//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Burning Red // by Grey Ghost //------------------------------// I sat down in the castle’s library trying to catch up on all that lost time. Well the good news was, Luna had returned, though I still wish that I could punch that bitch Nightmare Moon in the face. Discord had apparently been reformed, the Crystal Empire had returned, and that dick Tirek had just gone on a rampage across Equestria. The worst news I got? That Equestria hadn’t won a single Gundam Fight in a century. I facepalmed hard at that little tidbit. I was snapped out of my little funk, as the princesses assistant walked in. He was a young dragon by the name of Spike. The little dragon waddled up to me rather nervously, offering me a cup of what looked like hot chocolate. “Um... h-here Your M-majesty...” he mumbled out, not looking directly at me. “Thanks,” I said taking it from him. I took a sip, letting the taste linger in my mouth. “This is pretty good,” I complimented, giving him a smile. “You make it?” “Oh, um... yes...” he said, the scales on his cheeks darkening into a blush. “Hey, relax, I’m not a king in that sense.” I said, leaning back in my seat, taking another sip of my hot chocolate. “I gave that up a long time ago.” “R-really?” he asked, looking up at me. I nodded, gesturing for him to take a seat. He did so, looking more at ease than before. “Then why do they call you king?” “It’s just my title.” I said, showing him my crest. “I only ruled until Celestia and Luna took over.” “Why did you give up your rule to them?” he asked with that wide-eyed look only innocents had. “Well, I’m not really good at fixing things with words, I’m a hands on kinda guy. Ever wonder why Discord has that broken tooth?” “No way!” he said, his eyes widening as I assumed he played out the scenario of me punching that jerk’s tooth out. “That’s amazing!” “Yeah, but it was Tia and Lulu who put him in stone.” I explained, putting my hands behind my head. “As for why I let them take over, that was more StarSwirl’s idea. That guy always had the craziest ideas.” Before he could respond, a very pissed off pegasus, the same one I had knocked out a few hours before, followed by a very anxious looking purple pony princess, whose name is Twilight by the way. “So what’s the big idea knockin’ out a little filly, ya jerk!?” “If I recall, you’re the one I knocked out, you did attack me after all,” I retorted, narrowing my eyes at her, “She challenged me and I answered in kind.” “That’s no excuse to just beat up a kid like that! What if she got injured!?” “I didn’t hit her hard enough for that,” I said, looking into her eyes, “I’ve trained a lot of kids in my time miss.” “Don’t you dare call me “little miss”, jerkface! I don’t care how many kids you’ve trained! You still knocked out a defenseless kid who didn’t know any better!” “First off, I did not knock her out, I knocked you out,” I said, starting to get rather annoyed, “Secondly, it was more of a test than anything.” “Why I oughta-!” The pegasus made to rush at me, but was stopped by the purple princess. “Dash! Calm down! Now let’s try and resolve this situation in a peaceful and friendly manner, alright?” “Ah... you ponies and your power of friendship.” I said with a chuckle, “Always warms my heart.” “So, Your Majesty, care to explain why you decided to ‘test’ Scootaloo like that?” Twilight asked, a distinctly un-amused expression on her face. “A little filly had the courage to challenge me, The King Of Hearts. Girl has potential that I hope to nurture,” I responded, finishing off my hot chocolate, “Really angry though.” “And why is that?” “Why she was angry? I have no idea, you’ll have to ask her.” I said with a shrug. “I see…” Apparently satisfied, Twilight turned away with the cyan pegasus, Rainbow Dash, in her grasp, “Well then, Your Majesty, the Princesses will be here soon, so I would just sit tight and wait for them.” “Good, it’ll be nice to see my best students again.” I said with a little smirk, leaning back in my chair. “I just hope Tia hasn’t gotten fat from all the cake she eats.” “Wait, WHAT!?” Twilight whirled around, accidentally flinging Rainbow Dash out of the window, and pinned me with a glare that almost, almost, made me cringe. “I stand by what I said,” I replied, meeting to glare, “Tia eats a ton of cake, I swear my training was the only thing that kept her healthy.” “You take that back right now, mister! I don’t care if you’re the King of Hearts or not! Nobody gets away with saying that about Princess Celestia!” “I’m her master,” I argued, “I can criticise her all I wish.” Twilight just growled in frustrations before storming out of the library, her mane and tail visibly smoking behind her. “Well she’s fun.” I said with a laugh, closing my eyes. “Spike would you mind waking me up when they get here?” “Um...sure,” he said as I drifted off to sleep. “Uh, Your Majesty? The Princesses are here,” Spike’s voice cut into my dream, waking me up. As I opened my eyes, I noticed my old students standing there, Tia looking noticeable larger, though nowhere near fat. “Master Domon? Is it truly you? We hath not seen thee in so long! We apologize for banishing you as Nightmare Moon, twas truly a despicable act, one we regret most deeply,” Luna bowed to me, just like she always used to whenever she was apologizing to me for something she did wrong. “Luna, please get up.” I said with a yawn, stretching my limbs out, “If anything, I’d love to punch out Nightmare for making me miss a thousand years.” She stood quickly, tears still in her eyes, “But Master! Surely thou art even the slightest bit disappointed by our heinous act! Twas our mind that fell to the Darkness! We banished you for a thousand years!” “We all make mistakes Luna,” I said, giving her a reassuring smile. “If anything, I’m more disappointed with your sister, who has obviously been slacking her ass off.” I said, giving Celestia a disappointed stare. “I-I don’t know what your talking about master,” Celestia said, crossing her arms, though I noted the self-conscious look in her eyes. “What do you think Luna?” I ask, never breaking my stare. Luna turned to regard her sister, a glimmer of humor appearing in her eyes, “No offense sister, but thou truly hast let thyself go over the last thousand years. I remember a time when thine belly fat was but a distant worry on your brow.” “Fine, perhaps I have gained a few pounds...” Celestia mumbled, looking away from us with a pout. “A few!? A few would have had thine abdominals padded with an alluring layer of beauty! Thine weight hath surely increased by more than just a few! Look at thyself! Thou art all squishy and soft, and thine abdominals! Thou were so proud of them! And now they hath all but vanished from the face of Equestria!” Luna opened the front of her dress, baring her abs at her sister, “Look, sister! Mine abdominals were never so proud as thine own were, but after a thousand years, even mine admittedly puny abdominals have eclipsed thine own!” I couldn’t help it, I fell out of my chair, laughing my ass off. Luna was always my favorite of the two, even with all the Nightmare Moon stuff. She is just so damned funny, “Oh my sides!” “L-Luna!” Celestia stuttered, looking at her sister with wide eyes, “Close your dress! We have a child here!” Reluctantly, she did so, “Tch. Dear sister, the damage t’would not be so harsh if thou didst not stuff cake down thine throat like t’was the very air we breathe,” She smirked, “As the case may be, however, tis thine own fault that thou hast become so…. so…. soft. Thou must have had plenty of chances to retain thine musculature and grandeur. Perhaps thou art simply lazy? T’would be an interesting change from the driven mare that we had known those thousand years past.” “Okay, okay... thats enough picking on Tia,” I said, climbing back into my chair, “Besides, it looks like Twilight is going to explode.” I moved my gaze to the youngest alicorn, whose eye was twitching, looking like she was going to explode. “Ah! Young Twilight! We didst not notice thou sitting there whilst we poked fun at our sister’s lack of exercise! Tell us, how art thou doing?” “Twilight, are you alright?”Celestia asked, turning to her former student. “Huh?” she asked blinking Princess! How could you let them just laugh at you like that!? You aren’t that soft! You still have muscles! Tell them!” The newest Princess was visibly smoking again, this time with a tiny flame building on top of a stray hair. “Twilight, we have been over this,” Celestia said, giving an exasperated sigh, “Just because I am a Princess, does not mean that I am above criticism. Besides, Luna and Master Domon are family, I can endure some family teasing.” “But-! But-! Princess!” “Twilight, just relax.” Celestia said, holding her hands up. “Now just take a deep breath like Cadence taught you.” As Twilight attempted to calm herself with deep breaths, she slowly ceased to smoulder and the flame on her tail went out, “Okay. I’m calm now. Nice and calm. Yes.” “Ok, now that everyone is calm, we have things to discuss,” I gestured for all of them to sit down. ”First off, how the hell do you lose the tournament for a straight century?” I looked between my former students. “Well?” “WHAT!? TIA! THOU HAST NOT WON A SINGLE TOURNAMENT IN THE LAST CENTURY!? WHEN WE HATH POKED FUN AT THINE SOFTNESS, WE DID NOT EXPECT FOR THINE LACK OF STRENGTH TO APPLY TO OUR FAIR NATION AS WELL! WHAT HAST THOU BEEN DOING!?” “I’ve tried, okay!?” Celestia snapped, looking at Luna. “Ponies don’t have the drive they used to... a side effect of our Harmony I’m afraid...” “I have a easy solution to this,” I spoke, cutting into their little argument. “And what would that be, Master?” Luna asked, a confused look spreading on her face. “Simple, I’ll fight for Equestria in the next tournament.” “Master!? Surely thou cannot be serious!” “Oh? Why can’t I be?” “Thou hast only just returned from thine banishment! Surely thou art not at thine prime!” “I’m going to let that slide Luna,” I said, giving her a rather annoyed look. “Now Sparkle,” I said, looking at her. “Ah! Yes, Your Majesty?” “Do you know if anyone has found the Burning?” I asked, simply looking at her. “Th-The what? I’m afraid I’m not familiar with… whatever that is,” she glanced to the side, apparently ashamed at her lack of knowledge. “My Gundam, has anyone found it?” I stated, more to the point. Luna cut in before Twilight could speak, “Thou hast lost thine Gundam!? Such a travesty must be remedied posthaste! Come, sister, Twilight, we must search for our Master’s prized Gundam at once, lest someone else lay their unworthy hands upon it!” “That is not what I meant. You both know that I hid it when I wasn’t using it, my question was if anyone found it while I was gone.” “Ah. That was what thou meant. Forgive us.” Luna had the grace to look embarrassed about her slip up. “From my knowledge Master, your Gundam is wherever you left it.” Celestia said, bringing a smile to my face. “Good, then that’s one less thing to worry about.” “So, Your Majesty, you mentioned earlier that you hoped to nurture Scootaloo’s potential?” “Yes I do,” I said, nodding my head. “What do you know about her?” Twilight tapped her chin, “Well, not much to be honest. But I do know that her mother was the previous champion for Equestria… she died in an accident and her father left her, so Scootaloo is currently an orphan. She likes extreme stunts, as I recall; and also is part of a group called ‘The Cutie Mark Crusaders’ who are obsessed with searching for their Cutie Marks. “That explains her anger...” I muttered to myself, shaking my head. “Well then, my mind is made up,” I got to my feet, cracking my neck, “I shall make Scootaloo my apprentice.” Shock filled their faces all around. “What!?” “Did I stutter!” “But! Master! Art thou sure thou canst handle it so soon after thine return?” Luna had apparently thought that my thousand years of banishment had turned me as soft as Celestia. “I am not a child Luna, I am can handle a filly.” I retorted, crossing my arms. “If that is what thou desires, Master, then I cannot deny thine will.” “Good,” I said with a smile, getting to my feet. I move past them all, walking with a confident stride. “Well lets go, I’m getting my apprentice.” I found Scootaloo at what Twilight told me was her club house. From the sounds of it, she was punching the wall. “Hey!” I called up to her, standing at the base of the tree. “Huh? Who’s there?” “Who do you think?” “Hey, it’s you! The King of Hearts! Train me!” “Huh, I was just about to come to you about being my apprentice. Great minds think a like huh?” I asked with a smile. “You were what!? I’m sold! This is gonna be so awesome!” “Scootaloo,” I said, kneeling down in front of her, “This isn’t something to take lightly.We’re going to be leaving today, you won’t see your friends for at least a year.” “O-oh…” “Hey, be strong ok? Stick with me and no one will be able to stop you,” I say with a smirk, looking into her eyes. “Then… then fine! Let’s do this!” “Good,” I said with a smile, getting up, “Come on, we have to get to Canterlot.... also we’re getting you a tutor.” “Why would I need a tutor?” She asked. “I’m not letting you drop out of school,” I say with a laugh. “Oh…. Oh come on!” “Hey, don’t complain,” I scowled, looking down at her. “Why don’t you go say goodbye? I’ll wait for ya.” “Yessir!” She saluted and ran off. I smiled as I watched her run off. This was going to be some tournament.