> The Pain Goes HERE!
>  by dudenotactive
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Down The Rabbit Stew
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, you want to hear a story, eh?" A gruff vo- "I can do this on my own, and I do not need you for this, so would you kindly shut up!"

O-oh, alright then...

"Good. Now, where was I? Oh right, long ago in the land of Equestria, where the two sisters reign. War was declared by the griffons, threatening the peaceful lives of all ponies.

Princess Celestia, the alicorn of the sun, tried and pleaded with the king of all griffons, but her words fell on deaf ears. The king showed no signs for peace at all, he only showed the might of his army by conquering the settlements that were closer to their kingdom's borders.

Meanwhile, a small band of dragons on the north had decided to use the ongoing war to their advantage to invade and ransack small villages, stealing all the valuables along with some ponies to be their next meal.

After hearing the news, princess Celestia decided to handle the dragon problem herself while leaving her sister Luna in charge at the front. With a few soldiers behind her, Celestia had tracked the dragons to a village that they were currently attacking, her heart grew heavy at the thought of her people's blood being spilled onto the stone streets of their village.

She looked up to the sky and prayed to whatever god was listening for a miracle, anything to slow the dragons down enough for her soldiers to reach the village. Luckily for her someone up in heaven had heard the alicorn's prayers and she got more than what she wanted. A giant ball of purple light appeared miles above the village when the light vanished Celestia could not describe what came out of it since she was too far.

Whatever it was it fell towards the middle of the village and the dragons followed it, minutes later Celestia had arrived and she along with her trained soldiers rushes towards the center of the village, passing a few survivors who felt hope at the sight of their leader bravely charging towards danger.

They soon came to a bloody scene, right at the middle of it was an orange scaled wingless dragon that was almost taller than her with a mask that concealed his face, his first words that he had said to Celestia will forever be etched into her mind until the end of her days."


"NIPPLE SALADS"





It was a wonderful Saturday afternoon in Ponyville, especially for Sandbar since they didn't have any class right now and he along with his friends have made plans for a picnic, currently, Sandbar is heading over to Sugar Cube Corner with his saddlebag to buy some sweets. Meanwhile, his friends are currently preparing the essentials for a picnic, like a large blanket, drinks, and others.

Seeing that he was already at the shop, Sandbar casually enters, he gave Pinkie Pie a wave as the mare zooms past him also waving back, walking over to the register he finds Mrs. Cake behind it.

"Oh hello there Sandbar." She greeted him with a smile. "What can I do for you?"

"Afternoon Mrs. Cake, a dozen of cupcakes and muffins would be great."

She gives him a nod before starting to sort out his order and handed it to Sandbar after, right at the corner of his eye he spotted Twilight's number uno assistant, Spike the dragon.

Spike was seated on one of the tables reading a comic book, and seeing that there was no problem with saying hi to someone you know, Sandbar went over to the dragon to greet him.

"Hey there Spike, how you doing?"

The young drake looks up from his reading. "Oh hey Sandbar, I'm doing fine thanks for asking. How about you?"

"Same, right now I'm just bringing these snacks for a picnic later with the others."

"That's great," Said Spike. "as for me, I'm here waiting for Pinkie to finish the sapphire chocolate cake I ordered."

"Woah dude, what's the occasion?"

"Well Ember is coming over to visit to hang out, so I asked Pinkie to make a cake that's also extra special if possible, kinda feel bad that Thorax couldn't make time this weekend."

"Bummer, well guess I'll be going, the others are probably waiting so see ya' Spike."

"Alright, see you next time Sandbar, and tell Smolder I said hi."

With that, he leaves the bakery and heads over to the place they decided to do the picnic at. On the way he had encountered Gallus, the griffon of the group, with him, was an icebox obviously containing cool beverages. They both greeted each other before continuing towards their destination, along the way they both made small talk, usually something the boys had in common.

Soon, they arrived at the outskirts of the town, both were also greeted by the energetic weaponry in hippogriff form. She was optimistic as ever, it kinda reminded them both of the resident party pony. Speaking of Silverstream, with the hippogriff was a neatly folded blanket, you can't have a picnic without a large blanket.

After having a small idle chat, Yona and Ocellus had arrived, the changeling carried a basket and the yak carried some books that belongs to Ocellus on her back.

"Hello friends, Yona and Ocellus are here with food for everyone!" The foreigner said while rushing over to the others.

"Nice to see you too Yona, you too Ocellus." Gallus greeted the yak with the rest. "Now we need to wait for Smolder."

"Oh, Smolder?" Silverstream said while picking up a few books off Yona's back to help her carry it. "She already went over to the spot, she said she wanted to prepare a grill for the fish she brought." She motions for them to follow her to the spot where Smolder was at.

"Are you okay with that, being half fish and all," Gallus asks the half-bird half-horse creature.

"Oh, it's fine." She gave him her answer. "We are a diverse set of friends, as long as we respect each other the better friends we'll be, and besides, I had my share of fish before."

"You're too nice for your own sake Silverstream."

Before they knew it, the five of them had already arrived at the spot. It was in the middle of the grassy fields, a good distance from Ponyville nearby was a small unlit campfire with a metal grill over it. But something was missing, and it was the dragon of the group. Everyone calls out to her but was met with silence, and when they began to get worried, the dragon's head pops out a large hole close to them. Strange that they didn't notice it at first.

"What!?" Smolder asks the surface dwellers as she used her wings to ascend out of the hole, with an arm full of gems.

All eyes stare at her with slight confusion as she dumps the gems next to the unlit campfire.

"Sorry Smolder, we were just looking for you." Ocellus explains for everyone.

"Yeah, we were afraid that we would have started without you, and use a couple of rocks just to light the fire for the fish." Said Gallus as he sets down the icebox, looking at a different icebox that contained the sweet juicy fish that would be soon grilled on the fire, oh how he hungers for it.

Smolder lights the campfire before turning towards the griffon. "You have better not been thinking of eating those without me, took me a while to catch them this morning."

While this was happening, Silverstream was unfolding the large blanket with Yona, while Sandbar puts out the paper plates to be used.

"What's down there anyway?" Ocellus said while starring down the dark hole on the ground, it seems to angle itself down so the sun couldn't reach the bottom, she could at least see some gems sparkle in the distance.

The young dragon looks up from her task to answer. "Well, it's kinda deep so I didn't go far, but I found a lot of gems on the walls."

Now Gallus was also curious, he joins Ocellus on staring into the abyss. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" He asked those around him.

Yona looks towards Gallus, after thinking about it, she agrees to whatever the griffon had planned. "Yona likes Gallus' idea, Yona wants to explore cave!"

"Ooh," Silverstream coos. "like spelunking? I did those back when I was little, you don't know how much fun it was to find things like shiny coins!"

Ocellus was unsure, but curiosity had won her over, she gave a nod, also agreeing with Gallus. Even Sandbar wanted to join, the idea of an upcoming adventure was really tempting for the young earth pony. 
The ones who didn't really want to do it was Smolder.

"Guys, the picnic?" She pointed out the reason why they were all out there, to begin with. "And aren't you claustrophobic, Gallus?"

"Come on Smolder, it doesn't look like a tight fit and it'll be quick, in and out," Gallus said, swiping a handful of gems and quickly places them in Sandbar's saddlebag. "We might even find some awesome treasure down there."

Everyone else had nodded, agreeing with him which leaves Smolder alone with her own vote. Seeing that she couldn't change their mind, she decided to join on the new adventure.

"Yay! I even have something for this." Silverstream then pulls out six lanterns from out of nowhere then handed them to Yona and Sandbar. Is spelunking really that fun? Apparently so.

Wasting no more time, the fliers grabs hold of the land creatures and helped them descend down the hole, with their lanterns lighting the dark cave making everything visible. Gems sparkle from the light that shines on it, creating a makeshift stars in the underground, it was very awe-inspiring to the young creatures.

After a short flight, the group had descended from the ceiling and enters a cavern, landing on the ground, Yona and Sandbar handed their friends the rest of the lanterns to lighten their loads. They all look around, amazed by the planet's cave system that lies below the surface. Turning to their left was just a dark path, while on their right was something they didn't expect, there was a small light shining in the distance. And being the curious youths they are, they chose to head towards the light.

"Ooh, I wonder what it is!" Silverstream said, hovering in front of her friends as if she was leading the exploration.

"Hey Ocellus, did you ever read on anything that gives out light in dark caves?" Smolder asks the one who had more knowledge on certain things.

"All I can think of are glow worms, but this one is too bright to be them, so I'm really excited to find out what it is!"

"Well be excited now, 'cus we're here," Gallus said with a monotonous tone, too stunned of what he and the rest of his friends were seeing.

Right in front of them, a few meters away was a large metal wall that sealed off the other side. But it was covered in rust, and the giant door it had was on the ground, crumbled into countless pieces and from the giant doorway was a bright light. Inside, they could see that the walls and floors were now made of metal, illuminated by lights on the ceiling.

"Ocellus?" Everyone asked the changeling, who shook their head slowly.

"I have no idea..."

"But I have one," Silverstream spoke but didn't even finish as she flew straight in, leaving her lantern since she didn't need it.

"Hey, wait a sec-" Smolder tried to be the voice of reason, but Yona and Sandbar ran in to follow the hippogriff, they also left their lanterns. Seeing that half the group had went in, the rest decided to follow also leaving their lanterns.

The three soon caught up with the rest of the group in the long metal and futuristic corridor. Boxes were everywhere with strange papers spread around the floor also, Ocellus was fascinated by the strange paper so she decided to pick up a few for the road. They soon came to a cardboard cutout of an earth pony with peach-colored fur, he also seems to be wearing a mask of his own face, both the face and the fact that there is a cardboard cutout in the underground was adding to the weird-o-meter.

The young six gave out their opinions on this, mainly how strange it was. Moving on, they continued down the corridor, soon finding two doors on each side. They all went inside the door on the right, only to find another long hallway.

"Let's try the other door first, probably have something better," Gallus suggested and the others agreed, but when half of them, mainly Yona, Ocellus, and Silverstream have gone through, the door shuts itself tight leaving Smolder, Gallus, and Sandbar on the other side.

"What the?" Gallus said, knocking on the metal door. "Umm guys, you forgot about us."

"We didn't do this." Silverstream's muffled voice came from behind it, it was enough to send Gallus and the rest to a slight panic.

"W-wait, please tell me that you're just joking?"

"Yona swears that we did not close the door."

"Well help us out then!" Smolder shouted loud enough to be clear, while trying to open the door by pulling from the edges, it barely works. "Boys, can you look for a switch or something?" She tried to pull harder but she jumps back as the door was struck from behind it.

Meanwhile, on the other side was Yona, using her brute force against the metal door. "Do not worry friends, Yona shall break metal door." She said, still charging towards the metal door.

Ocellus stops Yona by standing in her way. "Yona, I don't think that'll work."

"Then what do we do!?" Silverstream said, wrapping her claws around her head, trying to think up a plan. "T-they might be trapped in there forever!"

"Silverstream, don't say such a thing," Ocellus spoke to the hippogriff. "they'll be fine and we'll get them out soon. Right guys?" She turns back to the metal door that separates her friends from her.

But she didn't hear a 'yes' from the other side, only the worried voice of Gallus. "What in the world is that!?"

Before the three could ask the other three, a new voice spoke, one that did not sound right. [WARNING, YOU ARE VIOLATING ON PRIVATE HYPERION GROUNDS. STAND DOWN IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE VIOLATED BACK.]

"Gallus, Smolder, look out!" Sandbar warns his friends.

And before they could ask them what was happening, the door was struck from the other side bending it slightly towards them, this causes Ocellus to stumble back and rolling through the door directly behind them and the door slams shut cutting the changeling from the rest of her friends.

"Ocellus!" Silverstream calls out, but before she and Yona could do anything, a loud thud came from where they have originated. There, a giant yellow iron golem with a single red eye stood. Before the two could ask, a jar filled with lightning seems to rise on top of it and began running towards them.

"Run!" Yona and Silverstream shouted, going deeper into the corridor with the strange golem right on their tails.




"What in the world is that thing!?" Gallus once again asked his friends, they were running away from the golem, and as they get further three more had began chasing them.

"I don't know, but they're mad!" Sandbar said nearly getting caught by a fifth one from out of nowhere.

Smolder tried to burn the new golem, but her flames were too weak to deal with any damage. "These things are tough!"

"Thanks for the input captain obvious!" Said Gallus, clearly frustrated.

"Oh shut up, we wouldn't be chased by weird metal things if you hadn't suggested exploring a random cave!"

"I know, and I complete agree with you now, I'm just really terrified of the situation!"

"Umm guys?" Sandbar spoke up but was unheard.

"I know how you feel, and this isn't really the best time but, I told you so!"

"Guys?"

"Well, at least I have a sense of adventure!"

"Hey uh-"

"You're claustrophobic, you shouldn't be going down caves!"

"You know-"

"GUYS!!!" The two snaps their attention to the pony. "Big, giant, gargantuan thing up ahead!"

They turn forward to find that there is in fact, a giant thing standing between them and a small door, it looked like the ones chasing them but it had ahead and it didn't have any arms instead it had something strange. It's strange appendages lit up in flames before releasing it in their direction, the trio easily dodge the area that could have been their fate, but the thing proceeds to prepare for another shot.

"Through there!" Smolder slides right between its legs and through the small door, followed by Gallus and Sandbar after. The metal behemoth understood that its target was gone, so it went on its own business with the other five.

"Is everyone alright?" Sandbar asks his two friends, but once again was unheard. Looking around, he discovers that they were outside whatever the place was and in another cavern, his two friends were standing a few feet away from him.

Both the dragon and griffon were too focused on what the cavern holds, standing at the middle was a single muscular dragon with a mask on his face and a belt around his waist. His right arm was wrapped in white cloth while his left had steel plates, his right leg also had steel plates while the other leg had two straps, but both had white tattered cloth.

He had the same color scheme as Smolder but had a darker shade of purple frills instead. A pair of curved horns sat on the side of his head, it pointed forward giving off the idea that it could be used to impale. But those details had nothing on what comes next, right at his chest was a sword with a golden handguard and two glowing gems on each side.

Gallus had no words, he couldn't even ask why the dragon with a sword through their chest was there since he was currently feeling a deep sense of dread. He tries to figure out why and came to the conclusion that a corpse was naturally disturbing.

Though she had hid it better than Gallus, Smolder was feeling the same thing as him. Shaking her head to clear the fear in her mind, she marches over to the corpse and began tugging on the sword.

"Smolder, what are you doing!?" The pony questions his friend's action, it was wrong to disturb the dead.

"Getting. A. Weapon!" With each word, she tugs on the handle harder. "We'll need something, anything, just to fight those things. Yona and the others are out there doing who knows what and they need our help."

"Uh Smolder?"

"What!?" She said as she pulls the sword out, she looks at it with hope, a  chance to fight back the strange golems that lurks about. "Hey, I got it, guys."

Before she could get a comment from her friends, a claw had wrapped around her throat causing her to drop the sword, she was then lifted up to face her assailant. His one visible eye glared into her own, he then whispers a single word.

"Meeeeeeeeaaaaaaaat."
> Meat The Freaks!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luna's eyes snaps open before sitting up on her bed, rudely awakened by a feeling of dread in her heart as she felt an old spell disrupted by an unknown cause, she hops off and quickly piece together her royal attire then teleports herself to the throne room. There she finds her sister Celestia pacing back and forth in front of her throne, the guards and castle staff watched worriedly at their ruler, they have seen her act this way before and it only means trouble. Celestia stops her pacing when Luna had made herself known, she turns to her, a worried look on her face, just like everyone else.

"Luna..." She greeted Luna, but she was too concerned by the situation to show how glad she was to see her sister today.

"I know sister, I can feel it... The beast, he is awake." The ponies around them tensed up at the mention of a beast. "But how could this be possible? He could not have pulled out the sword alone and the entrance should be sealed with our magic, no one could have gotten through!"

"You are correct, unless..." She pauses to think about her theory, but she looks up to her sister. "We have no time for this, gather your best soldiers and meet me at the entrance, I'll send a letter to Twilight to warn her of this threat and ask for assistance."

"At once sister." Luna said before teleporting out of the throne room, Celestia starts writing the letter for Twilight to inform her of the situation, after she sent it away, Celestia sat down on her throne to catch her breath.

She turns to one of the guards in the room. "Guard, call for Flash Magnus, tell him to gather the best warriors in our ranks and bring them to me as quick as possible."

"Yes your highness!" He saluted before running off to pass the order.

She gave out a sigh. "I hope we are not too late."




"Hello!" Ocellus calls out, to anyone behind the metal door, it had already been three minutes since she was separated from the rest and she had started to get worried, she only heard her friends screaming in fear before it went silent.

She looks behind her self to see another door which leads to another cave system, seeing that she had no other way to go, she went off into the cave. Ocellus notices that there was a trail of the same paper that she had started collecting, she picks up a few as she goes by. The insect soon finds herself in a large cavern with a stone bridge that leads across, she looks down below and became amazed by what the cavern holds, just right below her was an underground river that flows towards the darkness. 

The changeling was so enthralled by nature's beauty that she did not noticed a strangely dressed griffon with an equally strange mask watching the river with her. When she looks up, time seems to slow down as the surrounding became black as a wall with a symbol materialized behind the griffon, two captions with different fonts also comes out of nowhere to add on the weirdness level, STEVE, Heyooo!.

Just when time returns to normal, Ocellus stumbles off the stone bridge in shock only to be caught by the griffon.

"Heyoo!" He greeted the changeling as he pulls her back up.

"O-oh, thank you and sorry for that, y-you kind of surprised me there." She said as she rubs her hoof on her eyes, she could have sworn the world changed, and it was really a strange occurrence. "Umm, is your name perhaps, Steve?"

The masked griffon nodded. "Heyoo!"

"I-is that all you say?" She asks, his answer was another nod with 'Heyoo.'. "Oh, alright then. Could you help me please, my friends and I were separated and I need help, so have you seen them?"

Steve place a claw on his chin, he made his claws mimic a horn then flaps them like a pair of wings before pointing at her hind legs, though he does not know that he is a griffon.

"Yes, that's Yona and Silverstream! Do you know where they are?"

Steve nodded, he hold a up two finger or talons in the air, moving it around before wrapping his fist around it.

"They were caught, by who!?" Steve points towards himself. "B-by you!?" Seeing his error Steve shook his head, he then pointed at himself then held out three talons. "They were caught by creatures like you?"

"Heyoo." He said with sadness in his heart, before making his right claw mimic a mouth and pretended to bite his two talons.

Ocellus gasps. "They're going to eat them!? Steve, we can't let them, you have to help me!"

"Heyoo!" He gave her a thumbs up and holds out a strange object.

The object emitted a blue pillar of light, and as her hoof got closer a large holographic box with numbers and words pops up, the name Barbed Orphan Maker. She looks at the blade it had, it seems to be a weapon of some kind.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry Steve, but I would have to say no, I don't really like fighting."

He thinks about her answer before shaking his head. "Heyoo." He motions the weapon towards her.

Seeing that he wouldn't take no for an answer, she reluctantly took the weapon away from his claws with her magic, she was slightly troubled by the weight but she could manage it.

"Alright, if you insist. So can we look for my friends now?"

He gave her a thumbs up. "Heyoo!" Steve then takes out a pickaxe that was painted blue before heading towards the opposite direction that Ocellus came from. Ocellus was about to follow, but a yellow golem with a jar filled of lighting for a head landed in front of him, the same one that chased Yona and Silverstream.

"Steve!" She calls out to him as the golem explodes, sending Steve off the bridge and down towards the underground river.

"Heyooooooooooooooooooo!" He screams as the river took him deeper into the darkness, he flails his blue pickaxe around.

"Steve!?" After a few seconds of silence she hears him say the same thing every time, it sounded like he was okay. "Don't worry Steve, I'll... I'll just go look for my friends, just hang on Steve!"

After a confirming "heyoo!" from Steve, she moves on, keeping an eye open just in case a golem would send her to the same fate as the strange griffon.




"Smolder!" Both Gallus and Sandbar call out to their friend who was in the now awake dragon's grip.

Just when Sandbar was about to rush in, he was pulled back by the griffon, Gallus shook his head at the pony.

"Stay here, it's too dangerous!"

"But Smolder needs our help!" He reasoned.

"Have you been in a fight before!?" When he was given no answer, he lightly shoves Sandbar back. "Then stay here where it's safer!"

The larger dragon chuckles deeply at the piece of meat he had caught, he was too busy doing that so he couldn't really notice the other two arguing. "Little piggy, little piggy, get in my BELLY!"

He lifts his mask slightly to uncover his mouth and smiled, Smolder thrashed in his grip, she tried to claw and kick to escape but the grip around her throat did not loosen. He opens his mouth wide enough and prepared to bite her frontal lobe off, but he was distracted by movement at the corner of his eye, using his free claw he catches the sword that could've impaled him by the blade, his claw bled a little due to the sharpness. His head turns towards Gallus, the griffon's claws were around the sword's handle, and has fear written all over his face.

"Meat buzzard!" He excitedly shouted before using the smaller dragon as a throwable, he successfully knocks Gallus off the sword as Smolder collided with him, the larger dragon then lifts the weapon high in the air before slamming it down on the ground, shattering it to pieces. "No sleeping beauty blood shiv for you!"

He rushes forward, still holding a shard of the sword on his bleeding claw. Gallus quickly pushes the still recovering Smolder out of the way from the charging beast, when Gallus tries to move himself, he was kicked right at his side sending him far away from the kicker. Before the beast could walk over to the downed griffon, he was suddenly caught on fire, he turns around to see Smolder standing there.

He laughs loudly again as he stomps over to her, when he got closer to Smolder, she took to the air to make distance between them, a deep growl sounded out of him.

"I'm gonna kill you all, I'm gonna kill your friends and your family, I'm gonna track down your grandparents and turn them inside-out, nobody can stop the blood train that will turn your loved ones into a red splatter across the tracks of humanity!" He ranted as he threw the shard of metal, only to miss her.

"Dude, what is your problem!? And why are you on fire!?" Smolder asks him before breathing out more fire, this proved to be a grave mistake as a magical fireball suddenly came out of him and flew directly at her, she tried dodging but it only followed her so she tried to out maneuver it. The plan worked as she rounded a rock and the fireball hits it instead as she turns the corner, but she had flew right into a burning dragon's palm, as she was held by the face the beast slams his other fist into her abdomen then she was realesed.

She crumbles on the ground, feeling pain on her body as the larger dragon looms over her, still burning on the spot. She closes her eyes shut and waited for what comes next, but nothing happened, she opens her eyes and looks up to find him walking away.

"Flesh buzzard tastes better." He mutters as he heads towards Gallus.

"N-no! Don't you dare!" Smolder tried standing up, but she could still feel the punch. "Please!"

Her plead was only ignored as the beast walks closer to the griffon, and that was the last straw for Sandbar, he steps right between his friend and enemy.

Gallus looks at Sandbar. "Didn't I tell you to hide!"

"I can't just stand aside when my friends are in danger!" He reasons with Gallus. "I won't let you get to him!"

The dragon tilted his head to the side as the fire on him dies out, clearly confused by something, he then took a step closer to the pony. Smolder and Gallus looks away, too afraid to witness the fate of their friend, but they look back when they heard nothing. They now witness a terrified Sandbar in the dragon's claws as he inspected the pony, after he was done he gently sets Sandbar down behind him and continues over to Gallus, Sandbar quickly once again steps in front of the beast.

"I won't let you hurt my friend!"

Now the dragon was even more confused. "Friend? Pony are friends with meat buzzard?" Sandbar fearfully nodded. "Why are you friends with meat buzzard!?"

Sandbar contemplated his question. "Oh uh... Because we are?" Gallus slaps a claw on to his face.

The beast points back at Smolder who was slowly getting back up. "Flame bucket?"

"Yes, Smolder is my friend also."

The beast was silent for a minute, before he stomps his feet on the ground like a child. "Grrr. Pony and meat buzzard, pony and flame bucket!? I don't understand!" With everything said and done, he grumpily walks over to a pile of junk and started shifting through it.

Sandbar quickly helps Gallus up as Smolder walks up to them. "What just happened?" She asks the two.

"I... I think he listened to Sandbar..."

They turn towards the pony. "Don't look at me, I don't even know what happened."

"So that's it, he just stops trying to eat us?" Smolder said while eyeing the large dragon. "And are we suppose to ignore the fact he threatened to kill all my friends and relatives?"

"Guys, I think he's actually nice." Said Sandbar.

Gallus looks at him with a brow raised. "Easy for you to say, he doesn't want to eat you."

Meanwhile, while the three were talking to each other behind his back, the beast shifted through the pile of junk looking for a particular weapon, just as he hits the bottom of the pile, a familiar voice spoke.

*Krieg.*

He growls loudly, startling the three creatures, Sandbar steps closer while his friends were trying to stop him. "Umm mister dragon, what's wrong?"

The dragon, now named Krieg, snaps his head towards them. "Little man is back in my head!" They first were quiet, the three don't really know how to respond to that. 

"And he's crazy!" Smolder holds out a hand towards him.

*krieg, who and what are these things? And where's our dick?* Krieg slams his head against the wall. *Dude, what are you doing?*

After watching him slamming his against the wall so much that it was starting to go red, he stood straight up and menacingly walks over the three. Gallus and Smolder, though they care enough for Sandbar, they chose to put him between them and the dragon.

"Little man wants to know your gravestone." They look at him with confusion. "Names!"

Gallus and Smolder didn't really want to talk with him, but Sandbar was much more trusting. "Oh, I'm Sandbar, its nice to meet you! Guys, come on and introduce yourselves."

"Gallus." He said reluctantly.

"Smolder." The dragon said through her teeth.

Sandbar then motions to Krieg. "Now its your turn!" He said while smiling.

"Krieg. Are you happy little man!?" He shouted to the unkillable voice.

*Very.*

"Oh no," Smolder catches everyone's attention. "Ocellus and the others are still missing!"

*Missing people? They could use our help.*

"No!" Krieg slams a fist into his face. "I won't help them, finding my gut stabber comes first!"

Sandbar turns to his friends. "Wait, this could be good, he can help us fight those yellow things!"

At the mention of fighting, Krieg hops over to Sandbar. "Who do you want dead!?"

Gallus and Smolder looks towards each other, before turning to Krieg who was shaking Sandbar for information.

"This could get messy." Both of them say at the same time.




"Ladies and gentlemen!" A pony mare with a mask addresses the crowd of creatures that were different species. The mare was hairless aside from her blue fur, on both her shoulders were circular saw blades, and around her neck was a necklace of ears.

"We have gathered here today to celebrate, for our god has brought to us-" She motions a hoof towards a cage containing a yak and a hippogriff. "-visitors from the surface!" The crowd cheers at the sight of the newcomers.

"Oh, hi!" Silverstream waves from behind the bars. "Also, why are we in the cage?"




The four creatures had exited the cavern where they have discovered Krieg in, it had proven difficult for the larger dragon to fit through the small door, but they had manage to get him out. And as Sandbar had predicted, Krieg had shown that he alone could take the yellow golems down on his own, and his enjoyment to the destruction he creates had slightly made the two non pony concerned. Right now they were watching him smashing a golem with a jar of lightning against the door that separated them with the rest of their friend, the golem explodes and destroys the door, but Krieg was still standing.

"I'm here to shank and smile!" He said as he jumps through the door way and punches a random golem who was minding it's own business to pieces.

The other three follows him as he runs down the direction that they did not explore, during their walk, Krieg had kept conversing with himself.

"I really have a bad feeling about this guy." The griffon said, glancing behind him a few times for more golems.

"I know right?" The smaller and inferior dragon spoke. "Every time I look at him, I feel threatened for some reason."

"When someone could rip you from limb from limb, why wouldn't you be?" He turns to the pony of the group. "What about you Sandbar, how do you feel about this?"

Sandbar looks ahead to see Krieg trying to open another door, but he was using his head, literally. "I don't know, I just feel safe around him."

"He is the opposite of safe." When Smolder stated the fact, the door Krieg was on just opens revealing the adorable changeling, still carrying the weapon. "Ocellus!"

They all rushed to her side and embraced the changeling in their arms, while this happened, Krieg stared intently at the gun that floated by her.

"Guys!" Ocellus break their wholesome moment. "I need help, Yona and Silverstream have been caught!"

The three gasps out loud. "Those yellow things!?" Gallus questions.

She shook her head. "I didn't know what he means, but Steve said creatures like him had caught them." Then the changeling had remembered something. "Oh no, Steve!"

"Steve?" Smolder asked.

"Steve!?" Came from Krieg.

"Heyoo!" The creatures except for Krieg jumps back from the sudden appearance of a griffon, but for the the ones who has not met Steve, they felt and saw the same thing Ocellus had witnessed when she met the griffon. "Heyoo!"

"Did... did you all see that?" Gallus asks his friends as he rubs his eyes.

"I thought I was catching Krieg's crazy." Smolder said while looking around, still seeing the symbol.

"Steve!" Both Ocellus and Krieg spoke, feeling glad that the griffon is safe.

Steve motions them to follow him. "Follow Steve guys, he knows where Yona and Silverstream are!" Ocellus tells her friends before chasing after the griffon, seeing that there was no other choice, the four quickly tailed the two to save the yak and hippogriff.




"How are you liking the fried eggs?" The masked mare asked. Behind the cage was Silverstream, happily eating said eggs from a wooden plate, Yona was more skeptical to endulge herself to these eggs.

"Oh, these are wonderful!"

"Your words really pleases our community, especially Mary." She points towards a griffon that dressed just like Steve on a nest right next to a stove, Mary waves at the three before clenching her claws as she lays an egg.

At that, Yona felt even more against the plate, as for Silverstream, she waves back at the griffon before turning to Yona. "Are you gonna eat that?"

"Eat up my friends, we need you to be ready for the next event." The masked mare menacingly whispers as her followers were gathering wood fragments behind her.
> The Beast, The Legend
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yona sat silently in the cage, her friend Silverstream was currently eating her tenth plate of egg related meals, it did not sit well at all that they were saved only to be thrown into a cage and be fed with eggs. She feels a strange feeling in her guts, and it wasn't hunger. The yak look over to the leader of the community, the pony was currently talking to an obese minotaur with a metal helmet, whatever they were talking about is unknown to Yona.

"Friend?" Silverstream looks up towards Yona from her food. "Yak does not like this, and the other creatures."

Silverstream tilted her head. "But why? They are treating us so nice, the food is good and this cage is so comfy!"

"The cage is what Yona does not like, yak could feel deep evil in everyone here."

"They are a bit... odd." She said as she watches a hippogriff wearing the same mask as the leader, slams his club against his own face.

"Kill the kittens! Kill them with my bloody sadness!" The hippogriff shouted, still slamming his club against his face.

Silverstream's eyes widens. "Oh my god, they want to hurt kittens!" She turns back towards Yona. "We have to get out of here!"

"You wish to leave?" They both turn to see the leader standing in front of their cage, two ponies with similar masks by her side. "But we haven't started preparing the final meal, it would truly be bad if you leave now."

"Oh, well we could stay for one last meal, right Yona?" The yak rapidly shakes her head no. "What are we having?"

"Silverstream and Yona adobo."

"Say what now?"



Meanwhile, in the secret hideout of the diabolical group Legion of Doom, Lex Grogar was occupied with his magical crystal ball. Two of his companions were currently arguing again, he could barely focus on his work by their useless arguments, before he could yell and scold them to stop, his crystal ball had reveal to him a symbol. The vault symbol.

"No." He muttered under his breath, but the pony of the group had heard him.

"What's wrong Grogar? You sounded like some big bad came back that isn't you." As Cozy Glow had started speaking, Chrysalis and Tirek had stop their bickering, they too were curious.

Instead of answering, he had just repeated saying "No." over and over, and as he yells out the final "NO!" he slams both his hooves on the table.

The three recoiled at his sudden outburst, only Cozy was brave enough to get close. "Umm, what's got you all riled up mister Grogar?"

"This!" He points towards his crystal ball, now it shows an army of griffons.

"I'm sorry, but what are we looking at?" Chrysalis asks him, but her question was soon answered by what came next, a dragon ripping one of the soldier's head.

The three once again recoiled back, Tirek instinctively covered Cozy's eyes as the next image shown the dragon using a griffon's own intestines to choke said griffon.

"By the gods Grogar, Cozy is just a child!" Tirek yells at the old ram.

"She will see this soon enough if we do not do anything about it!"

"What do you mean Grogar?" The pony said, eyes still covered by Tirek. "And why am I not allowed to see?"

"What you three are seeing now is the missing record of the pony and griffon war. This dragon is known as Krieg, the Kin Slayer."

"I have not heard of him." Said Tirek.

"Same, but he is quite brutal." The changeling commented. Grogar's crystal ball began shifting, to tell the short history of Krieg.

"That is because Celestia had wiped out his part of Equestrian history from the archives! She had then brought him to an unknown location, and had sealed him just right before Nightmare Moon had been banished, he was forever lost in time. Forgotten by those he protected."

"I don't understand mister Grogar, what made you so worried about him? He could still be sealed." Cozy Glow said while lifting Tirek's hand away.

"Because he is free you dolt! He is currently near Ponyville, and once he begins his rampage, not even the princesses could defeat him."

"Then why don't you try and- How you say?- 'convince' him to join our group of villains? He is betrayed by Celestia." Chrysalis had suggested to the ram. "I have spoken and battled with his kind before, it would be too easy."

His glare shifted to the bug, Chrysalis looks away unwilling to make eye contact. "He cannot be reason with you fool, so I have a better idea, you will keep a close eye on him until I could think of a plan on how to deal with this threat. But I will watch over you in case he tries to rip your carapace apart, now begone!" Before she could speak, Grogar had already sent her near Ponyville, he turns towards the remaining members. "Let me educate you on who Krieg the Beast is..."





Back with our heroes, they were nearing to where their friends had been taken, they have left the Hyperion area, so there were no golems to encounter.

"Say Steve," Gallus calls for the attention of the other griffon, Steve looks back and gave him a 'heyoo'. "how come your name starts with an 's', and not with a 'g'?"

He would have gotten an answer, but Steve only says one word. Seeing that this would not go anywhere, Gallus goes back to being quiet, and let Krieg do the talking.

*Krieg, answer me, where are we and why are we a dragon!?"

"Strip the flesh!" Gallus was really getting tired by his constant shouting.

*Fine, but you'll have to give me an answer soon.*

During their walk, Krieg kept close to Ocellus, the changeling glances at him, disturbed by how he was just staring at her. "Umm, who is this exactly? Not to be rude mister dragon."

"That's Krieg, just keep an eye on him." Smolder said, not even looking back. "Also, she's a friend Krieg, so no funny business."

"Oh," Ocellus turns to Krieg and smiles sheepishly. "it's nice to meet you, I-Im Ocellus."

"What do you taste like?" Ocellus looks forward, she could not form any words in response to his question.

*Krieg, leave the poor girl alone.*

"I don't want to leave her alone, I want the shiny!" He argues back at himself with a claw pointed at the weapon, seeing this, Ocellus reluctantly motions the weapon towards him. Krieg let out a giggle of appreciation as he swipes the weapon away, he swings it around while laughing like a child on his birthday, Krieg turns back towards Ocellus and menacingly says. "Loooove yooouu."

"Y-youre welcome." She awkwardly said before walking faster to get away from him.

They soon arrive at an entrance, Steve held up a talon in front of his face to tell them to be quiet for what comes next, the six of them soon silently entered. Inside was astonishing, houses and more were built everywhere, even against the walls of the large cavern. All sort of creatures lived in the underground town, but what was more noticeable was how most of them wore similar masks, there were other creatures that even dressed like Steve. 

"What is this place?" Gallus asks as he sees a few griffons fighting.

"Smells like home." Was Krieg's answer.

Suddenly a loud siren fills the air, and the creatures stops what they were doing and heads towards the center of their town. They watched as a diverse number of creatures moves, the young four were both amazed and worried by the sheer amount of strangers, the six of them follows the crowd a few feet away to keep the element of surprise.

They soon were behind a wooden fence with enough holes for the six to see through, close enough to see what the occasion was, there right at the center was their friends who were in a cage.

"There they are, but how are we going to get them?" Smolder whispers to the others.

"We need to think one up fast, Steve says that they're going to eat them." Ocellus said, putting pressure on the group.



"Ladies and gentlemen!" The masked mare spoke, she stood right on top a stone table that had blood stained on it, close to her was the cage that held Yona and Silverstream. "Today, we will celebrate the day that our god has given us a sign, a sign that he will rescue us from this world from itself and bring with him his weapons! Weapons that could burn this land to ashes, and bring these herectics to justice with his mighty blade as he vanquish the false gods into oblivion. And that sign is, these surface dwellers!"

The whole crowds cheered, while Silverstream and Yona cowers helplessly in the cage for there is nothing they could do.

"This is a sign, that the barrier has finally died and we can run free from this prison, long have we yearned to bask in the sun's light. Sleep under the stars, witness more things than this stone surface, we will feast upon more than just fish, eggs, and the random bits we find near the shrine of our god!"

The mare turns towards her captives, the two ponies from before returns with a wooden case that was decorated with different symbols. "But before we do, we shall feast upon the gifts our god has given!" With that, the crowd cheers wildly, excited for the event.

"How about," The crowd went silent as the hippogriff spoke. "you don't cook us! Ain't that a great idea?"

"But I want to taste the meat!" A pony from the crowd spoke.

"I want cow, beef is superior meat!" An obese minotaur said.

"I'm just tired of eggs! No offense Mary!"

"None taken!"

"Food, food, FOOD!"

"Kittens! Kill! All! Kittens!" Said another.

Silverstream tilted her head. "But why, why would you want kittens to die, they are just the cutest!?"

"Well I uh... SH*T! She's right."

"Enough!" The leader spoke. "We wasted too much time, bring out the ceremonial blade to CUT- Ahem, carve these creatures to smaller pieces!"

The two ponies who were holding the box opens it, they then brought out a very iconic weapon from the box. Back at our heroes, the fence they were behind had started to shake, they look over to Krieg as he shook with rage at the sight of the ceremonial weapon. The five then tries to calm him down or else he would blow their cover and ruin the advantage of stealth. Sadly they could not as Krieg shatters the wooden fence with his fist, he let out a mighty roar causing everyone in the area to turn their attention to them, Sandbar awkwardly waves.

"THAT'S! MY! GUT STABBER!" He pulls out his gun and ready himself for a fight, but nothing came.

The crowd stared at him with eyes open wide, and their mouths hung, before erupting to cheers. Our heroes all felt confused by their reaction, even the damsels in distress. The leader immediately ran over to Krieg, the ceremonial blade in her hooves.

"Long have I wished that I live to see the day, that our god awakens, and here you are! We have thought the Hyperion machines had destroyed you shrine!" She falls onto her knees, and raised the buzz axe to Krieg. "Oh lord, please accept this act as a sign of our devotion for you, we will be loyal and follow your every command if you open the doors of Valhalla!" She then went on with a very long speech that the rest of the cult seems to listen to. "Lord Krieg, the Wing Eater, Feather Scorcher, the Sky Conquerer!"

During her long speech, the young four and Steve used the distraction to break out their friends from their imprisonment.

"Friends! Yak is happy that you are fine!"

"Uh, who is that anyways?" Silverstream asks the others.

Gallus was the one to answer as they sneaked towards a spot that no one seem to look at. "That's Krieg, and he's nuts."

"We sorta just found him with a sword in his chest, Smolder and Gallus fought him, but I convince him to not hurt them." Sandbar gave a much longer explanation.

"Okay then, but who-" Silverstream went silent when she and Yona glances at Steve. "Oh."

"Yona no understand."

"Heyoo!"

Back with the cult leader. "And bring us to the lands of paradise as we bring you sacrifices. For we are, The Passengers of the Poop Train!" The young six froze on their spot as the whole crowd had started chanting the name of their cult.

"Did they just say what I think they just say?" Ocellus turns towards the closest creature, Steve.

"Heyoo!" He answered.

Krieg was enjoying the attention he was having, he holster his shotgun on his back and took the buzz axe in his claws. "I am the conductor of the poop train!"

*You do remember about the Firehawks, right? They didn't turn out so well.*

The mare then motions everyone to make room, the crowd took a few steps back giving enough room for a big fight. At this, a cream brown coated mare from the crowd hops out, she wore the same mask as well. Her legs were armored with scrap metal, her yellow mane was long, unkept, and frizzled, last detail was the scars that was all over her.

"Is it time!?" She excitedly asked, and when the leader nodded, she squealed before running off. "It's time, it's time, IT'S TIME!"

The leader steps back into the crowd before turning towards her god. "And as a celebration for your return, we offer you a battle against our champion, who we trained both mind and body for battle!" Krieg lifts his arms to the sky, roaring loudly, the crowd follows suit.

"Wait," Smolder said, eyes watching Krieg. "they're gonna make them fight?"

"If this cult worships this guy, then it's obviously a death match." Gallus gave her his thoughts on the subject.

Sandbar turns towards his friends. "We can't let him do that, killing is wrong!"

"Sandbar!" Smolder snaps at him with a snarl. "These freaks were going to eat our friends, then I say we let them fight."

Gallus and Yona nodded, agreeing with Smolder's opinion, Ocellus was still contemplating, while Steve and Silverstream was just watching Krieg. Then they all heard a loud roar that didn't belong to anyone in the crowd, or even Krieg, out of nowhere, a black manticore lands right in front of Krieg, the mare from before was riding it. Then what they felt from seeing Steve had also returned, but with chocolate decorated background and colors, Sweet Mint, Rotting more than teeth!.

"Oh my god!" Gallus cries out. "I really hope that there aren't anymore of that."

"Little man, can I play with the kitty cat!?" Said Krieg as he grips his axe tightly.

"Look, he's speaking to the god of wisdom!" Someone had said from the crowd.

Smolder frowns. "Wisdom is what he doesn't have."

*They wanted to eat Sandbar's friends, so my answer? Break a leg.*

Krieg started making strange noises, excited for a promising fight, he laughs out loud as he charges towards the manticore with his axe raised in the air. The manticore leaps away from him and used his scorpion tail to strike, Krieg rolls to the side and swung his axe down on the tail, it barely left a scratch. The mare on top pulls out a flame Maliwan rocket launcher, she fires off a few shots but she had missed, which cause an explosions which startled the young six for they have not seen such a weapon.

"What is that!" Gallus asks the others, but none of them could give him the answer, except for a a masked pony.

"That's called a rocket launcher." The young six and Steve were startled by the unexpected guest. Before they could do any thing, the mare raises their hooves in the air. "W-wait, I don't want trouble!"

"Same here, but we can't have it all, can we!?" Said Smolder as she prepares herself to burn the pony, no matter the consequences.

"N-no please! I have only been here for three months!" She took off her mask, and gave them a joyful smile. "I-I'm Carrot Top." She said, a single tear run down her cheek.

Sandbar gasps loudly. "Carrot Top!?"

Back with Krieg, he was having a great time right now, the manticore proved to be a strong enemy for him while Sweet Mint happily shot rockets at him. This counts as a total win for the psycho. Krieg ducks down from the manticore's claws, as he stands back up, he threw a punch directly at one of the beast's eyes, blinding it for a second. It was enough time for Krieg to swing his axe and land a few hits, the beast staggers back to avoid his next strike, Sweet Mint then landed a shot right on him, but that was a terrible mistake.

"I don't understand, how come they didn't eat you? Not that its a bad thing." Gallus said as the battle continues on.

Carrot Top looks towards the yak and hippogriff. "That's because I passed the test. You see, when I first arrived here, they asked me what was the first thing I saw when I got teleported here. And it was him." She points towards the battle, Krieg was playing around with the manticore while on fire. "I don't know what brought me here, but I was forced to learn these things, guns, monsters, and worst of all, Krieg's history."

"What for?"

"For war."

Sweet Mint was having trouble, just like what she had learned since the day she had started training, her god was powerful. But that won't stop her, she will fight to please him, she will fight to gain entrance to Valhalla. No matter what.

Krieg lifts his left arm over his head to block the manticore's massive paw, he kicks it's hind legs back, causing the manticore to drop on the ground. He uses this moment to toss his axe right at Sweet Mint, she reacted quickly and used her rocket launcher to block, but the strength behind the throw causes the mare to fall off the manticore. The manticore recovered quickly, it jumps away from Krieg and began to circle the dragon, it's rider stood back up from the ground and watches her mount standing off against her god. The beast pounces at Krieg with claws and fangs ready, but he was also ready, Krieg took one of the grenades he had on his belt and shoves it down the manticore's throat. Krieg let out a maniacal laugh, arm still in the manticore, the animal tried to pry him off but Krieg took hold on it's head to keep it from escaping. Suffocation is what would have killed it, but the timer on the grenade had ran out, one explosion was all it took to decapitated the manticore, the head still around Krieg's arm as he laugh louder than the crowd cheering.

"How can I snap your neck if you don't have one!?" He asks the corpse as the head slips off his arm.

The young six were lucky that Steve and Carrot Top had pulled them all away to avoid witnessing the manticore's fate, Smolder tried to take a peak to see if it was over, but Steve kept her still, shaking his head as the crowd started chanting "KILL!". Krieg walked over to the champion, Sweet Mint drops her rocket launcher to the ground and waited.

At this, Sandbar attempted to stop this, but Steve wouldn't let him. "Let me go! We need to stop him!"

"Do that, and everyone here will just shoot you." Carrot Top warns him of the fate he will have for preventing what the cult wants. "Seen a few ponies and others try, but they all just..." She stops herself not wanting to remember a few names, she then stood up to watch it happen, being surrounded by psychos had changed her slightly.

The rest of the young six just looks at the ground, Sandbar holds his hooves over his ears and waited.

Krieg grabs hold of her right foreleg and lifted her to eye level. "You, live." With that, he drops her and picks up the Maliwan, which was a Puissant Pyrophobia. "A golden mallet for the meat pounding!" He holster the rocket launcher before walking towards the cult leader.

*Krieg, that's different. I'd imagine you would rip her apart.*

"She is undeserving, I can feel it, these meat sacks around her had made her into this!" He quickens his pace, swiping the buzz axe from the ground as he passes it.

The cult leader knew what her god was planning, so she lifts her forelegs in welcome for what's to come, when the beast reached her he swung down his axe right on her skull. It was not enough to kill her. Though it was their leader being executed, the crowd cheered nonetheless as Krieg let go of his axe to grab the forelegs, with one pull, he rips out the legs out of its sockets. The mare did not scream, only laughed as she accepted her fate, Krieg then pulls her mask down to shove his shotgun in her mouth, he pulls the trigger causing the undamaged side of her head to splatter against the wall. He then pulls the axe out of her skull to behead the corpse with one swing, during all this, Krieg did not laugh or show enjoyment for the mare's death.

"You, all!" He adresses the crowd. "Stay!" He looks towards the obese minotaur and punches the helmet off before running towards the others. The goliath began turning red as he became exetremely angry.

*What the hell!? You're just gonna leave the pony you spared to die!?*

"Yes, she is too far gone little man! But if she was a Tannis, then she lives another life cycle!" He slides next to Sandbar, shotgun pointed at Carrot Top.

"Wait, don't shoot!" Carrot Top pleaded, and he listened. "T-thank you, follow me, I know another exit!"

The young six didn't look at Krieg as they followed the pony to the surfaces. Though Sandbar sometimes glances back at Krieg with a sadness and disbelief in his eyes. They all could hear the gunfire from the town as the goliath wreak havoc on the citizens.




An hour had gone by, the underground town was already too far from them, Carrot Top had led everyone to a very conveniently large elevator that was going straight to the surface. During their ride, Sandbar decided to cut the tension by starting a conversation, mainly towards the larger dragon.

"Hey Krieg, why were you down here anyway?"

*Yeah Krieg, why were you down there?*

Krieg looks him dead in the eyes. "Celestia." The young six froze completely still, for their time together, Krieg only called them by strange names like sweet bug, bird horse, or fluffy cow. But he had never called anyone by name. "She had brought me here to sleep, Celestia had betrayed me, sent me into the pits of hell to rot and be forgotten! Even though I protected them... And if I see her, I WILL KILL HER WITH MY GUNS AND PLAY HOPSCOTCH IN HER CHEST CAVITY!" He started breathing heavily as he shook with rage, he walked away to the edge to start ranting about unrelated things.

"We need to tell the princess, quick." Gallus whispers to the others.

Smolder nodded. "Yeah, this guy is dangerous."

"Guys wait." They all turn to Sandbar, even Steve and Carrot Top. "I know and understand who or what Krieg is, but we shouldn't just sell him out."

Yona quickly took the pony in her hooves. "Is Sandbar crazy!? This beast is evil!"

He shook his head. "You think he's evil, but he protected us, and we should be grateful for it. Without him, you and Silverstream would have been eaten by those creatures. He helped us and now he needs our help."

"Sandbar, you're too nice to him!" The griffon said to him.

"He's right," The hippogriff spoke. "we would have never gotten away if it weren't for him."

"I also agree." They turn to the changeling, surprised by her opinion for the subject. "He may be a psychotic, destructive, murderous, monster. But he did all the things just to protect us, and Krieg says that he was betrayed for being such is why we should be kind to him, he just wanted to be appreciated for his deeds. He just needs to be set to the right path."

Yona looks towards the beast. "Ocellus is right, yak might not be big dragon, but yak knows what different feels. So Yona agrees with Sandbar."

Smolder pinches the bridge of her snout. "I hate to say it, but I have to agree too, he was very helpful."

They all turn to the Griffon and waited for a response, he let out a heavy sigh before facing them. "Alright, fine, we owe him big for helping our butts. But if we want to do this, then everyone here needs to promise not to tell the princesses." He said mainly towards Steve and Carrot Top.

"Heyoo!"

"If you kids think you could handle him, then I won't tell anyo-anypony. I rather forget everything that happened down there."

"Thanks Carrot Top!" Sandbar smiled to everyone. "Also thanks everyone. But how are we going to do this?"

"We keep him away from Celestia, duh. Then we make sure he doesn't run off to who knows where." Smolder informs him of her simple plan, while Ocellus went over to Krieg to talk with him, with one thing running on everyone's mind.

"This has been a long afternoon."




"Shining, dear?" Cadance calls for her husband's attention from across the table, she was worried since he was staring at his bowl of cereal for minutes.

Why he was doing so? Well, he was currently seeing things, such as a ghost of a strange looking pony dunking their non existent hoof in his cereal repeatedly while talking on and on.

"-A fricking spoon! And I'm dying laughing, right? So I scoop out his stupid little eyeballs with it, and his kids are all, 'waaahh!', and, he can't see where he's going, he's bumping in to stuff, and ah... I don't know, maybe you had to be there."
> Mistakenly Painful
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia and her sister Luna were currently traversing the cave they have sealed Krieg in, but something was terribly wrong, the journey to his area was much shorter than now. The alicorn sisters look towards each other, fearful of the unknown. Flash Magnus was in front of the princesses instead of leading the group, in his place he had chosen a guard who had experience in spelunking, ironically, his name was Cave Dweller. As for Twilight who was next to the sisters, Celestia had told her not to bring her friends, her reason was that Twilight was the only one needed for this task.

"I'm sorry princess but that is highly impossible." The lavender alicorn spoke, her voice echoed in the cave. "I mean, how could he possibly bring down a castle on his own?"

"Krieg is an anomaly," Said Luna as she watches her bat ponies at the back in the darkness, silently following and acting as an ambush in case they encounter something strange. "he would fight for weeks without feeling any fatigue. I have witness the griffons fearing him because of that myself, it was during his assault on the fifth fort that they have taken."

Celestia nodded, agreeing with her sister. "That is not all, he had invaded the dragon lands and slaughtered dozens of his own kind, he could easily bring down a thousand year old dragon without breaking a sweat."

Twilight placed a hoof on her chin, thinking about their words. "If you say its true, then this means that he's as strong as a country of soldiers. But why erase everything?"

Celestia looks away from her prodigy. "I felt shame, I could have dealt with the war peacefully, but I had sent that beast instead. The soldiers and dragons he had killed haunted my dreams for days, their dying scream, it always echoes in my mind. After I had gotten rid of him, for the first time since he had came, I have slept peacefully... Until Nightmare Moon happened."

Luna stared at the ground, the soldiers around them tried not to listen, but they did, so their morale had slightly decreased. Before Twilight could ask more questions, Cave Dweller calls out to everyone, right ahead in the distance was a light, so they wasted no time to investigate. When they arrived, they discover six lanterns placed right in front of a strange structure that the sisters were even more troubled about, they had not seen this before. But that wasn't the only thing there, leaning against the wall was a pony wearing a very iconic mask, Cave Dweller gasps loudly as he recognizes him.

"Cookie Dough!?"

Flash Magnus quickly placed his hoof against Cave Dweller before he could run towards the pony. "Easy there soldier, who is he?"

"That's my brother in law, he went missing two years ago."

Flash shook his head. "No one get close to him, I can smell  something awful."

Before anyone could do anything, the pony suddenly woke up due to the noise.

"Huh!? Who wake up Cookie!? I shank noisy alarm clock!" Cookie stood up on two hooves and took out a broken sword that was glued back together.

Luna gasps loudly. "Sister, that is the Peace Keeper!" She stops Twilight from speaking, knowing what her next words are. "It was a prototype sword, enchanted with a spell that puts anyone cut by the blade to sleep, sadly it could only work when you impale them."

"Yes," Celestia spoke. "I used that sword to put him in eternal sleep, I had thought he would have died years after, but he is still alive to this day."

Cookie looks at the sister and began laughing, the large group of soldiers readies their weapons, unnerved by his laughter. "So it is true, our god has awakened, and now Sol and Mani have entered the prison! The prophecy has already begun!"

"Prophecy?" Asked Twilight.

"Cookie, it's me! Cave Dweller!" The guard tried to calm his brother in law down.

"Cookie remember, Cookie shall go home with your head as gift for my beloved!" He said as he charges forward with the sword, before he could get close enough, Celestia quickly took hold of him with her magic and suspended the pony in air, unable to move. "Sol dares to stop blood quenching, Sol will die first by the hand of my god, as dictated by the PROPHECY!"

"Tell me more of this prophecy." Celestia demanded from him.

"Fool, this is only day one! Soon, pandora's box shall open and release it's terrors that are beyond our kind! Then the purple blight shall consume the dragon lands, leaving nothing! Our god shall finish his job and eradicate the griffons, just as destiny dictates!" He gave out a chuckle. "Lastly he shall come to strip your flesh from your bones, as for Mani, he shall feast upon her tender, and juicy meat."

"Princess?" Twilight called for her attention, she looks away from the psycho to see a group of creatures coming out from the giant doorway, all wielding weapons that the sun alicorn had only seen once. What Celestia says next had shocked Twilight to the core, it was something that she did not expect from the alicorn, her mentor.

"Kill them."




When the nine creatures had finally reached the surface, they have discovered that they were in a small forest near Carrot Top's farm, said pony had already rushed home without even saying goodbye, they couldn't really blame her since she was stuck underground for three months. As for Steve, he decided to go on a journey to see what Equestria was like, not before giving Gallus a gift. A f*cking Caustic Infinity, this not only made Krieg jealous but also Smolder, as for Gallus, he felt invincible.

After they parted ways with Steve, they all returned to their spot to discover that a bear had raided the ice box for their fish, after it ran away from Krieg, they all decided to just eat what they had. Everyone was glad that they could have a bite, especially Krieg, the dragon shovels the food and gems into his mouth, the latter made the person in his head confused. Though they had witnessed some disturbing stuff, that could not hold them back from enjoying the snacks and the moment. Gallus still wanted fish. The griffon looks over to Ocellus who was scribbling on a piece of paper with an orange and red crayon.

"Hey Ocellus, what'cha doin'?" He asks her as his friends started cleaning up and preparing to leave.

The changeling smiled and presented him her work, it was a cutely drawn picture of Krieg with orange crayon, the inside was heavily shaded with red crayon that nearly reaches to the top.

"Oh, well I was just making a Krieg chart to show how much bad level he has!" She looks at it with a frown. "His bad level is really high."

"I am a badass!" Ocellus yelps as Krieg had suddenly shouted right next to her. "Woops, sorry sweet bug."

"Its okay Krieg." She assures him that it was fine as she scribbles red crayon onto the chart. The others were ready to go home, but a certain inferior dragon had something to say.

"Alright everyone," Smolder spoke, catching everyone's attention. "next on the agenda is home. We can't keep Krieg in our dorms, so where do we let him sleep?"

"How about we let dragon live in forest?" Yona suggested.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Silverstream said as she held an empty basket. "Why don't we ask professor Fluttershy to keep him in her shed?"

"She won't let anyone in her shed, and besides, we need to keep him away from Headmare Twilight and the princesses, so that means we shouldn't let Krieg near the professors." Ocellus spoke as she packs up her work.

Sandbar thought about it before getting an idea. "I think I have a plan, follow me."

Before they could ask for more details, Sandbar had already trotted towards town, so they had to follow the pony. Krieg followed them but on a much slower pace, Ocellus saw this so she decided to keep him company, the dragon showed his appreciation by shouting something unrelated.

"NIPPLE SALADS!"

As they neared the town, Gallus decided to test out his new gun, he mimics how Krieg holds his shotgun and aim towards a tree they were getting closer to. He pulls and held on the trigger as it pushes him back with the recoil, Gallus releases the trigger when he falls on to his back, he looks up to see the damage he had done. Smolder and the others were in awe by the effect it had, the bark of the tree turned to liquid as it melts down to the roots with a green shade of slime, now the dragon was even more jealous, she wished that Steve had given her something. 

Minutes went by and they have reached the town, just when Sandbar was about to tell them his plan, the young five had came face to face with the resident dragon and his guest as the two rounded a corner. Time slows down for an introduction, an erupting volcano sat at the background behind Ember as the captions slides in, Dragon Lord Ember!, Spike was poorly inserted into the picture, And Spike.

The five blinks repeatedly, still not used with the strange occurrence.

"Oh, Smolder!" Ember greeted them.  "What's up?"

"Ember!" The dragon said, surprised that the dragon princess was in Ponyville.

"Hey there everyone!" The smallest dragon waved, the others gave their greeting to him.

"Wait, when did you come to Ponyville?" Smolder asks Ember.

"You don't know?" Spike spoke. "I'd imagine that Sandbar would have told you." Smolder looked over to the pony, he quickly looks away innocently while whistling a tune. "So where's Ocellus?"

Before Smolder or Gallus could answer, Silverstream answered first. "Oh, she's with Krieg!" The young four slaps their faces as their friend just mentioned the beast.

"Krieg?" Both Ember and Spike asked them.

"Krieg? Oh, t-that's uh..." Sandbar began trying to think up an answer, luckily his eyes landed on his dragon friend. "Smolder's older brother!" Said dragon snap her glare towards him with her jaw nearly dropping to the ground.

"Wait, I thought Garble was your only brother?" The dragon lord said, confused by the sudden addition to Smolder's family tree.

Smolder sent another glare towards the pony for putting her in the situation, Gallus held a claw over his beak as he snickers. "Y-yeah, I have another brother, but he likes to travel around a lot, so that's why you haven't heard of him much."

"Really? I kinda want to meet him! He probably have cool stories." Spike spoke, Ember nodded as well, curious about Smolder's supposed brother.

"You want to meet him?" Smolder and the others had expected this type of situation to happen, the residents would want to meet Krieg, so the best course of action was to tell as little as possible. "T-then alright, I think I can hear him."

When the two dragons look passed the young ones, they froze on the spot as they watch Ocellus and a large dragon walking towards them, happily laughing about something. They couldn't really understand why they were feeling fear, their hearts started beating faster as the changeling and the dragon had finally caught up with the others, only when the dragon spoke that they broke free of the strange bind.

"Bah, flame buckets!" He said, clearly having distaste for his own kind, the two didn't noticed it, but the young six did.

"Ahem, Krieg?" Smolder caught the beast's attention. "This is Ember and Spike. Spike and Ember, this is my older brother Krieg, say hello Krieg."

Ocellus was confused on why she called him brother until Gallus had fill her in, Krieg was the one that was still confused.

*I see, just play along Krieg, think of it as a bunkers and badasses game and you're playing the role of big brother to Smolder.*

After the voice had instructed him, he let out a very loud laugh before scooping the small dragon in his hands and placed her on his shoulder, she gave out a yelp as he did so. "Ha ha! Hello flame buckets, I am small flame bucket's big sibling, as we are birthed by the same tree!"

The two dragons could only nod, still  feeling fear at the sight of him. The young six waited for a response from them, but all they did was stare at Krieg as he talks about how he's the best brother in all six galaxies, well, in his way. They noticed how completely quiet they were, so they gave their goodbyes and left the two dragons in a hurry, once they were out of sight, Spike took a sharp inhale.

"W-what was that!?" Spike said as he placed a palm on his chest, Ember uses the small dragon to keep herself up as her legs trembled.

"I have no idea..." She looks towards the direction where they last saw the terrifying beast. "I felt so weak and vulnerable, it feels so weird."

"But can you at least explain why we were so paralyzed?"

The dragon thought about it for a second before facing Spike. "Maybe you felt scared because he was stronger and better than you?"

Spike frowns at her answer. "Well at least you admit he's better than you."

Ember shook her head with a smirk. "No, no, Spike." She crossed her arms and walked towards the castle, she smiled as if she held the answer to the meaning of life. "I read this on a book I was burning once, it all makes sense. Me feeling so vulnerable, so weak? The fact that I was trembling on the spot? Its all because I'm in love!"

"What?"

"Don't you feel the same around that one pony?"

He stutters back. "Rarity!? W-well uh-you-she... But I don't even feel scared around her!"

"Yeah, because she's a pony. Krieg on the other hand? He's a dragon, a strong one by the looks of it."

"I still think your wrong, but alright." Spike said as they neared the castle. "What are you going to do then?"

"You know what? I think I'll extend my stay for a little longer."




"Applejack!?" Gallus said loud enough to be heard by bystanders on the street. "Sandbar, we talk about this, we can't let him near Headmare Twilight's friends."

"Just listen, we already have an identity for Krieg, so this would actually help us get him a place to stay, just follow my lead, trust me."

"Yona trust Sandbar, but what if plan fails?"

"If it does," Sandbar looked over to the large dragon who was being kept busy by Ocellus, Krieg was scribbling something on a piece of paper with a red crayon before stabbing it on one of his horns.

*And here I thought you weren't listening, this is surprisingly well written for someone like you.* 

"I already have another plan in case this doesn't go through."

Soon they had arrived at the town's market, and they had luckily caught Applejack just as she was finishing packing things up, our heroes quickly rush over to her to start Sandbar's plan.

"Professor Applejack, can we talk to you about something?" The pony spoke, catching the farm pony's attention. And once again they are experiencing the same thing that happened to them again, this time the background was replaced by an old picture of a red barn surround by apple trees, Applejack, Fetishes: Apples and Ropes. The young six were caught unexpected by that, all had a slight shade of red on their faces for a second.

She tips her hat and greeted them. "Well howdy everyone, what do ya' need?" Her eyes lands upon the biggest one of the group. "And who might this be?"

Sandbar hits Smolder at her side with his elbow. "Oh him?" She said as she rubs the spot she was hit. "T-that's my oldest brother, Krieg!"

"Howdy there Krieg, its nice to meet one of mah student's relatives."

"I see meat muscles!"

The students cringes at what Krieg had said, it really was embarrassing when you have a big monster that constantly rants a lot about something, and sometimes saying random things or just being honest, which leads him to say that. Applejack checks her hind legs before looking at the large dragon up and down, examining his muscular body.

"I'll jus' take that as a compliment, not so bad yourself sugarcube." She said before giving him wink. "Now what did y'all need, and how can I help ya'."

Recovering from that interaction, Sandbar went on to answer. "Oh well, you see, Krieg told us that he have been traveling around for awhile, he came to check on Smolder here. He decided that he wanted to stay here, she's alright with it, but we don't really have a place for him to stay."

"And y'all wanted to ask if he could sleep in my barn?" Applejack said as she began pulling the cart towards home. "Well, why don't you ask Twilight? The castle has tons of rooms."

"Well, its because, uh..."

Smolder cuts in to help the pony. "We went over to ask, but Krieg here wouldn't stop trying to eat the whole thing, no matter what we do. So we decided to ask you instead."

"Well, I guess there's no harm on that then. As long as he doesn't burn my barn down, alright?"

"Don't worry, my brother promises not to light anything on fire. Right bro?" Smolder hits Krieg with her elbow.

*Say 'yes', its that easy.*

"SLATHER MY PECS TO A SHEEN AND BURN MY EYES OUT WITH THEIR BRIGHTNESS!" Was his answer.

*Keep this up and we might find a place to sleep in at the nut house.*

When Applejack stares at him strangely, Sandbar quickly steps in between them with an awkward smile. "Don't mind him, he really just like talking."

"Was that one of those fancy poems other creatures like to write? Kinda sounds like one." She said as they all have arrived at the apple orchard, time truly does go fast when you're busy with something.

At the mention of poems Krieg quickly took the piece of paper from his horn. "Oh, oh! I do have poem, ninja man taught me how to scribble hakoo!"

Everyone watched him with confusion, except for the changeling. "He means haiku, it's a form of poetry from the east but they are different from regular poems since it doesn't rhyme, you only write three lines, but there are restrictions which is that the first and third lines should only have five syllables while the second line have seven."

"Wow, you are just like my brother..." Smolder muttered to herself.

"Ooh! Can we hear it Krieg!?" Silverstream excitedly said, wanting to hear what he had wrote.

"Honestly," The griffon spoke, expecting something from the dragon. "I think it's going to be something weird."

"Well don't you just leave us hangin' partner, let us hear it." Applejack encourages Krieg to share his work.

Krieg loudly clears his throat. "I love my boomstick/ The awesome noise it creates/ It keeps me happy!"

Applejack didn't understand it at all, she barely knows what a boomstick was, but the young six understands, and it reminded them of his sadistic side.

"Well sugarcube, that was very interesting." She unlatched herself from the wagon and turned to face the large dragon. "Excuse me, but could I ask you somethin' Krieg?"

Everyone focuses on the farm pony, curious to what she wanted to ask Krieg.

"You see, since I have been busy with the school, work here at the Sweet Apple Achres have slown down a bit with Big Mac, my brother, workin' on his own. So I was wonderin' if I could offer you a job?" She pauses to think something over. "Sleeping in the barn could be your payment for workin', but I'll be generous and give you two bits a week. Sounds fair?"

The students look towards the dragon and waited for an answer from him.

*What do we say?*

"Yes, I accept your offer to sustain my thirst and hunger for action!"

*Good that you listened, but a little too much.*

"Well its Sunday tommorow, so I could teach you the ropes first thing tomorrow morning."

Sandbar walked over to the dragon. "We're gonna head back now Krieg, we'll be back to check on you. Is it okay for you to be alone?" The beast nodded. "Alright see you later."

The rest gave their goodbyes as did Krieg, after they were gone, Applejack motion him to follow her to the barn, she had also introduce him to the rest of the apple family. They were kind and welcoming to him, unlike those he first met the day he woke up on this planet, Krieg looks up to the setting sun, remembering his experience in this world, the day he had left Pandora.
> How I Met Your Flesh Mother
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Krieg's eyes snapped open, the sound of the train's engine had become silent as it reaches it's destination, Axton, the commando, woke up from his sleep also. After he stood up, he noticed that Krieg was also awake, so he gave the psycho a wink before leaving to wake up the others. Thankfully Zero never actually slept today, he was busy training his skills all night to do so.

Salvador nearly hit Axton's face for rudely kicking him awake, the commando then went over to the siren of the group. Krieg turns towards his right to see Gaige leaning on his shoulder, still asleep even though Salvador was cursing loudly at Axton, the psycho gently shakes the mechromancer awake, her eyes flutters open before releasing a long yawn.

"Morning Krieg..." She sat up straight and stretched her limbs. "And morning to you too head Krieg."

*Good morning kid.*

The psycho stood on his feet before helping the teen up on hers. "Little man welcomes you to the flame pit of despair!"

Gaige laughed cutely at how he had delivered the message, everyone doesn't really believe the voice exists, it was just amusing to many to the idea of a very sane krieg trying to pilot the fleshy robot. After Krieg gave a little show as if he and the voice were a comedy duo for the younger Vault Hunter, the two exited the train and found they were at an entrance of a large tunnel that was far deep into the earth, the rest of the hunters were gearing up next to it.

They all entered the tunnel right after Gaige took out her assault rifle and Krieg with his Barbed Orphan Maker, funny story with the shotgun. Maya was the original owner of the weapon back at Oasis because she had found it first, but later after defeating captain Scarlett's pet, the male members had fought over for the gun Scarlett had dropped when she teleported away, after sitting down on Zero, holding back Salvador with his feet, and keeping Axton's head submerged in the Leviathan's stomach acid, Krieg had became the victor and held his prize in the air as Gaige only watched them amusingly. But Maya actually was interested on the Jakobs pistol, so she offered to trade the cursed shotgun to the psycho for it, you already know the results.

They were all currently doing a mission that was given to them by Lilith, she and the Crimson Raiders have lost connection with one of their spies after they were sent here to investigate a rumor of Hyperion activities, so now the Vault Hunters were here to find out what had happened. They soon came to a fork in the road, three different tunnels leading to who knows where, Maya turns to face her fellow hunters.

"Alright, guess we'll have to split up!" She turns towards the commando and the gunzerker. "Axton and Salv', both of you take the left."

"Guess it's team Guns and Guns for today!" Axton said as he held his fist towards the shorter man.

"We really should think of another name for the both of us, mi amigo." Said the short man as he pounds his fist on Axton's, they both then hurried down the tunnel to find things to kill.

"Zero?" The assassin looks up to the siren, waiting for her choice. "I'm sorry for this, but your with Krieg today, take the right one."

"Ninja man, ready the knives, we're cutting the life off the meat sacks today!" Krieg joyfully waved his buzz axe around, nearly hitting said ninja.

Zero sighed heavily as he was chosen to partner up with the psycho. "Team Blades it is..."

"Aww!" Cried Gaige. "I wanted to partner up with Krieg today, plus ours don't sound cool!"

Maya shook her head as she began walking towards the middle path. "You were partnered up with him last week. And what's wrong with our team?"

"Team Mystic? I wanted ours to be Steel Grip." She muttered to herself as she follows the siren. 

Krieg quickly heads down the tunnel they were told to explore, eager to find faces to skin, Zero was just right behind him. After a few minutes of walking, the assassin decided to use this opportunity to complete one of his challenges, to teach Krieg haiku.

*No, that's too many syllables, and that's not a word. You're going to disappoint him more with this. Krieg... What the heck is that?*

"I'm finished!" Krieg happily handed the piece of paper he was writing on to Zero.

Three dots appeared on his face as he read the haiku Krieg had made, if Zero had to rate it, it would have been a zero.

"Another failure/ This challenge will be the last/ That I take from Gaige." Zero crumples the piece of paper and threw it away. "Hopefully you will soon learn even the simplest haiku, even though teaching you is troubling, I have yet taught you hard enough, so this challenge is still a Zer0."

*See, I told you, but don't let that bother you big guy, its actually easy. Maybe you'll get the hang of it tomorrow.*

The two soon came across a small hole in the wall, inside they could see light in the distance, they would have gone through but Zero was the only one that could fit through from the two. But that didn't stop the psycho as he had thought up a plan, Krieg took out the bundle of dynamite he had and placed them at the mouth of the hole, after the cave shook from the explosion, Krieg and Zero casually entered and walked towards the light.

They soon find them selves at an underground pond that glowed bright enough to light up the cavern, it was only waist deep though, they look up to find a suspended town above the pond.

*This place is amazing! Krieg, take a picture so we-Gah!*

When the voice just suddenly expresses pain, Krieg let out a confused grunt before tapping his head a bit, he received only pained noises from the voice. His action attracted the assassin's attention.

"What is wrong Krieg?" He asked, only slightly concerned for the psycho.

Krieg began panicking, he hits his head harder, trying to make the voice tell him what was wrong. "Little man!? Talk! Why won't you talk little man!?" He pulls back his fist for a stronger punch, but Zero holds his hand still.

"Krieg, what is wrong?" He calmly asked him, not letting go of the fist.

"The little man, he's screaming!" That wasn't the only problem that was happening, Zero's cloak had just suddenly activated on it's own, Zero tried to fix it, but the cloaking device just kept turning on and off.

"This is very strange/ My gear is malfunctioning/ What is happening?" Before they could think up an answer or a theory, they heard a loud clang from right above them, the noises they have made had attracted the attention of a Hyperion Loader, a whole bunch of them.

Zero rolls back as a badass loader crashes on the spot he was on, though the ninja was still flickering with his invisibility, he took out his sword to prepare for battle.

"Greetings, badass." He said as he activate his sword, but nothing happened, he rolls away from the machine's attack. He tried again to digistuct his blade, but it had stayed the same, he looks over to Krieg to find him running around with his hands on his head, he screams bloody murder as he did so, which leaves Zero to fight them alone.

More loaders joins the badass on the ground to face the assassin, seeing that both his Decepti0n and sword was out of order, Zero equips his Vladof sniper rifle, one with a long blade. He made a quick work with a charging EXP loader by slashing it in half before leaving it to explode, he dodges the attacks from the badass as he took a few shots at the other loaders, he landed every hit, but the number of enemies barely decreased as more robots came from above. He ducks in time as a loader tried hitting him with it's mechanical fist, Zero spun on his heel and fired a bullet point blank at the loader's face, he grabs the edge of the loader and flung himself in the air as he leaves an active grenade behind. 

Zero used his left hand to hold his Tediore submachine gun and sprayed a number of bullets at the metal horde as he landed, the badass still kept trying to bring Zero down, but he had proven to be a challenge for the machine. Having enough of the bigger machine, Zero took a few shots with his rifle to take down the badass, it died after, sadly he was being pushed back by the rest and he was running out of ammo. Good thing the dices were in his favor, he stops flickering as his Decepti0n fixed itself, though no one could see, the ninja was smirking under his helmet. Or he doesn't have lips at all, I don't know.

The loaders fired all of their weapons at him, but he was unaffected by it. "Your eyes deceive you/ An illusion fools you all/ I move for the kill." 

The first loader that fell was the one at the far back, split right at the middle, the next one to be destroyed were three bots who were too close to each other. Having the element of surprise back, he threw his Tediore at the enemy before bringing out another one and fired dozens of bullets. The gun he had thrown explodes and the machines staggers, this became their worst day ever as Zero took the chance to cut them apart with his blade.

"Leaves falling from trees/ Snow drifting onto the ground/ Life leaving your corpse." He said as he puts away his katana, the last loader he defeated fell apart into three pieces, after he was done with the battle, he looks around for the psycho.

But the only thing he found was the remains of the loaders, and the fact that the pond no longer was glowing.

"Krieg?"




*Krieg!*

Krieg's eyes snaps open, what greeted him was a cloudy sky and the stench of ash, he looks around to find that the surrounding buildings were currently burning. He looks at himself to find out he had completely change, he still had his other accessories, but he did not have any pants. He grabs the fountain right next to him and pulled himself on to his feet, Krieg then lightly taps his head.

"Little man?"

*D-n't w--- Krieg, I'm h-here.*

The beast let out a joyful laugh, he was too far attached to the voice, and if something were to happen, he had no idea what he would do. Before he could dance around, a shadow was casted over Krieg, he looks up to see four large dragons hovering right above him. The nameless leader lands on the ground next to him, they were bigger when closer to Krieg.

*You seeing what I'm seeing buddy?*

"Who the heck are you, runt?" He asked, but Krieg was still confused to answer since he was stranded on an uncharted area.

"What's wrong runt, too much of a wimp to talk?" One of the grunts spoke from behind the leader.

"Look at this guy, he doesn't even have wings!"

"Wow, this guy must really make his parents proud!"

"And what's up with the mask, too ugly for the world!?"

The rest laughed and mocks him, but their insults barely had any affect since Krieg was busy trying to think, which started to hurt his head. The leader smacks the top of Krieg's head when he noticed that he was being ignored by the 'runt'.

"Hey, are you even listening!?" 

Krieg still ignored him, the human or monster was only thinking one thing over and over. "What would ninja man do? WHAT WOULD PRETTY LADY DO!? What would little red do?" His train of thought was broken when he heard the cries of a child, he looked over to his right to find another dragon holding a small horse by it's hind leg, the crying was coming from the horse.

"Are you ignoring me? Maybe I should teach you some manners!" The leader threatens Krieg, but he is still not listening to him, too focus on the horse.

The dragon slowly lift the pony closer to him. "Yeah boss, teach him!"

A red mist started to cloud Krieg's eyes. "Show this runt who's the alpha!"

Krieg's fists tightens, an urge to kill was rising. "Hear that? Everyone thinks your a weak runt, gonna do something about it?"

Then it happened, the leader was now staring at the sky with a sharp pain on his face, he looks towards the psycho as he marches towards one of his friends, the other dragons moved over to help but he rudely decline it as he stood up. When he turned to glare at Krieg, he found the dragon that was going to eat a pony being repeatedly smashed against the wall until they were a bloody pulp, the dragons froze right on their spot.

Krieg threw away the corpse and looked at the pony, she cowered away with tears running down her face, Krieg motions her to be quiet before pointing her at the direction opposite of the dragons, the filly gave a little nod before scurrying away from the scene. Krieg turns around to face the rest, both him and the voice were in deep rage for the dragons action, and both were thinking the same thing.

"*WHO WANTS THE FIRST SLICE!?*" With his axe in hand, he charges forward, blinded by rage.

"He killed Sparks, get him!" 

The leader sent his grunts at the psycho, they snarled and bared their teeth as they flew towards Krieg, the first one to get close was a scrawny one, Scrawny aims headbutts the psycho at full speed, but Krieg sidestepped and left him to crash into the bloody wall. The other two were quickly on him, Krieg ducked under one of them as he punched the other dragon right at his throat, while they were choking from the pain, Krieg turned around in time to block the punch from the dragon he had ducked under, he threw another punch only to collide with Krieg's, it seems that in terms of strength, the psycho was superior as the dragon recoiled away with a sharp pain in his fist. 

Krieg was about to bury his axe into his abdomen, but the psycho was tripped by the leader, Krieg rolled away as the leader attempted to stomp on him while he was still on the ground, the psycho pounced on him and brought him down to the ground. Before Krieg could pound his fist on the leader's ugly face, the two had recovered from his attack and pulled him away, this made Krieg change his target, he punched one of them back to the ground before lifting the other one and slamming them back down. 

Leader then made the biggest mistake he had ever committed, he uselessly breaths fire at the psycho, Krieg backhands the leader before throwing a haymaker, the dragon stumbles back but Krieg quickly pulls his wing and brought him closer, the leader attempted to bite down on Krieg's shoulder but that just activated Raving Retribution, he was thrown away from the point blank blast of the fireball.

Seeing that the leader was too injured to fight, Krieg went on to the next, the dragon who crashed into the wall had came back, Scrawny flew straight towards him with his claws ready. When the dragon got close enough, Krieg swings his axe, the top of Scrawny's head seperates from the rest as the beast took his life. The other dragon roars in rage after witnessing his friend's death, he charges towards the burning Krieg, the psycho throws his axe right in his chest, he falls to the ground where the psycho then stomps his face in with a loud crunch.

Now there was only one left to kill, when Krieg's head snaps towards the remaining dragon, the dragon opens his wings and tried to fly away from the beast. But Krieg didn't let him leave, he took off the shotgun from his back and fired the pellets directly at the dragon, the scales were tough but the wings were shredded like paper, the dragon falls back down on the cobblestone road. Krieg slowly walked over to the flightless drake, playfully swinging his shotgun around, the dragon tried to crawl away, but it was too late as the psycho was already next to him.

"W-wait! Don't k-kill me dude, I promise I won't do anything to you!" The dragon pleaded, but Krieg did not listen, he raised his shotgun over his head before bringing the blade down and hacked away on the dragon's skull.

After he was done mutilating the dragon, Krieg had just remembered that the leader was still breathing, so he decided to wrap things up since he needed to find out where in Pandora he is. The leader groaned loudly, a burning pain right on his chest as he tried to sit up, he heard the sound of footstet next to him, his head turned to find the psycho looming over him. Before he could say anything, Krieg flipped him over on his front, the psycho grabbed one of his wings and twisted it causing him to let out an agonize scream. Krieg laughed much louder than the injured dragon, the screams of pain was just music to his ears, he decided to just finish this by grabbing the dragon's horns.

"What are you doing!? Please, just let me go!"

"I want the blood melon!" Krieg said as he pressed his foot on the dragon's back and pulled roughly, the leader couldn't even scream as his head was pulled out of his body, the bloody spine dangles over Krieg's head as he held it like a trophy, the blood drips on his mask before he discarded it.

Before Krieg could talk to himself about their predicament, the sound of stomping hooves alerts him of the arrival of some pony army, led by a very tall one.

*Oh no, alright Krieg, play it cool. We don't want to cause trouble, so be less intimidating.*

"NIPPLE SALADS!!!"

*Smooth.*

The soldiers held their weapons tightly, aim right towards the beast, fearful of what he was capable.

"Princess Celestia, wait!" All attention  focuses on a filly running towards them, she almost slipped a few times before she stood right next to the alicorn. "Please don't hurt him, he saved my life!"

"Is this true?" Celestia spoke to the gathering townsfolk, few vouches for the beast, though they were hesitant, she looks back to the dragon who was watching them with interest. Celestia motions for the soldiers to stand down, they followed the order. "Though your methods are inpony, I must commend your action of saving my subjects. Pray tell hero, what is your name?"





Krieg's eyes snaps open, it was still dark in the night, he could faintly see the roof of the barn. He unconsciously placed his claws on his face, feeling the rough surface of his mask, this causes the voice to speak with concern.

*Hey big guy, what's up?*

The psycho was quiet for a second before answering. "Little man, what do you remember?"

*Well, I remember being with Zero in front of a glowing pond, and maybe a tall white pony, but that's pretty much it. I think I remember a smiling pony with a starry mane. You know who that is?*

"No I don't little man... Little man, could you promise not to leave me?"

*How can I bud, I'm stuck in your head.*

The voice laughs a little, Krieg joins in with a quiet chuckle as he sat up, he began moving towards the doors to get ready for today. He ignores the recurring memories in his head, the ones that fuels his hatred for the deities of the moon and sun, Krieg does not want to see their faces after what they did and he hopes that they both rot for their betrayal.





Flash Magnus was not having a great night, after their encounter with the psychos they were suddenly jumped by yellow golems, both enemies soon pushed them back deeper into the cave. Even with three alicorns and the best the guards could offer, they were easily overwhelmed by the superior weapons the enemy had, so Flash Magnus decided to swipe a gun named Plump KerBlaster, the others followed his example making the tides turn.

As for Twilight, after being pushed through an underground city, she felt terrible, the sound of gunfire with screams was already haunting her, she was still trying to understand Celestia's choice to execute people of the underground, but it was hard when a psycho jumps from the shadows all the time. Cave Dweller soon found a large lift that seemed to go back to the surface, but sadly that was the last thing the guard had done before a griffon psycho with explosives attached to his chest pounced on the pony, Twilight froze on her spot as she silently stared at the spot the pony was on before, the ringing in her ears muffled the sound around her. Flash Magnus quickly grabs the alicorn and led her to the lift where the rest were.

During the ride up, the rest of the party were dead silent, Celestia held a stoic face as she and her sister were arguing, the guards just stood armed and ready with morale slowly slipping away so easily, Twilight looked up to see they were nearing the surface, the guards brighten up a bit at the sign of the night sky.

Luna let out a thankful sigh for escaping the altered prison in the underground, before they could step off, Flash Magnus quickly pulled back a very eager guard away from a wood cutting axe that embedded into the ground.

"Strip the flesh!" An orange psycho mare shouted as she came out of the bushes with another wood cutting axe in her hooves, but she skids to a halt when her eyes discovers who used the elevator. "P-princess Celestia!?"

"Carrot Top!?" Said the princess of friendship.

"Princess Twilight!?" Carrot Top quickly hid the axe behind her. "W-what are you doing here, I thought you were bandits!"

Celestia looks around them to find that they were surrounded by blood stains showing evidence of death. "What's the meaning of this, Carrot Top?"

The mare's forelegs fell to her side limply, her head faced towards the ground. "Revenge... I have been trapped down there for three f*cking months!" She digs her free hoof into the bushes behind her and pulls out a severed head of an unicorn. "The things I did down there, I can't even relax just for a second! But when I almost just gave up, there he was, lord Krieg!"

"You were part of and hated this cult?" The guards around her lift aimed their weapons towards the earth pony, slightly paranoid of the mare. "Yet you still address the beast the same?"

"Yes, on the day I have lost my will to live, he came to us and gave me a second chance! He brought down the cult leader and brought me back into the light, but he did not finish the rest of them, so I decided to take it up on my own two hooves to eradicate these monsters!"

"I see, but where did he go?"

"North." Was all she said before picking up her thrown axe and head off home.

When Flash was about to demand her to stop Celestia held a hoof up to silence the pegasus, instead she orders him to watch the elevator for anymore psychos, as for the rest of them, they were told prepare to move north as soon as possible. Though they have just faced off a new type of enemy and having only a single casualty, the guards followed her orders with great loyalty for their princess.
> The Shining Hero Of Equestria
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a beautiful day in the Crystal Empire, the city was as sparkly as the crystal heart. Ruling this fine kingdom of ponies was non other than princess Cadance herself, the alicorn of love, mother of Flurryheart, and the wife to her beloved husband Shining Armor. Speaking of Shining, the stallion was currently in his and Cadance's bedroom, he sat by the window watching the clouds pass by with a steaming cup of coffee, his eyes shows obvious evidence of a sleepless night. What caused him to be deprived of sleep you ask? Well, if there was a ghost that was keeping you up because it had nothing else to do, then maybe you would also be in the same situation.

A grinning see through face suddenly pops in front of Shining's face, the living pony yelps out in fright and nearly spills his coffee.

"Hey Butt Stallion, why the long face?" Jack chuckles at his own joke as Shining glared at him.

"For the last time, I'm not Butt Stallion, it's Shining!" After correcting the ghost, Shining returns to looking out the window, but Jack still persists on annoying him.

"Come on Shining, can't you just laugh a little, I think you need it. I mean, wow, you look like death!"

"Jack, why are you here?"

"I already told you, I was trying to be a hero, but some bandits just doesn't want change! What's hard to understand?" He said as he floats above him.

"Not that, you could go anywhere you want, but here you are!"

"Oh, well that's because no one else could see me, only you. Also, I'm bored... Hey I got an idea!"

Shining sighed heavily before taking a sip from his mug. "I'm afraid to ask, but what is it?"

"Listen, my awesome brain is kinda filled with all sorts of ideas and plans, plus I can remember how to make a simple gun, so how about we send this sh*thole of a country of yours, to the future!"

"This country is not a sh*thole! Equestria is the best country on the whole world, and you should respect that."

"You, are too patriotic, I think that's a problem there buddy. I was just trying to be nice here and help take this planet towards a new era, but here you are being whiny."

"I am not whiny! Besides, how would I know you wouldn't backstab me when you get what you want?" 

"Listen Shining, how am I gonna stab you in the back? I can't do anything!" The ghost for no reason at all slowly inhales for a second letting it out. "Shining, with my brains and experience, with your alive and fleshy body? You would go down in your people's history as the man who made it happen. I'm talking about cellphones, satellites, cars, 'floating cars', and robots! With me, they will know you more than the husband of a princess, they will all know you as the man or stallion of tomorrow."

Shining looks into his mug of coffee to think about his words, the idea was so tempting, but the ghost's history back when he was still alive was the thing Shining didn't like. Jack was practically a villain! Another but, he wanted to see how far Jack could bring Equestria to, so with an answer in mind he looks back to the ghost.

"I'll do it."

Jack became surprised by his answer since he had expected him to say no, he stuttered a little bit before a smile found itself on his fake face. "W-wait, really? Alright then, we are totally changing the world for the better! High f-hoof!" He raises his hoof in the air, Shining unconsciously moved his hoof to slap his, but it only phases through.

"Oh, well that's awkward." Said Shining before he took another sip from his coffee.

"Yeah, kinda forgot about that part. Oh right, before I could forget, what's up with that notebook about this Flash Sentry guy? You can tell me if you swing that way pal, I won't judge. Alright, I'll judge a little."

Shining spits his drink out through the window and to an unlucky pony, he coughs and cleared his throat before glaring at the ghost. "No, I don't swing that way, my sister just mentioned him once!" He said as he points the mug at Jack.

"So your sister was interested on the guy and now you stalk him for information as to why, got it. Also, you have a sister?"

"Yes I have a sister! And no, I do-" 

"Shining?"

Before he could finish his sentence, Cadance just suddenly spoke from behind him, this in turn caused the stallion to spill his coffee all over his face, Shining recoils back from the boiling heat and fell on his back really roughly. This would have been very entertaining for Jack, but for some odd reason he had experienced the same pain the pony had at the same time, so he flailed his hooves around trying to stop the pain as he floats painfully in the air.

"Oh Shining, I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that!" Cadance quickly stood by his side and tried to help ease the pain he was feeling.

"D-don't worry dear, its just hot coffee, nothing can bring me down!" Shining wipes away the drink away.

"I'm sorry again, I was just curious as to why you were talking to yourself."

"I was... Uh..." He looked around the room to find an excuse, when his eyes landed on his Ogres and Oubliettes box from the opening of their closet. "Practicing my O & O roleplay! You know how I like being in character."

"I see, sorry I scared you out of practice for your game, let me get you another cup of coffee."

Shining quickly held her still with a strange smile. "Its okay, I can get it on my own." He then walks towards the door, before he leaves through it, he looks back to his wife. "And I wasn't scared, only surprised!"

Jack who had recovered at the same time as Shining had followed the stallion, still confused by what happened to him.

"You alright Jack?"

The ghost frowns towards him. "Well I have discovered that when you're hurt, I get hurt also... There goes my plan to cut your leg off."

"Wait what!?"

"Relax, I was planning to give you a cybernetic leg, you just need to loose one, but since I don't want to find out if I loose my leg also, that plan is in the trash." He said before landing on the ground and pretended to walk with him.

"You really are nuts."

Before Jack could retort, Shining stops right in front of a door that the stallion swore it wasn't there before, being curious as to where it led, Shining opens it to find out what was behind it. Just as he cracks it open, a griffon's talon comes out and pulls the unicorn into the room, Shining was then pushed against the wall by a brown feathered griffon wearing a wide brim hat and a long black coat with a badge on it, she glares at him as she points a Jakobs pistol at him. With her was a large earth pony with a good looking facial beard, he wore some kind of uniform showing military background, but what was really notable was the robotic left fore hoof. Shining eyes went back and forth with the two, he was both scared and confused by the creatures that he had never seen before in the castle. Plus the room had so much boxes, those were also things he had never seen before.

"What do we have here?" The griffon spoke as she prods the muzzle of the gun on Shining's cheek. "I'm guessing by horse standard, I got myself a pretty boy."

"Calm down Nisha, we don't want to hurt him... Yet." The other pony said, the sound of his voice was like a machine.

"Alright, we got questions and we want some answers. What is the name of this planet?"

"Equus!" He answered quickly as to not anger the griffon, seemingly forgetting his military training.

"What kind of dumb horse named the planet that?" She asks her companion who only shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever. Next question, who's running this place?"

"Me and my wife!"

"Well now, we got ourselves a crown! This take over is gonna be easy as a psycho with a bomb." She turns towards the other pony. "You don't mind me stealing the spotlight, right?"

"Hah!" The cyborg laughed. "As long as I get myself my perfect body back, I don't care."

She faces Shining again with a sadistic grin. "Here's what's gonna happen, you and I are gonna go look for your lovely wife, then both of you will quietly step down and give me the rule over your city. You understand butt stalion?"

Shining would have given a firm 'no', but calling him with that name was irritating. "Don't call me that, only Jack can! Well not really, but that's besides the point!"

"W-wait a second!" The cyborg said as he got closer to Shining as if he doesn't know what the meaning of personal space. "You know who handsome Jack is?"

"Are you...his friends?"

"Friends?" The griffon spoke as if she was offended. "He might be, but I'm more than just friends with Jack."

Ghost Jack slips his head through the door with a bored look, you speak of the devil and he will come. "Hey Shining, are you dead? Oh, you're still alive I se- Nisha?"

Shining turns back towards the griffon holding him. "Are you Nisha?"

"So Jack told you about me, so where is he?"

"This is gonna be really hard to say, but he's here with us... As a ghost..." The first few seconds was spent in silence before the cyborg took out his Hyperion shotgun and aimed it next to Shining's head. "Wait, hold on! He's really here!"

"Ghost aren't real dumbass, change my mind." The cyborg said as he was about to pull the trigger, he was having a hard time since he had no fingers.

"I can, just hold on a second! Jack, help me!"

"Maybe later, I wanna see what the color of your blood is."

"Its red! Also, he hurts me, you get hurt also!"

"Okay! Fine, jeez. His name is Wilhelm, when he was a kid he was diagnosed with a disease which he was forced to have cybernetic implants, this causes him to gain an addiction for cybernetics and he dream to be a robot in the future."

Shining quickly repeats what Jack had said, but this wasn't enough for Wilhelm. "Still not convince."

"This guy, I have always liked him." Jack commented as he stood next to the cyborg. "Tell him this."

Shining follows what the ghost had told him to do. "You and Nisha were told to go inside Claptrap's head?"

Wilhelm stared at the pony for a few seconds before nodding and shrugging his shoulders, he places his gun away as he smirks. "Alright then, but the second a guy claims he's a god, I'll pop a bullet in you."

Seeing that her companion believed, she decided to play along and forget all her plans of taking over the city, Nisha then released Shining, letting him fall face first on the floor.

"Hey Jack, is there a way for you to commicate?"

Shining looks expectantly towards Jack, the ghost told Shining to pass his message "He says that since I'm the only one who could see and hear him, you'll have to listen to me."

"Okay." Was all Wilhelm said, when Nisha was doing nothing, Wilhelm shoved his elbow into her side.

"Yeah yeah, I'll listen."

"So what's the plan... Horse?"

"Shining. Also, Jack said something about bringing Equestria to the future."

"Hmm, I could teach military training, that's all I know." Wilhelm said, eager to work, but he wouldn't do it for free.

Before anyone could give off suggestions, a purple light suddenly lit the whole room, the occupants were blinded for short duration, when the light died out both Jack and Wilhelm smiled widely. Right before them was a miniature robot factory that could strengthen the kingdom's defense, a badass constructor. Wilhelm quickly ran over and activated it, the machine lights up as it awakens to its new world, its red eye landed on the enforcer.

[SCANNING... SCAN COMPLETE. CREATURE IDENTIFIED, GREETINGS ENFORCER WILHELM. I AM WAITING FOR COMMANDS]

"W-what is that?" Shining asks the smartest one in the room.

"That, Shining, is the future."
> I Dream Of Pancakes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chrysalis took a bite out of an apple from the tree she was currently hiding in, the pair of binoculars floated in front of her face as she observes the buff dragon following what the apple pony says, like lifting some barrels filled with apples, or punching a tree to get apples, she almost laughed when the tree tilted forward from the punch by the dragon. The face Applejack made was just really amusing, she couldn't wait to recreate the moment to her totally not friends and only accomplices until one of them back stabs the other. What? They're villains, one of them was bound to betray someone.

After watching him head inside the barn, she puts down the binoculars and sighed heavily, the task Grogar had given her was just too easy, also exetremely boring. When the old coot said the beast can't be reason with, he was clearly over exaggerating because the dragon was doing what the apple pony says, Chrysalis thought to herself that she could easily bend the beast to her will. She would do it if it weren't for Grogar's direct order to just keep watch, so she had to sit in the tree being absolutely bored right now, at least she had brought the purple log with her when she was teleported, and that weird device... Wait what?

Chrysalis had to take a second look, she had swore that it wasn't there before. Before she could do anything, the object just suddenly started making a really high pitched that affected her and any dog near the farm, she quickly stomps on it to try and silence, all it did was make it play a strange message.

"WHY SETTLE FOR CORROSIVE, INCENDIARY, CRYO, SHOCK OR SLAG!? WHEN YOU COULD BLOW UP YOUR ENEMIES TO SMITHEREENS WITH THE MOST F*CKING BADASS ELEMENT OUT THERE, EXPLOSIVE!!! BUT I WILL STILL ACCEPT YOUR CHOICE BECAUSE I DO NOT JUDGE, AT ALL-"

Chrysalis quickly kicks it down from the tree, the device went silent as it fell right towards Sandbar's head, he looks up when he heard the noise coming from the tree, the pony was quick enough to step aside, letting it shatter as it hits the ground. Sandbar looks back up to find a snake, a purple log, and a pair of binoculars sitting on a branch, he looks back at the pile of junk before shrugging his shoulders.

"Sandbar, hurry up!" Smolder called to her friend. Sandbar speeds up his pace and catches up with everyone.

The whole group had woke up early to meet the psycho today, and try to see if they could control him, luckily it seems to be possible, so they have a good chance at keeping him in line.  Soon they could see Applejack resting by the cart filled with barrels of apples, the young six went over to greet her and ask for the whereabouts of Krieg.

"Oh Krieg? After helpin' me out with the farm, he just went inside the barn to take a nap he says, speaking of which." Applejack leans against her cart and covers her eyes with her hat, with the help of the dragon, the apple mare has enough time to catch a few hours of sleep.

Everyone couldn't really thank the mare for telling them because she had already fell asleep, so they decided to head over to the barn instead. As they got closer they started to hear voices from the inside, voices that don't belong to the psycho. They opened the door to investigate only to find.... An intro card! Cutie Mark Crusaders, Licensed To Cute!

The experience would have been adorable, but the fact that a rocket launcher was about to launch a rocket towards them made them all think otherwise, luckily the intro card had given the young six enough time to react, when time turns back to normal, they quickly jumped away and let the rocket soar through the air and into the clouds, probably heading to an unlucky pony. They look back towards the crusaders who only smiled sheepishly, Smolder quickly swipes it away but it was too big and heavy for to carry it, so she handed it to Yona.

"Where's Krieg!?" Demanded the dragon.

"You mean the big guy?" Said Scootaloo, she looked around the barn before answering. "Well he was here earlier..."

"Oh, I think he went into town or something!" Sweetie Belle said before quickly placing her hooves on her mouth, the other two also glared at the unicorn.

"He what!?" Gallus exclaimed. "Do you know where did he go specifically?"

"Yes, but I am very sorry Gallus." Applebloom said as she kept avoiding eye contact. "Mister Krieg had told us that we shouldn't tell anyone where he went, and he made us pinkie promise to make sure."

"It was really a weird one too." Said Scootaloo before she repeated the exact words. "Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. He also said he'll take our pinky fingers if we tell... No idea what that is though."

"Maybe it's dragon related!" Said Sweetie Belle.

"Girls, its important that you tell us where he is!" Ocellus spoke, trying to convince the three to spill the beans. "He could-no- he might hurt someone!"

The crusaders huddled together to discuss what they know, after a few arguments they faced the young six to give them their answer.

"I'm sorry, but we promised and that's that." Sweetie Belle said before the crusaders ran off to avoid questioning. Gallus was about to chase after them but Sandbar holds him back.

"We don't have time for this, we need to look for him now!"

"Sandbar is right, let's split up!" Ocellus said before giving everyone a task. "Sandbar, Yona and Smolder should ask around while the rest of us scout for Krieg from the sky, he'll be definitely easy to find since the town is mostly ponies. Questions?"

When no one asked any, they all start their search for the psycho as they hurried back to town. While this was happening, Applejack was still asleep by her cart dreaming about apples and stuff. But that would have to stop as a certain rainbow maimed pony crashes into her, rudely waking up the apple mare as they tumbled away from the cart.

"Gosh darn it RD! Why are ya' goin' around and tackling ponies for no reason!?"

"No time to explain!" Before Applejack could ask as to why, Rainbow Dash wraps her fore legs around the farm pony and took to the skies, Applejack quickly holds on for her life as she was being carried towards the castle.

And just before the two could crash through the one of many windows, they were suddenly caught by a giant baseball glove, the glove closes putting both ponies in the darkness, and when they could see light again, they both found themselves in their respective seats in the map room. Rarity and Fluttershy was there also, as well as Discord himself.

"Thank you Discord." Fluttershy said to the spirit of chaos, she then notices his own name floating besides him. "Umm, Discord, what is that for?"

"Oh, this?" He motions towards the subject of her attention. "This is just something I'm preparing for later. Do you think I should go for bold and italic letters or just underlined? Maybe all three? I want something that really says chaos just like me."

"As much as I am curious on what Discord was planning, I'm much more curious as to why y'all brought me here, is there some kind of emergency?" Applejack said, recovering from the strange experience she just had.

The doors swings wide open to reveal a very tired looking Twilight, she slowly walked up to take her seat.

"What happened to you Twilight, it looks like you didn't sleep at all!"

"I'm just- I'm just tired, that's all..." She yawns for second. "Alright... You all are probably wondering why- wait, where's Pinkie?"

"Pinkie Pie?" Discord spoke as he was looking through a box filled with colorful letters. "I went over to get her just like you asked, but she is currently busy entertaining a newcomer."

"Oh Pinkie, always a friendly face." Twilight leans on her hoof against the table, almost dozing off right there. "Yesterday, princess Celestia took me and her guards into an underground prison, right below Ponyville."

"Oh my, there is prison, right below our homes!?" The fashionista exclaimed.

"Yes a prison, one that kept another monster that used to walk on Equestria. But that's not all, the prison itself have changed, now it is big enough that there is an underground city built inside, I have no idea how old it is."

That alone made everyone else but Discord absolutely worried and curious.

"Wait, does that mean there are like, mole ponies?" Dash asked her friend.

"You're almost right and I wished it was just that... You see, the ponies and other creatures below are a cult that worships the monster as a god, we were not welcome as they attacked us. At first, I couldn't believe what princess Celestia said after we encounter them... "

"W-what did she say?" Fluttershy spoke as she watches the alicorn straighten herself.

"Kill them..."

The whole table just went silent, Discord stops whatever he was doing to look at Twilight with eyes wide open. The silence went on another minute before the alicorn continued.

"These creatures, they don't listen to reason or have an ounce of mercy, they only fight and fight until they can't. We were all lucky to get out when they started growing in numbers, but at the cost of one life..."

"Need a second sugarcube?"

Twilight shook her head. "No, I'm fine. When we came back to the surface, we met Carrot Top, she was part of that cult until she escaped, but she had help from this monster. She then tells us that the beast is traveling north, princess Celestia had sent out troops to scout for him, and tomorrow both Luna and I will join princess Celestia to meet Cadance so she would be informed of this *Yawn* beast...." 

Twilight could not finish her sentence as she drifts off to sleep, when Rainbow was about to wake her up, Applejack along with Rarity kept her from moving, the farm pony silently gestures for all to leave and let the tired alicorn sleep. It was obvious that whatever she experienced down below had kept her awake, so it was good for Twilight to catch some sleep, before Discord followed Fluttershy out, he used his chaotic magic to conjure a pillow for the sleeping mare. Applejack thinks about what her friend just told them, it was really unnerving to know another powerful being let loose in Equestria again, she could only hoped that they could find and get rid of it quick.




Smolder flew around the town as fast as she could, the dragon approached many civilians to question if they have seen a particular dragon that was larger than her, and all answers were the same, 'No'. When she was a bout to pass by the town's forge where the blacksmith who is ironically named Black Smith, stood in her way with a very angry face, she stops in time before she could crashes into the pony.

"Hey kid, do you know that big dragon with the mask!?" It was obvious by the tone of his voice that the smithy was really peeved off.

"Oh god, what did he do?"

"Well your friend came here and wanted to use my forge, but when I said no, he snapped my best shovel in half and threatened to eat my lungs through my ears! So I let him do what he wanted and this is what happened!"

Black Smith motions towards his forge which was in shambles, the floor was littered with all kinds of things you would find in a forge, from metal pieces to hammers, swords, farm tools and burning charcoal. The pony's smithing tools were bent and damaged, obviously from Krieg's powerful grip.

"And all he gave me after he was done were these!" He showed to the dragon a large stack of green paper, it was the same thing she saw Ocellus collected.

"Uh, I'll pay for it next time. How much does it cost?

He looks back into his forge and began counting everything before facing her again. "40k bits."

"I'll get back to you." Before he could say anything else, Smolder had already flew off, leaving the pony alone.

He sighed before heading inside to clean up the mess Krieg had left.

After finding out that the beast was the in the local forge, Smolder began to find more clues, and more damages to pay. When the beast was done with whatever he did back in the forge, Krieg had gone to the local hardware store and bought a lot of buzz saw blades and ducktape, then he went to the fireworks store to buy some fuses, just fuses, after he was done with that he had gone into Berry Punch's bar and bought the strongest liquor she had. Every time they tried to not accept the green paper, Krieg would throw a tantrum which would cause him to destroy their stuff, so to keep him from breaking anything else, they accepted the currency and Krieg would move on.

Just when Smolder thought things wouldn't get bad enough, she encountered her friends Yona and Sandbar, what they found out was really starting to stress the dragon out. Apparently, Krieg had also went to the market and stole a bunch of watermelons. As for what Sandbar found out, the beast had broke into the local post office when it was closed since it was a Sunday, and when no one was actually present in the building, Krieg had some how found out where the most known mailmare lived and forced her to deliver a letter to Steve, it was actually nice of him to think about his friend who is on a journey, kudos to Krieg for that.

When they were about to move on, the dragon lord herself had stepped in front of the trio's way.

"Hey Smolder!" Ember happily greeted them.

"Ember!? I thought you would have left by now!" Smolder said, surprised by the fact that her leader was still in town, with the psychopath who hates his own kind and is currently not watched by her or the other young six.

"Well I just wanted to see how well I am with this friendship stuff, so I decided to stick around and make a few friends."

Sandbar smiled after finding out what she had planned. "Well that's an amazing idea princess Ember, how many friends did you make?"

"Well um... Bar Soap?... The thing is, I wanted to go and befriend someone who I'm more comfortable with first, before the ponies in town."

Sandbar couldn't correct her faster than Smolder and Yona realizing what she just had said. "You want to be friends with Krieg!?"

"Well yeah... Did he already leave? I was sure a few ponies said he was around."

Before they could say anything to dissuade her, Silverstream flew down from the sky with a message.

"Guys, we found him!"

"Really, where!?" Sandbar quickly asks the hippogriff.

"He's at Sugar Cube Corner, come on!" Silverstream quickly flew away, leaving her friends to follow her in their own speed.

"Hey, wait for me!" Ember calls out to them as she followed as well.

When they arrive to the pastry shop, they find a very uncomfortable bunch of ponies watching a very large dragon shoveling food into his revealed mouth while he was conversing with the party pony, well, Pinkie was actually talking as if the beast was mentally communicating with her. But first, an intro card!

When time slowed down, Pinkie is now wearing a pair of Groucho glasses and a blue with white polka dotted tie with a colorful afro on top of her head, Pinkamena Diane Pie, Best Pony [Heck Yeah She Is]! She returns to speaking with Krieg when her intro was up, her strange attire now gone in a blink.

"And that's why I think Twilight is better for the medic class, and besides, Fluttershy doesn't really fit any of the other classes because of her personality as well! Also me being engineer is actually the best choice!"

*Never met the both of them, but I think you're right, on whatever the subject was.*

"Thanks Krieg! So, what's your taste in music, pop, country, or electro swing?"

*Well, since I can't really do anything, I listen to whatever the big guy listens to, its mostly rock and metal, anything that has good guitar solo.*

"That's so sad! Not being able to try out any other genres of music must be terrible! You must be really happy to finally at least talk to someone."

*Yeah, I am. Been so long since I had a decent chat that doesn't have someone shout about riding bicycles made of meat.*

"I HAVE THE SHINIEST MEAT BICYCLE!" The beast just suddenly shout, causing those around him to jump from the loudness of his voice, it even scared those just passing by the bakery.

*Quiet there Krieg, I'm speaking with Pinkie right now.*

"Don't be so mean, he just wanted some pancakes. Isn't that right Krieg?" She pats the top of his head and he giggled like a child. "How tall do you want it?"

"Make it tall, so tall that you start speaking Spanish!"

*Give him only three stacks because he's scaring the other customers.*

"No, don't listen to little man!" He said as he fixes his mask.

"Sorry Krieg, but maybe if you are a bit more quiet, then I could ignore him. How about it?" Pinkie tried tempting the dragon.

*I like that idea. So Krieg?*

"Okay..." Was the only thing he said, Pinkie gave him a boop on the nose of his mask before leaving for the kitchen, now he sat alone on the table waiting for- Oh hey, its Sandbar with his friends... and the dragon lord...

Krieg waves the group over and kept an eye on the blue dragon as they approached, as for Ember, she was terrified once again by the sight of the beast, she tried to break out of the feeling, but all she could do was follow Smolder towards the larger dragon.

"Krieg, why did you leave the farm without telling us! You know how much trouble you got us into just to find you!?" Smolder scolded the beast.

"Big dragon is bad, Yona had to clean fruit stand after Krieg break stand, but it was good break, Yona is impressed." The yak said, still carrying Krieg's rocket launcher on her back.

"And you made us worried, you could've broke something more than fruit stands!" Gallus said to Krieg, but he and the others notices him just staring at Ember, obviously he didn't hear what they have just said, Ember looked around awkwardly as the beast stared silently at her.

"Um, we haven't really properly introduced each other, hello, I am dragon lord Ember!" She said as she outstretched her claw for a shake, but the psycho just stared, Ember quickly retracted her claws and awkwardly cleared her throat.

"Why is blue flame here?" Krieg asks Smolder, Ember was slightly upset by the name he used for her, she felt as if friendship was not working out.

"Krieg, be nice to princess Ember." Ocellus tells Krieg, he grunts before facing the blue dragon.

"Bro, she's the dragon lord, you have to respect her!" Smolder scolded him. "Do you want to make me upset?"

*Remember Krieg, you're her brother.*

"No..." He said still eying the dragon lord. "I am Krieg..." He said as he gestures his hand for a shake to Ember, she smiled a little before holding his massive open claws, almost glad that he was coming around, that's when Krieg tightens his grip and nearly broke her hand.

"S-so," She began speaking after she pulled her hand out of his strong grip. "care to tell me... how your day was going?"

"I also want to know, the crusaders wouldn't tell us." Silverstream said as she and the others were also curious, still mad about the whole event.

Krieg happily smiled under his mask before reaching behind him and picks up a large sack from the floor before placing it on the table, he reaches into it and revealed to all what he had, a brand new buzz axe that was painted pink, he then gestures it over to Silverstream.

"Gifts!" He said, the ponies around them was slightly impressed by his kind gesture, but it was still strange to offer anyone a strange looking saw blade on a stick with dangerous sticks of dynamite on the side.

Before the young six could react, Krieg had shoved more buzz axes to them even though they did not want it, but it would be rude to reject a gift, all color coded to their respective owners and much more smaller to fit them than the psycho.

"Gee Krieg, this is awfully nice of you." Said Gallus as he inspected the gift, both sides had dynamite strapped on it like Silverstream, he looks over to Smolder to find her saw blade to be glowing, Yona and Ocellus had bigger blades than the rest, and for Sandbar, his had a really pointy handguard.

"I uh, can't wait to use this on... trees?" Sandbar said as he swings it carefully around.

"Wow, those look awesome!" Ember said as she looked at every axe in the room, she then notices the one on Krieg's back which seemed to be all in one, the young six noticed it as well, but that wasn't like that yesterday. "They just look so cool, especially yours Smolder."

"Hey Krieg," Smolder said as she saw the dragon lord's eyes locked on the axes. "do you got more? I think Ember would also want some."

"Yeah Krieg, we don't want her to feel left out right?" Ocellus said as she inspected the weird object behind the saw blade.

Seeing that they wanted him to be nice and give Ember a gift as well, he nodded and began rummaging in his sack, he wanted to impress his friends and to show them that he's awesome, so he takes out one of his many duplicates of his original and current one, he then gently gave it to Ember. The dragon excitedly took it and almost fell over by the weight it had, but she was happy nonetheless, at least she was doing well with the friendship thing, or so she thought. Krieg was still doubtful about the dragon, he kept a close eye on her and waited for the moment when she shows her true colors.

"Ooh, are you giving out presents!?" Pinkie said as she came out of nowhere just to place a really tall stacks of pancakes, it was taller than Krieg. "You are such a good brother to Smolder and a good friend for Sandbar and the others. That deserves a reward!"

"Yahaha!" Krieg laughed before digging into the stacks, everyone could only watch as the beast quickly eats through the pancake so fast that it could rival Pinkie Pie, said mare was happy that the psycho was enjoying himself. When he was done, he made a really loud burp that almost shook the whole building before turning towards Pinkie and gave her a large amount of dollars to pay for the food and give her a lot of tips for good service.

Pinkie looked at it before shaking her head. "I'm sorry Krieg, but we don't take this currency, we take bits!" He stared at her for a few seconds, before suddenly picking up his sack and bolted out the door, nearly tearing said door off its hinges. He ran away but not out of fear of the pony, but out-yeah it was fear, its obvious that Pinkie could easily break Krieg's back if she wanted to, so he chooses life. "Hey! Aw, now who's gonna pay for what he ate which is exactly 3,609 bits?" She said to only Ember, as the young six had seen this coming and decided to chase after the psycho instead of adding up the amount they have to pay for the beast.

"I'm just gonna go now." Ember hefted the axe over her shoulder as she leaves, slightly happy with the progress she had made with Krieg. "Bye... Applejack?" She said before going through the doorway.

"Bye Ember, have a nice day!" Pinkie waves her hoof around as the dragon exited. "Now, how am I gonna explain to the Cakes about a dine and dash dragon?"
> Love The Pain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack paces back and forth in the castle's dining room, they were having lunch there which the food was prepared by Spike, Rainbow Dash was enjoying her salad with Fluttershy while Rarity was speaking with the dragon, Discord had left after the meeting to work on his intro card, no one had a clue on what ever that meant. The farm pony was too worried of the new problem than to eat lunch, when Sombra came back, the mane six almost lost their home, and they could have lost for sure, but their friendship was strong enough to deal with the evil tyrant, she just hopes that it would be enough to take down the newest threat.

The doors suddenly swings open to reveal Ember with her new axe in the doorway, she walks over to the table with a displeased look before placing the buzz axe on top of the table as she sat down on one of the free seats. Spike hesitantly pushes a bowl of gems in front of her, Ember picks up a single gem and began eating.

"So, how'd it go?" Spike said as she eats another gem, the ponies in the room were curious as to what he means and why the dragon lord has an intimidating weapon.

"To be honest, I kinda feel like he doesn't like me."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, when I was coming back from the place the pink one works at, I just noticed how much he kinda dislikes me, and I don't know why."

"Um, just out of curiosity, who are you two talking about?" Fluttershy spoke, her friends leans closer to find out.

"Oh, Smolder's older brother, Krieg." Answered by Spike.

"Krieg? Now why do you say he doesn't like ya', that dragon is awfully friendly to me and my family." Applejack said, the only pony in the group who had met the beast besides Pinkie.

"That's the thing, he's friendly to everyone but me! I mean, he only gave me this thing because Smolder told him to." She pointed towards the axe on the table.

"Wait," Rainbow Dash cuts in. "this guy gave you this awesome looking thing?"

"Yeah, he actually had one just like it on his back, still wondered where he got it though."

"You're forgetting something." Spike playfully said as he inches away from the other dragon, Ember looks at him before scowling.

"Spike, if you say it, I will stuff your nose with lava."

"Say what?" Said Starlight as she enters the room, she was busy reading a book, which made her late for lunch. The other ponies were even more curious as to what they don't know.

"Ember is in love with Krieg!" The young dragon said loudly before diving behind Starlight for protection.

Ember face palms as she silently cursed Spike and the mares especially Rarity gasped by the reveal.

"You are!?" The fashionista said as she held Ember's cheeks with her hooves. "This wonderful darling!"

"Its not that of a big thing." Ember tried to calm everyone down, but Rarity did not listen to her.

"Yes it is Ember, love is the most beautiful thing out there, oh, I can already hear the wedding bells. Details, I need details of this dragon!"

"Nothing much," Applejack spoke. "taller than princess Celestia, well built muscles, always wears a mask, kinda shouts a lot of unrelated things. He's really a strong one too, almost took down one of my apple trees with a single punch."

"You know what I'm getting from this?" Rarity said to Ember, who only shrugged her shoulders. "Krieg, a tall mysterious dragon, who could easily defeat an army of villains, has come to this little town to be your knight in shining armor! It is destiny for you to be with him, you must not let this moment go darling, or you will never see him again! Go Ember, go claim his heart and be with him, for love!"

"Uh, what?"

"Work with me dear, and you'll win his heart in seconds."

"Yeah, no, I don't think I need help in this one. I kinda understand what I should do, so you don't need to do anything." Ember gently pushes the pony away. "Maybe I'm doing this all wrong, I tried to be friends with the pony way, I think I should do it the dragon way."

"Are you sure darling? My help could really be useful." Rarity said, trying to convince the dragon to let her help with her expertise on love.

Ember stood up from her seat, not finishing her lunch. "Yes I'm sure. I'm going to do this the dragon way, but first, I need to find him again." She picks up her axe before leaving for the door.

"This I've gotta see." Spike said, following the older dragon out.

"Wait, I wanna meet this guy too!" Rainbow Dash flew after them in a blink of an eye.

The ones remaining could only watch as they disappear through the doorway, now that the moment had passed, the ponies decided to return to whatever they were doing before they gathered in the castle. Though Rarity was a bit curious to what the new dragon truly is, she still had stuff to do back home, but she still wondered what her little sister is doing.




Sweetie Belle could only joyfully giggle as she and the other two crusaders sat on top of Krieg's shoulders as he ran across the field of grass, they all held on to his horns as he hops over a rock before making a sharp turn around a tree where Sandbar and the others were watching the four from with their axes leaning against the tree. Krieg soon ran towards the young six before diving into the dirt and he slides closer to the tree, the crusaders were having a blast as the dragon they were riding stops, Krieg laughed louder than the young fillies as he pulls his face out of the dirt.

The crusaders hops off of Krieg as he stood up, patting the dirt off of himself. He then began taking out the watermelons that was impaled on a long stick from his sack and walks a few steps away from everyone to plant it down as far away as needed, the fillies were trailing him as he does so.

"Krieg looks like he's having fun." Said Gallus, the others nodded in agreement. "Ever wonder where he even comes from?"

"What do you mean?" Silverstream asks the griffon.

"Well, these guns are kinda weird," Gallus presents his Vladof pistol to everyone. "I doubt anyone had made these, we would have heard of them from history books or something."

"Gallus brought weapon, what for?" Said Yona.

The griffin shrugs his shoulders. "I just really like it, feels great to have it around."

"Maybe he's actually an alien!" When Silverstream told them her theory, they all just looked at her funny. "Oh come on, it makes sense!"

"Silverstream, he is just a dragon, simple as that." Smolder said as Krieg returns with the fillies behind him. "Hey big guy, where you from anyways?"

"I am from the land of horrors, bloodshed, and rabbit pie!"

"Yeah, we aren't gonna find out." The younger dragon was not at all disappointed by his answer, she had expected it. "What are you doing anyways?"

Krieg lifts one of the watermelons he had and shows the side where he scribbled what could be the face of princess Celestia with yellow crayons, Sandbar was about to compliment Krieg's drawing skills, but the beast crushes the melon in his hands and splatters it's juices on everyone but the crusaders.

"Fun!" He plainly said before swiping the Caustic Infinity from Gallus who was displeased by his action, he aims down towards the melons in the distance before firing a few shots, destroying the targets with Celestia's face drawn on it. After he was done he hands the gun back to Gallus, and gestures him to do the same thing he did just now. "Fun!"

Gallus understood what the psycho wanted, but he also knows that Krieg had drawn Celestia's face on the melons, so this technically counts as heresy against the country of Equestria, sadly he does not have a choice as the psycho stared at him, waiting silently.

"Fun." Gallus said with a strange smile on his face before he aims his gun towards the melons, he pulled the trigger, the recoil was too much for the griffon as he was pushed back, and he did not land a single shot on the melons in the distance.

Krieg playfully laughs at his failure , the others soon joins in as well, Gallus could only grumble to himself, he really needed to practice more on his free time.

"Mister Krieg, could we finally use the big one?" Sweetie Belle asked the psycho.

"Yeah, we wanna see it!" Scootaloo wings flutters in excitement.

Krieg nodded to the young ponies, he then took his rocket launcher from Yona, the yak was glad that she didn't have to carry it anymore, Krieg heaves it over his shoulder and aimed at one of the melons in the field. He pulls the trigger back and launches a single rocket, it flew straight towards the melon, the young six and the crusaders watches in awe as the rocket hits it's target and explodes into a fiery blast that scorched the ground it was on. The fillies cheered loudly at the destruction Krieg created, but that was not all, the psycho fired a few more rockets and burns even more patches of grass in the field.

"Yeah!" Cheered Scootaloo. "Burn the planet!"

"I like chicken-loo, she knows how to have fun!" Krieg said as he picks up the orange pony.

"I'm not a chicken!"

Scootaloo tried to correct the dragon, but he ignores the filly and places her on his shoulder, Krieg then took out three sticks dynamite and began juggling it in the air. Everyone was too entertained by his tricks to see what he had planned, which was actually just tossing dynamite at the melons, just as the sticks were about to hit the melons, Krieg took out his shotgun and shoots the dynamites in just two shots, thanks to the spread of the pellets it caused all three to explode and destroy the melons.

Everyone had to agree with each other, though it was bit chaotic, the destruction that the psycho made was actually great. It was really cool how Krieg was an expert on explosive, and skillful with his weapons, if only he was mentally stable.

"That was AWESOME!" The young six froze for a second, they all didn't really want to look up to find out who the voice belongs to, but they did so anyways, and when they did, they saw the Rainbow Dash hovering above them with the two other dragons in town.

Rainbow Dash, Fastest Mare In Town, both captions were above the pegasus while the background became what one could describe as a Wonderbolt poster, with Rainbow Dash's silhouette at her bottom left, saluting to the symbol of the sun on the top right.

"Rainbow Dash, hey!" Scootaloo stood up on Krieg's shoulder to greet the cyan pegasus. "Hey, come meet Krieg!"

Krieg watched the trio as they landed on the ground, the small dragon stood close to Ember as they approach him, Rainbow Dash looks him over before holding out a hoof towards him, Krieg gently shook it with his massive claws, the action made Ember a bit jealous of how he treats the others. "Nice to meet you, AJ was right about how strong you look, plus you're very good with that metal thing you have and whatever that big thing was! I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest pegasus you'll ever meet!"

"I taste the colors, each screaming in agonizing pain as the demons shoves them into the machine of death and sorrow, the blind sheep could only watch as they cry multicolored tears from their eyes, and they cry because of me! KRIEG!"

"What?"

"Don't mind him, he likes to make things weird." Smolder said as she walked over to Krieg's side with Sandbar and Ocellus. "So, uh, why did you three come all the way here?"

On cue, Ember steps closer to them and plants the axe firmly on the grown. "Krieg, I am here to challenge you to a fight, name a time and place. The rules are also up to you."

"Wait what?!" Literally everyone said the same thing at the same time, even inner Krieg.

The psycho gently puts Scootaloo back on the ground, he took a few menacing steps closer to Ember, said dragon lord became completely stiff when he looms over her, an intent to maim in his eyes. "Thank you!" He said before walking a away from the group, he turns around once he was far enough and pointed at the challenger then gestures her to come closer.

"Oh, he wants it now..." Ember was about to take a step, but the young six quickly stops her.

"What are you doing!?" Smolder said, thinking about why her dragon lord has a death wish. "You can't fight him!"

"Why not?" Spike spoke for the first time since they arrived.

"Because he can rip you to shreds!" Gallus tried to convince them.

"I can handle myself in a fight, but I'm glad you guys care for my wellbeing." When Ember attempted to walk around, Yona kept her from moving forward.

"Dragon not understand! Big dragon is strong, Krieg beat bigger manticore easily, Yona and others saw big dragon do it!" Yona said, still keeping Ember from getting closer to the beast.

"You guys really think he's strong, I'm also strong, so you all don't have to worry about me, I can take him."

"Sandbar, talk to Krieg." Smolder told Sandbar, he gave her a nod before running over to the psycho. "Listen, if we can't convince you, then I'll give you an advice, don't set him on fire."

"How can dragons catch on fire?" Dash said, the other dragons were also curious as to what the Smolder meant.

"He has fire magic, simple as that. The thing is, if he's on fire and you hurt him in someway, then a magical fireball chases after you and it could really hurt. I mean, really hurt."

"Woah, now that's so cool!"

Sandbar walks up to the psycho, as he got closer he could hear Krieg talking to himself, but he stops when he notices Sandbar coming closer. "Sand pony, go back to safety!"

"Later Krieg, but first we need to talk about Ember."

"Don't worry sand pony, I'll protect you from blue flame."

"Protect me?" Sandbar asked him, but then rembers what Krieg had mentioned back at the elevator. "Krieg, were you protecting ponies from dragons, your own kind?" He said, now realizing the fact Krieg had killed dragons in the past.

"They are greedy, always preying on the small and weak like sand pony, only me and little man could do something, they are deserving by the day I saw them!"

"Krieg, she doesn't deserve to die, Ember is not like the dragons you fought, she's kind and she respects everyone she meets, though she is still trying to fit in with everyone, she is what I could consider a friend."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Can you please call this fight off now?"

"No, I won't hurt her too much I promise, blue flame wants to fight, AND I WANT IT TOO! TELL HER WE WILL ONLY USE FISTS!"

Seeing that the beast was set on fighting the dragon lord, Sandbar decided to return to the others, but he was glad that Krieg promised not to hurt Ember too much.

"Any luck?" The pony looks towards Gallus, the griffon was obviously being sarcastic, they all heard what the beast wanted.

"Kinda, he promises not to hurt Ember too much, but that's all."

"That's good, Smolder is trying to convince Ember not to fight, but I don't think she'll listen. What do you think is running in her head to ask for this?"

"I don't know, but I hope she isn't turning into those cult creatures." Sandbar whispers to Gallus as they watch Ember walk towards Krieg, leaving her axe leaning on the tree with the other buzz axes.

"Woo! Kick his butt Ember, show him what's what!" Dash cheers the dragon lord, seeing that her hero cheered for Ember, Scootaloo joins her side even though she actually prefers Krieg's.

Ember stops just a few feet away from Krieg, she stretches her limbs for a second. "So, do we count to three, or-" 

She could not finish as Krieg was already in front of her, his fist was about to land at her face, but she immediately ducks from it, she threw an uppercut at him, but that did not fazed the beast. Krieg laughs as he gently kicks Ember, she held her arms in front of her chest and caught his foot in time, the kick sent her a few feet away from Krieg, and she quickly opens her wings and recovers midair. She dives towards the beast and cleared the distance in a matter of seconds, just as she gets close, Ember switches her dive into a kick straight towards Krieg's chest, she lands a clean hit but the psycho did not budge. The smaller dragon sent her right fist to the side of Krieg's head to try and knock him down, the psycho only stared at her for a second before he headbutts the blue dragon off of him.

"Ember!" Spike became worried for his friend, but Sandbar places an assuring hoof on his shoulder.

"Don't worry Spike, Krieg promises not to hurt her too much."

The dragon lord gets back on her feet in time as Krieg almost stomps over her, she was about to try and blind him with fire to make an opening for her, but Smolder strictly instructed her not to do so. So she decided to slam both her claws on his face, this proved to be a useless effort as Krieg reaches over and holds the back of her head then slams her face on the ground. Rainbow Dash cringes after the beast slams her one more time before tossing Ember back at her feet, the dragon was disoriented but she still stood on her two feet, slightly swaying side by side.

"When you guys said he was strong, you guys weren't kidding." Rainbow Dash said, now doubtful to the chance Ember could win.

"Yeah, but you haven't seen him fight dozens of golems twice his size!" Ocellus spoke, the crusaders and Spike stared at her with curiosity. "Yeah, he kinda likes to show off."

Krieg waited for Ember to recover, he always did like playing with his food, but sadly he couldn't finish today's meal, he promised Sandbar not to hurt her too much. When Ember regains her balance, Krieg was quick to grab her by the neck and tosses her high in the air before wrapping his fist around her tail and throws her towards the tree the others were under. Ember didn't have enough time to counter Krieg, she had already slammed against the tree and slowly slide down against the bark of the tree to the roots. When she attempted to stand up, she quickly drops back down to dodge Krieg's fist, the tree behind her was the victim instead and was split in half.

"TIMBER!" Krieg loudly said as the tree falls down, thankfully it didn't fall towards the audience.

"Krieg!" Smolder yells at him. "I thought you promised not to hurt Ember too much!?"

"Tree is dead, not her!" He argues back, Smolder couldn't really argue back as Ember unintentionally sets the beast on fire. The others were lucky Krieg took all the fire or they would've gotten burned, Krieg turns around to glare at the dragon lord.

"You really do catch on fire, woops." Just as she finishes her sentence, she lifts her right arm in time to block Krieg's fist, she was sent much farther than she was before.

"Feels so right!"

"Krieg!" The young six scolded him, Krieg looks away and allowed Rainbow Dash douse him with a raincloud, just as this was happening, Spike had ran over to where Ember had landed, which was a small bed of wild flowers, now reduced to a flattened plant.

"Ember, are you alright!?"

She lifts her head before letting it fall back again. "I... think my arm broke... and something else..."

"Pride?"

"No, my wing... I also think that landing sprained my ankle..." She moves her left foot to test out her theory and winced from the pain. "Yup, it is."

The rest soon came to see the result of the fight, the young six once again glared at Krieg, the psycho only shrugs his shoulder. "Now look at what you done, you could have hold back lot more, but you just had to hit her with too much energy! Dang it Krieg, if you weren't so big, then I would've slap you by now!" Smolder berated him for what he had done.

"No, no." Said Ember, still lying on the ground. "I asked for this, it isn't his fault to begin with, its all mine. Your brother was just excited, I can tell."

"No, its also his fault! He could have just give up!"

"Smolder, I order you to forgive your brother, you better obey, or else!"

"Alright fine, but he has to do something to make it up for you."

Ember places her left claw on her chin, an idea came into her mind. "Well..."




"Careful Krieg, you don't want to drop me." Ember was currently being held bridal style by Krieg, though she doesn't really know what style she was being held because of dragon culture, she only wanted to get close to the beast, speaking of which, she took the chance to press herself deeper into Krieg's hold.

As for Krieg, he didn't mind it, he just think of it as a chance to redeem himself from his mistake, though he was still skeptical of the dragon, the information he received from Sandbar was believable, and Krieg trusts the pony.

A few steps back, the young six and crusaders along with Spike and Dash walks with their own paces, as requested by Ember, but they could still hear them. The fight they have witnessed earlier was definitely one sided, but that didn't make Dash think of Krieg badly, it was quite the opposite, now she sees the psycho on a whole different level, and she wishes to reach it. Scootaloo and her friends were also thinking the same, even though someone was hurt, they see Krieg as a powerful being that was kind to all, especially now since Krieg isn't showing anger, only compassion for the one he injured. As for the young six...

"Seriously," Smolder spoke, still glaring at the back of Krieg's head. "what was Ember thinking? First she tried to befriend him this morning and then she asked him to a fight?"

"Yeah, when she said dragon way of befriending, I thought it was going to be a competition, not a trial by combat!" Spike said, disappointed that his expectations were different.

"But did you see how he felt nothing from that fight!?" Dash said as she hovers above them. "He literally punch a tree in half! I wanna see what else he could do!"

"Yeah, it was really hard to miss when he did it right in front of everyone." Said Gallus. "I just wanna know something first, why did she insist on being carried to the hospital by Krieg? Isn't that weird?"

"Oh, well, you didn't hear it from me, you heard this from Spike." After Dash finished her sentence, Spike gave out an annoyed 'Hey!'. "Apparently, a certain dragon princess has got bitten by the L-word bug."

Smolder was quick to catch on what the pegasus was trying to say, she understood completely what she was telling them. "WHAT!?" Her friends were quick to cover her mouth, Krieg looks back curiously, and when he saw nothing of interest, he went back on walking.

"You alright Smolder?" Sandbar asked her as they took their hoof or claws away from her.

"I am not alright, the reason Ember wanted to be friends with Krieg was because she's in love? We can't let that happen."

"Why not? Now that I see it, I think they look cute together!" Silverstream said, admiring what she thought was romance blooming in front of her.

"Yeah Smolder, I thought you'd be happy that your brother gets a chance with the dragon lord." Rainbow Dash teases the dragon.

"Its not because he's my brother, its because Ember could do better! Krieg is too... Krieg!"

Spike just shook his head at Smolder. "Listen, I may not be good with romance, but shouldn't we let Ember have this? Look how happy she is right now, I say we let it happen, and as one of her best friends, I give Krieg my blessing."

"Yeah Smolder, this also gives me an idea!" Sandbar said, he gathers his friends to a huddle so he could tell them his plan. "Listen, we have classes this week and we all are going to be busy, so my idea was that we ask Ember to watch over him, you know, until we finish our classes."

"Sure, leave him with a dragon which he obviously dislikes." Smolder sarcastically said.

"Smolder."

"Alright, fine, but if he hurts Ember, I'm going to toast you because it was your plan."

When they break off, they saw a crowd of ponies gathering in front of them, Krieg who was taller than the townies saw what the commotion was about, three metal vending machines were placed right in front of the hospital, but these weren't ordinary vending machines, these are owned by the notorious Marcus Kincaid and Doctor Zed. How it got there, is what Krieg doesn't know. What he does know is what the machines holds, so he drops the dragon lord and ran through the crowd to get to the machines.

"Hey!" Ember yells at him, but he didn't stop. "Just when I was getting comfortable."

"Sheesh, what got him excited?" Spike said as he and the others help Ember up. "Don't put any pressure on your sprained ankle."

They slowly follow Krieg through the now open area that the ponies had to avoid because of the beast, when they got near, the machine with a cross on it suddenly spoke.

"Welcome to Dr. Zed's portable clinic! What can I get for ya?"

Krieg took out his money and slides it in the slot, he began pressing a few buttons, the ponies and other creatures watches the giant work with the machine, and then poof, a few strange looking syringes was digistructed from thin air.

"That oughtta keep your insides inside." The vendor spoke after Krieg was finished.

The psycho ran towards the dragon lord and held the syringe in front of her. "Blasto bandage!"

"What?" She did not get an answer as he uses the syringe and injects it on her right shoulder, she winces by the sudden pain, but it subsides quickly. That's when she started feeling, normal, her arm was no longer in pain along with her wing and ankle, she moves her right limb a bit and puts some pressure on her ankle. "Wait, that cured my injuries!?"

"Yes! Dr. License is good or bad doctor who sells Anshin, he blessed those who are dying and brings them back to fight once more!"

Berry Punch who was passing by but was curious on what everyone was watching raised her hoof in the air to ask a question. "Wait, so the thing only takes the money you have?"

"Paper cut!" He shouted before pointing at another pony who raised their hoof.

"Yeah, um, what are the other two?"

"This one is gives us the instrument of pain, and this one makes sure we have a happy led meal!" Krieg then presented to the crowd his shotgun and fires a few shots in the air. "Beethoven's favorite instrument is the gun, he likes to sing joyful pain to his enemies!"

The crowd was not bothered by the way the psycho talks at all, they only cared about the new machines that apparently now placed everywhere in town. Seeing that they were interested, Krieg just began handing everyone a large stack of money, so they could experience the beauty of guns, this is also good because they could buy health kits and heal wounds, but Krieg hopes that he doesn't bother the hospital itself by doing this. The young six were worried at first, but thankfully the ponies were only interested on the medical vendor instead of the other two, as for Krieg, after he handed the last pony some money, he went over to give the rest some.

Rainbow Dash quickly went to speak with him. "Why are you just giving those around? You could make a lot of bits if they buy it from you instead."

"Its not about the bits colorful one, its about giving everyone a chance to taste the blood!"

"Wait," Ember spoke, catching everyone's attention. "you gave them money so they could get some of those healing stuff? You know, your awfully nice to ponies, I respect that." Ember took a step closer to Krieg, the usual fear she felt was long gone since the fight. "You are quite the hero, got any stories you might share?"

Before Krieg could answer, Smolder quickly steps between them. "Okay! It has been a really long day, and I think I should take Krieg back to the apple farm!" She wraps her arms around Krieg's right and started pulling him away from the group. "Sandbar, could you ask Ember about the favor? Do it when I'm gone."

Once the two of them were out of sight, Ember looks over to Spike. "What was her problem?"

"Meh, probably was afraid of you stealing his attention away from her. You know how some siblings are, plus the fact she has two older brothers means she probably was treated well as she grew up."

"Really, she feels threaten by me?"

"Yup, definitely."

"So princess Ember," The dragon looks to her left and found Silverstream and the crusaders standing there, a really big smile was on their faces. "when are you and Krieg getting married?"
> Taste The Hurt, Feel The Pie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The School of Friendship, a place that teaches everyone all about friendship, the mare running this fine school was none other than the princess of Friendship herself, Twilight Sparkle. The alicorn was currently in the school's staff room with her friends, discussing about the schedules before she leaves for the Crystal Empire, she just needed to make sure this threat that had been released into Equestria would not interrupt the school's teachings. As she was already finished with packing some essentials for the travel, Twilight made sure everything was fine just before she leaves.

"Are you sure that you have it under control? Is everyone ready for today's classes? Where's my notes? Spike, did you brush your teeth before coming over here? Have you already finished your research on the biology of a manticore? Did anyone organized the library?"

"Twilight!" Applejack snaps Twilight out of her barrage of questions, when the alicorn stops, the farm pony began speaking again. "Ah' think we all have it under control, no need to make a fuss out of it, you'll be only gone for a day or two."

"You're right, I can trust everyone here to handle things when I'm gone, I'm sure this whole thing would be easily solved, and we all can go back to our peaceful ways." Sadly her attempt to be optimistic was useless. "Oh who am I kidding!? We solve this problem, then another monster could come back! Probably an orange shirt wearing diamond dog that eats his own kind would show up wielding two strange weapons that could tear us apart, or an evil pony who wears a hood with glowing red eyes and has a magical shield, the possibilities are endless!!!"

"Twilight! Easy girl, you have to calm down, that whole rant of yours was kinda specific."

"You're right, I'm sorry everyone, lack of sleep is probably bothering me. I should get some on my way to Cadance. I really hope you all have it covered, who knows when I'll be back, maybe tomorrow."

"Well I can't believe princess Celestia decided not to bring us with you!" Said Rainbow Dash. "I really wanna see this monster with my own eyes."

"Dash, this monster has kept Celestia checking her shadows, whatever he is, the monster really made a terrible impression to her and that is something that really concern me, we should never treat this monster as a joke- hold on a second, what is that?" Twilight pointed towards the buzz axe that was leaning against the wall, it was oddly familiar to the alicorn, she couldn't tell why.

"Oh that?" Spike spoke. "That's the gift Ember received from Smolder's brother, I'm keeping it around for today because she's with him right now."

"Garble is in town?"

"Oh tartarus no, Smolder's older brother is much cooler!" Rainbow Dash said with a hint of praise. "You should actually meet him Twilight, he's really good with explosives and he has these awesome metal stuff that could demolish things!"

Applejack nodded. "Eeyup, he's also very friendly, especially to Smolder's friends."

"Yeah, plus, he was so generous that he gave everyone some of his money, now they could afford those cool healing thingy!" The party pony added to the list of how awesome Smolder's brother was.

"Hmm." Twilight thinks about it, she was actually impressed that a dragon was making friends with ponies so easily, it was probably because of Smolder. "Well, he does sound interesting, I should really meet him when I come back, also what's this about a healing- wait, what time is it?"

Starlight looked over to the wall clock. "7:15, almost time for the first class of the day."

"What!? Oh no, I'm going to be late!" Twilight scrambles to pick up her saddlebag, she took out a folder and slaps it into Spike's hands. "I just finished this last night, this have a detailed sketch of the monster and other information it has, read it and keep an eye in case it returns to Ponyville." With everything said and done, Twilight used her teleportation magic to take herself to the princess of the sun.

Applejack could only chuckle at how her friend was, sometimes having a simple mind like hers was an advantage against all the brainiacs, speaking of which, she and the rest should really check out that folder, thankfully Spike was already reading it with the strangest face she had ever seen today. His mouth hangs open, his eyes wider than it should be with his pupils just dots in a sea of white, he stood frozen still, staring into the open folder.

Soon out of curiosity, Rainbow Dash went to his side to see what was the problem, she shares the same fate as the small dragon, now with two creatures acting strange, Applejack decided to check out what was the problem, she would soon regret it. Her face almost mimicked the other two when she looked inside the folder, she felt as if the whole world had lied to her and she couldn't do anything about it, having three of them frozen, the other could not help but see what was up with them. 

Starlight along with Rarity and Fluttershy looked at the folder to find a sketch picture of a dragon wearing a gas mask, the three did not see anything strange or as to why the three were frozen still, but Rarity had to say, the mask was extremely tacky.

"Um, what's wrong?" Their timid friends spoke, snapping the three out of their shock, Pinkie was still reading the folder that was in Spike's hands.

"What's wrong? That's Krieg!" Rainbow Dash loudly said. "Why is Krieg in this!?"

"Wait, are you saying that's Smolder's brother?" Starlight looks back at the folder. "Why would his picture be there... unless..."

"Krieg's the monster!" Spike drops what he was holding, luckily Pinkie was there to catch it, she was still reading it. "And Ember is with him, we have to do something!"

"This doesn't make any sense!" Rainbow Dash was extremely confused by the turn of events.

"Hold on a minute!" All eyes landed on the farm pony. "We shouldn't jump to conclusion just yet, it could be a coincidence that Krieg and this monster looks alike, so we shouldn't just charge in without any evidence."

"But AJ, this is the evidence right here." Pinkie Pie showed another sketch to them, this one was Krieg posing with his axe, she turns to another page and began reading some details. "Krieg wields a destructive weapon that could shred a pony in just a blink, though he wields such invention, Krieg favors to use his buzz axe!" She shows them the buzz axe sketch that was similar to Ember's. "His orange scales are flamable, which somehow strengthens his attacks, the dragon was seen tearing down castle walls as he burned, he also has a magical ability which is when you strike him as he burns, a fireball would be casted to chase after his attacker!"

"That really sounds like him, but why would Smolder lie about him being her brother?"

Starlight began to think deeply, trying to understand what was happening. Could it really be a coincidence? But that would be impossible, the chances were very slim, slimmer than a needle.

"Alright," Starlight spoke. "we need to get to the bottom of this, find out who this brother really is, and if he turns out to be the monster from the prison, then we need to tell Twilight as fast as possible."

They all nodded, Applejack turns towards Pinkie Pie. "Can Ah ask a favor sugarcube, could you take over my class after yours? I want to see how Krieg is doing back in town. Dash, Rarity, and Spike? Come with me."

"Wait, are we really thinking that Krieg is the monster? Maybe there was a mistake!" Dash tried to convince the others that it was probably was a mistake, but they know it isn't, Twilight would never make a mistake when it comes to a threat against everyone.

"I'm sorry Rainbow Dash, but this needs to be checked, it is obvious that Krieg is the monster Twilight speaks of." Said Rarity.

"But what about Ember? She's in love with Krieg!" Spike became worried for the dragon princess who was with the beast right now.

"Oh my, you're right... This is a forbidden love in the making! Krieg, a beast that only wishes for war such as the meaning of his name, Ember, seeking to make peace with our kind! Oh, it is such a tragic story, their ideals clashes with the other!"

"Rarity! This isn't the time to make things romantic, we need to go and spy on Krieg right now!" Applejack scolded the unicorn.

"O-oh, right. Then we need to be on our way, come along Spike, we must see how the two dragons interact with each other on their everyday lives!" She said before picking up Spike in her magic and trotting out the door, Applejack could only shake her head at the unicorn as she and Dash follows, sometimes romance was a priority to the fashionista.




Krieg happily stood in front of the apple stand with Big Mac behind it, the dragon wore a green apron that could only fit a pony around his neck, and a single chicken sat on top of his head, he waited patiently to help the apple pony as much as he can. Ember was also there, Krieg had insisted for her to wear an apron as well, thankfully she was almost the size of a regular pony, so the red apron fits her perfectly. She was only asked to watch over the psycho, so she didn't really understand why she had to wear one, but at least she was spending time with Krieg, though she wonders to herself when the whole romance thing would start, she had never actually done anything like this.

Ember just sighed as she watches Krieg walking over to a pony just near the stand, the chicken wobles side to side as Krieg takes a step, obviously he would try and convince the pony to buy some apples.

"You!" Krieg pointed to the random pony.

"Me!?" The stallion said as he pointed to himself with his hoof.

"BUY SOME APPLES!!!"

"I-"

"I SAID, BUY SOME APPLES!!!"

"Okay! I'll buy apples!" The pony rushes over to Big Mac, pays for two apples and ran away from the psycho.

"Did I do good big red?" Krieg asked Big Mac, the stallion only smiled strangely and nodded.

"I gotta say Krieg, you have such a way with words. Even though you kinda just scream at ponies faces." Ember commented to Krieg. "What's with the chicken anyways?"

"The sun cowers before the most savage creature in the universe, THE CHICKEN!!!" He lifts the chicken much higher, those who passes by were in awe as the light of the sun hits the hen, its shadow casted to them, then they left.

"That was interesting."

"NIPPLE SALADS!" After he yelled on the top of his lungs, Krieg notices a yellow pegasus mare with a red mane about to pass by.  "You, buy some apples!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I hate apples, those things are always filled with worms." She said.

"You hate apples?"

"Yes, how about a delicious strawberry? They are much better than some tasteless fruit." The mare raises the berry towards Krieg. The psycho releases the chicke in his hands to gently pick up the strawberry and hold it close to her face before squishing it and let it splatter all over the mare's face.

"I hate tiny berries! Too small, can't fill my engines of hatred unlike the big red fruit!" The mare screams in fear before running away, just like the pony before her. "... Apples?"

*Come on Krieg, that was very rude, you don't just waste food like that, and now you scared that poor pony away. Wait til Applejack hears about this.*

"Little man don't understand, she hated apples, and boss is an apple!"

*Her name is apple related, she isn't made of apples.*

"You lie! Next you'll say sand pony isn't made of sand!"

*Oh buddy, you have no idea...*

"Does he always talk to himself?" Ember questions the pony behind the stand.

"Eeyup."

Krieg looks around to find more ponies, thankfully the market area is still packed with ponies even though there is a large dragon yelling at ponies to buy apples, they don't really mind him at all since the psycho just seems to let out an aura of safety, unless he talks to you. Krieg's eyes landed to another stall which was owned by Carrot Top, the earth pony was busy making sure her pie that she had recently made was placed perfectly on the table.

"Woah, hey!" Ember was suddenly being pulled by the hand, she stared at the psycho as he leads her over to Carrot Top. "Um, Krieg, what are you doing?"

"Flame bucket say that I stay with blue flame, big brother Krieg won't let her down!"

"Oh..." She said, clearly disappointed.

Big Mac didn't mind them leaving, this actually gives him a chance to relax a bit and have a a few seconds without Krieg saying random things. Krieg quickly greets Carrot Top once he got close to her, still holding Ember's hand.

"Hello top pops!"

Carrot Top waves her hoof to the dragon. "Oh, hi Krieg, who's your friend?"

"This is blue flame, she is good dragon!"

The princess cleared her throat before introducing herself properly to the carrot pony. "Ahem, I am Ember, lord of all dragons. Its nice to meet you and all, but what's your real name? Doubt it's Top Pops."

"Oh Krieg, always with nicknames. It's Carrot Top by the way, it is a pleasure to meet you too." She looks back at Krieg. "Would the two of you like some pie?"

"YES!" The earth pony took out a pie serving knife and two plates, she gently gave Ember a slice but couldn't give Krieg any because the psycho seizes the whole pie and began eating it, Ember could only stare at him as he ate it faster than the time she saw the pink friend of Spike devouring a whole cake.

Ember looks at her plate and raises the fork that Carrot Top gave her to use on the pie, slowly, she cuts off a small piece before taking it to her mouth, just as the piece lands on her taste buds, Ember felt ecstatic by the pie she had in her hands, it was a flavor she had never tasted before, it was on the same level as the most delicious gem that she had eaten long ago. Just as she finished her experience, Ember discovers that she had already finished the pie, a grunt from her side catches her attention, she looks towards the noise to find Krieg holding a slice of pie on a plate towards her while his other hand held the rest of the delicious food. Ember gladly took it and almost drops the plate because of her eagerness.

"Oh god, this is so good!" The princess said between chewing, it would've been rude to talk while eating, but Krieg was louder than the smaller dragon so that keeps her in the clear. "What's in it?"

"Oh that is a secret, but to let you know, that's what griffons call a meat pie." Carrot said as she took out another, Krieg cuts another slice for Ember before going back to eating.

"Wait," Ember swallows down the pie and let out an adorable burp. "aren't you ponies herbivores?"

"Yes, but I'm just exploring, also I have a lot of meat in my freezer that needs... disposing, my good friend gave it to me just yesterday!"

"That is actually great! Hey Krieg?" The beast looks up from his pie. "I think we should bring Smolder and her griffon friend... was his name Silverstream? Also Spike, he had lived with these ponies since birth, that dragon needs some meat in his diet."

At the new information of Spike, Krieg tilted his head to the side. "Tiny bucket is raised by ponies?"

Just as this was happening, three ponies and a dragon were spying at them from behind an empty fruit stand that seemed to be previously fixed for damages, Applejack narrows her eyes trying to figure out what the psycho really is, deep down in her gut, she felt as if she doubted her friend and trusted Krieg more, which is kinda bad. Rainbow Dash was the one affected the most by the situation, she was ready to call Krieg the second coolest creature in the country, right behind herself obviously.

Spike was extremely worried for his friend, if the reports of Krieg being the slayer of dragons were true, then he takes back the blessing he gave Krieg. As for Rarity, she was not experiencing the same dilemma as her friends are, the unicorn was much more focused on the fact that the two dragons were sharing some pie, truly romance at its finest.

"Though his mask and accessories are bad, his personality is quite charming." Rarity speaks her opinion of Krieg to her friends. "The fact that he would skip work just to have some pie with Ember is daring, you could tell that he loves to live by the edge of danger."

"Rarity, this isn't the time for your romance novels!" Dash whispered loudly to the unicorn. "We're here to make sure Krieg is innocent and not some kind of dark evil. Again, we are not here to watch some love story!"

"But how can you not understand the beauty of this forbidden love? Look at him, the dark deeds he had done in the past is written all over him, and only a young dragon maiden could purge the evil within his heart, when he is reformed by the power of love, Krieg and Ember shall live their lives happily ever after."

"Not a chance!" Spike spoke. "I won't let that monster any closer to Ember, he's guilty until proven innocent."

Before they all could argue, Applejack quickly shushed them as she tried to listen to what the three were talking about just as the two dragons finishes their fifth pie. Krieg burps loudly with great satisfaction, even Ember was happy by the choice the psycho made, Krieg then attempted to pay for the meal, but Carrot Top only declined it.

"Don't worry Krieg, think of this as thank you for saving my life and giving me another chance."

"Hold on," Ember became curious at what the pony was saying. "Krieg saved your life? Must be quite a story."

The mare snorted a laugh. "You have no idea, it wasn't just mine, even Smolder and her friends were saved by him! And from a manticore that was way bigger than him, he really is strong as everyone says."

"Oh yeah, that yak friend of Smolder actually mentioned that one. So how did he chase it away? I would ask Krieg, but..." Both Ember and Carrot Top looks towards Krieg, he was currently trying to eat the pie pans right in front of them.

"Well, he didn't exactly chased it away, he..." The mare rubbed her foreleg awkwardly. "He kinda blew it up? Right after he got bored of playing with it."

"He played with it?"

"Like a foal and a ball."

"Wow, he is quite brutal, now that I think of it, the way he moves kinda shows a warrior spirit, I bet he probably fought a lot of creatures during his travel."

"Oh, you have no idea... before I forget, would you like some carrot juice?" Carrot Top took out the cooler from under the stand and opens it.

Ember stares at her with eyes wide open for a few seconds before grabbing Krieg's hand. "Well that was an awesome pie, we sure do hope you make more and you better believe that we'll both come back, probably with friends, see ya'." She sheepishly smiled.

"Bye!" Carrot Top waved them both good bye as Ember pulls Krieg away, she turns the cooler around and discovers why the dragon was acting strange, inside was a single eyeball, it's species was unknown. "Woops."

Back with our spies, they did not know what was in the box, but what they do know is Krieg's heroic gesture towards Sandbar and his friends.

"See, I told you Krieg isn't an evil monster!" Dash became even more impressed by Krieg, not only is he friendly, but he is also AWESOME.

Applejack glared at the pegasus. "We can't really judge him yet because of what Carrot Top says, remember what Twilight told us about her? She was part of the cults down under Ponyville."

"Face it Applejack, Twilight made a mistake. She probably sketched it wrongly because she was tired!"

"Should Ah' remind ya' that this here problem is a big deal for Twilight? She would never, I mean never make a mistake when theres a big monster involved! And how would she mistake Krieg for the monster when she just sketched last night!?"

"Well, what about that time we-"

"Girls, I do believe that they are gone." Rarity spoke after looking back at the apple stand, Spike and Rarity did not see where they went because they looked away to watch the two argue, heck, the chicken was also gone.

"What!? " Both AJ and Rd said at the same time before the farm pony running up to her brother, quickly followed by her friends.

"Big Mac!" Applejack slams both her hooves on the stand. "Where's Krieg!?"

"Ah' gave him the rest of the day off, but he'll be back later to help pack up. Why?"

"We, uh... Ah' am..." Applejack quickly leans towards Spike to whisper. "Little help?"

"Ahem." The dragon cleared his throat. "You see Big Mac, we needed something from Krieg, and we were hoping that he would be here. So can you tell us where he and Ember went?"

Big Mac points a hoof towards the direction he last saw the dragons. Everyone thanks the stallion and ran off to find Krieg, after they were gone, Big Mac also noticed that Carrot Top was staring at him from her carrot stand, this made the stallion extremely uncomfortable, especially when the mare had a twisted smile on her face.
> Spine Tingling Knife!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the school's library, Gallus stared at the book in front of him, it was a simple history book about the previous war in Equestrian history, the pony and griffon war. The reason for his interest on the book is not because of curiosity, but because he wanted to see if Krieg participated in it, if what Sandbar had told is true, then the reason that only him and Smolder felt fear around the beast was because their species fought against the ponies, sadly he did not find a single clue.

He looks over to his other friends, they had sent Ocellus to meet Fluttershy early this morning and wanted to guess what the thing that Sandbar called an 'intro card', before the changeling came back, they all placed in their guesses, now they just need to wait. Gallus looks back at the piece of paper he wrote on, his guess was 'Teacher of The Year', if he gets it right, he won't have to pay five bits just as they agreed on.

Now that he thinks about it, how did the six of them receive this odd power that they can't control, it could have been the cave they entered, right where they found the monster.

Just then, the library door opens and in came Ocellus, this served as a sign that she had brought the teacher over, the others ready themselves for what is to come, then the mare entered the library. Time freezes when Fluttershy stood full view to all, the background was replaced by a peaceful looking forest with butterflies surrounding her, Fluttershy, Supermodel, Veterinarian, and Kindest Teacher.

When time returns to normal, they all looked at each others guesses, the only one of came close was Gallus and Silverstream, her guess was 'Healer of the Critters' which still technically counts but that would mean the two would share the winnings of 15 bits, which is seven to each of them with an extra single bit. Before they could decide on who gets the extra bit, Fluttershy came up to the five with her usual shy demeanor.

"Excuse me everyone, I was glad that Ocellus was looking for me, and I actually need help with something."

Sandbar smiled and nodded. "Anything for you professor Fluttershy!"

"Yes, anything for kind pony!" Said Yona.

"I'm glad you all agreed. Could everyone help me carry some things? They are all just too much for me. If you don't mind that Is..."

"You kidding?" Smolder hops off her seat. "Just lead the way!"

"Alright, follow me then." Fluttershy smiled to everyone, but when she turns away from them, that smile vanished.

The young six happily followed the teacher out of the library and into the halls, soon they reached the door to the faculty room, Fluttershy opens it and gestures for them to go in. They did so without hesitation, and when they came in, the door behind them closes, the young six looked back to find Fluttershy locking it before facing them with a disappointed look on her face, that was when they knew that they were in deep trouble.

"Students, I'm glad you all are here." Sandbar and his friends turns their attention to Starlight, her own disappointment was shown as well.

The caption Starlight Glimmer slides in before the next caption cuts between her name, Equally talented, but more equal than you!, with the background being her own cutie mark.

"Now you all must be wondering why you are here, but all I'm going to ask you is this: Who is Krieg?" She taps her hoof on the floor signalling Pinkie who came out of nowhere to throw the folder that held Krieg's information in front of Gallus. "I'll tell you who he is, he's a dragon with a body count of over six hundred deaths, most of those are griffons, some are dragons, and the rest are other monsters that were in the lowest depths of tartarus. Krieg was imprisoned down there, farther than Tirek. And what does he do? He cleared it out, right before storming the castle of princess Celestia! So tell me now, who is he!?"

They remained silent, the truth was now know by the ponies they wanted to keep from.

"Gallus," The griffon looks away to avoid Starlight's eyes of disappointment, he could feel her gaze staring him down. "this monster had killed your kind during the pony and griffon war. Did you know that?"

"Yes..." He rubbed his arm awkwardly.

Starlight then switches her glare to Smolder, the dragon froze on the spot. "And Smolder, why would you lie to everyone that he's your brother? I just want an explanation from everyone on why would you all shelter this monster?"

"He's not a monster." Mumbled Sandbar, the three mares looked at him.

"What?"

"He's not a monster!" Starlight took a step back at his sudden snap, his friends did the same and Fluttershy yelps out a cry, Pinkie only tilted her head. 

"Watch your tone Sandbar, you have no idea on what you are talking about!"

"Yes I do! I know what Krieg is feeling right now!"

Starlights narrows her eyes and stomped on the floor. "How could you understand what he feels when this monster killed so many creatures!?"

"Krieg had saved our lives, when Silverstream and Yona were about to be eaten by the underground cult, he put a stop to it, then he brought us back to the surface! You know why he killed those griffons and dragons? Because he was protecting us!"

He took a step closer to the school counselor, Starlight steps back as he did so.

"He protected ponies and risked his life for our kind, that's all he did, but what does princess Celestia do? She imprisoned him! He probably didn't trust any of us at first, but he gave everyone a second chance, he could have hurt me or my friends, instead he listened to us and wanted to stay, to be our friend, you should understand what he feels! Krieg may have killed griffons and dragons, he may want to have revenge on princess Celestia, but he still stayed because he wanted to do it all over again, protecting those who can't fight."

His friends were in awe by him, they were surprised that Sandbar would stand up for Krieg and call him his friend, they would also consider the psycho as a friend, especially after the stallion's speech. Fluttershy's eyes widen, she was impressed by his kind behavior to the beast, his words almost made her pick Krieg's side, Pinkie was moved from the speech, tears flow down her cheeks as she clap her hooves.

Starlight could only look away, she knows what betrayal felt like, that was how she felt back when she was just a foal, back when Sunburst found his cutie mark, Krieg being forgotten by the world was just like being left by her only friend, but that was back then, now she has more friends than she did back when she was little, all it took was a second chance.

"I understand, and you want to give Krieg another chance to redeem himself, all I'm going to say is, you can't just hide him that easily. One day, princess Celestia would find him, then all this effort could be useless. Should you really keep him, or just come out with it?" The unicorn looks back at the student, finally decided something that could lead to trouble, just like she had said.

The students glanced and nodded at each other, they owe their lives to the psycho, without him, they wouldn't be standing there right now. "Krieg stays with us, brother or not!" Smolder took a step forward, a sign of defiance showing that she would stand up for Krieg.

Ocellus took the folder on the floor with her magic and handed to Starlight. "He is extremely loud, and he probably committed cannibalism, but I'm willing to see past those flaws just to be his friend."

"Yak says big dragon is hero, big dragon is also strong! Yona would be happy to be friends with him!"

"I'm sorry miss Starlight, but Krieg is like, the most coolest dragon I met!" Silverstream spoke before facing Smolder. "Sorry Smolder, its just that you can't do the same things as Krieg."

"Meh, I was already okay with the guy who tried to eat me." The older ponies stared at the griffon. "I'd imagined that it was obvious."

"If that is what you six want," Starlight motions Fluttershy to unlock the door, and sighed deeply. "but I can't guarantee that you'll keep him hidden from the princesses, they'll find him eventually, and you kids will have to be ready for the day it happens."

Starlight went to the door and was about to leave the room, but looks back at the element of kindness with a strange look. "Did you say something Fluttershy?"

"Um, no..."

"Oh, must have been the wind... I'll go look for Applejack and the others, I will tell them everything that happened here, if they decide to tell Twilight about Krieg, I'll give you a heads up." With that, she had finally left.

At first they were silent, then the non pony creatures pulled in Sandbar into a group hug, telling him how much they were impressed of how he stood up for Krieg, even the two teachers joins in, his speech really reminded them that they taught Sandbar well. Sandbar became embarrassed by the attention he was getting, he could only chuckle as Yona threw him around in her yak hug, flinging the others off of the two, the days were really exciting after they met Krieg.




Applejack silently stared at the two dragons they were stalking from the bushes, she and her friends have easily located the large dragon due to his unique appearance, the two dragons were currently sat right next to the fountain, Krieg was picking his buzz axe on the dirt out of boredom. They have been watching them for an hour, yet nothing has happened, Krieg mostly pulls Ember around town before they both settled next to the fountain. The farmer wonders to herself of what the psycho was doing, it was obvious that Krieg was just wasting time, but it isn't the way she expected him to do, she expected him to break something to pass the time.

Just then, Starlight suddenly pops in with her teleportation magic, this startled everybody causing them to jump out of the bushes and right in front of the two dragons. Ember only stared with confusion while Krieg was too busy looking at the dirt he was poking with his buzz axe.

*Hey buddy, I think Applejack was spying on you.*

At the mention of the farm pony, Krieg quickly scrambles back on to his two feet. "I didn't take the cookie!"

"Why were you all in the bushes?" Ember questions them, her eyes glaring at Spike as she thinks up an idea of why, but before anyone could answer her, Starlight bursts out of the bushes and envelopes the ponies and Spike in her magic before teleporting them back to the school.

The two dragons remained on their spot, none of them knew what had just happened, since the moment passed, Krieg returns to picking at the dirt with Ember just sitting back down to watch him with complete boredom.




Twilight was awakened by the train blowing it's horn, signaling all the passengers that they have arrived to their destination. The princess looks around the V.I.P section of the train to find princess Celestia speaking with Flash Magnus, there seems to be something wrong by the way he spoke, she was still half asleep to hear what he was saying, a cup of coffee floated next to her, she looks up towards  Luna and smiled.

"Thank you princess." She said before taking a sip of the drink.

"It is not a problem at all Twilight Sparkle, we need you to be in peak condition when we meet your brother and his family. You don't want them to see you like this, what is the reason you have been sleeping less?"

"Oh, nothing really, just have been really busy last night. I was making a folder of information with the notes I have taken from princess Celestia and you about Krieg."

The alicorn of the night nodded. "I see, let us go then, I'm sure you're brother would be happy to see you."

"I will." Twilight said before getting off her seat, she followed Luna over to Celestia, Flash greeted her before they all went off and exit the train.

But instead of being greeted by the regular crystal guards, the four were greeted by the newly issued crystal soldiers with their newer purple armor, their single glowing red eye stares at them silently. Celestia raises a single brow, she had not expected this at all, even Luna and Flash Magnus were confused by the armored group. Before anyone could ask, a large earth pony walks through the group on his hind hooves, his Hyperion shotgun in his two hooves, just as he stops right between Celestia and the crystal guards, he raises his own brow at them.

"Who are you?" Twilight had to do a double check when he spoke, his voice was as strange as his lower legs, they looked like prosthetics.

Luna took a step forward. "You do not know who we are?"

"Nope."

Before Flash Magnus could go up to his face and set the strange pony right, one of the guards spoke up. "Permission to speak, sir?"

"Granted." He said without even looking back.

"They are the V.I.P's we're waiting for, sir!"

Wilhelm looks at the three alicorns for a second, before nodding to them. "Alright, follow me."

Luna looks over to her sister, the princess of the sun was only silent as she judges the pony before them, seeing that these strange group was obviously crystal guards, she chose to follow the cyborg. As Wilhelm escorts them to the city, Twilight began to notice more crystal soldiers patrolling around the city, all carrying a variety of Hyperion weapons. It was strange to see them, there was something wrong but she does not know what. They have sent Cadance a warning about Krieg, so this might be her trying to keep watch of the area for the beast.

Just as they pass through the city, Twilight notices the strange devices that the crystal ponies were holding, some were talking into them, others seems to be playing with it like an arcade machine, or they just have it around. The city have changed since she was last been here.

"Princess." The three alicorns first looked at Flash Magnus before facing the direction he was pointing his hoof at.

There by a construction site were the same machines that they faced from the underground, but they were painted purple, and instead of attacking anything that moves, they were instead helping the ponies with whatever they were building. Celestia had enough, she wanted to take the relaxing route to Cadance, but she needed answers for the sudden change around the city, so without warning, she teleports everyone along with Wilhelm right to the throne room of the palace.

Cadance jumps up from her throne when the group just pops into existence, she was confused at first but quickly became happy to see her fellow alicorns.

"Auntie!" Before she could even move an inch, Celestia sent a glare towards her. "P-princess Celestia?"

"Cadance, what is the meaning of this!?" Celestia almost spoke in her Canterlot voice.

That was when things escalated, Celestia felt the intent to kill right next to her as Wilhelm holds up his shotgun and aims it at her. "Easy there."

This action made Flash take his Tourge and press the muzzle against the cyborg. "Put it down now, or I blast you!"

"Wait!" Cadance tried to speak, but that was when Nisha the griffon came from above and landed right between Flash and Twilight then takes out two Jakobs pistols before pointing it at the two.

"Like my friend said, take it easy."

Luna charges up her horn. "How dare you point your weapons at royalties!"

[WARNING, HOSTILITY DETECTED. STAND DOWN, DO NOT RESIST.] Four Crystal Loaders burst through the doors and aims at Luna, it went like this for a full minute.

"Everypony STOP!" Everyone that had a pulse looks towards the robots and found Shining Armor standing there, the Loaders quickly became passive. "Wilhelm, what's going on here?"

The enforcer points his weapon away from Celestia. "Sir, the white one just became aggressive towards princess Cadance, I felt that I had to keep her in check!"

"Shining, what's going on, who are these two!?" Twilight did not turn around to face her brother, the griffon still had her guns out.

Shining groans loudly. "Nisha, could you not point your weapons at my sister?" Nisha hesitated but did as she was told. "Good, could you two give us a minute or two?"

"So that's your sister? I gotta say, she looks cute, for a pony." Shining heard Jack comment, he only ignored the ghost.

The enforcer nodded before leaving, Nisha followed and just as she was about to close the door, she gave Twilight a wink before disappearing behind the door.

"Shining," The stallion winced from the way Celestia spoke his name, he hesitated to look at her for a second. "I wish to know, where did you get these machines?"

"Oh, I kinda found this thing called a Constructor that makes these robots, I don't know why, but it does what I want." He looks over to his left to find Jack smirking.

"That's right Shining, we don't want them to find out, we want them to think that you're the hero of this story." Shining heard Jack say before facing back Celestia.

"Honestly, I don't why."

The alicorn of the sun thinks for a second, the problem was already stressful and now the prince of the Crystal Empire had somehow gained an alien tech. "We will talk about this later, for now we must search for the beast, Carrot Top had mentioned that he would be heading north from Ponyville, and my scouts have not seem him near Canterlot, so that means he would be heading here."

"But auntie, why here of all places?" Cadance spoke.

"That is what I don't know, the psycho is unpredictable and you would never know what runs in his mind."

Luna then remembers something. "But sister, have you discovered as to why the prison was access by outsiders?"

"I have a theory," Celestia looks away from Luna, she did not dare to look her in the eyes. "The barrier that was placed was made from both of our magic, so when you were banished, it is possible that your connection to the spell was severed, causing it to slowly weaken over the years. It must have weakened so much that whoever owns those lanterns manage to break it easily, I fear they have perished from Krieg's wrath."

"Sister, I- I am sorry..."

"It is not your fault Luna!" Celestia tries to keep her sister from feeling any guilt. "No one is at fault, the spell was going to shatter eventually."

"Woah, woah, hold on second!" Jack spoke as he notices a single detail. "Shining, could you ask for more about this Krieg?"

"Um, princess, what can you tell us about this monster?"

"Krieg the Psycho, though he appears to be a dragon, he is not of this world." She began explaining to them, this surprises Twilight, the fact the creature came from a different realm of reality. "He has told me he comes from a world of chaos, he even told us about a weapon manufactur that made him, Hyperion."

"That's him!" Jack spoke with the tone of his voice shifting from his regular silver tongue to a rageful one, his teeth bared as he breaths heavily with anger in his heart. "That is one of those f*cking bandits who killed me! Shining, you better find him now, or I'll haunt your ass til you're a wrinkled old mess!"

"Find Krieg, yes! Alright!" Without even explaining his sudden outburst, Shining quickly ran out the door quicker than a stalker pouncing on it's prey, they heard him explain his simple plan to the two creatures outside, then they heard both Wilhelm and Nisha shout out 'Krieg!?' before the three went deeper into the castle halls.

The alicorns and Flash were left with questions, but it seems that they will only get their answers later, for now, they need to find the psycho.




"Are you done?" The silhouette of a mare spoke as she oversees a dozen of bandits working around the warehouse.

"Yeah, my brother had already left for the Crystal Empire, also my son nearly got killed by that carrot horse, but he found out where your god is, both of us will be heading there tomorrow." A raspy and deep but not too deep voice spoke, the only way you could tell his species was a black scaled tail swinging left and right.

"Remember, give him our offering and come back for your next work, do not forget that these bandits will not hesitate to kill you if you went over the line."

"You psychos and your blind devotion, I mean really, if the vault hunter told you to jump into a burning pit, you'll do it in a heart beat." 

Just then, one of the crates bursts into flames, the light was bright enough to reveal that the mare was no other than Sweet Mint, but now her mask had the face of the previous cult leader sewn on it, Mint giggled loudly as the fire burns.

"Ooh! Pretty pretty!" She happily waved her hooves around, watching the bandits around it trying to extinguish the fire. "Yes, burn, burn all my troubles away!" This is where creatures of this planet break into a song, but her song isn't about friendship or love, it was about burning toasts.

"Sigh, I really wish I was back at Pandora." The unknown dragon then leaves the latest cult leader alone to sing, he still have to play courrier tomorrow.
> It Was The Butler! He Ate The Cookie!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Smolder was glad that the class ended very early today, she and her friends were going to do something, but Krieg had came by and dragged them all away to hang out when he heard that they were free for the day. Only Smolder and Gallus weren't happy while the others also wanted to know the psycho more, but at least they didn't have any assignments. Now they were all inside the castle with Spike, who was forced to join in on whatever Krieg had planned, Ember was nowhere to be seen, the smallest dragon in the room had told them that the dragon lord had somewhere to be.

Now they all sat in one of the many rooms in the castle in a circle, waiting for Krieg to finish what he was doing, they didn't have to wait longer as the beast took out a box out of nowhere, probably from his inventory as he told them. He quickly began unpacking the box which consists of a bunch of miniature character pieces which are species they have never seen before, except for Spike since he has already seen it, Smolder picks up the one thing that catches her eye, it was a hairless creature that had the same mask and buzz axe as Krieg.

"Hey Krieg, is is this supposed to be you?" She asked him before handing it over to the others so they could see.

"Yes, see how it has pecs that has pecs like me!? I am tiny flesh man!"

Gallus checks under the Krieg model to find 'Krieg The Psycho' written under, the griffon places it back down before picking up a red headed model, he turns it over to read what was under it. "Gaige The Mechromancer?"

"Yes, that's Little Red! She likes metal booms and red steel torso of awesomeness!"

Ocellus picks up one of the pieces of paper from the floor. "It says here on her character sheet that she's a human. Those mythical creatures?"

"Hold on a second," Krieg looks over to Spike who was sitting right next to him. "are we playing Ogres and Oubliettes?"

"No, Bunkers and Badasses!"

"Also, why am I here?"

"Big Red told of me of the blood you shed, the bones you've shattered, the darkness you banished, and I need aid in painting this family portrait of desire and agony from the void! The numbers, they are the tools of the artist, and I need you to count off the dead so we can have equal portions of the meat!" 

"Oh, you want my help on being GM for the session, especially on math, alright." Spike had to pat himself on the for understanding Krieg's psycho talk, all it took was stalking him yesterday.

At first, they have thought the models were Krieg's original characters, but when Gallus chooses Zero as his character, the psycho got very excited. "Ninja Man! He speaks in haiku a lot!"

"Wait, isn't that the guy you told us about, the one who taught you haiku?" Sandbar asked him and received a rapid nod from the beast. "Krieg, are all of these based off your friends? If so, where are they now?"

"Yes, these are them!" Then his mood changes, he looks down at the papers on the floor as the memories reminded him of what he had. "It's been long..."

Sensing the change of emotion quick enough, Sandbar tried to distract him from feeling sadness. "Hey, Krieg, I think we should continue picking characters, you're next Ocellus."

"Hmm, who will I be?" Ocellus ponders to herself, she then decided to pick up the blue haired one, this peaks Krieg's interest, Sandbar sighed in relief.

"Sweet Bug chooses good one! Pretty Lady is siren, she can hold people in the air so her friends can gut them like a fish!"

Spike turns his head towards Krieg so fast it gave him a little pain. "Pretty Lady!?" He and the young six loudly said in the same time.

"Yes, the prettiest lady I have ever seen, she makes my stomach growl in hunger, I want to hold her close on my meat bicycle as we both ride towards the burning sun so we could set it on fire!"

"What about princess Ember?" Silverstream asked him.

*Ember? Krieg, ask what she means about Ember.*

Krieg looks over to the hippogriff. "Why ask about Blue Flame?"

"Well, she is pretty for dragon standards, I was just asking for your...opinion."

Smolder almost frowned. "How about we just move on?" She picks up a character named Axton. "I'll be this guy."

*Guess we'll find out later.*

Soon everyone had decided what classes they would play, Yona chooses Salvador, Silverstream took Gaige as her class, so the only option left for Sandbar was Krieg. This actually made the Bunker Master happy.

*Alright buddy, let's get started.*

So without further a do, Krieg began their game session. "You all are gathered around the fire, the smell of butts is in the air, all is quiet, UNTIL THE PARTY GUESTS ARRIVED, ROLL FOR WHO EVER WANTS THE FIRST SLICE OF CAKE!"

As all of this was happening, Starlight and the others were in the map room, they were having a meeting about the monster they allowed in the castle, the unicorn was glad that Spike had decided to support the students and their choice, the whole situation does remind her of the time Spike met Thorax.

Now back to the topic, currently they are trying to decide if they would tell Twilight, Rainbow Dash was alright, but she wants Twilight to listen when she comes back first before she would go crazy on Krieg because of the threat he is. Rarity and Fluttershy were in the same boat, and Applejack was still upset from yesterday to decide, as for Pinkie, she wanted to keep him hidden until Twilight's birthday, so with three votes on telling Twilight when she returns, the group chooses Dash's idea.

There was still one more thing they needed to talk about, 'Should Ember know?', Spike had already said yes, so the scale tips over towards the truth.

"We shouldn't tell tell her," Fluttershy spoke. "it could probably make her very conflicted, she might even be forced to choose between her kind or Krieg."

Applejack just glances at the yellow pegasus. "Ah' hear ya', but she has the right to know what she'll be dealin' with."

"Why are we even talking about this? Its okay if Ember doesn't know, it won't hurt anyone!" Said Dash.

"I agree," Rarity began speaking. "she might be discouraged to pursue her desire to be with Krieg, but on the other hoof, this actually could give her motivation to pursue it even more, to reform a beast such as him. Oh, think of the moments they will share!"

"Rarity, AJ is the element of Honesty and all, but I'll be honest to you,  I'm tired of this whole romance thing."

"Oh your just jealous a monster like Krieg found love quicker than you!"

"What!? No, I'm not!" The cyan mare defends herself.

"Oh? Then tell me, did you ever date a stallion?"

Dash stuttered for a second. "D-date? Me? Of c-course I've dated a lot of times! Like, I went out w-with so many, I could hardly count every stallion I've been with!"

Rarity playfully smirks. "Liar, liar, tail on fire. Honestly Dash? I think you and Applejack have something in common, you both are terrible liars."

"Girls!" Starlight quickly silenced them both. "We aren't here to talk about romance, we're here to discuss if Ember should know what Krieg is."

"I agree with Starlight," Discord pops in out of nowhere with his name still floating by his side, and a tray of cupcakes on his lion paw. "but we should talk about something else, like how delicious these cupcakes Carrot Top made!" He took one cupcake and threw it into his mouth,  and chews happily.

"Ooh, can I have some!?" Pinkie hops up from her seat.

Discord looks at her and thinks about it for a second. "Depends, are you alright with eating meat?" He asked her, not telling them what meat is inside the cupcakes.

"Aw, it has meat inside? Yucky!" She slumps down against the table, saddened that she couldn't eat some cupcakes.

"Is anyone goin' to ask why Carrot Top just started eatin' meat?" Said Applejack.

"Oh, didn't Twilight told us about how she was part of the cult below?" Discord said before tossing another cupcake unto his mouth. "I think the cult practices being meat eaters."

"As much as that is gross, I think we should go back to our discussion." Starlight once again steer the conversation back to the original subject.

"Alright, guess I'll leave you all to it then." Before Discord could leave, he looks over to the window to his right. "Oh, I see that you're about to have some guests, too bad Twilight isn't here to greet them." And with a snap of his talons, he disappears, leaving the mares confused as to what he means.

Then they heard the roar of a mysterious creature that Fluttershy could not recognize right outside the castle, it sounded strange and the way Discord called them guests indicates that there were probably more than one, so without wasting anymore time, Starlight teleports everyone out. When they appeared right in front of the castle, they noticed that Spike and the students were watching them from the windows of the room they're in, Krieg was nowhere in sight.

The mane 5 plus Starlight heard the roar getting louder as it approached, that's when it came out of the horizon, two metal machines on wheels were heading straight towards them in incredible speed, once the machines were close enough, it screeches to a halt, kicking up a cloud of dirt covering itself. The cloud slowly dissipates to reveal the strange metal machines to be some kind of wagon or cart that had no one pulling it, an equal amount of bandits and psychos were on each wagon, but what really surprises them all was that one of the trucks have Pinkie's sister Maud sitting at the front with her hooves on a wheel, she seems to be out of place because of her size.

"Maud!?" Everyone even the students and Spike above exclaimed.

"Hey everyone," The gray mare spoke in her usual monotone voice. "meet my neighbors a few levels below."

"Hello!" The diversed group of bandits greeted them.

"Maud," Pinkie zooms up to her sister. "what are you doing with these guys, they're evil!"

"Pinkie, these are my new friends."

"What!? Maud, they could kill you if they wanted to!"

One of the psychos cleared his throat. "We could try to kill her, but she already broke Paper Crane's back, so we rather not."

"She's also helping us expand!" A bandit bruiser spoke.

"Don't worry Pinkie, they won't hurt me, I'm a good friend of their leader." Maud tries to assure her sister that she was safe.

"Excuse me," Starlight steps closer to the bandits. "but why are you all here!?" Her horn charges up, ready to cast a spell in case they cross the line.

They looked at each other before looking towards the castle, banging their hooves or claws against the metal surface of the cart while chanting one name. "Krieg! Krieg! Krieg! Krieg!" Maud looks at them before joining in on the chant, but with her own pace.

That was when the doors to the castle was kicked open, the psycho they worshipped stood menacingly in the doorway with his buzz axe in hand, and  long line of toilet paper stuck on his foot. "WHO ORDERED A PIZZA PARTY!?"

*Wait a second Krieg, those are Bloodshots and Firehawk cultists! What are they doing here?*

"Little Man, I ate that one back then." Krieg points a finger being absolutely sure about it.

The Firehawk marauder gasps. "He's pointing at me! He remembers, he remembers!" The marauder was so excited that he fainted from the experience.

*Oh yeah, I remember him, you tore off his face just to eat his brains.*

The cult cheers at the sight of Krieg as he walks up to the bandits.

Before anyone could speak, another truck that was painted red roared in the distance, soon it drives up next to it's fellow death machines, but this one was holding something far worse than a bandit at the back, once he steps off, the young six were given an introduction.

The giant dragon creature raised his anchor high just in time as time slowed down, Captain Flynt, Burn, Baby, Burn.

*Wait, what!?*

"Big Burns!?" Krieg exclaimed, he was surprised to see one of his kills standing right in front of him, he was taller than Krieg just like back in Pandora, his horns were obviously real now, and his metal mask seems to be altered to fit his new form, but his glowing red eyes still remains.

"Surprised to see me Vault Hunter!?" He said as he slowly walks up to Krieg, yup, Flynt was taller. "I still remembered that time we spent, how your short friend used my own horn to blind me."

"What are you doing here?" Starlight did not ask, she demanded an answer from the giant.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here for him!" Krieg raises his axe and brought it down aiming to right between the pirate's eyes, but Flynt was quick to put his anchor in the way. "I'm not here to fight Vault Hunter, I'm only here to deliver an offering from Sweet Mint!"

Flynt was kicked by Krieg and the pirate slams against the vehicle that Maud was driving. "You're a Passenger of the Poop Train!?" They all heard Silverstream said from the windows.

Pinkie and Dash began snickering at the name. "Poop!" Said Pinkie before bursting into laughter with Dash.

Flynt could only groan as he stood up, this was very embarrassing. "You're lucky I'm specifically told not to fight you Vault Hunter, and yeah, I am part of this stupid cult, but before I go on of how I hate this cult, let me just give you the damn offering!" He walks back towards the truck he arrived in and pulls the driver off. "Ahem, for our second offering for your return, we of the Cult of Krieg- Unofficial name- have brought to you a Bandit Technical equipped with a buzz saw launcher, we hope you're happy."

"Is that all?" Asked the powerful unicorn, her horn still charged up in case they do something.

"There is still one more thing Vault Hunter." Flynt adjusts the grip on his anchor. "I heard you killed my son."

Those behind Krieg gasps at what the large dragon had said, the psycho only tilts his head to the side.

"I just wanna know why," The tone of his voice sounded like it was filled with rage, the mane five and Starlight prepares themselves, while the students and Spike watches. "why did you f*cking hesitated!?"

"What!?" They all yell out, nearly falling over at how that went down.

"Huh!?" Was all Krieg said.

"You heard me!" He dove his hand behind the truck that he was giving to Krieg, then he pulls out a very scrawny black dragon that was only as tall as a pony with a similar mask as Captain Flynt. "Sweet Mint told me that you and the other Vault Hunters hesitated! Why the hell would you think twice before killing someone that sent assassins at you! I mean, Mint even tells us that you ate a Goliath alive!"

"Can we not talk about what he kills?" Applejack had to hold in her stomach as she pictures what he had just said in her mind. "And how is he alive if you say that Krieg and his friends killed him?"

"That's between me and Mint!"

"Dad, can you put me down?" Sparky said as he was continuously being shaked around like a piece of meat.

"Come on Vault Hunter, that's just insulting to my family! Tell you what, how about you do it right this time, go ahead, eat his heart."

"Okay, dad, I don't think uncle Zane or uncle Baron would like this!"

"If Zane found out, he would just asked the Vault Hunters to tear off your arm! Baron would probably scold me. At least Zane would buy a robot arm for you..."

"Okay." They all heard from Krieg.

And for the second time that day, the good guys once again yell out 'What!?', even Sparky said it as well.

"Don't worry Sparky, it will be over quick, or not." Flynt assures his son that he would be fine.

"Dad, you are an asshole!"

"Hate you too son."

Rarity steps right between the dragons. "Now wait just a minute! How could a father want their own child to die?"

"Because they hesitated to kill him! Were you not listening to what I was saying!?"

"Listen here!" Applejack stomps her hoof on the ground. "You take your boy and go back to whatever hole y'all crawled out of, we don't need no troublemakers in this good town of ours!"

Flynt looks at her before panning his head to the left, inspecting the ponies in front of him. "Alright, I'll leave." He drops Sparky down and heads over behind the truck Maud was driving. "Off!" The bandits did as they were told, Flynt climbs up.

Krieg silently watched the pirate, he wanted to chop Flynt up to pieces so badly, but he was still confused by the sudden appearance of the pirate.

"Vault Hunter," Flynt looks back at Krieg. "believe it or not, but this whole universe is a vault."

*This place!?*

The students notices Krieg tensed up, whatever the pirate meant seems to be something important to the psycho.

"Sweet Mint has one of the three pieces of whatever this vault is hiding, she's going to find the rest and nothing is gonna stop her, you've been warned Krieg." The Captain slams his palm against the truck, signaling Maud to drive, the bandits had to run after the two trucks as they leave the ponies and others.

"Krieg," Starlight approaches the psycho who was staring at the red truck. "what did he mean that this universe is a vault?"

She will not get any answers from the psycho, he was too busy appreciating the truck the cult had given him, Krieg moves his palms around the hood, giggling like a child, seemingly forgotten what had just happened.




If Grogar was younger, he would have white strands of hair growing on his head to show how much stress he was getting. All of the plans he thought up on getting rid of Krieg always ends up scrapped, the psycho was too unpredictable to deal with, every time he almost completes a great plan, one simple information brings him back down to square one, and now the cult was everywhere.

He had the trouble of encountering them just yesterday, the cult wasn't much of a problem, but they kept coming back as if they wanted something. Grogar also had told Tirek not to consume their magic unless they were from their world, not another.

A few cultists even tried to convince him to join their side, hah! As if Grogar would stoop so low, but he still needs to get rid of Krieg and his followers. The crystal suddenly lights up, the ram looks closely on the magical item, the ball now shows the Crystal Empire surrounded by it's new army, the ram could only groan, now this puts a wrench to one of his plans.

"Mister Grogar!" Cozy cheerfully calls out his name as she hovers above the evil ram. "Those Passengers are back!"

Grogar slams his hoof on the ground. "What is it now!?"

"Oh, well, they came by and gave me this weird thing and said that I should give it to you." She shows him the object that she received from the cultists, it then activates and shows the masked face of another cultist, the pony in the screen was silent as he stares at Grogar.

"Greetings Grogar." The pony finally spoke.

"Make this quick, I do not have time to deal with you!" Grogar glares at the screen.

"Very well, I am Incinerator Clayton, my fellow Passengers and I are looking for something that was in your possession once, I was given instructions to find it for the glory of our god! We know that you have knowledge of the bell's location, where is it!?"

The ram only smirked. "You truly believe I would just tell you? Fool! I would never tell you where it is, you and your group should just leave, or else I will have to tear you all apart, piece by piece!"

"We have given you a chance Grogar, you will now taste the holy flames that our god has blessed us with! Only he can accept your forgiveness, we shall not show mercy!"

"You god? He is but a mortal, the beast is no match for my prowess!"

This seems to offend Clayton. "You insult lord Krieg? Just for that, we will skin you alive."

Grogar took the device from Cozy's with his magic to bring it closer. "I would like to see you try." Grogar then slams the device into the wall and breaks it into pieces.

There was a moment of silence, it was calm with no sound coming from the two creatures in the room, then a loud explosion was heard from outside.

"Cozy, find Tirek and tell him to deal with these fools," He created an orb of light and handed it to the filly. "and tell him to use this for now."

"Alright mister Grogar!" She then flew into one of the many openings in their hideout, he looks back at the crystal ball on his table to see a new picture on it, it was somewhere in Griffonstone, there was something there, and he needs to find out what.




"Hey Baron!" The gray pony lowers down the Playcolt magazine from his face, he looks over to the psycho pony who was previously known as Nine Toes, now known as No Toes. "There's a call coming from your brother!" No Toes said before tossing the Echo at Baron.

The Baron easily caught it in his hooves, he then answers the device, the face of his brother on the screen. "So, how'd it go?"

"Well, besides the fact that I wanted to gouge out his eyes, it went very smoothly!" The Captain's voice booms out of the device. "He got what Mint wanted to give him, and I found myself a new toy! Ain't that right Claptrap #2?" The screams of some unlucky pony were heard from the Captain's side. "It might not be the same, but it still feels like music to my ears!"

"Glad you have something to keep you busy. I gotta ask first, did Mint give the green light?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, she says that you start the mission, she also said to be careful. Bah! What are we, children?"

"Now, now, brother, she only cares for her subordinates." Baron tells the Captain. "Alright then, I'll see you later then."

"Alright Baron, don't get yourself killed in this world, or else I'll tell Zane how you died for the second time in a world of ponies and rainbows!" The Echo went silent as the pirate hangs up, Baron tosses the device back to No Toes.

Baron took a cigarette and places it in his lips before lighting it, after letting out a puff of smoke, he turns around and faced the large group of bandits. "Listen up, some of you may have died because of Krieg, so I want you to put that anger aside, we work for Mint who worships him! Mint might be a psycho, but with her help, all of us can have everything that we wanted! A place where the wildlife doesn't hunt you down all the time, women even though they are a bit exotic, riches, and finally some delicious food! Tell me, when was the last time you ate some gourmet sh*t back at Pandora?"

"Back when Dahl was around!" One of the bandits in the crowd spoke. "Their shlop was better than what I usually eat!"

"That's right, Mint will give us what we want and all she wants us to do is head into that place over there-" He points his hoof at the Crystal Empire. "-and find the second piece of the Artifact. So are all of you ready to burn down a city!?"

"Yeah!" The bandits cheered, the excitement could not easily be contained, they wanted to shoot something.

"Alright then!" Baron looks over to No Toes. "Tell Ivan, to light it up."


KABOOM!!!

> Where Heroes Shine The Most
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today was a great day for Cinnamon, she just heard that her father was going to be okay, he would be able to walk again thanks to the doctors, and the hospital bills were already paid by her handsome boyfriend, so there was nothing bad on celebrating by herself and buy some cinnamon rolls from the same bakery she goes to. She really loved cinnamon rolls, they taste amazing and if she could, Cinnamon would eat them everyday. Sadly, her story ends here.


BOOM!!!


The wagon she was right next to explodes, the mare couldn't do anything as she was obliterated by the blast, another wagon broke apart to reveal a hippogriff with packs of explosives and he was accompanied by bandits who began shooting at anyone that isn't them, soon more wagons would reveal the bandits that it hides, then they flood the streets.

Ivan who was an ex-Vladof soldier now turned psycho, laughed as he throws around his explosives, the rhythm of the timers on the bombs made the hippogriff very ecstatic.

Word quickly reaches the castle, not only a group of bandits snuck inside the city to terrorize the populace, but the city was also being attacked from the south, the soldiers were easily overpowered by the speeding bandit trucks. They did not slow down when they arrived in the city, the drivers wanted to feel the wind as they run over civilians, and they would leave explosives on the streets to cause even more destruction.

Celestia was having a peaceful walk in the castle's halls when it started, before she knew it, Crystal Soldiers began running about, she quickly stops one for answers. "You, what is happening!?"

"Your grace, the city is under attack! A group of bandits have somehow manage to sneak in wagons filled with explosives, they have breached our defenses and more are coming!" The soldier quickly explains, when he was done he went off to follow his fellow soldiers.

Celestia frowns as she watches the series of explosions through the castle windows, when she heard a click behind her, she looks over to a grinning Wilhelm. "Ma'am, we need to get you somewhere safe."

"I can handle my own." She looks back to the chaos happening in front of her.

"Suit yourself." Wilhelm takes out his Echo and activates it so he could broadcast a message. "Citizens of the Crystal Empire, this is Wilhelm of the Crystal Army, we request that everyone to come to the castle and seek shelter from the bandits, you all don't have to worry if you can't reach the castle in time, just look for Crystal Loaders or Crystal Soldiers, they'll keep you safe!"

"Where is Shining?"

The cyborg looks away from his Echo. "Hmm? Oh, he's leaving to defend."

"Then who'll be here to protect the castle?"

"Nisha and some soldiers."

"I see."

"..."

"..."

"Guess I'll get going." Wilhelm hops out the window, leaving Celestia alone, the princess felt great regret from watching the bandits attacking the city, deep down, she feels as if this was her fault, that she could have dealt with Krieg in a better way and he would have never came back.

Shining was sweating profusely, he looks around himself to find that the soldiers were in full gear, and he was only wearing his guard captain armor. He quickly excused himself to find a spot where no one would hear him, with his Hyperion sniper rifle, he calls out to his ghost.

"Hey Jack?"

The ghost pops in from the wall, the same smug look was still on his dead face. "Yeah Shining? Please don't tell me you're getting cold feet!"

"N-no, I was just wondering. How come I'm not wearing some high tech armor?"

"You see Shining," Jack begins to explain. "I wanted you to standout, so everyone could see you when they're saved from the bandits, and when your face is the only one showing, then you'll be remembered for a long time!"

"Oh, I actually understand that."

"Good, now get out there and make everyone remember! Also, don't forget to reload."

Shining inspected the Hyperion rifle that was given to him since they found the Constructor, Contingent Invader was it's name(I like the gun, so what?), Jack had given him tips on how to use the weapon and Wilhelm instructed Shining on what to do, use it when they are too far, use magic or the very sharp blade that it has on anyone who was too close. But there was still one thing, Shining has never killed, the two aliens he had hired to become his right hooves wanted to make sure that he was ready, and now that the city was being attacked, he has to man up and be ready to take a life.

"Sir, we're ready to move!" One of the Crystal Soldiers informs him.

"Tell them to search and rescue civilians, also give a speech, that'll boost their morale." Shining heard Jack from behind.

Shining nodded to both the soldier and Jack. "Alright, I need you to go out there and protect the civilians, this is what we have trained you all for, my sister has told me that these cultists will not show mercy, so I want you all to show nothing in return! The bandits have dared to attack our beautiful city, it is a crime we can't ignore, for that, we must show them what Equestria has to offer! Now get out there and save some lives people!"

"Hurrah!" The soldiers cheers loudly before departing to work, just another day in the office.

"What did I tell you? Instant morale boost!" Jack said as he pats Shining's back, though the living stallion doesn't really feel it.

"Shining!" The captain looks over to Twilight and his wife as they ran up to him. "Shining, what are you doing?"

"Twilight, I'm doing my job." He said before attempting to walk away.

Cadance steps in front of him, a concerned look on her face. "Shining, where is this coming from? Ever since a few days ago, you started acting strange! Especially when you hired those two creatures!"

Shining shook his head. "I'm the same stallion you fell in love with, I'm just more daring, that's all."

"What if you get hurt?" His sister spoke. "At least let me come with you!"

"No!" The captain firmly said. "I won't expose my own little sister to this violence!"

"I have already seen it! Other creatures dying? I've seen that, with my own two eyes!"

"Did she sleep?" Jack asked with a frown, knowing well enough of how this would turn out if she doesn't recover from the shock, her mentality would be questioned but as long as she keeps it together, she should be fine.

"Twilight, did you sleep well?" Shining repeated Jack's question.

The alicorn of friendship recoils slightly. "N-no."

"Then exposing you to more violence would be bad for you! Listen, those bags under your eyes is a clear sign that you need help resolve the problem, I'm your brother and you always come first, but the city is in danger, they need me and I can't do anything if I have to worry about you! So stay here and stick close to Nisha, she'll keep you safe." And without even letting her talk, Shining marches off with his gun, leaving his wife and sister behind the castle walls.

"Twilight?" Cadance looks over to the younger alicorn, she was obviously feeling emotionally bad.

The lavender pony turns away from Cadance. "Excuse me Cadance, I need to send a letter!" Twilight said before running off to who knows where, all Cadance could do was hope that the city would be saved quick enough, for now, she is needed by her daughter's side.




Baron grins widely at the destruction being caused at the city in the distance, the soldiers were scrambling by the sudden attack which allowed him and his bandits to gain an upper hand on the soldiers. All was going smoothly and if the scales tips to their favor, then maybe they could take over the city as a bonus.

But that would not come true when No Toes runs up to his side. "Baron, we got a problem!"

"Please don't tell me someone shot our reserved Goliath's helmet off." Even though he was brought back alive just a few days ago, he has a good understanding on why Goliaths wear those helmets.

"No, uh, this is actually much worse." The Baron looks back with a single brow raised. "Not only are the military equipped with Hyperion gears, but they got Wilhelm by their side!"

"The mercenary? How is he here!?"

"I don't know, but he's causing a lot of deaths on our side!"

"Call up Mint!" No Toes did what he was told, he took out his Echo to dial up the cult leader and hands it over to Baron. "Mint!"

"Oh, hello Baron! Did you already finish?" The cultist spoke. "Sorry, but the victory cake isn't ready yet!"

Baron frowned. "Forget the cake, we got a problem, Wilhelm is here!"

"Which one, the torso on robot legs with giant robot fists one or before that one?"

"I don't know what you mean, but he doesn't have giant robot fists." No Toes answered.

"Oh, I see... do you need help? The archives says that Wilhelm could easily defeat Roland and his friends, so I think you should get some help. Toodles!" The screen goes dark.

Baron placed his hoof on his face and groans loudly. "Guess we're on our own." He looks over to No Toes. "I want you to tell everyone to speed things up, find that artifact now so we could go back home faster! And no more looting, we need to work fast!"

"Alright!" No Toes runs off to deliver the message, Baron glared at the city, it would have been easy but with the enforcer around, then they could be wiped out.




A mare's scream pierces the air, she was held at gun point by two bandit Marauders.

"Look at this! What a very pretty pony we have here!" One of them spoke.

"P-please! Don't hurt me!" The mare said, trying to get away from the two.

"Oh, we won't hurt you, we just wanted to ask you for a hand, I mean, hoof." The two bandits started laughing at what he implied, the mare felt dread and concerned for her own life.

A series of gunshots filled the air, and the bandits falls over against the ground with Shining right behind them.

"Next time, hire a-*Urp*- by Celestia, that does not feel good at all!" Said the captain, nearly puking out his lunch.

"Shining, you didn't finish your one liner!" Jack complains.

"I'm sorry Jack, but I'm new to this!"

"Come on, Shining, you're ruining your own reputation by being a wuss about it! Does telling you that they are basically a bunch of nobodies help?"

"Of course not!"

"Excuse me?" Shining looks back at the mare he had saved from the bandits. "I just wanted to thank you."

Shining stood properly and smirks, like how Jack had told him to. "Your welcome, head to the castle where its safe."

"Thank you prince Shining." The mare leaves for safety from the mayhem.

Once again Shining returns to his work, thanks to Jack and Wilhelm, the captain could manage through the horde of bandits. Before he could take a step, Shining was hit by a bandit truck as it speeds through the streets, the stallion manage to hold on the hood of the truck with his rifle floating in the air, the driver was annoyed by this so he calls for his ally to get rid of the unwanted passenger.

A midget pony psycho hops over the driver with a hatchet, he aimed right at Shining but the captain easily deflects the weapon with his bladed rifle before pressing the barrel on the midget's face and pulls the trigger, coating the driver in red and blinded him with blood. The truck started swerving left and right, Shining quickly hops off and let it crash into one of the buildings, killing the driver and its passengers.

The prince looks around himself and finds himself in the marketplace, he dusts off the dirt on him before starting to walk over to the crashed truck.

"On your left Shining!"

When he heard Jack's warning, Shining quickly snaps to the left and fired a burst of bullets on a bandit that was too close for comfort.

"Second floor window, fifth one to the right, behind you!" The captain spun around to shoot down the bandit. "Nice one, buddy- shields up!"

Shining manages to cast a shield in time as hundreds of bullets almost hits him, the bandits slowly walks closer to him as they keep him still, when the bandits stops to reload, the captain took the chance to shoot back, he only got one before diving behind a fruit stand. The bullets once again started flying, the stand was reduced to almost nothing and no pony corpse behind it, a Bruiser looks over his allies in confusion, but he was soon shot down when he looked away, Shining had hugged the ground to avoid the oncoming bullets, he was lucky they didn't aim low enough. Using the element of surprise, the captain ran to different cover behind another stand, picking off another Bruiser as he did so.

After losing two of their allies, the bandits directed their anger to the pony, one of them threw a grenade at Shining, but as if he has a sixth sense he pops out of cover to use his rifle like a bat and sends it back to the pitcher, they couldn't react quick enough as the grenade explodes, taking everyone out in a single turn.

"And that's a home run! Go on Shining, do some victory lap."

Shining faces Jack with a a smile. "Thanks for the heads up Jack." His smile quickly disappears as he clutches his stomach. "I kinda feel terrible..."

"Just when I was gonna call you a badass." Jack then notices something moving behind Shining, the captain saw the ghost looking over his shoulder so he quickly turns around with his horn about to cast a spell. "Wait a second Shining, he's friendly."

And Jack was correct, because this particular bandit was Steve! "Heyo!" The griffon raises his talons in the air and dropped his paper bag, all of the muffins he had bought spills all over the ground.

Shining let out a sigh, he then motions Steve to leave which the griffon gladly did, all this action was happening so fast that the captain nearly shot Steve, well, he does look like the regular bandits.

"Shining, its Wilhelm! These bandits are definitely looking for something." The Echo on his side activates, the stallion took it off to answer the cyborg.

"Why do you think that?"

"Most of the buildings they're attacking are antique or pawn shops, whatever they are looking for, must be very old."




Wilhelm looks around himself, the antique shop he had recently killed bandits in, the pieces of jars and vases were scattered everywhere from the fight, nearly everything in the shop was worthless now.

"Wilhelm, I need you to find out what exactly is they're attacking our city for, and if you could, make sure they can't get it." He heard Shining give out his command through the Echo.

And with a grin, Wilhelm spoke. "Got it."

The cyborg pockets his Echo before leaving the building, more corpses were littered everywhere on the streets, he looks over to a pony Marauder that he left alive, the bandit's lower legs were not connected to him now but the wounds were closed thanks to Saint, his drone. Wilhelm activates the new function on his left robotic hoof that he had added, his hoof began unfolding and shifting into a new form, one that almost resembles a hand, the new digits moved up and down, satisfied with the response, the enforcer grabs the Marauder's foreleg and lifts him up to eye lever.

"What are you looking for?"

If the bandit wasn't wearing a mask, he would have spit on the cyborg's face. "I'm not looking for anything!"

Wilhelm tightens his robotic grip. "What are you and your bandit friends looking for!"

"I said nothing!" The bandit began squirming in the cyborg's hold.

"You all mostly attacked antique and pawn shops, so stop lying or else I'll break more than you leg!" To prove that he wasn't lying, Wilhelm crushes the leg his hand was holding causing the bandit to scream in agony as he bleeds from the crushed limb. "Tell me!"

"You f*cking skag sh*t!" The cyborg didn't rake the insult that well, so he slams his normal hoof into the bandit's stomach.

"I warned you!" He shouted as he pulls back his hoof again.

The Marauder coughs violently before holding up his hoof in front of his face. "Alright! I'll tell you, just please, I don't wanna die again!"

The cyborg smiled sadistically. "Go on."

"We're looking for a vault tech piece!" The pony with no lower legs finally confessed.

"Any more? I want to know what this vault tech do."

"I don't know, I promised!" The bandit looks at him. "That's all I know, so please, let me go!"

"What does it look like?"

"Its a large purple ring with strange writing on it! Come on man, I told you everything I know!"

Wilhelm pressed his hoof on the bandit's chest and hold him against the wall. "And I appreciate it." He releases the bloody leg that his robot hand was holding and began slowly moving it closer to the bandit's face.

"W-wait, I told you what you wanted," The marauder struggled in place. "please!"

"Sorry, but bandits are to be exterminated on site." Said the cyborg as his robotic hand firmly grasps the face of the bandit.

"No!" The Marauder managed to cry out before his face was instantly crushed by the power of the mechanical hand, the body no longer squirms so Wilhelm let the corpse go and watched it fall against the ground.

Before Wilhelm could move on, he heard a choking noise from behind, he spins around to find a gray mare with a long flat and darker gray mane standing there with a saddle bag on, it looked as if the mare was about to cry either from fear of the situation or because a pony killed someone, so the cyborg quickly tried to calm her down.

"Citizen!" His robotic voice made the situation worse, now the unknown mare just cowered on her spot and covered her face with her hooves. "Dang it, I'm not good with these..."

He shifts his stance back to standing on all four to be less intimidating.

"Ahem," Wilhelm started speaking lowly as to make sure that he doesn't scare her again. "ma'am, you need to go to the castle where its safe."

The mare did not move.

"Um, do you have any friends around?" She shook her head, still covering her face. "Family?" The mare nodded, finally giving Wilhelm something to work with. "Are they at the castle? No? Do you need d help finding them?" And thankfully there was a breakthrough, the mare uncovers her face and nodded. "Well, I guess we can go look for your family or something. But, would you be alright with me doing my job? I know how most of you ponies aren't used to this kind of situation."

The mare thought about while looking around the carnage, she then stood up straight and nodded with understanding of why these bandits were being killed, though she doesn't really like it, she still needed to find someone.

"Okay." Was all what Wilhelm said before standing back on two hooves, he motions her to lead the way which she reluctantly did and he followed behind.




Nisha reloads her Jakobs revolvers, twelve bullets recently used on twelve bandits trying to get inside the castle, even though she wanted to go out there to score some more kills, she was still satisfied with her current task. And even if they did pass her, the soldiers and the robots would give them a welcoming. She finishes loading in new rounds in time for another dozen of bandits charging in, this time they have a Nomad Torturer leading the way and uses him as cover, his species was hard to distinguish because of his large coat, but Nisha doesn't really care.

She picks off the chains that keeps the pony midget on the shield and frees him from his captor. "My midget!" Said the Nomad.

He shield bash the midget when it tried to attack him but that gave Nisha an opening, the Nomad was too slow when the sheriff shoots his allies down, a single bullet manages to go through three heads which gives Nisha more to work with. Deciding that he had enough, and that his allies are all dead, he started charging forward, Nisha shoots at the large hole the shield had but the Nomad did not slow down. 

She curses that she had ran out of bullets, good thing she got something else, when the Nomad was close enough, the griffon took out her whip and cracks at the bandit, he stumbled back and tried to regain his balance, but Nisha did not stop whipping him and when she did, she was right in front of him. Nisha smirks at the Nomad while he was on his knees as a result of being attacked with a flurry of whips, she slides in both the muzzle of her guns through the opening of his hood and executed him on the spot.

She looks around herself, the soldiers were awfully silent, whenever the griffon looked their way, they would just return to standing guard. Nisha actually prefers that, you do your job and she does hers. If you asked her, she kinda almost liked being in Equestria, aside the sudden attack of bandits, this world was really peacuful, it kind of almost reminded her of when...well, she can't really think up a good memory.

There's no time to think of Pandora, right now, she needed to give the arriving bandits a good old welcoming party, Lynchwood style.
> A Light In The Dark
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Over here girls!" Scootaloo calls for her friends.

The pegasus pushed the thick bushes of the Everfree Forest away, the rest of the crusaders quickly follows Scootaloo with their wagon filled with digging tools deeper into the forest, though it was dangerous to traverse the Everfree, that didn't stop the young mares from going in without supervision, they are old enough to take care of themselves.

Now you may all be wondering why these fillies would go inside something their species consider strange, well, young Scootaloo had spent the night stargazing from the window of her own room, that was the time she had witnessed a stranger event, just for a second, the sky was lit up with purple lights, when they disappeared, the pegasus saw something come crashing down in fiery blaze from the heavens. At first, she thought it was just a meteor event that happens around in space, but then her wild imagination has brought her to the conclusion that whatever this thing was, it was alien.

So she had gathered her friends the next morning to seek it out, luckily, Scootaloo had pinpointed the exact location of where the strange object have landed.

They all soon reached the place Scootaloo had correctly predicted, a crater that was as big as their clubhouse. "See? I told you that something fell from space!" Said Scootaloo.

"What do you think is in there?" Asked the adorable Sweetie Belle.

"Well, let's go find out!" Scootaloo leads her friends over to the mouth of the crater, once they have a clear vision inside, the three discovers a strange oval shaped chest buried half way into the ground, covered in soot. "Woah!" The pegasus excitedly hurried down towards the box.

"Scootaloo, be careful!" Applebloom said, worried that there could be something sinister.

"Oh come on!" Scootaloo looks back at the two with a smirk. "There's nothing to be worried about!" As she reaches the box, she gives it a swift kick. "See? Now come on and help me with this!"

Sweetie looked at her earth pony friend, Applebloom looked back at her before they both nodded and heads down the crater towards Scootaloo. Once they reached the pegasus, they began to start digging with the tools Applebloom brought, the three doesn't know what the thing contains, whatever it is, it could probably dangerous.




Hours have passed in the Crystal Empire, but it seems the wave of bandits were endless, Wilhelm didn't really mind, he still have ammo to spare. The cyborg looks back at the quiet mare he was escorting around the city looking for someone, though he was ordered to look for what the bandits wanted, he first wanted to help the mare.

"So," He tries to start up a conversation. "any clue on where we can find this pony?"

"Mhmm."

"You talk?" When he heard nothing he just let out a sigh, so Wilhelm decided to go with a different topic. "Just curious, I was kinda wondering what you were doing here, you don't look like you're from around here."

The mare was silent, she stops walking to rummage through her saddle bag and took out a pamphlet, she held it in her mouth before shyly moving over to the cyborg and gestures it to him, she flinches when she saw him move his robotic hand to take it, what she had witnessed still disturbed her. The enforcer took a closer look at the pamphlet which was about a prospector convention being held in the Crystal Empire, it was scheduled for tomorrow. After she was done showing him, she returns to walking.

"You uh...a miner or something?" The mare nodded, her family occupation is kinda like a miner's. "Oh, that's nice."

Once again, they were both silent as they continued through the city, surprisingly, it seems that the bandit activity in the area is small, he hasn't seen one again. 

He was getting bored very quickly.




Luna stood on the balcony, observing the strange griffon below, though she was not liking her methods, she at least did the job, and the way she moves was oddly familiar to her, as if she had seen a different creature act like the griffon before. But her train of thought was derailed when her sister came to her side, she shared the stoic face that Luna had right now, it is seems that something was troubling her.

"Did you ever feel helpless before?" Celestia suddenly spoke, Luna did not expect Celestia to ask her a question out of the blue.

"I...yes sister, I have once felt helpless, but why did ask me so sudden."

"Luna... I feel as if this is my punishment for allowing that beast to live."

Luna's eyes widen. "Sister! How could you say that? It wasn't your fault, like you have said, Krieg would have returned no matter what!"

Celestia shook her head. "Even so, this whole attack is obviously a message from him, he will come for me." A hint of determination was in the alicorn of the sun's eyes. "When he does, there will be no hesitation."

Luna could only stare, her kind and caring sister was different ever since the psycho returned, the change was too obvious, but Celestia was still her sister and she could only hope that Celestia could vanquish Krieg once more, especially when there are four alicorns.

The sisters soon heard engines of the bandit trucks coming directly towards the castle, on the ground level, Nisha quickly calls out to the nearby Crystal BUL Loaders, the six machines sets themselves at front and prepared for the next wave of bandits. Right at the distance from around the corner came the truck, it was equipped with what seems to be light weight armor so it would not slow down, on the hood was a long pillar of metal with the heads of their victims tied onto it.

Once the truck position itself right, it accelerated towards the castle, the BUL Loaders transformed to it's second form to drive against the truck, but the bandits on the back quickly sat up and used corrosive weapons to take down some of the machines, Nisha couldn't pick them off due to the truck's armor serving as a cover, luckily Luna was not just a spectator for the event, the alicorn charged up a long range spell and casted it at the bandits in the back, a simple paralysis to keep them from attacking the Loaders. The Loaders closes in on the truck in seconds and completely flips it over making the truck spill the paralyzed bandits on the streets where the remaining BUL Loaders quickly executed them after they reverted back to their original form.

Having enough of the bandits and their chaos, the princess of the night had come to a decision to deal with them herself, without telling her sister her plans, she spreads her wings and took flight. Celestia did not question the sudden act by Luna, she could tell what ran in her sister's mind because she also wanted to help the city, but for some odd reason, she couldn't muster the courage to do so, the anger in Krieg's eye would always return to her mind to remind her why the city was being invaded by bandits.




"Baron!"

Flynt let out a long sigh, he just couldn't catch a break. "What is it No Toes?"

"Uh, that moon goddess pony is in the city."

"Great! Just f*cking great! First Hyperion and Wilhelm, then someone shot the Goliath's helmet off, now the pony who could move the moon at will is here!? If this keeps up, then we'll have to pull back without completing our dang mission!" He turns around and glared at the psycho. "I want you to remind those bandits why we're here, right now!"

"Yes Baron!" No Toes saluted but before he could move, his Echo began buzzing, he picks it up and answered, after he was done, he hesitated to look back at the Baron. "Um, Baron?"

"Let me guess, the sun pony is here too?"




Shining was breathing heavily, fatigue was starting to catch up with the stallion after he went on a one pony massacre, thanks to Jack, he had manage to fight long enough without any help from the living. He was continuously been fighting the endless horde of faceless bad guys, the idea of blood on his hooves were thankfully suppressed by the fact that he had saved countless lives in the process, he went back and forth to the castle just to escort them, and now that they were safe, Shining returns to looking for the artifact that the bandits are looking for.

Seconds passes by, more bandit corpses grow on the streets, the sound of battle in the distance echoes as time moves forward.

"Hey Shining, talk to me buddy. Something is definitely bothering you, so what is it?" His ghost floats by his side.

"Its just," He sighed. "why? Why is all of this happening?"

Jack looks away and stared at the ground. "I know what you're feeling right now, you want to know why these bandits just suddenly pop out of nowhere and attack the city looking for something old. That's sometimes how life works in Pandora, one second you're having a nice drink at the bar, the next you find out you were poisoned, all because some twisted freak thought it was a funny prank." He looks back at Shining. "You see what I was fighting on Pandora? The reason why these bandits prey on the weak? Because they can, that's why we need someone to stand up to these people, and that someone is you Shining. Do you want to add up the orphan counts?"

"No." Shining stared at the sky, slightly recovering some energy to keep going, another reason to keep fighting, not only for his family, but for the people, those who can't defend themselves.

"Good, I'd hate to see this place become just like that sh*thole."

The captain smiled, though he knows that Jack was evil, the ghost was still trying to help the planet he was on, maybe in some alternate universe Jack got help from those that wanted him dead and brought peace to Pandora, one can only hope that this Jack has the right mindset for Equestria.

Soon, Shining comes across a group of bandits standing in front of an antique shop, an old stallion sat against the wall with a Bruiser looming over him, the pony was obviously the owner who chooses to stay in his shop and thought he would be safe inside, if only the bandits weren't looking for something ancient. Shining started approaching slowly, going cover to cover to be hidden so he could get a jump at them, after he rolls undetected behind a wagon, he was given a good line of view inside and sees a hippogriff Psycho overseeing the grunts rummaging through the old stuff.

Shining props the rifle on the wheel to keep it in place, he looks through the scope and aimed it right at the bandit near the old stallion, hostages are a priority, and he took the shot but Shining didn't stop there and took down the rest of the lookouts, those inside were distracted at first but went back to looking for the artifact. The captain ran straight over to the old stallion, the pony was shooked but glad to be saved from the bandits.

"By Celestia, thank you prince Shining!"

"Shh!" The captain quickly shushed him. "Listen, head to the castle quickly before-" 

"Shining!" Shining reacted fast enough thanks to Jack and pulled the old stallion away from a hail of bullets.

Ivan chuckled deeply. "What do we have here? Some knight in shining armor?"

Shining looks back at the old pony. "Go!" He said before facing the psycho.

The old pony did not waste any more time and ran for his life, a bandit behind Ivan was about to take a shot at the old pony, but the psycho stops him. "Let him live, little old man gave Ivan cookies." Though the reason was ridiculous, Shining was actually glad for the choice.

Ivan then looks over to the unicorn, he motions a claw asking for an introduction, the captain narrows his eyes but he decided to play along. "I am prince Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire, you are all guilty of the crimes you have committed against the city, if you surrender now, then you would be spared and be sentenced to prison for fifty years! How do you plead?"

"Wait, this sounds like Judge Dredd! I love that movie!" Ivan said to his fellow bandits. "When can we go home? I wanna see that movie..."

"Are you listening!"

"Sorry to say this Shining, but psychos are kinda special." Jack spoke from above them.

Ivan began walking closer to Shining. "Well, Ivan is very sorry, but Ivan was told that purple armor ponies are good guys, so Ivan must kill you."

"Ivan?" Asked the ghost. "Wait, I know him, he's that ex-Vladof guy, I had to deal with him because they kept attacking my outposts back at Pandora, but he isn't always alone, the guy is always being followed by his electric friend..."

Just as Jack finishes talking, a shadow was casted over Shining, he looks back to find a Shock-Nomadic standing there, it was obviously a storm creature under the coat. The Nomad pulls back his fist to strike at the pony but Shining ran behind the giant, the Nomad couldn't turn quick enough as Shining took a hold on the Nomad and threw him right at Ivan, the hippogriff only steps aside to dodge his friend, when the rest were about to open fire at Shining, Ivan raised his claws to stop them.

Ivan wanted to deal with Shining only with his fellow Vladof.

The psycho pulls out his Vladof pistols and sprays a number of bullets at Shining, the captain quickly casts a shield to keep himself safe, the Nomad storm creature recovers, and with his combat rifle, he took Ivan's place so the psycho could reload.

"Come on Shining, they're keeping you pinned, think of something!" Jack spoke as he watches the Nomad switch back to Ivan.

"I am open for suggestions!"

Before Jack could say a word, two bundles of dynamites landed in front of the shield, Shining could hear Ivan laughing through the sound of gunfire, an idea came to mind, the captain puts down the shield and rolled to the side dodging the bullets, Shining shoots the Nomad on the face, the storm creature held his free arm to protect his eyes which gave Shining the chance to throw the bombs back, Ivan being the only one able to see shoots his own explosives out of the air but made himself open for attacks, the captain had closed the gap and swung his rifle's blade at the hippogriff, Ivan took a step back but couldn't escape the blade as it gave him a nasty gash on his chest.

The Nomad heard the cry of pain from Ivan, so he drops his arm down and quickly struck Shining with his massive fist, sending him right into the antique shop. Shining landed on a bandit who was trying to open a chest, Jack repeatedly tells the stallion to get back up, the Nomad quickly came to Ivan's side with a healing injector. Shining stood back up and took the chance to blast the Nomad with a magic spell causing the storm creature to drop the heal and fell onto his back, Shining then charges over to the down Nomad, but as he reaches the Nomad, Ivan suddenly grabs Shining by his horn and flung him out to the streets.

Shining groans loudly as he stood up, a strange ticking noise coming from his back, when he looked behind himself and he saw one of Ivan's bomb sticking on him, he looks back up to find the hippogriff using the syringe on himself, the captain could tell that the psycho held a smug look under the mask.

"No more games white pony, you are dead!" Ivan lifts his claw holding a detonator. "Time is set for one hour, but Ivan make you go boom right now!"

Before Shining could speak, a bandit rushed out holding a purple ring that was almost bigger than his head, it glowed brightly as the bandit presented it to everyone.

Jack froze in the air, he stared intently at the artifact. "That's- that's an Eridian tech! How- what!?"

Ivan swipes it away from the bandit and inspected it, then he returns the vault artifact to the bandit and motions him to leave, while everyone was distracted, Shining had ripped off his armor since the bomb was not easy to take off.

"Shining!" He looks up to see Jack with a worried look. "Don't let them have that vault tech!"

Shining quickly went into action and threw his armor toward bandits, Ivan instinctively triggered the detonator without even looking, the bomb created a thick cloud when it exploded, and through the smoke came Shining with his rifle aimed right a the Nomad, he shoots the storm creature down before swiping the vault tech from the bandits with his magic.

"Mikhail!" Ivan cried out.

"Alright Shining, get out of there!"

But the captain could not run as the bandits quickly tackled him to the ground, Ivan went over to his friend's side, and thanks to the heavy coat his friend was wearing the bullets didn't put his life in danger, the Nomad was only winded but he'll live. Shining struggled under the bandits, one of them, a midget, swipes the artifact from Shining and ran away, definitely to who ever was leading the bandits.

Ivan who was now free of worry, walks in front of the captain, he pulls out his pistol and pointed it at Shining. "Ivan, is surprised how white pony is determined, Ivan is impressed, but you have made the mistake of attacking Ivan's friend."

Ivan notices Shining's horn beginning to glow, so he aims his gun slightly off and pulls the trigger, the bullet grazes the captain's cheek before hitting the cobblestone next to his face, both Shining and Jack reacted to the pain.

"Ivan won't let you use your magic."

"Is this gonna be the part where you tell me what your big plan is?" Shining said as he glared at the hippogriff.

"Ivan has no plan, but new boss has. You see white pony, Ivan was killed by Hyperion pig, but Mint pony has brought Ivan and his friend back."

Jack was now curious, it is seems that whatever the vault tech was, it could bring back the dead. "Wait...was I supposed to be alive?" Now everything was making a bit of sense.

"Mint pony then tell Ivan, that world is peaceful, Ivan hates peaceful world!" The psycho looks down at the prince. "And starting today, this world will no longer be at peace, for Mint shall use the vault tech to-"

The psycho couldn't finish what he was saying as a buzz axe buried itself into his skull, the bandits immediately scrambles onto their feet to attack the killer of Ivan, but they themselves froze, Jack who had already traced the axe to it's owner had began seething in anger, but that dissipate when he hears Shining groaning as he was getting back onto his own hooves as well.

"Shining," The captain looks over to him, Jack's usual mischievous look was replaced for genuine concern, it was directed towards the captain. "whatever you do, do not provoke him."

A warning that the captain should follow, for what comes next is far worst than a regular psycho, this one is the apex predator of it's class, this one is the psycho, and everyone have better prayed for mercy, for Krieg's axe is thirsty.

"Mahahaha! My mind is on fire!"
> My Axe Is Thirsty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It has been hours since Captain Flynt left, Rarity had left after feeling inspired by the pirate's appearance, leaving the rest of the mane six and Starlight to watch Krieg repeatedly spins around his new truck with the students along with Pinkie and Spike on the back, they were also enjoying the ride. Starlight was still wanting some answers, she had easily piece together the information that Krieg's enemies were coming back to life, but she had never heard of them from any books, not one have any mentions of these bandits.

She looks at the truck, though it there are similar machines somewhere in Equestria, the Technical was obviously not from their world, the design was obviously made for non-ponies, it actually fits Krieg's size. Now came the weapons, just like she had mentioned, they do not exist on any books, could it be that-wait, Twilight had mentioned that Celestia erased anything related to Krieg. Could it be that the reason that she could not have find anything was because of the alicorn of the sun?

It might be the answer, but there is still one more question that seems to be the key to all this, what did Flynt mean? The universe is a vault? It does not make any sense to the unicorn, she'll just ask Krieg once he's finish.

Krieg stops his truck for a second and the passengers slowly gets off, they swayed side to side as they tried to keep themselves standing, it seems to be too much for Spike as he began coughing after he fell on his knees, wait, he wasn't coughing! A letter pops out of the young dragon and Starlight quickly swiped it out of the air, she then opens it to read and gasped loudly, catching the other's attention.

"What's wrong sugarcube?" Applejack asks the unicorn.

Starlight looks over to them, dread written all over her face. "The Crystal Empire is being attacked by bandits!"

They all gasped as well, but Krieg was too busy staring at the truck trying to think up decorations to the machine, maybe some skulls.

"Wait!" Dash spoke, feeling some concerns for the situation. "Is Twilight alright!?"

"You don't have to worry Rainbow Dash, it says here that she's very safe at the castle, it also mentions of the new addition to the military of the kingdom, they are guarding the castle."

Fluttershy slightly relaxed by the information. "But, what do we do? Do they need our help?"

"The letter says that they need help in getting rid of the bandits."

The Wonderbolt started to hover and jabs her hooves in the air. "Then what are we waiting for!? Let's go!"

Applejack pulls the pegasus back down. "Need Ah remind ya' that these bandits are armed with those guns? They can very much end ya' in just a blink!"

"What do we do then!? We can't just sit around when our friend is in danger!"

"I might have an idea." All eyes looks over to the changeling, curious of her plan.

"Alright, let's hear it then!" Dash spoke, though it sounded demanding, she only just wanted to check on Twilight if she was safe.

"Well, Starlight could bring you to the Crystal Empire, how about you bring Krieg? He is very experienced on dealing with bandits, so Krieg could help out on clearing the city, but you'll have to bring someone else to keep an eye on him..."

The older ponies looked at each other before nodding. "Alright, but princess Celestia is with Twilight, what do we do about her?" Said Starlight.

"We just need the one who's watching to make sure he steers away from princess Celestia." She looked over to her friends, Ocellus had already decided who to watch over the psycho. "I'll do it."

"What!?" Her friends said in the same time.

"Ocellus," Smolder spoke. "you can't just throw yourself in danger!"

Gallus steps closer to the changeling. "She's right! At least let me go instead!"

The changeling shook her head. "No, we need to make sure no one recognizes the one watching Krieg, I can easily disguise myself and no one would know who I am, so that's why I should be the one to go."

Gallus looks over to the psycho, he was holding a paint brush with orange paint, the beast was painting the vault symbol on every side of the truck. "You do know what he'll do, right?"

"I know..."

Smolder let out a sigh. "If you won't change your mind, then alright, but keep yourself safe."

"I know." Ocellus smiled.

"Its decided then," Starlight spoke. "I'm going to teleport us into the city and you make sure he does not go near princess Celestia, luckily she'll be with Twilight, so just keep him away from the center of the city."

"Will do, guess I should tell Krieg." The pony nodded and allowed Ocellus to go to the psycho.

Ocellus cleared her throat once she was just behind the beast, Krieg stops painting and looked over his shoulder. "Excuse me Krieg, are you maybe...bored?"




Somewhere at the dessert in the southern side of Equestria, Tempest Shadow or Fizzlepop Berrytwist sat under a crashed airship to keep herself away from the scorching sun, she had to get rid of her uniform to make sure she doesn't over heat. Tempest took out her water bottle and pops open the cap before taking a big drink out of it, she let out a satisfied sigh before putting the bottle away for later.

She had been traveling around seeking to atone for her past decisions, it was peaceful going around Equestria, meeting new faces and such, but what actually bothered her was that she had to be followed by a mentally damaged pony who wore a strange mask, the cutie mark the pony had was a skull of a pony wearing a red blindfold and smoking a bent cigarette.

"SHOOT ME IN THE FACE! DO IT! COME ON, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!" The psycho yells at her ears while jumping in place. "MY FACE, LOOK AT HOW SHOOTABLE IT IS! GO ON, ITS VERY EASY! KABLAM! JUST LIKE THAT!"

She was really tempted to do what he was requesting, but she has turned over to a new leaf, so she'll have to suck it up and hope that he'll get bored.

Before she could be tormented more by the psycho, a high pitch whistle cuts through the air, Tempest was curious of where it was coming from, it seems the other pony was also the same since he stops his loud shouting. Both of their questions was soon answered when right in front of them, a large thick cloud of sand kicks up, the unicorn and the psycho stared at it, just she had expected, a strange creature that looked like it wore armor had came out of the sands, it sniffs that air before setting it's eyes on the unicorn, then more had came out of the cloud of dust, all staring hungrily at Tempest.

Just when she was about to stand up, the psycho by her side shoves a strange weapon into her arms, she looks up to find him holding a similar weapon. "THE FACE! SHOOT THEM ALL IN THE FACE! THEN ME!" 

He screamed before charging towards the strange creatures, seeing that these are a threat to her, she decided to follow the psycho, she mimics the way the crazy pony uses it and charges in with a battle cry, she doesn't know why she was doing this, must be pent up stress from being with him, guess she'll have to unwind.




Today, Bad Maw who was revived as a very large pony was having a crummy day, he just like the other bandits were in the city looking for an artifact, but after his run in with a single Hyperion soldier and a bunch of Loaders, he lost all three of his midgets and someone hit the Goliath's helmet off. That someone was sitting right across the table with him along with the Hyperion soldier that was mentioned standing by the window, watching the Goliath work, the three of them were currently hiding inside a bakery with the curtains closed to escape the wrath of the Goliath who is currently killing his fellow bandits, he glares at the small pony in front of him, she had a gray coat and a lighter gray mane.

"You know," Bad Maw began. "we wouldn't be here if you didn't attack the Goliath."

The mare snaps her glare towards the Nomad. "Well we wouldn't be here if you and your friends didn't attack the dang city!" Oh god, that irritating voice of hers was bothering Bad Maw.

"She's kinda right." Spoke the Hyperion dog, while staring at the pastries that was on display, his right wing taps his chin as he was making a choice.

"Oh you be quiet! What kind of a rescue was that!? You come in with a bunch of junk metals and then you run in here to hide!?"

The soldier looks back at her, no one knows if he was glaring at the mare because of the helmet. "Hey, if it weren't for me, that thing would have killed you!"

"Then why did you bring him in!?" She points a hoof at Bad Maw.

"Well, I kinda mistaken him for you..."

"He's as big as princess Celestia! How did you fail this bad!?"

"I'm still new to this helmet, okay!?"

The Nomad slams his hoof against the table. "Be quiet, or else that thing hears us and shoves one of you up my ass!"

"That was kinda specific." Said the gray pony.

Bad Maw shrugs his shoulders. "These Goliaths do it all the time, don't be surprise if you see a pony centaur..."

Once again, everyone was back to silence, but that was easily broken as a torso of a kirin crashes through the window, both the smaller ponies were about to scream in terror for witnessing such a fate to a bandit, but Bad Maw prevented them to do so after he spoke the dead kirin's name. "Child Stabber Tim! Oh god no! No, no, no- you know what? He kinda deserves it..." At first the ponies were confused, but then they just went back to what they were doing before.

And just like that, they went back to silence, and once again it was broken, but not by a random corpse, but because of the Nomad himself.

"So... any names?" The mare glared daggers at the Nomad. "What? We're obviously going to die, might as well learn the names of the ponies I die with... I'll go first, I'm Bad Maw." He said, the corpse still bleeding on the floor.

The mare and the soldier looked back at each other, before deciding to introduce themselves, the mare was first. "Limestone Pie, and I'm not gonna die here, you probably are, but not me."

The soldier takes off his helmet to reveal his orange coat and blue mane. "Flash Sentry." He looks back at the display before facing everyone again. "You guys want some last desserts?"

"I said I ain't going to die here! But I'll settle for anything." Flash quickly went around to get some food, he picks up cinnamon rolls before tossing it over to Limestone, she caught it with ease and began eating.

The Nomad stares at the soldier. "You're robbing the place?"

"Said the bandit."

"Touché. I'll have some cake, I've been craving some since I woke up."

"That makes two of us." Flash cheerfully said, he then brought two slices of cake to the table with extra cinnamon rolls, he took a seat next to the Nomad and they both began eating their cake.

Though this was low, the Nomad actually enjoyed the moment he was having, one last meal with people that won't kill you, before getting murdered by a Goliath. He looks over to Limestone, she wasn't showing it, but it was obvious that she herself was comfortable with the two stallions, then he looks at the Hyperion soldier, the pegasus was harder to read because it seems like nothing bothered him.

The Nomad returns to eating, he really hopes that someone would come by and kill the Goliath- Oh great, it turned GOD-liath. Seeing he had nowhere else to turn to, he decided to pray, when a man is down on his last life and has no one to call for help, they seek those who are greater, he wipes the icing off his face and began praying.

"What are you doing?" Asked the mare.

"What I can do, praying to the god that my boss worships, Krieg." He explains to them, the two smaller ponies decided to listen closely to the Nomad, Bad Maw closes his eyes and began his prayers. "Dear lord Krieg in the heavens above, I come before you now seeking aid against a foe that I could not defeat, if you do not wish to rescue me from my fate, then I request for you to lend me your strength and courage so I can stand against the trial that rages in front of me," He looks up at the ponies with him before closing his eyes again. "if not for me, then for my new friends in this world, for they need it more than I do. Amen."

Flash smiled, Limestone almost did the same and only rolled her eyes, the fact that he had already considered that they are his friends was kinda touching, how things go so fast when death was standing over your shoulder.

"Amen." Both ponies said, Bad Maw smiled as well, they were about to go back to eating, but a sudden bright light filled the room.

Out of the light came Krieg, his shotgun in hand, his head pans left to right before landing on the Hyperion and Nomad.

"It worked!" Bad Maw stood up from his seat.

"What worked?" Asked the element of laughter.

"Pinkie!?" Limestome quickly rushed over to her sister's side.

Now that they have noticed it, Krieg was accompanied by five ponies and a blue and pink maned psycho mare. The Nomad also got off his seat to get in front of Krieg and kneeled on his knees with his arms spread open.

*Bad Maw? Krieg, I think we should really look into this and find out why are our enemies alive.*

"Thank you lord Krieg for answering my prayers! I am humble to be in your presence!" The mares looked at him wierdly, Limestone quickly explains why he was acting like that.

"Okay?" Said Rainbow Dash, she and rest sees how funny the timing was, also the fact that Starlight had teleported them in the bakery was a huge coincidence.

"Pinkie," The party pony looks at her sister. "why are you here?"

"Twilight called us over! Why are you here?"

"Prospector convention." Was all she said.

"Okay!"

"Hey," Flash spoke as he stood next to the Nomad. "why are you with these bandits?" He asked even though he was with one right now.

"Pinkie chop!" Out of nowhere, Pinkie struck the Hyperion soldier behind his neck.

"Pinkie!" Everyone except Krieg and Bad Maw said in the same time.

"What? He works for the guards, we don't want them to know that Krieg is here!" She explained herself.

Starlight just frowns. "We can talk about it later, we need to get to the castle now."

"You're going to the castle? Can I come? Marble is probably looking for me there." Said Limestone.

"Well of course!" Pinkie cheerfully said.

"Ah think we should bring the guard with us also." Applejack pokes the unconscious pegasus, all had silently voted for the one who knocked the guard out to carry him with their eyes, Pinkie only rolled hers before pulling Flash closer to the group.

Starlight groans loudly. "Alright, hold on-"

"Wait!" The unicorn stops when Limestone spoke. The gray pony looks over to the Nomad. "You coming?"

"Me? Heck no!" Bad Maw laughed loudly, Limestone felt insulted by this because it looks like he was forgetting what had just happened in the bakery, before she could get angry, the Nomad continues. "If I suddenly pop inside the castle, I'll be swiss cheese!"

Her temper goes down, she now sees the Nomad in a better light. "Then where will you go?"

"Heh, I don't know, one thing for sure is, I ain't going back! I'm gonna travel Equestria and start a new life, maybe spread Krieg's name!"

*Oh god, we're witnessing a missionary in the making.*

Limestone could only smirk. "Good luck then, also, don't forget to write, I wanna hang out when you're around." She nods at Starlight, and in a blink of an eye, they were gone.

The Nomad looks over to Krieg and bows. "My lord! I am thankful that you are here-"

"Um," Began the psycho pony. "you don't have to talk like that, Krieg is actually nice!"

"Oh, okay..." He then continues without treating Krieg like a god. "So, hmm, there's a GOD-liath outside."

Krieg's eye widens in excitement. "Done and dead!" He said before running towards the broken window and hops through it, when he exited the building, he discovers the mutant currently slamming his fists into the pavement, a very unlucky bandit was now reduced to paste.

Krieg roars loudly to catch the GOD-liath's attention, once he became the main focus of the mutant, Krieg charges in while shooting at the GOD-liath. The monster roars in return before jumping towards Krieg, both horrors of Pandora reels back their fists and threw it towards each other, when the fists collides, a strong gust of wind came from the impact, causing anything lighter than a gun to move slightly.

Krieg threw another punch but the God-liath caught it, the monster twists Krieg's hand making grunt in pain, the psycho headbutts the monster's chest and made it stagger back giving the beast a chance to pull out his shotgun and blast him point blank. The bullets were useless, it was like trying to take down a tank with a handgun.

"Try breathing through crushed lungs!" The GOD-liath shouted, as he slams his fists into the pavement before charging towards Krieg.

The psycho holsters his gun and raised his hands to catch the charging mutant, as he had planned, Krieg catches the GOD-liath, the psycho thrusts his head in and impales the skull on his horn, then Krieg pulls back, ripping the GOD-liath's head out of the small opening on his body, the bloody skull and spine dangles around as Krieg threw the corpse aside.

"YOU MAKE ME VOMIT! HAHA!" The psycho laughs at the supposed god, back at the bakery, Bad Maw felt as if he was witnessing a divine being showing everyone what he alone could do, as for Ocellus, she had not watched any of it.

But Krieg was not satisfied, he looks around trying to find anything to quench his thirst for blood, right down the street were a group of bandits, they watch him carefully and when the group noticed Krieg staring at them, they began inching back. With a loud and joyful laugh, Krieg sprinted towards the bandits, they reacted quickly by spraying hundreds of bullets in defence, this was useless. When Krieg got close to the first victim, he punches right through the bandit's chest, he would then use the corpse as a bludgeon to the next one, he slams the dead on the living over and over, still ignoring the bullets being shot at him.

"Make me bleed!" He yells out before tossing the corpse off his arm, he pulls the skull off his horn and smashed it against the face of a Bruiser, then he rips a Psycho's face off just to smash it on the Bruiser again.

He used his shotgun to cleave a Marauder's head clean off before aiming it a midget and blasted him to a bloody mess.

Ocellus tried hard to hold it in, she felt light headed seeing all the blood, she still have a responsibility for the psycho, that's why she needs to watch him so he wouldn't disappear from her sight. Bad Maw stood next to the disguised psycho's side after retrieving his shield.

"Beautiful isn't it?" The Nomad spoke as they both watch Krieg snap a bandit's spine. "The god of war himself, its like a work of art." He then looks down at the changeling. "You aren't a Psycho aren't you?"

"How did you know?"

"You're saner than the sanest Psycho, it was really obvious."

Seeing her mistake, she quickly took the form of a Marauder which really made Bad Maw impressed by her feat. "Is this good enough?"

"How'd you do that?" He asked, both of them ignoring the cries of pain that was coming from the bandits.

"I'm a changeling, we can shapeshift to any creature on the planet."

"That's amazing! Wish I was a revived as a changeling..."

This catches Ocellus' attention, she had just remembered what happened a few hours ago. "Wait, could you tell me how you and Captain Flynt are alive?"

The Nomad pauses, he thinks about her question for a full minute, then he decided, even if this would cause trouble, Bad Maw will tell the truth. "Do you know what a Vault is?" And thus, Ocellus shall not only learn Krieg's origins, but what this world truly is.

Back with Krieg, the psycho had just finished rearranging a Nomad's face, he looks around himself seeking for more sacks of flesh to mutilate, the psycho's eyes lands upon a midget, that midget quickly ran away in fear when he saw Krieg looking at him. The beast pulls out his buzz axe and roars out his lungs before giving chase, at the sound of the psycho behind him, the midget started screaming for help.

This made Krieg even more excited for the meat grinding that was about to happen, the midget instinctively steps aside in time to dodge a buzz axe, Krieg tried to dive with his arms forward to catch the little freak in his hands but missed, the psycho quickly gets back on his feet, he pick the buzz axe off the ground and threw it at the midget, the blunt side of the axe hits the mutant square on the back of the head causing him to fall against the pavement.

Krieg had finally catches up with the midget, he raised his foot over the mutant's head and slams it down, a sickening crunch was heard. Krieg chuckled a little before stomping his foot again. Just then, another midget who was carrying a strange large glowing ring passed by, Krieg looks over to the midget in confusion, before he could chase after the midget, he hears voices just a few feet in front of him, the beast's eyes lands upon a hippogriff Psycho talking to a pile of bandits.

Krieg raises his throwing arm and aims right at the Psycho, with one single throw, the bandit was no more, the group quickly scramble back to their feet and held their weapons closely, but it have seems that they froze by the sight of Krieg. The beast laughs, he enjoys the terror in their eyes, oh how their screams will be sweet music to his ears.

"Mahahaha! My mind is on fire!" He said right before pulling out his shotgun and fires a round on one unlucky bandit, the group immediately reacted by firing back at the beast. Krieg runs up to their faces and lifts up his mask to breath hot flames to his enemies, they all caught on fire and tried to put it out, but that just gave Krieg the chance to swipe one of them and chomps down on the shoulder of the bandit in his grip, they screamed even louder before having their face eaten by the beast. After satisfying his hunger, he tosses the corpse away before taking out his axe again, he began cutting those who are alive and burning to pieces of cooked meat.

Right before he left, Krieg noticed a pony pressing himself against the wall of an antique shop, the psycho slowly walks up to the pony, and when he was standing right in front of the frozen stallion, he raises his hand and gently pats him on the helmet before leaving to look for more bandits.

Shining waited for the psycho to be out of earshot, once he was gone, the prince finally let out that breath he was holding. "That's Krieg!?" He yells out once he got his breath back.

"That's right, good thing you listened or else he would have snapped your neck!" Jack the ghost floats by Shining's side.

"H-he...he ate that guy!"

"Just be happy that it wasn't you, okay!?"

Shining couldn't stand, he stayed sitting on the ground, trying to understand what had just happened in front of him. "What do I do?"

Jack looks at the direction the psycho have went, a determined look on his face. "The only thing you can do, call Wilhelm."
> Fate Has Brought The Meat!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Big Mac wipes the sweat off his brow as he made his way towards the well after finishing up his chores, and thanks to the new help around the farm, Big Mac managed to finish much early, it would have been much faster if the dragon had stayed, but he intimidatingly begged to leave so he could hang out with his friends, the farm pony can't really say no when it comes to friendship. After getting a bucket of water from the well, the stallion took a drink before splashing it over himself to cool off and he shook his mane around to dry it off, his peaceful break would soon be disturbed by the sound of pounding metal, he looks around trying to find out where it was coming from and when he finally traces it, he went in the direction of where it originates.

It was coming from the barn, either his sister came back or the younger one and her friends did which was more likely since Applejack didn't help him with the chores, so being curious on what his precious baby sister was doing and what antics she and her little friends were doing, Big Mac decided to open the door and peak inside.

"Come on! Open!" Yells Scootaloo as she used the hammer in her mouth to hit a soot covered chest on the lock and it was a chest that Big Mac have never seen before, now he was even more curious, there was also a chisel right between the gap, but it seems the chest would still not open.

"We've been at it for hours!" Cried the sister of Rarity, Sweetie Belle, who was wiping a dirty cloth on the chest, it looks like she was trying to get rid of the soot from the chest. "I don't think it'll open..."

Applebloom who was also cleaning the chest pokes her head from behind the object. "That's just quitters talk! Ah I know how hard this is, but we ain't just gonna give up cus' of some box!"

Seeing that his sister was having a bit of a problem, Big Mac chose that time to come in to aid the young filly. "Need help?"

"Big Mac!" The trio said in unison, a huge part of them was very glad to see the pony, they know that if they can't open it, then the adult could.

Applebloom quickly rushes over to pull him closer to the chest. "Big Mac, you gotta help us with this!"

"Where did you even find this thing?" The stallion taps the metallic surface of the box.

Scootaloo drops the hammer to speak better. "Well, I saw this weird light show last night, and I noticed this thing fall into the Everfree Forest-"

"You three went into the forest!?" He had to confess though, this wasn't surprising.

Applebloom shyly looked away from her brother, before she could speak, her friend Scootaloo cuts in first. "We're sorry Big Mac, it was my idea! You see, there was this weird light show last night-"

"Light show?"

"Yeah, they were everywhere! And this one landed in the forest, so now we're here." She stomps on the box to try and open it that way, but nothing happens.

"Hmm, alright, I'll help."

"Really!?" Said Sweetie Belle. "Maybe we can open this box!"

The trio watch steps away from the chest to let Big Mac do what he was gonna do, the stallion walks closer to the object and when he was just one step from the chest, he reels back onto his hind legs and raised front hooves high in the air before slamming them down on the lock. The fillies were silent when they watched Big Mac's attempt, waiting for a result, the four ponies in the barn heard a click coming from the chest, it would seems that Big Mac's attempt had worked, the crusaders felt joyful for their efforts and were excited to see what was inside the box. 

Big Mac took a few steps back as the chest started opening on it's own surprising everyone in the room, when it finally finishes, the four were shown what really was inside, three objects that the ponies knew were guns thanks to Krieg, but what really stand out was the strange device that was repeatedly flashing it's screen.

"Woah! What's that!?" Said Scootaloo who was buzzing her wings, she was excited the most among her friends.

"Maybe it's an ancient artifact that was made by a very advance race of aliens that live here long ago?" Sweetie Belle suggested.

"Ah don't know, kinda looks like one of those arcade machines, but smaller." Applebloom spoke.

While they were trying to guess what it was, Big Mac could only smile, three young fillies with their wild imagination was really precious. He could remember those days as if it was just yesterday, the memories of his little sister's adventures, always going around looking for their cutie marks, how they have grown so much since. After his ride down memory lane, he goes back to watching the trio again.

Scootaloo carelessly picks up the strange device, she gave it a shake, when nothing happened she turns back towards her friends. "Any ideas?" Before she could get any suggestions from her friends, the device suddenly lit up, the screen now had a picture of two strange creatures, a brown haired one with a strange tattoo just above it's left eye and a red haired one with a pair of goggles on her hair and a bandage under her right eye, the red haired one had it's arm around the other, holding them closer for the picture, a name that read as "Hottie <3" was captioned below the picture.

The ponies were surprised to see a creature that they have never ever seen before.

"Gaige," A male voice came out of the device, surprising the ponies even more. "Gaige? Come on, answer me!" The voice was obviously owned by the brown haired since he looks more masculine, so that means the red one, who is also obviously named Gaige was female.

"He sounds sad..." Noted Sweetie Belle.

"How can you tell?" Asked Applebloom.

"I don't know, I just could hear it from him." The young farm pony accepted her answer, Scootaloo quickly shushes them so they could listen to the device.

"This is getting ridiculous, Maya knows that I'm not good with this. Alright! Ahem, hey Gaige," His voice became much cheerful. "it's your robro! How about we talk about cool stuff? I've been reading the comments on your 'Zero Plays Beat Sabers' video and it looks like they want other Vault Hunters to try! I think Salvador and I could try it out. Maybe you could even start streaming us playing other games, like that blocky one! No? Fine! Gaige, you have to listen, he's gone, okay!? Just come back to Sanctuary already! We all miss the guy," Big Mac began wondering who he was talking about. "but you can't just go off on your own, you can take care of yourself, I know, but you can't just push yourself like this, though bandits started calling you "The Red Storm" after you tore apart their camps, you're still a kid! Okay, you technically helped us with Handsome Jack and all, but still..."

The device became silent just for a minute, the voice sighed before starting again. 

"Gaige, you, Maya, and Salvador miss him, and I'll be honest, I miss him too... Heck! Even Zero misses him! He doesn't say it, but I've seen him reading that crappy haiku Krieg made a bunch of times!"

"Krieg!?" All four ponies said in the same time.

Before they could question it more, the sound of guns popping came from the device. "Wait, hold on a second... Oh Gaige!" The voice calls out to the girl cheerfully. "Guess what? Sanctuary is being attacked right now, and if you hurry, then maybe you could get some points, but you better be fast, Zero is already out there!"

And with that, the device turns itself off, the four were left with questions, and the only ones who could answer it was the psycho himself.

"I think we should show these to Sandbar and his friends..." Spoke Applebloom, the other fillies nodded. "Big Mac?" The stallion waited for what his sister was about to ask. "Could you help us bring this chest to Krieg?"

How could Big Mac say no to his own little sister? So he smiled and gave the young pony a nod, he himself also wanted answers.




Twilight stood in the throne room, silently watchinging the staff of the castle work to calm and aid the citizens of the Crystal Empire, just hours ago, the ponies flooded in when Wilhelm sent out his message telling them all to seek refuge in the castle, the princess had sent sent a letter to Starlight, calling for their help, but she doesn't know "how" at all. She looks over to the bandit that Nisha had let in, she said his name was Steve, though no one really wanted him to be here, the griffon was actually very friendly, he had also started helping around making sure no one was hurt, and if they were, Steve would give them a strange syringe filled with an unknown red liquid, the doctors and medics were hesitant, but after seeing it's healing properties decided to use it.

Twilight wonders to herself, when will her friends come? The bandits were still tearing the city apart, even with Wilhelm, Shining, and the Crystal Soldiers, it seems like an endless tide of chaos. She looks over to the machines that was also here, the things that attacked them back at the underground, how her brother managed to control these things was a mystery.

Her train of thought was derailed when a flash of light lit up the room, Flash Magnus was right next to the light when it happened, so he aims his weapon at the new group of ponies. Fluttershy was right in front of the gun when she appeared, she fearfully stared into the abyss of the barrel, good thing Flash Magnus had never taken the shot.

"You mares scared me there," He puts away his weapon. "Twilight called you I guess...she's over there." He points over to the princess where she waited for her friends, though Rarity was missing, the alicorn was still happy to see her friends.

Limestone taps her sister's should to catch her attention. "I'm gonna go look for Marble, see you later I guess."

"Okay sis! See you later alligator!" The pink mare spoke with her usual energetic self.

After the sisters hugs each other one more time, the mares went over to Twilight but only after leaving the knocked out soldier they had brought to the medics, they quickly embrace her in their arms happy that she was safe and away from the chaos.

"Twilight, we were so worried when you sent the letter!" Fluttershy spoke. "I'm just glad you aren't hurt."

"Thanks Fluttershy..." It was really relieving knowing that she always have her friends even in the darkest hour, speaking of which. "I know you all were worried about me when I sent you that letter, but let's put that worry aside for we have a much bigger problem."

"These bandits?" Starlight spoke.

"Yes, even with Nisha and Wilhelm as well as my brother out there, the number of bandits seems to be still the same."

"Umm," Dash raised her hoof so she could ask Twilight a question. "who's Wilhelm and Nisha?"

"You don't have to raise your hoof Rainbow Dash, to answer your question, Nisha and Wilhelm are Shining's new right hoof creatures. It's 'creatures' because Nisha is a griffon." She then leads them to the nearest window the faced the front of the castle and showed them the griffon in subject.

"Wait..." Starlight started watching Nisha closely, something was very familiar to her and it wasn't because of the guns. "Isn't it weird?"

"What is?" Asked the princess.

Starlight shook her head when she couldn't think up an answer. "Never mind."

"Oh, alright then..." Twilight then leads them away, just in time too, the mares could hear gunfire coming from outside, the citizens flinches for every shot. "This is the problem, the ponies of the Crystal Empire are on the edge, and these bandits are relentless, that's why I need your help on taking care of the problem."

"Sorry to say this sugarcube, but what can we do?" Applejack knows that she was outmatched against the gun wielding bandits.

"Listen, we have to do something and the only way I can is with your help!" She stops to try and calm herself, a minute goes by when she speaks again. "I know how you feel, these creatures are armed with weapons I have never seen before, but we have to do something, it has been hours and yet the bandits still persists on storming the castle... We need to help out somehow."

"Twilight," The princess looks towards Starlight. "there are many ways we all can help, but these bandits are dangerous and the only way we can beat them is by-" Starlight swallowed the lump in her throat. "-killing them..." She said with distaste.

Applejack shook her head, she didn't like the idea, but they have already brought Krieg upon these sorry creatures. "She's right Twilight,  they won't just stop, they'll keep coming until somethin' was done, and that's just offing them, and Ah don't like saying it but that's just me bein' honest."

"We don't have to kill them! There's a better way to deal with the situation!" Twilight tried to tell her friends, but before they could even speak, a random civilian had spoken first.

"Oh yeah? You want to show them mercy? Do you have any idea what those bandits did!?" The crystal pony was extremely stressed out. "Those monsters killed my brother!"

"W-what?"

"You heard me! The both of us were there when the explosions started! And just like that, he was gone!" The civilian just broke down crying, they stared at their own hooves that had faded blood on it. "H-he was still breathing when I f-found what was left of him! I-I can't-" The pony couldn't finish their sentence, they just softly cried into their hooves.

Another crystal pony stood up. "They're right! The bandits just show up out of nowhere and try and disturb our way of life! Equestria barely gets any crimes and now they just made it rise up by one fricken percent!"

"I just finished moving into my new house, now it's a pile of stone after they trashed it!"

"They shot my wing, I can't fly anymore..."

"We were all having a nice day, but then they showed up!"

"Yeah!" A Crystal Soldier who was stationed there spoke out. "Those criminals are terrorizing the populace of the city! This came from the prince himself, 'Show no mercy in return'!" Twilight gasped, she did not expect her own brother to say such thing, she had always seen him as a kind pony, but Cadance did say he had change since a few days ago.

"Heyoo!" Steve raised his claws in the air and tried to calm everyone down.

"Oh shut up!" A pony who was obviously a nurse shouted at the griffon. "You're lucky the Prince's right hoof griffon let you in, we would've have kicked you out!"

"Hey." Fluttershy said as loud as she can. "That's not a nice thing to say."

Fluttershy ducked down to dodge a plastic cup that was thrown at her. "Oh you shut up also! Where were you all when they attacked, huh!?"

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash flairs her wings out, she bared her teeth in anger. "Who the heck threw that!?"

Before things could escalate, Twilight lights up her horn to blind everyone just for a second. "Enough!" Was what Twilight would have said, but someone else had beaten her to it, every eyes looks over to the doors to find princess Celestia standing there, her own anger was visible on her face.

The citizens sat back down as Celestia sweeps her glare from one side to the other. "I am disappointed." The ponies felt their hearts ache, the word they did not want to hear from their princess was spoken. "These mares were, nay, are heroes, yet you dare treat them like this!? I demand who have offended Fluttershy to come forward now!"

"P-princess, its alright, no need to make it a big thing." Fluttershy tried to calm Celestia down, but she was having none of it.

"I know how you all feel, many of you have lost something or someone, but that is no excuse to let your anger get the better of you! Now, I will ask again for the last time, who threw that cup!?" When no one moved an inch, the alicorn frowned. "Very well, if you are too afraid to own up to your mistake, then you could not stand up against the bandits before us, unlike these mares right in front of you!"

She looks over to the elements of harmony, there she notices Steve cowering behind Twilight, trying his best to hide from Celestia's gaze.

"You," She said softly towards the griffon. "come forward."

The griffon reluctantly did what she had asked him to do.

"I applaud you for aiding the Crystal Empire, but I have to ask that you leave."

"H-heyoo?" He said with confusion.

"Princess Celestia," Twilight spoke. "why are you getting rid of Steve!? He is very helpful with the injured!"

"The citizens are feeling uneasy by his appearance, I believe that it would be best if he should be somewhere else, a place where the ponies are more comfortable with him." The princess explained herself.

"Heyo..." Steve said with understanding, he knew that they didn't like his mask and stuff, also him being a griffon, but the bandit only wanted to help.

"I am glad that you understand."

Applejack leaned closer to Rainbow Dash to whisper. "Ain't this a lil' unfair?"

"I don't know, never met this guy before." She whispers back.

Fluttershy quickly joins in with the two. "Isn't he one of Krieg's friends? He mentioned someone named Steve and they only say 'heyo' just like him."

Starlight quickly shushes them or else Celestia could hear the psycho's name, good thing Twilight was too focused on the griffon to notice the three.

Steve looked around, he notices the same glares that was directed at him since he had arrived, with a sad little "heyoo", the griffon began making his way to the doors.

"Finally." Twilight heard one civilian whispered audibly, and more will voice out their opinions of Steve.

"I didn't like looking at him."

"What was running in that griffon's mind to let in a bandit!?"

"Don't care what they say, he's just another bandit."

"Silence!" The alicorn of the sun used her Canterlot voice at everyone who spoke out, before Celestia could berate them for being rude towards Steve, the Echo on the griffon suddenly activated.

"Listen up!" Steve was about to turn it off, but Celestia quickly pulls him closer and took the Echo off him, Twilight and her friends listens closer to find out what made Celestia very curious. "I know y'all were sent here looking for the artifact, but I'm calling it off!"

The citizens and the soldiers of the Crystal Empire felt relief knowing that the voice obviously belongs to the leader of the bandits was telling them to leave.

"Wilhelm is just too much for us, we have lost over a hundred of our own, maybe two hundred, and could you stop trying to get in that damn castle!? We lost three trucks and over fifty bandits! We may not have found what we came for, but being alive is better than bein- What!? Hey! Get off of me!" The bandit leader sounded like he was having some trouble. "Stupid Midget! Get off or I- wait, is that?"

Celestia narrowed her eyes, it would seem that they were looking for something, and they have found it.

"Haha! Alright boys, we're not going home empty handed! I'm going back now, get your asses out of the city before Krieg finds you." Then the device turned itself off.

Twilight looked over her fellow alicorn, the look on Celestina's face began shifting into one would understand as complete rage, the calm and caring image was gone, everyone had to cover their ears when the sun goddess spoke one name.

"KRIEG!!!"

Starlight gulps loudly, it was as if the universe was against them and now Celestia knows that the psycho was in the city.




Wilhelm made a clicking noise with his tounge, the Echo on his robot hand that belongs to a dead bandit was crushed by the cyborg after hearing what the leader had to say. He looks over to the silent pony who was covering her eyes to protect herself from the sight of bloodshed.

"You can open them now." He had told her but she stayed the same.

Before he could move on, his own Echo started ringing, he quickly answers it to discover it was Shining who was calling him. "Wilhelm, we got a problem!"

"Krieg, I know."

"Oh, good, but another thing is-"

"They got the artifact."

"O-okay, alright then, Jack is trying to look for the artifact while I'm currently shadowing Krieg, follow my Echo's tracker quickly!"

"Alright." He ended the call and began tracking the location of Shining's Echo, but then he remembers the silent mare that was with him.

The gray pony sat behind the cyborg, knowing that he was needed else where, the Enforcer was weighing his options, he can't really bring her with him, but he obviously can't leave her alone. So without any other choice, he brought out his drones.

"Yes alpha?" Both drones said in unison.

Wilhelm points his robotic finger at the mare. "New orders, protect this pony at all cost, do not let a single bandit harm her in any way!"

"Will do sir!" Said Saint.

"On it!" Said Wolf.

"Good." Wilhelm then directs his focus over to the mare in subject. "Stay close to these two, they'll keep you safe while you're looking for your friend."

With nothing to slow him down, he ran off to the direction of Shining so he could take down the psycho, he believes greatly that his drones will keep the pony safe. The mare watches the Enforcer leave, though she have seen the darker side of him, she still appreciated his actions of helping her find her sister, the gray mare looks over to the drones hovering above her, it was nothing like she have ever seen, and if Wilhelm says that they keep her safe, then she believes him.
> Hatred Is Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ocellus was panicking as she ran through the streets with the Nomad who had found a new shield, she was so busy listening to Bad Maw to notice that Krieg had disappeared, the changeling had promised not to let the dragon out of her sight yet here she was. She hops over a mutilated corpse, a sign that Krieg was here, she was lucky that the psycho was the most messed up killer in the city, or else he would have been harder to find especially when there is the sound of guns constantly popping around.

Though she had a few encounters with some living bandits, her disguise worked perfectly since they don't seem to bat an eye at her, except for those who actually try to attack her at random, good thing Bad Maw was around to keep them off, no one wants to mess with a giant like him or else they'll understand why he was a well known Nomad Torturer.

As for the bandit, he didn't want to let one of Krieg's friends run through the city with other bandits around, because the psycho might go bezerk at everyone if anything happens to her, especially at Bad Maw, as an added bonus, he had found three new midgets for his shield, though Ocellus had voiced her concerns she still understand what these little sh*ts can do.

Ocellus rounded a corner and nearly ran into someone, she had quickly stopped but the giant behind her accidentally bumps into the changeling causing her to fall face first.

"Oh crap, sorry!" The Nomad apologizes.

Ocellus was about to tell her it was okay, but when she lifts up her face from the ground, she was experiencing another intro card, the background changed into a scene of the castle of the Crystal Empire with those golems from the underground surrounding it, one single caption sent fear through the changeling, JACK.

"That was absolutely funny, sadly I'm too busy looking for something and I can't laugh at your pitiful face, also you're a girl, hah! Ain't gonna last long honey, unless you got skills, which I doubt because you kid, look like a little b*tch nobody and I've seen a real woman who could curb stomp a Raging Goliath, so, see ya never!" The see through pony literally walks through Ocellus, the changeling didn't move in fear of what the man from Bad Maw's tale could do, she had learned many things from the Nomad, but what really scared her the most was the tyrannical madman and what he had done during his reign on Pandora.

"Hey!" The Nomad taps the ground with his shield breaking Ocellus out of her fear. "What happened to you? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

Ocellus shook her head clear, she looked over behind her to see that Jack wasn't there anymore, she gets back on her hooves before speaking. "I-I'm sorry, I just thought I saw something..."

The Nomad sighed. "Its the corpses isn't it? Its starting to get to you, I can tell..."

"N-no! It is a bit disturbing, but it was just...I thought I saw Jack-"

"You can see me?"

The changeling just screams in the highest pitch that Jack and Bad Maw have heard, and the Nomad had tortured Midgets before!

The Nomad placed his hoof over her mouth. "What's wrong!?"

"It's him, Handsome Jack is here!" She shrieks out while pointing a hoof at the ghost, who was actually impressed that she could see him.

"Well this is interesting, you know who I am, so an introduction would be great! What's your name kid?"

"Snap out of it!" Bad Maw gently slaps her, it felt like being hit with a stale piece of bread to Ocellus, and she was hit by those a few times in school. "This is bad!"

"W-what is!?"

"Yeah Mr.Nomad, what's so bad of seeing me?" The ghost grins at the terrified Ocellus.

"It's the eridium curse!" The Nomad said. "I think the large number of Psychos in the city is leaking Vault Madness (not really an official name) everywhere! And it looks like you're starting to catch it, which is bad cus' you might end up like you know who."

"You think she's going Psycho? Oh buddy, you are dead wrong, no pun intended." The ghost laughs at his own humor. "Sorry to say otherwise kid, but you ain't going crazy, I'm really here."

"A-are you sure it's Vault Madness?" Ocellus asked the Nomad and he nodded. "What can I do so I wouldn't turn into a psycho like...him?"

"Therapy-"

"Therapy?" Jack scoffs. "Listen, going to see a therapist is useless and they are just a bunch of liars, they will just say what you want to hear and take your money!"

"Believing your friends when they say its going to be okay-"

"You know, I should actually look into the whole friendship thing, I heard that Twilight pony had vanquished some dark evil with it..."

"Having a strong will over your mind and emotions-"

"Not going to therapy." Jack jokingly added. "Want a real advice? Get addicted to weed, that'll help you from going psycho by melting your pea sized brain."

"And most important thing of all, is to keep your friends and love ones close, or else the Madness would hit you with doubting everyone you know. Also, ignore anything that isn't real, if you can't, then try and talk yourself out of it."

"I see..." Ocellus said while eyeing the ghost.

Jack chuckled a little. "Well, guess you're gonna start ignoring me now... Best be off then, still got things to do that isn't you honey! But know this sweet stuff," His voice shifted to a much scarier tone, a twisted smile was on his face. "I know your voice, and if I ever find you again I'll make sure Shining locks you up in a dark empty room with no chance of getting out, and I'll be there watching you slowly descend into madness as reality of being alone forever hits you like a train, and when your mind breaks and when I'm done with you, I'll enjoy watching the guards beat you to death like the filthy bandit you are." Jack then hovers away, his laugh echoes in the corpse littered streets.

Ocellus paled under her disguise, the Nomad watches her with concern, it have seem the madness is spreading in Equus, which is very bad.

The changeling had to calm herself down, she had just encountered something that felt too real, she really wanted to go home now. But still, who did Jack mean when he said 'Shining'?




"You sure we should be stayin'?" A bandit asked his fellow Marauder who was drilling a hole into the wall of the bank they were trying to rob, the two were completely alone in the alleyway.

The bandit looks away from the wall just grin at his friend. "Come on man, we got time." He said before going back to drilling.

"That's just it...what if Krieg finds us?"

"Listen, Krieg isn't even here, Baron only said so to get everyone back to the base!"

"Well alright, I guess..."

"Good, now let me drill into this wall peacefully." A minute went by, the Marauders were both silent and the only sound that was made was coming from the tool.

After another minute, the bandit had successfully drilled through the wall. "Heck yeah!" He puts away the tool and motions his hoof over to his friend. "Hey, pass me the stick of dynamite."

He didn't get an answer, he looks over to the other Marauder to find the beast himself standing over the Marauder with a lit stick of dynamite, the bandit couldn't even scream as Krieg shoves the bomb forcefully down his throat, he choked out a cry before getting his head obliterated into chunks of meat, coating the psycho in blood.

*A little bit too much, at least you didn't skin them or something. Wait a minute, where Ocellus?*

At the question of where the changeling was, Krieg immediately began to panic. "Sweet Bug is missing!?" He runs out of the alleyway, crushing the other Marauder's head under his foot as he went by. The psycho was silently beating himself on the head for forgetting about Ocellus.

Unbeknownst to the dragon, Shining Armor was just trailing him from a few feet away, making sure that the psycho doesn't notice him.

As the psycho steps out into the streets, a shadow was casted over him, when he looked up he saw a robotic hoof just in time before it slams into his face. Krieg grabs the metal limb and slams his attacker into the wall before tossing him across the street.

*Wait...who's that? He looks very familiar...*

The pony who was very small compared to Krieg stood up brushing the dust off of himself before glaring at Krieg. "Target acquired!"

*That sounds like...crap, it's Wilhelm! Krieg, be careful with this guy, we may have had numbers back then, but now it's just us and him!*

Krieg growls before pointing a finger at the cyborg. "I'll show you what a badass is!"

Shining took the chance to find a spot where he could give Wilhelm some support, and while he looked for the perfect spot, the prince took out his Echo and began sending out a message.

The psycho and the cyborg began encircling each other, Wilhelm dares Krieg to make a move as they had already made their first lap around, and without warning, Krieg whips out his shotgun and spent all his ammo as fast as he could pull the trigger, the cyborg dives away and retaliated at the psycho with his own shotgun. Krieg ran over to his enemy after reloading his weapon, once he was close enough he swung down the blade of gun at Wilhelm, but the enforcer dodges the blade and slams his robotic fist at Krieg's face, he then blasts him pointblank, causing the psycho to tumble away.

Krieg had randomly aimed at Wilhelm and shoots him in return, the pellets did not hit anyone.

The cyborg used his failure by sending a left hook towards the dragon, Krieg pulls back his head to avoid getting hit, the psycho would then throw his head forward and slams it against Wilhelm's, but the cyborg wasn't fazed, his only reaction to getting hit on the head was hooking his hoof around the beast's neck and repeatedly slamming his robot fist into his stomach.

Krieg tried to pry the enforcer off of him, but Wilhelm would just brush off his attempts and returning to the offensive, the cyborg was heavy, good thing Krieg was strong enough to whip back his upper body and fling the cyborg over, but Wilhelm just grabs hold onto Krieg's horn and brought the psycho down to the ground where Wilhelm would empty his gun into Krieg's face.

When the gun signals Wilhelm that it was out of ammo, Krieg rolls over to his stomach with his mask lifted so he could breath fire at Wilhelm, the cyborg had to take a few steps back from the intense flames.

Krieg then threw himself forward and once again slam his head against Wilhelm, but this time he had aimed for the cyborg's upper body, Wilhelm couldn't react quick enough, he was already sent down on the ground. Before Krieg could take a step, a bullet penetrates his right shoulder, the psycho looked over to a nearby balcony to see the unicorn he had seen before was holding a Hyperion sniper rifle with his magic, Krieg tilts his head to the side, confused as to why an ordinary pony would shoot him.

That was when he heard it, all around him, right from the buildings  came the sound of hundreds of guns clicking, that's when the psycho knew, they were Hyperion soldiers.

As for Wilhelm, he didn't mind the help, he just stood back up like it was nothing and gave the bandit in front of him a grin.

*Uh-oh.*




"Princess Celestia!" Twilight calls out to the older alicorn as she and her friends follow her through the castle. "Are you leaving?"

"Yes."

Applejack quickens her pace and walked beside the alicorn of the sun. "Pardon me princess, but Ah don't think that's a good idea."

"Why so Applejack?" Celestia did not even look at her, her eyes are set forward.

"Well, ain't that monster dangerous? You could get hurt!"

"Krieg is my problem, I shall deal with the beast myself." She explained to the ponies with her, Celestia was determined to set her mistake right.

Starlight stops in her tracks, only Applejack notices, so she went over to the unicorn with concern. "Starlight, what's wrong?"

The unicorn looked around herself, making sure they were completely alone, just to add a bit more privacy, Starlight had casted a small sound proof dome so no one could hear.

"Alright, this is bad." Starlight said. "But I have a plan, I'm going to go off into the city and look for Krieg and Ocellus, once I've find them I'll get them out before they could encounter the princess."

"But what if Twilight ask about you?"

"Tell her that I...went out to look for survivors! Yeah, that's it."

The farm pony nodded. "I'll tell her."

With her plan now told to Applejack, Starlight puts down the dome and blinks out of the castle, leaving the other mare to herself.

"Wait..." Applejack spoke after realizing something. "Ah am a terrible liar!"




Wilhelm had to keep his distance as Shining and the Crystal Soldiers sent thousands of bullets at Krieg, but something was wrong, Wilhelm had noticed that Krieg was staring at Shining, the psycho was obviously planning something bad. Shining couldn't really notice in the heat of the moment, one thing was in his mind, and it was to get rid of the threat to his country.

Krieg had slowly came to an understanding after a few minutes of getting shot at, Hyperion had somehow found itself in Equestria, and now they're trying to conquer the city, no one really explained to him of what was actually happening, but he does know that these soldiers are bad news so he'll have to deal with them himself, though he is very reluctant to kill the unicorn that his eyes had been focused on, the pony was obviously from this planet.

So without wasting anyone else's time, Krieg had let out a fearsome howl that caused everyone that was shooting him to stop, they were stunned by the sheer aura of murder that was coming from the dragon, Wilhelm was the only who went unfazed. After getting everyone to stop, Krieg holsters his gun and took out his bundle of explosives.

"Tick tock!" He yells out to his enemies before starting to toss sticks of dynamites around himself.

Wilhelm had to step back even further, the unlucky soldiers that was too close were killed off, it was obvious that they needed range, sadly Shining was the only trained sniper in the city aside from Wilhelm and Nisha.

The prince was shocked, the dragon had walked out of their attack like it was nothing, the bullets had done no damage at all to Krieg, which has terrified the soldiers with him, and now the psycho is laughing as he playfully toss bombs around, Shining watches Krieg slowly walking over to the nearest building, killing a few more as he went by, before throwing the whole bundle in, the bomb explodes and the building collapses, killing whoever was inside.

"Keep your distance, let Wilhelm deal with him in close combat!" Shining let out his orders.

"But sir, won't we hit Wilhelm!?" One soldier asked him.

"He has his drones, any damage we and that bandit do can be fixed! Just shoot!"

"Yes sir!" The soldiers follows their orders and began attacking the psycho.

Wilhelm ran towards Krieg, blasting a shell as he goes, the psycho who was just getting started had pulled out his rocket launcher, the cyborg slows down a little to prepare to dodge the rocket, but instead of aiming at Wilhelm, Krieg had chosen to aim at the ground he was standing on, the soldiers and Wilhelm were caught off guard as Krieg blasts himself, setting his own flesh ablaze.

And it only took one moment to tip the scale even further to Krieg's side as fireballs came out of the dragon and flew towards the soldiers in a blink of an eye, Shining was lucky that he was reloading his rifle, but he had just witnessed many of his soldiers to be incinerated so fast, the numbers slowly going down by the second.

Not only some strange magic was being casted upon them, but Krieg was still slaughtering every soldier he could get his hands on. "Over here, my sweet meats, your prince of justice and genocide has something to say: Gone are the days of the tentacle and the age of the gods and mercy is far away... We are fighters of the middle, the second act in the three-part MEAT play, AND I WILL WIN BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR!" He ranted as he brutally kills a few more soldiers that had came too close, Krieg laughs as he tore a soldier's head off of their shoulders.

Before the psycho could move on to the next cattle to slaughter, Wilhelm comes in and slams his fist into Krieg's face, the momentum of the cyborg along with his cybernetics had enough power to send Krieg right into a building, the fire ball that  went after Wilhelm was only shot out of the air, the enforcer looks over to see Shining nodding to him, Wilhelm nodded back before chasing after the psycho.

Krieg pulls himself out of the debris and noticed just in time for the cyborg attempting to hit him with a left hook, Krieg ducks down to dodge but Wilhelm just slams his knee into Krieg's face, the cyborg then grabs Krieg by the horns and threw him on the streets, the psycho saw this coming and quickly rolls over and kicks the stallion in the chest.

The psycho then gets back up and breaths fire at Wilhelm, the enforcer had lifted his arms up to shield himself from the flames.

Krieg was about to punch the cyborg, but something had slammed him with blinding speed, a Crystal BUL Loader had just arrived to help out the soldiers in battle with more Loaders.

When the machine had stop, Krieg quickly rips off the Loader's eye before bringing out his axe to shred the robot into pieces of metal, an EXP Loader had tried to sneak up on Krieg, but Bad Maw himself had suddenly came out of nowhere and destroyed the machine with his shield, many of the soldiers were frightened by the size of the pony, and the fact that Krieg has now have an ally who was equally hard to take down.

"My lord, I'm here to help!" The Nomad said before aiming his Tediore shotgun at another Loader while making sure no one shoots Krieg on the back, the psycho may have thought of the Nomad as nothing but a sack of meat, but he kinda appreciated the help.

Meanwhile, Ocellus had took the form of an ordinary civilian and hid from the battle, making sure to be behind cover, or else she would get hit by a stray bullet, she and Bad Maw had just arrived, the changeling was confused on why there were a bunch of armored ponies attacking Krieg, but she had remembered from Bad Maw's story that these were Hyperion soldiers, the same company that Jack had ruled.

Back at the chaos, Wilhelm was having the time of his life, not only was he fighting a Badass Psycho but he was also facing a Badass Nomad! Things were really kicking up to high gear. Wilhelm tries to shoot down the Nomad's shield, but the Midgets were too annoying, they would just absorb every bullet he have used and it would take more to shred those little freaks into nothing.

The cyborg sprints forward towards the Nomad, the bandit tried to bash the enforcer with his shield but Wilhelm only used it by climbing up the shield and hopping over the Nomad, he lands just right behind the psycho but Krieg had expected it, the beast whips around and slams his massive fist into Wilhelm's side, the cyborg felt great pain from the attack and his shield had just shattered, but he ignores it and punches the psycho across the face in return.

When Wilhelm was about to back off so he could regain his defense, a stray bullet had landed into his shoulder, he then remembered that he had left his drones to the silent pony, this was a slight disadvantage that he would simply put aside, but the fact that there are over fifty Crystal Soldiers shooting endlessly was something he can't ignore, this was really going bad for the cyborg.

Krieg seizes Wilhelm's shock by slamming both his fists down on the top of the cyborg's head, but Wilhelm had instinctively held up his robotic arm and blocks the attack, though he did not have his drones, he was still a good fighter.

Ocellus watches intensely at the fight, she had always thought that Krieg was unbeatable, but now she was proven wrong, the strange pony that stood against the dragon was a formidable opponent, he did not go down easily like the Hyperion soldiers, when Krieg hits him hard, the stallion would hit him back harder, even with Bad Maw helping the strange stallion was still standing.

Bad Maw was feeling many things today, and the strongest emotion right now was fear, the cyborg he is battling was known to be unstoppable, but he trusts his god to vanquish the Hyperion scum, with his faith he will defeat the cyborg.

Wilhelm ducks under Krieg's punch, the result was that the psycho's fist lands into the Nomad's shield instead, killing one of the three Midgets by the process. The enforcer then slips behind the psycho and placed Krieg into a headlock, the dragon tried to get free but the hold was too strong, a few soldiers began shooting directly at the psycho so Bad Maw was forced to stand in front with his shield so his god wouldn't get attacked while he was vulnerable, but Bad Maw couldn't help out Krieg.

"Got you now!" Wilhelm said, he was sure that the psycho can't get free now, just to make sure that there was no chance, he kicks the back of Krieg's knee to bring him down to a much more comfortable height.

"Krieg!" Ocellus yells out worriedly, no one had seem to notice her thankfully.

*Get out of there big guy! We can't leave him alive, who knows what he can do!*

"Little Man, I can't breath!" Krieg manage to say as he began to lose conscious.

"That's right bandit," Wilhelm grins, it was truly obvious that he would come out as the winner. "just go to sleep, we'll wake you up in time for your public execution for attacking the city!"

Bad Maw curses at himself, if he tries to help then he himself would be expose to the hail of bullets that came their way, he was conflicted to do anything.

Shining felt relief, it would seem that the soldiers who gave up their lives to the city would not die in vain, now that they have the bandit leader in their grasps, the whole bandit group would fall apart.

"KRIEG!!!"

All eyes looks up, the soldiers rejoice, Bad Maw and Ocellus felt dread by the sight, as for Krieg, he felt rage.

*Celestia?*

In the sky, Celestia hovers as she glares down at Krieg, she slowly descends to the ground, Bad Maw took a step back, the soldiers didn't continue firing since their princess is here now, some have feared injuring her with their weapons.

*Celestia.* The voice spoke as if he just remembered something, something he had rather forget.

Wilhelm grins, she was a powerful being so this would make taking care of Krieg much easier, if only if it did.

*Celestia!* Now the voice spoke as if the name was poisonous to the tounge.

Krieg slowly began rising from his knee to his feet, the grin on Wilhelm fell as the psycho grabs his arms and pries them off, Wilhelm tried to keep his hold but as if Krieg was discovering a new found power that was stored within and the cyborg was slammed into the ground causing the street to crack and deform.

The soldiers began panicking, as something was happening to the psycho, Ocellus gasps aloud as she and everyone else are witnessing a strange and bizarre moment, the psycho was growing bigger than before, Bad Maw knew what was happening so he had ran over to Ocellus while everyone was distracted, and once Krieg was done, he grabs Wilhelm's leg with his gigantic fist and lifted the enforcer up.

"*CELESTIA!!!!*" He roars out before throwing the cyborg at the alicorn, Celestia casted a shield but it broke when Wilhelm collided into it, the cyborg was knocked out by the impact making him useless to the fight.

"W-what happened to him!?" One of the soldiers that was with Shining asked.

"He's a monster! No dragon could transform like that!"

"Everyone stay calm! The princess will deal with him now, I want you all to gather anyone who is injured and bring them back to the castle, I'll go get Wilhelm!" Shining gave out his orders, the soldiers nodded before going to work.

"*CELESTIA!!!*" Krieg yells out the name again as he runs up to the alicorn with his axe in the air, Celestia dodges quickly and blasted him with magic, but the psycho was unfazed, Krieg swung down his axe only to hit nothing again, the alicorn kept her distance as she repeatedly blast him. "*YOU LIED TO US!!!*"

"I did it to keep Equestria safe from you, beast!" She shouted as she zaps him with a thunder spell.

"*WE'RE GOING TO SKIN YOU ALIVE!!!*"

Celestia jumps away from Krieg as he breaths fire again, once he was done she took hold of him with her magic and attempted to lift him up but it seems he was just too heavy for the strongest levitation spell. Krieg took the chance to punch her right in the face, his gigantic fist sent her tumbling away but she quickly ragain her balance and got back on her hooves.

She spat out blood as more drips down from her broken snout, the fact that her head was still intact was impressive.

Ocellus flinched when she witnesses Celestia getting punched in the face, Bad Maw chuckled a little but stops when Ocellus glares at him. "What? It's funny!"

"No it isn't! We have to do something... What happened to him?"

"He went Badass, not only is he stronger and faster now, but he's practically unkillable! Honestly, I'm afraid of going in there."

A sudden flash of light came from behind them, they look over to see Starlight standing there, the unicorn recognizes Ocellus quickly, she was about to speak but her eyes landed on the psycho's new form.

The Badass psycho roars before throwing his axe at Celestia, the princess shoots it in the air and renders Krieg weaponless, or so she thought. Krieg then pulls out another from nowhere and began throwing it all at Celestia as he slowly made his way, the alicorn easily blasts each one out of the air, but she failed to notice Krieg getting closer.

But before he could do anything else, Krieg was blasted by a powerful spell from the sky, it was Luna, and when the psycho saw who it was his anger rose even higher. "*LUNA!!!*"

"Thou shall keep their claws away from my sister, prepare for your end you monster!" The alicorn spoke out before charging up her horn for another spell.

The beast didn't waste anymore time, he quickly sprinted over to Celestia and swings his axe horizontally, the princess activates her shield but all it did was soak up all the damage and sent her to the ground a few feet away from the psycho.

Luna finishes her spell and shoots it straight at the beast, but he had jumped to the side in time, the ground he was on before was now reduced to a smoldering crater, it would have hurt him if he didn't dodged it. Celestia had already stood back up and zaps Krieg again, the psycho let's out a cry of pain, Luna circles the beast from the sky and was still casting quick spells at him, anything to help bring down the psycho.

Starlight now recovered from the shock, spoke to the two. "Listen, we need to get out of here!"

"What about Krieg!?" Ocellus spoke in worry.

"I'll come back after you're safe Ocellus!"

"Uh," The bigger pony spoke. "can I come?"

"Who are you?"

"Bad Maw, follower of Krieg."

"Fine. Ocellus? I'll come back for Krieg, I promise."

The changeling had no time to speak, she and the Nomad were already teleported away from the city, leaving the alicorns and the psycho to fight. Seconds later, Starlight returns from Ponyville to witness Krieg getting overpowered, she was trying to think of a way to get him out without the princesses noticing her.

Krieg ran back and forth trying to get Celestia, but it seems they have learned from the last time they fought to keep away from him, Krieg tried to cut the alicorn with his axe but he would only miss every time and only do damage on the street, that's when he had though up an idea, the psycho began destroying the stone street by throwing his explosive axe randomly and making it harder to move around on, unless your a man who have done battle on a similar environment.

"*YOU'RE DEAD TO US, YOU SHOULD HAVE NEVER LIED TO US!!!*"

Celestia had fell right into Krieg's plan, she had tripped on one of the shard of stone that jutted out of the street and fell down hard.

"Sister!" Luna worriedly calls out to Celestia.

"*I'M GOING TO EAT YOUR EYES OUT, AND HE'S GOING TO RIP OUT YOUR SOUL AND SHRED THEM INTO PIECES FOR WHAT YOU DID TO US!!!*" The psycho was already on top of Celestia, he raised his axe high in the air, Luna would have casted a quick spell but they were too weak to deal with the dragon, so she decided to fly straight towards him and try to tackle the monster, she just needs to be faster.

Celestia looks up with eyes wide open, the psycho was about to end her there if she doesn't do anything quick, a stronger spell would take too long to cast and she wasn't fast enough to get out of the way, just as the psycho brings down the axe she notices a sudden shift in his stance and he misses her just by a hair.

Krieg looks to his left trying to figure out who had shoved him causing his axe to miss, before he could even do anything, he was gone in a blink of light.

Celestia was shocked, Luna had stopped in time before she hits the ground, both were confused as to why the psycho just disappeared.

"Princess!" Both alicorn looks over to Shining who was carrying an unconscious Wilhelm over his shoulders. "Are you alright?"

Luna helps Celestia up to her hooves, the older alicorn quickly heals her snout before facing the unicorn. "We are fine Shining, but what is the status report?"

The prince looks away in shame. "We have lost more soldiers from the dragon, those who haven't died are injured and the possibility that they would return to service is low...I shouldn't have brought them here..."

"Shut up." Shining was surprised, he looks over to the pony he was carrying, the cyborg wasn't really fully awake just slightly still asleep but he knows what Shining was feeling. "It wasn't your fault, he was just too much for the soldiers. The thing is, it was my fault, I could've deal with him a lot quicker but I just had to stall out the fight for no reason, I'll take full responsibility here sir."

"There is no need," Said Celestia. "Krieg is a powerful dragon, it will need all of us to deal with him, and we need you more importantly, never have I seen anyone stand against the beast and lives with his limbs attached after, you are quite strong, that strength shall be useful for Equestria."

Wilhelm stared at her silently before stoically nod to the princess.

As for Shining, he had agreed with Celestia, the enforcer was the best fighter in the whole city and losing him would be bad, as long as he and Nisha were around, the Crystal Empire shall be safe from the bandits, especially now that the city have learned of the bandits, their defenses will be much stronger.




Bad Maw was feeling very uncomfortable, the hippogriff in the castle was chatting with his remaining Midgets, good thing he had removed the dead one or else they would've been terrified by the corpse, he could also feel the two small dragons glaring at him, expecting something to happen, he notices that the orange one was holding a buzz axe, this was a sign that they didn't trust him.

The Nomad looks over to Ocellus, she hasn't stop pacing back and forth, she was obviously worried for his god and Bad Maw took note of this, she was obviously not a friend of Krieg but a really close one. Then he notices it, he was surrounded by Krieg's friends which means he was chosen, this was his destiny in this new world, he shall lead his fellow followers to a better path, they won't be like the cultists he had met, no, they shall walk the steps that Krieg have taken, he shall hunt down the deserving and offer them a choice, give up their misguided ways and protect those who can't defend themselves or keep their bandit life, if they do not choose the first choice then they shall die.

Before he could express his joy for his new found destiny, a flash of light illuminates the room, the students looks over to the source to find a horrific and disproportionate Krieg, all except Ocellus and the Nomad screamed in terror by the sight of the psycho, Starlight suddenly appeared on Krieg's side clutching tightly on to him, her invincibility spell had just worn off. The beast growls and snaps his head around, confused as to why he just teleported, then his eyes landed on Bad Maw, he didn't see the man or pony in the coat, he saw a bandit, the type he slaughters on a daily basis.

"My lord?" Bad Maw asked worriedly as he notices Krieg's predatorial glare.

*Kr--- wai-!* The voice tried to speak but was unheard by the psycho.

Before anyone else could say anything, the psycho rushes over to the Nomad and slams his fist into the bandit's chest sending him through the wall of the castle and out into the open, the Nomad fell down with a loud thud, he was left sprawled on the grass.

"Excuse me!" Bad Maw turns his head to the side to see who that voice belonged to, it was a white unicorn filly who was accompanied by three other ponies, he could also see a red chest behind them.

Back at the castle, Ocellus and the other were shocked by Krieg's action, they have no idea what he was right now and it was scaring everyone. The psycho's attention then lands on Gallus, the griffon notices the same hunger in the beast's eye when they have first met, and Gallus frowns as he knew what was coming next.

"Aw nuts."

"Flesh Buzzard!!!" Gallus had already ran from the dragon and slams the door shut behind him so he could get a head start, Smolder swipes the younger dragon and tried her best to keep them both hidden until Krieg calms down, Smolder knows what's going to happen, she could only hope that Sandbar would stop the beast.

Ocellus quickly steps in his way and tries to stop him, but psycho only shoves her away, seemingly forgetting who or what she is, Starlight who was still holding on had decided to hold him in place with her magic, but as if there's a strange protective spell is keeping from grasping the psycho, the beast chases after the griffon, he smashed through the closed door and ran in incredible speed with Sandbar and Ocellus on his trail, Silverstream had chosen to stay in case the Midgets escape.

Gallus flew as fast as his wings could take him, this really does depend on his life and he rather not be Krieg's or whatever that thing's meal. A loud crash from behind catches his attention, he looks back to see the huge monster stomping his way over to the griffon, Gallus let out a startled and terrified griffon screech before beating his wings even faster. In the distance, Gallus could see the front doors of the castle in sight, all he needed to do was stay low and hide until the psycho regains his common sense or what comes close to one.

Before the griffon could reach the doors, he had made the mistake to look back and finds a gigantic hand coming up to his face, the hand wraps itself around Gallus's face, Krieg then slams the griffon through the doors and out into the open.

"TASTY CHICKEN DRUMSTICK!!!"

The griffon could only muffle his screams in Krieg's palms as he thrashed around, before the psycho could do anything he was tackled to the ground by Bad Maw, Gallus was freed and flew higher into the sky, Starlight was also flung off of the psycho from the Nomad's tackle.

"My lord, stop! This isn't you!" The Nomad tried to knock some senses into Krieg.

The psycho only slammed his fist into Bad Maw's side and threw the Nomad aside, the beast then looks around himself looking for the griffon, but he does find was four ponies were staring at him with eyes wide open, he could see the fear in their eyes.

*K--eg!*

The psycho took a step closer, and they took one back, he did it one more and it causes the orange one to accidentally bump into the damaged lock of the chest they have brought causing it to open from the slight bump, the lid snaps upwards and flings an Echo out, the rough landing caused it to play a message, it was a voice that Krieg had never heard for a long time.

"Hey Gaige, it's me again," The psycho froze, his body began shrinking back to normal size, Sandbar and Ocellus arrives in time to see what was happening. "I... We got bad news, Sanctuary is gone..."

The ponies around the psycho notices him tensed up, Krieg quickly ran over and swipes the Echo from the ground and held it closer to him, by now the other dragons had came after noticing the lack of screaming and shouting, Silverstream was also there with the Nomad's shield.

"Some old Dahl soldiers just came out of nowhere and took the place..." Gallus had also noticed Krieg being too focused on the device, so the griffon knew that his short rampage was over. "One thing led to another, Lilith had to destroy Sanctuary to save Pandora and it worked, this place ain't gonna change, but the thing is, its over. You, me and the others? Are done on Pandora, Vaults are open and we have nothing else to do... Listen, Gaige, I'll send you my coordinates so we can-"

"Axton..." The beast's eye widens as he hears Gaige's voice.

"Yeah?"

"We're not gonna see him again, are we?"

"I...don't know..."

"I miss him, its too quiet without him." Then it went silent, the call had ended there.

The psycho knew who they were talking about, he began shaking the device aggressively. "LITTLE RED, I'M HERE!" The psycho began hitting the side of the device with his palm. "MISTER DAHL, HELLO!?"

The creatures could see the emotion he was feeling right now, they all could only watch as the psycho tries to make the device do what he wanted.

Krieg had pressed numerous buttons trying to connect a call, when he gets nothing he let a loud and frustrated roar before throwing the Echo away, the device would have shatter on the ground if it weren't for Ocellus quickly catching it with her magic.

*Sanctuary...* The voice spoke, finally audible to the psycho. *W-what...do we do?*

"Little Man...I don't know." The dragon said as he began walking away, he noticed the red chest before he could leave and sees three of his guns on the display, they were the ones that the others didn't like, cursed just like his shotgun, but he didn't really feel like playing with them right now, he just wanted to end the day.

"Krieg, wait!" Sandbar calls out but was ignored.

"Umm, what's going on?" Big Mac finally spoke, catching everyone's attention.

Starlight sighed before facing the students. "I'm needed back at the Crystal Empire, could you six handle this?"

"S-sure..." Gallus spoke, still shaken by his near death experience, again.

With things taken care of, the unicorn teleports herself out of Ponyville and back to Twilight.

The fillies and the apple pony stood awkwardly waiting for answers, Gallus would then choose to lie to the four while Ocellus goes to check the Nomad if he was okay, while the rest honestly have no idea what to do, Sandbar wanted to go after Krieg, but it had looked like that the psycho wanted to be alone. They all expected Krieg to come back but not in the form of some kind of monster, the only way to understand why he transformed is to ask Ocellus about it.

"He was showing you some dragon magic?" Sandbar heard Scootaloo speak, he looks over and listens to their conversation.

"Yeah, he said he had learned it from his travels." Gallus had lied to them.

"But, what was all that part where he chase ya'out of the castle?" Applebloom asked.

"I kinda made fun of him and turns out while he was in that form, his temper becomes much shorter..."

"So it was your fault that he was breaking things?"

"Yes, it was mine." He said with a hint of sarcasm.

Sweetie Belle then gasped, catching the other two crusaders attention. "Then we made him sad for brining that thing! We have to make up for it!"

The griffon nodded, Krieg being sad was kinda thier fault, at least it calmed him down quicker.

"Umm, who's that?" Big Mac said before pointing a hoof towards the Nomad.

The griffon only sighed, he needed to keep them in the dark, it wasn't as if he didn't trust them or anything, but Gallus was just scared that the information of the psycho would slip, he doesn't expect it from Big Mac, but he just believes children would sometimes talk without even knowing it.

Maybe he could tell the farmer when the fillies are gone, but for now, they'll be hearing his lie.
> Understanding What A Knife To The Brain Does
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hours have passed since Krieg disappeared after hearing the message from the device that Ocellus currently have in her hooves, the crusaders and Big Mac have left as well leaving the students, Spike, and Bad Maw in the castle. The Nomad was still recovering from Krieg's heavy punch that almost broke Bad Maw's ribs, he was lucky that he's resilient to some damages.

Since it seems to be getting dark already Spike had allowed them to stay over night since it's a long walk over to the school, the students were actually glad since the whole Badass Krieg thing was an emotionally draining moment.

And it also looks like that their teachers are gone and since the attack on the Crystal Empire was so sudden, the school didn't get any substitutes, and it was the least of their problems with the bandits making their presence known.

So here Ocellus was in one of the guest rooms of the castle, trying to figure out the device that Krieg seems to be familiar with, as she was so deeply focused on the Echo, an orange claw had been placed on her shoulder, she let out a high pitched scream and nearly threw the device at the owner of the hand.

"Ocellus!" Smolder held up her claws in defense, with the dragon was Gallus and Bad Maw.

"S-Smolder, I'm very sorry!" Ocellus quickly spoke. "You guys scared me for a second-"

"Is it true?" The dragon asked. "Are you really going...psycho?"

The changeling glances at Bad Maw before staring at her friend, she remembered what Bad Maw had said, keep your friends close. "How much did he tell you?"

"Bad Maw says you were seeing things," Gallus spoke. "if that's the case, I think you should tell us everything."

"He didn't tell you about Krieg?"

The two stared at her with confusion. "What do you mean?" Gallus asked the changeling.

"Hold up!" Bad Maw raised his cloth covered hoof in the air. "Ocellus, you can tell your friends everything about lord Krieg, but we need to put you on top of the priority list."

The changeling looks away. "I- Y-you're right...they can find out later..."

"Is it serious?" Gallus questions. "The whole 'psycho' thing I mean."

"No, maybe, I don't know! It has been a while since my first...hallucination, but sometimes I hear things, like someone breathing heavily down my neck."

"Jeez, that does sounds bad." Smolder commented.

"T-thats not all, I keep catching moving shadows from the corner of my eyes and when I try to look at it they just vanish."

"Ocellus, it's all in your head," The dragon reassures her. "just end the day and go to bed, the experience you've had from the city is obviously the cause of your hallucination, just go to sleep and it'll be all okay in the morning."

Ocellus smiled, feeling less stressful from her friend's word, but she was still worried about the other orange dragon. "But what about Krieg? Did anyone check on him?"

"Lord Krieg is fine, your friend Silverstream had found him pulling grass out of the ground by the forest a few minutes ago, seems like finding out that Sanctuary is gone has really hit him hard, especially after he met that Celestia pony." Bad Maw spoke.

"I see...guess I'll just go to sleep..."

Gallus grew a smile on his face. "Yeah, and you better tell us everything when you wake up, because big guy here has his lip shut."

The changeling let out an adorable giggle. "Yeah, I should."




"When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother 'What will I be?'"

Baron Flynt hears the deranged cult leader sing as he walks towards the mare's location with the purple Eridian ring that the bandits was sent to find, the song echoes loudly through the halls and it is heard even further in their base. It had been hours since he left the Crystal Kingdom, the city was slowly starting reconstruction from what Baron had heard from No Toes, the psycho stayed to keep a close eye on Hyperion in case they do something.

"'Will I be pretty, will I be rich?'"

The bandit had just entered the large room in time before the chorus of the song, there he finds his brother and nephew, as well as his fellow bandit leaders from Pandora. 

Incinerator Clayton, the psycho was also a cult leader like Mint, but back when he was alive he was actually worshipping Lilith, the siren that took Baron's life, he was very happy to find out that she just betrayed the psycho, sadly, after the psycho was revived, Clayton had been convinced by Mint that Krieg was the true Firehawk which the psycho accepted. But one thing Baron had to ask, did Clayton succeed on whatever he was sent out to do? Who knows.

Next was Flanksteak who was a diamond dog, fitting if you ask Baron. The Marauder and the Psycho doesn't really see eye to eye from what Baron had heard, Mint informs him that Clayton was a Bloodshot before becoming a cultist, Baron also learns that Flanksteak was pretty much an idiot because of the fact he didn't understand the situation when Hyperion attacked, "20$" is what he would ask for catching Roland, honestly, Baron doesn't see any use for that bandit but he doesn't really have a say on who to hire, at least Krom was useful.

Then there was Mortar, not really an interesting guy actually, but he was a pegasus so that's cool, I guess.

At least Sledge was here, he was a large minotaur but was still as dangerous as he was back in Pandora, though he's still as dumb as he was when he died, well, at least they got some muscle around. Now that he sees it, they could have brought back more bandit leaders, but Mint says they have enough so he'll have to trust the Equestrian's judgment.

Speaking of Mint, Baron joins the others as an audience to the psycho's performance, she held a corpse of a pony in her hooves as she dance around a wooden pedestal with a long gray unicorn horn on it, the mare continues to sing as she waltz with the corpse.

"Here's what she said to me, Que Sera Sera! Whatever will be, will be, the future's not ours to see. Que Sera Sera, what will be, will-. Oh, Baron!" Sweet Mint ceased her singing and threw the corpse away. "Back already? Well, the victory cake is done, so you're just in time!"

The other bandits just nodded in his direction as a form of greeting. "Cake would be a really good exchange for the men we lost." Baron sarcastically said.

"I know right!?" Mint did not catching the bandit's sarcasm at all.

"Sledge hungry! When Sledge have cake!?" The idiot spoke.

"Later Sledge, we are still doing business."

"I notice the other two are also back..." Baron said as he glances at both Flanksteak and Clayton. "So, you two got what she asked?"

"Grogar has a powerful beast working for him!" Clayton began explaining. "Though there were no casualties, we could not get any information of the bell, forgive me master."

"Oh, yes, I forgive you Clayton, it would be bad to lose an asset like you." She said without missing a beat, her voice was as cheerful as the happiest pony on Equestria.

All eyes then lands on the Marauder, the mutt looks away and began picking his beard while whistling the same song Mint had sang.

"Flanksteak?" Sweet Mint spoke, her innocent and motherly tone caused the bandit to freeze on the spot. "I heard you came back alone, care to tell us all why is that?"

"T-the... I-I... Uh..." Flanksteak stutters. "I-its not my fault! You sent us looking for the zebra in Ponyville to find the the location of the Alicorn Amulet, but that damn carrot pony jumped us in the forest! By the time we reached the zebra, there was only half of us, then she chased us away back to the carrot pony, I was lucky to be alive because she got her axe stuck on a tree! That damn dirty zi-"

"OKAY!" Baron quickly shuts him up and silently dared him to continue, when Flanksteak said nothing more, Baron then went over to Mint and gave her the large ring. "Why do you need anymore powerful artifacts other than Eridian tech?"

The mare inspected the ring before placing it on top of her head and wore it like an accessory. "Well, for you all to understand we need to go back, back to where lord Krieg found the horn."

The horn itself sat on the wooden pedestal, all eyes became focused on it as Mint tells the story of how the cult began.

"As you've all know, this unicorn horn is not normal. A long time ago, our lord was sent to the deepest depths of Tartarus by the false god, there he released his rage upon the other imprisoned creatures, and soon enough he discovers this horn embedded into the walls and out of curiosity, he took it and strapped it on his belt. When his hand made contact with the horn, it started feeding on the eridium that was in our lord's blood, slowly charging itself to perform what it was meant to do. He didn't know what the horn was made for at the time, and when he was led into the caves back at Ponyville to be imprisoned once more, Celestia had made the mistake of leaving the horn with him because when she was close enough, the horn had taken a large amount of magic from the false goddess without her knowledge and accelerated the horn's power."

As she tells the story, a few unicorns began coming into the room, Sparky watches them closely trying to figure out why they are here.

"Weeks after his imprisonment, five ponies of unknown race were summoned by the horn after it was fully charged thanks to our lord and the false goddess, four were Equestrians but one was from Pandora who was written down in the archives as the first Prophet, the human was a bandit who have heard of our god's tale of ending the menace who is Handsome Jack, the Prophet went high and low searching for anything about lord Krieg, but after months of searching, his life was ended by our god's hand after one encounter."

"Wait, he got smoked by Krieg but he was still a fanboy?" Sparky spoke before getting hit on the back of his head by his father.

"Shut up and listen!" The dragon scolded Sparky.

"Well yes," Mint Continues. "you can put it that way. The Prophet instead of seeing it as betrayal of his faith saw this as his destiny, he would soon teach four blind ponies the name of Krieg, they were hesitant at first, but they soon saw the light and became the pioneers of our beautiful religion."

"Yeah, but what does this have to do with the horn?" Asked an impatient Mortar.

"I'm getting to that. Ahem, years goes by and more and more ponies were brought to our god, soon came  the third Prophet, he was also the first griffon to be a follower of our god's name. The third was very intelligent, after years of researching, he had discovered that the horn was the cause of the strange magic that brings everyone to lord Krieg. Soon, he would understand how it feeds off magic to activate when he had made a few tests, and after bringing enough unicorn volunteers, he had charged up the horn and brought the second human into Equestria, sadly the Prophet had to kill them for they were too dangerous. So our story ends there for now, and that is why we needed those artifacts so we could easily power the horn which was named 'Valhalla's Key'."

"Awesome, but what does that thing do?" Sparky points at the large ring on Mint's head.

"Well, you all must be curious as to how we discovered the other two pieces of the artifact, it is because of the tenth Prophet, he was also unicorn and a trained one at that! He tapped into the horn mentally and saw through space and time! He witnesses the terrors from your universe, he had also saw the Eridians taking their first step on Equus! Though it is still a mystery of why the Eridians chose this planet as a Vault, we had at least discovered that there were three artifacts, and we have two!"

Captain Flynt snorted a laugh. "So a bunch of aliens made some kind of dimension traveling artifact and hid three more in this universe, and that one does what exactly?"

Mint faces Flanksteak, a twisted smile hidden under her mask. "Flanksteak," As she spoke the ring on her head began glowing. "sit."

Without even knowing it, the marauder unconsciously sat down, this caused the other bandit leaders to stare with widened eyes.

"W-what!?" Captain Flynt spoke, the Nomad and the rest of the bandits began understanding what had just happened.

"That's right! The 'Angel's Halo' can control humans!"

"And what's keeping you from forcing us to do your bidding?" Just as Baron had asked, the other bandits sans Clayton secretly reached for their weapons.

"Because I want a healthy relationship between us, I don't want some mind controlled zombies, no, I want friends. Friends that-" A bullet zooms over her head, Sledge became confused as he was aiming right between her eyes but somehow missed, the Minotaur felt intense heat coming from his left, Clayton was preparing to blast the bandit with holy fire from his incendiary gun for attacking their leader, but Mint herself stopped Clayton from barbecuing Sledge. "Settle down now! Oh my, a little bit too eager to kill me, if you really want to have the ring, then take it."

"You're gonna just hand it over?" Flanksteak questions.

"Yes."

Baron knew that something was up. "Alright, what's the catch?"

The mare looks away in a shy and cute way as if she was caught with her hoof in the cookie jar, it would have been cute if she wasn't wearing a face on her mask, scratch that, she isn't cute at all. "Well, the thing is, unless you are outside of the vault then the artifact would never work with creatures that were not from Equus or so our research team have learned."

The Nomad growls and nearly just shot her on the spot, but his brother held a hoof up to keep him from doing so. "What's keeping us from putting a bullet in you here and now?"

"Oh?" She tilts her head to the side, the ring began glowing brightly before fading back to normal. "Well Baron, now that I have this ring, I was actually confident to let all of you free to roam Equestria! But now that you all seem to be thinking about...backstabbing me, I feel like maybe I do want zombie underlings."

The bandits didn't like their choices, keep working for her or be forced to, being a mind controlled human or other with no free will didn't really sounds so well, but she is actually allowing them to leave their base and do what they wanted, so they all chose the only choice there is, loyalty.

"But what about Wilhelm?" Baron questions.

"Oh leave him be." Was her answer.

"W-wait." Flanksteak spoke. "What the hell do you mean!?"

"Yeah!" Sparky spoke. "Shouldn't we make him a mind controlled slave?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Said Mint.

Mortar slaps his hoof on his head. "Please tell me you are joking."

"Sledge does not like!"

"You all don't understand, where would be the fun if I just took away Wilhelm's free will? He is the perfect opponent for lord Krieg, and it would best if we leave him untouched and untainted, or else their battle would be tasteless to lord Krieg. Now, do you all have a problem with it?"

"Fine." Baron spoke before the rest agreeing as well, like it or not.

"I uh, also got a question!" The dog raises his paw in the air. "Where's Bad Maw?"

"Last I heard from No Toes, your Nomad friend was seen with a Raging Goliath, few minutes later, there was only a GOD-liath rampaging around." Baron informs the Marauder.

"Aw man... He was the best gatekeeper I know... Now who's gonna watch the gate of our base!?"

"This is wonderful, we can use his death as an excuse to use the horn, even though we were going to!" Mint said before facing the unicorns. "Now, who wants to see the key works it's magic!?"




Shining sighed as he stood on the balcony of the castle, he stares upon the aftermath of the attack, though there were less damages near the castle, the edge of the city was almost only a pile of rubble, the bandits did not spare even the simplest of homes. Everything was being cleaned up but this was already planted deep in the minds of the citizens of the city, he have heard from his sister that they began alienating those that wear the bandit masks as seen from how they treated Steve, which is bad but reasonable and justifiable. Though he was worried, princess Celestia as well have the same idea as Shining, both ponies did not like the hatred they have in their hearts, if left unchecked, it could grow into something that could not be controlled, and it concerns the alicorn and Shining.

"Oh honey, I'm home!" Shining silently groans as Jack made his presence known. "What's with the long face?"

"You've made that joke already." Said Shining.

"Aw, come on and humor the dead for once!"

"Jack..."

The ghost frowns and rolled his eyes. "Alright, its too soon to be joking. Anyways, I lost track of the artifact, did you deal with Krieg?"

"We...we lost..." Shining looks away, he noticed the disappointed look on Jack before he did.

"You had Wilhelm right?" The unicorn nodded. "Then how the hell did you lose!?"

"I don't know what happened, okay!?" Shining snaps at Jack. "Wilhelm almost had him, but after Celestia came, the bandit just grew bigger and manage to knock out Wilhelm! You have any idea of how many soldiers we lost before he transformed!?"

"Of course I have an idea, I know how it feels Shining! I have lost things, but I don't let it slow me down, you know why!? Because they needed me, Pandora was chaotic as it always was and they needed a hero, I was so close..."

"..."

"Do you understand? You have blood spilled all over your hooves, but you shouldn't let it get to you, especially now that these bandits have an Eridian tech, who knows what they'll do, innocent lives are at stake out there and Equestria needs a hero, and that's you."

The unicorn was silent, he held on to every word that Jack said, a small spark in his mind lit up into a blazing light, the ghost was right, Shining can't stay in the past when he's needed in the present. Though Equestria already has it's heroes, but Shining actually believes that it needed more after the bandits showed themselves, he, Nisha, and especially Wilhelm are the ones that could truly fight off the newest threat to Equus.

Shining trusts his sister and her friends, but this is bigger than them, and more dangerous.

"Shining?" The unicorn looks behind himself and Jack followed his gaze, Twilight stood there with obvious concern. "I-I heard shouting so I checked to see if you're alright."

Shining let out an honest smile. "I'm fine, just very stressful after today...and I'm also tired."

"That's good..." Twilight looks over the railings of the balcony to stare upon the wreckage that the bandits left behind. "I heard from Wilhelm that they were looking for something."

"Yeah, some kind of powerful artifact."

"That's right, but Starlight found something as well," Both Jack and Shining listens intently to her. "she says that there are three pieces..."

Jack's eyes widens and the unicorn became even more curious. "How did she know?"

Twilight let out a sigh before speaking. "She said she interrogated one of the bandits while looking for survivors, there is one piece out there."

"Only one!?" Jack spoke but his question will only be heard by Shining, thankfully the living relays the question.

"Yes, Starlight also said that the bandits already had the first piece, now they have the second."

"Shining, a word?" Jack demanded from the prince, not requested.

"Oh, I think my Echo is ringing!" Shining quickly took the device up to his ear and pretends to answer a call, Twilight watches him with her own curiosity, both on what the caller wanted and what that device was. "Hello, Shining here!" He said with an awkward smile.

"Can we speak in a more private way?"

"Sorry sis', but I kinda need to take this. In private. Alone." The unicorn explained himself as he began trotting away from Twilight and towards the doors.

"O-okay... Oh yeah! Cadance also wanted to talk to you!" She tried to tell him but the stallion was already gone, leaving Twilight alone on the balcony- oh hey, it's Steve!

"Heyoo!"

"Alright, what's so important that I have to ditch my sister?" Shining spoke as he glared at Jack, the Echo still by his ear.

"Shining, change your priorities from looking for that bandit monster to finding that artifact."

"What!? I can't Jack, he is too much of a high level threat to ignore and I can't waste resources looking for whatever that thing is!"

"Listen! If they get all three then you're done! We need to get it before they do, and it is important that we do so or else they get what they wanted! Shining, those bandits are obviously here for them, and they'll stop at nothing to get their goal and if you have that last piece then-"

"They'll come back to the Crystal Empire." Shining finishes Jack's sentence.

The ghost smiled. "Now you're getting it!"

"And if we have it, then we can lure them into a trap!" Shining practically could see a floating light bulb hovering above his head.

"That's right! If we can find out how it works then we can also turn it against those filthy bandits!" Jack took a second to calm himself down, he placed a hoof on his chin as he began thinking. "You know what?"

"What?"

"Ever wanted to be a Vault Hunter?"
> A Filler Episode
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun rises and shines upon the peaceful town of Ponyville, the creatures that lived there were up and ready to go on with their daily lives. As for Ocellus, our dear precious changeling was still deep in her sleep, that is until a thousand voices started screaming and rudely awakens her. She shot off of the bed and down onto the floor with a thud, Ocellus looks around for the source of the strange noise but it was already silent, it was gone in just a blink leaving the changeling in confusion.

So after being woken up by some strange noises, Ocellus decided to go and have breakfast. She could figure out what that screaming was after some food, it could have been her hallucinations for all she knows. She had also made sure that she didn't leave the strange device. Ocellus still needed to learn everything thing she can from it, she knows that it holds more details of Krieg's past and she'll find out no matter what.

Her trip to the dining room was short, there in the room she finds the rest of her friends and Spike who was passing around breakfast, they all had strange looks on their faces as if something wrong had happened. Except for Silverstream, the hippogriff was as cheerful as she usually is, smiling while she ate her breakfast. Ocellus makes her way to one of the free seats and quietly sat down, the young dragon then places down a plate of fried eggs and avocado slices with some toast on the side for her. After saying "Thank you." to spike, she looks over to Gallus to find him tinkering with one of the guns the crusaders and Big Mac have brought yesterday.

"Morning Ocellus!" Ocellus' attention was switched over to Silverstream who was across the table.

"Morning."

The hippogriff curiously tilts her head to the side. "What's wrong, you seem a little down."

"Oh, its just that...I kinda woke up because I heard screaming." She confessed to her friends. "I-"

Before she could continue, Silverstream cuts her off and apologizes out of the blue. "I'm sorry!"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, I must have ruined everyone's morning!" She begins to explain. "I was just excited when Gallus and I checked that chest the crusaders brought and took the cutest looking gun from it, and well." She raises her claws from under the table to reveal the Amplified Bane with a 2.4x zoom on top, and with a slag element.

"SWAPPIN' WEAPONS!" The gun screamed loudly before being placed on the table where it sat silently, waiting for someone to pick it up again.

"It can talk!" Silverstream cheerfully said as presented the weapon to Ocellus. "Cute isn't it? When I saw this in the chest, I just had to get it for myself, and now I have a gun like Gallus! Though, it kinda has a curse that makes me fly or walk very slow when my claws are holding it..."

"Another downside is that the thing is kinda loud," Gallus spoke. "its what made that screaming noise from earlier, but honestly, I can't believe you were actually still asleep."

"What happened?" Ocellus asked.

Spike looks up from his plate with a tired look and pointed to the nearby window that was broken, shards of glass were scattered in front of it showing that something had crashed through from the outside. "That Bad Maw guy was chased out of the castle by Carrot Top earlier this morning, it was very lucky that the only thing broken was the window."

"Big pony had to run, Yona tried to stop carrot pony but she was too strong, and she no listen to friends and Yona, only angry at big pony like when yak is angry." Said Yona.

After hearing about Bad Maw, Ocellus became worried for the bandit. "Oh my god, what happened to him!? Did he get away!?"

"Don't worry," It was Sandbar's turn to speak. "he got away, said he was leaving Ponyville anyways, but wanted to help tell us what you know about Krieg. We kept Carrot Top from Bad Maw long enough for him to escape, he's probably at the outskirts of town by now."

"Oh, thank goodness he's safe." The changeling was relieved to hear that Bad Maw was alright. "But, he didn't even get to say goodbye..."

"Well, he didn't really get to say goodbye to you but he asked us to tell you on his behalf. Sorry that you had to find out this way..."

Ocellus smiled, though she had only met him yesterday, she had actually thought of him as a friend. Especially when he had protected her from the other bandits. "Its fine Sandbar, thanks for telling me."

"Stop that!" A voiced shrieked from Gallus' side of the table, Ocellus looked over with curiosity. "Is this how you treat everyone you've just met!?"

"I-is that gun...also talking?"

"Yeah," Gallus answered. "and she's been a pain since this morning."

"Well if you just respected other people's property, then maybe you would've been better! How could you just steal what isn't yours!?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe because of the fact that no one wants you." The griffon spoke with sarcasm. "And seeing that you're up for grabs, I figured that I might as well take you, but to be honest, you are annoying."

"Well from my perspective, you're the annoying one!" The gun argued. "Obviously, you steal from those who have nothing, you thief!"

"Could you shut up? I only wanted a bigger gun."

"You do know that there are starving children on Pandora that could use a gun but couldn't get any!? How about you give them yours for once!"

"Guns shouldn't really be anywhere near children. Also, never heard of Pandora."

Smolder chuckled a little as she watches the two argue. "This is like watching a couple." She joked.

"Um, excuse me miss gun?" Ocellus tries to speak with the weapon. The gun was silent so the changeling decided to ask what she wanted. "Who exactly do you belong to, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Wouldn't you like to know! He and this emotionless bird are almost the same!" Said the gun.

"Wow, he must be a really swell guy." The griffon commented.

"Yes, but the second guy was even worse! The things he did was so terrible, and he wouldn't listen to a single word I say! He even wouldn't stop smearing me with blood, that monster!"

"That kinda sounds like Krieg." One name, a single name that Gallus had mentioned have made the gun completely silent. Yona's chewing of her food loudly was the only sound to be heard. Ocellus became curious as to why the weapon no longer speaks, as for Gallus, he was actually glad that the rifle shut it's metaphorical mouth.

Now the students and Spike are back to eating their breakfast in silence. Soon they all finished their plate and the younger dragon started clearing up the table while the students waited, just for anything to happen. A minute goes by and still nothing had happened, they were at least expecting their teachers to return or maybe Krieg, but it seems that they are not going to see any of them for today.

"Gallus!" Three different voices calls for the griffon, all eyes turns towards the door to see the crusaders, Apple Bloom was carrying a bag bigger than her.

"Gallus, we forgot to ask you about Krieg!" Said Apple Bloom. The griffon sighed, he sets down the talking gun and waited for the young pony to continue. "What does Krieg like?"

Gallus was surprised, he had expected them to ask about the psycho's past, which he doesn't actually know since he and the others haven't asked Ocellus. "Why are you asking me? He's Smolder's brother, not mine."

"Oh, you're right!" Said Sweetie Belle. "Smolder!"

"I'm right here you know..." The dragon sighed, everything was stressful since yesterday. "'What does Krieg like?' Why are you three even asking?"

"Well, remember how he got all sad because we brought that weird thing to him?" Scootaloo explained. "We wanted to make it up for him, but all we know is that he likes guns, and we can't afford any of them!"

"Yeah, they don't take bits!" Apple Bloom added.

"You know, you three actually shouldn't go near guns..." Gallus commented.

Smolder pinches the bridge of her snout. "Girls, its alright, Krieg will get over it. You don't have to do anything, and besides, he won't hate you for it."

"But we can't just leave him like that, we need to do something to cheer him up!" Said Scootaloo.

"No, you don't." Said Gallus as he returns to tinkering with rifle. "If anything, you girls should go back to your daily lives. Besides, we haven't really seen him since yesterday."

"Oh, he's working at the farm right now. But he was kinda quiet, and wouldn't even talk to us, no shoutin' or anythin'." Apple Bloom said.

"He's not talking? That's an improvement!"

"Hey, who said that!?" Scootaloo questioned.

"I did you overgrown chicken!" The fillies stared at the rifle in Gallus' claws, Scootaloo was too focused on the fact that a gun was talking to even notice the insult.

"It can talk!?" All three simultaneously spoke.

"Of course I can, but do you know who can't? Those who were born mute back in Pandora! Now they all waste away on the planet and not contribute anything to society!"

"Pandora?" Sweetie tilts her head to the side as she repeated the name, trying to dig through her memories of where that place is. But she couldn't really think of any answers. "Um, where exactly is Pandora?"

"Hey!" Smolder shot up from her seat and made an attempt to steer the children away from the subject. "You know what? I have an idea on how we can cheer up my brother, and I know him better than anyone else." She said while trying to send Ocellus a message silently with her body language. Her tail moves left and right as her eyes glanced at Ocellus a few times.

The changeling catches on what the dragon wanted. "O-oh, yeah! I can also help out with whatever Smolder plans. So why don't you three go back to the farm and keep watch of Krieg for us, until we can come up with a plan."

"But I thought you said-" Scootaloo was cut off quickly by Smolder.

"Do you want to cheer him up or not?"

"Alright!" The trio said before running off to do what they've been told, to watch over beast until they are called or when the plan is ready to begin.

Once they were gone, everyone let out a sigh of relief, trying to hide Krieg's identity from three young fillies isn't really hard, but it makes them feel kinda sour for lying to children. But try as they can the truth will soon be revealed, until that time comes, they will keep everyone in the dark, hopefully it doesn't come at all.

Smolder shook her head, she doesn't understand why the fillies would go so far. But on the other hand, she kinda knows how they feel thanks to her experience from the school and with her real brother. "Alright, before we get this day going, Ocellus should tell us everything she knows about Krieg. Right?"

"Why would you ever want to know more about that murderer!?" The gun asked rhetorically. "He is by far the most guilty one out of the six of them and we shouldn't talk about him! Think of the people he slaughtered, they could have become something better than bandits but now they're dead because of that killer!"

"Shut up or I start looking for whatever makes you talk and shut you up myself." Gallus threatened the gun.

"You would do that, you psycho sympathizer!"

"Um, miss gun?" Ocellus calls for the weapons attention.

"I have a name you know and you should give me some respect! I'm a Hyperion Sniper Rifle classified as Morningstar. But my model is specifically a Thermogenic Morningstar with incendiary element, and a 5.4x scope! I'm one of many top of the line snipers to be equipped with advance AI technology made by the Hyperion weapons factory to be used in combat by Hyperion units only! But then that haiku spewing killer got me as a reward for some mission and my life has been terrible ever since. I tried to put him in the right path but he just gave me up to that psycho!"

"Oh, alright... But I was gonna ask if you know anything about Krieg's friends."

"Well don't ask me, all I know is that they are all a bunch of brutal killers!"

[IF I MAY,] The young six heard the very same voice that they heard from the first day of Krieg's awakening. All eyes looked over to the chest that sat by the wall, the green Hyperion shotgun that was on the display was the one who spoke. [I HAVE THE INFORMATION THAT YOU DESIRE IN MY MEMORY BANKS.]

"Oh great, another talking gun." Gallus said before letting out a soft sigh. "Please be tolerable, I rather not get nagged on by two guns."

[YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY. UNLIKE THE INFERIOR RIFLE, I AM AS YOU SAY, TOLERABLE.]

"Said the bloodthirsty Loader bot!" Morningstar commented.

"He sounds like those things back in the underground." Gallus pointed out, the rest nodded, agreeing with the griffon.

"They were also in the Crystal Kingdom, there were even some soldiers that I haven't seen before. But I think they work for princess Celestia." Ocellus said, everyone turns towards her, eyes wide open at the new information.

"Hyperion is here!?" Morningstar gasped. "Oh no, if they find out I was used by Vault Hunters, then they'll turn me into scrap!"

[YES, KILL, KILL, KILL! DEATH TO OUR ENEMIES! DEATH TO HYPERION!]

"Are they really that bad?" Silverstream questioned.

"Bad Maw was going to help explain things, but I'll tell you all what I know of Hyperion. Right after we find out more about Krieg's friends."

The sniper rifle was silent, thinking about it, she didn't really have a choice. So might as well tell them what she knows, or let the psychotic Loader AI do it.

[YOU WISH TO LEARN OF THE TALES OF THE VAULT HUNTERS? VERY WELL, BUT FIRST, I MUST INTRODUCE MYSELF. I WAS LOADER BOT 1340, CURRENTLY KNOWN AS CRITICAL SHOTGUN 1340.]

"Nice to meet you, I'm Silverstream!" The hippogriff kindly introduces herself, the rest decided to follow and do the same.

"Gallus."

"I'm Sandbar, its great to meet you mister gun!"

"Yak is Yona! That is all."

"Uh, I'm Spike..."

"Ocellus."

"Just call me Smolder."

[EXCELLENT, NOW I HAVE RECORDED YOUR NAMES INTO MY MEMORY BANKS. I LOOK FORWARD TO KILLING BANDITS WITH YOU ALL, LET US BEGIN. WHO SHALL WE START WITH FIRST?]

"Umm, do you have an owner before Krieg like Morningstar?" Ocellus asked the gun.

[YES, HER NAME WAS GAIGE THE MECHROMANCER. A YOUNG HUMAN FEMALE FROM A PLANET CALLED EDEN-5. AS A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD, SHE ASPIRED TO BE A GREAT INVENTOR AND WISHES ANARCHY TO THE GOVERNMENT. SHE WAS JUST AN ORDINARY GIRL, WHO GOES TO AN ORDINARY HIGHSCHOOL, SHE HAD ALSO SEVERED HER OWN ARM TO REPLACE IT WITH CYBERNETIC ONE.] The whole table were shocked to hear this, they all began believing that Gaige was as nutty as the psycho. Who in the world would just dismember their own limb? A question they mentally asked to themselves.

Spike shivered at the though of losing an appendage. "Wait, she cuts her arm off? Why would she do that?"

[FOR SCIENCE. LET US CONTINUE. DAYS LATER, SHE BROUGHT HER PRESENTATION FOR HER SCHOOL'S SCIENCE FAIR, READY TO REVEAL TO THE WHOLE SCHOOL HER CREATION. BUT SADLY, SHE HAD LOST TO HER RIVAL AND ONLY RECIEVED THIRD PLACE.]

"What exactly did she make for the science fair?" Spike predictably asked, being the assistant of a very intelligent pony made it predictable.

[GAIGE'S ORIGINAL CREATION WAS STOLEN BY HER RIVAL, THEY WERE ALMOST PRACTICALLY IDENTICAL. BUT THE COPY WAS INFERIOR IN MANY WAYS. SO GAIGE MADE HER CREATION MUCH GREATER THAN HER RIVAL'S, THIS ONE WAS STRONGER AND BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL, THIS ONE WAS NAMED-]

"Deathtrap..." Silverstream finished the sentence, she remembered the character sheet of Gaige from yesterday. "So the robot thing is real? Could it really shoot lasers put of it's eye?"

[AMONG OTHER THINGS. AS I WAS SAYING, GAIGE ENTERS DEATHTRAP INTO THE SCIENCE FAIR ONLY TO LAND IN THIRD PLACE, SHE LATER DISCOVERED THAT HER RIVAL'S FATHER HAD BRIBED THE JUDGES.]

"Wait, so she lost because this guy-"

[SHE WAS FEMALE.] Gallus was corrected by the gun.

"-girl had her father bribe the judges? Why in Equestria would they accept money from him!?"

[HER FATHER WAS AS GAIGE QUOTES, "RICHER THAN GOD" AND GAIGE COULD NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. THE JUDGES WERE BOUGHT OFF BY HIM. THEN HER RIVAL BEGAN BEING A SORE WINNER AS WELL AS A CRAPPY HUMAN, SHE GLOATED AND MOCKED GAIGE FOR LANDING THIRD PLACE.]

"Oh this does not sound good." Muttered Spike, he had seen this before in one of his comics, he just hoped that he was wrong. Oh how right he actually was.

[GAIGE'S RIVAL THEN TOOK IT TOO FAR AND SHOVED GAIGE. THIS TRIGGERS DEATHTRAP TO DEFEND HIS CREATOR, LEADING TO THE DEATH OF THE GIRL.] Once again, the whole table were shocked to hear this, all gasped at the girl's fate. Though they have seen other creatures die, the students were still not comfortable with it. Death had been a recurring subject ever since they met Krieg and it'll be a normal Monday morning for them if they ever get used to it.

"I saw that coming." Spike said as he placed a claw on his forehead.

"S-she didn't mean to kill her right? Gaige seemed very nice." Silverstream spoke and waited for an answer.

[AFFIRMATIVE, THOUGH SHE HATED HER RIVAL'S GUTS, GAIGE WOULD NEVER MURDER HER. SHE DIDN'T DESERVE TO DIE, GAIGE ALWAYS TOLD ME THIS.]

"What happens next?"

[SO AFTER AVOIDING PRISON TIME THANKS TO HER FATHER'S DISTRACTION, SHE TOOK A ONE WAY TICKET OFF OF EDEN-5 AND TO ANOTHER PLANET.]

"Wait, hold on a second. Another planet?" Smolder questioned.

"Oh right, you guys don't know. I'll tell you all after." Said Ocellus, and getting a nod from her friends. She then looked back at the gun. "Alright, please continue."

[SHE WOULD THEN ENLISTS HERSELF AS A VAULT HUNTER TO SEEK OUT THE VAULTS AND ANSWER THE CALL OF HANDSOME JACK. UNTIL BEING PREDICTABLY BETRAYED BY JACK, THIS IS WHERE SHE MEETS KRIEG AND THE OTHERS, A STORY OF HOW SHE FOUND A FAMILY IN A TERRIBLE PLACE CALLED PANDORA.]

The gun became silent, allowing the living creatures to soak in the new information. This was something new, all they have learned about Krieg or the bandits were how they were bloodthirsty monsters. But this reminds them that some didn't really have a choice. They all understood that Gaige was honestly just like them, she was a young girl who was still figuring out some things.

[SHALL I CONTINUE?]

Gallus glances at each of his friends, he took note of their reluctant expression on their faces but they still wanted to learn more. "How about Zero?" He asked before the others could even say a word.

"Zero?" Morningstar repeated the name, the gun sounded very upset. "Why would you want to learn about that cold hearted killer!? No ones knows who he, she, or it is! He just came out of nowhere and started accepting hits on anyone, politicians or some poor soul who could've been a doctor!"

"You seem to know a lot about him, do you have anything else?" Asked Ocellus.

"How much do you know about humans?" Everyone except Spike shrugged their shoulders, none of the students are really an expert on the subject. "Well whatever you do know, forget it when Zero comes to mind. He's not human, no one except that crazy scientist knows what he is. He could be a machine like me or that psychotic defect!"

[I WILL REMEMBER THAT.]

"So no one except for some scientist, knows what he is?" Asked Gallus. "Not even Krieg?"

"No one, at all! Now pick your next murderer so we can just continue the day!"

"Geez, you sure are all sunshine and rainbows..."

[I SHALL TELL YOU OF A MAN WHO WAS RAISED ON PANDORA ITSELF, SALVADOR THE GUNZERKER. HE WAS WHAT MANY DESCRIBED AS A VIGILANTE, ALWAYS ON THE HUNT FOR BANDITS. SADLY, HIS HOMETOWN DID NOT TAKE HIS VIOLENT BEHAVIOR LIGHTLY, SO THEY ALL VOTED FOR HIS EXECUTION. HE WAS SENTENCED TO HANG IN THE CENTER OF TOWN]

"Hey, that isn't fair, he's practically a hero! Why would they do that when he is obviously defending the town!?" Said Spike.

"Yeah, shouldn't they make songs about him?" Silverstream spoke.

[HE HAD EXPLAINED TO ME THAT HIS HOMETOWN WOULDN'T LISTEN, THEY WANTED HIM TO PAY FOR HIS CRIMES.]

"Now that's just bad," Said Gallus. "like really, guy gets rid of bandits and they want him dead with said bandits."

"How does he escape exactly? Did Krieg's other friends came by? Or a giant monster just pops out of nowhere and caused chaos leaving this Salvador guy to save the day and become a real hero!?" Everyone even the talking guns stared at Spike, the young dragon coughed awkwardly before motioning the gun to continue.

[YOU ARE WRONG, BUT SOMETHING ELSE CAME BY, AND IT WAS A GROUP OF HYPERION SOLDIERS.] 

They gasped for the second time today. 

[AFTER SHOOTING UP THE TOWN, SALVADOR TOOK IT INTO HIS OWN HANDS TO DEFEND THE PEOPLE WHO WANTED HIM DEAD. HE KILLED ALL HYPERION SOLDIERS EXCEPT FOR ONE. HE INTERROGATED THE LAST REMAINING SOLDIER AND FOUND OUT THAT HANDSOME JACK WAS LOOKING FOR VAULT HUNTERS. SO SALDVADOR SPARED THE SOLDIER AND ANSWERED THE CALL, SECOND VERSE SAME AS THE FIRST, JACK BETRAYED THEM.]

"This Jack guy is starting to sound like a terrible guy." Spike commented. "But Salvador seems cool, must be strong too if he defended a town all on his own."

[WELL YEAH, YOU CAN'T REALLY BE A VAULT HUNTER IF YOU AREN'T A BADASS. SHALL I MOVE ON?] 1340 didn't even wait for them, he just continued talking. [AXTON THE COMMANDO WAS BY FAR THE MOST LEAST INTERESTING HUMAN. MANY AGREED THAT HE SEEMED LIKE A CARDBOARD CUT OUT OF A MAN NAMED ROLAND, WHICH IS KINDA SAD. BUT HE WAS STILL THE BRAINS OF THE GROUP, BEING AN EX-SOLDIER FOR THE DAHL PRIVATE ARMY. HIS REASON TO LEAVE WAS BECAUSE HE TOO WAS FACING EXECUTION, FOR THE DEATH OF A VIP. SOON AFTER, HIS WIFE HAD SUGGESTED FOR HIM TO SNEAK OUT AND HIDE, OR ELSE HE WOULD BE TAKEN TO THE FIRING SQUAD.]

"Well, at least he has his family on his side." Said Sandbar.

[AXTON'S WIFE WOULD DIVORCE HIM THEN AND THERE, LEAVING HER WEDDING RING WITH HIM.]

"Well oof, now that's just harsh." Said Smolder as she watches Sandbar change the look on his face from his usual happy look, to an unhappy one.

[HE WOULD THEN LIVE HIS LIFE ON PANDORA AS A BOUNTY HUNTER, BUT IT DIDN'T REALLY FEEL THAT GREAT FOR THE COMMANDO. IT DIDN'T HAVE THE THRILL, GLORY, AND THE MONEY THAT HE HAD ALWAYS WANTED IN HIS LIFE. I'LL LET YOU GUESS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.]

"Handsome Jack." They all said in the same time.

[IT IS A BIT PREDICTABLE. WE ARE FINALLY ON THE LAST ONE, MAYA THE SIREN.] The gun took a few seconds before starting. [MAYA WAS RAISED ON THE PLANET ATHENAS BY A GROUP OF MONKS NAMED THE ORDER OF THE IMPENDING STORM. I SHALL EXPLAIN SIRENS LATER. NOW, SHE WAS TOLD THAT SHE WOULD ONE DAY PROTECT THE PEOPLE AND WAS KEPT HER SHELTERED IN THE TEMPLE. BUT SHE WANTED TO LEAVE, EXPLORE THE UNIVERSE AND LEARN MORE OF HER SIREN HERITAGE, SADLY SHE COULD NOT.]

"But she did." Smolder spoke. "This is the story how they all come together, this means that something happened and made her leave her home."

[YOU ARE CORRECT. ONE DAY, SHE FOUND THE HEAD OF THE MONKS GATHERING PEOPLE TO ONE PLACE. WHEN SHE ASKED, HE HAD TOLD HER THAT THEY WERE CRIMINALS OF DIFFERENT CRIMES AND WANTED MAYA TO EXECUTE THEM.]

"Huh, this is a change of pace." Said Gallus. "Everyone except Zero were branded as criminals by some authority in their story. But Maya is the one on the other side now."

[AS I WAS SAYING BEFORE BEING RUDELY INTERRUPTED. THE CRIMINALS WERE BROUGHT UP TO MAYA, SHE WOULD THEN COME TO REALIZATION THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING DEEPLY WRONG. SHE CAME TO AN UNDERSTANDING THAT SHE WAS BEING USED TO SEND FEAR UPON THE PEOPLE. SO AFTER CONFRONTING THE LEADER OF THE MONKS, SHE EXECUTED HIM AND RELEASED THE PRISONERS WHO TURNED OUT TO BE REGULAR CIVILIANS WHO HAD OWED THE TEMPLE MONEY. MAYA WOULD SOON FINALLY HAVE HER FREEDOM AND LEFT THE PLANET TO SEEK OUT HER SIREN ROOTS. THIS IS WHERE THE STORY GETS INTERESTING.]

"What do you mean?" Asked Silverstream.

[MAYA WAS WAITING FOR THE TRAIN WHEN SHE WAS AT PANDORA, SHE HAD BEEN CALLED BY HANDSOME JACK AND SHE HAD ANSWERED. SOON AFTER THE TRAIN ARRIVED, SHE NOTICED A PARTICULAR PSYCHO BY THE RAILS.] This earned the gun an excited gasp from the organic creatures. [SHE HAD FACED MANY PSYCHOS BEFORE, SO SHE REACTED NORMALLY WHEN SEEING ONE, SHE BEGAN FIRING HER VAULT HUNTER ISSUED MALIWAN AT THE BANDIT.]

"Of course she does... I mean, he does look like a bandit." Spike spoke.

"That's right, because he is a bandit!" Morningstar said.

"Shh! Quiet or Yona snap gun like stick!" The yak threatened.

[SHE WOULD THEN REPEATEDLY SHOOT AT KRIEG, CAUSING HIM TO HIDE BEHIND A ROCK FOR COVER. WHILE BEHIND THE ROCK, HE BEGAN SHOUTING REGULAR PSYCHO SPEECH AT MAYA, OR SO SHE THOUGHT. IN TRUTH, THE MAN WAS TRYING TO TELL HER SOMETHING, AND THE MESSAGE WAS MADE CLEAR ONCE KRIEG THREW HIS AXE AT A RAT BANDIT THAT WAS BEHIND HER.]

"He was trying to warn her? But why didn't he just tell her to?" Asked Sandbar.

[HE IS A PSYCHO, THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING SO PLEASE STOP INTERRUPTING ME.]

"Sor-"

[AS I WAS SAYING. HE HAD REVEALED TO MAYA THAT A GROUP OF RAT BANDITS ATTEMPTED TO AMBUSH HER. BEFORE SHE COULD EVEN RAISE A FINGER, KRIEG RAN IN AND SLAUGHTERED THE BANDITS. AND THUS, A NEW BOND WAS MADE, BUT SADLY MAYA WAS NEEDED TO GET ON THE TRAIN, LEAVING THE PSYCHO BY HIMSELF.]

[OR SO SHE THOUGHT, KRIEG HAD CHOSEN TO HOLD ON TO THE TRAIN THAT NOT ONLY CONTAINING MAYA, BUT THE REST AS WELL, AND BEGAN HIS NEW ADVENTURE ON PANDORA WITH HIS NEW FRIENDS. THERE WERE MANY PAIN AND SUFFERING, DANGERS AND TERRORS THROUGHOUT THEIR ADVENTURE. THEY HAVE ENCOUNTERED MANY CHALLENGES. ALWAYS IN THE HEAT OF THE ACTION, LIVES WERE CONSTANTLY IN PERIL. HE EVEN HAD HIS LEGS SEVERED AFTER TRYING TO SAVE AXTON FROM A STRAY SAW BLADE. RENDERING HIM USELESS FOR MONTHS, BUT IT WAS WORTH IT FOR KRIEG, JUST TO SEE HIS FRIENDS ALIVE AND WELL.]

With that, the story ends, allowing the students and Spike to soak up every bit of information they received. They learned a lot about Krieg's previous friends, that in turn made them learn more about Krieg himself. But there are still things that only Ocellus knows, so they still have to stay on their seats and allow Ocellus to tell them everything. At least they understood the psycho even better than before, he's crazy, yes, but he is a defender of those who cannot stand for themselves. Krieg is more than a psychotic dragon/human, he's a hero that operates with his own judgment. That's what they know, and now they know that he himself is like everyone else. Krieg is not normal by their standard but he was normal for his previous friends. He went on an adventure with them, had fun with them, he was still a person even if he was dangerous. As long as he's with the right crowd, then he was just like anybody, he was human. Though the students knows little of the human race, they still understood that they all share a similarity in some way that reminded them of their own kind. Krieg was destructive as a yak, he's tough and resilient as griffon and dragon. But most importantly, he has a good sense of empathy like any race on Equus. Even if he was psychotic, Krieg was always doing things for the good of the people, evil or not, his intentions were justified.

"Hey Spike, I'm ba- why are you crying?"

"Ember!? I'm n-not crying!" He claimed before running off with tears running down his cheeks, leaving Ember very confused.

"Uh, what's up with him?"

The young six glanced at each other before looking back at the dragon lord.

"Oh its fine princess," Sandbar assured her as he and others began leaving for the door. "we were just discussing our friendship lessons and Spike got all emotional! Good old Spike, really an awesome dude."

"Y-yeah!" Silverstream agreed. "He was very happy of how great friends we all are!"

"That's right Ember, but we better head off now and go back to studying." Said Smolder.

"Oh, okay, but have you seen Kr-" She couldn't finish her sentence as the students have already ran off, the weapon that Silverstream held made loud and strange noises as they rounded a corner. Leaving Ember alone in the dining room. "Hmm, guess I'll just look for him later."

[HI.]

Being the tough and fearless dragon as she is, Ember did not scream in terror when an inanimate object on the dining table just spoke out of nowhere. I repeat, she did not scream, at all, she's too awesome to even get scared.
> The Second Arc, The Dead One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chrysalis was very confused. Yesterday while she spied on Krieg, a group of bandits came and gave him a truck. Then she watched Krieg along with that fool Starlight Glimmer as well as the rest of the elements sans Rarity and Twilight teleport away to who knows where. Leaving the queen without a task for the rest of the day.

When Chrysalis woke up after a night of feeding on clueless victims, she had found Krieg at the market with a large group of ponies gathered around him. He just stood there while the ponies just went over to Big Mac who was behind the stall, and bought one or two apples. She became curious and decided to go in closer to her target. So she transformed into her unicorn disguise and trotted over to the group.

Just as she stood behind them, she noticed Krieg facing her direction. Chrysalis could feel his eye staring intently on her. She smiled awkwardly towards him, and Krieg kept his gaze on her. Seeing that he was always an odd creature, the queen didn't give his strange behavior any mind and focused on why a group of ponies were here to buy some apples.

"Excuse me, miss?" She spoked to the nearest pony, a yellow mare with a red mane and had a strawberry cutie mark on her flank. "Why are there so many ponies gathered here?"

"Oh, you must be new around here, well same goes for Krieg over there. But just to let you know, Krieg isn't a quiet type of guy. And we're worried that he's mad at something."

"So you are all here because this dragon is acting differently than he did before? Then why is everyone buying an apple?"

The pony before Chrysalis frowned. "Well that's because these ponies are scared and they believe buying an apple would keep him away from them. He's only been here for a few days but these hopeless bunch already believes he's all that."

"And why are you here?"

The mare only gritted her teeth and looked away from Chrysalis. The queen glared at the pony, offended by how the mare just looked away from her. She wanted to teach her a lesson as to why you just don't show such rude gesture to the queen of all changelings. But she couldn't do so with the fact that she was undercover, and also the fact that Krieg was looming over her right now. Everyone quickly stepped back and away from her and the giant, watching them both with curiosity and worry.

The mare Chrysalis spoke to had hidden herself behind the crowd trying her best not to be noticed by the psycho. Few whispered to each other, wondering as to why Krieg was interested on a random pony after a whole morning of complete silence from the beast. Even Big Mac had been watching them closely, he was the same as everyone else, he was curious.

Chrysalis stared into his eye, she could see rage boiling inside him. Her eyes goes down to his right hand, both widened when she saw his buzz axe in his fist. The changeling looked back up, the beast started breathing heavily.

"SHEEP IN THE WOLF DEN!" He yelled.

"W-what?" Chrysalis as well as everyone around had said.

"FLY IN THE BLOOD SOUP, THE ODD BALL!" He pressed a finger on her nose, she didn't move due to a strange feeling that started creeping up her spine. "My Pyro senses are tingling." He whispered, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

Chrysalis had no idea what he was talking about, she didn't even understand what she was feeling right now. And now the beast was yelling nonsense at her. The ponies around didn't understand what he was even saying.

"Um, excuse me?" She asked with honest confusion.

"You smell different!"

"Oh, well...that's because I'm from out of town." She explained, there is truth in her words because she doesn't even live in Ponyville.

"Green is different." He claimed and pointed his axe towards her.

"Krieg!" A voice called out. Then an orange dragon swooped in from above and pushed Krieg away from Chrysalis. "What the heck are you doing!?"

"The fox wants my hens!"

"You're not making any sense!" The younger dragon shouted before facing Chrysalis with a tired look. "I'm sorry about my brother, he's kinda nuts, but he means well."

"Oh, its fine. Just a bit confused as to why he's acting this way." The disguised pony said.

"I see the lie in your eyes, Johnny Johnny is telling lies!" He screamed out before slamming his axe into the ground.

"Could you be quiet!" Smolder scolded him before turning back to the pony Krieg is trying to scare. "I'm sorry again. Could you just go? He seems a little tense around you."

"I think I will..." She said before running away, not even looking back at them. She didn't even want to do anything with them at all.

"And why is everyone here?" Smolder questioned the crowd that were gathered before she came.

A pony raised their hooves. "Uh, we wanted to know if something's wrong with Krieg."

"We are?" Asked another. "I thought we all just wanted apples."

"I'm actually a frequent buyer, I just love apples and I didn't even notice anything wrong with Krieg."

"You didn't? He was awfully quiet the whole time, right until that newcomer came."

"Yeah, I'm also here because of the same reason. I thought he was mad at something and he might just blow up and start a rampage!"

"And the only way you can avoid it is by buyin' some of mah apples!" A very old mare spoke from Big Mac's side.

"Yeah!" The rest of them agreed.

"Alright, alright!" Smolder yelled out to silence the crowd. "Krieg is just having a bad day, and as much as he appreciates that you all care for him, everything is fine!"

"You sure?" Asked a mare with a strawberry cutiemark.

"Yes I'm sure. Krieg won't go on a random rampage, so you all can just go on with your lives."

The crowd murmured to themselves for a second before starting to disperse, soon the only ones who had the intention to buy apples stayed behind. Smolder sighed as the ponies go on with their day, she then faced towards Krieg who was glaring at the direction that pony left. The one that he claimed was different.

"Krieg!" She called.

The psycho grunted in surprised before looking over to her. "Huh?"

"Is there something wrong? You've been pretty absent minded, and being really quiet."

"No..." He said to her before going over to the stall to stand by it, followed by Smolder.

She eyed him worriedly, she doesn't really know what's going on in his mind. But she does know that after what happened yesterday made him bummed out. Smolder could only imagine what he was going through. The day they met, he had mentioned his friends a few times. And only now that she heard their voices, she could see the pain that Krieg was feeling. Almost a thousand years of imprisonment, and he discovered that his home or what he could call home is gone.

"Uh, hey big guy? You feeling okay?"

"STABBED FROM THE INSIDE, feeling the bad pain!"

"I don't understand... Why are you talking like this? Come on Krieg, can't you open up so we could help? Ocellus is worried about you, and right now she needs your help."

Krieg straightened himself when he heard that there was a problem, especially with Ocellus. "Sweet Bug in trouble?"

"Yeah, she is. Something happened to her back at the Crystal Empire, and its really hitting her hard." She took a second before finishing her explanation. "Krieg, she got the vault madness."

The psycho gasped really loudly. "Sweet Bug!?"

"I'm just telling you now to tell you that you shouldn't worry, she's doing well. But she needs emotional support, especially from you. A friend, both hers and mine."

Krieg stared at her, he thought about how the vault madness could effect Oceluss' life. Hopefully it isn't as bad as Smolder says, maybe just like Tiny Tina. And not like his, being a voice stuck in your own body like Little Man.

"Little Man...?" Krieg called out to him, but there were no answer.

"What? Oh, right, the god of wisdom. Listen Krieg, you don't need to ask your imaginary frie-" A single glare from Krieg silenced Smolder, her claw reactively clamped her own mouth shut when his eye landed on her.

"Little Man is meat man." He growled out.

Smolder only nodded, staring at the bigger dragon with a hint of fear. A feeling she thought she had long discarded. She couldn't really understand what he meant, all she could do was nod. After a few seconds of silence between the two, Krieg returned to watching the ponies that passes by. Smolder waited for a second before speaking, right after she took her claws off her mouth.

"Well that was interesting... Anyways, could you help us out with Ocellus' problem?"

"My axe needs sharpening!"

"We can do that lat-"

"A severed hand for Christmas!"

She slapped her claws on her face. "Just-just come with me. I'm sure Big Mac or Granny Smith wouldn't mind, right?" She asked the two ponies, but the older one is deep in the dream world to even say anything. Big Mac on the other hand was fully awake, and he nodded towards Smolder, telling her that it was okay to take Krieg away.

With that, Smolder took Krieg's hand and dragged him off. The psycho was willing to follow, because he intended to help Ocellus, in any way he can.

"Wait, where's the crusaders?" The saner dragon asked.

To which Krieg only shrugged, he really doesn't know where those cute and adorable fillies are.




"And so, I am going around Equestria to spread my lord's name, and defend those who cannot fight back not only the bandits, but other dangers that resides Equus." Limestone read a letter in her hooves loudly for the two ponies she was currently with. Her sister, and her recently made friend, Flash Sentry.

The stallion still wore his standard Hyperion infantry uniform that was painted purple, sans the helmet. He was currently nursing a bruise on his head after a scuffle with a disgruntled civilian, Flash was really regretting not wearing his helmet. Especially when a pony used a frying pan.

As for Marble, she was just happy that she had found her sister. If she ever find Wilhelm, she would give her thanks for helping her out. Now that she thought about it, Marble had never seen the strange pony again. When she tried asking the soldiers, but all they did was stare at her with confusion. Was it something she said or the lack of thereof? Who knows.

"And so," Limestone continued reading the letter. "my quest begins and I have already successfully recruited three soldiers to fight for my lord. Though they are a bit reluctant as they have known my bandit past, and I can't really blame them. Anyways, I have no idea when this letter gets to you, hopefully you are still in the Crystal Empire. Write to you next time, and tell Flash I said hello."

"Well that was awfully nice of him, I'm wishing him luck on whatever he's doing." Said Flash.

"Hmm?" Asked Marble.

"Yeah, he's a bandit. But he's giving up that life to pursue a religion or something and be a good guy." Explained Limestone.

"I uh...didn't know you can understand your sister. Which is cool actually, its like some kind of secret language." Flash commented.

"Mhmm." Marble agreed. "Hmm?"

"What?"

"She's asking if you know a stallion named Wilhelm." Limestone translated for Marble.

"Colonel Wilhelm? He went out hours ago with a hoof full of soldiers, said he was going to train some snipers."

Marble nodded, she was hoping that she could thank him for protecting her during the attack. Without him, she wouldn't be here right now, talking to her sister's new friend, who was awfully cute in her opinion. But finding out that these two befriended a bandit was quite strange, after she had witnessed how they were merciless, she imagined that a Crystal Soldier would never even reason with bandits, especially when they attack their home. But there he was, being kind and open to someone who wanted redemption, this was really impressive to Marble.

"So, did you guys hear?" Flash began.

"Hmm?"

"Yeah, hear about what?"

"That prince Shining is looking for Vault Hunters, said they'd get paid with a large amount of bits. Before you ask, Vault Hunters is just a name for treasure hunters, that's what prince Shining said. They basically go around Equestria looking for some 'vault artifact'. The prince also said that he plans to go chase after the bandits and bring them to justice."

"And you're telling us why?"

"Well, I just think that maybe I should give it a shot and I'm asking you two for a second opinion."

Limestone thought about for a second, thought they have only recently met, she had already considered him as well as Bad Maw a friend. She knows that the bandits were dangerous and destructive, that means he'll put his own life on the line even more. Limestone saw and heard what those bandits can do, especially those Psychos, a very unpredictable and sadistic type of creatures. She witnessed those freaks ripped a soldier in two, she saw how they tried to drink the blood and that was before she knocked the minotaur's helmet off. So having enough time to think, she decided an answer, but her sister spoke first.

"Hmm!" She 'said' loudly while shaking her head no.

"Oh, you think I shouldn't?" Marble nodded. "I see, guess the regular stuff then."

"Yeah, I agree with Marble here, its better to leave the vault hunting to someone else." Limestone commented.

"So...did Bad Maw ever tell us where we can send our letters back?" He asked, but then he suddenly remembered something, he was told this morning about a project that would be made at the outskirts of the city. "You may wanna cover your ears..."

"Hmm?"

"Huh?"




"Will this work?" Twilight asked her brother as he was supervising a group of freshly trained Crystal Engineers. She and her brother stood in front of a table with a large blueprint laid out. She didn't really understand any of it, all she was told is that it was just a modified Crystal Loader that was given rockets to allow it long distance travels. The six giant cannons also confused her.

"Yeah it will." He assured her without even looking away from the blueprint.

"Are you sure? This looks pretty complicated, and you're not really the smarty type, unlike me."

"Oh don't worry Twily, Jack taught me everything I need to know for this."

"Jack?"

Shining realized that he accidentally slipped Jack's name. "Uh...he's... He's my advisor! Yeah, he was the one that suggested to hire Wilhelm and Nisha!"

"I see, never really met him..."

"Anyways! I suppose you're a little bit curious on why I'm building these." She nodded to him. "Well Twilight, these Loaders aren't for combat, but they're for sending out a message!"

Shining would then motion towards her a piece of paper, she began reading it aloud. "Looking for Vault Hunters, for those who desire treasure, fame, and adventure. Come answer prince Shining Armor's call at the Crystal Empire. Only three spots available."

"So, what do you think? Also, before you ask, Vault Hunters is just a name for treasure hunters."

"What exactly do you need with them? You have an army of advance troops. And why only three?"

"Jack said Vault Hunters always comes in a team of four, I'm already one. And I need the toughest and the most awesome hunters I can get."

"But why? Can't you just bring your army around Equestria?"

"Its because I'm sending them out to defend cities!" He answered truthfully. "The Crystal Soldiers and Loaders are going to be deployed across Equestria to guard all Equestrian settlements, as well as selling out guns to the populace and give them a chance to fight back. Crystal Outposts are going to be built everywhere, and Loader Bots will be kept on reserve for when bandits would attack."

"Sell them guns? Isn't that dangerous!?"

"Twilight, we can't just defend them without any profits out of this. Selling them weapons while telling the buyers the truth would bring in a lot of bits, and we need those to fund the construction of the war factory."

"War factory? Shining, do you have any idea at all of how much damage you'll do on Equestria's image if you built a factory for war!?"

"Yes I do, well maybe after Jack explained... But what I am trying to say is that with the rise of bandits and us declaring war on them. We are the ones who stand in the way of those bandits, and if the other countries knows this, then that would boost the support for our country! Imagine, griffons, sea ponies, and yaks backing us up against the bandit hordes!"

"I...I see... You- I mean- Jack does make a point. This would really strengthen our bonds with neighboring countries, but there's this nagging feeling that this is a pretty bad idea."

"Twilight, you don't have to worry, everything will be fine."

"Ahem, sir?" Both unicorns turned towards the pony who spoke. It was a Crystal Engineer wearing the standard Hyperion exoskeleton but modified to be used by earth ponies. On their backs were two mechanical arms that was linked to their minds to allow them to use said metal appendages. Earth ponies were a perfect choice seeing the fact that they were not only tough and durable, but physically strong as well. But having the arms and exoskeleton made them even tougher than they are, plus they use the arms for heavy lifting which benefited them greatly.

"Sir, we're ready to proceed with phase two, sir!" He saluted.

"At ease, when can we launch?"

"At your command, sir!"

Shining faced his sister one more time before going through with his plan. "Well sis', are you ready?" The mare stared upon the massive cannon, it pointed up in the sky, ready to launch and send out Crystal Loaders. She would then look back at her brother and gave him a nod. "Alright! On my command. One!"

The engineers immediately scrambled to position, any non Crystal Engineers were motioned to stand back from the cannon as to make sure no soldier would be injured if anything goes wrong.

"Two!"

The Loader Bots were placed into the cannons, and the workers quickly closed the hatch and readied the cannons.

"Three!"

Four ponies stood by the control panel, each had prepared the launch and awaited for Shining to give them the command.

"LAUNCH!"

And one by one, the cannons shot out their Bots into different directions, the combined blast from the weapons caused a shockwave of warm wind that nearly threw a few ponies off their hooves especially when they are that close to the cannons. Shining had instinctively stood in front of his sister to shield her from the shockwave while also shielding his eyes with his foreleg. After that, the ponies recovered themselves, they all looked up to the skies to find a trail left by the machines going their separate ways.

Then they all cheered, even though they were hearing a sharp ringing in their ears.

"Yeah! We didn't explode!" Shining said aloud, a few stopped cheering but many others cheered even louder.

"Project is a success, sir!" Said one of the engineers, the ringing was no longer a problem.

"Sir, the Loaders are already miles away from our position, the message will be delivered all across Equestria in a matter of days!" Said another.

"Hear that Twilight? A total success, Jack wouldn't let me down!" Shining smiled.

"W-well, you were planning to put these cannons around the country, right? I think you should ease up the power, because that is a little bit too much."

"I guess you're right. But damn, think of what we can do, I can call robots from all over Equestria!"

"Uh sir? Shall we proceed with phase three?" An engineer asked.

"Wait, phase three?" Twilight asked her brother.

"Yes," He grinned, before motioning a hoof over to the new arrival of another batch of Loader Bots. "we're gonna put up antenna towers everywhere for long distance communication!"

Twilight sighed before casting a spell to protect herself from the loud explosion, she rather not experience it again.




Tempest stared upon the sky, her eyes followed the machine soaring across the heavens, hundreds of pieces of papers were released by it's trail. And one of them were on her hoof, she had read it over and over. She couldn't believe that a large group of bandits just came out of nowhere to threaten Equestria's way of life. This will not stand. Though she is currently going around Equestria to atone her mistakes, she was tempted to answer the call and atone in a much different way. A much violent way. She sighed after making up her mind, she was ready to take up arms and become a Vault Hunter. But there was still one problem though.

"Hey, can you help itch my nose which is on my FACE with your bullets!?"

She sighed a second time.
> Flesh, Strip Em Slowly
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Smolder walked sluggishly through town, following Ember's steps as she led the young dragon towards the market. Smolder had planned to sleep in today because class is on hold until the staff returns, but the dragon lord needed her for something, so she was pulled right out of bed by Ember. Smolder doesn't know what the older dragon wanted to do, all Ember had told her was a secret, well it better be worth it. Soon both dragons arrived at Carrot Top's stall, Smolder and the pony nodded to each other, still remembering what had transpired yesterday.

"Morning, uh..." Ember tried to greet the pony, but she could not remember the name.

"Carrot Top." The pony said.

"Right, sorry. Anyways, got any more of those meat pies?"

The mare nodded before she ducked down below the counter to bring out what Ember had requested. Fresh from the oven, the scent struck both dragons like a bat to the temple, and Smolder felt her mouth water once the scent of something very delicious hit her nose. Right in front of her was a dozen meat pies that almost made Smolder cry, never had she felt hungry ever before and she would've just eaten one of them if it weren't for her strong will.

"What is that?" Smolder asked before taking another whiff of the pies, she licked her lips excitedly.

Carrot Top smiled proudly. "Meat Pies, my best ones yet!"

"Meat? I haven't had any for a long time!"

Ember grabbed half of the pies and passed it over to Smolder to hold, the young drake nearly fell over from the sudden move, the pies stacked perfectly in her arms and would tilt slightly to the left. Smolder was careful not to lose balance or she risked dropping all six pies.

Ember looked over to Carrot Top and handed her a small pouch of bits. "Thanks again Carrot Top, have a good one!" She said before equally stacking the rest of the pies on her claws and left the carrot stand to look for a certain dragon, Smolder quickly followed the older drake but she was still careful not to drop the pies. It was bad enough that she was tempted to eat them there and now, the scent of meat was making her mind go crazy. She could only hope that it wouldn't take long until she could sink her teeth in them.

"So..." Ember began. "How's Krieg?"

Smolder frowned from behind the stack of pies. "Ember, what do you see in a guy like Krieg?"

Ember was caught off guard with her question, the pies in her arms nearly fell as she flinched. She pondered for a second, her mind returned to the day where she met Krieg. Her heart started to mimic the same speed when she first saw the Psycho, the way her knees stiffened by his mere presence.

"He's strong." She answered. "Everything a dragon should be, strong, tough, and big. I haven't seen his hoard, but I can tell that he definitely has a large pile. And I'll be honest, I won't ignore the fact, he defeated me so quickly and so easily, that I'm sure. That if he had answered the dragon lord's call, then he would be the one ruling over the dragons."

Smolder absorbed the information that Ember gave her. Smolder understood the idea of being attracted to a dragon's strength, she knows the appeal. But Smolder wasn't much like other dragons, she learned to like someone differently. Not like she had anyone in mind right now.

Sadly, Krieg is entirely something else, he's someone you shouldn't be in a serious relationship. Especially the fact that he was mentally unhinged.

"But you gotta reconsider, Ember..."

Ember glared towards the younger drake. "Now why should I?"

"Krieg isn't a normal dragon, he's too dangerous and I'm worried that one day he'll do something, and I won't be able to do anything."

"Smolder." Ember sighed. "I know that he's not really well in the head, but I just can't... what did that shiny one say again? Oh, right! I can't just ignore my heart, and let it bloom like a beautiful... uh... an apple?"

Smolder groaned, she felt like she wasn't getting through Ember, she thought about other ways to change Ember's mind. Then an idea had come into her mind, but it was a terrible one, so much that Smolder would probably risk Krieg's safety. But she needed to change Ember's mind or else it would be already too late.

"Ember..." She swallowed the guilt in her throat. "Krieg isn't my brother..."

"You mean..." Smolder waited for Ember to finish her sentence, she waited for the question that would come. "You and him are in a relationship!?"

"WHAT!?" Smolder nearly drops the pies right then and there out of shock from Ember's speculation. "Hell. No!"

"Oh..." Was all Ember could utter as Smolder continued.

"We are not in a damn relationship! I would rather take a bullet to the face than even be with that guy! He's a total psycho!"

Smolder stopped herself, she would have gone into some hate-filled rant about how she wouldn't even breathe the same air as Krieg.

She gritted her teeth as she began to explain. "What I'm trying to say is, he's not my brother, because he's some kind of monster that was put to sleep for over a thousand years by Celestia. And me and my friends woke him up, but now Celestia and the whole country is looking for him. Are you getting it now!?"

Ember laughed at the idea of Krieg being some kind of war animal. "Really Smolder? The way I see it, you're just jealous."

"Jealous!? Why in the world would I be jealous!?"

"Well, he's your brother, and I get the feeling that you're afraid that I would take him away from you."

If Smolder had a free hand, it would've wound up on her face right now. "Ember, I'm not lying because he's my brother, he's not. He's just some guy from an underground prison right below Ponyville. And let me tell you where he was the day you left to check on our home, he was at the Crystal Empire, slaughtering bandits left and right! He's an unchained monster Ember, and he had already tried to kill me."

"Smolder..."

"Up to this day, Gallus and I couldn't get used to Krieg. Whenever we look at him, we always feel small in comparison, and our hearts just start pumping blood like we're about to die. You must have felt the same when you first met him, right?" Smolder snorted a short laugh. "What am I saying? You're scared of him, maybe that's why you think you're in love, all because of fear."

Disbelief was written on all over Ember's face. "This... is really unbelievable. Why would he even do that? And what did Krieg do to receive such a punishment?"

The young drake looked away from her and avoided Ember's puzzled gaze. "His job..."

Before Ember could even ask, she continued.

"Remember that war between the griffins and the ponies? Well, Celestia threw him at the griffins, and let me tell you, I've seen what Krieg could do. And I imagined that the griffins were just child's play to him. You want a strong dragon? Then sure, Krieg is the guy you want! Heck, he even killed hundreds of our kind! Dragons, Ember! He hunted our kind for sport!"

Smolder allowed Ember to take a minute just to digest everything she had just said as they walked silently towards Twilight's castle. It was certainly a heavy load of information, something that you just don't hear everyday.

"Are you sure?"

"You can ask the others, even Spike knows about it."

"Spike..?"

They spent the rest of their journey back in silence, not another was said as they walked along the streets with pies in their arms.




"Hammer the shammer!" Krieg yelled at Ocellus.

"H-hammer the shammer!" The changeling repeated, but she stuttered a little at the start.

"Hammer the shammer!"

"Hammer t-the shammer!"

Smolder couldn't understand what she was even seeing. Krieg towered over Ocellus and was screaming random words at her just outside the castle. As to why, she's going to find out. Meanwhile, the rest of the group except Gallus were just sitting and watching the two screaming at each other.

The young drake sets down the pies on a picnic table that Spike had brought out. Ember had followed her example, but she remained silent as she cast a conflicted glance over to Krieg.

Smolder approached the blue griffin, Gallus was busy working on the rifle again. But thankfully, it was as quiet as Ember right now.

"What's that about?" Smolder pointed a thumb over her shoulder and at the screaming duo.

"Krieg is trying to teach her the ways of a Psycho." He blatantly spoke.

"Uh, that's not what we called him for, we asked him to help her be normal! Not to be weird!"

"That's what we tried to tell him, but he just ignored us and wouldn't leave Ocellus alone. Then he bit his own arm and ripped it off, which was horrifying, mind you. After that, he offered it to Ocellus to eat, but we managed to convince him to keep it, thankfully it just attached itself once Krieg placed it back on his shoulder."

"And we just let Krieg teach Ocellus some stuff so he wouldn't just hurt himself." Spike finished for Gallus as the tiny dragon walked over to the table "What are these anyways?"

"Meat pies. You should give them a try Spike." Smolder took a pie from the top and tossed it over to Spike. "Apparently, Carrot Top started making them, and I guess it's all because of the cult's influence."

"Wait..." Spike eyed Smolder for a second, his tiny little brain connected all the dots. After all, Spike learned a lot of things from Krieg, and one of them was his taste for flesh. "Doesn't that mean... that these things are made of people?"

Smolder stared back at Spike, her face was neutral and her body was rigid. Then she frowned as she took one of the pies and bit a chunk of it. She stared at Spike as he and Gallus watched her with their eyes wide open. Smolder did not speak as she ate the pie. Only when she was done that two finally could hear her speak. 

"Whatever." She said nonchalantly as she swiped another pie.

"Yeah, I'm not eating this." Spike placed the pie back on the table.

"Ditto." Gallus went back to tinkering on the gun.

"Come on, it's good! If you ignore the thought of it being made from a person, then it practically tastes like normal meat!" Smolder tried to sway her friends over.

"Really Smolder?" Gallus shuddered, Smolder tempted him to take a bite out of the pie.

Gallus tried to keep the pie away, but Smolder had begun to fan her claws over the pie, and the sweet aroma slowly assaulted Gallus' senses.

"Come on, just one bite, and I promise that you'll definitely enjoy it."

"Fight it Gallus! Don't be tempted!" Spike tried to help the griffon.

"Fight it? What about you!?" Gallus raised a talon towards the tiny dragon, within Spikes claws was a half eaten pie.

"Me? No!" Spike wailed as he raised his arms towards the sky. Spike then collapsed onto his knees as he mimicked sobbing noises. "M-my purity! Gone! The soul of an innocent dragon is corrupted just like that!"

Then his emotion shifted.

"Eh, it isn't that bad. Just hope I don't get addicted I guess..." He said before continuing eating the pie. "You should try it Gallus, it isn't so bad once you get past the guilt."

"When did our morals sink so low?" Gallus said just as he crumbled under temptation.

Smolder smugly tossed a pie over to the griffin, and Gallus scarfed it down, his instincts had taken over just for a second. And then he felt shame once the pie was gone, but sadly, there were more on the table.

"See? It's the best!" Smolder held her head high, she felt proud of her victory over Gallus' and Spike's pride and morals.

"Is that pie?" Sandbar asked enthusiastically as he rushed over to the table. But was soon stopped by Smolder who held him by his tail.

"It's meat, so none for you herbivores."

"Aw, what? Dang, never thought you dudes would find meat in Ponyville."

Smolder shrugged her shoulders. "It's from Carrot Top."

"Wait... isn't she crazy like Krieg? Doesn't that mean..."

"Yes! They are what you think they are!" Smolder cuts Sandbar off, and the pony gasped upon learning the truth. "Yeah yeah, whatever, just go ask the others for something else to eat."

"Oh, alright." But just as Sandbar was about to walk away, he looked back to Smolder with a puzzled look. "Hey, what's up with lord Ember anyways? She's been... quiet."

Smolder sighed deeply, she knew she was going to regret her choice, but the others would find out sooner or later. "I... told her the truth about Krieg."

The three gasped.

"You monster!" The rifle finally spoke. "How could you hurt your own friend's feeling like that!?"

"Shut up! You're just trying to take advantage and make me feel guilty! But sorry, I won't listen to a word you say, you piece of junk."

"Smolder, why did you have to tell her?" Sandbar couldn't help but ask.

"She needed to know! Or else she'll get hurt someday, by Krieg or his enemies!" She explained herself.

Gallus shook his head. "Smolder, you should've accounted for Ember's feelings. I mean, look at her!" Gallus raised a claw towards the silent dragon, she stood just a few feet away from Krieg, and her eyes were focused on the beast himself.

"Gallus is right," Spike agreed with the griffin. "she looked like me when I lost a tasty sapphire down a storm drain in Canterlot."

Gallus coughed into his fist. "Not really the best example, but you get the idea Smolder. At least, you should've talked to us first, we would have thought of a way to break the ice, one where we wouldn't get her feelings hurt."

"You do realize that her feelings will get hurt either way right?" Smolder scoffed.

"Well-" Gallus' words were cut short as he was shoved to the side by Krieg.

"PIE!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Uh... pie?" Ocellus attempted to mimic the monster, but she couldn't just reach the same decimals as the Psycho, nope, she was too shy to be able to do so.

Krieg took two off the top and waved one towards the changeling. "Fuel the engines! Let the blood flow!"

"Uh... sure..." Ocellus reached for the pie and was about to take a bite, but Smolder's hand had cupped her mouth shut.

"You don't want to eat those." She warned Ocellus with eyes filled with dread.

"I'll pass, Krieg." Ocellus heeded Smolder's words.

"The lonely bat screams!" Krieg retracted his arm, he looked around the place and his eyes had landed on a certain blue dragon who stood a little too far from the others.

Ember froze as she met Krieg's eye, she became stiff as a statue as Krieg grew closer to her. Smolder's claims still lingered in Ember's mind. She spared a glance over to her close friend, Spike. There she saw a strange look on his face, something she had never seen before. She could tell that Smolder had already informed them about what she knew.

Just as she remembered to breathe, Krieg was already standing over her, an aura of hatred and terror circulated all around him.

Ember tried not to panic, but her palms were shaking. And when Krieg shifted just a little, her body had acted on its own and her hand shot up instinctively.

Krieg stared at her for a second, long enough for the pie he had offered to hit the ground. The Psycho then looked at the pie itself and the rest did the same. Spike became worried for Ember, so do the others. A few more seconds had passed, then the unthinkable happened, Krieg slammed the pie in his hand right on his own face.

"Dig deep into the grave!" He yelled out before he scooped up the pie on the ground, along with the dirt and grass, then he threw it at Spike.

His throw was so precise, that Krieg caught Spike with his mouth open.

"Ew!" Everyone exclaimed as they watched Spike clawing his tongue.

Krieg was the only one laughing at Spike's situation. The beast wrapped an arm around, he didn't notice her flinching from his touch. "Six feet in the mud! Bones and all!"

"Krieg, that was gross!" Spike said as he cleaned his mouth with a tasty pie, not caring if it was a person anymore.

"Vladof roulette, bloody winner!"

"What kind of game do people play where they toss dirt into each other's mouths!?" Spike inquired about Krieg's words.

Krieg looked over to the dragon in his arm. "Smell the gunpowder, and taste the lead!"

Ember couldn't handle it anymore, she harshly pushed him away. "Let go of me!"

The dragon lord took a few steps and distanced herself from the beast. She had noticed that all eyes were now on her, Ember fidgeted on the spot. Then she felt the giant loomed over her, Ember didn't even see him move. He raised a hand towards her and she backed away.

"The skag and it's brother!"

"W-what?" She never did understand him, now that she remembered, he barely talked straight or properly.

Spike rushed over to their side, just to translate for Krieg. "He's asking if you're alright. Because you seemed... jumpy." Spike knew exactly why, but he feigned ignorance as an attempt to be on even ground with Ember.

"Nothing, nothing is wrong Spike." Ember shook her head a little clearer. "I just need some time to think about something."

Her wings outstretched itself, and before Spike could protest, she took to the skies. Krieg stared at her as she flew away from them.

"Ember, wait!" Spike tried to chase after her, but a massive hand had wrapped itself around his leg as he hovered above the ground. His eyes went over to Krieg, the Psycho seemed to be entranced. "Krieg, let me go! She needs me more than ever!"

"Digesting the heart!" Krieg then released Spike and allowed him to land back on the ground.

"Give her time? But..."

"Bleed straight from the veins!" He argued back. "Broadcast in the sun!"

"Uh, what did he say?" Gallus asked the small dragon as he walked over to the two dragons.

"He said that she'll get over it, and also he wants me to eat the pies with him." Spike translated for Krieg.

"Great." Gallus could sighed deeply. "What now?"

"Eat! Eat! Eat!" Krieg had suggested to Gallus.

Smolder approached them, once she was close enough, all she could feel was guilt. She had a hand in this situation, probably broke Ember's heart in the process. "Do you even know what happened Krieg?"

"Nope! I want pie!"

Smolder could only sigh as the Psycho ran straight towards the rest of the pies. The worst thing of all, is that her friends might have some complaints about her decision. She could already feel Gallus' judgemental gaze. Hopefully this would all blow over and Ember would just forget Krieg and go back to their home to rule over the dragons like nothing had ever happened.
> Heads For The Meat Grinder
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tempest Shadow sighed, she had expected this once she had boarded the train. In the train station of the Crystal Empire, she and her friend were surrounded by soldiers with guns trained on the Psycho. But much to the confusion of the soldiers, the Psycho was actually asking for them to shoot his face.

"Listen, could you all just let us go? McShooty doesn't really bite." Tempest just wanted to move on and get to the address of the recruitment for Vault Hunters.

"Come on, blast me on the face! Unload your load all over the target that is my face!"

The soldiers looked at each other, disturbed about the Psycho, they were also discouraged with the way he spoke. Not a single one of them could pull the trigger. With only a bit of hesitation, they allowed them both to pass. But they kept their eyes on the Psycho who looked very dejected after being denied of his wish to be shot in the face.

Tempest was astonished, she had heard that the city was nearly razed to the ground, and yet everything looked as if nothing had happened. Sure there were still a few buildings being rebuilt, but the speed that the workers and some automatons were working was amazing. Earth ponies were great builders, but with the machines, they were even greater than before. The level of efficiency was higher than ever.

As she trotted along the streets, Tempest could feel the angry glares focused on her companion. She understands what they were feeling, had a few moments with some bandits herself. They were cruel and ruthless, dangerous and destructive. A group of lawless psychopaths. But from what Tempest had heard, there was one that really shook the city. From what she could tell, the bandits were led by a fearsome beast that devours all in its way.

The name alone would bring the citizens of the Crystal Empire to their knees, Krieg the Psycho.

Tempest understood that McShooty was a Psycho himself, but Krieg was far more than that. Krieg is the apex predator of his class, no one could stand against him. All that stood in his way was simply trampled like a fragile flower in a withering field of grass. The thought of facing this monster was discouraging, but being a Vault Hunter meant that she would someday battle against this monster.

She doesn't know what to expect, but all she could do now was enter the recruitment facility.

A regular building stood before her, unlike most buildings in the city, this one was made of wooden materials. It looked like it was rushed just for one purpose. There were a few soldiers on guard, and they eyed McShooty like a hawk.

"Ma'am," A soldier stopped her from entering the facility. "We'll have to ask you to keep this Psycho out."

"Very well." Tempest narrowed her eyes. "But if anything happens to him, then I'll rip your limbs off."

She turned to face the Psycho with the brightest smile she could muster, which was just horrifying for others.

"Hey Shooty! These kind gentlecolts had generously offered to shoot you in the face!"

This sent McShooty into a frenzied state. "YES! SHOOT ME IN THE FACE! DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!" He screamed out as he tackled the nearest soldier.

The others could only watch as the Psycho slammed the muzzle of the gun onto his own face as he motioned the weapon towards the downed soldier, daring him to take the shot.

"Now remember boys, anything happens to him, and I'll make you all my mares!" She warned them as she entered the building, leaving the guards with an insane pony that wished to be shot in the face.

Once inside, she saw a large gathering of creatures of different races. She could tell that the message had really attracted all kinds of people. Griffins, dragons, minotaurs, and even a few hippogriffs. It was interesting to see creatures of all shapes and sizes in one room, a lot of them dressed like your average mercenary. But her reason to be here was simply to make amends, unlike most of these creatures.

Tempest glanced around the room, she looked out for a spot to take a short rest while she waited for the recruitment to start. Her eyes landed on a bench that had only one pony that occupied it. She walked over to the bench and took a seat, her making sure not to make eye contact with the other occupant. She would rather not start a conversation with them and focus on getting the job.

"So why are you here?" Tempest cursed mentally, the pony besides her just started a conversation she was trying to avoid.

Not wanting to be rude, she turned to face whoever was beside her. An orange pony in a black hoodie jacket with a red and white streak going from his left foreleg to his right and a light chest plate that went over the white shirt under his jacket. Around his waist was a belt that had a small pouch and a few shotgun shells. But the most distinctive part was the mask, though his tail was blue showing that his mane was the same color, his whole head was hidden under a balaclava and on his face was a smooth white mask with two eye holes.

Tempest would have thought that he was some kind of bandit, or some teenager that wanted to be something. The way he dressed just made it look like that. Then her eyes landed on his cutie mark, a blue shield with a lighting symbol on it.

Compared to him, Tempest looked far more professional, with her black suit and armor. Her uniform from when she was a part of the Storm King's army, the only thing missing was the symbol that was supposed to be on her flank. It was replaced with a strange arc inside a ring, something her Psycho friend was very fond of. 

Tempest raised a brow. "Question is, are you actually old enough to be here? Don't get me wrong, but you don't look like a badass."

The pony shied away, he coughed into his "hoof" as he stared at the floor. "Yeah... I couldn't really bring my uniform and armor. That was the one thing we Crystal Soldiers had to give up if we wanted to enter the recruitment."

"So you haphazardly put on the first few things you saw in some store, and thought it would be perfect for the job?" She asked as she tried to be nicer. "And if what you're saying is correct, then that means there are other soldiers here."

"Yeah, but they are just here for a chance to take revenge on the bandit lord. But not me."

"You're not here with the same purpose?"

"Nope! Just wanted something in life. Back before the changes, we were all just regular guards. But at some point in my life, I realized that I barely had time since we were always busy with our daily routines." He chuckled lightly as he scratched the back of his head. "And I figured being a Vault Hunter would definitely bring me bits and freedom. Does that make me sound a little selfish?"

"Listen, you sound like a good stallion, but we'll be chasing after some bandits. Can you handle that?"

"I ain't proud of it, but I already had my fair share of blood. And it's one of the reasons why I want to be a Vault Hunter. To take on those stinking bandits, and maybe be something more than some random face in the crowd."

Tempest smirked. "Well, how can people see your face if you wear a mask, huh?"

He realised his mistake and quickly took off his white mask. Then he lifted his balaclava and revealed his face to the world. "Flash Sentry, that's my name! What's yours?" He raised a hoof towards her.

She eyed his face for a second, he was certainly attractive. But something about his looks was tempting her to hit him. It was probably just because she was hanging out with McShooty too much.

She held his hoof with hers and shook it with a smile on her face. "Tempest Shadow. And I'll be honest, dump the balaclava, it makes you look like a burglar. And that mask as well, it's too plain."

Flash tapped a hoof on his chin as he pondered about her suggestions. He looked around and noticed a griffin with the coolest looking gas mask. He looked like a total badass. Without saying a word, he walked over to the griffin and tapped his shoulder. The griffin turned to face Flash, and with one quick move, they were knocked out. Everyone in the room stared at Flash as he robbed the unconscious griffin of their mask.

Flash wore the mask without missing a beat. "What?"

Tempest could only put her hoof on her face as she tried and understand what she had just witnessed. "Flash... just come back."

"Hey, what do you think you're doing!?" A minotaur approached the pegasus, his hand on his a large mallet.

Flash shrugged his shoulders. "Just helping out everyone in the room by removing the competition, there is only three openings for the job after all."

The minotaur nearly scolded his ears off, but he paused just a second to reconsider. He tried to argue, but then he understood that this job is very rare. Only three could have it, a job that brings adventure to someone's life, and it also pays well. With the support of the Crystal Empire, only the weak would ever deny this calling.

But as he was busy thinking about Flash's words, he didn't notice the pegasus flying up to eye level with his gun. Before the minotaur knew, his eyes started seeing stars as he fell over, knocked out like the griffin.

"Hey Tempest!" Flash took the mallet from the minotaur and tossed it over to Tempest. "This job only has a few openings, so why don't we team up?"

By now, the whole room had already understood what he was planning. They eyed each other and prepared their fists, hooves, and claws. And before anyone could even say a word, the whole room had turned into chaos. The creatures who came to sign up were at each other's throats, beating at one another and the soldiers only spectated the brawl. None lifted a finger to stop any of them.

A group of diamond dogs tried to sneak on Tempest, but they received a mallet to the gut for trying, every one of them. She proved to all that she was not an easy prey, with just one short moment of pain. Tempest looked back at Flash and saw him bonking anyone he could find with the butt of his gun.

As much as she was mad that he had started this mess, she couldn't help but smile. This was honestly entertaining to Tempest, either that, or she started loving violence because of McShooty. She didn't actually care in all honesty, there were faces to bash in and a job to earn!




"And y'all tellin' me, that some mercenaries are just gathered in one room?" Applejack couldn't help but ask as she and Twilight, along with Starlight and Rainbow Dash, we're falling Shining Armor with his two right hooves, Wilhelm and Nisha.

The three were leading them to the building where they were holding the "auditions".

"What's the problem with that?" The silent cyborg inquired.

"Nothing, just seems like a bad idea to bring some violent bunch together in one place." Applejack shrugged her shoulders.

"Don't worry AJ, I'm sure the CS guys would keep them in line!" Dash reassured her friend.

Shining nodded in agreement. "Dash is right Applejack, my boys can handle a few mercenaries! We've proven to everyone how capable we are, so there's nothing to worry about!"

"Uh, boss?" Wilhelm called for Shining's attention. He raised a hoof towards a very odd picture.

Right in front of the building that they've recently built was a Psycho French kissing a gun. Shining looked around and saw the soldiers that were told to stand guard were standing by the windows. Something inside must have distracted them from their duties, and somehow allowed a Psycho near the building.

"A ten Hut!" Wilhelm's robotic voice had surprised the group of soldiers, and they scrambled to form a line as soon as they realised who was there with the cyborg. "Mind telling me why is there a damn Psycho eating the muzzle of a gun?"

"Sir! This one is with a pony that came to see the Vault Hunter project!" One soldier explained.

"Why is this bandit alive then?"

"Sir!" Another spoke. "She threatened us with castration for each, sir!"

"Pitiful! Where is this mare!?" The soldiers pointed their hooves towards the windows.

Shining and his group walked closer to the glass barrier and peered through the windows. There is chaos in one room. Creatures of different races were senselessly beating each other for some reason that the group did not know. And amongst the mess was a unicorn with a broken horn.

"Tempest Shadow!?" Twilight and her friends exclaimed as they discovered the unicorn here of all places.

"Tempest is here to be a Vault Hunter?" Shining could only ask as they watched Tempest suplex a griffin. "Ouch! That gotta hurt!"

Wilhelm held his chin with his robotic hand. "Hmm, I think I'm seeing the second Vault Hunter right here!"

Nisha smirked. "Yeah, look at her ferocity! She's like an animal, and that's what we're lookin' for!"

Shining had enough of this senseless violence, he quickly stormed in to call it off. "Alright, alright! Shows over everyone!"

The whole room froze like a picture, and in the middle of it was Flash Sentry choking another pony with an electric guitar. He smiled sheepishly as he released the pony from his hold. Though his face was hidden by his new gas mask, Twilight and Shining knew who this pony was.

"Flash?" Twilight gasped.

"Who started this!?" Shining demanded an answer.

And all limbs pointed towards the pegasus. "Yeah..."

"Flash," Shining scowled. "why are you here?"

"Why else would he be here, boss?" Nisha approached the two as the others stayed and watched. "He's here to sign up! Now why exactly did you start this fight?"

Flash smiled proudly. "Competition, ma'am, I'm more likely to get the job if most of us are taken care of."

"Dudes right," Dash smirked. "there's only three slots and he's thinking ahead!"

"Hush Dash, it's like if you broke everyone's wings in a Wonderbolt tryouts." Applejack scoffed.

"Yeah, but it's a good plan." Wilhelm commented.

As they were talking about the current situation, Twilight couldn't help feel a little awkward. She had some experience with a different Flash Sentry, and she couldn't help but notice that he was wearing the same jacket. The only difference was the accessories, and that was the mask.

"You okay Twilight?" Starlight couldn't help but notice the alicorn's state. "Is this about Flash?"

"No, no. It's just kinda weird, you know?"

"Yeah, but he's not exactly the one you've met." Starlight reassured her.

"Yes, you're right, still..."

Back with the main topic, both Wilhelm and Nisha were conversing with each other as Shining was scolding Flash for unprofessional behavior that was unbecoming of a Crystal Soldier.

The other creatures could only watch as Shining was tearing him a new ear. "And what exactly do you bring to the table!? From what I've heard, you had lost your Loader bots in seconds!"

"Sir, there was a Goliath that went wild. With all due respect, sir, even our elites would be unable to handle a Goliath, much less a GOD-liath." Flash stood up against his superior, and stared him down.

"Ease up on the guy, Shining." Jack suddenly popped into the conversation. "I mean, look at him! Being so tough with all these guys watchin'. And trust me, I saw him take down two minotaurs!"

Shining sighed deeply and lifted up his Echo to his ear. "Shining here, what do you need, Jack?"

If the room was loud, then everything would have been silenced right now. If you hear the name Jack from anyone else, then you would think nothing of it. But when Shining, the prince of the Crystal Empire says it, then even a child who holds no interest in the world would be curious. The name was mysterious, no one knew who or what Jack had looked like.

The only thing anyone knows, is that he was the brains. Shining's strategist and partner. He was the pony behind Hyperion, the place that manufactured the Loader Bots. And the weapons and armors that were given to the army. And last of all, the one who brought two fearsome warriors, Nisha and Wilhelm.

That's why everyone was interested in who this Jack really was.

Everyone dared not to speak as Jack conversed with Shining. "Shiny, listen, I have been watching this guy from the very start!"

"Wait, you've been spying on everyone here!?" This caused everyone to gasp as their eyes widened, shocked to hear that Jack himself had seen the fight.

"Yes, and there were a lot of promising candidates!" Jack said as he hovered next to Flash.

And Shining knew what he was trying to say. "Jack, no."

"Shining, he's tough, quick, and clever! Just what we need for the team. And that's my final decision, Shining, give him the job so we can look for that artifact."

Shining groaned loudly. "Anything else?"

Though he never needed to, Jack went close to his ear just to whisper. The group of creatures waited, so did Shining's companions. Seconds later, he pulled the Echo away and sighed.

"Would Tempest Shadow please step forward." He called for the unicorn.

Tempest did not hesitate, she walked up and presented herself with pride. "I'm here your highness. Is there a problem?" She really hoped there wasn't, or else she would break Flash's back right there and now.

"There is no problem." Shining straightened himself as he eyed both Flash and Tempest. "Flash Sentry, and Tempest Shadow! Congratulations, you both are now official Vault Hunters!"

"Really!?" Flash was ecstatic.

And as for Tempest, she was passive. "Thank you sir, I'm looking forward to working with you and Flash."

Now that Shining was done with that, he turned to address the rest of the candidates. This was one thing that Shining didn't want to do, but Jack had strict orders, so...

"As you can see, two Vault Hunters were hired right in front of you all! That means there is only one slot left." Shining quickly ushered his Vault Hunters towards the door with his sister and the others. Wilhelm understood what Shining or Jack was planning. "And he had liked Flash's idea, so you may all continue! And no killing!" He said as he pushed everyone out.

The creatures stared at the doors, then at each other. None of them felt like doing it all again. The tension had become awkward, especially now that someone as big as Jack is currently spying on them from a remote location.

But as they were all standing around doing nothing, a single yellow mare with an orange mane had taken a step forward, with a woodcutter axe that was stained with dried blood. Around her forelegs were covered with tattered cloth and around her waist was a belt with a very intimidating combat knife that was pretty big, big enough to gut a Goliath. And on the back of the belt was a butcher's cleaver that definitely had seen some action. The most frightening part of the mare was her cutie mark, three ordinary carrots that were side by side. 

She hefted the axe over her shoulders and stretched her back until a pop was heard. She faced the rest with a violent look and a twisted smile. "He said no killing..." She hissed. "But nothing about maiming!"

And Jack was surprised to say the least, he watched the mare as she bashed anyone close enough with the back of her axe and slammed her hoof at anyone who was lucky.

Jack was honestly impressed with her skills, and how quick she was with her enemies. Unlike Tempest and Flash, she was deadly and violent, some might say she's as feral as a Psycho. And as he witnessed her snapping someone's arm like wafer sticks, he knew right then that she was perfect. Jack was quick to leave the building to get Shining back.

This was honestly a success, and Jack wouldn't like it any other way.