The Adventures of Leon Nexus

        When Leon arrived in Ponyville,Twilight had offered him a room in her castle, but he had declined, saying it was too dangerous for him to be too close to anypony.

        "Well then, where are you going to live?" She asked.

        "I'll just stay in the Everfree, I've spent enough time there, and I'm already enough of a burden  for you without me staying here." Twilight looked shocked, while Leon had simply shrugged, "Besides, this way if He takes control, I'll still be close enough to you, and the others, for you to stop me before I become too much of a threat, while also being far enough away that no innocents can get hurt."

        Twilight had thought on it for a few minutes before sighing in defeat.

        "Alright," she said," but I want you to come here first thing every morning for breakfast. Luna said you were to be my responsibility, and that includes making sure you eat."

        Leon rolled his eyes,"Alright, it's a deal."

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        It's been about a week since then, and Leon has held true to his side of the bargain,  afterwards he would study the books in her castle library, still trying to find a way to get rid of Him.

        "Augh!" Leon slammed his head on the table, "There's nothing in this either!" he said as he threw the book he was reading.

        "Ow!"

        "Hm?" Leon raised his head to see Spike sitting on the ground rubbing his head. "Whoops, sorry Spike" He apologized to the baby dragon.

        Spike sighed, "You know I try to keep the books tidy for Twilight, why'd you have to go and throw it?"

        "I'm just frustrated, that's all. It seems like none of these books hold the answer..." Leon replied, gesturing with a hoof at the walls of the library. Books lined the walls, and there were several rows of shelves filled with all sorts of literature, from Daring Do, to Starswirl the bearded.

        "Hey, it's only been a week, I'm sure something will come up." Spike said encouragingly.

        Leon sighed, "You're right Spike. I just have to keep looking." He rose from his seat and went back to scanning the shelves. Spike just shook his head as he watched his friend examine a few books before adding them to a growing stack that he held with his magic.

        "Hmm, this looks promising." Leon thought as he grabbed a book titled, “ Ancient artifacts of Equestria”

        “You do realize that most of the items mentioned in that are just legends and rumors, right?” Spike asked

        Leon raised an eyebrow, “Says the dragon who’s seen the Elements of Harmony, the Tree of Harmony, the Alicorn Amulet, and helped reclaim the Crystal Heart. Just because it’s a legend or a myth doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist..”

        Spike shrugged, “Fair point.”

        Leon rolled his eyes and went back to searching through the book.

        Now there’s bound to be something here… He thought to himself

        Still searching, I see. Another voice replied. You do realize it’s hopeless right? You can’t get rid of me.

        We’ll see about that. Leon replied.

 He began scanning through the book hoping to find anything that may be useful.

"Speaking of the Elements, this has been going on for years, right?" Spike asked

Leon nodded.

"Well, then how come you didn't just try to have Twi and the others use them to get rid of Him?" Spike asked.

"Two reasons. One, the Elements tend to be unpredictable. When Celestia used them against Nightmare Moon, she wanted to save her sister, but instead ended up banishing her to the moon. Whereas when they used them, it freed Luna. It seems like pure luck that Discord was turned to stone twice, and that they were able to free him the same way."

"And for the second reason," Leon turned to Spike," this is my problem. I don't want to drag others into it. I realize that sometimes it can't be helped, but, if I can help it, then I'll keep as many ponies as possible at a distance if it means He will have fewer targets." Leon turned back to the book. "Now, if your curiosity is satisfied, I have research to do."

*THUMP*

Leon jumped and looked towards the sound to see Spike, with a second copy of the book, sitting next to him.

"You might not want us involved, but we're here to help, whether you like it or not." Spike said.

Leon sighed, and turned back to his book, a slight smile on his face.

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Leon yawned as he trudged through the Everfree to his campsite. He and Spike had had no luck yet, they had found a few that seemed promising, but they weren't able to find any clues as to their whereabouts.

He smiled. Despite not finding anything, I'd definitely call today a good day.

Oh?

Leon groaned. And you ruined it.

He chuckled. You're welcome.

Leon sighed, What do you want anyway? You usually seem to show up when you want to taunt me about one thing or another.

Nothing but silence answered the question.

Leon sighed again, "So now you're just deciding to be annoying? Great."

Leon was almost to his campsite, but stopped when he saw the shadow of somepony.

*SNAP*

The Mysterious pony quickly turned towards him, and simply stared.

"Um...hello?"

The shadow spread it's wings, Leon could only stare in shock, they were bat wings?!

A batpony? He thought to himself, What is it doing out here?

"Er...nice wings?" Leon tried a second time for conversation.

The batpony seemed startled by his response, folding it's wings before finally deciding to speak.

"Normally that scares ponies away." She said

"Well, when you live out here for a few years, it takes more than a pair of bat wings to scare you."

"Hmph, I find it hard to believe that any unicorn would spend more than an hour out here."

"Well this is my camp." Leon motioned around the clearing with a hoof, " Complete with tent and firepit." He said," Speaking of which, why don't we chat a bit in the light."

 The bat pony seemed to sigh as she stepped out into the moonlight in front of him. She had a tan coat, and a flowing black mane. Her eyes had slits for pupils, and a darker violet color for her irises. Her Cutie Mark was a picture of the moon, with a sixteenth note in the center.

"There, now maybe introductions are in order, or at least an explanation of what you're doing here." Leon raised a hoof, "As for the former, my name is Leon Nexus, but just Leon is fine too."

The batpony glared at his hoof in obvious distaste. "Moonlit Chord, but Moon is fine, and as for why I'm here, well, that's none of your business." She answered.

Leon lowered his hoof, "Ok, well then, could you please leave, I don't recommend staying here too much longer. The Everfree tends to get worse the later it is."

Moon raised an eyebrow," That's it? Just gonna greet me and kick me out?"

"You obviously don't like unicorns, so unless you want me to grab you a sleeping bag, I suggest you leave before it gets any later."

Moon sneered at him, before taking off into the night.

Leon sat down in the clearing, staring up at the night sky.

There, now hopefully she'll stay-

He heard a rustling in the leaves of a nearby bush, but before he could even get up to investigate, Moonlit was thrown out of the bush, and slammed into him.

"See, this is why I told you to leave earlier." Leon groaned.

"Shut up." Moonlit said as she slowly got off of Leon.

As they got up, Leon was able to see just what had thrown Moon in the first place. What came out was a giant scorpion, it's body seemed to be made out of stars.

"What the hell did you do to piss off a Scorpio!?"

"I didn't do anything!" She shouted.

"I'm pretty sure that it would disagree!"

"Well it doesn’t really matter right now, does it?!"

Leon's horn started to glow.

"What are you-" Moon was cut off as a bright flash emanated from Leon's horn. When her vision cleared she noticed they seemed to be in front of an old castle.

"What is this place?" She wondered out loud.

*THUMP*

"Huh?" Moon turned to see that Leon had collapsed, exhausted. "You ok?"

"That took a lot out of me." Leon said, as he rose,"but I'll be fine. Now as for your  first question, this is the Castle of the Two Sisters. My mentor brought me here a couple years ago, and it's as deep in the woods as I could get us." He explained.

Moonlit gazed at the ruins of the once great castle, when a thought came to mind.

"Wait a minute...You brought us deeper into the forest?! Why not get us out of here?!"

"You really think a simple teleportation spell would get us away from a Star Creature? At most I bought us a few minutes. This way, instead of it following us into town, it'll just follow us deeper in the woods." Leon said,

"Fair point."

"Well, now that I've answered your question, why don't you answer mine. What did you do to anger that Scorpio?"

"I told you, I didn't do anything."

Leon raised an eyebrow.

Moon sighed, "Alright fine, I came in here looking for mangoes, this forest seemed similar to the one near my home, and after I ran into you I decided to keep an eye on you. No matter what you say it's still very unusual to see anypony camping out here. Anyways, I was watching from a nearby bush when I felt something touch me. I instinctively bucked at whatever it was, and then found myself being launched towards you."

"Let me get this straight, you came into the Everfree Forest, one of the most dangerous places in Equestria, to find mangos?" Leon asked, a smirk on his face.

Moon poked him with a hoof, "Go on, laugh, I dare you."

"Alright, alright, geez." He pushed her hoof away," Now we need a good spot to take cover before it gets here."

The two turned to enter the castle, when they heard an ear splitting screech come from behind them.

"That's just my luck." Leon turned just in time to see the Scorpio crashing through the trees. "Ok, different plan, you fly off, and get help. I'll distract it."

Moon looked shocked, "Are you crazy?! There's no way you can keep it distracted."

"We really don't have time to argue about this. GO!"

"Buck that! I'm not going to just leave you here!"

The Scorpio began charging at them.

"Fine then! follow me!" Leon said as he charged into the castle, the Scorpio not far behind.

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"I think *pant* we finally lost it." Moon was leaning against a wall in one of the many hallways of the castle. Leon was peering around the corner, making sure the path was clear.

"I *pant* doubt it. Scorpios are said to have the greatest abilities of tracking *pant*, rivaled only by timber wolves."

"Great, so where is it?"

Leon shrugged,"How should I know?"

Moon groaned, "So what are we supposed to do? I doubt we can fight that thing."

Leon nodded, "That's why I wanted you to leave in the first place. Anyways, let's move, we can't stay in one place for too long."

The two turned a corner and entered a hall filled with empty suits of armor. Every once in awhile there would be a tremor shaking the ruins causing pieces of the ceiling to slowly come apart.

Ugh, why'd I think it was a good idea to lead it here? Luna's going to be so pissed. Leon thought.

As they neared the center of the hall, Leon moved slightly ahead, stepping on a hidden switch as he did so. The floor opened up beneath Moon and she was so surprised by the sudden lack of flooring she momentarily forgot she could fly and fell into the hole.

"You ok down there?" Leon asked

Moon groaned, and looked up at the still open trapdoor, "Yeah, I'm alright, just give me a sec, and I'll fly right up."

"Glad to hear you're ok." Leon said as he lifted his hoof from the switch, closing the trapdoor above her, and leaving her in darkness.

"Um, Leon, you mind doing whatever you did to open that thing again so I can get out."

"Don't worry, I'll be right back."

"What?! Don't you dare leave me down here!"

"Look, just stay quiet, and I'll get the Scorpio out of here. Then come back and get you as soon as I'm sure it's safe."

Leon walked away listening for the sounds of the giant scorpion. Still able to hear Moon's voice yelling at him through the floor.

Meanwhile, Moon was understandably pissed.

This is what I get for trusting a freaking unicorn. How could I have been so stupid! She started slamming her head against the wall, STUPID, STUPID, STU- *click* huh? Moon raised her head, and saw the wall in front of her begin to open up. Guess I found a switch out of here, that dumbass probably thought I was trapped here.

With a smug smile on her face, and some pay back in mind, she walked out of the room to search for Leon.

Leon however, wasn't faring so well

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"Whoa!" He ducked as the Scorpio swung at him with one of it's claws, and continued to run, letting it stay close enough to keep chasing him, and not search for Moon.

This, was your brilliant plan?!

Not exactly the best time right now. Kinda busy, mind bugging me later?

No, I think this is the best- DUCK!

Leon felt himself duck, just in time for the claw to pass right over him, nicking a few hairs. It screeched in frustration at missing it's target once again.

-time to mention just how stupid you're being right now! He finished.

"I already knew it was a stupid plan, but I'm sure Moon will be able to find the exit and get out of here. So unless you have something useful to say, SHUT THE BUCK UP, AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" Leon yelled.

The Scorpio, now convinced that the pony it was chasing was crazy, chose just that moment to swing at him again. This time it hit it's mark, sending Leon flying down the end of the hall, and slamming him into a wall hard enough to crack it. Leon screamed out in pain, and crumpled to the floor.

The scorpion advanced, certain that victory was near. However it paused, when it noticed that it's prey was rising. Now confused, it moved slowly towards Leon, only to pause when he opened his eyes. Leon's left eye now had a slit pupil, and had turned black around the iris. The Scorpio raised it's tail, ready to strike.

Leon simply glared at him. "I dare you try it. However, if you prefer to have your tail attached, I suggest you don't." He still sounded like the same pony, but there was something different with how he spoke. A coldness that showed he was just as likely to keep his word, as well as strike no matter what happened.

It hesitated, but eventually lowered it's tail. Leon smirked, "That's better," His horn began to glow," now here's a little something to remember me by."

He made a slashing motion with his hoof, and the Scorpio screeched in pain, covering one of it's eyes.

"Now beat it." He commanded. The frightened beast wasted no time in running off through the halls to escape.

He chuckled, "You see, that's how you solve a problem, show a little force and it runs off like a little filly."

"What in the name of Tartarus, did you do?" Moon asked as she approached him from down the right hall.

Leon closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, before he collapsed. The last thing he managed to see, was Moon running towards him, worry on her face.

So much for that plan. He thought.

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When Leon finally came to, he moaned slightly from the pain.

"Hey, you awake?" A voice asked.

"I think I'd prefer if I was still asleep."

"Well, I'll go tell your friends you're awake, they've been worried about you."

Leon groaned again, "Of course they were."

He heard the door close and decided to take a look around, not surprisingly, he was in the Ponyville Hospital, What did surprise him was the bat pony asleep on the couch.

"She has not left the hospital since you've been out."

Leon turned to see Luna standing in the doorway. He smiled.

"So I guess you heard, huh."

"Twilight Sparkle sent me a letter as soon as she heard you were in the hospital."

Now he was confused, and looked back at the bat pony on the couch, "You mean she carried me here from the Forest? "

"That is certainly how it seems."

Leon slammed his head back on the pillow. I try to get her to go away, and this happens instead? Great, just great.

"What is troubling you?"

Leon sighed, "I think you of all ponies knows the answer to that question."

Luna's ear twitched as she heard something down the hall. "Well it seems I must depart, your friends will be here soon." And with that, Luna's horn glowed, as she teleported away.

Not a second later, the door burst open as Twilight and Spike entered the room, waking up Moon in the process.

"Huh?! What's going on?!" Moon asked as she tried to make sense of why she was suddenly awoken.

"Oops, sorry Moon. When we found out Leon was awake, we ran over to see him." Twilight apologized.

"What do mean Leon's awake? The nurse would've woken me up for that." Moon said, still trying to wake up.

"I guess she just wanted you to sleep." Leon said,"Speaking of sleep, how long have I been out?"

"Oh, about three or four days." Spike answered, Leon's eyes grew wide, "Don't worry I've been keeping up the search while you were out."

He relaxed a little at that, but still...all that time wasted. He laid back down, and was about to ask them to leave, when his stomach growled.

"I guess being out for so long has made me hungry." He said, embarrassed.

Twilight smiled," Don't worry, Spike and I will go grab you something to eat."

 Spike nodded in agreement, "You can count on us!" He said with a salute.

Leon chuckled, as he saluted the dragon in return.

"Leon?" Moon was now sitting on the couch.

"What?"

"I just wanted to say… I'm sorry."

Leon blinked in surprise,"Sorry for what?"

"It's my fault that the Scorpio came after us in the first place. If I hadn't kicked it..." She stopped as she noticed Leon was laughing. "I'm trying to apologize, here!" She snapped

"Sorry, but how can you apologize for following your instincts? I mean, you didn't know what it was, it could have just as easily been a rabbit or something."

"Whatever, you never told me why you were out there anyways."

"Yes I did, I live there."

"Not what I meant. No one would just live there without a reason."

Leon shrugged, "Doesn’t matter why. I live there because I choose to."

Moon sighed.

"Y'know, you never answered my question as to why you dislike unicorns so much." Leon said, turning to the bat pony.

Moon sighed and got up from the couch. "A group of unicorns killed my parents. I was just a filly at the time." Leon looked at her with understanding. " So, ever since then I've had trouble trusting unicorns in general. However, the night my parents died, I swore to not let any other ponies feel my pain." She looked at Leon, a fierce fire burning in her eyes. "So I became," She unfurled her wings as wide as they could go," Batmare!"

Leon face hoofed at her little joke, as she was now smiling at him, and took a bow for her performance.

"Ok, so what's the real reason?"

Moon shrugged,"Bullies, lots of bullies. Not all of them were unicorns, but a good portion of them were. Over time I just started to think that all unicorns were alike in that regard. So I generally stayed away from them. Although, now I know not all of them are bad." She smiled.

Leon nodded,"Ok, that sounds reasonable. "

"Now will you tell me why you were out there?"

Leon tapped a hoof on his chin for a moment, thinking. "Nah."

Moon stomped a hoof in frustration. "Oh c'mon!" Leon laughed.

"Does it have something to do with your parents?"

Leon's laughter stopped cold,"Look, the less you know about me, the better off you'll be."

Moon was about to ask what he meant when Twilight and Spike returned with some hayburgers. "We brought enough for everyone."

Leon grabbed one with his magic, "Thanks Twi, I didn't realize how hungry I am."

As they ate, Twilight had asked for a detailed retelling of what had happened, and was surprised to hear that a Star Creature had even been roaming the Forest.

"I might need to ask Princess Luna what's going on. Star Creatures tend to stay deeper in the Forest than ponies regularly go." Twilight said.

"You don't think somepony could've done something to make them move do you?" Spike asked.

"Unfortunately, it is a possibility, but it would take an extremely large amount of power to pull off, but we can talk about that later. As for now let's just celebrate that everyone is ok. After all I'd be surprised if Pinkie isn't wanting to throw a party for you."

Leon smiled at the thought."Certainly seems like something she'd do. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if she's already sent out invites." The four of them shared a laugh as they joked about Pinkie Pie's crazy antics.

However, there was a mysterious figure watching the friends laugh together, and smiled. "You may have gotten to keep your little secret safe this time, but who's to say about the next?"