Chapter 3
The ride back to Ponyville was lengthy, and Aiden admired the scenery around him to pass the time. The breeze blew against his face as he looked over the side of the carriage to see the green meadows below him. Princess Celestia, who was riding with him back to Ponyville, glanced over at him every so often. She seemed curious about him since she had visited him in the dungeons. She her reasons too. If she was to let this man stay in her land, she had to get to know a little more about him.
“So, Aiden,” Celestia addressed, “What initially sparked your interest in magic?”
He was caught off guard by this question as he looked over to the princess of the sun. He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. “I guess it would be the fact that I was always the adventurous type when I was younger. That, and I always had a special interest for the supernatural. What it all amounted to in the end is that I always liked fantasy.”
“What magic do you specialize in?” She questioned him further.
“At first I wanted to learn the clerical arts. The art of healing, and restoration,” he explained, “Turns out that it was much too complicated for my taste. If I am not mistaken, it would take about five years to reach Priest status. So I just taught myself the basics and moved on.” Aiden thought a little harder about the types of magic he dedicated himself to, and how he started to learn it. “The professions I trained myself in the most was illusion magic, and alteration.”
“Why those two and nothing else?”
“They didn’t take as much time to gain experience in, and I thought they would be a good place to start. Plus, I tended to be more on the run since I turned eighteen. Being able to make fools out of my opponents always gained me an advantage in running away, and being able to use my magic to boost one of my physical attributes just adds to the effect.”
Aiden continued his explanation. “How would you feel if the person you are fighting suddenly split into three identical copies, each seemingly with the same strength as the others? Or a regular punch suddenly gets multiplied in power?”
“I don’t believe I’d like my odds.” Replied Celestia with a hoof to her chin.
“Exactly.”
Celestia thought about her next series of questions. “I believe I asked you back in the dungeons how you managed to remain in secret for three years?”
“That you did,” he replied with a nod. “I started studying interdimensional travel a few months before my nineteenth birthday. I was living in a secluded area at the time, so I had at least some peace. Through my studies I learned that the more powerful entities that inhabit a world would be able to detect when a new entity has entered their land. So, I took precautions. Looked before I leaped.”
“What kind of precautions did you take?” Celestia asked with a raised brow.
“It’s hard to explain. I can’t quite place my finger on it myself, but it had to do with a spell I cast prior to my entry into this world.” He answered. “The spell used was within the realm of my illusion magic, but it had a different effect. Took me a while to get the hang of.”
Celestia continued to question Aiden about his time in Equestria, and what he has been doing for the past few years. He answered all of them to the best of his abilities. When the princess started asking him questions about his own race he started to become a little more blunt with his answers.
“Would you mind telling me what you know or think about your own race? Lucien had some… interesting things to say.”
Aiden scratched his head at this. He liked being human, and enjoyed the company of other humans. That was before he became a mage though, and went into isolation. “I’d have to say humans aren’t necessarily bad. When many said that we as humans have become so violent, ruthless, and careless over the years, I looked at it from another perspective.
“We have in fact become less brutal towards each other over the years. Anything a human being does is simply within their nature. Much like how it is natural for animals such as horses, or ponies to have a herd mentality.” He said bluntly.
“That’s… a strangely accurate way of putting it, I suppose. I did get some information from Lucien about how Earth has a species similar to ours that is domesticated.” Her eyes shifted to the scenery under them, clearly uncomfortable with the topic.
Aiden noticed the Sun Princess’s demeanor and drew in a breath and did the same. “Sorry if I offended you.”
“It’s fine.” She replied.
Several moments went by silently in the carriage until Ponyville came into view. But what they saw did not make them happy. Several buildings had caught fire, others were partially destroyed, and ponies could be seen off in the distance trying to fight of some monstrosities. Celestia was speechless, and Aiden was aghast. She looked over and noticed his widened eyes, his jaw hanging low.
“Aiden,” she addressed him in a firm tone, “Can you tell me what meaning of this is?”
He stumbled with his words as he tried to find the proper ones to say. He put a hand to his head and answered. “I-I….”
Celestia narrowed her gaze at him. “Is this your doing? Did you intend to do my subjects harm?”
“No! I…” He glanced down at the town and then back to her, pupils dilated in quickly increasing panic. “This has to stop!” And with that, he vaulted over the side of the carriage. As he descended to the ground he channelled some magic to his feet, allowing him to land some clouds on the way down. He leapt off of each one until he touched down on the ground. Once he was in the town he observed the scene before him. Homes were on fire, and the town hall was in ruins. Some ponies were running around and screaming for their lives, others were trying to fight their attackers to little avail. It was a nightmare.
It was too much to take in. ‘How could this have happened?’ His thoughts came to a halt when a shadow crept hastily along the ground behind him, sending a chill down his spine. He continued to scan the area and noticed several golems slowly approach him. He looked up around him and saw a few phantasmal figures quickly disappear from above. He could feel the air around him getting colder as they started to get closer. He balled his hands into fists and gritted his teeth. He took in a deep breath and shouted. “Stop this instant!” They didn’t listen.
Soon he was surrounded by his own servants. Sentinels, Watchers, and golems all stood around their former master. “Return back to the forest. Now.” His words were not loud, but they were strong.
The former minions drew in closer to him with aggression. “They’re not listening to me,” he said to himself. They slowly made their way towards him. Aiden pondered for a moment about what he should do. He would have to destroy them all. He knew how he was going to do it, but its success was entirely dependent on his abilities.
A golem came in from behind and lifted its hulking stone arm into the air and prepared to slam it down on Aiden. He took notice of the growing shadow and looked back. Just before the giant pile of rock and scrap could smash him, he quickly jumped out of the way of the falling mass. The mage rolled on the ground and took a second to recover.
‘That was too close.’ He thought as he got back on his feet. He looked at his surrounding offenders, and noticed a few Watchers were missing. The atmosphere around him started to get even colder. He knew that these things weren’t just for patrol and were fully capable of killing. When they got destructive they set things ablaze, and when they got murderous, they would freeze the air around their victims to hinder mobility. Then they would move in for the kill.
Aiden could feel the air around him getting colder. The bone chilling cold was now nipping at his flesh as frost gradually formed on his clothes and body. His own breath was visible and to him it was a clear sign that one of the creatures was right on top of him. It gave some advantage due to his knowledge on these creatures. As soon as he felt the creature’s dark, icy hand quickly reached for him, he spun around and shot his left arm into its dark abyss of a body. The Watcher’s movements came to a grind halt as Aiden clenched a thick, solid object in its chest he perceived to be its heart.
The dark creature’s body slowly caused frost to form over Aiden’s arm. It was quickly succumbing to frostbite which is the Watcher’s best defense when an opponent makes physical contact with it. He squeezed his hand closed as hard he could on the creature’s heart. It was proving to be fruitless as the cold continued ravaging his body. The monster’s arm slowly made its way to its former master, attempting to end his life right then. Aiden could feel the freeze get stronger as the Watcher’s hand drew in closer to him. He clenched his teeth as if he was biting down on something to ignore the pain that came along with the numbing sensation that was overtaking his arm. He crushed his hand tighter around it. Finally, with an outcry of pain enough adrenaline shot through his body to crush the creature’s heart.
Aiden stood for a moment as the Watcher before him start to dissipate into specs of dust and mist. His arm fell down to his side. It was now completely useless at this point. With no time to recover from it, he had to quickly take care of the rest of the monsters which currently stood around him. They awaited for another to approach their former master. Some remained still while a shadow he easily identified as a Sentinel quickly charged in and pulled on his leg and dragged him across the ground.
As the Sentinel dragged him across the ground, he looked up to see a golem with his fists ready to pound his head in. He quickly brought his hand to his mouth and hastily whispered a few words into it. A light surrounded Aiden’s hand after he finished his enchantment. He brought his enchanted hand down to the ground on top of the shadow and in a flash of light, the creature’s grip loosened and shot away from him. Aiden wasted no time as he rapidly got to his feet and ran out of the way of the golem’s falling fist.
But before he could attack the hulking enemy, a light flashed before his eyes and suddenly two light blue chakrams were sticking out of parts of its neck. “Aiden!” It stumbled back a step and reached up its two massive hands to try to scratch them out. But before he could do so, a familiar-looking man flew in with a full-body kick to send the thing crashing to the ground. “You’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do!”
“What the hell was that?! You could have gotten yourself killed!” Aiden yelled.
“Yeah,” said Lucien, smashing the Golem’s face in with a warhammer, “But I didn’t.”
Aiden shook his head. “This is my mess. I should be the one who cleans it up.”
“Rule one of life on Earth. Make sure you know what you’re up against.” His hammer disappeared and reformed as a sword. “Rule two of life on Earth. Don’t ever refuse help when offered.” His eyes flicked to somewhere behind Aiden. “Rule three, DUCK!”
Aiden quickly turned around to see another Sentinel swipe its claw-like hand at his head. Before it could reach him, his head was roughly forced down, and he felt the air of a sword swing pass over him. He slowly looked upward to see Lucien’s blade had cut the creature in two.
“We should probably talk later. You know, after we mercilessly slaughter every creature in Ponyville that isn’t a pony.” He paused in thought. “Or a human. Or a griffin, or… you get the idea.”
Aiden let out a breath. “You’re right,” he said as he slowly rose his head back up. His eyes locked on to a golem off to the left with his right hand clenched into a fist. He brought his unfrozen hand to his mouth and whispered a few words into it. A light blue aura glowed around his hand as he charged after his target. He rolled across the ground to dodge a heavy fist swiped at him by the metal monstrosity, then he followed with a swift uppercut that split the entire creature in half! His breathing became heavier after the attack, and fatigue set into his limbs immediately.
“Nice going with that power fist, man. I saw that,” Lucien said from directly behind him while beheading a Watcher.
“Can’t you take anything seriously? I mean, stop being so casual about everything! You’re slashing that thing’s head off for Christ’s sake!” Aiden shouted.
Lucien shrugged. “When you’ve been doing this for as long as I have, it stops becoming a big deal. Besides, I’ve seen worse than these.” He sheathed his sword, letting it rest on his back. “Besides, I just fought like, twenty of these earlier.”
“Don’t remind me.” Aiden replied.
“Okay, I won’t.” And with that, he spun around and hurled his sword at another golem. While it spun through the air, green mana coalesced on his hands and took the shape of claws. He ran off to go chase his sword down.
Aiden turned to a group of Watchers and sentinels in front of him. ‘Never thought I’d have to do this again.’ He then widened his eyes and opened his palms. A magical pulse shot from his body and in an instant, there were multiple copies of himself standing next to him. He and few clones took a step forward. After a few slow steps they all bolted from their positions after their targets. He charged in along with them as he and the clones coordinated positions to effectively take out the creatures that have already started to charge back at them.
As a clone got close to a Watcher, Aiden closed his right hand into a fist. His illusion exploded right in the face of the creature. The result of this was fatal as the creature shattered into dust from the massive blast. Aiden did this several more times with each of his illusions, but started to use them more sparingly. He regrouped with his remaining clones and widened his again as he clenched his right hand into a fist again. Another pulse of magical force surged through his body.
His eyes shifted to the illusion next to him and blinked. It darted off to the creatures and leapt after them. He clenched his right hand closed again, except slower and with a tightened force. The illusion’s body glowed lightly with the light blue aura and detonated. The explosion was much bigger this time as it took out several more of its targets. Aiden sent the remaining illusions after the creatures and after several more explosions, they were no more than tiny specks of debris.
He looked around and saw that Lucien was gone. He shrugged it off and dismissed it, deciding that the crazed man probably ran off chasing some creature across Ponyville. He turned around to see a golem with its fist ready to swing at him. Before he could react, Aiden felt the wind shoot from his lungs and felt himself flying across town and felt the wood of a building splinter beneath his back with traumatizing force.
“Ugh,” Aiden let out a pain-filled groan.
“Oh, uh, Aiden! Um, how’s it going out there?” he heard a familiar voice say.
“Just got sent soaring across town by one of my own golems. Maybe even cracked a couple ribs. Doing just fine,” he answered sarcastically as he laid in the pile of debris.
Lucien reached down a hand and hefted him up. “Back on your feet, then. We still have work to do. Or, rather, you still have work to do. I need to get this hole in my jeans repaired.”
Aiden regained his posture and held his frozen arm. “So that’s why you’re here?! Just because you had a hole burnt into your jeans?!” He facepalmed.
“Hey, man. Don’t hate on the jeans. I practically live in these things.” As he spoke, he reached out a hand and thawed out Aiden’s frozen arm.
Aiden lifted his now unfrozen arm up and flexed his hand. “Thank you,” he commented, “But that doesn’t excuse you abandoning the fight.”
“Are you sure? I thought it was a pretty solid excuse. Jeans are really important, you know. Besides, Rarity and I were just about to go back out and continue fighting.”
“Erm,” Rarity spoke up for the first time since Aiden’s entrance. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. Nor was I aware another one of your kind is in Equestria, Lucien.” She took a step forward and held out a dainty hoof. “I am—”
“Rarity,” he interrupted.
“Well, yes.” She blinked. “But how do you know that? Perhaps you’ve heard of my designs on… Earth, was it?” she asked with a hopeful eye-flutter.
Aiden shook his head. “I have indeed heard of your designs, but not on Earth. Lets say I have been doing a bit of undercover research of your world for three years whilst undetected until now.”
Lucien rubbed the back of his neck. “Nice phrasing there, dude…”
Rarity, for her part, looked horrified. “You’ve been spying on us?!”
“Not spying. You remember a unicorn by the name of Prism?” Aiden replied hastily.
“Well, yes, I do, but how does that—”
“That was me.”
“You must be joking. That can’t be possible!” Her eyes betrayed her. The statement was a lie and she knew it. “You ordered clothes from me…” She suddenly straightened up. “But that still doesn’t excuse you! Why were you lying to us about this for so long?”
“I was paranoid, or scared, rather. I kept myself isolated in the Everfree Forest to stay hidden, until I knew for sure it was safe for me to come out of hiding,” he answered. “I won’t ask you to forgive me for lying, nor will I ask you all to forgive me for bringing these disloyal abominations to lay waste to your town.”
She looked at him, her face devoid of any smile. “You aren’t forgiven, not yet. But I hope you are helping us destroy what you have created.” She looked back to Lucien, who was standing on the sidelines with an unreadable face. “We should go.” She flipped her poleaxe around and let it rest by her side, levitating gently in her magical grip.
Aiden looked over to Rarity and took notice of the weapon she held. “I’ve never noticed you knew how to use a weapon. Where did you get it?”
“Last winter. A horde of creatures from Earth invaded Ponyville. Lucien gave the girls and I weapons and we fought back.” She looked at Lucien. “I kept practicing with mine, but I’m not sure if the rest of the girls did the same. I suppose we’ll find out in a few minutes.”
“The rest of you have weapons as well? You think you’ve learned everything, but some things tend to elude you in isolation I guess,” he commented.
“Yes, well, if you had bothered to come out like this and introduce yourself, then maybe you would learn something.” Her voice was hard, betraying her feelings towards Aiden’s actions.
“Then I guess it wasn’t something that I thought was important at the time. I more or less just indulge myself in what your world had to offer.”
“Hmm. Let’s go,” Lucien broke in. “We have some work to get done.”
Aiden nodded and headed out the door. “Oh, and I will fix up this mess after this is all said and done. I promise,” he said before exiting the Boutique.
“Don’t worry, I’ll fix up the place!” Lucien called after him, but he was hardly listening by that point.
*****
Aiden arrived back at the middle of town to witness Celestia and the young alicorn he recognized as Twilight fighting back the dreaded creatures he had summoned. He stopped to think for a moment about how she might react to seeing him after his screw up. ‘She’ll probably just have me arrested again. Or maybe even worse.’ He watched as they brought down the creatures before them, and noticed Celestia look in his direction with a look of disappointment and walk over with other alicorn.
His whole body shook and his legs started to give way. He fell to his hands and knees when the princess stopped in front of him. “You have a lot to explain, Aiden.”
He only nodded in agreement as he avoided looking her in the eyes. “I’ve screwed up big time. I just...this wasn’t supposed to happen. I swear on my life.”
“Are you going to help clean up this mess you made?” Twilight asked, menacingly levitating a wooden bat towards him.
“I never wanted any of this,” he began. “I’ll right the wrongs I have made. I know a spell that can get rid of them all.” He stood back up to face both Celestia and Twilight.
“Then why haven’t you used it?” Twilight questioned.
Aiden shook his head. “It’s too much for me to handle. I can’t do it alone.”
“Can’t do what now?” asked Lucien as he ran up, slightly out of breath. His eyes shifted to Aiden’s company. “Princesses,” he said respectfully.
“Well, there’s a spell I found a while back in case something like this happened. Only problem is that I don’t possess the magical power alone to cast it,” Aiden answered.
“So I can help you with it, then? What is it?” he asked.
“It’s a spell that will open a portal that will suck all the rogue servants back to their realms. Unfortunately, it can suck the caster in along with them if he or she isn’t able sustain it with their power alone.”
Lucien stared at him. “And… you’ve tested this before, right? Because I’ve messed with portal spells before, and that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.”
Aiden shook his head. “I haven’t used it myself, per se, but it technically should work.”
Lucien just continued to stare. “Alright, but if half of Ponyville gets sucked into a different dimension, it’s coming out of your paycheck. And if I get stuck there with them, then you can be sure I’ll be back to kick your ass.”
“If this isn’t assurance for you then I don’t know what is. I came to Equestria on my own by opening an interdimensional portal using a spell I created. Took about a year, maybe longer, but that’s how I am here today. This particular spell just happens to be much more powerful than what I am used to.”
Lucien ran a hand through his hair and let out a breath. “Ah geez, alright. Just don’t screw up.” He looked out over the town. “Where are we gonna set it up?”
“The best spot would be the very center of town on top of Town Hall.”
Lucien held a hand on his forehead to block the sun’s rays as he looked towards the building. He then shrugged and looked back at Aiden. “I’m game. Let’s go.”
“Alright lets get there as quickly as possible.” Aiden turned around and started off towards Town Hall.
Before they could depart, however, Twilight rushed in front of them. “Hold on, you two are gonna go running off taking a chance on something that could potentially destroy the town!? What makes you think this is going to work!” she yelled.
Lucien rushed forward and pressed a finger to her lips harshly. “My wizard senses are telling me this will work. Now go make sure Fluttershy isn’t hurt while we nearly destroy the town.” Before she could retort, he whipped around, grabbed Aiden by the arm and sprinted off.
“Lucien! Get back here!” Twilight shouted, chasing after them.
“Nope!” he turned his head to yell. Then, to Aiden, “Can you run a little faster? She’s surprisingly quick.” He unsheathed his sword and quickly lopped the head off a nearby Watcher.
“Of course I can.” Aiden started to take bigger strides as he channelled his magic through his body. “How’s this?” He asked as he started to speed up.
“Better.” The man was somehow able to keep pace with Aiden as they swiftly crossed town, taking out any creatures that tried to intercept them on their course.
After about ten minutes of running the duo finally made it to Town Hall. Aiden looked around to see if any creatures were in sight. A few streets off in the distance he spotted two ponies engaged in combat, one on the ground, one in the air. He immediately recognized them as Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
AJ was whipping around two chains wrapped around her forehooves, striking any monsters nearby and creating a near impenetrable barrier of metal. Dash was dive-bombing the taller creatures and slashing them quickly with a katana.
“Did you give them those?” Aiden asked Lucien.
The man looked over at the fight. “Yeah. Though Applejack only had one chain, last I saw.” He shrugged it off and looked up at the building before them. “Well, up we go.” Lucien unsheathed his sword, took aim, and hurled it up towards the top of the building. It spun through the air, then, when it stuck into the wood, Lucien was suddenly there, hanging on to the handle.
Aiden stood for a moment to observe all the damage that had been done by his former servants. ‘Time to clean up my mess’ he thought. Aiden spawned a couple illusions of himself. They squatted down and held their hands out for support. He placed a food on their hands and steadied himself. He then nodded his head at them and then was thrust into the air with much force and landed on the roof with Lucien.
Aiden produced a marker in his hand and started to quickly draw runes for the spell into the roof of the building. He glanced over his shoulders to see if any creatures were rushing after him and Lucien. He widened his eyes and sweat started to rapidly slide down his forehead. “Can we get Rainbow Dash and Applejack to fight them off while I draw these runes? It’ll take some time to connect them all.”
“Yeah, and you’re gonna have to teach me those. I’ll paint them on the other side,” he said while removing a can of spray paint from his backpack. “HEY APPLEJACK! RAINBOW DASH! LITTLE HELP OVER HERE!”
Aiden facepalmed. “I could have just done that myself…”
Lucien turned around and shrugged. “Hey man, you asked.”
They both looked down at the sounds of skirmish and saw the two ponies had reached the building. Rainbow Dash flew up to talk to the two of them while Applejack stayed on the ground and fought back any enemies.
“Hey Lucien, whaddya need?” She peered by him to look at Aiden. “And who’s the guy?” she half-whispered to him.
“Hey, I’m right here you know,” Aiden stated flatly. “Name’s Aiden by the way.” He answered as he continued to draw the runes.
Dash just stared at him. “Uh, yeah. Anyways, what do you want? Can’t you see we’re busy fighting to take the town back, not like you two. What are you doing, even?” She looked at Aiden drawing on the roof. “Dude. Graffiti isn’t cool. I’m all up for pranks and stuff, but—”
“It’s not graffiti, we’re making runes. For a spell. To save the town,” Lucien interrupted. “So,” he clapped his hands together. “While we’re doing that, can you two,” he pointed to Rainbow and AJ down below, “Not let us get interrupted. It would suck a lot to mess this up.” Before Rainbow could respond, he pressed a finger to her mouth and leaned close to her face. “Like a lot. So go kill things,” he whispered before nudging her off the roof.
“Hey!” She glared at him for a minute, but then looked down at AJ, holding her own against a group of monsters. “Fine, but you owe me!” With that bit out of the way, she sped down to go hold the ground.
“Yeah, yeah.” He turned back to Aiden and popped the lid off his can of spray paint. “So, what am I vandalizing?”
Aiden looked over at Lucien holding the spray paint. “I need you to cover the other end of the roof with the runes. You got any paper by any chance so I can give you the other half of the runes?”
Lucien stared at him. “The world is paper. Just draw them all out and I’ll copy them.”
Aiden pointed to a finished set of runes. “This what they’ll look like. Repeat the pattern on the other side and the runes should connect to each other.”
The man studied them for a moment. “Alright, I’ve got it.” He shook the can and began painting. After a couple of strokes, he spoke up again. “You know, these look an awful lot like the runes I used when I was trying to summon that demon that one time. Fine choice.”
“Yes they do, and they are technically. Many of them are drawn in reverse order and inverted so that when the spell is cast, it sucks in any summoned creatures within its radius instead of pulling anything out,” Aiden took a deep breath. “Now you know why this spell is so damn powerful.”
“So it was really a bad thing when my cat screwed it up? Got me here, so it couldn’t have been that bad…” he trailed off.
Aiden paid no mind to Lucien’s comment as he finished finished off the rest of the runes on his end. “Okay my end’s done. How about you?”
“Still working. These things are complicated as hell, and I never use runes anyway. I’m a little rusty, but they’ll work.” He kept spraying paint onto the surface of the roof.
Aiden turned his head to check on Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “Well, you’d best hurry that up. Those two won’t last much longer. Ugh, I’m so stupid for even summoning such things.”
He painted on a few more lines hastily. “How are they doing? And damn right you are.”
“Looks like they’re tiring out really fast,” He looked back to Lucien. “You done connecting the runes?”
“Just…about…” he paused and peered over the edge of the building. “Done!” He sprayed one final dot onto a rune he was making, then hurled the can off the building, down towards the masses of enemies Rainbow Dash and Applejack were trying to hold off. With a flourish, he withdrew his sword and pointed it at the can as it hit the ground. “Get out of the way!” he shouted to the ponies.
The two fighters looked up at him and quickly dodged into the building. Lucien’s sword glowed for a split-second, and a small shot of energy sparked out the top. Aiden’s eyes tracked its progress to see it was aimed directly at the can of spray paint. The pressurized can of spray paint.
Lucien grinned. The can exploded, instantly destroying several monsters within its small radius and splattering the rest with black paint. Before those who had been stained could react, the paint covering them melted into them and reduced them to puddles of goop on the ground.
Aiden looked the runes over to make sure they were inscribed appropriately. After a thorough inspection he decided it was time to activate them. He channeled magic into his hand and pressed it against the runes. As he did they lit up and he could feel powerful vibrations of magical energy through his body. “Back to the abyss!” he shouted as he pushed his palms out to release, causing a hole to appear and suck in all of the rogue servants.
“You were right about this being powerful! This is straining even my power reserves!” Aiden heard Lucien shout from the opposite side of the roof.
“Just...keep it up! There isn’t that much to go!” Aiden felt his vision blur up. The amount of magical power he was putting out to fuel the spell was taking a toll on him. His heart rate began to slow and felt his body get heavier. “Damn it...” He cursed as he fought to remain conscious.
He suddenly felt a huge influx of power. “Hey! Don’t go passing out on me! We haven’t cleared out the town yet!” Lucien tried to sound reassuring, but Aiden could hear the note of strain in his voice.
Aiden shifted his eyes around and saw that most of the town had been cleared. It wouldn’t be long until each and every one of these vile things were sucked back into the cold dark abysmal depths of purgatory. He could feel the mass presence of his former servants leave this world. ‘Just a few more,’ he thought. As the spell became too much for him to handle he let out a shout, pushing a small final burst of magical power into the spell. He watched as the last of the creatures got sucked into the vortex and the spell slowly started to wane shortly after.
The portal shrunk until it faded from existence. He let out a few huffs of air and slowly felt himself fall forward. His felt himself slip off the roof of the Town Hall building and fall off.
He plummeted towards the ground rapidly, just as rapidly accepting the fact that he wouldn’t be able to slow or stop his fall. “GRAB HIM!” he heard a voice call from below his feet. Not a second afterward, he felt his body hit something soft and furry, and heard a quiet grunt of pain at the same time.
“Gotcha, partner.”
“Ah’m so stupid…” Aiden said as his accent broke.
“Nice catch, AJ,” said Lucien as he floated down gently from the rooftop. “Also everything’s dead, technically, so job well-done. You’ve gotten pretty good with those chains.”
“Thank you kindly. Now, would ya mind telling me who this fella’ is?” she said, gesturing to Aiden as she gently rolled him onto the grass.
Aiden breathed heavily with his right hand over his heart. “Name’s Aiden,’ he strained an answer. “Ah’ was the one who summoned those damned things. They weren’t supposed to leave the Everfree, but Ah’ miscalculated.” He raised his hand to his head. “To be even more honest Ah’ was also that pony named Prism that would come strollin’ into town every once in a while,” he took in a deep breath. “Ah’ve been in Equestria for three years, and remained in secret inside the Everfree doing research on your world,” He struggled to sit up to continue. “If anything, Ah’m sorry for everything really. Ah’ll do what it takes to fix up your town. Then Ah’ll be sure to exile myself after.”
“I…uh…that’s a lot to take in, partner.” She stood over him and offered a hoof. “How ‘bout we get this mess cleaned up and you can explain yourself afterwards?”
Aiden took it gratefully and rose to his feet.
“Yeah, we left a bit of a mess,” said Lucien. But before he could continue, Celestia and Twilight walked up to join their group.
“It worked! We were fighting those things in front of the library and then they got sucked into your portal! I can’t believe you made that work!” Twilight said excitedly.
“It was a most admirable feat,” said Celestia humbly, her eyes focused on Aiden. “Although I expect these damages to be cleaned up post-haste. By you, Aiden.”
Aiden bowed his head. “Of course. I would do anything to atone for my mistakes.” He tried to take a step forward, but his leg couldn’t take the weight. He stumbled, but Applejack rushed up and braced against his side.
“You ain’t in any condition to work. You need to get some rest.” She looked up at Celestia. “D’you mind if he takes a quick nap by the farm, princess? He looks pretty spent.”
Celestia unfurled a wing, pointing it towards AJ’s farm. “Then go. He does look exhausted.”
Aiden mumbled a thanks and walked off with Applejack by his side, halfway supporting him. As they walked off, he could hear Lucien and Twilight begin talking.
“What, don’t I look tired too? I was right there with him! Don’t I deserve a nap?” he asked.
“WHAT THE BUCK JUST HAPPENED!” said a loud, angry voice, accompanied by the sound of splintering wood.
Aiden spun around to see a furious Mayor Mare burst out of the Town Hall building. Her eyes quickly locked onto Lucien, who was standing just by the door. “YOU! I KNEW YOU WERE NOTHING BUT TROUBLE WHEN YOU WALKED IN!”
“Hey, don’t blame me!” he shouted, holding his hands up in a show of innocence. His eyes locked on to Aiden’s and he gave an ounce of a grin. “Blame him! It was his idea!” he yelled and pointed at Aiden.
“Oh crap.” Aiden spun around and started to pick up the pace. “Go. Go. Go,” he said to Applejack as he heard Mayor Mare let off another shout of anger.
“THERE’S ANOTHER ONE—”
“Mayor Mare,” Celestia’s calm voice cut through the mayor’s like a hot knife through butter. “If I may have a word?”
“Eh heh. Heh heh heh…” he heard Mayor Mare whimper out. “I apologize, Princess, but Ponyville is destroyed!”
“Yes it is, but it shall be cleaned up and rebuilt. That man walking away is responsible for this carnage, and as such, shall be the one to fix up the town. He’s just suffering from mana exhaustion,” Celestia calmed the mayor down like a true professional.
Aiden couldn’t make out the last few words exchanged by the group, as he and Applejack were already retreating out of the town.
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You did show what Aiden is capable of quite nicely. Looking forward to more.
I demand more to be posted... in the meantime, I will now read chapter 4
again I really enjoyed this chapter, but again, there are so many plot holes.
I am not tryin' to insult your work, Ah'm just wanderin' when, and why did the main six got magical weapons and got trained to kill.
You know, this is the reason why I wouldn't be good in the MLP universe. Because I would be screaming at them that "THIS" is all thier fault. What did you think would happen when you walk into a wizards home and wipe the floor with him, not once, but twice, right in front of his summoned minions? Minions controlled by their respect for his power. Seeing him as weak, of course they would go rogue.
This is why you "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!" Whats happened here is what I love to see. Consequences for unthought out actions. Consequences, something that is almost never shown in stories here.
So None of this is his fault.
None of it.
But no, this guy is going to grovel on the ground begging for forgiveness for a mess THEY CREATED!
Monk
Aiden has the backbone of a limp noodle... its like he doesn't have his control of his own agency. I get it he's on the run and has minimal interaction... but damn he's one of those stereotype MC...
With all the above said, I do love that the other human is an ambiguous person and that he already has a history in PV. Aiden staying in the Everfree is a logical choice but why stay in PV when he could travel and study the culture...
11745853
Could say that. Though I didn't intend for him to be this weak-kneed, but I am going to have to run with it in the mean-time. I am currently working on re-writing chapters and on chapter 7. I was lacking a lot of inspiration for a long time.
The re-writes will write-out Lucien which was another character from another fic a friend and I were writing together. Since we lost touch a while back, we decided to separate our fics. only question is: how do I re-write these chapters while maintaining the current turn of events?