//------------------------------// // The First Battle - A New Friend // Story: Morsidus Grim-Record: The Last Element // by Asdera3485 //------------------------------// “Howdy, stranger!” Pinkie Pie hopped up to Fang Wolf-Shadow with a huge grin on her face. “Wanna join Grimmy’s party?! Huh, do ya, do ya, do ya?!” She bounced in front of him, and his amused smile fell into a bored frown. “You are simply a waste of my time…” he sighed and shot a bolt of magic at the mare. The crowd gasped as Pinkie Pie disappeared, leaving only a small singe mark on the carpet. Twilight screamed, “PINKIE! You monster! Just wait until the Princess hears of this!” Tears formed in her eyes as Fang yawned in boredom. “All right, princess. Go get her.” Fang shot another bolt of magic, this time hitting Twilight and whisking her away to Pinkie’s fate. “Anypony else think that they're worth my time?” he asked and laughed. Everypony backed away from the stranger, including the rest of the elements, leaving an empty path between him and Morsidus. “Fang,” he seethed, pushing Zecora behind him. “Bring them back! You have no right…” “Ah, ah, ah. You are wrong, Grimmy. I have unfinished business with Equestria’s newly-redeemed chaos bringer. Surrender him to me and maybe I’ll consider not burning you all alive,” Fang chuckled and took several step forward. Lucky for Discord, Twilight had cast a camouflage spell causing him to look like every other pony, just in case anypony still held animosity towards him. “And for those unfortunate mares… Well, at least there’s a unicorn, so a slight chance of returning to our universe… Maybe.” Morsidus growled, but had to choose which battle to fight, finding the two elements, or making sure Fang doesn’t kill hundreds of innocents. “No, Fang. You want a fight, you will fight me.” Fang chuckled, "If you insist..." His malicious grin grew wider as he began to manipulate his form. His eyes turned from their shadowy grey to deep emerald, and red streak appeared, seemingly a tattoo that grew starting at the base of his front leg, and encircling it before going onto the next three. It traced his way up his body, stopping in jagged points around his face. Silver dragon wings protruded from his back, and grew to full size in under a second. His horn formed last, doing much like his wings, and stopping at a fine point. When he smiled, his teeth were shown, they looked like they’d been filed into fangs, and sharp enough to break skin on contact. The transformation lasted only a second, but ponies were already panicked and huddled into groups. Morsidus gasped, and had taken a step back before he’d even registered that he’d moved. Fang made a slight movement back, and Morsidus knew what he’d planned. Morsidus pushed Zecora out from behind him and into a crowd of ponies just as Fang lunged and tackled him through a window. Morsidus didn’t have time to react, and impacted the ground with the Fang’s weight baring down on top of him. He felt the wind get knocked out of him, and Fang laughed as he struggled to catch his breath. Using his horn like a knife, Fang whipped his head to the side and managed to cut his cheek. Morsidus felt some blood drip from the cut, but ignored it. Instead, he was doing calculations in his head. Morsidus teleported, but made a miscalculation and only managed to move a few feet. Zecora screamed as Fang lunged towards him, horn first. Morsidus fell to the side to dodge it, and teleported to the street in front of the library. Fang had appeared beside him, hardly a second later. Morsidus growled and attempted to summon his wings, but his mind was still too blurred. Fang attempted to stab him again, but Morsidus teleported, this time to the outskirts of Ponyville near the edge of the Everfree Forest. He'd hoped that he’d have a second to recover, but no such luck as Fang had followed him and appeared hardly a foot away. Morsidus was aghast, and Fang used that to his advantage. Fang blasted a fiery bolt of magic at him, and he dived just in time to avoid a fatal blow. The blast had, however hit his left ear. His ear was gone, but luckily the heat from the blast had cauterized the wound, effectively stopping the blood flow. Fang dove at Morsidus, but Morsidus jerked away, avoiding a fatal stabbing but receiving a long, deep gash that was bleeding profusely. He screamed, and the jolt of pain gave him the adrenaline needed to summon his wings. He flew into the air, in an attempt to get a second to adjust to the pain and think up a plan to fight back. Fang shot another bolt of heat at Morsidus, but this time he was ready, and he dodged it only for it to hit his tail and burn half of it off. Somehow, Fang managed to throw another flash at him only a few seconds after his previous one. He wasn't prepared for this one, and the bolt blasted through his left wing, leaving a sizable hole in the center of it. He shrieked, and fell from the sky, striking the ground hard. Fang walked up to his figure lying bloodied and beaten. He chuckled, “Brother! Are you all right? I thought you knew better than to forget to fly.” Morsidus groaned, but managed to growl back, “I’m n-not your brother.” He attempted to sit up, but pain wracked at him from all sides and bound him to the earth. “Maybe not in your mind, Grimmy, but biologically we are,” Fang said and kicked dirt at Morsidus. He growled and again tried to stand, but to no avail. “Oh, the anger you possess, brother! If only you could use it for the right purposes…” Fang pretended to pout, and laughed right after. “You know what I do when I’m angry, Grimmy? I think about the good times!” he nodded and chuckled. “Mmm, yes. One particularly good memory was hearing your parents scream as the flames burned them alive.” He was laughing now, and Morsidus couldn’t contain his anger. Like Fang, jagged black lines rode up Morsidus’ body. His cerise eyes changed to a deep crimson, and then his horn came in. His transformation happened in half the time as Fang’s. Adrenaline pumped through his body and gave a sense of newfound energy as he sprang up from the ground. He was consumed by rage as he wrestled Fang to the ground. Despite his situation, Fang was still grinning. “They burned, Grimmy,” he choked out. "Burned!" Morsidus growled and delivered blow after blow to Fang's face, turning his silver coat closer to purple and black. The entire time Fang continued to laugh, and Morsidus continued to hit until a shout was heard, “MORSIDUS, STOP!” He looked over to see Princesses Celestia and Luna flying towards him. They landed several feet away. “He killed them! He admitted it! HE LAUGHED ABOUT IT!” Morsidus screamed. “Morsidus, enough! You are in a state of being consumed by rage and vengeance, you are not in control of your actions! Please, surrender Fang to us,” Princess Luna cried. “HE IS A MURDERER!” Morsidus half screamed, half sobbed. "And he deserves this!" Celestia walked towards him, “And by doing this you will become no better. Luna?” She nodded towards her sister, and Luna nodded back. Celestia raised her horn and Luna joined with her, and they cast the spell together. They sent a unified beam of light at Fang Wolf-Shadow, sending him back to whatever dimension he was in last. Celestia sighed, “Sadly, this spell will not hold for long.” With the subject of his fury gone, Morsidus faded out of his full form, though his wings did not dissipate like his horns, most likely due to their sustained injuries. With his adrenaline gone, Morsidus grew drowsy and faintly remembered a bright, purple flash before falling to the ground, unconscious. Morsidus awoke the next morning with a migraine that was out for vengeance. He didn’t know where he was, but also didn’t care. The bed was soft, the room was warm, and the lights were off. Recalling the events of yesterday, he slowly moved to get out of bed when he felt another body beside him. He turned his head to see Zecora lying next to him, thankfully she was lying on top of the blanket. Morsidus thought about rousing her, but decided against it. Cautiously, Morsidus sat up, but was quickly pulled back down and into the zebra’s embrace. “I'm not asleep,” Zecora said drowsily, and pulled him closer. He wrapped her in an embrace for several minutes, before Zecora broke the cuddle and hopped out of bed. Morsidus watched her leave before painfully attempting to stand. It took longer than he would have liked, but he was able to get out of bed and slowly make his way to Twilight’s room, hoping to find her back in their universe. Instead of Twilight, he saw Pinkie Pie asleep. Confused, Morsidus made his way down the stairs and saw Twilight asleep on the couch. As he walked towards the guest bathroom, he caught a glimpse of Zecora’s tail going out the back door, presumably so she could do her meditations. Morsidus made a mental note to join her when he could. Upon entering the bathroom, the first thing he noticed was the stranger he saw in the mirror. He was taken aback by his reflection. Morsidus wasn’t this bloody and bruised pony, covered in bandages from head to hoof, he couldn’t be. Yet, he was. He was bruised, bandaged, scarred up, and missing an ear. His wing had been carefully folded and wrapped up in gauze to avoid infection and further injury. Morsidus returned to the main room and saw Spike trying to wake up Twilight, knowing how she’d hate to sleep in past ten. She sat up just as Morsidus limped in. “Thank you, Spike,” she smiled at her assistant as he ran upstairs to wake up Pinkie. She gasped when she saw Morsidus. “Oh, you look awful!” she said, and trotted over to help him. He brushed her off. “Thanks, Twilight. You really know how to flatter a friend,” Morsidus chuckled. Twilight’s face went red as she apologized for her blunt statement. She hadn’t seen much of him yesterday as she was exhausted after getting Pinkie home. Spike walked down the stairs covered in what was left of a key lime pie. Before anypony could ask, Spike growled, “Did you know Pinkie sleeps with sweets? Because, I sure didn’t!” Then stomped off to wash the pie from his scales. “Is that what you do all day, Twily?” The stallion in the doorway laughed, Morsidus recognized him as the one who originally found him. “SHINING ARMOR!!!” Twilight screamed and ran over to her brother, catching him in a choking hug. A tall, pink alicorn stepped out from behind him, laughing “Aren’t you forgetting somepony?” Twilight cheered and gave Cadence a hug before doing their usual song and dance. “What are you doing here?” Twilight asked. Cadence replied, “Auntie Luna asked Shining to watch for signs of The Followers here, and I took a vacation to be with him.” Twilight’s usual sense of worry and caution kicked in, “But who’s watching over the Crystal Empire? What if the Changelings attack?! What if the Crystal Ponies go on a riot because you left without consulting them?! What if Sombra returns to take control while you're gone?! WHAT IF-” Cadence stopped her ranting by shouting over her in a voice that was as near to the Royal Canterlot Voice as the love princess could get. “TWILIGHT!” Twilight stopped and looked at her, barely noticing Shining Armor’s laughing in the background. “Auntie Tia has already appointed her best guard to watch over the Empire for us, and Auntie Luna has already held discussion with the Crystal Ponies, letting them know that we were taking a short leave of absence.” Morsidus walked away from the two princesses’ conversation to ask Shining Armor a question. “Captain Armor,” Morsidus saluted. “What exactly did the Princess mean by ‘the Followers’?” Shining Armor stared at Morsidus for several seconds before answering, “The Followers of Fang are ponies who believed he would return to destroy the chaos bringer. More than likely, they’ve already heard of his return and re-banishment. Umm... Were you thrown from Cloudsdale or something? You look terrible,” Morsidus shrugged, "Something like that," Shining smiled, “Sorry, also, you don’t need to refer to me as ‘Captain’, Shining Armor is fine. And you?” “Morsidus,” he smiled. “But Pinkie calls me ‘Grimmy’.” “Hey, she calls me ‘Shiny’,” Shining laughed. “And it always gets Cadence so angry!” As if on cue, Pinkie Pie jumped from the staircase and landed on Shining Armor’s chest. “Oh, boy! Shiny’s here, Shiny’s here, Shiny’s here!” She bounced on his chest. Morsidus noticed how the alicorn of love kept her eyes on Pinkie, even when Twilight was talking. Spike ran in, calling for Morsidus. “You got a letter from the Princesses,” he said and handed the scroll parchment to Morsidus. Taking it in his magic, Morsidus read the letter to himself. Dear Morsidus Grim-Record, We send our regards, and hope that you are in better condition today. With our limited knowledge of the dragon, or draquonecuus anatomy in general, we have not been able to come up with any medical treatment for your current condition. However, we ask that you deliver the herbs we’ve included to Zecora, in confidence that she may be able to brew a health potion. Hopefully, her potion will grant you flight in your left wing once again, though as of now, hearing in your ear is still not possible. Sincerest apologies, The Royal Sisters Included in the scroll were various plant-type organisms, which Morsidus brought out to Zecora. Upon seeing them, she gasped and began ranting about how rare they were, and that a potion mixed by these herbs would be at its strongest, especially when brewed by a master. During the commotion caused by Shining and Cadence’s visit, Morsidus was able to slip out the door unnoticed. He drew attention, whether he liked it or not, so he wore his cloak and glasses. Then, he just started walking, not in any particular direction, just away from the main source of his stress, and the reality that a cult was after him. He just walked, stopping maybe midway through for a smoke. He grabbed his cigarettes and lighter from his saddlebag. The pack was brand-new and unopened with a note taped on the side of it, “Saw you were out, so I grabbed a pack on the way back from the market, with Twilight’s written permission, of course. –Spike” Morsidus mad a mental note to thank the small dragon later. The smoke relieved a lot of tension, and he felt better afterwards. Finally looking up from his walk, Morsidus realized that he’d walked all the way out to Sweet Apple Acres. ‘I'm already out here, so maybe I’ll check in with AJ and Mac,’ he thought and went to knock on the door. He managed to knock once before being tackled to the ground by the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Applebloom used her farm skills and quickly hogtied him. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER PONY WRANGLERS!!!” they yelled in unison. The door opened and Applejack looked at the scene in front of her. She grabbed a rope from a hook by the door, and Scootaloo screamed, “ABANDON SHIP!!!” Then, the three fillies started to run away from the cowpony as fast as their tiny legs could carry them. Applejack easily lassoed them and pulled them back. In an attempt to scape, Scootaloo was gnawing on the rope in hopes of chewing through it. Applejack gave the three fillies a good lecture before untying them. They each shouted a quick apology before running off towards Ponyville to “wrastle up some ponies”. “Ah’m sorry ‘bout that, sugar cube. They always get ah lil’ crazy now an’ then,” Applejack apologized and sat down on the porch, motioning for Morsidus to sit too. “Ya look ah lil’ banged up there, Morsidus. Are ya sure it’s all right ta be gallivantin’ out in these parts in yer condition?” Morsidus shrugged. “I’ll heal, I just needed to get away from the stress at the library,” he sighed. “Well, shoot, Morsidus, yer always welcome by whenever ya need ta talk,” Applejack gave him a friendly punch in the shoulder. Morsidus looked around the orchard and a thought came to mind. “You guys wouldn’t happen to need any help around the farm, would you? Because, I’ve got some free time, and I do owe Big Mac some bits,” he asked. Applejack thought for a second and replied, “Well, apple bucking season just kicked off, an’ tha south field did grow ah better harvest than we expected… Ah’ll talk Granny Smith inta hirin’ ya, but yer gonna have ta get here by sunrise, because Granny Smith likes an on-time worker. Are ya sure yer up ta it, though? Apple bucking ain’t easy, an’ it’ll be even harder workin’ in yer condition.” Morsidus stood to walk/limp back to the library, “I’m sure I’ll be able to pull it off. Motion equals emotion, right? Well, the more I work, the easier it’ll be for me to heal up.” Morsidus waved bye as Applejack stood there, dumbfounded by his saying. “Motion equals emotion? What in tarnation is that s’posed ta mean?” She said aloud to herself before turning to walk inside. When Morsidus got back, he was met with a lot of random commotion. Inside, Cadence and Zecora were arguing and throwing things at each other. Shining Armor was lying on the couch reading a magazine, while Twilight was in the kitchen, seemingly oblivious to the tenants destroying her house and each other. Morsidus walked over to Shining Armor, “Umm… What’s all the ruckus about?” Before Shining could answer, Pinkie Pie fell through the roof, landing square on Shining Armor's sensitive parts. “FRACAS!” She screamed, hopped off of her pony cushion, and rushed out the front door, leaving Shining injured on the couch. He grabbed his stallion parts and groaned, rolling off the couch and landing face-first on the floor. “Curse you, Pinkie Piiiie…” he groaned. Somehow managing to pull himself together, he crawled back onto the couch and answered Morsidus’ question, “Z-Zecora noticed my limp and tried to give me a drink to help, but Cadence thought she was trying to flirt with me. For now, it’s best we ignore it until Cadence’s love spell kicks in...” “… Shining, are you crying?” Morsidus asked. “W-what?! Psh! N-no! It’s liquid pride!” “Mmhmm,” Morsidus nodded as he walked into the kitchen and waited for the storm to pass. Minutes later, Cadence and Zecora were heard laughing in the main room. Morsidus walked in and saw that Shining had fallen asleep on the couch, and Cadence was standing over him with a feather while Zecora put shaving cream on his hoof. Cadence tickled his nose with the feather, but got no reaction. Smirking, Morsidus shouted, “YOU GET UP THIS INSTANT, PRIVATE ARMOR!” A second later, Shining stood at attention and saluted. He realized too late what happened as he already had a face full of cream. Cadence and Zecora busted out laughing at his misfortune. An hour later, they heard a knock on the door. Twilight answered to see two Royal Canterlot Guards standing there. As soon as they saw Twilight, they bowed. “Your Majesty, Her Royal Highness requests all of you in Canterlot immediately, apparently there has been a new development involving the Fang Wolf-Shadow case,” one guard said as he lead the ponies to the chariots awaiting them. Nopony said anything, they just snapped into action. Shining put his armor on, Twilight and Cadence grabbed their tiaras, Zecora and Morsidus threw their cloaks on and put the hoods up, and Spike just grabbed his sandwich. They hopped on the chariots and were off to see the Princess. Upon arrival, they were brought to the throne room where Morsidus noticed the new pony right away. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The new pony was a pegasus, with a dark coat and a white mane, but Morsidus ignored everything except the cutie mark. There was only one person he knew with that mark. “Elayas?” The pegasus recognized Morsidus and smiled. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, Elayas Silver-Moon, in Equestria. Morsidus listened intently as Elayas recounted his few memories from before arriving here. Apparently, he only remembers sitting in class when a fire drill went off. He couldn’t remember anything afterwards until waking up here, except that the fire alarm was deafening, much louder than normal. When Elayas finished, Luna nodded and spoke up, “We believe it was Fang Wolf-Shadow, due to the time and nature of this event. It is believed that he is working on breaking the banishing spell again, by sending humans through it so as to weaken it.” They were dismissed and were brought back to Ponyville, taking Elayas with them. Once home, Zecora and Morsidus took Elayas to Fluttershy’s cottage in the hopes that she would house him. Morsidus knocked on the gate to announce their arival. Fluttershy was sitting in the backyard sipping tea with Discord. “Oh, hello, Morsidus,” Fluttershy became her normal, shy, self when she noticed the new pegasus they’d brought along. Morsidus got to the point rather quickly, “Hey, Fluttershy, this is Elayas Silver-Moon. He’s from my world. Twilight's house doesn't have enough room to let him stay with us, so I was hoping that he could stay with you for now. Is that all right?” Fluttershy nodded and poked the ground with her hoof. “Thanks, Fluttershy!” Morsidus shouted and left Elayas with Fluttershy, as he was eager to get some alone time with Zecora. Halfway down the road, Zecora handed Morsidus a small bottle of a shimmering red-green liquid. “Drink all of it in one tip, and do not dare to miss a sip,” she said. “Oookaay? I comply, I guess,” Morsidus said and downed the liquid. It tasted sort of like cheese-but-probably-not-good-cheese and it may have been slightly chocolaty, but it was definitely very salty. “All right,” Morsidus grimaced, “Remind me not to let you cook me dinner. Ever.” “It was a potion of health, though it is finite. It can only heal your wing, but it will do so in less than a minute,” she rhymed and walked into Sugarcube Corner. “GRIMMY!” Pinkie shouted from behind the counter. “How are your boo-boo’s doin’ today? Boy, was that fight epic! Oh, hey, Zecora!” Morsidus laughed, “Yea, they’re getting better. Umm… Pinkie, you do know that you weren’t there when I fought Fang, right?” “Oh, I know, but I read it in the transcript!” She piped cheerily, pulling some cupcakes out of the oven. “The what?” Morsidus asked. “CUPCAKES ARE READY!” Pinkie screamed, then giggled. “So, what can I get you guys?” Morsidus asked for a muffin, but was sad to hear that a pegasus had just came in and bought their last batch. Instead, Morsidus took a small deli sandwich, and Zecora got a chocolate shake. Morsidus began to pay, but Pinkie refused his bits, saying that the defender of the universe didn’t have to pay until his boo-boo’s healed up. They left the bakery and began the trek back to the library. On the way, Morsidus heard several small clicks and noticed a slight bit of rainbow-colored hair in crevices near them. When he got a chance, Morsidus grabbed Rainbow Dash with his magic and pulled her out of the shadows. “Rainbow Dash, do I even really want to know why you’re stalking us with a camera?” Morsidus asked, clearly annoyed. Rainbow looked worried for a second, but quickly bolted into the air and flew off. “I’ll be right back…” Morsidus said. Morsidus threw off his cloak and flew after her, the bandage on his wing falling off after the first few flaps. Rainbow Dash saw that he was gaining on her, so she deployed a tactic she learned at flight camp. She flew straight up and came to an abrupt halt before diving almost straight down. Getting close to the ground, she hit a ninety degree angle and flew parallel to it until nearing Sweet Apple Acres. She was sure that Morsidus had lost her by now, but instead he was getting closer to her. Frantic, Rainbow flew faster until she broke the sound barrier. She was sure she’d lost him after a Sonic Rainboom, but was tackled by Morsidus shortly after reaching the Apples’ barn. Morsidus helped her up, “B-but how?! I did a Sonic Rainboom! Nopony can keep up with that!” she shouted. Morsidus whistled and replied, "Shadow’s Barrier Blast does a pretty good job." Flustered, Rainbow Dash flew away, and Morsidus rested on the roof of the barn and watched the shadow intermingle with the rainbow before dissipating completely. Once it was gone, Morsidus teleported back to Twilight’s house. Unfortunately, Cadence and Zecora were having another argument, and now he was in the middle of it.