Bound by Scales

by FrostTheWolf

22- Tremors

        Shortly after she accepted my offer with allowing her to see the temple and the Obsidian hollow in it’s entirety, giving Shayne and Aurox a tour of the hollow was a lot easier than I thought it would be, even if the djinn that was tethered to Shayne caused multiple odd glances to look in my general direction and lead to me assuring them multiple times that Aurox wasn’t going to be trying to eat anypony anytime soon. Near the end of the tour though, the teen herself mentioned to me that it was common for her and Aurox to get those impressions at first glance. Considering that she had been displaced with a defective clone mercenary, a rogue commander, a penguin with a death machine and a multi armed psychic murder storm, all five of them really were the kind of group you would expect as Rogues in the first place. I wasn’t quite sure personally whether to actually refer to Orendi as what Shayne called her or not, but for my own safety, I locked it up inside my head and proceeded to mentally throw out the key for it a few seconds later.

        “So, what do you think of the place?” I asked her, wanting to hear her opinion. “I mean, even if the entire town and temple is inside a canyon in the badlands, we try to make everything worthwhile.”

        “I like it. This is my kind of place,” Shayne smirked as she looked back at Aurox. “I think Aurox will need to take some time to adjust to the locals first before he feels like he’s at home. I mean, we’ve only been like this for a couple of weeks and always have been on the move, so we didn’t really have a place to just sit down and call home.”

        “I’m sorry to hear about that-.” I tried to say sympathetically, only for Shayne to wave me off in response.

        “You don’t need to apologize man. I had only met you today and before then, you didn’t really know about my situation,” She reminded me, looking around and taking in the sights. “In all seriousness though, I liked this place better than the other one that I was in. Some of the things there were just too creepy.”

        “Amen to that,” I sighed to myself, thinking about where we were before coming back home. Asphyxious’ world was interesting, but not quite the place where I would want to take a vacation if I had the choice. “Word of warning though, Asphyxious is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how crazy and weird other Displaced can get… Trust me, I have met a few.”

        “You mean crazier than Orendi?” She then asked, folding her arms and tilting her head.

        “Not necessarily, but close.” I told her as the two of them began to walk back towards the temple. However, while doing so, the two of them noticed a bit of commotion coming from the temple’s courtyard as they got closer. However, what was going on when they came back was not good as they saw what appeared to be several different forms of dragons that were hurt or had serious injuries. Serious to the point where Doctor Cross had to bolt through with a first aid kit and ask several other ponies who were there to help tend to the wounded.

        “Okay, just what the hell is going on?” I asked myself, only to see Applejack scramble up behind me with Aaron and Tianhuo alongside her as they asked themselves the same question. Fortunately, Twilight and Spike were amongst the crowd along with another dragon that was about his size and looked like a female as all three of them hurried to me.

        “Oh thank goodness you’re here!” She said, causing me to look back at her with a confused glance. “We got a major problem…”

        “What kind of problem, Twilight?” I asked her. “Does it have to do with all of the dragons here that I’m going to guess you brought here?”

        “We had no other choice,” Spike soon interrupted her as he looked at the dragon that was next to him. “Mina’s town had just been wiped off the map and we had to get every dragon out of there before they could get hurt.” Now, hearing that last statement to me sounded theoretically impossible. But before I could even ask how, I heard a loud rumble from outside and a voice in my head.

        “Ken, we got trouble.” I heard Coryena speak inside my head. “You need to get out there, now! We got an aspect on the loose… and before you ask, yes it is the reason why all the civilians with Twilight right now were evacuated from their homes. The aspect is trying to kill more dragons to absorb their souls and become stronger in the process.”

        Now that set off an alarm immediately as I noticed Revaan leaving his chamber to see what was going on. “Which aspect is it?” I asked her mentally. I remember from Coryena that she said that there were four aspects. All in which could only be detected after they had taken physical form. The Fire aspect was no more, but there was still Land, Storms, and lastly Stars.

        “Look outside. It’s Gol Motaad, the land aspect.” She said to me as I rushed to the basin that was outside along the edge of the badlands, with Revaan, Aaron, Shayne and Aurox, Applejack, Tianhuo, Spike, the new dragon named Mina and Twilight not far behind. When I saw the monster, I couldn’t believe what the hell I was seeing. It looked like one of those bosses from Shadow of the Colossus. But this time, it was a freaking rock giant with crystals on certain points of the body and it’s feet were causing major cracks in the ground. “It’s using forbidden earth magic to take the form of a giant colossus and tried to kill the dragons in dragontown to increase it’s power. Now it’s coming for the Hollow since it can feel the presence of Revaan and the other dragons.”

        “Holy sh*t…” Aaron cursed, his jaw dropping a little in response. “What the hell is that!?”

        “That is an aspect…” Revaan growled, now sounding angrier than before. “I can feel it.”

        “Aspect?” All of them asked, causing me to give them the short and mostly rough translation of what exactly they were. Once everyone was caught up to speed and they figured out why the golem was coming this way, Applejack then changed forms as she looked at me and growled to herself.

        “We can’t let that thing get any closer.”

        Twilight was the first to speak shortly after Applejack made that declaration. “What do you mean Applejack?”

        “Twilight, don’t you realize what could possibly be in the way between that monster and this place?” She then asked, causing her friends eyes to widen. Right now, I was unsure about what she was talking about, until she then spoke up and answered my question for me. “Appleloosa is right in that monster's path, and ah for one, am NOT letting that thing wipe out my cousin’s town!”

        “Alright, so we have an ass that needs kicking and a town that needs protecting. What do we do now?” Shayne then spoke up, looking towards me. I had to think of some sort of plan and quickly before we could press on any further. But once I had a thought on it, the choice was simple.

        “We needs to form two groups. One for warning Appleloosa and another for taking that Aspect out.” I said, looking at them as Fire and Thunder soon were alongside Aaron and Tianhuo was looking eager for a fight. “Aaron and Tianhuo should come with me while Shayne, AJ and Twilight go warn Appleloosa. Also, Twilight, have Spike write a letter to Luna and inform her on the situation. She too needs to know about the situation since she also knows about Aspects.” Mostly everyone was on board with it, but Shayne herself was looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

        “Okay, why am I part of the warning patrol instead of the fighting patrol? Aurox and I can fight.” She protested.

        “I know you can, however, I have a bad feeling that this thing is not messing around and has abilities we don’t know about.” That got the attention of the dragon named Mina as she raised her head upon hearing that.

        “He’s right. Before we even saw the big golem, he sent several smaller ones to break down our homes and captured or killed any of us that tried to flee.” Mina’s response though did not make me feel any better about the situation.

        “If that’s the case, then the same thing will probably be happening to Appleloosa if we don’t hurry and get there in time,” I then looked towards Spike and Mina, who were right next to Twilight at the time and looking back at me. “Spike, I need you and Mina to try and help the refugees here. There’s a unicorn mare in the temple named Mystic. Go to her and tell her that I sent you to help her and the stallion there named Doctor Cross.” Both of them nodded their heads and raced back inside as I looked back at Revaan before looking at everyone else. Shayne and Aurox were right next to Twilight and Applejack once she turned back into an earth pony as Aaron and Tianhuo were right next to me. But the princess did say something to me as we were gonna leave.

        “Ken, please be careful.”

        “Same goes for you.” I replied back, shortly before Twilight and the others disappeared. Giving me the chance to hop on Revaan’s back as Tianhuo and Aaron did the same. Holding on tight as the dragon spread his wings and took off.

        The pony that Ken called Twilight really didn’t give Aurox and I any sort of warning before she casted her spell, so once we actually got there, I felt as if I was getting seasick and rushed into an alleyway in order to throw up… and just when I thought watching Aurox consume literally anything was sickening enough for me.

        Once I was able to actually get ahold of myself, I noticed right away that I was in someplace that just reminded me of all those old western movies that would star Clint Eastwood when he was a LOT younger… Either that or the scenery of Red Dead Redemption whenever I would watch gameplays of it on Youtube. The town even had a freaking windmill set up for crying out loud. Now all that’s missing is some guy in a cowboy hat to introduce himself.

        “Howdy there, AJ!” I heard someone say from out of the blue as what appeared to be a stallion came out of one of the homes and greeted himself to Applejack and Twilight… right before he saw me. And I swear, once he actually saw me, I thought I saw a literal shiver go down his spine. “W-who’s your friend here?”

        “I’m Shayne…” I started off, crossing my arms before pointing to Aurox behind me with a reversed thumb as I had my right hand behind my head. “And the big guy here is Aurox… trust me, he won’t eat you… or anyone else here for that matter.”

        “R-right… W-well, the name’s Braeburn, and I would like to welcome all of you to-.”

        “Sorry for having to interrupt you, Brae, but we got a massive problem coming and need your help.” Applejack replied before looking back at her cousin and then telling him what was going on. At first, the stallion looked sort of skeptical to what exactly we were telling him and didn’t quite exactly believe it… until the earth began to shake and what we were trying to warn him about became ever so closer. The golem let out a warcry of sorts as massive pieces of rock soon began to fall off it’s titanic body. But once those pieces hit the ground, they took the form of smaller golems and were beginning to charge towards the town.

        “Ah crap! Applejack, we got trouble coming!” I shouted, looking around to see if any of these jerks had the smart idea to appear out of nowhere. I thought this when Aurox was looking in another direction. However, he did not exactly look that way because there were enemies there… and that was just confusing. “What’s wrong Aurox?”

        “Something lingers near… I can smell it.” He growled. I tried to redirect his attention back to the fight at hand, but this was only followed by something going off and causing Aurox to flinch a little in pain and for the aura around him to be a bloody cosmic red.

        Which it meant two things… one, whoever hurt Aurox was now on his “to kill list”, two… “Oh the big guys real pissed now.”

        “PPIIIIIIISSSSSSSEEEDDDDD!!!!!!”

        As Aurox roared, he rushed after whoever did the deed. I tried to stop him, but unfortunately, the one responsible for shooting at him jumped out from behind one of the dead boulder golems, into the air, and shot at Aurox again. Staggered, Aurox got pinned down by this thing, which then proceeded to beating the ever living hell out of him. Like, really, brutally, beating him up.

        Aurox was a pretty tough one, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen someone, or something, get the jump on him. Upon close examination, I gasped at who it was. It looked like one of those super soldiers or something from DOOM, I think it was. Whatever it was, now was when I was wondering if this tin can here was a friend… or another foe. I was cautious… because if this guy wanted to express that he was on our side, then he would’ve said it already. Unless if this guy was mute… which was a possibility.

        “Shayne, what are you doing? We need your help over here!” Twilight called out, causing me to turn around and see the situation that was going on. Looking back at Aurox though, the stranger that was there only a few moments ago was now nowhere to be found… Aurox himself still looked a bit beat up, but not broken thankfully as he and I turned back towards the fight at hand.

        “Alright big guy… Let’s go knock some heads. Ken’s counting on us!” I proclaimed as I pointed at the first golem I saw and told Aurox a simple command. “Sic’ em Aurox!!”

      Alright, let’s have a recap on what the hell happen to me. First, there was the solo mission I was on. Upon which I finished. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw this Black Scale lying underneath some of the undergrowth. Walking up to it, I picked it up and looked it over. There was something about this thing that seemed, feels… Off. As if, it wasn’t a normal thing, at all.

       Then again, there aren’t any sort of dragons nearby, nor any living in this forest.

        Just as I was about to leave and return back to base, I heard something calling out to me. Readying myself, I looked about, high and low, to see what it was, and where it was coming from. Only to find a portal opening up, under my metallic boots, and I fell through it.

        It wasn’t much of a fall, but as soon as I landed, I found myself in some old western town, in the middle of a desert. Looking down at the scale, I placed it in one of my pockets, and took a quick peek look around. What I found made me do a double take-back. I was still in Equestria, at least, I thought I was, but the ponies I saw running about, trying to get out of town were… Regular ponies. Not Anthros, just your usual four-legged equine. At least they still have the technicolor looks. As to what they were running from? There was this huge Titan, made of rock and crystal, stomping its way towards here, from the outskirts of the wastelands.

      Well, I know what’s in stores for me...

      Activating my Invisibility power-up, I navigated my way around town, seeing other ponies and some other creatures helping out with the evac. Whatever’s happening, something big is about to go down. Coming behind a large boulder, I look around and found something I didn’t want to see.

    “Demon!” I thought to myself, as my instincts told me to slay the damnable thing. Aiming down my sight, I lined up my shot to its face, upon which I later learned it sniffed me out. Clever.

       Shooting it in the face, it didn’t do much, seeing as the shot bounced off, but I did managed to pissed it off.

      “PPIIIIIIISSSSSSSEEEDDDDD!!!!!!” Case of point, idiot.

      Deactivating my power-up, I heard it roared in rage, as I got on top, jumped up into the air, and fired off a few more shot at the charging beast. As it staggered, I landed on top of it, and got up close and personal with it. Using my fists, I started punching the ever living hell out of it, while it tried to stop me from doing so, but with no luck.

       “H-H-HEY, CUT IT OUT-- OW!!! STOP IT-- ARGH!!! OUCH!!!! GIVE ME A F*CKING CHANCE-!!!” I’d rather wash that hellish mouth of yours, out with purifying soap and holy water.

       Just as I was about to finish him off, I heard someone called out to someone else. Looking up, I saw this young teenage girl, looking at this...new Alicorn princess? Wait a minute, why is the girl dressed up as Shayne from Batttleborn? Turning back to the demon, I realized that the so-called demon, I was beating up, was actually Aurox!

       “Oh great! I done goofed this time!” Thinking fast, I threw a Teleporter up on the nearest rooftop, and teleported there. Keeping my head down and observing the situation from a Bird's Eye view. And from the look of things, there were these rock-like golems, I think that’s what you call them, they were fighting against.

        Looking back at Shayne and Aurox, they got straight into it, killing off the enemy with their attacks. While it did the trick, more of them kept popping out of the ground.

        “This isn’t gonna end well for any of them… Not while I’m sitting on the sidelines.” With that stated, I pulled out my Vortex Rifle, and find a better spot to provide supporting fire. Seeing as Shayne and Aurox can handle themselves for the moment… “I’ll need to ask them some questions, after we’re through with this mess.”

        Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, I tried to find out where that new princess went off to in this mess. She may be an Alicorn, but I highly doubt she has any combat experience. Climbing up on this town’s water tank, I found her protecting civvies from a bigger version of these golems. While she used her magic to shoot it up, it wasn’t really piercing through the damn thing. All she was ever doing was picking off chunks of rock and stone.

        Seeing that it wasn’t working, she went on the defensive, and placed a barrier around herself and the civvies. She should have just teleported them out of there! The golem raised its fist and slammed it against her barrier, again and again.

       Crouching down, I zoomed in on my target’s head, and waited for the right moment to strike. As it readied itself to bash through her shield, I made my move and took the shot, blowing its head clear off its shoulders. Seeing this happen, the purple Alicorn’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.

        Looking about frantically, she finally found me perched up on the town’s water tank. Unfortunately, she dropped her shield and more of those normal golems came after them. Popping off more blockheads, I was starting to get annoyed with her just standing there, waiting to die for nothing! Pulling out my Combat Shotgun, I equipped it with the Charged Shot mod. After that, I threw a Teleporter towards where the Evac-zone was, and jumped down.

        Landing on top of one of the golems, I stomped its head into dust, and rampaged through the lot, watching them crumble as I blasted their existence into dust. Reaching them, I gathered them up closely to one another, and teleported us to safety.

         When that was done, I ran back into town, activating my Invisibility power-up, jumping back onto the rooftops, and see where I am needed the most. While I was going about, with my Burst Rifle in hand, shooting off blockhead after blockhead, there was something on my mind, and it regarded that girl.

         “I hope to god that one doesn’t do anything stupid. Because the last thing any of us need, is to rescue her, from her own rash idiocy…”

          W… What the hay was that all about!? Where in Tartarus did that thing come from!? How did it do all of those things!? SO MANY QUESTIONS, THAT NEED ANSWERING!!!!! “Clock...is...ticking!”

         “Twilight!” Before I completely lost my mind, I heard Spike's voice and felt something *whack* me behind the head. What’s surprising, is that I haven’t passed out from the impact, and found myself sane again. “Oh, thank Celestia! Just in time.” Looking behind me, I grinned sheepishly at him and Mina.

          “Spike, what was that all about? She was kind of… going freaky on us for a moment.” I blushed when I heard Mina ask that question.

            Spike just waved it off. “Trust me, you don’t want to know. But who, or what, was that guy, anyway? Some kind of robot?” He questioned, scratching his head. “I mean, he fits the part.”

           Mina shook her head. “Nah. Too fluid within motions. That’s definitely futuristic armour he’s wearing.” She explained. “Although, I did pick up something from him. A scent.” We both looked at her in confusion.

           “... What kind of scent?” I was hesitant to ask her that question, but if it can give us any ideas, besides the fact that he’s yet another complexed human, that’ll be good enough.

          Her facials carried a heavy sense of dread and uncertainty. It’s as if she was very reluctant to share, or not sure whether she should speak of it. Sighing, she spoke about it. “Blood. I smelled blood coming off of him.” We stared at her, not sure on what to make of this. Blood? I didn’t smell any blood on him, even when he was that close to me.

            Spike was the first to break the silence. “Are you sure? Because, I couldn’t smell any of it. So how can you?” Good question.

            “Spike, you’re still learning about how to be a true dragon. Not to mention, I’m a little older than you. So I know some things, that you’re just starting to grasp on.” She explained to him. “We dragons have quite the nose. Being able to sniff out certain things at times. And if what I picked up from him, no matter how faint, it’s definitely the smell of blood.” I shivered at the mere thought of that… a little concerned as to who’s blood it might be.

        “Well right now, we need to stick to the plan,” I said, refocusing my attention to the two of them. “Ken’s focusing on the Aspect farther down the ravine while we’re trying to defend the town from the golems here that are it’s minions. We got this covered right now, but if that Aspect picks up your essence, then it’ll make things worse. Let me send you back to the temple.” Both of them nodded, the signal for me to use my magic as I sent them back to the Obsidian hollow before I returned to Applejack and Shayne. Who seemed to be pulling out all the stops in destroying every last golem that tried to step foot in Appleloosa. But I could tell that they might be getting exhausted after fighting consecutively non-stop. Even with what Mina told me, I wasn’t going to take any chances at this rate.

        “Ken better be trying to figure out how to stop that colossus by now!” Shayne shouted, looking back towards me before having Aurox appear in the center of the open plain in front of us and pulling all the enemies to the center like a magnet. “I’m not sure how long Aurox and I can keep this up.”

        “Me neither,” I replied back. “I already tried shielding the town, but that only lasted a short while. Still, we can’t just give up now. He’s counting on us!”

        Dammit! These things are really starting to piss me off! Now I kind of wished I did brought one of the others with me right around now. However, around then was when I heard Shayne shout out to the princess pony and this Applejack character, who were not far from where I was.

        “Ken better be trying to figure out how to stop that colossus by now! I’m not sure how long Aurox and I can keep this up.” Shayne shouted, and from the look of things, they were getting tired. Speaking about a certain colossus, I looked out towards the outskirts, and found it getting pretty close. But I also saw a black dragon flying around it, with someone riding it. Is it this Ken person Shayne was talking about? My only chance of finding out was if I could be able to zoom in and see if it was since they were extremely far away from my current position. Soon enough, I saw the kid, and his right arm sort of reminds me off...

        “He and Revaan better wrap this up quick,” I heard Applejack speak up. “Ah rather not turn into my dragon form right in front of mah cousin and give him a heart attack.” Really? We’re in the middle of a battle, and all you can think of is your cousin’s sanity? “But buck it…” That was when I saw the fur on Applejack’s body shift into scales and she began to transfo-. Okay, what the actual hell is that!?!

        “Let’s do this!” With a slam of her hoof, I felt the earth shake beneath me as-. Wait, is that freaking lava!? She can lavabend!?! Well, at least it did the trick. As she bends the lava to her will, all of the golems within her sight were melted into molten lava. “Whoa nelly! That was something mighty fierce!” She shouted, grinning from ear to ear as some dust went past me.

        “What the hell did I drop into?”

        Only at this moment, did Shayne look in my direction… and one of her boomerangs hit me in the head, surprisingly enough. “Hey girls, I think we found something hiding nearby.” Oh boy…

       As they all looking around for, I deactivated my Invisibility and the ponies themselves were surprised when they saw me. Great, this is going to be a real pain trying to communicate with these guys. But, before any of us could do anything, I felt something sneak up behind me. Snapping around, I shot at a golem, that somehow managed to climb up on the rooftop. Unfortunately, it wasn’t alone.

        Switching over to my Super Shotgun, I started raising hell when they all came after me. Although, while I was holding my own, the roof began to groan underneath me, with all of this weight. Soon enough, they got the jump on me, piling over me, which caused the roof to collapse.

        However, it was then I felt something grab at me from behind and pull me out of there before I could possibly get crushed. Turns out, the same thing that was grabbing me… turned out to be the same thing I tried beating the sh*t out of ten minutes earlier. Aurox. “Get ‘em outta there! Pull!!” I heard Shayne holler as Aurox pulled me back, almost throwing me into the town’s water supply as my equipment got soaked.

        “Uh… Aurox… Too much pull.”

        Seeing as he’s still pissed with what happened, I got down from there, and ran straight back there. Once there, I shot the bastard in the face, which sent him flying, and ran back inside.

       “Hey! What the hell was that for!? Do you have a-!?” The girl tried to talk, but I cut her off by revving up my Chainsaw and started cutting away at these sorry-ass golems. They tried to fight back, but it was hopeless for them. Hell, the last one tried to crawl away, only for me to grab it by the leg, and drag it back inside.

        After finishing it off, I walked back outside, where everyone - including Aurox - were staring at me like I’m some psycho. You know, if I wasn’t a mute, this is the part where I would say ‘boo’ and they would all react accordingly… only if Shayne did not speak up.

        “Ah HELL YES!!” Everyone stared at her, with their jaws hanging open, while I was smiling in amusement, as she was jumping on the spot. “This is perfect! You really are like Doomguy! Well, I mean, you suited up and fight like him! But still, that’s AWESOME!!”

        “Shayne… What are you talking about?” The princess asked. “Are you saying that he’s a displaced, like Ken and Aaron?” I cocked my head to the side in confusion. Displaced? What does that even mean?

        “Yeah he is… However he got here, though, is beyond me…” She said, looking in the distance as something caught her attention. “Ah, what do you know? Ken’s on the offensive now!” Looking in her direction, the kid and his partner dragon were fighting off that big behemoth.

        Seeing as the town is in the clear for the moment, I whipped out my Heavy Assault Rifle, placed the Micro Missiles mod on, and ran towards the fight. Only to have something else smack me in the face and knock me to the ground. Looking up, I found Aurox staring down at me, so I kicked him in the face and went back to trying to kill him. That idiot should have stayed out of my way!

        However, it wasn’t actually Aurox that knocked me down as it turned out… Once I saw a new figure and heard a new voice. “What in the name of-!?” Oh for Hell sakes...

        After our original take off, we were closing in on the Aspect’s position, trying to move closer in as Aaron, Tianhuo and I got a closer look at Gol Motaad’s ugly mug as we soared around him.

        “So, does anyone actually have a plan of attack in order to try and take down this guy?” Aaron asked out of the blue.

        “I have a plan, attack.” Tianhuo suggested, only causing me to groan in response.

        “Tianhuo, rushing in headfirst without a plan will only lead to more harm than good.” I replied back. “Besides, we’re up against a stone abomination whose skin is as hard as the ground…” Noticing the crystals that were along the shoulders, elbows, knees and also some other joints, I began to think of an idea. “Try aiming for the crystals and breaking those. They could be potential weak points if you break the crystals.” Both Aaron and Tianhuo nodded, preparing to drop down on the colossus as I looked back at Revaan.

        “What about us?” He asked.

        “Simple,” I said, “We’re providing air support. Let’s drop some bombs on this thing!” Revaan smirked, preparing himself as he breathed out massive fireballs from his mouth towards the crystals on the left elbow while Aaron and Tianhuo were going towards it and attacking it up close and personal.

        Everything was going well for the most part… until the golem actually noticed what we were doing and tried attacking up. Tianhuo herself even tried redirecting a head on charge towards it, only for the colossus to send her flying with a backhand slap towards the town.

        “Tianhuo!” I shouted, seeing something in the distance break her fall as I growled a little and looked back at the Aspect. “Okay that’s it,” I snarled as I put on my headphones. “We’re through messing around! Revaan, I’m helping Aaron. Provide some more support.”

        “You got it.” He said, throwing me onto the colossus with a tail flip towards the titan as I landed nearby the left shoulder. After channeling Norok and Ruvaak Iiz, I quickly began to attack the crystal, making a few dents in it as the impact of my weapon caused cracks to form in the shoulder.

        Revaan’s flames helped significantly with trying to hurt the monster, but after a few moments, this beast was really beginning to get on my nerves to the point where I was punching it repetitively… which was soon followed by the crystal finally shattering, the golem howling in pain, and it’s entire right arm collapsing onto the ground below. That was followed by the forearm on the other side of the golem to fall as well as I saw Aaron drop down and go for the golem’s knees.

        The Aspect was doing whatever it could to shake us off, but once I took care of the rest of his arm and Aaron got rid of the gems around it’s knees, it was time to finish this one off for good. “Revaan, get Aaron out of there from underneath! It’s time to finish this!” With that said, the dragon swooped down to grab my friend while throwing me high enough into the air so I could drop down on the last crystal with enough force to shatter it. Using my arm to yank me towards the golem now, I had Norok at the ready as I threw my arm forward and shattered the crystal upon impact.

        The attack caused the rest of the golem to break down and collapse into a pile of rubble as the giant monstrosity was no more. However, what remained appeared to be a wisp of energy that resembled the barren tan like color of the earth in the badlands… which upon first guess, was what I thought as the soul that was used to form Gol Motaad in the first place. Like before with Norok and Ruvaak Iiz, I let my hand out towards it. Allowing it to come to me at it’s own pace before being absorbed into my arm.

        Once it was in my arm, just like before, I began to hear a voice speak to me inside my head again. This time it was a lot deeper and a bit jagged at certain points when speaking. “Greetings, Young Scalebound. I am thankful for you freeing me from the grasp of Nightmare Moon. Allow me to let my power be of assistance to your fight against the shadows. For I am Denek Sil, the Dragon of the Sacred Earth.” The soul itself now released a tan or dark brown like glow from my arms as the soul now took the form of another dragon weapon. This time, it formed a pair of dual hatchets that resembled the appearance of a pickaxe, but had three sharp ends like a fan of blades. Moving it made me noticed that these hatchets had enough power to shatter stone itself and could leave a crack in almost anything. A very effective tool.

        But as I put it away and turned towards where the others were, I saw a new face that stood out amongst the others. Which looked weird because I did not recall using any tokens recently… and this guy looked like some kind of armored up space marine. Hurrying over, just around the same time that Applejack was pulling Tianhuo off of him, I soon approached him carefully and asked the figure one simple question.

        “Who are you?”

           Looking towards the boy as he asked me, he flinched a little. Thinking over as to how I would make it clear I can’t talk to him through normal means, I placed two figures to my throat, tapping it, and shook my head. Hopefully he gets the message.

        Fortunately, he did. “Hang on, are you mute?” I gave a simple nod of my head and he sighed in response. “Well, this could be a problem…”

        “What’s the matter Ken?” Applejack asked as she now trotted over to where I was. “Is something wrong?”

        “Not exactly… But this guy here can’t speak.” He said, pointing to me. As he was explaining what he was talking about to his marefriend and when Shayne tried to interject, I checked to see where did I exactly place my datapad-. Ah! Here it is.

        Before I could show it to them though, Ken turned to Twilight and then spoke up. “Hey Twilight, you can take Tianhuo, Shayne and Aaron back to the hollow. We’re going to have a talk with this guy real quick before coming back.” Wait, hang on. So the Alicorn princess… the same one I was seeing earlier… is Twilight Sparkle!?! How does this make any sense!? Well, I know a certain brother of mine that’s gonna flip an entire town over, just by hearing that name! Sucks to be her right now…

        Anyways, back to the original subject at hand, I think it was now time to ask this… Ken… some questions that have been on my mind. But first, he asked me something. “So… do you have some sort of name or something we can call you by?” I simply just handed him the datapad and he took it. The kid looked it over. “Okay… I’m guessing you’re going to communicate through this?” I nodded my head, with the words popping up on the pad saying, “Yes.”

        “Alright. Now, like I originally said… do you have some sort of name I can call you by? I don’t want to repeatedly address you as sir.” He said and I gave him a simple answer, “Hunter…for now at least.”

        “Okay Hunter… Now, let me ask you something… this may sound random… but did you happen to find anything that looked like this?” He asked me as-. Wait a second. That’s the same freaking scale I found earlier!! Taking my one out from my pocket, I showed it to him, and he nodded his head at this. “I see… Alright, next question… How did you end up here?” He asked me, and I told what happened before all of this, “I was on mission, going solo. After I finished, I found the scale underneath some bushes. When that happened, I heard something calling out to me.”

        “Well, that pretty much explains a lot,” He replied, folding his arms. “For starters, what you found is my summoning token. Every Displaced has one or another and it can be used to summon them to you like a summoning stone in Final Fantasy… or have yourself get pulled into the void and end up in another Equestria. Given the circumstances, you ended up in Scenario number two I imagine…” He explained to me, upon which he got me lost with of this horsesh*t. So I let him know, “Summoning tokens? Displaced? What the hell are you even on about boy!?”

        Calm down… Let me ask if this happened to you,” He started. “Were you originally from Earth and then sent to Equestria after acquiring something from a salesman that had something you wanted?” I was still confused by what he meant, but I insisted for him to go on. “Well, guess what? You’re not the only guy that this has happened too. In fact, there have been a lot of others who have been Dimensionally Misplaced… or Displaced for short. Most of the time they end up in their Equestria as a specific character and gain the powers or traits of that specific character. For you, you seemed to gain the strength of a DOOM marine along with the weapons and gadgets too.” Okay, that made sense, save for that last bit. So I told him about that, “Thanks for stating the obvious about the last statement. Of course I know I’m a DOOM Marine, and all that other sh*t. All I wanted to know was the whole Displaced thing, because this now confirms the whole Multiverse theory.”

        “Well, I’m glad that helped…” Ken sighed a little. “Trust me, I’ve been to multiple worlds before and believe me when I say this… Multiverse Theory is a b*tch.” Applejack herself facehooved herself while Revaan just continued to listen to our conversation, minding his own business. So I said to him, “Well, no sh*t, Einstein .”

        “Hey, I was just saying… Lucky for you, you don’t have your soul bound to a dragon like I do.” I rolled my eyes at this, not that he could see, and said, “Yeah, I know, Scalebound. Any other complaints you wish to put in?”

        “Not necessarily… Other than the fact that one of the Displaced I know is a perverted lich, but that’s another story.” He groaned, looking back at me. “Hey… Not to ruin the mood… But who’s the lady behind you?” Lady? Wait a minute! Whipping out my Heavy Assault Rifle, I aimed at her. She was cloaked, so none of us could see her face. Confused, Ken asked. “Someone you know?” Internally, I groaned, and told him, “She’s the one that sent me here, in your Equestria. She opened up a portal underneath my boots and I fell through it. Beyond that, nothing more, and this is a first for me.”

        “So she’s your Displacer…? That’s new.” He sighed, looking towards the woman as the Scalebound kept himself composed.

        As for the woman, she looked towards the boy, and spoke. “You’re mistaken. I was made by their Displacer, The Merchant, to act as a Guardian for Hunter and his brothers.” I tilted my head at this, along with everyone else. She then looked towards me. “I’m sorry for the deception, but you were the only one I can trust with doing this…” Wait, she means to say that this was more than a test, that she wanted me to discover the whole ‘Displaced’ thing? Well, I guess I can count myself lucky. If it were the other four… well, let’s just say things would probably not go so well. Save for one, out of the four. Still, things would end up looking more redder than usual.

        “I see… So there’s more than one of you?” Applejack then spoke up, looking at me. So I answered her, “Yes. As a matter of fact, Hunter isn’t my real name. It’s my title, which is, The Hunter of Silence.”

        “Interesting… Something tells me that your world is filled with Demons, isn’t it?” Ken deadpanned. I nodded my head, “Yeah, it is. The Demon Horde of Tartarus, or so they say, broke down their very own gates, and waged war against Equestria. If we lose that, then the world is theirs for the taking.”

         “That would explain the blood I smell from you…” We heard Revaan talk. “The Blood of Demons. You’re covered in it, from slaying them with your own hands.”

        “Huh… I was going to say there was an odd crimson shade to that suit of his…” Applejack commented, looking back at me. I did bent down, and pointed to my mark, “You’re probably picking it up from my Doom Slayer Mark. All five of us have it.”

        “So is that like an insignia or a cutie mark of sorts?” Applejack then asked, causing Ken to facepalm to himself as he looked back at her. Reminding her that it was unlikely for someone like him or me to have one of those unless we were turned into a pony. To clarify even more, he went on to say that it must’ve been something I had gotten when I was Displaced, the same going for his arm-. Oh my god, his right arm looks like a freaking dragon claw! Oh wait… that’s right, Scalebound. Comes with the territory. Seeing as she mistook it as cutie mark, I told her this, “It’s an insignia, one the Demons know, because they branded it to us. Hence the reason why they call us Doom Slayers, because they fear us.”

        “Ah guess that makes sense…” Applejack commented. “Speaking of which, Ken, ah don’t think we should keep Hunter here if he’s got a demon problem running amuck in his Equestria. Should we send him back?”

        “Hang on AJ,” Ken interjected. “What if Hunter still had some questions for us?”

        “Oh… right. Almost forgot about that,” Applejack replied, bowing her head in front of me. “Sorry for giving you the wrong impression.” I nodded back to her and asked her this, “What year is it?”

        Ken looked back at Applejack, who seemed a little confused, but replied nonetheless. “1015 C.E.” I tilted my head at this, “C.E.? Applejack, what does that stand for?”

        “It means Celestial Era,” Applejack clarified. “It started after Celestia sent Luna to the moon when she became Nightmare Moon. We beat her with the Elements in 1010 C.E. during the Eternal Night and freed Luna, 1011 was when we had to deal with Discord and Chrysalis. The following year was where we had to deal with King Sombra and when Twilight ascended and became the Princess of Friendship and just last year, we had to deal with Tirek, a pony named Starlight Glimmer who is now reformed along with Discord, and three weeks ago Cadence and Shining Armor had their baby daughter, Flurry Heart.” I was at a lost with what she stated to me. Getting up, I walked over to the nearest wall, of the nearest building, and leaned against it. Trying to process it all.

        That was when the guardian spoke, “If that’s the case… Hunter is a few years behind you time wise.”

        “I’ve been there before. A few of the Displaced I’ve met were a bit behind in their timelines as well so Hunter’s not the only one.” Ken replied, as I clenched my fist.

        “That’s where you’re wrong, Ken.” The Guardian said. “You see, for Hunter and his brothers…” As she spoke, I swung my fist at the building so hard, the entire thing came down like dominos, which freaked out the others. After that, she continued. “... They’re over ten thousand years old, at this point of time. Now that you told him what happens, he’s not happy with the events that took place. Especially, since one of them involves a fallout between siblings; little Tia and Lulu.”

        “Yes, but what happened here in my world does not mean the same will happen to his. For one thing… Nightmare Moon herself was responsible for the corruption of many dragons in the past and is the reason why Revaan is the last of his kind. As for Luna, it was very hard for her to handle this because her lover and the dragon she wanted to marry was murdered when his companions went insane. His name was Vulon, the dragon word for night. As for Celestia… I had not gotten the chance to ask her about that… Mostly because of the fact that the whole Nightmare Moon thing is a sensitive subject to her.” When I heard that, there was only one answer to that, “Tia regrets doing it.”

        “Many can regret doing things that come back to haunt them…” Revaan then said. “But it’s all a matter of if you let it affect you that much or not… We should not delay you in your return to your world… But allow Ken to help you in creating your token first… if you wish, that is.” Thinking this over, I looked back at them and shook my head, “No… Not yet.”

        “Very well. It’s your choice and we respect that…” Ken replied, holding up his dragon arm to a nearby basin as some green energy began to flow through his arm, before he stopped. “If you had a token, I could easily conjure a way for you to go back. But I think Guardian is just as capable of being able to do that on her own without the need for one, am I right?”

            She nodded her head. “Correct. Come now, Hunter. The war won’t finish itself off.” I nodded as she opens up the portal back. Before I went, I walked up to Ken and grabbed the datapad, and gave him full access of our information, save for our names. This way, he’ll know what to expect of us. He thanked us for the assistance and wished us safe travels, along with good luck in the war.

        Because when I get back, we’re going to need all the luck we can get.

        Shortly before Hunter left with Guardian, the soldier handed me the same Datapad that he had been using earlier for translation. It appeared that he wanted me to keep it, since it contained full access to the files on him, his brothers, and the events in his Equestria. Which could be handy for the most part, if he needed me to come to his world or if I needed his help again. However, it did come with what appeared to be a note of warning from him.

        “Ken, I know I may be placing a lot of trust to you, even though we’ve only met. But you seem like a nice enough kid. Now, heed this warning, if you’re thinking about helping me and my brothers; DON’T. You will only complicate things, and that’s something I cannot permit. This is a war with demons, something you’re not prepared for. In one of the files, will hold our information. Read it, and you’ll understand us a little bit better and the name of the war. No, you’re not going to know our real names, but you’ll see why we have earned those titles. We will see each other again. The Hunter of Silence… P.S. Be careful with what you see and read, it’s gory as Hell.”

        I was a little shot down by that, but I can the reason behind it. Now, let’s see… Oh! Oh whoa! Yeah… I’m definitely not going to be able to unsee that… Maybe I should save the rest for later. He wasn’t kidding about the whole ‘It’s gory as Hell’ part… Better keep that away from the kids.

        Once I got back to the Hollow though, I felt something land in my pockets as I looked at the others, smirking a little.

        “What is it, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

        “It’s a letter from a Displaced I met a while ago named Sun Wukong,” I replied, looking back at them. “He’s inviting us to come visit the Displaced Academy that he had just recently set up.”

        “You mean the monkey faunus from the christmas celebration?” Revaan asked, scratching his chin with a claw.

        “That’s the one,” I replied, noticing that Princess Luna had happened to stop by. “I’m going to go ask if Aaron and Shayne can hold things down here for a while. Let’s go see what this place is about.”