I ran through the wooded area with Apple Bloom on my back, the sounds of combat growing louder. The woods seemed to be quite spacious, so it gave me some time to think over what the fuck was happening. ’I feel like I should be freaking out, should I be freaking out?’ I thought to myself idly, wondering if I should be feeling as calm as I was. ’I’m somewhere I’ve never heard of with my body changed big time, and just killed three sentient beings. I should be having a nervous breakdown by this point, but I’m as calm as if I was walking through the park.’ I spared a moment to look back at Apple Bloom, who was holding on tightly to me with her eyes shut tight. ’Poor kid… She shouldn’t be having to go through all this at her age.’ I scoffed mentally, ’I shouldn’t be having to go through this at my age.’
Looking back down at where I was running, I saw that the woods were ending, and I began to slow down. Outside the woods was a group of Changelings surrounding a couple humanoids, similar to Apple Bloom. Stopping by the edge of the woods, I spoke up to Apple Bloom, “Alright. This is where you get off for now.”
She opened her eyes to look at me, “Y-you’re gonna leave me here?” She spoke in a fearful tone.
I shook my head, “I’ll be right back. I promise.” She stared at me for a long moment, before nodding. I knelt down to allow Apple Bloom to get off of my back before stepping out into the open. “Stay hidden.” I told her quietly.
Apple Bloom nodded and ducked down behind a tree as I began to walk towards the group of Changelings. There was about 10 Changelings, most of them armed similarly to the ones I had fought before, except for one. One was taller and more heavily armored, and with a bigger blade than the others. That was probably the leader of the group. He was leaning over the captured humanoids, seemingly taunting them. One of the prisoners attempted to attack the leader, but she was held back by strong chains. Each one of them were wearing white formal dresses, similar to Apple Bloom's. Breaking into a run, I dashed towards the nearest Changeling, alerting them to my presence.
Speeding towards the leader, I attacked with an overhead slash, only for it to bounce off of his larger blade, which was able to move quicker than I could move the Murasama. The sudden recoil threw me for a moment, but that was all the leader needed to land a couple more hits on me, throwing me backwards onto the ground.
I grunted as I hit the dirt, my health dropping to 80%. Growling, I lept into a standing position from my prone position on the ground and sped towards the leader, managing a slash across the chest, only to backflip away from his retaliation, somehow. ’I really shouldn’t know how to do that!’ I thought to myself as I landed. The strike I landed on him seemed to do nothing, even as green blood dripped onto the ground. He stared at me, a smirk on his face, “It’s been awhile since I’ve faced something that challenged me.” He rasped, “Too bad it won’t last that much longer.”
My eyes narrowed at him, “That’s what you think.” I growled as I tightened my grip on the Murasama, “I’m won’t let you hurt anyone else.” I raised the sword over my head and pointed it at him, both hands on the grip.
The Changeling leader laughed at me, a sound that made me shiver. “Don’t interfere.” He told his troops, before looking back at me, “This is between me and him.”
I said nothing to this as we began to circle each other, the Changeling forces watching us with excitement. Looking him over, I desperately tried to find a weakness on him. ’One good thrust through the chest might end him,’ I thought to myself, ’But I’d need to get past his armor first.' My train of thought was abruptly disturbed as the Changeling leader charged me, his sword raised high over his head. Having been forced onto the defensive quickly, I barely managed to block his massive attack. Backstepping quickly, I tried to get some more room, but he was having none of that. He kept as close to me as he could, landing attack and attack on me, each one barely blockable.
Thinking hard, I ducked underneath a horizontal slash of his and kicked his legs out from under him, causing him to fall flat on his face. Moving fast, I lept overhead and as I came down, used the added force to stab right through his armor, ending him. Landing on my feet next to the corpse, green blood pooling around him, I glared at the troops, who stared at me with a mixture of fear and disbelief. “Who’s next!?” I growled, pointing the blood-stained blade towards them.
Predictably, after killing their leader in a most gruesome of ways, they all turned tail and ran towards the castle. Scoffing, I sheathed the Murasama and turned towards the captive humanoids. There were six of them, two with horns, two with wings, and two with neither. ’What the hell is this place!?’ I thought to myself, ’And what the hell is everyone?’ Shaking my head almost imperceptibly, I walked over to them and kneeled down infront of the first one. She had a horn, and lavender colored skin. Her hair was a dark purple, with a pink stripe running down through it. She was bound with just rope, unlike the one who had tried to attack the leader, who was bound with chains. Her horn was encircled with a strange, ring-like object, and her mouth was bound with what looked like a filthy rag. “I’m gonna get you out of these,” I said, hoping she wasn’t going to freak out. “Alright?”
Slowly, and after a moment, she nodded. Gently, I reached around her head to untie the rag. She took a deep breath as it came away from her mouth, “Th-thank you.” She gasped, clearly a bit needy for air. “You saved us.”
"Don't mention it." I told her, snapping the ropes that bound her wrists. "What's that thing on your horn?” I asked her.
As she rubbed her wrist, she groaned, “It’s called a magical inhibitor. As you can probably guess, it cancels out a Unicorn’s magic.”
I blinked, “Unicorns and magic… Yeah, sure…” I muttered, ’What the hell is this place?' Shaking my head, I spoke up again, “Need some help taking it off?”
She nodded, “Yes. When someone places it on a unicorn, it syncs itself with that user's magic, so that it can’t be removed by the one it was placed on.”
I nodded again, “This is so fucking weird…” I muttered quietly as I reached up and grabbed the inhibitor. “What’s your name?” I asked her, “And what are you?” I added, trying to be the least rude-sounding as possible.
She paused for a moment, “You… Don’t know what I am?” She sounded like I was crazy.
“Would I have asked if I didn’t know?” I said, finally managing to get the horn inhibitor off, “Ahh, there.” I said, crushing it in my grip.
She blinked for a moment, “I’m a Unicorn…” She said, poking her horn. “This kinda gives that away.”
I shrugged, “Alright… And your name?”
The Unicorn paused, “Twilight. Twilight Sparkle.”
I smiled, “Nice too meet you Twilight Sparkle, you can call me Raiden.” A muffled yell from next to us drew our attention. The blue one with wings was glaring at us angrily, the chains that bound her rattling. “You said Unicorns had magic, right?” I asked Twilight, who nodded, “Can you use it to get these guys unbound? I’ve got someone to get quick.” I told her, as I began walking back towards the woods, where I found Apple Bloom peaking out from behind a tree.
She looked up at me as I approached, “Is it safe?”
I nodded, “Those Changelings aren’t gonna hurt you now.” I picked her up gently, and placed her on my shoulder, before walking back to the group.
As I approached the group, one of the humanoids that was bound, an orange furred, blond haired woman with a stetson let out an incredibly large gasp and raced towards me, “APPLE BLOOM!” She all but roared.
Apple Bloom lept from my arm and was swept up by the woman into a fierce hug. “Applejack!” Apple Bloom yelled, “Yer Okay!”
“Course Ah’m alright ‘Bloom,” The woman, Applejack, said, “You think some Changelings would hurt me?”
“I’m assuming you two know each other?” I inquired, touched by the closeness the two shared.
“This is mah older sister!” AppleBloom told me, before turning back to Applejack, “This is Raiden! He saved me from some Changelings.”
Applejack looked down to her, surprise in her eyes, “He did?” At Apple Bloom’s nod, she looked up at me, thankfulness in her eyes, “Thank ya.” She told me.
“Don’t mention it.” I said again, before looking over at everyone. “Now. What’s going on? Apple Bloom told me about a queen and that she’s taking over Canterlot…”
Twilight gasped, “That’s right! We have to hurry!” She looked towards me, “Raiden… I know you’ve done so much for us already… But could you help us?”
I did my best to smirk with my metal jaw, “You didn’t even need to ask. Alright, which ones of you can hold your own in a fight?”
The blue woman with wings gave a cocky smirk and pointed to herself with her thumb, “I can!” She boasted, “My names Rainbow Dash! I’m the fastest flyer in Equestria, and I have a black belt in Karate!”
Applejack looked towards me, “Ah reckon ah can hold mah own against these varmints.” She pulled out a whip from… somewhere and did a few roundhouse kicks to demonstrate.
The pink woman with neither a horn or wings smiled hugely, “Ooh ooh!” She bounced around with her hand in the air, “I can! I can!” She pulled out a cannon, a fucking cannon from literally nowhere and started swinging it around like it was nothing. I heard Applejack mutter something about Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie, so I assumed that was her name.
Finally, Twilight spoke up, “My magic will help a lot.” She looked away, “At least, I hope so.”
I nodded, then looked towards the two who hadn’t spoken up, “And what about you two?” I questioned.
The butter yellow woman with wings hid behind her long pink hair, “My... my name’s Fluttershy…” Her voice went so quiet that, had I still had my normal hearing, I would not be able to tell what she said. Thankfully, now with my cyborg senses, I could clearly hear what she said.
The white Unicorn pushed up her curls, “My name is Rarity, fashion designer extraordinaire!” She paused, “And while I assure you, I could hold my own against these… Ruffians…” She shuddered as she spied the dead corpse, “Wouldn’t it be prudent to have somepony or two bring Apple Bloom to safety?”
I nodded, “Good idea. You two, go bring Apple Bloom somewhere safe and stay there. We’ll find you once it’s all over.” They nodded, one brimming with confidence and the other very nervous, before heading off with Apple Bloom to find somewhere safe. “Alright,” I spoke, looking back at Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. “Let’s get going.” And so we went off to take back Canterlot.