Björn

Chapters

Död
Liv
Myt
Raseri
Upptäckt
Stöter
Järn.
Fången

Död

The smell of brimstone and burning flesh filled the nostrils of Bjørn as he stood before the Pit Fiend. The Pit Fiend appeared female, standing at twelve feet and eleven inches, she put a hand on her hip and held a spiked mace. Her skin was red like blood and her eyes fiery like the sun, twin dark horns were on the tip of her forehead and pointed to the ceiling. Her long black hair stretched down to her waist. She held a sly grin as she looked at the human before her.

Bjørn was a human, he was six foot and nine inches. He was shirtless, revealing the scars on his bare chest, he was not pantless however as he had bear fur for pants. His bare feet felt cold on the marble floor of the Pit Fiend's arena. He had a metal shield which had a scratched dragon painting on it, worn down from countless battles. He had a battle axe in his fist, the wooden handle held strong in his tight grip. Bjørn let out a deep inhale and breathed out, causing some of his blonde hair to droop over. Frowning, he blew his hair back into place and rolled his shoulders.

"So, you're the foolish human who has challenged me to a duel?" The Pit Fiend mused as she looked up and down at the Barbarian. She smirked as she saw his scarred and muscular body, then looked at his face. "You might be one of the cutest humans I've met."

Bjørn's mind briefly wandered to Quul but he refocused himself and held a determined gaze. "Cool, but I'm not here for wrestling, I'm here to duel." He pointed his battle axe at the Pit Fiend and narrowed his eyes. "Before we duel, my name is…" He glanced at Dhamir, who began to roll his eyes. "...Bjørn, to keep it short, I am the sixty-nine-thousand-four-hundred and twentieth of my family. I have come to duel you for my friend's safe passage to meet Zariel."

The Pit Fiend's eyes widened, "Oh really? Well, then, I can't allow that." She shook her head, but then flashed a smile. "But I can offer you to join our ranks, you have courage to stand up to such a powerful demon such as I, more courage than these fools," she gestured to the party who stood behind the rails of the arena. "And since I find you just the cutest, how about this? Join me, and we will lay waste to all of these… Friends of yours. After that, we can be together for eternity, and I'll even try and convince Zariel to grant you power beyond your wildest dreams!" Her hand was set ablaze in a crimson inferno, and she stuck out a hand to Bjørn who stood a few meters away from her. "So, what do you say, Bjørn?"

A pregnant pause filled the arena, the party began to sweat and hold their weapons tight. It was too good of a deal to ignore, and their faith in their Barbarian was going to be tested.

"Nah."

The Pit Fiend blinked in shock and shook her head as if trying to readjust her hearing. She chuckled, "Excuse me? Did I hear that right?"

Bjørn nodded, "I said no, I'll never betray my friends and I don’t know you like that, bro." As if feeling the anger from the demon, he held his shield close and held his axe tighter.

The Pit Fiend began to giggle, before cackling like a mad woman. "AHAHAHA! You humans really are idiots, I mean, all that intelligence to make weapons of war, yet not enough to take a good offer when you see it!"

"Well, I wouldn’t say I'm intelli-"

"I am going to enjoy ripping you to shreds!" The Pit Fiend had a crazy smile and set her mace ablaze, licking her lips. She crouched down and flared her wings, pushing off the ground to grant her more speed, she took off towards Bjørn.

Bjørn snarled, his muscles bulged and his veins were more visible, he began to snarl like a Grizzly Bear and his eyes looked insane. A Beaver tail popped out of his back and he charged to face the Pit Fiend head on. The Pit Fiend attacked first, swinging her fiery mace, a trail of fire followed the weapon as it came closer to hitting its target. Bjørn, however, was quick and spun around, smacking his Beaver tail into the mace and knocking the attack off course.

Bjørn then slammed his axe into her hip, a trail of blood trickling onto his weapon. The Barbarian roared and bashed his shield into her knee to get her closer to his level. The Pit Fiend raised her tail high and stabbed Bjørn in his knee. Ignoring the pain, Bjørn turned his head into that of a Grizzly Bear's before he bit her wielding hand. He began to shake the hand in his maw like a dog as the Pit Fiend snarled. She grabbed Bjørn by his fuzzy head and threw him across the arena.

Bjørn was sent tumbling across the floor and slammed into a wall, knocking the wind out of him. He went limp and fell on his chest, his back ached and the pain went to his head. His Grizzly Bear head slowly faded as he dropped his axe and held his chest. He felt something wet on his head and touched it, only to see blood. He looked at the Pit Fiend walking towards him with fury in her eyes, briefly, Bjørn panicked. The Barbarian looked to his party, specifically Zelfine who looked at him with concern. Bjørn shook his head and brought back his A-game, he grinned at his ally and grabbed his axe. He stood shakily to his feet and slammed the blunt end of his axe into his shield making a loud and obnoxious banging sound.

"COME AT ME, DJÄVUL!" Bjørn challenged, his Beaver tail sprouted out of his back once more. The Pit Fiend accepted the challenge and flew towards Bjørn, however, he didn't run to her, instead he waited. The Pit Fiend showed her claws and scratched them on the marble floor as she closed in on Bjørn, he still waited and didn't break. Right as she was close, Bjørn spun around and made her slash her claws at the wall. Using the momentum, Bjørn slapped the Pit Fiend with his Beaver tail right as she stabbed his shoulder with her own tail. Blood trickled down the wound, but the Barbarian pushed past the pain and kicked the back of the Pit Fiend's leg, causing her to trip.

Once she slammed into the ground, he raised his shield and began to bash her across the face repeatedly. He broke her nose, and though he could only catch glimpses, her face was bloody. As Bjørn was gonna bash her again, she bit down on his shield, Bjørn tried to force her to let go but it was no use. No matter how hard Bjørn pulled, it was no match for her jaw strength. The Pit Fiend raised her mace to slam into Bjørn's knee, Bjørn's eyes widened as he abandoned his shield and tore the straps with his strength, rolling back to avoid the attack.

Bjørn rolled to his feet just in time for the Pit Fiend to throw his shield like a discus at Bjørn's head. Bjørn briefly looked to his left hand and forgot his shield was there, so, that only left dodging. Bjørn leaned back and avoided the shield taking his head off, he saw the shield be embedded into the arena walls. As he stood up straight he was immediately met with the claws of the Pit Fiend. She grabbed Bjørn by the throat and drove him to the ground, she sat on top of his torso and glared into Bjørn's blue eyes.

From an outside perspective, it would seem like they were about to do it right there, unfortunately, this wasn't the case. Bjørn swung his axe at her neck, but was out of reach due to her height, she laughed in amusement as he feebly tried to get her off. She grabbed Bjørn's wielding hand and dropped her mace on the ground, out of Bjørn's reach. She then yanked the axe out of the Barbarian's grip and shattered it into pieces.

Bjørn grasped and winced as the wooden and steel shards fell and pierced his bare body. Bjørn looked at his surroundings, he had no weapons, and with his hand still in the Pit Fiend's grip, he had only one hand left to defend himself.

She smiled at the helpless Barbarian, "You're so cute when you're helpless, but I bet you'd be cuter screaming in pain." The Pit Fiend applied pressure to Bjørn's trapped hand, and agony painted Bjørn's face like a canvas before a disgusting snap rang throughout the arena. Bjørn bit his tongue to stop himself from screaming and glared the Pit Fiend in the eyes. "Scream!" She snarled, digging her claws into Bjørn's chest, yet the Barbarian refused to scream.

Thinking quick, Bjørn transformed his hands into Grizzly Bear claws, however his broken hand spasmed as it transformed. Gritting his teeth, he slashed the Pit Fiend's arm, drawing blood. The Pit Fiend pulled her claw out of Bjørn's torso and with a primal roar, Bjørn grabbed her hand and pulled it, causing her torso to follow her arms and thus her head. Bjørn slammed his head into the Pit Fiend's and chipped off one of her horns, he also forced her off of him. She fell to her back and Bjørn rolled to his feet, clutching his broken hand.

The Pit Fiend snarled and put a hand out to Bjørn, "Hold Monster!" She cried out. Bjørn's eyes widened as he felt his body stiffen, he tried to move but found his body unwilling. The Pit Fiend flared her wings and a spark of fire flew from her hands before growing into a fireball. "DIE!" The Pit Fiend boomed as she fired a mass of fire at Bjørn, with his body unable to move he couldn’t dodge. Bjørn couldn't do anything but scream as he was set ablaze.

The Pit Fiend grinned smugly, "That's the scream I wanted to hear," once the fire died down, she saw Bjørn still standing. His body covered in burns and soot, Bjørn coughed as smoke was in the air. The Pit Fiend's went slack jawed and awestruck at Bjørn's durability. "Well then!" A fireball was set ablaze in her hand once more, "How about another?" She threw the fireball at Bjørn once more and a large explosion filled the arena. Nearly hitting some of the party members.

The Pit Fiend smiled, Bjørn had to be dead by now. As the smoke cleared, she saw Bjørn slowly falling to his back.

But then…

Bjørn stopped himself, and stood up straight. "That's all you got?" Bjørn wheezed out, the smoke filling his lungs and watering his eyes. He could only hear ringing as the explosions were so loud, although, he barely heard his own breath with the ringing. The burning was agonizing, every part of his body was flaring up in pain, begging Bjørn to just die. But the Barbarian wasn't going to die yet, not until he made it back home.

Not until he sees Quul again.

"How… Why?! WHY WON’T YOU DIE ALREADY?!" The Pit Fiend screeched, nearly blowing out Bjørn's eardrums even more.

Bjørn tried to smirk, but the combination of the spell and the pain couldn't allow him, "B-Because…" Bjørn rasped before using all of his power to manage a toothy grin, "...I'm a Bjørn."

The Pit Fiend yelled in frustration and flew towards Bjørn, grabbing him by the neck and slamming him into the wall. She grabbed his head and dragged him against it, grinding his face into the stone causing it to break. The Pit Fiend then threw Bjørn and made him tumble across the marble floor, painting the floor with his blood.

Bjørn's eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he couldn't breathe. Bjørn desperately tried to get up, but the spell was still in place so he couldn't move. Bjørn snarled and tried to fight it; his hand twitched as he tried to get up. But then, the Pit Fiend slammed her boot into his ribs and sent him flying into a wall. Bjørn spewed a glob of blood and saliva out of his mouth before…

…His heart stopped…

…

Bjørn opened his eyes and gasped for air, he looked around and saw the Pit Fiend looking at the party. Not paying attention to him. He couldn't hear what she was saying, for his ears were adjusting from being dead. Bjørn placed his good hand on the ground and scooted his right knee under him. With the combined might of his left hand and right leg, he went to his feet. Bjørn looked at his hand, it wasn't a Grizzly Bear's paw anymore. He grunted and forced his hand to turn back into its lycanthropic state.

He began to limp towards the Pit Fiend, blood trickling over his right eye and barely able to see with his left. "H… H… H-HEY, DJÄVUL!" Bjørn boomed, immediately his chest revolted and caused a searing pain across his torso. The Pit Fiend turned sharply around and saw the Barbarian, clinging onto life by a thread.

The Pit Fiend clenched her fists, causing her hands to bleed from the force exerted onto them. "DIE!" The Pit Fiend threw another fireball at Bjørn. This time, Bjørn could move, albeit barely. An idea flashed in his mind, Bjørn tried to jump out of the way but tripped instead and slammed his head against the ground, fortunately, the fireball sailed past him and slammed into the wall behind him. Unfortunately, the blast pushed Bjørn towards the Pit Fiend.

The Pit Fiend could do nothing but stare as Bjørn slowly went to his feet, blood trickling through his teeth, making him look like a psychopath. Bjørn got in a fighting stance, his one claw ready to lash out. Bjørn raised his other arm and got ready to use it as well.

The Pit Fiend raised her foot and performed a sidekick to Bjørn's face, snapping his neck and killing him…

…But then, his head snapped back and Bjørn slashed the Pit Fiend's stomach. Then performing an elbow to the ribs, however, it was all for naught as his attacks no longer affected her. Bjørn quickened the pace and started bashing his claw and elbow into her rapidly, letting out a primal roar as his pupils were no longer, only white was his eyes. But then, the Pit Fiend caught both of his forearms and…

SNAP!

Bjørn screamed in agony, and as he was going to fall to his knees, he was booted by the Pit Fiend. Bjørn's back touched the floor as he snarled, the Pit Fiend made her way over to the human.

"Look at you, wasted and gasping for air, but don't worry, it'll all be over soon." The Pit Fiend grabbed Bjørn's foot and took him off the ground and spun Bjørn around. She then slammed him into the ground, knocking the wind out of his sails, but she wasn't done. She turned around and slammed him into the ground again, fracturing his skull. With a sadistic grin she slammed him again and Bjørn screeched in agony. Spinning around, she threw him into the ceiling, Bjørn bounced off the ceiling and fell like a rock. The Pit Fiend caught the human in her arms and cradled him like a baby.

"Aw," She cooed as she looked at Bjørn's pale eyes, she smiled at the tears that poured down his face. He was a bloody mess, anyone who hasn't been paying attention would think that Bjørn was dead, yet he still breathed. She lightly tapped him on the head and his pupils grew back to size. Bjørn looked at the Pit Fiend in the demoness' eyes with the fear of God, this just made her smile even more. "You're adorable, like a cute puppy, I just want to squeeze the life out of you." She applied pressure on Bjørn's cheeks and pulled him close, using the last of his strength, he tried to resist. Bjørn glared at the Pit Fiend who in turn glared back. Forcefully, the Pit Fiend pulled him in and kissed his lips. "Goodbye, Bjørn." She stabbed her claw into Bjørn's chest and pulled his soul out of his body, she smiled at the soul and took a bite out of it. Bjørn's eyes went dull, and his body went limp as she feasted on his soul.

The Pit Fiend let go of him and let his body hit the ground. Bjørn felt cold.

So…

…So…

…So very cold.

His eyes slowly began to shut, 'My only regret,' he thought to himself, '...I didn't see Quul again,' with no fight left in him, he willingly closed his eyes and embraced his entrance to Valhalla.

Liv

Swish… Swish… Swish…

Bjørn opened his eyes slightly, he felt like he hadn't moved in months. It was so bright despite his eyes only a quarter of the way open, he tried to move but a sharp pain shot up his body. Bjørn could only make a groan of pain as he lay there vulnerable. His nose began to twitch, and he smelt something weird in his nose, it was tiny, but clearly not living. Opening his eyes a bit more, at least halfway, he saw sand in front of him. He then realized that he was laying on his chest the whole time.

His hearing slowly came back as he heard the water behind him, though he didn't feel the wetness of the liquid at all. His whole body felt numb and cold, but that didn't stop him. He gave an attempt at getting up but was quickly met with failure as his body refused to move.

"Alright, one at a time then." Bjørn flexed his fingers over and over again, once he got back feeling, he focused on his toes. He moved on to his wrists, he moved them around and moved his ankles. Bjørn inhaled as he prepared himself to move his arms and legs. He began to clench the muscles in his limbs, he then relaxed them, then clenched them again. He slowly moved his arms and placed his elbows in a position where he could push himself up. He dragged his legs and placed his knees up to his stomach.

Bjørn slowly pushed himself to his knees and looked around, he felt the water come out his ears as he did so, clearing up his hearing. He wiped the sand off his torso and his face, spitting out some sand onto the dirt before him. As his hearing adjusted, he heard the chirping of birds and saw trees; flora of all kinds around him, like he was in a whole new world. He saw the clear blue sky; it was almost blinding compared to the dark red of Avernus. Turning his head he faced the sun, raising his arm weakly to shield himself from the brightness. He averted his gaze from the hot gassy sphere and looked at his hands. They weren't broken, in fact, none of his arms, legs, or anything was broken. He was alright.

No. This had to be an illusion, was this Valhalla? No, it couldn't be. The entrance to Valhalla was supposed to have big holy doors, and more warriors who have died in battle. But no one was here, it was only him. Bjørn moved his left leg to stand and pushed, forcing him to stand on two feet. His legs were wobbly, and he looked at them with a worried gaze. Bjørn realized something, his weapons! He turned his head around to search for his weapons, not daring to move his legs out of fear they'd collapse. He looked behind, he looked in front, nothing. His axe, his javelins, his shield, his great club! They're all gone!

"Fuck, man..." He grumbled, he turned his body to face the water and found that it was a river. The river must have carried him all the way here, he narrowed his eyes. His stuff must have been carried by the stream, his gaze followed where the stream was flowing, left. He glanced down the path and saw a bunch of trees and grass in his way, but thay won't stop him. Bjørn took one step forward and nearly fell down, he groaned in pain and breathed through his teeth. Just like before he had to adjust one at a time. Eventually, he began to walk somewhat normally, still stumbling from left to right sometimes. But as he followed the stream, he eventually heard the sound of a mass of water falling.

"Aw hell naw," Bjørn groaned as he found the waterfall, he walked close to it and he looked down, finding that he was on a huge cliff. It looked to be about a sixty to eighty feet fall. Bjørn clenched his fists in anger. His weapons were gone. His weapons were gone! He sat down with an exhale, looking at the waterfall. "Now what do I do? My weapons are gone, no food, I have a water source, but no shelter."

A voice perked up in his mind and told him to get up and do something about it, Bjørn sighed and reluctantly listened to it. As he got up, he turned around and walked back to the place he woke up. He looked down at the spot he left in the sand and chuckled at the massive spot he left there. It looked like he had been buried in there, the spot outlined his body and with a smirk, he gave himself a thumbs up. A sudden need for water took over his mind and he kneeled down next to the river. His mouth felt dry, how he hadn't noticed before was beyond him. He cupped his hands to let water fill and raised his hands to his mouth and downed it; Immediately he was met with absolute refreshing bliss.

He gasped before training his eyes on the river before him and began to gorge on the water like a dehydrated dog, taking large gulps of water before coming back up for air. He smiled and looked at the river, "This shit is divine!" He stood up to his feet and wiped the water from his chin. He looked around and trained his eyes on a tree. As he began to reach for his axe he had suddenly remembered it wasn't there, swearing under his breath he tried turning his hand to a Grizzly Bear's paw. As he felt a source of energy go into his hand, something suddenly stopped it from progressing and forced the energy to suppress. Bjørn raised an eyebrow and forced his hand to turn into a paw once more, hoping it would work a second tome.

He was met with resistance and his hand didn't turn into a Grizzly Bear paw; he began to try with his Grizzly Bear head but was met with a migraine that swept over his head. Bjørn groaned in pain, nearly collapsing to his knees, he winced and closed his eyes, "Note to self, don't try and transform your head to a Björn." He thought to himself, taking deep breaths he slowly pushed past the migraine and looked at the tree, what could he do now? He could always try and make an axe, but out of what? Where would he find the metal? He could try to sleep, hoping to wake up in Valhalla, but even he wasn't sure if he was actually dead. An idea flashed in his head, and he gazed at the tree once more, then looking at his hand.

He knew what he had to do, and he had the strength to do it. Bjørn walked up to the tree and curled his fingers, making a fist. He rolled his shoulders before cracking his knuckles with a wide grin. And thus, he threw a punch.

A Guard stood in the training yard watching his fellow guards train, he saw as many shoot magical spells or other projectiles at the hay dummies and saw the others spar against one another. The Guard was a Unicorn and had a dark green coat with a light brown mane with a tint of red. He watched as they sparred, and others hit the hay targets.

"So, are you just going to watch or are you going to train?" The Guard spun to meet another Guard, this time a Pegasi with a blue coat and dark blue eyes. "What will it be, Jade Tango?"

The Guard - now introduced as Jade Tango - gave the Blue Guard a half-lidded deadpan. "Aren’t you supposed to be on duty? Can I just enjoy my day off in peace, Sparkling?"

The Guard huffed, "If you're gonna say Sparkling, you might as well say my full name, Sparkling Water. But for buck's sake, Jade, how many times have I told you? Call me Sparkle." She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "And if you're off duty, why are you wearing your armor? Heck, why are you here?"

Jade opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came to mind. He sighed and looked out to the training field. "I don't know, Sparkling, it's just that I feel safe in this. Like nothing can hurt me."

"First, call me Sparkling again and I'm punching you. Second, I understand what you're coming from. The meaning of this armor makes me want to wear it every day, but you gotta stop wearing it if you wanna have more days off. Captain Shining Armor always forgets that you're on a day off and puts you on duty." Sparkle said.

Jade looked at his golden footwear and sighed, looking over to his friend. "Alright, I'll change out of my armor." Sparkle smiled as he rolled his shoulder, "Heck, maybe I'll pay a visit to the Canterlot Museum while I'm at it, I've never been."

Sparkle's eyes bugged out, "You've NEVER been? Oh, that's my favorite place in Canterlot. You HAVE to go." She began to push Jade forth much to his annoyance.

"I'll go, I'll go, good grief."

Bjørn punched a hole through another tree, looking up at it, seeing it shake a bit, he pulled his fist out and looked back down. He gripped the tree firmly and pulled on it, letting it timber and hit the grass with a thud. It made the birds nearby fly away, briefly he looked up at them with wonder. He shook his head; he sighed and wiped the sweat off his brow. He took a seat on the sand with an exhale as he looked at the collection of wood he obtained, an honest four trees. The other trees were already stripped of their branches and leaves, but when he looked at the most recent tree he knocked down, it still had everything on it. The leaves, the branches, everything.

Bjørn sighed and decided to catch his breath for a little bit, he remembered being stronger and being able to punch down at least four times as much before working up this much of a sweat. He looked at his sweaty hands, lost in thought. "So, my weapons are gone, my beast powers don't work, and now I'm weaker than I was before. Is this… Is this a reset? What God did this to me? Where even am I?! I've never seen a forest like this, it's… Quiet. Nothing but just me." He rubbed his temples before taking a sharp inhale, but then his gagged.

Bjørn blinked a little surprised, he looked around sniffing as to find the source of the nasty smell. He then paused as a thought washed over him, he raised his armpit and sniffed himself before he recoiled in disgust. He gagged once more and held his nose, "Ack! I really need a shower; this shit is disgusting." Briefly, he looked back to the river before ultimately deciding against it, the river was his only source of water and contaminating it would not be wise. He grumbled and looked around, "Now what do I do?" His body responded to him in kind and his stomach growled. He hummed in amusement. That answered that.

Bjørn sniffed the air to try and pick up the scent from any animal, he didn't really care what animal, as long as it was edible. His noise twitched as he picked up a scent…

"Björn…" He licked his lips and began to go on all fours, beginning to track the bear like a dog. As he crawled, he noticed bear tracks. There were other small bear paws too, most likely, its cubs. Bjørn hesitated briefly, would he really take some poor cubs guardian away from them?

Grrmm…

His stomach said yes, and thus he sided with it. As his hand touched the grass and something else. He felt fur, gazing down and turning his hand over, he found the fur to be brown. "Grizzly…" he thought to himself before pressing on. As he got nearer to the scent and the tracks were more and more common and were frantic as if it was being chased. He tilted his head, what animal would dare pick a fight with a Grizzly Bear? As he tried to decipher an answer, he heard the snarling and growling of the Grizzly. Bjørn ducked down and began to army crawl to a bush to hide, he was massive, but the bush was big as well, covering a majority of his body. He narrowed his eyes as he peered through foliage, and what he saw sparked fury in his heart.

It was a mother bear defending her two cubs against a pack of… Wolves? No, they were made out of wood, possibly timber… Timberwolves? Nah, they're Wood Dogs. These Wood Dogs were about a little under half his size, thus, Bjørn began to count them, one, two, three, four, five of them. All five of the Wood Dogs were making slow approaches to the Mama Bear's cubs. The Mama Bear roared and approached, pushing them back before quickly going back to her cubs. Bjørn raised an eyebrow, why wasn't the Mama Bear swinging its paws and snapping the Wood Dogs' spines?

He got his answer when he heard the whimpers of the cubs as the Mama Bear growled at the Wood Dogs. It all clicked in his mind, the Mama Bear wasn't attacking the Wood Dogs because if she did, her cubs would be left defenseless and would get slaughtered like pigs. Bjørn clenched his fists and glared at the Wood Dogs, those bastards. Bjørn went on his knees, getting ready to run but then hesitated, would he really help the Mama Bear despite wanting to eat it earlier?

"KÄMP TILL VI DÖR!" Bjørn went to his feet in an instant and sprinted towards the closest Wood Dog. As the dog conjured out of oak turned around it was immediately me with a tackle. Bjørn wrapped his arms around the Wood Dog's torso as they rolled across the ground. The Wooden Canine tried to bite Bjørn's face, but he held it far enough so that it wouldn't read him. Bjørn flinched slightly as the Wood Dog was snarling unlike any wolf he had encountered. Bjørn and the Wood Dog rolled once more before the Barbarian slammed the monstrosity against the ground. Bjørn sat on top of the Wood Dog and raised his fist to punch it in the face.

Bjørn heard the growl of one of the Wood Dog's pack mates from behind him and spun around with his arm out just in time to nail the beast on its snout with his elbow. The beast stumbled and crashed against the ground. Acknowledging that being on top of a snarling - and quite terrifying - beast was not the best position to be in. Bjørn jumped to his feet and prepared to stomp on the Wood Dog's chest but was surprised when the canine rolled out of the way. The two canines he encountered stood together, snarling, tree sap pouring out of their maws. Bjørn raised his fists and got in an Orthodox Boxing stance, he watched as they slowly came close, but he couldn't help but look over to the Mama Bear. The Mama Bear was still having trouble dealing with the three savages circling her and her cubs.

Bjørn then blinked in realization; they thought the Mama Bear was way more dangerous, than him?! The Lion, the Witch, and the audacity of these bi-

"AGH!" Bjørn yelped in surprise as one of the Wood Dogs he neglected pounced on him, its maw was open wide, and its claws were ready to dig into him. Bjørn narrowed his eyes and threw a left hook right into the Wood Dog's nose, making a loud CRACK as it hit the ground. The second one tried the same maneuver as the first and was met with a right hook, in which he instead hit it on the temple, hoping to knock it out. As it hit the ground like the one before it, Bjørn sprinted over to the Wood Dogs tormenting the Mama Bear and performed a flying knee into one of the beasts. He sent the canine into another, making a domino effect, making them fall down.

The last one lunged towards one of the Mama Bear's cubs but Bjørn was on it immediately, grabbing its tail and pulling it back and slamming it onto the ground. Bjørn went by the Mama Bear's side and growled as the Wood Dogs all got up from their injuries. Even going as far as repairing their broken pieces of their body. Bjørn glanced back at the Mama Bear, and she looked back at Bjørn, in that moment their eyes locked, an unspoken understanding and form of trust dawned on the two of them.

They're going to work together and send these Wood Dogs to Helheim. The Mama Bear let out a fierce roar and charged, beginning to go to work. As the Mama Bear fought off the Wood Dogs, one of them slip past her and went towards Bjørn. As the Wood Dog charged, Bjørn got ready to punch, he heard the scared whimpers of the cubs behind him, he will not let them die.

Not like Pip.

Bjørn drove his fist into the jaw of the Wood Dog, he twisted his fist and performed a corkscrew punch. The Wood Dog didn't have time to yelp in pain before its head flew off. Natural Twenty. The Wood Dog's body collapsed and hit the earth; Bjørn looked at his fist in shock before looking at the corpse. Carefully, he kicked the corpse away and watched the Mama Bear carefully. As one of the Wood Dog's lunged at the Mama Bear, it turned towards it and with deadly precision slammed its claw into its ribcage, snapping it and sending it into a tree. The body of the Wood Dog split into pieces and collapsed against the ground.

The Mama Bear let out a fierce roar at the Wood Dogs and the beasts whimpered in fear. They slowly backed away before howling in defeat, turning around and running with their tails between their legs. Bjørn watched the Mama Bear with amazement before fear took over as the Mama Bear growled at the Barbarian. Quickly, Bjørn stepped away from her cubs, backing away a few feet. The Mama Bear walked over to her cubs calmly and began to sniff them, checking for any blood or injuries. When she found none, she looked back at Bjørn, giving a curt nod to the Barbarian. The Mama Bear let out a moan as it motioned the human to come closer.

Bjørn's stomach growled as he walked over to the Mama Bear, the Mama Bear stood up, reaching over ten feet tall. It completely towered over Bjørn and sweat poured down the human's face. It leaned down, putting a paw on Bjørn's shoulder to prevent herself from falling, she began to sniff Bjørn, and the Barbarian closed his eyes, accepting death... Only for the Mama Bear to give him a big lick on the face. The Barbarian blinked in shock as the Mama Bear let go, it began to walk away as the cubs let out adorable little grunts at Bjørn before following their mother. He smiled softly as they marched off before he sighed.

"Well, I guess I have to look for something else to eat." As Bjørn turned around he heard the Mama Bear groan. He turned to see the Mama Bear was waiting for him to follow her, and with a wide grin, he happily followed.

Myt

Jade Tango had cast aside his Guard armor and taken the streets, each step emanating confidence. As he did so, he got nods of approval from the nobles, a majority from the stallions who acknowledged his aura of assurance. His time in the Guard taught him a few things about Canterlot. First and foremost, walking down the street with confidence will get you respect from the nobles. Second, not being overly friendly to ponies passing by, they don’t know you and you don’t know them, the less friendly the better, though it doesn’t mean be rude to them as that causes conflict. Last but not least, dressing appropriately, which is understandable, this is the capital of the most peaceful nation on the entire planet after all.

Jade passed by a Pegasi wearing a black hat with a red feather sticking out of it, he also wore a black scarf around his neck. The Pegasi had a dark-ish blue mane with black fur, his eyes mirrored his mane but with a slightly darker tint of blue.

Jade paused suddenly and looked back to glance at the pony, the pony did the same. “Vesper?” Jade wore an astonished look, as did Vesper.

“Jade?” The look on Vesper’s face changed like the tides and he grinned ear to ear, “Jade, long time, no see, man? How’s the Day Guard?”

Jade smirked, “Not bad, Sparkling Water has been on my case for not calling her Sparkle, which I can’t get the habit out of my head. I’ve known her as Sparkling for so long,” Vesper nodded.

“I understand, speaking of Sparkle, are you two a pair yet?” Vesper’s eyes twinkled with curiosity, in which Jade sucked in his teeth and avoided eye contact with his black-furred friend. As he did so, the twinkles in Vesper's eyes faded, “I’m guessing that’s a no?”

Jade inhaled sharply through his teeth once more and looked Vesper in his eyes. “It’s… It’s complicated.” He rubbed the back of his head and averted his eyes to the ground, not daring to look into Vesper’s disappointed eyes.

“Listen, Jade, complicated or not, you have to tell her how you feel at some point. And if you don’t tell her how you feel, somepony else is gonna beat you to the punch.” Vesper explained, gazing at Jade who avoided eye contact.

“Yeah, I know, I know.” Jade’s ears perked up as he suddenly remembered why he was out here in the first place, “The museum! I remember, Sparkling told me to go to the museum since I’ve never been.”

Vesper raised an eyebrow, “You didn’t ask her to go with you?”

Jade gawked, “No, Captain Shining Armor gave me a day off. He says I’ve been working too much. So, she can’t really join me since she's on the job.” He explained as Vesper shook his head.

“Well, then, I guess we could go together, I’m a Night Guard, so I have time.” Vesper chirped as he followed Jade towards the museum.

“Speaking of the Night Guard, Vesper, how’s Captain Umbra Eventide?” Jade asked, “Is she as bad as they say?’

Vesper snorted, “Worse, she’s the most intimidating mare I’ve ever met. Her ability to switch to her Trottish accent and back to her Canterlot is what scares me. She can sound so calm and then sound angry the next. I can’t read her at all,” he briefly shuddered before shaking it off. The pair of ponies advanced on their quest to the museum, as they arrived, two fancy doors were in front of them. They glanced at each other, then at the doors, the pair shrugged and opened the doors. As they opened them, Vesper and Jade were met with the smell of history, if you catch my drift.

“Wow,” Jade whistled as he looked around the entrance hall, the floor had a white and black chess pattern and the decoration was out of this world. Jade looked at the potted plants that were currently being watered by the staff who wore blue suits and hats, they appeared to be machines as they watered the plants in total synchronization.

Jade received a nudge from Vesper who was looking up, mouth agape. He followed his gaze and looked up to see a big shining chandelier made out of diamond and gold. Passing the chandelier was a mural of various arts from around Equestria, as well as various major events. Ranging from the rise of King Sombra to the return of Princess Luna.

"See something you like?" Vesper jumped into Jade's hooves as they both yelped. Their eyes met with a female Earth Pony in a similar blue suit and hat as the other staff. She had a light tan coat and brown hair, though her eyes were a light green.

"Uh… I guess," Jade said, still holding Vesper in his hooves before simply dropping him with a thud. The Pegasi let out a groan before rolling to his hooves. "See, I've never been here, and a friend recommended me to come to this place."

The Earth Pony smiled, "Well then, allow me to be your tour guide; my name is Aqua Marine, a pleasure to meet you.” She sticks out a hoof to Jade.

“Jade Tango, a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” Jade took her hoof and flashed her a smile, Aqua simply ignored him and went to look at Vesper.

“Oh! Uh, Darkest Vesper, si- ma’am! Darkest Vesper, ma’am, but you can simply call me Vesper. If you want.” Vesper briefly had a blush on his face, whether it was from embarrassment or something else, Jade could not tell, however, Aqua glossed over the small detail.

“A pleasure to meet you, Jade, Vesper,” She turned around sharply, raising her left hoof as she did so before putting it down as if standing at attention. “Follow me, please.” Aqua began to march towards a side of the entrance where an arch could be seen. The arch led to the exhibits and as the trio went through the arch, they saw the first piece of history. Which included a painting of Grogar with his monsters standing on top of a sharp hill with a mare in a green hood looking up at him at the bottom, an army of her own behind her.

“As you can see here, this piece of history is of the point of time where Gusty the Great battled with Grogar during one of their many clashes of ye olde times. Before Equestria was founded.” Aqua explained, she then pointed at the artifacts recovered, which was a barely recognizable sword. “That sword was one of the many that were forged to kill Grogar’s monsters, if you couldn’t tell.”

“THAT’S a sword?” Vesper gawked; the Earth Pony nodded.

“Indeed, it was recovered on an expedition in the Frozen North a couple of years back. Research has been conducted and they say this sword is older than our Princesses. Far older, in fact.” As Vesper’s mouth was agape at what Aqua had said, Jade had a hoof under his chin, lost in thought.

‘In that sword lies the blood, sweat, and tears of the blacksmith and the soldier that wielded the blade to combat against Grogar’s forces. That’s out of this world…’ Before Jade could add anything more to his thoughts, Aqua Marine interjected.

“There isn’t a lot here, given that this was long before ink and quill was made. However, if you look ahead…” Jade and Vesper followed their guide’s lead and moved towards a part of the museum where they went inside a room painted black and blue. There are several paintings of demonic beasts and armored devils, but at the back of the room was a pedestal. There was a glass dome on it, and inside it, a broken handle of a sword. Behind the pedestal was a painting of a fearsome demon, armored head to toe in black and blue armor. Jagged spikes were stuck out of his armor, and he wielded a black blade which was set alight in blue flames. In the helmet’s eye holes were nothing short of a glare, smoldering blue eyes behind.

The painting was centered around this armored demon, wearing a fiery blue cape. Around the devil were the skeletons of various races, some included Minotaurs, Griffons, and the occasional Yak, but nearly all of them were ponies.

It was quiet in the room, so quiet that Jade could hear his own heartbeat. Ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump. Vesper was cowering before the painting; he could feel the heat behind the eyes of the infernal being.

Jade swallowed his fear, trying his best to hold it together. “W-what… Is… That?” Despite trying his best to sound brave, he still came up short. Aqua giggled at the pair of doofuses and cleared her throat.

“That is Zanedum, the Archdevil of Tartarus. According to myth, he invaded the planet through unknown means, his goal; to conquer the universe. They say that he was so powerful that it took the whole world to stop him. But even then, it wasn’t enough. Not even the strongest pony, the strongest Yak, or even the strongest Minotaur could pose a worthy challenge to him. When all hope was lost, and he was about to annihilate the whole planet with a fiery attack, he had found a worthy opponent. That opponent was a powerful Alicorn named Harmony. Zanedum and Harmony fought, their battle shook the universe, before Zanedum and his forces were banished back to their realm. To make sure he stayed put, Harmony unleashed a spell that split his blade into shards. If someone were to ever collect these shards and go to Tartarus, he would break free and begin his reign of terror once again!” Aqua jumped to her hooves, raising them high dramatically.

“ACK!” The Guards held each other in a tight embrace and shook with fear. Aqua puffed her face to try and stop herself from laughing before she burst with a guffaw.

“GYAHAHAHA! You two really believe that old story? It’s just a myth, and science has proven it. If Zanedum had really invaded our planet, would the highest security prison - Tartarus - be here?” Jade and Vesper looked at each other, a bit confuzzled on what Aqua was getting at.

“Think about it, if Tartarus held a gateway to some big bad scary devil, then why wouldn’t it be there? Researchers have looked at every nook and cranny of Tartarus and there hasn’t been either a recording or a scrap of the fossils of the dead.” The Tour Guide pointed over to the pedestal. “That over there is a prop, I shouldn’t be telling you that, but it is. So, you two can get up now.”

Vesper looked at Jade, Jade looked at Vesper. They had noticed that they were really close, they both recoiled in embarrassment before rolling to their feet. Jade cleared his throat and puffed out his chest. “So, onto the next room?” Aqua gave him a curt nod. “Alright then, let’s get on to it.”

“Gladly!” Vesper darted past the pair and went out the door, Aqua followed after the Pegasi. Jade glanced back at the broken sword hilt before walking towards the door to take his leave.

”Find the shards…”

The fur on Jade’s back stood up straight and a chill shot down his spine. He had completely frozen in place. “What… What was that…?”

”Find the shards…”

“Hey, Jade, are you alright?” The Unicorn snapped to reality, ope there goes gravity- Sorry. Jade blinked and saw that Vesper was standing right in front of him. “You’re looking kinda green.”

Jade blinked again, this time out of confusion, he looked back at his fur then at Vesper. “Oh, you bucking dickhead.” The pair chuckled and moved on, despite this lighthearted mood he was pulled into, his mind still lingered to dark places.

Dark places indeed…

The forest was calming, well, as calming as a forest that had wooden wolves could be, but to the Barbarian, it was like Heaven. After fighting for so long in Avernus it’s a breath of fresh air - literally and figuratively - to just feel the grass on your feet and step over branches and climb over logs.

Bjørn had the most stupid grin on his face as he followed the Mama Bear and her cubs, somehow, it felt right. It felt right to follow a mother that protected their children, it almost made him feel like he was one of them, like he was the Mama Bear’s son. Bjørn’s grin slowly faded.

‘...Moder…’ He thought to himself. These cubs had the fortune of being with their mother, unlike him. He began to walk a smidgen slowly, however, the Mama Bear took notice and stopped in her tracks to look over her shoulder and over to Bjørn, the cubs had followed in their mother’s steps and looked over as well. Bjørn watched the concern on Mama Bear’s face, despite her being a bear he could still read her face. It was as if it was a part of him to have this connection to these wonderful creatures, to read them, to connect with them, to love them. He loved this bear.

This bear was nice.

“Oh, nah, I’m good.” Bjørn flashed his pearly whites and the Mama Bear simply gazed at him warily before continuing to walk. He followed them and began to use some techniques to relax himself. As he felt his mind slowly settle down, he focused his attention on the cubs. 'I've had already dubbed the big bear, Mama Bear, but what of these two? Well, one of them was male, the other was female. So, Son Bear and Daughter Bear? Nah, that was just ridiculous, even for my standards.'

He looked at the male, his mind slowly piecing together the perfect name; Styrka. Styrka would be his name, he smiled at the cub before turning his attention to the female cub. Gnistra. A perfect name for her. He briefly thought about giving Mama Bear a name, but ultimately decided against it, Mama Bear is who she was and who she will be for the remainder of his life.

He perked up his head; he heard something, it was faint, but he could hear it. Water. It was water rushing, but not too much that it would be a waterfall, it sounded like a stream. As they walked further and further, the sound got closer and closer. Eventually they made it past all of the foliage and entered a beautiful show of nature. A nice stream rushing down a small incline, down to a river. From above, the sun shined brightly, and the rays hit the water, making it look as if the water was sparkling. The icing on the cake had to be the fish going downstream, jumping to the air and diving back down.

The Mama Bear groaned, as if telling her cubs to stay behind, she approached the stream and got her paws wet. She sniffed at the water, watching it warily, soon after a fish jumped in the air only to be caught by the Mama Bear’s maw. The animal threw the fish over to land, right in front of the cubs. Styrka and Gnistra began their feast, sharing the fish together. Bjørn watched them as another fish was sent his way, hitting him right across the face. Bjørn recoiled and caught the fish as it was about to fall. Turning his head, he met the Mama Bear’s gaze, she stared into his eyes, and he stared back.

He knew what he had to do. Wincing, Bjørn looked down at the fish, flapping in his iron grip, he sighed and opened his mouth. He took a bite of the fish, tearing its body apart. The taste was unbearable as he began to eat the tail, after he was done, he released the fish from his grip and let it fall. He had only left its head and as the partially eaten fish hit the ground Stryka was right on it and began to devour it. He turned his gaze back to the Mama Bear and she gave an approving nod.

He held his stomach, he barely managed to keep it from coming back out. He hit his chest and slapped his face. When his fingers felt his face, all he felt was sweat, Bjørn raised his eyebrows and walked over to the stream. Getting down on all fours to wash his face, as he cleaned himself, a fish jumped up and slapped him across the face. He blinked, stunned, shocked, confused, and pissed.

“Oh, I’mma get it's röv.” Bjørn began to look for the fish that wronged him only for the Mama Bear to huff, the Barbarian looked to the bear and saw that the Mama Bear had the fish in her mouth. She then threw it over on shore before continuing to hunt, Bjørn looked over and saw that she had a pile of fish. “Oh, so, that’s how it is? Alright, then, it’s on.”

Bjørn began to try and catch some fish using his bare teeth, but every time he tried, was only met with failure and water down the wrong pipe. He coughed up some water and looked over to the Mama Bear, he watched her casually catch three fishes in her maw. He narrowed his eyes and began to focus. He trained his eyes on the water; he focused how the water flowed and how the flow shifted. Bjørn opened his mouth and a fish jumped out of the water, quickly, he bit down on the fish.

“Aha! I disch ih!” He grinned and turned to face the Mama Bear who was back on shore, eating her share. The bear turned her head and met Bjørn’s eyes, the Mama Bear nodded with pride and continued to gorge on her meal. Bjørn went to his feet and spit out the fish into his hands before taking a bite out of it with the most Alpha Male look in his eyes.

After the party had finished eating, the sun was getting low, and it was time for them to go home. Bjørn followed the Björn Family to their home; it was a big cave with a large amount of foliage at the entrance to both provide protection and be a good camouflage to hide from predators. Bjørn had found himself in the cave, he was sitting down and watched how Styrka and Gnistra cuddled up to their mother, a soft smile inched its way to his face. It had been a long day of fun with these wonderful creatures, and now, it was time for him to rest. He let out a loud yawn before laying on his side, he took one last peek at the cozy bears before rolling away from them, facing the entrance.

His body was exhausted from all of the walking and the fighting he’s done today, it was time for him to rest. As his consciousness began to drift, he remembered the beaches of his home island, listening to the waves crash against the rocks and slide gently back to sea. He almost felt the cold breeze that the ocean brought, but that feeling was lost when he felt something fuzzy cuddle up to him. He opened his eyes and turned his head, immediately, he was met with the Mama Bear, resting her body on him, with Styrka and Gnistra nuzzling their way up to his chest. Bjørn smiled and closed back his eyes, welcoming the embrace of sleep once more.

Raseri

The sound of loud snoring echoed off the walls of the cave and despite the foliage providing cover, it still managed to leave a ray of sunlight shine on to Bjørn's face. This Triforce of sleep hindrance consisted of snoring, sunlight, and too much heat, so Bjørn was forced to open his eyes and wake up. He pointed his eyes down at Styrka, who snuggled close to his chest and then over to Gnistra who had owned his right arm, laying on top of it. Turning his head, he found the giant Grizzly Bear wrapping her colossal paws around his shoulders.

It was obvious that he had little to no way of escaping. To top it off, he found that the arm Gnistra had been sleeping on fell asleep. Bjørn pursed his lips together, 'How can I walk out of the cave without waking the björnar?' He tried to raise his finger to stroke his chin in thought, but the bears had prevented him. 'Hm, I could always just continue to lie down but the heat from the bears was suffocating and to top it off, they snored so damn loud! Odin, I am doomed.'

A lightbulb had suddenly lit up in his mind and a plan was conjured deep within his psyche. With a smirk, he used his left arm to scratch the ears of Styrka. The bear cub cooed and rolled over to his back, he then pushed Styrka across the rocky surface of the cave and made him snuggle next to his sister on his right arm. Now, all he had to do was to escape the Mama Bear’s grasp and-

Growl…

Bjørn stopped completely, he had heard and felt the Mama Bear’s growl, it made his whole-body tremble and stopped him in his tracks. If he woke up the Mama Bear, instinct had told him he would die. He would die. There was no argument and no debate from his conscious; instinct told him so and thus he listened; he would die. So, Bjørn stopped and waited.

…

And waited.

…

And waited until the Mama Bear loosened her grip on Bjørn, taking opportunity, he very slowly and very carefully slid her paws off his shoulders. She still was leaning on him with her weight but at least he was out of her grip. He scooted himself across the ground, gently picking up the bear cubs one by one and placing them next to their mother.

As Bjørn’s arm woke up, he stared at the family of bears, a brief smile adorned his face. At first, he was going to leave the bears and explore the world, but now, he has a purpose. He was going to protect these bears and give them a better home. They had been so kind to him, they fed him and welcomed him to their home. Bjørn could never do that to anyone else he randomly met.

Not anymore.

He shook the dark thoughts to the corners of his mind; 'It isn't the time for that. Happy thoughts.’ The Barbarian thought to himself. He crawled his way out the cave so as to not wake the bears up, once he was out, he stood up to his feet.

“Now, where to?” Bjørn asked himself. He had concluded that if he wanted to make a new and better home for the bears, he would have to chop down wood and make one himself. Suddenly, he flashed back to yesterday when he arrived in the forest. “Oh, that’s right!” He slumped down on all fours and like an animal he began to sniff and track where he had been before. He crossed the stream he fished with Mama Bear, and trekked on for minutes before he finally found the trees next to the river he arrived at. He still saw the imprint that his body left on the sand, it seemed like it would be there for some time now.

He smiled, that would be a good story to tell Mama Bear and her cubs. He looked over to the giant logs, humming with thought as to how he could move them to a good location to set up the cabin. Then, an idea popped into his mind.

He would simply pick them up.

Bjørn flashed his pearly whites. First, he picked up one log and put it on his right shoulder. He used his free hand to pick up the other log and balanced it on his head. The last one was all that remained, it was also the most difficult. Bjørn crouched down, keeping the log on his head balanced as he picked up the log, and put it on his left shoulder.

As Bjørn turned to look behind, he blinked and noticed that there was another log that he had left behind. He pursed his lips together and frowned, he wanted to pick it up, but he wasn’t confident that he would have room. Maybe he could just kick it along with him? ‘I mean, I know it’s a tree sized log, but I could kick it.’ Bjørn thought to himself.

Thus began the struggle of kicking a log along with him, not that he wasn’t strong enough, no, but the log on his head nearly fell on multiple occasions. Luckily for him, he was quite able bodied. Eventually, Bjørn made his way to a small - very small - clearing that was still well hidden by trees. Bjørn dropped all of the logs he’d been carrying gently onto the ground. With a big sigh, he sat down, wiping the sweat off his brow. This had been more difficult than he previously anticipated.

He then realized he had a left-over log, he remembered that the log still had its branches and leaves on it. He flashed back further into yesterday when he punched the last tree. Bjørn nodded slowly, it was painfully obvious, blindingly obvious in fact.

“I’m dumb,” Bjørn decided, placing his hands on his hips, “How did I forget the other tree?” He glanced at the wooden logs he dropped, beginning to dust off his hands; having had come to a conclusion.

He was stumped.

In the mess hall of the Day and Lunar guards sat a trio on a lone table. That trio consisted of Jade Tango, Darkest Vesper, and Sparkling Water.

“The Zanedum exhibit was terrifying!” Jade blurted, “If the painting of him was any way accurate, I fear for the ponies who fought him directly.”

“I-I-I-Is the sword real?!” Vesper’s whole body was shaking from the sheer mention of his name.

Sparkle held a hoof up to her mouth to hide her obvious smile, “Man, Aqua really got you two, huh?” Jade huffed and crossed his hooves.

“Well, it’s not our fault that Zanedum looks like every horror movie monster combined into one.” Jade frowned. “Like seriously, does he not look like your worst nightmare?”

“He does to me,” Vesper added.

Sparkle shook her head, “What stories haven’t your parents told you? The tale of Zanedum is an old fairy tale made years ago to ward off anyone from coming to Tartarus. Not only that, but it is very useful when telling you foals to go to sleep. Zanedum would come out of the closet unless they went to bed on time, that was the rule.”

“WHAT?!” Jade shrieked, slamming his hooves down on the table, Vesper went slack jawed. Sparkle cackled like an old cartoon villain, slapping a hoof on her forehead, she damn near fell over too.

“That’s nightmare fuel,” Vesper shook his head absolutely gobsmacked and as he opened his mout the speak another word...

“VESPER YE LAZY EEJIT!” A loud - and quite proud - Trottish voice tore through the merry air, Trottish music could be heard. Vesper snapped his head towards the door where Captain Umbra Eventide stood with a glare. If looks could kill, Vesper would be on the stairway to Heaven.

“I-I-I-” Vesper tried to speak, but his brain failed to conjure the words to try and make up a pitiful excuse.

“DINNAE AH ME YE DUNDERHEIDED CUNT!” The Bat Pony stomped her way towards Vesper. He was too scared to get off his seat, this made Eventide even more livid. “GIT AFF YER BUCKIN’ ARSE!”

“Y-yes, Captain!” Vesper shrieked as he stood at attention, sweat pouring down his face and his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

“YER POST IS LEFT UNATTENDED! YE BETTER TROT YER GIDDY ARSE DOON TH’ HALLS ‘N’ TAE YER POST OR AH WULL STICK TH’ PLATE YER EATING AFF O’ UP YER ARSE LIK’ A DVD PLAYER!” Eventide boomed, her voice blowing Vesper’s mane back.

“Y-YES, CAPTAIN!” Vesper saluted and trotted as fast he could through the doors to the mess hall.

Captain Eventide glared at the mess hall doors. It was quiet in the mess hall, no one dared to utter a word in fear of setting her off. She turned to the guards who were astounded at the events.

She smiled.

“Aw, everypony, you didn’t have to stop chatting so that Vesper could hear me speak, I yell loud enough.” Captain Eventide chirped before turning to merrily trot through the hole in the door that Vesper made.

A long pregnant pause filled the room like water in a bucket, no one dared to make a noise - they didn’t even breathe - but then the bell rang, signaling the end of their meal. The once silent room was now filled with the sounds of moving hooves, plates being cleared into trash and put in a pile for the maids to clean. Jade let out a gasp for air, having held his breath even when ponies began to pack up.

“By Princess Celestia’s Sun, that was terrifying, Vesper was not fillying around.” Jade shuddered, still shaken up on Captain Eventide’s strange ability to switch accents like hats.

“Well… Since we’re both off duty, we could explore the Royal Garden.” Sparkle suggested this brought Jade’s gaze to meet her’s. As he opened his mouth, a quote from Vesper burned bright in his mind.

“And if you don’t tell her how you feel, somepony else is gonna beat you to the punch.”

‘This is it,’ He decided, it was the perfect opportunity to get her somewhere secluded - and somewhat romantic - and confess his feelings towards her. Lady Luck had chosen this day to be his luckiest and he was not going to waste it.

“I would love that,” Jade smiled softly and with his agreement to her suggestion, Sparkle led the way to the Royal Garden. The pair were still in their Day Guard armor and merrily trotted down the halls of the castle, passing by the Lunar Guards who stood unmoving in their post. It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the garden as they opened the gates to the secluded place.

It was not by all means your standard typical garden, each and every plant had vastly more colors than a rainbow. Despite the orgy of colors might having somewhat of a distasteful effect on the eyes, the two didn’t let it bother them. The grass under their hooves felt like carpet as it was so very neatly cut it was hard to tell the difference. There was a plethora of signs that pointed towards certain types and colors of flowers. It was almost like a library showing you places where to find the one book you like. The sights were indeed beautiful, but what really tickled their pickles was the smell.

Despite being vegetarians, they weren’t enamored because it smelled like it’d be good to eat. Instead, their lips formed smiles for the smell was as if Terry Crews dumped Old Spice all over the place.

Jade poked his nose around the flowers and filled his nostrils with their scent, which Sparkle found amusement of the expression that Jade made each and every time he did so. Eventually, Jade picked up on the looks she gave him and turned his attention away from the flowers and to the mare.

“What?” Jade asked.

Sparkle giggled and held a hoof to her mouth, “Oh, it’s nothing, really. It’s just that you look so cute sniffing those flowers,” Jade’s face turned red, she had called him cute; It was official, Vesper is the greatest wingman known to ponykind. “I could have never thought the Jade from grade school who was the biggest bully around would be sniffing flowers.”

Jade snorted, “I still am that Jade, I just don’t show you that side of me anymore.”

“Oh, really?” Sparkle said coyly, wearing a smug look on her face as she did so. The Pegasi trotted up to Jade face to face and gazed up at the stallion.

Jade did his best to hide his blush from her being so close to his face. He narrowed his eyes and looked down at her, “Y-yes, really.” Jade puffed out his chest.

“Alright then, bully me.” Jade’s eyes widened, seemingly nonplussed at the challenge. “Go ahead, bully me, ‘Big J’.”

Jade averted his eyes from Sparkle, “Don’t call me that…”

“Oh~, Big J’s flustered?” Sparkle teased, “Come on, bully me.”

Jade sucked in his teeth, his eyes slowly making their way to meet Sparkle’s. He knew she was playing him, and frankly, he didn’t mind. “Alright, pipsqueak, who do you think you are to tease me like that? I’m the one who’s doing the teasing around here, punk.”

Sparkle merely laughed at Jade’s attempt, “You’re not as mean as you think you are! You’re a big ol’ softy!” The Unicorn gave an expression of defeat.

“Okay, okay, maybe I don’t have the intimidating aura I used to have, but I can be intimidating when I want to. I just can’t be like that around you, you’re too cute to scare, like a puppy.” Jade pet Sparkle’s cheek and saw a blush forming on the Pegasi’s face.

Sparkle shook Jade’s hoof off her cheek and stomped her own onto the ground. “I am not cute!”

“Yeah, I agree, you aren’t cute.” Jade nodded as a smirk formed across his face, “You’re just more beautiful than any of the flowers here.” This seemed to have hit something deep inside her heart as she began to lose all the blue in her face for a crimson red. Jade thought he saw steam coming from her ears because she was just so red.

“What are you mongrels doing here?!”

Their nice moment seemed to have been cut short as their faces were stripped of joy and replaced with horror. They recognized that voice; Prince Blueblood.

The two turned to face their prince and gave a steep bow, “I am sorry if we disturbed you, my prince, we are just-” Blueblood shot Jade a glare and shut him up.

“I’ll have you know that this is the Royal Garden, not some garden for peasants.” Blueblood growled, glaring daggers into them. “Who gave you permission to come here?”

“N-no one did, my prince,” Sparkle muttered out, her voice as shaky as a leaf in a hurricane.

“Then why are you here?!” Blueblood yelled. Something snapped inside of Jade and he rose to his full height, glaring into Blueblood’s eyes.

“We’re here because in the Guard textbook it is stated that we have permission to visit the gardens any time during our leisure.” Jade blazoned with fury in his eyes, however, this fury was quickly drowned by fear as Blueblood clenched his teeth.

“Guardsmen! You clearly don’t know your place, so allow me to educate you. First, there is you, the dirt, the worms inside of the dirt, my dick, the Captains, and then, me.” The Prince jabbed a hoof into Jade’s chest, forcing him to take a step back. “I could have you fired, guardsmen, I could have you being chased out of the capital and maybe, I might just do that.”

“Wait!” Sparkle shrieked; her voice desperate. “Forgive him, please! I-I’ll do anything! Just please don’t fire him!”

Blueblood’s eyes flicked over to Sparkle and then back at Jade, “Oh, you won’t have to do anything…” The Prince grabbed Jade by his mane and forced him to be at nose lengths from the grass. “Eat it.”

“W-what?” Jade asked.

Blueblood’s eyebrows furrowed, “Eat the grass you cow, and I expect you to moo like one too.” When he failed to comply, Blueblood pushed Jade further, pressing his face against the blades of grass. “Eat it, cow!” Jade looked over to Sparkle who didn’t have the courage to look him in his eyes.

Eventually, Jade swallowed his pride and took a bite of the grass. This made Blueblood smirk, “Now, moo.”

“M-moo…” This was the most embarrassing moment in his life, he nearly lashed out and beat Blueblood to a pulp. However, he had to hold himself back, otherwise the opportunity that Sparkle gave would go to waste. He continued to munch on the grass and moo like a cow. It was apparent that his masculinity was fractured, and tears began to stream from his eyes, saliva began to leak through his teeth as rage was burning inside the fires of his gut and Blueblood twisting his hoof into the back of his head was just fanning it. 'Fuck. Blue. Blood.' Is the only thing that was in his mind.

Blueblood finally had enough and kicked Jade’s head, knocking off his helmet. “Consider this a warning, cow, mess with me again and you’re done.” He huffed and trotted off, leaving the two Day Guards alone in the garden.

Sparkle gazed at Jade, with vivid concern in her eyes as she heard the animalistic growls of the Unicorn. Jade’s face was still in the grass and he slammed his forelegs onto the ground. Tears flushed down his face and his eyes burned red with fury. “Damn him… Damn… Him…!” He seemed to be on the verge of screaming and that would likely cause attention, so Sparkle did as best she could to quell the urge.

She embraced Jade.

Sparkle hugged Jade tight with both her forelegs and her wings. Her wings folded over his head to hide Jade’s saliva and teared smeared face. The pony sobbed quietly into his friend’s hooves, unable to take the level of embarrassment he suffered.

“Shhh, let it all out… It’s gonna be alright.” Sparkle whispered into Jade’s ear, this only made him hug tighter. The mare rubbed Jade’s back, as if comforting a foal.

“It’s all gonna be alright.”

“All done at last!” Bjørn declared, dusting his hands off from all of the hard work he’s done. He placed his hands on his hips and stood with pride. He saw the cabin he built for himself with a door large enough that he wouldn’t hit his head on when he walked inside. It was always a wonder why people don’t think of all the tall people when building doors, you never know when an eight-foot eleven Goliath could show up one day.

He turned his head towards the other cabin he made, this cabin was both bigger than his own, but smaller at the same time. While yes, it was tall, it was rather short in length and width, only a whopping thirty feet wide and twenty feet long. The door to the cabin was - to keep it frank - a big doggy door for the bears. The cabin he will sleep in was for him, their cabins were right next to each other, so they would be neighbors.

It was time to call the bears, so Bjørn cleared his throat and prepared himself. Throughout the weeks he spent with the bears he found a way to call them; he called it a 'dog whistle' except he won’t be whistling and it’s not for a dog, so, not like a dog whistle at all. He cupped his hands over his mouth to make his voice louder.

“KOM HIT TRE SMÅ BJÖRNAR!” Bjørn called out, his voice echoing across the forest. At first, he received silence in response to his call, but then he heard the bushes rustle behind him, and he turned around to face the Mama Bear marching with Gnistra and Styrka following right behind her. The Barbarian smiled at the Mama Bear and walked over to give her a hug, the bear stood on her hind legs and returned to hug whilst licking his face as well as his hair. The Mama Bear thought Bjørn had wanted her to groom him, so when Bjørn wanted to let go of her, she pulled him in close to groom him some more.

“Mama, stop it, I just wanted a hug, that’s all, let me go.” Bjørn giggled as the Mama Bear licked a sweet spot. The Mama Bear groaned in response almost as if saying ‘No, your fur isn’t presentable, let me fix you’. After a few more seconds of grooming, she let Bjørn go and went back down on all fours.

He looked down at Styrka and Gnistra who were playing with his bare feet, nibbling on his toes. Bjørn chuckled as he walked towards the cabin he made for the bears. “So, I made a house for you three to stay in, I hope ya like it, it took me a few days to make it.” The Mama Bear approached the oversized doggy door and sniffed it, attempting to spot any dangers only to find none. She raised a paw and pushed the door, it was pushed upwards so that she could go in. The cubs didn’t even wait for the Mama Bear’s approval before fumbling their way inside, the Mama Bear glanced at Bjørn as if asking ‘Will you be coming in too?’

Bjørn shook his head, “Nah, I’m gonna chill and explore the place, seems like a good time too. I’ve only been to the cave, the river, and the cabins, it’s time for me to stretch my legs, bro.” The Barbarian flashed his pearly whites as he got a nod of approval from the Mama Bear before she went inside the cabin.

Bjørn picked a direction and walked, using the big sticks that the trees provided as a trail back. He picked up the sticks and stuck them into the ground, making them jut out like spikes. Bjørn did this every five trees he came across, meaning he had to pick up a lot but that really didn’t bother him. He merrily journeyed his way deeper into the forest he called his home, he really didn’t try to leave, there was no reason to. He had everything. A home, a family, food, water, everything but friends.

…Friends…

Bjørn narrowed his eyes as he began to go into deep thought. What is really considered a friend? Someone who cares about you, listens to you, and appreciates you? If that was the definition, he could say he rarely had any friends. I mean, there was Jandar and Nick.

…Nick…

The Barbarian shook his head; he had to move on, Nick moved on, it’s just right for him to do the same. For Jandar, he was always a friend, he respected him, got him through a tough time, and Jandar listened to his ideas. Especially his dumb ones. His really really dumb ones. Other than Jandar there weren’t really many others, I mean, sure Theo counted as did Quul.

…Quul…

Bjørn’s heart twinged as he thought about her. Her black hair, her pale white skin, her fluffy cat ears, her attitude… Her beautiful face…

‘No! Stop doing that!’ Bjørn thought to himself, slapping himself across the face. He got rid of all the thoughts crawling their way into his heart and focussed on exploration. As he brushed past the branches and the bushes he found himself on a trail.

Trail.

Trails led to somewhere, and as soon as he turned left, he saw a giant castle in the distance, he had also spotted a bridge going over a gorge. His eyes widened with astonishment, ideas and thoughts swirled in his mind.

'Should I go into the castle? What if there are people there? That would ruin my hermit life! I might have to kill them. However, talking to people is nice. I could keep them around, but should I? Should I go back home? Was this enough exploring? The castle looks old, it must be abandoned. Old and abandoned places mean bandits, but if there were bandits, I would have found tracks of them or maybe even have met them during his weeks here. So, no bandits. No bandits equal no people, no people equal continuing the hermit life, abandoned castle means weapons.'

He looked down at his right hand, he had missed the feeling of the Björnbreaker in his fist. To be fair, he could have made a spear with the sticks and the rocks, but at the same time, he’s a Viking. Vikings don’t like spears.

It was decided. With a pep in his step and a gleam in his eye he began to make his stroll towards the castle. As he made his way to the bridge, he noticed that it was old looking and likely rotten and weakened from the elements. So, he decided he would carefully cross the bridge. Carefully.

‘Sneaking across the bridge…’ Bjørn began to sing. He had no idea where it came from, but it just felt right to sing it. With the utmost gentleness and precision, he had successfully made his way across the bridge and was free to approach the castle at any speed he wished.

So, he fucking booked it. He sprinted towards the castle with insane speed. He felt the wind go through his hair; the cold breeze felt nice against his face. ‘I should run more often,’ Bjørn thought to himself as he began to slow himself down, reaching the steps leading to the open gates. An aura of wariness washed of the Barbarian, the gates were open, so any animal, any creature, beast, demon, or otherwise could be in this castle.

He prepared himself and clenched his fists, while he had no weapons, he was by no means defenseless, being a two timed heavy-weight boxing champ on his home island was no easy feat. Bjørn gently walked inside the castle, his eyes darting from left to right, waiting for something to jump out and stab him, however, it never came. As he got deeper and deeper into the castle he found himself in the throne room.

He saw the murals and the banners on the walls that had been affected by the elements, it was clear that this castle was far older than he previously anticipated. What caught his eye wasn’t the decay, the cracks in the walls, or anything of the sort. It was the throne itself. It was a weird looking throne, it looked more like a cushion to sit on when talking with friends rather than a mighty chair to order people around in. What really made it special was the hole in the ceiling that shone light down upon it like some holy throne.

He noticed the other throne which was covered in shadow. ‘Edgy,’ Bjørn thought to himself as he approached the big throne, as he did so, an intrusive thought in his mind told him to sit on it. Seeing no harm in it except maybe ticks and other bugs, he simply sat down on the throne bathed in sunlight. Bjørn sat with his legs folded and his hands clasped over themselves.

“I’m a fucking King,” Bjørn said aloud, making his voice echo across the dead castle. He chuckled to himself, and folded his arms over his chest. “This is kinda nice.” He admitted.

And it was true, it was nice, it was also a very nice place to think. A good thinking throne. The Barbarian began to think of the future, of what he would do, of what he could do. Bjørn could always just live out here in the forest until he dies of old age, that was certainly an option. He quite loved this life and would hate to leave, but then again, at the same time, he wasn’t familiar with the outside world.

What if there’s an invasion going on, just how Zariel was invading the Material Plane? What if he’s in a new country or continent entirely? What if he’s in another world entirely? Questions surged on in his mind and he eventually decided that he would have to walk out of the forest one day and explore.

But then again…

Mama Bear would miss him, and he can’t just bring a bear and her cubs on a journey with him. They’d get hurt, or worse. Bjørn frowned, just thinking of the Mama Bear and her cubs dying hit a certain part of his heart that he didn’t like. He wouldn’t let them die, he couldn’t, he already lost too much to lose more. He will not lose anyone again.

…

The hair on Bjørn’s back stood up.

Something was happening.

Something bad.

“Oh no,” Bjørn muttered, his eyes widening to the size of dinner plates as he stood from the throne. He jumped high and far and rolled into a sprint.

Something was happening.

Something bad.

His mind couldn’t keep up with his body as all thoughts were thrown out of the window, he even jumped over the gorge, not even bothering to take the bridge.

Something was happening.

Something bad.

Bjørn’s heartbeat accelerated as sweat began to pour down his face, the Barbarian was off the path and into the forest. Following the sticks he stabbed into the ground, he was moving so fast that some would mistake him as a cheetah running on hind legs.

Something was happening!

Something bad!

Bjørn ducked and rolled under the branches that were short enough for him to run into, he began to jump on the roots of the trees and to the next. Terror was the only emotion in Bjørn’s heart. He felt this feeling before.

SOMETHING WAS HAPPENING!

SOMETHING BAD!

Bjørn leaped as far as he could, he began swinging from the branches like an ape, he saw the cabins in the distance coming closer and closer. He was almost there.

SOMETHING WAS HAPPENING!

SOMETHING BAD!

Bjørn yelled as he swung himself and flew across the air, tumbling across the ground and rolling to his feet. He had made it to the cabins and…

His feet felt wet.

He smelled blood.

He heard the tearing of flesh.

He tasted the iron in the air.

He saw a giant lion with a scorpion tail and wings eating the Mama Bear’s corpse. He saw as the Manticore ripped her ribcage open and began eating the goodies inside like a pinata. If that wasn’t worse enough, he saw the mangled corpses of Styrka and Gnistra decorating the grass.

Styrka and Gnistra were dead.

The Mama Bear was dead.

And now so was his joy.

Bjørn’s right hand quivered and slowly made its way up to his eye, his breathing became fast in pace almost as if someone was stealing his oxygen. His other hand reached to his head as well, his pinky was directly under his left eye, feeling the tears that were flooding down his face. His heartbeat wildly, he felt like he was going to croak from grief, he felt like his whole chest was burning!

Briefly, his mind flashed, seeing Pip’s lifeless and bleeding body in the bath house.

He failed to protect his family again. He failed to keep his promise again!

A deep bestial growl rumbled across the forest and that brought the attention of the Manticore over to Bjørn at last. The beast-, no, the demon growled right back, baring its teeth at him. Bjørn growled as his breathing quickened once more, his body began to bulge and bulk. Bjørn glared at the heavens before letting out a primal roar.

The roar shook the forest for the beast inside him was awakened, a spiritual and transparent image of a gigantic grizzly bear formed on top of Bjørn. The ancient beast spirit’s eyes were red with fury, and it let out a growl as it began to shrink down to fit Bjørn, the spirit shrunk to Bjørn’s body, and the spirit stood on its hind legs. Its claws fit Bjørn’s hands, its head fits Bjørn’s, and its tail fits Bjørn’s as well.

The beast went back into Bjørn’s body and the Barbarian’s pupils shrunk so much that only white was his eyes. His hand and forearm began to spasm and crack as it slowly grew fur and turned into paws of a bear. His head shook violently, left to right and right to left before it looked straight up. His neck slowly grew fur as well as the rest of his face, his mouth grew more into a snout with razor sharp teeth. Bjørn collapsed to all fours as a small brown tail poked out of his back.

This man was reduced to nothing more than a wild animal.

And he relished it.

With a roar so fierce and powerful it would put hurricanes to shame, he began to approach the Manticore. Bjørn stood on his feet, saliva overflowing out his maw; he was ready to feast. The Manticore was fearful, how could it not? But when you push a rat into a corner, it will bite.

Bjørn rushed the Manticore, his maw wide open for it to see and his arms wide apart ready to slash into it. The Manticore pounced on Bjørn, using its wings to get airtime before crashing down onto the Barbarian. The Beast-Man caught the Manticore with his arms before it could bite down into him and slammed it onto the ground.

The Manticore could do nothing but yelp in pain as it was on its back, defenseless. Bjørn raised his claws to come down and stab into the Manticore, but the beast was smart and kicked the Barbarian with its hindlegs. Bjørn rolled with the fall and went to his feet, the Manticore got into a defensive position and hung its scorpion stinger right in front of it, almost as a warning.

However, all reason was lost to Bjørn as the primal urge to rip this fucking cat to shreds had completely taken over. The Beast-Man rushed the Manticore with the same open arms as last time, and aiming carefully, the Manticore stabbed its stinger into Bjørn’s right shoulder. Piercing his skin and sending its venom into his body, he would have likely died in minutes if it wasn’t for a-

-Natural Twenty.

Bjørn grabbed the stinger with his two bear claws and clenched it tight. The Manticore roared in pain before shock took over as the Barbarian lifted the beast in the air via its tail. The Manticore scrambled and flapped its wings to resist what Bjørn had in mind, however, it was simply no match for the Barbarian’s strength, and he slammed the Manticore hard against the ground.

The Manticore yowled and kicked, desperate to force Bjørn to let go, but Bjørn wasn’t quite done with the Manticore’s tail. He opened his maw wide and chomped down hard on the tail, he began shaking it like a dog toy. The Manticore kicked Bjørn’s head several times in a forlorn attempt at making him let go. Kicking the Barbarian only seemed to bring him more determination as he pulled hard on the scorpion tail, tearing it clean off.

The cry of the Manticore could be heard from miles as Bjørn spat the tail out, blood and venom gushed from the Manticore’s stub of a tail now. The Manticore knew this wasn’t a battle it could win, it flared its wings and prepared to take off. However, Bjørn wasn’t willing to let it go easily and lunged over towards its right wing, biting into it and making a hole into the wing.

The Manticore seemingly had enough of this utter and total domination and slashed its claws into Bjørn’s chest, digging four trenches across his body. Bjørn clenched his teeth and took a step back, the Manticore took the opportunity to try and take his head off with its teeth. Bjørn leaned back and evaded the bite for a slash across its eyes, this sent the Manticore reeling. Taking initiative, the Beast-Man unleashed slash after slash into the Manticore, burying his claws into the belly of the beast and cleaving a huge chunk out of its body. It was at this point the Manticore was too weak to fight back as it was mauled.

Bjørn tore out a chunk of its wing with his maw and slammed his foot onto the Manticore's chest. He spit out the wing and glared up to the heavens, letting out one last loud and primal roar. And as he roared wildly to the sky, he was unaware of something.

Three fillies were watching him.

Author's Note

Unedited, just had to pump one out (pause), I'll edit it tomorrow.

Upptäckt

“Come on, Sweetie Belle, keep up!” Applebloom giggled, the poor Unicorn filly stumbled over a branch and nearly face planted onto the icky mud.

“I’m doing my best, slow down you two!” Sweetiebelle called out, listening to her friend, Applebloom halted and Scootaloo did the same. The filly dragged her hooves across the dirt and stopped before her much more active friends. “Why are we out here anyway?”

“Did you forget? There are rumors that a giant lives here, the last of its kind!” Scootaloo said excitedly, “So, we’re gonna capture it!”

“If it’s the last of its kind, then shouldn’t we leave it alone?” Applebloom asked, tilting her head to the side.

Scootaloo scoffed, “Of course not, how else are we gonna be ‘Cutiemark Crusaders, Giant Trappers!’”

“That doesn’t really roll off the tongue, what about ‘Cutiemark Crusaders, Giant Thieves?’” Sweetiebelle suggested.

“Naw, that’d sound like we’re the giant and we’re thieves. What about ‘Cutiemark Crusaders, Giant Grabbers?’” Scootaloo rolled her eyes at Applebloom’s suggestion.

“Can we just move on?” Scootaloo began to continue her trek. “We can think of our cool name after we capture the giant.” Applebloom and Sweetiebelle both nodded in agreement and continued to march.

The trio of young adventurers ducked and dived past the obstacles in the way such as the infamous danger to all - a tree branch in the middle of a path. Who knows what mass destruction it could wreak if it wasn’t avoided? Thankfully, we’ll never have to find out.

Many other dangerous objects emerged, as the fearsome pointy pebble and the loathsome acorn. However, the trio of “pro” adventurers passed them without too much issue. Though, as they were trekking deeper into the forest, Sweetie Belle sprung up with a conversation starter.

“Girls, who do you think would win if they fought against each other; A Grizzly Bear or a Manticore?” She inquired, which brought attention from her peers in front of her.

“The Manticore,” Applebloom said, “Manticore’s have wings and a huge scorpion tail, the Grizzly wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Scootaloo scoffed, “Wrong, a Grizzly Bear is way more stronger than a stupid Manticore, they’re also really big. I remember seeing one that’s ten feet!”

“Height doesn’t mean everything, Scoots,” Applebloom objected, “Not when it comes to the advantage a Manticore has, a Manticore can fly.”

“So? A Grizzly Bear could swipe it out of the sky!” Scootaloo said.

“Grizzly Bears are only ten feet if they stand on their hindlegs, and they’re pretty exposed like that.” Sweetie Belle added.

“And a Manticore could fly out of reach and swoop down to attack it.” Applebloom said.

Scootaloo crossed her hooves and huffed, “Grizzly Bears are cooler…”

“No they’re not!” Applebloom exclaimed.

“They are too!”

“They’re not!”

“They are too!”

“Not!”

“Too!”

“Not!”

“Too!”

Scootaloo and Applebloom kept on bumping heads against each other, and Sweetie Belle trotted up to them to break them up. That was when they heard a roar so loud and so fierce it put hurricanes to shame. The sudden roar raised the hair on the back of the fillies as they huddled close to one another. Primal instinct had told them to scatter; run as fast and as far as you can as to not die from what beast had been angered.

But these ponies weren’t feral, these were young ponies who could make their own decisions! Unfortunately, they chose the unwise one and kept marching forward, each with a different expression. Scootaloo had excitement; she couldn’t wait to tell Rainbow Dash what she was about to see. Sweetie Belle was afraid; whatever made that sound was angry and likely would attack them. Applebloom had regret; why did she decide to listen to the girls and join them on this quest to find what could be the source of the roar?

Eventually, they were close enough to hear the sounds of combat, of two beasts competing for survival. The view of this spectacular battle was hidden by two bushes, blocking their view from the carnage. As Scootaloo was about to part the bushes like the red sea, Sweetie Belle held her hoof.

“M-m-maybe we shouldn’t try to capture the giant…” Sweetie Belle whimpered, her hooves quaking in fear.

“What? You chicken?” Scootaloo began to make clucking sounds and flaring her wings up.

“You are the one who has wings, Scootaloo.” Applebloom said, to which she received a glare from Scootaloo. “But she’s right, we should head home.”

“Aw, come on! Don’t tell me y’all have cold hooves when we’re right about to see it?” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “What’s the worst thing that could happen? YOLO!” And thus, she parted the bushes…

…And saw a six-foot-nine beast with a massive, fresh, and bleeding claw wound across its chest vertically. Its pants, forged out of bear fur and having no shoes, and from its fingertips to its elbows were Grizzly Bear claws. On its back close to its ass was a small poofy Grizzly Bear tail, but the main piece was the head of the beast. The maw overflowed with saliva mixed with blood with its claws drenched in the crimson liquid. What surprised them the most was that the beast was standing on top of a Manticore corpse with its chest ripped, roaring into the heavens and making itself known to all over the Everfree Forest.

The beast snarled, sniffing the air before turning its head towards east of the fillies and lunging in that direction. Having left to wreak more havoc.

Their jaws touched the ground, and their eyes were wide like they became Looney Toons characters. Hearing in the distance only roars and the falling of trees, they all turned their heads slowly to look at each other. Their jaws slowly lifting up from the floor, their eyes slowly turning into stars, and their smiles slowly becoming wider.

“THAT-” Applebloom began.

“-WAS-” Sweetie Belle added on.

“-SO-” Scootaloo pitched in.

“COOL!” They all harmonized, all jumping high into the air with grins ear to ear. They began to trot around each other as if they were singing ring around the rosie.

“I’m definitely going to tell Rainbow Dash about this!” Scootaloo declared, “She’d be so proud of what I found!”

Golden Oaks Library had never been stuffed fuller of concern than right now. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were shoulder to shoulder, sitting on the floor with their ears folded over their heads. Their eyes glued to the floor as Applejack paced in front of them and behind her, in the air, was Rainbow Dash crossing her hooves with Rarity by her side huffing. As for the ones who lived here, Twilight was searching for books while Spike was armed and ready to write anything he was told to.

“I can’t believe y’all girls. First, y’all went to the Everfree Forest, then, y’all encountered a Manticore-killing monster, and survived!” Applejack exclaimed, “You better thank the makers y’all aren’t hurt or worse!”

“B-but-” Scootaloo attempted, but Rainbow Dash cut in before she could.

“But nothing, Scoots, what you girls did was not cool.” Rainbow Dash had steam come out her nostrils, her eyes furrowed in disappointment. ‘They should have invited me…’ She thought to herself.

“I agree, for putting yourselves in danger and going to the Everfree Forest, Sweetie Belle, you are grounded for a month.” Rarity declared.

“WHAT?!” Sweetie Belle shrieked.

“That goes for you too, Applebloom.” Applejack narrowed her eyes at Applebloom, who collapsed under her stare and averted from her gaze.

“Scoots,” Rainbow Dash began, “Remember the Wonderbolts show I was going to take you to? That ticket is gonna go to someone else who can act responsible with themselves and to others.”

“B-but…” Tears were welling up in Scootaloo’s eyes, and briefly, Rainbow Dash’s poker face faltered.

“You can punish them later,” Twilight said, trotting up to the crusaders with Spike by her side. “I need you three to describe the monster you saw in vivid detail.”

“What does vivid mean?” Applebloom asked, tilting her head.

“Yeah, what does that mean?” Spike tilted his head, turning to Twilight.

“Never mind that, just describe the monster.” Twilight pinched her nose - I don’t know how though, she has fucking hooves - and shook her head.

“Well…” Sweetie Belle put a hoof to her chin, “The monster was big, that’s for sure.”

“Almost as big as Celestia!” Scootaloo added.

“It had blonde hair, like Applejack’s,” Applebloom closed her eyes as she pictured the monster. “It… Wore pants, like… Grizzly Bear pants.”

“It wore Grizzly Bear pants? You mean it’s fur as pants?” Spike inquired and received a nod from Applebloom.

“It stood on two hooves, er, well, its legs were shaped like Spike’s but it’s longer. It’s forelegs- I mean, weird things it has on its body is just like Spike’s, but longer. Its claws were Grizzly Bear ones, it had a cute little puffy tail, and its head was also just like a Grizzly Bear!” Scootaloo said.

“Are you sure you didn’t see a Grizzly Bear and mistake it for something else?” Twilight quirked an eyebrow.

“No, it looked different.” Sweetie Belle assured, “It didn’t have any fur except for the Grizzly bits of its body. It was all tanish-whitish. Its eyes were blue, last time I checked Grizzly Bears can’t have blue eyes.”

“It also looked pretty angry, I know Grizzly Bears can get pretty angry, but not THAT angry.” Applebloom shuttered, “It also looked kinda sad too.”

“Angry, sad, hairless parts, pants…” Twilight muttered, piecing together a puzzle in her mind. “Spike, did you write all this down?”

“Did I?” Spike turned the scroll and revealed a detailed drawing of the descriptions the Crusaders gave.

“Good,” Twilight cleared her throat, “Now, at the bottom get ready to write.” Spike nodded as he prepared himself.

“All set, Twi.” Spike grinned.

“Dear Princess Celestia…”

The training field has never had so many guards in it before. Both Day and Lunar Guards stood shoulder to shoulder and stared ahead at a wooden podium. Celestia stood tall with Luna by her side, joined by the Royal Day Guards and the Royal Lunar Guards as well as their captains.

“My little ponies,” Celestia began, “There has been a report that there is an unknown beast in the Everfree Forest. My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, and her assistant, Spike, drew a photograph of this creature.” Her horn lit up and the drawing of the beast was faced towards the guards.

Murmurs ran throughout the guards, some were curious, others were ready to put the beast down. Celestia breathed in and continued her speech. “My faithful student has theorized that this creature might be a shapeshifter, since the bear features it has does not match with the rest of its body. Be wary, this might not be its true form. It could be intimidating, it could be cute, but if you approach this beast, approach with caution. We do not know what it's capable of, but from eyewitnesses, the beast slayed a Manticore.”

“A Manticore?”

“On its own, that’s dangerous…”

“We should kill it.”

Celestia did her best not to frown at the mention of the killing of the beast and cleared her throat. “It hasn’t made any moves to leave the Everfree Forest, it could be that it doesn’t want to approach civilization and remain isolated. Other beasts from the Everfree Forest sometimes go astray, but there has been no reporting of the beast leaving the forest, most intriguing is it not?” She tilted her head, gauging the reaction of the guards.

The response she was given was mixed, with some adamant on dealing with the issue permanently, and with some even more curious than they were before.

“I believe we shouldn’t mindlessly kill this creature, it could be an endangered species, and might be the last of its kind.” Celestia said.

“Endangered or not, ‘tis dangerously close to the elements,” Luna spoke up, causing her sister to spare her a glance. “We believe ‘tis better to be safe than to be sorry.”

“So, you recommend we kill this creature?” Celestia inquired.

“If this creature is capable of shapeshifting, it could hold far more intelligence than a typical animal. Possibly, it has the potential to be even more dangerous than an Ursa Major.” Luna said.

Celestia let out an internal sigh, “Which is why I will select the most dependable guards to spy on the beast, to see if it shows any threat to my little ponies.”

“Dear sister, if we may,” Luna began, “We would like to select our guards to spy on it instead. Our guards have been trained especially to blend into the night, and based on the drawing thou hast shown our subjects it appears not to have the ability to see through the darkness.” Celestia hummed and considered her sister’s suggestion.

“That… Is wise, dear sister, very well; select from your guard.” Celestia stepped back from the podium and Luna took Celestia’s place on it instead.

Luna cleared her throat, “Since we do not know our guards well enough, we shall pass it over to Captain Umbra Eventide.”

Captain Eventide inhaled and exhaled; she really wanted to kick in her Trottish accent, but with the Princesses nearby it didn’t seem captain-like. “This mission is of the utmost importance, so, I will be selecting the very best in my eyes.”

“Lunar Gaze,” A Bat Pony walked out from the crowd, she wore a different set of armor than the normal Lunar Guard. While the others had dark blue colored armor, she had dark purple. To start, her helmet was Spartan-like, with a purple mohawk at the top going all the way down to the back of the helmet, and the space for her mouth to be seen. Her chest plate was a bit more impressive, with holes in them for her wings, it also had something of note. It had runic patterns engraved into it, they all were different, some were square shaped, others like a triangle. Lastly, at the bottom of her boots were spikes, very cool, huh?

The Bat Pony walked in front of the podium and took a sharp turn to face the crowd, all with a hardened gaze.

“Crimson Moon,” A red Unicorn made herself known by walking towards where Lunar Gaze stood at attention. As she walked, ponies nearby noticed that her armor shifted colors when light hit it. Every time she walked past a torch light, her armor became crimson red, befitting of her name. Her armor wasn’t really dissimilar from Lunar Gaze’s, but she lacks the cool Spartan helmet.

“Stormy Weather,” This time, it was a Pegasi who began walking towards the group. Befitting of her name, she had gray and cloudy-like hair underneath her helmet. Her coat had a light gray with a hint of blue, and her eye color mimicked the rain. Meaning, it was blue.

“Ivory Shadow,” From way in the back was a big black Earth Pony, his armor covered nearly his entire body with some spaces for him to move his hooves. His helmet covered his entire face and left his eyes, nose and mouth a mystery. With every footstep came a boom, as he made his way next to the group. From afar, it would look like he and Luna were the same exact height, however, he was just off by a mere millimeter.

“And Darkest Vesper.” The Pegasi we all know, and love has been called - and he couldn’t be more terrified. In front of the princesses, he steeled himself and marched confidently, trying to not appear cocky while also trying to look cool. It was a strange sensation how everyone looked at him, it was so stressful, but it made him feel so good.

“That is all, my princesses.” Captain Eventide took a bow, stepping back into the position she stood prior to her selection. Briefly, Luna and Celestia shared a glance, and in that short glance, a whole conversation was spoken.

“So, are you going to announce the date of the search?” Celestia inquired.

“I am not sure, dear sister, for you started with the announcement of the monster.” Luna replied.

“And so, you shall finish what I started.” Luna gave her sister a curt nod and cleared her throat.

“Our dear scouts,” The selected guards all took a sharp turn to meet Luna’s eyes. “Thou shalt head into the Everfree Forest in three nights! Prepare for thyselves for the worst. Be it so, and let it be. Dismissed.”

With that, the sounds of clanking armor and hoof steps rung throughout the training field. The Princesses turned to leave with their respective Royal Guards by their side. As they left, Captain Eventide glided down in front of her selected scouts.

“A'richt, thae three days shuid be ample time fur ye back a prepare yourselves. If it wur up tae me, we wid be starting th'day. Gilravage thae few days o' rest 'n' prepare fur th' days efter that tae be hell. ” Captain Eventide huffed to which they all gave a salute.

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am!” They all spoke with vigor booming in their being, to which Captain Eventide smiled.

“Take this time to form a bond with yourselves, we work together better when we’re all friends.” Flaring her wings, Captain Eventide took to the skies, and left the five to their own devices.

Almost immediately, Stormy Weather took the initiative, her voice reminiscent of a Valley Girl or Valley Mare in this case, horse puns, they’re bucking hilari- KILL ME! “Oh my gosh, girls - and guys - I’m SO glad we’re scouting together!”

“I… Regret being selected.” Ivory uttered, his voice shaking the earth underneath them.

Stormy Weather zipped up to Ivory, flying up to his face to see eye to eye - well, more like eye to helmet. “Aw, why? Are you, like, sad?” She proceeds to do the classic YouTube thumbnail face, “OH MY GOSH! I could be your best friend, that could, like, make you un-sad!”

“I do not wish for a best friend.” Ivory uttered, glancing to Lunar Gaze for assistance.

“Alright, Weather, simmer down.” Reluctantly, Stormy fluttered bad down to the ground.

“Okay, but, like, call me Stormy.” Stormy insisted before bringing her attention back to Ivory. “Hey Ivo - Wait, like, can I call you Ivo?”

“No.”

“IVO!” Stormy beamed lunging towards Ivory and barely being able to wrap her hooves around his neck.

“Luna bucking damn it.”

“Let us please focus,” Crimson Moon interrupted… Whatever this was. Her accent was - unfortunately - British. “We must do this thing called ‘bonding’ . I do not know what that is, but I do have a spell that could fuse us together.”

“Not that kind of bonding,” Vesper face hoofed, “She meant making friends.”

“Which I’m totally, like-” Lunar Gaze put a hoof up to Stormy’s mouth and muffled her voice.

“I believe we should head to a tavern, as most friendships spark there.” Lunar Gaze said.

“Then let us start now, the sooner the better.” Ivory turned to march out of the training field, unaware that Stormy was sitting comfortably on his back.

This managed to make Crimson Moon to snicker, “I will quite enjoy this ‘bonding’, if it involves more of that.” She followed after Ivory and was joined by Lunar.

Vesper watched as they moved on, his hoof hesitant to move forward. “Well, you miss every shot you don’t take…”

And so, Vesper took a step forward, for the better or the worse.

The moonlight shimmered through the branches of the Everfree Forest’s trees and hidden underneath one of them were six ponies. Stormy, Crimson, Vesper, Lunar, Ivory, and Captain Eventide.

With Captain Eventide’s and Lunar’s night vision, seeing through the dark was like daylight to them unlike everypony else in the group. Crimson remedied that issue quickly and casted a spell to allow them all to see clearly into the night. She added some more buffs to Ivory by granting him a silence spell to prevent his armor and footsteps from clanking, she also made him lighter than he was heavy. She also made gravity lighter on herself, and casted a simple camouflage spell. With the preparations all set, they began their move.

The flyers took to the trees instantly and perched on the branches like a leopard. As for Crimson Moon and Ivory, they began to hide among the bushes, Ivory’s armor worked in his favor as being dark in the night served as good camouflage. Like thieves in the night, they snuck through forest, and with a motion of her hoof, Captain Eventide made her guards halt.

“Over there,” Captain Eventide whispered, she faced North-East and narrowed her eyes, making out a cabin in the distance. She sniffed the air, the scent she picked up was foreign, it was like a Grizzly Bear’s and another strange alien scent. With a nod from her comrades, they stalked onwards towards the scent. As they got closer, they saw light from a fire, they all began to take locations to spy. Ivory hid inside of a bush, Stormy hid inside a hollow log, Lunar, Vesper and Captain Eventide took to the trees, and Crimson hid behind Ivory.

What they saw was a campfire, a log to sit on, and behind the fire, two cabins, both the same size. Lunar narrowed her eyes in suspicion, no monster could ever create structures like this, or so she thought. As footsteps were heard towards their left, all of their heads snapped in that direction, their eyes locked in the shadow.

Walking out the darkness was a six-foot-nine fur-less - with the exception of the fur on its head - and horn-less minotaur, who held a giant Alpha Timberwolf corpse in his left hand. It held the Alpha by its ear. This was in fact the monster, it had Grizzly Bear pants, but why was it carrying an Alpha Timberwolf corpse? They got their answer when the monster used its right hand to dig into the neck of the Timberwolf and rip its head clean off.

Each of their eyes widened as the monster held the Alpha’s head with one claw before tossing it into the campfire, causing the head to erupt in flames. The monster slowly walked over to a log that rested by the campfire and sat down, staring into the eyes of the burning Alpha Timberwolf. They were silent, as in, their thoughts were silent, this monster had built a cabin, made a campfire, and had the intelligence to add fuel to it.

They were even more shocked when they saw what looked like tears escaping its eyes, raising one of its burly claws it held onto its face. Sobbing silently in its hand. The scouts didn’t know what to think, they could only slowly and silently back away, making their leave to report what they saw. And as they left, the monster continued to cry, until it heard snarling. It dropped its claw from its face and peered into the darkness around him, seeing pairs of fiery green eyes. More and more of them appeared, surrounding him completely, and as they closed in, the light from the fire revealed them to be Timberwolves; eager to avenge their Alpha.

With a heavy sigh, the monster went to its feet and its arms raised in a defensive stance.

“Come at me.”

Author's Note

I lied.

Stöter

“It was a pony emotion, Luna!” Celestia exclaimed, pacing back and forth in her room, the fireplace inside of her room burning bright with Luna sitting right next to it, a cup of tea in her magical grasp. Her eyes narrowed as Celestia paced.

“Even beasts like Hydras can experience grief!” Luna claimed, stomping her hoof onto the ground with a huff. “You’re only digging a deeper grave for yourself, dear sister!”

Celestia scoffed, “Oh really? Can a Hydra make a campfire?” Luna winced, as she had no feasible comeback for that. “Can a Hydra make a cabin?”

“Birds make nests, don’t they?” Luna crossed her hooves, only for Celestia to groan, facehoofing herself.

“You compared the beast to a Hydra, and now a bird? Make up your mind, Lulu.” Celestia shook her head, it was now Luna’s turn to groan.

“I was making a comparison between animals, birds can make their homes, just like the beast, Hydra’s can cry, just like the beast; don’t you see?” Luna tilted her head, “There is no evidence that references or points to the beast being sentient.”

“It was adding fuel to the fire!” Celestia made a point to pick up a log in her magic and chuck it into the fireplace. Standing on her hind legs and pointing at the fire with both her forelegs.

To this, Luna has a simple rebuttal. “Animals learn behaviors from ponies.” She took a sip of her tea.

Celestia’s eyes twitched and let out a frustrated yell that was so loud that if there wasn’t a mute spell casted on the room, she would be heard all the way from Trotland. Luna simply used cotton to muffle the shout.

“And Mother said that I was the loud one.” Luna teased as Celestia rubbed her temples with her hooves.

“I… Can’t. I can’t understand the logic that you wield, it’s broken, please fix it, dear sister.” Celestia muttered, to which Luna replied swiftly.

“If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” Luna chirped, with another groan from Celestia, she lay on the floor trying to think of the best course of action to handle the creature. There was a variety of ways she could approach the beast; don’t do anything and let the beast eventually wander into Ponyville and have the Elements try to befriend it - which would likely cast a mass panic among the townsfolk, if they couldn’t accept a Zebra for the longest time how could they accept a beast like that? She could also send in some guards to try and subdue it, then force it to Canterlot, however, that would make the beast angry and likely not want to talk with them. She could send the Elements in to try and befriend it, but it was too risky, there isn’t enough data on the beast for her to judge if it would be aggressive or not.

So many ideas, so many fail-

She had an idea.

A comical lightbulb appeared over her head, “EUREKA!” She exclaimed, jumping to her feet. “I know just what to do!”

Luna put her teacup away from her mouth, wiping the leftover tea from her lip with a cloth. “And what do you wish to do?”

Celestia grinned.

The winter wind didn’t blow hard, but it didn’t make it less difficult to be outside; for most, but not for Bjørn, he was used to this cold. It reminded him of home, back on the Island of Bjørnnar, where he was born and raised. On his home island, life was relatively simple, and as a child the fun things he would do still make him excited to this day.

On some occasions, his father would play ball with him, sometimes they would play catch, sometimes they would play football, and every single time, the ball would break, and his father would promise to buy an even better one. With the loot that his father came back with after every Viking raid, he had no doubt about that fact as he would come back with a ball from lands unknown to Bjørn, and they would play ball. Hand to hand fighting was also a fun activity to do, there was always so much excitement when skill clashes against skill, due to his natural strength he usually won most of them, and other times got his ass handed to.

He remembered the jobs that his mother would send him on a quest for; shopping for food, medicine, helping the neighbors out with their cattle, babysitting was also a job. He did have seven siblings, and he was the oldest, so he had to be their shield and their axe for them. When he got the chance, he would meditate. Meditation wasn’t necessarily a fun thing to do, but rather, it helped him clear his mind. Sometimes when he would meditate, his mind would wander and drift to stories that his mother and father told him.

His mother would read him poems and sing songs before bed, and his father would share his stories as a Viking during the day. Some of his father’s stories were brutal and scary, and his mother’s poems and singing were calming and peaceful. As much as he loved his mother’s poems and singing, he adored the stories his father told. After every successful raid, he would give Bjørn the ball and say, “Would you like to hear this story?” and to which Bjørn would always nod his head.

But then, one day, his father never came back from a raid. He wasn’t there, there was not a ball for Bjørn, not even a story, just tears.

Bjørn blinked away his tears before they froze and trained his focus back on the river in front of him. The river hadn’t frozen over completely, only bits and pieces of it were truly starting to freeze over, he used the opportunity to gather fish with a spear. Why a spear, you may ask? It’s because it's too cold to fish with his bare hands, or should I say bear hands, haha, I’m the King of Comedy!

Bjørn plunged the spear into the icy cold depths of the river and pierce the scales of an unsuspecting fish. Bjørn raised the fish out of the water and saw as it flopped on the spear, its blood trickling down the wooden frame of the weapon. He watched as it slowly stopped flopping altogether and went limp. He shrugged as he took it off the spear and lumped it inside a net adjacent to his bare feet - which he made to hold the fish. He stabbed the spear into the snow and picked up the net with his arms, holding it over the river. Then, with all his might, he squeezed the net full of bleeding fish. Making the blood pour out the dead fishes and into the river, turning a part of it crimson as it went down to parts unknown.

Some of the fish's blood spilled over at Bjørn’s chest, but he just moved along, picking up the net with one arm, and grabbing the spear from the snow with the other. He begins to march back to the cabin, and as he does that, he fixes his Grizzly jacket he made for himself. While yes, he was used to the cold, his human body didn’t like it and would get sick because of it. It was annoying, yes, but it also made good use of the corpse of Mama Bear. He had used Mama Bear’s fur as a cloak for himself, the head of the majestic Grizzly sat on his own like a cap and its fur protected his shoulders and ribs from the cold.

Bjørn had also grown a beard, and while it wasn’t big and as grand as his forefathers, it did make him appear intimidating. Which was good; he was a Viking, he was supposed to be intimidating, strong, big, and durable, however the beard took away from his age. He liked looking relatively young, so he might have to snip it off.

It didn’t take long for him to arrive at his cabins, arriving from the buildings and walking between the two of them. As he passed them, he glanced at the cabin Mama Bear and her cubs were supposed to live in. He had thought about what he should do with the cabin now that they’re gone, should he make it into a storage unit, a meditation chamber, or a second home? He would decide that another day as he marched past it and into his front lawn. He spotted a hole a few feet away from his cabin. It was filled with water; it was wide and as deep as a barrel. Bjørn stabbed his spear into the ground yet again and poured the fish corpses into the hole.

The fishes slushed around the hole and some leftover blood spilled into it, but Bjørn didn’t care as it wasn’t enough to contaminate his food supply. He let out a deep sigh, his breath visible from the cold. He marched over to his spear and picked it up, he turned his attention to his front door, approaching it. He grabbed the wooden door handle and opened his door to head inside. He shut the door behind him and looked into the dark room without light, his torches unlit, and only glimpses of light peeked through the window-holes without glass. He dropped his net next to the door and placed his spear by the door as well.

Feeling around the dark room for two stones, it took some wandering, but he eventually bumped into a table where the stones lay proudly at. He grabbed the stones and squinted through the darkness and at the unlit torch. His feet thumped against the wooden floor as he was too tired to silence them. He scraped the stones in an attempt to make sparks and was unsuccessful the first time, however with trial and error, fire was born onto the torch. The flame was small on the torch, so Bjørn blew on it lightly and the flame slowly grew bigger and lit up the room around him. The fire melted the snow off his beard and Bjørn distanced himself away from the torch; while the heat felt nice, he wanted to sleep.

He looked around his cabin interior, now being able to see with the torch being lit. There were multiple spears lining on the wall near the door in case one of them broke on the walls as the trophy of the Manticore’s tail and a fur coat of it on the wall as well in case something bad happened to Mama Bear’s - God forbid it does. On the table he bumped into was nothing, so Bjørn placed the stones back on top of the table and pushed in the chair that went with the table.

That was about it for the cabin, except for the bed that resided in the back of the building. The bed was built out of the branches and wood of a Timberwolf - or a Wood Dog as Bjørn would call it - the mattress was made out of some Raccoon fur and leftover Manticore fur. As for the blanket, it was made out of Styrka and Gnistra’s fur, as well as the scraps of Mama Bear’s fur. The pillows were made from the feathers that the weird snake-like chickens had that just stared at him. It was weird but he took advantage of their poor defense mechanism.

Bjørn took off his jacket and placed it on the table, he looked at her fur before inhaling deeply. He took in all of the cold air into his lungs and exhaled it all before walking towards the bed. He hadn’t realized, but the cold made his fingers numb as he grabbed hold of the blanket and slowly climbed into bed. Putting the blanket over his body and his head, he turned face towards the wall and closed his eyes.

A tear managed to escape from his eye as he remembered the many times Mama Bear and her cubs would snuggle close to him just like this. Piling together to keep warm, he missed that.

He missed Mama Bear.

Not even a second later had he nearly drifted off to sleep did someone knock on his door. At first, several questions swarmed into Bjørn’s mind. “Someone knocked? Is it an enemy? Is it a friend? Did my friends find me? Is it Quul? Am I not alone? Is it the Pit Fiend? Is it a demon? Is it a devil? Perhaps it might be a bear?” The questions slowly died down as Bjørn realized that he did not care and wanted to sleep more.

“Hello~!” A female voice said in singsong - so, not Quul. Get it? So not Quul, and Quul is pronounced Cool but- Okay, I’ll shut up. “Is anyone home?”

The lass didn’t get a response as Bjørn snuggled closer to the wall in an attempt to distance himself from the door.

“I want to meet you, you seem so lonely out here.”

'Fuck off, strange woman! Wait a minute, how do they know if I am lonely or not?' Bjørn’s eyes opened, “Was I being watched? What the Hell?!”

The knocking came again, “Please open the door? I promise I’m a really fun person to talk to!”

“I’m trying to fucking sleep, just fuck off already!” Bjørn wanted to yell, but he didn’t want her to know he was here.

“Please?” Knock, knock, “Please?” Knock, knock, “Pretty please?” Knock, knock, knock, knock-

'Oh, to Avernus with this!' Bjørn rolled out of bed and stomped towards the door, he grabbed his door handle and slammed the door open. “SHUT THE FU- MMRGHFF!” His face was immediately met with chest fluff.

“Oops!” The voice replied, sounding clearer despite him being head deep in fluff. With unbound fury, Bjørn pushed the fluff out of his face and the being in front of him stepped back a couple steps. While Bjørn had expected a human, a demon, a devil, a ghost, or even a dragon, he didn’t expect horse.

“What… The...?” Bjørn asked, looking the horse up and down. Checking if he was seeing properly, he rubbed his eyes and blinked and yes, he was in fact seeing properly. “Naw, this can’t be right.” He pinched himself on the cheek, and still, nothing. He was awake.

What he saw was a pale white horse, with a flowing mane colored green, a lighter green, pink or magenta, and blue. It had a horn and wings, and from what he saw, a sun branded on its ass. Bjørn brushed past the horse and walked around it, he didn’t see its rider - the person who was talking. He searched and peered into the forest, no sight of a rider anywhere.

“What are you looking for, if I may ask?” Bjørn snapped towards the weird horse and pointed a finger at it.

“Did you just talk?” Bjørn arched an eyebrow, feeling somewhat unsettled by this… Weird talking horse.

“Yes, I did!” The horse chirped with a smile. “My name is Princess Celestia Sol, a pleasure to meet you.”

Hundreds of questions flashed into his mind, firstly, it spoke; what the fuck. Second, it had a name, and third; PRINCESS?!

Bjørn’s eyebrows were raised. “Princess?” He asked incredulously, “Of what?”

“Of Equestria,” The horse he now knew as Celestia said, “The place you’re residing in, well, sort of. This is the Everfree Forest.”

Bjørn looked around the forest, “It… Has a name?” He tilted his head, “Princess of a country…? Why are you here?” He pointed to Celestia.

“To meet you of course, I won’t say much, but some of the nearby residents spotted you killing a Manticore and reported to me and my sister, Princess Luna.” Okay, so, there’s two princesses, cool.

“THERE’S MORE OF YOU?!” Bjørn exclaimed, pointing yet again at her.

Celestia giggled, holding a hoof up to her mouth. “Why yes, there are more of us, Sir...” She cleared her throat, “What do I call you?”

Bjørn squinted his eyes. “What game is she playing at? She approached my cabin, told me she was the princess of a kingdom that I don’t know even exists, and she says there’s more of her. She has to be lying.” Bjørn scoffed and crossed his arms. “Call me what you want to call me, I’m not telling you shit.”

Celestia’s ears drooped but she pressed on, “Well then, how about… Bear? Because you can turn into one, right?”

What.

The.

Fuck.

“How the fuck do you know that?!” Bjørn exclaimed, “But if you’re gonna call me Bear, call me Björn. It’s Bear in my native language.”

“Alright then, Björn.” She nodded, “I know you can turn into a bear because you did when you fought the Manticore, didn’t you?”

This is fucking weird, but okay. “Uh huh… Right. How do you know that?” It was his turn to nod albeit suspiciously.

"Don't you remember? Some nearby residents saw you," Celestia smiled serenely. And for some odd reason, he hated the smile even more than the Pit Fiend. She gave a quick glance at his cabin. “That’s a nice cabin, did you make it yourself?”

“No shit, do you see anyone else here but me?” Bjørn asked, his arms opened wide.

“Well, no…” Her ears drooped once more, “Is there a reason why you’re being rude? Did I do something?”

“Do something?” He growled at the Alicorn. “Horse lady, you woke me up from my sleep after a long ass day, you tell me that there’s more of a race that I don’t know about, I’m in an unknown country, and you’re a talking horse!”

“Well, actually, I’m an Alicor-” Celestia was cut off by Bjørn,

“'Well actually-'” Bjørn mocked before erupting into anger. “SHUT UP!”

“Wow, um… H-How about a change of topics? What’s the extra cabin for?” Celestia pointed to Mama Bear’s cabin with her foreleg.

“None of your business, fuck off, and get out of my forest.” Bjørn pointed to a random spot in the forest.

“It’s actually me and my sister’s forest, but we abandoned it long ago.” Celestia said.

“Well, it’s my forest now, get out.” Bjørn once more gestured to a random point in the forest.

“Do you want to sign the papers to make it legal?” Celestia smiled, tilting her head. “I’d be glad to hand it over, just go to Canterlot with me and-”

“GET OUT!”

“Okay.” Celestia muttered quietly, her horn lighting up before she popped out of existence.

…

“How did she do tha-”

This wasn’t Celestia’s last appearance, once a week she would come back to try and befriend Bjørn. Although, every time he would brush her off, which led her to try and do unconventional means into trying to befriend him. Like the time she tried to befriend him via a magic show. There was a whole ass tent and everything along with fake mannequins made out hay as the audience - right in front of his cabin at three in the morning. Bjørn wasn’t happy, but Celestia did her best, and failed. Multiple times.

And on one specific day, he had enough.

Yet again had Celestia knocked on Bjørn’s door, and yet again did Bjørn answer.

“What do you want now?” Bjørn groaned, “Do you have anything better to do?”

“What’s better than spending time with a friend?” Celestia chirped with a smile, Bjørn did not reciprocate that smile - at all. “I’ve been wanting to ask you questions, Mr. Björn.”

Bjørn pinched his nose, “Just call me Björn, there’s no Mr.,”

“Speaking of Mr., where are your parents?” Celestia inquired, this question hit a little too close to home as Bjørn’s heart twinged with sorrow.

“Uh… My Father - or Far - is…” He didn’t want to say too much, he had to be careful. “...Out on sea, my Mother - Moder - is on my home island, taking care of my siblings.”

Celestia’s ears flickered, “Home island? Where is this island, pray tell?”

Her question was matched with aggression as Bjørn’s eyes narrowed, “Why? So that you can enslave them?”

“What? No, no! Not at all!” Celestia gawked, “Why would you even suggest that? I would never do that to my friend.”

“We’re not friends.” Bjørn crossed his arms, “And we’ll never be.”

Celestia groaned and held a hoof to her face, shaking her head. “Another topic, could you tell me the names of your siblings? I would love to know.”

“What’s the point? It’s not like you’ll ever meet them.” Bjørn scoffed.

“Why is that?” Celestia tilted her head.

“I’m in the middle of nowhere, and I have no idea where - or when for that matter - Equestria is.” Bjørn motioned to the forest around them, “It’s not likely you’d meet them.”

Celestia put a hoof to her chin and thought, “Well, how about… A pet, do you have any pets?”

“Do you count yaks, cows, and deer as animals?” Bjørn quirked an eyebrow, to which Celestia breathed through her teeth. Bjørn’s eyes immediately widened, “No shot that they talk too.” Celestia didn’t have time to answer that question as Bjørn rubbed his temples. “I hate it here; it hurts my brain…”

Celestia rubbed her hoof, “Do you have any friends? N-no offense, of course.”

Friends… Friends… Did he have friends? “There was Alwin - but he was more of an acquaintance than anything, we never got along, Zelfine was the same, Dhamir is iffy, so, I’ll put him at buddy. Jandar and Theo were cool, and still are, so I put them at… Friends. Nick… Pip… Quul… They…” Bjørn shook his head, he couldn’t focus on them right now. “Uh, two.”

“Really? What are their names?” Bjørn gave her a flat stare. “Okay, same answer with the siblings I assume.”

“Yep,” Bjørn nodded.

And then, a little migraine swept over his mind, causing him to wince. Through the migraine, he heard Celestia strike him with another question; “Do you have a significant other?”

Bjørn didn’t respond, and instead glanced at the ground. “Can’t even count Quul as one, I couldn’t even confess to her…”

“Do you have any regrets? Things you wish you could take back?” Celestia had shot Bjørn with yet another question straight to the heart.

“Pip…” Bjørn closed his eyes, how he wished he hadn’t been so reckless. Why did he bring Pip to that cursed bathhouse?

“Do you miss your family now that you’re away?” This question made Bjørn’s heart plummet further down into depression, and he didn’t have time to even think when she fired off with another question. “Do you miss Mama Bear?”

'How did she-'

“Do you regret fighting the Pit Fiend?”

'Stop.'

“Why do you live alone? To protect everyone from yourself?”

'Stop it.'

“So that someone doesn’t end up as Pip? Nick? Or perhaps Qu-”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Bjørn boomed with a guttural snarl, glaring daggers into Celestia, his teeth clenched tight, and his fists clenched even tighter.

“But… I didn’t say anything,” Concern seemed to wash over Celestia’s face, “Are you okay?”

“Shut the fuck up,” The tone in Bjørn’s voice made it seem as if he was on the edge of teers, but his eyes betrayed it, showing pure hatred. “You are worthless.”

Celestia flinched at the insult, “You don’t have to throw insults, we can-”

“Your life is meaningless.” Bjørn stomped his foot on the ground, and Celestia took a step back. “I tell you off, you’re gonna keep coming back, I seal up all my cracks, every nook and cranny, and you keep coming back, why?!”

Once more did she take a step back, but this time, not out of Bjørn acting aggressive, but out of… Hurt? “I... Just wanted to be your friend, Björn.” Celestia was almost immediately attacked verbally yet again.

“Friend? We’re not friends, you idiot.” Bjørn spat, glaring into Celestia’s eyes. “You're NOTHING to me!”

Celestia’s ears were folded all the way down to the side of her head as she slowly lowered herself to his level.

“You're NOTHING!” Bjørn stomped his foot on the ground yet again, causing Celestia to flinch. “NOTHING.” STOMP! “Leave me alone and do me a God damn favor! KILL YOURSELF!" Bjørn yelled pointing a finger at Celestia.

To which she gasped, “How-how could you say that? That’s-”

“PLEASE! Do me a favor, do me THAT favor you dumb horse!” Bjørn snarled, his hair spiking and his muscles bulging, somehow making him get taller. “JUST KILL YOURSELF!”

“I just wanted to be your friend…” Celestia sighed, shaking her head as she slowly began to stand to her hooves. Her eyes glued to the ground, unable to look up at Bjørn.

“I just wanted to be left alone, yet here we are!” Bjørn exclaimed, “Fuck off and never come back, stupid horse.”

A pregnant pause filled the area, not a bug, not a Timberwolf, not even a worm made a sound. And without a word, Celestia flared her wings and took off to the skies, pushing some snow onto Bjørn’s pants. The Barbarian looked up to the Alicorn as she slowly flew away from sight, with a scoff he turned around and marched inside his cabin.

Unaware that a certain Gaze was upon him.

“And so that’s what happened, Princess Luna.” Lunar Gaze got up from a bow and looked to see Luna’s expression; spoiler alert, she wasn’t happy.

“We know how to deal with this wretch," Luna’s horn lit up and a blank scroll with an ink and quill appeared in the air next to her.

"And just who to write to.”

Author's Note

Chad's kinda wilding

Järn.

Bjørn made a huge mistake, and he knew it; his one shot at establishing a way to return to his home island - or even back to the fight against Zariel - and he fucking blew it. Why did he blow it? Because he decided to be a big angry, raging, and foolish dick, that’s why. He lost the only sentient being that could possibly be his friend, in fact, he threw away a chance at friendship with the Princess of Equestria! That is what this country is called, is it? Of course, Bjørn thought about leaving the forest in search of the ponies that spotted him and hopefully be led to their town, but how likely was that? He told their Princess to go kill themself, it’s no doubt that he’s on a watchlist.

All of this regret was Bjørn’s initial reaction to his foolish actions, then it was shame; how could he say that to someone? What did Avernus do to him to be so… So… So fucking rude?! How far had he fallen from being the lovable musclehead to being the rude and wrathful monster he had become. All his life, he believed that he was following the path his forefathers took, making them proud but when he stopped and began to reflect; he didn’t do anything right! He was tricked into going to Avernus, he was scared to fight a Hydra, he was attacked a group of Bearded Devils and Zariel’s right hand and couldn’t do anything to stop them, and to top it off; He lost against a Pit Fiend in a one on one battle!

He was no Viking, he was no warrior! He was a scared, lost, and shameless little boy. Imagine having more care for bears that could never talk, that could kill you in an instant, than having an ounce of care for someone trying to be your friend. He dishonored the Bjørndington name, he dishonored Bjørnnar; if he couldn’t beat a mere Pit Fiend, then how could he defeat an ancient dragon by himself? All this shame and regret made him angry, but he had no right, it was his own damn fault this happened to him. It was his own damn fault for being here in the first place, it was his own damn fault that Quul left, it was his own damn fault that Pip and Nick died!

For what seemed like months, Bjørn was like this. Griefful, wrathful, regretful, shameful, every negative emotion all at once, and eventually, he began to accept the reality of his situation. He no longer wanted to go back to the fight, for all he knew, the fight was already done and over with, Bjørn was dead in that world and now he has a new life. A life he is sure to live in peace and quiet, in fact, this is something he always wanted before he met Quul. To live in a forest, all alone, living a life of solitude, maybe meeting the occasional adventurer that stumbled across his cabin and offering guidance or training. Although he was living the life he always wanted, the snow and ice didn’t make it easy to live.

Bjørn looked down at the river he had always fished from; it was completely frozen solid, how many inches of ice were there, he didn’t know. With a spear in hand, he stabbed into the ice encased river in an attempt to pierce through it, but the tip of the spear didn’t even make it through and bounced off. Bjørn tried again but with the blunt end of the weapon in an attempt to break it. Despite the Barbarian’s massive strength, he failed to shatter the ice. Bjørn scoffed; it would seem that it would be another day without food.

The snow had driven away all the manticores, the chicken-snake hybrids, and literally every animal that Bjørn had come across, except those damn wood dogs. It’s probably due to their lack of hibernation or lack of needing sustenance that they’re able to keep going - which left Bjørn confused on what their role in the forest was. They seem to be predators but they don’t need to eat; do they ward off adventurers trying to search the forest? Are they here to keep the food web balanced? What was their purpose? Their purpose, Bjørn decided, was to become firewood to keep him warm. No amount of wood dogs could ever defeat him, or at least he hoped.

He began to turn away from the frozen river as any more attempts would be a waste of time and energy. So, he decided to head back to his cabin. As he walked, there was no path or marker to tell him he was going to the right place, which was good, he had it all memorized in his head. Walking to the river and back was muscle memory at this point, he could essentially do it in his sleep. Speaking of, Bjørn had been doing so often, trying to pass the days of winter as fast he could. It’s not like he had anything better to do!

The castle he found once had been thoroughly observed by him, every single weapon there looked like if they were swung, they’d turn into dust. He did however get some furniture and décor from the castle. Cleaning the chairs thoroughly as well as the banners or paintings he found, which strangely, were either sun or moon related. Either Princess Celestia and the other Princess he hasn’t seen really love the sun and the moon, or they’re somehow Gods of them, which is insane. Everyone knows that the celestial objects of night and day are thousands of miles away from the planet able to move on their own due to gravity, and the thought of the sun being controlled by a horse is appalling.

Was that racist calling a pony a horse?

Bjørn shook his head, he couldn’t focus on such stupid things, he had to go to his cabin. After a few minutes of trekking through the snow, he eventually found himself at his home. He looked at his cabin with the new chimney he installed himself, he was proud of it. But then, he looked at Mama Bear’s cabin, he hadn’t touched it since she and her cubs died. The cabin was almost haunting to him, taunting his loss over the bears and reminding him of his failures since he got to this country. Why he hadn’t torn it down, he didn’t know. It was like it was cursed, every time he tried to, his body would betray him and drag him away from the cabin. As if a small part of his soul is still clinging onto Mama Bear and her cubs, but he was over them, they were dead, they were gone, he was over them.

He was over them.

Bjørn opened the door to his cabin and stepped inside, the interior of his cabin was warmer by just a small margin due to the lack of windows and instead just holes where the glass should be. Walking over to the stones at his table, he seized them and turned to the fireplace where the charred sticks and logs of the wood dogs remains were. The Barbarian simply dragged his feet over to the hearth and fell to his knees, scraping the stones together to create sparks. This time, he managed to do it on the first try and fire was lit upon the scorched wood. Bjørn wasn’t a fool and added a wood dog head and two forelegs into the fire. With the fireplace set aflame, he began to seal up the window holes using rabbit fur he collected as blinds. When he was finished, it was almost completely dark with only the flames from the fireplace providing light; good. Bjørn liked it that way.

Bjørn walked over to his bed and sat down, taking a glance around his cabin. He saw the paintings he, ahem, ‘retrieved’ from the castle, the banners, his spears, the chairs, the table, all of his décor; it had actually felt like a house- no, it felt like a home. A small smile began to make its way onto his face, feeling proud of himself that he’s made it this far on his own. Without his family, without his friends, without anyone but himself.

Bjørn’s gaze fell to the floor and his shoulders began to slump. His brothers and sisters, oh how he missed them; but most of all, how he missed his moder and the songs she would sing to him. Her soothing melodies calmed the beast within his heart and cooled his fiery rage into soft snowflakes. He remembered one of those songs, it was a song that the Vikings of his island would sing when they would head off into battle, but it was also a song that would lull him to sleep. Didn’t it go like-

“My mother told me,

Someday I will buy.”

The Viking began to sing, his voice rough, instinctively singing it as a way to strike fear. But as he began to sing the second part of the stanza, his voice began to soften.

“Galleys with good oars,

Sails to distant shores.”

Bjørn began to tap his feet on the ground rhythmically, driving away the memories of battle and welcoming the recollection of his moder’s voice.

“Stand up on the prow,

Noble barque I steer.”

Closing his eyes, he could almost imagine his moder sitting next to him on his bed, singing to him like all those years ago, petting his hair gently with a sweet smile.

“Steady course to the haven,

Hew many foemen.”

Bjørn continued having his eyes closed, refusing to open them and welcoming the imagination of his moder next to him. The Viking repeated the song - or rather poem-made-song - for a few minutes, lost in deep memories of happiness…

…Until someone banged loudly on his door.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

The knocks shook the entire cabin, causing some of his paintings to fall from the walls and onto the floor. Bjørn opened his eyes with a jolt at the sudden force and scowled, pushing himself off his bed and onto his feet, he walked to his paintings to fix them.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

Once more, the cabin shook but thankfully, nothing fell this time. Not only that, but Bjørn heard a voice he hoped was Celestia but was (unfortunately) not.

“Come out, beast! I know you’re in there, there’s no use hiding!” He heard a masculine, muffled and gruff voice shout from outside his door. Bjørn acknowledged the voice, but was too busy readjusting his paintings.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

His paintings were now asymmetrical; this pissed Bjørn off more than the knocking.

“Come out already you bastard, I want to talk to you face to face!” The voice grunted as Bjørn took a step back from his paintings, looking at them to make sure they were symmetrical.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

Oddly enough, the banging straightened the paintings and made them even. Bjørn stroked his beard and turned away from the art pieces and marched over to his front door, opening it before the voice had the chance to knock again. When he walked out, he saw a minotaur covered head to toe in what seemed like full plate armor. The entire armor piece was a grayish blue, and the helmet covered the minotaur’s head, protecting his noggin and his identity as the Barbarian couldn’t see his face. He could, however, see his horns; his horns were fairly large, but not too large to be annoying, a perfectly reasonable large pair of horns he had on his noggin. Overall, he rates his horns an eleven out of ten.

“Huh, I thought you’d be bigger.” The full plated minotaur looked to be a few inches shorter than him, having to arch his chin a smidgen just to look him in the eye. He took a few steps back so Bjørn could enter the outside fully, once he stepped foot outside the cabin, the Barbarian closed the door behind him.

“What do you want with me?” Bjørn asked, his eyes narrowed down into the minotaur’s eyes.

“What I want with you is you in the Canterlot cells for interrogation.” The minotaur explained simply, “Now, I’m taking you with me, whether you like it or not.”

It was at this point Bjørn began to tense up, he fucking knew this would happen eventually, his blatant disrespect of the Princess of Equestria would get him in trouble. “Tell Princess Celestia I apologize for saying those awful things to her, I had no control over my anger.” The iron-clad minotaur tilted his head a little bit. “If that is all I had to do, then take your leave; goodbye.”

“You must be stupid as Tartarus believing that I’m going to leave you alone after you said ‘sorry’. Like I said, I’m taking you to Canterlot, whether you like it or not.” The minotaur insisted, taking a few more steps back.

The Barbarian’s heart began to race; from the way things were looking a fight was likely to spark into roaring flames, but that wouldn’t stop him from trying to snuff it out. “You do not want this fight.” Bjørn began, but before he could continue the iron-clad minotaur spoke.

“Is that a challenge, animal?” The minotaur spat, walking to Bjørn, becoming a mere few inches away from him as he glared up at the Viking’s eyes through his iron helmet.

The Barbarian’s finger twitched in reaction to the word; ‘animal’. That damn word. Oh how it pissed him off, he was human. A living, breathing, fucking human. Bjørn felt himself starting to get angry, something he hasn’t been in a while, this minotaur had to go. Now.

Bjørn stepped forward, his narrowed eyes becoming a glare. “Leave. My. Home.” He growled, his fingers curling into a fist, he made himself look bigger by puffing out his chest a little in an attempt to ward him off. But the minotaur wasn’t fazed and responded with the back of his knuckle to Bjørn’s cheek that snapped his head to look in another direction. Bjørn’s blood began to boil, and he turned his head to look the minotaur back in his eyes, “Leave… My… Home…!” He repeated, the anger in his voice being more prevalent than before.

“You’re going to have to kill me for that to happen.” A fist was sent right into Bjørn’s cheek, his head barely flinching from the blow. Another punch landed on the massive lad, but instead on his left rib, then his right. As the minotaur threw another punch back up to Bjørn’s face, he quickly caught the punch.

“I warned you.” Bjørn drove his fist into the minotaur’s armored cheek, despite being encased in a metal shell, the blow still rocked him and forced the minotaur to take a step back. Although the attack seemed to wound him, Bjørn’s knuckles stung in pain from hitting such a hard metal.

The minotaur rubbed his cheek, “Not bad, although, I can do better.” Confused, Bjørn raised an eyebrow before being completely off guard with a sneaky right uppercut directed right onto his jaw, the blow knocked him off his feet, making him airborne a few feet off the ground, before he crashed back down onto the snow. The wind escaped from his lungs and out his mouth, making him cough in pain. The snow felt like fire to him and urged him to get his ass up. Bjørn listened to himself and recovered with quickness in mind. He rolled to one knee with a scowl, glaring the iron-clad minotaur in his eyes.

He looked as the minotaur approach him with heavy boots of lead, filling a small part of him full of dread. Bjørn shook his head, shaking the small molecule of dread off of him and pushed himself to his feet. Placing his left foot in front of the other and doing the same with his hand, he adopted an orthodox boxer’s stance. ‘It’s now or never, let’s see if I still have it.’ Bjørn began with a stepping jab to the minotaur’s cheek once he got into range. The blow halted his movement for a second, seemingly open for another attack, but the Barbarian wasn’t going to risk it and played it safe.

“Ah, so you know the art of hand to hand fighting, you’re not as much of a beast as I thought you were. Very well, allow me.” The minotaur adopted a fighting stance of his own, whether it was boxing or some weird other martial art Bjørn didn’t know, but he didn’t have time to figure it out as his opponent made his first move.

The iron clad minotaur approached with a powerful right straight, Bjørn’s eyes widened as despite the man-beast wearing full plate armor, the damn bull had more than enough speed to rival lightning. Bjørn was quick to shoulder roll the attack, he skipped back with the punch to reduce the damage only to spring back forward with a straight of his own. The minotaur ate the punch for breakfast and was ready for seconds as another punch was directed to his rib. Annoyed, he reached out his hand to seize Bjørn’s throat, but he dodged past the attempted grapple and sprung back.

Realizing that brute forcing his way to victory wasn’t going to work, the minotaur became tactical, slowing down his movement and keeping his eyes trained on Bjørn. He began to shift his shoulders around as well as move his upper body in a hypnotic like way, bobbing side to side. The Barbarian was admittedly confused and kept his guard up warily, but stepped back when the man-beast began to move his shoulders rapidly, threatening to throw a punch that could take his head off. Bjørn took a step back in defense, but the blow never came, the moment Bjørn stepped back he knew he fucked up.

The minotaur rushed, shifting his shoulders rapidly, making audible clinks and clanks. The Barbarian’s eyes widened, ‘Damn it, what fist is he going to punch with?!’ He thought before the minotaur finally struck. Bjørn raised his left arm to defend the minotaur’s left fist, only to realize it was his right all along. A right straight was delivered directly into his sternum, making him wince. The Beast of the Everfree was about to take another step back, but the minotaur slammed his foot down upon Bjørn’s, locking him in place.

Ducking down and placing his right foot to the side, the minotaur struck a blow right into Bjørn’s liver, causing his hands to drop slightly from the pain. It was all the iron-fisted warrior needed to deliver another uppercut to Bjørn’s jaw that made his head snap back. The blow nearly caused the Barbarian to fall, however, with the minotaur’s foot on his own, and his other free, he prevented his fall by swiftly placing right foot behind him. Pushing himself up to prevent his fall, he performed a leaping - well, pushing - left jab into the minotaur’s cheek. He followed up the attack with a right hook that knocked his opponent off his foot and forced him to stumble back.

With a scowl, Bjørn shook back feeling into his foot and approached his foe, throwing a left hook that the minotaur quickly caught and pulled. Bjørn tried to resist, but his strength failed to surpass the minotaur’s as he was pulled into a left knee onto his lower left armpit. Undeterred, Bjørn swung again, this time landing a punch to the minotaur’s jaw that rocked his head. The Barbarian nursed his armpit, breathing through his teeth. He raised his arms, going into a more defensive stance out of self-preservation.

Seeing his prey wounded, he went in for the metaphorical kill, continuing his brutal assault to break the poor Barbarian’s body. First, a couple punches directed to his upper body that would keep his guard high, and then a feint that would cost Bjørn his midsection as a heavy metal fist was buried into his gut. Before Bjørn could groan or even grunt in agony, he was quickly smacked across the face by an iron-clad elbow that made his feet wobble. With his balance akin to a newborn deer, the minotaur football tackled Bjørn through his own door and carried him into the wall behind next to his bed.

The warrior of iron had Bjørn pinned against the wall with his right shoulder and performed uppercuts to Bjørn’s ribs, knocking the air out of his lungs bit by bit. With a growl, the embers of rage began to ignite in Bjørn’s belly, threatening to boil over into uncontrollable wrath, but he quickly snuffed out the flames before it could truly erupt into inferno. However, he harnessed the small spark of rage into a shove that pushed the minotaur back in an attempt to knock the man-beast out of his house and prevent it from being ruined.

He failed as the minotaur dug his cloven heels into the wood below, ruining the floorboards and keeping him inside the house. Bjørn growled and charged at the iron menace in another attempt to shove him out of his home, but the minotaur wasn’t going to back down from a challenge and welcomed his charge with his own. The two behemoths of metal and muscle clashed against each other, Bjørn was almost knocked back, but he kept his ground. Their left shoulders pressed together, and their gazes were locked like chains. It was then that they were truly face to face - give or take a couple inches away from each other. Bjørn finally saw the iron man-beast’s cold and fierce azure blue eyes staring at him from behind his iron helmet.

Bjørn couldn’t stare at his eyes for long as the minotaur stepped to perform a right hook to Bjørn’s cheek, but the Barbarian was quick to catch the blow; but before he could counter, he was caught off guard with a Spartan kick to his solar plexus that knocked him through the walls of his home and against the cabin he built for Mama Bear in between the small gap the two buildings made from being close to each other. Bjørn raised his hands barely in time to block a fierce right straight heading to his head. The fist still did damage as his hands failed to stop the punch right there and crashed into his face, pressing the back of his head into the cabin.

The minotaur went for a simple left hook to the head and a right to the body, both attacks landed as clean as a bar of soap as he continued to beat the brakes off of Bjørn. Blow after blow, strike after strike, Bjørn endured with his hands up in a poor attempt in blocking the minotaur's assault. Finally, Bjørn had it in him to step to avoid a punch, the minotaur’s fist sailed past Bjørn and through the wall and as he pulled it out, he saw through the hole his fist left and spotted three rocks inside. “And what might those be?” He asked, preparing for another strike.

The flames of rage reignited in Bjørn’s stomach, this time not having it in him to snuff it out like he did. Bjørn grabbed the iron bastard by his neck with his two hands before slamming him into the cabin behind him. The minotaur retaliated by grabbing the Barbarian’s neck as well and doing the same, bashing Bjørn’s head into the cabin, but he was quickly overpowered as Bjørn roared and threw the minotaur out of the gap and back into his front lawn. The warrior of iron tumbled across the snow and found his way to his knees only to be caught with a vicious uppercut that sent him airborne and made him land on his back. Bjørn marched towards him and sat on top of him before he could make a real attempt at getting up again. With Bjørn on top, he began swinging.

The minotaur tried to fight back or block, but his hands failed to reach his face as he was overwhelmed with the pure - and unexpected - strength the Barbarian had hidden. He choked his opponent with one hand and struck with the other, after every punch he switched striking hands. It was hard to keep up as the minotaur felt his neck being clutched, then released, only to be clutched again and with the combination of getting walloped across his noggin didn’t help either.

For Bjørn, rage coursed through his veins, almost giving him a high as he punched the minotaur who dared ruin his home, who dared call him an animal, and who dared taint Mama Bear’s cabin with his hands. Although Bjørn’s strength was plenty, the warrior of iron’s helmet didn’t dent at the might from the Barbarian, it remained as if a strike never occurred. This simply caused him to swing harder in an attempt to ruin something, anything this minotaur had after he ruined everything Bjørn worked for. It was also at this point that Bjørn lost all feeling in his knuckles entirely after punching iron for so long, not only that, but his knuckles also began to bleed as well. He ignored this, he ignored the pain, he just kept punching and choking, punching and choking.

“LEAVE!” Bjørn began with a snarl, his punches slowing down to a singular one that buried the iron-clad minotaur’s head deeper into the snow. “MY!” He added, striking with his left hand that made the minotaur’s head snap left and knock some snow into the air. “HOME!” He finished, raising both of his clenched fists high above his head before slamming them down upon the minotaur’s skull. The pure strength behind the attack and the metal armor made a loud boom like thunder that echoed across the Everfree Forest. The minotaur’s body seemingly went limp, unconscious or dead, it didn’t matter; he wouldn’t be bothering him anytime soon.

Bjørn got off of his foe's body and looked down at him, standing above the minotaur victoriously. With the rage and adrenaline beginning to fade away, he began to feel all the injuries the iron warrior gave him in full. He took a step back from his fallen foe and turned away as the pain settled, the first came sharply from his left foot, looking down, he saw the hoof imprint the minotaur left him after he brutally stepped on his foot. It hurt to move it; it had to be sprained. Second, was the pain flaring up in his body, all the body shots his foe gave him forced him to cough and spit out a mixture of saliva and blood onto the snow. When he looked down to gaze upon the mess he made, he realized that from his nose, blood dropped like rain and onto the snow as well. Turning the beautiful icy flakes into the color of devilish crimson - a color that Bjørn particularly hated.

He checked for more wounds and found that his face was all busted up as it really, really hurt to move. After realizing that it’s going to suck to wake up tomorrow, he planned on what to do with the body. ‘Should I bury him? No, what if I toss him down the gorge? Nah, wait, what if I throw him into the frozen river?’ That would solve his problem of breaking the ice as the minotaur’s weight would likely shatter the ice like glass and make it accessible for him to use. 'Damn, I'm smart.'

Clink, clank, whirr!

Bjørn slowly turned around and saw the minotaur standing up, his armor stained with the Barbarian’s blood and his fists hanging clenched at his waist. The minotaur looked unphased, like no damage had been done even after all the punches thrown, he stood as if nothing ever happened! Bjørn took a step back as a gray misty aura surrounded his foe's body; it almost reminded him of the magic Alwin and Jandar would use. The gray aura glowed and tightened around his body, almost forming a shell around him, the aura began to lose its mist like form and was replaced with a magical armor added onto his own. More importantly, some parts of his body began to glow as well, his horns, fists, and feet all glowed a bright cool gray.

“What… The fuck?” Bjørn said in stark bewilderment, that is all he could say before within a blink of an eye, was knocked off his feet and sent tumbling across the frigid snow, soiling it with his blood. Bjørn sharply went to his feet only to be knocked back down before he could have the privilege to gaze at the attack. The minotaur grabbed Bjørn by his hair roughly and pulled him up to deliver a left uppercut to his Adam's apple that made him gag and choke. The blow stunned him to be left open to a right elbow into his already bloodied nose.

Blood sprayed from Bjørn like a fountain and into the air as he struggled to breathe, weakly, he put his arms up to defend. His defenses were quickly broken as another left uppercut was directed into his abdomen and a right hook to his temple. His body hit the snow like a bag of bricks, but Bjørn refused to stay down, and got back up to throw a punch only for it to be slipped past. “WEAK!” The iron-clad minotaur began, sending a fist into his liver. Desperately, Bjørn swung to hit him, but the punch clanged off his magical armor. “PUNY!” Grabbing his beard, the minotaur pulled Bjørn to punch his nose once again, his fist leaving an imprint on his face. “WASTE OF MUSCLE!” The minotaur spat and grabbed Bjørn’s throat and slammed him into a tree, letting Bjørn go only to bash his body into the bark. “Forest-dwelling moron!” With a last attack, the minotaur performed a hammer fist down upon the Barbarian’s head that made him drop to all fours before the metal-bound warrior.

Bjørn could hardly breathe. Every time he breathed in with his nose, he inhaled cups of blood and only a miniscule of oxygen. His breathing was ragged, the abuse on his neck and throat making even breathing out of his mouth a struggle. His wide eyes were blurry, fading in and out of focus, and were trained onto the snow he made crimson. He was being beaten; he was being beaten like a bitch. This minotaur was stronger than he anticipated, too strong, maybe he should run, but where? But how?!

“...Tap into Björn’s strength, tap into your strength…” A voice smooth like a feather and sweet like honey whispered into his right ear. Bjørn’s eyes began to slowly move to look in the direction the voice was coming from and he saw off in the distance, the blurry view of a spectral Mama Bear, Gnistra and Styrka. They were all standing together, watching him. Watching him get beat.

‘But… I don’t want to be a beast, I don’t want to be an animal, I want to be Bjørn, I don’t want to be a monster!’ He cried out in his mind, threatening to mix tears with the blood on his face.

‘You won’t be,’ Mama Bear’s spirit comforted, warming his cold heart a little. ‘You’ll be Bjørn, you’ll be a Viking.’

Once the spirit of Mama Bear spoke those words, he accepted it; his rage. His breathing began to increase noticeably and made the minotaur take a step back. Bjørn began to growl as his muscles began to bulge and increase in size, his growl threatened to become a roar as he began to twitch. His forearms began to grow brown fur slowly, his fingers began to shorten and his nails began to extend. His palms turned black and his own skin could barely be seen from the amount of fur grown before being buried beneath the hide completely. His canines began to sharpen as a mixture of saliva and blood oozed out of his mouth and ran down his chin.

With a snarl akin to a brown bear, he rose to his feet and raised his arms high. “GRRAAAAAHH!” He roared to the heavens as he dropped his arms to his sides. His head then snapped down to give a death glare to the iron warrior.

The minotaur stared back, unphased from the glare. “Ah, so you show your true nature, beast! Now, come forth, let us continue our fight!”

Bjørn just responded with a roar and began his charge, but before he could get even six feet from him, red magical chains wrapped around his body and pinned him to the ground. He fell with a thump and snarled, clawing at the snow in an attempt to get to the iron menace. The minotaur was surprised by this and looked to where he felt the magic came from - his right - where he saw a pony-bat hybrid sporting elite armor, behind her being a unicorn in red armor with a mixture of other kinds of ponies wearing matching and more standard black armor than the other two.

“Captain Eventide, why must you interrupt our fight?” The minotaur inquired, folding his arms over his chest.

“We want tae capture him, not kill him ye buckin’ big bumblin eejit!” The pony-bat hybrid - known as Captain Eventide to Bjørn - barked.

“The Princess said-” The minotaur began but was rudely cut off by the captain.

“The Princess says tae use force an teach him a lesson but not tae beat him intae a bloody pulp!” Captain Eventide shouted, “This is why I stopped this from goin’ e'en further than it already has!”

The minotaur wanted to argue, but he sighed in defeat, “Fine, do what you must.” He turned his back to Bjørn and began walking away, pissing him off even more.

The captain turned to her unicorn guards, “Alricht, put him tae sleep.” She ordered, with a nod, a unicorn guard stepped up and lit up their horn in an attempt to put a sleeping spell over him. The spell made Bjørn’s body glow a dark blue color, and it seemed to look like it was taking effect, but the growling beast roared and refused to be put to rest.

“Ma’am, he resisted the sleeping spell,” The unicorn said.

“Well, ye dinnae bloody say! Use an advanced one.” She instructed.

“Yes ma’am,” Lighting up their horn again, the dark blue aura glowed around Bjørn, warming but also cooling his body at the same time, making him almost feel at peace. Almost. Bjørn’s eyes darted to the unicorn who put the spell on him and then back at the iron warrior who began to fade from his vision. “This is impossible, he’s resisting it because he’s too bucking angry?!”

Bjørn roared and slammed his head against the snow, making a sickening crunch as blood oozed from his forehead. Even more desperately than before, he clawed and tried to push himself to his feet to remove the chains from him, glaring at the minotaur who dared turn his back to him. The red unicorn narrowed her eyes and focused, strengthening the chains to pull him back down, but the beast refused and kept fighting.

“BUCKIN’ PUT HIM TAE SLEEP ALREADY!” Captain Eventide roared, turning out the other unicorn guards. “Help thaim ye cunts!”

“Ma’am, but wouldn’t that-” The unicorn guard was swiftly cut off as the captain shouted even louder than before.

“I DINNAE BUCKIN’ CARE, BUCKIN’ DAE IT!” The group of unicorn guards reluctantly listened and all casted the sleeping spell onto Bjørn. Even still, he kept fighting, kept thrashing around in the mix of snow, blood and saliva, flinging it everywhere as his eyes were locked onto the minotaur’s back.

“FACE ME!” He boomed, reaching a claw out to him, “FACE… Me…!” His movements began to slow down as his muscles began to relax, “Face…! Me…!” He groaned as he flopped onto the ground in a pool of his own blood. “...Leave me… Leave me… L-leave me… Alone…” He chanted as his eyelids began to feel heavy and his rage began to subside. “...I want… To go… Home… Leave… Me… A… Alone…” It was then that he finally closed his eyes, and his mind began to drift into unconsciousness.

The beast had finally been defeated.

Author's Note

I'll admit, basically copying Kratos vs. Baldur shamelessly makes me feel bad, but it is what it is.

Fången

He could swear he smelt the sea; the smell was familiar to him: It smelt like home. The next sense that came to him was hearing; the sound of the waves crashing onto the rocky shore, it was distant, but so loud that you could hear it from across the island. Swish, swish, swish. It was soothing on some days and annoying the next. It was definitely on the list of the things he missed most about home. On that same list was the wind. Feeling the wind caress his body was the best feeling in the world. It always seemed to carry his worries and fears out to the sea. It was the one thing he could count on to lift him up when he's feeling down.

He adjusted his eyes to the cloudy but bright day and saw a vast open field of grass, the wind blew the blades of grass to one side. The grass fought it's hardest to stay upright, but the wind would always come back full force and overpower it. However, grass wasn't the only thing he saw, he saw a distant silhouette off near the edge of the island, but he couldn't yet grasp what it was, it could be a lost yak or a lost sheep that wandered off from the herd. He had to go see.

The wind picked up and he had to raise an arm to block it, it was almost as if the island was trying to prevent him from reaching the being, but he pursued. Step after step, he marched forth and fought the wind. He peeked through his eyelids as he drew nearer and nearer to the figure. The island shook, the wind fought against him and forced him back. He stumbled and was nearly blown away like a leaf, but he dug his heels in and clenched his teeth. Using every muscle in his body, he fought nature itself and went closer and closer. His eyes finally manage to recognize a color despite the wind trying to keep them shut - black. It seemed to have been coming from the top of the figure, maybe it was hair?

The figure began to move, almost as if it was turning around to face him. The simple action caused the wind to grow stronger ten times greater than normal. It was apparent that he could no longer continue this fight against the wind on his feet and fell to his knees. He placed his left hand on the ground and grabbed onto a fist full of grass, with the right, he held it horizontally over his eyes in front of him to protect his orbs of vision from the roaring winds just so he could even have the potential to see what stood before him.

"WHO...!" He flinched at the wind's ferocity. "WHO ARE YOU?!" He yelled, hardly hearing his own voice over the wind - the wind was so powerful it was making his ears pop. The figure didn't seem to respond to him and only offered him it's glance, "WHO ARE YOU?!" He cried out once again, as the grass' grip on the earth threatened to fail in his fist and be one with the sky. "WHO ARE YOU?!" He repeated once more, as he got lower to the ground in an attempt to get closer to it.

He was sure the figure smiled at him as he saw the blackness on its top half tilt to the side coyly. The wind finally had enough and with a push of a thousand men, he was blown off the ground, forcing him to let go of the blades of grass in his fist and let it scatter across the wind. He was to join them, however, as he was pushed away at the speed of light. All he could do was outstretch a hand to the figure as he was blown off the island and out to sea. He couldn't help but scream as he saw the island go further and further away from his view, the waves beneath him crashing intensely across the ocean. It seemed like the wind had sent him somewhere intense as black clouds filled the sky and lightning fought the sea. At this point, the island was nothing but a speck and soon, it was out of his field of vision. His hand was still stretched out in front of him as if he could still reach the figure, as if he could still hold its hand. He heard crackling behind him and turned around to meet a wave bigger than any mountain he's ever seen. He didn't have it in him to scream as he looked at the behemoth of a wave with wide eyes and a slack jaw.

The wave seemed to have something inside it, a monster, perhaps? But what it was didn't matter.

He was heading right towards it.

Bjørn woke up with a jolt as he felt cold water splash against him, his eyes opened wide, and he gasped for air. After filling his lungs, he began to steady his breathing, his body shivered as the cold water went down his body. He felt his hair stick to his forehead because of the water on his face. He couldn't help but cough as he inhaled some of the water accidentally; getting it out of his system, he attempted to try and make sense of his surroundings.

He couldn't see a damn thing, it was too dark, and he doesn't have the patience to try and adjust to the darkness. So, what do you do when you can't see? You feel. Bjørn placed his hands on the ground. The ground felt rocky, was he in a cave? He rubbed his hands across the ground.

Clink, clink.

He heard the sounds of chains coming from his hands. He blinked and tried to readjust his eyes faster, narrowing his eyes, he peered into the darkness. Was this how it's like to lose your glasses? He shook his head, focus! He needed to focus! Concentrating even more, he found a donut-shaped silhouette wrapped around his hands, the silhouette seemed to be attached by chain.

Attached by chain...

'I'm in cuffs.' Bjørn realized as he looked behind and finally found the wall, he was resting his back on, the chains attached the cuffs to the walls. Looking at his feet, he noticed that they weren't cuffed, strangely. He tugged on the chains in an attempt to break free from the wall. Wait, was he forgetting something?

"So, thou art finally awake." With a fearsome growl, Bjørn lunged towards the foreign noise with a fist outstretched to nail the target in the nose only to be just out of reach. The chains had done their job and successfully held him back. He stood nose to nose with the being, his teeth bared and muscles bulging in effort as he tried to reach his target.

The being revealed itself to be a pony as he saw its horn light up, the horn was glowing a dark shade of blue and provided light for him to see the being who he assumed splashed water onto him. The pony stared back at him with large blue eyes, slightly lighter than his. The pony's coat was a darker shade of blue, a color that stretched across her body. Bjørn quickly glanced upwards and caught the pony's cool dark blue mane, it had a strange partially translucent and rippling effect where he could swear, he saw stars in it. It kind of reminded him of Celestia's mane.

'Oh.' He realized with raised eyebrows, the pony caught a slight change in his face and remained stone-faced.

"Thou know who we are, dost thou not?" Bjørn's glare returned, he growled and showed her his canines. The pony didn't react and stopped talking, waiting for his response. This made a pregnant pause between them, where both refused to speak out of pride, and possibly out of defiance in Bjørn's case. "Very well." The pony's horn glowed brighter, forcing Bjørn to squint his eyes to prevent himself from getting blinded. "We art the Princess of Equestria, Princess Luna. Thou may know our sister, Princess Celestia."

"Who?" Bjørn huffed sarcastically, and for the first time, the Moon Princess changed her facial expression and narrowed her eyes.

"Thou know who she is. Dost not play coy with me, beast." Their eyes locked together, their eyes telling different stories respectively. One was contempt and scorn, the other was defiance and rage, and a small amount of fear. Fear that the Lunar Princess took notice of. "Thine art scared. Thou should be, after all, thou made the blunder of disrespecting royalty and our sister."

The barbarian let out a snort and chuckled, dropping his gaze to the dirty prison floor and shaking his head. "Well, you see, Princ–" He was cut off by a cough that brought him down to a knee, "-Pri–Princess... I do not give... A single fuck about you, your sister, your kingdom, your people, and whatever product you put in your hair to make it smell nice. So, get out of my cell or I'll shove that horn up your shiny röv!"

Luna glared daggers into Bjørn, her eyes nearly boring into his face. "Such insolence!" She stomped her hoof on the floor as her horn lit up and started to gather energy. "We shouldn't even GIVE thou the grace of a public execution! We shall deal with thee RIGHT! NOW!" Right as her horn was about to fire off, her ears flicked for a brief moment which brought her to stop. This brought Bjørn confusion until he noticed ponies in vaguely familiar black armor having appeared behind the bars – or were they there the entire time?

“Princess Luna,” A masculine voice started to say but paused when she didn’t immediately face him. The Alicorn was glaring daggers into Bjørn who in turn glared right back, she looked like she wanted to say something to him one last time, but she held off on it.

‘For now,’ Bjørn assumed.

Luna depowered her horn and finally turned to face the pony who had spoken her name, “Yes, guardsman?”

The pony cleared his throat, “Princess Celestia has requested that you speak with her immediately,” He noted. This brought out a sigh from the Princess of the Night.

“Of course,” She muttered to herself before standing up straight, “Very well, lead the way.”

“Yes, Princess,” When the pony turned to lead her down the hall, Bjørn noticed on its side that there were wings. And yet, they weren’t wings like Princess Celestia’s or Luna’s, they almost looked like bat wings.

‘Wait a minute, they’re horses, why do they have bat wings? Wait, why do they have wings at all?’ Bjørn thought to himself as he watched Luna and her ‘guardsmen’ go by, and yet, he had a feeling that he wasn’t quite alone yet. He peered directly in front of him, which held the darkness. He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to try and further adjust to the darkness or even spot what he felt, but all he saw was pitch black.

“You can detect me, my compliments,” The darkness spoke back to him, which brought the Viking to slightly jump, having not expected the darkness to speak. In response to his startlement, it chuckled and moved closer to the cell walls. He saw two round dark blue eyes, ones he had recognized from the…

Bjørn blinked, how did he get here? He remembered fighting a minotaur but he knew he didn’t get knocked out. The darkness with eyes took notice of his bewilderment and spoke, “Ah, you’re struggling to remember, aren’t you?” Wordlessly, he glowered at the eyes, “You don’t need to feel embarrassed at all, we did use a lot of advanced sleeping spells on you.”

“So that’s how you got me here,” He noted, while pulling his arms over his chest to cross them.

“That and getting yer arse on the carriage,” Admitted the darkness as it drew closer, “See, you have me curious, bear man.” Following its eyes, Bjørn noticed its head had tilted to the side. “Where did you learn to fight like that?”

“Fight like what?”

The darkness rolled its eyes, “Like you did against the minotaur.”

It was then that the memories started to flood back as he remembered the fight that took place that day. “My home island.”

“And by whom?” The darkness inquired, making Bjørn’s eye twitch a little bit.

“Why do you want to know?”

“I just told you; curious.” It said simply, as if it was a child wanting to know more about the world.

A soft growl escaped his lips before letting out a loud sigh, “My Far mostly,” he answered.

“Your Far?”

“My father.”

“Oh, you mean your Da. I call my parents a different calling too,” It nodded in understanding, “So, you said your Da mostly, what do you mean by mostly?”

“When my Far was away, I would be trained by the village Chief,” Bjørn explained.

He had felt the darkness smile after he said that which brought a bead of sweat to roll down his forehead, “Hm…” It hummed, seemingly curious as to where it could go with its questions before ultimately deciding, “The reason why I’m asking you is because you caught my attention. Especially with that transformation magic you did on your arms.”

Bjørn raised a brow, confused by its words, ‘Transformation magic? I don’t have any magic,’ He thought to himself before realizing what it meant, “You mean me tapping into the strength of the Björn?” He asked, the darkness nodded.

“That, whatever you call it, and from what our scouts have reported, you can transform your head and your rear too.” The darkness noted, “How can you do it?”

Bjørn started to scratch the back of his head, “I don’t know, it’s just a part of me.”

“Interesting,” Mused the darkness, “Can you do it at will or only when you’re pissed out of mind?”

“Pissed out of my…?” It was right then a migraine swept over his brain and forced him to clutch his head. Memories of him seeing the spirits of his bear family reemerged, seeing an out of body vision of himself thrashing around in a pool of his own blood. He snarled in pain and instinctively brought his knees closer to his chest to try and curl in the fetal position.

The darkness had noticed his distress, “Bear man?” But Bjørn appeared to have ignored her. The migraine had brought him the memories of his full fight against the minotaur. He saw flashes and visions of him getting punched across the chest, he felt the cell get colder when he imagined himself being tossed around the snow. Yet that wasn’t the only memory that was brought to him. He had recalled the day Mama Bear and her cubs were killed by the Manticore. His heart swelled up as he remembered the fear in his body as he ran back to the cabin, running through the forest at breakneck speed, the sheer panic and worry made him clutch his chest.

“Bear man?!” The darkness called out to him again, but he couldn’t hear it, too overwhelmed at what his mind had forced him to remember to even recognize the outside world. Bjørn closed his eyes shut, trying to block his vision but to no avail as he was forcefully shown the corpses of his bear family by his mind’s own wishes. He clawed at his temple and kicked his feet, he turned his head left and right but nothing seemed to have helped. He was shown himself brutalizing the manticore. Like a beast.

Like a monster.

The darkness narrowed its eyes and turned to the cell door, knowing that it didn’t have the keys nor the strength to buck down the door. So, it could do nothing but watch as Bjørn let out a primal growl and opened its furiously bloodshot eyes, a look that resembled the darkness’ encounter with him before he was captured. It was thought that they might have to call back up but then, Bjørn did something unexpected. He clutched his head and brought it closer to his stomach and far away from the wall behind it before suddenly springing himself towards the wall and bashing the back of his head against the material. A loud BANG could be heard across the dungeon on impact and immediately, Bjørn slumped down.

The darkness’ eyes were ones of pure horror.

The bear man was so distraught by whatever that freaked it out that it knocked itself unconscious just to get away from it.

Captain Eventide walked out of the dungeon and as she did, she went and held the door open for the paramedics to trot inside. She watched them with her usual stern look, hiding concern behind it perfectly. She continued to hold it open, waiting for them to come back out with the injured bear man. The Bat Pony let out a sigh before her eyes darted to the side, spotting the minotaur clad in iron standing next to her with his arms folded over his chest.

“Ye pure hud tae chap him aroond lik' that, didn’t ye?” Captain Eventide's sideways glance turned into a glare, but the minotaur stood unflinching. “‘Och I’ll juist beat him wi`in an inch o' his lee 'n' it’ll a' be braw 'n' dandy’. Glaikit metal skulled buck.”

“The Beast was strong and I learned some valuable intel from it. It knows martial arts, that’s for one,” The minotaur seemed to have ignored everything the Captain had said, which only seemed to tick her off. “And it can take quite a beating.”

Captain Eventide turned to him completely, sticking a hindleg in front of the dungeon’s door to hold it open. “Mibbie th' rammy wid hae gaen quicker if ye used yer magic at th' stairt 'n' beat him doon afore he lost his shite!” The paramedics finally carried the bear man out of the dungeon, leading to her pulling back her leg from the door and allowing it to close. She turned away from the minotaur and trained her eyes on the unconscious beast. His pupils weren’t even there, only the whites of his eyes remained, it almost looked like his eyes rolled to the back of his head. As they carried him off and out of sight, Captain Eventide turned to the minotaur with a frown, gesturing to where the paramedics were.

The minotaur let out a groan, rolling his eyes behind his helmet, not that she could see them. “Okay, so maybe you were right about that. I should have dealt with it immediately, cut the small talk, punch him around, then knock it out. But… I couldn’t just do that, not after what it had reportedly said to Celestia.”

“Prince, ah ken you’re a' buddy-buddy wi' Princess Luna, bit ye hae tae shaw sel restraint. Whit if that lest attack ye did oan him murdurred him instead o' knocking him doon tae a' fours?” Captain Eventide asked. The minotaur turned away from her, glancing to the ground, “Ye hae tae think hings thro'.”

“You’re right,” The minotaur nodded before bringing his head back up, “Well, I guess I’ll look around the place while I wait for Princess Celestia to get done scolding Princess Luna.”

A tremor was felt throughout the castle.

“You’re gonnae hae tae hauld yer apples a lang time.”

Author's Note

Thanks for the advice, this time around it's a lot more slower.