Chapter 7 Horned Menace
Aran was lying at the side of a river, violently coughing up water that had seeped into his lungs. When he could finally breathe normally again, he took in his surroundings. The first thing that caught his notice was Canterlot’s Castle, far in the distance. Aran’s body flopped to the ground, a sense of relief overwhelming him. He lay there, reveling in his victory, allowing himself to do something he hadn't done in ages… smile. After being held prisoner for several months, stripped of his identity and most of his memories, he enjoyed the overwhelming feeling of freedom. He had killed his captors, he had been able to enjoy some sweets and even god graced meat. Though the big question was: What comes next?
He knew he couldn't return to his old world, no magic in the world could affect him anymore, leaving him permanently displaced. Rising up from the ground, Aran scanned his environment. Carefully treading through the forest, he approached what looked like a rundown lumber mill. He saw it was completely empty, but not abandoned, there were several signs of tracks from just a few hours ago. Seeing that this was his only chance to get some good supplies, he followed the worn tracks into a nearby house and quickly started to rummage through the kitchen for food, which unfortunately, there was none to be found. Undeterred, he searched the basement next, for any kind of weapon. He was lucky enough to find both a saw and an axe, deciding to go with the axe, being the more obvious choice, before, finally looking through the house for any medical equipment that might be useful in the future. To his luck, he found a used first aid kit in the living room. Taking what was only absolutely necessary, Aran made his way out of the house and stopped when the full realization of his situation hit him.
What was he going to do now? He had been imprisoned for such a long time that he had given up on the hope of ever escaping, with the only comfort for his anxiety was his thirst for vengeance. Clenching his fists into balls hard enough to crush rocks, Aran glanced at the gleaming city. "I will return,” Aran muttered, looking down, building up, turning to glare at Canterlot. “When I'm stronger, when I am at the peak of my strength and when I have a real weapon, I will return for blood.” He contorted his face with a shout of defiance, red as a tomato “DO YOU HEAR ME YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!?" His shout causing many animals to scamper away to what shelters they had, as he glared for another full minute before turning away and disappearing into the thick forest.
***Six months later***
Aran towered above the still sleeping filly as he mentally prepared himself for what he was going to do. "Sorry kid, but this will hurt less than being torn apart by an animal." He knelt down to the ground, getting closer to Applebloom’s prone form. His breath increased as he was finding it more and more difficult to get himself to kill the filly for every second that he hesitated. He slowly lowered his hands to the point that he could almost feel her fur on his palms. Aran quickly flexed his hands and arms for what was going to be a simple flick of his wrist, though he didn't want to cause the filly any unnecessary chance of survival… he didn’t need that on his conscience. He was fucked up enough.
Finally touching her upper back and slowly making his way to her throat and neck, his hand started to shake excessively, which wasn’t helping his situation. He tried to steel his resolve and began to count. "Three..."
The wind started to blow furiously as his shaking increased, the longer he waited. "Two..."
Applebloom gave a slight nudge as she smiled in her sleep. The poor filly wasn't even phased by the two hands on her neck. "One..."
....
Aran tried to summon the memories of the wrongdoings all of ponykind had committed against him to perhaps channel his rage rather than his sympathy. But the more he tapped into his few memories, the more he saw that she had nothing to do with him and his situation, which in turn actually worsened his current state.
Aran’s body tensed, and, with all his might, Aran moved. Not just his hand and arm, but his entire body flew backwards. He landed on his back, his arms spread out from his side. With a loud roar of agony, he cried up to the heavens in guilt.
The birds from the nearby tree, left their spot as his cry scared away any animal in the area. His breathing had stopped and for every second, the world felt like it was going slower and slower until he could hear and feel an incessant ringing in his ears. After a few moment of trying regain his mind and strength, Aran slowly moved back onto his knees, to see a shocked, afraid and still alive Applebloom. Realizing quickly that he forgot to put pressure on his grip, ending up with just mildly scratching the lower area of her neck. Aran jumped back on his feet and faced the little filly.
"What' ya doing?" She asked, rubbing her throat from her sudden irritation and giving off a tired yawn.
"I was trying to kill you in your sleep." There was an abrupt silence as he spoke.
"What!" She snapped up. "Why would ya do that!?"
"I have no choice, its better than the alternative."
"But...But! I helped you! Why would ya hurt me when I've been so nice to you!?"
"Look, Applebloom, I can't take care of you, if you come with me, you could get hurt, killed or raped. I can barely feed myself let alone both of us. And I need to keep an eye on my enemies and myself when I'm in danger, I can't protect you if we get into any trouble."
Applebloom threw herself up from the ground and stood her ground against the towering human. "I don't need ya to protect me, I can protect mahself!"
Aran remained unimpressed. "Oh really,well Mr. Big Balls, when have you ever been in real danger and actually managed to defended yourself?"
"When you used me as bait, I poked a wolf in the head with a really really sharp stick that had a weird metal tip."
"So you stabbed a wolf with one of my arrows, do you think you're ready to take on a whole pack? I've killed almost a hundred wolves, I've killed Minotaur hunters that try and collect my skin as a trophy, I collected theirs, I've killed several ponies from the royal guard, most of them with my bare hands. And even if you don't die, You'll break down from the constant blood and pain…” Aran paused, looking at the filly. ”Are you still sure that you want to come along?"
Applebloom tilted her head to the side, scrunching her snout, considering her options. "Can't you make me company til' the Everfree forest?"
"No doubt that the princesses have set up hundreds of heavily armed guards, if I go anywhere near that shit hole, I'm as good as dead. If you come with me, you'll die eventually, if I let you go on your own, you'll be torn apart the moment you leave my sight. Either way you. Will. Die. So what’s it going to be sunshine, you want me to snap your neck already or do you want to take you chances?"
"Ah'm coming with you!" She replied assertively of her choice. "I'm not afraid!" She shouted out. As she did, she realised that more and more, she was changing as a pony, just a few days ago she couldn't imagine to hurt anyone, but that changed the moment she was cornered by the wolf. She didn't hesitate to stab it in the jaw, the high pitch howling still ringing in her ears.
"Then let’s move." Aran spoke, walking over and picking up the saddlebag and other items.
"Where are we going?" Applebloom asked, anxiously shadowing her new human companion.
"We're going to one of the most pony lacking places in the world, The spiraling city of Magmar! Capital city of the minotaurs!"
***Some time later***
Hours had gone by, and the sun was scorching the young filly on their trip. She was never used to the warmer climates, than that of her more temperate and weather regulated homeland. Aran was very cheap on the water distribution, only one sip every hour, and she couldn't really sneak in one or two because he was carrying the water pouch. "Aran...how long exactly are we from Magmar?"
"We're not heading towards Magmar just yet, we're going to find an old friend of mine, he'll help us get into the city without any hassle… if he can't, we'll have one hell of a honeymoon trying to escape from their imperial army."
"What do you mean? Didn't ya say we'd be safe in Magmar?"
"Oh yeah, because they would let an abomination of nature walk past their door without any questions whatsoever, and you would most likely be sold as a sex slave for some sick fuck. We need Korvax to put in a word for us."
"Then how far are we from Korvax?" Applebloom asked, groaning midway.
"Just before I met you, I left off some supplies to the guy, he's traveling around the villages bordering the city, we are going to have to go to them hoping we won't be attacked on sight and try to find him. Otherwise, we're screwed. But the upside is that we’ll at least be able to grab some supplies and maybe even a weapon or two if they attack us. The closest village should be about three or four hours more away from our current location, guessing from the terrain, so stop your bitching and keep walking."
"Can I at least have another sip of water?"
"No!"
The duo kept walking until they eventually made their way deeper into minotaur territory, they had to dodge a few outpost patrols that were walking alongside the road, Aran did not need another fight to deal with, if he could go one day without killing anything, it would count as a good day. Aran, for the most part, was lost in his thoughts that were split between his encounter with Cadence and how he would manage taking care of Applebloom. He already made it clear that he wouldn't go out of his way to keep her safe, for all he cared he could only be referred to as an escort. But the encounter with Cadence had ironically left a figurative bleeding wound in his heart. Realizing that there was nothing he could do about it, he took a long deep breath and stopped thinking about the past, and started planning for the coming future.
Twilight was starting to settle in and it made it much easier to spot any possible villages in the surrounding area. Any minute now, he would know if the day long journey was worth it, to find one village that had a one in four chance of finding Korvax. The pair stopped as they could see a bright village a steep walkway. "If things go south, I want you to either run and grab a weapon for me to use, or run for your life until I say it’s safe to come out." The pair picked up their pace again and made their way to the semi-abandoned town. Approaching the village, they saw that most villagers were quickly throwing their looks towards the human and the filly. Aran, ignored them and began searching for the closest inn.
After looking over the town for awhile, Aran spotted a sign hanging above a door. Iron mug Inn. The inn was the biggest building in the small town, it could most likely house 20-30 mintours. But it wasn't a big surprise for Aran, the country side of Magmar was mostly abandoned meaning the most income a small town got was from travelers and caravans looking for a good night’s sleep. The door swung open and the duo made their way inside. Almost immediately, everyone sitting close to the door noticed the odd creature entering the tavern. Everything almost went quiet as a chain reaction of silence fell upon the inn. "What the fuck y'all lookin' at!?" Aran sneered back aggressively, with scars on most parts of his body that were exposed, and a covered arm, Aran quickly gave off a Don't mess with me vibe. Most minotaurs went back to their own business, but a few were peaking in secret, they were intrigued by the odd thing that just nonchalantly entered an inn with around 15 minotaurs sitting at separate tables. Ignoring the sneaky onlookers, Aran made his way to the innkeeper and quickly grabbed his attention by just being there.
"Excuse me, but do you know the location of Korvax's merchant caravan?"
"Whos askin'!?" He replied, not wanting to give out information for free to some stranger he had never met. Whilst Aran was trying to keep his rage from bursting out and killing the innkeeper, Applebloom nervously kept looking at every direction of the bar for a weapon of some sort, she saw most of the minotaurs were wearing weapons of their own, either sheathed or on their tables. A few were even staring at her directly for reasons unknown to her, being in a house as big as her town hall with most of its inhabitants being several times her size made her feel very paranoid.
"If you know anything about the bastard, tell him that I'm looking for him and that I've decided to take his proposal!"
The bartender seemed to back off a bit after he mentioned the proposal. "You don't happen to be by any chance the big bad pig that lives in the Everfree forest!?" He asked leaning on his cashier table. Taking a long drawn deep breath, Aran nodded to the question. "Oh, well in that case, here is the key to room 21 and anything you want is on our new boss!" He reached out his furry hand and Aran quickly shook it.
"I appreciate it!" Aran took two stools from an empty table and put it up beside the cashier. He reached down and lifted Applebloom up from the ground and put her on one of the stools causing her to squeak a bit in surprise. Taking his seat, he rested his tired legs. "Oh,” he sighed. “It’s good to finally rest my feet." While The pair were making themselves comfortable, the innkeeper was preparing an easy vegetarian supper and pouring a strong drink for the two of them. Applebloom had no idea what the strong smelling liquid that looked like water, but nevertheless, took a sip of it, before her throat felt a burning stinging sensation.
"YUCK!" She shouted out, spluttering out the rest of the drink, while wiping her tongue with a hoof. "What is that stuff?"
"Hey, is she even legal drinking age?" The innkeeper asked, not out of concern but general curiosity.
"Well technically I'm not, but you don't see me make a fuss about it. Drink up kid, it'll grow some hair on your balls."
"I want to drink water instead!" She moaned. A quick shot of fresh milk was tossed on the table and Applebloom was happy to finally quench her thirst.
"The names' Aran, what's yours?" He asked the minotaur, dropping the shot glass back on the table.
"My name is Volkar, I am the caretaker of this tavern that is owned by the Merchant’s guild. I was told if you were to ever come by, to offer you a room and food until Korvax came to pick you up."
"Great,” Aran smiled widely. “Then you better start cooking, because I haven't eaten in three days and if I don't eat something soon, I'll put one of your customers on the menu." Aran said, pouring another drink into his shot glass.
Volkar laughed at Aran's remark. "That would be a sight to behold. But you don't need to worry about it, though if you want to kill any of these scumbags, please do it outside, I just fixed the tables after last night's brawl."
"Are ponies always fighting in here?" Applebloom asked, peeking up as high as her body would allow her.
"Well its on and off, some days it starts without warning, some days the tension builds up, and some days guys get stabbed in the back and left to bleed out on my floors. It gets very messy and I always end up cleaning up after them." Volkar leaned closer to inspect the little filly. "What is your name little one? And what are you doing in this part of the world? It’s very dangerous for a little filly such as yourself to be so far away from your warm comfortable home."
"I'm Applebloom, and I'm Aran's...-" She stopped, not knowing the answer to the other question.
"She is my Student/Hostage, I'm keeping her so that Celestia won't try and send another kill squad after me, and while she's with me, I'll teach her a thing or two about surviving."
Volkar gave Aran a bewildered look. "Even in my old age, I still experience a few new things." Putting the finishing touches to the separate meals, He offered the plates to the pair and Aran picked them up for the both of them. We'll go and sit down by the corner, I need to talk to Applebloom in private if you don't mind?" He asked, waiting for permission.
"Go ahead!" He asked shrugging. "Just remember, if someone picks a fight, take it outside."
***
Cadence was lying in her bed, waiting for her husband to return from the hospital and comfort her, she could easily disguise her sadness with the worries she was feeling towards Shining Armor just a day ago. But her mind was still playing the ending of her meeting with Aran over and over again. She was very worried what might happen if she ever tried to talk to him again, would he actually hurt her? Or did he say those things to protect her? After All, there was more to the human then she had originally let on herself. Her husband and everyone else in Equestria thought he was but a horrid monster seeking the destruction of Equestria. But she still remembered the first time she ever met the human.
***1 year ago***
The dungeon was heavily guarded by earth-pony guards only, from what Cadence had heard, this thing was very strong and resistant to magic. As Cadence approached the simple metal cell, the princess saw the guards stiffening as she approached. "Excuse me, guards, is the creature locked safely behind that cell?" She asked one of the seven sentinels.
"Yes, your highness, the creature can barely stand up after its vivisection, you should be fairly safe, as long as you remain out of reach." One of the guardsponies responded.
"Is it true that it can speak?"
"Yes, your highness, it can. It's been muttering cries of mercy for the past hour."
"Good, because I would like to speak to it in private." Cadence commanded authoritatively.
"Yes, your highness!" The guards repositioned themselves as they moved out from the dungeon. Leaving the two alone, the princess took a closer look as she was no longer cut off by the guards. She saw the creature lying on its back, with several rolls of bandages around its stomach and chest.
"Hello?" She asked, leaning closer to the cell, almost touching the bars. The creature's eyes slowly opened as it tried to sit up.
"Please...I...Stop the pain...I beg you!" The creature gripped its torso as it quivered in pain, its breathing heavy and strained. Cadence naturally reacted to an innocent creature’s plea for help, she conjured a powerful anesthetic spell that would greatly reduce any form of pain that was felt. Though she was a natural at magic, she had could feel how her magical connection with the creature was breaking apart the spell and was reducing its effect on it. "Thank...you!" It wheezed out, able to breath normally again.
"I have so many questions to ask you, though I'm sure my aunts have already asked a few?" Cadence had expected the human to reply with words, but instead he defiantly replied by spitting in her face. Appalled by the disgusting gesture, she was thrown back and quickly started wiping the spittle from her muzzle.
"You are going to have to give me a little bit more than morphine to get any answer from me you pink horned bitch!" Cadence's disgusted face quickly turned to one of anger, she turned her back on the human and left the room. Wanting nothing to do with the human for the moment.
***Present day***
The little filly and her human sat down at one corner of the inn, while Applebloom was already throwing herself at her plate, Aran barely touched his food and keeping one eye on his plate and the other on the patrons. Applebloom noticed Aran’s wariness after a while and was curious to why he wasn't so thrilled to finally be warm and have a savory dinner. "Uhm… Aran ya alright?"
"I'm just dandy." He deadpanned, keeping his gaze focused.
"Yer' kinda freaking me out, how do you even do that?" She asked almost throwing up her supper.
"When you have to kill two princesses, you need to be able to keep one eye on each one of them, or else they stab you in the back and kick you in the face." He said bluntly, keeping his cold demeanor ever since she met him.
Applebloom didn't doubt that Aran hated Luna with a passion, after all, she had tried to assassinate him, but she didn't understand why he despised Celestia so much. "I don’ get why ya hate Princess Celestia. She’s the nicest pony there is and sweeter than my sister's pie."
Aran turned his gaze to the little filly, causing her to shiver, while he raised his other eyebrow at the colorful metaphor. "-Then your sister much have one hell of a sour pie,” Aran growled, his teeth clenching a bit. “Despite the fact that she robbed me of my identity and memory leaving me hollow with nothing to live for,” he raised one finger, “posted racist guards who tormented me night and day outside of my cell” raised a second finger at that, his glare hardening more so “I however can never forget the experiments they performed on me. Having one’s rib cage, lungs and heart exposed to oneself would tend to cause an argument or two, wouldn't you say?" He asked ironically, glaring even harder still at the filly, his third finger raised. Applebloom was silent for a moment before she looked down at her half-empty plate, shocked and horrified. She didn't know just how cruel the princesses could get. Aran saw how he had demoralized Applebloom and sighed almost reaching a hand over to comfort the child.
The door to the inn slammed open and a group off Minotaur 'badasses' armed to the teeth barged in, along with one carrying something familiar. "A drink for everyone under the roof!" The muscular leader of the group called out, followed by a cheer from everyone who was glad to get free booze. "Simmer down Drax, what's got you so cheery today?" One of the regulars asked, Aran and Applebloom were both keeping their ears open for the company of minotaurs who already started to hassle a few of the lonely drinkers.
"I was hunting this bear in the forest a mile from here and I found this relic axe, I had one of my associates look over it and it is around 800 years old and worth a barrel of bits, I didn't get the bear's hide, but atleast I can go on early retirement!" The minotaur laughed it up as the barkeep went from person to person giving everyone a pint of ale. "First thing tomorrow I'm going to sell this to a collector in the capital, and you'll see me for longer then you can handle you old bull!" Aran already glanced at the axe and without a change in expression, knew that the axe was the ransom for Applebloom.
Applebloom also couldn't forget the weapon he had picked up against the wolves. "Ain’t that-"
"I already know." He cut her off, stopping her from stating the obvious.
The minotaur leaned closer to the bartender and gave a few quick glances. Aran already knew that he was sticking out like a sore thumb and that he was most likely talking about him. Aran closed his eyes willingly, which was something he rarely did when surrounded by enemies, and listen very carefully to the conversation, hidden by dine of the inn.
Despite the fact that he was several feet away from them, he could hear the conversation crystal clear. Something that tends to happen when you live in a forest that is covered with a thick layer of darkness is that your other senses tend to get a lot better. The world was slowing down and everything around Aran was tuned out as he focused on the Minotaur, waiting for him to speak. "Aye Volkar, what is that thing sitting with that pony over there?" He said, hinting his horns to the corner where the duo were sitting.
"That's Korvax's new bodyguard, but you probably know him as the big bad pig of the Everfree forest." He said keeping his eyes on an empty mug that he was cleaning.
Drax slightly shot up from the reveal. "That’s the big bad pig? That puny thing killed 4 hunters?" He whispered. He mistakenly glanced at Aran who was listening in on the conversation but looking as if he was in deep train of thought. "I heard that the Hunter's Pack has put up a bounty on his head, worth 2000 bits."
"I wouldn't recommend it, he'd probably tear you apart before you could blink an eye, there is a reason the princesses and the pack have a bounty on him, and that Korvax wants Him as his bodyguard." Volkar added, not wanting to repair damages from another fight.
However, the moment the minotaur knew who the human was, his mind could only think of the extra money he could get from killing a meager opponent. "I've to yet see someone defeat me in a fight!" He laughed and walked away from the innkeeper. Aran opened his eyes as the conversation had ended. His guard was already up, though he did not show. He played along to being unaware of the lingering fight that was brewing.
"What’s wrong?" Applebloom asked, somehow sensing from Aran that there was about to be trouble.
"What's wrong is that I can never enjoy myself, even though for the first time in a month, I'm in a warm and comfortable house, I still end up in a bloody fight." Aran grumbled. He knew that the Minotaur gang wouldn't attack him in the middle of the inn, that would lead to a brawl of who got to keep his head if they knew about the bounty. However, Aran couldn't ignore this threat, as they would most likely kill him in his sleep or gang up on him in his room. "Applebloom, remember what I told you before we arrived here?"
***
The minotaur gang saw how the human stood up and abandoned the little filly. Leaving the inn, the minotaurs along with their leader followed the human outside, preparing their weapons, they left their seats and quickly rushed for the door. When they came outside, they found no trace of the human, the sun having completely set, leaving the village in a thick layer of darkness.
"Spread out, that human couldn't have gotten far!" Drax ordered, taking point and heading towards the abandoned shack-like homes in the Southeastern corner of the village.The group split up. Who for now and forever after shall be dubbed Leng, was carefully treading through the empty Bazar. There were stalls spread out, with a few items still remaining in the decrepit constructs. Sniffing the air and looking for any traces of the human, Leng swept his head about. He glimpsed a bit of movement out of the corner of his eye. Convinced it was the human, Leng gripped his sword tighter as he made his way closer to where he saw the flicker, before jumping around the corner only to find an old shop that was blocking the exit. Thinking that the human was inside, he kicked open the door and saw a completely abandoned building, a dead end… his end.
Aran, emerged from the tattered remains of the tents that was the bazaar and quietly approached the unsuspecting minotaur and used a small but sharp piece of an old war-horn to stab Leng in the backside of his head. The already dead Minotaur fell limp to the ground, impaling his brain, killing him instantaneously. "Surprise motha' fucka'!" Leaving the corpse on the ground, Aran made sure to collect the sword that the minotaur had dropped. Quickly looking over his shoulder, he made sure nobody was around before he continued with his plan. "One down, two more to go!"
***
Several moments passed and Drax had searched the entire living quarters of the village. Many of the shacks were just abandoned old homes that were long forgotten and torn up, with some homeless minotaurs still living inside the dark and murky houses. Returning back to the inn to regroup with his men, he was surprised and thrilled to see the human waiting for him at the door of the large building. He readied his axe for battle, but as he stepped closer, he saw a medium sized shape that he couldn't really make out from the distance, stepping closer, he saw the human leaning against building. However, the image of the shadow was now fully revealed as he saw just what it was. A stacked pile of his gangs’ heads, all impaled on the sword that was also leaning against the building. "How rude of you to make me wait so long in this cold weather, I almost thought that you wouldn't show up!" He said in a jovial tone.
Drax held his mouth open in disbelief as he saw the horrifying sight of his friends with looks of terror plastered permanently on their faces, with the sword going through the bottom of their throats to the top of their skulls. Bits of furry flesh hung from their necks, the cuts not having been clean, but a little bit sawed through. Vertebrae with chunks of red wet meat clinging to it could be seen hanging from the bottom of some of the heads, protruding from the necks. "What...WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"
"Do you like it? I made sure to put a good amount of detail into their looks before I killed them, or else all of this would have been a waste of time." He spoke, devoid of emotion. "One of them even cried like a bitch before I killed him, I even convinced him that I would let him go." A frightening smile appeared on his face as he pulled the heads off the sword, as if sliding off pieces of meat from a shish kebab. and brought the bloodied sword up for a fight. "Let’s end this!" He said, taking his battle stance.
Drax roared in an unimaginable fury and charged towards Aran with his axe, blindly and wildly throwing swings, missing Aran, or being deflected by him on his every strike. The movement of a bull consumed by fury was almost too easy to read. Directing his horns for a charge right towards him, Aran just barely managed to dodge it and cut off the arm wielding the axe. Drax fell to the ground, screaming in pain as he was gripped the bleeding stub where his arm used to be.
The axe was still stuck to the arm on the ground. Aran slowly walked over to it and dropped his sword, Picking up the axe along with the arm, pure white bone could be seen along with the red musculature that was dangling from the severed end of the arm. Aran unfurled the arm’s middle finger and started waving it to drax, holding the bone sticking out of the arm, waving it back and forth, like a sword, splattering loosened flesh and blood to the ground, with wet shlopping sounds.. Almost laughing from the unusual treatment of his prey, he kicked Drax in the stomach, causing him to let go of his stump spilling more blood and more furry tissue on the street, along with Drax landing on his back. Raising the axe above his head, Aran cut off the other arm as well with one nasty chop that spurt blood all over his lower body, the arm falling limply to the ground, spasming a bit, fingers clenching and unclenching, muscles contracting, before lying still.
Drax screamed in agony into the ground, in shock and just moments away from passing out from loss of blood, his bloodied meat stumps flailing uselessly, Aran made sure to keep him awake for one final message. going down on his knees and hovering above his face, Aran stared directly at the eyes of his victim. "WAS IT WORTH IT!?" He shouted. "To lose your friends and life because you wanted to make money!?" Drax didn't answer, he was still in shock and could barely even think of words to speak other than the gasps of pain and cries of agony. "No answer? Then you won't need THIS then!" Aran wrapped with both his hands as hard as he could Drax’s furry throat, and with all of his strength, dug into his hide, and ripped the flesh below his jaw, taking a good deal of his throat along with him.
Drax would have been clawing at his throat of he still had hands, not that it would have done any good. Instead his stumps flailed even more wildly loosening and splattering more flesh and blood upon the inn’s walls, and along the streets, the bright red, shimmering in the moonlight. Drax gurgled and bubbled at his throat drowning in his own vital fluid, gore spilling down his chest, strips of flesh dangling back and forth like a pendulum, as things proceeded to get more and more hazy, Aran just sat there and stared into his panicking eyes until the spasms and the curdles of blood stopped.
Inside, everyone was waiting too see how the little stand off was going to play out. Volkar was confident that Drax had already been killed, but Applebloom was still anxiously waiting to see if her protector had made it.The door swung open and Aran was standing there, Applebloom slightly turned off the by the several stains of blood and the dead eyes that was gazing. All the others heard the commotion outside, and waited for the 'Victor' to come back in. Covered in blood, they saw him holding the axe to his side with a fresh piece of meat cut out, a lot of them quickly went back to minding their own business as they had no interest in becoming another one of his victims. Walking over to his former spot, he took out the war horn from under his poncho and placed it on the table. "You did good kid." And with those words, he sat down, put the axe on the ground and started eating his meal. The rest of the night was very quiet, nobody started an argument, Applebloom, while turned off by witnessing him eating meat, did not complain, she was more happy to also be in a warm house where she could eat drink and rest, and for the first time in a year, Aran could finally sleep on a soft and comfortable bed.
Hope you liked this long chapter. 6k words and I am anxious to read your comments and feedback. I'd like to thank my editor for helping me on such notice and I hope that you will all like the story. This chapter was very gory and dark to say nonetheless, if you have a problem with blood send me a PM about your concerns and I'll respond with "Go fuck yourself!" 
See you soon.
P.S I need a another editor for my story. If you like to contribute, then send me a PM labeled Editor
P.P.S I'm happy to see that my story has reached 300+ likes, lets continue clicking the thumbs up to see more chapters.
Next: Chapter 8 Royal Duties
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holy crap, aran is a veritable badass. now im curious that you never mentioned luna invading AB's dream world about the incident, does this mean AB is gonna become a major player in events?
4565707 Its a confirmed Yes, she will be like Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite. Her role will be crucial in Aran's survival. So you are going to have to like this story to find out more in the future xD
I wouldn't have became a hermit. I would've gone as deep into the Everfree as I could, and proceed to spend the next year making a functional 6-Shot and shit tons of ammo.
When I finished it, I would fucking STORM the castle and shoot everything that moved.
And yes, I do know how to make a gun. Childhood hobby- don't ask.
Also, this is one of THE BEST stories I've ever read. Props bro.
Good to see an update for this story!
I really hope at least one of the princesses will meet her end the same way as The Viper from game of thrones did.
Those huge eyes of theirs are just screaming for dirt and fingers in them.
just saying
4565812 or build one of these toyanxietypixs.com/images/products/vanhelsing/vanhelsing/crossbow.jpg
This story is awesome. Its really rare that a story can have this much violence and still have no BAD guy as such, Like how Aran is just doing what he needs to do to survive and the princesses do have Legitimate reasons outside of "He's a different species and is therefore dangerous" to be doing what they are doing.
4565807
im pretty sure i cant like this story any harder then i already did, otherwise the internet would implode
This story and it's gore is just so god damn impossible...
I mean... i don't usually complain about this stuff (i like gore), but this is just so physically impossible...
And i know it has an alternate universe ta- oh... it doesn't...
If this continues, i'm going to unfave and unfollow. Just sayin'
I'll gladly describe the exact things that ticked me off if you want.
4566040 You win! I was exactly going for that. A unknown and dangerous alien species arrives to your planet and taking a few glimpses into his world scared them. They acted out of fear to learn more. He isn't creating skirmishes everyday in ponyville, to kill innocents, his main goal is survival.
4566273 What is impossible? Specify please.
4566282 one second, i'm just going to read the last part of the chapter to be sure.
4566303 Are you talking about the Throat scene? I kid you not that is a very possible attack. Its extremly rare but it can be done, especially against someone lying on the ground, with no arms or strength to defend himself and then someone with a brutal and animal like instincts would be a perfect contender to rip out Minotaur flesh. I actually had to do some research before implementing this idea into the story.
4566277
Yay I won!
Also is everything in Equestria weaker than it is on Earth or does aran have like super strength somehow? Just asking cause of the whole crushing rocks with his hands and what not.
4566367 Thats just a metaphor.
4566385
Oh ok. But still didn't he say that he broke off one of Krovax's horns and literally tore his enemies apart?
4566408 Slamming someones head into the table might cause a broken horn xD Tearing apart, was literal against changelings, hard outer shell, but weak innards.and they are the size of a big cat to him, it wouldn't be far fetched to something that is a lot smaller then you. If its not literally its always metaphorical to emphasis the situation.
4566435
Ok awesome!, thanks for clearing that up
So, Not super strong just far stronger, bigger and more vicious than most natural inhabitants of Equestria?
4566449 Pretty much, no super powers, just simple and gritty ferocity.
I think there's a glitch with FIMfiction. I'm spamming the like button the counter won't go up anymore. This story is amazing, keep writing!
Ok, so Aran either has really strong hands or minotaurs have really thin flesh.
4566473 Or maybe both? Mind blown xD
4566459
Perfect
4566282 i'm on my phone, and i can't copy/paste anymore for some dumb reason, so i'll try to describe the parts i don't like.
#1 his apparent super hearing when he listened in on Drax: apparently he's adapted to the forest, like he adapted to equestria, and gained magic resistance. I just don't understand how that works.
#2 since when do bulls/cows sniff for scents? They can sense scents pretty far away, but they don't use it to find things, they are not like dogs in that regard.
#3 you also wrote: "the already dead minotaur fell limp to the ground, impaling his head, killing him instantaneously"
umm, didn't he die when Aran stabbed him in the brain? Did he get impaled twice? Did he spin around so he fell onto the horn already impaled into the back of his head?
#4 Aran says "1 down, 2 more to go" (i'm assuming that's counting Drax) and when Drax finds him again, he had a 'stacked pile of his gangs' heads', all impaled on the sword Aran took from Leng.
My first question is: how many heads were stacked/impaled on the sword? 2 or 3?
My second question is: is it really a pile if the heads are stacked? Does only 2 heads really count as a pile?
Also, when did Aran find the time to go back and cut Leng's head off? And when did he find the time to make the faces of the severed heads look terrified? Can you even do that?
#5 i don't care if this story has a gore tag, just because he cut off Drax's arm (i'm assuming it was the whole arm) there shouldn't be that many pieces of muscle tissue and hide just falling off, the blood i can understand, but that sword had had to be jagged to have made that severed arm loose so many bits of hide and flesh. (The same issue with drax's throat getting torn out)
#6 when Aran tore Drax's throat out, i highly doubt you can do that. (I've seen it in The Walking Dead, but that was dead skin. not thick, living hide and fur)
Also, did Cadence know about the vivisection all along?
And it seems kind of wierd that the guards would just talk about a vivisection so casually in front of a princess.
And why the crap doesn't this story have an alternate universe tag? Just because there's a dark tag it doesn't mean the ponies can act completely out of character without the alternate universe tag.
I apologize in advance for any errors in the spelling, as i'm currently writing this on my phone.
4566435 1.bp.blogspot.com/-1HLCllSfTZU/TZSv0tfip8I/AAAAAAAAAXg/I1aF14no51g/s320/splatterhouse.jpg
Does he look like this? (Rick Taylor, From SPLATTERHOUSE)
Because if he doesn't, i don't see any of these things working...
4565707 my guess is luna thinks applebloom is dead already and is not taking her in consideration
4566367 he lacks magic so he is physically stronger, and i guess he became even stronger as his magic tolerance developed
4566535 Alright I think you're taking this into a bit too much detail. I'm a simple guy writing MLP fanfictions. If I get a detail or two wrong its because its not my job to be a writer. But I can answer the throat ripping question and listening.
When you live in a forest, you have no source of light what so ever, after losing ones identity and habits, you create new ones. Smelling, hearing and feeling all can be trained to function alot better. We as a species have gone a too far route for seeing is believing. If we can't see it, it doesn't exist, and Aran, living for 6 months in a forest that is half of the time covered in a darkness thick enough to make him bordelon blind, taught him to use his other senses to adapt and survive his new home. People who lose their eye sight can actually learn to use their other senses ALOT more effectively.
I dont remember the scene from walking dead, but if you take two seconds to google it, you find that it is actually possible, the Tiger claw technique. Its even been documented and occurred in eastern asia. and I already gave you a good explanation of the question.
And to answer some few small question: Yes cadence knew about his vivisection. The alternate universe tag could in your example be put in every HIE. Alternative universe is when the cannon of the show COMPLETELY changed. Like Spike is a monkey or phoenix instead of a dragon. or if Rainbow dash never existed in the Mane 6. HIE always have to change the way ponies live and think, but the basic background such as King sombras return and the changeling invasion still were thwarted. This is a continuation of the MLP universe, but in a different direction, so its not an alternate universe. He arrived the same night as Nightmare moon, He was released during the changeling attack and we pick up the story after King sombra's fall.
4566635 No super strength, just simple and gritty Ferocity. Sometimes we humans underestimate just how physically capable we are.
4566593 No arms to protect himself with someone standing over him and using all their ferocity to tear out his throat with both hands. You need to chill when it comes to detail. It is possible, I'm leaving it at that. But you dont need to worry, I'm going to strictly stay within what is possible, I won't implement him throwing around two minotaurs with both his arms any time soon.
4565994 FUCK YES!
4566853 Key slip. I ment' the Colt Revolver, or something like that. 6 shot. Not machine gun.
4566746
4566718
Sounds fair.
I was just kind of miffed about some of these things, sorry if i sounded rude.
And about the guards talking about the vivisection; i just think that sentence was worded kind of wierdly.
Like, instead of saying "the human just came back from the vivisection" they could say 'surgery' or 'procedure' or 'operation'
Sorry again if i sounded rude.
4566722 truth is humans are very undervalued, but in mythology minotaur are several times stronger than a human and also these minotaurs were warriors. the handling too easily, as I remember he was a townsman, do not get confused, the chapter was very interesting
.
but the protagonist after being 6 months in an enchanted forest outperform the average human achievement, and not forgetting that he was tortured, and nearly starved him
the protagonist much progress in a short time and without forgetting that I kill several chargeling with his hands.
had begun to theorize that environmental magic it was starting to change
by the way, does not mean resistance without magic, dragons are very resist magic, and creatures are very magical, or a creature is highly resistant to a type of magic does not mean that it can be affected by another type.
4566894 Its cool. I'm going to do my best to keep it within the bounds of reason and plausibility.
I like it, keep going.
4567163 I'm not talking making them/it by myself! Slaves, Kidnapped Military Designers, Forges, all that jazz.
This guy... Which Japanese clan leader was he protecting?
4566746 I concur, Aran surely had tons of adrenaline in his blood stream at this moment and adrenaline can do wonders.
I'v read somewhere that your muscle strength increases by 2 or 3 times while having an adrenaline rush.
You don't use irony correctly. There's nothing ironic about a tavern being the biggest building in a place, it would be described as "funny" or "a curiosity". The "wouldn't you say" part was rhetoric, not ironic. Not sure about the use of irony in the Cadence part, but I think you might have it right with her being the love alicorn or whatever she is.
Also is it just me or is he too strong for logic? I don't quite remember what he was like, but I had in my mind someone who never ate enough and therefor wouldn't be so strong.
4566718 Honestly, I've got to agree with Duckling on this. You are turning the OC into a Gary Stu. The rest of this comment is directly related to the linked post of yours.
-There is plenty of light in a forest. It gets dim at some parts and damn dark at night, but otherwise there is plenty of light to get around. I'd know, I've lived and hunted in dense forest and jungles. Unless it is some kind of magical gloom, there will be light. The show has shown that even the Everfree has day/night cycles just fine though.
-More sensitive hearing, yes but super hearing is right out. Especially since Aran still has his senses to rely on.
-As for the throat ripping, it is unlikely but possible. Again, don't turn this guy into a Gary Stu. Realistically, after a vivisection the odds of the guy being able to do anything without a huge amount of therapy is pretty slim as that much muscle damage takes forever to heal and training to heal correctly.
4567163 +1 unless the guy has precision tooling at hand and the knowledge and experience to use it, he's just going to blow himself up. Let alone go mad from the mercury fulminate primers.
This dude is awesome! He kicks ass and chews bubblegum! AND HE'S OUT OF BUBBLEGUM!
Yes! I KNEW that apple bloom would still have her memories of the assassination attempt
4568372 Going to fix that then and to answer your question, no he is not malnourished, he was during his time in Canterlot, but not anymore.
4569125 Actually i'm trying to turn him to an animalistic human, more like tarzan, but with the capacity to think, that he relies a lot on his other senses. And I'm getting pretty tired of explaining that the throat ripping. In hand to hand combat would have been impossible for someone untrained as Aran, but when you are hovering above an armless opponent, meaning he can't defend himself, and you use both your arms and all your primal strength, then it wouldn't seem so unlikely anymore. And regarding the darkness in the forest, I live very close to a forest and during november, I couldn't take a single step outside without losing my eyesight, the story's date is set around fall, somewhere around november, its pitch black outside, and with no snow to reflect the moonlight, it's even darker. and Lastly I think you don't know what Gary-stu is. I looked through the description of all stues and the closest one he could be associated to would be Badass-stu. But even then, thats an false description of Aran.
This story is really kerfuffling good! Best chapter so far imo. 18/10 new chapter IS A MUST!
Jeez that was like a fucking mortal kombat fatality.
Wait, with that much hatred in him, couldn't he fuel dark magic, I know magic has a weak grip on him, but overtime dark magic could easily use him as a host and generator.
This is a perfect song for him