//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Iron Golems // Story: One's Past is Another's Future // by Masked_Frenchman //------------------------------// Neon finally stopped slamming his face into the light post for starting to get dizzy and light headed. When his vision finally started to focus, he saw he dented and bent the post. Random looked at the post and back at Neon. "I knew you had a thick skull, but I didn't know literally." Random joked around, still bouncing around PinkiePie. They started to walk around, PinkiePie talking about the party she planned on throwing and asking questions about their life, likes and dislikes, music favorites, food, and so on. Finally she stopped dead in her tracks with worry on her face. "Oh no, I just remembered that there is still more things I need to get before the party, oh no oh no! I have to hurry! Sorry, I have to go. See ya!" PinkiePie said in a hurry as she rocketed off, not leaving a trace. Neon shrugged his shoulders as Both Neon and Random kept walking on, looking around and exploring. "Well, as always, that was random. I can see why you like her." Neon said with a sly look on his face as he poked Random in the shoulder. "What? What are you talking about?" Random questioned with a hint of confusion. Neon narrowed his eyes as he looked at Random. "Oh come on, you totally have the hots for her, admit it!" Neon declared out loud. Random stopped in his tracks and looked at him like he was an idiot, which he was. "You got to be kidding me. PinkiePie is fun to hang out with. That's it. I have never been in a relationship and I plan on keeping it that way. I can understand why people would like to be in a relationship. But I do not like the idea for myself. As if anyone can handle me." Random explained, at the end he hinted off a bit of disappointment. Neon caught a hold of that subtle hint and wrapped his arm around his shoulder. "Yea, I mean you are a pain in my rear. As if anyone can handle you." Neon said jokingly. Random couldn't help but smile at his pathetic attempt to cheer him up. But some how it did. "Thanks bro. I just get curious is all. Never been with a girl romantically, and you always seemed happy with Vinyl, so I always wanted to see what it was like, you know?" Random asked sadly, but kept a smile on his face. Neon chuckled and jabbed him with his elbow. "Chill man, that certain special someone will come to you, or maybe you just have to hunt her down to claim your prize." Neon explained with a cheerful tone. Random shrugged his shoulders and looked up into the sky. "You know, maybe your right. You have some really screwed up ways to make me feel better." Random replied with a all too familiar smirk on his face. Neon smiled back and let go of his shoulder. "Yea, well if it works on you, then I guess your pretty screwed up your self." Neon joked around, not taking his eyes off of Random to make sure he was truly all better. Random turned back and smirked again. "At least I am not the one slamming my head into light posts today?" Random replied again but with a slight cocky tone in his voice, speeding up his walking pace to making Neon walk faster. This made Neon laugh to himself who kept looking at him. "Hey! I did that cuss I couldn't believe that you asked PinkiePie to with us. She is just way too hyper as if she drank seven coffee pots all by herself." Neon explained. Random's smirk got bigger and his eyes narrowed. "And what of the second time?" Random added, still smirking deviously and speeding up again, Now they were almost full running. Neon looked at him confused. "Second? What are you talking about? When did I hit my-" Neon started. Without seeing it, Neon ran right into another light post and fell right onto his back, dazed. Random looked down at him, laughing as he offered a hoof out to help him. Neon looked at the hoof and back up at him with an angry glare before taking it. Random lifted him back up on all four hooves and continued chuckling to himself. "Shut up." Neon added as he continued to walk past Random. Neon looked around and noticed they have happened to stumble upon a neatly paved road. Neon looked around with a smug look on his face. "Must have gotten onto private property of some rich guy. Oh, sorry, some rich 'pony'." Neon corrected himself with a short laugh. Before Random could add anything onto the joke, they suddenly heard a loud bang very familiar to them. "Wait a second. . . . . . Was that a gunshot?!" exclaimed Random As if to answer his question, another minute later, another loud bang was heard, echoing around them. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Bard and Shiva walked up into the main gate of the mansion. A lazy guard was reading a newspaper as they approached him. With out looking up he said with a very lazy tone "All ponies must have a meeting seeing mister Rich. Today he is spending time with his family. If you come back tomorrow, we can schedule you a meeting". Shiva giggled to herself. "Oh my, give us the cold shoulder why don't you." Shiva said in a playfully hurt tone. "Sorry Ma'am, rules are rules." The guard said coldly without looking up. Shiva laughed a bit and her horn started to glow. "So cold. Here, let's see how you like the cold shoulder in return." Shiva said menacingly as the booth the guard was in suddenly turned into a block of ice, trapping the guard inside. Shiva giggled as she kept moving, leaving Bard looking at her with a dumb look. "Keep making that face and it will be stuck like that." Shiva called back as she kept walking. Bard shook his head and kept walking with her. " 'So cold. Here, let's see how you like the cold shoulder in return.' That was the best you can think of?" Bard said annoyed. Shiva puffed out her chest. "Well I didn't hear you say anything, you big meany." Shiva said stubbornly, sticking her tongue out at him. Bard face palmed himself and shook his head. "You are so difficult to work with, you know that?" Bard said harshly. Shiva giggled to herself. "Yet, I am still part of your little team of mischief, huh?" Shiva added as they neared the front door to the mansion. Bard leaned behind her, as if to choke her out but stopped himself. "What ever, just blast the door down and freeze the people that are near it, alright?." Bard asked almost demandingly. Shiva smirked back at him and looked at the double doors before her. She focused her magic to her horn and with a quick blue light, the front doors where blown apart, sending them flying inward of the large mansion. The two butler ponies that were by the front door where shocked by the sudden intrusion. As the doors flew inwards, they froze with a pillar of ice holding them in place. Bard flew in quickly by the second story balcony, drawing out his pistols and pointed them at the butlers. "WHERE IS FILTHY RICH?!?!" Bard shouted out with a booming voice, almost shaking the walls while doing so. The butlers dropped to their knees, quivering in fear, unable to conjure up any words for the griffin intruder. Bard looked at them with a powerful, hateful glare. A pony with a knife snuck up behind Bard from the balcony behind him. As he lunged at him with the knife, he found himself unable to move, his hooves frozen to the ground. Shiva walked in with her horn glowing. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. He has been dying for some shooting practice." Shiva advised with a slight harsh tone in her voice and a cold smile formed across her lips. Filthy and his daughter Diamond Tiara ran up to the balcony to see what the noise was all about. Bard looked back to see him approach and he smiled. "He fits the description, it's him!" exclaimed Bard as he aims his guns at Filthy Rich. He stopped dead in his tracks and placed his daughter behind him to protect him. Bard noticed the small filly and cursed himself under his breath. 'Oh what the buck! I specifically said no missions that involved children! I am gonna have to have a chat with the employer after this." He thought angrily to himself. The rich pony shook before him as he kept his focus and guns on him. "Alright, do exactly what I say and you get to live another day as a father, sound good?" Bard asked less harshly. Filthy Rich nodded his head in fear. "Sure, what do you want from us? Money?" Filthy Rich asked fearfully, trying to make him leave with out throwing an attitude towards him. Bard smiled to him as he turned to Shiva. "Tell him the book we are after." Bard called with out taking his eyes of the two quivering ponies in front of him. Although he was a coward, you ever know when some pony will make a move out of desperation to protect their family. But he wanted to do what ever it took to avoid that, hence why Shiva was here. Shiva was good at immobilizing her targets. She looked up at him confused. "I thought you would remember the book?" Shiva questioned confused. Bard clutched his talons with anger. 'I am going to kill her one of these days' Bard thought to himself. "Just pull out the contract and read it!" Bard shouted back angry. Shiva's horn glowed for a second and a scroll popped in and a pedestal was formed out of ice. She lowered the scroll onto the ice and started reading the contract. "We are looking for one book called 'One's Past is Another's Future'. From the residence of one Filthy Rich living on 113 pine-" Shiva started but Bard waved his head to signal her to stop. "We got the message." Bard explained shortly. He turned to Filthy Rich and his daughter. "Alright, we are looking for that book, do you have it, and please do not lie to me." Bart added, pointing his gun at their chest. Filthy Rich nodded his head slowly. "Yes, I purchased that book a few weeks ago from a rare book collector. You're really doing this for a book?" Filthy Rich asked confused. Bard flew next to him, putting the gun to his face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It's in the library!" He added afraid, shaking in place but still keeping his place between Bard and his daughter, who was shaking and griping her father tearfully. Bard got a sight of the poor little filly and turned back up. "Alright, take me there. Your daughter stays, don't worry, your daughter will be safe as long as she is smart." Bard explained. Filthy Rich looked at him and nodded, leading him to the library. His daughter held onto him after awhile but he made her let him go and left her at the balcony. Feeling bad, Shiva teleported up to her. When she heard the pop from the teleportation, she tried to hide behind the railings. "Relax little filly. We honestly do not plan on hurting you ponies, alright? Come on out, I'll show you we aren't so bad." Shiva requested politely with a kind hearted smile. Diamond Tiara looked past the rails to see her smile and walked towards Shiva. "See, we may do bad things, but that doesn't make us bad ponies thou, right?" Shiva asked innocently. Diamond Tiara was then standing in front of her by a few feet, fearing to take another step. Shiva smiled and asked with motherly words "What is your name little filly"? "Diamond. . . . D-D-Diamond Tiara." Diamond Tiara answered, still shaking with fear and dread. "Wow, now that is a fancy name. How long have you lived in this big giant house with your dad?" Shiva asked, trying to calm the young filly down abit. "Since I was born I think. I think this house has been in our family for awhile." Diamond Tiara answered, starting to calm down which made Shiva smile down at her with kind eyes. "Really? That must have been awhile then. What is it like to live in a mansion like this? I have never been in a mansion before." Shiva asked, trying to distract the calming filly. Meanwhile, Bard followed the pony down some halls as they soon walked past another set of double doors and were then standing in the library. "Holy books!" Bard exclaimed, looking upon hundreds of books neatly placed amongst the shelves on the walls that surround them. "Well, where is it then?" Bard asked impatiently. Filthy Rich looked around the walls in a panic. "I am sorry, I'm looking." Filthy Rich replied, looking through each shelf. Bard looked around but kept an eye on Filthy as well as a pistol. "Nice library you got here thou. Might be the biggest one I have seen so far." Bard explained, trying to ease the tension abit between them. Filthy Rich looked back at him for a second and then back to his search. "Yes, all these books are rare collections passed down from generation to generation. Collected by my family." answered Filthy Rich as he continued to look at each book carefully but quickly. "Why are you doing this? You blast yourselves into my home on my one day off from work, freeze my servants, aim your guns around my family, all for a book?" He asked bravely, adding a slight rude tone in his voice. Bard chuckled. "You got some guts, I'll give ya that. But we are hired to get that book by any means, and we are being paid quiet a bit to make sure we bring it back in one piece. All though we didn't know you had a kid." Bard explained with a sigh. He went to sit down on one of the chairs and placed his pistol on the table. Filthy Rich noticed this and eased up alittle bit, no longer feeling that his life was on the line. "I don't take jobs that involve children. If I had known, I would have said no, I am sorry. I honestly just want to get out as fast as we can and leave you alone." Bard continued to explain as if he was speaking to some one who cared. bard chuckled to himself on that thought. Filthy Rich found the book in question and pulled it out with his mouth. "I found it!" Filthy Rich called out as he brought the book over to Bard. He looked over and got up, picking up his pistol but did not turn it to him. He walked over and grabbed the book, taking a quick look to confirm the book, he tucked it away in one of his larger pouches and slightly tilted his head to him. "Thank you for making this easy for us. We will take out leave and never return." Bard explained calmly as he started to leave. Filthy Rich actually managed to smile at his feathered intruder. "You know, I know you have your reasons for doing this. But even though I know nothing about you, you seem like a very kind griffin, so thank you." Filthy Rich said kindly. Bard was alittle confused, he never robbed from someone and have them thank him. He turned around with a smile. "Sorry for the damage and distress. Have a good day." Bard said before spreading his wings open and taking off. He flew to the balcony that he left the little filly. As he got there, he saw Shiva and the said filly playing patty cake. He could not help but smile at the sight. "Sorry to interrupt your play time, but it's time to go." Bard said calmly. Shiva looked at him and playfully frowned. "Awwww. But we just started to be friends." Shiva whined. With a deep sigh she got up and looked down to the young filly. "I had alot of fun with you. If we ever rob you guys again, maybe we can play again?" Shiva offered playfully, adding a gentle and equally playful smile and helping the Diamond Tiara back up to her hooves. "Ok, make sure to break in again, I had alot of fun too." Diamond Tiara said with a cheerful smile. Shiva patted the young filly's head with a smile and started walking off with Bard. With a wave the criminal pair left the area. "Wow, best. . . . contract. . . . EVER!" Shiva shouted out with joy. Bard smiled to her excitement and nodded. "Most definitely, I wouldn't mind robbing them again sometime. Maybe even with time off. Or maybe just a friendly visit." Bard added. Thinking to himself the look on the little filly's face when he came in. he shuddered at the thought as they sped off into the Everfree Forest. An armored pegasus flew right into him and placed a spear right at his throat. "Hold it right there you scum! I finally caught you two. Now come peacefully and you may live to see another day!" said the armored pegasus. Bard looked up the spear tip to see it was one of the guards. Bard smiled tauntingly. "That was fast, even for you guys." Bard said with a cocky tone. Shiva blasted him with a simple ice spell just to knock the guard off of Bard, not wanting to catch him in the blast as well. He got up and prepared to charge at him again but Bard was already back on his paws, holding a pistol to him and pulled back on of the hammer. "Now, don't be an idiot." Bard said calmly. The guard stared him down with hate filled eyes. After a moment of the stare down, the pegasus lifted off the ground and charged straight at Bard. His eyes opened with fear. "You idiot!" Bard yelled out. The guard raised his spear as he drove it forward with everything he had. BOOM!!!! The pegasus guard stood there with his spear in Bard's shoulder, blooding running down his shoulder and through coated his feathers with blood. The guard smiled down at the griffin victoriously as Bard's eyes widen with fear and rage. "It wasn't supposed to be this way." Bard thought out loud. The guard smirked at him and tried to move but suddenly felt a great pain in his chest. He looked down and noticed bleeding. The guard pulled his spear out and stumbled backwards. Smoke still raised from Bard's gun as he pulled back another hammer and walked towards the soon to be dead guard. "You. . .Y-you are gonna pay for this!" The guard exclaimed, trying to catch his breath. He fell to his knees and the light was slowly fading from his vision. Bard walked up to the pegasus and aimed the pistol right to his head. Without a look of mercy, he pulled the trigger, firing off another round into the air, this time right into his head, ending his pain. Shiva looked at Bard concerned but he turned away form the guard and started to spread his wings. "Let's move, someone must have heard that and they will be coming. Double time it!" Bard ordered coldly as if he didn't just take the guard's life. Shiva hesitated for a moment but she understood, and they took off with Bard flying and Shiva teleporting below him. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Random and Neon looked around them to see where the gunshots came from. Neon took the lead, following the sound that he heard it form. After a few minutes they could see in the distance a pair running. They look like they were being chased by something by the looks of their speeds. "Look, Random, that way!" Neon called out. "Let's follow them and see if we can help them." he added. Random looked carefully to see the pair. "Now way we could ever catch up to them. They are way too far and going extremely fast for us to ever catch up." Random explained, discarding the very idea of catching up to them. Neon thought for a second and then an imaginary light bulb flashed in his mind as an idea came to him. He grabbed Random and tossed him onto his back and extended his wings. "What are you doing?!" Random called down, watching him trying to take off. "I have absolutely no idea." Neon answered honestly. Sadly, not easing Random's concern. "Do you even know how to fly?" Random called back down, starting to get alittle scared. "Not a clue, so hang on!" Neon replied quickly. With out another moments hesitation he started to flap his wings and started to raise off from the ground. Surprisingly, he actually wasn't using much of his strength form his wings, as if they have been doing this all his life, it just felt natural to him. "Here we go!" Neon called out, warning Random. "What do you-" Random started. Before he could finish, Neon suddenly took off with blinding speed, causing an explosion. Random held on for dear life as they rocketed to the retreating pair, which they were catching up to really quickly. "I. . . . .Can't. . . . . . See. . . . . Anything!!!" Random yelled out. "Me. . . . . . Neither!!!" Neon yelled back, scaring Random who widen his eyes in fear. "WHAATTT?!?!?!" Random screamed as they headed straight into a forest. They swerved to the left and right quickly as they dodged the trees around them. Neon had no idea how he was doing it, but he was actually able to see the trees as he dodged every single one of them. a smile forming on his face as the wind then invaded his mouth, making his cheeks flapping in the air. After awhile, Neon noticed they passed the pair they were chasing by accident. "We missed-" Random started, this time being cut off by the sudden crash of hitting trees and a large rock, they both fell to the ground and darkness greeted them as they fell unconscious. As Random slowly woke up, he opened his eyes but it looked as if it was night time and his vision blurred. when he tried to get up he felt a paw push him into the ground and felt a cold barrel pressed onto his forehead. "Move, and you die." threatened a rugged voice from the darkness. Random focused his eyes and finally saw the scene before him. A griffin with a rifle aimed at him through cautious eyes. Random looked past him to see another griffin (Bard) standing next to Neon with an ice blue unicorn (Shiva) holding his head on her lap. The griffin near Neon had a pistol drawn out with what looked like a small ax attached to the bottom of his barrel. "Now, who sent you to follow us?" The griffin over Random asked. He focused back to that griffin and got a good look at him. He wore a red bandana over on top of his head. His eyes were orange and emotionless. Cold, calm, and calculating. He had red feathers on his chest and neon orange fur on his legs. The griffin had dark green goggles on his forehead, they looked thick and could not be seen through. He wore a red vest that had many pockets that looked as if they held alot of different things, but Random could not see what from the darkness. He had a small blade attached to his tail that was placed closely to Random's throat. "No one, we thought you guys were in trouble so we came to help." Random explained. The griffin stared him down alittle longer with his unchanging eyes until he released his paw form his chest and withdrew his gun and tail and offered a helping hand. Random smiled and took it, being lifted back up on all four hooves. When he got up he noticed the griffin by Neon was ALOT bigger than the griffin with the rifle. "Sorry about that, we were being chased, and we thought when you zoomed past us that you were trying to cut us off. Glad to know you are not one of them." Explained the griffin without changing his tone nor facial expression. Random looked back at him confused. "Who is they?" Random asked innocently. "It doesn't matter, we lost them, now we need to figure out what to do next." the other griffin added in before the smaller one could answer sheathing his pistol. "So, where are we, and why did you guys stop to us then instead of running away?" Random asked confused. "We are in the infamous Everfree Forest. For some reason, we are unable to teleport out like we originally planned, so we stuck with you to make sure you wouldn't chase us as we made our escape." Explained the ice blue unicorn. "By the way, I'm Shiva. The big meany next to me is Bard. The one who looked after you is Shard, his big brother." she explained. Random looked at the group and smiled. "My name is Random, it is nice to meet you all. The one who crashed us here is Neon, my closest friend, hell, I might as well call him my brother." Random explained, looking at him. He noticed that Neon's breathing was very small, his chest barely moving. "Is he ok?" Random asked with concern. Shiva looked up to him. "By the looks of the sight, he tried to protect you as you both crashed. So he got the worse end of the event. But he will live, I promise. He just needs alittle rest is all. I am surprised that his skull didn't crack open on impact." Shiva said slightly teasing as she watched him sleep. Random chuckled to himself. "Yea, he has a thick skull. I doubt it could ever break." Random explained, joking around, which made Shiva giggled, lightening up the mood. Bard flew up a bit into the trees, trying to get a sight of something. "Do you see anything?" asked Shard, keeping his rifle on his shoulder. "No, nothing. The trees are too thick to see past 40 meters in any direction. The branches and leaves are swarmed at the top so I can't get past them without blasting a hole through them." Bard explained while looking around. "Flying is dangerous at this point, lots of hard to see sticks and branches poking out everywhere." he finished and he came back down. Random suddenly felt a chill down his spine as if something was staring at him, watching his every move. "Well, looks like we are gonna have to walk. The guards won't dare to walk in here, so we are home free from here." explained Shard with a hint of confidence in his voice but remained emotionless. Neon slowly woke up from his sleep and placed his hoof on his head, groaning in pain. Shiva froze a hole in the ground and unfroze it, creating some water. Neon looked around and noticed everyone looking at him. "What, where am I?" Neon asked confused. Random brought him up to date and explained the situation. He took in the information well and looked around. "Is it night time?" Neon asked. "Nope, it is actually around four or five by now. The trees are so thick that they block out almost all light." Explained Bard quietly and alittle uneasy. Neon backed up abit and bumped into something hard and cold. When he spun around he saw a giant, grey metal humaniod staring him down, easily 7 ft tall in height, wielding a sword in each hand. He jumped back in slight fear as he looked at it. "Relax, it isn't alive." explained Shiva with alittle hint of humor. Neon looked to her for a second and then back to the giant confused. "What in the world is it?" asked Neon openly. "It's an iron golem. Back in the old days where the population was smaller at the time, so armies were smaller. To fill in the numbers, they would have unicorns make 2 or 3 of these each for them to control. When about 400 or 500 unicorns control 2 or 3 of these bad boys and send them at you, your just kinda screwed. and casualties were decreased, saving lives." explained Shard, as emotionless as ever. "Why did they stop using them then if they were so useful?" Neon asked. Shiva giggled. "Full of questions huh? A rescue turning into a history lesson. Well, no one quiet knows why they stopped using them, some say the raw magic to control them was so much and took a toll on the unicorns who used them. Some say that the golems some how broke free of their master's control and revolted. No one really knows for sure." explained Shiva with a smile on her face. Neon saw a eerie blue ball of light behind a few trees, almost as if it was beckoning him. "What's that?" asked Neon, pointing at the ghostly blue orb of light. Everyone turned to see what he was pointing at and saw nothing. "What? I don't see anything." said Bard confused as he stared towards the woods. The blue orb went over to Random and brushed up on him, making him tense up. As the orb passed over to him, Random suddenly had a blank and lifeless stare. "Random?" Neon called, but He did not answer. "Random?!" Neon called again, running over to him. As he approached the blue orb entered random and disappeared from sight. "RANDOM?!?!" Neon yelled out as he reached him, Random's eyes were lifeless and frozen, but he was still breathing and his heart was still beating. Random opened his eyes and saw the sky. Only this sky was not clear and blue, but filled with darkened smoke and grey clouds. The screams of hundreds could be heard from every direction. The sounds of battle roared in the distance. Random rose to his hooves but noticed he was hovering. Below him he saw the iron giants, but their was thousands of them all lined up, marching through a city that was engulfed in flames. Bodies of ponies piled the streets, blood ran down the streets from both civilians and soldiers. A dark, illuminating shadow rose from the horizon as it laughed menacingly at the scene of chaos. Up ahead Random could see what was left of an army, maybe about two or three dozen unicorn soldiers left trying to make a last stand. "What is all of this?!" Random questioned, quivering in fear. As Random looked about the scene of horror he could hear crying from what sound like a young child. As he followed the sound he could see a young pegasus and her mother cornered by the iron golems. The mother seemed like she broke her wing but was still trying to fly away with her young daughter. Random looked closely at the iron golems now and noticed that they had a purple glowing aura around them and their swords. One of the golems aimed their sword at them as the glowing purple aura gathered at the tip. Within a moment of gathering the magic, they fired out a blast that obliterated them and the building behind the retreating pair. The golems left, leaving the burnt and mangled corpses of the remaining life in the city. Random felt tears swelling up in his eyes. "Make it stop, please." pleaded Random. The city burnt under the light of the moon. The screams slowly dying away with every explosion, the sounds of battle finally ended. "Please, Make it stop, PLEASE!" Random started to cry out. The shadow formed into an alicorn and stared directly at Random. A sick and twisted grin formed by the evil creatures lips as he looked into his eyes. He was much larger than Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. He was completely black with a black mane and white highlights through it, and a cutie mark of that of a a blood red mist and a silver white skull in front of it. His horn was jagged and longer than usual, and his wings were as big as Neon's. His teeth were sharp as knives that formed into an evil smile. The alicorn stared right into Random's eyes as if staring right into his soul. "Soon child. Very soon." He said before fading away. His vision was darkening and everything was blurring. Before he knew it he saw Neon shaking him, a few tears dripping down his face. "What happened?" Random asked confused. Neon smiled and wiped his tears away. "About time you idiot. You froze up and got cold like you were dead, thou you were still breathing. It just got freaky is all." Neon briefly explained. Random looked past him and saw a pair of iron golems and twitched at the vision he had. Neon noticed that and showed concern. "You ok Random?" Neon asked slightly confused and worried. Random looked up and smiled, jumping back up onto his hooves. "Yup, I'm fine. I just had alittle night mare is all." Random explained with a convincing smile. Neon smiled and got back up to his hooves as well. "Well, let's go home then. I could really use a shower." Neon complained with a smile. "Well, I guess this is where we part then?" Shard asked calmly. Random shrugged his shoulders. "I guess so. Well, maybe we will see you guys in the future." Random claimed confidently. "I doubt it, but maybe in the-" Bard was cut off by a sword that crashed down apon him, cutting him clean in half. Everyone froze in fear as two of the three iron golems came to life with their swords drawn out. Another swipe from the other golem decapitated Shard before he could fully pull out his rifle. Shiva stood her ground and started to cast a ice barrier around herself but one of the golems slammed both his swords into it and broke clean through it, crushing her with it and bringing up a cloud of dust. Neon stared in fear as he watched this. He closed his eyes for a minute and then opened them again. "Yup, I'm fine. I just had alittle night mare is all." Random explained with a convincing smile. Neon smiled and got back up to his hooves as well. Neon looked at Random confused, shocked that everything was fine. 'What the hell? Was that just a day dream or something?' Neon thought to himself. "Well, I guess this is where we part then?" Shard asked calmly. Random shrugged his shoulders. 'What a second, this is similar to what happened in my day dream.' thought Neon. "I guess so. Well, maybe we will see you guys in the future." Random claimed confidently. 'What a second, this is too familiar. Does that mean-' Neon thought to himself. He looked over to Bard and saw one of the iron golem's swing it's giant sword downward toward Bard. "I doubt it, but maybe-" Bard started. Neon flew right to him and pushed him out of the way. The sword fell and missed him by a hair as they got back to their hooves/paws. "How the hell did you see that coming?!" Bard asked alarmed. Neon looked up and watched the pair of iron golems come out of the woods, glowing with purple energy. "What the hell is going on?!" Bard yelled out in anger. "I do not know, I will explain later. Right now, we got these guys to deal with." yelled out Neon. Shard pulled out his rifle and flew up into the trees. Bard jumped back, pulling out his pistols and pulled back the first hammers on each of them. Shiva charged up her horn, ready to release a burst of magic at any moment. Random was shaking alittle bit, but charged up his magic as well, but mostly grabbing rocks and branches to throw at the incoming attackers. Neon looked at them all as the iron golems came out and felt a slight wave of confidence. "Hey Neon, We will take the one on the left, you and Random hold off the one on the right till we can assist, got it?" ordered Bard. Neon didn't like taking orders by anyone, he normally did the leading, but this was different. "Got it!" Neon replied back. Shard placed a scope on his rifle and a magazine in the gun and took aim at the threat at hand, or hoof in the matter. Bard aimed his pistols right at the head of their golem. "Taste iron!" Bard shouted as he unloaded his pistols. The iron golem didn't even flinch as the bullets bounced off of him and charged at him with surprising speeds. "Oh, right, iron golem, not stone." he said to himself as he dodged to the side.Shard fired some shots at what appeared to be random spots on it's body. Bard took to the sky as he exchanged the empty shells with new rounds. "Alright, let's see how you like steel armor piercing rounds!" Bard said with confidence. The iron golem took a swing at him but it's feet were frozen in place. "Go, I got him covered!" Shiva called out. She sent out ice bolts at the golems face to get it's attention. "Come on, let's see if brute force can defeat a powerful mind such as me!" Shiva taunted. The golem turned to her and thrust downwards. She created an ice barrier to stop the attack but it only managed to slow the sword down and redirected. She tried to teleport away but forgot about that she couldn't as the golem swiped at her with the other blade. A sudden explosion appeared on it's face as it's attack missed, giving her time to move. "Ha! Take that you hunk of metal!" Bard cried out as he grabbed for another grenade. The golem looked at him and noticed it was out of range. "Yea, can't touch me now, can you!" Bard called out cocky, pulling the pins off two more grenades. The iron golem aimed it's sword at Bard and a purple aura started to form around the tip. "What the hell is that?" Bard asked confused. After a moment, a purple beam came out of the sword and struck Bard straight at the chest and he fell straight for the ground. "Bard!!" Shiva called out as she ran to him. Shard reloaded and continued to fire at the charging golem, using different rounds this time. "Take cover!" Shard shouted out as the iron golem got closer to them. Shiva quickly put up a strong barrier of ice surrounding the two. The golem prepared a double magical beam with the two swords and fired at the pair taking cover. Shiva's ice barrier broke on impact and the shards come right at her and penetrated her back. She sat there over her friend as the blood ran down her back as the frozen shards slowly melted inside of her. As her last breath left her body she fell limp onto her friend. Neon opened his eyes again to see the battle still going. "Hey Neon, We will take the one on the left, you and Random hold off the one on the right till we can assist, got it?" ordered Bard. Neon didn't like taking orders by anyone, he normally did the leading, but this was different. 'It's happening again, what the hell is going on here?' Neon asked himself. He turned to Bard and nodded his head. 'Is that the future I keep seeing?' he asked himself, confused as ever. Random threw the rocks and branches right at the incoming iron golem, but they just broke into his body without the slightest sign of slowing him down. "Crap, I don't really know any magic besides levitating!" Random exclaimed fearfully. Neon looked around for something, anything to fight back with. He jumped up into the air and flew straight at the iron golem. With a loud, echoing bang, the ground shook on impact as the giant fell onto the ground, along with Neon. Random ran over to him. "Are you ok?" hew asked worried. Neon's eyes rolled around in their sockets. "Yes, the root of pie equals to a soda if you divide the cookies while adding corn." Neon said randomly while he was dazed. The iron golem got back up, towering over the two. Random turned around and looked up to it as it prepared to stab them. Random grabbed Neon and jumped out of the way. "Come on, snap out of it!" Random yelled at Neon, who was still dazed and could not look straight. "Why yes mommy, I did the dishes, can't you tell by my purple socks?" Neon continued to talk nonsense. Random felt desperate. "Come on, your supposed to lead, what do I do?!"Random cried out in frustration. The iron golem was standing over them as he raised his swords. Random turned around and stood his ground. His quivering stopped and his stare turned that of anger. "Touch him, and I will destroy you!" Random threatened. The golem raised it's swords and forced them down at him and he closed his eyes. Random focused as he suddenly felt everything around him as if time slowed down. The trees, the animals, their partners, Neon, himself. He could feel everything around him, including the power that rushed into his body as if the forest it'self wants him to win this fight. 'I will protect you with my life Neon. No matter what, you are my brother.' Random said inside his mind. As he opened his eyes, his red eye disappeared and both eyes were light blue glowing in a brilliant light. Vines with thorns popped out of the ground and grabbed a hold of the iron golem's swords. "I warned you what would happen." Random said with confidence in his voice. More and more vines popped out of the ground and grabbed the golem, pulling him to the ground. Neon started to snap out of his moment of stupidity and watched as Random started to immobilize the iron golem by himself. The golem put up a fight for freedom but it was inevitable. Once the golem was restrained, Randoms horn glowed from blue to green as more vines started to grab it's head and started pulling on it. "Off with your head!" Random yelled out as the vines pulled off it's head and fell lifelessly onto the ground. Neon stared jaw open with shock. "When the hell did you become such a tough guy?" Neon asked mesmerized. Random shrugged his shoulders as they looked over to see how the others were doing. Bard was in the air about to throw a pair of grenades but the iron golem shot him down in the air. "Oh now, it's about to happen." Neon said to himself. Random looked at him confused as Neon rushed over to him. "Bard!!" Shiva called out as she ran to him. Shard reloaded and continued to fire at the charging golem, using different rounds this time. "Take cover!" Shard shouted out as the iron golem got closer to them. Shiva quickly put up a strong barrier of ice surrounding the two. The golem prepared a double magical beam with the two swords and fired at the pair taking cover. "NOOO!!!!" Neon yelled as he got in between the barrier and Shiva, holding up his wings for cover. The ice shattered into thick sharp pieces as they shot into Neon's wings. With a groan notifying the pain, he turned to Shiva who looked at him dumbfounded. "You guys alright?" Neon asked weakly. Random came over and grabbed the golem with his vines. Bard smiled and threw the grenades at the now immobilized iron golem. "Fire in the hole." Bard whispered. Shiva watched the grenades go to the golem as she showed fear in her face. "Not those, take cover!" Shiva yelled out. She remade her barrier and made it thicker. The two grenades exploded, shaking the very earth around them. The explosion wiped out the barrier and sent them flying out. Once everyone woke up, they looked around and noticed a crater the size of a small mansion laid before them. Shiva looked at Bard with an evil stare, who was laughing. "Really, You brought those to a robbery? Did you plan on blowing up the building or something?" Shiva asked enraged. "You almost killed us in the process"! "Ah, but I did not." Bard replied sarcastically and kept on laughing. Shard came down and dusted himself off. "Well, that was quiet the show." Shard said in a joking manner but remained emotionless. He looked up into the trees and noticed their was now an opening, and it was night. "Bard, Shiva, we are late!" He added in a panic. He turned to Bard with a stern look. "Do you still have it"? "Yup, the book is right-" Bard started, feeling his pockets but felt nothing. He looked around scared. "Crud, I can't find the book!" Bard exclaimed nervously. "Oooooo, interesting." Random said away from the group. Shard and Bard turned to him and noticed he was reading the book. "How did you grab that?" asked Bard confused. Random shrugged his shoulders. "Screw logic." was all Random replied with before chuckling about the story. Shard took the book out of his hooves and started to walk away before grabbing his leg. "Please, it was getting good." Random begged with innocent eyes. "No, we are late. Shiva, patch Bard up and let's fly out." ordered Shard. "Already done." Shiva quickly replied as she finished bandaging Bard up. She got on his back and they took off into the sky. "You owe us an explanation, remember that!" Shard shouted down. Shiva winked at Neon once again as they disappeared into the night. Random pouted at the ground as he looked over at Neon. "I wanted to read that book, it was getting exciting." Random whined. Neon bopped him on the head as he started walking back. "Come on, we got along way to go to get back home." Neon stated. "What about your wings?" Random asked. Neon shrugged it off and kept walking. Random tackled him and grabbed some left over bandage that the other group left by. "Hold still, I know how to do this." exclaimed Random. "Hey, no you don't you failed first aid 7 times already!" Neon yelled out in a panic as Random started. "Well, 8th times a charm." Random explained as he did his work. After awhile, thanks to Neon's struggling, Random managed to wrap up the wound properly. "There, all better." he said happily. Neon looked at the handy work before him and smiled. "For failing seven times before, not bad." Neon said jokingly as he nudged Random's shoulder. "Let's go home". As they walked the long journey, Neon couldn't help but think to himself. 'What did I see back there, was it the near future, was I hallucinating? What is going on?' Neon thought to himself. So many questions he needed answering. Random looked at Neon and then to the sky. "What was that that I saw? Was it the past, the future, was I just seeing things? How did I do that spell? I don't remember Twilight teaching me that or anything. I wonder' Random thought to himself. He too had so many questions that he need answering. They both had something they need to know. What ever happens, they both know that they will face it together, no matter what. Random looked at Neon with a smile as he leaned into him. Neon, understanding Random, picked him up and placed him on his back and carried him the rest of the way home. 'No matter what anyone says, your my brother, but it looks like the days I protect you, are about to come to an end here.' Neon thought to himself, both happy and sad. Happy to see that his little brother is finally growing up, but sad that soon, he will no longer be able to watch over him.