//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Old friends // Story: Bloodborne: The Blood of the Old Gods // by Lady Maria //------------------------------//         Twilight, Spike, and all the guards stood still in shock with their jaws slacked as Lagnus addressed Princess Celestia as a common pony. Princess Celestia stood stunned for a moment to see her old hunting partner/mentor locked up in a cage like an animal. Lagnus walked forward and reached out for his old friend, “I thought I’d never see you again dear Castiella” Lagnus says, smiling with pure unadulterated joy. Princess Celestia snapped out of her daze and smiled, “Lagnus my friend, you know I don’t lie to those who are important to me,” Princess Celestia answers, making Lagnus chuckle and nod his head slightly. “Oh how foolish of me to think that. I should know you well enough that you must have plucked some strings to reunite us together,” Lagnus says, smiling as Princess Celestia used her magic to unlock the door. As she did this, the others gasped and the guards pointed their spears at Lagnus to which Princess Celestia glared at them and used her telekinesis to rip the weapons out of their grip and broke the spears in half, protecting her old friend from her overreacting guards. “P-princess you know Lagnus? B-but how?” Twilight asks as Spike and the rest of the Elements of Harmony nodded in agreement, thinking the same thing. “Well, let’s go upstairs and sit in the living room so Lagnus and I can explain. Also, guards, you are dismissed take the chariot back to Canterlot. I’ll teleport myself there,” Princess Celestia says as the guards nervously left, unsure if this was the right thing to do. As the guards vacated the library and flew off, Princess Celestia went upstairs with Lagnus next to her. Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, AJ, Fluttershy, and Rarity followed cautiously. However, Pinkie was not surprisingly excited and cheerful as she usually was when new ponies came to town. As they got upstairs, Princess Celestia had already set up the chairs and couches in a circle enough for each pony and person there. Princess Celestia and Lagnus sat next to each other as the rest took their seats and looked at Princess Celestia. “So how did you two meet?” Twilight asks as Lagnus chuckled. “Well in my time we met around thirty years ago. But for dear Celestia, we met in the year 1200 AD for this world’s time period,” Lagnus says as Twilight’s jaw dropped. “But that means you two met over eight hundred years ago! If by your world’s time standards you were around thirty you must be around one thousand six hundred years old here,” Twilight says, doing the math roughly since Lagnus appeared to be around seventy five to eighty years old. “Well I wouldn’t say I’d be one thousand six hundred years old. By doing the math every twenty six and a half years for me is one centry for you. So since I was about eighty when I died at the hands of my last apprentice, I should be roughly around three hundred years old here,” Lagnus says as he took off his black top hat and fixed his hair a bit. “Well anyways, let’s get to how I actually met Castiella here hmm?” he asks as Celestia giggled a bit at her old hunter name. “Lagnus, please, just call me Celestia. Castiella was my hunter name and I don’t hunt anymore,” Princess Celestia says, making Lagnus chuckle. “Okay Celestia, you’re so picky,” Lagnus says as he cleared his throat and began to tell the story.         Lagnus walked down a pathway holding his hunter axe as he had just killed a group of drunken hunters and a few minor beasts. Lagnus was stuck in the nightmare and for the past few hours he had been trying to find a way out. But no matter where he went it came to a dead end. For some odd reason it felt as if he was forgetting where he had been, causing him to go in endless circles for hours and hours.         Lagnus decided to rest in a building he was close to. Lagnus opened the door and cleared out the room by smashing boxes and killing any enemy that would show itself. Lagnus sat down against a wall and lit his handheld lamp for a small source of light. Lagnus closed his eyes and rested, gathering his thoughts and wits. The house Lagnus had chosen to rest in was like any small Yharnamites’ house would be. It had a few book shelves half stocked with books and few cobwebs in the far, hard to reach corners of the room. There was a table surrounded by four chairs, two on each side. On the table was a few dirty and dusty dishes and a burnt out candle stick  made of cheap, easy to break metal, and there was a small makeshift bed made out of hay, rags, and torn blankets. To any middle or upper class person this sight would be disgusting and depressing with the lack of light in the two room house. But to a hunter this was suitable. Most hunters lived on the streets or in abandoned buildings due to how much they were despised. But strangely, whenever the night of the hunt came, people would kiss hunter’s feet and beg them to help. It was a sad and frustrating job, but no one else would do it. Lagnus let out an exhausted sigh while rubbing his temples. However, as he did Lagnus heard yelling: it didn’t sound like any normal hunter, in fact it sounded like a female citizen. Lagnus jumped to his feet and rushed to the source of the sound and found a fairly beautiful woman surrounded by two hunters and a few of their rabid dogs.         This woman had no weapons, but it seemed like she was using the arcane arts to protect herself. But Lagnus knew most arcane attacks wouldn’t phase normal hunters that much. Lagnus narrowed his eyes and got up onto a rooftop behind them and whistled loudly. As Lagnus whistled the two hunters and their dogs turned around, allowing Lagnus to jump off the building, smashing down onto three of the dogs that were close together, killing them.         One of the hunters attempted to attack with his beast cutter, but Lagnus shot the man in the gut as the hunter was reeling up to attack Lagnus. The shot itself downed the hunter as Lagnus dashed forward, countering the hunter by sticking his blade into him and ripping it out, tearing his lower ribcage and stomach open, ultimately killing the hunter. At this point the last dog was scared away and left the other hunter to fight Lagnus one on one. Lagnus extended his axe into its full form as the other hunter ran forward, shouting something about blood.         Lagnus dashed to the side and struck the hunter in the back. This allowed Lagnus to backstab the poor sod and paralyze the man from the waist down. Lagus then finished him off by using his axe to behead the man. Lagnus breathed heavily for a moment before looking up at the woman.         “Miss, are you alright?” Lagnus asked, looking at the woman with the multi colored hair as she looked like she was royalty of some sort.         “I think so,” the woman says as she stood up and wobbled a bit, brushing herself off. Lagnus checked if she had any wounds. She did have a few bruises and scrapes, but nothing major.         “What’s your name?” Lagnus asks as the woman gained her balance.          The woman thought a bit, rubbing her head, “My name is Castiella,” Celestia says, giving herself a fake name that sort of matched the place and era she seemed to be in         “Castiella hmm? It’s a good name, but how did someone like you end up in the Hunter’s Nightmare?” Lagnus asks, looking at her with his eyebrow raised.         “I’m not sure. I think I was trying to cast a new spell and it backfired, sending me here,” Celestia answers as Lagnus chuckled.         “Did you attend Byrgenweth and learn your magic there?” Lagnus asks as Celestia shook her head.         “N-no. I’m from somewhere else far far away from here,” Celestia says, looking around. Lagnus nodded in understanding as he looked through his pouch and got out a fairly powerful weapon for her. Lagnus pulled out his Reiterpallasch and handed the rapiereque weapon to her along with a simple hunter’s pistol.         “Here, take these. You’re going to need them out here. Arcane magic will not do much to most things here so you must rely on your blade and skill,” Lagnus says as Celestia took the two weapons, thanking Lagnus silently as she got a feel for them.         Celestia eventually tested out the weapon and it was perfect. She had lots of dexterity and skill with the weapon. Lagnus smiled and looked up as he got some hunter garbs out that he thought would fit, “Here, take these. This will be a sort of armor for you,” Lagnus says as Celestia put on the boots, then the coat, then the gloves, and finally the facemask and the feathered cap.         Lagnus and Celestia explored for a few more hours, killing beasts and hunters until they came upon an underground area with a lake of blood and bodies stacked up several feet. Lagnus and Celestia walked in carefully as a nearly dead person started speaking.         “Help. Help us... Help,” he pleaded as Lagnus looked forward mere seconds later Lagnus heard a booming like footstep. “An unsightly beast… Ludwig the Accursed comes. Have mercy on us! Have mercy!” the man says as Ludwig roared, its sheer volume splitting their ears.         Ludwig charged forward as Lagnus grabbed Celestia, holding her close before rolling out of the way, “Take cover, let me handle this!” Lagnus said, imbuing his axe with fire and dashing forward to land multiple blows on Ludwig, dodging the former hunter’s attacks. Lagnus and Ludwig battled it out as Lagnus landed at least a few dozen hits before being hit himself. As Lagnus and Ludwig circled each other, Ludwig screamed, jumping high into the air as Lagnus looked up to see Ludwig descending onto him.         With mere seconds to react, Lagnus rolled out of the way, but was still partially hit by the attack. Lagnus grunted, rolling to the side and unable to get up in time before Ludwig could kill him. Celestia saw this and narrowed her eyes quickly, casting a large fire spell, hitting Ludwig and sending the beast flying into the wall as Celestia used her magic to heal Lagnus and get him to his feet. Ludwig got up and screamed again, shaking his head before attempting to ram into Lagnus and Celestia. Celestia snapped her fingers, teleporting the two to the other side of the room and charged up her magic again, shooting a massive fireball at Ludwig as he stood at the end of the room near to where he was when they had entered the room.         The spell downed Ludwig as he fell to the ground, the sword on his back flipping in the air several times before landing in the ground. The sword was glowing it’s turquoise glow as it shimmered and shined, emitting a high pitched sound. Ludwig opened his eyes to see his beloved Moonlight Greatsword shining beside him.         “Ahh, you were at my side all along!” Ludwig stood up, picking up his sword. He held it high in the air, “My true mentor! My guiding moonlight!” Ludwig says as he faced Lagnus and Celestia as he held the blade in front of the left half of his face, making the other side much more visible.         Lagnus stepped backwards seeing the blade that Ludwig possessed. He thought it was a mere legend, but here it is. The most powerful sword in existence right before him. Ludwig was going to fight them with the legendary Holy Moonlight Greatsword.         Celestia however wasn’t phased as she held her weapon tightly and ran forward, dodging each swing Ludwig performed. Celestia struck Ludwig multiple times with fury and malice as Lagnus decided to join in as he extended his axe and let out his battle cry, charging forward and bringing his gargantuan axe blade down on Ludwig.         Ludwig was now dealing with one powerful hunter and a pissed off sorceress at the same time. He had to divide his attention between the two and try to fight them both without taking damage. But it was impossible, Lagnus’ speed and strength was overwhelming while Celestia’s strong magic was near crippling. Ludwig knew he was going to lose, but he wouldn’t go down peacefully. Ludwig stuck his sword into the ground as it glowed intensely and grunted, pushing it in and blowing the two away from his body.         Lagnus got up and started dashing around Ludwig in a clockwise fashion as Celestia continuously fired skin melting fire balls at Ludwig. Ludwig lifted his sword in the air, sending out a small shockwave, knocking Lagnus down and damaging him slightly. Ludwig then turned to Celestia and brought his sword down, sending an absolutely massive wave of raw magic at her as it rose out of the ground like a lava geyser.         Celestia, unmoved by this, conjured up a shield and blocked the attack, her hair being blown back by the wind rapidly as she gritted her teeth. As the wave subsided, Lagnus continued to strike Ludwig’s legs as Ludwig felt his last bits of life leaving him. Celestia then lifted up her hand, revealing it to be surrounded by golden lightning as Ludwig was kneeling and breathing hard, looking at the person who was to defeat him. Ludwig simply closed his eyes, accepting his defeat as Celestia shot the lightning bolt through his chest, making his body explode. Ludwig’s head sat in a corner as Lagnus walked up to him.         “Good hunter of the church, are my hunters as honorable as I hoped?” Ludwig asks, breathing slowly somehow.         Lagnus deeply felt bad about the state Ludwig was in and didn’t have the heart to tell him that his efforts were all for nothing, “Yes Ludwig, they were that and so much more,” Lagnus says, lying as Ludwig gave a sigh of relief.         “Ah good. Now I can finally rest… Even in the darkest of nights I still see… the moonlight,” Ludwig says before resting and closing his eyes as he had dropped his sword for its next truly worthy successor, Lagnus.         Lagnus picked up the blade and stared at it. Lagnus dropped his axe, abandoning it for the Holy Moonlight Greatsword. Lagnus turned around, holding the blade to face Celestia, “Well we still have a long way to go Castiella, shall we go through this together and end the suffering of everyone trapped here?” Lagnus asks and Celestia nods.         “You’re damn right we will,” Celestia said as Lagnus held out his hand. The two shook hands, forming one of the most legendary hunter partnerships known. With the agreement the two went forward with their new allegiance formed and proceeded through the nightmare. “So that’s how we met,” Celestia says, finishing explaining her part as Lagnus chuckled. Rainbow Dash seemed jealous of their adventure that had just started. She didn’t want to admit it, but it was better than most Daring Do books. Lagnus looked at the others as Pinkie spoke up, “So what you’re saying Mr. Lagnus… Is that you andtheprincesswentonasuperawesomeadventureandslewgreatbeaststoreturnPrincessCelestiatoEquestria?!” Pinkie says, smashing her words together and talking so fast that Lagnus couldn’t understand half of what she said. “Um. Yes?” Lagnus answered as Pinkie took in a huge breath, seemingly levitating off her seat. “SOOOOO COOOOOL!” Pinkie shouts before landing back on the cushioned chair with a poof. Lagnus looked at Pinkie, confused as everyone else laughed, “I don’t get it, what’s so funny?” Lagnus asks as everyone giggled. Everyone stopped giggling as Princess Celestia leaned over to Twilight and whispered something to her, making her smile and agree. Lagnus read her lips as she said, “Yes I think we should do that, he might like it,” Twilight says as she told everyone and had them take Lagnus around town while Celestia, Pinkie, and Twilight stayed there to prepare something for tonight. AJ, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash came over. Rarity cleared her throat, “How about we show you around town Lagnus my dear?” Rarity says as Lagnus shrugged, not to curious as to what they were up to. “Well uh, alright, where are we going?” Lagnus asks as Rarity nudged him along. “Oh, we’re going to my boutique first. I have to see what style of cloths you wear. It’s absolutely stunning!” Rarity said as she admired the royal attire of the Cainhurst Knights and all its fancy and expensive glory. Lagnus walked along as Rarity lead him and the others to her both her home and shop. As Lagnus walked through Ponyville, Rainbow Dash asked Lagnus dozens of questions about his time as a hunter and his most awesome adventures. “So Lagnus, who was the toughest enemy you’ve ever fought?” Rainbow Dash asks as Lagnus tapped his chin, thinking since he had faced and slain so many enemies. “Well Ms. Dash, I’d have to say my toughest battle was with my apprentice Aligarus. The reason he is my choice is because never had I been beaten, or in his case, killed by another hunter. See, before I came here Aligarus and I had a fight that lasted for what seemed like hours before he ended up killing me. Then some time later I appeared here,” Lagnus explained as Dash thought about what he just said. Their conversation was cut short by Rarity pulling Lagnus into her shop and placing him on her modeling stage. Rarity levitated over her measuring tape and started to measure Lagnus’ height, waistline, arm length, leg length, and so on. Eventually, she finished measuring him and smiled. “What kind of outfit would you desire dearie?” Rarity asks as Lagnus was a bit weirded out by her sudden actions. Lagnus thought a bit about his style and how he’d wish to look intimidating yet still heroic in some ways. Lagnus thought of how the Healing Church garbs and outfits were designed and how the Old Hunters would dress along with other types of armor out there. He decided to mix the categories together and make them into one intimidating and heroic outfit. Lagnus went over to a piece of paper, sketching out the trench coat and its designs, the waist cloth torn and ragged to give it that grim reaper like feel while the bottom of his coat that would be near his feet was the same way, but had a symbol on it that belonged to all hunters. His hat was designed much like the Old hunter’s hats were, except the hat was obsidian black along with the grey face mask and the cap had several raven feathers in it like Lady Maria’s or Old Hunter Henryk’s was. The gloves were lightly armored with a layer of blackish grey leatheresque cloth over them. His pants and boots were designed similarly to his outfit and made to be aerodynamic and very resistant so he could hunt better. Once Lagnus finished his designs, he showed Rarity the picture as she put on her slightly tacky red old woman glasses. She examined the details and design Lagnus put into the outfit, making it look extremely expensive and yet the outfit would look decades old. “Well I can definitely make this, but the light armored body suit underneath would have to be made by an extremely skilled blacksmith and enchanted by Celestia or even Twilight herself. But I’m sure I can work this out. I’ll have the outfit ready by tonight,” Rarity proclaims proudly. Lagnus raised his eyebrow, doubting she could make an outfit like that in less than a day. Regular hunter outfits take five days to make, at the least this outfit would have to take months or years to make. Lagnus doubted she could do this, but nonetheless it wouldn’t hurt to let her try. Lagnus thanked Rarity as she pushed everyone out, saying she needed peace and quiet to work effectively. As Lagnus and the others stood outside Pinkie jumped in the air excited, “Oooh! Let’s go to Sugarcube Corner! I have LOTS of things to show you Laggy!” Pinkie says, jumping up and down like someone who just smoked five pounds of meth and took several doses of speed. Pinkie grabs Lagnus by the arm and literally drags him to her home and workplace faster than Rainbow Dash would ever hope to fly. Pinkie was like a pink blur speeding through town, kicking up seven to eight foot walls of dust and dirt behind her as she ran to Sugarcube Corner in mere seconds when she was all the way across town. Pinkie stopped mid run in front of the shop doors and sent Lagnus flying into a nearby wall. Lagnus fell to his knees, holding his head as he was about to throw up all of his meals from the past few days. Lagnus slowly got up, holding his head, “Ms. Pinkie Pie, never… Ever! Do that do me again!” Lagnus hissed, walking over while holding his gut. “Oh okay Laggy,” Pinkie says, doing her signature giggle snort. Pinkie signalled for Lagnus to follow as she entered her workplace happily. Mrs. Cake was at the counter when she heard the doorbell ring as Pinkie walked in, “Oh my Pinkie, you seem happy. Who did you bring here toda…” Mrs. Cake went dead silent when she saw a six and a half foot man walk into her shop with a greatsword that glowed a turquoise green color behind Pinkie, followed by AJ, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Mrs. Cake stared at the human in front of her, “O-oh Pinkie, who is this... lovely guest you brought in today?” Mrs. Cake says, clearly shaken by Lagnus’ presence. “Oh this is Lagnus, he’s a hunter of beasts!” Pinkie says as Lagnus stared at Mrs. Cake emotionlessly before doing some kind of bow where he put his left arm out with his palm facing outwards, his fingers curled slightly as he leaned back, bending his right knee a bit before returning to stand like a normal person. As Pinkie started to blab on about how Lagnus was new and how they met him, mentioning the manticores and extremely violent details, Mrs. Cake gulped. Soon, Pinkie finished her story. Mrs. Cake sighed, “S-so Mr. Lagnus, what would you like?” she asked as Lagnus examined the menu, most of it being composed of food he couldn’t eat because of the flowers, hay, and other things they used. “I guess I’ll have an ice cream if that’s what you people call it,” Lagnus says, not knowing what in the sam hell ice cream was. Mrs. Cake nodded and got out of the room as fast as she could as AJ, Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie sat at a table, telling Lagnus to sit with them. Lagnus sat down and looked at Pinkie, AJ, and Dash as they talked. He stared off into space, blocking out all sound for a few minutes before he felt a tug on his jacket. Lagnus snapped out of his daze and looked over at Fluttershy, who was looking down at her hooves. “Umm Lagnus, I wanted to kinda see what type of animal you are exactly. When we visit my house, can I see your smaller beast form?” Fluttershy asks meekly, not making eye contact with Lagnus. “Uuuh sure I guess,” Lagnus says, a bit weirded out by the question. As Lagnus looked forward again, their meals had arrived and Lagnus had a bowl of chocolate and vanilla ice cream in front of him. Lagnus picked up his spoon and took a small portion of the frozen treat into his spoon. Lagnus put the spoon into his mouth and his eyes widened as the taste of this food was incredible! It was like nothing he had ever experienced. Lagnus then quickly downed the bowl of ice cream, not knowing that it would give him terrible brain freeze because of it. Once Lagnus finished and laid back, a sudden massive and very painful headache hit him like a truck. Lagnus held his head and groaned as the other girls laughed a bit at Lagnus’ brainfreeze experience. “Ya okay there buddy?” AJ asks as Lagnus grunted in frustration in response. This made the girls giggle again and they eventually finished their food, paying for it and walked out of Sugarcube Corner while Fluttershy led them to her cottage. The walk was about ten to fifteen minutes and had a fairly beautiful path leading to it. It was decorated by flowers, tall grass, beautifully grown oak and birch trees, and plenty of birds singing all sorts of songs as they walked past. Eventually they reached Fluttershy’s home and she lead them around the back into her porch where she let everyone sit in chairs as she had Lagnus shift into his smaller beast form. Instead of being absolutely massive like he was before, Lagnus shifted into a four armed and six eyed wolf that was the size of a great dane or a large timber wolf. Lagnus stood on all fours as his sleek jet black fur shined a bit in the sunlight. Fluttershy went to get her medical supplies and came back with them in a handbag. She walked over to Lagnus as he stared at her while she got a syringe to take a blood sample. Lagnus sat still through the whole thing, letting her draw some of his beast blood. Lagnus looked over at Dash who was looking at Lagnus like he was the most badass thing since the Wonderbolts. As Fluttershy finished drawing blood, Lagnus shook off his coat like a dog would if it was wet. Lagnus looked at Fluttershy as she examined his body structure and how it worked. Of course it was very similar to a wolf’s anatomy aside from the extra pair of arms and that his four forepaws were large furry hands, along with his six eyes that were colored a deep crimson that glowed faintly. Other than that, Lagnus was pretty much like a wolf in body and build. Fluttershy pulled out a stethoscope and listened to Lagnus’ heart beat slowly and steadily. Fluttershy eventually put her supplies on the table and sighed a bit, “Well you are built like and your body functions like most wolves despite the extra arms, the hands, and six eyes. but other then that you’re normal and abnormally healthy,” Fluttershy says as Lagnus stared at her, blinking a few times before standing up on his hind legs and shifting back into his human form. The fur from Lagnus’ body retracted into his skin like his other set of arms did. Lagnus’ legs shifted and became human again as his claws retracted too, followed by his muscles, ligaments, and organs shifting as his bones cracked and shrank and grew and he returned back to normal. Lagnus was wearing his hunter garb as he had been before and stretched a bit as the four other eyes on his head were covered by his skin and flesh mending itself together. The whole process was disgusting and incredibly painful, but Lagnus didn’t bat an eyelid or scream like most would. Dash and AJ got up as Fluttershy said she’d stay home and prep for whatever was going on this evening. They finally went to AJ’s farm as AJ showed Lagnus the trees and what she did on a day to day basis ever since she was a filly. AJ showed Lagnus how she kicked the trees and smiled, “See only earth ponies such as myself have enough strength to kick these trees hard enough to get these apples down into the baskets here,” AJ says, crossing her left fore hoof over the right and smiled cockily.         “Ms. AJ, I doubt only earth ponies can do something like that. I’m sure other ponies such as pegasi and unicorns can do this with enough training. I’m pretty sure I could do this,” Lagnus says, looking at AJ who scoffed.         “Oh yeah, well show me. Kick this tree hard enough to shake the apples off,” AJ says, challenging Lagnus as Dash looked on, wanting to participate in this.         “Hey, I bet I could beat both of you!” Dash says, going to a tree beside AJ as Lagnus stood to AJ’s right.         “Whatever Dash, Imma whoop both your asses,” AJ says with her thick south western accent. AJ went first, kicking her tree, making it wobble hard and shaking almost all the apples off the tree she striked.         Dash watched and rolled her eyes, “Pfft! I can totally beat that,” Dash says, kicking the tree behind her and shaking off about a quarter of the apples. AJ and Lagnus laughed a bit at Dash’s weak example of apple farming, making her face glow red with anger. “Alright Lagnus, since you think you're all that, how about you kick the tree!” Dash says, angry and frustrated, her face about as red as Big Mac’s fur.         Lagnus shrugged and shifted into his smaller beast form and reeled back his wolf like leg, looking back at the tree before looking forward again. Lagnus grunted and kicked the tree as hard as he could, mere seconds after he heard wood cracking and splitting in half and soon after that the sound of a tree crashing to the ground. Lagnus shifted back to his human form and looked back as AJ and Dash’s jaws had hit the ground.         Lagnus had kicked the tree so hard that he kicked the tree out of the ground, snapping several roots and branches while knocking it over. “Well then, I guess I win,” Lagnus says, laughing heartily as AJ and Dash shook their heads as Lagnus went over to pick up the small tree and pushing it back up so it stood upright and used some of his arcane magic to help mend the wood and roots of the tree.         “W-well remind me not to get kicked in the gut by you Lagnus,” AJ says, chuckling as Dash was still speechless by Lagnus’s demonstration of his sheer strength. AJ looked up at the sun, seeing it was setting, “Well dang time flies when you’re having fun doesn’t it?” she asks as she patted Lagnus on the back, “How about we head back to Twilight’s place and see what they’re up to?” AJ says as she nudged Lagnus down the path towards Ponyville.         “Um sure I guess, let’s go,” Lagnus says, walking forward as Dash and AJ lead him to Twilight’s house. As they walked, AJ and Dash talked to each other about some kind of party, but Lagnus only heard one or two words. Not that he was super curious about it, but Lagnus wasn’t nosey unless he had a good reason to be.         Rainbow Dash looked over at Lagnus and spoke her mind, “Hey Lagnus, do you have any family?” Dash asks as Lagnus’ eyes narrowed slightly.         Lagnus sighed and looked down, “Yes, I had a wife and son, but my wife was mauled by a beast and my son ran off at the age of twenty five to god knows where, I’d assume he went out to find me. The next morning I came back to the disemboweled corpse of my wife. This was over twenty years ago…” Lagnus says as Dash swallowed a bit, thinking she had pissed Lagnus off. “I-I’m so sorry Lagnus,” Dash responds as Lagnus quickly silenced her. “Don’t worry about it, that was in the past. It’s best to leave things there,” he responds with the words of many wise old men and women he had met when he was young. Dash looked down and went silent, not really wanting to pester him anymore with her billions of questions.         Eventually, fifteen minutes later, the trio arrived at Twilight’s house and AJ opened the door for Lagnus. It was pitch black inside and Lagnus raised his eyebrow, getting his small lantern out to provide some light. As Lagnus walked in the lights flicked on and he heard multiple voices shout, “SURPRISE!” making Lagnus jump a bit as he saw the rest of the Elements of Harmony, three fillies, Celestia, and some other blue alicorn by her side. Lagnus only had one thought and one thought only, “What in Gods name is this?” Lagnus asks, staring wide eyed at the bright colors and gifts on the table along with countless sweets and drinks.