A Roegadyn in Equestria

A Roegadyn in Equestria.

Chapter 49: A Very Cold Welcome. Part 1.

*Point of view: Brex Mith*
*Location: Ponyville*
*Time: One week later*

Brex was currently sitting on a park bench and enjoying his afternoon that had turned slightly cooler thanks to a number of clouds that had been placed in the sky. All thanks to the Pegasus weather team that was currently still flying overhead and putting the finishing touches on their work.

Over the course of the last several days. Brex had been going to the Adventurer's guild and accepted a number of quests on a regular basis. It didn't really matter what it was, but he got it done none the less. These consisting mostly of clean-up work or even some light repairs. There was even a few that were of a gathering quest to find medicinal herbs in the Everfree Forest. which turned out to be less than a five-minute walk in to find what he was looking for. All thanks to his harvesting class and its ability to cause spots that had what he needed to sparkle from a distance.

Aside from doing these tasks and getting quite a few angry glares from Lyra for the first few days. Everything went pretty much as he had expected. Brex had gone over to visit Vapor Trail and found that she had pretty much recovered from the whole ordeal concerning that pony called Big Mama. She was as chipper as she normally was around him.

The only problem now for the young mare. Was that she had to deal with how her mother was being a little overprotective and didn't let her out of the house for over a week. And even then, she herself had posted a quest to hire a temporary bodyguard to make sure that her daughter had made it to and from school until only just recently.

Brex and even paid a visit to Einstein at his office on the fourth floor of an old-style office building. While there, went ahead and asked for the old dog to sign his trading card, thinking it would be a nice gift for Spike. Just as he had remembered, the Diamond Dog had set up a detective agency and even turned down a number of offers to join the city guard.

Apparently, once they had taken care of that kidnapping ring all those years ago, he had been showing up on their radar and would even show up to him for assistance on a number of cases. Which meant he was doing pretty well for himself.

He also bumped into the two twin Griffins Linda and Greta. Who were graduates of one of the combat schools that he had place near that city. They had also taken up the positions of assistant teachers when it came to helping the new students in learning how to be Archers. Even with their busy schedule, the two were always free to help out Einstein whenever there was a difficult case that required an additional member or two to get things done.

When Brex had returned to Ponyville afterwards, he was able to catch the tail wind of what he liked to call, Hurricane Applejack after appearing in town to watch as the three Flower Sister's got trampled by a stampeding herd of bunnies that she had scared into a frenzy. He really felt the urge to help out, but knew that the farm mare was going to be far too stubborn to listen to a single thing he said. Especially if she didn't even listen to her close friends. So, there was no chance that he would get through to her.

But still, this was a learning experience that she needed to go through on her own. Although, it didn't mean that the rest of the town had to suffer too much just to teach one mare a lesson. That was why he went ahead and already informed nurse Red Heart to stock up on medicine ahead of time. At least this way, they would recover so much quicker after eating those poisoned confections that she tried to help Pinkie in making, while in a delirious sleep-deprived state.

When all was said and done. Applejack had finally reached her limit. Only to realize that only half of the orchard was done. The mare finally relented in letting her friends help afterwards. Brex and wondered why it was that her mom and dad weren't around during the Apple bucking season. So, to get some answers, he snuck onto the property while wearing his level fifty Warrior gear that he used during his first encounter with the Apple family and got to have a small chat with Granny Smith as Applejack was busy out in the fields. It also helped that Apple Bloom was still in school.

It had taken a moment for Granny Smith to remember who he was, thanks to it being a while and her vision not being as good as it used to be. Thankfully enough, Brex was already wearing some armor so the vicious striking with the old mare’s cane didn't do any harm at all. He was a little sorry about how banged-up it looked afterwards. As Granny Smith was informing him about the parents being away to help out another apple farm that had a full-blown epidemic where they couldn't harvest anything at all for at least a week. Brex had gone straight to work and using his wood crafting skills and fashion her a brand-new walking stick.

He even went so far as to put near the handle, a single Link Pearl for emergency purposes. This was because after getting a good look at her. The Roegadyn remembered something from his old world. Where the elderly had some type of pendant that they wore to signal that they had fallen and the Roegadyn didn't want Granny Smith to end up being alone if something should occur.

Now back to the present. Brex had just put both of his arms along the top of the bench and was partly leaning back so that his mask covered face was now staring straight up into the blue sky. Just after taking in a long breath of the fresh air, did he hear someone approaching from directly in front. When he tilted his head forward, he caught sight of Rose who was apparently in a somewhat crouched position to indicate that the mare was trying to sneak up on him.

Once she had realized that she was found out. Rose stood up straight after fixing her outfit. Which was essentially her usual red dress and casually walked over to sit down on the bench next to his left-hand side. When she did this, Brex return to leaning back and hanging his head over the backside of the bench. After a few seconds of silence, he heard Rose beginning to speak in her usual upbeat and casual tone.

“Just so you know, I'm pretty sure that you're the reason why we're still in business after the... Uh... What did you call it again?” Brex replied without moving a single muscle while doing so. “Ponyville… Bunny… Apocalypse.” The mare had given a nervous chuckle while saying, “Yeah, that was really not a fun day for any of us.”

“Anyway, I'm talking about how all of our products mysteriously got replaced outside of our house overnight. I could have sworn I saw some pony that was quite large lurking around in the middle of the night from my window. Then the next morning, poof! We had a big portion of our stock back. I even heard that Carrot Top and the others that got effected were able to recover as well.”

Brex only gave her a weak shrug before she continued on. “It's become a pretty well-known fact around Ponyville, that you have a green thumb and pretty much everything that you plant ends up growing quite well. It really makes one wonder what exactly is your Cutie Mark.” There was a few more seconds of silence before Rose became impatient and jump to the next subject.

“Anyways putting that aside. You've been here in Ponyville for a while now, so I was just wondering if that mare friend of yours is going to show up soon.” This caused Brex to give a small chuckle while slightly turning his head in her direction before speaking in a jovial tone. “Always with me.” After hearing that, all Rose could do was to give one of those exhausted sighs before laying back and chuckling in a defeated tone. “Fine. Go ahead and be cryptic. Not like I care!”

Brex couldn't help but to slowly arch and eyebrow while he still had his head slightly tilted in the direction of rose. He could plainly see that the mare was puffing her cheeks and her face was beginning to change colors to a darker shade, before she finally blurted out in a half yelling voice as she stood up from the bench.

“Okay! Fine! I do care! Are you happy now?! I'm just getting worried because you've been here by yourself for so long and it just ain't right. Doesn't she worry about your safety? I mean... Yeah, yeah! You're tough and all, but still... I just would be able to rest a little easier if you at least had her here with you.” By the end of that, she was playfully kicking a small stone near her hoofs.

He then brought his hands back from the top of the bench and leaned forward. From behind his mask, Brex began to have a thoughtful expression as he looked towards Rose and then in the direction of Canterlot, before returning it to the mare once more. He then started to speak after giving a short nod. “Hmmmm... Maybe you're right.” This had got a shocked expression from the mare and at the same time, Brex could hear Rory exclaiming loudly in his head and seeming confused.

“Master! Are you serious? Are you saying that I could finally be there with you? But wait. Weren't you waiting until the Gala for me to make an appearance? It's just that I'm not ready yet!” This caused Brex to feel as though he was missing something as he arched an eyebrow to this before replying. “And just what do you mean by… You're not ready for this? I thought you would be ecstatic?” Rory replied to that, while sounding as though trying to come up with something to say. “Ummm… It's just that, I wasn't expecting it. That's all.”

Brex narrowed his eyes for an instant before letting it go to turn back to the outside world. He then got up from his seat and proceeded to lightly pat Rose on the top of the head. This of course seemed unexpected to the pony. As she froze in place upon initial contact. But after a few times of moving his large hand, the mare began to go into a semi like trance as a dopey smile began to creep onto her face. Along with her ears partly flattening and that tail of hers to start twitching in the same way that Twilight’s did back at the library when he did it for her.

After getting a very delighted hum of approval from Rose. Brex stopped and spoke in a joking tone. “You're a good girl.” That was when Rose dumbly nodded before she immediately shook her head to get out of whatever state she was and gave him a very confused look as she began to say in a somewhat unsure tone. “W-What in the hey was that?! I-I-I don't think you should do that again. It felt... Odd. Not odd in a bad way, but in a good way. I sort of blanked out there for a little bit and all I remember was you saying I was a good girl.” At the end, she had a light blush.

After tilting his head. He was quickly going over what just happened and came up with a theory about this phenomenon. When he did this sort of thing with Blaze Caster. The kid would just calm down. However, it appears that whenever Brex does this with the opposite gender. They tend to become extremely docile as though there were some common house pet.

As he looked at Rose, Brex couldn't help but to have a scene play out his head, where he would be asleep in bed, only to be woken up by Rose who had just jumping on top of the covers and immediately began demanding a head pat. While calling him Onii-chan.

Afterwards, Brex said his goodbyes to Rose as they parted. She needing to go back to work and him heading back to the guild building in order to see if there were any new quests that got posted on the board outside. As he was walking through the streets, he couldn't help but to notice the number of eyes that were firmly planted on him and a few of the ponies gossiping to one another as he passed by.

It seemed that he had become fairly well-known with the number of these quests he had been doing over the past week alone. Thanks to his mechanical know how, because of him equipping the mechanist Soul Stone and the time that he was involved in construction, whether it be for the schools or back at HQ. Brex was fairly adept at doing random home repair work. Whether it be repairing a wall, a roof or even plumbing. He was ready for all of these quests.

Although the Roegadyn did see one posted for some repair work needing done over at Rarity's Boutique. Of course, Brex disregarded that one with wanting to still keep some distance from the Fashionista. To him, it was fine if he ran into her and the rest of those girls while out and about. But the idea of being alone and pulling off one of those cheesy repairman scenes and getting her to somehow make a move on him. Just didn't sit well in his mind. Especially with wanting to make sure that Spike had a chance with gaining her attention.

It also didn't help that he only thought about this scenario because of the way the mare's would act whenever he did those jobs in or around their house for the repairs he had done so far. Either they would be off sitting somewhere nearby and stealing glances at him now and then in a somewhat creepy way. Or the mare's would try to do a more direct approach when trying to get close to him and using some very cheesy pickup line that he could only assume to come from a late night porn channel right from cable. He ended up being very grateful that none of them owned a pool, because he did not want to play the pool boy.

Brex was only a few minutes away from his current destination, when he caught sight of a commotion in the middle of the street. Which ended up causing his eyes to go wide from behind his mask as he said under his breath in an irritated tone. “Is this seriously going to become a weekly thing until the Gala? I swear… It just feels as though every time I turn around, the next episode of the show starts up.”

Right there, screaming at Fluttershy. Was a very angry Griffin that he identified easily as Gilda. Brex hadn't seen her for quite a number of years. But even without checking the status bar over her head, he could instantly tell that this was the same Griffin from back when she was kidnapped alongside Rarity. Already knowing full well about how this girl’s antics. Brex really wanted to step in and make himself known. But chose to stay back and watch from a fair distance just in case he was needed. There was no guarantee that this wouldn’t turn bloody.

(Here is a picture of Gilda.)

All the while saying in his internal voice, that turned out to be a little nervous. “Okay, just stay back. You're fast enough to interfere if it gets too far. I know this is Fluttershy and my need to protect her it strong. But she really can't have me jumping in all the time.” But when he saw how aggressive Gilda was getting and the way that Fluttershy was beginning to cry. The Roegadyn had to redouble his efforts. “Must... Not... Help... Must... Resist... Urge... Must stay my... Ground!” As he was saying this in his head. His right eye would twitch with every word.

Luckily it didn't escalate any further than having Gilda dish out some insults and going on to roaring in Fluttershy's face, which caused her to run away. The Griffin then remarked about how Ponies were lame and quickly took off into the air. When she did however, Brex got to hear a number of the ponies nearby that were murmuring to one another and he was able to catch them talking about how she was causing some trouble. Which of course included scaring Granny Smith half to death and stealing from the vendors that she went by.

From there, Brex continued to keep an eye on things from a safe distance so that he wouldn't be noticed that easily by Gilda, Rainbow or Pinkie. But he was pretty sure that the party pony must have known he was there. Especially with how that pony seems to know what's going on and pops up anywhere on a regular basis. Although, he found it odd that she had not approached him ever sense giving him that box of muffins.

Sometime later, Brex was outside of Sugar Cube Corner, just before the sun was to go down in the next twenty minutes and could hear the ruckus going on from within the building. Currently leaning against a Lamppost to the right side of the doorway, the Roegadyn glanced towards the entrance every few moments and was lightly humming to himself. During the waiting, he would turn his attention to watching as the sun got closer to the end of its descent. There wasn’t even another soul out and about on the streets.

It didn't take long until he heard the unmistakable sound of an enraged female Griffin yelling from just beyond the doorway and a few minutes later, came bursting out was a very angry Gilda that was looking over her shoulder with a set of piercing eyes, along with their feathers looking a bit ruffled. She had just unfurled her wings and had gone halfway down to jump that was strong enough to allow her to take off from where she was, when Brex called out to her in a monotone voice.

“Hello Gilda. I've heard quite a number of stories concerning you today. Why are you in such a hurry?” The young Griffin turned her head in his direction and started to speak in a very angry voice that threatened that she was going to do bodily harm if not left alone. “What do you want dweeb! I'm not in the mood so get lost!” Thanks to the sun getting close to setting over the hills behind him, it obviously made it difficult for Gilda to get a good look at him for a few seconds with her eyes needing time to get used to the change in lighting.

However, once she had a few seconds to let this happen. Her eyes went wide and her beak fell open as she inadvertently stumbled before taking a shaky step back. She then began to mouth something silently while lifting a shaky talon to point at him. This was before she immediately turned on the spot and jumped into the air after giving a mighty flap of her wings in the other direction from himself.

Brex immediately rolled his eyes from behind his mask as he held up in his right to show that there was something sitting in the middle of his palm. The object appeared to be a small piece of vine or possibly a root from a plant. Afterwards, he then closed his fingers so that it was completely covering the item in a way that one would hold onto a handle of an object.

Brex quickly swung his arm back before having it go over his head and then forward with it. There was a small flash of green light appeared within the gap near his thumb. From that came out in a flash, what appeared to be a long stretching vine with a few thorns along its length and it was quickly approaching Gilda who had only gotten a few meters away by this point. As the mysterious vine got to Gilda, it quickly intertwined itself around her legs and bound them together starting from the ankles and all the way up.

It then made its way as it grew longer so that it was just far enough before it expanded outwards around her body and got a hold of her wings to pin them up against her back. That was proceeded with it going along with her arms so that they we're now crossed over one another just underneath her breasts. Continuing on, it went until it went twice around her neck and then ended up on wrapping around her beak and snapping it shut just as she was about to make a loud squawking noise. Once that had happened, the Griffin’s eyes went comically wide.

Once she realized just what had happened, Gilda began to immediately fight at her bonds as her eyes were shut tightly in mid-air. Of course, this came to an abrupt end upon the length of vine being pulled sharply until all the slack was gone and Gilda was pulled towards the Earth, only to be caught by Brex in a bridal style as he looks straight ahead and somehow giving off this impression that he was not amused, even with his face fully covered.

Gilda protested to this treatment as her body squirm as she was still being held in both of his arms as she gave him a death glare and tried to say something while apparently gagged, thanks to her mouth being forced closed against her will. But her resistance quickly died when she went completely rigid after seeing his head slowly turning until it was looking straight at hers and a bead of sweat began to form on her brow within moments.

From there, he started to walk towards the Everfree forest while carrying Gilda that was now thrown over his right shoulder so that her ass was sticking up and forward. Brex was using his right arm to hold onto her legs. By the time that they had entered said Forest, Gilda had gone slack in his care and was no better than a sack of potatoes that was being carried. A sack of potatoes with an attitude.

Once the pair had gone in a fair distance that Brex knew that no pony would go in and see them. He had swung Gilda forward and after catching her again in both arms. Placed onto the ground and against a nearby tree, so that her back was laying against it. When he had stepped back a few feet, he can see how the Griffin was still giving him the death glare.

Albeit that changed to a look of surprise when Brex turned around and went over to a large Boulder that was roughly a meter and a half in diameter. More than half of it in the ground and yanked it free without much trouble and brought it over to use as a chair for himself to sit in front of Gilda. Thanks to it, he was in a position where he was sitting so that he was clearing looking down from a much higher elevation.

Once Brex had sat down, the silent staring game between the two started and lasted a good ten minutes before Gilda finally broke eye contact with a grunt and tried to turn her head away. Unfortunately for her, with the vine currently wrapped around her neck, this made it very hard to do so and Gilda was forced to look straight ahead at him after trying to fight it for a few seconds and giving out a heavy huff of irritation through her nostrils.

She then released a pathetic growl while trying to wiggle free but to no avail. Brex watched all of this happening and decided to just remain silent to allow the teenager to wear herself out. Which turned out to be quite surprising with how she was going on for the next fifteen minutes straight. Only to fall over a few times and he had to get up the proper back up right on to the side of the tree to resume her efforts once again.

After the fifteen minutes was up. Brex rolled is eyes from behind his mask before giving out an annoyed huff of his own before speaking in a neutral tone. “How about we start this again… Hi Gilda. How are you doing? It's been some time since we last saw each other, hasn't it?” This earned him another death glare, along with a series of federal grunts from behind her beak.

He then released another heavy sigh before going on as he lightly tapped the boulder that he was sitting on with his left hands palm, before continuing with the one-sided chat. “Well, I can tell you that I'm doing quite well. You know how things are with me, I go here, I go there, I'm usually pretty busy.” Brex had shrugged a little bit at the end, along with his tone becoming somewhat playful before returning to what it was before.

“Oh, also I paid your aunts a visit just recently... They're doing quite well for themselves also if you're interested in knowing. However, there's just one small thing that I'm confused about. They said that you just finished your final year in learning how to be a Lancer and had headed back to the Griffin Empire to find a place in society so that you can be with your own kind. Well, that's what you said anyway, when you told them that you were going.”

“They even saw you off on the boat. So, unless you could do something like… Hmm, I don't know... Travel from place to place through some magical means, then I don't think you really went back to your Homeland. Seeing as you're quite literally tied up in a neat little package right here in front of my face.” Gilda thrashed about a little more while giving out a series of grunts that suggested all she wanted to do was scream in frustration, rather than speak to him.

That was when Brex changed his voice to be playful, yet at the same time there was this underline threat woven into what he was about to say next. “I have already voiced my opinion when it comes to the upbringing of children. More so when it comes to discipline... You see, I don't believe in the barbaric practice of causing pain through the act of beating their child or even simply spanking them.”

“It's not much of a learning prospect to associate doing things with pain from your parents or caregivers by my standards. All that does is to instill the way of thinking that violence is considered right and this only makes the kid lean towards it as an option to use right away for anything that they don’t like.”

“There are however… Creative means in which to teach a lesson. For example, keep them from something that they want. If they don't do as they're told, then this type of consequence well occur due to their choices and this will teach them that their actions have consequences and that they need to think over what they have done. Of course, there is always the option of using reverse psychology. But let's put that aside for now and jump onto the topic that I'm getting too. Shall we?”

By now Gilda had ceased her struggling and was now intently listening as she had raised her right eyebrow as to what was the main focus. But soon, she found her eyes roaming around as to look for a way out, with what he was about to say next. As Brex slowly began to get off of the boulder that he was on and walked around to the back side so that he was facing both it and Gilda.

“You see Gilda... I have this pet peeve about violence towards children and their mistreatment. He-HeHeh... You could say it's a button that really, really, should have been labeled, do not touch. But we both know that you're eighteen now and of course, in Griffin Society you have been an adult send to turn sixteen.”

“But from where I'm from, that number is eighteen to be seen as an adult. So, now you are an adult to me. By common sense, that would make you not a child anymore. Thereby you should be able to make rational decisions on your actions and can figure out what their consequences are and take responsibility.”

“Now, just think about what you been doing today and then… And then! Consider that I might have heard about it all. For one, did you know that aside from the pink pony that's been around you, any other earth pony that falls from the height that a cloud is on, would normally suffer injuries when their balloon or their flying machine has been damaged? Did it not once occur to you that they might get seriously hurt or even break their neck if they had fallen in the wrong way?”

“Of course, you being new and all, you wouldn't know that Pinkie Pie can survive such a thing quite easily. But really, did it really not occur to you at all, that you might have killed another today? Oh, and let's also talk about the theft that you perpetrated only moments after nearly scaring an elderly mare half to death?! Did it even once occur to you that you could have given her a heart attack? That would have counted as murder… Don’t think that saying it was just a joke will hold up once you’re on trial.”

During this little chat, Gilda who had been staring daggers at him, was slowly beginning to crumble away at her tough-girl image. She was beginning to look more like a beaten puppy as her head was slightly lowering. Even her eyes were brought to the grass cover ground with each thing that Brex had mentioned. But when he had gotten to the part about causing that one older ponies’ death. Just because she wanted to give them a good scare, had caused the Griffins eyes to shoot wide as she look to him with disbelief for a moment, before looking away.

Brex then continued. “These ponies don't really know much of anything that isn't pony related and you should not be all that surprised that you're the first one that any of them have ever met. So, I am not going to put it all on you. But still, the way you acted while here in Ponyville was completely unacceptable. And before I take that thing off of your mouth and you start going on about how Griffin's act in their culture and their rite of passage, or about how they need to show their dominance.”

“I want you to think about this. You are still young; you have a lot of energy and I know that you have so much that you want to prove. But that doesn't mean you can act like a stuck-up jerk. All that's going to do, is going to get you a lonely, empty life and I don't want that for the niece of my friends.”

“So, seeing that you are an adult, yet you can't make rational decisions without resorting to violence. Along with the fact that your aunts have already given me permission to make sure you stay in line if I should ever see you doing something that I believe is unacceptable. Even after becoming an adult. Then I will enforce my right to discipline you. Hmm, you know what that means, right? Now that you're an adult, you are not protected thanks to my code of conduct towards children anymore.”

Brex, upon completing what he was saying. Had slowly raised his left hand so that it was nearly high enough to his shoulder and off to the side with the palm pointing slightly downwards. Then he said the next part in a cold tone. “You have two options and I'm going to allow you to pick. Either you do exactly as I say until I feel that your punishment has been concluded and learned your lesson… Or I give you a series of grown-up spankings right here over my knee?”

Brex then swung down at nearly a blinding speed that left an afterimage of his arm as it struck the side of the rock that he was only just sitting on a moment ago. Upon contact, there was a resounding crash as is hand created a strong gust of air that got displaced and the top half of the large rock had suddenly within a split-second, produced a set of many cracks that ran across its surface before those pieces were blasted several yards away.

As for Gilda. She had gone completely rigid and completely still as a statue after her eyes shot open and her Iris’s has turned into tiny little dots, as she look straight at the remaining pieces of the rock that was right in front of her only a second ago. After dusting is hands off a little bit of the dust that had been created by such an impact. The Roegadyn step over the remaining piece and made his way over to Gilda. There, he crouched after leaning over her so that he was directly in front of her.

Afterwards he undid the vine that was tightly wrapped around her beak and after it came off, he asked in an upbeat tone. “So, what will it be? Will you take the punishment for as long as I think you need it, or…? Are you going to allow me to give you ten of those and you can be on your merry way? How about it? You better make up your mind fast. Because if you don't, then I'm going to go along with option number two. Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Offers going once… Going twice and... It's go-.”

Gilda was in a complete stupor and had not moved the direction of her eyes. Even after Brex had stood in front of her as if she could look straight at him and at the rock. But had come back once he had started doing that clockwork sound affect. Gilda then exclaimed in a loud and frightened voice. “Okay! Okay! I'll take the punishment! I'll take the punishment! I don't care what it is or how long it’s going to take! Just don't do that to me! I'll die ten times over!!!”

Brex then went from his scary version of a joking tone, to that of a genuinely friendly one, as he replied to Gilda’s answer and held both of his arms out and gave her a big bear hug. Which clearly unnerve the Griffin. “Oh that's great! I wouldn't want to keep reviving you from death just to continue on with it. It would have gotten old fast. Anyhow, let's get you out of this and head back to town. You're going to be staying in my room tonight!”

After saying that, he grabbed onto the vine and easily broke them apart with just his thumb and index fingers pulling with both hands. He clearly heard Gilda giving a very confused response after a few seconds of doing this. Which he was pretty sure was because of the part about bringing her back to life. But dismissed it as he motioned for her to follow him back through the trees that he had taken to get to that spot in the woods.

Along the way, Brex explained to Gilda that he was going to have her stay with him in Ponyville for the time being. Of course, he was going to notify her aunts as to the arrangement. The plan is that she is to do whatever he says and go with him on quests that require more than one party member to do to accept.

Seeing as it was quite late now and he didn't want to bother the guy who ran the inn he was staying at. Brex was going to wait till the morning to get a room for Gilda to use for herself. For the time being, she would use his bed and he would just fall asleep on either the ground or the chair in the room.

Of course, Gilda grumbled about the arrangements and call him out as a pervert for saying that they would be in the same room together. She even went so far as to say that by Griffin customs, said she was to do whatever he said after capturing her. Then she was by their law, his property and commented that slavery was against the law in Equestria so that she could try and get out of the punishment.

Brex quickly shot back with that she was not a slave and that she did make the choice on her own. But before he rested his eyes, he muttered out loud just enough that he knew that Gilda could barely hear from the bed. “I'm sorry but, you don't deserve to be my slave...” To his surprise, he heard a disgruntled growl from Gilda before one of the two pillows had made a sudden collision with his face. Right after, he could hear Gilda pulling the blankets over to cover herself up.

During the few moments that Brex was beginning to fall asleep. He began to think to himself. “Oh, that's weird if I didn't know any better. I'd say that she was upset that I turned her down. Eh! it's probably just my imagination after being with Rory for so long. The girls even got me thinking of lewd things at random times now.”

*Point of view: Princess Luna*
*Time: Nine at night*
*Location: Dream Realm*

Within a sea of stars, being surrounded by many dream bubbles that were mostly obscured from vision as to the contents within. There was one of the bubbles that was giving off a dark aura only a moment ago and had slowly reverted to looking like the rest. This was before a large flash of light appeared next to it and there stood Luna, that currently had a heavy blush forming on her cheeks.

She then began to say in a somewhat out of breath voice, while also glancing back at the bubble next to her. “That is the third time that I have had to deal with such a dream. It has only been but a single hour from when I started this night’s patrol. How is it possible that nearly all of the stallions who have been dreaming, all have a similar theme where they see the females as monsters? The only stallions that have been seen having a normal or even a great dream, seem to be focused on than learning how to fight so that they can be able to fend for themselves.”

“Mayhaps I should speak with her later upon this revelation and the two of us may endeavor to shine a light on to this mystery.” That was when Luna had lit up once more and had this concentrating expression on her face before continuing. “It has been many days sense last, I have come across is dream bubble. Both methods of searching for not only his dream signature, but for any powerful nightmares have yielded no results. Ghaa! How is it possible that I cannot find him? The only plausible cause would be that he has not slept during any of these nights.”

“But I know for sure that he either is within the town called Ponyville where Twilight Sparkle reside along with the element bearers thanks to the many dreams that show him wearing that white and blue attire.” Luna then began to pace as her hooves tapped against an invisible floor while going on. “'Twas it such a grand idea to not inform my dear sister that he might reside in such a town? No! It would not do any good for her to know he is there. Especially in her current state. We can't chance something happening before they meet in a dream first.”

It wasn’t until recently, that she had been able to go over what she knew of him. This combined with what she was able to put together from seeing what was shown as she went on with her duties. At the time, she had this fascination about the stallion that Rainbow Dash was having that nightmare about. But soon after looking through any dreams pertaining to him, she realized that he and the one she had been searching to talk with, were one and the same.

The princess of the night was about to go on, when her horn gave a sharp tug that made her head go back. This caused Luna to have a look of shock on her face as her body was being pulled backwards. This caused her face to fall instantly upon saying the following in a disbelieving tone. “As the young ones say... Buck me!”

This was then company with her screaming at the top of her lungs as she blindly flew backwards with her glowing horn leading the way. Unlike before, where she had narrowly avoided the other dream bubbles thanks to some last-second maneuvering with her body. This time however, she ended up flying through a couple of them which her screaming had inadvertently woken up the dreamer as she saw everything pop as she went through them all.

For the briefest of moments, Luna caught the sight of a few scenes that consisted of one being what she thought to be a land of candy and laughter. The next was of a place that was full of animals. The last one that she could get a good look at. Appeared to be a kindergarten class and a purple pony was sitting in a corner with a tall white cone hat upon their head. As for any others, they came by too quickly to really notice any of their details.

Just like before, when Luna got into contact with his dream bubble. There was a sound that now resembled what one would hear when a bird decides to fly into one's bedroom window. This was then immediately followed with Luna's sliding down till she landed on her butt in a crumpled heap thanks to the back of her head making the collision and there was a series of tiny constellations buzzing in her view. With a set of half crossed eyes and a wobbly tone. Luna attempted to point at these stars as she spoke. “Hey! That is not where I had put thou. Return to whence I placed you this instant!”

After shaking her head to send away the headache that she had just received. Luna looked up and saw the large dream bubble that she had been searching for. But her eyes went wide when she realized that she was pressing right up against it. Out of fear of what happened the last time that she had pressed herself into it. Luna had gotten herself away by backpedaling, while her rump was grinding on the invisible floor until she was at least a good several meters away before giving out a relieved sigh.

She then made it a point to memorize where in the dream realm that he was at and found that it was in the cluster of bubbles belonging to the citizens of Ponyville this time around. This causing her to arch and eyebrow in confusion as to why it would be back there but thanked her lucky stars that it wasn't so far this time. Otherwise, this collision would have been a far more painful one.

With it being such a long flight before, Luna had expected him to be far away from there. Even if she did conclude that had had spent time in Ponyville. There was no way to tell by the dreams involving him, that would show her just when they occurred. For all she knew, they could have been from events from weeks or months in the past. So, she thought he might not even be there anymore.

She then hurriedly used her magic to bring herself over to her sister’s bubble and began to hit on the side of it with her right fist and getting a loud thud to ring through. Under normal circumstances, Luna could have just entered her Celestia’s dream. However, with the lack of power at the current time. All she could do was to send the signal that they had agreed upon to allow Luna to show that they needed to talk.

After a few seconds, Luna could feel the defenses of her sister's mind dropping and she quickly pushed her horn into the bubble and caused it to produce a strong light that was coming from a single point. From there, a small wisp began to bellow out. Once there was a sufficient amount of it floating in the air, it began to take the form of Celestia who was giving Luna a not so amused stare down before speaking.

“Luna… I do hope that this is good. Because I was in the middle of an eating contest with the best bakers in all of Equestria! Right as you began pounding away, I was just inches from taking a bite out of that Fillydelphia Cheesecake!”

Luna crossed her arms and returned the same look towards her older sister before saying in a matter-of-fact tone. “Sister, do you not remember why we came up with that way of getting you out with my magic being so low? I have finally located his bubble and we must go while we still have time. It has been over a week and this is the first that he has gone to slumber. Quickly, take my hand and let us be on our way!”

Celestia look utterly shocked as she took a hold of Luna's extended left hand and they both disappeared with a blinding flash of magic that came from the end of her horn. Once their site had returned Luna and Celestia were now standing before the large bubble covered in the dark spongy material. Just as she tried to move forward. Luna felt herself being stopped with the hand that Celestia was holding onto and when she looked over her shoulder, Luna caught the sight of her older sister having a look of trepidation crossing her face.

She then released Celestia's hand and with using both of hers, she cupped her older sisters face and forced her to look directly into hers. Luna then said, “Dear sister, we must go in. Time within goes at a much faster pace. An hour and there will be really three in the outside world. In my current state I do not have the magic to extend the time within to give us all that we need. It is either now or we try for another night and I do not know of when he will be back.”

While looking into Luna's eyes. The alabaster mare regained her composure and gave a solid nod and the two of them face the bubble once more. Celestia began to pour some of her magic into Luna for her to get them in. Soon, the outer layer of the bubble began to pulse with the same light that came off of Luna's horn. Then the spongy like material that covered the surface was now moving in a way that showed it was creating a path that was just large enough for a pony to go through.

As the both of them approached and had gotten only a few feet away. Luna's eyes went wide when a section of the material had lunged forward past her so quickly that there was no time to react and had wrapped around Celestia’s neck. That was when Luna came to a realization that she had gotten permission, yet her older sister had not been given such an invitation. It was plainly visible that Celestia was in pain and probably could not breathe with the way she was gasping and trying to claw at whatever was wrapped tightly around her windpipe.

As Luna was attempting to pull it off with her bare hands. Her ears swiveled towards the bubble after hearing some shifting noises. When her eyes were turned to see what it was, she had caught the sight of what she could only assume was the outer defenses taking a section of itself that was made straight and then bent in a way that it created a type of corkscrew that one would commonly be used to open a bottle of wine and it was already in the midst of rotating as it was slowly making its way for Celestia's head.

No matter what was done, whether it be through physical means or magic, whatever it was that was holding her sister in place was, not giving up and felt stronger than iron. When the instrument of death had shortened the distance and was only a few hoofs away. Luna placed herself directly in its path, while still pressed up against Celestia and just as it was about to make contact with her forehead, did it stop in place.

Just as Luna began to comprehend what had just happened. The weapon had gone up in a puff of smoke. Along with the part that was holding on to her sister. Celestia had crumbled down and was now gasping for air as she held onto her neck with both of her hands in an attempted to massage away the pain. As the alabaster Alicorn was giving off a few coughs to clear her Airways. Luna began to speak in a rushed, apologizing tone as she looked over her older sister.

“Dear Sister how do you fare?! We did not expect such an aggressive defense to be in place. I swear, 'twas not this aggressive last I came here!” Celestia had released another coughing fit before shakely getting back to her hoofs and replied. “Thank you... For getting me out of there. I tried to use my magic, but it was blocked. Ouch! Give me a moment to heal this. my neck really hurts.” Celestia had gone and lit up her horn and an aura enveloped around her neck. After a few seconds and it fading, she had a look of astonishment while glancing back at Luna. Celestia then said, “I can't fully heal it!”

Looking to be in utter shock, Luna went and tried to use her own magic but found that it was capable of healing the wound, but not completely. Which left a very faded bruise mark around her older sister's neck when done. Celestia appear to be in much better shape as she lightly placed her finger on to the mark and began to trace it while letting out a small groan of pain. The younger sister had an apologetic look on her face as she began to explain.

“I went through a similar ordeal on my previous visit. Although, I lacked the magic to heal the wound. I know I have enough now, but it will not heal past a certain degree. The reason eludes me as to how we can even get injured in such a way. Mayhaps turning back now would be the best course of action for you. I shall be the one to converse with him and you can go back to your dream of eating cakes.”

This got Luna a stern glare from her older sister as she witnessed Celestia going past and getting closer to the dream bubble. Out of panic, Luna tried to reach out in order to grab onto her sister, but was not quick enough. Thankfully, whatever was protecting him from Celestia, did not react this time around and allowed her to make contact with the surface without any trouble. Celestia then turn and said with a small smile. “It would seem that you have vouched for my entrance.”

Luna quickly joined her sister at the edge of the bubble and began to use her magic to get them both inside. but while she did this, she began to think about the words that were uttered during the end of their last meeting, about being careful to not to get hurt when opening the door on coming into his dreams. She had no idea if that was a warning to what just transpired, or if there was something else waiting on the other side.

While going through, Luna had to hold on to her sister's hand due to how something was apparently attempting to force Celestia to turn around and they were in complete darkness as they walked forward. The whole event felt as though it went on for more than a minute before there was a glimmer of light up ahead. While pressing forward, the light was getting closer and brighter with every step. This went on until everything turned blinding white and the pair had no choice but to shut their eyes due to the blinding intensity.

Once they were able to finally open their eyes once again. Luna found herself standing next to her older sister, while inside of what appeared to be a small cave. Along with a set of torches going around in a circle and in the center was an unknown monument with strange symbols that were carved into the stone. What's more, were the strange floating yellow creatures with a tail and a pair of wings floating around that gave Luna the creeps and by judging the reaction on Celestia, they were having the same effect on her as well with how she was keeping a wary eye on them.

But their attention was torn away when they heard a set of hastily made steps coming from the entrance of the cave. The one coming in could be seen wearing a set of heavy armor that could easily be identified as something made of bronze or possibly copper. Pretty much every inch was covered in chainmail. The only sections that were visible, was their face. When the individual had gotten closer. Luna noticed how their facial area was being strangely obscured to make it nearly impossible for her to see just what they're face looked.

It was pretty much no different than one waking up with blurry eyes and couldn't focus on anything very well. She then attempted to use her magic on the dream in order to clear this up. But it had little to no effect as the image only showed that it cleared up a little, before it snapped back to its original state once she had given even an iota of slack in her magic.

So, by the end of it. Luna had to give up on seeing their face and was resigned to watch the events play out along with her sister. Who happened to be at that moment staring at who had just come in with a blank look in her eyes and a partly open mouth that Luna had to resist the urge to use her index finger to help in closing it.

The figure then approached them and this startled Celestia into going into a slightly shuttering state. Luna had to grab onto Celestia’s shoulders and push her out of the path of the one coming so that they were a few feet out of the way. As soon as she had done this, they had barely missed him by a few inches while on his way towards the monument in the caves center. Luna turned her face to Celestia and began to explain what she felt was happening.

“Sister, I do believe this is a dream of something that happened in his past. That must be him right now, for the moment he is unable see us right as we are. So long as we do not interfere with anything that happens or make direct physical contact with any that are within his line of sight, then the dream will go unobstructed and our presence will be unknown.”

After being informed as to what was happening. Celestia had taken a heavy breath of air and placed a hand on to her chest to show that she was using a type of meditation to ease herself back into getting a hold of her emotions. Now turning their attention fully on to him, they could see that his gaze was firmly set on the strange texts. It was only a moment later that they began to hear a voice coming from the entrance of the cave.

Luna instantly identified it to be coming from a female. However, the language being spoken aloud was one that she was unfamiliar with. It didn't take long for them to wait to see that it was a girl judging from the figure who was wearing a set of blue pants and a white tunic. There was also a strange contraption that was hanging down from her neck. On her hips, was what appeared to be a small branch of some type that could easily be taken off of a loop that kept it in place. But what made it strange, was how the entire figure was mostly shrouded in darkness wherever there should have been sections where the body was exposed.

Moreover, Luna was able to see a pair of long ears that were roughly three or four inches long and a long thin tail hanging from behind that clearly did not come from a pony. As the girl came inside, she approached the male and started to talk more. Judging from the speech pattern, Luna surmised that she may have been reciting something. Mostly likely a type of rhyme. During all of this he appeared to not have taken his attention away from her.

Luna was just about to try and ask her older sister to lend her some magic in order to cast a spell that would allow the languages spoken within the dream to be understood. They were interrupted by the ground quaking and a set of heavy steps approaching from the cave entrance.

What she and her sister saw coming down the slope that led into the cave. Appeared to be a large bulbous creature that had an enormous mouth and rows of teeth that could be seen. It had these thin, long arms that flailed about and some growths on its back that seemed similar to plants growing.

(Can play this clip from the game for what was written.)

From there, they witness the battle as the two within the cave joined forces to combat it. The girl would use the piece of branch that she had in her possession and appeared to be casting magic through it as a medium at the large monster. While avoiding its long arms that continuously attempted to slam down on to her. Along with not letting it gobble her up in its oversized maw.

As for the one who made the dream, he had pulled off from his back, what appeared to be a two-handed axe that on first glance, could have been made out of the same type of material as his armor. As the battle progressed. The yellow creatures that they saw before became hostile and joined in. But they were quickly dispatched with ease thanks to the axe cutting through them one after another until there was nothing but the large monster left. After a bit of fighting on both their parts, the pair came out victorious with the creature collapsing and lying dead on the cave floor.

There was a somewhat large blue crystal laying on the ground just a short way from the monster and both she and her sister watched as he approached it upon catching sight of it. Upon getting near, it began to float into the air and was guided until it floated towards him. Once it was close enough that it was hovering between both of his hands, did everything slowly turn white and all three found themselves within a dark void much like the one when they first entered through.

A few seconds of this. There was this odd hum before a glowing ring appeared on the ground which expanded until it became a complex magical rune. It was set up with six empty circular parts at the end of a six-pointed array that surrounded him. The crystal in his hand began to shine as one of the empty spaces erupted in the same color and shot a blast of light into the empty abyss overhead and exploding to shower down sparks.

There was another flash of light before everything went black once more along with the runes going missing. Suddenly, a voice came out that startled both Luna and Celestia, as they were quickly looking to and fro to find its source. Only to come up empty. What was also surprising about it, was the way that they could both understand the words being said as it came out smooth as though hearing it from a mother. “Hear... Feel... Think...”

The next thing to happen, was a roaring sound to be heard at some far-off distance and they caught the sight of shooting stars plummeting past them from all around. They had just turned their sights upwards and saw a burning vortex that was expelling said falling stars at random intervals. This was yet again followed by the dream turning pure white and both of the sisters had to cover their eyes in order to be ready for what was to come next.

(Play this for the scene in the game.)

From there, the scene played out as a voice began to speak from the darkness. “Crystal bearer… I am Hydaelyn. All made one. A Light there once was that shone throughout this realm… Yet it hath sense grown dim. And as it hath faltered, so hath Darkness risen up in its stead. Presaging and end to Life. For the sake of all I beseech thee; deliver us from this fate! The power to banish darkness dwelleth within the crystals of Light. Journey forth and lay claim to them. By thee deeds shell the crystals reveal themselves to thee. Only believe, for the light liveth within thy heart. Go now, my child, and shine thy Light on all creation.”

Both Luna and Celestia took great effort to hear what was said and while doing that, they saw the following happening. At first, it was but a loan crystal that came forward. It was nearly his size. Then was accompanied by a row of others that floated along. It didn't take much time until an enormous one came floating up from below only to be encircled by the smaller ones as it's light began to illuminate the area.

Off some ways away, they spotted another who is in the same state as him that quickly took flight towards the large Crystal. This was then immediately followed by another who looked to be of the same build as himself as they came to fly by much closer than the first as they passed. Things quickly progressed and the one that the two sisters were following took flight and was joined by an ever-growing multitude of others while soaring around the large crystalline object. Only to have the scene end upon watching him soaring for a light high above as he soared along its shining surface.

(Play this if you want to see the scene in the game.)

As the dream refocused on to another that was beginning to form. Luna grabbed onto Celestia's hand and gave her a puzzled look during the moment that was given to them to think upon what they had seen. She then said, “Sister, does any of what we have witness remind you of anything in particular?”

Celestia's eyes looked a little worried as she brought her right hand up to her mouth to partly cover it for a few seconds before she released her lips and began to say in an unsure tone. “That stone… It looked a lot like how the elements once resembled... You don't suppose that?” There was a slight pause before Luna attempted to finish that thought. “That he may have a connection to the Elements of Harmony?”

“But this cannot be true, can it? For we found them at the Tree of Harmony! And we were certain that there was none other there. Once they were uncovered and used on Discord, we made sure that they were locked away in the throne room. From there, the elements were found by your student and her close friends. I doubt that they were ever removed and then placed back during my banishment. Is it possible that this was seen from before we ourselves found them all those years ago? After all, there were six spots. Which is the same number of elements.”

Celestia had to quickly step in and held onto both of Luna's upper arms to get her to focus before she spoke. Please little sister, we need to keep a firm head. There's no guarantee that what we saw was one of the elements. It could have been any type of random crystal. There are many out there in the world after all.” Celestia then released her sister while having a thoughtful expression on her face before going on.

“But the way that they fought that monster at the beginning of the dream. It appeared so much like what the new recruits have been learning... I'm pretty sure that number of the moves that were done with the axe were from what I believe is known as the Marauder class. Now, as for the girl with the wand. I am certain that those were both healing and attack spells from the Conjurer class. Could it be possible... Does he know of where those teachers could have come from?”

The dream so far, was still in the middle of transitioning. So, Luna quickly asked while they still had time. “Sister, you mentioned, Marauder and Conjurer just now. Are you saying that he is some type of Outlaw?” Celestia quickly shook her head before she answered. “No, no! Not that kind of Marauder. Have you already been notified of the Western, Central and Eastern schools of combat?” Luna had an expression that show that she was thinking it over before giving a quick nod to her older sister.

Celestia then went on. “As of recent years, quite a few of the castle guards have undergone training in these institutions before applying for positions here at the castle. As well as other guard posts all around Equestria. A large portion of the Adventures these days, have undergone training there as well. The Marauder is a fighting class that is among those that are specialized in front-line combat and gaining the attention of the enemy in order to keep their comrades out of danger. I believe the common term for this category is... Tank, from what I hear.”

“Luna, maybe when we are done here, I can go into more details on how they were established?” Luna quickly nodded the show her agreement just as the dream finally came into focus once more. The next thing they knew, was that they had suddenly dropped from a small height and their legs were nearly up to their knees in snow. They were being pelted with heavy ridged wind that was able to get right through their fur and prick at the skin with how cold it was.

Celestia quickly lit her horn and produced an orb of light that was just within reach right over their heads to illuminate where they were. But all they got was a few measly hoofs in all directions due to how thick the snow storm that they were in was coming. They both had to squint their eyes just enough to see one another even though they were close enough to hold hands. Beyond what the light could touch, was nothing but a dark night as it made it nearly impossible to tell just where they were.

While chattering her teeth due to the severity of how cold it was. Celestia pulled Luna close and wrapped her wings around her younger sister. While trying to speak over the howling wind. “Luna! I did not think that going into a dream would feel this real! I'm trying to use my spell to give us some more light and to stave off the cold. But it's not working very well here!” The younger one who was being shielded had spoke up in a loud enough voice to be heard as well. “Sister, I am in need of more of your magic to supplement my own!”

Luna could just barely make out that Celestia had given a nod before feeling a rush of magic being poured into her. From there, she concentrated as hard as she could and sent out a wave that became a transparent wall that took on the shape of a dome in order to push back the harsh elements. Unfortunately, it only gave them maybe a couple of meters of free space until it had reached its maximum size. But by then, the two sisters already had a good amount of ice clinging to both their clothing and wings.

Luna then gave out a quick shiver as Celestia released her wings in order for them to try and step out of the snow. Once their legs have been pulled free. It was found that no matter what they did, they would sink into several inches in the snow. But we're thankful that they were not stuck in place. Although Luna was very concerned with how she was already beginning to feel numb on the lower part just underneath the ankle and saw how Celestia had a concerned look of her own while looking at herself.

Luna was about to attempt to call out as best as she could in order to be heard by the dream’s owner. However, before her voice could have left her lips, there was a sudden roar coming from behind them and when they turned around, they had only a moment to jump away from one another as a large white creature came barreling through where they once stood and continued its way until it had gone far enough that it had left the barrier and disappeared into the storm just outside of it.

The both of them had quickly scurried onto their legs again and got back-to-back in a defensive posture as Luna summoned her long sword and Celestia brought out her spear. Celestia called over her shoulder while still keeping an eye in front of herself. “I didn't get a good look at what it was, did you?” Luna quickly replied with, “Afraid not. It moved surprisingly well in the snow and all I could tell, was that it was covered in white fur and far bigger than a Manticore.”

“But please be on your guard. From what has been transpiring, I can safely say that we cannot take this is a dream, for we may not come out of this unscathed.” Their chat was interrupted with a bellowing roar coming from the storm before the same creature came charging at them once again.

(Here is a picture of the beast that is attacking them.)

This time, Celestia pointed her spear at it and sent a strong jolt of magic into the tip and fired it directly into the beast’s face. It did some damage by drawing blood, along with the sudden flash of yellow that illuminated it so that the two princesses could see that it had a set of long black horns and what could clearly be sharp teeth meant for devouring other creatures.

Unlike before were just kept on charging through. This time around once it had gotten close enough, it had lunged after taking a good leap into the air. It came crashing down just as the two separated once again. Celestia was currently on its left side and had started attacking with her spear. She would swing it to use the long-bladed tip to cut then. Would she would alternate to stabbing motion to cause as much damage as possible just underneath where she had assumed where the rib cage should have been and was trying for the heart.

At the same time, Luna was keeping its attention on her by firing a few magic shots directly into its face, along with swinging her great sword to defend herself from its other arm that was swinging a set of long sharp claws. After a few seconds of this, the creature would whip its body around as it turned. This made its long tail swing fast enough to slam into the side of Celestia and getting a welp of pain from the mare. This sending her near the edge of the barrier and seeming to be out of the fight. Only to leave Luna to be a sole focus for the moment.

Currently, the spell that was keeping away the storm had Luna place that the center and seeing that Celestia was currently down, the lunar princess could not risk moving too far or she might lose track once the edge of the barrier had left Celestia outside. As a result, Luna had to stay within close combat only to barely dodge the wide swing of its arm in order to get around and stay as close as possible to her sister without also getting her in danger.

Although this seems like a desperate situation. Luna could not help but to crack a smile as the adrenalin that she had long forgotten after her imprisonment was beginning to revitalize her warrior’s spirit. But right as she was sure that she had dodged another one of its wide swipes of his arm.

She was immediately blindsided with the way it lunged forward again and whipped its head so that one of its long black horns was able to strike her in the gut and sending her flying towards Celestia in the same way one would with hitting a ball with a bat. This had got her to let out a loud yelp from the pain and had to cough after taking in so much of the cold air into her lungs.

With Luna now on one knee and Celestia directly behind her. The creature dug into the snow and came barreling at the two of them. Out of desperation, Luna funneled as much magic as she could into her sword and held it in front of herself while pointed sideways and caught the tips of both of its horns that had hit directly onto the side of the blade. The strength in which the two had made contact had caused the horns to partially be embedded be at just the tips so that there was little chance of slipping along the blade with how hard they were pressing up against one another

The lunar princess grunted as her body began to buckle along with how she can sense that her summoned dream sword was beginning to break under the strain from holding back the beast that was obviously more than five times her own size. Its face was so close that Luna had trouble trying to breathe with how rotten the breath was and could even feel a couple of drops of blood from the wound that her sister had cause to its face earlier to be dripping onto her leg that was outstretched in front.

That was when Celestia’s spear came shooting right past her head and missing by mere inches as it went through the gap between her arm and her sword in order to stab it directly into the forehead of the beast. Once the spearhead had gone at least several inches into its skull. The shaking that was being produced from fighting back, had begun to die down along the blade and Celestia push along with Luna in order to get it to fall away from them as it was currently leaning in their direction.

After some work, they had managed to get it to fall on its right side and Celestia yanked her spear free and Luna had to dismiss her own weapon seeing as it was pretty much just a hunk of metal with some hairline cracks that can be seen along the weapons edge. There were obvious indentations from where the horns have gotten partially stuck into the metal. This was then followed with Celestia and Luna going back and forth as they tried to recover from the unexpected fight.

“Luna! Please tell me that you are not hurt! Do you recognize with this is, because I do not.”

“Do not worry, for I am well. As for that, I am afraid not sister. During my many days of being on the battlefield, I have not once come across such a creature. It would be safe to say with the way that it is equipped for cold weather, then it must come from this environment and not some random dream construct.”

“Please Luna, say that you did not have to go through such an ordeal when you were last here?”

“I know nothing of the sort. All was quite tame compared to this. I am unsure if this is just a dream or perhaps a memory of his. I spent quite sometime walking around a deserted city and did not once see him until it was nearly daytime. I'm not sure if we will be able to find him now thanks to this snow storm that we are in the middle of. Unlike others, his dream appears to be quite large.”

“Has it always been this difficult for you to find the dreamer Luna?”

“I can safely say that this is quite irregular. When entering a dream, I could immediately find the one that belongs to and even if they're not within my sight, I could still sense them through my magic. Regrettably this is not the case. It is reasonable to believe that we could be walking aimlessly through here all night and not come across him if my previous visit was any indication.”

Celestia was just opening her mouth to respond, when the two of them froze upon hearing a howl that resembled the one that was given off by what they had just fought. Luna had summoned another blade and they both took up a position where they were standing side-by-side yet again and facing where the noise had come from. Fully ready to do battle once more.

However, they quickly lost their composure when they noticed that it was not a single continuous howl. But instead, it was a series of them overlapping one another to indicate that there was more than one coming at them. The two quickly glanced into the eyes of the other before giving a quick nod. Which was immediately followed with the two of them dismissing their weapons and running as fast as they could in the opposite direction while leaving their hoofprints in their wake. They even managed to kick up a cloud of white powder behind with how fast they were going.

For the next several minutes, the two sisters were running further through this thick snow while being chased down by a pack of unknown monsters that were hot on their heels just beyond the view of the barrier. Along the way, Celestia had discussed it with Luna and lower the brightness of her orb of light. This was so that they could still see the ground at their hoofs, but to make it harder for their pursuers to see the light that was being emitted by the spell in order to help in their chances of eluding them all.

Luna was beginning to feel the cold getting to her even though the barrier was still up and even her lungs felt like they were being burned from the inside with the cold air she was being forced to rapidly breathe in in order to fuel her body with oxygen to move. During this whole time, she kept trying to comprehend why it was that this dream followed so many of the real-world rules such as needing to even breath in the first place.

Typically, whenever she went into a pony’s dreams, whatever the environment was, she could overcome it once she had set her mind on the fact that it was all not real. She had walk through a pony’s dream that was full of fire and was underwater on a few occasions. Yet she didn't feel any different than walking without it being warm at all or having to hold one's breath. But here, Luna felt the cold and the way that her movements would make the ice crumble underneath her hoof. No matter how hard she tried to say that it was a dream in her mind, everything else said that this was in the real world.

Because of all the evidence laid out. Luna could only think that this was not some random dream, but had to be something that he himself had lived through at one point and these memories were strongly ingrained into his mind in order to be so vivid here. Her thoughts came to a sudden stop, when she felt that the spell that she used to keep her barrier up was nearing its limit and could break at any moment. They kept on running as fast as they could for the next few minutes before they lost their cover and have to feel the full force of the elements once more.

Even the dim orb of light that they are using to illuminate their steps had turned out to be pretty much useless with how they could barely even tell where it was before Celestia had to let go of the spell. This meant that the two of them had to rely heavily on making the way on their own. Luna knew for sure that in order for her sister to make something bright enough to work with all this snow blowing in the air, would be enough to be found quicker by whatever was chasing them and what they could only assume to be a pack.

Only moments later did Luna take a step and feel the ground shifting underneath. This was then followed immediately afterwards, with the clear sign of something breaking and both of them lunging forward as the ground gave out from underneath their hoofs. This led them to fall for an unspecified amount and Luna could plainly see the side of a cliff rushing by as they continue to plummet. Even both of them screaming at the top of their lungs was barely heard over the rushing wind that was crashing against the wall nearby.

When they finally found ground once more. Both of them had hit a thick mound of freshly made powder of snow and had to quickly dig themselves out. Otherwise, the two would have suffered hypothermia thanks to how frigid their bodies felt. Luna herself was positive that if her natural color wasn't dark blue already, then she would have turned into it with how cold she felt all the way down to her bones as they shivered in place. They even tried to get close to one another for any type of warmth. Even just a few degrees warmer than the outside air that she had gotten from coming close to her older sister, felt as though it was burning her skin through her fur and clothing.

Where they were now, was someplace where the wind was no longer blowing as hard and visibility was good up to about fifteen meters out. There was even this slight glow that caught their attention at the edge of their vision that was directly ahead and both of them looked at one another thinking that they may have found what they are looking for and began to slowly trudge on as their legs kicked against the thick layer of snow.

Closing the distance, they went from fifteen, then to ten. Just a bit more and they had made it almost to five meters, before they started to get a good look at what it was that was glowing. What they had found, turned out to be a very tall flower giving off a fluorescent glow in the darkness. Luna felt captivated by what kind of plant life could possibly live in such an environment and to give off such a vibrant color. She had just pulled herself away from Celestia who is giving it a curious look from what she could tell.

The blue Alicorn reach forward with her left hand to try and touch it. But just as she had gotten within a meter of it, the plant suddenly began to move and the top part where the flower was, had expose the other side that had a set of fanged mandibles that clearly should not belong to a plant. There was this oozing sap that dripped from the opening and fell onto the ice. From there, it gave off a noticeable sizzle that could be easily heard.

(Here is a picture of the plant they came across.)

The next set of events happened within but a few seconds. The plant immediately sent itself at Luna. Who was stunned from the sudden revelation and was clearly not ready for a response. As for Celestia, she may have been surprised herself, but had shown signs that she was holding up her right hand to cast a spell. But with the rate things were going, she would not have been able the cast an effective attack thanks to how quickly the plant move and the relative distance between it and Luna.

As for the plant itself. The leaves had open wide to show that they were partially expanding to indicate that it was ready to wrap around Luna's whole head as the mouth drew open and exposed nearly ten sets of fangs that would be coming down from all directions around the Alicorns face once she had been snared.

Time had essentially slow down for Luna, as her heightened senses kicked in due to the intense dread that she was force to go through. She could see clearly as the plant drew closer, inch by inch and she could even witness how the disturbing mouth opened so that it would have completely taken over her vision once it had clamped on. All of her thoughts were completely blank. In fact, all the noise around her head had gone totally silent. Even the scream from her sister became muted as the only thing that registered to her hearing, was the quickening thump of her heart racing as it went at an agonizingly slow pace.

But then, time began to speed up from her point of view, when the creature came to a sudden stop right before pulling away and was letting out a loud gargled hiss as it was thrown back and its entire form was slammed onto the ice. The plant thrashed on the ground in an attempt to get up. But was silenced when a glowing, heavy axe could be seen coming out of nowhere and cutting the main flower part, which was the head in half while being halfway buried into the snow underneath as it cut through. A viscous fluid that gave off the same type of glow that they were seeing could be seen gushing with a few spurts once this was done, and the axe was roughly pulled free.

What stood only a few paces from Luna now and looming over the remains of whatever was trying to kill her just now. Could not have been any other than the one that they were trying to find this whole time and he was dressed from head to hoof and armor. Along with the helmet that covered up his head. It had a set of long horns protruding from the top that strongly resemble that of a Minotaur.

There was this shabby black shroud that was wrapped around his neck as a makeshift scarf that covered up everything below what she assumed to be where the nose was and was draped over his back. At the same time, covering his left shoulder and that side of his body as the right was fully exposed. Showing his red armor and the large two-handed axe that was being held tightly in his grip. There was even a little bit of the leftover juices from the plant still dripping off the edge as it fell onto the snow. This leaving a fluorescent glow to show through as it was staining the snow.

(Here is a picture of his current gear set.)

Luna was just about to say something to him for saving her as she began to take a single step forward. However, she found herself stopping upon getting this sense of dread washing over her body as she observed the way his helmet was slightly turned to her right. Her eyes went wide as she turned her head in that direction after realizing that he was staring straight at her older sister. Who still had her hand outstretched with a blank look on her face that made it very hard to tell what she was thinking right there and then.