Striding Outlander: Book 1

Chapters

Prologue - Where it all Began
CH.1 - Wrath Of The Executioner
CH.2 - New Companion
CH.3 - A Seed’s Homing Pot
CH.4 - A Scream Beyond The Trees
CH.5 - First Witness

Prologue - Where it all Began

Once upon a time In a world before Earth came to be there was the Maykrs. . .

The first deity of the Maykrs, the Father, Built the Gate of Divum many eons ago. It’s purpose? To access the hidden city of Immora deep in the heart of a realm known by many names: the pit, the dark abyss, the Netherworld, and many other countless titles. . . but there was one name that all sentient creatures know it by, a name that have been given by the Dark Lord himself:

Hell.

Twenty-five years ago in Earth’s time, Hell found its way to open a portal towards Earth. From the mouth of the black void legions, and legions of Hell’s most vilest creations, and dwellers of the dark realm marched out. They were rage, brutal from the strike of their very claws, and feared so much even a child had nightmares of their bright venomous yellow eyes:

The Demons.

They shed blood and mercilessly brutalized any living thing on their sights. The horde of the demons overwhelmed the very best and most advanced machinery and weapons technology that mankind could muster against the opposition. No matter what they threw or plotted against them It was utterly useless, they moved and were too quicker then them, caring for themselves they did not, for only they sought out the blood of humanity. They were willing to sacrifice their own to get to the heart of their world. They slaughtered thousands and millions more followed.

Until… He came.

In the first battle, when the shadows first lengthened, and all thought hope was lost, one man stood. Burned by the embers of Armageddon, his soul blistered by the fires of Hell and tainted beyond ascension, he chose the path of perpetual torment. In his ravenous hatred he found no peace; and with boiling blood he scoured the Umbral Plains seeking vengeance against the dark lords who had wronged him. He wore the crown of the Night Sentinels, and his reckoning was uncounted.

The scribes carved his name deep in the tablets of Hell across eons, and each battle etched terror in the hearts of the demons. At the time they didn’t know who he was nor were they prepared for his arrival, striding forth to feast on the blood of the wicked. For he alone could draw strength from his fallen foes, and though he was mortal, his strength grew, swift and unrelenting. For as he gains in strength so do they fall in numbers. His steel barreled sword of vengeance cut through layer after layer of the legions like a sickle through a field - his fury surpassing their own. Though Hell’s forces were fast, He was faster - more relentless.

None could stand before the horde but him. Like a plague, despair spread before him, striking fear into the shadow-dwellers, driving them to deeper and darker pits. But no matter where they hid he would always find a way to break through the rabbit hole. When the Striding Outlander marched forth in the dark realm a new challenger from the depths of the abyss rose, The Great One, a champion mightier than all who had come before. The Titan, of ferocity and immeasurable power. He strode upon the plain and faced the unyielding warrior, and a mighty battle was fought on the desolate plains. The Titan fought with the fury of the countless that had fallen at his hand, but when the demons thought for a moment victory was theirs - there fell the Titan, and in his defeat the shadow horde were left in utter disbelief.

On that day came the birth of a title: all those that tasted the bite of his sword, ripped and teared apart at his hands, those who realized he was far worse than them, those that stood and watched as he stood victorious over the Titan’s corpse roaring an in-human battle cry named him...

The Doom Slayer.

CH.1 - Wrath Of The Executioner

Author's Note

Author's Note:

It is recommended that you read this with a High Contrast Dark or Ultra Darkformatting setting so as to better experience the artworks and typography.

Title Artwork by - JetXPegasus
and Typography by JetXPegasus

CH.1 - Wrath Of The Executioner

The Doom Slayer reappeared, suspended in a containment field. He pulled his hands up in an attempt to free himself, but the electrical chains overpowered his godlike strength. Then, he heard metal clanking on the floor, drawing his attention toward the bridge. Striding slowly towards him was a three-meter tall mechanoid, an acquaintance he hated with his whole being the moment he first met him:

Dr. Samuel Hayden.

“You've won - it's over. You stopped the invasion and closed the portal,” he announced, standing before him. “But it's comes at a price - Argent, VEGA. This entire operation. You see, I've watched you work and I've come to understand your motivation. You think the only way is to kill them all, leave nothing behind, and you may be right. But we can't just shut it all down. Without Argent Energy, it will be worse. I don't expect you to agree.”

Hayden raised his mechanical hand, it shook violently as it telepathically snatched the artifact known as the Crucible out of the Slayer’s grasp.

“But with this, we can continue our work.”

The leather glove creaks and squeaks violently as both his whole fist shakes before the Doom Slayer balled them into a fist. His chest rises and falls quickly as he glares up at him.

Hayden ignores this and continues. “I am not the villain in this story. I do what I do because there is no choice.”

Re-routing tether coordinates... Complete.

“Our time is up.” He looked down at the Slayer, and although he could not see his face, nor his eyes behind the tinted visor, he could feel his burning, hateful stare coming from beneath it.

“I can't kill you - but I won't have you standing in our way,” he declared. A bright crimson blade shoots out, pulsing with the unrefined energies of Hell, decorated carelessly with arcane symbols of Hell that cover the long blade like the plane of energy it emitted.

“Until we see each other again.”

The Doom Slayer watched as Hayden turned away, striding straight slowly with the Crucible in hand before the Slayer’s body was enveloped in an explosion of blue light. . .

It was the wind rushing past the Doom Slayer’s ears that awoke him. Opening his eyes, he was shocked to see a clear blue sky and fluffy white clouds... something he hadn’t seen in eons. There was a brief delay as his brain processed the situation he was in. He found himself falling at an intense speed, judging by the incredible volume of the air whipping past his ears. He flailed as he tried to grab something, anything to slow himself down but it was futile. His back within landing made a direct impact on the earth’s surface, creating a large crater. He felt the very earth itself shaken by his landing as it bounced and echoed throughout the area around him.

He felt the rough ground beneath him and dirt beneath the palm of his glove, and his eyes were closed. The smell of burnt wood faintly drifted through the air. He cracked his eyes open to try to get a look at where he was but was immediately assaulted with a bright, warm light—sunlight. He squinted his eyes harshly, letting them adjust slowly. Once they did he found his vision was a bit blurry. All colors began to merge into one focused image before him again. He blinked. Through the thin smoke rising around him, the clear blue sky was what he faced.

He heaved and picked himself up from the charred ground. On his feet, the Slayer bent over his stomach and with a spring he leaps out of the crater. Once he was out, he found himself in a forest but one he had never seen before. He watched in awe at massive trees that swayed gently in the wind. It looked… beautiful. It almost occurred to him that this might be heaven but he knew that was not the case. If it was, then, shouldn’t he be dead? He still felt alive and he could feel everything like his natural world.

The Doom Slayer walked straight through the forest listening to nothing but the sound of birds chirping, and insects buzzing. As he moved forward he progressively felt something odd take over. Something… feels different. He expected himself to be back in the northern part of Hell when first awoke surrounded by the legions of demons, or some remote part of the Earth where he could not get back to cities or civilization. Flowers were different, plants he didn't think existed dotted the forest floor in large frequency. What also didn’t add up was how different the trees looked. Little time to question such things, he must keep going. The Doom Slayer trudges on through the thick forest while commanding his Armor to do a complete scan of the surrounding area. While scanning he noticed on the right side of his screen of the tinted visor something that left him puzzled. The thought crosses his mind that maybe he dropped more than just the chip through the fall.

He reaches for his back pulling out his shotgun then puts it back in his storage to reach for another weapon only to be left more puzzled to find the shotgun back in his grasp. Besides the shotgun and his pistol, the few weapons in his arsenal are gone. And out of all times, this has to happen; not only does he have to find his way back to his world and find that traitorous cyborg, but he also has to go on a search for all of his weapons… again! He only hopes that no one hasn’t found them yet. Should they ever get into the wrong hands’ someone might get hurt or worse...

The Doom Slayer shook his head, he shouldn’t imagine the worst possibilities, and only focus on his surroundings. Just as the Slayer finished his thought he turned to his shoulder to see the sun was now setting over the mountain and the night now closing in overtaking the forest. As he stood he already began to hear things, large creatures beginning to stir from their daytime slumber. Wherever his weapons are he’ll have to search for them tomorrow, for now he should find shelter to sleep for the night until he can gather his bearings in the morning.

Spike paced back and forth with an expression of profound patience that was slowly wavering. Tonight was the Nightmare Night Festival where mares and colts dress up in scary costumes, scare little fillies for the fun of it, and eat scrumptious candy. He got his costume on too, a dark purple dragon with darkish green scales, pale light-green under belly, green single-lined spikes on his back and tail. It had short triangular shaped horns on each side, and pale lemon eyeballs.

He halted, taking his face into his little claws and wined. “Ugh, come on, Twilight. We're gonna be late for the Nightmare Night festival.”

Posing with her head raised with pride on the second steps of the stairs was Twilight Sparkle: the Princess of the sun’s most faithful student, the element of magic, and new bearer of the elements of harmony. She had a tall pointed darkish blue hat with a crescent moon float below the four stars looping around it, bells chimed around the edge, the tip of her hat and the ends to her robe in every step she took. She wore a fake beard, a gold amulet around her neck and a clouded robe hued in three shades of blue.

“Huh? Are you that one kooky grandpa from Ponyville Retirement Village?” Spike guessed the memory of the old pony from retirement village was the first thing he thought of.

“I'm Star Swirl the Bearded!” Said Twilight.

Spike blinked looking at her with a blank expression.

“Father of the amniomorphic spell?”

Spike’s bewilderment increases.

“Did you even read that book I gave you about obscure unicorn history?” Twilight reminded him pointing her hoof at the little drake. Spike raised a claw as his brain tried to think of any excuse for his laziness until a knock at the door interrupted him.

“That sounds important.” Spike yelped dashing by her to head for the door. As soon as he pulled the door open he jumped and felt his heart leapt out of his stomach when his mind thought he was standing before Nightmare moon only to find three little fillies and Granny Smith standing outside of the door.

The trio’s faces smiled at the little drake and began to sing the old song. “Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!”

“Hi, everypony,” Twilight greeted with a smile, “Great costumes. Happy Nightmare Night, Granny Smith.”

“I should have been asleep five hours ago,” Said Granny Smith.

Twilight’s horn glowed with light as she passed down one piece of candy each for the three little fillies bags. Pushing through came a young colt with a sword in his mouth as he swung it in the air, he wore light red bandanna wrapped tight over his head, a small black eye patch over his eye with a skull stitched on it, and a buttoned up short sleeve shirt.

“Pipsqueak the pirate, at your service. It's my very first Nightmare Night.” Pipsqueak said.

“Since you moved here from Trottingham?”

“No, my very first Nightmare Night eve—” Pipsqueak was about to finish only to be interrupted by the squawking sounds of Pinkie pie bursting forth wearing a chicken suit.

“Enough chit chat! Time is candy!” Pinkie pie said, mimicking the movements of a chicken by pecking the floor.

“Pinkie Pie, aren't you a little old for this?” Twilight asked.

“Too old for free candy?” She squawked. “Never.”

Twilight groaned, lighting up her horn as her magic brought up one piece of candy out of her bowl levitating it towards the excited party pony then dropped it in her bag.

Twilight raised her hoof in a pose showing off her costume. She swirled her head around while keeping her eyes on the party pony “Do you like it?”

“Yeah! Great costume, Twilight! You make a fantastic weirdo clown!” Pinkie responded before pecking all the candy in the bowl and disappeared within seconds.

“A clown?” Twilight was irritated as she looked down at her costume taking the fabric of her robe in hoof, “Look at the borders on these robes. These are hoof-stitched!”

“It's a great costume! Huh! Grandpa!” Spike teases walking past her. Twilight growls in frustration following behind to catch up to her assistant. Suddenly she heard the sound of clanking as if her hoof stepped on something metal. Pulling her right hoof back she looked down on the ground and her eyes lit up in curiosity to what's below her.

The Doom Slayer was trudging along the base of a small mountain, one of several spread throughout the forest. He was looking for a path up so he could look around and find a way out of the forest when he came across a large cave entrance. He slowly walks in and decides to explore the cave hoping this place could be his own little home base for the time being. It was obvious how dark the cave's interior was, however, it proved no problem for his armor as he subconsciously activated night-vision.

After about a minute of walking the tunnel opened up to a large cavern, filled with emeralds; there were sapphires, diamonds and gemstones, rubies as big as boulders. A sinking feeling came over him that told him he shouldn’t be here. But before he could think of why he noticed from the corner of his eye behind the enormous pile of gemstones rose a large scaly head. Then came another from behind it, then another, and another! Their bright yellow snake-like eyes glared at him with cold hatred. Each of these dragons had their own colors.

This dragon in the middle was blue with light cyan scales, pale light-grey under belly, and cyan single-lined spikes on his back and tail. He’s probably the owner of this cave. The other two beside their leader were red and green, their heads reaching up to their leaders shoulders judging by how small they are.

“Well, well, well, looks like we got ourselves another mouse in our lair boys.” Said the blue dragon as he slammed his foot making the cavern quake by his might. The Slayer didn’t make an ounce of a flinch as he returned a glare of his own up at him.

The Green dragon chimed. “So what brings you here, you strange little creature? Come to take our precious gems, have you?”

The large red dragon added while stomping its way towards the Slayer from his left. “Because if you are then we’ll burn you to a crisp!”

The Doom Slayer just stood there, his glare unwavered. Normally if someone else heard this heed other than him they would’ve frozen in fear by the sight of these three drakes; and beg for their lives before hightailing and running. But with him however, they were no more than a small worker ant, that he could cut through like butter.

The Doom Slayer rolled his body around and walked down the path, halfway towards the entrance he stopped catching a glimpse of a long double metallic barrel, hanging in the air. With a double-take, he walked backwards to the sight and slowly turned his head. There sticking out under a pond of gems and gold laid his precious possession:

The Super Shotgun.

Well, he planned going on a search hunt for his missing guns after all, might as well start here. He began to walk his way towards it but before he could go any further his face was met with a scaly wall. The red dragon had blocked his path with his tail; It growled softly as smoke billowed from its nose, and the hatred in his eyes intensified as he glared down at the Slayer. It was already nerve racking enough that this creature entered their lair but watching him stride through their horde like it owned the place made its heart boil.

It leaned in getting eye level with the Doom Slayer and snarled. “Do I speak equestrian? Get out of our cave or we’ll make you, peasant!”

The Dragon smirked believing this little warning would surely scare this creature out of its wits. He was then left shocked when the Doom Slayer pushed his tail to the side continuing forward.

"Did… Did you just turn your back on me?" It asked in an unsettlingly calm tone.

Through its anger slowly rising it can hear the other dragons of the cave shift nervously behind it, its chest rises and falls quickly as it watches the Slayer walking while its skin squeaks violently as he balled both his claws to a fist.

“NO ONE DRAGON OR PONY TURNS THEIR BACK ON ME! NO ONE!” It roared to the heavens, inhaling all the fire he held up inside his belly until it shot a hot torrent of flames out his mouth engulfing its target. Every second the dragon increases the power of its flames ensuring that there'll be nothing left of that filthy oak. It kept this up for a few minutes before jerking its head back giving a snort, shooting out a large part of the smoke into the air, as it sat there gazing at the flames.

“Ah, serve him right. Now I feel a lot better.” Said the dragon sweetly.

It began thinking what it should do with his remains once it fades away, using his ash as another trophy to its collection, maybe as a warning to all thieves and intruders who entered their horde. It giggles at that idea; it should probably write that down on its bucket list first thing in the morning. It watched the flames dance, swirling in different angles. When it faded along with the smoke it’s pupils shrink to the size of pinpricks as it felt its heart drop down to the pits of its stomach at the sight before its eyes.

The Doom Slayer rose out of the ashes. Unschathed, uninjured, and no sign of any burnt on his armor. But that’s not what made the dragon's heart race rapidly or the fear growing from within. The Slayer was glaring at him but this was different, it deepened, deepened in such a way that no creature should ever be capable of doing. There was no intent of mercy, bargained, or negotiation in his expression.

It was there the drake knew at that moment. It made a mistake… a very terrible mistake.

With that powerful glare the Slayer stalked towards the speechless Drake as he clenched both his fist.

The red drake watched as the Slayer stalked towards him, getting closer and closer. Its brain was screaming at it to run, make way for the exit and put every force of power into its wings to fly away as far as possible…

But it seemed stuck, almost glued to the spot along with its wings that are glued to its sides. This feeling wasn’t like the other monsters it saw in the forest or nightmares. This feeling was biting into the dragon forcing its feet to stay, a sensation that was piercing down into its very soul. Panicking, the red Dragon struggled to say something, only to freeze as he saw in the blink of an eye the Doom Slayer in the air right before its eyes. As he met the Slayer's gaze up close, He felt his terror increased like none he had ever experienced before. This creature’s height was small compared to the dragon’s giant head, yet the fire breathing drake felt so small and helpless as a baby.

Before it could think of anything, the Doom Slayer’s fist punched through his head creating an explosion of red mist. It’s body fell to the ground and all the other dragon’s gasped. The Slayer landed on his feet turning to his shoulder to see the dragon’s head had disappeared. He pulls his eyes away from the corpse and looks around him. He was now surrounded by snarls of almost every dragon in the cave, all of their cold hatred glares upon him deepened after what he had done to their buddy.

He closed his eyes pressing his knuckles against his left palm then smirked in satisfaction when it cracked. It was time to get to work.

In a blur the Doom Slayer lunged forward grabbing a gray scaled dragon by the throat. The drake’s throat contracted. Gasping for air until he snapped it with full force like a twig, and the dragon’s head went limp leaving its buddies stunned. He tossed the body away, and jumped to the next dragon. He smashed his fist into the side of a pale pink dragon’s face. The drake landed with a thud just outside the ring of the circling dragons, laying dead with its head under a pile of gems. Another dragon took the opportunity of the distraction by leaping at his back but the Slayer anticipated this. He swung his other fist straight into the drake’s eye. It roared as it felt an indescribable pain explode through its whole face. It fell hard struggling on the ground but he didn’t give it time to recover as he bowled over the dragon with a bone shattering kick to its left hip, sending it flying in the air and out of the circle.

The Slayer jumped high in the air over the circle landing next to the twin barrel shotgun. He grasped his hands around the barrel pulling it out from its prison taking the gun in hand. Opening up he found the bolt to be empty. He reached for his pocket and shoved two buck shells into its ejectors then snapped the gun back in place. His right hand wrapped around the grip, fingers on his left hand tightly grip the wooden polymer. He turned to his left, scanning over the threats, he whipped aiming at one dragon flying towards him and pulled the trigger. Powerful twin buckshots shot the dragon's head exploding into a crimson mist. The Slayer reloads another set of shells before whipping the weapon around to blow away another dragon that tried to jump at him with a second shot. Blood leaks from the gaping, smoking hole in it's chest as it falls to the ground.

The Green dragon rolled its body around slapping its tail onto the Slayer’s chest pinning him against the wall. When it was about to snap its jaws at him, it screamed in excruciating pain as the Slayer elbowed its tail with full force breaking the bone instantly. It pulled its tail back giving him the opportunity to lunge in the air landing on its snout. His fingers jammed down the trigger, hot shells exploded from the barrels. launching forward, piercing through its right eye socket of the drake’s head. It’s body collapses to the floor of gems and the Slayer lands back to the ground with ease. The blue scaled dragon stared in horror at the massacre but to its shock, it turned to its shoulder to see the other drake’s lips were graced with a warm smile.

This Dragon, its scales were as white as snow along with its belly, it was three times bigger than the blue one and its neck was contracted by a shackle locked tightly around it. The blue drake looked back watching in horror as the Slayer was now stalking towards him with his gun in hand.

“W-Wait!” The drake cried almost in a stutter with its claws in the air. This however didn’t stop him from moving forward. The Doom Slayer snapped the ejector open reloading it with another set of shells whilst continuing power marching towards the horrified blue drake.

“Do you not seek the treasure before you? A-As a gift for your noble glory? P-P-Perhaps in return for my—!” By the time it could finish its sentence the blue drake’s head exploded to a mist by the shells that shot it. Steam billowed out of the twin barrels as the Slayer stood there watching its body slowly collapse to the ground. Then his eyes darted to the last dragon remaining in the horde.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” said the snow dragon, smiling at the Slayer warmly. He began to slowly approach it, readying his gun. He pointed it upward at its head but before he could jam the trigger he was nearly in shock at what he saw. The drake was. . . PROSTRATING!? On both knees the drake lowered with its claws down and its head bowed in subservience on the ground.

“It is a pleasure to meet you at your arrival… my Lord.”

CH.2 - New Companion

The Doom Slayer watched the snow dragon closely who stood by the corpses engulfed by its flames. He learned a few things after meeting the drake. She was a female, had manners like a housemaid, and a kind personality that only a mother could give to a child. But what still puzzled him was not just her owing him as an absolute fealty regarding him as an authority figure but her assistants addressing him as "My Lord".

His brow twitches at the mere thought of that word. He only just met her and already he doesn’t know what to do with her.

“My Lord.”

The Slayer looked up in response to her call, he had been so lost in trying to understand this strange drake, he didn’t even notice she was standing in front of him.

“I have disposed of the bodies you massacred. In time the bodies will turn to ash, and no dragon or pony will find their remains.” She announced with her head bowed and her right claw placed to her heart. The Slayer gave her a simple nod to her report.

“Please forgive me, my Lord, for I have not properly introduced myself. I was sent by the great queen of all dragons in the snowy mountains to act as your guide. My name is Zyerks, daughter of Blazer, my mother, and great-granddaughter of Kyerks the queen who rules the snowy mountains. It is my duty to be your humble servant and protector, from morning until night, from cradle to the grave, and devote all of my being into your service, my Lord.” The snowy drake known as Zyerks introduced herself with her arms spread out and her snake cyan-like eyes shining.

The Doom Slayer stood there staring at her. His eyes locked with hers, and he paused.

There was no fear, yes, but there was something more buried beneath it, deep behind the surface. Tranquility. Contentment. Peace. Joy.

Sincerity.

He paused, his muscles twitching as they stared at one another. This was ... This was …

She—No, he realized, she—is not like them. She’s not evil. Nor your foe. She was friendly, yes. But she was not evil. Nor did she have the face of a liar or a trickster. There was a look to her eyes, a spirit behind them that the shadows of evil could never replicate. A wellness of the mind and soul that was visible without word or deed.

No, he thought, relaxing somewhat. She is not your enemy.

And yet she was happy, and that baffled him. How could she be so happy to finally meet someone who’s the most terrifying force of destruction?

All of it flew through his mind in an instant, and he broke eye contact even as she tilted her head, looking down to the floor. Maybe—

“My Lord?”

He looked back to meet Zyerks’s eyes again when she called.

“May I ask for your name?” Zyerks asked, looking at him curiously.

The Doom Slayer cupped the chin of his helmet considering how to answer the question. His eyes went back to the mountain corpses and a thought came to mind. He walked past her heading over to the side grasping his hand around a leg and pulling it with ease pulling out a now charred body of the green dragon, he shoves his hand in the dead drake’s mouth and then yanked it out with a big tooth in hand. The Slayer walks towards a wall and without hesitation stabs the tooth on the wall, the tooth squeals as he slowly carved the letters down. Once he was done he threw it to the side, turning back to face her, and placed his hand on the left side of the wall next to the writing.

Zyerks steps up to look at the wall, getting a chance to read what was written in her master’s hastily scribbled carvings:

Doom Slayer

The words sent chills down her spine but also left her in awe. What a truly scary and yet marvelous title ‘Doom Slayer?’ the name echoed in her head. What is he? He’s not a pony, yes, neither a minotaur nor a dragon but his strength and speed far exceeded that of the princesses. Especially after witnessing him killing the few dragons in less than twenty seconds or less, and he had done it without the slightest hesitation. What is his origin? Could he be someone from a faraway land that has lost his way? Her mind was reeling with questions; it would be best if they were saved for later.

“I see,” said Zyerks, “incredible strength and a spine-chilling title, just like the prophecy has foretold; you are most definitely the Lord I was meant to serve.” Her lips formed a smile gazing at the words in wonderment. The Slayer tilted his head when he heard this.

Prophecy, he thought, what is she talking about?

“Oh, my apologies, you probably don’t understand what I mean,” Zyerks said, patting her tail to the ground, “Here let us sit and I shall tell you everything you need to know.”

The Doom Slayer complied as he threw his Super Shotgun back in his hyperspace inventory then gently sat down cross-legged with Zyerks following suit sitting a few feet away from him. Once the two were comfortable she cleared her throat.

“I suppose you’re curious to know about the prophecy I speak of, correct my Lord?” Questioned Zyerks.

The Slayer nodded answering her question.

“Long ago during the time when Nightmare moon was still in prison within her own moon, my great grandmother’s father gathered his people in an important meeting and told them of a dream he had: a glimpse of a silhouetted creature whose strength and speed far surpasses the princesses themselves, a creature that can cut through legions like a sickle through a field. “Their strength will be our shield,” he said, “They will be the spear that stabs at the heart of our attackers, and those that would seek to harm the ponies, griffins, minotaurs, yaks, and our kind should feel warned,” my grandmother told me when she heard this she thought he was being bonkers,” Zyerks explains while grabbing a shard of gold from the floor, flicks it in the air landing gently in her jaws before snapping shut.

“That is until she had a dream as well.”

Zyerks dipped half of her finger into the dusty floor slowly beginning to draw images of the dream. “It was a little similar to her father’s dream but it was at the end that had a few differences; she found herself walking in a tube-shaped cave, a very long one mind you, moving forward she made it to the end and that’s when she saw it. The same creature that her father saw in her dream, stood a few feet away from her lending a hand to a little drake, and that little drake… was me.”

Her finger stopped as she finished. The Doom Slayer looked down curious to see her work. The image revealed a tall faceless bipedal figure down on one knee lending a hand to a small little baby drake who is trying to reach theirs with their little claws. The only difference between himself and this “Lord,” was that It didn’t wear any armor similar to what the Slayer had on. So what made her think he was the one? Is he the one she’s been waiting for all these years or had he just crossed and screw the prophecy over? He glanced up at her meeting the warmth of her smile yet again.

“I've been looking forward to assisting you since I was a baby drake, my Lord.”

She lowered herself to both knees with her claws down and her head bowed in subservience on the ground while continuing her speech. “When I was told that I was chosen to be your servant I knew then and there I was destined for this; and I want you to know that I’ll humbly do my best to reach for your expectations, where you go, I go along with you, whatever obstacles we face or how low the darkness will take us I wanna face them with you. Now and forever, I’m your loyal servant and protector. But most of all I’ll do my best to guide you. So you can rest at ease.”

As Zyerks finished her speech hoping he would be pleased. Her heart grew with worry though when silence was her only response. Is he not pleased? She thought, her body trembling. She ventured by glancing up at him, her eyes meeting his. His head was tilted to the side even while she couldn’t see his face she could feel his gaze with hers, studying her with such intensity, and the fire persisting; burning, hot and angry.

“M-My Lord? Have I said something that might’ve angered you?” Zyerks asked worriedly.

The Doom Slayer gave a simple shake of his head.

He raised two of his fingers and then placed them on the left side of his neck below the chin giving it light taps whilst gesturing his hand side by side. Zyerks sees this and immediately gasps with her claw over her mouth, understanding the gesture.

“You… can’t speak?” Zyerks asked, her tone one of stunned horror. The Slayer nodded as an answer to her question.

“Did something happen to you that had caused such a thing?” Zyerks asked, almost too scared to imagine the cause of such a fate. He turned away from her, and ran his finger down on the dusty floor writing down something. He finished quickly pulling his hand away, allowing her to read the revelation before her.

One day, I’ll tell you.

“One day?”

Zyerks looks back at the Slayer making sure if what she read was right. The Slayer nodded and she let out a collective sigh.

“Very well,” she said, placing her claw to her chest. “Then I shall wait for the day when you’re fully ready to tell me. Until then, I won’t ask any more about your past.”

Right as she said this the snowy drake places her left claw over her mouth letting out a yawn. She was so caught up that she didn’t even realize how tired she was.

“Well, it’s getting late, my Lord. Let us rest and we can figure out what our first move shall be by morning.” Zyerks said as she stood up stomping her way towards the pool of gold and gemstones then dived underneath them. The Doom Slayer watched as her head turned to gaze at him.

She smiled at him warmly letting out another yawn before telling him in a near whisper. “Goodnight… my Lord…”

Slowly her eyes begin to close. Her body rises and falls beneath the gold as the snow drake drifts off to dreamland. He didn’t want to admit it but she looked kinda adorable when she’s asleep. He shook his head, he shouldn’t be distracted by this and find a spot to nap in.

His armor scans his new cave for a place to sleep. The last time he’d slept was when those vile priests entombed him in the sarcophagus many eons ago. After being put into the Divinity Machine, sleep was rendered pointless to his now immortal body, becoming a leisurely activity or a means to pass time. He considered it a blessing but didn’t help at the fact that all his dreams offered nothing but horrible memories from his past.

Sitting against the cave wall, he rests his head against the cold stone, wishing to himself that he had a pillow. He closes his eyes, toning the midnight ambiance out, and slowly drifts off.

CH.3 - A Seed’s Homing Pot

Zyerks awoke with a yawn as she slowly lifted herself off the gem-filled ground. She licked her lips as her eyes opened. Gems, rubies, and emeralds fell off from her shoulders—to her wings when she stood up to her full height. She turned to her left, finding the Doom Slayer sitting with his back against the wall, his arms crossed, and his chest rose and fell. Zyerks smiles at the sight of her sleeping idol. He looked so peaceful as he was sleeping. She brought her claw up gently placing it on her right cheek gawking at him in awe.

Seems he’s still asleep, she thought, wishful I am of wanting to awake him I shouldn’t. I must make haste and notify my mother and the elders of the great one’s arrival.

Looking straight she started her way down the long cavern tunnel. Exiting the cave’s mouth Zyerks stepped forward glancing up at the clear blue sky, the warm air kissing her face all over. Taking a few deep breaths, her wings opened up spreading wide, giving them a good flap lifting her body into the sky and causing the trees to rattle and shake with the force of the wind. With a few more quick flaps she flew up into the clear blue sky, distancing farther from the earth’s floor.

Reaching high to the sky the snowy drake slowed down levitating herself by the support of her wings. Her head jerked back inhaling the fire in her belly before shooting a hot torrent of cyan flames in the air. The flames dance and swirled hence the wind being pulled to an occurring anomaly taking place.

Pale lime particles begin to spark out and fly around in the contained flames, before a small green ball appears in the sky. Shining bright for just a flash, the ball dulls to an almost black shade of color, as it rapidly expands in size. The ball has transformed into a large, deep green circle. Standing almost as tall as her, the circular anomaly spins ever so slowly.

With one flap she soars into the portal.
But not long after she went through she flew out of it before said portal enveloped and disintegrated out of existence. Her wings flapped once lagging carefully and landed with ease as her feet buried beneath the snow. Her eyes blinked when she felt a sense of familiarity to a sudden humming in the air. Her eyes darted to her left.

Watering the plants with gentle care stood another female snow dragon. Both her and Zyerks were at the same height and shared the same traits of scales and spikes. The only discrimination of their differences were her snake-like eyes as they both hued in two shades of darkish and light yellow.

The snow dragon’s claw paused for a moment. They cracked their heads to Zyerk’s direction and their mouths were slightly agape as if seeing them for the first time. To all her pears, elders, and baby drakes in the snowy kingdom, they know her as Blazer. But to Zyerks, she was her dear beloved mother.

“Zyerks? Is that you, dear?”

Zyerks beamed at the sound of her voice whilst walking up to her mother. It felt like an eternity since she last hear her soft and tender tone. The last time she saw her Zyerks was a baby drake, in dragon years, she left her home when she was seven years old and yet to her it still felt like that was yesterday. Time really flies by in light speed.

“Peace to you, mother, it has been a long time.” Zyerks greeted her mother with a smile. Blazer smiled back at her dearest child.

“Peace to you as well, my daughter,” Blazer returned, “and indeed it has. It’s been ten-thousand years since the last time we’ve spoken, yes?”

“But of course mother, how could I forget?”

“Do my ears deceive me? Has the breezies of eden descended upon me - relaying to me good news that my niece has returned from her long journey?”

Stepping into the scene was another snow dragon, larger than both Zyerks and Blazer combined. Her pale red eyes showing experience and humbleness staring at Zyerk with a warm smile. The wrinkles that hung on her eyes were no exception reminding Zyerk that she wasn’t the same young drake she once was.

“Peace to you, aunty,” she greeted.

“Peace to you, my niece,” Kyerks returned, “you’ve been busy of late.”

“Tell me Zyerks, what has brought you back here?” Blazer asked, looking at her daughter curiously.

Zyerk smirked at the two drakes.

“I have good news, mother. News that I wish to discuss with you and aunty in private length,” she replied, darting her eyes from tower to tower for any signs of eve’s droppers. Both Blazer and Kyerk gauged at each other nodding their heads.

“Very well, let us go to my throne room.” Kyerk rolled her body around leading the two drakes forward.

The three snow dragons walked down the long cobblestone hallway each step of their feet echoed through the hall. There were no guards around. The only inhabitant seemed to be them as they entered their way out of the garden, in the hallway following the stone path, approaching two high double doors. With one push they entered the throne room then stopped on the middle base of the cobblestone floor and watched the double doors close with a click. Assured they were alone, Blazer and Kyerk turn their attention back to Zyerk.

“Well, we are alone dear. What is it you like to tell us?” Blazer placed her claws on her hips waiting patiently for whatever this was about.

Zyerk’s eyes closed, raising both claws in the air and stared up to the heavens.

“I have consulted with the spirits, as they deem their prophecy true and so, the great one has arrived.” Zyerks announced, smiling warmly at her mother and aunt. Blazer and Kyerks were shocked by this new revelation.

“True is it not of what you proclaim?” Blazer asked, looking at her daughter sternly.

“My words utter no lie my dear mother.” Zyerk’s crossed her arms. “He’s sleeping in the cave as we speak.”

Kyerks step up next to her daughter. She too was also curious and wanted to know more of her niece’s story. “Did you by any chance get to see him in his art of battle?”

“Indeed I have aunty.”

And indeed she has. It was one thing being told of the tales of great warriors fighting fearlessly in battle. But there were no words of narration from all the tales she learned that could mark her awe of what she witnessed yesterday. Again, being told was one thing but to actually live it and see it with your own eyes was a whole other experience.

Though she wasn’t afraid of the dragons that had her captive but anyone else If they were in her shoes definitely would’ve been. But even if they were, the dragons that were terrifying visibly to the naked eye were mere mice to an unyielding, and unstoppable executioner. His strength, speed, and overwhelming aura married together beautifully into the incarnation of death.

“It’s just so wonderful. We should take this chance to send word to the other kingdoms of his arrival! Prep a welcome festival for the Slayer.” Zyerk said, beaming at the idea of said festival.

“A wise idea it is not, Zyerk.” Kyerk retorted, walking over to a filled basket of seeds, grasping one seed in her palm. Zyerk turned to her aunt with bewilderment.

“Not a wise idea?” Zyerk was confused. “Whatever do you mean aunty?”

“To my knowledge, there are more than eleven seeds from around the world, some are big and some are small but they all share one thing in common: they all need water. On this fateful day the great one is the seed and this world is their free roam homing pot. How can one expect such a seed to sprout to life if not given the proper soil for its abiding stay?” Kyerk explained as she shot a small torrent of flames into the seed in her palm instantly transforming it into a bright rose flower.

“I believe it wouldn’t be a wise idea for the Slayer to be rushed,” Kyerks turned at her niece. “You remember our tradition do you not? We never rush our goals like the likes of your cousin Garble and his family. We go step-by-step on the road to success with determination and humility.”

“Garble?” Blazer scoffed, not delighted hearing his name mentioned. “Tsk, please do not bring up his name in these sacred grounds. Forgive me but he’s a foolish fellow.”

Zyerks gestured her claw in an optimistic protest. “Oh come now mother, he’s not that bad. He’s still family.”

“There are no words in the tongues of breezies nor dogs that could mark my disdain. Immeasurable is my disappointment for his bad character.” Blazer commented, crossing her arms and shaking her head. Kyerks nodded in agreement to Blazer’s comment.

“I have to agree with your mother on this one, my dear niece,” said Kyerks. “Do you remember his last visit here, Blazer?”

“Indeed I do,” replied Blazer. “When my mate, Luna rest his soul, told Garble about the prophecy, he laughed and called him a crazy old man. He was lucky we let him go, otherwise if our hearts were as hardened as other dragons he would’ve gotten more than just a seventh tier torrent of our flames.”

Kyerks cleared her throat.

“Getting back on topic, my advice to you my dear niece is to not rush things with him,” Kyerks said, walking up to her niece resting her claw on her shoulder. “Think of him like a sponge; let him absorb everything that this world has to offer, and you best assure you follow his every command with absolute. Step-by-step, let his soul be at ease with you, and you alone.”

Zyerk stared at her aunt taking in every word she was told. Indeed she was right it would be an unwise move to just hurdler things at the Slayer when he just arrived here. It’s too soon nor is it right and un proper. Furthermore, this made her more determined to strive to be his loyal and righteous servant at heart. Even as a fully grown matured dragon Zyerks still has a lot to learn and she’s sure she’ll learn more new lessons in the road ahead.

Raising one finger Kyerk continued. “And you best also make sure to keep note of every action he makes and maybe even learn more about him than just his talents. Avoid fueling the furnace of his anger if need be of whatever may displease him except if his anger is towards his enemies. But most of all, stay by his side until the end.”

Filled with determination by her aunt’s instructions she stepped back and beamed at the both of them.

“Thank you for your advice my dear aunty, I shall do my best to take it with good memory.” Zyerks places her right claw to the base of her heart before bowing her head in utmost respect. Kyerks and Blazer gauged at one another darting back to Zyerks and nodded.

Blazer rolled her body around and jerked her head back, inhaling the fire in her belly before shooting a hot torrent of cyan flames in the air. The flames dance and swirl, instantly forming into a ball rapidly expanding in size. As the large deep green circle appeared before her, Blazer turned to her daughter, gesturing her right claw to the portal. “You best be off Zyerks, you wouldn’t want to keep your lord waiting when he awakes.”

Zyerk nodded but before she could start her way towards the portal Blazer wrapped her arms around her hugging her daughter close.

“When the time is ripe we shall meet again. Take care, my dear.” Blazer whispered, pulling back from her embrace before planting her lips on her daughter’s forehead.

Once the two pull away Zyerk starts her way past her mother and into the portal striding forth with determination towards the future.

Right thumb raised then tapped the top button. The circular reels spun to life signaling the handler that it was on. The handler sighed softly and spoke in calm composure.

“This is Dr. Elena Richardson, log entry 002 - subject analysis of Doom Slayer. January 24th, 2163.

There is no chance that the subject is a demon - we have blood samples pulled from Mars base event that show his blood type is AB positive. He is male with a genome that makes him very much a member of the human race, but the enhanced strength, speed and athleticism would indicate otherwise. But we can see from the blood samples that there are foreign bodies present of unknown origin.

I cannot as a contributing member of the scientific community agree with the assumption by some of my colleagues that he is, for lack of a better word...a God; an avenging angel - the right hand of Doom here to save humanity from its sins. But... I cannot ignore that the timing of his arrival - the identity of his enemies - the fire and brimstone element to this catastrophe we currently find ourselves in has...it has definitely shaken my scientific resolve.”

With a click, she ends her log.

CH.4 - A Scream Beyond The Trees

The Doom Slayer’s eyes shot open. Right arm reaches for his back whipping out his super shotgun aiming it from side to side finding none in his surroundings as if to defend himself from the last remnant of his memory. He paused, his muscles twitching as his chest rises and falls quickly. He could feel his heart pounding wild against his ribcage, beating as though he was still living through the last waking moment, even though he vaguely became aware he was no longer in danger. Fresh adrenaline coursed through his veins - eager and waiting for something that would happen, which it already had. Not only was his body motivated to be alert thanks to the adrenaline, but it also sharpened his other senses.

Completely aware he was no longer feeling the dread of incoming physical danger, he closed his eyes and tried to get his body to slow down, bringing himself out from the last memory of whatever it was.

No, he thought, reassuring himself. It was just another nightmare.

Slowly, he raised his eyelids.

He blinked in bemusement when he noticed smoke dancing through funnel loops above him. Sitting himself up, his eyes followed the smoke’s trail along with awareness of someone humming a melody tune as it bounces across the stone walls.

Eyes landed on the source finding the back scales of a snowy drake wagging their tail side-to-side. Was that her? He thought, a bit surprised of how musical her voice was to his ears. The humming melody stopped as the snowy drake swiveled their head around to the Doom Slayer’s direction. She stared at him, her lips formed from ear to ear a broad smile.

“Good morning my Lord. I hope you slept well,” Zyerks said, bowing her head with her right claw placed to her heart. “I went out to find you something for breakfast. I didn’t know which food you’d like, so I came back with this. Fried and well cooked salmon.”

He stared at her with a blank expression. Cooked salmon, he thought to himself. The last time he’d eat any food was when his mother made him a plate of bacon and eggs with a cup filled with the sweetest of orange juice during his childhood many eons ago. However, just as sleeping was rendered off the list, even eating wasn’t needed with his immortal body. Subconsciously his HUD flickered to life, his eyes trailed off to the upper left side of his screen, and was nearly in shock when he suddenly became aware of the time.

Thursday/July 1st/2011

Wait… he’s been asleep for two-hundred and forty-three days?! Was he that tired when he arrived here? No, he thought relaxing his muscles, maybe he just overslept. Yeah that had to be it. One thing’s for sure though, this is the last time he should ever go to sleep.

Getting to his feet he trudges his way over to the small fire pit in the middle of the cave, sitting cross legged on gold and gemstones. Speared by a wooden skewer cooking above the dancing flames is today’s breakfast; a gigantic salmon. He found himself staring down into the pit, eyes glued on the dancing flames which touched and licked the underside of the meat. He wondered how it’ll taste once finished.

“It’s ready my Lord.” Zyerks’s calm voice bounces across the stone walls of the cave. He reached up, gripping the sides of his headgear, and giving it a twist. There was a slight hiss as the pressure seal was broken, and the Doom Slayer extricated his helmet from his protective covering.

When Zyerks saw his face she was quite shocked, and in awe. The best way she could describe what she was seeing was a hairless ape. Long straight dark gold hair cascaded around noble facial features, as eyes of icy blue showing great experience and weariness stared at the cooked fish with calm composure.

Oh my, oh my, she thought, right cheek cupped by her claw as she could feel her blood rushing to her cheeks. For a hairless ape and a force of destruction. . . he’s beautifully handsome. As if the prophecy couldn’t be any more true to what she was seeing, her Lord was beautiful in her eyes, and that increased her love for him tremendously. But it wasn’t a romantic type that filled her heart and soul. Rather it was a love that inspired her.

Holding it by the tail, he detaches it from the skewer. Rising and turning around, he gives his new acquaintance Snowy Drake most of his attention, but not before taking a large and eager bite. It tastes fine. But not good enough to eat on everyday lunches; he’ll have to make do with this one for now.

Zyerks eyes blinked, realizing she’s been gawking at him for too long before immediately shaking her head, snapping herself back in reality.

“So my Lord, I was thinking since you’re new here in our world that, if I may, I could give you a grand tour around the place,” Zyerks said gesturing her hand at the entrance, “once you know your way around I could take you to a few places as a start to find that which you lost.”

Taking another bite of the belly, his eyes glance over to the snowy drake, taking her words in his thoughts. Zyerks had a point, and he was well aware of it. He got lucky he was able to find one out of his arsenal but he’s got seven more still unfound and searching for them by foot could take up his whole day. He can accept her being a helping hand, and while she is friendly he can not lose the firmness of his guard. He’ll keep her close whilst keeping an eye on her, closely…

Tossing the fin into the fire, he stood up and grabbed his helmet from the gold filled floor. Pulling it over his head, the HUD flickers to life, as a cushioned rubber ring slowly tightens and compresses around his neck, creating an artificial environment. As his armor calibrates itself, he begins making his way towards the mouth of the entrance but abruptly stops. Turning to his shoulder glancing up at the snowy drake beside him moving up to the tight shackle contracted around her neck.

Zyerks notices his gaze and looks down at him tilting her head.

“Is something wrong my Lord?” She asked, looking at him with curiosity.

He raised his hand gesturing her to come close. She leaned in, getting eye level with him and watched as he walked over to her side staring at the wrapped steel shackle. Both hands grabbed hold of the collar clutching both sides in his grasp and with a swift effortlessly ripped it off her with ease freeing her scaly neck.

Carefully Zyerks stroked her claw from the front, her sides, and her nape. A sense of ease washed over her causing her to let out a relieving sigh. She immediately got down on both knees lowering with her claws down and her head bowed in subservience on the ground.

“Thank you for freeing my neck’s shackled prison, my Lord. It was indeed a bit hard to get air in my lungs with that metallic collar wrapped around me,” Zyerks said, glancing up at him. Her lips formed from a broad—to a warming smile, “beget I shall not of your act of Kindness for I will treasure this in my heart.”

The Doom Slayer didn’t nod and just stared at her blankly.

“Well let’s not waste anymore time here. Shall we go?”

Right wing laid gently next to the Slayer’s side. Taking this gesture he gently climbed over her wing, following up to her shoulder, neatly sitting on top of her back.

Slowly she stood back up and began to stomp straight down the long cavern tunnel. As they exited the cave Zyerks stepped forward carefully examining the trees and areas around the forest.

She took a few deep breaths, her wings opened up spreading wide, giving them a good flap lifting her body into the sky and causing everything to rattle and shake with the force of the wind. With a few more quick flaps she flew up into the clear blue sky, the earth’s floor getting farther now from view.

Reaching high to the sky the snowy drake slowed down levitating herself by the support of her wings flapping. She stared into the view before her. Spreading her arms wide announcing to her master.

“Lord Slayer, Welcome to Equestria!”

Inside the cottage a group of animals surrounded a butter yellow pegasus in a circle listening closely as she read to her dear friends their favorite book.

“When the chicken opened her eyes, she wondered if they had; for verily it was so dark it was as if they were still shut. Imagine how frightening it was for the little chicken to find no one around her. She could—”

Her narration was interrupted by a soft knock at the door alerting Fluttershy and her animals. She looked at all the critters, bears, birds, and mammals sitting around her raising one hoof.

“Um, could you excuse me for a moment, please?” Each animal nodded and began to scatter from different directions. With that she stood up making her way to the door. Raising her hoof she opens it, winding it up before her seeing two familiar mares standing outside of her doorstep. One on the right a cyan pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane, and one on the left a lavender unicorn with a rim cut navy blue-colored mane.

“Oh, good morning Twilight, good morning Rainbow.” Fluttershy greeted them, her lips adorn with a warm smile.

“Good Morning Fluttershy,” Twilight returned happily, “I hope we’re not interrupting anything. If we are, we could always come back later.”

Fluttershy shook her head while waving her hoof. “Oh not at all Twilight. What brings you two here?”

“Well me, Rainbow Dash, Spike, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie are on our way to the dragon migration and we were wondering if you’d like to come with us?” Twilight offered through her reply.

“Oh I’d love to—”

There was a brief delay as Fluttershy’s brain processed Twilight’s words before inevitably cutting her words short. She stared into deep space, her mind filled with images of fiery torrents of flames, and three gigantic silhouettes of scaly winged lizards with bright snake-like eyes staring at her, a chilling audible chuckle escaping through their lips. Fluttershy cupped both her cheeks screaming and tried to flee back inside. Halfway towards the stairs she was pinned down by the cyan pegasus.

Twilight watched while stepping inside the cottage insisting to her friend. “C'mon, Fluttershy, it'll be fun!”

The shy buttered yellow pegasus clawed her hooves on the carpet as Rainbow Dash had hold of her tail in her teeth dragging her towards the door.

“There's nothing fun about dragons! Scary, yes! Fun, no!” Fluttershy commented, pulling her tail off of Rainbow’s teeth galloping towards the stairs before being stopped by the cyan pegasus again, pushing her back towards the main entrance.

“But Fluttershy, the great dragon migration happens only once in a generation! Do you really wanna pass up a chance like that?”

Counting on all her four hooves for support, Fluttershy firmly grip on the back side entrance’s ellipse shaped wood from being pushed any further to the outside world.

“Now that you put it that way, yes!” She replied.

In a flash the lavender unicorn disappeared—then reappeared outside of the cottage standing before Fluttershy with a genuine smile.

“Aw, Fluttershy, we just don't want you to miss out.” Twilight said. Fluttershy puzzledly looked at her.

“Miss out on what? Dragons? Big, scaly, fire-breathing dragons?” Fluttershy queried. Twilight took a moment to process the querying question through her mind before looking back at her pony friend with a smile and replied.

“Well... yeah!”

“Thanks, but... no thanks!” Fluttershy faltered clearly. Rainbow Dash stops having enough of this and gets up to the timid pegaus’s level.

“Look, Fluttershy, I watched that boring butterfly migration with you,” Rainbow Dash recalled, pulling out a picture taken of the recent butterfly migration she spent with her, “so now it's your turn to watch the dragon migration with me! You owe me!”

At that moment Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed, her chest rising and falling, and a mixing feeling between anger and fear derived its way from her chest, rising up to her throat, escaping out of her lips into a near squeaky shout.

“I... said... no!”

Before Rainbow Dash could react Fluttershy thrust her hooves to her chest adding a left leg kick to her belly air escaping through the cyan pegasus’s lungs. Twilight gasped unexpectedly, shocked at her friend’s sudden brute strength. She galloped straight for the window letting out a low growl, gritting her teeth, aggressively raising both her hooves in the air before bringing them back down, opening the window up with tenderness and leaped out.

Fluttershy up on her heels without even turning around. She forced herself to breathe, faced slightly to the right of the field and ran. Imbued with the strength the butter pegasus had she ran as hard and fast as she could. Her heart was pounding as she tried her best to run, not daring to open her eyes in fear that she may see a nonexistent dragon descending down upon her. Despite every ounce of her being telling her to stop. She ran off the main road and into a forest. She dodged tree after tree, jumped root after root. She felt her strength begin to fade. Her sprinting became a gallop, her gallop a trot. Finally, Fluttershy had to stop completely. She panted heavily trying her best to relax and calm her beating heart.

It’s okay Fluttershy it’s okay, she thought reassuring herself, there’s no dragons following you… you’re okay.

Aware and assured she was not being chased, she slowly raised her eyelids. Raising became an opening, opening—to blinking in bewilderment. She finds herself oddly in… the Everfree?

‘Oh my, I must’ve ran too far by instinct that I didn’t pay attention to where I was going.’ Fluttershy scanned her surroundings finding none but large pillared trees and bushes. She really did run too far deep didn’t she?

‘I should probably find my way back then.’ Fluttershy thought to herself looking around the area hoping to find a path or maybe a road back to her cottage. After sitting for a good few minutes her legs were recharged then stood up ready to advance. Until she stops dead in her tracks when she hears a deep guttural growl from behind her neck.

The Doom Slayer watched the snowy drake explaining and pointing out the small neighborhood while the indicators in his helmet told him it was detecting a lot of small dotted life forms coming from the town.

“Over there is a magical and harmonies town called: Ponyville,” Zyerke pointed her claw at the various apartments each bigger than the other, “inhabited by ponies from three different races; you have the earth ponies, the soaring pegasus, and quite talent unicorns.”

His eyes followed her claw as she pointed from a mile away to what he believed to be a silhouette of a castle. Like all images of the castle he had seen through books, amusement parks, and television shows. This image of the castle was mythical and—he couldn’t quite find the right word for it, but then it came to him:

majestic.

“And about a mile from here is one of Equestria’s beautiful ancient kingdoms: Canterlot. Ruled by the two Princesses of the sun and moon. The main ruler out of the two is Princess Celestia, and the second is her sister Princess Luna. At least that’s what I’m told.” Zyerks explained, eyes glued at two towers while the Slayer starred in silent awe.

Zyerks turned her head at him. “Of course, I’ve never met them before nor have I seen them but I’ve been told by my people that their beauty is exquisitely striking to the eye.”

The Doom Slayer nodded taking in each piece of information. So this confirms it. He’s no longer in his world. Right hand gripped a spike from the back of the snowy drake and a heat had begun to grow within his gut. Not only did Samuel Hayden send him away he tossed him into another dimension like plastic to a bin. Was it his intention to send him to his personal prison of a fluffy, cute little world just so he would have time to continue his work? Was this a joke to him or something? Slowly his chest starts to rise and fall. If this was his way of mocking him and making a joke out of him then he better be prepared for the day he finds him!

He could be back in his dimension saving innocents from the demons right now. Instead he’s stuck here in a childish world because of a cyborg bastard who wanted to use a dangerous artifact for the sake of science. Because he had no choice! The Doom Slayer stopped himself as he felt his rage building up from his gut—to his throat. He took a calming breath, he needs to stay calm, seething in anger isn’t gonna get him nowhere, and focus on his new goal, finding a way off this world. Just as the Slayer finished his thought he turned back to his snowy drake companion realizing that he was too deep into his thoughts that he hadn’t paid attention to whatever it was she was explaining.

“As for this my Lord right below us,” Zyerks said, looking down at hundreds of trees dotting the earth’s floor causing the Slayer to also look down. “Is the Everfree forest. To this day Just five percent of the forest remains mostly undiscovered and unseen by all and is undoubtedly a dangerous place in these parts. I for one would not venture here for not even one piece of a gem except in great need.”

She turns her head back to the Slayer.

“So where would you like to go first? We could go to Applelossa or Manehattan, though it would be a big risk considering ponies would scatter and scream their heads off seeing a dragon flying over the city.”

The Doom Slayer just sat staring at her blankly.

“Dodge Junction maybe or the Dragon Lands?”

Cupping the chin of his helmet the Doom Slayer hummed quietly thinking. His eyes darted back the snowy drake nodding his head.

Zyerks nods back to the gesture.

“Very well, Dragons Lands then Dodge Jun—”

Just as she was about to finish her sentence both of them heard an ear shattering roar, and screams. At the same time his armor registered a heat bloom about not too far from their current location. Rolling her body around Zyerks and the Doom Slayer looked straight at the direction of the roar as sounds of low growls and barks echoed through the trees of the Everfree. The two stood still wondering what in the world could be happening over there.

She placed her claws on her hips, saying under her breath. “Hmm… I knew there were some who had escaped through his slaughter in the cave last night.”

Without taking her eyes off the direction where they both heard it Zyerks asked. “Should we go check it out?”

She felt her nape tapped by the gloved hand of the Slayer almost telepathically giving her the green light. She nodded before her wings began to spread wide.

“Very well, hold on tight my Lord!”

With a great flap Zyerks started diving down, the Slayer’s thoughts focused, the trees rushing past him in a blur, as they streaked their way toward the screams.

CH.5 - First Witness

Hoove-steps echoed through the crystal cavern. The sound echoed off the walls, slightly disturbing some sleeping bats that darted out of hiding to find a new perch. They flew high up in the air, screeching and flapping their wings as they did so. The sound was like a warning signal for the inhabitants of the cavern to move on.

Starting down the tunnels was a light pink coat alicorn mare sitting with their back facing the visitor. Their candy mane traced down to her hooves, barely touching the ground and another tracing over her wings. She wore a small golden crown atop her head with purple gems encrusted around its rim. Her neck wrapped with a golden necklace, and wears golden hoof shoes. Her flank plastered with the crystal heart as a cutie mark, and her purple eyes glowed like embers while her face seemed impassive, unmoved by the sounds around her. A slight smirk curved upon her lips at the sight.

She turned her gaze towards a steel door, painted with red runes along its surface. The door looked worn and dull from the amount of time it had seen use. It was slightly chipped with one corner coming loose, a sign of how long it’s been here. As she walked towards the large keyhole that covered one of the sides of the door, her horn lights up with a faint green. The light emitted a faint misty aura. A small, yet heavy set of iron keys jingled in her magic as she pushed them against the lock, causing it to slide to the right. With a quick flick she removed the keys from the lock and tossed them to the side before pressing down firmly on the lever. An audible click filled the room as the door opened.

She entered and closed the door behind her, locking it once again. Her hooves clomped lightly against the ground, mane swaying gently as her footsteps reverberated throughout the chamber. She smirked again, this time a little wider, a bit devilish. It brought an eerie sense of satisfaction within the being.

“Good afternoon, cotton ball.”

There, sat with their back facing the visitor was a light pink coat alicorn mare. Their candy mane was wild and unkempt, the fur was dirty and her tail drooped sadly in front of them, and her flank plastered with the crystal heart as a cutie mark. The alicorn mare turned to see who entered, their purple eyes meeting the identical ones before them. Immediately they narrowed their eyes, scowling at the intruder.

“I must say though I’m impressed. After all the torture I’ve put you through I’m surprised your mind hasn’t brake by now.” The intruder teased. A snort left the mare’s nose as her ears flattened against her skull. Despite not having spoken she could read the mare's thoughts. She had no interest in talking with the creature in front of her.

“Oh? You got nothing to say? Come now, I expected more from the Princess of the crystal empire.” The figure jeered as she moved closer to the mare, a sickening grin growing onto her face. “Or, is it that you’re still mad at the fact that I have your dear future husband in my clutches? He does seem quite fond of me, don't you think?”

The alicorn mare didn’t respond, instead continuing to stare at the other in silence.

“Come now, I would think he'd be grateful at least. You can be a very generous pony after all! Why else would I need to go through all that trouble to kidnap him and keep him as the perfect tool for my next phase of conquest.” The figure chuckled, reaching out to stroke the mare’s cheek. The mare slapped her hoof away, glaring angrily to the ground.

“But that’s not why you’re here isn’t it, Chrysalis?” The alicorn prisoner said in a well composed tone.

“Well, aren’t you a smart cookie.” The imposter known as Chrysalis chuckled. “I can see why he likes you, Cadance.”

The prisoner revealed as Cadance sighed. “Well, why are you here?” She inquired turning away from the tyrant.

“Alright, I’ll push aside my games.” Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed. “Where are the hidden elements?”

Cadance closed her eyes. “Even if I knew, what makes you think I’m gonna tell you?”

Chrysalis let out a chuckle. “You think I’m a fool? You may be clever, but that doesn’t mean anything to someone like me. Don’t play dumb with me, Cadance. We both know that you know their whereabouts. Give it up already.”

Cadance scoffed. “And betray my aunts, and doom all of Equestria? No, I will not. I would rather perish then let other ponies suffer under the heel of the false ruler you call yourself queen!”

“Don’t make me laugh!” Chrysalis shouted, taking a step towards the other. “I am far superior to you, you worthless lump of flesh and blood! I am your worst nightmare, a nightmare that haunts every single one of your nightmares.”

The two glared at each other in silence. A tension hung in the air between them, as heavy as a stone in the riverbed. Finally, Cadance broke the silent spell. “Then go ahead and execute me, if you think you could get anything done anyways.”

Chrysalis slowly smirked. “No, I won’t kill you. Not today anyway. I still need you after all, you’re a second tool for the next phase.” She backs away from Cadance. “But until that time is ripe you’ll remain here. With no hope of anypony coming to rescue you.”

Cadance watched the proud imposter starting their way down the door. The alicorn’s lips slightly smirked with confidence. “You know, I bet you'd be a lot shorter than me without all that seaweed you call a mane.”

Chrysalis stopped dead, going completely silent. She stayed like that for what felt like eternities before Cadance added insult to injury.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I struck a nerv—“ Her sentence was cut short when a beam of eerie green magic fled out from the imposter’s horn, engulfing Cadance.

Pain exploded through her whole body as she began convulsing and shrieking out in agony. Tears sprung from her eyes as every inch of her ached in pain and her mind was filled with screams of agony. It felt like hours before the pain finally abated, falling to the ground breathing heavily.

Every breath burned in her lungs like fire. She could barely make out her captor laughing at her as she laid panting in front of her. She tried to force herself to her feet but collapsed again, unable to even take a single step. She stared into the other’s eyes, glaring at Cadance with sheer contempt.

“Let me make this clear to you, princess,” Chrysalis said, her tone unsettling while slowly creeping towards the stunned alicorn, “if I wanted to escort you six feet under I could; but I brought you here as my prisoner, and the only reason that you’re still alive is because you are the last piece of the puzzle so if I were you I hold your tongue!”

Cadance let out a groan as she slowly lifted herself up off the ground.

“Say what you want, it won't work.” Cadance turned at the tyrant changeling with determination. “Evil can never win, especially evil ponies like you. I still have hope. Hope that somepony will come and stop you.”

Chrysalis smirked at the determined mare.

“Ha, alright humor me who is this mare you speak of?” Chrysalis asked, looking at Cadance curiously.

“Her name is Twilight Sparkle.”

“You mean that little slag bookworm that spends all her time reading books twenty-four seven?” Chrysalis was disappointed. “She couldn’t even best against Nightmare Moon on her own and yet you think she could best me?”

“That’s where you’re wrong, my source says she wasn’t alone. She made friends that helped her along the way and together they were able to defeat Nightmare Moon; and it’s because of their aid that when united they make the impossible possible.” Cadance answered confidently. Do not underestimate them.” She narrowed her eyes at the tyrant imposter. “But most of all, do not underestimate her.”

Chrysalis remained quiet, staring intently at the prisoner, before nodding curtly. “I suppose I shouldn’t waste anymore time talking to you. Your hope for your friend is futile, and your hope for a happy ending …is meaningless. All that matters right now is the end result. If the outcome of victory pleases me then there is nothing you can do about it. And I am the one who has power over destiny?” Chrysalis clicked her tongue. “What a naïve notion, you worthless cotton sop. You should be smart enough to know how pointless your wishes are.”

Chrysalis rolls her body around, walking towards the steel door . She placed her hooves on either side of the entrance. She raised her head to look back at Cadance.

“Oh, and as for Twilight Sparkle, well, we shall see if she is as you claimed her to be.”

With that she pressed against the door, the large metal slab slowly sliding back into place sealing the prisoner inside once more, leaving her lying helplessly on the cold floor.

Fluttershy panted like crazy, air rushing to her lungs. Tears swept across her face as every stride of her desperate gallop sent pain shooting through her hooves and legs. She had to do something. She must open up her wings and fly away quickly, she thought but, when she tried, she found them stuck, glued to her sides by fear. Despite every ounce of her being telling her to stop, she tried her best to keep running as her heart continued to pound against her rib cage. Her whole body was crying out for relief, her legs aching badly.

Fluttershy nearly had a panic attack when a loud roar pierced her ears, shaking her whole being. Her head whipped around to look behind her, as not one, not two, but an unnaturally large group of dragons appeared from behind the clouds, flying at a high rate of speed straight for her. In that millisecond she counted at least ten of them. She heard a snapping sound behind her, looking over her shoulder as she saw that a dragon had tried to bite down on her, it quickly recoiled its head, letting out an annoyed roar as it continued flying again. The large beast opened its jaws, trying to close them on her a second time but missed when the butter yellow pegasus took a quick turn causing its head to collide with a large boulder.

She took another turn, stopping dead in her tracks facing a rather large wall. Her head darted up—side to side, looking for anywhere she could climb on, her chest rising and falling due to her heavy breathing. Fluttershy felt her heart leap|| to her throat when she heard ten tremendous thuds shake the ground. Fluttershy ventured a slow, robotic motion around her shoulder. Fluttershy felt her heart almost stop as her eyes widened at the sight before her.

Eight giant dragons had come to land before her. One of the dragons growled softly as smoke billowed from its nose. The leader (Who was to the left of the aforementioned drake) was the calmest of the few, it had darkish grey scales, a white underbelly, snake-like venom green eyes and greyish single-lined spikes on its back and tail. Beside it were twins of the same albino color, the rest of the group though, all had scales in different shades of color.

The fourth; a darkish purple.

The fifth; green tinted in black.

The sixth; lemon yellow.

The seventh; flaming orange.

Finally the eighth; light pink.

“You have no idea how deep you dug your grave, you little runt,” the yellow one exclaimed, cracking his knuckles.

“Darn right boss. I spent too much time trying to get that gem and this little... little pest ruined it by crushing it with her meaty hooves!” The purple one shouted aggravatingly. The group all nodded their heads in empathy and agreement.

“Oh… umm… I… I’m so sorry. I-I didn’t mean too, I was just…,” The yellow pegasus timidly said, trying to hide behind her pink mane.

The lead drake shook his head, “Sorry ain’t gonna cut it missy,”.

The leader then raised his claw, intending to punish her without an ounce of mercy, but then he was struck by a thought.

“Hmm… you know what, I’ve changed my mind, I'm not gonna eat you,” He said calmly, lowering his arm, a toothy smirk now adorning his face.

“Oh…. I… uh… thank you…I guess I’ll just…,” The yellow pegasus was reduced to mumbling trying to step to the side and leave, only to be blocked by a half cupped claw.

“Who said I was letting you go?” The ||leader continued, his lips adorn with a smug smile. “You didn’t let me finish, you little runt. I did say that I’m not gonna eat you, I didn't say anything about other plans though...,”

“Boss! Boss!”

Everyone including Fluttershy paused as they looked to the direction of the sky where a little, sandy tan drake descended upon them, one of the drakes in the group clicking their tongue in annoyance that the entertainment had been cut short by this interruption.

Upon landing, the little drake sprinted up to the leader, bumping into his leg before glancing up at him.

“Boss, thank goodness I found you,” The little drake said, letting out a sigh of relief. The leader just tilted his head in puzzlement though.

“What are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay in the cave and guard our gold?” He demanded, his eyebrow raised in confusion.

“Yes, I know, but that’s just what I came to tell you about!” He suddenly exclaimed, concern clear in his voice. The other drakes just gave each other confused looks though upon hearing this.

The leader again raised a brow at the little one, “Whatever do you mean? Tell me what?”

Fluttershy carefully peeked around the corner of the grey dragon’s leg getting a better view of the little drake.

The tan drake cleared his throat, “Boss you’re not gonna believe this but, while you were away this thing, this creature, came into our cave, we tried to get rid of it but…,” he covered his face with his claws, “Oh Faust the amount of effort we did wasn’t nearly enough, it slaughtered them all, every last one of them!”

The light pink dragon blinked, staring at the little drake with a blank expression.

“It slaughtered all of them..?”

“Yes, but I managed to escape the massacre, I wish I could tell you more but we don’t have much time! That monster could be here any moment, we need to get out of here before!—”

At first Fluttershy didn’t know what happened, there was a massive thud that shook the ground, causing her to flinch and shut her eyes, and then something warm and wet spattered against her coat. As her eyelids slowly opened, Fluttershy gasped, the little drake had disappeared! She could see his remains in a puddle of blood, surrounded by a crimson mist. But nothing could prepare her for what she saw behind that cloud of mist. Covered in crimson fluid was an armored, bipedal creature. She wasn’t sure what it was at first, the proportions looked off and for one, the figure was thicker, with stockier legs, it looked almost like an adolescent dragon, or a minotaur maybe? She wondered as she ran her eyes over the flat, green surface of the armor it wore, her aqua eyes followed down, finding lighter patches across the creature’s chest and signs of battle scars on the arms, only deeper, and more… brutal. Its armor looked battered and worn.

"Are those claw marks?" She thought, her eyes darting from one part of the armor to another, "What could’ve attacked it to create those..?"

“Well don’t just stand there!” Fluttershy heard the lead dragon shout, “Burn the little cretin!”

The purple dragon pulled back, inhaling all the fire it held up inside its belly. The creature cracked its head, reaching down, it then pulled a metallic ball from a pouch on its waist belt, its thumb flicking a small pin from the top before chucking it into the now wide open mouth of the purple dragon, the flaming glow in its neck fading rapidly. The drake brought his claws up, grasping around his neck as his throat contracted, causing him to cough and gag. With this opening advantage, the armored creature lunged into the air, pulling a different strange metallic object from its back, this one having a wooden handle with what looked like two metal tubes connected to it. The creature pointed this device at the head of the purple dragon, a loud boom, like a small explosion, sounded, this was followed by two flashes coming from the tubes, causing the purple drake's head to explode in a cloud of red, his decapitated cadaver falling to the ground with a thump.

Breaking the two tubes open, the creature slammed a small red cylinder into each tube before slamming the tubes shut again, it then whipped the weapon around behind it, propelling itself forward through the air by firing a couple shots towards the green tinted dragon, its face exploding in a cloud of gore. The creature then threw the weapon to the side, disappearing in a flash. Cocking its right fist back, bawling tightly into a fist, the creature plunged it through the forehead of the lemon yellow drake, creating an explosion of bone, flesh, and brain. His body fell on its back leaving the five other dragons and the butter yellow pegasus stunned.

The creature landed on one knee, turning its head just in time to see another dragon charging towards it, mouth fully agape. It then rolled its body to face the winged lizard, bringing both hands up and taking a step back, curling its fingers into a tight fist. Right as the flaming orange dragon was inches from snapping its jaws, the creature sidestepped, and a loud spine-chilling crunching sound broke through the air.

The creature’s right fist had struck, landing its effortless might straight into its victim’s neck. The drake’s eyes shrunk as his windpipe was crushed, his forward momentum being canceled by the equal stopping force of the punch. His body betrayed itself and swung itself free of the ground, its whole being shifting out from under the overwhelming power of the punch and hitting the ground with a hard thud.

The drake jerked and twitched on the ground, as he tried desperately to get air through his broken windpipe, only for it to be filled with blood that now also poured freely from his mouth. He squirmed and jerked, as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. It lasted for a few seconds though until his body finally stopped squirming, life having escaped it.

Fluttershy stared at the fresh corpse that lay not too far from her. Fear coursed its way through every vein of her body, causing her to curl up shivering on the floor. Never before had she seen such a display of violence and brutality. This creature, this monster was without a doubt from the darkest depths of Tartarus. Watching it massacre the other drakes Fluttershy trembled as she considered what destruction it might wreak upon all she held dear. She wanted to run, more than anything, she really wanted to, but her limbs had been turned to lead by an all consuming terror. Though even if she had the will to turn and run, something in the back of her mind told her that would be a very bad idea…

One dragon among the group, colored in a light pink, stared in horror as the monster stood with blood dripping from both bawled fists. Rather than face the wrath of this bipedal freak of nature, he spread his wings and decided that it was time to flee but he wouldn't get very far with this plan. With speed faster than Rainbow Dash herself, the creature jumped up and grabbed the poor drake's tail, hurling him into the ground. The light pink dragon just had time to scream, before the creature punched its fist clean through the poor firebreather's head with a practiced ease. Gore oozed and dripped from the gaping hole. Looking up, the creature saw the three remaining dragons stare at it in horror.

The creature then started to slowly towards them but stopped halfway when it caught a glimpse of something. With a double-take, it walked backwards slowly and turned its head. They watched as the figure trotted its way towards a bush shoving both arms in and yanking out a large metallic object in both hands.

Both the dragons and Fluttershy’s eyes slowly widened as they all felt their heart sink to their stomach at the sight before them. The creature had another metallic object in its hands, though this one was as big as its torso, with three long sets of barrels, each set having three barrels stuck together in a triangular formation. Slowly the barrels began to spin to life, they spun faster and faster every second, once reaching top speed though, all three of the dragons were struck by a swarm of powerful projectiles, mulching the two albino dragons, and mutilating the lead drake. Steam billowed out of the barrels as the creature watched their bodies collapse to the floor.

For what felt like an eternity the creature stood in silence with the trees and air, its head then turned to look in the yellow pegasus’s direction. Not for very long though did it watch her, before she heard, and felt, a tremendous thud shake the ground, directing her attention instead to what now stood behind the creature. It was another dragon but bigger and one that she had never seen before, its scales were pure white quite like snow, it reminded her of Angel in a way.

Fluttershy felt herself quaking with fear as the figure and the drake approached her. As they strode calmly toward Fluttershy she sat there glued to the ground, her eyes welled up with tears, she was too afraid to move, run, or even fly away. If… this was it, if this was how her life ends, then she was glad that none of her friends, her animals or Angel were here to witness her upcoming doom. Will it be painful? Fluttershy wondered as the duo drew nearer, her wide eyed expression and body remained as immovable as stone, her eyes flickered, her vision began to blur and she promptly fell to the ground, unconscious. . .