” I made an image in my head appear as my hands and arms chirped digitally and I waved my hands over my torso, shoulders, and legs. And then clenched my hands and in a flash, I was dressed in light Combat Armor from another game I used to play called Fallout 4.

“Wow, it worked!” I said, examining my new armor as it had digital static sparking every now and then.

“Well, you see? Despite how little of it there is, if you put your mind to it, you’d be able to.” Orion teased as he smirked.

I gave my armor a few knocks and it felt as hard as it looked. “This is so weird, it’s supposed to be digital but it feels like actual armor.”

Orion walked around me as he examined my armor. “I wonder if it will hold up though.” He wrapped his knuckles on the chest plate.

“Hmm, ok, this might be stupid,” I glanced at him. “Punch me right here.” I said, pointing at my chest plate. “But not too hard, I heard about what you did to two of Applejack’s trees.”

“Hey, that was Blueblood’s fault, not mine,” Orion defended while holding his hands up, innocently.

“Sure it was,” I rolled my eyes. I then took a deep breath and readied myself. “Okay, do it!”

Orion cracked his knuckles before taking a few steps back. “I’m far enough back that my fist should barely reach you. You won’t feel too much, should it break.” He reeled his arm back before thrusting it and it connected with the chest plate.

I grunted as the force of his punch forced me back a few feet. I expected to feel more pain, but I just felt like I got shoved really hard and the armor was still strapped to my chest.

“Oof! Well, at least it works,” I said, until I noticed Orion shaking his hand a little. “You good?”

“Yeah, I think the armor does more than block. I felt a surge of some kind zap my fist.” He shook his hand a bit more, clenching and unclenching his fist.

“Really? Huh, good to know,” I nodded and snapped my fingers to make my armor disappear. “I guess I should expand my imagination from now on when using my powers. Got any other ideas you wanna test out?”

He shrugged and paced around. “Not really, I don’t have that great of an imagination.”

“Merow!” Nala meowed again.

“Seems like somebody’s hungry,” I chuckled as I reached down and stroked Nala’s head. “What’s say we go to the Barn Burger? I hear they got a special of the week.”

Orion’s belly growled like a full grown manticore. “Sounds like my stomach seconds that idea.”

I chuckled as we made our way back to town and Nala walked close by my leg.

“Well Orion?” I grinned at my friend as he just looked back at me. “What’s the latest with you and AJ?”

I had a habit of asking him ever since that night at the Gala. “Nothing different than what I told you yesterday. We talk, smile, and work like no one’s business.”

“Dude, it’s been a week.”

“And?” He argued as he groaned. “Listen, we haven’t had a chance to talk about it since we have been really busy. What with Applejack’s brother constantly watching us, and me having to supervise Blueblood. Dude never stops bitching when we wake him up at the crack of dawn.”

“I get that, but maybe you should consider the fact that AJ wants you to make a move? If I know anything about women, thanks to Moon and ironically Rarity, is that girls hate waiting on the guy to strike first.”

He rolled his eyes as we kept walking. “It’s not as easy as you make it out to be, man. She’s beautiful and funny and cute, and when I try to get close to her, my heart feels like it’s gonna burst out of my chest “

“That, my friend, is the feeling of being in love,” I smiled as we walked through town. “Makes you feel warm inside too, doesn’t it?”

“Makes me feel like I could do anything whenever she’s around.” He blushed as he had a slightly goofy smile on his face.

“That’s the beauty of love, man, it’s honestly the best feeling ever.”

“YOU’RE IN LOVE?!”

“GAH!!”

We both spun around as Nala screeched and flew up high and were met with the party girl, Pinkie Pie.

“Damnit, Pinkie! You almost gave Orion and I a heart attack!” I snapped.

“I think you scared one of Nala’s nine lives out.” Orion moved a finger to gently pat the little cub’s back.

“Aw, I’m sorry Nala!” Pinkie said and reached into her hair to pull out a cat treat. “Here! This’ll make you feel better!” Nala sniffed the treat then took it in her mouth and ate it. “So Orion, did I hear right? Huh? Are you in love? Huh? Are ya?!” Pinkie hopes up and down close to Orion.

Orion’s face flushed, and he looked around for help, which I wasn’t planning on giving as I smiled and watched him. “Y-ye…nnnnn. If I tell you, you need to Pinkie promise me you won’t tell anyone?” He said quickly.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Pinkie said quickly and made the gestures. “Now tell me!”

Orion sighed and leaned in to whisper into Pinkie’s ear, and I could see her face break into a wide smile that almost took up her whole face.

“Oh Orion, I’m so happy for you!” Pinkie hugged Orion to the point she almost crushed him. “You both are perfect for each other!”

“So…!” Orion gasped, his head looking like it was gonna pop up his body. “I’ve…been told!”

“I hope you tell her soon Orion!” Pinkie released Orion as he gasped for air. She then sniffed the air for some reason and licked her lips. “Ooh, I smell cotton candy and chocolate milk!” With that, she zipped away, leaving a pink cloud shaped like her body.

“I’ll never understand that girl,” I shook my head.

“The day we understand Pinkie Pie, is the day the world goes mad.” Orion chuckled as he gingerly rubbed his chest, checking to make sure no ribs had been broken

“Don’t I know it, let’s get to the Burger Barn already. I’m starved,” I said.

“So when the teacher asked who drew the dick and balls on the white board, the first guy he called on was the guy who did it and he instantly caved,” I laughed, telling an old high school story as we sat outside and ate our meals. Nala was beside us and sleeping on the ground after the waiter was kind enough to give her some food.

Orion chuckled and shook his head before taking another bite of his food, chewing and then swallowed. “So was it really him who did it? Or did he just confess out of fear?”

“Oh it was him, he thought he could get away with it but the drawing was so obvious, it was impossible not to recognize. Guy had to write a three page apology letter as punishment,” I chuckled as I ate a potato chip.

Orion barked with laughter as he wiped his mouth of some ketchup that got on his cheek. “I never could understand why people do stuff like that? Don’t they understand it will only bring trouble instead of good?”

“I think that’s the point,” I shrugged. “What about you? Got any crazy stories from school?”

He shook his head. “No. I was a boring kid in school. I never went to events or hung out with friends, but I always did my work without fail. Thinking back on it now, I regret not having as much fun as everyone else around me.”

“Y’know, I always wondered, how do schools work around here in this world?” I asked. “Are they the same as they are in my world?”

He shrugged with his shoulders. “How would I know? I’ve never been to your world, so how can I compare the two? Does your world have magic?”

“Nope, just plain old boring humans,” I shrugged. “And I was once one of them.”

“Well there you go,” Orion chuckled as he finished his burger.

I was about to take another bite of my burger when I spotted something strange in the sky. A pink cloud floated overhead and was just staying in place. It didn’t look like any of the other clouds, since they were floating along on their own, and I thought it was a rather odd sight to see. There was a low vibration sound coming from Orion and he pulled out his phone as he swallowed his food.

“Hello?” He said as he held his phone up to his ear and he drank his soda through a straw.

“Orion!” I heard Applejack shriek, making Orion jump in his seat.

“Applejack?” He asked before putting his phone on speaker mode. “Are you okay?”

“Get yer butt to the farm, and bring Axel! We got long legged critters runnin’ around and apples twice the size of Big Mac growin’ on trees! And don’t get me started on the pink clouds rainin’ chocolate milk!” Applejack snapped.

“Uh…is she high?” I wondered.

Orion had covered the speaker so AJ didn’t hear what I had just said. “No idea, maybe it’s a prank, or something. We’d better go just to be safe.” He moved his hand away and spoke clearly. “We’re on our way, Applejack.”

“Hurry it up-Pinkie Pie! Don’t eat the cloud!”

Applejack hung up the phone and I left some bits on the table for the bill. I grabbed my pack and slung it over my shoulders and made sure my Amp was strapped on. I leaned down to wake Nala up and we all quickly made our way to the farm.

“All that stuff she said on the phone is exactly the kind of shit a buddy of mine used to say whenever he was tripping out on shrooms, dude,” I said.

“Well I’m kinda hoping this is the case, otherwise I feel like things are about to get weird,” Orion said.

I said nothing else as we continued on to Sweet Apple Acres. Although once we made it to the entrance and passed by the first few apple trees, there were indeed insanely large apples on the trees.

“What the oversized fuck?!” I said. The rest of the trees has the same size apples on them. “Just what kind of fertilizer are you using around here? These things are the size of cars!”

“Maybe Applejack gave them some kind of growth hormones.” Orion said while picking up a large apple and biting into it. “Mmm, the taste is still good though. Wanna bite?” He held the massive apple closer to me with his herculean strength.

“Yeah, no,” I shook my head.

“Merow?” Nala meowed and sniffed the apple.

“I wouldn’t do that, Nala,” I said as I pushed her away.

We heard some commotion further down and followed the noise. We soon saw the girls and Spike. Only the sight before me looked like something I’d see from a Willy Wonka movie on a bad trip. There were critters with long legs, as AJ described on the phone, a huge pink cloud that was leaking chocolate milk tied together with a rope, and heaps of popcorn everywhere.

“This…is strange,” I deadpanned.

Orion grabbed one of the popcorn and sniffed it before taking a bite out of it and hummed with delight. “Mmm, so good. Could use some salt though.”

In response to his request, one of the normal clouds floated over him and sprinkles of salt came raining down on his kernel.

“Really?” I deadpanned.

Orion took another bite and smiled. “I really like this.” He gave a thumbs up before moving his head under the raining cloud to drink some of the chocolate milk, obviously to wash down the popcorn.

“Where the heck did all this come from?” I asked.

“We haven’t the slightest idea,” Moon said. “I was taking a nice stroll with Twilight and Spike when all of a sudden these pink clouds appeared, and these creatures came scurrying out from the trees.”

“And…why are the clouds pink?” I wondered.

“They’re made of cotton candy!” Pinkie chirped as she stuffed a mouthful of pink cloud in her mouth.

“Say what? Cotton candy?” I repeated.

And to no surprise Orion walks over and literally pulls a piece of the cloud off and bites into it, humming joyfully and licking his lips. “Dude, she’s right!”

“This has to be some kind of freaky magic,” I said.

“That’s what I thought!” Twilight yelped. “Even my failsafe spell failed!”

“I hope the little critters can return to normal somehow,” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah! This is just nuts!” Rainbow said.

“It’s not all bad,” Spike shrugged as he took a bite out of the cloud. “Hey Orion, pass me some popcorn.”

Orion gave me the thumbs up before tossing some popcorn his way and even gave me some. “I’m not sure who or why, but this doesn’t seem like a bad thing does it?”

“Sheesh, this all seems pretty chaotic if you ask me,” I said. Though I didn’t want to, I caved and ate some popcorn. “Although…it is pretty tasty.”

“What did you say?” I looked over at Moon who was staring at me with wide eyes.

“Oh, I said it’s all pretty chaotic,” I repeated.

“…it can’t be,” she muttered to herself. “Is…she finally free?”

“And it looks like we’re playing the pronoun game.” Orion came back over with arms full of popcorn and cotton candy. “Who is she?”

“Hm? Oh, it’s nothing,” Moon tried to say.

“Moon, do you know who’s behind this?” Twilight asked.

BELCH!

We were interrupted when Spike burped out loud.

“It’s polite to say excuse me after belching, Spike,” Orion added before passing me some cotton candy.

A scroll appeared from the green flames that escaped Spike’s mouth and Twilight used her magic to levitate it over to her and unroll it. When she read its contents, she gasped.

“Come on, girls, Princess Celestia wants us to come to Canterlot right away!” Twilight said.

“Got it! Orion, watch the farm while we’re gone!” Applejack said as the main six girls ran for the train station.

“Well that ain’t a good sign if Celestia wanted to see them all,” I frowned.

“I don’t know.” Orion was helping himself to more food as we watched the girls leave. “So far the only thing bad I see about any of this, is people over eating.” He took another bite out of the giant apple.

“If only I could agree with you,” Moon sighed.

“I’m gonna head back to the library,” Spike said to us as he took off.

Orion turned to Moon and gave her a look of curiosity. “So, you already know what’s going on, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Moon nodded. “There was once a time when Equestria was quite literally thrown in a state of chaos and misery. All for her entertainment.” Moon used her magic to make a silhouette of a woman with two different kinds of horns on her head. The silhouette then grinned a creepy smile. “Her name…was Eris, the mad Spirit of Chaos.”

Orion looked at the spirit of chaos with a perplexed look. “So…making crazy stuff with food is bad….how?”

“It was more than that,” Moon shook her head as she made more silhouettes of people appear, all looking like they were miserable as Eris looked like she was causing their misery. “She was the embodiment of disharmony. Before Celestia and Luna stood up to her, Eris ruled Equestria in an eternal state of unrest and unhappiness.”

“Doesn’t sound like a team player,” I said, folding my arms.

“So what happened?” Orion asked. “How did they get rid of her?”

“They saw how Eris made everyone miserable. So after discovering the Elements of Harmony, they combined their powers and rose up against her. Turning her into stone,” Moon said as she made the silhouettes of Celestia and Luna fight Eris and showed how they managed to beat the chaos spirit.

“Okay, if that’s true, then what makes you think she’s free now?” Orion wondered.

“Isn’t it obvious, dude?” I asked, gesturing to our surroundings. “And I think that popcorn and cotton candy you’re eating is her doing as well.”

He glanced down at the food and shrugged. “But if she is free, how did she do it? Being turned to stone wouldn’t exactly let you do anything besides staying really still.”

“According to my shared memories with Luna, the spell should have been permanent,” Moon said as she made the silhouettes disappear. “But since Celestia and Luna are no longer connected to the Elements, the spell must have broken.”

“Well, this might just be above my pay grade,” I said as I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Thugs and scumbag Northerners are one thing, but an actual goddess of chaos running around? And here I thought things couldn’t get any more complicated.”

“Well, assuming the girls can use the elements, you may not have to worry about it,” Orion reassured me. “Who knows, maybe if we just be patient everything will go back to normal.”

“Here’s hoping,” I nodded. “Let’s head back into town and make sure nothing else is as crazy as they are now.”

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and the trees are made of pizza!" Orion rushed off towards the town faster than I was expecting.

“Wait up Orion!” I called out as Moon and Nala followed me. When we caught up to him, he was on his knees and his eyes were the size of dinner plates. “You okay, man?”

Orion leaned forward and started slamming his fist into the ground letting out a scream of hatred. “She’s a mad tyrant!” He screamed before slamming the ground again, making a small crater where his fists hit. “Damn you, damn you all to heck!”

“Dude, what is up your ass?!” I barked.

He pointed forward with a shaking hand and I turned to see what was wrong, thinking it was something horrifying. “She put pineapple on the pizza!”

Sure enough, there were trees and the leaves were slices of pizza with pineapple toppings. Thinking it was strange, I approached the tree and picked off a slice and took a bite.

“Mmm, not bad,” I said and ate the slice.

“She put fuckin’ pineapple on pizza! This is the greatest evil in the universe!” Orion roared in disgust.

Moon walked up and took a slice and gave it a small bite.

“Mmm, it is rather tasty,” Moon said as I handed a slice to Nala.

“We need to eradicate this foul creature of chaos. She mustn’t be allowed to tarnish the good name of pizza anymore!” Orion, who I think is currently in his own world, ranted as he screamed to the heavens.

“Would you quit it?! It’s just pizza!” I snapped.

“Somebody help me!” I heard commotion coming from town.

“Shit, no time for pizza,” I said as I stuffed the slice in my mouth and swallowed it. “Orion! Get your ass up and let’s go!”

“Oh, what a cruel world! Pineapple on pizza, has the whole universe gone mad?!” Orion cried out to the sky.

“ORION! SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT PIZZA TOPPINGS AND GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR!” I shouted in irritation.

Later

“Dammit! What the hell’s going on here?!”

I was flying up in the air with Moon using my digital wings and trying to stop a giant salt and pepper shaker from sprinkling their contents in town. Meanwhile, Orion was busy chasing down a pack of mutant apples that had little mouths on them.

“Get back here you abominations of food!” He called out as he chased them with a lasso.

Nala hissed at the apples and tried to sting them with her tail, but that only made the apples mad and chased after her.

“Merow!” Nala panicked and ran away with Orion following behind.

Orion picked her up in his arms as he sped off. “A for effort, F for results, Nala,” he joked, narrowly missing getting bitten by one of the apple monsters.

Moon and I managed to stop the salt and pepper shakers and forced them down on the ground. I looked at the apples and fired some Video Torrent shots at them, hitting them all and turning them into applesauce.

“Hell in a handbasket, look at this place!” I said as I landed back on the ground with Moon and saw the whole town of Ponyville looked completely…well, chaotic.

Buildings were floating in mid air, the ground was checkered all around, and day time quickly turned to night time every now and then. Lapis seemed to be taking it the worst of all since the guard’s precinct was turned into a gingerbread house. My ears were still ringing a little from her screaming as she had all her guards keep any perps from eating their way out of the holding cells.

When I went to check on Mr. Rich and Diamond, the poor man was having a panic attack because Diamond was trapped in their pool because the water turned into Jell-O. When I fished her out, I told them to stay in the house in case things got too crazy.

Well…it didn’t help when I saw people freaking walking upside down like there was a road, as if they were ignoring the laws of physics. Just before my current predicament, I had just helped the CMC, Pipsqueak, and Button Mash from being carried away by these giant soap bubble animals. The damn things were dancing around and tossing the kids in mid air and causing them to panic. Unfortunately for me, it was more trouble than I care to admit, chasing those damn bubble animals around. I managed to pop the bubble balloons and usher the kids to Cream Heart’s place for safety, to which she thanked me for helping them.

“Eris has begun to run rampant,” Moon frowned.

Orion was on the ground panting, with Nala so sitting on his chest as he heaved up and down. “I liked it better when the food didn’t try and eat you back.”

“Merow?” Nala meowed as she tapped Orion’s nose with her paw.

He glanced up to look at her. “How dare you be cute at a time like this.” He smiled before gently scratching behind her ears.

“I’m getting a little worried,” I said as I made my wings disappear. “The girls should be back by now.”

“You don’t suppose something happened to them?” Moon wondered.

“All we can do is wait,” Orion said while laying his head back on the ground, trying to catch his breath. “And try and keep the town safe.”

“Safe? When it’s this much fun?”

A sudden feminine voice called out from nowhere, making us all look around.

“Oh no…” Moon said.

In a flash of light, a new being appeared in the air. It was a woman wearing an outfit that could only be described as she looked like she had different appendages for each limb. She wore a coat and her right sleeve looked like a lion’s arm, her left sleeve looked like a bird’s talon. Her pants were also mismatched, her right pant leg was green and scaly like a lizard and her left pant leg looked like a goat’s. On her back was a right bat wing and a regular blue feathered left wing. Her jacket had red coat tails with a white tuff on the ends that made it look like she had a tail. Her hair was long and pale white, a little frizzy, that reached down the middle of her back. Poking from her head were a deer antler and a goat’s horn. Finally, her eyes were bright red and she had a single fang protruding from her wide grin.

“Oh yes!” The woman cheered.

“Who the hell?!” I said, reaching for my Amp.

“Eris…” Moon sneered.

“You’re the psycho bitch who put the pineapple on the pizza!” Orion had jumped to his feet, his eyes flared with rage. “There are some things that shouldn’t be done!”

“And who made you the official pizza aficionado?” Eris rolled her eyes as she looked like she was walking down stairs towards the ground.

“Eris! How did you escape?!” Moon demanded.

“Well now, a sight I did not expect,” Eris snapped her fingers and made a pair of big goofy glasses appear and put them on. “Nightmare Moon in the flesh? I thought those Elements did you in?”

“I was spared, and Axel saved me,” Moon said.

“Axel? Ah, the Conduit,” Eris said with a grin as she took off her glasses and looked my way.

“You know me?” I asked, pulling out my Amp.

“Of course, I have good ears.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of ears. “See? The ones I’m wearing are my regular pair.”

“…well…that’s not creepy at all,” Orion said, looking queasy.

“Prude,” Eris giggled.

“You’re the one who did all this?” I asked.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Eris grinned, spinning around in a circle, soap bubbles popping in existence from her hands. “Such glorious chaos! It’s so great!”

“Great?! Your chaos has turned this town upside down! Literally!” I barked. “Put it back the way it was, now!”

“Don’t wanna,” Eris stuck her tongue at me.

“Great, we’re dealing with a toddler with powers, we’re doomed,” Orion joked while staring up at the evil creature.

“Wait a sec.” I looked around for someone then back at Eris with a glare as small sparks of electricity crackled along my shoulders. “Where’re the girls?!”

“Girls? Oh! You mean the Element Bearers, they’re taken care of, courtesy of yours truly,” Eris giggled maliciously.

“What did you do to them?!” Orion grabbed a nearby boulder and pulled it out of the ground. “You better not have hurt them or else!” With little effort, he chucked the rock right at Eris.

Eris responded by snapping her fingers and the Boulder turned into a big rubber chicken that honked on impact.

“Heh, that never gets old,” Eris grinned as the rubber chicken fell to the ground. “And don’t you worry about your little friends, I simply helped them realize their true natures.”

“You better start talking sense, or I’ll fry you where you stand!” I threatened as I pointed my Amp at the crazy spirit.

“Why don’t you come and find out?” Eris said wickedly.

“Eris, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll surrender right now!” Moon said, powering her magic. She then clapped her hands and in a flash she was dressed in her armor she wore when we first met, helmet and all.

“It’s no fun when people like you are involved.” Eris snapped her fingers again and Moon was trapped in a giant hourglass.

“What in the stars?!” Moon yelped.

“Moon!” I shouted.

Moon tried to use her magic to blast her way out but couldn’t break the glass. I activated Concrete and coated my fists in stone and slammed them on the glass, but didn’t leave so much as a crack. Orion charged in next and started punching the glass with all his might, however even with his strength he wasn’t able to make a dent.

“Are you two done?” Eris yawned as she sipped some chocolate milk.

“Guys!”

We both stopped trying to break the glass and saw Spike run up to us. “Guys! You gotta come with me! The girls are back, but something’s wrong! Very wrong!”

“Shit, Orion? You go with Spike.” I turned to Eris and extended my Amp. “I’ll deal with Harley Quinn.”

“Don’t do anything stupid, man.” Orion took off to follow Spike, leaving me with Eris.

“Be careful, Axel!” Moon called out from her hourglass cage.

The two of us stared each other down as more sparks of electricity crackled along my arms and legs. The bolts then began to crackle in between the coils of my Amp as I held my ground against my crazy adversary.

“This might be a first for me, but you’re just another threat to this world like the rest of them!” I shouted as I began charging at Eris.

“Save your heroic speeches, it’s so cliché,” Eris rolled her eyes.

I jumped in the air with my Amp raised over my head and swung it down towards her head. Eris sidestepped to evade my attack as my Amp hit the ground. The impact sent bolts of electricity flying and a small crater gave way in the ground. I brought my Amp back up and began swinging it at Eris, but she just bobbed and weaved from my attacks while giving me a coy smirk. I growled in frustration and attempted to fake her out. I went for another swing, to which she dodged. Then, I spun my body around all the way and raised my hand at her to fire Lighting Bolt shots at point blank. Eris, however, managed to jump out of the way, over my head, and landed behind me. I jumped back from her and decided to try a distanced approach. I kept my hand raised and fired more Lighting Bolt shots at her. Unfortunately, she was able to dodge each shot, which made my irritation grow for how poorly this was going for me.

“Well, I must say I am a tad disappointed,” Eris sighed as she took to the skies. She leaned her body forward and looked like she was lying on her stomach as she rested her head on her hands. “Here I thought I’d have a fun playmate in store, when all you’re doing is just doing the same thing over and over again. You’ll never hit me with that shiny stick of yours, and those little lighting bolts aren’t much to boast about either.”

“You ain’t seen nothing yet!” I snapped as I activated Video.

My digital wings reappeared from my back. I flapped them hard and flew straight at Eris. my Amp glowed bright with digital light as my great sword materialized between the coils. This seemed to catch her off guard a little as she narrowly escaped the slash of my sword. Seeing this as an opportunity, I continued my assault while also firing Video Torrent shots at her. I cut her off from flying straight up and swung my sword, but she dodged it. Lucky for me I anticipated her dodge and spun my body around to deliver a fierce kick straight at her face. The impact of my foot to her nose made her jerk backwards and her nose began to bleed. Not giving her a chance to recover, I unraveled my chain and slung it around her arm. I pulled on my chain and began to spin around in circles with her being pulled along.

“Let go! I’m getting sick!” Eris shouted.

“If you insist!” I said as I spun her around one last time and whipped my chain down towards the ground. Eris went plummeting towards the ground and impacted with a loud thud. I wrapped my chain back around my wrist as I descended back down and just by Eris. The mad spirit lay splayed out with her arms and legs out wide. She pulled her head out from the dirt and little stars were swirling around her head as her eyes were spinning in circles.

“Had enough?” I taunted her. “Because I must say, I am a tad disappointed.”

“Hey!” Eris growled as she managed to pull herself out from the ground. “No using my roast to roast me back!”

“Seriously?” I deadpanned as I rested my Amp on my shoulder. “Moon made you out to be some dangerous chick with a mental issue, but you don’t seem all that tough to me. Do yourself, and mostly me, a favor, Eris, put everything back the way it was and be done with it.”

“You think you’re so clever, huh?” Eris said with a huff. “You should never underestimate your opponent, Mr. Rickert, it could be your downfall.”

“I seem to be doing alright so far,” I shrugged.

“Oh really? Well, let’s fix that,” Eris grinned widely, then disappeared as soon as she snapped her fingers.

WHAM!

I didn’t have time to react as I felt something hard impact my right cheek. Eris managed to land a hard left hook that almost knocked a tooth out. She continued to rush me with punches and I held my arms up to guard. I noticed her hand swerve glowing with a magic aura surrounding them, which meant she buffed her punches with her magic. Even my Conduit durability was having trouble taking the full brunt of her strikes. Thinking quickly, I activated Smoke and turned into smoke vapors to escape her onslaught. Once my body was back together, I ran off to the side with her following and we began firing at each other. My Smoke Shots met her shots of chaotic magic as we ran next to each other. I used Smoke Thrusters on my feet to get ahead of Eris and charged back at her as I unraveled my chain again. The chain lit up with heat from Smoke and I whipped it at Eris as fast as I could. Eris was able to dodge my chain each time, but I also used my Amp as an added follow up swing. I swiped my foot at Eris’, making her stagger, and raised my Amp to swing. The Smoke trailed along the coils of my Amp and seemed to set them ablaze with cinders and smoke trails.

WA-BAM!

My inflamed Amp slammed into her midsection and sent her flying. She landed and tumbled across the ground with a loud cough as she held the place where my Amp struck her. She slowly picked herself up and I saw a big black mark on her midsection and she glared at me.

“What’s the matter, Eris? I thought you said not to underestimate your opponent?!” I challenged, as cinders and smoke trails billowed from my chain, Amp, and body.

“That hurt! I’ll get you for that!” Eris shouted and charged at me.

Seeing this shouldn’t go on longer than it should, I charged back at her and spun my body around. I swun both my Amp and chain and a wave of smoke and cinders shot towards Eris and slammed into her. The mad spirit was sent flying again and tumbled across the ground until she stopped and landed on her back. As she coughed and tried to regain herself, I quickly ran up to her and pinned her down with smoke wisps.

“There, now you won’t cause any more trouble for anyone.” I deactivated smoke as I wrapped my chain back up and sheathed my Amp.

“What’s with this smoke?! I can’t move!” Eris struggled to sit up.

“So are you gonna play nice and revert everything back to the way it was?” I asked.

“Never!” Eris said defiantly.

“Sheesh, what’s your deal? You’re pinned and outplayed. I beat you, so just give it up,” I sighed.

“Who said you won?” Eris asked.

“Is it not obvious?” I retorted.

“What’s going on? Keep fighting!” A voice called out from behind me, making me whip my head around and look up. I thought my head was playing tricks on me, but it would seem that wasn’t the case. Sitting on a pink cloud, munching on some popcorn, was the very same Spirit of Chaos who I just wiped the floor with.

“What the hell?!” I said as I looked down at who I thought was Eris but she disappeared. She then reappeared next to the real Eris as she rubbed her arm and winced.

“Sorry, boss, kid wouldn’t come quietly,” the fake Eris said.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll take it from here,” the real Eris waved her off. With a snap of her fingers, fake Eris disappeared and real Eris stood up from her seat.

“I was fighting a fake this whole time?!” I said.

“Pretty much,” Eris said as she descended to the ground. “What? You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?”

“For a second there, yeah, I kinda did,” I admitted.

“You put up a decent fight, Mr. Rickert, it’s a shame you’re on the wrong side,” Eris said.

“Save whatever two-faced offer you might have in store for me, I ain’t interested,” I said strictly.

“Who said I was gonna offer you anything? I was talking…to your other half,” Eris grinned, making me pause.

“How do-who told you that?!” I demanded.

“I also have good eyes.” Eris smacked the back of her head, and two golf ball-like objects dropped into her hand. “My old ones are at the cleaners.” She popped the eyes back in and blinked a few times.

“I asked you a question!” I said.

“Ugh, why don’t you just shut up?” Eris snapped her fingers and suddenly, my hands were bound together by these strange-looking oven mitts but I couldn’t get them off. “Hey! What gives?!”

“I told you,” Eris said as she stood by me. “I have good ears and good eyes, that’s how I figured out you can use your powers through your hands.”

“Just wait until I get these things off me, you’ll be sorry for tricking me!” I said. I activated Smoke and began channeling my powers in my hands to burn these weird oven mitts away.

“While you do that, I have a question,” Eris said. “Why bother?”

“The hell do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean, why bother fighting me?” Eris asked.

“Do I gotta spell it out for you, or are you messing with me again?” I wondered as smoke and cinders surrounded the mitts.

“I’m not talking about stopping me from spreading my chaos, I’m talking about why bother fighting me for them.” Eris pointed at the distorted town and I saw some people running around trying to avoid the craziness.

“Because they’re miserable and are being threatened by you, what other reason do I need to feel obligated to help them?” I said.

“But do you owe them anything?” Eris tapped her chin in thought. She snapped her fingers and a weird-looking book appeared and she flipped through the pages. “Doesn’t seem like they’re worth the trouble after how they’ve treated you.”

“Well, I’ll admit it was a rough first impression, but I managed to earn their trust over time,” I said.

“Have you? Even if you’re a little punk, you can’t be that naïve,” Eris rolled her eyes.

“Why do you care? It’s not like you give a damn about what these people think anyway,” I spat.

“Oh, I don’t, and neither should you,” Eris pointed out. “From what I’ve witnessed, you’re a sort of special case.” She began circling around me. “I’ve been around for millenia, and I don’t believe I’ve seen magic such as yours. Then again, it might not be magic at all from what I’ve seen.”

“You’d be right about that,” I said.

“Just what is a Conduit?” Eris hummed in thought. “No one has ever heard of such a word, yet here you are. But that’s besides the point. Even if you somehow manage to stop me, which is unlikely, what makes you think these people will accept you? Especially with that dark side of yours lurking within your mind.”

She talking about me? I heard Dante ask.

Guess so, stand by, I can handle this. I said.

“So you know about my split persona,” I said.

“Indeed, and might I say, he brings a very interesting alluring form of chaos whenever he makes himself known. His brutal show of strength and power, not giving a tinker’s curse who says what about him and why, and…the way he brutalized those Diamond Dogmen in the caves.” Her grin widened at that last part.

“So you also know about that?” I growled, the smoke and cinders billowing more from my hands.

“You may try to hide it, but I know the look of someone who has killed before, especially the faint scent of dog blood. But it would seem the rest of this town is not aware of what you have done.” Eris hummed again.

“That’s none of their concern, so long as they’re safe and undisturbed,” I stated.

“Which brings me back to my point, how do you think they would react if they knew what your darker half had done? I’d imagine they would be disgusted, horrified even, that a killer walks among them carefree,” Eris presumed.

“I did what I had to, to save my friend!” I barked defiantly. “Those hairy assholes were gonna kill Rarity!”

“Are you sure about that?” Eris glanced at me as she circled in front of me. “Are you sure…it wasn’t because you wanted your darker half to kill them? I wonder what would have happened if it were just you? Would you have committed the same level of violence?” I was silent as she talked. “Face it, Axel, you are different from these foolish pony folk. They are weak and simpleminded, not used to the kind of brutal nature you bring with you. One day, you might snap, and that dark half of yours will run rampant. I can only imagine how they would ostracize you.”

She’s got a point, you know, Dante said. You once called me a loose canon, and I agree with that. It’s also like I said before, these people are too used to living a peaceful life and would turn tail and run at the first sign of danger. Not saying they’re all like that, probably, but it doesn’t change the fact that I can’t stay hidden in your head forever. Sooner or later, you’re gonna face the music once someone else outside your little friend group sees the real me. Such as that Orion kid.

“Why tell me this?” I asked Eris. “What could you possibly gain from telling me all this?”

“Nothing really, to be honest, I am just giving you some helpful advice. You don’t owe these people anything, so why bother? If you want, you can just leave and never come back. Be free to live your life in this world wherever and however you please.” Eris tapped her chin again and smiled at me. “But, now that you mention it, you could join me?”

“Join you?” I said.

“Why not? Chaos is so much fun and you’d be able to act out however you desire at my side! You wouldn’t have to worry about your darker half since he too would be able to do as he pleases. So what say you, Axel?” Eris raised her hand at me. “Would you like to unleash your own kind of chaos?”

It’s not a bad deal, if you think about it, Dante said. It’s inevitable that I’d turn you into a pariah and ruin everything. This way, we both win.

…

You’re wrong, Dante.

What?

You may be my dark persona, but you’re not a bad guy. You’ve had plenty of times to just let loose and spread your so-called carnage wherever you wanted, but you held back.

Well yeah, we had a deal.

Was it really because of our deal? Or maybe it’s because we share the same mind that we share the same goals?

“Like I said before,” I said aloud. “You can keep whatever two-faced offer you have and stick it where the sun don’t shine. I’m sticking with my morals, and that’s the end of that.”

“Well…and here I thought you were the smart one-ow!” Eris yelped and we both looked down to see Nala had bitten her leg and growled up at Eris.

“Nala?! Get out of here!” I demanded but Eris used her magic to lift her up and glared at the cub.

“You little furry pest! How dare you?!”

“Put her down!” I shouted.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Eris growled as she raised her other hand at Nala.

“ERIS! DON’T YOU DARE!” The smoke and cinders blazed from the mittens covering my hands to the point they caught on fire.

“It seems I have to teach you a lesson, little kitty.” Nala looked at me with a now fearful look as Eris readied her magic.

“ERIS, I SWEAR TO GOD, IF YOU HURT HER, YOU’LL REGRET IT!” I ran towards her, not caring that my hands were still covered.

“Bye-bye!” Eris said and snapped her fingers.

“M-Merow…?” Nala meowed at me. I sprinted towards Eris with the intent to bodycheck her, but I was too late.

Poof!

It happened so fast, and I was helpless as I watched Nala be turned into a toy stuffed animal manticore cub. Her eyes were still and her body was plush and unmoving. Rage boiled up inside me as Nala was dropped and hit the floor. The flames from my Smoke burned away the oven mitts and I screamed in pure rage.

“YOU FUCKING BITCH, I’LL KILL YOU!!”

I thrusted my hand towards Eris and fired a large Cinder Blast at her. The blast slammed into Eris, knocking her back as a black burn mark was left on her chest. I unraveled my chain, which lit up and was white hot with the intent to whip her with all my strength. Eris, however, glared at me and used her magic to lift me in the air to stop my charge. I seethed at Eris and used Smoke Thrusters in my feet to break free of her hold and launch towards Eris. She grunted from the streign and I kept my thrusters going.

“I’LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE!! I’LL SHOVE MY CHAIN DOWN YOUR THROAT AND WATCH YOU BURN FROM THE INSIDE FUCKING OUT!!”

“You are too heated for my taste!” Eris said then used both her hands to hold me. “Why not go somewhere else to cool off?!”

Before I could react, Eris swung her hands over her head, with me following in her magical grasp, and was sent flying through the air. She tossed me away from Ponyville and my body was spinning in circles. I tried using my thrusters to level myself out, but the force of her throw was preventing me from doing so. I eventually activated Video and brought out my wings to finally help me get leveled. Which helped a little as I stopped spinning but I soon found myself falling back towards the ground. I landed in some gorge with caves all around and tumbled across the floor until I hit a wall. I should be thankful I have the durability of a Conduit, otherwise I’d probably have a few broken bones. I coughed as I managed to pick myself up and shook my head. I was so angry that I almost let Dante take over, but I stopped myself.

“Damn it…goddamn it!” I cursed. I paced around, literally fuming with rage. “I’m so fucking stupid! Why did I let that happen?! Fuck!” I activated Concrete and wrapped my chain around my fist. Concrete covered my fist and I began banging it against the stone wall.

“Shit!”

Wham!

“I’m such a goddamn moron!”

Wham!

“The girls are in trouble, and I’m here with my thumb up my ass!

Wham!

“Moon’s trapped, and I can’t free her!”

Wham!

“Nala got turned into a toy, and I let it happen!”

Wham!

“WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE POWERS GOOD FOR?!”

WHAM!

“I’M SO!”

WHAM!

“FUCKING WEAK!!”

WHAM!!

I slammed my concrete coated fist into the wall, making it crumble and large cracks spread from my strikes. Rubble littered all around me and I leaned my head against the wall to wallow in my shame. I’ve been wasting my time, just going with the flow without any care, and I literally get thrown out of town like yesterday’s trash. There was a part of me that believed that I could take on anything and anyone that came at me so long as I had these powers. But instead, I squandered it and now everyone’s paying for it.

So that’s it, huh? I opened my eyes at Dante’s voice. You gonna cry now?

“Shut up…” I muttered.

You gonna cry, bitch? Huh? One screw up and you throw in the towel? Damn, you’re pretty pathetic right now.

“I said shut up! I fucked up!” I snapped.

So go un fuck it up! Dante barked. Those people need you, right?! Your friends, your girlfriend, everyone needs you! What good is beating up a stone wall gonna do, huh?! Fucking nothing!

“THEN WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT ME TO DO!?”

SUCK IT THE FUCK UP AND GET BACK OVER THERE! AND DON’T FUCKING STOP UNTIL THAT PSYCO BITCH IS PUT IN HER PLACE! EITHER THAT, OR LET ME TAKE THE WHEEL SO I CAN KILL THE BITCH MYSELF!

I was silent after Dante yelled at me in my head. I knew he was right, anything I’d say otherwise would just sound like a piss poor excuse. There had to be something I could do, but nothing came to mind. As I contemplated how to face Eris again, something caught my eye within the destroyed part of the wall.

It was shiny, and I could feel a faint glow come from within. At first I didn’t pay it any mind, but then I felt some kind of pulse of energy. It was a familiar pulse to me, something that I felt some time ago. With curiosity overcoming my anger, I dug at the wall and used Concrete help clear the way. As I dug, the pulse got stronger and the light grew brighter. The familiar energy coursed through me and it made me dig more in order to get at it. I eventually dug far enough so I could grab whatever it was with my hand. I reached in and grabbed the unknown object and tugged on it to pull it out. As soon as I grabbed the unknown object, my eyes widened in disbelief as the realization came to me.

“No way…” I muttered.

With one last yank, I pulled out the object and looked down at it. To my utter shock, within my hand’s grasp, was none other than a Blast Core in all it’s glowing glory!

“What the hell?! A Blast Core?! What’s this thing doing here?!” I wondered as the Blast Core pulsed with energy.

I thought you absorbed the one that you found in your pack when you first came to this world? Dante asked.

“I did, but now I’m holding another one!” I said as I examined the Blast Core. “I don’t get it, how is there another Blast Core here?” I tried to contemplate how this was possible, but then I was reminded of my current predicament. “No, now’s not the time. Besides, this might be the opportunity I was hoping for.” I then held the Blast Core with both hands. “I just hope this works…and that I don’t pass out afterwards.”

Just do it, you pussy!

Ignoring Dante, I activated Electricity and began pouring my energy into the Blast Core. The reaction was instantaneous as the Blast Core glowed even more brightly. My whole body began pulsing with wave after wave energy coming from the Blast Core and sparks of Electricity sparked violently all around.

“HHHHHOOOLLLLLYYYY SSSHHIIIIIIIIITTTTT!!!”

Suddenly, my powers seemed to automatically change by themselves. Smoke activated and embers and smoke flickered off the Blast Core and my body. Neon activated and my hands and the Blast Core shined brightly as fluorescent colors filled the area. Video activated and my wings appeared and seemed to grow a few inches in width along with digital static surrounding the Blast Core. Concrete activated and shards and large slabs of stone floated around me and circled the Blast Core. The whole spectacle ended back with Electricity, making the stone shards and slabs fall to the ground, and a bright flash lit up my surroundings. Once the light died down, I managed to collect myself as small bolts crackled off of me. The Blast Core had lost its glow and began to fall apart piece by piece until it crumbled away. I stood there for a moment, basking in the aftermath of absorbing the Blast Core. A smile slowly formed across my lips, I could feel the major power boost coursing through me and all my powers had gotten a major upgrade.

“Hell yeah, it’s all coming together now,” I said with newfound conviction.

I activated Video and made my armor from earlier today appear. I then made my wings appear, which seemed to have grown in width and were a few inches wider than before thanks to the power boost. The digital feathers also grew in size and I gave them a few test flaps. With everything set, I crouched down a bit and flapped my wings, launching into the air and flying straight back towards Ponyville. I was flying faster than before and my eyes were locked on the town I was thrown from.

“You won’t get rid of me that easily, Eris,” I said as I flew faster.

I flew with my newfound speed straight towards Ponyville. I had no idea how I was able to find a Blast Core back in that gorge, but I could think about that right now. All I could think about was stopping Eris and her crazy tirade. After about ten minutes of flying, I made it back to Ponyville and the whole place looked even more like a madhouse than before. I narrowed my eyes and soon spotted the hourglass where Moon was trapped. I landed by it and saw Moon on her knees and she was crying.

“Moon!” I called out to her. She gasped and looked up to see me.

“Axel!” Moon cried and ran up towards the glass. “You’re alive! Oh, thank the stars!”

“Yeah, It was a hell of a trip. What happened while I was gone?” I wondered.

“After Eris threw you, she went into the town to further spread her chaos. She proclaimed she would turn Ponyville into the Chaos Capital of the World!” Moon said.

“Not on my watch, stand back and form a shield around yourself!” Moon did as instructed and I pulled out my Amp. I charged it with Electricity as bolts surged between the coils. I raised it up high and swung it forward as hard as I could.

CRASH!

The force of my swing shattered the glass as shards went flying. Moon’s shield protected her from any flying shards and immediately dispelled it to come running into my arms.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Moon said, then kissed me.

“I’m glad you’re okay too,” I said then looked at the distorted town. “Come on, let’s find the others.”

“You seem different, Axel, what happened to you? What is this armor you wear?” Moon asked.

“I’ll explain later, I promise,” was all I said as we quickly walked through town. The people were in complete disarray and I could only watch as we passed by. I would help them, but it would be better to deal with the source. Our search for the girls wasn’t going well since none of them were around, that is until we saw Orion and Spike. They were sitting on a polka dot bench but Orion seemed to be sad for some reason.

“Orion! Spike!” I called out to them.

“Axel? You’re okay!” Spike smiled. “Look Orion, Axel’s back! He’ll make everything right again!”

Orion hadn’t moved from the spot where he sat. He was staring down at the ground with a blank expression.

“Orion?” Moon said to him.

“Hey man, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“She…said she hates me…that I’m the ugliest man she’s seen, ever.” Orion mumbled under his breath as he stared down at the ground.

“Huh?” I tilted my head.

“It was Applejack.” I turned to Spike. “The girls were very strange when they came back to Canterlot, like they were complete opposites of themselves and Twilight didn’t know what it was that made them so. Rainbow Dash just took off without warning and we couldn’t use the Elements on Eris. Twilight’s a mess and back at the library and when Orion tried to talk to Applejack, she completely insulted him to his face!”

At this point Orion flopped onto the ground with a thud, looking defeated.

“Come on Orion, snap out of it!” I said grabbing him and hoisting him up to his feet. “There’s no way AJ would say that shit to you!”

His eyes looked half dead as he stood there, staring into space. “You heard Spike…she hates me…she never wants to see me again…guess you were wrong about her liking me.” His voice almost sounded dead.

“That’s a load of bullshit and you know it!” I snapped. “It was all Eris’ fault! She must’ve cast some weird spell on her and the girls to make them act differently. Think about it! Would AJ ever insult you to your face even if she tried?”

Orion stayed quiet for a while before saying something that really freaked me out. “What’s her element again?”

“Uh…I think it was honesty?” I said. “Why?”

He looked at me with a look that says he’s defeated. “So she can’t lie, or never likes to lie.”

“Well you know what, I still call bullshit!” I said defiantly. “I don’t care if her element is honesty and she couldn’t tell a lie if her life depended on it! Whatever she said to you was a lie. And there’s only one person in town who can prove it!” I turned away and began marching towards the library. “Come on! We’re going to see Twilight!”

“Okay, let’s go Orion,” Spike said and grabbed his arm to pull him along. Orion followed, but moved like he was some kind of puppet.

As we approached the library, Spike belched and out came scroll from his green flames.

“Dang it! Not again!” Spike complained.

“What’s up with you?” I asked.

“The Princess has been sending these things ever since we first tried to use the Elements on Eris,” Spike said as he handed me the scroll.

We eventually made it to the library and I opened the door to see Twilight packing books in a suitcase. Her whole appearance seemed grey and bleak and she looked more depressed than Orion.

“Twilight?” I said.

“Oh, hello Axel,” Twilight sighed. “I wish we didn’t have to leave under these circumstances.”

“Where are you going?” I wondered.

“I don’t know yet, just not here…” Twilight shook her head.

“Well, what’s all those scrolls over there,” I pointed out at the pile off to the side.

“They’re all the letters I’ve written to the Princess since I’ve lived in Ponyville. I’m not sure why she would send them back.”

Curious, I walked over to the pile with Moon and picked one up to read it. As I did, I read about the many lessons of her friendship with the girls she shared and found myself reading more scrolls. Each one was admittedly fun to read.

“Looks like you’ve learned a lot, Twilight,” I said. “Maybe Celestia’s trying to remind you of something.”

“Like what?” Twilight wondered.

“Well, just come read all these letters again,” I said, offering her a letter.

Soon she too began to read with me and out loud. She read about how she helped Applejack with harvesting the acres with the help of her friends, when Rainbow Dash stood up for Pinkie against that Gilda chick, when this street performer girl tried to upstage Twilight, when Fluttershy was able to make the dragon relocate, the slumber party she had with Rarity and AJ, and so many more lessons. As she read, her color seemed to come back to her and she looked more confident and back to her normal self.

“That’s it!” Twilight beamed as she skipped around the room. “It’s all so clear now! Eris has been trying to distract us from what’s important! She knows how powerful our friendships are, and she’s trying to keep us from seeing it!”

“I guess your friendship is worth fighting for, huh?” I said.

“Without a doubt!” She skipped up to me and hugged me. “Thank you for helping me see that, Axel, you’re also a true friend.”

“Anytime, Twi,” I nodded, patting her head.

“And you too, Orion!” She skipped over to Orion and hugged him. “Please don’t give up on Applejack, I’m sure whatever she said wasn’t true in the slightest. Besides, even after those mean things she said, would you say you don’t care about her anymore?”

Orion’s eyes had slowly begun to light up as a sense of hope seemed to spark within. “Y-yeah, you’re right Twi. I still do care about her, she’s still my friend after all.”

“Of course she is!” Twilight chirped.

“They’re my friends too,” Moon said. “After all you have done for me and the second chance you’ve given me, how could I not call you friends?”

“Exactly! So let’s go show Eris, everyone, let’s go show her that friendship is worth fighting for!” Twilight cheered.

“Been meaning for a round two anyway,” I said, cracking my knuckles. “Now that I got a power boost, I’m raring to go.”

Orion seemed to perk up real quick as he stood tall and proud. “Don’t forget me, I’ll be helping you guys too.”

Spike groaned as he laid on the couch and clutched his stomach.

“Seems like those constant burps are a catching up to the poor guy,” I chuckled.

“Can’t…move…” Spike groaned.

Orion ran into the kitchen before coming back with a green soda bottle. “Here Spike, some ginger ale should help ease your belly.”

“Thanks…” Spike sighed and took the bottle.

We all left the treehouse to let Spike rest. We then made it to the center of town where Eris was lounging on a throne and admiring her work.

“There she is,” I said as sparks of electricity crackled along my arms and legs. “Twilight, Moon, you girls go find the others so you can turn them back to normal.”

“You’re going to fight her again?” Moon asked.

“Without a doubt, it’ll be different this time.”

“And I’ll help out.” Orion added, stepping next to me slamming one fist into his palm. “I may not be able to do much, but at least you won’t be at this alone.”

“You sure? Despite how she looks, she’s not a pushover, man,” I said.

He looked at me with a look of someone determined to get something done. “Do you honestly think I’d let you go in all on your own again?”

“Fine, just for backup though, okay? Don’t want you getting hurt,” I said.

“So what’s the plan?” Orion asked as we crept closer to Eris.

“I’ll go get into position to catch her off guard. You go distract her,” I said.

“Be careful you two!” Twilight said as she and Moon went to gather the girls.

As Orion went off to confront Eris, I used Smoke to turn into smoke trails and hide out of sight. I hid behind a pizza tree and peered around the corner. The bitch had the audacity of having Nala, who was still a toy doll, in her lap and she was playing with her. As she did, she noticed Orion walk up to her, making her laugh.

“Well, well, Mr. Rickert’s little sidekick!” Eris said and held up Nala. “Like my new toy?”

Orion scowled before getting himself back under control. “Lovely. You know I was curious, if you love chaos so much then you must love the kind that has been harvested and passed on for generations.”

“What do you mean?” Eris tilted her head.

“Only chaos passed down from father to son. Words of power that make those around cringe and groan in humiliation and agony.” He added.

“Pfft, is that right?” Eris giggled.

“Oh yes, even the name of these forms of words would make people groan and run for cover.”

“And pray tell, what is this malicious chaos you speak of?” Eris asked, on the edge of her throne.

Aw no… I thought. Orion, please don’t. Not now…

Orion fixed a look at Eris and smiled evilly. “Dad jokes.”

DAMN IT, ORION! I facepalmed.

“Dad…jokes?” Eris tilted her head in confusion.

Orion smiled before holding his hands up to ask for silence. “What’s brown, and sticky?”

“…what?” Eris asked.

Orion smiled before pulling a stick from behind him. “A stick!”

I cringed a little, but Eris seemed to giggle a little.

“Amusing…” she said.

“Why did the coffee file a police report?”

“Why?”

“It got mugged,” Orion said with an almost satisfied tone, and the people who were around groaned and facepalmed.

Oh god, that was bad… I thought.

“Pfft, ha! Hilarious!” Eris laughed.

“Have you ever wondered why the tomato is red?” He asked as he picked up a nearby tomato off the floor.

“Why?”

“Because he saw the salad dressing. Hayooo!”

“Hhgggg!” I clutched my chest from cringing and the people around groaned and also cringed.

“Hahahaha! It’s true!” Eris laughed.

“What do you call a professional team of fly killers?” He asked as I got into position, still mentally groaning at his terrible dad jokes.

For god’s sake, Orion, enough already!

“Oh, do tell?” Eris grinned.

“The S.W.A.T. team!”

At that point, Eris was laughing up a storm and I just banging my head against the tree. The people around all did the same or facepalmed from the utter cringe. Nala had supposedly fallen off Eris’ throne and bounced off the ground towards Orion.

“Hahahahahahahaha! That’s so funny!” Eris laughed out loud.

“Last one.” Orion smiled as he carefully picked up Nala without Eris seeing. “What do you get when a chaos goddess gets distracted?”

“Hahaha…wait, what?” Eris paused.

Seeing the opportunity, I jumped out from my hiding spot and fired a Cinder Blast at Eris. The blast impacted her and sent her crashing through her throne and across the floor.

“I swear to god, I thought I was gonna throw up my lunch from that amount of cringe,” I deadpanned at Orion.

He shrugged, making sure to keep the plush Nala safe. “I wasn’t even using my best dad jokes,” he shrugged.

“Who dares?!” Eris roared and flew up into the air. “You?! You just don’t learn, do you?!”

“Yep, I’m all kinds of stubborn!” I shot back. “Get out of here, Orion, I’ll take it from here.”

“Okay, show’s over everyone,” he called out to the people. “Get moving, or else I’m gonna to tell more dad jokes.”

As Orion led the people away, I pulled out my smartphone and put in my earbuds. After selecting a song I hit play and tucked my smartphone phone back in my pocket.

“I’ll make sure you won’t disrupt my spread of chaos any longer!” Eris hissed.

“One thing you gotta know about me, Eris,” I said as smoke and cinders billowed from my body. “I won’t ever back down!”

“We’ll see about that.” Eris snapped her fingers and she was back on her feet and was dressed as an Opera house Valkyrie, holding a brick wall as a shield and a balloon sword. “Let’s get busy!”

Not wasting any time, I switched to Video and spread my digital wings out. I flapped them up high and straight towards Eris with my great sword, powered by my Amp. Eris raised her shield above her head and stopped my attack before blocking my amp with her balloon sword. Guess it's made from tougher stuff since it didn’t pop. Twisting my body, I went for a side swipe with my sword. Once again it was blocked. I backflipped in midair and followed it up by firing Video Torrent shots. Two hit her legs, one his her in the chest, and another hit her square in the face.

“Ow! You hit me right in the tit!” She yelled before doing a war cry that belonged to a certain warrior princess and charged at me while her balloon sword turned into a Nerf Axe.

We then started trading blows in mid air. I blocked her axe from splitting my head open and kicked her in the gut. She followed it up by slamming her brick shield in my chest and punching me across my jaw. I shook my head and unraveled my chain to create a second digital sword. I flew straight back at Eris with both my swords and clashed with her shield and axe, forcing her back as I flapped my wings against her.

She growled at my assault and her brick wall shield became a black bat with red stripes. “I’m gonna bash your head like a watermelon!”

Like a crazed person ODing on caffeine, Eris swung both her weapons at me and I was left on the defensive. I narrowly dodged her axe but she managed to wing her bar right into my chest armor. The force of the blow knocked the wind out of me as I was sent plummeting down to the ground. I managed to stop my falling at the last minute by unfurling my wings like a parachute, but I landed with a thud on my feet and staggered.

“Shit! Thank goodness my armor held…” I said, then glared back up at Eris. “Let’s try something new.” I switched to Neon and my wings disappeared, but my whole body lit up with fluorescent lights. My chain and Amp turned into light sabers and I bent my legs into a running position. “Let’s see you catch me now, you Joker knockoff!”

I sped off as fast as I could across the ground. I zipped and zigzagged all around Eris, leaving a neon light trail behind me, as she tried to keep up with me. I jumped up on an upside down building and leapt straight at her, swinging my light saber chain at her back. Just as I was about to make contact, my saber chain was blocked by a dual lightsaber of all things. When I jumped back, I saw that Eris was now dressed in a black robe. She had red face paint on and her hair was done up in spikes.

“Feel the power of the chaotic side,” she told me before rushing towards me while spinning her lightsaber like a propeller.

“Where the hell did you get that outfit from?! And what’s with the lightsaber toy?!” I snapped, hovering in mid air thanks to my Neon Thrusters.

“I borrowed it from Comicbook guy after he fell into a vat of Lucite as The Collector. Also, the outfit I was wearing was gaining some unwanted stares from some of the townsfolk,” she told me before continuing the attack.

I shook my head in irritation, not bothering to understand her nonsense. Our sabers traded blows and she forced us down on the ground. I double backflipped out of the way to avoid her slashes and fired Neon Beams at her to throw her off. Eris deflected each beam and used her magic to try and grab hold of me. I wasn’t gonna let her have her way, so I sped off running again. I zigzagged all around Eris and swiped at her each time I passed by. I either landed a few slashes or she managed to deflect them each time. I then thought of trying the same tactic back at the Gala with those Northerners. I started running around in a circle around Eris and sped up. As I ran around in circles, I kept firing Neon Beams at her so they came from all directions. Eris was having a hard time avoiding and deflecting them, and I soon found an opening to try and finish this. I used the momentum of my running and launched myself at Eris to deliver the final blow with both my light sabers.

As I got close to her, she smirked before snapping her fingers, causing the ground to rise up and I smacked right into it. As I started to slide down, I was soon wrapped in what I thought was rope but was actually those rubber snakes you see in the bargain bin of a Walmart toy aisle.

I tried to cut the rubber snakes with my Amp and chain, but they were soon taken when two giant gummy worms came out of the ground and snatched them from my hands. As I continued to struggle, Eris came up to me, dressed in her original attire. “So, care to reconsider my offer and join me, or would you prefer to have your ass handed to you?” She asked while pulling out an ass-shaped cake.

“Screw you!” I spat. “This is my home, and I won’t let you twist it up and turn it inside out for your own amusement!”

“Well, I’ll give you this, you’re committed.” Eris then snapped her fingers and Moon and Orion appeared, tied up with an apple in their mouths, tied to a spit over a fire. “Then how about this? Join me, or see your friend and girlfriend barbecued like luau pigs!”

Seeing them both threatened set me off in a way I didn’t realize. I screamed at the top of my lungs as I switched to my Electricity power. Huge bolts of lightning burst from my body, burning away the snakes and I jumped up and glared at Eris.

“I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU THREATEN THOSE I CARE ABOUT!” I shouted.

I thrusted both my hands forward towards a downed electric transformer nearby and fired three Tesla Missiles at Eris. The large bolts of lightning slammed into her, making her scream in pain as Orion and Moon were released.

“I WON’T EVER LET MY FRIENDS BE ENDANGERED!”

As I marched towards Eris, I quickly switched to Neon and thrusted my hands forward again. Phosphor Beams shot out from my hands, blowing up upon impact as Eris was sent tumbling across the ground.

“BASTARDS LIKE YOU WON’T EVER PULL THIS KIND OF SHIT WHILE I’M AROUND!”

I switched to Concrete and large shards of stone levitated around me. I swung my arms forward and fired five stone disks at my opponent. The Concrete Barrage slammed hard into Eris as stone flew everywhere around her and she landed on her back. I switched to Video and made my wings appear. I flew up high above Eris and made digital swords appear around me. I launched Bloodthirsty Blades at Eris, some of them cut her badly while others pinned her to the ground.

“I SAID IT BEFORE, AND I’LL SAY IT AGAIN!”

I switched to Smoke and lowered my body. Plumes of smoke and cinders surrounded my whole arms as I charged up my power to the max.

“I’LL PROTECT THIS TOWN AND MY FRIENDS, EVEN THIS WORLD IF I HAVE TO, AND I SWEAR IT ON MY SOUL!!”

I rocketed up in the air after turning into smoke vapors. I went higher and higher until I felt like I was high enough before re-materializing in the sky. I floated there for a moment before turning around and began falling straight towards Eris. I fell faster and faster and Eris was panicking as she tried to free herself from the digital swords.

“HAVE A TASTE OF ORBITAL DROP, ERIS!!!”

As I got within a few feet of making contact, I could hear Eris’ defiant words. “Aw…shit.”

KA-BOOM!!

An explosion of fire and smoke blasted the area and blew away a lot of debris. After about a minute, I focused my power and gathered up the smoke to form my body back to its original form. Once that was done and I was back to standing on my two legs, the song playing in my earbuds finally ended. I breathed heavily as I looked around to see the whole area. There was smoke and small fires everywhere, until I heard coughing off to the side. Eris was laying on her side, completely covered in burns and her clothes were a total wreck. She could barely hold herself up as she weakly looked up at me.

“And this-cough! cough!-is why I don’t smoke…” She had the nerve to joke.

“Now you see just how outclassed you are,” I huffed, trying to catch my breath.

“Rub it in, why don’t ya.” Eris went to sit up against a slab of stone before chuckling. “You know, you may have beaten me, you may have made yourself out to be more heroic, but mark my words, you give these pathetic weaklings the smallest reason to hate you, and they’ll turn on you faster than egg salad goes through an old man’s lower intestine.” She continued to cough before giving me a serious look. “Fair warning, hero, I may be bad, but there are worse things in this world than even me.”

“Yeah, I know,” I scoffed. “And I say bring it.”

“Heh, typical male ego.” She rolled her eyes before quirking her eye at me. “I’m sorry, but how did your hair change color a little?” She then gave me a smirk. “Looks pretty good, handsome~.”

“Huh?” I arched my brow and glanced over to a building’s window. Sure enough, when I took off my beanie to see, I noticed my hair did in fact change a bit. For some reason, it was a tad lighter than its usual dirty blonde color. I could even tell there were hints of blue streaks within it. What’s more confusing, is that when I turned to look at the sigil on the back of my vest, it had changed from the star shape of two birds and the white bird side was bigger than the red bird side.

“Okay…that’s weird,” I said aloud and put my beanie back on.

“Axel!”

I turned to see the girls, Moon, Spike, and Orion run up to me. The stopped when they saw Eris and were in a state of shock.

“What happened here?” Twilight asked.

“I beat her, that’s what,” I said.

“You what?!” Rainbow yelped. I noticed she and the other girls were back to normal, since they weren’t grey like Twilight was before.

“How’d you do that?!” Applejack asked.

“It was astonishing to witness,” Moon said. “After we helped Rainbow Dash come back to her senses, I found myself gagged and tied up over a pit of fire with Orion.”

Orion, who was not funny enough, munched on the apple Eris gagged him with while looking at his arms. “Not exactly how I would get a tan, and I definitely wouldn’t recommend it.”

“You’re lucky I didn’t add olive oil on you, you’d be sizzling!” Eris spat.

Orion, despite everything, smiled a bit. “Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t have a cookbook on hand, otherwise I definitely would have.”

“I believe it’s time we put you back where to belong, Eris, because I learned that our friendship is worth fighting for!” Twilight said firmly as she and the girls stood next to each other. Each of them wore the necklaces I once saw them wear and the crown on Twilight’s head. “Orion, if you would please get her on her feet?”

Orion slowly walked in front of Eris, who stared back up at him. A look of defeat on her face as she knew what would come next. However, instead of just grabbing her by the arms and pulling her up to her feet forcefully, Orion extended his hand out to her and stared.

“Orion? What’re you doing?” I asked warily.

“You know, when you were laughing at my jokes earlier, I could tell you were having genuine fun. How long has it been since you felt something like that?” He asked in a calm tone.

“Why, all the time!” Eris said, refusing to accept his hand as she shakily stood up. She winced in pain and gripped her injured arm. “Before Mr. Meddlesome came along, I was having the time of my life!”

“I don't believe that one bit,” Orion said, folding his arms across his chest. “I think you wished it was fun. What’s the point in doing what you do if you can’t share that happiness with someone else.”

He smiled and moved closer to the chaos goddess. “For someone who thinks friendship isn’t worth anything, I feel like you more than anyone crave it.”

“Crave it?! Ha!” Eris chortled. “What would I need friends for?! I have myself, and that’s all I need!”

“Wow, that’s actually kinda sad,” I said.

“Indeed,” Rarity nodded.

“It also sounds lonely,” Fluttershy muttered.

“Fluttershy has a point, you know.” Orion added as he pointed towards her. “I don’t care if you’re a goddess of chaos.” He pointed to Eris. “Or a pony.” He pointed to Twilight and her friends. “Or even a human with way too many powers, and bad breath.” He pointed to me.

“Ass…” I grumbled under my breath. I subtly breathed into my hand and sniffed it. “…it’s not that bad.”

“Loneliness is a fate I would never wish upon my greatest of enemies.” Orion continued. “Can you really take being imprisoned in stone for another thousand years…alone?”

“But I…” Eris tried to say, then I stepped in.

“I guess I can also attest to whatever point Orion’s trying to make,” I said. “I spent the better part of my young adult life alone with barely anything to show for it. I’m betting that you did all this to lash out for being alone when you probably could’ve just asked to have friends.”

“You and I just had a brutal fight, and now you try to sway me towards a brighter path?” Eris questioned.

“To be fair, you deserved what was being thrown at you,” I retorted. “But if there’s one thing I learned.” I glanced at Moon with a smile. “Is that everyone deserves a second chance. “And, I suppose, you do too. That is, if you’re willing to try instead of lashing out again.”

Eris looked at me with a rather confused look, and I could tell she was having mixed feelings about this.

But then Orion butted in. “I think what you mean to say is, that she isn’t too scared to try,” Orion said with a smirk.

“Eris,” Moon said. “Take it from me, it never ends well when holding a grudge.”

Eris looked down and away from us, letting her hair fall over her eyes. We saw her biting her lip and a single tear drip down her face.

“Are you all saying…you now want to be f…f-friends? W-With me?” Eris muttered.

“Well I’ll be honest.” Orion smiled as he got closer to Eris. “I think your idea of fun is fun, just so long as no one gets hurt.” He pulled Pinkie Pie closer and smiled. “Me and Pinkie really did enjoy those fun snacks you made. I mean cotton candy clouds that rain chocolate milk? You might end up making Willy Wonka jealous.”

“Yeah! And this time, you better not forget the whipped cream!” Pinkie chirped.

“Whoah! Whoah! Whoah!” Rainbow said, flying over us. “Are you serious?! After what she put us through, you wanna spare her?!”

“Well, I just wanted to put her in her place,” I shrugged. “I already did that, so I say we’re square.”

“But that’s just crazy talk!” Applejack said. “The whole reason for all this was to turn her back into a garden ornament!”

“Back when we thought she was evil, for the sake of evil.” Orion jumped in, doing his best to not look at Applejack. “In a way you could say that she was just acting out to get attention. I know it doesn’t erase the mistakes that were made, but like Axel said everyone deserves a second chance.”

“Orion, dear, are you sure about this? What if she does something dreadful like this again?” Rarity asked.

“Then I’ll be there to put her in her place again,” I said plainly.

“Kinky,” Orion wiggled his eyebrows a bit while giving me a coy smile.

“Shut it,” I snapped.

Eris contemplated all that was said then looked back at us.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever been treated so…justly. After all I’ve done, you’d still wish to offer me redemption.”

“What can we say? Life’s full of mysteries,” I shrugged. “I’m willing to let bygones be, so long as you can keep your word to keep yourself in check.” I raised my own hand towards her. “Deal?” Eris nodded slowly and reached up to take my hand and we shook our hands. “Now then, you mind fixing all this?” I gestured to the distorted town.

“Oh, of course,” Eris said.

She closed her eyes and clasped her hands together. A bright light flashed around her and a wave of magic covered the whole town. The buildings were put back in place, the animals turned back to normal, the plants were no longer food, and the clouds were their normal color. We heard cheering coming from the town and I smiled proudly, satisfied that everything was back to normal.

“Well, this has been…interesting,” Twilight chuckled sheepishly. “I’m…going to write a letter to the Princess now.” She slowly walked away, sheepishly laughing to herself a little as the girls followed.

“I shall also go with them,” Moon said as she offered Eris her hand. “Come along, Eris.”

Eris nodded and they left as well. Eris glanced back over her shoulder to me before continuing to follow Moon back to the library. It was just me, Spike, and Orion. I finally relaxed as I made my armor disappear and collapsed on my back on the ground.

“I…am…wiped!” I exhaled out loud.

“Yeah, this was one heck of a day,” Orion sighed as he rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. “Never a dull day, huh guys?”

“My stomach still freaking hurts,” Spike groaned as he lay there on his back next to me.

“I fought a chaos goddess, and won,” I said, pointing to the sky. “Does that make me a badass?”

“Hmm, more like lucky in all honesty,” Orion added as he followed Spike’s lead and lay on the ground on my other side.

“Pretty ballsy move to show Eris mercy, dude,” I said, glancing at Orion who rested his hands behind his head. “What’s up with that?”

“You know…I’m not a hundred percent sure, myself.” He stared up into the sky with a calm tranquil look. “I had this odd feeling like some Compassion needed to be shown. Funny enough, I had the same feeling when I proposed the idea for Blueblood to work on the farm. It just felt right.”

“Pfft! Compassion for Eris was one thing, but that asshole? Yeah, I still say he ain’t worth it,” I scoffed as I reached up and took off my beanie to let my hair out.

“I can vouch for that,” Spike nodded and glanced at me and Orion. “So what do we do now?”

Orion shrugged and stretched out his back and sighed. “Who knows? Maybe this will help us in the long run someday.”

“Here’s hoping,” I chuckled.

“Merow!”

The sound of that familiar meow made me sit up to see my little manticore feline companion run up to me. I smiled widely and held out my arms as Nala jumped into my chest and nuzzled the crook of my neck with loving affection.

“Nala! I’m so glad you’re okay, girl!” I said as I hugged her close. “I was so worried you’d stay a toy plush!”

“Right, I almost forgot about her. After I got her from Eris, I hid her in the library thinking it would be a safe place for her,” Orion explained.

“Merow!” Nala meowed again and licked my cheek.

“Yeah, I missed you too,” I chuckled. Nala jumped out of my arms and jumped in Orion’s lap.

Orion smiled and moved his hand to gently scratch her behind her ear. “Glad to see you’re alright.” He gently poked her belly playfully. “You sure there isn’t any stuffing in there still?”

“Merow!” Nala batted Orion’s hand away with her paw.

“Okay, okay, just making sure is all,” Orion teased.

“It’s rude to call a girl fat, Orion,” Spike pointed out.

“You know that’s not what I meant.” Orion playfully punched Spike’s arm.

“Boys! Boys!” We all looked up to see Twilight walk over to us. “Pick yourselves up! Princess Celestia wants us in Canterlot to honor us for our victory against Eris!”

“Seriously?” Orion pushed off the ground and jumped onto his feet. “Well you guys have fun. I’ll man the fort here.”

“Oh no you don’t,” I said, standing up and grabbing Orion’s shoulder. “She said she’s honoring us, which means you too.”

“Me?” He pointed to himself, confused. “I didn’t exactly do anything major.”

“What are you talking about? You did plenty!” Twilight said. “If it weren’t for your words of compassion and patience, I would have never gotten my friends back to normal!”

“Is that right?” I said, smiling at Orion.

“All I did was help you convince the others that they weren’t themselves,” Orion said.

“And it worked!” Twilight chirped. “Now come on! The train’s waiting for us!”

As Twilight ran for the station where everyone else was, the boys and I took our time and walked. I managed to grab my Amp and chain before we left and strapped the Amp on my pack and wrapped my chain around my wrist.

“So Eris made them the opposite of who they are?” I guessed.

“More like the opposite of their elements. Reversing the traits that made them the Element Bearers,” Orion explained.

“Well good on you,” I said proudly to him, then thought of something. “Hang on, the girls were acting oppositely of their elements, right?”

“Yeah. Example would be that Rarity would be greedy rather than generous. Why do you ask?”

“So…that means they said and did things that they wouldn’t say and do?” I questioned.

“Uh…I think so. Why? What are you getting at?” Orion asked, still confused.

I grinned at Orion. “What was it that AJ said to you? That she hates your guts and thinks you’re ugly? Now, I wonder what she really meant since she wasn’t acting herself?”

And just like that, Orion’s cheeks flushed a deep shade of red and he went silent.

“Oh! Oh, I get it!” Spike beamed at Orion. “That means…AJ really does like Orion!”

Orion hadn’t said anything the rest of the walk, he simply stared at the ground with a sort of neutral expression on his face.

The train ride was nothing but quiet since the girls were asking me about my fight against Eris. Orion chimed in on occasion, but I could tell he was contemplating the realization from earlier. Moon had to stay behind with Eris back at the library to keep an eye on her so we could figure out what to do after our business was done in Canterlot. When the train arrived, we were met with a large crowd that cheered for us as guards led us to the castle. People were calling out to me, calling me a hero who defeated the chaos. It felt good to be praised, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. We eventually arrived at the castle and were led to the throne room where more people awaited us. Celestia stood by the throne with a proud smile as she climbed the steps to stand before her. We all smiled ear to ear at each other as Celestia addressed the crowd.

“We are gathered here today, to once again honor the heroism of these eight friends. Who stood up to the villainess, Eris, and saved Equestria from eternal chaos!” Celestia announced, and the crowd cheered. “I personally would also like to honor Sir Axel Rickert, who boldly faced Eris on his own and managed to defeat her in combat!”

I turned around and faced the crowd. Wanting to put on a spectacle, I pulled out my Amp and activated Video. My digital wings appeared on my back and unfurled out wide and my long sword materialized between the coils. I held my Amp up high, which only made the crowd cheer even more for me.

Celestia then used her magic to unveil a window behind some curtains. What caught my eye the most was an image of me fighting Eris, dressed in my clothes and armor, holding my Amp with electric bolts around it, my digital wings on my back, and in my other hand was my chain. A little key detail I also noticed was the new sigil on the back of my vest that was also on me in the window mural. At the bottom of the mural were the girls and they were raising their hands at Eris and I as we fought, as if they were supporting me during my battle.

“Wow, not bad,” I grinned.

“Don’t get a swelled head over it,” Orion smiled as he slapped me hard on the back.

“You should be proud, Axel, you’ll finally be recognized as a hero!” Twilight said.

“You were awesome! You kicked Eris’ butt!” Rainbows cheered.

“Yay! Victory party for Axel!” Pinkie chirped.

“I’m happy for you too, Axel,” Fluttershy said.

“You certainly are a valiant soul, Axel,” Rarity nodded.

“Yeah, dude, you saved Equestria after all,” Spike said.

“Aw shucks, thanks for the words of praise I guess,” I said, rubbing the back of my head.

“Don’t forget Orion, partners,” AJ said, wrapping an arm around him. “He also did his part.”

“Can’t argue that, you also deserve some much deserved praise,” I nodded.

Orion had a somewhat goofy smile on his face and he looked away with a hard blush.

“You have done us a great service, Axel,” Celestia said. “I thank you from the bottom of my heart for confronting Eris.”

“It’s no problem, Princess,” I said.

“Please, Axel, I insist you call me only Celestia.” Celestia smiled warmly at me. “You’ve more than deserved to not have to address me so formally all the time.”

“Well, if you insist,” I smiled back at her.

“And I hope we can discuss the other matter back in Ponyville as soon as possible. So I shall make a visit a week after things have calmed down,” Celestia informed me.

“Sounds like a plan,” I nodded. I looked over to Orion and saw he was glancing at AJ, who was waving at the crowd. “Well?” I leaned over and elbowed him. “What’re doing standing here with your thumb up your ass? Go ask her out!”

Orion gulped and tugged on his shirt collar a bit before making his way over to Applejack’s side. He gently tapped her shoulder to gain her attention. I crept in closer to hear what they had to say.

“What’s up Orion?” AJ asked him, smiling.

I watched as he fidgeted in place, barely able to look at her directly before speaking. “W-would you umm…like to maybe, uh…”

“Yeah?” AJ tilted her head.

“Out with it! For fuck’s sake!” I barked, reaching over and slapping his back.

“Would you please go out with me?!” Orion shouted out as I slapped his back.

AJ and her friends were silent at Orion’s confession. I saw his face turn bright red before AJ gently reached up and put her hands on his shoulders.

“Sugarcube?” AJ smiled sweetly with a small blush. “It’s about darn time, Ah’d love to go out with ya.”

Orion smiled with a look I had yet to see on him, he crunched down and with all his strength shoot up into the air like a rocket “YAHOOOO!”

The girls all squealed and cheered for Orion and AJ, and Spike and I just smiled proudly at our friend finally asking out his first love. The rest of the day was one big party of music and dancing. It honestly felt pretty damn good to be the savior of a whole kingdom. I almost doubted myself for a minute there, but I know now to never second guess myself. If the going gets tough, I just have to remember to keep a level head. I’ll do anything to protect my home and those who mean the most to me.

Author's Note

The Guardian rises and is recognized for his heroics. He can only continue to grow here on out.

Side Note:
Special thanks to Ghost Warrior for helping me out with the fight scene and The Saiyan Brony for co-writing this story with me!

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Beginning of Infamy

Chapter 21

An awkward silence hung in the room with me in the library as I sat on the sofa. Next to me was Moon on my right and strangely Eris sat on my left. Celestia was also in the room with a few of her guards as escorts and she and Twilight sat in chairs across from us. True to her word, Celestia had come to Ponyville in order to discuss how to accommodate her now that she’s gonna be sticking around.

Twilight was nervously fidgeting in her seat with Spike standing next to her for support and Celestia was giving Eris a bit of a stink eye, which was a bit unexpected from someone like her.

“Went full rainbow with the hair, did you?” Eris teased as she crossed her legs. “I recall how you had it completely pink, like cotton candy.”

“Time changes all, even hairstyle,” Celestia said before looking at me. “Axel, again, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you did.”

“It’s no problem, Celestia, I’m glad I could help out and keep Ponyville safe,” I nodded in response.

“But not that snooty attitude of yours,” Eris remarked. “How is wittle Wuna, by the way?”

“Wuna?” I chortled. “You mean Luna?”

“I’ve told you countless times not to call her that!” Celestia snapped.

“Okay, okay. Damn, I remember when you used to have a sense of humor,” Eris rolled her eyes.

“Do you mean before, or after you used our subjects like playthings?” Celestia asked rhetorically.

“Oh, coming back with a little heat,” Eris said while wiggling her brows.

“I did not come here to listen to your incessant badgering, Eris, I came here to ensure you don’t cause any more mass hysteria,” Celestia said sternly.

“Fine, killjoy,” Eris rolled her eyes.

“So…does this mean Eris is gonna move in here at the library too?” I guessed.

“For the time being, and with a security detail to monitor her actions for at least a month.” Celestia then pulls out a scroll from her bosom, which was a nice sight to see, before she handed it to me.

“Actually, I don’t think that’s necessary,” I waved my hand at her.

“Not necessary?!” Twilight yelped. “She’s the Spirit of Chaos! How is not having a security detail not necessary?!”

“One, it’d be too crowded, two, have you forgotten who I’m dating and is also living here? Three, I beat Eris once, I can do it again and as many times as it takes whenever she steps outta line,” I said, holding up my fingers.

“I suppose you make a fair point. However, I insist that an officer from the local guard keep weekly tabs,” Celestia insisted.

“I guess,” I shrugged, not feeling like arguing. “Who’d you have in mind?”

“That would be me.” I turned around to see Lapis leaning against the doorway with a smirk. She came into the room and gave a salute to Celestia. “Captain Lapis Law, reporting for duty, your highness.”

“Oh, give me a break!” I deadpanned. “You already hassle me enough because of your misinformed assumptions about me, but now I gotta expect you to swing by on the daily?”

“Damn right, you will,” Lapis told me with a smirk.

“Ugh, fine,” I threw my hands up in the air. “But no more hassling me! As you can see, I only have the best of intentions for Ponyville since I beat this crazy lady here.”

“Crazy?!” Eris took a minute to think about it, before settling down. “Actually, that’s pretty accurate.”

“Don’t worry Axel. I’ve seen what you’ve done for this town, and know you can be trusted, for the most part anyway.” Lapis told me while patting my shoulder.

“Now that the matter is settled, on to the more important matter.” Celestia snapped her fingers and a piece of paper appeared in her hand. It looked like some kind of diploma with a blue ribbon attached to it.

“What’s that?” I wondered.

“Papers that give you the official title, as a knight of Equestria,” Celestia announced.

“Pass,” I immediately said, shocking everyone in the room. Twilight began to hyperventilate.

“Pass?!” Twilight screamed while getting up. “You’re passing up on being a knight!? I know people that would kill for the chance to become a knight, and some actually have!”

“I must admit, Axel, I too am surprised you would decline such an opportunity,” Moon said.

“And you call me crazy,” Eris said.

“Look, being a knight sounds cool and all, but it just isn’t my style,” I said. “I’m more like a freelancer type of guy. If I had a title like a knight, it honestly would feel like I cheated my way to be a knight. Meanwhile, there’s probably people back in Canterlot who’re busting their asses to earn their knighthood.”

“So chivalrous, the makings of a true knight. It truly is a shame you’re declining this offer. But, as you’ve said, you have a life and obligations here, so I will respect your wishes,” Celestia told me with a sad smile.

“You know, Celestia, you don’t really gotta speak so formally around me,” I smirked.

“How do you mean?” Celestia wondered.

“It’s just I feel like you’re always so uptight about stuff since you’re a princess, which is understandable, but why not just let loose once in a while?” I shrugged as I stood up. I walked over to Celestia and tucked my hands in my pockets. “Must be tough keeping that back straight all the damn time.”

“Hey buddy, watch how you talk to the princess!” One guard growled.

“Yeah! Show some respect to her majesty!” Another snapped.

“Guards, at ease. Axel is right, I’ve been acting a little uptight lately, and I believe I should learn to relax from time to time.” Celestia looked around a bit before slouching in her chair and putting her feet on the coffee table. “See. Relaxed.”

“P-Princess Celestia?!” Twilight yelped. “What are you doing?!”

“What’s it look like, Twi? She’s taking a load off,” I chuckled. “See? Doesn’t that feel better?”

“Much better,” Celestia nodded.

“One thing you gotta know about me, Celestia, is that I don’t much care if you’re a princess. To me, you’re just like any other person I’ve met with a fancy title. I’m nothing like the snobs you deal with on the daily,” I explained.

“I noticed.” Celestia then leans forward to whisper. “Between you and me, I would love to just skip my duties for a whole week, and let those overgrown babies bicker among themselves.”

“Is that right?” I then got an idea. “Well then, why don’t I take you out?”

A pin dropped from the amount of silence in the air as my question hung there for several minutes.

“Damn, you got a pair,” Lapis laughed.

“What?” I tilted my head.

“You know something, Axel.” Celestia hopped off her chair and gave me a playful smirk. “I might just take you up on that offer.”

“Awesome,” I grinned as I followed her out.

“A-Are you both serious right now?!” Twilight sputtered.

“Why’re you freaking out, Twi?” I wondered. “I’m just taking Celestia out, no biggie.”

“I agree, Twilight, it’s no biggie indeed,” Celestia giggled.

“You good with this, Moon?” I asked Moon.

“I…I suppose,“ Moon said but then smiled. “Be sure to treat her right, Axel.”

“Of course, I always make it a priority to have fun.”

I slung my pack over my back and closed the door after following Celestia and her guards out the door.

“What just happened?!” I heard Spike yelp.

Sweet Apple Acres
3rd POV

Inside the farmhouse bathroom, Orion was looking at himself in the mirror. He checked his hair repeatedly to make sure that he looked decent. Today was his very first date with Applejack, and it was easily visible that he was nervous.

The date would be a casual one, he wore a red T-shirt with black shorts. His white hair was spiked with gel, and he had just applied deodorant.

After staring at himself checking for any imperfections, he opened the door and walked to the front door where he would wait for Applejack.

“Nervous?” Orion jumped and spun around to see Big Mac leaning on the counter in the kitchen with a smirk.

He clutched his chest and propped himself against the doorframe with one arm. “Noo, you think?” Orion said sarcastically.

“XYZ,” Mac said.

“Huh?” Draco asked, now confused.

“Examine yer zipper, partner,” Mac said, glancing down real quick and back to Orion.

Orion was still confused before looking down and yelping before moving his hand down to zip his zipper. “How the hell did I miss that?!”

“Easy there, partner,” Mac waved his hand as Orion scrambled to zip up his fly. “Yer jumpier than a wound up bull seein’ red.”

“Well, this is my first date…ever. And with someone I work with no less. Wouldn’t you be the same?” Orion calmed down before walking over to Big Mac.

“Naw, Ah wouldn’t worry about it,” Mac waved his hand. “Lemme ask ya somethin’, ya like mah sister, don’t ya?”

“Would I be this jumpy if I didn’t?” Orion added seriously. “I do like her, it just took me a while to realize it.”

“And might Ah ask, why do ya like her?” Mac questioned.

“Well, where should I start?” Orion leaned against the counter as he stared up at the ceiling. “She’s fun to be around, kind, I find her accent adorable. And being near her seems to brighten any gloomy day.”

“So what do ya need to be so nervous about? AJ obviously fancies you as much as you do her. Ah caught sight of her this morning and she looked mighty frazzled. No doubt worryin’ what to wear to impress ya.”

Orion’s cheek flushed a shade of crimson as he rubbed the back of his head. “I-I don’t know, first date jitters I guess.”

Orion took the time to take a breath and calm himself. “What about you, Big Mac? Any girls you’re intrestead in?”

“Well…” Mac trailed off, rubbing the back of his head. “Ah kinda been keepin’ mah eye on that teacher of Apple Bloom’s, Cheerilee.”

“Oh ho.” Orion was now the one who was grinning. “Fancy the teacher type huh? Well maybe you should go ask her if she can teach you how to date her.”

“A-Ah’ll see what Ah can do,” Mac said nervously.

“Come on, sis! He’s waitin’!” The boys heard Apple Bloom from the stairs as she came down pulling someone’s arm.

“Darn it, Bloom! Gimme a minute!” They heard Applejack say.

“You’ve had plenty! Now come on!” Apple Bloom said and pulled her sister down.

Orion had to do a double take at the sight before him. Applejack was dressed in a beautiful checkered sundress with white shoulder cuffs that stretched down to her knees and a brown belt that went around her waist. She wore fancy-looking boots that had a bit of heel on them. Orion then turned his attention to her face and noticed she was wearing a bit of makeup. Nothing too heavy, just a tad bit of eyeliner and some lip gloss. Her hair was tied into twin braids that hung over her shoulders, each braid tied with a red bow, and her signature brown stetson.

“Wow.” He said without even thinking. “Applejack, you look beautiful, er, I mean you always look beautiful.” He fumbled his words a bit.

“Th-thank ya kindly, Orion,” Applejack said, her freckled cheeks burning red. “Ya look mighty handsome yerself.”

Orion was next to blush as he rubbed his neck. “Well I had to make myself look good enough for you, you know what I mean?”

“Alright, you two,” Mac chuckled as Apple Bloom grinned. “You two make sure ya have fun, and done do nothin’ foolish. And Orion?” Mac walked up to Orion and glared a death glare. “Don’t do nothin’ inappropriate, or Ah’ll snap them legs o’ yers in two!”

Orion rather than be scared smiled back at Big Mac, patting his shoulder. “And you grow some balls and go ask that teacher out.”

“Teacher? What teacher?” Applejack asked.

“Uh! Nothin’!” Mac panicked and proceeded to push the two of them out the door. “Have fun!” He slammed the door behind them, leaving Applejack confused.

“What was that about?” Applejack wondered.

Chuckling Orion shook his head. “Oh, just an inside joke between me and him.” With his nervousness seemingly gone, Orion offered his arms to his date. “Shall we go?”

Applejack smiled and hooked her arm around Orion’s. “Lead the way, sugarcube.”

Walking down from the farm, Orion led Applejack into town. They smiled and waved at the people they passed along the way until they arrived at their first destination, Sugarcube Corner.

When they walked in, the first to greet them was everyone’s favourite party girl.

“Hiya, Applejack! And Orion too!” Pinkie Pie chirped. “Look at you two! Finally going on a date! I knew you would be end up together!”

Both ended up blushing at the same time, and Orion smiled at Pinkie Pie. “Got seats for two, Pinkie?” He asked while holding up two fingers.

“Of course!” Pinkie led them to off to the dining area and sat them down at a table next to the window. “So! What can I get ya?” Pinkie reached into her hair and pulled out a notepad and a pencil.

“I’ll have a strawberry shake.” Orion smiled and turned to look at Applejack. “Order whatever you want, I’m buying today.”

“Ya sure?” Applejack asked and Orion nodded. “Then Ah’ll have an apple sundae.”

“Coming right up! Be right back! La la la la laaa!” Pinkie hummed and skipped away.

“She’ll never not make me laugh,” Apple giggle. “Ah don’t think she could.”

“She is a lively one, that’s for sure.” Orion smiled as he did his best not to stare too much at his date.

“Somethin’ on yer mind, sugarcube?” Applejack wondered.

“Oh, well um…” Orion fumbled for an answer. “I-I was just wondering, what made you wanna go out with me?”

“Well, fer starters, Ah kinda started to like ya from the first day Axel brought ya to our farm and ya showed off that powerful kick of yers.” Applejack blushed as she twirled her hair. “Shucks, Ah ain’t never seen no one kick like that besides Mac.”

“Really? That far back?” Orion asked, surprised by this new information. “I had no idea.”

“It’s true.” Applejack leaned her head on her hands as she grinned playfully at Orion. “You’re also pretty darn cute.”

This made Orion's cheeks burn as he looked away bashful. “Geez, how is it that you can make me blush so much?”

“Like this.” Applejack caught Orion off guard and quickly leaned in and pecked him on the cheek. “That’s how,” she giggled, her freckled cheeks blushing deep red.

By now steam was billowing out of Orion’s ears as he looked redder than his own t-shirt. “You’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days, you know that right?!”

“Hahaha!“ Applejack laughed at his expense.

“Here you are, you two!” Pinkie said as she skipped over with their orders. “Orion? Why do you look like a cherry?”

“Because I'm on a date with a gorgeous girl. " He added without hesitation, as he glanced back at Applejack.

“G-Gorgeous?” Applejack stammered and looked away bashfully. “Ah…Ah ain’t that pretty.”

“Are you kidding, AJ? You’re super duper pretty!” Pinkie chirped as she set their order down on the table.

“I agree, you’re more beautiful than the pretty apple orchards in bloom.” Orion now smirked as he tried to see if he could take the girl blush.

As Pinkie Pie skipped away to take more orders, Applejack’s heart was a flutter at his words as she twirled her hair. “Thanks, Orion, no one’s ever complimented me like that before. Ah was never really good at pickin’ the right boy to date before.”

“Really? Then how do you know I’m a right choice?” Orion asked before taking a sip of his shake.

“It’s because you don’t care I’m one of the Elements of Harmony,” Applejack said, making Orion pause.

“Why would that matter?” Orion wondered.

“Nothin’, let’s just enjoy ourselves,” Applejack waved it off and ate her sundae.

Orion moved his hand to gentle place it ontop of Applejack's. “You know, you can talk to me, right? I’m your friend, AJ.”

Applejack swallowed a bite of her sundae and sighed. “A while back, there was this guy Ah thought liked me for me. But Ah later found out he only fancied me because I’m the Bearer of Honesty Element. Ah felt so foolish, Ah didn’t expect to find someone to like me for me.”

“That’s surprising, honestly.” Orion gently rubbed Applejack’s hand with his thumb as he held it. “You’re fun, pretty, adorable, and a really amazing girl. I’m surprised there wasn’t a line of guys who wanted to ask you out, before you became an Element Bearer.”

Applejack smiled sadly as she moved her hand to intertwine her fingers with Orion’s. “You’re so sweet, Orion, but are you okay with a girl like me? Ah mean, down the line…what if Ah do or say somethin’ that won’t make ya like me no more? Ah’m sure there’s other girls out there who’d love to have ya as a boyfriend.”

Orion smiled before leaning in and giving Applejack a peck on the lips. “Honestly Applejack, I highly doubt I’d ever not like you.”

Now it was Applejack’s turn to blush bright red as she moved her other hand to touch her lips. “You…you kissed me.” A wide smile grew as she squealed a little in her seat. “Sweet applesauce! Did you just kiss me?!”

“And what if I did?” Orion said smugly as he grinned at his date. “Did you think you were the only one who could do the teasing?”

Applejack suddenly wrapped her arms around Orion’s neck and planted her lips on his. When she pulled back, she licked her lips and lidded her eyes. “Mmm, strawberry~.”

Orion’s eyes had rolled into his head as his face was now burning hotter than an oven, and a dopey smile was on his face.

“Way to go, AJ!” Pinkie cheered for her friend behind the counter.

Applejack giggled as she scooted her chair back to its place and continued to eat her sundae.

“Better drink your shake, sugarcube, it’ll melt,” Applejack advised.

“Aghdrnff.” Was the only sound that came out of Orion’s mouth as he tried to drink his shake, the heat from his face nearly melting his shake.

“Heh, boys,” Applejack giggled as she winked at Orion.

“This girl is going to be the death of me,” Orion muttered.

Later That Night
Dream Realm
Axel 1st POV

The buildings towered over me as cars drove down the streets. I wanted to show Moon what my world was like, so I decided to dream about one of America’s most famous cities for a dream date: New York City. Moon was having the time of her life. I was able to dream of New York since I remember traveling there a few times during college trips. We visited Times Square and stood in the middle of it all, watching the billboards and flashing lights. We flew up to the top of the One World Observatory and basked in the beauty of the lights below us. We visited the parks, the museums, and walked up and down the Brooklyn Bridge. During this whole experience, Moon couldn’t stop smiling and told me how much she loved the city sights and sometimes told me she loved me.

We were both now in Central Park and sitting on a bench in front of the Belvedere Castle.

“Who knew your world was full of untold wonders!” Moon giggled as she leaned into me. “Are there other cities like this in your world?”

“Yeah, but nothing beats the Big Apple, in my opinion,” I said.

“Is that another clever nickname earthlings have given this city?” Moon asked.

“Among other names,” I nodded. Moon rested her head on my shoulder and sighed.

“It was quite surprising how you asked Celestia to go on an outing with you,” Moon said.

“Why would it be? I just felt like she needed a day to relax and not worry about being a princess for once,” I shrugged.

“I suppose, but I don’t believe that is how she saw it,” Moon said.

“What do you mean?” I said, confused.

“Don’t you think she must have seen it as you were asking her on a date?” Moon wondered as she looked at me.

“A date? Ha! No way!” I laughed. “That wasn’t a date, not at all. Celestia’s just a friend so I took her on a friendly outing. Besides, me, an average nobody, asked Celestia, a freaking princess, on an actual date? It’d be a cold day in Hell before anything like that happens.”

“Do you not like Celestia?” Moon wondered.

“Look, I do like her, but not in the way you think,” I waved my hand dismissively. “All I did was do something nice for a friend and leave it at that.”

“I see you’re still as dense as an iron block.”

We both turned to see a plume of smoke appear beside us as Dante made himself appear.

“Dante? What’re you doing here?” I wondered.

“I got bored, which is surprising since we’re literally in New York City, but that’s besides the point. I wanna ask a favor,” Dante said, crossing his arms. “I want to use your body and stretch my legs.”

“Right now? Dude, I’m in the middle of a date,” I said as Moon gave Dante a dirty look.

“I didn’t say you had to wake up. You can still remain asleep within the subconscious of your mind and make kissy faces with your girlfriend all you want in the dream. Meanwhile, I’ll use your body to roam around as you do,”Dante explained.

“Is…that even possible?” I wondered.

“We switch all the time whenever you’re awake, so it should be,” Dante shrugged. “But the only difference this time is that while you’re dreaming, you won’t be aware of what I do while I use your body.”

“That’s a little unnerving,” Moon said.

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Who knows what you’ll do if I’m not aware of it,” I agreed.

“Oh, come on, I can’t stay cooped up in your head forever. All I wanna do is stretch my legs,” Dante rolled his eyes. “Look, if it’ll make you feel better, what if I relay everything I do at night whenever I go out?”

“How do I know you won’t lie?” I said.

“We share the same mind, I doubt I’d be able to keep something from you,” Dante said.

“Hmm, I guess you have a point.” I scratched my chin in thought. “And what exactly do you mean when you say you wanna stretch your legs?”

“Exactly that, and maybe cause some mischief here and there, beat up thugs who wanna start shit, maybe crack their skulls open, but that’s just my nature talking,” Dante grinned.

“Well…” I thought about his request, which sounded like a double edged sword, but it wouldn’t be fair to keep him locked up forever.

“Alright.”

“Really?” Dante said with his grin still wide.

“But only if you promise not to do anything crazy,” I pointed at him.

“Yeah, I promise,” Dante nodded and rubbed his hands together. “This is gonna be fun.” Dante then disappeared in a plume of smoke, leaving me with Moon.

“Are you certain that was wise?” Moon asked.

“He’s a loose cannon, but I don’t think he’d do anything crazy,” I said. “I hope.”

Back in Reality
Dante 1st POV

I opened my eyes and grinned immediately, feeling my hands and feet move after being cooped up in Axel’s mind for so long. I glanced down to my side and saw Nightmare Moon turned towards me. She wore a sleeping gown that showed a little cleavage of her generous bust, which was a nice sight to see, but I cast such thoughts away as I slowly left the bed.

I quickly and quietly got dressed in black jeans, red and white sneakers, black v-neck, grey hoodie with a hint of red in it, and my denim vest. Once I was dressed, I went to grab my pack, but I figured I didn’t need it since I was just going out for the night. So instead, I grabbed my beanie and pulled it on my head and headed out the door. After making sure I closed the door quietly and didn’t make a sound to wake Twilight and the others, I used Smoke to turn into wisps and flew towards the door. I glanced back to the library and looked up to see Eris sleeping on a hammock and snoring peacefully.

“Hmph, should’ve fried her when he had the chance,” I scoffed quietly and exited the library.

I stretched my arms out and began walking down the moonlit streets of Ponyville. No one was around and it was all pretty quiet for the most part. It was a little boring, but it was still nice to get out and smell fresh air. During my trek, I caught sight of a few people sneaking between some buildings. Piquing my curiosity, I made my way over to where I saw them walk. It was easy to tail them, since they were apparently too focused to get where they were going, and led me outside of Ponyville.

I followed them until we arrived at a secluded area just outside of Everfree Forest. To my surprise, there were a whole bunch of people already there. They were all standing around this big bonfire that provided light, but not big enough for anyone in town to notice. I stealthily crept up towards the group so that no one would notice me as I listened in.

One man from the group, with a stern look on his face, stepped forward and looked around at the others who waited for him to speak. He was a tall guy with a bit of a buff build and had dark red hair. There were signs of grey in his hair, which spoke for his age, but he still looked like he could put you in your place should you cross him.

“Gentleman! Welcome to Fight Club.” The guy started pacing around the bonfire while he continued his speech. “The first rule about Fight Club is, you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is that you do not, talk, about, Fight Club. The third rule of Fight Club is that if someone yells stop, goes limp, taps out, you stop. The fight is over. The fourth rule of Fight Club is two guys to a fight. Fifth rule, one fight at a time, fellas. Sixth rule, no shirts, no shoes. The seventh rule, fights will go on as long as they have to. And the eighth and final rule. If this is your first night of Fight Club. You have to fight.” Cheers went around the whole area while the guys took off their shirts and shoes.

“Oh hell yeah!” I said to myself as I tore off my shirt, jacket, and shoes. I set my pack down to the side and merged within the crowd. “This is gonna be a fun fuckin’ night! How unexpected from this town of pansies.”

“So! Who’s up first?” The leader asked.

“I am!“ a man walked up next to the leader. He was a little lanky, but had some muscle, nothing to boast about.

“Alright, who’ll fight our first contender?” The leader asked

“That’d be me, partner.”

A familiar voice called out and to my surprise, Big Macintosh walked up while cracking his knuckles.

“Huh, color me surprised,” I muttered. “It’s always the quiet ones, I guess.”

“Alright, first contenders of the evening. One of our most frequent fighters, Big Mac, is against the new meat. We’ll get a name from him after the fight if he's not out cold.” The host said while lighting a cigarette.

Both combatants nodded and took a stance. The leader stepped back and raised his hand.

“Ready?” Both Mac and his opponent lowered themselves. “Fight!”

The lanky dude charged at Mac with the intent to tackle him. Mac just stood there until he raised his fist high in the air.

POW!!

Before I could even register it, Mac’s fist came down on the charging opponent like a cannon and bashed him into the ground. There was a large thud that echoed throughout the area as the lanky dude fell limp at Mac’s feet.

“Whew! Ah sure needed that,” Mac smiled as he flexed his hand. “That little turd really grind mah gears this mornin’.”

“Damn, what a hook!” I said.

“Alright. New meat’s down. Since we can’t get a name from him, we’ll refer to him as Meat.” The host took a drag from his cigarette before his eyes landed on me. “Looks like we got another new fighter tonight. Step up.” The guy gestured me forward. I stepped in the middle of the ring and the guy inspected me. “What’s your name kid?” He asked me before blowing his smoke into my face.

I pondered the question, thinking it would be cool to go by an alias, until I thought of one that made me grin.

“Call me the Red Hawk,” I announced.

“Red Hawk?” The guy takes a drag from his cigarette before looking me in the eye. “You come up with that name on the spot or did you have to think about it?” I was about to get in his face about my name before he began to chuckle. “Nah, don’t worry about it, kid. We get guys here that take the rules a little too seriously and don’t even use their real name.” He patted my shoulder before addressing the crowd. “Alright, boys! Who wants to take on the Hawk?”

“I’ll take him on.” A big buff guy walks up with a smirk. He was half a head taller than me and looked like he had more brawn than brains.

“Brass Knuckle, you’re back again?” The leader sighed. “I told you you aren’t welcome here, not after you put the last three guys in the hospital. Which not only is overkill, but also jeopardizes the secrecy of this Fight Club!”

“Not my fault those weaklings couldn’t handle my right hook.” The guy smiled, showing he had a few teeth missing, most likely from previous fights.

“Man, you are one ugly mother fucker,” I snickered. “But don’t worry, I’ll give you a touch up by breaking your nose. That way, you’ll be just the right level of ugly.”

“What’d you say? You scrawny little punk!” Brass said while getting in my face.

“Alright, save it for the fight you two,” the leader said as we both stepped back from each other. “You both know the rules?” We both nodded. “Good. Now get ready.” Brass Knuckles raised his fists as I just stood there with a smirk. “And…fight!”

Brass charged at me with his fist raised and swung at me. I sidestepped out of the way from his sloth-like punch and drove my elbow into his rib cage.

CRACK!

“Grah! Little punk! I’ll beat your brains into a pulp!” Bras yelled while holding his side and attempting to deliver a backhand.

I blocked his hand with my left forearm while reeling back with my right fist and drove it into his gut as hard as I could.

THWAM!

Brass buckled over and fell to his knees as he clutched his gut and tried to catch his breath. He looked up at me with a glare but I just smirked evilly at him.

“You don’t need these, do you?” I asked as I raised my foot behind me and swung it directly in between his legs.

WHA-BAM!

Brass gave out a high-pitched scream as I kicked his family jewels. I think I even heard one of them pop. “You little bastard! I’ll smash your face in and make you eat your teeth!” Brass said in the same squeaky voice.

“Oh will you?” I said.

“Uh, Red Hawk? I think he’s had-”

I didn’t bother letting the leader finish his sentence as I kicked Brass on his back. I jumped on top of him, while grinning darkly like a maniac and began punching Brass’ face repeatedly. Blood sprayed from his nose and mouth as I slammed my fists in his ugly mug. Whatever teeth were left in his mouth long gone.

As I kept turning his face into mulch, I felt two pairs of hands grab me before pulling me off of Brass. When I looked back, I saw that it was the host and Big Mac that pulled me away. “Third rule! If someone yells stop, goes limp, or taps out, you stop!”

“Oh! My bad,” I said with an innocent smile. I glanced back at the now unconscious Brass Knuckle, who was twitching every so often in a pool of his own blood. “I got carried away. That guy called me a name, so I reacted poorly.”

“Yeah, I can see that. Look, since it’s your first night and he’s still breathing, I’ll let it slide. Just don’t let it happen again, Hawk.” The host warned me while a couple of guys picked up Brass and dragged him off.

“Hey leader.” He looked back at me as I kept my grin. “I wanna fight three of these poor suckers now.”

“You just wanna break all the rules tonight, don’t ya? Gentlemen, what is the fourth and fifth rule of Fight Club?” The host asked everyone.

“Two fighters to a fight! One fight at a time!” Was what they all said in unison.

“Exactly.” The guy takes another drag before looking at me. “Look, kid. I get it. You’re young, it’s your first fight, and you just beat the crap out of someone bigger than you. You feel invincible and think you can take on the world. But rules are rules, and we have them for a reason.”

“Aw, come on,” I said, putting on my best act to fool him. “You said it yourself, it’s my first time here. Can’t you make an exception? I promise, after tonight, I’ll abide by the rules and won’t bitch about it any more.”

The guy lets out a huff, letting his drag exit out his nose before turning to the others. “Alright, I need three fighters who are willing to gang up on Hawk over here.”

There was a bit of hesitance from the group, until three came forward and stood before me. They each looked like identical triplets, except they each wore different hats.

“So who do we have here?” The leader said.

“Snap,” The guy on the left says

“Crackle,” the guy in the middle said.

“Pop,” the guy on the right said.

“Pfft, now I’m hungry for rice krispies,” I chuckled to myself at their names.

“Alright, we have ourselves a three on one fight. Against my better judgment, you three are gonna fight Hawk. Despite the fourth and fifth rule being ignored for now, the third rule is still In effect.” The host steps back as I faced off against the trio. “Begin!”

Before I could react, Pop charged at me and tackled me to the ground. I raised my arms as he began punching me and I blocked his attacks. This guy was stronger than he looked, but that didn’t mean I was gonna let him have his way. When he reeled back for another punch, I quickly caught his fist and head butted him right in the nose.

As Pop held his bloody nose, Crackle came up from the side and kicked me in the side of the head.

I grunted as I shoved Pop off and jumped to my feet. Snap went for a kick to my side, but I jumped out of the way and spun by body around. I raised my leg and delivered a hard kick to Snap’s side. He cried out in pain and I rushed him with a series of punches and kicks. He had bruises everywhere, until I felt someone kick my back. I looked behind me to see Pop with a very pissed off look.

“Hmm, if Axel’s memories serve, I guess he wouldn’t mind if I bust out an old hobby of his.” I turned to face Pop and Snap and took an old stance and hopped in place: the Southpaw. “Come at me then.”

“Heh, like some old boxing moves are gonna stop us,” Snap said before lunging for my waist.

I sidestepped away from him and kept hopping in place. He glared at me as he kept lunging for me. I dodged and weaved away from him as I watched his footing and where’d he step next. When he came at me again, he stepped with his right foot close to my left.

Got ya.

I reeled back while evading his lunge and met his movement with my fist. My punch slammed into his face and I drove him down in the ground with a loud thud. Snap lay limp with a busted nose and black eyes as I assumed my stance again and hopped in place.

“One Krispie down,” I said to Crackle Pop with a mocking grin. “Two Krispie’s to go.”

“That’s it! Come on Pop, let’s clip this bird’s wings!” Crackle and Pop made a lunge for me at the same time.

Using only a little of my Neon, just enough so no one would notice, I met them head on and began pelting them with rapid fire punches. Crackle and Pop were helpless as I unleashed high speed rushes upon them. Liver blows, right hooks, uppercuts, left hooks, temple blows; it was a massacre for these two. I felt their bones crack, teeth flying, and blood splattered the ground around us. I finished my barrage with one hard slug to the jaw on Pop and a left hook to Crackle’s temple. Pop fell on his back, completely out cold, and Crackle just stood there in a bloody and bruised daze. I smirked as I reached up and ever so slightly flicked his forehead.

“Nighty night, Krispie,” I said as he leaned back and collapsed on the ground.

I looked around my three unconscious opponents and began to laugh. I placed my foot on Crackle’s chest and faced the leader and the now on edge crowd.

“How’s that for a show stopper?” I asked with a sadistic grin.

“Damn! Not bad, kid. Keep this up and you might just end up as our champ.” The host told me while more guys went to take Crackle and Pop out of the circle.

“I try,” I shrugged.

“In fact, how’d you like to go bigger than just this Fight Club?” The leader said.

“Bigger than this? What do you mean?” I wondered. The leader motioned two other guys to start fighting as he pulled me away to speak in private. The crowd made sure to steer clear of me as we stepped away from the crowd.

“First question, you a pig?” The leader asked.

“Am I wearing a badge and forcing you to put ‘em up?” I asked rhetorically.

“Guess not, well here’s my offer.” He reached into his back pocket after taking a drag from his cigarette and handed me a black card. I looked at the card and it had red writing on it.

“Underground Bouts?” I read aloud and looked at him. “You mean free-for-all fighting?”

“If you’re interested. You get to fight and, win or lose, you get a cut of the money. Though winning earns you more.”

“Wait, you telling me there’s no rules in these fights?” I said, now becoming more interested.

“For the most part. The only real rule is that you don’t kill anyone. Other than that, go ape-shit.” He patted my back before returning to the circle where the two were still fighting.

“What’s your name, anyway?” I called out to him.

“Call me Pitt!” The leader said, waving his hand at me over his shoulder.

I held the card in my hand and felt an excitement coursing through me. This is exactly the kind of shit I was looking for in this boring world. I could let loose on assholes in a ring whenever I feel the need, I’ll even make some cash for Axel in case he bitches about it. There was a small schedule on the back of the card and it said that there was a match in Canterlot with an address.

“This world just got a whole lot more interesting,” I chuckled as I tucked the card in my back pocket and rejoined the group.

Author's Note

His name will soon be known and feared throughout the underground.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

The Other Big Apple

Chapter 22

“Tch! Damn, still stings.”

I winced as I tried to pick up my mug to sip my coffee and my knuckles ached. When Dante shared what he’s been up to this past week during the nights, I was thrown for a loop that such a thing was even practiced in this world. It just goes to show you that not everything is sunshine and rainbows around here. This fight club had become such a new fascination for Dante, that he even flew himself in my body all the way to Canterlot to partake in another fight club that was being held there. The things he did that night to those competitors, I’d imagine he’s starting to build some kind of a rep in the underground world.

“Is your hand still bothering you, Ax?” Moon asked me.

“Yeah, Dante really went to town on the people he beat up back in Canterlot,” I said as I opened and closed my hand.

“It still perplexes me how the people are able to host such a barbaric even such as this fight club.” Moon hummed.

“Remember what I told you about that Moon?” I teased.

“Yes, yes, never talk about it,” Moon rolled her eyes. “But why not?” I didn’t respond and just looked at her. “Okay fine, be that way.”

“Sorry, but even I have to respect the rules. Even if I wasn’t personally part of it,” I shrugged.

“I suppose, so what is on today’s schedule for you?” Moon asked.

“Mr. Rich said he wanted to see me about a business trip he’s going on to Manehattan. Which, by the way, sounds an awful lot like the city of Manhattan, New York, from back home,” I said.

“They have similar names,” Moon said.

“Yep, and I’ve been to New York before. So, I’d know if there were any similarities from Manehattan and The Big Apple.”

“The Big Apple?” Moon repeated. “There is a large fruit in this city called New York?”

“Pfft, what? No, that’s just a nickname people call it,” I chuckled.

“Why would they call it that?”

“Hmm, know what? I have no idea,” I shrugged. “Must be a New Yorker thing. I wouldn’t know, since I’m from Florida.”

“And where is this Florida?” Moon wondered.

“Still on the East Coast but more down South.” I finished the last of my coffee and stood up. “Whelp, I better get going.” I leaned down and kissed Moon on the lips before grabbing my pack. “Tell Spike and Twilight I’ll be back home late.”

“Have a good day, Axel,” Moon waved goodbye to me.

“And you better stay out of trouble, Eris!” I said, looking up at the mad woman lounging near the ceiling on a pink cloud.

“Keep saying that every day, and I just might!” Eris shot back.

I rolled my eyes and waved goodbye back to Moon and made my way to Mr. Rich’s place. My trek to my employer’s house was met with smiling faces and the occasional hello from the townsfolk. Ever since I beat Eris and helped put this town back in order, my good reputation had taken a turn for the better. It was as if my first day here when Dante made a scene in front of everyone never happened, and I was finally accepted by everyone.

“And where do you think you’re going?” I stopped in my tracks and sighed when I looked to see Lapis approaching me.

“Good morning, Lapis,” I sighed.

“And good morning to you too,” Lapis said in a cocky attitude. “How’s that mad spirit lady who’s living with you rent free?”

“Eris is still just lounging around, as usual, same as she has been for over a week now,” I said.

“She must be up to something, people like her don’t just stop being, well, whatever she is,” Lapis pointed out.

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. If you’ll excuse me, I gotta get to Mr. Rich’s place.”

“Want me to tag along? What’s he wanna talk to you about?” Lapis said.

“Eh, something about a business trip to Manehattan, no big deal.” I heard Lapis gasp and saw her face go a little pale. “Uh, something I said?”

“What? Um…n-nothing, just thought of something.” Lapis shook her head. “On second thought, I’m gonna go track down a perp. See you later!”

“A perp? But-.” Before I could say anything else, she turned her back on me and left me as quick as she could. “O…kay? That was weird. Eh, at least she’s off my ass, I’m not complaining.” I walk continued until I made it to Mr. Rich’s place and Randolph greeted me at the door. He led me up the stairs towards Mr. Rich’s office and he knocked on the door.

“Come in, Randolph.” Randolph opened the door and Mr. Rich was at his desk going over some paperwork.

“Master Rickert has arrived, sir,” Randolph announced and bowed his head.

“Ah, Axel, thank you for coming. You are dismissed, Randolph,” Mr. Rich said, and Randolph bowed again before leaving. “So, how has life been treating you since besting that dreadful Eris, Axel? I hear the princess herself came to congratulate you and even offer you knighthood.”

“Word travels fast,” I said to myself. “She did, but I turned it down.”

Mr. Rich paused and looked up at me with a perplexed expression. “You turned down the chance to become a knight? Whatever for? I myself know a great many individuals who would do anything to receive such a high honor.”

“Yeah, but personally, it’s not really my style,” I shrugged. “Besides, I don’t think I’d be comfortable if people started calling me my lord, or some cringey crap like that. I’m just happy where I am, helping out wherever I can, however I can.”

“You never cease to amaze me sometimes, Axel,” Mr. Rich chuckled. “Now then, on to business. You are aware I am going to leave town for a few days, yes?”

“Yeah, you mentioned you were going to some place called Manehattan?” I said.

“I’m glad you remembered; how would you like to accompany me?” Mr. Rich offered.

“Hold up, you want me to come with you to Manehattan?” I said, surprised.

“Quite right, I could use someone like you by my side while I’m there. If you recall our first meeting, I mentioned that Manehattan’s crime rate had risen in recent years. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an exaggeration.” Mr. Rich set his papers aside and stood up. He walked over to the window and put his hands behind his back. “My sources in Manehattan have told me there’s been a bit of, how should I call it, a gang war.”

“Gang war?” Once more, I was surprised something like that would happen here.

“Indeed. In the lower districts of the city, crime has run amok, and the local guard can barely keep it in check. The only way one can thrive in a city like that is to be able to afford to live in the upper districts. Although to be honest, I personally believe there are a lot more sharks lurking in the upper districts than in the lower districts.”

“So, what’s my part in all this?” I wondered.

“Quite simply, I’d like you to come with me as my security detail. I am looking to extend my business trades in Manehattan for my company and would rather not keep having to look over my shoulder. Plus, I was also considering bringing my daughter since she has always wanted to visit Manehattan, but I was always against it due to paranoia.” Mr. Rich turned and looked back at me. “So, what do you say?”

“Sounds simple enough, and we’ll be gone for just a few days?” I said.

“And it’s right back here in Ponyville, just in time for our local holiday,” Mr. Rich nodded.

“Sure, you can count on me, Mr. Rich,” I nodded.

“Excellent! I shall inform Diamond post haste!” Mr. Rich beamed. “Thank you, Axel.”

“It’s no problem, I’ll head back home and go pack.” I turned to leave the office.

“I already purchased the train tickets and the train leaves at 8am, tomorrow!” Mr. Rich called out.

The Next Morning

“It won’t be the same without you,” Moon said as I checked over my luggage.

I had managed to wake up after setting my alarm and packed all my clothes in a duffle bag I bought some time ago. All my clothes were made by Rarity, and they all fit pretty well. Of course, I always wore whatever I had under my denim vest. Twilight and Spike woke up early with me to see me off, Spike being the only one who looked like he wanted to go back to sleep.

“It’s only a few days, Moon, I’ll be back as soon as Mr. Rich is done with whatever business he’s got in Manehattan,” I reassured her as I put smaller items in my pack.

“I have only been to Manehattan a few times before myself,” Twilight said. “It’s a nice city to be in, but I have heard it’s become riskier to live in over the years.”

“Yeah, Mr. Rich said something about a gang war going on over there. Doesn’t sound like anything to worry about, honestly.” I shrugged.

“How can you be nonchalant about something like a gang war?” Twilight wondered.

“First thing, back where I’m from, gang violence was pretty much everywhere. Especially in the neighborhood I used to live in back in Florida. The best thing you could do is to just keep your head down and don’t look anyone in the eye, because you never know if they would try and mug you, or worse.” I zipped up my duffle bag and hoisted the strap over my shoulder. “Second thing, I know how to protect myself, considering I’m literally a walking powerhouse.”

“Arrogance is not something that suits you, Axel,” Moon lectured me. “You may have power, but it can only get you so far in a world of magic such as this.”

“I know that, that’s why I always have my guard up, even now,” I told her.

“I suppose that is a wise policy,” Moon said.

I checked my watch and saw it was 7:45am. “I gotta get going.” I gave Moon one last kiss on the lips and wrapped my free arm around Twilight for a short hug. “I’ll be back in a few days. Try not to burn the tree down while I’m gone.”

“Why would I do that?” Twilight huffed.

“Knowing you? Who knows?” I teased.

I was about to say goodbye to Spike, but he was already asleep while still standing up. I chuckled at him and waved the girls goodbye. “Eris!” I looked up at the crazy woman sleeping on a pink cloud near the ceiling, who woke up abruptly and narrowed her eyes down at me. “Just because I’m gonna be gone for a few days, doesn’t mean I won’t come running if I even hear you causing trouble. So don’t even try anything, got it?”

“Ugh, when will you accept that I’m reformed now?!” Eris groaned.

“Until you actually do something to convince me otherwise instead of just running your mouth,” I shot back before closing the door.

I made my way to the train station as the morning sun was about to shine its rays down on the quiet town. I was actually looking forward to this trip since it was a chance to have some time to myself and, admittedly, get out from under Lapis’s radar. When I arrived at the station, Mr. Rich and Diamond Tiara were already there waiting for me. Diamond had on a frilly amethyst-purple coat and a cute pink skirt.

“Axel!” Diamond smiled brightly as she ran towards me and hugged me. “I’m so happy you’re coming with us!”

“Wouldn’t miss it, kiddo.” I patted her head lightly. “It’ll be a nice change of venue than what I’ve been used to here.”

“Diamond, be a dear and wait for us in our car. I have something to discuss with Axel,” Mr. Rich said. Diamond nodded and skipped in one of the more fancy-looking train cars. “Now then, Axel, before we set off, there are some guidelines I must go over with you. In the course of this trip, you shall be accompanying me with any meetings I have planned with other business associates of mine. Also, if and when my daughter wishes to go sightseeing, I implore you to stay by her side at all costs.”

“Uh, okay? I can watch over her.” I nodded.

“Please give me your word that nothing will happen to her.” I could tell Mr. Rich was serious. Not that I could blame him, since people have come after her daughter before. If I were in his shoes, I’d also wanna ensure my kid was kept safe at all costs.

“Mr. Rich, you have my word that no one will hurt Diamond Tiara,” I said.

“Thank you.” Mr. Rich smiled at me. “Now then, let us be off.”

I nodded and followed him into the train car. I felt like I just walked into one of those fancy-ass hotel suites at a five-star resort. There was furniture made of polished wood and fluffy cushions on top, a few chairs near the windows and I saw Diamond sitting in one, and there was even a mini bar off to the corner. On the far end of the car were two opened doors leading to two separate rooms that had beds in them. To be honest, I felt a little overwhelmed since I had never experienced traveling anywhere so first class.

“Damn, these are some nice digs,” I said.

“It pays to be a successful businessman, such as myself,” Mr. Rich chuckled. “Go on and get settled in, I will have a brief word with the conductor.”

Mr. Rich left, and I walked over to one of the bedrooms in the back of the car. Even the room and bed itself just screamed fancy as I set my bag down.

“Shit, man, I almost feel bad for wanting to lay down on this thing.” I brushed my hand along the silky-smooth linen on the bed. “But…I am a little drowsy from waking up so damn early.” I kicked off my shoes and climbed onto the bed and laid down. The level of comfort the bed provided me was nothing like my bed back at the treebrary. I sighed as I felt my eyes begin to grow heavy and I drifted off to sleep.

A Couple of Hours Later

I was awoken by the chugging sounds of the train and the clanging metal of the wheels along the tracks. I slowly opened my eyes and was met with a wooden ceiling. I smacked my lips and realized I had fallen asleep after just laying down on the bed. When I was about to sit up, I felt something on my chest and looked down. To my surprise, Diamond was laying with me and cuddled up against my side and used my chest as a pillow. She looked content as she slept and smiled as she had her arm wrapped around me. I couldn’t help but smile at the adorable sight before me as I lightly patted her head.

“Mmm…big brother,” Diamond mumbled in her sleep as she cuddled closer to me.

Hearing her say that made my smile widen a bit more. I never had any siblings back home and I never had anyone look up to me as an older sibling before. I didn’t intend to make that much of an impact on Dimond, but I guess saving her life and also spending time with her meant a lot to her. After a few more minutes, Diamond slowly started to come to and raised her head. She yawned cutely and rubbed her eyes before looking back up at me.

“Well, hey there, kiddo, you enjoy your nap?” I teased. Diamond’s face turned bright red as she scrambled off the bed and to her feet.

“I-I’m sorry, Axel! I came in here to see how you were doing and I saw you were asleep, so I was about to leave, but then I found myself sitting on the bed, and I got sleepy, and-!”

“Hey, hey! Slow down! I’m not mad, Diamond.” I sat up and on the edge of the bed. “No need to get so worked up like that. I don’t mind it.”

“Y-You’re not mad?” Diamond said all flustered.

“Naw, it’s just a bed,” I shrugged. “But can I ask why you wanted to sleep here?”

“Well…I’m just so happy that you’re coming with us on this trip.” Diamond fidgeted a little and twiddled her thumbs. “And…I wanna spend more time with my big brother.”

“Aww, well I’m flattered you see me that way, Diamond.” I reached up and rubbed her head. “You can always ask and tell me anything, but as far as sleeping with me? I’d prefer you ask for my permission first, especially your dad.”

“I’m sorry,” Diamond frowned.

“Again, no need to apologize.” I stood up and stretched my back. “So how far along are we from Manehattan?”

“Daddy says we’re almost there,” Diamond said as I put my shoes back on.

I exited my room and saw Mr. Rich reading a newspaper. On the front of the paper was the cover and it had a picture of me and Eris. I was standing over Eris as she was laying on the ground. The title said, Mystery Hero of Ponyville defeats Goddess of Chaos!

“I see you’re awake.” Mr. Rich looked up at me as he turned the page. “How was your nap?”

“Refreshing, sorry I passed out without telling you,” I said sheepishly.

“No need to apologize, so long as you have enough energy for the day to come. And good timing, since we are about to arrive.”

I looked out the window and saw our destination in the distance. I couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the ironic similarity this city had with the actual city of New York from back home. The tall buildings stretched up to the sky and had a somewhat intimidating atmosphere to it. Diamond stood next to me and was smiling excitedly as we drew closer. The train eventually came to a stop, and I grabbed my duffle bag and prepared to step off the train car. Once the doors opened, I was met with loud noises and the hustle and bustle of the city. Mr. Rich flagged down some people to come and help with his and Diamond’s luggage as I followed them towards an area where there were carriages parked and the drivers standing by. Mr. Rich walked over to a fancy-looking carriage and gestured us to step in.

“How do you like Manehattan so far, Axel?” Diamond asked me as we sat down in the carriage.

“Not much to say, since we just got here,” I shrugged. “But it does have a similar vibe to a city I’ve been to before.”

“Do you travel a lot?” Diamond wondered.

“Nah, not really, but I kinda used to when I was younger.”

“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long?” Mr. Rich climbed into the carriage with us and sat by Diamond. “The driver will take us to our hotel in the upper district.”

“You mentioned there are districts here in the city, how does that work?” I asked.

“In Manehattan, there are three main districts that derive from the class of the people who live here,” Mr. Rich explained as the driver used his magic to make the carriage move. “There is the upper district, where high ranking officials, congressmen, and other successful entrepreneurs, such as myself, live and conduct business with one another. Then there is the middle district, where ordinary people live ordinary lives; similar to the people in Ponyville. However, the middle district is a sort of double-edged sword for some people”

“How so?” I wondered.

“There are people in the middle district who aspire to become successful and be able to move up in this city and become rich so that they may join people like me in the upper district. Whether it be about investing in their businesses, trying to make profitable deals, or in some cases becoming desperate and acting against the law, one can never predict where they will end up. Some are fortunate, some are not. Which brings me to the lower district of the city. The people that live there are cursed to be trapped there either due to whatever debt they owe, or they have nowhere else to go in order to make a living.”

“That seems a little harsh, I’m sure they can start over in other more well-to-do places, right?” I said.

“I’m sure some of them could, but most are simply too stubborn to see it that way,” Mr. Rich sighed. “Especially since the lower district is notorious for criminals to lurk around.”

I processed all the information Mr. Rich told me. This system of districts in this city sounded similarly like how things worked back home. People here live their lives like humans do on Earth and just want to make an honest living. Not to mention there are those who’re more successful at what they do and those who got the short end of the stick. I looked out the window of the carriage and saw a bunch of men and women walking around wearing sharp suits and posh dresses. I guessed that this would be the upper district of the city and each of them had their noses high up in the air, like they knew they were better than anyone who crossed paths with them. In a way, these big wigs reminded me of Blueblood and how he would boast about his status before he got the boot from Celestia.

The carriage came to a stop, and we arrived at this huge-ass building that looked to be at least forty stories tall. I was so engrossed at the marvel of the height of the building that I felt something tug at my sleeve and looked down to see Diamond. Some staff members had come out to grab our luggage and I followed Mr. Rich into the lobby.

“Ah! Mr. Rich! Always an honor to have you staying with us again.” A man dressed in a blue uniform walked up, followed by two bellhops, and he bowed his head to Mr. Rich.

“I thank you for your services, Chime Skip,” Mr. Rich said. “Please take my luggage to my usual suite.”

“As you wish, and what of your valet?” Chime said, gesturing to me.

“This young man is not my valet, Chime,” Mr. Rich said sternly. “He is my personal associate and a good friend of mine.”

“M-My apologies, I meant no disrespect,” Chime said nervously and turned to me. “May I take your bags as well, sir?”

“You can take my duffle bag, but the pack stays,” I said, dumping my bag in his arms.

“Daddy? Can Axel and I take a walk downtown?” Diamond asked.

“Very well but be back here in a few hours. I have a meeting with some investors later today,” Mr. Rich said to me.

“Will do,” I nodded.

Diamond and I left the hotel, and she immediately grabbed my hand and smiled joyfully up at me. I smiled back as we walked down the sidewalk and I was taking in all of Manehattan. During our walk, some of the local big wigs stole glances at me. It felt like I was being judged based on my clothes, since I wasn’t wearing anything fancy or didn’t have my hair combed back with seven layers of gel.

“I feel a little underdressed,” I said aloud.

“I don’t think so, I think you look cool!” Diamond said.

“Thanks, but these people can’t seem to take their eyes off me.” I paused and then got an idea. “Say Diamond, have you ever been to any of the other districts of the city?”

“Daddy says never to go to the lower district, but I’ve only seen a little bit of the middle district,” Diamond said.

“Well how about you see more of it?” Diamond looked up at me with a curious look and I knelt down with my back facing her. “Climb aboard, we’re going for a ride.” Diamond’s face lit up as she carefully climbed on my back, and I hooked my arms under her legs as she wrapped her little arms around my neck, and I stood back up. “Hold on tight!”

I activated Video and summoned my digital wings. The sight of my wings suddenly appearing startled many of the rich folk as I gave them a few small flaps. I then crouched down and jumped in the air while flapping my wings and took off into the air. Diamond squealed in surprise as we flew higher and higher until we were above the buildings. Diamond slowly opened her eyes and looked around and saw how high up we were. The sight of being so high up left her in a bewildered state, making me smirk as I stayed in midair.

“Pretty nice change of scenery, huh?” I asked her.

“This is amazing! I’ve never been so high up before!” Diamond chirped.

“So which way is the middle district?”

Diamond scanned the area below us and pointed due South of the city, I nodded and flew towards where she pointed while also making a mental note where to find the hotel so we wouldn’t get lost. Diamond held on to me for dear life but was laughing the whole way. It didn’t take long for us to reach the middle district as I slowly descended down to the ground and landed. Once again, my entrance surprised the locals as I set Diamond down and deactivated my wings.

“I take it you liked flying around?” I asked Diamond.

“From now on, you’re flying me to and from school when we go back to Ponyville!” Diamond said to me.

“I think I can manage that.”

I looked around and already noticed the different and more mellow atmosphere the middle district gave off. The people around us were wearing casual clothing like me and the buildings weren’t as tall as they were in the upper district. There were shops, cafés, and even kiosks on the street corners. The vibe around here was definitely more my style and I didn’t feel pressured or anything.

“Now this is more like it.” I looked down at Diamond. “Shall we?”

Diamond and I spent the past couple of hours walking through the streets of the middle district and made a few stops along the way. Being in a city like Manehattan almost made me feel like I was back on Earth. As we walked, the feeling of being back home stuck with me for some reason. While Diamond was looking through the window of a clothing shop, I began thinking about home and what might be happening. It’s been a few months since I came to this world, since the Merchant sent me here. If I remember right, the Merchant was responsible for multiple disappearances for those who attended any conventions like I did. I’d imagine the guys back at my old job are freaking out that I was one of the Merchant’s victims and will never be seen again, which is, I guess, technically true. But I suppose it doesn’t really matter anymore anyway. Here, I’m happier than I have been for a good long while. I have more friends than I ever had before, I have a girlfriend who loves me, and I have a better job than I could ever ask for. If the Merchant had given me a choice of either coming here or staying behind, I’d’ve chosen the former.

“Axel?” Diamond managed to get my attention. “Are you okay? You were staring off a bit.”

“Oh, I’m good, kiddo, just lost in thought is all,” I said, patting her head. I checked my watch and saw that it was almost time to head back. “We should probably head back soon.”

“Okay…”

I glanced over at the clothing store she was looking at and saw on the display was a mannequin with a pink beanie with a little flower embroidered on it. I then got an idea that would make her pretty happy.

“Wait here a sec.” I entered the store, and I grabbed the beanie and headed over to the cashier, purchased it, and walked back over to Diamond. “You wanted this one, right?”

“Huh?” I handed her the beanie and she looked back up at me. “You…bought this for me?”

“Sure did, you like it?” I asked. Diamond smiled cheerfully at me and hugged me tight.

“I love it! Thank you, big brother Axel!” Diamond chirped. I chuckled and wrapped an arm around her to hug her back. Diamond then stepped back and pulled her new beanie over her head. “How do I look?”

“Heh, now we’re twinsies!” I joked, gesturing to my own beanie, making her giggle.

I let Diamond climb on my back again and I activated Video again to bring out my wings. We flew back to the hotel we were staying at and met Mr. Rich in the lobby where he was just coming out of the elevator.

“I see you two had fun,” Mr. Rich smiled, then noticed Diamond’s new beanie. “Where did you get that interesting headwear, Diamond?”

“Axel got it for me, Daddy! Now we both have beanies!” Diamond said happily.

“Is that so?” Mr. Rich looked at me and nodded. “Thank you for doing that, Axel.”

“It’s no biggie, it suits her, don’t you think?” I said.

“Indeed. Diamond, make your way up to the hotel room,” Mr. Rich told his daughter as he handed her a key card. “If you ever need anything, just call room service. We will be back later this evening.”

“Okay, Daddy! Buh-bye, big brother Axel!” Diamond said and skipped away.

“I’ve noticed she calls you that more often lately,” Mr. Rich said as we exited the hotel again.

“Is that a bad thing?” I wondered as we entered the carriage.

“On the contrary, I welcome it since this is the happiest I have seen my daughter in a long time. And I have you to thank for it.” Mr. Rich gave me a thankful smile.

I smiled back and enjoyed the rest of the ride to our next destination.

Meanwhile
Lower District

The streets of the lower district of Manehattan were a sorry sight to lay eyes on. There are only a select few areas that had gated houses that looked as if they belonged in the upper district. The midday sun shined high in the air and the underprivileged people were trying their best to go about their lives. A lone man approached a beautiful villa, surrounded by large black gates.

Men wearing sharp suits stood guard but allowed the man to walk past them. He made his way up the steps where more men stood at attention. The lone man walked through the halls until he came to a room with the door closed. The man took off his hat and knocked three times. After a few minutes of waiting, the door opened, and three other men were in the room. One of them sat in a cushioned chair behind a large desk with his back turned. The man entered the room and bowed his head to the man in the chair. Without even swiveling his chair, the man behind the desk motioned him forward.

“Ahem, Don, I bring news. The young man from the paper, the one with strange magic? He is here, in Manehattan,” the messenger said. The other two men muttered to each other.

The man in the chair slowly swivels around to reveal a middle-aged man with a few pounds on him, a well-tailored suit, and holding a cat that was being petted by the man. “The same young man who taught one of Pin’s men a lesson on how to treat that lovely ex-wife of his?”

“Yes, Don, he arrived this morning with a one Mr. Filthy Rich. I saw the boy in the middle district with Mr. Rich’s kid.”

“I see,” The Don said before letting the cat on the floor. “I want you to meet with this kid, tell him I want to have a sit-down with him,” the Don told the messenger.

“Yes, Godfather.” The messenger kissed the Don’s offered ring before departing.

Author's Note

A new change of scenery spells new opportunities or conflicts.

Side Note:
Thank you all for your continued patience and understanding!

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Downtown Derby

Chapter 23

I covered my mouth, hiding another yawn, as I stood beside Mr. Rich. He and a few other men were sitting together in a big office building and were going over sales for his business and some other boring junk. I had to wake up a little early since Mr. Rich wanted me to accompany him to the meeting, only I hadn’t realized how boring it would be. Still, I couldn’t say no since he was my employer and I somewhat respected the man.

“And if we secure a trade route through Manehattan and Saddle Arabia, our surplus would experience a great flux in income,” Mr. Rich said. “I’m sure they would be most grateful if we were to share our revenue with them.”

“While that would be the case, and the benefits would be most valuable to all of us, we will still have to worry about our competitors. There have been rumors that they monopolized most of the trade routes relating to Saddle Arabia by blackmail and even threats. Are you sure it’s a good idea to come on to their turf?” One of the board members asked.

“I am familiar with these rumours, but I assure you that we will have nothing to fear from them,” Rich assured them.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Simple. We have my most trusted associate, Axel, here for protection. Isn’t that right, my boy?”

“Sure, I can lend a hand securing a trade route,” I nodded. “Although, it would be nice if you guys had cars instead of carriages.” It was then I realized I spoke that last inside thought out loud, which made me curse under my breath as the men looked at me curiously. “Uh…forget I said that last bit.”

“Right…” Some, if not all, of the board members weren't exactly on board with me, but whatever.

“Excellent! Now then, are we all in favor of this next step?” Rich asked. The board members looked at each other for a moment before all nodding in unison. “Meeting adjourned.” Rich said as the board members began to leave. Before I could leave Rich stopped me. “Axel, may I have a word with you for a moment?”

“Sure, what’s up Mr. Rich?” I was a bit worried that he was gonna reprimanded me.

“What are cars?” He asked out of the blue.

“…Come again?” I asked.

“You said cars instead of carriages, so it made me curious. What are cars? Are they more efficient than carriages?” Rich asked, seeing a potential new business and marketing tool.

“Oh, um, well, as you already know, I’m not from this world,” I said, pulling out my phone.

“I am aware,” Rich nodded.

“In my world, there are these man-made mechanical inventions are called automobiles. They come in all shapes and sizes, used for a variety of uses.” I scrolled through my phone’s photo album and found the picture of my old car and showed it to him. “These cars can be used for traveling, transportation, delivery services, and so on. Or just from getting from point A to point B.”

“Fascinating!” Rich said as he eyed the fine piece of machinery. “Tell me, do you think we can, with the right tools and people, make one of these cars? Or at least, a variant of them?” He asked as he saw the potential millions they could make. With a faster and more reliable mode of transport to help with not only the transporting of people, but also the quicker movement of goods like medicine, clothes, food, and other needed resources for others. Plus, I could see how it could help expand businesses with other companies and further their reach for others in need.

“I suppose,” I said as I tucked my phone away. “Just so you know, these things are made of metal and run on things called engines. So if you know someone who can make an engine that runs off magic, or something, then it’s possible.” My comment about the engine seemed to spark a wide grin across his face as he pulled out his personal mobile phone and quickly dialed a number.

“Yes, this is Filthy Rich. I’m calling to talk to you about a new project for you…uh huh…yeah…runs on magic, for more eco friendly…yes…I have someone here who can provide any information you will require…yes…yes, you will get your payment for it. Really? Perfect! Pleasure, as always.” Rich then hung up the phone and smiled. “Good news, I got some of my best people to work on it. All you need to do is provide them with the grounds to help and oversee the production to make sure things are running smoothly.”

“Wow, that was quick,” I said a bit surprised how he managed to set up this project so fast.

“Never underestimate the connections of an entrepreneur such as myself,” Rich said confidently. “Now then, I’d like you to go and pick up Diamond from the hotel.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out two tickets that read Wonderbolt Prix.

“What’re these?” I asked as I took the tickets.

“Those are tickets to the Wonderbolt Prix later this afternoon. Diamond has been raving about it for weeks and I was able to get tickets. I will attend as well, but work never ends so I will need to run a few errands and I don’t want her to have to deal with being bored to tears. So I was hoping you could take her so she can see the race, buy some merchandise, that sort of thing,” Rich said.

“That actually sounds kinda fun,” I said as I tucked the tickets in my pocket. “Guess I’ll see you there.”

“Of course, good day for now, Axel,” Rich said and left.

I walked the other way towards the elevator and pushed the button.

“Heh, haven’t been to a race since I was a kid and saw a few NASCAR races. This should be quite enjoyable.”

Later That Afternoon

The sun was about to set and I was flying through the skies with Diamond on my back. The young girl was positively giddy the whole way as I flew towards the stadium where this race was being held.

“Someone’s excited,” I joked, looking over my shoulder as I flapped my digital wings.

“How are you not? It’s THE Wonderbolts! The best flyers in all of Equestria! The fastest! Bravest! And the most daring of people are allowed to join their ranks!” Diamond exclaimed excitedly, she looked like she was going to burst with joy.

“Heh, as long as you’re having fun, I’m not complaining,” I chuckled.

We soon arrived at the stadium and a touched down amongst the crowd. I set Diamond down beside me as I deactivated my wings and we walked together towards the entrance. As we made our way over, I noticed that some of the crowd was a little on edge; somewhat upset even. When I made it to the ticket booth, the guy looked like he was stressed out of his mind as his coworkers were trying to calm down some of the crowd.

“Uh…hey, we’re here for the race?” I said, holding up my tickets.

“Race?! There is no race!” The clerk said.

“What?!” Diamond yelped.

“Back up, what do you mean?” I asked.

“I’m not entirely sure what happened, but from what I know is that someone from the Wonderbolts couldn’t make it and now the race will be cancelled. Many people are demanding refunds and I fear a riot may break out.” The poor kid running the booth explained as he tried calming down the angry mob. Soon my phone started to ring and I looked down to see it was Filthy Rich calling. I answered and soon heard his voice

“Axel! I need to talk to you. Come up to the glass both overhead. Bring Diamond with you, I don’t want her getting lost,” Rich said.

He’s already here? “What if they won’t let me through?” I asked.

“Just tell them you work for me, they’ll know.”

Rich hung up and I tucked my phone in my pocket. I gently grabbed Diamond’s hand and pulled her along through the crowd. After meandering my way up towards the booth Rich was talking about, and telling the staff who I worked for, I managed to make it to the glass booth. I knocked on the door and it opened to reveal a woman. She had hair that looked like a blazing fire, wore a brown flight jacket, black sunglasses, and a skin-tight flight suit. To be honest, this chick was pretty hot, but Diamond’s hyperventilating pulled me from my staring.

“You okay Diamond?” I asked.

“Heh, it’s always the kids who react like this when they see me,” the woman said, confusing me.

“And you are?” I asked.

“The name’s Spitfire. I’m the Captain of the Wonderbolts.” Spitfire held out her hand and shook my hand. “You must be Axel Rickert, right? Filthy Rich mentioned you before.” Spitfire said.

“Axel! So good you’re here.” Rich sighed in relief “We have a problem.”

“One of my members, a top flyer by the name of Thunderlane, sprained his wing so he wasn’t able to make it. Which unfortunately means we have to cancel today’s race,” Spitfire explained.

“And that’s where you come in. I was hoping you would be willing to be part of the race! I’ll even sponsor you so you’ll be paid for participating,” Rich offered.

It took a minute to process the info that was dropped on me until it hit me like a sack of bricks.

“Say what? You want me to race?” I deadpanned. “No offense, and with all due respect, but why the hell would I do that?”

“Please Axel!” Diamond Tiara tugged at my arm and had tears swell up in the corners of her eyes. “Can you race, please? I’ve been looking forward to this for almost a month! I even gave daddy my own allowance money to buy my own ticket to come here! Please race!"”

“Come on, Axel. Surely you wouldn’t want to break my poor, sweet, little girl’s fragile heart, would you?” Filthy Rich asked as stroked Diamond’s hair as she gave me puppy dog eyes

“Oof, even I can feel that,” Spitfire muttered as she looked away.

As much as I tried to resist, those eyes pulled at my heartstrings like puppet strings.

“Aw…hell, fine, I’ll do it,” I rolled my eyes with a sigh.

“Yay! Thank you, big brother Axel!” Diamond jumped up and down with glee.

“Just one question, how are you gonna race with no wings? You plan to run around the track three times?” Spitfire guessed.

“While that would be an intriguing challenge, I’d prefer the more logical approach.” I activated Video and summoned my digital wings, surprising her. “Will these do?” A flapped my wings gently, giving them more of a theatrical appearance.

Spitfire’s jaw dropped as she saw me summon my digital wings out of nowhere, looking as if her brain shut down and had to reboot itself.

“H-H-How…wh-where did…y-you just…okay, someone better start explaining this.” She circled me while examining my wings. “Are they…digital? Looks like something you would see on a broken TV screen.”

“You wouldn’t be too far off.” I cracked my neck and knuckles. “Guess we better get this show underway.

I stood on the track next to Spitfire and to other Wonderbolts. One was another girl with mint green hair and the other was a guy with deep blue hair. They all wore the same flight suits as they stretched for the race. I looked at the crowd and could already see they were trying to get a read on who I was. I looked up at the booth where Diamond and Rich were and Diamond waved at me with a wide smile, to which I waved back. The loudspeaker then booted up as the announcer started to address the event and the racers.

“Ladies and gentlemen! After some complications we are happy to say that the race will continue! Today’s race will be a simple three laps around the track!”

“But these things are never simple, King. Anything can happen in a race!”

“You got that right, Miner. Let’s go over our racers. Up first we have the Captain of the Wonderbolts herself, the flying ball of fire, Spitfire! Next we have high flying, pie loving, Soarian! Next up is the cold breeze, Fleetfoot! And next is the new racer, sponsored by CEO Filthy Rich of Barnyard Bargains, Axel Rickert!”

Many people in the audience murmured amongst themselves as they tried to figure out who I was and why I was here.

“Ladies and gentlemen, ready your wings! On your mark! Get set!”

“Set fire to the sky! Go go go!”

The three fliers burst ahead of me and I just pulled out my earbuds. I scrolled through my phone’s playlist and picked the song for this occasion.

As the song played, I lowered my body forward and made my digital wings appear again, shocking the crowd at the spectacle. In one fluid motion, just as the beat to the song began, I flapped my wings as hard as I could and rocketed after the three flyers who got a head start. The wind blew against my face as I was quickly gaining speed and catching up to the others. We then rounded the first corner and I was already on Soarin’s tail.

Soarin went wide eyed as he saw me gaining on him. “Not on my watch!” He said defiantly. Soarin started spinning to try and use the wind to blind me or throw me off my concentration.

I raised my arm to block the wind and dipped down towards the ground. I dipped until I was just about to hit and flapped my wings hard a few times to go back up, using the momentum to speed up and pass Soarin. I left him in my digital wake and continued on to catch up to Fleetfoot and Spitfire. Just as I was about to catch up to Fleetfoot, we rounded the next corner. I hugged the turn as we came back around and I found myself flying right next to Fleetfoot as we were about to end the first lap.

“How are you this fast?! And how did you just grow wings?!” Fleetfoot asked as she got in front of me and started flying around blocking me from moving up.

I smirked as I banked to the right and corkscrewed by twisting my body. I spun past her and looked over my shoulder and winked at her before making my way towards Spitfire. We rounded the corner once more on our second lap and Spitfire was much faster than Fleetfoot and Soarin. We were nearing the second turn and I was just about to catch her, but she suddenly sped up and regained distance between us.

Damn, she’s fast! I thought as we rounded the corner and we neared the starting line again. Maybe if I add a little Neon to my flying…

…

No, no that’d be cheating. I grit my teeth and clenched my fists. And I’m no goddamn cheater!

I put my flying into overdrive and flew as fast as I could after Spitfire. The wind felt like it was cutting my face as I drew closer and closer to the Wonderbolts captain. I banked to the left and managed to claw the distance and we were now neck-and-neck.

I could tell that Spitfire saw me and she started flying around me. The wind she gathered and formed was acting like a small tornado, but what really caught my attention was that it looked like I was being surrounded by fire! She wouldn’t be a captain of the fastest flyers in Equestria for nothing if she didn’t have a few tricks up her sleeve.

I started to feel the strain from using my powers. I panted heavily as we past the starting line once more, which was the last lap of the race. Spitfire and I were flying like our lives depended on it. I flapped my digital wings as hard as I could, using every once of Video I had left in me.

“Come on, come on, come on!” I chanted out loud. Unbeknownst to me, my wings began to glow a little brighter. “Come on, come on, come on, come on!” My whole body then began to light up as we rounded the turn. “COME ON, COME ON, COME ON, COME ON!”

Spitfire didn’t let up either as she and I flew to the point where her wings we a blur. The metaphorical fire she conjured up dissipated as we tried to outpace the other. When we rounded the last turn, and flew down the last stretch, I put all I had left in my flying and my eyes were glued to the checkered flag and I flapped one last time as hard as I possibly could.

“COOOMMEE OOOOOONNN!!”

BOOM!

A sudden burst of speed launched me forward and I had to squint my eyes from the wind. All I could see was nearing the finish line and soon I had crossed it. As soon as I did, my wings seemed to have lost their juice and began to disappear. I acted quickly and flapped fervently to bring myself to a halt, but they had disappeared too soon as I slowed down enough. Before I knew it, I crashed into the ground and ate a lot of shit as I tumbled across the dirt for a good few meters. I eventually came to a stop in a slightly deep trench and I was aching all over.

“Fuck! Ugh, alright, that fuckn’ hurt…” I coughed and rubbed my head, laying flat on my ass. Coincidentally, the song playing had just come to an end.

Spitfire landed near me but had a more decent crash than I did as she landed on her feet but skidded quite a bit. She dropped to her knees and panted before chuckling.

“I…never went that…fast before in…a long time.” Spitfire laughed before rushing over to me. “Holy smokes, you okay, Axel?”

“Ugh, are any of my limbs bending the wrong way?” I groaned.

“Well, your arms and legs seem to be okay, no bones sticking out. Can you stand?”

“Yeah, yeah give me a sec.” I slowly managed to pick myself up and dusted my clothes off. I then cracked my back and neck as the other two racers joined us.

“Holy shit, dude! That was intense!” Soarin said. “There’s not a lot of people who can fly as fast s Captain Spitfire!”

“Yeah! And I’m maybe one of those people!” Fleetfoot said.

“Thanks, looks like it was a photo finish though,” I said. Just then, the loudspeaker turned on, along with the big screen that hung above the rafters.

On the screen, it slowed me and Spitfire down, inching closer and closer to the finish line. It was then shown that…I won!

“Wow, I did it!” I grinned.

“Ladies and gentlemen! We have a winner! Give it up for AXEL RICKERT!” The announcers and crowd soon erupted into chants and cheers for me. Spitfire chuckled and grinned at me.

“I must say, I am impressed! Hell, more than impressed!” Spitfire smacked my back.

“Fuck!” I winced, still hurt.

“Sorry about that.”Spitfire rubbed my back as she apologized. “You need a doctor or some ice?”

“Nah, I got it.” She was confused until I clapped my hands together and activated Smoke. Smoke wisps and small cinders surrounded my body and I healed myself. The sores and aches all over disappeared entirely and I took a deep satisfying breath before deactivating my power. “There, that outta do it.”

“What the…how did…dude, you have wings AND magic?! Are you some sort of Alicorn-human in disguise?” Fleetfoot asked.

“Are you a government experiment?!” Soarin gasped with stars in his eyes.

“No, and no.” I laughed. “And it’s not magic. Long story short, I’m a Conduit.”

“Conduit? What’s that?” Fleetfoot asked.

“Well, enough about that, you’re an amazing flyer Axel,” Spitfire reached into her suit’s pocket and handed me a card.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“I have met many flyers over the years, some had talent, many had potential, but you? You are a genius when it comes to flying! So I want to make you an offer. If you want to sharpen your skills in flying, consider joining the Wonderbolts.” Spitfire smiled at me.

“No way! Captain, are you really sure?” Soarin gasped in shock.

“Absolutely. Of course you are free to decline.”

“Don’t decline! Spitfire almost NEVER personally recruits others herself!” Fleetfoot shook my shoulders.

“Woah! Easy lady.” I pushed her hands from my shoulders. “While I’m flattered by what you think of my flying, this offer seems a bit out of the blue. You sure you’d want me on board your team?”

“Of course! I’ve never seen flying like that, let alone was pushed to my limit in a race, it would be dumb to pass up a chance to have you join us. You will still need to attend the academy, of course. No such thing as a shortcut in the Wonderbolts.”

“Well, like I said I’m flattered, but do you mind if I at least think about it? It’s sort of a lot to take in,” I tried to say.

“I understand. First day of the academy starts in about four months, if you wanna sign up in Cloudsdale. If you choose not to join, that is perfectly fine.” Spitfire then wrote something down on the back of the card.

“My number, if you have any questions.” Spitfire handed me back the card.

“Thanks, I’ll definitely think about it.” I tucked the card in my pocket.

“Now come on! Your new fans want a word with you for your first victory!”

I was shoved forward by Soarin and Fleetfoot as we were soon swarmed by dozens and dozens of reporters and bombarded by flashes of cameras

“Axel! Axel! Have you had any formal training before the race?”

“What magic did you use to summon your wings?”

“Are you a new trainee for the Wonderbolts?”

“Are you part of any other teams besides the Wonderbolts?”

“What’s your top speed?”

“How did you feel racing against the best of the Wonderbolts?”

“Uh…no, it’s not magic for the upteenth time, I’m not a trainee, I’m not part of any other team, I haven’t clocked my top speed before so I wouldn’t know, and it honestly felt like the best rush of my life,” I answered the questions as they came at me.

“Are you and Captain Spitfire in a relationship?”

“Are you Filthy Rich’s secret love child with a hidden mistress?”

“What’s your connection with the Princesses?”

“Are you the secret child of one of the Princesses?”

“Are you actually an alien?”

“What is the origin of your magic?”

“How did we get to these dumb questions?!” I deadpanned.

“Axel!” A little voice came from the crowd as Diamond jumped up into my arms and hugged me close. “You were amazing! I’ve never seen you fly so fast!”

“I’m glad you had fun. Would you believe me if I told you that I kinda wanted to win for you?” I said to the young girl I held in my arms.

“Really? You’re the best, big brother Axel!” Diamond Tiara wrapped her arms around me and snuggled against my neck. After hearing the words big brother, the reporters started going nuts.

“Are you really Filthy Rich’s son?”

“Are you adopted into the Rich family?”

“What is your relation to Diamond Tiara and her father?”

“Would you people take a damn chill pill?!” I snapped.

“Hehe! You’re funny when you’re mad, brother Axel,” Diamond giggled as she nuzzled into my neck.

“Oy ve…” I rolled my eyes.

It was now late in the afternoon and I sat on a bench outside the stadium and reminisced about what happened today. I had to convince Rich to let me use some of the tv screens the stadium had set up in order to recharge. I told Rich and Diamond that I’d meet them at the hotel later on while I get some alone time. Diamond wanted to stay too, but her father insisted I be left alone. It’s still a little surreal that I was able to go that fast. I never knew I had it in me.

Gotta hand it to you, Rickert, you sure know how to put on a show. I heard Dante in my head.

What can I say? I aim to please.

Since you don’t seem to be going anywhere, you mind if I take over?

Now?…Eh, I’m in a good mood. Sure, go ahead, but don’t do anything crazy.

When have I ever? Dante asked rhetorically before my consciousness began to be pushed away.

Dante 1st POV

I opened my eyes and and stretched my back.

“Ah, it’s always nice to be out,” I said aloud.

“Axel.” A man called out to me as I glanced over at him. He was a well-dressed man wearing a white button up shirt with a black vest, black dress pants and black dress shoes. He had a fedora on his head which obscured his face a little. Dude looked like the Good Value version of Michael Jackson.

“Who the fuck are you?” I asked him.

“No one important nor anyone you need to know. I have something for you.” The man reached into his vest and pulled out an envelope with a red seal with some sort of crest on it.

“Look, I ain’t interested in shitty fan mail, so piss off,” I brushed him off.

“It’s in your best interest to read it.” The man then tossed the envelope into my lap. Before I could say or do anything, the guy just…vanished.

I rolled my eyes as I opened the envelope and read the letter inside.

Mr. Axel Rickert,

You don’t know me, but you will this night. Come to my humble abode, we must discuss business.

-Don.

“Don? Who the hell’s Don?” I wondered.

There was an address at the bottom and directions on how to get there. I almost thought of tossing the letter, but what that guy said about it being in my best interest bugged me. I groaned out loud in annoyance as I summoned my red webbed digital wings and took flight. I flew across the city of Manehattan and I noticed I was flying towards the lower district of the city. I followed the directions and came across a very fancy-ass house on the edge of town. A couple men wearing similar clothing to the one I had met before stood outside the gates.

“You Axel?” One of the men asked.

“No, I’m his great-great-great grandmother, here to haunt you all,” I said sarcastically. The two men looked at each other before opening the gates.

“Follow us,” the other said.

The men led me past the gates and up the stairs. Before I was let in to the front door, I was stopped by more men.

“Gotta pat you down and search that pack of yours before you meet the boss,” the man said.

“Ugh, fine.” I pulled out my Amp. “But I hold on to this, got it?”

The guard raised a brow before rolling his eyes and started patting me down. After patting me a little more than I would’ve liked, he opened the door for me. I walked down the halls of the fancy-ass mansion and took in the decor. Whoever this guy was, he made Rich’s house look like a one story neighbourhood home. We arrived at a set of double doors and I was told to wait outside. One of the men knocked on the door and held his ear up to listen. He nodded and turned to me.

“The Don will see you now,” he said.

“Heh, the Don. What is this, the Godfather?” I joked before entering the room.

When I entered the room, it was dimly lit and was well furnished with the curtains drawn. At the back window, a man sat at a large desk with his back to me and had a small lamp on. As I approached the desk, a hand was raised, asking for me to stop. “Please, have a seat.”

I shrugged and set my pack and Amp aside and sat down. The man slowly spun his chair around and I got a good look at him. He was a older man, wearing a sharp tuxedo and black bow tie. In his pocket was a red tulip and he had a small cat in his lap. I could tell there was a lot more about this guy than I would’ve guessed. It was his eyes, how they looked like they wanted to pierce my soul, but also wanted to get to know me.

“Would you care for a drink before we start?” The man asked.

“I’m good.” I shook my head. “So, who are you?”

The Don took out a fresh cigar, cut the end, and lit it. After giving it a few puffs, he answered my question. “Don Fontaine Alduck, but most call me Godfather.” He took in a few more puffs. “And you have made quite a name for yourself. Excellent display with the Wonderbolts, by the way.”

“Thanks, I guess. You can call me Dante. Axel is my first name, and my middle name is Dante, but I prefer Dante,” I half lied. “So, why exactly am I here?”

The Godfather placed his cigar in a silver ashtray before looking at me directly. “I would like for you to become part of the family.” I was about to outright protest before he held up his hand again. “Don’t worry. I don’t want you to whack anyone, more like keep the other families in line, including our own family members.”

“Wait, wait, back up. What, this is actually the mafia? You’re literally the Godfather of a mafia?” I asked, trying to come to terms what was happening and how I ended up here.

“I take it you’ve heard of us before?” The Godfather asked me before going back to his cigar and petting his cat.

“Not a damn clue,” I sighed, rubbing my head. “Let’s say I was inclined to accept, what’s in it for me?” I crossed my arms. The other men in the room looked like they wanted to beat some manners into me, but Alduck held up his hand to stop them.

“You, and any that you consider a loved one, will be under our protection. You will have a very sizable income sent to you weekly. How does that sound?”

“You do realise I work for Mr. Filthy Rich? Money isn’t exactly an issue.”

“I’m sure it isn’t. But, it never hurts to have a little more in your pocket, tax-free of course.” He smiled at that part.

I leaned forward and looked deep into his eyes. “You don’t really wanna hire me, you actually need me to join you. Tell me why you really want me, and I’ll consider it.”

The Godfather let out a huff before leaning into his chair and putting his cigar aside. “Alright. The other families are trying to muscle into my territory. I hold my men and myself to a higher standard and just rough up anyone who asks for our services and comes up short. But the other families, resort to torture and even killing people to send a message, and they don’t care who they have to do it, too. Men, women, and children, are all at their mercy. The worst of these thugs are under Sam Spade.”

I perked up at that last part. “Sam Spade? That’s the name of the bitch who sent those bastards to nab Diamond.”

“Yes, I’ve heard about that. And yes, she’s the one responsible for sending those men to get her,” Alduck said with a nod.

I now thought about how to play this very seriously. If this Sam Spade is making moves in Manehatten, there’s a chance she also knows Diamond’s here too. I wouldn’t put it past her to try nabbing the kid again. Not to mention, this is the second or third time I’ve heard her name. Which couldn’t be a coincidence at this point. On the other hand, since this is the mafia, this might be another way to let loose my pent up aggression. Other than the Fight Club.

“One thing before I make a decision. I live in Ponyville, I’m only visiting Manehatten. Is that a problem?” I asked.

“Not at all. We have family everywhere,” He then leaned on the desk and picked up his cigar again. “So, are you interested?”

“Hmm, eh, what the hell. Consider me part of your family, Godfather.” I stood up and took his hand and kissed his ring.

The Godfather smiled. “Welcome to the family.” He gestured toward the door. “We’ll contact you when we have a job that requires your…unique skill set.”

“Sure thing, Godfather.” I nodded to him and picked up my Amp and Pack and headed for the door. I was somewhat looking forward to working for Alduck and his gang. “Yep, this world just keeps getting more and more interesting.”

Author's Note

A race for the ages and a new path in the underground world has opened.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Crime Does Pay

Chapter 24

“You joined the Mafia?!” Axel shouted in my face.

Axel had a full day with Diamond and Rich, a day of quality time and getting approached by investors wanting to offer Axel a more profitable sponsorship than Rich’s business, to which he declined each one. After the day had finished, and he fell asleep, I told him about what happened after the race in the dream realm. Suffice to say, he wasn’t too pleased with my report.

“Why the ever loving fuck would you get in bed with the freaking Mafia?! It’s still my body you’re using!” Axel shouted again.

“Would you stop yelling already? It may be a dream but my ears can still hurt, ya know.” I picked my ear as I could already hear them ringing from Axel’s constant yelling. “I joined the Mafia because it will be a great way to not only have a good source of income and resources, but also because it will allow me to keep crime down.”

“The hell are you talking about?” Axel crossed his arms and looked at me.

“You can’t stop crime, but you can control it. If I can get a hold on the scumbags here, I can make sure they won’t go after the innocent or go too far,” I explained to Axel.

“Are you saying that because you actually care, or just because you wanna let loose on thugs?” Axel accused me.

“Hmm, pot? Kettle?” I countered.

“It’s not the same!” Axel snapped.

“Dude, relax. I may be your darker half, but even I got a code,” I waved my hand dismissively. “And to answer your question, it’s a little of both. More so the latter.”

“Uh huh, and what’re you gonna do if someone you cross gets a look at my face?! As lame as it may sound, I’ve seen enough movies and tv shows to know how that ends!” Axel said.

“Oh for the love of-! Look, if I promise to wear some type of disguise or use a fake name, or something, will you stop nagging at me? It’s like having an annoying mother constantly yanking on my ear and shouting,” I scoffed.

“And how can I be sure you won’t fly off the handle and do something exposing in my body?” Axel questioned.

“You’re just gonna have to trust me, dude,” I shrugged.

“I can already tell I’m gonna regret this…make sure you don’t go too deep, alright?” Axel sighed.

“Wow, just like that? No speech telling me why I shouldn’t go through with it?” I said, surprised to hear him complying with my choice.

“There wouldn’t be any point, and we made a deal,” Axel said.

"Well…I’m glad you see it my way. In fact, I need to use your body again tonight,” I said. It was nice to know he was giving me more breathing room than before.

“Why?” Axel asked.

“The Don’s got a job for me,” I grinned.

“Ugh, of course he does. Just be careful, okay?” Axel groaned as the dream realm started to fade away.

“No promises!” I called back.

Real World

I opened my eyes and saw it was still in the dead of night. I looked around the hotel room Rich booked for Axel, but felt something clinging to my left arm. I looked to see the kid sound asleep and hugging my arm like it was her precious teddy bear. I grimaced a bit as I saw that small annoying child that Axel hangs with clinging to my arm. If I shove her off, I'll have to deal with Axel possibly trying to kill me, and if I wake her up, I'll have to be forced to talk to her.

“Okay, nice and slow,” I whispered to myself as I tried to gently take my arm away from her grasp.

After inching my arm out from between her arms, I managed to free myself and slowly sit up off the bed.

“Mmm…big brother…Axel,” I heard Diamond mutter in her sleep, making me cringe.

“Oh God, I hate Axel and his stupid goody two-shoes ass,” I muttered as I slowly climbed out of bed. After getting dressed I opened the window door to the balcony and jumped off, using Video, and flew through the air and safely landed on the ground.

Once I made sure my chain was wrapped around my wrist and my Amp was fastened to my pack, I made my way to the Don’s place. I could’ve just flown there, but I figured I didn’t want to draw too much attention. And a guy with red glowing webbed wings in the middle of the night is a dead giveaway. My trek only lasted about a half hour, and I made it to Alduck’s mansion. Two of his men stood outside on guard.

“Sup, fellas, I’m here to see the Don,” I said.

The guards stood there and glanced at each other before one walked through the gates, returning after five minutes.

“Don says to let him in.” The guard said as the two stepped aside and let me in as I walked through the doors.

Huh, easier than I thought. I was honestly expecting them to have me surrounded and try to kill me. I thought to myself

I was escorted inside the mansion and let through the front doors. The men inside gave me sideways glances as if they were trying to understand why someone like me was allowed inside the place, but I paid them no mind. I soon made it to the Don’s office and was told to wait as he was finishing up a phone call. He glanced up at me and held up his free hand.

“Take care of it, and be sure that no one sees you, understand?…Good, good.” The Don ended the phone call and looked up at me, smiling just a little.

“Dante, so good to see you again, kid. Come, have a drink with me.” The Don snapped his fingers and one of the guards set down two glasses and filled them up with a bottle of scotch.

“Yeah, you too.” I said as I sat down. One of the guards handed me a glass and one to Alduck. “I’m surprised you called me so soon after our first encounter.”

“Truth be told, I wanted to send for you a few days later myself. But, seeing as this is your last day before you return to that little Ponyville town, I figured you should at least prove your worth.”

“Prove my worth? What do you mean?” I questioned as I sipped my drink, the sensation of the alcohol was a pleasant burn as it passed down my throat.

“The people in my territory in the lower district are under my protection, as for such services I require payment. Go to these locations and collect the protection fees. Just a heads-up, some of them may require…convincing,” Alduck explained. He handed me a piece of paper with a list of names on them.

“Sounds simple enough,” I said with a nod.

“A couple of my associates, Stone and Fuse, will accompany you,” Alduck said.

Two men stepped forward towards me. One was a tall guy, about the same height as me, but much older. The other one was lankier, yet he had somewhat of a muscular build. Stone had black hair that was graying in some places and Fuse had faded red curly hair.

“Pleasure to meet ya, kid,” Stone said as he held out his hand. I responded in kind by shaking it briefly.

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside of Alduck’s office and the door burst open. A fat man wearing a white suit burst in, looking very annoyed. He had blue hair but was balding with a receding hairline. The guy had a scruffy beard and a bunch of rings on his fingers.

“Pin Stripe,” Alduck said in a low tone. “What is the meaning of you coming into my office unannounced while I am doing business?”

“I’ll tell ya what the fuck I’m doin’ here! Ten days! Ten fuckin’ days since you sent that guy to get my kid and that bitch of an ex of mine!” The guy ranted while slamming his palms on the Don’s desk. “On top of that, it’s been three months since you promised to get them back from that shit heap of a town!”

“I’ll ask you to lower your voice and not swear in my presence, Pin,” Alduck warned. “And I will remind you that it wasn’t I who sent that man, it was you who used my name for your own selfish gain. Furthermore, she had every right to leave you with the kid because I heard what you did to her and behind her back.”

Pin pulled away from the desk before taking a seat by me. “Not my fault she caught me with Suri. I told her to take the kid to the movies, but I never told her to come back to get her purse while I had the broad over the kitchen table.”

“Hmph, a real class act,” I scoffed, making Stone and Fuse chuckle.

Pin turned to Fuse and Stone. “And what the fuck is so funny, huh?! You lookin’ to get an ice-pick in yer ear?!” Pin’s threat silenced the two, though they still had grins on their faces. He then turns to me. “And who the fuck is this little prick? Some errand boy who should be gettin’ me a fuckin’ drink!?”

I decided to put him in his place and stood up. I got really close to his face and glared at him. “You wanna try talking to me again in a nicer tone, fatass? Or should I help you burn all that blubber you got stored in that gut?”

Pin looked like he was about to reach for something, but Alduck got up from his chair. “Enough!” The Don said loudly.

“Boss, he-!” Pin tried to say.

“You’re outta line, Pin, I’ve had it up to here with your BS,” Alduck said, holding his hand above his head. “We will discuss your behavior on a later date. For now, get the fuck outta my office,” Alduck ordered.

I could see a vein popping from the side of Pin’s head as he sneered at me before taking his leave. Good thing too, since I was about to make good on my promise and burn him with Smoke cinders.

“We’ll just be on our way, boss,” Stone said as he and Fuse led me out of the office.

“Remember, I want full payments from each of those names!” Alduck said.

We nodded and then left the mansion to conduct our business.

“Didn’t think the Don had such welcoming employees working for him,” I said sarcastically.

“You shouldn’t mouth off to Pin Stripe like that, kid, you could get into some real trouble if you’re not careful,” Fuse said.

“Pfft, why, is fatass one of the Don’s capos or something?” I guessed rhetorically.

“He is, kid,” Stone said, making me do a double-take. “And I’d be careful around him. The last guy that got in his face, turned up in a trash compactor with ice-picks in his fuckin’ balls.”

“Eish, then he’s got some issues,” I rolled my eyes. “So, how long have you two been working for Alduck?”

“Stone and I’ve been in the business since we were twelve. And we’ve worked for Alduck since he got made fifteen years ago,” Fuse explained.

“Like Pin, we’re also capos in the Don’s crew, but we prefer to work together since we got history,” Stone said. “Thing of it is, Pin’s only been a capo for only a few years.”

“And why’s that?” I questioned as we rounded the corner down the street.

“Eh, somethin’ about them havin’ some history of their own. Point is, Pin’s been a real pain in the peeshadeel, if ya know what I mean,” Fuse said.

“I can see why, and I’ve only known the guy for a solid thirty seconds,” I said, earning more chuckles from the two men. “What’s our first stop?”

“A bar, just up ahead,” Stone said. “The owner is always makin’ payments, no problem, he’s also a buddy of mine so it should go smoothly.”

When we entered the bar, it was empty save for the one guy behind the bar. When he saw us come in, he directed a smile at Stone. “That time of the week again, eh?”

“You know it,” Stone said as the bartender reached under the bar and placed a sack of bits on the bar top.

“Ey, Schnapps, I been hearing some talk from some people on the west side of the district. Is that old bastard really givin’ his seat on the Commission away?” Fuse asked.

“You know it, buddy. A shame really. Anyway, who’s the new guy? These two mugs showing ya the ropes?” He directed that last question at me.

“Something like that, I’m just here to make sure the payments are collected for Mr. Alduck,” I said dismissively.

“Very nice.” Schnapps went under the bar and brought out three glasses. “Alright, one drink on the house. What’ll it be?”

“Give us the good stuff,” Stone said.

After our drink, we left and continued down the road.

“Alright, kid, time to prove your worth. This guy owns a chain of fast food stands on this side of town. But he’s always either been late or short on his payments. Think you can handle it?” Fuse said.

“Easy,” I said, cracking my knuckles.

We walked up to the food stand and when the guy behind the stand saw us coming, he started to sweat. “Uh, hi fellas. Care for a hotdog?”

“You know we ain’t here for the crappy food, Grease Fry, it’s time for the payment,” Stone said. “We know you got the bits, heard you’re gonna open up a real restaurant soon.”

“Come on, guys, I’m short this week, can’t I get a few more days?” Fry begged.

I glanced at the cart and saw one of the condiment drawers was sticking out a little. While Fry was distracted, I quickly reached out and grabbed the drawer handle and pulled.

“Hey! What’re you-!” Fry yelped.

The sound of coins hitting the pavement chimed around us as bits flew out from the compartment. Fry then started sweating bullets as Stone and Fuse now looked pissed.

“I think this is why he was either short or late with his payments, boys,” I said with a smug grin.

Fry chuckled nervously before making a break for it.

“Sonova!” Stone growled as he and Fuse were about to run after him.

“I got it,” I waved my hand. “I’ve been itching to chase a mouse.”

I activated Neon and my body glowed red. Before Fuse and Stone could question it, I sprinted after Fry and caught up to him within seconds. Fry yelped as I appeared in front of him and clasped his throat before slamming him into the wall of a building. Fry looked like he was about to piss himself already from me appearing out of the blue and the sight of my powers.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” I clicked my tongue while wagging my finger. “Don’t you know running only makes it worse?”

“Hehe, hey, can’t blame a guy for trying, right?” Fry insisted while clawing at my hand for a breath.

“Here’s the deal, bub.” I leaned in and made my eyes glow red with the power of Neon. “Don’t make excuses for being short or late with your payments. You’re obviously doing well enough to be able to pay Mr. Alduck, no problem. If I hear you make up some bullshit excuse about being short or late again, I’ll come back with Stone and Fuse. Only this time…” I squeezed more around Fry’s throat, making him cough and gasp for air. “You won’t even be able to get a head start.”

Fry nodded rapidly while gagging.

“Good boy.” I released my grip and dropped Fry. While he gasped for air, I made my way back to Fuse and Stone. The men were still in shock from my sudden display of power, and I just smiled innocently at them. “Gentlemen. Did you get Fry’s payment?”

“Uh…mind explaining what the Tartarus was that? You just became a literal running glowstick!” Stone said while Fuse was picking his jaw off the ground.

“No. You got the bits?” I asked again.

“Sweet Celestia, where the fuck did the Don find this kid?” Fuse muttered under his breath. “But yeah, we got it. Next is a woman who runs a Cabaret Club, one of the best in town. She’s…uh…”

“She’s tricky. She makes her payments, but she usually tries to claw her way under your skin to keep you wrapped around her fingers,” Stone explained.

“Sounds like my kind of lady,” I snickered. “Lead the way, gentlemen.”

Stone and Fuse soon led me to a building with neon lights that spelled out Oasis in bright red lights. We walked through the doors, and I was impressed by what I saw. It was like walking into a mansion that had dozens of booths and tables filled with clearly wealthy men and women dressed in luxurious suits and dresses with enough bling to outshine the sun.

They were all surrounded by multiple beautiful women dressed in tight, skimpy, and revealing outfits that showed off their goods, but left plenty to the imagination. The place was lit up with bright lights that shined like gold and there was even a stage with a band playing music. There were two staircases that led up to the second floor. Two women walked past us and glanced at me; one licked their lips while the other winked at me.

“Is this Heaven?” I asked, trying to keep myself under control.

“It could be, sugar, if you pay the right price.” A voice called out.

I turned and saw a beautiful woman with tan skin, long and silk smooth blonde hair that reached her back, wearing purple lipstick and purple eyeliners, and an hourglass figure. She wore a red sparkling dress with a diamond shaped cleavage window that showed off her girls as well as exposed her back. There was a slit on both sides of her dress, and I caught sight of her smooth thick thighs.

“Madam Nightshade,” Stone greeted her.

“Real quick, I thought this was the lower district. How is a club like this able to function in this part of town?” I asked Stone quietly as the woman slowly strode down the stairs.

“She has an excellent eye for business,” Stone told me just as Nightshade came up to us. “And how is business tonight?”

“Booming as always, dahlin’. Mmm, and where did you get this sexy thing~?” Madame Nightshade asked while stroking her finger under my chin.

“He’s the new kid Mr. Alduck picked up” Fuse said.

“Paws off the merchandise, lady,” I said dismissively, brushing her hand away. “I’m only here on business.”

“Ooh, this one’s spunky,” Nightshade giggled. “Had you been here for pleasure, I’m sure some of my girls could give you an experience you would never forget.”

“By the way, Nightshade, you still gettin’ shit from those bums we chased off last week?” Stone asked.

She let out a breathy sigh, letting her cleavage jiggle a bit before reaching in her bosom and bringing out the payment. “They’re like dogs that keep coming back for scraps,” she said with a tired frown.

I was about to take the payment when she pulled it back. “In fact, perhaps you boys can help me out with this little problem of mine?” Nightshade said.

“We don’t have time for this, just hand over the money,” I demanded.

“Kid, show some respect,” Stone warned. “Like us, she’s also a capo, and a close friend of Alduck’s.”

“Seriously? How many capos are there?” I deadpanned.

“Including us? Five. You’ve already met Pin, the other guy’s away on business,” Fuse said before looking at Nightshade. “So, what did you have in mind?”

Nightshade snapped her fingers and a young girl wearing a bunny suit walked up. She had short pink hair and looked to be in her late teens.

“Go on, dear, tell them,” Nightshade said, brushing her thumb on her cheek.

“Um…I was giving a lap dance to some of the men who were chased off the week before,” the girl said. “Last night, I recognized one of them was passing by the club as I was about to go home, and I overheard him saying he would bring more of his friends to turn this place upside down.”

“Thank you, sweetie, you may continue working,” Nightshade said, patting her head lightly and the girl left. “As you can see, those bums are the type to hold a grudge. If they do come tonight, it could be bad for business for the club. I was hoping you could try and convince them to stay away?”

“And what do we get besides what you owe to Alduck?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“Dahlings, have I ever been one to not show my gratitude to others? You will get your payment and an extra bonus for such a job well done.” Madam Nightshade smiled. Fuse and Stone both sighed and nodded.

“Yes, Madam Nightshade,” the two said as Stone took the payment, and they began walking out.

“Really? Just like that?” I asked, confused by their actions.

“Madam Nightshade is a vixen, sure, but she does keep her word and makes sure to treat those who she favors well,” Stone explained.

I rolled my eyes and followed the two men out. Just as we were about to leave, a group of men barged in holding metal pipes and bats. Red flags went flying as I unraveled my chain from my wrist and the music stopped and the guests all paused when the men looked like they were about to wreak havoc.

“Stay put,” was all I said to Stone and Fuse.

I approached the group of men and noticed that their eyes were a little weird. They were slitted like a reptile’s, and they all had dark colored hair. What’s more is that some of the men had webbed wings like bats.

“Is there a reason why you guys come barging into this nice establishment armed to the teeth?” I demanded.

“The fuck it matters to you, asshole?” One guy said, a young teen around sixteen to eighteen years old. Most of them were around the same age with a few grown men beside them.

“Man, his manners. Kids don’t have much respect nowadays.” One of the older members chuckled while holding a steel bat. “We just came for a little payback, the whores were rude to us, even when we offered them a lot of money to come home with us. Only fair we get our money’s worth,” he said while smashing his bat down on a table and breaking it.

The people started to panic as the men readied to follow the guy’s lead and break stuff. I could try to talk him down so things don’t get ugly, or I could just show him what happens when he messes with the Don’s protected establishments.

…

Yeah…fuck diplomacy.

“Hey fuck face.” I activated Smoke and made my chain glow hot and make smoky wisps swirl around it. I then twirled it behind me and swung it forward towards the guy with the bat. It wrapped around his arm, burning through his clothes causing him to yell in pain. I yanked him forward, reeling my free hand back, and brought my fist right into his face.

WA-BAM!!

Bone and teeth crushed against my fist as the guy was sent flying and right through one of the windows. I whipped my chain back and glared at the rest of the group with a manic grin.

“No one leaves without a broken bone,” I hissed maliciously as I took out my earbuds. I scrolled through the playlist on my phone and hit play on a song.

“The fuck are you all doing?! Get your heads out of your asses and kill the prick!” One of the older thugs barked. Soon all the thugs charged at me, and I smirked.

“Oh, this is gonna be fun.” I vanished into smoke and got behind a thug, wrapping my chain around his neck. He screamed as his neck was being scorched. I then threw him towards another thug as they both crashed against the bar. I ducked under a swing and smacked the thug across the face with my chain, leaving a burned scar across his face.

The chain had burned off some of the flesh from his face and left huge chain burn marks across his skin. I reeled back again and delivered a haymaker right across his jaw. I must’ve dislocated his jaw as he collapsed to the flood and his jaw hung off to the side. One thug managed to grab me and try slamming into a table, but I turned into smoke and reappeared behind him, much to his and everyone’s surprise.

“No…TOUCHY!” I said as I kicked in between his legs and crushed his balls. It felt like crushing two kiwi fruits under my shoe.

The guy screamed in a high-pitched screech and fell down. I chuckled as I switched from Smoke to Electricity and pulled out my Amp with my free hand and held my chain in the other. Red lightning sparks danced in between my Amp and along my chain as the thugs started to look nervous.

“I’m just getting warmed up, fuck heads!” I mocked.

“What the Tartarus?!” One thug shouted in fear as I dashed towards him and slammed my Amp into his chest. A powerful surge of electricity coursed through him as he was sent flying towards three more thugs, crashing through the front doors and landing outside into the street.

I leaned back to dodge a bottle as I looked over to see two thugs throwing bottles at me.

“You like throwing shit, huh?!” I wrapped my chain around my wrist and focused my electric power. A baseball-sized ball of electricity formed in the palm of my hand.

“Catch!” I said, throwing my Shock Grenade at the bottle throwing thugs. The ball hurled towards the thugs and stuck itself on one of their chests.

“Ah! Get it off! Get it off!” The thug panicked as he tried to brush it off.

“Too late,” I said with a grin.

BBZZZZZZZRRRRRRRSSSTT!!

The two thugs flew back from the electric force of the shock grenade and crashed through some tables. I then felt something hit the back of my head and slowly turned back to see one thug holding a dented bat in his hands while shaking.

“My turn.” I lifted my Amp over my head and brought it down on his head. His face slammed into the ground and made a head-sized crater, the thug fell limp after that

I chuckled as I saw the thug’s lifeless corpse fall and jumped on a table. There were still plenty of thugs left as I spun my chain in circles and made my red electricity crackle more along my body.

“Hahahahaha! I’m having the time of my life!” I cackled and jumped towards another group of thugs.

I swung my chain and Amp, whipping and smashing my way through them. They tried hitting me with their bats and blunt weapons but were unable to keep up with me. I managed to wrap my chain around a thug’s neck and poured electricity into it. The guy’s eyes and ears burst blood and red foam leaked out of his mouth before I moved on to the next. My Amp left a red electric trail with each swing as I then aimed for a thug’s leg. The sound of his knee being destroyed from my swing, along with him getting electrocuted was music to my ears.

I dashed forward and outstretched my arms, sending a large ring of red electricity, and each person caught in it was electrocuted and dropped dead, emitting smoke from their charred bodies. I swung and wrapped my chain around a thug’s head and electrocuted it, his body convulsed uncontrollably before his eyes popped from his head. I used my Electric Thrusters to fly up high and smirked wickedly as I powered up my Amp and came hurling towards the ground, slamming my Amp down. I let out a massive charge of electricity, sending multiple thugs flying everywhere.

“Shoot him!” A thug said loudly as they all pulled out what looked like magical firearms. “Shoot the bastard!”

Four thugs pulled out some magic handguns and started unloading magic bullets at me. A few hit me in the chest, and I fell back. The place went quiet as one thug started to laugh.

“Haha…hahaha…hahahahahahaha! Take that, motherfucker! Ain’t so tough now, are you, bitch!” The thug laughed, but he stopped when I jumped back up to my feet and I could see the color leave his face as I started to laugh.

“Aw man, I honestly tried to stay down a little longer just to hear you gloat a bit more, but this is just as good.” I cackled wickedly as I held up my hand and fired a bolt of lightning at the thug.

I aimed my hand at the thugs and rapidly fired bolts of lightning at my opponents. I hit some of them in their heads and others in parts of their chests, some of my bolts managed to pierce right through, killing them instantly. My fast healing kicked in and healed my injuries whenever a magic bullet from their guns hit me. After our little shootout, there was only a handful of thugs left and the whole place was already a mess.

“Last chance, guys! We end this the easy way, or the hard way!” I called out to them.

“I prefer the hard way, you little turd!” The largest guy said before putting on some knuckle-dusters.

“Perfect!” I said as I sheathed my Amp on my pack and wrapped my chain back up before ran towards him.

The guy came back at me with his knuckle-dusters and tried swinging his fist at my face. I activated Concrete and coated my fists in stone as I weaved to the right and delivered a hard blow to his side. The guy lurched a bit before managing to punch me across my face and again with an uppercut. His dusters made his punches hurt like hell, but it also got my engine rolling even more. I bobbed and weaved to his other side and slammed my concrete fists into his face and body.

“C’mon shrimp. You can do better than that!” The guy said before spitting out some blood and a tooth. “Bring it!”

I obliged the big bastard’s request and decided to bust out an oldie. I held my fists in front of me in a peak-a-boo style stance. I then began to weave my body back and forth, swinging from left to right in a circular motion while building up momentum. Just as he threw another punch, I unleashed a series of rapid punches.

Left, right, left, right, back-to-back, nonstop. I kept swinging my fists and weaving my body around and the guy couldn’t keep up. His face was smashed into a bloody pulp, and I had decided that he had enough. With one last heavy weave to the right, I swung my fist downwards and brought it straight up right under his chin.

WA-BAM!!

The force of my punch sent the big thug flying and fell on the floor. He tumbled across the door right into the remaining thugs and I stood there with my fist still raised up high, just as the song playing in my earbuds ended.

“What just happened…?” One thug groaned while his head was beneath some other guy’s ass.

“We got the shit kicked out of us, that’s what…” The large thug croaked before passing out, making it look like he was blowing a guy.

I rolled my eyes as I walked over to the downed, still conscious, thugs. They flinched as I made my way over to them and I loomed over them like a predator glaring down at its prey.

“That was a very enjoyable experience, guys,” I said, cracking my neck. “A little messy, but still fun.” My smile turned into a frown as I leaned down and kept my intense glare. “This is only a taste of what I can do. A lot of your buddies are either maimed, crippled, or dead. Believe me when I say, you would do well to remember what happened tonight and send whoever you work for a message.” I held my hand over them and made it spark red electric bolts. “This is Don Alduck’s turf, and there’s no need for shit heels like you fucking shit up for no reason. So, you’d better spread the word, if you or anyone ever has the sack to try this shit again? The Red Hawk will come back and gouge your eyes from your skulls and grill them medium rare.”

The last remaining thugs that could stand all nodded frantically and rushed their wounded comrades out of the club. I looked around and winced a little at all the corpses and destroyed furniture.

“Uh…I’ll take care of that.” I outstretched my hands as I activated Video. Soon, red pixels covered my arms as a dozen red digital demonic creatures made of dark red pixels came forth.

“Tidy up the place, boys.” I snapped my fingers and my digi-demons got to work.

“Yes, master,” they all hissed.

They used their powers to fix the broken furniture and dispose of the bodies. They even cleaned up the blood off the floor and walls, gotta keep that in mind for later skirmishes. I turned around and saw Stone, Fuse, and Nightshade all looking at me like I grew a second head.

“Uh…what?” I asked.

“What?! You, is what?! What the fuck was that?! How did-?! I don’t-! Where did you-?!” Stone was having a hard time wrapping his head around this

“Are you that fuckin’ Starswirl Bearded mook I once read about reincarnated?!” Fuse questioned.

“How much for future services?” Nightshade asked.

“Okay, one? I’m a Conduit, what you saw was not magic but my own personal powers. Two? I have no idea who the hell that is, but to answer your question, no I’m not. And three?” I walked over to Nightshade and grinned as I boldly brushed my finger under her chin for a change. “Depends on how much you’re paying, sweet cheeks.”

“Mmm, everyone has a price, and I wanna find out yours,” Nightshade purred while handing an extra payment over to Stone. “Thank you again, gentlemen. Feel free to come by, I’ll be sure my girls treat you boys extra special.” She winked while walking away with a sway in her step.

After my digi-demons cleaned up most of the mess, we made our leave to return to the Don. All the while, Fuse and Stone couldn’t stop staring at me.

“If you guys got something to say, say it now, or forever hold your peace,” I said, leaning my hands behind my head as we walked.

“…Do they eat souls?” Stone asked while keeping his distance from a digi-demon that was following us and it stared back at him. “Stand back! Get the fuck back!”

“Also, the fuck’s a conduit?” Fuse asked.

“Hang on.” I snapped my fingers and the digi-demons all disappeared. “There. As for what a Conduit is, it’s a long story. Short part? I’m not like other people or anyone you’ve met in this line of work. You could say I’m one of a kind. These powers of mind are special, so don’t confuse it for magic.”

“And…you work for Rich, of all people, when you can do crazy shit like that?” Stone said.

“Yep, he’s alright.” I paused my walking and looked at my watch. It was almost two in the morning. “Shit. Hey guys? I’m not gonna be able to make it back to the boss with you. I gotta head back to the hotel.”

“Yeah, go ahead. You’ve more than proved yourself. We’ll deliver the money and tell Don Alduck the job you did,” Stone said. We shook hands and parted ways. I used my digital wings to soar through the air and race back to the hotel.

I landed on the balcony of my room and quietly slid the door open, carefully making my way to the bed after putting away my chain and Amp. I then slowly laid down on the bed, being careful not to wake up the little brat that was still sleeping in my bed. Much to my annoyance.

Ugh, I just don’t understand how Axel’s able to cozy up to this little spoiled shit, I thought to myself.

It didn’t take long for the kid to wrap her little arms back around my arm, which made me cringe again.

“Big…brother Axel…” Diamond murmured happily.

Damn brat. How am I gonna sleep now? I mentally groaned as I closed my eyes to get some shuteye.

Author's Note

Dante’s name shall now be known throughout the underground world.

Side Note:
Just wanted to thank you all again for your continued patience! I think my funk has passed, hopefully, and I’ll post one more chapter for one of my stories soon.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Just Another Day At The Farm

Chapter 25

The sun was about to rise over the horizon of Ponyville and the residents were still trying to wake up. Off to the edge of the town, the source of everyone’s favorite apples, Sweet Apple Acres, was also preparing to start the day. In one of the rooms of the farmhouse, a young white-haired man slept in bed with his wonderful new farm girlfriend. The girl was cuddling up on his chest as she opened her beautiful green eyes and glanced up at Orion. Applejack smiled as she poked his cheek a little, the usual routine she picked up since they started dating.

“Rise and shine, sugarcube,” Applejack said sweetly.

Orion smiled in his sleep and on instinct moved his arms to wrap around his girlfriend as he nuzzled his head into her hair. “Mmm no, more cuddles, less waking up.”

“Come now, sugarcube,” Applejack said playfully. “We got apples to harvest. We can be all sweet on each other afterwards.”

Orion smirked as he moved his hands to gently grab onto her ass and gently kneaded them. “I think I got a nice pair right here; I might need to feel them up some more to make sure they’re ripe.”

Applejack moaned as she caressed his chiseled chest. Working on the farm did wonders to Orion’s physical appearance.

“You got some frisky hands there, mister.” Applejack sat up and straddled Orion. The loose shirt she wore hung off one of her shoulders and he could see her nipples poke through the fabric. “I might just have to teach ya a lesson~.”

“Well, good thing I’m really into learning new things.” He moved his hands to caress her toned thighs, a confident smile on his face.

“WHY MUST I ALWAYS WAKE UP SO INSUFFERABLY EARLY!” A shrill voice screeched in another room of the house. “GET OUT, YOU BIG MUSCLED OAF!”

“Aaaannndd the moment is gone.” Orion deadpanned as he gently lifted his girlfriend up and set her aside. “Hon, did you remember to set the pile of hay in the usual spot?”

“Sure did,” Applejack said, stretching her arms up and giving Orion a full view of her bust through her shirt. “Keep starin’, and Ah’ll have to tax ya.”

“I think my wallet can afford to be lightened a bit.” Orion smirked before moving in to kiss his girl, before exiting the room. Upon entering the hallway, he saw Big Mac arms crossed as he stared into the room where Blueblood was staying. “Brat giving you trouble again Mac?”

“Eeyup,” Mac said with a mock glare towards Orion. “Ah will remind you how much of a bad idea this was, bringin’ him, of all people, back with ya.”

Orion smiled as he patted his friend’s shoulder. “That’s not what you said when you went on a drinking binge when you saw the check Celestia wrote for us.” Orion now sporting a smirk. “And remember how you climbed onto top of city hall dressed in only a tutu calling yourself a pretty princess while drunk?”

“Shut yer yap, and just get him to work…” Mac grumped as he stormed off in an embarrassed huff.

“As you wish…princess Macintosh,” Orion teased before entering the room.

Orion was met with the former spoiled rotten prince as he lay there with a face mask over his eyes. A frustrated grunt escaped his nostrils as he turned his head away from Orion.

“I thought I told you to leave at once!” Blueblood barked. “It’s bad enough I barely get any sleep at all in this pathetic excuse you call a bed!”

“Alright, Blueblood, I’ll give you a choice. We can get you out of this room and to work, the easy way or the hard way. I’ll let you choose.” Orion began to roll his arms as he knew the outcome beforehand.

Blueblood glanced over his shoulder while pulling his mask up a bit to peek at Orion, resulting in a glare. “I have nothing to say to you, and especially you!” Blueblood huffed as he put his mask back on.

Orion smiled as he opened the window to the room and removed the covers off Blueblood and lifted him into the air. “Up we go.”

“What in the-! Put me down this instant!” Blueblood flailed in Orion’s grasp.

Orion lined his shot as he aimed for the field. “You better be set and ready by the time we get out there, or no breakfast for you.” Without warning, like throwing a spear, Orion chucked Blueblood out the window.

“DAMN YOOOOOUUUuuuuuu!!!” Blueblood screamed as he flew out the window.

Orion laughed to himself and exited the room and headed downstairs. The Apple siblings were all already at the table as Mac was serving apple pancakes.

“Apple Bloom, sweetie, when you get a chance, can you place some food aside for Blueblood, please?” Orion asked as he served himself while also sneaking his hand over to gently pinch Applejack’s ass.

“Okay, but you gotta promise to let me on your shoulders when it’s time to bring me to school,” Apple Bloom said. Applejack subtly rubbed her foot along Orion’s leg.

“Deal.” Orion smiled as he moved his legs up against Applejack’s and ate his food. “I’ll need to work double time today, if I want to make up for Blueblood,” Orion sighed.

Applejack decided to get frisky as she purposely placed a fork on the edge of the table and let it fall.

“Ah’ll get it.” She got up and crawled under the table.

“How many baskets of apples do ya think you’ll harvest today, Orion?” Applebloom asked.

Orion was about to answer when he felt something touch his crotch. Keeping a straight face, he decided to ignore it and keep his smile.

“I’m thinking maybe sixty-nine, if I’m lucky.” Orion smiled as Big Mac did a spit take and coughed hard.

“Sixty-nine? That’s a weird number,” Apple Bloom said while tilting her head.

Orion took a bite but swallowed hard when he felt a new, and a little wet, sensation, but continued to keep his cool.

“Yeah, pretty strange if ya ask me,” Mac said, sipping his juice.

“Well, I’m setting a new goal. Every day, I plan to push myself to the limit. And when I get back, I might make some applesauce.” He moved his hand to stroke his girlfriend’s head. “I’m gonna pound those apples ‘till they’re nice and ready.”

“Ooh, you should help us with Zap Apple Jam season then!” Apple Bloom suggested.

“Now, now, Bloom, Orion’s still new around here,” Mac said as he went to refresh his coffee. “He ain’t ready fer somethin’ as important as that.”

Orion had to bite his tongue when Applejack upped her game and almost sent him over the edge, but Orion kept strong.

“You okay, Orion? Ya seem a little tense?” Apple Bloom said.

“Oh, I’m just ready to blow your minds with how much work I’m gonna do today.” Orion began to sweat bullets as he tried to remain calm. “Anyone see Granny? I figured she would be around by now?”

“She went to examine the apples and mark the ones that need kicking,” Mac said.

Just then, Orion clenched his teeth after feeling a sense of release. It lasted for about a minute or so and Applejack eventually came back up with her fork.

“Found it,” Applejack said, glancing at Orion while licking a white substance from the side of her cheek and winking at him.

“I’m glad you found it, that took longer than I would have expected there, hon.” Orion whipped his brow and adjusted his lower body making sure nothing was out of place.

“I’ll go get mah pack!” Apple Bloom chirped as she ran up the stairs to get ready.

“Might as well set up the wagon,” Mac said as he downed the last of his coffee and headed out the back door.

Soon it was just the couple in the room and Applejack kept giggling to herself.

“Oh, you are gonna get it tonight when we are done.” Orion smirked back at his girlfriend before moving in to kiss her neck.

“Ah look forward to it,” Applejack said as she in turn licked his ear. “Ah’m gonna go get ready fer the day. Go meet up with Mac before he gets suspicious.” Applejack stood up and left Orion. She stopped and glanced over her shoulder and proceeded to smack the underside of both her ass cheeks before heading upstairs.

“Oh, this girl is gonna be the death of me,” Orion sighed before getting up and cleaning his own plate to start the day. “Let’s bring home the bits.”

Orion headed out the door and walked in the direction where he chucked Blueblood. He followed the trajectory of his throw and eventually found the poor bastard trembling like a leaf and hugging one of the trees for dear life. Hay clung to his pajamas and saw that he had landed in the large bale of hay Applejack had set up for him.

“So, Blueballs, am I going to have to make this your new means of getting to work? Because the next time you give me attitude in the morning, I may end up missing the hay bail and toss you into a wood chipper,” Orion cracked an evil smile.

“Y-You’re pure evil!” Blueblood said shakily. “What if I had hit my head on something?! I could’ve died!”

“Oh, now wouldn’t that have been a shame?” Orion said sarcastically as he got up in Blueblood’s face. “If you wanna lower the chance of that happening, I suggest you don’t test me in the mornings, Blueballs. I’m less of a forgiving person when I wake up to a bitching little runt like you.”

Blueblood growled as he eventually let go of the tree and brushed off the hay.

“You…and that insufferable freak of nature, Rickert! Since the day I met him, and you, it’s been nothing but heartache after heartache! It’s as if you two showed up out of nowhere and turned everything upside down!”

“You know, I’m hearing a lot of belly aching and not seeing you getting ready to work.” Orion was about to go into a rant, before Apple Bloom came over with food on a plate. “Oh right, I guess you should eat first.”

“You expect me to eat this slop?!” Blueblood scoffed.

“Slop? Then how come ya always eat every last bite every time ya eat?” Apple Bloom asked, exposing Blueblood red handed.

Orion smirked as he glanced over at Blueblood, who was now blushing hard. “Is that so? Hmm, well if that’s the case, maybe if you give me less lip today, I’ll make sure you’ll get double helping of this slop. Maybe even triple, if you work just as hard.”

“I-I…!” Blueblood tried to say but slumped his shoulders in defeat as he snatched the plate away from Apple Bloom. “Leave me in peace, at the very least…”

Orion knew when to stop teasing. He smiled and picked up Apple Bloom and placed her on his shoulders. “I’ll be back after I drop off Apple Bloom. If I see three baskets done when I get back, I’ll throw in a double desert for you too.”

Orion turned his back and began to walk the little girl to school. All Orion heard was Blueblood grumbling to himself as he carried the little farm girl on his shoulders.

“Ya know, Orion, he ain’t all that bad once ya look past all that snob he’s got,” Apple Bloom said as she kicked her little legs a little.

“I know Apple Bloom. I’m only making fun of him to get him out of his shell.” Orion moved a hand to tickle one of her legs as he walked, making her giggle. “He has potential, but he needs to learn the world isn’t always gonna treat him like royalty forever. He needs to learn to stand on his own two feet for once.”

“Hey Orion, Ah got a question Ah’ve been meanin’ to ask,” Appleb Bloom said, playing with Orion’s hair.

“Hmm? What's up Apple Bloom?” Orion asked as they soon made their way off the orchard onto the main road.

“Where’re you from?” She asked innocently.

“That’s a rather random question, why do you ask?” Orion looked up at the little girl as he kept walking.

“Well, it’s just Applejack told me that Axel’s from another world. Considering’ he’s got powers unlike anyone’s ever seen,” Apple Bloom said. “He’s probably the newest face you could possibly think of, but then there’s you.”

Orion smiled and nodded. “Well, I can see why you were curious. Honestly, I’m still having a hard time believing Axel is from another world myself. But to answer your question, I come from a small village far from the East. In fact, I did so by boat.”

“By boat? Wait, are ya from Neighpan ‘er Prance ‘er somethin’?” Apple Bloom tilted her head. “Ya don’t got no accent though.”

“Yes, I’m from Neighpan. And as for the lack of an accent, that part in due to my teacher. You see, when I was very small, almost smaller than you, a man from this country came to my little village. While he was there, he taught us how to speak your language, and after years of practicing, I was able to speak like how I am now,” Orion explained as they walked through town.

“Wow! Y’know, Ah heard people from Neighpan are martial artists! Can ya fight too?” Apple Bloom asked with anticipation.

Orion laughed a little before adjusting Apple Bloom on his shoulders. “Yes, I know some martial arts. Where I grew up, we learned both Kung Fu and Karate.”

“Cool!” Apple Bloom threw some mock punches in the air. “Ah bet Ah can get mah cutie mark in martial arts, don’t ya think?”

“Hahaha! Who knows? Maybe you will, maybe you won’t, it can’t hurt to try.” Orions smiled as he watched the little girl throw fists.

“HEY, ORION!” Both Orion and the girl he carried were startled by an unknown voice screaming and something touched downed right in front of them.

The all too familiar rainbow haired girl, Rainbow Dash, glared at Orion with what looked like a newspaper in her hand.

“Where is he?!” Rainbow demanded.

“He? Who’s he, Rainbow Dash?” Orion asked as he and Apple Bloom both titled their heads to the side at the same time.

“Rickert! Who the Tartarus else?!” Rainbow barked. “Does Applejack have you living under a rock?! Have you not read the paper?!”

Orion took the paper that Rainbow Dash held out for him and began to read what was on it.

“Highlights of the annual Wonderbolt Derby in Manehatten are the buzz nowadays as an unknown flyer is taking the whole town, and possibly all of Equestria by storm,” Orion read. “The derby was threatened to be cancelled due to a member of the Wonderbolts being absent, had it not been for a young man by the name of Axel Rickert. Currently employed by CEO of Barnyard Bargains, Mr. Berry F. Rich. The young man volunteered to substitute the absent Wonderbolt member to race in his steed. Many did not believe this man was capable of racing since he had no wings. What can only be described as an unknown phenomenon, Axel Rickert was able to use unfamiliar abilities to sprout wings of his own and race alongside Captain Spitfire and her two top fliers, Fleetfoot and Soarin. The derby proved to be more eventful and suspenseful than anyone could predict. As if the shock didn’t stop, in a stunning turn of events, Axel Rickert managed to outfly all three top members of the Wonderbolts by taking the victory in stride.”

The front page had a picture of Axel beating Spitfire as they crossed the finish line. His digital wings looked like they were glowing more than usual as he raced against the Wonderbolt Captain.

Orion and Apple Bloom both smiled, after finishing reading the headline. “Wow, would you look at that? Seems Axel made a pretty impressive performance. Good for him.”

“Ah wish Ah could’ve been there to see it,” Apple Bloom said.

“What’s the big idea?!” Rainbow sneered. “Why does he get to fly against the fastest flyers of Equestria?! Let alone be able to beat the great Spitfire?! He probably cheated or something!”

Orion shook his head and signed. “Rainbow Dash, that’s really rude to say, you know? Obviously he didn’t cheat, and I understand you’re jealous of him, but you don't need to be so rude about it.”

“What do you care?! You don’t have wings! You can’t fly, so you don’t know how unfair it is!” Rainbow snapped. “I’ve been training all my life since I could fly upside down! It’s been my dream to fly with the Wonderbolts and join the academy! Yet he shows up outta nowhere and does something almost everyone would kill to do!”

With warning Orion delivered a quick chop to the top of Rainbow Dash’s head. “Orion Chop!”

“Ow! What was that for?!” Rainbow said, rubbing her head.

“Good one,” Apple Bloom giggled.

“Listen up, Rainbow Dash.” Orion spoke in a series tone, causing both girls to flinch from the change of tone. “I understand you are envious of Axel, and I wouldn’t say you don’t have a right too. However, the way you are going about it, is unacceptable for a girl like you.” Orion lowered his hand and set Applebloom down on the ground. “I’m not sure how to explain Axel’s stroke of good luck, nor can I explain why he was able to out fly the Wonderbolts. All I know is that our friend was having fun. That’s all that matters. You can either be happy for him, or you can continue to be a bitter person and sulk like a child.”

Rainbow processed Orion’s words and wanted to retaliate but knew deep down that he was right. It wouldn’t be appropriate to hold a grudge against someone for something he had no control over.

“Fine…” Rainbow huffed as she crossed her arms and looked away. “I won’t be mad, but it’s still unfair he got to meet Spitfire before I did.”

“Ah don’t think she gets it,” Apple Bloom whispered to Orion.

“I know she doesn’t.” Orion pinched the bridge between his nose and took deep breaths. “If that had been you, and someone said the exact same thing you did, how would you feel hearing that?”

“I guess it wouldn’t feel good to hear,” Rainbow admitted.

“There could be men and women who were born way before you, who wanted that to happen to them, even more than you. Do you think you are owed something just because you trained hard for it?” Orion pressed further.

“Ye-but I-…” Rainbow tried to say but sighed and shook her head.

“So what? Were you gonna yell at Axel like you just did now and ruin your friendship, rather than be a good supportive friend and congratulate him?” Orion asked.

“Okay, okay! I get it!” Rainbow threw up her arms. “I still consider Axel a friend. I was just so bent on wanting my shot at the Wonderbolts that I didn’t expect someone like Axel to beat me to it. It just upset me a little, is all. I don’t hate Axel. I doubt I could, after what he did for Ponyville.”

Orion smiled as he moved to pick up Apple Bloom and put her back on his shoulders. “Well, I hope you’ll think the next time you act out. Otherwise I’ll have to give you another Orion Chop.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Rainbow panicked, covering her head and flapping her wings. “You won’t have the chance!” Rainbow flew off at top speeds away from Orion.

“I think she gets it now,” Apple Bloom giggled.

Orion chuckled as well as he continued the walk. “Yeah, I think she did. Let this be a lesson, Apple Bloom, those who act in haste, will make a big waste of time.”

“Ah’ll be sure to keep that in mind,” Apple Bloom said. “Can Ah see that paper?” Orion nodded and handed the paper to Apple Bloom.

Orion waved to the people of Ponyville and they returned the wave in kind. As they neared the schoolhouse, Orion looked up and noticed Apple Bloom was reading something that made her look uneasy.

“What’s the matter, AB? You look like you saw a ghost or something.” He picked the girl off his shoulders again and moved a hand to gently stroke her back to help ease her.

“It’s just…there was a big fight in Manehatten’s lower district,” Apple Bloom said. “Says here a fight between crime gangs broke out and someone named the Red Hawk stopped it. A lot of people were hurt badly and some…killed.”

Orion gently took the paper and read it over, immediately making the connection. “Apple Bloom, that is life sometimes. Bad things can happen at any point in time.” He continued to stroke her back as he read on. “This is why you should never do things that may seem too dangerous or go out on your own.”

“Okay…” Apple Bloom said.

She then hugged Orion before running off to join her friends at class. Orion turned around and glanced at the paper in his hand with a furrowed brow.

“Mistakes like these can’t continue being made,” Orion sighed before tossing the paper away and walking back to the farm. “She’d be heartbroken if she knew who Red Hawk was.”

Orion tucked his hands in his pockets as he made his way back. Upon arrival, he spotted Blueblood struggling to carry a basket full of apples to the wagon as Mac and Applejack stood there staring at him.

“Ya only managed to fill five baskets? Ah could’ve done ten times that amount already,” Mac mocked.

“Eeyup,” Applejack nodded.

“Be…silent…you…cretins!” Blueblood wheezed as he managed to put the basket in the wagon.

Orion looked into the wagon and saw that Blueblood did indeed fill up five baskets of apples. “Hmm, well I see you went beyond my expectations Orion smiled at Blueblood and gave him a gentle pat on the back. “As promised, you will get triple servings.”

“Aiiiyyyy!” Blueblood yelped in pain as he fell down. “Don’t touch me!”

“Ah tried to tell him to lift with his legs, but he wouldn’t hear it,” Applejack shrugged.

“Don’t worry, pain is the greatest teacher.” Orion laughed as he moved to lift Blueblood gently and set him in the wagon. “You can rest for now, just help out by picking out any leaves that may have fallen in the baskets.”

“One day…you shall pay…” Blueblood weakly said with a shaky finger pointing at Orion.

“Oh? Do you want to go to bed? I could always send you back the same way I brought you here?” Orion said with an evil smirk. “But then again that window opening is smaller than the hay bail. I might accidentally splatter you all over the barn. Oh well, your blood will blend in with the red pain, ahahahah!”

Blueblood said nothing else as he slowly began removing leaves. Mac shook his head and went to collect more apples. Meanwhile, Orion leaned on the other end of the wagon and Applejack joined him. She stood in front of Orion and leaned back against his chest.

“Oy oy, since when did I become a cushion all of a sudden?” Orion teased as he moved his arms around his girlfriend and held her gently.

“You complainin’?” Applejack asked, leaning more into him.

“Haha, no, I would never.” Orion nuzzled himself into her neck and kissed it. “So, how many baskets to make up for Blueballs?”

“Thrice what he was supposed to haul in,” Applejack scoffed. “But Ah don’t wanna think about that right now. All Ah wanna do is tell ya how much joy ya brought to me. I owe Ax big time fer convincin’ me to hire you.”

Orion blushed as he kissed the back of her head and snuggled into her. “Yeah, I’m lucky to have met a girl like you, AJ. Honestly, I thought I’d die single, haha!"

“Now that, Ah find hard to believe. A stud like you? Able to kick trees outta their roots if he could? Ah’m surprised you were still single beforehand,” Applejack said.

“Nah, back then I didn’t look nearly this good. Girls back where I came from didn’t give me a sideways glance.” Orion sighed as he held his girlfriend close, almost as if she would disappear if he let go.

“Hey, why do ya think Moon and Ax ain’t sweet on each other as we are?” Applejack asked. “They like each other, don’t they?”

“Ah, because they are both socially awkward. So much so until one makes the first move, neither of them will confess their feelings properly,” Orion stated matter-of-factly.

“Is it maybe also ‘cause they jumped the gun a bit? Even Ah can see that an apple orchard away,” Applejack teased.

“Well, I’m not too sure. Sometimes mistakes are made, and you can always blame the guys for it.” He scratched the back of his head as he chuckled nervously.

“But Ah’ve wanted you to ask me out, and look at us,” Applejack turned her head to smile up at Orion.

“That’s because we allowed ourselves to get used to each other. Can you imagine what would have happened if we just confused love for one another after one day of being together?” Orion asked.

“Oof, Ah suppose not only are they socially awkward, but they’re a tad immature, in a way,” Applejack said pityingly.

“Yeah, but give them time. I’m sure they will be able to show how they really feel much easier,” Orion added.

“Ah sure hope so,” Applejack said before bumping his waist with her butt and walking away. “Come on, time to get to work.”

Orion smiled as he began to roll his shoulders. “So how about I fill up sixty-nine baskets in under one hour, and then later tonight we do the sixty-nine hehe.”

“Keep talkin’ like that, and ya just might get what ya want~,” Applejack purred, leaving with a sway in her step.

Later That Evening

“Alright, everybody, soup’s on!” Granny Smith called out from the house.

Orion and the two Apple siblings just finished hauling in the last of the harvest. All three worked up quite a sweat, excluding Blueblood who had lost consciousness about two hours ago.

“Should we wake him?” Mac asked, wiping his brow.

“Yeah, I wouldn't want him to miss the food he had earned.” Orion smiled as he grabbed two baby carrots and plunged both up each of Blueblood’s nostrils before closing his mouth. Orion held up five fingers before taking one down for every second. Soon he was left with one finger.

On cue, Blueblood’s eyes shot open as he gagged from lack of air. He flailed his body around like a fish out of water until he finally got the idea that there was something in his nose before blowing the carrots out. Everyone was laughing the whole time and it only made Blueblood angrier.

“Are you people trying to kill me?!” Blueblood wheezed.

“Well, sorry, your highness, but we didn’t want you missing out on the meal you worked so hard for,” Orion chuckled as he ate his food while the others were giggling.

Blueblood really wanted to give Orion an earful but harrumphed instead as he picked himself up.

“Oh! Ah almost forgot!” Applejack said. “Orion, would ya kindly go pick up Bloom from school?”

Orion smiled and nodded. “Sure thing, I’ll be back as soon as possible.” Pushing away from the table, he quickly made his way to the door. “Don’t let Blueblood eat my food.” He called out.

Hearing more laughter as he left, Orion power walked out the door and made his way to the schoolhouse. As usual, the townsfolk waved to him, and he waved back as any good-natured guy would. As he walked, his cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw it was Axel calling him. Seeing Axel’s name made Orion a little unnerved, after reading about what happened in Manehatten in the morning paper. The phone kept buzzing and he ended up answering the call.

Taking a deep breath Orion clicked the green button and spoke into the phone. “Hey Axel, how are you man?”

“Yo, Orion. Things are pretty well,” he heard Axel say in a somewhat cheery tone. “You wouldn’t believe this city, man, it’s almost the spitting image of a place back where I’m from!”

“Is that so? Well, I’m glad to hear you're having fun.” Orion wasn’t sure about how to not trigger his friend in regard to the Red Hawk incident. “So, hey, I read the paper and saw an article about you and the Wonderbolts.”

“You read about that, huh? In all honesty, I didn’t think I’d be able to win,” Axel chuckled. “But man, those guys can fly! Something tells me they weren’t even going full force! I won out of pure luck, let me tell you. And get this! I got asked to join them by this chick named Spitfire!”

Orion felt a sudden lump fall into his stomach as he could practically hear Rainbow Dash raving. “Umm…what did you tell them exactly when they asked you that?”

“Well, I said I’d think about it. She even gave me her card with her number, so that’s pretty sweet, huh?” Axel said, sounding a little smug. “Real talk though? The opportunity does sound appealing. Hell, it sounds like an opportunity of a lifetime!”

“Well, I know RD will be jealous about this.” Orion sighed, as he felt some pity for her. “She’s someone who would die for an opportunity like that.”

“No shit? Huh, I’ll have to remember that,” Axel said. “We’re about to head back on the train today, what’s been new with you?”

“Nothing too crazy, I helped Apple Bloom after she got this weird sickness known as the Cutie Pox, and we helped find a good pet for Rainbow Dash,” Orion said as he neared the schoolhouse.

“What kind of pet does Dash have? A falcon?” Axel guessed. “Knowing her, that sounds like her kind of pet.”

“Nope, she actually got a pet tortoise. She named it Tank,” Orion added a smirk on his face.

“Pfft, ha! You shitting me? A slow-ass tortoise?” Axel chortled.

“Hey, he may be slow, but the little guy has heart.” Orion defended as he walked on to the school. “Anyway, I also saw something else in the papers. Some guy named Red Hawk, causing problems.”

Axel was silent for about a minute until he heard him sigh on the other line.

“…What did you read?” Axel asked hesitantly.

“The paper was vague, but there were definitely death reports in that letter. I’m a bit concerned about this person,” Orion said, doing his best to sound like he didn’t know more than he did.

“Yeah…I heard about it too from Mr. Rich,” Axel said. “We made sure to steer clear of that district. I personally wanted to check it out, but figured it wasn’t really any of my business.”

Easily detecting the lie that Axel was going with, Orion tried to guilt the man. “Poor Apple Bloom read the paper. The look on her face was heartbreaking, I’ve never seen her look so sad before.”

Another minute of silence over the phone and Orion could swear he heard Axel curse to himself.

“Well…you tell that kid to keep her head up. And I’ll let her ride on my shoulders so I can fly up in the sky with her, okay?” Axel said, his voice sounding a little shaky.

Orion sensing the fear in the man’s voice decided that he had done enough. “In my opinion, the news didn’t say much about the mysterious man. The paper mentioned him stopping the fights, however my guess is that luck wasn’t on his side when some people died. I don’t know if we should be afraid of this person, but they at least deserve a chance to bring light on the truth. Wouldn’t you agree my friend?”

“Sure, yeah…uh, look, I gotta get going. So I’ll see you soon,” Axel said in a low tone.

“Mind your temper, my friend, and none of it was your fault,” Orion spoke before hanging up.

“Orion!” Orion looked up to see Apple Bloom running up to him, followed by her two little friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

“Did ya come to get me from school?” She asked gleefully.

Orion smiled as he knelt down. “That’s right, your sister wanted me to come and get you so you can eat.”

“That’s good, Ah’m starvin’!” Bloom chirped.

“Hiya, Orion!” Scootaloo said.

“Hello,” Sweetie said.

“Hello girls, how goes the search for your special talents?” Orion smiled as he moved his hands to ruffle the two girls’ hair. “Hopefully keeping out of trouble, right?”

“Of course!” Scootaloo said.

“Hey Orion? Did you tell Axel yet?” Sweetie said.

“Oh brother…” Bloom rolled her eyes.

Orion sucked air through his teeth as he scratched the back of his head. On the one hand he could say yes, on the other this probably wouldn’t be something healthy in the long run. “Sweetie Belle, listen. This is gonna be hard to understand, but something like that between you and Axel wouldn’t work out. I know you may not understand why, but the issue is age, hon.”

“But I…I really like him!” Sweetie complained. “He’s so strong, handsome, and he won against the Wonderbolts!” Sweetie clasped her hands together and sighed. “He’s an absolute dream…”

“He’s also older than you,” Orion cut in. “I understand that your feelings might be genuine. However, there is no way for him to accept your feelings. Unfortunately, this is the harsh truth, Sweetie.”

“You’re wrong!” Sweetie Belle ran off with a dumb grin of denial. “We’ll be together forever!”

“I give it a month,” Scootaloo deadpanned.

“I give it two months,” Bloom said, facepalming.

“This is bad,” Orion stated, feeling a sense of unease. “I’m afraid this isn’t gonna be some kind of phase.”

“Eh, I wouldn’t worry about it. She’ll get over it,” Scootaloo waved it off and walked away. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Bloom.“

“See ya Scoots!” Bloom waved goodbye and looked up at Orion. “You know the drill!”

Orion smiled and knelt down, giving Apple Bloom access to his shoulders. “Yeah.”

The Next Morning

Orion was laying on a hay bale with Applejack and enjoying the tranquil sound of the birds chirping. The Apples had decided to give him the day off while Blueblood was left with picking up after Orion. The two lovebirds watched in amusement as Mac ordered Blueblood to haul more apple baskets to the wagon.

“Enjoying yer day off, sugar?” Applejack asked.

Orion sighed as he moved his arm around his girlfriend and held her close. “Yeah. I’m thinking of going into town. Not sure why, but I feel like being proactive today.”

“That so?” Applejack leaned up to look down at him. “As if your beefy butt ain’t proactive enough?”

Blushing, the man moved in to kiss his girlfriend’s cheeks. “Don’t go talking about butt, unless you’re asking me to spank yours,” he teased.

“You do that on a daily basis whenever Mac or Granny Smith ain’t lookin’,” Applejack remarked. She looked down at her butt and smirked. “Although, Ah guess Ah can’t blame ya.”

“Heh, anyway, I feel like walking around the town, maybe helping some people in need.” Orion slowly got up and stretched his arms and legs.

“Don’t be gone too long,” Applejack said, smacking Orion’s butt.

He let out a yelp before heading off into town. Walking off the farm he saw Mac having Blueblood picking up more baskets full of apples. Orion smirked out of satisfaction knowing Blueblood was understanding just how hard life can really be.

Orion enjoyed his trek through Ponyville and was once again greeted by the locals with waves friendly smiles. One thing Orion noticed was that almost everyone he passed by had a newspaper and were still reading about Axel and his victory.

“You look almost as bored as I am,” a voice said out of nowhere. Orion groaned at the familiar voice of a certain chaotic being.

“Hello Eris, to what do I owe this sudden appearance?” Orion couldn’t see the chaos lord, but he did know that she could hide herself if he wanted to.

Eris poofed right by Orion as she lounged on a pink cloud with her legs hanging off the sides.

“If you must know, Twilight has been a nag who constantly is on my ass in my hair and Moon has become a shut-in because of some comment some asshole made while he was checking out a book,” Eris said in a lax tone.

Orion groaned and pinched the bridge between his nose. “The same guy, or someone new?” He asked, almost afraid to know the answer.

“Someone new,” Eris responded. “I must say, this has been happening a lot lately. And you know what the most amusing part of it is? Axel has no idea!”

“I find that the exact opposite of amusing, Eris.” Orion glanced at the chaos spirit. “You should really learn to be more sensitive around others’ feelings. Or have you forgotten what you felt like at your lowest?”

“Don’t remind me, and what exactly do you expect me to do about it?” Eris leaned up and looked at Orion and held up her hand to use as a puppet. “Hi Moon! I heard you’ve been getting bullied, that must suck! Wanna talk about your feelings and maybe get your sort-of-boyfriend to kick all their asses? Who knows?! You might feel better!” She said, opening and closing her hand to mimic her.

Orion shook his head and even chuckled a bit. “No, unfortunately that wouldn’t work. However, you would be on the right track in wanting to talk to Moon, as someone who currently isn’t well-liked as well. Just talking to someone and having them listen can help more than you think,” he said.

“If you haven’t noticed.” Eris removed her mouth from her face and held it in her hand. “I’m not exactly the talkative type,” her mouth said in her hand.

“Funny, you have no trouble talking to me.” Orion smirked as he gently grabbed her mouth from her hand and placed it back on her face. “Honestly, despite my earlier reaction to you, I find you to be a fun individual.”

“Why thank you!” Eris chirped. “If only Axel felt the same way…”

It was only for a brief moment, but Orion caught sight of something in her eye and tone of voice.

“Oh?” Orion smirked a bit, leaning in closer. “Does a certain chaos goddess, have a crush on Axel, hmmm?” He sounded rather pleased with his assumption.

Eris blinked and her pink cloud suddenly dissipated, causing her to fall on her butt.

“Wh-Why I never!” Eris stood back up all flustered. “I am a lord of chaos! I don’t get crushes!”

Orion knelt down, his smiling bigger than before. “So you say, but you’re stuttering, you’re all flustered, and the tips of your hair are forming hearts,” he teased.

Eris pulled out a large mirror from her pocket and noticed her hair strands were indeed forming little hearts.

“Lies!” Eris said, poofing the mirror out of existence and flew it in the air. “Lies and slander! I reject this! I hate that no good killjoy!”

Orion rolled his eyes before something caught his attention. “Hey, it’s Axel and he’s…naked? What the fuck?”

“WHERE?!” Eris flew back down and looked around; her eyes had little hearts in them.

“Whoops, my mistake, it was only a tree.” Orion had an evil smirk as he watched the chaos lord’s face now blush red as an apple. “You sure seemed eager to see a naked Axel, now, didn’t you?”

Instead of answering, Eris poofed away in a pink cloud as the cloud spelled out, Fuck you.

“Nice talking to you too. Feel free to come back when you need dating tips.” Orion called out, feeling satisfied. “Well, now I have something to tease her about. Heh, this will be fun.”

“Hey buddy.” Orion felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see a few men. They all had slitted reptilian-like eyes, webbed bat-like wings, and had small fangs protruding from their lips.

“Ya know a guy named Rickert?” The guy said in a Manehatten accent.

The looks of their uniforms, and the bad vibes these individuals were giving off told Orion that they weren’t a friendly bunch. “Rickert? Hmm, can’t say I’ve heard of anyone with that name here. Are you guys here looking for a friend?”

“Don’t get smart with us, kid,” one of them warned. “We know that Rickert mook lives here. We came to deliver a message.”

“I assure you gentlemen, I know no one by that name. Seeing how small this town is, it would be impossible for me not to know anyone.” Orion figured that these guys weren’t going to fool so easily. “But there are rumors of a shady fellow who goes into the Everfree Forest.”

“Everfree?” The men looked at each other and glared at Orion as they went to reach for something under their coats. “One last chance, ya little shit, where’s Rickert?”

“Hey, maybe we can use this guy to send our message?” One of them said and pointed a magic gun at Orion’s head. “Tell Rickert he should never’ve messed with the Night Reapers.” The gun made several bystanders panic.

Orion didn’t flinch nor showed any fear. Instead, he moved his hand to grasp the barrel of the gun, between his index and middle finger. “Night Reapers? What are you, an amature band?” With a light twist of his wrist, Orion bent the barrel with ease.

“What the?!” The thug panicked.

“You freak!” The other thug said as he pulled his gun and was about to shoot.

“Listen fellas.” Orion yanked the gun out of the first thug’s hand and swung it to knock the second thug’s gun out of his hand. “This town is a peaceful place…most of the time. So, how about you take whatever grudge you got and kindly leave?”

The lead thug pulled his extra gun out and pulled the trigger. Orion felt something hit his arm and staggered back, but quickly lunged forward and grabbed his hand and forced it to point upwards before he shot again.

“That stung, you!” Orion now glared at the lead thug as his grip tightened, and a loud crack could be heard, causing those who were still watching to wince.

“What the Tartarus are you?!” The lead thug yelped.

Orion tossed the thug whose arm he cracked aside. He grabbed the lead thug by the front of his shirt and lifted him up with ease. Orion glared up at the man. “One pissed off dude.”

Orion lifted the man over this head, holding him up with both arms as he began to spin him round and round.

“Aaahh! Get me down! Don’t just stand there, you fucks!” The lead thug said.

“He broke my fuckn’ arm!” One of the thugs said.

“I ain’t goin’ near that freak!” The other thug said.

“Don’t wanna come play? That's fine, I’ll come to you.” Still swinging the lead thug, Orion walked to the third and grabbed him before tossing him up high into the air. “Let’s see if you guys are good at juggling?” As the third thug came back down, Orion tossed the lead up before catching the other and he slowly started to jungle the men around.

The lead thug still had his gun in his hand and began firing his gun. The people began to panic and run for cover when one of the shots flew at the bell tower. The shot struck the rope, and it began to break.

“Oh no! The bell tower!” A bystander panicked.

Orion glanced over to the bell tower, letting the two thugs he was juggling fall to the ground with a loud thud. He looked down to see that two women were just beneath it, on the ground, covering their heads. No doubt to avoid the bullets. Orion could see the rope slowly snapping apart as the layers broke apart.

“Look out!” He called out before running forward.

The bell came crashing down as the two women screamed in terror. The whole town watched in horror as the tower collapsed and the bell rang violently on the way down.

“Mr. Orion, don’t!” A bystander tried to stop him.

Orion charged forward ignoring any and all warnings. He shortened the distance between him and the two women, as he was about to move them out of harm’s way.

The bell crashed down onto the three of them, letting out one final loud ring.

“That worked out in our favor! Let’s bail!” The lead thug said as he and his men fled the scene.

Meanwhile, the crowd has gathered around the destroyed tower, wondering if anyone had survived such a catastrophe.

The dust began to settle, and the crowd gasped in horror at the sheer amount of ruble that had fallen where the two women and Orion once stood.

To everyone’s utter shock, they saw Orion actually holding the bell on his back. His shirt was torn to shreds as he grunted and strained from the weight of the bell. When he opened his eyes to see if the women were okay, he saw that it was Fluttershy and Rarity. Both were still cowering together.

“H-hey, girls I need you to crawl out.” Not wanting to waste time with formalities, Orion tried to get the girls out of the way. “This thing is heavy and I’m not sure how long I can hold it up.” He grunted as he adjusted his stance to ease the weight.

“O-Orion?!” Fluttershy yelped.

“Oh goodness gracious!” Rarity panicked. “Fluttershy, quick! Move! Move!”

The two girls ran as fast as they could out of the way until they were out of range.

Orion grunted before a surge of strength flowed through his body. With a mighty heave, he launched the bell off his back and away from the people. The bell clanged again as it struck the ground and rolled away. Orion collapsed on his butt and sat there, trying to catch his breath.

Orion coughed and groaned, as he could feel his muscles ache from the sudden strain. He rubbed his arms and legs trying to ease the pain. “Damn, that hurt like a motherfucker.”

“Orion!” Orion looked up to see Fluttershy and Rarity run up to him.

“Sweet Celestia, are you okay?!” Fluttershy squealed.

“That bell fell straight on you!” Rarity said with equal worry.

Orion grunted as he tried to stand up. “Me? Naw, I’m okay. How about you girls? None of that rubble scraped or hurt you, right?” He asked checking to make sure that Fluttershy and Rarity weren’t injured.

“Oh, we’re fine. A tad shaken up, but we’re okay,” Fluttershy said as she helped Orion stand.

“How on Eques did you do that?! I recall it took five of the strongest earth pony men to lift that bell in the tower!” Rarity said.

This bit of news surprised Orion as he had no idea the sheer weight he had lifted. “I mean it was really heavy, don’t get me wrong, but I’m just as surprised as you girls.”

The crowd had gathered, and some were coming to terms with the display of strength Orion showed. They murmured amongst themselves until some began to clap and cheer for Orion for saving Fluttershy and Rarity.

“You saved us.” Orion turned to Fluttershy with a thankful smile. “Thank you, thank you so much, Orion.”

“I agree.” Rarity said. “Our lives would be forfeit, had you not come to our aid. You have our eternal thanks, dear.”

Soon the entire crowd surrounding Orion began to clap in applause for his heroics. Orion’s cheeks flushed red as he was showered with praise. “G-gee it wasn’t that great. I just did what I could to help is all.”

“It’s more than that,” Fluttershy argued. “You were here when you needed to be. Like Axel, you’re a real hero, this day.”

“And I have just the way of repaying you, darling,” Rarity said as she pulled Orion along. “Today is spa day, and you’re coming with us!”

“W-what?!” Orion shouted with surprise as he was suddenly tugged along. After the strain of the bell’s weight, Orion’s body was too weak to resist the gentle tugging.

“Come now, Orion! We simply must thank you!” Rarity said. “The town will take care of the mess, and the bell doesn’t seem to be too beaten up.”

“Please, Orion? Join us?” Fluttershy pleaded with her big eyes.

Orion groaned as he felt his will to resist weakening. “Are you kidding me with those eyes?” He let out a frustrated sigh and nodded his head. “Lead the way,” he said in defeat.

“Yay!” The girls cheered.

They led Orion to the spa as the crowd kept praising him. They arrived at the building and Lotus, one of the spa sisters, waited for them behind the counter.

“Bonjour, Lotus!” Rarity said in a singsong voice.

“Bonjour, madame Rarity, madame Fluttershy,” Lotus said. “I ‘eard ze most dreadful noize, vat ‘as ‘appened?”

“The bell from the bell tower fell on us but Orion saved us,” Fluttershy said.

“Mon dieu! Are you both okay?!” Lotus gasped.

“We are now, thanks to Orion,” Rarity said, winking at Orion.

Orion’s body went stiff, but he shook it off and tried his best not to blush. “I-It was nothing, just helping out wherever I am.”

“‘e’s a modest one,” Lotus giggled. “An admirable quality for a ‘andsome man like yourself.”

Orion cleared his throat doing his best to keep calm. “And currently in a relationship, thank you.”

“Oh, I am aware, you and madame Applejack are, ‘ow you say, glued to each other,” Lotus teased. “Now then, as a special treat for our hero of ze day, you shall all receive a full treatment on ze ‘ouse.”

“Really?! Oh, that’s so nice of you! We’d hate to take advantage of that,” Fluttershy said.

“Tut tut! I shall ‘ear nothing more! Ze decision is made!” Lotus said with a clap of her hands. “Come along, we shall get you all situated.”

Orion and the girls followed behind Lotus, as she led them into the spa. “I’ll be honest, this is my first time in a spa.” Orion admitted while his eyes glanced around the building. He saw the spa from the outside, but never thought he’d end up inside.

“Zen you’re in for a wonderful experience.” Lotus said and pointed to some changing rooms. “Please change into ze bathrobes provided. My sister shall await you once you are ready.”

Orion was confused as to why he needed to change into something else. “Um, I just need to take off my shirt and pants, right?” He asked, still confused as he held up the bathrobe, which was as long as he was.

“Oui,” Lotus nodded as Fluttershy and Rarity entered their changing rooms.

Orion let out a sigh of relief as she moved into his own changing room, before taking off his shirt and pants and putting the bathrobe on and exiting the changing room.

Waiting for him was a sight he’d unintentionally burn into his mind. Fluttershy and Rarity both wore bathrobes that hugged their unexpectedly curvaceous bodies. Their hips were just the right width, smooth and slender legs without a single hair, and generous busts that showed off just enough cleavage for his sake.

Orion quickly averted his eyes, reminding himself that he was with Applejack, and that he was loyal to her. “Um, well now what do we do?” He asked, making sure his eyes stayed glued to the ceiling, as though it were the most interesting thing in the world.

Orion was met with silence which forced him to look back at the girls. They all seemed to be staring at Orion, all with pink cheeks and eyes that seemed to be scanning him.

Before Orion worked at the apple farm, Orion would’ve been considered averagely physically fit. However, thanks to the countless days hauling apples, kicking trees, and other hands-on chores, Orion’s body had morphed into one of peak physical fitness. The bathrobe was pressing up against his broad chest and large shoulders, not to mention it showed off his muscular bare legs.

“Well now~,” Lotus purred.

Orion’s cheeks flushed and he cleared his throat again, trying to shake back their attention. “So, how about that spa treatment?” He said, a slight creak in his voice.

Aloe, Lotus’s sister, gestured for him to lay down on one of the tables as Fluttershy and Rarity were coaxed out of their trance and led to their own tables. Orion laid down on his stomach and Aloe rubbed oil on her hands and Lotus pulled his robe a little off his shoulders.

“Just relax, dear,” Aloe said softly.

Orion nodded slightly, feeling somewhat embarrassed by his current position. However, he tried to calm himself and loosened up. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Orion felt Aloe’s hands touch his shoulders and began massaging him. Orion sighed as he instantly felt his muscles being smoothed out as she worked her magic.

“How is it, Orion?” Aloe asked as she worked at the kinks in his shoulders.

“Very good.” He almost purred. “I never knew a massage could feel this relaxing.” To Orion, it felt like pounds of tension and stress were being melted away.

“I hear you and madame Applejack work together on ze apple farm,” Aloe said as she worked on his back. “And you managed to win her heart. Quite the impressive feat, since she was known to reject nearly every boy who attempted to woo her.”

This was new to Orion; he had no idea that Applejack was that sought after. “Really? I never knew that. I figured she was just too busy for anyone to approach her.”

“True, but you can agree zat she is one of the most alluring women in town, yes?” Aloe said, smoothed out his arms. “Between you and I, in her own special way, her charm rivals that of madame Rarity and Fluttershy.”

Orion smiled as he could clearly see his girlfriend’s beauty. “Yeah, she’s very alluring, and she has a wonderful personality too.” Orion sighed happily, but not from the massage, no. He was simply overflowing with love for his girlfriend.

“It is a shame zat monsieur Axel and miss Moon do not show ze same affection for each other as you two,” Aloe said, moving down to work in his lower back. She traced her hands along his spine until she suddenly pressed down hard.

Crack!

Orion let out a sharp gasp, before suddenly melting like butter. His mouth curled into a smile almost on its own, as he sighed.

“Oh…that felt good,” he sighed.

“One more, deep breath!” Aloe said and pressed down again.

Crick! CRACK!

Like before Orion’s body began to lose more and more tension. His body feeling twenty times lighter, and the aches and pain from the bell tower were now just a distant memory.

“Ooh…sweet Celestia,” Orion groaned.

“As for those two…well, maybe they just need proper guidance. The love is there, they just missed the proper connection is all,” Orion theorized.

“But Orion.” Rarity chimed in from listening in on their conversation about Moon as she got her nails done. “Moon was here after I invited her for a spa day after Axel left. She looked…so dreadfully depressed.”

“I saw her too,” Fluttershy said, sitting in a chair as her feet were massaged. “I tried offering her to hold Angel Bunny once, but she refused. Did she have an argument with Axel at some point?”

Orion took this into consideration, and along with the knowledge that Eris dropped earlier. “I think the problem is that she’s unable to handle being picked on. And she doesn’t want to tell Axel, because she knows his temper is shorter than Eris’s attention span.”

“What?” Rarity has the person doing her nails stop. “Moon is being bullied? The nerve of some people!”

“Yeah, well, people can be like that. The problem she fails to understand is that words only have as much power as you give them. Maybe I should talk to her. She needs to be around people who can know how to pull their punches when it counts,” Orion said as Aloe moved down to his legs.

“I hope Axel comes home soon,” Fluttershy said. “Even though they may have rushed their relationship a bit, they still deserve to be happy. At least, that’s what I think.”

Orion smiled and nodded his head. “Oh yeah, anyone with a good set of eyes could tell you that. And Axel might have himself some other girl pining for his attention.” He smirked knowing about Eris’s little crush.

CRACK! CRICK!

Aloe had both Orion’s legs in her hands and masterfully popped them both at the same time.

“Ooh, geez! Man, I never knew messages could feel this good. I feel like I could go and bench press that bell now.” He joked as he felt continuous waves of relief.

“Orion, how flexible are you?” Aloe asked.

“Not sure. Why do you ask?” Orion looked back curious as to why she would ask.

Aloe stood over Orion on the table and grabbed Orion’s arms. She delicately placed her foot on his lower back and smiled innocently.

“HUP!” Aloe pulled Orion’s arms back while keeping her foot pressed down.

CRACK! CRICK! POP! SNAP!!

“Whoaokay! I’m not sure if that was a good snap and pop, or a bad snap and pop.” Orion admitted as he started to get a little nervous.

As soon as Aloe let him go, his whole body went limp. The blood soon began flowing throughout his body and he felt the calmest he’s ever felt in all his life. It was as if his body was made of warm jell-o.

“And how was that, Orion?” Aloe said as she hopped off the table.

Orion slowly sat up and got to his feet. He bent and twisted his body, as he tried to see how much he had been lessened.

“I feel amazing! Like my whole body is brand new!” As he stretched his arms out, the knot holding his robe came undone, and it promptly fell off.

All the females' eyes went wide as they got a good look at what Orion was packing under his robe. Suffice to say, barely anyone was disappointed. Rarity covered her eyes, Fluttershy feinted, and the sisters tried desperately to keep anyone else from looking. All while still blushing profusely.

“Eep!” Orion quickly pent down to grab his robe and just a quick tie it back on. There was a moment of awkward silence as he could feel his own face burning with embarrassment. “Ummm…so, what’s next?”

The spa treatment lasted about another hour with Orion trying out more treatments for his body and complexion. He and the girls soon left the spa building, but Orion still felt flustered from the bathrobe incident.

“Darling, do not worry about it,” Rarity tried to say. “We didn’t see anything.”

“I…I did…” Fluttershy whispered, still blushing.

Orion buried his face in his hands as he tried his best to calm down. “Ugh, that was so embarrassing!” He groaned.

“Darling, you should not stress over such trivial matters,” Rarity consoled Orion. “I confess, I once had the same thing happen to me once. But I did not let it bother me, because that would only mean I am insecure. In fact, I recall getting many compliments of how pristine my skin looked and how healthy my body was.”

“Um, Rarity? I don’t think that’s relevant,” Fluttershy said.

“Well, you aren’t in a relationship, Rarity. I wouldn’t want to do anything that could make me seem dishonest to Applejack.” Brushing his hair back with his fingers, Orion let out another groan, before shoving his hands in his pockets. “What would Applejack think if she saw me like that in front of other girls?”

“Orion, do you think Applejack is shallow?” Fluttershy boldly asked.

“What? No no, it’s just where I come from, such acts could be seen as unfaithful. Like, if I were to stare at a girl in a way that seems almost lewd,” Orion corrected himself.

Fluttershy and Rarity looked at each other before looking at Orion.

“Orion, do you know what a Joint Relationship is?” Rarity asked.

“…Joint Relationship?” Orion asked curiously. “Umm…I can’t say that I have.”

“A Joint Relationship is something many people practice around Equestria,” Rarity explained. “It has something to do with the birth rates, you see. For every four to five baby girls are born, only one or two baby boys are born. So Celestia made a law that states if men or women wish to be in a relationship with more than just the two of them, they may include others and share each other.”

This threw the man for a loop, his eyes wide as he couldn't quite process this. “So, you’re telling me, that so long as both parties are in agreement, a relationship can involve more than two people?”

“Indeed. Why, the man that owns the donut shop, Donut Joe, in Canterlot if you recall, is in a lovely marriage with two other women,” Rarity pointed out.

“I honestly had no idea,” Orion said, baffled as they soon reached the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres. “Though I highly doubt I’ll need to worry about something like that. I mean; besides Applejack, I don’t think any other girl is gonna be interested.”

“Are you sure?” Rarity batted her eyelashes at Orion in a teasing manner.

Orion’s body jolted as Rarity was looking at him. A faint blush on his cheeks, before he turned his head to avert his gaze. Orion noticed Fluttershy staring at him with a small smile and pinker cheeks than before.

“Not you too?” Orion’s face was now going from pink to scarlet.

“A lady doesn’t kiss and tell, dear, but you never know,” Rarity said as she and Fluttershy walked away. “FYI, I enjoy a nice dinner with a bottle of wine.”

“And I like to spend time with my nocturnal animal friends under the moonlight,” Fluttershy added.

“Toodles, darling~!” Rarity waged goodbye.

“Bye, Orion,” Fluttershy said as she scurried off.

Standing now completely dumbfounded, Orion simply turned around, and began to walk up to the farm. Within a few strides, he was at the door to the farm, and walked inside. “I’m back,” He called out in a neutral tone.

“Hey there!” Mac said, giving Orion a wave. “How was yer day off?”

“These girls are gonna be the death of me.” And with those words, Orion fell forward, collapsing on the floor, snoring.

Mac arched a brow at how Orion passed out unexpectedly, but simply shrugged and walked over and slung him over his shoulder. He walked up the stairs into his room and laid him down and smirked.

“Sure has been more lively since ya came around, boy,” Mac said as he left to let Orion nap.

Author's Note

Never a dull moment in Ponyville, even while the star is away.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

A Fine Line

Chapter 26

Axel 1st POV

My train ride was a quiet one, despite Diamond wanting me to play with her. The phone call I had with Orion kept playing out in my head over and over. He didn’t know about Dante, but he did have a point. Dante was born from my torment and dark thoughts from my last trauma, along with the shitty people that raised and were sorry excuses to be called parents. It still worries me greatly that Dante’s exploits with this new employment will attract some unwanted heat. I thought the Northerners and Sam Spade’s goons were trouble, now I gotta worry about someone trying to whack me because of Dante.

“Big Brother Axel?” Diamond said as she sat in my lap. “Are you okay? You’ve been quiet the whole ride home.”

“Oh, sorry Diamond, just lost in thought is all,” I said, patting her head.

“Are you thinking about joining the Wonderbolts?” Diamond asked.

“Eh, not sure if I’d do as well as you might think,” I shrugged nonchalantly. “Those guys are pros. I just got lucky with that race.”

“Well, I think you’d make a great Wonderbolt!” Diamond chirped happily.

“Thanks, kid, I appreciate that,” I said with a smile and patted her head again.

The train ride lasted about another hour before we finally made it back home. I helped Mr. Rich with his bags as we stepped off the train.

“Thank you again for accompanying me and my daughter on this trip, Axel,” Mr. Rich said.

“My pleasure, Mr. Rich, it was nice to be able to see the sights,” I said.

“Won’t you join us for some afternoon tea?” Mr. Rich offered.

“Thanks, but I’m not much of a tea guy, maybe another time,” I said.

“Very well, the offer will always stand,” Mr. Rich said.

“Cool, well, I’ll see you both later,” I said as I walked away.

“Bye-bye, big brother Axel!” Diamond called out and I waved over my shoulder.

My smile turned into a serious frown. I dug my hands in my pockets and sighed and made my way back to the library.

“Things are gonna get more complicated, I just know it,” I thought aloud.

As I walked through the streets, and people welcomed me back with friendly waves and hellos, something caught my eye on the outskirts of town. If I remember correctly, there used to be an old bell tower that stood about four to five stories tall. Yet, it wasn’t there anymore, and a massive pile of debris sat in its place. Quirking a brow, I approached the area where the tower once stood, and my suspicions were correct. The bell lay on its side and was cracked as I saw workers clearing out the broken pieces of wood on large trailers.

“What the hell happened here?” I wondered. “Did an earthquake hit or something while I was away?”

“That would be the result of your actions following you home.” A voice I knew all too well spoke from behind me.

I turned around to see my friend, Orion with a blank expression and had his hands on his hips. He wore a white collared shirt and blue overalls and brown boots.

“Well, howdy Orion,” I said in a teasing manner. “I see you’ve adopted the farm life pretty well.”

Faster than I can react, I felt myself being pulled by the ear. “You, me, talk, now,” Orion said as he pulled me behind some buildings.

“Ow! Ow! Hey, what gives?!” I said, rubbing my ear.

“Would you care to explain to me why a group of mafia goons came to this town looking for you? With weapons in hand, might I add.” Orion had his arms folded as he glared at me.

Aw shit, I knew this would happen, I thought and gulped. “Was anyone hurt?”

“Thankfully, no. I managed to fend them off, but not before they caused that bell tower to almost smush Fluttershy and Rarity.” Orion rubbed a part of his arm while thinking back to the events he mentioned.

“That happened? Damn, I didn’t think they’d be so quick to get back at him…” I said but flinched at what I let slip out.

“I assume you are referring to your alter ego?” Orion said with a calm tone.

Once again, I flinched at his words. “How…how do you know about that?” I contemplated how he could possibly know about Dante. “Did Applejack tell you?”

Orion shook his head before leaning up against the building. “No, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what you have. Granted, I didn’t know right away, but I came to the conclusion shortly after reading that newspaper.”

“Right, the paper,” I nodded. I pulled my beanie off my head and rubbed the back of my head with my free hand. “Guess the cat’s out of the bag. No point in denying it.”

“So, how do you plan to deal with this? I got shot in the arm because of those guys,” Orion said while pointing to the part of his arm he was rubbing earlier. “I’m grateful that those things weren’t something lethal, I was honestly worried about it.

“You got fucking clipped?!” I gasped. “Fucking Dante, I knew him joining the mafia was a bad idea!” Once again, I let a critical piece of information slip out. That was the nail in the coffin as Orion’s glare intensified. “Now Orion, hold on a sec. There’s a perfectly logical explanation.”

“He did what?!” His voice boomed across the air making nearby trees rattle and leaves to fall.

I’ve about had it with this, I heard Dante say. Lemme talk to the kid.

Are you sure that’s a good idea? I asked.

You got a better one? Best to hear it all from my mouth anyway, Dante said.

I guess you’re right, but don’t hurt him, I said as I closed my eyes and slumped over a bit as I felt my conciseness being pushed aside.

Dante 1st POV

My head hung over a little as I opened my eyes. I looked down at my hands and noticed my clothes turned from a light gray to a lightish-darkish-red tint. I glanced up at Orion with a grin and he took a cautious step back, probably from seeing my eyes change from green to red.

“Don’t tell me, Dante?” Orion’s attitude shifted from someone who was concerned, to looking slightly miffed.

“Was it the eyes?” I asked rhetorically. “Or maybe the hair?” I brushed my fingers through my hair. “The light red highlights are natural. So, tell me, did you enjoy my work at the club you read about in the paper?”

“You mean how you were the cause of innocent lives being killed, and now Axel is basically an accessory to murder?” Orion pointed out his voice giving off hints of anger.

“Innocent? Ha!” I laughed in Orion’s face. “Those dirtbags got what was coming to them. They tried to muscle in Mr. Alduck’s turf, and I stopped them. Nobody’s innocent in the underground world, kid. Best you learn that sooner rather than later.”

“Regardless, your actions followed you here to Ponyville. Where real innocent lives are.” Orion stood his ground.

“Here’s the way I look at things,” I said, picking my ear. “Axel and I have an agreement. He plays the goody two-shoes shtick during the day and puts on a smile for anyone who looks his way, and I get to run wild at night or whenever the need arises. The mafia gig? That’s just a way to earn extra scratch. Well, depending on how lucrative it turns out for me, who knows? And honestly, kid? You should be thanking me.”

Orion’s eyes were beginning to twitch with annoyance at that last remark. “Thank you? Why would I ever need to thank you for what you’ve done?”

“Because I’m the one who’s dealing with the scum of this world appropriately,” I shot back. “Let’s face it, Axel doesn’t have the balls to take a life, despite what happened years ago. Sure, he can fight bad guys, subdue them, chase them off, like he did the Northerners, but they’ll always come back. Take the Gala for example. Axel chased them off from Ponyville and the Gala, now there’s talk that they’re becoming more assertive with their bullshit peace treaty. Celestia and Luna are too naïve to see what their true intentions are. However, set me loose on those scumbags, they’ll never even think about keeping doing what they’re doing. Not to mention, as I continue to work for the mafia, I’ll help clean up Manehatten and any other city with festering scum.”

“And do you really think that’s gonna make a difference?” Orion shot back at me, getting up close now. “Violence gives way for more violence. Hatred will be greeted with even more hatred. You are creating a perpetual motion of hate and bloodshed. There is a law that exists, it may not be perfect, but it keeps us from spiraling into disaster.” Orion was poking my chest now. “Every life matters, and no one, not even you, has the right to choose who lives and who dies.”

“Let’s agree to disagree then,” I scoffed as I brushed my finger on my shirt. “Besides, if it makes you feel any better, the more fear I instill into those who cross me, the safer that little farm girl of yours will be, right?” I grinned maliciously at Orion.

Before I knew it, I was yanked off the ground and pinned against the wall, so hard that the wall almost cracked. “Listen here you little shit, I don’t care if you share a body with Axel or not. You do anything to harm those I care about and I will personally introduce you to the ground. And believe me, your relationship will be intimate.” The tone and look alone was unlike anything I’ve seen before.

“Cute.” I grabbed Orion’s hand and began to pull. Orion grunted and strained against me as I managed to pry his grip off my shirt and tried desperately to push back, but to no avail. “You may have some crazy strength for an earth pony-man, but there’s a sheer difference you would do well to keep in mind.” I clenched my fist around his wrist, making him wince as I loomed over him. “I’m not a normal guy. I’m a Conduit. I make up for my appearance with strength and durability you can only imagine. So how about we come to an understanding? You stay in your lane, and I’ll stay in mine.”

Despite the pain I was inflicting, Orion slowly stood back up locking eyes with me. “I won’t let you harm any innocent lives, so bear that in mind when sticking to your lane then.”

“As you wish,” I said mockingly as I let him go. “I think I made my point. Be seeing you, kid.” I closed my eyes and hung my head as I felt my consciousness being pushed away.

Axel 1st POV

I opened my eyes and saw Orion rubbing his wrist and wincing.

“Shit…sorry about that, you okay?” I said.

Orion shot me a glare and turned away. “You better be ready to face whatever consequences that may come your way.”

“Orion, wait!” I tried to say, but he shook his head.

“I think it would be better if we didn’t talk for a while, I’m still angry and wouldn’t want to take it out on you,” he said before walking away.

Seeing Orion walk away hurt more than any punch I took, or magic bullet shot at me. Orion is a good guy, a good friend, and I managed to drive him away no thanks to my alter ego.

With a heavy sigh, I reluctantly walked in the other direction back to the library. I had hoped things would be the same after coming back home, but things just got a lot more complicated. Shaking my head, I walked slowly back to the library with a heavy conscience. The sight of it lifted my spirits, if only a little. I was glad to be back home and soon I’d see Moon again. As soon as I opened the door, I saw Twilight reading three books at the same time and Spike washing dishes.

“I’m home!” I said aloud as I dropped my duffel bag to the side.

“Axel!” Both Twilight and Spike said gleefully as they came up to greet me.

“Merow!”

From under the couch, the little manticore cub, Nala, I adopted crawled out and flew at me happily. I caught her in my arms, and she nuzzled under my chin while purring loudly.

“Hey, Nala!” I said, hugging her closely. “I sure missed you, girl.”

“Welcome back, Axel, how was your trip?” Twilight asked.

“In a word? Eventful,” I said as I held Nala. “How’ve you guys been?”

“Great! You should’ve been here when Rainbow chose a tortoise for a pet,” Spike said.

“I still can’t see the appeal of someone like that girl choosing a tortoise, of all animals, as a pet,” I said. “By the way, where’s Moon?”

Their mood changed completely and frowned. They looked at each other and then looked away, but not back at me. Even Nala seemed to change her mood as her ears drooped a bit.

“Uh…am I missing something here?” I asked.

“Did…Moon not call you?” Twilight asked.

“No, but Orion did,” I said.

“Then you don’t know,” Spike said with a sigh.

“Don’t know what?” I asked, sounding concerned.

“Moon has…been dealing with some things lately, Axel,” Twilight said hesitantly. “Ever since you left, and even before you left, Moon has been…well, harassed lately.”

“The hell are you talking about?” I asked, now sounding concerned. “Harassed? By whom?”

“People, from the town,” Spike answered. “People have been giving her a real hard time lately and telling her all kinds of messed up stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?” I wondered, sounding agitated.

“Her past,” Twilight said sadly. “It would appear there are those who still can’t accept Moon being reformed. I’ve heard them make snide comments about how she’s a usurper and how she’s biding her time to strike. Not to mention, people avoid her whenever she goes out and don’t treat her fairly.”

“And no one tried defending her?!” I barked.

“We tried! All of us did!” Spike said. “We tried talking to her about it, but she said that she would deal with it. We even tried telling people to back off, but it’s like we don’t even register to them, and they completely ignore us.”

Hearing this only made my blood boil more and more. All those smiles and waves I got from them were all fake as fuck. And they dare try to get all buddy-buddy with me after this bullshit?!

“Where is she?” I asked, trying to remain calm.

“In your room,” Twilight said. “But please be careful with what you say. The girls, Spike, and I have tried everything to reason with her, but she’s been so quiet it’s like she’s become a recluse, as of late.”

I set Nala down and immediately walked past them and up the stairs. Nala followed behind me as I approached the room we shared and went to open the door but stopped myself. This isn’t something I should just barge in on her with. I had to be calm and collected, for Moon’s sake. I looked down at Nala who looked up at me and tilted her little head.

“Sorry, Nala, but I gotta do this alone,” I said, leaning down to pat her head.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly opened the door. Laying on the bed with her back facing me was Moon. My heart cracked from the sight of my poor girlfriend. Her hair was a mess, her wings were unkempt, and the whole room and bed was messy with clothes and wrinkled sheets. Sitting on the nightstand were a few dirty dishes that she hadn’t given Spike or Twilight yet.

“Moon?” I called out to her as I shut the door behind me. “It’s me, Ax, I’m home.”

For a while, she didn't move or respond. I feared she had been cut off from reality, but then she shifted a little before saying in a croaked voice.

“Hey, Axel.” She then went back into the position I found her in.

I set my pack aside and slowly approached the bed. I gently sat on the edge of the mattress and looked at Moon, but she kept her back turned to me.

“Moon…are you okay?” I asked. “I heard what happened, what you’ve been dealing with.”

Another long pause before I heard her start to whimper and then full-on bawl her eyes out. Moon then faces me before hugging me around my waist. "I-I-I, hic, I thought I was finally being accepted! Hic hic, I thought I could have a second chance and just be around others! Hic, But I was wrong!" She then buries her face into my jacket to try and muffle her crying.

I was taken back by her reaction but wrapped an arm around her and held her close. I pulled off my beanie as I let her cry.

“I’m so sorry, Moon,” I said as I rubbed her back. “If only I had known.”

“Axel…” Moon said, still burying her face in my jacket. “What are we?”

“What do you mean?” I wondered.

“We’re both outcasts. We look like them, but they treat us like monsters. Why?” She asked before laying her head on my lap.

“People are complicated, especially people from my world,” I said with a sigh. “They’re quick to judge and don’t forgive and forget as easily as you think. They may smile and wave at me when I walk down the street, but I know they wear masks to hide their true colors. Sure, I saved them from Eris’s rampage, but I’m an unnatural force with unnatural power.”

“And I’m a tyrant who manipulated Luna into attacking her sister and tried to force her to usurp Celestia,” Moon said.

“You’re not that person anymore,” I tried to say. “They don’t see what I see.”

“Then what do you see?” Moon lifted herself up and looked at me. Her eyes were red from crying and black rings hung under her eyes. “Do you see me as a woman, or just a pitiful former usurper you claimed to have fallen in love with?”

“Claimed?” I questioned. “What are you on about? There’s nothing to claim about how I feel about you.”

“If that’s true, then prove it. Prove that you love me as a woman.” Moon then wrapped her arms around my neck and brought me in for an embrace. “Let me know I’m like everyone else, and not some monster like everybody says.”

My heart was beating pretty fast right now. I knew what she meant, and I could see in her eyes that she was serious about it. My body acted on instinct as I kissed her. She moaned in the kiss as she leaned back and crawled on my hands and knees over her. When I pulled back from kissing her, I admired how beautiful she was even in her unkempt state. I watched as she slowly reached up towards her pajama shirt buttons and undid the first one. I gulped a large lump in my throat, not able to move as she slowly undid the second button. Just when she was about to undo the third one, my hand suddenly reached up and stopped her.

“I…I can’t,” I said quietly and leaned back. “This can’t happen like this…”

For a long moment, Moon just stared back at me before the tears started up again. “Then it’s true. You only took me out of pity.”

“Moon, you know I wouldn’t do that,” I said but Moon pushed me away and sat up.

“Then why did you?!” Moon snapped.

“Because you didn’t shun me for killing someone like everyone else did!” I shot back. “Every time I even mentioned it to someone back home, I got the cold shoulder and was labelled a killer! It didn’t matter if I said it was self-defense, they could give less of a shit!”

“But what about me?!” Moon yelled. “You took one life. ONE! Did you even bother to ask how many lives I took when I possessed Luna?! The turmoil and heartache I caused those two sisters?! You say I should make amends like it’s so easy to do, but it’s not! I know Luna once visited your dreams! I know she told you to be cautious of me!”

“What I do with you is none of their damn business!” I yelled back. “And sorry for thinking you needed space to grieve! It’s not my fault that I didn’t realize how close-minded you are!”

Slap!

Moon smacked me across the face before turning away. “Get out…”

“No…wait, Moon, I didn’t-“ I was cut off when Moon glared at me and raised her hand. Her eyes glowed and I was surrounded by her magic and was constricted in her grasp, along with my pack and beanie.

“Out!” I was then tossed out of the room, along with all my stuff before the door closed.

I went to go back in, but then I heard Moon cry even harder than before. All I could do was slump against the door, wondering how to fix this.

“Moon…please! I didn’t mean to say that!” I knocked on the door. “Open the door! Let’s talk about this!”

“No! I-I just need time to think…!” I heard Moon say on the other side of the door.

I was about to plead with her some more when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Twilight and she shook her head at me.

“I think it’s best if we left her alone for a bit,” She told me.

I could only nod as I sat in front of the door and hung my head. Twilight left to give me some space as I processed my stupidity and harsh words I said. Were my intentions too rushed with Moon? What could I have done differently? Nala slowly approached me and rubbed her head up against my leg, as if trying to comfort me.

“Well, you really fucked that one up, didn’t you?” The annoying voice of Eris came from behind me as I grit my teeth. “And I thought married couples had problems. But you? Didn’t take you for a guy to play with a girl’s heart like a cheap toy.”

“Damnit, would you shut the fuck up?!” I yelled, turning around to glare at Eris as she looked at me with a surprised look. “You honestly think I need to hear your annoying-ass voice right now?! Are you that incapable of reading the room?! No wonder Celestia and Luna turned you to stone! You don’t give a shit about how others feel!”

“That’s not fair! I’m not causing any more problems, am I?!” Eris said back to me.

“You’re my fucking problem right now!” I pointed at Eris. “And if you won’t bother to say anything that is remotely supportive for what I’m going through, then you can just fuck right off! You fucking insufferable crazy bitch!”

Eris floated there for a moment and frowned at me. I thought I saw what looked like a small tear forming in the corner of her eye, but I thought I was just seeing things.

“…fine,” Eris mumbled and hung her head. “You want me gone? Done.” She raised her hand and snapped her fingers and disappeared in a pink cloud.

I stood there and then it dawned on me how harsh I was towards Eris when she didn’t even do anything wrong. Which only made me feel even shittier.

“Fuck…I’m a moron,” I grumbled as I facepalmed. Nala’s ears drooped even more as she sat next to where I stood and meowed sadly.

Two Weeks Later

It’s been a while since I’ve been this bummed out. The only thing I had going for me was my job. Mr. Rich always checked in on me to make sure things were alright, but not even he could help with what I’m going through. My girlfriend and I are basically now on a break, one of my good friends is avoiding me, and I managed to chase off Eris so who knows where she ran off to.

Twilight and her friends could also sense that I was down in the dumps, and all tried in their own way to cheer me up. Twilight loaned me some interesting books, Rarity made some extra custom clothing free of charge, Fluttershy invited me to her cottage to help tend to her little animal friends, Rainbow challenged me to a race and to see who could the coolest aerial tricks, Applejack delivered a freshly baked apple pie, and Pinkie came at me with a literal list of her best jokes.

I appreciated how much they tried, but it all still wasn’t enough. This was all my fault and I had to figure out how to fix it, especially with Moon. Today, I was running some deliveries throughout town for Mr. Rich. Parcels, envelopes, and I later had to pick up Diamond from school. I stood in front of the post office where I handed a parcel to the local mail girl, Derpy.

“You sure you got this, Derpy?” I asked the cross-eyed girl. “Las Pegasus is pretty far, from what I’ve heard.”

“Thanks for your concern, Axel, but I got it,” Derpy said with her trademark grin. “Besides, I got some blueberry muffins for the flight.”

“If you say so,” I said as she flapped her wings and took off. “Let’s see, there should be one more envelope to drop off-…aw, crap.” The last envelope was to be delivered to Sweet Apple Acres, of all places. “Just my fuckin’ luck.” I dragged my hand down my face and sighed heavily. “Might as well… I just hope he’s still not mad at me.”

With no other choice, I made my way to the Apple Farm. I tried to walk as slowly as possible to drag on the amount of time it took to get there, but I had arrived before I knew it. The smell of apple trees and freshly grown apples tickled my nostrils as I walked down the path. I soon saw the farmhouse in the distance and saw AJ and Orion loading apples on the wagon. Blueblood was standing off to the side, hunched over, and trembling like a leaf. The guy looked like was in immense pain.

“I can’t feel my blasted back!” I heard him say out loud.

“Then grow a new spine, or quit your bitchin’,” Orion called out, rolling his eyes as he grabbed three baskets at once. His eyes caught sight of me, and he looked indifferent about my presence. “Hey Blueblood, grab the mail for me and you can have the rest of the day off.”

AJ looked at me and then back at Orion. She sneered at Orion and grabbed his ear and pulled him towards me.

“You git over here right now, mister!” AJ snapped as she yanked on his ear.

“You might as well pull off my ear while you’re at it, then I wouldn’t be able to hear any of his excuses,” Orion said, seemingly unphased by his girlfriend dragging him by his ear.

She shoved Orion next to me and snatched the letter from my hand. The farm girl stepped towards Orion and got in his face, still glaring.

“Make nice, or no fritters n’ pie fer a year, get me?” AJ threatened.

Oof, that’s low, I thought, knowing full well of Orion’s love for their apple treats.

“Fine by me, I needed to go on a diet.” Orion turned away; arms folded.

“And no more buns,” she said, confusing me, but Orion seemed to flinch.

Orion grunted as Applejack walked away. There was a brief silence between us before he talked, still turned away. “Hey.”

“Hey…” I said, sensing he was still pissed. I watched Blueblood painfully limp away while clutching his back. “He looks like an old man.”

“Eeyup,” was all Orion said while watching Blueblood limp away. He turned to a nearby tree and flicked it with his pinky making an apple drop into his hand, then took a bite out of it.

Thinking there was only one way to fix things between us, I walked around so Orion was looking at me.

“Hit me,” I said, holding my arms out. “Hard as you can, don’t hold back. I can take it.”

“And what would that accomplish?” Draco said, taking another bite out of his apple.

“Just hit me,” I said again.

“I’m not. Hitting you isn’t gonna undo your mistakes. It won’t bring back those who died, it won’t stop your alter ego from doing bad things.” Orion took two more bites from his apple.

“I hurt you, Orion,” I said. “You’re my friend, and I hurt you, betrayed your trust. I let my darker half make light of the situation and didn’t bother telling you about him back when we first met. It’s only fair you get a shot at me.”

“But hitting my friend won’t make me feel better,” Orion stated casually. “Hitting you won’t fix anything, you know.”

“I know, but you have to understand that I can’t hold Dante on leash,” I said. “He’s part of me, and in a way, he’s the only one who can help me deal with shit I’ve been harboring inside me for years. He may kill people using my body, but he’d never hurt anyone who doesn’t deserve it. I’m well aware that doesn’t justify the means, but it’s just how it is for me.”

“You make it seem like you’re okay with this. That you are willing to let him possibly ruin your life just so you can let off steam. In no way is it alright for you to kill others. What do you think those who you care about will think? And let’s not forget the more control you give him, the higher the chances he could find a way to make it permanent,” Orion stated.

“It’s not the ideal agreement, Orion, but it’s better to let him do what he wants to those that deserve it rather than let him run wild on those that don’t. Those that know? The girls and princesses? They know what Dante is capable of, and they know I’m the only one who can stop him if he gets out of hand. Bottom line is that you don’t like it, and I’m not a fan of it myself, but it’s the best we got at the moment.”

Orion shook his head and turned away. “I honestly don't know if I wanna be around when things blow up in your face.” Orion started to walk away, before stopping for a second. “You say they know what he’s capable of, but do they know what he’s doing now?”

“No…no they don’t,” I said with regret. “But the less they know, the better. One day I’ll tell them, one day they’ll find out on their own. It sounds ludicrous saying it out loud, but when the time comes, I’ll deal with it.” Orion shook his head again and started to walk away. “You’re one of the only ones I trust more than myself, Orion!” He paused for a moment. “Please…please don’t abandon me too.”

“I’m not abandoning you, but there is nothing I can do to help you if you can’t even help yourself.” With that, he was gone.

I wanted to say more, something else that could possibly change his mind, but the words failed me. I slumped against the apple wagon and pinched the bridge of my nose, cursing at myself for the shitty situation I found myself in.

“Rough week?” A voice said. I looked up to see Big Mac walking towards me.

“Rough everything, more like,” I groaned.

“Ah don’t know what’s goin’ on between you two, but Ah’m sure it’ll pass, given time,” Mac said, patting my shoulder.

“If only that were true, Mac, if only. And if you and everyone else knew the truth, you’d be seeing me differently,” I said.

“Don’t really know what ya mean by that, but Ah’m sure it ain’t that bad,” Mac said.

“I wish I had your optimism, Mac, it would’ve saved me a lot of turmoil over the years,” I said.

“Hmm,” Mac hummed, then snapped his fingers. “Ah think Ah got it. Maybe y’all can reconcile with each other at Nightmare Night.”

“Nightmare Night?” I said, glancing at Mac. “What’s that?”

“Oh, that’s right, AJ mentioned ya ain’t from ‘round here. Nightmare Night is a night of spooky stories and pranks where everybody gets really scared, but in a fun way. We dress up, give our candy, play fun games, the works. The night’s next week, and everyone’ll be together to have fun.”

“Huh, sounds a lot like Halloween,” I said to myself. “You sure this’ll help?”

“Sure Ah’m sure, hang on.” Mac turned to the farmhouse. “Hey Orion! Y’all got yer costume ready fer Nightmare Night, right?!”

“Rarity said she’d have something for me that night, not sure what, but yes, I guess!” Orion called out.

“Fair enough!” Mac said back before looking back at me. “See? Even Orion’s into it.”

I thought about his proposal and figured it was the only option I had at the moment. If this didn’t work, then might as well ask Mr. Rich for a transfer.

“If you think this’ll work, then I’ll give it a shot,” I said with a shrug.

“Great! First thing’s first, ya gotta get yerself a costume,” Mac pointed out. “It’s only right ya look the part for this event.”

Technically, I am wearing a costume in the form of real clothing, I thought to myself. “Sure, maybe Rarity could make me something.”

“Then get a move on, Ah look forward to seein’ ya on Nightmare Night,” Mac said and walked off.

Chuckling to myself, I left Sweet Apple Acres and headed for Rarity’s place.

Despite it being two weeks since the encounter between Orion and Dante, he still gave me the cold shoulder. I knew my decisions would come back to bite me, but I didn’t realize it would bite this hard. I then shook my head. There was no point in crying over spilled milk. I knew the risks when I allowed Dante to do what he wanted, and now I gotta figure out how to face them. For now, I had to find out what kind of costume I’d wear to this Nightmare Night thing. I pondered about what exactly I should wear, but nothing seemed to come to mind.

“If only the Infamous series existed in this world, I could pass off what I wear on a daily basis as a costume,” I said, nearing the boutique. I stopped walking when an idea popped in my head. I pulled out my phone and scrolled through the photo album. “Where is it…where is it…? Ah ha!” I found the photo of the photo I copied to my library and smiled. I then walked up to Rarity’s boutique and opened the door.

“Be right with you~!” I heard Rarity say in her sing-song voice. I spotted her walk around the corner with a few pins in her mouth as she levitated a dress with her magic.

“Ah! Axel! A pleasant surprise, darling!” Rarity said as she set the dress aside and approached me.

“He Rarity, how’s it going?” I asked the fashionista.

“I’m doing quite well, thank you, how was Manehatten?” She asked.

“Eh, not too bad. Hey, listen, I got a favor to ask regarding my costume for Nightmare Night,” I said.

“Ooh! How marvellous! Did you want to rent one of my custom costumes?” Rarity asked as she used her magic to open a door and a whole display of a variety of costumes came flying out. “Take your pick! I have plenty to choose from.”

“Woah, that’s a lot,” I said, then shook my head. “No, I appreciate it, but I got something else in mind. I’d like you to make this.” I showed her the image on my phone, and she arched her brow.

“Darling, not that I’m being judgmental, but are you sure this is what you wish for me to make?” Rarity asked.

“Positive, and it should be as dark and broody as it looks,” I said.

“Hmm, very well, I shall create this,” Rarity said. “Oh, and be a dear, the next time you see Orion, tell him that his costume is nearly complete.”

“I’ll…be sure to do that,” I said hesitantly and turned to leave. “Be seeing you.”

“Goodbye, Axel! I shall await Nightmare Night with great anticipation!” Rarity called out.

3rd POV
Three Weeks Later
Nightmare Night

“Come on, Orion!” Applejack said, wearing a scarecrow costume as she knocked on her room door, inside the farmhouse. “We’re gonna be late!”

“I know, it’s just…” Orion called out from the other side of the door. “I feel like this costume is a bit on the revealing side? Nothing embarrassing, mind you, but I can’t help but wonder why Rarity chose this design for my costume.”

“Aw, come on! It can’t be that bad! Now git yer butt out here!” Applejack said.

“Fine, just don’t laugh if it looks weird."” The sound of door lock clicking filled the hallway before opening. Stepping out, Orion moved into the hallway for Applejack to see. “W-well, what do you think?”

Orion wore a tank armor tunic with both gold doodles traced on his chest and red linings on his neckline and brown fasteners that hold his blue cape, brown Roman-style sandals with leg guards, brown matching belt with a gold metal coin, brown wristbands and red headband.

“Wow…” Applejack said with a purr. “Ya fit into that quite nicely, sugarcube~.”

Orion’s cheeks flushed slightly when he saw the way his girlfriend was looking at him, and by her tone. “Y-ya think so?”

“Oh yeah…” Applejack leaned up to whisper in his ear. “Bet you and I could have some fun with our imagination while yer wearin’ that~.”

Face redder than a tomato, Orion gulped loudly and looked away slightly. “Maybe when everyone goes to bed tonight.”

Applejack giggled and pulled Orion’s arm and walked down the stairs.

“Come on! I hear this year we’re gonna share spooky stories with one another!” Applejack said.

“Hey careful!” Orion gasped as he was being pulled down the stairs, his feet doing their best to not miss a step. “There won’t be any fun if I trip and break a leg.”

The two walked together and out of the Acres and were met with the bustling and decorated town of Ponyville. All the people were dressed in costumes, children were running from door-to-door asking for candy, and there were a variety of carnival games being played.

“Whew! Never gets old,” Applejack said with a smile. “Help me set up the barrels for apple bobbin’, would ya hon?”

“Oh, sure thing babe.” Orion walked over to a large wagon that had large barrels inside, each one filled with apples. Orion wasted no time lifting two of the massive barrels in each arm with ease, his muscles flexed as he carried them to the ground.

Some girls were walking past and got an eyeful of Orion’s bulging muscles and grinned at him.

“Check out the new eye candy.”

“Mmm, I wonder what he’s got hiding under that tunic?”

“Applejack’s lucky to have such a hottie like him~.”

None of these words went unheard by Orion as his ears began to burn, and he had an idea on why Rarity chose the design of his costume.

“Of course, that was her intention,” he grumbled, doing his best not to drop any barrels.

“Hello, everyone!”

Orion looked up to see Twilight and Spike join them. Twilight wore what looked like a wizard’s robe and Spike wore a dragon costume.

“Happy Nightmare Night, you two!” Twilight said.

“Howdy Spike, hey Twilight!” Applejack said. “Nice costume.”

“Thanks! I’m a dragon!” Spike said.

“She means me, Spike,” Twilight deadpanned.

“With that beard, I reckon yer some sorta country music singer,” Applejack guessed.

“Does anyone know who I am?!” Twilight groaned. “He was the most famous wizard in all the history of magic!”

“You are referring to Starswirl the Bearded,” Orion chimed in getting everyone’s attention. “What? It’s obvious by her use of pattern on her robe and beard, not to mention the accuracy of her use of the bells on the hat.”

“Finally! Someone who knows the costume!” Twilights said with a smile, then paused. “No offence, Orion, but how do you know about Starswirl? Aren’t you from Neighpan?”

“Unless he’s a book freak like you?” Spike chortled.

“Well, while I was here in your country, I visited some libraries, I read a book on key figures from magical history. Naturally, Starswirl was the first of many, there was also a picture of him inside the book,” Orion explained.

“Perhaps we can compare notes on what we both know about him?” Twilight offered, stars in her eyes.

“Easy, Twi, this stud’s taken,” Applejack teased.

“Wh-What?!” Twilight yelped, cheeks becoming pink. “N-No! I-I didn’t mean it like that!”

“Oh? Is my little applebottom jealous of the cute bookworm?” Orion teased playfully. “All because she was trying to seduce me with her librarian charm?”

“Um…guys?” Spike gulped when he pointed down the street. “Who’s that?”

All heads turned to see a figure slowly make his way towards them. The people kept their distance and were too nervous to look at him directly. The figure wore a long hooded white trench coat, white trousers, black boots, and a gray scarf around his neck that covered most of his face. Covering his eyes were a pair of welding goggles that glowed an eerie blue glow in the dark of night. Attached to his right hand was some kind of mechanism that went from his hand to his elbow and reached the middle of his chest. The chest area looked like it was also the same kind of mechanism with glowing lights on the front.

“Relax, Spike, don’t go wetting your costume for nothing, it’s just Axel in his costume,” Orion turned to continue unloading the barrels off the wagon.

“Axel?!” Everyone said as the figure stood in front of them.

He reached up and pulled down his scarf and lifted the goggles over his eyes.

“Hey guys,” Axel said.

“But I thought you said you weren’t going?!” Twilight said.

“I never said that. I said I’d come later,” Axel corrected. “It’s…Moon who’s not joining us tonight.” Axel gave his costume a spin. “What do you think? Pretty antagonistic, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Dude! That costume is awesome! What’s that on your arm and chest?” Spike asked, pointing at his arm and chest lights.

“This? It’s paper-mâché and cardboard painted over with lightbulbs taped on it,” Axel said, showing them closely. “The lightbulbs are powered on by my electricity. Diamond helped me make it.”

“Too bad the light upstairs isn’t on.” Orion grunted as he lifted four barrels at once and set them around the ground.

“Nice Hercules costume, man,” Axle said. “Rarity really made it look like from the movie.”

“Movie? What movie?” Spike wondered.

“Don’t worry about it,” Axel waved it off.

As soon as Orion set the barrels down, Applejack pulled him aside to speak with him privately.

“I don’t know what kind of beef you got with Axel lately, but it’s been a month,” Applejack lectured. “More importantly, it’s Nightmare Night. So, could ya please just put it aside just for tonight? For me?”

Orion stared at Applejack for a few moments, their eyes staying locked before he looked away. “I’ll do my best, but I won’t act all buddy-buddy with him. Sorry babe, but if you knew what I knew, you’d understand.”

Applejack glanced back at the others before she leaned in, to whisper. “It’s Dante, ain’t it?”

Orion nodded, he knew that Applejack was aware of Dante, but despite that she didn’t know the whole truth. “I can’t forgive him so easily, and if push comes to shove, I may end up fighting him should his actions affect the ones I love.”

“But Axel and Dante are two different people,” Applejack said. “At least, that’s what Ax told us. We haven’t seen much of Dante, and it’s because Ax made sure we aren’t exposed to Dante as much as possible. You obviously know somethin’ deeper is afoot, but personally? Ah’d rather not know. So long as we see Axel and only Axel, that’s fine with me. And the girls agree, what he does as Dante ain’t our concern, nor it be our business.”

“You keep overlooking the bigger picture.” Orion gestured to Axel. “What happens when Dante becomes too much, and you as well as your friends have to deal with him with the Elements of Harmony? They may be two different people, but they share only one body.”

“That may be true, but me and the girls trust Axel,” Applejack said. “He saved Ponyville from Eris, that’s good enough for me. Don’t you trust him?”

“I trust Axel fine, it’s Dante I can't afford to let my guard down. And by that extension, that now means I can’t trust Axel. You keep saying he’s two different people, but you’re wrong. No matter how many times you keep saying it, one’s actions affect the others.” Orion sighed and walked off. “You guys are just trying to not think of the consequences that may soon arise.”

Applejack wanted to argue further, but she knew Orion wouldn’t budge on the matter. She sighed and reluctantly joined the others where Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow were gathered around. The CMC, Pipsqueak, and Diamond and Silver Spoon had gathered as well.

“Big brother Axel, look!” Diamond said as she twirled around in her dress. “I’m a fairy princess!”

“That sure is a cute costume, kiddo,” Axel said with a smile.

“What about me, Axel?!” Sweetie Belle said. She wore what looked like a vampire costume. “Don’t I look cute?”

“Uh…sure?” Axel shrugged.

“Everyone!” The voice came from Mayor Johanna as she called the town’s attention. “If you would please gather around the stage, we shall start our third annual Spooky Story Contest!”

“Spooky Story Contest?” Axel repeated.

“Yeah!” Rainbow said, wearing a makeshift Wonderbolts costume. “Whoever tells the scariest story, gets a mountain of prize candy as a reward!”

The townsfolk all gathered around the stage as Mayor Johanna and her secretary, Raven, stood on stage. Mayor Johanna wore a clown costume and Raven wore a slightly revealing demon costume.

“Now then, for those of you who are new to this event, the rules are simple. Whoever makes the crowd cower in fear from the words of their story, shall win the prize of this large quantity of sweet treats!” The mayor said, pulling the curtains aside to reveal a pile of candy almost as tall as Orion and Axel. All the children, and Pinkie, drooled at the sight of it.

“Damn, you’d need a set of dentures after eating all that candy,” Axel said.

“I could lend you Granny’s?” Orion chimed in as he glanced at Axel.

“Eh, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth anyway,” Axel shrugged.

One by one, people took the stage and told their own spooky stories. Some didn’t get any reaction, others got some gasps in between, and some were actually successful in scaring some of the crowd. However, despite the attempts, there were only two who were unfazed by any of the stories told.

“Are…are these people for real?” Axel whispered to Orion. “They think these stories are scary?”

“I think the only thing scary about their stories is that they even exist.” Orion, despite his anger, seemed to respond.

“Hmm…” Axel hummed as he watched another failed attempt. “Eh, fuck it, I’ll give it a go,” Axel said as he walked towards the stage.

“I’ll go grab something then for my part.” Orion soon walked away back to the farm to grab what he needed.

Axel climbed up on stage and the crowd clapped for his appearance.

“Here’s a scenario that happens almost daily, back where I come from,” Axel said. He pulled out his phone and selected a song to play.

Axel activated Video and made digital figures appear before him. He began to rap the scenario before him as the audience watched in awe. The scene didn’t seem too bad at first, but then it started to suddenly get intense. The figures showed one of them holding another at gunpoint and was robbing the one he pointed at. The audience were clinging to each other as the scene played out. Axel’s tone got louder the more he rapped, and the music raised everyone’s anxiety. One of the figures looked like it was hiding and peered around to look at the robber. Axel made it look like the one hiding caught the attention of the robber. The cashier figure pulled out a gun of his own and aimed it at the robber. Axel’s voice got louder as the one hiding ran towards the robber and jumped on his back. There was a scuffle and the robber hit the hider in the face with his elbow. Shots were fired and the cashier fell to the ground. A second robber appeared and argued with the other robber. The second robber turned the hider over on the ground and Axel rapped that they knew each other. The audience was on the edge of their seats, none could tear their eyes away as the second robber raised his weapon to shoot the hider. Axel yelled and rapped the lyrics, a manic look in his eye as he looked like he was about to make the second robber shoot the hider. Suddenly, more gunshots rang out as the cashier shot both the robbers and they fell down dead. Everyone was silent as Axel finished the rest of the lyrics with a monotone voice and ended his performance by waving his hands and making the digital figures fade away.

“How was that?” Axel said.

“That was terrifying!” One person said.

“That’ll give me nightmares…” another said, shivering like a leaf.

“Ahem…that was quite a performance, Axel,” Mayor Johanna said, sounding unnerved. “Is there anyone else who would like to take the challenge?”

From the crowd Orion held up his hand. “I’d like to try, if that’s alright?”

“Scare the pants off ‘em, hon!” Applejack cheered.

Axel passed by Orion and gave him a thumbs up.

“Good luck, bro,” Axel said, trying to sound sincere.

Orion smiled, despite his feelings, and soon walked up on stage with two items. One was a black box with an odd-shaped nozzle, the other looked like an instrument, but like no other instrument anyone in Ponyville had ever seen. It had a roundish bottom and a long neck with strings on it, it almost looked like a violin.

“What’s that thing?” Someone asked.

“Looks like a weird-looking banjo,” another said.

“Is he gonna play that?” Someone else said.

“Ooh! A traditional Neighpanese instrument!” Twilight said with glee. “I’ve only seen these in books!”

“Yes, for those of you wondering, this is an instrument.” Holding up the odd instrument, Orion showed it for the whole crowd to see. ”This is called a sanxian. It’s a string instrument from my homeland. I was able to make my own a while ago and thought now would be as good a time as any to show it off.”

“Oh boy…I see where he’s going with this,” Axel said with a smirk.

“What do you mean?” Spike wondered.

“If Neighpan is anything like a place that has a similar name, from my world, the people there are infamous for telling some real freaky-ass stories. So you’re all in for a treat,” Axel said.

Orion pulled out a long flat guitar pic, and soon began to strum his instrument. “This is a story from my homeland, about a haunted mountain, this is a story of death and the greed of mortals. High atop the mountain there is said to be a treasure that could rival the vaults of a thousand kings, jewels, gold and only the finest clothing is said to be found within.” He strummed again, faster even.

“Clothing? That sounds lovely,” Rarity said.

“However, the trek up the mountain is said to take one whole day, but no one has even made it back past nightfall. They say the mountain is home to evil spirits and dwellers from Hell roam, who prey on the greed of anyone foolish enough to set foot on the mountain.” Orion’s voice grew cold and low as he strummed his sanxian.

The CMC and Pip began to quiver a bit and the atmosphere started to change.

“Here we go,” Axel said, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Orion looked to the crowd with a cold dead stare. As the lights around the stage began to dim, only the spotlight on him was a source of light. “I know this to be true for I had once stepped on that very mountain one summer’s night during my travels.”

The crowd gasped as they clung to his every word.

“It was the dead of night and I had lost my way while trudging through the forest, the air was warm and still, yet there was no sound as I walked. The sound of the forest was painfully silent and at the time all I could really hear was the thumping of my own heart. The sound of birds and the bugs chirping, and chattering was but a memory.” With every strum of his instrument the air almost felt like it was getting colder, as people shivered.

“As I walked, unaware of the very mountain I was on, I felt a cold breeze fill the air in my lungs, and soon a white mist crept down the mountain.” Soon a thick fog started to flood off the stage and into the crowd of people listening. “Then I heard them, howls and moans of agony and sorrow. The voice of the dead screamed and howled as their souls were forever bound to the very mountain they died on. And then I saw her.”

“Saw who?!” Pinkie yelped, hiding behind Applejack.

“Was it a monster?!” Rainbow asked, hiding behind a cloud.

“I don’t like this…” Spike gulped.

Looking up for dramatic effect, Orion strummed again. “Skin white as snow, hair long and black like a river in the dead of night. A Yuki-onna or as some would call them, a snow vampire. She stood on the other edge of a vast clearing of the mist practically hiding her body. I was absolutely terrified, a snow vampire in the middle of summer.”

“Vampire?!” Some from the crowd gasped.

“Shit, this is getting good,” Axel grinned.

“No sooner did that thought cross my mind, did an icy howl spread across the mountain.” A strong gust of wind soon blew through the stage, and the sound of Timberwolf howling from the Everfree could be heard. “My vision was engulfed by white, and the mountain was soon blanketed in white snow. My body froze in place as my breath became visible with every breath. That’s when I saw her again.”

All of the crowd was visibly shaking in fear as the story continued and the air grew colder. The children were clinging to either each other or their parents and some were beginning to cry.

“When my eyes opened once more the Yuki-onna was standing in front of me, eyes red like blood, her fangs bared and ready to sink into my flesh, and a smile the devil himself would find terrifying. No matter how much I wanted to or even tried, my body didn’t move. I couldn’t even scream my final breath.” As he weaved his tale, he played his sanxian without missing a single beat.

“Bring it home, Orion,” Axel said, enjoying the sight of how the entire crowd was absolutely terrified.

Everyone watched he strummed faster and harder, the music matching the haunting toon as the story. “I watched as she opened her mouth wider than a python ready not only to drink my blood but even devour my very soul with it. Her cold dead hands gripping my shoulders ready to end my life, and all I could do was close my eyes and wait for the end.”

“For Celestia’s sake! Make it stop!” Twilight yelped, covering her face with her hat.

“Mommy, I’m so scared!” One kid cried.

But then slowly, the lights around Orion began to glow brighter and a warmer yellow color. “But by some miracle, the sun began to rise over the mountain’s peak, and the Yuki-onna screamed in pain and soon dropped my body, fleeing back to the darkest depths of the mountain. On that day I saw the shadow of death but was spared from its cold grasp by the light of day. This is my tale, thank you.” Orion smiled and bowed.

There was a dead silence amongst the crowd for several minutes. Everyone seemed to be too scared to speak until someone began clapping. Soon more people started to clap and then the whole crowd applauded Orion while giving him praise.

“That was the most horrifying story I’ve ever heard!”

“I think I wet myself…”

“We need a stretcher! Someone just fainted!”

“I won’t be able to eat for a while, well done!”

“W-Well then,” Mayor Johanna cleared her throat and approached Orion. “Axel’s tale may have been quite scary, visually, but your tale shall be remembered long after Nightmare Night. So as a result, I hereby declare Orion the winner of tonight’s spooky story contest!”

Orion couldn’t help but smile as he was praised by everyone in town. He stood up and bowed his head to the crowd.

“Congratulations, this pile of candy is yours,” Mayor Johanna said, gesturing to the large pile of candy. Orion looked at the candy and then glanced at the children in the crowd. All the kids were drooling at the mound of sweets and got an idea.

“Well, you know, I just had a whole bunch of apples, I don’t think I could even eat one piece.” He turned to the kids and gestured to the pile of candy. “Maybe all the kids here can help me lighten the load?”

“Really?!” All the kids said.

“Dig in, kids!” Orion smiled as he let the kids have his reward.

“YAY!” The all cheered.

They all literally dove into the pile and devoured everything in sight. Even Pinkie joined the fray as she was shoveling candy in her mouth. Orion chuckled as he walked off the stage and was met with Axel waiting for him.

“You sure know how to scare people shitless, man,” Axel said with a nod and smile.

“Well, it’s just a story from home, with my own little twist at the end.” Orion smiled as he looked at the crowd of kids having the time of their life.

“Hey…listen,” Axel said. “You were right, about everything. I’m too naïve to think things will be okay with Dante doing what he pleases with the mafia, but I don’t know what to do about it. I won’t make excuses; this is a problem I need to address.” Axel looked at Orion, his eyes full of regret and desperation. “I can’t do that without my friend. So, think you can lend a hand?”

Orion stared at him for a long silent moment before looking at the kids. “If he does something that could hurt them, I won’t hesitate to fight back. Even if you two share the same body.”

“I don’t blame you,” Axel said. “Even if he’s part of me, I don’t doubt he’ll do something really fucking stupid and cause a shitstorm. If he does, you have my consent to beat the shit outta him.” Axel held out his hand to Orion. “Deal?”

Orion looked at his hand for a moment before taking it in his own and shaking it hard with a tight grip. “Alright, deal.”

“Seriously though…” Axel leaned in. “Did that shit really happen back at your homeland?”

“Who knows?” Orion smirked before walking away slowly.

Axel merely chuckled at how vague Orion was. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind alerted both adults and children to something emerging from the cloudy skies above. Two winged pegasus-men flew from the opening. However, when Axel got a better look at them, he noticed their wings weren’t feathered at all. They were webbed and resembled bat wings instead. They wore black armor that had a gothic theme to them. The one that sat in a gothic-like carriage behind them was a hooded alicorn-human, whose horn was protruding from her hood and her wings were larger than any others. With another flash of lightning, one could see a glimpse of her face and the grin present on it.

“It’s Nightmare Moon! Run!” Pinkie Pie yelled out loud as she sprinted away from the stage with the children following suite as they carried as much candy as they could. All except Pip who hid behind the curtain on stage.

The hooded woman reached up and pulled her hood off to show her face.

“Well, I’ll be,” Axel said as the woman stepped off. “If it isn’t Princess Luna!”

Author's Note

The lunar princess makes her dramatic appearance on this tense night of fright.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Tricks and Pains

Chapter 27

Luna stepped off her carriage and looked around the town. She seemed to be taking it all in as she strode past the shocked people, trying to avoid her gaze.

“She sure knows how to make an entrance,” I said to Orion.

“I think that’s something that most royals need to do,” Orion chuckled.

“Greetings Axel, Orion,” Luna said once she spotted us and approached us.

“Sup Luna, how’s it going?” I said nonchalantly with a wave, and Orion bowed to Luna.

“It is a pleasure and honor, your majesty. For what reason have you graced us this fine evening?” Orion said formally.

“My sister informed me that this night is celebrated as some sort of holiday,” Luna said, looking around. “But I am a tad confused. Why are they cowering in fear?”

“Probably because it’s called Nightmare Night and you rode in on a black chariot like that,” I said, pointing at her carriage.

“Nightmare…Night?” Luna repeated.

“I’m still new to this concept myself, but according to those who celebrate, it’s when people wear costumes and offer candy offerings to a statue of Nightmare Moon, so she doesn’t come and devour them all.” Orion smirked but pointed to me. “All though knowing Axel that's more of a turn on for him.”

“Ha ha,” I laughed sarcastically and pointed my finger at him.

Zap!

However, he didn’t react, instead he scratched the spot where I zapped him. “Hmm, I think I got bit by a bug?”

“Tch! Whatever,” I rolled my eyes. I noticed the people were still nervous of Luna, which made me groan out loud. “Hey! Did you lot forget that Luna and Nightmare Moon are two separate people now?! Luna here is not someone you gotta fear!”

“But we want to be scared!” Someone said. “It’s Nightmare Night!”

“Wha?! What?! What kind of logic is that?!” I deadpanned.

“Well didn’t everyone seem kinda happy when I scared them with my story?” Orion pointed out. “When it’s in the name of fun and harmless, getting scared is kinda thrilling.”

“Seems logical,” Luna shrugged. “By the way, Axel, where is Nightmare Moon?”

I flinched when she asked about Moon and frowned while scratching the back of my head.

“Moon’s…absent tonight,” I said.

“Absent? Why?” Luna wondered.

“Long story short, we had an argument and now we’re on a bit of a break,” I explained.

“Forgive me, but I’m unfamiliar with certain terminology,” Luna said. I looked at Orion so he could elaborate for her.

“He and Nightmare were partaking in a type of courtship. However due to unfortunate circumstances they wish to put their courting of one another on hold,” Orion said.

“Oh, I understand,” Luna said with a nod, but then frowned a little. “I’m sorry to hear that, Axel.”

“Don’t be, it’s my fault this happened anyway,” I said. “She’s back at the library where she’s safe.”

“Perhaps then we should check on her?” Luna suggested. “This is a night of celebration, yes? It’s not right for her to miss such a holiday.”

“I’m not sure,” I said, feeling precautious. “There’s some sensitive stuff going on with Moon, and I’m not sure involving her in Nightmare Night would help.”

“The main issue is the townsfolk tend to harass her, and Axel is too chicken shit to really confess his feelings to her.” Orion shrugged his shoulders while shaking his head.

“Hey! I did confess to her!” I argued.

“You say that, but did you really make her feel loved?” Orion pointed out as he turned to look at me. “How often did you kiss her, hold her hand or even tell her how beautiful she was?”

“I- well- lots of times!” I said.

Orion raised his eyebrow, something he picked up from Applejack no doubt. “Care to tell the truth?”

Knowing that I wouldn’t get anywhere by arguing and making excuses, I relented and gestured for Orion to lean his head in so I could whisper what happened.

Orion leaned back and slapped his hand to his face and dragged it down. “Oh yeah, you done fucked up.”

“That bad?” I cringed a little.

“Judging by Orion’s crude language and facial expression, it seems you’ve made a grave mistake, Mr. Rickert,” Luna said, putting her hands on her hips.

“My dear, Luna, you have no idea.” Orion gestured to me before continuing. “My friend suffers from a bad case of erectile dysfunction, for he didn’t have the testicles to lay with Moon when she desired his seed.”

“DUDE!” I barked as Luna’s face blushed heavily.

“I-I see…” Luna stammered.

“The hell’s wrong with you?!” I hissed, making a digital dagger and pointed it at his neck while I gripped his shirt. “I oughta skin you and make you into a burlap sack!”

Orion chuckled as if he wasn’t in danger at all. “Some viagra pills that Applejack gives me when she’s feeling like a long night of passion, maybe you should take some.” He grinned.

I leaned in and glared in his smug eyes.

“I will end you one day, remember that,” I said with a manic smile.

“The day you do is the day you grow a pair and give that lady a proper lovin’.” Orion laughed harder.

“Ugh!” I let go of Orion while making the dagger disappear. “You’re lucky I love ya, bro. You’re very lucky.” I shook my head with a defeated smile.

Orion patted my back before leaning in and holding out the pill. “I wasn’t joking about the viagra though, hang on to it just in case.” He grinned, placing the pill in my shirt pocket.

“Back to the matter at hand,” Luna said. “I do believe it would be best to check in on Nightmare Moon.”

“Might as well,” I shrugged. “I doubt things could get any more awkward between us.”

Orion quickly slapped me at the back of my head, making me lurch forward.

“The hell was that for?!” I snapped.

“For tempting the universe and screwing us all now,” Orion stated angrily.

I shook my head and chuckled as we made our way back to the library while everyone else was enjoying the festivities.

“How exactly am I supposed to approach Moon with this?” I wondered. “Something tells me she wouldn’t be too keen on being part of a holiday that she might interpret as being afraid of her.”

“It also has me concerned, especially since Nightmare Moon has a physical form now. Perhaps we can explain to her what Nightmare Night is truly about?” Luna said.

“And what would that be besides candy?” I asked.

Orion hummed and scratched his chin as he thought long and hard. “Well…” Both Luna and myself looked at him with curiosity. “Perhaps it would be better if I tried to talk to her. I have no connection to her, so she may not see me as someone who is patronizing her.”

“I guess that would be for the best,” I said.

“Shouldn’t I speak with her instead?” Luna said.

“No offense Luna, but I think you’d probably make things worse,” I said.

“And how would I?” Luna questioned.

“In a way, you are her sister,” Orion chimed in. “And when you saw her now flesh and blood the first time, you didn’t bother to keep her close and treat as such.” Orion pointed out as we walked. “Yes, she wanted to come out here, but did you make an effort to have her stay to try and bond with her?”

“Sister? She’s no sister of mine. If anything, she’s a liability,” Luna said.

That comment made me stop dead in my tracks. I slowly turned to with a cold gaze.

“The fuck you say…?” I sneered.

“So that’s how it is then?” Orion asked, turning to face Luna while holding up a hand to me, to let me know to stay calm. “You think you are free of your sins now that she is no longer a part of you?”

“I know what I did,” Luna said, crossing her arms. “It still weighs on me to this day, but those days are done. However, it doesn’t help that Nightmare Moon walks around on her own.”

I clenched my fist and unintentionally let small sparks crackle along my shoulders.

“…Be very careful with the next thing you say,” I warned.

“Why? Should I just accept the fact that the very reason why I fought my sister and ended up banished is just living as she should like any other citizen?!” Luna shot back. “If anything, she shouldn’t be as free as she is now.”

The electric bolts crackled a bit more as my gaze became colder.

“That’s not very careful…” I said, gritting my teeth.

Before I could lose control, Orion stepped forward in front of Luna. “Clearly you are as ignorant as I imagined.”

“Ignorant?!” Luna snapped, causing some people to turn to us. “You try spending a thousand years on the moon! Then could you still call me ignorant?!”

“Yes, I do.” Orion said sternly, standing up straight, his eyes locked with Luna’s. “You say she is the reason you and your sister fought, then banished because of her. When in reality it was because of you, and you alone.”

“Spare me the lecture!” Luna said. “You as well as everyone else knows the story, how I foolishly believed the people in days gone by favored the sun over the moon. I let my dark thoughts influence me, which only manifested into the subconscious known as Nightmare Moon!”

Orion pointed a finger in her face and smiled. “Right there! You just admitted it. You say Moon is the reason for everything going wrong, but you just admitted that because of your own dark thoughts that she was made. She was created because of your jealousy and gave her the reins.”

“So, it’s my fault?!” Luna said.

“Sure as shit sounds like it,” I said.

Orion looked at me and shook his head, before turning to Luna again. “Yes Luna, what happened in the past was your fault, I’m not gonna sugar coat it and say otherwise.” He took a step forward causing her to take two back. “She was made by you, by your emotions, to act on the thing you wanted to do. Her wants, her desires all came from you.”

“But I…she…! Am I just supposed to accept her after what’s been done?” Luna said.

Orion stood there staring, his expression neutral before speaking calmly. “No one is telling you to flat out accept her right off the bat. But does she deserve to be treated this way after suffering loneliness? She is not who you created her to be a thousand years ago. Does she not deserve a chance like you were given?”

“A chance…” Luna said, thinking on Orion’s words. “Like how my sister gave me a chance.”

Orion nodded. “However, unlike your sister you shunned her, whereas your sister welcomed you immediately. Let that settle in your mind,” Orion stated before moving past Luna, and continued to walk to the library.

I glanced back at Luna, who decided not to follow us, and followed after Orion and walked beside him.

“This close,” I said, holding my thumb and finger an inch apart. “I was this close.”

“And then what?” Orion looked at me with his own glare. “Do you honestly believe you would have gotten away with attacking her? Or not suffer some kind of retribution?” He said in a stern tone like a parent scolding their child.

“Dude, we may be on break, but I still lo…uh, care a lot about Moon,” I said.

“Good for you. Now how do you plan to do that if your ass were to be tossed in jail?” He asked, now sounding angrier.

“Um…” I looked away, knowing nothing I would say would justify the means.

He grabbed my arm and squeezed hard, making me wince. “Try thinking with this for once,” he said, tapping his finger hard against my forehead, before tugging at my arm. “And less with these. Otherwise, you’re no better than your darker half.”

We finally made it to the library and noticed that all the lights were off.

“Think she’s asleep already?” I wondered.

“I doubt it.” Orion moved to the door and looked at me. “Let me talk to her first, and please behave yourself.”

“Hey, I’m cool,” I said, holding up my hands.

Orion nodded and opened the door. The whole room was completely dark, and we saw a pretty depressing sight. Moon was sitting on the sofa and eating a big bag of candy she must’ve stashed when Twilight wasn’t looking. She was using her magic to conjure what looked like a magical physical projection of my smartphone. I once showed her how to play some of my application games. She was swiping her finger up and down and left and right, which meant she was probably playing Subway Surfer with her own magic. The poor woman’s hair was a mess, her eyes were baggy, and she wore baggy clothing like she had never left the bed.

Orion cleared his throat to make his presence known. “Good evening, Moon. If I’m not interrupting you, might I have a word?”

“Speak…” Was all Moon said, after swiping some more times and used her magic to unwrap a piece of chocolate and plop it in her mouth.

“I’m aware you are under much stress, and while I don’t know if you value my company, I’d like to offer my ear to listen to whatever troubles you,” Orion said, moving slowly towards Moon.

“What can you possibly say?” Moon said, still swiping the magic screen. “Everyone hates me, my own boyfriend neglects me, and the only comfort in this world are candy and this game I conjured up thanks to the memories I have of using Axel’s phone.”

“Tell me, Moon, how much would you say that you know of how a modern man would think?” Orion moved around so that he was in the woman’s line of sight.

“I’m a thousand years out of the loop,” Moon said, dispelling the phone projection and glancing up at Orion. She looked at me, but not with a smile. “What do you two think?”

“I wouldn’t know, I’m not from this world, remember?” I said.

“I think regardless of when or where one comes from, neither genders will ever understand one another,” Orion chuckled as he paced around. “Take us guys, do you know why we have a Y chromosome instead of two X’s?”

“Wasn’t much of a biology whiz in college, dude,” I shrugged.

“The Y chromosome contains a male-determining gene, the SRY gene, that causes testes to form in the embryo and results in development of external and internal male genitalia,” Moon said, shocking the hell out of me. “All I do is read in this library, Axel, you should try it sometime.”

“Actually, the real reason is because we make so many mistakes. Why keep asking ours, WHY!?” Orion joked as he shook his hands in the air to exaggerate.

“Eh?” We both said, tilting our heads.

“It’s true.” Orion smiled as he kept pacing around. “Why did I eat that 3-week-old rice ball? Why can’t I ever find my left boot? Why can’t I tell the girl whom I love how I feel? Why can’t I get over my past and build a better future?”

We both looked at each other as we began to understand and comprehend his words.

“The thing about most men is that we are prone to make mistakes. But we often have no idea of the mistakes we made.” He smiled as he began to turn on lights around the room. “The worst is we rarely handle fast and sudden changes well and tend to either backtrack or try and pull away when we are unsure.”

“Then why can’t these people understand that Moon isn’t evil?!” I snapped.

“You say it like it’s so simple to live and forget,” Moon said.

“Simple?” Orion asked, not at all phased. “My dear, nothing in life is simple. We may think certain things are simple, but to someone else it's the opposite.”

As Orion paced the room, he found a brush and picked it up. “For example, picking up this brush, it was simple for me to do so. However, to an ant that would be far from simple.” He walked over behind Moon and gently took some of her hair in his hands and gently brushed the parts that looked messy. “Forgiving and forgetting is simple for some, and others not so much.”

“Then what should I do?” Moon asked. I boldly walked up and sat next to her.

“Moon…I know I’m not the guy you want giving advice from, since Orion’s pretty much sounds like a therapist at this point,” I said, glancing at Orion who continued to brush Moon’s hair and nodded. “But you gotta believe me when I say that I still do care about you.”

“Then why wouldn’t you…” She glanced back at Orion before looking back at me. “Lay with me?”

“It’s just…well…” I tried putting it into words. “Back where I’m from, things work differently when it comes to people and relationships. There are specific steps we take in order to make sure we don’t make things too complicated. Steps that I obviously failed to follow.”

“I don’t know much about Axel’s world, but from what I gather there is meant to be a long courtship period. To rush to bed may be considered less an action of love, and more of a desire of lust,” Orion spoke as he gently brushed all the knots and messy strands of hair. “Is that about right, Axel?” He asked.

“Pretty much,” I nodded.

Orion had finished brushing her hair and moved to the kitchen and returned with a wet cloth. “Moon, I understand your intentions were to show the love you feel for Axel.” He began to help clean her face of any candy and dirt with the wet cloth. “But sometimes love needs time to settle, to rush it may yield the opposite results.”

“But he’s the one who neglected to show me as much affection as I attempted to,” Moon argued.

“I was pacing us,” I tried to say.

Orion looked at me and shook his head. “You are not wrong, Moon, Axel has made mistakes.” Orion had finished cleaning Moon’s face and walked back to the kitchen to place the cloth away. “He should have picked up the signs that you were clearly making visible, but due to his thick head and troubled past he doubted himself, something all men do repeatedly when suffering pain from the past.”

“I can admit that,” I said, holding my hand up.

“So where do we go from here?” Moon asked.

“That is for you two to decide. It is both of you who need to amend the bond. If you want, I can leave to give you both privacy, or have me stay to give whatever wisdom I can offer,” Orion said, moving closer to the door and waiting for our response.

“Wait,” I said, holding out my hand. “You should hear this, Orion.”

Orion turned and looked at us both. “Moon, is it okay if I stay? Axel isn’t the only one who makes the decision.”

“Of course,” Moon said.

“Moon,” I began. “I know that we didn’t get much time to fully process our relationship, and it’s obvious we rushed things.” Moon nodded, understanding my reasoning. “You’re right, I neglected you. Your feelings were hurt because of me, and I didn’t take them into consideration.” I reached out and slowly took her hand with mine. “I can’t promise you I’ll be perfect, but I can definitely try from now on.”

“I appreciate that,” Moon smiled. “I also must also offer my apologies. I acted brashly towards you and let my emotions get the better of me. I propose that we both make a promise to always hear each other out, no matter what it may be. That way, we won’t have to keep our hurt feelings inside any longer.”

“Very good.” Orion clapped his hands proudly as he moved closer. “The key to any good relationship is communication. When you take the time to talk things out you may come to realize that some things are just misunderstandings.”

Nodding his head, Orion began to pace again. “Now then, with this issue resolved we have but one other to deal with.”

“And that is?” Moon asked.

“Getting everyone off your back,” Orion said, looking at Moon. “We can’t allow them to continue bothering you.”

“I agree.” I grinned widely as I smacked my fist in my palm. “Whose ass should I kick first? Or maybe I should let Dante cook them alive?!”

Orion slowly walked up to me with a smile. He placed one hand on my shoulder and patted it.

“What?” I said.

He raised his other hand high up. “Oooooorrrrriiiiioooon…Chop!” Without any further warning he slammed it down on my head in a single chop.

“YYYEEOOOCCCHH!!” I yelled, grabbing my head and falling backwards. “Ow! Ow! Ow! Fucking ouch! That hurt like hell!”

“Do you ever try using that thing between your ears at all?!” Orion shouted louder than me, making the room shake. “If that was a joke then I should give you a double chop to try and jump start that thing you call a brain!”

“I was kidding!” I tried to say, still holding my head. “I wouldn’t actually do that! Come on! Even I have standards!”

“Well, the next time you make a joke like that again, I’ll be giving you a double chop.” Orion glared down at me clearly not amused in the slightest.

“Okay…okay, I get it,” I said, holding my head.

Meanwhile, Moon was laughing quite a lot to herself at our little display.

“You wanna join us for Nightmare Night, Moon?” I offered, standing back up.

“I appreciate the offer, but I am content with remaining here,” Moon said. “The night is still young; you should both return to the festivities.”

“Well, if that’s what you wish we will respect your decision, but please know we are here to help you whenever you need it,” Orion added while walking to the door.

“We’ll see you later, Moon,” I said, following Orion.

“Axel!” Moon walked after me and grabbed my arm. She leaned in and kissed my cheek and smiled at me. “Thank you.”

I smiled back and gave her a hug before walking out the door and shut it. Orion was waiting for me with a smug grin.

“What’re you looking at?” I asked.

"Oh nothing, just wondering if I should tell moon about the viagra pill I gave you." He smirked as he walked on.

“SHUT IT!” I barked.

As we made our way back to town, everyone was still enjoying the festivities of Nightmare Night. Something we both noticed was that Luna was nowhere to be seen, which probably meant she was somewhere else in town also enjoying Nightmare Night.

“That was probably the most emotionally exhausting experience I’ve ever had,” I said.

“Well, you didn't have to play the couple’s counselor,” Orion rolled his eyes, sounding annoyed.

“Dude, come on, I’m not good at this shit,” I said. “My parents weren’t exactly the best source of advice, or anything, when it came to this kinda stuff.”

Orion said nothing as we walked for a good while, before taking my shoulder. “You know the next time you need advice; you should call me. Because maybe you need me to be the angel on your shoulder.”

“I’ll take you up on that,” I nodded.

“Boys! Boys quick!” Applejack came running towards us and looked frantic. “Ya gotta stop Rainbow! She’s on a pranking spree!”

“So? Ain’t this one of those nights where pranks get a free pass?” I shrugged.

“Given that it’s Rainbow Dash, I think that’s the problem,” Orion said, sounding nervous.

“Aw, come on, how bad can it-?”

KA-BOOM!

The sounds of a thunderclap echoed in the air and the townsfolk were seen running away. We both spotted Rainbow in what looked like a makeshift Wonderbolts costume. She was sitting on a cloud and laughing her ass off.

“-be…” I finished my sentence.

I already knew what was coming, and I slumped my shoulders.

“Ugh…left,” I said.

I felt a slap to the back of my head and watched as Orion chased after Rainbow Dash.

I chased after Orion, and we watched Rainbow zap more poor civilians before zipping off.

“Damn, she’s zapping more people than I do!” I said as we ran.

“I get she’s having fun, but one wrong move could hurt someone,” Orion was running at max speed doing his best to keep up with the speed devil.

“Any plans on how to stop her?” I asked. “I can fly up there and try to knock her off.”

“I’m not sure, that might be a good plan and all!” Orion called back before stopping abruptly, his head looking around. “Where did she go?”

My shouting seemed to make Rainbow glance at me for a split second, making her hit the cloud at a weird angel. The cloud rang out a thunderclap, which startled the kids, but a random lightning bolt came flying out and hurdled right towards Vinyl and Octavia.

“Shit! LADIES! HIT THE DECK!” I screamed.

The bolt was too fast, at any second it was gonna hit them and I couldn’t activate Neon fast enough.

Then suddenly a body had jumped over them and took the bolt into the back. I watched in horror and surprise as the body soon fell to the ground, and I saw who it was. Orion.

“HOLY SHIT!” I screamed as I dashed over to Orion. The guy twitched every so often as I knelt down beside him. Poor guy had a massive black burn mark on his back. “Orion! Shit, shit! Hang on, bud! I’ll extract the electricity!”

I felt Orion grab my hand gently, his eyes looking glossy. “B-bring D-dash…I c-can’t…n-not much…t-time,” he said weakly.

“RAINBOW! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!” I shouted.

Rainbow gulped and flew down beside us and looked down at Orion with regret.

“O…Orion?” She said quietly.

Orion raised his hand slowly and shakily as he reached out to Dash. “D-dash…y-you…”

“I’m sorry!” Rainbow cried, falling to her knees. “I’m so sorry! It was an accident! It was just a prank!”

Orion’s breathing came in ragged breaths, as his other hand clutched his chest, his face showing a pained look. “I-I always…loovv.” Suddenly Orion’s head fell back, his eyes rolling into his skull, with his outstretched hand going limp and falling to the ground.

“NOOOOO!” Rainbow wailed.

“He’s dead, Dash…” I said grimly.

Everyone gathered around as they all saw the body of Orion lying motionless on the ground.

“You killed him, Dash,” I said glaring at the rainbow-haired girl.

“I-I didn’t! He was just-! I thought-!” Rainbow said, hyperventilating and tears streaming down her cheeks.

Suddenly almost too fast for anyone to comprehend, Orion sat up and pointed both fingers at Dash. “Gotcha bitch!”

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Rainbow snapped.

At this, Orion burst out laughing like an idiot as he rolled around on the ground.

“You’re not fuckn’ dead?!” I said, flabbergasted.

Orion was still laughing like a hyena on weed, as he clutched his sides. “Do I look dead?” He said between laughs.

“You took a goddamn lightning bolt to the back!” I said.

“Your eyes rolled in the back of your head!” Rainbow said.

“I concur!” Octavia said, finally chiming in.

“You nearly gave everyone a heart attack!” I added.

Orion shrugged his shoulders. “Must have been a dud, because I mean I did feel a sudden shock, but even when I hit the ground, I was fine. I saw this as an opportunity to teach Dash a lesson.”

I grabbed Orion by the shoulders. “How the hell did you take a lightning bolt and live?! You have a nasty-ass burn on your back to prove it!”

Orion turned to look at his back and barely saw the burn mark and touched it. “Doesn’t feel bad, heck it doesn't even hurt.” He smiled before standing up.

Suddenly, Rainbow began crying out loud like a child. Her tears were flowing from her eyes as she tried wiping them away, but to no avail.

“You jerk! You fucking jerk!” Rainbow cried. “You had me believe I killed you! I was almost scarred for life! How could you do this to me?!”

Orion moved to walk over to Dash, he moved his hands out and gently pulled her into his chest as he hugged her. “Sorry Dash, but could you have imagined had that been real? Anyone who was struck by that bolt could have died.” His hand ran through her hair as he tried to calm her down. “It’s all fun and games ‘till someone gets hurt or even worse.”

“You scared me…!” Dash whimpered, starting to calm down.

Orion hugged her and tried to calm her down. “I’m sorry, Dash, but I had to. Otherwise, you never would have seen what could have happened, had your joke gotten out of hand.”

I was glad that things were calming down and people started to disperse.

“You two okay?” I asked Octavia and Vinyl.

“We’re a tad shaken, but fine nonetheless,” Octavia said. “It’s a wonder how Orion was able to withstand such a blast.”

“Yeah…” I said, glancing at Orion. “Sure is crazy that he did.”

Orion released Rainbow and she was sniffling a little bit.

Orion pulled a handkerchief from a pocket, and gently wiped Dash's tears away. “It’s okay, look no one is hurt and now you know better.”

“Yeah…” Rainbow said, blowing her nose.

“What’s all this then?” Luna, Twilight, and Spike soon approached us, and Luna had a big bag of candy in her arm.

“Oh, hey you three, Orion just pulled a prank on Dash and now they’re reconciling.

“What was the prank?” Spike asked. “Did you get her good, Orion?”

Orion shook his head as though it was nothing. “Nah, just hit by some random bolt of lightning is all.”

“A bolt of lightning?” Twilight said. “How are you alive?!”

“That’s what we wanna know,” I said, crossing my arms.

Orion shrugged. “Like I said, it could have been a dud, making it look strong but was really weak.”

“You’re just lucky Applejack wasn’t here, otherwise she’d have your ass on a silver platter,” Rainbow quipped.

“If that’s so, what do you think she would have done to you?” Orion said with a smirk.

“Touché…” Rainbow huffed. “Still, I’m very sorry, Orion, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Orion leaned in and gave Rainbow Dash a boop on the nose. “All is forgiven,” he said with a wink.

At this, the girl blushed profusely. “W-Well I better get going! Nightmare Night’s still young!” She said before bolting off into the air.

“Smooth,” I said, elbowing Orion.

“Huh?” Orion said, looking at me with a confused look. “What do you mean smooth?”

“I saw what you did there,” I said with a smirk. “First Applejack, now Dash? Quite the swinger, aren’t ya?”

Now it was Orion’s turn to look flabbergasted. “W-what are you talking about!? I’m no such thing!" His face was bright red.

“Uh huh, sure bro,” I laughed.

“Axel, I’m serious, that wasn’t what I was doing!” He called out as I walked away still laughing.

“Help!”

Once again, a distressed voice caught out attention and we saw a couple kids running through town.

“Heh, wonder what scary prank got them?” I wondered.

“Run for your lives! Nightmare Moon attacked our daddy!” One of the kids said.

“Wait, what?!” I gasped.

“Son of a…” Orion started before both of us, began to run back to the library, Orion was zooming faster than I had seen.

I didn’t bother waiting for Twilight and the others and used Neon to sprint alongside Orion. We sped back to the library where a large crowd gathered around the entrance. Laying on his back was a fat man rubbing his jaw.

“I told you! She’s evil! She’s just waiting to pick us off one by one!” The man shouted.

“Out of the way!” I yelled, shoving past everyone. Orion and I burst into the library and looked around. “Moon?! Moon! Moon, where are you?!” We looked in all the rooms but found no trace of Moon. “Moon! Please say something!”

“WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!” Orion’s voice boomed so loud, that it even made my ears ring.

I matched Orion’s voice with anger of my own. I marched outside, with Orion following, and grabbed the far bastard’s collar.

“You fat fuck! Tell me what happened! What the fuck did you do?!” I demanded.

“What’s it look like?!” The guy said, pointing at the large bruise on his cheek and jawbone. “That evil witch attacked me and my kids! I barely managed to survive! I always knew she was evil! Since the day she came to our town!”

“You fucking prick!” I growled, then it hit me like a freight train. “It was you…” I grit my teeth as electric bolts crackled violently along my shoulders. “YOU’RE THE ASSHOLE WHO’S BEEN HARASSING MY GIRLFRIEND!”

I was about to turn this man into a roasted pig, when Orion grabbed my shoulder. I turned to him to tell him to let me have this, when I saw the look in his own eyes.

He had the same look of hate and disgust, and if looks could kill. “Let me handle this, I’m about to end this man’s career.”

“This piece of shit is the one who’s instigated the rest of the harassment Moon’s gotten from the rest of this goddamn town!” I turned back to the guy and raised my electrified hand, ready to fry him to a crisp.

“D-Demon!” He cried out, making the other gasp and cower.

“That’s all you pricks can call me these days, huh?!” I said, sounding disgusted. “Give me a reason, you son of a bitch! Why should you get to walk?!”

“Because, if you kill him, you’ll be the real villain.” Orion grabbed my hand and gently lowered it. “Besides, I have a better fate in store for him, that will make death seem like a mercy.”

…

As much as I wanted to fry this piece of shit to a charred crisp, I knew he had a point. He had me let go of my grip on the man before turning to the crowd. “Everyone, may I have your attention please!" Orion called out and the crowd began to grow quiet. “Tell me something, what makes Moon such a threat to you all?”

“She attempted to usurp the throne!”

“She threatened eternal night!”

“She’s plotting to do it again!”

“Fucking xenophobic hypocrites!” I snarled, charging up again.

Orion held up a hand to keep me from talking. “I hear you all, but there is something you’ve all glossed over.”

The crowd seemed puzzled by this and murmured amongst each other. “The thing you glossed over is that she did no such thing,” he said with confidence.

“You lie!” The fatass barked. “The witch was just pretending to be nice to us while she planned another coup! And this demon would’ve helped her bring eternal night!”

Orion turned to the pig and smiled. “Are you calling Celestia a liar now?” He asked with a smile as he pulled out a letter from his pocket. It bore the seal that belonged to Celestia herself making everyone fall silent.

“That’s Celestia’s seal,” I said, recognizing the sigil.

“That it is.” Orion smiled as he held it up for all to see. “In this letter, Celestia states the battle that took place a thousand years ago, lasted no longer than 15 minutes at best, before Nightmare Moon was sent to the moon. No one died during the whole battle. And according to Twilight and the other elements, no one died when she came back."

Orion walked along the edge of the crowd. “Moon is a separate being from Luna, who might I remind you was the real perpetrator who started this all. But she was purified by the Elements of Harmony. And Nightmare Moon is also no longer evil.” He quickly turned and pointed to the asshole. “If you want evil, turn your hate to this man here!”

All eyes turned to the man who looked around frantically. “Are you all blind?! I did you all a favor! I saved this town by driving the witch out! You should be thanking me! And you should all drive the Demon out before he unleashes his wrath on all of us!”

Orion shook his head. “How arrogant you are. Tell me everyone, if Moon is as dangerous as this man makes out to be, then why is he still alive?” He turned to the crowd still smiling. “If all that he said was true, would this man still be drawing breath before us?”

“Orion’s right,” one man said. “Axel’s no killer! You just wanted the attention!”

“If Moon wanted to kill us all she would have done so,” Orion said. “And she hasn’t, she’s suffered the abuse of this man and all like him, but hasn’t retaliated up ‘till now, and a slap is nothing when she could have killed the man.”

The entire mood of the crowd changed almost immediately, and I could see several looks of guilt and shame wash over the lot of them.

“Now they get it,” I scoffed. “Too little, too fucking late.”

“All of you should be ashamed of yourself, for you are all as guilty as this man by acting like sheep and following his lead,” Orion said before heading off to try and find Moon.

I clicked my tongue at them before following Orion. Once we were far enough away and stood on the small bridge over the river, we stopped and started contemplating what our next move would be.

“We have to think,” I said, pacing back and forth along the bridge. “We have no leads, no clues, and no way of knowing if she physically ran out of town or teleported somewhere.”

Orion paced around and tried to think, and I could see the gears turning in his head. “Let’s check the old castle.”

“Old castle?” I said, turning to him. “No, I don’t think she'd be there.”

“And you know this, how?” Orion asked.

“She once said it was a reminder of her sin against Luna and Celestia when we dreamed together,” I said. “If only there was a way to track her…”

“I believe I may be able to help.” We both turned to see Luna walk up to us with a look of concern. “Nightmare Moon has fled?”

“You gonna send a search party to hunt her down?” I accused her.

“On the contrary,” Luna said. “I have contemplated Orion’s words this night, and he is right. I have been avoiding this for too long, and it is time I confront my past and alter ego.”

“And do you plan to make peace, or seek war?” Orion asked, sounding rather concerned.

“Hopefully peace,” Luna said.

“That right?” I said, crossing my arms.

“Well then, I would imagine you have a way to find her then?” Orion asked.

“In a manner of speaking,” Luna said. “Her magic residue was all over the library, which meant she used a teleportation spell. Normally, it is next to impossible for the average unicorn-human to pinpoint the exact trajectory where the teleporter went. However, for someone such as I, an alicorn-human, I was able to gather something.”

“So where is she?” I asked.

“That is the concerning part of this situation,” Luna frowned. “She seems to have teleported to the far east, where the land of thick jungles and vast deserts reside.”

“That sounds like a great distance away. Any chance you can teleport us there?” Orion asked.

“I could, but I fear for Axel’s health,” Luna said. “We once teleported from our old castle to Canterlot with Axel, and it rendered him unconscious. You may come out fine, considering your earth pony-human heritage, but Axel is not of this world.”

“Yeah, I’d rather not risk getting torn apart or something,” I said.

“Then what are we to do? I doubt we can make it there in a day,” Orion said.

“Not tonight,” I said. “First thing tomorrow. We’ll get on the train and head to wherever this place is.”

“You should also take this,” Luna said, reaching behind her neck and took off her royal black necklace. She walked over to me and placed it in my hands. “This necklace is imbued with my magic and can act as a sort of tracking device. When the moon is high, the crescent moon you see will shine bright if ever I am near. Since Nightmare Moon and I have similar magical signatures, it should shine just the same.”

“Let’s just hope Moon is okay, we were making such good progress before.” Orion lowered his head and walked back to the barn.

“Thanks, Luna, we’ll talk more tomorrow,” I said as I put the necklace in my pocket and walked after Orion. “Orion, before we go anywhere, are you sure you wanna come with me? What about AJ? And the farm?”

Orion nodded. “I’m sure they’ll understand, plus we harvested ahead of schedule so I can afford to take some time off.”

“Damnit, why didn’t I just call it a night and stay with her?” I said, cursing myself. “If I was there, she’d still be around!”

“Well, there’s no point in crying about it now.” Orion patted my shoulder. “Just go get some sleep now, so you are rested to find her.” Orion walked away to the farm and waved goodnight.

I waved back to him and walked back to the library. I sighed and looked up at the moon with a frown.

“Moon…why?” I said to myself.

Author's Note

Sometimes when you take a step forward in the right direction, you end up taking two steps back.

Side Note:
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~WurkyWilk has left the building…

The Temple of The Vanishing Snake Part 1

Chapter 28

I wish I could say I was looking forward to seeing what else this world was about since I was gonna travel somewhere new. But unfortunately, as usual, life just had to kick me in the balls. Just when I thought Moon and I were back on good terms, thanks to Orion’s advice, some dickwad comes along to ruin it all. Now she’s run off to who the hell knows where and we gotta go find her.

It was early in the morning and the girls were following us to the train station along with Luna. My pack was secured over my shoulder, my Amp strapped to my back, and my chain wrapped around my wrist.

“And did ya remember yer extra shirt?” Applejack asked Orion yet another one of her questions before the trip.

“Yes Applejack, I made sure to pack three of them.” Orion rolled his eyes smiling as his girlfriend fussed over him.

“Are you two sure you don’t want us to come with you?” Twilight asked.

“Much as we appreciate the offer, this is a tad personal,” I said as we walked up the steps.

“I agree, this matter should be settled by Axel and Orion only,” Luna said. “Besides, the place you’re traveling to, Somnambula, is quite a ways from here.”

“You ever been, Orion?” I asked.

Orion shook his head. “No, I’ve yet to travel beyond this kingdom. Once I came here, I stopped traveling.” He smiled as he started to kiss Applejack on her freckles. “Why travel when my girlfriend is here?”

“Aw shucks, darlin’,” Applejack giggled.

“Fun fact about Somnambula, it’s named after one of the Pillars of Equestria!” Twilight chirped.

“Pillars?” I said, looking at Orion to see if he knew what she was talking about.

“Hmm, if I remember correctly, they were heroes from long ago, led by the most skilled wizard Starswirl the Bearded.” Orion explained.

“Quite right, Orion, and Starswirl was my sister’s and my teacher when we were young,” Luna said as she smiled reminiscently. She approached the ticket booth to speak with the clerk.

“Still can’t believe these people,” I grumbled. “After months of not even hurting a fly, they still thought she was a villain. Makes me wonder if we would’ve been better off moving somewhere else on day one.”

“I understand you’re upset, my friend, but it’s only natural for people to fear someone like Moon, given her past reputation,” Orion added. “Regardless, complaining about it won’t bring her back, nor will it solve past problems.”

Orion adjusted the very large backpack he had on him, which I almost was certain even had a kitchen sink inside.

“Dude, how much did you pack in there? We’re only gonna be gone for a few days. I just have a few spare shirts and an extra pair of jeans in my pack,” I said.

“Oh? Did you also pack food, or cooking utensils? Maybe money and other necessities for camping?” Orion asked, quirking a brow.

“Uh…I got plenty of money, yeah,” I said, trying to process why he’d need so much stuff when this clearly wasn’t intended to be a camping trip.

“Ugh, to think, you lack basic traveling skills.” Orion shook his head and sighed.

Applejack smirked and leaned up to whisper in Orion’s ear. I watched his eyes go wide and face turn red as Applejack leaned back and wiggled her eyebrows at him.

“Do I wanna know?” I deadpanned.

Orion’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, but no words came out. He turned to Applejack with a look of disbelief.

“T-this is a search and rescue mission, you know?” He stuttered.

“And~?” Applejack purred, twirling her finger along his chest.

“Time and place, people!” I snapped.

“Oh, well darn, looks like we’re off. Gotta go bye!” Faster than a bolt of lightning, Orion bolted away from Applejack, grabbed me by the shirt collar, and dragged me into the train.

We both plopped our butts down on the seats just as two tickets came floating in through the window, courtesy of Luna. I then reached into my pack to pull out the necklace Luna gave me the other night.

“I hope this thing works,” I said to myself.

“All aboard! Next stop, Somnambula!” The conductor called out.

“Good luck you two!” Rarity said.

“I’ll be sure to throw you a welcome back party!” Pinkie said.

“Please bring Moon home!” Twilight said.

“Be safe!” Fluttershy said.

“Ya better come back with a new one, Orion!” Applejack said as the train began to move.

“For the love of all things holy, Applejack!” Orion ducked his head down, blushing up a storm.

Soon the train picked up speed and left the station where I watched as our friends shrank into the horizon.

“Again, I ask,” I said, looking at Orion sarcastically. “Do I wanna know?”

Orion shook his head and waved the idea off. “It’s nothing, just Applejack messing with me.” Letting out a sigh, Orion placed the large backpack on the floor. He moved his legs onto the bench as he crossed them together. “I’m gonna meditate ‘till we get there.”

“You do that, I’m gonna listen to some tunes,” I said.

I pulled out my phone and earbuds and scrolled through my playlist. We both sat in silence as the train chugged along.

We’ll be there soon, Moon, just wait for us, I thought to myself.

Some Time Later

“No, I’m telling you,” I said to Orion as he looked at me like I had a third eye. “Back in my world, we have things called tvs. They can literally show you entertainment on a screen like my phone but bigger!”

“Oh please, you expect me to believe that you can watch these films, as you call them, on something that big? It’s hard enough to believe that little device can do it, but something larger is too far fetched,” Orion argued.

“You’re all just living in the old days because you got old tech like radio. I can barely restore my Video with the prehistoric ententes you got around here. But let me tell you about movies. The screens are huge! It’s how we watch movies!” I explained.

“And here we go with the made up words again,” Orion threw his hands into the air and leaned back in his seat. “Next you’ll be telling me you can travel to the moon, or fly faster than Dash.”

“Well…” I tapped my phone to my photo album to show Orion a picture of that famous astronaut on the moon.

“That looks faker than crocodile tears. I wasn’t born yesterday, you know?” Orion turned away looking less than impressed.

“Next stop! Somnambula!” The conductor announced.

We both looked out the window to see a vast valley of sand and desert. We saw a town in the distance and standing over it, to my surprise, was a friggen pyramid like the ones in Egypt!

“Is that a pyramid?!” I said.

Orione looked out the window and was equally amazed. “Oh my, they look amazing! I’ve only ever seen them in pictures from books.”

The train came to a stop and we grabbed our bags. The train doors opened and as soon as we stepped out, we were met with a massive wave of heat.

“Oof! It’s a steamer around here!” I said. I took off my jacket and tied it around my waist.

“Yes, well, this is a desert my friend, the lack of water means the air is dryer here, and that the sun shines brighter.” Orion slipped his hand into his massive pack, and pulled out a bottle before squirting a white paste out onto his hands. He rubbed them together before spreading it across his exposed skin. “Want some sunscreen?”

“I’m good,” I said. “So, where should we start looking?”

“Um…excuse me?” I turned around to see a group of young teens walk up to me, all young boys and girls.

“Can I help you?” I asked.

“Are you the Demon of Ponyville?” One of the teen girls asked.

“Ugh, even here I gotta deal with this crap-” I was about to say when she handed me a newspaper and a pen. The newspaper had me on the front page and it was about my fight with Eris.

“Can we have your autograph?” The girl said.

“Say wha?” I said.

“Seems to me that your reputation is viewed differently here.” Orion smiled as he stepped back.

“You want my autograph?” I asked, pointing to myself.

“Yes please!” The ten girl said with a wide smile, along with her friends.

“Uh…okay?” I said and took the newspaper and pen. “Who do I make it out to?”

“Sandy Rose!” The girl said. I signed the newspaper and handed it back to the girl and she pulled out her camera phone. “Thank you! Can you take a picture with us?”

“Might as well,” I shrugged as they crowded around me. “Yo Orion, can you take the pic?”

“Sure thing.” Orion took the camera and motioned for us to get together. “Alright everyone, smile now.” He said while getting ready to take the picture.

“Cheese!” The group said and I smiled as Orion took the photo.

“There we are.” Orion smiled as he handed the camera back to the teens.

“Thank you so much!” The group said and ran off.

“Well, that was something,” I said.

“I’ll say, but not all that unpleasant.” I felt Orion slap me on the back, which then caused me to fall to the ground due to his absurd strength. “Whoops.”

“Ugh, and I wonder how Applejack still has a spine,” I grumbled as I stood back up.

“You should be more worried about how I still have a pelvis,” Orion mumbled under his breath.

I pulled out the necklace from my pocket and looked at the gem. It had a faint glow to it which meant we were in the right place.

“She’s been here,” I said.

“There seems to be a town nearby.” Orion pointed to buildings far out from the tracks. “Maybe someone has seen Moon, I’m sure she’d be hard to forget.”

“Might as well,” I said and we walked over to the town.

For the next couple of hours, Orion and I begin asking the locals if they’ve seen anyone resembling Moon. To our disappointment, none of the people said they saw Moon or anyone who looked like her. It was a little unexpected to hear that no one had seen Moon around here, since it would be pretty hard to miss her. The sun was about to set now and we were standing by one of the stalls drinking water.

“How hard is it to miss a woman with large dark blue wings and hair that looks like the midnight sky?” I asked rhetorically.

“Maybe she never entered the town. It’s possible she avoided it given she wasn't exactly in a mood to talk to people,” Orion suggested after drinking a large cup of water.

“True,” I sighed, sipping my water and glanced at the bracelet again. “The gem’s still glowing, but not brighter than before.”

“That would imply that either we are moving further from her, or she’s moving away from us,” Orion noted, sounding a little worried.

“We pretty much asked all over town,” I said and stepped away from Orion while looking up to the sky. “Maybe I’d get a better vantage point if I flew up high?”

“I’ll keep asking around down here.” Orion started to go back to asking around the town.

I activated Video and made my digital wings appear. The spectacle made some people startled a little as I flapped my wings and flew up into the air. I kept flying up high in the sky. I could see the whole town from up here which could help in my search. I hovered in the air and held up the necklace. I spun slowly in the air and watched the gem keep its dim glow. I was about to make a full circle when the gem suddenly shimmered a bit brighter. I stopped and turned back to where I saw the shimmer and stopped again when I saw the shimmer. It kept its brighter glow when I looked to see it pointing towards the southeast direction.

“Hmm…maybe she went that way?” I asked myself. I looked down at the town to scan for Orion. I spotted him talking with a cloaked man and flew back down towards him.

“Hey Orion!” I called out and touched down next to him. “I think I finally got a lead.”

“Yeah, I think I found one too but I don’t think you are gonna like it, man.” Orion seemed even more worried than before.

“Why?” I asked as I deactivated my wings.

“The man I was just speaking to said he saw a woman that looks exactly like Moon,” Orion added.

“Seriously?!” I said, sounding hopeful but Orion raised his hand.

“The problem is where he saw her.” Orion pointed southeast. “According to him, in that direction is a part of the city that deals in illegal activity. From selling drugs…to people.”

“What an unfortunate coincidence,” I said, holding up the bracelet. “This thing shimmered a bit brighter when I was up in the sky and pointed it in that direction.”

“Then it really was Moon that he saw.” Shaking his head solemnly, Orion moved to slip his backpack on. “Then we should proceed with caution.”

“Hey, you sure you wanna go over there?” I asked. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re tough, but it sounds like the people who live in that part aren’t people you’d wanna mess with.”

Slipping his hands into two pockets of his bag, Orion pulled out to my very surprise, a pair of brass knuckles that he wore on each one.

“Do I look like someone to mess with?” He asked in a serious tone.

“Guess not,” I smirked. “Okay, but stick close and watch my back, and I’ll watch yours.”

Nodding, both me and Orion made our way towards the southeast part of town. “Make sure to keep a hand on your money and bracelet, I feel like we could run into pit pockets around here,” he warned.

As we approached the bad part of town, I started noticing that it lived up to Orion’s labeling. The buildings looked more run down, the most of the residents all looked shady as fuck, and some of them were giving us the side eye. The women in this part of town all wore skimpy clothing and winked at us while other women licked their lips.

“I feel like I’m in the south side of Miami Beach…” I said to myself.

“I feel like we’re being seen as someone’s next meal.” Orion shivered when he caught a woman pressing her breasts together while licking her lips as he passed by.

“Hey, big, tall, and beefy~,” a night walker sauntered up to Orion. “How’s about a night with me~? I’ll let ya use all of me to your heart’s content~.”

Orion’s face burned before he pulled out a small bag of bits and handed it to her. “Or you can take this money, go buy yourself a nice meal, and I’ll keep going this way.” Quicker than a flicker, he darted away like he had a fire lit under his butt.

“Pfft.” I chuckled and ran after him. “I think she liked you, bro.”

“Oh my naïve idiot of a friend. She wanted me for my body and money, not my heart,” he said, gently patting my back. “Besides, Celestia only knows how many men she slept with.”

“Eh, I’ve seen worse. And I’m from Florida,” I said.

“Pardon me, gentlemen?” A voice said from behind us.

We both turned to see a middle-aged man approach us with a few men following him. He had black and slightly grey hair with green eyes and a beard. He wore a pale top with a red and white polka dot cloth scarf around his neck and khaki shorts.

“Sorry pal, we ain’t interested,” I immediately said.

“Oh, I believe I may have something you might be interested in…Demon of Ponyville,” the man said in a tone that sounded sleazy and gave me bad vibes.

“I don’t think he's a fan, Ax,” Orion whispered as he never turned his eyes away from the man.

“Not everyone is,” I whispered back as we kept walking.

“Are you sure you want to walk away? Your little…usurper of a lover would be quite sad,” the man mocked.

I stopped dead in my tracks at his words. My fists clenched and I slowly looked over my shoulder to glare at the man. Sparks of electricity crackled along my shoulders as my anger began to boil.

“The fuck you say to me?” I snarled.

Orion placed a hand on my shoulder and patted me gently. “Easy Axel, let me do all the talking.”

Orion walked over to the man with a smile, and I was about to call him out, before he grabbed the man by the shirt collar and raised him up in the air, before pinning him to the wall.

“Now then, before we continue our chat I suggest you choose your words carefully,” Orion said in a calm tone.

Orion gestured to me with a thumb as he spoke. “My friend is in a killing mood, and if you’re not careful I can’t promise your life will be safe.”

Orion lowered the man down before bringing him closer to himself. “As for me, I’ll happily beat you within an inch of your life and make every second of your life an agonizing pain.” He said all this, with an honest to God smile on his face.

The guy’s men were about to pounce on Orion but the guy held his hand up to stop them. He seemed too calm even as Orion was holding onto him.

“My my, you are quite the passive aggressive one,” the guy said. “But I suggest you unhand me. If you don’t, I’ll just give a simple nod to my men and you’ll never see the girl again.”

“Fucker…!” I hissed and I unraveled my chain. “What did you do with Moon?!”

“I’m more than willing to tell you, if your friend unhands me,” the guy said to me and looked back at Orion with a confident grin. “So what’s it going to be, young man?”

Orion, though burning with rage, carefully and calmly set the man down and took a step back.

“Thank you,” the man said, dusting himself off. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Caballeron. Dr. Caballeron. I am a collector of sorts. You see, I came across the usurper just a couple of days ago. At first, I didn’t think anything of it and believed she was just some lookalike. But then my spies spotted you two stepping out of the train this afternoon. I already am aware of your battle with that dastardly Eris from the paper. Especially how the article mentioned you two were an apparent item. It then struck me that the so-called lookalike was indeed Nightmare Moon herself. So, after some careful quick planning, I decided to, shall we say, take her into custody and restrain her.”

“You’re really pushing it, pal,” I said, gritting my teeth.

Orion tried to keep me calm, while trying to do the same for himself. “Alright, Doc, you have our attention. Given your profession, I’m guessing if we wish to have our friend back, you are expecting us to get something for you. Is that what you want?”

“You must be the sharp one,” Caballeron said to Orion. “And he must be the brawn.”

“Just tell us what you want, asshole,” I sneered.

“If you must know, there’s something I require,” Caballeron said. “And I believe you, Mr. Rickert, and even you, sir, might just be the ones capable of acquiring said item.”

“You honestly think we’re gonna do what you want?” I challenged him. “How do we even know you’re not bullshitting us anyway?”

Caballeron just smirked and lifted his hand and bent two of his fingers as if signaling someone. I arched a brow until more of his men came around the corner of the building. To our utter shock, his men pulled out Moon and her hands and mouth were all bound up. One look at me and I knew she was mortified as tears leaked from her eyes. I grit my teeth as my power switched to Smoke. Usually, only small cinders and smoke trails billowed off of me whenever I activated Smoke. This time, however, flames erupted from my body as I unraveled my chain. The chain also burst into flames and my appearance seemed to surprise Caballeron and his men.

“Mother…FUCKING…COCK SUCKERS!!” I yelled. “LET HER FUCKING GO!!”

Just as I was going to try and get my girlfriend back, Orion moved a hand to chest. He winced as he was enduring the flames, but he kept his hand there regardless.

“Cool it hotshot, remember hee safety is on the line,” Orion told me.

“I would listen to your friend, Mr. Rickert,” Caballeron said.

“I’d rather burn you to a crisp, you bearded fuck!” I snapped.

“You could, but then you wouldn’t know how to take that off,” Caballeron said, pointing to what looked like a choker around Moon’s neck. It had some kind of dark purple jewel on it.

“The fuck’s that?” I demanded as the flames continued to flicker.

“This, my heated friend, is a magical suppression brace,” Caballeron said. “A highly illegal item that was blacklisted by Celestia herself. As the name suggests, it restricts all types of magic to the user. These items were once used by soldiers in the field for interrogation. However, due to some, shall we say, lingering side effects, they were considered dangerous. I managed to acquire this little beauty from a reliable source of mine.”

I was about to charge forward when Orion gave my chest a quick pound, that knocked the air out of my lungs for a second.

“Calm the hell down man, remember to think with your brain and not your muscles,” Orion warned me. Looking back Orion approached Caballeron. “Look, Doc, if you want our help and to not die a most agonizing death, I suggest trying not to antagonize my friend here. Let’s cut to the chase before someone does something they can’t take back.”

“I suppose you have a point.” Caballeron motioned his head to one of his men. The man pulled out a map and tossed it to Orion’s feet. “To the East, there lies a vast jungle that the locals sometimes hike through. I’ve heard there’s a well-known oasis within the center. But more to it, there sits an ancient structure that was once dubbed as The Temple of The Vanishing Snake. This map shows the way to that temple. According to ancient scripts that I pinched here and there, the tribe that used to live in these lands held an artifact that was said to have fallen from the sky. You two will make your way to this temple, find the ancient treasure within, and bring it to me. Do so, and you have my word she will be set free.”

Orion glanced over the map and made sure to look it over. He rolled the map up and slipped it into his pack. “So where is our insurance?” This made the men look somewhat confused. “You don’t expect us to really believe you’ll keep your word, so what insurance will you offer us?”

“Clever young man,” Caballeron said.

He pulled out something from his pocket and flicked it with his thumb over to Orion. Orion caught it and I peered over to see it was some piece of metal.

“That is one half of the key that will unlock the brace. Does that suffice?” Caballeron asked.

Orion looked at the brace on Moon and then the key, before nodding and handing it to me. “We will be on our way.” Before Orion turned he held up a finger as though he remembered something. “One last thing before we go. I think it goes without saying, but to make sure you know if you try any funny business with our friend. Because if you do there isn’t a single being on this or any other planet that will save you from us,” Orion added darkly, which shocked me for the second time today.

I decided to add to this threat and switched to Video. I swung my arms out and a digital circle surrounded me on the ground. A digital angel appeared in front of me, startling everyone, and it bent down on one knee.

“My lord, what is your command?” The angel asked.

“That woman,” I said, pointing to Moon. “You keep watch and make sure nothing happens to her. If any of these men do anything, and I mean anything, happens to her, put these shits down hard.”

“As you command, my lord,” the angel nodded and stood up.

Orion shrugged his shoulder and turned and patted me on the shoulders. “We’ll be back, so please wait for us a little longer Moon.”

I turned to walk with Orion and glanced at Moon. She looked at me with great concern and I only gave her a comforting nod before continuing on with him.

The Next Morning

“Of all the fucking things to happen, of all the shit hands played in my goddamn face, why did Moon getting kidnapped by that douchebag have to happen?!” I barked as we trudged through the dense jungle.

“Stop bitching and keep moving, I think we are nearly there,” Orion called back.

We had found the valley just before the sun rose and had made our way into the dense jungle, to search for the temple that Caballeron wanted us to find.

“Just make sure to keep your ears open and watch your step. We don’t know what’s out here,” he said.

“It’d be easier if I just used Neon to sprint through the jungle,” I said.

“And run out of power before we need it.” Orion swiped his hand to cut through some foliage like a knife. “I know your balls are in a twist but trying to think for once in your life.”

“Sorry, sorry…” I said as I pushed away some big leaves. “I’m just not used to being this stressed out. That’s what college is for.”

“When we get back, remind me to teach you how to meditate, it might help clear you mind.” A large fallen log had blocked our path, before Orion gave it a swift kick and sent it flying. “According to the map we should follow this river,” he said gesturing to a large river stream to our left.

“I never asked,” I said as we hiked along. “You said you’re from Neighpan, right? What’s it like over there?”

“It’s a place of beauty.” There was a tone of fondness in Orion's voice as we moved on. “Beautiful mountains where the tips are covered with snow in the winter. And the sakura trees are in full bloom with pink petals they fall like snow.” I heard him sigh happily as we continued onward.

“What’re the people like?” I asked. “Got any family?”

Orion halted for a moment causing me to bump into his back. He stayed silent for a while before slowly shaking his head. “No. My family was lost many years ago, I’m all that’s left now.”

“Oh…” I said and scratched the back of my head. “Sorry, man, I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

Orion turned to look at me with a smile. “Please worry not my friend. For I have made peace with their passing long ago. And I know they wouldn’t want me to dwell on the pain of their absence. Instead they would want me to live my life to the fullest, as I am now.”

“Like you are with AJ?” I said with a smile of my own.

His smile grew and nodded. “That’s right.” As we continued down the path he held up a hand to get us to stop. “Let’s take a break for a moment, I need make sure we are on the right path.”

We both sat down on the ground and Orion rummaged through his pack.

“I got another question,” I said. “Why’d you leave home in the first place? Sounds like Neighpan is pretty far from Equestria.”

“While true it is a place of beauty, I figured that I’d see the world. Learn all that I can from which books could never truly show you,” Orion added as he examined the map closely.

“That right?” I said. “What’s your cutie mark?”

At this Orion lowered the map. “I don’t have one yet.” he said casually before going back to looking the map over.

“Seriously?” I said, tilting my head. “But you’re like, no offense, my age.”

“None taken.” He lowered the map as he sighed. “I’m not just traveling to learn, but maybe one day find my cutie mark. But if I’m being truly honest, I don’t think it matters if I get one or not.”

“Huh,” I said, sounding surprised. “And here I thought it’s one of the most sought out achievements around here.”

He chuckled as he shrugged. “To some, yes, but where I came from the only thing that matters is doing things you like. If I’m having fun in life, then is a cutie mark truly all that important?”

“I’m guessing not a lot of people in Neighpan have their marks either even though they’re an adult, right?” I guessed.

“You would be correct my friend.” He nodded as he pulled out a compass from his pack, checking to make sure they were on the right path. “Some never find their cutie marks until they reach adulthood. But this isn’t an issue for anyone.” He squinted at the map and tranced his finger along it. “Weird, the river on this map seems to suddenly disappear at some point.”

“Want me to fly up top to see if I can get a clear vantage point?” I asked.

“No, I think we should just keep moving this way.” Orion pointed southeast and started walking. “Just be careful where you step, the earth around here isn't even.”

“Got it,” I nodded. We continued on the path and a thought crossed my mind. “Hey, when’re you gonna ask Rares or Shy out?” My question nearly made Orion trip over a tree root sticking out from the dirt.

After catching himself on a branch, Orion turned to look at me with a look of disbelief. “What is wrong with you people? First Applejack and…” He quickly covered his mouth as his cheeks became slightly red.

“What? They obviously like you,” I said with a shrug. “Moon told me about that joint relationship thing. It sounds like a pretty sweet deal if it means you can date more than one woman, if you’re willing to.”

For a moment he said nothing as he kept trudging onwards. “You make it sound so easy, but don’t you think rushing into a relationship has taught you anything yet my friend?”

“Touché,” I said with a slight sulk. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t ask them out on a date. Not saying you gotta be in a relationship with them from the get-go but perhaps get to know them better and see what happens?”

“Look, let’s focus on saving your girlfriend first, and then we can talk about my own relationships,” Orion said as he held the map out and walked onward.

“Hey, I’m just saying, maybe you should-OH SHIT!” I yelped when I tripped over a patch of dirt. I stumbled forward and ran into Orion and we both went toppling over and down a hill.

“Ow! Fuck! Shit! Ow! My head! My back! My dick!” I cursed as we fell down the hill like a couple of rag dolls.

As we tumbled down through some trees, we got tangled up in thick vines, before crashing into a log. But it didn’t stop there, the impact of our bodies sent us rolling along with the log, and the vines had accidentally started to tie us down to the log.

“You idiot!” Orion shouted after getting some dirt out of his mouth.

Soon the log tumbled and rolled down a hill, ‘till we suddenly found ourselves submerged in water.

The log floated back up to the surface of the water and I coughed out some water.

“I think I have a mild concussion…” I said. I looked down and felt the vines still tied around my arms. “You okay back there?”

“I swear to Celestia and Luna, when we get on dry land, I’m gonna smack you up side the head.” I heard Orion coughing equally hard.

“Hey come on, it’s not my…uh oh,” I said.

“Don’t tell me, we’re about to go over a huge waterfall?” Orion asked calmly.

“Yep…” I nodded.

“Sharp rocks at the bottom?” He asked curiously.

“Most likely,” I nodded, accepting our fate.

I didn’t hear anything from Orion for a minute before he spoke. “Bring it on,” he said calmly.

As soon as we floated over the edge, I heard Orion scream at the top of his lungs.

“OOOOOOHHHH SHIIIIIITTTT!!!” I yelled.

“BOOOOYYAAAAHHAHAHAHA!!!” Orion screamed.

My arms and legs felt like jell-o as I barely managed to crawl on the sandy shore of the river. I collapsed to my side and tried to catch my breath as Orion crawled up beside me. As soon as we had crashed down into the water, I was able to use Video to make a digital dagger to cut us out of the vines. We would’ve most likely drowned if I hadn’t conjured it up. The massive waterfall continued to crash behind us as we wheezed and coughed up water.

“Well…that sucked,” I said and coughed.

Suddenly, I felt a hard slap to the back of my head that made me lurch forward almost falling face first into the ground.

“I deserve that…” I said, holding up a finger.

“Oh trust me you are getting more for the waterfall later,” Orion said bitterly as he grabbed his backpack that drifted onto the shore next to us. When he tried to pull out the map, all he brought out was a wet and smeared piece of parchment.

“Eish…” I said and grabbed my pack. “Now what?”

Orion looked around before stopping as he tossed the map aside. “I don’t think we’ll be needing this anymore.”

“How come?” I said and turned around.

I was unprepared to see a massive ancient structure that had a statue of a snake coming up from the side. The thing had to be at least five stories tall and was covered in old branches and nature.

“Okay…that’s not ominous,” I said sarcastically.

“Well, at least they were consistent with the naming of the place,” Orion joked as he then pointed to something. “Do you see that boat there?”

We walked over to the boat and noticed there were a few supplies in it such as rope, a satchel, and what looked like climbing gear.

“Is there someone already here?” I guessed.

“Maybe Caballeron sent someone down here before? It would make sense how they had that map?” Orion asked before walking up near the entrance.

“Yeah…maybe-hey!” I ran up to Orion and stood in front of him. “First rule of adventure movies, dude?” He looked at me like he had no idea what I was on about. “Always watch where you step! If Indiana Jones has taught me anything, it’s that temples like this are sure to be chock full of booby traps!”

“Indiana who?” Orion asked before looking back at the entrance and checking out the floor.

“Look, just be mindful of the floors and walls,” I said as I pulled out my Amp. “You never know what to expect. Me especially, since this is my first time doing something like this.”

“Uh huh,” Orion said, less than amused and walked on ahead disregarding what I just said. “Hey, the door looks like it’s been opened already.”

“Guess we aren’t alone after all,” I said and we stepped inside. “Keep your head on a swivel.”

“That sounds like it would hurt.” Orion smirked as he grabbed the door and began to pull it open. The stone door opened outward.

The interior looked like what you’d expect from an ancient temple. Especially since there were statues of king cobras along the walls with flames in their mouths as torches. The walls had a vast array of old hieroglyphics that probably told a story from days gone by. We slowly walked through the corridor while glancing at the floor for any mismatched tiles.

“Call me crazy, but I think these people had a thing for snakes,” I said rhetorically.

“Really? How could you tell?” Orion said sarcastically as he tapped one of the stone cobras. “Was it the large detailed cobra statues, or the fact this temple is named The Temple of The Vanishing Snake?”

“Both,” I said back. “Twilight would probably have a field day trying to decipher these hieroglyphics.” I looked at the walls and the symbols that looked gibberish to me.

“I agree, she showed me this one series of books recently. I forgot the name of the series but it had to do with something like treasure hunting.” Orion smiled as he found himself admiring a clay pot on the ground.

We continued down the corridor and my foot kicked something that sounded metallic. I looked down and bent down to pick up something shiny. When I held it up, it was a gold coin with a picture that looked like a green snake.

“Check it out,” I said, showing Orion the coin. “Souvenir.”

“Huh, that’s odd, why would there be a gold coin in this hallway?” Orion wondered as he glanced around. “Do you think someone came through here and dropped it?”

“Who knows, it’s mine now I guess,” I shrugged and put the coin in my back pocket.

We continued further into the temple while walking up and down some small staircases. We then arrived at another corridor with angry cobras carved on each side of the walls. In their open mouths were little holes, and there were mismatched tiles on the ground.

“Booby trap,” I said.

“Hmm so it seems like you know what to do in these kinda of situations. What should we do, oh wise one?” Orion teased.

“Saw this in a movie once. See how some of the tiles are not all the same?” I said, pointing at the floor. “Don’t step on the square-shaped ones.”

“Why don’t you go ahead and go first then, since you believe you know the right way,” Orion suggested as he stepped back.

I shrugged and tiptoed on the first tile. Nothing happened and I then hopped over to the next one. I had to be careful with my hops because it literally felt like one wrong step and I’d get an ass full of darts. I glanced back at Orion and he was just staring at me. I resumed my careful steps and hops to the other side until I finally managed to clear the tiles.

“Whew! That was a doozy,” I said.

“Why didn’t you just fly over them with your digital wings?” Orion asked with a cocky smile.

I stood there as the idea hit me like a sack of bricks. I then walked over to the wall and banged my forehead against it.

“I don’t…wanna talk about it…” I grumbled. “Just get over here.”

“Well, if I'm gonna cross then I'm gonna have fun with it.” Orion smiled as he began to walk forward without paying attention to where he was stepping.

“DUDE! THE FUCK!” I yelled.

Soon arrows began to fire from the snake’s mouths. But Orion continued to smile as he began to twist and turn his body, using the moment to whip the arrows away before they could hit. He danced across the floor twisting and twirling his body as his hands acted like living snakes, smacking arrows away on the side, or grabbing them midair and throwing them away.

Within a second he was standing on the other side with me, with not a scratch on him. “Well, that was a nice warm-up.”

“I…you…how the…!” I was completely flabbergasted at what I just witnessed. I just witnessed this man who was as tall and buff as Orion dance around like a friggen ballerina across a booby trap like it was nothing.

“How the hell did you do that?!” I asked.

“As a martial artist, we need to be both strong and agile. Firm like a mountain, but ever flowing like a stream.” Orion smiled after patting my shoulder.

I nearly let go of my Amp in my hand before I adjusted my grip and sighed heavily before we continued onward.

“Any guesses what this treasure is?” I asked. “Something about it falling from the sky?”

“Well since the temple is modeled and named after a snake, maybe some kind of gold statue of a snake?” Orion suggested.

“Come on, it can’t be that obvious,” I said.

“Okay genius, what do you think it is?” Orion playfully pushed me.

“Do I look like a historian?” I said back. “I’m from Florida, dude, we’re not always savvy with this archeology shit.”

“Yeah you’re right, you do look more like a muscle bound dumbass.” Orion smirked as he examined the walls.

“Hey!” I snapped but then realized he was right. “At least I got a college diploma…”

“Was it jumping to conclusions, or was it leaping before you looked?” He quipped, still smiling.

I rolled my eyes as we continued on. The torches on the walls were more dim than the ones we saw when we walked in. I decided to make it brighter by holding up my Amp and activating Smoke. The two bars ignited with bright flames and cinders, illuminating the temple around us.

Orion glanced around and assumed a fighting stance. “We aren’t alone,” he warned.

I stopped and looked around. I waved my Amp around and stepped to one of the dim torches. Upon closer inspection, I noticed there were traces of dampness.

“Someone splashed water on these things,” I said in a serious tone.

Orion circled around so we were back to back. “Keep your eyes open, they might attack from anywhere,” Orion said.

Clink clink!

We both turned to see a ball with a fuse string attached bouncing towards us. The fuse was lit and was about to light the ball.

“Or…right now,” I said.

Orion darted forward and gave the ball a swift kick to move it away. “Duck and cover!” He shouted.

Ka-boom!

The entire corridor was filled with smoke and I couldn’t see a damn thing. I coughed a little from the sudden attack and waved my hand in front of me. I heard footsteps quickly run up to me so I had to act fast. I raised my hand and focused my power. I then began to absorb the smoke around us until it was all clear. I looked up to see a boot about to come down on my face. I barely managed to jump out of the way and swung my Amp at my attacker. The attacker jumped back with a flip and held their fists up.

“Who’s the jackass?!” I barked, holding up my Amp.

To my surprise, the attacker turned out to be a woman with wings on her back. She wore tan cargo shorts, brown hiking boots, a forest green collared shirt, and a safari hat. Her hair was black and two-toned with gray streaks and her eyes were magenta rose. The chick looked ready to knock me out as she held up her fists.

“Who the hell are you?!” I snapped.

The woman didn’t respond and unfurled her wings and flew at me to attack.

“Alright, little miss, time to calm down.” Orion moved in and grabbed the woman by the ankle and held her upside down.

The woman clicked her tongue and swung her elbow right at Orion’s crotch. Orion swung his knee forward forcing the woman to hit it hard with her elbow, making a loud popping sound.

“ARH!” The woman cried out and held her arm.

“Ooh…I heard that one,” I cringed and walked over to Orion. The woman glared at me as she held her arm painfully. “Care to tell us your name?”

“Up yours, thief!” The woman snapped

“Yeesh, and I thought I had a mouth,” I said.

“Listen ma’am, I’d rather not be the cause of another injury, so why don’t you calm down and stop attacking us,” Orion suggested while slowly setting the woman down.

“Big talk for a couple of thieves-agh!” The woman cringed and held her arm tightly.

“We’re not thieves, lady, we’re…uh…we’re adventurers!” I said confidently.

Orion knelt down and examined the woman’s arm. “Is it broken or dislocated, ma’am?” Orion asked as he tried to examine her arm.

The woman scooted away from Orion, trying to avoid him.

“He’s just trying to help, lady,” I said.

“I’d rather not associate with those who work for that con artist, Caballeron,” the woman said defiantly.

Orion and I looked at each other before looking back at the woman.

“We don’t work for that jackass,” I stated, crossing my arms.

“More like we are being blackmailed to do what he wants,” Orion added. “They are holding my friend’s girlfriend prisoner until we can bring whatever treasure here to him.”

“Girlfriend?” The woman said and looked like she was trying to piece something together. “I heard they took someone hostage, who is she?”

Orion looked at me, then back to the woman. “Who she is matters not, all you need to know is that we intend to find the treasure to get her back.”

He moved closer and gestured for him to look at her arm. “Now then, are you gonna let me examine your arm or not? It’s my fault it was hurt.”

“If what you say is true, then look me in the eye,” the woman said. “Are you thieves for your own gain, or are really here for what you say you are.”

Orion looked her in the eyes and nodded. “I, Orion swear to you, our intention is pure, and that we are not here to seek for our own gain.”

The woman’s gaze never left Orion’s for a full minute until she looked at me.

“And you?” She asked.

“Got no interest in whatever the hell he wants. All I want is to save my woman,” I said. “She’s very precious to me.”

The woman then cracked a small smile and nodded. “It seems I misjudged you, both of you,” the woman said. She raised her arm a little to Orion.

Orion nodded and gently gripped the woman’s arm, repeating the process up to her elbow. “Ah, thankfully it’s neither broken, nor dislocated. The humerus was just too hard.” Orion gently poked his fingers into her arm and twisted. “There, that should make you feel better.”

The woman moved her arm and it looked like it didn’t really hurt it in the first place.

“Woah…what did you do?” She asked.

“Is that that pressure point thing masseuses do?” I wondered.

Orion nodded and stood up, before gently helping the woman onto her feet. “That’s exactly right, if you do the presses properly you can help ease pain, or even stun your enemies.”

The woman stood up and dusted herself off.

“I guess I should introduce myself,” the woman said and held out her hand. “The name’s Daring Doo, adventurer extraordinaire.”

“Axel, Axel Rickert,” I said, shaking her hand and then sheathed my Amp.

“I’m Orion.” Orion stopped for a moment and hummed as he tapped his chin. “Your name sounds familiar, yet I can’t seem to remember why.”

“Considering my name is mentioned in a certain series of books that a good friend of mine writes,” Doo said with a smirk.

Orion snapped his fingers in what I imagine to be a revelation. “That’s right. Daring Doo is the name of the book Twilight reads.” Orion’s face then turned to a look of confusion. “Hold on…I thought those were fiction novels?”

“Not exactly,” Doo shrugged.

“Wow, fiction becomes reality,” I said. “Who’d’ve thought?”

“I know, right?” Doo said. “I guess now that we understand each other, we can maybe work together to get to the treasure.”

“And why exactly do you need it?” I asked.

“To preserve this civilization’s legacy,” Doo said and pulled out a scroll. “I’ve been searching for this temple for months. The ancient tribe from the days of old used this temple as a place to pray.”

“Weird place to pray, if you ask me,” I said, looking at the snake themed interior.

“Well, certain cultures throughout the world have many ways to worship their deities. Some pray, others offer tribute and sacrifices,” Orion said as he looked around the chamber.

“There’s something else I found while researching this temple,” Doo said. “Old scripts indicated that the tribe had a priceless artifact that they believed was a gift from the gods.”

“How’s that?” I wondered.

“They wrote that it fell from the starry sky,” Doo said.

“Fell from the sky?” Orion asked curiously. “Could it be a fallen star perhaps?”

“Yes! That’s the theory!” Doo said to Orion. “I want to preserve this artifact by bringing it to the people of Somnambula. They deserve to have a piece of their forgotten history.”

“But we need the artifact in order to get our friend back from Caballeron,” Orion pointed out.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” I said. “Let’s say we get a move on.”

With Doo with us, it certainly felt like things would be a lot easier to navigate through the temple. While we traversed through the temple, Doo told us about the many adventures she had across Equestria. Orion seemed to especially get a kick out of hearing her adventures.

“And I barely had enough time to make it out from the ruins with the Skeleton Bracelet, if not for my flying skills I picked up over the years,” Doo said.

“Well, if what you say in your stories are true, then it’s a good thing they weren’t broken like in your last book, or the book before that, and the recent one,” Orion playfully teased.

We soon entered another room that was a bit circular. At the far end of the room was a figurehead that looked like a snake’s head. The fangs were sticking straight down and looked like some kind of lever mechanism.

“Seems we’ve come across another trap,” I said.

Orion carefully moved in closer, and leaned down to examine the head’s mouth. “There are grooves along these fangs. I wager that they act as levers, but given there are two of them, I believe we can expect one to be a trap, and the other shall let us pass.”

“Let me decipher the glyphs,” Doo said and walked over to the wall to read.

“She’s an interesting one,” I said to Orion.

He nodded and smiled. “She’s quite knowledgeable, and seems to know how to fight. I imagine that is required in her line of work,” he said admirably.

“You can say that again,” I nodded. “I hope Moon’s doing okay. I swear, if they try to touch her…” I clenched my fists as small cinders flickered off my hands.

Orion placed a hand on my shoulder. “Easy, my friend, she’s perfectly safe now that you have that guardian watching her. For now let us focus on the task at hand.”

“I think I got it!” Doo said while still reading the wall. “It says to…pull the fang on the left to proceed to the path of the star!”

“Wow, she’s good,” I said. “Care to do the honors?”

“Oh no, after you,” Orion said as we walked over to the fangs. “Pull the lever, Axel.”

I nodded and grabbed the left fang and gave it a pull.

“Oh! Oh wait! I miss-read a symbol! It says to pull the-!” Doo said when a trap door opened under Orion’s feet.

Immediately, Orion fell through the trap door.

“Wrong Lever——-!!” He shouted as he disappeared out of sight.

“-right lever…” Doo finished as she sheepishly turned to face me.

“Oh shit…” I said and we both heard a splash at the bottom.

A moment later we heard snarling and grunting, feeling the ground shake as heavy splashes were made.

“Orion?!” I called out into the hole. “Dude! Are you okay?!”

“Did I kill him?!” Doo panicked.

The noises then soon stopped and we both assumed the worst. It wasn’t until a wall opened up on the other side of the room and Orion stood there with his clothes all torn up, and there was a fricken crocodile biting his ass.

“Uh…you good, bro?” I asked hesitantly.

Orion gave a swift smack to the crocodile'’s snout, and it immediately released its grip and whimpered as it ran away.

“Why would they even have that lever?” Orion asked irritably

“I’m so sorry!” Doo said. “I thought it said the left, are you okay?!”

“I’ll have to explain to Applejack why I have bite marks on my ass, that weren’t made by her, but yeah I’m fine,” Orion chuckled as he pulled an extra shirt out of his pack, and began to remove the wet and torn one.

I noticed Doo staring at Orion’s body as he stuffed his torn shirt back in his pack. Her cheeks turned a shade of pink before she quickly looked away and pulled her hat down over her face. I smirked and suppressed a chuckle as Orion put a new shirt on.

“Well, now that we know which lever not to pull, how about I pull the right one?” Orion moved to pull on the lever that was the correct one.

There was a loud clunking noise and we watched the wall with the snake head turn and reveal a pathway leading to another chamber.

“Ahem, let’s continue,” Doo said and quickly led the way to the next chamber of the temple.

Doo walked ahead of us and I hung back with Draco.

“Did you seriously wrestle that croc down there?” I asked.

“Yeah, why do you ask?” Orion asked as he rubbed his butt where the croc bit him.

“That thing had to be at least three hundred pounds! You’re strong, granted, but still! I knew guys back home who handled crocs all the time, and they didn’t even dare mess with those big bastards,” I said.

“Sheesh, that guy is strange…” I said to myself.

The next chamber had a bit of a strange layout. There was an entryway that led to another chamber on the right and another entryway that led to a separate room on the left. In between was a closed door with two separate locks that held it closed shut.

“Which way?” I asked.

“Let me see,” Doo said and read the hieroglyphics. After about a minute, she nodded her head. “Okay, I think I got it. The right entryway holds some kind of mechanism that will open the locks and the left will open the door itself.”

“Doo and I will go on the right,” I said. “Orion? Can you go on the left?”

“Very well,” Orion said as we went our separate ways.

I went with Doo through the right entryway. It was a short trek to another room that had a strange-looking pedestal in the center in the shape of another snake’s head. I looked up and the ceiling looked like it was jutting downwards.

“Weird,” I said. “Hey Orion! Did you make it?”

“Yeah, but there’s something weird about this room. My feet keep stepping on something crunchy,” Orion called out.

“Must be gravel,” I shrugged as I leaned on the sake head.

“Hmm…hang on…” Doo said when she was reading more hieroglyphics on the wall. “There’s two mechanisms?”

“Two? What do you-?” I said when she turned back to me and gasped.

“Axel! Don’t lean on that!” Doo yelped.

“Huh?” I said.

Suddenly, my arm pushed in one of the fangs in the snake’s mouth. The snake head then began to sink into the ground and large spikes from the jutted out ceiling poked out. The door leading back into the other chamber shut on its own and the ceiling began to slowly descend.

“Oh fuck…” I said.

“Orion! You have to search around for a hole in the wall that connects to ours!” Doo yelled. “There’s another lever that will-!”

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!” We heard a high pitched scream.

“What the fuck?! Orion! The hell’s wrong with you?!” I barked.

“B-b-b-b-b-BUGS!!” We heard him shout in panic.

“Bugs?! What fuckin’ bugs?!” I yelled.

“All over this room!” He shouted back.

“Orion! Forget the bugs!” Doo yelled as the ceiling descended closer and closer. “You have to find the lever in the wall!”

There was a brief silence before he called out. “I see it. What now?”

“Stick your hand in and feel for the lever!” Doo instructed.

I activated Concrete and tried to make some pillars to stop the ceiling from descending any further. I thrusted my hands upwards from the ground. My efforts proved to be fruitless because the ceiling was cracking my pillars faster than I would make them.

“There are fucking bugs in there, man, no fucking way!” Orion screeched out in panic.

“Grow a pair and do it!” I yelled, desperately trying to slow the ceiling.

We waited for a while and heard him screaming more. “Ahhhh! They’re crawling all over me! Get ‘em off! Get ‘em off!!”

“ORION!” I screamed, just as the ceiling was on top of us and I coated my arms and legs in Concrete to grab hold of it and hold it up.

“WE!! ARE GOING!! TO DIE!!!”

Author's Note

How will they be able to get out of this sticky situation?

Side Note:
So sorry this took so damn long. Life and constant procrastinations are a bitch and a half! Hopefully, this chapter and more posts from my other stories will make up for it.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

The Temple of The Vanishing Snake Part 2

Chapter 29

“Can’t you do something about this?!” Doo yelled while hiding under me.

“Can’t…fucking…hold it!” I grit my teeth as hard as I tried holding up the ceiling with Concrete.

Then suddenly the ground began to shake as we heard a scream. Without warning something burst through the wall.

“Eeeeee! Get them off, get them off!!” Orion screeched.

The crash Orion did managed to break whatever mechanism that made the ceiling go downwards. The impact was also so intense that it made me and Doo stumble back as dust kicked up everywhere in the room.

“Orion?!” I coughed, waving my hand in the air. “That you?!”

Before he said anything Orion ran through the other wall screaming like a damn banshee.

“I can feel their legs on me!!” Orion shrieked louder.

“Orion!” I yelled and me and Doo ran after him. “Fucking stop! You’re busting up everything!”

We watched as Orion busted through one more wall and led to a new hallway. When the dust settled Orion was panting and covered in green stains and some bug parts.

“I hate bugs,” Orion grumbled.

I marched up to Orion and smacked the back of his head as hard as I could.

“The fuck is wrong with you?! You trying to bring the whole goddamn temple down on us?!” I snapped.

“Next time we’ll make you face your phobia!” Orion shot back standing at full height. “Didn’t help that the lever you made me try to grab wasn’t actually in there either!”

“How the hell was I supposed to know?! This whole place is a fucking clusterfuck of fuckery!” I yelled back.

Orion shook off the dust and bug guts off his body before calming down. “Well, I don’t think it matters now, since we managed to find our way into the next passage.”

I looked around and noticed that we were standing in front of another large door. This one had carvings that looked like different kinds of animals.

“What do you suppose is in there?” I wondered.

“Only one way to find out,” Doo said. “Orion, if you would? And try not to smash it this time.”

Orion blushed but stepped up to the door and began to push it open, making the large doors creek open. The inside was a lot more intricate-looking than the other rooms. There were large columns that had different animal carvings in each corner. Sitting in the center of the room were four huge stone blocks, each one looked like the head of an animal of some kind.

“Incredible,” Doo said in awe. “The ancient tribes must’ve carved these pillars to honor the predators of the jungle.”

Orion looked around and shook his head. “Since when does a turtle count as a predator of the jungle?” Orion asked as he pointed to a large carving of a turtle.

“It’s a reptile?” I guessed with a shrug.

We all took a look around the room and tried to make heads or tails of everything. “Hey look here.” Orion called out pointing to a cylinder under the turtle carving. “This is the word for West.” The word he was talking about was just a symbol that looked almost Chinese.

“How do you know that?” I wondered

“Because that’s what it says here. See this symbol?” Orion tapped the symbol, but when he did the cylinder turned and a new symbol took its place. “Whoa, now that’s the symbol for North.”

“That’s trippy,” I said.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen symbols like these,” Doo sighed. “I was too focused on learning about their history and artifacts.”

“Guess we’ll leave this one to you, dude,” I said.

“Hmm.” Orion glanced around the room and took into account the different carvings. Then he turned his attention to the center of the room. “Hey guys check it out.”

Orion was pointing to a pedestal with four gem stones on it. There were holes where the gemstones would go, and they were each lined up with the different carvings.

“That looks complex,” I said.

“Does it work as some kind of opening mechanism?” Doo wondered.

“If it does it all ties together with these.” Orion pointed to the stone carvings before moving to the pedestal. “Hmm a red, blue, white and black gem.” He glanced back at the carvings. “A tiger, dragon, bird and turtle…could it be?”

“Could be what?” I asked.

“The four guardians of Neighpan?” Doo spoke up.

“You know about them too?” Orion asked with a smile on his face, still leaving me in the dark.

“They are four mythological creatures appearing among the Neighpan constellations, and viewed as the guardians of the four cardinal directions. These four creatures are also referred to by a variety of other names, including Four Guardians, Four Gods, and Four Auspicious Beasts,” Doo explained. “The people of Neighpan worship them as their deities.”

“Their names are Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise.” Orion then looked at everything in the room and snapped his fingers. “That’s it, that’s the puzzle.”

“Someone please fill me in…” I groaned.

“The gem stones represent the colors of the figures, and the symbols with the directions on them are what part direction each one guards. We just need to put them all in the proper order,” Orion explained.

“And how do you suppose we do that?” I asked.

“It’s simple.” Onion pointed to the dragon carving. “Go over there and turn the cylinder until I say stop.”

Not sure what I should do otherwise, I walked to the dragon carving and began to turn the cylinder.

“Stop,” Orion called out, and I did so. “That’s the symbol for East, which is where the dragon governs.”

“And the tortoise faces north?” Doo said.

“That’s right.” Orion nodded before going to the last two and turning the cylinders himself. “The tiger faces west, and the bird faces south.” The moment Orion finished turning the cylinder we heard a loud thunk. “That’s the first lock down, and now all that’s left is the gemstones.”

I followed his directions and took each of the gemstones. I walked around the room and carefully placed each one in their respective slots and took a step back. There was another loud thunk, followed by another, and the main door on the center all slowly began to open.

“Look at you, Mr. Smarty Pants,” I smirked, elbowing Orion playfully.

“Oh come on, it’s nothing. I just learned the legend while I was traveling, is all.” Orion said shyly.

“No, I agree,” Doo said, walking up to Orion with her hands behind her back. “Your knowledge is second to none, Orion, you’ve truly impressed me.”

I couldn’t help smirking as I watched his cheeks flush and scratch the back of his head. “I-I mean you’re not bad yourself, Doo, beauty, brains and strength, you’re the full package.”

Doo’s cheeks now turned a shade of pink.

“You think Doo’s a beauty, bro?” I teased.

“W-What I-I!” Orion started to stutter as his face burned hot. “L-Let’s just move on, before I say something else.”

I laughed a little as we walked through the door and Doo was twirling her hair with a smile. As we walked along the corridor, something felt off this time compared to the rest of the place. The temperature seemed colder and I got this uneasy feeling in my gut.

“Is it me, or did the atmosphere just change dramatically,” I said.

“Hmm it does feel colder in here. And the air is fresher compared to the rest of the temple. Maybe there’s an opening here?” Orion glanced around the room and quickly pointed to a hole in the ceiling. “Look.”

The room we had just stepped into was massive. It was arguably the size of a baseball stadium, and there was a single hole in the ceiling where the light shined in. In the center of the room was a small pedestal with something sitting on top. It looked like some kind of shiny rock thing that glimmered in the light. As soon as I took a step forward, something within me pulsated throughout my body. I tensed up and I found myself staring at the rock on the pedestal.

“What the…?” I mumbled.

“Something wrong, Ax?” Orion asked while he and Doo looked around the room.

“That…thing on the pedestal,” I said, slowly pointed at it.

Orion looked at the rock and seemed curious. “What? You mean the rock there?”

“I…feel something-” I said.

HHISSSSSSSSSS…

“Look out!!” Suddenly, me and Doo were tackled by Orion and sent flying back.

Doo and I hit the ground after being tackled. When we regained our senses, we both gasped at what was towering over us. A huge snake monster that was several meters tall loomed over us with huge razor sharp fangs. A purple ooze dripped from its fangs, fizzled when it hit the ground.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!” I said, grabbing my Amp and charging up.

“My guess, this has to be the guardian of the Temple of the Vanishing Serpent.” Orion added as he helped Doo to her feet. “If AJ was here, she’d would say that is one pug ugly armadilla.”

“HHHHHIIIIIIISSSSSSSSS!!” The serpent hissed loudly at us.

“Oh, you wanna go, you fugly worm?!” I yelled and charged my electricity more. “Then let’s fucking go!”

“How are you doing that?!” Doo said.

“Yeah, my friend, isn’t like your normal person.” I heard Orion joke, before seeing him lift up a massive rock, and tossing it at the snake’s body.

The rock smashed square in the Snake’s head, which only made it angrier.

“Well, that only pissed it off!” I said and was about to sprint right at the serpent. “I’ll take it from here!”

“Hold up.” I felt the back of my collar being grabbed, making me gag as I nearly choked myself. “How about you let me handle this guy?”

“Did you forget who’s the super powered Conduit?” I asked rhetorically.

“You may have super powers, but I’ve been holding back myself.” Orion smiled before looking at the massive snake creature. “Besides, this creature must have been here for well over hundreds of years, do you know what that means?”

“It’s extremely hungry and you look like a nice snack?” I asked.

“No. It means that its meat has been properly aged and could be tender.” I saw a look on Orion’s face that I’ve never once seen. Drool dripped from his mouth and he looked like he was a starving man eyeing an all you can eat buffet. “This guy is the one to be the snack.”

“WHAT?!” Both me and Doo yelped.

“Orion, you’ve officially lost it!” I barked. “First you wanna fight it, now you wanna eat it?!”

“You can’t possibly be serious?!” Doo said.

I was about to smack some sense into him, when I felt another wave of chills run down my spine. There was this ominous and almost terrifying aura coming off Orion that was telling me to stand back. Orion looked back at us with a look that could kill.

“Do you got a problem with that?” Orion asked in a low tone.

“Uh…no?” I said, taking a step back.

“SSCREEEEEEEE!!” The serpent screeched again and came in for another charge.

Orion turned and quickly picked up another rock with one hand. With a flick of his arm he sent the rock flying and stabbed the monster serpent in one of its eyes.

The serpent screeched in pain and tried slashing at us with its claws. I quickly switched to Video and summoned my wings before grabbing Doo and pulling her out of the way.

“You better know what you’re fucking getting yourself into, Orion! I don’t wanna have to tell AJ how you bit it!” I called out.

Orion just waved his hand dismissively before jumping straight at the snake. I watched in shock as he reeled his arm back and swung it on the side of the snake’s jaw, making the beast knock over and slam into one of the walls.

Another loud screech came from the serpent as it pulled itself out from the wall. It seethed at Orion and sounded like it was hocking up something before spitting its venom. Guessing the attack was coming, Orion had jumped behind a large rock, and while it did block the venmo, it also began to melt away some of the rock.

“Shit…that was close,” I said.

“Aren’t you going to help him?” Doo asked.

“I would, but he insisted on it,” I said as the serpent readied its claws in the air. “And my gut’s telling me it’d be best not to interfere.”

As the snake launched his claws hand at Orion, he didn’t dodge but instead planted his feet into the ground. The arm struck him, but he grabbed onto it and was pushed along the ground. I watched as it dragged his body along the floor, before he grabbed one of the fingers and twisted it hard enough that a loud crack echoed inside the room.

“Holy shit!” I yelled. “How the fuck is he doing that?!”

“You’ve never seen him do this?” Doo asked.

“Well, I knew he was strong, but I didn’t know he was capable of this,” I said in awe.

The serpent roared in pain loosening its grip on Orion, enough that he could slip out and run along its arm.

“Let’s try this out.” Once he was close enough he jumped to the front of the snake’s face.

“Three Fold! Ren Kugi Panchi!”

Orion slammed his fist into the snake’s forehead and I watched as its head slammed into the wall three times as three loud booms went off.

The multi-impact punch once again sent the serpent flying into the wall. Now I could tell the serpent was beyond pissed off as venom oozed like a faucet out of its mouth. Like a rabid animal, the serpent thrashed its body everywhere as it came charging at full speed towards Orion.

Orion didn’t move, instead he raised his hands out before slowly bringing them together, his palms touching. “I give my humble thanks for the vast bounty this world provides.”

The aura around Orion became much more intense, and for a sliver of a second it looked like a red demon loomed over him.

Suddenly, I heard the clanking of metal as he scraped his hands together. “Now, let’s eat.”

When the snake’s jaw came within a few inches of Orion’s body, he calmly side stepped before stabbing one hand into the side of the snake’s head.

“FORK!!”

The snake wailed in pain as his hand pierced its head, before Orion raised his other arm up high, closing his fingers together and bringing it down.

“KNIFE!!”

In one single swipe, Orion decapitated the snake’s head ending its screams of agony.

I was at a loss for words. How the hell could I even fathom what I had just witnessed? This guy, a seemingly harmless, yet strong as hell, guy just butchered a giant snake monster. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen or would see. Orion stood among the serpent’s corpse and clapped his hands together.

“Thank you for this meal.” Orion bowed his head, before turning to me and Doo with a goofy smile. “Who’s hungry?”

Doo and I were still at a loss for words. We slowly walked over to Orion as he examined the corpse and occasionally wiped his mouth of drool.

“Jeezus, dude, that was fucking epic as hell,” I said, still catching my breath.

“Ah, well, it wasn’t all that,” Orion chuckled as he kicked the head far away. “But hey, would you mind if I ate some of the meat right now? I’d be disrespectful if I didn’t try and eat what I killed.”

“Uh…yeah go for it,” I said. “Is that even edible?”

“I’m pretty sure it is, and even if it tastes horrible, I must eat some of the meat. I kill what I intend to eat. And I only eat what I kill. This is the law my people once followed.” There was a look of sorrow on Orion’s face. “Before it was considered taboo.”

Doo walked up to Orion and looked at him straight in his eyes.

“How did you do that?” She then proceeded to pat Orion’s body all over. “Do you have some kind of physical enhancement potion? Or maybe someone cast a spell on you?”

Orion said nothing at first, but instead he moved to a pile of rocks and pulled out two that were flat and high enough for us to sit on. “Take a seat, this will be a bit of a story.”

Doo and I sat down. He then sliced off a big slab of meat and carried it in the middle. He looked at me as if expecting me to do something, and I just rolled my eyes and snapped my fingers to light a flame in the middle.

“Thanks.” He smiled as he stabbed the meat onto a stick and placed it near the fire. “To pony-humans here, eating meat isn’t a sin, nor is it frowned upon.” His smile slowly disappeared. “But in my village, which is secluded from the world, it is forbidden.”

“Forbidden?” Doo said.

He nodded as he turned the meat. “Long ago there was a mighty warrior named Acacia the Glutton.. He had a love for eating as well as fighting.”

Orion turned his gaze upwards deep in thought. “They say he made a deal with a demon to give his clan a powerful ability. By devouring the flesh of a beast you’ve slain, you shall inherit their strength along with your own.”

“Woah…that’s kinda cool,” I said.

“You would think, but you are wrong,” Orion said coldly. “At first, he hunted down strong beasts to consume so he may inherit their strength, power which he used to fend off invaders.”

Orion then stared into the fire. “But making a deal with a demon comes with a price. With every beast Acacia ate, the more he grew more powerful, but he began to crave power. When no beast or warrior could satisfy his hunger, he turned to the only ones who could.” The wood in the fire cracked and snapped. “His own family.”

“Jeezus,” I said as I scratched the back of my head.

“So what happened?” Doo asked.

“Those who had inherited the same ability fought him, hoping to put him down, as he tried to fill a belly that could never be full.” Orion turned the meat one last time, the skin cooked on one. “It took nearly the whole clan to finally slay the once noble warrior. And it was decided that in order to prevent anyone else from becoming power hungry like him, we were to never consume the flesh of a beast again.”

“Then…why’re you eating this snake thing?” I asked. “Wouldn’t you be in the same boat?”

“Well, yes, I would be. As for the reason I’m eating meat, it’s also a part of the curse. We often craved meat and were often tempted to consume it. Of course we found a meat free substitute to eat that helped with our cravings.” Orion moved the meat away from the fire and let it cool. “But you see, one day while I was foraging with my family, there were two massive boars who had attacked us, and we hadn't any weapons to use. We ran away from it hoping to escape, but then suddenly the earth began to shake, and rocks from the mountains began to slide down.”

“Earthquake?” I guessed.

Orion nodded. “I was buried under some of the rocks that fell down the mountain, while my family was stuck under a boulder. One of the boars had managed to dodge the falling rocks and was about to kill them.”

Orion was clenching his hands as he seemed agitated. “There was nothing I could do but watch. At least, that is, when I saw that the body of the second boar was right next to me and already dead. I knew of the legend and that if I ate some of its meat I could save them. But I would also mean being banished.”

“Oh, Orion…” Doo said with a frown, and I also knew what happened next.

“I ate as much meat as I could, and felt the power surging in me. I broke out of the rocks and attacked the boar.” He sighed and some tears leaked from his eyes. “After I killed the last boar and brought my family home, the elders told me I was to leave and never return. I was given supplies and sent off on my way.”

“So that’s why,” I said. “You’re not naturally strong, you’re strong because of this curse thing.”

He nodded and whipped his tears away. “I decided rather than sulk and let myself wallow in sadness, I’d explore the world, learning all that I could and eating new things.”

His smile slowly returned. “Along the way, I learned many languages, and tried different kinds of food, making friends along the way. Until eventually my travels brought me to a little town.”

“Why didn’t you tell me, man?” I said, sounding sympathetic. “It’s not like I’d turn you away. I mean, sure, it’s still a little freaky after seeing you mop the floor with this serpent monster, but you’re still you. More so, you’re still my friend.”

“I’m not sure. Maybe because I didn’t want to really think about it. Or that I wanted to start fresh.” Orion pulled three plates out from his back and cut the slab of meat into three steaks. “Do you guys want to try it with me?”

Doo and I looked at each other and felt less disturbed about eating the serpent’s meat.

“Sure man, thanks,” I said as we both took a plate.

“Thank you, and thank you for sharing your story with us,” doo said.

Orion nodded and then held up the steak he cut for himself. And I won't lie, now looking at it in the light it actually looked good. “Just get a load of that marbling.” Orion tilted his head back and opened his mouth.

Like a snake himself he was able to fit the whole thing into his mouth and began chewing. He chewed for a few seconds before swallowing, and then became still.

“That’s…one way to eat,” I said and picked up my piece with both hands and held it like a burger.

I hesitated for a moment but took a bite anyway. Doo followed suit and took a small bite. We all froze altogether once we took that bite. We said nothing as we let the flavor of the meat fill our mouths.

“Oh my…” Doo said.

“This is…this is…!” I said.

“DELICIOUS!” All three of us yelled together.

“The meat is juicy and tender, with every bite glorious meat juice floods your mouth!” Orion shouted with vigor and joy.

“Damn! This trounces any steak I’ve had before!” I said as I took another big bite.

“I’ve never had anything so savory!” Doo said as she gobbled hers down.

Suddenly Orion jumped to his feet and took a few steps away from the fire hugging his body. It looked like he was in pain.

“Dude, you good? You get a stomach ache?” I asked out of concern.

Then I watched as his body began to pulse and grow a few inches. His muscles bulged and grew, arms and legs became more toned.

“Aaahh yeah, that's what I’m talking about!” Orion cheered.

“Woah! That’s nuts!” I said. “How’d you do that?”

“Oh…wow…” Doo mumbled, blushing like a fool.

Orion clothes ripped in certain areas as he grew and took a moment to adjust to his new body. “I guess the snake was stronger than I thought. This is part of the curse I mentioned.”

“Sheesh, I wonder what AJ will think when she sees you like this?” I said, with a playful smirk.

He blushed and didn’t say anything as he grabbed a small box from his pack. “Well, we certainly don’t want to leave all this meat behind. Good thing Twilight gave me this bad boy.”

“What’s that thing do?” I asked after taking another bite.

“It’s a storage box. See Twilight wanted to help Applejack and Big Mac, by making it easier to store and transport large amounts of apples.” He pushed a button on the box and tossed it. Soon a large gate opened and Orion began to start pushing in the snake’s body inside. “Problem is, it’s only a prototype and can only keep the food inside fresh for about 3 to 5 days. Afterwards it will start to age and eventually spoil.”

“Now where the hell was something like that back home?” I asked as Orion shoved the last of the snake’s body in the portal.

“It looks quite handy,” Doo said. “If I had one, I’d be able to store different artifacts.”

“Well, as I said, this is a prototype, so maybe when we can get this thing working properly, we might be able to mass produce them,” Orion smiled as he pushed the button on the portal and the box compressed and closed.

“I guess now all that’s left is what we came here for,” I said, looking back at the rock on the pedestal. Once again, my body tensed up again. “…there’s no way.”

“You tensed up earlier, something wrong?” Orion asked as he and Doo walked up to me.

I tuned out what Orion said and automatically walked towards the pedestal. The tense feeling inside me grew more intense the closer I walked towards it.

“Axel?” Doo called out as she and Orion followed me.

“Welp despite times!” I heard Orion shout, before suddenly feeling intense pain in my crotch as Orion kicked me between the legs.

“YEOWCH!” I yelled and fell to my knees. “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!”

“Well, you weren’t responding, and you looked like you were possessed.” Orion shrugged. “I thought you were under some spell from the treasure.”

“It’s…because…of fucking…that!” I grit my teeth, pointing at the rock.

“The artifact?” Doo said.

“So you were being mind controlled?” Orion asked as he helped me onto my feet, and I still held onto my crotch.

“No! There’s just…something about it,” I said, and we stood around the rock. The tense feeling was now more intense than ever. “I…I’ve felt this feeling before.”

“Well, I don’t feel anything.” Orion added as he carefully picked up the rock and examined it. “Is this really a treasure?”

“Lemme see that,” I said and Orion handed it to me.

“Be careful, that’s thousands of years old,” Doo said.

I examined the rock and the tense feeling was still there. I couldn’t wrap my head around why this rock made me feel this way. This feeling in my chest, I know I felt it somewhere before. The more I examined it, the more I felt the impulse to give it just a little bit of a jolt. I then ever so slightly shocked the rock with a bit of electricity. Suddenly, the rock flashed brightly, causing us to wince from the light.

“What the?! Where did that light come from?!” Doo said.

“Are you alright?!” Orion grabbed me by the shoulders and looked me over frantically. “Did that thing do something to you?!”

“No. Fucking. Way.” Was all I said with my eyes glued to the rock.

“If you don’t start talking, I’m gonna kick you in the balls again man,” Orion said as he reeled his back leg.

“Doo, I gotta be real with you,” I said. “I gotta smash this thing.”

“What?! Absolutely not!” Doo said, trying to take it from me. “After all we’ve been through?! And you just wanna smash it?!”

“Listen! Both of you! I don’t think this is the treasure!” I said, making them pause.

Orion seemed to be the first to understand and moved a hand to keep Doo away. “Let’s listen to him, I think he’s right and we have enough evidence to see that.”

“Think about it,” I said. “We just ran into a monster supposedly guarding the treasure, which for some reason was just standing in the middle of this room. I mean, what kind of ancient tribe does that with their most sacred artifact? This thing is just bait, and that snake was just here to kill anyone dumb enough to try and take it. Meanwhile, the real treasure is still undiscovered.”

“Actually that’s not even bait.” Orion stepped in and pointed to the hole in the ceiling. “That hole wasn’t built in, it looked like something smashed through.”

Orion then moved his finger in a straight line to the pedestal where the object was found. “Axel is right, that this isn’t the treasure. Besides, there is nothing snake-like about this thing. This is called the Temple of the Vanishing Snake after all.”

“Then what the heck is that?” Doo asked. “And why would the ancient tribe go through all this trouble to hide the real treasure?”

“That answer can only be given by Axel.” Orion looked at me and gestured for me to continue.

I nodded and looked down at the rock in my hand. If this thing was what I thought it was, there’s no telling the possibilities that would come with it. I raised the rock up in the air and smashed it on the pedestal. As I had thought, there was a large crack in it. I raised it up and smashed it on the pedestal again, and again, and again until the shell broke into pieces. Orion and Doo watched in awe as the pieces crumbled away and revealed a glowing jagged stone. It pulsated with power as I held it in my hand.

“As I thought…” I said in disbelief. “It’s a mother fucking Blast Core!”

“A what?” Orion asked curiously as he looked at the shards.

“A Blast Core!” I said. “It’s the main power source a Conduit needs in order to gain more power!” I said. “I’ve only found one of these things back when I fought Eris.”

“Does that mean you’re stronger now?” Orion asked as he picked up one of the now dull shards.

“I can absorb it, yeah,” I nodded, but then hesitated again. “Wait, shit, I almost forgot about Moon.”

“Remember, this isn't the real treasure.” Orion calmed me down by patting my shoulder, before looking around. “If this was the room where the guardian was in, then there should be a door that leads to the real treasure.”

“But this still doesn’t make any sense,” I said, still gazing at the Blast Core in my hand. “This is the second Blast Core in this world I’ve found, and it pretty much should be impossible for something like this to be here.” I looked at Doo. “Where did you say that ancient tribe found this?”

“Well, according to their ancient scripts, it’s said to have fallen from the stars. So…I guess it was some kind of meteorite?” Doo guessed. “They’re known as the Pieces of Star.”

“Hold up, pieces? Plural?” I said, starting to sound anxious. “You’re saying there’s more of these things?!”

“I think you guys are still not paying any attention,” Orion said, sounding annoyed. “This isn’t the treasure that the ancient tribe was talking about.”

He pointed back to the ceiling hole. “That thing came here not too long ago, and isn’t meant to be here. No, the real treasure is here.”

Orion walked to a massive boulder and with one swift swipe of his leg, kicked it out of the way revealing two stone doors with snakes on them.

“Woah…” I said as I stuffed the Blast Core in my pack. “Great find, dude.”

“What do you suppose is back there?” Doo asked.

“Maybe another snake monster?” I guessed.

“Only one way to find out.” Orion moved to push hard against the stone door, causing dust and dirt to fall from the wall.

With a good strong push Orion was able to fully open the door to reveal a massive room with a giant snake statue in the center of the room. We walked towards the statue and it was a king cobra. It was coiled around itself as it stared at us with a glare.

“That’s ominous,” I said.

We noticed there were other items in the room such as scrolls, jars, and old-looking boxes in the corner. Curiously, I went over to one of the boxes and opened one. To my surprise, the box was filled with gold coins and gemstones.

“Oh, hell yeah! Jackpot, baby!” I grinned.

“Hmmm.” As me and Doo were loading up our pockets, Orion moved to examine the statue. “Guys, did you find anything snake related?”

“Not necessarily,” Doo said, reading one of the scrolls. “Fascinating. These are the old chieftain’s personal logs!”

“Then those aren’t the real treasures either.” I turned to see Orion running his hands along the snake statue. He moved his head to look in the mouth and pulled it out. “Now, what could this be for?”

I saw Orion grab one of the fangs and pull on it, which was followed by the sound of stone scraping. “Hey guys come check this out!” He called out to us.

“Dude!” I said after stuffing more gold coins in my pack. “Don’t you remember the last time we pulled the lever?”

He didn’t respond, instead he moved his hand to the snake’s eye, and was trying to pull something out.

“This could be the very treasure that we need,” he said. He gave a few more hard tugs before finally pulling something out, before suddenly disappearing!

“Orion?!” We both yelped and looked around frantically.

“What what? Why are you two screaming?” We heard Orion’s voice.

We both flinched and kept looking around.

“Uh…Orion?” I called out.

“Yes?” We heard his voice again. “Seriously, what’s up with you two? You’re acting like I’m not standing in front of you.”

“You’re invisible!” Doo blurted out.

“We can’t see you at all, man!” I added.

“Huh, really? But can you feel me?” Suddenly without warning I felt a stinging slap to my face and shouted in pain. “Yep, you can feel me.”

“Asshole!” I snapped.

“Orion, please…” Doo sighed.

“Okay okay, hang on let me try something.” There was a brief silence before suddenly Orion reappeared. “Well, that worked.”

“How’d you do that?” I asked. “Is this another cool trick you can do thanks to your curse?”

“Nope, I think that would be because of this thing.” Orion held out his hand to reveal a stone octagonal with a green snake etched into it.

Doo and I looked at the strange stone.

“Creepy little thing,” I said.

“Oh my stars! I get it!” Doo suddenly yelled. “That’s why this place is called The Temple of the Vanishing Snake! It’s because of that talisman! And look at this!” Doo pulled out one of the ancient scrolls. “The old chieftain wrote that he used to go by a nickname among the tribes. And guess what it was?”

“The Vanishing Snake?” I guessed.

“Correct! This temple was named after the old chieftain!” Doo said.

Orion examined the little talisman which was around the size of a golf ball, before looking at Doo. “Didn’t the legend say something about multiple stars?”

“Think these talisman things are the stars?” I guessed.

“It’s quite possible,” Doo nodded. “I read there’s at least twelve of them in total.”

“That’s a lot,” I commented. “But what about this Blast Core? How did it get here?”

“You mentioned once before these were items from the game your character was based on.” Orion added. “Maybe when you came into this world, they did too?”

“But how would-” I stopped mid sentence when a realization hit me. “…the Merchant.”

“Well, whether that is true or not, we’ll never really know. But what we do know is that there are eleven more of these.” Orion flipped the talisman like a coin before catching it. “Speaking of which, this little guy might actually be the key to getting Moon back.”

“How do you figure?” Doo wondered.

“Let’s face it, even if we do give the gold saying it’s the treasure, there’s no guarantee Caballeron won’t try and pull a fast one on us.” Orion smirked as he clenched the talisman and disappeared again. “But if I’m invisible, I can get the drop on him.”

“I got something to add to that,” I said, holding up the Blast Core. “We can use this as a decoy.” Me saying that made Orion reappear and look at me warily.

“Why not use the actual gold? We don’t want to piss him off before I can actually do something.” Orion added.

“I think that might work,” Doo said. “True, gold and precious jewels might work any other day with Caballeron, but he’s after something specific from the temple. He knows about the Pieces of Star, but he doesn’t seem like he knows what they look like.”

Orion sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “Fine by me. When we get to him, we will make up some story that I died, that way he won't be suspicious of my absence.”

“I also got the perfect signal,” I said with a smirk. “Just be ready for a major light show, got it?”

“Alright, just remember we still need the other key to unlock the collar.” Orion smiled as we all made our way out of the temple.

As we made for the exit, I looked down at the Blast Core in my hand. So many questions addled my mind about its origin, but all possible explanations led back to the Merchant.

“Just how did he do it?” I mumbled. “And…are there more out there?”

A Long Trek Later

We had finally managed to make it back to Somnambula and were headed towards the lower district to rendezvous with Caballeron. Before we set foot back in town, we stopped to go over the plan.

“Everyone set?” I said.

“Yep.” Whispered Orion, already invisible.

“Are you sure about this, Doo?” I asked after binding her hands with Smoke behind her back.

“Trust me, it’ll be more convincing if you go to him with me as a prisoner. You’ll get in his good side way easier,” Doo said.

“And here I thought you were just being kinky.” Orion joked, even in a serious situation.

Doo blushed heavily and looked away. I remembered where Orion’s voice came from and swatted his invisible head with my hand.

“Ouch, hey don’t get mad at me. Besides now when you and Moon are back together, you can do the same with her, I’m sure she’ll be into it.” He teased again and I tried to swat him harder but he must have already left to get into position.

“Ass…” I said and grabbed Doo’s arm. “Alright, let’s go.”

We both walked through the bad side of town. I tried to make myself look like I had lost my best friend, so I narrowed my brows and grit my teeth. Doo noticed my expression, but played it off as like I was in mourning. I caught sight of Caballeron’s goons standing over by a bar. He saw us and his eyebrows raised when he saw Doo.

“The Tartarus is this?” The goon said. “You caught Doo?”

“She tried to take what I found,” I snarled. “Take me to your boss. Now.”

“Look kid, I don’t-” the thug said, but I cut him off when I let sparks fly off my shoulders.

“I’m not in the fucking mood, jackass,” I hissed.

The thug gulped and nodded as he waved his hand to follow him. I walked behind him and he didn’t bother looking back at me or Doo. The thug led us to a more secluded part of town where there was barely anyone around. We arrived at another run-down bar where the smug bastard was having a drink when we walked inside. Sitting across from him at the table was Moon, still tied up and gagged. When she saw me, there was a glint of joy in her eyes as she tried to say something but couldn’t due to the tape over her mouth.

“Ah! Mr. Rickert,” Caballeron said to me and then noticed Doo. “And Daring Doo? How unexpected.”

“You owe me more than Moon’s freedom, fuckface,” I sneered.

“Oh? And why is that?” Caballeron scoffed.

“You failed to mention that temple was a mother fucking death trap!” I shouted. “I had to watch my best friend get torn apart by those fucking traps!”

Moon gasped at my statement as tears welled up in her eyes. Meanwhile, the fucker just stared at me and glanced around.

“Hmm…it would seem I underestimated the precariousness of the temple,” Caballeron said. “My condolences.”

I felt a tap on my shoulder which told me that Orion was inside the bar with me, and I could hear his footsteps faintly.

“Did you get the treasure?” Caballeron asked bluntly.

“You monster…” Doo said. “You don’t even care! Do you only care about yourself?!”

“I care about results, Ms. Doo,” Caballeron said dismissively. “Now, unless you want your little lady here to meet a similar fate as your late friend, show me what you found.”

It took every once in a while to not jump at this prick and skewer him alive. I just clenched my teeth and pulled out the Blast Core from my pack. The sight of the Blast Core made Caballeron and his goons stare at it in awe of its glow. Caballeron even rose from his seat and approached me.

“Magnificent!” Caballeron gasped. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“Hey, prick!” I said, bringing him out of his stupor. “The other piece of the key! Now!”

Caballeron’s men were about to try and jump me for the Blast Core but Caballeron held his hand up.

“I’m a man of my word, Mr. Rickert,” Caballeron said as he pulled out the other half of the key from his jacket. He flicked it to me and I caught it in my hand. “Now, the treasure.” I stared at Caballeron and then started to laugh a little. “And what’s so funny?”

“What’s funny? What’s funny is that you’re dumber than I gave you credit for,” I said. “And now you’re gonna see just how badly you fucked up for messing with my woman.”

I heard Moon gasp and suddenly disappeared, meaning Orion had managed to grab her. I felt the key in my hand get taken and heard the door open and close. Moon was now safe and Orion was no doubt undoing the collar.

I released Doo and held onto the Blast Core with both hands.

“What are you all doing?!” Caballeron shouted. “Kill him!”

“HOLD ONTO YOUR ASSES!” I yelled and poured my power into the Blast Core.

Similar to what happened last time, the Blast Core reacted to my power and I began floating a little above the ground while blinding lights shined everywhere. Large lighting bolts sparked in frenzy, then thick smoke trails and flame cinders whipped around, then bright fluorescent neon lights lit up, then large chunks of concrete stone circled around me as smaller shards enveloped my arms and hands, and then waves of digital energy swirled around my body. Finishing up my display, my digital wings appeared on my back and glowed brighter than usual.

“HHHHEEEEEEELLLLLLL YYYYYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!” I screamed.

Then Orion came crashing through one of the walls, some of Caballeron’s goons knocked out as he dragged them inside. “Did I miss the butt whooping yet?”

I dropped to the floor and exhaled deeply. The Blast Core in my hands dimmed until its glow snuffed out and crumbled into small pieces of rubble.

“What…what have you done?!” Caballeron demanded. “What the fuck was that?! What are you?!”

I grinned and stood up straight. Power coursed through me as I stared at Caballeron with a heated fury of wanting to beat the crap out of him.

“You fucked up, big time,” I said with a grin.

Caballeron growled at me and pulled something else out of his pocket. It looked like some kind of handheld radio as he held it up to his mouth.

“I’ll give 100 Gs to whoever can bring me his head!” Caballeron said.

“Looks like they’re playing our song." Orion cracked his knuckles as he charged in, and knocked over a group of goons like a set of bowling pins.

Suddenly, the windows crashed and six individuals jumped in. They were each armed with various bladed weapons and held them against us.

“Let’s see how you handle members of the Black Blade assassin guild!” Caballeron boasted.

“Never a dull moment, huh?” I said before unraveling my chain and pulling out my Amp. I summoned two digital swords and stood back to back with Orion. “Ready to dance, bro?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve been waiting for this!” I watched as Orion started to take three of the new fighters with his bare hands, deflecting their blades before they could cut him.

The other three fighters came at me and I jumped out of the way from their swipes. I was so much more focused than before and I could deflect their attacks with precise timing.

Orion wasn’t having any trouble with these so-called elite assassins, as he weaved around each of their attacks. “Man, these guys really put the ass in assassins, huh bro?”

“Totally,” I said and jumped up to knee one in the face. I used the momentum of my jump to slash the other’s arm, making his drop his weapon. The other one tried to throw multiple throwing knives at me but I slashed them away with my swords.

“I sure hope Cabadick got a discount when he hired them.” Orion spin kicked one assassin out of the building while catching the blade of the other with his hands, and quickly snapping it. Orion ducked the third one’s dagger when he tried stabbing Orion’s eye before he headbutted the assassin right in the nose.

“Me too, so are you gonna bring back a gift for AJ?” I asked as I leaned back to dodge an attack and deflected another stab from my opponents. I stomped on one of their feet hard and boddycheked him like a hockey player.

“Yeah, actually, now that you mentioned it.” Orion threw his fist back punching one of Caballeron’s goons that tried to sneak up on him. “I saw this really cool jewelry shop the first day here. Maybe I’ll buy her something pretty.”

“A ring, perhaps?” I teased and headbutted one of the assassins and slashed a goon across his chest, but not enough to kill him.

“I’ll buy her one, when you decide to finally buy a condom for Moon.” Orion shot back as he picked up the last assassin and began to spin him around in the air like a top while standing over the other two with his foot pressing down on them.

I rolled my eyes and slashed my swords at the same time at the assassins. They tried to block with their blades but were pushed back against the wall. Seizing the opportunity while they were dazed, and swung my sword again to the side and launched multiple smaller swords at them. The swords embedded themselves in the wall and pinned them there, forcing them to stay in place.

“Not gonna lie, I’m a little disappointed,” I sighed as I deactivated Video. “Was hoping to bust out some new powered up moves thanks to that Blast Core.”

“Well what did you expect from the discount assassins?” Orion asked as he chucked the last assassin out the window, before walking over to grab a fleeing Caballeron by the shirt collar. “Now quit messing around, we got to deal with this guy.”

Before Orion could react, I pushed Caballeron away from Orion and slammed him into the wall while grabbing onto his neck. I started choking him as a rush of anger and hate surged through me. This fucker dared to make Moon cry and scare her, and he had the balls to think he was gonna get off scot free.

“I should crush your fucking throat in…!” I snarled.

“Do that and I’ll deliver a full power kick to your balls.” Orion said, cutting me off as he delivered a string chop to my head.

“Shut up!” I said, ignoring the pain in my head. “This motherfucker made Moon scared! He dangled her right in front of me like she was a cheap doll! He didn’t give a shit what happened to us in that temple! He’s nothing but a scumbag who takes and takes without any regard who he hurts along the way!”

“Gak! S-Spare me!” Caballeron begged as he gasped for air.

“And by murdering him, I would have to end up putting you to a stop. Did you forget that even though I’m your friend, I still won’t let you do anything your alter ego would do?” I felt Orion’s hand on my shoulder and turned to see a calm look on his face. “You are better than that, and shouldn’t risk your freedom for him. Think about Moon.”

“He TOOK her from me when I searched for her!” I yelled in his face.

“And now she’s back, safe and unharmed. Now ask yourself this.” Orion never raised his voice to match mine. “Are you gonna push Moon away so that something like this can happen again?”

I stared at Orion as he stared back. I knew he was right, and I also knew this guy would just keep stealing and causing more harm if I let him walk.

…

I grit my teeth as hard as I could before throwing Caballeron to the side and onto the floor. He gasped for air and looked up at me as I glared daggers at him.

“Fuck off, while I’m still allowing it,” I growled.

Caballeron nodded and scampered off with his tail between his legs.

“I’m proud of you bro.” I felt his hand rubbing my back as he led me outside. “I know that had to be hard for you, but you did it right.”

I said nothing as we made our way out of the bar. The spare goons who were waiting outside had long since bailed and Moon was hiding behind a flipped over table. When she peered out from behind and saw us, she quickly stood up to walk over to meet us halfway.

“Oh thank the stars! I was so worried that things got too out of hand!” Moon said as I dropped my Amp and chain. “I’m glad to see you both safe. But why would you risk so-oof!”

I interrupted her by wrapping my arms around her and held her close. The scent of her hair soothed me as I felt her arms slowly wrap around me as well.

“I’m…I’m sorry…” I said with a guilty tone. “I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?” Moon asked. “I’m the one who ran away.”

“They drove you away,” I said. “But I wasn’t there to stand up for you.”

“Why do you need to stand up for me?” Moon asked. “I’m nothing but a burden…”

“No you’re not!” I snapped, grabbing her shoulders and looking her in the eye. “You’re the most kind, caring, and selfless woman I know! You’re not what they say you are! It’s on them for not letting go of the past!”

Moon’s eyes welled up with tears. “You…you don’t know what I’ve done. The atrocities I committed while I was in the darkness.”

“That was then!” I said, still gripping her shoulders. “Who and what you are now is what matters. What you choose to do and say now especially matters. If you want to show them you’re not who and what you were, then just acknowledge it and move on. It shows them that you’re not letting your past define you.” I glanced at Orion. “I’m right, right?”

Orion nodded as he walked next to us. “We shouldn’t allow our past to weigh us down, rather we should learn from it so that we never repeat the same mistakes again. Live in the now and back then.” Orion smiled before clearing his throat. “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.” As he turned I felt him give my butt a gentle kick that pushed us together, causing me and Moon to kiss.

We were both surprised when we kissed but Moon leaned in and wrapped her arms around my neck. I held her waist and returned the favor before we separated.

“I’m gonna kick his ass later,” I said, making her giggle.

“Shut up and kiss me like you mean it, you silly stubborn man,” Moon said and I obliged her request.

I kissed her again as fireworks erupted in my heart. I was finally with the woman I loved and my feelings for her actually felt genuine this time. When we separated, I leaned my forehead against hers as we gazed into each other’s eyes.

“I love you, Moon,” I said softly. “Don’t ever forget that.”

“And I love you too, Axel,” Moon said with a teary smile. “I won’t forget for as long as I live.”

We stayed together for a few moments before separating, and preparing to go home. When I turned I saw Orion standing next to Darning.

“So um, what will you do now, Ms. Doo?” He asked Doo curiously.

“Hmm, well I suppose I should be taking that artifact now,” Doo said, looking at Orion.

“Actually, why don’t you let Orion hold onto it?” I suggested.

“Excuse me?” Doo said.

“If I may.” Orion piped up. “I’m certain that it would be safer in our hands. As you’ve seen, it’d be a challenge for anyone to steal this from us.” Orion said, holding the talisman. “And you know there are eleven more out there.” I saw a noticeable blush on his cheeks as he asked his next question. “Perhaps you’ll consider coming back to Ponyville to do some research with me…I mean us. Yeah, us.” He became flustered, making me snort a little.

Doo also blushed and glanced away.

“I’m…flattered with the offer, truly I am,” Doo said. “But I must continue my journey on my own. If what those hieroglyphics said was true, and there’s a bunch more of these talismans out there, then I need to track them down as soon as possible.” Doo then surprised all of us by standing on her tiptoes and pecking Orion on the cheek as her blush deepened. “But, if we were to cross paths again, I’d love to compare notes.”

The blush on Orion’s cheeks glowed so bright, he’d give Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer a run for his money. “I’d like that. I hope that if you ever need help you’ll look us up.” He smiled.

“Count on it,” Doo said and looked at me. “Thank you for helping me, both of you. I’ll still consider this expedition a success in my book.”

“Glad to hear it, Doo,” I said, when a thought occurred to me. “Hey Doo, Orion, can I ask you both for a favor?”

“What is it?” Doo asked.

“And why do you need both of us to help exactly?” Orion asked, just as curious.

“I’m not sure if you’ll find anything, but I’d like you both to look into finding Blast Cores for me,” I said.

“The glowing rock we found?” Doo asked and I nodded. “How do you know there would be more out there?”

“Call it a hunch,” I said, dodging the question. “Let’s just say they’re as important as the talismans.”

“Hmm, well, I highly doubt we’ll find them in any legends or stories from the past.” Orion quickly added. “The Blast Cores seemed to have shown up only because of you. The best we can do is keep an ear out if someone sees anything similar to what we found already.”

“Whatever helps,” I said. I can’t let them fall into the wrong hands. These people have no idea what they’re capable of. I thought.

“It appears it’s time for me to head off,” Doo said as she took a step back. “You two make sure you get home safe, okay?”

“Good luck out there, Doo,” I said to the adventurer.

Doo waved at us and winked at Orion before running off. I glanced at Orion and noticed he had a love struck expression all over his face.

“Something fancy your eye, Orion?” Moon teased.

“I think he’s got a little crush on our new adventurer friend,” I added.

“Bite me.” Orion turned away with a blush and grabbed his pack. “Now then, let’s hurry and head home, I’m sure everyone is waiting for us.”

“Is there another tavern we can stop by for a moment?” Moon asked as she looked down at her hands. “I think I touched something grimy on that table I hid behind. I’d like to wash my hands.”

I was gonna suggest pulling out a bottle of water from the pack, when suddenly Orion pulled out a literal kitchen sink out from his pack. “Oh, you can wash your hands with this.”

Moon and I stared at Orion like he was a nut job.

“Dude…a fuckn’ sink?” I deadpanned. “You literally packed a freaking sink in that thing?!”

“It’s…bizarre how you’ve managed to fit something like that in there,” Moon said.

“Bizarre is an understatement, sweetie,” I said to Moon.

“What?” Orion shrugged. “Big Mac said I should be prepared for any kind of situation.”

“You took that too literally, man,” I said.

“Is it even operable?” Moon wondered.

“Don’t encourage him!” I said.

“Don’t be hating just because I came more prepared than you.” Orion teased as he pulled out a towel for Moon to use.

“Um…thank you, Orion,” Moon said and one of the handles, and water actually poured out of the faucet.

“Orion, you’re a weird one, you know that?” I sighed.

“Hey, you want weird? Try spending the day with Pinkie, you ain’t seen nothing yet.” Orion laughed and we started to head home after Moon had finished washing her hands.

“Touché…” I said with a laugh.

Two Weeks Later

Our return home was a pleasant one as we greatly anticipated our arrival. Moon and I were on better terms than before and I felt like I understood Orion a bit more after learning about his history. The welcome back party Pinkie threw for us was as fun and enjoyable as she could’ve possibly made it. I was admittedly still a bit hesitant coming back with Moon but Orion assured me that it was best to just bite the bullet and face the assholes who drove her away. To my own surprise, tons of people from the party expressed their sincere apologies to Moon for treating her so horribly. Guess Orion’s words struck them all deeper than I thought.

Nowadays, the people of Ponyville no longer looked at Moon with a sideways glance. Instead, whenever she was out and about in town, they greeted her with a friendly smile. What’s even more amazing is that Celestia and Luna came to visit Ponyville and offer their own apology for misjudging Moon. They said they would no longer be cautious of her, and even offered to spend time with her some days.

One day, while Orion, Moon, and I were chilling at the library, Twilight came bursting in, holding a book in her hand.

“Axel! Orion! Why didn’t you tell me?!” Twilight yelped.

“Tell you what, Twilight?” Orion asked as we both looked at each other, confused.

Twilight held up a book in front of us and the cover had Daring Doo, me, and Orion on the cover.

“That you met A. K. Yearling, and she put you two in her new book?!” Twilight said.

“Woah, woah, woah, what’s this?” I said, taking the book. “And who’s A. K. Yearling? We only met Doo.”

Twilight’s jaw went slack. “Daring Doo is real?!”

It took me, Moon, and Orion a moment to connect the dots and we all glanced at each other knowingly.

“Best keep it on the down low, all things considered,” I whispered to Orion.

“Yeah alright, just let me handle this.” Orion whispered back before looking at the ever eager Twilight. “Um, you see, we bumped into her while rescuing Moon. She didn’t tell us her name, only that she was out doing research for her new book.”

“What kind of research puts you two in her book and on the cover?!” Twilight demanded.

“Um, well you see, she kind of shadowed us when we met the fiend who had captured Moon.” Neither I nor Moon and Orion told the others about who we met as Doo had asked us to keep it a secret. “It’s possible our adventure gave her the idea for this book.”

Twilight stared at Orion and glanced at us.

“It’s true,” I said, playing along. “Was kind of a drag since we constantly had to keep an eye on her.”

“But Ms. Yearling was a delight, nonetheless,” Moon said.

“So, what did she say about us in your book Twilight?” Orion asked, hoping to change the subject.

“Well…” Twilight said and twirled her hair with her finger. “She wrote you were very brave and strong when you fought that snake monster.”

“I can vouch for that,” I said, raising my hand. “Orion was a boss and made that thing his bitch.”

“Aww, come on it was nothing.” Orion was blushing hard and looked away. “Still, it was nice of her to say that about me.”

“But…there’s one thing that seems a bit promiscuous,” Twilight said with a blush. “She wrote she wanted Orion to commit a very wild sexual fantasy of him pinning Daring Doo down against the stone floor while she submits to him.”

At this, Moon and I burst out laughing as hard as we could and I fell out of the chair. Moon was holding her stomach while I was kicking my legs in the air.

“WHAT!?” Orion snatched the book as he flipped through the pages, speed reading the pages which I presume to be the sex scene. His cheeks burned red and steam was coming from his eyes, before he slowly fainted and fell to the ground.

“Hahahahahahahahahaha! I can’t breathe! Help! Hahahahahahaha! That’s so fucking funny!” I laughed so hard.

“Oh my word! Hehehehehehehehe!” Moon laughed as well.

All the while Orion was on the ground, his face redder than an apple. “This can’t get any more embarrassing.”

Just then, Applejack popped in holding up a copy of the book.

“Hey Orion, Apple Bloom showed me this today. Guess your wild side is showing off in more ways than one, huh?” Applejack said with a taunting tone.

“PPPFFFFTTT-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” I wheezed with laughter.

Orion cupped his hands over his face and groaned. “These women are gonna be the death of me!”

Elsewhere

Caballeron and his injured goons sulked as they hesitantly approached a very large, fancy-looking, three story mansion. The foreboding atmosphere made the con artist gulp and wipe his brow of sweat. Several guards stood at attention as they eyed Caballeron with disgust. When they reached the front gate, Caballeron cleared his throat at one of the guards.

“I…I’m here to see the Mistress,” Caballeron said nervously.

The guard merely scoffed and rolled his eyes before waving his hand. The front gate slowly opened and Caballeron’s group walked in. The guard suddenly grabbed Caballeron, making him flinch.

“She already knows, con man,” the guard warned before letting go.

That piece of information made Caballeron sweat even more as he continued on. His trek through the mansion made him and his crew quite unnerved, due to not only the multitude of guards standing in the hallways but also how small they felt in this building. Everything that caught Caballeron’s eye just screamed rich and powerful from the interior of the walls, to even the velvety carpet they walked along. Caballeron eventually made it to a set of pristine-looking double doors where two very intimidating-looking men stood at attention. They both had a set of large curved horns and nose rings hanging from their nostrils. One of the men snorted at Caballeron before he opened the door for them. Caballeron held his hand up for his goons to stay outside while he entered alone. The room he entered was filled with boxes and displays of jewels and priceless artwork. On the far side of the room was a large wooden desk that looked like it was crafted by master wood carvers. Sitting on the other side was a red chair that had its back facing Caballeron. Sitting in it was a woman who held a martini glass in her hand, each finger had a golden or platinum ring with a gemstone on each one.

“M-Mistress,” Caballeron said with a stutter. “I-I hope you are well, yes? You stunning as unusual.”

“You failed, didn’t you?” The woman’s low, yet shrill voice sent unpleasant chills down Caballeron’s spine. “I suppose your skills you boasted about were all talk after all.”

“Mistress, I beg of you, I would’ve gotten the treasure! I swear!” Caballeron begged. He then saw the woman behind the chair take a sip of her drink before she raised her other hand as if preparing to snap her fingers. “It was that brat, Axel Rickert’s fault! He destroyed it!”

The woman paused from snapping her fingers. “Axel…Rickert? The boy from the paper?”

“Y-Yes?” Caballeron answered.

“What was he doing there?” The woman wondered.

“We…we ran into Nightmare Moon, of all people, in Somnambula,” Caballeron explained. “We thought we could use her as leverage, so we managed to capture her. So when Rickert showed up, I forced him to go into the temple to retrieve the treasure. But once he managed to come back with it, something strange happened.”

“Get to the point, peasant,” the woman demanded.

“He…he absorbed it!” Caballeron said. “There’s just no other way to explain the phenomenon I witnessed, but he absorbed the Star! He has some strange magic unlike any one could imagine!”

There was a silence in the room that made Caballeron so anxious that he felt like he was going to pass out. The woman seemed to be deep in thought until she turned her chair just ever so slightly to glance at the shivering man.

“Interesting,” was all she said. “Strange magic, absorbing the Star. This sounds similar to what was read to me in the paper during the Spirit of Chaos incident.” Another long pause of silence filled the room before she turned her chair back around to face away from Caballeron. “Can you find more of these Stars?”

“I-I’m not sure I…” Caballeron said, before she readied her other hand to snap her fingers again. “Yes! Yes I can!”

“Good.” Was all the woman said. “When you find one, bring it to me. You have three months.”

Caballeron could only nod frantically before he scurried out of the room. Meanwhile the woman took another sip of her drink.

“Axel Rickert…” She said in a somewhat irked tone. “How dare a peasant like you keep what is rightfully mine from me?”

Author's Note

Together again, and new enemy makes her mysterious yet ominous appearance.

Side Note:
I’m finally done with classes! Now I can finally focus on my stories! Thanks for waiting!

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

The Red Hawk’s Debut

Chapter 30

“Already?” I asked over the phone after I finished making my coffee. “Dude, it’s only been a week! I know you said you’d help find another one, but I didn’t think it’d be this soon.”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you, man,” Orion spoke from the other end of the phone. “After I deciphered the text of an ancient book that mentions the talismans, me and Doo got a hit.”

“Well shit, man, that’s great,” I said and sipped my coffee. I sat down and Moon took it upon herself to sit on my lap and lean her head on my shoulder. “By the way, any luck with that other thing I asked you to find?”

“You mean those Blast Core things?” He asked curiously while I could hear chatter in the background.

“Yeah, them,” I said as Moon fed me a muffin. “Don’t suppose the new temple you found mentions anything extra that those tribes hid away?”

“Not that I’m aware of. Like I told you before, I think it was only a coincidence that we found that Blast Core at the snake temple. But I’ll keep an eye out for any if I see them,” Orion explained.

Orion had been telling me over and over that none of the texts mentioned any Blast Cores. It may be redundant to him, but I had to make sure that I was the only one acquiring those things, given their reputation.

“Thanks. By the way, I’m gonna be out of town for a week again. Mr. Rich has more business in Manehatten and wants me to come with him,” I said as Moon played with my bed hair. “How long is your trip gonna be?”

“I’m not sure, but I told AJ I wouldn’t be gone long. I’m technically on my vacation time.” Orion chuckled nervously.

I chortled and decided to tease him a little. “So you’re gonna be working with our mutual friend again, right?”

There was a brief pause as he no doubt knew what I was doing. “Now listen here, mate, you better watch your next words less you want to be digging yourself out of the ground, after I bury you.”

“Hey, I’m just saying, she seemed pretty into you after your little display of strength,” I said, making Moon cover her mouth as she giggled. “Maybe she’s looking forward to seeing you?”

“Yeah, about that…” I could hear giggling on the other end of the line and a soft groan. “She came and found me and has my other arm locked with her arms.”

“Wait, she’s there with you now?” I asked, surprising Moon. “Pfft, that’s hilarious. Guess she couldn’t wait, eh bro?”

“I have a shovel and a spot where no one will find your body,” Orion said darkly and menacingly.

“And I wish you luck on your quest as well, my friend,” I teased and heard Orion shouting right as I was about to hang up.

“Thirty feet in the dirt!” He shouted before I hung up.

“You’re terrible, you know that?” Moon laughed.

“And you love me for it,” I said, nuzzling her nose with mine.

The train ride back to Manehattan was as long as the last but this time I stayed awake the whole way. Diamond and I played Subway Surfer on my smartphone, and I was surprised how quickly she got the hang of it.

“Watch out for the bridge, Diamond!” I laughed as I watched the girl fervently swipe her finger in every direction. “The cop will catch you if you crash!”

“I got it, I got it,” Diamond told me while keeping her eyes on the game.

When she swiped her finger to the right, she accidentally ran into a barrier which ended up in a game over.

“Darn!” Diamond shouted before slumping in her seat. “This game cheats.”

“Hahaha, it’s not easy when you start running faster,” I said, with another laugh. “You’ll get the hang of it soon.”

“I’m glad you both are getting along swimmingly,” Mr. Rich said as he put down his newspaper. “I’m also pleased you’re able to come with us once again.”

“Well, it has been a while,” I admitted. “Things have just been a little hectic lately. But now I’m able to finally take it easy.”

“That’s good to hear,” Filthy said before going back to his paper.

“Can we go to that big statue today, Axel?” Diamond asked me.

“Sure, once I’m done with helping your dad, we can do whatever you want,” I said.

“Yay! This is gonna be so much fun!” Diamond cheered and hugged me.

Yo, Ax, I got something to say, I heard Dante in my head.

What is it, Dante? I asked.

I got some business to do tonight so I’ll need to take over, Dante said.

Business? What kind? I wondered.

You know. Business… Dante said in a cryptic way, though I could already tell what he was talking about.

Dante, is this business gonna come back to bite us in the ass? I asked.

Depends on your definition of bite in the ass, Dante said while the train went through a tunnel. Look. It’s just a sit down. Nothing big, nothing flashy. Just business.

I knew better than to get into a heated argument with Dante because in my head, so I just closed my eyes and sighed internally.

Fine, I’m trusting you, okay? I said.

“By the way, Axel,” Mr. Rich said. “Do you recall when you showed me the picture of that automobile a while back?”

“Sure do, why?” I wondered.

“Well, I reached out to a contact of mine, and he’s come up with a prototype that I think you’d be interested in,” Mr. Rich told me while folding up his paper.

“A prototype?” I said surprised, looking at him. “Jeezus, have I been that preoccupied and out of the loop?”

“I’m not sure about that. But my associate is quite brilliant and works fast,” Mr. Rich told me while sifting through his briefcase. “He sent me some pictures to show me. I just hope I remembered to bring them.”

“I think I saw you put it in your suit pocket, daddy,” Diamond said before starting a round of Angry Birds.

“Ah, yes. Thank you, sweetie,” Mr. Rich told her daughter before reaching into his suit pocket and pulling out what looked like a blueprint to a car. “Here, see if that looks alright.”

“Woah…” I examined the blueprint in awe. “What’s it supposed to run on?”

“I would imagine magic, same way carriages do, but Tuner informed me that it might prove to be difficult due to the complexity of the vehicle,” Mr. Rich said. “My contact is still working that detail out and would like a second opinion from you.”

“Well, sure, I’d be happy to help out,” I said, still very impressed with the design.

“Excellent. We’ll head over to his factory right after lunch,” Rich said before going back to his paper.

Diamond looked up at me curiously.

“Are you gonna spend more time with us now?” Diamond asked.

“Of course I will, I’m working for you dad, after all,” I said.

“That’s not what I meant, big brother,” Diamond said. “I meant whenever you’re not working. It’s like you said, you’ve been very busy lately and, well…” She blushed a little and twiddled her thumbs. “I missed you…”

I smiled warmly at the kid and patted her head.

“So, you’re saying you wanna hang out with your cool big brother more often?” I asked and she nodded with those big puppy dog eyes. “Then I promise to be more attentive for my cute little sister, Diamond.”

Diamond squealed and hugged around my waist.

The train eventually arrived at the station and the staff grabbed our belongings as we got off the train. As soon as we stepped off, a shadow flew over my head that made me look up. The next thing I know, I was almost knocked over when a fur ball latched itself onto my face and I heard repetitive meowing.

“Ack!” I shouted and managed to pry whatever had attacked me.

When I held it up in my hands, it was none other than my little manticore companion Nala. She swung her scorpion tail lazily and fluttered her red bat wings a little as she meowed at me. I also noticed she had gotten bigger, since she was the size of a car tire.

“Nala! What’re you doing here?!” I asked. “You’re supposed to be back at the library!”

“Mrrrow.” Was Nala’s only response before batting the chain on my arm a little.

“Awww, she just wanted to see you,” Diamond said while petting Nala.

I slowly looked at Mr. Rich, who was waiting patiently for me to explain.

“Uh…Mr. Rich, Nala. Nala, Mr. Rich,” I said sheepishly, only for him to arch a brow. “Okay, apparently she snuck out of the library.”

“I heard you had a very unique animal companion, but I didn’t expect it to be an albino manticore,” Mr. Rich said.

“Is that what she is?” I said as he boldly offered his hand to Nala for her to sniff. Nala sniffed this hand a little and gave it a little lick, making him smile a little.

“Very rare. From what a friend once told me, they’re not a separate species, but rather a mutation. Quite literally one in a million,” Mr. Rich said while petting the cub’s head.

I set Nala down and she stood right beside me.

“Well, it’s too late to go all the way back now…” I spoke.

“She can come with us!” Diamond chirped.

“Well, I don’t know, sweetheart,” Mr. Rich said. “Manehattan isn’t exactly a place for a manticore.”

“Please, daddy! I promise I’ll look after her for Axel!” Diamond said, clasping her hands and gave us the biggest puppy dog eyes. Nala decided to follow her lead and folder her ears while giving us her own set of begging eyes.

“Plleeeeaaaaaassse?!”

“Hnnnggg!” I clutched my chests. “My heart…”

Filthy chuckled at my antics before letting out a sigh. “Okay. If Axel’s alright with it, then I’ll let you look after her.”

Diamond and Nala looked at me while still giving me the eyes.

Damn, they’re good… Dante laughed.

“How can I say no?” I rolled my eyes. “Alright, Nala can be under your watch for the trip.”

“Yay!” Diamond cheered and hugged me again while Nala flew up and nuzzled the crook of my neck. “Thank you, big brother Axel!”

I smiled at their antics, and we all stepped off the platform. Nala and Diamond were playing together while Mr. Rich was preparing a personal carriage for us. As we waited, I suddenly felt like we were being watched. When I looked over on the far side of the train station, I caught sight of a couple individuals who were occasionally glancing at us.

Oh shit… Dante said.

What is it? Know them? I asked.

Yeah, they’re a couple of Alduck’s boys, Dante said. Lemme switch real quick.

Now? Here? I asked.

No choice, man, they obviously want something from me, Dante said.

I looked at Diamond and Mr. Rich while contemplating what to do. I knew these mafia characters would make themselves known eventually, but I didn’t expect it to be in broad daylight.

Fine, make it quick, I thought. “Mr. Rich? I’m gonna go to the restroom.”

“Of course, our carriage will be here shortly,” Mr. Rich said.

I nodded and walked away towards the two individuals. As I walked, I closed my eyes and let Dante take control.

Dante 1st POV

I opened my eyes and took a deep breath of air. Felt good to be in control again. Stone and Fuze waited for me to approach them, while also pretending to mind their own business. I sat down on the bench they stood by and also pretended I didn’t know them.

“Fuze. Stone,” I said, acknowledging them. “Been a minute.”

“Yes, it has,” Stone said while having his back to me and reading the paper.

“How’ve you been, kid?” Fuze asked while eating a pretzel.

“Same spit, different day,” I said. “The boss want me?”

“Yep, and for us to give ya this,” Fuze said, sliding me an envelope. “Word is you’ve been makin’ a name for yourself in the underground fights.”

“I try,” I shrugged and took the envelope. “What’s this you’re sliding my way?”

“A cut from Alduck’s bet. Seems you made him a lot of money,” Stone said while turning the page on his paper.

“As well as an invite and instructions to a sit down tonight,” Fuzz finished.

“Figured as much,” I said, then noticed another slip of paper pushed my way.

“There’s more,” Fuze said. “You’ve been selected to participate in PVP.”

“PVP?” I repeated. “What’s that?”

“You’ll know more at the sit down,” Stone said, and he folded his paper. “Don’t be late, boss is expecting you.”

As I watched the two leave, I thought about how things were gonna play out since Axel was here with Rich and his kid. Maybe I’ll ask Alduck to only do business at night while Axel does his thing in the day. That way, Axel wouldn’t have to worry about any thugs trying to hassle him or Rich. I stood up from the bench and walked back to Rich where a carriage was waiting for us.

Alright, Ax, it’s back to you until tonight, I thought as I closed my eyes and felt Axel push me back into his head.

Later
Axel 1st POV

After checking into the hotel, Mr. Rich took us to a fancy-ass café downtown for lunch. The place looked like one of those ritzy establishments you see on those high society reality shows on MTV. During lunch, Mr. Rich scolded Diamond a little since she kept feeding the manticore cub pieces of her lunch, which was cute to see. Honestly, it almost felt like I was part of the family while spending time with them.

After lunch, Mr. Rich stayed true to his word and had his carriage driver take us to the factory he mentioned before. I was also rather curious as to what this prototype for a new car would look like and how it would run, since it doesn’t look like this world has anything resembling fossil fuels.

“So how long has your guy been working on this prototype?” I asked while Nala and Diamond looked out the window of the carriage.

“Ever since he received the picture I gave him,” Filthy said before a man with a yellow hard hat came out. “Ah. And here he is.”

The carriage came to a stop and the driver opened the door for us. The man in the yellow hat looked about Mr. Rich’s age. He had curly red hair with some gray highlights, and brown eyes. He wore overalls, slacks, and a bow tie around his neck.

“Tuner! You old so-and-so,” Mr. Rich said. “How are we today?”

“Doin’ just fine, if ya consider all the damn paperwork with these new union contracts. Might as well shove a metal beam up my arse,” Turner said before bringing out two hard hats. “Shall I give ya the grand tour?”

“By all means,” Mr. Rich said, and Tuner led us into the large building. “By the way, this is my associate, Axel Rickert. He’s the one who procured the image of the vehicle I showed you.”

“Hey,” I said with a nod.

“Ohh! So this is the one that gave me the golden egg for this project?” Turner said before taking my hand and shaking it rapidly. “I’m indebted to ya. boyo.”

“Glad I could help!” I said through the shaking.

Tuner led us through his factory where I watched dozens of workers putting together more carriages.

“Impressive,” I said. “Business must be good for you in the big city.”

“That it is. Now, put on your hard hats gentlemen. Get hit in the head without wearing one of these and they scoop yer brains out with a damn shovel,” Turner told us.

One of Tuner’s employees handed us each a hard hat and put it on. I noticed Tuner had a pep in his step as he led us through his factory towards the far end of the building.

“You must be pretty excited to show us whatever it is you’ve been working on,” I commented.

“How can I not be?” Tuner chirped. “This new vehicle will revolutionize transportation! And it’ll bring in enough dough to last through my grandkid’s grandkids!”

Turner led us to the very back of the factory, which acted like a showroom. In the center of the cleared area, was a large object with a tarp over it. This could only be the vehicle we were going to see.

“Here we are!” Tuner said excitedly. “Now, keep in mind, this is only a prototype. It’s not in running condition, so we’ll need your second opinion on it.”

I nodded and Tuner gestured for some of his staff to pull off the tarp. The two staff members grabbed the tarp and pulled it off revealing a real-life vehicle with doors, an engine, and everything; just like the picture Mr. Rich showed me.

“Wow…” I said in awe.

“It’s so big!” Diamond said as she and Nala skipped around it.

“I gotta say, I’m very impressed,” I said, placing a hand in the car. “You sure work fast.”

“Of course, my family’s been in the business since my grandpa’s grandpa!” Tuner said.

“What’s it run on?” I asked.

“That’s something we’re still trying to figure out,” Tuner said. “We have the model, but not the energy source. I figured magic would do the trick, since that’s what unicorn-humans use to drive carriages anyway, but there’s so much goin’ on in this thing that it might burn out before it even gets going!”

I thought about how they could power the car, but also considered what could also be environmentally friendly. Since gas and oil seemed out of the question, because I didn’t think stuff like fossil fuels are a thing in this world, perhaps they could try and make it electric powered? That way, it could hold a charge for long periods of time before having to recharge.

“Have you ever heard of a battery?” I asked, earning confused looks from both men. “They’re devices that powered almost everything back where I come from.” I held up my hand and made a few sparks with my Electricity. “Why not make the cars electric-powered and have pegasus-humans charge them up with thunder clouds? You’d be killing two birds with one stone by making a fast and efficient power source and creating a whole new line of jobs for pegasus-humans.”

The look of shock and awe from both men could be indescribable.

“Fuckin’ shite! The lad’s got some brains on him!” Tuner exclaimed before calling for a few of his workers to start making some blueprints.

“Are there really vehicles like that where you come from?” Mr. Rich asked.

“Sure are,” I said and pointed at the front of the car. “You could put the battery either in the front of the car or in the back. So long as it has an outlet where you can plug in a cable to charge it.”

“And they just keep on coming! We can make a killing at building and establishing charging ports!” Tuner cheered before he got a few accountants over to him.

“Looks like you just made his year,” Mr. Rich told me before the champagne bottles were brought out.

“Gentlemen, I foresee us becoming extremely wealthy by year’s end!” Tuner said as he handed Mr. Rich and I a glass.

Pop!

One of his assistants popped the cork and he poured us each a drink.

“A toast! To the new age of transportation!” Tuner said.

“Cheers!” We all said before drinking the champagne, though I had to take Diamonds glass before the alcohol could touch her lips. “Sorry, too young.”

“Aw! What’s it even taste like?” Diamond wondered.

“You’ll know once you’re older,” Mr. Rich said.

As the bubbly contents of the champagne poured down my throat, Mr. Rich and Tuner were grinning ear to ear as they daydreamed about what the future held. Who’d‘ve thought I’d be the guy revolutionizing transportation and was allegedly about to become very wealthy. As we basked in the moment, I was as unaware just how turned upside down this trip would become.

Later That Night
Dante 1st POV

The day took longer than expected since Axel spent most of it with the kid. They went to that big statue that reminded me of the Statue of Liberty, only it looked completely different than the original since they based it off their goddess, Faust. By the end of the day, the two were playing with Axel’s little animal friend in their hotel room until the sun finally set. However, it took even longer for Axel to put the kid asleep after telling her some cockamamie story about The Three Blind Mice. Despite how cringey it was, it somehow did the trick, and she was out like a light.

The moon had long since risen into the sky and I was flying towards Alduck’s estate. Fuze and Stone made it sound like the boss had something very important in store for me. Whatever it was, I hope it had something to do with whatever this PVP thing is about.

After about a half hour of flying, I made it to the estate and landed right outside the front door. The guards standing by were a bit startled to see me, but I paid them no mind as they opened the doors for me. Inside, Stone was sitting on a chair right by the staircase.

“Yo Stone, I made it,” I said with a mock salute.

“Just in time to. It’s about to start,” Stone said before getting up and fixing his jacket. “Through here.” He said before gesturing over to the long hallway.

I walked with Stone and noticed he seemed nervous.

“What’s got you on edge?” I wondered.

“The Commission,” Stone said.

“Who?” I asked.

“The other Dons,” Stone said. “You’re about to meet them. So please keep a lid on it when it counts,” he warned before opening the doors.

The room was incredibly fancy with antique vases, a few statues in the corners, paintings on the walls, and a big chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Sitting at a king table we’re about five other men dressed in tuxedos. Don Alduck at the head of the table and noticed me walking in with Stone.

“Don, I’ve brought the kid, as you wished,” Stone said with a bow of his head.

“Thank you, Stone. You’re dismissed.” Stone bowed his head before taking his leave. “Dante, come sit my boy. We have much to discuss.”

I nodded and took a seat by Alduck while the other Dons were staring at me as if they were trying to get a read on me.

The first man sat on Alduck’s right and had his dark brown hair styled in a man bun. He had a big bushy beard and wore a ring with a bright red ruby engraved on a rose gold band.

The second man sat next to the first man. He was a lean bald man with a thin mustache on his upper lip and dark gray wings on his back. He had a bit coin in between his fingers and kept flipping it around from one end to the other. On his finger was a ring that had a topaz gem engraved in a silver band.

On Alduck’s right sat the third man. He was a lot skinnier than the other men, yet it didn’t seem like he was too physically weak. I would assume his suit was hiding his physique. On his upper lip was a very bushy mustache that nearly covered his entire lip and nostrils. His ring was a jade green gem engraved on a regular gold band.

Next to the third man was a very fat man. His beard was a bit scruffy, and his hair was extremely greasy with hair gel as he had it slicked back as far as he possibly could make it. The ring on his finger was a jasper gem on a darker silver band.

Finishing the group was a man who looked like he enjoyed working out. His suit looked custom-made to fit his body’s large frame. His bleach blonde hair was long and hung off his back in a braided ponytail. He wore a ring with a sapphire-blue gem on a gold band.

“First thing’s first,” Alduck said. “I would like to introduce you to the rest of the Commission. Don Key, Don Hatchet, Don Serrano, Don Cheddar, and Don Madden.”

“Pleasure to meet you all,” I said.

“Alduck, why bring a kid into our midst?” Don Serrano wondered. “He looks like he’s still in diapers.”

I was about to knock his lights out, but Alduck waved his hand for me to calm down. “Don Serrano, what you fail to see in this boy will be your undoing. Now as for Dante here, he is shaping up to be my best enforcer, and as it turns out, an equally if not, over the top fighter.”

“I try,” I shrugged.

“Then he’s gonna be your representative?” Don Key asked.

“Representative?” I asked.

“Yes. The Dons have come to discuss the control of our respective territories. As such, we decided to have a representative for each of the families to… fight and claim it all,” Alduck finished.

The words were like music to my ears. Fight clubs and small fisticuffs were fun and all, but Alduck made this sound like it was gonna be a bloodbath between fighters. I had to suppress a grin as I gave Alduck a curt nod.

“I accept. And just so we’re clear, this is one of those free-for-all bouts, right? Like, anything goes?” I asked.

“And more,” Don Key said before cracking his oversized hands. “These fights are to the death.”

“Well, it started with the last man standing, but it always ended in death, so death is how it is,” Don Hatchet continued.

“I see…” I said with a smile. “So, what’s on the line?”

“Besides your life?” Don Madden asked. “There’s an assortment of abandoned warehouses on the south docks and we all want it. Winner gets it.”

“So, it’s like a land grab?” I asked.

“You catch on quick, kid,” Don Cheddar said. “We don’t usually do this kinda thing often. It only happens when one or two of us want the same thing. In this case, we all want that set of abandoned warehouses outside of town. Makes good storage for our certain valuables.”

“Whatever. I’m in. When do we start?” I asked.

“My, he is tenacious,” Don Serrano said with a creepy smirk.

I glanced over at him with a mock stare and noticed someone standing behind him. He was a pudgy guy and was whispering something to a few other men while shaking hands.

“You shouldn’t stare, kid,” Don Cheddar whispered, leaning towards me.

“Who’s he?” I asked.

“Don Serrano’s nephew. Nacho. He’s being groomed to take his place one day,” Cheddar told me.

“More like spoon fed,” I joked quietly.

“Dons of the Commission,” Alduck said. “I assume you all too have your representatives for tonight’s bout?”

The other dons simply looked to the far left of the room where five dudes were sitting around, playing cards at another table.

At the head of the table was a huge dude with bulky muscles and arm tattoos nearly covering both his arms completely and wore no shirt with his pants and boots. He was bald with light skin and a curly mustache.

Next to him was a smug-looking dude with bright yellow wings on his back. He looked like one of those motorcycle douchebags with the bright aviators and slicked back hair. His outfit also screamed douchebag since he wore a leather jacket, pants, and boots. Another thing I noticed was that he kept cracking his knuckles every ten seconds.

On his left was a guy who looked like he listened to too much edgy punk rock. This guy had piercings on his lips, nose, cheeks, and ears. He wore jet black eyeliner around his eyes and his hair was bowl-shaped. His hands were glowing a sinister-looking deep green magical sparkle and I saw what looked like a knife twirling around between his hands.

Next was a guy who kept flipping a lighter on and off and he wore a tank top and board shorts. His orange-reddish hair was wild and messy, which almost reminded me of that of a sea urchin. The guy kept grinning every time he saw the flame go on from the lighter.

Finishing the group was a hooded man wearing some kind of cloaked jacket. I couldn’t really see his face, but I could tell he was glaring at me.

“Wow, quite the crowd,” I said.

“They’re names are Muscles Grow, Burn Knuckles, Sling Blade, Pyro Spark, and Ice Pick,” Alduck introduced. “Though I doubt you would need to remember their names after tonight.”

If you get us killed, then I’m gonna curb stomp your face for eternity! Axel yelled.

Oh, don’t worry, we’re not the ones dying tonight… I thought menacingly.

After a short carriage ride to the docks, we were led inside a rundown warehouse. The place for the most part was empty, save for a put-together cage octagon. Honestly, it reminded me of the MMA ring, but with razor wire at the top.

“Oooh, this is pretty fuckn’ sweet!” I said in a giddy voice.

“Pay attention, kid, you’re representing me after all,” Alduck said, giving me an eye.

“I know, I know, but I can’t help but feel at least a little excited,” I said.

As the Dons and their staff took their seats off to the side in order to watch from afar, I was led into the ring with the other fighters by a man wearing a black and white striped shirt with a whistle around his neck. The floor of the ring had stained blood splatters everywhere and there were even broken chain links along the fence. As the ref closed the gate and locked it, I soon felt eyes on me. I subtly glanced over my shoulder and noticed the other fighters were staring at me like before. At first, I thought they were just trying to stare me down because I was considered fresh meat. That is, until I caught sight of that Nacho guy grinning ear to ear as he lit a cigar. It didn’t take much for me to be able to put two and two together.

So, that’s how it is, huh? I thought.

From outside the cage, the Ref banged on the cage to get our attention. “Alright you mooks, listen up! Since this is a land grab, it’ll be a fight to the death. Anything goes!” The Ref backed away to a little table where he sat and grabbed a hammer. “On my signal.”

Pyro started to cackle maniacally. “Hehehe! I’m going to enjoy turning you into a crisp! Hehehe!”

“Begin!” The Ref shouted before banging his hammer on the bell.

Muscles marched up to me and got in my face.

“I’m gonna beat you into a fucking pulp!” Muscles spat in my face. “And then! I’ll shove that fork up your ass and twist it! And then! I’ll rip out your heart and fry it on a spit! And then-!”

Suddenly, I grabbed the muscles-for-brain’s face, shutting him up. The impact was loud and heavy that made everyone in the warehouse freeze.

“Eenie, Meenie, Miny, Moe…” I chanted, beginning to slowly tighten my grip on his face as I used my free hand to put my ear buds in. “Catch a tiger by his toe.”

“The fuck is he-” Knuckles started to say before I sent twenty thousand volts through his face. “Oh, shit!”

I stopped the zap after Muscles screamed at the top of his lungs and kept squeezing and scrolled through my playlist.

“If he hollers…don’t let him go,” I said sadistically as I felt the bones in his face and head begin to crack and gave him another shock. Blood seeped out from his eye sockets, nose, and ears. “My mother told me to pick the very best one.”

This time I used concrete to form a spike in my hand and blasted it through Muscles’ head.

“And. You. Are.” I let go of his lifeless body where he collapsed with a huge thud in front of the others as I hit play and tucked my phone back in my pocket. “It.”

The entire audience was stunned at my brutal display, even the hooded guy looked shocked. I unraveled my chain while activating Smoke, giving my chain dark red cinders and black smoke trails billowing from it.

“One down…” I said, swinging my chain in circles. “Four to go.”

Just then, Nacho smashed a bottle of tequila against the cage. “Kill this pendejo!”

Don Serrano looked at Nacho with mild surprise as Knuckles put on some fancy-ass knuckle dusters with spikes on them. He unfurled his wings and began flying around the ring at top speeds. His method was to probably disorient me with his impressive speed. Too bad for him, I had switched to Neon and used it with my eyes to keep up with my speedy opponent.

“Not bad,” I said as he made a sharp turn to the left, flew up, and went for a dive bomb on my head. I sidestepped with Neon, evading his attack. He impacted the ground with a loud thud, making a sizable dent in the floor as he looked up at me in utter shock.

“But not good enough.” I switched back to Smoke and whipped my chain across his chest, sending him flying across the other side of the ring and into the fence.

Knuckles screamed in agonizing pain as he clutched at his burning shirt. Pyro got excited from the flames and laughed like a maniac before conjuring flames from his hands.

“Let’s let the fire dance!” Pyro shouted manically.

Pyro let loose his flames at me and I was engulfed in his fire. The flames were pretty hot as I kept swinging my chain around. Thanks to Smoke, I was shielded by the flames trying to burn me. Pyro was laughing like a freaking maniac, thinking he burned me alive. I then got an idea with all these flames. I raised my free hand up to focus my power. The flames began to swirl around me and towards my hand. As soon as the flames made contact with my hand, I started to absorb them. I felt a large rush energy fill me as the cinders around my body turned into red flames. The rush made me feel like I was unstoppable until all the flames were completely absorbed. Once again, the crowd was at a loss for words. Dark red flames flickered off my body, almost giving me a demonic appearance.

“Tasty…!” I hissed. “My turn!”

I raised my hand at Pyro and built up my power. I fired a huge Sulfur Bomb at Pyro that was engulfed in red flames and black smoke. Pyro was barely able to conjure enough flames to shield himself as he too was knocked back. However, his flames weren’t enough as he sustained major burns across his body but was still breathing.

“That was only a taste…” I said with an evil tone as I looked at the other still standing fighters. “You’re all still fucking breathing! COME GET FUCKING SPANKED!”

Pyro was laughing in his corner of the ring while looking at his burns. “The fire likes me! It really likes me!” God, this guy was sick.

Sling Blade clasped his fingers together and conjured over a dozen magical blades around him. He thrusted his hands forward, making the blades fly at me with blinding speeds. Using the energy I got from the flames, I switched to Neon and ran out of the way of the blades. I left a crimson red fluorescent light trail in my wake as I ran in different directions, evading his blades. Knuckles seemed to have recovered a little from his injuries and was seething at me. He unfurled his wings and flew after me while I was still dodging the oncoming magic blades.

“Ooh, you wanna compete for speed, huh guy?” I mocked as he tried punching me as fast as he could.

On his next punch, I dodged to the left and grabbed his arm and swung him around until launching Knuckles right into Sling Blade’s path, earning a few blades in his back.

“Gah! Watch it, creep!” Knuckles yelled as Sling Blade pulled the blades out.

“You watch it! I’m trying to gouge his eyes out!” Sling barked back.

“GYAHAHAHAHA!” Pyro laughed hysterically as he tried to blast me again with flames. “MORE FLAMES! MORE! I’LL BURN YOU TO ASHES!” This guy had completely lost it as his flames were starting to set even the outside of the ring on fire. The ref had to jump back in order to avoid getting burned.

“Okay, this guy needs to be put down,” I said.

I sprinted towards the fence and ran upwards on the chain links. I jumped off while doing a backflip and switched to Concrete. Stone slabs that had dark red vein-like marks grew over my body until I was completely covered in stone armor. Pyro foolishly tried blasting me with flames as I fell straight down towards him, making my stone armor heat up to the point where it felt like I was wearing lava. I must’ve looked like a meteor falling from the sky as the pyromaniac just kept laughing until I smashed into him. The impact rocked the ring, even causing the seating area where the Dons sat to stumble a little. When the dust cleared, everyone saw me standing on Pyro’s chest as I had caved in his rib cage with the weight of my stone shell. Blood and gore had sprayed everywhere around my now dead opponent as his eyes were completely rolled back. One of which had popped out of his socket, and yet he still had a manic smile plastered across his dead mug.

“That’s two,” I said before stepping out of the bloody crater and deactivating Concrete.

Knuckles and Sling Blade were at a loss for words as Ice Pick remained on the far side of the ring with his arms crossed.

Sling Blade got over his shock before doing his best to stick me like a pincushion by hurling more magical blades at me. Meanwhile, Knuckles went over to Ice Pick to formulate a plan. “Okay, here’s what I’m thinking. You go-Hrrk!” His words were cut short, given that Ice Pick had suddenly put an actual ice pick in his throat.

“I don’t have time to listen to idiots,” Pick said in a cold and calm tone before pulling back his weapon.

Knuckles clasped his throat as blood spewed from his neck and he gagged on his blood. The more he tried to breathe, the harder it was to get any amount of oxygen in his lungs. Sling seemed to be distracted by Knuckles as he watched him fall to the floor and make a few more unsettling gurgling noises before his eyes rolled back. Knuckles’ body twitched a few times before going completely limp and died on the spot.

“What are you doing, you idiota?!” Nacho barked. “You’re not supposed to kill the others! Just that little shit stain!”

Sling Blade saw that he was now up against the two of us. The color in his face drained completely and it looked like his life was flashing before his eyes. “To tartarus with this! I’m outta here!” He dispelled his magic and tried to escape through a broken part of the cage. Like I was going to let that happen.

Although, I could just let him go since he didn’t look like he had any fight left in him. But there also was the fact that this was a fight to the death.

…

I made my way to the fleeing goth-looking coward as I dragged my chain behind me. He couldn’t quite fit through the broken opening and was flailing in the process. I glanced at Ice Pick, and he just stared at me as I walked past him. Just as Sling was about to barely wedge himself free, I swung my chain and wrapped it around his neck, yanking him back inside. The man gagged from lack of air as he tried pulling my chain off of his neck.

“Hey…” I called out in a menacing tone. “Did you forget why we’re here? We’re here to fight to the death on behalf of our employers.” I pulled my chain a little more, making Sling choke. “You know what that means, right? It means there’s no place for pussy-ass bitches like you who get scared shitless so easily at the sight of blood being spilled. After all, aren’t you supposed to be accustomed to this kind of stuff? Given the fact that you’re a pro fighter and whatnot?”

With my point given, I decided to send my Neon through my chain and light this bastard up like a disco ball.

Sling screamed as his neck was burning from the intense heat my Neon was emitting. Sling desperately tried to pull my chain off his neck while the Dons watched with uncomfortable expressions.

“Let this be a reminder on your trip to Hell,” I said venomously as Sling managed to look back at me with tears in his eyes.

I yanked the chain once more while intensifying my Neon and managed to melt off Sling’s head from his shoulders. His head had caught on fire from the Neon’s light while his headless corpse collapsed while twitching every so often. The entire ring was a bloody scene as the corpses from the other fighters littered the area. It was now just Ice Pick and me as we stared each other down.

“And then there was one,” I said as I wrapped my chain around my wrist. “You must be Don Serrano’s representative.”

“That I am.” Pick said while drawing another ice pick from his cloak. “You know. I thought I was the cold fish in this arena. But after watching you.” He gave me a slight smirk. “I can see that you’re stone cold.”

“Actually…” I said, activating Smoke and pulling out my Amp. The coils on the Amp ignited into red flames and cinders and smoke billowed off my body. “I run quite hot.”

Pick smiled darkly before charging at me with his picks pointed right at me.

I met Ice Pick head on by swinging my inflamed Amp. An arc of flames barely missed Ice Pick as he tried to stab me in the leg. I was able to jump out of the way by using Smoke Thrusters on my feet. I went for another swing and swung my Amp down, but Pick rolled out of the way and my Amp hit the ground hard. As soon as he recovered, I fired multiple Cinder Shots at Ice Pick.

Pick managed to dodge most of my shots before the last one hit him square in the chest, sending him back to the ring. He grumbled but other than that, it looked like the shot hadn’t affected him much.

“That all you got?” Pick taunted while twirling one of his weapons.

“Oh, I’m just getting started,” I said.

I focused my Smoke to charge up a ball of smoke and cinders in my hand. I kept on charging until it was the size of a baseball, and I threw it at Ice Pick. Ice Pick jumped out of the way, but I grinned since I wasn’t even aiming at him. My Sulfur Bomb impacted the ground and blew up in a cloud of thick smoke, making him cough and become disoriented.

“Where the hell are you?!” Pick roared while flailing his weapons all around him.

“Feeling dizzy, Pick?” I laughed as I turned into smoke. “Can’t see where I am?”

“Coward! Show your face!” Pick shouted while charging in a random direction.

“There’s no earthly way of knowing. Which direction you are going!” I chanted, making myself sound like my voice was coming in all directions as I hovered around Pick in the thick smoke and cinders. “There’s no knowing where I’m coming, or which way the smoke is blowing! Not a speck of light is showing, so the danger must be growing. For the smoke keeps on billowing, and it’s certainly not showing any signs that it’s slowing…!”

“Where are you!?” He yelled, just as I landed.

“Behind you.” And that’s when I struck by grabbing both his wrists forcing the guy’s own weapon in his throat as soon as he turned around.

Pick gagged as blood spilled from his mouth and he fell to his knees. I waved my Amp in the air after re-materializing to clear the ring of smoke and cinders. The Dons were at a loss for words after the spectacle they just witnessed. Don Serrano looked even more surprised while Nacho’s head looked like it was about to explode. Pick looked up at me as he struggled to breathe.

“Guess that’s all she wrote for you, bub,” I said, resting my Amp over my shoulder as the song came to an end. “Give my regards to the others down in Hell. You were fun to play with.”

Pick gave one final gurgle of protest before falling face first on the floor. A pool of blood growing from where he lay.

I stared down at the corpse of Ice Pick for a moment before looking back at the group of Dons. Alduck rose from his chair and started to clap slowly as if congratulating me. I responded by giving him and the Dons a mock bow for my performance.

You enjoyed that a little too much. I heard Axel say in my head.

Guilty. I thought.

“Brava! Brava!” Alduck said as I stepped out of the ring. “In all my years of business, I’ve never seen anything quite like you!”

“I just admit, it was quite a show,” Don Cheddar said, looking a little queasy.

“That was very gruesome. You'll go far in this business, kid,” Don Madden said while offering me an expensive-looking cigar.

“Thanks, I aim to please,” I said, taking the cigar and putting it in my mouth. I lit the end with my cinders and inhaled the spicy yet woody taste of tobacco smoke filling my lungs.

Dude! What’re you doing?! I don’t smoke! Axel panicked.

You don’t but I do now, I thought while exhaling. Besides, it’s a good little recharge.

“I demand compensation!” Nacho suddenly shouted, his face completely red. “This was completely unfair!”

“No, nephew. What’s unfair is that you paid all those men to gang up on one. You have brought shame and disrespect to our family,” Don Serrano told Nacho bitterly.

“But Tio! I did this for you!” Nacho said. “These warehouses were meant for us!”

“For us, or for you and that damned prostitution ring of yours?” Don Juan asked his nephew with a scowl.

“He’s still doin’ that?” I heard Don Hatchet mutter to Don Madden.

“How many times has that slob promised to disband that business?” Don Madden wondered.

“And here I thought you couldn’t get any slimier,” I scoffed before taking another puff. “Honestly, I shouldn’t be surprised.”

I let my cigar smoke waft over to Nacho as an extra insult. Guess he didn’t take it too kindly when he pulled out one of those magic flintlocks and aimed for my head.

“¡Te mataré, bastardo!” He cursed in Spanish.

SLASH!

Everyone was frozen as I had switched to Video like a gunslinger. My right hand held out to my side as my red digital claws extended with my fingers. The Dons all blinked as they panned over to Nacho, who was frozen like a statue. Just then, a huge gash split from the top corner of his forehead and went down across his nose, lip, and bottom corner of his chin and blood spewed from the wound.

“Aaaargh!!” Nacho screamed while holding his bloody face.

“Next time you come at me, you come at me like a man, you fucking cock-a-roach,” I told him in my best Al Pacino impression while taking another puff.

Suddenly, Don Serrano snapped his fingers and five of his guys pulled out magic pistols and aimed them at me.

“Cease!!” Don Alduck shouted, just before I made a move on them too. “Serrano, you will order your men to stand down.”

“After what he did to my nephew?” Serrano said, sounding like he was passively livid.

“Your nephew instigated this whole mess of a situation when he paid off the other representatives to kill mine. Which, by the way, was already an insult and violation to a tradition we’ve held dear for generations,” Alduck lectured in a harsh tone.

“…I understand.” Don Serrano waved his hand, and his goons holstered their weapons. “I apologize for my nephew’s actions.”

“Tio! Are you serious?!” Nacho barked, still clutching his face. “That pendejo wounded me! He should be-!”

SLAP!

Serrano managed to shut the little whiny bitch up by giving him arguably an impressive backhand with the hand that had his ring on.

“You should be glad that all you got from him was a scar on your face!” Serrano barked before nodding to two of his goons to take him away. “And be grateful you’re my sister’s son, or I’d have your hands dipped in acid.”

“This isn’t over, puta!” Nacho yelled at me as he was dragged away. “You’ll get yours! I swear it! You’ll regret ever crossing me!”

“What a drama queen,” I rolled my eyes.

Great. Another enemy that we need to watch for. I heard Axel say with what I could clearly feel is an eyeroll.

When we left the warehouse, a team of people in what looked like hazmat suits matched in to clean up the bloody ring. The Dons all went their separate ways, and Don Serrano gave me a wary eye before stepping into his carriage. When I stepped into Alduck’s carriage, he pulled out one of his own cigars and lit it with a smile.

“Dante, you’ve made me a very happy man and have increased my wealth and territory this night,” Alduck said with a puff. “Not to mention the fact that your unique power has certainly left an impression on the Commission.”

“I try my best, Don,” I said with a nod before taking another puff from my own cigar.

“I would like to reward your efforts,” Alduck said. “I insist you stay the night at my humble abode. You can sleep in one of the guest rooms.”

“That’s awfully generous of you, boss,” I said with piqued interest. “All for winning you some warehouses?”

“Oh, you’ve done much more than that, my boy, and I can foresee great things coming my way with you at my side,” Alduck said. “So, will you stay the night?”

I dunno, Dante, we need to be back at the hotel before Mr. Rich and Diamond wake up, Axel said.

Oh come on, what’s the harm? I thought. Besides, I’ll be sure to slip out early enough so those two won’t notice me gone.

“Sure, why not,” I shrugged. “Thank you, boss.”

After a short carriage ride back to Alduck’s mansion, he led me to one of his many different rooms. “Enjoy, my boy.” He sounded like he was expecting me to find something good.

Not really stopping to ponder what he meant, I stepped inside and started to undress, only to stop when I looked at the bed’s banisters and saw a redhead and brunette dancing on either side of the bed in skimpy and sexy outfits.

“Hey there, cutie~,” the redhead said.

“Uh…and you two are?” I asked.

“Mr. Alduck said we’re your special entertainment~,” the brunette said.

OH, HELL NO! Axel suddenly yelled in my head. WALK OUT RIGHT NOW! I KNEW SOMETHING WAS UP!

Dude, are you kidding? I’m about to get laid! With two hot chicks!

It’s still my body, dipshit! I’m a virgin!

Oh please! Grow a pair! Besides, you’re not the one in control, are you? I am, which means I’m the one who’s gonna be losing his V-card tonight.

But-!

Dude, relax, it’s not cheating on Moon if you’re not the one steering. Now let me have my fun.

Before Axel could say any more, I closed the door behind me with a wide grin as I tossed my Amp, chain, and pack aside.

“Ladies? Let’s get freaky~,” I growled.

The two ladies giggled before they crawled onto the bed in perfect sync while also undressing.

Dante, please, reconsider! Axel begged as I tossed off my shirt and pants. I can’t watch this!

Then crawl back into the depths of your own brain, ‘cause this shit is happening! I thought and was left in my boxers.

LEMON!!!

I plopped on the end of the bed with a giant grin. The two women in front of me had supermodel-like bods with big tits and asses. The brunette’s tits were probably a size D-cup and the redhead’s were an E-cup. Both their asses were plump and jiggly and looked like they were begging to be spanked.

“So, what do I call you fine ladies?” I said as they both knelt down in between my legs.

“I’m Rosé~,” Rosé purred, rubbing the bulge in my boxers.

“And I’m Brandy~,” the brunette cooed, rubbing my chest.

“Mmm, such tasty names. Perhaps I’ll indulge myself~,” I told them while feeling Brandy’s ass and cupping Rose’s breast with the other.

Rosé and Brandy grabbed the waistband of my boxers and pulled it down, exposing my erect 7in cock. Both ladies smiled lustfully and proceeded to begin licking my dick at the same time.

“Ooh…shit…” I groaned from the pleasurable feeling.

Rosé was the first to lick up and down my shaft while Brandy took both my balls into her mouth and swished them around a bit. The sensation was new and exciting at the same time.

“Fuck…why didn’t I do this sooner?” I said as they left red and blue lipstick marks all over my crotch.

Rosé stopped licking my shaft and crawled up towards my face while Brandy took advantage of her absence by taking the whole shaft of my cock into her mouth and down her throat so she could start bobbing and sucking like a pro. Before I could process the new form of pleasure, Rosé planted her succulent lips on mine as we engaged in a sloppy lip wrestling tongue battle.

“Mmm, the Don’s best man deserves the best, don’t you agree?” Rosé asked me before sitting up on my chest and freed her breasts from their lace prison. “Care for a taste of my rosé?” she said while bouncing her right breast.

I obliged her request by latching onto her nipple and suckled like a newborn. Rosé cooed as she hugged my head closer into her milk maker while Brandy doubled her efforts into taking my cock more down her throat. I reached up and fondled both Rosé tits while gnawing gently on her nipple with my teeth.

“Ooh~! He’s a feisty one~!” Rosé moaned. “How’re doing down there, Brandy~?”

Brandy gave Rosé a thumbs up before she started to make her movements sloppier in a very good way.

I took a break from suckling Rosé nipple and looked into the sexy red head’s eyes.

“Fun fact about me, ladies, I haven’t cashed in my V-card yet,” I said, making them both pause. “Make it worth my while, and one of you gets to have the honor of popping my cherry~.”

“Really~?” Brandy said while she kept stroking my cock. “Ooooh, let me have the honors. I love taking away a man’s virginity.”

“I dunno, Brandy,” Rosé said with a grin. “Getting it on with one of the Don’s newest rising stars is one thing, but getting it on with him for his first time?” Rosé leaned me back on the bed and adjusted herself, so my head was between her legs. She lidded her eyes as she pulled aside her panties to expose her already damp pussy. “How can I pass that up~?” She lowered herself until my mouth made contact with her pussy. I acted immediately by sticking my tongue out and began licking her flower to the best of my ability. Ironically, her juices tasted similarly to the actual wine she was named after.

“Aww, c’mon Rosé. He gets to taste your pussy, let me have his cock in meeee~,” Brandy whined while sandwiching my cock between her breasts.

“Mmm, ah~!” Rosé moaned as I flicked my tongue against her clit. “You want his cock? Then you better make him cum, oh right there, before I do~!” Rosé grinded her hips more against my face as I clasped both her soft ass cheeks.

I could feel Brandy's smirk before feeling her breasts squeeze my cock and lick my tip.

I was in a complete euphoria of pleasure as both women’s moans filled the room. Rosé’s nectar poured into my mouth while Brandy swirled her tongue around every possible corner of my dick, no doubt smearing it and my balls with her lipstick and saliva. It was like I was getting high with lust, and I didn’t want to come down.

This is so wrong… Axel said with a disappointed tone. I guess I should be thankful I can’t feel any of this in my own head.

Keep bitching, and I’ll force you out here so you can, I threatened.

Rrrrg, I'm sure there’s a movie I can remember, Axel grumbled before he went radio silent.

“Oh yes~! Yes, baby~!” Rosé squealed once I found her pussy’s g-spot and poked and prodded it with my tongue. “Eat me~! How is this your first time~?!”

“Mmm, I tasted a little pre~,” Brandy said after popping my dick out of her mouth while still rubbing it between her tits. “Looks like he’s close, Rosé. Which means I get to take this cutie for his first ride~.”

“Oh, you little tramp~,” Rosé said before she really started to grind herself against me while flicking her own clit. “We’ll just see about that~!”

While they both doubled their efforts to try and beat the other to see who would cum first between me and Rosé, I considered my options. Brandy had been working her mouth off to get me to cum this whole time and I was nearing the edge with every passing moment. The tension in my groin was becoming tighter and tighter and my balls twitched every time Brandy shoved my cock all the way back in her throat. I’d imagine there’s a blue lipstick kiss mark at the base of my dick and saliva was dripping off my balls.

On the other hand, Rosé was providing me with arguably the best beverage of rosé wine-flavored pussy juice I’ve ever had. I honestly had no idea how to eat a girl out since I hadn’t done it before, but I guess I was doing a pretty good job judging by how loud Rosé was moaning. Not to mention, her ass cheeks felt like pudding in my hands and were probably red from me slapping and clutching those cheeks throughout the process. Also, my whole face was completely drenched with pussy fluids because Rosé was grinding her hips on me just so she could cum first. After considering my options with only seconds remaining on the end of the first round, I inevitably made my decision.

Can’t deny the redhead, I thought and readied my tongue in Rosé pussy.

Right before I came into Brandy’s mouth, I used just a tiny amount of my Electricity to zap Rosé’s pussy with my tongue. The tiny shock made Rosé flinch and scream loudly as her fluids gushed out like a faucet onto my face and into my mouth. I grit my teeth and then unloaded a hefty amount of spunk straight down Brandy’s throat just as she deep throated my dick one last time. Rope after rope of my jizz poured into the brunette’s gullet and she gulped down every last drop. We basked in the aftermath of the climax until Rosé shakily lifted herself off my face while Brandy let go of my cock with an audible pop.

While I caught my breath, Brandy shared my load with Rosé, and I have to admit, the sight of them snowballing my load got me rock hard again.

“Fuckn’ hell, that was hot,” I breathed out. “But it would seem we have a winner.” I eyed Rosé as she eyed me back while still swapping spit and cum with Brandy. “Looks like you get to have the honor of being my first lay, babe.”

Rosé slurped her prize before laying down on the bed while Brandy spread her friend’s pussy. “Come here, big boy. Give me what I need~.”

I didn’t waste any time and crawled over to the sprawled woman. I lined my dick up and slowly began penetrating Rosé. The feeling of my dick entering a pussy was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Even though my memories are an exact copy of Axel’s, it was safe to say that he was missing out on this with his girl. Rosé bit her lip as she watched my dick enter her until I reached the base.

“Fffffuuuuuuuuuck…!” I groaned.

“How’s it feel to take his V-card, Rosé?” Brandy asked with a giggle.

“Mmm~, it feels like breaking in a new model~. How about you, big boy~?” Rose asked me while stroking my cheek. “How does my pussy feel wrapped around your cock~?”

“Fuck…feels like I’m in fuckin’ Narnia~,” I said, too high off lust to speak sense.

As if moving on instinct, I pulled back my hips and began thrusting forward at a slow pace. Rosé moaned with each thrust, and she looked at me like she was very patient, almost as if she wanted me to enjoy every moment of my first time, having sex. Meanwhile, Brandy crawled away from Rosé and to my side so she could whisper advice to me while I fucked her friend.

“Shit…am I doing it right?” I asked, grabbing one of Rosé’s jiggly tits.

“Don’t focus on whether or not you’re up to the challenge. Just focus on feeling good and lasting as long as you can,” Brandy told me before reaching over and grazing her fingers along Rosé’s thigh. “But you might want to focus on feeling her up and trailing a kiss or two~.”

I did as Brandy said and leaned down to plant kisses on Rosé’s tits while groping her. I could feel her inner walls squeezing each time I pulled back and pushed into her pussy. I’ll admit, my bravado from before had left me for the moment due to the fact that I was having sex for the first time.

“Mmm~. You’re doing an excellent job~, Rosé said before wrapping her legs around my waist. “If you want, you can try and go a bit faster~.”

I moved my hips faster as a newfound feeling began to stir within me. The feeling of her pussy, the look in her eye she gave me, and the sounds of her moans made me pick up the pace even more. I wanted to make her feel good. I wanted to make her scream my name as I fucked her. I was so driven that’s body moved on autopilot and I fucked her as hard as I possibly could.

“Ooooh~! That’s it~! That’s it~! That’s it~! That’s iiiiiiiiiit~!!” Rosé squealed right after I felt her walls clamp my dick and felt my hips get wet. And unless porn has lied to me, it looks like I gave an experienced woman an orgasm. Sweet.

“You’re a natural, sweetie~,” Brandy purred and leaned in close to my face. “How about giving me some sugar~?”

I met her halfway and kissed Brandy full on the mouth. Our tongues battled for dominance as I watched Brandy’s eyes flutter.

“Keep fucking me, babe~!” Rosé yelled while I pinched her tits. “Oh gods! Oh my gods, yes~! Fuck my pussy hard! Give me more~!”

“You want more~? If you want more, then I wanna hear you beg for it~!” I told Rosé before delivering a slap to her thigh.

“Fuck me~!” Rosé screamed, her eyes rolling back. “Make me your little bitch! I’m such a fucking slut! Give me your dick! Cum on my fucking face! I want your cum all over my slutty little face~!”

“Damn, hon. Laying it on a little thick there?” Brandy asked before realizing Rosé meant every word. “Oh damn~.”

“Fuck…!” I grunted, feeling tension build up in my groin. “I’m gonna nut! Get ready!”

“Go on, baby~. Paint this bitch’s face with your cum~,” Brandy encouraged me.

Just before I came, I pulled out of Rosé and aimed my dick at her face. She lifted her head and stuck out her tongue while opening her mouth wide as I jacked off and she rubbed her clit and pussy lips. I grit my teeth as the first rope of my spunk shot out and splashed on Rosé’s tongue and face. Rosé moaned loudly and came at the same time. I panted heavily as cum dripped off of the redhead’s face and she looked up at me with hearts in her eyes.

“Goddamn…” I exhaled as she slumped back on the bed.

While I caught my breath, I caught a glimpse of Brandy cleaning off my cum from Rosé’s face with her tongue. Honestly, watching another spectacle like that was getting me hard again.

As if doing it on purpose, Brandy was shaking her ass at me as if she were inviting me. Those cheeks did a damn good job putting me in a daze as I clasped both cheeks, making her gasp.

“Don’t think I forgot about you, hot stuff,” I said with newfound bravado and aimed my dick at her soaking pussy. “You may not have popped my cherry, but I’ll be sure to take real good care of you~.” Just as I said that, I held onto her ass cheeks and rammed my cock deep in her pussy from behind.

“Oh my god~!” Brandy shouted while gripping the sheets. “Not even five minutes and you’re ready for a second round~?! What a man~!”

“Let’s just say I recently got an energy boost!” I boasted before cracking my hand across her ass.

“Aaaahh~! Yes! Yes, do it again, baby~!” Brandy screamed before Rosé silenced her with a kiss.

“Mmm, I think we found a keeper, Brandy~,” Rosé cooed while I smacked Brandy’s ass again, leaving a red hand mark. “Wait’ll we tell the others about him~!”

Brandy couldn’t be bothered to give a response as I pounded her tight pussy. I then got an idea and jammed my thumb in her asshole.

“Eeeeeeeeee!! You sneaky little shit!” Brandy yelled at me in a playful manner.

“Oh wow, he’s creative too~!” Rosé squealed as she groped Brandy’s tits.

“Fuck, baby, you’re so fuckn’ tight!” I said as I thumbed her asshole more while I fucked her hard. “You might even be tighter than Rosé!”

“Hey!” Rosé shouted at me. “Rule one, no comparing lovers when they’re all in the room,” she instructed me.

“Haha! My bad,” I laughed. “Now beg for it, Brandy~!”

“Aaaahh~! Give me that cock, baby~! Pound my pussy until you cream on me~!” Brandy begged while I kept fucking her.

I obliged her by thrusting as hard as I could to the point where all that could be heard were the wails of the gorgeous brunette at my mercy. Rosé took it upon herself to finger her pussy at the sight of me fucking the daylights out of her friend. Both of Brandy’s ass cheeks were completely red as they jiggled like pudding with every thrust I made. The entire room stunk of sex and sweat, and the bed sheets were damp with mixed fluids. However, like all good things, my third and final climax was nearing, and I felt Brady’s pussy walls begin to tighten around my cock.

“Here it comes, Brandy!” I said to the brunette. “Where do you want it~?!”

“Cover my back, you savage~!” Brandy told me.

With a few more last thrusts and one more crack across Brandy’s ass, I pulled out of her pussy and jerked off until I finally came. Rope after rope of my cum shot out of my cock and other Brandy’s slender back. At the same time, Brandy screamed into the pillow as she came as well, and her pussy squirted her juices all over my crotch and legs. We all basked in the afterglow of our climax high until I exhaled deeply before I collapsed on my back on the mattress. As I tried to catch my breath, both women crawled up on both sides to snuggle on my chest.

END OF LEMON!!!

“Goddamn…” I said, smiling a little while drenched in sweat. “That was intense.”

“Mmm, you were wonderful, given you were only a virgin a short while ago,” Brandy told me before kissing my cheek.

“Didn’t know I had it in me,” I said while Rosé twirled her finger on my chest. “Does the Don do this often? Send his girls to guys for doing a good job?”

“On the contrary, he rarely does,” Rosé said.

“You must have done something incredibly spectacular to earn the company of his finest. And Rosé of course,” Brandy said, making Rosé smack her with a pillow.

“If this is what happens just because I won a fight, then this is the best gig I’ve ever had,” I said with a cocky smile as I wrapped my arms around my two girls.

Meanwhile

On the other side of the city, a three-story villa stood surrounded with fancy-looking carriages and a small army of guards. In one of the rooms, a doctor stood over Nacho as he was finishing the stitches on his face.

“Forgive me, señor, but the wound is too deep to avoid scarring,” the doctor said nervously.

“I don’t give a flying fuck, cabrón! Just stop the bleeding, or you’ll start to bleed,” Nacho threatened before the doctor kept stitching his face. He then looked over at a large man with a bowler hat on. “I don’t give a shit what my uncle says. I want that little puta squashed like a bug!” The man simply bowed before heading out the door. “Call me a cockroach. We’ll see who’s the fucking cockroach!”

Author's Note

Dante’s kills and brutality are now forever imprinted in the minds of the bosses of the underworld. How will they handle him from here on out during his stay in the big city?

Side Note:
Just a reminder, yes, I’m back. Just got over a lack of motivation. Stay tuned for more updates.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Symphony of Infamy

Chapter 31

“Another round,” Stone said, lifting up his glass. The bartender nodded and poured the gin into his glass.

“My, my, Stone, you seem to be in a good mood,” Madame Nightshade said with a grin. “Something good happen recently? Did you finally land yourself a woman? You’re not getting any younger these days, after all.”

Stone chuckled before leaning forward. “We all know you’re the only girl for me. And anyway, the kid went and got us a new place of business.”

“Kid?” Madame Nightshade tapped her chin until it hit her. “Ah, that adorable little upstart you and Fuze brought with you. How did he manage to do that?”

“Boss pitted him against the other representatives in PVP,” Stone said, making Nightshade gasp.

“PVP?! That dangerous blood sport?!” Nightshade said. “I admit the youngster is talented, given what I saw that night, but to put him in PVP so soon? How badly did he get hurt?” That question only made Stone laugh out loud.

“Him get hurt? Ha! He took care of those mooks like a dog against a bunch of rats,” Stone laughed.

“Is that so?” Nightshade said. “And I’m assuming he’s also the reason why Alduck called for two of my girls?”

“Right again, doll,” Stone clicked his teeth at her before he took another sip of his drink.

Suddenly, the doors of the club swung open and a group of men walked in. They looked around the club as if trying to get a feel of the place, all with looks of ill-contempt. The men made their way to the bar and sat themselves down by Stone.

“What’ll it be, fellas?” NIghtshade asked nonchalantly.

“Tequila,” one of the men said.

Nightshade nodded to the bartender, and he poured all the newcomers a shot of tequila.

“Nice place,” the man said, almost sounding sarcastic. “Although, the smell is a little musky.” He glances at Stone with a mocking smirk. “It smells like somebody took a shit in the corner.”

“Sure it’s not just your upper lip, buddy boy?” Stone asked the tool in a drunken stupor.

“Funny,” the man scoffed as he sipped his drink. “It’s quite a fortunate coincidence that we meet this night, Mr. Stone.”

“And why’s that, dick-nose?” Stone asked the guy before reaching for his switch blade.

“Because your little protégé cost our boss a large some of money,” the man said, when suddenly his men pulled out magical pistols and aimed them at everyone. People screamed when the guns were drawn and one of the armed men hopped over the bar to take Nightshade hostage.

“I’d drop that little toy you got hidden away, Stone,” the man said smugly as he continued to sip his drink.

Stone smirked, either from overconfidence or the drunken haze, but he felt defiant.

“Sure.” He took the blade and stuck it in the guy’s hand and stapled it to the table.

“Aaaaah!” The guy screamed before Stone punched him right in the face, took one of the pistols, and shot the guy who took Nightshade in the head.

“Come on, you tequila-suckin’ simps! Come and get some!” Stone shouted before firing at another of Nacho’s men.

A full-on shootout erupted in the bar as the attacking men ducked behind tables while Stone took cover behind the bar. Guests and employees ran for their lives while Stone did his best to fire back at the men.

“Damn that Serrano Pepper!” Nightshade snapped. “I knew he was a sore loser! Alduck will have his balls for this!”

“Hate to break it to ya, doll, but I don’t think Serrano is in on this!” Stone said as he avoided more shots. “My money’s on that fat puke of a nephew of his!”

“And I’ll add to that if you keep shooting!” Nightshade pleaded as she started making molotov cocktails. “You got a lighter?”

“Gave up smoking a long time ago.” Stone then felt around the body of the guy he killed and found a small book of matches. “Luckily, this guy still did.”

Nightshade wasted no time and used her cloth napkins to stuff into the bottle. She lit a match to ignite the cloth and threw it over the bar. The bottle broke near one of the attacking men, setting him and the surrounding area on fire. The man screamed in agony as he was burned alive.

“Nice one!” Stone praised and also managed to kill another enemy. “You mooks should’ve never underestimated us! When we fight, we fight to win!”

As Stone went to shoot another thug, he was blinded when one of them through a bottle right at his face. This gave an opportunity for another thug to take the pistol away from him and shoot him in the kneecap.

“AARRGGH! FUCK!” Stone yelled and soon the rest of the men piled on him.

“YOU BASTARDS!” Nightshade shouted but the leader simply backhanded her face, making her fall to the floor.

The men kept beating and kicking Stone into submission until the poor man couldn’t keep up his guard anymore. His bones were broken, his knee was destroyed, and his was beginning to lose consciousness from the relentless onslaught.

“¡Suficiente!” The leader commanded, causing the men to stop the beating. The leader wiped his brow and gazed down at the barely conscious Stone. He raised his pistol to finish him off but soon they heard sirens in the distance from outside.

“Maldita sea…you got lucky this night, Mr. Stone,” the leader said and holstered his weapon. “Be sure to tell that little brat that this is what happens when you fuck with the wrong people.”

As the men turned to leave, they heard something crash off to the side. One of the men reacted immediately and fired his weapon at the noise, thinking it was a gunshot. However, to their shock, an innocent barmaid held her bloody stomach with tears streaming down her cheeks. A broken vase lay scattered on the floor by where she stood as she tried to speak, only to collapse to floor.

“PETAL!” Nightshade cried, holding her face.

“Vamanos!” The leader yelled before shoving the guy who shot the barmaid.

As the men made their escape, sirens from both the guards’ carriages and firefighters rolled up to the club. As the firefighters went to work in putting out the fire, Nightshade weeped as she held the poor dead girl’s body in her arms.

The Next Day
Manehattan Central Park
Axel 1st POV

“Woah…!” Diamond said in awe as we walked through the path, and she marveled at the big green trees and vast grassy plains.

I found myself admiring the park as well. To this world’s credit, it looked similarly to the Central Park in New York, back in my world. I had only been to New York once when I was younger, and the park was the only thing I remember.

“Glad you came to the park, Diamond?” I asked with a smile. “Told you it’s a must see.”

“It is! The grass is so green and the water on the pond is shimmering like a million diamonds,” Diamond mused while she kept looking around.

“Just like you,” I said, making her blush. “Oh what, I’m not allowed to compliment my cute little friend?”

“I know, but you don’t have to say it out loud,” Diamond blushed as we went on our way.

I chuckled and tussled her hair a bit. I never had any siblings growing up, and it was fun being viewed as a brother figure to Diamond. When I first met her, I thought she was just a spoiled brat using her father’s name to get whatever she wanted. But ever since I saved her from those goons, it’s like she had a complete change of heart. Not to mention the fact that Mr. Rich sometimes reminds me how grateful he is for setting her straight.

We came across a small bridge that stood over a creek. Diamond and I spotted a family of geese swimming along the water, and I used my phone to take a picture of her standing by them. It was a mommy and daddy goose with their little chick, and the chick looked so happy with its parents as they swam together. It was then I noticed Diamond staring at the family of geese with a small frown.

“What’s wrong, Diamond?” I asked.

“Nothing. It’s just that…I miss my mom,” Diamond said while watching the geese. “She wasn’t the best mom in the world, but she was mine.”

I frowned and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Your dad told me they split up.”

“He never told me why she and he separated. Every time I asked, he would change the subject or give me bits.” I could tell Diamond felt depressed after saying that.

I felt bad for the kid after hearing that. I was never one to pry in personal affairs like this, and I never asked Mr. Rich about his divorce since it wasn’t any of my business. I’ve known plenty of people back home who’ve experienced their parents splitting up and they either move on or they let it affect their social life. Diamond was probably younger than she is now when they split up but something tells me she may know why her parents split up even though her dad never told her. But, be that as it may, I still wouldn’t pry.

Seeing Diamond all sad made think of a way to get her back into high spirits. I thought about just giving her a flight around the park, but I didn’t think that was gonna cut it. She’s already seen me show off my powers before, and I wanted to show her a good time. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. I pulled out my phone and began scrolling through my apps.

“Do I still have it…?” I muttered to myself.

“Still have what?” Diamond asked as I kept scrolling through my phone.

“Aha! I knew my lazy ass didn’t delete it!” I said as I found the app in question. I tapped it and let it load up. “Ooh! My data is still here! I would’ve been pissed if it wasn’t, considering all the effort I put into it.”

“What are you talking about?” Diamond asked.

“I’m gonna put on a little show for you, Diamond,” I smiled and held my out phone towards an open area of the park. “Sure hope this works though…and it doesn’t screw up my phone.”

I activated Video with my phone in my hand and focused. The screen from my phone shined brightly as my digital power sparked around my hand and arm. Suddenly, a digital beam shot out of my phone, and a group of individuals started to take form in front of us. Like a hologram, their shapes became more visible while having a video-like appearance. I kept using my power until the individuals finally finished taking form. Diamond was at a loss for words as the new group stood in front of us. They were an odd-looking bunch and looked like they were made of leaves and branches. Each of them was carrying different kinds of instruments and wore different styles of hats.

“Sweet! It actually worked!” I cheered.

“Wow! What are they?” Diamond asked.

“They, Diamond, are the Shugabush Band!” I said proudly. People who were walking by stopped and stared at the strange newcomers.

“A band? They sing?” Diamond asked.

“You better believe it,” I nodded and looked at the band. “Alright, let’s see if they’ll do as I say. Get into position!”

As if they understood me, the monsters nodded and walked a few feet away from each other as if they were getting ready on a stage. They tuned their guitars and the drummer beat on his drum set to test it out. As they prepared, I noticed more people approaching as they wondered what was going on.

“Seems we’re getting a crowd,” I smirked. The singer of the group gave me a thumbs up and a nod. “And it looks like they’re ready to go.”

Wanting to make a big spectacle, I summoned my digital wings and flew up over the band with my phone in hand. I then cleared my throat to address the oncoming crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” I called out. “Please give a warm welcome to my singing monsters, the Shugabush Band!” I looked down at Diamond and playfully winked at her. “Hit it!”

The Shugabush band played the song and immediately, Diamond and the crowd were eating it up. The music began attracting more people passing by as they began to dance along with the music. Meanwhile, I kept hovering in the air with my phone and bobbed my head to the beat of the music as I watched everyone enjoy the performance. As I watched the spectators, I saw that Diamonds mood had vastly changed from dreary to cheery. It seemed to be infectious, because I couldn’t help keeping the same smile off my face.

Diamond started dancing and laughing like she was having the time of her life, along with some other children in the crowd. When she looked up at me with those innocent eyes, I couldn’t help but feel a sort of bond between me and Diamond grow stronger. She waved at me with her bright smile and laughter, which stirred a warm and familial feeling of joy and warmth.

I’ll do anything to protect that smile… I thought to myself.

The song soon came to an end and the crowd cheered for the band. The Shugabush monsters all took a bow for their performance in response to their cheering.

“Hey! Who wants an encore?!” I asked the crowd.

Their answer came in the form of a huge uproar that could arguably rival any stadium. I nodded and the Shugabush Band got back into position to play another song.

The song seemed to get many people to think of their situation and it brought a smile to their face. A lot of them started to sing to the repeating lyrics, and I could see Diamond was joining right along with them.

When the song ended, the crowd erupted with cheers and applause as the Shugabush band bowed once more. I then decided to fly back down where Diamond stood while keeping my power activated. As soon as I touched down, Diamond jumped on me and hugged me tight with her little arms.

“Heh, I take it you enjoyed the show?” I said while holding her with one arm.

“It was amazing!” Diamond chirped as she leaned back while keeping her arms wrapped around my neck. “You’re amazing, big brother Axel!”

I smiled at her and nodded at the girl. “Just remember, Diamond, no matter what happens, I’ll always be here for you. Because you’re also like a little sister to me.”

“Really?” Diamond asked with stars in her eyes. “That’s…the first time you’ve called me that.”

“Because it’s true,” I said, still smiling warmly. “From here on out, you and I are family. To you, my little sister, from me, your big brother, we’ll be together forever.”

Diamond’s lip quivered as she smiled and hugged me tight. Tight enough to actually make it a little difficult to breathe.

I laughed as some of the crowd awed at us, and eventually I set her down, but she stood close to me. I noticed I was still using my powers and the Shugabush Band were standing there waiting for my next orders.

“Well Diamond?” I said, looking down at my new cute little sister. “What’s say we keep this party going?”

She nodded while holding me close to her. Wanting to illustrate our redefined relationship, I had the band play this little number. A few of the Shugabush’s stepped forward to play the song.

Diamond and I danced with each other while holding hands as the crowd danced around us. Diamond was laughing and had the biggest smile on her face as she and I skipped to the beat of the song. I lost track of how long we were at the park together, and I had the Shugabush band play more songs throughout the day. Safe to say, I may have just made Diamond the happiest girl in the world.

Later That Night
Dante 1st POV

For fuck’s sake, Axel, you sure took your sweet-ass time today, I thought annoyed as I flew towards Alduck’s estate.

It was fortunate that the kid fell asleep as soon as Axel brought her to the hotel. Rich made sure to prolong the time for our little conscious switch by giving Axel an hour-long speech of how grateful he was to him. I almost had half a mind to just force Axel to switch with me, no pun intended. Eventually, Axel managed to convince Rich to excuse him for the night since he said he wanted to venture out into the city. Soon as he and the big wig parted ways, I wasted no time in taking over and took flight in the night sky.

Seriously, how many times is Rich gonna express how grateful he is? We get it, his kid’s happy, whoop de doo, I thought as I rolled my eyes.

For a single father who had to deal with a troubled child, his praise is warranted, Axel retorted. Though, I do have to agree, his praise is starting to sound like ass-kissing.

My point, exactly, I thought as I I neared the estate.

When I touched down in front of the gate, I noticed the guards looked a little on edge. They opened the gate for me right away, and I could tell the atmosphere around here felt different than usual. I spotted Fuze at the front door pacing back and forth while wiping his forehead with sweat. Guy looked like he was about to have a panic attack.

“Sheesh, Fuze, what’s got you on edge?” I asked. “The missus got your balls held hostage?”

“Not the time, kid,” Fuze said before lighting a cigarette. “Stone’s in a bad way.”

This took me by surprise as Fuze led me into the mansion. “What do you mean? The hell happened to Stone?” I asked.

“Nacho. The little bastard sent his goons to Nightshade’s club and ransacked the place. They beat Stone within an inch of his life. They even killed one of Shade’s girls, Petal,” Fuze explained as we moved further into the mansion.

“What the fuck?!” I snapped, feeling my rage build. “I knew I should’ve ripped that fucker’s guts out! Tell me where he is! I’ll make his life a living hell!”

“And risk a war with Mexicolt?!” Fuze snapped, confusing me.

“Elaborate, please? What’s in Mexicolt?” I wondered, then realizing it was this world’s version of Mexico.

“Trafficking, contraband, and smuggled goods. The only thing down there other than illegals,” Fuze said as we stopped at a door where a small group had gathered outside a double door.

“Wow, the trifecta,” I said.

“Not only that, but Alduck made it clear to everyone never to fuck with the Cartel,” Fuze said. “Those psychos know to hold a grudge against anyone who dares cross them the wrong way.”

Fuck me! There’s even Cartel in this world?! Axel yelped in my head. I knew fucking with those guys would bite us in the ass!

Calm down, we haven’t done anything to them…yet, I thought.

Dante, please, I beg you, don’t do anything stupid! Axel begged.

How about you hush up and let me handle this, I thought as the doors opened for us. I saw Alduck in the middle of screaming at someone on the phone.

“Listen to me you insignificant cunt! I don’t give a damn who you have to slap around, or whose knees you gotta break! You find those shit heads before the week’s end, or I’ll have you beaten worse than Stone!” Alduck barked before slamming the phone into the receiver. “Fuck!”

“Um…boss? Dante’s here,” Fuze said.

“I heard what happened, boss,” I said, stepping forward. “So, who do you want me to rip apart? In fact, I’ll go straight to Nacho right now and burn him alive.”

“You'll do no such thing!” Alduck barked. “By all means, get his goons, but we don’t touch Nacho without a sit-down with the Commission.”

“Why would that shit stain do this?” Fuze wondered. “He’s basically spitting in the face of the treaty between the Commission.”

“Probably because of me,” I admitted, making them look at me. “Think about it. I sabotaged his plans for the PVP last night, cost him who knows how much money, and I sliced up his face pretty good. He’s probably lashing out at Mr. Alduck since he knows he can’t do anything to me.”

“So, what do you plan on doing then?” Fuse asked me.

“Simple, what Mr. Alduck suggested,” I said with a menacing grin. “If I recall, didn’t Serrano say something about Nacho running a prostitution ring somewhere in the city?”

Fuse smirked before patting my back. “There’s an alley at the end of Restaurant Row that leads to all the low-end joints. Look for a guy named Slim. He’ll get you what you want to know.”

“First thing’s first,” I said, and turned to Alduck. “Don Alduck. Do I have your permission to retaliate in any manner of my choosing?”

Alduck poured himself a drink while looking out at the city from afar through his window. “Kid. Make it loud.”

I flew straight towards the street where popular restaurants were located. I could only imagine what Stone looked like in his condition and how poor Ms. Nightshade must be feeling after seeing one of her employees get killed. The lack of respect and overuse of authority that Nacho displayed by sicking his goons on the club made my gut churn. There was no way he was gonna get away with this, not by a long shot.

Dante, please think about this, Axel said. I get you’re pissed, but something tells me we’re poking at a hornet’s nest.

“Pissed doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel,” I said aloud. “They disrespected me when they attacked Stone. And no one disrespects me like that. Ever.” I arrived at the alley Fuze mentioned and started looking around for my contact. I saw a fatass with gross-looking wings on his back hanging by the door and tried for him. “Hey! I’m looking for Slim.”

“I am Slim.” I had to take a moment to hold back my laughter when I heard this fat sonuva bitch was Slim. “Whatchu want?”

“Name’s Dante,” I introduced myself. “Don Alduck sent me to derail Nacho’s business.”

“‘Bout time. That prick’s been needing an ass whooping for a long time.” Slim gestured for me to follow him down the alley illuminated by a dim light.

“So, what’s the play? Do I just tear shit up?” I asked.

“Exactly. Start with the pizza parlor down on 3rd street. Nacho has a prostitution ring in the basement. Start there,” Slim said while handing me a slip of paper.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“A couple of names. One, a mister Booker, keeps the books. And the other guy, Lumber…he’s the guy who killed Nightshade’s girl,” Slim told me.

That last part made me grit my teeth in anger. The fact that they’d be willing to kill a poor young woman in cold blood made me sick to my stomach. Even if I myself am a cold murdering bastard, I’d never stoop so low as killing without any other choice.

“You’d best get out of here, Slim,” I said, walking past him as smoke wisps billowed off my body. “Because these streets are gonna flow red with blood.”

Slim nodded and took off as quick as he could while flapping his wings. My march to the pizza parlor was quick as I slowly unraveled my chain from my wrist. My power made my chain glow red as little red cinders floated with my smoke trails behind me. I could feel Axel in my head wanting to say something, but he couldn’t bring himself to say the words. Which was fine by me, because I was in no mood to hear his bitching. My trek eventually came to an end once I reached the parlor. I peeked inside the restaurant to see no one inside. Just a couple dudes hanging out behind the counter. Not bothering to be subtle, I approached the front door and kicked the door as hard as I could. The door was sent flying off its hinges and crashed into a couple of tables. The men behind the counter were startled at the sudden loud noise until they saw me walk in with a blood thirsty glare directed at them.

“Knock-knock, motherfuckers,” I snarled.

“What the fuck, ass-wipe! You looking to get killed?!” The guy with the mustache said while reaching under the counter and bringing out a bat with a couple of nails in the wood.

I raised my left hand and fired a cinder shot at his head. The blast exploded his whole face off and he fell backwards like a limp rag doll.

“Woah…” I said with a grin. “Guess that Blast Core Axel absorbed had a little more oomph than I thought.”

“¡Qué mierda hombre!” The scrawny looking guy shouted before rushing into the back room.

I ran after him as he tried shutting the door on me. I smashed right through it to see him desperately running down a flight of stairs. He glanced back at me with terror in his eyes and he ran into another room at the bottom. I chuckled a little as I took a step back and jumped all the way down the stairs and busted the door down again. Inside was a larger room with more thugs and some women. Beds and mattresses were spread out in different corners of the room and the scent that filled my nostrils almost made me gag. Some men were either fully nude or barely had any clothing on, same for the women, which was disturbing, but the one thing I noticed right off the bat were the women themselves. While most looked to be in their mid twenties, or older, there were a few girls who looked like they were in their teens. The sight of these girls in a place like this only fueled my growing anger as more cinders and smoke billowed off my body.

“You fuckers are so fucked, you don’t even realize it,” I hissed, spinning my chain around. “I’m gonna enjoy making you all squirm!”

“¡Demonio! ¡Es el demonio!” The guy who ran screamed in terror while he zipped past the larger guys.

Some of the men scrambled to get whatever weapons they had stashed around. I immediately got to work by whipping my chain at the nearest thug’s bear back. His flesh was ripped off his bones from the searing heat of my chain, and I fired a couple more cinder shots at the other thugs. The women in the room began screaming in terror as they tried escaping during my onslaught.

“You like that?!” I said maniacally as I wrapped my chain around a thug’s neck and yanked it, melting his head off his shoulders. “You all like getting hot and bothered?! Well, I’ll make sure you’re all burnt to a fucking crisp! Where the fuck is Booker?! Bring me Lumber too! I got business with those sick fucks!”

As I kept burning and beating the shit out of these mother fuckers, my eye caught a glimpse of a guy wearing Caeser Romero’s clothes holding a gun to one of the younger girl’s head while heading up a separate set of stairs in the back.

“Oh no you don’t…” I growled as I whipped two more thugs before giving chase.

I ran up the stairs as more thugs, who were dressed and armed, tried cutting me off up the stairs. I raised my hand and charged up a cinder blast and fired. A massive explosion sent the lot flying out from the other side they came from. Fire began burning the walls around me as I continued up the stairs and made it to the top of the roof on the third floor. The guy kept his gun held against his hostage’s head while he had his arm wrapped around her neck.

“I’m gonna make a wild guess and say you’re Booker?” He flinched at the question. “I guess you are. Every second you keep your gun pressed against her head is a second more I take to make the last fleeting moments of your life a living hell,” I threatened.

“I don’t think so, puto!” Booker had the girl dangle off the side of the building while still holding her. “You kill me, she falls to her death! You come any closer, I shoot her in her pretty face!” He cocked back the hammer to show he was serious. “Get the fuck out of my sight, and I let the little puta live! When my boss hears what you did, everyone you know, and love, will be skinned and butchered! ¡Nunca debiste habernos jodido, cabrón!”

I had to weigh my options here, much as I didn’t want to. I could use my Neon and just sprint at him before he has a chance of killing her and falling off the edge. There’s a risk that during my power up, he’ll just kill her right then and there and it would all be fore nothing. The girl looked scared out of her wits, and she was saying something in Spanish that sounded like she was praying.

Dante! I suddenly heard Axel yell. Why the fuck are you hesitating?! Save her! You can do it!

Don’t be naïve, Axel, I thought. Just look at that shit-head. I even twitch my finger the wrong way, she dies.

Well, you gotta do something! Switch with me! I can save her! Axel begged.

And if you can’t? I thought.

It’s a risk I’m willing to take! Just let me briefly take the reigns! Axel demanded.

…

“I got a better idea,” I said while switching to Neon.

Whew…okay, just focus on making a break for the girl. The Blast Core I absorbed should’ve given us enough power to boost our speed as well. So, you’re gonna have to time it just-

ZAP!

The silence in the air was almost too deafening to bear. Booker blinked as he was frozen stiff as a statue for several seconds until he managed to slowly look down. To his horror, a fresh wound had torn through his shoulder, slowly rendering his arm’s functions useless. But that wasn’t what he was looking at. What he was seeing was another wound that pierced right through his hostage’s head. The girl’s eyes were widened with shock and horror as the life in her eyes almost immediately snuffed out, and her body began to go limp. Booker then looked back at me and saw my hand raised at them, glowing a fluorescent red glow as I had fired a concentrated neon beam. All the while, a menacingly twisted smile grew across my lips as the fire behind me had grown more violent. I would imagine the spectacle made me look like some kind of demon from Hell in his eyes.

“I’ll save you the trouble,” I said with a sadistic tone.

D…Dan…te… Wh…why…? I could barely hear Axel in my head as his presence faded away back into my mind.

Shaking in his own shoes, Booker dropped the girl’s body into the streets below while slowly backing away with his gun pointed at me. “¡Quédate atrás, carajo! ¡Te juro que te mataré! ¡Quédate atrás!”

I slowly took a step forward as fear ran through his eyes. Booker fired at me, but his shaking made him miss me entirely as the magic bolt whizzed by my head. I made my way towards Booker as he desperately kept firing at me, only to keep missing each and every time. It wasn’t until I was only a couple of feet in front of him did he try firing once more at close proximity, only to hear the click from the empty gun.

“You’re all out,” I mocked.

The sniveling shit panicked and threw his gun at my head. I just caught it before throwing it right into his face. The gun hit him square in the nose, and he was about to fall backwards but I caught him by his collar.

“You’re one of the shit stains who ransacked Nightshade’s place,” I growled and glared deep into his eyes. “Were you the one who killed that girl?”

“I-It wasn’t me! It was Lumber! The stupid cabrón shot her because she broke a damn vase! We thought it was a gunshot!” Booker said.

“Where is he?” I demanded.

“In the basement at the taco shack down the road!” Booker said. “Are you here to avenger her, you hypocrite?!” He spat.

“No, it just makes finding him easier for me,” I said.

I pulled him back and pinned him on the roof while wrapping the chain around my fist. “Now, you’re going to tell me all about Nacho’s operations, and if you don’t, you’re going to lose some teeth. Got me?”

“You have no idea what you’re-!” I shut him up by bashing his face with two teeth flying. “¡Joder!”

“Better start talking, while you still got some teeth to do so!” I barked while getting ready for another punch.

“¡Vete a la mierda, perra!” Booker spat in my face.

I punched him again, knocking out a molar this time. “Keep it up, motherfucker, and I’ll have you chocking on your own balls! Now tell me about Nacho!”

“I…I am loyal to Señor Nacho!” Booker seethed in his pain-filled state. “I will die before I reveal anything!”

“Oh, I’m not gonna kill ya,” I said as I switched to Video and summoned my digital demon claws with my free hand. “I’m just gonna hurt you. Really…really…bad.”

Without any hesitation, I dug my claws in the open wound in his shoulder and began twisting and clawing away his flesh and bone.

“AAAAHHHH!!” Booker screamed in pure agony.

I clawed and pulled at his flesh for nearly twenty minutes and lacerated his other arm with my claws. I then jammed one of my claws in his eye before scooping it out before he decided to talk. “Alright! Alright, alright! I’ll tell you what you want to know!”

I forced him to look over the edge of the building to look out at the other buildings in the area.

“Point out where the rest of Nacho’s prostitution ring is,” I demanded.

With a shaky hand, the filth pointed out a laundromat, a liquor store, the taco shack he mentioned before, a small fishing warehouse at the docks, and finally, a toy store of all places. These are some disgusting people.

“There, now you know, now let me go!” Booker demanded.

I let out a low chuckle as he turned his head to me with fearful confusion. It was then he realized that I was holding onto him from falling over the edge of the roof. He looked at me with pure horror in his remaining eye as I loosened my grip on him.

“Very poor choice of words,” I said and let go of him.

As Booker fell screaming from the roof toward the pavement, I couldn’t help the laughter that I let out. He fell headfirst on the ground, and I heard a sickening crunch of his neck shattering and his head being crushed from the fall as blood splattered everywhere. I had to admit, this was very fun.

As the fire surrounded me from the burning building, I took note of the other buildings that the guy pointed out. I figured by now someone must’ve called the guards or more of Nacho’s goons were called for backup and they be on their way. I then got an idea what would both save time and make things a bit louder than it already was. I used Video to summon a red digital demonic circle. The circle called forth over a dozen digital demons around me.

“Master,” one of the demons hissed as they all bowed to me. “What is your bidding?”

“Swarm those buildings,” I commanded, pointing at the buildings Booker pointed out. “Rip the thugs to shreds, leave no quarter, burn it all down. As for those who’re unaffiliated, you may choose to leave them be.”

“As you wish, master,” The lead demon bowed along with the other demons before heading toward the buildings, some cackling like crazy.

“Okay…now what?” I asked no one in particular.

How about you get the fuck back into my head before I find a way to give you an aneurysm and take us both out, you fucking psychopath! I heard Axel roar in my head. What the absolute fuck is wrong with you?! You killed a teenager who was begging for help! I told you I could’ve saved her if you’d’ve just let me take control! But no! You just wanted to satiate your fucking bloodlust! I should…I should…! Fuck! I can’t even think straight! That’s how pissed I am at you, and myself for letting this shit happen!

Hey, I did ya a big favor, jackass, I spat in my head. That guy had a twitchy finger and was ready to ice the girl any second. If I let you take the wheel, you’d’ve probably done some stupid shit like try to talk the guy down or, as you put it, use your power to save her. It was too big of a risk, so I took the risk out of the equation.

That is such fucking bullshit! You wanted this to happen! You wanted to kill her! She didn’t have to die! She was just a fucking kid! Axel argued back.

Wouldn’t’ve made much of a difference. She was going to die anyways, might as well be me to do the deed. I then used digital to conjure some wings and flew high into the air, and centered myself above the buildings Nacho had dealings with. Now shut up. I got some music to make!

Just as the demons began tearing up the town, I raised my arms and started waving my hands synchronously. I hovered in the air as I looked down at the pathetic thugs trying to make a break for it, only to be torn asunder by a pursuing digital demon. As if conducting an orchestra of death and destruction, I continued waving my hands with a twisted smile as I watched my minions tear the town apart. The sounds of magic gunfire were heard popping off as the thugs tried to put up a fight.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE THESE THINGS?!” One thug screamed as he tried to shoot a demon.

“JUST KEEP SHOOTING, IMBÉCIL!” Another thug screamed while rapidly firing at the horde, hitting none and accidentally killing one of his fellow thugs.

The demons were on a rampage as they continued raiding every building and setting fire from within. The civilians that were caught in the chaos all fled for their lives while screaming in terror. Some looked up in the sky to see me, which only made their fear grow drastically. Although they couldn’t quite make out my face due to the dark of night and how high I flew up in the air, my digital red bat wings made me look like a demon who reveled in the destruction taking place. Over at the laundromat, an explosion caused four thugs to jump from the third floor before being picked off by my digital demons.

“Such a wonderful sight of destruction and mayhem,” I said to myself as I continued waving my arms. “This’ll send a message to that fat prick not to fuck with me or the Don.”

Soon, all of Nacho’s buildings were engulfed in flames, the streets were alive with the sounds of screams and sirens blaring. Such beautiful chaos and destruction. Almost brings a tear to my eye. I then caught sight of a man who wore similarly fancy clothes who was trying to make a break for it by desperately flapping his wings as fast as he could while carrying a couple duffle bags that were no doubt filled with money or gems. I glanced at one of my demons, to which it looked up at me, and I signaled it to catch the guy trying to fly away. The demon nodded and flew right at the guy and managed to catch him in midair, making him drop the bags. The man yelled frantically as my demon forced him to fly over to me until he was right in front of me in the air.

“I’d like to go two for two with this guessing game and say, judging by your fancy-ass attire, and the fact you’re trying to bail with those bags filled with stolen funds, you must be the other piece of shit, Lumber?” I said, making him look at me with pure fear and confusion.

“Wh-Why are you doing this?!” Lumber yelled.

“And we got a winner,” I said, and flew in close. “Take a good long look at what’s happening down there, Lumber,” I said, pointing at the death and destruction below us. “I did this because I wanted to send a very loud message to your boss. I want him to know that while there may be consequences with fucking with him and his people, there are even more consequences when fucking with me and my boss. And I realize I may sound hypocritical, but you people hurt a good friend of mine and killed a girl in cold blood.” I leaned in close to glare into his eyes. “You are the only one who I am choosing to spare because I want you to tell your boss everything that happened. I want you to tell him that if he ever tries to fuck with me, my boss, or anyone I know, I’ll be sure to pay him and his fucking uncle a personal visit to give them my own message. One that requires me ripping out both their tongues and shoving them up the other’s ass. So, fly, Lumber, fly as fast as fucking possible before I decide to do the same to you.”

I nodded at my demon, and it let Lumber go, allowing him to fly as fast as possible away from me. In the distance, I saw some more flashing lights that was coming straight towards my location. Probably the local authorities finally responding to all the mayhem.

“That’s my cue,” I said, then looked down at my demons. “DEMONS!” I called out in a loud voice. “SEARCH THE BUILDINGS FOR ANY VALUABLES! MONEY, JEWELRY, GEMSTONES, AND WHATEVER ELSE YOU CAN FIND! GATHER EVERYTHING! WE MAKE OUR LEAVE!”

The demons let out a chorus of roars before diving back into the buildings to loot all they could. I slowly descended back to the ground with a triumphant smile. Most of the buildings around me were burning to a crisp while the streets were littered with Nacho’s mutilated goons. I strolled down street and admired my handiwork.

“You…monstruo.…!” I stopped and glanced over to see a thug looking up at me with a missing arm and torn out eye. “When…Señor Nacho…hears of this…he will…have your head…!”

I used Video while unsheathing my Amp to conjure a digital black and red blade before slicing off his head.

“Yours first,” I retorted as his head rolled away and I sheathed my Amp back.

I could hear sirens closing in on my position. The authorities were getting closer.

“Time to go!” I called out, and my demons all came out carrying various bags, safes, and boxes.

I flapped my digital wings and took flight with the demons following close behind. I glanced over my shoulder to see the authorities arrive at the scene, and I smirked to myself while imagining the look on Nacho’s face.

Alduck’s mansion finally came into view after flying high in the sky as to avoid any prying eyes from the citizens below. My demons clung to my haul of treasures and valuables the whole way, and we made our way down to the Don’s. We landed just in front of the front door and my demons landed behind me. Just then, Alduck and Fuze, followed by a few of Alduck’s men, came walking out to see me and I gave them a mock salute.

“Evening, sirs. As promised, I made sure I was loud and proud,” I said.

“Not bad, kid. Nacho will no doubt go to his uncle. That’s when the real battle will begin,” Alduck said before gesturing me inside.

“I aim to please,” I said as I snapped my fingers and my demons disappeared after they set the cargo down for the men to haul away. “So, how’s Stone doing?”

“He’s conscious at the moment. Want to see him? He’s been talking about you in his dreams,” The Don said while puffing his cigar.

We moved through the house to the bedroom where they were keeping Stone. When we entered the room, I saw Stone lying in bed, bloodied and bruised. When I stood at his bedside, he turned to me and chuckled.

“Here I am with a brutal ass kicking, and I still look better than you do,” Stone joked.

“Heh, you wish,” I said back and took a seat. “Sorry this happened to you, old man.”

“Watch it, kid, I’m still spry enough to spank you down the street and back the other way,” Stone said, making us all laugh but he grunted in pain.

“How long will you be out of commission?” I asked.

“Doc says another three weeks ‘till I’ll be able to walk. At least another month before I can get back to cracking skulls and breaking legs,” Stone smiled before reaching for a glass of whiskey.

I couldn’t help but felt bad for Stone and the situation he was in. Both he and Fuze were pretty decent people under the Don and they showed me the ropes how to work around here. It wasn’t fair for him to be cooped up in a room shitting in a pan for a month and half. So, I decided to do something about it.

“Stone, I’m gonna throw you a bone,” I said, standing up while activating my electricity in my hands. “Don’t freak out, but this’ll feel really weird.”

“Kid. At this point, nothing you do can surprise me,” Stone said while laying back down.

I looked at the Don as he stared at me curiously. “With your permission, I’ll get this man standing right back up and busting heads like he used to,” I said. The Don raised a brow at me but nodded his head regardless.

I nodded back and red sparks danced between my fingers and along my hands and arms. I held them over Stone. Stone flinched as I put my hands on his chest, and I began pouring my healing energy into him. Stone gasped when he felt his body healing at a miraculous pace, and he could feel his bones being put back together. The black eye disappeared, the gash on his cheek closed up, and I noticed him moving his foot under the cast again. I kept using my power until there wasn’t even a scratch or bruise left on the man. I slowly deactivated my power and took a deep breath before stepping away. Everyone in the room was silent as a mouse due to the shocking spectacle they just witnessed. Stone looked down at himself and looked back up at me, to which I just gave him a smirk.

“Well? Get your ass out of bed,” I said playfully.

Stone hesitated but actually managed to move his body much more easily than before. He sat up on the edge of the bed and rose back up to his feet. Stone looked down at his hands and stamped the ground a few times with his previously broken leg.

“How do you feel?” I asked.

Stone chuckled a bit before patting my arm. “I feel like I’m twenty again!” He then brings me into a near bone crushing hug. “Kid, I owe you a damn beer, and at least twenty more!”

“Oof! Glad I could help!” I said as he set me down.

“You did more than that, my boy,” Don Alduck said. “Tonight, you sent a message to Serrano that when he bites my hand, I make sure to bite back twice as hard. No doubt he’ll try to blame me for what happened, but it was his nephew who instigated it all.”

“Couldn’t agree more, boss,” I said.

“In fact, it’s a bit shameful to keep you as a mere enforcer of my group,” Alduck said and snapped his fingers. A man came in with a little box and he brought it to Alduck. Alduck opened the little box and inside was a fancy-looking ring.

“What’s this?” I wondered.

“My boy,” Alduck began before taking the ring and walking up to me. “As of tonight, you’re a made man.”

Everyone in the room, including Stone, bowed their heads to me while placing their hands over their hearts. Alduck took my right hand and gently put the ring on my ring finger with a proud smile. I looked down at the ring and felt a little pride well up inside me. I had only joined this mob for a short while, and now I’ve become one of the top dogs of the criminal underworld.

“Oh yeah…” I said subtlety to myself. “It just keeps getting more and more interesting by the day.”

Author's Note

The Red Hawk, Dante, continues to make his name more infamous.

Side Note
One word: college. That is all.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Go Ahead. Make My Day.

Chapter 32

“¡ESA PUTA MIERDA!”

Nacho kicked his table over and ended up breaking off one of the legs. He then took one of the fancy glasses and threw it against the mirror, shattering both of them. Meanwhile, his uncle was sitting on the far side of the room calmly watching his nephew have arguably one of the worst temper tantrums he’s had. Not that he hadn’t experienced this before.

“I’LL KILL HIM! I’LL KILL THAT SHIT-STAIN FOR WHAT HE’S DONE!” Nacho roared.

“Sobrino,” Don Pepper said while pouring some tequila. “That man took out multiple guys and left without a scratch. Take a moment to think of a plan before I find your name in the obituaries.”

“How can you be so nonchalant about this, Tío?!” Nacho barked. “Alduck set the Red Hawk loose on our turf, massacred dozens of our men, and stole a large amount of our assets! We should be kicking down that gordo bastardo’s door and demand retribution!”

“And have the Hawk swoop down on us?” Serrano asked while taking a seat in his favorite chair. “Besides, why make a loud entrance,” He looked over to his bedroom door where a beautiful woman was waiting for him. “When you can just send a message?”

Axel’s Dream
Axel 1st POV

“I can’t fucking believe you!” I screamed in Dante’s face as we sat in an imaginary bar. “I could somewhat handle you joining the mafia and killing SOME scumbags, but to go on a killing spree and murdering a young girl?! What the fuck is wrong with you?! This wasn’t what we agreed to!”

Dante just stared blankly back at me as I glared at him with hate. I also held hatred for myself for being so stupidly naïve that he would put a lid on his violent nature. Now we have a huge-ass target on our backs and the blood of the innocent on our hands because of my poor judgment.

“Hmph…you still don’t get it, do you?” Dante scoffed at me.

“The fuck are you on about, asshole?!” I snapped. “Because all I can think of is locking you away in my subconscious for good, so you don’t fly off the fucking rails like you did last night!”

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Dante said to me with a cocky grin.

I was about to respond when Dante leaned forward and made me back off a little.

“Let’s say you do lock me away forever. I’d just be back in the depths of your mind, unable to switch with you or even talk to you. Then you’d be able to live your life however you damn well please.” Dante then held up his hand to show off his new ring he got from Alduck. “However, what you’re forgetting is that I have a reputation and I’m a made man within Alduck’s crew. My name now means something in the criminal underworld, and I imagine it’s begun to spread like wildfire. Not to mention my other rising reputation in the underground fights.”

“That doesn’t mean shit to me!” I spoke defiantly.

“Sure, but the people who gave me this ring would say otherwise,” Dante said back. “What do you think will happen if someone from Alduck’s crew came up to you on behalf of the Don?” I paused as Dante’s grin widened. “And let’s not forget the mess I left behind for Nacho. I imagine he’s not too happy right now and is plotting some revenge scheme against me. Hmm…and I suppose we can throw in those Northerners I drove out of Ponyville a while back. I still haven’t forgotten how scared they were while also being ticked off for being driven out.”

“Get to the damn point, Dante,” I demanded.

“The point is you can’t afford to get rid of me,” Dante explained. “Not when there’s so much on the line. You see, you’re not gonna lock me up in your head anytime soon because you need me to keep these threats under wraps.”

“Last time I checked, I’m also a Conduit with powers,” I said.

“But you don’t kill,” Dante corrected me.

“Wait…” I muttered, when something clicked. “Is that what this is about? You…you didn’t need Alduck’s permission. You would’ve just gone and killed them all anyway!”

“Guilty,” Dante shrugged. “I was just being polite.”

“But why?! Why are you like this?! We had a deal!” I said.

“Yeah…but I kinda lied,” Dante confessed. “You see, Axel, I only said what you wanted to hear just to keep you off my ass. And you accuse me of going overboard last night when it was you who also had me handle those dog-men who nabbed that chick, Rarity. So, you’re just as much to blame for that. But back to the point, the truth is I was just biding my time and waited for the golden opportunity to reveal my true nature. Because you’re right. I’m a cold-hearted, murdering bastard.”

“You think I’ll just let you do whatever the fuck you want?!” I challenged.

“Oh, I know you will,” Dante said. “After all, at the end of the day, we’re still one and the same.”

“We’re nothing alike!” I snarled.

“Really?” Dante said with an arched brow. “Need I remind you once again that I am a literal manifestation of your darkest thoughts?” I flinched at the accusation. “Ever since that night when you accidentally killed that mugger, all those years you spent suppressing your innermost fears and negative emotions with therapy and whatever antidepressants you forced down your throat, you unknowingly were creating the evil twin you see before you. Of course, I had no conscience to begin with, but I suspect that Blast Core you found in your pack that night was the last piece of the puzzle to give me life, per se.” A cold feeling washed over me as Dante chuckled to himself like a true villain. “Face it, Rickert, I’m the other you that you tried so desperately to avoid becoming.”

I had a lot to think about. On the one hand, I'm extremely pissed that I was lied to and manipulated by basically myself. On the other, he’s been doing the things I find myself unable to do. He’s killed when necessary, and it helped in the long run. Yes, he’s gone over the line multiple times, and it’s pissed me off to no end, but at the same time I can’t fault him.

“What do you want…?” I asked hesitantly.

“Now you’re starting to play ball,” Dante said. “Simple, really, I want a new agreement.”

“What kind of agreement?” I asked again.

“It’s like I mentioned a little bit ago, Axel, I like you. I respect you enough to also value the life you’ve built, and are still building, with your new friends, job, and even with Moon. And I may have blood on my hands but I’d rather us to still have some sort of an understanding with each other. That’s where my newfound position comes in. You and I both know that someone who’s a made man in the criminal underworld has almost as much authority as the Don himself. So, I will use my newfound influence to keep any unsavory characters I work with, and against, off your back during the day. I’ll also say that I claim Ponyville as my territory.”

“You sure you even have that kind of pull?” I asked out of concern.

“I don’t see why I wouldn’t have it,” Dante shrugged. “Besides, Alduck already likes me a ton after all the benefits I’ve reaped for him.”

“Why do I feel like there’s a catch?” I asked, only for Dante to chuckle again before glaring at me.

“The catch to all this, my friend, is that I’m making you an offer you can’t refuse,” Dante said. “Which means you can’t secretly talk to Twilight, or Moon, or even that annoying pest Orion about finding some bullshit scheme to get rid of me since I’m always aware of what you do and say.” I grit my teeth at Dante but held my tongue since I knew he had me in a box. “And if you’re so worried about me sabotaging your life, then I suggest you do a little research with that little girlfriend of yours.”

“Research?” I said, confused.

“You do realize we’re in a world that has magic?” Dante said with a sigh. “Surely with stuff like spells, potions, and all that magical shit there’s bound to be some kind of method to separate a sentient consciousness from someone’s mind?” He hinted at me.

“Hmm. With all the shit we’ve gone through, that idea never really crossed my mind,” I admitted.

“Of course it hasn’t,” Dante rolled his eyes. “Then you should really do some digging on the matter. Hell, look at Luna and Moon. Pretty much the same person but different personalities, if you think about it. If they could separate, who’s to say we can’t either?”

“And how do you think she’ll respond to that?” I asked, knowing the backlash that was coming.

“Not my problem,” Dante said dismissively.

I was about to tell him off when the world around us began to fade.

“Seems like you’re about to wake up,” Dante said. “And just so we’re clear, Rickert, you would be wise to not try anything stupid. Not that you could, anyway. All you need to do is stay in your lane, and there won’t be any problems.”

I stared at Dante as the world around us continued to fade. I was a fool to trust Dante, and I played right into his hands thinking I had some kind of control over him when it was the other way around. I now had a new objective to all this. Which was to find a way to get this maniac out of my head for good.

“You may have me played for now, Dante, but I have something to say to you now,” I said. “The day you really overdo it and cause more harm than even you can handle; is the day I make good on my original plan to put you down for good regardless of the outcome.” I stood up and got in his face. “So, you be sure to remember that.”

Dante just smirked while the place started to devolve even more. “I’m shaking.”

“Merow…!”

I heard some sort of cat meowing at me.

“Axel? Big brother Axel? Wake up!” A child’s voice called out.

I blinked away the sleep from my eyes before seeing Diamond at my bedside, and a big furball sitting on my chest, looking down at me with those blue eyes of hers. I sometimes wonder if she wants to cuddle me or eat me.

“Mreow…!” Nala let out before cuddling me. I was safe…this time.

“Well, good morning to you two,” I said with a smile and scratched behind Nala’s ears. “Did you sleep well?”

“I was kinda uncomfortable but when you came back, I was able to sleep better,” Diamond said as I patted her head affectionately. “Where were you, big brother Axel? You were gone for some time.”

“I…I wasn’t tired last night, so I went for a walk in the city,” I told her while giving Nala a pet under her chin.

“Did you have a bad dream?” Diamond asked.

“Something like that,” I said.

“But then you felt better with us by your side, right?” Diamond asked sweetly.

“Of course. How could I not sleep soundly with my cute little sister and faithful companion by my side?” I said with a warm smile.

Nala let out a purr of satisfaction before rubbing her whole body against me.

“So, what’s on today’s agenda? More sightseeing with just the two of us?” I asked.

“Merow!” Nala meowed at me.

“Oh, excuse me, three of us,” I corrected myself. “Sorry for leaving you behind yesterday, girl. Figured it would be a strange sight to see a manticore cub out in the open for the public.”

Nala made a harumph gesture and walked over to Diamond while overly picking her feet up and plopping next to her.

“Actually, daddy’s hosting a fundraiser for the local orphanage. It’s also how he meets other businesspeople for his company,” Diamond said. “He wants both of us to be there since I’ve been to these things before, and he wants you there as a way to introduce you more to those he works with.”

“Indeed.” Mr. Rich came into the room while adjusting his tie. “But the event isn’t for another few hours, so I was thinking we’d head out for breakfast at this diner I like to frequent while here.”

“Sounds good, I could eat,” I said as I climbed out of bed. “What’s the word on those guys at the carriage factory? They gonna make a prototype soon?”

“From what I heard from my friend, he’s been developing one since they saw the photo you showed them,” Filthy told me while looking for something. “Have you seen my-?” He was about to ask for something until Nala came over with a room key in her maw. “Oh, thank you, Nala,” he told her while grabbing his key card.

“Can’t wait to see it,” I said. “I’ll meet you all downstairs. Gotta shower.”

“Of course. Come along, Diamond,” Rich said as he and Diamond left.

I entered the shower and waited for them to leave. As soon as the door shut, my entire demeanor changed as I looked at myself in the mirror with a glare.

Something on your mind, buddy? I heard Dante ask me sarcastically.

“You already know damn well,” I said bitterly. “I can’t let that kid get involved in whatever shit you stir up.”

Hey, I said I won’t actively fuck up your life. If it happens, it happens, Dante said.

“If?! Fucking IF?!” I snapped. “Would it kill you to take this a little more seriously?!”

I am. But what do you want me to do about it? Dante asked.

“Just…!” I tried to say something, but the words died in my throat. No threat I made to him would hold any water since he already was in pretty deep with the mafia. “Just…promise me you’ll keep your business out of my life.”

I can promise all you want, but I’m pretty sure shit’s gonna happen somewhere down the line, Dante said, and I think he was bouncing a ball in my head.

As he faded away, I clenched my fist in irritation. This was my own fault for letting things get out of control, and I can only imagine how much crazier things will get. All I can do now is take Dante at his word for keeping a lid on things the best he can.

After showering and getting dressed, I met Rich and Diamond in the lobby with Nala following close behind. We were in Rich’s carriage as we made our way to the diner he mentioned. I watched the buildings pass by as we rode through the city. Nala was sitting on Diamond’s lap and purring as Diamond scratched behind her ears.

“Ah! Here we are.” After driving for about ten minutes, we eventually stopped and got out of the carriage. I was surprised to see that we were in front of an actual run-of-the-mill diner. The place looked like that one diner from the movie Back To The Future.

“Huh,” I said as we got out of the carriage. “I would’ve thought you meant some fancy brunch place up in the ritz. Not an actual casual diner.”

“The finer things are nice, but this place has good coffee, and pancakes, and I love to people-watch,” Filthy explained as they went in.

The inside looked like your basic run-of-the-mill diner with a counter, stools, and booths along the window. Mr. Rich led us towards one of the booths and we sat down together before I set my pack aside. One of the waitresses walked up to us wearing a button up blouse, apron, and had her cherry red hair done up in a bun.

“Well, well, Filthy Rich, in my Diner?” The woman snickered. “Been a while, hon.”

“Gladys. I swear, every time I come here, you’re here to grace us with your presence,” Filthy smiled at the waitress.

“Keep talking like that, and I may just accuse you of being sweet on me,” Gladys winked.

“Maybe I am,” Filthy said with a smile.

Diamond and I looked at each other and knew right away, they liked each other.

“How about I get you all some coffee and a hot chocolate, then you can introduce me to your friend, hon,” Gladys said before heading over to get the coffee pot.

“Well, she’s quite the charmer,” I said as Filthy gazed at the woman.

“Indeed, she is,” Filthy responded.

“Oh? Do I detect some latent feelings, Mr. Rich?” I said, making Diamond giggle while covering her mouth.

“What? Between me and-.” He points over at Gladys before making a spit-take laugh. “No. No, we’re, we're just friends. Customer and waitress if nothing else,” he said while looking everywhere but at Gladys.

“Uh huh, sure,” I waved it off.

“On another note, Axel, I’d like to ask about you if you wouldn’t mind,” Mr. Rich said.

“What about?” I wondered.

“Well, it’s come to my attention that I know next to nothing about you,” Mr. Rich said. “I initially thought you hailed from Ponyville but it didn’t seem like anyone besides Ms. Twilight and her friends knew you. I don’t mean to pry, but where exactly are you from?”

Seeing that he’s my employer, and his daughter sees me as a big brother, I guess it was alright to bring them into the loop. “Well, um. What do you want to know?”

“Whatever you feel comfortable sharing,” Mr. Rich said.

“Well…” I said before taking a breath. “Your assumptions about me not being local are correct but it goes a little beyond that.”

“How do you mean?” Mr. Rich said.

“To put it bluntly, I mean that I’m not from this world,” I said, making Mr. Rich and Diamond pause. “Think about it.” I pulled out my smartphone and placed it on the table. “Have you seen anything like my smartphone before? Since all I’ve seen you people use retro tech like flip phones, radios, and old-fashioned televisions. Then there’s my powers, which don’t resemble any magic of this world, and the fact that I keep saying what I can do is not magic. Then there’s the project with the new electric vehicles I brought to you and Tuner. Those vehicles are based on things called cars.”

“Huh. So, the rumors are a little true,” Filthy said, surprising me a little.

“You knew?” I asked.

“I had an inkling of an idea. I couldn’t really confirm it, but the evidence was starting to pile up,” Rich said.

“So…are you an alien?” Diamond asked me.

“Well, technically, yes,” I nodded. “But more like I’m from another dimension.”

“So, an interdimensional being?” Filthy asked.

“Pretty much,” I said.

“Extraordinary,” Rich said in awe. “To think, I have an other-worldly super-powered young man under my employment.”

“Well, another confession I have is I didn’t originally have these powers,” I said. “They were sort of given to me. Before, I was just your run-of-the-mill dude working a dead-end job at a strip mall.”

“What were you doing?” Diamond asked me.

“I…I don’t know,” I said, thinking about why I was there in the first place. “I had a falling out with my parents years ago when I left for college. I just had to get away from the constant backlash from the people who expected too damn much from me.”

“I’m sorry.” Diamond leaned over and hugged my arm.

Just then, Gladys came over with our drinks. “Aww, now isn’t that cute.”

“He’s my big brother!” Diamond proclaimed with that smile I always liked seeing. “And I’m his little sister!”

“I see,” Gladys said with a warm smile of her own. “So, have you decided on what to eat?”

“Prench toast for Diamond, the usual for me, and would you like pancakes, Axel?” Mr. Rich asked me.

“The fluffiest you can make them, please,” I said.

“Coming right up,” Gladys nodded. “And I’ll get a little bowl of milk for this little cutie pie.” She leaned down and scratched under Nala’s chin, making her purr.

As Gladys left, Diamond asked another question. “Did you have a brother or sister back home?”

“Nah, I was an only child,” I shrugged. “I had some relatives I sometimes saw but my parents mostly kept to themselves.”

“Sounds lonely,” Rich commented.

“It was,” I agreed. “But that changed when I left for college. Made some new friends, and I felt like I was able to be myself for a change.” I decided to keep the night I was mugged to myself as to not soil the mood. “Mind if I ask you something a little personal?”

“By all means,” Rich said.

“How did you and your wife split?” I asked.

Filthy let out a heavy sigh after hearing that. “It’s a tad complicated. Her name was Spoiled Rich. Though before we married, she went by Spoiled Milk. I knew from the beginning she was only interested in me because of my money, I just didn’t know how far her interests went. Despite that, we had some good times, and we had this little angel here.” Diamond blushed at that part. “But, one day I saw that money was being taken from the company accounts, and upon investigation, I found out that my wife was responsible.”

“Eish, talk about a gold digger,” I commented.

“What’s a gold digger?” Diamond asked innocently.

“I…I’ll tell you when you’re older,” I said sheepishly as Rich continued.

“When I confronted her about it, she went on that she had earned that money. She didn’t. She was taking money from my employees, from their families. When I told her that I changed the account numbers and wouldn’t let her take a single bit more, she went on a rampage. At that point I had no choice but to divorce her,” Filthy said while adding cream to his coffee.

“Something tells me this is gonna take a turn for the worse,” I said, glancing at Diamond.

“It did. When the divorce was finalized, Spoiled tried to take Diamond away, even though the judge granted me custody.” Filthy let out a sigh. “She even broke in and tried to sneak her out, had Randolph not spotted her in the night.”

“That’s…damn, Mr. Rich,” I said, unable to comprehend.

“Thankfully, Diamond was too young to let what happened affect her,” Mr. Rich said with a grateful smile to his daughter. “She understood the severity of the situation.”

“I only remember bits and pieces of the good times, anyway, I had with my mother,” Diamond said. “Even though she did horrible things to daddy, I still kinda miss her.”

“You’re really strong-minded for your age, Diamond,” I said, patting her head.

“Thanks, big brother Axel.” Diamond hugged me in return.

“I hope you don’t think less of me, Axel,” Mr. Rich said.

“Why would I think less of you?” I asked. “You did what you had to for your kid. Hell, if I were you, I’d do the same and tell that lady things I can’t say out loud for the sake of Diamond here.”

This got Diamond to giggle and Filthy to nearly choke on his coffee.

“Here you go!” Gladys came by again with our food and set our plates in front of us.

My pancakes looked extremely fluffy and delicious, Diamond’s order looked exactly like French Toast doused in syrup, and Rich had eggs benedict.

“Enjoy your meals,” Gladys said and leaned a little towards Mr. Rich. “Especially you, hon.”

Rich blushed a bit. “Thank you, Gladys.”

Just as we were about to dig into our meals, something caught the corner of my eye from out the window. I looked over to see a couple carriages pull up to a building where a lot of people were walking in and out of when there were no other carriages in sight. I arched a brow until I saw something quite unsettling. There were men inside the carriages putting on ski masks and I think I even caught sight of what looked like the barrel of a magic pistol.

“Mr. Rich?” I spoke up. “What’s that building across the street?”

“That one?” Rich asked. “That’s the North Manehattan Bank. Why do you ask?”

“Of course it is…” I sighed and stood up while grabbing my pack. “Stay here, and don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

Before they could question my motives, I stepped out of the diner and watched the men step out of their vehicles and marched up to the bank. Not a minute later I heard screaming from inside and a few gunshots went off.

“Oh, shit.” I took out my Amp and went behind a carriage to wait for them to come out. After waiting for a few minutes, I saw them come out carrying bags of money. The one with the gun kept pointing at the bank entrance, so I thought it best to cake him first. “Halt!” The guy turned on me and opened fire.

I was quicker on the draw and raised my hand while activating Concrete to fire a few shrapnel. The shrapnel hit his shoulder and he was knocked back to the ground, making every civilian in the area panic and run for their lives. More of the robbers fired back at me as they jumped into their vehicles. One of them drove right at me with the intent to run me over. I pointed my hand at the wheel and closed one of my eyes to aim before firing. I fired another concrete shard just ahead of the wheel, making it hit the shrapnel and spin the carriage on its side.

The carriage behind it couldn’t slow down in time, and crashed into the first one, making it crash into a fire hydrant. Water erupted from the broken hydrant, and the remaining burglars climbed out while trying to fire at me as well. I went and used a Concrete Shield to block the few accurate shots at me before using rapid-fire concrete shards to hit the burglars in the arms and legs.

As soon as they fell to the ground, I ran up to them, pressed down on their chests and backs with my hand and pinned them to the ground with a shell of concrete. One more burglar almost hit me with his pistol as he and his partner spread their wings to fly away. I thrusted my hands down using Concrete Thrusters to launch myself in the air. Once I was above them, I raised my Amp and smacked both of them in their heads, causing them to fall back down. I landed beside them so I could pin them as well. I took a breath and looked around at the chaos around me. People were still panicking but also kinda sticking around to see what had happened.

“Well, that certainly got out of control,” I said to myself while sheathing my Amp. Just as I was about to make my way back to the diner, I noticed the first robber I shot was lying against a wall just outside of an alleyway. He had a piece of shrapnel lodged in his shoulder and looked like he was still reaching for his magic gun.

I went over to the guy and pointed my fist at him as electricity sparked along my arm. “Uh-uh.” He stopped moving as soon as he looked up at me. “Now I know what you’re thinking. Is he gonna nail me too or is he bluffing? To tell you the truth, I haven’t decided yet. But seeing as how I took out your crew without so much as breaking a sweat, you gotta ask yourself. Do I feel lucky?” I waited for some sort of reaction from him. “Well do ya, punk?” Slowly, his hand retreated, and I took the gun from him.

“Hey.” The guy called out as I started walking away. “I gotta know.” With a smirk, I switched to Electricity and charged up my hand again and a look of sheer terror replaced his curiosity. I then fired a restraining bolt that stapled his limbs to the wall and ground. As I left him with a smirk, I heard him say, “You…son of a bitch.”

I heard sirens blaring and authorities’ carriages arrived, and a bunch of officers jumped out. One of them approached me looking like he was in charge.

“Morning, Officer,” I greeted.

“Who the tartarus are you?” He asked. “Did you do this?”

“Name’s Axel Rickert,” I introduced myself. “And yes, I did.” My name seemed to have rung some bells.

“Axel Rickert? The Canterlot anomaly?” The officer asked.

“Wouldn’t call myself an anomaly but yes, that’d be me,” I nodded.

The officer looked around at the chaos and huffed through his nose. “You didn’t kill anybody, did you?”

“Not my style,” I said. “I was just in the middle of having a nice breakfast with my employer and his kid. Next thing I know, these asshats pull up right in front of us and decide to rob the bank. Guess they didn’t expect me to show up and fuck up their whole day. So, if you’ll please excuse me, I’ve got pancakes back at that diner with syrup on top of them. They’re about to hit that critical point of syrup absorption that turns the cakes into gross paste. And I hate to get all snarky about it, but I think we can both agree that we all like fluffy disks of cake with syrup on top.”

“Yeah, fucked my day up to. Now I got a mountain of paperwork to deal with.” The officer patted my shoulder. “Thanks for all you did. Now go back to your cakes before it turns to shit.”

“Much obliged,” I nodded. “And sorry for the mess.”

All he did was snort at me before I walked back to the diner. Upon entering the restaurant, I was nearly knocked back by Diamond giving me a big hug and Nala flew into my chest.

“Woah! Easy there, you two,” I said.

“That was so cool! And so stupid!” Diamond starts to beat her little fists on me. “What were you thinking?! You could’ve gotten shot, or worse!”

“What’s worse than being shot?” I asked as Mr. Rich came over to help me.

“Being shot twice.” Mr. Rich laughed while helping me up. “Excellent job, Axel.”

“Just another day of heroics,” I shrugged. “Now let’s get back to our breakfast. We got a big event to prepare for.”

After our lively breakfast, which Gladys was kind enough to wave the bill for us as thanks for me bringing down the robbers, we returned to the hotel to change for Rich’s charity ball. Rich was dressed in one of his fancy tuxedos, Diamond wore a pretty light pink shirt, a white skirt, and had one of those wool shawls draped over her shoulder. I wore some nice brown dress shoes, slacks, and a dark blue collared polo shirt. Rich insisted I not wear my beanie, and Diamond brushed my hair to the side so I could look presentable. I told him in return I’d get to wear my pack, to which he agreed. Nala was also able to tag along with us, and Diamond attached little red bows on her ears, which was really cute.

“I never was all that comfortable wearing formal clothes,” I commented as we sat in the carriage together.

“Yes, I much prefer something more casual to wear, but it’s to be expected at these events. Especially when royalty is involved,” Rich told me as he fixed his cufflinks and started sifting through his pockets. “Has anyone seen my-?” Once again, he stopped when Nala offered him something in her maw. This time, a small pile of flash cards. “-speech. Thank you, Nala.” He thanked while taking the speech and petting her on the head.

“That’s a bit of a stretch, calling CEOs of companies royalty,” I commented. “I mean, I could understand if there are nobles.”

“Oh, I didn’t mention?” Rich said. “Princess Celestia will be making an appearance.”

This made me turn at Rich with piqued curiosity. “Celestia’s gonna be there?”

“Of course. Most charity events require the Princess in one form or another. When it comes to the children, she likes to attend,” Rich explained.

“I see…” I said, trying not to look too excited.

Our trip went on for about another ten minutes until we arrived at this large three-story building. The entrance to the place was surrounded by paparazzi, and people were walking down a carpet as they got their photos taken.

“Sheesh, all this for a charity event?” I said as we stepped out of the carriage and walked down the path and passed the flashing camera lights.

“Bet they came out to see me stroll down the red carpet,” Diamond said with a joking tone.

“I believe it, since you’re the prettiest girl in town,” I said with a wink.

“Is that so?” My breath hitched and my blood tingled a bit when I heard a familiar voice. I turned around and there she was. Princess Celestia, with her royal regalia on, her white dress with gold trim flowing in a light breeze, and a warm smile on her face.

“Princess over here!”

“Smile for the camera, your majesty!”

The press swarmed the princess in hopes to get a shot at every angle, but their moment was cut short when one of her knights stepped in to disperse the crowd. He was dressed from head to toe in custom designed armor and had rugged looking hair along with a few scars on his face.

“That’s enough people, break it up.” He said as he dispersed the crowd and helped the princess move along the carpet. “Let’s keep moving, your grace, don’t wanna be late.”

“Hey there, Celestia!” I said casually as I approached her. My lack of proper etiquette seemed to shock almost everyone, excluding Rich and Diamond who simply laughed it off, and Celestia held her hand up to her bodyguard to let me meet her.

“How’s it going, Celestia?” I asked. “When I heard you were gonna attend this shindig, it caught me a little off guard.”

“Well, a princess has to get out now and then. I’m glad you could make it, Axel.” She smiled as we both walked down the red carpet.

“So, who’s this guy at your side?” I asked out of curiosity.

“This is one of my most trusted knights of the royal guard, next to Shining Armor,” Celestia said as the man looked at me with a stern expression.

“Glad to meet you, man,” I said, holding my hand out to him for a shake. “Name’s Axel Rickert.”

“Marshall. Marshall Avalon.” He said with professionalism as we shook hands and that’s when I noticed how callous his fingers were, next to the scars and the rugged appearance I knew right away.

“You served?” I guessed.

“About fifteen years ago,” he nodded. “I retired to be a guardsman for her majesty. You?”

“Nah, not really the serving type,” I joked, making Celestia hold back a giggle. “I’m here with my employer, Mr. Rich, and his kid.” That’s when Nala decided to suddenly plop herself on my head and meowed loudly. “That includes this fur ball of trouble.”

“Merow!” Nala meowed again, causing Celestia to gush over the manticore kitten on my head.

“Manticore, impressive. They’re known to be dangerous even as cubs,” Marshall commented.

“Oh, but not this little cutie!” Celestia said as she took Nala into her arms and began to cuddle her.

“Um, your highness, we’re holding up the line.” Marshall then urged us down the aisle as we proceeded towards the party where he was greeted by a woman wearing eastern-looking attire decorated with jewels. One would almost mistake her for a foreign dancer.

“There you are!” She said as she marched up and gave him a kiss. “I was getting worried something happened.”

“Apologies. Oh, Axel, this is my wife; Saffron Masala,” Marshall introduced.

“Very nice to meet you, Axel. It’s an honor to see you again, Princess,” Saffron greeted with a bow.

“Likewise, Mrs. Avalon,” Celestia said to the woman.

“By the way, dear, if you’re here, then where’s-?” Marshall was about to ask when a little boy ran out from the crowd towards him and his wife.

“DAD!”

“Hey, there’s my little man!” Marshall scooped the child up in his arms and squeezed him tight before handing him over to his wife. “Our son, Clove, our pride and joy.”

“Well, aren’t you three the perfect family,” I said with a warm smile. “And why do I feel like I’ve heard your wife’s name before?”

My question would soon be answered by several people rushing up to her with what looked to be a cookbook in their hands.

“Mrs. Saffron, please sign my book!”

“Mine too!”

“Oh! I remember now!” I said while snapping my fingers. “You own that well-known restaurant called the Tasty Treat. Mr. Rich mentioned it a few times before.”

“Yes, and I’m actually here celebrating the printing of my first cookbook. It’s a huge success!” Saffron said excitedly.

“At least to some. I’m sure you heard about Zesty Gourmand?” Marshall asked while we walked to the ballroom.

“Name doesn’t ring a bell,” I admitted as I saw Mr. Rich from afar and he gave me the thumbs up telling me that it was okay for me to be with these people.

The moment we entered the ballroom, music filled the air and the sound of chattering suddenly boomed out of the door and we were met with what could only be described as the most elaborate party I've ever seen. From the way everyone was dressed, all were owners of major companies or were from prestigious families.

“Mom, can I go get a snack?” Clove asked while pointing to the cookie tower at the dessert table.

“Okay, but don’t fill up on sugar, mister,” Saffron told her son. “You haven’t had your supper yet.”

After giving him a kiss, Saffron let her son rush off to grab some sweets while the rest of us continued to enjoy the party with Diamond clinging to me the whole time. As the hour grew late, the dance floor opened up and the musicians began playing a melodious tune as party guests began escorting their dates onto the floor for a dance. I watched from the sidelines trying not to look bored, but it was kinda hard not to. I understood what this event would entail, and I wanted to be presentable for Mr. Rich as his trusted employee. I was standing by Diamond as she danced with Nala, which was fun to watch as my furry companion made her laugh and smile.

“Bored to tears yet?” I turned to see Marshall walk up to me with a drink in hand.

“Eh, I’ve experienced more boring things,” I shrugged. “Aren’t you supposed to be with the Princess?”

“Not to worry, I’ve got guards on every post. Some are even with the crowd.” Marshall said as he pointed to several men in casual tuxedos around the princess before I spotted several more on the upper floor. To say he was good at his job would be an understatement as we sat to enjoy our wine.

“So, I hear you’re quite the celebrity in Ponyville. Must be beating the ladies off with a stick. Ha!” He joked as he watched the couples on the dance floor. “Mr. Rich must trust you very much if he invited you personally.”

“Well, I have gotten pretty popular ever since I helped with the Eris incident a while back,” I shrugged again. “And I’ve helped people here and there, but I wouldn’t say people are flocking to get my attention. As for Diamond, I’ve come to care for her as she was my blood.”

“Spoken like a true blood brother,” Marshall nodded admirably.

“So, what’s your story?” I asked Marshall. “Ain’t seen you when I was in Canterlot. You know Shining Armor?”

“Not exactly, I'm originally from Prance.” Marshall confessed as he finished the last of his wine. “Surprised? I know, I don’t sound like it. It’s because I moved here after some…family squabble back home. Signed on with the guard when I retired.”

“Wow, quite the backstory,” I said and eyed Saffron talking to some investors. “And how’d you end up with that lucky lady?”

“Well…one day I came to her restaurant after catching the aroma of her father’s curry. I offered what money I had left for whatever she could give me and, while this may be exaggerating, I tasted a piece of heaven that day and found myself an angel.” Marshall then felt for the wedding band hidden beneath his leather glove and smiled. “Soon enough, we got to know each other, and our relationship bloomed and then we were married and had my boy, Clove. I’ve never felt more blessed.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of work did you do before the guard?” I asked casually.

Marshall was silent as he took a sip from his drink. “I…was a mercenary.”

That piece of information caught me off guard and the atmosphere around him turned dark.

“Woah, woah, easy there, big guy,” I consoled the man, patting his back. “I clearly overstepped. I’m sorry I asked. You don’t have to tell me. I was just making small talk.”

“It’s alright. My wife and the princess know already, so do my men. They don’t judge.” Marshall sighed as he handed his wine glass over to a waiter. “Speaking of which, I must offer her a dance before someone else does. Enjoy the party.”

Marshall left me alone once again, and I sighed. That guy clearly had some fucked up past that I had no right to pry about.

“Well, that could’ve gone better,” I mumbled. “Way to spoil the mood with your dumbass question, Rickert.”

“Big brother Axel?” Diamond looked up at me with a smile as another classical song started playing. I decided to change the mood by offering Diamond my hand.

“May I have this dance, little lady?” I asked.

“Eeee! Yes!” Diamond squealed as we made our way to the dance floor as some of the audience looked on. Many of them found the scenario cute as Diamond followed me step for step.

“Here comes the twirl,” I said before twirling her around and going back into a waltz.

I then gently scooped the girl up under her arms and twirled her in the air as she laughed happily in my arms.

“You’re like a flying angel, little sis!” I said to her.

As the song came to an end, the audience gave a little applause before the floor was cleared once more and Celestia began to take center stage, looking regal as ever with her dress flowing almost as freely as her mane.

“The princess will now choose her dance partner for the evening.” The conductor announced as many of the bachelors in the crowd began fixing themselves up and freshening their breath.

“Pfft, yeah, good luck,” I scoffed to myself when I felt Diamond pull on my hand. When I looked down, she was pointing in front of me, and I looked to see Celestia approaching me with a smile. “…oh shit,” I said quietly to myself before she was a few feet away.

“May I have this dance, Sir Axel?” She said with etiquette in her voice with the crowd eagerly awaiting my reply.

I swallowed a massive lump in my throat as blood rushed to my cheeks. I glanced at her hand, and she held out and could feel the cold stares of envy from nearly everyone in the room.

“Um…s-sure,” I said dumbly, my voice cracking a little, and took her hand.

The two of us took center stage and the musicians began to play once more. Nervously, I placed one hand on her waist and held her other hand with mine as we began to waltz with others slowly joining us in a unified dance.

“You dance well, Axel, have you taken lessons?” the princess smiled as we kept in rhythm.

“Not really,” I admitted. “I’m just going with the flow. So, could you please lead?”

“Hmhm. My pleasure,” she giggled softly.

Without anyone even noticing, Celestia cast a spell on my feet that made them move as if they were dancing on air. Soon enough, the entire crowd was watching our every move, and were especially entranced when I dipped the princess over and twirled her around making her dress open like a flower in bloom. Before I knew it, I was entranced by her beauty and her smile as her eyes seemed to sparkle in the light. I ended up being so lost in her eyes that I didn’t notice when the song came to an end. We found ourselves staring at each other’s eyes with a warm smile on our faces.

“Sorry for how hectic things have been,” I said out of the blue. “I’ve heard you’re still kinda dealing with those Northerners from time to time.”

“I will admit, they’ve been causing trouble along our borders,” Celestia acknowledged. I only hope that-.”

Suddenly the doors blew open as the guests were startled and all turned to see several fur-clad men walking into the room and even from a distance I could sense their bloodlust and something sinister.

“Oh shit…” I said.

“Guess I was right, boys,” the one leading them scoffed with a grin. “A party that we weren’t invited to.”

“How dare you barge in here!” An aristocrat barked. “This is a private charity ball!”

“Piss off,” one of them spat as he shoved him aside and marched towards the buffet table where Nate was grabbing a meal with his mother.

“Looky here, a fine piece of meat~.” The barbarian eyed Saffron up and down with a hungry look. “Food’s not bad either.”

Celestia scowled at the men and marched over to them with me following her from afar.

“Oh, and look who it is,” the leader grinned. “Princess Celestia in all her glory.”

“Mr. Adils,” Celestia said with malice. “How many times must I make it clear to you that my sister and I have no intention of opening our borders to you and your king?!”

“Our king does not take kindly to refusal, your grace. You should reconsider your choice carefully,” Adils, the one leading this group, said with a sly grin on his face while continuing to pursue Saffron. “Never seen you before my lovely. Got a name?”

“Stay back!” Saffron slapped his hand away as they laughed in amusement.

“Ooh I like ‘em fiery~!” Aldis chortled.

“Mom, I’m scared!” Clove said as he clung to his mother.

“A mother, are ya? Guess that explains those big tits, eh boys?!” Aldis joked, making his men laugh mockingly.

The men laughed out loud, and Mr. Rich boldly approached the men.

“You are interrupting my charity ball, gentlemen,” Rich said with a displeased frown. “I must ask you to vacate the area immediately.”

“Hey sir,” one of Adils’ men said to him. “If this is a charity thing, that means there’s a lot of money, right?”

“None for the likes of you,” Rich said as they got in each other’s faces, ready to throw punches but I could easily see that this guy was twice the size of Mr. Rich.

“Gentlemen, I suggest you follow the host’s advice and leave,” Marshall said with one hand resting on his sword. “And you.” He glared at Adlis. “Back away from my wife and son if you wanna keep that hand.”

“Look at this guy,” Adils said, pointing at Marshall. “Thinks he can talk to me like that.”

“Then how about me?” I said, stepping up and let some electric bolts crackle a little off my shoulders.

“…The Demon!” Some of the men gasped.

“Again with that nickname…” I grumbled.

“You’re the brat who drove off some of my comrades a while back,” Aldis said bitterly. “You have no idea who you’re messing with, boy.”

“You’re right, I don’t,” I said. “I don’t give a shit.”

“Last chance. Leave…” Marshall joined my side, and I could hear his sword being drawn partway out of its sheath, all could sense the tension in the air as they made room. “Saffron, take Nate and stay out of the way.”

“You’re making a big mistake, Demon,” Adils said to me. “We still remember the day you chased us out of that hick town.”

“Then I clearly didn’t send enough of a message, dipshit,” I said back.

“…GET THEM!” Adlis yelled as his men went on the attack.

“Don’t kill them!” I shouted to Marshall just before they came within striking distance. The captain was quick to remove his sword from his belt while it was still in its sheath and began beating the first attacker down with quick precision as I flipped the second one over after wrapping his arm with my chain and snapped his arm at the joint.

“What the hell is wrong with you, idiots?! Take them down!” Adlis ordered his men who were coming in with magic pistols and swords drawn. It was clear these guys were out for blood.

I coated my fists in electricity and charged at the men. I took a southpaw stance and began pelting one of the men with punches and slugged him in the gut. He keeled over and two more tried to double team me. I dodged and weaved their strikes while skipping on my feet and delivered right and left hooks on their faces and chest. I ducked out of the way from a haymaker before coming back out and slammed my fist up his jaw with an uppercut. When he was down, the other guy roared in anger and tried jumping at me. I managed to jump out of the way before elbowing him in the back of his head as hard as I could.

“You had your chance, now pay for your trespass!” Marshall said as he finally drew his sword, but it was nothing like I had ever seen. The blade was black and seemed to have an otherworldly shine to it as it sparkled in the light, one could swear it was forged from the very night sky as it came swinging at our assailants.

“That sword…” Adlis said with a hint of recognition before watching the rest of his men get beaten within an inch of their lives as they all tried to rush us again.

“Don’t you guys ever give up?!” I shouted before bashing one of them in the face with my knee.

One tried coming at me from behind and I switched to Video. I summoned my digital wings and flew up in the air to dodge, which seemed to shock the entire crowd at the sight of my powers.

“What magic is this?!”

“He really is some kind of demon!”

“COOL!” Clove shouted in excitement as he watched his dad and I give the Northern thugs another beatdown. One of the goons managed to tackle Marshall into a table before he grabbed a wine bottle and smashed it over his head, much to the dismay of the waiter who had it.

“That was from the princesses private stash sir!” One of Marshall’s men yelped.

“Oops,” Marshall shrugged before jumping back into the fray.

I swooped down and tackled another thug to the ground before unleashing a barrage of punches across his face until he blacked out. I glanced over at Alis and could tell he was about to pop a blood vessel because of how pissed he looked.

“Enough of this!” Adils snarled and put two fingers in his mouth before whistling loudly. Suddenly, the windows shattered and a dozen more Northerners swooped in all armed to the teeth.

“Trash this place! Take their valuables and any women you desire!” Adils commanded.

“Oh, so you wanna play like that?!” I said and stood up while charging my Video power. “Two can play at that game!” I then slammed both hands on the ground and a large digital circle appeared around me. Everyone was once again shocked to see me summon a dozen of my own digital angel soldiers. They all turned to me and bent down on their knees.

“My lord, what is your command?” They all asked in unison.

“Dispatch and subdue the intruders! Protect the civilians! I’ll create an opening!” I commanded, sounding like a leader, and unsheathed my Amp. Using my power, I formed six digital strings that went from the pommel of my Amp down between the two prongs.

"What is that strange thing?"

“I suggest you cover your ears,” I advised as I held my Amp like a guitar and a pick formed in my hand. I raised my arm high, preparing to strike all chords.

“Oooh!” Marshall exclaimed as he ducked behind a pillar and covered his ears. “HIT THE DIRT!”

I swung my arm down on the digital cords of my Amp and a massive wave of digital energy erupted from it, sounding like a loud electric guitar strum. The wave knocked back most of the Northerners and civilians as the angels went to work and confronted them. I turned to Adils who was still standing, and he stared at me looking bewildered and very pissed off at the same time.

“You’re out of your league, Adils,” I said and held my Amp with both hands and a sword blade materialized between the coils. “You should quit now while you can.”

“This isn’t over…” Adlis tried to act unphased, but his façade quickly faded when the royal guard suddenly stormed into the room and instantly surrounded him and his goons.

“I think it’s time for you to leave,” Marshall insisted while dusting himself off.

“I WILL NOT GO DOWN SHAMELESSLY!” Adils bellowed and suddenly pulled out a pistol and aimed.

Time slowed down and noticed immediately that he wasn’t aiming at Marshall or me. I turned my head to see Celestia behind me and Adils fired his weapon. Everything was in slow motion as I dropped my Amp and flapped my wings as hard as I could. The magic bullet flew right towards Celestia when I managed to barely fly in its path and took the shot in my chest. I felt an unbearable pain as I fell to the ground and my wings disappeared.

“Argh!” I cried as I held my chest and coughed up some blood.

“AXEL!” Celestia cried out as I fell to the floor.

“Let that teach you a lesson, you-!” Before Aldis could finish his insult, the guard subdued him and hauled him off as he struggled in vain to get free, cursing the princess and calling her all sorts of obscene names. “YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS, WHORE!! MARK MY WORDS!! YOU WILL PAY!!”

“Shut him up!” Marshall barked as one of his men conked him out before some medical staff came to tend to my wound. “Axel? Axel come on, wake up!” He shouted while patting my cheek as I slowly reopened my eyes.

“Fuck…this hurts,” I grunted.

“Please be okay! Please!” Celestia begged.

“Hang on…just gimme a sec,” I said and tried to focus.

Digital lights began surrounding my body and the immense pain slowly began to fade away. I grunted again, and the magical burn on my chest made me wince. Celestia and Marshall were silent as they watched my fast-healing repair the damage until I was completely healed. I took a deep breath before sitting up straight and patted my chest a few times but didn’t feel pain anymore.

“Whew…good as new,” I sighed when Celestia suddenly hugged me close.

“You sure you’re not some kind of alien?” Marshall asked while the medics checked the bullet hole in my shirt.

“He’s alright, not even a spec of blood,” the medic said.

“Still, better get him checked out. In the meantime, haul the rest of these scum to the dungeons!” Marshall ordered.

“Sir!” They saluted.

I managed to stand up and the whole crowd was staring at me. I then heard the sounds of someone clapping which then led to more people clapping, and soon the whole ballroom was applauding me with happy smiles.

“I suppose this means the party’s over?” I asked, feeling like I had just ruined the whole event despite it not being my fault.

“It would be such a waste for all these guests to leave so early, I think we can keep going.” Celestia winked. “Besides, the night has yet to come. And you have done more than saved these people. You saved me as well.”

“I must say, Axel, not many can take a bullet and live,” Marshall said. “Not only that but you even took it for the Princess. You’ve more than earned my respect for that.”

“I just moved on instinct,” I said. “I didn’t want Celestia to get hurt.”

“Maybe I should bring you into my unit,” Marshall joked as he slugged my arm before his family came running up to us.

“DAD, THAT WAS AWESOME!” Clove said as he was picked up by his father. “You were all THWACK! and POW! A-and Axel was WOOSH!”

“Alright, Clove, calm down,” Saffron giggled at her son’s excitement before giving her husband a comforting kiss. “Are you alright?”

“Nothing a stiff drink and a warm bed couldn’t handle.” Marshall winked to his wife. Several servants got to work cleaning up the mess. My digital angels were still around and on standby, so I waved my hand as if ordering them to help clean. To which they did.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” I said, then looked at Celestia while holding out my hand. “How about we continue where we left off?”

“I’d be honored,” Celestia said.

With a snap of her fingers, the musicians resumed playing and the party carried on after a quick cleanup by the staff and my angels. The dance floor was once again packed with couples both new and old swaying to the rhythm. I was impressed that these people didn’t let those party crashes ruin a good party.

“This has been quite eventful,” Celestia said while gently being twirled.

“Are all your parties this wild?” I asked as we followed the beat of the music.

“Not really but things have gotten interesting since your arrival,” the princess smiled as we finished our dance with a graceful bow.

The audience applauded us again and I waved to the crowd.

“I gotta say, if these parties are this crazy,” I chuckled, “I might just attend another-”

Chu!

“I’d be happy to invite you again,” Celestia said with a wink as she left to chat with the party guests while I stood there stiff as a statue, cheeks flushed pink from her bold display of affection.

I blinked several times after what had just transpired. On my cheek was a small pink lipstick mark from the kiss Celestia planted when she caught me off guard. As I stood there dumbfounded, Diamond, Nala, and Mr. Rich finally came up to me and Diamond gave me a big hug.

“Oh wow! I can’t believe the Princess kissed you!” Diamond squealed.

“Out of all the things that happened tonight, that’s the thing you take from this?” Axel asked while returning the hug.

“You fight and almost die all the time. This is new,” Diamond explained.

“I have never been so proud,” Rich said before suddenly bonking me over the head.

“OW! What was that for?” I deadpanned.

“For scaring me half to death with that little stunt! I almost had a heart attack!” Rich barked.

“Hey, I had to act fast,” I shrugged. “Otherwise, those bag guys would’ve hurt the princess.”

“You’re a hero, big brother Axel!” Diamond chirped.

“Hey, I wasn’t the only one,” I said as a crowd began to form around us, each coming to offer their thanks.

Hey, partner. How’s about letting me take the wheel soon? You look like you’ve had enough fun for today, Dante whispered in my head.

I had to hide my sour expression as I listened to Dante’s poisonous words. I couldn’t place it, but I somehow could tell. Whatever was gonna happen this night was probably gonna be just as bad as he did in the shopping district. All I could do now was continue to mingle and hide the fact that I had a mass-murdering split personality sitting patiently in my head, waiting to be unleashed to spill more blood.

It Can Get Dirty, Or It Can Get Harry

Chapter 34

The Morning After
Axel 1st POV

I splashed my face with water as I looked at myself in the mirror while standing shirtless in the steamy bathroom after taking a shower. Bags hung under my eyes as I scanned my body’s new scars from last night. What I had witnessed was something I could not unsee. Lord knows I wanted to say something to stop him but I just…remained silent. The I could still feel my skin crawling uncomfortably when I recalled Dante using Bio Leech on those poor bustards. The feeling of their life essence seeping into my core was like getting an energy boost in the most unnatural way. I pinched my eyes and tried to suppress the events from last night. However, the only saving grace was what happened between Dante and Alduck, despite the circumstances.

Flashback
Dante 1st POV

I sat on a chair in Alduck’s office with a stiff drink in my hand. A doctor was checking my body for my mostly healed wounds and was putting bandages on my shoulder. Alduck, Stone, and Fuse sat on the other side of the table while watching me.

“So…you killed Nacho?” Fuse asked.

“Yep,” I said, sipping my drink.

Alduck took a sip of his whiskey before speaking. “His uncle will not take too kindly to this. Retaliation will be met in kind. But you did good, kid.”

“If I may be so bold, boss, I don’t think Serrano will make any moves against us,” I said.

“What makes you say that?” Stone asked.

“Simple,” I said, waving the doctor off. “The Pepper Cartel struck first. We were the ones who retaliated. If Serrano even thinks of striking back, that’ll make him look petty.”

“If it was an underboss or a soldier, then he would look petty. But this is his nephew. And even though he was a bastardo, family is still family,” Alduck countered.

“Then we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?” I shrugged. A servant walked in with a change of clothes.

“We had them tailored and made by your directions, sir,” the servant said.

“Thanks, I’ll change later. Once I do, burn the ones I’m wearing,” I said, and he nodded. “By the way, boss, there’s something I’d like put in a request for.”

“Such as?” Alduck asked with an arched brow.

“As a high-ranking associate of your gang, I am allowed to claim territory under your name, right?” I asked.

"Only if it benefits us, and I approve it. What did you have in mind?" Alduck asked while the butler topped off his drink.

“Ponyville,” I answered, making everyone look at me, wondering if I was serious.

“Ponyville?” Fuse snorted. “That small hick town?”

“The very same,” I said, giving Fuse a look.

Alduck took a moment and finished his drink. “Consider it done.”

“Thank you,” I said with a curt nod. “And just to be clear, since Ponyville is now my territory, that means no one else will try to do something stupid like try and cause trouble?”

“Woah! What do you mean by that?” Fuse asked, looking all offended.

“You won’t get any trouble from us or anyone for that matter. As long as there’s no trouble on your end,” Alduck said.

“Of course, and thank you again,” I said.

The sounds of someone screaming were heard outside. It sounded like a woman as she pleaded for her life.

“About damn time,” Alduck said with a calm tone.

As the screams got louder, I soon recognized who the voice belonged to.

“Oh, this should be good,” I said as the doors flung open.

Two officers, who I recognized as Alduck’s soldiers, brought in a screaming Sandy as she tried getting away from them. “Let go of me, you pricks!”

As soon as she laid eyes on me, her face went pale, and her eyes shrunk down to pinpricks.

“We meet again, ma’am,” I said with a mock two finger salute.

“R-Red Hawk…” Sandy trembled. “N-No…! Wh-What are you doing here?!”

“I work here,” I answered. “But I’m not the one you should be worried about.”

“Sandy,” Alduck’s voice brought her attention over to him. “Care for a drink?”

“Donald…” Sandy said and gulped. “Look, whatever you heard, it’s bullshit!”

“Do you take me for a fool?” Alduck asked without raising his voice. “I knew you were sleeping around. I don’t blame you for that, it’s in your nature. But when you slept with Nacho, it became a conflict of interest.”

“He…I…no! I was playing him!” Sandy pleaded. “Yeah! I was trying to fool him! For you! I got a bunch of dirt on him and his uncle!”

“Lady, come on, this is just pathetic,” I rolled my eyes.

“Shut your fucking mouth!” Sandy roared at me.

“Enough.” Alduck got up from his chair and went over to Sandy. Sandy flinched when he cupped her chin. “My sweet, Sandy.” Sandy started to gain some hope. “You know that I still love you.” Sandy was overjoyed to hear that as she stood up and the two came into a kiss. When she sat back down, Alduck pulled a gun on her. “But this is strictly business.”

BLAM!

As the blood leaked down Sandy’s face from the wound in her forehead, Alduck took out his handkerchief and wiped the droplets of blood on his face. “Buona serata, amore mio.” Sandy’s eyes rolled back as she collapsed to
The floor. He tosses the cloth onto her breast before taking his seat.

I was about to say something but judging by the look on Alduck’s face I felt it was best that I kept my mouth shut. Stone tapped my shoulder and gestured me to follow him out of the office.

“We’ll call you soon,” Stone said as I walked out. “Things are gonna get a little crazy, but we’ll handle it.”

Present
Axel 1st POV

I knew Alduck was cold, but I didn’t expect him to be that cold as well. Even though it might sound hypocritical when it comes to Dante. At least now I can find some sort of solace since Dante kept his word by claiming Ponyville as his territory. Now I won’t have to worry about any thugs storming into town to call me out.

After mulling over last night’s events, I stepped out of the bathroom and got dressed in my new clothes to head out. They looked similar to my old ones, and my vest was still intact.

“Just don’t think about it…” I said to myself as I tied my shoes. “Tomorrow’s the last day. Then you can just move on…”

I grabbed my pack and reached for my Amp. Even though it was made of gold, I could see some minor dings and scratches along the coils. I even took notice of my chain around my wrist that also looked slightly nicked on some of the chain links. I shook my head and strapped my Amp on my pack before heading out.

I was told by Diamond before she headed out that she and her dad wanted to spend some quality time together. I respected it since they deserved it, so I decided to also spend the day on my own.

“Merow!”

Just before I closed the door to my hotel room, I looked behind me to see Nala sitting on the bed. I smiled at her and tilted my head at her.

“Come on, girl, let’s go for a walk,” I said.

“Mroow!” Nala leapt off the bed and glided right into my chest and started licking my cheek.

I chuckled a bit as I scratched behind her ears and walked out with her in my arms. We exited the hotel and made our way downtown. The streets of Manehattan were hustling and bustling as per usual, and the people were all going about their days.

“Hehe, look at all the little ants, going about their day in this giant ant hill.” Nala let out a small growl. “Well, let’s see you come up with a better metaphor.”

“Aw, damn!”

I walked by an alleyway to see a guy standing in front of a wall. He wore tan overalls with a white shirt underneath, tennis shoes, and a pair of clear goggles on his face. His sky-blue hair was tied up in a bun with several multicolored pins in it. I also noticed splotches of different colors of paint all over his clothes. On the ground were a variety of supplies ranging from spray paint, duct tape, and pieces of cardboard. I glanced at Nala, and she looked back at me before I decided to give this guy some attention.

“Hey man. Whatcha up to?” I asked curiously.

The guy was a bit startled before looking at me and breathing a sigh of relief. “Sorry. I thought you were an officer.”

“An officer?” I looked down at my clothes and back at him. “Nah, ain’t nothing like that. You an artist?”

“Hardly. I have all this stuff, a blank canvas, and no idea where to start.” He slumped against the wall with a defeated look.

I scratched my chin and looked at his supplies and the wall. I had a few ideas of what he could do.

“Who says you need to start anywhere?” I spoke.

“What do you mean? Every artist needs to start somewhere. It’s all about the outline and how you picture it,” the guy said.

“What’d you say your name was?” I asked as I grabbed some scissors and a piece of cardboard.

“Paint Brush. Though everyone calls me Spray Paint. At least I’d like them to call me that. I hate my name ‘cause I can't make jack shit with a brush!” Spray Paint shouted at the wall.

“Easy, man, I get it,” I chuckled as I started cutting. “See, there’s a difference between painting on a canvas with a brush and spraying on a wall. You don’t need to really think about it. Just go with the flow of your artistic mind.” Once I was done cutting, I got to work. “Observe.”

I taped up the pieces of cardboard and began spraying some paint. I made sure to be careful as I sprayed as Spray watched me. Once I was done with one section, I moved onto the next and put up more pieces of cardboard. My actions were beginning to attract some people’s attention as I worked, and Spray looked like he was in awe of what I was doing. Once I put the finishing touches, I wiped my brow and tools a step back.

“Ta da!” I said with glee. “I call it: Straining Wheels.”

Spray laughed at the imagery and admired it. “Nice title. Hey, that gives me an idea.” He took one of the cans and cardboard and got to work. I noticed a magical horn appear on his forehead, which told me he was a unicorn-human. The way he used the spray cans with his magic and hands was a sight to see since he was working so fast and articulate. After an about an hour, and a few mistakes, Spray stepped back and marveled at his masterpiece. And I gotta say, it looks beautiful.

The crowd around us all clapped with applause.

“Damn, makes me look like an amateur,” I joked.

“You gotta show me more!” Spray told me. “Yours is simple but makes up for it with your clever titles!”

“Is that right?” I glanced down at Nala, and she was just licking her paw. “Well, I suppose I got time for a couple more.” I grabbed a bunch of his supplies and headed out as the crowd gave me some room. “Follow me.”

Spray picked up the rest of his supplies and followed me. We walked for about a couple blocks until we came across a building that looked like a small bank. An idea struck in my head as we set the supplies down and I got to work. I cut, measured, and taped the pieces of cardboard to my liking and sprayed the paint where I needed to put certain colors. Once again, my work attracted a crowd. As soon as I put the finishing touches on, I took a step back and set the spray can down.

“A man, a plan, and an aerosol can,” I said. “I call it: When Toddlers Attack.”

Spray smiled at my art before he bobbed his head and started spray painting with his magic. “I think all I needed was to see someone else do it first.” After another hour or so, he had completed another masterpiece.

“Woah!” I exclaimed and soon the crowd got bigger and applauded us for our work. Mostly for Spray. “Got time for one more?”

Spray smirked before holding up two cans, kinda like how someone would hold two guns before he went to work. After yet another hour, he was finished with a beautiful yet odd art.

“You always aim to impress now, huh?” I said.

“I got you to thank for getting my spark going!” Spray said and shook my hand. “Thank you! I owe you big!”

“Then allow me to leave you off with one more of my pieces.” I spotted a store that sold television sets in the window. I grabbed the supplies and got to work with my next piece. After about half an hour later, I finished up and took a step back.

“And there you have it,” I said. “I call this last piece: T.V. Repaired.”

“Very nice. It’s original and makes sense.” Spray got his supplies and took in a fresh breath of air. “I love the smell of art in the morning.”

“Don’t let that spark fizzle out, man,” I said and gave him a fist bump. “Make sure you spread that creative mind of yours throughout the city. Besides, you already have a big fan base.” I gestured to the dozens of people who were eagerly waiting for his next piece of art.

“Oh, trust me. The next time you see me, the whole city will be my canvas!” He patted his bag before we fist-bumped. “Take care.”

I waved him goodbye as Nala flew next to me and I continued my stroll. Spray painting made me remember all those tags I did back in high school with some of my buds. It also was one of the things I liked doing in order to forget about the constant pressure from my overzealous parents.

“Maybe I should start picking up that old hobby of mine again?” I said to myself.

I was so lost in thought that I accidentally bumped into someone while walking.

“Oh! Sorry, man, didn’t see you there,” I said and looked up.

Lo and behold, it was Marshall Avalon and a couple of his guys standing outside of what looked like a jewelry store. My heart stopped for a moment when he turned to look at me. The events of last night were still fresh in my mind as sweat dripped off the side of my head. I honestly didn’t know what to expect but I knew I had to act dumb and innocent like usual. After swallowing a huge lump in my throat, I gave him the best smile I could possibly procure.

“Well, what’s up, Marshall!” I spoke in a friendly tone. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“The princess is inside doing some shopping. You?” Marshall asked unaware that it was me he was hunting down for the massacre of those gangsters.

“Ah, just passing by,” I said, scratching the back of my head. I noticed some bags under his eyes. “You good? You look like you haven’t caught any shuteye.”

“This new vigilante, who calls himself the Red Hawk, is giving me a run for my money. Saffron thinks I should take a vacation,” the tired knight captain said just as one of his men brought him a giant cup of iced coffee which he greedily chugged down right in front of me. “I promised her if I don’t find any leads, I’ll take her and Clove to Las Pegasus.”

“I…I see,” I said. “That what I read in the paper? Heard it was quite the gnarly sight. And one of those cartel members was a big shot-.” I quickly looked away and covered my mouth.

OH FUCK. FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! ME AND MY STUPID FUCKING BIG MOUTH! I screamed in my head.

“That…was not in the papers yet, how did you know?” Marshall turned to me with a suspicious gaze as I tried to stay calm.

I took a deep breath and turned back at him. “Oh…I…uh…I-I have an informant!” I blurted out without even thinking.

Informant? Really? Dante said.

SHUT THE FUCK UP! I screamed at him.

“Y-Yeah! An informant! I heard the gangs in this town have been making moves lately, so I sought one of them down!” I tried my absolute best to play it cool. “But I promised him I wouldn’t reveal his name, I don’t even know his face!”

“Must be a pretty good informant if he was able to get dirt on the cartels and keep his tongue. You should introduce me some time.” Marshall almost sounded impressed but was still suspicious of me after I had practically blurted out that it was me, he saw last night. Before we could delve into our conversation any further, the bells of the front door rang and Celestia appeared with her signature warm smile when she saw me.

“Axel!” Celestia beamed. She walked up to me and wrapped me in a hug. “What a pleasant surprise!”

“Y-Yeah…pleasant…” I said with my voice cracking.

“Merow!” Nala meowed up at Celestia.

“Oh, and hello again, little one!” The sun princess picked her up without hesitation and began to cuddle her to her heart’s content while Nala purred in her embrace.

“You remember Nala the manticore cub, from the party?” I reminded her.

“Of course I do!” Celestia smiled while Nala began to rub against her cheek. “Such a cute little thing.”

“Oh sure, until they hit eight months,” Marshall said while looking at the little cub.

“Doing some shopping, Celestia?” I asked, noticing a new pair of diamond earrings and a rose gold necklace shaped like a heart. “They look good on you.”

“Oh, just thought I’d look my best and these are designed by the top jeweler in Canterlot. It’s my duty to add these to the royal collection.” She explained while holding up the pendant that I found it rather hard not to look at her chest as well as the gold.

I don’t know what exactly came over me, but I once again was lost at the sight of her beauty. The way the sun shined down on her made my once anxious heartbeat calm immediately, almost like how it calms whenever I talk with Moon.

“Can I take you out to lunch?” Everything around me froze. Marshall, his men, and Celestia all looked at me as my face went pale. Without thinking, I had just asked out the freaking princess of Equestria on a freaking lunch date!

“Why Axel, are you asking me out on a date?” Celestia teased while Marshall and his men raised their eyebrows at me with smug looks on their faces.

I was at a loss for words. I know she was teasing me, and I wanted to say I was kidding, but something inside me told me to…go through with it. It was an unexplainable phenomenon that made me just go with the flow. Stealing my resolve, I held my right hand out while holding my left hand behind my back and looked at her dead in the eye.

“Yes.” I spoke softly. “Princess Celestia, I would like to take you out on a date.” Marshall and his men were taken aback by my sudden seriousness. “Would you do me this honor?”

“I would be delighted.” Celestia accepted my invitation with the usual regality befitting a royal all while letting Nala continue to cuddle her. “On the condition that I get to watch this little cutie pie for the day.” She winked, catching me off guard.

“That’s fine,” I said and even went and offered her my arm. “Shall we?”

“We shall.” She hooked her arm around mine. “Sir Marshall, you’re dismissed for the day.”

“Uhh, your highness, I must object-.” Marshall said with a finger raised as we walked off but before they could say anything else we were already down the street and on our way. “-and…they’re gone.”

I could feel the stares of almost every pedestrian we walked by. I honestly couldn’t blame them since I had one of Equestria’s rulers was on my arm. Nala was being carried by Celestia’s other arm as she purred contently.

“So, Celestia, what’re you in the mood for?” I asked. “We could go to a nice brunch place. Or perhaps a fancy café?”

“Actually, I was thinking something more along the lines of the local food vendors,” Celestia requested.

“Wait, you mean like…fast food?” I asked in surprise.

“Yes, that’s it! I heard from Twilight that burgers are quite the delight amongst the people,” she said with enthusiasm, eager to try something others of her class considered a low-class dish.

“Uuuh…” I was a bit unprepared at her request but decided to oblige her.

I looked around and noticed we had arrived in a large area surrounded by buildings, magical billboards, and dozens of carriages and people passing by. To an extent, the area reminded me of Times Square in New York back home. Sure enough, I spotted a guy standing in front of a food cart with a grill in front of him as he was cooking up some meat for sandwiches.

“Yo buddy!” I called out as we made our way over to him. When he looked up, he visibly flinched when he saw Celestia.

“Ohh uhh…what can I get ya folks?” He asked while nervously flipping the burgers he had on his grill.

“Two burgers for me, no pickles,” I ordered.

“And for the princess?” He asked sheepishly.

“I’ll have the same but with pickles and what are these fries on the menu?” Celestia asked when the chef looked at her in surprise.

“You mean to tell me you’ve never had one of the greatest snacks ever created in the history of fast food?” He chuckled before preparing our meal. “Your majesty, I will serve you only the freshest burgers and fries my stand has to offer!”

“I look forward to it,” Celestia smiled.

“Merow!” Nala meowed.

“Oh, and a little slider for my furry friend here,” I said and leaned in to mutter at him. “I’ll throw in some extra bits for your trouble.”

“Comin’ right up!” He chirped.

We watched as the chef eagerly prepared our meals while onlookers watched us in surprise like we were on a freak show at a circus, among the crowd were some nobles who seemed shocked that their princess was trying commoner cuisine.

“What on Equis…? Is that princess Celestia?”

“What is she doing with that street urchin?”

“Is she really going to…partake in that greasy slop?”

“Oh, the horror! A matriarch like her should never!”

The princess simply rolled her eyes before catching the aroma of fresh burgers and fries being served after the chef had completed our orders.

“And some complimentary sodas, on the house.” He winked before I gave him his rightful payment and we sat ourselves at the nearest table.

“Thanks, man!” I handed him the bits and even threw in a gem. “For your troubles, like I promised.”

“Whoa! This’ll help cover my rent!” The chef said while quickly putting the gem away, much to the shock of the nobility.

“A gem…for that…garbage?!”

“Such foolishness.”

“Oh for…” When I set my tray down on the table, I turned to face the nobles and flipped them off. “SIT ON IT, AND FUCKING SPIN! YOU UPTIGHT JACKHOLES!”

After being shocked by my sudden outburst, the crowd quickly dispersed with some giving me a round of applause for sticking it to the upper class while Celestia was unable to hold back her laughter as we resumed our meal.

“I can’t recall the last time someone yelled back at the nobility but then again…such actions would end up getting you beheaded back in the day,” Celestia informed me.

I bent over and exposed my neck. “I await my fate proudly and without regret.”

Celestia could not help but laugh even louder before we were finally able to enjoy our meal and while it tasted like your average burger to me, to her it was like biting into the food of the gods as her face lit up the moment her lips met the soft juiciness of the burger.

“Oh, my heavens! This is so delicious, the juiciness of the meat blends perfectly with the tanginess of the ketchup and the vegetables give it the perfect crunch!” She then immediately took a bite of her fries and let out a squeal equal to that of a teenager at a boy band concert. “So crispy and just the right amount of salt!”

“Meow!” Nala meowed as she happily ate her little slider.

“Am I right to assume this is better than the usual bougie meals you have back at the castle?” I asked before taking a bite.

“I will say their meals are exquisite, but I have them almost every day. I might have to ask that chef to come work for me!” Celestia beamed before taking a sip of her soda which seemed to delight her even more. “Mmm, so fizzy and sweet! I can see why children love this beverage so much!”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it, Celestia,” I said as Nala happily ate her burger slider. “Y’know, back where I’m from, people eat like this all the time. We got burgers, pizza, burritos, tacos, and so much more types of fast foods.”

“Oh my. It sounds like your people eat well,” Celestia commented.

“You’d think that, but it’s caused a huge obesity problem in some parts in my world.” I chuckled as I popped a few fries into my mouth.

“I see. Well, I best watch how much I partake of this fine meal,” Celestia said while taking another big bite of her burger.

“Naw, you got nothing to worry about. You got a great figure,” I said then went immediately rigid as I drank my soda. “Uh…that came out wrong.”

“My, such a bold statement, Axel~,” Celestia cooed flirtatiously while giving me The Look. “Rest assured, I’ve had many suitors compliment my figure before.”

“Th-That’s not what I meant!” I stammered, making her look at me as if she wasn’t expecting me to take back my statement. “I just meant you look healthy! You’re so pretty, after all! Ack! Wait! That’s not what I want either! I meant you’ve got a warm aura that’s easy to be around!”

“Thank you,” she said, immediately stopping my yammering as we finished our meal. “This was the most fun I’ve had in a while.”

“Merow!” I looked down to see Nala had finished her slider and was staring up at me. Not so much at me, however, but more so at my fries.

“Hey, no,” I said. “These’re mine.” Nala stared at me, and I swear those eyes suddenly became bigger as she begged for my fries.

“…no.” Nala then raised one of her paws while looking up at me and leaned it against my leg.

“…mew!” She meowed softly, tearing at my heartstrings.

“…not fair,” I grumbled and tossed her some fries, which she victoriously ate.

Just then, we heard some music coming from a small crowd. I glanced over to see a guy playing an electric guitar in between these two speakers. He was pretty good but wasn’t drawing too much attention from the crowd. I then saw another guy doing what looked like breakdancing, which was also pretty good but nothing to look twice at.

“Lotta street performers out here,” I commented.

“Oh yes, we are in the entertainment district after all,” Celestia smiled almost as if she was recalling a memory. “I remember when these streets were gloomy and dark when I took the throne but since that time, it has become a place of joy and amusement.”

“Beware! Beware!” I saw a crazy guy painted in red and held up a sign that had a crude painting of a bird. “Beware the Red Hawk! Equestria’s newest scourge! He’ll come for us all! He’ll devour your very soul! Beware! Beware!”

“What’s that crazy crackpot spewing this time?” One of the passersby’s asked as he continued to rant and rave while waving his picture around.

“Ah, some weird story about a red bird or something that hacked up those gangsters. My opinion, it was a baby Roc gone feral,” another pedestrian dismissed.

I couldn’t help but cringe at the crazy guy’s words and how the people tried passing it off as nonsense. I knew full well what he was talking about, which is what I was afraid of happening. Dante’s reputation was beginning to make itself known to the public, and not in a good way. I should be thankful that the only ones who know about Dante are Orion, Moon, and Twilight and her friends. I shook my head to try and shake away my growing anxiety. I stood up from my seat and gave Celestia a smirk.

“Hey, wanna see something entertaining?” I asked. She nodded with an intrigued smile as I walked over to the guy playing guitar.

“Hey buddy. Can I use your speakers?” I asked, holding out a gem to him.

“Uhh, sure?” The guitarist took the gem and unplugged his guitar from the speakers.

I plugged my phone in and stood between the speakers. While holding my phone, I held it in front of me while activating Video and materialized a familiar toy that I used to play as a kid.

“Hell yeah.” I kept using my power as I set my phone down in front of me to make a mini digital screen appear above it. “Alright, Manehatten, here’s a little number from my neck of the woods!”

At first, the beat seemed strange to some of the performers but then sure enough they began to feel the rhythm and began to do a group dance for the crowd that cheered and took photos while handing out their bits to us. I made the digital screen in front of me to mimic the game’s buttons as I scratched the disk and pushed the buttons accordingly. The whole crowd was eating it up and danced along with the beat until it ended, and I started a new song.

“Let me see y’all bust a move!” I shouted as I scratched to the beat.

What followed next was a group dance battle that the audience ate up as they cheered for both sides and when the song came to an end, a round of applause was given for both groups and me as I handed back the guitarist his speakers.

“That was sick, man! You do parties?” He asked as we shook hands.

“Nah, not really. This was just a one-time thing,” I said.

“I must say, Axel, that was a stupendous performance,” Celestia said. “You truly are a gifted individual.”

“I agree with her majesty!” The guy said. “I’ve never seen or heard that kind of DJing before!”

“Encore! Encore! Encore!” The crowd suddenly chanted for me to do one more song.

“Well, who am I to disappoint the crowd?” I shrugged. “Gimme some room.”

The two nodded and took a step back. I took my phone and deactivated the turntable and focused my Video power again. I held it in front of me and I summoned a variety of different Singing Monsters, like the ones I used back at the park with Diamond. The crowd was a bit put off by the sudden appearance of these creatures, but I quickly got their attention.

“Ready everyone?” I said to the monster, and they nodded. “These are our drums!” The monsters began beating their instruments to sound a musical tempo. “This is our melody!” Thinking quickly, while also testing a hypothesis I had a while back, I used Video on my own vocal cords to help my voice sing. I sang a small melody with some of the monsters, which caught everyone by surprise. “Now listen closely, as our drums become our melody!” The monsters drumming and the monsters singing played together. “And…here’s our song!”

As if acting as a conductor, I waved my hands at the monsters as they played and sang. I also sang along with them thanks to my newly auto tuned voice. None were more excited to see the performance than the children who were in the crowd as they watched them dance and sing. One could say I was giving a live performance of a kid show. When the song was reaching its end, I activated my digital wings and flew up over the crowd and unleashed a bright light that literally lit up the area. Everyone was blown away from my singing and my singing monsters as they played and sang along as hard as they could, matching my energy. I didn’t notice until now that my performance was being projected on the big magical screens surrounding the Square. I spun in a circle when the song reached its apex-like end. As soon as it did, I landed back on my feet in a dramatic fashion.

“Bravo!” Celestia applauded along with the rest of the crowd with some photographers taking pictures.

I deactivated Video, making the Singing Monsters disappear as I got flooded with words of praise and adoration. I eventually made it back to Celestia who immediately gave me a big hug and big kiss on the cheek.

“GET THAT!! GET THAT!!” A reporter shouted to his crew as they began recording us while I just stood there completely dumbstruck by her highness’s sudden display of affection.

“You were absolutely marvelous, Axel!” Celestia beamed. “I’ve never seen such a spectacular ensemble in a very long time!”

“Uh…y-yeah, my pleasure,” I said sheepishly, not knowing she had left a big kiss mark on my cheek, and I was blushing like a fool. No doubt I was as red as a tomato. My eyes squinted a bit from the influx of flashing lights from the cameras. The crowd wouldn’t stop cheering and asking for my comment for their cameras, which got a little overwhelming.

“Wanna get outta here? It’s getting a little hectic,” I said to Celestia. I unfurled my digital wings, ready to take flight.

“After you.” The princess smiled as she followed my lead and opened her wings, looking like an angel.

My breath hitched a bit as we both took flight, and they were still trying to get our picture taken.

We eventually made it to the big park I was at with Diamond where I had slumped on one of the benches to catch my breath while Celestia sat next to me. Nala was playing in the grass in front of us and rolling around.

“Man…I never was much of a performer,” I breathed out. “I just did small gigs here and there for extra cash but nothing this extreme. How do those pop stars do it?”

“You’ll have to ask one when you get the chance,” Celestia joked while using one of her wings to gently fan me. “What you did was truly spectacular. Perhaps I’ll ask you to perform at my next charity event.”

“Oh, don’t tempt me,” I said back. “I might start charging for my entertainment services.”

The two of us shared a laugh while enjoying the serenity of the park until Celestia saw the time and realized it was time to lower the sun and allow her sister to raise the moon.

“Never saw you do it before,” I said, making her glance at me. “Y’know, lower the sun?”

“Is it so strange?” She asked while finding a good spot to use her magic.

“Well, where I come from, the planets orbit each other through gravitational force. Of course, when that was first discovered, the people in power tried to cover it up and claim it as heresy,” I explained while tapping my chin as I remembered my old science lessons from high school.

Celestia let out a small laugh before she began. I watched her hold her hands out and reach towards the sun. Her golden magical aura covered her hands and I saw a magic silhouette of her horn appear on her forehead. I was at a loss for words as I watched her literally lower the sun as she unfurled her wings. No wonder people worship her not only as their ruler but as their goddess, because she is one.

“…beautiful,” I muttered as the sky soon was adorned with several stars and the moon took its place where the sun was.

“Isn’t it?” Celestia asked as we watched the city light up while watching others pass us by, some even giving us surprised looks and waving hello.

“I was talking about you,” I said, making her look at me. “And this time…I mean it.”

Smooth, Dante said smugly in my head.

“Oh. Well, I don’t know what to say.” She blushed and looked at me bashfully. “I can’t remember the last time someone was so honest with me.”

“Hold up, you tellin’ me those snobs who present themselves like a bad white elephant gift just throw compliments your way and they don’t even mean it?” I asked.

“More than you know,” Celestia sighed. “Centuries, I’ve had many suitors and all of them were fake. Not one has been a genuine gesture of affection, each of them only saw me as a new conquest or a quick way into the high life.”

“Hmph, their loss,” I snorted. “Any man would be lucky to be with you. But all they see is that crown on your head. Bunch of entitled douchebags…”

“And…what do you see?” Celestia asked while leaning forward.

“Me? I see a woman who is misunderstood,” I shrugged. “A woman who hides her loneliness behind her motherly smile because she too wants as much affection as any woman. But she’s kept such a strong public figure for so long that she buries her personal feelings for the sake of others.” I blinked when I realized I was running my mouth at Celestia. “Er…sorry. That might’ve been too harsh.”

“No…what you said was the truth,” Celestia smiled at me with a real genuine smile. “You know about me, tell me about yourself.”

I was hesitant since my past didn’t have any happy moments. But since it was her wanting to get to know me better, I couldn’t just turn her away.

“Growing up…I didn’t have the best childhood,” I said, leaning forward and resting my elbows on my knees. “Even at a young age, my parents always expected perfection from me. Grades, manners, discipline, you name it. However…I wasn’t born how they wanted, and I messed up a lot in their eyes.”

“I know parents expect the best from their children but expecting them to be the best? They sound almost unhinged,” Celestia commented as I continued.

“You wanna know something interesting that I’ve only told Moon?” I said to Celestia, and she nodded. “My name…isn’t actually Axel.”

“It isn’t?” She spoke.

“Nope,” I said as I leaned back. “It’s Alex. Short for Alexander. Lazy thinking, I know, but it was my way of rebelling against my overzealous folks for giving me a mouthful of a name.”

“I take it, that must be a common name then?” Celestia asked while leaning back.

“It was the name of one of our history’s greatest warlords,” I explained. “My folks believed that if I was named after a great man then I would become a great man myself, you can guess how that went.”

“That sounds admirable,” Celestia said.

“Yeah, well…” My mood turned bitter as I looked away. Memories of those sleepless nights started to come back as I clenched my fists. “As great as they wanted me to be, me being good enough was never enough…”

“I see. Did you move out?” Celestia asked.

“Oh yeah. Once I saved up enough, I hightailed it outta that hellhole the first chance I got,” I said with pride.

“Must be nice having such freedom,” Celestia said.

“It was…until…” I trailed off, feeling a little on edge. “That…terrible night.”

“What night?” Celestia asked when she noticed I was clenching my fist and gritted my teeth.

“…I…” I closed my eyes as that night burned my vision. “I…I killed someone…”

Celestia of course was shocked when she heard this and could see that the memory pained me greatly and I had tried to keep it buried for a long time.

“It was just another night…” I began. “College, school night. My roommate asked for a snack when I left to go to the convenience store. I barely had anything on me anyway, and my relatives were paying for my tuition while I worked part time. On my way back to the dorm, a hooded guy came up and…pointed a gun in my face.”

I clutched my arms as I began to tremble. “I was so fucking scared…so scared, I could barely speak. I just wanted a quiet college life and now I’m getting mugged. However…something happened that I still can’t explain to this day. There was a split moment when the guy got distracted by a noise. As if on impulse, I lunged forward and tackled him. We both struggled with all we had to gain control of the gun in his hand. We rolled around on the wet cement, my face got scraped a bit, and he kneed me in the gut a few times. I managed to bite down on his arm, which made his grip loosen enough for me to get a better grip.”

My vision grew blurry, and I began to hyperventilate. “But…b-but my f-finger…slipped against the gun’s trigger.” I rocked back and forth, hearing that god-awful loud noise. “It happened in an instant…my ears were ringing…so much. By the time I regained my senses…the guy…h-he had…a h-hole…i-in his…h-head…”

Celestia could only cover her mouth as she let out a short gasp while I continued.

“Soon, the cops came, and I thought for sure they would suspect me of being the mugger but as it turns out the guy I just killed was a wanted felon they had been pursuing for months…” I explained.

“Then you did nothing wrong, you only defended yourself,” Celestia said, hoping to comfort me.

“Doesn’t change the fact that I killed someone…after that, things were never the same,” I said solemnly.

More memories returned after that night. “I had to take an entire semester off in order to mentally recuperate. I was in therapy, they put me on antidepressants, and…”

I slowly reached for my chain wrapped around my wrist. I hesitated but I felt like I needed to show her what was underneath. I slowly pulled my chain down my wrist to show a scar I try to pretend isn’t there. A scar that looked like something was cut across and was deep enough to cause some serious bleeding.

“I…I got low,” I said, my hand shaking. “Very…very low, due to the guilt and trauma.”

“Oh Axel…” She took my hand out of pity.

“By the time my roommate found me, with a bloody empty pill bottle beside me to boot, I already had one foot in the grave and couldn’t even see straight,” I said as I pulled my chain back up my wrist.

I chuckled at myself as I rubbed my face with my hand. “You must think I’m pretty pathetic. I wouldn’t blame you. Everyone else has after they saved me from myself…”

There was no response save for the gentle embrace she gave me as she wrapped her arms around me like a mother would for her child and her wings added a certain comfort as I felt them drape around me like a blanket. They were so warm and soft, I felt…safe like she would let nothing harm me.

I just sat there, embraced by Celestia, as she caressed my head. Nala hopped up next to me and crawled into my lap to try and comfort me too.

“It’s alright, you’re safe now.” She said with a warm smile that seemed to wash away all my worries.

“…you’re the second person, like Moon, to show me kindness after telling you all that,” I said quietly. “Remember when I once said how I was considering wanting to find a way home?” He nodded as I looked at her in her eyes. “I don’t. I want to stay. This, Equestria, this is my home. Now and forever.”

“Then I gladly welcome you to your new home, dear Axel.” Celestia smiled at me and hugged me even tighter like I was a lost child who finally found his way home and then before I knew it, a single tear fell from my eye.

I was about to thank her for her kindness when something caught the corner of my eye. From within a cluster of trees, I caught sight of something poking out at us. It wasn’t until I saw it pull back a little that made me realize it was the tip of an arrowhead!

“GET DOWN!” I yelled and pulled Celestia out of the way. Sure enough, it was in fact an arrow as it shot right at us, and it hit me in the arm. The arrow pierced my skin all the way through the other side of my limb.

“FUCK!” I cursed.

The assailant gave an annoyed grunt as he broke cover and began to run through the brush in an attempt to escape while I made sure the princess was unharmed.

“Hissss!” Nala hissed at the fleeing assailant.

“Are you hurt?!” I asked while pulling the arrow out.

“I’m fine, go!” Celestia said, urging me to pursue.

I nodded and activated my digital wings. I cured under my breath from the arrow in my arm but gave chase anyway. I flew after him just as Celestia called for backup.

“You ain’t getting far, asshat!” I called out.

“Damn creature!” the assassin insulted me before firing another arrow, not caring for the innocent bystanders flying by. It was clear that this was no run of the mill assassin as he began using the alleyways and busy streets to his advantage.

“He’s planned this.” I said as I increased speed and tried my best to keep up. For some reason I wasn’t flying as fast as I wanted to but couldn’t dwell on it at the moment.

Just as I was about to catch up to him, I instinctively ducked out of the way from a sharp blade almost cutting my head off. I somersaulted on the ground and back in my feet but grunted in pain from my wound. Just then, dozens of men came out from the shadows and surrounded me.

“Northerners…” I growled as I held my bleeding arm.

“Finally, our prey has appeared.” One of them smirked when I realized that the attack on Celestia was the bait and like a fool, I took it and fell right into their trap. “Our orders are to take him alive, clip his wings and break his legs!”

“Oh, you shit-heads are in for a world of hurt!” I snapped and unraveled my chain. My arm throbbed as the Northerners advanced on me.

“TAKE HIM!” The ringleader shouted as they pounced.

Three of the men charged at me with bladed weapons while I summoned my digital sword with my chain and my digital combat armor. I tried raising my arm to fire Torrent Shots at them, but I couldn’t raise my arm at all. The wound was still fresh, and my fast healing still needed time. I jumped out of the way and blocked another’s strike. I swung my blade horizontally, but they dived out of the way as well. My moves were sluggish and uncoordinated since I was fighting one-handed. I flapped my wings to evade another’s hammer to my head.

“Fuck! I need some altitude!” I said to myself and flew up high.

“Oh no you don’t!” One of them grinned as he managed to put a chain around my ankle. “You didn’t think we prepared for this; you freak of nature?! Our king will pay us handsomely to have you hauled back in a cage!”

I was about to make myself tangible but for some reason I couldn’t. I was yanked down to the ground and crashed right as more Northerners tried to get the drop on me. I grit my teeth, ignoring the pain in my arm, and used my powers on my feet to activate my thrusters to push me out of the way.

The fuck’s going on here?! Why’re my powers tapped?! I thought as I punched a Northerner as hard as I could, sending him flying towards a couple others. Are my reserves almost dry from last night?!

“Now’s our chance, haul him in!” The ringleader ordered.

Even under their hoods, I could see the manic grin on their faces as they pulled me in ready to hogtie me like a pig at a rodeo.

“FUCK…OFF!” I screamed as I quickly switched to Concrete and slammed my fists into the ground.

Large slabs of concrete shot from the ground around me, hitting some of them in their guts and sending others flying. I breathed heavily while coating my arms and legs under a layer of concrete to protect myself. The archers aimed inflamed arrows at me and fired. I blocked a couple of arrows but one grazed my leg, which hurt like hell. The rest of the arrows that missed hit some foliage that caught on fire.

“Are you nuts?! You’ll burn the whole park down!” I barked.

“Consider it a preview of what’s to come,” one of them said with a sadistic grin as they removed their hoods, no longer needing to hide themselves. “We will burn this country to the ground and establish a new kingdom for our clan! But first we gotta make sure certain obstacles are removed.”

“You sick psychos!” I shouted and fired Concrete Shrapnel at them.

Suddenly, a big bruiser came barreling out from the crowd with a large war hammer. I quickly wrapped my chain back around my wrist and coated my Amp with a thick layer of Concrete, creating a sort of stone club of my own. We both swung our weapons at the same time, clashing together that sent out a mini shockwave. The impact made me cry out in pain from my arm, making me drop my Amp.

“Shit!” I jumped back as he slammed his hammer a couple feet by me into the dirt. The flames were burning more of the grass and trees as innocent bystanders ran for their lives.

“Now you die…” The hulking brute was prepared to give another swing when we suddenly heard another voice.

“Chevalier Sword Art.”

SCHWING!!

“GUILLOTINE!!”

Before we knew what happened, my opponent’s head suddenly fell to the ground with a clean cut through his neck before blood started to spray everywhere.

“Marshall?!” I called out as the knight captain appeared out of nowhere with his squad.

“Men, get those fires out and evacuate the civilians! Axel, where's the princess?” Marshall asked me.

“She’s back over by a park bench over there!” I shouted as Marshall’s squad engaged the Northerners. “Nala’s with her too!”

“Sir! The fire’s spread too much! And the firefighters won’t get here in time!” One of his men cried.

“Damnit! Evacuate the civilians! Take care of the remaining Northern invaders!” Marshall ordered.

I looked around frantically as Marshall easily dispatched a couple more Northerners. A feeling of helplessness washed over me as Marshall so easily was dealing with them and was even trying to get the fire under control as it spread rapidly. I wanted to help but it seemed like Marshall had it under control.

…

“Ain’t no way I’m sitting on the sidelines…” I said to myself. I then hatched an idea that was a huge gamble. “Marshall! I can put the fire out!”

“How?! Can you control water?!” Marshall asked.

“No, but I can absorb smoke,” I explained.

“Smoke and fire are different things!” Marshall barked.

“Maybe, but I can try to absorb the fire too!” I said back. “I’ve never done it before, but I know it’ll work! Trust me!”

“STOP HIM! Don’t let him snuff those flames out!” The ringleader barked at his men as they charged forward.

“I’ll handle them, take care of the flames,” Marshall said to me as he stepped over the dead brute and gripped his sword, but nothing could prepare me for what came next.

“Chevalier Sword Art: Swaying Grass!”

Even with my keen senses, I could hardly believe what I saw. He swayed left and right, past his attackers like they were stiff as statues before each was suddenly struck with a huge gash in their arms or legs.

“That was a warning, surrender or it’ll be an execution,” he warned, giving them a predatory look as he showed his sword drenched in their blood.

While Marshall held off the Northerners, I stood in front of the roaring flames as they consumed multiple trees and foliage. I switched to Smoke as I sheathed my Amp after in my pack after picking it back up and held out both my hands. I focused my power as smoky wisps and small cinders danced up and down my hands and shoulders. As if reacting to my power, the flames all began to flicker towards me as I attempted to absorb them. The heat of the flames was almost too much to bear as I winced from the exposure. But I did not relent as I kept my power focused. I watched as the flames formed a sort of funnel in front of me and flew right in between my hands. The feeling was almost indescribable as a rush of energy filled me.

“FIRE! FIRE AT WILL ON THAY FREAK!” Their leader ordered.

Before Marshall could stop them, a few archers and one aiming a magic pistol fired at me. The arrows stuck into my back and the bullet hit my leg, which both hurt like fucking hell. I grit my teeth hard as I kept my stance and continued absorbing the flames, which was a spectacle to behold.

“Dammit!” The knight captain cursed and rushed to my side before narrowly dodging the next few shots.

“Where the Tartarus did you brutes acquire that magic firearm?!” He shouted at them while ducking for cover behind an overturned bench.

“Let’s just say we’re well connected,” the one with the magic gun shouted back as he took a few shots at Marshall.

“Come on…come on!” I grunted as my wounds ached and bled.

“It’s too much, Axel! Stand down!” Marshall warned me.

“Fuck that!” I snapped. “I refuse to let these fuckers destroy whatever they want! I won’t let them! This is my home! And I will protect it with my life!” My body suddenly burst into flames as more of the burning flames funneled into me more and more. “THAT’S A PROMISE I WON’T EVER BREAK!”

“Oh, I’ve had enough of these fools. Finish him off!” The leader ordered before Marshall suddenly leapt from his hiding spot, his sword put into a thrusting position.

“Chevalier Sword Art!” He called out just as the barrel of the gun bared down on him.

“CHAMPION’S LANCE!”

In one powerful thrust, a sonic boom was created followed by a strong gust of wind that sent the rest of the goons flying, allowing me to finally get the flames under control as the last of the citizens were evacuated.

“You are all under arrest!” Marshall announced.

Just as Marshall finished off the rest of the invaders, I managed to absorb all the flames that burned the surrounding area. I breathed heavily as my own flames flickered off of my body and I felt very hot as the ground singed under my feet.

“Axel!” Marshall called out as he approached me.

“DON’T! Don’t Touch me!” I warned him just as he tried to reach out to help but even from a short distance, he could feel the heat coming off my body.

“Are you alright? Does it hurt?” Marshall asked.

“I-I’m okay…I just need to cool down…” I panted when Celestia came on the scene, rushing to my side and looking worried.

I breathed heavily with deep breaths as I tried desperately to condense my power. Everyone watched as the flames flickering off my body slowly dwindled until they were replaced by heavy smoke wisps and cinders. This went on for a couple more minutes until there wasn’t even the tiniest cinder left and I was back to my base form. Miraculously, my wounds had healed up completely due to my fast healing getting the power boost it needed.

“Get this man a medic! NOW!” Marshall barked while Celestia helped me to stand.

“Are you in pain?” She asked out of concern for me.

“No, I’m fine,” I said. “And no medic needed. I’m completely healed.”

“Better safe than sorry my friend,” Marshall insisted before going to pick up the magic gun as the assailants were hauled away into the prison wagon. “Hmmm…standard issue but it’s been reduced to a smaller scale making it easier to conceal. This is the version nobles usually carry in case they need to defend themselves and they’re cheap too.”

I glanced at Celestia as Marshall’s men brought forth the leader and forced him to his knees. The woman looked like she wanted to knock his jaw out of his socket and pluck out his eyes.

“You Northern brutes have crossed the line,” Celestia growled. “For months, I’ve heard nothing but incident after incident of you terrorizing my people across the country, and your actions have only become more violent and dangerous! Despite my sister and I repeatedly rejecting your desire to open our borders, you still refuse to listen!” Celestia then fanned open her wings, giving herself a royal presence as Marshall and his men bent to their knees. “By royal decree! I, Princess Celestia, hereby declare any and all Northern invaders forbidden from ever entering or even stepping foot in Equestria! I also order any and all of my soldiers and any officers of the law to subdue and deport any remaining Northerner back from whence they came!”

“You just made a dangerous move, lady…” The leader hissed in defiance. “When our king hears of this, he’ll bring the wrath of ALL the clans down on you and the next time we see you, you’ll be on your knees and in chains while we take turns humping you ‘til you’re popping out little bastards nonstop~!”

Celestia said nothing as she waved her hand to Marshall for him to take the scumbag away.

“Let us return to Canterlot, I must call for an emergency summit,” Celestia said.

“I’ll make the preparations at once,” Marshall saluted as he left with his squad to prepare for our journey home.

I stood by Celestia and sighed. “Well, that could’ve gone better.”

“On the contrary,” Celestia said to me with a proud smile. “You’ve done something extraordinary, Axel. You saved this park from total destruction. I would even go as far as to say you saved the city too. If not for you, that fire would have completely destroyed this wonderful park and perhaps spread to the buildings nearby. Not to mention, the civilians are safe as well.”

“Eh, it’s no big deal,” I shrugged but paused. “Well…actually it was. I was outnumbered and outskilled.”

“Be that as it may, it’s a good thing Sir Marshall showed up when he did,” Celestia smiled as we approached the royal carriage that was waiting for us. “But why were they trying to take you alive?”

“Who can say?” I spoke. “But at least now that they got the official royal boot up their butts, we won’t have to worry about them anymore.”

“For now…” Celestia said with a foreboding tone. “In my anger, I may have made a rash decision. Many of the Northerners have found homes here and have opened up trade, I fear these actions will have consequences.”

“You’ll be fine, Sunny,” I said, making her look at me.

“Sunny?” Celestia gave me a smirk when I realized I called her by a nickname.

“Yeah, Sunny,” I said as I leaned on her carriage. “Matches your bright personality and warm nature. Do you approve?”

“Hmmm. I do but only you may call me that.” Celestia gave me a boop to the nose before boarding the carriage as we headed back to the hotel to pack our things. “Axel, I want you at the summit.” She said to me while looking out the window.

“The summit? What’s that?” I wondered.

“It is a meeting of all the leaders of Equestria. Every nation will be gathered there, and I fear we were not the only ones struck by the Northlanders underhanded tactics. Make no mistake, there will be talk of war and I hope to avoid such an outcome, if possible,” Celestia explained calmly but I could tell she was worried. “It’s been almost two thousand moons since we waged a war and I hope to never repeat that bloodshed again.”

“I see…” I said, crossing my arms. “Sure, I’d be down to go.”

“Wonderful,” Celestia beamed. “And it also is the day when Shining Armor’s wedding is.”

“What?! No way!” I said with a wide grin. “Shining popped the question to his girl?! That’s awesome!”

“Isn’t it? And I’m sure Twilight will be surprised as well.” Celestia beamed with excitement, a quick mood change from our earlier conversation.

“Well, remind me to send that guy a bottle of champagne,” I said with satisfaction. “I knew he had it in him.”

We eventually made it to my hotel and pulled up to the front entrance. The valet opened the door for me as I turned to bid Celestia farewell.

“I’ll see you later, Sunny,” I said with a mock two-fingered salute. “I had a good time, despite the circumstances.”

“As did I.” Celestia surprised me with a peck to my cheek that made me freeze up as my face turned bright pink. “Good night, Axel.”

I shook my head and dreamily walked out of the carriage. The carriage then pulled out of the hotel driveway and down the street before it was out of sight.

“Wow…what a woman,” I sighed.

Good for you, Dante spoke in my head. You went on a date with a princess. Now, can we switch already? I got business tonight.

“Huh? Oh, uh, yeah sure…” I replied not really focusing on what he said as I walked back into the hotel in a daze.

Later That Evening
Dante 1st POV

An hour after switching minds, I headed for a small diner Stone and Fuse asked me to meet them.

I eventually made it to a diner just outside of the restaurant district. When I arrived, I noticed the UV sign had a letter glitching on and off as I walked in. I looked around to see only a couple people sitting at the bar and saw Stone and Fuse sitting in a corner booth.

“Stone. Fuse.” I greeted as I walked over to the booth and sat down.

“How you doin’, kid? How’s it feel to be a made man?” Fuse asked.

“Pretty good,” I nodded. “I’m probably the first in the business to make it this high up in such a short amount of time.”

“Possible.” Stone shrugged. “Now, as to why we asked you here.”

“The Don was asked for a favor by his Godson, an upcoming star on the big screens of Applewood. Goes by the name of Silver Screen.” Fuse said while playing with his saucer.

“Didn’t know you guys had movies around here,” I said to myself. “What’s the problem?”

“The owner of the studio. He won’t give him the lead.” Stone gave me a folder for Silver.

“Any particular reason why?” I asked, opening the folder and seeing a picture of the godson. He had a slick smile with combed back hair.

“Not sure. It might be about some dame,” Fuse said as a few more patrons came in.

“Of course it is,” I sighed. “What’s the end game here? Why does the boss care about his godson’s getting this part so much he called me in for it?”

“When a favor is asked and the Don sees an opportunity, he takes it. And again, it's his godson,” Stone answered.

“Fair enough,” I shrugged. “So, where’s the kid?”

“He’s most likely still in his trailer next to the studio itself. Kid likes to brood in there a lot of the time,” Fuse waved down the waitress for more coffee.

“Then I’ll be on my way,” I said and stood up. “By the way, any word on Serrano after last night?”

Before Stone or Fuse answered, the new patrons locked the door and pulled out a few firearms. “Alright! Empty your wallets and give up your jewels!” One of the lanky ones said.

A burly-looking guy grabbed an attractive waitress. “Come on, mama. We’re gonna have us a little party!”

I glanced at Fuse and Stone, to which they just nodded at me. I nodded back with a grin and turned back to face the robbers and crossed my arms.

“Hey!” One of the thugs called out while charging at me. “Didn’t you hear!? Give us your fucking money!” When I felt the barrel of the gun was jabbed into my back, I spun around, wrenched his gun from him, and slammed his face onto the table where a fresh pot of coffee was waiting for him. “Gyaaaaahhhh!”

The other robbers took shots at me, and I retaliated by aiming my fingers at them while activating Concrete. I fired back at them with concrete shrapnel that were fired the same as actual bullets. A few shots took out their weapons while a few knocked them out cold. Feeling a little blood thirsty, I aimed at the unconscious one’s heads and fired at their heads, killing them instantly. I spun around to see the last of the thugs holding the waitress hostage while aiming his gun at her head.

“You goddamn freak! Stay back! Or I’ll blow her fuckin’ head off!” The robber barked fearfully.

“Ha! It’s funny that you think that's gonna stop me from blowing your brains out,” I smirked before firing one right between his eyes.

The robber managed to blink as blood seeped out from his fresh head wound before his eyes rolled back and he fell to the floor. The waitress was now having a panic attack as Fuse and Stone stood up from the booth.

“I’ll be heading out, boys, make sure to leave a good tip after cleaning all this up,” I said as I left.

“Putts.” Fuse smirked before fishing out a few bucks and handing it to the waitress.

After a short walk and asking for a few directions, I made it to a place called Silvermoon Pictures.

“Wow. Fancy,” I nodded.

The whole place was a collection of buildings and studios with bright lights that lit up the area. I noticed many people walking up and down the strip. Either crewmen carrying stuff for movie sets or directors walking with their assistants to drum up notes for their next movie. I ignored a lot of them as I made my way to the center of the strip where I saw a big fancy trailer parked outside of a studio building. There were a couple of beef head security guards standing in front as I walked up to the trailer.

“Sorry, kid, private property,” one of the men said.

“Alduck sent me,” I said immediately and showed my ring.

The two guards looked at each other before one of them knocked on the door. “Mister Silver. One of Alduck’s men is here for you.”

“Tell them to screw off! I told the old man I don’t need any more muscle!” A voice barked from the side of the door. “I need a miracle worker!”

“That’s what I'm here for. I’m here to perform the favor.” I waited a moment before the door opened.

The young man looked just like in the photo. Slicked back black hair, sharp jawline, brown eyes, and wore a white dress shirt, black suspenders, and slacks.

“You must be Mr. Silver Screen,” I greeted. “Heard you got a problem with landing a main role in a movie.”

“Yes, I am. You must be the made man my godfather sent,” Silver observed.

“Dante. A pleasure,” I said as he invited me in. His trailer looked more like a glorified mini studio apartment than a trailer. “So, what seems to be the issue? From what I can tell, you’re a pretty big deal in show business.”

“That’s an excellent review, thank you. But the part that I wanted, neigh, deserved, was thrown out the window when Set Action, an associate of Don Serrano,” replaced me with a talentless hack!” Silver told me.

“Serrano?” I chuckled darkly. “Oh, this got even more interesting. But continue. Why else did he give you the boot?”

“Besides working for Serrano, you got me. I suppose you'll have to ask Action about that,” Silver said while mixing a dry martini.

“Is he still on set?” I asked.

“He should be on Lot 12 right outside. He’s overseeing the movie, Return of the Moon Queen,” Silver said.

Return of the Moon Queen? Axel spoke. That better not be satire.

Either that or a horror movie, I spoke back.

“You let me handle this, Silver,” I said. “I’ll make sure he gives you the part you deserve.”

I stepped out of his trailer and into the studio building. Inside, there was a massive movie set with backdrops, cameras, lights, and a bunch of staff members scurrying around to get into position. Sitting on a chair in the middle of it all was a lanky guy that was reading over a script. He had these big dumb reading glasses and wore a leather jacket with blue jeans.

“Wrong!” The guy snapped and shoved the script in his assistant’s face with his magic, indicating he was a unicorn-human. “Can’t you write properly?! How old are you?! There’s so many punctuation mistakes that it’ll be a miracle that anyone can read their lines! Do it again! And if I see so much as a comma out of place, it’s your ass!”

This has to be the guy, I thought.

I approached the man as his assistant ran off with tears in her eyes. I cleared my throat to get his attention.

“Pardon me, sir, I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time,” I said in a polite tone.

“Unless you have my damn coffee, you can hop on a pole,” Action told me while not even looking at me.

“Serrano Pepper sent me,” I said, hoping he’d take the bait.

That seemed to pique his interest. “About time. I was wondering if I’d have to bump Silver myself.”

“There’s no need for that,” I said, paging it off. “In fact, Seńor Pepper wants me to give you some files on Silver that could potentially freeze his career as an actor. I have them in my carriage outside.”

“Whatever.” Action waved me off and went back to what he was doing.

“Seńor Pepper explicitly informed me that only your eyes are to view them,” I insisted. “You’ll have to come with me, Mr. Set Action.”

“Celestia’s fat ass, does Pepper not pay you enough to just hand me a piece of paper!?” Action threw his coffee across the room, damaging a cloud set. “Get that cleaned up while I take care of this!” He roared at a few teamsters before heading out. “Any day now!”

I led him out of the building as he grumbled to himself about his employer’s incompetence. I had to stifle a laugh as we exited the building and I led him around back where there weren’t any witnesses.

“Well?! Where’s your carriage?! I’m a busy man!” Action snapped.

“Yeah…about that.” I turned around and grinned wickedly at him.

Before he could say anything, I activated Video and summoned my digital wings.

“The fuck?!” Action shouted when I shoved him around and grabbed the back of his shirt collar.

I flapped my wings and took off as fast as I could up in the air so that no one would notice. I kept climbing and climbing up into the sky until we were as high as the clouds themselves.

“Don Alduck doesn’t appreciate you screwing his godson out of a part he so rightfully deserves,” I said darkly. “So, why don’t we discuss an alternate solution so that everybody wins?”

“And what if I refuse?!” I answered by dropping him. After a couple of seconds, I went after his screaming carcass.

Once I had him again, I held him by his ankle. “Then you’ll paint the pavement red.”

“Okay! Okay, I’ll change the casting!” Action screamed in fear.

“Might need a change of pants as well,” I told him when I noticed a wet stain on the front of his pants.

“Just set me down already!” Action begged.

…

“I got a better idea.” I let go of his ankle and made him fall again. As he fell I deactivated my wings and fell with him. I stayed completely calm as I watched him flail about in the air. “Y’know, the kid was pretty torn up that he was disrespected by you. I’m starting to wonder if you’re even worth it.”

“SAVE ME! SAVE ME, PLEASE!” Action begged.

“Save you? Well, there’s a thought,” I said, tapping my chin as the ground got closer. “Although you’ll have to make it worth my while. How about from now on, you’re at Silver’s beck and call. Whatever he wants, whenever he wants it, you’ll do it. Furthermore, I believe the kid’s due for a heartfelt apology, don’t you?” I asked as we were almost at the point of no return.

“I’ll do it! I’ll do it all! I'll get him laid, just save me!” Action begged.

The last moment before he hit the pavement, I grabbed his ankle as he covered his face with his arms. He slowly pulled his arms away to see he was still alive and I dropped him on the ground.

“All right, you’ve twisted my arm. We got a deal,” I said as I touched down beside him. “Now, we’re going to go see Silver right now and you’re going to say the following: I’m sorry about any misunderstandings we had. It was my shortsightedness that made me forget how good of an actor you are. I respect you and your godfather very much. Please forgive me. Think you can remember that?”

Action just nodded before we headed for Silver’s trailer.

“I…I’m sorry about any misunderstandings w-we had. It was my shortsightedness that…um, that made me forget how good of an a-actor you are,” Action said as we stood in front of Silver, who had a smug grin on his face. “I respect you and your g-godfather very much. Please f-forgive me.”

I patted Action on the back with satisfaction. “Job well done.”

As Action left without a word, Silver gave me an approving nod.

“You work well, very well,” Silver said.

“That I do,” I acknowledged.

“Oh, I wish I could see that old crow’s face when he finds out we screwed him over again,” Silver said with glee. “But he’s off at that fancy dinner downtown.”

“Dinner? What dinner?” I asked, now curious as to where I’d find the man in question.

“A funeral,” Silver answered. “For his nephew.”

I walked into the lobby of a fancy-looking hotel where Nacho’s funeral was being held. There were dozens of men and women dressed in black but surprisingly didn’t pay any mind to me being there. Probably because my face wasn’t known to them…yet. I scanned the area to try and see if I could spot the old Cartel boss until I saw him sitting at a table with a woman that looked about his age. The woman was also dressed in black and had on a black shawl that went over her head. The woman looked like she was crying her eyes out as Serrano consoled her. I waited from a distance until the woman got up and stepped away. That’s when I approached Serrano to speak with him.

“Excuse me,” a guard said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “No one outside approaches Seńor Pepper.”

“I’m just here to pay my respects,” I pushed past the guards and headed for the table.

When I made it to the table, Serrano spotted me and tried to play it cool. “S-Sit down. Champagne? It’s imported.” He offered a glass to me.

“Not necessary,” I said, looking him dead in the eye. “You have my deepest condolences for the loss of your nephew.” I made sure to rub it in by cracking a smirk at him.

Serrano chuckled back before pointing right at me. “I knew the moment I saw you, you’d be a thorn in my side. One that proved deadly for my nephew.” He leans forward to look me straight in the eye. “You’re a fool for coming here.”

I also leaned forward to get in his face. “You wanna know how he died?” Serrano’s eye twitched. “I drained him. I grabbed him by the throat while he was holding his bleeding face that I smashed in with a heavy punch and dangled him over the edge of the shattered window.” Serrano started breathing heavily as he glared at me. “Your nephew was a fat, pathetic excuse of a man. He rode on your family’s coattails for years and abused his influence. I stripped him of all that.” Serrano clenched his fist as he tried his best not to cause a scene. “And when I drained him of his life force, he dried up like a piece of meat. I could’ve dropped him back in that bloody hotel but I didn’t. Instead, I dropped him out of that window for him to splatter all over the pavement, and you know why?” Serrano began to sweat and I could see a blood vessel pulsating on the side of his head. I leaned in closer to whisper in his ear. “Because I wanted everyone to see what happens when they cross the Red Hawk. And soon…the rest of your fucking family will be next on the chopping block.”

Serrano got up and reached for me, but he stopped and clutched his chest.

“Y-y-you b-bas-bas-basta-.” He couldn’t finish since he fell on the table and everyone started to crowd around him.

“¡Don Pepper!”

“¡Seńor Serrano!”

“¡Dios mío!”

“Call a doctor,” I said as I backed away. “Don Pepper is having a heart attack!”

I had to suppress a laugh as I made my way out of the lobby while everyone else came to his aid. I stopped and turned to one of the staff members of the hotel.

“It doesn’t look good,” I said to him.

"What happened?" The staff member asked.

“Someone grabbed their chest. Must’ve seen the bill,” I told him before heading out.

The Falcon and The Wolf

Chapter 35

Marshall 1st POV

I groaned audibly as my carriage ride back to the rented home my family and I were staying at felt longer than usual. I was glad to be of service to her majesty, and we were fortunate to thwart the Northerners once again. More so, thanks to young Axel and his strange powers, we were able to avoid a catastrophe.

However, my concerns were mostly focused on Celesita’s decree against the Northerners. I was well aware that ever since they started appearing off the coast by ship some years ago, there have been small settlements built by those who first came. I myself visited one of said settlements. Nothing to give a second guess at. Just northern foreigners come to try and make a new life. That is until we had been getting reports from around Equestria about incidents regarding Northerners being unruly or committing acts of violence. Princess Celestia and Luna were very concerned about these incidents and warned them several times to cease their activities immediately. I suppose endangering the safety of an entire city was the final straw for her majesty to make such a drastic decision.

“Things are going to be a lot more complicated from here on out,” I mumbled to myself.

“We’ve arrived, sir,” my driver said as we stopped at the rented home.

“Thanks, keep the change,” I said as I handed him his fare.

I got out of the carriage before it drove off and approached the one-story house. Her majesty was kind enough to allow us to rent it while my family and I were in Manehatten. Just as I was about to reach for the door, I heard some sort of scuffling sound from the other side.

Sensing something was off, I rushed in with my sword ready to be drawn and found everything n shambles but that was only the beginning of my terror.

“No…!” I gasped and began frantically checking every room. “Saffron! Clove! Anyone!”

Every room I looked through was a complete mess. I grit my teeth as my anxiety boiled over as I could not find my wife and son anywhere. I was about to call in the calvary when I noticed a communication crystal sitting on the kitchen counter. It was flashing, meaning there was a message left on it. I swallowed a lump in my throat and tapped the crystal and it activated. To my horror, an image of my son and wife appeared. Both of which were blindfolded, gagged, and their hands and feet tied up with rope.

“You made it, good.” A distorted voice called out, no doubt altered by magic to hide the voice of the kidnapper. “It is finally nice to meet you face to face…Iron Wolf.”

A shudder was sent up my spine as he said those words and my anger was slowly replaced by concern. Not for myself but for Saffron and my son.

“How do you know that name?” I asked, beginning to sweat.

“We have our ways,” the voice said. “We have need of something. And you’re the only one who can get it for us.”

“You’re making a big mistake…” I seethed.

I watched as a hand came into view holding a magic pistol and it held the weapon up to Clove’s head.

“You bastards! DON’T YOU DARE HURT HIM!” I roared.

“The artifact,” the voice spoke, making me pause. “Ten years ago. In the Galloping Gorge. Archeologists discovered a mystical artifact that is reported to hold untold power. You know of what we speak.”

“!!…you’re insane. You know what that thing is capable of…” I told the mysterious caller as he continued to point the gun at my family.

“That’s exactly why we want it. Rest assured your wife and son will be taken care of and no harm will come to either of them so long as you cooperate,” the voice spoke in a cocky tone.

“It was stolen,” I said. “Years ago! From the Museum of Equestrian Science!”

“We know that too,” the voice said. “By a one Don Madden and his gang. He’s been holding onto the artifact as a trophy.”

“Even if I could, what’s to stop me from coming after you? You know who I am, you know what I’m capable of,” I shot back in hopes of intimidating my enemy only to have it backfire when he aimed the gun at Clove.

“Should you refuse, your son will be first to suffer, and as for your wife? Well…let’s say the boys have been lonely,” the voice chuckled as I caught sight of multiple shadows looming in on Saffron, making her anxious.

“ENOUGH!” I barked. “I…I will do what you ask… Just do not touch them!”

“Good man, I knew you’d see it our way. Take the crystal with you so we’ll know where you are. Try to contact the authorities and…well you already know.” As the man disabled the communication, I could no longer contain my fury and in a burst of rage I drew my sword and sliced the table clean in half.

“Enjoy this while you can, bastard…I’ll be coming for you soon…” I snarled with a mouthful of hate and rage.

The Next Morning
Axel 1st POV

“Yaaaaaaawwwnn! …oof.”

Another day, another boring meeting while accompanying Mr. Rich. We had just got done meeting with some investors to help build charging stations for the new electric car that was in the works. I gave my input whenever asked how they should be built. Since the cars are going to require a plug, the stations need to have cables that are connected to a main battery that pegasus-humans charge in order to provide enough energy. I even said the cables should be retractable so that they don’t get tangled up with each other. I just didn’t expect the meeting to last two freaking hours.

“Apologies, that went longer than expected,” Rich apologized as he too seemed to have grown tired of the endless banter of the meeting before finally calling it a day.

“Eh, I don’t mind,” I shrugged as we walked out of the office room. “It’s for a new generation of transportation. It would be a little unprofessional of me to not be a part of it.”

“I’m just glad you were able to convince the shareholders of our public transportation idea. This will revolutionize travel and tourism! I can feel it,” Rich said, eager to get this deal done like the businessman he was.

“Just wait until I tell you about planes,” I joked as we saw Diamond and Nala waiting for us in the lobby.

“Hi, daddy! Did the meeting go well?” She asked while hugging her father.

“It went fine, princess, sorry we took so long,” Mr. Rich said.

“Merow!” Naka meowed at me, and I picked her up.

“You keeping Diamond company, girl?” I asked Nala and she rubbed her head under my chin. I then felt my phone ringing in my pocket and pulled out to see an unknown number calling me. I arched my brow and hit the answer before holding it up to my ear. “Axel speaking?”

“Axel…I need your help. Meet me later tonight,” I heard a voice say on the other line, sounding worried.

“Marshall? That you?” I spoke. “What’s wrong?”

“Can’t talk, they’re watching. Meet at the café in the industrial district.” Was all he would say before hanging up.

“Hey wait! Hello? Hello?” I tried to say but it was no use.

“Everything alright, Axel?” Rich asked.

“I’m…not entirely sure,” I said. “But it’s serious enough to make me see to it.”

“You’re leaving us already?” Diamond whined. “But we were gonna go to an amusement park!”

“I’m sorry, Diamond, I wish I could,” I said as I tussled her hair a bit. “But a friend needs my help. Wouldn’t you do the same for your friend?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Diamond pouted while petting Nala. “Just don’t do anything crazy, okay?”

“No promises,” I smiled and turned to Mr. Rich. “Duty calls, I’m afraid.”

“By all means,” Rich said with an approving nod.

That Afternoon

I went to the local café to find my friend patiently waiting as he stirred his coffee, yet he seemed to be brooding over something.

“I’m glad you could make it,” Marshall said to me as I joined him at the table.

“Not much of a choice,” I said. “So, what’s got you so rattled that you dragged me away from my employer in the middle of the day? And how’d you even get my phone number?”

After making sure we weren’t being watched, Marshall told me everything that had happened and I could already see the anger festering in his eyes.

“They want the artifact by tomorrow or they’ll kill my family,” Marshall said grimly.

“Holy shit…” I said, now understanding the gravity of the situation, but something piqued my interest. “I hate to get off-topic but what’s this artifact?”

“Something from Equestria’s dark age. That’s all I can say.” I watched as he drank his coffee before slipping me a piece of paper. “Meet here tonight and wear a disguise.”

As I watched him leave, my mind soon went into overdrive with anxiety.

Of all the fucking people he had to mess with, it just HAD to be one of the Dons form the Commission! I groaned in my head.

This won’t bold well, Axel, I heard Dante say in my head. I know of Madden. He’s in charge of the gambling rings and runs a huge bookie group. You can’t get involved with this. Not when the Commission knows my face.

You mean MY face! I shot back. And there’s no way I’m just gonna abandon Marshall in his time of need! It’s his family for fuck’s sake!

And it’s MY reputation you're risking, Dante retorted.

...

No, I thought, my face turning stern. I will NOT abandon Marshall.

Axel, I’m warning you. Not as a threat but out of caution. If Madden catches wind about your involvement, he’ll inform Alduck. And that in turn won’t end well for either of us. Believe me, Dante warned me.

I’ll risk it, I thought and stood up. Marshall needs me, and that's what matters right now.

Later That Evening

I decided to meet Marshall at his place he was staying at. We stood before a large black case that he had pulled from a secret compartment that not even his family knew about. I got the impression that this was something he had hoped to never gaze upon this thing again as he unlocked it to reveal an assortment of weapons and blades.

“Um…what’re those?” I asked as we stood in his trashed rented home.

“I wasn’t always a guard captain in service to the crown… I was once a mercenary and a bounty hunter. I did what I had to in order to survive before finally settling in Canterlot,” Marshall said as he fashioned the weapons to his body almost as if he'd done this before. “In those days, I earned myself a name that many knew and feared…they called me The Iron Wolf. Once I found my target, I never let it escape no matter how difficult…”

“Jeezus…” I gulped. “What made you leave it behind?”

“The day I met Saffron.” Marshall smiled as he looked at his wedding band before carefully tucking it into his pocket. “Let’s go, we’re on the clock,” he said in a more serious tone when I saw his eyes. They were cold, calculating and had a gaze that seemed to send a chill up my spine even as he walked by me.

We walked through the streets of Manehatten as the sun had just set. To any passerby, we just looked like we were going about our business like everyone else. However, Marshall’s whole aura made it feel like he was on a path of destruction.

“How do we find this artifact thing?” I asked.

“There’s a bookie club a few blocks from here,” Marshall said. “A bookie by the name of Sucker Bet runs the place.”

“Why do I get the feeling this club isn’t your run-of-the-mill club?” I asked myself when I began to hear upbeat music and saw a large line of people behind a velvet rope and on top was a neon sign showing a lady giving winks that shot out little hearts. “Of course, the bad guys do business in a shady lounge…”

We both approached the entrance as the bouncer stopped us. All Marshall had to do was flash his badge and that made him move out of the way so we could step inside. Just before we did, I pulled my hood over my head and held my hand over my face while activating Video. I materialized a mask on my face so as to not allow anyone to recognize my face.

“Clever,” Marshall nodded as we entered.

The whole place was bustling with people as they danced, drank, and were sitting at betting tables on the sides.

“Nice place,” I said aloud just as a cocktail waitress passed us by. “Very nice.”

“Focus, we’re here on business,” Marshall said while moving his way through the club and headed upstairs to the VIP area where the bosses held their meetings.

“Hold it, sir,” another guard stood in our way. “No non-VIP’s aloud upstairs.”

Marshall’s reply was a heavy bag of bits that he pulled from his vest pocket and dropped it right in the guard’s hand.

“How ‘bout now?” Marshall asked plainly.

The guard looked down at the bits and smiled widely.

“Happy betting, gentlemen, the bets from here on out are high stakes,” the guard said as he stepped aside.

“They’re not checking us for weapons?” I asked as we passed by.

“No need, everyone up here is packing,” Marshall said as we made our way upstairs to find various members of the elite class drinking and laughing the night away.

“Gentlemen, table for two?” A waitress asked us with a friendly smile while striking a cute pose.

“A lounge if you have one,” Marshall said while slipping her a coin between her cleavage. Not something I’d expect from a married man.

The waitress giggled and curled her finger and led us to a round table.

“Just take a seat here, and our host will be right with you~,” she winked at Marshall.

Yet he seemed unphased by her flirting, didn’t even crack a smile when she swayed her hips as she left. All I could tell was he was on a mission; a hunt and he wouldn’t stop ‘til he had his prey.

As we sat together, we watched as the people around us gambled their life savings away. Some were celebrating and cheering for probably a big win, others were bawling their eyes out because they probably lost a lot of their money. We looked around to try and see if any of these men would eventually approach us.

“Notice any familiar faces around here?” He asked while leaning back in his seat. “As you can see, a lot of the rich folks come here ‘cause they got money to burn, others are here on business.” He then pointed to a customer groping a waitress rather aggressively with his face flushed hot with alcohol, unaware she was swiping his money from his pockets.

“Lotta swindlers around here,” I said aloud.

“They feel safe around here.” A voice called out when a man in a white suit walked up to our lounge with two bouncers behind him. “Welcome, gentlemen, to The Siren’s Den.”

“Sucker Bet,” Marshall spoke casually to the man as he sat at the head of our table with a friendly smile, but I could tell it was anything but.

“So. What brings you gentlemen to my fine establishment?” Bet asked.

“We’re here to win big, obviously,” I said. “Heard you and your group have some pretty good games around here.”

“Oh yeah we do but these games aren’t for the faint of heart,” Sucker Bet explained as he pointed to a table where two men were signing some kind of deal.

“See that guy right there? He just lost a whole shipping company to his rival and now he works for him. In this lounge, you play for keeps.” Our conversation was interrupted when a waiter ended up spilling our drinks, causing Sucker Bet to pull out a knife and stab him in the shoulder before either of us could react.

“STUPID IDIOT! You shame me in front of my guests?!” Sucker bet barked in his face as the waiter whimpered in pain.

“Easy now, man. No use crying over spilled whiskey,” Marshall said just as the knife was yanked out.

“That ain’t the cheap stuff, you know, each sip is worth more than either of your paychecks combined! Take this bum out back and teach him some manners.” We could only watch as the waiter was dragged off and Sucker Bet recomposed himself as he wiped the blade clean and handed it to one of his goons. “Now. I take it you must be after tonight’s grand prize, huh?”

“Grand prize?” I perked up.

“Oh yes,” Sucker Bet said with a grin. “A rare stone that I say is worth more than all the jewels Celestia herself owns! We’ve had the thing for years, but no one’s ever won it from us.”

“No one’s won it yet,” Marshall said as he sipped the remainder of his whiskey. “I want in.”

“You sure?” Sucker Bet grinned. “It ain’t just a regular card game, sir, and it’s been quite some time.”

“I’m prepared,” Marshall replied as the waitress from earlier poured him another drink.

“Then follow me,” Sucker Bet said.

Marshall downed his drink, and we followed Bet to an elevator. He pushed the button and the doors opened up, and we all stepped inside before he pushed another button.

“Where exactly are you taking us?” I asked Sucker.

“Card games are fun in public areas but the real money making happens under the prying eyes of the law,” Sucker said. “Here, we offer players a chance to win even bigger if they don’t mind spilling a little blood.”

I gulped nervously as the elevator brought us down further. We all waited in silence until the elevator doors opened again and we were met with loud cheers from dozens of people. Before I even stepped out of the elevator, I froze in complete shock when I saw what all the spectators were gathered around. It was a ring enclosed in a large cage, and inside were two people beating the shit out of each other while everyone cheered them on.

“Oh no…” I said as my face went a little pale. “Is this…PVP?!”

“Ah, you know it too?” Sucker Bet smirked. “Indeed, it is. Welcome, gentlemen, to our underground PVP arena.”

“Who’s the current champ?” Marshall asked as we watched the two fighters lay into one another when one of them lost a tooth.

“None other than the great Red Hawk,” Sucker Punch said, pointing at a large roster with Dante’s alias written in blood at the very top. “He took the PVP world by storm when he claimed the title of champion so easily.”

DUDE! I screamed in my head. FUCKING SERIOUSLY?!

What? You know fully well what I do in my free time whenever Alduck doesn’t need me, Dante said.

“Hey, I know it’s been a while, but how’s about going under your old name? The fans would pay top bit to see you in action,” Sucker Bet said with a wide grin, the kind only a weasel would have when sensing an opportunity to make money.

“…why not?” Marshall said with a smirk of his own. “Now I’ve finally tracked the Hawk to his nest.”

“Oh, this is gonna be good!” Sucker Bet rushed towards the stage where they were taking bets as he grabbed a microphone and began getting the crowd’s attention.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you’re in for a treat tonight! Competing once more after so many years in retirement, I give you the butcher of the battlefields, the hunter who stalks the night! The one, the only! IROOOON WOOOOOLF!!”

“Hold up…” I said to Marshall, looking absolutely baffled as the crowd roared with excitement. “You?! You used to be in PVP?!” He just looked at me with a blank stare.

“One of the top ten before I retired,” Marshall replied.

The crowd continued cheering out loud as Marshall stepped into the ring.

“Now, before we begin, our esteemed guest will name his bet!” Sucker Bet announced.

Without hesitation, Marshall pointed to the box seat just above the arena with a piercing gaze.

“I win, that grand prize is mine! I lose, my life, my services are yours,” he declared, shocking the crowd.

“Oh ho! Our returning contender wants the main prize?” Sucker Bet said. “Very well. Unfortunately, our esteemed champion, the Red Hawk, is indisposed for tonight. So, you’ll have to settle for the next best thing.”

“Fine by me. You still have it?” Marshall asked Sucker Bet who simply smirked before snapping his fingers as one of the guards tossed him a helmet in the shape of a wolf’s head. As Marshall began to don the helm, I noticed a change in him as the bloodlust emanating from his body began to rise, even my alter ego could sense it.

This guy… Dante said in my head. My murder count doesn’t hold a candle to his. I can tell.

“Let the hunt…begin.” Marshall’s voice became metallic and less human as he stepped into the ring.

From the other side of the ring, a big hulking man with large brown wings on his back stomped in. He had a big scruffy beard, no hair on his head, and he towered over Marshall.

“Well, well, well,” the big bruiser grinned. “My old superior, Marshall. Been a while.” He threw up a mocking salute to Marshall. “Corporal Coal Crusher, reporting for duty, sir.”

“Last I saw, you were dishonorably discharged… I think that was my doing.” Marshall spoke coldly as Crusher began to grit his teeth in anger. “To be honest, you got off light. If it were up to me, you’d have been executed.”

“And you shouldn’t have stopped me,” Crusher seethed. “I was doing my job. Those griffon shit heads deserved to get their skulls caved in.”

“And their wives and daughters deserved to be raped by you?” Marshall shot back as he slowly unsheathed his blade. “You were never a soldier, Crusher, you were a mad dog and one that should’ve been put down ages ago…”

With that last statement, Crusher lashed out in a fury but before anyone could see what happened there was a bright flash of light and everything seemed to freeze for a few moments before the bruiser’s head slowly slid off his shoulders creating a fountain of blood in the middle of the ring.

“Chevalier Sword Art: Guillotine.” Marshall spoke in a low tone.

Everyone is at a loss for words as Crusher’s body collapses to the floor. Even I had to take a minute to process the brutal display from Marshall. Suddenly, the crowd erupted in a fury of applause and begged for more as a couple of attendants walked in to drag Crusher’s body away. As Marshall wiped the blood off his blade, he suddenly swiped it in the air to deflect a few throwing knives. In a flash, a hooded man wrapped in robes appeared via magic teleportation. In one hand were more throwing knives and in the other was a sword that looked like one of those Egyptian weapons I once saw at a museum.

“Oh ho ho! It seems our other esteemed guest could not wait!” Sucker Bet said. “All the way from Saddle Arabia, he is a former member of the infamous assassin guild: The Sand Whisperers!”

“Hey whoa! This seems a bit unfair!” I protested just before the hooded figure suddenly dashed forward, leaving his hood behind just as Marshall brought up his sword to parry the attack.

In an unexpected move, Marshall blocked the attack using his vambrace before bashing his opponent in the face with the pommel of his blade and booting him back.

“Chevalier Sword Art: Killzone.” Marshall then took a low stance with his blade at the ready while his opponent recovered from his counterattack.

“What the hell is he doing?! He had him right there!” A noble protested as he angrily gripped his betting ticket.

The assassin shook his head and held his curved sword tightly. He powered up his magic as a horn manifested on his head and teleported out of everyone’s line of sight.

The crowd gasped as he seemed to vanish from sight before appearing above Marshall in midair to deliver a killing blow.

“I HAVE YOU NOW!” He shrieked in a loud, psychotic voice but just as before there was another flash of light and his arm suddenly flew off with his Kopesh still held tight in his grip before he rolled to the ground crying out in agony.

“Pathetic,” Marshall said as he flung the blood off his blade.

As the assassin gripped the stump of his arm, Marshall slowly approached his downed opponent with the intention of finishing him off.

“I…I surrender!” The assassin pleaded. “You’ve won! I can no longer fight!”

“FINISH HIM!” One of the spectators called out.

“KILL HIM!”

“LET’S SEE MORE BLOOD!”

“END HIM SO YOU CAN FIGHT THE RED HAWK!”

“Are these people mental?!” I asked begrudgingly. “Marshall! That’s enough! He’s down! You won! Just move on to the next fight!”

“I know you,” Marshall said with a cold stare from his helmet. “You’ve murdered entire families, tortured your victims, and even smiled while doing so and now…you have the gall to ask for mercy?” He slowly raised his blade.

“Please…don’t…” the assassin pleaded.

“There is no mercy,” Marshall said murderously.

“No…” the assassin looked away.

“Only justice!” Marshall brought his sword down.

“NO!!”

SCWHING!!

…

CLANG!!

I probably ran faster while using Neon to spring into the ring while pulling out my Amp than ever possible. I managed to block Marshall’s blade with my Amp just in the nick of time before he managed to cleave the assassin’s head off. I’m not sure why I decided to save this assassin, since he most likely has killed a lot of people due to his profession, but it just didn’t sit right to me to let a man die when he’s surrendered and is begging for his life. I held my Amp right with both hands as Marshall glared down at me. The assassin took this opportunity to hobble away and out of the ring to treat his stump.

“You would let that murderer live?” He asked in a disapproving voice as our weapons pushed against each other.

“In my opinion, there’s a difference between taking a life and sparing one,” I said as I stared into his eyes through his helmet and his eyes through my mask. “Depending on the circumstances, it takes more to spare a life than to take one.”

“Oh, to be young and naïve…” Marshall sighed and backed off.

The crowd booed me for interrupting the fight as they began to throw their food scraps at us before Sucker Bet’s voice came over the loudspeaker.

“Ladies and gentlemen, what a show! Give it up for this brave young man!” Bet announced.

To our surprise, some of the spectators approved and began applauding while others just followed along to save face.

“We’ll resume the games after our fighters have had a chance to rest and recuperate,” Bet said.

Marshall wiped his sword off with his cloak and sheathed it. He turned away and left to one of the break rooms and I followed after him. I closed the door behind us, and I saw Marshall approach a mini bar to pour himself a drink.

“You okay?” I asked him.

“I’m fine…” He huffed as he removed his helmet, but I could see the toll the death matches had taken on his psyche, and he had looked like he just pulled several graveyard shifts before downing his shot. “I just need a moment…”

“She saved you, didn’t she?” I said boldly, making him pause. “Saffron. If not for her, you’d probably still be in that ring. Living up to your alias.”

“I swore to never come back here, to this life…but now…” Our conversation was cut short when two girls appeared in our room: twins. One in a white dress, the other in black, and I’ve seen enough action movies to know where this was going.

“Evening, gentlemen~.”

“We’re your entertainment for the evening~.”

Before Marshall could chew them out, I calmly stood in front of him and gently ushered them out of the room.

“Ladies, much as we appreciate the offer, we’re gonna have to decline. We both already have that special someone,” I said. I reached into my pack and gave them both a couple gemstones. “In fact, you two should get out of this business for your own sakes. Take these. It’ll get you wherever you wanna go. Leave, and don’t look back.”

The girls dropped their façade as they looked at the gems and clutched them tightly to their chests.

“Thank you…” One of them said as they rushed out of the room.

“Funny enough, I had some of my flings here.” Marshall smirked as he swirled the drink in his glass. “Lightning Dust, her name was, and then there was Tempest Shadow and before that-”

“DAH! I get it,” I cut him off, not wanting to hear more.

“Attention, Iron Wolf,” the loudspeaker said. “Your final two bouts are about to begin. Please make your way to the ring. And good luck. You’ll need it.”

Marshall stood up and grabbed his sword. I was conflicted at this point because I didn’t know what was gonna happen next if he stepped into that ring. It was obvious he was regretting doing something he swore never to do again but his hands were tied because of the situation with his family.

…

“Wait.” I grabbed his shoulder, and he looked back at me. “Let me fight.”

“You could die.” Marshall reminded me but he was not going to change my mind, especially after I noticed how tightly he was gripping his sword.

“I don’t care.” I said to him. “You don’t need any more blood on your hands, nor do you need to add more guilt on your conscience than there already is. I want you to keep holding onto your kid without getting any blood on him, if you know what I mean. I may not know your past, nor you personally for that matter for very long, but I can tell you worked hard to leave this life behind for the sake of your family. I know what that’s like. To try to rebuild a life.”

“And what happens if you face their champion, hm? You wouldn’t stand a chance!” Marshall argued, not knowing the truth behind the Red Hawk’s identity.

“If you’re talking about the Red Hawk, I doubt he’d show up tonight,” I said. “They probably got a stand-in, so I’ll be fine.” I looked down at the floor and frowned before I looked back up at Marshall. “Just…do me a favor. If I screw up, promise me you’ll let Moon know I went out proudly. And…tell Celestia that I’m sorry I wasn’t able to make it to that summit thing and keep my promise.”

“…No.” Marshall gripped my arm firmly. “We go together. One way or another, this ends tonight.”

“…sigh, I was afraid you’d say that,” I said.

Before he could react, I activated Neon and sprinted around Marshall in circles. He was helpless as I bound him in Neon lights and stopped before he fell to the floor, completely tied up in my lights.

“Sorry, Marsh, but I gotta do this alone for your sake,” I said before opening the door. “Those binds will last until the end of the fight.”

“HEY!! LET ME GO!!” He protested as I closed the door on him.

“I’ll get your family back, I promise.” With a click of the lock, I left my friend tied up and went to take his place in the ring. It was no surprise that the audience was not pleased and even began to want their money back.

“What’s this? Where is the Iron Wolf?” Sucker Bet asked.

“I’m up to bat instead!” I said as I unsheathed my Amp and unwrapped my chain while summoning my wings and unfurled them out wide. “Anyone got a goddamn problem with it…they can step up in this ring with me! Because now…” I thought about a name for myself on the spot when I glanced at Dante’s alias. “You face the White Falcon!”

In dramatic fashion, I held my Amp like a guitar while materializing guitar strings and slammed the strings to create a sound so loud, the audience was nearly blown off their seats. At first, there was silence but in seconds the whole room erupted with cheers and sure enough, my name and face appeared on the roster while spectators began to take bets.

“I’ll take one thousand on the White Falcon!”

“Double for me!”

“Make it triple!”

“Very well,” Sucker Bet said. “It seems like the audience doesn’t have any objections. Then we shall proceed with our substitute, the White Falcon! Bring in the next fighter!”

The gate from the other side opened and a massive man walked in that was easily two feet taller than me. He had these big, curved horns on the sides of his head and a gold loop ring hanging from his nostrils. The guy’s body pulsated with pure dense muscle, and he only wore a pair of torn pants and combat boots. The man stared down at me as if he was extremely disappointed, but I kept my resolve.

“Give it up for the one who can punch a boulder to gravel! Iron Hammer!” Sucker Punch announced.

The crowd started to get excited as my opponent stepped in but what was more surprising was the cage being lowered onto us as they began shouting Cage! over and over again. As for me? I was not thrilled about this.

“Hey hold on! Nobody said anything about a cage match!” I protested. “Hey pal, unlock the chains!”

“HEY BIRD BOY!!” Hammer shouted as he put both hands on his waist and I could swear he sounded like someone famous back home. “You’re goin’ NOWHERE! I gotcha for three minutes! Three minutes of…playtime~!”

“Ugh…whatever,” I groaned. I turned to face Hammer and readied myself. “Let’s do this!”

WHAM!!

Just as I said those words, the jerk sucker punched me just before the bell rang, making me lose my grip on my Amp and dropped it on the floor. The crowd was a mixture of boos and laughs as I shakily stood up and felt something drip from my nose under my mask while I steadied myself.

My eyes felt dizzy as my nose bled. I didn’t even have time to react, and it felt like I just got hit in the face with a rock. I shook my head and barely had time to dodge his next punch. Thinking fast, I used Video to summon my combat armor and took a southpaw boxing stance.

“COME ON, LITTLE MAN!!” Boulder challenged me as he thumped his chest like an ape, daring me to take a shot at him.

I ran up to him and he did the same. We both exchanged blows and blocks, I skipped on my feet to be as quick as possible. However, I once again overestimated myself when he started pushing me in the corner. I had only a few years of boxing practice under my belt and this guy fought like he had done this for twice as long. I could barely keep up with his punches as he managed to slug me right in the rib cage. Any punch I managed to lay felt like I was punching an iron plate. My knuckles hurt, even though my Conduit strength allowed me to land punches that could easily punch a hole through a wall.

“THAT ALL YOU GO, BOY?!” He shouted in my ear as he continued to pummel me but after getting his rhythm, I finally slipped past his large frame and wrapped my arms around his waist. I took a deep breath and hoisted him over my head to nail him with a german suplex that surprised everyone.

“Gah! You weigh a fuck ton!” I strained as I stood back up.

“You’re stronger than you look!” Hammer chuckled as he hopped back up on his feet and bent his legs. “BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH!”

Before I could react, Hammer charged at me like a freight train and body checked me into the other side of the cage. I screamed in pain as I coughed up blood and fell to my knees. The wind was completely knocked out of me, and it felt like he broke more than a few bones.

“You’re still alive! not bad.” He said while letting me slump to the floor to catch my breath.

The world around me was spinning. I held my head as the ringing in my ears almost drowned out the crowd’s incessant screams of joy and excitement. I soon realized that his blow cracked off a piece of my mask’s visor as blood trickled off the side of my head.

“Not one opponent has survived my bull charge. You’re the first, so for that I will honor you with a quick death!” Hammer then banged his gauntlets before raising his fists high into the air for the final strike.

“Say goodbye, bird boy!” Hammer shouted with a victorious tone.

“…why…don’t you…” I grit my teeth hard and summoned a digital weapon in my hand. My fist clenched around it as I stomped my foot on the ground as hard as I could and swung my fist with all of my might.

“FUCK…OFF!!!”

WA-BAM!!!

My Power Fist bore into Hammer’s chest so hard that it caused a mini shockwave. Hammer’s eyes bulged from his skull as the piston of the weapon fired off with enough force to send the brute flying into the bars as the crowd gasped in shock before going into another frenzied cheer. Hammer looked like he wanted to say something but the huge mark on his stomach prevented him from even uttering a sound as he slumped to the side and fell unconscious.

“Fuuck, I’m starting to wish I brought Marshall with me…” I groaned as the pain in my ribs began to set in and my head pulsated.

My only bit of relief was the cage finally being lifted but somehow, I felt something worse was in store for me as the lights dimmed and focused on the entrance on the opposite side of the ring.

What came next was a man almost a tall as Hammer and I immediately got an uneasy vibe from him. He wore plated shoulder pads and chest armor with a cloak wrapped over his shoulders and hung behind his back. He had deep crimson hair that was shaved on the sides of the head. He wore purple trousers, a brown leather belt, and had a fancy sword strapped to his waist. The most defining feathers about this guy was that he too had a pair of curved horns on his head, but they weren’t as large as Hammer’s. Also, his legs weren’t straight like a human’s at all. They were double jointed, and his feet were actual hooves.

“What the hell are you?” I asked in an uneasy tone.

“They call me…STALLION!” The guy seemed proud of his name as he struck an odd pose to show off his pecs. “And all the ladies love me~,” he boasted but it seemed like the ladies did not share his sentiment.

“Give it up for Argys Stallion!” Sucker Punch said, earning a hefty round of applause from the crowd. “He’s one of the few contenders to make it pretty far on the list of fighters who desire to challenge the Red Hawk! And how, he is here to add another victim to his list of back-to-back victories!”

“And to celebrate, I got a sweet piece of ass waiting for me!” He suddenly took out a holo crystal from his pocket with a sickening smile on me as he showed me the girl in question. “She’s from the east and I hear she actually runs a restaurant here! I bet she’s softer than any girl I’ve had so far~.”

I looked at the image and my blood began to run hot. The girl in question was none other than Saffron herself tied up and left on a bed like some cheap gift for him to tear apart.

My fists clenched as I involuntarily resummoned my digital wings. I flared them open as my armor then changed from light combat armor to mid combat armor. The plating covered more of my arms, legs, and torso. I held my hand out to my Amp and used my power’s telekinetic ability to make it fly to my hand just to summon my digital sword.

“You’re gonna fucking regret those words, asshole,” I snarled.

I didn’t bother waiting for the bell as I launched myself at Argys, ready to tear him a new one but he managed to block my attack in time with a shocked look on his face.

“Easy pal, my face is one of my redeeming features!” He mocked.

“Don’t worry, I won’t break it too bad!” I said before kicking him in the chin with a backflip.

He retaliated by jumping in the air above me and slammed his fist in my gut. I was sent crashing down on the floor but my upgraded armor managed to hold despite it still hurting like a bitch. I rolled out of the way just in the nick of time before he unsheathed his own sword and stabbed the floor where I landed.

“You bastard! YOU RUINED MY BEAUTIFUL FACE!” He sobbed while pointing at his bruised chin. “For that, I’ll make you suffer!”

I jumped back on my feet, and we charged at each other with our swords. Our bout made the crowd cheer and roar louder than ever as we fought, and I swung my sword as best I could whenever possible. I may not be well-versed in swordsmanship, but I made up for it with my Conduit strength and reflexes.

“After I kill you, I’m gonna have me a Tartarus of a time with that servant girl! Then I’ll leave her on the street so someone else can have a turn with her!” Argys shrieked as he nearly kicked me with one of his hooves, the impact was so strong it cracked the wall hard enough to leave his hoof print.

Argys didn’t give me a chance to recover as he was quick on my tail with his sword. I managed to block a downward slash from his sword but he headbutted me right in my nose. This was the second time my nose got hit and it bled profusely. My vision was once again slightly blurry as I shook my head to regain my senses.

SLASH!

“AGH!!” I screamed as the blade cut me across the chest, forcing me to my knees while Argys grinned like an idiot as he loomed over me. My armor was cut through enough to slash my skin.

“Ah ha! See?!” Argys laughed as blood seeped out of my wound and dripped onto the floor. “Such a foolish boy! Swinging around that sword of light like it’s a stick! I admire your tenacity but that’s not good enough in a fight to the death!”

I reached for my Amp but Argys stomped on my hand, breaking a few of my fingers.

“AAAARRGH!!” I screamed and he punched me right in the jaw, making me collapse to the floor.

“You put on a good show, boy, but now I must claim your life!” He raised his sword, ready to lop off my head. “I shall sing a song of how the White Hawk fell before he could take flight.

Everything went in slow motion as Argys swung his sword downward. My life flashed before my eyes. The good times, the bad times, and the ugly times. In the end, two faces came to mind. Moon…and even Celestia. Both smiled at me, as if they were waiting for me.

…so close, yet so far, I thought.

I closed my eyes and awaited the killing blow when suddenly there came a loud clang and a collective gasp from the audience.

“You are a reckless idiot, you know that?”

I looked up to see Marshall parrying the attack as he appeared in the ring without his helmet before Argys stumbled back.

“Well, folks, looks like we have a two on one special!” Sucker Bet announced as he used the confusion to his advantage.

“Marshall?!” I gasped and coughed a little blood under my mask. “How?! No one can escape my binds!”

“Funny thing, those weird ropes of yours disappeared. Like they had become weaker,” Marshall explained as he took a fighting stance. “You’ve done your part; I’ll take it from here.”

“No!” I forced myself to stand up while activating Neon.

I levitated my Amp back in my hand. I took a deep breath and fired a thin beam of light with my incurred hand along my wound to cauterize it. I grunted loudly during the process, but I managed to stop the bleeding and held my Amp with my good hand.

“I’ll never stay down,” I said with a dead serious tone.

“Just pay attention, boy, you might learn something.” Marshall then took a different sword stance, similar to that of a samurai as he stared down Argys. “You’ve seen my Chevalier sword arts but now I will show you my own sword style.” He then took a deep breath as his entire body became relaxed, save for his legs that seemed ready to spring into action as he prepared to attack.

“Wolf Fang…” He whispered before taking off in the blink of an eye.

“BRUTAL BITE!!”

CLANG!!

The impact of their swords was like a mini shockwave. Both fighters stood at a stalemate as they pushed against each other. Argys, however, was smiling just as wide as before when he gazed down at Marshall.

“Iron Wolf!” Argys cheered. “At long last! I traveled all the way from the Nether Lands to face you! My kin, the centaur-people, have spun countless tales of your escapades!”

“Too bad this will be our last meeting.” Marshall said as he readied another attack.

“Wolf Fang: HOWLING WINDS!!”

I summoned my wings again and took flight with Marshall. The three of us exchanged blows at Argys as he was able to hold us both off at the same time.

“When this is over, your swords are mine!” Argys proclaimed.

“Take them, if you can,” Marshall challenged as he matched Argys move for move.

Marshall went for a sideways slash as I came up behind him to try and stab Argys in his hand. Argys managed to counterattack by deflecting Marshall’s attack while weaving hand out of the way before he grabbed my neck and threw me against Marshall.

“Fuck! He’s good! It’s like he was playing with me until now!” I cursed.

“No wonder he was a top merc captain back in the day,” Marshall huffed while removing his cape. “Aside from his combat skills, Argys was known for lusting after women and would often ask for them as payment.”

“Marshall…” I hesitated to tell him what Argys showed me. “The guys who have Saffron. They played you.” Marshall eyed me in shock under his helmet. “He’s working for them. They’re offering him Saffron as payment!”

Marshall’s eyes went wide for a moment and just like before, I sensed a rising bloodlust coming from him only it was more potent, more feral and there would be no stopping him this time.

“You will pay for what you have done…” he hissed while gripping his sword tightly.

I understood his anger. I couldn’t blame him. All we could do now is finish this brute off and save Saffron! I flapped my wings as Marshall dug his boot into the floor and we were both off after Argys. The centaur-human grinned like a madman as he charged back, and all of our swords clanged against each other.

“I heard there’s still a bounty on your head. 42 mill, dead or alive.” Marshall seemed to like the prospect of killing this merc for profit but what scared me more was the fact that he seemed to be intent on killing Argys without a second thought. “I’ll start with that pathetic appendage you got between your legs. I’m sure the women you’ve violated over the years will rejoice knowing that.”

“It’s my greatest tool!” Argys bellowed as he kneed Marshall in the face and slugged me in my chest. He then swung his sword and managed to leave a sizable gash across his cheek.

“ARRRGH!” Marshall screamed.

“MARSHALL!” I could only watch as he stumbled back while the blood dripped on the arena floor yet somehow the pain seemed to empower him even more as his breathing became more intense and he began to sound more like an animal about to attack.

“Face it! You are nothing but fodder!” Argys boasted. “The Red Hawk’s head is mine to claim!”

“Good luck trying, pal!” I shouted before managing to sweep one of his legs, allowing Marshall to nail him with a judo throw that slammed him to the ground face first with a loud crunch that made the audience cringe.

As Argys slowly got back up, we could see his nose bleeding profusely along with some of his teeth falling out as his body trembled with rage.

“Marshall!” I called out to the tired knight. “Together!”

I unfurled my wings and held my Amp with both hands, ignoring the pain from my broken fingers.

“Chevalier Sword Art!!” Marshall cried out as he leaped up for the final strike.

“HEADSMAN’S AXE!!”

With all my strength, I flapped my wings and screamed a battle cry as I flew at Argys with my sword raised. Argys laughed like a madman as he held his sword as well and spun around and used the momentum to swing his sword as hard as he could.

SLASH!!! CLANG!!!

Time seemed to stand still as our blades crashed but Argys’s smile slowly faded when he saw his sword breaking under the pressure of our combined strikes before feeling a large X get carved into his chest a pool of his own blood poured onto the ground.

“H…how?” He wheezed while looking at his broken blade.

“Your sword was poorly maintained, it was only a matter of time before it gave out,” Marshall said as he took the broken piece in his hands. “I can see you’ve abused this sword over and over so it’s no wonder it failed you.”

Argys fell to his knees and collapsed face down on the ground. I wheezed as I used my Amp as a crutch to steady myself just as the crowd erupted in a round of applause.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have our winners! The Iron Wolf and the White Hawk!” Sucker Bet said proudly as we stood together.

The crowd cheered and whistled for us as we made our way out of the ring. Marshall seemed to be in a rush as he headed towards Argys’ room, forgetting to claim his prize.

I waved off the medical team and followed Marshall. No way was I wasn’t gonna be there for him as we saved Saffron. Before I followed him, I stepped over to Argys and leaned down to use my power in order to heal him just enough to keep him alive.

“I know you’re listening, so I’ll say this once,” I whispered. “I’m saving you from death because I myself do not kill. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll skip town and never come back.”

After I finished my business, I caught up to Marshall as we rounded the corner, and he kicked the Argys’s room door down.

“Saffron!” Marshall yelled as we both entered the room. However, to our dismay, neither Saffron nor Clove was anywhere in sight.

“Where the Tartarus are they?!” Marshall demanded. “Argys said they were offering her up!”

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

We both turned around to see Sucker Bet clapping with some of his goons trailing behind.

“Bravo, gentleman, bravo. You both made a lot of money for my boss and I,” Sucker Bet said. “And you’ll make my real employer a lot happier once you swipe Madden’s little toy.”

“So, it was you,” Marshall snarled. “You’re the one who left that communication crystal!”

“And playing Madden like a fiddle,” I added.

“Guilty as charged,” Sucker Bet said. “I’ve been stealing funds from Madden for years and he’s been none the wiser since I’m one of his top bookies.”

“My wife and son, where are they?!” Marshall snapped as he reached for his blade.

“Ah, ah, ah. Temper, temper.” Sucker Bet clicked his tongue with a scolding finger pointed at him before sitting down.

“We did what you wanted. We put on a good show. Now give us whatever the hell this artifact thing is now!” I demanded.

“Do you even know what the artifact is, kid?” Sucker Bet asked. “Do you even know why Don Madden stole it in the first place?”

“I could care less, you swine,” Marshall seethed.

“Does the name…Sam Spade ring a bell?” Sucker Bet asked.

I was shocked to hear Sam Spade’s name again, but Marshall looked like he’d seen a ghost.

“She’s dead…” Marshall said with sweat dripping from his brow.

“Oh no, my foolish knight, Ms. Spade is more alive than ever,” Sucker Bet said. “And more cunning than you think. Who you saw burning that night in the warehouse was nothing more than a double.”

“Care to fill me in, Marsh?” I asked. “I didn’t know you knew Sam Spade.”

“Sam Spade was the most notorious criminal in the underworld. Trafficking, smuggling, forgery. Whatever crime you can think of, she’s done it all, and any who stood against her ended up dead…until I came along.” Marshall said as he recalled the night they raided her compound. “When I became knight commander, I rooted out all her informants in the guard and even turned some of them to our side. Slowly but surely, we crippled her empire one piece at a time before finally tracking her down to her headquarters. Our orders were to take her alive but not all things went as planned.”

“Indeed,” Sucker Bet said. “A stray magic bullet hitting a single crate of explosive mining crystals set the whole place aflame. Thankfully, Ms. Spade knew you were coming and decided to plant a double in her place. She lost her empire, but it was a necessary sacrifice to allow her to escape and let everyone think she was dead. Including the great Marshall Avalon.”

“What does she want with the stone?” I asked while trying to think of a way out of this.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Sucker Bet scoffed. “After all…she’s the one who has your precious family.”

“If you harm them…”Marshall reached for his blade, ready to cut them all down but the bookie seemed unphased.

“Ah, ah!” Sucker Bet warned. “Anything happens to me; your family is toast. Now, the reason why we took your family is because we wanted to get the Iron Wolf’s attention. Hence, why we knew you’d come to PVP because you figured I would know a way to get the stone from Don Madden. Which I do, by the way. You’re the only one who can do it, and it’s a bonus now that Mr. Axel Rickert is with you.”

“So, I get the stone, hand it to you, and my family is returned?” Marshall asked after managing to calm himself.

“More or less,” Sucker Bet shrugged.

“Marsh, you can’t trust these clowns!” I said to him. “If Madden has the stone, that’s already a huge risk! He’s one of the Dons of the Commission! He’s not afraid of putting you, the knight commander, and personal guard of Celestia, on his radar!”

“I’ll have to take that risk,” Marshall said while Sucker bet just laughed.

“Then we got a deal! And seeing as you won the fight fair and square, the Don will be the one to personally give you the prize. Oh! And get ready to meet some…old friends when you get there.”

Marshall and I waited in the winner’s room together in dead silence. A lot has happened tonight, and it was only going to get worse from here on out. Marshall kept his eyes glued to the door while I fiddled with the chain links of my chain. Anything could happen at this point, and it made me anxious as hell not knowing what it could be.

Just then, the door finally opened and in walked Don Madden himself. He was smoking a big cigar between his fingers and had a big dumb grin under his beard.

“There he is!” Don Madden said as he took a puff. “The one and only Iron Wolf in the flesh!”

Thankfully, I managed to repair my mask and keep my hood over my face so that he wouldn’t mistake me as Dante. Last thing I needed, especially with Marshall here.

“I’m here for my prize,” Marshall said, not wanting to waste time on pleasantries.

“Straight to the point, I like it,” Don Madden smirked and snapped his fingers.

One of his lackies brought a big wooden box. Suddenly, I got this feeling in my gut when I stared at the box. A feeling as though I was drawn to it but I couldn’t understand why.

“I use this little beauty as a sort of calling card for the right to challenge the champ of PVP,” Madden said. “And I heard about you, kid.” He looked at me briefly. The White Falcon? We’ll be in touch.” Madden looked back at Marshall. “Now, you can hold onto this temporarily until some other schmuck claims it from you. Or if I need it to show off. So, congratulations on your win, and welcome back to the world of PVP!”

When Madden had his lackey open the box, my whole world shook when I saw an all too familiar light from within. Marshall reached in and grabbed hold of a hand-sized glowing jagged stone that could only be none other than another goddamn Blast Core. My whole body trembled at the night of it, and I could barely hold myself together.

What the fuck?! Another Blast Core?! I yelled in my head.

Ok, what the fuck? Dante spoke in my head.

Did you know about this?! I demanded.

How could I have possibly known? I just started working for these clowns.

That’s bullshit, and you know it!

Hey, I knew Madden had a big fancy prize for his contenders in PVP but I didn’t expect it to be a fucking Blast Core!

“I thank you for this, Don,” Marshall said as he took the stone.

“I hope you plan to stay for the festivities, you got quite a lot of fans dying to meet you heh heh heh,” Madden chuckled before taking a puff of his cigar.

“I’d love to, but I have business to attend to.” Marshall and I were ready to leave when we heard a feminine voice.

“Gotta get back to the wife and kid, huh?”

“No way, that voice…Lightning Dust?!” Marshall spun around to see a female merc smiling at him in the doorway.

“Hey there, stud horse, been a while~.”

The woman in question wore a leather jacket that had metal shoulder pads attached. Inside her jacket was a padded vest that showed off a bit of cleavage. The woman had a pair of turquoise-green wings on her back that looked strong enough to create quite the gust of wind. Her sunny-orange hair was styled in a mohawk and was tied in a small ponytail in the back. She walked towards Marshall with a toothy grin and threw her arms around him while I just stood there dumbfounded.

“I thought you quit the ring,” I heard her whisper in his ear.

“Circumstances brought me back,” Marshall said while she seemed to throw herself at him.

My focus was more on the Blast Core that was in Marshall’s hand. I glanced at Sucker Bet, and he just arched a brow at me.

“Hey, listen, we’d love to stay and chat it up and reminisce about the good times, but we got an appointment to make,” I tried to say.

“Aw come on, stay a while, maybe we can rekindle the flames~.” Lightning purred as she pressed her chest against him, but I could see it was a distraction as she reached for the core only for Marshall to gently push her off and tuck it in his pocket.

“I’m married now so I’ll have to pass. Axel, we’re leaving,” Marshall told me, and I nodded.

“Hey now, that’s a bit rude, Avalon,” Madden remarked. “The lady was just wanting some quality time with you.”

“Did you not hear the part where he’s married?” I deadpanned.

“I did, and what’s it to you, kid?” Madden scoffed at me. It was then he kept his gaze on me and narrowed his eyes at the visor of my mask. “You…seem familiar. Have we met?”

"Uh…no, I don’t think so,” I said nervously as he moved in closer.

“Hmmm you seem like someone I know but I can’t put my finger on it,” Madden said.

“I guess I just have one of those faces. Even with a mask,” I said before the don finally backed off and took another puff of his cigar.

“We simply must be off,” Marshal said and turned to leave.

Click!

Suddenly, everyone in the room froze when Lightning Dust pulled out a magic pistol and aimed it at Marshall’s back.

“No can do, hot stuff,” Lighting said and reached over and took the Core. “But I’ll be taking this off your hands.”

“Dust?! The fuck are you doing?!” Madden barked after she put the Core in her satchel and pulled out another magic pistol to aim it at Madden and his crew.

“Sorry, boss, but I hereby tender my resignation,” Lighting said. “Been waiting years for a moment to be present with you whenever you hand this precious item to a PVP contender. Now my patience has paid off. I’ll be living the good life once I pawn this beautiful thing to the highest bidder.”

“You have no idea what you’re messing with, Lighting,” I warned.

“Do I look like I give a damn?” She said before turning Marshall around. “Sorry about your wife and kid, but I gotta look after myself.”

“Wife and kid?” Madden said, confused.

“That why you left me all those years ago?” Marshall asked as they looked each other in the eye. “Didn’t trust me to look after you?l

“You know me, Marsh,” Lighting said as she winked at him. “I’m a girl who’s not a fan of commitment.”

Before any of us could retaliate, Lighting threw a small ball down on the ground and the entire room was obscured with thick smoke. Everyone started coughing up a storm as she made her escape.

“Axel! Go after her!” Marshall called out.

“I’m on it!” I responded and gave chase.

When I made it outside of the building, I managed to catch sight of Lightning already up in the air and flying at very fast speeds. I activated Video and summoned my wings to take off into the air and after Lighting.

“Lighting Dust! Stop! You don’t know what you’re doing!” I called out to her as we zipped through the city.

“I’m getting paid big, that’s what!” Lighting said before pulling out several throwing knives and threw them at me. “Oh, and tell Marsh I’m still available if the thing with his wife doesn't work out!”

“ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!” I screamed while dodging her attack.

We both flew through the city, and she kept throwing her knives at me. I kept avoiding each one as I kept up with her and we dodged and weaved through the buildings and city lights.

“Lighting! Please! That stone is not what you think!” I shouted.

“All I know is that people will pay through the nose to get this stone and after that it’s the high life for me!” Lightning tried to throw me off by suddenly flying into a huge crowd in an attempt to lose me on foot.

I was forced to follow her and ran as fast as I could. I dodged and weaved my way through the crowd while narrowly avoiding any collisions with people. Surprisingly, she was just as nimble and quick on her feet as she was with her wings. Our chase through the bustling city took us to a few blocks where a bunch of old buildings stood. One of which was a condemned three-story building and I saw her slip inside. I ran in after her, but she was nowhere to be found. However, I got the impression she was still in the vicinity.

“Why are you really doing this? What're you after?!” I shouted, glancing around for any movement while holding onto my Amp and chain.

“I don't suppose my ex told you about us?” Lightning asked, her voice echoing from the shadows.

“He mentioned he had some old flames while still being a part of PVP,” I said as I kept my guard up. My fast-healing healed some of the damage but I was still aching in places I was still badly hurt. “I’m guessing you’re one of them?”

“Oh, I was more than that.” She said when I managed to catch her ducking for cover behind a pillar.

“See, after one of our many celebrations, I started feeling sick and I figured I must’ve eaten something bad....turns out it was something else.” The hairs on my neck stood up when she said that, and she could already tell I figured it out.

“Yeah, go figure, right? Badass merc like me having a kid but when you live this kind of life, you make enemies. A lot of enemies,” Lighting sighed.

“Is that why you left?” I asked while carefully looking around a corner.

I didn’t get an answer, only silence. “What happened to the kid?” More silence. “Lighting Dust?! What the fuck happened to the kid?!”

“Cool your jets, bird boy! My daughter is fine,” Lighting shouted back. “Some friends of mine are looking after her…” I sighed in slight relief at that. “I once thought about going back to him, you know? Maybe we could start fresh, but wouldn’t you know it, he found a new sweetheart of his own and had a kid.”

“Well, to be fair, you did leave before you could tell him,” I retorted, unaware she probably had her sights on me.

“Yeah…that’s the last mistake I’ll ever make,” Lightning scoffed.

I started contemplating my options. On one hand, she was obviously doing this merc business to support her daughter. And, if I somehow manage to convince her to cooperate, she could reconcile with Marshall. I knew it was a long shot, and I’d probably be wasting my time. However, the thought of a kid not knowing her father made my guts churn uncomfortably.

On the other hand, this was indeed a waste of time, and I could just end her by firing a Neon blast that would force her out of hiding. She’d be apprehend and taken to who knows where. That would, in turn, leave her kid all alone without any parents.

…

“Lighting,” I said calmly and made a risky move by putting my Amp and chain down on the floor. I looked around and held my hands up. “Come out. Please. I just wanna talk.”

“Talk about what?” She asked, finally revealing herself as she appeared with her crossbow trained on me.

“You’re wrong about Marshall,” I said firmly. “He wouldn’t turn you away just because you had his kid. In fact, I’m willing to bet he’d welcome you into his family.”

“That’s a very bold and outrageous bet, kid,” Lighting lectured. “You haven’t known Marshall for as long as I have.”

“That may be so, but I consider myself a good judge of character,” I said back. “Marshall’s a good man. He even went back to PVP for his family for god’s sake. Tell me, would the Marshall you know really do that for anyone or anything else?”

Lightning began to hesitate, my question had merit, but she tried to brush it off as she readjusted her aim.

“Well, it’s too late now. He’s got a new life and we’re not part of it…the least he can do is let me give my daughter the life I never got.”

“What kind of bullshit life is one where you’re constantly risking your hide for money?!” I snapped at her. “What happens if one day you take a job that’s too much for you and you end up biting it before your daughter’s next birthday?! Do you expect your alleged friends to continue watching over her?! And what about Marshall?! Huh?! He’ll spend the rest of his life not ever knowing he has a daughter! Your reasoning is fucking dogshit, and you know it!”

In the midst of our argument, Marshall appeared at the door with his face filled with shock as he heard those words.

“I…have a what?” He gasped as Lightning suddenly froze up, unsure who to aim her weapon at.

“Great timing, Marsh!” I said and glared at Lighting again. “Tell him! Or I will!” I snapped while pointing a finger to Marshall.

“M-Marshall, I…I can explain!” Lighting tried to say.

“That night in Yakyakistan…” Marshall said, sounding like he was piecing it together. “You were crying.”

“…I took a test,” Lighting relented. “It came back positive. I…I was scared. Terrified that you’d force me to get rid of it. So…so I ran.”

“Why…why would you think that?! I LOVED YOU!” Marshall screamed with anger as the whole building seemed to shake. “I thought you got bored of me! DO YOU KNOW HOW HEARTBROKEN I WAS WHEN YOU LEFT?!”

“Bored of you?! I’d never think that of you!” Lighting cried. She dropped her crossbow and fell to her knees. “We were both living a life of risk and violence! You always made it seem like nothing else mattered than the job and yourself! What was I supposed to believe?!”

“I was doing it all for you!” Marshall said as he also got to his knees to look her in the eye. “I wanted us to get away from that life! It was just one more job and we would be done. I…I was even going to ask you to marry me that day but then…then you left.”

“Oh shit…” I said subtly.

“M-Marry?! Me?!” Lighting gasped. “No way…! You were gonna-?! What?! Bullshit! Why?!”

“BECAUSE I LOVED YOU! YOU STUPID GIRL! Tartarus, I still do! If things were different, I’d ask you again in a heartbeat!" Marshall said but his words seemed to make Lightning feel more joy than sadness as she kissed him out of nowhere.

“And again…woah,” I said, they broke their sudden kiss and held each other close.

“…what’s her name?” Marshall asked softly.

“Blitz,” Lightning smiled as he caressed her cheek. “She’s got your eyes.”

This was like something right out of an action-romance film, and it would’ve had a happy ending if not for the eerie clapping of hands that echoed from down the hall.

“How sweet, our young lovers reunited after so many years apart.”

“That voice…” Marshall slowly reached for his blade as the clapping grew louder.

“Lightning Dust. I must say, I’m a little disappointed. I was hoping you would at least kill him before he found out the truth.”

“That wasn’t in the deal,” Lightning said as she pulled out the Blast Core. “I got what you wanted so as far as I’m concerned, our business is done.”

“Who the hell?!” I said and picked up my Amp and chain again and looked around the empty building.

“Sam Spade…” Marshall snarled.

“What?!” I gasped in utter shock as the notorious crime boss laughed but still refused to reveal herself. The very same one who’s been after Diamond Tiara and giving Mr. Rich hell for worrying about his daughter’s safety. It soon dawned on me why Rich wanted me to hang out with Diamond all the time. Because he didn’t want what happened in Ponyville back then to happen again.

“You should’ve stayed dead, Spade,” Marshall said in a low tone.

“Is that any way to treat an old friend? I’m the one who orchestrated this little reunion. Your family’s kidnapping, meeting with Lightning again. The only downside is you’re still alive, I had at least hoped she would wound you enough to let you bleed out as she told you of your secret love child.”

“You’ve been watching too many dramas, lady!” I said while trying to pinpoint where she was hiding.

“Thankfully, I always have a backup plan.” Spade said as she extended one of her arms into the light, revealing she was holding a detonator. “This building was sealed off for a reason you know.”

“You conniving bitch…” Lightning hissed realizing she had been set up.

“There is a way for you all to live, you know,” she said in a confident tone. “Hand over the artifact, and I’ll allow you to live for another day.”

“Let us out and we’ll throw it to you.” Marshall countered while looking for the fastest way out. “On my mark, make for the door.” He whispered to us while taking a step back. “You know Spade, I always wondered. If you’re so clever…how did you end up losing your whole empire to a run-of-the-mill soldier like me?”

“I’ll admit, I underestimated you,” Spade said as she began to ramble. “There was always that one detective, that one knight, or that one journalist who tried looking into me and my operations. Only to realize they dug too deep. So, I had them dealt with. But you? You, apparently, were a cut above the rest.”

“Marsh, listen to me,” I whispered back while she monologued. “It’s imperative that I keep this thing away from Spade. I know what this thing really is.”

“How? What is it?” Marshall whispered back.

“It’s not a stone or an artifact of any kind.“ I hesitated for a moment, not knowing how he’d react. “It’s called a Blast Core. An object of unstable power condensed into a solid form. I know this because I’ve found a few myself.”

“So, it’s a power source,” Marshall said as we waited for our chance. “Why do you want this stone anyway, Spade? I’m sure you got more money than you know what to do with,” he asked, trying to stall for time.

“I admit, I made sure to put aside some emergency funds before you dismantled my empire,” Spade spoke in an annoyingly smug tone. “As for why, it’s because of him,” Spade said, probably gesturing to me.

“Me?” I spoke.

“You took something similar from that Snake Temple in Somnambula,” Spade said. “My associate, Caballeron, explained how you somehow managed to absorb it.”

“He was working for you?” I asked in surprise.

“Yes, and he failed miserably. I’m sure your friend will tell you…I don’t take disappointment lightly.” Without a second thought, she flipped the switch activating the explosives on the upper floors as the building began to shake violently. “If you manage to survive, you will find your family in the shipping yards. Block A, Container sixteen. Ta taa~!”

“SPAADE!!!” Marshall darted after her but was cut off when some rubble from the ceiling nearly crushed him.

“MARSHALL!!” We both screamed.

By some stroke of sheer luck, we heard Marshall’s voice scream in pain as the dust settled and only his leg was crushed under the rubble. We both ran to his side and tried to remove the rubble from his leg.

“Save yourselves!” Marshall shouted. “Get out of here! Save my family, and look after them!”

“Bullshit!” I shouted. “We ain’t leaving you behind!”

“There’s no time, damnit!” Marshall argued as more explosives blew up.

I had to think fast and noticed the Blast Core sitting beside us. Spade was never gonna let us leave, and she probably thinks she’ll just dig up the Core after we’re crushed to death. But I wasn’t gonna let her get her way. Not by a long shot. I grabbed the Blast Core and held it in both my hands.

“Lighting! Marshall! Brace yourselves!” I warned them.

Before they could question my motives, I used my power to begin absorbing the Blast Core. Once again, the core reacted to my power as large bolts of lightning crackled around my arms and up my whole body. I was lifted into the air a few feet as the bolts of lightning were replaced by large plumes of smoke. Following that, bright fluorescent neon lights illuminated every corner. Then, digital sparks and lights enveloped my body and broke apart in a great flash of light. Finally, large pieces of stone and concrete formed in the air and spun around until they disintegrated into dust. The last part was when all five types of my powers activated at the same time before completely snuffing out. I landed back on my feet as the Blast Core lost its glow entirely and crumbled to ashes.

I felt completely re-energized as I stood up straight. Any fatigue and pain I felt from my wounds were gone, and my power reserves felt like they were refilled to the max.

“Starswirl’s beard!” Marshall gasped before I used my Amp to blast the rubble off his leg. I lifted Marshall over my shoulder for support.

“Let’s go!” Lightning screamed just as the last of the explosives went off.

We managed to get out by the skin of our teeth as the building collapsed into a pile of rubble and dust, attracting a huge crowd along with the royal guards in the process.

“Sir?!” One of the guards said as they rushed to his aid. “What in Celestia’s wings happened here?!”

“Sam Spade…she’s back,” Marshall said as he propped himself up against a streetlight to look at his injured leg. “Get to the shipping yards, look for container sixteen on Block A.”

They saluted and immediately headed for the docks. I looked down at my hands and could feel my newfound power coursing through my veins. It’s been a while since I felt this energized, and I knew what I wanted to test it on. I walked over to Marshall and knelt down beside his leg.

“What’re you doing?” Marshall asked.

“Preventing you from being a cripple,” I said with a smirk.

I raised my hands and activated Video. Digital lights swirled around Marshall’s leg as the sounds of his bones resetting could be heard. Marshall grunted in surprise as I healed his leg until it was completely healed and back to normal.

“There we go, good as new,” I said proudly.

“Now I see why Spade wants those stones,” Marshall commented.

Our eyes fell on Lightning Dust who seemed tired from the whole ordeal and looked like she was ready to pass out when to my surprise, Marshall carried her princess style and took her to the carriage ready to take them to the docks.

“Tell me about our daughter,” he said as they rode off while I was left behind to deal with the press.

“One at a time, people! One at a time!” I cried as I was bombarded by questions, flashing camera lights, and my headache from before pulsated in my head again.

Marshall 1st POV

After recovering my wife and son, we returned to the hotel and were given a new apartment. It was only after Clove was put to bed, and after a tearful reunion with my family, that I explained everything to Saffron and prepared myself as best I could for her outburst, but nothing prepared me for what came next.

“I was hoping you would tell me one day, but I didn’t think it would take all this for you to confess,” Saffron told me.

“W-Wait, you knew?!” I was shocked at my wife’s revelation.

“I had my suspicions,” Saffron said. “Whenever I wanted to talk to you about your past, you would change the subject. So…I went to see your old colleague, Shining Armor.”

I slumped in my chair, knowing Shining couldn’t keep a secret but then Saffron showed me something else; two envelopes that I had not seen in years.

“I also found these while cleaning our house. Letters from your former lovers,” Saffron smirked as my face turned bright pink.

She cleared her throat and prepared to read one of them aloud. I tried to stop her but out of her cruel sense of humor, Lightning Dust held me back.

“Ahem. To my stud horse." She began with Lightning’s letter.

“By the time you read this, I’ll be long gone. Don’t bother looking for me. I promise I’m fine, but I will never forget those crazy nights we had together. Especially after we pulled off a really hard job.

Your lady, Lightning Dust.

P.S.: Feel free to use my back door anytime~.”

“Faust, end me now…” I groaned as she began to read the next letter but not before revealing it had been marked with a kiss.

“Ooh, this looks juicy,” Lightning said as we sat down together.

“Okay! Okay!” I yelled desperately. “You made your point. I guess the real question is…what should we do now? Lighting has told me of a daughter I never knew, and I’m married to you.”

Saffron thought long and hard for a few minutes before finally crossing her arms and sighed.

“Well, technically, it’s not cheating since this happened before you met me, and it would be nice for Clove to meet his big sister. I suppose there isn’t any harm in letting them meet.”

“Thank you, my love-!” I was about to say when she stopped me.

“HOWEVER.” Saffron raised her hand before giving me a murderous glare. “If I find out you were philandering behind my back, I promise I will make you regret it. Am I understood?” She said in a very passive aggressive tone, sending chills up and down my spine.

“Y-Yes, dear,” I squeaked.

“Y-you mean…you’ll welcome me and Blitz into your family?” Lighting asked on the verge of tears.

“Only if you’ll accept,” I told her just before she hugged me right in front of Saffron. I was reluctant to return the hug but did so anyway as I let my old flame cry into my shoulder.

“So…what now?” I asked Saffron while still holding Lightning.

“Hmm…” Saffron hummed and then smirked. She leaned over to Lighting and whispered something in her ear.

“Seriously?” Lightning smirked back and bit her lip in excitement.

“Oh yes~,” Saffron purred before they both looked at me.

“Oh boy…” I gulped.

LEMON!!!

I was lost in thought as I watched both my wife and former lover undress in the most seductive way possible. Lighting bent over while shaking her rear at me as she pulled down her pants and Saffron pulled her shirt over her head, letting her bosom bounce free within her bra.

“This is a dream…” I said as Lightning straddled me; her eyes filled with desire as she guided my hands to her taught rear.

“A dream come true~,” she hummed before kissing me.

As I coiled my tongue with hers, Saffron giggled and undid my fly. She pulled out my hard member and began stroking it.

“I’ve always wondered what it would be like to see my husband making love to another woman besides me~,” Saffron cooed as she kissed the head of my cock. “But I never imagined it would be this stimulating up close~.”

“Mmm, Marshy here was always a stud in bed. It’s why I call him my Stud Horse~,” Lighting cooed.

“He’s certainly got that field covered~,” Saffron said while stroking my shaft.

“I swear, this is something out of a fantasy novel~,” I said before pulling down Lightning’s bra and chomping down on her breast.

“Mmm, you always go for the boobs first~,” Lighting teased.

“Can you blame me~?” I smirked before indulging myself by wrapping my lips around her nipple.

Lighting moaned and hugged my head close to her chest while Saffron took it upon herself to open her mouth and swallow my cock down her throat.

“Mmm~, and Marshy~?” Lighting moaned.

“Mm?” I looked up at her.

“I missed being your bitch~.” Lightning grinned and stuck her tongue out at me before we both shared an aggressive kiss in front of my wife.

Saffron hummed in delight as she continued sucking me off while playing with my balls. I raised my hand up and swung it down to slap Lighting’s firm ass cheek.

"MMM!! ooh~."

“You always did have a juicy ass~,” I complimented before kissing her neck. “Remember that job we pulled in Vanhoover~?”

“Mmm, we did it all the way ‘til morning on a pile of gold~,” Lightning giggled just as Saffron released my cock with a loud pop and grinned.

“So, tell me, Lightning, what kind of man was my husband in bed~?” Saffron asked while crawling up to kiss my chest.

“I was the sub, he was the dom~,” Lighting purred. “And he made me scream each and every night~.”

“Only ‘cause you drove me crazy on the battlefield~!” I growled pinning Lightning to the carpet. “Shame this is only a one-time thing~.”

“Who says it needs to be~?” Saffron said as she began masterbating. “She’s part of our family now, so it’s only natural that we do this on a regular basis~.”

“But Saffron-!” I was cut off when Saffron began to explain.

“You forget, my love, I am from the east, and it’s not unusual for a man to have one or two brides in his household~,” Saffron said before hugging me from behind.

“You have gone through so much for us.” Once she turned my head to kiss me, my hips seemed to move on their own and push into Lightning Dust who let out a very loud gasp. Looks like she hadn’t been laid in some time after having our daughter.

“Argh…I got-mmm so many birthdays to make up for!” I grunted while pounding her into the carpet.

I began plowing Lighting’s pussy, making her moan and pant loudly while Saffron went back to masterbating.

“Yeah~! Mmm~! Just like that~! Fuck, I missed your big cock~!” Lighting moaned.

“Grr! Say you’re my bitch then~!” I began to show my darker side in front of Saffron as I got rougher with Lightning by biting and pulling on her breasts to drive her crazy.

“I’m your bitch~!” Lighting yelled. “I’ve always been your bitch~! Make me remember that I am~! Make me yours again~!”

“Shh, not so loud, you two. Clove is still asleep,” Saffron reminded us while we shared another passionate kiss. Our fingers intertwined with one another as Lightning’s screams were muffled by the kiss and after several more aggressive thrusts, I poured everything I had into her.

“Ahhhh…” Lightning moaned as her eyes rolled back. Once I was sure she was filled, I stood up to make her dangle by my waist before letting her hit the floor with a loud thud as she grunted and laughed with a toothy grin.

“Mmm, you’re such a jerk~,” she smirked at me while catching her breath.

“And you still love me for it~,” I grinned before turning to my wife. “Now for the main course~.”

“Well, it has been moons since we last did it~,” Saffron said as she presented me her ass. While Lightning’s was taught and firm, hers was soft and supple and she knew I loved it as my hands sank into her cheeks while I kissed her neck.

“Mm, is today a safe day?” I asked while gently fondling her body.

“Yes, and Marshall?” Saffron looked back at me with a seductive smile. “I love you~.”

My response was to only kiss her and hold her hand as I turned her over to look into her eyes, the same eyes that drew me to her the day we met.

“Your father is going to flip when he finds out he has a granddaughter~,” I teased while poking her folds with my tip.

“You let me handle him~. For now, make love to me like you did on our wedding night~,” Saffron whispered.

“Better,” I whispered before gripping her breasts hard. I’ll do you the same way I did Lightning Dust. Show you my true nature~.”

“Mmm~! Then show me~,” Saffron moaned.

Without warning, I thrusted my cock all the way into her pussy, making her yell loudly.

“Shh, Clove is sleeping, remember?” I reminded her before proceeding to hold her legs apart as I took her on the floor like a common prostitute.

“He’s a heavy sleeper~!” Saffron cried. “Sleeps like a rock~! Now fuck me hard~!”

I grinned at my wife’s sudden personality change and got her into a mating press that seemed to shake the entire room. Even our neighbors could hear us go at it like beasts as I bit down on Saffron’s breasts like an animal, making them leak milk as I did so.

“Yes~! Oh yes~! You beast~! Fuck me harder~! Fuck me like a whore~! I love you, Marshall~!” Saffron screamed as loud as she could.

I would say nothing as I was too focused on pleasing her and made her get on all fours before pulling her hair.

“You’re so soft, Saffron, I’m so glad I met you~.” I huffed as she cried out in pleasure. “Lightning too.”

“Less talking~! More fucking me like a bitch in heat~!” Saffron snapped.

I chuckled at her demand and happily obliged by pinning her head down and raising her ass while Lightning played with herself.

“Mmm~! Yes~!” Saffron moaned before feeling me smack her rear a few times.

“Safe day or not, I’m putting a baby in you~!” I declared as I went all out on her.

All Saffron could do was scream and moan each time I bottomed in and out of her pussy. I grunted a few times before cumming the biggest load I ever did in a long time deep within her womb.

Just as I did with Lightning Dust, I stepped back to let Saffron slump to the floor as she caught her breath and managed to turn herself over. Our bodies gleamed with sweat and musk as we took a moment to calm ourselves and began exchanging kisses with one another when Lightning remembered something.

END OF LEMON!!!

“Mmm, babe do that thing~,” she moaned.

“What thing?” Saffron asked, feeling curious.

“Watch~.” With a sensual moan, Lightning dust raised her ass and began to wriggle around while I licked my lips in anticipation. I gripped her cheeks firmly, making her giggle and as my mouth opened wide, I bit down on her right ass cheek as hard as I could, making her yelp while Saffron gasped in shock.

“Marshall!” Saffron declared when I released Lightning from my grip to show a perfect ring of teeth marks on her cheek.

“Now I’m yours again~,” Lighting giggled.

I held my lovers close as we basked in the afterglow. I didn’t know I could be this happy now that I have not one but two precious lovers.

Elsewhere
3rd POV

Sam Spade sat at her desk as she watched an image on a holo-crystal play on rewind. It was of Axel and the way he absorbed the Blast Core. The spectacle was like nothing she’d ever seen before, and she continued watching it over and over again.

“This power…I want it,” she said with envy in her voice.

Alduck Manor
Dante 1st POV

Of all the nights throughout this entire trip with me and Axel taking turns switching, this was one night I wasn’t particularly looking forward to. Despite my warnings, Axel just had to get involved in PVP, and in front of Don Madden. Who, I imagine, is beyond pissed that we didn’t bring back his precious, so-called trophy. Granted, I couldn’t exactly blame Axel for absorbing the Blast Core since he needed the energy to save Avalon but that doesn’t change the fact that our cover might be blown despite him wearing a mask to hide his identity.

After managing to shoo away the obnoxious press that were bombarding Axel with a shit load of questions, he managed to give them the slip and allow me to take over. Now I’m currently flying towards Alduck’s place and trying to prepare myself for what’s to come. Just as I landed outside the property gates, I noticed something was off. There were dozens of black carriages parked outside of the mansion, and several men dressed in black tuxedos standing outside.

Stone jogged up to me to greet me. “Dante. So good to see you.”

“Jeez, Stone, what’s with the crowd?” I asked.

“…It’s Don Serrano Pepper,” Stone said grimly. “He…he had just died of a heart attack last night.”

I repressed a smirk, remembering the other night. “So, what do we do?”

“The Dons have gathered for a sit down to discuss the situation,” Sone said as the doors were opened for us. “However, there’s a bigger issue that needs addressing. According to a peace pact established by the first Dons of the Commission, nobody would commit crimes against the Commission and attempt violent takeovers that would enact severe conflict. In other words, everyone stays in their own lane and can have the choice of working together whenever necessary. Nacho had broken that pact the Commission had established when he disrespected you, tried weaseling into Alduck’s territory without permission, and when he sent his goons to turn the club upside down and killed that poor girl. Not to mention, Serrano also tried pulling a fast one on Alduck with Sandy.”

“They should’ve stayed in their lane,” I commented.

“Exactly,” Stone agreed as we made our way to the meeting room. “Now the issue in question is Serrano didn’t have anyone to take over if anything happened to him or if he had to step away. Believe it or not, Serrano was somehow trying to mold Nacho to be his successor.”

“Fat lot of good that did him, no pun intended,” I said.

“Nice,” Stone chuckled. “Anyway, now that Nacho was met with an unfortunate end and Serrano died of natural causes, his territory has nobody to look after it.”

“I’m sure Alduck will be happy to scoop that up,” I commented.

“You’d think that, but…” Stone said when we entered the meeting room and all the Dons, save for Alduck who sat at the head of the table, were in the middle of a shouting match against one another.

“And I’m sayin’ I deserve 27%!” Don Cheddar barked in Don Key’s face.

“You think any of you schmucks need any more territory?!” Don Madden snapped. “I just lost an important treasure of mine that was worth more than even me! I deserve compensation!”

“I need Serrano’s warehouses!” Don Hatchet added. “I’m up to my balls in merchandise and I don’t got a place to store it all!”

“Wow. Intense negotiations,” I smirked before sitting down on a chair against the wall.

As they continued to bicker like kids at the sandlot, Alduck calmly raised his hand up to ask for silence. The Dons slowly but surely took notice of Alduck’s silent order and soon calmed down.

“I don’t need to remind you all that this is exactly how the first Dons used to be when they were at each other’s throats,” Alduck said before taking a sip of his drink. “Lotta unnecessary blood spilled before they came to their senses and formed the peace pact.”

“And yet, one of us was destroyed,” Don Key said.

“By himself,” Alduck corrected as he pointed at Don Key. “And that means none of us have a right to claim what he owned.”

“We have every right to lay claim to what was his. Otherwise, it’ll go to waste!” Cheddar yelled while snuffing his cigar out.

“Who says it’ll go to waste?” Alduck said. “I have the perfect candidate to take over, and to also fill in a vacancy at our table.”

Alduck slowly panned his eyes to me, to which the other Dons looked my way as well. Suffice to say, none of the other Dons were as enthusiastic by Alduck’s intentions.

“The KID?!” Don Madden barked.

“Alduck…Donald,” Don Cheddar tried to say. “C’mon, really?”

“It takes years to become a Don. Do you understand?” Don Hatchet added.

“True, but you all know I got a keen eye for this kind of stuff,” Alduck said. “And let me remind you, Hatchet, that I recall your predecessor, Don Saw, made you a Don when you also hadn’t even been in the business for more than a year.”

Don Hatchet could only sigh while giving a wave of approval.

“I dunno…” Don Cheddar said, crossing his arms. “He may know how to get shit done but he’s too green.”

“That’s why we will be taking the necessary precautions to guide him,” Alduck said.

Oh…oh my god! They’re serious! Axel yelled in my head. Is this seriously happening?! Dante! Be reasonable! Say something before it’s too late! Don’t do this!

“I accept,” I said as I stood up.

DAMNIT!

All the other Dons looked at each other and it looked like whatever concern they had would either be put to rest by Alduck and they’d wanna see how this pans out. I watched as they all stood up from their seats and approached me. I then respectfully took off my pack to set it aside and pulled my beanie off my head.

Alduck stood up and stood before me. He placed his hands on my shoulders and started with the ceremony.

“Gentleman, this is a historic day for the Commission,” Alduck said. “Dante. As you may already know, this Commission of ours is a secret. You are entering a society of the chosen. A society that, as far as the public is concerned, does not exist. Our group will now mean more to you from now on than your own family, should you have one. Or any gods, or this country. If we ask you to do something that may seem impossible to you, or if you have any of your new associates do something, you must do it.” Alduck stepped to the side so all the Dons could lay eyes on me. “Show us which finger will pull the trigger.”

I gave him my left pointer finger and he pulled out a small dagger. He gently poked my finger and made my blood drip on a picture of a fancy-looking lady dressed in robes. He then took the picture and lit it on fire with a candle’s flame before placing the picture in both my hands.

“Repeat after me, Dante,” Alduck said. “If I were to betray the secret of our way of life.”

“If I were to betray the secret of our way of life,” I repeated as I gazed into the small flame.

“May my soul burn in Tartarus, just like the Saint of Bitalia,” Alduck said.

“May my soul burn in Tartarus, just like the Saint of Bitalia,” I repeated.

“Amico nostra,” Alduck said in what sounded like Italian speech. “Gentlemen, I give you our new friend and fellow Don. Don Dante.”

Don Alduck patted my shoulders and gently kissed both my cheeks. The other Dons exchanged their looks of approval before they took their seats again at the table. I smiled as I too walked over to where Don Serrano Pepper once sat and took his seat with the rest of the Dons.

“I am very pleased that this extremely talented and gifted young man join us,” Alduck said. “And I’m happy this has happened in the presence of all the current Dons.”

“Welcome,” they all said together, including Stone, Fuse, and any others present.

I smiled a confident smile as I leaned forward a bit and folded my hands. I decided to put on a bit of a spectacle by activating Video and made my digital wings appear, giving me a more intimidating presence.

“I’m honored to be part of such an esteemed group of individuals,” I said. “Thank you for this opportunity, my fellow Dons of the Commission.”

Unbeknownst to me, a sort of red aura covered my body. The sleeves of my jacket under my vest became a tad darker shade of red that mixed with the gray. The barely visible red highlights in my hair became a bit more visible. Finally, on the back of my vest, the symbol changed from what it once was.

Author's Note

No good deed goes unpunished.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

It’s Good To Be Home

Chapter 36

My eyes kept scanning the outside as we rode the train home. Five days. Five days in the big city and so much crazy shit happens in a short amount of time. I glanced over to Diamond as she played with Nala and Mr. Rich read the newspaper. I was glad to finally be returning home after being away for so long. I could only imagine what the others would say to me, especially Moon. I missed her not being with me, and I wished she could’ve come along. But I had to respect her wishes to stay since she wasn’t exactly ready to be in a place that had dozens of people passing by per minute.

“Looking forward to returning home, Axel?” Rich asked me.

“More than you know,” I answered. “It’s been…an eventful five days in the big city, let me tell you.”

“I concur,” Rich agreed. “But I will say it was also quite fortuitous, considering we’re about to revolutionize the entire transportation system.”

“Now that, I can say I too am looking forward to seeing how that pans out,” I said.

“We’re home!” Diamond cheered as she and Nala looked out the window.

I looked back out the window as well to see the friendly town of Ponyville come into view. I smiled with a wide grin, happy to see the place still looking as vibrant as ever. As the train eventually pulled up to the platform, my grin only managed to widen when all of my friends and even Moon were there to greet me. The girls and Moon all waved at me and I waved back. Once the train made a complete stop, Mr. Rich, Diamond, and I gathered our bags and stepped off the train car.

“Axy!” Pinkie chirped.

Before I could say anything to greet her and the others, Moon flapped her wings and jumped into my arms before planting her lips against mine. I responded by dropping my bags and wrapped my arms around my girlfriend to return the kiss before we broke apart and she smiled lovingly at me.

“Welcome home, my dear sweet Axel,” Moon said as I cupped her cheek.

“Glad to be home, Moon,” I said back.

We shared another kiss before I let her down and I took turns hugging Twilight and the girls.

“About time you came back,” Rainbow said. “I’ve been meaning to test out some new flying moves with you.”

“I look forward to it,” I said with a nod. It was then I noticed there was someone missing from the group. Someone who, like me, was also a freak of nature with unnatural powers.

“Say, where’s Orion?” I asked. “Didn’t he get back before me?”

“Unfortunately not, Ax,” AJ said. “Last we heard; he was supposed to catch the train before yours but we ain’t seen him yet.”

“I see…” I said. His trip with Doo must be taking longer than expected.

“Merow!” Nama meowed.

“Hi, Nala!” Twilight cooed and knelt down to scratch her chin. “Did you have fun, you little runaway?”

“Ah, so my suspicions were accurate?” I spoke.

“I’m sorry, Axel,” Moon apologized. “One moment she was sitting on the sofa while I was reading, the next she just flew out the window and after your train.”

“Eh, no biggie,” I shrugged it off. “We had fun in Manehatten anyway.”

“I shall be off to my home now, Axel,” Rich said. “I’ll see you tomorrow for our regular business together.”

“Bye, big brother Axel!” Diamond said and hugged me. “I had the best time ever with you!”

I hugged her back before the two of them left for home. Nala then started to paw at my leg, which was a sign that she was hungry.

“Hmm…seems like I need to help train you to hunt on your own,” I surmised. “Perhaps a trip to Everfree will help with that.”

“Everfree?” Moon perked up. “You’re already heading out when you just got back?”

“Hey, little Nala here can’t live off human food forever,” I shrugged. “Even though she’s my little companion, she’s still considered a wild animal.”

“Axel’s right,” Fluttershy spoke. “Manticore’s are one of the most capable and ferocious apex predators. I support the idea of Nala needing to get used to hunt for her own food.”

“And Everfree is where she’ll learn,” I said. “I’ll be back at the library as soon as we’re done with a field test.”

My trek to Everfree was short and I soon found myself standing in the thick foliage of trees. Nala looked around with her scorpion tail wagging lazily behind her as she looked up at me curiously.

“I meant what I said, Nala,” I said to the manticore cub. “You gotta learn to fend for yourself. Human food can’t be your only diet.” Nala meowed at me as if she agreed with me somewhat. “Now, go off and see if you can hunt down some critters. I’ll wait here.”

Nala meowed at me and obeyed my orders. She flapped her little bat wings and flew off deeper into the woods. I stood by a tree and waited patiently for her to return. After about ten minutes, I heard some rustling in the bushes and she came back with a surprise. The manticore cub had what looked like a gopher in her maw and it just hung loosely in her maw.

“Well, shit! That was fast!” I grinned. “Good girl, Nala! Guess you didn’t lose any of your animalistic instincts after all! I was worried you’d be too domesticated.”

Grrrrrr!

From some nearby bushes the sound of multiple growls could be heard. I quickly turned to see what was approaching.

From the bushes Timberwolves slowly crept out. First there were five, then ten, and within seconds thirty.

They were larger than normal wolves, their green eyes glowing menacingly at me and the manticore cub.

“Oh shit…” I said nervously and Nala hissed at them. Probably to protect her kill she wanted to feast on. “Hmph. Ain’t got any time for you stupid lumps of wood.” I opened and closed my hand as tiny sparks of electricity crackled.

Just as the pack was about to pounce, a new presence from behind Axel made itself known.

“Rrrrrraaaawwwwhhhhh!”

A deep and ominous roar filled the entire forest, making the trees shake, and all who heard it tremble. As if a horrific demon was now glaring down at the Timberwolves.

In an almost demonic voice Axel heard. “Begone, or I shall devour your corpses.”

Just as the Timberwolves scurried away like frightened pups, Nala and I slowly turned around to see none other than Orion himself. The guy must’ve had an easy five or so inches on me in height as Orion almost immediately changed his attitude and smiled that big goofy smile at me.

“You son of a bitch…!” I laughed as we dapped up on each other by clasping our hands together.

“Glad to see you are well, my friend,” Orion said with a smile as he pulled me into a hug and patted my back. “How long have you been in town?”

“Just got in,” I replied.

“Merow!” Nala meowed loudly and jumped on Orion’s chest.

Orion caught the little cub, and smiled, his hand moving to stroke her fur and scratch under her chin. “Well, hey there little lady, have you been keeping this numbskull out of trouble?”

“Hey!” I chastised.

“Merow!” Nala meowed again and Orion took notice of her grown size.

“My goodness you are growing up fast, pretty soon it will be hard to carry you around.” Despite his statement, Orion looked just as strong since I last saw him. But something did seem different about him, though I couldn’t put my finger on it. “So, what brings you to the Everfree forest? If you just got here, I would have figured you’d be in town catching up with the others.”

“Well, I was helping Nala hunt on her own since she can’t live off human food forever,” I said. “She surprised me by hunting that critter over there.”

Orion looked to see the gopher and nodded. “Very good, keeping her instincts sharp, I can respect that.” Orion looked to Nala and pointed to the gopher. “I suggest you go eat your meal then, sweetie. The most important rule of the hunt is as follows. Hunt to eat, and only eat what you hunt.”

Nala didn’t need to be told twice and got to chow down on her meal.

“So, what’s new with you, Orion?” I said as I leaned against a tree. “I see you got a growth spurt. How’d it go with Doo?”

There was a brief pause as Orion’s cheeks turned a dark shade of red, and he turned his face away coughing slightly. “Ahem, things went well, we managed to find two more talismans, and I managed to convince her to let me hang on to them. That’s about it.”

I stared at him for a good ten minutes before it clicked.

“…oh, no the hell you didn’t,” I tried desperately to suppress a laugh.

His cheeks burned red, and he did his best to not look my way. “Let it go, man, I’m warning you, alright?” He said through gritted teeth.

“Puh…HAHAHAHAHAHA!” I laughed out loud and held my gut. “Oh my god, dude! Seriously?! I mean, she’s hot, I can admit that, but really?! We only knew her for a fuckn’ day! What the hell did you do for a week?!”

I was dying of laughter that I didn't notice him raising his arm up. His hand making a chop pose.

“ORION CHOP!!” Then I felt him slam his hand down on my head.

“GAAHHH!” I yelled and held my head, already feeling a huge-ass bump growing. “…ow.” Orion glared down at me with a fury of a thousand suns. “Okay, but it’s still hilarious.” I rubbed my head a little more before standing up straight. Meanwhile, Orion was still trying to calm his blushing. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”

“Maybe later, for now let’s head back to town, I have some business to attend to, and I want to check in on Applejack,” Orion said.

I nodded and we both made our way back to town. Nala had just finished her meal and trotted next to us.

“So…Doo?” I asked with a smirk and he just looked away. “I’m just curious, man. How the fresh fuck did you manage that?”

“You know, I didn’t use more than 5% strength on that last chop. Keep talking, and I’ll show you what 20% looks and feels like.” Orion added coldly, glaring me down.

“Okay, then lemme tone down the smartassness and ask a simple question,” I said. “Are you two official, and does this mean you’re gonna do that joint relationship thing?”

His glare softened and his expression became more stoic. “That’s what I’m gonna ask AJ about. According to the tradition of this joint relationship, the lead woman must decide if any newcomers are allowed to join.”

“Y’know, I’m a little surprised,” I said as we made it out of the tree line. “I always figured you’d ask Shy or Rares out.” He looked at me like I was talking crazy. “What? Moon told me about your little spa trip with them. And I kinda got the vibe off them and their view of you to boot.”

His face went bright red, almost hot enough to be set on fire. His mouth opened and closed but no words came out. Clearly he didn't have the foggiest idea about.

“Dude, seriously?” I said with an arched brow. “I’m a dumbass, I’ll own that, but I’m not dense. You clearly made a good impression on them so it’s not surprising that they too would start to have a thing for you.”

He said nothing but turned away, but after a moment of silence he finally said his peace. “The idea of having more than one love is still a new concept to me. While it’s true having more to love is a good thing, it can also be a curse.” His tone was serious.

“Well…I mean, I guess I can understand why you’d say that,” I shrugged as we neared the town. Just then, Celestia popped into my mind and a brief image of me, Moon, and her came to mind. The thought made me smile a little. “But who can say? Maybe for some, it’s a whole new experience compared to just being with one woman.”

“Be forewarned, my friend. Dividing your heart could lead to it getting shattered faster,” Orion added in a sort of sagely voice.

I simply shrugged again just as we made it into town. Suddenly, a familiar sound of a pair of feet sprinting towards us was heard in the distance. Unsurprisingly, AJ was hot on her feet as she was in a full sprint right at us, specifically Orion. All Nala and I did was take a step back to rewatch a similar situation that has happened before, and will most likely happen whenever Orion and his girlfriend are away for a certain amount of time.

“Remember to center yourself, bro,” I said.

I saw him nod and that he was sweating bullets. “This is gonna hurt a lot,” he said in a slightly froggy voice. I watched as he dug his feet into the ground and prepared his body.

AJ wasted no time and jumped in the air with a big grin before crashing into Orion. Orion was able to catch his girlfriend but not without having the wind knocked out of him as she wrapped her arms around his chest and hugged him tight.

“‘Bout time ya showed up, ya big lug!” AJ said with glee.

Orion let out a weak weeze before looking down at his girlfriend. “Missed you too, AJ, but you really need to stop tackling me like this,” he said in a hoarse voice, his body almost going pale from the impact.

“Shut it!” AJ giggled and planted a wet kiss on his lips.

It was then that the rest of the girls, plus Moon, managed to catch up and meet with us.

“Yo, girls,” I said.

“Is that Orion?!” Rarity asked.

“He’s back!” Shy squealed.

“And getting busy already,” Rainbow smirked.

Orion’s face went back to being bright red, but I don’t think it was because of Rainbow’s remark. He avoided looking at Rarity and Fluttershy, trying not to stare at them for too long. No doubt because of what I had said earlier. When AJ broke the kiss, Orion couldn’t help but chuckle at AJ and wrapped his arms around her. AJ did the same and nuzzled her face in his chest.

“Yeah…” AJ sighed. “Nothin’ beats this, I’ll tell ya what.”

“Well, I can think of one thing.” In a smooth and fluent motion, Orion scooped up Applejack holding her like a princess, before wiggling his eyebrows at her.

“Ah! Hahahaha!” AJ giggled and nuzzled Orion more.

“Aw, well, ain’t that precious?” I said, wrapping my arm around Moon’s hip.

“Indeed. They truly love each other,” Moon said.

“Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” We all looked up to see Derpy fly towards us and pull out a newspaper and handed it to Rainbow Dash.

At that moment I noticed that Orion went a little bit pale, and slowly put Applejack down, before trying to sneak away.

“What the HECK?!” Rainbow gasped while reading the paper. “ORION!”

“Oh, this should be good,” I rolled my eyes.

I watched as Orion’s body went stiff and he slowly turned to look at Dash. “Who…me?” He asked dripping bullets as he seemed worried.

“Yeah, you!” Dash said and showed us the newspaper. “You met Spitfire and the Wonderbolts?!”

I was honestly surprised by the headliner. Random Civilian rescue Wonderbolts! in bold captions, with a picture of Orion shaking hands with Spitfire.

“Now, hold on, Dash, I can explain. Just relax,” Orion added, trying to defuse the situation before it could escalate.

“You can start by explaining this!” Rainbow demanded.

“Guess there was a lot more that happened on your trip than what you told me, bro,” I smirked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” AJ wondered.

“Axel, if you ever want to have kids, I suggest you keep your mouth closed.” Orion shot me a death glare as his hand was in a chopping pose, however given where he was aiming, I quickly decided to shut up.

Clearing his throat Orion spoke up. “I was on my way back from my last exploration with D- I mean, A.K Yearling, for her book. We were passing through an area where the Wonderbolts were performing and wanted to catch the show from one of the viewing buildings. I didn’t see what happened, but I saw that two of them had been injured and were falling.”

“Falling? The Wonderbolts?” Twilight asked. “That’s rare.”

“What happened?! How did you save them?! Can I meet them?! Did you get their autograph?!” Rainbow bleated as she shook Orion like a rag doll while gripping his shirt collar.

“Will…you…stop…shaking…me!?” Orion shouted as his body was pulled back and forth.

This got Dash to stop, but she wasn’t definitely still eager to hear what happened. “All I did was run off one building to jump and grab them, before landing on the next building.”

“What are you, the Hulk?” I asked jokingly. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. “He’s…it’s just a…never mind…”

“That must’ve been quite a shock for them,” Fluttershy said.

“I know that would’ve shocked me! Wowie!” Pinkie chirped.

“Yes, well, they were just happy to have come out unharmed. Afterwards, I would find out that they were testing out some new flight suits. Problem is that these newer versions were actually putting a strain on the base of the wings, that’s why they fell,” Orion explained while showing where on the wing that was the problem.

“Well, kudos to you, man,” I said.

“That’s so cool! And so unfair!” Rainbow said. “You both got to meet my heroes and made a good impression! When am I gonna get my chance?”

“I could introduce you, you know,” I said. “I still got Spitz’s card.”

“Oh, that reminds me.” Orion reached into his shirt, where I guess he has a pocket, and pulled out an envelope. “I did get this from Spitfire.”

“What’s that?” Rainbow wondered. “An autographed letter?! Gimme!”

Like a cat, she jumped at the envelope but Orion moved his hand out of the way. We watched them play cat and mouse as Rainbow kept swiping at the envelope to grab it.

“Now, calm down Dash, this is an invite for one the next Wonderbolts try out,” Orion said calmly.

“But how come she gave it to you?!” Rainbow accused. “No offense, Orion, but you don’t even have wings! At least Ax has an excuse since he technically does have wings thanks to his weird magic!”

“If I had a bit for every time I had to say that my powers aren’t magic, I’d have my own private yacht on standby,” I deadpanned.

“She gave it to me because I asked,” Orion quickly added. “She seemed grateful enough for me saving her, that she said yes.”

“Care to explain why?” I asked.

“I’m also curious,” AJ wondered.

“This is Spitfire, we’re talking about!” Rainbow pointed out. “She wouldn’t give such a precious thing to just anyone! She’d only do it for the best of the best fliers!”

At this Orion looked at Dash, he gave her a knowing look. “And you think that you are one of them?” He asked in a serious tone.

“Well, sure I am! I’m the best flier in all of Ponyville!” Rainbow boasted. “Ax may have had a lucky chance to race the Wonderbolts but I would’ve done just as well if it were me!”

Orion kept a serious look on his face, like he was cooking up a plan of some kind. “Alright Dash, time to put your bits where your mouth is, since you are the best one here.” Orion held up the letter. “If you can beat me in a competition of your choosing, I will hand this over to you.”

“Really?” Rainbow said with sparkles in her eyes. Orion promised by doing the traditional pinkie promise.

“Pinkie promise.” Everyone gasped. “Now then, I hope you won’t be so rude as to choose a competition only you can participate in.”

“How about a race?” Rainbow suggested.

“Hello?” I spoke, gesturing to Orion’s lack of wings. “Seems a bit unfair, if you ask me.”

“She would be at more of an advantage if they were to race each other,” Rarity agreed.

“I accept,” Orion quickly agreed, making everyone look at him, like he had lost his damn mind. Which I was thinking right now.

“Hang on a sec.” I walked behind Orion and started touching his back. He was a bit put off by it until I then looked into his ear. “Hello! Anything in there! I’m looking for what should be my friend’s brain! If there’s a brain in there, knock twice!”

“I know what I’m doing, Axel.” Orion swiped my hand away as he looked back at Dash. “So, when, and where Dash? I hope you won’t try and suggest a place where I can’t run.”

“Easy! Ghastly Gorge!” Rainbow challenged.

“Again? But you almost broke your wing last time,” Twilight said out of concern.

“But she got her pet Tank out of it!” Pinkie chirped.

“Someone wanna fill me in? Who’s Tank?” I asked.

“My pet tortoise,” Rainbow answered.

“That only makes less sense and more questions,” I deadpanned.

“Easy!” Dash quickly flew off before just as quickly coming back with a map and marker. “We’ll start at the edge of Ponyville and make our way to Rambling Rock Ridge.” She drew out the route for everyone to see. “Then around the Everfree Forest, and eventually through Ghastly Gorge, until finally coming back around to the edge of Ponyville.”

“That’s a long ways around,” I commented.

“It’s my daily route!” Rainbow boasted.

“You sure you can handle that, bro?” I asked Orion. “How can you be so sure you’ll win?”

Orion said nothing, but I did watch as he examined the route that dash drew up. “Alright, and it’s memorized,” Orion said with a smile. “So, Dash, we have the where, now what about the when?”

“Tomorrow at dawn!” Rainbow proclaimed. “I’m gonna go practice right now!”

And with that, she sped off with a rainbow streak in her wake.

“And…she’s done,” I sighed. “Why do I get the feeling you have some ulterior motive in all this?”

“Heh, well let’s just say I’m full of surprises.” I saw a look of dread start to take over Orion’s face all of a sudden. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go chat with my girlfriend.”

I could tell he was feeling anxious, and I moved to pat his back to comfort him. “Want some support, man?” I asked out of concern.

Orion sighed and shook his head. “Nope I got this. I just need to bite the bullet and deal with it.” He let out a groan as he made his way to Applejack. “I’m gonna be sore in the morning.”

Later That Evening

After Orion and Rainbow’s declaration for a race, me, Moon, and Twilight decided to head back to the library. In the back of my mind, I knew I had to talk to Moon about what happened in Manehatten. Although, I was not looking forward to how she’d react after all is said and done. The worst she’d do is never forgive me and dump me on the spot. Or she’ll most likely send me to the moon…which I probably still wouldn’t blame her for.

“I’m gonna hit the sack,” Spike said before yawning. “All this excitement makes me sleepy. And there’s more to come tomorrow!”

“I agree,” Twilight said. “I’m just gonna do some light reading before bed.”

While Spike and Twilight retreated to their rooms, Moon and I went to ours and I closed the door behind us.

“Hey…uh, Moon?” I said nervously. “Can we talk? I gotta get something off my chest.”

“Oh? What troubles you, dear Axel?” She asked while seating herself as I took a deep breath.

I sat on the edge of our bed and pulled off my beanie.

“It’s about what happened in Manehatten,” I said. “Dante…did some things with my body while he was in control.”

“Did he now?” Moon’s voice became a mix of concern and suspicion as she waited for me to explain.

“So…I’m assuming you read the news?” I asked. “And heard it on the radio? About somebody named the Red Hawk?”

“Yes, Sir Marshall has declared to track down that vigilante since his appearance. I dare say he’s loving the chase.” Moon seemed to show admiration for my alter ego with a smirk.

“It is Dante…” I confessed.

“Pardon?” Moon perked up.

“The Red Hawk,” I spoke slowly. “Dante is the vigilante the Red Hawk. The one responsible for the massacre at the hotel.”

Silence fell upon our room as Moon contemplated my confession. I could tell there was a mix of emotions beginning to swirl within her mind as she looked down for a moment before looking at me and back to the floor. All the while, I was bracing myself for what she’d say next.

“Wait, so that means…essentially YOU are The Red Hawk!” Moon gasped after putting the pieces together and even felt a little dizzy as she tried to process the information. “Why tell me this?”

“Because I don’t want to keep anything from you anymore,” I said. “After last time, it scared the hell out of me when you left because I wasn’t honest. I just want you to trust me still.” A wave of guilt suddenly washed over me, and I turned away. “Unfortunately…it doesn’t stop there”.

“Oh dear, something tells me we’re going to need drinks after this,” Moon sighed.

“Dante’s boss wanted to reward him for his efforts one night after he won a bloody death match,” I began. “You’d think tons of money or treasure would suffice but…it was more than that.” Moon listened intently as I looked back at her dead in the eye. “Moon…he slept with two other women using my body.”

“HE DID WHAT?!?” Moon shrieked at the top of her lungs as her hair flared with anger and now, I felt like I had just confessed to my mother. She then got in my face and glared at me dead in the eye. Although, I somehow felt like she wasn’t exactly glaring at me specifically. “I want him out here right now!! Dante, I know you can hear me, you degenerate!!”

“I-It doesn’t work like that, Moon!” I tried to say as tears began to form in her eyes and her hair flared up on its own. “I can’t force him to switch if he doesn’t want to anymore! And believe me, I tried to make him stop but he…he wouldn’t listen to me!”

“The nerve of that…that.” Moon took a deep breath to calm herself. “Forgive me, I just didn’t expect him to make you experience something so…special.”

The cogs in my mind began to turn when I realized she wasn’t doing something I was expecting her to. I looked down at myself to see that all of my limbs were still attached to my body, my head was still on my shoulders, and my girlfriend, despite her irritated mood, wasn’t directing any of her frustrations towards me.

“Hold up…” I said as I pointed at Moon. “You’re…mad at Dante.” I then pointed at myself. “But you’re not…mad at me?”

“Well, I can’t exactly blame you for the actions of another but what really upsets me is that you never got to share that event with someone close to you,” Moon explained, sounding once more like a mother. “I swear, all these young ones want these days is just sex. There’s no romance, no courtship, not like when I was a girl.”

“I…wow, I did not expect you to not blame me,” I said, feeling both shocked and relieved.

“Axel, I know what it’s like to have a separate entity dwell with the mind. After all, I was an entity dwelling within Luna’s mind,” Moon said. “My actions were my own, and I still blame myself for making Luna suffer. And I surmise that she is also still blaming herself somewhat for what happened a thousand years ago.” Moon sat next to me on the bed and put her hand on mine. “The point is I don’t blame you. You were not in control. As far as I am concerned, you have still yet to do it with anyone, and you still have your virtue.”

I couldn’t help but tear up a little at how unbelievably understanding Moon was being. I was fully convinced that she’d chew me out for something like this and kick me to the curb like a piece of cheating garbage. I immediately hugged her close as she hugged me back and wrapped her wings around me.

“I feel like I don’t really deserve you…” I said softly. “Women back home would never be as understanding as you.”

“Well, most women aren’t me~.” Moon grinned as she squeezed me into her chest and gave a short giggle. “And there’s no way I could stay mad at you.”

I looked into Moon’s beautiful eyes, and my heart started to beat very fast. I could feel her heart also beating fast as we stayed staring at each other for what felt like several minutes. A blush formed across her cheeks and I imagine the same happened to me. I’m not sure why but I felt as though I didn’t want to look away.

“Moon…” I said softly and leaned in.

“Yees~?” Moon cooed, waiting for an answer as she leaned in closer.

“I…” I was barely able to say anything at this point as I closed the gap and kissed her.

LEMON!!!

She wrapped her arms around my neck. I massaged her back while being careful of her wing joins as she poked her tongue into my mouth.

“Mmm, that’s more like it, Axel~.” Moon grinned as we fell to the bed, her beautiful body now on top of me as her wings fanned out making her look like a real angel of the night. “To be honest, I was worried I’d have to make the first move.” Moon confessed while hugging me. “I’ve seen the way you look at me, Axel, the way you stare~.”

“Sorry about that,” I apologized as she undid her top.

“Don’t be sorry, I know you want me, and I want you too~.” Moon then sat back up to reveal her amazing body in all its glory with only her chest concealed by a black laced bra.

“Is that…” I said with a gulp.

“No underwire~.” Moon grinned before clipping it open and letting it fall onto my face. “Now, put those hands to good use and take off the rest of my dress~.”

I pulled the bra aside and my eyes almost bulged out of my skull. Her perfect f-cup breasts were on full display with inverted pink nipples. I swallowed the biggest lump in my throat as the only perfect boobs I ever saw were the ones porn stars had. Not wanting to keep her waiting, I slowly reached up and grabbed the hem of her dress. I slowly pulled it off her, making her giggle at me at how awkward my movements were. I somehow managed to pull her dress all the way off and all she wore were her panties that had a noticeable wet spot.

“Woah…” I breathed out.

With a snap of her fingers, she used her magic to make my clothes disappear and reappear off to the side, so I was wearing only my boxers.

“Now…touch me~,” Moon beckoned while guiding my hands all over her body.

Her skin was so velvety soft at my touch. There were no flaws anywhere on her flat stomach, her toned back, her strong wings, her firm butt, and especially her perfect tits as my hands glided over the supple flesh. Moon moaned while biting her lip as I watched her nipples poke out.

“Mmm, I’ve seen many men have dreams about this~,” she smirked as we shared another kiss. My right hand found its way to her panties while my left squeezed her breast fervently, making her moan into my kiss as her breathing grew more intense.

Our tongues coiled around each other as she held my head with her hands and played with my hair. I felt my fingers touch her pussy lips, making her gasp in my mouth. I then started to gently rub my fingers against her pussy while I pinched her nipple.

“Mmm~! Easy, darling, no need to be so aggressive~, Moon teased while reaching into my boxers. “My, my, seems I’ve found your hidden weapon~.”

I watched my girlfriend scoot down while kissing my body. She kissed my neck, then my chest, my stomach, and even kissed the fabric of my boxers as the sizable tent twitched in anticipation. Moon licked her lips as she grabbed the waistband and pulled it down, revealing my rock hard dick.

“Holy shit…” I breathed out.

“Mmm, what a tasty sausage I found~,” Moon purred, her fangs beginning to show almost like a vampire as she opened wide.

“Uhh w-watch the teeth…” I gulped before feeling her go down all the way as the sensation of her warm throat engulfed my cock.

“H-HOLY!!” I grunted while trying not to finish instantly.

The feeling was indescribable as I watched Moon skillfully bobbed up and down on my cock. Her lips stretched a bit as she suckled on my meat and never broke her gaze from my eyes. I could feel her tongue coiling around me whenever she bottomed out. Moon then let go with an audible pop and gave my dick a long sensual lick from the base to the up while she cupped my balls.

“How…are you so…good at this?” I managed to ask in my daze.

“You’re not the first lover I’ve taken, my dear~." She confessed. “Luna and I had our share of experiences~.” Before I could respond, she spun around and put her royal butt right in my face and sat on me like I was a cushion.

“Feel that~?” She asked as I gave a muffled yes. “This is yours from now on, to do with whatever you please~.” She moaned and began rubbing against me. “As is the rest of me~.”

I felt her go back down on my cock and she slurped and sucked away. I felt something moist on my lips and realized it was her pussy through her panties. I reached up with my hand and managed to pull the thin layer of fabric aside and got a good look at her pussy. Her cameltoe looked quite moist and I could oddly smell the scent of blackberries. I then poked my tongue out from my mouth and gave her pussy a light lick. Her pussy juices tingled my taste buds and she gave a slight moan. I gave her pussy another lick and found myself repeatedly licking her pussy like a lollipop.

“Mmm~.” Moon hummed at my efforts as we serviced each other and basked in each other’s warmth before she gave a short gag on my cock, nearly choking on it as it became stiff as a spear.

“Perfect~.” She huffed before finally getting off my face and rolling me on top of her.

“Take me my darling~.” Moon encouraged me while keeping her legs open and holding up her breasts for me.

“I…I’m not exactly sure what to do,” I confessed. “This is my first time so…maybe help me out?”

Moon giggled as she reached down to spread her folds.

“It’s simple, my dear, take your stiff rod and plunge it into my depths~,” Moon instructed in a most sensual voice and licked her lips like a predator.

“Uh…s-sure,” I said sheepishly and aimed my dick.

I could see a hole in her pussy that told me that’s where I should stick it. I carefully aimed my dick at her pussy and managed to prod her entrance. Moon gazed up at me with a loving smile as she wrapped her arms around my neck. I nodded at her and moved my hips forward. Inch after inch of my dick slowly entered her pussy. I was on cloud nine as the tightness almost overwhelmed me. It was then I realized that Moon looked to be in pain a little. When I looked down, I noticed a thin trickle of blood leaking out of her pussy.

“Is…Is this actually your first time?” I asked nervously.

“H-How careless of me…” Moon said shakily. “I seem to have forgotten that…even though I have shared memories with Luna, my new physical body is my own. I myself have not had sex before.” She cupped my cheek and started to tear up. “But I consider this a blessing in disguise. For we have now officially given each other our first times~.”

“Moon…” I spoke with love and affection.

The two of us shared a more wholesome kiss as our fingers interlocked and we held each other close with Luna giving a few whimpers from each thrust.

“A-am I hurting you?” I asked out of concern.

“Nnng…! Just a little but it’s fading,” Moon reassured me.

I decided to keep my thrusts slow and steady so that she could adjust. I still couldn’t believe that I was actually having sex, and it was with the most beautiful and understanding woman I’ve ever known. Her whimpers soon turned into moans and she held onto my neck for dear life.

“You feel…incredible,” I groaned as I slowly upped my pace.

“Mmm, my darling~,” Moon moaned sensually while gripping the sheets as her legs found their way to my shoulders while giving me a lustful gaze.

“Kiss me~.” Moon panted after finally getting used to my thrusts.

I leaned down and kissed her deep while my thrusts got faster. Our tongues battle for dominance as she wrapped her legs around me tightly. The bed creaked under our lovemaking and our moans filled the room along with the stench of sex. My cock was feeling every inch of her pussy and I think I could feel the tip of my cock kissing what felt like the entrance of her womb.

“Moon!” I called her name. “I love you! I love you so damn much!”

“Mmm~! I love you too~!” Moon cried out as her arms wrapped around me. “I want to do this every night with you~!"

Without thinking, I pinned her to the headboard and began slamming her harder as our combined grunts began filling the room.

“Twilight is not going to like this~,” She giggled while letting me suck on one of her tits.

“She’ll deal with it~,” I said, sounding confident while I suckled on her nipple. “After all, she had to have foreseen this happening at some point~.”

“Mmm, well, one thing is for sure, I’m glad I became your first~,” Moon teased.

“Me too~,” I said and kissed her again.

I thrusted into her more forcefully and she moaned louder than before. I played with her flopping tits with my hands and pinched her nipples in the process. Moon’s tongue hung out of her mouth as her eyes rolled back due to sheer pleasure. Whenever she refocused her eyes, I could swear I saw a pair of pink hearts where her pupils were.

“D-Don’t pull out, I want to feel all of it~!” Moon moaned loudly just as her legs locked firmly around my waist. “Give me everything you have~!”

“Moon!” I called her name as tension built up in my groin. “Moon, I’m…cumming! FUCK!”

I slammed my hips into her one last time before I unleashed my load deep into her pussy. Moon let her jaw hang open while letting out a silent scream as her pussy sprayed my crotch with her juices as she came as well. Our climaxes worked in tandem to send out pulse after pulse of sweet pleasure throughout our bodies for over a minute at least. Once the climax died down, we both were breathing heavily as we basked in the afterglow of our lovemaking. I slowly pulled my softening dick out of her pussy and globs of my cum dripped out onto the mattress. I rolled over on my back as sweat dripped from my whole body while Moon scooted over and rested her head on my chest. I wrapped my arm around her as I stared up at the ceiling. I had done it. In my twenty-five years of living, I had finally cashed in my v-card and became a man!

END OF LEMON!!!

“That was…incredible,” I said with a heavy sigh.

“Mmm, it was wonderful~,” Moon said while twirling her finger around my chest. “But we better clean up this mess before Twilight comes in tomorrow to clean.”

“You’re cute when you worry~,” I said before giving her another kiss.

As we cuddled in the sheets, we failed to notice a certain pair of eyes peeping through the doors looking completely shocked. I paid it no mind as we eventually got up to clean the room. I noticed Moon’s legs wobble a little as she tried to stand up.

“I did good work, huh?” I asked, wiggling my eyebrows at her.

“Hmph,” Moon said with a smirk while turning to clean and since she was now officially my girlfriend, I took this opportunity to give her ass a good smack that made her yelp and give a short moan as she looked at me with bedroom eyes.

“Already marking what’s yours, my love?” Moon asked.

“Why not?” I shrugged as I pulled off the sheets. “I may as well get more confident now that we’ve officially lovers. Plus, you can’t sit there and deny you like the new attention.”

“Mmm, fair enough but warn me next time~,” Moon teased while using her magic to reshelve the books. “Perhaps this will be the start of that little fantasy of yours.”

“W-What fantasy?” I stammered, forgetting she can see into dreams as she raised her brow at me.

“On a later date,” Moon teased me, then looked like she thought of something. “Axel. I have a request if you don’t mind.”

“Sure, what’s up?” I asked as I put the new sheets on the bed.

“I would like to step into your dreams and have a word with Dante,” Moon said.

“Why do I get the feeling there's more to it?” I asked when she gave me an innocent smile but I could sense malice in her voice.

“I just wanna talk to him,” Moon said with a plain expression.

“That’s what they all say…” I said nervously.

I had just finished making the bed and we both stepped into the shower to clean ourselves off. Honestly, I was tempted to take her for another round because she kept teasing me with her body. After managing to clean ourselves properly, we stepped out of the shower and I laid down on the bed with Moon next to me.

“I’m going to cast a sleep spell on you now,” Moon explained. “Once you fall asleep, I will enter your dream.”

“Okay, but I gotta warn you, Dante is a little…immature,” I said while she just rolled her eyes and kissed me.

“I can handle it. Now, time for bed,” Moon said as she held up a finger with a sparkle of magic and tapped it on my forehead.

My eyes immediately became heavy as I fell under her spell and fell asleep. My vision blurred as I closed my eyes and the world around me began to change. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in the usual empty bar I always met Dante at.

“Look what the Conduit dragged in.” I turned around to see Dante sitting at the end of the bar sipping a drink. “What brings you here, Rickert? I thought you’d be with your girlfriend in another part of your sleeping mind?”

“Um about that…” I tried to say.

Moon appeared in a flash of light wearing her signature dress while giving Dante a scolding glance.

“That’s twice tonight I’m met with an unexpected visit,” Dante smirked. “To what do I owe the pleasure, oh princess of the night?”

“You made my precious Axel here engage in a night of debauchery,” Moon stated, crossing her arms in disapproval.

“Well, technically it wasn’t him that did the dirty deed with those women,” Dante shrugged. “But I won’t deny it. My first threesome was a fuckn’ blast~. Ha!”

Suddenly, Moon raised her hand and used her magic to grab onto Dante and slammed him against the bar top.

“Let me be frank. If you EVER make my precious Axel go through such an ordeal again, I will make you my personal pet project! Understood?!” I never thought I’d see Moon so angry and to be honest…it was kinda hot seeing her stick up for me.

“Heh! Hehhehehehaha!” Dante started laughing. “And why the fuck should I give a rat’s dick what you say to me?!” Dante looked at Moon with a grin. “After all, this doesn’t meet with the terms of our agreement.”

“Oh, so that’s how you want to play it, hm?” Moon asked before dragging him over. “Let me put it in terms you can grasp.”

“Uh oh…” was all I said as she raised her right leg and spread Dante’s body.

In one fell swoop, Moon swung her leg forward and slammed her foot right into Dante’s crotch. Dante’s eyes bugged out of his head as the wind was knocked out of him immediately. When Moon flicked her hand to release Dante, he cupped his crotch and fell to knees before falling on his side.

“You…fucking…bitch!” Dante wheezed.

“Next time, I’ll use my old morning star,” Moon threatened as she used her hand to flip her hair before turning back to me with a warm smile.

“Axel, darling, I’ll be waiting for you to wake up. I have a special surprise for you~.” She purred while rolling her shoulder at me with a wink. A cheesy but classic move.

I grinned as she teleported away and looked back at Dante. “Let’s just rule this as a punishment for whenever you decide to bump uglies with another woman, Dante. Don’t know if that’ll even be worth it for you in the end.”

As Dante lay in pain, I exited the bar to meet Moon in the waking world with a smile plastered on my face.

Elsewhere
3rd POV

It has been an unbearable ten minutes since Orion and Applejack returned to the farm. Big Mac, Applebloom, and Granny Smith were still out in the orchards harvesting apples for Equestria. However, on the way back to the farm, Orion had confessed what had happened during his trip. Suffice to say, Applejack was quiet the whole time and continued to say nothing. Now, Orion was sweating bullets as he sat on the sofa while Applejack sat on the chair in front of him with her arms and legs crossed.

Orion looked as pale as a ghost, worried how Applejack would respond. “And that sums up the whole trip with me and Doo.”

Orion had to tell Applejack the truth about who Derring Do was, since he knew she could sniff out a lie.

“How was it?” Applejack smirked, making Orion do a double take at his girlfriend. She didn’t look the slightest bit annoyed, angry, or even disappointed at the fact that her boyfriend was with another girl.

Orion blinked confusingly at his girlfriend’s question but decided to answer truthfully. “Well, um…it was good, but not as good as when I’m with you, love.”

“Well, I’m happy for ya,” Applejack said with a smile. “Ya know, I’m honestly surprised. A strappin’ stud like yourself who looks like he can bench press an apple tree or two. How do ya not have a trail of girls followin’ you everywhere ya go just to get into your pants?”

That comment made Orion’s face flush crimson, as he remembered what his friend Axel said about Fluttershy and Rarity. “W-well about that.” His voice became shaky. “Axel said he might know two others who possibly have their eyes on me.”

“Ya mean Shy and Rarity?” AJ said bluntly. This made steam come out of Orion’s ears, making AJ giggle hysterically. “Aw, don’t be like that, babe! If it’s any consolation, they even told me they fancy ya themselves.”

Orion almost flipped backwards at the statement. He found how she said it so casually shocking. “They did?! What did you say? Are you upset?”

“Orion, breathe,” AJ said, raising her hand. Orion did his best to calm himself while taking a breath. “Now, to answer your question, we were at lunch one day after dealin’ with Bloom and this Cutie Pox fiasco she got herself in. You then came to mind and I wondered about how you’re doing. It was when I mentioned your name did I see it all from them. The dreamy smiles, the glaze in their eyes, and how they wouldn’t shut up about ya. I had to snap them out of it before they realized just how long they were gawkin’ on about ya.”

The man’s face flushed different shades of red, and one could almost see steam billowing off his head. Orion felt almost dizzy just from what Applejack said. “I-I see. Then what happened?”

“Well, I asked them straight out if they liked ya. And they said yes,” AJ affirmed. “So, that begs the question, since it also seems ya beat me to it. Do you wanna start a joint relationship?”

Orion felt confused and even dumbfounded. The weight of the question made him feel he was holding up the tower bell again. He took time to think about it, before giving his response. “I might be willing, but only if I know there is a genuine connection.”

“Then let’s start with Doo,” AJ said as she leaned back. “Tell me the truth, Orion, do you feel a genuine connection with her?”

Orion remained quiet, as he tried to think about the question. He moved a hand over his chest and took a deep breath. Picturing the time he spent with Daring, and how they were together while alone. “I think…”

The Next Morning

Word had apparently spread throughout Ponyville, courtesy of Pinkie Pie, and the whole town had gathered to bear witness the race firsthand. Pinkie Pie was sitting at a table selling coffee and breakfast pastries while Orion and Rainbow stood at the starting line. Rainbow was busying herself by stretching her wings and legs while Orion was…checking his nails for grime.

“Man, I should pay the spa another visit. After last night, I’m gonna be sore ‘till who knows how long when.” Orion sighed as he glanced at Applejack who shot him a flirty wink and was practically glowing. “Glad only one of us is sore.”

Axel downed his third cup of coffee and yawned while Moon munched on a donut.

“You sure you’re okay?” Axel asked Moon. “I mean…our conversation last night was kinda heavy.”

“I’m sure,” Moon reassured her lover. “After all, I was able to throw that alter ego around in your mind. He won’t be switching with you any time soon, and…” Moon leaned against him with a lidded stare. “I’m just glad we were finally able to consummate our love~.”

“Y-Yeah…consummate,” Axel laughed sheepishly.

“Alright everyone, it’s time to get ready!” Twilight who moved to stand in front of both Dash and Orion who stood behind a white like in the ground. “The race is about to begin.” Twilight held up a green flag high over her head. “You both know the route to take, and we will be watching for any cheating. The rules are simple, racers can either run or fly through the course. Now are you two ready?”

“Good luck, Dash!” Pinkie cheered.

“Don’t need luck! Just skill!” Rainbow boasted.

Orion glanced at Fluttershy and Rarity, and both girls waved at Orion. Fluttershy blushed behind her hair and Rarity batted her eyes at Orion before subtly blowing him a kiss. The man blushed and looked at AJ who nodded to him.

“Alright, on your mark…get set!” Twilight raised the flag higher up, before swinging it down. “GO!”

With a single flap of her wings, Rainbow took off into the sky leaving a cloud of dust in her wake. The crowd cheered at her explosive start but some were shocked to see Orion just standing there.

“Uh…Orion?” Axel called out. “The race started. You should get going!”

Orion didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned around and walked over to Fluttershy and Rarity. His cheeks flushed red, not even paying attention to the crowd of people shout at him to start moving. Eventually he stood in front of the two girls.

“Orion?” Fluttershy said. “What’s wrong?”

“Darling, you must hurry!” Rarity pleaded. “You’ll fall behind too far and won’t be able to catch up!”

Orion didn't reply right away, instead he bowed his head. “After this race, will you two let me take you out on a date?!” He shouted as if that was the only way he was able to get what was on his mind out.

As if all at once, the entire crowd fell silent. Axel nearly spat out his coffee, and the two girls he had just asked out. The girls in question were blushing a deep red in their cheeks while contemplating his request. Rarity was the first to compose herself as she smiled a big grin. The young woman took Orion’s hand and held it close with both of hers.

“Darling…I would love to,” Rarity said softly.

Fluttershy, however, took all of her willpower she could possibly summon within herself to take a single breath before she too reached out with shaky hands to clasp around Orion’s.

“I-I…I would love to…as w-well,” Fluttershy said with a shaky voice and a gleeful smile.

It was time for Orion to be the one smiling. His heart fluttered as he stepped away from the girls. “Then I better hurry and finish this race then.” He hopped away looking like he was walking on clouds. But in the next instance, he got into a running stance, and in the blink of an eye, took off just as fast as Dash did.

“Damn! He’s almost as fast as me when I use Neon!” Axel gasped. “What the hell was that energy rush?!”

“I…I’m not sure!” Moon said, also completely flabbergasted. “He was here, and then he wasn’t!”

“It’s the power of love!” Pinkie cried happily. “LOVE! Love makes you do incredible things!”

“Love…huh?” I spoke, still reeling from Orion’s sudden burst of speed. “Go figure.”

Meanwhile, Dash was still flying at high speeds through the skies with a confident smile plastered across her face. She glanced behind her shoulder to see no sign of Orion, which only boosted her confidence.

“Ha! Easiest win I ever had!” Rainbow chuckled.

“So, Dash, what do you think about your opponent Orion? Would you say this was a fair race?” A voice asked alongside Dash.

“Fair? Pfft! He should’ve known better than to challenge me!” Rainbow scoffed. “That letter is as good as mine!”

“Right, but what if, say, he suddenly was standing next to you, running as fast as you were fly?” The voice asked curiously.

“Well, that would be impossible!” Rainbow stated. “No earth pony-human could ever be that fast! Well, save for Pinkie. But she zips around so it doesn’t count!”

“Right, well, it seems that I’m now the second earth pony-human to do so.” The voice now moved in front of Dash revealing Orion sporting a smug grin. “Try not to eat my dust.” He taunted playfully before zooming away.

“Wh-I-You-! GET BACK HERE!” Rainbow shrieked and went into overdrive with her flapping.

The rainbow speedster gritted her teeth as she slowly closed the distance between her and Orion. Orion dashed as if he was in the middle of a jog until he glanced over his shoulder to see Dash closing in.

“Well, look who decided to get serious?” Orion spoke in a mocking tone before speeding up, putting some distance between himself and Rainbow Dash.

“Grr! I’ll show you serious!” Dash growled.

The pegasus-human girl flexed all the muscles in her wings and joints and flapped them even harder than before. The wind blew against her face that made her squint a little as she once again closed the gap. Orion was hopping over boulders and weaving past a few trees before glancing up to see Dash had once again caught up to him.

Orion only smiled as he saw that Dash was now motivated and did his best to stay ahead of Dash. He soon made a sharp turn as it was time to cross the river that would lead to Rambling Rock Ridge.

“Hey Rainbow, you better hurry up, it will take me some time to cross the river. That could be your key to getting the lead!” Orion called out.

The girl didn’t relent as she kept up her fast pace. As soon as they reached the river, Orion jumped in the air and did a perfect swan dive into the water before swimming at an unnaturally fast pace. Even while swimming, Rainbow watched Orion swim like a madman and was almost as fast as he was while running. But this didn’t deter Rainbow in the slightest as she was able to pass Orion.

“I got this,” Rainbow said to herself as she kept her breathing in check. “I got this!”

Orion breached the surface for some air and caught a glimpse of Dash passing her. “Nice, very nice,” Orion nodded.

Onion quickly dived down as low as he could, before swimming as fast as he could back up. Like a shark preparing to attack its prey, he launched himself out of the water and towards the shore. The moment his body touched the ground he shifted into a roll, and quickly jumped back onto his feet to chase after Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow glanced over her shoulder to see Orion beginning to close in. Her eyes widened as she tried to pick up the pace again. Her speed caused a slipstream to trail behind her while Orion began to sweat just a little.

“Phew! Still getting used to this,” Orion moved his hand to wipe some sweat off his forehead. He looked up ahead and saw the next leg of their race, Rambling Rock Ridge.

“Oh yeah! This’ll be easy!” Rainbow boasted. “That letter is as good as mine!”

Orion couldn’t help but overhear her boasting and chuckled to himself.

“Well, I think it’s time I really blow her mind. Hey Rainbow Dash!” Orion called out.

Dash feeling confident looked back to see what Orion wanted, only when she did, he was gone?

“What the?! Where’d he go?!” Rainbow wondered and looked around frantically for Orion.

She soon felt a tap on her head and looked up. Her jaw dropped as she saw Orion now flying over her head. “Did I mention I can fly now?” He asked with a smug grin.

“WHAT THE TARTARUS?!” Rainbow yelped.

“Love to stay and chat but I have a race to win.” Orion gave a wave of his hand and zoomed off, leaving Rainbow behind as he flew above the rocky ridges.

Rainbow was visibly shaken at the sight of Orion being able to fly without wings. Any attempt to try and rationalize it made her brain hurt but she didn’t have time to dwell on it. All she could do now is continue flapping her wings as hard as she could until she barely managed to catch up to Orion.

“How…are you…flying?!” Rainbow demanded between breaths. “You have…no wings! And you’re…an earth-pony human!”

“I’ll tell you and the others later after I win the race!” Orion called back in a teasing tone as he zoomed along the trail, ducking and weaving around rocks and boulders.

Rainbow maneuvered along Orion’s path through the terrain and kept her eyes on Orion. His words seemed to strike a chord within her that made her eyes glare at him, and she forced her wings to flap even faster than ever.

“Faster…! Faster! FASTER! FUCKING FASTER!” Rainbow chanted as her wings began to ache. The slipstream behind her grew larger as she eventually caught up to Orion.

The two were neck and neck, as they flew dust and wind kicked up. Both passed Rambling Rock Ridge and were flying around the Everfree forest. “Getting tired there, Dash?” Orion asked as he looked at the multicolored flier.

“Not…even…a little!” Rainbow wheezed as sweat streaked down her face. Her wings were beginning to burn the more she flapped them. “Must…win! Must…meet…Wonderbolts!”

“Seems to me like you aren’t as good as you thought you were, Dash.” As if to torment his opponent further, Orion hovered under Dash and turned to look up at her. “You brag about your skills, but when pitted against an equal or greater opponent, you seem to fall short.”

“You…don’t get…to say that…when you…don’t have wings!” Rainbow countered as she forced herself to keep her speed.

“Who said you need wings to fly?” Orion shot back quickly. You boast about being the fastest flier. Well, here I am flying and giving you a run for your money.” Each word Orion spok cut Rainbow deeply. “So, how do you think you will do against professionals like the Wonderbolts?”

“SHUT…UP!!!” Rainbow screamed.

KA-BOOM!!

Orion was almost thrown off balance as Rainbow suddenly got a major speed boost and unleashed what could only be described as a sonic boom made of multiple colors, similar to her hair. Rainbow rocketed towards Ponyville as if she was a rainbow-colored comet soaring through the sky.

Orion smiled and quickly flew inside the jetstream Rainbow created, before it disappeared. Within a few moments be eventually started to tail Dash, all be it shakily given the speed they were moving. However, he saw that Dash looked like she was in pain and her wings were no longer flapping in sync.

“I’M NOT SLOW! I’M GONNA WIN!” Rainbow cried as tears dripped from her eyes. “YOU DON’T KNOW ME! YOU DON’T GET TO SAY THINGS LIKE THAT! IT’S MY DREAM! NOT YOURS!”

However, much to Rainbow’s dismay her body couldn’t take much more of the pain, her wings soon gave out. She wouldn’t fly anymore. Soon, her body was about to slam into the ground, and at the speed she was going it was going to cause a lot of damage. She braced herself and prepared for the impact. But soon felt an arm around her back, and another scoop under her legs. Her eyes opened to see Orion had caught her.

“You’re right, Dash, I don’t know you. But I don’t need to know you to show you that you still have room to grow,” Orion said.

“Wha?!” Rainbow spoke. “What’re you doing?! Why’re you carrying me?!”

Orion chuckled as he flew them towards Ponyville after passing Ghostly Gorge. “Did you think I’d let my friend get hurt?” Orion looked down at her and smiled. “That’s not the kind of guy I am.”

“Aren’t we in the middle of a race?” Rainbow asked. “I can still fly, you know! Just give me a few-ow!” Rainbow winced when she tried to move her strained wings.

“Forget it, Dash, you aren’t in any condition to fly, not after that sonic boom,” Orion added as they were nearing the finish line, everyone waiting at the end for them.

“But they’re expecting a winner,” Rainbow protested. “I can’t be seen being carried like this.”

“And they’ll have one, so swallow your pride and calm down,” Orion quickly replied, he didn’t want her to cause herself another injury. He felt guilty as it was for trying to push her past her limits.

“…I was a cocky jerk to you,” Rainbow said softly as she leaned her head against his chest. “Others would just leave me in the dust.”

“Well, I’m not like others, Dash. What I said before was not to hurt your feelings, but to give you a reality check.” Orion was now speaking softly and with a gentle tone. “You’ve been over arrogant because you had no one to compare to properly. Imagine if you had tanked like this in front of the Wonderbolts.”

“They’d never let me in,” Rainbow replied, and Orion nodded with a smile as he landed just about a mile from the finish line.

“Well go on, start walking.” Orion pointed towards the town and saw the confused look on Dash’s face. “You said you didn’t want to be seen being carried right?”

Orion helped her to her feet as the onlookers were shocked to see them on the ground. Rainbow rubbed her arm sheepishly as she looked at Orion as if wondering if it was still ok. Orion smiled as they got right up to the finish line. With a gentle push, Orion forced Dash across the finish line first.

“Welp everyone, you have your winner,” Orion announced with a big smile still plastered across his face.

The crowd was silent at first until they heard clapping. The clapping then turned into cheers as the town congratulated the two of them for such a spectacular display of speed and tenacity.

“Well shit, I didn’t expect this to happen,”Axel said. “Way to be a good sport, Orion.”

Orion pulled the letter with the Wonderbolts stamp out and handed it to Rainbow Dash. “Here, Dash you”ve earned this.”

“Um…did I?” Rainbow asked. Orion rolled his eyes and took her hand and placed it there. Without much choice, Rainbow Dash then carefully opened the letter to read it while swallowing a lump in her throat.

Congratulations, Rainbow Dash.

You’ve been recommended to try out in the Wonderbolts Selection Test. Bring this letter with you to the Wonderbolts HQ for authentication and be prepared show if you have what it takes to be part of the best fliers in Equestria.

Signed,

Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts.

After reading the letter out loud, everyone fell silent, as they waited for Dash’s reaction. Her hand holding the letter trembled, as she slowly looked back to Orion who was smiling.

“W-What is this?” Rainbow asked, unable to process what she had read.

Orion rolled his eyes as he tapped the letter. “It’s a letter of recommendation.” He picked up a copy of the newspaper from before that mentioned the incident with him and the Wonderbolts. “After saving Spitfire and her friends, they asked if I wanted anything in return. So, I asked for a letter of recommendation for my friend.”

Dash’s eyes slowly began to water, as she looked back at the letter then back to Orion. “But why would you do that?” Her voice sounded shakily, trying her best to keep it together.

“Are you serious?” Orion asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because we’re friends, Dash, and friends always look out for each other.”

“No one’s…ever done something like this for me,” Dash said in a shaky voice. “I’ve dreamed of this my whole life. Ever since I was a kid. And now I…have the key to realizing my dream in my hands.” She looked up at Orion with a teary smile as she held the letter close. “Thank you…thank you so much, Orion.”

Still smiling Orion moved his hand to gently pat Rainbow Dash's head. “But of course, Dash, just promise me you’ll train hard and become an official Wonderbolt.”

“I will. I definitely will.” Rainbow said then surprised him by hugging him close and squeezing tight. “You’re my hero, dude.”

For a moment Orion didn't move, before moving his arms around her to hug her back. “Heh, a hero, huh? I like the sound of that.”

“Group hug!” Pinkie cheered as the rest of the girls piled in and hugged each other.

Moon giggled and pulled Axel in with her as they all hugged together as friends.

“Proud of you, man,” Axel said to Orion with a friendly wink.

Orion gave his friend a thumbs up and pulled away from the group to go walk over to Rarity and Fluttershy. “So, ladies, where would you two like to go for our first date?”

“Oh, Orion, there’s so many choices!” Rarity beamed. “I’ve longed for this day for quite some time! Let’s see, there’s a new Bitalian restaurant in Canterlot I wanted to try. Then afterwards we could see a show. Oh! And perhaps we can walk along the park in the center of town!”

“I’d like to see the animal café,” Fluttershy said. “Princess Celestia opened it up last month and I’ve read in the paper that adorable little critters scurry around while you drink a beverage.”

Orion’s cheeks flushed at the idea of dates he was about to go on. “Whatever you two want, I promise to make them the best dates you’ll ever have.”

As Fluttershy and Rarity moved in to hug him, Orion quickly remembered something. “Oh shoot! I forgot I brought everyone souvenirs.”

Taking a few steps back he jumped into the air and hooved for a moment, startling everyone. “I’ll be right back, let’s meet up at the library.”

Then, much like Rainbow Dash, he took off at high speeds towards Sweet Apple Acres.

There was a brief silence for the girls, the rest of the crowd included. Some of which had their eyes twitching. Others who were holding cups with beverages dropped them on the floor due to shock.

“Wh…what the…?” AJ muttered with eyes the size of dinner plates.

“Did…did he just…?” Twilight said, strands of her hair beginning to spring out.

“Motherfucker just flew without wings…” Axel said with a sheepish chuckle. “Huh…so that’s what that feels like.”

Author's Note

Home again and reunited. Bonds reforged, and new relationships bloom.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Orion’s Daring Tale

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Meeting the Merchant (Edited)

Chapter 1

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

“Aw, would you shut the fuck up already? I’m awake, god damnit…” I grumble as I hit the snooze button.

I sit up from my bed as it creaks and I rub my eyes and stretch my limbs. I stand up from my bed and look around my one room apartment. It looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in a while, not that I care since the housekeeper always cleans it for me. I then pick up my phone to check the time and see it’s 8 A.M., which makes me furrow my brows.

“Why the hell did I set the damn alarm anyway?” I wondered, until I saw today’s date. “Oh yeah. Guess I better get ready.”

As I’m getting ready, I guess it’s only fair I introduce myself, even though I don’t really see the point for something so pointless. Axel Rickert is my name, but my online buddies or anybody I hang out with in real life call me Ax for short. I’m 25 and I live alone in a one room apartment in a rundown part of town. Not gonna sugarcoat my past, nor will I bother telling the full story, but let’s just say I wasn’t exactly a “Gary Stu” growing up. I always got in trouble, made a lot of people hate me because of my shitty behavior, barely managed to graduate college, let alone high school, and I’m so estranged with my family, I moved out the first chance I got. A lot of good that did me, because now I’ve got a college degree with nothing to show for it and I work as a shitty full time manager at the local strip mall’s GameStop, and it’s always a goddamn pain in the butthole to work at. But enough about my shitty lifestyle; today is a day I’ve been looking forward to for a while, and nothing’s gonna ruin it for me.

After my morning rituals, I step out of the bathroom and dig through my closet for a special outfit I’ve kept encased so it would remain untouched by the elements. Even though my life in the real world is a little bit of a dead end, I always find comfort in the gaming world since I have tons of friend groups who I play with constantly. However, out of all the games I own and play, there’s one series of games I’ve come to admire and love to play over and over again at least once a month, and that’s the Infamous games. I don’t know what it is about these games, but if I were to guess what it is I enjoy most about them, it’s the karma system, where you can choose to act like a hero or become an “Infamous” villain. Not only that, but the gameplay is fun as hell, especially in Second Son since you’ve got an arsenal of different powers, and it’s my favorite game of the series. Speaking of Second Son, it also has something to do with my outfit, the very clothes Delsin Rowe wore, with the sleeveless jacket and all. Finding the jacket was a bitch and a half to find, but I managed to get it off an online auction. The clothes were easy to fund since the sleeveless jacket was the most difficult piece of the set, plus a red beanie I conveniently had, making the whole outfit almost identical. Why am I proud to be wearing clothes like Delsin Rowe? Well, it’s because the local PlayStation Experience Convention is happening today, and I wanna be one of the first people in line.

Although, as I put on my outfit, I couldn’t help but feel a little anxious about the convention. The reason being is because of the rumors floating around, especially what the news has been saying. According to the news, there’s been a string of disappearances over the past couple of years, and the authorities have yet to find a single victim. They said they all seem to have gone missing after going to any other conventions in their local town or any big conventions in major cities. As for any forums I’ve read or people online I’ve talked to, they say it’s all because of someone named The Merchant. Apparently, he poses as a small booth salesman at a convention, and if someone lucky or unlucky enough meets him, he kidnaps you, and you’re never seen again. Of course, I’m not one to listen to any stupid spook stories anyone online tells me, and wherever the missing people are, I just hope they’re found soon. As for me, I woke up early for something I’ve been waiting months for, and whatever this anxiety I feel will just have to be pushed away. Besides, it’s not like The Merchant even exists and I doubt he’d come all the way out here for P.S.E. Con.

With my outfit ready and my belongings in my pockets, I nod and head for the door. As soon as I shut the door behind me and lock the door, my phone rings, making me groan and pull it out of my pocket. Unsurprisingly, it’s my assistant manager. As much as I wish I could ignore the call, I had no choice but to answer it.

“Steve, what do you want?” I ask with an obvious sigh.

“Hey, Ax, just wanted to see if you can come in today and cover for Donny?” Steve asks.

“I’m not coming in today, nor do I have any intention of filling in for anyone,” I snap. “I told both you and Donny two weeks ago, and even reminded the both of you 3 days ago I won’t be available this weekend. Because, as you know, I’ll be attending the local convention.”

“You’re still going to that thing?” Steve asks, a bit surprised. “Even despite the rumors?”

“Oh good God. Don’t tell me you also believe in that bullshit…” I groan. ”It’s just as you said: rumors. Nothing more, nothing less, and whoever else is stupid enough to believe in such crap is too ridiculous for words.”

“But the disappearances all happened at conventions,” Steve pleads. “You’re saying it’s not a coincidence that they all disappeared from one? What if The Merchant gets you? He’ll take you and throw away the key,” Steve warns.

“Alright, I’m gonna stop you right there,” I said. “While I can't say for certain what’s been happening to the people who have disappeared, I will say it’s definitely not because of some fairytale person who calls himself The Merchant. Why would the kidnapper even go out into the open in the first place? And to a convention, no less, where there’s arguably hundreds of people?”

“But Ax-”

“But nothing,” I said, cutting him off. “Look, I’ll be fine. Besides, it’s only for two days, and I’ll be back selling games with you and the others as per usual, so you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“Alright, Ax,” Steve sighs. “Just be careful, ok? There’s no telling what could happen at that convention.”

“I do,” I said. “I’ve got the schedule in my back pocket. I’ll see you after this weekend. Later.”

I hung up the phone, walked to my car, and opened the door. I know I sounded like hot shit who didn’t believe in stupid rumors like The Merchant, but deep down, I knew he had a point. These disappearances all do have something in common: the conventions the victims all went to. But this convention was in my rundown part of town, so I was confident nothing was gonna happen. Without wanting to let my thoughts plague my judgement, I started my car and drove to the convention center.

It’s been a few hours since I arrived at the convention and it started, and man, was I having a blast. I watched a bunch of conferences, played some demos, even met some well known streamers I’ve watched online, so that was pretty cool. Now all that was left was to buy some merchandise and enjoy the rest of the day. I spotted some booths that had some cool looking stuff, but none of them really caught my eye. To be honest, I was looking for a booth who had some Infamous merch, however, I wasn’t having any luck. I was about to just continue enjoying the convention when I saw a small booth on the far end of the hall, which made me arch a brow. When I approached the booth, I saw a man wearing a jacket with his hood over his head, so I couldn’t really see his face. However, what I was really paying attention to was the cool merch he had. He had a variety of items like the rest of the booths, but what caught my eye was Cole’s sling pack with the 24 Karat Gold Amp strapped to it and Delsin’s chain sitting next to it.

“Hello there, young man,” the man said. “Those items catch your eye?”

“I guess you could say that,” I shrug. “It’d be pretty cool if that Amp was actually made of gold,” I joke.

“Actually, it is,” the man chuckles. “The Amp is able to conduct more of a charge thanks to it. Not only that, but it longs to conduct electricity as it’s former owner once did.”

Is this guy role playing or something? I think. Well, we are at a convention, so I guess I can play along.

“You’re talking about Cole MacGrath, aren’t you?” I ask, making his head perk up.

“You know Cole?” he asks.

“In a way,” I answer. “His sacrifice saved millions, even though it cost thousands. Not every victory is won without a price. At least Delsin Rowe picked up the pieces of his legacy,” I said.

“You even know Delsin,” the man said. “Perhaps you are the one I’ve been looking for.”

“Looking for what?” I wonder with an arched brow.

“Oh, nothing. Just thinking out loud,” he dismisses. “Would you like to purchase these items?”

“Hmm, what the hell?” I shrug. “How much you want for them?”

“Since you’ve brightened my mood, I’ll give you a special discount. What’s say $300 for all three items?”

“$300? Pretty sweet deal. Sold,” I said, handing him the money. He hands me the sling pack and Amp, which was surprisingly pretty light, and Delsin’s chain. I put the pack over my shoulders, strap the Amp on the pack, and wrap the chain around my wrist.

“Those items suit you,” the man said. “Before you go, I was wondering if you would answer a question for me.”

“Ok, sure,” I shrug.

“If you were to put yourself in Cole’s or Delsin’s shoes, what would you do if you had their abilities and had to make the same choices they did? Would you use your power to protect and become a hero, or would you give in to the temptation and become the infamous villain most others would expect you to be?” he asks.

“Hmm, well, I guess it depends on the situation,” I said. “Both Cole and Delsin had their share of tough decisions, and some cost them more than others would think. However, despite their endeavors, they did what they knew was right and became the opposite of infamous. Me personally, I guess I’d like to help others, but it’s as I said: it depends whether they deserve my help or not.”

The man stares at me for a moment, and then chuckles as he nods his head. “Just the response I was expecting. You’ll fit in just right over there,” he said.

“Fit in? What’re you talking about?” I ask.

“Oh nothing. Forgive me. It’s a habit of mine to speak out loud,” he dismisses again.

“Well, alright,” I said, shrugging it off. “Do you know where the oculus stand is?”

“Oh yes,” he said, gesturing to the double doors. “You’ll find what you’re looking for right through there.”

“Thanks,” I said as I began walking away.

“Have fun on your journey, and follow your heart for any decisions that come your way!” he calls out.

I ignored whatever he meant and opened the doors. I felt a gust of cold wind blow against me, making me shiver a bit. I know it’s warm out, but that doesn’t mean they had to crank the AC. As I walked through the hallway, I noticed my surroundings seemed odd, like I was walking not in a hallway at the convention center, but through a corridor of a different building entirely. What’s more is the more I walked, the darker my vision became to the point where I had to pull out my phone and turn on the flashlight. As soon as I turned it on, I saw I was walking along what looked like a red carpet, and the walls looked like old stone. When I turned around, I saw the corridor had stretched all the way to the door I entered, and I just noticed there weren’t any lights lighting the way.

“Ok, either that guy gave me the wrong directions, or I’m in some kind of Uncharted expo,” I said.

When I turned around, I continued my walk, coming up to an opening, and finally took in my surroundings. It was night and the moon was high in the sky with stars decorating the sky, which made me quirk my brow since it was supposed to be in the middle of the day, and I seem to be standing in some kind of abandoned castle.

“What the hell is all this? Some kind of For Honor set up? Granted, it’s very realistic, but how is it night time? It’s supposed to be around noon,” I said. I looked up to the sky, noticing that the moon seems to be brighter than normal and the stars seem to twinkle a lot more than usual. “Although I will admit, it’s a very pretty night sky.”

I was about to walk around and see what else this lifelike set up had to offer when I heard a sort of pulsing noise. I looked around, but saw nothing until the pulsing noise happened again, realizing it was coming from my new pack. I took off my pack, set the Amp down on the ground, and unzipped the top pocket. To my surprise, inside was what looked like a Blast Core. It shined and pulsated as if it was alive, and it looked as if it was just tempting me to grab hold of it. Not thinking about it, I reached into the pocket, picked up the Blast Core, and held it in my hand. It felt a little warm at first, and I could actually feel the pulses of power. It was extremely odd to me since I thought it was just a prop the man forgot about.

“Why’s there a Blast Core in my pack?” I wonder as I examine the glowing object.

Suddenly, the Blast Core pulsates again, startling me, but then it sparks onto my hands. I tried to drop it, but my hand seemed to have some sort of grip on it like it didn’t want to let go. I tried prying it off my hand with the other, but I only ended up getting my other hand stuck on it, making me panic more. The Blast Core glows brighter and pulsates faster as I try to shake it off. Just when I think this couldn’t get any more freaky, the Blast Core shines as bright as it could, sending a wave of energy through my arms and into me. It felt like I was getting the biggest adrenaline rush of my life as the energy inside continued to flow within me. What’s even more strange, if that were possible, I started to see images in my mind as the Blast Core was giving me its energy. These images were of me performing a variety of skills with different powers. The weirdest thing is that I knew these powers; they looked like the same powers used in the Infamous series. Before I could contemplate what I was seeing, the Blast Core’s glow almost immediately disappears and crumbles into dust. I fall down, scramble away, leaned up against a wall, and hyperventilate while gripping my head.

“What the fuck was that?!” I exclaimed. “What are these images in my head?! Was that me doing all those things?!”

I stood back up and walked back over to my Amp and pack before bolting toward the corridor I came from. I didn’t even look back as I ran toward the door I came out of. Once I reached the end of the corridor, I grabbed the handle and opened it, only to find a room looking like a library of some kind. I slowly walked in, looking around at the different books, not fully realizing that this was not back at the convention. I slumped into a chair as I battled with myself, whether this was a dream or very, very realistic display unknown to anyone at the convention.

“No fucking way…” I mumbled while holding my head. “This has to be a trick. I don’t know what the fucking deal with that Blast Core was, but this can’t be real. There has to be an exit back to the convention somewhere around here.”

Not wanting to stick around, I slowly stood up and grabbed my pack and Amp. I walked out of the library, but paused and looked over my shoulder. Though I didn’t see anything besides the books and chairs, I could’ve sworn it felt like someone, or something, was watching me. Not finding anything, I shrugged it off and walked out of the room and headed back down the corridor.

“God damn, this place is freaking nuts!”

I’ve been walking around this damn castle for an hour now, and I haven’t found a single door that leads back to the convention! Meanwhile, as I search, that damn feeling of being watched has been lingering in the back of my head, and it’s been pissing me the hell off. I must’ve searched almost everywhere, yet I’ve found nothing of modern make. With a heavy and annoyed sigh, I make my way back to the open area I was in before and plop down on the ground against a pillar.

“Ugh, this just makes no sense. How is there not a door in this rundown place that doesn’t bring me back to where I belong? Am I in a different world or something?” I wondered, but I shook my head, completely dismissing the very idea. “Yeah right. If I was in a different world, I’d know it.” I look at my hands, the images of me using Conduit powers flash in my head, making me curious.

“I wonder…” I mutter. I focus on my right hand and imagine it being covered in electrical bolts. After a few moments of nothing, I start to lose interest until I see a few sparks. Focusing more on my hand, the sparks begin to appear more and the bolts surge on my hand, running along my arm up to my shoulder. I gaze in awe and shock as my whole arm is covered in electricity, yet it feels like there’s goosebumps running up and down my arm.

“Whoa…trippy,” I said. “But…how the hell is this possible?”

It all should not have been possible, one minute I’m at the local convention and the next thing I know I’m outside in some ruined castle. Not to mention the freaking Blast Core in my pack that looked like it was about to blow up in my face, but instead gave me all these images of using all the other powers from the Infamous series. So many questions boggled my mind, I didn’t know where to start. The images of the other abilities flashed in my mind again, which could only mean one thing.

“I have all of them,” I said in slight disbelief. “But how did I even become a Conduit from that Blast Core? This is all supposed to be a dream, but…” I trailed off as I looked around the open room of the ruined castle. “It all feels so real. If only that merchant at the booth warned me about this, I could…have…”

I gasped as soon as the word merchant escaped my mouth. It couldn’t be, could it? But the clues are all there. I’m not anywhere that even looks remotely familiar. The powers, too. I’ve become a Conduit and I have the five powers from the Infamous series. It all makes sense now, which means this isn’t a dream after all.

“The Merchant. The fucking Merchant got me…” I said aloud.

I stood up from the pillar and looked to the ground. How could this have happened? How of all people was I the one unlucky enough to meet The Merchant of all people? He was just a random dude at a booth at a convention. He wasn’t supposed to be the actual Merchant, let alone even exist. But the more I thought about it, even though I was now one of his victims, even if I was taken from my home and wound up who knows where, I couldn’t bring myself to be truly mad. Yeah, it sucks that I’m no longer on Earth, but is it the end of the world? Now that I think about it, I didn’t really have anything going for me in my former state of affairs. I was lost, working a deadend job, no family around to support me, and most of my friends were online, so I couldn’t really meet them face to face. All things considered, I guess one would say this is just the kind of new beginning I needed despite how I ended up here in the first place.

“He said something about me being the one he was looking for, so I guess he sent me here for a purpose?” I guessed. I looked to the night sky and saw the moon again, shining brightly. “Alright, Mr. Merchant, I’ll play along. You chose me along with the rest of them for a reason. I guess I’ll have to find out what.” After I decided to set out in search of my purpose, I grabbed my pack, slipped my arms through the straps, and sheathed my Amp. I was about to set out to explore when I once again felt eyes on me, making me groan. I turned around and raised my hand and activated my Lightning, making my arm spark.

“Alright, enough’s enough! Whoever’s out there, make yourself known right now or I’ll fry you!” I call out.

There was no response at first until I heard a sort of feminine giggle, making me arch a brow. Soon, there was a mist seeping out from one of the pillars shadows, and a figure walked out. The figure was female and her body was a bit see through, but I could make out her appearance a little bit. She seemed to be wearing some sort of armor with chainmail underneath that looked like some kind of dress and a helmet with a long horn sticking out on the top. On her back was a pair of midnight blue wings and her hair looked like a starry mist that flowed in a nonexistent breeze. What caught my attention about this woman was her facial features: she had cat-like light turquoise eyes with light purple mascara and dark purple lipstick. The more I stared at this apparition, the more she walked closer to me, making me take a step back.

“Why do you back away, stranger? Armed with strange magic no less?” she asks.

“You can speak?” I question. “Last I checked, ghosts can’t speak.”

“I am not deceased, if that is what you are wondering,” the woman said.

“Alright. Then who are you?” I asked.

“I am called Nightmare Moon, Princess of the Night,” she said.

“Nightmare Moon?” I repeat. Sounds like something from cheesy vampire drama, I think.

“And what are you called, stranger with strange magic?” Nightmare asks.

“Axel Rickert,” I answer. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you a question since I answered yours.”

“I suppose that’s fair,” she agrees. “What is it you wish to know?”

“How are you transparent like that?” I ask. She frowns and sighs as she walks to the side.

“Before I answer that, may you please deactivate your magic? I shall not harm you, nor can I in my current form,” Nightmare requests, looking over her shoulder. I was hesitant at first, but she did have a point, so I deactivated my Lightning and relaxed my stance.

“Thank you. As for how I am like this, it happened only two weeks ago,” Nightmare explained. “The co-ruler, Princess Celestia, ruled during the day when the sun was high, and her sister, Princess Luna, ruled during the night when the people were asleep and she governed their dreams. Luna admittedly grew jealous of Celestia, thinking the people appreciated her days more than her nights, and soon, I, Nightmare Moon, was created as a thought within Princess Luna’s mind. Over the years, I whispered dark thoughts in her mind, and Luna soon gave in to her emotions, allowing me to take control and use her body as a physical form. I battled Celestia in an attempt to usurp the throne, but…she banished me to the moon for a thousand years.”

“Wait, a thousand years?” I repeat. “How’s that possible? Humans can’t live over a thousand years.”

“I am not a normal human, as you can see,” Nightmare said. “I am a goddess, in a manner of speaking.”

“A goddess?” I repeat skeptically.

“Indeed. I would give you a demonstration of my power, but I cannot do much in this form,” Nightmare said.

“Ok, so how did you come back from the moon?” I asked, trying to play along.

“After a thousand years, my banishment was lifted, and I was set on taking my revenge against Celestia. I wanted to continue my original goal by enveloping the world in eternal night so that the people could appreciate the night sky more. However, I was once again thwarted by the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony when they used the Elements to overwhelm me. But the strangest thing happened as soon as the Elements collided with me. I assumed I would cease to exist once the Elements purified Luna since I was nothing but a mere dark voice, but in the end, the Elements did the exact opposite and split us apart. While Luna kept her physical form, I was left without one due to most of my magic being used to keep myself from being erased.”

“So you’ve been stuck here since that night?” I ask and she nods. “Why not just go out and leave this castle? It must be lonely being out here by yourself.”

“I wish I could, but I cannot for a few reasons. One is that I cannot leave this castle, for it is one of the few places that has the most magic in the area. Two, I am but a mere apparition. If I leave, I will lose what little magic I have, keeping the form you see me as, and cease to exist. Finally, I am not what most would call a well-liked individual to the public since I quite literally tried to take the throne not once, but twice,” Nightmare explained.

“Must be tough,” I said looking up to the sky. “But you know, I guess I wouldn’t mind if the nights were longer, apart from the whole it being night all the time.”

“You…prefer the night more than the day, Mr. Rickert?” Nightmare asks.

“I guess,” I shrug as I look back at Nightmare. “Back in my world, I was mostly a night owl to begin with. Plus, I got to look at the stars in the sky and name the different constellations if I ever saw any.”

“Back in your world?” she repeats.

“Oh yeah, guess I forgot to mention it. I’m from a different world entirely from whatever this one is. Don’t really know why I’m here to begin with, but I’ll hopefully find out soon enough,” I said.

“Fascinating. No wonder you seemed to appear in the castle out of nowhere,” Nightmare said, but then glances away for a moment. “Um, Mr. Rickert?”

“You can call me Ax if you like,” I said

“Very well, Ax. I was wondering…what do you think of this world’s night sky?” she asks.

“Well, I’d have to say it’s very pretty, if I’m honest. It’s a hell of a lot more pretty and clear than the night sky in my world, that’s for damn sure,” I said with a chuckle.

I couldn’t tell, but I thought I saw Nightmare blush despite being transparent, though I did see her smile at me, which, if I was honest with myself, made me blush a little.

“Thank you for your kind words, Ax. It has been quite some time since I’ve heard anyone truly appreciate the night,” Nightmare said.

“No problem. I guess all that’s left is to ask an obvious question,” I said.

“And what is that?” Nightmare asks.

“Where exactly am I?” I ask.

“Well, this castle used to be my old home, but the name of this land is called Equestria,” Nightmare answers.

“Equestria, huh?” I repeat. Guess that just confirms it all, I think.

“May I ask you something now?” Nightmare asks.

“Sure,” I said.

“What kind of magic do you wield? I have never seen such magic before,” Nightmare asks.

I smile as I hold out my hand and activate my power. The Electrical blots began to dance along my hand and up my arm, leaving Nightmare to gawk at the display in awe which made me chuckle a bit.

“This, Nightmare, isn’t magic.”I said as she stared at my hand in awe. “This is my personal power, because I’m not what most would call normal despite this being a world of magic. Back in my world, I’m what’s known as a Conduit.”

“A Conduit?” She repeats.

“Yes. Allow me to tell you a few stories about two individuals who were also Conduits, who did very noble things for the sake of Earth and other fellow Conduits.” I said.

Author's Note

Infamous or Hero?

Choices shall soon be made.

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Welcome To The Gala

Chapter 19

Y’know that feeling after drinking too much and the next day you experience a bad hangover? Well that’s exactly how I felt at the moment. My head was pounding like Cherokee drums, my body felt like I got flattened by a steam roller, and there was an annoying ass beeping sound on my left side.

I sluggishly opened my eyes, only to be blinded by the bright light of the room I found myself in. When my vision cleared, it looked like I was in some kind of hospital room and I was lying in bed. As my senses returned, I felt an unknown pressure on my chest and looked down to see the manticore cub I found curled up in a ball on my chest.

I slowly blinked and glanced to my left to see an IV stand and bag of liquid dripping into a tube that was connected to my arm. Next to the IV was a heart monitor and cords that were strapped to my chest under the gown I was wearing. I then looked to my right and saw a window that showed my outside, which looked to be early in the morning. Next to the window was someone slumped in a chair fast asleep, who I recognized to be Orion.

Shit…how long was I out? I don’t really remember what happened.

“O…Orion,” I called out in a raspy voice, but he didn’t seem to hear me.

“Zzzz…go…zzz…plus…zzzzz…” Orion snored as he was slumped forward.

“Orion…!” I called out again, but no luck.

“Mmm, oh no, I couldn’t eat one more apple fritter.” As he slumped back, I could see him slightly drooling out of the side of his mouth. “…okay, maybe seven more…zzzzz.”

I got a little annoyed and decided to try something. I slowly raised my hand towards him and pointed my finger. Little bolts of electricity sparked around my finger as I concentrated as hard as I could. My powers felt like I could barely generate anything, probably because I’ve been asleep for who knows how long. But that didn’t stop me from firing a small bolt at Orion.

Zap!

“YOWCH!” Orion’s body jumped into the air before landing on the ground with a loud thud. It took him a minute before his head popped up and he looked around. “Hey where did my apple fritters go!?”

“Hey…” I called out again, my voice still sounding raspy. The shock also woke up the cub as it stood up and looked around frantically.

“Dude, come on!” Orion groaned as he wiped the drool off his face and pulled his chair to the side of my bed. “Awake for barely a minute and you start by shocking me?”

“Sorry…” I said with a halfhearted smile. His annoyed look disappeared quickly as he sat down with a worried expression.

“You had me worried, man, you’ve been out for three days, you know?”

My bloodshot eyes nearly popped out of my skull as I tried to sit up. “What…?! Three days?! cough!”

“Hey, take it easy,” he said as he quickly opened a bottle of water and handed it to me. “You’re still recovering from the fight.”

After I gulped down the whole bottle, I cleared my throat. “I remember leading the pride of Manticore away from town.” I glanced down at the cub who looked at me and tilted its head. “Then I found this little guy, abandoned in a tree trunk.” The cub waddled over to me and nuzzled the crook of my neck and purred.

“Ah, you mean little girl,” Orion corrected. “While you were out of commission, I’ve been taking care of her with some help from Fluttershy.” He raised his other hand to show it was slightly bandaged up. “She is as friendly with me as she currently is with you,” he said in a sarcastic deadpan tone.

“Girl?” I looked at the cub. “You’re a girl?” My only response was the cub meowing at me. “Huh, go figure.”

“I’m fine, thanks for asking,” Orion said with a slightly annoyed tone. “I’ve been checking up on you these last three days, and had to bring her with me everytime.”

“Oh, sorry man,” I said a I scratched the cub behind her ears. “So what happened to me?”

“You were poisoned and the doctors had to extract the poison out of you.”

“Poison? From the manticore?” Orion pointed at my left arm and I rolled up the sleeve to reveal a bandage patch on it. “Oh shit, I actually did get grazed.”

“Yep. You’re lucky the adults didn’t decide to come back, otherwise you would have been lunch.” Orion sighed. “Anyway, the doctors said you can leave if you are feeling well enough.”

“I see…what happened while I was out?”

“Well, while I was taking care of the manticore cub, Fluttershy was having issues with this phoenix that belonged to Princess Celestia.” He had a look of surprise as if remembering something. “Speaking of which, she was here one day as I was watching over you.”

“She was?” He nodded. “Huh, how’d she take me being unconscious?”

“Not very well, apparently,” Orion sighed. “She stayed by your bedside for almost an entire day.”

“Wow, that was…considerate of her,” I said. “Anyway, what else happened?”

Orion went on to tell me the wacky stuff that went on around the town, and how he was helping pay for my hospital bill.

“Oh come on, man, you don’t have to do that. I’m sure my salary from working for Mr. Rich can cover what I owe.”

He waves it off with his hand. “Hey, it’s the least I can do since you healed my leg up. You saved me the trouble of being stuck in here,” he smiled.

“You sure? I’d hate to burden you.”

“Psh, forget about it. Besides, since I live rent free with the Apple’s, I don’t really have any reason to save my money for anything besides clothes.”

“Well, if you insist.” A thought occurred to me that made me frown. “How’s…Moon?”

“…well.” He grimaced.

“Let me guess…she’s been a total wreck?” He nodded reluctantly.

“Eeyup.”

“Give it to me straight, how bad is it?”

“She’s downed three barrels of hard cider, one for every day you've been out.”

“Sheesh, then I better get out of this bed.”

I closed my eyes and focused. I felt my electricity course through my body as my fast-healing kicked in and small sparks crackled all over my body. I could already feel myself getting better with each second that passed by as my power healed me. Once I felt like I was back to my old self, I took a deep breath and took off the covers. The cub moved out of the way as I stood back up on the floor and stretched my limbs and back, earning multiple pops here and there.

“Ugh, I feel so drained. I need some kind of battery, a bonfire, a big neon sign, a big television screen, and a stone column to recharge.”

“Hmm, I’ll go see what I can find, you stay here and rest up.” Orion stood up and left the room, leaving me with the manticore cub in my lap.

20 Minutes Later

After a good twenty minutes, I hear a knock at the door.

“Come in!” I called out as the cub climbed up on my shoulders.

The door opened and I could see Orion walking in carrying a large sack over his shoulder and a grocery bag in his other hand. “Found some stuff you can use, it’s not much but they should do the trick.”

“Uh…what do you have there?” I wondered.

He opened the large sack first revealing a pile of broken pieces of what I guessed to be concrete. “I got this from a construction site that was working on a new sidewalk. They didn’t mind me taking this much.”

“Huh, this actually might do,” I said as reached in and picked up a chunk of concrete. I focused my power and shards of concrete floated around my arm and my hand glowed. The concrete piece began to disintegrate and turn into sand, but I felt my Concrete power charge up until the chunk was completely turned into sand. “Whoo! That felt pretty good!”

He placed the grocery bag onto the bed next and dumbed out its contents. “And these are some batteries I bought which should have electricity you can use.”

I was a little surprised to see actual batteries that existed in this world. They looked similarly like 9V batteries like the ones back home. I picked up four of the batteries and activated Electricity. Sparks of electricity crackled along my hand and arm as the 9V’s were actually filling up my Electricity power. I kept draining the batteries in my hand until they were dry and I felt almost completely charged.

“Yep, this is also successful,” I grinned as I tossed the used batteries and noticed there was still more left. “Can I keep the rest?”

Orion shrugged and nodded. “Sure, no problem.”

“Hang on, let me pay you back for the supplies,” I said as I went to reach for my jacket that was next to my bed but Orion shook his head.

“Forget it man, we’re friends so this is something we do for each other.”

“You sure? You’ve done a lot for me already though,” I said.

He smiled and nodded. “Of course. Besides, the faster we get you out of here, the faster we can get you back to Nightmare Moon.”

“Right,” I nodded.

“Merow!”

We both looked at the cub who hopped in my lap as she smiled up at me and purred.

“Oh yeah, almost forgot about you,” I chuckled as I scratched her behind her ears.

“So what exactly are you gonna do with her? Do you plan to keep her as a pet?” Orion asked as he lowered himself to look at the cub.

“I mean…should I?” I wondered. “If you think about it, she’s still considered a wild animal. She may look different with the white fur, black wings, and red tail, but in the end she’s still a manticore. Hell, the closest thing to a pet I had back home were two house cats.”

Orion moved a finger to gently stroke her back to not frighten her. “Well…that’s really a you decision. You could raise her until she’s old enough to take care of herself at the very least.”

“I guess, but what if she-?”

We were both cut off when the cub actually frowned and flattened her ears. She looked up at both of us with those pale blue eyes that just tugged on our heartstrings.

“…c-cute.”

“You’d better start visiting Fluttershy when you can. She’ll probably help you get set up for taking care of her.”

“Then I’ve decided,” I smiled and scooped her up and hugged her, making her purr happily. “I’m keeping her, and I think I’ll name her…Nala.”

“Nala?” Orion asked.

“It’s the name of a character from a favorite movie of mine when I was a kid,” I explained as Nala nuzzled the crook of my neck. “It’s kinda fortunate, since I happen to like cats more than dogs.”

Orion shrugged. “Well, call her what you like. I’ll go get a doctor to look you over so you can check out of this place.”

I nodded and Orion left to give me privacy to get changed. I put my clothes back on. After stuffing the extra batteries and concrete chunks in my sling pack, I slung it over my shoulder and attached my Amp to it. I then wrapped my chain around my wrist and put my red beanie back on my head.

“Ready, girl?” I asked Nala and she meowed at me.

I exited the room and made my way towards the lobby. The staff were a little surprised to see me up and about, but I paid them no mind. Eventually I made it to the lobby where Orion was talking to a doctor and nurse. The doctor had dark brown hair, blue eyes, and wore your average doctor’s coat with a stethoscope around his neck. The nurse was a young-looking woman with light pink hair and bright green eyes.

“Ah, there he is,” the doctor smiled as they noticed me. “How are you feeling, Mr. Axel?”

“Fine thanks, and you can call me Ax, Doc,” I said.

“That’s what I told her, but she thought I was messing around.” Orion yawned as he waved his hand. “I’ll wait for you outside.”

As Orion left, the doctor reached out with his hand to me. “I am Dr. Greymare, the lead medical physician here at Ponyville General.”

“Nice to meet you,” I nodded as I shook his hand.

“And I am Nurse Red Heart, I am in charge of the hospital’s nurse staff,” the nurse said as I shook her hand as well.

“Now Ax, there is something that I am most curious about. When we brought you in here, we heard you were infected with manticore venom and we procured the anti-venom as quickly as possible.”

“Yeah, I’m glad you had it on hand.”

“That is the thing, Ax, we did not have the chance to administer it.”

“You didn’t? Why?” I wondered.

“When you were brought in, you showed all the signs of the side effects of manticore venom. Muscle spasms, profuse sweating, nausea, high fever, and the wound looked incredibly infected even though it was a small graze. However, something miraculous happened. It was as if it somehow caught on fire from inside the wound and smoke emanated from it. In all my years practicing modern medicine, I had never seen anything like it.”

“Oh…right, well I guess that has something to do with me being a Conduit,” I surmised.

“Conduit? What is a Conduit?” Greymare asked curiously.

I gave him a brief rundown of what a Conduit was as Red Heart was actually taking notes. “So basically, my body did something called fast-healing, which I suppose healed my wound and got rid of the poison in my system. Which explains why I felt so drained after I woke up since the poison was probably very potent.”

“I can certainly vouch for that, manticore venom is more deadly than most snake species’ venom,” Dr. Greymare nodded. “But it is rather fascinating how your body reacts to injuries and afflictions due to your enhanced Conduit biology. May you perhaps be willing to offer a blood sample for me to study?”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Doc.” I shook my head.

“Oh, may I ask why?”

“It’s nothing against you, it’s just my powers are, how do I put this, unique. I’d bore you with the details, but to make a long story short, the Conduit gene has caused more trouble for a lot of people where I’m from than I care to explain. And before you ask, it’s a long story regarding the Conduit gene’s history. All I ask is that you take my word for it, you don’t want to mess with something even you wouldn’t understand.”

“I see,” Greymare nodded. “Well, I’m not one to pry into others’ business, so I’ll leave it alone out of respect for your privacy.”

“Thanks, Doc, I appreciate it.”

“You best be off now, Ax, a lot of people are waiting for you,” Red Heart said with a smile.

I was confused by what she meant as I left the hospital lobby. As soon as I walked out the door, a large group of people were outside and lit up as soon as they saw me.

“There he is! It’s Axel!”

“Yay! Hooray for Axel’s recovery!”

The crowd cheered for me as Nala and I just stood there.

“What…is all this?” I wondered.

“A hero’s welcome obviously.” I looked left to see Orion relaxing under the shade of a tree while drinking some water.

“What are you-”

“BIG BROTHER AXEL!”

I felt something hit my legs and waist, almost knocking me down, and I looked down to see Diamond Tiara crying her eyes out into my stomach.

“Diamond?”

“You’re alive! I’m so happy you’re alive!” She looked up at me with tears streaming down her eyes. “I was so worried for you, big brother Axel!”

“We all were worried.” From the crowd, the girls, Spike, Mr. Rich, and even Lapis approached me. “You gave us quite the scare, Axel, we nearly believed you wouldn’t wake ever again,” Mr. Rich smiled.

“Sorry for that, Mr. Rich,” I apologized.

“No need, you saved the entire town from the pride after all.”

“We’re so glad you’re okay, Axy!” Pinkie Pie chirped.

“You’re one crazy bastard, y’know that?” Lapis deadpanned but then smiled at me. “But…I’m also glad you’re okay.”

“Your actions against the manticore hadn’t gone unnoticed. Everyone here can’t deny the heroics you performed for them.” Orion smiled as he walked over.

“All I did was lead the manticore away,” I shrugged.

“But you also saved people in the process,” Twilight said. “The damage would’ve been much worse had you not interfered.”

“Indeed, darling, you’re like the knight Ponyville had always needed!” Rarity said in a chipper tone.

“No good deed goes unnoticed. I’m pretty sure those words say it all, wouldn’t you agree?” Orion asked.

“Yeah, I guess they do,” I nodded with a smile.

“You’re definitely 20% cooler after that, Ax!” Rainbow smirked.

“By the way, Orion told us ya needed some kind of neon light, so Pinkie brought some glow sticks,” Applejack said, pointing to Pinkie.

The pink haired girl literally shook her head and dozens of glow sticks came falling out of her hair, each one a different brightly lit color.

“How the…?” I stared at Pinkie as she smiled at me.

“It’s Pinkie Pie, don’t question it,” Orion added quickly.

“But she-!” I was quiet when Orion shushed me.

“Don’t…question it,” he said as though he speaks from experience.

“Ugh, whatever.”

I looked down at the glow sticks and held my hand up to them as Diamond stepped away. I activated Neon and my hand glowed a fluorescent light. The light from the glow sticks lifted into the air and were absorbed into my hand all at once. As my Neon energy was replenishing, the crowd watched in awe at the spectacle until all the light from the glow sticks was drained. I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt my Neon power was nearly replenished.

“Ah, that feels better already,” I sighed with content.

“It still amazes me how you can do that,” Mr. Rich said.

“I wasn’t even sure that would count, hence why I didn’t grab any earlier.” Orion picked up the now drained sticks and examined them.

“Thanks Pinkie, you got any more?” I asked.

“Sure do!” She reached into her hair and pulled out two handfuls of glow sticks. “Here ya go!”

“Uh, yeah, thanks.” I took the glow sticks and tucked them into my pack.

“Axel…?”

The voice made me flinch as the crowd parted a bit to reveal my girlfriend who worried for me for days. Her hair was a mess, her casual-looking clothes she wore were all wrinkled, her eyes had bags under them, and I noticed her wings looked a little unkempt.

“Moon…”

“And that’s our cue to go, everybody!” Orion began pushing the crowd of people away as he gave us some privacy.

“Merow!” Nala meowed at Orion.

“Oh, right, sorry.” Orion came back and gently picked up Nala. “How about we go get you some nice fresh tuna?”

“Merow?”

“Trust me, you’ll love it.” Orion smiled before leaving me alone with Moon.

“Moon…I-”

Moon quickly walked over to me and embraced me as close as she could. She wept on my shoulder and her body trembled against me. I was taken back a little bit, but sighed as I hugged her close.

“You scared me…” she whispered.

“I know.”

“You were unconscious for days…I did not know if you would wake up.”

“But I did.”

“You were too reckless!” Moon snapped as she looked at me. Her tears were causing her makeup run. “Do you have any idea how precious you are to me?!”

“Moon, I-mmf!”

I was cut off when she pressed her lips against mine and broke away. “Do not speak!” She kissed me again and pulled back. “You irresponsible, thick-headed, fool!” Before I could say anything again, her lips were back against mine. “I…I just love you so much!”

“I love you too…”

“But my love for you is what’s most precious to me!” Moon cried. “You gave me a future when you helped me that day, you stood up for me and remained by my side when there were those that looked at me with disdain. Why you choose to accept me in your heart, is all honestly still a mystery to me. Not only that, but you also fight for these people who used to hate and fear you! Yet, after all of this, you kept head up high, and that’s all the more admirable.” Moon smiled as she cupped my cheek. “You even have the resolve to risk your life for others…all of this just makes me love you even more, and it would destroy me if you actually lost your life.”

“I’m sorry for worrying you,” I frowned.

“I know, but it’s okay,” Moon said. “As you were recovering, and as I was grieving, I realized that there will come more threats that you will face and risk your life. If I am to be able to appropriately stand by your side, I must be willing to be as willfully strong as you.”

Seeing Moon so distraught over me made me feel guilty about what I put her through as I was recovering. It also warmed my heart how much she cared since no one ever spoke so highly of me before. I leaned in and kissed her back this time and tightened my hug around her before separating and leaned my forehead against hers.

“Thank you for worrying about me so much, Moon, I couldn’t have asked for any better. I’ll try to be more careful from now on and make sure to stay in one piece.”

“I know, and I know you will come out victorious all the time.”

As we stood together, Orion came back with Nala.

“Hey Orion, good to see you two are getting along.” Orion smiled before passing me back Nala. “Hey girl, how’re you?”

“Merow!” Nala meowed as she nuzzled into my chest.

“Looks like everything turned out okay.”

“Oh, that reminds me, Applejack told me the Gala is tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow night? Already? Wow, time sure flies,” I said.

“Especially when you've been unconscious because of manticore venom,” Orion pointed out.

“That reminds me, the hell am I gonna wear?”

“I believe Rarity said she had a suit ready for you,” Moon said.

“Well that’s nice of her, I also gotta talk to Mr. Rich. I’m bringing Diamond Tiara with us since I promised her I would.”

“Oh, I should probably go see if my suit is ready yet too,” Orion added.

“You’re going too? How? I thought Princess Celestia sent enough tickets for the girls and Spike?” I asked.

“Oh well she did, but since it’s gonna be late and a school night, Applejack is using her plus one with me.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t too sure about the idea, but Applejack thought she could use some help selling her baked goods.”

“You sure that’s the only reason why?” I chuckled.

“Uh…pretty sure, why do you ask?” He cocked his head to the side. “Though now that I think about it, I wonder why she didn’t ask Big Mac to go?”

“Dude, seriously? Can you not see it?”

“See what?”

“That, oh I don’t know, maybe a certain farm girl is starting to like you?”

“Well yeah I like her too. She’s a good boss and I do my best to be a good employee,” he stated.

“Orion, have there been any incidents where she has acted strangely around you?” Moon questioned.

“Hnmm.” He folded his arms and paced around thinking to himself. “Well this one time we were at the lake, and she wanted me to rub some sunscreen on her back, but she could have asked Apple Bloom who was right next to her.”

“Anything else?”

“Well, this one time she was really staring at me when Big Mac challenged me to see who could carry the most barrels.”

“Any distinguishing facial expressions she was giving you?” I asked.

“Nah nothing like that. It was more like she was daydreaming or something, I dunno I wasn’t really paying that much attention.” Orion shrugged again.

“Alright, that’s enough,” I sighed as I made him look me in the eye. “Orion, I believe Applejack is developing a crush on you.”

“Psh, as if.” Orion chuckled. “Look, we have a healthy workers relationship. I’m sure that she isn’t harboring such emotional feelings towards me. She was just nice enough to take me as her plus one, is all.”

“Whatever, man, you’ll see I’m right,” I said. “Come on, let’s go get our suits from Rarity’s.”

“Sure, you have a good day Moon.” Orion waved to Moon as we left.

“I can tell already tell this is gonna be an interesting night,” I said to myself.

The Next Day
Night Of The Gala

Tonight was the night, one that I heard the girls were all looking forward to for quite a while. The Grand Galloping Gala was supposed to be the fanciest celebration known around here and there were a lot of people who’d do anything just to score a spot. Twilight said she and her friends would go to the Gala a little earlier so they could do the things they wanted to as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Mr. Rich was nice enough to provide a carriage ride and driver for Moon, Diamond, and I. I even managed to offer to give Orion a lift, to which he accepted.

As we made our way to Canterlot, I took notice of my tux that Rarity was nice enough to make for me. It was a dark blue tux, with a white dress shirt, suspenders that went over my shoulders to hold my slacks up, and a black tie with a white lightning bolt design on it. Because this was a formal event, I couldn’t wear my beanie so I stuffed it in my back pocket but I managed to convince Mr. Rich to let me bring my sling pack and Amp.

Moon wore a beautiful strapless dress that had a design that looked like she took a piece of the night sky and wore lavender colored gloves that went up past her elbows. Her hair was flowing in a nonexistent breeze and she had done up her makeup, spruced up her wings, and straightened out her hair that made her look more beautiful.

Diamond Tiara wore a nice, fancy-looking pink dress with frills adorning it. She wore a gold tiara that had little gems encrusted in it and was smiling widely as she looked out the window.

“This’ll be the best night ever!” Diamond chirped. “Thank you so much for taking me, Big Brother Axel!”

“No problem kid,” I nodded to her with a smile. I noticed Orion pulling at the collar of his tux. “You okay there, dude?”

“I’m just not used to wearing tuxedos. I was never into formal clothing.” He lessened the tie a bit and let out a sigh of relief.

“Relax, you’ll be fine.” I waved him off.

“You look good in that fancy tuxedo, Mr. Orion,” Diamond said.

Orion smiled at Diamond. “Thanks, and you look like a princess in that dress.” He gave her a playful wink.

“Really?” Diamond turned to me, “Do I?”

“Sure do, the prettiest princess,” I said.

“Yay! Thanks, Big Brother Axel!” Diamond chirped as she hugged me close.

“Too cute,” Orion cooed. He glanced out the window and smiled. “Hey, looks like we made it.”

I looked out the window with Tiara and Moon to see the city of Canterlot in sight. “Still as snobby-looking as I remember.”

“Is it really that bad?” Orion asked as he looked at all the buildings we passed as we got closer to the castle. “This will be my first time being here.”

“Oh trust me, ain’t nothing but the snob around here. I guarantee you that there’s not a single person in this town that doesn’t have a 20ft pole up their-”

Orion kicked my shin before glancing over at Diamond, who was listening to what I was saying with a worried look.

“I mean, they’re just very difficult to be around,” I said.

“I can certainly vouch for that,” Moon huffed. “I still remember how they treated me like a criminal.”

“That’s not right! You’re anything but a criminal, Big Sister Moon!” Diamond protested.

“I appreciate that, little one,” Moon smiled as she patted her head.

“So did Applejack say why she’s looking forward to the Gala?” I asked Orion.

“Yeah, I mentioned it yesterday, she wants to sell her baked goods. She thinks the Gala would be a great opportunity to make some money and let the people here get a taste for the Apple family food.”

“I see, it’s a shame about what Rarity said she’s looking forward to,” I said in a bitter tone.

“Oh? What would that be? I know each of the girls have a reason to come here, but I didn’t find out about all of them.”

“She said she wants to meet Blueblood, yeah, good ffffff…”

I got another and harder kick to the shin, making me wince. “Language. Also who’s Blueblood again?”

“Ugh, he’s supposedly Celestia’s nephew.” I paused, trying to find the right words. “He’s…how do I put this gently, a colossal gluteus maximus. If you catch my drift,” I said, hoping Diamond wouldn’t notice.

“Hmm, I was not made aware that Princess Luna had children of her own. Seeing as she has been banished to the moon for the last thousand years.” He winced and looked at Moon with an apoplectic look. “Sorry.”

“It is fine, and I assure you, that wretch of a man is no offspring of Luna’s,” Moon said bitterly. “According to my shared memories, Blueblood’s family had done a great service for the crown a couple hundred years ago. They were granted a royal title and have passed down their title from generation to generation. His ancestors were humble people, but Blueblood is anything but humble.”

“Guess that’s what happens when you live a pampered life and take advantage of it,” I rolled my eyes.

“And Rarity knows this right?” Orion asked, looking concerned.

“Apparently not, when she and the others visited me and Moon, she must’ve just missed him. That girl’s in for a serious disappointment.”

“Here’s hoping,” I nodded.

“Pardon me, everyone, we have arrived,” the driver said from the driver’s seat.

The carriage pulled to a stop as the driver got out and walked to the other side to open the door for us. First came out Diamond, then Moon, then me, then Orion. The castle lit up in the night sky as many fancy-looking people walking in with their noses held up high.

“Thanks for the lift, pal,” I said as I reached in my pocket and flipped him a bit before reaching for my pack.

“Thank you, sir, I shall await you and your group when the night comes to an end,” the driver said.

“Shall we?” I said, offering Moon my arm and Diamond took my other hand.

“Let’s,” Moon nodded.

“Smile and wave, Orion, smile and wave.”

“I would, but would they even see it?” He asked as we passed the people who still had their nose held up high.

I slung my pack over my shoulder and we walked towards the entrance. Our presence seemed to grab the attention of some of the snobs. The men were giving Moon a certain snide smile and some women were giving Orion and I a bit of a flirty smile.

“They seem to be staring an awful lot,” Diamond said.

“You think we stand out just ‘cause of our new duds?” I wondered.

“Who knows?” Orion shrugged.

Ignoring any stares we received, we approached the entrance to the castle where there were a few guards standing on patrol. One guard, in particular, I recognized as Shining Armor.

“Hey Shining!” I called out.

“Ax? Is that you?” Shining said as he met us halfway. “Wow, hardly recognized you in that fancy getup. Almost took you for one of the snobs if not for that Amp of yours.”

“Ha ha, this is only temporary, I assure you,” I rolled my eyes.

“I already know Nightmare Moon, it’s good to see you well,” Shining said to Moon and she smiled and nodded back to him. “Who are these two?”

“This is Diamond Tiara, daughter of Filthy Rich, my employer. And this is a new good buddy of mine, Orion.”

“Orion Belt, nice to meet you, sir.” Orion held his hand out to shake Shinning's hand.

“Nice to meet you,” Shining said as he shook it. “I assume you all have tickets to the Gala?”

“Sure do,” I said, pulling out two tickets from my jacket pocket and handing it to him. “Diamond here is my plus one since Moon and I have our own tickets.”

“And you, Orion?” Shining asked.

“I’m here as Applejack’s plus one, I assume she’s already inside?” Orion asked.

“Oh yeah, I heard from one of my men that she mentioned you,” Shining nodded. “Okay, you all can go in.”

“Thanks, bro, I’ll see you later,” I said as I fist bumped him and we walked inside. However, as we did, I heard various voices muttering around me.

“What in blazes? Why are they allowed in?”

“They look like mere commoners, and what is he doing bringing a child here? This is no playground?”

“And isn’t that Nightmare Moon? I’m surprised she’s not locked up by now.”

“What is that strange object on his back? It looks so gaudy and out of place!”

“Surely Princess Celestia must not be in the right state of mind to invite people like them. It’s unnatural.”

“I’ll show them unnatural,” I growled as my hand sparked small bolts.

Orion clapped a hand to my shoulder as he stopped me from doing something I’ll regret, before stepping forward. “You know, maybe if you guys weren’t so busy browning your noses by sticking them up your butts, you’d be recognized by the princess,” he said with a smirk.

“How dare you?!” One noble huffed as they all turned away.

“Pricks…” I said quietly and calmed down. “Thanks, man.”

“No problem, and you were right about these people. But nevertheless, I wouldn’t let their insults get to you, because without their money or titles they are no better than dung,” he added with a confident smile.

“Orion is right, their greed and pride is what blinds them. But you are more honorable than them,” Moon said.

“Yeah! These geezers don’t know humility if it hit them in the face!” Diamond said. “Besides, if it wasn’t for you, I probably would’ve ended up growing up to be just like them.”

“Never let those whose opinions don’t matter ever affect you, Axel. Because when you get violent, you’re only proving their point,” Orion said.

I only nodded as we continued further inside the castle. We then made it to the throne room, where the main party was, and the whole place looked like something you’d see in one of those James Bond movies. There was a band playing classical music with speakers next to them, people wearing overly fancy dresses, tables with hors d’oeuvres, and in the center was Princess Celestia. She wore an admittedly beautifully worn maroon red dress with a symbol of the sun attached to the side. Her makeup consisted of red lipstick, pink eyeliner, and her cheeks were also a shade of pink. I hadn’t realized it before, but Celestia looked rather, how do I put it, radiant this night.

Orion let out a whistle, as he was no doubt impressed by the Gala. “Geez, talk about fancy.”

“Yeah…” I managed to say, unable to avert my gaze. “Pretty.”

“Welp I need to go find Applejack to help her with the food stand, see you guys later.”

“Ax? Ax!” Moon said.

“Huh? What?” I said, shaking my head.

“Are you okay, Axel?” Diamond asked.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” I said. “Where’s Orion?”

“He said he was going to check on Applejack.” Moon then looked towards Celestia and noticed Twilight standing next to her. “Would you like to say hi to Celestia?”

“Sure, why not?” I shrugged and we made our way to the Princess.

Something catch your eye, Ax?

Dante, haven’t heard from you in a while.

Oh, you know me, I make myself known when I want to. Seriously though, three days? I almost considered taking over while you were out of commission.

You can do that?

Sure, if your conscious mind isn’t active, I can just move in and do my own thing. But, out of respect for you and our agreement, I stayed my hand.

Guess I should be more careful from now on, huh?

I guess you should.

Celestia noticed us as she greeted her guests and smiled. “Axel, Nightmare, so wonderful to see you.”

“Likewise, Princess, it’s good to see you too,” I said to her. “How is the Gala so far?”

“Oh you know, it is as prominent and fancy as the last Gala.”

“Then it’s a good thing I don’t actually know since I’m not much of a fan for these fancy shindigs.”

“Then I hope you won’t be too bored to tears, Axel,” Celestia giggled. “How are you feeling by the way? You were in bad shape the last I saw you. It was quite reckless to face a whole pride of manticore on your own.”

“Well I couldn’t just let the town become a buffet, now could I? Besides, all that matters to me is the town is safe.”

“An admirable quality, Axel, I am pleased to see you on your feet.” Celestia placed a hand on her chest. “I also am grateful for what you have done thus far. I have heard about your exploits through Twilight’s letters. You are able to do what most others do not have the strength to, which I admire your for.”

“It’s…it’s no big deal, Princess, I was just doing what I thought was right.”

“Be that as it may, it is still something I look forward to reading about in Twilight’s letters.”

“Speaking of Twilight,” I said, turning my attention to the young librarian. “How’re you doing tonight, Twilight?”

“Huh? Oh, fine I guess…” Twilight said, looking a little bummed.

“That’s a pretty dress you’re wearing, Ms. Twilight,” Diamond said.

“Thank you, Diamond,” Twilight smiled a little.

“Where are the rest of your friends, Twilight?” Moon asked.

“Well, Pinkie went to try and see if she can liven this party up, whatever that means, Rainbow Dash went to see if she can appeal to the Wonderbolts and make a good impression, Fluttershy’s in the gardens to see if she can make new animal friends, Applejack is trying to sell some of her family signature dishes, and Rarity is off to woo a man of high noble class.”

“I’ll send my condolences to her,” I sighed.

“What?”

Before I could explain, I spotted Orion walking up to us with a pie in his hand with Applejack following behind.

“Orion, this is crazy talk!” I heard her say. “Ah know ya mean well, but she won’t eat somethin’ so basic!”

“After tasting the bland and boring pieces of cardboard they call snacks here, I’m sure something as amazing as your pies will be a godsend to her.” Orion stopped in front of us before bowing his head. “Forgive my sudden appearance, your majesty, I hope you are well on this fine evening.”

“Why yes, I am quite fine, thank you,” Celestia said. “And who might you be?”

“Orion Belt, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He gave another bow.

“And hello to you too, Applejack,” Celestia said.

“Yes, hello yer highness,” Applejack said, taking off her hat and bowed.

“What have you there, Mr. Belt?” Celestia asked.

Orion smiled before standing straight. “This one is an apple pie, your grace, made with only the best apples in all of Equestria. I figured that you could use something to eat that actually has some flavor.” He gave her a wink.

“Who does he think he is?!” A noble spat.

“Offering a commoner’s dish, what blasphemy!”

“I bet is nothing but a pile of mush.”

“Hold your tongues, or I’ll melt them,” I threatened, activating Smoke and holding up my hand in front of me as cinders danced around my fingers.

“I guarantee that you haven’t had an apple pie as good as the ones made by Applejack and her family, I’d even be willing to wager my life on it,” he said boldly.

“Your life, you say?” Celestia said. “While there’s no need to forfeit it, I shall simply take you up on your offer.” Celestia took the slice and fork.

Everyone around was silent as Celestia daintily cut a piece with the fork and lifted it to her mouth and took a bite. She chewed the piece of pie slowly until her eyes widened and she held her cheek with her hand.

“Oh my sun! This is simply delicious~!” Celestia swooned as she took another bite.

“What?!” All the nobles gasped.

“I-It is?!” Applejack gaped.

“Oh by the stars, yes! While I am a personal fan of certain pastries, his is quite delectable! You certainly have done your family proud, Applejack.”

“I…wh…th-thank ya kindly, yet highness!” Applejack sputtered.

“I’m so glad you enjoyed the fruits of our labor, your highness,” Orion joked. “And as it turns out, we don’t just have apple pies here with us. We have an entire selection of apple baked goods, each one more delicious than the last.” Orion pointed towards the food cart that Applejack brought.

“I’ll take an apple tart!” A noble spoke up.

“I’ll take three!”

“Give me a slice of pie!”

“Is that apple fritter?! I’ll take a dozen!”

Applejack was completely stunned by the turn of events as I helped myself to buy a slice of pie for myself and Moon and Diamond. I took a bite and allowed the savory goodness of the pie to wash over my tastebuds.

“This is a damn good pie, Applejack,” I said.

“It’s super yummy!” Diamond chirped.

“I must say, I have never had the pleasure to partake of something quite as delicious as this,” Moon said.

All Applejack could do is look up at Orion with a shocked expression.

“I figured that if they saw Celestia having a slice of your delicious pie, they’d try to brownnose her by eating what she likes. Of course, I also wanted our fair princess to taste your amazing cooking.” Orion smiled warmly.

Applejack grinned widely and threw her arms around Orion and hugged him close.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” She jumped as she hugged him.

Orion blushed a bit before hugging her back. “You’re welcome, boss.”

What happened next seemed to surprise us as she leaned up on her tiptoes and pecked him on the cheek before turning to the crowd of nobles.

“Gather ‘round, everyone, gather ‘round! There’s plenty for everyone!”

Orion was left standing, his face a now bright red crimson and bellowing steam coming out his ears.

“You okay, dude?” I chuckled.

“Mr. Orion is a tea kettle!” Diamond giggled.

“Y-You might’ve been right about that whole crush idea,” Orion sputtered a bit.

“Oh, so now you see it?” I teased.

He blushed some more before looking away. “Shut up.”

The rest of the night was admittedly boring since I didn’t really have anyone else to talk to. Orion had gone back to Applejack to help sell her goods and I was just mingling with Moon and Tiara. Speaking of Tiara, she was actually having a blast and taking the opportunity by meeting some of the big wigs at the Gala. For a girl her age, she acted pretty professionally by handing people her father’s business cards while also enjoying the serene sounds of the orchestra band.

“Quite the lovely night,” Moon said.

“I guess, not really my cup of tea though,” I shrugged.

“But you don’t drink tea,” Moon pointed out.

“Damn right I don’t, I’m a coffee guy.” That got Moon to giggle. “How can people find this to be entertaining? They’re all just standing around and talking.”

“Not everyone, there’s some people dancing,” Moon corrected me.

“Yeah but that’s just waltzing. Again, not my style.”

“Would you like to try?”

“Waltzing? Not unless you want me to step on your feet.”

“Oh, it’s quite simple, Axel.”

Moon grabbed my hand and pulled me to the dance floor. I was hesitant, but at the same time I didn’t want to disappoint Moon. When we got to the center of the throne room, she faced me with a smile.

“Now then, place your right hand on my hip and intertwine your other hand’s fingers with mine.” I did as she instructed and placed my right hand on her hip as she placed hers on my shoulder and held her other hand with my left. “Now follow my lead. One, two, three. One, two, three.” I nearly staggered a bit in the beginning, but Moon managed to guide me through the rhythm of the music and I eventually could do it on my own. “There you go, not so difficult now, is it?”

“I’ll admit, it’s easy to get into,” I nodded.

Our dancing went on and I began to become more accustomed to the routine. I remembered all the scenes from the movies I watched and decided to put my memory to the test by spinning Moon around a little and dipping her.

“And you say you cannot waltz,” Moon teased.

“I said it’s not my style, I didn’t say I couldn’t learn and do it,” I corrected her.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Rarity and ol’ Blueballs in the corner of the room. We were dancing close enough so I could listen to what was being said.

“Surely you must agree that it is a privilege to dance with me?” Blueblood said.

“After how you’ve treated me? Not a chance! And here I thought you had class!” Rarity scoffed.

“Big words for a tramp wearing a two bit dress,” Blueblood scoffed.

“How dare you?! I made this dress!”

“My point exactly, now come over here and dance with me!” Blueblood demanded as he attempted to grab Rarity.

I was about to intervene, but Orion seemed to come out of nowhere and get in between Blueblood and Rarity.

“Pardon me Rarity, but could trouble me for a dance?” He said his back turned to Blueblood as though he wasn’t there.

“Excuse me, sir! I was in the middle of asking her to dance!” Blueblood snapped.

“It would be an honor to dance with a woman of your beauty, I dare say there is no other man here who can truly appreciate such a beautiful woman, but I can promise to try my best.” He gave her a bow as though she was a princess and continued to ignore Blueballs.

“I would be flattered, darling,” Rarity swooned as she took his hand and he led her to the dance floor.

“I will not stand for this embarrassment!” Blueblood snapped as he stormed off.

Orion and Rarity made it to the dance floor near us and held each other like Moon and I.

“Thank you for the assistance, darling, I was misled into believing he was a well-mannered individual. He’s nothing but a brute!” Rarity said as they began to waltz.

“It’s my pleasure Rarity. You were definitely too good for him anyway, tittle be damned.” Orion smiled as she and him began to waltz alongside me and Moon.

“Nice work, Orion, if you hadn’t come along I’d’ve decked him in the gonads and watch him walk funny for the rest of the night,” I said.

“Uncalled for, but deserved if given the chance,” Moon agreed.

“Well, what could I say? I saw a beautiful damsel in distress and had to step in to rescue her.”

“There you go again, calling me beautiful,” Rarity giggled. “If I didn’t know better, I would have guessed you were trying to woo me.”

“Well it’s not in my nature to lie, all I am doing is stating the obvious. Anyone here would clearly agree,” Orion said confidently.

Rarity blushed and giggled as we continued to dance together. The song later ended and the audience applauded for the performance, Diamond included since she watched from the sidelines. Just as we were gonna make our way to Applejack’s stand, Blueblood approached us with a couple goons following him.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I grumbled. “If once wasn’t enough, how many times do I gotta put you in your place, Blueballs?”

“You! How dare you?! You do not have the right to be here! And my name is Blueblood!” Blueblood barked, causing a scene. “Because of you, I cannot continue my personal hobbies due to me being cut off from the funds! And you!” He pointed to Orion. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll hand over that tramp immediately!”

Orion said nothing before stepping in front of Rarity. “There are certain things I can’t stand for in this world. One, those who have power abuse it against those less fortunate.” He took a step forward as me and Moon stood on either side of Rarity. “Two, when any man dares to harm or insult a fair lady.” He got right in Blueblood’s face. “You are nothing without your title. Strip that away, and all you are left with is a whiney, spoiled, little bitch.”

“You dare mock a Prince?!” Blueblood growled.

“No, I dare mock a shit stain,” Orion corrected.

“Get this piece of trash out of my sight, gentlemen!” Blueblood ordered his two beef heads.

“Gentleman, please, there is no need to get violent, there is a lady here.” He smiled as he pointed to Blueballs.

“Shut it, kid, our boss wants us to rough you up,” one of the beef heads said.

“Unless you wanna play along and hand her over?” The other beef head offered.

“I am not an object to be passed around!” Rarity snapped.

“Listen, assholes, you better not even think of-!” I was cut off when Orion held his hand up in front of me.

“Very well, if you want her, all you need to do is get past me.” He grinned.

“With pleasure.” One of the beef heads grinned as he put his hand on Orion’s shoulder.

Orion’s hand gripped the goon’s wrist before twisting it and flipping him onto his back on the floor. “What happened? I said all you have to do is pass me. I know you guys aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed, but come on.”

“You little shit!” The other beef head reared his fist back and swung it forward.

Orion’s upper half bent backwards, dodging the fist like a game of limbo. When he brought his upper body back up, he headbutted the goon straight in the nose.

“Gah! My nose!” The good cried as he held his face.

“Oof, that’s gonna leave a mark,” I winced.

“I’ll break you!” The goon that Orion flipped stood up and swung his leg to kick Orion’s head off.

Without even bothering to dodge, Orion thrusted his head forward straight into the incoming leg. The moment his head collided with the goon’s leg, we all heard a sickening crack. All the crowd cringed, Moon and I included, as the goon wailed in agony as his leg was bent in the wrong way and he fell on the ground. Meanwhile, Blueblood was standing there in complete shock as he stared at Orion.

“Now then.” Orion turned to Blueblood. “You’re next.” He slowly walked over towards the would-be prince.

“S-Stay back! I’m warning you!” Blueblood tried to threaten as he backed away. Not wanting to let him escape, I activated Concrete and flicked my hand towards his feet. Shards of stone grew over his feet, trapping him in place, as he flailed around. “What is this?!” Meanwhile, Orion was now staring at Blueblood dead in the eye.

“Let me make something clear, Blueballs.” Orion said sternly. “I don’t care if you are a prince, a king, or even God himself. You never insult a woman, ever, especially in my presence.”

“Do you have any idea what I am capable of?!” Blueblood barked defiantly. “I can make your life miserable! Especially yours, Axel Rickert!”

“Now can I rearrange his face?” I sneered, covering my fist in stone.

Orion held his hand out. “How do you think Princess Celestia would react if we told her what you tried to do, and with an Element of Harmony no less?”

“I would say I am extremely disappointed with your behavior, nephew.”

We all turned to see Celestia herself walk over with a couple of knights by her side.

“Auntie! These ruffians-!”

“Silence Blueblood, I’ve had enough of your inexcusable actions of late,” Celestia said bitterly. “I had thought you would learn somewhat of a lesson after cutting your allowance off, but it seems to me that it’s just not enough for you.”

“A spanking would’ve been appropriate,” I whispered to Orion.

Orion nodded before stepping forward. “Your majesty, if I may be so bold to speak freely?”

“Why yes you may,” Celestia nodded, her tone changing into a warm and motherly tone.

“It’s clearly obvious by his actions that having a silver spoon in his mouth all his life has spoiled him rotten. He doesn’t understand the concept of a hard earned bit, or that a title isn’t a free pass to do as he pleases.” Orion spoke with a smile that he couldn’t hide. “But I may know a way to remedy this problem.”

“And what may that be?” Celestia wondered.

“Now see here, cretin, I-MMF!”

I snapped my fingers as a piece of concrete covered his mouth. “Shut it, this is getting good,” I grinned.

“I propose that he should see the world from a different perspective.” He turned to Blueblood with a sinister grin. “Strip him of his title, his wealth, everything he holds dear, and make him work for a living.”

“MMMMMFFFFF!!” Blueblood shouted from his gag.

“Now there’s an idea!” I laughed. “Bring him down to our level, genius!”

Orion turned to Celestia. “Please keep this in mind, your majesty, I’m not suggesting this solely out of spite. If he is to see the world as we, uh…” Orion turned to me. “How did he describe us again?”

“Plebeians without merit, I heard him say once,” I responded.

“Ah, yes that.” He turned once again back to Celestia. “He needs to learn what the real world is like, but he can’t do that in the position he’s in.”

Celestia pondered Orion’s request and looked at me. “What do you think, Axel?”

“Me? I say go for it,” I shrugged. “Let him stew in the lower class masses that he obviously hates.”

“Very well,” Celestia nodded, then turned to Blueblood. “Blueblood, your actions and words thus far, including the many past transgressions over the years, have been deplorable and downright inexcusable. I tried my best to raise you the way I could, but you simply took advantage of your royal benefits without a hint of remorse.” She flared open her wings and glared at Blueblood. “Therefore I, Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria, hereby strip you of your title as prince, what remains of your wealth, and anything else that you have gained through your title. I also order you to go into the city and find a form of employment by the end of the week.”

The look on Blueblood’s face was priceless as he looked as though his whole reality came crumbling down in front of him.

“Game, set, and match,” I said. “Serves you right, Blueballs.”

“If I may, princess?” Orion jumped in. “Finding work in the city is still risqué, he may try to find someone among the nobles to help him. I have a better suggestion.”

“Pray tell, what did you have in mind?” Celestia wondered.

“That he came to work on the Apple family farm,” Orion added. I could almost hear Applejack screaming in the background.

“Now wait just a goddamn, apple pickin’, consarnit minute, mister!” Applejack barked as she marched over to Orion. “Ah don’t want this entitled sum’ bitch on my property! No offense, yer majesty.”

“None taken,” Celestia nodded.

“Applejack,” Orion said calmly as he took Applejack’s hands with his own. “I know this is a big favor, but believe me when I say this is to really help him and maybe even the rest of Equestria. Can you trust me on this?”

“But he-!”

“Please Applejack?” Orion said pleasingly.

I could tell that this was a big gamble, even for Orion, knowing Blueblood is who he is. I could only imagine the amount of turmoil that would ensue if they actually went through with it.

“Perhaps I may be of assistance?” Celestia raised her hand. “I offer the Apple family payment for my nephew’s behavioral rehabilitation.”

“Hold up, you’ll pay us fer hirin’ him?” Applejack said.

“Indeed.” Celestia snapped her fingers and a servant walked up with a piece of paper and handed it to Applejack. “Will this amount suffice?”

When Applejack and Orion saw the amount on the piece of paper, their eyes shrunk down to pinpricks.

“Sweet apple fritter on a Sunday mornin’!” Applejack yelped.

“Oh…my God…how many zeros are on there?” He asked while looking closer at the check.

“How much is it, Orion?” I wondered.

“Look for yourself, man.” Orion moved over to allow me to see.

When I saw the numbers, I whistled out loud. “Wow, that sure is a lot.”

“And I thought I was generous!” Rarity said.

“Do we have an accord?” Celestia asked.

“You bet yer bottom bit we do, Princess!” Applejack said and turned to Blueblood, who had a visible vein about to pop on the side of his head. “Welcome aboard, partner, we’ll make sure to work ya real good.” All Blueblood could do was flail his arms as the guards dragged him away. “And as fer you, mister.” She turned back to Orion. “This may have benefited us, but that don’t mean you’re off the hook. No apple fritters for a month!”

Orion fell to his knees and threw his hands into the air. “NNNNNOOOOOOOO!!”

I laughed at my friend’s expense that one of his favorite treats were taken away for a month. I glanced at Celestia after the deal she made with Applejack and wondered if it was the right call for her to make. A spoiled little shit like Blueblood will be a tough nut to crack in order to be reformed. I’ve only had a few encounters with the guy, this one included, and I could already tell that Orion and Applejack, let alone the rest of Ponyville, had their work cut out for them.

SLAM!!

The double doors leading outside the throne room swung open, startling everyone, and who came in made everyone gasp and me grit my clench my fists. Twenty or so men, all wearing plated armor and skins of various animals, armed to the teeth with axes, swords, clubs, and crossbows came marching in. The most distinguishing feature about these men was their bushy beards and how they shoved people out of the way and were causing more of a commotion.

“Who are they?!” Rarity yelped.

“Northerners…” I growled as I reached behind in my pack and pulled out my chain.

“They have no right to be here!” Celestia huffed irritably as she made her way to the group.

“Orion, stay with the girls and Diamond, I’ll handle these fucking pricks…” I said as I followed Celestia.

Orion nodded as he began to move the girls and some of the crowd of people away.

Celestia and I stopped just a few feet away from the group of Northerners and they all had sick looks on their faces. I could tell they were ogling Celestia with perverted intent, which only made me even more pissed than I already was.

“Princess Celestia,” the leader of the group greeted in a mocking tone. He had dirty blonde hair that went past his shoulders and tied in a braid. His beard also had little braids tied in it as he placed a hand on his double bladed axe. “How rude of you to not send us an invite to this soirée.”

“I intentionally did not send any form of invite because I did not want you Northerners to attend my Gala,” Celestia said sternly. “Additionally, you are invading this celebration and I demand you leave at once!”

“And miss the rest of the festivities? I think not,” the leader said. “After all, my king had ordered us to become as accustomed to this land’s traditions as possible. Why deny us from being a part of your culture?”

“Culture?” I scoffed. “Give me a goddamn break, you pricks look like you wouldn’t know culture if it bitch slapped you in the face.”

“What a rude boy,” the leader grumbled.

“Oh, that’s actually me being nice.” I raised my hand and flipped him the bird. “This is me being rude, so why don’t you sit on it and spin.”

“Axel, please, let me handle this,” Celestia tried to say.

“Do you have any idea who I am, boy?” The leader asked.

“I couldn’t tell you how much less of a shit I give who you are,” I rolled my eyes.

“I am Ivar,” the leader said. “General Regin told me about a snot nosed brat who didn’t know his place, and I can only guess that is you.”

“Regin? That sleazy fucker I met a while back?” I said. “I remember how he threatened to take my girlfriend, I should’ve decked him when I had the chance.”

“You dare mock our General?!” A man from the group growled.

“Now, now, the boy is just speaking his mind,” Ivar said, raising his hand to stop his subordinate. “What is your name, boy?”

“Axel Rickert,” I responded.

“Rickert?” Ivar hummed in thought and then smiled wickedly. “Ah, I see, you’re the appointed Demon of Ponyville, the one who severely wounded and and chased off some of our men who were stationed there.”

“That’s right, what of it?” I questioned.

“I would like to propose something to you,” Ivar said as he held out his hand. “Why waste your unique power for this weak country when you can fight and serve a better one? Our king values strength, and I believe he would be most accommodating for a man of your particular skills. Think about it, a man of your stature would be able to acquire anything he so desires. Not a bad deal, eh?”

“Axel, don’t listen to him!” Celestia said to me. “Their country is a vile place and their King is cruel and a tyrant! It is why I continue to refuse any kind of negotiations or treaties with these men!”

“Then why not cast them out and be done with it?” I asked.

“Because…I am paranoid that it would escalate things that would be out of my hands,” Celestia admitted. “But that still doesn’t mean you should listen to him!”

“Look at this would-be ruler, making excuses for her weakness,” Ivar scoffed. “I promise you, Rickert, join us and you won’t regret it.”

…

“Did you seriously think I was that easy to persuade?” I said to him, “Let me put this in words you can understand.” I activated Smoke as wisps of smoke vapored off my body with little cinders. “It’ll be a cold day in Hell before I have any sort of thought process of signing up with you fucking scumbags. So you can tell your piece of shit King to go fuck himself on a barbed pike and spin, along with the rest of you shit-for-brain dickwads.”

“Bad move, brat,” Ivar growled as he pulled out his axe. “I shall make an example of you, and this pathetic slut.”

Before Ivar could swing his axe, I raised my hand and placed him with a Cinder Shot. Ivar staggered back and seethed at me and I quickly scooped Celestia up in a bridal carry. She yelped as I used my Smoke thrusters on my feet and jumped high in the air and away from the Northerners. I landed just near the band, where there were a few guards around, and the guards came to our side as I set Celestia down.

“You okay?” I asked her.

“Y-Yes!” She nodded.

“Good, don’t worry, I’ll get them out of here,” I said as I stood up straight and took off my jacket. “Hold onto this for me, please?”

As I handed Celestia my jacket, I spotted a connection cord to the speakers next to the band. Grinning, I took the cord and pulled out my phone and scrolled through my playlist. Once I selected the song, I plugged the cord in and hit play as I unraveled my chain and walked back towards the Northerners.

“I will take great pleasure in ripping the flesh off your bones!” Ivar barked.

“Go ahead and try, you bearded fucker,” I said as I swung my chain around.

Two Northerners charged at me with their weapons and I swung my chain multiple times at them. The chain swiped across their bodies, leaving scorch marks, as they cried out in pain and tried to avoid getting burned. I raised my hands at them and fired many Cinder Shots at them, peppering their bodies until they were forced on their knees. I took the opportunity to shove them to the ground while pinning them with my smoke.

“That all?”

“Kill that little shit!” Ivar ordered.

Five Northerners came at me and I wrapped my chain up around my wrist and activated Concrete. I clapped my hands together and a layer of stone covered my body like armor and I charged forward. A Northerner swung at me with his sword, but bounced off my shell with a large clang. I drove my fist into his gut, sending him tumbling across the floor.

I felt two objects hitting me from behind and looked to see two Northerners trying to chip away at my stone shell. I spun around and fired Concrete Shrapnel at them, hitting them in their chest and heads. The impact made them fall to the ground, but I felt something heavy hit my side. I grunted and looked to see a Northerner armed with a big war hammer and my shell was cracked. I sneered at him and charged him, doing the same with his hammer, and I collided with my body with his weapon. The force forced his hammer from his hands as I body checked him to the ground. I placed my hand on his back, coating him in stone and trapping him in the ground. Before more Northerners could come at me, I ran around and subdued the others.

“What is that magic?!” A Northerner shouted.

“Who cares! We just need to kill him. Minotaur mercenaries! Time to earn your keep!” Ivar commanded.

Three huge-looking men came at me and all looked extremely pissed. They were a full head and a half taller than everyone else and had large curved horns on the sides of their heads. They wore only pants and boots and their bodies looked like they worked out nonstop since the day they were born. One mercenary raised his fist to punch me and I raised my arms to block it. The feeling of his fist was like getting hit by a truck as I was forced backwards and skidded across the floor.

“Ha! Just like crushing rocks, we’ll crush you!” Another mercenary said as he slammed his fists together.

I ignored his taunts and charged towards him and the other two mercenaries. I covered myself in more concrete and went into a full on Boulder Dash. Instead of moving out of the way, the three mercenaries charged at me with their heads down and their horns pointed at me. We both slammed into each other, creating a small shockwave, but since there were three of them they managed to push me back no matter how hard I tried to push. I staggered backwards and fell down, my head was spinning as the thick concrete shell broke away and I managed to pick myself up.

“Your bones are gonna be dust once we get our hands on you!” One mercenary threatened as the man came at me.

“Fat fucking chance!” I shot back as I activated Neon and dodged him. “You may outclass me in brute strength, but let’s see you try and catch me now!”

I sprinted past them and was zigzagging all around the throne room with Light Speed. I left a trail of neon light in my wake as the mercenaries and even the Northerners tried to get me but I was too fast for them. Each time I ran past them, I fired Neon Beams at my opponents, pelting them at all sides and even landing headshots on the Northerners, rendering them unconscious as they hit the floor. I ran towards a column and upwards until I was running high above the wall and in a circle around the throne room. I ran faster and faster until my neon light lit up the room. Seizing the opportune moment, I launched myself like a middle of light straight at the mercenaries and Northerners and slammed my body into the nearest minotaur man.

“EAT THIIIIS!!”

I impacted hard against my target, making him scream in pain as he and his buddies were launched across the room and collided with the group of Northerners. The whole group was sent tumbling across the floor and some crashed into the wall. All that was left were a few still standing Northerners and Ivar as I stood back up straight and dusted myself off. Ivar glared at me as I activated Video and reached back and pulled out my Amp. I summoned my digital wings and unfurled them out wide as I pointed my digital great sword at Ivar and his remaining goons.

“You’re next, Ivar,” I proclaimed.

“I refuse to be outclassed by a freak of nature like you!” Ivar barked as he gripped his axe and he and the other goons came at me.

I flapped my digital wings and flew at them and I raised my Amp sword. Ivar swung his axe my way and I flew to the side to evade him. I corkscrewed towards a Northerner goon and swiped my sword upwards, slashing him across his body as I flapped up into the air. I flew in midair as one Northern goon aimed his crossbow at me and fired. I cartwheeled in the air, avoiding the bolt, but he kept firing more bolts. I backflipped and looped in the air, dodging more bolts, and I noticed that his crossbow had some kind of magazine cartridge underneath, similar to what you’d see on some kind of gun.

“Shoot that fucker down, you idiot!” Ivar demanded.

“I’m trying! He’s too slippery!” The archer said as he kept trying to fire at me.

Click!

The sound I was waiting for, he ran out of ammo and I flew above him and held my Amp sword with both hands. I raised my weapon above my head and dive bombed straight at the archer and swung as hard as I could. A large digital slash wound stretched across his body as he slowly dropped his crossbow and fell backwards unconscious. I looked at the remaining goon and he dropped his weapon and ran away. When I went to turn for Ivar, I felt a searing pain on my shoulder, making me shout out loud and somersault away.

“Son of a bitch!” I cursed, reaching back to my shoulder and looked to see it covered in blood.

“You’re a jumpy little fuck, but not quick enough!” Ivar grinned.

“I’ll show you quick, asshole!” I shot back and charged at him. He met me head on and our weapons clashed and we pushed against each other.

“After I kill you, I’ll deliver that little slut you protect to my king. I’ll pluck all the feathers from her wings and fuck her good before my king has his way with her.”

“I’LL FUCKING TEAR YOU APART BEFORE YOU LAY A HAND ON CELESTIA, YOU SICK FUCKING PRICK!” I shouted as my power flared.

Ivar’s eyes widened as I pushed him back, ignoring the pain in my shoulder, and seethed at him.

“I’LL DIE BEFORE I LET YOU HAVE YOUR WAY!” I kept pushing him and forced him to his knees. “THIS IS NOT YOUR LAND TO TAKE!” My digital wings glowed brighter and the digital blade began cutting into Ivar’s shoulder. “THIS IS MY NEW HOME, AND I WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO KEEP IT SAFE FROM SCUMBAG TYRANTS LIKE YOU!” With a burst of energy, I brought my Amp sword down and slashed him across his chest, destroying his axe in two. He fell backwards, unconscious, as his digital wound glowed across his chest and the song finally ended.

With the fight over, I was left gasping, almost out of breath. I turned to see that everyone in the ballroom had been watching the fight, with either looks of horror or surprise. Fatigue finally took over as I fell onto my butt to catch my breath and let my healing abilities kick in. As my shoulder slowly began to feel more bearable, some movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. To my shock, one of the Northern goons was charging at me with a knife in hand.

I barely had time to react as he jumped on top of me, his arm with the knife coming down, ready to stab me in the heart. “Die, freak!”

Shit! He’s got me pinned!

Just as the knife’s tip was about to pierce my chest, a beam of energy suddenly slammed into the Northerner’s side, knocking him off me and unconscious.

“What the?!” I sat up and looked around. “Where did that come from?!”

“Ax!” I turned to see Moon, Diamond, Orion, the girls, and Celestia quickly walk up to me. Moon noticed the blood on my shoulder and gasped. “Oh my stars! You’re hurt!”

“Are you okay, Big Brother Axel?!” Diamond asked.

“I’m fine, just a little sore,” I nodded.

“Hey man, you sure you’re alright?” Orion asked as he slowly helped me up onto my feet.

“I’ll live,” I said as I picked up my Amp. “Thanks for the save, Moon.”

“What do you mean?” Moon asked.

“That blast of magic, that was you, right?”

“I didn’t cast any magic.”

“You didn’t?” I turned to Celestia. “Did you?”

“I did not, though I was about to, someone was quicker than me,” Celestia said.

“Orion, did you see anyone blast the guy on me?”

He shook his head as he handed me back my phone. “I got crowded by too many people to even see most of the fight.”

I looked around but none of these nobles looked like they’d even lift a finger. “Huh, that’s weird.”

“Axel, you managed to defeat these men all on your own,” Celestia said as she handed me back my jacket. “I did not think it possible, but you had proven otherwise. Never in my years have I seen such a form of combat and skill.”

“I wouldn’t call it skill, I was just going by what my instincts told me to,” I shrugged.

Orion elbowed me in the rib making me wince. “Hey, when a princess compliments you, you accept.” He nudged me towards the onlookers. “Especially in front of the snobby nobles.”

I looked around as all the nobles’ eyes were on me.

“My word…he bested them all on his own!”

“What magic was that? It looked as though he had multiple types at once.”

“He protected the Princess, despite being outnumbered.”

“I must admit, that was quite impressive.”

“Well I feel sheepish,” I said, rubbing them back of my head.

“What’re you talking about, Ax?” Rainbow said. “You were awesome! Especially when you did all those sick moves in the air!”

“Ya sure showed them minotaur men what for, you’re more tough than ya look!” Applejack said.

“That was scary, Axel,” Fluttershy said. “But I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Before I had a chance to respond, Orion held my arm up like I just won a boxing match as he turned us to the crowd of nobles. “Say hello to your champion, nobles of Canterlot! For he and he alone stood against the Northerners and won, to not only defend our princess, but the rest of you. Despite the ridicule and taunts slinged upon him, he still took up arms against the bastard Northerners who dared threaten your lives this night.”

Slowly but surely, the nobles all clapped in a round of applause. A warm sensation washed over me as I was receiving praise from even the snob. I smiled as I waved at them and even the girls clapped for me.

“Axel,” Celestia said. “I must thank you for protecting us and saving me.”

“It’s no big deal, Princess,” I said.

“On the contrary, you are a hero this night.” Celestia slowly leaned in. “And a hero deserves a hero’s reward.”

Before I knew it, Celestia closed her eyes and gently pressed her lips on my cheek. My mind was racing a million miles a minute as the freaking co-ruler was kissing my cheek. My face turned beet red as she leaned back and her own cheeks were pink and she smiled at me.

“Ah…you…why did…huh?” I sputtered.

“Oh my, how bold!” Rarity chirped.

“Ah ha, is someone looking to be a prince himself?” Orion teased as he nudged me playfully.

“Shut it!” I snapped.

“Well, I suppose we can call this a night,” Celestia said. “Twilight, would you like to show us to that donut shop you used to frequent with Spike?”

“Donut Joe’s? Are you sure?” Twilight said.

“Indeed, I have a craving for donuts at the moment.”

“Of course, Spike left early and said he’d meet us there anyway.”

Celestia nodded and flagged down a servant her approached her. “Send word to the Captain that there is a group of trespassers and mercenaries in my throne room. Have him lock them up in the dungeons until my return.”

“Yes, your majesty,” the servant said and bowed before he left.

As the nobles dispersed the throne room, we made our way out of the castle.

“Man…what a crazy night,” I said as I rolled my shoulder.

“Yeah, not exactly how I figured this night going.” Orion yawned, and I could also see that he was looking over at Applejack as she and the girls walked ahead of us.

“So…Applejack, huh?”

Orion's cheeks flushed as he turned his head to look elsewhere. “So what should I do?” He asked.

“This might sound cheesy as shit, but what does your heart tell you?”

He stayed quiet for a while as we walked. “I’m not sure, this is a first for me honestly. I’ve never thought about asking a girl out.”

“Listen man, I’m gonna be honest with you,” I said as I wrapped my arm around Orion. “Moon and I may be a thing, but it all sorta jumped on the spot. We’re still in the very early stages of our relationship, and we’re taking it slow so we can get to know each other more. As for you and Applejack, just go with the flow. You now acknowledge she has feelings for you and you’re also starting to see her in a new light. So my advice, just do what comes natural to you. She’s a nice girl when it comes down to it, and you don’t have to worry about her ever lying to you.”

I could see Orion visibly calm down and look more at peace as he patted my arm. “Thanks man, I needed that.” He turned to look back over at Applejack and a warm smile spread across his lips. “I just hope I don’t mess up, had it not been for Celestia willing to pay us to take on Blueblood, I’m pretty sure I would have been in the dog house.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” I waved it off. “Besides, this’ll be a great chance to bond with her whenever you’re giving Blueblood the business while on the farm. Want a good way to mess with him? Convince AJ to make him sleep in the barn.”

“We’re gonna have to since there are no rooms available.” Orion started to chuckle. “But given the amount of bits we got from Celestia, we can afford to rebuild the barn and add some extra room. Not to mention, the sales we made too from the cart.”

“Who says you have to make it accommodating for him?”

Orion turned to look at me. “Because despite the asshole he is, I did mean what I said before about helping him see the world through a different set of eyes.”

“Wow, you’re serious.” I looked at Orion who looked back at me with a look of determination. “You really think you can change his ways?”

He smiled and nodded his head. “I have a feeling I can, it will take some time, but what better place than the friendliest place in all of Equestria.”

“Well my friend, I wish you luck in your seemingly impossible task,” I patted his shoulder as we walked along.

“Thanks, I'm gonna need it.” Orion smiled as we soon found ourselves at a donut shop.

The rest of the night was the girls sharing what they went through before the fight and catching up with Spike as we ate donuts. This night was certainly a night to remember, and I felt like I made a pretty good impression on Canterlot tonight. All that’s left now is to look forward to what’ll happen next for me in this new home of mine.

Author's Note

A night to remember.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…

Unfinished Business

Chapter 33

Later That Night
Dante
1st POV

I flew through the night sky towards the south side of town. My eyes were set on an office building that Alduck uses for his dealings with people under his protection. I was told to meet up with some people who hadn’t paid up recently while he had another meeting with the Commission. I touched down in front of the two-story building where a few guys were waiting out front. I walked up to them, and they immediately recognized me.

“Gentleman,” I said, and they respectfully nodded their heads at me with respect.

“Good to see you, sir,” the largest of the three greeted while acting as the doorman.

“So, what’s on the menu tonight?” I asked as they followed me.

“Three guys who’re late for this month’s quota,” the big guy said. “Boss wants you to handle it and send them a message to make sure they pay.”

“Sounds doable,” I said. Although I prefer to smash some heads, I thought.

We went up the stairs and into a room where three other men were sitting at a table waiting for us. They looked like a carpenter, a grocery clerk, and a baker. The baker I surprisingly recognized as Donut Joe.

“Good evening, gents,” I said as I sat at the head of the table. “I’m a busy man, so let’s just cut to the chase. Am I to understand you three haven’t been paying what you owe to the boss?”

Joe and the grocery clerk gulped while the carpenter gave a huff.

“Why should I keep paying?” The Carpenter argued while giving me a dirty look. “Alduck was supposed to give me a whole crew to get my contracting business done, but I keep paying for the crew and they never show up!”

I arched a brow and eyed one of the men who came with me.

“Slick, was it?” I said, making him flinch. “Is what he said true? Our guys are giving him the alligator arm?”

Slick chuckled nervously. “Well, we were kinda told to hold off construction to milk more money out of the union.”

I remained silent until I pointed my finger at Slick and morphed together a mini concrete shard and shot it at him. The shard whizzed past his cheek and hit the wall behind him, and a sizable cut opened up and started bleeding profusely.

“We don’t milk anyone for anything if they’re not doing anything wrong,” I growled. “The Don takes care of his own. You’d do well to remember that.”

“Nnnngh! Lesson learned, boss,” Slick grunted while holding his bloody cheek.

“Good. Now then.” I turned my attention back to the carpenter. “My apologies for our employees’ incompetence, sir, I’ll personally see to it that you get the help you requested.”

“Appreciated,” the carpenter said.

“So, Joe,” I said to Donut Joe. “I know about you and your shop in Canterlot. Pretty sweet place. What brings you to the big city? Let alone shacking up with Don Alduck?”

“Eh, I figured I’d try what most do in the food industry and try to branch out. Make a chain of shops to sell my baked goods. Believe it or not, my business ain’t doing so well here in Manehattan compared to my place in Canterlot,” Joe explained while rubbing the back of his head. “I wanted to get better ingredients and a better fryer. I needed a loan, but the bank wouldn’t give me one. So, I sought out Alduck.” Joe brings out a document. “We made a contract that I could work with, but a couple of his employees have been asking for more for themselves.”

“Hmm…” I hummed in thought and understood his predicament. “Personally speaking, Joe, it’s a crime that nobody is giving you the recognition you deserve. From what I hear, your donuts are arguably the best in the capital.”

“I even brought one for you, if you want?” Joe said and brought out a wrapped chocolate donut. I smirked as I took the donut and unwrapped it. The chocolate covering looked rich and sweet, and the pastry itself felt like I was holding a ring of fluffy cotton. As soon as I bit down on the donut, my tastebuds felt like they were dancing. The richness, the texture, the very taste made me smile and take another bite.

“Yep, that’s a fucking donut,” I said with a satisfying grin. “Thank you, Joe, and since you’re a friend of an acquaintance of mine, I’ll waive the debt for this month. Plus, I’ll ask Alduck to put the word out on your shop. I’ll be damned if the people of this city don’t get some of this goodness.”

“Thank you. I won’t forget this,” Joe smiled at me.

“You two can leave, our business is done,” I said to Joe and the carpenter. “But not you.” I looked directly at the grocery clerk. “You’re the one I’ve been really meaning to have a chat with.”

“Me? Hehe, why do you wanna see me?” He asked with a nervous smile and fidgeted his fingers.

“Oh, it’s quite simple,” I said as Joe and the carpenter quickly left. “You own a pretty decent grocery store in Little Neighpan. I hear you had a bit of trouble with shoplifters, robberies, and even blackmail. That is, until you sought out Alduck for protection. Since then, business is booming, and you’ve made a profit every week.” I leaned in close to glare at him. “Which is why I’m wondering how you seem to always have a lame-ass excuse for being short on your payments.”

“You don’t understand, every time it’s time to pay you guys, I mail it to ya. You must have changed your address or something,” he kept going, making himself look more pathetic.

“Changed our address?” I said, sounding like I had to contemplate his stupidity. “Dude, Don Alduck doesn’t change his address. In fact, nobody here has ever changed their addresses.”

“I seen him at the gambling club up at the southwest side of town, boss,” one of the men spoke up.

“Is that right?” I spoke.

“I see how this looks but let me explain. I thought I could make you your money and get some more for upgrades to the store. Uuuh…to make more money for you guys.” Even more pathetic.

“Uh huh, sure,” I said and snapped my fingers. Two of my guys stood on both sides of the clerk and grabbed his hands to force them on the table.

“Wait, wait! What are you doing!?” The clerk begged as the third goon brought out a buzz saw and turned it on. “No! Noooo!”

With a snap of my fingers, the whirring stopped as well as the screaming. “Tell me. What hand do you write your checks with?”

“Wh-what?” The clerk stuttered.

“What hand? Is that so confusing?” I asked.

“L-Left?” The clerk said and the guy on his left pulled out a hammer and started bashing his left hand repeatedly.

The guy started screaming as his hand was smashed like a potato. “Now you’ll have to learn to write with your right hand.” He kept crying as he held his broken and bleeding hand. “Throw him out in the alley. Say he got run over by a carriage.”

The men nodded and dragged him out of the room.

“Boss?” Slick said to me as he held a telephone in his hand. “Phone call for you, it’s Fuze.”

I nodded and grabbed the phone from him.

“Hey Fuze, just finishing up,” I said.

“Kid! Get over to the Don’s place now! Shit’s going down hard over here!” Fuze shouted.

“Woah, woah, take it easy, Fuze, what happened?” I spoke.

“The boss needs to see you. Now!” That's all I heard before he hung up.

I was unsure what had happened, and why Alduck wanted to see me, but whatever the case I had to get there as soon as possible.

“I’ll be heading out, boys,” I said and glanced at Slick. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

I made it to Alduck’s place, and the men let me in without hesitation. I made my way up the stairs and entered Alduck’s office where Fuze and Stone were waiting for me. Alduck sat silently in his chair with a very sinister glare. On his desk was a piece of bloody cloth and a note next to it.

“What’s going on, boss?” I asked. “Fuze sounded like you wanted to murder someone.”

“Take a seat.” Once I took my seat, Stone handed me a glass of whiskey. “It seems Nacho is pissed at us.” He then gestures to the bloody cloth, which I took. “He has someone very close to me.”

I unwrapped the cloth to reveal a severed pinky toe. The sight made me furrow my brows as I put it back on the desk.

“No disrespect, Don Alduck,” I said to the old man. “But you should’ve let me put that fat shit stain down when I had the chance.”

Alduck let out a low grumble before turning to the note. “He wants you in exchange for my best girl. To tell you the truth, I’m considering it.”

“And why’s that?” I asked, feeling eyes on me from everyone, excluding Fuse and Stone.

“Ever since my wife passed, Sandy has been my anchor for many years.” Alduck lets out a heavy sigh before downing the last of his drink. “However. You’ve been nothing but loyal to me and have done for the family to secure its place in power, in the short time since we met. So, I won’t hand you over.”

“I appreciate that, and you have my condolences,” I said. “Back to the issue at hand, what’s the play here?”

“I refuse to let that fat little prick play me for a fool,” Alduck growled. “Serrano Pepper should’ve dealt with him as his own family when he was supposed to but now, he’s gone and crossed a line with me. With that being said, you have my permission to snuff his nephew out for good.”

“Glad we’re finally playing ball here, boss,” I said with a sinister grin.

“But where would Nacho be holding Miss Sandy?” Fuze wondered.

“I’m sure Dante can ask before he buries that little shit in the ashes of his crumbling empire,” Alduck said before eyeing me. “You will, won’t you?”

“Just point me in the direction of his place, boss, I’ll handle the rest,” I said.

“Good. Now, the thing is, I’m not entirely sure where Nacho’s place is exactly,” Alduck said. “However, I do know there’s a patrolman on his payroll who reports to him personally. Name’s Valor Drifter. He hangs out in the residential area out by the main city square. Try the bar as a start.”

“Then that’s where I’ll be going then.” I told him before getting up and throwing back the drink for me.

“And Dante,” Alduck said to me. “There’s no doubt he’ll try to use Sandy’s life to get you to back off so try to get her out before you go crazy.”

“Oh, don’t worry, boss, they won’t even know what hit them,” I said before leaving the office.

The city lights illuminated the city below me as I stood on the edge of one of the buildings that towered over the area where this Drifter guy made his rounds. I could see some authorities walking in pairs here and there but none of which were the one I was looking for.

“Hmm…Alduck mentioned he regulars a bar off duty,” I said to myself. “Perhaps I should start there.”

After a quick fly over, and getting directions, I found the bar where I’d find the son of a bitch: The Prancing Pony.

“Freaking puns. And an unoriginal one at that,” I muttered before walking into a room with the scent of peanuts, stale beer, and liquor.

There weren’t many people in the bar. Maybe about five sitting around, and the bartender was washing glasses. I walked up to the bar and sat down on one of the stools and he walked up to me.

“What can I get ya, kid?” He said but then happened to glance down at my hand to notice my ring.

“Scotch. Double. Splash of water. And any info you can give me on Drifter.” The bartender nodded and went to get my drink.

“He’s a regular here,” the bartender said as he poured my drink. “He’s usually either complaining about his job or collecting for Mr. Nacho.”

“Any chance he’ll come around tonight?” I asked.

“He should be, in about five minutes or so,” the bartender nodded. “Hey, uh, there’s not gonna be any mess I gotta clean up, is there?”

“Don’t worry. I’m just gonna have a little chat with him,” I said and sipped my drink.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” The guy goes off to the other side while muttering.

I continued sipping my drink until the door opened again, and I saw a slightly pudgy man walk in wearing an officer’s uniform. He had a scruffy unkempt beard, balding head, and had bags under his eyes.

“Lou!” He barked before slumping on the stool. “My regular! I’ve had a shit day!”

“And there's the mark. Hey, this mafia lingo’s finally paying off,” I told myself before walking up to the guy. “What’s the matter, pal? Life givin’ you trouble?”

“You don’t know the half of it!” Drifter grumbled as the bartender poured his drink. “My boss has been hounding me at work, my bitch wife won’t get off my ass, and my fucking Captain of my precinct always threatens to take my badge for poor work ethic! The fuck does work ethic have to do with being an officer?!”

“Wow, sounds rough. Here, let me get ya a double. Lou?” And so, it begins.

“Gee, thanks kid,” Drifter smirked. “Speaking of which, what’s a kid like you, doing in a dive like this?”

“I’m here on business,” I said as I sipped my drink again. “I’m looking for someone.”

“Oh yeah? Who? Some broad?” Drifter asked.

“In a manner of speaking, yes,” I answered. “She’s lost, and my employer asked me to find her.”

“What’s her name?” Drifter asked as he drank.

“Sandy Shores,” I said, making Drifter freeze.

Drifter sputtered his drink, nearly choking on it before looking at me. “How do you know that name?”

“Same way you know,” I said, eyeing him. “Same way my boss knows. Perhaps you know of him too?” I paused before shooting him a death glare. “Don Alduck.”

“Not here. You wanna start a riot?” He asked nervously while looking around the room.

“That depends on how you answer my next question,” I said. “Where is Nacho?”

“Are you insane?! I can’t tell you! If he or his people found out I told you where she was, they’d kill me!” Drifter begged.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that,” I reassured him.

“And why’s that?” He asked.

“Because if you don’t tell me. I’ll kill you!” I shoved him against the bar and asked again. “Where is he!?”

"Gah! The…the…the Mareiot!" He screamed.

“Is the girl there?!” I barked but he was quiet. As if desperately trying to keep his yap shut. I extended my hand and my red digital claws formed before I held them close to his face. “IS SHE THERE?!”

“I don’t know! Maybe! I know she’s with him, but she could be anywhere!” Drifter begged.

I could just let him go and find out for myself but on the other hand he could still be holding information.

…

I smirked deviously and began tearing into the flesh of his cheek.

“You’re lying…!” I hissed. “You know where she is!”

His screams had the other patrons leave in a hurry and Lou to duck behind the bar. “Okay! Okay! She's with him in the penthouse suite!"

“Now, was that so hard?” I mocked and let him go. I turned to take my leave but stopped. “Oh, silly me, I’m forgetting.” I turned back to Drifter and summoned my red digital wings, giving me a more demonic appearance. “It goes without saying that if you dare try and do something as stupid as report me or even try to approach me, you’ll experience Hell like never before. Am I understood?”

Shakingly, he nodded with sweat dripping down his face, and piss running down his leg. “C-C-Crystal clear.”

I flew high in the clouds above the city below me. My destination was almost within range, and I could feel a tingling sensation in the back of my head. It was a mix of excitement and annoyance that I was finally gonna gut this guy without Alduck keeping me in check but instead gave me the green light. However, as much of a pain in the ass it was to admit, I had to consider the girl he had with him. Having to worry about a hostage was a drag but I couldn’t really do anything about it.

Soon, the fancy-ass hotel came into view. The thing was at least twenty stories high and had a huge sign that read The Mareiot. I still rolled my eyes at the sight of the name but didn’t dwell on it much. I flew down near the entrance of the hotel until I landed in an alleyway. I then peered from behind the corner to see a bunch of men in tuxedos all standing around. There were pegasus-men, earth-pony-men, and even unicorn-men with their hands glowing a little due to their magic. More so, every single one of them were armed to the teeth with bladed weapons or magic firearms.

“Hmm…I may be durable, but I’m not invincible,” I said to myself. “I suppose this is as good a time as any to try out that trick Axel’s been practicing.”

I hid behind the corner again and focused my Video power. My hands sparked with digital pixels as I pointed my hands at myself and enveloped my body in red digital light. I watched as my body slowly started to become invisible starting from my shoes, all the way up to my head. Slowly but surely, I made myself completely invisible, apart from the occasional digital sparks subtly crackling here and there.

“Woah…trippy,” I said as I looked at my invisible hand. It was strange but I could also feel my power slowly draining as I kept using this skill. “No time for admiration. Gotta get in there.”

I shimmied close to the wall and started to hear what they were saying. Mostly bullshit and unimportant crap, but a few things did catch my interest.

“Is this necessary?” One goon standing by the hotel entrance said. “All these guys for one kid?”

“He ain’t no kid, man,” one of the other goons said. “Señor Nacho described him as a demon at PVP. He’s the one that gave him his scar.”

“You think he’ll really set him up and catch him by surprise?” The first goon wondered.

A setup? I thought. Sounds like Nacho’s trying to trap me. Heh, good fucking luck, I say.

I easily slipped past the guards and made my way into the lobby.

It was still odd to me when I went past all these people and they didn’t see me. I honestly had half a mind to head to the women’s bathroom and live out every teenage boy’s dream. But when I saw a few of Nacho’s men head for the elevator, I knew I had to put that fantasy on hold and follow them.

Just before the elevator doors slid shut, I managed to slip into the elevator with a bunch of other goons. I tucked myself into the corner so as to not bump into any of them as one pushed a button that had the little VIP letters engraved on top.

“So, you really think he’s gonna go through with it?” I heard them converse with each other.

“Wouldn’t put it past him. Señor Serrano has had it out for old man Alduck for years.”

Fuck me. Now they plan on killing my boss. Any other surprises I should know about? I thought to myself as we kept ascending.

“But what about those guys in Mexicolt?”

“What about ‘em?”

“You didn’t hear? Señor Nacho said his uncle plans to bring some people from the top of the Pepper Cartel to Manehattan. I’m guessin’ after they whack the old man, Serrano will be wanting to seize all his territory.”

And now we got a land grab? I gotta stop asking what else could go wrong, I thought as the elevator dinged.

As soon as the doors opened, I was met with a very fancy-looking interior with lavish furniture and windows overlooking the city.

Why do bad guys always get the best digs? I followed the men up to a second level of the VIP suite. The fact that this floor had a second level was beyond ridiculous. As if to really grind my gears, when we made it to the second floor, I saw another set of stairs that led to a third level. I hate how this guy spends his money… I sighed quietly and crept away from the group of goons and stood off in the corner. Alright you pricks. Show me the money.

A set of double doors opened up from the third level and out walked this very stunning woman wearing a lavish red dress. The men all stood up straight as she walked down the stairs like she owned the joint.

“Ma’am,” one of the goons greeted.

“Is Nacho here yet?” She asked while pouring herself a drink. “I’m getting tired of being cooped up in here.”

“Not to worry, Ms. Shores.” Nacho appeared from the other room. “Once Alduck is dead, I’ll take you out to a nice steak dinner.” I was surprised further when the two of them started making out.

Well, well, well. Guess a leopard really can’t hide its spots, I thought.

So, it was just bullshit? I heard Axel say.

Almost forgot you were still up there.

Well, now what?

What else? I’m gonna do some snooping.

Really? Why not just reveal yourself and get it over with?

Because obviously there’s gotta be something of value in this ritzy trash can of a penthouse, and I want to find it. I wanna really stick it to both this fat lard and his senile uncle.

I moved away from them to scope out the area. I had to be quick because I could feel a slight strain on my body which meant my invisibility was beginning to take its toll on my reserves. I quietly walked up the stairs to the third level and started carefully peering into the rooms. Each room either had more goons, were empty, or were used as storage rooms for these large boxes. I could only assume they were filled with drugs or contraband since each room had guards standing by. It wasn’t until I turned the corner to try another room did I see a set of double doors with a hefty lock.

“Well, what do we have here?” I wondered out loud.

Seeing no guards or other personnel around, I switched from Video to Smoke while also deactivating my invisibility. Spotting a small crack at the bottom of the door, I easily went under. It felt like I was becoming flat as paper but also weightless as I slipped through the cracks. As soon as all of my smokey form slipped through, I was met with a small group of armed guards standing guard around something in the middle of the room. I wafted my smoke in the shadows to remain unseen but couldn’t believe what I saw. A giant-ass diamond the size of a softball sat on a pedestal with a spotlight shining down on it.

Holy shit on a golden stick! Look at the size of that rock! I bet that would fetch me a few million! I thought as a tiny bit of drool went down my lip.

I made my smokey body waft over the guards without them noticing. My smoke expanded over the whole ceiling as I then charged up my power. I carefully pinpointed each guard and fired Cinder Shots right at their heads. The shots pierced their skulls and killed them instantly, their heads engulfed in red cinders as they all collapsed to the floor. I wafted my smokey body down and rematerialized right in front of the pedestal.

“Oh, baby. The things I’m gonna buy with you!” I muttered while reaching for the giant rock.

Suddenly, a loud alarm went off and a hidden cage sprung out from the walls, floor, and ceiling. The cage trapped me in as the bars glowed a bright blue hue.

I grabbed the bars, only to let go as a burning sensation came off the bars. “Crap. Caught like a rat in a trap.”

“What a fitting analogy.” I looked to the door opening up and saw Nacho come in with Sandy by his side. They ignored the bodies laid out on the floor, as if their deaths didn’t mean anything to them.

“Nacho…” I said bitterly.

YOU STUPID FUCK! THIS IS THE OLDEST TRICK IN THE FUCKING BOOK! I heard Axel scream in my head.

Hey, I didn’t hear you say anything to stop me, I thought.

I DIDN’T THINK I HAD TO SINCE IT WAS SO FUCKING OBVIOUS, DUMBASS! Axel barked irritably.

“Bravo, señor Red Hawk, bravo,” Nacho said with a smug tone as he clapped slowly. “Your magic is certainly not to be trifled with if you can slip past all of my men and even subdue them. But I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by a hijo de un demonio like yourself.”

“Say it in english, jerk!” I countered.

“I’m saying that you are a demon spawn,” Nacho spat. “It occurred to me after you laid waste to my operation in the restaurant district. Never before had I, or any of mi familia, had witnessed such destruction and chaos.” He paced around the cage as Sandy smirked smugly at me. “The officers couldn’t make heads or tails how you did it, and we couldn’t say anything because we’re currently still trying to clean up your mess and keep the authorities off my back because my operation was exposed.”

“Yeah, bet that was a real pain in the ass. Speaking of pain, where should I start with you when I get out of here?” I asked him while cracking my knuckles.

“Oh, you won’t be leaving any time soon,” Nacho boasted. “This cage was specifically made for any estúpido dumb enough to try and take what is mine. The bars are charmed with quite the powerful anti magic field. No spell you conjure up will work so long as you’re in that cage.”

I stared at Nacho for a minute before I started chuckling. My chuckling then turned into a full on laugh, which both irritated and confused everyone in the room.

“You people are fucking riot,” I said, wiping my eye. “Everyone in this world are so fucking naïve, it’s so pathetic, that can’t help but laugh my ass off.”

“What nonsense are you spouting?” Nacho demanded.

“Let me put it in a way you’ll soon come to understand,” I said as I raised my hands in front of me. I switched to Electricity as red electrical bolts started to dance between my fingers and hands, which shocked Nacho as I grinned devilishly. “What I can do…can’t be farther from what you people call magic.” The bolts crackled and danced more violently between my hands and traveled up my arms. “What I can do is nothing you’ve ever seen or could have even dreamed before…”

“¡Muévanse pendejos!” Nacho commanded as I powered up.

Before his men could do anything, I swung my arms out creating a huge electrical wave that blew the cage off its hinges. Everyone was knocked back, including Nacho and his side piece. I heard more footsteps come running towards us, which meant reinforcements were on the way. Nacho scrambled up to his feet and made a break for it.

“I’ll make anyone who kills this puto a rich man for the rest of his days!” Nacho announced.

“You’ll be singing for the devil once I get my hands on you!” I said as I quickly reached for my earbuds, put them on, and scrolled through my phone to play a song.

As the lyrics kicked in, a whole squad of Nacho’s men came pouring in from the second level. All of them were armed to the teeth. Seeing them all together, aiming their weapons at me, it sent a tingle of pleasure up my spine. I pulled out my Amp and jumped into the fray of the oncoming goons who tried to shoot at me. I charged up my Amp with electricity and started bashing my way through the group. When a couple of goons almost got the drop on me, I quickly switched to Concrete to cover myself in a layer of rock before the magic bullets hit me. I then raised my free hand and fired shrapnels right at their heads.

“Like fish in a barrel!” I cheered before throwing a concrete bomb in the middle of the room.

Shrapnel went flying and hit multiple goons as I spotted Nacho run as fast as his fat ass could down the steps to the second level. I sheathed my Amp on my pack and activated Video to summon my digital claws and throw on some mid-level combat armor.

“I’ll paint the walls with your blood, motherfuckers!” I yelled, and started slashing my way through the horde.

After dispatching three guys at once by slashing their stomachs open, I went after Nacho.

“HE’S A DEMON!”

“WE’RE BEING TORN APART!”

“PROTECT SEÑOR NACHO AT ALL COSTS!”

I unwrapped my chain and made it into a dark red scythe. Three more goons took aim but I cleaved them all in two with a wide swing of my digital scythe before I twirled it behind me and stuck the tip right through another goon’s head through his temple. I felt a presence behind me and instinctively swung my scythe backwards. I looked behind me to see I had cleaved a guy’s head in two from the middle, which made me smirk. I made it past the first wave of goons and out of the room to the top of the stairs. More goons aimed their weapons at me and either climbed up the steps or flapped their wings into the air to meet me head on. I caught sight of Nacho running down a hall yelling something in Spanish.

“You’re only prolonging the inevitable, fatass!” I mocked.

“Eat me!” Nacho yelled before turning the corner with Sandy in tow.

I jumped off the balcony of the second floor and flapped my wings for an aerial assault. The winged goons shot at me with their magical firearms and tried swinging their knives and swords at me while I dodged and deflected them as best I could. Due to their numbers, I ended up taking a few hits but I managed to slice some of their wings off with a slash of my digital scythe. My fast-healing factor kicked in to heal my wounds but it didn’t help that I was out in the open and kept taking magical bullets.

I landed on the floor and fired pixel projectiles at the goons. Some hit their mark while others missed them. I ended up running all around the room while engaging any who tried charging at me. One goon raised a crowbar over his head to bash my skull in. When he swung down, I blocked it with my digital scythe. I reared my head back and headbutted him right in his nose. As he stumbled back, I swung my scythe low and cut off his legs. I then jumped over him to jump on another guy’s shoulders and raised my hand at his face. My digital shots pelted his face and made his head explode. I grunted when I felt more magical bullets hit me in my back, even with my digital armor.

“Fuck…this hurts…” I cursed while using a winged goon as a human shield. “I should wrap this up soon. I’m a tad outnumbered here.”

YOU THINK?! I heard Axel scream in my head, or his head, this is still confusing.

I quickly kicked a big dining table over so I could take cover. The goons all started firing at me. My fast-healing was doing its best to heal my wounds as blood seeped through my clothes, and I struggled to catch my breath. Weak digital lights flickered off my body, which meant even my fast-healing was having a hard time keeping up with the damage dealt to me.

“Fuck…I hate to admit it but it seems like I bit off more than I could chew,” I said. “But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna let that shit stain win and get away.”

I managed to switch to Electricity and held my hands in front of me. The dining table was being chipped away with every shot so I had to work fast. I charged my power to create as much lighting as I could. Red bolts began to dance and crackled between my hands and fingers, and spread up to my shoulders. I kept charging and charging until the bolts formed a sphere-like mass of red lighting between my hands. The table I was taking cover behind was almost chipped completely away as I had barely just finished charging up. I then clapped my hands around the ball of lightning and jumped over the table.

“EAT THIS!” I shouted and thrusted my hands forward to deliver a deadly Arc Lightning attack.

A huge red bolt of lightning fired from my hands. As soon as it hit the first goon I aimed at, the bolt hit the next goon, and the next, and the next, creating a chain of lighting that spread throughout the whole group. All of their screams as they were being brutally electrocuted echoed throughout the entire penthouse. The chain of lighting zigzagged across most of the entire second level and even struck any mid-air pegasus-men. I eventually had to stop my Arc Lighting so I canceled my attack by waving my hands down. I watched as all the charred men stood in front of me, some occasionally twitching. Some of their eyes were rolled back in their heads while others had bloody foam leaking out of their mouths. Then, one by one, they all collapsed to the ground in a heap of burnt corpses.

After the last goon was down for the count, and the song playing in my earbuds came to an end, the whole room smelled of burnt hair and fingernails. “Shocking… That felt forced.”

I noticed that some of the goons were still alive, which was kinda surprising to me since I put a lot of juice in that attack. Speaking of which, I felt pretty drained and needed a pick-me-up but didn’t see anything I could use to recharge. I then got an idea as a sort of alternative method to help recharge. I slowly walked over to one of the goons as he tried picking himself up as his body twitched every so often. I kicked him onto his back and stood over him with a menacing grin.

“You’ll do nicely,” I said and reached down to grab his head. I focused my power as red lighting bolts danced around my hand.

The goon hoarsely yelled in pain as I began to absorb what was left of his life energy. I could feel my Bio Leech feeding off his life force and fueling my power until he went completely limp. I released my grip from his head, leaving seared fingerprint marks. I breathed in deep as I felt his life essence fill my power, and turned to see more goons still barely alive.

“Still hungry.” With that, I went for the others.

I tossed aside the last of the goons who were clinging onto life and looked around the carnage to revel in my replenished power reserves. Red bolts crackled every so often from my shoulders, and my injuries had all closed up. Although, my tattered and bloody clothes made me look like a victim of circumstance.

“Better break out the purple stuff and knitting needles before I head back,” I joked.

I made my way towards the hall where Nacho and Sandy had escaped to. At the end of the hall was a large reinforced door with a huge-ass lock on the front. I could barely hear Nacho screaming something in Spanish on the other side, which told me this door was made of pretty thick material.

“Pfft, as if this stupid door is enough to stop me,” I scoffed and prepared to power up to kick it down.

Just as my foot was about to kick that door's ass, I felt a tug in my head. Hold up. Before you go all Kung Fu and break our foot, check out the panel on the right, I heard Axel say.

I arched a brow and glanced to the side to see what looked like a keypad. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together, and I ended up lowering my foot.

“You just wanna suck the joy out of everything, you know that?” I grumbled as I used my electricity to fry the keypad. “So much for a dramatic entrance.”

There will be other chances, knowing your luck, I heard Axel say, just as the door swung open.

I walked in to see Nacho and Sandy gasp in shock.

“How the fuck did get past the vault door?!” Nacho yelled.

“When will you get it through your thick skull that underestimating me is a death sentence?” I asked rhetorically as I cracked my knuckles. “Speaking of which.”

Click!

I paused as I heard the familiar click of a gun hammer being pulled back. Hell, it’s how I was born. I turned my head a little to see a guy with shades holding a gun close to my head. “Сделай еще шаг, и я вышибу тебе мозги.”

I didn’t know what the fuck he said but I knew I’ve seen him somewhere before. His big burly physique and scrunched up nose made the gears in my head turn until it hit me.

“Well, well, well,” I said with a slightly surprised yet mocking tone. “If it isn’t one of Blueblood’s former big bruisers from all those months ago. How’s it hanging…Shatter Star?”

The guy I recognized as Shatter Star removed his shades, revealing darkened eyes. Guess he never really healed from his beating. “Привет, ублюдок.’

“Look, if you’re gonna threaten me, you could at least say it in english,” I told him without a care.

“Fuck you, you arrogant little shit!” He pressed the barrel against the back of my head. “Thanks to you, my girlfriend left me, my wife left me, and I had to find work with this beaner after being dishonorably discharged!” He pointed over to Nacho.

“Oof, they even use those slurs around here?” I said to myself. “Not my fault you were an arrogant ass. I just put you in your place.”

I then felt something sharp press against my neck. I glanced over my shoulder to see a pegasus-girl with green wings staring at me with a stern expression. Half of her bright green hair was shaved off, and she had both ears pierced with a hoop. She wore what looked like leather merc gear with a shoulder piece and vest, and underneath was a v-shirt that showed off a bit of cleavage. She wore torn black pants and heavy duty combat boots. Strapped to her vest and waist were a bunch of daggers and knives, similar to the one she held at my neck.

“Oh joy…another one,” I sighed.

“Piss of, ya little shitta’,” The chick said with a Cockney accent.

“Hehe…hahaha!” Nacho started laughing. “Not so tough now, you little shit?! These are my top employees! They’ll tear you apart just as I envisioned!”

“Ooooh, I can’t wait to shove that comment up your fat ass,” I told him.

“Enough! Shatter! Shiv! Send him to Tartarus!” Nacho ordered.

Before Shatter Star could blow my brains out and the new girl, named Shiv, could slice my neck open, I raised my hands and clapped as hard as I could sending an electric shockwave that blew them both back. I then charged at Shatter Star and tackled him out of the room and proceeded to beat him into submission.

“Axel should’ve beaten you to a pulp when he had the chance.” I raised my fist before covering it with concrete. “Allow me to rectify that mistake!”

Shatter struggled to keep me off him, but I was having none of it as I kept beating his face in. Suddenly, I felt a searing pain in my back, making me grunt in pain. The girl had thrown a few daggers at my back, forcing me to bring my strikes to halt. Shatter took this opportunity to slug me in the gut, making me go flying back down the hall and into the main lobby of the suite. I shook my head to see Shatter and Shiv walk out while Shatter pulled out a few items that looked like syringes and jammed them into his arm.

“Oh please, don’t let our fight stop you from getting your fix. Fucking Junkie,” I insulted Shatter while forcing the daggers out of my back with a small EMP blast.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up when Shatter’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks. A manic grin stretched across his lips as his muscles on his arms and legs bulged. Out of nowhere, Shatter stomped on the hardwood floor, splintering the boards, before charging at me in a full sprint. I had little time to react as his fist connected to my chest. My ribs felt like they were about to shatter from the impact as I was sent through a wall, and I coughed up blood.

“Gah…! The…fuck was that?!” I wheezed.

I got my answer in the form of a right hook across my face.

Now it was Shatter on the offensive as he started laying into me with his juiced up fists. I activated Concrete to shield my face with my arms but his punches were chewing away at my defense little by little.

“Fuck…! I gotta get outta this!” I grunted.

As Shatter raised both his fists to hammer down on me, I held my hands in front of me and fired a few Concrete Barrage disks. The disks hit him in the chest, making him grunt loudly, and it gave me the opportunity to use Concrete Thrusters to push myself out from under him. I jumped back up and staggered a bit as blood dripped from the side of my head. Shatter brushed off the Concrete dust and shards of rock from his chest, and reached into his pocket pulled out a couple more syringes and jammed them in his leg.

“Fucking hell…” groaned and a few knives whizzed past my cheek. One of them cut my cheekbone as I spotted Shiv getting ready to throw more knives behind Shatter.

“Like it? I think I’ll keep him for my new shield,” I heard Shiv say before throwing another knife. The blade made a few ricochets before nearly piercing my calve. “Don’t worry. I got a few tricks up me leggings as well.”

Shatter seemed too juiced up to even say words as he picked up a chair and hurled it at me. I managed to jump out of the way but a knife pierced my foot. I cursed in pain and yanked the knife out, and barely had enough time to dodge another charge from Shatter. I switched to Video and summoned mid-level Combat Armor. The armor looked just like the mid-level combat armor from Fallout 4. I then materialized two Power Fist weapons on both my fists and slammed them together as Shatter got his teeth at me.

“Now we can do fisticuffs properly!” I said.

The only answer I got from Shatter was for him to grab the couch in one hand and swing it like a fly swatter. I managed to duck out of the way from his swing and reeled my fist back. I swung it as hard as I could and connected it with the couch, splintering it into pieces. With his crude weapon unusable, Shatter threw away what remained of the couch and met me in a brawl. Despite using power fists, my punches felt like I was hitting a wall of solid rock while his felt like I was being clobbered by a couple of baseball bats.

“That’s it! Tear that bastard apart!” I heard Nacho cheer as he and Sandy came to watch from around the corner.

I clenched my teeth in annoyance and spotted Shiv creeping up in the corner of my eye getting ready to throw more knives. Much as I didn’t want to admit it, I had to end this before things get more complicated than they already are. I quickly materialized a combat helmet over my head and leaned back. I then swung my head forward and bashed my helmet right into Shatter’s face. The big bruiser grunted and stumbled backwards in a slight daze, dropping his guard, which gave me the opportunity I was looking for. I tackled Shatter and pushed him through the rubble and damaged furniture right into a wall. Before he could retaliate, I began my onslaught of nonstop consecutive power punches. Strike after strike, I was beating Shatter into submission into the wall and he was helpless to try and put up his guard. I felt multiple sharp objects hit my armor as Shiv tried to stab me through my back but my armor held up.

“I’LL KEEP BEATING YOU UNTIL YOU CAN’T EVEN THINK STRAIGHT!” I yelled as I kept wailing on the helpless Shatter Star. I could feel his bones breaking with every strike and blood sprayed from his nostrils and eyes. I expected to hear Axel at some point, asking me to stop for whatever reason, but he never said a word.

Shatter was absolutely helpless as I continued beating him relentlessly into the wall. His entire face was swollen and bloody, and all of his teeth were knocked out. I grinned as I reeled back as far as I could and slammed my power fist right into his face. The impact was so great that I ended up crushing his skull in the process. I then pulled my fist back and let his beaten corpse fall limply on the floor. His head was completely crushed, and blood pooled out onto the floor. I could even see a little bit of brain sticking out the back of his head as he lay there twitching. I breathed heavily as I then unsheathed my Amp and raised it over his disfigured head.

“Nighty night,” I mocked before bringing my Amp down on his skull, splattering it all over the coils and the floor.

Before I even had time to wipe the gray goo from my tool, Shiv let out a battle cry before latching onto my back. "You dirty bastard! I'll turn your miserable corpse into a pin cushion!" She roared while trying to stab my neck.

Thankfully, my armor managed to stop her blade from piercing my flesh as I reached behind me and grabbed her arm. I tossed her off of me but she unfurled her wings and had several knives in both her hands.

“Crap…” I said and ran for cover.

I ducked behind a couch just as the knives went flying. I heard the knives thump against the cushions. As I tried to come up with a plan, one knife whizzed through the furniture and nearly grazed my cheek.

“Shit! Just how many knives does this bitch have?!” I said when she suddenly flew over my cover and threw a few knives aimed right at my face. I was forced to raise my arm and let the blades pierce my armor and cut my flesh.

“Gonna stick ya like a pig, I will!” Shiv yelled before bringing out a large dagger to stab me with.

I managed to duck out of the way but felt a searing pain in my calf. I yelled in pain to see she had thrown a second large dagger at my leg when I wasn’t looking. My fast-healing was once again having a hard time keeping up with all this damage I was taking as little faded digital lights flickered off my body.

Shiv noticed this and stomped her boot, revealing a pop-out knife. She then kicked my ribs, damaging my armor further, and even got a few lucky shots in.

“What’s wrong, ya git?!’ Shiv mocked as I struggled to keep my armor active. “Out of juice?!’

For the first time, I found myself driven into a corner. This fight with Nacho’s goons, Shatter Star, and this crazy knife girl were taking more of a toll on me than I anticipated. It’s never been this bad before with me being the one on my hands and knees. I had to find a way out of this fast, before I actually end up getting killed.

“This oughta do ya in,” Shiv said as she twirled a big knife in her hand. “Say your prayers, and give my regards to the big bruiser in Tartarus!”

I grit my teeth and raised my hand to block her from plunging her knife into my neck, only to have her stab right through my hand and my blood sprayed everywhere. I grunted loudly as my anger and frustration boiled over. There was no fucking way in hell I was gonna let this bitch do me in, and let that fat son of a bitch get the last laugh. In my anger, I switched to Smoke, which deactivated my armor. Thick smokey vapors with red cinders flickered off my body as I pushed Shiv away while she tried pushing back. I grit my teeth even harder, and my vision became red while the smoke vapors and red cinders billowed more ferociously off of me. Suddenly, red flames burst from my hands, which forced Shiv to let go of her knife and fly back. I slowly picked myself up from the ground and stood on my good leg. The red flames flickering off my hands traveled up my arms to my shoulders as I pulled out the knife from my hand. I glared at Shiv through my red vision while my new red flames and smoke vapors engulfed both my arms.

“You’ve pissed me off to the nth degree, bitch,” I snarled. “There’s no way in Hell I’m dying tonight. Not by you, or anyone.”

Without waiting for a retort, I started attacking her from all directions at speeds that surprised even me. My Smoke Thrusters gave my jump a boost as I fired Cinder Shots right at Shiv. To her credit, Shiv was more nimble than she looked as she dodged all of my shots while picking up and throwing her knives at me. After dodging a large dagger, I grabbed it from where it stuck itself in the wall and let the flames consume it, making the blade look like it was purely made of flames. With a quick flick of the wrist, I sent it sailing and it found its mark in Shiv’s right shoulder.

Shiv screamed in pain as the inflamed blade seared her flesh and probably even tore through the tendons and muscles of her limb. I took the opportunity to fire a few more Cinder Shots right at her. She was able to dodge a few shots, despite her injury, but I was able to get another shot in on her wound, making her scream again.

Before I could fire another shot, I suddenly fell on one of my knees. The blood loss was finally kicking in, and I was down to my last reserves of power. I started to cough up blood as a shadow suddenly loomed over me.

“Adiós, amigo.” I heard Nacho say before I heard the click of a gun hammer being pulled back.

“I ain’t done yet, shit head!” I yelled and ducked out of the way before he fired. I reeled back and smashed my fist as hard as I could into his face, sending him flying and he hit the large window, making it crack. Shiv had recovered from my shot and went to throw more knives at me. I grit my teeth as hard as I could and used all my strength to charge at Shiv before she could throw another knife. I tackled her onto the marble kitchen counter and proceeded to punch her face over and over.

“I’ve! Had! Enough! Of! Your! BULLSHIT!” I screamed with each punch.

Once her face was smashed to my liking, I grabbed the two nearest knives and sunk one in each of her wings. Shiv screamed at the top of her lungs as blood gushed from the wounds from the knives. I then got a very sadistic idea as she looked up at me with angry tears in her eyes.

“You pegasi-people take great pride in your wings,” I said, as I glared down at her with a vicious smirk. “I know an annoying, rainbow-haired bitch who sometimes won’t shut up about her wings. You people sometimes believe you’re a cut above earth pony-people just because you can fly.” I forced Shiv to turn over on her stomach against the counter and switched to Video to summon my digital claws. “Let’s see how you like being grounded permanently.” Shiv looked over her shoulder at me with horror as I extended my claws and jammed the tips right at the base of one of her wings, tearing the tendons and nerves to shreds.

Shiv screamed in horrible unimaginable pain as I tore through her muscles and crushed the bones like dried twigs. In a way, the screams gave me a sickening pleasure. The wing twitched violently until I snapped a few more tendons until it went completely limp. I was about to move on to the next wing when I felt her body go limp. Her eyes had rolled back in her head and there was a little foam coming from her mouth. The pain must’ve been too much for her that she blacked out. I scoffed at her and shoved her aside, making her fall on the ground.

The pain from my injuries were beginning to ache as I turned to where Nacho was leaning against the big glass window. Nacho was clutching his swollen face, whimpering like the little pompous bitch he is. I slowly made my way over to him while deactivating Video. I spotted my chain on the floor and picked it up before wrapping it around my wrist. My Amp was lodged in the stump of Shatter’s head, so I grabbed the handle and yanked it out, making a sickening sound of tearing flesh. I sheathed my Amp back on my pack as Nacho tried to crawl away from me. I said nothing as I leaned down, grabbed him by his neck and held him up in front of me. As he gagged for air, I reeled back and slammed him into the glass. The impact made the window shatter to pieces as the cold strong winds from outside blew into the penthouse. I could almost see the whole city from way up top as I held Nacho in front of me again, hanging him over the edge.

“You probably have been in the opposite position that you are in now plenty of times,” I said as my grip tightened. “You, standing over a sniveling individual who probably owes you money or is being forced to do something they didn’t want. You most likely felt that rush of power and authority, like a puppeteer controlling the strings of his puppet. But now…” My grip tightened more as I subtly switched to Electricity. “Now all of that authority means jack shit. Your men are dead and butchered, your top mercenaries have failed you in the worst way, and you barely have a single bit to your name since I took away everything you had to your name.”

“When…my uncle-gak!” Nacho tried to say but I choked him out.

“Your uncle…is next,” I proclaimed. “He overstepped. And that never ends well in this line of work. You should’ve realized that, because now you’re no longer the great Señor Nacho Pepper, nephew to the great Don Serrano Pepper, you are now just a fat, pathetic, little rat.”

Nacho tried his best to claw his way out of my grasp, but I wasn’t done with him yet. After all the pain and suffering he’s caused me, it’s only fair that he heals me. Grabbing him with both hands, I used Bio Leech to suck out his life force. Nacho gasped in pain as I activated the power and his life started to seep into me. One thing the games didn’t mention, or they just couldn’t mention, was that the features of Nacho’s face started to shrink and get wrinkly, like a grape turning into a raisin.

His screams of anguish quieted down as his eyes rolled back. I could feel the amount of energy flowing into me like a well-deserved energy boost. Honestly, I was a little surprised how much energy I was absorbing as the pain from my wounds had mostly subsided. By the time I expunged the last portion of energy from Nacho, he was nothing more than a dried husk that resembled a decomposing mummy’s corpse. I looked down at the bustling streets of Manehattan as I slowly released my grip. Nacho’s shriveled body fell from my grasp and plummeted to the ground below. I watched it fall until it impacted the ground with a distant thud. I couldn’t hear from the top story of the building, but I could just barely see some pedestrians as they were startled from the sudden noise of Nacho’s body hitting the pavement. As I gazed down at the entrance of the hotel, I caught sight of some flashing lights parked outside the building. It then hit me that those flashing lights belonged to carriages driven by authorities.

“Someone must’ve called the cops while I was busy,” I said to myself. As if to prove my assumption, I heard loud banging on the door followed by yelling. “And it would seem they’re already here…”

You can’t let them see your face! That’s my face! Axel shouted in my head.

Just as I was about to make my leave, I caught sight of some surviving thugs trying to make a break for it. Looks like they couldn’t handle going face to face with me and tried to hide away in a broom closet. I could just let them run, let them tell their boss what happened tonight.

…

I pulled my hood over my head and held my hand in front of my face while activating Video. I used my power to materialize a mask to hide my face. The survivors all whimpered as I materialized my scythe in my hand.

“No survivors…” I said venomously.

Marshall Avalon
1st POV

BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!

I kept my stern gaze at the door as a couple of the local authorities were beating it down with a battering ram. I was surprised that her majesty would allow me to leave her side just to join an urgent call but the fact that all units were to join in made the situation much more serious. I honestly did not know what to expect.

“Sir!” An officer ran up to me looking quite pale. “We just got word from the ground level that a body was just found splattered all over the pavement! Witnesses say it fell from the top floor of this penthouse!”

“Did they identify the victim?” I asked as I kept my gaze on the door.

“No sir, some of the men are still in shock and we're keeping as many witnesses as we can clear of the crime scene,” the officer reported.

“How long ago was this?” I asked.

“About a few minutes ago, sir!” The officer said.

CRASH!!

“We got it open!” The officer with the battering ram said. “Manehattan police! Everyone hands above their-!”

“SWEET CELESTIA!” One of the officers cried at the gruesome sight before us.

Piles of bodies lay across the hall, most mutilated beyond measure. Some of the officers had to step out to vomit as the scent of fresh blood filled my nostrils. In all my years of service, I had never seen such a level of murder and mayhem.

“Augh…sir, I’m gonna be sick!” One of the officers said as I gave him the all clear to run outside to lose his lunch.

“These bodies are fresh…” I cautiously drew my weapon when we heard what sounded like fighting upstairs. “On me, watch your corners! MOVE!”

We ran up the stairs to the second level, trying to ignore the gruesome sight of the bodies that littered the hallway and blood that splattered the walls.

“Wait a moment…” an officer said as he ran up the stairs beside me. “I recognize some of these men! They’re part of the Pepper Cartel!”

“The Cartel?” Another said. “Does that mean this was a gang fight?”

“More like a slaughter,” another officer gulped.

“These wounds…they were done by a blade.” I noticed that many of the bodies had been made with clean cuts, each lethal with a single strike by a blade sharp enough to cleave bone before I noticed something else. “No, not blades…claws?”

“What the hell did we get ourselves into sir?” An officer gulped fearfully.

“I don’t know but be ready,” I advised.

We made our way up the stairs to the second level of the penthouse. I honestly didn’t know what to expect as we heard a few shots of magic gunfire. Sweat dripped off the side of my brow, and I could tell these officers were very anxious the closer we got to the top. As soon as we did, my fears were made true as I and the officers froze in place. The cold wind from outside blew in from the large broken window. More bodies lay littered everywhere on the floor and on the steps to the third level. Standing in the middle was a creature that could only be described as a demon straight from the pits of Tartarus. It had blood red webbed wings that resembled a bat’s wings. In one of its hands was a large red scythe, its blade was dripping with fresh blood from its slain victims. In its other hand was another unfortunate bastard whose head had been skewered by the demon’s long serrated claws. The demon wore what looked like regular clothing and a hood over its head. However, underneath the hood was what looked like a demonic mask.

“You should’ve stayed in hiding…” the creature said in a distorted voice at his slain prey.

“Wh-What…the Tartarus…is that thing…?!” One officer said, shaking in his boots.

“OPEN FIRE!!” Without thinking, we fired upon the creature yet each of our shots seemed to sweep past him as if they were standing still and when our guns ran empty, we saw he had deflected each and every shot without moving an inch from where he stood. I swallowed a lump in my throat and took a step forward.

“Listen, buddy, I don’t know who you are, but you need to come with us.,” I said calmly as I approached the masked vigilante carefully while trying to ignore the corpses now decorating the room.

“…Marshall…Avalon,” the creature said before slowly turning his head time. His red eyes sent a chill down my spine. “Celestia’s personal guard dog.”

“Put your hands behind your head-NOW!” I barked, my hands barely shaking as I trained my sights on him.

“Hmph, this isn’t a fight you should be worrying about, Avalon,” the creature scoffed and unfurled his red wings. “Best return to your mistress’s side where you belong.”

Before I could order him to surrender again, he flapped his wings as hard as he could and shot out of the window at blinding speeds. I ran to the edge of the window as he flew across the sky like a red shooting star and disappeared into the blackness of the night sky. I finally managed to exhale from the unknown pressure I felt in his presence.

“Who…the Tartarus was that?!” One of the officers asked when I saw the carnage he had left in his wake. Whoever this man was, he showed no mercy to the cartel.

“I don’t know but somehow I doubt we’ve seen the last of him,” I sighed.

“We got a live one!” I whipped my head around to see another gruesome sight.

One of the officers was kneeling down over an unconscious young pegasus-woman. My fist clenched when I noticed that both of her wings had blades stuck in them and the base of her left wing was completely torn apart. This creature deliberately destroyed her ability to fly, making her permanently grounded.

“She must be one of the mercenaries,” the officer said.

“This is officer Marshall; I need a med team here stat!” I said over the communication crystal while a few of my men gently took her off the wall. Even though she was a gun for hire, I could only feel pity for what that…thing had put her through as we surveyed the aftermath of the massacre.

“One man did all this?” An officer said with a nervous shudder.

“This was no man…it was a demon,” I said while looking at the clawed face of another cartel member.

“Sir! There’s another one over here!” Another officer called out.

I made my way down a hall and turned into one of the rooms. This room was almost completely destroyed with burn marks on the walls and ceiling. There was debris everywhere along with more slain cartels. Huddled in the corner was a woman who looked like she had just faced death.

“Red…Hawk…” the woman whimpered. “Red Hawk…beware…th-the Red Hawk…!”

“Sir, she’s in complete shock, I suggest we get her to the hospital ASAP,” the officer said.

“Do it. And search every inch of this place. I wanna know what went down here,” I ordered.

The woman ran up to me and grabbed my arms.

“HE’LL KILL ME! I AM HIS NEXT VICTIM! THE RED HAWK WILL HUNT ME DOWN AND TEAR OUT MY HEART!” She screamed in my face.

“Hey HEY! Ma’am, calm down!” I shook her a bit to snap her out of her trauma as the men pried her off me. Never in my whole career as a royal guard did I see someone so frightened. “Red Hawk? She talking about the suspect?” I wondered.

“All I know is that guy cost us months of investigation. We’ve been monitoring these cartels for months! All that work flushed down the toilet! I want this guy found and in cuffs,” one of the lead officers said before storming off.

“Sir, may I speak to you for a moment?” One of the unicorn-officers said. I nodded and I stepped out of the room to speak with her. “You know the Manehattan Authorities always carry a magic suppressing ring on our person so we can put it on unicorn-perps in order to negate their magic, right?”

“Yeah, why?” I nodded.

“Well…the rings also act as a sort of magic detection device. It can even detect magic residue from spells cast,” the officer said as she pulled out her ring. “I have been using this ring to detect magic since we arrived on the scene. However…there isn’t a trace of magic anywhere around here.”

“What are you saying, officer?” I asked.

“It shouldn’t be possible but whatever that…demon did to these cartels.” The officer looked around and gulped. “It wasn’t magic.”

“That’s bull!” I spat after hearing such an outrageous claim. “Look at these scorch marks! even the most basic fire spell leaves some kind of magical trace! Are you telling me this guy used some kind of tool?! I’ve never heard of such a thing!”

“If that were true, then there would be traces of non-magic resources, wouldn’t there?” The officer said. “Sir Marshall, these burn marks aren’t any I’ve ever seen in my years on the force. Even you can tell that all of…this is unnatural.”

“Unless this guy was a dragon, I’m not ruling out anything. Get your boys at the lab to analyze this, I gotta make a report to headquarters.” I then headed downstairs and back to the elevator as the men began to corner off the crime scene. Once I reached the bottom floor, and the elevator doors opened, I could see the flashing lights of paparazzi as I walked into the lobby while the other officers did their best to keep them back. Just as I was about to be bombarded by flashing lights and repetitive questions, my thoughts were swirling with questions about what I saw up in that penthouse.

“What kind of creature leaves such destruction?” I said to myself as I opened the doors.

“Sir Avalon! Sir Avalon!” One of the paparazzi called out to me.

“What is the situation in the penthouse?!”

“Is it true that there was a mass murder?!”

“Is it gang related?!”

“How many bodies did you count?!”

“Should we assume the worst?!”

“The investigation is ongoing; we will keep you informed as much as possible. Thank you.” I then quickly made my way back to the wagon as more of the press tried to get me to answer more questions, but I was as much in the dark as they were.

“Where to sir?” the driver asked after I had stepped in.

“Headquarters, now,” I ordered.

Author's Note

Everywhere the Red Hawk goes, blood flows like an endless stream.

Hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…