A Roegadyn in Equestria

A Roegadyn in Equestria.

Chapter 15: First impressions.

*Point of view: Brex Mith*
*Location: Brex’s Dream Scape*

Brex opens his eyes and finds himself in a star filled void and right before him is a white door floating in midair. Reaching for the door, he turns the handle and opens it. The first thing he noticed is the room from before, with the numerous types of windows lining the walls and a bed in the middle of a nicely polished wooden floor.

Looking around the room from just inside from the door way, Brex realizes that no one else was around. He considered that Rory was on her way to him thanks to the story of when she had to search for the door when they had first met that morning. With a smile, he turns and closes the door before reaching for the color-coded turn wheel next to the handle along the wall.

Giving it a good turn to the left, the red was now rotated to be on the top. The light lit up and he quickly opened the door and braced himself while his arms were held out to his sides. Not even a second had passed after he had opened the door again, when something collided with him in his lower chest area. It wasn’t hard, but it also wasn’t soft either. Looking down Brex could see a confused Rory mercury being held in his arms while giving her a warm smile.

Letting out a chuckle, Brex gives the girl a hug while saying, “Good to see you dropping by. How did you like my little short cut?” It had taken Rory a few seconds to recover and notice the situation and after hearing her master’s words, she couldn’t help but use her legs and push herself higher so she could give him a hug around the neck and placed her chin into the nape of his neck and giving out a chuckle of her own.

They help the embrace for a good solid minute before letting go of one another. The girl stood up to her full height and gave him a small curtsy by taking hold of the sides of her skirt and giving a little bow. Before saying, “it’s nice to finally meet you my master~, you have no idea how long this day had been for me to introduce myself formally.”

Brex quickly gets to the point knowing that the time in the dream scape could go at a much slower pace. This meant that they didn’t have a whole lot of time to get things done in preparation.

He asked Rory, “Rory, I had been meaning to ask you about the anti-virus and Firewall. Could you tell me if they can be used to protect my mind or body from outside influences? What I’m talking about would have to be, things like, getting sick physically and possibly protecting me from any forms of mind control or mind reading. There is also the thing with Princess Luna getting at me through my dreams.”

Rory places a finger onto her chin and hums to herself while closing her eyes for a moment. After seeming to have thought it over, she replies with a confident smirk, “That shouldn’t be a problem there at all, when it comes to anything trying to get into your head. However, you can get sick from a cold or being exposed to some kind of poison, if that’s what you meant by getting sick physically.”

Giving a wide smile, she continues with, “We could set things up for a full mental block if you want.” That was when Brex gave her a firm head shake. He then said, “No I don’t want that exactly per say. It would tip them off, if I was to somehow be able to fully block their powers. Don’t misunderstand me. No way I want them to have any control over my mind. What I want is to have separate layers of my mind set up. Er… how do I explain my idea…”

Scratching his head, Brex attempts to explain, “It’s like this, I want to keep my real thoughts completely hidden while having a lower level of them that would have a weaker protection that those that try to gain access would end up dealing with instead. All the while my real self is protected and not a target. Does that make sense?”

The girl gives it some thinking before answering, “Oh I get it, you want a decoy layer of thinking. One that the princess and others would see, but not the real one.” Laughing Brex gives her a nod as he says, “Yes that’s it exactly. I need a decoy so I can let them hear only what I want. They will still have to try and put some effort to get into it though. Don’t want it to seem too easy or they might get somewhat suspicious.”

Rory gives him a wink while showing a mischievous grin before saying, “Oh master. That’s a great idea. But what do you want to do about the one that can dive into dreams? It’s one thing to lay out a thought for the mind readers, but as for the dreams, we will need to come up with a plan.”

Closing his eyes now, Brex cross’s his arms and mutters to himself for a minute before opening his eyes wide and exclaiming in an excited tone, “Ha! I got it. Why don’t we just make it so I have multiple layers on my mind that can also act like decoys just like how we will do it for the mind spells we just talked about?” This caused Rory to tilt her head out of confusion.

Brex continued by saying, “Keep my true memories and thoughts locked up in a spot, for example, here in this room. This could be the core if you want to give it a name. No, No. wait, lets think of my head as a three floored building. The first floor could be my thoughts I want others to hear if they use spells in the real world. Then the second floor is where we will construct the fake dreams I have and the past I’m willing to share from time to time. We can make it so Lulu will only be able to be on that second floor and we will have control without her realizing it herself. Now as for the third floor, that will be this room where I have the real stuff.”

He continues with, “Now it’s not like we can lay everything out for her to walk through. I do want the second floor to give her some resistance. That would explain how she can’t get whatever she wants out of me, also, if I feel that I want the princess out then I could force her to leave. That way, to her perspective, I just started to become aware of her and either woke up or managed to expel her from my dreams. Do you think that’s possible for the Anti-virus and Firewall to do, or am I asking for too much?”

Smirking, Rory replies, “Oh, not at all. That’s well within their capabilities to do. So, what sort of dreams do you want to set up for now? I doubt that you want to show too much about yourself.”

Brex lifts a finger into the air while he answers with, “I think coming up with the port town I started in would be fine. Just don’t add any of the people inside of it yet. So just the structure and buildings. Make sure that there is an invisible dome around the city so Princess Luna won’t have the option of leaving to go sightseeing the country. Well not yet anyhow. If she is going to go dream hopping, then I want to have a test run and see what she does.”

When he was done with giving the rudimentary outline for the mental defenses, He then turned his attention to the room and wondered aloud, “As for this.” he motions for the room in general before continuing, “I’ll go ahead and see about adding some more décor.”

Just as he was about to snap his fingers, Brex halted and gave a toothy smile before placing his hands together. When they parted, it displayed a small man that was no larger than Brex’s own head. The man had a neatly trimmed, light green hair cut. Wearing a common businessman’s white button up shirt with a black neck tie. But what was strange above all else, was the fact that he was floating in the air with the help of small wings and a gold crown that didn’t even come into contact with his head and holding onto a wand that had a golden star on the tip.

The small man looked about and said, “Hold on here… this isn’t the candy store! Also, I was about to grant a wish for a chocolate snake. Wonda! Oh Wonda. Shnookums!” That was when Brex called to get his attention and explained, “Oh don’t worry, I just summoned you here. You’re, um. On a temp fairy program and you have to grant me one wish or… you get your license suspended for… er… one week.”

This convinces the small man and Brex wished for his room to look exactly like his old house from Final fantasy 14. With a flick of his wand. The room was covered in a blinding flash. Brex could hear from behind himself the voice of Rory yelling. “What’s with all the blinding lights in here, I said warn a girl!” it was then preceded by the sound of something hitting the floor with a small thud.

When the flash died down, Brex could see an exact copy of his house that was put together with the help of his friends over many years. It was essentially a mansion with it being two floors tall and one basement level. The main room had an opening on the left and right sides that led to a set of large rooms filled with furnishings. Looking ahead, Brex saw a set of twin steps that led to the next floor on both sides of the main room and off to the back was the way down into the basement. The whole building was made up of, the main room, two large side rooms. A basement that held four rooms for personal decorating and on the upper floor, there was space for six rooms all together if one was to add some walls. So, there could have been, ten bedrooms altogether.

With that done, the small man called out to Brex with a good bye and disappeared in a cloud of white smoke. Within that cloud was some letters that spelled the word, ‘POOF!’ That also vanished with the smoke.

Brex nearly fell from laughing when he looked over and saw the extremely confused, blinking expression on Rory’s face as she got back to her feet and asked in an uncertain tone, “Sooo, should I ask about that, or should I just pretend I didn’t see anything so I can preserve my sanity?” That sent Brex over the edge and he had to brace himself onto the wall so he didn’t hit the floor with how hard he laughed. This lasted for a good five or six minutes before calming down.

Calling to Rory, Brex spoke while still getting the last of it out of his system, “Haha, Oh I’m sorry about that Rory. I just wanted to have some fun there. I knew I could will all of this into existence with how it’s all in my head but I couldn’t resist the chance to meet that guy. Besides, after episode one, he is somehow not as smart, but at the same time he can be very accommodating. I knew he wasn’t fooled with that line about getting his license suspended. But with him being fabricated by my imagination, he went along with the half-baked fib I used.”

Looking around, Brex noticed that his bed was now, just sitting in the middle of the main room and said, “Now, where should my bedroom be at in this placed.” Lifting his gaze to the second floor. He spots the one door way right between the top of the steps and nods before snapping his fingers and sending the bed into that space.

Turning to Rory, He asks, “So Rory, where do you want your room to be? You, pretty much have the pick of the litter. There are so many rooms and I could always decorate them later on. So, what will it be? Want a room on the top floor next to mine, or maybe a spot a far distance away for some privacy?”

His ramblings were cut off when he felt a pair of arms wrapping themselves around his right arm, this caused Brex to look down to see a set of teary eyes from Rory. Confused, he asked, “Umm, what’s wrong. Did I say something to upset you?”

While still holding his arm, the girl pressed her chest into it and brought her hands together to touch the tips of both index fingers. He noticed then, that she had a light blush before Rory replies in a weak voice, “I-Is it ok with master if I can stay with him? I don’t really want my own room. It’s just that, I don’t want you to be alone, just in case there is another incident again. This time, I want to be there for you at a moment’s notice… is that ok with you?”

Letting out a small sigh, Brex gives Rory a small smile and then proceeds to pat her head lightly before answering, “Sure thing. In fact, if I’m being honest myself, I think I would feel a lot better if you did that too. If this keeps up, I’ll soon lose track of how many times you save my ass.”

This elicits a happy giggle from the girl as she starts to pull on his arm towards the right set of steps that led to the second floor. In an excited tone, Rory calls out, “Well? What are we waiting for? Let’s set up out love nes… I mean, our Room!” He noticed that Rory seemed to have turned another shade darker at the end of that sentence, but dismissed it was the girl being overly excited.

Sometime later, the two finished with setting up the bedroom that they would be sharing. There was a large bed with a big headboard and four posts that connected to a canopy above, that could have comfortably kept 10 people sleeping soundly. Brex was hesitant in getting one that big seeing as he had to remove one of the dividing walls to make the room twice its size. However, Rory said that it would be necessary for the future. The Roegadyn wasn’t all that sure, but he went with it anyhow.

The rest of the room was furnished with the common items, those being, dressers, mirrors, nightstands, a large table and four-person sofa. Of course, the room had to have its own personal bathroom that was designed in a way that it would have made even the nobles of Canterlot to become envious if they had gotten a glance at it.

With everything leading to the completion of the bedroom, Brex noticed that it was roughly two hours that they had been at it. He turned to ask Rory, “Hay Rory, if two hours go by in here, then it means that six have gone in the outside world, right?”

Rory taps her chin and answers with a nod and says, “Yup, that last time you slept, 20 hours passed in here, but three days went by out there. Why you ask, want to get up early or something?” she then shifted her thinking expression into a big, beaming smile as she added, “Or perhaps you wanted to get some time to enjoy the feeling of those two mare’s while they’re still clinging onto your body?”

This caused Brex to look a little embarrassed as she replied, “Well, I won’t deny that they felt rather nice when they laid next to me. But I want to be awake before they are because I just remembered that among those items that Luna had, there was something that I might want to hang onto, just in case.”

This got a sultry reply from Rory, “Oh master, was there something that caught your eye? Oh, I wonder what it could be. There were quite a few interesting toys in the bunch. Hehe Hehe~”

Brex could only shake his head to the sides as a sigh escaped his lips. Turning to the girl, He then asked, “By the way, while I was working on the house. Did you happen to have the other things we talked about set up too?”

This got a salute from Rory before replying in a cheery tone, “Yup, its all set up just how you wanted it. If you want to, we could go and give it a once over to see if there are any changes you wanna do to it.”

Giving a nod of approval, Brex walks down to the lower floor and approaches the front door. Just before Brex’s hand was to touch the color wheel, it stopped. Looking over his left shoulder, he calls to Rory, “Want to do the honors?” Grinning, Rory comes up to the door and takes the wheel in her right hand and rotates the colors until it lands onto the blue. This causes it, along with the doors edges to give off a faint glow for but a second. Afterwards the door was opened by Brex and he waved his other arm to usher Rory to go first. With a nod of thanks, she exits and was then followed by Brex himself.

Now the two found themselves to be standing by a large turning brilliant crystal that was floating a foot above a pedestal that seemed to be comprised of the same material. Where they were at, seemed to be located in the middle of what could have been considered a main plaza.

Taking in a deep breath, Brex calls out, “Oh wow! I know this is a dream and all, but I can smell the cool ocean breeze.” Taking another look around at his surroundings, he could see all the buildings just as he remembered. There were all the tall structures that seemed to have come right out of the sea and on those were numerous bridges and balcony’s that came from the buildings that had been incorporated into the natural stone spires.

His sight was pulled to the sky when he started to hear birds flying overhead and the wind blowing. Letting out a joyful laugh, He turned to Rory who was right now showing excitement over seeing this place for the first time.

Brex called to her and said, “Its amazing Rory! You really did all of this yourself? It’s even more detailed that I would have imagined in my life. This got the girl to squirm on the spot from such praising that she averted her eyes while muttering, “It was… n-nothing. This much is just child’s play to a demi goddess like myself.”

Giving some thought, Brex asks Rory, “Say, I think we have a bit of time until the sun comes up. Is there anything you want to add to this? After all. We are sharing this dream scape.” Rory was surprised by the request but quickly recovered. He could see that her eyes were tracing the scene before them and after a minute she replied, “It seems rather empty in a sense. I know you wanted to keep the ones living here out of sight, but the silence makes one feel uneasy in away.”

Brex thinks over what Rory had just said and after some consideration, came to an agreement and said, “Hmm, I see what you mean. How about we add some ambiance to the background? Let’s add some noise. Something like, the sounds of a small crowd talking. We could give it an outdoor market feel. Just make sure it’s not something that Luna can make out. We still need to keep her guessing.”

It had taken Rory only a few tries as she went from one type of background sound to the next until she got one that they both felt was a good match. After giving the place one more look, the two decided that everything was set up perfectly.

The Roegadyn looked towards Rory and said, “Everything seems good to go. I think I better wake up now. It’s almost daybreak and I need to get up before those two wake up. Today is going to be one busy day and I’ll need to do it fast.”

This triggered Rory to have a sad expression that Brex didn’t miss. Coming closer, he reaches down and with his right index finger, places it under her chin and brings her gaze towards his before he says, “Don’t worry, I’ll see you later. Besides, your always with me. Maybe when things calm down and I get some breathing room, I could find a way for you to be in the real world. There is magic after all on this planet. I’m sure a spell is out there.”

This caused the sadness to vanish and an elated one to replace it as she clings onto him. Brex didn’t expect such a strong reaction but welcomed it. When they finally separated, the Roegadyn turned to a door that led to some random house right next to them and came right up to it and said, “Until next time!” that was when he opened the door. That caused the dream to fade into black.

*Point of view: Brex Mith*
*Location: Luna’s Bed chamber*

Brex was now in the waking world with his eyes closed. He could feel the softness of the bed under his body and the warmth from his left and right… SIDES?!” Brex had nearly panicked and darted from the bed but caught himself before anything was done when he quickly remembered the way things were at the time he had fallen to sleep.

Noticing that they still had their bodies wrapped around his arms. He was about to try and slip from their grasps but halted when he caught something being whispered by the one called Shadow Lily. The mare was talking in her sleep while having a light blush and a small amount of drool that was leaking from the corner of her mouth. He started to blush when he heard her say, “Oh…master Brex… a little tighter… please…” the way that she said it, caused Brex to look down in shock when he felt that he was getting aroused.

He started to think while having wide eyes, “No, NO. don’t you dare! Stay down, we can’t do that anyhow! Remember what was decided last night!” This only got more difficult when he started to hear another voice on his other side whispering in her sleep, “Oh…Yes. Take me…” that wouldn’t have been so bad but the one that said it had added some very arousing moans at the end.

He needed to get out of there in a hurry and after some difficult maneuvers, Brex had escaped their holds and stood at the end of the bed while panting under his mask. With a shaky tone to his inner voice, Brex muttered, “Any longer and something… might have happened…” tilting his head downwards, He pointed down and added, “And you’re not helping!”

After letting himself to have a few moments to cool down. Brex turned to the pile of items that the two had made from looting the Princess’s personal stash. Coming up to it, his hand hovered over each item but came to a stop when he found a particular one that had caught his attention back when it was first discovered yesterday morning.

Carefully picking up the item in question, Brex rolled the small thing over in his hand. Taking a good, long look. Brex figured out just what it was thanks to all the stories that had given a small example of how it looks.

The item was called a, Magic nullifier ring. But what got his attention the most, was with how more decorated the thing was. Normally these would appear to be, somewhat simple in design. A band that would go onto the horn and slide down until it was snug in place and the wearer wouldn’t be able to take it off themselves. it would have some runes etched into the metal and there might be a jewel added.

But when it came to this item however, Brex had a feeling that it was something of a higher grade then the standard type. Wanting to make sure on his suspicion, the Roegadyn dropped the ring into his item box and opened the window to display the ring to see what was in the information for it.

When he had found it, Brex took a moment or two to read the texts carefully and blinked a few times when he had finished. “Oh, Wow… Lulu. You really went all out on this one. I wonder if your sister knew anything about this. if not then she might have been really mad if she had ever found out.”

In the text, it was saying that this was a, Magical nullifier ring that was made by using star metal. If he recalled correctly, Star metal was one of the rarest and most expensive kind there was. There were moon decorations added to the outside but when it came to the inside, that was another matter altogether. The runes where at such a high level that it was fully capable of blocking even an alicorn’s magic. There was a blue gem affixed to it and the text mentioned that it came from a falling star.

When it came to the descriptions for its effects, Brex had expected to see the magic blocking, but there were a few things added to it. The first was that, the one who places it on, can add a time for when it activated and deactivates with a whisper when first put into place on the horn. The second was to use the own users magic to stimulate their body.

Brex was starting to get turned on by how much his favorite princess was so well prepared when it came to her fetish. But what had gotten his attention was what he had seen on the bottom of this window. When anyone looked at a description, in the bottom would be a set sale price of an item to show what they could get for it at a vendor. Normally, one would get maybe a quarter or if lucky a third of the original paid price. When it came to the ring, it said that it could be sold for, 20,000 bits. So, if he was to have gotten it from a shop. Then it would have cost him close to a solid one million bits to purchase.

Rory asked with a sultry tone, “Oh master~ are you planning on taking one of the princesses with that?” This caused Brex to stutter with the mental connection when he replied, “I-I-I J-just thought that it would be a good idea to have something like this ready in case the situation was to come up where I needed to hold a powerful caster. You know… like, um… Nightmare Moon or Chrysalis. Their so powerful that any old ring wouldn’t be able to work. This got an unconvinced reply from Rory, “Oh I see… Sure.”

Feeling even more embarrassed now, Brex looked back towards the two mare’s and thought in a serious tone, “Well, it’s almost time. When they go, I might never see them again. I’ll get everything I can from the Castle and head towards the east. Just need to make sure I avoid the griffons so I don’t end up in their gladiator matches or sold off as some exotic pet. Their a warrior race that will show off power whenever they can. At least they are forward with how they are. Not like here in Equestria with how they teach friendship and harmony, only to turn around and show their true colors when it comes to anything that’s not a pony or even slightly different to the mass’s.”

He continued after a short pause, “If I was stronger than I might entertain in the idea of staying in this country. But with how I am now. It’s only a matter of time until misfortunes strike. I just hope that these two can get back home and get that commander thrown into jail for his attempt at getting them killed. I would have liked to deal a good blow to his face if I had the chance though.”

It was then, that the sun finally started to rise from the horizon and the night, shifted colors from the light blue hew and into the orange filled morning day. Brex thought, “Look who’s awake. At least I can tell when she gets up with that worldwide announcement of hers. I bet she must have a bedhead right now.”

After a few more minutes, the two mare’s started to stir awake. Brex was currently standing near the double door windows that led to the balcony while looking into this distance thanks to the elevated height of the tower.

The one called Swirl Sugar called out in a drowsy voice, “Good morning, Shadow… we need to get into armor before the commander bursts in and starts yelling at us again…” Brex mentally laughed when he realized that they thought this was their place. He said, “Morning, Swirl Sugar.”

This caused the mare who was trying to get out of the bed to panic and fall onto the floor with a small thud. Hearing a small groan of discomfort. Shadow Lily fully awakens and makes her way over to the side of the bed that Swirl Sugar had fallen from and winced at the sight of Her friend holding onto her head but that turned int slight panic when she saw some blood when Swirl had lifted her hand.

Brex had noticed it as well and rushed over from across the room and kneeled next to the injured mare. She tried to play it off as nothing but hissed at the pain and he could tell that she might be showing signs of a bruise showing thanks to how short their body hair was.

Feeling terrible for being the cause, Brex picked her up in his arms and placed the mare onto the bed. This prompted a startled whelp from the pink mare as she looked towards him with wide eyes. Without saying a word, He reaches into his pocket and had a potion appear in his hand before pulling it out. Within his grasp is one, high health potion. Fearing that this might turn out to be something serious, the Roegadyn gets to one knee and pops the cork. he leans closer to Swirl Sugar’s face and takes hold of her jaw to help in keeping the mare from moving so he could get at the injury.

*Point of view: Swirl Sugar*

Swirl Sugar was feeling like a fool when she fell from the bed after hearing a stallion’s voice. She was about to say that she was ok but she couldn’t help but to bring a hand to her head and she could feel some wetness on the left side of her forehead. Swirl had wanted to get up but she was suffering from some dizziness but before she could do anything else, her body was lifted into a princess style hold and was deposited onto the bed with ease.

With eyes that had been a bit blurry from only just waking up, her vision was clearing up in time to see the black and white masked face of Sir Brex standing right next to her. But then he lowered himself and takes hold of her jaw.

To say that she was surprised, was an appropriate assessment. Swirl thought that he was going to be rough with where his hand was placed, this caused her to close her eyes. Memories of the time back in the red district flashed before her with how roughly the stallion would get. Especially when they held her face like this. Expecting either a slap to the cheek or even something to be jammed in her mouth, the mare froze when she felt the grip to not hurt at all. It was somehow comfortable.

She soon opened her eyes to see him holding a small clear bottle that had a small piece of rope tied near the opening and a cork dangling from said bottle. Within it, Swirl could see a light red colored liquid being contained that could have been enough to be drunk in one go. Somehow the mare thought, “What is that stuff… it… it looks like, B-blood! Why does he have a bottle of blood?”

This only caused the mare to try and weakly struggle but that was stopped when she heard Brex say, “Swirl, hold still!” this made Swirls body freeze from how Sir Brex had given the order. She felt her cheeks going red when she realized that she followed a males command without so much as a thought and started to think, “That’s… That’s the first time I heard him talk like that. Why did I do what he said without a second thought. Also, why am I so hot right now. No! stay focused. What is he doing with that blood?” Letting a small gulp escape from her lips. Swirl Sugar asked in a shaky tone, “What are y-you going to do with that…b-blood?”

This got a light head shake from Sir Brex before she said, “My healing potion.” This got her to feel confused by those words. What does he mean by a healing potion? Didn’t he intend to say medicine? But it seems to be liquid, it is something that he needs to soak into a cloth perhaps?”

However, that thought was thrown out when his hands gently made her mouth to open and before she could register the act, Sir Brex had placed the bottle to her lips and the red liquid was poured into her mouth. On instinct, the pink mare drunk it down greedily. It had all been drunk by the time Swirl Sugar realized this and looked towards the masked male before her while showing a worried look.

She was just about to say something when there was a small tingling sensation that ran throughout her body that felt quite pleasant. It had only lasted for a few seconds and when that faded, there was a gasp from her side. Her jaw was released, but was grabbed right away by her friend as she felt that her head was being forcibly yanked to the right.

Shadow Lily was giving a wide eyed, amazed expression towards Swirl Sugars forehead. Shadow asked in an extremally fast pace, “Are you ok? How are you feeling, does it hurt at all? How did that stuff taste? Did you know that you were glowing for a second there! Oh, That’s amazing! The wound is all gone, there isn’t any marks at all, also the blood had vanished too!”

In a panic Swirl Sugar wrenched her face free from her friends, death grip and started to take in a few deep breaths to calm down. Wondering just what had gotten to the mare, she had brought her hand up to the injury but was unable to find the spot. After a moment the mare was positive that she had the right place and quickly got off the bed and ran to the only mirror in the room and started to examine her head.

There was no trace at all. Even the blood that should have stained her fur or hands had disappeared as well. Turning to the one that had given her the drink. Swirl Sugar wore a stupefied expression as she muttered, “You said that was…*Gulp* your healing potion… right? I-I never seen anything like it. I didn’t sense any magic at all. But how is it possible for something without magic to have such a drastic effect on an injury?”

Glancing to the mirror then again to Sir Brex. The mare asked, “Is… is this some secret from where you come from? It must have cost quite a lot… you shouldn’t have wasted such a thing on me… I-I’m just…”

She was cut off when he said, “I made it.” This caused Swirls mind to go into overdrive. She started to think, “Did, he J-just say that he made it. Then could be a master potion maker of some kind? To make something like this, his country must be more advanced than ours. They have strong warriors and they have something that can heal wounds faster than any magic I had ever seen before. Not only that, it can be carried on hand so that they could use such an item at any given time. A unicorn wouldn’t be needed to be present to administer first aid.”

Looking back towards the empty bottle still in his grasp, Swirl continued with, “That potion must have cost a lot. I can’t believe that he just used something that any noble would have stopped at nothing to get their grubby hands on.”

Lowering her head, the mare approached Brex, while not looking back up to his face. She then said, “I’ll repay you for it, I swear. J-Just give me a little time to…” But was stopped when she felt a hand resting onto her right shoulder and heard him saying, “Forget about it.” This made her blink, before she thought, “Did he not want a form of compensation?”

*Point of view: Brex Mith*

He had panicked when he saw the head injury and feared that it may have been something worse. Without hesitation, Brex pulled out the bottle and forced Swirl Sugar to drink it. The reason he did that was because he didn’t want to waste time explaining when medical attention was required.

He had noticed the way she looked towards the bottle and an image flashed into his mind of a skeleton mage offering a healing potion to a young woman that was with her little sister, but they had assumed it to be blood.

When the wound had been fixed, the two seemed dumfounded to see that all the evidence of there ever being a problem had disappeared. But then Brex saw how they were looking towards the empty bottle. That was when the Roegadyn realized that he had gone and messed up badly.

Brex had to mitigate the damage this one item was causing. It had slipped his mind that such a thing may have been something they didn’t have in this world. Those fears only made themselves known when he noticed the way the two reacted to the potion’s effects.

He watched the one called Swirl Sugar going to the mirror and after a while, she had come closer to him. Her head was down and he heard her saying something about repaying him. However, Brex didn’t want anything. In fact, he wished that they would simply forget about ever seeing the dang thing used in the first place. He then said, “Forget about it.”

Brex started to think, “Great, just great. Now you really gone and done it. If I go with how these two went nuts over this one healing potion, then I may have just made myself a bigger target. Why does everything I do, end up causing me even more trouble. If the list of me not being from here and being strong wasn’t enough, now they will see that I can make stuff that they don’t have. I may have to completely leave this land. I wonder if I can survive up north where the Crystal Empire is meant to be? At least when it returns, then I’ll know when in the time line I am.”

Looking towards the window, Brex started to wonder just how long would it even take for him to get up there. That was when he heard the pink mare speaking and turned towards her and heard, “Is, what you used on me… something valuable? If so, then I must repay you back for it.”

After hearing this, the Roegadyn had an idea. Letting out a small sigh, He turned his head to look at the darker mare, then back to the pink one and said, “Keep it secret.”

He watched as the two glanced to each other before bringing their sights back to Brex and the one called Swirl Sugar then said, “I don’t understand. Are you saying you don’t want us to tell any pony about the potion you gave me? Do you know how much something like this would go for back in Canterlot? We don’t have anything like this. I’m sure that you could become famous if word got out. The Princess would eve…”

That was when the Roegadyn stepped forward and brought his face close to the mare. She was obviously caught unaware with the sudden movements and Brex could see the girl gulping and showing some fear. Seeing this caused him to feel bad, but he needed to make it clear to them both. In a clear, deep voice that was laced with urgency, he said, “Dangerous for me!” The mare was nodding her head vigorously and on the edge of his peripheral vision, Brex could see the one called Shadow Lily doing the same.

Seeing that he had just spooked the two. Brex backed up a step and started to talk in his normal tone, “Time to go.” This got the two mare’s to give him shocked looks as their eyes went wide. The one called Shadow Lily called out to Brex and said, “I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to make you angry.”

This had confused him and he thought, “Didn’t these two mare’s plan on going back when the sun had come back up?” Thinking that he needed to remind them, he pointed to the window and said, “Remember Break Down?”

This caused them to stop and a look of comprehension crossed both faces. That was when the pink one said, “Oh! That’s right. We have to get back and report to the captain just what had happened. She then added, “Are you sure you won’t come back with us. I can assure that you won’t have any trouble if we are with you.”

This only got Brex to shake his head and say, “Risks, too high.” He could see the two looking to the stone floor. Before giving him some reluctant nods. It wasn’t long until the pair had dawned their prospective gear and weapons. During this time, Brex was looking over the armor they were using and had noticed that they seemed to be made of a type of metal that resembled silver but that wasn’t the case at all.

He thought, “Hmm, so I see that the gear is close to how it is in some of the stories that describe the guard’s armor to be made up of softer types of metal. But thankfully these aren’t really made out of silver. I do wish these two had equipment made from iron though. That would have been far better for defense. He had to resist taking a piece to place into the item box so he could look over its stats.

It had become seven in the morning by the time the mare’s were ready to go and they were currently standing outside the castle gates that led right to the rope bridge that crosses the dark chasm used to protect the old castle. Brex couldn’t help but to think, “Did it really take them nearly three hours to get ready to go? If I didn’t know any better, I would have called them out on stalling.”

The two guard ponies stood close to the bridge while giving the Roegadyn the equivalent to the dreaded, all powerful, Nuke busting potential… Puppy dog eyes! Cue the music, Dah, Dah DaaaaaH! It had taken nearly all of Brex’s willpower to resist their pleading for him to return along with them to the capital.

There were so many times that He had almost broken his self-imposed, three-word count restrictions to tell these mare’s to just go already. He had found out that they had the wrong idea that he was some noble from some far-off kingdom. To top it all off, the two were dead set on the notion that he was here due to being kidnapped, er… he supposed the term here would have been foal napped.

But as for the way they acted during the time between getting ready and the moment it was time to leave, Brex had felt the two looking towards him in a way that he just couldn’t explain. While walking through the old castle walls, He had caught them looking to him to only avert their gaze when the Roegadyn had turned his head in their direction and back to the path. Shadow Lily and Swirl Sugar had even walked a little closer now and then when it wasn’t needed.

Shadow Lily was currently asking yet another time, “Are you sure you won’t go back with us? Your all alone out here, its not safe.” Swirl Sugar added to the conversation by saying, “Yeah, besides that. We can use your help in the investigation of those nobles back in the city. If we tell the Princ…” She had stopped herself before finishing the sentence. Brex thought, “Good, she’s learning to reframe from saying her name around me. I do feel bad that I let such an outburst out. But I really needed to drive it home that I didn’t want anything to do with that mare.”

They let out a set of sighs in front of him. Thinking it was all said and done, Brex was about to say the final good bye when he was suddenly hugged by the two mare’s. Stiffening up, Brex wasn’t too sure on what to do. He didn’t want to say it, but he was actually going to miss them when they left. It had been a long two weeks alone in the forest. Even so, now that he had Rory living inside his mind, things seemed to be getting, just a bit better.

The two released their grip and started over the rope bridge. When they had reached the other side and were standing on solid ground, Brex could hear them calling out and saying things like, they would be back to see him. This only caused him to do a small wave with his right hand. They turned around and disappeared into the thick brush and into the Everfree woods.

Still planted on the spot, Brex had not stopped his waving for a good minute. But during that time, he had whispered under his breath with a borderline, sad tone, “Yes, I’ll see you soon… soon. *Sigh* Who am I kidding. We won’t be seeing each other again. Afterall… I’m a displaced. When has one ever had things going for them well enough to be considered a happy life…”

Brex had returned to the castle and was currently walking towards the courtyard that was at the end of a long hallway. Normally to get this far, Brex would have only taken a few minutes. But with how slow he walked; it had taken him close to ten.

When the Roegadyn had lastly reached the open courtyard. He could see off the far side, the same blue flower garden that was able to take his attention that night. Letting out a deep sigh, he had approached it and stood but 2 meters away and just stood there.

Rory let out a small cough as to carefully gain her master’s attention and when she felt that it worked, she said, “Master, I don’t mean to rush you, but didn’t you say that we needed to hurry when those two left. There are still plenty of tomes to read, is there not?”

Giving an almost imperceptible shake of the head, Brex uses the mental connection to reply, “It’s going to take the two of them close to four hours to get out of the Everfree woods. Then there’s the time it takes to get up to Canterlot. Even if what they say causes Princess Celestia to come running, its going to be well over six hours before she even gets here. Even with the use of teleportation, I’ll have at least that long. So, I think I have close to three or four hours of free time before I have to pack up and go.”

Brex could sense that even with her saying that things would be ok, along with the times that she had attempted to convince him that the Princess may not be as bad as Brex had thought, there was the sense that Rory was somewhat cautious about the mare too.

After a few minutes he decided to use the mental connection to say, “Ok, I guess I’ll revise the plan a little. Let’s leave before three hours are up so we can have some extra distance from here.” Turning towards the structure that was in the eastern direction from the garden. He had only taken a few steps before there was a searing heat that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, along with a blinding light that started from behind. Within an instant the heat had multiplied to the point that Brex couldn’t even tell if it had gotten hotter after that point or that it cooled off considerably.

(Play this music.)

Before his sight had recovered, Brex felt an incredible amount of pain on his arm, just a few inches before reaching the elbow. Letting out a loud scream the Roegadyn fell onto his right knee and went to grab his arm. However, when he had attempted to take a hold of it near the elbow, his arm had waved through nothing but air.

In shock, Brex moved his arms franticly until it managed to finally touch something. Feeling something that seemed to be somewhat hard on the touch, he could feel that underneath was soft and in the center was something hard like… Bone.

His vision had returned after several seconds and without thinking about it, tried to bring his right hand to his face but nothing happened. Now hyperventilating from under his mask, the Roegadyn turned his head unsteadily towards the arm in question and the sight had left him stunned. He didn’t want to believe what was happening.

With eyes wide from both the pain and the sight, Brex mentally screamed to the point that Rory had to cover her ears to prevent any damages to them. The mental system that they had both set up, was on the edge of shattering apart.

Brex was gaping at the stump that was once his right arm. The spot that the pain had been coming from, was nothing more than a chard piece of flesh and what he could have considered to have been his bone covered in dark black burnt, remains of muscles and what little left of clothing. But at this point Brex couldn’t even tell one apart from the other now. The wound had been cauterized to the point that no blood was being lost. If not for the mental fortifications done by Rory, the Roegadyn may have died from the unexpected attack and resulting pain right then and there.

Unable to think properly, He was just staying on his knee and hadn’t moved for nearly 9 seconds before he heard Rory screaming at the top of her lungs, “MASTER! MOVE NOW!!” With the warning, Brex put everything he could into his legs and kicked off of the ground. This sent him tumbling across the courtyard’s lawn. He could just barely hear something before a shock wave was felt slamming into him and this assisted in sending the Roegadyn to travel even further. When he had come to a full stop, He saw that he was now over 17 meters from his last position.

With him in so much pain, Brex was doing all he could to try and keep his mind calm enough to think rationally. Fighting to keep his left eye open, he looked to where he had jumped from and saw a large, blackened hole that was giving off some smoke from the glowing patches of rocks along the edges. The first thought that ran through his head was, “Was that a laser blast?!”

Brex felt something coming towards him with the situational awareness thanks to Rory and ducked to the right. There was another warning from Rory’s ability, then another. After dodging and weaving from the unknown attacks for what he counted to be 8 times, Brex called to Rory with the mental connection, “What’s happening, why didn’t I get a warning from that first attack? I thought that I made sure to have that up ever sense that Shadow Lily girl got the drop on me so many times back in the room? Did I drop it by mistake?”

Avoiding another one of those yellow laser blasts, he heard her say, “No, it was being used. But, that first shot was made from outside of my range of sense. They seemed to have crossed into it when they made the second. It’s still far out but I can tell that they are getting closer. After every attack, the accuracy seems to be getting better. Whoever is doing this can shoot some powerful long-range attacks with devastating aim.”

Brex had to avoid yet another one of those beams, but nearly got hit in the right side again. He knew that he had the stamina to keep this up, however the accumulating damage was a whole other matter. Even without another direct hit, the amount of power used in each one of those was causing him to take more and more with just a near miss.”

Looking towards the general direction they seem to be coming from, Brex couldn’t even see his attacker due to the sun being in the worst possible spot. This caused the Roegadyn to go into a mental shock at the realization. Brex spoke to Rory with the mental connection, “Oh Fuck. NO, THAT CAN’T BE! WHY IS SHE HERE?! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN FROM ALL OF THIS. THE COLOR OF THE SPELL, THE WAY IT IS NOTHING BUT RAW POWER, THE ACCURACY! ITS PRINCESS CELESTIA!”

He had to avoid yet another blast that nearly hit his right leg. As Brex rolled on the ground, he felt that leg going numb. Looking to it, Brex could see that the clothing had burned off from the knee down to just above the boots. The exposed skin had been badly burned to the point that Brex could see a few grotesque boils forming from being nearly cooked.

Letting out a Pained grunt, he grasped his knee and shakily got to his feet. His senses were now heightened thanks to the adrenalin coursing throughout his body and was breathing in quick breaths. Looking to his mini map, he didn’t see anything to indicate that anyone was around. But his added senses thanks to the bond with Rory, said otherwise. The attacker had to be the Princess using some long-range spell to kill him.

Brex started to think, “Why is this happening? I didn’t do anything to warrant this surprise attack from her. In the stories, she had at least gone and showed herself to the displaced before giving some bogus reason for attacking. It would always be something like, she never seen my kind before, so that makes me dangerous to her ponies. Maybe the part about saying, I’m something her sister sent to cause trouble. There is also the whole thing where she knew about humans and hated them, but that doesn’t make sense here. Their anthro ponies and no way she knows I’m human with me being a Roegadyn.”

Another one of those blasts came in and Brex jumped back to get out of its path, but another, less powerful version was quickly shot down and struck him in the left side of his back and that sent him flying forward and across the hole made from the one before. Brex’s body slammed into the ground and tumbled over a few times before landing onto his back. Currently sprawled on the lawn like a beaten-up rag doll that had been thrown into a barbeque for a few minutes just before hand.

The Roegadyn was in considerably more pain now with his lungs feeling like the air inside had now become burning hot steam with how all he could do was feel the worst case of heart burn any living thing could have experienced. It was all he could do to alleviate the suffering by gasping for air as a fish would when pulled from the water. He had, so wanted to pull out one of his potions, but with how fast the attacks came, he doubted that she would give him the chance to try anything.

This whole, one-sided exchange had only gone for maybe five minutes, but Brex would have said this felt like an hour with the amount of pain he felt throughout his body. Losing his right arm at the beginning. Then to have small burns added with just dodging. Now, even his right leg resembles a burnt turkey leg on thanks giving. To finish the list of injuries, his lungs were begging him to find a fire extinguisher and place the hose down his throat and pull the pin so the pain from burning from the inside out would stop.

All that Brex could think was, “GAWWWWW! Dam it all. The bitch won’t… even show her own face. I knew that she was weaker to her sister in fighting. But to think she would focus completely on magic and coming at her enemy from a distance. That’s just cheap! I had expected her to fly in while wearing some gaudy armor… and holding either a spear or a set of sword and shield. Now I can’t even move by body without it screaming. It feels like nearly every part of me had been inside of a microwave oven. Gah! Even… my own breath burns on the way out.”

Brex hadn’t noticed it yet, but the blasts had ceased. The courtyard was now in shambles. The amount of damage this time, seemed to be worse than compared to the fight between both Celestia and Nightmare Moon. Large and small holes littered the area. The smoke had nearly cleared out, but the amount of heat that was being generated from the impact’s had caused the area to resemble the desert with how a person’s sight could see everything to have a heavy haze one would see coming off a black top in the middle of a heatwave in summer.

After nearly half a minute had passed from when he hit the ground. When Brex noticed the change. His body was still convulsing from the way his nerves had been messed up with the amount of damage. His eyes were hardly capable of staying open as his vision was seriously blurred. He thought to himself, “Uhg! Now… I know what it feels… like to get hit with… a volley of missiles…”

He had attempted to use his left arm to push on the ground so he could at least sit up and see just what was happening now. With several grunts of exertion, the Roegadyn managed to bring himself into a sitting position. Leaning over, he couldn’t help but to place his left arm over his chest. Now that his back was no longer on the rocky ground, Brex could start to feel the sensation of a breeze hitting it. He started to think while trying to add some humor to lighten the dire situation, “I… think, she burned half of my shirt off with that last one. *GASP* Haha… I wouldn’t be so surprised if it looks the same way my leg does now…”

After coughing a few more times, he then called to Rory within his mind, “Are you still with me? Do you think I could tap into that regeneration you got going on? It would really come in handy, right about now…”

There was a pause before he got a reply. With an exhausted tone to her voice, Rory said, “I’m sorry master… that was something you couldn’t use. Also…. Not sure, but it seems that last hit… did something to me… I’m so weak right now. I think it did something to your body and now… the connection is… weakened…” During the explanation, Brex could tell that she was trying her best at communicating, however, as she went on, Rory’s voice was getting lower in volume.

Brex thought, “Just great… Sunbutt must have done a number on me. *Heavy breathing* If it’s having this kind of effect on Rory. Or maybe, it could just be with how much pain I’m in right now and that’s doing this to us. Speaking of Sunbutt. I been stationary for too long now. Why hasn’t she finished me off already. What’s, *Cough* She waiting for, an open invitation?”

Blinking to try and relieve the blurry vision, Brex looks up towards the sky. Expecting to see nothing like before, Brex was surprised to see something now. Off in the distance was a person flying in the sky with wide wings. However, with how far away the person was, identifying them was out of the question. The sun was still behind them and that caused the Roegadyn’s eyes to look away towards the ground.

Wanting to at least stand on his feet to take the final hit, Brex stumbled feebly onto his knees and with a good amount of effort, brought himself back up. Clutching at his chest and still looking down. He had guessed that she was savoring her overwhelming success in this instance. He was about to consider calling this a fight, but in light of how it all went down, he saw it to be nothing but a kid stepping onto an ant in the schoolyard.

Inwardly laughing at himself. Brex thought, “And here I was going to try and make sure that she was kept in check… what was I even thinking. I couldn’t even be good enough to be within 100 meters of her in the first place. I’m so pathetic. Now that I think more on it. Am I really a displaced in the first place? I have no idea what my item was. Just what did I buy from the merchant before coming here. I got so caught up in what was happening around me, that I didn’t even try to figure that part out.”

Taking another look around, he noticed the state of the area. He continued with, “well it’s a good thing I wasn’t using my paladin class before this happened. With how strong those blasts were, I doubt I would have been able to take more than one direct hit. The only reason I’m still ticking, is due to how much speed I have as a ninja.”

While still taking in the sight around himself. The ground was getting brighter. Now thinking, “huh, what’s going on? Why does it feel like how overcast clouds move out of the way to show off the sun directly? It was already a clear day.”

This drew his sight back up towards the sky. Looking confused from under the mask, Brex asked himself, “Was there always a second sun, or was I hit a lot harder than I thought?”

Right there above the person flying, was a large orb of yellow that was quickly growing. For it to seem so big from that far, it must have been over 10 meters wide. He thought, “Oh shit! She is going to hit me with the literal sun! I don’t know if I should feel honored or say that’s overkill!! SOME ONE CALL THE REFEREE, WE NEED A CALLING ON THIS!”

Letting out a deep sigh to calm down before adding, “Well, how many can say that they left with a bang… ha... ha… guess that’s all she wrote. If I knew things would turn out like this today, I would have taken those two up on their offer last night. Gah!! Darn it. Too… much pain to pull out any more, bad one liner’s.”

Accepting his fate, the Roegadyn stands up straight and keeps his head looking up, with his good left arm he raises it to his side in a type of, come on, I’m right here, whatcha waitin for gesture. Right then he thought, “Oh wait… I got one more… oh, never mind. I can’t even talk right now with my lungs like this. I wanted to yell out, you can’t even hit the broadside of a barn! Man… I think I’m going crazy from my body’s injuries.

Finally giving into reality. His eyes close shut while waiting for the end. Brex could feel the heat building as the light penetrates his eyelids with how bright the spell was getting, His last thoughts were, “At least… I got to save two beautiful girls before it all ended. If I’m lucky…. I might have a happy life in the next one.”

Just before his body lost all strength, Brex heard someone calling out from not too far away, “BREX! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!” That shocked his eyes wide open. Turning his head to the voice’s direction, he saw Shadow Lily who was running towards him from the other side of the courtyard. She had apparently, come out of the same hallway used by him when entering this area.

Screaming in his mind, “SHADOW! NO, WHY DID YOU COME BACK?! STAY AWAY, RUUUUUUUUUUUN!” but it was too late. There was a massive pulse from above. This made Brex assume that the spell was finished and ready to fire. Shooting his eyes back to the attacker, he saw it moving towards the ground, thankfully this one wasn’t nearly as fast as the beams.

Thoughts streamed through his mind, thoughts of how he just might be able to survive if he ran. Those were utterly crushed when he remembered he wasn’t alone out here. He thought angrily, “Fucking Celestia is willing to kill one of her own to get at me! I’LL MAKE SURE SHE PAYS!!” All the while those thoughts had been in his head, the Roegadyn’s body was rushing to the dark mare. Brex had forgotten the pain being felt in place of only one thing now. He needed to safe this girl, no matter the cost to him.

The orb was now half way from the point of firing and the ground. At the rate Brex was running, he predicted the spell to land right behind himself, this meant that he was in the direct path between it and Shadow Lily.

When Brex had gotten within 8 meters from Shadow. The ground quaked from what he suspected to be the orb hitting the ground. There was a strong burst of air hitting his back that caused his burn back to flare up in pain.

( Play this video until 20 seconds in. )

Turning completely on the spot, Brex buried his feet for the anticipated impact. Fighting with everything that he had, he held out his arm to the side in a pitiful attempt to add some extra mass to help in blocking at least some of the blast.

Brex’s body was then slammed with a powerful shockwave that quickly began to shred his clothing bit by bit. Within not even a single second, his hood and mask had been blown away along with nearly all of his top part of the scions clothing. The combination of force and scorching heat being generated racked his form right down to the core. With an ear-piercing scream, Brex had let out exactly how badly this was making him suffer. “GAAAAAAAWWWWHHHHHH!”

*Point of view: Shadow Lily*

Shadow Lily had only been a short way off from the castle when she started to hear booms from back where she was just from. Fearing for Brex’s safety, she rushed back to only find him standing in the middle of what could have only been considered as a war zone. Seeing the scorched earth and debris scattered about, the mare had wondered, just what had caused this destruction.

When she had noticed the male standing off in the distance, she sighed in relief, she had started to run towards him but when she had gotten close enough, the sight wasn’t what she had expected. It was like a nightmare to Shadow.

She could plainly see that Brex had lost an arm and most of his clothing had burned marks covering him from head to hoof. When she had seen the area’s that were uncovered, Shadow was thinking that he had dark fur. That was dashed to pieces when it was apparent that it was in reality, burns. Very, very bad burns. The sight had nearly caused the mare to faint.

In a panic, she had called to Brex and redoubled her efforts to getting to him so she could render him first aid. That was when she noticed him turning his head in her direction. Shadow had expected that whatever had done all of this to be gone already. That was when she noticed the sun getting brighter overhead and looked up. She regretted it immediately and wanted to scream but nothing would come out thanks to the sight of a large fireball of magic hurtling down upon them both.

Not even a second later, shadow lowered her sight to see where Brex was and had gotten another shock. He was already closing in on her and had placed himself in the path of the fireball. Eyes going wide as plates at the idea that a male was going to use themselves to take a hit for a female was unheard of. There was then a heavy blast and it knocked shadow to the ground.

She had her eyes closed in fear for not only her, but for Brex too. She prayed that Celestia would come and save them but that was cut off when she started to hear the cry coming from the one Infront of her. It was like nothing she had ever had the misfortune of coming across in her life. She knew that if she lived through this, that sound may forever haunt her dreams. The mare had a horrified expression while holding her arms up to try and protect her head, the sight of his body getting hit as the fireball hit the ground and a bright flash of light.