The sun shined brightly, high in the sky, we had been traveling for a little over a day. Birds happily sang their tunes without a care in the world. Today we were stopping up by the side of a stream we had come across. I stared down into the water as fish swam by… It has been so long since I've had any form of meat. I drew my knife and quickly stabbed down when a fish got close enough to me. I grinned, knowing just how good this’ll taste compared to the food with a shitload of preservatives in it. After a few moments, I realized that the other fish probably swam off after I killed their friend. The size of the fucker was something to be happy about:

This bitch was huge!

I quickly spun around, seeing that Blaze and Chrysalis already had a fire going. “You ponies and your need to eat,” Chrysalis shook her head. “Are you certain you don’t want any more fish? I’m certain you can catch two, maybe three more if you tried,” she hummed as she sipped on a cup of hot cocoa she got from… somewhere. She probably bought some while we were stocking up on provisions. Dunno how she heated it up so fast though.

I raised an eyebrow and side-eyed Chryssy. “You just like watching my ass shake in the air while I was fishing.”

“Well… That is the main reason; you have a nice looking backside,” my marefriend giggled. “You are the one pony I’ve seen that’s even remotely decent at fishing; all of them think sitting and being patient with a fishing rod is efficient.” I snorted. “I forget just who I am dealing with, though. You are far, far from a pony where it matters.”

“Of course I am. I ain’t a pussy who squirms at the sight of something getting killed.” I chuckled.

“Still mad about what Luna said?” Blaze asked. She was gnawing on a bone. “Let it go, Ostri.”

“Meh, I just love how Luna has the audacity to call me a monster, undeserving of love,” I humorlessly chuckled. “I don’t know what I saw in that mare. I really don’t.”

Blaze sneezed. “I just don’t know what went wrong in that mare’s head. You two were deeply in love with each other a thousand years ago…” She sneezed again. “I want to play fetch,” she floated her bone over to me. “Throw it, but don’t touch,” I chuckled and did exactly that after skewering the fish and holding it over the fireplace with a wing. We sat and played while my food cooked. Eventually Blaze settled down and wrapped her tails around Chryssy after wearing herself out.

It was fun to see how quickly those two became best buds.

After I ate, Chrysalis decided to take a swim in the stream, as it was actually pretty big for a stream; it was more of a creek than stream. So I joined in, splashing water her way, making her hair droop over her face. Chrysalis squealed for a moment, before her head rose above the water again, spitting some of the water out. “Ostri, this is not something you wish to do; all out war against me is a fight that will not end well.”

“We’ll end up cuddling while we dry off,” I pointed out. Chrysalis tapped her chin.

“That is a good argument. En garde!” Chrysalis and I started assaulting each other with water while Blaze simply chuckled and judged us as we acted like children. Of course we got hit by a tidal wave when we got Blaze wet. It was fucking fun dude.

A couple of days later, we found our first town, it was occupied by yetis. The same motherfuckers that attacked Canterlot about a week and a half ago. “Halt pony, we are going to have to check your wagon.”

“You won’t attack me, my pet, or my marefriend when you’re done?”

“If you are not smuggling any Equestrian soldiers, we will allow you to continue on your way.” The yeti said. Well, if he doesn’t hold his word, he’s dead. Luckily for the yeti’s well-being, he checked, noted that there was only food, a kitsune, an ex-changeling queen, and my stupid ass on the wagon, he nodded. “You may proceed, pony. Enjoy your stay in Salt Lick.”

“Say,” I said before our wagon started moving forward. “How the fuck did you capture this town already?”

“The ponies already surrendered after seeing us. This is one of Equestria’s smaller towns, and further away from Canterlot; not many guards are sent out here. Why do you ask, pony?”

“I was just curious. I was once a general in my time, so I was curious about how you took over a town so quickly. Since you held your end of the bargain up, I have no reason to fight you. I just wanted to see the sights and whatnot. Any curfews I have to follow?”

“At ten at night, you are to remain in a building, or your wagon since you’re a traveler,” the yeti said. “Otherwise you are free to go and explore as you please; the Storm King is a fair ruler. Once he takes over Equestria and captures the Princesses, he will allow ponies to live their lives as they did before.” Huh. The Storm King doesn’t seem too bad. Not great, but not bad. “And as a sign of good faith, he’s allowing pony-owned businesses to continue running as if nothing is wrong. I personally quite enjoy this one restaurant called the Zurst.” Huh.

Me and Chrysalis have to eat lunch there before we leave! We asked the yeti for directions and started in that direction.

Luna set down her cup of tea and she took a deep breath. “Are you certain you do not need me, sister?” Celestia nodded.

“I’ve ruled Equestria on my own before. Ostri told you to look around your old bedroom, so go do it, perhaps we’ll find something of value. I can also manage all of this for a day; I will be fine, Lulu. Perhaps I will finally get Tempest Shadow to give up some details on the Storm King while you are away?” Luna nodded. “I would advise teleporting; it may be tiring, but I think the Storm King will shoot down any sky chariots we send out.”

“That was what I was planning on, sister,” Luna’s horn lit. With a pop, she was in the Castle of the Two Sisters, or rather, her old home. It did not take long for the Princess of the Night to find her old, private chambers. The very one she and Ostri had shared oh so long ago. Being in her bedroom brought memories to the Princess, wonderful ones, memories of a simpler time.

Like this one time, she and Blaze piled on Ostri in order to brush his messy mane out.

Luna sighed as she opened up her old nightstand. Many of her possessions have long since been moved to Canterlot, but there were a few things that remained. Such as an old jar of ink that was never opened, journals that were never written in… Even a small photo album of her and Ostri during the one year the two of them were dating. After looking through the album for a few minutes, Luna nodded to herself.

She went over to Ostri’s side of the room. To his old nightstand. Upon opening it, there were a few things of note. In the top drawer was Ostri’s award for when he defended Everfree Forest, an old diary, and a dagger or two. Even an old flint and steel. “I have not seen one of these in ages… Even back then I suppose Ostri was about finishing his work… with a bang.” Luna chuckled at her own joke.

After about three days and a half of traveling, we finally reached the border for Gryphus. It turned out that Salt Lick was one of Equestria’s border towns. I was let in pretty quickly, and the griffins present quickly enjoyed how ‘that pony has a spine’. Especially when one tried to search me and Chrysalis, then promptly attempted to attack Chrysalis, and then I knocked that son of a bitch the fuck out in a single strike. Hell, the captain of the border guards nodded to me, gave me a thumb’s up, and even offered to buy me a mug of mead in the small griffin town on the Equestrian border.

I took them up on that offer, obviously.

“So,” the captain said. The griffin was actually a girl by the way, a ‘hen’ according to other griffins. “Why are you in Griffonia, Bald Ostrich?” She asked. She took a swig of the bottle of mead she had bought for herself. “And I’m quite surprised to see you traveling with the legendary Queen Chrysalis!” She smirked. “Or that you’re dating her. You’re quite different from most just because of that.”

“Would you believe me if I said I was from the past?” My new friend raised an eyebrow. “I was once known as… the ‘fire lord’ amongst griffins. Ring a bell?” The lady's jaw dropped.

“Holy shit dude… You’re the stuff of legend amongst us griffins! That’s the one reason why griffins tried to unite their tribes together; we thought you were going to attack us too!” The captain punched me in the shoulder. It stung, but it didn’t hurt that much. “If what you’re saying is true, you have my respect and then some. We griffins love a pony with some backbone! You didn’t fight honorably, but you apparently wiped out most of the army sent into Everfree City! You changed up how we griffins fought.” The griffin extended a claw. “I am Eagle by the way.” I took her claw in my hoof.

“Nice meeting’ ya, Eagle. I’m surprised I’m not a fugitive for killing all those griffins.” I still get nightmares over that shit though.

“Dude, so many griffins would’ve killed to meet you, and simply trade war tactics with you. As a kingdom of warriors, we would’ve probably hold a good amount of respect for you!” We both grinned, and started talking about war. Well, I mostly told her of tactics from the human race, why I used fireworks, all that cool shit. She told me of her own little war stories from griffins, various generals, and failures of griffin generals. I even showed her an old fighting trick Luna had once shown me. Hell, I even pulled out a trick or two for fighting other quadrupeds that was pretty sound. Go for the hindlegs; it takes so much mobility if one of those breaks.

“Holy shit, you are a larger fountain of info than I’d ever imagined! I wouldn’t have thought to try and break anybody’s hindlegs from the get go,” Eagle nodded. “How’d you knock my soldier out so quickly anyways? I’m fully impressed; it’s why I haven’t arrested you, and why I don’t plan to; he did also instigate that situation by assaulting your marefriend.”

“Your chin,” I tapped my own. “Is the furthest point on your skull from your brain: Hitting that makes anyone’s brain rattle, hit them there and it’ll stun them for a bit and leave them with a bad headache. Hit them hard enough and it knocks them the fuck out. It works for quite a surprising amount of races. Ponies, griffins, yetis, you name it, if it has a brain and a chin, that trick will probably work on them. It’s about hitting somebody in the right places, not how hard you’re hitting them. I could punch you in the chest as hard as I can and do fuck all, or I can hit a joint until it caves in, and that would be more effective.”

Eagle sighed. “If only you were not taken; I would love to have you as a lover!” She giggled. “I’ll keep that mindset in mind next time I get into a bar fight!” Eagle is actually kinda cute… Chrysalis is cuter though.

Eagle raised. “Cheers to being friends, and cheers to being able to fight for another day!” I could give cheers to that. We clanked mugs together. “So why aren’t you with Princess Luna anymore? I’m sure you two were in love; I read that you only fought for Everfree City because you were Princess Luna’s consort?”

“Man, fuck that cunt. I pop back into existence and she fucking dumps me within twenty seconds of seeing me again! Then she has the audacity to tell me that I don’t deserve to be loved after I defended Canterlot against the Storm King’s initial onslaught!” Eagle’s eyes widened.

“The fuck…?” Her jaw hung for just a moment. “If I had a mate that would fight an army for me, twice apparently, I wouldn’t trade that mate for the world; a mate like that is a keeper! And Princess Luna just dumped you? To claim you don’t deserve to be loved or cherished? I could not imagine doing that to my mate even if they couldn’t fight an army for me. You love your mate, you hold them tight and close, and you fight for them. Not toss them out the moment they’ve served their purpose.” Man, if only Luna shared that line of thought. “I already didn’t respect the Princesses, and you’ve helped add to that disrespect.” I smirked in response. I have a new ally.

Eagle kept going after she took a swig of her mead. “And Queen Chrysalis was somehow a better choice? That bug swindled a griffin king in the past; that king was made fun of for the rest of his life… Despite that, you’re saying she’s more trustworthy than a Princess from Equestria.”

“Yeah, Chryssy has been so damn nice to me. We cuddle all the time, she grooms me, and actually gives two shits about me: It’s fucking nuts; I love her and she loves me. A foreign concept, I know…” I leaned back in my stool after taking a swig of my own mead. “Even if you’re not a guy, you’re proper bro material. You are super cool.”

Eagle grinned and wrapped her arm around my shoulder. “Same to you, Bald, a proper lad if I’ve ever met one!” She pumped her mead hand in the air, sending some of the precious liquid flying around.

“Oi, just call me Ostri; that’s what my friends call me. Hey, if you ever need a hand, send a message for me when I’m up in Gryphus, and I’ll come back into town as soon as I can.” Eagle nodded. Chrysalis slid in next to me with a huge bottle of mead. “Hey Chryssy,” my marefriend nuzzled me.

Chrysalis grinned. “I see you found a new friend?”

“Hell yeah I did. Why didn’t you tell me that griffins think I’m cool?”

“I didn’t know they would; you just did a good job at winning their respect. Griffins love it when a member of another race shows to not be a pushover, and they love war heroes no matter what race they’re a part of,” I looked at Eagle. “That is why I have not been put under arrest for what I’ve done. Griffins respect me for how easily I’ve swindled a king in the past, and for me kicking Celestia’s tail, in one on one combat, more recently.” Huh. I gotta ask about that later.

Eagle nodded. “She’s right about griffins, y’know; the King is gonna love you, Ostri, should you get in contact with him!” We all raised our mugs and got fucking smashed. The next morning, Blaze had to drag me and Chrysalis out of the bar after thanking our also very hungover griffin friend. While I was slurring, I fell the fuck asleep in the wagon. If it weren’t for the fact that I was drunk, I’d probably wake up after seeing a severed, scorched arm hit me in the face. I was in Canterlot during the invasion, Chrysalis was bloody and beaten behind me, and Blaze was just straight up dead. I was breathing heavily, staring directly at the arm while holding a hand to my chest. I blinked a couple of times when it all disappeared. What…?

“So you are capable of feeling remorse,” oh fucking boy. I know that voice very well. Suddenly the ruins of Canterlot opened up to a field, Everfree City. Luna, as she looked a thousand years ago, started walking up to me from the city. I had to admit… She looked just as beautiful as I remembered. Sadly, that didn’t matter, and neither did the slight stains around her eyes, nothing about her mattered. I don’t plan on trusting this cunt anymore. “So,” she sat down next to me. ‘How… is life going for you?”

“So now you care about hearing about my day?” I tilted my head. “Because you literally told me that I don’t deserve love… about three weeks ago? I dunno; it’s hard to know how long it’s been since I don’t have a calendar or a clock. Now cut the shit; why the fuck are you in my dream? Did the Storm King start beating you and your sister’s asses? Luna shook her head. “Get to the point then, or get out of my dream. I’m gonna wake up hungover; I don’t want my dreams to be filled with the same fucking monster that’s treated me like a bag of dogshit over the last two months.”

“I… Well, the Storm King’s forces have been bombarding Canterlot with artillery. But I am here to discuss what I have found in your nightstand, not discussing your return to Canterlot, please come with me.” Luna led the way into the city, which took a lot shorter of a time than it should’ve, in fact, as soon as we stepped into the city, it all melted away into our old bedroom. Luna’s horn lit up and my nightstand opened up. “I have already retrieved and moved all these items into Canterlot,” my diary had floated over before it set itself on the bed. A couple of my daggers soon followed. My knife was noticeably missing from the pile… then a jewellery box floated up between us. “I know you did not ask me to buy these…” The box opened up revealing two necklaces. And a note. “These are even more beautiful in the land of the living,” she whispered. “You’ve clearly bought them out of your own volition, so why-”

“Ah, our marriage necklaces. Good to see nobody’s looted those. I said was gonna marry you, remember?” I chuckled. “Of course you don’t; you didn’t love me.” I laughed. “Man, that was the dream of a dumbass; stupid, stupid younger me. Anyways, those were what we were going to wear to show that we were married, if we had gotten married. Good thing you kicked my heart in the dick and ruined what would’ve been!” I sighed. “If I didn’t get dragged into the future, we both probably would’ve been happy, not the happiest, but we would’ve been married, maybe have kids, and possibly stop the whole Nightmare Moon thing.” I chuckled. “Though I don’t believe I am worthy of your love, oh wise Princess. After all, I am a heartless monster that only knows how to hurt people.”

Luna stared at the necklaces. “You really did think I was the world to you…” She hadn’t taken her eyes off of the box. “And I threw you out so heartlessly,” she sighed. “I believe it is too late for us to amend our relationship, isn’t it?”

“Of course. Me and Chrysalis are happily dating,” I shrugged. “And I do not trust you or Celestia at all. I fucking loathe you, Luna. Not just that… I fucking despise you and everything you fucking stand for… What you said to me before we left really just sealed the deal; I doubt I meant anything to you, ever. You’ve broken me down so much… For no fucking reason. What you said… It hurt, it honestly hurt a lot.” My ears flattened. I took a deep breath. “To hear that, from the one I loved so much, and still kinda did despite everything you did to me… Fuck off, Luna, you fucking donut-“

I woke up to the worst headache ever. I even threw up a couple of times.

Author's Note

And thus, the first chapter. Unlike the previous two stories, this will be longer than ten chapters(hopefully). I am writing this mostly as I go, so we’ll just see how long it ends up.