My Mind Isn't Like Your's

Chapters

Chapter 5
Capter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Chapter 5

“Kill him!” Chrysalis screamed. The fourteen changelings in the room attacked in unison unlike the ones he had fought earlier. It didn’t matter much to Strider though, and as he reared back onto his hind legs; he drew his shorter sword.

The first changeling that charged him was dealt with via decapitation when it tried to jump into his side. The second and third came at him from the front at the same time, Strider dodged the first one and dropped back onto all fours while bringing his head down on the second changeling’s skull. The audible cracking noise gave pause to the rest of the charging changelings.

It was a short lived pause though as changeling number three jumped on Strider’s back. Strider shifted the changeling’s weight with a jerk of his own body, and at the same time pulled his right shoulder backwards. The changeling’s momentum in shifting coupled with Strider’s power was a very affective in driving the spike on his right shoulder into the changeling’s chest. Its shriek of pain was loud in Strider’s ear, and since he didn’t want to put up with it a whole lot, he ripped the changeling off with his left set of claws.

It was dead with a gaping wound in its chest before Strider even tossed the body away. The remaining eleven were cautious in their approach, the first good idea the changeling’s had. The voices seemed to agree with that and he laughed a little at a few stray comments like, it’s probably the only one they’re going to have to.

The changelings took the laughter personally though, and all of them charged at once. They all stayed to the ground though, so Strider jumped into the air and sailed over top of their heads. Before he touched the ground though, magic hit him full force in the face.

Chrysalis had attacked him herself at that moment, and launched him back. He knocked seven of the changelings down from the force of the attack, but they weren’t dead. Strider felt the impact of the floor on his back, and it sent jots of pain through his body. The shoulder spikes had retracted into the armor thankfully, so he didn’t dislocate anything.

Two changelings tried to jump on him, and only got kicked right in their faces for the effort. Strider was a little pissed at the cheap shot, and the fact his short blade was across the room now. When the changelings got up from both Strider’s hit and Chrysalis’ attack, Strider was ready for the next attack.

It came in the form of six of them charging into him, four dodged away from him at the last second, and he fell for the trick, when he turned his attention away the other two hit him straight in the chest. He slipped only a couple inches before he reared onto his hind legs, and picked the two changelings up.

Two more changelings struck his back, and before he toppled over, he threw the two changelings in his hooves at the others standing a few feet away. Other than that, he had no choice but to fall flat on his face.

A dull thud resounded, coupled with the slightly metallic clang, when his head hit the floor. His jaw took the hit full force and he growled slightly from the pain. The changelings weren’t much weight though, and he stood with them still on his back. Before they could make the dismount though, Strider rolled over and crushed the two beneath his weight.

It didn’t kill them, but it was most certainly painful to end up underneath a rather fit bat pony. In their stunned state they didn’t move as Strider stood up. As he did so, he grabbed the knives on his thighs; when he reached his full, two-legged height, two more changelings were already about to tackle him.

And just as Strider expected to, because both changelings had the knives drove into their heads when they were in range, after that Strider threw the knives into two more rather unsuspecting changelings. That took the number down to seven left. One step to the left later and only six remained, as he stepped on the head of one of the downed changelings.

Chrysalis was angry though, and decided to try and get another cheap shot in, but right before she could do anything substantial, Strider threw the living changeling that was at his hooves at Chrysalis. She dodged out of the way in time to not be hit, but the changeling landed awkwardly, and several spinal disks broke from it.

By the time she looked back, two changelings were left in front of Strider, both were terrified of him, or rather were terrified of his long sword that was now drawn. With a quick jerk of his head, he motioned them to leave the room. They did so without hesitation, and ran by the currently upright pony. Nopony even had time to do a thing before a rather irritated Changeling Princess walked into the room.

Since she wasn’t paying attention, she walked right into Strider’s back, and in turn she yelped in surprise. Strider’s demented laugh echoed again in the room as he heard and felt what had happened. The Changeling Princess ran by him to her mother’s side after she got over the shock, and took up a stance that matched her mother’s.

Once again though, nothing was able to happen before another changeling walked into the room. This one was obviously male, and his chitin looked marred beyond belief. Strider didn’t hear any hoofsteps though, instead, the voices whispered about the presence.

He forgot about the two in front of him and instead directed attention to the one behind him. The first thing he noticed was that this changeling looked healthier than the other ones, even the two royal changelings weren’t as in shape as him. The only thing Strider came up with in the seconds before the changeling attacked was that something was rather wrong about the whole fight.

Fight referring to what was most likely happening outside of the walls, because absolutely nothing was out of place in his own personal fight. The entire thing felt a little off to him, but he couldn’t focus on that because of the homicidal changeling in front of him.

The changeling tackled Strider full force to the midsection of his upright body. His wings felt the pain of being crushed twice in a small time frame the moment he touched the floor. The changeling neglected Strider’s hind legs though, and was promptly kicked back off. Though after getting back up, Strider had about two seconds to get angry about his long sword now being knocked away from him, after those two seconds the changeling drew a blade that was attached to his side, and stood on his hind legs.

Right at that moment the voices started crying out in distress of the realization. The changeling was an assassin, marked by the trademark fighting stance that most of them took. Strider however, just smiled. He figured it may have happened and was now going to have one large mission to complete after this, but first came getting out of the fight, and Canterlot, alive.

He was about to go and retrieve a blade before the changeling could attack, but one was already hovering next to him in a purple glow. He wasn’t an idiot and knew that one of the mares in the room that was in the corner had done it. The other difference was he noticed was that now the changeling royalty weren’t interfering with the fight.

Strider naturally shrugged and nonchalantly got into his stance while taking the sword, it was the short one. As soon as he was in place the changeling moved with the agile skills of the original creators of the fighting stile. However agile though, he didn’t have the actual form correct like Strider did.

The voices calmed themselves at that and began whispering things to each other along the lines of, he is either new to the assassins, or was not trained properly. If not that then he just isn’t a very good assassin. In the instant after some of those voices passed, the changeling’s sword was deflected with an effortless swing of Strider’s blade.

It took so little effort because the changeling did not fight the proper way he should have. He recovered quickly though and swung again and again, although every time he was deflected or dodged by Strider’s superior knowledge of the fighting style.

It was brought to a very abrupt end when Strider simply put his entire weight into a thrust of his own sword. The changeling had not expected the offence, and was stabbed through completely with the blade.

Green blood seeped from out of the wounds as Strider held him up. And after the changeling could no longer hold his blade, Strider said, “Dervas vetral.” The armor retracted in less than five seconds unlike the seven to appear.

After the armor was gone Strider dropped the changeling and gave him a second to focus his attention. Once the changeling looked at him, Strider said, “If The Council thought that sending somepony like you to get rid of me was a good idea then I think I don’t have to worry much about dying. But tell me, which Council member sent you, I’d love to know?”

The changeling took a moment to gather his breath before saying, “It was the Council member Burrow, the griffon, not the pony.” After saying that, the changeling lowered his head and focused on his breathing which was now coming in ragged gasps.

“Do you wish for me to end it?” the changeling nodded to Strider’s question. Strider though sighed and moved around the changeling and swung his sword. The blade severed his spine and he slumped to the floor dead. After that though, the voices started pitching ideas of how to get at The Council.

Once he was done with killing the assassin, he looked at the dead bodies that lay around him. After slipping his blade into its appropriate sheath, he went about closing the eyes of them all, and retrieving his weapons. The changeling royalty were wide eyed at what had just happened.

They backed away a step when Strider approached them, and said, “If it’s not too much trouble, could you get the white one down.” The Changeling Princess was the one to react, and she was quickly working on releasing Celestia. When he was certain the job was being done, he motioned for the ponies hiding in the corner. A purple mare led the little group, and she stopped just ten feet from Strider.

She didn’t have anything very important to say as she just stood there, or at least that’s what Strider thought. He nearly turned his back on them until he heard a faintly muttered, “Thank you.”

He simply smiled and nodded at her to signify he heard her. Then he went on to the business that had to be dealt with, the Changeling Queen. Our prisoner now, Strider faintly heard Kerbouros whisper in his head. Strider smiled, that was his way out of Canterlot.

He looked at the Changeling Princess, who was at that moment helping Celestia get down from the cocoon she was trapped in. when she reached the ground, he muttered the words to activate his armor. Celestia looked at him as his face disappeared behind the mask. She didn’t expect him to speak before her though, or what he said for that matter.

“I already know what you’re going to say, so let me stop you there. Yes I’m that freak that Shining talked to, and I’m sure you’re familiar with my stage name by now. What I do want to know however is how this little meeting is going to end,” his words were tinged only slightly with an emotion that wasn’t clear.

“What do you mean by that assassin?” Celestia’s question was genuine, for she had little to no clue about what he was talking about. Strider chuckled at the Alicorn for the ignorance she was showing.

Truly she can’t be serious, what is going on in her head? I just murdered quite a few changelings and she doesn’t understand. Well there is no way I’m not taking advantage of that, Strider thought.

“Well then, that answered my question, and so much more, but one matter is left to be resolved. Changelings, since I was the one that was victorious in this battle, you are my prisoners.” Before he could say much more, Celestia finally caught on.

“They attacked my castle, and my kingdom, what gives you the right to take them?” Celestia was controlling the volume in which she spoke, her student was present and it wouldn’t be a good thing to get angry in her presence.

The smile on his face was almost audible when Strider spoke next, “Now you see, they didn’t stop fighting at your command. They did at mine, and not only that, but I freed you and them from being killed. Wait actually, I never did tell you to end the attack did I?” Chrysalis only took a second to realize he spoke to her and shook her head no.

“Then what are you waiting for, end this assault before any others get hurt.” Celestia’s tone was a commanding one, but the order she gave was not followed until Strider nodded his head to her. She visibly grit her teeth at the bat pony, she couldn’t see if he was enjoying it though, so she naturally didn’t add that to her offense.

“Face it Celestia, if you think that I am playing around any longer, you are sorely mistaken. I’ve been in the dungeons far too long for my liking and now I have a personal matter to attend,” his voice had finally given off the emotion, it was sadness, but it was heavily masked in anger.

“What personal matter would be so important that you would disrespect me in this manner?” Celestia’s voice had gotten darker, for the assassin in front of her had tried her patience a bit too much. Strider took note of how the purple mare reacted, her eyes widened slightly, and she took a half step away.

“I have to find those who betrayed me, and while you may not think that’s all too important, I’m going to give you a little perspective on the matter. I gave nearly my entire life to what I do, and showed undying loyalty to my assassin comrades. But they had so little faith in me that they would go as far as trying to kill me to ensure silence.”

“I can’t count the number of times I nearly died for the sake of following orders. And now they send somepony to silence me under the disguise of being a part of an attack on Canterlot. That’s low, our Order is supposed to be upfront about all of our actions. Even if it must happen under the eyes of a Princess."

"My patience has worn thin with the Order over my years in their ranks. It's about time that I taught them a lesson in what it means to be a true assassin."

"If you were a part of their order, doesn't that mean you would do the same as them?" The Changeling Princess spoke in a tone barely over a whisper. Strider's ears still picked up what she said though, and he turned to address her question.

"I was taught by another pony what it means to be an assassin. He died shortly after I joined, his body is still buried in Ponyville I believe. I doubt the ponies there would recognize me as I am though, I never really came outside, but whenever I did i was wearing a dusty old coat he gave me. The only thing anypo...." Strider was cut off by Celestia giving off a loud ahem.

Strider laughed slightly in response before reverting back to his serious expression. The expression was lost on the others though and upon realizing that, Strider laughed again. When he was done he looked Celestia straight in the face for a few moments.

"I do believe it's time for me to take my leave though, I wouldn't want to keep you any longer than i already have." He began to walk towards the door, but was stopped abruptly by an orange mare. A name clicked in his head in only a second, Applejack. He had met her a few times when he was small, she was always smiling back then for some reason or another.

Strider had even showed her his face once, that was also the last time that he ever saw her.

"I-I know y-you. Y-your that colt i used to play with. The one who always kept h-his hood up." Strider finally took notice of something; she wasn't smiling. The voices didn't like that, so they began to scream.

"Buck," everything went black again.

Capter 1

It was cold outside, and that was the first thing any guard would tell anypony, and Chaotic Heart would tell them to quit whining. He was one of the newest members of Princess Luna’s night guard. Truth be told, he was more or less drafted for the fact he was in the dungeons before for killing several ponies. All of which he said deserved what they got, and he didn’t give much of a care when he said it.

Nopony dug far enough to know what he did before his imprisonment, but it consisted of a lot of death. He was an assassin before, but when he got caught, the council cut ties with him so they had the plausible deniability if he gave them up. Chaotic didn’t even think about doing that, but it was in the rules, and any that didn’t abide by the rules were killed.

He sat in the dungeon for a year and a half before the offer came, of course he didn’t expect it, as he was a criminal. Though when he heard the details he understood why, Princess Luna’s night guards were the bat pony race that he himself was. Not many knew that they were an actual race though, and assumed any pony that looked like him was just enchanted.

It was a strange offer and nopony would tell him why he was given the offer. Though the jobs requirement was that he does everything his superior said or he would go back to the dungeon, but hey, he had gotten used to the crappy condition down there. He made a point clear though when they said that, and that point was one from his assassin days, if Chaotic didn’t find the reason good enough, then he wouldn’t do the order, and instead go to the dungeon.

Shining Armor, the one that had given him the job, only walked away when Chaotic said that. After that Chaotic was taken back to his cell where he was able to think about it more. And Chaotic figured out on his own that he would have a problem if near the princesses.

Now the reason for this was that he had a very different system of belief than the rest of ponykind. He believed that the princesses were not the goddesses everypony believed them to be. Instead he just saw two immortal creatures that ruled. And if he was ever faced with certain things, he would end up saying that to their faces because as another pony had said before, Chaotic has no real off switch to shut him up.

That problem stemmed from his rather uncontrollable dementia, and that is where his first name came from, as it isn’t his real name; as an assassin that information is need to know and nopony needed to know that. Not even his fellow assassins could place exactly what caused his special case of insanity, but they did know it made him see very bucked up things.

Though after living his whole life with it, Chaotic learned to filter fact and fake, not easy to do with a brain that doesn’t work right, but still, that didn’t excuse him for blurting out things that should be unsaid. He learned to filter the crap he got for it out to, but that’s completely different. In any case though, he was rather well known for being the pony that talks to himself.

How he was sane after dealing with all the delusions was a mystery, and it was even to him. Chaotic never understood exactly what his brain tried to fabricate, but most times he saw half of what was going on instead of the full picture. Only on rare occasion did he see something that was complete or even sentient.

Those occurrences were the strangest, as the delusions didn’t speak so much as they thought to him, meaning that they spoke without moving a muscle. Not that Chaotic cared, they talked to him, and it kept him preoccupied. He never argued with his own thoughts and instead used them to think of new things, which was why he did things very over complicatedly.

All those things lead to where he was now, a little mix of not caring about the cold, his reputation with other guards, his reputation with Shining Armor, and his big freaking mouth. He was standing alone guarding the gardens. He had already patrolled the perimeter a few times and he would do so again in exactly two and a half minutes.

That’s how it was for chaotic, nopony ever volunteered to guard with a criminal, and the night guards were especially hateful towards him. They had a code of conduct that told them to help all ponies in need, and be kind while being scary. Overall they were more active than the day guards. They didn’t like Chaotic, and they made it known.

Not that he really cared; he was used to being disrespected by all classes of ponies. So Chaotic took it in stride and did his job alone, as he would be able to deal with any threat alone, or hold the threat until backup arrives. Chaotic was just that way, and everypony was able to see that, as well as his insanity shining through on a daily basis when he woke up.

That was the real kicker though, as he began walking around again, his little light of insanity sprang up next to him. A little filly that appeared was completely black minus her eyes which were a teal color; her entire eye was teal for that matter. Chaotic only smiled as the little black filly hopped along by his side, as that was what she always did when he was walking. Even when he sat in the dungeons the little filly was there with him.

However, he wasn’t stupid, somepony was watching him, and he didn’t want to risk being caught. The filly, being something inside his head, knew that he wasn’t going to risk talking to her and get yelled at. So Chaotic contented himself with walking with the filly, never once speaking or deviating from his path. That was the pain though, he had to get used to going on a controlled route when he was being watched, because if he made a weird paths through anyplace, he got yelled at. Why they didn’t cut him from the guard yet was a mystery as he always seemed to do something wrong.

So if he wasn’t paranoid enough at being watched, the pony had to make it worse by actually showing herself, as Chaotic saw. Now, regardless of popular belief, most night guards were female. All of them were female in fact; another reason for him being disliked was his male urges as they called them, not that he actually ever did a thing. But the mare watching him was none other than one of the Night Captains upper guards. Upper because Chaotic had no idea what she actually was.

Still she watched Chaotic though, but he didn’t really give a damn; pissed him off, but he didn’t actually care. It pissed him off for the fact that he literally just saw something out of the ordinary, and now shed probably take credit for finding it. Chaotic just shook his head though and went to the disturbed place.

That’s when he heard the filly speak, in her childish yet distorted voice, “What is it? I don’t think it’s much but it’s definitely not a natural thing.” That was how Chaotic analyzed things, with the filly in his head whose voice sounded like it came from a ghost.

Upon closer inspection were hoof prints going deeper into the garden, towards the maze. Chaotic sighed a bit, that was out of the patrol area he was given and no doubt the mare behind him would throw a fit, but if he did his job then the blow would be lessened. So Chaotic just followed the tracks down the path, closer to the maze with every step, and then the stopped and in his confusion, looked up.

When he looked up, he saw the tracks continued a far bit ahead of him, and so the filly made another comment, “That is not right in any way, to Tartarus with that priss; this needs to be checked out.” When the filly said that, Chaotic gave a condescending look to the filly. She gave a humph in reply to it and moved a little faster ahead of him. Now some may wonder exactly how or why he could give a look at a filly in his head, but sadly, not even Chaotic understood that.

So as soon as got to the second start of the tracks he began looking around for anything else out of the ordinary. Chaotic only found that tracks though, and so he kept following them. The mare that was tailing him, oblivious to the fact that Chaotic knew she was there, had also found the tracks if she wasn’t yelling by now. That wasn’t a big deal, but that also meant that now she was expecting him to do a full sweep of the area, including the maze.

So to speed things up a bit, he took to the air with a flap of his overly large bat wings. In a large show of screw logic the filly popped her head up next to Chaotic’s, as she lay on his back between his wings. Right as he got up into the air though, he caught sight of another set of tracks, this one going in the opposite direction, so in a wild assumption, he did a U-turn in midair.

These tracks lead all the way back to the castles Servant’s Quarters, and from there he followed the very insignificant specks of dirt left behind through the corridors. The mare was still following, though now she was suspicious of Chaotic as she didn’t pay enough attention to see the dirt.

Although it was not the kind of thing he was told to do, he still ended up next to a servant’s door. He knocked lightly as not to startle the pony within if they were not awake. That wasn’t the case though as said pony opened the door. It was a green mare with a pink mane and tail, and the look on her face was befitting of the title terrified, after all it’s not every day that a former prisoner is in front of you.

Chaotic did his best not to look threatening though, and instead wore a smile that didn’t pronounce his fangs. It helped a little as the mare relaxed, but Chaotic knew she’d probably freak out when he said what he had to. So he just said, “Hello ma’am I’m the guard on duty in the gardens, and I’m here investigating tracks that I found.”

“Why would you be in here though, surely there can’t be any visible tracks inside, right?” her statement came out as a question. Strike one against her. Not only that but her face got a bit more worried, but that could be for a number of things.

“Well there may not be tracks inside of the building, but I have found traces of dirt from the garden maze, which is where the tracks led me to at first. So I came here following those tracks,” Chaotic said that with a somewhat proud tone in his voice, mainly because that was one of his specialties.

“W-w-well why would i-it lead t-to my door?” the stutter in her question was not the normal type of fear, instead it sounded worried. Strike two on her, but in the back of Chaotic’s mind, he was hoping for more of a challenge than that.

“I don’t know why they would come to your door, but I would like to take a look inside if that’s alright with you.” By this point, the mare was shaking slightly but Chaotic didn’t push that, because once again, that could be from the cold that was coming in from the open window not too far down the hall. Although Chaotic was sure his pursuer would do something stupid in a second, he followed the mare as she led him inside.

The little room didn’t look to suspect, but he did see a couple of closed doors, he assumed they were the closet and bathroom, and would check them later. For the time being though, he just traced his way around the room, now unable to see dirt tracks meant that she had cleaned not long ago. Not uncommon so he wouldn’t comment. The bed didn’t look like it had been used yet for the night, which was suspicious because she took time in getting to the door.

Chaotic did a little test though, meaning that he put his upper body on the end of the bed, sure enough though, it squeaked. Now Chaotic knew that she wasn’t even on her bed at all. The next place he looked at was beneath the bed, nothing but a couple of magazines underneath it; maybe she has yet to clean it, chaotic thought. After that he stood up and as he did that, the mare hopped onto the bed and sat down while she waited, every move was announced with a small noise from the bed which further validated his belief she wasn’t near her bed when she answered the door.

After he looked a little towards the door, he saw it was cracked open slightly, but he didn’t see an eye near the crack so he couldn’t tell if he was being watched. He just rolled his eyes and continued on, searching next to and behind a few items, but never looking in a drawer for courtesies sake. Still, he wasn’t finding much, not even in the closet, although, he did see an outfit that probably should have been a bit better hidden.

Then came the bathroom, and with Chaotic’s deduction skills, the mare was hiding something as she was shifting around on the bed more often. So when he opened the door, he expected something different, but all that was there was a flower….. with dirt.

“I want you to be serious with me, did you try and lie to hide a flower,” Chaotic’s voice didn’t betray any emotion other than annoyance. The mare stuttered for a second though, thinking that he was mad at her. So Chaotic sighed and said, “I’m not mad alright. But can you please tell me why you would try and lie to me about a flower, did you pick or something like that?”

The mare took a breath of air before speaking, “I planted that flower and more without permission in the garden’s maze. I-I didn’t want anypony to know about it because I need these flowers for something really special. Please don’t tell on me I’ll do anything.” By the middle of her explanation, tears streaked down her face.

Chaotic smiled a little in a sad sort of way and said, “I don’t want to tell on you OK, but I need to know what you need them for if I end up having to say something about it. This could get you in trouble, but if you don’t want to do that, can you at least tell me what kind of flower it is?”

The mare beamed a smile from her crying face, and told him, “The flower is called a Zerto. One of the most beautiful flowers in the world.” As she told Chaotic that, she walked over to the bathroom door after hopping out of the bed.

“That’s why it looked somewhat familiar. I don’t know how I could forget those luminescent petals, I used to have a few of these, but a long while ago I put them out in the Everfree Forest.” Chaotic smiled at the memories of taking care of the little garden that he had back at an outpost the assassins had set up. Sadly all the flowers began to wilt after the ground somehow got tainted, but Chaotic was able to save the Zerto’s.

“They are wonderful little flowers though, but I can only hide them so well to where I only have a couple more still in the garden. The properties they have are wonderful as well, and that’s what I need from them.”

“So you’re just using them to get over a little sickness, well that should be OK. But isn’t the most common thing the Zerto is used to treat in……..” Chaotic stopped talking abruptly. He only took a split second after that to say, “I’ll leave now, sorry to have bothered you ma’am.”

“But won’t you get in trouble if anypony finds out? I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me,” she was panicking for some reason. Then Chaotic realized what had probably happened, and sure enough when he turned around, he saw a pissed looking night guard. But before she even got a word out, he motioned for her to get out of the room and he followed behind.

She didn’t immediately say anything; instead she looked as if she was thinking of what to say. Finally the mare settled on saying, “You just let her off the hook. While what she did isn’t a serious offence, it is still against the law.”

“Of what, gardening, she didn’t do anything wrong and before you go into some big tirade, you should know this. If you or anypony else goes near those flowers, and I don’t care if it’s one of your Princesses either, I will hurt them.”

“Are you threatening me?” her look was disbelieving.

“I’m certainly not asking you on a date, now let me finish my patrol, I still have thirty minutes to go.” After those final and rather cold words, Chaotic walked away from the fuming mare. Never once did she stop him though, and in fact, didn’t move an inch from her spot until he was gone.

When he was gone, she turned and went straight to her Captain’s room.

Chapter 2

Seven guards, Captain of the day guard Shining Armor included, were making a path through the grass of the gardens. After the report he got from the night guard captain, he was going to detain Chaotic Heart. He had threatened another guard even though he had been acting so well. It didn’t make sense to him why he would do that, and all over a little flower.

The rest of the guards with him included the night guard Captain Midnight. The rest were her subordinates, two of which he believed were in heat because of the attitude they were showing. He wouldn’t ever make that comment out loud, but it sure seemed they had a problem.

The garden was rather quiet, but they knew that Chaotic was still around; after all, he never left the garden if he could help it. And their knowledge proved right when they saw him sitting down, out of his armor staring up at the sky. Now by no means was Chaotic attractive to anypony, but that didn’t detract from his look of being better at certain things.

His body was a dark ashen gray-blue in color. His mane and tail were several shades of muted blue and red. The thing that made him look terrifying though, was all the discolored streaks of white that cris-crossed his pelt. His cutie mark was a Will-o-Wisp with two scythes at it sides, one with the blade above and one below the Wisp. His eyes were gold like most bat ponies, but specks of blue and red were in them. His body was that of an athlete, kept in shape by the exercise he always seemed to do when he was off duty.

Overall, he was terrifying, even more so in his picture when he was wearing his armor. Of course, he was no longer in possession of that armor, and thus could not terrify anypony else. That still didn’t matter though as he proved he didn’t need armor in a dungeon brawl that broke out two weeks after his capture. Three prisoners were hospitalized because of him.

Still though, his calmness betrayed his actual abilities, which had yet to completely be revealed to anypony. It didn’t really help that his former occupation was unknown. His senses proved to be honed as well, because his head instantly angled towards the group before they were within speaking range. That somewhat worried Shining Armor, why he didn’t know, but regardless, it unnerved him a great deal.

However, Chaotic knew exactly why it unnerved Shining; ever since birth, Chaotic had the unique ability to make ponies fear him by simple presence. A good talent, when in real fights anyways, other than that it was a pain when holding a civil conversation. Still, it didn’t bother Chaotic that Shining was on edge; in fact, it gave him a strange happiness to know one of his captors feared him.

Still, the group of guards advanced on the silent pony, his eyes glowing slightly in the moonlight. And when within conversational range, Shining said, “I just got a report Mr. Heart that you made a threat against not only the guards, but the Princesses as well. Is this report true or false?”

“True Armor, however did you know I had a reason for the threat in question?” Chaotic asked. His face was the most deterring thing in the castle right at that moment; it betrayed absolutely nothing but a mechanical determination.

Shining nearly stuttered when he spoke, “If there is a reason, why don’t you share it with me then.” His command made Chaotic smirk in spite of the situation. What none of the guards expected, was when Chaotic stood up, and made an advance toward Shining. The night guards stood in defensive stances, but Chaotic didn’t attack, but the way he walked showed his readiness to make a move if required. He continued his subdued movements toward Shining until they stood face to face.

“A mare needs them for very specific reasons. I however am not at liberty to discuss those things. You may ask the guard that gave you the report to take you to the mare in question. While you do that though, I will go find the location, and be waiting for the offence. Ta-ta Shiny, until we see each other again,” as he finished his small rant, he walked calmly by Shining and the other six. The night guards were glaring daggers at Chaotic.

But Shining did what the frightening stallion told him, and motioned to be taken to the mare. Though Shining still couldn’t shake something about Chaotic’s influence on him; more or less the fact that the other guards were even more scared than he was, but still maintained their attitudes of hatred. It was sobering how badly Shining got scared by simply being near Chaotic, as nopony should be able to do that. Regardless though, Shining followed the bat-mare to the location of the accused mare.

All the while that was happening, Chaotic was keeping his word, and he was following the tracks once again into the maze. The filly had taken her spot at his side again, this time humming a tune that was unrecognizable. The sounds coming from her having a light echo to it that was nearly imperceptible to a normal pony, though Chaotic did not mind it, he wondered with little thought exactly where the filly came from in his head. He didn’t know any filly that was living or dead, he didn’t have an obsession with fillies, and he certainly didn’t think it was an actual part of his psyche.

That didn’t bother him at all though; he was still able to focus on the task at hoof. Just the same as any other assassin would, he went through possible scenarios in his head. Each one having different outcomes that all had his death at the end of, each one had differing results though, and those results were the number of guards and such killed, Chaotic honestly didn’t want to make the guards look weak, but they wouldn’t get off the hook easily. Chaotic would never in his life allow himself to give in without a fight.

Thoughts such as those and more further steeled his resolve to fight until he dropped dead. The little filly at his side gazed at Chaotic with a curious expression, still humming her calming tune. She knew everything he thought, so instead of speaking out loud like a lunatic, he simply thought, what?

After he thought that he heard the fillies somewhat innocent voice in his head, What will happen to us after you leave? We live in your head, but is it possible for us to live after you leave?

Chaotic only thought for a few seconds before replying, Well I don’t really know what will happen to you and the others. Who knows, maybe you’ll go to somepony else’s head and get a new friend.

A sad expression fell on the filly’s shadowed face. Then her reply came, I don’t want to leave you though, after all, you promised you would stay with me forever and ever to play. Why shouldn’t I come with you when you leave?

Because when I leave, I won’t be coming back, I’ll be sleeping forever after I leave.

B-but i-if you sleep f-f-forever then we can’t p-p-play. I don’t want to be alone; I don’t want you to leave me here. Every word the filly spoke gave Chaotic a stronger drive to fight; to live. At that moment, Chaotic realize, what the filly stood for. It was a moment that showed just how dull he could be, or possibly his own mind testing him. Never the less though, he understood exactly what part of him she stemmed from. He also finally noted that she believed she was real, and instead lived in his head rather than is just a part of his insanity.

It was strange, as most of his delusions knew they were just that. But no, the filly believed that she was real, and Chaotic really didn’t want to try and go into those things because that would most likely drive him deeper into his hole of nuttiness. What he did not expect was the rather crushing hug he received from the filly. He was still walking though, meaning she had hopped onto Chaotic’s back and was nearly choking him.

Chaotic’s mind did a double take on that, but after a second pushed it off as his dementia acting up; which it most likely was. Still though, if it came down to it, he was going to die in a few minutes. It was confusing to say the least, but at that point, he wasn’t going to bother with understanding how his mind worked; the confusing part being that Chaotic was starting to hear voices whispering in his head. They spoke all sorts of things, anywhere from nonsense to facts, war to peace, and two voices standing out spoke of loyalty to a cause and leaving said cause to its own.

It was giving Chaotic a massive head ache because all of the voices kept going and tried to speak over one another. Echoing louder and louder until the filly, that had released her grip, shouted, “SHUT UP!” inside of his head, overall it stopped the voices, but a few kept whispering in his mind. After that mind bender, Chaotic shook his head to disperse the pain in his brain.

Chaotic continued on though, as if nothing had happened in the first place. And for the most part that was true, Chaotic realized as he finally found the flowers that he was looking for. As he took his place in front of them he thought, everything I hear isn’t real. Nothing at all in my head is a fact, if anything; my mind fabricates everything I hear. I could be dreaming and I wouldn’t even know it.

The filly, sensing that thought, hugged his neck once more before dissipating. His brain kept working against him at that point, and Chaotic knew it. Ever so slowly he could feel himself sinking deeper into insanity, as every thought that passed through his head got critiqued by voices with no bodies. Shadows seemed to be an ever present thing in his vision, unnatural shadows that is, because it was still night time after all.

Everything moved with a demonic grace in his vision, each one trying to snatch him from his place and do something horrible. Every sound resounded within his head, making them seem as though they had a presence of their own. Every scent was tinted with something dark and evil, even the sweet scent of the flowers was overpowered by a sickening rotting smell. The grass beneath his hooves didn’t exist in his head; instead he was standing on a vast plain of water, everything with no definite feel.

All until he heard hooves pounding towards him; at that moment, he was brought back to reality, and noticed that his body had began to sag slightly. Chaotic shook his head violently to clear the voices, not wanting the distraction should they come for a fight. The fight never arrived though, as only two night guards, Shining Armor, and the green mare he had spoken to earlier.

Shining was the first to speak, “If you had started with what she needed them for, I would have shut up about it you know. Instead you had me waste my time tracking down this mare, and having to come all the way into this maze. Exactly what do you have to say after all that?”

All Chaotic did though was look at him and say, “So she’s not in trouble then?” Shining waited for something more but was met with silence from the stallion. When nothing came Shining sighed and shook his head no. when Shining looked back at Chaotic, the bat-stallion had a ghost of a smile on his face before he walked away.

“But because you threatened several ponies in this process, you are going back to the dungeons. Guards, escort Mr. Heart to his cell.” Those were the words Shining parted with, and the servant mare made several attempts to get him to reconsider as she was taken back to her room, but Shining didn’t budge.

Chaotic just shrugged though and followed the mares deep underneath Canterlot to his cell. It didn’t bother him that he was stuck in the dungeons once again, but it did bother him that he was stuck alone once again. After his experience in the garden, it was a little worrying to be alone after that. Still, nothing could change it, and all the while, Chaotic had that ghost smile on his lips.

When the cell door closed, Chaotic moved over to the hay bed provided to all prisoners, and laid down. When he was comfortable, he settled and just stared at the wall. And just like when he first arrived in the dungeons, the filly appeared and curled up at his side. She was still humming her tune, and as a result, Chaotic relaxed almost to the point of sleep. He never crossed that line though, and instead sat there in silence.

That’s how time passed, he only ever moved from his place to eat and drink when provided, or when he had to do his business. Every once in a while he would speak to the filly, as well as the other shadow ponies that came into the cell. Guards were always there when he spoke to them though, maybe believing that he was planning something, but either way, Chaotic never budged when he didn’t have to. Even when a guard tried to speak with him, Chaotic remained silent to everything but the shadows.

The filly never left either; she stayed at his side, never once disappearing. Always speaking instead of thinking now that it no longer mattered, Shining even listened sometimes to the conversations that Chaotic and the filly had. The topics were not of very much interest to Shining but that was because he didn’t understand what they were speaking of.

The topics the filly most often brought up were of contracts that Chaotic had done and of the contracts that he refused. In all the times guards listened though, they never got the message though, no matter how thinly veiled about killing the stallion and his mind spoke. It all amounted to the same thing though as either way he lived, having his message conveyed or not.

They claimed he was mentally unstable as well as insane within a month of his second imprisonment, and then, he met who he could see through.

Chapter 3

It was a semi-normal day in the Canterlot dungeons, semi because Chaotic was still getting used to the fact three guards were always watching him. Though he didn’t outwardly show it, he was uncomfortable with the constant gaze the guards always had on him. The filly told him not to worry about it though, and so he just didn’t bother with them. Instead, Chaotic turned to creating wall art as he was kindly supplied with non-toxic paint since he was dubbed insane.

What he made on the walls was not the best of things, but it was still easy to see what he made. On the furthest wall from the door, he painted himself and the filly in lighter shades than they appeared to him so the picture would show up better on the dark walls. In the picture Chaotic put himself and the filly lying on a hill side, underneath a tree, with a sun on the distance setting over a mountain. A cliché piece of art as it was no doubt done before, but the painting made Chaotic happy.

Shining would come down to see what Chaotic was doing at least once a day, sometimes two or three times. Each time Shining was met with a new picture to replace the ones on the two side walls of the cell. In his mind, it was strange to see a pony so content with sitting in a dank room all day with only enough food and water to keep him alive. Though one day he got quite a surprise when his fiancée followed him to see what he did every day.

The first thing Chaotic did when he saw the two approach the cell was laugh a laugh only dementia and insanity could produce. His laugh still had a gentle touch behind it though, showing that he was just playing. Instances like that became common the first time Chaotic was in a cell so it didn’t faze Shining, however the mare behind him was slightly freaked out.

The mare behind him in question was Princess Mi Amor Cadenza, and without a doubt, Shining’s true love. What Chaotic saw was not what anypony else did though. Chaotic didn’t see a beautiful pink mare, no, what he saw was a creature of deceit and lies. The first thought through his head was, that isn’t the real Princess, though I’ve never heard of her. She is lying, and I should know lying after my life happened.

Neither she nor Shining picked up on his knowledge though, as his training kicked into gear and made him play natural while observing the actions of the mare. A second nature thing to him after being an assassin for so long, but that didn’t mean he liked having her anywhere near his body or mind. Her very being was off in a way only a madpony could tell. Though it wasn’t his madness though as much as it was the fact he could see another things that others seemed oblivious to.

It was like he was looking at a mare that had a shadow pony walking inside of her, but instead, the shadow pony was real. Instead of the shadow being fake though this time, the thing the others could see was not real. For once in his life, Chaotic didn’t understand a shadow. He shook that feeling off though because he realized soon after that this shadow was not a part of his head.

It appeared to be regal by the way the shadow and illusion moved, but it was completely silent. Well, not silent, but its hoof falls were non-existent. Every single detail perfect for that, and then once again he noticed one difference the others weren’t catching. The real pony’s eyes flickered green for only a split second every four or five blinks. Something that, had he not been an assassin, Chaotic would have missed entirely.

Still though Chaotic didn’t actually care who she was, for all he cared, she could be an assassin herself that planned to kill Shining. Chaotic had his own personal reasons for not liking ponies and Shining exemplified one of his reasons; ignorance to facts. Though it wasn’t obvious why, it was there. However, Chaotic never hated a pony that meant well, and thus found a sort of empathy towards the guard and his subordinates. Beyond that, he didn’t give a damn about them.

When Shining unlocked the cell door and came in with the mare, Chaotic cocked an eyebrow, but didn’t do anything beyond that. In fact after she settled down into a sitting position with Shining, Chaotic went right back to his painting on the left wall. It was a griffon with black feathers and other bird things, and golden lion appendages. In its talons was a bastard sword that was bloodied. Though nopony knew beyond Chaotic at that point, the picture was of a griffon that he had killed. The griffon was charged with the murder of twelve families, four orphan children, and seven unknown others.

That fight ended with that bastard sword through Chaotic’s body, and Chaotic’s own blade through the griffon’s eye socket. It was amazing Chaotic lived through it, but that was only one of many things he lived through that shouldn’t have been possible. It was common for Chaotic to make pictures such as the one he was making, but this one was more out of the memory of the fight rather than just an image. For the picture he was painting, was how Chaotic found the griffon leaving a room he had slaughtered two children in, two of the orphans accounted.

After that, all Chaotic remembered was the blood the griffon spilled from him, and what he spilled from the griffon. After that day, he had griffons and ponies of that small border town keeping tabs on him. After his disappearance from The Order though, there was no telling what they thought happened. Chaotic thought to send the town a letter or message of some sort, but Shining most likely would deny the request.

Shining showed a unique curiosity to the art though, for what, Chaotic wasn’t quite sure. The mare was the same, as she was examining the painting with detail. It was hard to see some parts of the painting due to the dark walls, but Shining cured it somewhat with a magical orb of light. After that, absolute silence took over save for breathing and the movements of Chaotic painting.

He could tell that both of the present ponies wanted to ask about the painting, but kept themselves silent if only to give him Chaotic a few moments to do a few more details. So after a while longer of his painting, Chaotic broke the silence, “Well Shining, are you going to introduce me to the mare or no? If not I would like her to leave because I don’t like ponies who keep things such as names away from me.”

He never broke his stride though with his painting, detailing scars on the griffons face. Though Shining did answer, “This Mr. Heart, is my fiancée, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Cadence, this stallion is Chaotic Heart, which is not his real name from what he told me.” With the introduction, the pink mare was insulted by his lack of care for the title Princess, Shining had expected such though.

After Shining introducing her, the Princess said, “If Chaotic Heart is not your real name, then would you care to share it with me?” Chaotic remained silent for a bit, putting on a particularly tough scar on the painted griffon’s face.

After he had finished doing that he simply stated, “No I would not, and do not think you can make me think otherwise.” As he said that, he gathered up a different set of paints, and expanded his workspace to the left side of the wall since he was using the right side of the left wall. On this side, he had pre-determined that he would place himself and the orphanage matron as it had been that day.

In the picture, he put himself in front of the matron who was cowering away from the hulking griffon. The picture Chaotic stood battle ready with nothing but his fur on. No armor because that was how Chaotic was when he was thirteen, stupid enough to go into a job without proper armor. Of course, back then he didn’t have anything back then when it came to armor, but the blade that was strapped to his body was enough to give warning.

It appeared though, that Shining was having a moment of recognition as he compared the picture to the real Chaotic. There were similar in all ways but the scars, and size. So after a while longer Shining said, “Is that you Mr. Heart?”

All that Chaotic did was nod at the question. It was the Princess who spoke the next question, “Was that mare of importance to you? And who is that griffon and where is he now?” Chaotic did a few details more on the picture mare before turning to look at her.

“The mare is of no importance to anypony other than the foals she takes care of; I was simply protecting her for them. The griffon was a killer that I ended, his location is six feet under,” his tone was fitting for what he said, Shining knew almost instantly that something was up about that particular topic.

So with that in mind Shining asked, “What else happened, who did the griffon kill?”

Shining didn’t expect what Chaotic said though, “I protected her for them, but I couldn’t save others before I caught him. He evaded me in several instances, but in the end, I caught him and made him pay for the lives he took.”

It didn’t shock Shining how it was said, rather the fact of what he said, as the little flower mishap got a bit clearer to him. Though Chaotic was still where he belonged for the threat, it was a little less deserved than before. It went as far to show Chaotic that Shining had actual thought of that. Neither said a word though.

Though as soon as that moment was over, Chaotic broke the mood with, “Alright enough of this depressing stuff, for buck’s sake I’m in a dungeon; I don’t need any more depressing. What about your wedding, when is that at and when did you get engaged? I know damn well you weren’t getting married a couple months ago.” The last sentence was an afterthought.

Shining smiled when Chaotic mentioned the wedding, and went on to tell Chaotic all about it. That’s when Chaotic picked up on the lack of interest coming from the strange mare, though now Chaotic could see more of the shadow’s features, it was beginning to get more defined as time went on, hinting at the probability that the longer he stayed around it, the clearer it would get. Chaotic didn’t even flinch most of the time the mare looked at him when she caught him looking at her.

Shining was oblivious to the exchange though, as he kept going on about the preparations. That finally led to a very personal question though, “Did you ever have a marefriend Mr. Heart?” he didn't get an answer very fast though as Chaotic thought about the answer.

Finally after a while though, Chaotic said, “I did have relationships, but other than that, you won’t be getting any more detail until I find a reason you need to know. However I will say that they were still alive when I last checked.” Shining cocked a brow at the fact Chaotic said they but didn’t pester him about it.

They sat there for a while longer, with Shining doing what he could to keep Chaotic talking. Reason being that Chaotic still barely talked and only rarely did he get into full conversations. The mare though was more or less just looking at the details of the painting that now decorated all of the walls. She was looking at the one in the back most of all though. She seemed to wonder exactly who the filly was if either of the stallions would take a guess though.

It was a well founded question, but Shining had told her that he was nuts and so she didn’t bother with asking. Not that Chaotic would have answered at that point, for he was getting a clear picture of what he was looking at when it came to the mare. He wasn’t sure, but if he were to guess anything, she would be one of the shape shifter races he encountered, though he couldn’t tell which one by shape.

That strange thought shocked him into somewhat of a stupor though. He could tell that she was either not being truthful, or she had a shadow following her. He leaned on the former but wanted to believe the second. There was no possible way that a bat pony Pegasus could sense that sort of thing, and he knew it, so he just disregarded it for a while, passing it to the voices in his head to mull over.

As soon as he did that though, he got one of his fits that occurred when he was alone. The fit in question was the same thing that happened in the garden, but it varied from time to time. The voices were the start though, and Chaotic could feel his muscles starting to clench from the pain it brought to his head. Shining was quick to acknowledge it though and asked what was wrong.

Chaotic never answered though as the voices kept getting louder, loud enough to where the outside world beyond his head no longer existed. This time though, it was very different, as he could feel darkness creeping into his conscious mind, threatening to make him lose his consciousness. That doubled with the pain almost made him collapse instantly, but he didn’t go down.

He heard what the voices said, and they promised pain if he were to fall unconscious. And a long time ago, Chaotic learned that his dreams were the most painful thing in his world. The voices knew his fears and worries, and they used those against him. He didn’t register when Shining touched his shoulder, or when he began calling for help. All Chaotic knew was that his own mind was trying to do him harm.

It all stopped when Chaotic’s consciousness slipped away with a shriek inside of his head. And as he awoke to his dreamscape, he knew that pain was coming as he was told by the creatures in his mind. Here though, inside the dream, the voices didn’t echo in his head, no, they echoed all around him.

When he saw the beast that was tearing through the empty plains of grass that was his mind, he was utterly terrified. It resembled a dog in several ways, except it had three wolfish heads, twelve tails that moved on their own, and what looked like blade like protrusions traveling down its spine.

It was one of the monsters that lurked in his subconscious, Kerbouros. The giant dog was most likely three times the size of the sun princess, and four times as long, each tooth in its maws were large and possibly overgrown, its claws were what appeared to be two feet long, and each head had different eyes though. The left had golden eyes, the right had bloody red, and the middle had piercing cold blue.

Chaotic did what he always did though, and galloped full tilt towards the beast. Though it was his first time fighting Kerbouros, that didn’t change the fact that he would be knocked out for a long time in the real world, and since nothing in this dream world got tired, it would take a long time to wake up. That wasn’t the problem though, as the real problem was that nothing could die either.

Chaotic gave one last deep breath before he launched up and over the beasts snapping jaws. When Chaotic hit the ground behind it, he bucked its left hind leg before getting swatted by one of the tails. The buck did absolutely nothing though, and so Chaotic groaned as he realized the dog was the true beast of all the creatures that plagued his mind.

He didn’t stop trying to fight though, as long as he could stay away from all of it more agile parts than it couldn’t very well grab him. Though it did try to just stomp Chaotic into the ground, as he dodged he heard a voice calling to him. He couldn’t separate it from the rest though, so he focused on the canine beast.

Chaotic couldn’t tell how much time had started to go by, mainly because he was in his own head, but it felt like a very long time. The whole time he was fighting the beast that was in his head; the whole time, a voice was trying to reach him to no avail.

The beast had small cuts where Chaotic’s hooves were able to break skin, and where he bit into the monster with his fangs. Black blood oozed out of the wounds, staining its scarred white pelt.

Chaotic however was much more bloodied; he had been fighting a losing battle from the beginning. The creature pushed Chaotic into a forested area, most likely miles away from where they began. That’s when Chaotic started getting wounded badly.

Cuts from the beast’s claws, and teeth, as well as trees when he was sent through them, littered his smaller body. Falter as some would have though, Chaotic kept fighting.

The pain was only made worse by the influence that the beast had on his mind, intensifying it to a point that should have made him pass out, of course he was already out so that wouldn’t work. However it did make him clumsier in his movements, no longer being coordinated very well. The affect was profound, as he got hit more and more until skin peeled away from the wounds, leaving exposed muscle to the air.

That was when the voice broke through the ramblings of all the others, screaming out, “Gouge the creatures eyes, its eyes are its weakness.” Chaotic recognized the voice as the fillies, who had disappeared when Shining came into Chaotic’s cell.

Chaotic listened though, and began to prepare himself to be an idiot. His moment came when the left head snapped forward at him with wide jaws. When he knew he could get into the appropriate place, he jumped up and spun 180 degrees in mid air.

He landed atop the head, and clamped his wings over the sides of its head for a hold. When he was secure and knew the beast’s thrashing wouldn’t throw him, he sank his fangs into its left eye. While the taste was horrid though, Chaotic jerked his head side to side; completely shredding its eye.

Chaotic would have done the same to the others if not for the middle head biting into his left wing and pulling rather roughly. It didn’t dislodge Chaotic but it did make him loosen his grip. So in an attempt to get it off his wing, Chaotic released the left head and pulled his body as if he were going to jump to pull out of the grip.

The head obviously thought about it for more than a second and released him, only to have Chaotic turn around and jump at the head. Now some may not realize just how sharp the edge of an assassins hoof is, but the middle head found out as quickly as Chaotic’s hoof nearly bisected the eye completely.

The filly, as Chaotic soon realized, was quite a few yards away watching the fight. She knew that Chaotic wanted her to stay out of the fight, so she didn’t do anything other than watch. The reason he had for that was that they were inside of his mind, thus if the filly got killed, she would be dead.

When Chaotic hit the ground, he whirled around and distanced himself from the dog. Only its right head was not thrashing in pain, the other two clearly feeling the effects of getting their eyes mutilated. The right head, the calmest of the three during the fight, didn’t even flinch once.

In fact, the right head only ever attacked when Chaotic tried to harm it. So with the dumbest hope he had, Chaotic called out, “Hey righty, do you understand me?”

The head grinned.

Chapter 4

“So you finally took notice after days of battle? I cannot say that I am too surprised when my other parts trying to eat you. So I believe we are at an end to our little match, but we are not done speaking by a long shot,” the Kerbouros said.

Chaotic just shrugged and said, “As long as I don’t have any more meat ripped off me I’m fine. What do you want to speak about?” while he said that the filly came up to his side and sat down. Chaotic did the same.

“I wish to speak about matters concerning this mind of yours. I am technically a part of you, but I wasn’t always a part of you. How I came to be with you is a mystery to even me, however there are many more who are just the same as me.”

“How does that have to anything with me, and getting attacked constantly in my own head? Or an even better point, why do I keep having hallucinations and stuff while I’m awake? I had one just before you pulled me in here.”

“Those would be the ones who do not belong reaching out to you in unorthodox ways. I have tried to reach you a few times, but other, much stronger entities reside here than I. You made each of them afraid by your willingness to fight, but I see that you only do it to get away from them.”

“So it’s safe to say that they are stupid for not knowing that.”

“Yes, but come sit on my back if you wish, but I would like to walk while I converse with you.” Chaotic complied and used his wings, even the injured one, to propel himself onto the giant dogs back while avoiding the spikes. The filly popped up next to him within a second.

When they got situated enough to where they wouldn’t fall, the giant dog began to move. He walked quite a way away before speaking again, “You are certainly strange Mr.….” the dog waited for Chaotic to give his answer.

“Strider, but you can call me Sand if you want,” the filly gave Chaotic a strange look as he rarely said that name. Kerbouros nodded to acknowledge Strider.

“Tell me, why would one of your kind have that name?”

“My first memory is of a desert, I was five at the time so it’s safe to say that I may have lost a bit of memory,” while Strider said that he was watching Kerbouros’ writhing mass of tails.

Kerbouros nodded his right head; the others were still trying to shake away the pain. It appeared though, that he was thinking, as well as taking Strider to a rather large cave. To say Strider wanted to get away was an understatement; if the worse came, he couldn’t die.

Finally the dog spoke after getting a few more steps toward the cave, “If that is true, than whatever happened to you may have caused us to end up here, in your mind that is.”

Strider moved up along the dogs back slightly to sit on the center heads neck when he said, “That’s very possible. What I don’t understand now though is why you were brought into my head.”

“I can tell from being in here for so long, you were insane even without other creatures like me wandering your mind. So it is possible that some form of magic brought us here.”

After that, nothing of any real consequence happened other than them finally getting to the cave. They discussed a few theories, but in the end found that none would make any sense unless they knew what had made Strider end up in a desert.

It was rather funny though when Kerbouros’ other two heads finally began to comprehend what was happening. The moment they noticed Strider sitting in the cave, which was Kerbouros’ den, they attempted to make the shared body lunge. Although it appeared the logical right head had control, because the body did not move, only twitch slightly.

Finally after what felt like hours of talking and walking, Kerbouros said, “Our time is coming to an end here Sand, so I will give you a bit of advice and knowledge. When you awake, you will need to find your equipment; and when you wake up, do it hard.”

After those words were spoken, Strider felt his unconscious consciousness fade. It took what felt like forever to get an idea of what was going on, but eventually he woke up. The only odd thing was a slight pressure on the bed under him that wasn’t his own weight.

Wait one damn minute, a bed? As soon as he thought that, he opened his eyes. He was met with a green pair staring back at him. His reaction was fitting, he screamed and head butted the horned creature right in the nose. It made a feminine sounding yell when it fell off the bed. Shortly after with reflexes only a trained pony could have, Strider rolled off the bed and onto the creature that had previously been on him.

When he looked at it, he recognized the shape shifter race of a changeling beneath him. His recognition was a story that he told to ponies who asked, though it wasn’t a really bad story. More sad than anything, but that was besides the point. The one beneath him was either of high rank in its hive or it was royalty because of the crown on its head.

He still didn’t give two bucks about that and promptly slammed his hoof against her face, which made her head bounce off the floor, which rendered her unconscious. Or at least, that’s what Strider thought it did, but he wasn’t sure because changelings were naturally resilient to physical attacks. Once again he didn’t give a damn though and instead looked around after stepping off the changeling.

It appeared to be a royal chamber and he was sure it was after he saw the picture of Captain Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza on the wall. Great, she was going to rape me while unconscious in the Guard Captain’s bed... I’m surprised that was my first thought, Strider thought. He moved forward towards the door, keeping as quiet as possible. And as soon as he reached to open the door, it slammed into his face.

That hurt like a mother bucker, Strider let out a slight groan of pain while holding his possibly broken nose. He didn’t have much more chance than that before he was hit with a full on tackle from another changeling. Strider fell backwards, sending a jolt of pain through his wing, and promptly slammed his hind hooves into the changeling’s stomach.

As the momentum carried from his hooves hit the changeling, it got sent flying into the top of the tall door frame where it hit its head slightly before falling again. Panic must have been on its mind too much because it never thought to use its wings to keep it safe from the fall. Instead it hit the floor with all the grace of a ton of bricks.

Strider was to his hooves by the time it hit the floor, and when he was sure that it wasn’t getting up, he moved on out the door. Common knowledge told him to be careful, but he flung that out the window when he realized how easy that changeling was to throw off. It was a civilian changeling. No doubt drafted for something, he thought.

So with that theory in mind, he paced his way down towards the barracks that held the armory, and therefore his armor. Not the Royal Night Guard get up though, no, this time, he would be taking his assassin’s gear back out.

On the way there, several times did Strider skirt around a group of changelings that was cocooning a servant or guard. Sad sight, but they would have to wait a while. Strider wasn’t very careful in the way he walked though, and he frequently nearly walked right into the open.

When he got to the barracks, the first thing that entered his mind was, buck me with a steel rod. Changelings were cocooning guards that were on break, or otherwise a Night Guard. He shrugged though, and went for the direct approach. Meaning he called out, “Hey jack wads, why don’t you pick on somepony your own size.”

Three out of forty-five answered the call, the rest assuming that they could handle it. However that was disproved when Strider turned and bucked the first two in the faces that was immediately followed by the third tripping. Strider made sure to step on the two that were still awake, eliciting groans of pain. Five more changelings came at him next, thinking that if they were to hit him from the front and sides it would work.

They were horribly, horribly wrong. As soon as that group reached him, he barreled shoulder first into one of and bucked the second in the side of the head. The third tried to attack after his buck hit, and Strider showed his rather strange flexibility; he twisted his upper body ninety degrees before the rest of his body followed the motion. Once again, his hind hooves connected with the head of the changeling, and he used the recoil of the attack to roll away from the other two.

When he rose back to his hooves, the other two changelings were on the attack again, and they were met with Strider's second shoulder bash at the same time. A few other changelings were beginning to fly over to help subdue Strider.

It was all in vain though, as he systematically put them either on their face, side, belly, or flank. When he was done with his rather tough fight, Strider was panting up a storm trying to catch his breath. The few guards who didn’t have their mouths sealed shut cheered slightly at his victory, it rang on hollow ears though, as Strider stopped giving a damn about that stuff a while back in his life.

Strider worked a bit hard to free one of the day guards that was stuck to a wall, and instructed him to start freeing the others. He did so with haste while Strider went to get his armor. It was in a locked chest, but a quick buck solved that problem. And when he began to pull the magically enchanted trinkets his armor was made up of, a guard that was freed came in.

She didn’t say a word, just helped fit the bands around parts of his body that would be difficult to reach. She was a unicorn so no physical contact was actually needed. The only crappy part was getting the earrings he owned in his ears. He wasn’t allowed to wear any jewelry, magical or not, while he was I prisoner, so the holes had healed up.

While the earrings weren’t magical like the rest of the bands and such, they still added to his intimidation factor. Six were on the left side of his left ear, with a matching number on the right side of his right ear. Other than those, he wore two bands on each leg, one near the hooves and one towards the leg joint. Two bands were on his main body, one just behind his forelegs and the other was just before his member’s sheath. He had shoes on each hooves, all made of a dark metal. His wings had the same dark metal covering them in a flexible form of armor. A simple chain necklace with a dragon pendant hung around his neck. Most noticeably though, was the crown of thorns on his head, which was more of a circlet; it looked like it was natural, and it was, but it was extremely enchanted like the rest of the items on him.

Last to be placed were the weapons he carried. One long serrated edged blade was slanted between his wings. Two serrated daggers were on the inside of his thighs. Another, shorter serrated edged blade was placed at his right side.

After that, one question was asked by the freed guards, “Where is your armor?” Their answer however didn’t come with an actual response.

Strider spoke two words of unknown origin, “Dervas Zetral.” When those two words were spoken, the multiple bands and necklace and crown released armor like fabric across his body, including his face. When his entire body was covered several plates of armor seemed to harden out of nowhere. His face gained a mask that sported two slots for his eyes. Spikes jutted away from his shoulders a couple inches, and a few more spike protrusions were on his hind legs on the knee joint. His shoes created a sort of contraption over the fabric before the armor covered it, the contraption embedded itself into Strider's skin three quarters of the way up his leg; while the shoes themselves developed movable talons.

One of the more noticeable things now, was that below the crown, his eyes had changed into a deep soul piercing red. What was really strange though was that the armor completely ignored the fact that he had weapons strapped to his being, and instead went underneath them.

The guards that watched this had to figure out what happened in exactly seven seconds as that was how long it took for the armor to materialize and for Strider to start moving. In the back of his head Strider heard voices whispering what he had to do. All coming from conclusions drawn in the last few moments, but he still followed them none the less, as they were what he would eventually do anyway.

Before any guard could say a word, the bat pony beat his wings hard enough that it propelled him a couple feet in the air and he continued from there. He made his way directly to where Shining had revealed the wedding would be while he was talking in the dungeon. The voices mused why he had said so much, but eventually they just dropped the thought.

What Strider did not expect was the complete lack of any changelings rampaging through the halls, in fact, nothing was in the halls of the castle. Save for Strider who kept himself close to the high rising ceiling. In the time he was making his way to the room, he was conversing with the little filly that had materialized on his back in a hushed tone.

“So what are you going to do?” the filly asked.

The reply was simple enough, “I’m going to see exactly what I have to do and then act on it. Nothing you haven’t seen me do a hundred times.” The filly gave an OK before going silent again.

A few seconds later she asked “Are you going to be alright?”

“I should be, after all, it’s not my first time dealing with a situation such as this. That is of course, if it is like the other times I’ve done something like this.” She went silent again.

This time the silence lasted for a few more seconds before she said, “Can I watch?”

“You live in my head; I couldn’t stop you if I wanted. Now I have a question for you,” She gave a little noise of acknowledgment before he asked, “You’re absolutely bored aren’t you?” she gave the same confirming noise as the last time. Strider chuckled before he arched his back in a swift movement which threw the filly up slightly.

She squealed rather adorably in fright at the sudden change of altitude, but calmed down when she found Strider’s back still beneath her. After that, he realized he was coming to a door which had three changelings in front of it. They were bickering over something he couldn’t hear, not that he cared much, until he heard, “The princess is unconscious, and her mother doesn’t know. Well not so unconscious now, and I don’t know about you two, but I’m thinking the throne would be a pretty comfy place to sit.”

Strider sighed and thought, Not the first time this kind of thing has happened. It’s to be expected though when a changeling isn’t raised right.

Before they knew he was there, Strider unhooked one of his knives and launched it through the air at the changeling who had spoken. The blade pierced through his chitin hide and into the back of his head. No sooner did the body fall than Strider hit the floor next to said corpse.

The other two stared with shock on their faces as Strider raised a hoof to where his mouth was and gave a small shh. After that he pulled the knife free and took back off through the halls. The changelings were too stunned to move from their place, so they didn’t notice the direction in which he went.

The only difference between the previous flight and the one he was doing was the lack of filly present on his back. It was slightly sad, but if he really wanted somepony to talk to, he could try and find Kerbouros in his head wherever he was. It proved that he didn’t need to as he reached the door he needed rather quickly, which made Strider realize that the Princess had been moved to a different room.

Changelings, they never seem to get the message that being stupid doesn’t help a thing. Tartarus, I did him a favor, because had the Queen found out, he would have been seriously screwed, Strider thought. He didn’t really care though, and he had no reason to, but that didn’t stop him from doing what he knew was right.

Without much more travel though he neared a door that he knew to be the one he needed. Outside the door two Changelings stood, and one knocked on the door. Strider smirked evilly.

Inside the throne room, Queen Chrysalis was going through the last few things she felt she had to. Shining was still standing dumb as a rock at that moment. Six mares were lined up in front of her with a pink Princess cowering behind them. She had taught the pink Princess a lesson after attempting to get near Shining, after all, who knew exactly what could happen.

She was finishing her speech when a knock came at the door. She was rather irked at the changelings beyond the door for interrupting her. She still yelled out, “Enter!” to the changelings. Every set of eyes in the room turned to the door, including the Alicorn cocooned to the ceiling.

When it opened, two bodies slumped to the ground. That was the immediate thing they all noticed; second however, was the gleaming black armor that stood just behind the bodies. The ponies face was covered so well by the armor that no trait was visible but the gleaming red eyes that gazed from the mask.

The Queen didn’t hesitate to let out a blast of magic with a smirk on her face. She let the beam that she hit him with stay active for five seconds before releasing the spell. When the glow dissipated, a blue glow encased the armored pony, who seemed unaffected by the amount of magic that hit him. The force of the spell had pushed him back a few inches, they didn’t notice that though.

Everypony in the room only heard his rather demented laughter. His voice was slightly muffled by the armor, but that did nothing to diminish the fact his laughing was something that only a seriously troubled pony could produce.

When he stopped, the only thing he said was, “Is that really how you answer a door?”