//------------------------------//
// Chapter Two: The Return 
// Story: Razgriz 
// by Blake Skies 
//------------------------------//


Chapter Two:
The Return



The first thing I felt when I regained consciousness was the ground coming up to meet me; very, very hard. Dazed and confused, I rolled onto my back as all my senses slowly began to return to me. I could feel and smell grass beneath me; it felt softer than the grass back home and actually had a sweet smell to it. I could hear the birds chirp in the trees around me, they reminded me of the birds in Eisenhower Park with their happy songs. And finally I could feel the warmth of a sun gently shining on my body. 
Groaning, I opened my eyes. After giving them a moment to adjust, I sat up and looked around. I was indeed in a forest. It wasn’t Hoia Bacu; it was a livelier forest with bright colors. As my eyes wandered around, I looked particularly at the trees. They looked like trees from Earth, but they weren’t. Not being horticulture savvy, I really can’t explain how, I just knew they were different. After a moment of silence, I figured out where I was. “Everfree…” I sighed, “It’s been a long time.”
I was back on Equestria. For me, it had been two years. For Equestria, apparently, it had been a thousand. As I tried to get to my feet, I found out I was very stiff. I was also back in human form; obviously the transport caused a reversion. As I began standing up and stretching myself out I asked, “Gidrah, you still with me?”
“Haven’t left you Milord,” Gidrah answered within me. He popped out of my back and came to rest several meters away while growing to about half his full size. The burgundy Dragon looked around, “It seems we’re back.”
“Yea we are, but a thousand years later. That is if we trust the council’s judgment on that one. Anyway you still got a mental link with them?” I asked.
Gidrah nodded, “Yes Milord, it is weak but I have it.”
“Good, we may need it.” I sighed. At least this first time out was starting out better than last time. But I waved my mind off of thinking about the past; right now there we’re important matters to attend to. I switched over to my thermal vision and scanned the area around us. Thankfully there was no one anywhere near us. “No signs of any life around us, so we’re clear for the moment.” I said.
“Either way, you’ll need to put the bracelet on now. If anything milord it’ll get you started on your persona.” Gidrah told me.
“Can’t argue with that logic,” I said as my vision returned to normal. I began to look around for the bracelet. Sure enough the thing was lying on the ground about a meter from where I had landed, right next to my power coin. I picked up the coin first and pocketed it before picking up the bracelet. It was a silver bracelet with a blue gem in the middle of it, nothing extraordinary about it. I slid the bracelet onto my left arm and the blue gem began to glow a dingy amber color. Seconds later, I blacked out for the second time in less than an hour. 
When things started to become clear again, I heard Gidrah speaking to me. “Easy,” he said, “Take it slowly milord.”
Everything felt different. I felt different. I couldn’t feel my hands or my feet, my face felt longer and I did feel shorter. I groaned as I stretched out my new amenities. “Did it work?” I asked as my eyes slowly opened.
“Perfectly milord, so please take it slowly.” He told me.
Stretching myself out, I lifted my right arm towards me. That’s when I spotted my first real change, my arms and hands were replaced by hooves. I waved both hooves for a moment, testing out how everything felt. As I rolled to a sitting position, I took notice of my fur. And it was a color I wasn’t expecting. “CARAMEL!” I shouted, “Are you kidding? Why in the world would they make me caramel?” 
Gidrah laughed, “I’m not sure milord I think you look adorable.”
“Don’t you start Gidrah,” I said before I waved my hoof through my hair; which was now a short, thick mane and the color was a dark black, “At least the mane makes a good complement of my fur.” I noticed the tattoo on my flank; I think the Equestrians called it a cutie mark. It was a solid black shield with a fiery red raven on it. Behind the shield were two red swords arranged in an X. “And the cutie mark ain’t half bad.” 
Then, with very shaky hooves, I brought myself to a standing position. I checked my tail, which was a long, stringy tail. “Take it gently milord,” Gidrah talked me through.
“I feel like Bambi,” I said as my legs shook. I tired taking a step, only to have my front legs collapse from underneath me. 
“Milord,” Gidrah said, “May I make a suggestion, why not walk one side at a time?”
“Explain that please Gidrah?” I said, struggling to get back to my feet.
“Move your legs in this order milord.” He said walking over to me, “Right front, right rear, left front, and then left rear; in that order exactly.” 
“You think that will work?” I asked.
“It’s how I learned.” Gidrah smiled smugly.
Shrugging off my mentor’s smugness, I slowly got to my hooves. With one tentative step forward, I did as Gidrah instructed. My right hoof went first, and then my right rear hoof, following them was the left side. It was very awkward at first, as I felt I was going to fall all over myself. But pretty soon I began to get the hang of it. Finally I was trotting around the small clearing with glee. “Look at me I’m trotting!” I said.
“Look at you indeed milord,” Gidrah said, “Now let’s go find some civilization.”
“Indeed Gidrah,” I said with pride, “I’ll lead the way.” But my joy was cut short when I tripped over a small tree root I had failed to see. After landing face first into the dirt I heard Gidrah chuckling behind me. “Say anything Gidrah and I’ll rip that smug off your face.” I snarled.
Getting back on my hooves, I began walking again. It was awkward at first as the terrain was far from ideal. I stumbled a few times, much to Gidrah’s amusement, but soon I was able to find my stability and we were off. I was surprised on how little Everfree had actually changed in the one thousand years I had been away. Truth be told, it had gotten spookier since I was here last. But in my line of work, spooky is another day in the office so it didn’t faze me. However, after a while of wandering through the forest, I focused on finding a road. 
Coming to a complete stop near a large tree, I scanned the area for a road. Soon I found a possible lead: a large clearing of trees that looked to linear to be naturally made. Sure enough it was a road. It seemed old, and very rarely traveled. And I wasn’t sure which route took me to civilization. “Well nothing ventured, nothing gained.” I said.
I turned to my right and headed that direction down the road. After what seemed like a good hour of walking, and crossing a less than reasonable stream, I found myself upon a familiar sight. “The summer castle of the royal pony sisters,” I said. I stood at the rope bridge that led to the castle, looking at it with a warm sight. It looked like it hadn’t been used in ages, rundown in a lot of towers, vegetation growing everywhere, and from what I could tell signs of a long forgotten struggle in one of the rooms. But it was still a nice sight to see…

…Water is a Demon Lord’s best friend. Not only does it transmit a Demon Lord’s likeness to that of the council and replenish us after long days, but it can also heal a Demon Lord from any injuries or ailments he or she receives. Salt water is for quicker fixes while fresh water can heal a Demon Lord more gradually. But there is one thing I’ve always found consistent about whatever body water I go into. Regardless of whether it’s a lake, river, pond, stream, or ocean; the water always has foulness to it. Probably because of years of pollution, but I will not speculate.
However, that was definitely not the case with this body of water I awoke in. Despite my senses slowly returning to me, I was very sure I was in a cold and crisp body of water. But the prevailing feeling I had was the pureness of the water. Soon I regained full control of my body and senses, and my memory of what had happened at the train station became prevalent.  
Slowly, I opened my eyes into a sea of blackness. I was certainly not at Hicksville anymore. I was floating upside down, staying primarily neutral in the water. I was also back in my human form and wearing my human clothes. The only things missing were my phone and iPod, which I had sent home during my transformation to Razgriz. Part of me was actually glad I did do that, not only would they be utterly useless after being exposed to water, but I wouldn’t have to pay a fortune to replace them. However I couldn’t call for assistance and that was terrible since I had no clue where I was. Thankfully, I still had my power coin.
“Milord,” I heard Gidrah say within me.
“I am here,” I thought back to Gidrah, “At least you are still with me.”
“Yes I am. Do you know where we are?” he asked.
“Only one way to find out for sure.” I said. I righted myself and let out some air. When the bubbles began to float upwards, I followed them. Soon, the surface became visible and closer. As I drew nearer to the surface, I became aware of someone crying. Then I broke the surface. The first thing I spotted was the morning sky above, and the fact that the few stars I could see were completely different than the ones at home. In my youth I had become very aware of what stars were where and at what time, primarily due to my room’s skylight. That told me that I was either no longer on Earth, or in a completely different time frame. All the while, I heard crying.
I began to tread water as I looked around for a discernible landmark. But none could be seen. Then my eyes fell on a double banner. The banner on the right was a bright yellow banner. In all four corners of the banner were pink emblems of a sun, blazing in the sky. In the center of the banner was a larger sun with the white head of a Unicorn looking out. All the while, I heard crying.
The banner on the left was similar to its partner on the right. However the left banner was a shade of purple, with crescent white moons replacing the suns. In the middle was another, much larger crescent white moon along with a blue unicorns head looking out from it. All the while, I heard crying.
“Okay that’s certainly different.” Gidrah said.
“I agree, where the hell are we?” I asked.
“A very good question milord, this looks like nothing I’ve ever seen on Earth.” Gidrah answered.
“Who’s there?” I heard a female voice said.
“What?” I shouted, looking around. I swam to the opposite side of the water body. As I pulled myself out of it, I discovered that I was in a garden; a large and seemingly very lavish Garden that had a large stairwell several feet behind me. And I had just pulled myself out of the pool that was in the middle of it. I looked around further, and soon I spotted a castle. It wasn’t a large castle, with one four spires and one large rotunda. 
“Probably a summer home.” I said, “Not big enough or lavish enough to be a primary place of residence.” 
“Possibly milord, the English were known for keeping their castles pretty plain.” Gidrah answered.
“Yea but this place lacks one thing, no guard towers.” I said, “Defiantly a summer home.” 
“Who are you!?” I heard the female voice shout.
I spun to my right and spotted a stunning sight. Walking towards me was a unicorn with a pair of wings. Her coat was a dark sapphire blue while on her rear were matching markings; a crescent moon hanging in starry space. Her mane and tail were a shade of blue similar to a moonlit night sky, complete with small white dots indicating stars. The weird thing about it was, both of them were flowing as if being blown, but there was no wind at all.
Her canyon blue eyes were glaring at me with a mixture of rage, anger, despair, and sadness. There was also a redness and puffiness to them, probably from hours of crying. “We will ask once more, identify thy self!” she demanded.
“Gidrah that horse is talking.” I said completely dumbstruck. 
“Indeed it is milord; we defiantly aren’t in Kansas anymore. Very curious,” Gidrah agreed.
“While I appreciate the movie reference Judy I really think we should be serious now.” I said keeping my eyes locked on the horse.
“Who sent you!? Was it thy sister, or was it one of the villagers in Canterlot that shun our beautiful night like a plague!? Answer or we will end you here!” she demanded getting just feet from me.
“Whoa easy there mam,” I started, “I’m just as…”
“MAM,” she bellowed, her horn glowing blue and eyes becoming dragon like slits. They’re canyon blue gone and replaced with turquoise, “DO THOU KNOW WHO WE ARE? WE ARE THE NIGHT! WE ARE PRINCESS LUNA!” She then raised herself onto her hind legs as if ready to charge.
I reached for my power coin, ready in a moment to transform and take her down. But neither of that would be necessary. “Contain thyself Luna,” commanded another female voice from the stairwell, “That is not how we treat our guests.” 
We both looked at the stairwell. Descending the steps towards us was another winged unicorn. This one had an ice white fur, with a long pink mane and tail that acted like the other. She looked at us with canyon red eyes. I guessed that this was the sister that “Luna” referencing. 
“You call this a guest Tia?” Luna shouted, stomping her hooves, “How do we know this isn’t one of your intolerable pranks!?” 
“Because dearest sister, this is too tame to be one of my pranks.” Tia soothed as she reached us. She looked me over with curious eyes. I could tell that like me, she had never seen this sight before. “Besides, I have never seen this type of creature in Equestria before.”
I kept my mouth shut in all this. Neither Gidrah or I knew what was going on, or what was going to come next.
“Of course dear sister, blind as you are to the obvious truths. If you have never seen creatures before, they should be labeled as possible threats. And threats should be dealt with.” Luna said scornfully.
“Peace sister, I will deal with this. It is time for you to rest anyway, your night is done and my day is about to begin.” Tia said.
“Very well sister, I shall sleep after another joyous night.” Luna said her voice reeking of sarcasm. She gave me one more sneer before she wandered off. 
I looked back at Tia with an awkward look, “Um, hello.” 
“Hello there strange one, I am Princess Celestia and welcome to Equestria.” Princess Celestia said…

…I crossed the bridge and surveyed the castle. Sure enough it had been utterly abandoned. However, much looked the same as I last remembered. But then as I reached the chamber of the elements, I came upon an interesting sight.
“Well, now that is indeed something,” Gidrah said as he popped out of me and walked next to me.
I stared at the holder that once held the five spheres that made up the elements of harmony. When I last was in Equestria, this was filled by five spheres. Now, those spheres were gone. 
“The Elements are missing.” I said. I trotted over the pillar. Surveying the area, I had found that the dust that had collected on the ground had been disturbed. It had been a few years since the disturbance but it was still clear something happened. “That is not good.” I said aloud. Then I noticed a small piece of fabric on the ground. I trotted over to the fabric.
I found myself in an interesting position. I needed to examine the fabric, but simply looking at it wasn’t going to work. However I had remembered talking with Princess Celestia about this once. Remembering what she had said, I imagined myself reaching out my hand and picking it up. Sure enough it worked. Examined the fabric, I discovered it was straw. Probably from a hat considering it lasted so many years. “So,” I said, “We got ourselves a big mystery within a big mystery. What happened to the elements?” 
“We won’t find our answers by poking around here.” Gidrah said, “We’ll have to find civilization.” 
“Good idea,” I said dropping the straw fabric, “Lets head in the other way down the road.”

Sure enough, after another three hours of walking through Everfree, I found myself onto a town. It was large town that was completely new to me. I could see buildings everywhere, small ones no taller than three stories, but buildings none the less.
“This shouldn’t be here,” I said, “Or at least wasn’t here last time.”
“And the mysteries pile up.” Gidrah sighed within me.
“Indeed,” I said, “So where…”
“HI THERE!” A bubbly and high pitched voice said next to me.
I jumped and looked to my left. Looking back at me was a pink pony with a puffy pink mane with three balloons as her cutie mark. “Uhhh, Hi there,” I said completely off balanced.
“Oh my gosh, are you new pony to Ponyville? Of course you are why should I ask such a silly question? What’s your name, where you from? My name is Pinkie Pie, are you coming to stay or just visiting. What’s your favorite color? Mine’s Pink, I hope you like pink too cuz that would be so cool!” the pony said almost a mile a minute.
I was completely taken back by what just happened. “Umm….say that all again but slower.” I said.
“Oops sorry silly Billy, My name is Pinkie Pie. Welcome to Ponyville?” she said blushing, “I’m sorry I just get really excited when I meet a new pony.”
“Ponyville,” I asked having no clue what I was going for, “This is Ponyville.”
“Yep, yep, yep,” Pinkie said bouncing up and down.
“Uh huh,” I said, “To answer one of your questions yea I’m not from around here.”
“Oh where you from,” she asked.
“North,” I lied.
“Where from the north,” she asked.
“Let’s just leave it at north for now.” I said.
“Where from the north?” she asked ignoring my answer.
“I’m just visiting for a few days.” I continued, “On a little vacation.”
“Oh cool, I love vacations.” Pinkie said, “Oh by the way, what’s your name?”
I looked at Pinkie for a moment, in all my time in the forest I had yet to pick out a name. I knew none of the names I had from home would work here. So I improvised, “Night Shield.”
“Night Shield, what an awesome name, not as awesome as Rainbow Dash but what are you going do to?” Pinkie said happily, “Well Mr. Shield if you’ll excuse me, I have to prepare your welcome to Ponyville party!”
“I’m sorry what?” I said. But Pinkie sped off in a flash of pink. I stood there near the edge of town with my mouth a gape completely stunned. “Well that was an interesting reception. Certainly better than the one I got last.” I said. Before Gidrah could say anything, I walked into town.
Ponyville was certainly lively, not a street empty of life. And all of it was peaceful and the pony residence seemed to be enjoying their day. I was almost reminded of Greenport back on the North Tip. With a smile, I took acknowledgements of a beautiful day and welcomes as I made my way through the town. All the while, I kept my ears listening for information and eyes open for clues. But nothing was coming.
“Where do you find information?”  I asked myself, “Head to your local library.”
I turned down a few alley ways to make my way towards a library. I soon caught sight of a large tree with the sign, “Golden Oaks Library” in front of it. But before I could clear the alley way to head towards it, I spotted a small purple alicorn walking towards it. Before she could see me, I hid myself in the alley way, “There are three of them now?” 
The alicorn had a pair of saddle bags on filled with books; following her was a baby dragon with purple scales and green spikes. The dragon seemed to be pleading something. I tuned my ears to listen into their conversation. 
“Please Twilight,”
“No,”
“But please Twilight, how often do they have opals that big.”
“And I said no Spike, I have a lot of studying to do for Princess Celestia and I’m also very low on bits.” 
“But Twilight,”
“I said no!” 
“Fine Princess Sparkle, whatever you command.”
I snickered, “Mother and child it seems.” I watched as the duo walked into the library and closed the door behind them. So not only did I find the library, but I also found the town’s librarian. And apparently this librarian was an Alicorn Princess. It seemed the rare breed of Equestria wasn’t so rare anymore.
I was about to exit the alley way when a massive explosion and several screams caught my attention. “Library will have to wait.” I began to gallop towards the market street I had left previously. The once busy street that had been filled with happy ponies had turned into a zone of panic. One pony was already faint as her friends tried to drag her out of the way. 
“What is it? What’s going on!” I shouted.
“A monster!” one of them screamed, “A monster is attacking Ponyville!”
Just as she said that, a building near the end of the street several blocks away from me tore itself apart with fire. Launching itself from the rubble was a silver sphere with spikes all over its center. The sphere rolled into the middle of the street as the building collapsed behind it, blocking the road. When it reached the center of the street, it unrolled and stood upright as a bipedal creature.
“A Silver sphere,” I said, “That proves it.” 
The silver sphere was a short, stocky creature. Unlike its cousin, it was more rounded in shape, with short spikes along its shoulder blades and arms. It also had a head, a perfect sphere in its own right, with two orbs for eyes and no mouth. Its fingers were the only similarity, three long daggers. In its palms were two razor sharp disks that it flung out like shurikens. One disk struck a building to my right, tearing its front apart. While the other struck a building to my left, collapsing its roof. 
Before I could do anything, a canyon blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane swooped down on the creature. It tried to attack the Sphere, but the Silver simply swatted it away with ease.
“Rainbow,” I heard a country voice shout. 
An orange pony with a Stetson hat, the likely host of the fabric I found within the castle, came out of the alley with a lasso. It flung the lasso towards the Silver, but again the creature grabbed the lasso and flung it and the pony away with extreme ease. Then the creature began to charge a small grey filly with blonde hair that was crying several feet from me. I knew I had to do something, but I also knew I was powerless in disguise.
I had limited time to act. I leapt back into the alley way and out of sight. In one moment I pulled out the bracelet, pocketed it the moment I was in human form, pulled out my power coin, and placed it to my shoulder. When the connection was made, I said my sixteen key words.
“The fire burns red, the fire burns bright. All of my enemies shall be vanquished tonight!” I chanted.
As I did that, the Sphere decided to torture the filly. Instead of killing it out right with its blades, it stopped feet from the filly and charged energy into its eyes. This was the Spheres back-up attack, something called fire eyes; actually very self-explanatory. Once fully charged, a wall of fire would be shot from the Sphere’s eyes. Just as I finished transforming, I heard the filly’s mother shout her name. 
“DINKY!” she screamed.
I had just enough time to finish transforming, blast my way out of the ally in a veil of smoke, grab the filly, and cover it with my cape just as the sphere opened fire. The action was so fast, the crowd watching the disaster only caught a glimpse of black before Dinky was covered in a wall of fire. The filly was screaming and shaking in my arms as I held her close to me. The fire roared around me like a freight train rushing by. But since my element was fire, it was doing more good to me that bad. 
When it stopped the attack and the smoke cleared, I heard the crowd gasp. I crouched there for a moment, holding the petrified filly. Then when she realized she was safe, I pulled my cape back from protecting her. The filly looked up, yellow, walled eyes looking into my piercing red demon eyes with confusion and fear. To distill any fear, I smiled warmly, “Your safe, go to your mother.”
I placed her on the ground. Dinky then smiled, spun around, and ran into the arms of her sobbing mother several feet away. Replacing my smile with a cold, stoic expression, I looked at the crowd. The Rainbow Pony and the Country pony were apart of them, being helped by Pinkie pie and a Yellow Pegasus. Princess Twilight was also there with Spike. All of them looked at me with awe and confusion.
“It can’t be.”
“I thought it was just a legend.”
“Who is that?”
“What is that?”
All the while, Princess Twilight Sparkle looked at me with complete confusion. I recognized the expression. It was the same I had when I first came here. Without saying a word, I turned around slowly to look at the Sphere, my cape fluttering as I did so. When the silver got a good look at me, it took a step back in fear.
I smirked, “You recognize me, good. Now you’ve managed to ruin a very nice and peaceful day here. Not to mention the fact that you’ve destroyed at least three houses, a place of commerce, and threatened the lives of these innocent ponies. That’s honestly something I can’t allow. So you have two options, surrender and well do this the easy way. Or we can do this the hard way, now mind you; I’m actually pretty good at what I do. Don’t mess with me.” 
The creature glared at me. I knew if it had a voice it’d be hissing at me. But I didn’t break face as I stood there, between it and the ponies of Ponyville. I stood ready for an attack, and sure enough it came. The creature threw two of its disks right towards me at breakneck speeds. But just as flash, I struck the flint on my hilt and ignited my fire sword. With two swipes, I cut the silver disks out of the air. 
“Big mistake,” I told the creature.
The Sphere leapt towards me, rolling into a ball and charging at full speed. I rested on my back foot and brought my sword up to block. As it reached me, the ball took to the air and came at me from above. Stepping to the left, I allowed the Sphere to crash next to me because as it did so, it unfurled to bipedal form to strike. I blocked each swipe attack with my blades, barely giving an inch in my footing. 
The creature then came at me with a frustration fuelled swipe of its left arm. Blocking another strike with my blade, I freed my right hand and took the sudden opportunity and punched the creature with a haymaker. With my strength charging the attack, this sent the sphere rocketing down the road. When the monster stopped sliding down the street, it righted itself and charged me again in sphere form.
“Think again!” I shouted. 
I swung my left arm in a circle, deploying my translucent shield of fire to block the creatures attack. With a furious spin, the creature impacted the shield and grinded against it like steel scrapping along steel. All the while this was happening, the Ponies of Ponyville watched in sheer disbelief. The Rainbow pony twice wanted to say something in a cheer, but was silenced both times by sheer awe. The same could be said of Pinkie pie, which had pulled a bag of popcorn out of seemingly nowhere and was barely enjoying it. 
The creature pressed home its attack, forcing me to actually back up a step. But that soon turned into a disadvantage for the Sphere. Using my newly found footing, I launched the sphere into the air with a strong forearm shiver. This propelled the sphere into the air, but before it could get too far I sent a flame rope its way. The rope rapped around the sphere before becoming a chain of steel. When that happened, I pulled the light taught and pulled the Sphere back to me. When it reached me, I punched it back into the air. Like a paddle ball, I repeated the process several times, landing several strikes that sent the town shaking slightly.  
One of my strikes again launched the sphere down the road. The monster, dazed and stunned, hit the road with the thud near the end of the market street and was slow to get up. Seeing my opportunity, I charged the creature finally leaving my spot. With blade in full ready to strike, I propelled myself forward with a full amount of energy. Upon reaching the creature, I had actually put a little too much into my propellant and over shot the Sphere. But not before slashing its backside on the way by. Getting on my feet, I hacked at the creature with my blade.
Since all Silvers are robots and not technically alive, destroying it with undue prejudice wasn’t against the first commandment; so I didn’t need to pull my punches or strikes. So when I chopped off one of its arms, I didn’t feel anything within regards to regret. I slashed again and again, ripping piece after piece of Silver metal off the monster before blasting it back with a wall of fire and heat.
But the Sphere didn’t seem fazed, and the moment it got to its feet it showed me its final pallor trick. It regenerated its arm as if it was nothing. 
“Oh right,” I said, “They do that.”
The Sphere then began to rapid fire disks my way. Acting primarily on reaction, I cut the disks out of the air with lightning quick motions. After blocking a good volley, I charged the creature again. With a good swipe, I sent the Sphere stumbling back before coming at it again. Raising my blade over my head, I dove down on the monster. But it stepped back and my blade dug into the ground. Using its opportunity, the creature brought its claws to bear against me. But I blocked each attack before punching the creature’s chest rapidly. Finally using one of my punches to punch the Sphere back, I pulled out my blade.
In one upwards motion, I held my blade in reverse grip and slashed the creatures front side. But the force of my attack also made me loose grip on my blade. So as the Sphere backed up in pain, I leapt into the air and grabbed my blade. Spinning around, I landed on my feet and positioned myself into my batting stance. I charged my energy into my blade for my finishing move. 
“Home run Strike!” I shouted.
I swung my blade around like a Batter swinging to hit a baseball. My blade struck the Sphere center mass in a perfect strike. The Sphere flew away from me and bounced around like a rag doll. It finally came to rest near an apple stand. It was struggling just to move a part of its body as I went airborne and impaled my blade through its left shoulder.
If the creature had a voice, it would’ve been screaming in pain. But I did honestly care. I also knew the charges against it couldn’t be held, simply because this creature was under the control of another. So I added it to the list of crimes I was going to hold Apocalypto for. In order to do that, I had to get a message to him.
So with full might, I dug my hand into the creature’s chest and ripped out its center core. It looked like a ball of perfect silver, almost like an Apple of Eden. But in the middle of it was a red dot that went through the center. I looked into the dot with piercing red eyes.
“This planet is under my protection.” I said to the sphere before crushing it. Silver Spheres were nothing more than advanced scouts with little knowledge of Apocalypto’s workings. So destroying its power core was no loss to my investigation. After its core die, the creature melted into a pool of silver. The battle over, I turned my attention back to the road and to the citizens of Ponyville. All in all, Ponyville had suffered minimal damage. But the shock of the Ponies was something else to deal with. As I walked towards them, Princess Twilight began to gingerly walk towards me. She looked up at me with a mixture of fear and awe that had been present since I first appeared. But I could also tell that she didn’t recognize me. 
“No need to fear,” I said, “It won’t harm you again. Now that I’m here, you all are safe.”
“Who…” she started with a meager voice, “Who are you?”
“Razgriz,” I said, “A friend.”
That was Gidrah’s cue. The mighty dragon had departed me before the battle had started and had kept watch to make sure nothing else would disturb the town. Now with it over the mighty dragon grew to full strength and flew towards the market street. Just before he reached me, he rolled to his right to let his riding chain hang freely. I reached out and grabbed the chain as it reached me, and when Gidrah flew by I was propelled into the air. I climbed up the chain and mounted Gidrah as he flew back towards Everfree.
I looked back only once, and spotted an air wing complete with a flying carriage heading towards Ponyville. I recognized the two Alicorns on it and my heart began to feel heavy. This was going to be anything but an ideal return.


*                     *                    *


“Twilight,” Flash Sentry shouted as he hit the ground and ran towards the dumbstruck Princess.
Twilight hadn’t moved an inch since that mysterious being left. In fact she was so dumbfounded and shocked at what had just transpired that she barely felt Flash Sentry hit her with a hug. When she did snap out of it, she returned the hug, “It’s alright Flash, I’m okay we’re all okay.”
“Good, I was worried. We heard about the attack at Ponyville and we raced over as fast as we could.” Flash sighed releasing Twilight.
“Is any pony hurt?” Twilight asked looking around.
A collective “No” was said by all. Thankfully Rainbow Dash and Applejack were tougher than they looked, their injuries were nothing. Twilight then heard something that made her heart sank. “Sister look,” Princess Luna said from a distance away.
“Indeed Luna, it is just as I feared. He’s back.” Princess Celestia said somberly.
Twilight and her friends began to move towards the Princess. Fluttershy froze when she saw the puddle of silver, but the rest continued to get right next to the Princess. “Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, her voice half filled with Glee.
“Hello Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia said soberly, not even looking at her most faithful student.
That made Twilight’s heart sank even further. Something was seriously wrong when Princess Celestia didn’t use that title. “What’s wrong, what was that thing?”
“An evil being, but just one of many machinations that haunted Equestria in its past,” Princess Luna answered for her sister.
“By who,” Applejack asked.
“Yes what heathen would build monsters to do its dirty work? Mind control I can understand, but creation for destruction, its completely uncouth.” Rarity said.
“Only one,” Celestia answered, “But the better question is, who stopped this creature?”
“That’s the thing Princess, I’m not sure. It was this bipedal creature, similar to the humans Lyra’s always talking about.” Twilight said, “He seemed to know us, or at least know our kind. But…”
“Um…Princess….” Fluttershy started her voice barely above a whisper, “I think I may know who it was.”
Twilight turned around, stunned that Fluttershy might actually know something about Equestrian History Twilight didn’t. 
“Who was it Fluttershy?” Flash asked.
“My mother always used to tell me stories about him, how he existed before the time of Nightmare Moon. And I didn’t believe it until I saw his statue in the garden during the Grand Galloping Gala.” Fluttershy started.
“Yes dear,” Rarity asked, “But who is it?”
“Razgriz,” Fluttershy answered.
The name passed over the mane six as if it was nothing. The same couldn’t be said for the Princesses. Celestia tried to hide her stunned disbelief and sheer horror behind a stoic expression, but Luna was failing miserably to control her emotions. Tears began to well within her eyes as she looked at Fluttershy with a mixture of anger and loss.
“Oh yea,” Twilight said, turning to her mentor, “That’s the name he used to introduce himself. Before a dragon came by and took him.”
“Gidrah…” Luna whispered.
Then the six noticed Luna. “What is it Princess,” Fluttershy asked, “Is there something wrong.”
Luna didn’t answer, she turned and walked away. Celestia turned to her sister but said nothing. Then she looked back at the Ponies, “I want you all to stay here, keep an eye out for anymore creatures. We will work this out.”
“But Princess…” Twilight started.
“No buts Twilight do as I command!” Celestia said, a tear forming in her eye.
Twilight bit her lower lip before nodding.
“Flash Sentry, you and your team stay here to guard the town. Report anymore sightings of Razgriz immediately,” Celestia ordered.
“Uh, yes mum. But mum what do we do if we run into him again or if one of those things come back?” Flash asked.
“Stay out of his way.” Celestia said somberly before walking back to her carriage. She turned to look back at Luna and muttered under her breath, “You shouldn’t have come back Demon.”