Log 16- Wild Frontier
Of Magic and Machines- Wild Frontier
Castle of Friendship (Nicko’s world)
Some time had passed since the young Rune Slayer had to endure the trials given to him by Dyntos, God of the Forge. Since returning, Nicko had decided to spend time with his new apprentice, Moondancer, along with being in the presence of his brother Anson and his niece, Faith. Eris herself was planning on have a little bit of “girl time” with Pinkie Pie, Amy, Molly and Jane so she could relax her weary bones. Nicko, on the other hand, wanted to get the chance to spend some quality “family time” with his brother and niece.
Currently, the Rune Slayer was explaining to Moondancer about the Displaced. He was recalling some of the most recent travels he had been on where he and his brother, his niece, or just himself was summoned by another Displaced. Nicko just wanted to use the chance to get his mind off of things. Today was the 23rd of December. Meaning that tomorrow, he would hopefully be able to go back home to see his parents again. Again, this was hopefully. He was unsure if the spell he asked from Twilight would actually work given the severity of the request he asked from her. Sure, she was a princess and magic was her specialty, but going through worlds was another thing.
Anson though, noticed his brothers emotions and decided to try and have him not focus on it right now. In fact, he had found something that might do just the trick. While the two of them were in Ryu’s world and he was walking through the statue garden, the Infinity Sword found a pink like gemstone that had two eye like sparks in the middle. Sure, it might sound like an ordinary gemstone upon hearing about it at first, but when Nicko and Ryu had clashed in their “battle of wits”, the gemstone glowed and reacted to every action that the Rune Slayer had done. Every time he attacked, casted a spell or got the upper hand; the crystal pulsed. Something told Anson that this wasn’t any ordinary jewel and that somehow, it could be related to either him, Ryu, or just any dragon in general.
“Hey Brother,” He calmly interjected. “While we’re on the subject, would you mind having a look at this?” He softly tossed the pink jewel to his brother, who caught it with his right hand. “I found it while visiting Ryu’s world and I think it’s a token of some sort. It glowed and pulsed during your fight with your teacher and that glow died down when the fight was over.”
Nicko himself was surprised by the details. Not just with the description of the object from his brother, but from the looks of the jewel itself. Rarity would do anything to get her hands on one of these things. “It was reacting to my magic?”
“More or less. I think it reacted to you because you have Ryu, a dragon, as your teacher and I read in some books while you were in Canterlot that there were some gems that reacted specifically to dragon based magic.” The Infinity Sword recalled as he shared the information. “Maybe because of the fact that Ryu taught you how to perform Spell Chains?”
“It’s a possibility.” The Rune Slayer replied. He soon stretched out his hands and cracked his knuckles, channeling his magic into the jewel. It glowed just like his brother described and soon opened a doorway. “Well, what do you know? It is a token.” He turned towards Anson and Faith for a moment and then asked them a question. “Mind holding down the fort while I check things out?”
Both of them nodded their heads. A sign in which told Nicko to go through the rift. As he did and the tear in the void closed behind him, Anson smiled. “Okay, now with Nicko taking care of that, we can prepare his Heart's Warming gift.”
Faith tilted her head a little, confused. “But I thought we were going home for Heart's Warming, dad?” Anson chuckled as he turned towards his daughter.
“That’s the thing honey… For Heart’s Warming, were making Ponyville our home. I just want to wait a little before I tell your uncle. Call it a surprise if you will.
Everfree Forest (Realm of the Firebreather)
When the tear in the void opened up again, Nicko found himself in the Everfree forest. But this wasn’t his Everfree by any means. For one thing, it wasn’t covered in snow. Another was that it was dark, murky and a bit unsettling. Lastly though, the Rune Slayer’s landing happened to do one thing that he did not intend.
Crush the back of a Timberwolf.
“Oh um… Whoops?” Before long though, the rest of that one wolf’s pack began to arrive. Little by little until there was like thirty of them around him. Staring at him fiercely with an intent to kill him.
“Okay now…” Nicko sighed, summoning one of his two swords. Rovaniik. He gripped the handle of the blade tight as he placed it on his shoulder. “Seems like I’m going to have to teach you boys some new tricks.” His blade began to pulse as he adopted a combat stance and the first few wolves lunged at him. Claws and teeth at the ready.
“Lesson one… PLAY DEAD!!!”
Meanwhile…
Duncan yawned and stretched as he woke up, heading downstairs once again to the bottom floor of the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. Nabbing an apple muffin off the table on his way out the door, he made a beeline straight for the nearest tree to begin work for the day.
After a few hours of punching trees right in the knot, he heard a bunch of odd noises coming from the nearby Everfree. Duncan looked between the apple trees and the Everfree for a bit before shrugging and deciding to investigate, he was sure Applejack wouldn’t get too upset at him for taking a five-minute break.
He took off at a run, his Kaiju-enhanced speed getting him to the edge of the forest within a couple minutes. He peered inside for a bit, trying to figure out what had made the sounds. After a few minutes of fruitless searching he shrugged and walked in, keeping an eye out for any Timberwolves or other dangerous wildlife.
Another few minutes of travel later and he heard the sound of breaking branches and Timberwolf growls. He also heard what sounded like someone talking to the Timberwolves. Duncan walked through the foliage to get closer, figuring that he’d never really find anything out by just waiting around.
Once he got through the foliage, he heard a loud shout. One that didn’t sound like a Timberwolf at all. “SWORD FIRE!!”
The next moment, a powerful fire filled shock-wave went off, sending a few timberwolves flying several feet behind Duncan and one that almost hit him if he hadn’t moved at the last second. “Woah, that was awesome!” Duncan exclaimed, “Wonder what threw those twig dogs away?”
He began moving forward again, eager to find out who had shouted. After another few minutes, he found the source of the voice and the flying Timberwolves. As another two of them sprung forth, a young warrior in a Red cloak used what seemed to be magic to hold off his attackers as a rune in his hands exploded, throwing the beasts into a nearby tree. Before long though, one last timberwolf came at him and with it, the warrior swung at him like his sword was a baseball bat.
Sending the wolf into Duncan’s face. Duncan blinked when the Timberwolf exploded on contact with his head, the pieces flying off somewhere behind him as he thanked his awesome half-kaiju durability. He whistled slightly, looking around at all of the Timberwolf pieces littering the clearing. “Wow, they really picked a bad fight, huh?” He joked, walking over to the somewhat shorter person.
Nicko was surprised to see the other human like individual as he dismissed his sword with his magic. “You can say that. Not to be rude, but who are you exactly?” He asked, folding his arms.
Duncan put one of his hands out with a smile, “Duncan Rosenblatt at your service, nice to meet you.” He greeted with a friendly tone. “What’s your name?”
“Nicko. Nicko Nocte.” He replied, offering a hand to shake.
Duncan firmly shook the offered hand, “Nice to meet you little guy.” He said, looking down a bit to meet the warrior’s eyes. What he didn’t realize was that the comment he made caused Nicko’s ears to twitch. To the Firebreather’s surprise, the Rune Slayer soon tightened his grip and then pulled Duncan towards him before throwing him with enough force to cause the ground to shake.
“Next time, pick your words a little more carefully.” He said, cleaning a little bit of dirt from his clothes.
Duncan got off of the tree that had broke his fall, and just broke, popping his back as he stretched. “Got it.” He replied, checking his coat over for any damage and sighing with relief when he found none. “So what are you doing here anyways?” the Firebreather asked curiously.
Nicko sighed, going into one of his pockets. “Well, that’s sort of complicated. I’m assuming that you are a Displaced?” When he finished the sentence, he pulled out the jewel that Duncan could immediately recognize. One that looked like the gem that he got seconds before ending up in Equestria.
Duncan grinned as he recognized it, “Oh, yeah. That’s mine, I just made it yesterday in fact.” He replied. “Cool that someone’s already gotten ahold of one.”
Nicko grinned a little, partially showing his teeth. “Well, I guess that answers my question.” However, one thing that distracted Duncan was that while looking at Nicko, he could see a silhouette of another being. One that looked almost like him. But he had blue hair, a serious expression and a different set of clothes along with a Katana blade. “You know, you sort of make me think of my teacher actually.”
Duncan scratched the side of his face in confusion, “Why’s that?” He asked. “Did he act kind of like me or something?”
“He’s a dragon. He has a human appearance, but can take on multiple forms and also become a dragon.” Nicko replied.
Duncan nodded, “Yeah, that does kinda sound like me. Except the dragon part…” He grinned, “I met a few dragons when I got here though. They were being a bunch of jerks, so I hit them with a tree.”
“Well, sorry to disappoint you on that part, but Ryu’s a jerk. But it’s for a reason. He’s been alive for a LONG time and is also Applejack’s uncle in his world.” Nicko told him. “But he’s the one who actually taught me how to fight better and how to use my spells in different ways. Ryu isn’t the only dragon I met though. There is one other one that I know who also has a lot of weight on his shoulders…”
Duncan scratched his head, “Applejack’s uncle?” He asked, “Is he like a really small dragon, or is it an honorary thing?”
“He’s taller than me, lived over 1000 years and is referred to as a Elder Dragon. He prefers to go by the title of Kaiser though.” Nicko replied. “Let’s just say he’s very… blunt in terms of speaking. How he teaches his lessons is not through telling you how to do things, but by having you figure it out while he’s attacking you. Not to mention he can combine his spells together to form new powers.”
“Woah..” Duncan blinked, “That sounds like pretty tough training… I just kinda experiment with my powers and stuff.” He said thoughtfully.
“Experimentation is one thing. Actually getting it to where you find out what works for you is another thing. Neltharion though, he’s different.” Nicko said, remembering the Earth-Warden.
“Different how?” Duncan asked curiously.
“He’s the size of a freaking mountain. The Avatar of the world. The World Given form. The Cataclysm. Those are only some of the names he has. One though, might cause a chill to go down your spine and I had his token be socketed in my sword, Rovaniik.” He said. Rovaniik was only one of two swords he had. In the dragon language, it meant Wanderer. But thanks to Neltharion's token, the earth and nature around him could bend to his will.
“And that name is…?” Duncan prompted.
“Deathwing.”
Duncan did indeed shudder slightly, wondering what kind of thing he could’ve done to earn that name. Nicko soon threw an index card the size of a piece of paper. On it was the dragon he was referring to.
“Have a look for yourself.”
Duncan caught the card, looking at it carefully. “Well, he’s definitely intimidating.” He agreed with wide eyes.
“Once you get to know him though, he’s quite interesting. And that’s just only two of the Displaced that I’ve met. Besides having to take a temporary break when I got myself turned to stone briefly.”
Duncan nodded for a bit until the last sentence caught up with him, “Wait what?”
“Long story short, a psychotic Esper that wanted to take revenge on the Royal Siblings deflected a blast from the elements of harmony towards my brother, I took the hit instead, and I wake up seven years later. Ironically, the one who got me out of stone was my brother’s daughter, so now I’m an uncle. Other then that, I met some… interesting people.”
“Cool.” Duncan replied, “Hey you wanna move this discussion out of the Everfree?” He asked, looking around.
“If you want. Lead the way I guess.”
Duncan grinned before walking back the way he’d come from, towards Sweet Apple Acres. On the way back, Duncan could see Applejack, who seemed to be looking for him. “There you are, Duncan-. Who or what in tarnations is that?” She asked, pointing a finger at Nicko.
“Hey Applejack, sorry for leaving the field during work-hours, but I found somebody fighting those twig dogs in the Everfree. His name is Nicko!” Duncan replied, introducing his new friend. Nicko did a simple wave with his hand, following that up by saying, “Hello there.”
“Howdy, nice to meet a friend of Duncan’s ah guess. Though ah gotta ask why you were in the Everfree, if ya don’t mind explaining.” She replied, raising a brow curiously as she waved back.
“Let’s just say I was traveling and ended up landing on top of a timberwolf. Had to fight the rest of the pack and teach old dogs new tricks. Specifically, rolling over and playing dead.”
Applejack blinked, “Ah guess that makes sense.” She replied, scratching her head. “How are ya able to defend yourself though?”
“Oh I used my magic… and one of my swords.”
Duncan chuckled, “Yeah he was sending those things flying all over the place. One of those twig dogs smashed right into my head, even.”
Applejack shook her head, “Somehow, ah don’t think I really wanna know anymore. Ain’t worth the headache.” She sighed, “Just make sure ya get your work done for the day Duncan.”
Duncan snapped a mock salute, “Will do!”
Applejack walked back towards the field, only to soon see Nicko mess with his magic by briefly channeling a small rune before dismissing it. Looking at it, she soon thought that the moment Twilight saw him, she would be all over him about what he was capable of. Nicko soon walked over to the bottom of a tree and cracked open a book he had on him. His spellbook. The Rune Slayer was taking the time to look over some of his skills and refresh his memory. Still though, this didn’t come without anypony not noticing. Soon though, Applejack soon noticed a familiar face. She personally cursed her timing on thinking about Twilight. For she was walking down the road towards the Orchard’s entrance.
Twilight hummed a bit as she walked towards Sweet Apple Acres, a quill and several stacks of parchment following along in the grip of her magic. She figured that it would be best to learn as much about Duncan as possible, seeing as he was quite possibly a new species of some sort. Besides, she wanted to send Princess Celestia a letter with more than ‘an unknown hybrid saved me and my friends by smacking dragons with a tree.’.
She walked through the gate, looking around for any sign of Duncan or Applejack. Noticing Applejack over in the fields, she started heading towards her orange friend while giving a wave in greeting and calling out her name. “Hey Applejack!”
“Howdy Twilight!” the Earth Pony replied. “What brings you to Sweet Apple Acres?” She personally already knew the answer, but asked anyways.
“Well I figured I would check to see how Duncan was settling in and maybe ask a few questions. You know, figure out a bit more on his capabilities and personality.”
“There may be a bit more to figure out than you might think. Duncan happened to make a friend this morning.” Applejack told her, nodding her head in Nicko’s direction.
“Do you think he might be a ‘Half-Kaiju’ like Duncan?” Twilight questioned curiously, looking over at the reading Rune Slayer.
“No. He’s a different case. Especially if he, from what he told me, took on a pack of timberwolves and lived to tell the tale.” As Applejack spoke, Nicko turned another page in the book. Now at the section with the notes from Starswirl the Bearded on Runic Magic. Notes that only he and one other pony back in his world could read.
“Did he say how he did that?” The purple unicorn asked, looking at Applejack.
“He said he used his magic and a sword. But I don’t-.” At that second, Nicko summoned the sword that he used earlier to inspect it after reviewing some attacks involving the use of his weapon. “-Okay, ah take that back. He does have a sword.”
Twilight looked at the newly materialized sword with a critical eye, already attemtping to decipher what sort of spell he could’ve used. “Maybe some sort of pocket dimension spell? no, no…” After about five minutes of muttering to herself, she decided to just go over and ask.
Walking up to Nicko, she cleared her throat slightly. “Excuse me?” She asked politely.
Nicko looked up, closing the book and dismissing the blade. “Yes, Miss? How can I help you?”
“I was wondering how you managed to simply vanish and rematerialize your sword. What kind of spell do you use?” She asked eagerly..
“Honestly, I just summoned them. They are enchanted swords.” Nicko said back. This though, didn’t satisfy Twilight’s curiosity.
“Well I suppose that would make sense..” Twilight replied with a nod, “But what kind of enchantments are on them?”
“I wouldn’t know. I just summon them by calling their name. Then again, Dyntos did reforge my main sword and allowed me to keep the blade I used during his trials.” He said to himself. The name he mentioned peaked the pony’s attention. Curious to find out who’s this Dyntos person he mentioned.
“Dyntos?” Twilight asked, “Is he some sort of unicorn blacksmith?”
“You’re a little off. He’s the god of the forge and maker of all weapons.” He told her. The sound of the word god cause Twilight’s eyes to widen. For a moment, she just stared at him in shock. Nicko honestly thought that he caused her to crash.
Twilight blinked, her mouth opening and closing on occasion but no sound escaped. After a few minutes, she managed to gather her thoughts and ask an actual question. “A god!?” Though it wasn’t the most intelligent question she’s ever asked.
“Yeah. That only happened yesterday for me, so I don’t really remember all the details.” He turned to his right, noticing Duncan. While Twilight was stuck in thought, he walked over to him. “Duncan, I think I caused your Twilight to flip out.”
The Firebreather waved a hand in front of Twilight’s face, taking note of her expression of shock, “I think you broke her Nicko.”
“Well, great. All she did was ask me who made my weapons and now she crashed like a computer on windows vista. Perfect…” He sighed. Duncan, was personally curious about what exactly Nicko said to Twilight to cause her to shut down.
“So what did you say to her?” the orange scaled hybrid asked, poking Twilight’s shoulder in an effort to get a response.
“I told her that Dyntos made my weapons and when I told her who he was, she flipped. That’s what I get for telling her about the God of the Forge.”
“A god, huh?” Duncan replied, putting a hand to his chin, “Yeah, I guess that’d be pretty surprising for just about anybody.”
“Yeah. I had to pass his trials in order to get my stuff.” Nicko said. “Three, hard, trials. Not to mention the third trial involved fighting my parents… Yeah, my parents are actually Displaced as well.”
The Firebreather nodded, “Cool. Well… Not cool that you had to fight them, but pretty cool that your parents are Displaced.” He blinked as he remembered something, “Oh hey, speaking of which… If you ever meet someone name Tony or Dante, their actual names not their Displaced, could you let me know? They’re like my best friends, and I’m pretty sure that at least Tony got Displaced too.”
“Sure, if I come across them. Otherwise then that, I’m not sure where they might be. Besides, like I said before, I met a LOT of Displaced. One of them that happens to be Handsome Jack.”
Duncan shrugged, “That’s all I can really ask, the whole ‘if you come across them’ thing, ya know? Anyways, Handsome Jack huh? I sorta remember him, I didn’t really play Borderlands much before getting Displaced though. It was a fun game, but it was just a bit lower on my list since I prefer Fantasy over Sci-fi.”
“Wait til you meet Loki. He’ll definitely make your head spin.”
The orange displaced blinked, “Literally or Figuratively?” He asked curiously. “Because I’m pretty sure Loki is the name of some sort of… What was it, Norse? Norse trickster god.”
“He’s a Displaced Discord. A Draconequus… You weren’t told about him now were you?”
“Wait, what’s a Draconequus?” Duncan wondered, scratching his head.
“Spirit of Chaos. He has the talon of a hawk, paw of a lion and other numerous animals parts that are part of his body. Since he controls chaos, logic doesn’t apply to him. One time, I heard he made it rain chocolate.”
The scaled hybrid grinned, “That sounds awesome! Do you think he could make it rain Chocolate Muffins instead?” He asked, drooling slightly as he imagined the skies raining down chocolate muffins.
“The only limit he has is his imagination-. Oh hey, Twilight’s back.” Nicko said, the Rune Slayer pointing at the Unicorn. “You might want to wait a bit before mentioning Discord though. He’s… thrown this world into chaos before. Something tells me that with time, he’ll be reformed. Let’s keep that between us for now.”
Duncan nodded, “No problem dude, my lips are sealed.” He then waved at Twilight, “Hey Twilight, welcome back from… Wherever it is you just went.”
Twilight groaned, “Duncan, in the three days I’ve known you, you’ve already proven to be able to cause nearly as many headaches as Pinkie…”
Duncan shrugged, “I didn’t even know she caused headaches, she seemed nice enough to me.”
The unicorn sighed, shaking her head and deciding not to bother with that. “Forget it.”
“Be thankful you haven’t met Amy.” Nicko muttered. “She’s a bit… Reckless. Think Deadpool, but different.”
The Firebreather blinked, “Different how? Like, less violent or just more random?”
“Think her making the walls of a classroom look like blood is dripping down and her pretending to stick herself in a wall, asking ‘Hey kids! Wanna see a dead body!?’. That’s only the tip of the Iceberg.”
“Okay…” Duncan shook his head, “That’s.. Well, I’ll definitely agree that it’s different.”
Suddenly there was a huge roar that pierced the air, causing Duncan’s eyes to widen. “Oh you have got to be kidding me.”
Nicko, hearing that, summoned his second blade Ebalon and turned around. “Friends of yours?”
The Firebreather shook his head, “No, definitely not. Not if that was what I think it is.”
“Well, whatever it is- OH SH*T!” Now what Duncan was thinking about was coming into view. “Is THAT what you think it is?”
Duncan looked at the approaching creature with a frown, shrugging off his jacket and placing it on a nearby tree branch. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“Well, I was getting a little bored standing around.” Nicko smirked, two runes glowing at the bottom of his shoes before launching forth in a burst of speed.
“Right behind ya on that one!” Duncan replied, shifting into his second form with a grin and running towards the Kaiju. Nicko watched the beast burst forth from the ground and jumped to the side as it’s tail slammed down. As it turned, the tail smacked Duncan into a mountainside.
Nicko, seeing this, moved forward, placing a rune on the ground where the tail then landed. On contact, the back end of it froze. A trick with Nicko’s Ice Rune that he used to hinder an opponent's mobility. Now, he just hoped that Duncan could get back up from being knocked back.
Duncan pulled himself out of the crater he had made on impact, shaking his head with a frown. He quickly ran back down towards the Kaiju, his enhanced speed getting him there just after it’s tail had been frozen, “TAKE THIS YOU JERK!” He shouted, smashing into the frozen tail at full speed, shattering it.
The Kaiju roared in pain and anger, swiping at the half-kaiju and it’s ally. The Firebreather quickly back-flipped, landing a large distance away before blasting the creature with his flames. However, one second later, the monster that was there disappeared.
“Ah great. It’s a burrower.” Nicko growled to himself, calling the monster the nickname he thought of after thinking about Rek’Sai from League of Legends. Before even getting the chance to think, he felt the ground rumble beneath them. “It’s under you-!”
Before Duncan could hear the Rune Slayer’s response, the Kaiju burst from the ground under the Firebreather, grabbing hold of him. Nicko, thinking quickly, focused his next spell towards the monster’s claws that held his friend and fellow Displaced. Casting Wind Blade, a huge astral sword sprung forth, cutting off the Kaiju’s claw and freeing him.
The Kaiju roared in pain, stumbling back as it held the stump that used to hold it’s claw.
“You alright?”
“Yeah, I’m good.” Duncan replied, “I was going to break his fingers, but now I think I’m gonna make him hit himself.” He grinned, picking up the now detached limb and rushing at the burrowing annoyance.
“You do that, I got an idea to deal with this jerk once you stagger him.” The Rune Slayer shouted back, channeling his mana into his sword as he let the Firebreather throw his claw at the creature’s face. “I’m just going to need a bit of fire.”
The orange Hybrid jumped at the Kaiju’s head, “Hey ugly, I think this is yours!” He shouted as he swung the claw straight into the side of it’s head, making it jerk to the the side and stumble from the impact. Duncan landed next to Nicko, using the beast’s neck as a springboard. “You need fire, you’ve got it!”
Duncan’s flames had Nicko’s blade heat up like it had come straight out of the forge. Just the way he needed it. Thanks to him, the Kaiju’s neck was exposed. That was one weak point if he had ever seen one. Launching himself forth again, he swung downward, delivering the killing blow as the hot metal sliced the head of the monster clean off. “Well, no need to call Pest Control now. Let’s just hope this guy doesn’t have any… friends.”
The Firebreather sighed, “Unfortunately, he probably does. If there’s one Kaiju here, I’m willing to bet the others are somewhere too.”
“You think that any of them could be on your side?” Nicko asked. “Surely, some of them have the will to make their own choices and not be mindless drones.”
Duncan shrugged, “Well if Beloc is here, he might be on my side. Aside from that, I have no idea.”
“You mean him?” The Rune Slayer asked. Dismissing his blade and pointing behind Duncan.
Duncan spun around, looking where Nicko indicated. Though he didn’t really need to be exact, it was pretty hard to to miss that giant behemoth. “Yeah… That’s Beloc alright. Though I guess I should be calling him ‘Dad’ now.”
Now it was Nicko’s turn to react to that last comment. “Wait, what?”
The Firebreather laughed at that, “Yeah, that’s Duncan’s dad. My dad now, I guess.” He gave a little shrug, “Don’t ask how the whole ‘Kaiju + Human’ thing works though, I never found out but I don’t really think I want to know either.”
“Me neither.” Nicko thought to himself. “Why do I have the feeling that we’re in trouble?”
“Well the show’s Beloc was pretty set on testing Duncan and making him stronger.” The orange hybrid explained, “So who knows what he might do, he even threw Duncan into lava after all.”
“ … Okay, I’m just going to only ask questions when necessary. It’ll save us a LOT of time.” Nicko replied as Beloc now landed in front of the two Displaced.
“Duncan…” Beloc rumbled out, bringing his currently draconic head down to examine the Firebreather. “You are stronger than I expected, but you aren’t strong enough. You should have been able to handle him alone.”
The hybrid rolled his eyes, “See what I mean?” he said to Nicko.
“Point taken. It doesn’t hurt to have a helping hand sometimes.” The Rune Slayer shrugged, sitting down and using the dead Kaiju’s head as a chair.
Beloc growled, “Duncan needs to be able to show the Kaiju that he is strong enough on his own, if they are to ever accept him as my Heir.” He smirked slightly though, looking at the Rune Slayer. “Isn’t that chair a bit big for you, little one?”
Nicko’s ears twitched again. Now he was getting irritated. He got off the “chair” that he was sitting on before sending it flying to where it was pierced on top of a tree like a spike. All that with just a single kick. “I would like to warn you, the past few times someone referred to my height, I had to teach them a lesson in pain. Ask Duncan, he learned the hard way.”
Duncan pounded a fist into his hand, his eyes lighting up in realization. “Oh so that’s why you threw me into that tree…”
Beloc laughed, “Well at least you have strength. Size matters little when you have enough power.”
“That and my teacher was a Kaiser who’s version of training involved almost killing me.” Nicko replied.
The Kaiju’s King nodded, “That sounds like a proper training session to me.” He rumbled.
Nicko himself smiled. “Nothing better than the feeling you get when you feel alive, that’s for sure. Especially since I don’t have any healing magic.” Turning his head, he soon noticed that what was going on had attracted some attention. And by that, it included Applejack, Twilight, and the rest of her friends. Even the Princesses had just arrived by the time he noticed. “Duncan, were you planning on having an audience?”
“No, not really. Wh-...” Duncan cut himself off as he looked over at the gathered crowd. “Oh.”
Nicko sighed. “Yeah. My thoughts exactly.”
Twilight teleported up to the orange hybrid, “What is that!?” She asked, pointing at the dead creature and Beloc.
Duncan scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, “Well that-” He pointed at the dead one, “-Is a dead Kaiju. And that-” here the hybrid pointed at Beloc, “Is my Father, Beloc.”
Twilight stared, “Uh…” She looked between Duncan and Beloc a few times, “How the hay does that work?”
The Firebreather sighed, “Don’t ask… Seriously, just… Don’t.”
“I don’t think she would want to know anyway.” Nicko snickered. “If she couldn’t handle what I told her, I’m not quite sure if she could handle what you had said. I would pay a little more attention to the others though. Royalty is coming.”
The two Alicorns in the vicinity made their way over, prompted Twilight to bow. “Princesss Celestia! Princess Luna!” She exclaimed in surprise, “I hadn’t known you were coming.”
Princess Celestia patted Twilight on the back gently, “It’s quite all right Twilight, we hadn’t expected to have to make a sudden trip to Ponyville either, to be honest.”
“What brings you to Ponyville?” The purple unicorn questioned. In response, the Alicorn raised a brow, a nod of her head indicating the two Kaiju. “Oh… Right..” Twilight giggled nervously.
“I’m beginning to think that I’m one of those reasons now, aren’t I?” Nicko asked, sarcastically.
“Indeed.” the second alicorn spoke up, “Thy are are a curiosity, just as much as those creatures.”
“Which one? The one standing there or the one whose head I kicked into a tree?” Nicko asked, honestly this time.
“Both.” Princess Celestia spoke once again. “Both of those creatures are unknown to us, and to Equestria as a whole. As such, they are a curiosity.” She explained, “And you can perform magic without being a unicorn which is a second, and no less important, curiosity.”
“Hmm… Which one were you planning on finding about first? Because I believe Beloc might be losing his patience.” Nicko had noticed that the Kaiju King had been… irritated… for the past few moments and he’d rather not try to get on his bad side.
Beloc stood, shifting from a quadruped to a more bipedal form as he did so. “Indeed. I grow weary of being spoken of as though I were either mindless or absent.” He rumbled ominously, towering over everyone and everything.
“Go ahead then, I can wait.” Nicko offered. He then sat down on the ground, summoning Rovaniik to lean himself against. The Kaiju King took this as a sign for him to now speak. And speak he did.
Beloc looked down at the two creatures that he assumed to rule the rest, as made obvious by their brief interaction. “I am Beloc! King of the Kaiju.” He began, reaching down and picking up Duncan. “And this is Duncan, my Heir.” He looked at the small gathering of creatures for a moment, deciding what to say next.
“The Kaiju are an ancient race, lost to Fairytales and Legends, until even those had forgotten about us.” Beloc explained slowly. “Many of us are now waking after a long sleep, finding that the world is not as we had left it. That it has been overrun by new species.”
“Many of my kind are angry, and see you all as invaders. I have forbidden them from attacking many of the new species of this planet, but I do not know how many will obey.” Here he sighed, “Many who disagree will likely come after Duncan, seeking to challenge him for the right to succeed me. Any can challenge him at any time, as decreed by our laws. Should any of the Kaiju manage to kill him, it will be unlikely that your races will survive for long.”
Princess Celestia flew up to his head, hovering as she looked at him. “Are you not the invaders then?” She asked, “If you are as ancient as you say, would you not have given up your rights to it by leaving the world for so long?”
“You are wise, but that is not how the Kaiju see it.” Beloc rumbled with a small smile. “It is still our world. And our kind are split on how we should see it. There are those who would prefer to live peacefully, attempting to co-exist with the creatures who have claimed it.” He frowned. “And then there are those who would prefer to see it all destroyed, and to have our world reclaimed through force.”
Beloc gestured to the corpse behind him, “That is Felinon. He was of the War Faction. Unfortunately, any fight between my kind is a fight that leads to death.” He told the two pony rulers, “I know your kind detests killing, but for my kind it is nearly a necessity. I ask that you not look at my son harshly for doing what is necessary.”
The Sun Goddess fixed him with a hard look, but nodded. “Very well. But we will discuss this later. I have a feeling I will need to learn more of your kind, should they end up threatening my little ponies.” Soon, Celestia redirected her gaze back at Nicko. “For now, I have a few things to ask of you though, Mr…?”
“Nicko Nocte, your highness.” He replied, greeting her with a friendly bow after getting off of the ground and dismissing his sword. “What questions do you have for me?”
“I suppose the most obvious question, is the question of how you are able to perform magic without a horn.” Celestia replied.
“Ah the most common, yet tricky one,” Nicko started to speak. “I’m a Rune Slayer. Runic Magic is my specialty and also, like Duncan, I’m a Displaced.” Nicko then noticed a very puzzled look from Luna, who followed up with a question to his statement.
“What is this… Displaced… That thou speakest of?” The Moon Princess asked, testing the odd word.
“Displaced is short for Dimensionally Misplaced. There’s a scientific theory involving the possibility of many versions of different worlds. I just happened to be from one of them. Because where I’m from… things are quite different.”
“The Multiverse Theory?” Twilight asked eagerly. “That’s real?”
“You’re in a world of magic? The line between real and not real is pretty thin. Especially since in my world, Luna is a guy. Gonna have to tell Artemis about that next time I see him...”
Duncan laughed at Twilight’s sheepish expression, and Luna’s fish impression. “Yeah, I’m surprised you really manage to doubt much of anything!” Duncan yelled before jumping off of his dad’s hand. “I mean, Magic. That’s pretty much already able to bend the rules of like… Everything, right?”
“Magic has limits depending on the type.” Nicko replied to Duncan. “Mine though is different because I am pretty much the only one who can channel it. The only other pony who could conjure it is dead.”
“Well even if each type has their limitations; in general Magic can pretty much do anything, right?” The hybrid prodded.
“Wait…” Twilight said, pushing Duncan’s inquiry to the side. “Who was the other pony who used your type of magic?” She asked Nicko.
“Starswirl the Bearded. In fact, my spellbook has what remains of his notes.” Nicko replied. “However, since it’s written in Runic, only I can read it.”
Twilight joined Luna in her imitations of a fish, looking at him in shock.
Duncan waved a hand in front of her face, getting no response. He looked at his fellow Displaced with a raised brow. “You broke her again Nicko.”
“Dang it. That’s twice today.” Hearing that, Nicko noticed a certain cyan pegasus uncontrollably laughing her flank off as she looked at the expressions of both the Unicorn and Alicorn. “Well, someone finds it hilarious.”
The Firebreather chuckled, “You do have to admit that ‘Imitation fish’ is a pretty funny look for them.” He said with a grin. Only to realize that one other princess was in the vicinity. Duncan looked over at Celestia quickly, “Er… No offense.”
The white Alicorn waved it off, “It has been quite a while since I have seen my little sister bear a look of shock. I’ll agree that it is quite amusing.”
“Yeah… Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to break them like that. Plus, there’s a lot of things that might break almost everypony. Including you I think.” Nicko was unsure about saying the last part, but to his surprise, Celestia was curious.
“I highly doubt that.” Celestia told him, “Though I would like to know what sort of things you think could possibly shock me that much.”
“Well… you are married and have two kids.”
“Married? Married to who, exactly?” The Sun Goddess asked.
“Discord.”
And so Celestia joined her sister and student in imitating a fish.
“Well, I broke three ponies. That’s a new record.” Nicko said, sighing to himself. Shifting in his pockets, he pulled out his own token. A Rune Slayer’s mark. “Hey Duncan, I think I’m going to have to take my leave. Keep this.”
When the Firebreather turned around, quick reflexes was all he needed in order to catch the token that was tossed his way. “It’s my token. If you need me or anything like that, just use it and I’ll come on by. Now… if you would excuse me, I need to talk to my Discord about something important.” With that, Nicko used his token to tear a brief hole in the void before stepping in and disappearing. As he left, Pinkie Pie soon walked over, looking at the three fish faced ponies with overwhelming curiosity.
“Oooh. I wonder what’s gotten the Princesses and Twilight so puffered up.” she giggled to herself at the pun as she examined the three ponies. “Any ideas, Duncan?”
The Firebreather thought about it for a bit, “Well when I’m in shock, I know a good muffin or a hug snaps me right out of it! Usually anyways.” So saying, he went over and pulled Twilight into a hug.
“Hmm… oh I know!! GROUP HUG!!” Pinkie exclaimed, stretching out to hug both Twilight and Duncan at the same time.
Duncan laughed, managing to free one of his arms to wrap around Pinkie as well. “Group hugs are always a good idea!”
“Oh… My head… Hunh?” Twilight snapped out of her shocked trance, seeing that the Rune Slayer was gone. “Where did he go? I had more questions for him!!”
Duncan chuckled as he held the hug, “He went back to his dimension.” He answered easily, “Though I think the more important question is which tree I hung my jacket on…” the hybrid continued, a breeze against his back causing him to realize that he was pretty much half-naked.
“Or for that matter, how to wake up the Princesses.”
Back home…
By the time Nicko had returned to his world, it was already sometime past sundown. Where he arrived though was not what he expected though. He was in the Hall of Elements. All the way in Canterlot.
“A bit of a surprise, but at least I can talk to Celestia. Maybe Discord as well.” He thought to himself. As he walked through the hallway, the two individuals that he was just thinking about soon entered and were surprised to see him.
“Oh… Hello Nicko.”
“Hey. Sorry for dropping by unannounced, but something had been on my mind and I wanted to ask you about something.”
Both Draconequus and Alicorn looked at each other, confused. “Ask us what?”
“Well… It’s about Eris. She and I have been partners and friends for a while, but I really want to show her how much I care for her with Heart’s Warming coming up. So, I came to ask for something from the both of you.”
“Okay… What’s that?”
Nicko deeply breathed in before exhaling. Moments before he said the one thing that was on his mind. “Your blessing.”
Back in Ponyville…
Faith was enjoying her time with her father and Eris as she was relaxing by the firepit with them. Right now, she had her journal open. But to her, it wasn’t an ordinary journal. It was a token from Robin the Tactician. A book that allowed her to send messages to him to and fro. Right now, she was looking over his last two replies to her past entries. He had given her some great advice, but she then realized something. The Code Queen soon made a critical mistake in etiquette as she took up a pen and began to write.
Dear Robin,
Your advice has really been helping me out over the last few days and I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for your words of wisdom. I hope you can come over to my Equestria someday so you can teach me some of the things you know like how to handle difficult situations, but for now, I just wanted to make sure and say thanks.
Have a Happy Heart’s Warming,
Faith Nocte.
P.S. I still need to think of a good idea for a gift for my father and uncle that really shows how much they matter to me. Any good suggestions?
With that, the Code Nemesis closed the book and sighed. Tomorrow was going to be a very busy day.
End Log 16
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You know, I've only read three chapters of 'Swords, Sorcery and Shenanigans', and this one of 'Of Magic and Machines' but somehow I kinda saw this coming. I think it's because I read too much,
Anyways, it was fun writing this chapter with you! I do wanna point out a spelling error and one other error we both missed while writing though.
Casted isn't really a word, should be cast.
We accidentally added two periods.
Other than that, I wanna say thanks for doing a crossover with me and to keep up the good writing work!
6374674 Thanks mate.
you know i half expect Nicko and discord to duke it out and Celestia to fish face to heck out of this or for both of them to fish face and say "what?" but it dose not matter. is Eris even romantically into Nicko if so i see hi-pitched sqeeing in Nicko's foreseeable future?
6399924 Are you saying that you haven't noticed any of her "signs"