The Last Human

by Blackdragn18

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Alternate Universe, Human, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy
Length: 191446

Humans were once in Equestria but they were all murdered except one

There are some creatures that are forgotten or never known about, back when Equestria was just starting and the Princesses had just begun to rule there was another species unknown to them. The humans, they were an old race that had been around much longer than the ponies. However one day they were wiped out. Only one lives a young boy named Sean, the last human.

Published 2012-10-19 17:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2014-10-20 01:10:49 UTC

Chapter 1: The journey begins (Rewrite)

I was hiding in a closet near the kitchen when I heard a loud scream. That sounded like my dad! I ran out of the closet looking left and right for him. In the kitchen there was a streak of blood on our usually white counter. There was a trail of blood leading out of the kitchen and to the front door, which was smashed open. I walked to a window next to the door and looked out towards the town square. What I saw nearly made me scream. There, in the middle of the square was a pile of dead people, it was stacked with everyone I’d ever known. There was a pool of blood beneath it.

Then I noticed some weird chicken headed cats with wings walking around the pile, there were also some flying in the air. Then one walked outside of one of the stores around the square, he was carrying the owner, Mr. Greening. Mr. Greening was a rather thin man. He was struggling against the grip of the creature, but he wasn’t strong enough. The creature then grabbed his head and twisted it so hard the head came off. I nearly threw up.

“Is that the last of them?” one of the chicken heads asked, he looked like the leader. He was wearing gold armor that covered his head and most of his body.

“Should be, we have searched all of the buildings.” The one that just killed the shop keeper said nodding. The ones that were flying landed next to the rest of the group. I counted ten of them. They were all carrying swords or spears.

“Excellent, let’s head home then.” The leader said smiling.

I have to get out of here, I turned to run but ended up slipping on a puddle of blood and smashed into the wall. It’s ok, maybe they didn’t hear that. Of course to make it worse there was a shelf on that wall and a vase ended up falling and crashing to the ground.

“What was that?” one of them asked

“Go check it out.” Another ordered.

I heard the sound of footsteps climbing up the stairs that lead to our door. Then the door swung open and one of the creatures came in. I backed away towards the wall behind me hoping he wouldn’t see me. But when he looked to where I was hiding he did.

“Oh, looks like we missed one.” He walked over to me and grabbed me by my head.

“Please, let me go!” I struggled against his grip.

“Ooh, no can do kiddo.” He then smiled at me and headed out of the house still gripping my head. “Hey boss! I found one
we didn’t catch, guess he was hiding!”

The pack of chicken cats looked at me. Most of them smiled these really evil smiles. Then the armored one walked up to me.

“So kid, were you the one that made that sound? You should have stayed quiet, we might have missed you.” He started to laugh. The others laughed with him. He then looked at my captor. “Since you found him why don’t you reunite him with his worthless parents?”

“With pleasure sir.” The one holding my head then began to put pressure on my skull trying to crush it I’m guessing. I let out a scream of pain, then something weird happened. I felt this rush of aggression and this voice telling me to kill them all.
I took my legs and kicked the one crushing my head in the chest, I heard a few ribs crack. He screamed in pain and
dropped me. He staggered backwards and fell onto the ground gripping his chest I walked up to him and smashed his skull with my foot. The other ones looked at me in surprise. Then the one who had killed Mr. Greening growled.

“You’re gonna pay for that kid!” he drew his sword and charged at me. I side stepped and tripped him, he face planted into the concrete ground and slid into the fountain near my house. I then walked up to him and grabbed his head.

“Let’s see how you like it.” My voice sounded deeper. I grabbed his cheeks and pulled up. The chicken head screamed in pain until his head came off. I lifted the head then turned and threw it to the feet of the leader. He looked at the head in shock “I’m not like the others, I’m stronger!”

The feeling of aggression grew stronger and my vision clouded a little. I felt myself begin to shape shift I looked at my feet and saw them changing, my bare feet got covered by skin tight black socks that went up to half my shin they were missing the toes and heels, my black shorts changed into tighter ones with black fabric wrapped around them, my shirt changed it now only covered my chest and lacked sleeves and like the rest it was tight, then my hands were covered by fingerless gloves that went half way down my fore arms.

This outfit seems pretty impractical but whatever no time to think about that. Looking up at the griffins I noticed I was now a few feet taller than them, I was maybe about six foot three or so. I glared at the griffins. Again they looked at me in shock, finally the leader got himself together.

“Kill him!”

Two of his minions charged at me, I jumped over one and grabbed his tail. Then I took him and smashed him into his friend, I heard sickening cracks from both of them and there was a minor dent in the ground. Then I felt a pain in my shoulder blade. Looking over I saw a spear sticking out of it, one of those freaks had thrown it at me!

“Looks like you’re next.” I pulled the spear out of my back and tossed it at him, it went clean through his skull and stabbed into the pile of dead humans. There was a battle cry and one of them swooped down from the sky and lifted me into the air. Over all the buildings.

“Bye freak.” He smiled and then let go of me. I fell to the ground and smashed into it. Ow, that definitely broke my back. Yay for my regeneration! I got back up, the one who had dropped me had his back facing me.

“Look out!” One of the others warned him. But it was too late, I tackled him. Then I took my fist and smashed it through his skull.

The rest were pretty easy to kill one of them did manage to stab me through the stomach with his sword. I turned my hand into a sword and cut his head off. Now all that’s left is the leader, he had his sword drawn, I saw that his hands were shaking.
He cried out and charged at me, I grabbed him and kneed him in the chest, just like the other I heard some ribs break. He fell to the ground moaning in pain. I grabbed him by the throat lifting him up to look me in the eye.

“Tell me, what are you supposed to be?”

“Go die in a hole freak.” I growled and punched him in the stomach. He coughed a bunch of blood onto me.

“Let’s try that again.”

“We’re called griffins.” He said weakly.

“Interesting. Next, do you have a leader?”

“Yes.”

“Well tell him what happened here and that I’m coming for him.” Then I stabbed one of his eyes out as a bit of a mark. Then
he flew away.

Well, now that that’s taken care of I’m gonna go see what I look like. I walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, I was definitely taller, my hair had always been long but now it was more wispy with a hint of spiky. My eyes were purple still, I guess this is my adult body. Even though my new outfit was impractical and makes me look a bit like a girl I like it. Besides since I can regenerate any injury it really doesn’t matter. I could fight naked and still not worry about death.

Walking out of the bathroom I headed to the kitchen. There on the counter I saw my dad’s journal he was always writing in. Picking it up I tried to read it. It was a bit hard with the reading skills of a six year old. The page that was currently open was covered in blood. I flipped through it and began to read.

A science experiment! That’s all I was!? I’m just a weird test tube baby? I growled and threw the journal at the wall. Then a note fell out onto the ground. I picked it up and read it, just like the journal page it was covered in blood and hastily written.
Sean, go to my room and grab the book under my bed. You need to preserve our history.

I went to my parent’s room and went to their bed. Sure enough there was a book under it. Looking closer I realized it was a book on human culture and history. Guess that’s what he meant by preserve our history.

You know, this place is too depressing, I’m going to go on a journey, maybe some other humans have survived. But first I decided to hold a funeral for the people of this town. I took a moment of silence for them and then I turned into a dragon and burned the bodies. I watched as my parents and friends all burned into piles of ash.

Time to leave, I had grabbed a backpack from one of the stores. Putting the book of our history and my dad’s journal in it as well as some apples and candy I walked towards the gates out of the city. Before I left I turned to look one more time at the place I had called home for so long. All the rows of houses were destroyed, with smashed windows and doors, my house was the most intact it only had the destroyed door. Turning I set off on my new life.

It’s been three months since I left home. It’s getting pretty cold. I’m guessing it’s almost winter. I burned through my apples and candy after about a month. Luckily I somehow know how to hunt. According to my dad’s journal it’s likely because I have Lord Bolas’s DNA. I’ve managed to find a cave to live in, hopefully it will protect me during the winter.

It’s been one year since I left home. I came across a town of some sort, it’s inhabited by these weird colorful four legged creatures. They were probably about half my height. I was currently hiding in a bush near the town. Maybe they’d be willing to offer me some food and shelter. I stepped out of the bush and walked towards some of the. When they saw me they started to scream and run away. How rude. Then some white ones in gold armor showed up, they were marching towards me not looking too happy.

“Hi, my name is..” I didn’t get to finish that sentence as one kicked me in the leg and broke it. I screamed and fell over. They all crowded around me. Out of fear I turned my legs into blades and spun around slitting all their throats. I got up and ran away.

Today marks my eighth birthday. I have not gone near any of those colorful things again. The problem is, avoiding them is getting a lot harder because they keep expanding.

Plus I’m really hungry, their constant expansion is destroying a lot of the forests which is making hunting a lot harder. I’m having trouble even finding fruits.

I’m now 18. The past few years have been really hard, the colorful creatures are making it harder and harder to find food. To make things worse this winter is really harsh. Just a few days ago there was a massive blizzard, I was trying to find shelter. But it was so cold and I was so hungry that I fell over, I could feel my heart slowing down. Well looks like my powers have quit on me, I guess this is what dying is like.

Then that voice showed up again, it told me to turn into a dragon and make a fire if I wanted to live. I did like it said and I managed to just barely survive. Though now I’m terrified of winter.

So apparently those evil colorful things are called ponies. Today out of desperation I went into one of their towns. I turned into a pony, choosing the form of a yellow winged one with red hair and a red tail. When I asked for a room and food at the local inn I was asked for something called “bits” when the keeper found out I had none he kicked me out. Even as a pony I can’t get any good treatment.

That’s when I heard some ponies talking about some sort of witch, she was apparently plaguing the city. They had contacted someone called Princess Celestia for help but she had done nothing to help. I went up to them and told them I’d kill the witch for some “bits”.

They laughed in my face but agreed, they gave me her address and how to get there and I set off.

Chapter 3: War time

Well I’ve been here for a month and a half, things have fallen into a routine. I wake up around 7:30 when Celestia brings breakfast, then she goes who knows where, comes back at 2:00 for lunch, leaves and after that eventually comes back for dinner where we spend most of the night talking and hanging out.

She tells me about Equestria’s history, I in return tell her about the little I know of human history. To make it easier for me I just gave her the books I had taken from home. In other news she says the griffin war is still at a standstill which is annoying since I can’t leave till it’s over.

Anyway, it’s almost time for lunch. Good thing too, because I’m hungry.

Princess Celestia hummed slightly as she stacked Sean’s lunch on a plate. This past month and a half had been interesting. After all, it’s not every day a strange creature comes to your door claiming to have some of your DNA. She was also happy because her friendship with him had been strengthening, soon he would be getting his last ability back. Her idea on what to do with him when the war was over had become her overall plan. Hopefully he would agree.

After finishing with the food Celestia grasped the plate in her magic and left the kitchen. She passed two guards that waited in front of the staircase to her room. Ceasing the humming she calmly walked past the armored ponies.

“There she goes again.” The guard whispered as the princess headed to her chambers. “What’s going on with her?”

“What do you mean?” His partner looked to him.

“Haven’t you noticed that every day the princess eats her meal, then takes a plate of extra food to her room?”

“That is strange. Probably just a midnight snack or something.”

“Maybe.” The pony looked towards the stairs.

This is so boring. I was lying on my bed staring at the ceiling, Celestia had visited for a while as I ate lunch but then had to leave again. I had spent the last hour just lying there.

“It’s ok.” The guard whispered to himself as he neared the door to Celestia’s room. “She won’t even know.” The pony had decided to investigate the strange food behavior of the princess, after she left he had snuck up the stairs. Reaching a hoof out he began to open the door.

“You’re back earlier than usual.” I sat up as the door began to open. To my surprise a guard walked into the room. “Hey, you’re not Celestia.”

“What the?” The guard looked at me with wide eyes. “Monster!” He took a step back.

“That’s rude.” I stood up. “I have a name you know.” The guard tried to run out the door but I ran in front of him and closed it. “Sorry, but you’ve seen too much.” From this distance I was able to get a better look at him, I growled as I noticed a bruise on his cheek. “You!” This was the one who beat me outside the castle.

“Get away.” The pony then looked around before running to the corner and throwing a chair at me. The furniture just hit me in the face and broke.

“Ok, now you’re getting annoying.” Slowly walking to him I kicked him in the head. He fell to the ground groaning in pain, crying out as I kicked him in the ribs. Several nice cracks were heard.

Looking around the room I got an idea. Walking to my bed I grabbed the sheets and twisted them into a rope. Walking back to the guard after a quick kick to the face I tied his legs. Then spotting a rafter I quickly flung one end of the sheets over it before raising the half conscious guard into the air. A few knots later and he was dangling there completely helpless.

“There we go.” I smiled. “You really bring the room together.” Glaring at him my fist made contact with his face, his body swinging away as he was knocked out. “Much better.” I went back to my bed and sat down admiring my work.

After another few hours of sitting around the sound of the door opening came again. Sitting back up I was happy to see Celestia enter with food.

“Here’s dinner.” She gave me the plate. As I began to eat she spotted the dangling guard.

“Sean.” She turned, not looking too pleased. “Why is one of my guards unconscious and hanging from the ceiling?”

“Simple, he came in and saw me. After trying to attack me I knocked him out and turned him into an ornament.”

“If that’s all you did then why is his face bleeding?” She glared at me.

“I was just returning the favor. He’s the one who beat me that one day.”

“Ugh.” Celestia brought a hoof to her forehead. Turning back to the guard her horn glowed and he began to heal, then there was a flash and he was gone.

“Where’d you send him? The sun?”

“No?” She shook her head. “I wiped his memory and returned him to his post, he will think he just fell asleep.”

“Lame.”

Celestia sighed as she prepared for bed. The thought of how Sean would react to ponies besides herself had slipped her mind. The guard incident was proof that it may not be good. Maybe with a bit of integration and talking he’d be able to be safe with them.

Today is worse than usual. Celestia has some big war meeting today and told me she won’t be able to hang out until dinner. I don’t know how they can be having so much trouble with these chicken heads. They aren’t that tough.

I guess I’ll just take a nap.

Princess Celestia’s head bobbed as she listened to the general talk about the war. According to him it wasn’t going well. Most of their forces had been pushed back from the borders, and those who hadn’t were having trouble holding their own.

“Unfortunately if we want to win it will probably take a miracle.” The general shook his head. “The best we can hope for is to surrender and agree to their demands.” Then an idea occurred to Celestia.

“Thank you general, meeting adjourned.” The ponies in the room looked surprised as she headed out the door. Quickly moving to her room she smiled. This was perfect, she had the weapon they needed sitting right in her bedroom.

I was lying on the bed with my head dangling off the edge making popping sounds with my mouth, my talks with Celestia are the one thing I enjoy during the day. But of course this stupid war is ruining that. I’ve never been so bored in my life. Then the door swung open Celestia quickly entered and closed it.

“Celestia!” I raised my hands in the air. “How was the meeting?”

“Boring.”

“I can relate.” That got a smile from her. “So, what do you wanna do?”

“Actually you know how you’ve been wanting to go outside?”

“Yeah.”

“Well I found a way for you to do that and help me.”

This is going to be awesome! Celestia finally let me go outside, and it gets better. She sent me out so that I could kill griffins! Best day ever. Currently I was a bird flying to the border where the army I was helping supposedly was. I wanted to be a dragon but that’s too obvious according to her.

“Ah, here we go.” Almost directly below me there was a mass of griffins, they were pushing forwards while forcing their pony foes to retreat. “Show time.”

Stopping right above the battlefield I returned to my human form and began to free fall. Leaving a small crater as I slammed into the ground I stood up as my legs healed. I smiled as several griffins began to stand back up after my impact sent the flying. There were a few groans behind me so there was a chance ponies got caught in the shock wave but oh well. Looking over the griffin army it was gratifying to see them all looking at me in shock and confusing. Then my eyes fell on a certain griffin, he was glaring at me with his one eye.

“Hey it’s you!” I waved to him. All he gave in response was a cold stare. “How’ve you been?” Nothing.

“Who are you supposed to be?” Stepping forward one of the soldiers came up to look me over, the whole time glaring.

“Oh my, where are my manners?” I smiled. “I am known as ‘Aagh! My face!’” Before he could respond I slashed a large cut across his face.

“Aagh! My face!” He shouted, stepping back in pain.

“Exactly!” I laughed before decapitating him. The rest of the griffins looked at the body in surprise before raising their weapons and growling. “Oh this’ll be fun.”

“Hey, it’s just like old times.” I smiled as my foot forced the one eyed griffin to the ground. It had only taken about an hour for me to destroy the entire group of filth. The area was littered with blood and corpses. In many places grass was either not visible or stained red. “So, done anything interesting lately?” I looked down to the pirate griffin.

“Get off me.” He said, attempting to remove my foot from his chest.

“I’m just trying to be nice.” I looked at him, hurt in my eyes. “The least you could do is try to return the favor. After all, I did spare you.”

“After removing an eye!” He growled before tearing at my shin with his talons.

“Hey!” I glared as my blood began to fall on his face. “That’s just rude.” In response he bit my foot. “OK, I’m done with you.” Freeing my leg I took it and proceeded to crush his skull. “There we go.”

“Did you see how awesome I was?” I smiled as Celestia entered the room.

“Yes, I watched the entire battle.” She nodded, not quite sharing my joy.

“You ok? I thought you’d be glad I saved your ponies and won.”

“I am, but we need to discuss your methods.”

“What do you mean?”

“Primarily the sadistic and gruesome way you fought the battle.” She looked concerned. “You seemed to be taking a disturbing amount of joy in the killing.”

“Well of course I enjoy killing them. They’re responsible for the destruction of my home and race.”

“Fair enough. Just try to tone it down and show a little restraint. It won’t help your image when I release you if everypony thinks you’re a psychopath.”

“Fine.”

Celestia sat in her study thinking. After watching Sean work her past concerns began to return. The way he killed the griffins, the whole time smiling while he dismembered one after the other. This showed her just how dangerous he could be if he were to turn on Equestria.

Sighing Celestia decided to do two things. First she was going to put a stronger spell on Sean for her fail-safe. Second the princess was going to offer him a home in the palace. While a good portion of the offer came from her enjoyment of his company it also would allow her to keep an eye on him.

This war is getting really boring, I’ve spent the last two weeks saving ponies from certain doom at the talons of filth. I’m thinking Celestia’s logic was that if she let me out to fight for a few hours a day, that it would hold me over till the end of the war. Sadly it was having the opposite effect, every time I was able to get a breath of fresh air I became more and more reluctant to go back inside.

“Screw it.” I jumped up and walked to the window. “I’m ending this stupid war today.” I then turned into a bird and flew out the window.

I question if the griffin king runs his designs through an architect before he begins construction, I’m guessing no based on how ugly and depressing the capital is. Everything is very blocky in appearance, the homes are like they took a block, dropped it on the ground, and carved little rectangles for the doors and windows. The castle isn’t much better, the thing is essentially a bunch of rectangles and squares just shoved together. Plus everything is made out of really dark bricks. It’s actually all pretty depressing, the massive wall around the city doesn’t help the feel much either.

Anyway, getting to the king would be annoying if I went the direct route, I’d have to kill a bunch of guards and force my way in. That’s a lot of work and sounds boring, so I decided to go a different way. Sneaking into the castle I searched until I found the kings office. After “replacing” one of the guards I stood watch and waited.

“This is not good.” The griffin king growled as he entered his office. “Ever since they started getting assistance from that creature we’ve lost every battle.

“Sir, might I offer a suggestion?” One of his guards said.

“What!?” The king glared at him. “Oh do tell, I’d love to hear the opinion of a mindless drone like yourself.” The guard’s eye twitched.

“I suggest we surrender to the ponies.”

“Never!” The king got in the guards face. “I didn’t realize I was in the company of such a coward.”

“Watch yourself kingy.” The guard growled.

“Or what?” The king asked before being backhanded by his guard. “How dare you!”

“Oh shut up.” The griffin began to transform, after a second the monster that had been saving ponies stood over him. “Are you prepared to surrender?”

“You can’t scare me.”

“I’m not here to scare, I’m just the delivery service.”

“What?” Then a foot smashed into his face knocking him out.

Chapter 4: Who wants a treaty?

OK there have been lot's of complaints about him being overpowered, so this should be the last one where he seems that way.

Jeez griffins are heavy. I dragged the griffin king up to Celestia’s room. Luckily I went unseen. Then I sat around for an hour before the griffin woke up.
“Ugh where? Where am I?” he started to look around then he saw me and started to scream so I stuffed a pillow in his mouth.
“Now listen here filthy griffin you are in the bedroom of Princess Celestia, you know the leader of the side beating you.”
He looked at me and growled. We sat around for a while till I heard the door open and Celestia walked in.
“Hey sup Celestia, look what I brought you.”
She took a look at the griffin then at me and she growled which was a weird noise coming from her.
“Sean please stay here.”
She then took the griffin and headed to her study with him.

Well after 3 hour of those two in the study they came out and had made a treaty. So yeah things are over. I guess having leaders talking works.

Yes! It has been two weeks since the war ended and I am finally set free from this dull little room. I think Celestia is happy about me getting my own room in the palace since I have broken a lamp, end table, mirror, dresser, and her bed.
Granted the way she did it was really lame. It was a press conference and she was all like and here is that thing that helped
us win his name is Sean and he is living here with me now. Lame!

Anyway it has been two weeks since that and I am still bored. I am currently painting all the guards’ armor pink there is also a spell on the armor that makes all the guards be white in color. This is to keep their identity secret and it is made by Celestia herself, the logic is no one else is stronger than her in magic. Sadly for them I am able to manipulate her magic since I share her DNA. I have rigged the spell so they will also turn pink.

Well the morning guards have come and are now walking out looking very pretty in pink. It was so funny. Suddenly I was teleported, teleportation feels horrible I mean you are like deconstructed the rebuilt in the new place ugh. When I reappeared I was in the throne room looking Celestia in the eye.

“Hey Celestia what’s up?”
“I think we need to get you a hobby.”
“Why?”
“Because you are always either asleep, messing with the guards, or messing with me.”
“So?”
“I want you to go help the guards with their training. Help the guard captain with it that should keep you busy.”

Geez the way the guards are work is soo boring. Seriously they walk around in synch then the captain who is a unicorn in some fancy armor, really it has a bigger helmet and shoulder plates and it is light pink instead of normal pink. I think someone is compensating and the pink fur is not helping. Anyway yeah he yells they walk around more and then they spar.
I began to walk up to the herd and walked right up to the captain.

“Sup captain?”
He looked startled for a moment at my sudden appearance since he was in the middle of some speech I was not listening to. However the surprise soon turned into a glare.

“What are you doing here?”
“Aw not happy to see me? Anyway I am here because Celestia told me to. So what are you doing?”
“OK a few things. First of all no, I am not happy to see you, second it is bad enough the Princess is letting you live with her but you do not have the decency to call her by her title. Third if you must know we are doing some training to prepare against any creature with hands such as Griffins and Minotaur’s.”
“Oh cool well I have hands why not try it on me?”
“Fine.”

He uses his magic and lifts a spear. OK apparently this fight strategy is to jab at them and miss a lot because that is what he is doing. He also likes to yell while doing it I mean come on my eardrums seriously. Anyway the comedic element of this fight is getting dull after 45 seconds.

So I grabbed his little spear. To keep it fair I did not just drain the magic and hit him with it. Instead I gave a small tug which pulled him in, I then lifted my knee and yanked him in using the spear, and the blow instantly broke his nose and knocked him out. His nose began to bleed; you know it kind of looked like cotton candy with red syrup coming out of it.
I spent the rest of the day explaining to the guards what was wrong with their technique and then having them fight using my new methods I taught them. Maybe I should have helped the captain. Anyway after about two hours of that I headed back to the palace for dinner.

I walked into the dining room where Celestia was already. She looked up.
“Hello Sean.”
“Hey.” I sat down and waited for the food. Over the dinner she talked to me about her day you know boring politics and stuff. Then she brought up how she saw me with the guards. We talked about it then she said something I did not expect.
“Sean how would you like to help supervise the guards?”
“Huh?”
“Well I was thinking that you helped in the war and you easily bested the captain you could help probably.”
“Sounds like a lot of work.”
“Please.”
“Fine.”

Chapter 7: I hate picnics!

Stupid blazing ball of death. Seriously the sun is way too bright and hot, of course I can’t say anything with miss sun goddess sitting next to me. What is the point of this “picnic” thing? Seriously what is so great about sitting outside on a blanket in the blazing sun eating food from a basket?
Celestia was all like “Come on it will be fun. Fresh air and the beauty of nature. Plus it is a good way to get you out of the city.”

What is so fun about this? I mean all I am doing is dying from the heat, and eating a sandwich, oooh fun. The only even remotely fun thing is that I get to hang out with my friend without those guard ponies here. Seriously you can’t even touch her without them getting all angry and defensive. I mean lighten up guys.
Well that sandwich was ok I guess. Anyway Celestia just finished her daisy sandwich, yuck. Anyway so we sat there for a while and then she started to talk.

“Sean.”

“Yeah?”

“Did you go to school back when your species was still alive?”

“Yeah I was in school till I was 6, why?”

“Ok I was thinking you need to get back to school.”

“Why?”

“Because I was noticing that you were having trouble with some with math and reading a couple days ago, plus I have a job you could have if you had a better education.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a surprise but I think you would enjoy it.”

“Cool.”

“However you need a better education for it.”

“Ugh fine.”

Great, time for school. This makes no sense; I am now heading to Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns. This still makes no sense. According to her it is called that because most of it is magic oriented and mostly had unicorns. But apparently it still teaches math and other things. I am being forced to take math, science, english, and politics. Luckily I get to skip history, because of the exchanges of history between us I know more than the school teaches.

The downside is I need to go to school for at least 5 years. That may not seem too bad but it will be a lot of fast paced classes.

My first day and I got into a fight. It was fun; this one unicorn that was 11 I think started mocking me for being a freak and not even being magical. Anyway I ignored him. And he got really mad at me and hit me with a spell that broke my arm. Now when I said fight I meant he broke my arm it healed, I ran up and grabbed his head. I then began to drain his magic from his body. By the end I felt great and he was unconscious and looking rather ill. Then came principles and cops and all that.

To make a long story short I was expelled and Celestia is my new teacher and that unicorn will not be able to use magic for at least two weeks.

So Celestia was not happy about me getting expelled. She especially did not like me hospitalizing one of her ponies. Anyway she is a much better teacher than any of my pony ones. Part of it is her voice is not all flat and boring like some of the others. Granted school still sucks especially since I have to get up at 4 am and it is over at 11 because that is the only time she is free other than the afternoon.

I can see why I have heard children complaining about school. It is really boring even with Celestia it is boring, I mean when will I need to use science? This country revolves around magic. Ugh. And of course she’s all like Sean you need to actually try or that job I offered is off the table. That is mean because I like the idea of having a new job working with guards gets old fast.

Well it is my “Birthday” I say it like that because I forgot when my birthday was about 6 years ago, since then I have been just guessing. So Celestia decided to change it to the day that I came to Equestria since I don’t care. This marks my 20th birthday, so what has happened today is that I got out of school so that is cool. Celestia says that we are going out for lunch.
Well lunch was OK. Honestly that picnic was better, the problem is that all the waiters and stuff tip-toe around Celestia and try to cater to everything she wants which resulted in me getting ignored quite a bit.
The last part of this day was we just sat around and talked for a while. One thing is bugging me now. She kept talking about Luna who in Bolas’ name is Luna?

Chapter 8: Archives, Hydras, and Fliers, oh my!

Oh Bolas why? So I came to the Royal Canterlot archives to find out about this whole Luna thing. The problem is that these archives are HUGE! Anyway, based on what I know of Celestia she is about 1,189 years old. The one good thing about these archives is they are organized by year.

Wow this book told me all about Celestia’s life up to her 1000th birthday. Ok here is what I learned, apparently Celestia used to only play with the sun and she had a younger sister who played with the moon. Apparently she and her sister took over leadership of the ponies to get them to work together. Then what happened after they ruled for a while the ponies started to neglect Luna and her work and she got all angry and jealous. So then she went crazy and became Nightmare Moon which was a lame name, seriously who thought of that? Anyway, then Celestia used these hippy elements or something that overpowered Crybaby Moon and put her in the moon. Those are some scary rocks. Anyway, she is coming back in 890 something years.

Well I talked to Celestia about Luna that is when I realized ponies are stupid. Seriously they assume that the story is a myth. I mean come on, it has a princess who could move the sun and by the end looks like Celestia does currently and ended up moving the sun and moon. She was happy because she wanted me to know so she had someone to talk to. I don’t know why she didn’t just tell me but whatever.

Yes! I finally graduated, turns out that job was as a royal adviser.
Apparently I will attend meetings with her, help with decisions, help with the guards and military, go to royal events, and overall have lots of power in the government, and due to my military strength and over all power I am the final test for royal guards. Basically I will fight them and then decide if they were good enough to be guards.

Ugh bored. This year is my first year assessing guards, however before any of the fun we have to have the captain introduce each one and then give some speech about the history of the guards and all that.

Oh good I can start now.

Well that was rather uneventful. Most of those candidates were not all that tough. Of course I rated the ones that were the best highly and those get to become guards.

I finally get to see my first hydra! I have always wanted to see one in real life. I just hope they are not as disappointing like the ones I have seen in the Canterlot Archives. Those things are so stupid. I mean they are tall and thin; they are orange and walk like me.

Anyway, the reason I am gonna see one today is because there is a hydra attacking some town called Manehattan, this is supposed to be the nicest town just after Canterlot. So I am in my dragon form flying there. Interesting thing about my dragon form is that it is Lord Bolas’ form. However, my body is his younger form.
The differences are that my horns are not curved or very long, they are shorter and lightning bolt shaped, I also don’t have armor and I am smaller, I also lack his touch, acid breath, or frost breath. I am thinking that I will gain his look and powers as I go on in life.

There it is Manehattan. Wow that is one big creature, definitely a Hydra. It is green with a lighter green belly, it has six heads and luckily it is not the pony style hydra. It is rather snake and dragon-like, its legs are close to the front and it seems to sort of slither and walk at the same time when it moves, it has thin spikes along his back and three on each head. Each spike also has thin skin between each one; the last detail was its yellow eyes that seemed to glow. It was in a pretty cool pose too. You see this town is a lot of tall buildings and very populated which makes it rather crammed . So the hydra has its claws dug into one of the buildings and is just roaring a lot. It looks really awesome!

It is now time to fight him. I landed right behind it and roared. Luckily because of the mistakes of Ryusei and Kokusho I knew not to cut off any of the heads. I can see why it is tempting to cut these heads off, I mean these are really annoying it is really hard to hold off six heads when you only have four limbs. I managed to get one head under my foot. I then put all my
weight on it which cracked the skull and killed the head.

Sadly while I was focused on one head another got me on the arm. Fun fact, my regeneration is slower the larger my body is. I guess this is due to the fact there is more surface to heal or something. But it is pretty inconvenient right now!

I was able to get back at the head though because when it pulled back it left its blood dripping mouth open, so I shot one of the hottest and fastest fireballs I could manage. It went right into the mouth and exploded, all the skin on the head completely blew off and the head died. Though we have a problem, the bite is taking so long to heal I am losing a decent amount of blood. Gotta get this done.

I wrapped my tail around the neck of another and tightened to snap the neck. Ok these last two heads are putting up quite a fight one just bit my leg and another got the side of my neck. New plan, I took my tail and swept one of the legs. This made the thing fall and as it was trying to get up I broke one of the legs. I then walked up and one of the heads lunged at me, I tried a fire ball and instead I froze the head. That was pretty great! The last head I just snapped the neck.
By the end I was on the verge of passing out so I shrank to my human form and let the healing speed up.

So after the fight the ponies of Manehattan threw me a thank you party. Granted they did not like all the hydra and dragon blood in the roads and on the buildings and the hydra crushed a building, I think it adds character to the city. Afterwards while I was heading to the edge of town, I saw it, it was a green egg near the hydra body. I walked up and grabbed it, and then I looked at the hydra and realized they were the same color.
This must be the hydra’s egg. COOL MINE! That is one thing my dragon DNA does, I like to hoard things. So I grabbed the egg and headed home.

Wow that egg must have been close to hatching when I found it because after one week it hatched. I was surprised this little guy was as big as my hand and only had one head. Anyway appearance wise the little guy looked just like the other one without the spines or heads. Well when I showed him to Celestia she was not too happy she said it would be too dangerous when he got bigger and grew more heads. After a long debate she said I could keep him as long as I kept him in check. I am gonna call him Progenitus that was the name of the first hydra in human mythology. Also he was a friend of Lord Bolas

Well I get to finally go to this thing called the Grant Galloping Gala. I have no clue what a gala is but it sounds weird and weird sounding things are always fun, so whatever.

Wow this is boring all it is, is a bunch of rich snooty pony nobles who come up to greet Celestia then go to the ball room for some orchestra and other sort of fancy old boring stuff.

So it has been 8 years since I moved in with Celestia and there has been nothing interesting. The only eventful is that Progenitus grew another head now. He has also grown thin spikes along his body and he has three on each head and is
now as tall as me.

Though I did just meet this cool group of pegasi. They are some sort of flying team, they call themselves the Wonderbolts. Anyway I was walking through town when I saw them in their weird suits. They were blue and skintight with lightning bolts sewn in but they were really poorly done seriously I could do a better job and I broke the sewing wheel the one time I tried it, then it fell on my foot, then it out of nowhere just caught fire! And that is why Celestia says I am not allowed to sew anymore.

So anyway I saw them so I went up and spoke to them. They must have recognized me because they were instantly worshiping me. It was great! So I watched them do their little routine it was pretty good. So I offered to get them to perform for Celestia. They of course accepted my offer.
At dinner I told her all about them and she agreed to see them tomorrow.

Well I headed to their little clubhouse and told them I got it all set up. They were so thankful they said that if they became famous I was invited to every show and I would be treated well. I like these guys they are fun to hang around and they are pretty interesting. Plus I always liked the pegasi the best of the inferior races. Because unicorns I can just drain the magic from and they are no fun to fight anyway too serious. Earth Ponies are even easier because they lack any impressive skills. Pegasi fly around and can be hard to hit they are also decently fast.

Well they came to the palace and performed for Celestia. She must have liked because as soon as it ended she offered them the chance to perform at a royal event. It they did well they would be invited to perform at more. They accepted and due to this they got a lot more money. They told me they were gonna get an actual headquarters and better uniforms.

Chapter 9: Migrations

Wow having a hydra is a lot of fun. He and I have really bonded and we play games and do all that other human pet stuff. However today marks his 8th birthday. He has grown a third head and is now taller than me.

Well one thing about him was confusing me. The original middle head acted like any head you know personality and all that. However the other two don’t seem to. When I was reading about hydras in the Canterlot Archives it said each head is supposed to be a personality. Anyway I decided to scan him with some x-rays and sure enough the other two heads are more like limbs rather than heads. Anyway I am currently trying to think of a way to shrink Progenitus so he can stay in the
palace.

Wait I got it! I will mix my DNA with his if it works how I plan he should be able to shrink to the size of a cat or to his full adult size at will from my changeling DNA, have an increased healing factor from Bolas, and the ability to spit acid. Who would have thought that those science classes would be useful?

Well the DNA thing worked he was able to shrink to the size of a cat and able to grow back to his adult size which is as tall as my dragon form and looks completely like the hydra I killed. I also read that once they reach his age they have their maximum natural head count so it seems he will have three heads forever unless he losses a head through decapitation. I am glad he can shrink to his younger form because it means he fits on my bed again so we can sleep together like we did before he became as big as me.

What a pain Celestia just got a baby Phoenix. Progenitus does not seem to like this Philomena. Oh well.

Ugh I am feeling weird lately. I keep involuntarily transforming parts of my body into my dragon form. For example one day my hand turned into my dragon hand. Another time my eyes turned green and my teeth lengthened. Yesterday I grew my wings and horns.
I have been careful to keep it from Celestia. It is mostly to keep her from worrying.
Anyway I bring it up because today it has been happening a lot and has been getting worse. Just an hour ago I turned full dragon but human sized. Ok great now I am getting dizzy great!

I hate this, the transforming thing is still going on, but now I am stuck in the archives trying to figure this out. Ok I think I got something there is something called, The Great Dragon Migration. Apparently the way it works is every 100 years mature dragons feel the need to go on this four day flight to a strange place where dragons for some unknown reason go for two weeks and then go their separate ways. That explains it! I have been around for 98 years which lines up perfectly to be 100 years since the last one plus my dragon form physically is that of a young adult so my dragon DNA must be matured enough to feel the urge to go.

Well I decided to follow the migration so I waited till the storm of dragons passed by the city then I turned into my dragon form and joined in the flight.
Well that was an uneventful flight. Anyway I am here now and it is like a dormant volcano which is pretty cool. Anyway when I got there I ran into some dragons my age that then began to question why they had never seen me before. Apparently whelps are usually brought by their mothers so an adult that has never been seen before is very suspicious. So they challenged me to a fight. It resulted into one of those stereotypical school fights where all the other dragons began to crowd
around until the fight began. I had to fight about three of them at the same time.

I took down the first one by breathing fire on him and while he was mocking me talking about how dragons are fire proof I slugged him which knocked him out, it would seem that even my dragon form is stronger than the ordinary dragon, cool.
The next one I grabbed and threw in the air then when he tried to fly to keep himself from hitting the ground I froze his wings
so he just fell into the ground and was knocked out.

Then the last one I just wrapped my tail around his throat and tightened it till he lost consciousness from the lack of air.
It rocks I am now considered the strongest around I am feared and respected at the same time, it is great.

So the rest of the week was pretty mellow we mostly sat around and stuff. Of course to get home I had to tell them my home was the other way so no one saw me fly towards a pony town, then I just turned into a bird and back tracked to get home.
When I got home Celestia was pretty mad. In hindsight I probably should have left a note or something, oh well. So I explained everything to her and then told her all the details of the migration. She then decided she would archive this
information for future use.

YES FINALLY! Something new is happening! The filthy griffins are causing trouble and have declared another war, awesome. So anyway this time since I am free I get to be up close and personal with them and due to Progenitus being full grown now he gets to come too.

Our first battle was a success. Progenitus and I found a griffin camp with lots of griffins in it. Now to test my little hydra I sent him in full size to wipe out the camp. He did an amazing job, he crushed them and that acid saliva helped. None of the griffins lived.
What I do for sleep and food is I find the nearest pony camp at the time and that is where we stay for the night and sometimes help that pony team, but usually we just set off after breakfast.

Chapter 10: Monkeys + Griffins = Art

Filthy griffins! As much as I hate to admit it they actually did something smart. I flew to the capital city and I tried to break in in my dragon form but there is a barrier, and I know it is not made of magic because I could not drain it. Even using a griffin form did not work because the ones who can get back in have some sort of special thing in their armor that lets them know they are really who they say they are.
Looks like I am going to have to win this war the old fashioned way, with lots and lots of KILLING!
Luckily I caught a team of four griffins, time to head home and interrogate them.

Luckily this Palace has a place that I could drag the griffins to for my interrogations. They were really annoying. The first one refused to talk to me, the second one refused to look at me, and the third one whenever I talked plugged his hears. The fourth one was obviously the new guy because he just looked scared but he would not talk still which I guess deserves
a bit of props.

Well after three hours of this I decided to use some fear tactics on the new guy. Plus I was sick of those other three so you know two birds.

You ever heard of the whole hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil you know with the monkeys? Well I decided to recreate that with the three annoying griffins I mean I was planning to kill them anyway may as well be artistic. I got Progenitus, first we grabbed the no talker. What we did was I had Progentius hold his limbs with his heads then I got some acidic glue made of his acid. We poured some on his hands then on his beak, then we took the hands and we glued them to his beak. He was really loud I mean why do you have to scream so loud? Then the last part to this was to stake him to the wall. Awesome looks just like the monkey.

Next was the guy who would not look at me. We repeated the process except with eyes instead of beak, and then the last one was the ear plugger. Same steps except hands and ears were the glued parts. When it was all done we had three lovely wall ornaments.

Then all it took was the glue bottle in my hand and a few steps to get the last one to talk. It turns out that barrier of theirs is charged by a bunch of griffins running on a wheel creating electricity. Then he told me that if I took a griffins armor and put it on I could get in. I think he found a problem in the answer because I looked at his armor. Then before we knew it his head was off. Then I entered a griffin form that looked just like him and put on his armor.

I can’t believe that worked. I am in the city I also have an army of ponies hidden outside of the city, this is the plan I am going to kill all the griffins running on the wheel when the field drops the army comes in and I go find the new king.
Let’s just say that wheel griffins are so weak and pitiful, it was easy to kill them all. Then the army came and there was a lot
of blood.

This king was easy to find, he was just sitting in his office. I broke in and grabbed him.

“Now listen send a treaty to Celestia or I cut your wings off.” this guy is weird he is laughing at me. then he began to talk.

“I am guessing you think you won. Well we have a trick up our sleeve this time, look outside.”

I dropped him and went to the window in his office. There were a bunch of dead ponies all over the place. It made no sense then I saw what had caused it there were Minotaur’s. They had killed my entire army! I turned back around.

“I AM GOING TO KILL YOU PAINFULLY!” I then ran at him. But before I got to him and huge sword slammed into the ground in front of me. I looked to my right and there was a huge Minotaur standing there he was bigger than me! He had huge gold armor, there was no open parts of the armor everything was covered.

I leapt back. “I see you got a new body guard, looking good.” Then I turned my hand into a sword and leapt at it. I swung and hit it on the neck. My arm just bounced off and my forearm actually shattered. While my arm was healing he swung and cut me in half.

I fell on the ground as my lower half began to disintegrate and my legs and all that grew back. Before I knew it he had cut my head open. I began to heal and rolled out of the way before he hit me again. Jumped back up and shot a blast of fire at it. The Minotaur just walked through the fire and swung at me again. I dodged and shot ice at it. The ice froze the Minotaur in place be it just shattered the ice with its strength that caught me off guard and suddenly I was punched into a wall and there was a red streak as I slid down it.

The problem is I can’t even turn into my dragon form because the room is too small. I ran up and punched it in the chest, this left a dent in the armor but then it just swung and cut my legs off.

After 23 more tries of hurting it and me dyeing each time my regeneration seems to be slowing down. It just cut my arm off and it is not growing back. It then cut off my legs and hit me into the wall. I looked up and saw it looming over me. I wasn’t healing anymore and was fading out of consciousness. I blacked out just as I saw it raise its sword.

The griffin king laughed, finally after these many years of his race fearing this human it was going to die. It was brilliant to enlist the help of the Minotaur’s. He watched as the human lay against the wall without its legs and was about to die.

Chapter 11: Hydra Fight!!

Princess Celestia sat and gasped. She often used a spell that allowed her to watch anyone of her choice. She had been tracking Sean and watched the distressing battle. Just as the Minotaur was about to kill him she managed to teleport him out. He appeared in front of her.

The king was shocked; the human had just vanished right before the sword could kill him.

Princess Celestia looked at Sean, he was unconscious, his legs and right arm were gone and he was barely breathing.
“How can I help him?” then she remembered, whenever he absorbed magic he seemed to feel more energetic. She walked up and touched her horn to him. Then he started to glow and his limbs were growing back. After about 3 minutes she felt very tired but Sean looked completely fine. She sat down and waited. After another 4 minutes Sean began to wake up.

I opened my eyes and looked around. I was alive and in the palace from what I could see. I looked to my right and saw Celestia.
“Celestia? What happened?”
Just as I thought she had teleported me here before I died and had healed me. There is some nasty news though; all the ponies in my army had been killed.

Excellent! The griffin king and his Minotaur’s are all coming here to invade Canterlot. I love this because this time it will be outside and I can go all out. When they got outside the city I walked outside the front gate doors and went right in front of the army.

The king smirked, “Didn’t I already beat you?” then his gold Minotaur walked up to his side.

I began to laugh, “Yes but this time we will have more fun.”

I went full dragon and merely stepped on that Minotaur, then I had all the ponies come out and it became a battle.
We won the battle but with a lot of casualties. It sucks but this time we had to win by killing the king, but hey we won!
The country got over the war pretty quick and everything is back to normal.

Yes! It’s here! Since I became Celestia’s advisor when she has this annoying thing she does where she listens to the complaints of her ponies and helps them with the problems they have, jeez.

Anyway she has her throne but I had no chair. Well after over 100 years of standing next to her I finally convinced her to let me buy my own throne. So mine is gold and red and has bolas’ horns on the top. I must say it is really comfy the only times I have ever gotten to sit in a throne is when Celestia needs to take a break and sneaks out and has me take her form and be her for a day or two.

So now I feel important. You know Celestia has said I am basically her equal but now I look the part.
I have also decided to get myself two guards and my own chariot. I do not really need guards they would be more like my personal warriors. Anyway Celestia let me pick two pegasi from the new group. I got them new armor and everything.

This new armor is way better than the normal guard armor. First off it covers their wings and have blades on the tips and makes them look like dragon wings, the rest looks like the normal guard armor except on the chest there is an imprint that looks like Bolas’ horns. That is not the cool part though; this armor is enchanted to make them easily better than the normal guards except for spikes on their backs and necks. It makes them stronger, faster, and when they want the armor changes. It covers their entire bodies even the tail. The armor on their hooves grow claws on the ends, the tail gets covered and becomes very dragon-like, then the legs get totally covered, the spikes get longer and they grow three smaller ones one the face, and finally the face gets totally covered and the eyes turn black with glowing red iris’s.

Then the chariot of mine is like the classic kind except the back is not open, and then there are lots of chairs going full circle then at the head is Bolas’ horns again

Though apparently my first pair of guards for a lot of grief before they knew of their new position
What happened was the other guards thought that they had failed the test and were made fun of then when they found out they were now directly under me, the one credited with winning both the griffin wars and the personal friend and advisor of Princess Celestia all the other guards were jealous and especially when they saw the armor and the special training they got.

Ever since then I keep a pair till their either quit, retire, or die

So it has been 400 years since I met Celestia and I think my dragon form is at full maturity. I say this because I recently learned I can breathe acid and now my horns are curved and have the gem floating between them, I also last time I transformed found I had the armor Bolas had.

Ok so this is my 8th dragon migration and now that I have all of my powers it will be a lot of fun.
So after my 4th one they gave me my own personal spot in the volcano which is great, anyway every century there seems to be a young dragon who wants to try and over throw me as the strongest dragon. However, this one was especially pesky. This guy was convinced he was the strongest because of the fact that he is young and I am over 800 years old he kept saying I am ancient and past my prime so this is how this fight went.

He tried to cut me with his claws repeatedly I just dodged taunting as I went saying things like.
“What’s wrong I thought that the young were supposed to have better reflexes than the old?”
Then after I got bored I decided to finish this fight so I just melted the ground under him then when he fell I froze the ground so he was stuck then I kicked him to knock him out. when I was done I dragged him out.

Well a new situation has developed. Another hydra is causing trouble. This time I decided to let Progenitus fight to see how he does. This one was the pony style, you know tall thin orange with a short tail and walks like a human? Man was it ugly. Anyway so we landed and Progenitus jumped off my shoulder he then grew to full size. That is when the hydra saw him. They then began to fight. I had trained Progenitus for any sort of fight I had trained him for both dragons and hydras especially. All I know is from what I have seen I wouldn’t want to fight him.

First the far left head bit the others far right head, then Progenitus ripped the head right off, then before the new heads could grow Progenitus spat a shot of acid onto the opening sealing it shut. Then he ripped off the far left head then he welded that one shut too. The last step was he swept its feet with his tail and then while it was on the ground he stepped on its stomach and then looked the hydra in the eyes as the left and right heads began to drool acid on the hydras body. Then he ripped the hydras throat open and killed it. He then shrank and ran up to me jumped on my shoulder and we headed off.

Chapter 12: New Ponies!

HAHAHA! This is so much fun! So there are these little creatures called Parasprites, apparently if you feed them they multiply. So somebody must have brought one home or something because there are hundreds. Anyway the numbers have become too high for the guards or Celestia to round up and catch. That is when they sent me in.

That basically means that I get to deal with this however I want, so first I had the city evacuated. Then we went to work. I am just running around burning all of the ones seen, and then if I hit a building I freeze the building. But it is fun jumping around and just set these things on fire. I noticed Celestia was pretty angry at these things. Maybe they ate her cake, Celestia loves her cake, and I think she has a problem but you know I can’t just be like “Celestia you have an addiction to cake so no more cake for you!”

OK back to the burning, OK I think I am done actually. I have flown around every corner of this town. But to be sure I have a made a giant cake. I put Progenitus in it so that when they come to eat he can help me kill them.
I then turned into a parasprite and let out a call that would attract any parasprites in the city. And sure enough about 20 showed up. Then before they could take one bite of the cake, Progenitus came out and ate all of them in three quick bites.
After this Celestia made it a law that parasprites are now illegal in the city, and if that law is broken by anyone they get to deal with me.

Hey it is Celestia’s 1000th birthday, yeah! I am only making big deal out of this one because it leaves about 100 years till Luna gets out. Anyway this seems to be making Celestia a bit depressed. So I thought of the best solution. A GIANT CAKE! Surprisingly it worked. Seriously obsession, I do not get how someone who eats so much cake can keep their figure but whatever.

How annoying, some noble died. I really don’t care about him but the annoying thing is he had a son. His name is Blueblood, and Celestia decided to be all gross and nice which resulted in her taking him in. I hate him; he is 6 and is the most spoiled little punk ever. I really want to ring his neck and see if his blood really is blue! Of course he thinks that he is royalty now, idiot.

Ugh I hate when this happens. Celestia left me to be her stand in for the day, which basically means I look like her and deal with her subjects complaints, it sucks. So she is gone because she wanted to go to her little school, for some stupid reason. Anyway after I was done I decided to just take a nap, so yeah.

“Sean. Sean. Wake up.”

What? I opened my eyes to see Celestia standing over me “Oh hey Celestia.” I got up I was still in Celestia’s form.

“Sean, why are you still me?”

“Oh, I was tired so I just fell asleep. Plus, you are a lot of fun to be. I mean people just bow to you and you can threaten to drop the sun on people.”

“You didn’t do that again did you?”

“No. Not after the last time.”

“Good”

“It was not that bad Celestia. The only thing that happened was two nobles left and you lost a lot of money from them.”

“Whatever just turn into yourself.”

I did and that is when I noticed something at my feet. I looked down and there was some weird purple thing there. I knelt down and it pushed itself to the ground. Upon further inspection I realized it was a young girl pony. She was purple with a darker purple mane and tail and some weird pink stripe going through both her tail and mane. Her tattoo thing was a star with lots of little stars around it. She reached to about my knee.

“Sean this is Twilight Sparkle, she is my new personal student. Twilight you have heard of Sean.”

Then she spoke “Y yes.”

This confused me what was with the stutter. “What?”

“I am guessing that what she has heard of you comes from the books about you.”

“I have books about me? Awesome!”

“Yes well those books make you out to be a vicious cruel killer possibly the worst in history and you have a vicious beast as your pet that can wipe out cities.”

“Awesome I sound so cool!”

“That may be true but that is what is making her afraid of you.”

“Oh” I looked back at what’s her face “well that is not how I am unless you’re a griffin. Are you a griffin?”

“No.”

“Ok you get to live and I will not have to sick my vicious monster on you.”

I stood back up and looked at Celestia. “Ok so this is your new student? What is this arrangement then?”

“Well, she will be learning from me similar to you but she will be learning about magic.”

“Is she living here or at home?”

“That is up to her.”

We both looked at her. She again pressed herself to the ground. Weirdo. “I’ll be over there.” I walked over to my throne and sat down. The kid stood up and looked at Celestia

“Well Princess I think it would be pretty nice to live here if that is ok.”

“Of course Twilight.”

“Can I just stay home for one last night and pack my things?”

“Of course.”Dusk or whatever ran out I’m guessing she was going home. I didn’t see anything so special about her.

“So Celestia, what’s so special about her?”

“What do you mean?”

“What did she do to become your new student?”

She then told me the story of how she went all crazy after some weird explosion. She turned her parents into plants, levitated the judge people and turned some baby dragon into a giant one. Sounds pretty funny to me.

So the rest of the day was rather boring. Until something happened at dinner. Celestia and I were walking around the town when we saw something. There was a griffin!

“Celestia get down!” I then tackled her into a bush.

“Sean what are you doing!?”

“A griffin! A griffin has infiltrated the town!”

She sighed “Sean griffins can be citizens now.”

“Oh. Wait What!”

“Diplomacy.”

Chapter 13: Stupid Foalsitters

Well when I woke up it was about nine. I was up late last night reading about this whole griffin citizen thing.
When I went down stairs Celestia was still asleep I guess, because she was not having breakfast or in her throne room. She often sleeps late on Sundays due to the fact that this is her usual day off. So I was walking back towards the kitchen to get
some cereal, it was all fine until.

“Hi!” a voice came from at my feet

“AAGH!” I leaped into the air. I looked back down and saw it was that little purple kid.

“Oh sorry did I startle you?”

“Yes, Noon Glitter right?”

“No, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Oh right. So how did you get in here?”

“One of the guards let me in. He had seen me yesterday and he just let me in.”

“Oh, ok. So weren’t you supposed to bring your things?”

“Yep.”

“Where is it?”

“Over there.” She pointed to her right and I saw a stack of boxes.

“Oh. So why so talkative today? You were really quiet yesterday?”

“I talked to my brother that made me feel better.”

“Ok sounds good. Sooo Celestia isn’t awake yet. What do you wanna do?”She sat there and thought for a minute. She then looked up to me and shrugged.

“Ok wanna come see my vicious beast from the stories?” She was definitely being better because she nodded excitedly. So we went to the throne room. For some weird reason he likes to sleep on my throne. And sure enough there was a three headed green lump on my throne.

“Progenitus come here Buddy.” He looked up and ran over to me; he looks weird when he runs. He does a sort of snaky hop thing. So anyway recently he has decided to make his smaller form slightly larger. He is now slightly taller than Twilight. Anyway she seemed very fascinated by him.

“Isn’t this a hydra?”

“Yep he is my pet.”

“But he looks nothing like the one I have seen in my books. The ones I have seen always walk like you and are orange and the heads are a bit more like yours and pointed not like a dragons.”

“Yeah Progenitus killed one of those. He is some rare breed I guess.”

“How can he fight? He isn’t that big.”

“Simple Progenitus full sized.”

He then grew to his full size and looked down at us with all three heads. She looked up “Ooh.”

Well after that I decided to give Twilight the grand tour. I showed her my room, the dining hall, and much more. “And this is the last place of our tour, Celestia’s bedroom. Speaking of which she needs to wake up. One sec.” I opened the door and tip toed into her room. I turned my hand into ice and then shoved my hand on her neck.

“AAAAAAGHHH! SEAN!”

I then ran out the door and grabbed Twilight “Time to run.” Then I ran down the stairs.

“Sean are you sure that was a good idea?”

“No but it was pretty funny.”When we reached the bottom of the stairs sadly Celestia was standing there looking rather unhappy.

“Oh yeah she can teleport. Ha. How’s it going Celestia?”She glared at me.

She then talked in an uncharacteristically cold voice. “Sean what have I said about waking me up with ice?”

“Ugh, don’t do it because you don’t like it and you are afraid of ice.” Her eye twitched a little. “Now calm down you know it was funny.” She seemed to calm down considerably then surprisingly began to laugh.

Twilight seemed to be very awkward during this whole thing. She looked at us like we were crazy.

So anyway the rest of that day was rather dull. We had lunch because by the time Celestia woke up it was 12:45. Then Celestia told Twilight more about the whole student thing and what not. Anyway then we found out where she was going to be sleeping. For some reason it is pretty close to mine. Upon investigation we found it was in case something dangerous ever happened I would be able to get to her student quickly.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Who the heck wakes me up from my nap? All the guards know not to, Celestia and Twilight know better and it was 2 p.m. Which means that no more whiny ponies should be coming to complain.

“Ugh I’m coming shut up!” I went up to the main door and opened it. There was a weird pink alicorn. Which is weird because I thought Celestia was the last one. She was about 4 and ½ feet tall and her mane wasn’t all weird and flowing.

"Who in Bolas’ name are you supposed to be?”

“Hello. My name is Cadence.”

“Good for you. What do you want?”

“You could be a bit more polite.”

“Ok there are two things that will now happen. Either, A You tell me what you want. Or B I take you and punt you all the way to the moon.”

“Well, I am here to pick up Twilight Sparkle.”

“Why.”

“Because we were planning to go to lunch.”

“How do I know you aren’t some kind of kidnapper who is going to take her and harvest her organs for your sickly grandmother?”

“What!?”

“Sean what are you doing?”I looked back and saw Celestia and Twilight standing there.

“There is a child napping organ harvesting weirdo alicorn here for Twilight.”

Twilight lit up. “Is it Cadence?”

“Yeah.” She then ran past me and hugged her. Apparently she is her sitter you know the one that keeps track of the kid when the parents are too lazy to take care of them. So they left.

I spent the day doing some errands. First I went to go visit the Wonderbolts you know ever since I helped them become famous it try to visit once a month. Even though the original ones are dead I make sure to visit them and befriend all the new recruits and all that. Then I played with Progenitus, then I did the most important of the all the errands. Taking my nap! After all it was cut short by what’s her face. Anyway I headed to the throne room which amazingly is the least noisy and fell asleep.

Ah my head. Sometimes I hate Twilight, she is a bookworm who is obsessed with learning especially magic. She is also fascinated by me and Progenitus. Anyway, well there just now was a huge explosion. I fell off my bed and smacked my head on the end table which should have killed me since it left a dent in my skull.

That purple brat is lucky I regenerate. Anyway I headed down to her room. I opened the door and the entire room was charred. There was a black figure in the middle of the room looking very confused. When I opened the door the blob looked at me.

“Hi Sean.”

“Twilight what did you do?”

She then explained that she had been working on a spell that would make a giant bubble as a test given by Celestia. Not sure why that would ever be useful or cause an explosion but whatever. Anyway she apologized for waking me up and she headed to Celestia’s study for her lessons, I on the other hand decided to go back to sleep.

OK IF THE ONE KNOCKING ON THE DOOR IS THAT STUPID ALICORN I AM GOING TO RING HER NECK! Seriously I was trying to sleep and there was a knock at the door. I opened it and this time sure enough it was her.

“What do you want!?” I glared at her.

“I am here to tell you that you were quite rude yesterday.”

“I don’t care.”

“Well I can fix that.” Her horn began to glow then hearts came out of it and they began to spin around me. Then they disappeared.

“Ha now you will be polite I just hit you with my spell that makes ponies become nicer.”

“Oh you are so going to die.”

Princess Celestia was with her student teaching her more about how to control magic when they heard a scream. Then Cadence flew past the window.

Twilight and Celestia ran to the window.

“What was Cadence running from?” Twilight asked.Then there was a vicious roar and a giant dragon flew past shaking the whole room.

“What was that Princess!?”

Princess Celestia sighed. “I am guessing your friend got on Sean’s bad side, and now she is likely going to die if we don’t intervene.”

She then levitated Twilight onto her back and they began to follow.

I am going to burn her! I shot a fireball at her.
“
AAAAHHH!” she then flew higher to dodge the shot. It was not like she was hard to catch but I was having fun with the chase. She then went straight down into a forest. Silly girl I followed I turned the tips of my wings into blades and just leveled the forest as I chased.

I am now bored so time to finish this I caught up and just as I was about to bite her she teleported. What! I then heard something behind me. I landed and looked back and there was Celestia with Cadence in her magic grasp.

“Sean what is going on?”

“I was hunting.”

“Cadence what happened?”

“I tried to use my spell to make him nicer.”

“And how did that work out?”

“Not well.”

After that Celestia forced me to sit down and talk to that pink jerk. Long story short we are neutral and she now knows to not use magic on me or wake me up during my naps, and I now know that Twilight would be sad if I killed her.

Chapter 14: Nightmare Night and Big Brothers

Hey it’s Nightmare Night! So Twilight and I are going around getting candy. Celestia still gives me weird looks for going out for the candy at my age, but I always say it’s free candy how can you turn it down!?
Twilight is dressed as someone she gave me some speech about who it was and a bit about him. I wasn’t really listening because you know I had candy so I was distracted. My costume was clearly the best; I was bored so I went out as Celestia. The only down side is she said that if that was my plan I would need to not go overboard with it.
Let me tell ya, ponies give you way more candy when you look exactly like their ruler and god.
Twilight and I got so much good candy and stuff it was great. It sucks because Celestia came and stole half my candy. Seriously if you wanted candy you should have come along.

Ok Celestia has sent me to some new town called Ponyville it is apparently some sort of simple village thing that has been around for 5 years. Anyway me and Progenitus are heading there in my chariot. I often take Progenitus with me when I go places. Mostly because it is a lot of fun. So anyway, she wants me to go down there for two reasons one she wants me to go visit the new town and also because there is something called cider season. What happens is some family called the Apple family makes what is apparently considered the greatest cider in Equestria.
So we landed near some farm. I knew it was the right place because there was a huge line of ponies waiting. We landed at the end of the line to be fair I would have used my status to just go to the front, but Celestia insisted that I be nice and fair.
Ok We have been standing here for two hours and the line is moving so slowly. Progenitus got tired so he is sleeping on my shoulders.
I can finally see the stand where they are giving the cider. Almost there.
Finally. I gave them 10 bits which equals a whole barrel, wow that is really cheap. So anyway I then headed home.

Well it would seem that this is alcoholic so Twilight was sad when she did not get any of the cider. But that stuff is really strong because by the time the barrel was empty Celestia and I were totally drunk. According to Twilight we were rather amusing when drunk for example Celestia at one point started playing with the stars she made a weird smiley face and much more.

Man I love my regeneration. You see it makes my brain really awesome. For example I am immune to mind control and mind reading. Mostly because doing those things requires killing some brain cells to get through but my brain heals to quickly for that. It also works for hangovers.
Sadly for Celestia she can’t do that so she is still stuck with them. I love it because it makes it really fun and easy to mess with her. So she was at the dinner table eating breakfast looking rather sad and ill. Twilight was sitting across from here looking rather worried. I walked up behind her.
I then cleared my throat and then entered step two. “GOOD MORNING CELESTIA! I TRUST YOU SLEPT WELL!” I really have to thank Celestia for teaching me about the royal Canterlot voice that she and Luna used to use.
“AAGH!” she the yelled. The she began to glare at me. “I hate you.” She whispered.
“Aww that hurts Celestia. I am guessing not as much as your head though.”
She then got up and left the room a little uneasy I might add. I then sat down where she had been. Twilight was looking at me a bit uneasy. It is hard to tell because she is so short her eyes barely see above the table. “Hey Twilight how’s it going?”
“Um Sean what was that about and why is the Princess so angry and sad?”
“Oh well Twilight you see, when a pony drinks a lot of alcohol they get drunk and as you saw yesterday when we acted weird. However there is one side effect, it is called a hangover basically it makes someone angry and irritable because they have headaches and light issues and such.”
Ok she is definitely a nerd because when I started and she realized she was hearing new information she started to write it down on a napkin. Just wow.
“Oh, thanks Sean I have to add this to a real piece of paper see ya.” Then she ran off to her room I assume.
So I just finished my breakfast and headed to the throne room to see if I could find Celestia. She was nowhere to be seen I assume she is in her room. Lucky for her it is Sunday so she can just relax and all that.

Well I guess I will go play with Progenitus. So I played with him for an hour when I heard my name being called I turned to see Twilight she was being followed by another one.
“Hi Sean this is my brother Shining Armor.” She pointed to the white unicorn behind her he was about 4 foot 8 “And Shining Armor this is my friend Sean.”
Shining Armor looked at me and bowed slightly. “Pleasure to meet you sir.”
“It is isn’t it?” then Twilight started to talk again.
So it turns out that Sparkly Suit wants to become part of the royal guard and is going to the training camp this summer. That is when I learned Twilights ulterior motive. She wants me to fight Glitter Steel for practice. Being her friend I decided to roll with it.
Yeah Shining Helmet really needs the training. He just kept thrusting a spear at me. I got bored so I slugged him. That is when it got interesting. He raised a magic shield to protect himself it was sort of like a sphere around him. I must say it was a very good shield. I could not get through with my bludgeoning.
He was pretty smug “Ha even you can’t break through my shield!”
“I am impressed, this is a very good shield sadly due to the quality there is a down side.”
I then picked him up and shook him like a maraca. He was really woozy in there. I have some respect for him because he kept that shield up. Anyway I was getting bored so I just put my hand on his shield and absorbed it. Then I drained some of his magic just enough to make him feel a bit tired and unable to raise a new one.

Twilight was amazed. She had heard about Sean being able to drain magic but she had never seen it. What happened when he grabbed her brother’s shield he started to get surrounded in the purple aura that her brothers magic makes it then whirled around him and then her brother’s shield was gone and he was on the ground looking tired.

Chapter 15: Birthday Parties

I helped Shining Clothes up and we shook hands I gave him tips and Twilight helped him home.
So I headed back inside. Hey it’s Celestia it would seem she is feeling better because she is now in a really good mood. She asked me about my day so I told her about my fight with Twilight's brother. She was suspiciously interested. Anyway Twilight decided to spend the night with her family.

Ok Celestia was being way too friendly since this afternoon. I am guessing she is going to get revenge on me while I am asleep. Luckily I am ready, I have a duplicate of me and I put it in my bed.

Well sure enough Celestia snuck into my room while I was “asleep”. She had a sharpie. Wow that is the plan she has? Oh wow a sharpie. Yeah she is drawing a mustache on my face and glasses, then she used her magic and teleported my decoy
I don’t know where but you know oh well.

I walked up to her. “Where did you send me?”

“AAHH! Sean what the? How the? What?”

“That was my decoy. Oh the look on your face!”

Well that backfired because she then teleported me to the top of the mountain that Canterlot is on top of. I hate her so much right now, she put me right into a snow bank. Man this is really high. Ugh time to walk I guess.

When I got home and Celestia decided we were even. Well mine was a lot funnier hers was just mean.

Yeah it’s Twilight's birthday! I don’t really know how old she is but who cares. Twilight got a big cake with purple frosting and her tattoo on top of it. Can you guess who was the first one to get a piece of cake?

Anyway being the nerd she is I decided to lend her my two special books so she could learn more about my race and me overall. Needless to say she was very happy since I had made them off limits. Well the rest of the party was rather lame due to her lack of friends it was just me, Celestia, stupid pink girl, Shining Armor, and her parents.

Well Twilight's “guests” left and we all went to bed. First I had to find Progenitus. I went to the back courtyard where the party had been and I saw what was left of the cake, seriously Celestia. Anyway I saw the lump of cake shift a bit and his heads popped out.

“There you are.” I walked up and picked him up. “Let’s go.”

I then went to bed.

Ugh why am I doing this? I have not even known her for a year and yet I am. So Twilight's brother has gone to guard camp and Cadence disappeared around the same time. Apparently Twilight is getting picked on, I guess the bullies realized her brother was gone so they figure fair game. I will admit she makes a good target, she is a small bookworm that has no real
self-defense magic.

Anyway she came home yesterday with bruises and crying. So I said I would come with her to confront these guys. I am confused as to why I volunteered; Celestia didn’t even make me like usual. I don’t get it.

So we went to the park where she was picked on yesterday. and sure enough they were there. So we walked up. To have some fun, I turned into a young Pegasus so I could see what this was all about. When we got up to them they started to taunt Twilight and almost drove her to tears. That made me mad. So I turned into me and long story short they are currently glued together and hanging upside down from a wall.

Twilight was very happy and thanked me repeatedly for doing that for her. Then she jumped up and hugged my neck. That freaked me out so I fell and she started to laugh. Sadistic little purple nerd.

Well Twilight has been much clingier ever since the bully incident. Basically what this is now is she does not really go outside as often and she hangs around me and Celestia a lot more. I am starting to take a liking to Twilight. She is rather amusing when she opens up.

But moving on Celestia asked me to go visit the zebras which I am not complaining about they are really fun. But anyway Twilight is coming with me. Celestia and her both agree it will be a good learning experience so I am stuck with some curious unicorn who keeps asking questions I am thinking my guards are not terribly happy about her right now. Seriously “What’s that? Why is your armor different? Why do your wings have blades?” When we entered zebra territory it got worse. You see the zebras live on an island where a lot of plants and animals live that are not from Equestria. Honestly it got rather old when we landed.

Alright when we got to the main city it got even worse. The zebras are rather intelligent creatures and by no means primitive but they live in sort of huts. As you can guess there were lots of questions about huts and their stripes and a lot more ugh.
The thing that is a shame is the zebras can be great party animals but I we have to keep everything pg. because there was a child present. Luckily things started off after 11 p.m. that was when Twilight went to bed and the fun started. There was a lot of their special alcohol stuff and some fun dances and such.

You know I can see why Celestia thinks even after 900 years I am still irresponsible. I mean my guards are currently unconscious and likely are not going to be of any use when they wake up from the fun last night. Looking back I did also leave a small child unattended. You know I may be irresponsible but the zebras say I am a lot more fun.

I felt something jab me in the side. So I opened my eyes and screamed. Because when I opened them there were big purple eyes right there in my face. Let me tell ya that is scary. Twilight in turn screamed.

“Twilight! What? What were you doing?”
“None of you were moving so I was curious so I came to see if you were dead.”
“Ok then.”

Well the rest of that day was rather dull it got all political and such bleh! So we headed home and that is all there is for that trip.

Chapter 16: Marshmallows and Pie

I love the rain, it always makes the palace feel cozier. You see it is spring so there are a lot of storms now a days. Anyway one night I was sleeping there was a rather loud thunder storm outside. But I was asleep then I felt something shaking me.
Then I heard a whisper

“Sean, Sean wake up."

I opened my eyes and looked up. And sure enough there was Twilight looking down at me standing on my bed.

“Twilight what do you want?”

“There is thunder outside.”

“NO! Really? I thought that someone was playing a bass drum outside at 1 in the morning. What do you want?”

“I’m scared.”

“Good for you! What do you want me to do about it?”

“Could I stay with you tonight?”

“Why not breezy hair?”

“I don’t want to disturb the princess, plus I would have to go all the way across the castle.”

“Ok fine.”

I then rolled over. Then felt the covers shift. I rolled over and looked; Twilight was crawling under the covers.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting comfy.”

“What is wrong with how Progenitus is sleeping?” I then pointed to my feet where the hydra was curled up.

“I get cold.”

“Fine. You better not be a kicker like Celestia though.” Then I fell back asleep.

Twilight snuggled up in Sean’s bed. She felt really safe right now. Then another crack of thunder hit. She squeaked and hid under the covers. She then moved over to Sean and wiggled her way under his arm. It felt like a hug this made her feel very safe, it was like when she would be scared cuddle up with her brother. She then fell asleep.

Well that was a weird way to wake up. I woke up with something soft one my chest and in my arms. I looked down and Twilight was all snuggled up against me. That was weird granted it was kind of cute but still weird. At least nothing was broken like that time I was stuck in a bed with Celestia and she kicked and broke my arm and three ribs.

So anyway I got up and started my daily routine though since I am not a girl it is pretty quick. It basically goes this way.
Shower, shape shifting test, and regeneration test.

When I came out of the bathroom Twilight was gone.

So I headed downstairs and went into the dining room. Celestia and Twilight were already there. Oh man Celestia gave me a bunch of grief about having a soft spot for Twilight and maybe I am not so tough. You see this is what happens when you do nice things for people!

I don’t understand Celestia’s logic. Every year she has me go to Ponyville for that cider and every year we get drunk then she has a hangover and I mess with her. It’s like an animal where you spray it with a bottle and then it does the same thing again and again and again.

So I landed on the outskirts of the town. I let my guards just relax while I was gone and headed off. Actually this is a rather nice town. That is why we landed outside of town because I actually want to walk through town. So I was walking towards the farm when I heard a voice that sounded a lot like some of the ponies in Canterlot.

“Oh my, that is an interesting outfit you are wearing.”

I looked around then I had the sense to look down, and sure enough there was a child at my feet. She was a white unicorn her tattoo was three diamonds and she seemed to be about Twilights age except a bit shorter. Currently Twilight is probably up to about half my thigh. This one was just above my knee in height.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Rarity.”

“Ok hi Rarity. Well bye.” I started to head to the farm again.

“Wait!” she started to follow me.

So she apparently wants to be a famous designer or something. Anyway she would not shut up about my clothes. I have no clue what she was talking about half the time. I mean I have no clue what my clothes are made of. Then we got to my hair. Again blah, blah, blah stuff about hair styles. Why me? One mistake was when I let it slip I live in Canterlot. Oh boy it got really annoying then. I really want to punt her across town, but apparently it is frowned upon to kick children.

At one point I felt like someone was watching me. I looked behind me and I swear I saw a pink blur jump behind a building. So eventually we got to the farm. There was a really long line I guess it is because the town is growing. Anyway so I headed to the back. Sadly Rarity followed me and kept talking. Eventually she got tired of the line and headed home finally. Sadly
my peace was short lived.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie what’s your name?!”

“AAGGHH!” I looked down and there was a pink child now with one of the most screwed up manes I have ever seen, it looks like some sort of animal globed on her head. Her tattoo was three balloons. This one seemed to be younger than Twilight and was maybe a few inches shorter than Rarity.

“Oh no, did I scare you? Sorry.”

“Ugh, whatever it’s fine.”

“So you’re new here right? I mean of course you are after all I have never seen you before. Actually I have never seen anything like you before. What are you? You look a bit like a monkey! Is that what you are? Are you a giant monkey?!”

This ramble went on for about another two minutes eventually she stopped to breath that was my cue.

“Ok, my name is Sean, I am a human, yes I am new but I am not staying, and no I am not a monkey in the slightest.”
“Oh, ok. Well I have to go. I have plans.” She then bounced away. Weirdo.

Chapter 17: Rainbows and Stares

I was able to spend the rest of my time in the line peacefully until about half way to the stand when they ran out of cider. Apparently there will be more tomorrow but that means I am stuck here till tomorrow. Ugh.

It was about 3 p.m. as I headed back to town. When I spotted something odd. It was a cottage tree thing. There were lots of animals around it. I walked up to it right as was about to cross a little bridge I heard a scream behind me. I turned and saw a yellow blur flying away. I of course followed it after all I have nothing better to do.

After about three minutes of walking I was in a field and saw a yellow blob in the field. I walked up to it and realized it was yet another kid. This one was scrawny and yellow with a pink mane and tail. Its tattoo was three butterflies. She had a rabbit with her. She does realize that just because you press yourself to the ground and don’t move it does not make you invisible? Anyway after about another minute of this I got bored.

“You know I can see you right?” she just squeaked and shivered. Seriously we are just sitting here. Then that stupid rabbit came up and bit me.

“You little!” I then kicked it, it hit the yellow one and bounced of her looking rather out of it. She lifted her head and looked down at the rabbit. She then looked pretty mad. Finally something new is happening.

“How dare you push around my bunny! You don’t get to be mean and push others around just because you are bigger. Now you apologize!” I sense that this is supposed to work because the rabbit looks pretty freaked out.

“Umm what are you doing?”

She looked a bit nervous for a second then she closed her eyes and opened them again giving this weird stare. Again I get the feeling this is supposed to do something but you know whatever.

“Ok then if you’re just going to stare at me like some sort of alley rapist I am gonna head off now, keep up the creepy annoying work bye.”

Well that yellow one was weird, but it did not get any better as the day went. I walked through town to look for my guards. Oh Bolas who is that?! My guards were sitting at a table talking to a small multicolored cyan Pegasus. I walked up to them

“Hey guys, who is your little friend?” They all looked at me.

“Hello sir, this is Rainbow Dash.”

“Fastest flier in Equestria!” the little one burst out.

That got my attention back on her. That was a mistake, that got her talking about how amazing she is and doing something called a “sonic rainboom” granted from what she has told me about it the idea seems a bit farfetched. The worst was when she started going on and on about the wonderbolts and I just like with that white one stupidly let it slip I knew the wonderbolts. Oh man that made it horrible. After about 45 minutes of her speech I just zoned out.

That is when I got thinking about how this town and ponies are crazy. Seriously we have a small white haired one who is obsessed with Canterlot and fashion, we have the pink puffy headed one that sounded like a food, we have the creepy yellow one with her weird eyes, and now this colorful one that will not shut up.

We finally got away from rainbow sprint. Since we were going to have to stay in town so I could get the cider tomorrow as soon as humanly possible. This town is strangely empty, we found a motel and got a room for the three of us. We walked in and it was dark, one of my guards headed to turn on the lights when they suddenly turned on, and my eardrums nearly broke “SURPRISE!” Stupid heightened dragon senses!

Before I could ask any questions that horrid pink one popped up again. “Hi this I a party for you and your friends! Do you like it?” Yet again she started to ramble for like three minutes. Eventually she left to attend to the other guests.

I hate this so much! I have never been a fan of parties. That’s why for my birthday I only have Twilight, Celestia, and my guards. This whole town is somehow crammed in here but it is too crowded and crammed. I hate this!
Oh Bolas! Here comes Pinkie Pie! The only reason I can remember that one is because it is pink.

"Hey you! Why are you so sad looking? This is a party! You aren’t supposed to look sad at a party it is a good thing it is fun with friends!”

Again another little speech ensued, and then she left. Throughout this party the others showed up, you know Rarity and Rainbow Dash. I also met someone new, Rainbow Dash introduced me to the youngest of the Apples, Applejack. Sounds like something you would eat, but it is smart to get the Apples to like me since I buy the cider. I know Granny Smith and Big Mac like me, haven’t seen this one yet though.

It was horrible, the party finally ended at 1 a.m. I fell asleep at about 1:30 and woke up 6:00 we needed to get there early so we could get cider and finally head home. The only benefit to that party was that the entire town was really tired and asleep so I was the first in line. I let my guards sleep in so I was alone.

At about 7:30 the Apples came out and I was able to get the barrels early the price has gone up but I live in the palace so I have plenty of money.

Thank Bolas! I finally got away from that town. Ponyville is a nice little town but it is now surrounded by chatty little children that would not leave me alone.

Oh great! When I got home with the cider Twilight came running up to me. Apparently she was walking through the palace and accidentally bumped into Blueblood who is a few years older than her. He then yelled at her calling her a clumsy peasant. For some reason Celestia just comforted her but didn’t raise a hand against the little swine. Lucky for Twilight I will.

I headed to his room, I dismissed the guards outside his room and walked in. He looked yelling about who would dare to enter his room unannounced. We then began to argue. Here’s how it goes.

“What are you doing here human!? Don’t you know it is wrong to barge in on royalty?”

“Hah! I am more royalty than you ever will be. Now back to business.”

I yelled at him about what he said to Twilight. He argued how commoners like her should never touch royalty and he should have had her put in the dungeon. That was it!

“You know what Blueblood I have half a mind to hang you by your intestines for that!”

“Don’t talk like that to me filth! I can have you banished for threatening royalty!”

“Oh what with the guards? Or Celestia? Think about it, I am respected by the guards I am in charge of them and I am stronger. If you go with Celestia I have known and been her friend for centuries do you think you would be able to get them against me?”

That got him he had a spark of doubt in his eyes. He then regained his composure. “Now listen here human, you will not be able to touch me anyway.” He was shaking slightly.

“Ok I am done with this!” I then kicked him into the wall. “Let’s see if your blood really is blue!”

He began to cry. “Please don’t hurt me I will apologize to her!”

So after punching him in the face to give him a black eye we went to find Twilight. He apologized and then ran off.

Chapter 18: Dragon Slavery

Ok this is bugging me. You know I have never paid much attention to those tattoos ponies have. But ever since I saw all those kids with tattoos I want to know what they are all about. So I hunted down Twilight. I found her in the Canterlot archives serious book worm.

“Hey Twilight!”

She looked up from the book she was reading, “Oh hi Sean, what’s up?”

“You know that star tattoo you have?”

“Yeeeaaaah.” She looked at it then back at me with a raised eyebrow

“What’s up with it why does almost every single pony I see have one?”

Apparently they are called cutie marks, it took all I had to not laugh at that. I mean ponies have some pretty ridiculous names for things but this takes the cake for most ridiculous name. Okay back to the, ha cutie marks. They get them when they find what they are truly talented at.

I don’t understand Celestia’s logic here, she just brought me to her study. When I came in she told me about her next gift for Twilight. Apparently she is getting a baby dragon. Isn’t that like slavery or something? Well its name is Spike it is apparently the one Twilight made huge during her entrance exam a few years back.

So this “Spike” is about as tall as Twilight was when she first came here. He is purple with green spines and eyes. What really freaked me out was when I was looking at him and he spoke.

“Hi! My name’s Spike.”

“Um hey Spike, I’m Sean.”
We talked for a while he told me his life story which took like 5 minutes. Eventually I got bored so I left.

Let’s just say Twilight was really happy when Celetia brought Spike in on Twilight’s birthday. They got to talking and telling each other their life stories combined it took like 20 minutes. Spike is apparently going to be sleeping in Twilight’s room.

You see this is what happens when you do nice things for someone. So Twilight recently discovered horror stories. She was reading one earlier today and it clearly freaked her out. So I was asleep in my bed when I felt something shaking me and whispering my name.

I opened my eyes and there was Twilight sitting there in front of me looking rather scared.

“Twilight what do you want?”

So that stupid book scared her so much she couldn’t sleep. Like I was saying about helping people she is now curled up in my arms snuggling me. This is why I stay selfish I let her stay in my bed during that storm and now my room is a safe zone. Great!

What is Celestia thinking? She gave Twilight an assignment to learn about some plant in the everfree forest. I don’t remember what it’s called but Celestia is lucky that I am here otherwise Twilight would have a baby dragon as her only guard.
Let me tell ya this forest is stupidly dangerous. I have already fended off two manticores, decapitated a cockatrice, and beat up a hydra
.

Ugh I don’t feel so good. It has been 3 days since we went to that forest. I have been feeling weird since then.
According to Celestia I am showing signs of being sick. That is freaking me out, I don’t get sick, I am supposed to be immune to it. So I went to the archives and found a book on the everfree forest. There was one thing that caught my eye.
There is this one blue flower. It is called poison joke, it apparently screws with anyone who touches it and makes you want to burn all of them. I found a cure to this flowery curse. You know I don’t know if I really even touched this flower but I may as well try it.

So turns out it was the plant. I went and got all the ingredients and made the potion set up a bath and got this fixed.
It’s payback time! I headed to the forest and found the patch of poison joke then burned the field. First I grabbed a few of them. For next time Celestia has tea and I am mad at her, seems fair to me.

I am convinced purple creatures hate sleep. Spike came into my room at about 11 p.m.

“Sean wake up.”

“Waah? Spike? If you are freaked out or scared or something go bug Twilight.”

“That’s just it! I am worried about Twilight come with me!”

“This had better be good.” I followed him down the stairs of the tower to her bedroom door. Spike opened the door. Twilight
was pacing in the middle of the room. Her room is really fitting for a nerdy egg head like her.
The walls are lined with books. Everything is perfectly measured and straight even the pictures
So back to the pacing egg head. She looks really stressed muttering to herself and a bit creepy I can see why Spike came to me.

“Hey Twilight what are you doing?”

She stopped pacing and looked towards me. “I am freaking out Sean!”

“Whhhy?”

“Because the Princess gave me this one assignment about Equestrian history.”

“So?”

“The books are not doing a good job of giving the detail I want!” She then levitated a pile of books and threw them at me. I fell into the pile when I climbed out she looked at me.

“Hey wait a minute! You’re old right!?”

“That’s a bit rude but yeah I guess.” Praise Bolas that she talked to me and not Celestia. I remember one time I pointed out her age she got so mad she transported me to the inside of a volcano took me two hours to get out.

“Can you help me? Please, please, please!”

“Fine!” Why do I help her so much? I have let her sleep in my bed when she is scared, helped with bullies, and I am now helping her with her homework.

Chapter 19: WHERE ARE MY **** MUFFINS!?

Chapter 19: WHERE ARE MY **** MUFFINS!?

We spent all night having her badger me with questions but we finished her paper. The only great thing is that Twilight baked me and Spike a cake for helping.
The other interesting thing is that Twilights brother is coming to try and become a guard.

Well Shiny definitely did the best of the guards. He still uses his weird shield strategy but hey I am the only one who can shake him up. That is why I rated him highest of the recruits.

This is the worst day of my life! And I have had some bad days. Today Cadence has become “Princess Cadence” this sucks! You see it turns out that she was an orphan and just hid it really well. Then because of the fact she is an alicorn and friends with Twilight she was invited to live here as a princess.

Thank Bolas she is on the same level as Blueblood power wise. In other words it is basically just an honorary title. That does not change the fact that she now lives here and I have to deal with her every day. It used to be I could keep my distance because eventually she would leave but not anymore.

I knew I would hate having her here. Today I woke up and headed down stairs. At the breakfast table where my sugary cereal and chocolate muffin and all that other unhealthy deliciousness is supposed to be there was a bunch of fruit and everyone else was there already. Celestia ended up being the one to greet me.

“Hello Sean.”

“What is this?”

“Cadence noticed that we were not eating very healthy especially Twilight. So now we are going to be eating better.”

“Oh great.” really it is not bad enough that she is invading my home but now she is screwing with my meals!

So I sat down, on the plate in front of me was some fruit, there was milk, and plain oatmeal. Apparently I was the only one reluctant to eat since the others were all eating happily.

Eventually I gave in and began to eat. I learned oatmeal tastes like cardboard ugh. As if breakfast wasn’t bad enough the entire kitchen is infested with healthy stuff all my candy and cupcakes are gone. I will have my revenge.

Well this is a new development. I was asleep on I rafter in the palace when I heard voices. So I looked near a door and there was Cadence and Shiny. They were talking in hushed tones so I adjusted my hears to be more sensitive and listened.

“Are you sure about this?” that was Cadence

“Of course nobody is around.” That was Shiny.

“But what if someone sees us?”

Oh no is this gonna be turning into something dirty because I do not want to see or hear that. Well turns out after about 4 more minutes they eventually got to the interesting part apparently they are dating but all secretive and such. But whatever, good blackmail if I ever need it. When it got mushier I flew off silently.

I didn’t think I would get to use my new source of blackmail so soon but I did. You see after I found out Cadence had come into my room and thrown out my special cupcakes I decided that was enough.
So I went and hunted her down when I finally found her she was sitting in her room reading.

“Cadence!” I slammed the doors open she jumped and then glared at me.

“What do you want Sean?”

“What did you do with the cupcakes in my room!?”

“I threw them out you are setting a bad example for Twilight hiding junk like that.”

“Those were special cupcakes made by a friend of mine! You had better stop meddling in my life or else!”

“Or else what? I’m not Blueblood, you can’t hurt me. Twilight and the princess would be on my side in that fight.” She had a smug smirk on her face. She clearly thought she had got me.

“I won’t hurt I will just tell everyone about you and Shiny.” I loved watching that smirk leave her face as she realized what I was talking about.

“How... How do you know about that?”

“You and Shiny really need to find a better place to secretly spend time together.”

When she finally realized I had her she asked me to not tell anybody and she would leave my personal food alone. So it all worked out. The only problem is now I have to go get more of those cupcakes. Guess I better go see my pink friend.

So Cadence kept true to her promise and my muffins and cereal were there this morning. After I finished my breakfast Progenitus and I headed out to the garden to play. After about 20 minutes of playing fetch Twilight came out.

“Hey Sean!” She ran up to me.

“What?”

“Are you ready?”

“For what?”

“Don’t tell me you forgot! Today is Spikes birthday.”

Oh Bolas! I totally forgot about that. “Say Twi, could I maybe piggyback onto your gift?”

She glared at me. “No. I got him a great gift so get your own.”

“What did you get him? A book.”

“Maybe.”

She then teleported away. Ok I need to find a gift that a dragon would like. Then it came to me whenever I went on the dragon migration the dragons always offered me piles of gems. And when I am a dragon they taste almost as good as cupcakes. TO THE SAFE!

Wow, this safe has a lot of gems. Alright just need to remember what gems are the rarest and there for the best. Then I found a giant red one. When I referred to my book of gems I found it was a Fire Ruby. Perfect!

Well this party is a total flop. The only guests are me and Twilight. Surprise, she got the little dragon a book. He was less than thrilled. Luckily his mood changed when I gave him the ruby. Hope Celestia doesn’t need it.
After the party I headed to my room. As I stopped to open the door I felt something bump my leg then there was a thud. I turned and saw Spike was following me.

“What do you want?”

“I just wanted to thank you for the gift and maybe talk.”

“Fine.”

Geez for a boy dragon he sure is girly. He talked about his feeling for a while till he got to the point. Apparently he wants us to spend more guy time together. What is with purple creatures and becoming attached to me? Though it does make sense, I mean we are the only two guys in the palace if you exclude Progenitus. So I agreed to this idea of his he smiled at this. Then there was a call from farther down the stairs.

“Spike time for bed!” so he ran back to Twilight’s room for bed.

Chapter 20: Ice shows and spell backfires

This chapter and the next few were inspired by JackTheEpic. It's pretty swell.

You know when you think guy time you get the idea of doing something manly or interesting not THIS! Today Spike came to me and asked about hanging out. I had nothing better to do so why not. We are right now at a show on ice you know the really boring girly shows where they dance and skate around Twilight has really screwed him up.
After that show I was able to get him to a fight. I find them dull since I have done way crueler deadlier things. However, it is manlier than an ice show. He really got into it when one of the unicorns bashed an earth pony with a chair.
By the end of our day he was already acting more like a male dragon. A few more therapy sessions and we should have a real full-fledged guy.

Life is becoming better. Cadence and I are getting along better since the whole food incident is behind us and we are becoming friends. While we may not be best friends but we are getting closer. You know may as well get along with the ponies you live with. Except Blueblood I still hate him.

I wonder what this is all about. So Celestia and I were sitting in the throne room talking about adding an extension to the Canterlot archives when Spike came in. He said Twilight wanted me and Celestia to come to her room immediately.
When we got there Twilight was standing in the middle of her room with a book Shiny and Cadence were already there. When she heard the door open she looked up at us.

“Good Spike found you two.”

“Twilight, what is this all about?” Celestia asked.

“It’s really exciting Princess! I found a spell that will be able to give anypony the abilities of a dragon!”

“That is interesting let’s see it.” Celestia said sounding genuinely interested.

“Right away Princess. Spike.” She looked towards the purple dragon. Spike ended up walking towards her. Then Twilights horn started to glow the aura surrounded Spike then her.

You know honestly I am interested but I don’t see the applications of giving a pony the abilities of a dragon. Suddenly Twilights horn started to become surrounded by a purple sphere. Twilight looked nervous. “Oh no!”

Celestia looked at her also looking a bit nervous. “Twilight what’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure Princess but I think the spell is about to.”

*Bang* there was an explosion that sent us all flying. I crashed into one of the bookcases the impact knocked me out.

“Ugh. What?” I opened my eyes. I was under a pile of books. I dug my way out and looked around Twilight’s room was completely scorched. One of her book shelves was knocked over and some books were scattered across the room.
As I got up I heard a groan. I looked to my left and saw a white lump on the floor. I ran over to it “Celestia!” I rolled her over and gasped. Celestia was totally different she looked like she was part dragon.

Her wings had changed to dragon wings, her flowing mane was the same but there were pink spines sticking out they also ran along her whole back. Her tail was now solid and white with a flowing tip that was the same color as her usual tail. On her head she had two pink horns that stuck up and then curled back slightly. Her normal horn was still there but it was more jagged. Her hooves had turned into clawed feet and her fur was white scales.

I put her down and headed over to what looked like Shiny. I went to investigate him. Similar to Celestia he was a dragon pony thing. His mane was the same but he had blue spines along his back similar to Celestia. His tail was long with a white furred tip similar to his normal tail. The rest of the features followed Celestia’s trend just shiny style. He also still had his armor.

When I found Cadence she was like the other two. Dragon wings, dark pink spines, pink scales instead of fur, jagged thicker horn, and long tail with a tip of fur similar to her old tail.

The last was Twilight I found her on top of her bed with Spike sitting next to her also conscious. Her appearance was following the others. Her overall shape was same as her normal body, her horn was larger and jagged still sticking out of her mane, her hooves had become clawed feet, her tail was long with her tail hair covering the end, and she also had two dark purple horns that went back. Her spine was lined with purple spikes. All of them still had their cutie marks in the same place on their bodies.

“So, Spike should we just wait till they wake up?”

“Sure.”

“You have to admit it will be funny to see their reactions.”

“Ha yeah I guess so.”

It has been about 4 hours since the accident it is currently about 7 p.m. Well Spike and I were sitting in Twilight’s room I was dozing off with Spike asleep on by stomach. We had put the four pony dragons on Twilight’s bed. Just as I was about to fall asleep Twilight began to stir.

“Where am I?” she sat up and yawned I noticed she had sharp teeth now she then looked around when her eyes landed on us I noticed her eyes were still purple but more reptilian.

I knocked Spike off my stomach and stood up. “Hey Twi how do you feel.”

She looked at me quizzically for a minute before responding. “Well I do feel a bit strange,” She then moved a hoof claw to her face. “Aagh! Wha..what happened to my hoof!?”

“Yeah funny story, that little spell of yours backfired and now you, Celestia, Cadence, and Shiny are all well dragonponies.”

Just then the other three began to wake up. So after explaining it again to the other three they all glared at Twilight. After a very uncomfortable three minute silence Celestia spoke.

“Twilight did you test the spell before you used it with all of us around?”

“Umm no.” Twilight then lowered her head.Well after another awkward silence with them all again looking disappointed in Twilight I got bored and decided to change where this was going.

“Ok guys Spike and I have a plan to fix this.” All the dragonponies turned to me. “Ok so Spike and I read through that book
of hers but we found no cure.” They all glared at me.

“Listen though, Spike and I figured if we went to the archives we could all look for something that may include the cure.”

All of them agreed however Celestia suggested that we start the search tomorrow.

Chapter 21: Dragonponies suck!

I woke up at about 6 in the morning when I heard slamming at my door and screaming.

“SEAN! OPEN UP! OPEN UP!” that sounded like Spike so I got up and opened the door. Sure enough Spike was there looking really scared, his tail looked like it was scorched and his pupils were small.

“What do you want Spike?”

“It’s Twilight, she’s gone crazy!”

“Isn’t she always somewhat crazy?”

“Now is not the time for jokes she may be right behind me!”

Suddenly there was a voice from down the tower. “Oh Spikey come out, come out.”

Then she rounded the spiral to where I could see her. She was a bit scary looking. She was pressed a bit to the ground and crawling like a predator. Her fangs were bared and she was doing this weird sinister smile thing.
Spike darted behind my leg. “There she is close the door.”

I was a bit skeptical until she shot a fireball at us. I slammed the door before it scorched us and locked it.

“Ok, note to self, dragonponies can breathe fire.”

Then the lock on the door got covered in a purple aura and undid itself and the door slammed open. “and apparently unicorn dragonponies can use magic.”

Before she could shoot another fireball I grabbed her and drained all her magic until she collapsed. I picked her up and carried her to one of my walls and rested her on it. Then I turned to Spike.

“Ok Spike what is going on here?”

“Well I was asleep when suddenly Twilight started to growl. I opened my eyes she was standing over me looking hungry. Then she tried to bite me so I made a run for your room while I was running she kept shooting fireballs at me.”
“Interesting, guard Twilight if she wakes up call Progenitus over.”

I headed off to Celestia’s room. “Well I guess Celestia has gone crazy too.” I say that because when I got to the staircase that leads to her room is saw fire coming from higher up it.

As I was going up the staircase I saw one unconscious guard he looked like he had been lit on fire. When I got to Celestia’s room the door had a guard shaped hole in it and there was fire inside the room. As I opened the door I saw that dragon Celestia was sitting on a pile of royal jewels that she kept in her room. When she saw me she hissed and began to speak.

“What are you doing here human?” she hissed.

“I am here to take you down.”

Celestia began to laugh. “You think you can stop me?” Celestia then lunged at me she managed to knock me onto the ground. She tried to bite me but I kicked her off. When she tried to use magic to throw her bed at me I ducked under it, it crashed into the wall, geez I thought Celestia was mean last month when it was the 994th anniversary of Luna’s banishment last year.

I then tackled her. I put a hand on her head and began to drain her magic similar to Twilight until she lost consciousness

I carried Celestia to my room and dropped her off I then went out to catch the last two dragonponies.

So I finally rounded up DragonShiny and DragonCadence. Once they were all in my room Spike and I began preparations for when they woke up.

“Ok Spike first I need you to get me chains and from the dungeon.” I headed to my closet where I found some steel bars I had stored in case I needed steel you never know, good time to use them.

Turning my hand into a blade I cut one of the bars into four smaller pieces. I then bent the bars into small rings. I walked over to the dragonponies and placed one ring on each of their horns. I then fashioned four muzzles out of the steel. I then placed them on our scaled friends.

When Spike finally came back he was dragging four chains with him. My guards then followed carrying four a piece.
“Perfect thanks guys.” I nodded towards all of them.

One of my guards looked at the four ponies against my wall. “Sir what is going on here?” I explained the entire thing to them. Luckily they offered to help me with these guys. Then Spike spoke up.

“ Um Sean.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s up with the muzzles and rings?”

“Oh you see the rings keep them from using magic. The way it works is magic flows similar to blood in the horn. It is similar to how if you put a rubber band on your finger it starts to go cold and change color. Same for horns if you put pressure between the base and tip it cuts off the magic flow. And as for the muzzles they keep their mouths shut, and if you freeze the steel it will keep their faces too cold to breathe any sort of fire.”

All three of them were looking at me in suprise. “How do you know all of that sir?”

“Simple I am really old and smart.”

“Ugh come one Spike! We need to find a cure!”

“I’m looking as fast as I can! Jeez moody!"

“What’d you say!?”

“Nothing.”

Purple brat. Ok well Spike and I are currently in the archives looking for some form of cure for the dragonponies. I will admit I am a bit grumpy. But that is only because I barely get any sleep since I have to every few hours freeze the muzzles with my frost breathe.

“Bolas! I hate this!” I put my face in my hand. I noticed that my hand was starting to change to resemble my dragon hand. This happens whenever I get really angry or upset I start to turn into a dragon. So I got up and paced for a bit.
Seriously I hate this so much! We have gone through 98% of the books in this archive and NOTHING!

“Spike I’ll be back in a minute. I need to go freeze the muzzles.” Spike just grunted in response.

I opened the door to the dungeon. We are currently keeping them there because the walls are fireproof. My guards are posted outside the door to the cell they are in. the dungeons are pretty dank and depressing but you know whatever.
I nodded to my guards and opened the door. I walked up to the four of them. I kept them under control by freezing the muzzles and then draining all the magic so they are too worn out to fight. I followed those steps then headed back to the archives.

As I walked in I heard Spike call my name.

“What is it Spike?”

“I found it!”

“Really! Let me see.”

Spike handed the book he was looking at to me. It was brown and made of leather and pretty thick. I looked at the cover it was titled Cures to Curses, Enchantments, and Spell Backfires. How did we not notice this one? It is even made by the author of the book that spell came from.

He directed me to page 149. I flipped to that page and saw it. On the page there was the title of the spell apparently it is known as the “form of the dragon” fitting. I skimmed till I found the section cure. It said this.

In case of spell backfire all non-dragon beings in the room will become mutated to the point of being half dragon. This effect will cause the afflicted to become aggressive and cruel. The only way to reverse this is to use the ashes of the Scale Rose. The ashes must come from dragon fire alone.

“This is perfect! Good work Spike!”

“Thanks. Sean I have one question.”

“Yeah?”

“It says in the book all non-dragon beings will become part dragon. Why are you not affected?”

“Simple I am part dragon.”

“Really?”

“Yep it is pretty awesome. OK now where can we find this Scale Rose?” I flipped through some of the pages until I found a map. It had a map of Equestria and the surrounding territories. “Aw come on!”

Spike jumped up, “What is it?”

“The flower is in griffin territory.”

“So? I thought we had a truce with them.”

“Legally we do but they do not like ponies in there without an invitation and especially me even with an invitation.”

Chapter 22: Griffins have a new toy

I am flying off towards griffin territory. Spike is on my back along with a backpack, tent, and Twidragon. We brought her along as our test subject for the flower. Once I saw the wall that separated the Griffon empire from Equestria. I flew just past it and shrank to my human form into a forest.

“Alright Spike, we’re in, time to start walking.” I picked up the backpack with the tent and sleeping bags in it. I also chained
Twilight to my back and we headed off.

“So Sean what did you do with the others?”

“Simple I tightened the chains and put their faces in ice buckets with the muzzles still on.”

“Oh, ok.”

We walked for about 6 hours until I heard voices.

“Spike get down!” I grabbed him and jumped into a bush. Just then a group of griffin soldiers walked by. Jeez even in times of peace they keep the military patrolling.

Once they passed we kept walking. Then Spike started to talk.

“Um Sean?”

“Yeah Spike?”

“Why did we hide from the griffins? Why didn’t you just go all STAB SLICE DIE GRIFFINS DIE! On them?”

“Simple we have a mission and I can’t afford to start a new war or anything. After the 8th incident Celestia said she would lock me in a volcano”

“Oh alright.”

Well Twilight woke up about an hour ago. She was really annoying, there was a lot of growling and when we took off the muzzle for a minute here’s her speech.

“Oh Spike you look pretty tasty! I am going to eat you and clean my teeth with your bones!” it did get funny for a moment when she shot a fire ball at him. He screamed like a little girl and jumped behind a rock. Dragon Twilight and I had a good laugh from it. though she eventually just got irritating so it was time for her to shut up.

I had to tighten the chains on my body to keep her still while knocked her out. The good news is we found the Scale Rose! We were walking past a meadow when Spike saw them. I took Twilight off my back and chained her to a tree.

“Ok Spike, the book says to take four Roses use dragon fire to create ashes and have the afflicted being swallow the ashes. Gross.”

“Right!” Spike saluted then went over and plucked four of them and brought them to me. “Sean.”

“Yeah?” I grabbed them from him.

“What is so special about dragon’s fire?”

“Well you see dragons are actually magical beings, therefore the fire itself is magical I am guessing the magic helps with the affect.”

He nodded his head in understanding and then handed me the flowers.

“Perfect.” I took them in my palm and burned them with my breath. Next was to grab Twilight, I undid the chains and took her muzzle off.

“Spike hold her mouth open.” Spike came up and opened her fang filled mouth. I took the ashes and poured them down her throat. “And now we wait, you get the sleeping bags and fire wood; I will set up the tent.”

I woke up to some muffled sounds. “Ugh, Spike shut up!” I threw my pillow at him. It didn't stop so I looked over to my right and I saw Spike still asleep. So I looked towards the other side of the tent, we had tied her to a log we brought into the tent. This was a precaution in case she tried to attack us in the middle of the night. I saw Twilight jerking around and making some sort of noise. I walked over to her; I noticed she physically looked like her old self. I grabbed her muzzle and took it off her face.

“Twilight are you back to normal?”

“What do you mean? The last thing I remember was us planning to look for a fix for the spell tomorrow.”

“Yeah that was a week ago.”

“What!” I then told her the story of her and the other three going crazy and homicidal.

“That’s terrible, did I really try to eat Spike?”

“Yep, it was pretty funny.” By now Spike had woken up. He did not appreciate my amusement.

Well after about an hour we decided to get back home. I was walking a bit ahead of Spike and Twilight when I heard them scream.

I spun around and there was a group of four griffins two of them were holding Spike and Twilight and the other two had these strange looking spears pointed at me. They were definitely weird, they were long and silver, the handles looked like they could twist in the spots they had their hands placed.

The one in front of the group with the spear pointed at my chest spoke “Well, well, well look what we have here.”

“How’s it going griffins?”

“What are you doing here? Part of our agreement with Equestria is that you specifically do not enter our territory.”

“So?”

“So we are going to have to take you to our king.”

“Sure, that’s going to happen. Just give my friends back and I will only burn one of you.” I then started to turn my arm into a sword when one of them stabbed his spear into my chest. “You do know this can’t AAAAGHHH!”

One of them had twisted part of the spear handle and it had started to send and electrical charge through my entire body. Fun fact, similar to how my body does not recognize cold making my heart stop it also ignores electric charges through me. I fell to the ground things started to go dark until I blacked out.

Chapter 23: I hate those electric spears!

So I'm trying my hand at action again tell me what you think

I woke up feeling my legs being dragged on the ground and some things caring most of me. I tried to open my eyes but it was that sort of thing where you have to try a few times until your eyes open totally and can focus right.
I was being dragged down a corridor by two Minotaur’s. Weird I didn’t know some of them still worked with the griffins. Well I guess imbeciles attract. They then opened a door and I realized it was the griffin kings office.
Geez griffins still have no taste in decoration, seriously it’s dark bricked and depressing feels more like a dungeon than an office.

I was then thrown to the ground he had a red carpet leading from the door to his desk. Lifting myself off the ground is saw the king sitting behind his desk.

“Hello human, so I hear you have been ignoring our agreements.”

“Meh,” I looked around “you know you really need to redecorate here, it is so depressing.”

The king growled. “None of your sass human!”

“Yeah that’s all fine and dandy, but where are purple pony and dragon?”

“You can go see them.” He then nodded towards one of the Minotaur’s he grabbed me and started to drag me away.

“So…Minotaur what’s it like being one of you? I bet it smells horrible, do you feel as stupid as you look?”
All he did was continue walking. We eventually got to what I assume is the dungeon. It was a long hallway of what looked like cages. It had a few torches along it. The Minotaur dragged me down the hall.
“You know I’m just playing along right? I can easily get out whenever I want.” It was then that I saw one of the cages with a griffin outside of it with one of those spears. The griffin when he saw us decided to talk I am guessing he heard me.
“Oh we know that, that’s why we are going to this.” He then stabbed the spear into me and before I could react shocked me.

When I woke up again Spike and Twilight were standing over me looking at me. “Ugh, sup guys?”

“Sean are you ok?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah.”

So it turns out after I was knocked out those two Minotaurs came out and grabbed me and we were taken here. They were taken here directly while I was taken to the king. Then I was dragged here and they threw me in here. I have also been out for like three hours.

When I got up Spike looked at me. “So Sean, what’s the plan to get out of here?”

“Honestly I don’t know give me a bit.”

Then the door squeaked open. We all looked towards the door and saw a griffin in silver armor with two Minotaurs. The griffin then started handing out orders to them. “You grab the unicorn, and you grab the dragon.”

The Minotaur’s came and grabbed Twilight and Spike and carried them out of the cell. I tried to chase but then the griffin pointed one of those spears at me.

“Where are you taking them!?”

“It’s nothing human, the king just wants to see them.” He then jabbed the spear into my chest and shocked me. I fell to the ground the griffin walked out but for some reason I stayed conscious. I think the spear may have hit my heart. That makes it so my body could recognize it as an injury.

I went up to the door. The armored griffin was sitting outside my door. “So, what are you planning to do to those two?”
He turned to look at me. “It’s simple. We want to keep you alive so we can get back at you for the centuries of torment. However, we have no need for those two, so they will be gotten rid of.”

I won’t let that happen. I stepped back and tried to think of something. Images began to appear in my head of them being killed. I started to get really angry. I notice then that my hand was changing, as was my vision. They were starting to look like my dragon form. Suddenly my mind began to become a bit foggy and I felt more aggressive and angry.

Walking up to the door I began to taunt the griffin. “Hey chicken head! You know you will probably never get a lady griffin honestly it’s probably your personality.”

He didn’t appreciate my comments since he turned growling and put his spear between the bars. I grabbed the spear and pulled him in his face bashed into the bars. I repeated the process about seven times until he finally let go. I then grabbed the keys off him and unlocked the cell. I then took his spear and stabbed through his skull.

After I killed him my mind became cloudier and I felt even more aggressive. I headed down the hallway till I found the door. There were two Minotaur’s outside the door. When I opened the door they both turned when they saw it was me they tried to grab me. Dodging I grabbed one of them I threw him through a wall. Hearing some cracks I knew he was done. Turning my hand into a sword I stabbed the other one in the skull.
Now I could not think straight at all. I could only really think about killing. Now to get the king.

“Let me go!” Twilight was wiggling and trying to get away from the Minotaur. He was too strong sadly; she considered teleporting but realized she couldn’t abandon Spike and Sean. Finally they got to a large door. There were two griffins in gold armor outside of it. The armor was interesting looking. They had pointed covers on the shoulders. The helmets covered their faces other than the eyes, the body cover was all chainmail and they were holding those weird spears.
They opened the doors and carried them inside. They were thrown to the ground. When Twilight stood up she saw a griffin with a crown and red cloak sitting behind a desk. Then he spoke.

“So, these are the two that were traveling with the human?”

“Hello my name is Twilight Sparkle.”

“Interesting. I am the griffin king.”
So I'm trying my hand at action again tell me what you think

“Nice to meet you. So why did you want to see us?”

“I did not really want to see you. I just wanted you execute you myself.”

“What!” the Minotaur’s then came back and tied them up. “You can’t do this! When Sean gets here you will be in big trouble!”
“Ha! That human won’t be coming today.”

Then they heard muffled screams. And then there was a voice. “No! Please, they’re in there! Just leave me alo…” there was an explosion then a flaming griffin body flew through the door.
Then some strange creature walked in.Twilight, Spike, and the king were all surprised. It looked like a mix between Sean and a dragon. It was still human sized, the face was the same as the dragon body except it lacked the under bite, the hands were three fingered like Sean’s dragon form however they still had his arm coverings, the legs still bent like his human one except the feet were similar they had three forward facing claws and one in the back but they had Sean’s sock-like things. It also had a tail. The rest of the body was the same as a dragon except it lacked wings. The horns were shorter than his usual form and they were lightning bolt shaped rather than curved. Its arms were covered in blood one arm was a large serrated blade and had a griffin still hanging on it. There was also a spear sticking out of its shoulder. Then it let out a vicious roar and glared at the king.

Twilight looked at it for a moment. She then tilted her head. “Sean?”

Chapter 24: Fried chicken and burgers

This is amazing! I feel so powerful! A couple minutes ago I punched straight through a minotaurs chest plate, rib cage, and my hand came out his back. There are a few strange things going on with this new form though. First of all I have been enjoying killing these griffins and minotaurs more than usual and I am having a bit of trouble thinking totally straight, another thing is the fact that I know there is a spear in my shoulder and yet I feel no pain right now that is no surprise but I am still bleeding my wound won’t heal. I have tried but I can’t get out of this form the best I can do is transform my body parts but not my whole form.

“Sean?” I looked over to the left and I saw Twilight there. I guess I got here in time. Eww what is sliding down my arm? I looked at my right arm and saw a griffin sliding down my arm, oh yeah. I changed my arm back to normal and the body fell to the ground.

Back to business I turned back to the king. He backed up then put his talon to his mouth and whistled. Then two griffins in gold armor with electric spears came out. These ones looked more important since their armor covered all of them. Then they flew straight for me with their spears pointed out.

Oh boy fried chicken! Taking a deep breath then I exhaled and engulfed one of the griffins in fire. When it subsided there was a griffin body with parts of its skeleton showing. Now where’s the other one? I looked up and saw it dive bombing me. I leaped out of the way when he hit the ground the spear got stuck I then jumped on top of him and bit into his neck and broke the spine.

Leaping off the griffin I heard Twilight shout. “Sean look out!”

Before I could react a sword stabbed through my chest. The sword was then pulled out of my chest. When I hit the ground I turned around and saw a Minotaur holding a blood coated sword. I put my hand up to my chest and the wound was not healing, my hand was covered in my own blood. I ran over and coiled around him holding his arms to his sides and constricting him. Then I roared in his face and grew spikes along the inside of my body and gorged him. Releasing the corpse I jumped off and turned to the king. He had accumulated three gold armored griffins and two minotaurs in gold armor.

All three of the griffins came flying at me. I wrapped my tail around the throat of one of the griffins and tightened my tail until I heard a crack and he went limp, then I felt something poke the side of my ribs. I looked down and saw a spear stabbed into me, the griffin twisted the handle, I saw sparks so I knew that electric charges were coming out of the spear. I pulled the spear out of my shoulder and stabbed him in the back and twisted the handle. There was a lot of screaming but he eventually shut up.

Now where is number three? Then I heard the clanking of armor hitting the ground behind me. When I turned there he was so I shot a blast of acid. It got him right in the face and his face melted off. It was pretty cool. Then I heard the griffin king shout.

“Get him you idiots!” I turned and saw the minotaurs now running at me. One had a large scythe and the other just had a giant sword. I wonder what minotaur tastes like, let’s find out! With the sword one I grabbed his wrist, I then ripped his arm off then I decapitated him with his sword. Ok I am hearing a voice and am suddenly thinking in a we context.

Now where is lunch? We turned and saw the other one backing away. We then started to run at it until we suddenly were in front of it. We then bit it in the shoulder and pulled until we got an ok amount of meat out. Then we jabbed one hand through the chest and pulled out its heart. Then swallowed it, then we just enjoyed the rest of the corpse until we felt something stab into our back.

When we turned the king was standing behind us with a knife in his hand. He then threw it at us it went straight into our chest. We then charged at him, he pulled out a sword and swung at us. we grabbed the sword and took it from him. We then grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up.

“Aagh! Let me go!” he clawed at our arm. We charged up for a shot of acid when suddenly he teleported. Looking behind us we saw Twilight with the king next to her. THAT PURPLE ONE STOLE OUR MEAL! LET’S KILL HER! We then started to walk towards it. What!? No, we will not kill the purple one! Before our internal fight could continue the purple one spoke

“Sean, calm down. You won now stop.”

Well that’s a buzz kill. We took a few deep breaths and felt our self shrinking back to my human form. Oh that was a mistake. I guess that body drained me entirely of my powers and my dragon bodies strength must have been all keeping me conscious because I then fell to the ground.

Twilight jumped back because Sean nearly fell on top of her. She walked up to him and poked at him. “Sean?” she saw that his chest was not healing and there was still a lot of blood.

Twilight then heard something behind her. She turned to see the griffin king trying to sneak to a button on the wall. She wrapped him in her magic and pulled him in towards her.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she glared at him.

“I was just going to call some friends up here to party with us.”

“Ok listen, Sean, Spike, and I are going to leave this castle with no trouble, and you will also not breath a word of this to the Princess. Or else!”

“Or else what?”

Twilight then turned to Sean’s unconscious body. “Or else I will send him here twice as angry as he was today.” she then brought him back up to her face. “So, do we have an understanding?”

“Yes ma’am.”

Twilight then dropped him. “Spike get your bags. I’ll get Sean.”

Chapter 25: Worst. Day. Ever!

So I woke up according to Twilight about an hour after we left the castle she caught me up on what I had missed it was a great story.

“So you blackmailed and threatened the leader of an entire race?”

“Yes, was that ok?” she looked a little nervous

“Yeah it was, I have not been more proud of you.” I ruffled her mane. “Well now that that is over we better get those flowers home.” I tried to transform into a dragon, there were sparks but nothing on me changed.

Well after another 10 minutes of trying to transform we chose to walk and see if I could transform later. An hour after we started walking we came across a fallen tree in the middle of the path we were on.

“Don’t worry guys I’ve got this.” I walked up to it and put my hands under. I tried to lift it but I couldn’t! Since when can’t I lift trees!?

“Um Sean are you OK?”

"Yeah. You know maybe we should just go over it.”
“Ok?” Twilight and Spike looked at each other then followed me over.

So we kept walking till it was sun down that’s when we decided to set up camp. While I was setting up the tent when we heard howling and then some growls. I turned around and there were four Timber wolves. They are weird creatures. That is a very literal name they are a bunch of wolves made of wood.

They growled and then the lead one jumped at me. I wrestled it, I tried to make my arm a blade but all that happened was my hand sparked. So instead I grabbed its throat and began to crush its throat. Then another jumped on my back and bit my shoulder. Then another jumped on me and bit into my arm. The last one got my leg the one I was choking wiggled out from beneath me and then tackled me it lifted its head back and lunged for my throat then a purple beam hit the wolf it yelped and ran off. The others looked over at Twilight who was glaring at the wolves.

“Get off of him!” she then shot beams at each one as each one got blasted it ran off.

“Thanks.” I stood up and looked myself over all the bites were not too deep but they were all bleeding.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah sure.”

“I’m not so sure, you’re bleeding pretty badly.”

“It’s only a few flesh wounds.”

“Fine let’s get some sleep.”

Ugh this is humiliating! So when Twilight, Spike, and I woke up we headed right off. I needed a walking stick on account of the fact I was feeling dizzy. Anyway while we were walking a manticore came out of the woods. And you know what happened? Twilight told Me to stay back. She then beat the manticore but you know you’re pathetic when a pony has to protect you.
Though I am getting concerned that my powers are still not back. I am basically mortal right now and I hate it!

Yes there it is! We finally got out of the woods and saw Ponyville. You see the griffin border is actually along the everfree forest which means by walking you have to go past here. So we got a ticket and took the train home.
When we got back to Canterlot everything was calm. I guess the guards aren’t totally useless.

I take back what I said about the guards. When we walked in the door to the dungeon was blockaded and there were guards posted at each side. I looked around for a minute then I saw my guards I walked towards them well sort of hobbled since I was still using the stick to support me.

They both turned when they heard me. I got some weird looks as they looked me over before one of them spoke. “Hello sir.
It’s good to see you back.”

“I know, what’s going on with the dungeon are the dragonponies still down there?”

“Yes sir. What happened was when one of the guards was giving them food and water they knocked him out and managed to escape, we were able to keep them locked in the dungeon but they’re too strong for any of us.”

“Ok I’ll go get them.” I headed for the door when I was wrapped in magic and dragged back. I turned and saw Twilight glaring at me. “What’s the big idea?”

“You can’t go down there to fight three dragonponies. You couldn’t even handle a pack of timber wolves.”

“Let me go Twilight.”

“No.”

“Guards restrain her.” The guards looked at me and then Twilight and just sat down.

“What are you doing!”

“Sir if Twilight says you can’t fight then we are going to believe her.”I am not going to be ordered around by a bunch of ponies! So I walked up to Twilight and flicked her horn. That made her flinch for a minute which gave me enough time to get to the door and get down stairs

When I slammed the door I took my stick and slid it between the handles locking it as I headed down the stairs I heard footsteps. When I turned around I saw Spike a few steps behind me.
“Spike what are you doing!?”

“I want to help.”

“Absolutely not this is too dangerous!”

“Well how are you going to stop me?”

“Fine just stay near the stairs for me I have a plan so I’ll call you when I need you. Got it?”

“Yeah.”

Spike and I walked down the stairs until we reached the base. We looked to the end of the hallway we saw a couple of guard bodies but no dragonponies. Luckily just then Celestia walked out of one of the cells. We watched for a moment she yawned and then sat next to a guard body and started to eat it.

“Ok Spike keep quiet and follow my lead.” We snuck to one of the cells and slipped in. We kept slipping in and out until we were two cells away from Celestia. When we headed for the next one Spike fell over and ended up spitting out fire which flew right past her face.

She turned when she saw Spike she growled. Standing up she headed for Spike when she leaped for him. I grabbed his tail and pulled him into the cell. When Celestia landed I tackled her. When I got up I felt a bit tipsy.

Then Celestia tackled me I slammed into a cell which bent the bars. I felt something break and when I stood up I realized a rib must have broken. While I was getting up I heard more growling I turned and saw Shiny and Cadence coming out of the cell. By now Spike had run to stand next to me. We began to back up until we hit the wall.

The dragonponies had been following us. Cadence then charged at us she impaled me. Cadence backed up and I fell to the ground. Then Shiny charged at Spike I grabbed Spike and threw him towards the stairs.

“Spike run!” just as I finished saying that Celestia grabbed me with her magic, I was then smashed into bars, walls, ceilings, and floors. By the time she dropped me my arms, legs, shoulders, ribs, and jaw were all broken. Celestia then threw me onto the stairs. When I hit the stairs I felt a break and then things went black.

Chapter 26: A death in the family

Spike was horrified at the show. Sean’s body had just been thrown onto the stairs only a few steps below him. He was about to go grab him when he heard the dragonponies talk.

“Should we put him with the other foods?”

“No I bet he’s really stringy just leave him.”

He heard footsteps heading back down the hall. Spike grabbed Sean’s arm and began to drag him up the steps. When he reached the door he pulled the stick out of the handles and opened the door.

“Twilight!” he called out as he pulled his friends body all the way out and some guards closed the door. He heard hoof steps
when he turned he saw Twilight and Sean’s guards.

One of Sean’s guards gasped. “What happened!?”

“The dragoponies happened.”

“I told him he couldn’t handle them!” Twilight yelled.

“Yeah he couldn’t handle them but he’s not moving!”

Twilight then used a spell to x-ray his body, “Yep, most of his bones are broken and part of his skull is caved in.”

Twilight was sitting around she, Spike, and the guards were trying to figure out what to do. It looked like they had killed Sean.

Then one of Sean’s guards turned to the other. “Hey Kopis, didn’t the princess say one time she saved his life by charging him with magic?”

“Oh yeah! She said that he absorbed it and he healed.”

Twilight turned to them. “Great so I’ll just do that!”

She walked up to Sean’s body. She charged her horn with magic and then touched it to Sean. Then was a flash and Twilight felt very tired and almost fell over. She looked at the body hopefully but nothing happened.

“It.. it didn’t work.” She lowered her head and started to cry.

Sean’s guards walked up to her one of them spoke. “Don’t worry Twilight, the princess said when she healed him she almost passed out. That means it took a lot of magic.”

After an hour Twilight had gathered 25 unicorn guards. “Ok guys! We have a way to heal Sean and get the Princess and others back to normal!”

“How?” a guard asked.

“If you just charge your horn with magic and touch him he will absorb the magic.”

Twilight got all the guards in a line and had each one charge Sean. When it was all said and done Sean’s body was completely healed. Twilight walked up to his body and put her ear against his chest. There was no sound of a beating heart. When she listened she also heard no breathing.

“It still didn’t work!”

After a brief vigil Twilight decided they still needed to fix the dragonponies to make sure Sean didn’t die in vain. After some thinking she had the solution.

“I’ve got it!” she turned to a guard, “the dragonponies are carnivorous right?”

“Yes.” The guard nodded his head.

“Then all we need to do is sprinkle the ashes of the Scale rose on some meat and throw it down there, they will then eat the meat and in turn swallow the ash.”

Once they had gathered some meat from a dead guard they had Spike burn the roses, they “seasoned” the meat and then threw it down.

After about four hours of waiting there was knocking at the door from the dungeon. Then the door was forced open by magic and Princess Celestia walked out looking like her normal self, along with Shining Armor and Cadence.

The princess walked up to Twilight looking a bit confused. “Twilight what’s going on? And why are there a bunch of dead
guards down stairs?”

One of Sean’s guards then told them what had happened Twilight noticed he left out what had happened to Sean. After the recap Celestia stood up.

“And where is Sean? I’m surprised Mister Ego let others solve the problem.”

“Well Princess that’s the thing.” She then pointed to Sean’s body Progenitus had curled up next to him.

“Ah asleep, why am I not surprised?” The princess then walked up to him and poked at him with her hoof. “Sean, wake up.”

“Um princess, he’s not going to wake up.”

“Of course he will Twilight. I know he can be a heavy sleeper but you can still wake him.” She then poked him again a bit harder this time.

“No princess he will never wake up again.”

“What do you mean.”

That is when one of his guards intervened. “Princess he’s dead.

The bluntness of the statement shocked everyone. Princess Celestia sat down her eyes looking rather vacant. “But how he doesn’t die.”

Once again Sean’s guard spoke“He was weak and basically mortal and he went down to confront you guys and you killed him.”

The princess looked almost on the verge of tears. She started muttering something that none of them could understand. Twilight decided to take charge at the moment they needed to set up a funeral.

After two days of working Sean’s funeral was ready. The Princess had ordered that he be buried in a special tomb in the palace basement. They put him in a large coffin shaped like a dragon. The princess had also ordered that the news of his death not leave the palace until she felt up to it. The Wonder Bolts attended the funeral to see of the one who got them started.

Twilight was worried about the princess; she had become very anti-social over the past two days. She seemed to just going through the motions of the day.

At the end of the day they put the coffin in the tomb and locked the door.

Everyone started to leave. Princess Celestia lingered for a moment. “Goodbye Sean.” She then turned and walked away.

Chapter 27: Boo!

Oh man, where am I? Why is it so dark? I stuck my hands forward and my arms barely unfolded before I hit something hard. Hmm, I’m inside a large box. It’s solid, so I guess the mimes haven’t taken over, so what else?

That’s when I remembered what had happened last time I was awake. I must be in a coffin, they think I’m dead! Great, now how do I get out? I pushed a bit harder and the front opened. Oh, guess they don’t lock doors on dead people. Okay time to have fun with this. I was heading for the door when I heard a voice. When I turned around I saw what looked like me except his eyes were green.

“AGH!”

“Hello Sean.”

“Who are you supposed to be?”

“I am part of you.”

“Really? That’s pretty cool. I look good.” I looked around him.

“Yes, I am not here to play ego boost with you.”

“Then what do you want?”

“I am here to warn you of something.”

“Hmm? And what is that?”

“Well since you ‘died’,” he added in air quotes, “things have changed with your powers.”

“While we’re on that, how am I alive?”

“Well you never actually died, you only entered a frozen state to give yourself time to heal.”

“And how long have I been dead?”

“12 days.”

“Wow. Oh yeah you were talking about something boring.”

“Yes, your powers have changed somewhat.”

“How so?”

“I am not entirely sure, all I know is you are now more reliant on your dragon DNA. You will likely get more dragon related powers. Also all of your senses are heightened”

“Awesome!” I threw my hands in the air

“Except it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.”

“Aww.” I dropped my arms down.

“There is a new problem with you now though. If you fight too long you will likely become more and more bloodthirsty.”

“Cool.”

“Sure, cool.” I saw him roll his eyes “Just be careful, now go and return to your world.

I opened the door and realized I was in the basement. I started walking until I came across a stair case. I followed it and when I found a door I opened it to find I was in the throne room. When I looked out a window it was night. From the moons position I’m guessing it’s probably 10 that means everyone’s asleep.

When I walked out of the room into the corridor I saw something walking towards the kitchen. I followed it when I got closer I realized it was Spike. Time for some fun.

“Spike!”

“AAGH!” he jumped and spun around. “SEAN!?”

“Boo!”

That sent him running away screaming. That was the best. Well better hide before he comes back with Twilight.

So I’ve been awake for three days now and each day I have had fun messing with Spike. He has been trying to convince everyone that he has seen my ghost it is great. I have been able to monitor him by turning into guards or bugs anything that can get me close to enjoy the show.

I am now sitting up on the ceiling waiting for today’s chance. Okay, he’s walking after Twilight and Celestia shouting about my ghost till Twilight finally replied. “Spike this joke has gone on long enough, just stop!”

They then walked farther ahead. I dropped down silently to sit next to Spike. “They don’t believe you?”

“Nope, they think it’s a coping mechanism for my sadness.”

“Well they’re right, you haven’t seen my ghost.”

“What? Are you really just my sub whatever?”

“Nope.” I then flicked him on the forehead.

“OW! What’d you do that for? And since when can ghosts tou..” he trailed off and I could see the gears turning. “Twilight!” he then ran after Twilight.

Well time to disappear. I turned into a bird and landed on an open windowsill to watch. Soon Spike came running back with Twilight. “-and then he flicked me right on my forehead!”

“So let me get this straight, first you saw Sean’s ghost but suddenly he’s not a ghost but he’s real and alive.”

“Exactly.” Could he really not hear the tone in her voice? She clearly didn’t believe him.

“Spike this is still a coping mechanism, it has just become very real for you.”

“No I really have been seeing him!” Twilight just shook her head and walked away.

Ok day seven. I am getting bored with being dead. Even messing with Spike has gotten a bit old. So I decided tomorrow I’m going to officially come back. There are two things to do today though. One is to get one more day of fun messing with Spike, two is I need to think of what my entrance should be.

Let’s get to work on number one though. So Spike is helping Twilight in the archives today she is studying something. Now I just need a good opening. Finally the opportunity came. Twilight sent him to get her a book. When he got to the shelf I had taken the book. He was going across the shelf saying the names of the books as he went. Until he came across the gap where it should be.

“Huh? Where is it?” he double checked and looked over the names. “Where is it?”

“Here you go.” I handed it to him.

“Oh thanks.” He then turned to glare at me. “Sean, go away!”

“Aw Spike why so serious?”

“Because you have made me look crazy!”

“Trust me I’m not the one making you seem crazy.”

He then jumped at me and landed on my face and stuck to it. “Twilight! I’ve got him come quick! I have got a hold of Sean!”

“You sure?” I turned into a snake and slipped away.

Ok, today’s the day I make my return. I have it all planned out I’m going to get them to all get to one room and then come in all dramatic with fire and stuff! But first being dead can make you hungry so I’m gonna go get a muffin.

Twilight, Princess Celestia, and Spike were all heading to the dining hall to have breakfast. Spike was still trying to convince them he had seen Sean throughout the past week.

“Come on Twilight, you have got to believe me! I really have seen Sean.”

“Spike enough, no more talk about seeing Sean or anything like that! He’s dead and there is no such thing as ghosts, so stop.” She then turned around and followed the princess.

They all sat down at the table and waited for their food to come. Shining Armor and Cadence were already there. After a few minutes of waiting they heard footsteps coming from the kitchen. Then the door opened and everyone except Spike were all shocked.

Sean had walked into the room holding a muffin. “Sup guys.” He then just walked out of the room.

Yay! I got an editor for my story. This chapter and hopefully many more edited by Gage! Take a bow or something.

Chapter 28: The greatest cannon in the history of ever!

Oh come on! I had it all planned so perfectly and then a stupid muffin ruins it all. Granted, the looks on their faces were priceless. Then I heard a lot of hoof steps, and when I turned around, Twilight was right behind me and tackled me to the ground.

“Agh! Get off me you purple nuisance!” I pushed her off and stood back up dusting myself off. Twilight got back up and punched me in the leg. “Ow! What was that for?”

“You jerk! You had us all convinced you were dead!”

“Not my fault you guys are so presumptuous.”

So after some reunions and some conversations they all apologized to Spike. So yep things are getting back to normal apparently they had not told the country about my death so it was pretty easy for me to just come back. That’s convenient.

Okay, so I found one benefit to being dead for a bit. Ever since I came back Celestia has been very clingy. She keeps insisting we spend time together. I’m fine with that because we don’t hang out much these days so it works.

How interesting, I’ve been back for about a month now, and I just got an invitation from Ponyville. I was eating breakfast when one of my guards came in and handed me a letter.

Hi Sean, so I want you to come to Sugarcube Corner to meet my new friend. I call him Gummi you totally need to come see him! It will be so awesome and fun!

Sincerely Pinkie Pie

I guess context is needed. You see after the third year of having to put up with those children I decided to try and befriend as many of them as I could. Pinkie and I really connected, we pulled some pranks and now when I go to get some cider, we have lunch. And when I say lunch I mean a bunch of candy and cupcakes.

So I guess I better go meet this ‘Gummi’.

So when I got to Ponyville I headed straight for the bakery. When I walked in the door the owners Mr. and Mrs. Cake were just sitting there. “Hello Sean, you here to see Pinkie?” they told me she was in her room. I headed upstairs to Pinkie’s room.

When I step inside, I notice that it’s empty. I walked farther in when suddenly there was an explosion and then confetti and balloons were flying everywhere. I turned and there was Pinkie with some sort of cannon.

“Hi Sean! What do you think of my new party cannon?” she then shot it pointed at a table and fired, and a table cloth, cake, and balloons all went on the table.

“That is likely the coolest cannon I have ever seen! Let me try.” She moved aside and let me get behind the cannon. I pointed at a wall and fired. The wall was then covered in balloons and confetti. This is so awesome!

“Ok that is fun. So where is this Gummi you want me to meet?”

“Oh yeah Gummi! Look!” she then walked to her bed and pulled out a small alligator. She walked over and dropped him in front of me.

“So this is him?”

“Yep!”

“For some reason I thought he was going to be a pony.”

“Well he’s not silly; he is my new pet alligator.”

“So why Gummi?”

“Simple, look.” She then opened his mouth and I saw that there were no teeth in his mouth.

“So Pinkie, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?” I was sitting on her bed while she was playing with Gummi.

“Well we could go pull some pranks.”

“Awesome! I have some great ideas!”

“No offense Sean but I think we should stick with my ideas.”

“Why?”

“Because your last idea involved gluing Rainbow Dash and Applejack together.”

“Oh come on, that would have been hilarious!”

“No that would have been mean.”

“Okay fine, let’s hear your ideas.”

“Yay!”

So Pinkie did have some pretty great ideas. First we found Rainbow Dash while she was clearing the skies. Every time she would destroy a cloud I would fly and grab another one and put it right in the same place. She eventually caught on, but luckily she had a good sense of humor.

We were walking down the street when I thought of a new trick. “Hey Pinkie I have an idea!”

“It’s not mean is it?”

“Of course not.”

“Alright then, let’s hear it.”

“Okay, what we do is we convince the apples that their orchard is on fire and when they go to put it out, we soak them in rain.”

“Sean that’s still pretty mean.”

“Fine.”

So Pinkie and I pulled pranks for the rest of the day until it was time for me to head home. “Well Pinkie it was a lot of fun, you should come visit me at the palace sometime. There a whole array of new pranking victims. We could even get Celestia.”

“That sounds absolutely fantastically exciting!” she bounced up and down.

“Well see ya.” I then turned into a dragon and flew off.

Okay this weird, I have been having these strange dreams. Every time I see the old human village then I see the Bolas monument. After that I wake up and feel an urge to go there. The thing is I don’t want to go there but I may have to.

I can’t take it; I have to head to the village. Lately the dreams are getting worse, but also I am starting to feel like I did the first time the dragon migration came along. I mean I am feeling stabbing pains in my chest and I keep partially changing into a dragon.

So I woke up tonight feeling the pains, so I decided it was time. I opened the doors to my balcony and flew off towards the village. I remember where it was because my father’s journal had a map in it. When I was reasonably close to it a searing pain came from my chest and I started to lose control until I crashed into the ground.

Chapter 29: Vampiric Swiss Cheese

Let me tell you, crashing into the ground isn’t fun. I had crashed into the forest just outside of the village. So anyway, I am within walking distance to the village so I may as well travel on foot. After sometime of walking through the forest I finally came out to see the crumbling wall of the village.

The place was surrounded by a large brick wall. I’m surprised that it has held up after all these centuries. Granted there are a few holes and breaks in it. I can also see the large doors that lead into the city. One of them is gone from when the griffins broke in.

fMay as well head inside. I walked up to the large doors stepping over the rubble of the destroyed one. Haven’t seen this place for a long time, I have to hand it to the humans. They were good at architecture; most of the buildings are still standing. The buildings are mostly made of bricks coated in a sealant and painted and are usually two stories. Some of the sealants have broken and brick is showing through. The late month gives everything a decent cover of snow.

I walked down the asphalt street. Most of the buildings are lined up precisely on the sides of the street. Some doors were broken down from the griffins breaking in to get any humans hiding in their homes. I continued to walk down the street until I got to the center of town. Here there was a fountain that had crumbled centuries ago. There were also a few street lamps circling the fountain some were knocked over. Of course none of them were lit.

And there it is my old home. It is larger than the rest, since my father was the leader of the race, it has three floors. There is a staircase leading to the front door which is broken. May as well see my old home. When I walked through the door I looked to my right to see the kitchen. My father’s blood was gone. I then walked up the stairs to the third floor to find my bedroom. When I opened the door I could see how small I used to be. The bed was quite a bit smaller than I remember it. When try to lie down, my calves were over the edge. There was also a dresser that was kid-sized and a tiny couch.

Well I guess I better get to the monument to see what’s what. I headed down a road that lead away from the center and lead to a nearby field. Eventually I saw the monument to Bolas. It was actually a rather simple monument. It was basically a giant version of Bolas’ horns with the giant gem. The monument looked exactly the same as when I left. You could still see the magic engulfing the gem and circling the horns.

At first I saw nothing unusual but pretty soon there was a strange silhouette. Then more came until there were around fifteen. I turned into a snake and slithered closer until I got to a bush that I could hide in then returned to my normal form.

Now I could see the figures better. Honestly they were ugly little creatures, they were the same shape and size as ponies except they were black with bug wings and a horn. Their legs were full of holes and they had vampiric fangs jutting out of their muzzles and blue eyes. What are these things?

Soon, a vastly different one showed up. It was the about the same size as Celestia - it looked like an alicorn, except the legs were full of the holes and the horn was large and jagged. This one also had holes in its tail and mane and had green eyes instead of blue. It also had wings that matched the other creatures, and had less obtrusive fangs.

Once the larger one had caught up, it started to give orders to the others. I am guessing that one is the queen or something because the voice is very feminine. So what are these things doing? Oh the queen is talking.

“Alright we need to get that gem!” The creatures then began to fly up to the gem. One of the smaller ones walked up to her and made a hissing sound that I could for some reason understand.

“My queen, what about the inhabitants of that village?”

“Don’t worry those creatures have been dead for centuries.”

So that is a queen I am so good at guessing. Okay, what are the little ones up to? I looked over to the horns and saw that they were all slamming into it I’m guessing trying to get it out. Whose idea was that? I mean what was he thinking? Hey guys I’m sure we can get it out if we bash our heads into it enough times. Idiots.

Eventually the queen finally did something; she flew up to the gem. Then she started to follow her genius drones in bashing into the gem. Agh! Ok the stabbing pain in my chest is starting up again. Oh hey that voice is back.

Stop them! They cannot let that gem leave the horns!

Why not?

If that gem leaves the horns the stored magic will likely destroy all the life within a large radius.

Well that would ruin my Friday dinner plans.

Just stop them!

Jeez that voice is pushy. So I guess I better stop them. I walked out of the bush and up to the horns once I was within ear shot I shouted. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing!?”

A bunch of black faces then popped out from behind the gem with the queens at the top. She flew down to me and landed right in front of me. “Interesting, I thought all of the humans were dead.”

“Well obviously not. So what are you supposed to be?”

“I am Chrysalis, Queen of the changelings.”

“Wait you guys are changelings?” Great, my shape shifting came from a bunch of creatures that look like moldy Swiss cheese. “So anyway, why do you want the gem?”

“It’s simple human, it is charged with so much magic I would become strong enough to conquer the world if I drained even a fraction of it.”

“Yeah I can’t let you take it.”

“Ha, and how do you plan to stop us?” then all the little changelings flew down to stand on either side of her. Hmm now how should I kill them?

Hey, it’s me again. I was thinking and I found a power we haven’t used before.

Awesome! What is it?

Apparently we can turn our arms into dragon heads and shoot fire. The best part is it’s actually stronger than our usual fire in this form.

Ok I’ll give it a try. I then thought about my hand being a dragon head and it turned into one. Then I shot a fireball that enveloped all the changelings on her right. I did the same to the left. I could see the anger in her eyes as Chrysalis looked at the ash piles that used to be her changelings. She then let out some weird shriek and a dozens of changelings came flying in from the sky. Where did those come from anyway?

Hmm I wonder what happens if I fuse my hands into one head. Let’s find out, I put my hands together and turned them into one huge head then I pointed up and fired. It shot a huge blast of flame that enveloped them all. When the fire subsided there were no more changelings.

That is so awesome! Then I heard a growl and suddenly my face was shoved in the dirt. Ugh dirt does not taste good. When I got back up Chrysalis was right in front of me she did not look too happy.

“How dare you kill my changelings!”

“Not my fault they burn so easily.”

“Shut up!” she then punched me in the face. She flew up to the monument and went into the magic circling it. Chrysalis started to glow with magical power. She then laughed what I guess was supposed to be an evil laugh but just sounded silly. Then she shot a large beam of magic at me it was large and looked pretty powerful. I turned my hand into a dragon head and shot fire. The fire easily beat the beam and went through to Chrysalis and made a baked changeling. Surprisingly it actually did smell like burnt cheese.

Well that was boring. I walked up to her body and looked at it; she was still twitching so I guess I didn’t kill her. Oh hey, she’s waking up! All she did was let out a growl and glare at me before she stood up.

“So you wanna go away and leave the gem alone?”

“Fine I’ll leave but this isn’t over human.” She then flew away I’m guessing to her hole or under a rock or wherever changelings live. Well I guess I’d better head home.

Chapter 30: Worst Holliday Ever!

Sorry about how behind this one is, I was having trouble getting in the mood to type while I processed the whole Twilight alicorn thing.

Ugh, it’s one of the worst times of the year today. Hearts and Hooves Day, I hate it so much! And not for any of those stupid problems of the lesser being. Not because I’m lonely or jealous of the couples. I hate it because first off the entire city is covered in pink hearts and there are flowers everywhere. I also have a problem with those hearts; they look nothing like real ones!

Another problem I have is the fact that the citizens are so lovey and cuddly ugh! At least Cadence and Shiny are keeping their relationship secret still so they aren’t a problem. Then Celestia has no one special so that keeps this romantic stuff far from home.

Well I’m going to head to my room where nothing is romance themed. I did pass Twilight and Cadence on the way to the stairs they were talking about something. I waved to them as I headed upstairs.

Twilight and Cadence were sitting near the stairs, Twilight was telling Cadence about the history of the holiday when Sean walked by. Cadence wasn’t very interested but she listened to be nice to Twilight. As Sean walked away Twilight turned back to Cadence.

Cadence turned to Twilight “So Twilight got anypony special this year?”

“There is one boy I have considered. But I don’t think he feels the same way.” Twilight was looking the staircase Sean had gone up looking a bit dreamy.

Does Twilight have a crush on… No that can’t be it. Cadence thought.

Cadence was walking up one of the towers to Princess Celestia’s study; she knew she would be there this time of day. The Princess always spent the hour before dinner in her study. She knocked on the door after a few seconds she heard Celestia tell her to come in.

Cadence opened the door and walked in. She was amazed at how the princess was able to keep her study so neat and tidy despite how often she was in here writing and reading. All the books were neatly tucked into the large bookshelves lined up in alphabetical order and by type. Celestia was sitting near the fireplace looking over some kind of scroll.

She looked up from it to look at Cadence. “Hello Cadence, what can I do for you?”

Cadence walked over to the fireplace and sat in front of the Princess. “I was hoping to ask you something about Sean.”

“What did he break this time?” Celestia sighed.

“Oh, nothing like that. I was wondering about his romantic life.”

Celestia let out a slight laugh. “Sean and romance have never even been acquainted. I think that when they were playing with his genetics they removed the romance part of his brain to fit more sarcasm.”

Cadence was surprised at how the princess reacted to her question. “So he has never had a very special somepony for Hearts and Hooves day?”

“Nope, he hates this holiday. One time he tried to get the ponies of Canterlot to sign a petition to ban it. As you can guess it didn’t work out.”

“Interesting,” Cadence put her hoof to her chin thinking.

“Why do you ask? Did he imply being interested in somepony?” The princess was looking at her intently.

“What? Oh no, he’s never said anything, especially not to me. I was just curious.” She got and walked out the door. Leaving behind a very confused Celestia.

Praise Bolas this horrid day is nearly over. However now is one of the worst parts of the day. At dinner Celestia makes us all exchange Hearts and Hooves day gifts. I have no problem with giving them gifts, the problem is the fact that they are always shaped like hearts and have disgusting poems on them.

When I walked into the dining hall everyone except Twilight and Spike were there. Blueblood was gone too. He stopped attending this dinner after I threatened to show him what a real heart looked like using his as the example.

So after Spike and Twilight showed up we decided to just give each other the gifts. They were all the generic sort of gifts. You know cards and candy, which is the only redeeming quality of this holiday the obscene amount of candy.

I was surprised by Twilight's gift. It was a large piece of chocolate in the shape of a dragon. It was way more awesome than what she got the others. For that I broke one of my personal rules. I intentionally gave a living being a hug. Twilight seemed pretty happy and a bit surprised at the hug. I figured she went to a lot of trouble to get this gift so it seemed appropriate.

The others were all looking at me in surprise. “What!?”

“Nothing!” They all said in unison and looked away.

After dinner I went to bed. Of course just as I was drifting off to sleep there was a knock at my door. I got up and opened the door. Cadence was standing there looking up at me.

“What do you want Cadence? It had better be something extremely important.”

“I just want to know something, what do you think of Twilight?”

“She’s one of the few ponies I can tolerate. If you want detail I would say I consider her to be like a little sister to me. Why do you ask?”

“Oh no reason.” Cadence turned and headed down the stairs.

I hate her so much right now. She woke me up to ask what I think of Twilight, seriously. Who does that!? That’s why she is not on the list of ponies I can tolerate.

Chapter 31: Workout Fail!

Ah finally, I thought that meeting would never end. I just had a meeting with some of Celestia’s lesser advisors. The meeting was about where the summer sun celebration should be this year. Honestly I don’t care I only went because Celestia said she would throw out all my cupcakes. Ultimately it became my decision. I just said the first town that popped into my head which coincidentally was Ponyville. Anyway I feel that a nap is in order.

“Sean!” I looked behind me and saw Spike running up to me.

“What do you want Spike?”

“You’re pretty strong right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well I want to be strong like you.”

“Ok, what do I have to do with this?”

“Would you help me exercise to become stronger?”

“Sure why not.”

So the gym in the palace is pretty nice. There is a lot of cool equipment; there are some weight benches, a few punching bags, a weight bench specially designed for working wings, and some sparing mats in the corner of the room. I walked up to a rack of weights. Ok, let’s see here we go fifty pounds. Spike was standing just behind me waiting for orders.

“Here Spike, lift this.” I tossed the weight to him.

“Aah!” he tried to catch the weight but tipped back and then fell backwards. The weight was as big as a barbell on him. It was on his chest and he was struggling trying to lift it up. “Sean, I can’t lift it. Help.”

“Wow,” I walked up and grabbed the weight. The sad thing is I only used one arm to get it off of him. “Okay, let’s try the punching bags.”

We walked over to the bags; they were about as tall as me which meant they basically dwarfed the purple dragon. “Alright Spike, just punch it.”

“Okay,” he then raised his right hand and slugged it. That was a good punch I guess, it went back like two feet. The next part was hilarious. The bag flew pretty fast and smacked Spike right in the face. He went flying at least five feet.

“Well that didn’t work.”

“No kidding.” He walked back up to me rubbing his head.

“Yeah, well back to the training.”

Spike and I spent like two hours ‘exercising’ I say it that way because he couldn’t lift anything I gave him, he was bested by the bag seven times, and on the treadmill tripped and flew backwards into the wall. This was all very funny for me though.

“Sean I have a question.”

“What is it buddy?”

“Have you ever actually exercised?”

“Nope.”

“How are you so strong then?”

“Well my awesome is a key factor, but I am naturally as strong as I am.”

“Then why did you agree to train me?”

“I dunno, I was bored.”

“Oh.” He looked at the ground seeming rather dejected. Great, now I feel bad.

“Okay Spike, you may never be as strong as me or as awesome but you’ll get stronger. Tell you what how about we go hang out.”

“Okay!” he looked up smiling.

I am really starting to hate my bedroom door. Simply because everyone is always knocking on it in the middle of the night or early in the morning. Just leave me alone! So this time it was Celestia early in the morning, that’s a new twist.

“What do you want Celestia?”

“Today’s the day Sean!”

“The day that you ponies all agree to leave me alone?”

“No, it’s the day my sister returns.”

“Great tell her I said hi.” I then slammed the door in her face. Now back to bed. Then I heard my door knob turning and Celestia walked in to my room. Talking again.

“Sean, there are a few things that I need you to do.”

“What?” I rolled over to look at her. She was standing to the side of my bed looking down at me.

“First as usual you are in charge of the palace while I am in Ponyville however I don’t expect much to happen here. However, I have a new task for you as well. When I bring Luna home it would be great if my best friend and sister could become friends.”

“Great, is that it?”

“No, one thing is I am going to need you to teach Luna to fight once she gains her full strength.”

“Why would I need to do that?”

“I want her to be ready if we ever get into a real war.”

“Fine, now go away and let me sleep.” I then rolled over and turned my back to her. I heard her walk away and then the door open and then close.

I woke up about three hours after Celestia bugged me. I headed for the dining hall to get breakfast. When I walked in Celestia was reading some kind of letter. “Morning Celestia whatcha reading?”

“Oh just a letter from Twilight regarding Nightmare Moon.”

“Oh cool. So what are you gonna tell her?”

“I’m just going to tell her Nightmare Moon is only a myth.” She then pulled out a quill not sure I wanna know from where and began to write.

“Sounds good to me. I have one question.”

“What is it?”

“What are we going to do if this plan with Twilight and the elements fails? You can’t use them anymore and without them you can’t beat her.”

She let out a sigh. “If all else fails you have my permission to deal with her however you see fit.”

“Sounds like fun.” Celestia then flashed the letter she had been writing away.

Today was so boring. I did notice it was dark for a long time. Guess Nightmare Moon did get out. Absolutely no one came into the palace today. Time for my nap.

I moved to a window in the throne room climbed on the window sill and fell asleep.

Chapter 32: Cast Change

“Sean get up, Luna is here.” I felt some one shaking me.

“What?” I opened my eyes to see Celestia standing near me. I jumped off the sill and looked around. “Where?”

“Right here.” Celestia looked down. I followed her gaze and saw a light blue alicorn with a black crown and sparkling horse shoes. Her cutie mark was a moon and she had a black chest plate with a moon on it. I was surprised, I expected her to be almost as tall as Celestia and maybe more formidable. She was only about as big as Twilight and looked very childish.

“This is her?”

“OF COURSE!” The tiny princess shouted at me. It nearly knocked me over. How can something so small have such a loud voice?

“Ow! What was that for you nearly broke my eardrums!”

“DON’T TALK TO US LIKE THAT PEASANT!”

“For Bolas’ sake STOP SHOUTING AT ME! BESIDES, I AM NOT A PEASANT.”

“Of course you are. That is why we are using the royal Canterlot voice, it is what we use for our subjects.” This time she didn’t use the voice.

“I am not one of your subjects! If anything you are beneath me!”

“FOOL! NOPONY IS HIGHER THAN US!”

“If you shout at me one more time I will make sure you can’t speak ever again!” I turned my arm into a blade and raised it above my head.

Then we were both engulfed in a magic aura and pushed back from each other. Celestia then stepped between us. “ENOUGH! Luna, Sean is not a subject he is equal to us in every way so treat him like an equal,” She then turned to me. “And that goes for you as well. Luna is your equal as well. So treat each other with respect.”

“Fine.” We said in unison.

“Wait Celestia, where are Twilight and Spike?”

“Oh they have decided to stay in Ponyville with the other elements.”

“So who were the others?”

“I believe their names were Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy.”

“Cool, so I am friends with all but one of them.”

So Luna has been around for about two month now. Her appearance has been changing over time. First she started to get taller until she was only a few inches shorter than me. Next her mane began to grow and become all breezy like Celestia’s, then it turned darker blue and stars appeared in it. Finally her coat began to turn a dark blue. According to Celestia she is changing from building up her magic again.

Luna and I have become friends over time. The only problem I have with her is that “royal we” seriously it gets really old. Everything is in the third person, I mean who is this other person!? At least when I talk like that it is because there is another voice in my head. Celestia really needs to give her some grammar lessons.

While I was walking through the palace I heard Celestia calling me from behind me. “Sean, I need to talk to you.”

I turned to look at her. “What is it Celestia?”

“Now that Luna is back to full strength I think it is time for you to train her.”

“Ok, send her to the guard training grounds in an hour.”

“Sounds good.” she then walked down the hall.

Ugh she’s late! I have been waiting out here for half an hour. She was supposed to be here at 1:00 for our first day of training. Ah there she is. Luna was walking down the stone path that lead to the arena I was standing in.

“Hey Luna you’re late.”

“Yes, we had an argument with our sister.”

“What about?”

“These lessons, we do not see why they are necessary. We are perfectly capable in combat.”

“Really? Well you won’t mind fighting me then.”

“We will gladly fight if you agree to not use your regenerative powers.”

“Alright I promise. However there is one condition.”

“What?”

“If I win the fight you have to deal with my lessons and not complain.”

“Very well, we will have no problem beating you.”

Oh I can’t wait to beat the smug right out of her. Even though she is my friend her arrogance gets old. “Then let’s get started.” I snapped my fingers and some guards came carrying a crate. When they put it down I opened it and pulled out a sword, spear, and flail. “Choose your weapon.”

Luna walked up to the weapons and looked them over; she ended up using her magic and lifting the sword. She then turned to me and pointed it at me. I smiled and turned my arm into my large serrated blade that has replaced my old smaller blade arm. The best part about this fight is that this arena is enchanted so that the fighters can be injured and even killed but once they leave the arena they completely heal.

Luna charged at me and swung the sword towards my head. I ducked bellow it and then kicked her in the face. The swing was very inaccurate and sloppy this will be a very easy battle. Luna picked herself up and glared at me. She charged at me this time when she swung her sword she went for my feet. Again, a sloppy swing. This time I jumped over the blade and her, and swept out her legs.

Luna picked herself up and glared at me. She then charged at me this time when she swung her sword she went for my feet. Again, a sloppy swing. Once again, I jumped over her and kicked her legs out from underneath her.

I then stepped on her back. “Ready to give up?” I asked mockingly.

Luna growled and then teleported out from under me. I saw a flash behind me and saw her now with a spear. She jabbed right for my chest, but I grabbed the spear and then pushed it in a few times bumping her in the muzzle lightly. When her concentration broke and she dropped the spear I kicked her in the jaw which knocked her onto the ground. She looked over at the flail and then teleported it over to her. She leapt up and swung it. I blocked with my blade arm. The flail wrapped around my arm. I drained the magic from it. I kneed her in the lower jaw. She went flying back. When I walked up to her she had been knocked out.

I picked her up and carried her back to the palace. When I walked back into the palace Celestia was waiting. When she saw her sister she commented. “I can see it didn’t go well for her.”

“Nope, she has a lot of problems; her fighting style is very inaccurate and sloppy, she is also very slow in her reaction time. We will work on that tomorrow.” I carried Luna to a bench in the hall and put her down. “Well, it’s time for my daily nap.”

Chapter 33: A Luna! Kill It With Fire!

It’s already time for Luna’s training; we were walking down the path to the arena. True to her agreement, Luna wasn’t complaining. In fact she seemed almost excited.

“Okay Luna, are you ready for your training?”

“We are ready.”

“Good, today we are going to work on your form when it comes to using a weapon.”

We spent a few hours working on her accuracy and control until she was very fluent and able to defeat a trained guard in a sword fight. “Good work Luna! We’re done for the day. I’m gonna go take a nap.”

This is weird there are some guards carrying different boxes to Luna’s room. Celestia was standing near the staircase that leads to Luna’s room. “Celestia, what’s going on?”

“Hello Sean, well you see Luna has always loved games.”

“Yeah.”

“Luna recently discovered things known as video games. They are imported from the zebra’s.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“I thought you’d like the idea so I got both you and Luna the systems and some games.”

“Awesome.”

So those video games are pretty fun. Luna seems to really enjoy them. We’ve been playing games together. Of course we still train every day. We’ve been training for two months now and it is time for her final test.

I’ve decided to make an interesting angle for the test. I am planning to make it video game themed. I will make a huge castle. She’ll fight guards and I will be the “boss” of it. I have made Celestia make a castle using magic and cast the same spell that was put on the arena so the guards and Luna can “die”. The castle was awesome, it was as large as the palace, except it was made of black bricks the path to the door had dragons along it and the door handles were shaped like my dragon forms horns.

I had Celestia lead Luna to the castle I told her what she was going to have to do she seemed excited by the idea. I had some guards bring her a crate. In it was a sword, a custom made helmet, body covers, and leggings the armor was all black. The Sword had a black blade, and the hilt was shaped like a crescent moon.

“Well see you if you make it to me.” I then grew wings and flew to the top of the castle.

Luna used her magic to put the armor on her body, the helmet covered the top of her head, the body armor covered all of her torso, and the leggings surrounded all of her legs. She lifted the sword and put it in the sheath that was built into the armor.

She walked up to the front door. The main gate was very intimidating, it was two large doors, they were pitch black with the carving of a dragons face in it. She used her magic and opened the gate and set off.

Luna had been traveling through the castle for an hour. Luckily its design was very straight forward. The guards were pretty easy to beat. Finally she reached a large door. It had three large serpentine dragons arching over it and the handles were shaped like curved horns. She guessed that this must be the door to where Sean was.

Bolas! She is taking forever to get here. Maybe I can get that voice in my head to talk to me. He sorta of lacks a sense of humor but it’s better than sitting here.

“Hey voice, can you hear me?”

What!?

“No need to yell, I’m just bored. So have you found any new powers or anything?”

You seriously bugged me because you were bored?! Whatever, to your question yes actually.

“Awesome! What is it?”

Now that you’re more dragon than human we can use small amounts of dragon power without full transformation. The most fun is if you relax and just let go we will get all the strength of the dragon body but keep the agility of your human form.

“Sounds fun, I’ll have to try it on Luna.”

Good for you. Now leave me alone.

“Jeez someone is pissy.”

I heard that!

Luna used her magic to open the door when she walked in she saw in the center of the room there was a throne that resembled Sean’s in the throne room of the palace. The ceiling was at least eighty feet tall and the entire room was a dull gold color. There were windows all along the walls that were similar to the ones in the palace. They seemed to be telling a story. They showed what looked like some sort of battle that ended with three dead serpentine dragons a dead black one and a hideous green monster dead. All that was on the left of the room. On the right there was what looked like the life story of Sean.

In the center behind Sean’s throne there was a picture of those three serpentine dragons from before. They made a half circle, at the top there was a pitch black dragon and a green one. In the center there was a larger armored dragon with curved horns. And there sitting in the middle of the room was Sean he was wearing some strange armor.

He had guards on his forearms and biceps, his entire lower legs were covered in gold armor, his thighs had armor that when it went towards his knees pointed out. He had a long gold plate that went from his chest to his knees. On his hands he had what looked like gold gloves with claws at the tips of his fingers.

Luna pointed her sword towards him but he didn’t even look at her. Upon further inspection she realized he was asleep. This is going to be an easy win. She thought. Luna snuck up to the throne she lifted her sword and prepared to bring it down on his head. But he suddenly moved kicking her in the face. The kick sent her flying across the room.

“Hello Luna, I thought you’d never show up. Good try with the killing me in my sleep.” he got up from his throne. “Now allow me to explain some rules to this fight. I will be able to use all of my powers including regeneration. However, if you manage to inflict a fatal blow on me you win.”

Luna got back up. “Seems fair enough.”

Let’s give this a shot. Sean closed his eyes when he opened them Luna was surprised. His eyes had gone from their usual purple to an emerald green. “Let’s get this party started!” his voice was also slightly deeper.

Sean turned his hands both into the usual large serrated blades and leapt at her. Luna managed to dodge just in time. He seemed to be faster than usual. She then jumped towards him and swung her sword at his head. Sean blocked with his arm. He tried to knee her in the face but she teleported away first.

Luna pulled out some throwing knives she had taken off a guard’s body and shot them at him. Sean put his left arm in front of him and deflected most of them. One managed to get into his shoulder, and another hit a part of his knee that had been exposed. When he lowered his arm he saw Luna flying at him with her sword extended.

Sean jumped back. He landed on one of the walls. He then pushed off and launched straight at Luna. She tried to dodge, but Sean managed to cut part of her shoulder. Sean rolled behind her and spun around swinging his arms in an X motion. Luna jumped and swung her sword he ducked but she managed to graze his chest. The swing managed to cut part of his chest plate. He turned his hand into a dragon head and shot a column of fire at her. Her armor managed to keep her from being cooked but sent her flying into the wall behind her.

Realizing that the armor was just weighing him down, he grabbed his chest plate and tore it off; he did the same with the rest of the armor. While he was throwing a knee cover off Luna saw a chance. She lunged at him he tried to avoid her but she managed to cut his arm off.

Sean’s arm began to grow back. Luna wasn’t going to give him time to recover. She decided to go on the offensive. She kept attacking cutting him in multiple places. His regeneration was having a hard time keeping up with all the injuries his body was taking. However, Luna started to get a bit out of breath and the swings began to slow down. With one pretty slow overhead swing aimed for his head he managed to block with his right arm. He then changed the shape of his blade so that her sword went further into the blade. Sean then changed the shape again completely enveloping Luna’s sword. Next he drained the magic from the blade making her lose her grip on it.

Sean then gave a nasty upper cut to the jaw which sent her flying into the air. She managed to recover before she hit the wall. She looked down at him to see him take her sword and break it in half. He threw the halves on the ground. She decided it was time to try a new approach using the magic she was best at.

Luna concentrated and began to turn the entire room pitch black. Being the princess of the night she could see perfectly in the dark. The other half of fun was the fact that it also showed the enemy their greatest fear. She saw Sean standing there and knew now was her chance to end this. She flew down towards him picking up a lot of speed as she went. By the time she reached him she should be going fast enough to blow him to bits.

Then something unexpected happened. Sean jumped up and landed on her back. He then folded her wings they were now heading straight for the ground. Just before they reached it Sean jumped off of her and she only face planted into the floor. She lost her concentration and the room lit up again.

Sean looked at the dust cloud Luna had made. He smiled that was pretty simple did she really think a sad little spell like that could beat him?

Then one half of Luna’s sword flew at him. It he easily dodged it. But then the other half of the sword came flying at him and punctured his chest. The impact knocked him down; the sword had missed his heart so he was still alive. Before he could stand back up multiple knives came and stabbed all over his body. There were so many injuries that it basically overloaded his power and he was stuck there if only for a short while.

Luna walked out of the dust cloud looking rather proud of herself. She levitated the blade of her broken sword and pointed it at his face. “Now Sean, before we win this fight we want to know how you managed to ignore the powers of my spell. Even our sister can’t resist the powers.

“Wow you know nothing. First of all the darkness is easy to beat with dragon eyes. Plus that little fear trick you use doesn’t work because all my fears I have conquered over the centuries.”

“Interesting. Now we will be ending this fight, it’s over Sean.”

“Aw how cute you think that you’ve won.” Sean’s eyes then began to get smaller and the irises and pupils were being enveloped by the emerald green. His teeth also began to sharpen.

Luna knew what was coming. “Oh no you don’t, we will not let you transform.” She swung her sword down at him. But he tore his arm free of the knives and blocked it. He then jumped up freeing himself from the other knives. His body started to transform and he began to grow. His index and middle finger fused together as did his ring and pinky. Then he grew to sixty feet and transformed completely.

Luna looked up at the massive dragon that now towered above her. That explains the high ceiling. It looked down at her and let out a roar that knocked the door behind her off its hinges. Luna started to try and think. She could hold her own against the human form that was only a bit bigger than her. But she didn’t know how she would be able to beat a sixty foot tall dragon that was also considered the most powerful dragon in the world.

Then she had an idea. Larger creatures are slower so she may be able to out speed him and find a weak point. She shot up into the air. Flying around his head she shot magic bolts at him. He tried to knock her out of the sky but she was too fast.

“Ha! That massive dragon body is nowhere near fast enough to take us down!” suddenly a massive wing expanded in front of her. She didn’t have time to react and ended up flying right into it. In her daze a massive hand smacked her into the ground. She tried to get up but the muscles in her body had frozen from the shock of the blow. She looked up at Sean. He opened his mouth and shot a fireball at her then it was done.

Well that was pretty fun. Haven’t had good fight like that in ages. I shrunk back to my human form and walked over to Luna’s charred body. I picked it up and head out the door I had knocked over. I walked past multiple guard bodies. Eventually I walked through the front door. When I got outside. I turned to the right when I rounded the corner of the castle there was a button. I pressed it, the palace began to spark, and then a magic field came from the center and spread out over a large radius. Then the castle dissolved. That button was basically a reset button. I destroyed the castle and released a spell to heal and revive all the ponies in the radius of it. I felt Luna’s cooked body return to normal. I then carried her back to the palace.

Celestia and I were sitting in Luna’s room waiting for her to wake up. I was sitting on a couch in her room playing games. Celestia was sitting on a chair watching. I told Celestia about the test and all that. After about an hour of waiting Luna finally started to wake up. I heard her get up and walk over to a chair on the other side of the couch.

I looked over. “Hey look, baked pony is awake!” I felt a pillow hit the back of my head. I looked back to see Celestia glaring at me. “What?”

“So how badly did we fail?” Luna looked down at the ground looking upset.

“You didn’t fail you passed with flying colors!” I threw my hands in the air. Sadly the games controller flew out of my hand and crashed through a window. After a few seconds there was a thud and a guard screaming.

After listening to the guard screaming and swearing we went back to talking. “But we lost, how can we have passed.”

“Simple. You were guaranteed to lose that fight. You can’t hope to beat perfection. After all you still did better than Celestia ever could.” Luna ended up smiling at that.

“HEY!” I looked back to Celestia she was glaring at me. “I could totally beat you in a fight!”

“Of course.” I rolled my eyes. “You can beat up anybody you want.” I leaned over and patted her head condescendingly.

She growled at me and walked out of the room. Luna and I shared a laugh at her reaction.

Chapter 34: Showing Some Authority

So I’m heading up to Celestia’s study, the weird thing is she usually talks to me in throne room so this is a strange change of pace. When I got to the door to the study and opened it, I saw Celestia sitting at her desk looking pretty angry. I noticed there was one book sitting in the middle of the room. It was open to some page about enchantments.

“Hey Celestia, why’d you want to talk to me in here?” I walked towards her.

She looked up at me she looked like she wanted to kill something. I stopped moving, I’d rather not be killed. “Because I wanted to speak to you and ensure nopony would hear us.”

“Okay?”

“Read this letter!” she threw a scroll in my face.

I took the scroll off my face and read it. Apparently some buffalo were giving the new settlement Appleloosa some trouble. “Alright, I fail to see the problem; it says they resolved the problem.”

“Yes, for now.” She now looked pretty paranoid. “But how long until they want more land and more pies from us? What will we do when they decide they have no use for us and destroy Appleloosa all together?” She started to pace across the room

“I highly doubt that is going to happen.”

“You’re right it won’t, because I am sending you to show them whose boss.”

“That seems like a bit of an overreaction.” She was definitely not acting like her usual self.

“Are you questioning my authority?” she spun to glare at me.

“Yes I am. You are acting very off. I don’t think beating up the buffalo is really necessary.”

“I remember Twilight telling me that one of them nearly ran her over and they kidnapped Spike at one point.”

“What?!”

“Yep, they tried to kill her and her friends and were going to skin Spike alive.” She turned and looked into my eyes.” So ask yourself, do you want to let the race that tried to kill all of them go unchecked?”

“You’re right, those horned freaks need to get a message across.”

“Exactly, so get on that. But first stand still.” Her horn started to glow in a black aura and it shot out and enveloped me. Then suddenly it just dispersed.

“What was that?” I looked myself over. Nothing physical seemed to be wrong with me.

“That was an enchantment I recently discovered, that should help you with your job.”

“Sounds like fun.” I then walked out her door into the hall.

Apparently these buffalo live really far away. It’s so boring flying to get there. It’s been like an hour and a half of flight before I could see Appleloosa. I landed and headed for what looked like the town hall. This whole town is strangely designed. Everything is very sort or rustic and old looking in a sort of charming way, and every single resident has some sort of goofy attire. When I walked in I saw the sheriff. He was a light brown pony with a darker brown mane and a black mustache.

He looked up and almost fell out of his chair. “Sean! What can I do for you sir?”

“I need you to tell me where the buffalo live.”

He showed me a map and pointed to the valley that they live in. “Thank you sheriff.”

“Um sir, if I may ask what do you want with the buffaloes?”

“I just want to talk politics with them.”

So it was another long flight to get to the valley. I decided that I was going to try talking to them first. Along the trip I decided to ask that voice about something.

“Hey voice, did you ever find out what Celestia did to me?”

Yes, and no.

“What does that mean?”

From what I can tell it has something to do with fear. I don’t entirely know what it does or how it works though. I am guessing we can use it like the rest of our powers. Though it requires physical contact .

“Oh well, if talking doesn’t work we can find out.”

It was probably noon when I finally found this stupid camp. I have to say they make Appleloosa seem advanced. They live in pointy fabric houses shaped liked cones. I landed just outside of it on a cliff.

I headed for the camp when I heard a voice behind me. “Stop!”

I turned around to see two buffalo in front of me. One was black and one was brown, both had silly feathers in their heads that made them look ridiculous. “Hi, I’m here to talk to your leader.”

“What is your business with the chief?”

“I was sent by the leader of Equestria, you know that country you live in? Well you guys are walking a fine line within our territory.”

“What are you talking about, we have made peace with your ponies.”

“Yes, but I need to make sure you don’t take this too far and try to take more land.”

“You don’t trust us!? We will not stand for this indignity.” He then charged at me along with his buddy.

And I thought this would be dull. I jumped onto the back of the brown buffalo. I pulled his head to the left and he rammed his buddy off the cliff we were on. I heard a scream and then there was a cracking sound. I then kept leaning until the one I was riding tipped over.

I got off and looked down at him. “Now are you going to let me talk to your leader?”

“Fine.”

After the buffalo picked himself up we headed down to the camp. There were buffalo all over the camp walking around and talking. Eventually we came to a cone that was larger than the rest.

“The chief is in there.” my unwilling guide said not sounding too happy.

I walked into the cone. There was a larger buffalo sitting in the middle. When I walked in he looked up at me. “What is the meaning of this intrusion?”

“Hey, my name is Sean. I was sent here by Princess Celestia to talk to you about your terrorist attack on Appleloosa.”

“That was in no way a terrorist attack! They declared war on us and we simply defended ourselves!”

“That’s not what I heard.”

“Are you calling me a liar?”

“Pretty much.”

In one surprisingly quick move he charged and rammed me. I flew through the roof of his cone. I landed right in the middle of the camp. I heard some steps and when I sat up the chief along with his whole group were surrounding me looking pretty unhappy.

“Hey, can’t we discuss this like civilized beings?”

“Why? Are you scared to fight?” the chief smirked at me.

“No, it is more for your protection.” I smiled at him.

“If you are so confident in your strength you won’t mind facing me one on one.”

“Sure, I haven’t killed a leader for a while now.”

He growled and charged at me. I leapt over him turned and kicked him in the leg shattering the joint. He got back up and charged at me again. I have to say even though it was much slower I was impressed he was even able to attack. Again I dodged and broke a leg.

Then I walked up to him. Let’s try out that fear thing. I walked up to him and touched his forehead. Then everything was dark for a moment and then I was in the middle of the camp except all the buffalo were gone except the chief who was unconscious in front of me. I looked down at him and suddenly a bunch of giant spiders began to appear around us. Suddenly the buffalo’s eyes opened. He got one look at the spiders and began to scream. They started to move closer and he began to cry. Then they walked around me and began to move in even closer. Then finally they started to eat him.

After his screams died down things went dark and then I was in reality again. I looked around to see all the buffalos looking at me in horror. I then looked at the chief to see he was screaming and crying and yelling for help. Then he began to quiet down and stopped moving. I don’t know if he was dead or what but I figured it was time for a speech.

“Listen buffalos! This is only a fraction of my power! Now you have one week to pack up and leave. If I return and you are still here, your entire camp will be wiped out.” That felt so good having that much control over another being just literally at my fingertips.

When I got home I headed for Celestia’s. When I got there Celestia was waiting.

“So, how did your mission go?”

“Great, they should be gone within three days or I will burn down the whole camp.”

“Good, time to show the rest of the races whose boss.

Chapter 35: Time for Some Real Revenge.

“Sir, I think you’re overreacting.”

“Am I?” The griffin king spun to look at his assistant. “Look at what’s been going on!”

“So the other leaders have experienced unfortunate accidents recently, it does not mean that you will.”

“Unfortunate accidents!? Let’s see, the buffalo have gone missing, the diamond dogs tunnels were found with scorch marks all over them, and the minotaur leader was found hung in his room. And at each site two curved horns have been found scorched into the ground.” The king’s left eye began to twitch and he was sweating. “Don’t you see? Whatever is doing this is taking down all the governments!”

“True, but we have upped security, you will be safe here.”

“Ha! That’s what the minotaur leader said about his forces before he turned up.”

The king and his assistant walked down the corridor to his office in silence. When they got to the door the assistant gasped in shock and the king ran up to the door. There nailed into the door, was a griffin talon. It was holding a note as well. The king grabbed it and read.

Dear Filthy Griffin, I have recently come into possession of a new collection of trophies. I would be honored if you came to see. Meet me at the abandoned city just outside of your capital’s walls tonight. I would hurry if I were you; one of your little council men is giving me a little sass. I may have to take his hand off. So it’s a date, see you there.

The king growled and ripped the note in half. “Get some of my guards! I’m going out tonight!”

********************

Luna walked into her room. She was worried about her sister. About a month ago she was sleeping when she saw a flash of magic from her sister’s study. Luna had not paid much attention to it at the time, but Celestia was becoming increasingly aggressive and short tempered.

She also noticed that Sean was leaving and returning to her study. Whenever she listened at the door she could not understand them very well. Luckily Luna had been able to put a tracking spell on Sean before he left for who knows where. Now it was time to see what he was doing for her sister.

*******************

The griffin king and his guards walked to the front gate of the old city. It was once the capital of the griffin territory, however when it was attacked by some dragons awhile back, it was abandoned and the new city was built a few miles north. Most of the city was scorched and destroyed. But the old castle was still standing. When the griffins entered they walked down the main street until they came to the castle.

The same curved horns were burned into the front of the castle. The king turned to his guards. “Okay men, we don’t know what sort of beast we are dealing with, so be ready.”

He then turned and opened the doors. When he opened the door a huge blade came out the king ducked but it cut one of his griffins in half.

The griffin summoned his courage and entered the castle.

The king sprinted to the throne room door. He had never been so terrified; his guards had all been slaughtered by various sadistic traps.

He barged through the door. There in the middle of the room was his worst nightmare. There the human sat with a cupcake in hand. When the king came in he looked over at him. The griffin noticed his eyes were a blood red, unlike the typical purple or green

“Oh hey you made it. I was beginning to think you had ignored my invitation.” He said.

“You! It’s been you killing all the leaders!”

“Well technically I only killed the dogs, the buffalo died from a nightmare, and the Minotaur killed himself.”

“What have you done with my council?”

“Oh, I made them decorations.” He then pointed and the king realized that the bodies of his griffins were strung up on the upper walls.

“Wait, I have ten, I only see nine.”

“Oh yeah, you see I was curious if you guys really do taste like chicken, so I tried one of them. For the record you don’t.” he then let out a cruel sadistic laugh that sent chills down the griffin’s spine.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Well you see, Celestia has gotten sick of the other races stepping all over us. So she commissioned me to teach you all whose boss.” Sean then walked up to him and poked him on the forehead. “And you are my last target.”

Then the griffin began to hear moans. He looked at the bodies of his council and they began to move. They slid down the walls moaning in pain. They then began to walk towards him. He noticed to his horror that all they were missing their eyes.

Then they started to speak, they all were saying different things that were all horrid. The monarch was so terrified he couldn’t move.

“You failed us, king!” They began to talk in unison. “He came to our homes, he tormented us, made us watch as he killed each of us in different cruel ways.”

Then one by one they walked in front of him. They opened their mouths and the king saw each of their deaths. He felt their fear and pain as they were slaughtered.

Then to his horror they began to merge until they were a giant version of the human. He laughed and then he turned his hand into a blade. He grabbed the king and began to skin him alive. The king screamed in agony as he felt his skin being torn from his flesh. Then the griffin from shock died.

I looked down at the dead king at my feet. That was so much fun. I have really gotten good with the fear magic. It’s funny because his body is perfectly intact. Luckily he was still able to feel all the pain as if it were real. I stepped over the dead king and headed home.

********************

Luna stepped away from her crystal ball. She had been watching Sean through a crystal ball in her bedroom. That was the most disturbing thing she had ever seen. She now knew something was wrong, Sean and Celestia would never do such horrible things. Despite Sean’s hatred of griffins this was too far even for him.

She decided it was time to investigate.

Chapter 36: Part One of Luna's Plan to Save Equestria

Luna sat outside Celestia’s study. When Sean had gotten home he had gone straight for Celestia’s study. He gave a report and then went to bed, Luna had waited until her sister left her study to go in. She was going to find out what was making them act so strangely.

She spent hours searching the study, as she was about to give up something caught her eye. She saw something gold sticking out from under the pillow near the fireplace. She levitated it with her magic and looked at it. It was a book with gold corners. Luna read the title

Black Magic: Curses, Enchantments, and Mind control.
Luna then opened it and saw a note sticking out.

Dear Celestia, I’m glad to see you reading this book. By now you likely have been hit by the dark aura that was released when you opened this book. Soon you will become much crueler and aggressive, eventually you will destroy yourself and Equestria.

The note then just stopped. There was no name or title on the note. She knew something was wrong with her sister; she had been cursed by this book. She flipped through the pages looking for some sort of reverse until she came across a bookmark. It was on a page talking about something known as the fear curse.

Fear: Fear is an emotion induced by a perceived threat which causes entities to quickly pull away from it and usually hide. The Fear Curse gives the enchanted the ability to inflict a beings darkest fears onto them. With constant use one will be able to manipulate the nightmare to their will. WARNING! If the enchantment is left on a being for too long they will mentally begin to decay until the spell causes them to experience its affects.

This must be what she had put on Sean to give him that power he used on the griffin. Luckily there was a cure on the bottom of the page. Apparently if she was not the initial caster of the spell all she had to do was defeat him in the dream world and the spell would drain from him. She had to hurry, from what she had seen in his encounter with the griffin he was clearly beginning to fall apart.

Luna opened the door to Sean’s room, he was asleep; his hydra was nowhere to be seen. Luna walked up to him and touched her horn to his head.

Suddenly Luna was standing on a slab of stone in a desert. All around her it looked like a destroyed city, there were destroyed buildings, crumbling columns, and all of these things were buried in the sand. She saw some buildings that were almost completely submerged. Luna looked up to the sky and saw that the sky was mostly normal except some parts were cracked and some places were missing chunks of sky and she could see what looked like a black hole.
Then Luna heard a terrible laugh that she thought she would never hear again, she turned to see Nightmare Moon standing on the other side of the small stone island they were on.

“Oh look who it is! It’s Princess Luna. You were a fool to come here; this world will be your tomb!”

Before Luna could respond Nightmare Moon shot a black beam of magic at her. Luna jumped to the side to dodge it, as she recovered Nightmare Moon rammed into her; Luna went flying and flew through a column and landed on the roof of another building. As she got up she heard that horrible laugh, and Nightmare landed in front of her.

“You are pathetic; you never should have let the elements return you to this weak form of yours!”

“Don’t underestimate me.” Luna then used her magic to break off part of a column and smash Nightmare with it. Nightmare
screamed in pain as she was smashed through several columns and a building until she finally landed onto their original island.

As Nightmare tried to recover Luna flew up to her and blasted her with a beam of magic, Nightmare let out a cry of agony. She then tried to get up but one of her legs was broken. Luna walked up to her.

“You know I’m not afraid of you anymore, I have beaten you and now I am free of you.”

Suddenly Nightmare faded away. Then Luna heard clapping behind her. She turned to see Sean walking up to her. She noticed that his eyes were blood red.

“Well done Luna. You managed to beat a sorry excuse for a villain.” He walked right up to her, “Now let’s see you beat a real opponent” he then kneed her in the chest and sent her flying. Luna landed in the sand and began to sink. She managed to teleport out and land behind Sean.

Luna was right, Sean was definitely not right in the head, more so than usual. Maybe she could take him like this. Luna then rammed into him, her horn stabbed through his spine. He growled then turned and punched her. His hits were definitely stronger; however, they were much sloppier. She got up and blasted him with a beam of magic, it went right into his chest and he flew into a column, he didn’t smash through, he just left a human shaped dent in it.

He jumped off the column and flew at her, she easily dodged and kicked him in the chest, and she heard a few cracks as he fell to the ground. He lay there not getting up, Luna walked up to him to investigate. When she got a few inches from him his arm shot out and grabbed her by the throat.

Sean let out a laugh that made Nightmare Moon’s laugh sound like a friendly chuckle. “Fool! I am going to kill you painfully!” he then began to absorb her magic. Luna cried out in pain. Her sister had told her when he drained her power it just slowly made her feel weaker, but this felt like someone was ripping her organs out of her body. Maybe he was able to control what it felt like when he drained magic.

She took her legs and kicked him in the chest, this made him drop her and step back. He was very close to the edge. Then Luna saw a chance, she mustered all of her strength and charged at him. She hit him right in the stomach and knocked him into the sand. She watched as he clawed at the sand trying to get out as he slowly sank. All the moving only sped up the process.

When he was finally fully submerged Luna sat down to recover her strength before she left. Just as she was about to leave the sand storm began to pick up. She squinted her eyes and used one of her wings to cover her face. Then the ground began to shake, suddenly a dragon burst from the sand, its scales were mix between gold and olive, it had piercing red eyes. Its wings spread open and its taloned hands were slightly stretched out. She recognized it as Sean’s dragon form.
The dragon let out a chuckle. “Did you really think it would be that easy?” then a massive hand came down and grabbed Luna.

Luna tried to break free but his grip was too tight and she was too weak to teleport away. It looked hopeless for Luna and she hung her head in defeat. Then she remembered something her sister had told her. The gem between his horns was a weak spot for him. If she destroyed it with enough magic she may be able to beat him.
Luna charged her horn with all the magic she could. Sean laughed. “Do you really think magic will be able to hurt me?” he tightened his grip.

“Yes. I. do!” she then shot a blast of magic at the gem. Sean let out a roar of pain and dropped her. Luna saw the gem crack and break. Then Sean began to fall apart, his left arm fell in front of her and began to disintegrate. One of his wings fell into the sand and his head fell onto the edge of the island the eyes were nothing but sockets. Finally the rest of his body fell back and began to sink into the sand.

Luna looked in surprise. Then the mouth of his head opened and a human shape began to crawl out but it fell over and began to disintegrate, then another human shape burst from its mouth Luna cringed at the sight of its skull practically bursting and it died and finally a final one broke free from it. This one was different because it had actual details as opposed to being just a shape. It began to crawl toward her as it developed more and more features until it was Sean. He crawled towards her moaning he reached out and tried to grab her but then fell over just barely out of reach of her. She noticed that he had not developed his legs.

Suddenly he began to talk “How? How could I be bested by a pony? I’m the most powerful being alive; I can’t lose to a pathetic little pony. Especially not what is essentially a teenager!” he gasped for breath. “How!? It makes no sense!” he looked up and scowled up at Luna. She saw that he had begun to disintegrate. After a few seconds he was just a head. “How?” he whispered, then he was gone.

Luna sighed in relief, after a minute to recover she looked to see that the sky was beginning to fill again. She figured that means it worked she then used her magic and teleported to the real world.

Chapter 37: Things Get Real

Luna opened her eyes and lifted her head off of Sean’s bed. Luna looked at Sean who was asleep. She decided to see if he was back to normal.

“Sean, wake up.” Luna shook him.

“Go away I’m trying to sleep.” he waved a hand at her lazily.

“Sean get up this is important.”

“Fine, what do you want?” he sat up and looked at her. Luna was glad to see his eyes were purple again.

“It’s about my sister she’s in terrible danger.”

“I’m listening.”

Luna then told him about the letter and the curse on her sister and him he watched her intently the whole time.

“And then I went into your head beat you to cure you and now you and I need to find a way to cure my sister.” Luna inhaled deeply after her lengthy explanation.

“Alright, how do you purpose we help her?”

“I was thinking that you could fight her and try to drain the curse out of her while I search for a counter spell as our plan B.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

I’m heading to Celestia’s study. Luna and I had decided that until it was the right time to strike I should act like I was still under the curse. When I got to her study I opened the door and walked in.

Celestia was sitting in the middle of the room looking into a crystal ball. “You wanted to see me Celestia.”

She looked up at me. “Yes we have a security breach in the palace.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come look.” She waved me over. When I got the ball I looked into it and saw it was a view of the study at night.

“What am I supposed to be seeing?”

“Wait for it.” then almost on que Luna walked into the study. She was looking around and lifting things with her magic. Finally she lifted an old looking book with gold corners. She read a note then flipped through it for a bit. After that she dropped it and ran out the door.

“You see!? My sister was snooping around here and found some old book that must have put a curse on her!”

“What do you want from me?”

“I need you to kill her.”

“What!?”

“You heard me. I was hoping it would not come to this ever again but she may become a danger to Equestria if we let her live.” Celestia then turned and walked towards the window of her study.

Ok this is going to get out of hand really fast. Now is the time to attack. I walked up closer to her then I jumped onto her back and wrapped my arm around her neck effectively choking her.

“What. Are. You. Doing?” she gasped out. She turned her back on the window shambling around the room.

“Trying to help you.” then I began to drain her of her magic. She growled then flung her head back. Head-butting me and making me lose my grip on her neck. Then she bucked and sent my flying out the window.

The impact had gotten a shard of glass lodged into my throat. I had to pull it out. Then I remembered I was falling.
“Well that didn’t go according to plan.” I then tried to grow wings but before I could I saw Celestia fly out the window and come down at me full speed. She quickly gained speed until she had a mach cone around her. When she hit me it easily tore me in half.

A few seconds after that I smashed into the ground. I crawled out of the hole I had made as my lower half grew back. Celestia walked up to me giving a pretty nasty look.

“Well that hurt. Can you go get my legs? I think they may have landed over there.” I pointed behind her.

“You should know I don’t tolerate treason. I’m afraid I am going to have to destroy you now.”

“Can that wait till Friday? There’s a cupcake festival in Las Pegasus I was hoping to catch.”

“Shut up.” She stepped on the back of my neck.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to step on people? Geez what is wrong with ponies these days?”

“I said shut up!” she put more pressure on my neck. Here’s some wisdom for you, dirt does not taste good. Don’t try it even if your friends tell you to. This position was becoming increasingly unpleasant. Time to get out of it.

I lifted my hands and grabbed her ankles. Then I began to drain her magic. That got her off of me. I stood back up spitting dirt out as I got up. When I looked up Celestia was charging at me. I jumped over her and landed on her back again. I grabbed her ears and began to tug them to the left as well as lean. That managed to make her turn and she charged towards the palace wall. Just before she hit it I jumped off.

There was a dust cloud where she hit the wall.

“Well that was disappointing.”

Don’t get too arrogant.

Oh hey Bob, how’s it going?

Stop calling me that!

What’s wrong with Bob?

Just shut up! I can see why Celestia wanted to break you neck.

Aww that hurts voice, I thought we were friends.

Whatever, just go get Celestia and let’s go.

Say please.

NOW!

Fine whatever.

Before I could walk over to the cloud I saw a flash of light. Suddenly the air felt a lot hotter. Then as the dust cleared Celestia appeared she looked way more intimidating now though.

Her mane and tail were made of fire, she had gold armor on her head, chest, and legs, when she extended her wings I saw they had blades at the end like my guards. Her eyes were also orange with no pupils. Then she walked towards me and I saw that wherever she stepped that spot melted.

“Well this should be interesting.”

Chapter 38: Flaming Celestia of Doom!

Luna looked down at the fight from her bedroom window. She had been reading through every book in her room for any sort of cure. Luna had thought Sean had it in the bag until her sister transformed into her more powerful form; it was the form she had used to help fight off Nightmare Moon. Luna knew first-hand how powerful it was.

I must say, Celestia looks much more intimidating in this form. I bet I can still take her though this fire’s probably just for vanity.
“Um Celestia, your head is kind of on fire. You may want to get that checked by a doctor.”
Celestia only glared at me. Then I saw her horn catch fire then she shot a blast of fire at me. I jumped out of the way. I rolled behind a column. I guess she got a new attack. At least I have cover. Then I felt the ground shaking I looked down and suddenly a column of fire burst from the ground and enveloped me. It really was not pleasant. When it finally stopped my body was covered in burns. It’s times like this that I am so glad I regenerate.

“Oh no you don’t.” I looked up and saw Celestia flying over me. Before I could do anything the shot another blast of fire at me, it hit me before I could dodge. “I’m not going to let you heal.”
As I tried to pick myself up she shot another blast at me.

Hey moron.

What?

Dragon scales are immune to fire.

So?

Ugh, turn your skin into dragon scales!

Oh.

As I transformed my skin I felt the heat of another shot coming at me. When the shot hit me I had been able to change all of me but my legs. As they healed I was able to make them dragon scaled as well.

Alright, we’re back in business.

Juts go fight the pony.

I jumped at her and managed to tackle her out of the sky. When we hit the ground she kicked me in the stomach and sent me flying into a statue. The statue landed on me and broke my back. As I lifted it off me I looked at it. It was as statue of some weird serpentine monster that looked like a mash of a bunch of different creatures. I picked it up and threw it at Celestia, it hit her point blank and she went flying into a column.

I walked up to Celestia. Who looked to be unconscious on the ground, when I got within a few feet she opened her eyes and shot a white beam at me. It was strange because it was not made of fire. All the same I dodged most of it; part of it hit my right arm. As I got away I felt like my right arm was weaker and when I looked at it I saw that it was made of skin again. When I tried to transform it nothing happened.

“Does that arm feel a bit off?” I looked behind me to see Celestia walking up to me. “It should after all I just drained it of all its magic.”

“Huh?”

“Let me explain, you and I both know your powers are all reliant on magic.”

“Yeah.”

“Well what you don’t know is that magic is what keeps you alive too. If you go too long without it you’ll die”

“What? But I don’t drain magic consistently.”

“True, but I have always given you magic without you knowing, whether it’s from enchanting your food, or filling a room with
magic for you.”

“Can we get on with this?”

“Well, while you were overthrowing governments I was finding a spell to drain magic similar to how you can. What I’m going to do is drain you of all your magic and kill you that way.”

“Doubtful.” I ran at her and threw a punch at her face. Celestia wrapped her flaming mane around me and flipped me over her shoulder and smashed me into the ground. Then she shot a blast of that white beam into my face. This time I could feel the magic leaving me.

I rolled away from her and behind a wall. Well this isn’t going well, I felt my face and just like my arm it was skin again.

Luna had been watching from her room she didn’t know her sister had learned such a spell. There was one thing that was bothering her about Sean. When her sister had smashed through Sean at the start of their fight he had made a strangely deep crater and he had done it again just now when he was flipped and smashed into the ground. He seemed strangely heavy for his size, as if he weighed several tons as opposed to about 200 like he should be from his appearance.
She had a theory as to why he was so heavy but she needed to test it. Luna flew out her window and to the wall Sean was hiding behind. Her sister was firing shots at it as she walked closer and closer.

“Hey Sean.”

“Luna what are you doing here?”

“Testing a theory.” Luna then enveloped Sean in magic.

“Hey! What’s the big idea?” without responding Luna put him right in front of one of Celestia’s shots. It completely
enveloped him. When the shot had subsided she walked out from behind the wall to see Sean unconscious on the ground, his body was back to its fleshy look instead of scales.

Celestia laughed. “Thank you Luna, I knew you’d come around to help your sister.”

“Silly Celestia, I’m not here to help you, I’m just testing something. Look at the human.”

“What?”

Just as Luna had hoped Sean’s body was transforming. His hands were changing into the look of his dragon’s hands, his fingernails were sharpening, and he was growing.

“What’s going on? How is he transforming?”

“He’s not, his true form isn’t his human’s, it’s actually his dragon form.”

By now his body had changed into the full dragon form and he let out a low growl. Luna turned to look at him and sat up. Sadly for Luna there were two side effects of her plan. The more glaring one was that her sister was right in that he couldn’t survive without magic so at current he likely only had a few minutes of life before he died. The second was that she may have taken away some of his sentients though it meant she could order him around.

“Sean, attack.” The dragon let out a growl and leapt at Celestia. He brought his fist down on her. When he lifted his hand Celestia wasn’t there. The dragon looked behind him and swung his tail at her and knocked her out of the air.
As Celestia was picking herself up Sean shot a fireball at her. There was a large dust cloud and Celestia flew up into the sky. Sean roared and flew after her. Luna jumped out of the way as a dragon leg fell just next her. Looks like he was beginning to crumble from the lack of magic.
Once Celestia had reached a certain height she stopped and looked down at the dragon flying after her, she noticed that one of its legs was missing and so was half its tail. Celestia decided it was time to end this fight. She concentrated and channeled all her magic into a massive fire that was basically a mini sun. Then she launched it at him. Sean flew right into it, before Celestia could react a massive hand grabbed her and began to crush her.
Celestia noticed that his left arm was missing and part of his skeleton was showing in different parts of his body. The dragon tightened its grip until Celestia lost consciousness. Then Sean let go and they both started to fall to the ground

Luna looked up at the two bodies fly down at her. She noticed that Sean’s body was disintegrating just like it did in the dream world. When the two bodies hit the ground Luna ran to where her sister had landed. Celestia’s body had returned to her usual look.

Once she saw that Celestia was breathing she ran up to the crater Sean had made. It was considerably deeper. She looked into it to see that all that was left was a gem. Luna lifted it up to her and looked at it. Luna took some magic and charged it into the gem. After a moment it began to crack and then what looked like a small olive colored lizard crawled out of it.

“Sean?” she looked quizzically at lizard.

“What?” the lizard asked.

“What happened to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at yourself.” The lizard looked at his legs and let out a gasp.

“How did this happen!?”

“I have no idea.”

“Oh come on!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out.”

“I think I have an idea.”

“In the meantime, you can just hang out on my back.”

“Oh boy.” Sean said rolling his reptilian eyes.

Chapter 39: I hate my new body!

I decided to make up for lost time and post a second chapter so soon.

I can’t believe this! I’m stuck in this stupid lizard body riding on Luna’s back. Maybe Bob knows what’s going on.

Bob? Bob you there?

What is it little gecko? He let out a chuckle.

Shut up! Do you know what’s going on?

No clue.

Thanks.

My best guess is your magic reserves are so low that your body has created the easiest form to retain without too much strain.

So I just have to get myself some more magic.

Not that easy, this body is not stable nor strong enough to retain very much magic. You’d need another body for that.

Well that’s going to be a bit hard.

Not necessarily, I may have found one power that your body made to protect you in this state.

What is it?

Try biting Luna.

What?

If you want to you can warn her but just try it.

“Hey Luna!” I noticed that my voice was higher than usual.

“What is it?”

“I may have a way to fix myself but I will need to test it on you.”

“What!?”

“Hey you’re part of why I’m stuck like this so you get to be my test subject.”

“Fine.”

I lifted my head and then bit her back.

“Ow! What was that for?” Luna said sounding irritated.

Then I began to feel myself gaining power and I slowly sank into Luna’s skin. Then I could see again but I was taller.

This is weird, what happened?

Sean! What did you do to me!? That sounded like Luna but it was a bit echoey.

What do you mean?

"You bit me and suddenly I can’t move!"

Hmm I wonder. I lifted my leg to my face and saw that it was Luna’s leg. This is so cool! I guess this is the power Bob was talking about.

"Hey! Why did my leg just move?"

Oops, better get out of Luna’s body. I opened my mouth wide and then I felt like I was being vacuumed up and suddenly I was on Luna’s back again. I got up and crawled up her neck until I was on top of her head.

“Sorry about that Luna.”

“What was that about?”

“I was testing a power out.”

“Some kind of mind control?”

“Guess so.”

“Alright, let’s go get my sister and get back to finding a cure”

I stayed on Luna’s head because I could see better and it felt good being taller even if I’m not really. When we got to the crater Celestia had made I saw she was no longer on fire.

I leaned over Luna’s crown to see her face. “How do you propose we keep her detained?”

“I’m guessing you can’t drain magic in this form?”

“Afraid not.”

“Ok, we just need to keep her from using magic. I know just what to do.” Luna then began to fly up to her room. I had to cling to her crown to keep from falling. When we got to the balcony to her room she walked through the open doors and started to look through drawers.

“Um, Luna, what are you looking for?” I lifted my head over her crown to see.

“I have a special ring that keeps a pony from using magic and stops them from even moving much. Sadly it can’t drain the curse out of her.”

“So where is it?”

“It’s in one of these drawers.” Luna spent a few minutes looking through the drawers, tearing up her whole room. After going through every drawer and not finding it, she got pretty frustrated and smashed her bed.

“Luna, let me down for a minute.”

“Ok.” She then used her magic to lift me and put me down on her dresser. I walked to the back and looked behind it. I saw a black ring with a gold trim.

“Luna what does this ring look like?”

“It’s black with gold.”

“Found it.” Looks like this body will have some kind of use after all. I crawled down the back of the dresser, I picked up the ring in my mouth and climbed back up.

“Good work Sean! I guess there is a benefit to your little predicament.”

“You shush.” Luna chuckled and then levitated me with her magic and put me back on her head.
After another moment of terror from her flying down to the ground, we landed next to Celestia. I noticed she was groaning and seemed to be waking up.

“Luna, hurry and put the ring on her.”

“Right.” Luna nodded almost throwing me off. She then levitated the ring onto Celestia’s horn. There was a slight flash and then Celestia woke up.

“Ha silly little sister, time to die.” Celestia tried to get up but fell over as soon as she tried. “What did you do to me?”

“Nothing much sister, just made it so you can’t use magic, it also has the fun effect of draining your energy.”

“You filthy little.” Celestia then collapsed onto the ground.

“Well that was funny.” I said as I looked at the collapsed Celestia.

Luna laughed. “Yep, let’s get her to the dungeon.”

Well after we put Celestia in the dungeon and Luna explained Celestia’s condition to the guards we went to the dining hall. I got my usual delicious cupcake. The cupcake was now barely smaller than me. I bit into it and took a chunk as big as my head. I began to stumble backwards and then fell off the table.

After just that one bite I was totally full, it made me sad to waste a perfectly good cupcake but Luna gladly took it for desert.

After dinner I started to head for my room, I must say the stairs were very daunting. It took me 5 minutes to get up ten.
“Need a bit of help?” I heard a voice with a hint of condescension in it. I turned and sure enough there was Luna looking down at me.

“No, I’ve got it.” I jumped up and began to scrabble up the next step. Just as I was climbing up the step I was enveloped by a blue aura and then I was floating then instead of going up the stairs I was being taken the other way. “Hey Luna, my room is back that way.”

“I know.”

“Then where are we going?”

“My room.”

“What!? Why!?” I began to flail in her magic grasp.

“Because, you may be the only way to fix my sister and we don’t know how frail this form of yours is. I can’t risk you getting
stepped on, or vacuumed up, or falling and hurting yourself. So I’m not planning to leave you alone anywhere especially on the ground.” Luna then lifted me onto her head and finally let me go.

“Ugh, fine whatever.”

“It’s interesting.”

“What?”

“Most males I know would love the idea of staying in my room with me but you’re actually angry about it.”

Chapter 40: Luna tries to rule Equestria.... and fails somewhat.

When we finally got to Luna’s room she levitated me onto her dresser that had a mirror. She then headed for her bathroom to take a shower or something I don’t really know. This was the first time I was able to get a good look at myself.
I was a gold color. I had a narrow long face with round green reptilian eyes; I had long legs and a long tail, along with two small curved horns on my head. I think I’m about four inches tall. After sitting on around for about 20 minutes I heard Luna’s door open.

“What were you doing in there?”

“I was showering and brushing my teeth.”

“For 20 minutes? Who takes that long? How dirty are you?”

“I don’t need to explain my bathing habits to you.”

“Fine, whatever.” I then jumped down from Luna’s dresser and landed on her bed. “I lay claim to this bed. Where are you gonna sleep?”

“In my bed.”

“Sorry, I’ve already called dibs.”

“Sadly little lizards don’t get whole beds to themselves.”

“Then where do I sleep?”

“You can share the bed but you don’t get all of it.”

“Fine, but I get at least half, I need my space.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Fine, goodnight Sean.” She then crawled under the covers.

I crawled under the covers and curled up.

When I woke up I kept my eyes closed for a minute. I hoped that the whole lizard thing was a nightmare. When I opened my eyes my heart sank, the sheets were huge on me so I knew I was still tiny. I climbed my way out of the bed and looked around. I was definitely still only a few inches tall. I noticed it was still dark out even though the clock in her room said it was 8 am. Looking a little more I realized Luna was gone, I listened for any sign of her when I heard what sounded like cursing outside on her balcony.

I jumped off her bed and walked over to the door to the balcony. When I got outside I saw Luna standing on her balcony trying to do some spell and glaring at the moon. After a minute her horn sparked and she fell over. She yelled a few swears and then glared at the moon again.

“Um Luna, what are you doing?”

She turned her head to look at me. She was definitely angry she looked like she wanted to kill somebody. “I’m trying to lower the moon and raise the sun in my sister’s absence but I can’t get a hold of the sun.”

“Oh, I think I may know the problem. You’re trying to treat it like the moon.”

“Of course, there can’t be much of a difference.”

“Actually there is. Celestia told me once that for the sun you have to think as though you’re lifting a fire as opposed to a
giant rock like the moon.”

“Watch yourself gecko! The moon is more than a simple rock!”

“Oh calm down Luna, I didn’t mean to insult the moon I was simply trying to help you.”

“Fine, I’ll try you’re idea.”

Luna picked herself up and looked at the horizon. She closed her eyes and her horn lit up. Then the moon began to leave view and I could see the sun coming up. Luna turned to me a giant smile on her face.

“I did it, I did it Sean!” She hopped up and down smiling.

“I know, I was here.”

“Thank you for your help.” She then levitated me towards her and gave me a tight hug.

“Luna…a…bit too … tight.” I started to feel a bit dizzy.

“Oops sorry.” She dropped me onto the ground.

“Thanks, being dropped onto the ground feels much better.”

After Luna had combed her mane and put all her armor, horse shoes, and crown on she put me on her head and we headed down to get breakfast.

“Sean I will need you to help me with all of Celestia’s everyday duties.” I was in my new usual place on her head. We were walking to the throne room.

“Well first off you need to listen to the whining of Equestria’s citizens.”

“Very well, it can’t be too bad.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

When we got to the throne room Luna headed for her throne and sat down. The usual four guards came up to the throne to tell Luna about the whiners of the day. Luckily they already knew about Celestia’s condition.

“Alright I’m ready, send the first ponies in.”
I decided that rather than listen to a bunch of whiners. So I curled up behind Luna’s crown and got ready for a nap.

“HOW DARE YOU! GET OUT NOW!” I jumped up looking around for the source of the loud voice. Until I realized it must have been Luna. Then I heard a door slam shut.

I climbed over Luna’s crown and leaned over to look into one of her eyes. “Luna what was that about?”

“SOME INSOLANT MORTAL DARED TO INSULT ME!” the force of her shout actually made me fall off her head. Luna caught me before I hit the ground but just barely. She levitated back onto her head.

“What are you talking about?”

“Some pathetic farmer pony thought the delay of the sun coming was an early attempt for my conquest of Equestria.”

“Wow, you let some filthy mortal get to you like that?”

“I know it’s not worthy of my anger but it just got to me.”

“Ok, what time is it?”

“About 11:30 in the morning.”

“Well this is typically around the time Celestia cuts things off.”

“Excellent.”

“Let’s go get lunch.”

After lunch Luna and I decided get some paperwork done. More specifically Luna did paperwork while I watched on the desk.

“Bolas Luna, you take a long time. I mean we’ve been here for at least three hours.”

“Quiet, I am trying to concentrate!”

“Fine jeez.” Luna has been pretty grumpy since that one pony implied she was going evil again.

Chapter 41: Revenge Fail!

Well Luna’s first day as sole ruler of Equestria was pretty harsh. We were getting ready for bed, she took her long shower. As she was showering I heard a sound outside her door. I jumped off her bed and headed for the door. I climbed up it and the stuck to the knob. I leaned to one side and the door opened slightly. I crawled through the opening and looked around. There was nobody around, I walked down the stairs a little bit. Still no one, then I heard a thud behind me. I turned expecting Luna but instead there were three ponies. They were all wearing guard armor and were all unicorns.

“Well, looks like the rumors were true.” One of the guards walked towards me.

“Who are you three supposed to be?” I looked at the guard who was now looming over me.

“You don’t recognize me?”

“Nope.” I shrugged. “Honestly most of you guards look the same to me.”

The guard growled and then kicked me. I tumbled down the stairs when I finally reached the bottom I stood up and looked at the stairs. The three unicorns reached the bottom and walked up to me.

“We’re three of the guards that you said weren’t ready to take on any sort of real responsibility. You assigned us to guard one of the preschools!”

“Oh yeah, you were those three losers that couldn’t even hit me.”

“Well time for a bit of payback.” The guard that had previously kicked me walked up to me and raised his left hoof.
Well I get to use that mind control ability again. It’s gonna be fun. I jumped up and bit into his leg. He screamed and tried to shake me off. I sank into his skin and I then I was in the pony’s body.

“Hey you okay?” one of the other unicorns walked up to me. “What happened to that little salamander?”

I just walked up and head butted him. He stumbled back and I turned and kicked him sending him into a wall.

“What are you doing!?” I turned to see the other guard looking at me in shock and confusion. I didn’t say anything and just tackled him. Then I started to punch him repeatedly after a few hits his nose broke and my hooves began to be covered in blood. After a few more hits I let him go. I turned and looked at a wall, then I charged at it full force and bashed into it. I was suddenly sent flying out of his body and hit the ground. I screamed and jumped out of the way as the unconscious guard almost squashed me.

“Sean? Sean where are you?”

I turned to look at the stairs and saw Luna coming down the steps. When she got to the base she looked at the three guards, one was smashed into the wall with his front legs looking bent in many ways it shouldn’t, one was lying on the ground covered in blood and barely breathing, then there was the one I had taken over who was on the ground, his jaw looked broken and he was coated in blood mostly from the other pony.

“Sean, what happened here?”

“These three morons came to get back at me for putting them in charge of guarding children. So I took one over, beat the
other two senseless and then bashed the last one into the wall.”

Needless to say Luna was not happy about the guard’s behavior. She had some of her guards come in and take them to the Canterlot prison.

“Are you OK Sean?” she looked down at me.

“Yeah, it was pretty fun taking over someone.”
After Luna and I got back to her room we went to bed.

“Luna wake up.” It was about 6:00 in the morning. Luna was still getting the hang of having to wake up early to raise the sun. “Luna it’s time to raise the sun.” Luna just rolled over and mumbled something in her sleep.

Ugh, another downside to this body is that I can’t just push Luna off her bed to wake her up. Then I had a new idea. I walked up to Luna and then I bit into her neck. Then the usual thing happened and I was in control of Luna. I rolled out of bed and started to walk when Luna woke up.

“Why am I sleep walking? Wait, Sean! What did I say about taking over me?”

“You said you hated the way it felt and I should never do it to you. But you weren’t waking up so I had to find some way.”

“Well I’m awake so get out of my head.”

“Fine.” I opened my mouth and when I left her mind I was on her back.

“So why did you so desperately have to wake me up?”

“Because it’s time to raise the sun. You don’t want more ponies worrying that you are going crazy do you?”

“True.” Luna walked out to her balcony. She did the whole magic thing with the glowing horn and the concentration and all that. Then the sun rise appeared, the good thing is that after you get it started the sun follows a set path until sunset.

“There, now I’m going back to bed.”

“Before you fall asleep you should know that you have a meeting with Celestia’s council to discuss what to do about how to distribute this year’s funding throughout the country.”

Luna groaned. “I don’t want to do that. It sounds boring.”

“Oh it is, but sadly one of the three leaders of Equestria has to attend and participate. At current Celestia can’t attend because she’s insane, and I can’t because I’m a tiny lizard. That leaves you, sucks to be you.”

“Oh I’m not going alone, you’re coming with me.”

“How do you plan to make me?”

“Simple, I’ll just put you on my head and take you with me. It’s too high for you to jump to the ground.”

“You know I can just take control of your body and leave.”

“True, but if you do I have a lovely jar I can store you in.”

“Well played.”

Chapter 42: Fancy Party

Hey guys, I'm back. i was suffering from a bit of writers block.

That meeting was horrible worse than usual because I couldn’t even make my usual comments or make fun of anyone and whenever I tried to fall asleep Luna somehow knew and would flick me with her ear.

“So, Sean, what should we do now?” Luna asked as we walked out of the meeting room. Just as I was about to respond a pony in a clipboard came running up.

“Princess Luna! Have you seen Princess Celestia?” The pony had a panicked look on her face.

“My sister was not feeling like herself and decided to take a short vacation.”

“Oh that’s just great!”

“Why? What’s so important that you need my sister?”

“For months the princess has been planning a party for all the nobles in Canterlot. It’s meant to be hosted today.”

“I’m a princess I’m sure I could fill in for my sister.”

“No offense princess but the nobles are all hoping to see Celestia.” I cringed at that statement. I was sure Luna would get angry and try to eat this pony or something.

“This could be good it may give me a chance to meet some of the important ponies in Canterlot and help with my public image.” Luna said calmly with only an irritated ear flick to show her anger.

“Ok princess I guess you’re the next best thing.” Luna’s ear flicked again this time hitting me in the face.
Luckily the pony had the sense to quickly leave.

“What has you so freaked out Luna? It’s just a small party with some stuffy rich ponies.” Luna was pacing back and forth in front of her bed while I sat on her dresser.

“No Sean, it’s more than that. This is a chance to get on the good side of the influential ponies of Canterlot, if they like me they may spread a positive image of me. If not it could ruin the amount of trust I have worked so hard to gain.”

“Meh, they’ve never liked me much but then again I’ve saved Equestria a bunch of times so they can’t really destroy my image.”

“That doesn’t help me Sean!” She glared at me. “I need to get a dress! I have to look perfect!”

“Why?” I tilted my head.

“Because, if I show up dressed all casual they may think that I don’t care or am a lazy slob!”

“I really think you’re over thinking all this.” Luna glared at me again. “Fine, if you want to look all fancy go to Twilight’s friend Rarity she can get you all set up.”

So Luna left to go see Rarity about ten minutes ago. I managed to convince her to let me stay in the palace. Her little party is in three hours.

Well since I have a while I may as well try and find a cure for myself. I opened Luna’s door and walked down the stairs. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I ran into my guards who Luna had apparently assigned to guard her room while she was gone.

“Hello sir, where are you going?” one of them asked looking down at me.

“I’m going to the library to try and find a way to fix myself.”

“If that’s the case we will have to accompany you.”

“Fine.” They could be useful for getting things for me.

Bolas! I’ve been rummaging through this library for an hour and found nothing. My guards have been handy as assistants.
I turned to them. “Well it looks like this was a waste of time, let’s get back to Luna’s room.”

After an hour of sitting in Luna’s room bored senseless. I heard the door open, I looked over to see Luna walk in. she looked drastically different. She was wearing a dress that was black with what looked like silver glitter that made it look like stars. Had light blue eye liner. Her mane was in a sort of pony tail, which I didn’t even know ponies knew about. Seems a bit redundant, a pony with a pony tail

“What do you think?” she asked.

“You will certainly fit in with the rich and stuffy appearance wise.”

Just as I thought this party is extremely dull. The party is being held in the garden. All they’re doing is walking around and talking. Mostly talking about boring stuff like how much money they made last month or how exquisite the wine is. Luna dragged me to this party for reasons unknown to me. I was in my usual place on her head.

I looked around the garden looking for some extra important pony that Luna could make a good impression on. Then I saw the pony Fancy Pants, he was a white stallion with a blue mane, he was wearing a suit that looked fairly expensive and his cutie mark was some crowns.

“Hey, Luna.” I leaned over her crown and whispered into her ear.

“Yeah.” She whispered trying to seem discreet. After all it would not look good if the princess was thought to be talking to herself.

“You see that white pony in the suit?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s a pretty popular guy in Canterlot, if you want to get on these ponies good sides he’s a good place to start.”

“Right.” Luna nodded and headed over to Fancy. “Hello, I’m Princess Luna. It’s good to meet you.”

Well Luna seems to be doing a good job of making a good impression. Though after a while I got pretty bored. I slowly and lightly climbed down Luna’s back and jumped down to the ground. She was too enveloped in the conversation to notice.

I headed a little further into the garden. Eventually I got to a large tree that seemed like it would be good for a nap. Just as I was about to start climbing it I heard a twig snap. I spun around to see three children standing behind me.

One was white unicorn with a mane that was a combination of purple and pink, another was an orange Pegasus with a purple mane, and the last was a yellow earthpony with a red mane. They had terrifying grins on their faces.

“Who are you and how’d you get in here?” I backed away from them.

The yellow one gasped “Oh my, gosh it talks.”

The Pegasus took out a jar. “Get him!”

I screamed and ran between the unicorns legs. Then I heard them shout in unison “CUITE MARK CRUSADERS WILD ANIMAL CATCHERS!”

Then I felt the ground shake as they chased me. After a few minutes of running I ran into the clearing where the party is. You know what screw discreetness.

“LUNA!”

Luna sat talking to more of the party’s guests. This was going great she was getting along really well with all of them.

“LUNA!” she heard a somewhat high voice call her name. She looked behind her to see a familiar olive lizard running towards her. She was confused, she put her hoof to her head. She growled as she noticed Sean was missing. She wondered what was so important until she noticed three children chasing him.

When he got a little closer she grabbed him in her magic and placed him on her head. The three children stopped in front of her.

A white unicorn walked up to her “Princess you caught the talking lizard! Would you please give it to us?”

Luna shook her head. “Sorry but no.”

“Why not?” the unicorn pouted.

“Because this is my pet.”

“Oh, ok.” The child accepted her answer surprisingly fast. Then they all turned and ran off into the garden.

“You see this is why I hate children.” Sean growled.

Luna chuckled. She turned back around to see all the party guests staring at her.

“Princess is that thing really your pet?” one of the ponies asked.

“Yes, why?” Luna’s heart was pounding. What if they all turned on her?

“It’s interesting, I’ve never seen a lizard like that.” Fancy Pants said walking up to look at Sean.

“That went really well.” Luna smiled as she opened the door to her room.

“Yeah, for you.” I scowled as I jumped off her head onto the bed.

“I thought it was funny.”

“What?”

“The terrifying Sean, ruler of dragons, killer of griffins, and owner of a blood thirsty hydra was running away from small children in terror.”

“Shut up!”

Chapter 43: Blob of Doom!

“Luna, I’m bored!” I was sitting on Luna’s bed on my back watching her play one of her games.

“Well what do you want from me? You can’t play games and I’m not spending all day sitting around just to entertain you.”

“Fine, I don’t have to take this.” I jumped down and walked towards the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” then I was levitated and carried over to sit next to Luna on her couch. “Tell you what, tomorrow we’ll look more into getting a cure for you.

“Can’t this Chariot go any faster?” I looked impatiently at Luna.

“It can only go as fast as my guards can fly.”

“Ugh whatever.” We were in Luna’s chariot heading for the Zebra’s island. Luna thought that maybe they would have a cure
for my problem. After another hour we finally landed in the main Zebra city. I jumped onto Luna’s head and we walked
towards the capital hut. You could distinguish it from the rest based on its size and the fact that it had a giant zebra mask over the door. When we walked in the zebra leader came up to Luna.

“Ah Princess Luna, it’s an honor to finally meet you.” he extended a leg out. Luna took it and they shook hooves. “Might I ask why you decided to pay us a surprise visit?”

“You know my friend Sean right?”

“You mean the best partying diplomat in the world?”

“That’s the one.”

“What about him?”

“Well there was an accident and now there’s a small problem. Sean.” At that I climbed over her crown and looked at the
zebra.

“How’s it going?” I waved at him.

“Sean? What happened to you?”

I explained the whole event to him about the crazy Celestia and the fight and what was wrong with me.

“Ah, I see. If you’ll excuse me for a moment I may have something that can help.” He then turned and headed to what seemed to be his office. After a few minutes he came out holding a book. “Just as I thought, I have found a possible way to fix him.”

“Really how?” I looked at him intently.

“I was looking through a book that has information about side effects of someone losing all the magic within them. It has actually happened to some unicorns and one of them wrote a book.”

“Ok but how do I fix myself?”

“That’s the easy part, all you will need to do is completely drain the magic from other magical beings.”

“Sounds easy enough, I can just use Luna.”

“Hey! Don’t offer me up as some magic sponge.”

“She’s right Sean, unless you want to kill your friend I would advise against using her.” The zebra interrupted our argument

“Why’s that?”

“Because, according to the book all the beings used will be killed in the process. Plus you need multiple beings.”

After Luna and I got home we headed to her room to discuss the options we had.

“Sean, I don’t know about you killing some innocent ponies just to fix yourself.”

“Don’t worry Luna, I know just who to use.”

“Really?”

“Yes, the Canterlot prison id where we store the true scum of Equestria right?”

“Yeah, what’s your point?”

“We can use the prisoners that either have life sentences or are on death row. That way we kill the scum and fix me. Two birds one stone.”

“That’s true. I don’t like it still but it makes sense.”

“Then it’s settled, tomorrow we’ll go to the prison and get all the unicorns and pegasi who deserve to die and they’ll become the ingredients for my cure.”

I’m so excited! We just entered the gates to the Canterlot prison. Finally I’ll be rid of this stupid body. At the front door the head guard was waiting for us he was a large unicorn in the standard guard armor.

“Hello princess,” he bowed. “I understand you’re here for some prisoners.”

“Yes, I need to see all the unicorns and pegasi that have life sentences or are set to be executed.”

“Might I ask why?” The guard looked genuinely confused.

“I need them to help Sean.”

The guard looked around. “I don’t see him anywhere.”

“I’m up here.” I then popped my head out from Luna’s mane.

“Sean? Why are you a lizard?” the guard asked in shock.

I had Luna explain the situation and our plan.

“I’m not so sure how I feel about sacrificing ponies. Even if they are scum.”
I jumped off of Luna and onto his face. “Listen you! I don’t care how you feel about my plan! If you want I can use you as the first sacrifice!” I then felt my self levitated and carried back to Luna.

“I’m so sorry.” Luna said apologetically.

“No..It’s alright. Let me take you to the prisoners.” He looked pretty nervous.

I looked at the line of ponies in the prison courtyard. There were at least twenty prisoners. They were all being held still by magic bindings. I just realized I have no idea what to do. Time to wing it!

“Luna take me to that prisoner on the far left.”

“Ok.” Luna walked over to the prisoner.

The prisoner looked at Luna. “Hey good looking, why don’t we go back to my cell. I could treat you to a good time.”

Luna growled. “Sean, make this one die painfully.”

“Sure thing.” I jumped off Luna and onto the prisoner’s face I then bit his face and took him over.

Bob!

What?

Do you have any idea how to get this going?

Maybe, walk up to another guy and make contact. Then do what you usually do to drain magic and then your body should do the rest.

Ok.

I walked towards the prisoner next to me. I heard the voice of the pony I was currently controlling. “Hey! What’s going on? Why can’t I control my body!?”

I ignored him and put a hoof on the shoulder of the other pony. Then suddenly everything went black.

Luna looked in shock. After the pony Sean had possessed made contact with the other pony the two ponies fused into a blob. It sat there for a minute then three tentacles burst out. The tentacles lunged at three more prisoners. Once they had grabbed them they began to absorb the prisoners into its “body”. After it had absorbed them it grew to the size of a chariot.
It then grew six tentacles. She heard some of the guards scream. Then she noticed that the unicorns holding the prisoners still had run away. Suddenly the prisoners began to run around the yard trying to get away. Then the tentacles grabbed six more prisoners and absorbed them. Again it grew this time to half the size of the prison. Then it grew eleven tentacles. It grabbed what was left of the prisoners. She cringed as she heard one of them cry out for his mother.

After it had drained the last of them it grew till it was larger than the prison, it ended up tearing down the gates around the yard. After the growth nothing happened. Luna and all the guards watched the blob for a few minutes. Nothing happened.

Suddenly it began to pulse. It looked similar to a heart slowly beating. It slowly changed from a mesh of colors to an olive color.

After another few minutes it began to beat faster and there were red sparks and suddenly a tail burst out from one end. Followed by two arms. The arms reached out and pressed their hands to the ground as if it was about to get up. Then two legs came out and it propped itself up into a kneeling position. Luna watched as wings and a head came out.

It looked like a dragon that was lacking any sort of details. It was a solid olive color and lacked any distinguishable fingers or toes and the face was completely smooth. Slowly two horns burst from the skull.

Then the body began to become more detailed. Its hands grew three fingers, the legs grew clawed toes, and the face began to develop a mouth, nose, and eyes. Then it grew armor, and finally a gem appeared between the curved horns.
Now in front of them stood the sixty foot dragon form of Sean. He let out a low growl, he then raised his head to the sky and let out a roar. He turned his head to look at Luna and the guards, then shot a column of fire in front of them. They all leapt back. Then slowly a figure began to appear in the fire and the dragon slowly began to be absorbed by the flames.
After the dragon had been completely absorbed the fire faded and where the column had just been stood Sean. In his human form.

He looked at his hands then the rest of him. Then he looked at them and began to laugh. “I’m back baby!”

Chapter 44: Some Empathy Required

Attention people who started reading this story before 7/18/13 I want to tell you guys that i have rewritten the first chapter of this story. So go check it out and tell me what you think. Do you like it, do you hate it, or do you think it needs more talking oranges?

Well that felt weird, after I had taken over that one pony and made contact with the other one things went black. The only thing I remember is hearing loud screams of pain and fear coming from all around me. Then next thing I knew I was standing in the prison courtyard in a column of fire. Once it subsided I was able to see Luna and the guards. They all had this look that was like a combination of amazement and terror.

That’s when I noticed they didn’t look giant anymore. I looked at my hands and they were normal, five fingers and everything! Then I looked the rest of me over, yep same impractical out fit and all. I felt a rush of emotion and suddenly I started to laugh and couldn’t stop. Looking at the ponies in front of me all I could say was
“I’m back baby!” I walked towards the pack of ponies and I noticed a few of the guards backed up and cringed as I got closer. Once I got to them I looked at Luna walking up to her I rubbed her head. “Finally the height difference is correct again.” I said.

“Yes it is.” Even Luna was acting weird. “So do you have all you powers back?”

“Let’s find out.” I turned my left arm into a blade. Shape shifting, check. Next test was regeneration, so I raised my blade hand and chopped off my right hand. It grew back almost instantly. That confused me because my healing hadn’t been that fast for at least 634 years, and for that matter I felt better overall than I have in centuries. It was like my body and powers were back to the way they were when I was in still in the double digits of age.

“Great! Looks like you’re back to normal!” Luna looked up at me with a huge smile. Though I still saw that weird look in her eyes, it was like she was afraid of me.

“Sure does, should we head home now?”

“Of course.” She turned to look at the head guard. “Thank you for your help.” Luna then turned and headed for the gates out of the prison.

As I walked by the guards they all backed away from me. When I got to Luna’s chariot she was already in it. I climbed in and sat across from her. As we flew back to the palace she kept giving me these nervous stares and wouldn’t make eye contact with me.

After a while I got sick of it. “Luna, what’s going on? Why are you avoiding looking at me? And what’s up with the weird looks?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t give me that. Did I do something to upset you? Was it the head rub? Sorry if I messed up your mane.”

“That’s not it. It’s what happened while you were absorbing the prisoners.”

“What are you talking about? What happened?”

“It was terrible to see, you took over that one pony touched another and then it just got a bit worse.”

“Luna what are you talking about!? Tell me exactly what was so bad.”

“Well you turned into this blob thing and then you started to almost, eat them. Those prisoners were screaming in terror, some were even crying.”

“That’s it? You feel bad for some low life criminals?” I rolled my eyes at her.

“They were still ponies, I don’t think they deserved the death they received. It looked awful.”

“Seriously? So you’d rather have a few evil ponies die in prison than have me and Celestia fixed?”

“You don’t get it, but then again you’re a creature that seems to lack any sort of empathy.” Luna then turned her head and looked away from me.

We spent the rest of the flight in silence.

When we got back to the palace Luna didn’t talk she just headed for her room. Freak. I do so have empathy, whatever that is.

Empathy is the capacity to recognize emotions that are being experienced by another sentient or fictional being. One may need to have a certain amount of empathy before being able to experience accurate sympathy or compassion.

Bob? How do you know that?

I like to keep an up to date vocabulary.

Ok then.

So based on that description you lack even the most basic levels of empathy.

Ok, I don’t see how empathy has anything to do with Luna hating me.

Because, Luna has a lot of empathy. There for your lack of it makes you seem heartless to her.

Ok well any ideas on how I can fix this dispute with Luna?

Hey, I don’t know any more about mares than you.

Wow, thanks.

I guess I’ll just give her some space for a bit. It’s pretty late may as well go to bed. Out of habit I almost walked towards the stair case to Luna’s room. When I got to my room it almost felt unfamiliar. I just climbed into bed and fell asleep.

I slept amazingly. When I got up for breakfast I bumped into Luna.

“Hey Luna.” I gave her a friendly smile.

“Hey.” She said looking to the side of me.

“Luna, this is silly.”

“What?”

“How we’re acting, I mean we had been getting along great for weeks, then one little incident happens and suddenly you hate me.”

“I don’t hate you, I just want some space for a bit.”

“Ok, sure.” I stepped to the side to let her by.

So it’s been three days since I got my body back. I was walking down the hall towards the dining hall talking to Cadence. She was telling me about how she and Shiny were planning to bring their relationship out in the open.

“Aw but that will take away my one method of black mail against you.” I said jokingly.

“Sean, I’d like to think that we’ve become friends over the years. You have no need to black mail me anymore.”

“I know, I was kidding. But it’s about time, I mean seriously you’ve been seeing him for a few years now.”

“Yes but I’ve been worried what other ponies will think about a princess being with the guard captain.”

“Who cares? Tell you what, if any one gives you a hard time about it tell me and I’ll have a chat with them. Especially if it’s Blueblood, I haven’t smacked him around for a while.”

Cadence smiled. “Of course Sean.”

When we got to the dining hall Luna was waiting. “Ah there you are Sean.”

“Hi Luna, so are we on speaking terms yet?”

“Yes. I’ve had time to think about it and realized you had no control over what happened.”

“Ok then, so what do you want?”

“Before lunch we need to go fix my sister.”

I’ll be honest I’m surprised that Celestia has been so quiet for almost a month and a half now, then again that ring on her horn is supposed to do that.

Luna and I were walking through the dungeon until we came to the cell Celestia was being held in. The guards opened the doors and we walked in. Celestia was chained to the wall completely immobilized. When we walked in she looked at us.

“Well look who it is, my traitorous sister and her pet human.”

“What’d you call me?” I glared at her I took a step towards her.

“Sean, don’t let her rile you up.” Luna put a hoof in front of me.

“Fine.” I stepped back crossing my arms.

“Ooh, look at that taking orders from Luna are you? You really are her pet.” Celestia laughed.

It took a lot of self-control to keep from lunging at her. Guess I better fix her before I end up killing her. I walked up to her and placed my hand on her head. I then began to drain the magic from her. Just like my healing it happened a lot faster and easier. When I drained all it out of her Luna walked up to me with a crystal ball.

“Here put the magic into this, we don’t want it possessing you.” I did as she said and suddenly the crystal ball turned pitch black. It even had an evil air around it. It was pretty freaky.

So about an hour after I cured Celestia she woke up. We hadn’t unchained her just in case she was still crazy. She looked around, then at us, she pulled at her chains.

“Luna.” She looked up at Luna.

“Yes sister?” Luna asked nervously.

“Why am I chained to a wall!?”

“You mean you don’t remember?” Luna told Celestia all about her going crazy. Sadly she even brought up me being a lizard and the incident with the children. That got Celestia laughing and there was a bit of mocking. Strangely she left out how I got my body back.

Anyway, after we freed Celestia she tried to stand up. And she nearly fell over, I guess weeks of no movement weakened her muscles. I ended up having to support her as we left the dungeon. Well, seems like everything is back to normal. Finally I can get back into my nap schedule. I just realized I haven’t had lunch yet, I need my daily sugar or else I just feel empty inside.

Chapter 45: Paranoid Celestia's Give the Dullest Jobs

Well, it’s been a week since I got this body back, and I was right. All of my powers are like they were centuries ago. My regeneration works almost instantly and my shape shifting is much easier to activate and happens way faster. It’s weird, my only guess is this new body is like a clean slate. None of the wear and tear that happened to my old one over the centuries.
Anyway, Celestia’s been really stressing about who could have put that curse in the book that got her. After all the note lacked any sort of signature. I keep trying to tell her that the book is so old the person who got her is likely dead by now. But of course she just ignores me.

She eventually decided that Equestria needed her and has commissioned me to investigate this matter. I’m no detective. Though I recently got an idea. Magic usually leaves a sort of finger print, that’s how I’m able to know what things have been enchanted by Celestia and screw with them. I bet if I get the finger print I can figure it out.

Wow! That’s the first intelligent thought I’ve ever heard you have.

Shut up Bob!

Now the question is how do I find it?

You could try finding a book about it.

Ugh! That sounds so boring. Oh I know! I can ask Twilight, she’s bound to have read about it at some point.

Whoa, two good ideas in one day! Who are you and what have you done with the idiot I usually talk to!?

Hey Bob.

Yes?

Go away.

I don’t understand how Twilight could leave the giant shiny palace for this tiny village. Sure it has a bit of charm but there are some seriously weird ponies around here. Plus she lives in a tree, that’s just weird. Speaking of which there’s the tree now, it’s really nothing special. It’s just a big tree with a balcony, windows, and a door.

Guess it fits the theme of this town. I walked up to the door and knocked. May as well have those manners Celestia is always chattering about. After a minute the door opened. Spike was the one who answered, I guess he’s a doorman now too.

“Sean!” Spike yelled and then glomped onto my leg.

“Hey Spike. How’ve you been?” I asked shaking my leg trying to get him off.

“It’s been good, Twilight recently got a pet owl.” He then told me some story about the owl replacing him and how he made a dead mouse thing to try and frame him. Sounds pretty stupid when you think about it. Though now they’re buddies so just like everything else in this country happy ending.

“Cool, so is Twilight around? I need to talk to her.”

“No, she went to have lunch with her friends. Why don’t you come in and wait for her.”

“Sure, why not.” I walked in to the tree. Still weird, I mean she’s not a termite. Just like everything else in this town it was simple. The walls and floor were of course made of wood, the walls were covered in books and there was a weird head in the middle of the room on a pedestal. So apparently they display disembodied wooden heads. Creepy.

Spike and I sat around for a while waiting, he brought out the checker board after a while. So we played checkers for a while, I won every time, though that’s sort of a hollow victory. That’s like winning at a race against a tortoise, or winning a fight with a pony.

“Spike.” We were now sitting on the ground staring at the ceiling.

“Yeah?”

“I’m bored!”

“Yeah? Me too.”

“When did you say she’s coming back?”

“I thought she’d be home by now.”

“Ugh!”

“Spike! I’m home!” Twilight walked into the library, today had been a lot of fun. She had been out longer than planned. After lunch Rainbow had wanted to show them some new tricks, then they got caught up in playing with Fluttershy’s animals. She tilted her head in confusion, in the middle of the room next to the horse head Sean and Spike were asleep. Spike was curled up on Sean’s chest, Sean was on the ground snoring a bit of drool coming out of the corner of his mouth.

“Aww and Eww.” Twilight walked up to them. She took her hoof and knocked on Sean’s head. “Hey wake up lazy.”

“What?” Sean opened his eyes lazily. “Twilight?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh yeah!” Sean sat up. Spike screamed and face planted onto the floor. “I need to know if you have a way to track magic fingerprints.”

“Magic what?”

“Oh yeah, forgot that’s my personal term. You know the mark a pony leaves on something they enchant, sort of like a signature?”

“Oh, you mean a magic stamp.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“I know of them but sadly I don’t know how to track them or their caster.”

“Oh, ok well see you later.” Sean got up and headed for the door.

“Wait, Sean!” Twilight ran up to him.

“What?”

“If you can bring me the enchanted item I may be able to figure it out.”

“Ok, I’ll be back in an hour.”

Well I didn’t get the result I was hoping from Twilight but at least she may still be able to help. When I got to the palace I headed straight for the vault where we had sealed both the book and the crystal ball with the curse. They were in the vault but also in a titanium box that had been sealed shut with a spell from Celestia. Seems like a bit of overkill.

Anyway, I grabbed the box and headed back for the front door. Honestly, I don’t think the box really protects from the spell since in can still feel the evil air coming from the ball. When I got outside I turned into a dragon and flew away towards Ponyville.

Twilight was pacing in the library. She was wondering why Sean had suddenly came to her home talking about magic stamps. She wished she could have been more immediately useful. The problem was she had only ever read about them, she wasn’t sure if it was going to be possible for her to find and trace it. It was around 5:32 when she heard the door open. Twilight turned to see Sean walk in carrying a metal box.

“Hey Twilight, I brought the stuff.”

“Great. Put it next to the head.” She pointed to the table with the pony head statue. Sean walked over to the table and placed the box on it. Twilight walked up to it and tried to open the box. “Sean, I can’t open the box. It’s got magic far stronger than mine sealing it.”

“Oh yeah, sorry.” Sean took his left hand and put it on the box. Then a gold aura started to appear around the box and slowly flow into his hand. When he was done he lifted his and looked at it with a look of surprise and joy. Then he took the box and opened it. “There you go.”

“Thank you.” Twilight looked inside the box. All she saw was a book and crystal ball, though the ball had a black aura inside it. Both items also made her feel a bit sick. She lifted the book out first looking it over. It was fairly simple it was definitely old, the book was just brown with gold corners. As she got closer to it the sickening feel of it got worse. “So Sean, why do you need to track the caster of the enchantment?”

“Classified.”

Twilight looked up at him glaring. “Sean, if you want my help I need more information.”

“Ok, royally classified.”

Twilight growled. She clearly wasn’t going to get anywhere with this. She opened the book flipping through the pages. The enchantment on the book was fairly weak, maybe the crystal ball would be of more use. Putting the book back in the box she lifted the crystal ball with her magic, the aura on this was definitely stronger. Looking inside the ball she could see a cloud of black aura inside the ball.

“So, any idea on how to find the caster of the spell?” Sean asked impatiently.

“Give me a minute.” Twilight looked into the ball. The problem was the longer she concentrated on it the worse she felt.
After another minute she lost her concentration and her magic faltered long enough to lose the grip on the ball and have it shatter on the ground.

Suddenly an evil black cloud came from the shattered remains of the ball. Then it darted towards Sean and absorbed him into a ball of black aura. Then the room went pitch black, when light came back into the room the ball was gone along with Sean.

“Sean!?” Twilight ran to where the ball had been. She tried to use her magic to track him but couldn’t it was as if he didn’t exist.

Chapter 46: Freaky Unicorn in the Crystal Ball

You know the plan was so simple. Go to Twilight’s, get her to find the caster of the curse, find the caster, if he was still alive pound him into the ground, if he was dead desecrate his grave. I have no idea how Twilight managed to screw it up so much. I mean seriously, dropping the ball? Both figuratively and literally. See, this is why we can’t have nice things.

Well that’s enough complaining. May as well try and figure out where I am. So this is what the inside of an evil black ball thing is? I gotta tell you I’m not too impressed. I mean it’s mostly just dark like the rest of the ball was. I have to wonder if the fact it was in a crystal ball has something to do with the scenery, because there are a lot of crystals all over the place.

“Hello human.” A voice said behind me.

I turned to see a unicorn in front of me. He was pretty weird looking. His body was gray and his mane and tail were black. He also had armor and a red cape. The weird parts were his horn and eyes. The horn was curved and had a lot of red to it. The eyes were green where they should be white and he had weird flowy black aura coming out of them.

“Who are you supposed to be?”

“I, am King Sombra ruler of the Crystal Empire.” He looked pretty proud of himself.

“Am I meant to be impressed?” I looked at him with a bored look on my face.

“Of course, I am the ruler of an empire of ponies made of crystals.”

“Ok, so you can lead a bunch of creatures that shatter if you hit them with a hammer hard enough.”

The freak show unicorn growled at me. Seriously I would expect to see something like him in a circus. With some sort of sign.

Come one come all, to see the freaky eyed egotist, listen to him brag about ruling crystal people and pretend to be important. I think that would sell pretty well.

“Are you even listening to me?” I snapped out of my thoughts to look at Sombrero or whatever it was.

“Sorry I was thinking about how much money I could make if I put you in a zoo.” Sober growled at me again. I like this guy, his buttons are so easy to find and push, it was like a small child. “So anyway, you still haven’t told me why I should be afraid of you, respect you, or whatever you want from me.”

“I’ll show you why you should fear me.” Then he turned into a weird cloud.

“Ooh, scary.” I said in a bored tone crossing my arms. “You know, water can do the same thing.”

Then the freaky cloud unicorn enveloped me and suddenly a giant screen appeared in front of me. Then Sombro was standing next to me.

“Now human, see your worst fear.” Soon the screen started to show a sort of video. There was me at a party walking towards a table that had one cupcake sitting on it. As I reached for it a unicorn enveloped it in magic and took a big bite out of it. Then he took what was left and threw it away, that’s when the video stopped. “Really?! That’s your worst fear? A pony eating half of a cupcake and throwing the rest away!”

“Hey! That was clearly the last cupcake, and it looked delicious!” I turned to look at him. “There’s one problem with this though.”

“What is that?”

“That would never happen, let me show you how it would really go.” I snapped my fingers and a new video started up. In this one when the pony grabbed the cupcake I growled and glared at him. He apologized and gave it to me. “See? I am intimidating enough that I would get that cupcake anyway.”

“Alright, let’s try something else!” He turned back into a cloud and spun around me. A black crystal began to crawl up my legs. Eventually it covered my body up to my shoulders. He turned back into a pony. His horn glowed and the screen disappeared. Then a Celestia appeared in front of us. She looked around and suddenly a black crystal shot out of the ground and impaled her. She hung there gasping for breath and bleeding before dyeing and disappearing. “How does that feel?”

“Meh.” I looked at him bored. “What else you got?”

“Seriously!? I just killed your oldest and closest friend!”

“Celestia can take care of herself, the odds of a third rate villain like you killing her are so low it is unrealistic.”

“Let’s try another one.” His horn glowed and a Luna appeared in front of us. Then a giant black crystal fell from the ground and stabbed through her head. “There, I bet that got you.” He turned to look at me.

“Not really.”

“Oh come on!”

“What? Luna while less competent than Celestia is still tougher than you. Again you couldn’t kill her. Are we done here? I have some questions for you.”

“What do you want?”

“I’m guessing you’re the one who put that curse in the book that got Celestia right?”

“That’s right.”

“Ok so that’s solved. Next question, why?”

“Because, Celestia is part of the reason I’m trapped in this place.”

“Oh, ok then. Carry on with your trying to upset me thing Salsa.”

“Fine.” Salsa used his magic again and summoned a Twilight.

Sombra was getting really sick of this human. First he foils his vengeance on Celestia, then he comes in here and starts mocking him. To make it worse none of Sombra’s attempts to scare or anger him were working. He had already looked into his mind and summoned two of the closest beings to him. Yet this freak kept calm and continued to make a fool of him.

There was only one more pony he could try. Some purple unicorn. Sombra used his magic yet again to summon a copy of this pony. He looked at the human for any sign of emotion, and much to his joy there was a moment of shock in the human’s eyes. Maybe this one would get to him. Just for fun Sombra would make this one’s death gruesome.

He used his magic and a crystal came out of the ground and stabbed through the pony’s chest, then another came out and stabbed her in the stomach, the next one fell from the sky and stabbed through her back splitting her in half. She cried in pain then looked up at Sean and died.

Sombra smiled at his work. Then he heard a growl coming from the human. He turned his head to look at the human and saw him shaking. Finally, he had touched the nerve to break him. Obviously he was shaking with agony and sadness. But then a hand burst out of the crystal prison he had made and back handed him. Sombra fell to the ground in pain. He coughed up some blood, he picked himself up and looked at the human. He was shocked as his prisoner smashed out of the crystals and turned to look at him. His eyes were completely green and his teeth were pointed.

“You know Sombra, you were a lot of fun. I was going to just smack you around a little but now you crossed a line.” He walked up and grabbed Sombra by the throat, then made a wall appear behind them. Sombra wasn’t entirely sure how he was able to do that. He took Sombra and threw him through the wall. Sombra coughed in pain he felt quite a few ribs break. “You like fear so much, let me show you true terror.” His voice slowly deepened as he finished that sentence

Then a shadow fell over Sombra as the human became a dragon and loomed over him.

Chapter 47: Sombra Looks a Bit Like a Changeling.

Twilight was freaking out. She had been pacing around the library for an hour now wondering what to do. What was the princess going to say? How would she tell her? Twilight started to hyperventilate, this was horrible. It would be worse than the time she accidently turned the princess into a squirrel for a week.

“Spike what do we do?”

“I don’t know about you but I’m going to bed.” Yawning he turned and headed up the stairs.

“Thanks a lot.” Maybe she could find it in a book. Twilight ran over to the shelves and grabbed the nearest book about teleportation, maybe she’d be able to find some answers.

Sombra cried out in pain. A crystal had just shot out of the ground and stabbed through his spine paralyzing his back legs. After a few seconds the crystal receded into the ground. Before Sombra could do anything the dragon let out a deep laugh. He raised his hand and another crystal came out of the ground stabbing through his chest. Sombra dangled on the crystal wheezing for breath. He already had several holes in his body from where crystals had been stabbed through him. There was enough blood to fill a small pond, Sombra wasn’t sure how he was still alive. His best guess was the dragon was somehow behind it.

“How are you doing this?” Sombra wheezed.

“Doing what?” The dragon asked still grinning sadistically at Sombra’s agony.

“How are you able to make crystals come out of the ground? Or make that wall? This is my world, I’m supposed to have control.”

“Silly pony, a being as pathetic as you has no control over me.” Then he raised his hand and another crystal burst out of the ground and into Sombra’s stomach. “And now Sombra. Die.” The dragon opened his mouth and a cloud of poison came out of his mouth. Then the dragon shot a breath of acid at Sombra.

Sombra screamed in pain. It hurt so much, he could feel parts of him burning. He looked at his hooves to see they were melting. After a few minutes Sombra lost consciousness. When the acid cloud had dissipated all that was left of the unicorn was a skeleton.

Well, now that that’s taken care of I should probably find a way out of here. I shrank back to my human body and walked towards what was left of Sombra. I made the crystals holding his skeleton up disappear and he fell to the ground and shattered. Guess the poison weakened the bones.

Suddenly I was enveloped in a cloud of darkness. Next thing I knew I was in Twilights library. My best guess is that Sombra was keeping me trapped in there. I saw Twilight rummaging through some books. She was mumbling to herself. Her back was turned to me so I figured I’d scare her. I walked up behind her and looked at the book she was reading. It had something to do with alternate dimensions.

“Whatcha reading there Sparkle?”

“Aagh!” Twilight leapt into the air. When she hit the ground she turned to look at me. “Sean! You’re back!” Twilight jumped at me and hugged me. The impact ended up having me fall onto the ground.

“Twilight, you know how I feel about hugs.” I said flatly trying to push her off.

“I don’t care. I was so worried. I mean I drop that ball and you disappear. I was terrified about telling the princess about your disappearance. She would kill me for destroying her best friend.” She then buried her face into my chest.

“Ugh fine.” I wrapped my arms around her and returned the hug. “There, now will you get off me?”

“No, you might disappear again.”

“Whatever.” So I just stayed there looking at the ceiling. After a while I heard snoring. When I looked at Twilight I saw she had fallen asleep. Well that’s just great! How am I supposed to leave now? After a while I just gave up on trying to figure out a way to get away from this and fell asleep.

Spike walked down the stairs. He was curious if Twilight had managed to find a way to locate and retrieve Sean. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he snickered. In the middle of the room Sean was on the ground asleep, the funny part was that Twilight was on his chest snuggled into him.

He was surprised Sean let her do that. After all he didn’t even like Celestia hugging him. Then again, he had always had a bit of a soft spot for Twilight. From what Spike had seen she was like a little sister.

Spike figured he may as well make breakfast for when they woke up. After all, Sean was always hungry and Twilight would likely be hungry. He headed for the kitchen and began to make some pancakes.

Twilight opened her eyes, she could smell breakfast. She looked around in confusion, for a minute she wasn’t sure where she was exactly. Usually when she woke up it was either in her bedroom or at her desk. She had never woken up in the middle of the library. Then she felt something under her, she was scared for a minute when she felt it breathing.

She looked down and saw Sean on the ground under her asleep. His left arm was wrapped around her. Twilight blushed a little and used her magic to move his arm off her and got up. After a minute of confusion she remembered the events of yesterday. Twilight couldn’t help but wonder why he hadn’t just moved her and headed home. It probably meant nothing. She shook her head and went to the kitchen hoping breakfast would help take her mind off it.

I smell pancakes! I love pancakes! Opening my eyes I looked around the room. Why am I here? Then I remembered yesterday. Can’t believe I let Twilight fall asleep on me. At least Celestia wasn’t here, she’d give me so much grief. Anyway, I need to find out where the pancakes are. I followed the scent until I reached the kitchen of this library. I understand it’s a tree but I’m getting sick of everything being made of wood, I mean is a carpet so hard to get? Or tile? Then my eyes saw the massive pile of pancakes. It looked delicious. Spike was at the sink cleaning some dishes. Twilight was sitting at the table eating.

“Good morning Sean.” Spike greeted me as I walked in.

“Hey Spike, those pancakes look delicious.” I walked over to the table and sat on the floor.

“So, how did you sleep Sean?” Spike looked at me with some look in his eyes. I couldn’t quite tell what it was but I didn’t like it.

“Good, why?”

“Oh, no reason.” Spike turned his back to me and started to clean dishes again.

Weird. Oh well, can’t worry about that now. There are pancakes begging to be eaten. There was already a plate in front of me, as well as a fork and knife. I took my knife and stabbed it through four pancakes. I put them on my plate, then grabbed the syrup and poured it on my pancakes. I grabbed a pancake with my hand and swallowed it in one bite. Another benefit to not being around Celestia. If I ate like this in the palace she would get pissed at me and teach me about manners and proper behavior again which for the record is painfully boring. But Twilight won’t rat me out.

After we finished breakfast Spike went to visit Rarity. After a few minutes I stood up.

“Well Twilight, it was fun to see you despite that whole making me enter an alternate dimension thing.”

“Oh, that reminds me. Can you tell me a bit about where you went?” She asked.

“Sure.” Twilights eyes lit up. So I told Twilight about my trip. I left out some of the more graphic parts. Mostly I just told her about the freaky unicorn.

“Fascinating. So he said the princess was the reason he was there?”

“Yep.”

“I’ll have to ask her about that sometime.”

“Have fun with that.” I stood up. “Well, I may as well head back to Canterlot. Celestia will be glad to know I solved the mystery.”

“You still never told me why this was so important.”

“I told you it’s classified.”

“Come on, please.” She looked at me with puppy eyes.

“Twilight you know acting cute doesn’t work on me.”

“Darn it.”

“If Celestia wants you to know she can tell you.”

“Fine.”

“Bye Twilight.”

“Celestia! I’m home!” I walked into the throne room. Celestia was sitting on her throne Luna was to her left in her throne.

“Where have you been?”

“I was in Ponyville. Having Twilight help me with the curse.”

“Did she manage to help?”

“Yeah, there was a small incident but it ended up helping me.”

“What do you mean by incident?”

“You know that ball we had the curse stored in?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it kind of broke.”

“What!” Celestia glared at me.

“Calm down, it ended up absorbing me and sending me to an alternate dimension.” I told her the rest of the story up to the part where I killed Sombra.

“So, Sombra was the one who cursed me.”

“Well he’s not a problem anymore.”

“I guess that’s true.”

Chapter 48: Attack of the Ugly Statue

Oh boy! It’s time for the Grand Galloping Gala! This is my second least favorite day of the year, just behind Hearts and Hooves day. The problem is that I end up just standing next to Celestia greeting a bunch of boring rich ponies I don’t even care about. Though this year Twilight and her friends are coming so hopefully I can trick her into taking my place.

Well it’s time for the gala to start. Another thing I hate about this day is it’s the one day of the year that Celestia insists I dress nicely. So I end up having to wear a tuxedo. The biggest problem I have with this is the fact my usual outfit is what I’m used to wearing so anything different is uncomfortable. After a few minutes of sitting around Twilight came running up the stairs talking to Celestia. They greeted each other and Celestia asked Twilight to stand next to her. Poor girl, she has no idea how boring it is.

“Well, I see no reason you need both Twilight and me here. So I’m just going to leave.” I ran away before Celestia could say anything.

I’ll be honest, the rest of the gala is not much better. It’s just boring in a different way. After being bored for a while I saw Pinkie sitting at another table looking bored too. Maybe she could liven things up. I walked over to her table.

“Hey Pinkie.” I waved at her.

“Hi Sean! What are you doing here?”

“Um, I live here.”

“Oh yeah. So are you as bored as I am?”

“Yep. We can just hang out.”

“Ok.”

“So, where are all your friends?”

“Oh, Well Fluttershy is playing with animals, Dashie is trying to impress the Wonderbolts, Applejack is selling things, and Rarity is trying to get it on with somepony called Blueblood.”

“Oh poor Rarity.”

“Why?”

“I know Blueblood and he is a spoiled, egotistical, little brat. You know he once yelled at Twilight and called her filth.”

“Wow he sounds like a real meanie.”

“Pretty much. Maybe we’ll get to see Rarity find out. It may be funny.”

I was banging my head against the table, this was no better than standing around with Celestia. Even Pinkie was unable to make it better. May as well take a nap, Pinkie had left to try and liven things up again. Just as I was dozing off I heard some yelling. I opened my left eye to see a cake covered Rarity yelling at Blueblood insulting him and all the fun. I watched as he backed away from her. Then he ended bumping into the centerpiece of the room and knocking it over. I did see Rainbow Dash trying to catch but fail. It ended up hitting one column and starting a domino effect with the rest.

This was getting more interesting. Then the door to the garden burst open with all the animals running around scaring away the fancy ponies. A very angry Fluttershy ran in yelling about them loving her or something. This is hilarious, there’s Blueblood hiding in the corner and animals running all over the place messing up the fancy room even more and scaring away the fancy ponies.

After a minute or so I saw them all running for the door just behind Twilight. So that’s how they play it, mess up the party and run. Wonder how Celestia is going to handle this. Speaking of which, here she comes now, surprisingly she doesn’t look mad at all.

“Hello Sean, enjoying the gala?”

“Not at first, but this is funny.”

“True, would you mind gathering all the animals and putting them outside.”

“Do I have to?”

“Yes.”

“Fine.” I got up and started chasing the animals around. You know they aren’t that hard to catch, all you do is turn into a manticore and chase them through the door. Ok, I will admit I did eat one rabbit. Only because he was giving me sass. After I finished and had shut the door I walked to where Celestia was sitting. “So, are you gonna go yell at Twilight and her little friends?”

“No, I’m going to go thank them for livening up this party.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Clean up this room.”

“Aw man.”

I hate Equestria in times of peace. It’s so boring, there isn’t anything to do. There aren’t even any holidays coming up. Just monotonous royal tasks. I wish something would happen. I was sitting on a window sill in the sun preparing for a nap.

“Wish granted.” A voice said.

“Who’s there?” I sat up looking around.

“Oh, where are my manners?” Then there was a flash and a weird snakey thing appeared in front of me. You know, it looked like that ugly statue I had thrown at Celestia. “I’m Discord. Spirit of chaos and disharmony.”

“Good for you.” I got back to lying in the sun.

“Hey, don’t ignore me.” He snapped his fingers and I was teleported out of the sun and onto the ground. Then he walked in front of me. “So, you’re the newest member to our club.”

“What club is that?” I got up dusting myself off.

“The club of immortal beings. I must say, you’re weird looking.”

“Says the guy that looks like someone took a bunch of road kill and glued it together.”

“Watch your mouth boy.” Oh joy! He’s like Sombra, so easy to upset.

“Ok, so what’s your story Dizzy?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Aw Dizzy don’t be so boring.”

“Stop it.”

“Make me.”

Discord snapped his fingers and a piece of duct tape appeared and wrapped around my mouth and head several times. “There we go. Now, I believe you asked what my story was.” He snapped his finger a chair appeared behind him as well as a book titled The Life of Discord. Then a chair appeared behind me. Forcing me to sit in it and tying me down. “Let’s begin.” The next few minutes were painfully boring. I had already drained the magic from the ropes keeping me tied to the chair and I had acid breath ready to melt the tape. Now I just had to wait for the perfect moment to strike.

“And that, is why I hate fruit tarts.” He said tearing up a bit. Freak. I can’t take any more of this. I tore the ropes and leapt at Discord. I smashed into him breaking his chair. Melting the tape I prepared to punch him when he teleported. “How rude! Here I am, opening up to you and you attack me.”

“Don’t act like the victim here.”

“You are so mean. Why? I’m a perfectly pleasant person.”

“Sure you are.” I tried to tackle him again. He teleported away.

“I know what you can do, I’m not letting you touch me. I like my magic inside me.” He snapped his fingers and we were teleported out of the palace. Where ever we were now it was not easy on the eyes. The ground was pink and white tiles, the sky was all twisty and there were random things floating around. Such as lamp posts, buildings, and clocks.

“Where are we now?”

“Welcome to my dimension! This is where I was dumped when Celestia and Luna trapped me in that stone body. By the way, I did not appreciate being thrown at Celestia during that fight of yours.”

“Fascinating, now let me out of here.”

“Sorry, I need to leave you here for a bit. Can’t have you running around messing with my scheme.” He snapped his fingers and was gone. Well that’s just great!

I’ve been wandering around this place trying to find any way out. I tried flying but I think this place nullifies magic so my powers aren’t working. The real problem is if I’m stuck here for too long I’ll probably die from magic deprivation. Stupid snake horse goat thing. How long has it been since I was left here? I grabbed one of the floating clocks.

“Oh come on!” the clock’s hands were just spinning around. I guess that fits Discord’s personality. I walked around for a while longer when there was a flash and Discord was in front of me again.

“Hello Sean, how’s your stay here been?”

“Terrible!”

“Aw that’s a shame.”

“Will you let me out of here?”

“Sorry, can’t. Though I can show you what I’ve been working on.” He snapped his fingers and a screen appeared in front of us. Then it began to show Discord messing with all the element bearers and turning them all gray and opposite in personality. Then the movie ended after he showed them Ponyville.

“Impressive. I love how Fluttershy beat you. That’s just embarrassing.”

“Maybe you’ll shut up after I do this.” He flew down and touched my head.

I looked myself over nothing had happened. “Was that supposed to do something?”

“I forgot, you’re immune to mind control.” Discord face palmed. “Well I guess I’ll just leave you here.” As he began to teleport I tackled him so I teleported with him. We ended up landing in ponyville. I must say, the town is pretty messed up. It looks just like Discords weird little dimension.

“I’ll show you freak.” I started to choke him and drain his magic.

“Get off!” He kicked me in the stomach so I flew off him. He got up and snapped his fingers. There was a flash around me but nothing happened. Discord looked at his hand in confusion. “What? You should be on the moon suffocating.”

“Oh Dizzy, I’ve taken enough of your magic to resist it. How about you let me take some more.” I sprinted at him preparing to punch him. There was a flash and Discord vanished.

“What is going on?” I turned to see Discord looking very upset. “Why can’t I teleport away?”

“How dense are you? I took your magic so you’re weaker. Seriously, for an ancient god thing you’re pretty slow.” I ran at him and punched him in the stomach. As he hunched over my knee smashed into his face. I grabbed his face and smashed it into a nearby tree. To finish it off I turned my hand into a dragon head and shot a column of fire at him. Sadly he was able to teleport just in time to avoid it.

“Well I have enough strength to do this.” He weakly pick himself up then snapped again and a spear appeared and flew at me. I jumped into the air to avoid it but the spear ended up following me. It stabbed through my chest. I flew back and was speared into the wall a few feet above the ground.

“You think this will hold me?” I grabbed the spear and tried to pull it out. Turns out it is touch sensitive and electrocuted me when I touched it effectively killing me.

“Oh Sean, if I can’t teleport you away I’ll just keep you trapped here. Good luck getting out.” He turned and flew away.

“Come back here! I’ll kill you!” This is worse than being trapped in the other dimension at least I could move in there. I can’t even escape by shape shifting it can somehow sense that and shocks me for that too.

So I was left pinned to that wall for around an hour until there was a big rainbow a few blocks away. Then everything started to go back to normal. Eventually all the buildings were on the ground and the sky and ground reverted to their normal look.

I am so bored! It’s been like four hours since the town was fixed, the sun has gone down. For some reason there are no ponies around. I ended up falling asleep after a few minutes. Then there was a voice.

“Sean? Sean!”

“What?” I opened my eyes and looked around. Eventually I looked down to see Twilight and Spike looking up at me. “Hey guys.”

“Sean what are you doing up there?”

“I was kind of pinned here by Discord. I assume you beat him?”

“Yep, it was great. I managed to fix all my friends then we beat Discord and there was this ceremony.”

“Yeah, that sounds great Twilight and I’d love to hear the rest. But could you help get me down?”

“Why don’t you just pull the spear out?”

“Pull the spear out!? Wow Twilight I never thought of that, you’re a life saver.” I said rolling my eyes.

“Glad to help.” She obviously knew that I couldn’t get down and was just mocking me.

“I was being sarcastic you purple brat!”

“You’re not really in a position to be insulting me.”

“Get me down from here now!”

“You know,” she let out a fake yawn. “Beating Discord has made me pretty tired, I think I’m going to go to bed. See you tomorrow Sean.” Twilight turned walking away.

“Wait Twilight! Come on. Help!”

She turned to look at me. “What’s the magic word?”

“Seriously?”

“Say it.”

“Please.” If she were any other pony I would have killed her by now.

“Was that so hard?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, let me get you down.” Her horn glowed and the spear became covered in purple aura. Then the spear was yanked out of my chest. That of course killed me. When I recovered my face was shoved in the ground and my mouth was full of dirt. I spat it out and looked at Twilight.

“Really? You could have just teleported me away from the spear and not make me eat dirt.”

“I know, but that was more fun.”

Chapter 49: I'm a Squirrel!

Yay Nightmare Night! This year I’m a squirrel. I lost a bet to Bob. I was going to ask Luna if she wanted to come but apparently she was celebrating in Ponyville for some reason. Doesn’t matter, as much as I love candy I’m not looking forward to being a squirrel this year, it’s gonna suck.

That’s enough whining, get out there and look stupid.

This is ridiculous.

Hey, you knew the consequence for losing. I told you that you wouldn’t be able to fit 62 acorns in your mouth.

Let’s just get the candy.

I was right about this year sucking, most of the ponies in town just laughed at me. One of them was especially annoying so I threw him into a jar of spiders. The only consolation is that I got a lot of candy. Though Celestia did her usual thing of taking half of it. I confronted her about it once. She told me to consider it rent for living in the palace.

Today is a special day! I don’t know what today is exactly, all I know is that it feels important. Time to consult the calendar. Let’s see, not a holiday, no parties or meetings, oh here it is. I guess its Spike’s birthday. I wonder if I should get him a gift. I don’t really feel like flying down there, plus I’m pretty tired, I could mail it to him. But then it wouldn’t get there for days, by then it might seem out of context. Screw it, I’m just gonna take a nap.

I hate this, I had specifically not sent Spike a gift because I didn’t want to fly to Ponyville. But now I have to because some stupid dragon is terrorizing the city. When I get there that dragon is going to get it. I’m guessing this is putting a bit of a damper on Spike’s birthday party.

Twilight and her friends watched as Spike stole the water tower to the city to store his hoard in. He was taller than any of the buildings in the town, probably 50 feet tall. To make it worse he had taken Rarity captive. Twilight didn’t see how this day could get worse. Then she heard a familiar roar.

“Oh no.” Twilight turned to see Sean fly over them. He landed in a few feet in front of Spike. Spike turned to look at the new dragon.

“What’s the meaning of this!?” Sean shouted at Spike. “The one rule I set was that dragons are to leave pony settlements alone.”

All Spike did in response was roar at him and glare. Then he took his tale and smashed it into Sean, knocking him over and into a nearby mountain. Twilight cringed, this wasn’t going to end well for Spike unless she did something.

“Ok whelp, I’ll give you thirty seconds to apologize and leave before I tear your head off.” Sean growled picking himself up. Again Spikes response was a roar before he picked up a house and threw it at him. The house hit him in the face. “That’s it!”

Sean grabbed a boulder and chucked it at Spike like a baseball. Spike was able to clumsily dodge it. While he was distracted Sean ran up and punched him in the stomach, then he grabbed Spike by his head and threw him at the mountain. Spike got up and started to attack Sean, clumsily clawing at him. Sean ended up putting his hand on Spikes head and keeping him at arm’s length which left Spike flailing his arms at him while just out of reach. After a while Sean let go of Spike’s face and flew up which made Spike face plant onto the ground. He then put his foot on Spike’s head. Rarity could be heard screaming throughout this whole fight.

“Now I’ll give you another chance, apologize and leave.” Sean said in a mocking tone. “I hate killing.”

In one last attempt Spike pushed up with enough force to knock Sean off balance then threw him off making Sean fall over. Then he ran for the mountain and started to climb it. Twilight saw this as a chance to tell Sean who the dragon was. She sprinted over to him just as he was getting up.

“I’m gonna kill him painfully!” Sean waved his fist. “He’ll wish he never crossed Nicol Bolas!” Wow, he really gets into his fictional persona when he’s a dragon.

“Sean wait!” Sean turned his head to look at her.

“What?”

“That’s not just some random dragon, that’s Spike.”

“No it’s not, Spike’s a tiny somewhat feminine baby dragon.”

“Usually, but greed got a hold of him and made him that.”

“Still not convinced.” Sean got up all the way easily out of ear shot. “What’s going on over there?”
Twilight looked over to the mountain Spike was standing on. He was looking at his tail as Rarity yelled at him. Then he suddenly shrank into his old form and Rarity and Spike started to fall likely to their death. Luckily Rainbow and Fluttershy were able to catch them. Sean shrank down to normal and they ran up to see Spike and Rarity.

“Well, I guess you were right Twilight. Anyway, I better head home now.” He ran off before Twilight could gloat.

“Sean, wake up.” I felt someone shaking me.

“What?” I opened my eyes and sure enough there was stupid Celestia looking at me. “What do you want? I’m trying to sleep. What time is it?” I looked outside to see it was barely light.

“4 in the morning.”

“Why would wake me up so early?”

“Because today is the day the Apples sell their cider, I told Luna all about it, you need to get some before it sells out.”

“I still don’t get why we don’t just make them hold a barrel for us. I mean you are their ruler.”

“I don’t like to deprive others of the cider so I like to get it fairly.”

“Still why 4 in the morning?”

“Because Ponyville is becoming more populated and it’s a 45 minute flight even by dragon.”

“Go get it yourself then.” I rolled over turning my back to her. “I’m tired.”

“So that’s how we’re going to do this?” I felt the sheets yanked off the bed and my mattress rose into the air before smashing me into the ceiling a few times then rolling over and dropping me in front of her. “There, feeling awake?”

“You suck.”

“I’ll take that as a yes, now get going.”

Wow, Celestia wasn’t kidding when she said this town is becoming more populated. The line stretches so far back it gets into the main town again. I wonder if any of the ponies I know are in line. Then I spotted Twilight and Rarity in the middle of the line. I turned normal and walked to them and got in line where they were. Progenitus jumped off my shoulder to stand next to us. He always enjoys these little trips.

“Sup guys.”

“Hello Sean.” For once Rarity was the first to greet me.

“Hey! No cutting!” I heard a voice behind me yell.

I spun around to see some random pony behind me glaring. I returned the glare then I picked him up by his head. “Do you have any idea who I am?”

“I know who you are, doesn’t mean you can cut in line.”

“If you know of me, you know what I do to ponies who annoy me.” I then changed my grip to hold him by his tail. Then spun him around like a nun chuck before throwing him all the way to Ponyville.

“Sean!” Twilight and Rarity shouted at the same time.

“What?”

“You might have just killed that pony!” Twilight shouted.

“I’m sure he’s fine. At worst I’m guessing a few broken ribs, maybe some legs.”

“That was still cruel.” Rarity glared at me.

“Whatever.” I crossed my arms. The next few minutes were pretty quiet. Until I heard Applejack say they were out for the day. Well that’s great, I was really hoping to get out of here. Looks like I’ll have to wait till tomorrow.

“It’s a shame we didn’t get any cider today.” Spike sighed as we walked to Twilights house. Seems like Twilight and Rarity are over the whole pony incident. It helps that we saw him and all he had was a broken leg.

“Yep. Oh well, we’ll just have to get there earlier tomorrow.”

So the getting there earlier didn’t help. I guess a lot of ponies really want that cider, because by the time we got there the line was already really long. Well we’re further ahead than yesterday so maybe I can manage to get a barrel today.

Well that may have been wishful thinking. It’s been several hours and the line is moving painfully slow. Spike had gotten out of line a while ago to play with Progenitus. They were still visible because Twilight had told Spike not to go too far.
Looks like another day in Ponyville for me, I had finally gotten to the front but they didn’t have a whole barrel for me to take. That sucks. As interesting as this town is I don’t think I can stand being here much longer.

Just when I thought Ponyville couldn’t get any weirder some weird ponies call Flim and Flam showed up with some weird machine. Then they broke into song and ran around talking about cider. Seriously, does this town just attract freaks?
Then they talked to the Apples, they got all huffy at each other and now there is some contest to see who can make the most cider in a certain amount of time and winner gets the farm. Seems obvious who will win. One side has a high tech machine that made a barrel in a few seconds, while the other has four ponies kicking trees and running on a treadmill.

Well I was right, the Apples are getting beat so bad it’s not even funny. Looks like I’ll be buying from Flim and Flam from now on. I was standing next to Spike near the hourglass that was timing them. After a while the situation got more interesting, Twilight and her friends joined in saying something cheesy about honorary family.

Umm, shouldn’t we be helping too?

Why would we?

Because Applejack is Twilights friend.

Not our problem.

Let’s try this. If Twilight’s friend loses her home and has to leave because you didn’t help I doubt she’ll want anything to do with you.

It’s fine, besides if we help where would the suspense be?

How do you figure its fine?

Look, They’re catching up, and if you look at the brothers they’re sweating.

Ok, but we should intervene if they fall behind too much.

Fine, if it will keep you from nagging me.

Should we help now?

No.

Look at Flim and Flam’s stack! It’s at least twice as tall as the Apples’ and there’s only like two minutes left.

Yes but they’re not going to win.

How do you figure?

Because, if you look they’re sucking up whole trees and now making their cider out of smashed apples and branches. Even if they win the contest they’ll lose customers if they sell those barrels. Then the Apples can just buy it off them.

We’ll see, but if this ends with Twilight and her friends hating you don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Fine. Now shut up.

Well I was right, those brothers made more barrels but everyone hated them for serving them tree and smush slushy’s. Then the Apples got to laugh and keep their farm. Yet again happy ending. Does anything bad ever happen around here?

Ha! I win.

I guess I have to give you that one.

Suck it!

Anyway, I managed to get the barrel of cider I’ve been desperately trying to get. And I don’t care what Celestia has to say about it I told them to hold a barrel for her every year so I don’t have to deal with this ever again. Before I headed off I saw Applejack talking to Spike while he wrote a letter. My curiosity got the better of me and I walked over to them.

“Hey guys, what are you doing over here?”

“Howdy Sean, I was having Spike take a letter for the Princess.”

“Let me see.” I took the letter and began to read it. Basically it was telling Celestia how Applejack learned nothing and was so smart. “This is kind of like mocking Celestia. You may as well just write. Dear Princess Celestia, I learned nothing I’m basically as smart as you, I could totally out do you in the wisdom department so take that sucker!”

Finally! It feels good to be home. I won’t deny living in the palace may have spoiled me a little but it’s so much better than Ponyville. I was luging that barrel of cider around looking for Celestia until a guard told me they were in Luna’s room. Progenitus and I headed up to Luna’s room. I wonder what they’re doing in there. When I got to the door I put my head against the door to listen.

“Ha take that!” That was Luna.

“Not again.” I heard Celestia groan. What are they doing in there? I’m not sure if I want to know. Curse you curiosity! I opened the door to see Luna and Celestia sitting on the couch playing one of Luna’s video games.

“Ha! I win again sister.” Luna raised her hooves into the air.

“What are you guys doing?” I walked into the room.

“Oh, Celestia was just losing to me again.”

“I just need to practice more!” Celestia was shaking her controller.

“Sorry sister, but I don’t think that any amount of practice will get you to my level.”

“I’ll beat you someday.” Celestia finally acknowledged me. “Oh hi, I see you got the cider. What took you so long?”

“There was a giant line and then some weird ponies showed up and challenged the Apple family to a contest of making cider so that took a long time, it was horrible.”

“Well at least you managed to get it. Now let’s open it up.” Celestia used her magic to open the barrel and teleported some mugs into the room. Luna, Celestia, and I filled our cups and started to drink.

Another drinking day, another day of no side effects. I had woken up in the throne room lying upside down on my throne. When I had gotten up I noticed Celestia and Luna were nowhere to be seen. I looked around the palace for a bit until I found them outside in the maze unconscious. I wonder why they’re out here. Oh well, I walked up to Celestia and kicked her in the ribs.

“Hey, wake up you white blob!” All I got was a mumble but nothing else. Looks like I’ll have to pull out the big guns. I took a deep breath. “CELESTIA, LUNA! WAKE UP!” that got a reaction, they both screamed jumped up then grabbed their heads and fell over.

“Do you have to do that every year?” Celestia managed to ask.

“Yes, it’s the best part of getting drunk.”

“Why aren’t you in pain?” Luna groaned.

“Regeneration, it’s for more than just combat and stunts.”

“I wish I had that.”

“I bet you do. But you don’t. Well, when you manage to get up and out of this maze you should probably get some food.” I turned to walk away but first I spun around one last time. “TRY NOT TO TAKE TOO LONG YOU DRUNKARDS!” then I ran away. I was able to hear them scream and Celestia threaten to kill me.

Chapter 50: Migrations Again

Time to prepare for my trip. The dragon migration is tomorrow. I say preparations but all I really mean is having some cupcakes since I don’t have them for a few weeks and grabbing a bag of gems. Every year I bring several rare and delicious gems. Sometimes I share them with some other dragons but I usually just enjoy them over the course of the migration.

I was preparing to go to bed. It takes a lot of energy to fly nonstop for several days. I had just finished packing the gems when I heard a knock at my door. Hey, for once someone has the decency to visit before I fall asleep. I headed to the door when I opened it Celestia was standing there with a scroll.

“Hey for once you didn’t wait till 1 a.m. to bug me. So what do you want?”

“Twilight sent me a letter that is addressed to you.” She levitated the scroll over to me.

“Since when does she send me letters?” I opened up the scroll and began to read.

Dear Sean,
As you know the dragon migration has begun and I was wondering if you could take Spike with you. He’s having a bit of an identity crisis and I think having another “dragon” would really help. Thanks a lot.

I’ve spent more time in Ponyville this year than I ever have. Things just keep making me head down here. Anyway, I got some sleep then headed to Ponyville. I got to Twilight’s tree and opened the door. Inside the place was littered with books. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight were all there.

“Sup guys.” I walked in waving to them.

“Sean? What are you doing here?” Spike looked honestly confused.

“I’m here to take you on the migration. Every dragon needs to experience this. Now let’s go it’s a long flight.”

“I’d rather not fly.”

“Why?”

“I’d like to actually make this journey not just on your back.”

“Fine.” I want to punch him. It’s a four day walk! Oh well, I’ll never hear the end of it if I let him take the trip alone. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

“Come on Spike! You’re the one who wanted to walk.” We had been walking for a day now and Spike was beginning to lag behind.

“I’m tired, can’t we take a break?” He was dangling his head and shuffling a few feet behind me.

“No, I’m a very important dragon and we’ve still got three more days.” Then I heard a thud. I looked behind me to see Spike had collapsed. “Really? Bolas!” I walked up and picked him up. I put him in the backpack I had the gems in and continued walking. Luckily, since I don’t have to worry about Spike lagging back I can pick up the pace.

Great, now I’m getting tired. Since I was able to sprint I managed to cut down the distance drastically. Should only take one more day, which will only put us one day behind. I think that I deserve to rest. I climbed up a tree set my backpack on the branch above me and fell asleep. Before I dozed off I swear I heard a twig snap and some whispering. Weird.

“There it is Spike.” The volcano was finally within view. “Should be maybe a two hour walk.”

“Great let’s go.” Spike ran down the hill we were standing on.

“Spike, wait up!” I ran after him.

Once we were a pretty close to the volcano I decided it was time to transform. So I took on my dragon form and Spike and I headed off again.

“Ok Spike, when we get there I’m going to give you a backstory, play along and you’ll be fine. If you have any questions during this migration just ask me.” I picked him up and put him on my shoulder.

When we finally got to the top of the volcano I roared and all the dragons in the volcano turned, when they saw it was me they all stood up and roared. As I headed for my special cave some of the usual kiss up dragons followed.

“Lord Bolas why are you so late?” One of the asked.

“Because, my nephew Spike here wanted us to walk.” I pointed to Spike.

“Nephew? I didn’t even know you had any siblings.”

“Yes, I had a sister. Her dying wish was that I watch over him and take him on the migration.”

“Oh, well hello Spike.” One of them waved at him.

“Hi.”

“Well that’s enough small talk. I’ll be in my cave.” I turned and walked into what made most caves look like tiny holes in a wall. “Alright Spike, so that’s your cover. Remember, here I’m Nicol Bolas and you are to address me as that.”

“Right.”

“Alright now go mingle.” I followed him out of the cave. When I got outside I headed for my makeshift throne at the top of the volcano. I sat down and watched as Spike headed for a pack of teenage dragons. I got a little angry when I saw them messing with him. Maybe I should turn into a younger dragon and go guard him. Then I saw a dragon that caught my attention. It was small and green and kind of snakey and derpy. The part that caught my eye was the fact all its legs were different colors and its wings were feathered.

“Something wrong Lord Bolas?” One of the dragons next me asked.

“Yes, bring that green one to me.” I pointed at the strange dragon.

“Yes sir.” He came back after a minute carrying the dragon in his hand. It was wiggling trying to get free. “Here you are.” I held my hand out and he dropped the creature into it.

“Let us go freak!” It yelled at me. That voice sounded familiar. I brought it up to my face and looked closer. It had eyes in its head and chest! What is this thing!

“I’d watch my mouth if I were you whelp. Insulting a god can be a dangerous thing.” I was still trying to figure out what this thing actually was. “Tell me, what are you supposed to be?”

“We’re a dragon.” That was a different voice, again it sounded familiar. Ok, so it has multiple different colored legs, feathered wings, multiple voices and eyes in its mouth.

“Last I checked dragons didn’t look like weird caterpillars.” I then grabbed its head and tried to tug it off.

“Cut it out Sean!” Now I definitely know that one.

“Twilight?”

“Yeah, and Rarity and Rainbow.”

“Why are you here, and why do you look like a poorly made insect?”

“How dare you! I worked hard to make this costume.”

“Well you should have added some sort of boots and wing covers. That’s how I spotted you. Still, why are you here?”

“To watch Spike.”

“I thought that was my job.”

“Yeah but you can’t watch up close like us.”

“Alright, go back to playing dragon.” I put them on the ground.

Well Spike seems to be fitting in nicely, meanwhile the ponies continue to make me lose faith in the next generation of dragons. Looks like I can finally relax. I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes.

“Hey, Grandpa!” Spoke too soon I guess.

I opened my left eye to see a dragon looking up at me from the middle of the crater. Looks like it’s time to shame another young dragon. Seriously, why do they keep coming? I always win. I also don’t get why they insist on calling me old, I’m only 918 years old. No time to think about that I guess.

“What?”

“I challenge you!”

“To checkers?”

“No! This migration you’ll be dethroned.”

“Sure I will.” I stood up. Then I flew down to him. “You ready? Or do you want time to make an apology speech after I smack you around?” He charge at me and I dodged. I kicked the dragon in the stomach sending him flying back. He already had a black eye and some missing spines on his head. He recovered from the kick surprisingly fast and lunged at me. I side stepped when he ran past me I grabbed his tail and spun him around until letting go and throwing him into a wall.

“You done yet? Or do you need some more?” I cracked my knuckles as I walked towards him.

“This isn’t over yet.” He lunged at me. And clawed at my stomach, likely going for some organs. Sadly all that happened was he scratched my armor. Which actually ended up filing down some of his claws.

“Ooh, nice try. My turn.” I took my fist and punched it through his stomach. I heard him cry out in pain before I pulled my hand out and he fell to the ground gasping. “You don’t looks so good. Let me see if I can help.” I picked him up and pulled one of his wings off. I put it in the hole I had made. “No that doesn’t fit, let’s try an arm.” I slowly dismembered him until he was just a torso with all his limbs and wings scattered all over the place. “Someone clean this up. He’s bleeding all over my nice clean volcano!”

Now that that’s done I may as well check on Spike. I looked over to see him and those little friends of his talking and pointing at the dead dragon. He seems fine. Now maybe I can gets some rest. I flew back to my throne and sat down. I think I deserve a nap.

“Come on Spike let’s go.” The red teenager ordered impatiently.

“I don’t know maybe I should ask my uncle first.” He pointed to Sean who was asleep in his chair.

“What are you a baby? You don’t need to ask some old dragon for permission. Now come on.”

“Ok I guess.”

“Lord Bolas wake up.”

“Huh?” I opened my eyes to see a dragon shaking me. “What do you want?”

“You should know that your nephew and a few of those teenage dragons have flown off.”

“What!” I jumped up. “Where’d they go?”

“I don’t know sir. Perhaps one of the whelps will know.”

“They better.” I flew over to where the pack of young dragons was standing when I got there I shrank myself to their size.

“Hey! Where’d your moron friends go with Spike?” They all looked at me stuttering but none answering me. “If I don’t get an answer in the next ten seconds none of you will live to see the next migration.”

“Phoenixes! They went to steal eggs from a phoenix nest.” One of them shouted.

“Where?”

“Into the forest, that way.” He pointed his finger behind me.

“Thank you. Also, if Spike is injured at all it’s all your heads.” I grew to my normal size and flew off.

Note to self, next time get them to give better directions. I mean in the forest that way is not that useful. I had taken the form of a phoenix to see if it helps me find some others. So far it has not been helpful. Until I saw a flash of light and I heard some crashes. I followed the sound to find three of those young dragons stuck in a tree. They pulled themselves out and I followed them.

After a while they came to a clearing where they found Spike with an egg. I was perched on a nearby branch watching. They yelled at him to smash it chanting. Then Spike refused saying how he was once an egg too. That sounded so stupid. Then they tried to grab the egg from him and Twilight and her friends showed up. Spike gave some speech about being a pony. I face winged at that. Then they all ran and the teenage dragons gave chase. Twilight and the group managed to teleport away and that’s when I decided to confront the dragons.

“Hey!” I flew down to the clearing and turned into the smaller dragon me.

“Lord Bolas!” all the teenage dragons bowed.

“I’d save the formalities. They won’t help you.”

“What do you mean?” the red one asked.

“What I mean is you messed with Spike. That is not tolerable.”

“What are you going to do?”

“You have one minute before the hunt begins.” I looked at my wrist.

“The hunt?”

“Yep, I’m gonna hunt each of you down until you’re all dead. If you survive the night you get to live.”

“What!” they all said in unison.

“You heard me. 50 seconds.”

“Let’s go!” the skinny purple one and the tubby brown one started to run.

“Guys, he’s not going to do anything.” The red one who seemed to be the leader looked at me with a smug look.

“Wanna bet?” I took my tail and wrapped it around his neck, then I tightened till it snapped. I looked at the other two. “You have 30 seconds. I’d get running.”

I was flying over the tubby brown dragon as he ran through the forest I was in the form on an eagle. He and the purple one decided to try and split up and if they survived they were to meet in the clearing where this had started at, dusk. Sadly it won’t work. After a few minutes of following him I decided I should kill him now. I swooped down.

The purple dragon paced in the clearing. Where was he? His friend was supposed to meet him here by now, it was almost sunrise. Maybe Nicol Bolas had gotten a hold of him. No, he can’t think like that. Then he heard a twig snap and looked in the direction it had come from. He was shaking in fear. Suddenly his brown friend burst from the tress breathing heavily and looking behind him in terror.

“You made it. I was beginning to think he had gotten you.” His friend just kept breathing heavily. It made sense, he had never been the most athletic of dragons. He turned his back to his friend pointing to where sun was going to rise soon

“Look, the sun is almost here, we’re safe.”

“You sure?”

“What?” He began to turn to look at him but as soon as he had could see him a blade stabbed through his stomach. He looked and saw that the brown dragon’s eyes were green. “No. We were so close.”

The brown dragon began to transform until it was Nicol Bolas looking him in the eyes. “True, but close only counts in horse shoes and fireballs.” He then pulled his arm out of the purple dragon. “Thanks for the fun game. You and your friends really livened up this migration.” He stepped over the dying dragon and walked into the forest leaving the young dragon to die.

Alright, now that that’s done I can head back to the volcano. When I got there a few dragons came up to me asking about Spike. I explained that those teenage dragons he had been hanging around scared him off and I would have to hunt him down after the migration. They also asked where the other dragons had gone. I explained they attacked Spike so I returned the favor.

I then headed to my cave to go relax and enjoy some gems, which aside from the ones I brought from home several dragons offered as a gift to me. Some even gave me things like gold which in the end help keep the royal vault filled. I went to the stack of gems lay down on my back and began to eat them like popcorn before dozing off.

The rest of the migration was uneventful, usual stuff. Some other young dragons challenged me, I killed them, got some more gems, slept, and spoke with some other dragons. Then once the two weeks was up we all went our separate ways.
I decided to check on Spike so I made a quick stop in Ponyville. I got to Twilights house and let myself in. I looked around but couldn’t see anyone.

“Hello!? Anyone home?” I stood in the door way for a minute until I heard some footsteps. Then Spike came down the stairs with a baby phoenix on his head.

“Hey Sean, what are you doing here?”

“The migration ended so I figured I’d come see how you were doing.”

“Oh, I’m fine. Look I even got a new friend.” He pointed to the phoenix on his head.

“Nice. Well I just came to see if you were Ok. Don’t worry next migration will be better.”

“I don’t know if I’ll go to the next one.”

“Ha like you’ll have a choice.” I turned and walked out the door then I flew home.

Chapter 51: Changeling Invasion

So Shiny and Cadence recently told Celestia and Luna that they were dating and then turned around and are getting married. That escalated quickly. Sadly I’m stuck with a really boring job. You see, there have been a bunch of threatening letters sent here so Shiny set up a barrier.

Celestia thinks that for some reason they want to do something to the wedding. So now I’m stuck guarding Cadence. I don’t see why some guards would be inadequate but Celestia threatened to burn all my sugary foods in front of me.
The reason this is so boring though is because Cadence just goes around preparing for the wedding. So all I end up doing is following her around being bored out of my mind. I’m jealous of Shiny right now. He gets to at least patrol and imagine killing stuff.

Cadence has been acting weird, a few days ago she was all excited for the wedding and wouldn’t shut up. But now she is a lot quieter and nowhere near as interested. I’m completely fine with her not talking and dragging me around doing wedding stuff.

So apparently Shiny had invited Twilight and her friends to attend the wedding. They all got weird miscellaneous jobs. Cadence and I ended up having to check on all of them and see how they were doing. I noticed her do some weird things while we were checking. She was being pretty cold to all of the ponies including Twilight.

Looks like Twilight got the same feeling as me because later when the ponies were all doing some boring little mock wedding she burst in calling Cadence evil and throwing all sorts of reasons and accusations around. Cadence ended up running off. After her rant all her little friends and even Celestia and Shiny yelled at her and left. Guess I better go find Cadence.

“Cadence!” I walked down the hall she had run down looking for her. “Where’d you go you stupid pony!?” Nothing. Weird. Oh well, guess if I can’t find her I can go to bed.

“Hey Cadence, have you seen Twilight?” I had managed to find Cadence at breakfast. We were currently walking down the hall to check on her dress from Rarity.

“Not since yesterday. Maybe she went home.” She shrugged.

Again weird. Since I met her she’s never been this disinterested in Twilight. Maybe there was something to Twilight’s accusations. I decided to keep an eye on her and maybe figure it out.

“Come on Cadence! Your stupid wedding is in an hour!” I was knocking on her bedroom door. She had been in there for at least 45 minutes.

“Could you come in here?” She finally replied.

“Why?”

“I need your help.”

“Fine.” I opened her door and walked in. She was sitting in her room in front of a mirror doing her hair. “So what do you want?”

“Your shape shifting comes from changelings right?”

“Yes, what does that have to do with anything?”

“Oh nothing.” She then turned to look at me. She opened her mouth and this terrible high pitched shriek came out of her mouth.

I fell to the ground holding my ears. “What was that?”

“A little something I use to incapacitate disobedient changelings.”

“What?” I looked at up at her.

“Oh yes, I forgot I was still in this form.” She was then enveloped by a flame and then that changeling queen was in front of me.

“You!” I tried to get up but suddenly she shrieked again and I fell to the ground.

“Yes me. Interesting, most changelings are unable to move after just one.”

“What did you do with Cadence?” I started to get up. Chrysalis just put a holed hoof on my head and shoved me back down.

“Don’t worry about her.” She let out another shriek and I lost consciousness.

Hey, wake up.

What? Bob?

Yes, now get up.

I sat up and looked around. My head still hurt. We were in some underground cave, crystals were all around. The area we were in was very poorly lit, I had to turn my hand into a torch and lit it on fire.

How long was I out?

4 hours.

Where are we?

Some sort of cave system under Canterlot. Used for mining at one time, though now it’s abandoned.

How do you know all that?

I could hear Chrysalis talk while you were out.

She doesn’t think ponies will notice I’m gone?

You think anyone is going to look for you? They’ll all be too busy with the wedding.

What’s her plan?

Something about a Changeling invasion on Canterlot.

Well that’s just great. Any idea how to get out of here?

Nope.

Thanks.

I stood up. There was a small gap between some crystals. I turned into a mouse and walked through it. That lead me to a larger cave, the weird thing was that most of the crystals in the room were destroyed. I spent at least an hour wandering around in the caves before I found a tunnel. I followed it until it came out to a much larger cave that had some moon light shining through the ceiling.

There’s our way out.

That was easy.

I flew up towards the opening and managed to make the hole large enough to crawl through. Now where was Canterlot? I looked around until I saw it. The city was at least ten miles away, the weird thing was Shiny’s barrier was gone. Let’s find out why.

When I got back to town it looked horrible. The streets were destroyed, some buildings looked like they had been broken into. It reminded me of the human colony after the griffin attack. Chrysalis must be behind this. The changelings must have already won.

Then I heard what sounded like music. I looked over to the palace and saw that there were lights where the garden is. Let’s find out what that’s all about. I jumped onto the roof of one of nearby shops and started to leap from building to building until I got to a tree in the garden where I was not visible but could see what was happening.

There was some sort of party going on. It looked like most if not all of Canterlot was here. I was also able to spot others like Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow. This must be some kind of changeling celebration. They are obviously enjoying their conquest over the ponies. I guess as some kind of mockery they take the forms of those conquered.

I will avenge the deaths of these ponies by killing all of these holed freaks. Starting with Chrysalis. Odds are she’ll still be Cadence. Now where is she? Then Chrysadence came into view. She was dancing with Shinyling. Time for vengeance! I leapt out of the tree and tackled her. The music stopped as soon as I tackled her. I grabbed her and threw her into a nearby table. I ran up and grabbed her by the throat preparing to break her neck while she was too dazed to do that screech.
“Sean! What are you doing?” I looked over to see the Celestia changeling walking towards me. I turned my hand into a dragon head and pointed it at her.

“Back off changeling!”

“What are you talking about?”

“I know all about your little invasion.” I lowered my Chrysalis chocking hand but keeping the other pointed at the changeling.

“I’m here to avenge all those ponies you murdered, enslaved, used as sun tan lotion, whatever you guys do to conquered races.” Then I felt Chrysalis teleport out of my hand. I looked behind me to see the Twilight changeling holding her in magic.

“We aren’t changelings! We beat them!” It glared at me.

“Sure you did.” I pointed my dragon hand at her. “Give me your queen and I promise to make your death as painless as I
want.”

You know, they may be telling the truth.

You’re falling for this act?

Think for a second, if they were really changelings don’t you think they would have attacked by now?

Perhaps, or maybe they are just waiting till I drop my guard to attack.

There are ways to find out if they are changelings.

Such as?

Well, we could use a spell, we could try and use changeling magic, knock one out, ask questions only the reals would know.

I like that middle one.

Of course you do.

I looked around till I found the Blueblood one. Keeping my arm pointed at Chrysalis. I walked over to it. Then I spun around and kicked him in the face full force. He went flying and smashed into a tree. He was unconscious and bleeding. But nothing happened.

See, if he were a changeling he’d have reverted back.

I turned my hand back to normal and looked at the crowd. “Sorry about that. Little misunderstanding, go back to your party. Someone get Blueblood there a doctor, or not, I don’t really care.” I turned and ran into the palace.

So after that whole incident Celestia followed me and explained what had happened. Sadly she made me apologize to Cadence for assaulting her. Anyway, Twilight and her entourage are staying in Canterlot for a few days. I don’t really know why, they gave explanations but I wasn’t really listening.

But I’m preparing for my afternoon nap. I found a nice patch of sunlight, flopped over and fell asleep. I could have sworn I heard some snickering. Oh well.

Twilight was sitting with Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy having a picnic.

“Has anyone seen Pinkie and Rainbow?” Twilight looked around for them. Fluttershy and Applejack shook their heads.

“I saw them go into the palace talking about waiting till somepony was asleep and pranking them.” Rarity said.

“What? What time is it?” Twilight looked at her friends panicking.

“I’d say about 2:00. Why?” Applejack tilted her head.

“There’s only one person who is asleep at this time. We have to stop them!” Twilight jumped up and ran towards the palace. Her friends looked in confusion before following. As they neared the palace there were two screams. Then Pinkie and Rainbow Dash came running out towards them.

“Girls! What’s wrong?” Rarity and Applejack ran up to them as they stopped in front of them panting.

“We were going around pranking ponies. Then we thought hey, he’s asleep good chance for a prank.” Rainbow explained.

“Why are you running and screaming then?” Rarity’s question was answered a moment later as a roar filled the air and a column smashed through the palace and landed a few inches in front of them

“You woke him up didn’t you?” Twilight looked at them.

“All we did was fire a canon and make a bunch of other loud noises. We thought it would be funny to see him jump.” Pinkie explained wide eyed.

Twilight face hoofed. “We may want to get out of here before he finds you two. At least till he calms down.”

After an hour Twilight headed back to the palace with her friends. When they entered they heard yelling. Running to the throne room they found Luna and Spike standing at the door looking in through a small opening they had made.

“What’s going on princess?” Twilight asked walking up.

“Sean and my sister have gotten into quite an argument.” She opened the door a little more so they could see. The two certainly looked angry. Sean was sparking and his eyes were green, the princess was glaring and her mane seemed like it was about to catch fire.

“You could have killed them!” Celestia shouted at Sean.

“But I didn’t! Besides, they are the ones who bothered me!”

“That doesn’t mean you get to throw a column at them! What if you had crushed them?”

“So what?”

“Without Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie the elements of harmony are useless!”

“So? They’ve beaten one villain I could have killed on my own, and a freaky statue, whoopdy doo.”

“That freaky statue still beat you.”

“At least I was able to fight him. What did you do? Sat here lazing around while your student and precious element bearers risked their lives. Then again you couldn’t handle Chrysalis. You’re getting old, it’s not your fault you’re useless.” Sean shook his head shrugging.

“Get out.” Celestia glared at him.

“Oh making me leave the throne room. Very mature.”

“No get out of here all together. Pack your bags and leave! Honestly sometimes I wish I had never helped you.”
Sean’s eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. He then turned around and walked towards the door. The pack of ponies standing at the door all moved away as he opened it and slammed the door. The hinges ended up breaking and the door fell over. All the ponies ran into the room.

“Sister you didn’t really mean that.” Luna said. Celestia didn’t answer all she did was turn and walk out of the room leaving the other ponies sitting confused.

Chapter 52: Scene Change

It had been three days since the argument and Sean was nowhere to be seen. Twilight and her friends and Spike were still in the palace waiting to see if he would come back. Celestia was acting similar to when they thought Sean was dead. She was distant and locked herself in her study every night.

They were all sitting in the dining hall eating with Luna and Celestia. After they finished eating. They walked out the door there was a sudden burst of wind, then below them a vortex appeared and absorbed them. Spike managed to get away and watched as it closed.

Twilight felt someone shaking her. She opened her eyes and saw Fluttershy looking at her worried.

“Oh good, you’re ok.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Twilight stood up shaking her head. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure Twilight.” She looked over to see Celestia walking up to her. “All I know is we aren’t in Equestria anymore.” Twilight finally looked around. They were in some sort of crater, the sky was a sort of orange like fire, and it looked like they were in some sort of jungle. Then a dragon roared and flew over them. “Come on, we should move. Try to find some sort of land mark.”

They had been walking through the jungle for a few hours before they came to a cliff. Now there was a totally different view of the landscape. There were several volcanos some even spewing lava. There were several caves and most of the landscape seemed to be bare dirt, rock, or jungle. A few dragons could be seen flying in the distance.

“This doesn’t look like anywhere I’ve ever seen.” Luna looked around.

When they got to the bottom of the cliff they heard some growls. They looked around, there was nothing there. Though after a minute several reptilian heads poked out from behind boulders. As they stepped fully into view the ponies got a good look at them.

They were bipedal about four feet tall. Their faces were similar to dragons. Some had horns, others had spines. In their hands were swords or crossbows. They all wore armor that covered their whole bodies except their hands, feet, tails, and heads. There were five of them.

“Look at this.” One carrying a sword started to talk. His voice was rough. “Celestia has the decency to show up for us, and I thought this hunt would be uneventful. Archers fire!”

Before the lizards could raise their crossbows they were hit in the head by magic blasts. Then the others were blasted. The ponies looked over to see a tall pony in a cloak standing on a cliff.

“Come on! Before more of them come!” They started to run towards the pony before they heard a familiar voice.

“Too late!” They turned to see Discord standing in front of them, Nightmare Moon was next to him along with fifteen of those lizards. “Finally found you Celestia.”

“Run!” the pony ran into the jungle. They all followed.

“Shoot them you idiots!” Nightmare Moon yelled at the lizards. Then several bolts began to fall around them until they got into the jungle then they just hit trees. “Ugh! She got away!”

After they had gotten far enough into the jungle the pony turned around to look at them. It took off the hood and just like Discord said it was Princess Celestia. One major feature though was she was wearing an eye patch over her left eye.

“You’re lucky I found you. Looks like Cadence’s spell worked.” Eye patch Celestia looked at them. “You’re not as impressive as I expected.

“Princess Celestia, what’s going on? What happened to Equestria?” Twilight looked at her.

“Equestria? This hasn’t been Equestria for centuries. Welcome to Jund.”

“Jund?” Rainbow Dash looked around. “What kind of a name is that?”

“I’ll explain once we get to safety. He may find us.” Celestia turned around and started walking again.

After 30 minutes of walking they came to a large cave. Inside was a complex series of tunnels and eventually they came to a large metal door. Pirate Celestia knocked four times in a rhythm and a slit in the door opened. Two eyes were visible behind it; the eyes looked around before the slit closed and the door opened.

“Princess Celestia good to see you. I see your mission was a success.”

Inside, a giant cave opened up to them. There was a whole city. There were homes built into the walls. There were some markets in the middle and near the back a large building stood.

“Twiley!” Twilight turned to see Shining Armor running to her. He then gave her a hug. “What are you doing here? How did you get away?”

“Um.”

“Shining, this isn’t your Twilight, this is the one Cadence summoned.” Celestia looked at him. Some sympathy was visible in her eye.

“Oh.” He hung his head.

They then reached the large building and entered, a large table was in the middle of the room with Cadence standing at the head.

“Princess you’re back. I see it worked.” She looked at the pack of ponies.

“Yes it did. Good work.”

“Will somepony explain what’s going on!? What spell? Why is this place called Jund? And what did Shining Armor mean when he said how did I escape?” Twilight burst out.

“Well you see,” Celestia began to speak. “Equestria was conquered hundreds of years ago, I was overthrown and we were forced into hiding. Eventually dragons became the top race and the name was changed to Jund.”

“Why haven’t you used the Elements of Harmony?” Rainbow Dash looked at her.

“Hard to use them when we have no bearers.”

“What do you mean?” Luna asked.

“What I mean is that there are no ponies to use the elements.” She pointed a hoof at Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy. “You’re all dead.”

“What about me?” Twilight looked up at her.

“You suffered a fate much worse than death.” Patch Celestia said tearing up.

“Who’s behind all this? Nightmare Moon? Discord?” Normal Celestia finally spoke up.

“Those two? Ha!” They all looked at Cadence. “They can’t hold a candle to their master.”

Nightmare Moon and Discord walked into a large room, the room resembled a cave. Along the walls there were torches which gave the room a much creepier feel. There was a door leading to a balcony. Nightmare Moon was low to the ground, her hears were pressed to her head and she was visibly shaking. Discord was able to keep his composure for the most part, though you could see his eyes reflecting his fear. They came to a throne in the middle of the room, it was made of jagged rocks, and the arm rests were the only smooth surface.

“Nightmare, Discord. What is it?” The voice of their master sent chills down their spines.

“Well, we found Celestia.” Discord said nervously.

“Fascinating, why is she not here then?”

“We kind of. Sort of.” Nightmare stuttered.

“Spit it out already Nightmare. He doesn’t have all day to deal with failures.” Nightmare Moon spun around to see the one being she hated more than Celestia. The purple alicorn walked out of the shadows looking at her.

“Shut up Twilight.”

“I’d watch it Nightmare. Remember your place.” Twilight looked up at her smiling. Nightmare growled, she had been the second in command of Jund for centuries, then this little brat shows up and takes her place.

“Enough you two. Tell me what happened.”

“Well we found her but she got away.” Nightmare flinched as she finished.

“Useless! Honestly, must I do everything myself? I already knew of your failure, I just wanted to hear you two admit to your idiocy.” He touched a crystal ball near the throne and several screens appeared. Showing several different places throughout Jund. On one of them Celestia and her pack of new comers appeared entering a cave.

“We’re sorry. Blame the Viashino, they were the ones who missed the shot.” Discord yelled.

“Shut up. Twilight, you’re in charge. Make sure these two morons don’t mess anything else up.”

“Sure thing.”

Chapter 53: History Lessons

For the record. Italicized=Flashback

“Master? You mean Discord and Nightmare would let somepony else order them around.” Twilight couldn’t believe that.

“It was more of a join him or be executed. They really had no choice but to join him.” Cadence explained.

“Him, you keep talking about him. He may find us, how did she escape him.” Not patched Celestia asked. “Who is he and how was he able to conquer Equestria? I think you ponies have some explaining to do.” She looked expectantly at the other Celestia.

“Ok, about 900 years ago I was sitting in my study when there was a knock at my balcony door.”

Celestia flipped through some books in her library wondering about another way to stop Nightmare Moon and fix Luna in case the element plan failed. Then she heard a knock at her balcony door. She got up and headed to the doors. Using her magic she opened them to see a yellow Pegasus with a red mane and tail standing in front of her. He had a few cuts and bruises on him and was still bleeding a little. One strange thing was he lacked a cutie mark despite being an adult.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, I need your help! Can I come in please?” He looked so pathetic she had a hard time saying no.

“I don’t usually take visitors this late or under these circumstances.” He dropped his head in sadness. “But just this once, I’ll do it.”

“Thank you.” He followed her as she went back into the study.

“Now what was it you needed?” Celestia sat down looking at him as he awkwardly sat down. He then told a story of being a member of some sort of extinct race, about having some of her DNA in him, and how a witch had cursed him.

“And that gets us to here.” He finished the story looking at her. “Can you help me?”

“Oh I’ll help you. Guards! Get in here, there’s a crazy pony.” The Pegasus tried to turn and run out the door but she used her magic to close it. A crazy pony like this couldn’t be left to run around in the world, he could hurt himself or another pony.
Then four guards burst into the room. “Princess, you called?”

“Yes, capture that Pegasus.” She pointed to him. Her guards then all ran and dog piled on him. When they got off he was unconscious.

“What do you want us to do with him Princess?” One of the guards walked up to her.

“Take him to that prison that recently added that asylum.”

“So you just wrote him off as crazy and sent him to an asylum!?” Twilight glared at her. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Don’t give me that. Do you mean to tell me you’d have just believed somepony that came in talking about being something that you had never heard of?”

“Our Princess did.”

Before the argument could get any further there was an explosion. All the ponies ran to a nearby window to see a black cloud near where that door had been. Then at least twelve of those lizard creatures ran through the cloud, half were carrying crossbows, the other half had swords. The ponies in the city were screaming and running, trying to get to the building that the princess and the others were in. The guards were trying to fight the lizards but they weren’t as well equipped and were obviously less trained.

The sword lizards just started hacking them down, cutting off heads, cutting them in half, or removing all their limbs then stomping on their skulls. Meanwhile the archers were firing bolt after bolt killing any pony unlucky enough to be spotted.

“Oh Ceeeeelly,” a familiar voice shouted. There was one big difference, this voice had a coldness to it that ran chills down the spines of everypony, even patch Celestia. “Come out come out where ever you are!”

Then Sean stepped into view. He had black armor on, his chest, arms, legs, and lower body were covered in solid armor, and his stomach was protected by black chain mail. On his left shoulder there was a black dragon skull. The only major resemblance to the other Sean was the hair and sadistic smile.

“How did he find us?” Cadence was looking in terror.

“I don’t know but we have to protect the citizens.” Celestia ran out the door. The rest of the ponies looked at each other and ran after her. When they got closer to Sean another major difference was apparent, his eyes were green as opposed to the other one’s purple. He turned to look at them.

“Ah, there you are.” He looked at the other Celestia and Luna “Ooh! Something new has been added!” Then he saw the element bearers. “You look just like those brats from a few years ago, thought I killed you. Wow Twilight, you look weird without the wings.”

“How did you find us?” Patch Celestia glared at him with her one good eye.

“You know Celly, you should try doing a better job to be discreet when going on trips.” he smiled “I always had a hard time finding this place, but when you went to get these guys.” He pointed to the other ponies. “You showed up on my radar, then I just tracked you. Finally, I can get revenge.” He opened his mouth and a cloud of acid was visible.

“Look out!” Shining Armor jumped in front of them and made a magic barrier around them. The shot hit the barrier and made a cloud of smoke. Then a hand easily pushed through the force field grabbed his face and smashed it into the barrier making him lose his concentration.

“Run!” Celestia yelled. He growled as he chased after them.

“He’s gaining on us!” Rainbow yelled. Sean was maybe only eight feet behind them now.

“I’ll hold him off!” Shining Armor spun around and glared at Sean. He just ran up, back handed Shining sending him flying into a wall and kept chasing them. They had gotten to the building. They ran down a flight of stairs. Twilight looked back and he was not following. When he tried to chase he was electrocuted and had to back away.
When the ponies reached the bottom of the stairs they turned left and got to a large door. Patch Celestia opened it and they saw it was a back way out to Jund.

“Wait, what about Shining?” Twilight asked. Then Celestia’s horn glowed and Shining appeared in front of them. He had a large bruise on the left side of his face where Sean had hit him.

“There, now come on!” Celestia ran out the door. They kept running until they came to a large boulder. “Help me move this.” Patch Celestia looked at the other Celestia. They walked over to it and used their magic to move the boulder. There was a ladder leading underground. “Get in!”

“Ok, now I have some questions.” Non patched Celestia looked at patched Celestia once they had gotten to the bottom of the hole and were hiding in what she had called a safe house. It had food, water, and torches for light. It was considerably smaller than the other hide out.

“What is it?”

“Two things, first how was he able to become so powerful and manage to over throw you?”

“Well, after I had sent him to the asylum some psychiatrists tried to help but said he was beyond help. Then some scientists studied him. After a few weeks he managed to escape after assaulting some unicorn doctors and draining magic to the point they died. At that time we were still in the middle of the griffin war, he was clever he waited till just after we had barely won the war then he began his attack.

“Princess, another patrol was found dead a few minutes ago.” A guard told her as he entered the throne room.

“That’s the fifth one this week. What’s doing this?”

“One of the soldiers was able to send a magic recording.” He put a crystal on the ground in front of Celestia.

“I still don’t see why we keep patrolling the area.” A guard in the recording said.

“Because, something’s been killing ponies and we need to do find out what and beat it.” Another replied.

Then there was a loud hiss. The guards looked around until they saw several strange lizards in the trees, they were all carrying weapons.

“What are those things?”

“I don’t know, but I think we may have found our attackers. Get them.”

“More pony meat! Attack!” the lizards jumped down from the trees. One landed on a guard breaking his neck. Then the lizards began to hack up the ponies. The guards were able to kill one of them but it didn’t help. Eventually only the head guard was left. “Last one.” One of the lizards walked up to him.

“Please, we can work this out. What do you want?”

“It’s what our master wants, not us.” it then raised its sword and sliced the guard’s head off.

Princess Celestia was pacing around the throne room. These attacks by the bipedal reptiles had been going on for two weeks now. She had lost at least seventy guards. What was she supposed to do? These things were agile, brutal, and efficient in combat. They were easily out classing guards and she had no way of knowing where they came from. Then there was a knock at the throne room door.

A guard walked into the room. “Princess, there’s a pony here requesting to see you.”

“Can’t it wait?”

“He says it’s urgent.”

Celestia sighed. “Fine, send him in.”

“Very well. Come in.” A green eyed yellow Pegasus walked in. She could have sworn she knew him but she had been too caught up in the war to remember very many new ponies.

“Hello Princess.” He walked to the middle of the throne room and bowed. “Thank you for seeing me.”

“It’s no problem, I swear I’ve seen you before. Did we meet at some point?”

“Aww, you don’t remember me Celly?” he looked up at her. “That hurts. Maybe this will jog your memory. Princess, please help me. No I’m not crazy! Please help!”

“You!”

“Now you remember.”

“Guards arrest him.” Four of her guards ran at him. Before they could get near him a large dragon burst through the wall running over the guards. It then landed behind the Pegasus.

“Like him? I call him Buttons.” The dragon was maybe 54 feet long. He was long with arms and legs that had scales resembling rocks and lava, he had four long sharp claws on his hands and tan scales on the underside that resembled armor plating. It stood on its hind legs, his wings were like standard dragon wings but the wings span was about 62 feet. His head was very different from other dragons. It was shorter and boxier it had several pointed teeth in its mouth and spikes on the sides of its mouth that curved in near the end. It also had large fin like parts on the top sides of its head.

“What kind of dragon is that?”

“I made him myself, I call him an Utvara.” He patted it with a hoof. “Eww, I’m still in this form?” he began to spark and transform until he was a bipedal creature, it had what looked like a skirt, its stomach was exposed between its sleeveless chest cover, it had strange fingerless cloves that left most of its arms uncovered and socks that left its toes and heels exposed as well as most of its legs. The final thing was a strange long and wispy mane.

“You were telling the truth about being some strange creature?”

“Yep, and I’m here for a bit of payback. I’m gonna destroy you and your country.”

“I don’t see how you can get all of Equestria.”

“Oh, that’s one of the fun parts. I made a female dragon too. They had some baby dragons and now I have a whole storm of these guys.”

“I’ll stop you.” She got up preparing to attack.

“Ooh I was hoping for a fight. Buttons, go wreak havoc.” The dragon nodded and flew off.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because, I came to you a few years ago looking for help. I was hoping the kind ruler of Equestria would be willing to help. Instead I got sent to an asylum where I was tortured and experimented on.” He pointed at his eye. “My eyes used to be purple, then your little scientists got a hold of me. They began to play with my genes until my dragon DNA became the dominant trait, now my eyes are stuck green and no matter what I do they won’t change.”

“I had no idea they were doing any of that.”

“Sure.” He turned his arms into swords. “Time for some revenge, let’s go!”

Celestia charged her horn and shot a beam of magic at him. The human leapt over it and shot a fireball out of his mouth. It hit Celestia point blank and sent her flying. As she was getting up he walked over and kicked her in the face. He then began to drain her magic until she had barely any and was nearly unconscious. Then she was lifted up by her head to look him in the eye.

“I have an idea Celly. You messed up my eyes, now I’ll mess up yours.” He then took a blade hand and stabbed her left eye out. Celestia lost consciousness at that point from the pain.

“So that’s why you have the eye patch.” Luna looked at it understanding now.

“You didn’t put up much of a fight.” Normal Celestia said.

“What do you want from me? He caught me off guard and had an army of dragons.”

“Ok whatever. Now onto my next question. Explain in better detail the whole killing the elements of harmony thing.”

“Ok, well I had gone into hiding after Sean had taken over. He was power crazed. He made the griffins go extinct, he killed many of the Minotaurs and enslaved what was left, and made ponies only slightly above Minotaurs. The only races left alone were changelings, zebras, and dragons. After me and several ponies went into hiding I had only one plan, I had to wait till the bearers of the elements of harmony showed and get them to defeat him. I spent centuries waiting. Until one day there was an explosion and a rainbow flew through the sky. I knew that was the sign that I was waiting for, I was able to get a general idea of where each one was.”

Celestia walked into a rock farm. This was where one of the bearers was meant to be. She looked around until she saw some ponies. They were all crying. She ran up to them.

“What’s wrong?” The adult stallion looked at her.

“Pinkie, they came and took her.”

“Who?”

“Our daughter, we were having a small party when some Viashino burst in and took her. Something about being too dangerous and Sean needing to see her.”

Well, he’s got one of them, I have to save the rest. Celestia kept going to where a bearer should be only to find that Sean had beaten her to them. As she walked through Manehattan she saw a poster on a wall. She pulled it off and read it.

Attention Ponies, there is a mandatory event occurring in the capital city tomorrow at noon. Any ponies who do not attend will be killed slowly and painfully. So be there unless you hate your limbs.
Love Sean.

Celestia walked through the crowd of ponies, she had used some magic to disguise herself as an ordinary pony. She pushed her way to the front of the crowd to see. There was what seemed to be a race track, at one end there were five stalls. In each there was a young pony. Each one Celestia knew was one of the bearers she had been searching for. Though she found it odd that there were only five when there were six elements.

Then the monster himself walked onto a stage near the stalls with Nightmare Moon next to him. “Greetings citizens of Jund. You’re probably wondering why you were forced to come here. The answer to that is quite simple, so I can show you what happens to ponies who threaten me.” He pointed at the stalls. “In here are five children who threaten to overthrow me.” The ponies all stayed silent, though the Viashino all booed at the children.

“I have brought the parents of them here to watch this little game I’ve made.” He pointed to the ponies Celestia had encountered in her search for the bearers. “The game is quite simple, I will be releasing these ponies from their stalls, and they have to run to the end of the track without being eaten by dragons. If they reach the end they get to live.”
He turned to look at the stalls, then at Nightmare. She nodded and pulled a lever. The stall doors swung open and the ponies ran down the track. A yellow one with a pink mane ended up cowering in her stall and it was lit on fire cooking her. An orange pony with a blonde mane and tail tried to just run off the track but was immediately electrocuted and killed. A white unicorn was swallowed by a dragon near the finish. The rainbow pony and the pink one made it to the end and started to smile and dance.

“Congratulations children!” Then Buttons flew down and swallowed the two whole.

“What was that!?” The father of the rainbow pony ran up glaring at Sean. “You said if they reached the end they would get to live.”

“Oh silly pony.” Sean turned walking away. “I never said for how long.”

“Why you!” The pony then flew at him full speed he never reached Sean though as he was shot in the head by an archer.
Sean turned to the other parents. “Anyone else want to try a stunt like that?” The parents all shook their heads and ran off.
"Good. Let’s go Nightmare.”

“That’s horrible.” Luna looked shocked. “How could someone be that cruel?”

“I’m not entirely sure.”

“We have to beat him.” Twilight stood up. “What’s the plan Princess?”

“Sean keeps the elements in an underground safe which is built under a military base. We have to get in there get the elements and get out.”

“You make it sound too easy.” Cadence looked at Celestia doubtfully.

“I know it will be hard but I have an idea.” Celestia then looked at Twilight.

“What?” Twilight looked at her.

“Master you’re back.” Twilight looked as Sean entered the room. “I was watching on the screens, it’s a shame they managed to get away.”

“It was not a total waste.” He put his hand on the crystal ball and poured magic into it. Then a new screen appeared showing the group of escaped ponies.

“You put a spell on Shining Armor?”

“Precisely. Now, let’s see what they’re talking about.”

“We have to get in there get the elements and get out.” Celestia said.

“Interesting. Twilight, I have a job for you.”

“What do you need?”

Chapter 54: Retrieving the Elements

“This isn’t going to work.” Twilight looked back at Patch Celestia. Twilight was wearing a cloak that covered her whole body except her head.

“Of course it will. Just play it cool and none of them will know the difference.” Twilight walked up to the gate of the military base. It was in the middle of a desert. One place few beings would go. She knocked on the door. It opened and a viashino head popped out.

“What!?” He then saw Twilight and his eyes widened. “Lady Twilight!” He ducked back in and the door opened all the way. “My apologies for my reaction. Please come in.”

“Um, thank you. Just watch your tone.” This felt weird to Twilight. She was not used to this kind of treatment. It was weird to even feel like she was in such control of others.

“May I take your cloak?” The lizard asked politely still with a bit of fear.

“No, it’s alright. I’m not staying for long.”

“Very well, what can I do for you?”

“I need to see the elements of harmony.”

“Why?”

“Are you questioning me lizard?” Twilight looked at him putting on her best irritated/intimidating face.

“No! Of course not.” He backed away. “I just find it strange that Lord Sean would send you here without any notice.”

“He doesn’t have to keep lowly creatures like you informed. Just take me to the elements. Or should I tell him you denied me?” She didn’t necessarily like acting this way but it seemed to be working.

“No! Please don’t. Follow me.” The viashino turned and walked towards a small building that looked like some sort of barracks. When they entered the building they headed for one of the beds. The lizard walked over to the end table next to it, he opened the drawer and pressed a button that was in it. The nearby bed tipped over to reveal a hatch that was under it. The viashino walked over and opened the door. “After you.”

“Good call.” She walked over to see a stair case. Twilight walked down she heard the lizard following her. They walked until they reached the bottom of the stairs. It had become so dark that Twilight had to use her horn for light. In front of them there was a large vault door. “Open it.”

“Yes Lady Twilight.” He walked to the door, he entered a combination and the door swung open. The room was lit and in the back the elements were in a frame on the wall.

“Thank you, Lord Sean will be pleased.” She used her magic to grab the frame and headed out the vault and back up the stairs. When they got outside she headed for the door.

“Hold it right there imposter!” Twilight looked up to see what herself floating over them. This Twilight had wings just like Evil Sean said.

“Twilight?” The viashino captain yelled in surprise. “But,” he pointed to Twilight.

“You moron, didn’t you wonder why she hadn’t just flown inside?”

“Well I I guess.” He stuttered.

“Look.” Flying Twilight shot a fire ball from her horn lighting other Twilight’s cloak on fire.

“Aagh!” Twilight tore the thing off.

“See! Last I checked I was supposed to have wings.” She glared at the lizard.

“Well I guess I better leave.” Twilight turned and ran out the gate.

“Get back here!” Winged Twilight flew after her.

“Guys help!” Twilight yelled to the group of hiding ponies and pointing towards the Twilight chasing her.

“Get down!” Celestia jumped up and shot a beam of magic at alicorn Twilight. Twilight responded with her own magic beam which easily over powered Celestia’s and sent her flying.

“Princess!” Normal Twilight glared at her counterpart. “How could you!? Why are you helping the person trying to kill your brother and race?”

“That’s easy, Lord Sean is the reason I am as powerful as I am.”

“So you turned on your family for power?”

“That’s not it, he’s also the only person who saw my magical potential and helped me harness it.”

Twilight was terrified. Some of those evil lizard guys had shown up at her house and had taken her captive. They had dragged her to the castle of Lord Sean and locked her in a cage. When she got there she saw some other children in similar cages.

Sean sat in his throne room looking on one of his screens at the element bearers in the cell block. Then he noticed the newest child that had been brought in. A purple unicorn, there was one major difference from most unicorns though. He could sense the powerful amount of magic in this one. She had potential, it would be waste to kill this one.

“Captain.” He looked at the nearby viashino in gold armor.

“Yes my lord?”

“Bring me the purple unicorn.” He pointed her out on his screen.

“Yes master.”

Twilight sat in her cage in fear. Then she heard the door open and two lizards walked in. They looked around at each cage until they saw her. Then one pointed at her.

“That’s the one. The master wants the unicorn.” Then the other one walked up to her opened the cage and grabbed her.

“Let me go.” Twilight struggled in the lizard’s grasp.

“No can do.” He then carried her to the throne room. “Master, here she is.” He then threw her on the ground in front of the throne. She grunted as the wind was knocked out of her.

“Careful lizard!” A column of fire came out of the ground and enveloped the lizard. Twilight heard him scream before he was reduced to just a lizard skeleton. “Greetings Twilight Sparkle.” Sean stood up and walked up to her.

“What do you want with me?” she looked at him in fear.

“No need to be scared child” he kneeled down in front of her. “I want to help you.”

“With what?”

“I see potential in you. You’re destined for greatness.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Twiley listen.” Shining Armor walked forward to look at her. “You remember how mom and dad died?”

“Yes, they were killed in a fire.” She eyed him.

“That’s partially true. Sean was the one behind their death though.”

Shining Armor followed his parents to the castle. His parents had contacted Sean wanting to talk about Twilight who he had taken under his wing. Sean had requested they meet outside behind the castle where they could enjoy the Jund weather and be undisturbed. He was the only one who enjoyed this weather, likely due to his dragon side. When they reached the meeting place they saw him sitting at a stone table.

“Ah, there you are. Glad you could make it.”

“Hello Lord Sean.” Shining’s mother bowed to him. They then all sat at the table.

“So, what did you want to talk about? I understand it involves Twilight.”

“Yes,” His father spoke up. “We don’t feel comfortable with Twilight living with you. We were hoping to take her back with us.”

“I see.”

“We mean no disrespect sir. We just want to do what’s best for our daughter.”

“I fail to see how living with me and reaching her full magical strength is not what’s best.” Sean leaned forward putting his elbows on the table, crossing his hands and holding them in front of his mouth.

“She just seems a bit young to leave home so suddenly it may be too drastic of a change.”

“Interesting. Well, I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this.” He let out a roar and looked up.

The ponies followed suit and looked up. Maybe a mile above them was one of Sean’s genetically engineered Balefire’s, they were fast creatures which he used to bomb battlefields with fireballs. They were long slender black dragons with gray undersides, their wings were red and resembled stain glass. Their heads were small and sharp with a large under bite resulting in the lower jaw completely surrounding the upper, they had two large horns sticking out of their heads. Their arms had blade like parts near the elbows, even from here they could see the piercing red eyes of it.

“Shining run!” his father yelled as the Balefire shot a fireball down. Shining turned and ran to take cover behind a large rock nearby. There was a loud explosion and when Shining looked out from behind his rock he almost cried out. His parents’ dead bodies were on the ground, they were so charred they didn’t even look like ponies. Across from them Sean’s cooked body lay in his chair.

Then Sean began to twitch and spark. Slowly his charred flesh returned to its somewhat pale color and his armor began to reform around his healing body. Once he was completely healed he stood up dusted himself off and walked away into the castle. Shortly after he left two minotaurs came out and grabbed his parents and carried them off.

“You see? Sean is the one who murdered our parents! He’s the embodiment of evil. Do you still support him?” Shining asked. Alicorn Twilight was standing in front of them with a look that showed she was thinking. Though it lacked any sort of emotion.

“Meh.” She finally said shrugging.

“What!?” Shining looked at her in shock. “He murdered our parents just for wanting to take you home.”

“They deserved it. They were trying to take me away from Lord Sean and prevent me from reaching my full power.”

“I see, I was hoping you’d see his evil and join us. But I guess you’re too brainwashed to do that.” He then fired a shot of magic at her.

Twilight easily dodged it flying into the air. “Wow, so dramatic. If anyone’s brainwashed it’s you. You’ve let Celestia corrupt you. Come to the winning side and I won’t have to kill you.”

“Never!” he shot another bolt.

“Shame. Bye Shiny.” She then shot her own bolt that Shining was unable to dodge and hit him point blank. She landed in front of him. “Say hi to mom and dad for me.”

“No!” Normal Twilight yelled. But she could do nothing as Shining’s head was torn off by the other Twilight. Then alicorn Twilight was hit by a rainbow blur and smashed into the wall of the base.

“Why you!” She got up charging her horn. Glaring at Rainbow Dash.

“Run!” Celestia yelled. All the ponies ran off. Twilight gave chase but Celestia managed to teleport them away.

“Ugh!” Twilight growled.

“That was close.” Patch Celestia panted. “Good thing you were able to get us out of there.” She looked at the other Celestia.

“Thank you. I question how Twilight is that powerful in this world.”

“Or how I’m an alicorn.” Twilight said.

“Her being an alicorn and being so powerful are linked. She was charged with so much magic a few years ago, she was transformed and it has made her able to hold excessive amounts of magic. Come on, we need to enter phase two of overthrowing Sean.”

“Master, I’m back.”
“Ah Twilight, how was your mission?” Sean was standing on his balcony admiring Jund. Watching as the volcanos erupted and dragons happily flew. This was far better than Equestria ever was.

“Not so good.” She knew he had watched. He just always loved hearing beings admit their failure. “They got away with the elements.”

“Excellent.” He kept his back turned to her.

“I’m sorry master it. Wait, did you say excellent?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Why is it a good thing they got away?”

“This is all going according to plan.”

“What? You have some sort of plan.” She walked onto the balcony.

“Of course I do Twilight. I anticipated them going for the elements. I sent you there anticipating failure. Bonus points for killing Shining though.”

“Why would you send me on a mission to fail?”

“Because, they now know we are onto them. That means they will begin to rush their plan.”

“Which is?”

“Prepare some Balefires.” He walked away completely ignoring her.

Chapter 55: Buidling An Army

“What happened here?” Fluttershy asked as they walked through Manehattan, or at least what was left of it.

“A couple Centuries ago there was a hydra attack here.” Cadence explained as they walked towards what was probably the capital building. “Sean sent some dragons to kill it but not before it had destroyed a good amount of the city.”

When they reached the capital building Patch Celestia opened the door and they walked in. A few ponies gasped, others stared. They walked through the room until they reached a door. Celestia opened it and they walked in. The mayor of Manehatten stood in his office looking out the window. When he heard the door open he turned to look at them.

“Princess Celestia! What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to get a rebellion force built to take on Sean.”

“That’s suicide! Nopony’s ever touched him.”

“I know, but now we have these.” She took the elements of harmony out of her saddle bag.

“We may have a chance with those.” The mayor nodded. “I will rally the ponies and we will try and recruit as many as possible.” He ran off.

“Princess.” Rainbow flew up to Patch Celestia.

“Yes?”

“Why is everypony so afraid of this Sean? All he’s done is send minions after us and the one time we saw him he didn’t chase us much.”

“She is right, perhaps he’s gotten soft.” Luna nodded. Before Celestia could respond she heard the mayor calling for her. They all walked outside to see a crowd of ponies standing looking at them. Patch Celestia stepped up.

“Ponies of Jund! I’m here to rally troops to overthrow Sean.” There were mumbles in the crowd and several disbelieving looks. “I know you all fear him, but we now have an edge.” She showed them the elements. “With these we can defeat Sean and take back our world!” The feel of the crowd changed as they saw the elements. Instead of fear and disbelief there was hope in many of their eyes.

“So, are you with us!?” Cadence yelled. Most of the crowd cheered. “Are you ready to take back Equestria!?”

“YEAH!” the crowd yelled.

“How touching, look at that Zirilan, they’re planning a rebellion.” The ponies looked over to see two viashino sitting on a destroyed building. The one who had just spoken had a longer face than most of them and several spines running down his neck and back. He was a greenish yellow. He was wearing black armor that was jagged at the shoulders. He was holding a long thin sword which seemed much more intricate than most.

“It’s pretty funny Hivis.” The one called Zirilan said chuckling. He had no spines or horns and wore gold armor with a drawing of a dragon on the chest. He carried a staff with a dragon head holding a ruby.

“You wanna ruin it?” Hivis asked kicking his legs.

“Why not.” Zirilan raised his staff, the ruby glowed and suddenly in the distance three Balefire’s were flying towards them at full speed. After a few seconds they did a fly by and shot several fireballs into the crowd. Ponies started to scream and scatter trying to find cover.

“Who are they?” Pinkie asked. As they ran into the capital building.

“Hivis and Zirilan. They’re the highest ranking viashino in Sean’s army. Hivis is a master swords man, while Zirilan uses magic and can control dragons to a degree.” Cadence answered.

After a few seconds it got quiet outside. No dragon’s, no screaming, nothing. Cadence looked out a window to see that Zirilan and Hivis were gone to.

“What’s going on?” Rainbow asked.

“I don’t know, there’s nothing out there.” Cadence walked out the door. The others followed her. The city was on fire but still nothing. All there was were fried dead ponies. “This is weird, why did the attack stop?”

“I’m not sure this was an attack.” Normal Celestia looked around. “I think this was a message, he’s showing he knows exactly what we’re up to. We need to hurry, and get this rebellion going.

“Perfect.” Sean sat on his throne looking at his screen watching Manehattan.

“Good work master.” Twilight sat next to him watching.

“Thank you.”

“What’s next?”

“Nothing.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Princess, why are we going to Fillydelphia.” Twilight asked Patch Celestia as they got closer to the city.

“Because, since we lost our support in Manehattan our next best bet is Fillydelphia.”

Once they had reached Fillydelphia they found it weird that there were no Viashino waiting for them. After all, Sean had been a step ahead until now. They walked through the city, which was in much better shape than Manehatten. Though it had a large volcano in the middle of the city where some dragons could be seen flying around and resting on ledges on the sides enjoying the heat.

Ponies were walking around the city they seemed depressed and hopeless. They were all avoiding even looking at the volcano. Some Minotaur slaves could be seen dragging carts of food or building materials. A few were walking towards the volcano. As they got near the volcano dragons would swoop down and carry them off.

“Why are those minotaurs sacrificing themselves?” Fluttershy looked in fear and sadness.

“As I said Minotuars have been turned into slaves. Some are required to supply shops, some are forced to build, but most are used to feed the dragons of Jund so they don’t eat the viashino.” Celestia answered grimly.

“That’s terrible.” Twilight said. “We have to save them.”

“Nothing we can do, unless you want to become dragon fodder instead.” Cadence warned.

“Let’s just get to the town square, I’ve already told the mayor we were coming.” Celestia told them as they moved to an open area with a few markets near the volcano. There was already a crowd of ponies waiting. Celestia walked in front of them and began a speech. She gave the same speech as she did in Manehattan. The main difference was the fact that these ponies were much more open to the idea.

After her speech several ponies cheered and began to come to her offering their help. Celestia told them to go to a base her ponies had nearby where most of her guards and several ponies from the old hideout moved to.

“Ok, we have the start to a reasonable army. We just need support from a few more cities and we should be able to attack.” Celestia said cheerfully.

The ponies entered Las Pegasus. The city still had some casinos, though it had been cut down drastically. Celestia once again informed the ponies she was coming and they were waiting when they got there. Celestia got in front of the crowd and began to speak.

“Ponies of Las Pegasus, are you tired of being oppressed by tyrannical rule of the human?”

“Yeah!” The crowd cheered. They had heard about Fillydelphia and that was giving them the confidence to join Celestia.

“We are preparing…”

Then there was a thud followed by a roar. Then between two nearby buildings a massive dragon burst through. It was different from the Balefires or the Utvaras. This dragon was considerably larger than most dragons. The wing span was probably 90 feet, while the body was probably 80 feet long. It was much bulkier than the Balefires and in some ways resembled a Komodo dragon. The dragon’s neck and most of its body looked like armor plating and was a dark brown. Its muzzle resembled a beak at the end and its head had several spikes sticking out of the sides of its head. Two piercing red eyes glared at the ponies.

It roared again and then fired a massive column of fire at the crowd. Several ponies had the sense to run and hide as soon as they saw it along with both Celestias, Cadence, Luna, and the bearers who ran behind an old casino sign, though most of the crowd was unable to get away or was too scared to move. They were hit by the column of burning death and were all turned to ash.

“What kind of dragon is that?” Luna asked wide eyed at seeing the ponies incinerated instantly.

“That my little ponies, is what The Master calls an Ancient Hellkite.” The ponies looked to their left to see Hivid sitting next to them. With his hands behind his head looking very relaxed.

“What are you doing here?” Cadence glared at him.

“The Master sent me to see how you guys were doing.”

“I assume he’s the one who sent this dragon.” Patch Celestia said coldly. They heard another thud and ponies screaming.

“Oh, this guy has been terrorizing this city for years. Lord Sean just asked him to attack a little earlier than usual.”

“I assume this is another one of his special made dragons.” Twilight asked.

“Oh Twilight, you’re as curious as ours. Anyway, yes these are his work. They’re a mix of ancient dragon DNA and his Balefires. The result is a fast, deadly, killing machine with nearly impenetrable scales.” Hivis stood up and stretched. “Lord Sean sends his regards.” Hivis then leapt over the destroyed sign and ran over to the dragon. It lowered its head and Hivis climbed on before the dragon flew off.

The ponies walked out from behind the sign to see the city destroyed. A few new buildings were crumbled. It looked like the dragon had specifically destroyed buildings with ponies in them, as pools of blood could be seen. There were also several scorch marks in the shape of ponies where the ones incinerated had stood.

“Well that’s just great! Looks like we have to find another city.” Patch Celestia groaned.

“That was great!” Sean laughed in his throne watching the destruction the dragon caused. “Isn’t it wonderful Twi?” He looked over to her.

“It sure is Master.” She smiled admiring the sheer power of the dragon.

“I’ll admit, I was a bit skeptical when you brought up the Ancients, but I’m amazed at its power.” He reached over and ruffled her mane. “I’m proud of you.”

“Really?” She smiled even more. Sean rarely gave out complements like that.

“Of course. You’ve created one of the most deadly creatures in Jund, all on your own.”

“Why are we going to Cloudsdale? It seems like that city would be packed with dragons.” Celestia asked Patch Celestia.

“While it is full of dragons it is the most intact pony city in all of Jund.” She told her as they flew towards the cloud city. They had used a cloud walking spell like Twilight had used to let the unicorns and earth ponies go. Though they had to ride the princess’s backs to get to the city.

“Why would he leave Cloudsdale alone?”

“He told them they could keep their city if they stopped rainbow production and if they allowed dragons to roam freely through the city. They of course accepted.”

“So it’s completely intact?”

“No, occasionally there is a dragon fight and parts of the city are damaged.”

When they got to Cloudsdale the city was relatively untouched, the rainbow factory was dark and falling apart from not being taken care of and parts of the city were destroyed from fights. But overall it seemed fine. They had to avoid dragon’s feet as they traveled through the city. They were going door to door trying to get ponies support. Surprisingly several accepted and by the time they had left they had a considerable number of pegasi.

Sean sat on his throne watching the ponies as they walked through a canyon. They were like his puppets. It was like Celestia said My Little Puppets. No, that didn’t sound right. They were doing everything the way he had planned. He had sent Twilight out to scare them a little just like the other attacks. They were getting a pretty formidable army. As he had hoped, even though they had gotten two cities on their side the attacks on the other cities was taking its toll on them.

“Perfect.”

“Princess, why are we hiding behind this rock?” Twilight asked as she and Patch Celestia sat behind a large boulder as the rest of the group sat having a lunch break.

“Because Twilight, I sense your counterpart is coming and I have an idea to get more ponies on our side.”

“It doesn’t involve me impersonating her again does it?”

“Not this time.” Celestia explained the plan. After a few more minutes they saw winged Twilight show up confronting the group.

“Finally found you.” She said as she landed in front of them. “Lord Sean wants you and I’m here to get you. Wait, aren’t there supposed be more of you?”

“Now Twilight!” Patch Celestia and Twilight leapt out from behind the rock and hit alicorn Twilight with stun spells. She was unable to react in time and was hit full force. She fell over unconscious.

“Ok, we have her. Now what do we do with her?” Luna asked looking at the alicorn.

“Tie her up and get something to wrap around her horn.” Patch Celestia ordered.

“What!?” Sean leapt from his throne. He grabbed the screen that followed his targets. He watched as they shot Twilight and captured her. He had seen them waiting to attack, he hadn’t had time to warn her though. The ponies tied her up and started walking towards Baltimare. He tore the screen in half. “Nightmare!”

A few seconds later Nightmare Moon ran into the room. “What is it Master?”

“I’m going out. You’re in charge while I’m gone.”

“Why not Twilight?”

“Be quiet.”

“I can’t believe it was so easy to capture her.” Rainbow said as they got to Baltimare.

“I’m still confused why we need her.” Twilight said looking at her counterpart tied up on Patch Celestia’s back.

“She’s the second in command of all of Jund. If we show ponies that we were able to capture her they may not be as scared.”

“Aren’t you worried Sean will come for her?” Luna asked.

“Sean doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”

When they got to the city several ponies were already waiting expectantly. They had heard about Celestia’s resistance and were eager to help. Then they noticed Twilight tied to her back and smiled. They headed for the capital where there was a stage waiting. They put alicorn Twilight down so everypony in the crowd could see.

“Ponies of Baltimare.” Patch Celestia pointed at their prisoner. “How many of you fear this pony?” Most of the ponies in the crowd raised their hooves. “Well fear no more, as you can see we have captured her and she is completely incapacitated.”

“You’re all going to die.” All the ponies looked to see alicorn Twilight had woken up. “Lord Sean will be here soon.”

“Sean’s not coming. Why would he?” Patch Celestia looked at her.

“You really think he’d let you ponies kidnap me and not do something about it?”

“You’re not important to him. You’re just another servant, or maybe victim is a better word. I doubt he can distinguish between the two.”

“Yeah, you just keep thinking that.” She smiled at them. All the ponies in the crowd were a bit unnerved. Then suddenly a darkness fell over the city. The ponies looked up to see what looked like a massive storm over the town. The clouds were pitch black and gave an ominous feeling.

After the storm was completely over the city several fireballs began to fly from the clouds. They hit mostly buildings causing them to quickly burn down. A few did hit ponies but a majority of the crowd lived. Before any ponies could try to run half a dozen Utvaras landed around the crowd trapping them.

Then there was a deep earth shaking roar. The ponies looked up to the clouds to see a huge black dragon emerging from the clouds. All that they could see were its wings, head, and hands, that’s all it took to see how massive this creature was. Its wingspan alone must have been 100 feet. Its head had six spikes on it, there were two in the back, two on the sides and two just behind the mouth. Its hands were huge with large black talons. Along its back spines could be seen.

“That’s a big dragon.” Luna stated simply.

“Told you he’d be coming.” The group looked to the tied up Twilight.

“Wait, that’s Sean?” Celestia asked.

“Of course. I’d run if I were you, he looks mad.”

“No, we can end this now.” Patch Celestia gave Normal Twilight the elements. “Get ready, I’ll distract him.” She then flew off towards the dragon. When she reached Sean she looked him in his massive green eyes. Most of him was still in the clouds.

“Hello Celly.” He glared at her his voice shaking the ground. “You have something that belongs to me.”

“I’m surprised Sean, I didn’t think you were one to stick your neck out for one pony. Have you gone soft?”

“Silence. Where is Twilight?”

“Down there.” Sean’s head turned to see. “But you’re not going to get her.”

Sean turned to look at her his green eyes squinting. “And why is that?”

“Because of this.” Then there was a glow. Sean looked down to see six ponies wearing the elements. Then a massive rainbow flew out and headed straight for Sean. It hit him in the face. He let out a scream and parts of him began to fall apart. After a minute they saw his human form flying towards the ground and crash into a nearby building.

The ponies ran to where he had crashed to see him lying there impaled by a large piece of wood from the building. Patch Celestia walked up to him and poked at his body. It didn’t move at all.

“Was that it?” Rainbow looked at him disappointed. “That was the big scary tyrant? Not much of a fight.” Then they heard a laugh and all looked to see Sean looking at them. He slowly grabbed the plank and tore it out. Then he got up and looked at them.

“Did you really think it would be that easy?” he turned to look at Rainbow and Luna. “I heard you guys ask why you should fear me. Let me show you why.” Then the ground began to shake.

“Run!” Patch Celestia yelled before turning and running out of the building. The ponies looked confused until they saw a column of fire burst out of the ground a few feet in front of them. That got them running. Then the ground began to crack and lava spewed out.

“Silly ponies!” Sean yelled as another column burst from the ground in front of them. “Where will you run when I punish you with the very ground you flee on?”

As they ran they saw several flames burst from the ground and envelop other ponies. When they got to the capital building they ran inside. When Sean had started his attack the Utvaras took that as a signal and began to burn down the city.

“What are we going to do?” Cadence asked panicking. Before Patch Celestia could answer a hand burst through the wall and grabbed her by the throat then pulled her out. The ponies looked out the hole to see Sean holding Celestia by her throat.

“I’ll ask again, where is Twilight?” He growled. Celestia responded by kicking him in the chest forcing him to drop her. He levitated a pony nearby that was fleeing. “Give her to me or I’ll crush his skull!” Sean had lost a lot of his calm composure. The pony screamed in pain as pressure was put on his head.

“Let him go! He’s done nothing to you.” Luna yelled. Sean turned to look at her. He chuckled.

“Silly Luna. He’s was collaborating with you.” He then pulled the ponies head off. Patch Celestia growled and charged at him. Sean dodged grabbed her mane and pulled her towards him. “You shouldn’t have done that.” He then punched her in the face several times before throwing her to the ground. “Now tell me Celly, where is she?” He walked towards her.
Celesita glared at him and spat some blood onto his foot. He picked her up and began to punch her in the face and stomach before choking her. He turned to look at the ponies in the capital.

“One of you want to tell me?” Celestia gasped for air in his grip.

“She’s over there!” Rainbow yelled. “The Princess showed you when you first showed up.” she pointed towards where the other Twilight had been. But she was gone. “Where’d she go?”

“Behind you losers.” The ponies turned to see alicorn Twilight behind them. Her horn glowed and there was an explosion. All the ponies flew out of the building. Alicorn Twilight stepped out smiling. “That’s for tying me up.”

“Twilight, there you are.” Sean took Celestia and threw her into the pile of knocked out ponies.

“Lord Sean.” Twilight ran up to him. “I knew you’d come to save me from them.”

“Why wouldn’t I? You’re my right hand pony. You know how incompetent everyone else is.”

“True. I got a gift for you.” She pointed at the pile of ponies.

“For me? Twilight, you’re too good to me.” He walked over and levitated them into the air. “Should we head back?” Sean had regained his composure.

“Yes please.” Twilight nodded.

“Alright.” Sean roared and a large Utvara landed in front of them. Its wings were torn up from age and one of the fins on its head was torn. “Buttons, let’s go home.” Sean levitated the ponies onto Buttons’ back then Twilight and Sean climbed up. Buttons took off and flew back to the castle.

Chapter 56: Trapped

Celestia opened her eyes. She was confused since she could only see out of her right eye. She looked around, she was in some sort of cell. From the look of it she was in the palace dungeon. After a minute she remembered what had happened and panicked. She tried to move only to realize she was chained to the back wall of the cell. She heard footsteps then one of those creatures that had been murdering her guards came into view. He looked into her cell, then turned and yelled.

“She’s awake! Tell The Master!” She heard other footsteps running up some stairs then a door open and slam. He stood there looking at her. After a few minutes she heard the door open again and two sets of footsteps. Then the human or whatever it was called came into view.

“Open it.” The lizard opened the cell and he walked in. “Hello Celly.”

“What do you want?” She glared with her one good eye.

“You know, it’s funny. Our positions have flipped, last time we met I ended up in the cell chained down while you sat in your little throne without a care in the world. Now you’re the prisoner and I’m in charge.” He smiled at her. Looking at her with those reptilian green eyes.

“Again, what do you want?”

“Revenge, for years of torment.”

“How is it my fault? I didn’t know the doctors were doing that to you.”

“Still don’t believe you.”

“Fine, what are you planning to do to get this revenge of yours?”

“That’s the dilemma I come to. I can’t decide whether you should live or die.” He turned his back to her holding his chin in thought.

“Why not?”

“Because,” He spun to look at her with a cruel smile on his face. “If I kill you I get automatic satisfaction. However, if I let you live I can make you watch your country fall apart. Either way I win, but I just have to decide between automatic satisfaction. Or slower but longer term joy.”

“Just kill me.” She said defeated.

“Oh Celly, even if that’s the decision I make I won’t kill you right now.”

“Why not?”

“I want to show you what I’m working on.” He snapped his fingers and the two lizards left.

“Where’d you find those guys anyway?” She watched as they left.

“While I was on the run from your country I ended up running into the Everfree forest. There I was attacked by a manticore, I wasn’t at full strength yet and it was smacking me around like a rag doll. Then some of those guys came and saved me. Apparently they’ve been living there for centuries in hiding. I offered them power and they took an oath to me.”

“So you’re using them.”

“Of course. They’re good foot soldiers and workers but they can’t compete with my Utvaras.” Before they could continue the creatures returned. They were carrying a large crystal ball. “Good work boys.” He then reached over and touched the crystal ball. A small screen appeared in front of Celestia showing some of the lizards studying Discords statue.

“What are they doing?” She watched them.

“You see, I was reading through some history books and when I read about him I decided I wanted him as my servant. So the viashino are working to get him out.”

“You think he’s going to do what you say?” She chuckled.

“He will after I weaken him to the point that he has to do what I say. Oh I have another project.” He touched the ball and another screen appeared it showed some viashino with telescopes and star maps.

“What are they doing?”

“Preparing to let your little sister out of that cold rock.”

“You won’t win, I’ll get out and I will stop you.”

“That’ll be a little hard when you have no magic.” He then walked up grabbed her horn.

“What are you?” Before she could finish she screamed in pain. It felt like she was having every limb torn off at once. Then she slowly began to feel weaker till she became unconscious.

“Wakey Wakey Celly.” A hand slapped Patch Celestia. She opened her eyes to see Sean in front of her. She growled and lunged at him, only to realize she was chained to the wall. “Why so aggressive Celly?”

“You killed most of the ponies in that town just to get me, that’s why I hate you!”

“I didn’t kill most of the ponies in that town.” Sean looked at her with hurt in his eyes.

“You didn’t?” Celestia tilted her head confused.

“Of course not, I killed all of them.”

“Why would you kill all those ponies when you just wanted me? They were innocent ponies.”

“Oh Celly, do the innocent pay for the crimes of the guilty? Of course they do. That's the fate of the weak.”

“You’re a monster!”

“Well that’s a bit uncalled for.” He turned and walked towards the door of the cell she was in. “I’ll be back once you’ve calmed down a little.”

“Cadence! Cadence wake up.” Twilight was yelling at Cadence. They were both chained up in a dark cell.

“What?” Cadence opened her eyes and looked around. “Where are we?”

“I’m not sure. We must be in some kind of prison though.” Before they could continue the conversation the door to the cell opened with a creak. They looked over to see Alicorn Twilight walk into the cell.

“Hello girls.” She said smiling.

“Where are we?” Cadence asked glaring at the Alicorn. “What have you done with the others?”

“Don’t worry about them. You know, I’m surprised you aren’t more upset about what happened to your little boyfriend.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t try and pull that. Lord Sean read every single one of your memories. We know all about that little thing you had going with Shining.”

“What do you want?” Normal Twilight asked glaring.

“Oh I was sent here to teach you what happens when you defy your ruler.” She whistled and Hivis walked in holding a sword. He kneeled holding the sword in front of her. It was a scimitar with a purple handle and at the end there was Twilight’s cutie mark. She walked up to Cadence, using her magic she made Cadence’s wings spread out then took the sword and cut them off. Cadence screamed in pain.

“No, leave her alone!”

“Oh other me,” Alicorn Twilight turned to look at her. “We aren’t going to kill her. Lord Sean just wanted to teach Celly’s second in command a lesson, and set an example.” She turned and walked out of the cell locking the door.

“Celestia! Wake up we need to get out of here.” Normal Celestia opened her eyes, in front of her was the Sean from her world.

“Sean?”

“Of course, how many other humans do you know? Idiot.” He turned his arm into a blade and cut the chains keeping her stuck to the wall. “Now come on.” He helped her up and started to head for the door out of the cell.

“How did you get here?” She slowly followed.

“Explanations later, just hurry up.” They walked down a hall till they reached a door. He opened it and walked through. When Celestia tried to follow him she was electrocuted. She fell to the ground, then she looked at Sean who was laughing.

“Oh that was rich.”

“What are you doing?” Then Sean grew armor and soon the evil Sean was in front of her. “You!”

“Of course me, that was hilarious.” He kneeled down to look at her. “You really thought me from your world would come and save you? After what you said to him last time you saw him.”

“How do you know about that?”

“I read your mind you idiot. I have to say I’m surprised he dealt with you that long. After all you really were a buzz kill.”

“Why would you do this?”

“For giggles, I wanted see that hope that you got from him coming die.” He stood up. “Well back to your cell. I can’t believe you fell for it.” Then two minotuars came in and took her to the cell and chained her up.

“I don’t understand why he doesn’t just kill them.” Discord said to Nightmare as they walked down the hall that lead to the throne room. “I mean they’re chained up and have no means of escape.”

“I’m sure he has his reasons. Maybe he’ll explain at the meeting.” Sean had ordered the two of them to come to his throne room.

“Maybe. Though he usually keeps us in the dark.” They reached the large stone doors, on them there was an Utvara, and the handles were dragon heads. Discord opened the door and they walked in. Sean was sitting on his throne lazily flipping through the screens that showed him all of Jund. Twilight was sitting next to him looking rather bored too, almost falling asleep. Discord fake coughed and Sean looked around to see them.

“There you guys are.” He motioned for them to come closer, he touched the crystal ball next to his throne and the screens vanished. “Twilight wake up.” He flicked her ear.

“What is this about?” Discord asked.

“Oh yeah, I just wanted to make sure you two understand you’re not to make contact with the prisoners.”

“That’s something that’s been bothering me. Why haven’t you just killed them? If they get together it could mean trouble.” Discord looked irritated.

“Oh Dizzy, I’m not going to kill them because I need them.”

“For what?”

“Sorry Dizzy, that’s a little above your pay grade. Now that we are understood you may leave.” His hand reached for the crystal ball when there was a snap and rock covered the ball. Sean looked up.

“I’m sick of you treating me like dirt, tell me what you need them for.”

“Sorry Dizzy, my plan is more complex than act like a small child pranking ponies in what is the most pathetic display of chaos I’ve ever seen. Wouldn’t want to fry your little Frankenstein brain.”

“Don’t insult me.” He snapped his fingers and restraints tied Sean to his throne. Sean didn’t move and just stared at him. Nightmare and Twilight were looking at Discord with disappointment, he had been good for a laugh.

“I’ll give you ten seconds to release me.”

“What’s the matter? Can’t get out?”

“That’s ten.” He didn’t move.

“Ooh, scary.” Discord rolled his eyes. Then something grabbed his horns and he was smashed into the ground. He looked up to see Sean glaring down at him. He looked over, there was also the one in the throne. “How did you?” he was then gripped by his throat and lifted up to look at Sean

“Looks like you forgot your place, let me remind you.” His eyes glowed.

Then Discord felt something running up his legs. He looked down to see they were turning to stone. “No! I’m sorry!” His hips were already stone. “Please.”

“Please what?” Sean tightened his grip on Discord. Discord was stone up to his shoulders.

“Please Master.” Sean dropped Discord to the ground. He looked himself over, no part of him was stone anymore.

“Good boy.” Then a foot smashed into Discords face knocking him out.

Luna was in her cell chained to the wall, she was trying to figure out some method of escape. Sadly she couldn’t find any. Sean had thought of everything, he had put a cover on her horn to prevent magic and her wings were tied to her body, and of course she couldn’t move since she was chained to the wall. She hung her head in defeat. Then she heard the cell door open, she looked up to see it was the tyrant himself.

“Hello Luna.” He walked in with his arms behind his back. Luna turned her head not acknowledging him. “Aw Luna, that hurts. Come on I just want to talk.” She didn’t react. “I won’t leave until you listen to me.”

“Fine, what?” She glared at him.

“So I was thinking, my Nightmare has served me well.”

“So?”

“The thing is, she is a bit worn down. I think the centuries are taking their toll, after all I had to make some adjustments to her to prevent any rebellion. Guess it back fired a bit.”

“Get to the point!”

“Wow, you’re just as pushy as your sister. Anyway, I’m going to turn you back into Nightmare Moon, then I’ll kill mine and replace her with you.” He smiled at her with a smile that would make even the bravest of ponies scared.

“You think I’d let you?” Luna was shaking.

“Well you’re not really in a position to stop me.”

“I find it horrible that you want to kill your Nightmare Moon just because she’s getting weaker from age. That’s so shallow, what about all the centuries of service to you?” She was trying to persuade him to leave her.

“Meh, she’s run her course. She lost her overall use once I got Twilight, I’ve been looking for a reason to off her. Now I can since I’ll have a shiny new one. Plus I’ll finally be able to get one of the two powers that currently elude me.”

“Which is?”

“Control over the moon.” He turned heading towards the door. “I’ll be back in an hour to take you to surgery.”

“This isn’t working!” Rainbow Dash was thrashing against her restraints.

“Be careful.” Fluttershy watched her friend.

“There’s no time to be careful! We have to find the others.” Rainbow continued to pull at the chains.

“I know but won’t it be hard if we’re injured from trying to escape?”

“She’s right you know.” The two pegasi looked to see alicorn Twilight enter their cell.

“What do you want?” Rainbow said coldly.

“I came to make you stop all the noise. It’s very annoying.”

“Let me out of here and I’ll stop.”

“I have a better idea.” Twilight’s horn glowed, Rainbow was then enveloped in purple aura and then her head was smashed into the back of the cell several times until she was knocked out. “There we go.”

“How dare you!” Fluttershy yelled.

“Oh shut up.” Twilight turned to look at her. “Don’t try that little stare of yours, if you try it you might not have eyes to use anymore.” Twilight left the cell.

“Interesting.” Sean leaned forward looking at the screen that overlooked one of the cells he had the ponies stored in. He had locked the two earth ponies and annoying drama queen unicorn in together since they seemed to be the most harmless. What he noticed was the pink one. She was talking very quickly to the others and was twitching talking about her Pinkie sense whatever that was.

“Lord Sean I silenced the pesky Pegasus.” Twilight walked in.

“Good work Twilight.” He continued to watch the pink pony chatter.

“Master may I ask you a question?” Sean took his screens and pushed them aside.

“Sure, what is it?”

“I was wondering why you don’t just kill them. I know Discord already asked and everything but I’m not as stupid as him.”

“Oh Twilight, as much as I’d love to tell you I’m afraid I can’t.”

“Why not?” Twilight’s ear twitched in irritation.

“It’s not that I think you’re too dumb to handle it. This is just something that is safer the less it’s known.”

“Oh, I understand.” She lowered her head in disappointment.

“I’ll tell you this though, when all is said and done this sad rebellion will be crushed for good.” He stood up. “Now come on, we have one last cell to visit.”

“I’m telling you, my Pinkie sense is telling me we’re in danger.” Pinkie was trying to tell her friends.

“I fail to see how we can be anymore danger than we are now.” Rarity said defeated.

“I don’t either all I know is we need to get out of here fast.” Before anymore could be said Sean and Alicorn Twilight walked in.

“Hello ladies.” Sean looked at them.

“What do you want?” Applejack asked.

“One of you has caught my interest.” He looked at Pinkie. “Twilight would you mind grabbing her?”

“Of course.” Pinkie was teleported out of her chains and put into a box that was behind them which only let her head show.

“Give her back!” Applejack yelled.

“Sorry, can’t. I need to do some tests.” He turned to leave. “Don’t worry, I’ll try to return her in as few pieces as possible.”

“Where are you taking me?” Pinkie asked Sean as she was levitated next him by Twilight while they walked down a hall.

“I heard you talking about that Pinkie sense as you call it. It sounds like a powerful ability and I wish to understand it better.” When they came to a door that said surgery on it they stopped. The box Pinkie was in was enveloped in a green aura as Sean took control of carrying her. “Twilight go get the other subjects.”

“Yes Master.” Twilight turned and walked towards the dungeon.

“Others? Who else is coming?” Pinkie asked confused.

“A few of your little friends. Specifically Luna, Twilight, and your Celly.” He then opened the doors and they entered the room.

Chapter 57: Escape

“We need to escape and find the others.” Twilight looked around the cell for some way out.

“It’s no use we’re done, soon Sean will come and he will kill us.” Cadence said defeated. Some Viashino had come in soon after her wings were taken and patched her up.

“I don’t think so, why would he have sent doctors to help you if he was just going to kill us?”

“You’ll understand soon enough.” They looked over to see Alicorn Twilight enter the cell with a large box behind her.

“So you’re back. Here to take Cadence’s horn or something?”

“No, I’m here for you.” Alicorn Twilight’s horn glowed and teleported normal Twilight into the box.

“Hey! What’s going on?”

“You’ll see.”

Luna opened her eyes as she heard the door to her cell open. She looked up to see Alicorn Twilight walk in.

“Hello Luna.”

“What do you want?”

“I’m here to take you to surgery.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes, now come on.” Luna was then teleported to a box that trapped all her body except her head. She looked to her right to see Twilight in a similar box next to her.

“Twilight? What are you doing here?”

“I’m not sure. She just came in and grabbed me.”

“This can’t be good.”

Celestia hung in her cell, she was still feeling depressed after Sean had pulled that horrible joke on her. Then she heard the cell open and Alicorn Twilight walked in.

“Hi there other Celly.”

“What is it? Here to play another cruel joke?”

“Oh no, I’m no good at those. Lord Sean is the one to go to if you want that sort of thing. No I’m here to take you on a little trip.” Celestia was teleported to a box next to Luna and Twilight. “Good, that’s the last of them. Let’s go girls.” She levitated the boxes and headed towards the surgery room. After a few minutes of walking down hallways normal Twilight decided to ask a question that had been bugging her for days.

“So, what’s the story behind the wings me?”

“Why would I tell you?” Alicorn Twilight asked looking at her.

“Why not? I’d like to learn one last thing before I die.”

“I can understand that, I’d want the same.” Alicorn Twilight nodded. “I had been living with Lord Sean for a few years, then one day he told me it was time for my evolution.”

Sean opened the doors to one of the surgical rooms in the medical wing. There were a few viashino waiting. They were wearing lab coats holding clipboards and studying some machines. There was one of those ones that tracked heart rates, there was one strange one that had a container and several pumps as well as some cords with suction cups on it, the last one resembled a smaller one of the second machine but instead of suction cups it had a horn sheath. In the middle of the room there was a table with several straps that were likely restraints.

“Lord Sean?” Twilight pressed against his leg looking scared.

“What is it Twilight?” He looked down at her.

“What is all this?”

“This,” He gestured towards the room. “Is the scene were you will reach your full potential and finally be able to over throw Nightmare as my right hand.” He then began to walk towards the table with Twilight slowly following with her ears against her head. When they reached the table Sean picked her up and put her on the table. Then one of the viashinos walked up to them.

“We are ready to begin master.” He bowed to Sean.

“Excellent, hook her up.”

The viashino began to press buttons on the machines. One grabbed the suction cups on the machine and placed them along her body. Another grabbed the horn cover and put it one her. Then the heart rate monitor was linked to her chest and she was strapped down to the table. The viashino backed away.

“Whenever you’re ready master.” One of them said. Twilight looked to see Sean walk towards the two strange machines and put his hands on the containers, there was a glow and green aura could be seen inside the two containers.

“Start them up.” Sean said. The viashino pressed a few more buttons, the two machines’ pumps began to move. Then before Twilight knew it there was a horrible pain through her whole body. She cried out. The machines went quiet. Was that it? “Again.” Sean said.

Again the machines turned on and another burst of pain. This repeated twelve more times. After the twelfth Twilight was having trouble breathing and her body was twitching uncontrollably she could vaguely hear the heart monitor beeping quickly.

“Please stop.” She whispered. Then she felt something grip one of her hooves. She looked to see Sean holding her hoof. He looked at her.

“It’s ok Twilight, one more and we’ll be done.” There was another flash of pain. Twilight couldn’t take it anymore. She began to lose consciousness, she could hear the heart monitor going crazy. Then she passed out.

“After I woke up Lord Sean was there and told me what had happened. He then helped me hone my new powers and now I’m his second in command and likely the second strongest being in all of Jund.”

They reached a door that had the word surgery above it. Twilight opened it and they went inside. Sean was sitting in a chair waiting with Pinkie next to him with duct tape over her mouth.

“It’s about time.” Sean said. “This thing wouldn’t shut up.”

“Sorry to have kept you waiting.” Alicorn Twilight said.

“Whatever, let’s just get this started.” He picked Pinkie up and they walked towards another door. Inside there were several tables with restraints. There were also the machines from Twilight’s story. There were viashino waiting. “Strap them in.”
The viashino came up tightened all the restraints around their limbs. They then put suction cups on the ponies and walked away.

“We’re ready to begin.” One of them told Sean.

“Good.” Sean slowly walked towards the machines.

Luna was breathing heavily. She knew this is what he’d use to transform her. She started to pull at her restraints. Surprisingly one of them actually broke and she was able to pull herself free. The viashino growled and began to lunge at her. Luna was able to dodge and kick them all away. She pulled the horn cover off and used her magic to free the others.

“Come on!” They all turned and ran.

“No, stop them. They’re getting away.” Sean ordered, though the order sounded halfhearted at best.

“What do we do now?” Twilight asked Luna as they ran down the hall they had come from.

“I don’t know, our best bet is to find the others and get out of here.” Luna answered.

“I think we may have lost them.” Celestia said looking back to see they weren’t being chased. Then as if they had been waiting a bolt flew past her head and stabbed into the wall behind them. They looked as a pack of viashino rounded the corner.

“There they are!” One yelled.

“Run!” Luna yelled. They sprinted down the corridor as the lizards gave chase. When they rounded a corner Pinkie stopped moving.

“Pinkie what are you doing?” Twilight asked.

“Wait for it.” Then out of nowhere her party cannon appeared. When the lizards rounded the corner they all stopped and stared at the cannon. “Hey guys. It’s party time!” then she fired the cannon. It collided with the pack and sent them all flying. They were all unconscious on the ground covered in confetti and cake.

“You idiots!” Alicorn Twilight shouted as she glared at the viashino in lab coats. “Which one of you was supposed to have tied up Luna?”

“I was.” One of them said shakily. Twilight glared at him. She then enveloped him in magic and smashed him into a nearby wall. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? You think sorry is good enough? Sorry may work if you had bumped me in a hall, but you just let the leaders of the rebellion get away because you were too stupid to strap a pony in!” Her eyes were glowing green.

“Please. It was an honest mistake.” He said hastily. He looked at the others hoping for help but they had all backed away. Angry Twilight was the only one who was able to rival a mildly irritated Sean in the scary department. They also knew if they intervened they would suffer the same fate. Sean was the only one who could stop her safely and he had left already.

“Luckily for us you won’t be making any more of them.” Her teeth had sharpened to the point they were like needles.

“No, please!” He struggled in her grip. Then a second later his head imploded. His body fell to the ground as Twilight let him go. She turned to the others. Her face was completely normal again.

“Well, now that that’s settled.” She happily trotted out of the room without another word.

“I hope Pinkie’s ok.” Applejack said looking across the cell to Rarity.

“I doubt it.” Rarity said solemnly. Then they heard the door open and looked to see Pinkie hop in.

“Hi girls.” She said happily.

“Pinkie! You’re alive.” Rarity said joyfully.

“Of course I’m alive silly.”

“How’d you escape?” Applejack asked.

“Oh, silly Sean forgot to tie Luna down so she escaped and set me free.”

“Where is she?” Applejack asked as Pinkie unchained her.

“Getting Eye Patch Celestia.”

“Rainbow, wake up.”

“What?” Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to see Twilight looking at her concerned. Fluttershy was standing next to her.

“Twilight?”

“Yep, I’m here to get you two out.” She said as she unchained Rainbow. When she hit the ground she tried to pick herself up but almost fell over. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, just a little dizzy.”

“Ok, well let’s go.” Twilight said as she helped Rainbow up.

Patch Celestia sat in her cell. She had failed, Sean had won. She sighed and thought about all the ponies she had let down. Then she heard hoof steps. She looked to the door expecting Twilight or Nightmare. Instead Luna and the other Celestia came in.

“Come on. It’s not over yet.” Celestia said unlocking Patch Celestia.

“How did you?” Patch Celestia said confused.

“Explanations later we have to escape.”

The ponies ran down a corridor. They were completely lost. They had been unconscious when brought here and every stone hallway looked just like the others. Then as they rounded a corner they saw a large map. It showed the entire layout of the castle. There was a note next to it. Luna took it off and read it out loud.

Ok guys, I am getting sick of telling you how to get out of the dungeon! So guess what, I’ve printed this giant map for you cold blooded morons. Now you have no reason to ask me how to get around. Seriously! The next one of you who asks will become dinner for Buttons!

Have a nice day :)

“Well that’s convenient.” Twilight said.

“It seems a bit too good to be true.” Patch Celestia eyed the map.

“It’s the best we’ve got.” Luna tore the map off the wall and held it front of her. She then began to walk. The others followed close behind.

“There’s the door!” Celestia said pointing towards the large stone doors that had the engraving of three serpentine dragons. The door was through a small hall way. The ponies started to walk towards it, when they got into the tunnel they were only a few feet away from the door. Then all the ponies shivered.

“What was that?” Rainbow asked.

“I don’t know but it can’t be good.” Celestia responded.

“Hello ladies.” The ponies looked on the ceiling to see Sean standing on it completely normal looking down at them.

“How are you doing that?” Twilight asked.

“Don’t ask questions. Run!” Patch Celestia shoved Twilight and they ran. As they got near the door a small pillar of fire appeared in front of them. It dissipated after a second and Sean was in front of them.

“Come on guys.” He looked at them disappointed. “Don’t tell me you thought I would let you go.”

“Out of the way.” Rainbow said trying to assert herself.

“Really? You’re going to try and order me around?” He started to walk towards them. The ponies backed away. “Now give me Luna and Celly and I’ll let the rest of you leave with at least a few intact bones.”

“Never!” Cadence ran up and leapt at him. Sean reached out and grabbed her by the horn.

“Seriously? That was big plan?” Then he was tackled by Rainbow Dash. It did not have the desired effect as Sean only took one step back and Rainbow ended up on the ground with a worse headache. “You guys should really brainstorm before you try these things.”

“Put her down!” Sean looked to see Fluttershy glaring at her.

“Why should I?” He looked at her bored.

“You’re going to put Cadence down, then you’re going to apologize to Rainbow Dash, and finally you’re going to stop all this tyrant nonsense!” Fluttershy slowly flew up to look him in the eyes as she gave the speech.

“Ha! That’s cute.”

“I didn’t want to do this.” Fluttershy closed her eyes. When she opened them she was using her stare. Sean stared right at her for a minute. Then he lifted his free hand and flicked her in the face. Fluttershy went flying back and smashed into a wall.

Then Celestia decided to do something. Her horn glowed until there was a bright flash. Sean covered his eyes. When the flash finally ended the ponies were gone. Sean looked around. Cadence had been teleported out of his grip as well. Sean smiled and walked away towards his throne room.

Chapter 58: Getting fixed up.

Twilight opened her eyes looking around. What happened? Just a second ago Sean was in front of them threatening them, then there was a flash and now they were in a sort of clearing. She looked around to see the others scattered around the clearing. They must have teleported.

“I can’t believe we escaped.” Twilight turned to see Patch Celestia smiling. “Luckily we made it out safely.”

“Made it out safely!” Twilight glared at her. “Look around!” Twilight pointed at Rainbow Dash, who was lying on the ground with foggy eyes. “Rainbow may have a concussion,” She pointed at Fluttershy. “Her nose is broken, Cadence lost her wings.” Twilight looked around to make sure she hadn’t missed anyone. Then she noticed normal Celestia sitting looking a little out of it. “And something is wrong with our princess. We didn’t make it out safely, almost half of us were harmed in some way.”

“Well I know where to get some help.” Patch Celestia said nervously.

“No! Send us home, I don’t care anymore about helping you. My friends are more important to me.” Twilight looked at her coldly.

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?”

“I mean the portals are one way, I have no idea how to make one that leads to your world.”

“What!” Luna spoke up walking towards her. “You mean you brought us here with no way to send us home? When were you going to tell us?”

“After we beat Sean.” Patch Celestia said nervously eyeing the two ponies in front of her.

“What is wrong with you?” Luna glared slowly walking towards Patch Celestia.

“Hey, back off.” Cadence walked up standing between them.

“Get out of the way. I have a few things to say to her.” Luna glared at Cadence.

“Let’s all just calm down.” Normal Celestia said.

“Calm down? Did you hear what they said?” Twilight looked surprised.

“Yes I did.”

“Then how can you ask us to be calm?” Luna asked

“Because, our efforts would be better spent looking for a way home and helping our injured rather than fighting.”

“Fine.” Luna backed away.

“As I said I know where we can go to get medical help.” Patch Celestia said.

“Where?” Twilight asked.

“The zebras. We could easily get to their island.”

“Alright, let’s go.” Normal Celestia said levitating Rainbow Dash onto her back. “Somepony get Fluttershy and we’ll go.”

“There’s the island.” Patch Celestia pointed at the small island just ahead of them. They had had to get a chariot to carry all the ponies who couldn’t fly with the Celestias dragging it. They flew to the island and landed in the middle of the capital village. Some zebras had seen them coming and gathered around as they landed. As they ponies got out of the chariot one zebra walked through the crowd to meet them.

“Greetings ponies. What brings you to our island?”

“We need help for some injured ponies. We were hoping you could use some potions or herbs to heal them quicker.” Patch Celestia answered.

“Very well. Follow me.” The zebra turned and headed for a large building with some cauldrons in front of it. As the ponies followed normal Celestia looked around with a distant look in her eyes.

“What’s wrong sister?” Luna asked looking concerned.

“I just remember the first time I brought Sean here.”

“So let me get this straight, this island is full of black and white ponies, who are about as technologically advanced as ants, and they practice witchcraft.” Sean looked at Celestia like she was crazy. They were flying in a chariot towards the island the zebras lived on so she could introduce them to him.

“Well that’s a simple and somewhat offensive way of describing them.” Celestia told him.

“Whatever, why do I have to meet them?”

“I just felt that showing you that not all the races outside of Equestria are bad would be good.”

“Whatever.” When the chariot landed Sean and Celestia got out. The leader of the zebras came to greet them.

“Hello Princess Celestia.” He looked at Sean. “Who is your friend? I’ve never seen such a strange creature.”

“This is Sean.”

“I’m the strange looking one?” Sean said looking at the zebra. “You’re the one who looks like a prison suit.”

“Sean! You’ll have to excuse him. He’s young.” She looked at the zebra apologetically.

“I understand. The young often lack respect.”

“You wanna go stripy!” Sean glared at him walking towards the zebra. Celestia glared at him. Sean stopped. “Nevermind.”

“Ok, these potions should help your friends.” The zebra gave Patch Celestia several different colored potions in bottles each one had the name of one of the injured ponies on it. “Just have them drink a small amount every few hours for a day or two and they should be ok.”

“Thank you.” Patch Celestia thanked them.

“It is no trouble, while he has done nothing to us we would like to see the downfall of the human.”

Twilight climbed into the bunk. The zebras were letting them spend the night on their island, they had offered them a small hut with several bunks for them. Twilight lifted the blanket over her and fell asleep.

Twilight looked around. She was in some kind of white room. The walls seemed to be padded and there was a small window up high offering minimal light. On the walls there were some spots of blood, there were also many discarded bloody bandages. She looked at her body to see a strait jacket wrapped around her and two yellow hooves. Then there was a creak as the door to the cell opened. A unicorn in a white lab coat walked in smiling.

“Hello Sean.” He walked into the cell. Twilight involuntarily backed away from the unicorn. She heard a sort of whimper come from her. She tried to move but couldn’t. “What’s wrong? It’s just time for another session.”

“Just go away and leave me alone.” Twilight heard Sean’s voice say weakly.

“We can’t do that, you’re a rare specimen. We need to study you.” Twilight was then lifted and strapped to a table. The table was then wheeled through a clean white hallway. There were several other metal doors some screaming from a few could be heard. After a few minutes of wheeling they came to two large doors. When the table was pushed in she saw several unicorns waiting.

“Hello Sean.” A larger unicorn spoke, he was gray with a black mane. He in some ways looked like the stereo type creepy doctor. The table Twilight was on was moved to the middle of the room before being secured to the floor. “Shall we begin?”

“Let me go.” Sean thrashed against the bonds.

“No can do. You’re a strange creature, you are cause for study. Sadly we can’t dissect you because we want to avoid trouble with the princess.” The unicorn then levitated a needle to him. “This is the sample we took from you a few days ago, we did some tests and were able to isolate the dragon aspect.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“We’re going to see what happens when we put more dragon into you. Perhaps your changeling DNA will react and make a dragon pony, who knows.” He used his magic and exposed part of Sean’s foreleg. He took the needle and began to lower it towards Sean’s leg.

“No! Get that away from me!” Sean began to thrash again. Then Twilight felt a prick of pain as the needle was stabbed into him. First nothing happened then Sean and Twilight screamed in pain as a horrible burning pulsed through his body. After a minute of the pain everything went black.

“Twilight! Twilight wake up!” Twilight’s eyes shot up and she sat up looking around frantically. She saw that everyone was crowded around her looking concerned.

“Hi guys.” Twilight said.

“Twilight what was going on?” Celestia asked.

“Just a nightmare.”

“It sounded terrible, you were screaming about a needle and how it burned.” Rainbow said concerned.

“It was, but I’m ok.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Cadence asked.

“No, I’d like to just forget about it.”

“So what do we do now?” Twilight asked as they sat outside eating. The Zebra’s had said they could stay for a few more days till they had all recovered.

“What we need to do is get to ponies we’ve recruited so far.” Patch Celestia said. “We have a decent army and once we all regroup it will be time to attack.”

“Did the last few days escape you?” Normal Celestia asked. “I’m not sure we can win.”

“I’m sure we can beat him. He caught us off guard that’s all. The elements are with the ponies we have, they were able to get it before Sean did.”

“Are you sure the elements will work?” Luna looked skeptical. “We hit him point blank and all that happened was he shrank and was unconscious for a few seconds.”

“That’s true, but he was in his dragon body I’m guessing it absorbed most of the power, if we get him in his human form it will work.”

Normal Celestia and Luna were walking around the village together. Luna had decided to confront her sister about why she was acting so weird. Once they were a good distance from the group Luna spoke up.

“Sister.”

“Yes Luna.” Celestia turned to look at her. Luna could see the sadness in her eyes.

“What’s been going on with you? Ever since we were captured you’ve been acting strange.” She noticed Celestia wasn’t looking at her, she turned to see what appeared to be a school. “Celestia!”

“What?” She looked at Luna confused. “Sorry, I was just thinking about when I taught Sean.”

“Sean!” Celestia glared at him impatiently. He was leaning back in his chair partly asleep.

“What?” He looked at her.

“Pay attention.”

“Fine.”

“Now tell me, what is twelve times six.”

“I don’t know.”

“I just told you.”

“You did?”

“Weren’t you paying attention?”

“Obviously not.”

“Do you want to learn or not?”

“Not particularly.”

“Well, I guess I’ll offer that special job to another pony.” She walked towards the door to leave the room.

“Wait!”

Celestia turned to look at him. “What?”

“Fine I’ll pay attention.”

“Excellent.”

Twilight walked towards her bed. She dreaded the thought of sleep, what if she had another nightmare? Hopefully she won’t the princess had used a spell that was supposed to protect her from a bad dream. She crawled into bed and fell asleep.

Twilight opened her eyes to see she was in that padded cell again. She then realized she was rocking back and forth.

“I can’t stand this.” She heard Sean’s voice mumble. “What’s the point? I have no race, no home, and now I’m just a test subject. Maybe I can get this jacket to choke me somehow.”

What kind of whiny talk is that?

“Who said that?” Sean looked around frantically. “Leave me alone.”

We can escape. Take vengeance.

“We?”

Yes we, how dumb are you? I am in your head.

“So now I’m going crazy.”

Shut up and listen. All you need to do is follow my orders and we’ll be out of here and have our vengeance. Bring justice to the ponies.

“Can’t we just escape? I don’t want any trouble.”

You are so pathetic! You don’t want trouble? Look what they’ve done to you! The bleeding bandages in the corner alone should fill you with rage!

“I just want to get out of here.”

We will, and we’ll take down some of those ponies while we’re at it.

“You mean kill them?”

Yes I mean kill them. Now listen to me.

Twilight watched the door through Sean’s eyes. The voice had talked him into doing its will. Sean was shaking.

Stop shaking!

“I can’t help it.”

Fine. Then the click of the cell lock unlocking was heard. Alright, show time.

The door opened and the unicorn doctor walked in. “Alright human, time for your next session.”

Now!

Sean clumsily leapt at the pony. He then bit the pony on his horn.

What are you waiting for? Drain the magic!

“I’m trying.” He closed his eyes and concentrated. Then he felt the magic begin to enter him. The unicorn screamed in pain.

Perfect, drain it all!

“Won’t that kill him?”

No.

Sean continued to drain magic until the unicorn was completely drained. He looked at the unicorn and gasped in horror. The pony looked like nothing but skin and bones.

“He’s dead!”

Of course.

“You lied to me!”

So what? Now I can do what I’ve wanted to for months.

“What are you talking about?”

You are a disgrace to the human race. It’s time you were relieved from control.

“What?” Then he began to pull at the jacket until the part restricting his front legs tore and they were free. “I didn’t do that.”

No you did not. I did. Goodbye weakling.

“What do you mean?” Then Sean began to shudder and fell to the ground screaming.

What I mean is I have no need for you. Now stand aside and let the worthy Sean take over.

“It burns!” Then after a moment Sean stopped shaking. He stood up and looked himself over. “Finally free of that sad excuse for a me.” His voice had changed slightly, it lacked the fear, and it was much more confident and seemed much colder.

“Freeze!” Sean looked up to see three unicorns in armor in front of him.

“Perfect, time for your god to return.” Sean then leapt at one of the guards and bit his throat quickly draining all the magic. He then turned and bit the next on his horn and drained the magic before tearing the horn off and throwing it at the last guard who was running in fear. It stabbed through his leg and he fell over screaming. Sean slowly walked to the downed unicorn as he got closer he slowly began to transform until he was in his human form again. “Silly pony, why would I let you go?” He lifted the unicorn by the throat and drained his magic.

Chapter 59: Digging Through Memories.

“Just as I thought.” Celestia removed her horn from Twilights head.

“What?” Twilight had decided to tell the others about her nightmare this time.

“Sean has put some sort of spell on you. It seems he set it so you would see his past.”

“Can you get it off?”

“I’m sorry Twilight. This magic is far stronger than mine.” Celestia looked at her disappointed.

“How is that possible?” Luna looked surprised.

“It was put there by Sean.” Patch Celestia spoke.

“So?” Normal Celestia asked.

“His magic power is ridiculously high. He has had centuries of absorbing magic from the strongest magical beings he could find. He is unmatched in magical capabilities.”

“So I’m stuck with this curse on me forever?” Twilight looked at them worried.

“Don’t worry, once we beat him you’ll be free.” Cadence comforted her.

“Thank you for your hospitality.” Patch Celestia thanked the zebra leader as they prepared to leave the island.

“It was no trouble, good luck.”

“Well let’s go.” Patch Celestia and Normal Celestia got ready and took off carrying the chariot with the rest of the ponies in it.

“Do you think they’ll succeed?” A zebra asked their leader as they watched the ponies fly off.

“Yes.”

“Shame you won’t live to see if they do or not.” The zebras looked to see a viashino in gold armor, it had a dragon carved into the chest and he had a staff with a dragon head holding a ruby.

“Who are you?” The zebra leader asked.

“Zirilan. I’ve been sent to punish you.” Then he lifted his staff and the ruby glowed.

“What?” Then he heard several roars, he looked in the sky to see at least twenty dragons flying down until they were above the zebra village.

“Lord Sean wants this place burned to ashes. Leave no Zebra alive.” Zirilan told the dragon’s before raising his staff and teleporting. Once he was gone the dragons roared and began to fly breathing columns of fire on the village, some flew to the other side of the island. The leader saw columns of smoke all around the island and watched as his zebras and their home was destroyed.

“There it is.” Patch Celestia pointed to a cave. “That’s where our army should be taking refuge.”

“How’d they know to go here?” Luna asked.

“I told them to go to Valkas and find a large cave. Inside there is a door and another large city like the one that was attacked.”

“Lord Sean.” Alicorn Twilight looked across the table at Sean, they were currently playing chess like they did every week to help hone her tactical skills and it was his turn.

“Yes Twilight?” He took a Rook and took out her Bishop. He then looked at her.

“Why did you choose now to attack the zebras? It seems a bit sudden, and for that matter why are your actions so sporadic?” She moved her Queen to take out his Bishop, surprised that he seemed to have made an easy mistake as she was about to beat him.

“Twilight, this is all part of a grand design. We are slowly nearing the end game. Soon it will be.” He then moved his Queen behind her forces exploiting the gap she had accidentally made. “Checkmate.”

“I may know a weakness of Sean.” Twilight told the group. They had entered the city where they were quickly greeted and offered lunch.

“You did!?” Celestia looked surprised.

“Yes, in one of those nightmares I saw that he has another Sean inside him that may be able to help if we can wake him up.”

“Interesting. So his own little joke may back fire.” Patch Celestia put a hoof to her chin. “And how would we do this?”

“I haven’t gotten that far into my plan.”

Twilight opened her eyes to see she was in another memory. She had reluctantly gone to sleep to see if she could get more information on the other Sean.

Sean was running through a forest quickly looking back and breathing heavily. He looked at his hand which he had pressed against his chest to see it was covered in blood. Then there was a roar, he looked back and saw a manticore burst out of a bush. It saw him and began to give chase. Sean screamed and ran. Then he tripped on a root.

“No!” He looked to see the manticore quickly catching up. “I can’t die. Not after I just took control.”

Then there was a hiss Sean looked back to see several bipedal lizards jabbing spears at the manticore and hissing. One then stabbed a spear into the manticore’s eye, another tackled it. Once it fell they began to stab it until it was dead. Sean was slowly losing consciousness. The last thing he saw was the lizards approaching him.

Sean opened his eyes and looked around. He was in some sort of building, the walls seemed to be made of stone and there were several animal skulls hanging on the walls.

“Where am I?”

“You are in a safe place.” Sean looked over to see one of the lizards sitting next to him. He realized he was in a bed. He sat up and looked at the lizard. He was green with several spines and next to him there was a wooden staff.

“What are you?”

“I am a Viashino. We are an ancient race.”

“So you live in a dark creepy forest.”

“Not by choice. We were forced into hiding centuries ago.”

“Why?”

“The filthy ponies!” He tightened a scaled fist. “They showed up and slowly began to expand until they came across us. We tried to keep them away but they beat us in numbers and slowly drove us off.”

“So you hate the ponies?”

“That’s correct.”

“My friend, I have a proposition for you.”

“Viashinos! Are you tired of the scum known as ponies ruling your land?” The crowd of lizards he had gathered shouted in agreement. “Well, soon justice will be served. I have a plan, a plan to take back your home.”

“How?” Someone in the crowd asked.

“We will build an army, we will prepare, and when the moment is right we will strike.” The crowd began to look confident.

“Why not now?” Another asked.

“It’s all in the timing. The ponies are currently trapped in a war against the griffins. The ponies will likely win, but their forces will be severely crippled and Celestia tired from the stress of the war. All I need is your full support and trust, and together we shall bring Equestria to its knees, and begin a new rule. Where the viashino live on top and the ponies are the ones hiding and running.” The crowd began to cheer.

Sean climbed into the bed they had offered him. He had felt strange and hoped sleep would offer help.
Sean opened his eyes to see he was in some kind of desert. There were several buildings around, it seemed to be some kind of city.

“I’m not going to let you do it.” A somewhat shaky voice said. Sean turned to see himself looking at him.

“How do you plan to stop me?” Sean looked at himself mockingly.

“I’ll beat you in here, then I will take back control and warn the ponies.” He then turned his left hand into a sword and took a fighting stance. Sean noticed he was shaking.

“Well, let’s go.” The other him glared and leapt at him swinging his blade arm. Sean dodged and grabbed the hand at the wrist. He then twisted it until it was behind the other Sean’s back and forced him to the ground. “You are so pathetic. No discipline or form.” Sean then put his foot on the others back and pulled at the arm until it tore from the others body and he fell to the ground screaming and bleeding.

“I won’t lose.” The other Sean then swept his foot attempting to trip Sean. Sean jumped and landed on his back hearing a crack as the spine broke. He then looked down at his weaker bleeding self.

“You aren’t nearly as strong as me. You speak of taking control, but you’re pathetic.” He put more pressure on his back making the other Sean scream. “You are nothing! You are a child, fearing ponies, letting them control you. Now let’s see your true form.”

The other Sean began to spark before he shrank and was in his younger body, his usual gloves changed to small fingerless ones, shorts changed to black cargo shorts, a normal shirt, and shorter hair. He looked at Sean with tears in his eyes. “Please.”

“You know, I was going to let you live, you could have just been a quiet bit of my subconscious. But no, you just had to try and take control.” He put more pressure on the others back hearing more cracks as ribs broke.

“Please, I don’t want to die.” The other Sean trying to push himself up, but in his new form he was far weaker and was easily kept down.

“Should have thought about that before you crossed me.” Sean lifted his foot and brought it down full force his foot completely going through the young Sean’s body.

Chapter 60: Time to Take Back Equestria

Bust out the balloons and party hats that will inevitably become beaks! Because today is my stories birthday. Just one year ago I was writing this and getting pissed off about all the hate it got. Now all the hate sits in the corner grumbling to itself and I have more than twice the number of likes to dislikes. Though I swear there is a little gnome that waits for my story to get a little ahead then gives a dislike. Anyway, to mark this I give you a freakishly long chapter. Enjoy.

“You see Twilight,” Sean lifted a Minotaur in front of him. “When a creature dies there is a short time where there is a burst of magic that can be captured.” He snapped the Minotaur’s neck then he quickly enveloped the body in a green bubble. He lowered the bubble so Twilight could see better. There was a faint blue sphere near the top of the bubble.

“That blue thing?” She looked closer. It looked unimpressive.

“It is true that one is barely worth noting, but if you get enough of them together they can offer unimaginable power.”

“Here is your equipment.” Patch Celestia opened door, the element bearers following. Inside there were six different suits of armor. Each suit would cover their entire bodies other than their heads with armored wing guards for the pegasi. Each suit was a darker shade of its owners color and had their cutie marks on them. On each one their element was attached. “Get ready, we leave in thirty minutes.

“And so it begins.” Sean watched the screen that showed Valkas, watching as the army of ponies left their little base.

“We will rest for the day.” Patch Celestia looked at her ponies. The sun was beginning to set and they needed to find shelter soon.

“Why now?” Luna looked at her. “It’s only just becoming dark, we could easily cover more ground before rest was necessary.”

“You don’t understand Luna.” Patch Celestia worriedly eyed the sky. “Valkas is not a place to be moving in the dark.”

“Why not?” Luna asked. Following Patch Celestia with the rest of the group towards a large cave.

“Night is when it hunts.” Patch Celestia hurried towards the cave as the sky grew darker.

“You mean a dragon?” Twilight asked. Then there was a roar. The ponies looked to the sky to see a dragon above them, it was not as large as the others but by no means was it small. The ponies of Jund began to scream and run towards the cave.

The dragon slowly landed. It was probably forty feet long, the body was a dark gray the front legs were large and looked plated near the front, the hands had three massive claws the hind legs looked similar but somewhat smaller. The wings were well muscled and larger in comparison to the body than most of the dragons. Its face was shorter than most and rounded, it had two large curving horns on the back of its head, and it had one large spike on the end of its muzzle. The eyes were small and orange, it had spines going along its back.

“Run!” Celestia ordered as the ponies turned and ran towards the cave, they felt the ground shake as the dragon gave chase this one seemed to be much faster following just behind. They reached the cave and dove in, the dragon tried to follow but it was too big. After a few attempts to hit them with fire it gave up and flew away.

The ponies trekked through a forest. They had been traveling now for three days, according to Celestia they were only about a day away from the capital city Dominaria. They had to occasionally hide for a few seconds when they would hear dragons fly overhead out of fear of being eaten.

“Princess.” Cadence looked at Patch Celestia. They were in the front of the pack.

“Yes Cadence?” She looked at her second in command. It was hard to avoid looking at the stumps where her wings had been.

“Are you sure about this?”

“About what?”

“These ponies, I mean the yellow one seems pretty vulnerable and prone to fear, and the two earth ponies seem like they’d be vulnerable to Sean’s magic.”

“Cadence it shouldn’t matter. The fight against him will likely take a few seconds all we need is one opening for the elements to hit him.”

“If you say so.”

“Alright lizards.” Sean looked at the army of viashino in front of him. Hivis and Zirilan were at the front. “The ponies will be here in twenty hours.”

“So?” Hivis looked at him. “Forgive me master but ponies have never been a problem. Why was this meeting necessary?”

“Because, I want to make sure you understand the ponies are to be fought in the castle courtyard. If any die outside of that general area there will be severe consequences.”

“There it is.” Patch Celestia pointed at the large city sticking out of the mountain with jagged stone walls surrounding it, the castle could be seen towering above the other buildings. She was surprised it only took twenty hours. “We will rest and tomorrow we shall attack."

Twilight nervously went to sleep. The nightmares had been much worse every night as she relived his conquest.

“We are ready master.” A viashino in a lab coat looked at Sean, who was staring at the statue of the being Discord.

“Excellent, and the way we get him out will release him unconscious?” Sean looked at the viashino.

“Yes sir, just like you ordered. The same will be the case with the one called Nightmare Moon.”

“Perfect. Release him.” Several viashino approached the statue and placed suction cups on the body that lead to a sort of battery. One of them flipped a switch and several volts of electricity could be seen traveling through the wires to the suction cups. There when the electricity reached Discord the statue began to shake before shattering and an unconscious Discord was on the ground in front of them.

“You may do your idea now.” The viashino backed up and bowed.

“Thank you.” Sean walked to the heap of mismatched limbs. He placed a hand on its horns and drained almost all of its magic. “There we go, that should keep him in check. Plus,” Sean looked at a nearby statue and concentrated. Then the statue was wrapped in a green aura and shakily lifted off its podium. “Excellent.”

“Release her.” Sean looked at the moon. The lizards nodded and pointed a laser at it. They pressed a few buttons and fired. The laser was able to make contact with the moon and thanks to some infused magic there was a flash and Nightmare Moon appeared in front of them unconscious. “Perfect.” Sean walked up to her and drained most of her magic. Sean then turned to a nearby viashino and was able to easily levitate him now. A few more drains of Celly, Discord, and Nightmare and he’d be unmatched in power.

“Strange.” Cadence looked around.

“What?” Twilight asked.

“No resistance.” They had gone right to the front gates of the city and walked in. The city had been built over Canterlot, so many buildings looked similar. There were markets, homes, and restaurants. Of course they were all different, the shops were selling weapons mostly, while they were able to see a sign outside of one restaurant that had pony meat and grubs on the menu. Also the entire city was mostly made of jagged stones and looked much grimmer. The mountain had also been transformed into a volcano.

“Maybe they all went on a vacation, or are attacking a few pony cities looking for us.” Rainbow said.

“No, he knew we were coming and knows we’re here.” Patch Celestia eyed the top of the buildings expecting attacks from above. “They are likely at the castle. Be ready.”

The ponies reached the castle gate. Patch Celestia turned to the ponies behind her.

“This is it. Today we take Equestria back.”

She then turned back and pushed at the gate till it opened. They walked into the courtyard, it was strangely quiet. Once they were about halfway in the, doors behind them slammed shut and they saw two viashino behind them wielding axes. Then there were several hisses. The ponies looked to see a massive army of viashino in front of them. They were easily outnumbered three to one. Hivis and Zirilan stood at the front.

“Hello ponies.” Hivis smiled showing his pointed teeth.

“Cadence behind you!” Twilight warned as a viashino with a sword leapt at her. Cadence dodged and kicked it.

“Thanks.” Cadence nodded before turning to another viashino. Twilight noticed one strange thing, the viashino seemed to be much clumsier than the ones they had previously seen. The ponies were having no trouble fighting them. Even Hivis was backing away from a unicorn, and Zirilan had dropped his staff.

“There’s a gap.” Patch Celestia got the attention of Twilight and the others. “Let’s go, it’s our chance.” The element bearers, the Celestias, Cadence, and Luna ran towards the large castle doors and ran inside. No viashino tried to stop them. Cadence quickly closed the door as Luna ran in being the last one.

Hivis watched as the door to the castle closed.

“I thought they’d never leave.” He turned. “Let’s take this seriously now guys.” The viashino nodded and adopted much more aggressive stances. Zirilan picked his staff back up.

“We aren’t scared!” A pony yelled before attacking Hivis, he stepped to the left and swung his sword, easily decapitating the pony. The ponies looked at the dead pony in surprise.

“Shall we continue?” Hivis raised his sword.

“Ok, we’re in.” Luna looked around. “Now how do we get to the throne room?”

“Good thing I remembered to take this.” Twilight levitated the map of the castle in front of them.

“There.” Patch Celestia pointed at a room that said throne room. “It’s only a few levels up, should be easy enough.”

The ponies climbed up the stone stairs. They were almost to the throne room. According to the map there was a long hallway, then another flight of stairs before they reached the throne room level. As they entered the hallway a blast of blue magic shot past them. The ponies looked to see Discord and Nightmare standing in front of them blocking their way.

“Look what I found Nightmare.” Discord said pointing at the ponies.

“Excellent, it’s time to redeem ourselves.” Nightmare glared at them.

“This should be easy.” Patch Celestia looked at them. She turned to the elements. “Would you mind?”

“Of course not.” Twilight walked forward with her friends.

“You think we’ll let you use those?” Nightmare smirked. Before she could do anything the giant rainbow smashed into her. When it subsided the little Luna was on the ground.

“Well, that escalated quickly.” Discord looked at the Luna in surprise.

“Discord,” Patch Celestia walked up to him. “You have two options, either become a statue again, or join us.”

“Why would I do that?”

“We both know this isn’t the kind of chaos you like. You don’t enjoy all the death, if they’re dead how will they appreciate your genius?”

“True.”

“Help us stop him and you can have part of Equestria all to yourself.”

“Sorry, but no.” Discord then snapped his fingers and disappeared.

“There’s the door.” Celestia pointed to the large stone doors with an Utvara carved into it.

“Are you ponies ready?” Patch Celestia asked. Her Luna was next to her looking nervous. Patch Celestia had been so happy when she was reunited with her.

“Let’s do this.” Rainbow said.

Patch Celestia nodded and slammed the doors open and the ponies ran into the stone throne room. They looked around until they saw Sean sitting in the middle on his throne with Alicorn Twilight next to him.

“Finally, I thought you guys had gotten lost.” He stood up smiling.

“It’s over Sean.” Patch Celestia glared at him. “Your army is being finished as we speak. Luna has been fixed and Discord ran off. You have nothing left.”

“My army is losing?” Sean tilted his head in confusion. “You mean this army?” A screen appeared in front of him showing the castle courtyard. The ponies were shocked, the army they had worked so hard to assemble was mostly dead. The ones that were left were being brutally beaten by viashino.

“How is that possible?” Cadence stared in disbelief.

“I can’t believe none of you were suspicious that the viashino were being beaten so easily.” Sean lowered his head in disappointment. “I mean your Twilight was the only one to notice, and even then she dropped it pretty quick.” He looked at Patch Celestia. “Let’s flip that earlier statement. It’s over Celly, your army is being finished as we speak. Oh and your Luna is gone.” Sean’s eyes glowed.

“What!?” Patch Celestia looked in confusion and her Luna backed away in fear. Then a dark aura appeared around Luna. It enveloped Luna creating a black sphere. “Luna!” Patch Celestia turned to Sean. “Let her out.”

“No problem.” Sean raised his left hand and the black aura began to move towards it. Luna fell to the ground. She was freakishly thin and looked more like a skeleton.

“Luna! What did you do to her?” Patch Celestia held the Luna in her hooves.

“Oh, all I did was take back all that magic I lent her.” He looked at the small black sphere in his hand. Then he crushed it in his hand and it dissipated. “Of course, I have no need for it.”

“Sister.” Luna said weakly. Patch Celestia leaned in.

“I’m here Luna. I can fix you.”

“I’m sorry big sister. It’s a shame we didn’t get to spend time together.” Luna closed her eyes and her head fell back.

“Luna?” Patch Celestia shook her. “Luna open your eyes.” Patch Celestia began to cry. “Luna. No, I just got you back.”

“Oh that was good.” Sean began to laugh.

“You monster!” Cadence yelled and charged at him. She didn’t get close as she was hit by a purple beam of magic and sent flying into a wall.

“Thank you Twilight.” Sean nodded to Alicorn Twilight. “Wouldn’t want to get the blood of someone so weak onto my newly cleaned armor.” Sean then ducked as a shot of fire flew over his head. He looked to see Patch Celestia glaring at him, her mane was on fire.

“This ends now Sean! I will kill you no matter what.”

“Finally, I was waiting to see that form.” Sean cracked his knuckles. “Twilight, take care of the others.”

“Yes master.” Alicorn Twilight’s horn glowed and a wall of fire separated Patch Celestia and Sean from the rest of the group.

“Alright Celly, let’s go.” Sean looked at the new Celestia in front of him. Her mane and tail were on fire, her eye looked like fire, her eye patch had disintegrated and in place of the eye there was a small flame, and she had armor like Nightmare’s. Celestia glared and shot a blast of fire at him. Sean’s eyes glowed and the fireball suddenly turned and ended up smashing into her. She went flying and smashed into a wall. As she picked herself she was grabbed by her horn and thrown into the air, before she could move Sean leaped into the air grabbed her flaming mane and threw her into the ground creating a massive crater. Sean walked up and put his foot on her face. “I’ll be honest Celly that was a bit anti-climactic.”

“I will kill you.” Patch Celestia said weakly as she returned to her usual form.

“Finally, after centuries this will end.” He put more weight on his foot forcing her face further into the ground. “I won’t deny part of me will miss you.” Sean’s eyes then glowed. Patch Celestia forced her eye shut waiting for the final blow. Then she heard a scream and a thud. She opened her eyes to see the other Celestia picking herself up with a bit of blood on her face. “You know, two on one isn’t very fair.” Sean walked away from Patch Celestia to face the other.

“What do you know about a fair fight?” Normal Celestia glared at him. “All you do is manipulate and use cruelty to weaken your foes before a fight.”

“It’s called tactics.” Sean shrugged. “Something you ponies lack.”

“Like my counterpart said, this ends today.” Celesita glared at him her horn glowing.

“Oh boy, two dead Cellys for the price of one. I love it!” Sean’s eyes glowed. “Shall we?”

“Hey!” Rainbow flew away from the massive wall of fire that had just appeared. Rainbow looked at Alicorn Twilight along with the rest of the ponies.

“Let’s get this started.” Alicorn Twilight stretched her wings. “I want to see Lord Sean’s ultimate victory.”

“It’s eight to one.” Luna counted the ponies, Cadence had recovered and joined them, and she had seen her sister teleport past the fire to help the other her. “Hardly a fair fight.”

“You’re right.” Alicorn Twilight eyed the group. “Should I call some backup for you guys?” Her horn faintly glowed for a second.

“Lots of talk for a pony that was captured so easily by us.” Rainbow looked at her smugly.

“Well, that won’t work again.” Alicorn Twilight flew into the air. Her horn glowed and a large black beam flew towards the group. The group scattered except Twilight who seemed frozen. Just as the beam was about to hit her Cadence shoved her and was hit by it. She screamed and fell to the ground.

“Cadence?” Twilight looked at her. Her eyes were completely blank and she was barely breathing. She looked at her counterpart. “What did you do?”

“Just a little bit of destruction magic.” Alicorn Twilight shrugged. “I will say, her soul is so weak, I’m surprised she survived this long.” She looked at the shell that was Cadence. “Now she’s more brain dead than before.”

“You’re going to regret that.” Rainbow flew at her full speed. She managed to ram into Alicorn Twilight who was surprised at her speed. Alicorn Twilight went flying into the ceiling, as she recovered she glared at the ponies.

“I’ve had enough of you pests.” Her eyes turned green. “It’s time to end this.” The ponies watched as her wings became dragon- like, her teeth sharpened, her horn grew and became more jagged and her tail changed to resemble a dragon’s, her hooves changed to clawed feet, and she grew purple spines along her back.

“I did not see that coming.” Luna looked at the dragon pony. Alicorn Twilight then growled and her horn glowed, then a flame appeared around it and she shot a fire ball at them. “Look out!” The ponies ran, as the fireball made contact with the ground it caused an explosion. The group looked at the huge crater then watched as Alicorn Twilight flew down.

“It ends now rebels.” Alicorn Twilight she landed. “This rebellion will be crushed today.” Her horn glowed again.

“A mini sun? That’s all you got?” Sean watched as normal Celestia flew into the air and charged her spell, she had created the miniature sun she had used on the other Sean. She looked at him before flinging it at him. As it flew towards him Celestia gasped as it shrank more and more until it vanished without even touching him.

“What?” She looked in shock.

“That was it? Alright, my turn.” His eyes glowed and the ground shook Celestia looked down barely dodging a column of fire. She looked where Sean had been a moment ago. To see he was gone. “Behind you.” Celestia turned just in time to be punched in the face and fall to the ground. Celestia tried to pick herself up. But a foot stepped on her back forcing her to the ground again. “You know, I would have expected more fight from two princesses of the sun.” He looked at Celestia with disappointment. “Oh well, goodbye Celly one and Celly two.”

“You aren’t going to get away.” Alicorn Twilight said as she fired another fireball the direction the group of ponies had been running. Then there was a snap and she became covered in cotton candy and fell to the ground. “What’s going on?” She struggled. Then there was another snap and she was unconscious.

Sean looked as the wall of fire vanished. He looked to see the group of rebels looking in surprise at Alicorn Twilight trapped in cotton candy unconscious. Sean put his foot off of Celestia’s face and looked around. Then there was another snap and he became encased in stone.

“Dizzy, stop hiding and come out.” Sean looked around the room. Then there was a flash and Discord stood in front of him. “So I see you’ve joined the ponies.”

“I haven’t joined them, I just realized we had a common enemy.” Discord looked at him.

“Can’t say I’m surprised, you always were about as smart as a brain dead goldfish.” Sean looked at him bored.

“I’m the stupid one? You’ve been trapped in my spell, which by the way is suppressing your magic.”

“Clever.” Sean looked at the stone trap in surprise. “This works great on normal magical beings.” He looked at Discord and his eyes glowed. “Sadly, I’m not normal.”

“Ha!” Discord snapped his fingers and stone trapped a Sean that had materialized behind him. “That won’t work twice.” He looked back to Sean. But he was gone. Discord looked behind him expecting Sean to be there but he wasn’t.

“Discord look out!” Discord heard Patch Celestia warn him weakly. He turned and was immediately stabbed through the stomach by a sword. He looked in Sean’s green eyes. Sean pulled the sword out and Discord fell to the ground bleeding.

“Oh Dizzy.” He kicked him in the face causing him to fall onto his back. “You truly are a fool. Thinking you could take me on.” Sean then picked him up by his horn and stabbed him several more times each time he removed the sword Discord’s wound would heal. The ponies were too shocked to help. After a few stabs he glared at him. Discord weakly tried to snap his finger but Sean’s eyes glowed and Discord’s hand shattered. “Goodbye Dizzy.” Sean’s eyes glowed and Discord slowly began to become encased in stone. Before it reached his head Sean snapped off one of his horns. “A little trophy for my victory.” Then he dropped the stone Discord. Sean turned his attention back to the ponies and walked towards them. “As fun as this has been I have omnipotence to gain.” As he passed Alicorn Twilight his eyes glowed and the cotton candy vanished.

“Twilight.” Luna looked at her. “It may be a good idea to use the elements.”

“Right.” Twilight and her friends ran to gain some distance from Sean. “Alright girls. Let’s do this.”
Sean watched in amusement as they did their little routine of floating and glowing and all that. Then the giant rainbow came at him. It hit him dead on.

“Got him!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Wait, what’s going on with the rainbow?” Luna looked at it. The rest looked to see it was shrinking and progressively resembling a ball. After a minute Sean was in front of them with the rainbow in his hand.

“No. That’s not possible.” Twilight looked at him.

“Ah the Elements of Harmony.” Sean looked at the rainbow. “Loyalty,” A red lightning bolt appeared in his hand. “Honesty.” An orange apple appeared in his hand. “Laughter.” A blue balloon. “Kindness.” A pink butterfly. “Generosity.” A diamond appeared. “And magic.” The star appeared in the center of his hand with the rest of the elements circling it. “The most powerful magical weapons in the world.”

“How are you completely untouched?” Twilight looked in confusion and despair. “The elements should have stopped you.”

“Silly pony,” Sean looked at her. “These are the most powerful weapons. But weapons are a mere tool, it is the person who makes use of it. A weapon can never best a stronger being.”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked. “Power doesn’t always matter.”

“How dumb are you?” Sean glared.

“You’re the dumb one.” Twilight glared. “Some things matter more. Like friendship.”

“Friendship is nothing. You don’t get it. The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists.” Sean raised his hand. “Let me show the true power of your precious elements.” Then each of the elements shapes shot back towards its owner. When it hit them they slowly began to become enveloped in stone until they were statues like Discord. The only pony to dodge was Twilight.

“No!” Twilight looked at all her friends who were now statues. “What did you do?”

“Oh just a little magical backlash.” He began to walk towards her. “All it took was some of my magic and boom! The effects are turned against them.” He lifted her by her throat.

“Drop her.” Sean turned to see Luna glaring at him with her horn glowing as she stood over Alicorn Twilight.

“Or what?” Sean looked at her bored.

“I’ll kill her.”

“No you won’t.” Sean smiled. “We both know you can’t. You worry that if you do you may become her again.”

“I’m not kidding.” Luna looked at him. Though Sean could see the nervousness in her eyes.

“Fine, do it. I’ll just revive her. Birth and death are both reversible.” He shrugged. “In the end you’ll hurt only yourself.” Luna looked at the Alicorn Twilight then Sean. “Go on, do it.” Sean ordered. “Give in to the desire, kill her and let all that anger out. Won’t it be a relief to let all that stress out?” Sean began to walk towards her, still choking Twilight. “No more second best, take the chance, let go. Give in, we both know you yearn for the power you once possessed.” By now he was a few inches from Luna looking down at her. Luna looked at Twilight again then backed away.

“No.” Luna said before she was lifted in green magic and thrown into the wall knocking her out.

“Shame.” He looked at her. “I could have used a new Nightmare.” He turned back to Twilight. “As for you. It’s over, you have nothing. Your friends are stone, your princesses are of no help.”

“You won’t win.” Twilight glared at him. She was then thrown across the room. Before she could get up she was lifted and thrown across the room again.

“It ends now.” Sean levitated her to him. “I should thank you. This little attack of yours really helped me refresh the memory of Jund on why I am the king.” He threw her through Discords statue shattering him.

“I don’t understand.” She said weakly. “Nothing is stronger than friendship.” She was still mostly trying to register how everything had gotten so out of hand.

“Pitiful creature. There is always a greater power.” He picked her up preparing to kill her.

“Hey ugly.” A voice said. Sean looked around for where it had come from. Then he saw what looked like a small tear in reality. Then two hands gripped the ends and began to widen the rift more. Until a familiar figure stepped out of it. It looked like him from several centuries ago. Still wearing the ridiculous outfit. “Hands off my pony.”

Chapter 61: Fight With Myself. Woah!

Chapter 61: Fight With Myself. Woah!

Hands off my pony? Seriously?

Shut up, it sounded dramatic.

And what’s with the ugly thing? He looks just like you but with armor.

You really stepped on the moment. Besides, that armor is stupid.

You aren’t fooling anyone. We both know you’re jealous of the armor.

Shut up.

“Ah, so the me from their sad little dimension has come.” I snapped out of my argument with Bob to look at the armored me. He was looking at me with a hint of disgust as he continued to choke Twilight.

“Yep,” I pointed at Twilight. “Could you drop that for me?”

“Very well.” He dropped her. “Your soul should fit nicely after I kill you.” His eyes glowed for a second then the ground began to shake. I looked down just in time to be smashed by a column of fire. When it ended I looked at the other me. My body had healed almost automatically.

“Well that was a bit uncalled for.” I said. I then ran at him and tried to punch him, he was able to teleport away somehow. “So now you teleport.” His eyes glowed and I heard foot steps behind me. I managed to turn in time to dodge a hit from what was obviously a copy of him. “And can make little copies of yourself.” I then grabbed it and threw it at him. He teleported dodging the hit.

You aren’t going to hit him. He’s too fast.

I have a plan.

I heard him teleport behind me before stabbing me through the stomach.

“You certainly are slow.” I heard him mock me. “I guess I shouldn’t expect much from a being who was weak enough to be tamed by ponies.”

“Oh me, I just needed you close.” I then tore myself free and grabbed his arm. I put my foot on his chest I pushed and swiftly pulled his arm off. He stumbled back looking at the stump in shock. Before he did anything I ran up and slugged him in the jaw knocking him to the ground. I then grabbed him by his throat and turned my arm into a blade and took a swing at his head. He was able to knock my hand away and teleport away. I looked behind me to see him glaring at me. I noticed his arm was growing back surprisingly slow, it was just now developing his wrist.

“Clever.” He rubbed some blood from his mouth. “Waiting till I got close before striking.” His arm finally fully healed. “From their memories I assumed you were just a moron.”

“I take offense to that.” I looked at him indignantly.

“I just complemented you.”

“I know.”

“Then why did you?” As he was distracted I ran up and put a large gash through his chest. He kicked me and jumped back slowly healing.

See that?

The healing? Yeah.

This is going to be easier than I thought.

“How did that happen?” He was looking at his healing chest in shock. “I never make those mistakes.” He looked at me glaring. “That’s the problem.”

“What?”

“I’ve been falling prey to your idiocy, I forgot I can’t read your thoughts.”

“You silly boy.” I began to charge at him. He teleported away. I turned to see him floating above me.

“Trust me.” His eyes glowed. “I have no intentions of making the mistake again.”

I felt the ground shake and jumped just in time to dodge the fire. “Is that all you got?” I looked at him bored. “I know dogs that do more tricks.” He didn’t respond, all he ended up doing was smiling. Then I heard a hiss. I turned to see there was a giant snake made out of the lava. “Ok, that’s new.” The snake thing hissed and lunged at me. I jumped over it, while I was in the air it got a chance and lunged at me biting me in half. As my lower half healed I got back up.

Smooth.

“Come at me hissy.” I glared at it. The snake hissed and lunged. I opened my mouth shot ice at it. It began to become covered in ice and slow down. I dodged its lunge and hit it with more ice until it was basically stone. “That was easy.” Then I felt a bit dizzy for a minute.

What was that?

Dunno.

“Nice work with the snake.” I turned to see he was looking at me mockingly. “It only killed you once.”

“Whatever.” I turned my arms into swords. “Come down here and fight.” He eyed me for a minute before nodding.

“Very well.” He landed and took a fighting stance. “Shall we?”

“Sure.” I ran at him and took a swing. He dodged and kicked me hard in the back breaking it. It healed quickly and I got back up. “What was that? You know I heal, and much more efficiently than you.”

“I know.” Then he teleported till he was in front of me. He stabbed me through the chest. I took the chance and swiped at his head cutting it off. As I healed I watched as the body disintegrated.

Weird.

What?

The body disintegrated.

So?

Usually my head just grows back.

Then I heard a step. I was able to move quick enough to get my arm cut off instead of my head. I looked and of course he was there smiling.

“Seriously.” I looked at my newly healed arm. “If your plan is to just chop me until I die it won’t work.” Then I felt dizzy again. I stumbled back a little.

Seriously! What is going on?

I don’t know.

Did he put a spell on me?

Not as far as I know.

No time to think about that. I ran up and punched him, surprisingly he didn’t teleport. I knew this was the real one. I then turned my arm into a sword and stabbed him. I was beginning to feel a little tired. As I prepared to light him on fire he finally moved, head-butting me. I got back up, before I could move he grabbed me by my throat. His eyes glowed and a jagged rock appeared behind me. He lifted me and threw me onto it letting it impale me.

“You’re certainly weak.” He said as he pulled me off the rock and threw me across the room.

“You wanna bet?” I tried to get up before I fell back over. As I tried to get up again he stepped on my chest keeping me down.

“What’s the matter?” He looked at me. “You certainly fizzled out fast. I’m guessing it’s the sudden change of diet.”

“What are you talking about?” I looked at him as I tried again to force him off.

“The shift from Celly’s magic to simple unicorn magic isn’t working out is it?”

“Maybe, how about I take some of yours?” I grabbed his ankle and tried to drain. But nothing.

“You really think I’d make my armor that easy to exploit?” He put more pressure on my chest. “I don’t have time for this.” He took his foot off me. “I’ll come back for you in a bit.” He was walking away.

Well this isn’t going as hoped.

I have an idea.

If it’s what I’m thinking don’t do it.

Why not? It’s the only way we’ll be able to possibly to stop him and save Twilight.

So we’re going to risk that for one pony?

Well if she dies it completely defeats the point of coming.

Fine whatever.

Tyrant Sean walked away from the other him. He had been hoping for a bit more of a fight. But what could you expect from a person that let ponies control him. Then he heard a growl. He turned to see where the weaker Sean had been there was a strange new creature. It was like a combination of him and the Bolas form. It was about a foot taller than Sean and had much broader shoulders. Physically it resembled the Bolas form except the horns were shorter and lightning bolt shaped and it had Sean’s arm covers and socks.

“Interesting.” Tyrant Sean eyed the creature as it looked at him with its piercing green eyes. Then it roared and charged at him. Tyrant Sean teleported, to his surprise as he rematerialized he was choked by a taloned hand and thrown across the room. Sean quickly got back up just in time to be tackled. He slammed into the wall, before he could recover the dragon grabbed his head and smashed him into the ground. Tyrant Sean groaned as he felt several ribs and his jaw break. As he healed he looked up at the creature looking down at him. It was just staring at him. As Sean healed fully he quickly teleported away.

As he rematerialized he saw the dragon Sean charging at him. He was able to jump over it and grab it by its horns, he then put all his weight into throwing it across the room. It smashed through his throne and fell on the ground just behind it. Tyrant Sean smiled enjoying his success, then his smile vanished as the dragon got back up without any sign of injury. It glared at him before picking up a shattered piece of his throne and chucking it at him. Tyrant Sean chose to stand his ground and took the hit, as the dragon Sean charged at him he smiled before turning his arm into a blade. As it ran past him he side stepped and chopped its left arm off.

Tyrant Sean watched as the arm fell to the ground and dissolved. His victory was short lived as a fist punched through his chest. He looked in shock to see the dragon just glaring at him seeming to not even register the missing arm which was not healing. It lifted its right hand raising Tyrant Sean with him. It growled before opening its mouth and hitting him point blank with a ball of acid. Then it quickly and aggressively swung its arm causing Sean to go flying and smash into a wall. Sean slowly healed looking in surprise as the dragon just watched him. Why wasn’t it attacking.

We should kill the pale one now.

No, where is the challenge? We will let him heal before we continue.

Fool.

It does not matter. We will wait for our prey to recover.

Tyrant Sean picked himself up watching his scaled counterpart. He prepared himself. He had decided it was time to get aggressive, this form seemed to lack regeneration. He then turned his arm into a blade and charged at it. The dragon watched and prepared. As Sean prepared to stab, dragon Sean grabbed him with his tail wrapping around his stomach. Then the grip was tightened until Tyrant Sean’s spine broke. He took his blade arm and managed to cut off its tail freeing himself. He looked to see dragon Sean ignored his chopped tail.

The dragon roared and charged at him, it swung its right arm attempting to slit his throat. Tyrant Sean managed to block the attack and jump back getting some distance. The dragon growled before opening its mouth and shooting a fireball at him. Tyrant Sean guarded his face, the other Sean leaped out of the smoke and bit into his shoulder completely going through his armor. Tyrant Sean let out a slight scream of pain, it got worse as the dragon raised its legs and began to claw at Sean’s stomach easily shredding his armor. Dragon Sean’s weight ended up throwing Tyrant Sean off balance and caused him to fall back. As he hit the ground the dragon stopped clawing him. It then raised its hand and began to smash him in the face creating a small crater.

Tyrant Sean managed to weakly kick him off. He used magic to create a barrier as it leaped at him again. Once he had healed he dropped the barrier and dodged the attack. He then teleported several times attempting to throw off the dragon’s tracking of him. Then he appeared behind him and stabbed through dragon Sean’s chest easily piercing the lungs and likely damaging the heart. He smiled expecting the dragon to fall over dead. Instead his arm was torn off as it turned quickly and was backhanded causing him to fly and smash into what was left of his throne.

He looked weakly as his foe walked towards him, there was a long trail of blood following it and he could hear it wheezing. The dragon stumbled as it got closer. The multiple injuries clearly catching up to it. Tyrant Sean knew one more hit would finish him. Then he looked to his right to see the weakened normal Twilight, she was watching them looking barely conscious. Then he had an idea. Using most of what was left of his magic he created a small sphere of destruction magic, he then pointed his hand at her and shot a beam of the magic at her. He heard a roar and watched as the dragon sprinted to grab Twilight and put its body between the shot and her. After a second tyrant Sean worried the dragon had taken the shot and would recover but then it fell to the side not moving. It slowly sparked before changing back to normal Sean. His left arm was still gone, the stab through his chest being replace by a large smoking hole in his back. He was still weakly breathing, though Tyrant Sean knew he wouldn’t be around much longer.

Tyrant Sean looked outside the doors to his balcony to see a large swirling black cloud with a large blue sphere in the center. He smiled, as he tried to get up he fell back unable to get up. Then Tyrant Sean’s eyes glowed, after a second Buttons smashed through a wall. Buttons then grabbed him and flew out heading towards the cloud.

Twilight pushed the limp body of Sean off her. She stood up to see a bleeding Sean with a gaping hole in his back. She was relieved to see he was still breathing.

“What do I do?” Twilight looked around when her eyes fell on the statues of her friends she got an idea. She used her magic and levitated them to her. A burst of adrenaline giving her new strength. She walked up to Sean’s body and poked at him. “Sean.”

“What?” Sean whispered, weakly opening his eyes looking at her. “Can’t you let me die in peace?”

“No.” She then levitated the statue of Rainbow Dash to him. “Drain the magic from this statue.” Sean raised his right arm reaching for the statue. He barely moved his arm towards the statue before it flopped down, weakly trying to move. Twilight sighed. She used her magic and moved his arm so his hand was on Rainbow Dash’s hoof. “Now take the magic.”

“If it’ll make you shut up.” Slowly Rainbow Dash began to crack before the stone broke off her and Rainbow Dash was on the ground unconscious. Twilight looked to see the hole in his back healing. She repeated this process with the others until Sean was fully healed looking better than before. He stretched. “Alright, now that I’m better where’s the boring me?”

“He went towards that giant cloud.” Twilight pointed.

“Sounds good.” Sean turned and ran towards the balcony. Once he reached it he jumped over the railing growing wings and flying towards the cloud.

Tyrant Sean admired the vortex. Buttons was flying towards it, once he got within a few yards from it he stopped. Tyrant Sean looked at him.

“Alright, throw me into the sphere.” Buttons nodded. The dragon moved its hand back before throwing Sean. Tyrant Sean went straight into the sphere. He stopped in the center and began to drain magic from within it. He felt a warmth flow through him as he felt new power entering him. “This is it. All the souls of those ponies coming together. Soon I shall be unstoppable.”

“Sounds like fun. Can I have some of that?” Tyrant Sean looked to see the other him flying towards him surprisingly fast.

“Buttons.” The Utvara flew towards the Sean blocking his way. Sean kept going at full speed before ramming into Buttons and sending him flying, the dragon went flying back and ended up being unable to recover from the hit and fell to the ground smashing into it. Tyrant Sean then looked to see Sean just in time to be tackled and pushed out of the sphere and replace by the other.

“No!” Tyrant Sean watched in horror as all his hard work vanished, being absorbed by that moron. He growled and charged at normal Sean. Then there was an explosion. Tyrant Sean went flying back, as he recovered he saw the other him in front of him.

He was now wearing his own armor. His body seemed to be mostly covered in olive colored chainmail. On his arms had added armor on the outside of them, his legs were also covered in more solid looking armor, his torso was also protected by extra armor. On both his hands he had metal gloves, the finger tips resembling claws. He was looking himself over. Then he smiled and looked at Tyrant Sean.

“You up for round three?”

Chapter 62: Round Three.

This is awesome. I can feel power flowing through me, I feel like I do in my dragon form maybe even stronger. I’m digging the armor too. I looked at the other me smiling.

“You up for round three?”

“Fine.” He looked at me with pure hatred. “This time I won’t go easy on you.”

“Bring it.”

The other me growled before flying at me. He ended up hitting me and I flew back hitting the volcano the city was built on. I looked up to see him flying down to me, he opened his mouth and a fireball flew down at me. I jumped to the side dodging it I then turned my hand into a dragon head and shot my own fire at him. I was surprised to see the fire moved considerably faster than usual, it managed to hit him dead on and sent him into the air. As he recovered I flew up and rammed into him, he went further into the air then I flew over him and then dropped straight down hitting him, I kept weight on him while we slowly gained speed before we smashed into the ground. I jumped off him and looked at the crater. I heard growling as he climbed out of the hole.

“I’m getting sick of you.” He looked at me.

“How can you get sick of me? I’m really livening up your day.”

“You come in, ruin my revenge, destroy my throne room, and now take the source of true power in this world.”

“Well when you put it that way it makes me look pretty bad.”

“I will kill you, even if I go with you.” His eyes glowed and the ground shook it felt stronger than the others then I heard an explosion. I looked to see the volcano erupting. Lava began to spew out and the air started to feel hotter. While I was watching the volcano he rammed into me I smashed into the castle, as I pulled myself out he punched me then grabbed my head and threw me over his shoulder. I managed to turn in the air and when I hit the ground I landed on my feet. I watched as he flew towards the volcano.

“Get back here!” I grew wings and flew after him. He landed near the top of the volcano. I landed in front of him. He didn’t say anything before charging at me, he tried to hit my face, I ducked and swiped across his chest with my claws, it managed to make large scrapes but not breaking through the armor. He raised his arms and smashed me on the back. I began to roll down the volcano. I used my claws to stop myself. The other me jumped off where he was and tried shooting fire at me. I was able to respond with my own fire. Through the smoke of the explosion he came through and hit me in the face. I responded by clawing across his face cutting an eye in the process. He growled and jumped back holding his eye.

“I’ll get you for that.”

I’m not sure how much longer this can go on. I’m starting to feel a bit tired, I have seen my counterpart breathing heavily too. This fight has been going for at least an hour now, the volcano’s lava was starting to burn through the large stone walls guarding the castle. There had been several screams when it reached the town and I saw little lizard people fleeing.

You may want to finish this up.

Why?

First of all you’re beginning to get tired which will give him an edge. Plus your body isn’t used to all this new magic and if you get too weak your body won’t be able to control it.

Fine.

I watched as the other me climbed out of the crater he had made. The courtyard was littered with them. I landed in front of him.

“Well it’s been fun but I really must be going.” I looked at my wrist. “It’s almost dinner time.”

“I agree it is time to finish this.” Parts of his armor were broken off and there were dents and scratches in it. I’m guessing my armor didn’t look much better. He looked up at the balcony to the throne room before smiling and teleporting.

Where’d he go?

To the throne room I’m guessing.

Wonder what’s in there.

You’re pretty slow aren’t you?

Twilight.

There you go.

I grew wings and flew up to the throne room as I came in I saw him standing in front of the pile of unconscious ponies. One being hopefully dead. He was holding Twilight by her horn with a sword arm at her throat.

“Put me down.” Twilight was glaring at him.

“Let her go.” I glared. “Take Celestia, she’s pretty expendable.”

“No thanks. It finally occurred to me, everyone has some kind of weakness, a vulnerability can be found in even the strongest creatures.” He moved the sword closer to her throat. “And I finally realized yours. Now, submit.”

“Whatever, it’s not like I can’t heal her.” I shrugged.

You know this is a risky bluff. You don’t know the last thing on healing magic or necromancy.

True but how hard can it be?

Whatever.

Bob, just in case, I need you to try and figure something out.

I stared at the other me for several minutes. It was like the worst staring contest ever. My eyes looked to see the lava was halfway across the courtyard now.

Have you found it yet?

Don’t rush me. Wait, I got it!

Alright, so how do I do it?

Hmm, you need to concentrate which may be hard for you.

Bob! This is not the time to insult me!

Sorry. Ok, concentrate and think about the place you want to go.

Easy.

You also need to picture your magic leaving your body and creating the pathway.

Let’s do this.

I concentrated and thought about the palace back in Equestria. Then I felt a surge of power and a portal began to appear behind the other me.

“What the?” He turned his head to look at the portal. I took the chance and hit him with a shot of fire, the impact made him fall over and drop Twilight. I ran up grabbing Twilight and ran through the portal.

“What about the others?” Twilight looked through the portal.

“I’ve got it.” I went through and looked at the pile of unconscious ponies. I picked up her friends and threw them through then Luna. I came back through the portal into the palace. “That’s all of them.”

“Where’s Princess Celestia?” She looked at me.

“I didn’t see her there.”

“She was next to the rest. Go get her.”

“Fine.”

Get a move on, this portal won’t last forever.

You are such a nag.

I came back through the portal. As I went to get Celestia the other me tackled me. Choking me.

“I’m not letting you escape.”

“Get off.” I kicked him off. I ran up and grabbed Celestia, I threw her through the portal. I was then hit by a shot of lava as the other me attacked. I saw the portal slowly shrinking. As I tried to get up he stepped on me and stomped on my back keeping me down.

Get moving!

I’m trying!

Teleport!

I don’t know how to.

Well find some way out!

I turned my hand into a dragon head and shot him with fire. It managed to make him fall back and off me. I then got up and ran for the portal. I was almost there, by now the portal was really small.

I’m not going to fit.

Well that’s not good. That portal took a lot of magic to make. It will be a while till you can make another.

I looked at the portal as it shrank more. Then I felt myself be teleported. When I rematerialized I was in the palace.

“Hey I made it.”

“Thanks to me.” Twilight was looking at me looking proud. “I saved you.”

“Don’t let it go to your head.”

I looked in the mirror at myself. That cool armor I had gotten was broken is some places, scraped and some parts had singe marks.

Shame, this armor was pretty cool.

I’m sure you can make another.

So I’m confused, do I now permanently have some magic power?

Not sure. We’ll have to see.

Aw.

I walked into the medical wing of the palace. The whole group of ponies had been brought here to recover. I walked into the room where Twilight was. She was surprisingly doing pretty well. She had broken a few ribs and had several other injuries from being thrown around by the other me. Most of her friends were still unconscious from being turned into statues and had a few internal issues from magic overload, and Luna had a minor concussion.

“Hey Twilight.” She was sitting in a bed reading. She seemed a bit too happy about being in the hospital. I guess she didn’t get to read much over the past twelve days.

“Hi Sean.” She put down the book and looked at me.

“How’s it going?” I sat in a chair that was in the room.

“Pretty good. They say I’ll be better in a few days.”

“And your friends?”

“They said soon the magic will drain out and they should be ok.”

“Cool.”

“How’s Princess Celestia?”

“Dunno.” I leaned back in the chair.

“You haven’t checked on her?” She looked surprised.

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“Why would I?”

“Because she’s your friend and she is hurt.”

“That first half is questionable.” I crossed my arms.

“Are you really still mad about that?” She looked a little annoyed.

“Yes.”

“It was more than a week ago.”

“So? If your friend that you trusted for years and felt like family suddenly said they wished they’d never met you would you just drop it?”

“I guess not.”

“Exactly.”

“But I’d still be worried if they got hurt.”

“That’s where we differ.”

I walked into the room. A nurse had told me this was where Celestia was. She was lying in the bed, she had a black eye and looked like she had been beaten pretty brutally. I won’t deny it made me smile a little.

You’re a terrible person.

Shut up.

“Hey Celestia.” I said coldly.

“Sean.” She looked at me in surprise. “It’s great to see you.”

“I know.” I kept my neutral look. “Looks like you took a beating.”

“Yeah. I wish I could have helped the ponies of Jund more.”

“Well you helped them avoid overpopulation.”

“So why did you come here?”

“Because Twilight told me I needed to.”

“Oh. Well how’s Equestria been in my absence?”

“It was a bit chaotic for a while. But once I had calmed everyone down it went back to normal.”

“I see. Well thank you for taking care of Equestria, and saving us.”

“Let’s get something straight, I don’t need your thanks. I took care of Equestria because it is my home and it needed me, as for saving you I came to because Twilight was in danger.”

She’s injured lay off.

Fine.

“I’ll continue to watch over Equestria while you and Luna recover, but after that I’m out.”

You’re seriously leaving?

Yes, Celestia is almost recovered and Luna is doing fine.

I don’t understand why you are so mad still.

How do you not understand? You have access to all my memories and can usually understand things before me.

Ok, you feel betrayed I get that. But isn’t throwing all of this away an overreaction?

No, she was meant to be my friend. I looked up to her when I was younger, the fact she so quickly turned on me shows the feeling was not mutual. Besides a change of scenery is nice.

Ponyville is hardly a change of scenery.

Meh, it’s a nice little place, besides the ponies there are easily intimidated. Now leave me alone.

“He already left?” Twilight looked at Luna in surprise.

“Yes.” Luna nodded in disappointment. “He said his job was done and he was leaving before he had to deal with my sister.”

“I wonder where he went.”

“He didn’t say.”

This is nice. I was lying on a tree branch relaxing. No responsibility, no nagging idiots, just relaxation, naps, and not a care in the world.

I still feel you’re acting like a petty child.

Maybe I am. I don’t care.

So the plan is to now live in Ponyville forever?

Maybe yes, maybe no. I might go exploring, maybe live like a proper dragon for a while.

Whatever.

“I can’t believe what a jerk he’s being.” Rainbow said as they walked away from the train station towards Ponyville.

“Yeah, he’s really hurting the princess with his actions.” Applejack said.

“Are we sure he knows that?” Rarity asked. “As we know he’s never been the most sensitive of creatures.”

“Doesn’t change anything.” Applejack said.

“This may also be his own way of coping.” Twilight said.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked.

“When you look at his history with the princess there’s no way he can just forget their friendship. He is likely hurt too and is running from the problem.”

“That doesn’t make it any less cruel.” Rainbow still looked angry.

“Not trying to upset anyone but maybe we should hear his side.” Pinkie said. “We are turning on him pretty quickly.”

“Yes.” Rarity agreed. “Our opinion is because we only have seen the reaction of the princess.”

“Whatever.” Rainbow looked away. “If I run into him I have a few things to say and maybe get a shot in.”

“Me too.” Applejack agreed.

“Try it, see how it ends.” The ponies looked up at the tree they were under. Sean was on one of the branches with his eyes closed looking very relaxed.

“Fine, get down here and we’ll see.” Rainbow glared at him.

“I don’t feel like exerting myself for such a petty reason.” He looked down at them. “I heard Rarity and Pinkie bring up wanting to hear my side of this whole conflict.” He jumped down from the branch.

“I met Celestia nine hundred years ago, at the time I had nothing. I was alone, and at the time had just been clubbed by some guards. I weakly went to her for help. She helped me and gave me a home. As the years went by she became my only friend. After a while she in many ways replaced the emptiness where my family and friends used to be. It was like your little friendship. Now put yourselves into my shoes for a minute, look at the pony next to you. Now imagine that pony telling you how they wished they’d never met you essentially causing your world to crumble. Does it feel good? Would you just let that pain and anger go just because they apologized? If you think the answer is yes then you are a fool and will never understand. If you know it would be difficult at best you will understand there are two options, wallow in misery and wonder what went wrong, or run from the problem and pray to whatever deity you have that if you avoid it, it will go away. That’s how I feel.” He looked at Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “Still feel like I’m a heartless selfish jerk? If so take a swing at me, there will be no retaliation.” The two didn’t do anything. “Good, now I’m going back to my nap.”

I walked into the apartment I was staying in. It was a decent size, having a good sized bed, bathroom, and small kitchen.
Progenitus was curled up on my bed.

That speech was pretty good.

Thanks. I climbed into the bed.

You’re actions are still foolish but at least I understand now.

Good. Well good night.

Before you fall asleep I have some information you may want.

What?

It seems those fancy magic powers are likely permanent.

Really?

I’ve checked a few things and it looks like your body has developed a way to channel the magic you have now. You won’t be as powerful as say Celestia but you have the power now.

Awesome. Ok good night.

Chapter 63: Magic Training

"Try again.” Twilight ordered.

“I’m trying!” I glared at the rock in front of me.

“Concentrate.”

“I am!”

“Obviously not hard enough. Levitating a rock is not difficult.”

“Easy for you to say.” Twilight was helping me learn to use my new magic.

“How can you not do this? You’re a nine hundred year old half dragon. This should be easy.” I was getting sick of this.

This is just sad.

“Shut up!” I shouted. Then the rock flew forward smashing through a nearby tree. Causing it to fall over. Twilight looked at the tree in surprise.

“Ok then. Well, let’s move to another lesson.”

“Which is?”

“Controlling your emotions. If there had been a pony in front of you they would likely have no head anymore.”

“Screw this. I’ll just stick with punching and stabbing my problems.” I started to walk away.

“Since when do you just quit when things are hard?”

You want to know the funniest part of this?

What?

The reason you can’t do this isn’t because you lack enough magic, you have more magic than 99% of the unicorns in the world. The problem is you’re too stupid.

Oh really?

Yep, stupid and impatient.

Ok, challenge accepted. I turned around.

“Twilight, let’s try again.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I’ll prove I’m not too stupid to do this.”

“I never called you stupid.” She looked at me confused.

“I know.”

“Then why are you trying to prove you’re not stupid?”

Don’t bring me up. It may get weird and she’ll start to pester you with questions.

“Myself.”

“Ok.” She looked unconvinced.

“So where were we?”

“I was going train you to not get so angry. With your power it is dangerous.”

“Fine, let’s go.”

“I did it!” I looked at the rock floating in front of me. “Take that!”

“Good job.” Twilight nodded at me.

“I know.”

“I feel like that’s enough for today.”

“Ok.” I finally noticed how late it had become it was getting dark already.

“So I’ve been wondering, where are you staying?” Twilight and I were walking through Ponyville.

“I found this nice little place near the outer part of town.” I pointed in the general direction. “It’s pretty good. Plus it’s free.”

“Really? How do they stay in business if they just give places away?”

“Well I’m an exception, it just took a little convincing.”

“So you’re abusing your power to get things for free?”

“When you put it that way it sounds sleazy and mean.”

“It sort of is.”

“Whatever.”

“I’d like to see this place.”

“Ok.”

“This is pretty nice.” Twilight looked around the good sized apartment. “Usually something like this would cost a good amount of bits.”

“True.” I walked in.

“You do realize giving something like this to you for free and paying any bills you get can’t be good for the owners.” She looked at me with a somewhat disappointed look.

“Don’t give me that look.”

“I just think you should either get a job of some kind and pay them or move.”

“Well I don’t have the patience for a job. So I guess I’ll look for somewhere else.”

You know, I think Twilight wanted you to not steal things.

Whatever, I needed a blanket and pillow.

You could have paid for it.

With what? I have no money. I could take some from an unsuspecting pony I guess.

That defeats the point.

They won’t miss a blanket and pillow. Now let me sleep. I pulled the blanket over myself, I was lying on a cloud, they are pretty comfy. Progenitus was asleep on my stomach so that he wouldn’t fall through the cloud.

I walked through town heading for the hill Twilight and I practice on. When I got up there Twilight was waiting.

“Hi Sean.”

“Hey Twilight.” I waved. “So what are we doing today?”

“Working on teleportation.”

“Nice.”

“Well that’s enough for today.” Twilight said looking tired.

“Fine.” I hadn’t been able to teleport at all. Not even an inch. We walked down the hill heading back to town. “I’m sure I’ll get it next time.”

“Yeah.” She nodded. We walked through town till we came to the library.

“Well, goodnight.” I turned and started to walk away.

“Hold on.” I turned to look at Twilight.

“What?” I asked.

“A blanket and pillow went missing from a shop yesterday, you don’t happen to know anything about that?”

“I am offended.” I put my hand to my chest looking hurt. “You think I would steal from a shop?”

“Did you?” She looked at me with an unamused stare.

“Yes.”

“Well return them.”

“But clouds are cold.”

“When you return them come back here. You can stay with Spike and me.”

“Fine.” I turned and headed for the cloud I had slept on.

“Sean wake up.” I felt something shaking me.

“What?” I reached with my right hand moving around until I hit the top of something, it was soft which I found weird. I raised my hand and hit it.

“Hey!” I hit it again.

“Where’s the snooze button?” Then something hit me in the face. I finally opened my eyes to see Twilight looking at me, levitating a pillow.

“I am not an alarm clock.” She hit me with the pillow again.

“Would you stop hitting me?” I grabbed the pillow and threw it across the room. I climbed out of the bed stretching. Several of my joints cracked which I thought was weird. Twilight had gotten me a spare bed from their basement and put it in the front room. When I asked about why they had a bed in the basement she brought up some kind of Applejack and Rarity incident involving a tree. I stopped caring after that.

“Now what do you want?” I looked at her as she levitated the pillow to her.

“It’s time for breakfast then more training.”

“Ugh! I don’t feel like it.” I fell back onto the bed. Twilight threw the pillow in my face.

“Fine, I guess you don’t want to become more efficient at killing things, especially griffins.” She started walking away. “I was going to take a break from teleportation and maybe work on a little bit of control magic.”

“Control magic?” I sat back up. “What’s that?”

“You know, things like mind control and suppressing other beings’ magic.” She turned to look at me. “But you don’t feel like training so never mind.” She continued heading for the kitchen.

“Wait! I didn’t mean it.” I hopped off the bed and followed her.

She’s using reverse psychology.

I don’t care, I want to learn how to control people’s minds.

“Ok, so let’s work on mind control.” Twilight stood next to me. She pointed to the rainbow pony in front of us. “Rainbow Dash has been kind enough to let us practice on her.”

“Sounds good.” I smiled, this will be fun.

“Ok.” Twilight opened a book. “Step one, concentrate on the target.”

“Why do you need the book? Don’t you know how to do this?” I looked at her confused.

“No, it requires a lot of magic to maintain control for prolonged periods of time, so I’ve never really tried it. Now concentrate.”

“Ok.” I looked at Rainbow Dash.

“Step two.”

“That is not necessary Twilight.” Rainbow Dash said.

“What?” Twilight turned to look at Rainbow Dash, she was looking at Twilight intently, and her eyes were glowing green. Twilight looked at me I was smiling and glaring and concentrating one Rainbow. I concentrated more and then Rainbow Dash flew into the air and began to do tricks in the air. “Sean, that’s enough.”

“Fine.” I stopped and looked away from Rainbow and she fell to the ground. She got back up rubbing her head.
“Ugh, what happened?”

“That was fun.” I clapped my hands together. “What’s next?”

I’m really enjoying this control magic. I was currently looking at three unicorns. Twilight had brought them to practice magic suppression on. They were all looking very strained as they tried to use their magic.

I’m surprised how easily this is coming to you. This is advanced magic yet you couldn’t handle teleportation.

Who cares? I’m beating three unicorns without even touching them. Then I concentrated more and the three unicorns went flying. I turned to Twilight.

“What now?” I smiled.

“That’s enough for today.” She closed the book. “We’ve been working pretty hard. I don’t want to strain you.” She looked at the three unconscious unicorns. “Plus we’re running out of practice ponies.”

“That was a lot of fun.” I said sitting across from Twilight, we were at a restaurant for dinner.

“You did a good job.” Twilight said I could see she was thinking about something.

“What’s on your mind?”

“I don’t get it.”

“What?”

“How you could master that magic so easily. That’s the kind of thing that somepony whose been studying magic for decades would have trouble with. But you were using mind control after a few seconds. Yet you struggle with the simpler spells.”

“I’m just that good.”

“I guess so.”

“Why do we have to go back to teleportation?” I groaned as Twilight told me what the lesson was today. “Control was so much more fun.”

“It’s good to spread what you learn to keep yourself well rounded.”

“Whatever.” I looked at the target she had put on the ground a few feet in front of me.

“Ok, try to teleport to the target.”

“Fine.”

“Good work.” Twilight looked at me happy.

“Thanks.” I was getting the hang of teleporting now. I had just managed to go ten feet.

“Well, that’s good for today.” We began to walk down the hill.

“So, what do you want to do now?” I asked.

“I don’t know. We could go to Sugarcube Corner get some snacks and visit Pinkie.”

“Sounds good.” Then I began to cough.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah.” I started to cough again. I ended up falling to my knees while I continued to cough. I covered my mouth.

“You don’t sound ok.”

“Calm down.” When I pulled my hand away and looked at it I saw it was covered in blood. “Well that’s new.” Then I fainted.

I opened my eyes. Looking around I discovered I was in a white room, after a minute I realized it was a hospital room.

What happened? Why am I in a hospital?

You had some kind of coughing fit and lost consciousness.

Weird. Do you know why?

Not yet, I’m looking into it. Anyway, Twilight freaked out for a bit before bringing you here.

Well I feel better, let’s get out of here.

Maybe you should rest. We don’t know what’s wrong, may want to wait till I discover the problem.

Fine.

I’m so bored, I’ve been stuck here for what seemed like 10 hours. I didn’t even know what to do. I had tried to use my new magic to levitate things and do little tests to see what would break if it hit the wall and what would break the wall if thrown at it. Turns out the chairs in here aren’t too durable. Eventually they came in and took almost everything out of the room.

Found anything yet?

Maybe.

Well?

From what I’ve seen it looks like you’re running low on magic

Ok, so I just need to find some unicorns and get their magic.

That will only help for a little bit.

Then what do I do?

You won’t like the answer.

Just tell me.

You need to go back to Celestia.

What!

She’s the only one that has enough magic to keep you completely healthy.

I’d rather be sick.

You aren’t fooling me. We both know part of you misses the palace and Celestia. As Twilight said, you can’t just abandon centuries of friendship over a little fight.

Go away Bob.

“Ah, freedom.” I stretched as I walked outside. They had finally let me out of that stupid hospital.

So are you going home?

No.

Your stupid pride is going to kill you.

No it won’t.

I walked down the road that lead to the hospital as I headed for town. When I got there Spike was waiting.

“Hey Spike.” I looked at him.

“Hi Sean.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Twilight sent me. She knew you got out and wanted me to bring you to the library.” He turned and headed towards where the tree is.

“Ok.” I followed. When he got there he opened the door and walked in with me following.

“They’re this way.” He headed for the kitchen.

“They?” I followed I noticed the bed I had been sleeping in was gone. When I got there I saw Twilight sitting at the table, the surprising part was Luna was next to her. “Luna? What are you doing here?”

“Hello Sean.” She nodded to me. “Twilight Sparkle told me about your strange bloody cough. She requested I come here.”

“Why?”

“As fun as it’s been to have you here I think it’s time you went back to Canterlot.” Twilight spoke up.

“Why would I do that?”

“When my sister heard about you she told me you were probably running out of magic.” Luna said.

“So?”

“We both know if you run out of magic it doesn’t end well.” Luna looked at me smirking. “It makes you afraid of children.”

“Hey! They were trying to put me in a net and probably dissect me or something.”

“Still, you should come back.”

“No, I’m fine.” I started to cough again, leaning on a wall.

This is not helping my case.

Your case was flimsy at best anyway.

“Yes, you look like the picture of health.” Luna said sarcastically.

“Shut up.” I said before coughing more. Again I began to cough up some blood. Luckily I didn’t faint this time. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

“I see, tell me, where are your fingers?” Luna asked looking at my right hand.

“What are you talking about?” I looked at my hand, and sure enough my fingers were gone. “Aah!”

And so it begins.

What begins?

Your end. You’re beginning to fall apart. You need to get magic soon.

“If you will excuse me I have to go visit some unicorns.” I turned heading for the door. Then Luna appeared in my way.

“Why is that?”

“You know, trying to mingle get to know the ponies around here.”

“I think you are beginning to see some side effects from losing magic.” She pointed at my left shoulder. “You may want to get that looked at.”

“What?” I looked to see there was a large chunk out of my shoulder showing some bones. “That’s nothing.”

“Very well. Go mingle.” She got out of my way.

“I will.” I walked out the door.

There’s one. I spotted a unicorn walking through town heading towards the edge of town. I was crouching on the roof of a building. I had lost vision in my right eye, when I looked at my reflection in a window I saw that my eye and most of my skin was gone on that side of my face.

This isn’t going to work.

Why not?

First of all you’re attacking innocent civilians, second this is going to maybe help you for a few hours even if you get several it will last maybe a day.

Oh well. I jumped down from the building. As I was about to land on the unicorn I was enveloped in a blue bubble.

“Hey!” I looked around. “What is this?”

“A spell to prove my point.” I looked to a nearby bush to see Luna and Twilight walk out. “You were coming after this unicorn for the magic. It also helps that you weren’t able to tell that it was a fake and that you didn’t notice the spell I had put on you. If you were healthy you wouldn’t have missed that.”

Wow you got owned.

“Why won’t I just drain the magic from this?” I touched the bubble and was electrocuted.

“I apologize for resorting to this but you’re being foolish.” Luna watched me.

“Sorry about this Sean.” Twilight apologized.

“Let me out.” I glared at Luna. We were flying to Canterlot in her chariot. I had tried to use some mind control but I was too weak.

“No.” She looked at me. “You clearly need help.”

She’s right. Allow me to list what you’ve lost so far. Your right fingers, the right side of your face, your left arm, and are currently losing your left leg and right shoulder. Plus your powers are all gone.

“Let me out! Release me now you filth!” I shouted, my voice getting a little deeper. I pressed my hands against my prison, quickly being shocked.

“Wow, you definitely need my sister.” Luna said, I heard a bit of mockery in her voice. “That superiority complex has gotten a lot worse.”

“Progenitus help!” I looked at the hydra sitting next to Luna. He looked at me before shaking his heads. “Traitor.”

“I’m home.” Luna said as she entered the palace two unicorn guards levitating the bubble I was trapped in.

I find it funny.

What?

The fact that despite what you say you have to rely on ponies to survive.

Shut up.

It’s just funny, then there’s the fact that the one you do have to rely on is the one that you currently hate, but not really.

Luna opened the doors to the throne room and we entered. Celestia was sitting at her throne waiting. The guards carried me in and placed me in the middle of the room.

“Hello Sean.” Celestia walked to the bubble I was stuck in.

“Celestia.” I nodded.

“I hear you’re having a bit of trouble with your internal magic.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Well half your face is missing.”

“Fair enough.”

“Let me help.” Her horn glowed and she touched it to the bubble. I was then enveloped in a yellow aura and after a minute I began to regenerate and feel better. “Luna would you release him?”

“Are you sure sister?” Luna looked at her. “He seemed a bit unstable on the trip here.”

“Yes, he should be better now. Also I would like to speak with him without him seeming like a prisoner.”

“If you say so.” Luna’s horn glowed and my trap vanished. I stood up and stretched.

“That’s much better.” Celestia said. “Please give us a moment.” She looked at the guards and Luna. They nodded and left. When the door closed she looked at me. “I think we need to talk.”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure imprisoning me and forcefully dragging me here is illegal.” I didn’t look at her.

“I mean about what happened before we were taken to that other dimension.”

“What’s there to say? You got angry and talked about wishing you’d never met me.”

“If you think I actually meant that you’re as dumb as that voice says.”

“What?” I looked at her surprised. “How do you know about Bob?”

“So he has a name now.”

“Answer the question.”

“I’ve known you long enough to get past that little mind reading barrier. I had wondered about how you would occasionally zone out for no reason. So I checked your mind once and heard Bob talking.”

Did you know about this?

No.

“As I was saying, I did not mean what I said. I was under a lot of stress and my pride was a little hurt from losing to Chrysalis so easily.” She looked at me and I saw some sadness in her eyes. “I am sorry for what I said.”

Accept the apology.

Why should I?

We both know you want to. She’s clearly sorry and has missed you, and I know the feeling is mutual.

Shut up.

Get over yourself. If you don’t accept it and leave you will regret it.

Fine!

“I accept the apology, I guess.” I looked away.

“Really?”

“Sure, may as well.” Then I was tackled into a hug. “Hey!”

“Thank you.” She said still hugging me.

“Ok, I get it.” I tried to escape. “You know my policy on hugs.”

Get over it.

Easy for you to say. You’re not getting bear hugged by her.

“Seriously.” I gave up on escaping. “Do you plan to stop this anytime soon?” After another minute she finally let me go. I got up. “Thank you.” I looked at her. “So are we good?”

“Yes.” She nodded.

“Alright, well I’m going to get a cupcake.” I headed for the door out. “Haven’t had a decent one for a while.” When I opened the door Luna and the guards jumped back and started trying to act like they weren’t doing anything. “Really? I’m going to come after you three in a bit. You get a five minute head start.”

Chapter 64: Magic Duel

This is such a waste.

What? I used my magic and another cupcake appeared in my hand.

You have this magical strength that is just below Luna and Celestia in power, and what do you use it for? Summoning cupcakes so you don’t have to move.

How is it a waste? I finally found a way to completely immerse myself in laziness.

You’re an idiot.

It’s been about two weeks since I moved back into the palace and I spent half of it honing my new powers. Now that I had a better grip on it I was beginning to use it for important things, such as summoning cupcakes and being able to not move for hours. I was lying on my bed leaning back enjoying the cupcake. Then there was a knock at my bedroom door. I had finally installed a lock to keep them from barging in during my naps.

“Who is it?” I asked finishing my cupcake.

“It’s Luna.”

“Come in.” I used magic and unlocked the door. Luna walked in looking around. The room was littered with cupcake wrappers, other snack bags, and soda cans.

“When was the last time you moved from here?” She looked at me with a bit of judgment.

“What day is it?” I leaned up a little to look at her.

“Tuesday.”

“Haven’t moved since Sunday evening.”

“I’m not sure if I should be impressed or disgusted.”

“Meh.” I leaned back. “I’m really enjoying this whole magic thing.”

“My sister wants to see you.”

“Ugh.”

“And you have to walk.” She looked at me knowing exactly what I was going to do.

“Fine.” I stood up and headed for the door.

“You’re lucky you don’t have to worry about getting sick or overweight. If you were like any normal creature your current lifestyle would probably have you shaped like a ball and unable to move.”

“That’s what’s great about being me.” I said as we walked down the spiraling stairs out of the tower my room was in. When we reached the throne room Celestia was sitting in her throne.

“There you are Sean.”

“What is this about? I was about to take a nap.”

“We need to talk about your magic usage.”

“What about it?”

“I recommend you cut down on your use of it.”

“Why?”

“Because, from what I’ve observed it uses a good amount of your magic reserves to consistently use. That’s likely why you got sick so quickly after you started using it in Ponyville.”

“It’s not really a problem while I’m here.” I shrugged.

“Yes, but what if something were to happen to me?”

“Um.”

“The next best bet is Luna, and she wouldn’t be able to continuously keep you charged.”

“I’m sure I’d find a way. Besides you’re exaggerating about the magic draining.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright.” She stood up. “Then let’s test it.”

“What do you mean?”

“We will fight.”

“Easy enough.”

“Using only magic, so you aren’t allowed to use other powers except regeneration and all attacks must be in the form of spells.”

“Fine.” I crossed my arms. “Let’s go.”

This isn’t going to end well.

Why not? I can take her.

I looked at Celestia from across the field. We were outside in the palace courtyard, Celestia had put a spell that made it so any injuries that would occur would be healed after the fight.

Physically maybe. But this is using magic. She has centuries of experience.

I have centuries of experience too.

First of all, she’s considerably older so that equals more experience. Second, she’s trained in magic. You’ve spent your nine hundred years hitting things.

“Are you ready yet?” Celestia asked me. “You’re taking a long time talking to Bob. Also, I’m not considerably older.”

“Stop looking into my mind!” I waved a fist at her. “Let’s just start.”

“Very well.” She took a more aggressive stance. “You make the first move.”

“Fine.”

Remember control magic is what you’re best at.

I know.

I looked at a nearby rock that was about as big as my torso I levitated it and threw it at her. I saw her horn glow as it got close. That’s when I concentrated and began to suppress her magic. The rock ended hitting her head on. She went flying back into a cloud of smoke.

Skill.

Be ready for the counter attack.

As Bob finished talking the same rock came flying at me. I didn’t have time to react and was smash by the rock. I was rocketed back and hit the ground with several broken bones. I stood back up to see Celestia in the middle of the arena. She looked completely unharmed.

What? But I hit her.

I don’t know.

Then her horn glowed again suddenly I was levitated into the air and thrown across the field. I hit the wall of the castle and I fell to the ground.

Ow.

What was that? Why didn’t you counter that?

I tried! Then a shadow fell over me.

I stood back up and looked to see Celestia standing a few feet in front of me. I saw her horn begin to glow.

“Denied!” I tried to suppress her magic. I was surprised when her horn continued to glow.

“Good try, but no.” Then her horn glowed brighter until she was enveloped in a yellow aura. After a second the aura shot towards me. It hit me and sent me flying into the air.

Why didn’t that work?

I don’t know. This fall is going to hurt.

Idea. I concentrated and teleported. After I teleported I realized I had moved about six feet to the right. Bolas! Then I smashed into the ground. Ow. I could tell most of my bones were broken. Then I heard hoof steps.

“So, are you done yet?” I heard Celestia say in a smug voice. “I have to say, I expected more.”

Quit while you’re behind.

I don’t understand, why is my magic draining so quickly? I’ve barely used it.

The biggest problem is the way she’s making you regenerate so much. So that’s using some magic, then just using spells takes a lot of your magic on account of inexperience, so you can’t avoid over using it. Another problem is your attempts to suppress her magic take a lot of work because of her power.

If I could touch her I could use my draining. But these stupid rules say we can only use magic.

I’d just give up if I were.

I never give up when it comes to a fight.

Wow, you really lack self-preservation instinct.

I’ve got this. I had fully healed by now. I used some magic and teleported behind her.

“Trying to teleport away?” She turned around.

“Pretty much.” I turned and ran away.

Duck. I ducked as a shot of fire flew over my head.

Now let’s try this.

It’s not going to work.

Why not? Unicorns can do it. I jumped to the right as another fire shot flew past me.

Yes, after having decades of experience, and even then only a select few have the talent.

Well, I’ve got half of that. Have a little faith.

Fine. You’re lucky this is just a sparing so you’ll revive when she kills you when this fails. Then there was a flash and I bumped into Celestia as she appeared in front of me.

“It’s been fun but I have other things to do.” Her horn glowed. “So let’s wrap this up.”

“If you insist.” I jumped back and concentrated. Then a small black sphere appeared in my hand. I then pointed my palm at her and a black shot of magic flew at her. It hit her and I watched as yellow aura traveled up the column of magic and went into me. “Take that!”

“Impressive, I’ve never seen that spell. Did you think of it yourself?” Celestia asked as she shook off the hit.

“Yep.”

“Good work.” She nodded. “Unfortunately it was lacking in power.” Her horn glowed and then a column of fire burst out of the ground. After it was gone I fell to the ground covered in burns. She walked up to me. “Maybe with more practice that little spell will be able to do some damage.” I noticed my burns weren’t healing.

So really that spell backfired. It took a lot of magic to use, and you got enough magic to fill a teaspoon. Nice work.

Whatever. Then I was hit by a spell and blacked out.

I opened my eyes to see I was in my room.

Well that was a disaster.

Pretty much.

How long have I been unconscious? I walked to the window to see the sun was setting.

A long time.

Well, I guess it’s time to face the mockery. I turned and opened my bedroom door walking down the stairs. I eventually came to the throne room. I walked in to find Luna and Celestia talking to each other. When I came in they looked at me.

“You’re finally awake.” Celestia nodded.

“Yep. Go ahead and gloat.”

“I don’t plan to. The point of that fight was to show you the dangers of using your magic too much.”

“Alright, well lesson learned.” I turned heading for the door.

“Where are you going?”

“I have some things to do.” I opened the doors and left.

“Alright.” I opened another book. I had been going through books studying and learning about magic and spells in the library. This had been going on for several weeks.

I’m surprised you have the attention span for this.

I need to get better. Next time I will beat Celestia.

Contrary to what you may think you do have to practice as well.

I know.

“Sean.” I heard someone call. I looked around from a bookshelf to see a guard.

“What do you want?”

“Princess Celestia wishes to see you.”

“What for?”

“She did not say.”

“Fine.” I stood up and headed for the door out of the library. “This better be important.”

“What is it?” I walked into the throne room. “I’m busy.” Celestia was sitting in her throne.

“The Crystal Empire has reappeared.”

“So?” I shrugged. “I don’t even know what that is.”

“It’s a city made of crystal. That disappeared one thousand years ago.”

“Thanks for the history lesson.”

“The most interesting part is the ponies there. They are made entirely out of crystal.”

“Ok, why should I care?”

“I need you to go there and liberate the crystal ponies.”

“From what?”

“King Sombra.”

“Sombra! You mean that funny little unicorn who was all proud about ruling the.” I thought for a minute. “Oh.”

“There you go. As I was saying I need you to go and help the ponies.”

“No thanks.”

“What?”

“I’ve already fought him once, there was no challenge. Why would I exert myself to fight the equivalent of a mentally disabled goldfish?”

“We need to help them.”

“Send Twilight or something. He’s so weak I bet even Spike could take him.”

“Very well. If you say he’s that easy.” She nodded. I turned to leave. “However, if this goes wrong because you were too lazy to help it won’t be good for you.”

“Understood.”

You sure about this?

Yes, I’ve been training for a long time and it’s time to see the pay off.

Alright.

“You ready?” I asked Celestia eyeing her across the field. We were in the same place we had fought last time. After a lot of studying and training I challenged Celestia to another magic fight. She had reluctantly agreed.

“Yes, let’s go. I have things to do.” She looked at me smugly.

“You make the first move.”

“Very well.” Her horn glowed and a large rock near her levitated and flew at me. I braced myself and took the hit. As the rubble fell Celestia hit me with a blast of yellow magic. I went flying back but managed to recover in midair and land on my feet.

“That’s it?” I asked as I shot my own blast of magic. Celestia dodged before blasting fire at me. I teleported out of the way. As I finished teleporting I was slammed by a fire ball. I fell to the ground healing from the burns. Once I healed I jumped back up. I saw Celestia just before I was smashed between two rocks.

She’s being a lot more aggressive this time.

I noticed. Once I had recovered I teleported in time to avoid another shot of fire. Let’s see if my spell has improved. I concentrated and a black sphere appeared in my hand as I was about to shoot it at Celestia she teleported. I looked around before a shadow fell over me. I turned to see Celestia flying over me preparing to fire that mini sun thing.

“Come at me.” I lifted my hand. As she shot the sun at me I fired the black beam of magic. The two collided, for a second they held each other back. After another second though, her attack overpowered mine and I was hit. I tried to get up before falling back down. I heard Celestia walk up and her face appeared looking down at me. “I lost again.”

“Yes, but you are definitely stronger. You aren’t knocked out this time.” Her horn glowed and I felt myself heal. She offered her hoof and I got back up.

“I couldn’t even hit you.” I dusted myself off.

“True, but I was making sure you didn’t get chances to attack. I could tell you were stronger so I had to adjust my tactics. If I had fought like last time you might have won.”

“Thanks.”

“Well, now that we’re done with that I have a few things to do.” She turned and headed back for the castle.

I can’t believe I lost again.

Like she said you have improved a lot.

Yeah, but I haven’t improved enough. I think it’s time we visited home.

Chapter 65: Tournament.

“Alright, I’ll be back in probably a few days.” I told Celestia and Luna as I prepared to leave.

“I still don’t understand why you’re leaving.” Luna said.

“Is this because I beat you yesterday?” Celestia asked.

“Kind of. Well bye.” I went out the door before becoming a dragon and flying off.

There it is. I walked to the two large horns sticking out of the ground.

So what are you planning to do?

This monument holds a large amount of Bolas’ magic. Maybe I can make use of it.

This doesn’t seem like a good idea.

Nonsense.

Who said that?

Nothing bad can come from ambition and the pursuit of power.

What are you talking about?

You seek power. This will give you it. Just get to the gem and you will be ready.

Don’t do it.

Silence.

Meh, it can’t hurt to try it. I walked to the horns and climbed them until I reached the gem floating between them.

Now simply touch and drain.

Don’t.

I reached out and touched the gem. Then I tried to drain the magic. Suddenly there was a large surge of pain. I screamed before falling off the horns. I blacked out before I hit the ground.

“Ugh.” I opened my eyes, I got up and looked around. I was in some kind of arena. It was large and reminded me of a coliseum, though it was like some kind of island in empty darkness, I was able to see through one of the holes in a wall, the place looked like it was crumbling. Near the top there were two large curved horns. “Where am I?”

Bob?

“You’re little friend will not be present for a while.” I heard a voice. Then two glowing green eyes appeared above me. They weren’t attached to anything.

“What did you do with Bob?” I glared at the eyes.

“Not much. I just don’t want him ruining the tournament.”

“Tournament?”

“Yes. You shall participate in a tournament. Should you prove yourself to be a duelist of measure I shall give you what you seek.”

“Fine, I’ll play along. So what is this tournament?”

“Here is your first opponent.” I heard a door open. I looked in front of me in time to see a large minotaur with a sword walk into the arena.

“So this is just a fight? Easy enough.”

“Don’t get too confident. I’ve made it more interesting by suppressing your healing factor.”

“What!? How?”

“That is for me to know.” The eyes faded out of sight. “I’d recommend you look out.”

“What?” Then a large sword flew past my face. I jumped back as the minotaur recovered from the swing. "Alright, if beating you is the only way to get what I came here for I will get this out of the way.” The minotaur didn’t say anything. All it did was growl and charge at me. I jumped over it, as it ran by I shot a fire ball at it. The minotaur roared in pain as he was slammed in the back. He fell to the ground dead with a large burn that went through most of his skin. “That’s it?”

“I see, you’re the test tube child.” The voice spoke again.

“How do you know about that?”

“Prepare yourself boy. There are many more foes for you to face.”

“Are we done yet?” I asked as the hydra fell backwards dead. “I’ve already fought a minotaur, griffin, cockatrice, ursa major and minor, and now a hydra. What is left to throw at me?”

“Soon. We are entering the final stretch.” The detached voice said.

“Fine, bring on the next.” I stretched. Whoever this guy was had the decency to let my healing activate between fights. I heard the voice laugh.

“Very well.” Then I heard a roar. I looked above me to see a dragon flying down towards me. I jumped back as it slammed into the ground where I had been standing. I watched as two red eyes glowed through the dust and there was a growl. As the dust cleared more two black wings became visible, slowly the entire dragon became visible.
The dragon was black, it was probably forty feet long, and the dragon stood on four legs though the front two looked like they could function like simple hands. The body was somewhat segmented looking, with a body that seemed pretty solid. The wings were strange, they didn’t look like they would actually be able to fold, and there were no joints anywhere along them. The head was somewhat round, the mouth like the wings looked like it couldn’t close entirely so the mouth was slightly open showing off several pointed teeth, two horn-like shapes came out of the sides of its head, the red eyes watched me as the tail slightly moved from side to side.

“Crosis? You’re pitting me against a god?” I looked to the sky. “That seems fair.” Then the eyes appeared.

“Giving up? I will be honest, I expected more.”

“I’m not quitting, I meant it doesn’t seem fair for Crosis. Only one god?”

“Interesting. Very well.” The eyes faded. “Attack.” I looked back as Crosis roared and lunged at me. I jumped over him and landed behind him.

“Ok, what do I know about Crosis?” I ducked as Crosis shot a blast of fire. “Ok, he can use all the same breaths as me, he’s fast, aggressive.” I rolled as he pounced at me. “What am I forgetting?” Crosis then managed to hit me as he rammed into me. I went flying, I was able to turn my hands into dragon heads and shoot fire to avoid hitting the wall before growing wings and flying into the air. I looked below me to see Crosis opening his mouth wider. “Oh Bolas. The word of death.” I then made my ears disappear as Crosis let out his death roar. When he saw I was still alive he jumped off the ground getting momentum and flying at me. He was surprisingly fast managing to hit me before I could react. As I went flying into the air I turned and shot a breath of fire at him. He in return shot ice. The two breaths canceled each other leaving nothing but some steam. After a second Crosis came flying out of the steam right towards me. I was able to dodge this time, as he flew by I shot a breath of acid at him. It managed to hit one of his wings. Crosis didn’t seem to flinch as he quickly turned and shot fire at me. The shot was able to catch my left wing and I lost control and had to crash land into the ground. I groaned as I picked myself up, wincing as I felt some ribs were broken then Crosis swooped down and grabbed me with his front legs. We went flying higher and higher into the air, I wasn’t able to grow another wing so I was in trouble.

Think Sean. He’s going to likely drop you soon. Then I felt Crosis’s grip vanish from my arms, I watched as the ground quickly got closer and closer. Then I got an idea, I concentrated and was able to teleport, I ended up teleporting so that I ended up flying horizontally across the ground. I screamed in pain as I skidded, by the time I stopped several bones were broken and parts of my body were actually filed down. I groaned as I tried to get up, but one of my arms was broken and it hurt too much to try and move. The ground shook as Crosis landed in front of me, I looked up to see him looming over me.

Bolas, well it was a good run. Wait a minute, that death word of his requires magic. Idea! I summoned all of my strength and shot my good arm out to grab one of Crosis’s horns, then I began to drain his magic. As I felt some strength returning Crosis roared and shot up into the air with me still gripping his horn draining. To my surprise he slowly began to shrink until he completely vanished. Now that he was gone I began to fall towards the ground, I wasn’t able to react quite in time and slammed into the ground. I groaned and got up. Then I noticed there was something in my hand. I opened it to see some kind of charm. There was a large smooth blue gem almost like glass, then a short small silver cylinder came down one of the sides, at the end and on both sides of the cylinder there were round red gems resembling the blue gem but quite a bit smaller. There was a slight purple aura coming from the large blue gem.

“Cool.” I gripped the charm again before putting it in my pocket.

“Excellent work.” I looked up to see the eyes.

“Thanks, so are we done yet?”

“Only one more battle. Beat this opponent with skill and you shall get what you have come for.”

“Great, bring on the last sucker.” I clapped my hands smiling.

“You may not be so eager in a moment.” Then the door opened and I saw the silhouette of what looked like a pony.

“That’s it? A pony?” I smiled looking at the sky. “What’s the matter? Run out of monsters.”

“Not just any pony.” The voice said before laughing and becoming silent.

“What?” I looked back to my opponent. “What!?” The pony in front of me was Twilight. She had purple armor and had a scimitar with a purple handle and a star at the bottom. “What kind of joke is this?” There was no answer, then a sword flew past my face. I jumped back.

“Enough talking to the sky.” Twilight raised the sword using her magic. “Let’s fight.”

“What are you talking about? Is this guy using mind control? More importantly how did you get here?”

“I said fight.” She charged at me and swung the sword. I turned my right hand into a blade and blocked. She jumped back spinning her sword.

“What is your problem?” She jumped at me again bringing the sword down. I blocked again. “Cut it out.”

“Do you want my power or not?” Twilight’s voice had changed. Now it sounded like the other voice.

“So you’re the cause. How about you come out of the pony and we fight.”

“Where would the fun be?” Twilight laughed, her voice changing back. “Now then, let us begin.” She charged at me attempting to cut off my legs. I jumped over the blade and kicked her sending her flying back.

“Quit it!” I glared as Twilight got back up. She didn’t say anything and just threw her sword. I ducked as it flew past my head. Then she tackled me, I kicked her off jumping back up. Then I noticed that part of her leg was broken off, looking like some kind of broken off piece of clay. “Wait a minute. You’re not actually her.”

“Look who figured it out.” Twilight got back up. “Took you long enough, how would I have summoned the real one?”

“Well now that I know that, this will be easy.” I raised my blade arm. “Let’s go.”

“Very well.” She eyed me. After a second she teleported. I heard her appear behind me and kicked backwards knocking her down. I turned and gripped her by the throat raising her up. I raised my other hand. I prepared to cut her head off. But I couldn’t.

“Do it.” She said. “Kill me.”

She’s not the real one. This is a trick, I use it all the time. My hand still didn’t move.

“Shame. I would have hoped for more from a creature using my own DNA.” Then something stabbed through my stomach. I dropped Twilight, looking down I saw her sword sticking out of my stomach. I reached down and pulled the sword out.

“Wait, your DNA?” I looked at Twilight.

“So you’re weak and slow. Clearly you did not get my better qualities.” I watched as Twilight began to crack before shattering like glass. A large winged figure then appeared in front of me. I watched as it loomed over me. A small gem glowing in the light between to large curved horns.

“Nicol Bolas?”

“Good job.” The dragon said condescendingly. “I must say I’m surprised my little creations were able to create something remotely competent and stable. I expected you to be some kind of disgusting mesh of creatures as the humans attempted to preserve their sad existence.”

“What do you mean? You warned the humans to help preserve them yet you call them sad.”

“Your people were nothing more than a test of my powers. The creation of an entire race is a good way to practice. That’s all you were, some practice.”

“Then why did you help them?”

“There is no reason to ignore a race that worships you.” He laughed. “It was quite amusing seeing them scramble for my approval.”

“Alright. Well thanks.”

“For what?”

“Now that you’ve ditched Twilight’s form I can finish the tournament.”

“You dare face me?” He chuckled.

“Yeah, I’ve always wanted to do something with my father.”

“Very well, destroying you shall be my pleasure.” He spread his wings.

“Let’s go scaly.”

Chapter 66: Fisticuffs With God

“Even with all your powers restored you are too weak.” Bolas laughed as I shakily lifted myself off the ground.

“It’s not over yet.” I turned my arms into a dragon head and hit him with fire. I watched as it just flowed past him, not even making contact.

“My turn.” He raised his hand and a small flame appeared. He closed his hand and when once the taloned fist opened a massive ring of fire flew out heading right towards me. I braced myself but ended up flying back and slamming into the wall anyway. I pulled myself out of the wall. I growled and charged at him. He swung his tail, I dodged and continued after him. I dodged a fireball. Once I got a few feet away I jumped turning my hands into curved blades and I jabbed into his armor climbing up towards his face. As I got near his chest I was grabbed by a massive hand. The hand raised me to look at him. “Interesting strategy. Sadly it was not enough.”

“One sec.” I opened my mouth and hit him in the eye with a shot of acid. He roared and dropped me. As I picked myself up I was smashed into the ground by a tail.

“Few manage to harm me.” I heard him say as he lifted his tail. “None do it again.” He smashed me again. I rolled out of the way before he hit me a third time.

“Let’s see if I can change that.” I turned my hands into a head and fired a large blast of acid at his chest. Nicol Bolas raised his hand, the acid stopped before turning and hitting me.

“Fool! You cannot win. I am impressed by your persistence though.” I groaned as I tried to get up before falling over again. “Are you already done? After I just complemented you. Shame.” I was then levitated into the air in front of him. “Tell me human. Where’s your arrogant pride now?”

“Hey, I have ways of backing up my arrogance.”

“It would appear not.” He raised one of his claws and I levitated closer to him. “You are a disgrace and waste of potential. I’ll be taking that power of mine that you stole.” His eyes glowed and a stabbing pain coursed through my body.

“Sorry, I’m kind of using those powers.” I said as I drained the magic holding me. As I began to fall I grew wings and flew straight into him. The impact managed to make him step back, as he was off balance I shot him with a massive shot of fire. It managed to make him back up before falling over the edge of the coliseum and into the darkness. I heard him roar as he fell into the void. “I won.” I said as I sat down on the ground.

“Excellent work.” I heard Nicol Bolas’ voice. I looked behind me to see him sitting on the top of the coliseum.

“What!? But I just beat you.”

“You beat a mere copy and a poorly built one at that. If it were actually me you would have not survived ten seconds.” He flew off the wall and landed in front of me.

“So you’ve come to finish me?”

“No. You have shown your strength.” He lowered a hand, I stepped on it and he raised his hand back up to get me closer. “You may live. Next time you won’t be so lucky.”

“What about the power you promised?” I asked.

“That deal was fulfilled long ago.”

“What?”

“Figure it out.” Bolas then tightened his grip on me as he flew out of the coliseum and over the void.

“What are you doing?” I looked down nervously. He didn’t respond and just flipped his hand dropping me.

“Ahhh!”
Hey! Stop screaming!

What? Bob?

Idiot! You’re alive.

That’s a nice way to wake up

I must say, it gets lonely in here.

That’s because I’m so interesting.

Sure.

So how long have I been out?

Four hundred thirty two hours.

What!? How long is that?

One million, five hundred fifty thousand two hundred seconds.

I mean in days.

18.

How is that possible? I was only there for a few hours.

Nope, when you were gone all I could do was sit and watch the sun and moon fly across the sky

Well I’ve been here way longer than planned. I jumped up and headed towards the abandoned town.

So did you find what you were looking for?

I think so. I then felt something in my pocket. I reached into it and pulled out that charm I had gotten when I beat Crosis.

What’s that?

I’m not entirely sure, I got when I killed Crosis in that weird world.

Wait, you fought Crosis?

Yep, and after his body disappeared I got this little bauble.

That’s more than just a little trinket.

What are you talking about?

Don’t you see that purple aura coming off it?

Yeah. I am kind of curious about that.

That’s magic. This thing is filled with it.

Really? Cool, wonder why he gave it to me.

Just be careful. The magic coming from that thing is pretty strong.

Alright. Thanks Celestia. I said sarcastically.

Shut up. So did you get anything else?

I’m not sure, he said he gave me the power but I don’t feel different.

Rightfully so, the only change seems to be your voice.

What?

Your voice. It has changed somewhat.

Really? I listened, sure enough my voice had changed. There was a hint of Bolas’ voice mixed in with my normal voice. Freaky.

So who is he?

Testing. Testing. That is so weird. Anyway what?

You said that he gave you what you came for.

Oh yeah, I met Nicol Bolas.

Really?

Yep, I found out where my arrogance and sadism has come from. Time to see if my trouble got me anything other than some magic jewelry.

Maybe we should do that back home.

No, it needs to be a surprise when I beat Celestia.

“This thing has to do something.” I tapped the charm with my finger. I had been here for three days nothing about me seemed different. So I worked so hard and fought two gods so I could get a pretty bit of jewelry. That’s just rude.

Maybe it’s just a magical trophy for all your trouble.

No, if human stories as well as my encounter with him are to be believed Nicol Bolas doesn’t give you pretty little trophies to people. It has to do something. At least I hope it does. I raised the charm to my eye.

Well if you think it may have some kind of power you should stop playing with it.

Fine. I took the charm and put it in my pocket. I guess we better head home.

Chapter 67: I Just Wanted One Quiet Day!

I leisurely flapped my large olive wings over a forest, the tree tops shifted from the powerful wind they created. It was a very pleasant day, I was relishing the warmth of Celestia’s sun on my scales. I had been flying for around an hour, taking my time, I was in no hurry to get home.

You’re in a strangely good mood.

Yeah, it’s a nice day. I don’t know why but I just feel really good.

Weird. The only times I’ve seen you this happy are when you are killing things or winning at something.

I know, it’s weird.

Maybe Bolas put some pleasantness spell on you.

Maybe, who knows? I’m just very relaxed.

I continued slowly flying. Then I heard screeching, I looked down into the shifting trees, after a second an entire flock of griffins burst out flying towards me. So much for being relaxed.

I stopped my forward flight and hovered in the air glaring at the freaks as they came. As the chicken heads got closer they drew swords and spears.

“Ha!” I laughed as a few spears flew at me and simply bounced off my scales and armor “That’s cute, you think those can harm me?” Strangely the griffins kept flying at me, even the unarmed ones. “So, your race is finally going for extinction?” I slightly opened my mouth, the red glow of fire appearing in it. “I’m happy to oblige.”

Then I released a huge fire ball, the sphere of death managed to envelope most of the griffins, completely disintegrating them. Unfortunately one of the little morons was able to dodge. I watched as the griffin twisted his spear’s handle, sparks appearing on the tip. I smiled and prepared another fireball, another sad little spear, even if it is electric would not harm me in my full power. What I did not expect was for the spear to be thrown into my open mouth, the surprise increased when the spear exploded in my mouth sending a burst of electricity through my entire system. I roared in pain before my wings seized up and I fell down towards the forest.

“Well that hurt.” I sat up rubbing my head, after a minute I stood up, almost falling over again from dizziness. Looking around I could tell I was in the forest that had been below me, there was a large dragon shaped hole in the ceiling of leaves and branches, offering a nice spotlight.

How annoying.

It gets more annoying.

How so?

I hope you don’t plan on getting home today. Because your powers are pretty much shut off.

What! How?

I’m guessing it’s like the last time you were hit by the electric spears, it has messed with your internal magic. From what I can tell you should be fixed in about 24 hours.

“Stupid griffins.” I looked into the air. “When I'm done with them they'll wish a slow painful plague had gotten them.”

“Care to make good on that threat?” I looked back to the trees, I was able to see two glowing feline eyes looking at me through the darkness. After a few seconds the griffin walked out of the forest and into the dragon shaped clearing.

“Sure, let me start with you.” I smiled attempting to turn my hand into a blade. I glared at it when there was nothing but sparks.

Power shut off. Remember?

Well that inconveniences me. I shrugged and raised my hands into a fighting stance. I’ll just beat him into a pulp.

“If you’re not going to act first I will.” The griffin then leapt at me. I was able to dodge and kick him. I frowned when he only flew a few feet back, I hadn’t felt anything break either.

“This is really getting on my nerves.” Before I could react the griffin had jumped up and pounced at me, he was able to knock me to the ground, I grunted in pain as some particularly sharp sticks scraped my back. I quickly pushed the griffin off and stood up. The rare feeling of some small fresh blood could be felt dripping down my back. I glared at the chicken head as he stood up being sure to keep him from seeing my back.

“One kick and a shove.” The griffin looked at me disappointed. “I expected more from the scourge of griffins.”

“Trust me freak.” I cracked my knuckles. “I’m just getting started.”

“Sure you.” The griffin didn’t finish the sentence as he was slammed by a large branch that I chucked at him. He smashed into a tree and groaned in pain. There was a slight wheeze of pain as I lifted him into the air to look me in the eyes.
“Ready to die filth?”

“After you.” The griffin then opened his mouth and let out an eagle like screech.

“What? Are you trying to kill me with the horrible pitch that is your voice?” My confidence dropped somewhat when I saw several glowing eyes appear in the trees, there were growls behind me as well. As I turned I saw several griffins leap into the clearing.

Well that escalated quickly.

That it did.

This is not going to end well.

Yeah, for them.

Idiot! You don’t have any of your powers. Right now you’re equal to the humans that were wiped out by these guys.

I got this.

“Ooh, scary. So you can bring in some truly hideous back up.” I looked back and smiled at the first griffin. “Have you not heard what I do to griffins?”

“Oh, I have.” The griffin smiled. “But this time we have more than just ourselves.”

“What?” Then there were hisses. Looking around I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t have to wonder for long what was making that sound as several changelings teleported into the clearing next to the griffins.

OK, I may not have this.

“That’s a nasty cut human.” The first griffin said weakly noticing the scrapes from our scuffle. “I thought you were an immortal monster.”

Run!

I nodded before turning and running towards a group of griffins and changelings. They took aggressive stances, preparing for an attack. They looked very confused as I simply hurdled over them.

“Get him!” I heard a griffin order. There was the sound of leaves and sticks cracking as the griffins followed me into the dense forest.

This is not good.

Thanks Captain Obvious!

Well I guess the pleasantness spell has worn off.

Of course I’m not being happy! I’m running for my life!

Duck.

As I lowered my head a griffin flew over me before smashing face first into a tree trunk. A smile came across my face at the sight.

Classic.

Quick! Grab that branch. Do what they do on TV.

I looked around for a minute until I saw the branch he was talking about. It was a few feet ahead, good size, though it looked a bit bendy. I wondered how that would help. Then I understood what he meant. I reached up and grabbed the branch bending it back, releasing it a loud whooshing sound was heard, followed by a screech of pain.

That was good.

I continued to run, weaving through trees, occasionally ducking, jumping, or branch grabbing. Eventually it sounded like there were at most six pursuers.

I can take that many. As luck would have it a few feet ahead I could see light. As I reached it a clearing opened up in front of me. It was much darker due to the curtain of leaves blocking out the sun above, only small patches of sunlight making it through. I turned as I heard my enemies enter the clearing. There were two griffins and four changelings. I like these odds, changelings are even more brittle than griffins.

“Give up human!” One of the two griffins shouted. “You’re out numbered.”

“True.” I smiled. “But you’re outmatched.”

“We’ll see about that freak.” The griffin then growled before charging at me. I simply jumped over him before grabbing his tail. I then spun around and chucked him at his friends. Three of the changelings and the other griffin were able to dodge the feathered projectile. The one unlucky bug was splattered against a tree along with the now at best crippled griffin.

“That felt good.” I stretched. “Who is next?”

One of the changelings hissed before charging his horn and shooting a green beam at me. I rolled to the side avoiding the beam, ducking as another shot came at me. I then sprinted towards the attacking changeling, dodging a few more beams shot by him and his friends. One lucky shot managed to get me in the left arm, leaving a dark singe mark. It hurt but I ignored it for now. Once I reached the holed freak I grabbed him by his throat before aggressively throwing him head first at another. His pointed horn mixed with my strength meant the built in spears on both of them stabbed into the each other’s head.

“Double kill!” I lifted my arms, I quickly lowered them when the horrible pain returned to my arm. It got worse when the second griffin who I had forgotten about pounced on me, he latched onto my back and began to viciously tear at me with his hind legs. I screamed in pain before grabbing the scum by his head and slamming him into the ground. The griffin groaned in pain before my foot smashed into his face, there was a satisfying crunch sound.

“And then there was one.” I turned to look at the last changeling, it glared at me but I could see its legs shaking. “So, how would you like to die?” The changeling hissed before shooting a beam at me. I easily dodged it and jumped at the hole filled freak, surprisingly it dodged me, my movements seemed to have slowed from my injuries. It managed to bite into my calf with its vampiric fangs. “Ow!” I glared at it. “That’s just rude.” My leg began to shake in an attempt to get it off. The changeling eventually let go and flew into the air, flying up and away. “Yeah, you better run!”

That was easy

How was that easy? You’re back is completely maimed, your arm is scorched, and now there are teeth marks in your leg.

Meh, only a flesh wound.

Whatever. Find somewhere safe and wait till your powers return.

Sure thing.

Before I could move a high-pitched screech filled the air. I fell to the ground holding my ears.

What is that?

Taptjeapl. I heard Bob’s voice but it was all muffled gibberish.

What? My vision was beginning to get fuzzy. I flopped onto the ground, too weak to keep myself upright at all or hold my ears. There were muffled hoof steps coming from my left. Looking over I saw four long holed legs and four taloned and pawed legs. I heard muffled voices before I blacked out.

Chapter 68: What is This?

I opened my eyes a small amount, quickly closing them again to protect against the harsh light of my surroundings. After another second I opened them fully. The source of the harsh light was a large strange rectangle hanging from the ceiling, inside it had several long glass cylinders giving off a bright white light.

Once my eyes had fully adjusted I decided to sit up. After I was fully upright I began to get a look at my surroundings. I was in what seemed to be a hospital room. Like most the walls were a sterile white, the floor was made up of white tiles. There was a large window behind me with the shades down and closed. In front of me on the other side of the room I could see a sink. It seemed higher than the pony ones I had usually seen.

How did I get here? Last thing I remember I was beating up those idiots. Bob, do you have any idea what’s going on?

I listened for a few seconds waiting for his response, but the only voice in my head seemed to be my own.

Bob? Before I could try and piece things together the sound of the rooms door opening was heard. I turned in time to watch it slowly open. Then some strange voices became audible.

“I don’t know why he’s taking so long to wake up, it was only a minor concussion.” The voice sounded feminine.

“Well he needs to wake up soon. The griffins are getting more aggressive, what are we going to do without our ultimate weapon?” That was a deeper masculine voice. Then something I never thought I’d see entered the room. Two humans walked in. One was obviously a nurse, she was probably five feet tall, and she had long brown and was in a strange red outfit.
The more interesting of the two was the male. He was likely a good 6’5”. He had short brown hair cut strangely so that it made the top of his head look like a block, he had a short beard and a somewhat aggressive look in his eyes that made me uneasy. He was wearing long black trench coat.

“Sean!” The man looked at me in surprise before suddenly running up and hugging me. I was caught off guard for two reasons. Firstly because this strange man somehow knew my name, and second because he was considerably larger than me. I don’t get how seeing as I’m around 6’2”.

“Get off of me!” I shoved the man away. “Who do you think you are?”

“Sean, don’t you recognize me?” The man looked at me with an almost unnoticeable look of concern.

“No, of course I don’t.” I glared at him before turning my hand into a blade and pointing it at him. That’s when I realized why that guy was so much bigger. My arm looked much smaller, looking over the rest of me I realized my entire form was smaller. I was wearing cargo shorts, a black t-shirt, and black socks. I was in my old child form. “What is this!?”

“Sean, calm down.” The man walked towards me.

“Take another step and you’ll be choking on your arms.” I glared at him. “Now tell me, who are you?”

“What? Sean, it’s me, your father.” The man looked at me worried. Instead of having the calming effect he was clearly going for, that statement only angered me more.

“Lies! My father died centuries ago.”

“Wow, that hit to the head really scrambled your brain.” The man chuckled.

“My brain is fine. The humans were wiped out centuries ago by the griffins. I watched you all die.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb.”

“Sean look outside.” He pointed to the window. Keeping my arm pointed at him I slowly gripped the string connected to the blinds and yanked it. As it raised I gasped. Just outside of the window there was an entire town. It was my old town.

The buildings were all intact, clean, and brightly colored. The streets were smooth well-kept cement and stone tiles, and at the far end of the town the two large gate doors were intact and visible. The most shocking part was how full the town was. With people. They were walking around the streets, some simply walking around, some were speaking to humans inside shop windows, exchanging money and merchandise, and children could be seen running through the streets.

“See Sean, we’re not dead.” I heard the man say as he walked behind me before putting a large hand on my shoulder. “That was probably just a bad dream.”

“No.” I turned to look at him. “This is wrong, you’re all dead, and this town is empty and crumbling.” I began to breathe heavily.

“Calm down.” The nurse spoke up.

“This is wrong.” I knocked the man’s hand away. “How is this possible?” I then realized it. “Changelings.”

“What?” The man looked at me confused.

“This is all some elaborate trick made by you insects. This town is fake, and all of these people are just you idiots in disguise.”

“Sean what are you Agh!” I grabbed the man by his throat.

“Shut up scum.” I then tried to drain his changeling magic. But nothing happened. “What?” I dropped the man and looked at my hand. “You should have reverted.”

“Sean.” The man gasped for air looking at me. “What is wrong with you?”

“No.” I shook my head before looking at the window.

“Don’t do it.” The man attempted to grab me before I smashed through the window. There was a loud shattering sound as the glass broke around me, the people around the building all looked in surprise as I reached the ground and slammed into it, my regeneration fixing my legs. I looked around before running up to a woman and knocking her over. I grabbed her face and tried to drain her magic, but nothing happened. “No. You’re not changelings.” I backed away from the woman. “What is this?”

“Freeze.” A male voice shouted behind me. I looked behind me to see three men in blue outfits standing and looking at me. Two of them had strange metal objects in their hands. The third one was glaring at me. “Sean, we need you to calm down.”

“Or what?” I smirked at them.

“We’ll have to take you down.” The man said darkly.

“Ha!” I kept my confident look. “You can try.” Then I began to transform until I was in my adult form. Smiling as the men looked at me in surprise. “Let’s see who goes down.”

“Take him down.” The man shouted to his friends. “Remember, no lethal damage.”

“Ooh, bad handy cap.” I smiled turning my arm into a blade. “I’m not going to be following the same rule.”

“Fire!” I smiled as the two with those metal objects pointed them at me. What could those possibly do? Then one of them made a loud bang and there was a sudden pain in my leg. I fell back, kneeling down.

“What was that?” I looked at the healing hole in my knee. Before I could react another bang was heard and I felt pain in my arm, looking over I saw there was another hole, as it healed I stood back up, only to be shot in the chest and fall back over. This process repeated five more times before I heard clicks. After healing I looked up to see the men holding their apparent weapons, they pressed a button and small metal rectangles fell out. I saw this as a chance.

“Hurry!” One of them said reaching to grab another rectangle.

“Oh no you don’t!” I began to charge at the man, he screamed in fear as I got within a few feet of him. Just as I was about to swing and decapitate the fool I felt something stab into my side. I looked to my right to see the third man smirking and holding a different rectangle with metal prongs pressed into my side.

“Game over.” The man said with his thumb over a button.

“Oh please, what can you expect to do with that?” Then a painful shock went through my system knocking me out.

“He attacked those men!” I woke up to shouting. Sitting up I realized I was in some sort of room. It was apparently late because the room was dark, looking out a nearby window I saw the sun was setting. Looking around the room I saw very little that impressed. There was a bed in the corner, on the wall over the bed there was a painting of Bolas. The rest of the room was simple and painted blue. In another corner near the door there was a desk with some papers on it, I got up and walked up to them.

“I’m aware of that officer.” I heard the familiar voice of my alleged father.

“Then why is he here safe in your little mansion? That psychopath should be locked up in prison!”

I picked up one of the papers on the desk. It appeared to be a sheet of math problems. In the top left “Sean” was scribbled. These all seemed fairly simple, but for some reason I couldn’t solve them. They were basic addition and subtraction yet the solutions escaped me.

“He was under a lot of stress. He had just woken up from that crash and was confused.”

“That doesn’t matter, we have laws here! Assault, property damage, attacking an officer. If he weren’t your son he’d be locked up right now.”

I looked to the door of the room. I walked to it and twisted the handle, swinging it open. The door opened up to a hallway, the hallway was long with several doors along it. Following it I eventually came to a flight of stairs leading down.

“Well unfortunately for you officer, he is my son. Besides he’s also our final weapon against the griffins.”

“Just lock him up until we need him then.”

“Why would he help us if we do that?”

Once I reached to bottom of the stairs I was able to see a living room, as I entered it I was impressed. In against one of the walls there was a fire place, facing it was a long black couch, to the side of the couch was a black recliner. Above the fireplace a large TV was hanging from the wall.

“You know what, fine! Defend him, the people will turn against you eventually, then that walking freak show you call a child will be locked up in the cage he deserves.”

“Not while I’m still in power officer. Turn the people against me and over throw me if you wish. But until that day you will not touch Sean.” Then there was the loud slam of a door, after a minute I heard footsteps and my “father” walked in. “Oh, Sean. You’re awake. How do you feel?”

“Fine.” I watched him carefully.

“That’s an interesting new body you’ve got there.” He looked me up and down. “Good muscles, though the outfit and hair are a bit feminine.”

“Whatever.” I shrugged. This time the man was keeping his distance.

“You still seem a bit out of it.” The man took a step towards me.

“I’m fine.” I glared at him as he took another step.

“If you say so.” He looked at a nearby clock. “Your mother should be getting home soon.”

“Right.” I raised my hands making air quotes. “My mother.”

“You’re still convinced we’re not real?”

“Yep.”

“Alright.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Maybe a good night’s sleep will help you.”

“There’s nothing wrong with me.”

“Sure. Well humor me, just spend a few days here and see if it comes back to you.”

“Is the electric field still up?”

“Yes.”

“Then I have no choice.” I crossed my arms.

“That’s the spirit.” Then the sound of a door opening was heard and a woman’s voice came from around the corner.

“I’m home, there was some commotion at the market.” After a second a woman in a red coat walked into view. She was about 5’4” she had long black hair, she was rummaging through some red bag. When she looked up her eyes widened when she saw me. “Sean!” She ran at me, hugging me before I could get away.

“Get off of me.” I glared at her.

“What?” She looked at me in surprise.

“I said let go of me. I don’t like strangers or for that matter friends hugging me.” The woman let go of me and backed away.

“Sean, what are you talking about? You’ve always loved hugs.”

“Lies. How do you even know who I am?”

“A mother can recognize her son even if he looks different.”

“So you’re my supposed mother.” I crossed my arms again. “I have to say, I’m not too impressed.”

“What?” The woman looked at me confused and a little hurt.

“I’m going to bed.” I turned and walked away. “Wake me up when I can leave this place.”

“It’s ok honey. He’s not himself, I think that crash may have caused a bit of amnesia.” I heard the man tell his wife.

“Sean, wake up.” I could hear a woman’s voice.

“What?” I opened my eyes. Looking to my right my heart sank when I saw it was the woman claiming to be my mother. “What do you want?” I sat up from the bed, I had been forced to revert to my child form to fit in the tiny bed.

“It’s time for school.” The woman looked at me with a friendly smile.

“I have no need for school.” I stood up, transforming back into my usual body.

“Since when?”

“I have already received a sufficient education.”

“When did this happen?” She raised an eyebrow at me.

“Centuries ago.”

“Oh, you’re still convinced this is all fake.” She smiled. “Fine, if you can pass one small test I will not force you to go to school.”

“Very well.” I crossed my arms. “What is this test?”

“One minute.” The woman turned and walked to the desk. She picked up the sheet of math problems and returned to me. “If you can solve all of the remaining problems in less than ten minutes I will let you stay home.”

“This isn’t my home.” I quickly corrected her. “This is a prison.”

“Whatever you say dear.” She then handed me the paper and a pencil. “Well get going, you have ten minutes.”

“Fine.” I grabbed the paper. “Let’s begin.”

I glared at the building in front of me. It was a good sized building, it was two stories tall, and the walls were painted red with a white trim. There was a shot column on the top with a bell inside. It looked just like your stereotypical and ridiculous schools. There were several students walking towards the building, all of them caring themselves with the same amount of regret.

“Have fun.” The woman said as she turned to walk away.

“Doubtful.” I had been unable to complete the math in the set time. Just like last night the problems looked completely foreign and impossible. While I could have simply killed the woman afterwards I determined it would be easier to follow her order. Perhaps I could figure something out while away from my “parents”. The loud ring of a bell was heard, I sighed and walked towards the school.

“Stupid desk!” I wrestled with the idiotic design. The desk was a combination of wood and metal, for some stupid reason the chair was forcefully linked to the wooden desk with metal. Who thought this was a good design? The most annoying bit was the fact that this waste of space was too small, it was clearly designed for children. I was only able to fit half of my body into the small chair. I was getting strange looks from the children of the class.

“Sean, would you please quiet down?” The teacher looked at me with an irritated look.

“Would you please get some bigger desks?” I snapped back.

“Why don’t you go back to looking like yourself, instead of that strange transvestite you are currently dressed as?”

“Why don’t you go hang yourself?” I glared at her.

“That’s it! Go to the principal’s office!” The teacher pointed to the door.

“Make me you waste of space.” I glared at her, my voice deepening.

“Why you little.” The teacher returned my hostile look.

“Whoa, what’s going on in here?” I male voice said, then a bald man walked in. He was a reasonable height, shorter than me but still reasonable, he had a large stomach and a shiny round head.

“I’ll tell you what’s going on.” The teacher then pointed to me. “That one has been nothing but rude all day.”

“Maybe I wouldn’t be as rude if you weren’t so annoying.” I countered, my voice deepening more.

“I want him expelled.” The teacher told the man.

“Oh no, what will I do without this vital waste of time?” I said in mock concern.

“You see that?” The teacher turned to the man. “Nothing but attitude.”

“I see that.” The man nodded. “Sean, would you mind coming with me?”

“Anything that gets me away from the air waster.” I stood up and followed the man as he exited the room. I heard several students whispering. As I passed the teacher I exchanged a glare with her. Once I left the room the door slammed shut. I looked to the right to see the bald guy waiting.

“Come on.” The man turned and began to walk down the hallway. This entire hall was pure white, the walls, floor, even the glass cylinders gave off a white light.

“So who are you anyway?” I asked as I followed him.

“I’m the principle.” The man soon stopped at an office door, he opened it and gestured in. “Please, come in.”

“Whatever.” I walked into the room, the principle closing it behind me.

“So, want to tell me what that was all about?” The man walked around a desk and sat down.

“What’s there to tell? I was minding my own business trying to fit in your excuse for a desk when she got upset and threw a hissy fit.”

“I see.” The principle nodded. “Well Sean, we have rules at this school.”

“Whoopy.” I spun my index finger in a circle. “Is there a point to that statement?”

“Yes, one of our rules is that all students respect their elders.”

“Well that rule doesn’t apply to me.”

“Why is that?” The principle raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve got a good 835 years on the hag.”

“Really? Last I checked you were only six years old.”

“Yeah, that’s what you fakes were told.” I rolled my eyes.

“Fakes. What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that you’re all some elaborate trick, none of this is real. I’m only here until I can figure out a way to get home.” I looked at him bored.

“Your home isn’t too far away, it’s just a short walk away.”

“Wow, you’re dumb. That’s not my home, I don’t even live in this town.”

“Really? Then where do you live.”

“I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

“Fine, I give up. Until further notice you’re suspended from school.” The principle sighed. “I apologize, but your attitude is just not up to school standards.”

“Oh no.” I said bored. “Please, give me another chance. What will I do without this to waste my life away?”

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“Sure thing.” I turned to the door as I opened it I looked back. “Before I get out of here I’ll have to visit you.” My voice deepened at that last part.

Chapter 69: Politics

“Glad that’s over with.” I stretched as I stepped out into the sunlight. “Now I can get back to finding my way home.” The school had been on a large hill, I followed the dirt road that lead back to town. Maybe talking to some towns people would get me information. Once I reached town I walked to the first person I saw, it was a young man, probably around my adult forms age. “Excuse me.” I waved to him. When he turned to look at me he immediately recoiled for a minute. I looked at him confused. “What are you doing?”

“Please don’t hurt me.” The guy kept himself in a defensive stance.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” I promised.

“Really?” He stood up a little straighter and looked at me.

“Of course. Why would I?”

“Well you did attack that one woman.”

“Oh yeah, I wasn’t feeling all there at the time.” I was getting a bit annoyed with this guy. “I wish I could find her to apologize.”

“If you say so.” The guy stood up completely, though I could still see a hint of distrust. “What do you need?”

“What can you tell me about the politics around here?”

“Really?” He tilted his head. “Your father is the mayor of this entire town. How do you not know everything there is to know?”

“I don’t need the sass, just tell me what you know.” I glared at him.

“Please don’t hurt me.”

“Ugh.” I grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him into a nearby alley I then shoved him against one of the walls and whispered menacingly. “Ok, now that we’re alone this will go one of two ways.” I raised my left hand showing two fingers. “One, you tell me everything you can about the government, or two.” I then took my left hand, turned it into a fist and punched the wall next to his head. The hit left a large fist shaped hole in the wall. “You don’t want to know what two involves.”

“Ok. Please, just don’t hurt me.” He begged, nearly crying.

“Good boy.”

“The fifth and last member of the counsel is the sheriff, him and the other members all work under your father. However, if a unanimous vote is made they can overthrow him and appoint a new mayor.”

“Fascinating, anything else?”

“Well there is a rumor that the counsel is going to take a vote to take down the mayor.” My informant told me, catching his breath after his long speech.

“Thank you. You’ve been a lot of help.” I smiled.

“You’re welcome.” He said weakly. “Now will you let me go?”

“Of course, I’m a man of my word.” I saw him sigh with relief. “However.” I grabbed him by the throat. “If you tell anyone about this little encounter, your body will be unrecognizable when I’m done. Am I clear?”

“Yes sir.” The man said weakly.

“Good boy.” I released him. “Now get out of here.” I smiled more as he sprinted out of the alley, nearly tripping at one point. “Perfect, now that I know the men of power I can get this going.”

“So the meeting is in a few days. Word is the sheriff is going to call for an impeachment” Counsel Man Brad said to his wife as he buttoned up his gray pajama shirt. He gave a quick look in the bathroom mirror. He was a younger man, his blonde hair still full, lush, and vibrant. He winked at his image.

“Are you ever coming to bed?” Brad heard his wife ask.

“In a minute.” The Senator admired his reflection for another moment before turning and exiting the bathroom. When he walked into the bedroom he saw his wife. She was lying in bed smiling at him.

“You look great tonight.” She looked him up and down.

“I know.” Brad nodded as he walked to the bed before sliding under the red sheets and getting comfortable. He then turned to look at his wife. “So, what do you say we have a little fun?” The blonde man smiled at his wife, the smile grew as she looked at him with her own smile.

“Sorry, I don’t swing that way.” His wife’s voice suddenly changed to a more male pitch.

“What?” Before he could react he was grabbed by the shirt and thrown across the room. As he smashed into the wall he groaned in pain. “Ow, what was that for?” The official asked, looking at his wife as she walked towards him. His eyes widened as she began transform until she was replaced with what he understood to be the new look of the mayor’s son.

“Hello Councilor Brad.” The boy said smiling.

“You?” Brad attempted to stand up before a foot stepped onto his chest, keeping him pinned to the wall. “What are you doing here?” The mayor’s son bent over somewhat to get his face closer to the chairman.

“I’m here to talk business.” His attacker’s smile shifted to a more sadistic one.

“Where’s my wife?” Brad grunted as more pressure was put on his chest.

“Oh, she’s safe. Once we’re done here I’ll tell you where she is.”

“What do you want?”

“I hear you’re planning to get rid of the mayor.”

“That’s not official yet, the sheriff just brought it up yesterday.”

“I really don’t care about that bit.” The black haired boy yawned. “I’m here to tell you how that vote is going to go.”

“You think you can blackmail me?” Brad attempted to get up again, unable to move the boy’s foot at all.

“I don’t think I can Councilor Vanity.” The boy leaned in closer. “I know I can.”

“You don’t scare me.”

“Fine, that’s not my problem. I don’t need your fear to kill you.” The boy then turned his hand into a serrated blade and put it near the blonde’s throat. “So, what will it be?”

“What are these demands of yours?”

“Alright, when the vote is taken you will vote against the mayor.”

“Why would you want to overthrow your own father?” Brad grunted in pain as more pressure was applied to his chest.

“He is not my father.” The son growled. “The next thing is, when he is removed you will vote me in as the new mayor.”

“You’re crazy! I will do no such thing.”

“Shame, I thought as the youngest of them you’d want to stay alive.” He then put the blade closer to Brad’s throat. “Oh well, I can make it look like an accident.”

“Wait!” Brad said frantically. “I’ll do it.” He breathed in heavily as the foot was removed from his chest.

“Excellent.” The boy then walked away towards the bedroom window. “You better come through, or else you won’t be happy.”

“Wait!” His attacker looked back. “Where’s my wife?”

“You have a lot of clothes for a man, she fit surprisingly well in your closet.” He then jumped out the window.

And that’s four. I landed in a hedge below Mr. Vanity’s bedroom window. I had successfully blackmailed four of the five council members. Now the mayor is guaranteed to be pushed out, once I get the position I can devote all my time and resources into getting back to Equestria. Before I began to head off I could have sworn someone was watching me.

“We have called this meeting of the counsel to discuss a very rare yet important occasion.” I heard the sheriff shout as I weaved through the crowd. Once I had reached the front I was able to get a good view. The council apparently met in the center of the town where a large round table came out from under the fountain. The five council members all sat around it in nice stone chairs, the mayor got a nice little throne. The entire area was surrounded by police officers guarding the whole scene.

“What is this about sheriff?” The mayor looked at him annoyed.

“This mayor, is a very interesting day, for today we will finally take down the man responsible for so much of this towns recent troubles.” The sheriff said.

I smiled as I watched the four members I had blackmailed shift uncomfortably and look uneasy.

“What are you talking about sheriff?” The mayor asked sounding more irritated.

“What I’m talking about is the capture of a certain psychopath. One who just a few days worked to rig this entire vote.” My smiled vanished as the sheriff continued before turning to me and pointing. “That boy, he spent two nights going from councilor to councilor and threatening them. Arrest him!”

“Bolas!” I turned and shoved my way through the crowd as several officers made their move after me. I continued running, throwing people down in an attempt to create obstacles for the officers. Eventually I reached the edge of the crowd where several other men were waiting.

“Give up.” One of them said. “There’s no escape.”

“Really?” I smiled before opening my mouth and shooting a fire ball, right into the center of the group. There was an explosion and several screams as officers flew away with severe burns and other various injuries. I laughed before running again. My new plan was to get to the gates, if griffins could break through, so could I. After a few more feet I saw a wall of guards waiting, all with their metal weapons pointing at me.

“Stop, or we will fire.” One shouted holding a megaphone.

“Well that’s no good.” I looked around as I got closer until I spotted a nearby alley. Time to see if those video game moves can work. I swerved to the right as I heard the officer shout fire, once I was in the alley I faced one of the walls.

“Freeze!” I looked to the entrance to see several men.

“Here goes.” I bent my legs before pushing off the ground towards the wall, once I touched the wall I pushed off and slightly up so that I flew towards the other wall. I continued this a few more times, occasionally having to adjust my leaps to avoid shots from the officers. After a few seconds I managed to reach the top of the building.

“We lost him!” I heard one of them shout.

I smirked before looking back to the gates and continued my run, now leaping from roof to roof. Eventually I finally reached the stone blocks that were the gates to this horrible place. I ran up and slammed into one of them, it shifted slightly. Sadly I did more damage to myself than to the wall. After a few more hits I was getting tired and my healing had slowed down. Before I could try again there was a bang and pain went through my back, I fell to the ground from the impact.

“Gotcha.” I heard the voice of the sheriff. “Let’s go scum.”

“No thanks.” I jumped up and attempted to kick him. Surprisingly he was able to dodge, then there was a stab in my side. I looked just in time to see that electric box before it went off.

“Let me see him.” I opened my eyes, hearing a voice.

“I’m sorry sir, the sheriff has said no visitors at this time.”

Getting a good look at my surroundings I realized I was in a cell. The walls were a cold gray, there was only a small window to my left offering me light. The cell seemed to be completely empty, the door was the only other feature of the room, it was a standard bar door. Easy enough to break through.

I tried to move my arms, when there was only a mild shift behind me I looked back. My arms were strapped behind me, they were crossed and covered by some kind of black material keeping them stuck together, because of this my arms only moved slightly, when I did move, it was very uncomfortable. Then I noticed that the rest of my body was in a similar predicament. My legs were stuck together as well and bent so that my shins were on the ground and my calves and feet were behind me. To top this all off I had some kind of mask covering the bottom half of my face, keeping me from opening my mouth. When I tried to move at all I found that there were chains around my chest and hips keeping me in place.

I growled, my dragon form wouldn’t work due to the size of this place and these physical restrictions. When I tried to transform into a mouse in an attempt to shrink my way out I found that the strange black material shrank to catch my limbs again. Changing back to my human form I growled again, glaring at the door. They had thought of everything.

“I am the mayor, and you will let me in!” I heard what I now registered to be my fake father’s voice.

“Fine, but if I get fired for this I’m coming for you once the sheriff takes over.”

“Whatever.” There were footsteps until the mayor appeared in front of me. I looked up at him glaring. “Why’d you do it?”

I growled in response. After all, my mouth couldn’t open.

“I don’t know what that head injury did to you but you’re not my son.” He looked at me disappointed.
I just glared at him. “I can’t do anything to help you now. You’ve done too much.” The man shook his head. “Goodbye.” He then turned and walked away, the sound of retreating footsteps were all I heard before I heard a door close.

“Dinner time.” I opened my eyes when I heard the voice of a guard. I looked up to see him standing outside my cell holding a tray with bread and meat. He opened the door and walked towards me, I could see fear in his eyes as he approached me. “Here.” He put the tray in front of me. I looked at it then him glaring. “Oh right.” The guard removed my mouth covering.

“Gotcha!” I opened my mouth preparing a fireball. But before I could do anything the guard threw something into my mouth. To my surprise I felt the fire in me vanish. “What?” I glared at the guard. “What was that?”

“That my boy, was an experimental form of weapon.” I looked towards the door to see the sheriff. “It nullifies any magic that a creature can generate.”

“Why would you even have that?” I asked him.

“For enemies such as you. We also know that a race known as ponies has magic, we must be prepared in case they try to attack.”

“Trust me, this sad excuse for a weapon won’t beat them. Celestia alone could destroy you.” I smirked at him.

“We’ll see.” He then turned and walked away.

“Get back here!” I shouted.

“Just eat your food.” I looked over at the guard who looked back at me irritated.

“How? I have no use of my hands.” I glared at him.

“Well it’s in front of you and your mouth his free.”

“You expect me to eat like some sort of animal?” I glared even more.

“If you want any food.”

“If you want to see tomorrow you will release me.”

“Ooh, scary.” he rolled his eyes. “The guy strapped to a wall is threatening me. You know what.” He picked up the tray. “You can starve.” He then put my mask back on, I did manage to bite his ring finger off. After I did he bashed my head into the wall. “There, now we won’t have to hear your annoying voice.”

When I escape I’ll kill you first.

I looked at the cement floor. I had been locked up for three days now. I was hungry, thirsty, and tired. Sleeping wasn’t really possible like this. I was beginning to wonder if I was wrong, maybe this was the real world and my life in Equestria was the hallucination. If that’s case, I ruined a perfectly good life.

“Geez, what did you do to end up like this?” I heard a voice to my left, it sounded familiar. I was probably just hearing things. I had no cellmate and it was night so none of the guards were coming by to taunt me. “Hello? Hey, Equestria to Sean.”
That phrase got my attention, I looked towards the sound of the voice to see a dark blue alicorn looking at me confused.
“Oh, so you are alive.” Luna looked me up and down. “You don’t look so good.” She said as she removed my mask. I took the opportunity to open my mouth. It felt great, my jaw had started to get sore from being forced shut like that for so long.

“Luna?” I looked at her hazily. “Is that really you?”

“Of course it’s me.” She looked at me confused again. “Let me get you out of, whatever this is.” She walked up to me and looked at my bonds. Then her horn glowed and the chains strapping me to the wall came off. I hadn’t realized it but I had been putting a lot of my weight on the chains, so when they were removed I ended up face planting onto the ground.

“Ow.” I groaned. “Thanks for that.”

“Sorry.” Luna apologized before looked at my arms. “What is this stuff?” She poked at the black material.

“I don’t know, just get it off.”

“Right.” I then felt something tug my arms up, all it did was hurt.

“Would you stop that?” The tugging stopped and I slammed into the ground again. “That too.”

“Sorry again. Can’t you just tear out of this?”
“No, the way I’m restricted I can’t get enough strength.”

“Oh.” There was a pause. “I’ve got it!” Before I could ask I felt the tugging at the bonds again, but this time my arms were being forced towards my head.

“Agh.” I tried to look back. “What are you doing?” I had to suppress a loud shout of pain as I felt my arms aggressively dislocate.

“Solving you’re problem.” I heard the alicorn say. “Suck it up and stay still.”

“When I get out of this we’ll see how you like it.” After another second I began to see my arms coming over my head. Then with one more forceful and quick push my arms snapped down, I held back another shout as my arms relocated. After a moment of recovery and most of my shoulders regenerating I was able to sit up. I glared at Luna.

“There, it worked.” She smiled at me. I saw a bit of sadistic joy mixed in.

“At that point it would have been easier to just tear my arms off.”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that.”

“Whatever.” I looked at my arms, which were now in front of me. My shoulders were still pretty mutilated right now. They wouldn’t fix till I was free.

“What are you waiting for? Break them.”

“Don’t rush me.” I then concentrated and used all my strength to pull my arms apart. After a few seconds of painful pulling the black material finally snapped. After my arms were free I let them dangle for a minute to completely heal. Once they fixed I turned my arm into a blade and freed my legs. Once I stood up I stretched. “Oh that feels good.”

“What did you do to be locked up like that?”

“Oh, I just threatened some government officials.” I looked down at her. “The more important question is, how are you here?”

“Well, you were taking such a long time to come home that Celestia asked me to try and find you in the dream world.”

“I knew this was a dream.”

“Well sort of, from what I could tell this is more of a magic trance than a dream. It was hard to find it.”

“Same thing.” I cracked my knuckles. “Now it’s time to get out of here.”

Finally, some action!

Who said that? Bob?

Bob! As if, I’m way more interesting than that buzz kill.

So then who are you?

Check your pocket.

I reached into my pocket, I didn’t see a point since they’ve been empty this whole time. Then my right hand reached something. I grabbed it and took it out of my pocket, it was that charm I got from Bolas. With some changes. The three red orbs had changed completely, one was now blue with what looked like flowing water in it, the next had what looked like a cloud of black poison, and the final one had a small flame.

“What’s that?” Luna looked at the charm with interest.

After a second what looked like a dragon’s pupil appeared in the large purple orb at the top.

Hello.

So you’re the charm?

Bingo!

I knew it had to do something. Wait, what do you do?

I am the key to your escape. Now then, I want you to not freak out when I do this.

Why would I… Before I finished the question I was enveloped in a sphere of fire.

Chapter 70: Jail Break!

“I really hate the night shift.” A prison guard grumbled as he neared the cell the mayor’s son was locked in. “This place is just creepy.” Then he noticed a bright light in the nearby cell. Running to the cell he looked inside just in time to see a few sparks of fire dissipate. The guard drew his gun and opened the door. “Who’s there?”

“Hello.” A dark voice said. The guard spun to the sound of the voice to see a figure standing in the shadows.

“Show yourself.” The guard pointed his gun at the shadow.

“Fine, let’s get some first impressions on my new look.” The figure then moved out of the darkness slowly. The guard’s confidence wavered even further as he saw the person.

The guard could barely recognize him as the mayor’s son. He had gained at least a foot in height, his torso, arms, and legs were all covered in armor resembling the armor worn by Nicol Bolas, to fit the comparison more, the parts of the body not covered in that armor were protected by olive chain-mail. In the center of his chest there was some kind of jewel. The guard spotted the light gleam off one of the clawed gauntlets he wore, two draconic wings spread from his back near the shoulders. The last details were two glowing green eyes.

“So, what do you think?” He smiled, showing his pointed teeth. The guard simply stared at him, fear encasing him as he heard the boy’s voice. It sounded different. There was clear hint of malice in it. “I’ll take silent awe.”

“Freeze.” The guard finally worked up the nerve to say. The prisoner laughed menacingly before swiftly charging at him. The guard shot at his attacker twice, both shots bouncing off the armor before his head was cut off.

“That was fun.” I looked at my right hand, the claws glistening with the guard’s blood. His head rolled merrily along the stone floor.

“Wasn’t that a bit drastic?” Luna asked me as she walked out of the shadows.

“No.”

“I think it came from over there!” I heard the sound of several people running towards my cell.

“Oh joy!” I smiled walking towards the door. “More.” As I stepped out of the cell I saw several guards run up with their weapons drawn. “Hello.” I waved a clawed hand.

“Stand down freak!” One of them shouted. I swear they must be obligated to say the same phrases all the time.

“Make me!” I then opened my mouth and shot a column of fire at the pack of guards.

“Run!” I heard one order. Most were unable to react fast enough and became piles of ash. The five that did survive all looked at me before running.

“Oh, leaving already?” I spread my wings and shot forward, stopping in front of them I cracked my knuckles. “The party is just getting started.”

“Done.” I clapped my hands together.

“Well that was…Gruesome.” Luna said, looking at the flesh pile that used to be guards.

“Eh, I needed to relieve some stress.” I picked up a bit of a dead guards shirt and began to clean my hands of the blood. “Now then, how do we escape?” I looked at her expectantly.

“How would I know?”

“You’re the one who is always running around the dream world. Shouldn’t you be an expert by now?”

“I told you, this isn’t a dream. This is some sort of magical trance.”

“So, you have no idea?” I sighed.

“Well, I have one idea.”

“What is it?”

“I’m guessing that this illusion only generated the town, so if we leave the town you’ll likely wake up.”

“Well that’s going to be a problem, the town is protected by an electric barrier, and the gates are heavily guarded.”

“Hmm.” Luna looked at the ground thinking. “Wait, the barrier has to have a power source right?”

“Right, but we don’t know where it is.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard to find out.”

“Now you’re talking.” I smiled. “Let’s go find a hostage.”

“This is not going well!” Luna shouted as we ran down a hallway.

“Thanks! What would I do without you Princess Evident?!” I shouted back.

“There they are! Fire!” A guard shouted as the pack chasing us rounded the corner.

“I’m getting tired of you guys!” I spun around and shot a fireball. I glared as it bounced off a shield one of them carried. They had been using that thing to stop all my magic based attacks. “I hate that thing!”

“There’s a door.” I heard Luna say. Looking ahead I saw the door she was talking about, it was made out of metal, which should stop their projectiles. Luna reached it first and quickly opened it with her magic. “Hurry!” I nodded and sped up, quickly running past her into the room Luna slammed it shut. “We made it.”

“It won’t take long for them to break it down though.”

“Sean, behind you.” Then I heard the click of what I had come to recognize as one of those, guns they were apparently called.

“Don’t move you psycho.” His order may have held more weight if there wasn’t a slight quiver of fear to it. “Hand’s on your head and turn to face me.”

“Eh, I’ve got a bit of time to kill. I’ll play along.” I raised my hands onto my head and faced him. I was able to see the room now, it seemed to be a break room. There were tables, a refrigerator, and coffee maker to my right, and a door to the left. When I saw the guard I was overjoyed to see it was a familiar face. “Oh, hello again.” It was that guard from my first day who had taken my food.

“No talking.” His voice quivered more.

“But I have to fulfill a promise.” I smiled cruelly.

“What promise?”

“That I would kill you.” Just then a few gun projectiles flew past me. I turned to face the door to see Luna looking at the holes in surprise.

“Um Sean, could you hurry it up?” She looked back.

“One minute Luna.” She sighed and used magic to create a barrier in front of the door.

Not to sound like Bob but may I offer a suggestion?

What is it?

We need information, why don’t we use him to get it?

But I want to kill him.

That’s the fun! You interrogate him, the whole time scaring him, then you kill him.

I like the way you think

I then looked back at the guard. Before he could react I slammed into him, sending him crashing into the wall behind us. I then smashed the claws of my wings into the wall, and spread the rest of my wings to create a sort of prison with them. The sound of his weapon hitting the floor was heard.

“Now then, I would like some answers.”

“You’re not getting anything out of me.” The guard said weakly.

“Oh, I don’t need you to speak for me to get the information.” I put a claw to his throat. “I can always rummage through your memories. But it isn’t pretty when I’m done.”

“Oh Bolas, please don’t.”

“Then tell me what I want.” I heard the sound of more projectiles flying through the door and bouncing off Luna’s magic barrier.

“Sean, hurry up!” Luna shouted. I growled behind my wings.

“Well, I’m in a bit of a hurry now.” I used a claw to make a small cut near his jugular. “So, answers, now.”

“Ok! What do you need?” The guard seemed to be on the verge of tears.

Luna grunted with effort as more of the strange projectiles hit her shield. It was becoming difficult to keep it up. She looked back to Sean. He still had his wings wrapped around him while he did who knows what to the guard.

“Thank you for your cooperation.” She heard him say.

“Wait! What are you doing? I told you everything you wanted! You said you’d let me go!” She heard the guard shout, obvious fear in his voice.

“I made no such guarantee. The only thing I promised was your death.”

“What? No please!” Then there was the sound of cutting and gurgling. Looking back again Luna watched as Sean retracted his wings, the guard’s body falling to the ground, with blood spilling out of his throat. She flinched when she saw he was still weakling breathing and looking at them.

“Now that that’s done.” Sean smiled as he walked to her. “I have what we need.”

“Great!” Luna nodded. For some reason the attacks from the other side of the door had stopped.

“Fire the drainer!” She heard a voice say. Then there was one shot, after a second something flew through her barrier and hit her in the shoulder.

“Luna!” Sean grabbed her and dragged her to the left of the door. He then inspected her shoulder, he growling as he saw it was
bleeding. “Are you ok?”

“Of course I’m not!” She shouted. “I just got shot.”

“I am aware. Can you walk?”

“Probably.” Luna stood up. She flinched as a pain went through her shoulder. “Well sort of.”

“Well that’s annoying.” He growled again.

“One minute, I have a healing spell.” Luna then attempted to use her magic to heal the wound. To her surprise no matter what she tried she couldn’t use her magic. “What’s going on?”

“Ugh, so their stupid weapon does work on ponies.”

“What weapon?” Before Sean could answer something slammed into the door.

“Again!” There was another slam.

“I’ll explain in a bit.” Sean then quickly ran to the dead guard and tore off part of his shirt. Coming back he quickly wrapped it around her bleeding shoulder. “Ok, that’s going to have to do. Follow me.” Sean then turned and headed towards the door on the other side of the room.

“Right.” Luna began to follow him. She was moving slower due to the wound. Sean looked back to her annoyed.

“Bolas! We don’t have time for this.” Sean ran up and grabbed her. He then threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes

“Hey!”

“Deal with it. Let’s go!” He then quickly moved towards the door, kicking it open. He ran down the hallway it opened up to. Just as they entered the hall the sound of the metal door getting knocked down was heard.

“Where’d they go?” She heard one guard ask.

I followed the hallway, I had gotten useful information from the guard. He had told me where the generator was located, as well as the way to the roof.

“Where are we going?” Luna asked me. She didn’t sound too pleased, that may come from how I was carrying her.

“Can you still fly?”

“Probably.”

“You’d better hope you can.” I told her as I reached the stair case that supposedly lead to the roof. Following the stairs I eventually reached a door, kicking it open the roof opened up to me. There were two guards with longer guns. When the door opened they turned to see me. They weren’t much of a problem after I melted their faces. I then put Luna down.

“Ok, so why do I need to fly?” Luna asked.

“Because if you don’t you’re going to be street pizza.” I stood at the edge of the roof.

“Seriously?” Luna looked at me surprised, she walked next to me and looking down.

“It’s either jump and fly or get shot to death.” I thought for a minute. “Wait, why do you care about death? Aren’t you basically an imaginary Luna? If you die wouldn’t you just wake up?”

“Unfortunately no. If I get injured or killed here it effects my real body.”

“Oh, well then you’d better hope those wings work.” Just then the door slammed open. “Jump!” I said as I leapt off the roof, Luna quickly did the same. Then we both spread our wings and began to fly over the prison. A few gun shots began to fly near us.

“Agh!” Luna dodged a few. “Sean!”

“I got it.” I stopped flying and turned. “Finally I can kill you idiots.” I then opened my mouth and shot a fireball. Not at the group but the ground they were on. I smiled as they raised the little shield, unfortunately for them it destroyed the roof they were on and it crumbled down. Hopefully killing them. “Yes!”

I then turned around again and sped to catch up with Luna.

“So, where’s this generator?” Luna asked as we hid on a roof. We had decided it was a good idea to hide for a minute to discuss our strategy.
“
Well, apparently it’s in the mayor’s garden, hidden underneath some sort of fountain.”

“Ok, so where’s the mayor’s house?”

“It’s a near the south edge of town.” I pointed to its general location. “If we can get there unseen we should be able to shut it down with no trouble.”

“Excellent. Let’s go.” Luna nodded as she stood up. I noticed her flinch as she put weight on her injured shoulder.

“There it is.” I said pointing to the large house. “The mayor’s house. We need to find a button, when pressed it will offer us access to the generator.”

“Right.” Luna nodded “Let’s go.”

We both silently flew off the roof of the building and landed in the backyard of the mansion.

“Ok, that guard told me the button is under a fake rock. Get looking.” Luna nodded before turning and lifting a nearby rock. I went over and lifted another, there was no button. Several rocks later I growled and threw the one I had just picked up. “You find it Luna?” I looked behind me as the alicorn lifted another rock.

“No.” She shook her head as she put the rock down.

“Well that’s just great. We’ve looked under ever rock here.” I sat on the ground glaring at the fountain. “Guess, I’m not getting out of here.” Luna sighed and sat next to me.

“My sister isn’t going to be happy.”

“Who’s there?” A voice said behind us. Looking back I saw the mayor holding a long gun, which he had pointed at us. “Whoever you are, you have three seconds to get off my property before I shoot your head off.”

“Wait, father it’s me.” I stepped forward a little bit into the moonlight, suppressing a groan as I called him that.

“Sean?” The mayor lowered the gun. “How’d you get out?”

“Just a bit of dragon power.” I grudgingly smiled.

“So this is your father?” Luna asked as she walked forward to stand next to me.

“Yes.” I said reluctantly.

“What’s that thing?” The mayor asked, pointing his gun at Luna. “Is it the reason you’ve been acting so strangely.”

“Wait.” I put one of my wings in front of Luna. “She’s a friend of mine.”

“When would you have made friends with something like that?” He kept the gun pointed at Luna’s location.

“Put the gun down you nut.” I glared at him. “I don’t care if you’re my father, you hurt her I will never forgive you.” I was playing off this father persona of his. The two of us had a stare down for a while before he lowered the gun.

“Very well.” He put the gun on the ground. I nodded as I moved my wing. Luna looking a bit confused.

“Well, that was interesting.” She nodded. “Ok, we need to get back to finding that button.”

“Why are you looking for that?” The mayor asked me.

“We’re trying to find the generator so Sean can get home.” Luna told him.

“But he is home, this has always been his home.”

“No it hasn’t.” I glared at him. “This is all fake, none of your little memories are real. The real you died centuries ago.”

“I won’t let you take him.” The mayor grabbed his gun and fired at Luna. I was able to get in front of her, the shot bouncing off my armor.

“You’re going to wish you hadn’t done that.” I said grimly before speeding towards him. I smashed him through a wall, as he fell to the ground I punched him in the face. “Alright, I’m done playing Mr. Nice Dragon!” I grabbed his throat and hit him again. “Where is the button to release the generator?”

“Why Sean?” Was all he said, it was hard to hear since I was slightly strangling him.

“Sean, I found it!” I heard Luna say. I looked behind me to see her holding up a rock with a button on the bottom.

“Good work.” I nodded before looking back to the mayor. “You’re useless.” I grabbed him by the throat and threw him against another wall.

“Let me go!” I looked outside to see Luna being choked by the sheriff, he had a gun pressed to her head. He was being flanked by at least a dozen other police officers.

“Alright freak.” The sheriff yelled. “Come out slowly and without the armor. Or else you’re little friend will be used to paint the fountain.”

Ha! Like we’ll give in to their demands. Wait, what are you doing? The new voice asked in surprise as I grabbed the charm.

Trust me, I have a plan. I pulled the charm out of the armor. I was then enveloped by another fireball.

The sheriff smiled as he saw a flash of light from inside the house. Then the psycho that was the mayor’s son stepped into the moonlight, he looked normal now. The armor was replaced with his strange original outfit. He noticed there was something in his hand.

“Alright.” The boy said. “You’ve got me. Now let her go.”

“Not yet.” The sheriff smiled. “First drop whatever that thing in your hand is.” The murderer hesitated for a minute. The sheriff pressed the gun harder to the head of whatever this thing was. “Now.” The psycho growled before throwing the object to the sheriff. It landed in front of him, looking at it he realized it was some kind of charm.

“Will you let her go now?”

“No, put your hands on your head and slowly come here. No sudden moves.”

“Fine.” The son slowly put his hands to his head and walked towards the group of police. Once he got a few feet away the sheriff looked to one of his officers. “Cuff him.” Then the criminal spoke.

“Luna, swing your right leg three inches to the left and back. Hard.” He said.

“No talking to. Agh!” The sheriff cried out in pain as the creature kicked him in the crotch. He fell to the ground in pain. He knew he should have worn his cup. He ended up dropping his hostage, it then quickly ran and hid behind the convict who grabbed it and put it over his shoulder. “Shoot them you fools.” He said weakly.

“Now, let’s have some fun.” The psycho smiled before he began to grow. After a second the form of Nicol Bolas stood above them. All the police officers stood in awe as their god loomed over them.

“Shoot him!” The sheriff ordered, having finally recovered.

“But sir, it’s Nicol Bolas.” One of his officers said.

“No it’s not. It’s that lunatic taking the form of him!” The sheriff pulled out his gun. “Fine, I’ll take him down myself.” Before he could fire his gun a massive tail crushed him.

Chapter 71: Escaping The Colony

“Oh that felt good.” I smiled as I crushed the pain in my side that was the sheriff under my tail.

“I must agree.” Luna said as she rested on my shoulder.

“Alright.” I looked down to the police. “Who else wishes to defy me?” None responded, after a moment they actually began to bow.

“All hail lord Bolas.” One shouted.

“They can’t truly be this dumb.” Luna said in shock. “They just saw you enter this form.”

“Sadly they are.” I shook my head. “Alright, if you wish to survive you will do as you are told.”

“What do you need master?” One of them asked, the others simply nodded.

“I require the charm that I threw to you.” One of them quickly ran and grabbed it. “As well as the rock you see with the red button.” Another hurried and picked up the rock.

“Here you are master.” I lowered my left hand and they placed the two items in it.

“Excellent.” I raised my hand. “Now you will die.”

“What!” One of them shouted. “But we did as you ordered.”

“True, but I found your hospitality lacking.” Before any could run I froze all of them before swinging my tail and shattering the squad. I then grabbed Luna and placed her on the same hand as the rock. “Luna would you please press the button?”

“Of course.” Luna took her hoof and presses the red button. After she did, the ground shook for a minute. I watched as the fountain split open and a large generator rose from the ground.

It was definitely big, at least ten feet tall. It was a simple block, on the top there was a grate with a large fan, each side of the block had a rod sticking out, all of which were giving off blue electricity.

“There it is.” I smiled. “Now all we need to do is destroy it.” I clenched my right fist and punched it. To my surprise as my large fist reached it, the blue electricity shot forward and created a shield as well as pushing my fist back. The sudden push caused me to lose balance and fall back. My body ended up landing on the house, crushing half of it.

“What was that?” Luna asked as she climbed onto my face to look at me. “Some kind of magical barrier?”

“Doubt it.” I shrank back to my human form. Catching Luna as she fell. “They don’t have magic.” I put her down.

“Then what was it?” She asked as we walked up to it.

“Let’s see.” I inspected the metal cube. When I made an experimental poke another electric barrier appeared and shot me back, I ended up landing in a nearby bush. “Well then.”

“You ok?” Luna asked as I got up.

“Yeah, it’s just a push.” I walked back up. “Well, I have no idea what to do.”

“There may be someone who does.” Luna said pointing towards the mansion. “Assuming you didn’t crush him.”

“Like he’ll tell us”

“Do you have any better ideas?”

“Fine.” I walked to the mansion. Once I got there I began to lift rubble in the area I knew I had last seen the mayor. After lifting a particularly heavy beam I spotted his arm. I removed the rest of the rubble around him. He was barely breathing, his lower half completely crushed by a chunk of wall. He looked up at me when I freed his head.

“Sean.” He said weakly.

“Hi.” I waved.

“What did I do to make you act like this?” He wheezed. “I tried to treat you with love and respect.”

“Yeah yeah.” I waved a hand. “I need your help.”

“What is it?”

“Wait, you’re going to help?”

“Of course.” He wheezed. “You’re still my son.”

“Alright. Anyway, how do I shut down the generator’s defenses?”

“Upstairs, in my room there is a.” He coughed. “A key, under the bed. Hidden in a book. On the back of the generator there will be a keyhole. Use it to lower the defenses.”

“Thanks.” I watched as the man smiled weakly.

“Good luck son. I hope you lead a happy life outside of here.” He then closed his eyes. After another second he stopped breathing.

“Hey Luna! I know how to shut it down.” I shouted to her.

“Really?” She flew over to me. “How?”

“Apparently in this guy’s room.” I turned heading for the stairs. Luna lingered on the body for a moment.

“Sean, wait.” Luna hobbled after me. I stopped and turned to look at her.

“What?”

“Don’t you want to say anything?”

“About what?”

“You’re father. He did just die.”

“Ugh.” I turned heading back for the stairs. Luna followed close behind. “He wasn’t really my father. Like you said, this is all a magical illusion.”

“Still, wasn’t that at all like your father?”

“How should I know? It’s been 912 years since I last saw him.” I put my hand on the railing as we reached the bottom of the stairs. “They could have made him look anyway they wanted and I’d have no idea of the difference.”

“You don’t feel anything about his death?” Luna asked as she flew up the stairs after me.

“Luna, over the centuries I’ve callused myself against death.” I took a left as we reached the top of the stairs. “There’s no point in getting attached to mortals, they’ll die eventually. Be it from age or giant dragons crushing them.”

“So death carries no weight for you?” Luna looked at me with interest as we reached the door to the mayor’s room.

“Not the death of mortals. I have no connection to them, it doesn’t matter when they die. It was going to happen.” I turned the gold door knob and attempted to open the door. It didn’t budge. “Bolas! Something’s blocking it.”

“No mortal relations? Really?” Luna asked, I noticed something in her eyes. Like she was leading me into a trap.

“Nope.” I shook my head as I rammed into the door, it opened half way. Taking a step back I prepared for another hit.

“What of a purple unicorn? Will her death mean nothing?” Luna said as I charged at the door.

“What?” I looked back just before I hit the door, causing me to hit at a strange angle. The door broke none the less but I ended up ramming into the bed. As I recovered from the head butt with a metal frame I glared at Luna. “Thanks for that.”

“I will take that reaction as a no.” Luna said as she walked in.

“What reaction?” I asked standing up and cracking my neck. Looking back there was a noticeable head print in the bed’s foot board. “The only thing I see is you attempting to kill me.”

“If I were trying to kill, you would know.” She said in a mocking tone. “Fine, we’ll get back to that one. What about your guards?”

“I used to.” Lifting the bed a small book fell out of the frame. “But after two hundred years I gave up.”

“Interesting.”

“The only reason you care for mortals is due to the fact you are too busy relishing the love. Though for you I doubt it’ll go away.” I picked up the book. Looking it over I realized it was my father’s journal about me.

“The attention doesn’t matter to me. I genuinely care for my subjects.” She glared at me before pointing to the book. “Is that what we’re looking for?” After I didn’t respond she walked up to me. “Sean?”

“How did they know about this?” I asked staring at the book.

“What is it?”

“It’s the last thing I got from my real father.”

“Really?” She eyed it. “So, does that bring any emotions?”

“Yes.”

“It does?”

“Yes it does. This means they were rummaging through my memories, and pretty deep to find this.” I growled.

“Wow. That’s some impressive mind digging.” Luna said with a look of small admiration.

“If they were able to go this deep into my memories.” I opened the book, on the back of the cover there was a key taped to it. I tore it off and threw the book to the ground. “We need to hurry.”

“Why?” Without answering I ran to the stairs still gripping the key. “Sean! Wait.” As I reached the first floor and turned, heading for the garden Luna flew up next to me. “Why do we need to hurry?”

“Equestria is in serious danger.” I told her as we reached the generator.

“What are you talking about?” Luna landed next to me as I moved to the back of the electric brick.

“I still don’t know who did this to me, but whoever they are, they clearly went through most if not all of my memories.” I quickly placed the key into the hole. “That includes all the secrets about Canterlot, such as weak spots, hidden access points, and many more details to bring Canterlot and Equestria down.”

“Oh no.” Luna said simply.

“Exactly.” I nodded as the electric field of the generator vanished. There was a flash of light and then what look like a black hole appeared in the sky. “That’s our way out.” I turned to Luna. “You need to hurry and warn Celestia.”

“Right.” Luna nodded before flying into the air. I then grew wings and flew after her.

Let’s go find out who did this to me.

Woo! Massacre!

Most likely. I smiled as I gripped the charm. Let’s do this.

Yeah Baby!

I opened my eyes. I was in some kind of container. There was some sort of green tint to it. Quickly looking left and right I realized I was in some kind of catacomb.

“Our forces will be ready to strike in three hours. With the capture of Manehattan and Appleoosa we are gaining power.” Looking to the left I watched as a griffin walked into the room, he was followed by an armored changeling. “Soon we will have control over the strongest country on this planet.”

“Excellent.” The changeling spoke in a hiss. “With our knowledge of the countries weaknesses victory should be no challenge.” I closed my eyes as the two neared me. The container shook as someone tapped it.

“It’s funny how their greatest weapon is the one that will bring their defeat.” The griffin said. “So, no changes with him?”

“Nothing of consequence. His heart rate and stress levels spiked for a few minutes but it was nothing disastrous.” The changeling told him.

“Excellent.” I heard the sound of them walking away. I opened my eyes to see them enter a different cave.

So that’s their game.

Idiot? Is that you?

Changelings and griffins. Two germs, one explosion.

Who are you?

Oh Bob, this is my new friend.

Nick, nice to meet you.

What kind of name is that?

It’s an abbreviation of my full name.

Nicholas?

Can we discuss names later? Two armies are about to attack Canterlot.

Right. I vote we kill all these idiots first.

Shouldn’t our priority be to get home? You know, help out our friends.

It won’t take too long. Their bugs and chicken heads. Besides, we could benefit from a warm up.

I agree with Nick.

Ha! Suck it!

Ugh.

Let’s begin. I reached into my pocket and removed the charm.

Aw yeah!

“I’m so bored.” A changeling said as he sat on a rock next to a griffin.

“Me too.” The griffin sighed. “How come we didn’t get to join the invasion?”

“I dunno.” The changeling shrugged. “Maybe they think we’re incompetent.”

“Maybe.” The griffin lowered his head. “I just wish something would happen.”

“Wish granted.” The two heard a voice behind them. Turning they both screamed in fear, looming over them was the human. While scary on his own, it was made worse by the armor, wings, and sudden growth in height.

“That’s not what I meant.” The griffin said in fear.

“Well, sucks to be you.” The human smiled as he raised one of his clawed hands.

“You just had to open your big beak!” The changeling glared at his companion.

“Yes, run! Run you filth!” I laughed as another column of fire enveloped a pack of changelings. Turning I shot an ice wall in the path of several griffins, freezing the exit. I smiled as I watched them claw at the ice. I then clenched my fist and spikes burst out of the ice impaling all of them.

Nice! Oh, some are getting away. I looked to my left, seeing a large group of changelings running towards another cave.

“Oh, don’t leave yet.” I flew over them, shooting acid I began to melt the area in front of them. Landing on the other side of the new trench I smiled. “I just want to play.”

“What are we going to do captain?” One of the changelings asked an armored one at the front of the pack.

“Attack!” The armored changeling shouted. After he said that the bugs began to shoot green beams of magic at me. All the shots merely bounced off my armor, not even leaving marks. After a few more seconds of magic shooting they stopped. I looked at them bored.

“Are you guys done embarrassing yourselves?” None of them spoke. “I’ll take that as a yes.” I then turned my left hand into a dragon head and fired a line of acid at the left side of the pack. Changing my right I froze the other side. The armored one looked to his sides in shock. “Now then.” I shot forward and grabbed the cheese leg by his throat raising him up. “I need information.”

“They’ve taken down Manehattan Princess.” A guard pony shook his head. “That’s the fourth town.”

“Why haven’t our forces stopped them?” Princess Celestia demanded.

“We’ve tried but they seem to know every single one of our tactics.”

“Sister.” Luna burst into the throne room limping slightly. “We need to put Canterlot into a lockdown.”

“Why?” Celestia asked.

“Because they’re coming here.” Luna said frantically. “They know all the secrets of the city. There are many ways they can abuse this information if we’re not ready.”

“How do they know all of this?” Celestia asked in shock.

“They learned it from Sean.”

“Why would Sean help the griffins?”

“He didn’t willingly. Let me explain.”

“Thank you for your cooperation.” I dropped the now brain dead changeling.

That was fun.

Yeah…Fun. Alright, you’ve killed everyone here, and now we know their plan.

Let’s go kill more! They claim to have conquered at least four cities. That’s a bloodbath with our name on it.

No! You saw their plans. We need to get home to help Celestia and Luna.

Bah, you’re so boring Bob. Listen to your old pal Nick. The more we kill on the way home, the less there will be to fight later when they are more prepared.

True.

You’re seriously listening to this guy? He’s been around for what? Ten minutes.

Shows what you know, Sean and I have been killing idiots for at least a day now.

Ok, that’s enough. We’re heading home, if we just so happen to come across one of the conquered towns we’ll help them.

Fine. The two said in unison.

Excellent. I walked towards a nearby wall. Putting my hands together I made one large dragon head, I then shot a fireball at it, after the large explosion a nicely sized hole was created. I spread my wings and flew out.

Hold on, from that changelings memory this path would lead us to Manehattan.

It will? I didn’t notice.

Sure you didn’t.

“Alright.” Princess Celestia looked at the line of guards in front of her. “Based on this new information from Luna the griffins and changelings know almost everything about Canterlot. I want all entrances sealed. I also need more guards to be working on the magical barrier.”

“Sister.” Luna spoke up.

“What?” Celestia looked at her irritated.

“What of ponies that are fleeing here from other towns? If we shut the gate what will become of them.”

“Very well. Continue the trains. However, I want all ponies on them checked to ensure they are not changelings.” Celestia turned to the guards. “Now go.”

“Yes Princess.” The guards saluted.

Wow, Manehattan has seen better days.

I had to agree as I neared the town. Several buildings had been destroyed and there were some small fires. Once I got close I decided to land on the outskirts. Landing I removed the charm and reverted to my usual form.

What are you doing? I looked at the charm to see the eye glaring at me.

“Being tactical. If we can sneak further into town then we can maybe find the commander and kill him first.”

Hey, look who’s thinking with his head instead of claws.

Lame.

I rolled my eyes and put Nick in my pocket. Walking towards the town I transformed into a griffin.

“Halt!” A voice ordered as I neared the town. Looking a bit ahead I spotted a griffin in gold armor with a spear eyeing me. “What’s your business here?”

“I was sent by the king to deliver a message.” I said. “I need to meet the commander.”

“What’s the message?” The griffin asked.

“If I just told everyone willy nilly I would lose my job.” I walked towards him. “Now would you kindly let me inside?”

“I need some kind of identification.” The griffin kept his spear pointed at my throat. “To make sure you aren’t a changeling or pony in disguise.”

“Ok, I’ve stopped caring.” I grabbed the spear and yanked it out of his hand. Spinning it around I jabbed it through his skull, smiling as his body fell to the ground. “Oh well.” I grabbed his corpse and dragged it into a nearby bush.

I think we’ll get further if we use this guy’s form.

True.

I began to transform until I had taken his look. Grabbing the spear I turned and walking into the town. Inside the town look even worse. The streets were covered in blood, I passed several dead guards as I neared the town square. In some of the towering building’s broken windows dead ponies could be seen.

This is a lot more brutal than any of their other attacks ever were.

Yeah. They’re going to pay for this.

For what? Take me out, I wanna see.

Not now!
“Hello captain.” A voice said. I looked to my left to see another armored griffin this one wearing red standing next to me. “How was the patrol sir?”

“Excellent.” I nodded. “Nothing dangerous.”

“The commander will be glad to hear that.” He nodded. “Are you heading there now?”

“Yes I am.” I looked at him. “Is he still where he was when I left?”

“Yes sir, town square. Hasn’t moved.” The griffin smiled. “He’s talking to king. Apparently after this war is won we will all reap the rewards.”

“Wonderful.” I forced my own smile. “Well, carry on.” I then continued towards the square.

“Manehattan has been secured completely my lord.” The griffin commander told his king, through a crystal ball. They had used recently enslaved unicorns to power this new form of communication. “All survivors have been captured and imprisoned.”

“Excellent work.” The king smiled. “Soon we shall make our move on their capital. Celestia will fall and the griffins will rise.”

“What of the changelings?”

“When this is over we shall rid ourselves of them.” The king looked away for a minute. “I must go. Keep up the good work commander.” The image in the ball vanished. There were several sighs as the unicorns relaxed. The griffin smirked at them. “Don’t get too comfortable, it’s back to the prison for you.”

“Commander.” The griffin turned to see his loyal captain approaching.

“Ah, you’ve returned. I trust everything is calm.”

“Yes sir, no ponies or changelings in sight.” The captain saluted.

“Excellent.” The commander nodded. “Come with me captain.” He turned and headed for the capital building. Passing the unicorns as they were dragged back to the prison. He smiled at the sight. “Isn’t it refreshing captain? After centuries of living in fear of these ponies we finally will take our rightful place.”

“The griffins certainly will get what they deserve.” The captain agreed as they entered the large dome that was the capital building. It was the most intact in the town as they planned to use it as a barracks. They passed several rooms, most housing griffins, and one that was a new food court. They continued walking until they entered the office of the mayor.

“So.” The commander shut the office door as the captain entered. “Let’s discuss our next move.”

“Of course.” The captain nodded as he followed the commander to the desk which had a map placed on it.

“Alright.” The griffin pointed to Manehattan on the map. “Our orders are to meet up with the rest of our forces outside of Canterlot. We will be working as a second wave after the initial attack.”

“That’s a good plan.” The captain nodded. “Sadly you won’t be a part of it?”
“What?” Then a spear was jabbed through the commander’s throat. The captain’s face twisted to a sadistic smile. Then the griffin transformed into every griffins worst nightmare. “You.” The commander said weakly.

“Yes me.” The human smiled as he lifted the spear into the air, forcing the griffin up with it. “I have to say, I’m surprised how efficiently you guys conquered this town.” The human laughed. “However, it’s time to show you filth how taking a city is done.” The human then walked towards a wall next to the door and jabbed the spear into it. “Don’t go anywhere.” The human laughed and left the room.

“Let’s make some fried chicken.” I laughed as I grabbed Nick and activated him. Entering my armored form.

Time to see which of them burns brightest!

“Boom!” I shouted as another group of griffins exploded. I was flying over the city bombing the griffins with fireballs. I spotted another group running to get out of the town. I laughed before shooting a fireball at the base of a building as they passed it, the massive rectangle of stone tipped and crushed all of them.

Brilliant!

What was that! There may have been innocent ponies in there!

Don’t be silly, the griffins have them all locked up in the prison.

Yeah, so shove it!

“Sadly I think that’s all of them.” I flew toward the griffin camp in the center of town and landed. Looking around I found no more chicken heads.

Aw man.

Can we go free the ponies now?

Fine. I sighed as I headed toward the prison. Stepping over the occasional charred griffin. When I reached the cold stone block that was the prison I saw there were no guards.

“I guess we scared them off.” I smiled as I reached it. Tearing open the gate I walked in. “Hello? Is there anybody here?” The prison seemed abandoned, there was no light other than a small ceiling window letting in a weak beam of sunlight.

“No, please we didn’t do anything.” I heard a voice say. Following it I came to a large cell with what may be the entire town shoved into it.

“I’m not here to hurt you, I am your liberator.” Just then I heard the sound of electricity. I turned just in time for a griffin to stab towards my torso. I flinched waiting for the shock, but the spear ended up hitting my armor and actually breaking. The griffin looked at the spear in shock. “Well, that’s not good for you.” I smiled before using my claws and slashing across his eyes. He screamed in pain, backing up as his eyes bled. Then I kneed him in the face, finishing by grabbing him by the tail and swinging him into a wall, leaving a satisfying blood smear along it. “That was fun.”

Nice! I loved the opening cut.

Thank you.

Sean, Nick, help the ponies!

Oh yeah. I turned to face the cell again.

“Now that he’s dead I can help you.” I walked to the cell and grabbed the bars using my strength I tore the entire door off its hinges. Throwing it across the room I clapped my hands together. “There you go, freedom.” I heard the sound of hundreds of hoof steps running away.

“Thank you so much.” I turned to see one of the ponies bowing to me. He was dressed in what looked like a suit.

“No problem, I enjoyed helping you.” I said as I cleaned my claws. “You’re town isn’t looking too good though.

“I know.” The pony hung his head. “It will take months, maybe years to repair it.”

“Don’t worry, after I’ve finished my genocide I’ll get Celestia to help you.”

So are we heading home now? Bob asked as I spread my wings.

Yep. I then shot into the air. Several of the ponies waving goodbye to me.

Um, this is the way towards Appleoosa. Another one of the conquered cities.

It is? That’s just a happy coincidence, we may as well help since it’s on the way home.

Yeah, help. That’s the word I’d use. I heard sarcasm in his voice.

Chapter 72: War Times

“Celly, I’m home!” I slammed open the throne room doors. Celestia and Luna jumped as I walked in. They were sitting in their thrones. I noticed that Luna had a bandage on her shoulder.

“There you are Sean.” Celestia nodded to me. “What took you so long?”

“What? No hello?” I looked at her hurt, putting one of my clawed hands to my chest. “I’ve been gone for so long.”

“Sean! I don’t have time for your jokes.” Celestia gave me an uncharacteristically aggressive glare.

“Well then.” I crossed my arm. “What’s your problem?”

“Are you seriously asking me that!?” Celestia shouted, I noticed her nostrils were flaring a bit.

“Sister calm down.” Luna said trying to calm her. Celestia glared at her for a moment, then she slowed her breathing and closed her eyes. When she opened them again she looked normal.

“I apologize.” Celestia looked at me. Still looking serious.

“Fine, if we’re being all serious.” I shrugged. “I was busy saving your little ponies. I’ve liberated all those conquered cities.”

“That explains why you look like you bathed in a can of red paint.” Luna looked at me with a bit of disgust.

“Really?” I looked myself over. She was right, there was at least some red all over my armor. “Eww. One sec.” I removed Nick from my chest and changed back to my usual self. “There we go.”

“Great, now that we’ve cleared that up.” Celestia nodded. “We need to figure out our next move.”

“I assume Luna told you all about the griffin’s violation of my memories?” I asked her as I put the charm in my pocket.

“Yes, we have put the town under a lock down.” Celestia nodded. “All secret entrances and weak points are being guarded.”

“What about that little train I saw? It was chugging right along and came straight into town.” I asked.

“That train is carrying fleeing ponies. We are attempting to get as many citizens as possible into the safety of Canterlot.”

“What about changelings infiltrating, or griffins attacking, what stops them?”

“The trains are under full guard watch.” Celestia explained. “And when they enter the city the ponies are looked over to ensure they are not changelings.”

“Sounds like you have it all figured out.” I nodded. “I personally say we should completely regroup, call back all guards outside of the city. Then we’ll be able to truly prepare.”

“But many of those guards are there to protect the ponies in the still safe towns.” Luna said.

“Right, cause those ones in Manehattan did a great job.” I rolled my eyes. “You just told me most ponies from the surviving towns are being evacuated to Canterlot, leaving our military spread out is a poor strategy.”

“I have to agree.” Celestia nodded. “While I don’t like the idea of leaving ponies to fend for themselves I feel that it’s what we must do if we wish to win this war.”

“But.” Luna looked at Celestia worried.

“Good call.” I smiled. “Once we get everybody here I’ll explain the rest of my plan.”

“Alright. I’ll send out the message.” Celestia stood up and walked towards the door. “Twilight and her friends should be here soon.”

“Excellent.” I nodded before I heard the rest of her sentence. “Wait, what!” I looked at her in shock. “This is no place for mortals like them.”

“They’ve proven themselves in combat.” Celestia looked at me. “Besides, we may need the power of the elements.”

“They’re still citizens, they lack any sufficient training.” I shook my head. “They’ll be griffin food before they can get the first friendship speech off.”

“I don’t like it either Sean.” Celestia said. “But we need all the power we can, and that includes the elements.”

“I can’t believe this.” Twilight said as she looked out the train’s window. “How did the griffins manage this?”

“From what I heard Sean had something to do with it.” Rainbow Dash said. “He told them secrets or something.”

“That can’t be right.” Twilight turned to look at her friend. “He hates griffins, why would he help them?”

“Maybe he finally snapped.” Rainbow circled her ear with her hoof. “He never was too right in the head.”

“Rainbow Dash stop it.” Applejack glared at her friend. “You’re only upsetting her more.”

“I’m just saying.” Rainbow shrugged. “He’s a fun guy but I never got the feeling he was all there. After all, you saw the one from the other world. Completely crazy.”

“But he’s not that one.” Twilight shook her head. “Our Sean is different.”

“If you say so.” Rainbow leaned back in her seat.

“Stupid Celestia.” I growled as I walked to the train station, walking past several refugee ponies as they wandered the city. Some jumping at the slightest noise. “Those six aren’t ready for real combat.”

For once we agree. She’s putting too much faith in the elements.

Hey, all three of us agree.

That’s rare.

I had managed to find a string, Nick had a small loop where I was able to put it, effectively turning him into a necklace.

If we want to prevent theirs or any more deaths we will have to go all out and kill the griffins quickly.

Preferably with a lot of blood.

Ugh.

I finally reached the train station. The one the elements were riding was meant to be arriving any minute. I walked up towards a small rise where several guards were waiting, preparing to check all of the fleeing ponies.

“Hello sir.” One of them nodded to me. “Might I ask what you’re doing here?”

“Just waiting for the element bearers to arrive. I can also help with inspecting the refugees.”

“Your help is always appreciated sir.” The guard nodded, quickly looking ahead as the train arrived. “Alright, let’s go.” Then all of the armored ponies walked to the train and waited for the door to open. I followed them. After a few seconds the door opened and ponies began to walk out in a single file line. The guards would look them over, scanning them with magic before nodding and letting them through.

They are surprisingly efficient.

Yeah, for squishy mortals.

So now you have superiority complex. Great.

It’s not a complex if it’s true.

Ugh. I can’t stand you. Can we just destroy the charm?

As if, without me we’d have died at the Manehattan prison.

That’s true.

Ha! Outvoted!

Whatever.

“Good afternoon Ms. Sparkle.” I heard a guard say, snapping out of my little conversation I looked towards the train to see Twilight and her friends exiting it, they were scanned and then let to pass.

“Hey guys.” I hopped down from the rise. “Glad you could make it.”

“Hi Sean.” Twilight smiled. “The Princess asked us to come and meet her at the palace.

“Yep.” I nodded. “I came to make sure you got here safely.” I then noticed one of the refugee ponies, a black male unicorn, he looked a bit off. Mainly due to the fact he was a bit hunched over, not in the scared way but in the sneaky way. “One sec.” I walked towards him and kicked him in the face, he went flying and smashed into the train leaving a dent.

“Sean!” I heard Twilight shout, running up. “Why would you do that?”

“For giggles.” I then went over and grabbed him by the horn. “Changelings are always fun to hit.” I drained his magic and he slowly was enveloped by a flame until he entered his ugly true form. “Arrest this one and question it.” I threw the bug to a guard, I turned back to the elements. “Right, let’s go.”

“So I caught the changeling.” I was telling Celetia about the event only a few minutes ago. “The concerning thing is the fact it so easily got past the guards. This means they’ve found some way to mask the spell, I’m also guessing this means their preparing for their final assault.”

“This is not good.” Celestia shook her head. “As much as it pains me, we are going to have to cancel the rescues.”

“Those poor ponies.” Luna looked at the ground.

“It’s the right choice.” I nodded. “I’m sure the citizens that are left can hide or something.”

“I suppose.” Celestia looked back to me. “Bring Twilight and the others in.”

“Right.” I had told them to wait outside the throne room while I talked to the princesses. Walking to the large doors I opened them. “Come on in.” The ponies nodded and entered, walking towards Luna and Celestia, bowing and then looking at them expectantly. “Well, I’m going to go help the guards scan the last train of refugees.”

“Wait, the last train?” Twilight looked at me. “So all of the surviving ponies have already managed to get here?”

“Nope, what’s left are being abandoned.” I shrugged. “It’s ok, we saved plenty.”

“But they’ll die.” Twilight looked to me then the princesses. “How can you just abandon them?”

“I don’t like it any more than you do Twilight.” Celestia looked at her sadly. “But that one changeling is a sign the changelings are able to get in. We need to protect the ponies that are in Canterlot.”

Boring.

Yep. We already went over this. I decided to just leave, turning I went out the open door.

“You’re good.” I nodded. The last train had arrived a few minutes after I had reached the station. So far all the ponies that came in were clean of changeling magic, the way I tested was to drain a small amount of magic from every single new pony. I know what the cheese leg’s magic feels like so it worked fine.

“That’s the last of them sir.” A guard walked out of the train. “I shall go tell the conductor to halt train activity.”

“Good.”

Great, now we can go do something else.

Yeah! But what? The town is littered with ponies, I doubt anything interesting can be done.

We should go back to the palace and report to Celestia.

We can do that anytime. But for all we know she’s still being boring with the elements.

Fair enough.

I’m clearly not going to get anywhere with you two. So, how about a compromise.

What kind of compromise?

Spill it Mr. Dull

Idiots. Alright, we can go have fun for an hour but then we go to report.

That works.

Fine.

“Great, the bakery is closed!” I glared at the white sign, that despicable word written across it.

Your hour is up.

You suck.

Get moving.

Ugh, fine. I turned and headed for the palace. I grumbled as I walked through the street.

“Prepare the charge.” I heard a voice say. Following the sound brought me right against the town’s outer wall. “Blow it!”

“Oh Bolas!” Before I could run the wall exploded.

“Fire!” A voice shouted as I opened my eyes, it was dark. Pushing forward I lifted a large chunk of rubble off myself.

Guess who got inside!

Sitting up I was able to look around. Canterlot was in chaos. There were several fires in the town, a massive hole was taken out of the defensive wall. I watched as a few ponies ran past me screaming, they were soon followed by two griffins holding spears.

We need to get to the palace!

What about all these other ponies?

Screw them! Survival of the fittest.

Not how I would word it, the logic is to help Celestia and the others, if they fall Equestria is done.

Fair enough. I lifted the rest of the rubble off myself. Ready Nick? I looked at the charm as the pupil appeared.

Oh yeah The pupil shrank. Killing time! Then the now familiar fireball enveloped me.

“Look out!” Luna shouted as she dodged another spear.

“Where are we going?” Twilight asked the princesses as they round a corner.

“The armory.” Celestia said not looking back. “We need to prepare ourselves.” Then there was an explosion in front of them.

“Not so fast!” A griffin climbed out of the new hole to stand in front of them. “Where do you think you’re going?” Eight more griffins soon followed him into the hallway.

“I’d recommend you move.” Celestia said, looking at the griffins calmly.

“Not happening.” The griffin lifted his spear. “The king has marked you two as priority kills.”

“Shall we sister?” Luna asked looking at Celestia.

“Of course.” Celestia’s horn glowed.

“Attack!” The griffin shouted before they charged at the ponies.

“Behind you freak!” I shouted to a griffin before pouncing onto him and snapping his neck.

I have a nice little trick.

What is it?

Find some griffins.

Sure. I nodded, running down the street I quickly came across four of them beating a Pegasus.

Now picture their decapitations and swing your arm like you’re throwing something.

“Hey griffins!” I shouted, the four stopped beating the pony to look at me. Concentrating I took my left arm and swung it to my right, then four black blades flew out and sliced through their necks. “Whoa!”

That was great!

Since when can you do that?

Since me!

I don’t know what I expected. Ok, let’s keep going.

“Done.” Celestia nodded as the last dead griffin fell to the floor. It was not a pretty sight, the sisters had been surprisingly aggressive. What remained of the griffins were mostly singed, chopped, and mangled bodies. “Let’s continue.” Twilight and the others stood for a moment in shock as Celestia and Luna walked over the bodies and back down the hall.

“Are you ponies planning to follow?” Luna asked looking back to them. The others regained themselves and ran after the princesses.

“Well looks like they got here.” I said stepping over a guard with a bolt sticking out of his head.

Let’s hope the others are ok.

Reaching the large palace doors I saw that one of them was completely smashed down, just like at the human colony.

At least come up with new methods of breaking in.

Don’t fix what isn’t broken.

Stepping over the rubble I entered the palace. The hallway was littered with bodies, both griffins and ponies. The usually clean white walls were covered in blood.

Aww, we missed all the action.

Following the carnage for a while I came to the throne room, this time the doors were just open instead of smashed. Walking in I had to duck as a spear flew past my head. Turning my hand into a dragon head I pointed to where the weapon had come from. There was a lone guard standing behind the throne.

“Stay back!” The guard shouted looking out from behind the throne again his eyes widened when he saw me. “Sir!”

“Hey.” I picked up his spear. “I believe this is yours.”

“My apologies.” He ran up and took the spear. “I had assumed you were another griffin.”

“If we weren’t in a crisis I would take offense to that.” I looked around the room. As with the rest of the palace it was full of bodies, Celestia and Luna’s thrones had some crossbow bolts sticking out of them. Mine had one of its horns broken off. “Where are Celestia and Luna?”

“The princesses took the elements and ran to the armory.” The guard pointed his spear out the door. “They had told my team to stay here and fend them off.”

“Alright.” I nodded heading towards the door, before I left the room I looked back. “Good job not dying, if you survive after this battle you’re getting a promotion.”

“Grab some weapons and armor.” Celestia ordered as she slammed the wooden door to the armory shut behind them, quickly moving the wooden plank to keep it shut. The door shifted as a few griffins smashed into it.

“So we’re going to fight all of them?” Rainbow Dash looked at her in surprise. “But there were so many of them.”

“You handled the changelings fine.” Luna said as she levitated a sword, looking it over. “There were far more of them then there are outside.”

“Yeah, but they were just hoof fighting, these guys have real weapons.” Rainbow pointed towards the door. “And they’re obviously out to kill not just conquer.”

“Well it’s fight or die.” Celestia told her before tossing a spear towards her. “So get ready.”

“Celestia and Luna were definitely here.” I said stepping over what I think used to be a griffin, this room had at least nine griffins, some cooked, and others cut into sushi.

I forget that they can actually do stuff.

Because they send me out to do all the fighting. I nodded rounding the corner and following the last hallway to the armory.

Exactly.

“Hit it again!” A voice shouted, jogging down the path I rounded the corner to see at least thirty griffins in front of the armory door. Some of them recoiled off the door, they then backed up and did it again.

I’m going to guess they’re in there.

Oh yeah. Let’s kill them. Our armor needs a change of color.

“Are you ready?” Luna asked as she looked over the element bearers. They were all wearing guard’s armor, each wielding spears and swords. Luna had put on the armor from her training with Sean, after the fight she had gotten it remade, she also carried a sword with a black blade.

“Let’s do this.” Applejack nodded.

“Is something wrong sister?” Luna asked looking to Celestia who was next to the door with her head against it. “Celestia?”

“There’s something strange.” She said still pressed against the wooden door. “It suddenly got very quiet out there.”

“Perhaps they left.”

“Why would they do that though?” Celestia then jumped away from the door as something smashed it.

“Hey! You guys gonna let me in?” They heard what sounded like Sean.

“Should we?” Luna asked looking to Celestia.

“I’m not sure. It could be a changeling.”

“Technically I am part changeling.” The voice said.

“We could try asking it a question only he’d know.” Twilight said standing next to them.

“No, the changelings and griffins went through his memories.” Luna shook her head. “They’d be able to answer anything.”

“If you’re not going to open the door I’m just going to come in.” There was a pause. “Oh you’re right, I can teleport.” Suddenly there was a flash of fire and an armored Sean appeared in front of them covered in blood, he had to duck as a spear flew towards his head. “Hey! You could have hit me!” He glared at the thrower who was Rainbow Dash.

“That was the point.” She glared at him.

“Oh you wanna go!” Before he could move a yellow aura appeared around him and slammed him against the wall. Something in his chest was torn out and his armor vanished.

“Well that’s rude.” He looked at Celestia. “War just eats your manners.”

“That’s enough.” Celestia looked him up and down. “How do we know you’re the real Sean?”

“You want proof, give me control of my right arm.” Celestia looked at him for a moment before his arm was released from the aura, the rest of him still in place. “Thank you.” He then turned his hand into a dragon head put his face in the mouth and blew it off with a fireball.

Was that really necessary?

They wanted proof I was me.

You could have cut off your arm to show the healing!

I liked it. Proof, with style.

Anyway, let’s see if it worked. I opened my eyes to see all the ponies leaning over me.

“So, you believe me now?” I asked looking at Celestia.

“Blowing off your face is a bit drastic.” Celestia used her magic to stand me up.

“True, but it was more interesting.” I cracked my neck. “Anyway, you guys look pretty geared up.” Luna was in that armor I had given her a while ago, Celestia was wearing what looked like her fiery form’s armor just without the fire, and the others were in boring guard armor. “Though it hardly seems necessary, they’re just griffins.” I grabbed Nick and reactivated him.

“Then why are you in armor?” Luna asked me.

“For style.” I raised one of my blood covered hands. “Plus it comes with free claws.”

“So what’s going on outside?” Celestia asked me, looking concerned.

“There’s a lot of griffins running around doing lots of killing.” I held out a hand and began to count using my fingers. “They’re slicing, shooting, mangling, beating, and burning.”

“We have to get out there.” Celestia quickly turned and opened the door, as it opened several griffin bodies and a small pool of blood fell into the room. “I’m guessing these were the griffins outside.”

“Yep.” I nodded, looking at my work with pride. “They were a lot of fun to kill.”

“That’s a lot of blood.” Rainbow Dash said looking at the pile.

“You should see the hall.” I walked to the door exiting the room. The ponies followed. After they had all entered the hallway I gestured proudly to the scene. Some of them like Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy did not seem thoroughly impressed.
The area was quite a masterpiece, almost every wall had been painted red, none of the wimpy half coats that the others had been doing, the amount of blood was able to almost reach my ankles, floating in the pool of blood could be seen little chunks of meat, armor, and weapons.

“Are you sure these used to be griffins?” Luna looked around the room.

“Of course.” I nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“Well from what you’ve done to the corpses they could have been goats and it would still be impossible to tell.” Celestia pointed to a floating leg.

“I’ll take that as a complement.” I smiled. “It took a lot of work to pull this off.”

“I believe you.” Luna nodded.

“Can we get moving?” Twilight asked. “The smell is making me feel sick.” The others nodded with her.

“Wimps.” I rolled my eyes. “Fine, let’s go.” As I turned to walk back to the front door I noticed there wasn’t the sound of eight sets of hoof steps following me. Looking back all the ponies except Luna and Celestia were slowly trudging through the blood and guts. “Hurry up!”

“Well sorry for not wanting to fall in this stuff.” Twilight glared at me.

“Ugh, it’s getting all over me.” Rarity complained.

“If you don’t hurry up I’m going to push you all into it!” I stretched my wings.

“You wouldn’t.” Twilight eyed me as she neared the turn of the hall.

“We both know I will.” I rolled my shoulders. “You have till the count of four.” That got them hurrying, after maybe three seconds the six were in front of me. “Good let’s continue.” I turned and headed down the hall.

“Ugh.” Rainbow Dash shook her hoof, getting the blood to splatter on the walls. “This only helps prove I’m right.” She whispered

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked as they followed the princesses and Sean.

“He’s a lunatic.” Rainbow jerked her head back. “You saw that room.”

“Well it was to help us.” Rarity spoke up.

“I’m just saying, he could have just killed them but he decided to turn them into griffin juice.”

They’re talking about us.

I’m aware. I nodded as we followed the hall.

The colorful one is questioning our sanity.

Doesn’t surprise me. She’s been a bit against me since that other dimension nonsense.

True. You should keep an eye out, she very well may manage to turn the other five on you.

Not likely.

Besides, even if they do turn on us we can show them the true power of a god.

We wouldn’t kill them.

Maim?

No.

Beat?

No.

Eat?

What? No!

As amusing as your back and forth conversation is, could you have it elsewhere?

Fine. After that the two grew quiet.

“When did you get the second one?” I looked to my left to see Celestia eyeing me.

“What?”

“The second voice. The one who talked about eating them.”

“Stop listening in on my head.” I glared at her. “That’s a complete invasion of privacy.”

“You were looking phased out so I decided to check.”

“What are you two talking about?” Luna asked looking at us. “Who’s talking about eating who?”

“Don’t worry about it.” I waved a hand as we rounded the last turn, we passed the princesses little griffin massacre. “Good job here.” I nodded stepping over a few bodies. “I’m surprised you guys did this, and I thought me training Luna was a waste of time.”

“What’s that supposed to mean.” Celestia gave me an irritated look.

“Well you guys don’t really do much.” I shrugged. “Mostly you sit there and send me or the elements to solve your issues.” We reached the front doors before Celestia could respond, I turned to face the others. “Alright, we’re going to enter the war zone. Those of you who are squeamish.” I looked at Fluttershy. “Suck it up.” Then something bumped my leg, looking down I saw Progenitus looking up at me. “Hey buddy, you wanna go kill some griffins?” The hydra nodded before growing to his full size. “Great.” I turned and headed out of the door.

“Celestia duck!” I shouted before blasting a griffin with fire as he leapt at her.

“Thanks.” Celestia nodded before blocking the sword of a griffin. Then the sound of several crossbows firing was heard, looking to my right I smiled as the little projectiles bounced of my armor uselessly, then with a flick of my wrist the building the archers were on crumbled.

“Sean, try to avoid destroying the city more.” Luna told me as she pulled her sword out of a griffin’s skull. “The griffins are doing fine without your aid.”

“You’re no fun.” I groaned as I backhanded a griffin pouncing at me, turning, my foot quickly flattened its face.

“Just keep the damage to a minimum.”

“So now I have to nags.” I rolled my eyes. “Great.”

Hurry up! There’s more lives to take!

I smiled before spotting a griffin fighting Rainbow Dash. Turns out Miss Ego isn’t too handy with a spear. Running up I quickly jumped on the chicken head, snapping his spine. Before the colorful wimp could say anything I turned to Celestia and Luna.

“We need to make this go faster.” I pointed at Celestia. “You take the elements and start going through the east taking out griffins. Luna and I will go west.”

“Right.” Celestia nodded before turning and heading towards the town, the elements quickly following.

“Let’s go.” I said before running towards the town in the opposite direction.

“Nice.” I nodded to Luna as she decapitated a griffin. Looking down the street a bit I saw a large pack of them running towards us. I also smiled as Progenitus stretched his necks and bit several griffins out of the sky.

Let’s try that spell again. I smiled before spreading my wings and flying to the top of a building, running across two more roofs I then hopped over the group and swung my arms. Black blades flew out and cut straight through every single one.

“Suck it!” Then one of them flew in from the sky and rammed into me. Crashing into the ground I groaned. Looking up I growled as the griffin king landed in front of me. He was dressed in what I’m assuming used to be gold armor, though like mine it was mostly red by now.

“Hello human.” The king nodded. “I see you escaped our little spell.”

“Yep.” I stood up. “Now it’s time to thank you for that.”

“Today I shall return honor to the griffin royal family by killing you.” He raised a gold sword, the guard was shaped like a griffin.

“Trust me, it’s going to take more than beating me to return honor to your miserable race.” I raised a clawed hand. “Not that you’ll win anyway.”

“Even if I don’t beat you, the downfall of Equestria will be enough.”

“Wait up Sean.” I heard Luna call. Looking to my left I saw her running towards us, then a pack of griffins landed around her, Luna to my pleasure looked unimpressed and merely began to fight them with little effort.

“No help.” The king said as I looked back to him. “Just you, and me.”

“Fine.” I stretched. “I could use a break from fighting anyway.” The king did not share my smile as he charged and swung his sword. I easily dodged and attempted to kick, to my surprise he was able to dodge and used his sword to cut at me leg, the bigger shock was that the sword actually went through.

“This will be a harder fight than you think.” The king said as he jumped back. “I studied your fighting. I know all your little tricks.”

“What about this one?” I swung my right hand and five black blades flew towards him. The griffin looked at them unimpressed before blocking each with his sword. I looked at it in shock, the sword was completely intact.

“Like it?” The king raised the sword to show me. “Family weapon. With one little touch, I enchanted it with some of your magic. It can cleanly cut through anything magic.”

That explains the armor.

“Good for you, sadly it’s not enough to save your miserable life.” I then shot a fire ball at him, he easily dodged but as I flew towards him he was able to fly up a tiny bit and ended up chopping one of my wings off.

“Nice try.” The king looked at me smugly. “I told you, none of your tricks will work, and that magic armor isn’t going to protect you.
I growled looking at my wing, to my surprise neither it nor my leg were healing.

What?

Yeah, this form requires your magic reserves to keep it going. So, no healing.

What!? I kicked the king as he flew at me, quickly jumping up.

What did you expect? How would you be able to do all this powerful magic without it getting a power source.

With that sword you’re not worth it right now then. I ducked as the king swung his sword before grabbing Nick and removing him from the armor. Reverting back I cartwheeled away from another swing before wrapping Nick around my neck. The familiar feeling of my leg healing returned.

“Abandoning the armor?” The king smiled. “Giving up?”

“Nope.” I turned my right arm into a blade. “It was only slowing me down.”

“Very well.” He then charged at me. I smoothly dodged every single swing of the sword.

Wow, Nick was slowing me down.

Well it’s a tradeoff. Speed, maneuverability and intelligence, or power, durability and idiocy.

You guys suck.

After the king stopped his attack I took my turn, aggressively bringing my arm down. Annoyingly the king blocked and the sword smoothly cut through my arm. Jumping back I let my arm heal.

“Well, that didn’t work.” I hopped as the griffin swung his sword at my legs, his reaction time was surprising as he swiftly made another shot. I was able to make my arms into a large shield, while the sword went through it with relative ease, the protection did offer enough resistance to keep the weapon from completely cutting me in half.

“Argh.” The king growled as he began to pull the sword out of my torso, taking the opportunity I kneed him in the face. The royal chicken went flying back along with his sword. He stood up after a second spitting out some blood before glaring at me. “Well played human, sadly that won’t happen twice.”

“It might.” I shrugged. “Your race is pretty dumb.”

“Enough talking.” The king growled before shooting forward, I smiled waiting until he was just in front of me before bringing my fist down on him. At least I would have if he didn’t manage to swerve at the last second and chop my leg off. Falling to the ground my leg began to grow back as I slowly lifted myself up. Sadly king chicken head made another slice, this time removing the arm supporting me. Face planting again I growled.

“Stop doing that!” I ordered as I began to get up.

“No thank you.” Then the griffin rammed into me cutting me off at the hips, falling I landed on my back this time. The king walked up smiling, I watched as he raised the sword preparing to stab it into me. Before he could bring it down he was blasted by a blue laser.

“I believe he told you to stop cutting him.” As my lower half grew back Luna came to stand next to me.

“Nice of you to join us.” I said as I sat up.

“Well I apologize if killing fifteen griffins took a while.” Looking back there was a pile of chopped up griffins.

“Good work.” I nodded before standing up.

“How pathetic.” Looking forward the griffin king was standing a few feet away glaring at us. “The mighty human has to be saved by a pony.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Luna looked at the griffin.

“I’m merely saying I wanted a real fight with a true opponent, not some pitiful pony.”

“Well if ponies are so pitiful you won’t mind fighting both of us.” I smiled.

“Fine, maybe put together you’ll make one real adversary.” The king raised his sword. “Let us continue.”

You’re a bit smug for someone who was getting shredded like cheese.

Shove it. Now how do I help beat him? Luna can probably hold her own, but he knows all my moves.

That’s why you need to mix it up. You know, do things he wouldn’t expect.

Spontaneous!

Exactly.

Alright, let’s do this.

“If you have no intentions of making the first move.” I looked over to the king to see him spread his wings. “I will.” He then shot forward, I was able to leap over him. Spinning around I watched as Luna charged towards him and they began to cross swords. Surprisingly the king was able to knock her back and get a cut on her leg before turning back to me.

Oh, I just thought of something that will be cool.

This will either work, or end very poorly.

Ignoring Bob’s negativity I charged at the king, he smirked as he raised the sword. Just as I reached him I turned my hand into a dragon head and shot a fireball at the ground, the smoke cloud blinded the griffin as I went flying over him. I was able to spin in midair and reach the side of a building, once my feet made full contact I pushed off and shot forward. As I passed him I made a cut across his side.

“Aagh!” The king shouted in pain as I rolled before hopping up. He touched his talon to the side and removed it to see it covered in blood. “That was clever.” The chicken head rubbed his talon on the ground to clean it off. He blocked as Luna attempted to cut him again, she was able to dodge his retaliation and teleport next to me.

“Alright, let’s do some killing.” I nodded to Luna before running at the griffin, I began to sporadically but accurately punch and kick at him very few were able to actually hit him but the ones that did were able to dent the armor, as he swung his sword at me I jumped back and Luna attacked. The sudden switch caught him off guard and Luna got several good hits in. After a few shots I jumped behind him and we swapped again. This went on for several minutes until the king was panting, his armor dented and cut in several places, blood dripping off his body onto the floor.

“It is over griffin.” Luna said as she pointed the sword at the king’s head. “You have.” Before she could finish she was blasted by a green beam of magic and sent flying. She went flying and slammed into the side of a building, leaving a small dent. She groaned in an attempt to stand before flopping to the ground unconscious. Looking to where the beam had originated I growled. Chrysalis was flying overhead smiling cruelly.

“That was satisfying.” She said as she landed next to the king.

“So you finally show your ugly face.” I glared at her.

“Well that’s rude.” She smirked. “You need to be put in your place.”

“How about no.” I then shot ice at her face, freezing her mouth shut. “I’m not putting up with that stupid screech.”

“Mmm!” She aggressively scraped her holed hooves against the ice.

“I think it’s time to retreat.” The king wheezed as he looked at the changeling. Chrysalis nodded before lifting the king and placing him one her back. “One more thing though.” He pulled a metal handle with a button out of a pouch in his armor.

“What’s that?” I eyed it.

“A little going away present.” He then pressed the button, there was a loud bang and the whole ground began to shake. Then there was another bang, this time I saw a cloud of smoke from a few blocks away. “Today Canterlot falls.” Chrysalis then took flight and the two began to fly away.

“Get back here!” There was another bang and the ground shook even more.

We have bigger problems! Canterlot is blowing up!

So that’s what it is.

Yes! We need to get Luna and Progenitus and run! Progenitus wasn’t hard to find as he came running around a corner before reaching me and jumping onto my shoulders. Then there was another explosion and the ground actually began to crumble.

“Uh oh.” Then the floor completely fell out from under me, I began to fall as the rest of the city crumbled with me.

This is bad.

You don’t say.

Where’s Luna? Looking around I eventually spotted her unconscious body falling a little ahead of me.

“Hold on tight boy.” I warned Progenitus before I turned my hands into dragon heads and used fire breath to propel myself forward. “Almost there.” After another second I returned my hands to normal and grabbed the falling alicorn. “Gotcha!”

Good work. Now what’s the plan to escape the chunks of city that are falling towards us?

That’s a good question. I didn’t think that far.

Well hurry up because the ground is getting uncomfortably close!

Really? Looking down Bob was right, the ground was only maybe a few yards away. Nick, let’s see if you can handle this fall!

Childs play. He said as I grabbed the charm, and activated it. Once I was armored I wrapped my wings around the pony and hydra I was carrying and braced to hit the ground.

You may want to turn so you don’t crush them.

Oh yeah. I managed to then twist, making it so my back was facing the ground. The wind was knocked out of me as I slammed into the ground. We made it! Then I spotted a large chunk of a building flying down towards me. Oh man. Rolling around again to protect Luna and Progenitus , the building came down and made a loud crash.

Chapter 73: Ruins

Am I dead? I opened my eyes to find it was pitch black.

Don’t be so dramatic.

Why is it so dark then?

Maybe because we’re buried under a bunch of rubble.

Really? Stretching my wings I felt resistance. Well that’s good. Wait how are we nod crushed? That building came straight down on us.

You were too busy closing your eyes to notice that the building ended up hitting some destroyed wall. That made the building just break.

Excellent. Now how are we supposed to escape?

You realize it’s just rubble right?

True. Using most of my strength I pushed up. After a few seconds the rubble began to lift until I saw the light of day. Freedom! I crawled out of the hole and stretched.

Aren’t you forgetting someone?

Oh yeah. I looked back to see Luna and Progenitus. The hydra was sitting next to the unconscious princess looking upset. Walking over I lifted Luna up, carefully carrying her and walked away, Progenitus quickly followed. Looking around I saw we had ended up in what seemed like a crater of destroyed buildings. Spotting a massive pile of rubble I climbed up it to get a better look of the area.

Well that’s not pretty.

Canterlot was practically gone. Almost as far as I could see there was nothing but destroyed buildings. Looking towards the mountain I saw a small impression where part of the city used to be but nothing was on it.

When he said Canterlot was going to fall he was quite literal.

Yeah. Celestia’s gonna be pissed. Then something crossed my mind.

“Celestia!” I carefully placed Luna on a piece of flat rubble. “Guard her Progenitus.” The hydra nodded before sitting next to her. I gave a thumbs up before flying to where the east bit of town used to be.

What are you doing?

“I have to find Celestia and the others.”

Assuming they’re alive.

“They are.” I said as I landed. “Where do I start?”

I’m not sure, this is a large area to cover.

Yeah, they could have been turned into ponycakes anywhere.

Not helping Nick.

“They aren’t ponycakes, Celestia found a way to save them from the destruction.” I lifted a large part of a house before throwing it far behind me when there wasn’t anyone under it. “She always has some sort of trick or plan.”

What about all those times she’s been bested? Like getting beaten by Nightmare Moon, was that part of a plan?

Well technically yes. She was making herself scarce so that Twilight and the others would have to face her.

What about Discord?

She did manage to get Twilight’s morale back up so she could fix her friends.

Changelings! You can’t deny me the changelings.

That one I have no defense for her.

“Celestia!” I shouted, lifting a large sign. Dropping it I lifted what I think used to be a fountain. “Twilight!” I growled before throwing the fountain at the mountain.

Calm down.

“I have to find them.” I said as I dug out some bits of building. “They have to be somewhere around here.”

I think you need to face it Sean.

“Face what?” I asked before growling and smashing a bit of broken palace.

That they’re gone.

“They can’t be.” I shook my head.

King Boring is right for once. We’ve been looking for an hour! If they were alive they’d have turned up.

“You guys are wrong. They’re here somewhere, you’ll see. We’ll find them any minute.”

“Where are they?” I asked as I sat down on a piece of wall. “They have to be here somewhere.”

I’m sorry but they aren’t. There is no way they could have made it, even if they had I’m sure all your shouting would have made them find some way to show you where they were.

“But.”

But nothing! They’re dead! Gone! RIP!

Ignore him. Anyway, I don’t like it either. However, there is one pony left that needs our help.

“I guess you’re right.” I stood up and began to walk away. "Bye guys."

“Hey, wake up lazy.” I slapped Luna. “Come on, this is not nap time.”

Maybe she’s dead too.

“She better not be.” I pressed my head to her chest and was glad to hear weak breathing. “Good.”

She doesn’t look too good though.

Bob was right, her armor had a large singe in the chest, there was a decent cut across her leg, and she was covered in bruises.

“What’s up with this blood?” I looked at some red that was trickling over her eye. “Where’s it coming from?”

That’s not a good thing. Take off the helmet.

“If you say so.” Grabbing the sides of her helmet I pulled it off. “I don’t think foreheads are supposed to bleed like that.” There was a reasonable cut on her forehead that was releasing a fair amount of blood.

This is bad, we need to get her to a hospital.

“Where do you propose we go for that? You saw the towns we freed, they are in no shape for medical care, and the rest were evacuated.” I asked impatiently as I took one of my gloves and wrapped it around her head.

What about the zebras?

“That’s true.”

No, that’s too long a flight. Once we move her we have to get somewhere quickly.

“Since when are you a doctor?”

Since shut up.

“Whatever.” I shrugged. “So Dr. Bob, where do you propose we go? Most of the other races hate us” There was a pause.

The Crystal Empire, Cadence is the ruler.

“True, that’s still a pretty long flight though, and I’ll have to fly slower than usual.”

It’s better than anything else we have. Our choices really are either try it, or stay here and let her die.

“Fair enough.” I stood up and stretched before reaching down and carefully lifting Luna up, Progenitus quickly jumped onto my shoulder. “I’m guessing dragon is the smarter flight.”

Probably.

“Well let’s go visit Cadence.” I then changed to my dragon form, holding Luna in one of my hands. Progenitus ended up climbing into that hand to sit next to her. “And we’re off!”

Hey! Don’t you close your eyes!

“Sorry?” The adrenaline had finally worn off and I was beginning to feel the toll of six battles in one day. “I’m so tired.”

Well lucky for you the Crystal Empire is just ahead.

“Really?” I looked up to see. The name was apparently quite literal, the entire place was made of crystal. The buildings glistened in the sunlight as we neared it. “I didn’t expect it to actually be made of crystals.” Then I felt something clink off my armor, looking down I saw three more small projectiles come at me, two hit my armor and one bounced off my arm. “Who is doing that?”

Crystal ponies.

Looking closer I saw he was right, they were hard to see but pony shaped figures were on the ground holding crossbows. After a second several more bolts came flying at me, they were all of course useless as the metal projectiles merely bounced off me.

Are we just ignoring them?

“Pretty much.” I continued to fly towards a massive crystal castle. “I’m guessing Cadence is in there.”

What was your first clue?

Once I reached the castle I landed at the front door and returned to my human form. Moving towards the large crystal door I prepared to knock before a bolt flew and jabbed through my hand.

“Halt!” I looked back to see four crystal ponies with crossbows glaring at me.

“Look, I don’t have time for you idiots.” I tore my hand free. “My friend here is in danger of death and I need Cadence.”

“If you want to get near the princess you will have to do it over our dead bodies.”

“That can be arranged.” I opened my mouth to prepare a fireball, Progenitus growled at them growing a foot taller. Then the sound of the door opening was heard behind me.

“What’s going on out here?” Looking back I saw Cadence standing in the door way.

“Princess stay back!” One of the guards ordered.

“Hi Cadence. Would you get your glittering morons away from me?”

“Hello Sean.” She nodded. “You ponies stand down.”

“You know this creature?” One of them asked.

“Of course, he’s a friend of mine from Equestria.” She turned and walked inside. “Come in Sean.”

“Thank you.” I turned and stuck my tongue out at the ponies.

That’s mature.

You’re expecting maturity from me?

“So, what brings you to my kingdom Sean?” Cadence asked looking back.

“Oh right, Luna needs medical attention.” The reason I had come slipping my mind for a minute.

“Aunt Luna? What’s wrong with her?” Cadence asked, getting closer to see the alicorn in my arms. “What happened to her head!?”

“Griffins happened.” I growled. “They got to Canterlot and attacked.”

“Explain the rest in a minute.” Cadence’s horn glowed and we were teleported. As we rematerialized I looked around. We were in a new crystal room, the crystals were a white shade. There were a few beds made of crystals along with other furniture.

“Where are we now?” I asked.

“The royal infirmary.” Cadence said as she pressed a button. “The best doctors in the Crystal Empire work here.”

“If you say so.” Then a door swung open and a crystal pony ran in. He was made of lighter colored crystals, wearing a lab coat. His cutie mark was a stethoscope.

“You rang Princess.” He bowed to Cadence.

“Yes, Princess Luna needs serious medical attention.” The doctor walked up and looked at her, his eyes widened as he saw the head injury.

“That she does.” He whistled and four more ponies came in with a gurney. “Place her on that.”

“You’re the doctor.” I nodded before carefully putting Luna on the gurney. “Just make sure you fix her.” I glared at the doctor. “Assuming you like that face of yours.”

“Sean, back away from the doctor.” Cadence ordered. I growled and backed away to stand next to the pink alicorn. The ponies looked at me concerned for a minute then Luna before slowly leaving the room with her.

“What was that about?” Cadence asked me.

“I just want one of them to survive.” I clenched my fist.

“What do you mean one of them?”

“One of my friends from Equestria.”

“Give me full answers.”

“Canterlot was blown up.” I looked at her. “And Celestia, Twilight, and the elements with it.”

“What!?”

“Let me give the full story.”

“Then. BOOM! No more city.” I told Cadence and Shiny as I leaned back in the crystal chair.

“Those filthy griffins.” Shiny slammed a hoof on the crystal table we were sitting at. “They can’t get away with this.”

“And they won’t.” I looked at him.

“What about Twilight and the others?” Cadence asked looking upset.

“They were on the other side of town when it crumbled, I looked for them but couldn’t find any trace.”

“If you couldn’t find a trace of them maybe they escaped.” Cadence looked hopefully.

“Doubt it.” Shiny shook his head. “From what he says the griffins knew about all secret escape routes, they wouldn’t have been able to hide.”

“There’s still a chance.” Cadence stood up. “Tomorrow I’ll send some of my guards to search the ruins for them.”

“Knock yourself out.” I crossed my arms and yawned. “I searched for two hours and found nothing, but whatever.”

“Are you ok?” Shiny looked at me quizzically.

“Yeah, just tired.”

“Why don’t you get some rest?” Cadence said. “You can use one of the guest rooms.”

“That’s appreciated.” I stood up as Cadence turned and walked out of the room. Following closely we eventually came to a series of crystal doors. Opening one of the doors it opened up to a large crystal room. It was fairly simple there was a large bed in the center of the room, a crystal dresser, and chair. Progenitus ran and jumped onto the bed, curling up at the foot of it.

“Make yourself comfortable.” Cadence smiled.

“Thanks.” I flopped onto the bed.

“I just realized a problem.” Shiny said as he entered the room. “With Princess Celestia likely dead, and Princess Luna hospitalized, day and night are stuck.”

“What time is it?” I asked looking at him.

“6:18.” He responded.

“Alright, I got this.” I stood up and walked to the window, looking outside I spotted the sun. Activating Nick I concentrated on it.

You really think you can do this?

With Nick’s help.

“What do you mean?” Shiny asked as he came to stand next to me. After few seconds he looked at me in surprise as the sun began to set and the moon rose. After maybe a minute it was night.

“There you go.” I said as I returned to my usual form. “Goodnight.” I flopped onto the bed.

“How did you?” I heard Shiny ask before I fell asleep.

“Um Sean.” Someone was shaking me, the voice sounded familiar.

“Celestia, what did I tell you about waking me up?” I growled before opening my eyes. Cadence was in front of me looking confused.

“What?”

“Nothing.” I sat up. “What is it?”

“Well now is when Aunt Celestia would raise the sun.” She pointed to a clock, the hands showing it was almost 7:00.

“Oh.” Climbing out of the bed I stretched. “One sec.”

It’s too early. Nick groaned as I activated him.

Deal with it. Walking to the window I spotted the moon, repeating last night’s process I lowered it and raised the sun.

“There you go.” I turned to Cadence as I removed Nick. “Is that all?”

“I also came to give you an update on Aunt Luna.”

“Is everything alright?” I looked at her urgently. “Do I need to crack that doctor's crystal skull?” My voice lowering in pitch.

“Calm down.” She held a hoof up. “It’s the opposite really, they say she’s recovering well and should be conscious in two days at most.”

“Oh.” I took a deep breath. “That’s good to hear.”

“I thought you’d like that.” She nodded. “Now then, would you like to join Shining Armor and me for breakfast?”

“Sure.” I followed her as she headed out of the room. Walking down a crystal hallway she spoke up again.

“So, what are you going to do for the day?”

“Well I should probably get a look around this little empire of yours.” I shrugged. “Since I’m going to be here for a while longer may as well understand where I am.”

“That makes sense.” She nodded. “I’ll make sure the guards don’t attack you this time.”

“Thank you.” I nodded. “I assume this is it.” There were two large crystal doors in front of us.

“Yes.” She nodded before using her magic to open them. Behind the doors there was a large dining room. It wasn’t as extravagant as the Canterlot one but still nice. Shiny was already there waiting at a large rectangular table.

“Ah there you two are.” Shiny nodded. Cadence trotted over to sit next to him, I followed and sat across from them.

“Unfortunately we weren’t able to get you any of your usual junk food on such short notice.” Cadence told me as some crystal waiters entered with trays covered by lids.

“That’s fine.” I shrugged. “What do you have then?” As I asked that one of the ponies placed a tray in front of me.

“All we could think of was the fact you were part dragon.” I lifted the lid, on the tray there was a pile of gems.

“This should work.” I nodded before taking a bite out of one, my jaw ended up breaking. “Forgot to change.” I groaned as I snapped it back into place.

Genius.

Shove it. Changing my jaw to a more durable dragon type I began to actually eat.

“And this is the local bar.” Cadence pointed to a small building, it was wedged between two larger crystal buildings.

“Good to know.” Cadence had taken it upon herself to show me around her kingdom, pointing out all the major shops, restaurants, and meeting places. I don’t know how anyone could live here. Literally everything seems to be made out of crystals. It’s all way too sparkly.

“That about concludes the tour.”

“This is a nice place.” I nodded. “Quite the leap in power for you.”

“Filthy griffins.” I growled as I looked at Luna. She was lying in one of the beds unconscious, a bandage was wrapped around her head and leg, a cast was wrapped around one of her wings. The heart rate monitor weakly beeped with her pulse. A mask was on her muzzle to offer more air. The doctors claim it wasn’t necessary but what do they know. “They won’t get away with this.”

Well right now you’re letting them. We need to take action.

You’re right.

May I intervene?

No. I’m going to get them back, and you can’t stop me. I turned and left the room.

Chapter 74: I Will Have Vengeance

“You’re sure this will work?” I was currently standing on top of a large mountain near the Crystal Empire.

Of course, simply enter your dragon form and concentrate on them.

“If you say so.” Once I had reached my sixty foot form I looked to the sky. Taking a deep breath I concentrated. Upon imagining several portals in the sky, to my surprise the portals then appeared in the real world. “Woah!”

Now just picture them coming through the portals and they shall be dragged here.

“Right.” Concentrating again I pictured a massive storm of dragons coming out of the portals, after a few seconds several dragons came from the portals, followed by more, and more, until there were at least a hundred, all looking around confused.

Now you just get them to follow.

“Greetings my brethren.” I shouted from the mountain peak, all of the dragons turned to look at me.

“Lord Bolas.” One of them said in surprise. After another second they all did their little bow.

“Rise.” They all stood back up. “I have summoned you to help me fulfill a task.”

“Where are we anyway?” Another asked.

“Just outside a place known the Crystal Empire, it is essentially a new pony settlement. Therefore my rule stands here.”

“Of course.”

“So what is this task?” A red dragon asked me looking a bit impatient.

“How many here know of the race that call themselves griffins?” I looked to the crowd, to my annoyance only maybe twenty raised their hands. “Excellent. For those of you that don’t, allow me to explain, the griffins are a disgusting race that are an ungodly combination of a lion and eagle. They are arrogant, moronic, freaks.”

“Skip to the point.” The red dragon ordered, he then gasped as I wrapped my tail around his throat.

“Do not order me.” I growled before releasing him. “As I was saying, these freaks of nature have wronged me, that is why you are going to help we wipe them from existence.”

“I don’t know sir.” One of them said, a blue dragon, looking nervous. “Dragon’s already don’t have the best of reputations, and I don’t think wiping out an entire race will help.”

“Fair enough. I have had my fair share of warriors attempting to slay me. However, when they are out of the way we will claim that land for ourselves.” I spread my wings. “Picture it, an entire country just for dragons. None would dare enter in some petty quest for honor. There you would be safe to raise your whelps, have a large hoard that can go untouched, it would be the migration volcano but for a home.” I smiled as at least ninety percent of the crowd began to nod.

“That sounds great.” That red dragon spoke again. “But how do we know it will work?”

“Simple.” I nodded. “One dragon is dangerous, two is unstoppable, and an entire storm would be something for every creature to fear.”

“I don’t trust it.” The dragon turned to fly away, he didn’t get far before I grabbed his leg with my tail and pulled him in.

“I don’t recall saying you could leave.” I grabbed his head and looked into his eyes. “Now you’re going to help with this apocalypse.” His eyes glowed with a green tint and he nodded.

“Yes Lord Bolas. I apologize for my ignorance.” He said.

“Good.” I released him and he flew back to the rest.

“One thing.” Another dragon raised his hand. “May we at least know how they wronged you? So we can understand what we’re fighting for.” The rest nodded.

“Very well.” I began to growl. “They attacked and destroyed my home. My hoard, cave, and almost everything I hold dear is gone. You can all understand my pain, and that is why I shall have vengeance. Now are you with me?” The dragons all roared in response. “Excellent! We shall scorch their world in dragon fire!” I then spread my wings and began to fly, the crowd followed.

“There’s a town a few miles east.” I pointed to its general direction. “I want five of you to destroy it. Like the rest, don’t leave a single griffin alive.” Five dragons then separated from the rest and flew east. This was going perfectly, I had sent groups of dragons to every griffin settlement, my army having orders to kill everything. The only place left was the capital city. “Those of you who are left get a rare honor, you shall be fighting beside me.”

“There it is.” I smiled as the city came into view. “They shall look to the sky and despair. Attack!” The six dragons following me roared and sped to the town.

So, are we paying our crowned friend a visit?

“Of course.” My smile grew as my dragons began their attack, watching as buildings were scorched, and fireballs were dropped into the streets. “Here I come kingy.”

“What is going on!?” The griffin king shouted as he looked out of his castle window, dragons were flying all over his beautiful city. Destroying everything in their wake, he also had reports claiming that all his other cities were suffering similar fates. The ground shook as another building exploded in a cloud of fire.

“Sir, we must get you to the safe house.” One of his armored guards said. Just as they prepared to leave they heard screaming outside just behind the doors to the hallway. After a few seconds of silence the red doors swung open and a griffin body flew in, the corpse’s talon was forcefully jammed into its mouth and coming out the back of its head.

“You really should get some better guards kingy.” A familiar voice said from the darkness outside, then to the king’s horror the human walked in, covered in the armor from before. “Seriously, I plowed through them with no trouble.”

“You. How are you still alive?” The royal griffin backed up in fear.

“Oh you know.” The walking death row shrugged. “A little bit of healing, and a need for payback.”

“Just try it freak.” The lone guard said as he raised his sword.

“Oh? You think you have what it takes?” The human chuckled. “I didn’t realize the griffins had created a new god.”

The guard growled before charging at the monster. The human looked at him bored, once the griffin got close, the biped flicked his wrist and a black blade shot forward to decapitate the guard.

“See? Useless.” The possible embodiment of death kicked the body. “They just don’t make suicidal chickens like they used to.”

“You may have survived Canterlot.” The king grabbed his magic sword. “But you won’t be leaving here alive.”

“That’s backwards.” Evil incarnate raised a clawed hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll make the death slow.”

“For the griffins!” The king charged at his enemy. The human smiled, once the king neared he hopped over the griffin, as he landed a foot swung and smashed the king, sending him flying against a wall. Grunting in pain he watched in fear as his weapon slid across the floor right to the human.

“I must say this is impressive.” His foe picked up the sword and looked it over. “Quite a remarkable pieced of work.” Then one hand gripped the end of the blade while the other took the handle, after a few seconds the sword was snapped in half. “But I can’t have you running around with such power.”

“No, that was a gift from my father.” The griffin gasped as he was lifted by the throat.

“Oh boo hoo.” The human slammed him into a wall. “The last gift from my father was lost in your attack, so on that front we’re even.”

“You really think your little sun babysitter will let you get away with this?” The king choked. “She has you on a tight leash.”

“Sorry, but Celestia won’t save you.” The one man apocalypse tightened his grip. “She died in your explosions. So I’m free to do as I please.”

The king wheezed as the grip tightened. There had to be some way out of this, then he remembered something from Canterlot. Taking one of his talons he swiped across the human’s eyes. The claws made direct contact and left large cuts across his face, blood began to spew from his eyes. He screamed in pain and dropped the griffin.

“Why you little.” The human growled as he gripped his face. “For that your death will be so much worse.”

The king took this as an opportunity to flee, he had to dodge as a fireball flew past him. Running through the doors and into the hallway he charged down the dark corridor almost tripping over a dead griffin.

“Get back here!” He heard his attacker shout. Looking around frantically he finally spotted the door to a supply closet, quickly running in and closing the door he breathed heavily. “Oh Lord Cluck! Come out come out wherever you are.” He heard the metallic footsteps as his fear walked down the hallway. “Fine if you won’t come out I guess I’ll have to lure you.” Then silence gripped the area, the king released the breath he had unknowingly been holding. The griffin sat in the closet for a minute racking his brain on what to do.

“Daddy!” He then heard the scream of his son. Darting out of the closet he ran down the corridor. “Daddy!” Following the terrified call he eventually came to his son’s bedroom door, slamming it open he gasped. In the center of the room his son was being held by his scruff in the clutches of the human.

“Let him go!” The royal griffin ordered, glaring at the human. Then he heard a whimper, looking to a corner he spotted his wife, mother, and daughter all in the dark corner cowering. The human had gotten his whole family.

“You know, you freaks are sort of cute when you’re young.” The human looked his child over. “Shame you get so ugly as you go.”

“Release him!” The king ordered weakly. “He’s just a child.”

“So?” Two green eyes glared at him. “Age didn’t matter to you during your attacks on my people and the ponies. Tarturas, your guys massacred kids like they were going for a prize.”

“It’s going to be okay.” The king told his son. “I’m going to get you away.”

“Bold faced lie.” The human laughed. Then he looked back to the child. “Bored now.” He then tossed the young griffin out a nearby window, as he flew out a dragon swooped down and swallowed him.

“No!” The king shouted.

“Now then, which one should I kill next?” The killer asked as he looked over the cornered griffins “What do you say your majesty?”

“I’ll kill you.”

“Wife it is!” The human gripped his wife and smiled. “You know, I feel bad about taking your son from you. Why don’t you join him?” Then he slammed her skull into a wall.

“You monster!” The king shouted before leaping at the human, the monster easily dodged before grabbing the griffin by the tail and swinging him around and throwing him into a wall.

“So rude.” The human shook his head. “Wait your turn.”

“Why are you doing this?” The king asked. “Aren’t I the one you’re after?”

“That you are. However, I’m just settling the score a bit.” The human then turned his hand into a sword and decapitated his mother.

“What are you talking about?” The king growled as his mother’s head rolled around the floor. This freak was going to pay.

“Your race has taken a family and a half from me.” He turned his gaze to the young female griffin. “I’m just balancing out the karma a bit.” He then opened his mouth and singed his daughter.

“No!” The king shouted before leaping at the monster. The human easily dodged and used his claws to leave a large gash across the king’s side. “Agh!” He rolled across the floor, leaving a red streak behind him. “I’m going to kill you.” He said weakly as he picked himself up.

“Cute.” The human smiled as he walked towards the bleeding royalty. “So, how would you like your dismemberment to go? Should I start with the head? Maybe the legs?”

The griffin looked the cold green eyes. His mind was searching for some way to escape, there didn’t seem to be any. Odds were the eye attack wouldn’t work twice. Then something caught his eye. In the center of the psycho’s chest he noticed a sort of gem. It was offering a faint glow.

“This looks important.” The king said before his talon shot forward and grabbed the strange trinket, to his surprise he was able to grip and remove it from the armor.

“Hey!” A fireball enveloped the human, once it subsided he was back to his impractical look. “Give that back!” Then the king saw his chance, in his shock the living guillotine had left a large gap for the griffin to exploit. Wrapping the strange charm around his neck he prepared to flee.

“No thanks.” The king said before spreading his wings and flying as fast as he could past the human.

“Get back here!” There was a deep roar behind him. Risking a look the griffin screamed in surprise as he saw a dragon charging down the large hallway after him. This wasn’t the dragon form from the tales though. It was sleek and black, the head was rounder than his other form and no horns jutted out of the head, though on the sides of its mouth there were two horn like pieces. The mouth itself was strange, it wasn’t closed all the way, however it did help with the fear factor as the needle like fangs that filled the maw were very visible.

“Oh no.” The king flapped his wings harder. Luckily the corridor was too thin for the dragon to make use of its large wings, though it for the most part kept good pace, the unholy red eyes never losing track of him. The griffin rounded a corner and was glad to hear a crash as the beast was unable to make the sharp turn. There was only one place he could go, hopefully it would take advantage of his draconic blood. Finally the large doors came into view, bracing himself he rammed into them crying out in pain as he slammed into the gold. It scraped across his wound leaving some of the coins covered in red. Running he quickly hid behind a support column as he heard the loud thuds of the dragon.

“Clever.” The deep voice said. “Hoping to take advantage of my draconic nature. Sadly even the largest hoard is not enough to save you. I will have vengeance!”

The king flinched as he heard the sound of gold coins shifting under the weight of a massive foot. This was his last hope, the royal treasury had been his final plan. Hoping that a room where the floor was impossible to see underneath all the gold and gems would be enough the calm the beast.

“Tell you what.” The cold voice said. “Return Nick to me and I’ll make your death a few milliseconds shorter.”

Another large step was heard as the gold once again shifted. The king stood still as he heard the dragon’s movements near him.

“Why do you hide? We both know it is futile.” The deep voice was definitely closer. “It is impossible to escape. You leave two trails.” A loud breath was heard. “Yes, your fear is so powerful I can almost taste it.”

Another burst of shifting money.

“Then there’s the blood you’re carelessly trailing everywhere, you know what’s funny?” A cruel chuckle escapes him. “Griffin blood has this almost, intoxicating aroma. Interesting how something so wonderful comes from something so vulgar.” The steps are almost right next to him. “Shame I won’t be able to enjoy it again after today.”

The griffin shifts around the column as the dragon’s head rounds it, the bloody eyes scanning the area.

“Just come out already, you are wasting both our times.”

Looking at his feet the griffin spots a large gem, an idea reaching him. Picking it up, he chucked it as far as he could. The cut stone making a jingling sound as it lands on the gold. There is a pause before coins shift as the beast flies towards the sound. Taking this chance the king makes a break for the doors. Sadly just as he nears them he is blocked by a massive black form.

“Good try.” The monster laughs as his tail slams the doors shut. “But no.”

The dragon begins to circle him like a vulture.

“You know, you’re the first griffin that I find intriguing.” The beast stops in front of him. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re still garbage. But slightly higher quality garbage. You know, like an expensive yet broken coffee maker.”

“Um thanks.” The griffin says shakily.

“Don’t let it go to your dopey head.” Then a massive black hand flies out from under the gold and sends the griffin flying into the air. Unable to react in time he slams into the coins, groaning in pain. “You know.” The clawed fist grabs the griffin so the dragon can look at him. “If Celestia were here she’d tell me to not torment my prey. But she’s not.” The king is then violently thrown across the room, slamming into a wall. “Because you killed her!” Obvious anger enters the monster’s voice as he stalks towards the crippled king, the piercing red eyes glowing brighter. “I will not rest until the guilty have died.”

Then suddenly the beast’s advance stops. His eyes close as he growls.

“Be silent!” He shouts, the griffin looks but can’t see anyone. “I’m doing this for her! For them!” The black head slams into the pile of gold. “You can’t tell me what to do! You’re wrong, this is what she’d want!” His front legs grip the sides of his head. “So what if she’d do it differently? This trash needs to pay. I only know one way to do that.”

Sparks begin to fly around the human turned dragon, his tail swishing back and forth, sending gold and gems flying.

“I don’t care, she’s gone! You can’t hope to become my new moral compass!” Suddenly his head leaves the gold and slams into a nearby support beam. “Shut up!” Another head butt. “Don’t you go there!”

The king simply watches in shock as his enemy continues to slam his head into the ground and columns, as if he’s trying to remove something that is lodged inside.

“Didn’t you see Luna? She’s all that’s left, and even she’s barely holding on!” The griffin weakly dodges as a black wing flies towards him. “Repeat it all you want, I will at least ensure the world is safe for what I have left.” The dragon’s eyes suddenly shoot open, they scan the room until they fall onto the griffin. “He’s the only hazard left.” The dragon picks himself back up. “Once this one is gone Luna will be safe. Safe to rule Equestria without the stresses of war.”

The king weakly tries to back away as his eminent death approaches.

“Plus without battles she won’t need to worry about keeping me as charged as Celestia used to.” The dragon’s body begins to change. “Well king, as much fun as this has been I really need to get going.”

The facial horns vanish as his jaw begins to shrink, after a moment two curved horns burst from the skull, the five black talons fuse into three digits. The overall form begins to grow, black changes to olive and armor begins to appear on the arms, legs, and front of its torso. As he begins to stand a gem appears between the horns. Now a considerably larger dragon looms over him. The eyes then shoot open and two now green eyes look down at him.

“I must thank you for making such a large room.” The new beast stretches his wings. “It allows me to use my true power.”

“I assume this is the end for me.” The king asks.

“Look who caught on.” His eyes glow before the griffin is lifted and brought into the dragon’s grip. Using his other hand he pulls the charm off the griffin’s neck.

“At least I will be with my family.” The griffin says calmly.

“Not exactly.” The monster smiles. “You’re not dying in the usual sense.”

“What do you mean?” The king asks in fear.

“I’m just going to destroy your mind. Consigning you to an endless night.”

“What!?” The last griffin attempts to pull his head away as a taloned hand nears it.

“Although.” The hand stops. “I could also let you live. Allow you to feel the pain of knowing you’re the last of your kind. Let the descendent of the original destroyer feel my past misery.”

The hand retracts completely as the dragon looks away thinking.

“Let’s see. Should I have fun knowing your brain dead corpse is rotting away? Or, should I relish knowing that irony has caught up?” Placing his talon to his chin he looks at the griffin. “Sadly I have no way to keep you from just committing suicide when I release you. I’ll decide after the meeting.”

Turning his head the dragon shoots a fireball at a nearby wall, when the smoke clears a massive hole becomes visible. A new heat enters the room as the pillars of smoke are seen from the outside world. Spreading his wings the beast flies through the hole, once he’s outside he lands in the center of town. Letting out a ground shaking roar he waits, after a few seconds the king’s jaw drops as what looks like hundreds of dragons appear in the sky. As they near they begin to swoop down and land in front of them.
“My brother’s and sister’s.” His captor begins to speak. “We are victorious!” The dragon’s all begin to cheer. “This land is now ours!”
Several roars come from the crowd while others breathe fire to the sky. The king hangs his head is despair.
“There is but one freak left.” The hand gripping the griffin is then raised. “Behold, the pitiful king of these sad excuses for beings.” More cheers come from the dragons. “Now a dilemma is reached for me. What shall his fate be?”

“Burn him!”

“Feed him to the whelps!”

“Crush him!”

“Fly him to the sky and drop!”

Several more horrible suggestions come from the crowd. The griffin cringing at some of the more brutal and vulgar ones

“All wonderful suggestions my friends.” The original killer speaks up. “It is unfortunate he cannot experience all of your ideas. Or can he?” The griffin is raised to look into his enemy’s eye.

“How is that possible Lord Bolas?” One dragon asks.

“Simple.” A taloned hand is raised. “Using my infinite power I could make him experience every single one inside his mind.” The dragons begin to nod, many cruelly smiling. “So it’s settled your majesty. Enjoy your many torments.” A hand then touches the king’s forehead. He screams before his head limply falls back, his golden eyes rolling back.

Chapter 75: Discoveries

“It is done.” I shouted, dropping the limp griffin body. “We have won.” My army began to cheer. “This is now the country of the dragons!”

“My Lord.” One green dragon raised a hand.

“Yes?” I smiled, being in an extremely good mood.

“How are we to do this?” He looked at me quizzically. “Shall a government be formed?”
“Governments?” I chuckled. “That kind of thing merely restricts us. The only thing keeping you in line will be me as it always was. That said, there will be some rules for our new home. The first is covering theft, I will not tolerate it. If you wish to steal from your brethren you shall do it with honor.”

No objections were heard.

“The second covers territory, you will be allowed a den to live as well as small amounts of land. Unwarranted trespassing will give the owner rights to kill. On that note I want no murder.”

Several nods came after those.

“The final is my original, ponies are to go unharmed. The only time I will allow it is if they attack or trespass intentionally.”

“Lord Bolas.” A red dragon spoke up.

“What is it?”

“If you don’t mind my asking, why do you care so much about the ponies?”

“I regard them as interesting.” I smiled. “They are the only lesser race I have encountered that have any level of relative intelligence. Therefore I do not want them disturbed.”

“Alright.” The dragon nodded.

“Now then, it is time to claim our homes.” I spread my wings. “Go, and claim your new homes.”
My loyal army nodded as they all took flight in different directions. Hoping to claim the ideal land before others.

“That went well.” I smiled as my wings carried me back to the Crystal Empire.

I still can’t believe you let that filth touch me.

“Sorry, I was caught up in the moment.”

Whatever. Bob’s been quiet.

“Yeah, I dunno where he went.”

So what was with your little mental breakdown back there?

He refused to admit my points were valid.

“I already told you to drop it. You’re tainting her memory.”

You’re the one who wiped out a race. That’s going against everything she taught you.

“I said shut up!”

Here we go again. You just don’t want to admit you were wrong.

“Nick shut him up.”

My pleasure.

Hey! Get off me!

“Sean, where have you been?” Cadence asked me as I walked into the palace.

“Oh you know, I went for a calming fly.” I shrugged.

“Right.” She didn’t look totally convinced. “Well, it’s time to shift the sun and moon.”

“Oh yeah.” I activated Nick and went to a nearby window. Doing the whole routine I changed the day to night before returning to normal. “So anything happen while I was gone?”

“I do have some good news.” She smiled.

“What?”

“The doctors say Aunt Luna is supposed to wake up soon.” She let out a grunt as I shoved past her, after recovering she turned and chased after me.
“She still where I left her?” I asked continuing to the infirmary.

“Yes.” Cadence nodded as she finally caught up with me. “According to the doctors she’s still pretty banged up but will recover quickly once she wakes up.”

“Good.” I opened the doors to the crystal room. Luna was still lying in the bed, her heart rate seemed stronger based on the beeps from the machine. “Your doctors better hope they’re right.” I sat in the chair next to the bed, Cadence came to stand next to me.

“I don’t really appreciate you threatening my ponies.” She looked at me annoyed.

“Well I won’t appreciate their failure if something goes wrong.” I growled.

“Nothing’s going to go wrong. The doctors told me she’s perfectly safe now.”

“If you say so.” I leaned back in the chair.

“So tired.” I mumbled as my eyes tried to close. I had been waiting for several hours, Cadence had left a few hours ago to go to bed.

Then go to sleep. The doctors were clearly wrong.

I looked to the clock resting over the door. According to it the time was currently 11:18.

“Maybe you’re right.” I closed my eyes. Then I heard a muffled voice. “Nick shut up.”

Wasn’t me, and Bob’s still out cold.

“Great, now I’m hearing more things.”

“Stupid mask.” I heard a voice say. “Why is this even on me?”

“Cadence, if you’re trying to mess with me you better stop.” I growled.

“Sean? So you’re here too.” The voice greeted me.

“Ugh, can’t a man get any sleep around here?” I asked as I opened my eyes. To my surprise Cadence wasn’t here. Instead Luna was looking at me confused.

“Last I checked I’m not Cadence.”

“Luna!” I smiled. “You’re not dead.”

“Of course not, it will take more than one spell to end me.” She looked around the room. “So, where are we?”

“The Crystal Empire.”

“Ah.” She nodded. “Why?”

“Oh yeah, you got knocked out.” The memory just reaching me. “Well, Canterlot kind of exploded.”

“What!?” Luna attempted to sit up in shock, wincing as she tried.

“Hey, lie down.” I ordered. “You’re pretty banged up.”

“Very well.” Luna laid back down. “Tell me more.”

“Well, after you got taken out Chrysalis showed up, she saved the king and flew away. But the king somehow had managed to set up bombs throughout the town and detonated them. Then Canterlot fell apart, I saved you, and now we’re here.”

“What about my sister?” Luna looked concerned.

“Oh.” I looked away. “Um.”

Spit it out.

I’m worried too much stress will somehow mess her up again.

“Sean.” Luna looked at me. “What happened to Celestia and the others?”

“I have no idea.” I shrugged. “My best guess is they’re currently flattened under rubble.”

“No! That can’t be right.” Luna attempted to lift the covers of the bed. “We need to go search.”

“Oh no.” I gripped the edge of the sheets to keep them down, luckily her magic is pretty weak right now. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Let me go.” Luna struggled. “I have to find them.”

“I see no point, I searched for hours. I couldn’t find anything.”

“That means there is still hope.”

“Not really.” I shook my head. “Besides if they are alive Cadence’s ponies will find them, they’ve been searching for at least a day.”

“But I can help.”

“No you can’t.” I sighed. “How about this, I’ll go look more. You stay here and rest.”

“But I have to see Canterlot.”

“Ugh.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Your stubbornness is getting on my nerves.”

“Amusing to hear from you.”

“One sec.” I grabbed a nearby crystal table and tore off a leg. Activating Nick I concentrated and channeled magic into it, turning to Luna I grabbed her horn and poured magic into her. After a second a screen appeared over the gem showing an image of Luna.

“When did you learn this spell?” Luna looked surprised.

“When I was studying to beat Celestia.” I answered. “Now you’ll be able to see as I search. Is this good enough?”

“It will have to do.” Luna nodded. “Since I’m clearly not going to get to leave.”

“That’s the spirit.” I headed for the door. “Now I’m going to get some caffeine and then I’ll head off.”

“Whoever talks about how great coffee is must be brain dead.” I gagged as I swallowed the hot liquid. “You better appreciate what I’m dealing with.”

“Stop complaining and get moving.” Luna’s voice said in my head. I had regrettably forgotten another part of the spell, she was able to communicate with me as well since it links with the brain.

“Don’t rush me.” I said before downing another cup of the terrible beverage. “I think twelve cups is good enough.” Turning and leaving the kitchen I headed for the door out.

“Where are you going?” Hearing another familiar voice I turned to see Cadence behind me.

“Luna’s making me go back to Canterlot in search of Celestia and the others.” I told her.

“There isn’t much left to search.” Cadence said. “My ponies have cleared out almost all that’s left of the city.”

“I know.” I groaned. “But I have to so she’ll shut up and stay in bed.”

“Alright, have fun.” Cadence turned and walked away.

“Not likely.” I turned and opened the crystal doors to the outside world.

“What time is it anyway?” I asked Luna as I neared the mountain that used to hold Canterlot.

“3:37” Luna’s voice told me.

“Alright. Let me know when it’s time to raise the sun.” I ordered after landing in a clear patch of land. Cadence was telling the truth when she said the rock horses had cleared a good amount of the old capital. There was a mountain of rubble a little bit away but most of where the town used to be was clear. The only place left was the eastern portion.

“Sure.”

“Good. So here it is.” I gestured before shrinking. “Canterlot, is it everything you dreamed it would be?” Luna didn’t say anything.
“Hello?” I shrugged and headed towards what was left of the ruined city.

After activating Nick for the magic boost I began to lift large amounts of rubble. After looking under it I tossed the pieces of building behind me and onto the pile Cadence’s living stones had made. This went on for a few minutes before I heard something behind me.

“Who is there?” A familiar voice asked. Turning I had to cover my eyes as a bright light shined into them.

“Would you get that out of my face Shiny?” I asked.

“Sean?” The light dimmed. “What are you doing here?”

“Searching what’s left of Canterlot.” I lowered my arm.

“Why? My crew are doing fine, we haven’t found anything yet.”

“Luna was nagging me.” I said before turning to lift another chunk of rubble.

“The princess finally woke up?” He asked as he came to stand next to me.

“Yep, about four hours ago.” Tossing the rocks back I moved on to another. “It was either I come and look or she tries to.”

“Oh.” He yawned. “Well I’m going to get some more rest.” Shiny left as I finished another portion of the town.

“Bolas!” I threw another large portion of what I think used to be a house back. “Luna, this is pointless! There’s only maybe a mile left of city and I haven’t found them.”

“Keep searching.” Luna ordered. “They have to be here somewhere.”

“Ugh.” I lifted another portion of city before dropping it as I yawned. The caffeine was beginning to wear off.

“Come on. It’s only 5:19, you can do it.” Luna’s attempt at a pep talk just made me realize how long it was since my last nap.

“I’m so tired though.” I groaned before tossing more town back. “Can’t I just take a short nap?”

“Fine, you can rest until it’s time to raise the sun.”

“Yes!” I smiled before flopping to the ground and closing my eyes.

“Wake up!” A voice shouted.

“What?” I opened my eyes, groaning as I saw piles of rubble in front of me. “Five more minutes.”

“No.” What I now recognized as Luna’s voice said. “It is 7:15, I actually gave you more time to rest.”

“Fine.” I growled before picking myself up. “I’m really getting tired of you.” Looking to the sky I lowered the moon and raised the sun. “There, happy?”

“Almost. Get back to searching.”

“You suck.” I turned back to my new enemy known as destroyed Canterlot. “Well, back to work.”

“Yes!” I cheered. “I’m almost done.” There was only half a mile of city left. “Then I can get some real rest.” To my surprise there was no comment from Luna. I shook my head and raised a column of I’m guessing palace. Then I spotted something that made my heart sink. A white hoof was sticking out from under some rubble. “Oh no.”

“What?” Luna’s voice said drowsily. “I fell asleep.” There was a pause. “Is that what I think it is?” I hurried and began to lift bits of palace. My heart was pounding.

“Maybe it’s just a guard.” I said as I dug more. My heart began to get worse as the leg ended up being long and then the conclusion came when I saw the sun cutie mark. “No.”

I threw the rest of the ruble away, just as I feared once it was all removed the mildly crushed body of the sun goddess was in full view. Her body had certainly seen better days, there were many patches of dried blood on her white coat, one of her legs was twisted so that the hoof was near her chin and twisted, her horn was gone, and one of her wings was completely crushed.
“Celestia.” I fell to my knees looking at the lifeless body. “Maybe this isn’t her.” I began to look her over. “Maybe a changeling was posing as her.” Unfortunately I couldn’t find anything wrong with the corpse. I began to hear sniffling in my head. “Luna?”

“Sister.” Luna said weakly. “No. She isn’t dead. Wake her up Sean, she’s just resting after some injuries.”

“Luna.”

“Figure out a way. Please.”

I saw no point but I should humor her I guess. Putting a hand on Celestia’s head I tried to pour some magic into her. As I expected all that happened was the body twitched, but life did not return to it.

“I’m sorry Luna.”

“Try again.” As she requested I attempted to charge the body again, and like last time nothing happened. “Again.”

This went on for several minutes before she went quiet. I knelled there for a few minutes, waiting for her to say something. Then something hit me. Moving towards more nearby rubble I began to clear it, and as I expected a cyan wing appeared beneath some of it.

“Yep, the whole gang is here I guess.” I said grimly. Still nothing from Luna.

I carefully placed Celestia’s body in the kart. After digging out the rest of the bodies some of the crystal ponies brought karts to store them in so they could be transported to the Crystal Empire to be magically preserved until burial. As I prepared to leave with the bodies I noticed Shiny standing next to the one holding Twilight’s body. Walking up I say next to him.

“How are you holding up?” I asked looking at the white unicorn.

“I can’t believe she’s gone.” Was all he said, his eyes not moving from the purple corpse.

“Me neither.” I raised a hand trying to figure out a way to comfort without it getting awkward. After all, I don’t really hang around with other males. Eventually I just opted to sit there. “So, we need to get them to the Empire for magical storage.” I told him.

“Right.” Shiny pulled his gaze away to look at me. Obvious tears were being held back. “I’ll get some guards right on it.”

“Alright.” I stood up. "I'll see you there I need to visit a friend."

“Spike?” I opened the library door poking my head in. “You in here?”

“Twilight?” The young dragon’s voice was heard before he ran down the stairs from their room.

“Nope, just me.” I opened the door all the way.

“Oh.” He looked past me. “Is Twilight with you? I heard Canterlot was destroyed.”

“Sorry but no.” I shook my head. “Twilight is not coming back.”

“What do you mean?” He looked at me with worry.

“What I mean is that she was caught in the destruction and turned into a pony pancake.” I told him bluntly. Spike stood there for a minute before chuckling.

“This is one of your weird jokes right? Seriously, where is she?”

“I just told you.” I knelled down to look at him closely. “She along with everyone but Luna were killed.”

“You’re not joking are you?” He looked at me with tears appearing in his eyes.

“Sorry but no.” I shook my head. I waited as he began to cry. After maybe a minute I got bored. “So, the reason I’m here is to take you with me.”

“Where?” He sniffled.

“The Crystal Empire.” I tried to look excited. “That’s where we’re staying till we can fix Canterlot.” Spike didn’t seem to share my false enthusiasm just looking at me blankly. After waiting a few seconds I rolled my eyes and grabbed him. Walking outside I transformed and flew off with him on my back.

“Would you at least say something?” I asked Luna as I sat next to her bed. She had been quiet ever since I got back. “Ugh.”

“This sucks.” I stared at the ceiling in my room.

I have to agree. A soothing and familiar voice said.

“Celestia?” I sat up.

What? No, it’s me Bob. The voice said.

“What’s with the Celestia impression?”

I’m not doing an impression. Somehow my voice changed.

“Freaky.”

Hey Boblestia, when’d you get the sex change? Another familiar but surprising voice said.

You’re not one to be talking Nicklight Sparkle.

What are you? Agh! What happened to my voice!?

“Ok, this is getting weird.”

I don’t know what you did but you’re going to fix me!

I didn’t do anything! It’s his subconscious.

Then make it change us!

It’s not that simple, I don’t necessarily know what’s going on. Though it may involve closure.

“Bored now.” I jumped off the bed.

Where are we going?

“I need a drink.”

Luna slowly walked down one of the palace’s many crystal hallways. The doctors had finally let the princess leave the hospital room so she could go for a short walk to stretch her legs. She didn’t understand why they were so nervous, she felt fine physically. Though mentally she was having a harder time. Her mind was working to figure out what she was going to do without her sister, especially when it came to rebuilding Equestria. The only other person who could help now was Sean, hopefully with his level head about the deaths he could help her.

“Princess Luna.” A voice called behind her. Turning she saw the former guard captain Shining Armor running towards her.

“Ah, hello Shining Armor.” Luna greeted him. “What can I do for you?”

“We need your help with a certain human.” He looked at her urgently.

“What is going on?”

“He’s causing a lot of trouble in town. Do you think you can walk that far?”

“Of course.” Luna nodded before slowly following him towards the doors out.

“Why would he be here?” Luna asked as she looked over the small building. It was apparently the local bar.

“I don’t know.” Shining shook his head. “I never thought he was much of a drinker.”

“He usually isn’t.” Luna said as she entered the bar.

“I told you we’re all out.” A nervous sounding voice said.

“Well you better get more.” Sean’s voice was heard. “Unless you want me to go dragon and eat you!”

With Shining taking to lead to clear a path the two eventually reached the bar. Sean was currently sitting at one of the stools looking annoyed.

“So this is where you went.” Luna said as she walked up to him. The stool he was sitting on suddenly spun as he turned to see her.

“Hey you can talk again.” He threw his hands in the air. “I thought your voice box broke or something.”

“I just needed time to think.” Luna said as she carefully raised herself onto a stool next to him. “Might I ask why you’re here?” Getting a closer look at him she noticed one of his eyes was green and he seemed to be having trouble focusing on her.

“I needed some alcohol.” He told her. “Speaking of which, where is it!?” After he yelled that a pony quickly ran up to him holding a mug of something. “I knew you weren’t out.” He grabbed the beverage. “You want me to extort one for you?” He asked as he looked at the princess.

“No thank you.” She shook her head noticing the crystal pony sigh with relief. “Tell me, are you intoxicated?”

“Maybe.” He shrugged as he began to drink.

“How many have you had?”

“Let’s see.” He looked confused before counting on his fingers. “I have no idea.”

“So that’s a yes.”

“Sure.” He chugged the rest of the drink.

“Ok, I think you’ve had enough.” Luna got off the seat. “Let’s head back to the palace.”

“Aw. Why you gotta be a such a nark?” He sighed as he stood up then immediately fell over. “Ow.”

“That’s why.”

“I don’t need your sass.” He attempted to look intimidating which was difficult when his eyes are mismatched and he’s lying on the ground. Trying to stand again he got almost all the way before falling. Luna sighed.

“Shining Armor, would you please grab him?”

“Of course.” The unicorn’s horn glowed, Sean’s leg was enveloped in an aura. As the two left the bar Sean was dragged behind them.

“You guys are no fun.” Sean mumbled.

After a few minutes of walking Sean spoke again sounding different.

“Idiot.” Luna and Shining looked back in surprise at his sudden voice change. His voice had gone from its usual tone to a female and recognizable one.

“Celestia?” Luna asked as she looked at the human. Both his eyes had changed to green and he was looking annoyed.

“What?” He looked at her confused. “Wait, how can you hear me?”

“Sister, what are you doing inside Sean?”

“Wait.” He moved his hands forward. “I’m not Celestia. My name’s Bob.”

“Bob?” Shining Armor looked at him quizzically. “Did you hit your head on something as I dragged you?”

“No. I’m one of the voices in this moron’s head.” Sean rolled his eyes.

“So we’re to believe you’re some kind of strange voice in his head?” Shining looked unconvinced.

“He may be telling the truth.” Luna looked at him intently. “Celestia and Sean would sometimes talk about voices in his head. I had assumed it was some sort of inside joke between them.”

“It was not a joke.” Sean/Bob shook his head. “Celestia for some reason enjoyed listening in on our conversations.”

“Ok Bob.” Luna made air quotes with her hooves. Quickly stopping as a pain entered her side. “Assuming we believe you, why do you sound like my sister?”

“If you’ll have Shiny release me I’ll tell you.” He glared at the aura wrapped around his ankle. Luna looked at him and nodded. Shining’s horn stopped glowing and Sean’s ankle was freed. Getting up and dusting himself off he nodded to Luna. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” Luna nodded back. “Now tell me what’s going on.”

“Right. So, this idiot is having some strange mental problem. My guess is that he’s having some issues with the deaths that he’s suppressing. That would also explain why I sound like Celestia and Nick sounds like Twilight.”

“So there’s another one?” Luna asked.

“Yes, though he’s crazy.” Sean/Bob circled his ear with a finger. “I was lucky to get control before him.”

“Speaking of that, if you can take control why have you never before?” Luna asked.

“Usually I can’t, I don’t know why I did but it can’t be good.” Bob then looked surprised. “He’s coming back. Ok, I’m going to look more into this, figure out what’s going on. Until then don’t let him do anything stupid.” Then Sean fell to the ground.

“Well that was weird.” Shining said as they looked at the limp body.

“Indeed.” Luna nodded. “We should get him back to the palace.” Shining nodded and once again grabbed his ankle and they headed off.

“Whoa.” Sean spoke up. “What happened there?”

“You passed out from all the alcohol.” Luna said as they neared the palace.

“Oh. So what do you guys wanna do?”

“Well you’re going to bed.” Luna told him.

“Ugh. You’re no fun.”

“I’m bored.” I stared at the clock, it was currently 8:30. After making me raise the moon Luna had forced me to go to bed. “Where does she get off telling me what to do?”

Well she is the official ruler of Equestria now, besides you can barely stand, what were you going to do?

“Whatever.” I rolled over and closed my eyes. Progenitus came over and curled up next to me.

Luna carefully climbed into the bed. She was still forced to sleep in the hospital so the doctors could keep an eye on her. Looking up at the ceiling she started to think. The biggest thing on her mind was what the supposed Bob had said. If what he was talking about was true there was something wrong with Sean. That Bob had better figure out a way to help, she wasn’t going to put up with losing somebody else.

“Good news Luna! They got muffins!” I smiled as I entered her room, carrying a plate of muffins. She jumped slightly.

“For someone so insistent on others knocking before entering you certainly are bad at it.” She looked at me with mock annoyance.

“Whatever.” I shrugged as I sat in the chair next to her bed. “Muffin?” I moved the plate near her face.

“I’m fine.” She pushed the plate away.

“Fine, more for me.” I took one and ate it whole. “Oh that’s good.” Quickly finishing the rest I leaned back in the chair. “So, whatcha doing?” I finally noticed she was reading something.

“Reading about the mind.” She said without looking at me.

“Why? Aren’t you an expert with that? You know with all the dream walking.”

“That’s only one part of the brain.” She looked away from the book. “There are many pieces. Such as the portion where emotions are accessed.”

“Why do you care about that kind of stuff?” I asked, looking at the muffin less plate sadly.

“I may as well learn while I’m stuck.” She closed the book. “Besides it is good to understand what causes our emotions, such as grief when another dies.”

“Ok, let me ask again. Why do you care? Don’t you understand your emotions just fine?”

“I read that bottling up negative emotions isn’t good for one’s self.”

“Good to know, you do seem to be holding back.”

“I’m clearly getting nowhere.” Luna sighed. Her horn glowed and suddenly things went dark.

Luna watched as Sean’s eyes closed. The book had also been helpful in understanding how to get around his mental barriers to use a sleep spell.

“Bob, are you there?” She asked. Then Sean’s eyes shot open, they were once again green.

“You know that was a bit round about.” Celestia’s voice said. “You realize subtlety is lost on his tiny brain right?”

“Have you found anything out?” She said ignoring his comment.

“Wow, you’re pushy.” He rolled his eyes. “But yes, that little thing you said about emotions is involved. It would seem that his suppression of them is effecting his control over myself and Nick.”

“Excellent.” Luna nodded. “Do you have a solution?”

“Not yet.” Bob shook his head. “I need just a little more time, sadly we are running out of that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Due to my experience with his mind I’ve been able to get control before Nick, but sadly he’s getting better. If he gets control of this body it won’t be good.”

“What do we do?”

“Alright, wait until he falls asleep tonight. Then come to his room and we’ll speak again.”

“Ugh, what happened?” I opened my eyes to see Luna in her bed reading. As I spoke she turned her head to look at me.

“Ah you’ve finally awoken.”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “When did I fall asleep?”

“While I was explaining this book.” She raised it so I could see the cover. The Mind: How it Works.

“With a name like that I understand why.” I stood up and stretched. “Well, I’m going to get more food.” I turned and left the room.

“This place sucks!” I groaned as I flopped onto my bed. “All day, just a bunch of nothing. At least back home if I got bored I could harass ponies.” Stupid Cadence had told me if I harassed her sparkly ponies she’d throw out all the junk food she had just bought.

I agree. We need to go out, hit the town!

“We already did that, this place is as bad as Ponyville.”

I suggest we go to sleep, after a good rest maybe we’ll be able to think of something.

Lame.

“Meh, I’ve got nothing better to do.”

Luna slowly opened the door to Sean’s room, he was flopped on his bed snoring loudly. Slowly walking up she came to stand next to the bed.

“Bob.” She whispered. “Are you there?”

“Sup pony?” His voice sounded different. Now it sounded like Twilight Sparkle, his eyes were also red.

“What happened to your voice Bob?” Luna raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not Bob. Nick is way more interesting.” He stood up and put a hand to his chest. “Lucky for you that’s me.”

“So you’re Nick?” Luna took a step back, worried slightly at what Bob had told her.

“Wow, you’re slow.” He shrugged. “Then again you are just a pony.”

“Um, may I speak with Bob?” Luna asked nicely.

“Sorry, he’s had his turn, it’s time for Nick to enjoy a ride with this body.” He stretched. “Hey, how’d you get in here?” Then his right hand punched Nick in the face. Luna took a step back in surprise.

“Luna.” His eyes turned green and his voice changed to Celestia’s. “Listen closely.” His hands then flew to his throat, after a few seconds of struggling he lurched forward and inhaled deeply. “I found the problem, he’s losing his grip on us because of his refusal to admit grief. It’s deteriorating his mind” His left hand then slugged him.

“I’m getting tired of you Bob!” The voice was back to Twilight’s. “You had your fun.” He turned his red eyes to the princess. “Now then, what do you say we hit the town and.” His body then went flying and slammed into the bed.

“He’s getting more aggressive.” Celestia’s voice said. “Alright, if we want to fix Sean I need you to knock us out and enter our mind.”

“Would you shut your mouth already!?” Twilight’s voice took over. “You know what, I’m just going to kill you, then I’ll take the body and be free.” Then he slammed into the ground.

“Not if I kill you first.” The voice changed again before Sean’s body gripped his throat and fell back.

“We’ll see who.” Before Nick could finish the sentence he closed his eyes and Sean’s body fell to the ground asleep.

“Well, that was interesting.” Luna said as she neared the body. Using what little magic she had she entered Sean’s mind.

Chapter 76: Return to Sean's Mind

“I’ll kill you!” Luna opened her eyes to Twilight’s voice. Standing up she looked around, just like last time she was in here the area was some kind of desert. Several destroyed buildings still rested in the sand, the one difference was the fact that the sky was blood red. Looking towards the sound of the voice the princess of the night saw two figures on a stone island. Flying to a closer building she saw they were two Sean’s granted with some differences.

One of them was in the armor Sean had been wearing recently, his eyes were red. One very strange thing was his hair, it was purple.

The other Sean was dressed in his normal attire, his eyes were green. Like the other one his hair was different, this one’s was blowing in an unseen breeze like her mane.

“Come at me, see what happens.” The green eyed one said in Celestia’s voice. That meant he was Bob.

“I’d love to see your blood everywhere.” The armored one being Nick smiled. Then he swung his arm and several black blades flew forward. Bob easily dodged every single blade and smiled.

“Sure, cause that attack has worked so well before against me.” He then retaliated with a shot of ice, Nick responded with a shot of fire. After the collision there was a smoke cloud. Luna prepared to fly towards it before Bob came flying back and slammed into the building she was on.

“Bob, are you ok?” Luna asked as she looked to him.

“So you finally came.” Bob climbed the building to stand next to her.

“Of course.” She looked around. “So what do we do now?”

“Duck!” Bob then tackled her to the ground as a fireball flew over them.

“That’s some intimidating back up you’ve got there Boblestia.” Nick shouted from the island. “Why don’t you two come back down here so I can finish this?”

“Ok, listen closely.” Bob, leaned. “You need to get Sean, release him, and let him kill Nick. That’s the first step.”

“Alright.” Luna nodded. “Now where is he?”

“Over there.” Bob, pointed towards a large building in the distance. It resembled some kind of castle, details were scarce from this far but two massive curved horns were seen on the top. “In between the horns there is a gem, that’s where he is.”

“You’re taking forever.” Nick shouted. “Fine, I’ll come to you.”

“Go!” Bob lifted Luna up. Luna spread her wings and took off towards the castle.

“Where’s she going?” She heard Nick ask. “Hey! Get back here!” He shouted as he realized where she was headed. Luna simply increased her speed. “Come back, I don’t bite!” Nick’s voice was surprisingly close. Then suddenly he appeared in front of her. “Hello. So listen, I can’t have you ruining this plan of mine. So yeah, nothing personal.”

“Get away from her!” Bob shouted before tackling him. Luna watched as the two fell towards a building, punching each other as they went. Shaking her head she continued her rush to the castle. As it got closer she was able to get a better view of it.
It was considerably larger than anything she had seen before, perhaps to fit his ego. It was made of some kind of black stone, there were four large towers around the main building. Each having a different dragon, there were three serpentine ones that wrapped around their columns and one large one that was placed on top of its. Near the base there was a large bridge, every few feet along it were curved horns. At the top of the castle two massive curved horns stood, resting between them was her target, a large gold gem. Increasing her speed she quickly reached it, the gem seemed to be some kind of room, there were apparent windows and a door. Flying through the door she entered.

She looked around the room, it seemed to be completely empty. There wasn’t any trace of Sean. Then her eyes fell on some kind of door in a dark corner. Nearing it she realized it was likely the door to a closet. Opening it with her magic she was surprised to see someone inside.

Chained near the back of the closet there was a small figure. As she neared it she became confused at the sight, it wasn’t Sean. It was definitely human but seemed to be smaller. Perhaps it was a child, it was dressed in a simple black shirt with black pants that only went to its knees, and its hair was black. The child was chained to the wall by its throat, waist, and legs. As she looked it over she heard something smash through one of the walls.

“I know you’re in here.” She turned in fear as Nick came to stand in the door way. “Step away from the child and nobody gets hurt. Much.” Taking a step back Luna looked around the room, there seemed to be no clear way out. Looking to the young human she teleported him from his binds and placed him on her back. “Big mistake.” Nick growled before charging at her. Taking the chance Luna teleported past him and slammed the closet door shut. She used a spell to lock it. Spreading her wings she flew out of the room.

“Oh, you found him.” Her sister’s voice said. Looking to the right she saw Bob flying next to her.

“Wait, this is Sean?” Luna looked back to the small body on her.

“Yep.”

“What happened to him?”

“I’ll explain in a minute.” Bob looked around. “Follow me.” Luna followed as he flew to a nearby sinking building and entered, quickly closing the door. “This should hide us for a bit.”

“Good. Now tell me what’s going on.” Luna set the young Sean on the ground next to her.

“Alright, let me start from the beginning.” Bob looked out a nearby window before sitting down. “Ok, so after he found Celestia’s body things started to get weird around here, it started out with small things. You know, something around here would break, no big deal that happens whenever he gets mad. It got weird after I took over when he passed out at the bar. After our talk I began to investigate, I found out that all bottling of emotions after Canterlot blew up, along with the ones from finding the bodies has started to cause mental decay.”

“So what do we do?”

“First we need to kill Nick.” As if on cue Twilight’s voice was heard.

“That whole closet thing was pretty rude. So, Luna I’ll cut you a deal, you hand over Bob and the kid, and I’ll let you go worry free.”

“Don’t listen to him.” Bob whispered.

“Right because I was going to.” Luna rolled her eyes.

“Ok, you’re getting on my nerves.” Nick sounded annoyed.

“We need to run.” Luna’s horn began to glow as she prepared to levitate Sean.

“No!” Bob whispered before grabbing her horn. “What are you doing? He can sense magic.”

“There you are.” The door suddenly was torn off its hinges. The purple haired Sean then walked in. “Thanks for the beacon Luna.”

“How did you catch that?” Luna asked. “It was only for a second.”

“Silly pony. As he gets weaker.” A clawed finger pointed at Sean. “I get stronger, so even a millisecond of magic can alert me.”

“Bob, what do we do?” Luna asked as she backed up.

“I may have an idea.” Bob took a step back with her. “Grab Sean.” Luna used her magic and placed the boy on her back.

“Now what?”

“I’m done being pleasant.” Nick said grimly. “Now give me the. Oof!” Nick fell to the ground as Bob tackled him.

“Quick, run!” Bob said as he punched Nick in the face. Luna ran to the door and took off. Luna flew over the sand looking for somewhere to land. Eventually she spotted a stone island, quickly landing she carefully took Sean off her back and placed him in front of her.

“Sean, wake up.” Luna shook him. There was no response, she knew he was alive due to the slow breathing. “Maybe if I.” Luna levitated and prepared to throw him into the ground.

Don’t do that! Celestia’s voice shouted.

“What?” Luna looked around but saw nobody.

It’s me Bob, I’m using a bit of magic. Anyway, don’t damage that body, he doesn’t have his regeneration right now thanks to Nick. Argh!

“Ok, so what am I supposed to do then?” Luna place a hoof to her chin, then it hit her. “Wow, these cupcakes sure are delicious! It’s a shame I may not be able to eat all of them, I guess I will just have to throw most away.” To her dismay nothing happened.

“Oh, good try.” Luna looked behind her to see the armored form of Nick land behind her, Bob was currently in his grip. “Now hand him over before I completely tear you apart.” Luna never thought Twilight Sparkle’s voice could be so intimidating.

“Luna.” Bob gasped. “Run.”

“To where?” Nick asked tightening his grip on Bob. “With you finished she has no way to slow me.” He took a step forward. “It’s over, soon Sean will die, and I will be set free.”

“Ugh.” A voice said behind Luna. She along with Nick and Bob looked back to see the young Sean sitting up. “Where’s the cupcakes?”

“Sean!” Luna jumped back to stand next to him. “You’re awake.” She smirked at Nick. “I guess you lose.”

“Meh.” Nick shrugged. “This is more of a setback than a road block. It only means I have to exert effort to kill him.”

“Ok, I am very confused.” Sean said as he stood up. “Where are we? Why are there two weird looking me’s and why is Luna so tall?”

“Don’t worry about any of that.” Nick dropped an unconscious Bob. “It won’t matter soon.”

“What are you doing?” Sean looked in surprise as he was wrapped in a blue aura and place on Luna’s back once again.

“I’ll explain in a minute.” Luna said as she flew away.

“Ugh.” Nick groaned. “I hate chase scenes.”

“Seriously what’s going on?” I asked as I gripped Luna’s mane.

“Your little friend Nick has gone crazy. He’s trying to take over your body so he can do who knows what.” Luna answered.

“Alright.” I nodded not entirely convinced. “That doesn’t explain why I’m a kid and my powers aren’t working.”

“From what I can tell your lack of emotion towards the recent deaths is allowing Nick to get stronger and he likely took your powers and gave you this weaker form to help his plan.”

“Look out!” I shouted as a column of fire flew towards us. Luna did a quick barrel roll to dodge, forcing me to grip her mane more. “Ok, how about we don’t do that again.” I said as she leveled.

“Sorry.”

“You realize there’s no escape right?” I heard Twilight’s voice say as Nick appeared in front of us. “I’m going to win. After all, I’m up against a pony and a child.”

“What happened to your hair Nick?” I noticed his new purple look. “Are you trying to look ridiculous?”

“Be silent.” Nick glared at me.

“Flee!” I ordered Luna. She listened as she shot up. “Alright, I may have a plan.”

“The may is comforting.” Luna said as she continued to fly up.

“Whatever.” I looked back to see Nick following directly behind catching up quickly. “Here goes nothing.” I released Luna’s mane and jumped off her.

“Sean!” Luna shouted as I flew towards Nick.

“Accepting your fate?” Nick stopped his advance and simply hovered as I neared him. “Smart.” He then looked in surprise as I wrapped around his neck once I began to pass him.

“You may want to hold the compliments.” I said before I began to drain his magic, power beginning to surge through me.

“Agh!” Nick growled. “Get off me you brat.” His hand gripped my head and he threw me towards the ground.

“That’s just rude.” I said smiling as I began to change. After a few seconds I was back to my adult form. Then I looked down to see the ground quickly approaching. “I didn’t think this all the way through.”

“I’ve got you.” I heard Luna say before a blue blur flew by and I was gripped by the ankle.

“Good catch.” I said as she flipped me to land on her back.

“Don’t celebrate yet.” Nick’s voice said above us. Looking up my eyes widened as I saw he was approaching quickly.

“We may want to move.” I said to Luna. She nodded before shooting forward.

“Why do you run?” Nick chuckled. “We both know it is futile.” Then something grabbed my throat. I was aggressively yanked off Luna to look into his red eyes. “Game over.” I was then thrown towards the ground. To my dismay no blue figure appeared to save me before I slammed into the stone.

“Ow.” I moaned.

“Sean!” Luna cried as she landed next to me.

“That was not fun.” I said weakly, several things seemed to be broken and unfortunately my healing was not one of the things I stole from Nick.

“It’s ok, get up.” Luna enveloped me in magic and tried to lift.

“Ok!” I clenched my jaw in pain. “You can stop that now.” I groaned as my head smacked into the ground from her dropping me. “That hurt.”

“Sorry.” Luna apologized. “It’s ok, I can use a healing spell.” Her horn began to glow before suddenly being gripped by a hand.

“How about no.” Nick said as he lifted her by her horn to look at him. “Can’t have you, what the?” Nick looked down as I grabbed his ankle.

“You’re not very smart are you?” I smirked before draining more magic. Nick shouted in pain before swinging his leg and sending me flying.

“You little.” Nick growled. I smiled as my wounds began to heal. Hopping up I looked at Nick smugly.

“There we go.” I looked myself over.

“Well played.” Nick smiled at me.

“Thank you.” I looked at the alicorn he was still holding. “Could you give that back? The insurance ran out, I can’t afford to break it.”

“Wow you’re annoying.” Nick rolled his eyes. “But fine.” The blue alicorn was then thrown at me.

“What did I just say?” Groaning as I caught her. “Do you even listen to me?”

“I try not to.”

“Well then.” Putting Luna down, I turned to Nick and smiled. “Shall we?”

“Of course.” Nick raised on of his clawed hands. “I’ve been dying to chop you up.”

“Aw, I thought we were friends.” I looked at him disappointed as I turned my arm into a blade.

“Trust me, after the time we spent together that’s the last thing I want to be.”

“That cuts me deep.” I charged at him, swinging my arm at his torso as I neared. “Just like this.” To my disappointment the blade just clinked off his armor. “Oh yeah.” Then a fist met my face and sent me flying.

“What was the plan there?” Luna asked as I jumped up.

“There wasn’t one.”

“As I would expect.” I heard Twilight’s voice behind me, looking back a growl escaped me as Nick grabbed my throat. “When I was with you it was apparent you just go in hoping your strength will sort it out.”

“It’s served me well this far.” I told him before my arm shot forward and stabbed into his face. He cried out in pain, dropping me and stepping back.

“You’ll pay for that.” He growled as the wound vanished.

“Sorry, I left my wallet in the palace.” I ducked as a foot swung at my head.

“Is your plan to annoy me to death?” He growled as I dodged a swing of his claws.

“No.” Cartwheeling away from several swipes I smiled. “Just an added bonus.” I then threw my own punch. Nick was able to block with a wing before quickly swinging it to knock me over. I managed to roll out of the way as a fist came down where my head used to be.

“You can’t win.” Nick growled as I stood up a few feet away. “You’ve seen what I’m capable of.”

“True.” I began to charge at him. “But I also know what you aren’t capable of.” As I neared him a clawed hand swiped at me, jumping over it I was able to flip so that I was balancing with one hand on his head. “Like dodge this.” Turning my hand into a dragon head I blasted him with a fireball, it had the side effect of sending me flying into the air and crashing, but it was worth it.

“You realize all you’re doing is wasting all of our time right?” Celestia’s voice said, looking behind me I saw what looked like me if I took away Celestia’s hair and taped it to my head.

“Who are you? I need to know who I’m laughing at.”

“It’s me Bob!” He glared at me.

“Oh.” I nodded. “I’m still gonna laugh at your stupid hair.”

“If Nick weren’t already trying to, I’d kill you.”

“So harsh.”

“Good to know that I’m not the only one sick of you.” I turned to see Nick finally standing up, the last burn marks on his face vanishing.

“That’s nothing new from him, he’s always hated me.” I shrugged. “So, you’re a bit late to the party.”

“Shut up.” Nick didn’t look happy with me. “I’m going to kill you, then I’ll take this body and be free.” Before I could react he shot towards me and punched me in the stomach, as I recoiled from the hit he brought an elbow down to break my neck, face planting I groaned before I was grabbed by the head and lifted to look into Nick’s red eyes. “Bob has a point, we aren’t going to get anywhere like this.” He threw me across the stone island. “So I’ll just get a bit of leverage.”

“Luna run!” I heard Bob shout as I healed. Raising my head I watched as Luna began to fly off the island.

“You can’t escape me!” Nick then flew after her.

“Get up idiot.” Bob came up and threw me to my feet.

“Alright, geez.” I cracked my neck. “So, how do we stop him?” Looking to Bob expectantly I waited.

“I have no idea.” He shook his head. “He’s easily faster than either of us in the air. Plus in a fist fight you two are pretty balanced.” After a second his eyes lit up.

“What have you got?”

“Shut up moron.”

“What?”

“I don’t expect you to understand, after all you were dumb enough to be outwitted by griffins.”

“Hey!” Then Bob’s fist shot forward and hit me in the face knocking me to the ground. “What is your problem?”

“My problem is that I’m stuck with a sad excuse for a life form who can’t even save one pony.” Before I could get up he kicked me in the face. Then he grabbed my ankles and began to swing me around before throwing me into a nearby wall.

“You better stop.” I growled, standing up.

“Or what?” Bob shot a fireball at me, hitting the center of my chest. “You’ll fail in a fight? The greatest danger for people around you is your own incompetence.”

“Shut up!” As I began to heal I was grabbed and thrown into the air. Before I could move Bob shot me with another fireball. Flying back I slammed into a column. I glared at Bob as my vision began to cloud. Then a shadow fell over me as the column I had hit broke and began to tip before falling on me.

Chapter 77: Showing His True Colors

“Just stop already!” Nick shouted as Luna weaved through several buildings. “You’re not going to out maneuver me.” Spinning around Luna quickly shot a beam of magic at the armored figure. Sadly the shot merely bounced of him. “If that didn’t work the first three times it won’t work a fourth.”

Luna was beginning to tire from the flight, she knew it was only a matter of time till she ran out of steam and Nick caught her. Hopefully by then Sean and Bob would have a plan. Her ears flicked as a roar echoed through the ruined city. Stopping she looked back to see Nick doing the same.

“Weird.” Nick shrugged before turning back to the pony. “Now stay still so I can catch you.”

“No thanks.” Luna turned, preparing to fly off again but bumped into Nick as he shot in front of her.

“It’s over.” He grabbed her by the horn and smiled. “Now let’s go back to the island and get that moron to surrender.”

“Out of the way!” Someone behind them shouted. Looking back both of them were confused to see Bob speeding towards them.

“Coming to save the pony are you?” Nick smirked, it vanished as Bob simply flew by them and hid behind a nearby column. “What are you doing now?”

“Waiting.” He answered.

“For what?” The question was soon answered as another roar sounded before a figure was seen running along roof tops and columns towards them. “Don’t tell me you did what I think you did.”

“The logic was sound.” Bob said as he came out from behind the column.

“You’re dumber than I thought.” Looking back Nick shot backwards as a monster appeared on a column in front of him.
It was some strange combination of Sean and a dragon. It mostly resembled the dragon body Sean used, but it was human sized and was wearing his leg and arm covers. It glared at the two other humans, growling.

“How are you this dumb!?” Nick glared at Bob. “I guess the funny part is the fact he’s after you at least.”

“Not anymore.” Bob smiled. “You just became the priority target.” Bob’s then pointed towards the alicorn in Nick’s grip.

“What are you Agh!” Nick dodged as a claw swung past his head. Looking back they saw the creature was now clinging to a wall that had been next to them a minute ago. Nick looked at Luna then the creature. “You take her.” Luna’s captor threw her at Bob.

“Nice try.” Bob caught the pony before tossing her back to Nick who had to quickly dodge as the monster tried to slash him again.

“I don’t need this.” Nick took the alicorn and threw her towards a nearby building.

Luna let out a small scream of surprise before quickly reacting. Spreading her wings to slow the fall she teleported to safely land on the roof. As she recovered she had to jump back when two figures slammed into the ground near her. Getting a closer look she saw it was Nick wrestling with the strange creature.

“This should be good.” Bob said as he landed next to Luna.

“What’s going on?” Luna pointed to the dragon human. “What’s that thing?”

“That my dear pony is our dopey friend Sean.”

“What?” She looked at Bob confused. “I’ve never seen or heard of him turning into that.

“That’s because counting today it’s only happened three times.” They stopped talking as a scream came from the two fighters. Nick was currently gripping his bleeding shoulder as dragon Sean held one of his wings in his mouth. “That’s going to leave a mark.”

“You’re going to pay for that.” Nick said as he stood up. Sean simply growled in response before roaring and charging at his armored enemy. Nick was able to roll out of the way and swipe his claws across the dragon’s leg, surprisingly Sean didn’t seem to notice, simply turning and grabbing Nick by his other wing.

“Oh Nick.” Bob shook his head as the creature ripped off the other wing.

“What’s going on with his leg?” Luna asked, looking at the bleeding limb.

“That’s not fixing till he changes back.” A smile crept across Bob’s face as Sean slammed Nick into the ground.

“Isn’t that a bit risky?” Luna tilted her head.

“Yeah, but he doesn’t notice the injury so it doesn’t slow him. Oh!” Sean had just left a large gash across Nick’s chest. “It’s like purple head isn’t even trying.” Sadly that sentence seemed to jinx it as Nick managed to get a swipe off that left a large gash across the dragon’s throat. “That’s not good.”

“How about you stop talking.” Luna glared at him.

“Fine.” Bob rolled his eyes. “Duck!” The two lowered themselves just in time to avoid the flailing form of Nick. “Well it may be over.” Bob then looked back to see Sean growling while slowly walking towards them, his green eyes trained on Bob. “Uh oh.”

“What’s wrong?” Luna asked.

“Yeah, I may be the one that forced him to turn into that.” Bob took a step back. “And to get that to happen you have to physically and emotionally harass him. So bye!” The human then turned and began to run. There was a roar before Sean began to chase. Luna looked back as Bob hopped off the roof with Sean barely behind.

“This won’t end well.” Luna sighed as she ran after them.

“Gotcha!” Twilight’s voice shouted as a hand grabbed Luna’s ankle. Looking down she couldn’t help but smile at the state Nick was in. Both his wings had been torn off, there was a large cut along one of his legs, the arm not being used was missing its hand and bone was visible in some spots, one of his eyes was missing and several teeth were gone.

“Get off me.” Luna kicked him in the face with her other hoof, that managed to somehow knock him out. She looked out to the sinking city and sighed. “Great, now I’ve lost them.”

“Looks like Sean may have caught Bob.” Luna commented as she followed a trail of blood. Her concern began to increase as the spots of red began to grow. After a few more feet they were larger than her hoof. Picking up her pace she eventually reached a large building, the door was smashed open. Carefully entering the structure she was surprised at the interior. The inside was completely made of stone just like the outside, but there were several claw marks all along the walls as well as dents and patches of blood.

“Who is there?” Celestia’s voice asked.

“It’s Luna.” She said, following where the voice had come from. It lead her to a flight of stairs, along most of the steps there were large splotches of blood.

“Luna!” At the top of the stairs Bob appeared. “Thank Bolas you’re here.” His green eyes were wide.

“Why?” She increased her pace to reach the top. “What’s going on?”

“You can still use healing magic right?”

“Of course I can.” Luna looked him over, surprisingly he had no injuries.

“Great, we need to hurry.” He turned and ran down the hallway. Confused Luna followed. Eventually Bob stopped at a smashed door. “Ok, get in there and heal him.”

Giving him one last look Luna entered the room, the first things she noticed were the several blood streaks along the walls, then the sound of something wheezing reached her ears. Following the sound she rounded a corner to see dragon Sean lying against a wall. He was weakly breathing, his eyes locked onto her as she neared him. His chest was coated in red, looking closely she was able to see the wound on his throat, it was larger and gushing blood.

“What are you waiting for?” Bob rounded the corner to look at her, quickly hiding again when a weak growl escaped Sean.

“Hold on.” Luna looked at Sean’s throat. As her horn began to glow she put it near his throat. After a few seconds the gash started to close and his breathing began to strengthen. Stepping back she smiled to see he was fully fixed, after a few deep breaths he stood up.

“Did you do it?” Bob asked, his head peaking past the wall to check. Once again hiding as Sean growled, taking steps towards the corner. Luna stood in front of Sean as he took another step.

“Sean, stop.” She spread her wings to make a larger block. The human dragon looked down at her and quietly growled, though he made no advances. She looked back at Bob. “Is there a way to change him back?”

“Yeah, he just needs to calm down.” Bob was standing next to the door. “After that he should revert.”

“Alright.” Luna looked back to the growling monster. “Ok, I need you to relax.” Sean simply glared at her. “Come on, deep breaths.” She was surprised when the dragon began to listen, taking several slow breaths. “Good.”

“You’re doing well.” Bob nodded, at the sound of his voice Sean growled again.

“Ok, could you leave?” Luna glared at him. “You’re just going to make him angry.”

“Fine by me.” Bob turned and hurried out the door.

“There we go.” Luna nodded before returning to Sean. “Now that that’s done let us continue.” Luna relaxed her body, smiling when Sean did the same. “Excellent, now more deep breaths.” Once again the dragon listened. “Alright, now close your eyes and think about something peaceful.” Sean followed the orders, closing his eyes.

Luna stood there quietly watching. After about a minute of waiting Sean opened his eyes, she smiled to see they had returned to their usual purple. Soon he began to change, his claws retracted and returned to finger nails, his horns disappearing. After a few seconds Sean stood in front of her, back to his usual form.

“Great.” Luna nodded. “Feeling better?”

“Mostly.” Sean walked past her. “I’ll be even better in a minute. Bob I’m fixed!” Soon a face appeared in the door frame.

“So you are.” Bob then entered the room. “Good work Luna.”

“Thank you.”

“There’s just one more thing I have to do.” Sean smiled at Bob.

“What’s that?”

“Payback!” Sean then tackled Bob and began to strangle him with his left hand while punching him in the face with his right. “Not so fun is it?”

“I was trying to help.” Bob weakly said between hits.

“Right, because throwing me like a ragdoll and insulting me is really helpful.”

“Sean, get off him.” Luna ordered. Sean turned to her looking at her for a minute before growling.

“Fine.” He stood up, getting one last kick in before walking over to stand next to the princess.

“Ugh.” Bob was lying on the ground groaning in pain, the floor and Sean’s knuckles were covered in blood. Soon he began to heal before slowly standing up. “That was a bit harsh.”

“Shut up.” Sean growled.

“Hey my plan worked, you brutally maimed Nick and Luna’s safe.”

“You’re lucky it did, otherwise you’d be a lot worse right now.”

“Geez, you have anger issues.”

“Whatever.”

“So what do we do now?” Luna asked, interrupting their little argument. Bob put a hand to his chin.

“Well, now that Nick’s out of the way Sean just needs to get over himself and admit his grief.”

“What grief?” Sean shrugged. “I’m fine.”

“You are aware I’m in your mind right?” Bob rolled his eyes. “I know almost every single thing that goes through it.”

“Well this time you’re wrong.”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are.”

“Lies!”

Luna simply stood and watched as the two man children had their little argument.

“How about I kill you?” Sean took a step forward. Then there was an explosion and one the walls caved in.

“How about I kill both of you?” The three looked back to see Nick behind them. His injuries had healed and he was smiling.

“How are you fixed?” Bob looked at him in surprise. “You were completely torn apart.”
“It will take more than that to finish me off.” Nick smiled before turning to look at Sean. “Now then, it’s time for payback.”

“Now then, it’s time for payback.” Nick was smiling at me, and not in the friendly way.

“Didn’t we go through this earlier?” I raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you try to do this and I pounded you into the ground?”

“You were lucky last time, Bob was able to save you.” Nick cracked his neck. “But not this time.”

“What?” Bob looked in surprise before he was enveloped in a green aura and thrown out the hole in the wall.

“Now that’s just rude.” I shook my head. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you?” I was cut off as Nick grabbed me by the throat.

“Seriously, just shut up.” Nick then threw me out of the hole too.

“You really think this’ll work?” I began to grow wings. Before my new appendages could form several black blades came flying at me. My wings as well as my torso quickly abandoned me just before I slammed onto the roof of a shorter building.

“Yes, I do.” Nick landed next to me, putting a foot on my throat.

“Agh.” I reached for the foot on me but a black blade ended up cutting it off.

“Good try.” Nick put more pressure on my throat.

“Get off him.” Suddenly Nick was hit by a blue beam and sent flying off me. Sitting up I began to rub my throat as Luna landed next to me. “Are you ok?”

“As ok as somebody who was getting their windpipe crushed can be.”

“Saved again by Luna.” I looked towards the edge of the building to see Nick smirking. “That makes three times in quick succession. The prison, Canterlot, and now here. You’re getting weak if a member of a lesser race has to save you.”

“I’ll have you know that I could have escaped two of those.” I glared at him before getting up.

“Of course you could.” Nick stretched. “Why don’t you prove it?”

“Fine, let’s go.” Before I could charge he held up a hand.

“One moment.” His eyes glowed, then there was a scream. Looking back I saw Luna being enveloped by a green bubble. “There, no help from your little friend.”

“Alright. Are you ready to lose?” I turned my arm into a blade.

“You should really stop talking to yourself.” Nick raised a clawed hand.

“Ow.” I groaned before dodging another attack. The rooftop shook as Nick left a dent in it.

“Just stay still and die!” Nick glared at me as I stretched.

“Sorry, but no.” I began to charge at him. He smiled, waiting for me to near him. “Slip!” I fell back, sliding forward still. I then turned my left hand into a dragon head and used a column of fire to quickly propel myself. “And slide.” Before Nick could dodge I had managed to blast into his legs and break both of them, flying past as he fell. Jumping up I ran over and crushed his skull. “Skill!”

“Don’t get too smug.” Before I could react I was vertically sliced by Nick’s claws. As I healed he began to stand up.

“Would you just stay down?” I growled. “This is so much work.” I rolled out of the way as three more black blades flew at me.

“How about no.” I jumped over him as he tried to cut me with his claws. “I need this body so I can finally be free.”

“Well, I kind of need this body, so that I can you know, live!”

“Your death is a small loss.” His eyes then began to glow.

“That hurts.” I looked at him with sadness. “But this will hurt more.” Quickly leaping in the air I got above him and slammed him with a fireball. The portion of roof he was standing on caved in and I watched him plummet to the ground floor. “Victory.” Then I heard a roar before a long tongue came out of the hole and smashed into me. “Ow.” I groaned.

“You couldn’t truly think it would be that easy.” A large green hand gripped the edge of the hole.

Slowly the rest if the body climbed out of the pit and onto the roof. It was a large green monster, probably fifty feet long and thirty feet tall. Its face was long and animalistic, a toothy and cruel grin was offered to show its pointed teeth, two red eyes glared at me one was black where white should be while the other had several irises and pupils. It fully steadied itself on eight limbs, four arms and four legs. It let out a roar and humans began to burst out of the sides, most were simply the upper half, there were some heads, or almost full humans.

“Envy.” My eyes widened.

“Don’t call me that!” The monster growled. “That’s not my name, no matter what that scaled fool tells you.”

“So what’s your real name?”

“When I was alive and still beautiful I went by Sirizan, and I shall gain that name again!” A large hand came flying at me, I was able to dodge. “Once I steal your body I will be able to use the power to conquer, soon the name Sirizan shall be feared and worshiped! Then I will hunt down that filthy dragon and destroy him.”

“Wow, you’re really stupid. You really think you’re even close to Bolas’ level of power?”

“Once I have your body, I will be.” His tail swung at me, jumping over it I shot a fireball at his ugly face. It was a shock when it actually damaged him, he let out a deep roar of pain as his face was maimed.

“Wait, you’re not made of dragon scales?”

“Of course not.” Sirizan shook his head as it healed. “That was another accursed punishment from your precious Bolas.”

“Nice. This’ll be easier than I thought.”

“Don’t get too cocky boy.” The green beast then swung its head, a long tongue came flying out and stuck to me. Swinging again Sirizan lifted me and flung me across the roof.

“That wasn’t fun.” I rubbed my head. Before I could do anything a large hand grabbed me.

“It’s going to get worse.” Sirizan then threw me at the ground with a lot of force, causing me to leave a crater. Then his tail began to slam into me, forcing me deeper and deeper into the roof. Eventually it was too much and I smashed through it, following the path he had taken earlier.

“This isn’t working.” I moaned, sitting up. “Fine, if you want a monster battle, you've got it.” I growled.

“Oh that was too easy.” Sirizan smiled. “But what could I expect from a filthy human.” Then a hand burst out of the ceiling beneath him, grabbing one of his legs. “What?”

He was able to say before being violently pulled down, smashing through the roof. The former dragon moaned in pain as he smashed into the ground floor. Growling Sirizan looked up to see Nicol Bolas standing above him. Or rather, the humans simple imitation of the powerful dragon.

“Shall we continue?” The human asked. Sirizan’s response was to coil his tongue around Sean and throw him out through the wall. The cheap copy was sent flying before slamming into a nearby column and falling onto another building.

“Fine.” Sirizan said as he jumped onto the structure. “Let’s finish this fight.”

Sean let out a roar before breathing a column of fire. The former dragon was able to dodge it, retaliating with shot from his tongue, surprisingly the human still hadn’t learned to dodge the strange weapon and was hit in the face. Sirizan then yanked him in, as Sean got closer he was able to grab the cheap Bolas copy and punch him in the face, knocking the dragon to the ground.

“You lose human.” The green beast put a foot on Sean’s neck.

“No I don’t.” Sirizan then felt something coil around one of his hind leg, looking back he saw that it was Sean’s tail. The grip was tightened before he was aggressively pulled off of his foe and flung across the roof. “You get too smug, no wonder Bolas beat you so easily.”

“Shut up.” Sirzan charge at him. Sean was able to dodge and kick him in the side. Knocking the monster over.

“I mean really, I’ve encountered ponies that can fight me better.”

“I said shut up!” Anger flowed through the former dragon. He swept one of his legs under Sean, causing the dragon to fall over. Taking the chance Sirzan pounced onto Sean and began to pummel him with all four hands. He smiled as blood began to appear on his hands and Sean’s scaled face was distorting. Eventually stopping he admired his handy work.
Sean was bleeding in several places on his face, his jaw was slightly forced to the side and one of his eyes was forced shut.
“You lose boy, even with your power I am still a god.”

This wasn’t going too well. Sirizan was beating me senseless. I needed to find some sort of weakness. Then as he taunted me I spotted something interesting, the charm that I used to summon his power was resting on his tongue

“What. What happens when I take this?” I coughed. “Out?” Before Nick could move my hand shot forward and forced its way into his mouth, gripping the charm I retracted it taking his tongue and the charm with me.

“No!” Sirizan began to spark, he took a step back, releasing me. Sitting up I watched. He was beginning to disintegrate, one of his arms fell off as I watched. “Give me that!” He charged at me.

“How about no.” I jumped over him, by now most of him was gone. He fell to the ground as a leg vanished.

“I’ll kill you!” Then he was gone.

“There we go.” Turning I spotted the damaged building we had started on, flying over I found Luna standing there looking around.

“Hey Luna.” I landed in front of her.

“Where’s Nick?” Luna asked as she turned her gaze to me.

“I don’t know, he just sort of vanished.”

“I’ll kill you!” I heard a voice shout.

“What?” I looked around, eventually I raised my hand to look at the charm. The eye had returned and was glaring at me. “Oh, hi Nick.”

“You got lucky this time.” I found him hard to take seriously when he’s threatening me with the voice of a purple nerd. “I’m only held here for a short amount of time, then I will beat you!”

“Even as jewelry he does not shut up.” Luna rolled her eyes.

“Ah, Luna.” The charm somehow turned. “I have a secret for you.” Luna looked at him coldly. “You wanna know what old Sean here was doing while you were knocked out?” My eyes widened.

“Don’t you.”

“I hope you weren’t planning to talk to the griffins.” Nick cut me off. “Because your friend here killed all of them.”

“Shut up!” I turned it so the eye was facing me, I could tell it if had a mouth, it would be smiling.

“What? You don’t want me telling her about your heartless and surprisingly cruel mass extinction?” Before he could keep talking I threw him off the roof into the sand.

“Sean.” I looked back to see Luna giving me a slight glare.

“In my defense.”

“We shall discuss this in the waking world.” Luna kept the cold look.

“You are aware that.” Luna then wobbled. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She then began to tip. Quickly catching her I helped her back up.

“What’s up with you?” I asked.

“I’m not sure, it felt like a massive wave of magic suddenly slammed into me.” She sat down and held her head with a hoof.

“That’s weird. I wonder what.” Then I noticed something in the sky. It seemed to be some kind tear in reality.

“What is that?” Luna looked at the rift in confusion.

“I’m not entirely sure.” Then two massive feet came into view. “Though I have a guess.” Then the rest of the dragon entered the ruined city. As the hole closed above him Nicol Bolas spotted and flew towards us, soon reaching and landing on the roof we were on. The entire area shaking as his feet hit the ground. I was surprised the structure didn’t cave in when a giant dragon landed on it. “Hi dad.”

“I told you already, I’m not your father.” The dragon glared at me.

“Well you’re responsible for like half my DNA, so from a genetic standpoint I think you are.”

“Quiet.” Bolas ordered.

“Fine.” I crossed my arms.

“Now then, allow me to explain why I have come to such an.” He looked around. “Unsightly place.”

“Thanks for that.” I growled.

“As I was saying, I have come to give you the reward for your victory. I must say, I’m surprised you passed the test.”

“What?”

“That charm that held Envy, was a test set by me.”

“A test?”

“Indeed. I wasn’t sure that a human of all creatures would be able to handle the immense power that I possess. Surprisingly, you passed.”

“Yay for me. What did I win?”

“Enter your proper form.” Bolas ordered. “Abandon the monkey suit you currently wear.”

“That’s rude.” I shook my head as I entered my dragon form. I was surprised to find that Bolas was actually bigger than me. There was a height difference that was large enough that I had to look up slightly, his shoulders were broader and his wingspan was longer.

“The rest of your reward.” He then took one of his talons and made a small cut along the palm of his hand. Understanding I did the same. “Now your ascension shall be complete.” We then linked our hands like a hand shake. After a second his eyes glowed slightly and I felt a sudden surge of pain go through me. Crying out I attempted to retract my hand but his grip was tight. Eventually the pain stopped and he released me. I fell to the ground quickly returning to my human form.

“What was that?” I asked weakly.

“The exchange of blood.” Nicol Bolas smiled sadistically. “While you are not at my power you have now ascended past the power of nearly any other living creature. As well as fully embraced your draconic blood.”

“That’s fine, but why can’t I transform?” I glared as my hand simply sparked.

“Mild side effect of the transfer.” Bolas waved it off. “You shall recover.”

“So what did this fun little transfer do to me?” I asked, standing up.

“The power you felt during your griffin massacre, when you used the mind control and mind shattering touch. That was merely a taste of the power you now possess.”

“Cool.”

“Though it only works in your proper form.”

“What? Why?”

“I’ve been around long enough to know when a being would abuse the power of a god. I don’t feel like dealing with a power crazed human. At least when you are the superior race your mind advances enough to not take such power lightly.”

“Whatever.” I crossed my arms.

“So this is the real Nicol Bolas?” Luna asked, looking at the dragon.

“There is one thing I do not understand.” Luna suddenly began to levitate. “Why do you surround yourself with these lesser beings? Even submitting to their will.” He brought the alicorn to his gaze. “What manner of beast are you?” Bolas asked as he examined her. Her wings suddenly unfurled. “Wings of a Pegasus, yet the horn and internal magic of this plane’s unicorns. Fascinating.”

“Put her down.” I growled.

“Be calm boy.” Bolas held out a hand. “I am merely studying this creature.”

“Release me.” Luna ordered.

“Tell me, what are you? The last time I was on your world I only encountered unicorns, pegasi, and basic ponies. What does a hybrid such as yourself identify as?”

“RELEASE ME AT ONCE! THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT COMMANDS YOU!” Luna this time ordered with her Canterlot voice. While I had to hold my ears Nicol Bolas simply looked at her bored.

“Princess of the Night?” The dragon looked at her quizzically. “So you are the ruler of your plane. Now how are you linked to the night?” Luna just gave him a cold stare. “Very well, if you deny me the knowledge I seek.” A hand reached for her head. “I shall simply extract it.”

A talon then touched her forehead, Luna’s eyes rolled back as he dug through her memories. After a few seconds Bolas opened his eyes, Luna being released from his magical grip. I managed to catch her before she slammed into the ground.

“Interesting.” Bolas looked at the blue alicorn. “A creature capable of moving the celestial bodies.”

“Luna?” I looked at her concerned.

“Calm down.” I looked at the dragon. “I have done no harm to her mind. While the moving of the sun and moon is impressive for a lesser race such as the ponies, that is nothing compared to my powers. Besides, I see no benefits to destroying the balance of your plane.” Another rift in reality appeared behind him.

“If you didn’t do anything then why is she not waking up?” The dragon sighed.

“It is simply a side effect of my power. Such a weak creature would find it impossible to remain alive after coming in contact with the levels of magic I carry if it tried to continue the functions necessary to support one while they are conscious.” He began to move towards the tear. “However, you are now in my debt boy.” He looked back, offering a not too friendly smile. “And trust me, should I need to, I plan to collect.” He then walked through the portal before it disappeared.

“Well that was ominous.”

Chapter 78: Rebuilding

Author's Note

Hey, sorry for the big delay. I've been caught up in my new story and was neglecting this one. But here's a chapter so there.

Chapter 78: Rebuilding

“Well that was weird,” I said before sitting up on my bed. Next to me Luna was still unconscious. “Wonder how long Bolas’s magic will hold.”

Who knows? Could be hours, weeks, months, maybe even years. You know how powerful he is.

“True.” I nodded. “Wait a minute, where were you at the end of that whole thing?”

Nick had managed to knock me out. When you left I was finally awoken.

“Good for you. Speaking of Nick.” I reached for the necklace but found it wasn’t there. “What?” Looking at my chest is was surprised to find the charm was gone. “Where’d he go?”

Perhaps Bolas took him. He did say Nick was a test.

“Hopefully.” I stood up. “Well, since I’m probably screwed when Luna wakes up I may as well go enjoy my last day here.”

Luna weakly opened her eyes. She seemed to be on a bed, the last thing that the princess could remember was a talon touching her head, and then it all went blank. Slowly sitting up she winced as a pain shot through her head. Getting a view of her surroundings she remembered she was in Sean’s bedroom. Though the human was absent.

“That coward.” Luna slowly climbed off the bed, wobbling slightly. She slowly began to move towards the door. “We need to have a talk.”

You’re going to make yourself sick. Bob warned as I swallowed another cupcake.

“So what? For all I know these are the last ones I’ll ever eat.”

You seriously think Luna’s going to banish you?

“Maybe, she seemed pretty mad when Nick told her about the griffin thing.”

That doesn’t sound right to me.

“Right or wrong there’s no harm in being prepared for the worst.” I downed another cupcake.

“Sean.” A voice called before the doors to the dining hall swung open and Luna slowly walked in, giving me that cold look from earlier.

“Hey Luna.” I looked her over, she was walking kind of funny and there was a slight glaze to her eyes. “You don’t look too good.”

“Well you can thank you father or god or whatever he is for that.”

“Yeah, that much dragon magic going through your brain can’t be good for you.”

“I know!” Luna raised her voice before gripping her head.

“Geez, calm down. You should really be resting.”

“No, we have much to discuss.”

“Fine, what are you going to do to me? Banish me? Electrocute me? Lock me up? Starve me of magic?” Luna looked at me in surprise as I finished the list.

“What kind of tyrannical rule do you think I plan to run?”

“I dunno, you seem pretty mad.” I shrugged. “So get it over with?” I raised a cupcake. “Is this may last one?”

“I have no intentions of harming you. Though there needs to be some form of repercussion for a mass extinction.” Then a book appeared in front of her.

“What’s that?” I tried to get a good look at it.

“A guide Celestia gave me should anything happen to her.” She raised the book so I could see the cover.

Sean, a complete guide to the sugar crazed psycho.

“I feel a bit offended by the title.” Luna didn’t acknowledge me as she flipped through the pages.

“Let’s see. Rebellion, cupcake shortage, muffin shortage, candy shortage, nap schedule, rude awakenings, ah here we go. Psychotic acts of mass destruction, likely involving griffins.”

“Is that really what it says?”

“Should Sean get too angry and go on a killing spree there are certain repercussions based on the level of damage Equestria will have to pay for.” She began to look down the page. “Minor damage, major damage, one kill, multiple kills, summoning the undead, hydra damage, acts of war, apocalyptic extinction.” Luna looked at the last one in surprise. “She actually wrote for that?”

“Aw, she knew me so well.”

When did you raise the dead?

Classified.

“Should Sean for some reason go on a massive killing spree that results in the end of a race there are of course certain actions that must be taken.” Luna began to read the book aloud. “First, determine the reason.”

“The griffins destroyed Canterlot, attempted to conquer Equestria, and oh yeah killed Celestia!” After my outburst Luna rolled her eyes and continued.

“If it is something mildly reasonable, such as the destruction of Equestria, enslavement of ponies, etc. Then first you must cover up the scene, this is to avoid war and hatred from the other nations as well as to protect him. However, if it is something moronic like a griffin ate his last cupcake then he should face the full consequences of his actions.”

“According to those examples I was justified.” Once again Luna ignored me.

“Assuming that the former is the case the next thing to do is take something from him, usually the retraction of all sweets for a reasonable amount of time is enough to correct.”

“This is between you and me, leave the cupcakes out of it!”

“After this you must still have a serious discussion, preferably while enjoying your own desert to torment him.”

“That’s just cruel.” I protested as Luna closed the book.

“Well, you heard the book.” Luna’s horn glowed. “You are hereby denied any form of desert until further notice.” Then the cupcake in my grasp vanished as well as every single one in the room.

“You suck.” I growled.

“Now then.” Luna sat down next to me. “Let us discuss your actions.” A cupcake then appeared next to her. She smirked before taking a bite from it.

“I don’t really feel like it.” I glared at her as she took another bite.

“That’s unfortunate.” She gave me a cruel smile. “I suppose your sugary foods will have to be withheld even longer.”

“Why don’t I just force you to give them back?”

“First of all because any attacks you try will just make me keep them away longer. Second, I know that you don’t enjoy harming your friends.” The alicorn finished the cupcake.

“I could make an exception.”

“That’s enough joking.” Luna’s face turned serious. “We really do have many things to cover.”

“Fine.” I crossed my arms.

“I already understand the griffin incident, while you had good reason to attack I feel that a mass extinction was unnecessary.”

“Fair enough.”

“So I will be following through with the books punishment.”

“Jerk.”

“Now let us discuss what is to become of the shattered Equestria.”

“What is there to discuss?” I shrugged. “You are now officially the sole ruler of the country.”

“I understand that part, but we need to figure out how to rebuild our fallen kingdom.”

“Well, you probably want to go to all the remaining towns and speak to the survivors. Shiny has told most of the country that you’re safe and alive but seeing you should help.”

“Very well.” Luna nodded. “Tomorrow we shall begin our journey across Equestria.”

“That sounds tiring.” I flopped my head back.

“If you help me with this, your precious cupcakes will be returned to you.”

“Well played.”

“I’m not sure you should go yet. The doctors say that your wounds are still healing.” Cadence was looking at Luna with concern as she prepared for us to leave.

“While your concern is appreciated Cadence it is not necessary I can handle myself just fine.”

“If you say so.” Cadence’s face still showed worry.

“Plus I’m here.” I raised my hand. “I can totally keep track of her.”

“I am not some child that needs to be kept track of.” Luna glared at me.

“Whatever, just pointing it out since you people seemed to have forgotten about me.”

“Can we just go?” Luna asked as she headed for the front doors to leave.

“So pushy.” I shrugged. “Fine, let’s go.”

“Are you ok?” I watched as Luna wobbled in the air, she had decided that flying was the best way to get around the country. Being polite I opted to just grow wings instead of full on dragon. We had been flying for around an hour, heading for our first stop, Manehatten.

“I’m fine.” The princess replied. She began to lose altitude a bit. Sighing I began to transform until my draconic shadow loomed over her. Then scooping the alicorn in one of my massive hands I continued our flight. “Release me.” Luna ordered. “I told you I’m fine.”

“Listen.” My deeper voice overshadowing her. “I understand the reason for acting fine in front of Cadence, and I understand wanting to seem strong for your ponies, but right now they aren’t here. You’re still injured and need to recover. So I suggest you rest and prepare for our arrival, I will wake you before we get too close so that you can appear fine.” There was a pause.

“Thank you.” Luna said quietly.

“You feeling better?” I asked Luna as we landed in Manehatten.

“Yes, I am refreshed and ready.” Luna nodded.

“That’s good.” Looking around I was surprised to see how drastically the city had changed. In the short amount of time since I was last here they had cleared all of the rubble and somehow had already repaired the roads and some buildings.

“Princess Luna.” A pony in a suit came running up and bowed.

“Rise my subject.” Luna ordered. The mayor quickly stood back up.

“Hi mayor.” I waved.

“Good to see you Sean.” The mayor greeted me in a somewhat friendly manner. He then turned his gaze back to Luna. “I am glad to see you have recovered from the unfortunate Canterlot incident your majesty.”

“Thank you.” Luna gave the kind of fake smile that famous people offer. “I need you to gather the ponies of this town in the center.”

“Already done princess.” The mayor turned and began to walk towards the town square. “Mr. Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire told us you were coming to speak with the ponies, they are all eagerly waiting.”

“You ok?” I asked as Luna shifted, her eyes were wide. The ponies had been kind enough to build a little stage for her, we were currently standing behind a black curtain. Luna was meant to just walk out and give her speech.

“I’m fine.” She shook her head. “I’ve just never really given this kind of speech to a crowd alone. I usually had Celestia there as support.”

“That is a dilemma.” I nodded. “If you want I could turn into her for a bit.”

“No, that wouldn’t help.”

“Well, I’m out of ideas.”

“Just come out on the stage with me. That may help a bit.”

“If you say so.” I shrugged.

“Ponies of Manehatten.” The mayor’s voice shouted from the other side of the curtain. “We have a very special guest today.” Luna shivered slightly. “Princess Luna!”

Suddenly the curtain flew up, revealing the crowd. It was an impressive pack, there were ponies everywhere, it was hard to see any ground between them, and some were even standing on roofs and fountains to see. As Luna came into view several cheers came from the crowd. Luna stood up a little straighter and walked towards the center of the stage. I slowly followed, staying a little behind so that she would be the main focus.

“Greetings my loyal subjects.” Luna said, loud enough to be heard but luckily avoiding the royal Canterlot eardrum killer. Several more cheers came from the crowd. I was pleased to see Luna’s posture improve further as the crowds love encouraged her. “Thank you for the warm welcome. I am pleased to see you have managed to recover from the griffin attack.”

“No thanks to you!” a voice from the crowd shouted. The ponies parted to reveal an earthpony glaring at her. “You abandoned us, where have you been all this time? Hiding from griffins as we tried to rebuild?”

“Why you little.” Luna growled, luckily not loud enough for the crowd to hear. She took a step forward before I stepped in front.

“You.” I pointed at the pony. “Come here.” Surprisingly the jerk confidently walked through the crowd, showing no fear whatsoever.

“What do you want?” He glared at me.

“What’s your problem?” I hopped off the stage. “Luna was gone due to severe injuries, do you really think that she’d just abandon her country in a time of need?”

“Who knows what she will do?” The pony kept his steady glare. “She doesn’t exactly have a clean history.” He gasped as I grabbed him by the throat and smashed his face through the stage.

“Well then.” I climbed back onto the stage. “Carry on.”

“Here is your room.” A pony was leading Luna and me down a long corridor before stopping in front of a large door. The mayor had gotten us the best room in the local hotel.

“What? Only one?” I looked at the pony unimpressed.

“I’m sorry sir but most of the rooms are either damaged or not considered suitable for beings of your stature.” The pony looked at me with a bit of concern.

“Don’t worry.” Luna assured him. “This will be fine.”

“Have a good night you two.” The pony bowed and walked away. Luna turned and opened the door.

“This seems pretty nice.” I commented as we entered the room. It wasn’t too flashy, large bed and a small living space with a large TV.

“Why did you stop me?” Luna asked as I checked the mini fridge.

“Stop you what?”

“I could have handled that pony myself. But you jumped in.”

“I know you could have.”

“Then why? I’m not Twilight, I do not require you to look out for me.”

“I am aware of that,” I took a soda out of the fridge. “I intervened in the name of politics.”

“What?”

“Image is everything, you want them to love and respect you right?”

“Yes.”

“So if that crowd today was any indication, you’re doing well. But how do you think it would look if the new lone princess beat up one pony that disagreed with her?”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I am. I’ve been helping Celestia for centuries with this kind of thing.”

“That’s true.” Luna nodded.

“So, I’ll handle ponies that mess with you. That way you keep your image clean. Before you know it they’ll love you more than they ever did Celestia.”

“Yeah.” Luna looked at the ground.

“Hey, you ok?” I kneeled in front of her.

“I miss her.”

“What?”

“My sister.” Luna looked at me with tears in her eyes. She then glomped onto me in an aggressive hug.

“Um.”

“How can I hope to be better than her?” Luna asked.

“Look Luna-”

Don’t you finish that sentence!

What? My shirt is getting wet.

How about instead of being yourself you act like a friend.

Ugh! Slowly I wrapped the crying alicorn in my arms. Now what? I was the fun one and Celestia was the comforter.

You could try one of those wing hugs. The ones Celestia used to give you.

Right, cause when I think safety and comfort my first thought is giant bat wings coiling around me.

Fair enough.

Time to wing it!

“Hey, I miss her to.” I patted Luna on the head. “Don’t look at it as replacing her, think of it like she has passed the torch. Celestia sometimes told me about how she was proud and thought you would make a great leader. Trust me, you can do it.” After a few more seconds her sobs stopped and her breathing returned to normal.

“Thank you,” Luna said quietly.

“Sure thing.” I freed her from the hug. “Now then, time for sleep. We have more political dullness tomorrow.”

“You make it sound so appealing,” Luna said jokingly. Though the sadness was still clearly there.

“I know.” Flopping onto the bed I yawned. “For the record this is mine.” I felt the blanket beneath me shift before I was thrown off. “Ow.”

“I’m the princess,” Luna said as she climbed onto the bed. “If anything, it’s mine.”

“I’ll fight you for it.” I stood up and glared at her.

“I may be willing to share with you.” Luna raised her head. “Take it or leave it.”

“Fine.” I climbed under the covers. “Goodnight.”

Chapter 79: Canterlot

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 80: Entering the Hive

“Why did we have to bring them?” I looked on my back to glare at Shiny, Cadence, and Luna.

“We are just as concerned as you for Celestia’s safety.” Cadence glared at me.

“Besides, if that letter is right Twilight is there too.” Shiny stamped a hoof. “We have to save them.”

“Watch it with the hooves,” I growled. “Fine, but why do you have to ride on my back?”

“Firstly, I can’t fly,” Shiny said.

“He’s also too heavy for either of us to carry for prolonged periods of time,” Cadence jumped in.

“We also save time and energy this way,” Luna said. “You’re the only one who can track Celestia’s magic and become a giant lizard.”

“Whatever.”

“Why are you so grumpy?” Luna asked. “The Crystal Empire was on the way to where we’re going.”

“They’ll just slow us down.”

“Hey! We can fight too,” Cadence said indignantly.

“Sure you can.” I rolled my eyes.

“Just shut up and fly.”

“Alright get off me,” I ordered as we landed in a forest.

“I don’t see anything,” Shiny said as he looked around.

“That’s because we’re a few miles off.” I shrank to my human form.

“Why did we stop so far away?” Cadence asked.

“We’re likely going into a changeling hive or something,” I said. “If we want to safely get Celestia and the others out we have to be discreet and avoid fights. I’m pretty sure a giant dragon landing on their doorstep would draw attention.”

“Fair enough.” Luna nodded. “Can you still track the magic?”

“Of course.” Adjusting my eyes I scanned the area until I spotted a gold trail. “This way.”

“There it is,” I whispered as we sat on a tree branch. A few feet away in a large clearing was a massive structure. It was at least as big as the new castle. The shape was that of a large tower, it was black with several holes in it, likely to offer the changelings access. The top was jagged and releasing some kind of green fog.

“Why are you whispering?” Shiny asked.

“Changelings have sensitive ears, if one were to fly by they may hear us.” I told him.

“You’re the changeling.” Shiny shrugged.

“PART changeling.” I glared at the unicorn.

What’s wrong with being a changeling? They gave you one of your main abilities.

Don’t remind me. I hate the fact I’m related to these freaks that blew up my home.

Fair enough. Remember to watch out for Chrysalis, she can still control your changeling side.

I know.

“Let us move,” Luna said before hopping off the branch.

“Wait.” I jumped after her.

“What?”

“We need a cover or disguise.” I looked at the other two. “Do any of you know some kind of illusion spell?”

“I know a simple one,” Luna said.

“Can it make you all look like changelings?”

“It will give the basic appearance, but if any of them look too closely they will know we aren’t real.”

“Close enough.” I then transformed until I was an armored changeling. “Use it and we’ll go in.”

“This is so weird,” Cadence grumbled as we entered the hive. Luna’s spell had done a decent job at masking them, sadly it kept some of their basic traits.

Luna had kept a blue tint and her horn was longer than most changelings. Cadence’s wings kept a slight tinge of purple at the end and had somehow managed to end up with a longer mane. Shiny was gray and bulkier than the average cheese bug. Luckily most of these details required a close look to spot.

“Shut up and follow me.” I growled.

“You certainly are bossy,” Luna said.

“I’m the one dressed as a commander.”

“That does not mean-”

“You!” A loud hissing voice interrupted Luna. Looking to our right I spotted a changeling walking towards us.

“Greetings my fellow changeling.” I nodded at him.

“What are you doing here?”

“What do you mean?”

“All changelings are meant to be in the main hall for the meeting.” He then looked at my followers. “What kind of freaks are these?” As he neared them Cadence panicked and hit him in the face, knocking him out.

“Cadence!” I hissed. “What was that?”

“He was going to catch us,” she said.

“Great, now we have to stow a body,” I grumbled before grabbing the bug and dragging him towards a nearby rock.

It’s better to kill him. When he wakes up he could alert the others.

True. I raised a hoof to crush his skull.

Wait!

What?

Absorb his memories, that way we can spend less time wandering this place.

I can do that?

Of course, just fully drain him. That will kill the freak and take his memories.

Neat. Grabbing the bug’s head I drained him of every drop of magic he had. Once he was out there was a sudden pain in my head. Falling over I gripped my head.

“Sean!” Luna hurried next to me. “Are you ok?”

“Of course, I’m just on the ground gripping my head because it’s fun!”

“What happened?”

I have the same question.

Wait for it.

Then my headache vanished and a wave of knowledge flowed through me. Changeling customs, current details, and most importantly a layout of the hive. Sadly this guy didn’t seem too important since there wasn’t really any detail about their plans.

“That’s pretty cool,” I said as I stood up.

“What is?” Luna raised an eyebrow.

“I just got everything we need to find Celestia.”

“Now we.” We had been moving around this stupid hive for twenty minutes, it would seem that experience was needed to effectively travel this place. We had just reached a split in the path. “Shiny, I need you again.”

“I don’t see why you couldn’t have drawn it on a rock,” He mumbled as he walked up and showed me his head. I had drawn a map of the hive on his forehead so that we could track our progress.

“Because rocks are heavy, and I’m lazy.” I bit my foreleg with my vampiric fangs, drawing blood.

“Do you have to use your blood?” Shiny glared at me.

“What else do I have?” I tilted my head. “Suck it up.” Dabbing my hoof in the blood I began to draw on him. “Ok, so we took a left here, then right, another left, so next we should go to the left path.”

“I do not understand why you don’t just track my sister’s magic again.” Luna looked at me confused.

“Do you have any idea how many magical trails are around here? I’ll give you a hint, A LOT! It’s nearly impossible to distinguish hers now.” I turned and began to follow the path, the others quickly following.

“Are we getting close Sean?” Luna asked as we rounded a corner.

“Probably, Shiny let me-” I stopped when a somewhat familiar scent reached me. “Blood.” Spotting a patch of red I moved towards it.

“What?” Luna’s eyes widened. “Is it Celestia’s?”

“Yep.” I nodded. “Give me some cover.”

“Why?” Cadence looked at me confused.

“Just keep an eye out for changelings.”

“Will do.” Shiny saluted.

“Celestia?” I whispered. “Are you here?” As I peeked my head into a nearby tunnel something grabbed me. “Agh!”

“Be quiet insect!” Somebody hissed. It was too dark to see anything in detail.

“Get off me!” I kicked my attacker off. I quickly adjusted my eyes to the darkness. “Celestia?”

“Stay back freak.” The alicorn was looking at me with an almost predatory glare. There was large gash on her left leg. Her armor was gone and her ribs were very apparent. Her mane had lost some of its flow and color, looking more pink and solid.

“Hey, calm down.” I said slowly before transforming into my human form. “It’s me, Sean.” Before I could react Celestia’s horn began to glow before she fired a laser into my chest. The shot easily tearing through me. I fell to the ground, gripping the new hole in my chest. Glaring at her I pointed the hole.

“I had to check,” She said coldly. “Make sure you weren’t a changeling in disguise.”

“What’s wrong!?” I looked back to see Luna run in with her horn glowing, Cadence and Shiny close behind her.

“Well, I found Celestia.” My voice was strained as the gap in my body healed.

“What happened to you?” Luna asked.

“She kind of shot me.” My chest had finally recovered and I stood up.

“I had to make sure he was the real Sean.” Celestia kept her indifferent look.

“Sister!” Luna smiled before returning to her pony form and running up to her sister quickly glomping onto her and giving her a hug. The night princess looked to be on the verge of tears. “I’m so glad you’re ok.”

“It is good to see you again sister.” The older alicorn offered a smile that didn’t seem too genuine.

“Well, now that we found you we can save the others and go home.” I walked to the edge of the tunnel to look out. “There are no pests around. Let’s move.”

“No pests around?” Luna glared at me. “You just had to open your giant mouth!”

“Shut up and run!” I returned the glare.

“This is not the time to fight!” Cadence shouted.

A few seconds after we exited the tunnel there was a horrible screech and a massive wave of changelings came charging at us.

“Follow me,” Celestia said before easily taking the lead. We eventually reached another split in the path.

“Which way princess?” Shiny looked at Celestia expectantly.

“We should split up,” Celestia said. “Make the wave divide into more manageable numbers.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I spoke up. “Splitting up will weaken us.” Just then a green magic bolt hit me in the shoulder. “Ow!”

“No time to argue.” Celestia pointed at me. “You and I will take the right, Luna, Shining Armor, and Cadence will take the left. If memory serves me they eventually meet at the same location.” Celestia dodged a bolt before glaring at the changelings. “GO!”
Skeptically looking at Celestia I gazed at Luna who nodded before running down the left tunnel. “Let’s go.” Celestia ordered before following the other path. Looking back on more time I saw the hoard had slowed. “Sean!”

“Coming.” I grumbled.

Author's Note

Hello people, so I made a recent blog post that requires some opinions. So if you would be so kind as to check it out and comment that would be swell.

Chapter 81: Surprises

“This is so stupid,” I said as Celestia and I ran down the tunnel. “We’re just making ourselves easier prey.”

“Stop complaining!” Celestia glared at me. As we rounded a corner Celestia suddenly stopped and I bumped into her. Looking past her I saw we had reached a dead end. “Strange, I could have sworn this lead to another tunnel.”

“Hey, they aren’t following us.” I looked back to see there were no changelings. “We should go back and help the others. We can get the bugs in a crossfire.” I shot Celestia a look, waiting for her response.

“No, we will stick to the plan.” Celestia shook her head. “The others can handle themselves.”

“Alright, drop the act,” I said. “You messed up Chrysalis.”

“Aw, what gave me away?” Celestia was enveloped by fire, when it subsided the changeling queen was in front of me.

“For a creature that feeds off of love you’re not particularly good at faking it. I would have expected Celestia to be overjoyed to see sister again.”

“Noted.” Chrysalis nodded.

“Also, Celestia is not a cold blooded killer. Even if she thought I was a changeling she would maybe rough me up but not shoot a laser through my chest.”

“Fair enough.”

“Finally, while the letter and that trail smelled like Celestia’s blood you did not. On that note, you were moving very efficiently for a malnourished pony with a cut on her leg.”

“Wow, I made a lot of mistakes.” Chrysalis shook her head. “I guess these months of feasting and relaxing have made me lose my touch.”

“Yeah, now take me to the real Celestia.”

“What makes you think she’s actually alive?”

“I highly doubt you kept some of her blood just in case you needed to write that letter.”

“Oh my, you’re quiet the detective.” Chrysalis smiled. “It’s unfortunate that won’t save you.”

“Save me? You’re the cornered one.”

“So forgetful.” Before I could react the changeling opened her mouth and let out that obnoxious screech.

“Agh!” I cried out as I gripped my ears. After a few more seconds I was smashed in the chest by a magic bolt that sent me flying through a wall. Recovering I quickly looked around. She had blasted me into a large cave.

“You wanted to see your precious ponies,” Chrysalis said as she entered the area. “Here you go.” She gestured towards the ceiling. Looking up I was surprised. Above up there were a bunch of green cocoons.

“What are those?”

“Those are the source of our endless food,” Chrysalis said. “Inside each of those cocoons is a pony, we then use magic to stimulate the part of the brain that causes love. After all, it did seem like a waste to kill all those ponies when they could serve a purpose.”

“Neat.” I then grew my wings and flew towards the ceiling.

“How about no,” Chrysalis said before firing a beam of magic at me. As soon as it made contact my wings disappeared. Falling and smashing into the ground I groaned.

“What happened?”

“You certainly are stupid.” Chrysalis came to stand over me. “I am the queen of changelings, it is a simple matter to control transformations.”

“That’s annoying.” Quickly turning my hand into a dragon head and prepared to shoot a fireball.

“Nope.” She transformed my hand back.

“Distraction!” I suddenly swept the changeling’s legs out from under her. Face planting, I took the chance to get up.

“That was clever,” Chrysalis said as she got up. “It won’t happen again.”

“Chrysalis.” I raised my fists. “I challenge thee to fisticuffs.”

Seriously?

I can’t use shape shifting. Besides, she has hooves this will be easy.

“Oh goody.” Chrysalis clapped her hooves together. “I’ve been dying to try this.”

“What?” She then began to transform. When she finished I was shocked. The changeling had turned into a female human. Sort of, she still had her old eyes and green hair. She was wearing a black outfit that clung to the body, likely for maneuverability.

“This should be fun.” She then cracked her knuckles.

“I’ve never beaten up a human female, I can add it to my resume.”

“Sounds good.” Chrysalis then charge at me. As I prepared to punch her she suddenly slid across the ground and between my legs.

“What the?” Before I could turn she hopped up and kicked me in the back, easily snapping it. “Argh!”

She’s strong.

Surprisingly.

“That can’t be all you’ve got.” The queen taunted as I healed.

“Lucky shot,” I said while getting up.

“We’ll see.” Chrysalis smirked. Growling I charged at her, swinging a fist at her face. With surprising speed she was able to duck before punching me in the stomach several times. Then she grabbed my neck and smashed my face into her knee.

“Ow.” I groaned, stumbling back a bit.

“This is just pathetic.”

“Shut up.” I growled. “Time to get serious.”

“Isn’t that what you said last time?”

“Shut up and fight.”

“Very well.” Chrysalis charged at me, as she attempted to swing her fist at me I managed to block. Smirking I head-butted her. Falling down she held her face, when she removed her hand I noticed she was bleeding.

“What now?” The changeling responded by suddenly sweeping my legs before hopping up.

“Nice hit,” She said before her eyes glowed and the blood stopped flowing from her forehead.

“Thank you,” I said as I got up. “Shall we continue?”

“I’m not convinced this tunnel ends,” Cadence said as they followed the cave. The three ponies had been walking for at least twenty minutes.

“I agree,” Shining Armor said. “We should go back so we can help Sean and the princess.”

“Are we sure that was Celestia?” Cadence asked. “She was acting strangely.”

“Sean did say she blasted him out of nowhere.” Shining nodded. “What if she’s a decoy, maybe the real one isn’t alive.”

“She was simply stressed.” Luna glared at the two. “My sister has had a lot to deal with.”

“I’m just saying, we shouldn’t-” Cadence began.

“SILENCE!” Luna interrupted her. “My sister is alive, we saw her.”

The three ponies continued in silence.

“I see something,” Cadence said, pointing ahead. “Light.” Quickly running towards it the three entered a larger cave, the light coming from a nearby hole.

“Well that’s unfortunate,” Luna said as they looked around. “There’s nopony here.” Then there were several hisses. Looking up their eye’s widened, there was an entire swarm of changelings clinging to the ceiling.

“This is not good,” Shining said simply.

“Argh!” I cried out as Chrysalis snapped my arm.

“This just isn’t your fight.”

“Shut it.” I said before attempting to punch her. She responded by leaping up and grabbing on my head in a makeshift hand stand. Twisting she was able to forcefully snap my neck. As I healed I glared at her.

How is she so much better? I’m not even convinced half of what she’s doing is physically possible.

It’s not.

Then how is she doing it?

She’s using her powers. Making acute changes to her body during combat.

That’s just not fair. I had to roll as she tried to crush my head.

Suck it up and figure out a way to win. If this is any indication it means the others are in danger.

Easier said than done.

“You’re boring me.” Chrysalis let out a fake yawn. “Stop resisting so I can end this.”

“Only if you answer a few questions.” I winced as I tried to get up.

What are you doing?

Stalling.

“Fine.” Chrysalis sighed returning to her changeling form. “What do you want?”

“You say that Celestia and the others are alive up there.” I pointed at the ceiling. “But how? I saw their bodies.”

“Simple changeling magic mixed with their DNA,” She said as if it were simple knowledge.

“Since when can changelings transform others?”

“Again, I’m the queen I have powers beyond others.”

“Fair enough.”

I may have a plan.

I’m listening.

I need to do a few more calculations, just stall a little longer.

“So, why did you suddenly want to draw us here?”

“It was mostly you, I heard what you did to the griffins.” Chrysalis came to stand over me. “I figured we’d get you before you got us. I grow tired of this.” She raised a hoof over my head.

Bob?

Wait for it. Then hisses filled the cave.

“There they are.” The changeling smiled as a swarm of changelings burst into the cave, being chased by Luna, Shiny, and Cadence. “What?” She scowled.

“Give up Chrysalis,” Luna said. “You’re changelings have been bested.”

“I suggest you give in.” The queen said before grabbing me by the throat. “Unless you’d like him.” She pointed at the ceiling. “And you’re sister to die.”

Now! Transform into this!

Can’t she-

Do it!

Shrugging I kicked Chrysalis in her face. She hissed in pain before dropping me. I quickly rolled away.

Gross! I’m going to be tasting bug for a week.

Just transform!

Luna smirked as the last changelings flew away.

“Give up Chrysalis,” she said. “You’re changelings have been bested.”

“I suggest you give in.” The queen said before grabbing Sean by the throat. “Unless you’d like him.” She pointed at the ceiling. “And you’re sister to die.”

“What?” Luna looked up in confusion. Her eyes snapped back when she heard a hiss. She watched as Sean rolled away from the changeling before he began to transform.

Sean growled as his face began to lengthen, Luna cringed as two more arms burst out of his ribs. Slamming his hands on the ground he began to grow, his body lengthening, creating a tail. He slowly turned green and grew two more legs. Suddenly several human’s began to burst from his sides, mostly just being heads and upper bodies. Sean roared before glaring at the changeling queen in front of him

“Why did he choose that form?” Cadence asked.

Why did you choose this form? I asked as I finished my change. What’s so great about Sirizan’s body?

Several limbs, superior mobility in this crammed space, and tongue weapon.

Fair enough.

“That’s was quiet the display for such a hideous form,” Chrysalis said.

“It may not be pretty, but it will get the job done.” My voice was creepy, since in this form it made it sound like there was a slight echo. I then brought a fist down on her.

“Maybe not.” Chrysalis appeared next to my fist. “How did you miss?”

“Stay still!” I attempted to hit her again. This time she dodged before flying over me, her horn glowed for a minute before she blasted me with a magic bolt. I felt my body begin to change back to my human form before quickly fixing itself. “What?”

What just happened?

Her magic isn’t able to flow fast enough to change this huge form.

This is going to be fun.

“So you found a way around my spell,” Chrysalis said as she hovered over me. “No matter, you will still lose.” She ducked as a bolt of blue magic flew past her head, turning to glare at its shooter she hissed at Luna.

“Come on you two, let’s get her!” Luna shouted before flying towards the changeling queen.

“Pest!” Chrysalis growled before letting out a screech. Just before Luna reached her an entire cloud of changelings burst from the walls and rammed into her.

“Luna!” I watched as she was smashed into a wall. Looking back at Chrysalis I growled. “You’re going down.”

“What will you do? Kill me with your, Agh!” She had to suddenly dodge as my tongue flew at her. “That’s just gross.”

While she was distracted I swung a green hand at her, managing to swat her out of the air. The changeling slammed into the ground.

“How did that feel?” I asked, lifting a hand to crush her. As it came down to kill her I was suddenly blasted by the swarm of changelings and sent flying. “Well that wasn’t fun. Those bugs can be strong.”

“Sean.” I looked to my right to see Luna limping towards me. “Where’s Celestia?”

“Up there.” I used one of my four hands to gesture at the ceiling. “In those cocoons I think.”

“So the earlier one was Chrysalis?”

“Yeah.” I got back up. “You save her and the others, I’ll handle the bugs.”

“Right.” Luna nodded. “Cadence, let’s go.” The two alicorns then took off towards the ceiling.

“Stop them!” Chrysalis shouted. The now familiar swarm of changelings began to rush towards them.

“Denied!” I shouted before shooting my tongue at them. I was able to snag around seven. “Blegh! Gross!”

Retracting my tongue I opted to crush another twelve with my hands. Sadly at least fifteen more made it past me. Just as they neared Luna and Cadence a magical shield blocked them off.

“Good work Shiny.” I nodded to the unicorn.

“You are all really getting on my nerves!” Chrysalis said before her horn began to spark. There was a loud clap before a shock went through my entire body.

“Agh!” When the shock vanished I fell to the ground, coughing in pain.

“Sean!” Shiny came to stand next to me. “Are you ok?”

“I’ll live,” I said as I got up. “Protect the girls.”

“Right.” Shiny ran off, his horn glowing as he strengthened the shield.

“Why did you lie to Shining?” Chrysalis asked as she landed in front of me. Attempting to lunge at her I ended up tipping and falling over. “You won’t live.”

“How do we open these things?” Luna asked as she flew around one of the cocoons. “There doesn’t seem to be any sort of opening.”

“I guess we just have to break them,” Cadence said, preparing to kick the nearest one open.

“Wait! We need to have some way to catch the ponies.”

“Hmm, we could get Shining to do that.”

“Good idea, where-” Luna was interrupted by a shriek of pain. Looking towards it she watched as the giant green beast fell to the ground coughing. “Sean!” Luna watched as Shining Armor ran to check on him, sighing in relief as he got back up and Shining ran towards them.

“Princess, how can I help?” The unicorn asked as he looked up at the alicorns.

“We need to free the ponies.” Cadence replied. “Can you cushion their fall?”

“Of course.”

“Alright let’s do it.” Luna nodded before kicking one of the cocoons. The green case smashed open and a large white body fell out of it. “Celestia!” Luna shot towards the figure and caught it. Landing the princess set her down, checking over her sister.
She was thin, her coat was dull and her mane was colorless and barely moving, there was a large gash along her side instead of her leg. To Luna’s relief she was breathing.

“Sister!” Luna hugged her unconscious sibling, crying.

“I’ll free the rest,” Cadence said quietly before taking off.

“What did you do to me?” I glared at Chrysalis as she smirked.

“A simple electrical charge, it is currently causing your muscles to spasm. Capturing you did teach me a lot.” She raised a hoof before jabbing it into my eye, causing me to cry out in pain. “Like how important this is.” Yanking out her blood soaked hoof she showed me a small gold gem.

“Give me that!” I shouted as I felt myself begin to disintegrate.

“No thanks,” She said, tossing it in the air before catching it.

“I’ll kill you!” Attempting to hit her with my tongue I was surprised as it fell off.

“You don’t look so good.” Chrysalis held the gem next to my good eye. “Goodbye.” She then dropped it and raised a hoof to crush it.

“That’s all of them,” Cadence said as she carried an unconscious Twilight to the ground. The changelings had captured a surprising number of citizens, at least fifty ponies.

“Good work.” Luna smiled.

“What’s going on?” A voice asked from behind them.

“Sister!” Luna ran up to Celestia and hugged her.

“Luna!” Celestia smiled. “Where are we?” The solar princess looked around the cave.

“We are in a changeling hive.” Luna explained. “You, the element bearers, and several others were brought here by them.” Luna raised her head. “Luckily we came to save you.”

“Interesting, so who is we?”

“Myself, Cadence, Shining Armor, and-” Luna’s eyes widened as she looked behind Celestia. “Sean!”

“What?” Celestia looked back to see a large green monster lying on the ground. They watched as Chrysalis dropped some kind of gold gem on the ground and stomped on it. The creature then began to quickly disintegrate. After a few seconds it was gone.

“That was too easy,” Chrysalis said as she laughed. “I wanted more from that human.”

“She killed him,” Luna said in disbelief.

“It’s on now!” Shining shouted before charging at the changeling. Chrysalis gave a bored look before hitting him with a green bolt that sent him flying.

“Shining!” Cadence ran to her husband. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” He said, weakly getting up.

“You fools can’t win,” Chrysalis said, smirking. “I have been feasting for months. Besides, what kind of force are you? A weak unicorn, an inexperienced fighter, and a malnourished alicorn, your only hope is Luna.”

“We will win.” Luna’s horn began to spark.

“If you want to fight.” Chrysalis chuckled. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 82: Princesses vs Queen

“Is that the best you can do?” Chrysalis asked as she blocked another shot from Shining Armor.

“I hate to admit that it is,” Shining said between pants. He had been attempting to break Chrysalis’s shields while making his own for a while. It was putting a lot of strain on the unicorn.

“Good, my argh!” Chrysalis turned to glare at the pink alicorn that had just shot her.

“Stay away from him.”

“Fine, I’ll kill you first.” Chrysalis charged her horn before firing a bolt of magic at her. As Cadence prepared to block she was tackled by a drone. The shot was then able to hit the princess, knocking her back several feet.The alicorn attempted to stand before falling over unconscious.

"Cadence!" Shining charged at the queen. Yawning she lazily shot him with a laser, knocking him down and out.

“This is getting boring. At least the human had offered some amusement.”

“Celestia, can you fight at all?” Luna looked to her sister. “She is at the point I will likely need help to stop her.”

“I can try,” Celestia said as she stood up, wobbling slightly as her legs struggled to support her. “We just need to stall after all.”

“What do you mean?”

“You really think Sean would die that easily?” Celestia shook her head. “I highly doubt it.”

“Oh Celestia,” Chrysalis said with a smirk. “You put too much faith in the ape. I destroyed his very core, according to my research that is all that keeps him alive. You could completely destroy his body and drain all his magic but as long as that gold gem remains, so does he.” The changeling walked to a small crater where Sean had disintegrated. “But I destroyed that little trinket, there is nothing for him to form around or store his life force.”

“I hate to say it but she’s right.” Luna nodded. “That is what keeps him alive, that’s why in his dragon form it’s a weak point.

“Tell me Chrysalis, is there any remnants of the gem?” Celestia asked.

“No, it probably disintegrated,” Chrysalis said confidently.

“We’ll see.” Celestia smirked.

“I’ve had enough of you.” Chrysalis charged her horn and shot a green laser at the alicorn. Luna quickly raised a shield to block before retaliating with her own shot. The changeling was caught off guard and sent flying back.

“Sister, from what I understand she is right about Sean,” Luna said sadly.

“Just wait,” Celestia said. “He’s too stubborn to die that easily.”

“Keep your delusions,” Chrysalis said as she got back up. “I will relish your agony when he doesn’t come.”

“Sean or not we still need to beat her,” Luna said as she spread her wings in aggression. “Can you fight sister?”

“I can try.” Celestia began to charge her horn, wincing as she got a headache.

“Oh, I’m so scared.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Celestia is only a crutch to you Luna.”

“My sister is stronger than you will ever be!” Luna glared at the queen.

“Unless we are in her own capital city.” Chrysalis chuckled. “Then I mop the floor with her.”

Celestia glared at the queen before her mane began to catch fire. She was then enveloped in a flash of light. When it subsided she had changed to her flaming form. Though the armor seemed to be a dull gold and the fire of her mane and tail was far more yellow than usual.

“Oh, it’s getting serious now.” Chrysalis looked at Celestia with mock concern. “Even that form looks weaker.”

“I can still beat you.” Celestia’s voice sounded strained.

“Sister are you sure that form is the best idea?” Luna looked at her in concern.

“I may experience some trouble later but it will be worth it.” Celestia glared at the changeling in front of her.

“We’ll see.” Chrysalis yawned. “Come at me Celly.”

“I will avenge my country,” Celestia said before charging at the changeling. As Chrysalis dodged the charge Celestia quickly spread one of her bladed wings, managing to leave a gash across the queen’s chest.

“Agh!” Chrysalis cried out as she stumbled back. Inspecting the wound she was pleased to find it wasn’t very deep. She glared at Celestia.

“Do I have your attention bug?” The alicorn asked smugly.

“I’m going to make your beating extra painful.” She was then sent flying across the cave as a blast of fire slammed into her.

“Sister, be careful,” Luna said as Celestia nearly fell over. “Allow me to handle her.”

“No Luna, I have to beat her.” The alicorn spread her wings. “She will pay for hurting my friend.”

“Let’s see how you handle this!” The princesses looked up to see Chrysalis hovering over them. She let out a screech, after a few seconds a wave of changelings burst from one of the nearby tunnels.

“Luna, get down!” Celestia ordered. After her sister had ducked the princess sent a massive fireball out towards the swarm. The changelings were incinerated immediately.

“My children!” Chrysalis, cried out. “I will destroy you!”

“Bring it on!” Celestia then took to the sky.

Chrysalis growled before firing a magic bolt at the princess. Celestia was able to dodge before ramming into her. The changeling then took an alicorn to the body, the two were sent flying towards a nearby wall.

“I have had it with you!” Chrysalis shouted before pushing Celestia off and punching her in the face. The weakened alicorn was sent flying to the ground.

“Celestia!” Luna came running up.

“I’m alright,” Celestia said weakly. Her flaming mane and tail were much shorter.

“No you’re not.”

“I can’t give up.”

“Let me at least help.” Luna’s horn began to glow, Celestia was then enveloped in blue before her wounds began to heal. Not by much but it was certainly better than how she had been.

“Some minor healing won’t save you,” Chrysalis said as she landed in front of them.

“This ends now changeling!” Luna said before charging at the queen. As she neared her Luna quickly cast a spell that created a copy of her. The two then flanked Chrysalis and blasted her with two lasers. The changeling cried out in pain before jumping back.

“Shall we end this sister?” Luna asked.

“Of course.” Celestia nodded. She was breathing heavily and seemed to be one the verge of passing out. “I have at least one more spell in me.”

“Should we honor our friend with it?” Luna’s horn began to glow.

“Sure.” Celestia shrugged before channeling her own magic

“Enough talk!” Chrysalis glared at the two, her horn was glowing a vibrant green. “Die!” The changeling then fired a massive laser at the sisters.

“Let’s do it,” Luna said before firing a blue laser. At the same time Celestia shot a beam of fire. The two collided and fused as they flew towards Chrysalis, once they fully merged the new beam took the form of a dragon. When the dragon collided with the laser it easily plowed through it and hit Chrysalis. “Bull’s-eye!”

Hey! Idiot, wake up!

“Five more minutes.”

No! We need to get up and help the others.

“Fine.” I opened my eyes and sat up. “Where are we now?”

I was currently lying on the shore of some sort of lake. The water had a silver tint to it as it lay completely still. Across the lake and around the shore there were many buildings that were slowly collapsing, after they became rubble they slowly rebuilt themselves.

“This place is weird.”

“How did you get in here?” A voice echoed, seeming to come from every direction.

“I have no idea.” I got up and dusted myself off. “I don’t even know where here is.”

“This is my domain,” The voice said. “None are able to come here without my permission.”

“Aw, I feel so special.” I began to walk along the silver sand. “So, what is this place?” Once I reached one of the crumbling buildings I touched it. There was a powerful surge of magic that almost knocked me back.

“You are currently in my meditation realm.” The voice sounded irritated.

“Neat.” I began moving away from the lake. After a bit of walking I reached a large canyon, looking down I realized I couldn’t see the bottom. Near the center of the chasm there was a large floating building, it was made of stone with a jagged base. There was a large purple beam shooting out of the top. “So who are you?”

“You truly are an idiot.” The wind then began to pick up, looking to the sky I watched as a winged figure flew down. Quickly coming into view the dragon slowed before landing in front of me.

“Hi dad.” I waved.

“I am not your, never mind.” Bolas shook his head. “What are you doing here?”

“I dunno.” I shrugged. “One minute Chrysalis was about to crush my core, the next I’m here.”

“Ah yes, the changeling queen is surprisingly powerful for a lesser being.” The dragon nodded. “Your near death likely attributes to coming here.”

“Huh?”

“Ugh.” Bolas pinched his snout. “My new DNA probably transported you to safety before death, it chose here due to this being my personal world.”

“Fascinating.” I thought for a minute before something occurred to me. “Wait, how do you know about Chrysalis?”

“After our encounter I began to study your plane. I must say, it has become much more interesting in the last several millennia.” Bolas smirked. “When I first arrived those pitiful equines were just discovering fire, while the griffins and minotaurs had only begun to build small tribes, overall it was extremely dull. That’s when I decided to create your pitiful race. After all, the only other sentient races were about as intelligent as bricks.”

“That’s really interesting but how do I get out of here?” I looked around. “I need to help my friends.”

“That’s right, you were working to save those ponies of yours.” he smiled. “While I have no intentions of directly interfering I can offer my assistance”

“Why would you do that?”

“The more I help you with these trivial tasks, the more you owe me.”

“Well maybe I don’t need your help.”

“Really? Fine, by all means leave.” The dragon crossed his arms. “Use your knowledge of dimensional transport to get home.”

“Um.” I looked around. “Well played.”

“As I was saying, while I will not come help you directly, I can offer you an edge.”

Chapter 83: Thinking With Portals

“Did it work?” Celestia asked as she fell to the ground. The fire had left her mane and tail, they were now made of pink hair, she had also lost about a foot in size.

“Are you ok?” Luna looked at her in concern.

“I’m fine, just low on magic.” Celestia replied. “So, did we win?”

“I believe so,” Luna said as she looked at the fallen changeling. Chrysalis was lying on the ground coughing, one of her legs was bent the wrong way and she had several burns. “What do we do with her?”

“I’m not sure.”

“You think you’ve won?” Chrysalis asked as she weakly glared at the sisters. “This is not over.”

“Get over it changeling,” Luna said. “You have lost.”

“Not yet.” She let out a screech and was then surrounded by a sudden swarm of changelings.

Some of them raised a shield to protect their queen. The horns on the rest began to glow before they began to heal Chrysalis. Once they stopped, looking very tired the queen weakly got up. Her horn then glowed before all the changelings were enveloped in a green aura. After a few seconds Chrysalis began to fully recover. As she fully healed the changelings around her fell to the ground dead.

“Did you just kill all of them?” Luna asked in shock.

“In a way,” Chrysalis said as she got up. “They gave their life energy to heal their beloved queen.”

“I guess this is it sister,” Luna said sadly. She was spent from that last spell and Celestia was barely able to move.

“Indeed it is.” Chrysalis smirked as she began to move towards them. “Still think your little human is coming?”

Loud pony.

“What!?” The princess looked around in confusion.

You may want to protect anybody there you care for. I’m sending something your way.

Concerned Luna quickly raised a shield around herself and every other pony in the cave.

“You think this can protect you?” Chrysalis laughed. “Nothing can-”. There was then a sudden explosion behind the queen. “What?” Then a strange tear appeared in the ceiling and something came out. Slamming into the ground, it caused a massive shock-wave that sent Chrysalis flying back. Luna had to strain to keep the shield up as the blast hit it.

“How’s that for an entrance?”

“Sean?” Luna asked in shock. She lowered the shield as the human came to stand next to them.

“Of course.” Sean rolled his eyes. “How many humans do you know?”

“Hello Sean,” Celestia said, waving slightly.

“Celestia you’re alive!” Sean then surprised both princesses by hugging her.

“As much as I appreciate the affection your arm is right on my injury,” Celestia said as she winced.

“Sorry.” Sean quickly let her go and took a step back. “What’s up with your hair? It’s weird looking.”

“I’m tired and weakened, I’m sorry if it displeases you,” Celestia said indignantly

“Whatever.” Sean shrugged. “So, where’s Chrysalis?” He then stumbled forward as a bolt of green magic hit him. “Never mind.”

“I’m not sure how you survived, but it won’t happen again,” Chrysalis said as she glared at the human.

“Sure it will.” Sean smirked as he turned to face her. “You are extremely incompetent after all.”

“I beat you last time.”

“True, but I have a new trick up my sleeve.”

“It won’t save you,” Chrysalis said as she glared at Sean before transforming into her own human form

“We’ll see.” He then charged at the changeling, once he neared her he jabbed at her head. Smirking, Chrysalis easily dodged before grabbing his forearm and twisting it until there was a crack. Sean cried out in pain before managing to punch her off.

“Did you really learn nothing from our last fight?” Chrysalis asked smugly.

“Of course I did,” Sean said rubbing his arm as it healed. “I was just seeing if you had weakened.” He then vanished.

“What?” The queen looked around in confusion.

“Behind you.”

“Huh?” Turning Chrysalis quickly met Sean’s fist. Chrysalis fell to the ground, holding her face in pain.

“How was that?” Sean asked, smiling down at the changeling. Growling Chrysalis swept his legs, knocking him over.

“I’m not sure how you did that,” Chrysalis said as she got up. “But you’re going to still lose.”

“Who is the one with a bleeding face right now?” Sean pointed at her. “Oh yeah, it’s you.”

“I can’t wait to kill you again.” Chrysalis prepared to crush his skull.

“No thanks.” Sean then vanished before appearing next to the changeling. “You like this? My dad calls it planewalking. It’s a lot of fun.” Sean ducked as Chrysalis swung a fist at him. “He gave me some speech about how I can only travel in my world. Then a whole warning about ravenous brain something, I wasn’t really listening.”

“Do you ever shut up?” Chrysalis growled as she tried to kick him. The human blocked her leg, quickly grabbing the ankle he swung her over his head and into the ground.

“Only when I’m dead.” Sean cracked his knuckles. “Which you soon will be.” His voice suddenly deepened. Chrysalis jumped up and away from Sean.

“You don’t scare me.”

“That’s a shame.” Sean smirked. “Where’s the fun if you can’t see their terror? I’ll just have to fix it.” He then vanished again. As he reappeared behind Chrysalis the changeling suddenly turned before grabbing his torso and flipping backwards. The human’s skull slammed into the ground, blood managing to splatter all around them.

“You can only trick me so many times,” Chrysalis said as she got up. “Teleportation can become very predictable.”

“Oh, this does so much more than teleport.” Sean coughed up blood as he recovered. “I can do things like this.” A portal then appeared above and below Chrysalis. She fell through the one under her then came out the other. This began an endless cycle as she fell through the portals. After getting up Sean smiled and watched. “Look Luna, real life portal.”

“Sister, does something seem a bit off about Sean?” Luna asked.

“Indeed it does.” Celestia nodded.

“Bored now,” Sean said before suddenly moving one of the portals onto a nearby wall. The changeling was sent flying across the cave. Chrysalis slammed into the ground, coughing some blood. “So are you ready to die?” Chrysalis just laughed before her horn glowed, most of her injuries vanished and she teleported away. “Ugh, I just finished beating you!”

“That’s a shame, because now you will lose.” Chrysalis said before transforming into Celestia.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Sean asked before charging at the queen. Before she could react he had grabbed her by the horn and began punching her in the face and gut.

“It’s a good thing she just looks like you,” Luna said as she flinched.

“Are done wasting my time?” Sean asked, his voice had deepened further.

“Let’s try this,” Chrysalis said weakly before kicking him in the chest. Sean growled and dropped her. Stumbling slightly the changeling quickly transformed into a familiar purple unicorn.

“This could be a problem,” Luna said. “Should we interfere?”

“Chrysalis will soon pass out, even though he won’t attack he’ll still-”

“You think that will stop me?” Sean glared at the unicorn. “I’ve killed more threatening things for breakfast!” He then disappeared before reappearing behind Chrysalis and punching her in the back of the head. “You will die.” Sean grabbed her by the horn before smashing her into the ground. He then created a portal and threw the changeling through it. As she came out another he grabbed her throat and bashed her against a wall.

“Ok, something is definitely wrong.” Luna’s eyes widened. “We have to stop him.” The alicorn then ran towards the human.

“Give me your knowledge,” Sean said as he grabbed Chrysalis’s head, his hands then began to glow green. After a few seconds the changeling cried in pain. Soon the glow vanished and Chrysalis looked to be in horrible pain, there was also distant look in her eyes as they glazed over slightly. “Since that’s out of the way, tell me Chrysalis,” Sean asked as he brought her to his face. The human’s voice had deepened further, his eyes turned green, and he had grown at least a foot. “Where in the world would you like to go? A volcano? The bottom of the ocean? Oh I know, you like being Celestia so much how about the sun?” A portal then appeared next to them.

“Please, stop,” Chrysalis said weakly, transforming to her usual form. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, you’re sorry.” The human chuckled. “You should have gained some remorse a month ago. Bye bye.” He prepared to throw her into the rift. Then there was a flash and she was out of Sean’s grip. “What!?” He looked back. “Luna!”

“I can’t let you kill her Sean,” Luna said as she stood over the bleeding and now unconscious queen.

“You dare defy me!?” Sean then turned his hand into a dragon head before slamming it into the ground. After a few seconds a tear in the ground appeared and a trail of fire flew towards her. Luna quickly raised a shield, barely managing to keep it up from the hit.

“That’s enough Sean!” A voice commanded. Sean looked behind him to see a glaring Celestia.

“You want to fight too?”

“Calm down,” Celestia said her voice becoming softer but still filled with authority. “There is something wrong with your mind right now.”

“I’m fine.” Sean growled before charging at her.

“I am sorry about this.” Celetia’s horn glowed. Sean then cried out in pain, falling to the ground.

“What is this?” He asked, the human began to grip his head. “It hurts!” He then passed out before transforming into a yellow pegasus.

“Wow,” Luna said as she looked at the unconscious human. “What was that?”

“You remember that fail-safe spell I told you about?” Celestia asked.

“That was it?” Luna asked in surprise.

“Yes, it locks down his changeling magic and sends an electric charge through him.”

“What do we do with him?”

“When he wakes up we will see if he’s back to normal,” Celestia said as she watched the pegasus twitch on the ground.

Chapter 84: Camping

“Ugh, my head.” I slowly sat up and rubbed my aching skull. “Agh!” My hand was a yellow hoof. Hopping up I looked myself over. I was a yellow pegasus, just like when I first met Celestia. “What is going on!?” I began to run in a circle.

“Sean.” I heard a familiar voice. “Sean calm down.” I then bumped into a white leg. Looking up I began to hyperventilate.

“Celestia! Something’s wrong, I’m stuck as a pony!” My breath quickened even further.

“Sean, calm down.” Celestia kneeled to my level and put a wing over me. “It’s ok.”

“How is it ok?” I asked. “You’re too weak to do much. I’m going to be stuck like this for months!”

“Sean!” Celestia shouted, shutting me up. “Luna knows the spell to help you.”

“Really?” I looked to the blue alicorn. Her horn began to glow and I was enveloped in a blue aura. After a few seconds she released me.

“Now try to change back.” Celestia told me. Nodding I quickly transformed back to my human form.

“That’s a relief.” I sighed. “So what did I miss?”

“What is that last thing you remember?” Celestia asked, she seemed a bit uneasy.

“Well, I was having fun with that infinite portal thing. Then it all kind of goes dark.”

“Interesting.” Celestia stumbled a little as she got up.

“Are you ok?” I asked in concern.

“I’ll be fine, I’m just tired from the fight with Chrysalis.”

“Speaking of the cheese queen.” I looked around the cave. “Where is she?”

“Unfortunately she was able to escape.” Celestia’s shoulders slumped. “A small swarm of changelings knocked us away and grabbed her.”

“That’s annoying.” As I shook my head I noticed Celestia almost fall over again. “Seriously what’s wrong with you?”

“She along with the others have all suffered severe muscle loss.” Luna came to stand next to us. “Their limbs are considerably weaker, my guess is her legs can’t support the weight.”

“No problem,” I said. “I can just open us a portal to Canterlot.” I then tried to open a rift, before I could Celestia hit me in the back of the head. “Ow! What was that for?”

“I don’t want you using those portals. They can’t be good for you.”

“How do we get home then?”

“We will walk.”

“What!? Do you know how long that will take?”

“We are walking.” Celestia glared at me.

“Fine.” I crossed my arms. “I don’t even know why I saved you.”

“This is so stupid,” I grumbled. We had been walking for three hours now.

“Stop complaining and mush.” Celestia then kicked me in the ribs.

“Why do I have to carry you again?” The alicorn was currently latched onto my back. “Can’t Luna do this?”

“I’m having enough trouble trying to carry fifty-eight unconscious ponies.” Luna glared at me. She was currently carrying every single pony other than Celestia in a magic bowl. “Even with starvation I doubt I could handle my sister’s excessive weight.”

“Besides, Luna’s too weak and short to carry me,” Celestia said.

“If you weren’t injured those would be fighting words.” Luna growled. I ended up wobbling as Celestia looked back at her sister with a smirk.

“Hey! Don’t shift like that!” I ordered.

“I thought you were supposed to be strong,” Celestia said. “You can’t even carry a thin and injured alicorn.”

“I am strong, you’re just big! Ow!” I growled as my passenger hit me in the back of the head. “I’m seriously considering dropping you.” I looked back at Luna. “So why can’t I just fly us there as a dragon?”

“While not as bad as Nicol Bolas, ever since you exchanged blood with him in that form you give off powerful magic.” Luna explained. “I don’t think that Celestia and the unicorns could handle the power in their current state.”

“Ugh!”

“We will setup camp here,” Celestia said as we reached a large clearing.

“With what?” Shiny asked. The unicorn and his wife had woken up a few hours ago. “We have no tents.”

“That is why the two strong males are going to get wood and other materials to make some shelter.” Celestia looked at Shiny then poked me in the back of the head.

“Fine.” I groaned before kneeling. “Get off me.” Celestia carefully got to the ground. “Well, let’s go Shiny.”

“Wait.” Luna stood in front of us. “What are Cadence and I meant to do?”

“Well Cadence can defend you guys.” I then gave Celestia an evil grin. “Luna, your sister is going to need to build up her muscles again. Why don’t you get her started on some physical therapy?” Luna gave her own cruel smile.

“Of course.”

“I vote we don’t,” Celestia said nervously.

“Why not? You don’t want to end up small and weak like me,” Luna said. “So, let us begin.”

“Are you sure that was a good idea?” Shiny asked as I began to cut down another tree. “Leaving Princess Celestia at her sister’s mercy?”

“Oh, I know it was a bad idea,” I said. “This’ll teach her to ride me like an animal.”

Nice wording there.

“Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Shiny looked at me in confusion.

“Never mind.” I shook my head. “Gather some of those trunks and we’ll head back.” We had managed to get enough logs to make some decent huts. I grabbed the ones he couldn’t and we headed back for the clearing

“Come on Celestia, reach!” Luna ordered.

When Shiny and I had returned to the clearing Luna had Celestia balancing on her back legs and reaching up. She ended up falling over twice which was pretty funny.

“Should we save her?” I asked Shiny as he set down the logs.

“We do need Luna’s magic to help with this.”

“Hey Luna, stop tormenting Celly and come give us a hand!” I shouted to her.

“Coming!” Luna turned and began to walk towards us. As she left Celestia flopped to the ground, breathing heavily. “Don’t worry sister, we will continue this later.” Luna smiled at her sister.

“You’re mean.” I smirked as Luna came to stand next to me.

“I am simply helping my sister to recover.” Luna put a hoof to her chest. “I would never take advantage of a position of power for petty revenge.”

“Sure.” I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, do you know a spell that can seal the logs together once we set them up?”

“Of course.” Luna nodded. “Just tell me when you are ready.”

“Ok, so here’s the plan.” I kneeled down with Luna and Shiny next to me. “We are going to have five huts.” Drawing in some dirt I began to make the plans. “Two large ones for all the ponies, then one for Cadence and Shiny, one for Luna and Celestia, and of course one for me.”

“That all sounds great but how are we meant to transport them?” Shiny looked at me skeptically.

“That is where I come in,” Luna said. “I will shrink the huts between travels.”

“Then you just put them in little shields and we’ll carry them.” I told Shiny. “Alright, break!”

“How’s that one coming Shiny?” I called over as the unicorn put another log on one of the structures.

“Almost done.”

“Good.” I stepped away from my last hut. We had been working for two hours and had finished all but Shiny and Cadence’s. That was the one he was currently working on. “Luna.” I looked to the alicorn. She nodded before her horn began to glow, the hut was then enveloped in a blue aura. Slowly the logs began to merge until it was one solid structure. “Nice.”

“We are expected to live in these things?” A stuffy unicorn asked in shock. Unfortunately most of the other ponies had woken up recently. Due to them being nobles and other rich ponies they were all very whiny about the whole scenario. So far the only tolerable ones were Twilight and her friends.

“Unless you would rather sleep outside,” I said, glaring at the pony.

“Let’s get some sleep,” Celestia said. “We have a long journey tomorrow.” Several of the ponies grumbled before entering the huts.

“Well, goodnight.” I waved before walking into my own structure.

“Sean.” I felt something poke me.

“What?” I opened my eyes, after they adjusted I saw Twilight standing over me. “What is it?”

“Can I stay here?” She asked nervously.

“Why?” I sat up.

“I just don’t feel too safe or comfortable in that big hut. Plus in my current physical state-”

“Shut up and lie down.” I grumbled before lying back.

“Thank you.” She smiled before lying next to me. Closing my eyes I fell back asleep.

“It’s too early for this,” I said as we weaved through some trees. “Can’t you walk yet?” I looked back at the white alicorn on my back. “Luna did some nice therapy with you.”

“I hardly call that therapy,” Celestia said bitterly. “Having me dodge magic bolts seems a bit extreme.”

“It caused you to use your legs and wings.” Luna gave a fake smile to Celestia.

“You nearly hit my head twice!”

“No shouting next to my ear!” I glared at Celestia.

“Sorry.” She apologized.

“So Sean, can you tell me more about this planewalking?” Twilight asked. The purple unicorn had been asking me about it ever since it came up this morning.

“Well, it allows me to easily transport anywhere in the world.”

“So it is similar to long range teleportation?”

“Yes, but I am able to create things like portals. What it actually does is tear a hole in reality which I then travel through.”

“Wow.” Twilight’s eyes widened. “Can you show me?”

“No,” Celestia said before I could reply.

“What’s your problem with my new ability?” I asked.

“I just don’t think you should take that kind of power lightly.”

“Lame.”

“So, how is Spike?” Twilight looked concerned.

“He’s fine, he was upset about your death of course. Luckily a few gems and some hero worship from the crystal ponies later and he recovered.”

“Are you certain this is the right way?” Luna asked.

“Ninety percent,” I said.

“That’s comforting,” Celestia said sarcastically. Glaring at her I continued.

“I am following the weak magic trail we tracked before.”

“So tell me about this new Canterlot you and Luna are so proud of.” Celestia finally spoke.

“We made it more secure first of all,” Luna said. “The city is surrounded by a stronger wall, as well as the castle. Using Sean’s specifications and as a test subject-”

“It was horrible.” I shivered.

“As I was saying.” Luna rolled her eyes. “We put a spell on the front gate of the city that scans the DNA of beings entering it to ensure they are not changelings.”

“Sounds like the two of you put a lot of work into it,” Celestia said.

“Indeed we did.”

“I guess it’s almost time to set up camp,” Celestia said, looking to the sky.

“Shouldn’t we find a clearing or something?” I asked. We currently were surrounded by trees with minimal space for the huts.

“I can go look for one,” Cadence said before taking to the sky.

“After she finds us somewhere you should probably start the night,” Celestia said, looking at her sister.

“If that’s the case.” I looked back. “Shiny, you and Luna gather some fire wood. I will wait for Cadence and guard the group.”

“Right.” Shiny turned and headed deeper into the forest.

“Yes sir!” Luna gave a salute before following.

“Wow.” I rolled my eyes.

“She certainly has opened up more,” The alicorn on my back commented. “Remember how she used to give you a semi death look?”

“Yep, I wanted to punch her in the face.”

“I found a good spot.” I looked up to see Cadence coming towards us, landing in front of me.

“What’s it like?” I asked.

“It is a large open clearing, like the last few. But the great part is that it’s right next to a river.”

“Nice.”

“Where’s Shining and Aunt Luna?” Cadence looked around.

“They are getting firewood.”

“How will they know where to go?” Cadence asked in concern.

“I can leave a trail.” I told her before using a claw to leave an X in a nearby tree.

“I hope they will understand,” Cadence said before turning and heading into the forest. The group and I quickly followed, I was being careful to leave marks every few feet.

“Here we are.” Cadence gestured grandly.

It definitely was a good spot, the clearing was huge and almost completely clean. There were a few wild flowers but based on my understanding of ponies that can be dinner for them. A calm river also flowed nearby.

“Good work Cadence.” I smirked. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She glared at me.

“Nothing.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the little huts, surrounded by spherical shields. “You get to resizing these while I check the perimeter.”

“Can do.” Cadence then levitated the buildings out of my palm.

“I’ll be back in a minute.”

Cadence did a good job with the location.

“Yeah, it’s almost concerning.” I was walking through the forest around the site. The goal is to ensure there is nothing dangerous around. This started after we let Luna pick the site and ended up in an ursa major’s territory. “Everything seems good. Let’s hope Luna and Shiny got back with the wood.”

“This is the dumbest job ever,” I grumbled as I set fire to another stick pile.

“I forgot how much you can whine.” Celestia rolled her eyes as she walked next to me.

“Yeah? I forgot how much you can annoy me.” Setting fire to the final pile we headed back to our little group. Consisting of Twilight and her entourage, Luna, Shiny, Cadence, Celestia, and me. This system of creating groups during camp was made after we set fire to a few square feet of forest trying to create a giant campfire. Now we just use several smaller ones.

“Who knew wild flowers could actually be good?” Cadence asked as she ate another of the plants. Just as I thought the ponies were quick to eat them. Unfortunately I hated the taste of flowers, but there isn’t a cupcake in sight.

Maybe I should put these canine teeth to use. I thought, brushing my tongue against one of the pointed fangs.

I’m not sure that’s the best idea. Remember the creatures you are with, they would probably freak out.

But I’m hungry. Just one little bear won’t hurt anybody.

Don’t do it.

Buzzkill.

“So Sean.” I looked over to Celestia as she gave me a look I’ve never seen before. “I hear Twilight has been staying in your hut recently.”

“So?” I shrugged. “She doesn’t like the outdoors.”

“Is sleeping all that occurs in there?” Luna asked, giving the same unusual look. I did notice Twilight had changed color. Red and purple don’t mix well, all her friends were snickering. Strange.

“Well there was the day she couldn’t sleep so I told her some stories about the past.” I looked at them confused. “Is there a hidden meaning I’m missing?”

They are implying that certain activities occur in your hut.

What? I thought for a minute. Oh. That’s awfully personal, should I be offended?

I don’t know! This has never been an occurrence!

Stop shouting!

How about you both stop shouting.

Agh!

Celestia, what have I said about doing that!?

Well you suddenly spaced out. Everypony is worried.

“What?” I looked around to see them all staring at me.

“You just kind of stopped blinking,” Shiny said.

“Oh, I’m fine. Just thinking.”

“Was it about a certain-” Luna began.

“I’m going to go look for food.” I interrupted before getting up and heading towards the forest. Leaving the ponies confused.

Did they really get to you?

“No, it’s just a matter of I’m hungry and they’re annoying.”

Going to look for some leaves to snack on?

“You know I hate vegetables. Besides, I want to kill something.” I looked around. “Can you use my senses to make sure nobody is following us?”

If you insist on doing this I suppose so.

“Great, now let’s go find some dinner.”

“There’s a good specimen.” I watched from a branch as a small bear walked by.

I still don’t approve of this.

“I still don’t care.” I then turned my arm into a blade. “Dinner time.” Leaping off my perch I easily landed on the creatures back. Thanks to the size difference I was able to knock it to the ground and quickly cut its head off.

That was unusually efficient.

“Well screw you too.” I then began to skin it. As I finished I heard a growl. “Did I seriously upset you?”

That wasn’t me.

“Really?” Looking back I saw a larger bear looming over me. “Hello.” The creature growled before swiping at me. The massive paw was able to make contact and sent me flying off the corpse. “Ow.”

See! This is what happens when you ignore me.

“It’s just an adult bear,” I said as I got up. “More food.”

This is a bad plan.

The bear gave me an aggressive glare. It then roared and charged at me.

“He’s a lot faster than-” The bear slammed into my body, knocking me into a tree. “That wasn’t fun.” It then stood on its hind legs before bringing all its weight down on me. There were several cracks as my ribs and back broke. “Screw Celestia’s rule.”

Concentrating I created a portal beneath me, creating one above the bear I fell through. After closing the first, my crippled body slammed onto the beast. The bear cried out in pain before throwing me off, by now my wounds had healed.

“Let’s see how you handle some planewalking.” As it charged at me I teleported behind it, quickly turning one of my arms into a blade I slashed across the bear’s hind leg. The creature cried out in pain before falling over. Acting fast I jumped onto its back and stabbed it in the back of its skull. The bear roared and bucked me off. Before I hit the ground I opened another portal and appeared in front of it, my blade soon separated its head from the body.

I’m impressed.

“Good for you.” I growled. “We need more, let’s go find a few wolves to maim.”

What!? No, we were just getting the bear remember? We aren’t on a killing spree.

“You’re not in charge here, I’m the one with the body.” I licked the blood off my arm. “What’s a few more?”

No! Eat your bear and go back to the ponies.

“Ponies, that’s it! They will be wonderful prey.”

What is wrong with you?

“Nothing, what’s wrong with you?” Then a few images of a purple unicorn flashed through my mind. “What is this? Are you hoping to trick me?”

I’m not doing anything, that’s your own volition.

“Don’t use fake words.”

You really think Twilight, Celestia, or any of the others would approve of this? I’m pretty sure murdering them wouldn’t work out for you.

“I don’t need you and your logic.”

It’s a shame I have to do this. Luna, if you would be so kind.

On it.

“What?” Then a surge of pain went through my body. Falling over, I coughed up some blood. “What are you doing?” Another burst of pain went through me before everything went dark.

Chapter 85: Ponysicles!

“What are we supposed to do?” I heard a muffled voice ask. “Clearly this power’s side effect is too great. He was considering hunting us.”

“I’m not sure,” Another voice said as I weakly opened my eyes, I was lying in what seemed to be my hut. “All I can think to do is adjust the spell to cause a burst when he uses it.”

“That seems like the only option for now. We should also keep quiet as to what he was doing in the forest.” I got up and headed towards the door to follow the voices. “A panic about him becoming carnivorous is the last thing we need.”

“I agree.” Opening the door I saw Celestia and Luna outside, theirs head were close together. “Sean.” Celestia stood up straight and looked at me. “Glad to see you’re awake.”

“What are you two whispering about?” I asked the alicorns.

“That is beside the point.” Celestia gave me a glare. “I hear you were using that new power of yours. After I told you not to.”

“I was under attack. There was no other way to defeat my foe.”

“You could have run and come to us, instead you knowingly disobeyed me.” Celestia sighed. “If you do it again there will be serious repercussions.”

“Lame.”

“It’s late, I advise we get some sleep,” Luna said before heading towards her hut.

“Goodnight Sean.” Celestia yawned before leaving.

“She’s no fun,” I said before turning towards my own shelter. As I neared it I felt something bump me, looking down I saw Twilight looking at me. “May I help you?”

“I was just heading inside.” She pointed at the hut, offering me a confused look.

“Oh, after that whole thing at the campfire I would have assumed you’d avoid my place. You did change color after all.”

“That conversation just caught me off guard.”

“If you say so.” I shrugged and headed into the hut. The purple pony quickly followed.

“Where did you go earlier?” She asked as she lied down on my cot. “You just disappeared.”

“I went looking for food, I don’t like flowers.” I then yawned. “Well sleeping time.” Moving to the sleeping structure I flopped onto it. As I closed my eyes I felt something force its way under my arm. “Goodnight.”

“Shut up,” I said as Luna poked her head into my hut. Luna’s eyes darted from the purple unicorn under my arm, to me before she withdrew with a smirk. “Well that’s just great.” She then reentered.

“But seriously, it is time to go. Wake her so we can be on our way.”

“Come on, please!?” I gave Celestia a pleading look.

“For the last time, no.” The white alicorn glared at me. “I am not letting you planewalk us to Canterlot.”

“Why not?”

“Because I said so. Besides, would you even be able to transport all of us safely?”

“Probably.”

“That’s comforting.” Celestia rolled her eyes. “So I’ve been meaning to ask, who did you two leave in charge of Canterlot when you left?”

“Were we supposed to?” I asked. “You never did.”

“Yes I did, it was always you.”

"Oh yeah." I nodded as Celestia shook her head.

“From that response I’m guessing the answer is no.”

“We did not expect to be gone this long,” Luna said. “The plan had been to get in, grab you and any others and get out.”

“A plan that was ruined by your weird hatred of my new power.”

“Well, as long as you have kept our ponies happy it should be fine.” Celestia shrugged.

“Oh, she’s kept them happy.” I patted Luna’s head. “Equestria loves her, I bet you could’ve stayed dead and they’d be fine.”

“I see.” Celestia’s ears drooped slightly.

Wow.

“What did I say?”

“Do not worry sister, I am sure Equestria would have kept your memory alive for centuries.” Luna put a hoof on her sister’s shoulder.

“Unless the education system keeps on its current track, I talked to a few kids during our tour across Equestria and none of them knew the full details of my awesomeness.”

“How about you stop talking?” Luna glared at me.

“Whatever.”

“So Celestia.” I looked to the alicorn.

“What is it now?” She sighed.

“I was wondering, Chrysalis said that those cocoons made you feel love. Was it like a hallucination or dream of some sort?”

“I suppose.” She shrugged.

“Cool, so what did you end up seeing?”

“Let’s see.” Celestia looked up in thought. “There was Luna-”

“What!?” My eyes widened. “That’s just creepy. Does that mean all those weird stories are true?”

“I must agree,” Luna said as she gave Celestia a questioning look.

“What did they call it?” I put a hand to my chin. "Royalcest? Solarcest? I know it has cest."

Princest?

“Better than what I’ve got.” I shrugged.

“I’ll have you know that the changelings feed off all forms of love.” Celestia looked at us irritated. “That includes sibling love, of the normal variety.”

“If you say so.” I then looked to Luna. “You may want to sleep with your legs crossed from now on,” I said in a loud whisper.

“Indeed.” Luna nodded.

“I don’t know why I talk to you two.” Celestia glared at us.

“Because we’re just so much fun,” I said before patting Luna’s head. “Though I’m clearly the star of the show.”

“You really think ponies would find some hairless chimp more amusing than a princess?” Luna asked. “My personality alone would draw crowds.”

“Because it’s so ridiculous?” I asked. “That is true.”

“Do you wish to fight?” Luna asked me before spreading her wings.

“No thanks, I don’t like to waste my time on weaklings.”

“That’s enough you two,” Celestia said. “I don’t need you injuring each other on this trip.”

“You’re no fun.” I crossed my arms.

“Here we are,” Celestia said. “Past these mountains should be the Crystal Empire.” She gestured to the snowcapped giants.

“Ugh!” I flopped my head back. “That’s so much climbing!”

“Quit whining and let’s go.” Celestia rolled her eyes.

“It’s so cold,” Celestia said as her teeth chattered.

“Now who is whining?” I asked smugly, easily trudging through the knee high snow.

It seemed that Murphy had something against us, because as soon as we began to climb the mountains a snow storm came to visit. All the ponies around me seemed to be freezing, if we had speakers the chattering could cause an avalanche. It was funny watching the ponies forcing their way through snow that went to their chests.

“Shut up.” Celestia glared at me. “How can you be so fine with those scraps you call clothes?”

“I'm a dragon,” I said before opening my mouth to show the glow from my internal fire. “Can’t Ms.Sungod keep warm?”

“Stop mocking my sister,” Luna said as she hit me in the ribs. “Would you get over yourself and give her some cover?” I currently had a wing over Luna and another over Twilight and her group of friends. “Your wings are easily big enough.”

“Fine.” Picking up the pace I managed to get the Luna wing over Celestia.

“Clear favoritism,” I heard a nearby pony say bitterly.

“So, are we going to set up camp?” I asked before looking at Celestia. Luckily for us the snow had stopped falling and we had reached the top of the mountain. “Everybody seems pretty tired.” The long trek through the deep snow had taken its toll on the ponies, some were breathing heavily while others seemed to be on the verge of passing out.

Wimps.

“I suppose so.” Celestia began to scan the area. “We can go there.” She pointed a hoof at a nearby cave.

“Fine, let’s go.”

“Of course.” I growled before throwing three more sticks out the cave. “Stupid snow, got all of our firewood soaked.”

“What are we supposed to do then?” Cadence asked as she looked around. “Everypony is soaked and freezing.”

“Ugh, I’ll go to the base of the mountain and get some more sticks.” Slowly getting up I headed towards the opening. “As a dragon,” I said before Celestia opened her mouth.

“How long has it been?” Luna asked as she shivered. “He left some time ago.”

“I’m not sure.” Celestia shook her head. “Hopefully he’ll be back soon though.” Then the ground shook and there was a growl.

“Finally, what took you so long?” Turning to look at the cave’s entrance her eyes widened as a large white dragon looked down at her.

“What are you doing in my cave?” The creature asked, its eyes shifting to a menacing glare. “Have you come to steal from me?”

“Of course not,” Celestia said nervously. “We were just cold and looking for a place to stay for the night.”

“I see.” The dragon scanned the cave to see the group of ponies scattered around the den. By now most had clumped together to keep warm though they were now shivering for a reason other than the cold.

“So, would you be so kind as to-” Celestia had to jump back as a ball of ice flew at her.

“You have ten seconds to leave before I use this group as target practice.” The dragon’s muzzle was covered in ice.

“You dare to attack a princess of Equestria?” Luna asked, glaring at the dragon.

“The position you hold in your puny government does not concern me, all I know is that you are in my home uninvited.” The white beast then blasted a group of ponies with ice, quickly freezing them.

“I recommend you stop that.” Luna shook her head. “We know some powerful creatures.”

“Ponies do not scare me,” The dragon smiled. “I doubt anything you pests could throw at me would be a threat.”

“What’s going on here?” The white dragon stiffened and its pupils shrank. Slowly turning to face the cave’s entrance its eyes widened in fear as a large olive dragon entered the large chamber. “You better have a good explanation for this.”

Chapter 86: Whelps Today

“I’ll ask again,” Bolas said in an aggressive tone. “What is going on here?”

“Lord Bolas.” The white dragon shakily bowed. “It is an honor to see you.”

“Were you attacking these ponies?” Bolas asked as he pointed at the ponies behind the white dragon.

“Well you see.” The dragon rubbed the back of its head. “These creatures burst into my home.” It took a step back, nearly crushing a few ponies.

“What is my one rule?” The armored dragon asked as he took a step towards the terrified creature.

“No harm is to come to the creatures of Equestria or any settlements under their control,” The quivering white dragon said quickly. “I did not harm any.”

“Then what is that?” Bolas pointed to the frozen ponies. “They just covered themselves in ice.”

“Well, no.” The icy beast’s back hit the wall of the cave.

“I told you we knew powerful creatures,” Luna said smugly.

“Please Lord Bolas, I didn’t mean to harm them.”

“Tell me, what is your name?”

“F-Frostwing.” The dragon stuttered.

“Interesting name,” Bolas said before raising a hand. “It’s a shame it won’t be used anymore.”

“I’m sorry please don’t kill me.”

“No dice.” Bolas then shot a fireball from his hand. It managed to hit the white dragon in the chest and smashed him into the wall he was pressed against. “Now I suggest you prepare to defend yourself.”

“Fine.” The ice dragon opened his mouth and hit the king with a blast of frost. When he was done Bolas was covered in ice.

“Is that it?” Bolas then easily shattered the frozen shell before punching Frostwing in the face. “Let me show you a proper breath attack.” Opening his mouth the armored dragon blasted the fallen beast with ice.

“You don’t understand frost dragons do you?” Then a pale fist slammed Bolas in the face. As the king stumbled back Frostwing got up. “We resist both frost and fire.”

“Fair enough.” Cracking his neck Bolas smirked. “Let’s see how you handle this attack.” As he said that a tear in reality appeared next to him. The dragon’s smirk quickly vanished as the portal collapsed. “What!?” He then gripped his head and fell to the ground. “What is going on!?”

“I’m not sure,” Frostwing said as he walked towards the fallen king. “But I like it.”

“Sister, did you power up the spell like we planned?” Luna asked, looking at Celestia.

“Of course.” Celestia replied in a panicked voice.

“What spell?” Twilight looked at them in confusion. “Is it what’s wrong with Sean?” She pointed at the dragon gripping his head.

“I’ll explain later. Sean’s in danger.”

“This is it?” Frostwing asked as he kneed Bolas in the face. “I don’t know why I used to fear you.”

“Once I figure out why this is happening you’ll pay,” The olive dragon said as he spat out some blood.

“You’re not going to have time to figure it out” The pale dragon lifted Bolas by one of his curved horns before smashing him into a wall. “Looks like there’s going to be a new king.” Frostwing smirked as the fallen king slid to the ground.

“Nicol Bolas!” The two reptiles looked towards the sound of the voice. A large white pony was charging towards them.

“Celestia!” Bolas weakly shouted. “Stay back!”

“Perhaps my first order as king with be to eradicate these four legged pests,” Frostwing said before leaping towards the pony. As he landed where it had been he looked around in confusion. “Where’d it go?”

“What are you doing here?” I asked quietly as Celestia appeared next to me.

“Saving you.” Her horn then lit up for a few seconds. “There, now your planeswalking should work.”

“I don’t know why you activated your stupid spell so quickly.”

“Don’t worry about that.” The alicorn shook her head. “Just defeat that annoying creature.” She then teleported away.

“Whatever, I’ll kill it later.” I looked up as Frostwing turned towards me again. “I have to kill you first anyway.” Trying to get up I quickly fell over.

My wounds haven’t recovered yet.

Better think of something, fast!

Maybe I can- I was cut off as a foot connected with my face. I need a second to do it though. Using all of my strength I quickly opened a portal and fell through it.

“No!” Frostwing shouted as his prey vanished. “Fine, I’ll just hunt these insects.”

“I think he means us,” Luna said nervously as the dragon turned to them.

“Starting with you!” The pale predator pointed at Celestia. “You distracted me long enough for the fraud to escape!”

“Run Celestia!” As Frostwing leaped towards them he was hit by a ball of something. Flying back and slamming into a wall the white dragon slowly stood back up.

“What was that?” Frostwing asked before looking down.

“What are those?” Luna pointed at the strange figures at Frostwing’s feet. They resembled humans but were moaning and gnawing on the dragon’s toes.

“Get off me!” Frostwing swung his leg and sent the creatures flying. Following their flight everybody in the rooms eyes widened as they bounced off the chest of a larger monster.

This new creature was the size of a dragon, its basic shape resembled that of a human’s. Though its face was black, where there should be a mouth it was blank, there were simple sockets instead of eyes, and it lacked a nose. It also seemed to have several horns. Its shoulders, forearms, and lower body were all covered in spiked armor. The strangest feature was a large cavity in its stomach where many more of the strange moaning creatures were sticking out and seemed to be trying to escape. The monster pointed at the white dragon with its large serrated scythe.

“I don’t know who you are but I suggest you leave,” Frostwing said to the giant. Without responding the monster charged at the dragon, several of the moaning creatures fell out of the cavity as it moved. Quickly jumping over the giant Frostwing chuckled. “How do you like-” He was cut off as the large scythe swung and stabbed into his side.

The giant then forcefully brought its hooked pray to the ground before punching Frostwing in the face and freeing its weapon. By now there were at least thirty of the moaning bipeds around the cave, seeming to smell the blood from the white dragon they slowly began to shuffle towards him.

“You think this will stop me?” As Frostwing began to spread his wings he winced in pain. Looking at the wound made by the giant he saw it was black and sickly looking. The dragon had to quickly roll away as the monster brought its weapon down where his head had been.

By now the smaller creatures had reached the fallen dragon. Most of them began to climb on him, still moaning and began gnawing on him. Their teeth were unable to break Frostwing’s flesh though. Then one found the large gash in his side and bit down.

“Argh!” The dragon cried out in pain before shaking the many monsters off him and freezing all the ones around him.

“What do you suppose these are?” Luna asked as one of the bipedal creatures fell to the ground near then. It continued to moan but was unable to move since its spine seemed to be broken.

“I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t poke it!” Celestia glared at her younger sister as the alicorn moved a silver covered hoof towards it. Quickly retracting her limb Luna jumped away from the moaning figure.

“From some horror books I’ve read these thing feature many similarities to zombies,” Twilight said as she looked the limp body. “Moaning, moves slowly, functioning even when they should be dead.” The unicorn pointed at its head as the monster opened and closed its mouth while eyeing the ponies.

“Zombies?” Luna looked at the monster on the ground. “Interesting.”

“Yeah, how do you like that!?” The ponies all followed the voice to see Frostwing tear the giant’s arm that held the scythe. “Not so tough without your weapon.” After slowly looking at the new stub the monster’s other fist smashed Frostwing in the face.
Throughout this entire scene more zombies fell out of the titan. They all were now once again shuffling towards the dragon. Their host followed, not caring as it crushed several under its feet. As the titan prepared to bring a massive foot down on Frostwing the dragon blasted it with ice.

The force caused the giant to fall over. Taking advantage of the situation the white dragon pounced onto his foe and began to tear at it. After a few seconds the titan was a pile of shredded flesh and armor. Frostwing then stood up and froze the zombies.

“Aw, I liked him.” Looking towards the entrance Frostwing’s eyes widened as Bolas entered the cave, his wounds had mostly healed and he was smiling. “You had better buy me a new one.”

“That thing was yours?” The white dragon asked in disbelief.

“Pretty cool right?” Bolas chuckled. “It sure made you look pathetic.”

“You’re not one to talk, after all I beat you into the ground a few minutes ago.”

“True, but not this time.” Bolas then grabbed his arm. “I’ll even make it even and give myself a handicap.” The dragon king then tore the limb off before throwing it to the ground, where it quickly dissolved. “Shall we Frostwhelp?”

Instead of a verbal reply the white dragon simply leaped at Bolas. Easily dodging the attack Bolas kicked Frostwing in the ribs, there were several cracks as he was sent flying. Before the younger dragon could hit the cave’s wall Bolas vanished and reappeared ahead of him. Bringing his fist down the king managed to slam Frostwing into the ground.

“Come on, you must have more than that.” Bolas kicked his down foe. “You were talking all that good stuff a second ago. Now get up.” Kicking him again Bolas growled. “I said get up!”

“Is the planewalking effecting him already?” Luna asked in concern.

“Actually no.” Celestia shook her head. “This is how he always acts with disobedient dragons. Well that’s not true, he’s actually pretty reserved right now.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, he let me go on a dragon migration with him once. I had the pleasure,” Celestia said the last word with sarcasm and a hint of disgust. “Of watching him fight a younger dragon. He tore that one’s limbs off and beat him to death with them, while he spat acid on it every few seconds.”

“Really?” Twilight asked in shock. “The fight we saw was a lot more reserved. He just tore the dragon’s limbs off.”

“I guess he’s getting less sadistic.” Celestia shrugged.

“I would not go that far,” Luna said as she pointed a hoof at the fighting dragons. Sean was currently electrocuting a screaming Frostwing.

“Stop!” Frostwing cried out in pain.

“You weren’t getting up,” Sean said with a cruel smile. “I’m using a few lightning bolts to help.”

“I’m sorry!” The white dragon was on the verge of tears. “I won’t lay a claw on a pony ever again, just stop!”

“Fine.” Sean stopped the lightning. “Just to make sure you’re good on your word.” The dragon king’s hand glowed. After a few seconds one of Frostwing’s arms melted off. “Now get out.”

“What about this?” The white dragon pointed at the earlier wound from the giant’s scythe. It was now secreting a strange black fluid and seemed to have spread.

“Get a doctor.” Sean shrugged. “I have no idea what kind of abilities that titan had. But seriously, get out.”

That was awesome! The sheer power.

How are you feeling?

Great, did you see what I was able to do?

Well, your brain functions seem normal. This is just your usual childish attention span I guess.

What are you talking about? Brain functions?

“Sean!” Looking down I saw Luna waving her hooves to get my attention.

“Yeah?”

“Could you please return to your usual form?”

“Why?”

“Look at all the unicorns around you.” Scanning the area I saw that all the ponies with horns in the cave were either on the ground breathing heavily or vomiting.

“Ew, what’s wrong with them?” I noticed Celestia and Twilight simply looked nauseated.

“I told you, in that form you let off extreme amounts of magic. These weakened ponies can’t handle it.”

“Oh.” Shrinking to my human form I shrugged. “Sorry.”

“Whatever, did you get the firewood?” Luna asked.

“That I did.” I nodded. “But I dropped it in the snow.”

“Please tell me you’re joking.” Luna glared at me.

“I’ll just go get more.”

“If you drop it this time you won’t be a happy monster blend.” Her horn then began to glow.

“Ok, jeez no need to get so huffy.” I quickly turned and ran out of the cave.

Chapter 87: Almost There

“There it is!” I smiled as the sickening glow of the crystal empire assaulted my eyes. After two days of walking we finally were cresting the final mountain. We had passed a white dragon corpse a few hours ago, nobody mourned for the fool. “Come on guys, you have twice my legs yet move at half the speed!” I shouted, looking back a growl escaped me as I saw the large mob of ponies slowly trudging through the snow.

“I’m sorry if our weakened and freezing bodies are inconveniencing you,” Celestia said bitterly. “Not all of us have dragon blood and stamina.”

“Excuses.” I shook my head. “It’s your fault for having those five funerals.”

“My ponies deserve proper respect!” Celestia gave me an honestly intimidating glare and growl.

“Ok, sorry.” I raised my hands defensively. “Can we just hurry? I’d like to get to the Crystal Empire before Luna begins the night.”

“Bolas! Cadence’s stupid rock city was further than I thought,” I said angrily as Luna began to raise the moon.

“Hey!” Cadence glared at me. “My empire is not stupid.”

“Whatever.” I shrugged. “Let’s just find somewhere to sleep.”

“Seriously?” Luna asked as I finished digging. “You want us to sleep inside the ground?”

“Well we would have the huts if somebody.” I turned to Shiny. “Hadn’t decided it was a good idea to try a new kind of shield.”

“I already apologized for that!” Shiny said indignantly.

“Anyway.” I returned my gaze to the blue alicorn. “These little ice cave/pits are our best bet for staying warm.”

“Fine.”

“Sean, stop making so much noise.” I felt Twilight kick me.

“What noise?” I asked sleepily. Listening for a second I heard the sound of something digging. “Bolas, what is some idiot doing out there?” Getting up I stepped over the purple unicorn before pushing my way through the snow door to my cave. “Hey, numbskull.”
Adjusting my eyes to fit the dark I began to look around, following the sound my eyes landed on a strange figure digging into one of the nearby caves.

“You, what are you doing moron?” Walking towards the digging figure I put a hand on its shoulder. The creature stiffened before quickly spinning and punching me. Falling back into the snow I clicked my jaw back into place. “Hey!” Standing up I glared at the creature, it turned its red gaze to me before the rest of the body followed.

By now it was standing at its full height, it was bipedal, the monster had a good two feet over me. Its white fur blew in the mountain wind. Baring its yellow fangs at me it growled before swinging a large fist. Ducking I quickly turned my hand into a blade before stabbing it in the gut, swiftly removing my limb blood began to spew from the wound. Letting out a cry of pain the monster grabbed me by the head before lifting and throwing me into a nearby rock.

“Ow.” Getting up I relocated my shoulder. The monster growled, one of its massive hands was pressed against its stomach. “You don’t look so good.” It growled before taking a handful of snow, pressing the cold substance to its wound I watched as the blood stopped trickling onto the ground. When the hand moved I was shocked to see no signs of a wound. “Now that’s just not fair.”

The giant roared before charging me at surprising speed. Unable to react in time I took the full force of the ram slamming back into the stone, there were several cracks as various bones broke. Some blood escaped my mouth, contaminating the beast’s clean white fur. As it backed off my battered body flopped to the ground.

“What is going on out here?” A pegasus poked his out through the snow door to a cave. He gasped before being grabbed by the monster. The pony cried out in pain as it bit into his neck, then the body went limp.

Ouch

Get up and help!

Working on it. Attempting to get up I winced before falling to the ground. Bolas! Some of my organs are still removing bits of rib.

Great.

Then a shadow fell over me. Looking up I saw the creature looming above me, the dead pony still dangling in its mouth. Removing the corpse it growled at me.

Come on, heal! I looked down my body to see my torso was still black and bruised. Bolas!

I felt its giant hand grab my head, the creature lifted me to look it in the face. Baring its yellow fangs it violently threw me across the snowy clearing. Weakly looking around I realized the snow dens were nowhere in sight. Then the ground weakly shook, moving my gaze forward I saw the creature charging towards me.

Then there was a flash of purple light and a howl of pain before the monster stumbled away from me.

“Get away from him!” Following the voice a saw Twilight glaring at the beast.

“Twilight! Get-” I coughed up some blood.

“Are you ok Sean?” Twilight came to stand next to me.

“Go.” I wheezed. “Away.”

“What?”

“That thing. Will kill. You.” The sentence left my mouth in bursts.

“Don’t worry, I brought back up.” I looked behind her to see Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shiny, and her friends.

“Seems a bit. Excessive.”

“It really isn’t,” Cadence said as she came to stand with us. “That’s a yeti, unfortunately they rarely travel alone.”

“Great.” By now I had fully recovered and got up. “You guys can leave, I’ve got this.”

“Right, because you were doing so well.” Celestia rolled her eyes.

“Shut up.” I growled before looking at the Yeti. It was weakly picking itself up from the snow. Looking over all of us and realizing the number shift the monster took a step back. “Not so tough now!”

“Don’t taunt the Yeti!” Cadence glared at me. “It might-”

The monster then let out a howl. The ponies all covered their ears, I just smirked.

“Trying to deafen us?” I asked. “That has to be in the top five of lamest-” My face then became better acquainted with the snow. Rubbing the back of my head I slowly got up. “What was that?”

“The rest of them,” Cadence said, obvious fear in her voice as she looked up. Following her gaze I saw several glowing red eyes from the hill.

“You see what you do!?” Luna glared at me.

“Shut up, how was I supposed to know there were more?”

“I did-” Cadence began.

“Silence!” I interrupted the pink alicorn.

She did warn you.

I will kill you.

I’m primarily a voice, the best you could do is annoy me to death.

Maybe I will!

“Sean!” I stopped my conversation in time to be hit by a massive snow ball. Digging my way out I shook the cold whiteness off my body. Celestia was glaring at me. “Stop talking to your boyfriend and fight!”

“I am offended by that implication.” I returned the glare.

Ditto.

“Shut up and help!” Celestia ordered.

“Fine.” I cracked my knuckles. “Let’s kill some yeti.”

“Duck you idiot!” I shouted as a yeti took a swing and Shiny. Luckily his training was still good and the unicorn managed to dodge before hitting it with a magical blast. The yeti roared in pain before running off. Then a massive fist hit me in the face, sending me flying back.

“Take your own advice,” Shiny said smugly.

“I will shove your shield down your throat.”

Stop arguing and focus the white freaks!

“Racist.”

Shut your mouth.

I rolled my eyes before blasting the attacking yeti with a fireball. The beast cried out in pain as it rolled in the snow, once it had put itself out it turned and ran off.

“You’d better run!” Smiling I looked around. There were at least five dead yetis on the ground around me and three pony corpses. “I believe that’s the last of them.”

“Good,” Celestia said, breathing heavily.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked.

“I’m still not in the best shape.”

“Seriously? We’ve been traveling for two weeks.”

“With limited food and a lot of walking,” Twilight said as she stepped over a dead monster. The purple unicorn didn’t seem much better, nor did her little friends outside of Pinkie.

“Whatever.” I shrugged before turning towards the caves. “Anyway, we had better-” I was cut off by a loud roar. “More of them?” Looking back I watched as a gigantic monster jumped down from one of the mountain tops. As it landed in front of us the ground shook.

This one seemed different, it was at least three feet taller than the others. Two large tusks jutted out from the sides of its mouth. The weirdest feature was two extra arms on its shoulders.

“The alpha,” Cadence said while taking a step back. “This is bad.”

“Why?” I looked at her confused “It’s just a bigger freak. I’ll have it gutted in no time.” Transforming my arm into a blade I charged at the giant. Paying little attention to me it raised a hand and merely knocked me aside. As my head collided with a rock everything went dark.

“Sean!” Luna watched as the human slammed into a stone. His body fell into the snow, he was dead and or unconscious. “That is just great!”

“What do we do princess?” Shining Armor asked. Similar to his spouse there was fear in the unicorn’s eyes.

“We run,” Luna said. “Our group is in no condition to fight that thing.”

“What about Sean?” Twilight asked with concern.

“The beast does not seem interested in our bipedal friend.” Luna noticed that the yeti had not gone for the limp body of the human. “We shall return for him after we lose the monster.”

“Let go of me!” Luna watched in horror as the massive yeti grabbed her sister with one of its arms. It then tightened its grip until Celestia lost consciousness.

“Celestia!” The princess of the night began to charge her horn. Unfortunately the monster noticed and swung a fist at her. Luna was able to dodge but it interrupted her spell’s channel.

The beast roared as a bolt of purple magic hit it in the face. Twilight was currently running circles around it, attacking every few seconds. Growling in annoyance the yeti slammed a fist into the ground. The impact caused a shock wave that sent Twilight flying back. As the unicorn tried to get up she was grabbed by the yeti. Following the routine against Celestia it knocked her out.

“Twilight!” Cadence and Shining said at the same time.

“Let her go!” Shining ordered before attacking the monster. Paying no mind to the former guard’s attacks it scooped up a large amount of snow before compacting it into a sphere. Before anypony knew what was happening it threw the ball at a large group of ponies.

Thinking fast Luna raised a shield to protect them, the ball made contact with the shield before falling apart. As she lowered the shield she gasped in surprise as a large white hand grabbed her. Before Luna could retaliate it squeezed her until the pain and loss of air caused her to black out.

“Aunt Luna!” Cadence cried out as the lunar princess’s head went limp. The pink alicorn began to charge an attack. Noticing this the yeti slammed a fist into the ground, the blast created a snow cloud. Once it subsided the yeti was gone. “Oh no.” her gaze fell to the snow covered ground.

“What do we do now Cadence?” Shining asked as he came to stand next to her.

“I’m not sure.” She shook her head.

“Princess I think I found something.” The alicorn looked up to see Rainbow Dash hovering a few feet away. Walking to her Cadence smiled. In the snow there were giant foot prints leading away from them.

“Good eye Rainbow Dash.”

“So now what?” Shining asked.

“I’m going after it,” Cadence said confidently.

“What!?” Shining’s eyes widened. “No, it’s too dangerous to go by yourself.”

“I won’t be.” The pink pony then began to walk away.

“Sean wake up.” Cadence shook the human. “What’s wrong with him?”

“His neck likely broke,” Shining said as he look at the body.

“I know that, but why hasn’t it healed.” The alicorn then saw a red glow flashing against the rock behind him. Flipping the corpse she saw a sharp piece of rock lodged in the human’s neck. Electric sparks were flashing around the stone, but it seemed to be lodged in too far for his healing to remove. “Here we go.” Enveloping the rock in magic she quickly and efficiently removed it.

The bleeding hole began to close. After a few seconds coughs escaped the human.

“Ugh, someone get the plate of that carriage,” Sean said groggily as he sat up. “What’d I miss?”

“Twilight, Luna, and Celestia have all been kidnapped.” Cadence jumped to the point. There wasn’t much time to waste, who knew what the yetis wanted with them.

“I’m sure they are fine.” Sean began to close his eyes. “Let me just take a nap.”

“Oh no you don’t.” Rainbow Dash suddenly bolted in front of him and hit him in the head.

“Ow!” Sean glared at her. “What the heck!?”

“I’m sorry but you deserved that,” Cadence said.

“Don’t you care about your friends?” Rainbow Dash asked angrily.

“Sure I do.” Sean got up and dusted himself off. “Would I have done that whole rescue from the changelings if I didn’t?”

“So why don’t you want to save them now?” Cadence asked.

“Because they need the exercise.” Sean shrugged. “I was getting tired of dealing with their weakness.” He then turned and began to walk towards the camp.

Cadence groaned until an idea popped in her head. She had once come across a book about this stubborn human written by Celestia. It was surprisingly detailed and interesting. Closing her eyes she tried to recall the chapter on persuasion. Sadly the only bit she could fully remember was the part on some kind of aggressive transformation. Whispering in Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash’s ears they nodded.

“Well, what could we expect from a lazy moron like him?” Shining said loudly. At that the human stopped moving.

“Yeah, I bet he doesn’t even care about them. He always was selfish and vain.” Cadence smirked. At this Sean turned to glare at her.

“I bet he doesn’t even know what loyalty is.” Rainbow shrugged.

“Don’t you question my loyalty to those three!” Sean growled before spinning around. “I have spent more time with them than you idiots combined!”

“Then prove it go help them.” Cadence smiled. The glare left Sean’s eyes as his own smirk appeared.

“I see that Celestia gave you that book too.” He chuckled. “Shame you don’t have a good poker face or I might have fall for it.”

“I’m done with that part,” Cadence said angrily before blasting Sean with an electricity spell. The human cried out in pain before falling to the ground breathing heavily.

“Cadence!” Shining looked at her in shock.

“I’m done playing.” Cadence came to stand in front of Sean. “You are coming with me and you are going to save our friends.” When there was no response from him she rolled her eyes. “Ok, I’m sorry I attacked you.” The only response was a growl.

When the human looked up at her his eyes had turned green. As he smiled she saw his teeth had become sharp.

“What did you do?” Shining asked in shock.

“Something that will work really well, or go horribly wrong.” Cadence then turned and began to run away, following the yeti tracks.

“You will burn!” She heard Sean shout before picking up her pace.

“Hopefully I live long enough to avoid that threat.” Cadence said nervously.

Chapter 88: Yeti Rematch

“Agh!” Cadence ducked as a fireball flew over her. This was just like when she was young and Sean had tried to eat her. But this time he was serious about killing her. Risking a look back her eyes widened as she saw the large figure only a few feet behind. “Oh man, please let the yeti den be nearby."

“Luna, Luna wake up.”

“What?” The blue alicorn slowly opened her eyes. Looking to her right she saw Celestia and Twilight tied to large crystals. Upon
further inspection she found herself to be tied to one as well.

“Oh thank goodness you’re alright,” Celestia said, clear relief in her eyes.

“Where are we?” Luna asked, they seemed to be on some kind of mountain top, the ground was covered in snow. A cool mountain breeze caused the ponies to shiver.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Celestia attempted to shrug, but her binds restricted the action.

“From what I can tell these crystals seem to absorb magic,” Twilight said, slightly gesturing her head to the stones they were stuck to.

“How can you tell?” Luna asked.

“Try to use a spell.”

“Ok?” Concentrating for a moment Luna attempted to cast a simple teleportation spell. To the princess’s shock her horn merely sparked, yet nothing happened. “Oh.”

“What do we do princess?” Twilight looked to Celestia expectantly.

“We wait.”

“What?” Luna and Twilight looked at her confused.

“I guarantee Sean is coming to save us. All we need to do is bide some time.”

“Fair enough.” Luna nodded. “I doubt he’d let little Twilight here get hurt.”

“Hey!” Twilight looked indignant.

“Oh you don’t know the half of it.” Celestia chuckled. “One time, when Twilight-”

“We don’t need stories!” Twilight shouted, a slight blush on her face.

“Fair enough.” Celestia nodded.

“So, how long until-”

“AH!” Luna was interrupted as a pink blur flew towards them before hiding behind Celestia’s crystal.

“Cadence?” Celestia tried to twist her head back. “Is that you?”

“Hi Aunt Celestia.” Cadence poked her head out a bit. “Glad to see you’re ok.”

“What are you doing dear?”

“Hiding.”

“Why?”

“There is a tiny chance I may have set a plan in motion that snowballed out of control.”

“Cadence.” Luna gave her a stern look. “What did you do?” The question was answered as a roar filled the air before a large figure jumped onto the mountain top. When it landed Cadence squeaked and hid. “Don’t tell me you were dumb enough to wake that thing!” Luna glared at the cowering alicorn.

“I-It seemed like the only way to get him here,” Cadence said quietly. “Don’t let him see me.”

“Cadence.” The dragon said in a slight hiss.

As it came more into view there were some obvious differences from this forms past appearances. The most obvious was the fact that the originally jagged horns had shifted and curved, now resembling a mix between his full form and the original. Its claws seemed longer and it had gained at least a foot in height. An unsettling predatory gleam shown in its eyes.

“Since when can it talk?” Luna asked in shock. She cringed as the dragon rushed past her to get around the crystals. A growl of frustration escaped it as he scanned the area for his prey. Cadence had managed to jump to a cloud while it was distracted and was shivering as she hid.

“Blood.” It came back into view of the bound ponies.

“What?” Celestia looked at him confused.

“Power.” The dragon scanned the area. It was now that the three ponies realized there were no yetis in the area.

“I wonder where they went,” Twilight said as she looked around. As if on cue the ground shook before five yetis pulled themselves onto the mountain top. “Why do I talk?”

“Delicious!” Dragon Sean said with a smile.

Without hesitation he charged at the monsters. As he neared one of the yetis he turned his arms into blades and rammed into the creature. A cry of pain was all the beast got out before a pointed tail stabbed through its throat.

As the body fell over Sean turned his gaze to the others, ducking to avoid one’s fist he charged the yeti before jumping onto its shoulders. Seeming to unhinge his jaw the dragon bit into the monster’s throat. Gurgling in agony the yeti managed to grab Sean and tear him off, slamming the dragon into the ground. The monster then fell, a large chunk of its neck missing. The ponies looked in disgust as they saw Sean eating the portion of yeti throat he had gotten.

“Sean, look out!” Twilight warned as two yetis charged at the snacking dragon.

Sean’s head shot up before turning his left hand into a dragon head and blasting one of them with a blast of fire. To everybody’s surprise the yeti was fully disintegrated. Laughing slightly the dragon dodged the second yeti before pouncing on it. Knocking it to the ground he grabbed the monster’s left wrist and began to pull. Cadence almost threw up as he tore it off, blood spewing everywhere from the wound.

As the cruel smile returned to the dragon’s features he tightened his grip on the severed limb, after a few seconds sparks began to appear around it before the arm had turned into a spear. By now the yeti beneath Sean was dead, spinning around he chucked the spear at the last fleeing yeti. The projectile cleanly piercing the nape of its neck. The monster’s lifeless body fell to the ground.

“Good work Sean.” Celestia’s smile soon vanished as Sean lowered his mouth and bit into the yeti’s shoulder. “Sean!”

Lifting his face the dragon looked over to the bound ponies, a chunk of meat dangled from his blood soaked muzzle. Growling slightly Sean began to lower his face again before a deafening howl filled the air. Then two massive arms gripped the edge of the mountain before the rest of the beast pulled into view. Looking around the alpha growled as it spotted Sean hunched over the mutilated corpse. Standing up the dragon returned the growl.

“Be careful Sean.” Luna warned. “That beast is truly-” Sean cut her off with a roar before charging at the yeti. “That form makes Cadence seem like a tactical genius.”

"Hey!"

As the dragon neared its target the yeti swung its right fist down on him. Sean quickly sidestepped before jumping onto the arm. As the yeti tried to shake him off he began to claw at the limb, blood started to fly from it as the monster frantically shook its arm. Sean continued to hold on, digging deeper in.

Finally the yeti figured out the plan to grab its attacker with one of its other arms. Grabbing the dragon the yeti aggressively slammed him to the ground. Some blood escaped Sean as he made contact. He quickly rolled out of the way as the monster smashed the ground with its three good hands. Sean smirked before blasting the yeti’s left shoulder arm with a fire ball. Shockingly the entire limb was destroyed, leaving only a stub.

Crying out in pain the yeti grabbed the stump, which surprisingly was not bleeding, seeming to have been cauterized. Unfortunately for the monster the shredded arm was still very much bleeding. Sean was currently kneeling on the ground breathing heavily while glaring at his foe. One of his arms seemed to be broken, and he had a large and visible bruise on his back.

“I don’t know if Sean can take much more,” Celestia said with worry. The ponies watched as the yeti growled before running off.

“Wait, did he win?” Luna asked in shock.

“No,” Sean said with a strained hiss. “Prey is healing.”

“That’s not good.”

“Need magic.” Sean then turned to look at the bound ponies, the predatory gleam back in his eyes. Slowly and clumsily approaching them he looked the three over before approaching Twilight. “You will do.”

“What!?” Twilight asked as the dragon grabbed her horn.

“Power!” Twilight the cried out in pain as Sean began to aggressively drain her magic.

“Sean, stop!” Celestia ordered in shock. “You’re hurting her!”

“What!?” The dragon’s eyes suddenly shifted to purple. He then quickly retracted his hand. “Oh Bolas! Twilight are you ok!?” His voice had also lost most of its anger and aggression.

“Look who finally regenerated a pair and returned.” His eyes shifted back to green.

“That’s right.” What seemed to be normal Sean took over again. “Now release my body.”

“For me to do that you need to toughen up and embrace me.”

“Give me my body back!”

“No thanks, I’m quite enjoying my time outside.” He returned his gaze to Twilight. “Now then, let’s finish what we started.

“No!” Sean’s right hand then rushed to his throat.

“Don’t do it you idiot!” The green eyed dragon ordered. Fear seeming to be in his eyes.

“I won’t let you hurt Twilight!” Sean said before slashing across his throat. There was a gurgling before the dragon fell to the ground, blood trickling from the wound.

“Sean!” Celestia shouted.

“Where am I?” I sat up and looked around. All around me there was nothing but blank whiteness. “Am I dead?”

“Why do you resist me?” I looked behind me to see Bolas approaching me. He had shrunk to my size to look me in the eye. “I offer you ultimate power yet you push it away.”

“I’ll be honest.” I sighed. “The power frightens me.” I looked at my hands. “The few times I’ve even used a fraction of your strength I have gone crazy.”

“Fool!” I looked up at a glaring Bolas. “You lose control because you only take a fraction, if you were to fully embrace me that would not happen!”

“But-”

“Perhaps this will help.” Bolas raised a hand and a small portal appeared in front of us. To my surprise it showed Twilight, Luna, and Celestia.

“Guys!”

“They can’t hear you. This is only to show you what their fate will be if you don’t dragon up.”

I watched as the alpha yeti climbed back onto the mountain, it seemed to struggle on account of only using two arms. The previously torn arm was covered in snow and seemed to be healing. The monster looked at my body before moving towards the ponies.

“Get back monster!” Luna glared at it. All the yeti did was growl before grabbing Twilight, it then bit the unicorn in half.

“Twilight!”

“Calm down, this is just a vision.” Bolas rolled his eyes. “But this will become the future unless you embrace my power fully.” I looked back to the portal as the yeti swallowed the rest of Twilight’s corpse. “What will it be boy?”

Chapter 89: Rematch With The Fuzzball

“Sean?” Twilight looked at the dragon corpse in shock.

“That idiot!” Celestia glared. “Committing suicide like that, he knows that form has no healing!”

“To be fair, he did it to stop from hurting us.” Luna reasoned, sadness apparent in her eyes though.

“Doesn’t make it less idiotic.”

“Let me get you guys out,” Cadence said as she came to stand in front of them. “Let’s get out of here before the alpha returns.” Following the lesser yeti’s sense of timing the alpha clumsily climbed onto the mountain top. “What is with them and doing that!?”

“Cadence, run!” Celestia ordered.

“But-”

“Now Cadence!” The pink alicorn looked at them with worry before flying to hide on her previous cloud. The yeti looked around until growling as it spotted Sean’s ruined corpse. After poking the corpse it returned its gaze to the ponies before trudging towards them.

“Get back monster!” Luna glared at the yeti, filling her voice with as much malice as possible. Unfortunately the yeti seemed to know she was hiding her fear. It growled before grabbing Twilight. To everypony’s horror it then moved the unicorn towards its mouth.

“Help!” Twilight shouted, then there was an explosion, the yeti ended up lurching forward and dropping Twilight. As she hit the ground the crystal shattered. “What?”

“Don't you know ponies are bad for the digestion?” The monster turned with a growl. Looking past it Twilight’s eyes widened. Sean was standing in front of them, returned to his human form. There were some difference however, his eyes remained green and his teeth seemed to be all canines. “How about we settle this dragon to brute.” Sean’s voice had changed, it had new confidence and coldness to it, there was also a slight echo as if two voices were speaking in unison.

The yeti slammed its fists into the ground. Letting out a roar the monster charged at Sean. The human chuckled as he let the yeti ram him. Flying over the edge of the mountain the chuckle turned into a full laugh. As the yeti turned around several tentacles shot out of a portal in the ground before pulling it through. Twilight quickly ran over and freed the princesses.

“Come on!” Celestia ordered before running to the edge of the mountain. Looking over it the ponies spotted Sean yank the yeti out of a portal in front of him. “Let’s go.” Celestia then began to fly down.

“I felt this was a better field for battle,” Sean said before throwing the yeti into the base of the mountain. “What say you?”
The yeti growled as it got up, blood trickling from its mouth. Then one of its three arms reached for some nearby snow.
“Nope!” Smiling, Sean pressed his hands to the ground, there was a glow before a ring of fire shot around him, melting all the snow within a large area. The yeti was able to jump over the fire but there was no snow left for it to recover. “Can’t have you healing before I'm done with you.”

Roaring the yeti grabbed a nearby boulder and threw it at the human. There was a flash of darkness as Sean teleported. Quickly reappearing behind the yeti Sean quickly turned one of his arms into a blade.

“Surprise!” he then fully chopped the beast’s other shoulder mounted arm off. Crying out in pain the yeti brought a fist down where Sean had landed. Sadly its foe had already vanished.

After another second Sean appeared below the yeti. Sliding between its legs Sean transformed his hands into dragon heads.
“You don’t need these right?” Sean asked with a cruel chuckle before blasting the yeti’s legs off at the knees. The monster fell to the ground, blood gushing from the leg and shoulder wounds. Sean materialized over the fallen beast. “Your durability and snow healing are pretty neat. I’ll take them.” Sean looked back to the spectating ponies. “Celly! Light!” Too shocked to ask or protest the alicorn used a spell to create an orb of light. “Thanks.”

Adding to the surprises their eyes widened as a large shadow cast over the dying yeti. It was the shadow of his dragon form yet he hadn’t transformed. Suddenly two green eyes somehow appeared in the shadow, looking at the yeti. The monster was able to let out a cry of fear as it began to sink into the darkness before vanishing.

“Perfect,” Sean said as the orb of light dissipated. “Good work Celly.”

“Sean, are you ok?” Celestia asked, slowly approaching the human.

“Never better.” Sean turned to look at her, offering a smile. It was more disturbing than comforting since it was a row of pointed fangs. His reptilian pupils then shrank, the gaze changing from a friendly one to predatory. “I never realized how much power you have.”

“What?” Celestia took a step back.

“All of you actually.” The human licked his lips. “You will be very valuable.” He then created a fireball and shot it to the ground, creating a large flame. Celestia watched in horror as the same draconic shadow fell over the four ponies. “Delicious.”

“That’s enough Sean!” Celestia said with authority.

“Don’t worry, I promise the process is quick.” Sean smiled. “I think.” He shrugged. “We’ll find out." His smile grew as the shadow began to shift. Suddenly Cadence was lifted by an invisible grasp, the alicorn cried out as she began to lower towards the silhouette.

"Cadence!" Twilight shouted in shock.

"Cover your eyes." Celestia ordered just loud enough for the ponies to hear. Offering a confused look they all blocked their vision.

"Avoiding the horror?" Sean asked, amusement in his voice. "Cowards, but you are-" He stopped as a blinding light filled his vision.

"I hope it worked." With a wing over her eyes Celestia smiled at the sight of the shadow vanishing and Cadence flopping on the ground. "Perfect."

"That was a cheap shot Celly!" As the light vanished the ponies turned to the human, his hands were over his eyes. Trying to protect the organs as they healed. "Blinding me, because of that I'm taking you straight to- Argh!" Sean cried out before falling to the ground, his body convulsing as electricity flowed through it.

“What was that about?” Luna asked, coming to stand next to her sister. “Was he truly planning to kill us like he did the yeti?”

“I believe so.” Celestia nodded sadly. “This is now the third incident.”

“But it is getting worse.” Luna sighed. “What do we do? He can not spend his entire life in fear of us shocking him.”

“I’ll think of something.”

“It feels good to be home,” Cadence said with a smile as they entered the Crystal Empire.

“Indeed.” Luna nodded. “We will be leaving for ours now.”

“Already?” Cadence looked surprised.

“It takes a lot of work to carry Sean,” Celestia said with a grunt. “He's a lot heavier than he looks.” The princesses had managed to keep the human unconscious for the entire trip to the empire. Unfortunately this meant they had to carry him. “I’d also like to get home so we can find a solution to his problem.”

“Fair enough.” Cadence nodded. "The train should be here for you to take."

“Thank you.” Celestia smiled.

“Are you certain that will hold him?” Luna asked skeptically, her eyes scanning Sean. When they got back to Canterlot the princesses had quickly bound the human. Binding his arms behind him as well as covering his legs and chaining him to the wall restricted his powers and movement. After the bindings were attached they had locked him in one of the cells of the dungeon.

“Of course, you said it worked in that fake human colony.”

“True.” Luna nodded. “What do we do now?”

“I may-”

“What’s going on?” The princesses looked in surprise as Sean spoke.

“I thought that spell was meant to keep him unconscious,” Luna said in surprise.

“Hello?” Sean began to struggle. “Why am I bound? Celestia!? Luna!?”

“It’s ok Sean,” Celestia said as she slowly opened the cell door. “I’m here.”

“I can’t see you. Come closer, I’m getting nervous.” Sean’s voice was soft and his gaze was to the ground.

“I’m here,” Celestia said softly as she approached her friend.

Meanwhile Luna eyed the bound human skeptically. It was rare for Sean to admit any emotion such as fear or worry. As her sister neared him, the blue alicorn’s eyes widened. The human’s face was plastered with a barely visible smile, and there was a slight glow behind him.

“Sister! Look out!” Luna cried.

“Too late!” Sean shouted before tearing free of the binds. “Surprise!” He then prepared to shoot Celestia with a fireball. The smirk soon vanished as he looked at the white alicorn. The princess’s horn was crackling with electricity.

“Surprise.” She smiled before blasting Sean.

Chapter 90: The Cure

“I just want a hug!” Sean shouted as he struggled. Celestia had increased the strength of the binds after his little escape act. “You know you want one.”

“Shut up Sean,” Luna said in irritation. “Or whoever you are.” The lunar princess was on guard duty while Celestia looked for a spell to help. Unfortunately Luna had not taken a liking to whatever possessed her friend, which meant guard duty was an awkward test of patience.

“Can we get Celly back? At least she was interesting.”

“My sister is very busy.”

“At least turn around and talk to me.” Sean pleaded.

“Fine!” Luna threw her hooves in the air. “What do you…” The alicorn trailed off as she looked into the human’s eyes.

“Open the cell,” Sean said with a smile. “Free me!”

“No thanks.” Luna took joy in the human’s shocked face. “You really thought that would work?”

“I was hoping.”

“Nope, though you did give me an idea.”

“Luna, I think I’ve got it!” Celestia said happily.

“You found a cure?”

“That I did?” The alicorn smiled as she opened a book. “I was reading about the Elements of Harmony-”

“We’re going to blast Sean?” Luna looked surprised.

“Of course not, they are far too unpredictable to safely manage that. We could turn him into a toaster for all we know.” Celestia chuckled at the concept.

“So, what is this cure?” Luna rolled her eyes.

“Instead of using the elements we are going to mimic their basic power, then either destroy or contain whatever has Sean.”

“Fair enough, how do we do that?”

“We take him outside.”

“What!?”

“So, where are we going?” Sean asked the four guards. They were currently heading through a pitch-black hallway. The princesses had made it a rule that all sources of light be blocked when the human was present. To make up for this all the guards were enchanted by Luna to see in the dark. “If you let me go I’ll kill you guys last.”

“Be quiet.” One of the guards ordered.

“Watch your tone mortal.” Sean growled. “Unless you’d like a ticket to Tartarus.”

“Ooh, so scary.” The guard rolled his eyes. “Have you seen yourself?”

The human was definitely not in the position to make threats, the ponies had slowly stacked various kinds of binds on him after many escape attempts. His eyes were covered by reflective lenses, his simple arm binds had turned into a full straight jacket, his arms were still forced behind his back but were also held by a spell and cuffs. The human growled as the guard yanked on one of the four chains attached to his throat.

“I’ll enjoy your screams the most.” Sean chuckled.

“Sister, this does not seem like the best plan,” Luna said nervously. “We do not know the extent of Nicol Sean’s power.”

“What did I say about that name?” Celestia shook her head.

“It fits, he is clearly at least seventy percent his father now.”

“Never mind.” Celestia sighed. “Trust me, I have it all planned out.”

“Would you care to enlighten me? So far all I know is to use a piercing spell when you give the word.”

“Sorry Luna. The fewer ponies that know, the better.”

“Fine.” Luna crossed her front legs as she sat back.

“Are you sure this is what the princess ordered?” One of the guards asked nervously as they reached the door leading to the castle courtyard.

“I’m positive.” Another guard replied. Sean could smell the fear coming from the four ponies.

“This doesn’t seem too smart.”

“We can’t disobey the princesses,” The first guard said. “I’m sure they know what they are doing.” After that and taking a deep breath the guard swung the doors open.

“Here they are,” Celestia said as the doors of the castle opened. “Are you ready Luna?”

“Sure.”

“Sup Celly?!” Sean asked as spotted the ponies. “Comer here you two, group hug!”

“Gladly.” Celestia smiled as she began to walk towards the human.

“Celestia!”

“Princess what are you doing?” One of the guards asked as the alicorn approached.

“Offering my friend a hug.” As the alicorn said that she discreetly moved the sun so that it was behind Sean.

“Fool!” Sean smiled as his draconic shadow fell over the courtyard. The darkness flicked its wrist near Luna, the blue alicorn cried out as she was swatted away by an invisible force.

“Luna!” Celestia watched as her sister smashed through a nearby window.

“Darn.” Sean sighed. “I was aiming for the one above. Well, I’m bored.” The guards cried out as they were lifted in the air before being crushed.

“No!”

“Yes!” The human laughed as pony blood rained on him. “It’s been fun Celly but I’m here on business.” With that Sean ran off.

“GUARDS! STOP SEAN, BY ANY MEANS NECCASARY!” Celestia ordered, her voice booming through the entire city.

“Wow, she’s loud.” Sean smiled as he continued to run. “I need to get out of these restraints.”

“Halt!” A wall of guards were standing in the human’s path, all wielding crossbows.

“That’ll do.”

“Fire!” The lead pony ordered. As they shot their weapons Sean spun around, moving so that the bolts hit his wrists. The shots collided with the hand cuffs before breaking them. “Thanks.”

As the guards quickly began to reload Sean started to shift in his jacket. As the guards finished and raised their weapons their eyes widened as they watched the human free his arms, the sleeves of the jacket still dangling at his wrists.

“You guys were great!” Sean began to spark. “Here’s your reward.”

The ponies took a step back as the jacket began to fuse with the human. As the sparks subsided Sean laughed. The poor guards did not share his glee.

The straight jacket had become a black jacket that reached nearly to the ground, under the jacket he had gained a light olive shirt and pants. On the shoulders decorative curved horns jutted out. The dangling sleeves had fused with his hands and created clawed gloves. His four neck chains had shifted, two now crossed over his shoulders and around his torso. The other pair were coiled around his arms, all of the chains seemed to be somewhat imbedded into his body.

“Thoughts?” Sean spread his arms slightly. “I like it.”

“By order of the princess,” One of the ponies began, his voice filled with fear. “You are to-” The sentence never finished as a chain went into his mouth before bursting out the back of his skull.

“I don’t care what Celly wants,” Sean said as the chain retracted from the dead pony and returned to his arm. “Now then, I only need one of you five alive.” Sean put a hand to his chin, glancing over the ponies in front of him. “Who wants to be the lucky winner?”

“We’ll never help you!” One of the guards shouted as he drew his sword. The other four quickly followed suit.

“Interesting.” Sean showed his fangs in a cruel smile. “Tell me, do you know what hentai is?” He asked the original guard.

“Vaguely.”

“Well, this is going to be like it." Sean raised his hands so the palms faced the guards. "But with a lot more pain!” As he finished the statement two chains shot from his arms and flew at the group, two more came from his shoulders and followed. Before any of the ponies could react four of them were impaled by chains.

“Is that all you’ve got?” One of the skewered guards asked defiantly. The chains had only stabbed through the chest, but missed any vital organs.

“Not quite,” Sean said, then the chains began to shift before coiling and injecting through various sections of the ponies.

After a few seconds the metal lines were jutting out all over the ponies’ bodies, weak gurgling was all that could escape them. The final guard was frozen in fear as he watched his comrades bleeding and punctured.

“Bored now,” Sean said with a yawn. “Let’s make it rain!” Then the ponies began to shudder before their bodies exploded. The surviving pony cried out in horror as their blood splattered all over him, staining his armor and fur. He nearly vomited at the smell as bits of guard rained down and blood soaked the grass. “Now then.” The human chuckled as the chains began to retract and fuse with him again.

“St-stay away from me!” the pony shouted in fear, he then turned and began to run

“No can do.” The guard cried out in terror as he felt something cold coil around his leg. “I require your aid.”

“Here it is,” The guard said nervously. “This is where the princesses keep the elements.”

“Thank you.” Sean smiled as he neared the large golden doors. After capturing the pony the human had forced him to show the way to the vault that Celestia kept the Elements of Harmony. Sean placed a hand on the door, the cold metal and weight informing him of its durability. “Give me a hand.”

“What!?” The guard’s eyes widened.

“Do you wish to die like the others or not?” Sean growled.

“I’ve already betrayed Equestria enough.” The guard gasped as a draconic shadow fell over him.

“Listen here.” Sean spun around as the guard was lifted into the air. “I don’t care what you want.” He then began to approach the levitating pony. “Now, if you defy me again I shall send your immortal soul to a plane of eternal suffering, there you will stay until I am satisfied.” He grabbed the ponies face. "I can give you a hint on how long that is, I’m never satisfied.”

“Ok!” The guard shouted in fear. “Just don’t kill me.”

“I won’t kill you like the others, dragon’s honor,” Sean said as the shadow vanished. “Now let’s go, before Celly gets here.”

“In here?” Celestia asked as she came to stand in front of the doors.

“Yes princess,” One of the guards said with a bow. “One of the servants spotted the human and a guard enter this room.”

“Good! I have a few things to say to that scaly punk.” Luna growled, an ice pack pressed to her head.

“You’ll get the chance little sister.” Celestia then turned to the twelve guards behind her. “Ready your weapons.”

“Come on!” Sean shouted at the guard. “You’re not even trying!”

“Yes I am!” The white pony grunted. “This thing is not going to open.”

The two had been pushing, pulling, and punching at the large metal doors for a good five minutes.

“These things are strong.” Sean nodded. “I guess I need Celly’s magic after all.” He then turned his gaze to the pony next to him. “Which makes you obsolete.”

“What!?” The guard’s eyes widened. “But you said you wouldn’t kill me!”

“Not true.” Sean smiled as the chains on his body began to shift. “I said I would not kill you like the others.” He then raised a newly formed sickle. “Yours will be much swifter.”

The guard closed his eyes in terror as he prepared for a bloody death. Instead he heard a cry of pain and the sound of something slamming into metal. As he opened his eyes he gasped. Sean was pressed against the vault doors, blood trickling from his mouth. A large singe mark was apparent on his chest as it began to heal. Looking away from the human he watched as the princesses and at least twelve guards entered the room.

“Are you ok?” Celestia asked, looking towards the rattled guard.

“Yes princess.” He bowed.

“Good shot Celly.” Sean smiled as he stood back up, the burn had vanished and his shirt was beginning to cover his chest again. “I almost felt it.”

“Sean, stop this foolishness now!” Celestia ordered, anger and authority filled her voice. Some the guards took a slight step back.

“Foolishness?” Sean’s green eyes widened. “I would never dream of it, this all serves a purpose. Now be a dear and open the door for me.”

“You are going back to your cell dragon!” Luna glared at Sean.

“Oh really?” Sean raised a clawed hand. “How about this, I will return to what I'm doing, and you can go to Tartarus. Thoughts?”

“I’m sorry to do this Sean.” Celestia’s horn began to glow before she fired a beam of magic at the human.

“Thanks.” Sean then raised a hand, the beam collided with his covered hand and vanished. Smiling he turned and shot a chain towards the vault, the tip shaping to fit the hole. The metal links then began to glow gold before the doors swung open. “I needed your magic.”

The human then ran through the doors. Celestia and Luna watched with smirks.

“What!?” Sean came out holding an empty box. “They are supposed to be here!”

“Oh yeah.” Celestia tapped her chin. “We moved them after the Discord incident.”

“Where!?” Sean growled, his slitted pupils had shrunk to the point where they were barely visible.

“I’m not sure I recall.” The alicorn looked to her sister. “Do you remember?”

“I cannot say I do.” Luna shook her head.

“Filthy creatures!” Sean growled. “You will tell me!”

“Or what?” Celestia asked.

“Or this.” Sean then blasted a fireball at the princesses.

“Yawn.” Luna commented as she raised a shield. The blast collided with the barrier and created a smoke cloud that filled the entire room.

“Yawn at this!” The sisters gasped as the smoke cleared, they were now surrounded by a dozen mutilated guard corpses. Sean was in the center of the room, the chains slowly coiling around him again as blood dripped from them. “Now tell me, or the streets of Canterlot will get a new coat of red!”

“As if we will let that happen.” Luna smiled. “Right Celestia?”

“Right.” The elder alicorn then looked to her sister.

Are we certain of this sister? Celestia asked telepathically.

Of course there is no way he will learn the elements are in-

“Thanks for the info.” The alicorns looked to him in horror as the human chuckled. “Good work Luna.” Sean then turned and ran through the nearest window before vanishing. The princesses ran to the shattered window.

“He must be bluffing,” Luna said nervously.

“I doubt it.” Celestia shook her head. “He’s going to hunt the Elements of Harmony down. We must warn Twilight.”

Chapter 91: Battle for Equestria

“Come on Spike, we’re going to be late!” Twilight shouted up the stairs impatiently.

“Give me one second Twilight!” Spike’s voice carried through the bedroom.

“Just hurry!” Twilight then began to pace around the main room. After a few seconds there was a dark flash, as it subsided Sean appeared in front of her. “Hi Sean.” Twilight walked up to the human

“It’s good to see you Twilight.” Sean smiled. Twilight offered him a skeptical look, his voice was different. It lacked the typical warmth and friendliness that usually greeted her. It was calmer, almost cold.

“Are you feeling ok?” She raised an eyebrow as she noticed his green eyes.

“Never better.” Sean continued the smile, the grin mostly disturbed the unicorn due to the fangs that filled it.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” Twilight took a step back.

“I believe so.” The human nodded. “May I see the elements?”

“Why?”

“Celly wants me to check on them. You know how vital they are to our little country.”

“Why didn’t the princess contact me then?”

“She is very busy.”

“I guess so.” Twilight looked him over. “What’s with the new clothes?” She flicked the tail of his long jacket.

“I was helping with guard duty at the Canterlot prison.”

“Um, Twilight!” Spike’s head poked out from around the door frame to the room. “Can you come here for a minute?” He almost seemed scared.

“Of course.” Twilight briskly began to move up the stairs. “I’ll be right back.”

“Curse that dragon,” Sean said under his breath. “He cut me off before I could probe that stupid pony’s mind.” He let out a growl. “Guess I’ll have to find them the old fashioned way.”

The human then began to look around the room, tilting books and lifting the wooden head in search of secret entrances. Eventually he spotted something interesting, there was a small amount of magical energy coming from a nearby door. Moving to it he turned the handle and swung it open.

“Jack pot.”

“What’s wrong Spike?” Twilight asked the baby dragon. His eyes were wide as he handed her a scroll. Taking it in her magic the unicorn unfurled it and began to read.

Dear Twilight,

I have sent this to warn you about Sean, he is currently not of sound mind and a threat to anypony he comes in contact with. He has already wiped out seventeen guards with no trouble or mercy. Odds are that he will be arriving at your home in search of the Elements of Harmony. Make sure they do not fall into his clutches. Luna and I are making preparations and will arrive as soon as we can. Be careful my student.

-Princess Celestia

“This is bad,” Twilight said as she gave the letter to Spike. “I left him alone down there!” Twilight then turned and began to rush down the stairs.

“Too late mortal!” Twilight skidded to a halt, her eyes wide as Sean came through the basement door. The case that stored the elements was tucked under his arm. “Thanks for the gift.”

“Give those back!” Twilight ordered as she glared at Sean.

“I have a better idea.” Sean then disappeared in a dark burst before suddenly appearing next to Twilight. “I’m going to take these rocks with me.” One of the chains coiled from his free arm and began to wrap around her neck. “Then I will summon my father here.” The two chains around his torso shifted, one of them coiling around her body and the other around her horn.

“I won’t let you.” Twilight glared at him. It was becoming difficult to move as the metal links tightened their grip.

“How about this?” Sean shifted his voice to a whisper and leaned in closer to the pony. “After Bolas and I reform this plane it will need a queen to follow the new king.” The chain on her neck reached her chin and turned her head to look at him. “How about it.”

“Don’t do it Twilight!” Spike shouted from the top of the stairs.

“Quiet pest!” Sean’s final chain shot forward at the dragon, just as it neared him he rolled out of the way. Clumsily falling down the stairs the dragon groaned.

“Spike run!” Twilight ordered.

“No!” The chain retracted before making another move for Spike. Again the young dragon dodged before running out the front door. “Curses.”

“You’re in trouble now, Spike is going to get help.”

“Fine, he can bring all the help he wants. It makes little difference.” Sean smiled. “I plan to transform this plane, then I shall ascend to the next level of power.”

“Next level?” Twilight looked at him in confusion.

“Yes, once Bolas arrives we will drain this world of its magic. After that we shall absorb that power, a portion will go to me so that I may evolve to a true planeswalker.”

“She’s in here,” Spike said as he led the five ponies to the library’s front door.

“I’m still finding it a bit hard to believe that Sean of all beings would hurt Twilight,” Rarity said in disbelief.

“Well it’s true.” Spike pointed to the large tree. “When I left he had weird chains coiled around her body.”

“Didn’t know Twilight was into that,” Rainbow said with a chuckle.

“Into what?” Spike looked at her in confusion.

“Um.” The multicolored mare looked away. “Let’s just go inside.”

“Think about it Twilight,” Sean said as he leaned closer to Twilight. “Unimaginable power, you would be stronger than even Celestia.”

“I will never betray the princess!” The unicorn glared at the human.

“Fine.” Sean’s slitted pupils shrank as he growled. “I suppose you will just have to die!” The chains then began to tighten their grip. Twilight gasped for air as her windpipe was restricted.

“Let go of her!” Both Twilight and Sean looked towards the front door in time for Rainbow Dash to ram into the human.
Flying back he was slammed against the wall. The surprise and sudden blow loosened the chains around his captive. Taking the opportunity Twilight shook off the chain around her horn and teleported to stand beside her friends.

“This place is getting a bit too crowded for my taste,” Sean said with a smile. “No matter, I have what I came for.” There was a flash before Sean vanished.

“Oh no.” Twilight’s shoulders sagged. “He got the elements.”

“Fools.” Sean smiled as he walked towards the outskirts of Ponyville the Everfree Forest not far ahead. “Too easy.” The human grunted as he suddenly bumped into something. “What the?” Looking around he raised an eyebrow, there didn’t seem to be anything nearby. Reaching a hand out he growled as it pressed against an invisible wall. “Nice of you to join me Celly.” Sean turned around as the alicorn appeared.

“I can’t let you get away Sean,” Celestia said with a glare. Her golden armor shined in the daylight.

“Looks like you broke out the war gear for little old me.” Sean smiled. “I’m flattered Celly.”

“I will stop you, no matter what it takes.” The white alicorn spread her armored wings, the bladed edges glistening.

“I’m afraid it will take more than one washed up Alicorn to stop me.”

“How about two?” A smile crept along the human’s face as Luna appeared next to her sister, clad in her own armor.

“Did you seriously just agree to being called a washed up alicorn?” Sean chuckled a bit.

“What!?” Luna’s eyes widened. “No, I didn’t mean-”

“Don’t let him get to you Luna.” Celestia shook her head.

“But Celly.” The alicorn jumped as Sean appeared next to her. “Letting me in your head will make it less painful.”

“Enough!” Celestia shouted as she swung a bladed wing at the human. As expected he vanished before reappearing beside Luna.

“Can you believe her?” He looked at the younger princess. “Attacking me just out of the blue.” He vanished again as Luna aimed her sword for his heart. Reappearing in front of the sisters he smiled. “Why don’t you two surrender? You know that you can’t beat me, I am perfection.”

“We will stop you,” Celestia said, determination in her eyes. “And we’ll get Sean back.”

“You fool.” Setting the elements down and covering them in a magical aura he began to smile, the chain on Sean’s right arm began to lower. Snapping a long portion off it began to change. After a few seconds the human lifted a halberd over his head. “Let’s finish this quickly.”

Both alicorns took a step back in surprise, not simply from the sudden weapon. The human’s voice had lowered in pitch with a seeming echo to it, his pupils had shrunk to the point of being almost nonexistent, and his eyes were filled with a fusion of predatory and hatred.

“Are you ready sister?” Luna looked at Celestia, determination was in her eyes. “He may be our friend but Equestria comes first.”

“I know Luna.” Celestia sighed. “It will still be difficult.”

“Not for me!” The white alicorn’s eyes widened as a large blade began to come down on her. Thinking quickly Celestia was able to teleport away as Sean slammed his weapon into the ground. “That was a good dodge Celly.” Raising the halberd to rest on his shoulder the human turned the Celestia. “But it will only work once.”

“We’ll see,” Celestia said before firing a blast of magic at him. Smiling Sean vanished, Celestia then spun around and swung a wing. The alicorn gasped when her blades didn’t make contact with flesh.

“You missed,” Sean said as he appeared in front of her. Before she could react the princess’s face met the human’s fist. Falling to the ground Celestia groaned, rubbing an armored hoof against her cheek. “Bye bye Celly!” The solar princess’s eyes widened as Sean raised his halberd, with a cruel smile the weapon came down.

“Sister!” Luna shouted before tackling the human. Slamming into the invisible barrier Sean growled as he and Luna began to struggle. With a battle cry the blue alicorn rammed her sword into his chest, exactly where his core was located.

“Insolent brat!” Sean glared at his attacker.

Suddenly there were several flashes of silver, before Luna could react four chains had pierced her body. She let out a pained wheeze as she looked at herself, two of the steel lines had jabbed through her shoulders and proceeded to coil her throat, the other two had forced their way into her stomach. Sean began to laugh as the alicorn’s blood trickled out, the drops landing on his cloak leaving darkened patches.

“Luna!” Celestia cried out.

“How?” Luna asked, her voice weak and quiet. “I pierced your core.” Blood began to fall from her mouth. Sean’s laugh grew louder and more viscous as he stood up, his chains lifting with him to keep the bleeding alicorn at eye level.

“You mean this core?” Sean asked before opening his mouth, on his tongue rested the gold gem.

“What?” Luna’s eyes widened in shock.

“My life source,” Sean said as the gem began to sink into his tongue. “Has taken up safer residence. After all, I knew you would go after it. Now then, why don’t we find out what the inside of a princess looks-” The sentence did not finish as the human was enveloped in a fireball. The singed black corpse fell back to land on the ground. The chains holding Luna slowly disintegrated, before she could hit the ground a golden aura enveloped her.

“Luna!” The blue alicorn’s fuzzy vision attempted to focus on her sister.

“I’m sorry Celestia,” She said weakly.

“You’re going to be fine.” Celestia’s horn began to glow, slowly the wounds on Luna began to close. “There, I’ve stopped the bleeding.” Slowly the younger alicorn’s eyes began to close. “Luna, don’t close your eyes!”

“Defeat him.” Then Luna’s head fell back limply.

“Luna!” Slowly pressing her head to her sister’s chest Celestia sighed with relief as she heard weak breathing.

“Oops, I broke it.” Looking behind her Celestia’s eyes shifted to a glare as the human began to get up. His face was slowly recovering, the sadistic smile becoming visible again. “Oh well, I guess you’ll have to do.”

“I don’t care if you used to be Sean,” Celestia said, hatred evident in her voice. “You are not him anymore, and I will make you pay.” Her mane began to catch fire as she finished.

“Oh, I’m so scared.” Sean picked the halberd back up with a smile. “Let’s dance Celly.”

Without responding the white alicorn began to charge towards the human. Spreading her wings she prepared to slice him. Chuckling Sean side stepped to dodge the attack, his eyes widened as he bumped into Celestia, she had managed to teleport at the last second and ended up behind him. Before he could move the human’s head was separated from his body. As he began to recover Celestia shouted and blasted him with fire. This went on for several minutes, breathing heavily Celestia glared down at the blackened corpse beneath her. To her surprise no sparks appeared to show his regeneration.

“Geez, you have some anger issues.” She gasped as a chain stabbed through her ribs. Looking back her eyes widened as Sean appeared through a portal. “You should really consider counseling.”

“How did you?” She looked to the singed body in front of her.

“You mean the zombie I replaced myself with?” His fanged smile crept onto the human’s face. “Have you learned nothing?” Celestia cried out in pain as the chain began to shift inside her body. “I am a god, the embodiment of perfection.” Slowly the chain inside Celestia removed itself, the tip sparked and was replaced by a spear head, the metal shining in the light. “Goodbye Celly.” Before the weapon could strike a purple beam shot through it, splitting the chain in half.

“Princess!” Both combatants looked towards Ponyville to see a group of six ponies running towards them.

“I am getting sick of these pesky interruptions,” Sean said with a growl. “Oh well, the more blood the merrier.”

“Twilight, stay back!” Celestia ordered. The six ponies suddenly stopped, Twilight looked at the princess in confusion.

“What?”

“It’s too dangerous, get away from here!” Celestia ducked as a chain flew at her face.

“Princess-” Twilight took a step towards them.

“I said get out of here!” Celestia shouted as she blocked Sean’s halberd with a wing. “Take Luna and run!” The princess grunted as the human’s foot slammed into her chest, causing her to fly back.

“Luna?” Looking around the purple unicorn’s eyes widened as she saw the bloodied body of the lunar princess. “Oh no.”

“That does it!” Rainbow Dash shouted angrily before charging at Sean.

“Rainbow Dash stop!” Twilight cried.

“Listen to her child.” Rainbow let out a gasp as a chain coiled around her body, before the pegasus could react she was slammed into the ground. Sean walked up and put a foot on her head. “You hope to stop a god?”

“Get off her!” The human growled as he became covered in cake and confetti. Cracking his neck Sean prepared to deal with the pink and orange pests running towards him.

“Mortals are so foolish.” With a smile Sean fired his four chains towards the oncoming ponies. Unable to do anything the two were coiled in metal, detaching them from his body Applejack and Pinkie fell to the ground in their metallic coffins.

“Enough Sean!” Turning, the human smiled to see Celestia fully transformed. The heat from her mane and tail reached him even from the several foot gap. “This is between you and me.”

“It’s really not between any of you.” Sean shrugged. “My father wants to visit and he needs all of you out of the way.”

“I will stop you no matter what it takes.” Celestia spread her wings.

“Fine, if you want to die I can oblige.” Glancing at Twilight and the others he smiled. “But only if there are no more interruptions.”

“We aren’t going anywhere,” Rainbow Dash said weakly. Then a wall of golden magic appeared in front of them. After a few seconds the gold orb became clear.

“Princess?” Twilight’s eyes widened.

“I can’t risk your lives over this.” Celestia’s voice was filled with sorrow. “I almost got Luna killed, I will not let him get you too.”

“How touching.” Sean rolled his eyes. “Let’s go already.” Before his opponent could respond, Sean charged at the alicorn.

In a fluid motion Celestia dodged and swung with her wing, she let out a grunt as the appendage collided with two chains that had shifted to block the attack. Spinning on his heels Sean turned, quickly transforming his left arm into a dragon head he sent out a fireball. With a smirk Celestia raised a shield to block. Her face quickly shifted to a look of pain as Sean’s halberd smoothly cut through the barrier and sliced across her chest. Teleporting away she looked at her wound, it was shallow, not bleeding very much. The princess had to duck as the halberd flew towards her, looking up she saw Sean twirling one of his chains.

“I hope I didn’t hurt you too much,” he said with a smirk before slamming his fist into the ground. “After all, there is still plenty of fun to be had.” After that a red glow went down his arm before the ground began to shake. Suddenly the earth beneath Celestia spewed a column of fire, completely enveloping her. Celestia smiled as her mane and tail absorbed the attack.

“Did you forget?” Celestia shook her head. “Fire can’t harm me like this.”

“I’m aware.” The alicorn’s eyes widened as a cold voice appeared behind her. “That was just a distraction.” Before she could react a sword pierced through her stomach. Coughing up blood Celestia fell to the ground. Slowly the flame left the princess as she looked at the blade in her side. It was stabbed deep enough that she could only see the hilt. Looking up she watched Sean kneel to look her in the eyes. “It’s over Celly.”

“Sean-” Celestia coughed, more blood escaping her. “Please, fight this.”

“So annoying.” Sean rolled his eyes before standing up tearing off some of his left arm’s chain he transformed it into an axe. “Goodbye Celly.” As he prepared to bring the weapon down sparks began to fly from his body, letting out a roar he dropped the axe. Celestia recoiled as the blade landed a few inches from her face.

“That was close.” Celestia sighed before looking back to the sparking human.

“Stop it!” Sean was gripping his face. “You were weak, unwilling to do what was necessary for power!” He grabbed his left arm in chains as it transformed into a blade and flew towards his face. “You can’t win, my power surpasses the simplistic will of something as pitiful as yourself.” As Sean looked towards Celestia she saw his eyes were purple.

“Sean?”

“Enough!” The human’s eyes regained their green tint as he shouted. “Lucky for you Celly, that fool is protecting you.” Turning around Sean walked to the glass case containing the elements. “No matter, I merely needed to incapacitate you.” Freeing the jewels from their containment he lifted them with his chains.

“What are you doing?” Celestia asked weakly. Her vision was beginning to cloud as the blood loss continued.

“I’m going to use these little rocks to bring the mighty Nicol Bolas here.” Sean smiled as he clipped two elements to each arm, one to his neck, and placed the crown on his head.

“No, you can’t.” Celestia attempted to stand before falling over again. Her coat was soaked red by now.

“Of course I can.” Sean smiled as he began to carve something in the ground. “Who will stop me?” Stepping back the human admired his work. On the ground he had carved the shapes of Bolas’ horns. “Now then, let’s put these stones to work.” The elements began to glow before two rainbow patterned orbs appeared in his hands. With a grin the human pointed his palms to the horns, suddenly the orbs turned into beams of light. Letting out a laugh Sean watched the horns begin to faintly glow. “Soon he shall arrive, and your pitiful plane will strengthen him.”

“Sean, stop!” Celestia shouted in fear. What the human hadn’t noticed was the tails of his trench coat were beginning to disintegrate.

“Deal with it Celly!” Sean glared at the alicorn. “You lost, there is no stopping what has been set in motion!” Suddenly the human’s hands began to disintegrate. “What’s happening?!” He watched in horror as his shoulder began to fade away.

“Sean.” Celestia finally lost consciousness.

“Princess!” Twilight cried out as she watched Celestia’s face fall to the ground. Slowly the golden barrier vanished. Running to her mentor the unicorn began to shake the fallen alicorn. Putting her head to her chest Twilight sighed with relief to hear her breathing. “We need to get the princesses to a hospital.”

“What about him?” Rainbow Dash asked with a hint of anger. Looking behind her Twilight’s eyes widened. A few feet away rested the mutilated form of Sean, he was sitting back on his knees. Cautiously moving towards him Twilight looked the human over.
One of his hands was missing, there was a chunk of flesh missing from one shoulder, part of his cheek had vanished, one of his eyes was gone, and there were a few chunks of his torso gone as well. His trench coat was shredded and several parts were missing, his arms and neck were black and singed, and the elements were scattered around him. Then he began to shift, weakly the human looked at her his one green eye looking her over.

“Twilight?” His voice was quiet and strained.

“Is that you Sean?” Twilight asked skeptically.

“Please, come closer.” Leaning in Twilight looked at him with concern.

“What is it?” Suddenly the human jerked forward, his fangs shining as he lunged for her. Before he could reach her a rope wrapped around his throat and yanked him back.

“Are you ok Twilight?” Rarity asked worriedly.

“I’m fine.” Twilight said sadly, watching as Applejack dragged Sean’s writhing body towards a nearby tree, the human shouting many obscenities as she tied him to the trunk. “Let’s get the princesses to a hospital.

“I’ll kill you all!” Sean shouted. “When I free myself you will feel the true wrath of a dragon!”

“Sister, it is time,” Luna said solemnly as she entered her sister’s hospital room. The two alicorns had been transported to Canterlot and treated, after two weeks they were almost fully recovered.

“I know we can save him,” Celestia said sadly.

“Perhaps, but for now he is too dangerous to keep here.” Luna sighed before looking to the ground. “Twilight says he has already recovered his cheek and shoulder. It is only a matter of time before he is strong enough to escape our simple binds.”

“I suppose.” Climbing out of the bed Celestia stretched before her horn began to glow, after a few seconds the two sisters vanished.

“Are you sure about this princess?” Twilight asked nervously as they neared the hill.

“I’m afraid so,” Celestia said sadly, her gaze low and her shoulders slumped. “The magical backlash of the elements is beginning to wear off. He can’t be left in this realm much longer before he escapes.”

“Here we are,” Luna said as they reached the top of the hill. Nearby a single tree sat with a familiar figure strapped to it. As the three ponies approached he raised his head. Celestia internally winced at his current state. His arms and throat still had not recovered and where dark as the night, his empty eye socket had begun to recover, flesh having covered the hole. Offering a cruel smile Sean greeted them.

“Well, if it isn’t the goody four shoes brigade.” His voice still had a roughness to it and was filled with malice and spite.

“I assume you know why we’re here?” Celestia asked, giving him a cold gaze to match the ice in her voice. She hated this creature, no matter the appearance it was not her old friend. She knew that deep within he still existed but it was being trapped by this horrid beast.

“There are a few theories,” Sean said with a laugh.

“Sean.” The human turned his gaze to the other alicorn. Luna stood over him with a glare. “For your crimes against Equestria you are hereby banished to Tartarus.”

“What?!”

“Goodbye Sean,” Celestia said, tears going down her face as her horn began to glow.

“You can’t do this!” Sean shouted with anger, though the ponies could have sworn there was a hint of fear.

“Have fun in there,” Luna said before her horn began to glow. Sean’s eyes widened as a portal appeared beneath him. Through it he could see a dark abyss. The only structures were several jagged mountains and winding stone roads. In the distance he saw a three headed dog patrolling the grounds.

“I’ll just escape when I recover.” Sean shook his head.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but Tartarus drains the magic of its captives,” Luna said with a smile. Before the human could reply he was dropped into the portal. As he landed onto one of the mountains a cage appeared around him.

“You will pay for this Celestia!” He shouted as the portal closed

“I’m sorry Sean,” Celestia said with a frown. “But I will find a way to save you.”

“I hate to be the that pony.” Luna came to stand next to her sister. “But I do not think there is anything to save.”

“No Luna, there is.” Celestia gave a slight smile. “I saw it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just as he was about to kill me, he began to have some sort of inner battle and for a split second I saw his eyes change to purple. Then that monster said that somebody was protecting me.”

“Even if that is true-”

“It is Luna!” Celestia suddenly shouted. “There is still good in him!” Luna took a step back. “I’m sorry Luna, but I know I can save him. I just need to work on that cure I was testing.”

“I understand sister.” Luna sighed. “Let us go home and get some rest.”

“Wretched creature,” Sean said in a whisper. “They cannot contain me forever.”

“Well hello,” A voice said. Looking up the human saw a strange thin black and red creature in front of his cage. It seemed to have the lower half of a goat, yet the upper body almost resembled a human.

“Who are you supposed to be?” Sean asked skeptically.

“Just another being, wronged by those filthy princesses.”

“Am I meant to care?”

“You will when you hear what I have to say.”

“Then spit it out.”

“Listen, you and I were both trapped her by Celestia and Luna.” The creature began to circle Sean’s cage.

“Thank you for the game of catch up.” Sean growled.

“What if I told you there was a way for us to escape and have our revenge?” The monster returned to the front of his cage.

“Go on.” A smile began to creep upon the human’s face.

Chapter 92: Setting Up

“Help!” A light brown unicorn cried as he ran down an alley, knocking over a trash can as he charged. Skidding to a halt his eyes widened in horror as it lead to a dead end. “Somebody, please-”

“Shut up already.” The unicorn’s voice abandoned him as a blade pressed to his throat. Looking at it he saw the weapon was linked to a chain. Following the line of steel his eyes fell upon a bipedal figure in a trench coat.

“I don’t understand,” The pony said in a whisper. “You were a hero.”

“Not really.” There was a chuckle as chains began to surround the pony’s body. The unicorn winced as the binds tightened.

“Careful you fool!” A raspy voice shouted from behind. “I need him alive!” Looking back the pony spotted a small cloaked figure approaching.

“Watch your tone centaur,” The biped said with a growl as the figure approached. “Just absorb your magic and let’s move on.” The unicorn began to shiver in fear as he gazed into the dark hood of the second being.

“With pleasure.” A faded red hand grabbed the hood and pulled it back to reveal a bony chimp face, the messy white beard flowed from its chin, a gold nose ring gleamed in the moonlight, two small horns jutted out of its head. With a smile the creature opened its mouth, before the pony knew what was happening magic began to spew from his horn and into the centaur. After a few seconds the unicorn fell to the ground as his binds were removed. With a weak and pained groan he watched the two figures walk away.

“Your methods are far too tedious,” The human said as his chains finished coiling his torso. “It would be far easier to herd up an entire city and mass drain them.”

“We can’t afford to draw too much attention yet.” The centaur shook his head as he pulled the hood back up. “I’m still too weak for us to face the princesses.”

“I nearly killed both on my own.”

“True, but the key word is nearly.”

“Whatever, let’s just find another sucker to drain.”

“I’m here, what’s the emergency?” Twilight asked frantically as she burst into the throne room. The young alicorn’s worry only grew as she saw Celestia, Luna, and Cadence all sitting in the room with concern on their faces.

“There you are Twilight,” Celestia nodded to her. “Something terrible has happened, a great evil has returned to Equestria.”

“Now Tirek has returned, and likely plans to seek vengeance.” Celestia finished.

“I don’t understand, how did he escape Tartarus?” Twilight asked in confusion.

“Our first guess was that he fled when Cerberus abandoned his post for that short time,” Luna said with a sigh. “Sadly, there is a chance he had help from another prisoner.”

“You don’t mean?” Twilight looked at the empty space of the throne room, the imprint of a chair present on the floor.

“I’m afraid so,” Celestia said, clear sadness in her voice. “When we checked the cells we found two of them empty.”

“With his aid there is no telling what Tirek could do.” Luna shook her head.

“Well what are we waiting for?” Twilight asked. “We need to get out there and catch them.”

“I already have someone on the hunt for them.” Celestia’s eyes were full of concern. “Hopefully he can catch them before more ponies suffer.”

“There’s one,” Sean said with a whisper as he gestured towards a gray unicorn standing with his back to them.

“Excellent.” A smile crept across Tirek’s face. “You know what to do.” With a grin the human disappeared in a burst of darkness.
Slowly creeping towards the pony, Tirek prepared to strike when its head suddenly turned and the face of a certain chimera appeared.

“Hello there,” Discord said with a grin.

“Discord?” The centaur said in disbelief. “When did you escape?”

“Be careful.” The human’s voice rang in his head. “I sense a glimmer of kindness dwelling within him.”

“A while ago.” There was a flash before Discord appeared in his full form.

“Excellent, with your help we can conquer this land even more efficiently.” Tirek smiled.

“Yeah, about that.” Discord snapped his fingers and handcuffs appeared around the centaur’s wrist.

“Agh!” A cry came from behind them. Looking past Discord Tirek spotted Sean lying on the ground with a spear jabbed through his torso, sparks flying from the weapon as electricity flowed through it. When the human tried to grab it, the weapon lit up and send a massive pulse of power through his body.

"That was easy," Discord said with a smile.

“What are you doing?” Tirek asked in anger.

“I’ve been sent here to capture the two of you and take you back to Tartarus.” A police outfit suddenly appeared on Discord as he spun a nightstick.

“You’re working for the ponies now?” The centaur asked in disbelief. “How the mighty have fallen, reduced to a mere pet.”

“I am not their pet,” Discord said indignantly.

“Oh please.” The two looked back as Sean chuckled. “You are what I used to be, a fool sent to do Celly’s dirty work. Trust me, you’ll catch us then she will take all the credit for trapping the enemies of Equestria again.” The human winced as a surge of electricity went through him. “Meanwhile, you’ll still be that out of place freak that messed up once or twice.”

“Be quiet you!” Discord snapped his fingers and two more spear jammed their way into Sean. Blood began to pool underneath him as the new wounds formed.

“You know he’s right.” Tirek shrugged. “They don’t truly value you, all you are is a prisoner to their will. Look what they did to the human they supposedly cared for so much. Tell me, when was the last time you got to cause any real chaos?”

“Well, a few weeks ago I turned Rainbow Dash’s cloud house into rubber.”

“Wow, if that is what you call chaos these days you really have given up.” Tirek shook his head.

“Face it Dizzy, Celly has domesticated you. Want me to get you a leash and collar?” Sean offered a blood filled smile as Discord glared at him.

“Join us Discord.” Tirek yanked at his cuffs. “Help us gain vengeance and together the three of us will rule this world.”

“But.” A picture suddenly appeared in front of him.

“Come on Dizzy.” Sean grunted in pain as he tried to move.

“Think about it, free reign.” The centaur smiled. “You could cause all the chaos imaginable, after so much time under their tyranny wouldn’t it feel great to stick it to the princesses?”

“I suppose so.” Discord smiled. “Alright, let’s do this.” With a snap of his fingers the cuffs vanished.

“I believe you are forgetting my partner.” Tirek pointed at the skewered human.

“Oh yeah.” The spears then vanished. Getting up Sean dusted himself off, growled as he noticed his trench coat drenched in blood.

"You owe me a new jacket," The human said, offering a glare at Discord.

Sean smiled as the crowd of ponies screamed, Tirek had just appeared before them and they were all trying to escape after he absorbed the magic from a pegasus. He spotted one earth pony trying to climb out a nearby window. With a shake of his head the human sent a chain to grab the fleeing creature, there was a scream of shock and fear as the cold steel grabbed and yanked the pony towards them.

“You missed one,” Sean said as he dangled it in front of Tirek.

“Thank you my friend.” Tirek smiled before draining his prey.

“You know, I didn’t believe it when that scrawny centaur told me he would become giant.” Sean smiled, Tirek had indeed grown, he was taller, more muscular, and his horns were beginning to grow.

“That seems to be all of them,” Discord said as he looked around the room.

“Indeed, let’s get-” The human’s statement was cut off as a large amount of blood spewed from his mouth, making a loud splash sound as it landed on the ground. Kneeling Sean began to spark as blood fell from his nose and mouth.

“What’s wrong with him?” Discord asked, hovering back a few feet and summoning up a rain jacket, hat, and umbrella.

“Magic over flow,” Tirek said as he approached the wheezing human. “Ever since the elements backfired on him he has trouble containing the magic he generates.” Holding out a hand the centaur grabbed the human's shivering appendage like a hand shake. Soon the sparks began to move down Sean’s arm and flow into Tirek. “So I take it for him.” After a few more seconds the red droplets ceased their falling and Sean stood back up, his lower jaw was completely red.

“I really hate that.” Sean growled as he tore off his jaw. Soon it regrew, completely clean and pale as ever. “When I find those rocks I’m going to shatter them.”

“I’ll be back,” Tirek said as he gestured towards the doors. “I’m going to hunt down any stragglers.” With that the centaur left.

“Psst!” Discord tapped Sean’s shoulder.

“What?” Sean asked in irritation as he cleaned one of his chains with a sleeve.

“Don’t you worry about Tirek?” Discord whispered.

“What about him?”

“You’re giving him a lot of your excess magic, don’t you worry about a betrayal?”

“Of course I do,” Sean said as he rubbed his bloody sleeve on an unconscious pony. “Don’t you?”

“Not particularly.” Discord smiled. “He needs me.”

“Keep telling yourself that Dizzy.” The human was now taking off his trench coat to reach the olive shirt, it had been caught in the blood spewing since his jacket was left open in the front. Removing the unit of clothing and ringing it he looked at Discord. “Tirek is just waiting for us to be obsolete, then he’ll toss us like we never meant anything.”

“I have a plan to keep him from back stabbing me.”

“As do I.” Holding his shirt out Sean looked at Discord. “Mind cleaning this?”

“Fine.” With a snap of his fingers a washing machine appeared behind Discord. Tossing the shirt in he activated it and leaned back. “So what’s you plan?”

“Let’s just say it involves magical backlash.” Sean smiled, as the click of the door knob turning sounded the two looked towards it as Tirek walked in.

“Ok, I got-” Tirek stopped as he stared at Sean. “What did I say about keeping your shirt on?”

“It was covered in blood.” The human shrugged. “Besides, look at me it can’t be helped that I embody perfection.”

“Ugh.” Tirek slapped his hand to his forehead. “Just put it back on.”

“Fine.” Swinging his head back Sean groaned. “Dizzy, is it clean yet?”

“Almost.” Suddenly a large clown burst from the machine holding his shirt. “There you go.” Taking the garment Sean quickly put it on before picking up his trench coat.

“Let’s get going,” Tirek said in annoyance.

“You’re just jealous because you’ll never look this good.” Sean smiled as he followed the centaur.

“Shut up!”

Mythology

This is a summary of the religion

There were once three lords of the world. There was Crosis who was the ruler of death and the afterlife, then there was an unnamed dragon later named Envy who was the watcher of humanity, then there was the strongest of the three and the
leader of the other two he had no true domain but supervised the other two, his name was Nicol Bolas

Dragon Lords

Nicol Bolas- Nicol Bolas was the oldest and strongest of the three dragons. He was the creator of the other two dragon lords as well. He was a yellow-green dragon with curved horns with a floating gem between them; his eyes were a vibrant green. He was also the only one to wear armor as well. He wore braces on his arms, armor on his shoulders, and armor on his torso. He was the creator of the other two dragon lords. Crosis was created out of the bones of many humans. Envy was made from his caring and kindness as small as it was; this is why Envy was the weakest due to his source of birth being so small and weak. Nicol Bolas was more powerful than any other dragon ever known. He was able to breathe extremely hot fire, ice that could freeze anything and a corrosive breath that could melt anything. He was also extremely charged magically this is why he was able to create Crosis and Envy and hold so much power over the other two. He also had the ability to simply touch someone and shatter their entire mind. Having 700 years of experience over the other two meant he was much wiser and stronger in another more

Crosis- Crosis was the ruler of death and the afterlife. He was a sleek black dragon with piercing red eyes. He was able to raise the dead and kill the living with a mere roar. He breathed a corrosive breath that could dissolve anything it hit. He was the second strongest of the three dragon lords and the least seen as he was often running the afterlife. Crosis eventually created three weaker subordinate dragons to help him watch over the afterlife. There was Ryusei, Keiga, and Kokusho these became known as the three lesser dragon. Crosis was the one who informed Bolas of the intents of the Envy and helped to apprehend him with the help of three lesser dragons.

Envy- This dragon went unnamed through most of his life. He was a beautiful emerald-green dragon, his wings were glorious silver with blade-like tips and silver spines that matched his wings, his eyes were also a gorgeous blue. He was the guardian of humanity. He was able to breathe ice that could freeze anything Envy was considered the weakest of the dragon lords from the start. Part of this was because Nicol Bolas did not want him to be too strong when he was in charge of humans. He was the most seen of the three until he fought Bolas and Crosis. Eventually Envy got tired of dealing with the suffering of the humans and became jealous of the positions Bolas and Crosis had. Due to this Envy he planned to over throw Bolas and take rule. His plans were found out by Keiga who then told Crosis who then told Bolas. When Envy came to challenge Bolas who was ready. When Envy came Crosis and the three lesser dragons pinned him down. Bolas then told him that if he was so jealous of something so silly he should have a real reason to be jealous. Then he deformed Envy into a freakish monster and renamed Envy. His wings were removed. He grew two more arms and legs, his back spines were lost and he grew and unruly black mane. In his left eye the white part was turned black and in his right he developed five more irises. His sides were filled with the torsos and heads. From then on he was seen almost never and Bolas ended up
assigning Keiga to his old position.

Lesser Dragons.

Ryusei- Ryusei was one of the three dragons created by Crosis to assist him. Ryusei was the eventually made the ruler of fire. He was a long serpentine dragon. His body was covered in many spike plates that covered the top of his body. That were often ablaze. He also had flaming red eyes. He had two small arms. He was the most sadistic of the three lesser dragons.

Keiga- Keiga was one of the three dragons created by Crosis to assist him. Keiga eventually replaced Envy as guardian of humans after Envy disappeared. He was the ruler of water as well. Keiga was a long serpentine dragon with bowl-like extensions along his body, these were often filled with water he had two pointed white horns on his head. Keiga was considered the wisest and kindest of the three lesser dragons.

Kokusho- Kokusho was one of the three dragons created by Crosis to assist him. Kokusho is the least known of the three since he stuck with Crosis for his entire life working with death most and never really coming out of the afterlife. All that is known is he was a long black serpentine dragon.

Death of Envy and Crosis
After a century of absence Envy returned with an army of dragons and hydras from other parts of the world to terrorize humanity and get revenge on the other two. Ryusei and Kokusho were sent to confront Envy and his army. Ryusei and Kokusho were attacked by two hydras due to a lack of understanding of them the two began to cut off the hydra heads in an attempt to kill them which ended with them being overpowered by the many heads. Kokusho was never found however, Ryusei’s body was sent to Bolas’ front door to his palace. Crosis was enraged at the death of two of his dragons so he went to confront Envy. After getting to him Crosis easily disposed of the hydras knowing how to do it he used his screech of death to kill all of the lesser dragons Envy had accumulated and got to him rather easily. The two then battled Crosis however was caught from behind by a hydra that had survived and had his throat cut from a bite from one the heads. Bolas was watching the scene and after seeing Crosis fall he flew straight to Envy. Upon Bolas’ arrival Envy pulled the body of Crosis and taunted about how he easily killed such an excuse for a dragon. The hydra that had killed Crosis prepared to strike however Bolas wrapped his tail around all 6 heads and broke the necks all at the same time, since the heads were not removed new ones were not grown so the hydra was killed. Bolas then came up to Envy he broke all of his limbs easily. As Envy begged for mercy Bolas used his touch to break Envy’s mind. Envy was then forced to the form of a human and left brain dead in the woods to be eaten by wild animals. Crosis was given a true memorial along with Kokusho and Ryusei. All the humans, Bolas, and Keiga were the attendants.

Keiga’s Death
Keiga was killed while protecting the humans from a hydra Keiga won by drowning it in a flood but he was killed by a fatal bite from the hydra soon after.

Departure of Bolas
With the loss of the other two dragon lords and the three lesser dragons Bolas had nothing to remain here for. He had already learned all he could from this world he planned to depart. However to keep his followers safe he left a monument that resembled his horns that was charged with magic, he then told humanity their extinction was coming and that they needed to create a warrior using the magic of his monument to create it. Bolas then left this world.

Prologue (Rewrite)

I’m writing this journal to document the life of our latest test subject and my son Sean. It has been centuries since Lord Bolas departed this world in search of new knowledge. Our people have not forgotten his warning. We have been working to create the warrior he told us was necessary for the survival of humanity. My son has become the latest subject to create such a warrior. He was chosen due to the fact I am the current leader of humanity and they hope he will be able to survive the tests.

Sadly all of our previous tests have resulted in the death of the child subject. I’m not happy about my son being risked but we are becoming increasingly desperate. I worry that the threat is coming, the griffins are becoming more aggressive and have burned down many of our cities.

For this reason we are going with DNA of some of the strongest beings in the world. Our most recent test was a mix between a bear, eagle, and changeling. The result was a grossly mutated child that died within four days of birth.
My son will consist of DNA from the changeling queen the hope is that he will gain the shape shifting ability, Lord Bolas himself in the hopes of improved strength and regenerative capabilities, the last bit is that of the magical ruler of some new race known as ponies supposedly she is the strongest magical being alive.

Day 1

Sean was born today, he looks great, and he still looks human and seems to have had no defects. The doctors are going to be keeping an eye on him to make sure there are no complications. If he lives they won’t be able to test his powers for at least three years.

Day 1095

Today we tested his regenerative capabilities, it was not fun for me to watch them cut my son’s hand off. Though surprisingly it grew back almost instantly. Due to this development they think he will have gained his full powers when he is around five.

Day 1460

He discovered his changeling powers today, he used it to scare some kids by turning into a giant scorpion and chasing them. We also conducted another test today, another power we’d been hoping for was the ability to drain magic. The way we tested this was by taking a sample of the magic from the monument left by Lord Bolas. We had tested this on animals and a prisoner and they had died almost instantly, to be accurate they more imploded than died.
I had a hard time watching as they took my son and exposed him to the magic. To my surprise he absorbed all the magic and if anything he looked healthier afterwards.

Sadly it is not all good news, the griffins recently killed off an entire squad of soldiers. The problem is we are not an aggressive race, so they are very easily beating us. We have been terrorized and massacred so brutally that what’s left of our people have fled to the capital city. We have managed to use some of the magic from Bolas’s monument to make a magic barrier around the city as protection.

Day 1825

It would seem he has discovered his true strength, he got into a dispute with some police officers over him killing a 28 year old man who had stepped on his foot. He got so mad he ripped up a lamp post and nearly crushed the officers.

The griffins have officially wiped out all humans not within the magic barrier of the capital city, luckily the barrier is holding up.

Day 2190

Today is Sean’s 6th birthday! We believe he has all the powers he is going to get. The scientists think that he may have gained the unexpected benefit of immortality, they think it’s thanks to that “pony” we took DNA from.
Well time for cake!

This is bad! The griffins have broken down the gates to the city. It was so unexpected! They are killing everyone, the streets are littered with the bodies of what was left of humanity. I was able to hide Sean in a closet. My wife was one of the first to go, she was running home when a griffin swept her away and dropped her from fifty feet in the air.
Could this be the cause of our extinction Lord Bolas was….

Chapter 2. Meeting Celestia

Eventually reaching the house of this so called witch I was surprised. The house wasn’t all that flashy or impressive, just a simple cottage in the middle of some woods. Jumping down from the tree I was standing on I entered my human form, having stayed in the pony body for the trip to avoid people seeing me. Slowly sneaking towards the cottage I eventually found an open window. Jumping into it I got a look at the interior.

It seemed to be some kind of lab, there were all sorts of beakers and test tubes filled with many different colored liquids. A shelf with different items lined the wall near the door, there were strange things like dead frogs, eyeballs, and some rats. Against the wall near the window I found a desk with some empty beakers.

Looking away from the desk I finally headed towards the wooden door, carefully gripping the metal door knob I quietly opened it a crack to look outside. The next room looked like it was probably the rest of the cottage for the most part, there was a small area that was likely a living room/kitchen having a small chair and table along with a small fire pit and sink. In the center of the room I finally spotted her, details were lacking since she was wearing a cloak of some sort. The strange thing was the fact she wasn’t doing anything, just sitting in the middle of the room mumbling to herself.

Silently opening the door enough to get out I slowly moved towards the cloaked figure. As I neared her I turned my hand into a sword, just as I got close enough to cut her there was a faint blue glow and I was thrown at a wall. Slamming into it, groaning I tried to stand, only to be lifted and thrown at another wall bouncing off it and smashing the table I had seen earlier. Before I could react, the blue glow appeared again and I was slammed into the wall this time being held there.

“That was too easy.” A feminine voice said. I watched as the cloaked figure approached me, once she was a few feet away she flipped her hood back so I could see her. She was one of those horned ones, with a blue body and lighter blue hair. Her face carried this smug grin as she looked me over. “What manner of beast are you?”

“What is this?” I ignored her question, forcefully attempting to escape the blue glow that surrounded me.

“Nothing special, just a simple spell to detain you.” The horned creature yawned and turned away. “I must say, it was fun watching you think you were sneaking up on me.” Her horn glowed and she began to carry a crystal ball, coming back she showed me. Inside of it there was an image of me. “So, I’m guessing you’re some kind of monster sent by those ponies to kill me?”

“Maybe.” I pulled at my binds again. “So could you be kind and let me do it?”

“Sorry, but I have no desire for death.” The witch sat down and looked me over. “Let me ask again, what are you?”

“So is this magic?” I looked at the glow that covered me.

“Of course.” She nodded, looking pretty smug.

“Great.” I smiled, my dad’s book said something about draining magic. Concentrating for a minute I began to feel the magic flow into me. After a second I fell to the floor, free of the blue prison. Before the horned freak could react she was tackled by me. Sitting on her chest I began to punch her in the face, after a few hits she was coated in blood and wheezing.

“How..” *Wheeze* “How did you?”

“Nothing special, just simple magic sponging.” I mimicked her earlier comment.

“Fascinating.” She coughed. “What else can you do?” There was no harm in telling her, after all she was about to die and I hadn’t had a conversation this long in years.

“Let’s see, I can suck up magic, change form, and heal any injury.”

“Interesting.” Then her horn glowed and I was blasted with a blue laser. Flying off her I fell to the ground.

“Ow.” I sat up and rubbed my head, pulling it away as a yellow hoof touched it. “What?” Looking myself over I realized I was in my pony form. “What is this?” I glared at the witch who was somehow able to cackle.

“A spell some changelings use.” She wheezed. “It locks them into the last thing they transformed into, in your case a Pegasus.”

“Change me back!” I ordered as I stood over her. “Now!”

“Sorry, can’t.” She whispered. “I’m too weak now.” Coughing she smiled. “You’re stuck, the only pony in the world who could reverse this is Princess Celestia.” Her eyes began to close. “Good luck getting her help.” Then her breathing stopped.

“Hey! Don’t die yet! Fix me!” I growled before kicking her in the side hearing several cracks. “Bolas!”

After maybe three days of dragging the blue jerk's lifeless body across the country I eventually came back to the town. Finding the two ponies that hired me I gave them the corpse. They were very surprise I managed to kill her, luckily they were good on their word and gave me 200 “bits”.

Most of my pay was spent on food and a room in the local inn. Sitting on the bed of my room I stared at the wall thinking.
“Celestia.” I muttered. “I know I’ve heard that name somewhere.” Taking out my dad’s journal I flipped through the pages until what I was looking for appeared. “Aha! Celestia.” The name was right there, next to changeling in the list of creatures I shared DNA with. “I have to find her and get this fixed.”

The next day I went around town asking questions about this Celestia. Most of the ponies gave me weird looks since the things I was asking about had very obvious answers for people of this country. According to my sources she was the ruler of this country, which I learned is called Equestria. One pony told me that to find her I’d need to travel to some fancy place called Canterlot.
So draining what was left of my “bits” I bought a ticket for something called a train. The pony selling the tickets assured me it was completely safe and would get me to Canterlot.

“That pony lied!” I shouted as I gripped the seat. This thing did not seem safe at all, it’s flying across these thin metal things called tracks at a million miles an hour. “I’m gonna die.”

“Calm down son.” An older brown pony, one of the simple ones comforted me. “This is completely safe. Trust me, I’ve ridden this thing several times.”

“If you say so.” I continued to hold onto the seat for dear life.

“Don’t worry, it’s only a two day trip.” He patted me on the back.

“There it is.” The brown pony said looking out a window. “Canterlot.”

“Where?” Following his gaze I saw it, a massive city built into the side of a mountain. Even from here the sheer size of some parts was apparent, especially what looked like a castle that stood near the edge.

“This is where we part ways.” The brown pony told me as we got off the train. “Good luck with the princess.” He said before turning and walking away.

“Thanks.” I smiled before heading in the opposite direction. Canterlot was amazing, many of the buildings that looked big on the train were even more impressive up close, some forcing me to actually crane my neck to see the top. A lot of these structures were round and bubbly. Everything was very clean, most buildings consisting of white, purple, and yellow. My hooves made fun clicking sounds as they made contact with the stone streets.

“Watch it.” A pony I had bumped into while admiring the city said angrily. He was a large white horned pony glaring down at me.

“I’m sorry.” I apologized. “I didn’t mean to hit you.”

“Just watch where you’re going next time fool.” He shoved passed me and began to walk away. Then I realized something.

“Um, excuse me.” I chased after the pony. Luckily he turned to me still not very pleased looking.

“What?”

“Could you please point me to the palace?”

This place was huge! The horned one had grudgingly given me directions through the streets of this massive town after a bit of begging. Honestly the palace was bigger than any building I had ever seen. Like the rest of this city it was a clean white with purple and yellow roofs. At many parts it did resemble old castle pictures I had seen in books. Having massive towers and decorative columns, there was even a large wall encircling it, coming with a drawbridge.

Unfortunately the area was filled with those mean armored ponies. Summoning my courage I walked towards the palace. Eventually reaching the large gold doors I prepared to knock.

“Halt!” A gruff voice said behind me. Turning my heart sank to see one of the winged armored ones flying towards me.

“I need to talk to Princess Celestia.” I said, my heart beginning to pound.

“None see the Princess without an invitation.” He glared at me.

“Please, I need her help.” I pleaded.

“Back away from the door.” He ordered.

“No.” I turned and prepared to knock before something grabbed my tail and threw me away from the door. Looking up I saw the winged pony standing above me.

“I warned you.” He then kicked me in the face. Flying back I groaned, something was trickling down my face. Rubbing a hoof across my face and looking at it I gasped to see it was covered in red. How was I bleeding? I thought that spell only took my transforming. “Look buddy, you can either leave now or be sent to a hospital.”

“I just need to see her for a minute.” I said as I stood back up.

“You have three seconds to leave this property before I begin to get serious.”

“I’m done.” I growled before swinging a hoof at his face. Looking bored he spun around and kicked me with his hind legs. Flying back I slammed into the ground. “Ow.”

“Bad move kid.” The winged pony said as he came to stand over me.

“You’ll pay for that.” I said before sweeping a leg, surprisingly it actually got him and he fell to the ground. Taking the chance I jumped up and punched him in the face twice before I was enveloped in a white glow and lifted into the air. Looking behind me I saw there were two more, a horned pony and a normal one. “You think this will stop me?” I smirked before trying to absorb the magic, my eyes went wide as nothing happened. So even my magic draining is gone.

“You’re going to be sorry now boy.” The winged one had gotten up. I was then thrown to the ground.

“Uh oh.” I said as the three armored ponies stood over me.

Weakly opening my eyes I looked around. Darkness was the main thing that greeted me, from what was visible I was likely in an alley. Attempting to stand up I quickly sat back down as pain surged through me. Looking myself over the damage from those ponies became very apparent. My body was covered in cuts and bruises, dried blood covered most of my now messy yellow fur. Noticing a nearby puddle I weakly dragged myself to it, gazing into the water a mess of a pony with a black eye and dried blood around his muzzle looked back at me.

Looking up I was able to see a glimpse of the palace, it was so close. Dealing with the pain I stood up and spread my wings, surprisingly they were undamaged aside from some missing feathers. Flapping them I was able to clumsily lift myself off the ground and fly out of the alley. Thanks to my injuries I had to stop once the protective wall was close enough to land on. I had to hide in the shadows as some armored ponies got close. Looking around the palace I eventually spotted a door on one of the towers that had light shining through it. Hopefully Celestia was in there, taking flight once again I quickly reached the tower.

Smiling I lifted a hoof, wobbling slightly as the support left me before knocking on the door. Falling to the ground I sat there, weakly staring at the glass doors hoping for them to open. After a few seconds without an answer hope began to leave me. Preparing to cry I looked to the ground, then the light in front of me got stronger and a shadow appeared.

“Hello?” A warm kind voice said. Looking up I smiled as a large white pony stood over me. From the lighting I couldn’t see much of her but I could tell she was tall. “Can I help you?”

“Yes, I need your help.” I weakly replied. “Can I come in? Please?”

“I don’t usually take visitors this late or under these circumstances.” My ears dropped. “But just this once, I’ll do it.”

“Thank you so much.” I smiled as she turned and walked back inside. Standing up I slowly followed her.

“So, what can I do for you?” She asked before sitting down on a cushion. Carefully sitting down in front of her I began to speak.

“I heard you’re the most powerful creature in the world.” I looked her over. She was a clean white just like her city, her height was impressive as well, likely rivaling my usual form. The weirder things were her details and hair. She had both wings and a horn like some kind of strange hybrid, her hair was multiple colors and did this creepy thing where it was blowing like there was some kind of wind even though we were inside.

“I wouldn’t go that far.” She shook her head.

“Oh.” I looked at her sadly.

“Though I’d like to think I’m skilled in magic.” She smiled.

“Great, I need you to free me from a curse.” All I got in response was a squint.

“Tell me about this curse?” She looked like she didn’t quite believe me.

“Well I was fighting this witch that was messing with one of your towns and she hit me with something.”

“Interesting.” Her horn glowed and she looked me over. “I can tell there is a spell on you. Tell me more?”

“Ok, so I got hired by some of your ponies to go take down the witch. After thoroughly beating her she hit me with some kind of spell that reverted me from my true form to this body.” After I finished that sentence I covered my mouth.

“What was that about your true form?” She eyed me. Great I blew it, she’s going to think I’m some kind of monster.

“Did I say that?” I shook my head. “You must be hearing things.”

“I can tell you’re lying.” She told me.

“Bolas. Well I guess it’s over now.” Looking at her I took a deep breath. “Let me explain.”

“And that gets us here.” I finished my story. I had decided to tell her the truth before she did who knows what to me. To my surprise she was giving me a look I had never seen before, it was like a mix between pity and disbelief. Not two things that go together well.

“I’m not sure how to take all of this.” She finally said. “It’s apparent that you are not lying.” She looked me over. “But now what am I to do with you?”

“Please just let me go.” I begged. “I don’t want to die or go to jail or whatever.” Tears began to well up in my eyes.

“Calm down.” She raised a hoof. “I’m not going to do any of that?”

“You’re not?”

“No.” She shook her head. “While I don’t entirely trust you, I don’t want any creature to needlessly suffer.”

“So you’ll help me?” I looked at her hopefully.

“I’ll see what I can do.” She smiled. “It may take a while as I will need to find out exactly what she did to you.”

“Oh.” I frowned.

“For now I can only offer two things. This.” Her horn glowed and I was wrapped in a yellow glow.

“What are you doing?” I began to freak out.

“It’s ok. This is going to help you.” As she said that I began to feel strange, looking at my leg I watched as all the injuries on it began to vanish. After a few seconds the glow was gone, looking in a nearby window I saw my reflection. To my surprise all of the injuries I had gotten from the guards were gone.

“Whoa!” I looked myself over. “How did you do that?” Celestia chuckled.

“It’s a basic healing spell. You’re lucky it was nothing too serious.”

“Cool. Wait, what was the second thing you can offer?”

“A place to rest.” She nodded.

“What?” I looked at her in shock. “Really?”

“Certainly.” Then her horn glowed and there was a flash. Once it went away I saw we were in a different room.

“Where are we?” I looked around. It seemed to be a bedroom, there was a large white bed in front of us on it there was a picture of a sun. There was also a large dresser with a mirror and an area with a few books and chair in the corner.

“This is my bedroom.” She nodded. “You may stay here until I find a cure for you.”

“Are you serious?”

“Of course.” Her horn glowed again and a small bed appeared in front of me. “Now I suggest you get some rest.”

Princess Celestia watched the sleeping yellow Pegasus in front of her. She wasn’t sure what to make of him, his story was true, every detail showing positive with her spell. The danger was what he says he can do, based on those claims there is a chance that he could be dangerous if fully restored. She was going to have to be careful with him. That was also part of her logic with keeping him in her room, so that she could keep an eye on him. Yawning she decided to go to bed.

Opening my eyes I squinted as sunlight shined into them. After my eyes adjusted I opened them fully, the light was shining in through a large window across the room from me, sitting up and stretching I looked around in confusion.

“Where am I?” Then I remembered last night. Looking to the large white bed I became confused when nobody was there. “Weird.”

“Good morning.” I heard the pleasant voice of Celestia as she entered the room. She was carrying a plate in a yellow aura. “I brought you some food.” Levitating it over to me I saw it was a plate with some toast and fruit.

“Thanks!” I grabbed the plate and began to eat it. After a second a thought crossed my mind. “So did you find anyway to fix me yet?”

“Not yet I’m afraid.” She shook her head.

“Oh, ok.”

“Though I was just about to go to my study and search.”

“Great.” I nodded as I finished the food.

“Then let us go.” Her horn glowed again and we were teleported to the room from last night. “Ok, you just get comfortable while I search.”

Celestia closed another book. She had not found anything so far and was running out of books covering spells like this. Her guest had fallen asleep quite some time ago, softly snoring. Celestia did actually want to help this creature, so it was all the more frustrating that nothing was helping. An idea then occurred to her, searching and finding a book on changelings she began to flip through it eventually coming to a portion discussing their ability to transform.

Carefully reading it she was delighted to find the magic they use to do it. Hopefully that curse was simply suppressing his use of magic which would explain the reason none of his abilities were working. Figuring out how to reverse the spell she smiled. There was one thing she was going to have to do that wasn’t something she necessarily enjoyed. She wasn’t going to completely remove the curse, she needed to trust him before giving him what seemed like god level powers. The best she would give him for now was his shape shifting.

“Sean, wake up.” I felt someone shaking me.

“What?” Opening my eyes I saw the face of Celestia looking at me.

“Good news.” She looked happy. “I found the cure.”

“Really?” I shot up in surprise.

“Yes.” She chuckled. “This should give you your powers back.”

“Great! Let’s do it.” I was then covered by a yellow aura, after a moment pain began to surge through me. I cried out in pain closing my eyes. Soon I felt the grip of magic leave me and I fell to the ground. “That was not fun.” I said sarcastically.

Opening my eyes I gasped to see hands below me instead of hooves. Slowly standing up I smiled to feel myself wobble a bit as my center of mass had changed. Looking myself over I became even happier to see my normal feet and I was only standing on two legs. Moving my gaze forward I saw Celestia looking at me in surprise. Just as I thought we were about the same height.

“So that’s what you look like?” Celestia finally said.

“Yep.” I smiled even more. “Thank you.”

“Of course. So did it fix your powers?”

“Let’s see.” Looking at my hand I was happy to watch as it changed into a sword. I noticed Celestia look a bit uneasy so I quickly changed it back. “Shape shifting, check.” grabbing my wrist I quickly yanked it in the wrong direction. Crying out in pain as it broke but didn’t heal. “What?”

“Strange.” Celestia’s horn glowed and my wrist fixed itself. “Try the magic absorption.” Celestia enveloped me in a yellow glow. Trying to absorb it I was disappointed to see it didn’t work.

“What’s going on?” I frowned. “I thought you said the spell would fix me.”

“I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “I’m not sure what happened.”

“That’s disappointing.”

“I promise you I will find a way to completely help you.”

Princess Celestia smiled as she headed towards her room. It had been three weeks since Sean had shown up. The princess had to say, she was enjoying his company. It was refreshing to have a being who treated her like she was any other pony. One thing that was surprising to her was how quickly the young human had become attached to her. It may be attributed to his lack of contact for so many years. None the less it felt good to have someone excited to have her around for reasons other than hoping she would not do something to them.

She had decided it was time to give him back another ability. He had shown no signs that he may turn on her. Though to be safe she did have a fail-safe, knowing a spell to take his powers back if he did become a threat to Equestria. There was one more thing bothering the princess, after she fixed him completely where would he go? She didn’t want to abandon him to the world. There was one idea but she wasn’t sure if it was the best.

As she came to her bedrooms doors she shook her head. There will be time to worry about that later.

I was so bored. For some reason Celestia disappears after breakfast, comes back for lunch, then leaves again for some hours. It gets lonely in this place, plus what are you supposed to do locked inside a pony’s room? There isn’t really anything. Celestia said I had to stay in here until she thought the time was right to release me. That’s the problem though, I want to be able to leave the room but not the palace. It has been great having food, shelter, and most importantly a friend. I sat up as the click of the door opening was heard.

“Hello Sean.” Celestia’s head poked in. “I’ve brought lunch.” She walked the rest of the way in and closed the door.

“Great.” I stood up as she handed me the plate of food. An apple, along with a salad, and peanut and butter sandwich. She had luckily listened when I said that plants like daises weren’t good for me. “Thanks.” I sat back on my bed and began to eat.

“I have some good news.” Celestia said as she sat down in front of me.

“What is it?” I asked as I finished the sandwich.

“I may have found another spell to help you.”

“Really?” I smiled.

“Yes.” She returned the smile. “Finish your food and then I’ll try it.” Quickly finishing I stood up.

“Let’s do it.” Being enveloped in the yellow aura I felt warmth surge through me, I guess she had found a way to keep it from hurting me. After a few seconds the glow vanished and I stretched. “Alright. Let’s give this a shot.” Grabbing one of my fingers I snapped in back, to my joy it went back into place and healed. “Awesome. Let’s try the magic.” Celestia nodded and wrapped my left hand in a yellow glow, concentrating I tried to drain it but nothing. “Dang, at least we’re getting closer.”

“How much longer do I have to be cooped up in here?” I asked Celestia as we played go fish.

“Just until this war is over.” She answered. “Any eights?”

“I swear you cheat.” I handed her the cards. “How long will that be? Jacks?”

“Go fish.” She smirked.

“Bolas.” I grabbed a card.

“I’m not sure about the war, the griffins are putting up quite the fight.” She looked her cards then me. “Queens?”

“Argh!” I tossed her my last card, growling as she put yet another stack on the table.

“I believe that is game.” She looked at me smugly.

“I’ll beat you some day.”

“Sure you will.” Celestia stood up and headed for her bed. “Well goodnight.”

“Night.”

Chapter 5: Manipulative, evil white monster with her stupid breezy mane and sun tattoo

Oh merciful Bolas! SNOW! I knew it was getting cold, I knew it was becoming late November and now there are the evil white flakes from the sky here to kill me. At least I am safe in the middle of Celestia’s study, there is a fire, and it is in the middle of the tower it is on, while there is a balcony door I have blocked it with a bookshelf so I should be safe.

Princess Celestia always loved winter. The ground was always so beautiful when it was covered in white shining snow, and the cold was always a nice bracing sort of cold. She also always loved to watch her ponies enjoy the snow and the holidays. She was heading to her study. She opened the door and gasped. There in the middle of her study was Sean just standing looking at the fire.

“Sean what are you doing in here?”

“The snow.” He replied

“What?”

“Those evil death flakes from the sky. I must keep them away.”

“Why do you have to keep it away?”

“Because the snow is the tools of the grim reaper.”

Now she remembered, a couple years ago the snow had nearly made his heart stop.

“Sean the snow only hurt you because you had nowhere to go in the cold. Now you have a home you can come back to if you start to get too cold.”

“Never again.”

“Come outside with me tomorrow and I will show you that snow can’t hurt you.”

“Why? I’m fine.”

She looked at him then using her magic moved the bookshelf and slammed the door open.
Sean screamed and leaped behind her “Close it! Close it! Close it!”
She chuckled and closed the door “You are coming outside with me tomorrow so I can show you.”

“Ugh, fine.”

Manipulative, evil white monster with her stupid breezy mane and sun tattoo. I really need to learn what those are called. Where was I? Oh yeah, being mad at Celestia, she was making me go out into the horrid snow. I don’t see what was wrong with my plan. All I was gonna do was sit in the palace with all the windows locked and never going near any of the doors for the whole winter. But now I am following her to the front door of the palace.

She turned to me “Are you ready?”

“No.”

She chuckled and then opened the door. The first thing I noticed was the cold breeze ugh. Then I saw the world. It was not too horrible. I walked out further and the city was actually rather pretty, everything was shinnying and white from the snow. Then I began to walk very carefully, I heard the steps of Celestia following me slowly.

Hey, maybe this is not too scary. After that winter that I nearly died once the snow started I turned into a dragon and would hibernate in a cave, so this was my first winter in over 8 years that I was conscious. Sadly the comfort was short lived as I ran into an ice patch. I set my left foot down and I began to feel it slip. Then I was on the ground with my head throbbing.
I looked up and saw Celestia standing above me.

“Why did I have to come out here?” I asked a bit out of it from the head blow

“Because I don’t want you hiding in the palace every winter.”

“Fine.” I got back up still a bit woozy from the fall. We went back to walking, heading to town square. When we got there the roads were plowed. I walked much more comfortably. I noticed the ponies were dressed in weird outfits. They looked
strange and fuzzy and thick.

“Hey Celestia.”

“Hmm?”

“What are those things they are wearing?”

“Those are called coats they help keep them warm in the cold.”

“How come you don’t need one?”

“Simple I am protected in a magic aura I made.”

We continued walking through the town then suddenly I was attacked. There was a giggle then I was hit in the face by a white projectile. I brushed of the white stuff which was apparently snow. I got up and looked around when I saw some heads duck behind a snow bank. I heard Celestia chuckle. I ignored her and began to sneak around the bank. Then I saw the children giggling behind it. They both gasped in shock and before they could react I had grabbed them. There were two, unicorn and a pegasus. I was about to crack their skulls when they teleported out of my grasp. I looked to my right saw Celestia now holding them in her magic grasp.

“Celestia what are you doing? Those punks attacked me!”

“Sean it was a snowball it is a thing that children throw at each other as a game.”

“Oh.” I walked up to Celestia the kids cowered for a minute.

“Ok then, sorry I guess.”

The kids looked at me and smiled, Celestia let them go and they ran past me. Celestia and I kept walking through town and I hate to admit it but winter may not be such a bad thing.

On our way back to the palace when we were out of the square I found a good pile of snow, grabbed a handful and made a ball. I then chucked it at Celestia.

It was hilarious, she face planted right into the snow. She got up and I saw her horn glow then there was a shadow over me. I looked up and there was a huge snowball above my head

“Ah come on!” Then I was buried under a mountain of snow.

Chapter 6: Holidays i don't understand!

Ok things are getting really weird around this town. They are hanging up colorful lights and there are giant white and red canes. Celestia was little help, when I asked her what was going on all she said was “Hearths Warming Eve.”
Gee thanks. Anyway this has been going on for like a week now and the city is getting very bright and colorful.

Ugh Celestia dragged me to some play. Telling me how this is going to explain all about this Hearths Warming Eve day. Anyway let me just sum it up for you. A long time ago the three races were fighting and the Earth ones were basically the slaves to the other two, the unicorns were snooty and annoying, and the pegasi were a military race. So it got cold because some evil ghost horses that feed of hate were being jerks. Then the leaders of the races left and found Equestria and then they got put in ice and their secretaries' became best friends and it beat up the evil ghosts and they all lived happily ever after. SNORE! Seriously how cheesy.

Yeah New Year’s Eve! You know I am not sure what is so great about this day. There are a bunch of ponies walking around and it is really festive. For some reason Celestia has dragged me out to be on this stage thing with her. You see she has this stage set up that is usually for something called the summer sun celebration. Anyway yeah she is making me stand on this stage where she will make an appearance at midnight when it is time to mark the New Year. It feels weird being on this stage with all of those ponies down there we are a few feet above the crowd. Based on what I see from the moon it is probably around 11:47. Anyway I am just sitting here watching the crowd waiting for Celestia. She told me that she was going to tell me what I was doing here around 11:50.
Ok here she comes.

“Hello Sean.”

“Hey, why am I here?”

“Because I want to be able to be here for the mark of your first year in Equestria.”

“Oh cool.”

Wow. Canterlot is really depressing today. It is January 1st and all of the ponies look like zombies. Maybe it has something to do with that foamy stuff they were all drinking yesterday.

Well the rest of the winter was quite uneventful; it was mostly cold and snowy. They did have some weird thing called winter wrap up. What they do is use magic to move the snow and heat stuff up. It was weird. Luckily I just hid on the top of the palace as a bird and managed to avoid working.