Night Patrol 2: Awakening

by Foxgear


Reunion 240 years later (Bonus Chapter)

Night Patrol 2 Final Chapter

By Foxgear


A young man sat on the curb outside the Canterlot Magic Academy. He was lanky, barely of age, with ashen skin and blue hair. He was Templar Apple. That’s who he believed himself to be and who the state said he was.

Growing up, it was no secret he was adopted. He didn’t know how others dealt with that, but he accepted it. Even when he met his birth parents, he clung to Mac and Adagio Apple, his foster father and mother.

It was only a brief encounter at age eleven when he met Sixes and Luna. The entire time he was afraid they were going to take him away from his family. Much to his relief, they didn’t. Instead, they told him they loved him and wanted him to be happy.

His birth father, Sixes, left a compass that would lead him to them should he ever want to see his birth parents again.

His dad kept the magic tool in the gun safe so it wouldn’t get lost and finally gave it to him on his twentieth birthday. Which was last week.

The coming-of-age requirement was legally age eighteen, but Mac wanted his son to experience life a bit before gifting Templar his birthright. Or maybe Mac gave him the compass two years late because he didn’t think he was ready. Whatever the reason, it was a bizarre gift after failing his college entrance exams for the second time.

Templar buried his head in his arms, clutching the compass tight. He wanted to join the Magic Police force. Templar had the power. In fact, Chief of Police Pinkamena Pie told him he was probably too strong. His lack of restraint leading to injuries in the exam.

Combined with his low academics, he didn’t qualify to be an officer. Even a beat cop was out of his grasp.

He didn’t think it was fair, considering how wild west the world has been since Magic became public knowledge and then publicly widespread after the spread of Magical Girl Syndrome. It affected boys and girls equally, though girls developed Magic earlier. Reasons were still being researched.

Back to his point, Chief Pie hadn’t needed to pass an exam to get where she was. Granted, she’s worked many years in the force to gain her position.

The fact his oldest brother, Andante, was on the force only salted his wounds.

In this low point of his young life, his mind wandered to his birth parents, two legends of the monster-slaying gig. Mac was famous too, but even he praised his birth parents, stating they wrote the book on the subject, and Sixes had been the one to teach him. As well as many others.

Making up his mind, in the only way a young man could, Templar stood up and approached the long-dormant portal outside the Canterlot Magic Academy (Formerly Canterlot High). There was one in his mom and dad’s house, but he was already here. Before he took the dive, he sent his mom a text, like a good son.

Holding the compass up to the old horse statue, the portal opened, and he stepped in.


Templar popped out the other side, falling to his… hooves? Right, this world was inhabited by ponies. That slipped his mind. Still, he wasn’t uncomfortable with his new form. In fact, it felt more natural to him. Probably because this was how he was supposed to be.

Excitedly he wheeled around to look at his reflection, finding an ashen pony-like thing with wild blue hair, draconic wings, and scales? There was also a horn on his head.

“Right, dad was half-dragon or something?” He mused, tapping his horn with his hoof, only for his foot to morph into a claw! “Huh, that’s convenient.”

Satisfied with his appearance, Templar looked around at his surroundings and… found he was in some sort of ruins.

Somehow the mirror portal remained intact, but the room it was placed in wasn’t. There wasn’t even a ceiling anymore!

“I wonder where I am, and if there are any people… I mean ponies, I guess….” After giving his wings a little test wiggle, Templar slowly flapped them, gaining lift, and then slowly rose into the sky. The view was breathtaking.

The ruins were that of a large castle. Not just that, but there was a castle town! The whole place was overgrown with vegetation. Wildflowers grew in the old hallways, and vines climbed the walls. This must have been quite the place when it was still inhabited.

Reaching for his pocket, Templar was surprised to discover he wasn’t wearing any clothes besides a small saddle bag strapped to his back. Feeling inside the bag, he fished the one item it contained.

The compass.

Like with all magic items, the compass needed a little jolt to activate. Templar never used it before, so when it projected not one, not two, but seven arrows pointing in every direction. Templar wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“There’s not an instruction manual, somewhere, is there?” He asked the sky, looking for any sort of directions on the magic tool. There were none. “Hmm… what should I do….”

Two of the arrows began to move, growing larger in size. One of the two inverted, the arrow now pointing towards the center of the compass.

In other words, him.

Templar wheeled around awkwardly, unused to his new body and unaccustomed to flying. He barely ducked a punch for his head, flailing like a fish out of water or a bird learning to fly. A black and green pony zoomed by, and their eyes met, and the two experienced a sense of familiarity?

“Scathach! That’s enough!” Another pony shouted with a thick, barely understandable accent.

“But mom!”

“Don’t ya but mum me! I say stop, ye stop!” A much older version of the creature that just attacked him approached. Her hair was orange, her mane tied in a braid that fell down her back and reached her knees. The tone of her coat and scales was the same as Templars, and it matched the description he was given of his father’s sister. Or, in other words, his aunt.

Essex.

“Alright, let’s take a look at ye,” Essex gently but firmly grabbed Templar by the cheeks. The young stallion was a bit unnerved by the razor-sharp claws poking his flesh, so he struggled to relax. Essex suddenly nodded, satisfied with her assessment. “Hmm-hmm, yeah, your one of theirs, alright. The lost little colt of my brother.”

“So, this is me, cousin, the one Aunt Luna’s always moping about?”

Essex nodded as her daughter floated beside her, leaning close to get a good look at Templar. “Forgive my rude daughter. Her father wasn’t around to spank her for me.”

“You spanked me plenty!”

“No, I pulled on your ear, you rude brat! Nearly three hundred years old, and you’re still a brat!”

“Ouch! I’m only 240! And if I’m still a brat, then it’s your fault! You raised me! Ow, Awolowo! Stop pulling my ear!”

“Tch,” Essex scoffed, releasing her daughter. “How are you the oldest child of our clan, yet still the most immature? Your cousins are much more grown-up.”

It was here, Templar jumped back into the conversation or finally joined it, “Cousins… do you have other brothers and sisters beside dad? Or…”

“They’re your little brothers and sister, three of them,” Essex explained flatly. “This brat can help you find them. She’s got nothing better to do, anyway. Have fun!”

Essex floated down to the castle with a haggard sigh and entered one of the rooms. Most likely to sleep. Leaving the two newly introduced cousins floating awkwardly in the sky.

“Well,” Scathach huffed. “Uncle gave you a compass, right? Show it to me.”

Templar passed the magic tool to his cousin, who filled it with her own Magic. This produced the same arrows but with a very detailed map projection of what seemed like the entire world.

“Don’t look so surprised. This compass creates a map based on what information you have; you haven’t explored, so there was no map to make.”

“This feels like cheating in an open-world game.”

Scathach cocked her head sideways, “The hell are you on about? Anyway, we’ll go pick up Lena first. She’s the closest.”

Templar followed Scathach’s lead, struggling to keep up with her for the first day until she stopped to teach him how to fly. From there, they traveled south, over the Macintosh hills, bypassing New Dodge city, over the swamps of Neigh Horseleans, and stayed the night in Ocataca.

Ocataca was a surprisingly large town, nearly a city. He and Scathach stayed in a hotel for free. The owner apparently knowing Scathach, though she seemed embarrassed for some reason.

“He seemed nice,” Templar said as he settled on an actual bed. Maybe it was speciest, but he assumed it would be a pile of hay. “Do you know him?”

“No,” Scathach said firmly. “It’s because of Uncle Sixes and Aunt Luna. There was some evil beast they defeated a generation ago, so the town gives the whole family free room and board whenever we pass through.”

“And you don’t like it?”

“I don’t like riding on their coattails.” Scathach clarified. “I can earn my own keep, but it’s rude to refuse kindness. I’ll see if there’s anything they need help with in the morning. Once we do that, we’ll go visit Lena. Last I heard, she was still in Prancing Plains. Like thirty years ago. That arrow hasn’t moved, right?”

“No.”

“Then she’s probably still there.”

“Right,” Templar wasn’t sure what more to say. It was hard to wrap his head around that he had not just one but three siblings. On the other hand, or hoof in this world, he was lucky it was only three if Scathach’s age was any indication. “So, my little sister, Lena….”

“Oh, right, Lena’s a nickname. Her full name is Celena Stria Evernight. She would be… the middle child… if I remember right.”

“What’s she like?”

“It’s better to just wait until you meet her. She’s unique….” Scathach left it at that and went to sleep. Or at least pretended to.

With no answers forthcoming, Templar did the same. As sleep weighed heavily on his eyes, he wondered if Mac and Adagio were worried, he left a message, but he did this on kind of an impulse.

Then again, he was twenty, so he was supposed to be out of the house anyway. Either way, he’d apologize when he got home.


The next day, after Scathach talked to the town ponies, they took a side quest. That’s how he viewed it, to slay some wild beasts in the area. These beasts, were some sort of bear boar? They were tree toppling monsters that had the body of a bear, the hindlegs of a boar, and massive tusks next to their jaw of bone-crushing teeth.

There were ten of them. Bearboars breed like hogs too. So, they were considered a pest at best and an infestation at worse.

Since he just got to this world, Scathach told him to sit out the hunt and watch. Templar had reservations about letting girls do all the fighting, but what he witnessed wasn’t a fight, It was a slaughter!

Scathach ripped through the Bearboars’ thick hides with ease and then burned their bodies to not attract other predators.

That task done, they continued into Prancing Plains. Before, Scathach hadn’t spoken much when they traveled, but she suddenly started talking. Explaining the history of landmarks and other stories.

Pretty much all the stories feature his parents and what they’ve been doing the last 240 years. His parents have been on what they call the Last Patrol. They travel specific routes around the world every year and deal with any monsters or evil uprisings.

Occasionally, they take a break. These times coordinate with the birth of his siblings. Scathach explained that his folks were good about raising their kids. They spent thirty years raising them and making sure they were ready for adulthood before resuming their patrol. That was for each child.

Another day’s flight, and they were in the middle of the Prancing Plains. Where a ranch house and farm rested in the middle of the grassland. His little sister’s homestead.

“Is Lena married?” Templar asked as they touched down. Scathach about froze at the words.

“She better not be! She’s only… 200… I mean, I’m not even married yet!” Scathach chuckled in that particular way that Templar decided not to push the issue.

Templar was about to knock at the door when a massive explosion went off way in the distance! Both he and Scathach flew over the house to see the mushroom cloud. Scathach only sighed, mumbling under her breath as she flew towards the cloud. They found a midnight blue Alirin filly with blonde hair passed out in the grass about halfway there.

“This is Celena… her hobby is developing explosion magic,” Scathach explained, picking the filly up. “Come on, let’s take her home.”

Gathering his sister and her oversized witch hat, Templar carried Celena back to the house. Essex quickly made herself at home, rifling through the kitchen for coffee grounds and snacks. When the coffee was nice and hot and the cake divided into three plates, Celena woke up with a start.

“Don’t use my good coffee if you don’t know how to brew it properly!”

“Then hide it better!”

“I don’t need to hide things in my own house!”

While the girls bickered, Templar took in his little sister’s home. For being the daughter of royalty, she lived very humbly. The ranch house looked like a ranch house out inside and out. The main floor consists of the kitchen on the south end, the living room in the center, two doors leading to two other rooms, and some stairs on the north end.

“Anyway, who’s this guy! You finally get a boyfriend, Scathach?”

Scathach, predictably, spit out her coffee, or maybe that was on purpose, given Celena’s look of horror at the waste of her precious drink.

“Fuck, no! He’s your lost brother! Templar!”

Celena blinked, cocking her head sideways like a bird. “Huh, I guess I do see some resemblance. Nice to meet you, Templar!” She politely shook his claw but otherwise seemed bored. She sipped her coffee, stealing glances at him between bites of her cake.

“If you got something to say, just say it,” Scathach said to Celena.

“No, I’ve got nothing to say to Big Brother…. Actually, I do. How old are you? You seem too young! You don’t have that older brother aura like Crux does.”

“Crux?”

“He’s the oldest, not counting you,” Scathach explained. “His full name is Crucifix Sevens Evernight.”

“Dad got to name him. He’s the first child he ever got to name himself. Mom said she wanted something more traditional, but then she named me Celena. Which is fine, better than Moonlit Shine. So glad Auntie talked her out of that.”

“Right,” Templar nodded, processing the info dump. “Back home, I just turned twenty to answer your question.”

Celena burst out laughing!

“Twenty! You’re practically a baby! Styx is older than that, and he’s the youngest!”

Once more, Scathach elaborated, “Styx is the youngest child and son. He’s 180 years old. They are all about twenty years apart.”

“I get it,” Templar grumbled, enduring his ‘little’ sister’s laughter. “I don’t get what’s so funny. Cross out a zero, and you’re the same age as me. Hell, you act like a damn teenager, so probably younger.”

Celena coughed to stop her laughter and sat up straight to perhaps appear more grown-up. “Alright, ‘big’ brother. Do you have your own home? Have you moved out of your parents’ house? Do you have your own income? Well? Please regale me with your exciting independent life. In fact, are you married yet? Do you even have a mate?”

Templar, a bit cowed, mumbled out a depressed, no. To all the above. To her credit, Celena didn’t laugh, but she did look smug.

“Alright, enough teasing, time moves slower in the other world, so it can’t be helped. But let’s get down to brass taxes. Why are you here? Before you answer, why are you here now? You didn’t want to go with Mom and Dad when they came to get you, so why bother at all?”

Templar recounted the current events in his life and what drove him to cross the boundaries between worlds. He didn’t know how his sister would react to such selfish motivations, but she didn’t reveal much.

“Well,” Celena began taking a long sip of her coffee to build drama. “Whatever the motive, I know Mom and Dad would be happy to see you for any reason. It’s been a while since I saw them myself, so I’ll go with you. I was about to go on an adventure anyway. I just need to call Drei to house sit, or maybe Twinkle Star? I guess it doesn’t matter. Calling one calls the other two either way.”

This time Templar turned to Scathach, who sighed.

“What am I? The fucking exposition pony?”

“You have been explaining everything without asking…so….” Templar trailed off.

“Fine! Drei and Twinkle Star are the oldest of two sets of triplets of a family friend. Their dad is Trifecta, he married two mares, and they both had triplets. His wife Wiess gave birth to Drei, Eins, and Zwei, all boys. His other wife, Twilight, gave birth to three girls, Asteria Star, Stella Sparkle, and Athena Centauri.”

“Scathach loves Drei but can’t tell him apart from his brothers and confessed to Zwei instead,” Celena explained with a smirk.

“Shut up! I don’t want to remember that!”

“It’s been forty years! Just go talk to him! You can stay here, pose yourself on the couch and sexily seduce him, and finally, get a coltfriend! And I take over showing my brother around.” Celena suddenly frowned. “Wait, Dad gave you a compass to find him and mom. Why did you come here?”

“The compass points to everybody…err pony with their blood.” Templar showed the compass and projected the map created from Scathach’s memories. Celena took the magic tool, the map expanding further and becoming more detailed.

“Hmm, Crux and Styx aren’t where they were twenty years ago. They must have moved… and… huh… two pairs. They must be visiting. Yeah, so it’s a fifty-fifty chance we run into mom and dad or Crux and Styx.”

“Two of the arrows are in Nippon. That’s probably Aunt Luna and Uncle Sixes visiting Kiri and Kaki.” Scathach suggested.

“Or it’s Crux and Styx hitting on some Nippon fillies. I guess it will be what it will be. I’ll pack a saddlebag; it won’t take more than two hours.”

“Two hours? What are you packing?”

“How long does it take for females to pack in your world?”

“Two hours is fine,” Templar said, shutting his mouth.


The sons of Sixes and Luna were enjoying some leisure time in the Nippon Capital city of Shiroyama, in the heart of the red-light district. The establishment they patron was of the higher class. Where only the most beautiful and skilled Mares serviced the high rolling customers.

Crux, full name Crucifix, sat flush with rice wine, with two rinin mares adorned in stunning garments. One a pure snow in a red Chi Wa style dress, the short skirt barely hiding what was usually on display. The fair filly would flick her tail, tantalizing him with bare peeks at what lay beneath.

The other mare was a pink beauty, in a more traditional kimono dress, with the top wide open, the rest of her body concealed by the attires many layers.

“Lord Crux, please have another drink!” The white mare, Shira, encouraged.

“Another round of dice, milord?” The pink mare, Pinku, offered, shaking a pair of die in her claw.

“Ya, know it!”

Across the room, Crux’s younger brother and the youngest child of the legendary couple, Styx, sat with only one red rinin filly. Both the young stallion and his escort were the youngest of the group. The fact his late-night ‘friend’ looked barely out of school bothered him immensely. As such, Styx only allowed her to pour drinks.

“Hey, youngling, don’t look so glum! Akakiko may look eighteen, but she’s in her thirties, so feel free to get a little grabby! But not too much!” Pinku encouraged with a laugh.

“Please forgive my lack of experience. I just finished my tutoring.” Akakiko bowed, refilling his cup once more.

Styx smiled as he sipped, “This is fine. Dad always says drinks taste better when poured by a beautiful mare, and even more so by one you love.”

It took a moment for Styx to realize what he said and became as flush as Crux, and Akakiko hid behind her fan.

“Oh, Lord Styx, I am unworthy of such praise. Please save that for a mare you actually love. But I am grateful.”

“I… ugh… I mean… please refill.” He stuttered, thrusting his empty cup out. This prompted a giggle from all the Courtesans, much to his embarrassment.

“Hey, hey, if you pay off Akakiko’s debt, you can take her if you really want her,” Shira said. Styx didn’t know if that was a serious offer or not. But very rarely did mares end up as courtesans by choice. Their services varied by their contracts.

For example, even though his brother Crux was a little grabby and flirtatious, he wasn’t allowed to bed any of the girls here. Neither was he, not without paying a lot more money. Even then, that only applied to mares offering that service.

It was a confusing system that was strictly enforced. Breaking it meant dealing with lord Kiri, and that was a threat not even their parents could save them from. Because their parents would be in line to kick their asses if they ever indulged in such services.

Which might lead one to wonder why they were even here. Well, besides helping the girls pay off their debt contracts, it was a fun time. And a recent treasure hunt left both brothers flush with more gold than they cared to carry.

“Jokes aside, Milord,” Akakiko said, her voice dropping to a husky whisper. “If you desire, we could get a private room.”

Styx pretended to consider the offer before dropping three gold coins as a tip. “Better than last time, but not quite there yet. You still sound like a teenager to me.”

Akakiko sighed but pocketed the three coins. “I’ve yet to master seduction like Pinku and Shira, but I will get there!” She said peppily. Which was a weird thing to be excited about, but Styx wasn’t here to pass judgment.

“Perhaps Milord would like to partake in a game instead?” Akakiko offered, switching gears. “Or maybe some music?”

“Music would be great,” Styx smiled, dropping another coin.

The youngest of Luna and Sixes’ children was about to relax to the gentle tones of Akakiko’s Shamisen playing. When a polite knocked rapped their door. One of the waitresses opened the door and bowed to the group.

“My deepest apologies, honored guests, but… your sister is calling for you outside.”

“Celena? What does she want?” Crux seemingly sobered up, a bit of concern in his tone as he gently shook off his two mares of the night. It wasn’t often all the siblings got together anymore, but it was even rarer for his little sister to come to them.

Something must be up.

Both brothers put on deadly expressions as they left the Golden Needle. Outside they found their sister, impatiently tapping her hoof, beside… a colt.

Instead of asking any questions, Crux attacked the pony he thought to be his sister’s colt friend. You know… it’s what big brothers do.


“Is that them?” Templar asked as two stallions stepped out from the… whore house? Was that what this place was? Celena called it that, but the sign said Golden Needle Courtesan Palace.

Templar scanned the crowd for his little brothers, wondering and erasing what ponies would do in such a place. Spotting them quickly, thanks to Celena’s description.

Both of his little brothers were taller than the average pony. The taller of the two was broader and bulkier, with ashen scales and a white underbelly. His wings were black and draconic. Two white bicorn horns protruded from his head and a wild orange mane, with a whiplike dragon tail and orange and teal eyes.

This was his little brother, the second son, Crucifix, Crux for short. The oldest, not counting himself.

Next to Crux was the youngest child, Styx. He was much lankier than Crux. Sporting black bicorn horns that stuck out against his white coat, white-feathered phoenix wings, and fiery blue hair. His eyes were yellow.

Celena explained on the weeklong trip that Styx looked a lot like their dead aunt Celestia. Or so their mother said. He just took her word on that. He wouldn’t know either way.

“Yeah, that’s… look out!”

Celena suddenly pushed him, which saved him from getting his skull caved in by Crux, who didn’t look happy to see him. Which didn’t make sense because they’ve never met. And then Templar put two and two together and got four.

He was a stranger standing next to Crux’s little sister. Templar figured he’d do the same if their roles were reversed. Nonetheless, he wasn’t about to get his ass kicked by his little brother. He stood tall, crouching in a battle stance, and instantly realized Crux was a good head taller than him.

“Shit!”

“Shit’s right, you fucking turd!” Crux roared, stomping his claw on the cobblestone road. Stones flew everywhere, Crux’s barrel glowing as he gathered fire in his belly.

“Crucifix!” Celena screamed, getting between them. “It’s not what you think! This is Templar! Our big brother!”

Crux paused, seemingly processing his little sister’s words, “That just makes me what to kill him more. This little runt is our big brother? Fuck that! He’ll have to prove it first!”

His chest began to glow intensely, fire billowing between his clenched teeth when thunder roared overhead!

The crowd of gathered ponies scattered, those that remained dropped to their bellies, for their Lord had descended.

“Lord Kiri!” A pony cried as the Emperor of Nippon himself stepped out of a cascading bolt of white lightning.

Kiri was now taller than Kira and almost as powerful. A cloth bearing his clans’ symbol was tied over his eyes, his sight long gone, but it did little to handicap him. The Rinin Lord drew one of his fabled katanas sniffing the air.

“Ah… you three… no four? Did Luna and Sixes have another child recently?”

“No, Lord Kiri, this is our lost ‘big brother,’” Styx explained, bowing respectfully to the New God of Nippon. “Crux was establishing the pecking order, you could say.”

“I see, a sibling squabble, how refreshing. Reminds me of the times I clashed with my sisters, but we were immature then. You are all old enough to know better. Old enough at least to know not to cause chaos in my streets!” Thunder rumbled with Kiri’s voice. “Even if your children of my dear friends, I will not tolerate such boorish behavior! If you’re going to fight, you fight in the arena! Or you can fight me!”

Celena grabbed Templar and forced him into a bow. This confused Templar because Kiri was blind, but even Crux and Styx were bowing. So, he decided to do as Romans and follow suit.

That said, Templar didn’t expect to be moved to a colosseum and pitted against his little brother in a blood sport to a cheering crowd.

Above, Kiri laid out the rules of the match. Celena and Styx sat with Kiri and his family. “This will be a single bout with no time limit, but death will not be permitted. I will not allow my beloved friends’ children to kill each other, and I will intervene if necessary. The prize of this match will be the title of who is the true eldest of the Evernight children.”

“You know this makes you look childish by doing this, right?” Templar said as he and Crux squared off.

Crux merely snorted, “In this world, it is the eldest’s duty to protect his siblings and to do that, strength is needed! Prove you have it, and I will have no issue with you, ‘Big’ brother.”

With no choice, Templar reared back, his spine making an audible ‘pop’ as it realigned to an upright position. Another trick Celena taught him on the trip here. Now upright, Templar felt he was on some level ground since he’s lived his entire life as an upright creature.

Of course, he shouldn’t be surprised when Crux did the same thing. Once again, standing taller than him, but he still had the advantage on two legs, right?

Kiri gave the signal to start, “Begin!”

With all the speed and power of a professional sprinter, Crux raced across the arena, grabbed Templar in a hold, and slammed him into the floor. Suddenly twenty years of being human didn’t seem to equate to a two hundred- and twenty-year-old dragon pony demigod.

Templar grabbed Crux by the foreleg and threw his little brother to the floor, not ready to give up while getting to his feet. Inhaling deeply, he used another trick Celena taught him, fire breath.

Searing orange flames scattered across the arena floor, Crux not even letting out a grunt of pain as he rose from the fire. With a flash of his horns, a vast volume of water was dumped from the sky.

“You know magic?” Templar said, startled.

“Why the hell wouldn’t I?” Crux inhaled his barrel ballooning to comedic levels, but what wasn’t funny was the lava he spat from his mouth!

Templar hopped around the field, avoiding the molten liquid best he could, before dashing for Crux and delivering an air-shattering blow. Chief Pie said he was too strong for the Magic Police force, so he didn’t hold back.

He expected Crux to let out a shout, but his larger little brother, merely stepped back to inspect the damage, which was some scuff on his scales. Meanwhile, Templar was doing all he could to keep from screaming because his fingers/claws were a twisted mess of broken bones!

It was a stark contrast of the power level between worlds. Templar realized he had been a fish in a pond, and now he was in the ocean with sharks.

Still, he wasn’t about to just cry and give up! Against any doctor recommendations, Templar crudely smashed his fingers back into a workable fist and used his good hand to taunt his little brother.

Crux’s response was a smirk followed by an earth-shattering punch from which Templar was sure he blacked out. Digging himself out of the crater Crux smashed him into, Templar heard the referee stop at the count of eight as he rose to his feet again.

“Is that… all… you… got?” He said to Crux, swaying wildly. His left eye was swollen shut, and his jaw hurt like hell, but he refused to yield. It’s what his dad taught him, though his mother would probably call him stupid and tell him to run.

Templar was kind of a daddy’s boy, so he charged, landing another solid blow against Crux, then ducked the counter punch and struck again. Templar got into a rhythm, fell into the stance his dad taught him, and landed blow after blow on Crux. Even as his claws bled and ached with mind-numbing pain, he pressed on, drawing blood from Crux.

From outside the arena, Celena screamed, “Crux!”

Crux, parrying Templar’s blows, waved dismissively at his sister. “Yeah, yeah, don’t worry.”

Gold veins appeared across Crux’s body as he delivered the finishing blow to Templar. Whether he liked it or not, Templar was knocked out cold by his little brother.

Crux stood over him, panting lightly but disappointed that he resorted to that power. Though he didn’t intend to do anymore, Kiri appeared in the arena, bringing an end to the fight.

“So, what do you think?” Celena asked as she and Styx landed in the arena. “He’s better than you thought.”

“He made you go gold. That’s impressive enough, even if it was for only a second.”

“He’s not bad,” Was Crux’s response. “We can talk after the medics are done with him.”


Templar awoke in a lot less pain than expected. Rising from his hospital bed, he was surprised to see all his siblings, his blood-related ones, in the room with him.

“How’s it going, big brother?” Crux chuckled, ruffling his mane, he didn’t hear any sarcasm in his little brother’s tone, but he sure didn’t feel like a big brother. Not yet.

“I’m fine,” He brushed Crux’s claw away. “I don’t remember winning, so if you’re just teasing me, you can stop it.”

Crux laughed, “Yeah, I clocked you good, but you were right. It was childish of me to challenge you. I mean, even on a basic level, it was unfair. You just got here, and you were born when Mom and Dad could still be considered mortals. But you have willpower, and dad always said that’s what you need most in a fight.”

“Crux is right,” Styx said, approaching the side of the bed. “It was immature of him to challenge you like that. I hope you can understand you just showing up out of the blue… is surprising and kind of insulting. It’s been over two hundred years… for us. How old are you?”

“I’m twenty….”

His two little brothers both frowned, making the same face he did when he had to do math. It quickly became a comedy routine when they got pen and paper.

An hour passed.

“It would be this ratio, right?”

“No, it would be more like a one to two? Right?”

“Bullshit! Check your math, bro!”

“Do you know when the last time I did math was? Like serious math?”

“Yeah, I do. It was when we built Celena’s house, and you got the measurements wrong! That’s why the south wall is a foot longer! How do you mess up a rectangle!”

“That house is square as can be. You’re the one that couldn’t cut the stairs right, Crux!”

“Says the pony that begged me for help!”

“Yeah, because I needed to recut everything!”

Celena ignored her brothers’ bickering at Templar’s bedside, choosing to tend to Templar’s wounds. The Nippon Medics were top-notch, most of the damage was already eighty percent healed, but she used her Magic to finish up that last twenty percent.

“They get like that, give it another hour, and they’ll both be laughing at the whore house again.”

“It’s not a whore house if you can’t sleep with the mares!” Crux quietly added, “At least not all of them.”

“But you can still sleep with them if you want!”

“But we don’t, so stop getting so hung up about it!”

“Well, you’re not the one getting letters from Mom and Dad asking if you’re married yet!”

Crux rolled his eyes, “Oh, don’t get on that! They bring it up every time I visit!”

Now Styx stood beside Templar’s bed with a deck of cards, “What’s your game, bro? Because they’ll be at this for a bit. Family reunions and all that.”

“Do you know Golf?”

“No, but I’m up for learning.”

Another hour later.

“And why the hell is he here anyway!”

“He wants to see Mom and dad!” Celena screamed as her and Crux’s ‘discussion’ ended abruptly. She took a deep breath and showed the compass, projecting the map of the world. “Because you and Styx were hanging out, we couldn’t figure out where they were. We thought they were visiting Kiri. I guess they’re here… wherever that is….”

The last two arrows, Luna and Sixes, were in a massive black spot. Crux took the compass filling out the rest of the map.

“Well, you would have needed us anyway. No way you two are surviving there.” Crux said matter of fact.

“Where is there?” Templar asked, siding out of bed to look at the map.

Celena sighed, “Discordia.”


Discordia, a vast, untamed zone making up two-thirds of the entire planet’s landmass. It was here where the Primordial beings returned to the world after Magic was returned to the earth. With this new magic-rich environment, new species of fantastic beasts and monsters emerged.

And they were big!

Titanic was the only way to describe them. Combined with the release of the 72 demons of Soloqine, it created an eco-environment unfriendly to ponies.

To counter this threat, the countries of Europona, led by Germane, created a massive wall fortified by miles upon miles of Battleships and cannons. An enormous army of volunteers, prisoners, and others manned the forts, beating back the monsters daily.

“Yeah, so Mom and Dad kind of screwed the pooch about a hundred years back,” Crux explained as he led his siblings to the frontlines of the Demonic Front. This was not a place for the meek. “They were trying to defeat all evil in the world and kind of kicked the hornet’s nest that hit five more.”

They approached the wall, made of battleships buried in the earth and reinforced with the bones of defeated monsters. How big were some of these creatures? Well, the rib cage of one easily fits three battleships inside the rows of bones.

Presently a horde of Orochi, eight-headed giant snakes, one of Nippon’s legendary monsters, now just a typical encounter in Discordia. Besieged one of the fortresses, the blaring roar of the ship’s cannons knocked the creature back as the soldiers and heroes worked to deliver the killing blow.

If there was one good thing for Pony kind with Magic being returned to the world, it was that Heroic Ponies, ponies with beyond normal abilities, were on the rise. Or have been for the last two hundred years.

Turns out eating Magic enriched food really helped foster powerful magical ponies.

Besides the descendants of Rinin, typical pony breeds were guarding the wall effectively. One group, the Kirin, have been staunch defenders for generations. Along with thestral and other abnormal species.

“We’ll land here,” Crux ordered as they dived towards one of the larger ships. They were greeted by what Templar thought had to be the world’s largest pony!

“Big Brother Bulwark!” Celena cheered, jumping into Bulwark Bulldrake’s waiting arms. She promptly embraced the slightly smaller version of Bulwark, who resembled him to a tee, safe for his pink mane. “Cousin Barricade!”

Styx explained, “This is our Stepsister Platinum’s husband, Bulwark Bulldrake, and their son Barricade.”

“Stepsister?”

“It’s complicated,” Was Crux’s abridged explanation. He warmly greeted Bulwark, who smiled pleasantly to the siblings, his wrinkled face deep with sadness.

“Hi, how are you all doing?” Templar was surprised at how softly the giant pony minotaur rinin spoke. “Have you come to see Ruby… or perhaps Hazel?”

Crux and Styx both shyly looked away, confusing Templar but Celena grinned slyly. “Oh, ho, is that what’s going on….”

“Shut up, Celena,” Crux snorted.

“Now, now, it’s not polite to fight,” Bulwark gently scolded, flicking Crux on the forehead. “Ruby and Hazel are with the vanguard, but they’ll be back shortly.”

Suddenly a giant red Rinin, as big as the Orochi, appeared, wrestling one of the massive snakes to the ground and firing a red beam of flaming death from its mouth. Before the other Orochi could help their comrade, a barrage of yellow streaks blew their heads clean off!

“Somepony call me?” Hazel Thunder asked as her prosthetic hooves clinked against the decks of the ships. She was a stunning mare. Not even her missing limbs and battle scars could hide that. She took stock of the small gathering, smiling at the sight of the Evernight Siblings. “Oh, Crux, Styx? Have you two come to volunteer again?

“That would be a big help!” Ruby said, her massive head appearing alongside the ship. In a burst of flames, she shrunk down to her standard size, which was about the same size as Celena. “Celena’s here too? Don’t tell me, you have some new spells you want to try out?”

“I do!” Celena said excitedly. “My newest masterpiece will blow a mountain sky high!” A sharp cough from Crux quickly reined in her excitement. “Right… we’re actually here to go see Mom and Dad.”

This caused all the older Rinin to frown their brows. “Why?” Said, Ruby speaking for the group. “Wait like two more years, and they’ll be back for their annual rest. You might even… have….” Ruby blinked, finally noticing Templar, but she saw another pony. “Who is that?”

“This is our big brother, Templar!” Celena announced excitedly. “He finally came to visit.”

“Templar… of course, I thought he might be Crusader… never mind. It’s nice to meet you, Templar.”

“Commander Ruby! Lady Obara needs reinforcements in sector seven!” A messenger pony screamed from the sky.

“We’ll be right there!” Ruby replied. “Right, well, we’ll look forward to next time then. It’s always good to see you guys. I don’t need to tell you, but be careful in there. The further in you go, the worse it gets.”

Ruby, along with Hazel, Barricade, and Bulwark, took off to help Obara. Whose dragon horde was guarding the northern region of the wall. If they needed help, they were facing something genuinely monstrous.

That wasn’t any of the Evernight’s sibling’s business, though, and they moved ahead into Discordia searching for their parents.

“It’s always good to let the border guards know when you’re going in,” Styx said as they flew, the wall becoming a speck in the distance.

“Why?” Asked Templar.

“So, they can declare you dead if you don’t show up in a year, a day if it’s your first trip.” Crux said seriously, leaving no room for jokes. He did crack a smile after a minute. “Celena, Styx, and I have all been in here multiple times, even with a noob like you, we’re fine. Just remember, don’t start fights if you can help it.”

Styx flew up beside Templar, “Spoiler, there’s always a fight here. It is impossible not to fight.”

“Right…” Warily Templar kept a sharp eye out on the horizon. What he saw terrified him.

Far off in the distance, two silhouettes of mountain-sized creatures wrestled, destroying everything as they fought. A geyser of blood shot into the sky as one monster came out victorious, munching on its prey with a billowing roar of victory between bites.

“Don’t worry, the bigger monsters don’t go after ponies unless they’re starving. And if they are, they usually go to the wall to try and breakthrough it. What you really want to look out for is the small or medium creatures.” Celena tried to assure him? Templar assumed that’s what she was doing, but it wasn’t working.

In hindsight, he probably could have gone home for a day and come back. If that time imbalance stayed true. It maybe wasn’t too late, but he didn’t want to lose face with his blood siblings.

The Evernight siblings flew straight through the day and well into the night. Using the moon as their guide, Crux led them to the hollowed-out remains of some creature, with dim lights coming out of its hollow eye socket.

“We’ll rest here tonight. Welcome to Misery.” Crux said, welcoming his siblings to the Discordian outpost.

Inside the skull of the creature was a small town. The buildings were of simple construction, with small field plots for food. A waterfall flowed in from somewhere, blanketing the city in a soft mist. “Here’s the town inn. Nothing fancy, but it’s as safe as you can be, given the populace.”

“What does that mean?” Templar asked as they got the keys to their room. Even though they had Celena with them, they only got one room. He supposed they were all siblings, and ponies weren’t big on clothes, so there was nothing to hide. It was just a culture clash he needed to accept.

“Everypony here is a criminal of some sort. Thieves, murders, political dissidents make up the bulk, though.” Styx answered as they settled inside the small room. There were no beds, just piles of straw and bars on the windows, and a thick four by four log to bar the door.

The place was cheery.

As they settled down for the night, Crux taking the first watch because this place wasn’t that safe. Templar found himself pondering what Styx had told him.

“What?” Crux asked, noticing he wasn’t sleeping.

“Is this place a gulag?”

“Partly yes, partly no, the ponies here are as free as they want to be, so long as they can survive. The fact they can make a place like this proves they have the balls to do so. Ironic considering what some of them wanted when they lived back in what you call civilized society.”

“And your ok with this?”

“There’s nothing to be ok with. It’s just the way things are. You must understand Templar. Discordia encompasses two-thirds of the world. Ponies want stability. The only countries left are the ones that survived more than a hundred years. Minus Equestria, I guess, but asking Aunt Essex to keep that shit show running was an impossible task and one she didn’t want to do, so she didn’t.”

Templar blinked, clearly asking for context.

“Right, ask Celena for a history book to borrow. That’s more her thing. Here are the bare bones. Some ponies didn’t like how the world changed. Their easy lives suddenly became harder, and they wanted entitlements. When the ponies actually growing and producing things said no, they raised a fuss. In the abridged version, ponies don’t tolerate half-baked ideas or ponies that threaten the peace. The sheer effort to keep what land we have left is hard enough. Besides, this place isn’t so bad once you get used to it.”

“I’ll borrow that book, but this place is so different from what I’ve heard. It’s jarring.”

“Well, when ponies look to one pony to keep things going, things go to shit fast when that pony disappears.” Crux squinted, seemingly seeing something Templar couldn’t. “I was born early enough to meet ponies that still clung to Aunt Celestia. Without her… they just couldn’t function. I couldn’t understand it. Mom did, which is why she kept the fact she was alive a secret. Growing up unable to tell any pony who my parents were, was tough. It’s a little different now. Ponies know Mom and Dad are around, but they are more like myths, rather than visible factual rulers like before.”

Crux looked out the window, spotting the stars through a crack in the giant skull. “Time for Styx’s shift. Go to sleep. Otherwise, it’ll be rough flying tomorrow.”

When Templar woke up in the morning, he was the last one still asleep, the smell of burned meat stinging his nose. The door to their room was blown out, embedded in the hallway wall, with two black smudges staining the floor.

Apparently, two intruders tried to break in during Celena’s shift, and she dealt with them by incinerating them.

Scary.

They all set out, flying hard toward their parent’s location, which was in the farthest reaches of Discordia. Along the way, they stayed at two more settlements, each one grimier and more down run than the last, with multiple attempts to steal their valuables during their stays. Things really were desperate for the ponies out here. Templar asked if it wasn’t better to stay outside of town, but Crux answered that at least in town, they only had to worry about ponies attacking them.

For the most part, there were other creatures exiled here too.

Once they passed the fourth settlement, a town simply named End, the local populace simply consumed narcotics until they died. They were past the point of no return; they were in the cradle of Discordia. Where only the strongest survive.

The Evernight siblings flew silently, not daring to utter a word, lest they draw the attention of something fierce. They never stopped, not even to sleep, because there was no safe place.

On the third day past the point of no return, the siblings landed on a mountain peak to rest and eat their rations. Crux checked the map, frustrated at his parents.

“At this rate, we could have flown to the other side of the world and been closer. Mom and Dad keep heading east. They might have decided to go home early.”

“Dad probably got mom pregnant again if that’s the case. It’s only been sixty years since we last got a sibling,” Celena said chipperly, looking at Styx. “I hope it’s a girl this time. I’d love a little sister.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. They could just be chasing one of the Demon Gods. After killing forty of them, I’m sure those bastards have gotten wary of Mom and Dad,” Styx suggested. “By the way, what’s your count? I’m at three.”

“I got five!” Celena answered proudly.”

“Seven,” Crux said, smirking. “That means they’re only seventeen left if Mom and Dad haven’t killed them all by now.”

“You keep mentioning these Demon Gods, but what do they look like?” Templar asked, looking out over the vast misty mountain range.

“Well, their…” Crux stopped short as the ground beneath his claws gave way. He ordered all of them to take flight once more, his expression shaken as the earth fell away to reveal glistening scales. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Hit it hard! Before it wakes up!”

“ATOMIC EXPLOSION!”

“GIGABLAZE!”

“ATOM BREATH!”

All three of his siblings unleashed what looked like finishers to him. Celena’s explosion toppled the surrounding mountains in a mile radius, Styx’s fire washed across the land like a tidal wave, and Crux fired an energy beam from his mouth that dug a trench in the earth.

Nothing could survive all that, right?

“Templar, run!”

From the smoke and dust emerged a creature Templar didn’t know how to describe. Its body was as large as a skyscraper, with six equally large demonic wings, six arms, three goat’s heads, five serpents’ tails, and the legs of a bear. As well as being covered in dragon scales.

61st Demon God: Aamon.

“We need to run!”

“We won’t get away! We have to kill it!” Crux snarled, firing another energy beam.

“It just tanked all our finishers! This thing is beyond what the forties were!” Celena argued but let lose a barrage of explosion spells to slow the demon god. “Templar, you help too!”

“Right!” Templar inhaled and spewed as much fire as he could with Styx, who shot white-colored flames that seared Aamon’s skin, but it instantly regenerated. Any damage they dealt was healed just as quickly.

Fire and lighting came from the three goats’ heads, Aamon’s six arms flailed wildly trying to snag them. Luckily the Demon God was too big to move quickly, so its efforts were wasted, but the mere moving of its arms created hurricane-force winds, blowing them all for a loop.

Then the serpents got in on the action, each one billowing poison from its mouth. Filling the air with a purple haze.

“Celena!” Templar saw his little sister inhale a bit of the miasma and instantly dropped. He swooped in, catching her before she could fall into the cloud itself, but her breathing was shallow, and she was wheezing horribly.

“Get her to safety!” Styx shouted, zooming by as a blur of burning hot fire. “Scorching Nova!”

Styx erupted into a flash of white flame that burned up the poison and half of Aamon’s left side, it was slower to regenerate, but even now, the giant demon was rebuilding its body as it lumbered towards them.

“Shit!” Crux fired beam, after beam, slicing massive cuts into the demon’s body. The heat of the rays cartelized the wounds, making them harder to heal, but it only slowed the devil down.

While Templar carried Celena, a child version of Styx materialized, looking drained and tired. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”

“It’s alright,” Templar grabbed the chibi Styx flying the way they came but weighed down. He wasn’t getting anywhere. “Crux!”

“I know!” Crux’s horns glowed and ripped free the peaks of two mountains, slamming them into Aamon. Gold veins appeared across his body, and he spat gold into his claws, shaping it into a massive gold star as large as himself.

“Dying Star!”

With a great toss, Crux launched the star at Aamon, the weapon burrowing into the demon’s chest and glowing brightly. A bright shining light shot out from Aamon’s body, followed by another, and then another until the demon’s body was torn apart!

“Did you get him?” Templar asked as chunks of the demon flew everywhere. Crux panted hard, the attack taking a lot out of him. “Crux?”

“Yeah,” He replied, though he didn’t sound happy. “But it only made things worse.”

Before Templar could ask what he meant, monsters of all shapes and sizes emerged to feast on the remains of the demon god. These monsters were very dragon-like in nature. Their scales were rough and coarse as stone, with turtle-like bodies, bullhorns on their heads, and long tails covered in spikes.

They didn’t move mountains. They crushed them.

“The fuck are those!”

“Primordial Dragons.” Crux landed beside Templar to help support Celena and Styx, but the second son was clearly shot and barely supporting himself. “We got to get out of here before they notice us.”

One of the Primordial’s feet hovered over top of them. It didn’t even know or acknowledge they were there, but it would crush them either way. Templar and Crux flew as fast as they could to escape the shadow of the behemoth, but it was looking grim. Templar could feel the beast’s body heat, and then the shadow stopped moving.

Daring to look back, Templar and Crux saw the foot of this titanic creature was stopped, but what could do such a thing? The beast didn’t know itself, as it tried to apply more pressure only for a brilliant teal aura to envelop its entire leg and cut it off!

As the leg crashed in the distance, Templar looked down at the pony that hadn’t been there before. It was a tall, beautiful mare with a midnight blue coat, a white splotch on her flank, and ethereal hair as dark as the night sky.

He’s only met her once before, in a different form. His mother, Luna.

“You DO NOT touch my children!” Her horn flaring wildly with Magic, Templar could only stare slack jaws as Luna PICKED UP the mountain-sized beast and then proceeded to crush it!

This got the attention of the other monsters, and they, on primal instinct, recognized the threat before them and charged. Some of them didn’t even get to move before a flash of gold light pierced their skulls, dropping them dead.

Templar looked up in the sky to see his father, Sixes, levitating an entire arsenal of golden weapons.

“Begone,” with only a flick of his head, he sent his weapons flying. Blood rained from the sky as every monster was suddenly and violently taken out. One with a half brain still functioning tried to attack, only for Sixes to fire an ax and hack it in two.

Templar couldn’t believe what he just witnessed. No, he couldn’t even fathom it. Even though he just saw it!

“Everypony, alright?” Sixes asked. Touching down, he went to his sons since Luna was fussing over Celena. “How are you doing, Styx? You, ok?” He asked his youngest, who was still miniaturized.

“I’m fine, dad!” Styx whined, fighting off his dad’s ruffling. Unfortunately, he was too small to defend himself from his father’s affections. “I’m not a colt anymore, dad!”

“Could have fooled me!” Sixes laughed, taking his youngest into the crook of his foreleg. “Haven’t held you like this in forever! You get over here too, Crux!”

Even though he was about the same size as his dad, Crux didn’t resist, letting Sixes bear hug his two sons before the Rinin paused to notice just who was with them.

“Well… I’ll be….” Sixes set Styx down and walked over to his oldest. He was joined by his wife, teary-eyed, as she looked at her firstborn all grown up. Both were clearly holding back from outright embracing Templar.

Celena, healed by her mother, whispered to her oldest brother, “Could you let them hug you? At least once?”

Templar gulped, uncertain how to proceed now that the moment was here, “Um… hi, Mom, Dad… I huh…”

“He came to visit!” Celena jumped in, quickly and thoroughly explaining Templar’s entire story to her parents. From him deciding to come to Equestria, why, how long he’s been here, and their adventure together thus far.

“Yeah… what she said….” Templar mumbled, still unsure how to proceed. His body stiffened when Luna took him in a hug, but he relaxed and hugged her back. “I’m sorry… it took so long to visit….”

“No,” Luna said, crying. “You’re here now. That’s all that matters.”

“So, how long are you planning on staying? We can take some time to teach you if you want. We were about to take a break anyway.” Sixes said, laughing and ruffling his oldest’s mane.

Templar wondered that himself as his family talked among themselves. Sixes recounted his and Luna’s adventures since the last time his siblings were together. He’s learned so many things already, and he wants to know more.

First, he’d return home and tell Mac and Adagio how he was doing and that he wanted to stay in Equestria for a while. To learn more about his family. After that, who knows.

“I hope they don’t mind if I go on a bit of an adventure,” Templar said to himself, wondering how his foster family would react. Would they think him a failure for wanting to stay in this pony fantasy world? Probably not, but it still worried him.

“Templar!” He looked up, Celena waving excitedly. “We’re going home! Come on!”

“Yeah, right behind you!” He got up and flew into the sky with his family. To go home, to Equestria.

THE END