Hear the voices of Samuel/HTVO: Arc 1: Samuel

(My Little Pony is owned by Hasbro and Lauren Faust, Magic Junk is owned by EpicAeromancer33, the original characters are owned by me, and finally, this is the final part about Strife’s past. You’re going to like this chapter I guaranteed it. If not then I won’t be mad but instead, glad that you read it. Enjoy! Oh and good news! The chapters are almost done being all edited and fixed so no more confusion with my horrible paragraphing and grammar, ENJOY AGAIN!

WARNING, what you are about to read contains blood, gore, and straight up “holy shit” moments. Strife’s past will shock the living hell out of you. So read at your own risk. This unicorn is very special.)

Chapter 10 Strife’s Lament Final Part

The year Strife became a teenager (No clue what you call them in pony terms)

The sun was out; shining through the blue sky as the wind blew calmly, brushing the leaves off trees that were near the cliff side. An alicorn was sitting by the grassy peak of the cliff. The alicorn was none other then Dexilus. He was looking at a tree whose bark had words carved in it saying, ‘Here lays the mare that watches over the land, seas, wind, and in the hearts of two certain ponies; an alicorn and a unicorn.’ Dexilus smiled as he looks at the branches on the tree. The branches grew flowers on them; they were pink and resembled cherry blossoms.

“You okay dad?” Dexilus turned around to face the owner of the voice that had called him and saw Strife.

Strife had now grown up into his teens. He sits sits down, looking at Dexilus calmly and asks, “You miss her don’t you?”

Dexilus sighs and looks back at the tree and says, “I hear that same question a lot from you.” Dexilus sighs and chuckles a little. “You here, to pay your mother respect?” He asked after turning towards Strife.

Strife shook his head no and says, “No, not at this moment. I came here to tell you…well ask you something.” Strife looked away giving off an uncomfortable sigh. He then looks back at Dexilus and speaks again, “I came here to ask you if I can be…” He stopped, looking down.

“Ask me what?” Dexilus asked.

Strife nervously rubs his left hoof on the side of his right foreleg. He was nervous about something and Dexilus was now curious as to what it was. Not wanting to stay in this silent conversation, Dexilus decided to speak out to Strife.

“Come on runt tell me what it is.” Dexilus said to Strife becoming annoyed by his silence.

Strife looks at Dexilus with a serious expression and says, “Can I become a soldier?”

Dexilus looked unfazed; he sighs and then looks at Strife saying, “No, you’re not going to be a soldier.” Strife looked down as Dexilus turn his back at Strife facing the tree again.

“But, why can’t I be a soldier?” Strife asked.

“Because, I said so that’s why. I will not allow you to go down the path I’ve been through.” Dexilus said not bothering to turn back to Strife.

“That’s not a good reason you know.” Strife said.

“And it’s not your will to judge that reason.” Dexilus said.

“But-” “But nothing, my answer is final!” Dexilus interrupted Strife.

Strife didn’t say anything and looks at Dexilus furious. With an angry grumble Strife scoffs and runs away. Dexilus sighs disappointingly and looks back seeing that Strife was already gone. The alicorn Telummancer looks back at the tree and says, “What can I do with him Timid? He’s growing up too fast and soon I won’t have anything in my power to prevent him from being a soldier. You know we have one stubborn ass son.” Dexilus chuckled at the last sentence.

He then frowns and begins to walk away. Dexilus then stops and looks back at the tree and says, “If you’re mad about me being harsh on him, I apologize then, but I’m only being harsh because I worry about him. The reason why…is because being a soldier for the cult of Samuel is too dangerous, it’ll get him killed or make him do something he will regret for the rest of his life.” Dexilus had opened his wings and then flew away, leaving the entire area empty of inhabitants.

Strife was in the forest pacing around in a circle. He was still angry for what his father had said before and to empty out his anger he had summoned four swords around him and used his magic to fire them at a tree in front of him. Strife bites down on a handle of a broadsword and pulls it out of the tree that it was pinned into and began to furiously slice the tree in front of him left and right causing large gashes to form on the tree’s bark.

Eventually, Strife tires himself out and dropped the sword to the ground, sitting down. He looks up at the sky and notices that it was night time already. “How long have I been here?” Strife wondered. He then looks forward facing the tree and sees the wreckage he had caused out of pure anger. Strife was shocked and began to frown as he looked down. “Why dad…why can’t I be a soldier?” Strife muttered mournfully beginning to feel his eyes water up.

Strife slowly began to cry as he buried his face with his hooves. “Why? What was the point in teaching me Telummancy? What was the point in teaching me the life style of a soldier?” He said as he looked up seeing the moon glowing bright in the dark sky with no stars to keep it company.

“A soldier you say?” Strife’s ears perk up after hearing a mysterious voice around him. Looking around for this owner of the voice, Strife’s horn glows as six swords; three katana and three scimitars appeared around him. Strife had gone into a defensive stance scanning the area for this unknown male voice.

“Where are you? Show yourself!” Strife demanded.

“Now now now now Strife, no need to be hostile; I’m just commenting on your personal lament.” The unknown male voice said chuckling, as Strife gritted his teeth annoyed. “Now Strife, I would show myself to you, but what fun would that be? Ruining my surprise in the near future.” The unknown voice said.

“Near future, what does that mean? No…I don’t even want to care about it. Who are you?” Strife asked.

The mysterious male voice gave off a discreet chuckle and says, “I am a god young one, son to Fenrir, and a soldier to Lord Samuel as well. I heard you complaining about your father Dexilus, not letting you become a soldier.”

“How do you know my father?” Strife asked nervously.

“Because, he and I used to be close teammates whenever we were assigned to a mission.” He said.

Strife felt less threatened by this anonymous voice now as he dematerializes his swords. Strife sits down looking surprised and then asks, “You two were partners?”

“Yes, used to be. Soon we grown distant and became lone wolves. It’s a long story and as lazy as I am, I won’t go into detail with it. Now, back to where we should be at; you were complaining about not being a soldier, correct?” The voice asked.

“Yeah that’s right.” Strife answered.

“You know I can make you a soldier, and Dexilus can’t do anything about it.” The voice said.

“Really you can?” Strife asked smiling as he felt all his sadness be swept off his shoulders.

“Yes, I can. Would you like to know how?” The voice asked.

“Yes I would.” Strife answered. He felt his dreams to become a soldier were finally here for him to obtain.

“I would like to let you know, this involves taking lives of Azazelists. Are you sure you want to know?” The voice asked causing Strife to flinch a little due to him hearing the Azazelists being mentioned.

Strife smirks in determination and says, “Yes, I want to know what I have to do.”

The voice chuckles in delight and says, “Okay then, down towards the south lays a village full of zebras who are all Azazelists, they supply weapons to fellow members of their cult and ambush our supply groups. I want you to go there and kill everypony there. No survivors, not even a foal left alive.” Strife nodded his head yes and ran south.

“I’m on it!” Strife said after he summoned a shield and leapt onto it, using his magic on the shield to fly him to the Zebra village.

The voice chuckles and says, “That’s my boy.” The voice gave off a discreet chuckle.

Soon Strife made it to the village. He hid behind a tree, peeked around it, and finds the village empty. The village Strife was in was known as Lilium. A village that inhabitants zebras and was prosperous as well. Strife guessed that the ponies were in their homes asleep. There were a few stores he saw that were closed with their lights still on and a few that had no light on.

“It’s time to do this.” Strife said calmly as his horn glows.

Multiple swords began to spawn around Strife, as he aimed one at each house. A grin appears on his muzzle as his swords were glowing red and then lit on fire. “Burn them all to a crisp!” Strife said as he fires his swords in all directions.

Each sword stabbed into the wooden built houses causing them to instantly light up on fire. Strife could hear the zebras inside panicking and calling for their loved ones to get out quickly but Strife knew there were going to be a few zebras smart enough to leave their homes. He summons four swords; two were hook swords and the last two were long swords. As soon as he saw the first zebra run out their home he shot one long sword straight towards it. The sword impaled the zebra’s skull and flew into the blazing fire that engulfed the wood it was burning.

More zebras began to flee out of their houses to escape the flames. Strife didn’t attack, instead he watched as all the surviving zebras fled into an inn that was left untouched by the flames and his swords.

“Now why would they head there?” Strife wondered. He walks towards the inn and notices a sign next to the inn reading, ‘Fire Department’ Strife lifted an eyebrow surprised.

When he had gotten to the front door of the inn he uses his back legs to kick it open and fired a long sword into a zebra’s skull, pinning them into the wall. All the zebras in the place were horrified and looked at Strife. Strife walks in into the place closing door behind him and levitates his two hook swords at the door and connected each hook together with the knob of the door, securing it from being opened and ensuring none of the zebras escaped.

No pony said anything as Strife walked calmly to the middle of the inn surrounded by all the zebras that inhabited the town. His horn glows as Strife summons five shurikens around him.

Those shurikens then split into ten, then twenty, then forty, and continued to double until they all levitated around Strife and were aimed in all directions at the zebras. An evil grin formed onto Strife’s muzzle as he then says, “Welcome to The House of Wolves everypony, and now let these walls run with your blood.” Strife chuckled as he fires all the shurikens at the zebras.

Every single zebra yells as the small, sharp edged star pierced their bodies at such a fast speed that when one of them got hit in the head by the shuriken, the shuriken didn’t stop and continued to go through their head and hit another zebra.

The walls were being covered in blood along with the ground and windows. Every zebra struggled to get away from maelstrom of shurikens, but had no success due to the many shurikens flying around. One zebra tried to make a break for it to the door, his back was covered in cuts and gashes but Strife smirks at the zebra’s escape and quickly summons a sword and fires it towards him.

The sword pierced though the zebra’s neck, but instead of pinning him to the door, it slices right through his head. The body of the fleeing zebra then fell dead causing Strife to laugh at his kill. Soon the screaming had died down as there was nopony left. Strife saw all the zebra’s bodies’ slump on top of one another, dead and mutilated to the point where you couldn’t identify them.

Strife hears a whimpering noise coming from behind the cashier counter. Walking towards the cashier counter, Strife’s horn glows as a sword appears floating by his side.

Once Strife got to the counter, he leaps on top of it and spots a crying colt zebra sobbing over a dead zebra’s body. The unicorn was unfazed by this and didn’t show any signs of emotion.

“Mommy! Mommy wake up!” The colt pleaded as he began to shake his mother’s corpse. She was dead and Strife knew it.

“She’s dead.” Strife said, not showing any remorse or regret.

The colt looks at him petrified as his pupils shrank into dots and were shaking. The colt was trembling as he saw Strife levitate the sword slowly towards his face, readying to kill him.

“Die, Azazelist spawn.” Strife said.

The colt shuts his eyes as the sword came down, but suddenly a shield appears in front of the colt’s face blocking the sword from penetrating his head. Strife gasps and turns around seeing Erebos and Dexilus standing in the center of the dead bodies around them. Dexilus look furious while his horn was glowing.

Before Strife could even say anything, Dexilus appeared by his side and swung his right hoof at him, knocking Strife through a door. Strife crashed into a dresser and struggles to get up. Dexilus looks at Erebos and says, “Watch the kid.” With that said Dexilus teleports into the bedroom and walks towards Strife.

“Dad…what was that for!?” Strife asked looking at Dexilus shocked. Dexilus gritted his teeth as he grabs Strife by the horn and throws him out the window causing him to crash into a cart. Strife didn’t have time to react towards anything, as he felt his body being lifted in the air and slammed into the ground causing him to cough up blood.

Dexilus appears next to him with his horn glowing. He was levitating Strife and continues to slam him on the ground. After one final levitating slam Dexilus tosses Strife into another stand. Strife was still alive, but his body was in terrible condition. He was bruised badly and blood was coming out of the cuts he sustained from the sharp wood.

“Chain: Restraint of Wrath!” Dexilus yelled as chains busted out the ground wrapping around Strife and keeping him trapped on the ground. Dexilus was in front of Strife and says, “You killed our dealers and our followers, not only that, you did it in cold blood.” Strife’s eyes had widened after hearing the words that had come out his father’s mouth.

“W-what?” Strife gasped in shock.

“They were innocent, they never fought before and you kill them, why!?” Dexilus demanded an answer from Strife in a furious tone.

“I-I-I did to be a soldier. Like what that voice told me.” Strife said frightened at not only his father, but at the atrocious deed he had done to this whole village. The fire that was once there, burning the houses, was gone. All that was left were charred remains off burnt wood and scorched bodies of dead zebras that were unlucky enough to escape.

“Voice, what was this voice?” Dexilus asked sternly.

“I don’t know, he told me you and him fought together and he can make me a soldier.” Strife said.

The chains suddenly tightened, squeezing tightly around Strife’s back causing him to gasp out a painful yelp.

“EREBOS GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE NOW!” Dexilus yelled at the top of his lungs and like that Erebos appears.

“You call Dex?” The prideful devil asked as he gave off his traditional grin.

“Strife, I never wanted to do this to you, but to go this far for something I didn’t permitted you to do. For the deaths that you laid upon these innocents in the act of cold blood, you will be stabbed sword by sword for each pony that you’ve killed.” Dexilus said as his horn glows.

Strife couldn’t say anything when before a sword pierced through his back. Strife coughed out blood and yelled in the air. He couldn’t believe that this was happening to him as more swords began piercing through his body. Strife was then pierced through the heart killing him instantly.

Dexilus looks at Erebos and says, “Resurrect him.” Erebos nodded his head as his eyes glow. Strife was brought back to life gasping for air. “We’re not done.” Dexilus said angrily as he summons more swords and then had them pierce through Strife’s body again and again.

The same process kept going on, over and over again. Strife gets resurrected when he dies from Dexilus’s blades; Dexilus continues to punish Strife even if he had already killed him before, having Erebos resurrect multiple times. Soon Strife was reborn again but the unicorn couldn’t take it anymore. He cried out to Dexilus to stop, but Dexilus continued until the sun had finally risen from the darkness shining through the skies.

Dexilus had finished punishing Strife and uses his magic to make the chains that restrained the blood covered unicorn disappear. The swords were gone and all what was left on Strife was his blood and deep stab wounds. Strife’s mane had drooped in a puddle of blood, as his body laid flat on the ground not moving. Erebos uses his powers to resurrect Strife again, it work but, the unicorn was unconscious.

“Erebos…take him out of here.” Dexilus said looking at the destroyed village.

Erebos nods and opens his wings revealing the zebra colt hiding under his wing being levitated by some kind of purple smoke. “Hang on tight kid, we’re having company.” Erebos said to the small colt. As Erebos picks up Strife’s body and lays him on his back he looks at Dexilus and says, “This is going to scar him for a very long time you know.”

Dexilus doesn’t say anything back to Erebos as he had his back turned to him. Erebos sighs and vanishes leaving the alicorn to himself. Dexilus bites his lip as he shuts his eyes tight tearing up. Dexilus began to shed tears as he looks at the sky. “What have I done Timid?” Dexilus asked becoming sad. He knows that he regrets doing this to Strife, but this whole event was too much for him to handle. “I’m so sorry Strife.” Dexilus said.

Five years later

The sun was out, lighting the blue sky and the white clouds that wonder aimlessly and freely.

Strife was on a train looking outside the window with his usual look. Dexilus was sitting in front of him looking out the window also. Their room was a decent room. The train was being driven on a mountain. They were heading towards Manehatten so they can retrieve a package.

The package had a very important artifact and was meant to be brought back safe and secure to Samuel. Dexilus glances at Strife and sees the emptiness in his eyes.

“Strife this is your twentieth mission, I don’t want you to screw up or even back out at the last second. Samuel will have our necks if we fail to retrieve the artifact in time.” Dexilus said giving Strife a calm look. Strife didn’t respond back or even look at him. Dexilus sighs and looks back out the window. “Look, I know you haven’t talked to me in five years but, even if you remain silent don’t screw this up. Follow your mission and do it right.” Dexilus said.

Soon when they got to Manehatten, Dexilus and Strife were going through the streets; heading towards their objective point. Strife and Dexilus made it to a building that was abandoned. “Our objective is in that building.” Dexilus said. Strife didn’t speak back to him and walked into the building leaving Dexilus behind. Dexilus looks at Strife frowning. For five years Strife hadn’t said a word to him.

Strife was walking up stairs while Dexilus was following him behind. The two were now in a stairway that was in tattered condition. The rails were rusted and looked easy to break just by tapping it. When the two made it to the roof top, they saw a pony in a black cloaked hoodie. Strife and Dexilus both stop in front of the pony. Dexilus was the first to speak.

“Do you have the artifact?” Dexilus asked.

The pony pulls down its hood revealing the face of a mare. She had a red mane and a blue/pinkish coat. Her eyes were green and calm looking. The mare moves to the side revealing a small box on the ground and says, “The artifact is in here Lord Dexilus.” Dexilus nodded his head and uses his magic to levitate the box to him.

Opening the box Dexilus sees a knife with an odd marking on the handle with somepony’s initials reading, ‘S.G.’ Dexilus pulled the knife out and studies its odd angle design. The blade was made out of some kind of black steel that glints whenever the rays of the sun shine past it. Dexilus puts the knife back and closes the box. He levitates the box within his cloak and looks at the mare.

“Return back to your home, I’ll be sure to let Lord Samuel know you succeeded on your mission.” Dexilus said as he walked away with Strife. The mare nodded her head as wings sprout from her cloak revealing her to be a pegasus. She then flies away.

Soon Strife and Dexilus were back on the train heading home. They were in their room again looking out the window. The ride to their home was quite far and took hours. It was night time and all the two did was look out the window starring at the moon. Neither of them blinked once, they stood there just looking at the moon.

“Your mother loved looking at the moon you know.” Dexilus said glancing at Strife.

Strife says nothing as he continues to look at it.

Dexilus sighs, frustrated by Strife’s continuing silence. The alicorn looks at the moon again and then says, “She always wondered how it would be like to live up there, watching this planet from so far away. I chuckled at her imagination but, admired it. I also wondered how it would be like to stay on the moon.” Strife looked at him but Dexilus didn’t look back at him. He still continued to stare at the moon.

“Well, that’s just a dream she and I had together. It’s not important anymore; we got more things to worry about.” Dexilus said as he frowned.

Strife frowns looking back out the window. He shuts his eyes and then asks, “Dad…what was mom like?”

Dexilus looks at Strife, shocked that he finally spoke. Sighing, Dexilus says, “This question again?” Strife nodded his head still looking out the window.

“Your mother…she was-*BOOM!*” Dexilus was interrupted from speaking after a loud explosion was heard shaking the train causing the two to stumble onto the floor. Dexilus had gotten up and yelled, “What the fuck was that explosion just now!?” He growled.

Strife and Dexilus were both hearing yelling going on outside of their room. The two ran out and saw multiple cloaked ponies slaughtering anypony that had gotten in their way. There was a massive wall of fire blocking the entrance behind these murderous ponies as they continued down the row of seats.

“Azazelists had the balls enough to attack this train. Well damn if Shinnock was here he’ll pretty much curse his ass off to next September.” Dexilus said as his horn glows summoning four swords by his side. Strife does the same as the two stare down the grinning Azazelists.

“Give us the razor of Grimm.” The leader of the Azazelists group said.

“Umm, you’re going up against an alicorn of Telummancy so…no.” Dexilus said firing the swords at the Azazelists. A few Azazelists dodged the incoming swords but the others next to them and behind weren’t so lucky as they had been hit in the center of their chests.

Strife didn’t fire his swords at all, he use them to block any spell attacks that unicorn Azazelists were firing at him such as fire and ice. Dexilus was carving through a pile of Azazelists with a twin sided blade being held in his mouth. A few Azazelists ahead of him cast magic shields to stop his bloody stamped but Dexilus rammed into their shield; destroying it, and decapitating the Azazelists.

Dexilus stops his charging attack and looks back behind him, seeing the carnage of dead Azazelists he left behind. “Fuck yeah.” Dexilus said giving off a triumph smirk.

Strife was blocking more and more magic attacks from five Azazelists unicorns and was drastically struggling in the process. Dexilus saw this and noticed Strife was purposely not fighting back. He had every perfect opportunity to attack the Azazelists but he wasn’t attacking.

‘Why aren’t you fighting back?’ Dexilus thought.

Strife felt a sudden jolt of pain in his body causing him to cough out blood. The five Azazelists began smirking feeling closer to victory. Dexilus growls and then yells, “STRIFE, KILL THEM!”

Strife’s eyes widen after he looks at the five attackers and begins to panic. In his eyes he wasn’t looking at five Azazelists, no, he was looking at five zebras. The ones he killed at Lilium. Fear was taking over him as his horn stops glowing and his swords vanished. Strife crawls back to a corner frightened as he stares at the closing in Azazelists in horror.

“No, stay away from me, get away!” Strife yelled.

The Azazelists horns glows as they prepare to fire a spell at Strife until they were all pinned into the wall by a swords. Strife couldn’t say anything after Dexilus teleports in front of him and slaps him.

“Pay attention!” Dexilus yelled snapping Strife out of his fear.

Strife looks at Dexilus shocked and says, “I saw…I saw them dad.” Strife trembled. “They were there…I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t want to kill them…I didn’t want to make that mistake again.” Strife said as he began to cry.

“Stop crying, you only shed tears for the ones you kill.” Dexilus said in a stern tone silencing Strife. Dexilus sighs and looks at all the dead Azazelists that were torn to pieces. A few were burnt within the flames and a few were pinned into the train cart walls.

“You shed tears for the ones that fought back against you. That is when you cry.” Dexilus said looking at Strife.

Strife looks down and says in a frighten tone, “Dad…I don’t think I can do it anymore. I don’t think I can handle these missions anymore. I don’t think I can settle these problems that have been occurring with me for so long. I don’t think I’m fit for living…I think I deserve to die like an Azazelist *SMACK!*” Strife was interrupted by a hoof to the face.

“What were those words that came out of your mouth!?” Dexilus asked as he gritted his teeth at Strife angrily. Strife looks at his father saddeningly.

“If you are so serious about giving up your life then let’s see if you’re willing to protect it!” Dexilus yelled as his horn glows causing the bright light to engulf the two.

The train suddenly bursts into fire as the tracks and part of the mountain they were on was shattered by a massive air shockwave that blew a few trees away and snow that lay dormant at the summit. Strife rolls down a hill violently and painfully covered in scratches and bruises.

Soon the unicorn came to a halt after he crashes into a massive snow pile. Getting out of the snow pile, Strife began running with fear plastered all over his face. He looks behind him and sees an arrow heading straight at him. Strife quickly leaps behind a tree causing the arrow to miss him and Strife continues running.

Soon Strife came to a halt after he stops at the edge of a cliff with a tree that had no leaves on its branches with the shinning moon in the background. Strife looks behind him and sees Dexilus appear a few feet from him with a stern look. “Fight me Strife.” Dexilus said.

“No!” Strife said backing away as Dexilus started to walk towards him.

“Fight me or die.” Dexilus said as his horn glows and a broadsword appears by his side.

“No, I don’t want to dad…I don’t want to kill anymore…I don’t want to fight anymore.” Strife said as his eyes began to shed tears. Strife ducks a swinging sword attack from Dexilus that had sliced the tree behind him in half.

Strife continues to back away from his father who floated the broadsword to his side continuing forward and towards Strife. Strife’s right hind leg nearly slips off the snowy cliff after he came to a halt. There was nowhere else for him to go to now.

“You’ll never face life if you don’t choose to fight. You are Little Strife; you are the conflict between the reality of life and death. You witness life…now…you’ll witness death. You are no son to me anymore but my enemy. When you are ready to actually accept this disownment and fight me and win. Only then will I accept you to be my son.” Dexilus said coldly causing Strife to freeze in shock at the words his father had just said.

“I…am…conflict.” Strife muttered, but before he could say anything else he felt cold steel slash a vertical cross on his chest. Blood began to spray out his open wound as he fell back, falling off the cliff. Strife didn’t yell, cry, or say anything. He just stood shocked and silent looking far up seeing his father frown at him as he descended down the cliff.

Strife closes his eyes slowly and gradually pasted out due to blood loss. His body then crashes down into a running water current that was at the bottom. When Strife was being dragged by the current all he saw was darkness, and all he heard was nothing.

Suddenly, his eyes shot open as he screams out, “DAD!”

A stallion was startled by Strife’s outburst falling off his chair. Strife looked around and found himself in a bedroom.

“Where am I?” Strife asked as he began to panic.

“Easy, there. You are in a bar.” The Stallion said to Strife placing his left hoof on the unicorn’s right shoulder calming him down. Strife found himself on a bed and bandages wrap around his forelegs and body.

“How did I get here?” Strife asked.

“I found you by the river bed. You were pretty much beat up so I took you here and patched you up kid.” The stallion said. He was a brown coated, gray maned earth pony. He seemed like he was in his senior years.

Strife looks at the old stallion and asks, “Thanks. A bar…what is it called?”

“Atrocities, my bar’s name is Atrocities.” The old stallion said.

Strife’s eyes widen, he struggles out his bed but collapses onto the ground. The old stallion gasps and heads to his side and says, “Easy there, what are you in a rush for?”

Strife looks at him and says, “This place is full of Azazelists…they know who I am and I’m sure they plan to kill me. They won’t take any other chance to avoid it.” Strife struggled to get up and limp towards the door.

“Wait, you’re a Samuelnist?” The stallion asked.

“No, not anymore. I was cast out.” Strife said looking at old stallion sadly.

“What for then, what pissed off their god?” The stallion asked.

“Long story…it’s complicated.” Strife said looking away.

“Well doesn’t matter, you shouldn’t go down there then since there are Azazelists who probably might recognize you anyway.” The stallion said.

“You’re probably right about that.” Strife said realizing the situation he could have gotten himself into if he had gone into the bar area where Azazelists inhabit.

“What’s your name kid?” The old stallion asked.

“Little Strife and who are you?” Strife asked.

“Call me Bartender Larry.” Larry said.

“Well thanks for patching me up.” Strife said smiling calmly at Larry.

“No problem kid, whoever did that much damage on you will probably be shocked that you’re still alive.” Larry said chuckling at the end.

“Yeah…he’ll be in for a huge shock…I think.” Strife said quietly at the end frowning.

“Alright, I better head downstairs; I don’t have insurance on this place so I have to be sure nopony decides to fight.

When Larry, left Strife to be alone, Strife looked out the window and stared at the moon. “Maybe…you were right.” He muttered. “I’ll never face life if I don’t choose to fight…after all. I am conflict.” Strife said.

Present time with Magic and Strife

Magic looks at Strife shocked and saddened by the snarker’s past. Strife had kept this from him and Dream for many years and now, today, Strife opened up his past to Magic.

Strife looks at the moon behind Magic and says, “That is when I met you and Dream, during the bar fight.”

“Wow…and I thought my past was fucked up.” Magic said feeling surprised.

Strife continues to look at the moon frowning. Magic saw a small tear drop roll out from Strife’s eye. Speaking about his past had really plucked an emotional string in his heart. Strife was hurt emotionally. “Magic…I mean it…for what I said earlier before; I don’t want to be alone. I’m afraid.” Strife said looking at him beginning to cry.

Strife gave off a quiet gasp after Magic placed his hoof on his head and smiles. Strife looks at Magic shocked, Magic chuckles and says, “Hey snarker, no matter what you’re still my best friend. I’ll be by your side, and help you back on your hooves, faster than Dream can ever realize. He never had a heart attack, after drinking a million of cups of coffee. Hey Strife, I love you as a friend, brother, hell, even as a lover, you’ll never know. But I’ll always care for you.” Magic smiled again.

Strife continues to look at Magic shocked, he then began to tear up and soon, he began to cry. Strife cried on Magic’s shoulder after the Essemancing pegasus smiles while hugging him.

“Thank you.” Strife said saddeningly.

“It’s no big deal Strife, we’re Paradise, and we stick together and look out for one another.” Magic said cheerfully.

Soon, when Strife was done crying, Strife backed away, wiping the remaining wet tears away that rolled out his eyes. He looks at Magic smiling softly and says, “Thanks, I needed that. You’re the only pony who ever heard me speak about my past.”

Magic shrugged and says, “No problem.” He smiled.

“Magic, can we go back home?” Strife asked.

“Sure.” Magic answered.

“Oh, and Magic…” Strife said.

“Yeah, what is it buddy?” Magic asked.

“Don’t tell anypony about this, okay?” Strife asked in a serious tone as he gave Magic a stern look.

Magic chuckles and then says, “Sure buddy, what happened just now, stays with us.” Strife sighed in relief.

Soon both made it back into Ponyville by 12 A.M. Magic and Strife were both walking together back towards their H.Q. Strife looks at Magic and sighs.

“What’s wrong Strife?” Magic asked looking at Strife.

“Do you think…I’ll ever beat him?” Strife asked.

“Who, Dexilus?” Magic curiously asked.

“Yeah.” Strife answered.

“Well it depends on how far you’re willing to go. I’m sure you’ll do better next time, when you encounter him.” Magic said smiling at Strife.

“Yeah…I’ll do my best.” Strife said smiling softly again.

TO BE CONTINUED!

(Okay finally this chapter is done, sheesh! Sorry for the delay, post your comments in the reviews if you want to. Now, the father of time needs to rest. Phew! Thank you EpicAeromancer33 for editing, thank you readers for being patient and waiting, and thank you…well who else am I supposed to thank? Anyway, thanks again! BARREL ROLL AND AWAY!)