The Everfree Knight

by Serpenti

Rating: teen
Tags: Human, Comedy, Romance, Adventure
Length: 38393

Being picked by a deity can leave you wondering many things. One of them is my most thought of question... WHY ME!?!?

Months before Nightmare Moon's release, a boy had appeared in the Everfree forest.

This boy was picked by Equestria's creator, Faust Lightbringer, to help her world with its coming evils.

AND THIS BOY DOES NOT LIKE IT!

Cover art by Zman537

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-09-22 16:43:43 UTC

Dueling Everfree

I woke up with a yawn, and looked out a window. Well, it was mostly a hole in the wall, but I think it serves the same purpose. I looked out of it and watched the Diamond dogs go about their business.

It's very... very... BORING! Seriously, Alp wanted to wait before she announced my official adoption, and this is quite possibly the longest I had to wait for something like this. I sat there, before a memory came to my head. Ernie's MP3 player...

Let's use it. I turn it on, and see that it's at a full charge. excellent, that means I have plenty of time with it. I enter the music folder, and find...

A whole shit storm of artists. Wow, how much illegal downloading did Ernie have to do to get all of this!? Rock, rap, techno, orchestral, it has fucking everything! I get an idea, and move to the rap folder. An album is titled 'something to remember me by...' I wonder what's in it...

Oh...

Heh, he knows how much I love this song... I miss him so much...

No, I can't regret my decisions. It's only going to make it worse. I listen to the song and bob my head to the beat, smiling as I lose myself in my own world.

This gives me time to think on how I could think up some form of fighting with the magic that Faust mentioned before. She said I could have power over any element of my choice, and I've pretty much determined that I want fire. The element simply fits the duties she described to me about the Everfree Knight. Fire is uncaring, it still burns. But it also warms the heart, as it protects those in the darkness.

Yeah, I think I have an idea. I open my eyes and hold up a hand and inspect it. Maybe...

I concentrate hard on my hand, and the element. I feel a vein on my head throb slightly, but I notice a very small spark between my finger tips. I immediately pull my hand back and smile.

This may not be so hard after all...

I heard a knock on my door, and it opens to reveal a young, and I'm guessing at this point, female Diamond dog that wore what I was also guessing a servants uniform. She had a trey of... SWEET JESUS YES...

It was steak! For the love of all that is holy, I HAVE SOME STEAK BITCH! I look at the trey, my mouth watering slightly as it got closer.

"Here you are sir." She bows, making me blush slightly.

"Hey, I don't do the whole bowing thing! You don't have bow if you don't want to." I tell her. Seriously, it's weird. I look at the servant, and she looked like a bi-pedal golden retriever, just some aesthetic differences. The face looked slightly flatter... That's all I can see really. Anything else was, well, lost on me.

"B-but sir! Alpine ordered me specifically to serve her new son! I must treat you with absolute respect!" She babbled on and on about what she must do, making me facepalm. Geez, she's a mess, isn't she?

I hold up a hand, stifling anything else she planned on saying, "Alright alright, just let me finish eating. I want a tour around the town, to see what it has to offer." I tell her. She nods and leaves. I sigh and begin to dig into the food with gusto. I haven't had steak in so long, that I've all but forgotten it! After ten minutes, I finish my meal and wipe whatever mess was on my face off.

I gather all of the dishes and place the trey outside, giving me a moment once more. Well, I said that just as an excuse to get out of here, and I'm guessing she already told the other dogs about me, since that servant knew who I was. Well, who I am, anyway.

All that needs to be settled is where to go. I mean, I could check out the marketplace and see what they sell. That would help in the long run I'm guessing. Then I should check out the doctor's offices.

Alright, I should check out all of the practical things, and then come back here. I nodded and turned off my MP3 player and waited for the Golden Retriever, and heard a knock on the door. However, instead of the servant, It was Alpine.

"I take it you already told everyone about me?" I raise an eyebrow. She sighs and nods. "I thought you would wait for me?"

"I had no choice, the captain of the guard demanded that I explain who and what you were." She told me. Aw shit, political intrigue. This is going to be fun, I can tell.

"Alright, what did he want?" I ask her.

"He's been questioning my leadership ever since I took power, and me bringing what he believes a 'pasty white creature' is what he believes as a sign of weakness." She puts her face in her paws and sighs.

How can I help? Hmm... IDEA!

"Umm, hey Alp." I get her attention as she looks at me, "Do Diamond Dogs accept duels?" I ask her. She raises an eyebrow but nods. I grin mischievously.

"Does he have a child that can fight?" She begins to catch on, but nods anyway.

"Then why not-"

"Pit you and his pup against each other?" She finishes with a gentle smile. I nod, glad that she caught on. "I could do that, and it just might work. His pup is fairly strong though, are you up to it?" She asks me with concern.

I scoff, "Oh please, back where I'm from, we had kids who trained from birth to be warriors! They would do anything they could to survive. I'm not one of them, but if they can handle it at my age, I can handle a little shit that's probably just as uppity as his father!" I brag. She laughs and nods.

"I guess I made the right choice in bringing you here. You must be a gift from the heavens..." She smiles. I nervously laugh. She has no Idea how close that statement truly is...

"Anyway, let's get to it! I wanted to go out and check out Sanctuary, but that can wait! I have an ass to kick!" I exclaim. Inside though, I was berating myself for even thinking about this. I mean, I may be stronger than I was on earth, but I don't know how strong a young Diamond dog is! I could be in way over my head at this point!

"Very well, I will set it up. I will be back within the hour." She tells me and leaves. As soon as she leaves, I began to mentally beat my testosterone into an unrecognizable pulp. I mean seriously! I sighed and laid down on the bed. This is going to suck...

"Excuse me sir..." I turn and see the servant from before.

"Oh, hey. How much of that did you hear?" I ask her.

"Erm... Everything?" she flinches, expecting me to do something. Except I only sigh.

"Oh great... Well, any advice?" I ask her. She looks at me with surprise.

"S-sir?"

"Any advice? That was a heat of the moment statement, but now it's going to happen. What can you tell me about the captains child?" I ask her. She pauses and thinks for a moment before answering.

"Well... I know that Captain Iron claw's son is well trained," FUCK! "And that he is well versed in paw-to-paw combat," FUCK FIRE! "He's also fairly quick." SHIT! Okay, I'm pretty much boned.

"Oh this hurts already..." I groan as I put my face in my hands.

"Umm... If it's any consolation, I think you'll do fine sir!" She tries to encourage me, but it only makes me more hopeless. Oh lawd this will be painful...

"Well, can I get your name?" I ask her. She looks surprised, but nods.

"My name is Aza sir." she introduces herself. I nod.

"Frederick. Frederick Schultz." I introduce myself. She smiles, which I return half-heartedly. "Can you go so I can prepare?" I ask her. She nods and leaves the room, giving me a chance to do something that needs to be done.

"STUPIDSTUPIDSTUPIDSTUPID!" I smacked my head into my pillow. Okay, now that I have that out of my system, I need to think of a strategy. From what I gathered about this Iron claw guy, he's pretty fucking arrogant. That more than likely means his son is no different. I should use that to my advantage if he doesn't take me seriously, that way I can surprise him with a haymaker to the face. Always go for the face, headshots are best shots after all!

Twenty minutes of coming up with strategies later, Alpine comes back.

"The duel is upon us. Come, we must get ready." She informs me and beckons me to follow her. I quickly get up and run to her side. As we make our way deeper into the halls, I notice Diamond dogs giving me different looks. Some would bow, some would sneer, some would do both, and some would smile and bow deeper than most. Why do I get the feeling I'm walking to my execution?

We make it to this great dome with a pit in the center. Oh god, this would make Michael Vick cream himself. A lot of Dogs filled the seats, making me even more nervous.

"Did these Mongoloids just come here to watch me get my ass kicked?" I ask her incredulously. She chuckles and escorts me to the edge of the pit.

"We do not have any entrances to the pit, you're going to have to jump down." She tells me. Great...

I jump down into the pit. Thankfully, The Gravity thing Faust mentioned helped with the landing, so the drop didn't hurt at all. I wait for a minute before I notice two Diamond dogs that the crowd watched with ernest. Well shit, I think I can see my opponent.

The fucker looked arrogant. Good, that will help with the strategies that I came up with. The kid looks like his dad, who has, well, iron grey fur. His eyes though, were blue. You know, that seems to be a common trait amongst dogs. The kid jumps into the pit with me, and stands in front of me. He's a good few inches taller than me, but that doesn't intimidate me.

"You're going to regret coming here monster." He threatens me. I scoff at him.

"Geez, haven't even started and you're flirting. Aren't you the horn dog?" I taunt back. He stares at me with a dropped jaw, and I smirk at him, knowing I just shut him up.

I looked at Alpine who was getting ready to announce the fight.

"This Duel is to be between My son Frederick, and the Captain of the guard's son, Steel cutter." I do not want to know why he has that name since it will probably make me shit my pants...

"The fight will continue on until the other gives up. There will be no killing, and no maiming." Oh god that's common!?!

"Fighters, are you ready?" She calls out! We both nod.

"Begin!"

Frederick Vs. Steel Cutter

Heaven or hell!

Duel 1, LET'S ROCK!

(Frederick Vs. Steel Cutter theme)

I duck under a swing from his big ass gorilla arms and move back. He then unleashes a barrage of fists that I dodge. Jesus! What is this, an anime? since when can anything move this fast?! OPENING! I jump and lash out a leg, catching him in the jaw. staggers back and glares at me. I smirk at his anger.

"Come on, I ain't got all day." I say to him. He's practically foaming! Is he really this easy to get angry? OH SHIT! I dodged under another barrage of fists that came a little too close for comfort, and I think I felt the wind on that one!

Unfortunately, a punch managed to land into my face, sending me a few feet.

Fuck that boy can hit hard! I get up and dodge another swing of his fist and counter with my own into his chest. With him stunned I quickly glance at the kid's father and say this.

"JESUS CHRIST WHAT DO YOU FEED THIS BOY!?!" I shout at him before I grab his son and knee him in the face, Sending him sprawling to the floor. He kicked my feet from under me and brought me to the floor with him. He quickly crawled on top of me and tried to punch my face. I moved my head enough to dodge it, but barely. I bring my feet from under him and kick him off of me. I decide to test out the gravity and jump higher than usual and back flip.

I manage flip enough to drop my heel into his chest, knocking the wind out of him. before he could recover, I return the favor and crawl on top of him and cold cock him in the face. I punch him again and again, until I began to see blood on my fists. Shit, I didn't mean to beat him this hard!

However, he didn't seem to mind as he quickly punched the side of my head and rolled us over and reversed our positions. He began to punch me, making giant welts on my face. This is going to hurt in the morning... He grabbed my shirt and pulled me to his face.

"Do you yield?" he asked me with venom. obviously he doesn't like the fact that he can't kill me. Asshole.

I spit a glob of blood in face, temporarily blinding him. I then punch the side of his face, sending him off of me. I quickly got up from the ground and ran to him and picked him up. I lifted him by his vest and sneered.

"Nah, how 'bout you jackass?" I taunt him. I punch him in the chest, trip him and grab his arm and began to twist it. He was then howling in pain. "Yield and I let go! Yield and I let go!" I shout at him.

"I yield!" With that, I let go of him and fall to the floor breathing hard.

"About time..." I sigh. I get up and look around, seeing the shocked faces of the crowd and Iron claw. I then smirk at him and flip him off. I turn to Alpine, wanting to see her face. She was the most surprised of all.

But... she looked very proud. Geez, I already care about what she thinks? I guess I am taking to her.

"The winner of this duel, is Frederick!" She announced. Most of the crowd began to cheer, and I drank it all in. I smiled and began to laugh. I'm not going to worry about Steel cutter, since I couldn't really give a damn about him. I move towards the edges of the pit and see Alpine's paw sticking down from the edge. I smile and grab it and was hoisted up onto her shoulder.

"You did very well Frederick. I'm very proud to call you my son." I look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Nice to know you weren't proud earlier. Thanks Mom." I tell her sarcastically. She looks at me with surprise.

"Did you...?" She trailed off. I shrugged and smiled.

"May as well get used to it. You adopted me, that earns you plenty of points in my book." I tell her with a smile. She smiles even wider as we make our way home to put this behind us.

Home... Geez, I never thought I would call a place like this home. I guess I'm going to have to get used to being the only human here. I should everything I can about this world, and its inhabitants.

Then there's those supposed looming threats that Faust warned me about. She wasn't exactly specific on all of this shit that will happen, so I'm going to have to guess.

Well, that's a problem for tomorrow. Today, I eat and be merry!

(Canterlot Castle)

"Princess, I bring news from the diplomat of the Frozen woods Diamond dog clan." A guard had interrupted Celestia's moongazing. She turned back to the guard and motioned for him to continue.

"He has reported that a human child was seen with the Alpha, Alpine. He assumes that it is the Everfree Knight." She nodded and told him to leave.

'A child? but why would mother send a child? Perhaps she saw something in the future, that's the only reason that is sound.' She looked back to the moon.

'What will happen?'

A Day With Mom

Chapter Four: A Day With Mom

I'm going to say this.

One does not simply eat a single donut when given a box.

I was sitting at the dining table with my mom as a whole buffet of food was laid out in front of us. I was very taken with the donuts, especially the chocolate ones.

Oh, forgot to mention, it's been at least a week since the incident in Ponyville. I've been training like crazy, and I've managed to learn at least three moves that no longer tire me out when I use them. Now that just leaves I don't know how many more to learn.

Good god I was glad no one was around to see that...

Anyway, today was supposed to be the day I can get rid of these bandages. I was excited to be getting back to training, as it was really difficult to sneak out and practice. Alp would constantly find me and drag me back after she caught me the first few times.

I will say this, I'm kind of glad that she did, otherwise I probably would have been a lot worse than before.

"Frederick, I wish to speak with you about something." Alpine interrupted my thoughts. I perked up and looked at her, she looked slightly nervous.

"What is it Alp?" I ask her.

"Well... A young pup, when he is of age, is given a spear crafted by their parents..." she trails off. I think I see where this is going.

"Alright, what do I have to do?" I ask her, feeling rather excited that I will be getting a weapon. It may not be my knight's weapon, but it'll have to make up for it. Plus, it should help make fighting easier.

"Well, I actually have it made. It was for when my husband was still alive, and..." She trails off. Geez, she gets depressed easily. I get up and stand in front of her. I frown sternly before hugging her.

"Quit worrying about the past. It won't help with now, nor the future." I tell her. She chuckles and returns the hug.

"Perhaps you're right. Thank you Frederick." She said quietly. I smiled and patted her on the back.

"Well, I do aim to please." I tell her. She then had a thought.

"Also, I am free for today. Perhaps you and I could spend the day together and get to know each other?" She suggests. I shrug, not seeing a reason as to not get to know her.

"Sure. I was planning on training, but I prefer to spend more time with my new mother." I reply. She smiles, probably cherishing being called a mother.

"Excellent, Let's start now." With that, she guides me towards another section of the Hollow manor. It began to look fairly fancy, well, Diamond Dog fancy. We came to a rather small room. It was a small shrine with two spears hanging on the wall. The large one's shaft was made from bones, and at the tip was a spear tip made from some sort of gem. The smaller one's shaft was made from a black stone, and the spear tip was made from the same gem as the last one.

"What are they made of?" I ask her.

"My husbands spear, the large one, was made with a dragon  bone with a diamond spear tip." She then reached for the smaller one and smiled, "Yours however, has an Onyx shaft and a diamond spear tip." She tells me.

Damn! A diamond is one of the hardest gems ever discovered back home, whatever it took to shape it like that, I would not want to meet on a bad day. She handed me the small spear, and I held it in my hands, feeling the weight. It didn't feel that heavy, in all honesty. I flourished it and jabbed it into the air. I smiled, "It's perfect mom. Thanks." I tell her. She smiles and grabs me into a hug which I return.

She lets me go and looked down to me, "Come, we still have a whole day ahead of us." I grinned and nodded. We left the shrine and exited the manor. I can't help but smile as we walk around Hollow Sanctuary, getting to know the locals. We stopped in this sort of park like area. There were a few trees spread around, and grass was growing from sunbeams that came through the ceiling.

It was a very breathtaking sight, in my opinion. I saw a trio of pups playing around... they turned and saw me and smiled. They ran towards me, making me tense up. They stopped and stared at me.

"Hi Alpha! Is this your kid?" The middle one asked. Alpine smiled and nodded. I stared at the three with a raised eyebrow, feeling very cautious.

The largest one, a blue colored bull dog looking guy, stared at me and smiled. "You want to play with us?" He asked curiously. I narrow my eyes.

"Sure...?" I reply with caution. I know I shouldn't be this paranoid, but you never know. The smaller one, a breed I have no idea what it is but it has grey fur, jumped and patted me.

"You're it then!" OH THOSE SONS-A-BITCHES!

"YOU'RE ASS IS MINE!" I shout as I chase after them. I heard Alpine behind me laughing as I chased the three. I managed to catch one of them and tag them, thus making them chase me. I'll admit, I had a good time. After an hour of this game, and a little bit of wrestling (thank you god for def jam fight for new york), Alpine alerted me that it was time to get going. The pups whined, but they let me go. I stop before I leave and turn to them. "What are your names?" I ask them.

"Spot!" The small one replied. I raise an eyebrow, but spot a, well, spot on his tail. Now it makes sense.

"Diamond maw." The one that had a mustache looking thing replied. he had yellow-ish fur.

"Brutus." The large one replied.  Huh, a greek name.

I smiled and held out a hand, "Friends?" I ask them. They smile and placed their paws on top of mine.

"Friends." We all said, and then parted ways. Alpine was smiling as I came up to her.

"What?" I ask her with a raised eyebrow.

"I believe, that for the first time since I adopted you, you have finally acted your age." She tells me. I light up like a Christmas tree and look away.

"Whatever... what else are we doing?" I ask her.

"I was wondering if you were hungry." as soon as she said that, my stomach growled in agreement with her statement. I shrugged as she laughed.

"Well, his majesty has spoken for me. What are we eating?" I ask her.

She smiled and lifted me onto her shoulder, "A local restaurant called Iron will's bistro." Why do I get the feeling this will be a weird experiance? Oh well, may as well enjoy the moment of laziness I can have.

Hello Frederick.

Oh hi Faust. Nice to talk to ya! You uh... sound depressed.

Do not worry about it young one. It's nothing you have to worry about.

Alright then. So what'cha need?

I... I wish to give you you're weapon later tonight.

Whoa, umm, sure. Okay, I'll see what I can do in regards of the fact that Alpine gave me a spear she crafted for her firstborn. Since it's me, she kind of gave it to me. Don't want to disappoint her by not using it, you know what I mean?

Yes, I do. I will still give you your weapon, but it will be wrapped in cloth. I think you will find yourself enjoying what it is.

Alright then. Ah, we made it to the bistro. Talk to you later Faust.

I will see you then

With that mental conversation out of the way, we got ourselves a booth. We looked at the menu, and I have to wonder, dafuk are bits? I know it sounds like a currency, but what do they look like?

"Hey Alpine. What are bits?" I ask her. She looks at me confused, for a moment but then realizes that I'm not exactly that well versed in equestrian laws.

"Right," She pulls out a small gold coin that had the sun on one side and the moon on the other, "This is a bit. It's the currency of the country we reside in called Equestria. Let's use different items on how it work." She tells me. I nodded and paid attention.

"Now, let's say you buy a single apple. That would usually be worth about three bits. If you bought a whole crate of them, that would be about eighty six bits. A thousand bits can allow you to rent a house with a daily payment of thirty six bits. Well, that's how it works in Hollow Sanctuary at least. I don't know about the surface towns." She explains. Well, it was a quick explanation, but it helps me when it comes to prices. I nodded as the... wow a minotaur? Anyway, our waiter gave us our menus and we ordered our drinks. I asked for water, since I have no idea what they serve here.

I looked over the menu, and realized that the Diamond Dog language looked very much like German... I GOT THIS IN THE BAG NOW!

Nothing like seeing your mother language in another world. It brings a tear to my eye...

Please note that the last part was sarcasm. Anyway, after the water returned with our drinks, turns out Alpine ordered an alcoholic drink, and asked if we were ready to order.

We ordered our food and simply sat there and talked. It was nothing too big, but I felt like I should tell her why I was brought to this world.

"Umm, excuse me..." I turn and-WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?! This thing looked like one of those ponies, except very bug-like. I wonder if I bug spray works on them...

"What is it Changeling?" Alpine asks.

"I don't mean to interrupt you two, but Mr.Frederick," The changeling, I guess that's what their called, turned to me, "Do you happen to know a Jacob Ficsher?" she... I think it's a she, asked me.

I thought about it, and shook my head. "Nope. Sorry, doesn't ring any bells." I reply. Honestly, another human? Well, things might get interesting...

The changeling nodded and left our table.

"What was that about?" Alpine asks me. I shrugged, not really knowing what to say. I guess I should wait on telling her about the whole Knight thing until we get back home.

"Here is your food, enjoy." The Minotaur gave us our ordered food that we ate in silence. Alpine was eating a bowl of gems, while I was eating the food of kings, steak. I lurv steak...

Sorry, had a tard moment...

After we ate, we decided to go back to the manor, having spent most of the day walking around. After ten minutes of walking, we finally came to the Manor door, and entered.

(OST)

"Alp..." I call out to her. She turns and looks at me curiously, "I need to talk to you in private..." She looked worried, but nodded. She followed me to my room, which I quickly closed the door. I turned to her and smiled sadly, "I wasn't exactly honest when I said that I was an orphan, nor was I honest when I said I never had a home." I told her. Her eyes widened and her ears flattened against her head.

"Wha... what do you mean?" she asked me quietly. Geez, this is already hurting...

"I meant that I was taken from my home and given a job. I was told to help this world with various events that will shape this world into something." I told her. She stared at me, and her eyes were slightly glazed with tears.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" She asked me.

"Would you have believed me? Would you believe something you just met?" I asked her rhetorically.

"You're my son..." She weakly, making me sigh sadly.

"Yeah, and I'm very happy that you have accepted me as your son. But... I have a job here, and I'm not sure if I'm safe to be around when things start happening." I tell her.

"You're not leaving." I stare at her in surprise. she's crying slightly, but she looked determined.

"What?" I ask, surprised beyond belief.

"You may be someone important, but damn it all, I still love you as my own!" She gripped me in a tight hug, "I understand that someone sent you here to help others, but you're still my son! It doesn't matter to me what comes after you, I will protect you as much as I can!" She exclaims as I felt tears fall on the top of my head.

I... wow. I don't know what to say, really. I expected anger, suffering, that sort of thing, but the amount of maternal love that I'm experiencing from her is damn near palpable! I numbly hug her back, still trying to think on what to say, until a golden light invades the room, and a thud on my bed alerts me to something that I was waiting for.

"Is that yours?" she asks me. I nod, and move towards my bed to find a large bundle wrapped in cloth. I see a knot, and pull at the string, revealing what I've been waiting for.

My knight's sword.

I lifted it, and to my surprise, it was damn near bigger than me. I held with both hands, and I realized that there was a button on the side of the handle. I pressed it, and it activated the motor, making it feel warm in my hands as it gave off a wave of heat. I stared at it in awe, feeling overjoyed, but also rather anxious.

I felt a great amount of power from this sword, and this nagging feeling that it looks familiar is really bugging-

Oh duh! It's Sol's Fireseal sword! Wait... SOL'S FIRESEAL SWORD!?!?!

Yes, I decided that this sword fit you best Frederick, and you have an amazing familiarity with it already, I asked a friend named Hephaestus  to construct it for you. He was quite pleased the end result. I take it you are as well?

That's one way of putting it...

"Is this your blood weapon?" I turn to Alpine with a raised eyebrow, what the hell is that? She seemed to catch my questioning look, and explained.

"In Diamond dog lore, a blood weapon is a weapon that someone is destined to wield, and will never be able to feel comfortable with another weapon. Is this sword your blood weapon?" she asks me. I look at it, and grin at the shine that the sword produces, and also at the sharpness. I tuned off the motor and looked to Alpine.

"Yeah. This is it." I stabbed the sword into the stone floor, making it stand perfectly straight, "This, is the Fireseal sword. It should Amplify my fire magic and make my attacks easier to control. This is definitely my blood weapon." I tell her.

She smiles sadly, "Then use it. Keep the spear, though. It's yours." She sighed and hugged me close, "as much as I would like that you use your spear, I'm not going to get in the way of your blood sword." I hugged her back, glad that she still cares for me despite my ulterior motives.

She truly is one of a kind...

She lets me go and looks at me with a smile, "Go to sleep young Frederick, Tomorrow is another day full of unknown challenges." Alpine gets up and leaves my room.

Another day full of challenges...

You know, it doesn't seem so bad anymore...

Kentucky fried...

Chapter Five: Kentucky Fried...

"Are you sure you wish to traverse outside of the city?"

"Ma', I'll be fine. I need a wide open space to train myself, otherwise my job is going to be even more difficult!"

I was assuring Alp that I would be fine as I prepare to go and train in the Everfree forest. I need as much training as I can get in, otherwise whatever is coming will just walk all over me.

Alpine sighed, "Fine, but be careful." I thanked whatever god is out there listening, and grabbed my sword and prepared to leave. "And try not to wander too deep into the forest!"

"I'll be fine!" I reply as I leave the manor. She can worry a lot sometimes... Oh well, as I use the walkways to head to the gate, D-dogs that pass by wave, which I return with my own and a grin. I see the trio I hung out with yesterday, and wave at them. They grin and return my wave as I pass by.

The city was bustling this morning, as I could see Changelings, griffons, Minotaurs, Ponies, and D-dogs all wandering around the city going about their business. It's really quite amazing that the inside of a mountain can house such a huge city.

I recently looked at a map of this place, and the way it's constructed is that the marketplace, downtown, and entrance are all at the bottom of the mountain. Where Alpine and I live, we live at the peak since she's the current leader. The floor below us, though is the noble quarter, where the rich and fancy live. Floor below that, is the higher class suburbs, I guess you could call them. Floor below that, middle class, below that, lower class, then the bottom is reached.

I made it to said bottom rather quickly, since the mountain isn't 'Throat of the world' sized (thank god...). I waved at the gate keeper.

"Mornin' Greg!" I greeted. He smiled and waved at me.

"Good morning young master. Heading out?" he asked.

"Yup, need to train. Would it be alright if you opened the gate?"

"Sure, give me a minute and you can be on your way." I nodded and did as he asked. Like he said, he took a minute to get the gate open and waved me through. "Be careful out there, the Kadaver Jäger have been spotted in the area recently. Don't know what they're looking for, but if they're hungry, they won't hesitate to try and eat you." He warned.

Carcass hunter? That sounds very nice and welcoming, doesn't it? Oh well, I guess I'll just have to keep an eye out. I nodded and made my way out of the city and into the exit. The light at the end of the tunnel gets brighter and I finally make it out. I look over the scenery with a smile.

I'm standing on a small cliff overlooking most of the forest, and it looked incredibly beautiful. Off in the distance, I can see giant flying creatures circling around different areas. Those must be the 'carcass hunters'... Alright, I best find a clearing away from them and I can begin my training. There's a pathway to the right of me, guess I should take it.

As I move down the pathway, I can't help but think back to that changeling from yesterday. Jacob Ficsher... American, by the sound of the name. Then again, he could be something else as well...

Maybe I should Ask about it? I head to side of the cliff and sit down on a rock, getting myself comfortable.

Alright, let's see if this works...

FAUST!

Yes child?

Did you send that Jacob guy here?

No, it was a friend of-

I believe I can speak for myself Faust.

Another immortal being in my head? Great... at least I’m not walking.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

It’s not an inconvenience, I’m sitting down right now before I head into the forest and train, so nothing should come up.

Playing it safe, I take it?

Already nearly screwed myself over in there once, don’t need a repeat performance.

Unsurprising, the Everfree can be very dangerous and unpredictable.

You mean like back home? It’s only dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.

That may be true, but, and excuse me for this, “Knowing is half the battle.”

G.I JOOOOOOOOOOE!!!

We are not doing that, not in my immortal lifetime.

You started it. You know that, right?

The phrase has been used many times before by many people, that show was not the first to do so. So, in reality, you started it.

Well, to me, the show kind of coined that phrase and made it fairly famous, and in all honesty you did. But that’s besides the point, I need to know about this Jacob guy.

What is it you desire to know?

Who exactly is Jacob? Is he someone who’s going to be a jackass, or is he decent? Another thing, I get the feeling he also uses magic, so what magic does he use?

He is decent, yes. In terms of magic, he chose lightning.

Alright... the lightning thing is a bit cool I guess. You know what, all this time I never asked for your name.

Hm, I suppose I should give it. I am Susano-o, Shinto God of sea and storm.

... That is the single most amazing thing I’ve ever heard. Now I’m glad I read all those books.

I, for one, find books gratifying either way, I do not see why you thank them now.

Well, I only read them as something to pass the time, not every time I’m bored. The reason I’m thanking them now is because I did kind of find your legends rather interesting.

I find it insulting that you would refer to them as “legends” when speaking to one of the very beings told of in them. That seems rather... Ironic, I think.

Well pardon the shit out of me... I’m just a bit excited that I’m talking to Deity is all. At least I didn’t try to guess your name, I probably would have said something stupid, then you’d be angry, and then a lightning bolt up my ass, that’s the last thing I need.

I am shocked you would think of me as someone who would do that over a simple mistake.

The Greeks didn’t help. Oh yeah, and I see what you did there.

The Greeks aren’t exactly the best example. We are not on the best of terms, so to speak.

I can imagine. Do you ever get into... arguments with them?

The Greeks in general, no. Zeus, on the other hand... He has been on the receiving end of my sword many times in the past. The arrogant old fool acts as if he owns everything in existence.

Even though that Kronos guy was the one that created him and his brothers?

That’s what we try and tell him, but he acts like a stubborn child who won’t give up his play things. I swear, his maturity betrays his age by about three million years.

Ouch. That has to be a pain to deal with on a daily basis... What about the Norse? Are they really as battle thirsty as depicted?

In a sense, yes. That particular aspect of them has died down in recent millennia, though.

I see. I have another question, and this is something that has been on my mind for awhile.

What would that be?

I know this may sound like a stupid question, but as a Shinto god... What was your opinion on World war II?

Simple. A bunch of thrice damned fools and their misguided attempts at conquering the world were crushed under the heel of superior firepower. Though I especially despise the German phrase “blitzkrieg” now.

Okay... What about the American revolution? I know that we didn’t exactly have the most marvelous start, and over the course of history until the 60’s, we didn’t exactly make the best of choices.

In terms of the American’s side, I have no real feeling one way or the other. In terms of the British Empire... Refer to what I said earlier.

Well alright then. Quick question again, how exactly does Loki really act?

Well, he use to act like the many depictions human’s have of him, but he has calmed down greatly, along with the rest of the Norse Gods.

Well that’s good to know, because I get the feeling I’m going to meet one of them sometime in the future... Don’t ask me how I know that, cause I don’t know...

Hm, that is troubling, but there is nothing to be done about it.

Well, thank you for the information then. I need to get to training.

Then I shall not bother you further. Sayonara, Frederick.

Wait!

Hm?

I uh... Kind of enjoyed talking to you Mister Susano-o, will I ever talk to you again?

Possibly. I usually only contact Jacob, however I may find time to converse again.

Alright, well, I’ll let you go do what gods do in their spare time... whatever that is....

Mostly nothing, though some of us, myself included, have taken to playing those video games you mortals enjoy so much.

SNRK! Alright... well, see ya!

Something amusing to you?

Just.... an image came to me, is all.

What would that be?

Just imagined you, and a bunch of other gods sitting on this big couch playing super smash bros.

Mario Party, actually. Why do you think we dislike the Greeks so much? That... Abomination you call a game has destroyed more friendships than murder and arson combined.

Oh god.... Well bye!

Again, Sayonara.

Well Faust, that certainly was enlightening.

It was rather strange to watch you two converse like that, I will admit.

Well, thanks for bringing him in and telling me all that Faust, it really helps.

Anything to make things easier, my champion.

Well, see ya later then!

Goodbye Frederick.

I opened my eyes, realizing that it was actually still the morning. Shit, It didn't even take that long? Cool, more time to train. I get up from the rock I was sitting on and continue down the path into the forest. It was big enough to bring carts in if they're in a line. Other than that though, it's rather small. I look at the mountain and can't help but admire that I live in said mountain like a freaking dwarf, it makes me think of the dwarfs from the Hobbit. Thorin was awesome, can't deny that.

Anyway, after a few minutes of walking, I make it to the edge of the forest, and grin at the noises of the birds and various other wildlife. I adjust the sword against my shoulder, ready to swing at a moments notice. Come at me everfree, I got you're number with my fire.

I continue down the path and look around as I do so, taking in all of the scenery.

It's really quite beautiful, not even scary at all.

SNAP!

SONOFABITCH! I jump and ready my sword, activating the motor and heating the blade up, pointing it in the direction of the sound. What I found was a Changeling cowering as I point my sword at its face.

"Please don't hurt me!" She exclaims. Well, the voice sounds like a she, anyway. I stab my sword into the ground and look at her with a raised eye brow.

"Who are you?" I ask her. She looks at me with a little bit of tears in her eyes,

"M-my name is Bozena..." she introduces herself. I look around and realize how close she is to the Diamond dog settlement.

"What are you doing so far out here? Isn't there a changeling village around here you should be at?" I ask her as nicely as I could.

"W-well, I was in žiariace močiar, until I..." She trailed off, giving a slight blush.

"Well?" I egged her on to continue.

"I got lost." she muttered embarrased. I stare at her for a few moments, and face palm. Well, I guess I may as well point her in the direction of Hollow Sanctuary.

"Alright, well, Hollow Sanctuary as back that way, just follow the trail until it leads to some cliffs. Follow the cliff trail and you'll be in front of a gate, tell the gatekeeper that I sent you." I tell her and grab my sword; I leave towards a random direction, dragging my sword through the ground so I don't get lost. I hear hoofsteps behind me, and I look behind to find the changeling following me.

"I'm really sorry, but do you mind if I stay with you? The forest is rather... worrying by myself." she begs. I sigh, and nod.

"Fine, but keep up. I plan on finding a field to train, so you won't be heading back for a while." I tell her. She nods happily and falls in behind me.

We walk through the various trees, keeping a close eye out for any predators that might pounce.

"Umm, I never did hear your name..." Bozena trailed off.

"Mainly because I never told you it." I snark. She winces at the reply, making me sigh, "It's Frederick."

"Frederick? As in the Frozen Forest's Alpha's son, Frederick?" She asks me with surprise. I raise an eyebrow at her and nod. "Whoa... I never thought I would meet Beta..." I look at her and shrug as we continue on our way.

The forest began to look less dense, maybe I'm getting close to a clearing? We continue in the same direction, and lo and behold, a clearing. I love it when I'm right. It feels like victory.

I begin to stretch as I prepare to practice my moves. I notice Bozena move near a few rocks that are in the clearing and sit down and observes me. Well, I guess I'm giving a free show.

I charge my fist with fire magic and jump up, "Volcanic Viper!" the familiar fire trails behind my fist as I rise higher. I get an idea as I reach the peak of my jump, and try something; "Bandit Revolver!" a jet of fire launches me forward and I perform an axe kick with fire trailing behind it. I land on the ground with a soft thud, and quickly jump up again.

"Bandit Bringer!" A jet of fire shoots from my fist a few feet away from me before dissipating. I stop to look at Bozena, and she seems to be watching me rather intently, a soft blush on her face. She must be enjoying it, so why not continue? Besides, I need to see if I can do any other moves.

"Gun flame!" I stab my sword into the ground, and small pillars of fire erupt from the ground and go at least ten feet in front of me. I grin, and continue training. I see that Gun flame didn't drain me as I thought it would. I guess the sword acts as a medium for my powers.

I get an idea, and I press the button to turn on the motor to my sword. I jump high into the air and charge my sword with magic, making it light up with flame. I slash downwards, leaving a fiery trail behind me as I descend. As I land, I slash in a horizontal fashion and leave another trail. the trails hover in the air, and then launch forward, making an explosion.

"Burning Cross!" I exclaim as the attack explodes, making a small crater in the ground. I move towards Bozena and sit down near her as I try to catch my breath.

"That was amazing!" she exclaims. I grin from the praise.

"Well, it's the main reason I came out here. I needed to train badly, and I needed some open space for some of these attacks." I explain to her. I look closely at her, and see some dark green lines on her carapace. "What are those, if you don't mind me asking."

She realizes where I'm pointing and smiles, "Oh these?" She smiles even wider as her horn glows green and I see some lines on her shell, "these are my česť tetovanie! Or, honor tattoo in equestrian." I looked at her confused.

"What do they mean?" I ask her.

She looks puzzled, "Well, it's tough to explain, really. I don't really know all of the details, but I can tell you what they mean!" She reassures me. I smile and urge her to tell me what hers mean. She points at the first one, and I just realized how tribal they look.

"This one is a passage to adulthood! It basically means that I'm a grown changeling and can make my own decisions." I nodded. She pointed towards one that looks like a chevron, "This one means that I've purchase my own property." huh, I guess independence is a valuable thing to changelings.

"That seems to be it. Nothing else happen?" I ask her. She shrugs in response.

"Well, nothing too big has happened to me, and I don't want to waste the tattooist's time on mundane things, so I don't really get many of them." She replies as we sit in silence. Until a loud thump was heard. We get up in alarm and look around. I notice Bozena's eyes look even more and more horrified.

"What is it?" I ask her as I grip my sword. As soon as I said that, a loud screech pierced the air.

"KOSTRA LOVEC!" She screams. As soon as that was said, a Giant... THING crashed through the tree line and let out a mighty roar. Chunks of whatever it just ate came barreling out and landed around us. I saw some heads, a few intestines, and a lung.

FUCK ALL KINDS OF DUCK.

The giant bird look mostly like a very, VERY, big condor. It's beak was about three feet long, and its talons was also three feet long as well. It's feathers was a pitch black with a white plum. It's wing span... about twenty feet. It also seemed to have this fresh wound in its stomach. Damn if that thing isn't big though...

"Bozena, hide!" I yell at her as I prepare my sword. OH GOD THIS IS STUPID OF ME!

"But what about you!?" YEAH BRAIN, WHAT ABOUT ME!?!

"Just go!" FUCK YOU BRAIN! FUCK YOU!

Bozena nods and runs into the forest. The giant is about to charge at her, but I run towards its talons and slash at them. It lets out a shrill cry and smacks with them. I go fly into the air and smack against the ground ten feet away from it. I get up quickly and realize that it's glaring at me.

What the fuck am I thinking...

Frederick Vs. Kostra Lovek

Heaven or hell!

Duel 1, LET'S ROCK!

(Mid-boss theme)

I dodge another swipe of its talons and counter them by with a swing of my sword. It shrieks in annoyance and smacks me with its wings again, except this time I was ready. I latched onto the wings for dear life. I light my sword on fire and stab into it, making it shriek in pain. It took off into the air, dragging me with it.

BAD DAY BAD DAY BAD DAY BAD DAY!!!

It took off at amazing speeds, doing whatever it could to try and shake me off, but I held on, too scared to, anyway. I get a stupid idea, and begin to climb up the wing as it was beating. Oh my god this is stupid! I make it to the base of the wing and climb onto its body. As I look down, I realize that it was circling the area we lifted off from.

This is very high... Well, let's hope I don't die from this! I was on the body, so I was in the correct position. I lit my sword on fire again, and stabbed it in the back. The entire body jerked and the bird shrieked in agony, we then divebombed to the ground, both me and the monster shrieking.

Not my best idea... We impacted the ground in the clearing loudly, kicking up a lot of dirt as we did so. I got up with  a groan, and look to the condor and realize that it was getting up too. It did, and it roared at me even louder than before. Probably pissed that I wasn't an easy meal. It was charging at me with it's head extended forward, leaving his chin open...

IDEA! I super-charged my fist, praying to whatever deity is listening that this will work. As soon as the head was in front of me, I punched it under the chin, stunning it and creating a small ball of fire.

"TYRANT'S RAVE!" I shouted as I punched the fireball, and I created a giant wave of fire that shot forward, washing over the bird entirely. It shook itself free from the fire, and roared at me. SHIT! It didn't even do anything! Time to go! I run in the opposite direction with the thing right on my tale. I'm running like a madman in hopes that I don't get eaten...

WAIT A MINUTE! Anything is soft on the inside, so...

My feet skid on the ground a I suddenly stop, time slowing as I did so. Slowly, I watched the condor open its gaping maw, ready to eat me.

Not today.

I then do the stupidest thing I've ever conceived in my mind.

I jumped into the mouth with all intents of surviving. I encased myself in a shell of fire, burning it as I went down into its throat.

I can hear screeches as I go further and further into its digestive systems. Yet I have no fucks to give.

"Explosive Wave!" I release my fire shell, and it shoots outwards, destroying the digestive track and destroying its body. Blood and gore shoot all over the clearing, showering it in the predators intestines.

Hehehe... I just went shadow of the colossus on this son of a bitch! I then tiredly walked over to the head, stabbed my sword into its eyes, and rested. I'd probably would have been dead if it weren't for my sword. That thing is definitely a medium, otherwise I would have been unconscious, not tired.

"Over here!" I turn and see Bozena and... the other human. I guess this is Jacob. He wore a red cloak with a brown shoulder pad. He had shoulder length dark brown curly hair and a goatee; blue eyes, and he had tan skin. He was looking at me with horror.

What the hell did I do now...

The Patriarch and a moments rest

Let's have a Recap of the events that have happened so far! I just killed a giant bird that wanted to peck my face in, and now the other human that Susano-o sent is here. Joy.

He was looking at me in horror for a moment, before he finally found his voice, “Kid, you most likely just completely screwed us over...”

I looked at him in confusion, “The hell do you mean?”

“Uh, okay,” he said hastily, “I’ll try to be quick about this, as we probably don’t have much time. You see, these Kostras were fathered by a much larger one, called the Patriarch. He is, apparently, very protective of his children, and will kill anything that manages to kill them. Now tell me; what did you just do!?”

Wait... my eyes widened at the implications, "Oh shit..." I muttered

He opened his mouth to respond, but a literally earth shaking screech of anger filled the air. I loud wooshing noise filled the air, and the surrounding trees were actually bent backwards by the force of the wind. With another screech, a massive shadow blanketed the area. The shadow itself was shaped like a bird. A very, very large bird. One that is about twice, or more, the size of the one I had just killed. He looks very pissed off at me... Fuck me...

Jacob, I'm assuming it's him anyway, turned to me and looked me in the eyes and said, “If we die, I blame you.”

I couldn't help but snort, "Like I was supposed to know he would get anal pains from me killing his kid!" Seriously, I would have just ran to save myself the trouble.

He looked ready to retort, but the bird cut him off again. With a massive, truly earth shattering slam, the Patriarch landed across from us. The thing stood, literally, thirty some feet tall and stared down at us with clouded red eyes.

I stared at the thing with wide eyes, but Jacob was speaking to me, “If we somehow get out of this, I will high five you for eternity for actually living against that thing.” Okay, that's nice and all, but seriously? I didn't even grace that with a response as I just opted to ready my sword despite my fatigue

“Well,”I heard from right next to me, “good a time as any to try this thing out.”I saw a blinding light come from behind me, making me look, and to my surprise, he was covered in Leather armor and a hood that obscured his face.

He got his armor!?

Frederick & Jacob Vs The Patriarch

HEAVEN OR HELL,

DUEL 1, LET'S ROCK!

(Boss theme)

You know what, I don't fucking care! We have a giant bird to kill, I don't have time to worry about why he has his armor and I don't. I charge at Patriarch and barely dodge a swipe from his talons. I slash at the offending appendage, and get a decent sized cut into it.

It's response was to send me flying into the treeline, making me wince as I bounce off of the ground. I got up and tried to catch my breath before I entered the fray again, but I felt a strong breeze coming from the battle. I waited until it died down before I entered again, and saw that Patriarch had a smoldering area on its breast.

Light bulb...

I charged and jumped at the smocked area, and stabbed into it, making myself latch onto it and held on for dear life. As the Patriarch flailed about, trying to get me off of him, I turned to Jacob and shouted, "FRY THIS SON OF A BITCH!

He ran up to get in closer, then shouted, “Pulse Wave!” A blast of pure, electrified force slammed into my sword, forcing it further in. he followed up with, “Arc Reactor.” Lightning flowed from his hand and straight into the Fireseals hilt again, sending electrical shocks throughout Patriarch’s body. He began to spasm slightly, then staggered backwards and fell to his side, motionless.

I quickly pulled out my sword and ran to Jacob's side, "Great teamwork, huh?" I grin as I ask him. We did good, but I know that thing isn't done yet, or it would be too easy.

he nodded, “Yeah, awesome. Now get ready, he’s getting back up.”

I nodded and charged at the Patriarch, fire surging from my fist. I then jumped on the bastards face and punched him in his clouded red eye, “Bandit Bringer!”

The eyeball popped, making him screech in pain and anger. with A flick of his head, he sent me flying into the air and he trailed after me. As soon as I was in front of him, he slammed his wing down into my chest, making me fly into the ground.

SONOFABITCH THAT HURT! I could hear myself roar in pain and noticed blood coming up from my mouth, leaking out of it. Shit, I'm a sitting duck at this point! I saw that he was slowly coming at me and I couldn't get up... Now would be a good time to help Jacob!

I saw a spark hit the side of the Patriarch's head, making him turn towards Jacob. I then saw a ball of lightning attach to the buzzards head and explode. And... it didn't even make him flinch. Way to go Jacob. He was rewarded with a smack in the face from Patriarch's wing, sending him flying into a nearby tree.

If you want something done right...

I got up slowly and fire gathered around me and danced in a circle. Then, it engulfed me and began to make my body shift a few seconds before I reverted back to my normal self.

“DRAGON INSTALL!” Pillars of flame shot from under me and gave me a great boost of power. I charged forward at Patriarch and rose from the ground, fire trailing after me as I did so, "VOLCANIC VIPER!"

As I rose, I landed on top of Patriarch's head and began to stab him repeatedly with my sword, "I'm going to fucking fry you like the colonel!" I shouted as I did so. He took off and was flying really low next to the ground. He then turned in mid air, making me upside down.

Yeah right, like that will work. I quickly grabbed his neck and flipped onto it, "AHAHA NOPE!" I shouted as I did so. I supercharged my fist,"Tyrants..." I began. At that point, the power in my fist reached a peak and I struck the buzzards throat, "RAVE!" I then unleashed a giant wave of fire upon his throat. He screeched in pain and was choking, but he then struck the top of my head with his beak.

What a fucked up way to get knocked out...

(OST)

I awoke from my slumber with a groan, and feeling fairly hungry, I stupidly say this, "I want a sub..."

What? I was hungry!

I fell back into the bed and and groaned. I notice Jacob standing in the door way. A little creepy, but okay.

“What the hell happened?” I asked.

“Well, after you got knocked out by Patriarch, giving you a few good bruises and splinters from hitting that tree, I managed to kill him. Bozena then carried you here for medical attention while I had to fight Matriarch, Patriarch’s mate.” he told me.

I groaned even louder at the stereotypical name, “How fucking original...”

He shrugged, “Better than some long, probably untranslatable name in the Changeling language.”

I nodded slowly as to avoid pain from my wounds, “No kidding. Diamond dog turns out to be german. Go me.”

“Well Frederick sounds like a German name, so at least you have some connection to it, I’m completely lost with the Changelings.”

I simply waved a hand not really to concerned for his plight, and asked, “So, how long was I out?”

“About a day,” he replied, “the weakest anesthetic spell they had knocked you out good, but that’s also on top of exhaustion.”

I immediately shot up and felt a shiver of terror run up my spine, “Oh shit... a day?”

“Yeah, why?”

I tried to get up, but I ended up falling flat on my face. Okay, got to try even harder! I began to claw my fingers into the floor and dragged myself, “Fucking... Alpine... Is going... to kill me!” I said as I made it nearly past the door.

He ran to where I was and lifted me up, “It’s alright, we sent Bozena to go and talk with her. Hopefully she got there quickly and was able to explain everything.”

I nodded, remembering what I told her before “She shouldn’t have too much trouble, when I met her I told her to go there and ask for an escort to the changeling village,” I then looked around the house I was in “I’m going to assume I’m in said village?”

It's a wooden house, kind of like that treehouse in Ponyville.

“Yep, this is, technically, my family’s house.”

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow before shrugging, “Eh, I was adopted by a dog. Talk about irony in my opinion.”

I mean, isn't it the human who takes in the dog? Giving a nod, Jacob began walking him downstairs, “We should probably get you something to eat.”

“Got any donuts?”

“I think so, yeah. I’ll go see.” He walked me to the dining room and sat him down, then went into the kitchen to look for some food. Searching through the cabinets,He came back with a box of donuts

I opened the box and grabbed a glazed donut, “Such deliciousness...” I muttered in a state of bliss.

He shook my head and chuckled, “Whatever you say. I already ate earlier, so go ahead and eat as many as you want.”

His eyes widened as he stared at me, mock tears falling down his face, “You amazing person...” He clenched his fist in a manly manner, “you are... OH SHIT WHERE’S MY SWORD!?!” I shouted as I looked around frantically.

He raised his hands, “Calm down, it’s here.” He went into what looks like a living room and came back with my sword, he it rather clumsily on the table in front of him, “Here you go.”

I looked at him with caution in my eyes, “Don’t be so clumsy with it, you could burn the whole place down if you pressed the button.”

“I’m not one to go pressing buttons when I don’t know what they do, but I’ll make sure I don’t do it anyhow.”

I nodded and went back to eating my donuts. I looked around a moment before returning my gaze to him, “Where’s everybody? I know you can’t be the only one in the house.”

He shrugged, “Draho is in town, I think, Jindřiška and Vladimir are at work, Libena’s up in her room playing, and I don’t remember where Jaromil and Jarmila went.”

What. Really? REALLY? “Vladimir? Fucking really?”

He rolled his eyes a bit, “I know, but it get’s worse. He, and I am not lying when I say this, was actually called Vlad the Impaler by his fellow guardsmen before he left the Changeling homeland.”

My face then met the table. They got along rather well. “Stupid fucking cliche’s...” I growled under my breath

“Could you maybe cut down the swearing a bit? There’s a little kid in the house, and I don’t think everyone would appreciate it if she started cursing all the time.”

I looked up from the table and looked at him, before grinning, “Alright, you don’t want me cursing, right?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Well then!” I then scratched my forehead with my middle finger, “I guess I’ll have to come up with better ways to do so!”

“As long as you don’t teach her any inappropriate words, I don’t really care. It’s not like she can actually give anyone the middle finger anyway.”

“What about George carlin’s list of words?”

He glared at me,Successful troll is successful, “Do that and I’ll  take the donuts back and throw you in the swamp water while you’re still too weak to stand.”

I smirked dangerously at him, “Try me.”

Before I could react, he picked up the box of donuts and threw them in the garbage, “That’s one part down, and you were only about two donuts in too. Such a shame.”

I shrugged, despite the unnatural amount of anger I was feeling, “Just need to get home for some donuts. Not like I’ll die from lack of donuts.”

“There’s still step two though, if you want.”

Oh hell no!

I prepared a Bandit Bringer and leveled my fist at him “I don’t care if I hurt myself. Like hell if you’re going to toss me into a damn swamp.”

He glared at me again, “Just what the hell is your problem?”

I returned his glare with my own, now thinking back to the fight “Because, my fucking wounds could have been less dangerous if I had my armor. My damn benefactor still decided that I couldn’t use it yet! You however get it right off the bat.” He then sighed, but kept his fists ablaze, “I’m not going to complain about how unfair it is, but dammit if this could have been avoided I should have been able to!”

This whole thing should have been avoidable!

“That has nothing to do with what I asked. I mean, why the hell do you insist on swearing when I asked you to stop for the sake of a child. And, what the hell are you doing with fire on your hands!? This is a completely wooden house you moron!”

Oh my god Frederick he didn't.

Oh my god Brain he did, My voice darkened as I glared harder at him “Call me a moron...” I felt the flames in my hand grow hotter, “one more time...”

He raised an eyebrow at me, “What? I’m sorry if it makes you angry, but you are pretty stupid to bring fire into a wooden home without thought about what might happen.”

There it fucking is again! That asshole! I exploded in anger, but I kept the fire in my fist steady, “You think I don’t know that!? What, you think I don’t realize where I’m at!? Don’t look down on me asswipe!”

He stared at me blankly, then got up from his seat. He walked over to the window, opened it, walked back to the table, then picked up my sword and tossed it out, “There, I got some of the trouble out of the way and you won’t have to carry it with you. Get the hell out of this house.”

He wants to do that? Fine.

I glared at him vehemently, “Whatever. I’ll get back home myself if I have to.” I did my best to hobble out of the house, not bothered by how much my wounds are hurting right now. I reached my sword, and picked it up and strapped it to my back.

I heard footsteps behind me, and then a shout, “You really have no right to be angry. We have the courtesy to let you into our home, heal your wounds, and give you food, and what did you do? You thought it would be funny to swear around a child, could’ve burned down our house, then get pissed off when I point out the fact that that isn’t very smart to do. I’ll ask it again, just what in the hell is your problem?”

Asshole can't just leave it alone, can he? I'm walking away.

“Like you need to know.” Was all I said. It isn't his problem, nor is it his business.

“Alright, whatever, you immature little snot. Have your damn temper tantrum and get the hell away from this village.”

THAT'S FUCKING IT! I turned around, thinking about just launching a Tyrant's Rave at him, but I paused and realized what the hell I just thought.

This fucking sword is messing with me... I subtly shook my head and replied, "Better hope we don't meet again." I was about to walk away again before I hear his voice again.

“I’m really threatened by a kid, totally crapping myself in fear right now!”

Does this guy not know when to shut the hell up!? I gave my own retort, “I at least defeated a carcass hunter by myself. Can you say the same?”

“I killed Matriarch, who was only slightly smaller than Patriarch, by myself. I also finished off Patriarch because you got knocked out.”

Cool and all, but I don't fucking care. I just want to get home before this sword makes me want to wear his skin as a coat.

“Get the hell back here and let us finish treating your wounds. I may be angry, but I’ll be damned if you get an infection or pass out from blood loss in the forest.”

Nope. Fuck you, can't hear you.

“Look,” he said, “I’m sorry for calling you a moron, I was simply afraid for the house. I won’t say that what you did wasn’t slightly stupid, but I’m sorry for upsetting you.”

Okay, at least he apologized. I'm still pissed though, so I reply, “Next time, don’t assume that I’m stupid. I wouldn’t hurt a family on purpose.”

Jacob sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “I never said you would, I just wanted to avoid an accident. And I didn’t assume you were stupid, the fact you were able to hold out against a Kostra and Patriarch shows that. I just thought having a flaming hand in a home made of wood was a stupid idea.”

That's not what an assumption is! Still, I sighed as well, “Fine... Just... don’t call me a moron. I went through too much to be what I am now. I’m not going to take an insult to it lying down. And this thing here,” I gestured towards my sword, “Doesn’t help my anger in the least.”

He looked confused for a moment.

“O... kay then.” He shook my head and motioned for me to come in, “Alright, let’s see about getting your wounds treated more properly.”

I nodded and hobbled back inside, only then did the strain on my wounds catch up to me since I ended up falling.

"Dammit..." I cursed under my breath.

He helped me up and guided me to the couch in the living room “Here, sit here for a few minutes, I’ll go find Draho, he knows more about medicine than I do.” He turned to leave, but stopped when he spotted a tiny changeling in the doorway, staring at me.

“Hey Jacob,” she said while pointing at me, “who’s that?”

“This,” He said, “is Frederick. He’s gonna be here for a little bit while we get his injuries fixed up.”

“Oohh...” She said. She waved a hoof at me and smiled, “Ahoj, Frederick,teší ma.”

Oh god she looks adorable in weird way. “Er... Guten tag.” I greet her nervously.

“Please, Frederick, try to hold back on the swearing?”

“Fick dich!”

I sat there staring at the small changeling staring at me, “Er... Yes?”

She smiled at me, “Wanna play?”

I nervously grinned, “Can’t. I’m a bit beat up at the moment, and I’m sore all over. Maybe another time?”

She looked down dejectedly and pouted, “Aww...”

Fuck you world. How does this look adorable!? I sighed, “Alright alright, how about I tell you a story?” I ask her.

She immediately perked up and jumped up onto the couch, staring at me expectantly.

I raised an eyebrow and chuckled, “I take it that’s a yes?”

She beamed,“Yep!” I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Alright, how about the story of...” I paused for dramatic effect, “Dragonzball P!”

She raised an eyebrow and frowned, “Sounds weird.”

“Weird doesn’t even begin to describe it! However, I can guarantee that you’ll be laughing.” I reassure her.

“Okay, tell me!”

“Alright,” I cleared my throat, “It all started in a large and deep canyon. Two warriors met, and decided to face each other in a fight to see who was stronger.” I start off. She seems to be listening, may as well continue.

“One of the warriors knew the other when he was born, however, the other was separated from his people at birth due to an accident. This warriors name...” I then grin, “was Kakka carrot cake.”

“K... Ka... Kakka... I’m sorry, what?”

“Exactly! You see, this warriors name true was Kakarot, however, due to some bad things happening to their heads, they couldn’t really talk correctly.” I explain.

“Um, okay then?”

“Anyway, The one who was fighting Kaka carrot cake, was Vegeta, however, they could not stop calling him something that put fear in the hearts of others...” Once again, I pause, “Virginia.”

“I don’t see how this is supposed to be funny. This is just weird.”

Alright, I guess I better start acting it out... I get up and start doing the things they would do in the video. She better appreciate this.

“Well anyway, after the two fought for awhile, they paused and started talking to each other, Virginia, disappointed at Kakka carrot cake for forgetting his heritage, was angrily shouting at him, “Darn you kakka carrot cake! You am no real super sand!” I then jumped into the air and did I don’t know how many flips as I said this.

I landed on the ground softly.

She stared for a few seconds before she slowly started laughing, “W-what?”

“Kakarot, confused at his fellow warriors outrage replied with, “what do you mean Virginia?!?” and Virginia then said this, “I” I then grunted like an idiot, “”Am going” again, “”to fight,” Once again, “”YOUUUUUUUUUU~”” I say dramtically.

She was rolling in her seat laughing, unable to say anything.

Damn am I good!

“Kakka carrot cake, outraged at this, screamed at his fellow warrior, “”What are you, inSAYAN!” Virginia replied, “Yes.”” I then began doing the weird noises he would do in the video.

She had calmed down for the first part, but went straight back to laughing when I starting making the noises.

“Now that Virginia had regained his senses, He was ready to fight, “Prepare yourself karra ka karra... Cabbage. For I... am going... to kill you... TODAY.” I then made the face.

If it was possible, Libena began laughing even harder than before.

“In Virgina’s distracted monologue, Kakka carrot cake charged at Virginia and slapped his forehead, defeating the warrior, “Ahhhhhh! I am defeated! You big smelly willy!” Virginia cried out as he laid on the ground.”

She probably reached the point where she couldn’t laugh any harder, and just continued on as she was before.

“Kakka carrot cake, with his resolve, scolded his fellow warrior, “That’s you get for acting dimickey Virginia.”” I continue, “Virginia, still not acknowledging his defeat, simply said this, “Defeating a sandwich... only makes it tastier.””

She actually fell to the ground in her laughter and said, “M-my sides!”

I heard the door to the house open and an unknown voice call out,“Frederick, we’re back with the medical supplies. I suggest you lay down and let me see our wounds, now.”

I saw Jacob staring at me blankly, “Of everything, you told her that... At least it wasn’t Dragon Ball Zee.”

The other changeling shook his head, “I probably don’t want to know. Anyway, let’s get your wounds treated Frederick. Libena, if you would please leave?” Libena looked a little sad, but nodded and got up to leave. “Alright, now, please lay down Frederick, so I can get this done.”

I nodded and laid down as the changeling went to work on my body. He cleaned up some of my wounds, and I also saw him pull out some thread and needle and stitched one of the wounds closed.

“Ow. Ow. OW. OW!” I really wish they had some form of Anasthetic

The changeling sighed and apologized, “I’m sorry, but they were all out of numbing salves, and I don’t want to risk putting you out for another day, I don’t think Alpine would be too happy with us.” He finished stitching not too long after that though, and looked over me once more, “Well, that’s all of them. Now please sit up straight.” I did so, and he tightly wrapped my wounds in bandages, “Alright, just don’t scratch at them, don’t take them off, and try to avoid anything too strenuous. They should be ready to come off in about three days, and the stitches in about six.”

I got up slowly and stretched, and smiled, “Thanks.”

“No problem,” He said, “just try to avoid forty foot tall birds from now on, and this shouldn’t happen again.”

“No promises. I might want some Kentucky fried after I heal.” I smirked.

Jacob facepalmed and sighed, “Do you even know the definition of “dangerous” is?”

I shrugged and grinned, “Eh, I don’t have time to worry about the what ifs. Now that I know how to deal with them, they won’t be too much of a problem.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Jacob said, “but with both Matriarch and Patriarch dead, they might leave the forest altogether.”

Wait, if they're going to be leaving...

Light bulb. I turn to Jacob and smile excitedly, “Well, I always wanted to be an adventurer. May as well start when I can.”

“Oh lord,” He started laughing, “that will not end well for anything you meet, I can wager. I can see it now, a bandit saying, “Hey guys, you know that kid who just killed the forty foot tall monster bird and ate it? Let’s mug him!” or something along those lines...”

I couldn't help but laugh, “Yeah, or I might get lucky and fight those beholder things you see in fantasy settings.”

He simply shrugged, “You never know, especially with this being a completely new world and all.”

Ernie... I pull out the Ipod he gave me, and surprisingly enough, it's still intact and fully charged despite the amount of times I've used it.

“Yeah...” I smiled, and then turned to the changeling that gave me first aid, “Anyway, thanks for everything. I’ll let the traders know to give this village a discount on goods. It’s the least I can do.”

He simply smiled, “Thank you, and it was no trouble at all, really.”

Not pulling that shit on me. I shrugged, “Don’t care. To me, you pretty much saved my life. I owe you. If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask me.”

After a few seconds of thought, he said, “I’ll get back to you on that.”

I nodded before picking up my sword. I paused before he turned to Jacob, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

He looked puzzled before he nodded.

“Uh, sure. Draho, could you...?” He nodded and left the room, leaving Myself and Jacob, “What did you need?”

    “When I said that this sword can make me angry, I wasn’t lying. Anger is what fuels my fire magic. I never used to be so angry until I got this. That’s why I practice. To get better at controlling my anger. As for earlier, I am sorry.”

He scratched his chin in thought, “Hm, well, that sounds troubling. It’s good you’re trying to control it, though. And apology accepted, it’s all water under the bridge.”

Sorry, can't help it.

I looked around the area, and looked at him blankly, “Don’t you mean under the house?”

He walked over to the nearest wall and slammed his head into it, “That was horrible, I think I lost brain cells hearing it.”

Troll mode activate! I retorted with, “You have to have some to lose them.”

He spun around and clutched his chest with a pained expression, “Good God, the hypocrisy, it’s too much...”

I rolled his eyes, “Whatever. Look, I was also wondering something as well.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“If I do end up traveling the world, do you want to come with me?”

In all honesty I could use all the help I can get. He has some powerful spells, and I have powerful attacks, we'd be unstoppable! He thought it over a bit and finally nodded, “I don’t see why not. But I’ll have to make time to come back here every once in awhile. I already got separated from my family once, and I don’t want it happening again.”

I looked back at the Ipod and smiled again, “Yeah. Don’t I know it.”

There was a bit of silence for a moment before he broke it, “Anyway, do you want me to come with you back to Hollow Sanctuary? I’ve been wanting to see it for myself, and this seems like a good reason to go.”

So he wants to visit the place? I don't see why not. I simply shrugged in response, “Do what you want. I don’t have a problem.”

“Cool,” he said with a smile, “should we go now then? You seem to be in good enough shape.”

I nodded, “Sure. You should probably let your family know first though.”

"Just what I was about to do." He then left to the male changelings room. After awhile, he came back and turned to me, “Alright, well, I’m ready to go.”

I nodded, “Alright well let’s- OOF!” A black blur crashed into me, making me stumble. It was Libena, “Can I help you?”I ask with slight annoyance. She's adorable and all, but she's holding us up!

“Just wanted to say goodbye!” She said with a bright smile. “Zbohom!”

HNNNNNGNNGNG!!!

I sighed, but smiled lightly, “Auf Wiedersehen Lebena.”

As she smiled and left, Jacob turned to me with an exhausted expression, “Be glad you don’t have to live with her. She’s great and all, but man is she energetic.”

I shrugged, “Let’s get going then.”

“Alright.” He walked out the house, followed by myself, and together we made our way through the village, on our way to Hollow Sanctuary.

Ugh, Alpine is going to kill me...

Warnings for the future

Jacob and I had been walking for a few minutes, but we suddenly stopped when a familiar voice forced us to stop.

Hello Frederick, Jacob.

Uh... Hey Susano-o. What’s up?

Oh Susano-o... WHAAAAZAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Ah Jesus Frederick, what the hell?

… WAZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

OH LORD NOT YOU TOO!

WHAAZAAAA....

WAAZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Please, for the love of GOD, stahp!

...Every party needs a pooper, party pooper, that’s why we invited you...

Frederick, please be quiet. Susano-o, go home, you are drunk.

I apologize for that, I got carried away... How are you two?

I was fine, but then that happened...

Don’t act so butthurt, it’s all in good fun.

Ugh, fine. Anyway, is there something you needed Susano-o?

Yes, actually. You see, Faust has warned me that her imprisoned daughter, Nightmare Moon, is nearing freedom.

Let me guess, this is our first showing that we can handle our jobs?

I hope so, yes. If you were to fail in this, which I pray you do not, she will cast eternal night across the world.

...Are you fucking kidding me.

*Sigh* I wish I was. And no, I do not wish to hear about the ridiculousness of that scheme, I have heard it from Faust’s other friends.

She must have downs...

Was she really that stupid?

Not “was”, “is”. I am, honestly, not too fond of Nightmare.

Is it because she’s missing a chromosome?

There’s an “s” missing from that last word there...

Ouch. Geez, I was at least being nice about it...

Nightmare is a jealous, egotistical brat, not unlike Zeus, actually.

...Hey Jacob.

What?

How good are you at trolling?

Not too bad, I’d say. Why?

When Nightmare moon comes around, up to take the trollbait?

… That might be crazy enough to work.

Yay, massive trolling inbound.

Two months inbound, actually.

BOOO~!

Yeah, can’t she be let out of the Thunderdome early?

Oho! Nice one! Oh! Oh! Let’s call her Fats Mcgee when we meet her!

Totally doin’ it.

Please, you two, try and take this seriously.

I’m sorry Susano-o, but she’s asking for it.

Yeah, she was stupid enough to want to cover the world in eternal night, it’s hard to take that as a serious threat.

I mean sure, it’s a bad idea and can fuck up the weather, destroy towns with the tide and all that. But other than that it’s completely stupid!

Okay, so the consequences are dire, but it takes a particularly “special” mind to think that up in the first place.

Hm, that may be so, but at least try to think seriously on this.

Don’t worry, we’ll take the fight seriously. But that doesn’t mean we won’t insult her like no tomorrow while doing it.

Exactly. We’ll fight her seriously, but we won’t take her seriously, if that makes sense.

I will just... Trust you both to make sure she doesn’t win.

Alright then.

Cool. Well, was there anything else?

I do not believe so... Oh! Wait, there is one more thing I need to inform you of.

What would that be?

There have been some rumors amongst my fellow Gods whose knights have... Abandon their service.

Well ain’t that some shit that don’t stink. And you all think that they’re coming here?

A mixture of them coming here, and one or two that may have already been here. We are unsure, in all honesty, as we are not able to fully track them after they run away from their duty.

Well, do you have any idea on which pantheons they served under?

Not for certain. There are many Gods whose knights left, and as we cannot completely follow them, we do not know which one’s went where.

Would you at least be able to tell if one came here?

Yes, we would. The magic of their God would mark the world, and it’s foreign presence would alert us of their arrival.

Any idea on which ones are here now and where they are?

There is one on this world, yes. One of Loki’s knights has abandoned her duty, and has made her way here. Be careful of her, if you happen across her. She can manipulate the wind and is incredibly fast from Loki has described to me.

Ah shit... This’ll end extremely well. Five bits she ends up working for Nightmare Moon.

I would not be surprised.

Do you know anything about her? Weapon, magic, hell even her appearance?

Well, Loki has told me that she has black hair and green eyes, a... *sigh* in his words, “Great pair” on her, and is incredibly flirtatious. Her weapons are two daggers and her magic is the power over wind.She also... dresses in incredibly provocative clothing.

I FUCKING KNEW I WOULD END UP MEETING SOMETHING NORSE!

Technically someone who used to work for a Norse God, so no.

Dammit don’t ruin it!

If you so wish to, I could have Loki drop in and have a few words, that way you can fulfill your odd wish, and learn more about his knight.

...EEEEEEEEEE!!!

Wow, you’re very... Excited. Actually, you’d think Loki would want to be here, cause you know, horses.

That was a horrible joke and you know it.

Yes... it was...

I have no regrets.

You should.

Okay, I have one, but I don’t talk about that anymore. Damn lawn mower...

Was it prom night? I bet it was prom night.

No, but I still say that cat had it coming!

Yeah, it was prom night.

… Shut up you know nothing!

Oh, so I’m right!

Alright, fine, it was! But my previous statements still remain true!

That’s enough you two. We do not need to deviate so far from the topic at hand.

Right, right. So, is there anyone else here that doesn’t belong?

I do not believe so, no, but there is another God who will be sending a champion down in his place. Altjira, an Aboriginal God, is sending a woman by the name of... Savannah Kavanagh. She’s from Australia. That’s all I know, really.

Are you sure? You’re not going to decide to have a senior moment and forget now are you?

You try understanding an Aboriginal accent and tell me if you can get all the information on her.

I’ll take your word for it.

It’s like listening to the start up sounds on dial up and decode it into words, it’s nearly impossible!

Right... Ok, so is that all?

Yes, it is. I will leave you two now and let you continue on. Sayonara.

Ciao.

Auf wiedersehen.

As the conversation ended, Jacob turned to me and said, “That was... Interesting.”

I simply shrugged and adjusted the sword on my back, “Could have been weirder. Anyway, we still need to get to Hollow Sanctuary before nightfall. Don’t want to be caught out here when the sun goes down.”

He nodded and the two of us continued on our way. After about an hour and half of walking, we came across the cliff trail that leads to Hollow Sanctuary. I turned to him and spoke.

“Alright, we finally made it.” I told him.

“Cool, so how or where do we go in?” He asked.

I grinned and motioned for him to follow me, “Well, Hollow Sanctuary rests inside the mountain itself.”

“Neat, like Erebor then?”

I nodded, “Exactly, just looks a little bit more... tribal, rather than grand. Not that it isn’t awesome though.” We stopped in front of the hidden door, “Leave this to me.” I tell him. I move over to the stone and begin the serious of knocks that opens the door.

I felt his gaze on the back of my head, “What are you-”

The door then slowly opened, the sound of rocks dragging against each other filling my ears. Inside, was a long trail of brightly lit torches.

I walked in, but looked behind me to look at Jacob, “You coming?”

He nodded slowly and hurried to my side, “Yeah, sorry, just... Wasn’t expecting that, of all things.”

He laughed, “I know that feel bro. That was my reaction when I first saw it open myself.”

We walked ahead for a few minutes, until we finally made it to the other gate. This one was made of stone and wood.

I looked up at the window and shouted, “YO GREG!” We heard a loud clattering and the shuffling of feet until the old prune poked his head out of the window.

“Young master? Is that you?” He asked with surprise. I grinned.

“Of course its me ya old fart!” I shouted with a laugh, “Let us in! I got a friend here who wants the grand tour!”

“Right away sir!” The gate then swung open, revealing a city made of stone. It was very packed in here, as stalls lined up along stone walls. Various merchandise being sold off to whoever would buy them.

We both moved forward, Jacob was moving his head around in awe, taking in the sight as he asked me, “Greg? Really? Someone with an actually normal sounding name?”

I chuckled, “Don’t get too comfortable, there’s plenty of strange names to go around.” We made it to a stairwell and climbed up, getting to the living quarter.

“So,” Jacob asked, “Where are headed to first?”

“I figured that I should let Alpine know that I’m okay. If you want, I can introduce you to her.”

“Sure, why not.” He said.

We finally made to another stairwell after walking through the noble quarter. We traveled up this one again and this time the houses looked more expensive than the previous floor. We made it to the center of the Sentinel's quarter, and in the middle was The Alpha Manor.

As we approached it, Jacob asked me, “I take it you live here then?”

I nodded, slowing down a bit, “Yeah, this here is The Alpha’s manor. Alpine and myself live here.”

He slowed as well to match my pace and said, “Cool.”

“I know, right?” I chuckled as we approached the door, which was gigantic on its own.

“Sooo... How pissed do you think your mom is gonna be?”

I stopped as soon as he said that and shuddered, “How about you go in first?”

He stopped and stared at me blankly, “You will charge fearlessly at a thirty foot tall bird made of pure murder, but not face your mother because she might be angry.”

I nodded, totally agreeing with that statement, “Yeah, pretty much.”

He nodded sagely, “Understandable, angry mothers are worse than Satan in terms of sheer terror they induce.”

I shrugged, “So are you going in?”

“After you.” He said as he motioned to the door. “It’s rude to just walk in when I’m a guest.”

“BOTH OF YOU.” We tensed as a very loud, very angry voice came from beyond the door, “Get in here.”

OH GOD WHY.JPG

I heard Jacob gulp, “It was nice knowing you.”

WELL! May as well say a prayer! I quickly did the sign of the cross and made a quick prayer, “Oh god I’d rather fight the Patriarch again.” I said after I finished.

He slowly and fearfully walked up to the door and pushed it open, “C’mon, it’s now or never.”

I nodded and walked in first, feeling very stiff and tense.

I never thought I would feel the amount of terror I'm feeling. this is only getting even more terrifying... I saw that Jacob was looking around as we walked through the halls. We passed by the den and into the halls, to stop in front of the dining hall doors. I pushed them open and saw Alpine Sitting at the head of the table.

“I told you to stay safe.” She said very evenly. Shit... she kind of did.

I sighed, “Yeah, I know...”

Alpine sighed as well and facepawed, “Yet you still got harmed. Can you at least explain to me what happened?”

Jacob decided to speak up, “Uh, I believe I can do that.”

She glared at him, but motioned for him to go ahead.

“Well you see,” he said, “I heard from a Changeling named Bozena that Frederick was attacked by a Kostra Lovec. After reading about the Kostra’s father Patriarch, I ran to see if I could catch him before anything got too bad. Unfortunately, because Frederick didn’t know about Patriarch, he ended up killing the Kostra. Not long after, Patriarch came out and attacked us. After a bit of fighting, Frederick got knocked out, I managed to kill Patriarch, as well as his mate who came out afterwards. We then brought Frederick back to the village and got him patched up, after which we came here. The anesthetic spell we used, while weak, knocked him out for about a day longer though, so that’s why he’s kinda late.”

Alpine nodded, “I see. I thank you for helping my son when he was in need.”

He scratched the back of my head, “Er, no problem.”

I sighed, “I know I goofed Mom, but it was for a good reason that I fought the buzzard.” I told her. Her gaze hardened.

“And what would that be?”

“I was trying to protect the changeling that Jacob mentioned. I was able to kill it by jumping inside its stomach and making it explode from the inside.” I explained.

“Um, you know,” he interjected, “from both my experience and previous records back home, if you had just injured it enough to give it pause then ran away, it would have left you alone. They don’t like to hunt living things normally, seeing as they’re scavengers, so hunting living things over long distances is completely unheard of for them.”

Fucking really!? I glared at him, as did Alpine.

“Er, something I said?” He asked nervously.

“Just... just go outside for a little bit while I talk to Frederick.” Alpine sighed exasperatedly.

He stared for few seconds before turning to leave, “Alright then, I’ll do that.”

I was nervous, not to mention ashamed. Geez, what does she have to say?

(OST)

“I was worried, you know.” She said very melacholy

“Yeah...” I weakly said. She began to look very tired and sad.

“I can’t keep getting worried like this Frederick. You’re my son, I can’t constantly worry and frantically hope that you might come back to me!” She told me. She sounded a bit pained for some reason.

“Alp I know that! I just... I can’t just sit in one place. I need to see what this world has to offer, and you know why I was sent here!” Dammit, I don't mean to do this to her! She adopted me, she cares for me, and she just wants to be there for me! And what do I do? I go out and worry her to death!

"Frederick... I just want to keep you safe. But it's really difficult as of late. I've been feeling a tightening around my chest ever since my husband had died, and I think it's because of the loss. If I lose you... I don't know what'll happen." her ears fell flat on her head.

Wha...what? I've... been slowly killing her? I... oh my god...

I felt tears threaten to fall from my eyes, as they should be. I was slowly making things even worse for my adoptive mother, and she didn't tell me until now. How could I have been so selfish in my pursuit of trying to do my job?

I felt furry arms wrap around me, "Don't cry Frederick. It's not your fault, it never was, nor will it ever be your fault." This only made me weep into her shoulder.

"How can you say that? I've been putting a knife in your chest without even knowing it!" I exclaim. She tightened her grip.

"Because I know you love me, as much as I love you Frederick." Dammit Alpine it isn't helping! I cried into her shoulder as she just sat there and soothed me. I never thought she would effect me this much... I guess I really do see her as my mother. I wipe the tears from my eyes and look at her. She was smiling sadly.

"Go on, show your friend around the city. Just please... please don't stay out too late today." She tells me. I nodded and headed out of the manor, thinking about what Alpine had said.

She said that she had been feeling a tightness around her chest, that usually is associated to heart attacks, so she must be getting the early stages of a heart disease.

Not if I can help it.

“Everything alright, Frederick?”

Jacob shook me from my own thoughts, “Huh? Oh. Yeah...”

“Okay then, anything we would want to do first?”

“Well, we could head to the market. The elevator is stopped up here and is reserved for the use of the Alpha only, but we can use it.” I told him as I walked to another section of the quarter. We finally found a lift manned by a single Diamond dog who was snoozing. I kicked him in the side, “Hey! Wake up lazy!” the Dog shot up and saluted, “Me and my friend here want to head to the market. Take us down.” I commanded.

“At once young master.”

The Dog pulled on a switch and the lift began to move down.

As we rode down, Jacob looked at the surrounding city, “This is a nice view.” He told me.

“Yeah...” I replied. Honestly, I have other things I need to worry about.

I heard him sigh, “Are you sure you’re alright?”

I paused for a moment, I guess I should tell him, “I... I don’t know, in all honesty...” I sighed with sadness.

He frowned a bit, “What happened in there? If you don’t mind telling me that is.”

“Well... Alpine told me that she’s been feeling a tightening around her heart whenever she gets too worried... I think she might have a heart condition...”

He was quiet for a moment, thinking about what to say before he looked at me, “Is there anything that can be done, do you know?”

I shook my head, “No, But I plan on finding out. I’ll probably have to do another book raid at the Ponyville library though.”

“Hm... I’ll make sure to look through the library back at the Swamp. They have a lot of books on medicine and healing magic, so there could be something.” He told me.

Whoa whoa whoa, what does he plan to get out of this? I look at him with suspicion, “And what exactly are you going to get out of this? I didn’t exactly be the most friendly person to you earlier, so why go this far?”

His response was to give me a glare, “I’m above letting someone possibly die because of a small argument with their son, thank you.”

I sighed, “Right. Sorry, just... a little paranoid is all.”

He stopped glaring and nodded sadly, “I can imagine. I was very high strung when my mother got into a car accident a few years back. Lost her voice as a result.” Ouch...

“Shit... sorry to hear that.” I replied, “I only had Alpine for a mother about a week, but she’s already too important for me to lose... I don’t know how I got so attached...” I trailed off.

He sighed, “Well, it shouldn’t really matter if you got attached or not, you should still feel sad either way. She did adopt you, so it would make sense.

“I do... I really do. I’ll do whatever it takes to find a cure,” I felt a spark of anger rise, getting ready to overcome me, “Anything...”

“Just... Don’t take it too far. Some people get caught up and end up doing more harm to others in hopes of helping one person.” Whoa... Damn sword! I need to get used to this!

I shook my head and looked annoyed at my sword, “Dammit... There it is. You see now?”

“Yeah...” He said, “Is there any way to get that under control at all?”

I shook my head, “The only way is to train. That’s all I can do at this point, train.” He sighed, “But it’s still difficult to get a handle on.”

“You’d think whoever gave you that would’ve, I dunno, given you something else that doesn’t screw with your head.” He said angrily.

I shook my head, “No, it had to be this sword. Fire is fueled by anger, and the more anger I have, the more powerful my flames are. I just need to learn how to control my anger and I’ll be fine.”

“Still,” I told him, “There could’ve been a better way than something that hard to handle.”

“Maybe, but it teaches me that I’m going to have to grow up, and quickly. I don’t have time to act my age anymore.” I had to, if I want to save this world.

“Well that certainly sucks.” He said.

“Didn’t have much of a childhood anyway. Really, the only good thing in it was my caretaker Ernie.” I shrugged, “But even then, he could only do so much.”

I didn't really have much else to say, so I just kept silent and let the conversation end for the remainder of the ride.

After a few minutes, the lift finally came to a stop, “Here we are sirs! Hollow Sanctuary’s marketplace.” The Dog informed us. I looked back as he left the lift.

“Try not to fall asleep again...” I sighed.

“Will do young master!” The dog bowed.

We walked around the market, looking from stall to stall.

“Anything catch your eye yet?” I asked Jacob.

He looked around, not really seeing anything too interesting, “Not particularly. Any suggestions?”

I shrugged, “Not really. I don’t really buy much of anything here.” I replied.

“Hm, is there anything to really do here, or are we just walking around killing time?” He asked.

I chuckled as I scratched the back of my head, “Ehe, well like I said, I don’t really do much here...”

He facepalmed, “Why did we come here then?”

“I don’t know really, I just can’t think of anything to do.” I shrugged,  “I guess I may as well do was I said I would do and go to the library.”

“Alright well, have fun with that I guess. Try and avoid a repeat of last time though, those ponies looked pretty shaken up by what happened.”

I paused and looked at him, “You saw all that?”

He nodded, “Yep, I went with Draho to Ponyville on my first day here, and we saw all of it.”

I sighed, “Great... that wasn’t exactly my greatest moment.”

“Eh, while it may have been a bit much, they kinda had it coming for just attacking someone because of what they are.

I smiled, “Yeah. If they’d have left her alone I would have snuck out no problem.”

He rolled his eyes, “Yes, that would’ve been way too easy. You’d think they would notice someone Solid Snaking it across town.”

“I’m sure even if I farted they wouldn’t have noticed.” I laughed.

“Yeah, getting through that place unseen should be easy. I was on the freaking rooftops and they didn’t notice me.”

“Waitwait... you have a hood, and I’m betting that you were wearing it as you ran across the rooftops... FUCKING EZIO!”

He laughed, “That’s what I thought! It doesn’t help that I’m Italian either.”

“Oh, maybe you should come with me! That way, we can ask them if they want to join our club!”

“Oh lord really?” He spoke between laughs.

“Just grab a random pony and say “Hey! Want to join our club?”

“Oh God yes, we need to do that.” His eyes lit up, “Or we could do this. Okay, you know how they don’t wear any clothes, right?”

I nodded excitedly, “Yeah!”

“Well, we should go up to one, introduce ourselves, and when they return the greeting say “Hey, no need to be so formal. I’ve seen you naked.”

I started to laugh, “Yes...”

“That town would not be prepared.”

“Maybe it’s because we would troll them?”

“That’s... What I meant.” He said.

“I know, I know. Do you want to come with?” I asked him.

He shrugged, “Sure, I don’t have anything else to do.”

I smiled, “Awesome. well, let’s go. I went there once from here, shouldn’t be... oh wait. It’s kind of late...”

“Huh, yeah it is. didn’t realize we were up that long.”

“Let’s head back to the manor. I’ll get you a room.”

He nodded, “Alright, and thanks.” We made our way back to the manor, which didn’t take too long thanks to the elevator. When we arrived at the manor, we went through the front door and he asked, “So where am I staying?

I looked around, “Well, I’ll probably give you a room in the east wing. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. Alright, let’s go.”

“Okay.” He followed me through several doors and hallways until we reached the east wing. I should probably tell him about that little thing...

“Alright, it’s the third door on the right, and be careful, there’s, and I have no idea why, a brothel in this manor.”

He raised an eyebrow, “That’s... Strange and creepy. I’ll make sure and avoid it.”

Oh he has no idea... I made the mistake and wandered around the manor.

Frederick shuddered, “Trust me... it’s not a pretty sight. They... fawned over me...”

He cringed, “That is... Disturbing.” He shook his head, “Alright well, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Right, see ya tomorrow.” I headed back to my room, hoping that he remembers not to go into the brothel. I made it to my room, undressed myself and laid my sword on a table. I then plopped myself onto my bed and closed my eyes, Susano-os warning still fresh in my head.

A knight of the wind, huh?

Then there's the fact that Nightmare Moon is coming pretty soon, along with Alpine's heart condition...

Yeah, I have a full plate at this moment. Nightmare shouldn't be a problem, and odds are the ponies or changelings have something I can use. The rogue Knight though... that's going to be an issue. I should try to figure out a way to beat the knight as quickly as possible to minimize the impact she'll leave.

Maybe I can get her to decide to go back into her duties?

Alright... The future is going to be fairly arduous and filled with nothing but problems, but dammit all if I don't do something.

Dancing with a Devil

Chapter Eight: Dancing with a Devil

It's been about a month since Jacob came to Hollow Sanctuary, and true to his word he did search the library for a cure for Alpines condition.

This is where shit gets stinky. Apparently, The ingredients are only grown in the changeling homeland, so getting them would be next to impossible.

I say next to impossible, because the ingredients can be found in the Royal gardens of Canterlot. This is going to be very, VERY, tricky. I've also been hearing rumors from the traders about a bipedal cloaked figure wandering the land that they travel. Alright, this helps me figure out where Loki's knight is, but I need worry about Alpine right now. I need to figure out how I'm going to get to Canterlot in a quick amount of time...

I'd have to fly to be that quick- Wait a minute...

FUCKING LIGHT BULB!

I was currently in the dinning hall, eating breakfast when the idea came to me. I remembered the Iron man movie, how Tony Stark figured out how to fly and all that. What if... what if I tried that? Can't hurt. Okay, it can hurt a lot, but still. With that in mind, I decided that after I eat I would head out of Hollow Sanctuary and test it out. If it works, I can leave to Canterlot immediately.

I finish my meal and say goodbye to Alpine as I head out of the manor, with the many ways I can perform this ability going through my head. I walk to the lift and take it down to the market place. I walk through the crowds and make it to the gate, say hi to Greg, and run out of the cave with excitement.

I was on the cliff trail, and Canterlot can be seen on the mountain beyond the forest, despite how far it seems. Alright... Time to test this baby out!

I let fire gather in my hand, making it stronger and stronger, until it was the shape of a sphere. I did the same with the other hand, thus creating another sphere. Alright, here goes nothing... I made my palms face the ground and let loose a stream of fire, I then launched into the air, soaring higher and higher.

HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I soared higher and higher until my jump peaked. I let loose a continuous stream of fire, making myself float. I looked in surprise as I gazed at the air, seeing myself float. I began to giggle in excitement as I floated.

Let's get this party started!

I blasted myself forward, going at incredible speeds. I noticed that I wasn't flying correctly and remembered that Stark also had some going in his boots, so I gathered a little bit of fire in that area and let loose another stream from both of my feet. I was able to straighten up and saw that I was flying.

I.WAS.FUCKING.FLYING.

"WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" I couldn't help myself! I was having way too much fun as I soared in the air!

(Elsewhere)

A cloaked figure pauses as she hears the sounds of a whooping child. She looks up into the air and sees a trail of fire streak across the sky.

A smile could be seen from the cloak as she observed, "Hmhm, well... it looks like young Frederick is expanding his powers even further... This will be fun..." she sighs to herself. She then disappears in a gust of wind and heads in the direction of Canterlot.

(WIth Frederick)

I'm getting closer towards Canterlot, but at the current amount of speed I'm going at, I'm barely making it to Ponyville. Still, it would have taken a lot longer if I wasn't flying. I notice a steel grey mare flying to a cloud house. She stops and looks at me, and I realize something.

I don't know how to fucking turn.

"WATCH OUT!" I warn her, but she just hovered there like a deer caught in headlights. With a sigh, I prepared myself for a crash. and crash I did. We stumbled around in the air, and I ended up grabbing her and adjusting to where she was on top of me as we prepared to land.

I was able to grab her bridal style and pushed fire into my feet as we hovered a little bit above a forest. I looked at the mare I saved, and saw the weirdest thing. She was cross-eyed and her eyes were also golden. She had a blonde mane and bubbles as a cutie mark. I stare at her with surprise, as she returns the gaze with... a smile?

"Thanks mister!" She gives me a hug, making me blank in confusion. Why isn't she scared of me? I'm pretty sure that the last time I came here was the talk of the town!

"Er, your welcome?" I say rather confounded.

"Can you let me go now? I need to get back home." She tells me. I realize that I was still holding and quickly let her go. She immediately flaps her wings and begins to hover in the air. "Thanks again! My name's Derpy Whooves! What's yours?" She asks me. I pause, thinking about whether I should give her my name. So far, besides the ones that visit Hollow Sanctuary, she's the only pony who hasn't attacked me.

"Um... it's Frederick." I tell her. She, for some reason, smiles even wider.

"It's great to meet you Frederick! Well, I have to get home, I hope I see you again!" She tells me as she fly's away.

That pony... Why do I find her interesting? Eh, no matter. I need to get to Canterlot. I'm going to have to go higher into the air and hope that I land in the gardens. I do so, and then propel myself forward and resume my flight.

I was getting even closer, so close that I could see ponies walking the streets. Alright, let's make myself go higher! I increase my altitude and make it beyond the walls, coming upon the castle walls. I decided now would be a good time to land.

I apparently overshot it, as I ended up landing past the castle gate. I landed right in front of it, with a multitude of guards staring at me with shock.

(OST)

"Er... Hi." I say weakly before taking off into the castle, hoping to find the gardens.

"HALT!" I hear behind me.

Fuck that, I need to get the herbs! I start running even further into the castle, but notice a wall of earth pony guards blocking my path.

Lets hope if I have this down... I gather a dome of fire around my body and launch myself in a charge.

"Tyrants charge!" A seal appeared in front of me, around it were intricate symbols whose meanings were lost to me, with a half closed eye in the center. I plowed right through the guards and landed on my feet, continuing on my way.

"Get him!" I heard even more shouts from behind me. I stopped as I saw guards from all sides seem to be closing in on me, I tried to find an escape but could only find the window. Shit... I ran towards it and looked down, and to my surprise found that the gardens were right there.

Convenient, If I say so myself. The window was rather narrow, but I was able to slip through thankfully. I landed on the floor which wasn't that far and looked around.

The area was beautiful, to say the least.

"HALT SCUM!" Fucking really? I turned around and saw a platoon of guards running towards me. With a snort of contempt, I grabbed my sword and charged it with fire.

"Call me scum? Alright. Gun flame!" I let loose some pillars of fire, knocking a good chunk of the stormtrooper wanna-bees away. The rest tried to rush me, but I jumped away and charged fire into my sword as I fell.

"Burning cross!" I slashed down, creating a vertical trail of fire, as I landed, I slashed horizontally, creating another trail. I launched it forward into the guards, making sure I didn't kill them. Most of the unit was now unconcious as the rest of them stared at me with fear.

"Anyone else want to make an idiot of themselves?" I ask them, fully ready to fight. Some of them backed away, while others stood their ground. Brave, but stupid. Not that I'm one to talk. I may as well try to do my-

I was interrupted from my thoughts when I was encased inside a bubble of magic, I turned around and found a much more... respectable pony had his horn glowing, he was glaring at me, as if I was the scum of the earth.

"Captain Shining armor!" One of the guards exclaimed. Okay, someone important. Let's see if he can handle me.

"Oh look, a bitch who doesn't know any better." I say nonchalantly. I felt a grip around my throat, realizing that he was either A: mad and trying to choke me out, or B: He wants me to shut up.

Too bad I like making my own options.

(Music Change)

I summoned fire around my form and then made it expand, making his shield bigger and bigger than he would allow. He tried to prevent me from doing this, but failed. Spectacularly. The shield shattered like glass, and I quickly followed up with a combo. I didn't want to hurt the guy, he's only doing his job. However, I don't have time for these assholes. I punched him once in the face, dazing him. I followed up with a right hook to the eye, and kneed him in the face, bringing him into the air with me. I brought my leg down on his ribs and sent him to the ground as fire trailed after my leg, "Bandit Revolver!"

"He got the captain!" Ah shit... I suddenly saw many charged horns and pegasi and earth ponies all glaring at me.

Despite the odds against me, I couldn't help but grin, "You want to party huh?" I said as fire danced around me. I pulled out my sword and held it in a battle stance, "LET'S PARTY! DRAGON INSTALL!" The familiar aura encased me again, and I was super charged with power and ready to kick some ass. They looked really uneasy, but they stood their ground.

Let's see how quickly that will end.

"Tyrants..." I charged hands with fire, they prepared for me to rush them, well here's a surprise for ya! "WALL!" I created a wall of fire, the same seal from Tyrants charge in the center.

The pegasi were fine, since they could fly over it. The unicorns shielded themselves, and tried to shield most of the earth ponies, but their shields broke easily. Most of them were laid out on the ground, groaning in pain. Thankfully, I only singed them and made some bald spots in their fur, and knocked them off of their hooves.

I love my magic sometimes.

"All I wanted was some freaking plants!" I shouted, felling annoyed. I hate dealing with people that are so serious! I stabbed my sword into the ground and glared at them as I leaned against my sword, "You still want to keep going? Or do I have to knock a few screws loose?" I ask.

"I have your plants right here Frederick." I heard a female voice from behind. I quickly turn around, and spot...

Wow.

She was human, and... just wow...

She wore a very form fitting black skin-suit with a light green jacket and at her hips were a pair of daggers. Her hair was short and black, but her eyes were the same green as her jacket. She wore black leather boots that were steel-toed. Remember when I said that she wore a very form fitting suit? I wasn't lying. Her curves... just damn.

WAITWAITWAIT!!!! I've heard of this description before... Oh shit it's that rogue knight that susano-o mentioned. In her hands was a small bag filled with the plants that I'm looking for!

I was about to run over to get it, but I stop and remember that it's her that's holding the bag. I narrow my eyes, as my Dragon install aura is still running strong.

"We got you now!" I heard the ponies behind me shout, but the woman's eyes took a dangerous glint as wind danced around the area.

"Pieces of shit! Don't interrupt!" A great gust of wind blasted into the remaining guards, sending them flying. I stared in awe at the display of power. I turn back to the woman and she... begins to unzip her suit a little bit, showing some cleavage.

Why is she acting like this with a minor? Ah, she's just putting the bag in her cleavage. Never mind, she's not a pedo! Not that I would mind, but...

"If you want the bag, You'll have to fight me for it." She gives me a somewhat sultry smile, making me shiver. Not from excitement, but from being creeped out.

"Uh, okay, but why are you acting like a pedophile?" I ask her with a raised eyebrow. Her eye twitches as she begins to glare at me.

I... probably shouldn't have said that... She disappears from sight and right above me with her daggers posed ready to cut me in half.

Not fucking likely. I charged my fist with fire and punched her daggers, the fire magic shielding my fist as I sent her flying back. She landed on the ground and I continued my attack, "Tyrants Rave!" I blasted a giant wave of fire at her. Wind gathered around her daggers and she cut at the wave, making it split in half.

Well shit, looks like we have a badass over here.

(Frederick Vs. ?????)

Heaven or hell

Duel 1, LETS ROCK!

(Frederick Vs. ????? Theme)

She rushes me and tries to stab at my ribs, but I swing my sword at her and she deflects it back. She then tries to stab me, but I knee her in the face and axe kick her in the ribs, making her slam into the ground, "Bandit Revolver!"

She jumps from the ground and plants her boot in my face, sending me flying back. She quickly follows up with a flurry of quick slashes from her daggers, "Napoleons charge!"

Multiple cuts appeared on my body, but they were superficial at best. Nothing to worry about too much. I jumped to my feet and charged at her, she braced herself, but I then uppercutted her, shooting up like a rocket, "Volcanic Viper!"

I then axe kicked her back down into the ground, while also charging my fist with fire, "Tyrants Wall!" The seal charged at her and engulfed her. She blasted the fire away from her with a gust of wind and teleported behind me. I lashed out a kick into her stomach, which caught her off guard, and performed another uppercut, however I created a small fireball this time.

"Tyrants..." however, I got kicked in the back of my head, and then double kicked in my chest and was sent flying back.

"Come on now boy, don't you want the plants?" She mocked. Growling, I quickly got up and charged at her. She braced herself, and I slashed with my sword and she teleported.

Not going to work again bitch! "DRAGON INSTALL SCHLACHTFELD!" My install aura bursted off of me and struck the woman, stunning her, giving me time to do this. I rush over, punch, slash, slash again, jump and uppercut, axe kick her to the head, slash my sword downwards. I wasn't done though, as I then gave her another punch and a powerful jab that sent her stumbling back. I supercharged my hands and blasted her with fire, sending her into the air. I charged fire into my feet, and into a small circle around me, and jumped at her, pillars of fire trailing after me. She was engulfed in the flames, and I could hear a scream of pain.

I land on the ground, tired from the attack I just performed. She landed hard on the ground with a grunt. She gets up, and I could see a smile on her face.

"I guess I underestimated you... here." She throws the bag of the plants at me, I look at her with confusion, making her smile even more, "I may be a bitch, but I know why you want those. I won't bar you from saving a life." She turns to leave.

"Wait! Can I at least get your name?" I call out to her. She turns around with a sultry smile.

"Juliet Bordeaux. Try not to think about me too much~!" She winks and then teleports out of existence. Bordeaux, huh? Must be French. I grab the bag and turn around and find myself face to face with a tall white pony that had wings and a horn.

Ah shit... Now what?

"Who are you...?" She said cautiously as she eyed the many unconscious guards. I quickly decided that I needed to say something.

"Now, before you get any ideas, know that I just knocked them unconscious." I quickly say to her, I'm guessing this is Faust's other daughter, Celestia. I just fucked up her guards, and just had a huge fight in her garden.

I get the feeling she won't be a happy camper.

(OST)

"I see. I take it you are the Knight that my mother has chosen?" She asks with slight anger in her voice. I nodded, making her sigh, "I've also received reports from Ponyville that a creature matching your description terrorized the town with a Diamond Dog, is this true?"

OH FUCK NO!

"Hell no it isn't true! You want to know why I beat the shit out of some ponies in that town? Because they were harassing a friend of mine and then proceeded to attempt to tie her up! I don't care if they're your ponies, I'll do it again if I have to with no regrets!" I yell, defending myself. She stares at me with surprise before sighing again.

"I see... as much as I love my little ponies, they can be..."

"Fucking racist pieces of shit?" I let out snarkily, making her glare at me. What, does she expect an apology? Like hell. She stares at me before nodding.

"You know that my sister's return is nearly upon us, correct?" She asks me. I nod grimly.

"Yeah, and don't get me wrong, this is a serious threat." My face shifts into a deadpan glare, "But really? Eternal night? That's just... *sigh* never mind." I say as I strap my sword to my back. I was feeling pretty fatigued, but I had enough energy to make a return flight back to Hollow Sanctuary.

"I understand what you mean, and try to understand that my sister became nightmare moon because of a foreign entity invading her mind during her spout of jealousy." She sighs. I shrugged and made sure the bag was in my pocket. "Tell me champion, why did you come here?" She asks me curiously.

"Well... I found out that my adoptive mother has a heart condition that can only be cured through the plants I came for. They only grew in the Changeling homeland, but I found out that you had some here in the gardens." I tell her. Her eyes shoot up in surprise.

"You invaded my castle, defeated most of my guards and my captain, and fought another powerful human just to get medicine for your mother?" She asks me with amazement. I shrugged.

"Hey, I do what I gotta do. If I had to, I would have turned this whole city upside down if it would mean getting the medicine." I say with conviction.

Celestia shivered a little bit, "I... I believe you when you say that... that worries me." She says with slight fear in her voice. I shrugged again.

"Hey, but I didn't that's the important thing." I tell her. She nods.

"Anyway, She will be released on the day of the summer sun celebration that will take place in a few weeks. I would ask of you to protect my student and any friends that she makes as they are the ones that have control over the elements of Harmony." She tells me. I raise an eyebrow.

"Uh-huh...and what are those?" I ask her.

"The Elements of Harmony are ancient artifacts constructed by my mother. They've helped myself and my sister combat powerful beings that would have been too powerful otherwise. They also embody the aspects that a pony should strive for in their daily lives." She explains to me.

I stare at her, "And what are these aspects?"

"Kindness, Generosity, Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter, and Magic." She says, smiling as she does so. I chuckle at what I consider kind of pointless aspects to focus on.

"Believe me when I say that some of those things can only get you so far in life. Loyalty? The only person you can rely on is yourself, if someone manages to earn your loyalty then great, you've earned a friend. Honesty? Sometimes a lie needs to be said to prevent many tears being shed and stop wars. Generosity? It can obviously get so far before everyone begins to take advantage of your generosity. Laughter? What can laughter do except cause someone to be antagonized when mocked? Kindness? Many will take it and throw it in your face, but there's also many who will return the favor. As for magic? Well, I can't say much for it, except that it's very unpredictable." I say to her.

Philosophical, ain't it? I don't try to be though, it's really annoying to try and come up with such profound shit, and even more difficult to word it correctly. Believe me when I say, it wasn't meant to be cynical, just a warning that one shouldn't be too much of one thing, lest someone gets hurt. I've tried being some of these things, didn't help me in the long run. So I decided to be how I should be, myself.

"I believe I understand what you mean, and you are right. Being too much of one thing is very harmful to others." Celestia nods. Good, glad she caught on to that. It would have been an annoyance to explain what I meant. I look at the bag and put it back into my pocket.

"Alright well, I'll try to do my best in protecting your student and any of her friends when the time comes. I'm going to make any promises that they'll do this unharmed though." I warn her. She nods in understanding, "Alright then. Well, I need to get going. I've got some medicine to make, so I'll see you at the summer sun festival." I then take off into the air, fire trailing after me as I soar into the air.

Well, today was a somewhat good day. I got to find out I could fly, I invaded a castle, fought Loki's former knight, and got to be philosophical today! WOO! I also managed to procure the medicine that will save Alpine's life! EVEN FUCKING BETTER!

Today was a good day. Not a single person can deny it.

Now... all that's left is to deal with Nightmare Moon.

I just realized the pun in Night'mare'. Fucking really?

Chance meetings with a starstruck pupil

It's been at least a week since I made the medicine for Alpine, and I have to say that her recovery is going absolutely great! I guess I was lucky, having caught the signs in time to stop the disease before it got any worse. However, my little invasion didn't have its consequences. Apparently, Celestia wishes to have me as the Frozen Forest clans ambassador and personally requested that I came back with her to Canterlot.

Ode to fucking joy is playing in my head... please note that was sarcasm.

Still, I gotta wonder what she wants. I make it outside of Hollow Sanctuary, having been asked to go through the more well known entrance instead of my usual route. The main gates open and I find a duo of royal guards, one of them holding a sign that said "Frederick" on it.

Really? What is this, the airport? I shook my head with a sigh, and whistled at them. That got their attention, as their eyes widened with a look of fear in said eyes.

Maybe they're one of the guards I beat the shit out of last week... Oh well, makes them not act like jackasses to me, so it makes dealing with them easier, "Yo." I say as I walk over to them.

"Frederick?" They ask.

I raise an eyebrow, "No, the muffin man. Seriously? You gotta ask?" Honestly, do they know Jacob, and are mistaking me for him?

"We will be your escort to Canterlot. The Princess wishes to speak with you." They say professionally. I nodded as I sighed. I get on the carriage and let them do their thing.

The flight was surprisingly pretty quick, a lot quicker than I thought it would be. "Oi!" I call to them. One of them looks back at me.

"How are we going so fast? No offense, but I thought you guys would be slow on the return trip!" I say over the wind blowing past us.

"I understand what you mean! It's the fact that those Carcass hunters left the forest area! Now that they're gone, we can fly over it without fear of getting attacked!" He replies. Huh, guess Jacob and I did a service for all three factions in killing the Patriarch and Matriarch.

"Awesome! Guess Jacob and I did you all a favor!" I say with a grin. The pegasi's eyes widened.

"It was you and the other human that killed the patriarch!?" I simply nodded as he visibly gulped and turned around.

Looks like I put fear in them...SNARF!

With a wry chuckle, I remained silent for the rest of the ride. We arrived in the castle courtyard, I got off the carriage and nodded to the guards, "Thanks for the ride guys." They smiled and nodded. I moved to the gates, they opened, revealing Celestia.

I raised an eyebrow, "Didn't think you'd meet me at the gate..."

Celestia chuckled, "Well, I wanted to help speed this along for you. I'm sure you have other matters to attend to."

Yeah... I'll just let her think I'm busy, 'cuz I honestly have nothing going on... I nodded, "Thanks I guess," I rub the back of my neck, "So what did you need?"

"You see, I have asked you to protect my student, you remember this, correct?" I nodded, prompting her to continue, "Well, I was wondering if you would like to meet your charge? She's studying in her tower right now, trying to look up what you are." She said with a laugh.

I stare at her blankly, then shrugged, "Sure, I guess. You told her my age, right?" She nodded, "And she didn't raise any questions?"

"Well, I wanted to leave that one to you, since you are the only human besides Jacob that I know of. And I already know you." She reasoned. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, but nodded.

"Alright... let's get it over with." I reply and she leads me out of the gates, and walk towards some grand building. "What's this?"

"This is the university all unicorns attend if they're accepted. I paid for her tuition, and I would like to tell you something Frederick." I look at her, "She has a Dragon living with her." My eyes shoot wide open in surprise.

"Da fack!?" I exclaim, but paused, and shook my head, "I'm... I'm just not going to question it. I'l probably give myself a headache." Celestia giggled at my expense, and we walked on in silence, with the occasional pony bowing. We reached a large tower, and Celestia knocked on it. Answering the door, was... the most crazed mare I have ever seen.

"Princess Celestia! You're here!" Well, she sounds nice if that's a consolation... Forget it, it isn't...

"Yes my student." She giggled in response, "I also brought young Frederick with me so you could meet him and ask questions. I will not be able to stay though, as I have my duties." THAT BITCH! SHE'S LEAVING ME ALONE WITH HER!

The lavendar unicorn nodded happily, "Thank you princess! I've had these questions in my head for so long that I couldn't stand it anymore!"

"Twilight, you've only just started thinking about it when the Princess told you." A young voice said. I don't know who that was, but I love the sarcasm.

"Details Spike!" She exclaimed back.

Celestia smiled, and said, "I will leave you three to your questions. Do go easy on him Twilight." That's her name?

Twilight nodded, "I will Princess!" Celestia then vanished in a flash of light, leaving me and crazy mare alone with whoever that other voice was.

I look at the mare, and I only now realize that I have to look up slightly, "So... can I come in?" I ask with as much monotone as I could muster. Thankfully, my monotone check was a Natural twenty.

The unicorn nodded excitedly, "Of course! Please, do come in." She chuckled nervously. She acts like I'm about to attack... Maybe it's the big sword strapped to my back. I shrugged internally, and walked in, climbing the stairs. It was a relatively small climb, and we made it to the top. All around us were books of various topics... hm, maybe I could find a map here so I can go adventuring.

"Yo, I'm Spike." I looked down slightly, and found a rather large purple lizard with green eyes, purple scales, and green spikes on his head and back. Keeping my shock in check, I nodded and held out a hand.

"Frederick. Fire Knight." He grinned, and shook my hand.

"Nice to meet you Frederick!" I smiled, and turned to Twilight.

"So Twilight, you had questions for me?" As soon as I said that, her horn glowed and I was encased in a purple aura. I shouted in surprise, and flailed around. She put me down on some sort of couch thing that you would see at a therapists office, and pulled out a clipboard.

"Okay, first question! Why are you so young?" She asks as she puts on... a pair of glasses. Ugh... I swear, this world likes cliches or something. Whatever, I don't feel like answering truthfully.

I shrugged, "It's a right of passage for my people. We go out at a young age, and try to make a name for ourselves as we travel. Not many come back, whether by choice or otherwise. When it was my turn," I got up and pulled out my sword. The air around it became warmer, "My mother gave this to me to protect myself. It's an artifact of my people, called the Fireseal Sword." A single flame danced in my hands, "It allows my fire magic to be amplified tenfold." Twilight was quickly making notes. She actually buys this?

"Second question, How good are you at magic?" I couldn't help but grin at that.

"Well, at the level I'm at..." I moved anything flammable away from me, and stood dead center in an area I cleared for me, "DRAGON INSTALL!" My from shifted a few times, before coming back to my original and pulsing with a red aura, "I can use this to make my abilities even more powerful, increase my speed, and strength." I quickly turned it off so I don't expend too much energy.

"That was awesome! And you call that "Dragon" Install?" Spike asked excitedly.

I shrugged and grinned, "Well, an idol of mine used that boost, and actually has an attack for it. I can't use it now, other wise I would demolish the room."

"Cool..." He grinned, and offered a fist bump, which I returned.

"Third question, who is your Idol, if you don't mind me asking." She asked.

I paused for a moment, and wondered if I should tell her that... forget it, I may as well.

"Well... Some would say he isn't idol material, but I say otherwise. His name is Sol Badguy."

"Well that isn't a weird name." Spike said sarcastically. I chuckled and shrugged.

"He's a very good role model in my opinion. He was forced to become immortal by a man whose name nobody from my world knows. For this immortality, he became a monster that could end the entire world if he lost control." I explained. I heard the clipboard drop as both of them stared at me in shock. I quickly continued, "You see though, before he became immortal, he was a scientist! He created a headband that would reduce the amount of power he had access to, and he was known as the Guilty Gear."

"What's a gear?" Spike asks, Twilight nods, I guess that would have been a question if he didn't ask.

"A gear is an artificially created being that was made for menial tasks that my people became too lazy to do, like construction, and various other tasks. One day though, they had enough and rebelled against us." I sighed, really getting into my act, "My people nearly went extinct because of them. We started a group called The Knights of the Holy Order to keep them at bay. One of the leaders, named Kliff Undersn, had fought the leader of the gears, Justice, for many years. They would often fight to a standstill, as Kliff couldn't really damage Justice, and Justice could never get the killing blow, or would be pushed back."

Twilight replied, "Your people sound... very determined." She said uneasily. I shrugged.

"When it comes down to it, if it comes to survival, my people would do what needs to be done. Or, if they refuse to lay down, I believe that we could even take down gods."

"That's saying much, don't you think?" She said.

"It's all a matter of opinion. Anyway, After awhile, Kliff recruits a new man to the order, and that man is Sol. You see, when Kliff was a young child, Sol had saved him from getting killed. Kliff didn't remember Sol, but had a very positive feeling about him. Sol was an excellent warrior, not trained in any sword style, but no matter who he would face, he would always win easily." I continued, "It's because he has always been precise and his fire magic made him powerful. He also used a sword of what looked like stone, and still fought even the Megadeath class gears, which could wipe out an entire race of creatures."

"Why would you created things like that!?" Twilight exclaimed. I shook my head.

"We didn't, the gears made more of themselves. They made the Megadeath class to destroy us, but Sol fought them and killed them. You see, he was a gear himself. He's called the guilty gear, because he helped the man that turned him and his lover into gears, and wishes to redeem himself." I explained.

"And this all happened to your Idol? Geez, talk about traumatic and dramatic... this is better than a novel!" Twilight exclaimed happily as she wrote down on her clipboard.

"Over the years, the war seemed like it wouldn't end, and Sol was getting tired of it. He wanted the war to end, and he heard about a weapon that the order has... it was called the Fireseal sword." Spike stared at the sword in my hands. I flourished it, and stabbed it into the ground.

"So your sword was used by your idol?" He asks.

I nodded. Okay, it wasn't, but it's damn close! "Yeah. It gets worse though, as it turns out that his lover, was Justice." That got their attention. "Over the years, he lost his memory in some strange way, and forgot who his lover was. So he fought, and killed Justice with no remorse. Whether he regained his memory or not, I don't know, but his struggles inspire me." I sighed and sat down on the chair, "His story tells me that no matter how bad it gets. you need to do what you've got to do. Even if it's difficult, and everything is stacked against you."

Spiked breathed, "Dude... that's just way too cool." I chuckled, and gestured to the sword.

"Thing about it though, is that it makes me easy to anger. I've been training to better control it" I laid on the couch, "And here I wanted to be a doctor. Help people... that seems like the job for me. Now though, I was tasked with protecting you." I told Twilight.

She was silent for the most part, then sat down next to me and placed a hoof on my shoulder, "If... if it's any consolation, I'm sorry." I shook my head.

"It's not your fault. Just... just some strange circumstances for my life." I think back to all the events that lead up to this, and sighed.

"If you want, we can continue the questions later." She offered with a smile. I nodded, and got up. I grabbed my sword, and strapped it to my back. "You know, now that I look at it, that's kind of a strange design for a sword. I thought the blade was supposed to be pointed at the tip, not a rectangle. Well, that's what the books say anyway."

I laughed, "This one is special. I don't know the exact details, but it still does its job." I looked around, "Do you have any maps of Equestria?" She nodded, and used her magic to levitate a scroll to me. I grab it from the air and unfurl it.

Well shit.

Looks like I have my work cut out for me. I rolled the scroll back up, and nodded in thanks.

"I need to get going. My mother wanted me back for dinner." I replied and left.

"Thank you for coming by!" Twilight shouted after me as I flew off.

As I soared through the air, I was left to my thoughts.

So... I met the supposed Element of Magic. Well, she seems nice enough, not like those xenophobes back in Ponyville. I need to train more though, since Nightmare Moon is coming closer to getting released. If I'm not ready, I'll probably end up dead.

And like hell I'm going out from that Thunderdome reject.

Breaking of Innocence

Chapter 10: Breaking of Innocence

I laid in bed.

A multitude of thoughts racing through my mind.

Today's the day. Nightmare Moon is supposed to be released today. I haven't heard from Jacob in a long time, so I don't know if something happened to him or not. If he doesn't show up, then I'll have to do this by myself.

What should I do? I don't know what to expect today, or how to plan for fighting a pseudo-goddess that can rotate the planet to align itself with the moon and cause night time.

Damn, thinking about that makes me worried... Oh well, no point thinking about it now. With a sigh, I get up from bed and stretch, the metal on my shoulder plate rattling a little. I know I'm going to need this damn thing, but I still don't have an access to it right now. I grab my sword and strap it to my back. It'd probably be best to take it with me the entire day today. I look around the hallways, greeting the guards I pass by, who give me a small nod in return.

Even though I know what's coming today... I feel that it's going to be one of those days where I feel like I should have stayed in bed. I open the door, and find myself in the dining hall with Alpine sitting at the head of the table. I grinned, and sat in my chair, "Morning Alp."

She returned it with a smile of her own, "Good morning Frederick. I trust you slept well?"

I grinned, "Like a lump on a log."

She turned serious though, "Unfortunately, I have some news. The princess is said to be coming here in a few hours, with wishes to speak with you." She then looked at me with worry, "It isn't anything too troublesome, is it?"

I shook my head, "No, it's my knight duties. She's probably coming here to inform me of something coming up tonight, which is when I'll be needed most." I smiled, "Don't worry Mom, I have backup this time. Jacob should be getting the same talk from his benefactor."

She shook her head, "That does not mean I won't worry. Frederick, you're going to be fighting a Celestial sister. That's no small task." She told me with increasing worry as her ears flattened against her head, "I just do not wish to hear my son has been killed."

I smiled reassuringly, "I'm going to do my best Mom. You can count on that."

She smiled and hugged me, "I know Frederick. I know you will."

Breakfast went on uneventful. Got to eat some waffles, which were awesome. I guess the I can spend the rest of the day doing whatever until Celestia comes.

Better get to that procrastination.

Oh my god I'm so bored. I stopped when I heard a knock on my door, "Sir? Princess Celestia is here."  Aza peaked through the door. I nodded and got up quickly.

"Thanks Aza." I tell her and run to the hall where I suspected her to be. Lo' and behold, I was right. She stood in the rather classy throne room, since it was a good marble color, not exactly looking that out of place all things considered.

She turned to me and smiled, "Ah, Frederick. Good to see you're here." She said to me. I shrugged.

"I was told you'd be here to talk to me about something, I don't want to miss it." She knows what I'm referring to. Her sister.

She nodded and turned to Alp, "Ms. Alpine, I wish to speak with your son in private if it is alright." She didn't even sound rude when asking that. Good, usually a question like that sounds rude.

Alpine nodded, and left the room to the two of us. We stood there awkwardly in silence, not knowing really what to say. However, it wasn't long until she finally broke the silence, "You know her release is tonight, correct?"

I nodded, "Yeah. Any idea where I should head to so I can wittle her down so your Elements can save her?"

She replied easily, "Yes, there's an old castle that she and I used to inhabit that is now a ruin in the everfree. I believe that your friends benefactor is giving him the same information so you two can meet up there."

I chuckled, "Well that definitaly saves me a trip to the village he's at. Alright, do you have any directions to the place?"

She nodded, "Yes," her horn glowed in a golden hue, and a bag appeared in front of him. I opened it and inside was a rolled up scroll. When I unfurled it, it showed detailed directions to the castle she was referring to. It even showes how to get there from here! "I had one of my cartographers make a detailed map, as to better help you get there with as little delay as possible. A courier should be arriving to Jacob's village at this point and time."

I smiled, "Thought of everything, didn't you?"

She smiled, "Of course."

I nodded with a small chuckle, "Alright, I guess I should head over there in a few hours. That way I can prepare more easily."

She nodded as well, "Very well, I'll get out of your hair to let you prepare. Do be careful." She told me with worry.

I shook my head with a sigh, "Given the amount of power your sister might be packing, I'm gonna have to be." I may be a kid, but I at least try to plan ahead... well, sometimes.

Celestia nodded and looked at the door, "I... I must admit, I feel rather guilty to have a child partake in such... well, gruesome activities. It feels wrong. Unnatural."

I sighed, "How do you think I've been feeling?" I shook my head, "What's done is done Princess... No turning back now." Celestia looked at me, but suddenly folded a wing over me and brought me close.

"I really do want to apologize for my mother dragging you into this world... it isn't right..." At that moment, she didn't sound like a ruler, or a leader, or whatever else is a synonym. She just sounded... depressed. Tired, even.

And I just now noticed that a lot of the people here like to hug me. Huh.

I patted her side awkwardly, not really knowing what to say, "Umm... it's... alright?" I've just really accepted things as they went, not really thinking about what's been going on. Have I really been so stupid to just... well, not care? Just the last week I brutally killed a giant monster bird that wanted to eat me! AND I'M NOT EVEN UPSET! What the hell is wrong with me!?

"I understand that you and I are strangers, but I must ask this of you. Promise me that you won't take unnecessary risks."

"Why-"

"Please... I... I just do not wish for the death of a child to occur." Ah. Well, okay then.

"....Alright. I promise to take stupid risks." I can't exactly refute the fact that I am a kid.  Celestia looked at me, and smiled slightly.

"Thank you." She turned around and made for the door, "I will let you prepare. Remember, it is tonight." She left me alone in the hall to my own devices. I have to.... I have to do what I have to do. I've already given my word that I would help this world, and as much as I want to go home, to just go in my own bed and... I don't know, cry I guess, Equestria is my home now. Alpine is my mother, I'm the son of the Diamond Dog Alpha, and I can't just up and leave. I'll leave in a few hours, at least then it'll give me some time to prepare.

(The Moon)

"So, how's the progress of the seal Hans?" Juliet was seen wearing her usual cat-suit, relaxing on a stone. She watched another man, a tall, lanky man. He wore pitch black robes with a blue lining, and his long blonde hair was tied into a loose pony-tail. He wore simple rounded eye-glasses, and he had a blue aura encasing him, seemingly in deep concentration. He opened his eyes, revealing light green hues, and sighed.

"It is nearly broken, Juliet. It has taken some time, but in the next few hours, Nightmare Moon will be free." His voice was strained from fatigue, he had been working himself ragged in trying to finish this spell. Now, it was simply a matter of time before she would break free herself.

Juliet smiled, "And we have at least one Knight out of the way. That Jacob guy is dead and gone now since Kane got a hold of him."

Hans grimaced, "I would not speak ill of the dead, Juliet. I would not condemn anyone to such a thing."

As if on command, a large man in black armor appeared. He had yellow eyes and pitch black hair, scorch marks were seen on his armor. He was growling in complete anger, "Damn him... Damn him!" He punched a pillar, which collapsed completely from the blow.

Juliet smirked, "Someone seems angry. What's the matter Kane?"

"That little rat bastard survived!" He roared back at her, "I may have taken his leg, but it is not enough!" He summoned a sword from darkness, and cut stone block in half. He panted in anger, and his sword disappated from existence.

Hans frowned, "Kane, if the man has only one leg, he is no longer a threat to our, or the masters plan. He is now simply a bystander now."

Juliet grinned, "Besides, what can stumpy do with only one leg? Hop at us?"

Kane scowled, "Regardless," He turned to Hans, "It is ready?"

Hans shrugged, "Give or take a few hours." Kane nodded in satisfaction.

"Good. Then we should be off back to headquarters. We are no longer required here." A portal opened before them. All three of them walked into it, leaving a glowing seal that sparked unstabily from Hans' interference.

It was only a matter of time now...

(Everfree Forest, 12 hours later)

It was nearly time...

I had said goodbye to Alpine earlier, and it was... well, it was hard.

Why...? Why is it hard now? Why am I questioning myself now of all times? I wasn't like this when I first came here. Now, I just feel... I don't know anymore.

Am I afraid...? I... yeah, it has to be fear. I'm going to go fight someone who can raise the moon like it's a freakin' hobby, and I'm so scared. This is the first time I've felt so nervous. I guess I'm just going to have to do my best. I and looked at the sky, seeing two stars getting ready to collide into each other. I guess that's my que to hurry the hell up. I decided to book it, running past trees and jumping over roots, my sword ready to be used.

I stopped when I came across a chasm with fog obscuring the bottom. A single wooden bridge held together by rope was my only means of getting across. And I just now remembered my fear for heights... gulping silently, I held onto the rope as I made my way across the bridge. I could hear the wood creak with each step, building up so much tension in me. When I reached the end, I jumped onto the ground and sighed in relief. I looked up from the ground, and saw a grand castle. To my surprise, I saw a blue mist fly from the distance and into the castle, a large explosion of light erupted from the windows, signifying whoever had arrived, was packing plenty of power.

Oh geez...

Gulping once more, I make my way to the gate, which was large and wooden. I looked up, and could see the beginnings of rot taking place. This place must be old...

Breath in, breath out...

I charged fire into my fist, and punched the gate, creating a hole big enough for me to fit through. Nodding in satisfaction, I walk through and looked around in the area. The inside was just as big... the main hall had a lot of dust gathered in it, but not enough to make it too hard to breath. It was dark, but the moon cast enough light for me to be able to see the inside.

The stone was a dark grey, and cobwebs gathered in the corners of the pillars, some even large enough to go across... the entire... room.

Oh good god let me be wrong.

I shook my head, and walked further into the room, trying to keep my fear in check.

"My mother sends a boy to fight me?" A chilling voice echoed through out the hall, making me freeze in place.

The blue mist from earlier floated down, showing what I guessed was Nightmare Moon. Gulping, I put a hand on my swords handle and glare at her, "I may be a kid, but I'm more than enough to send you back to the thunder dome..." That didn't have as much bite as I wanted it to have...

The black mare laughed in my face, "How foolish you must be to think that you can even compare to me!" As soon as she finished that, a large spider that may as well have crawled out of SATAN'S ANUS, slammed into the ground, glaring at me with all eight of its eyes. "Meet Jigalog, knave." She smirked, "He will be more than enough for you. Now, I await the foolish elements, now die quietly so as to not disturb my meditations." With that, she had turned back into her mist form and flew off.

Oh shit. Oh shit. I pulled out my sword, and pressed the button on the side, revving up the engine. "We can't talk about this?" I ask nervously.

My answer was a roar.

"I guess not..." I shook my head, and got ready for a fight.

Frederick Vs. Jigalog

Heaven or Hell?

Duel one, LETS ROCK!

(OST)

Jigalog charged at me, its long legs slamming into the dark stone. It raised one of its legs, trying for impalement. I jump out of the way, and slash at it, but it dodges as well by leaping backwards. I run at it, fire trailing after me. I jump up from the ground slightly, and rocketed myself towards him, slamming into his head, "Tyrant Rave Alpha!"

I used my feet to jump off of its head, and landing a ways away from it. It shook his body, having only been dazed. It then extended its height by standing on only a few of its legs before turning its... I don't even know what the rear part of a spider is called so I'll just call it that, it raised its rear and fired a long string of web at me. It encased me, a shot of fear running through my body. I used my fire to burn it off of me before it could do anything, and scramble to my feet, narrowly avoiding getting stabbed by some sort of stinger.

Jesus, it has poison too!? It slashes at me with a leg, and I swipe it away with my sword. My arms rattled from the impact, and I nearly shouted in pain.

I need to beat this thing. Now. If I don't I don't think I'm going to even live to get to Nightmare Moon. "Dragon Install!" I felt power well up in me again, and I could feel my strength double. I charge and slash at the spider, this time actually making a cut in its thick hide.

It screeched in pain as some green blood oozed out of the wound. I pressed the button, making the engine in my sword roar, taunting the spider.

I recieved a roar in kind from the spider, and it charged at me, this time not going for a stab as I expected, but ramming into me, sending me flying. I felt my body scream in pain, feeling like I a wreacking ball had hit me. I got up shakily, knowing that I couldn't fall here. It charged at me again, but this time I was ready. I charged my fists with fire, and power welled up inside me.

When he was upon me, I punched it in its damn mouth, stunning it and making it screech in pain. The fireball, as was usual, floated in front of me, ready for the follow up. "Tyrant Rave!" The large blast of fire encased the spider, this time, there was no escape for it. It burned, screeching and thrashing about all the while. It slammed into the wall, creating a hole and jumped out into the chasm, hoping for water to be there. No such luck. Its screech drifted away as it fell further, down and down it went.

Holy crap that was hard... I limped away from the hole, and looked around the hall. I saw a stairwell, and made my way towards it. I climbed up it with some difficulty, but I managed to make it to the top. I think a rib or two was fractured... shit, this fight isn't going to be easy. I saw another large wooden door, and moved towards it. Trying my best to ignore the pain, I punched the door down, just as before. I see Nightmare Moon staring at me with slight surprise, and I try to grin, "What? Never seen a badass 12 year old?" Again, didn't have as much bite... I must be loosing my nerve.

Nightmare Moon scoffed, and turned to me fully, "It would seem that I have underestimated you. No matter, this idiotic farce will end now."

(OST)

Power exploded from her body, easily overshadowing mine. I skidded away from her from the sheer force, trying my best to stand my ground. When the blast faded away, Nightmare Moon was seen with an aura around her, and I felt...

Afraid. So, very afraid. What am I doing? I'm just a kid. She's gonna kill me... She's gonna kill me...

SHE'S GONNA KILL ME!!!!!

I charged at her in fear, hoping to stop her quickly. No such luck. With a blast from her horn, she whipped me away with ease. I flipped onto my feet, skidding on the ground. I charged at her once more, and I was met with the same result. My body was practically protesting against me, pain making it difficult to stand. But I couldn't give up. I just couldn't.

"You are being delusional. Do you have no reason to fight?" She asked me, ice in her voice. I froze, and glared at her defiantly. She shook her head and laughed, "You see? You have no reason to fight me. Run, like the coward you are." I felt my anger boil this time, and I charged at her once more. This time though, I formed fire around my body.

"Tyrant Rave Alpha!" I rocketed into her, catching her off guard and sending her flying back. She was able to gather her bearings before she had fell, and flew in the air, hovering above me.

"Hm." She wasn't even winded! "It would seem that I underestimated you once more." I then felt gravity slam me into ground, loud snaps produced from my body and me screaming in pain. "Not something I will do again.

I can't get up! I can't feel my body... Oh god I'm going to die here aren't I?

I am... No...

Nightmare Moon looked at the boy, and saw him go limp. "Not dead... yet, anyway." She chuckled maliciously. She poked the body with a hoof, and noticed the blood pooling from him. "Hm, if he doesn't die now, 'twould be a miracle." She had no care for the boy, and began to trot away, sensing six ponies enter the castle. "Ah! Guests!" She turned to Frederick and smirked, "Now don't you go any where, I will be back for you later." She left the room to welcome the "guests", but unbeknownst to her... something was happening.

Something strange.

I don't wanna die.... Please, just take back what I said about doing this, I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE! I'M OUT OF MY LEAGUE! I WANT TO GO HOME!

Huh. Can't believe you.

What...? That... that isn't Faust, it's too masculine, and that isn't Susano-o... w-who are you!?

None of your concern pipsqueak. Jus' know that I'm going to be a sort of guardian angel of yours from now on.

Yeah... that's if I don't die from this...

You're seriously giving up? After everything you've done? What happened to the kid from earlier? The one who was so ready to fight?

I UNDERSTAND THAT I WAS STUPID! I... I don't want this anymore...

Well like it or not, you have it, you can't get out of it. So live with it.

It's not that simple... I just...

Just what? Tch, whatever, go ahead and cry like the little shit you are. It ain't gonna help anyone in the long run crying. If you can't handle it, you may as well die now and do us all a favor.

FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU ASSHOLE! Who the hell do you think you are!? What kind of guardian angel are you!? Where the hell were you when I was fighting that damn bird, huh!? You weren't there!

....Hehehe... where do you think you get your inspiration from your powers from? How do you think you can perform those moves so well without having done them until you've arrived on this world?

.....There's no way... you're just fictional...

I am. Oh trust me, I am. I'm just a recreation by Faust to help you out with your powers. She saw how much you thought I was "cool", so she recreated a version of me from glympsing across the dimensions, watching me and how I act. I'm not the real thing, but I'm as close as it gets.

Holy shit....

Now, you just gonna sit there? Or are you gonna get up and finish what you started?

(Reality)

Not the most inspirational speeches... but I'll take what I can get. I slowly got up, my body protesting heavily.

"Alright kid, keep your guard up. You don't know what else this crazy bitch is capable of, and you're going in pretty much blind. Just stay on your feet and you should be alright." His voice rang through my head as I limped out of the room, blood dripping from my body. Easier said then done...

Hard to believe that Sol Badguy is in my head. Well, a recreation of him.

"I'm just going to be your right shoulder angel... well, in a way. I'll give you advice, but don't expect much." Good to know. I made my way through the halls, and decided to go back into the hall that I first saw Nightmare Moon in. My guess was right... don't know whether that's good or bad, but I saw her squaring off against... Oh god it's those assholes from earlier. That rainbow-maned pegasus and the redneck pony from all those weeks ago were there, standing up to Nightmare Moon, along with Twilight and some other mares I never really saw before.

They weren't doing all that well. Nightmare Moon kept them seperated rather easily, and they couldn't do much of anything to her. However... her attention was focused on the mares... not me.

"Do it kid. It's your only shot."

Don't have to tell me twice! I ran at her, my body protesting once more. I must be running on sheer adrenaline, I should have been unconcious by now! "HEY!" She turned to me in surprise, but before she could react, I punched her in the jaw, a small fireball exploding from my hand. "Tyrant Rave!" I punched the ball, and I shot her into the wall, making an indentation of her body. I panted, falling on one knee as blood poured from my wounds. "Geez... why wont these things stop bleeding?" I ask rhetorically, knowing that it was a stupid question to ask.

"Frederick!?" I heard Twilight exclaim from behind me. I turn to her and smile weakly.

"Hey, how's it going?" My small feeling of relief was extinguished very quickly however, as I was suddenly, and very forcibly, yanked from the ground and I was hovering in front of Nightmare Moon, Fury easily seen in her eyes.

"I have told you once to die peacefully, and you disobeyed. I have told you twice to die, and again you disobey." She growled, and her horn glowed brighter, and I felt an even more intense pain from before occur all over my body. "If you will not listen when commanded, then I will turn you into dust!" A bubble appeared around us, not letting the others get to us.

"Shit! Kid, she's trying to age you at a rapid pace! I'm doing all I can to slow the process, but unless someone gets us out of this we're boned!" Shit... This time I am going to die.

I felt my body grow, my legs getting longer, my body growing larger and more muscled. It hurt. So. Much. I can't even describe the amount of pain that I'm in...

"Stay with me kid! Don't let her win!"

(OST)

"When I am done with you, peon..." She whispered in my ear, evil practically palpable in her voice. "Your world will be next. I will kill all you hold dear, right after I am done with you."

Images of Ernie flashed in my mind. Then Alpine, then Aza, everyone I knew....

I opened my eyes, they glowed with fury, "TO HELL WITH YOU!" fire exploaded from my body, sending her flying back. "Dragon Install!" With my older body, I charged at her, ready to end her. I unleashed a stream of attacks on her, blood and spittle flying from her with each hit. Slash, kick, punch, rinse, repeat. Finally, I gathered a lot of energy into my hands, and propped them infront of me, blasting her with fire that forced her into the ground. She bounced into the air, not being able to recover having still being dazed from my last attack.

This is my chance...

I charged everything I had at my feet, and my entire body was sore with pain. I looked up at her, I could see fear in her eyes. I grinned, and jumped up, "NAPALM DEATH!" Fire erupted around me. Fire was all I could see, all I could feel, and it slammed into Nightmare Moon. She screamed in pain, blood oozed out of her mouth from the attack. Hehe... even gods bleed. When I fell into the ground, I had blacked out completely. It's all up to the elements now...

Hehe... not bad kid. Didn't think you'd use that of all things. Guess you earned that rest. Sleep well, you deserve it.

(Hours later)

Wha...? I'm alive? I'M ALI- Oh god that hurts... I opened my eyes, and saw Twilight and all of the other ponies in the hospital room, asleep. I paused, and noticed that I had an oxygen mask on my face, and a lot of bandages on my body. I was in a full body cast, and I could hardly move. Probably a good thing...

I saw Twilight shift as she yawned, having finally awoken. Her eyes widened when she saw that I was awake, and she smiled happily, "Guys! He's awake!" The others slowly awoke, and the mares that I hated earlier, looked over me in concern.

I'm still angry with them... but hey, if they'd bring a guy that knocked them out to the hospital... they can't be all bad. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Celestia enter the room. She cleared her throat a bit, getting everyone's attention. "I would like to speak with the boy in private girls, if you please?" They all nodded, and left the room one by one. Twilight was the last one to leave, casting a worried glance at me before leaving.

       Celestia looked at me then nuzzled me when she was sure they were gone, "Thank you for all that you did Frederick... You saved my students and her friends, even my sister..." She looked at me with... I don't know, happiness, I guess.

       My voice came out ragged, and deeper than it was before. I had to say this to someone... "Princess... I'm just a kid. That's how I started this off. A kid who was in way over his head..." I felt tears threaten to fall, "I thought everything would be fine, but it wasn't. I've been nearly killed more times than any sane person would like, I've been turned to a man in a matter of hours... and I'm scared. I'm just so... scared." This time the tears were falling.

      "I just don't know what to do any more... " I was being honest with myself... for once, I felt that I had nothing.

      Celestia was silent through this. When I finished, she finally broke that silence, "Frederick...  I cannot tell you what to do from here. I know that it seems difficult for you, it always does at first. I can't guarantee that it will be easier, but you must decide what to do from here." She seemed to be trying to come up with the right words. But... I see her point. I need to figure out to do on my own, not just sit here.

      I can't act the way I've been acting, either. No more. it's stupid, and it won't help me in the long run. I took a deep breath from the oxygen mask, and asked her two very important questions. "Where's my stuff, and how do I look?"

     Celestia smiled, and pointed her hoof to the side. My sword and shoulder plate was sitting on a chair, waiting for me. "As for how you look," She hovered a mirror into the air with her magic, "Quite rugged, I must say." She was already tea-wow. My black hair used to be mid-length, now it goes past my neck! And I have a beard! A sort of "Garret Hawke" beard, to describe it quickly. I seemed to be taller, much more lean, even!

      I was dumbstruck for a moment, "Damn..." I muttered quietly. If it wasn't a mirror, I would have thought it was a trick or something!

     "Now, I do believe you must rest." She smiled, "You've more than earned it Frederick." With that, she left the room, leaving me by myself.

     Nightmare Moon has been stopped, and I've only just started...

     This is going to be one hell of an adventure.

End of Prologue...

Adopted Everfree

Well, I guess I should start this by saying hello. Please keep in mind that I'm just a kid when this all started, so if anything, the way I think is justified! My name... even though my mother kind of replaced it, and no matter how much I use it, my Diamond dog name is always used, is Frederick Schultz. I'm part german, as you can tell, and part Mexican. My mother's side is Mexican, and my father is German.

Now, my life was on average at least. I've always been told that I worry about things that a kid my age never really worries about, like "What my grades are." and "should I really knock that guy senseless" you know, basic stuff. But the way I saw it, life has a tendency to bite you in the ass if you're unprepared.

I was not, however, prepared for being forced into an alternate world!

Oh, that's right. Yeah, I was put into an alternate world by some bitch who can't do shit for herself! No, it wasn't Celestia, she's actually fairly nice. Luna was still in the moon at the time, So I can't say much for her.

Nightmare moon though... She was bitch. Yes, I played Call of duty, but never online. It was stupid to. It was only for the zombies.

Let's start at the beginning of this weird, and slightly fucking awesome story...

(OST)

The radio blared as the patron of the Orphanage and I rode in his car.

"So Freddy, whach'y'all think about getting a drink from that circle k?" He asked me. He was Black man, fairly nice guy. I couldn't help but like him, despite how tactless he can be at times. He had a slight afro and goatee, was a medium sized man, and he was a drug dealer on the side.

Ah, but the thing is, he never sold any of the big time drugs, like heroine and meth. He only sold pot. He never smokes it around me, as he told me "He doesn't want me picking up the habit". Good guy, I have to say.

"Ain't got a problem with that. Let's go." I agree as we drive into the area where Circle K is. We enter the convenience store and head towards the soda fountain. I get a 22 Oz, he gets a 44 Oz.

I never did tell you the guys name, did I? His name is Ernie Jones. His parents were weird like that.

"If y'all want some candy, better get some now, I'm a bit strapped on cash after this, so you're gonna have to save it in the fridge." He tells me as I finish pouring my drink. I nodded and head to the chips section and grab a bag of whatever brand.

After we purchased our stuff, we head back into the car. It was an old orange Chevy Impala, don't ask me what year, not even I know.

"So how was school little man?" Ernie asks me. I shrugged in response.

"Alright, I guess. That one punk keeps trying to bully me. You won't get mad if I get in a fight, will you?" I ask him. He thinks for a moment before answering.

"Well, s'long you don't throw the first punch, I ain't got no problem with it. Never start fights, only finish them." I nodded as we continued on the drive back to Ernies apartment. Ernies kind of adopted me, in a matter of speaking. It's not official or anything, but I guess you could say I'm like a son to him, since I live with him. We head to the orphanage when it's the afternoon, then at night we head to his apartment.

The city we live in is Atlanta, so ethnicity wise, I'm a minority. Don't get the wrong idea from that statement, I'm only stating what I believe to be a fact.

We finally made it back to the apartment complex, and head inside with our drinks and food. I see Ms. Stevens with her dog walking out and wave at her. She smiles and waves back and goes on her way. We climb up the stares to the third floor and walk to the sixth room on the right.

Ernie fumbles a little bit with his keys before he opens the door. It was a nice room I guess. Not too messy, but not too clean either. We enter and put our stuff down on the mahogany table and take off our coats. Winter in Atlanta was an asshole like that.

"You wanna play the Xbox, or do y'all have homework?" He asks me.

"Nah, I have homework to do. Math. I should be done real quick though." I tell him. He nods and fires up the game counsel and starts playing gears of war.

I head to my room and start on the homework I was given. Just bobbing my head to the music in my mind.

My eyes began to drift closed as I lay on my bed. I guess I'm much more tired then I thought...

My eyes finally shut as I drifted off to sleep

Greetings young one...

...

Ernie, did you smoke in my room again?

Hmhm, no, this isn't the cause of a hallucinogenic.

The voice sounded female, and I guess it had this motherly tone to it. Kind of makes me remember my mom... Other then that, that's just exactly what a hallucination would say! Trying to lull me into a false sense of security, then BAM! The mindfucking starts!

Quite the mouth...

Thank you, I'm rather proud of my extended vocabulary and uses of it. Besides, you're a hallucination, what do you care about my language?

*sigh* What is it going to take for me to convince you that I'm real?

You could let me wake up! There's an idea I'm sure we can both get by!

You could practically sense my cheesy grin, since I was fairly nervous.

Very well. Awaken, young Frederick. I will see you when you wake up.

Wait wha-

I awoke with gasp and looked around the room for signs of the hallucination, but to my relief, she wasn't here.

"WHAT THE HELL?!? I DIDN'T EVEN SMOKE ANYTHING YET!" Ernies's voice rang through the walls.

Oh shit...

I ran out of my room and looked to find an ivory... thing with a horn and wings with a red mane. Wait... that looks like a pony.

A fucking pony with a crown.

A fucking pony with a crown trying to calm down a frantic patron that smokes weed.

The humor is not lost on me, let me assure you.

I cleared my throat to get their attention. It worked, as they both looked at me. Ernie looked at me frantically and grabbed the kitchen knife and grabbed me.

"You stay away from us! You can hurt me, but y'all got another thing coming if you think you gon' hurt him!" He shouted with determination despite his fear. I looked at him with surprise, never thinking that he would stick up for me like this.

"I'm not going to hurt either of you! I need the child's help!" She exclaimed as Ernie held me tighter.

"What do you want? What can you possibly need Freddy for?" Ernie asked with suspicion.

"I need him to save my world!" she exclaimed. We both stare at her with shock, me most of all. This all just seems so impossible!

"Bullshit!" He pointed the knife more towards her, "All you're sayin' is bullshit!"

"I'm not lying! He's the only chance my daughter's have of living!" she was crying this time. I was able to wring myself from Ernie's grasp and slowly make my way towards the pegacorn thing.

"Are you lying?" I ask her. She shakes her head as tears fall down her face. I'm very skeptical at it all.

"Freddy, how can you trust her so easily? She just up and warped in here without even wiping her feet!" there's Ernie with his priorities straight...

"It's hoofs Ernie." I correct him.

"I know what I said! y'all know what I mean." he grumbled. The pegacorn giggled as she watched the scene between me and my caretaker. I raise an eyebrow in her direction.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but it's just so strange yet funny watching you two. like father and son in a weird way." she tells us. I blush slightly as I look at Ernie who smiles warmly at me. I guess he is a father figure for me, despite his faults he did his best.

"Well... I may have never really got a lot of memories of my dad, but Ernie has taken care of me, and I've enjoyed every second of it." I say rather embarrassed. I felt Ernie hug me tightly, making me embarrassed even more.

I shake my head as I get serious again, "You said something about your daughters needing me, what did you mean?" I asked. That got Ernie's attention as he sat down on the couch and stared at the pegacorn.

She cleared her throat, "Right... um, my name is Faust Lightbringer. I am the mother of two Immortals, Celestia and Luna Lightbringer, raisers of the sun and moon of my world." Both myself and Ernie whistle at the accomplishment. We were somewhat sci-fi nerds, so we kind of fantasized about something like this. It's not too surprising, but it doesn't lessen the alarm we're feeling

"Jesus girl, that's quite a notch on yo belt." Ernie looks at me, "Golf clap?" I nodded.

"Golf clap." We then proceed to give her a golf clap. she giggles at our antics, but becomes serious again.

"Thank you, but I must get into the matter of why I'm here. Frederick Schultz, I have chosen you as the human of Everfree. One not bound by morales, but acts with justice. One who doesn't think with his emotions, but with his mind. Cold, yet not. Caring, yet stern. I wish you to help guide my world through your judgement, and help shape it's history with six others that are native to my world." We both stare wide eyed at her before looking at each other.

We then proceeded to bust a gut.

"OH LAWD MY SIDES!" Ernie exclaimed. I was too busy laughing to respond. Faust sighed before a golden light came from her horn and engulfed us.

We were in space. We were in the darkest recesses of space.

Mind equals blown. I think I know why Ernie smokes weed now... STILL NOT TRYING IT!

"Please, watch. look what is to come if I do not bring you." She tells me sadly.

I watch the planet, it's vibrant and full of color, but it begins to take on a black and some sort of grey, spreading over it like a cancer.

"What's going on?" I ask her shakily.

"That is the corruption that the many evils will unleash without your help. This is why I need your help." She tells me. I gulped as the scene went back to the apartment. I turn to Ernie and notice that he was pale. I run up to him and check on him.

"Ernie! Are you okay!?" I frantically ask him.

"Ya little man, I'm fine..." he looks at Faust, "You need him to stop that, huh?" he asks. She nods grimly and looks sad.

He nods before he looks at me. "Little man... can you do it?" What?

"W-what? Ernie, what do you mean?" I ask him shocked.

"Freddy, can you do it? I need to know if you're willing to step up and help someone in need." He looks at me sternly. I pause for a moment.

Am I willing to step away from all that I know for someone I never knew until now?

No.

Am I going to not try to help when I can do something?

HELL NO.

I nod as an answer and look at Faust, "Well, Alright." She looks extremely relieved, but I continue my statement.

"Why me, though? I'm just a kid. What good can a child do when it comes to saving a damn planet?" I then felt a hand hit me upside the head, "OW! What?" I look at Ernie who was frowning.

"Watch your damn language in front of a lady." I stared at him incredulously before facepalming. Faust giggle once again at our antics.

"Well, to answer your question, it's like this. I find that even the smallest things can keep evil at bay, like simply helping a friend, or even a child." She then nuzzles me, catching me off guard. "You have so much potential and you don't even realize it yet. But you will, and I know you will be the greatest knight I have chosen yet." I opt to simply stare at her in wonder, thinking on how high her expectations of me were. But then something comes to my mind.

What about Ernie?

I look to her pleadingly, "Would I be able to bring Ernie with me?" I ask her, surprising the mentioned patron. She had a sad look on her face and shook her head, devastating me. "I... I can't go without him!" I yelled, but I felt a hand on my head. I turned to Ernie, who had glazed eyes.

"Y'all will be fine without me. I know you, you've been a good kid, and a great son. I may not be your father, but I'm proud that you consider me one, despite all the bad shit I get in to." he hugs me, "But ya' need help her Freddy. She's dependin' on y'all to." he reaches behind his neck and gives me his thin silver chain with a cross attached to it, "Take it." He tells me.

I do so numbly and put it over my head. He gets up from the couch, "Well, I was goin' give this to ya' on yo birthday, but this may be the last time I see you. I may as well give this to you now." He tells me as he moves towards the closet and opens it. He sifts through the clutter and pulls out a box. He comes back to the couch and sits down and hands me the box, "Open it." He tells me. I nod and did so, and to my surprise, an MP3 player with headphones was sitting there, brand new. I stare at him in shock and grip him in the tightest hug my body could muster and cry.

I've never cried, not since my parents death. Not when I was beat up and retaliated, not when I hurt myself, and not when I was never picked to be adopted. But this moment brought out all of the pent up sadness, and burst like dam. He hugged me tighter as I sobbed, and I could feel his tears on my shirt as well as he cried softly.

After a few moments of depression and sadness, we stopped and wiped the tears from our eyes. We turn back to Faust, who had tears of her own, "I... I'm so sorry..." She was crying herself... I think I should help her. I look at Ernie, who smiles and nods.

I move towards her and gripped her in a hug, surprising her. "It isn't your fault Ms. Lightbringer. I agreed to do this, so you may as well get it over with." Truth be told, I'm still very reluctant to leave. But a whole lot of people... ponies need my help. She says I have the power to help, may as well pull a spider man and take the responsibility.

She grabs me lightly with a nervous hug of her own, "Thank you... You have no idea how much this means to me..." I roll my eyes and rudely reply.

"I think I have an Idea." I then turn back to Ernie who was smiling sadly. A golden light came from behind me, making him shield his eyes, " Auf Wiedersehen, Ernie..." I wave at him sadly. He waves back.

"I'll pray for y'all Freddy. Stay alive, you hear me!?" He yells as the portal starts to pick up wind and brightness.

"I will! STAY OUT OF TROUBLE!" I shout as Ernie disappears from my sight and Faust and I finally enter the portal.

(OST)

We were in a weird bright area, it was all white, and I looked around in awe.

"Whoa." I say dumbly as worlds begin to zoom past us. This was amazing! I heard a small giggle from my side as I turn to find Faust staring at me. "W-what?" I blush with embarrassment. She giggles louder this time.

"It's nothing, I'm simply enjoying your wonder, is all." she replied. I roll my eyes as my blush deepens.

"No shit, I am a kid." I reply with as much snark as I can muster. She laughs as we finally make it to our destination. It was the same planet she showed me, except without the lung cancer.

Yes, I said lung cancer. I know it's a planet, but it's the best analogy I can come up with! A corridor appears in front of me that leads down to Equestria, I turn to Faust and with a questioning look.

"I have to ask, what will I be able to do? I know you said that whole simplest things speech already, but I mean ability wise. I doubt a kid with next to nothing will be able to do much besides me flicking boogers at whatever monster comes my way." I ask her.

"Well, I have to ask this first. Why did I feel so heavy on your planet?" She replies my question with her own. I hate shit like that, I really do.

"Because gravity, now answer my question." I deadpan. She smiles at me knowingly, weirding the hell out of me.

I then looked confused, "Does it have to do with gravity?" I ask her. She nods.

"Yes, I believe that on Equus, you may be much lighter than you would feel on your home planet, doubling your strength, and increasing your agility." I looked at her surprised, and then had a vicious and devious smile on my face.

"Yessss...." I rubbed my hands together in an evil genius like way. She taps me lightly on the side with her wing.

"Don't get any ideas." She stares at me sternly. I frown with and fake-pouted. She smiled before continuing, "Another theory I have is that you may be able to adapt to the magic in the atmosphere, and in the planet itself, giving you command over a single element of your choice.." I looked at her surprised once more.

"Like control the elementals, like fire and ice, that sort of thing?" I ask her. She nods and I jump for joy, "YES! I always wanted to be a freaking fire bender!" I shout with excitement. She laughs before her horn begins to glow with a golden light before hitting my shoulder. I look at the area it hit, and noticed a small bit expanding. The light died down, and a shoulder piece of Crimson armor appeared. "What's this?" I ask her.

"It's your knights armor, simply tap it when you are of age, and it will cover your body in your own personal armor." I groaned at the of age part. Figures that I have to wait for a good while before I get the good stuff... Oh well, make due with what I have, I guess.

"Also, when you are older, I will give you your knights weapon. I believe you may know what it is when you see it." She tells me with her cryptic mystical bullshit. I stare at her before shrugging. If it's like the armor, I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

"Alright, I guess I may as well head to your planet. Any advice?" I ask her.

"Try to stay away from the Ursa Majors. Don't ask me who created them, I think their flankholes." She tells me. I raise an eyebrow before shrugging and turning back to the corridor. I move towards it and knock on the door. When it opens, tendrils of light grabbed me and pulled me through at high speeds.

"HOOOOOOOLLYYYYYYYYYY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!" I scream as I sail through the corridor.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, I land with a thud on a soft grassy floor. I immediately regret agreeing to this... I get up and look around, noticing that I'm in a forest.

"OF FUCKING COURSE! DAMMIT FAUST, YOU CAN'T EVEN PUT ME IN SOME FUCKING CIVILIZATION!?!?" I shout into the air.

Sorry... I may have mis-calculated the spell...

I... What is this I don't even. I'm done being angry...

Really?

NO!!!!

Look, I may be powerful, but I'm not a deity. I don't know everything. You're going to have to find civilization since I can't interfere anymore.

I sighed before I looked around. Alright, first order of business is finding out if there's any changes to my body. I inspect myself, and notice I seem to be slightly fitter than I was before. I shrug and continue. Wait... let me open my pants and- yup, their still there.

Must you really look there? Why would I change your gender?

Because you never know. Alright, second order of business, find civilization. I turn to my left and point dramatically, "The escalator goes this way!" I say to myself. I then move in the direction I randomly picked and whistled to myself.

You know, Faust is right. I do feel extremely light, and I notice that my strolling seems faster than it normally would and I'm not even tired. Cool.

The forest seemed relatively calm, so I did the same, and remained calm. Seriously, most kids would panic, but I kind of find this exciting. When I thought this though, I heard a rustling from the bushes.

Not so exciting anymore. I turn towards the weirdest and freakiest sight ever. Wolf like beings that looked like they were made of wood.

Fuck you too world. I then Booked it in another random direction, and saw that my running was even faster as well. Shitty news though, the wolves were still on my tail.

(OST)

Shitshitshitshit!!! I made my way through the brush and found myself in a canyon of sorts. Now nature can't even make up its mind? GREAT! I looked back and saw the wolves still after me and booked it again. I was tiring out, and I knew that in this open space, they'll find me. I'm not going to go down without a fight though! I was backed into a wall, and they surrounded me, blocking any chance of escape.

"Really? you're going to kill me like a cliche? I can't believe I'm going out like this!" I complain. I haven't even started my job, and I'm failing at it already! I be not proud...

Before I could complain even more, A giant figure zoomed past me and struck a wooden wolf with a stick. Wait, when I look closer, it was a spear. It then stabbed another wolf and quickly brought it out. it then punched another wolf, and to my surprise, I got a good look at its arms. It was big and hairy, and had claws on its fingers.

Oh dear god it might be a werewolf... WELL NOW I'M JUST SCREWED! I was afraid now. For once, I was afraid.

I hate it. I hate this feeling of fear, it isn't right. When the werewolf finished what it was doing, it turned to me, and I involuntarily stepped back. Dammit, I showed it fear. Now it's going to pounce! But, alas, it did something else. I brought it's cloak down, and revealed to be some sort of dog like creature. Weird.

(OST)

"Are you alright little one?" It's voice sounded female, and is she really asking about my well being? Strange...

I nodded silently, cautiously watching her.

"Can you speak?" She asked.

"No, I can understand you because I'm a fucking mute." I replied with enough snark that pleased me as I stared at her with a deadpanned glare. Instead of getting angry, she simply laughed.

"That is good. Now go home, this is no place for a child." She tells me and turns away. Wait a minute, if she lives around here, then that means... CIVILIZATION!

"It's kind of hard to do that without a home to go to." I tell her. She stops and I notice her ear twitch.

"No home?" she looks at me with shock and sadness. I hate pity, but I have to play on it.

"yeah, no home. As in, orphan and all that jazz." I sigh. She did something I didn't really expect her to do. She picked me up and carried me. "Um... what are you doing?" I ask her.

"You don't have a home. I'm taking you to mine. No child deserves not having a home." A little quick at the decision making, isn't she?

"Why? You just met me, and you don't know If I'm dangerous... so why?" I ask her with suspicion. This worked way to easily. It pays to be suspicious.

"Didn't you hear me? No child deserves to not have a warm bed to call their own." She looks back at me with a raised eyebrow. Now that I get a good look at her, she has steel grey fur and bright green eyes. She's fairly tall.

"Alright then... what are you?" I ask her as she continues her trek with me in her arms.

"Diamond Dog. We eat gems, what about you?" She asks me.

"Omnivore." I tell her. She looks at me confused, making me sigh with exasperation. "It means I can eat meat and vegetables." I tell her. she makes an 'oh' face and we continue.

"What are you? You're not a Diamond dog." She asked me.

"What made you think that lassie?" I snark, but reply anyway, "I'm a human."

"What's a human?"

"You're asking the wrong person. I don't exactly know the details on us." I tell her. She nods as we stop in front of a hole in the ground.

"Umm... Not to sound ungrateful, or anything, but what is this?" I ask her. She laughes.

"This is the entrance to Hollow Sanctuary. Native Dogs come here for a place to settle down when they wish for a life of peace." She tells me. I nodded, taking in the information.

"I know it's a bit late to ask this, but what's your name?" I ask her, hoping to know the name of my rescuer.

"Alpine. Alpha Matriarch of the clan." Well shit, I guess that's pretty damn important if she has to mention it.

"I'll just call you Alp. Sounds good?" I ask her, not really caring. She laughed and nodded. I smiled as we jumped down into the hole. I expected it to be dark, but to my surprise, there's a long row of torches lighting the way.

"Interesting, kind of reminds me of Erebor." I remark. I've seen the hobbit, and I've enjoyed every second of it.

"I'll take that as a compliment." She tells me with humor in her voice. We begin down the hall with the torches, making small talk.

A thought came to my mind as we made it into here.

"Why are you bringing me here? What made you want to bring me in?" I ask her.

"I want a son. you're an orphan." She told me, stupefying me.

Wh-what!?! She wants to adopt me? Why?

"Why!?!?" oops, did I say that out loud?

Her ears went down, signifying she was sad, "Because I can't have pups of my own..." Oh...

Ouch. uh, QUICK! SALVAGE THE HAPPY MOOD!

"Well, if you want... I don't mind calling you mother..." Truth be told, I do. I REALLY FUCKING DO. But I'm sure I'll warm up to, just like I did with Ernie...

I hope he's okay...

I felt her grip me tighter, as I felt tears on the top of my head, "Thank you..." She said.

I sighed, and hugged her back. Well, it's the least I can do for saving my hide, so I don't have a problem with showing a little love. We stopped in front of a door, and she knocked in some sort of sequence before it creaked open. I looked inside, and was surprised to find a great city of Diamond dogs.

This, is awesome. We began to walk on a wooden bridge that led to some extravagant looking archway, I'm guessing that's where she lives.

We enter the area and saw a duo of guards standing there. They saluted and stared at me, but allowed us to enter. She made her way to a hall before stopping in front of a door. "You must be tired." She opens the door, revealing a fur bed and a desk made of stone.

"Sleep. We'll meet the rest in the morning." She closed the door, leaving me to my thoughts.

I just got adopted by some a Diamond Dog.  I just got chased by Wolves made of wood. I just got toured through an underground city full of Diamond Dogs.

I plopped down on the bed face first and groaned.

This job hurt already...

(Elsewhere)

Celestia looked over Canterlot with a worried glance. She felt a familiar surge of power, one she hasn't felt in ages.

It was her mother.

'but why now? She only does anything when she...' her eyes widened, 'another champion has stepped forward. She must have seen the future and acted accordingly...' she smiled.

'Maybe everything will be alright after all...' she looked at the moon, staring intently at the engraving of the old legend, the Mare in the Moon.

'Soon sister, I will see you again. I hope nothing too horrible happens...'

The day ended, leaving the many inhabitants to go to their sleep.

It was only a matter of time before the Knight must reveal himself.

Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire...

Chapter Three: Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire...

It's been two days since the fight with Steel cutter, and the moment before I made that spark has stuck in my head. So I did what anyone would do when they found out they could do some supernatural shit. See what else they can do!

"U-um sir... are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course it is! I need to figure out what I can do, and this is the only way how!"

I was in the pit with Aza. I was trying to see what I can figure out for using fire, and I'm hoping that what I'm about to do will work.

I turn to Aza, "Alright, watch and make sure that you throw the boulder when I tell you!" I tell her. She hesitates before nodding. I stop for a moment before shouting, "NOW!"

She flung the boulder with as much strength as she could muster. I ran towards it and prepared to uppercut it.

"VOLCANIC VIPER!" I soared into the air, fire encasing my entire arm as it left a thin trail behind me. My fist collided with the boulder and it shattered, spreading pebbles around the area.

I landed, and was panting heavily. Okay, I'm guessing that the powers are activated through my voice, and thanks to my video game playing, I just learned one of Sol Badguy's moves.

FUCKING. AWESOME.

Okay, It's decided. Sol Badguy moves along with Order-sol's moves will be learned! One way or the other, it will be done! I finally catch my breath, and Aza leapt down into the pit and helped me.

"That was amazing! How did you do that?" She asked me with wonder. I shrugged, not exactly willing to go into how I know magic. "Oh well, but still! What else can you do sir?" She asks me.

"Well, I have an idea on what I want to do, but not what yet." I tell her. She nods in understanding and we decide to head back into the Hollow keep.

Alpine has been a wonderful mother. She really tries to be there, even though I don't really need it. I can't help but feel a little bad that I can't think of anything to help her with her job.

From what I figured out from the other Diamond dogs that have lived here, Alpine's husband, Stone masher, died of a disease that they know nothing about. They didn't describe the symptoms to me, so it's kind of hard to get a grasp of what it is.

"What do you wish to do now sir?' Aza asked me as we walked the halls. I placed a hand on my chin and thought. Well, I still haven't found a library here, so I can only assume that Diamond dogs do not have one.

"I want to make a trip to the surface. I need books to get an understanding of the world." I tell her. She stares at me with surprise before stammering.

"B-but sir! The Alpha gave me strict instructions for me to watch over you, I can't allow you to head to the surface!" She's saying this like I give a shit.

"Well then, I guess you better stick to me like stink on shit." I tell her and head towards where the exit was. I heard her babble before she was right behind me. After a few minutes of walking, we made it to the door. I knocked in the sequence that I saw Alpine use and the door opened, allowing us to leave.

"The Alpha is so going to skin me for this..." I heard Aza moan. I turn to her with a grin and head off. After ten minutes of walking, we began to see slivers of light from the end of the tunnel.

"Cool, took us less time then I thought it would!" I smile and run towards the exit. We make it out and see some mountains and a small town off in the distance. Confused, I turn to Aza, who looked rather nervous, "What's that town over there?" I ask her.

"That's Ponyville, it's a farm town populated by ponies sir..." She looks nervously at it. I get the feeling she's afraid.

I reach up and scratch her behind the ears, as most dogs enjoy. She's no exception, as she closed her eyes and sighed. However, her eyes shoot open and she begins to blush bright enough for it to be visible through her fur.

I laugh at the respones, "Don't worry! We'll be fine! We're just going in to get some books and getting back out, it'll be quick." I reassure her. She nods and we begin our trek down to the town.

(Outside Ponyville)

We were just outside of, Ugh... Ponyville. Seriously, the originality and tact used to come up with that name, is zero. We run quickly into an alley and duck down.

"Okay Aza, any Idea on where the library is?" I whisper as I watch the ponies. They're nothing but a bunch of freaking boxes of crayons! They have marks on their asses, which I'm trying to figure out what they mean...

"Well, If I remember correctly, it's a great big tree in the center of town." She tells me. I turn to her and raise an eyebrow. Really? A freakin' tree? Why am I not surprised? With a sigh, I nodded.

"Alright then, stay here, I'm going to go find it." I tell her and get ready to take off before I felt a paw pull me back. Aza looked at me frantically.

"But sir!" She almost exclaimed. I quickly put a hand over her muzzle and shushed her; I inspected the area to make sure the ponies didn't hear us. Satisfied, I turn back to her.

"Look, I need someone to be here in case things go south and I get caught. You said this is a farming community, so I need you to stay here, since I have a feeling they wouldn't take too kindly to you being here." I whisper to her. She reluctantly nods and waits. satisfied, I pick up a cardboard box and use it for cover.

Thank you god for Metal gear! It seemed to work as I propped myself up against a vendor's stall. I peeked through a hole that I made to see where I'm going and thankfully, No one seems to be glancing at the totally inconspicuous moving box. I slide as quick as I can to the next stall. Still unnoticed. This process repeats for a few minutes before I finally have the Tree house thing in my sights. With a grin, I quickly zoom out from under the box and towards the library. I made it to the door and quickly opened it and closed it.

I peak out the window, and no one even gave a second glance. I'm solid snake people, a round of applause for me! With a smile, I look around the library and set out to find what I'm looking for. I inspect the shelves to try to find what I want, history, geography, anything that will help.

I come to the G section and find Geography for... Equestria? Well, I think I found out the name of the nation I'm on. I grab at least two pocket books, one of them is plainly called Geography of Equestria, while the other is called The Wide World of Equestria.

I swear, I could have found more books with better titles, but I need basic info, not what color the grass turns into in different areas. I nod and place the pocket books in, well, my pocket. It's a tight fit, since I'm guessing it was made for pony pockets. Don't ask me how I know that, I'm just guessing at all of this.

With a nod, I head to the door, only to stop at hearing this.

"Get out of here Diamond Dog!" I heard a rather tomboyish voice shout. "No way you're terrorizing my town!" I peak outside the window to find the most infuriating scene. A Pegasus and a group of ponies was harassing Aza. Now, I may not know her well, but she's decent damn it! She's dodging everything she can, and I'm just sitting here, hoping she'll run towards the door of the library.

Dammit, at this rate-

"Gotcha!" A southern voice rang out as rope tied around Aza's body. SHIT! I kick open the door, and rush towards Aza.

"Sir!" Aza shouted in surprise.

I jumped at the pegasus and gave her an axe kick and sent her to the ground, as I fell, I charged my fist with fire and struck the pony with the fist.

"Bandit Bringer!" A small fist of fire shot out from my fist, also striking the pony, making her bounce off of the ground and skid a few feet back.

"Dammit Aza, I told you to wait!" I shout as I dodge a rainbow haired pegasus.

"I'm sorry sir, but I was worried about you!" She replies as she hides behind a stall. Well, I'm thankful, but I still told her to stay where she was!

"Thanks and all, but I was doing fine!" I dodge another pony and ram my fist into its face, knocking it out. I see a cowboy hat in the crowd and a twirling rope. Well, I think I know what she's planning on doing...

I see the rope lash out, and time seemed to slow me and the rope down. I grinned as out the corner of my eye, I saw the rainbow pegasus charging at me at the same time. Idea...

They were both upon me, but I jumped back at the right time and the rope wrapped around the pegasus's neck, yanking towards the thrower of the rope. When I heard a yelp, I gave a satisfied sigh as I looked at the surrounding ponies.

HRGK! Shit... I just realized how tired I am...

Using those moves all at once really tired me out, I don't think I can move right now...

I finally saw the pony that was wearing the cowboy hat. It was an Orange pony with a blonde mane and three apples on the side of her ass. A~nd she was charging at me with rage in her eyes.

Fuck.

She did a complete one-eighty and cocked her hind legs back. I closed my eyes and braced for the hit, but it never came. As my eyes were closed, I heard a familiar sounding yelp.

Oh no... I open my eyes, and in front of me, was Aza. She took the brunt of the buck, and she was writhing on the floor in pain.

Aza... was hurt... because of me...

TIME TO KICK SOME ASS!

"YOU BASTARDS!" I shouted in rage, I felt a fire in my chest building up, getting stronger and stronger, until flames began dancing around me. I then cocked my arms back, feeling the fire overwhelm me.

"DRAGON INSTALL!!!" I shouted to the heavens. I felt my form flash between two things. All black with a glowing white eye, a gaping white maw, and ethereal claws. After two seconds of shifting, I charged at the mob.

I glided across the ground, creating waves of fire around me,  "GROUND..." Then jumped and used my knee to strike the earth pony in the face, bringing her with me. I let loose some fire from under me, to propel my self higher, "VIPER!" I uppercutted the pony and landed on the ground. I saw the Rainbow pegasus charging at me. I kneed her in the face, and flipped and performed and axe kick, fire trailing my foot.

"BANDIT REVOLVER!" Why am I being this brutal? I never wanted to harm anyone this badly... They angered me. They angered me beyond the point of control.

I let my rage get the best of me, and I childishly threw a tantrum. Looks like I have a new goal ahead of me. Train until I can control my anger, as it seems to be what fuels my fire attacks. I felt all of my energy leave me at once, making me collapse. I saw blackness creeping into the edges of my vision.

I think I just fucked up...

Oh well, at least I have my books!

I then passed out.

(Frederick's room - Hollow Sanctuary)

I awoke to find Alpine watching over me, a concerned look in her eyes. I weakly laughed as I realized that I was in my bed in Sanctuary.

"How long was I out?" I ask her.

"A few hours. Are you okay?" She asks me. I nodded. "Good." She then smacked me upside the head.

"Ow... I deserved that." I say, rather ashamed at what happened. My eyes widened, "Aza! Is she okay?" I ask her.

"She's fine. She was the one who brought you back. She also told me about what happened in Ponyville." Her eyes narrowed. "Why didn't you tell me you could use fire magic?"

I looked indignant, "Not two days ago, I didn't know I could do it! Right before the fight with Steel Cutter, I saw a spark in my hands, and figured that if I could do anything, I should practice it." I explain to her. She sighs and face-paws herself. I looked down, realizing that she was disappointed. Damn, I must have made her day harder then it should have been...

I felt myself being grabbed by her gently and was hugged tightly. I looked at her in surprise, but it kind of felt... comfortable. I leaned into it and accepted it. I guess a mother's love is truly one of a kind...

"I was worried about you. Even some of the other nobles were worried about you." Now that got my attention. I looked at her with a raised eye brow.

"The nobles? Why?" I ask her. She chuckles in response.

"They believe that the fight with Steel Cutter was a marvelous one, and find you worthy of being my son. I couldn't agree more." She hugged me once more. "I'm still a little disappointed in you though." Damn, thought I was scot-free on this one...

She looked at me with concern, "Aza told me that you fought like a beast when you saw her harmed. Why?" She asked me.

I shrugged, "Well, she kind of helped me out over the last two days, and she's a sister to me in a weird way." I really don't know why I'm relating so easily with these Diamond Dogs. I know them for a few days, and I'm practically laying down my life for one of them!

She nodded with understanding, "I see, you feel a kinship with her. Do you fancy her?" She asks me. WHOA WHOA WHAT!?!

I shook my head, "No! I just did what I did because I owed her that much! Plus, she had orders to watch over me from you, I return the favor." I explained. She smiled at how defensive I got. She can think what she wants, all I did was return the favor.

"Would you like for me to bring Aza in so you can check on her?" She asks me. I nodded, worried about that kick she took.

She got up and signaled for Aza to come in, and to my surprise she looked completely fine.

"Bu... but I thought you...!" I was speechless. She wasn't wounded, she wasn't in some sort of cast, nothing!

She smiled and scratched her cheek, "I never did mention that grown Diamond dogs have very hard bones, did I?" She said nervously. My eye twitched as I glared at her before sighing in annoyance.

"It would have been nice to know that before I went berserk." I snap at her. Her ears droop and she looks pretty sad. I sigh once more and weakly smiled, "Still. I'm glad you're okay." She smiles and bows to Alpine and leaves.

Alpine turns to me with a smile, "I must get back to my duties. Rest, you've earned it." She tells me and leaves. I sigh and plop my head into the pillow.

Today won't happen again. I'm not sorry, but I shouldn't have let my anger get the best of me. I'm freaking exhausted, and I can't feel my hands. I bring them up, and feel them trembling from the exhertion. All along my arms were burns. They were already healing, but they still look painful.

Alright then, as soon as I get healed, it's training time. I can't let this happen when I'm performing my duties.

So far, I've learned Bandit Revolver and Bringer, Volcanic Viper, and Dragon Install. However, I shouldn't attempt Dragon Install until I've learned other moves.

I really owe a lot to my gaming for these attacks. But now, I hate it.

Those ponies though... Faust want's me to help them? Why should I? They were nothing but a bunch of assholes! Still, I promised that I would help. Doesn't mean I'll like it, though...

Tomorrow is another day. I hope it goes better then this one...