Lone wolf in Equestria

by Xinrick

Introspection and Introduction

Out of all the mane six I decided to check Twilight first. She did wake up next to a corpse, covered in their blood so...

“Hey.” I said carefully to Twilight. “How are you holding up?”

She didn't respond at first, just looking up at me then back at the ground. "I… what… were those monsters?" She asked, trying to make sense of the situation it seemed.

“Those were Demon’s...from a section of Hell.” I answered simply. “Why did they spawn here? No idea…” I sighed out, sitting down next to her. “But...mind if I ask you a question? Something about this world?”

"Uh… sure…"

“How much do you know about other races?” I inquired. “Like Griffon’s, Dragon’s, and whatever other races are in this world?”

"Uh… Griffons, I only know what I've read in books. Dragons are largely unknown aside from their Greed Growth phenomenon and appetite for gems. The minotaurs rule via a guild system and are more industrial than Equestria. Zebras… not much aside from their alchemical formulas and theories."

“Jeez…” I muttered. “Alright...so let me ask, do Undead exist here? Like zombies, ghouls, ghasts or phantoms?” I inquired. “Cause this question is really important, considering it would...involve me and Lillinette a lot here.”

"Um… just some legends. Nothing Solid, though given Nightmare Moon and all that, I guess I should look into Equestria's legends more."

“Right…” I nodded carefully. “Any questions you have for me?”

"Um… what… happened, on the Zeppelin… will… will it happen again?"

I sighed out. “Who knows sadly...cause it could happen, it could not, I could have been faster and actually know what the fuck I’m able to do, or I can just putz around watching the world burn as my life is starting to spiral out of control again after I managed to find some semblance of happiness.” I explained. “But I’ll make sure others don’t die alright?”

"You… need a therapist?" She asked.

“It’s funny you think that’ll work a second time.” I said as I gently pat her head. “Unless your Therapists can work miracles, not sure what to say, but back on track here.” I started. “What other questions do you have that don’t involve my mental health?”

"I guess not…"

"Sorry…" I sighed out. "Just...a lot of past problems…"

"I figured, based on what you said…"

"It's a nightmare and a half that's for sure…" I sighed out. "But...for Death...you get used to it in someway shape or form."

"How?"

“After you experience it for the first time, give it a couple of days and it’ll be like nothing really changed.” I shrugged. “I’ve had family member’s pass from medical issues to old age...I felt like shit the day of and a few days afterwards but...I just went on with my life.” I shrugged.

"Didn't you grieve?"

“I’d have been a psychopath if I didn’t.” I answered. “That’s why I said the day of and a few days afterwards for feeling like shit.” I pointed out.

"A few days… feels so short though."

“When you’re emotionally ruined for most of your life and wonder if you’re even allowed to feel a certain way...you get used to it.” I said. “Especially when you have more than one voice in your head…”

"Didn't anypony try to help you?"

“Dad was too busy working, mom was sick my entire life, older brothers…” I shook my head. “Only one’s that cared enough were my granny and grandpa, whatever friend’s I managed to keep...and Clare…” I sighed out bitterly, hating to bring up those old emotions again.

"What happened to your friends?"

“Stopped talking after a certain amount of time.” I shrugged. “Or at least, in any consistent fashion.”

"Why?"

“Life happens.” I answered simply. “Simple as that.”

"You all just… drifted apart?"

“It happens.” I said. “Life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows Twilight...take it from a guy that’s been depressed for nine years.” I said simply.

"I… I see…" Twilight said simply.

“Yeah...life sucks.” I nodded. “But hey, at least things can get better.” I said simply.

"Did they get better for you?"

“I magically have a girlfriend, I’m not homeless, and I have kickass powers.” I said. “I’m sure things are getting better...only problem are the bastards I have to deal with.” I growled.

"Are… they the ones who brought those monsters here?"

“Is Demon the one that brought those things here...maybe.” I said carefully. “The actual people I need to murder didn’t, cause two of them can only create shadow’s and...well I need to teach Nightmare what a super shotgun tastes like.”

"What's a Super Shotgun?"

I pulled out the weapon in question. “This thing, and with this weapon and a Cero infused slug...well it’s what caused that massive fuck off explosion you probably heard.”

"Huh. It kind of looks like some Minotaur weapons I've studied."

“Well this one came from a special Demon I murdered.” I said honestly. “And it works splendidly to promote monster slaying.”

"Slaying as in… killing them? I… suppose that's fair… they killed… so many…" Twilight said as she looked at the blood on her coat.

“We’ll figure out how to wash all that off.” I said carefully.

"Thanks…" She said.

Twilight went about helping her brother fix up the tents. With that done I went over to Applejack. She was looking at the wrecked ruins of the Zeppelin with her hat off.

“Hey Applejack.” I said carefully. “How you holding up?”

She sighed. "I've been better. Pay'n my respects to the dead."

I nodded. “Anything you want to talk about?”

"Dunno. Got a million questions and not a one ah can focus on."

“First question that comes to mind?” I asked.

"How are we still alive?" She asked, still gazing at the wreckage.

“Wasn’t your time.” I shrugged. “Random happenstance, or you got lucky...who knows.” I shrugged. “I wasn’t fast enough…”

"You blame yourself?"

“I’m the one with super powers here.” I mentioned. “I should have known they’d attack...I just didn’t think they’d have gone for us during our ride here.”

"Ya can't blame yourself fer not being prepared for a surprise attack. There's a lot in life ya can't just be ready for."

“Ain’t that the truth…” I grumbled.

"What happened here was dirty, and shows us how rotten the enemy is. Best we can do is learn from it and keep along so we can handle it next time."

“Except it’ll be a fuck ton worse…” I sighed out bitterly.

"Maybe. But some experience is better than none."

I shrugged. “Any other questions?”

"How many died?"

“We’re all that’s left so far.” I mentioned. “Neither me nor Lillinette found anyone so far.”

"Hm. That's not good. Whatever these monsters were, looks like all they know is bloodlust."

“They’re demon’s from a random section of hell.” I said honestly. “If you’ve heard literally anything like that.”

"Huh. I guess it makes as much sense as anything else."

“I mean, you’ve been talking to two undead people this entire time technically.” I shrugged.

"Is that relevant?"

“Considering my current concern of all the dead here becoming Hollows then yes.” I nodded. “Cause that’s one thing we really don’t need right now.”

"So they won't turn out like you two if they do?"

“Oh hell no.” I shook my head. “Becoming like me and Lillinette would, normally, take a long ass time, and even then there’s a fifty fifty shot they stall at the Adjuchas stage, where they have the same intelligence as you and me but are in a more…’beastial’ form.” I explained. “Not to mention I’m technically a step above what I should be due to other reasons.”

"You do realize ah didn't understand a word of that right?"

“Understandable, but all I can say is that it’ll take a long ass time to become like me and Lilynette.”

"And what makes y'all so special from the other kinds?"

“Well...imagine an Apple Tree.” I started. “It starts off as a seed, then a sapling, then a young tree, than a mature tree.” I started. “The mature tree is technically what I am...but now imagine that Mature tree went another step and took a pony form and started walking and talking like anyone else.” I explained carefully. “Does that make more sense?”

"Sounds a might like a crime against nature but I guess I can understand it." She chuckled.

“If Dryad’s exist in this world than technically no.” I said honestly. “What would sound like a crime is if that same apple tree person became an apple farmer.”

"I suppose." Applejack sighed. "Thanks fer Talkin to me."

"No problem Applejack." I nodded. "It's what I'm here to do...help."

With Applejack holding up well it seems, I went over and checked on Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Rarity’s leg was soaked in blood, her own and bandaged with fabrics ribbed and tied together as tight as they can to stop the blood from flowing.

“Hey…” I said carefully. “You two doing alright?”

“My- ugh… Leg could be better.” Rarity said. “Whatever those creatures were, they certainly lived up to their monstrous looks.”

“They were all angry and rage. It was scary…” Pinkie Pie added.

“They were demon’s.” I said to the two. “From Hell…or at least a part of it.”

“What makes one part of hell different from the rest?” Rarity asked.

“Not sure, but considering they came from a different afterlife…well maybe there’s a difference.” I shrugged. “But…anything you want to talk about?”

“Not really. At the moment I’m just hoping to not focus on the pain and praying I don’t get an infection…” Rarity added.

“I lost the first aid kit I keep in my mane in the crash…” Pinkie sighed. “If we could find it or something useful in wherever the Medbay ruins are, it could hopefully help.”

“That’s why I went there first.” Lillinette said as she walked over with some supplies.

“Any pain killers?” Rarity asked, looking a bit hopeful.

“Well so far I only found this, I haven’t found anything else yet.” Lillinette started.

“I’ll go and check to see if there’s anything else, you try and make sure Rarity’s injuries are fully taken care of.” I said, getting up and heading off to the ruined med bay.

Everything was at a twisted odd angle inside the wreckage. Some parts still burned while others were bloody or just broken. I nearly had a heart attack when a dead Imp demon’s upper torso fell from where it was pinned above. Odd considering there’s a hole where my heart would be.

Eventually I came across the med bay ruins. Thankfully it was untouched by fires but I got a bad feeling when I found it. Like I am not alone…

“Is anyone here?” I asked carefully, drawing my sword as I looked around carefully to see what was there.

As I was looking around I was suddenly kicked in the back and into the wall. Turning I spotted a woman, pale skin like a corpse, long, wet jet black hair and torn black shirt and pants.

“And who the hell are you?” I asked carefully. “Cause you look familiar…and if you’re one person I was told about you’re not supposed to be here.”

“I know. But I'm the one who spawns in the monsters, so I do have to show up to refresh the inventory every so often.” She replied with a small grin. “Besides, it’s fun to mess with the toys when they won’t let me play.”

“Listen, I already have enough on my mind and also have to help the other’s.” I growled, pulling out my super shotgun and putting in two Cero Slugs. “And you calling me a toy and doing this shit is not something I’m in the mood for.”

“If you think that is gonna hurt me, you’ll just be wasting ammo.” She chuckled. “But, still, we have yet to be properly introduced. I am Pain.”

I looked at her…and I sighed out bitterly. “I hate that you're right…cause why the hell can’t something go right today.”

“Oh relax I’m not here to mess with you… anymore.” She said, tapping her foot on the ground. “Just because I am not a direct player doesn’t mean I can’t watch and observe. But that gets boring so I tamper, but never enough to be considered ‘breaking the rules’.”

“You sent the demon’s to cause all the murder didn’t you?” I inquired. “Not Demon?”

“I did say that I am the one who summoned and created the monsters used. Demon, Genie and Voodoo can but that’s not their role. We all have our roles in these games, each role simply gives us a job to do. Mine, normally, is to create, summon and send out monsters of all kinds and breeds to cause chaos, havok, death and panic across the world of the challenger, that’s you. I can even jump in and… kill annoyances that might hinder progress but I’m not allowed in this game. While I can’t put myself in like I normally do, I can still supply the cannon fodder.”

“Yeah, cause Voodoo said that you would have increased the body count by a fuck ton.” I frowned.

“The numbers from this airship don’t even show in the kill count I have.” She said with a clear pride in her tone. “But, enough about me, this is about you and those sad little horses back there.”

“Yes it is, and I need to find more medical supplies.” I said. “Knew something bad was going to happen…but no, let’s take a god damn nap…” I grumbled to myself, putting away my gun and going back to searching for more supplies. “So, what do you want to know that you probably already know about?”

“You hate yourself for taking a nap?”

“When you already knew something bad might happen, as well as having confirmation that something will indeed go terribly wrong by a literal fortune teller, why would you just take a nap instead of making sure things are safe enough?” I asked. “If I acted faster than not as many people would have died first of all…”

“Please. Take it from someone who kills for their job, even if you were awake, you couldn’t have saved the dead from the explosion, the fire, or the demons that ran into the place with huge numbers. You can’t be everywhere at once Undead Hero.”

“That is why I said ‘not as many’...” I pointed out. “But no…just did something completely different and ignored the obvious problem, thinking it would happen later…”

She shrugged. “True, but you can’t always be on edge. They say waiting is the worst part and just waiting for everything to go wrong might kill you more than dealing with what went wrong.”

“I mean, I already expect everything to go wrong because I’m me.” I stated simply. “It’s a miracle that I managed to find some form of happiness here…little did I know that something was going to remind me why being happy is a terrible choice…cause it just makes everything hurt more…”

“Hm. And if you never try and be happy, you won’t ever care enough to want to save anyone. You can’t have it both ways.”

“It’s almost like there’s a reason I was clinically depressed to a horrid degree.” I said sarcastically. “Or maybe put a bullet in my head to stop…everything…” I took a deep breath, trying not to remember whatever the hell that weird dream was a week ago.

“Well, when even suicide fails all you can do is keep moving forewards until you can be happy. I mean, hell if Princess can be happy and have her family and loves after the crap she went through then you can too.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged. “At least I don’t have other people in my head that won’t shut up, so that’s a plus…which turned into a negative now that they’re running around doing god knows what…”

“Well, at least you can finally fight back against them now that they are outside of your head. Not like you couldn’t have before but, take what you can get.”

“Which is a fantastic thing.” I shrugged. "But murdering two problems...doesn't solve my main problem…"

“Hmm… Look, I normally don’t do this, but you’re pretty damn hopeless so I’m gonna give you some advice. After your fifth date with little miss Derpy, ask if you and Lillinette can move in with her.”

I blushed brightly at that sudden bit of advice. "D-dont you think that's...a little fast?" I asked worriedly. "I mean...I know she's the best mare I've met in this world so far but...uh…" I trailed off, thinking about me and Derpy together like that.

“Well then, let me put it in words you might understand better. By date number five, move in with her or she will get hurt.”

I spun around and glared. "If you dare touch a single hair on her head…" I growled, not caring if she’s the end of the world personified as I wanted to protect Derpy.

“It’s not a threat, it’s a warning, dumb ass.” She said, flicking my head with a finger. The hit from that knocked me on my ass hard. “You want to be around when bad things happen. If you aren’t with her after the fifth date, then something bad will happen. If you are there, then you can prevent it.”

“Fine…” I sighed out, rubbing my forehead as I got back up.

“Now then, if you’re looking for strong antibiotics and healing potions, you’ll need what’s in that locked closet.” She said, motioning towards the metal door in the corner of the room.

“Thank you.” I nodded as I walked over quickly to the locked door and, with my enhanced strength just from my race, tried to pry the locked door open. “So…you sound like you’ve had…personal experience in our talk, is that because you’re also someone like Princess and co that are retired and just doing thing’s for funsies?”

“Yeah, but unlike them I still enjoy being a part of the fun.”

“Fair enough.” I nodded. “Well, maybe next time you can…I don’t know, join whoever the hell else is apart of this stuff as a teacher or something? If you want to have fun without causing the death of millions…”

“Yeah, no. I’m usually the ‘final boss’ person. Last thing I think anyone wants is for me to train competent bad guys.”

“That’s fair.” I started. “Or it could be you training a hero to cause all that destruction because of their circumstances or something.” I shrugged, pulling open the door through sheer strength. “But if you want to stay the final boss that’s fair.”

“I’d probably train an anti-hero at best.” Pain said. I turned around to say something but Pain was gone.

I shrugged and looked over the supplies here. Thankfully the important stuff was all in locked boxes and cabinets in here so it was all still fine. I managed to grab everything and headed back outside.

Rarity happily downed some painkillers and antibiotics while Pinkie Pie applied a healing potion directly to her leg and then rebandaged it. “Thank you darling.” Rarity said, looking far more relieved than before.

“No problem.” I said. “So, any questions from the two of you now that thing’s are getting better?”

“I think we’ll be fine for now darling. With my leg no longer risking infection or… worse, I’ll just try and rest so the potions can fix the damage.”

“Think you can find any of the food?” Pinkie asked. “We passed the kitchen on our way out from the wreckage and it looked pretty intact.”

“I’m still surprised how much wasn’t destroyed.” I said honestly. “But sure, I’ll make sure if all the food’s good.”

I got back up and went inside looking for the kitchen. “Mind if I tag along?” I looked down and back to see Shining Armor there. “If you’re going in for supplies, some magic might come in handy for transporting it.”

“Fair enough.” I nodded. “So, any questions you have for me Captain?” I inquired as I walked towards the remnants of the mess hall.

“A few.” He said as we entered the wreckage. “I’ve been wondering, how do you… do all that?”

“Depends on what you mean.” I answered. “Got any specifics?”

“How did you… fight those monsters?” He asked as we moved through the scorched hallways.

“With a sword,” I patted the hilt of my sword. “And this wonderful thing.” I said while pulling out my super shotgun. “Also might be because of this thing as well.” I brought up as I showed my Assistant to Shining.

“A… tattoo?”

“Well, it’s a…complicated thing, but it’s magic and technology and it let’s me do a lot of things.” I said as I tapped my assistant with my super shotgun as it went straight into the thing. “If you’ve ever played any tabletop rpg’s, think of it like a bag of holding mixed with a character sheet.”

“Oh, yeah I get that then.” Shining said, looking at the Assistant now with surprise. “Where did you get it?”

“Crescent.” I answered. “It helps a lot, especially with carrying stuff.”

“Hm. Any chance she’ll hand out some more? Those… could help a lot given what’s happened and what I’m afraid is to come.”

“I don’t know.” I said honestly. “Have to ask them, and to be honest it’s already kind of a gamble because if I have one, other bad guys will get it as well.”

“Hm… that is an issue…” Shining sighed as we jumped a hole in the floor. “I was amazed to see you take down that… other ‘airship’.” Shining said. “You and Cherry did more than I did… I just focused on keeping my shield up.”

“And that’s honestly the best we could ask for.” I said honestly. “You don’t need to be a fighter to protect people. At least you protected who you could.”

“I know, but… I know a lot of the guards that were aboard with us. Cherry was only with us because Princess Luna ordered it… I hoof picked all those stallions and… only Cherry and I survived. I brushed her off because I thought Princess Luna was being paranoid… now though… Now I don’t think I’ll be able to do anything the next time. She did more than I did…”

“How many were inside your barrier when it crashed?” I asked him bluntly.

“Including myself, Twily and her friends, and the few cabin crew members there… Nine, but only seven of us survived the impact crash.”

“Then congrats, you saved seven people.” I said simply. “Not many can when you just fought a warship filled with Demons.”

“It’s still not good odds. Out of a crew and passengers totaling fifty ponies, and two humans, only eight ponies and two humans survived.”

“It’s better than nothing.” I said honestly. “You can’t do everything at once, and if you look at me you at least had a head start in doing stuff, I was asleep when thing’s went to shit.”

We arrived at the kitchen, finding it a mess of thrown food and tables. “Well, at least there don’t appear to be any corpses…”

“Hopefully there’s still good food that wasn’t destroyed by the crash.” I brought up.

“The store room should have been kept locked tight. Freezer too, aside from being messy all the packaged foods should all be fine.” Shining said as we went into the back kitchen area and found the store room. The crates were tossed about but still in one peces. Labels such as beans, rice, water, apples, hay, and other such items I could see. I then checked the freezer. As Shining Expected, everything was tossed about but it all still looked fine. To my surprise there was a lot of fish frozen in here as well as other veggie and fruit items.

“Why the fish if I may ask?” I inquired. “Thought ponies don’t like meat in any capacity?”

“Well, Pegasi eat fish to help with their feathers' well being. Something about the oils their saliva produces for keeping their wings waterproof partly coming from fish. Earth Ponies and Unicorns can also eat fish fine, just no red or white meats. Most just don’t since it’s not a common reason to for non pegasi, but Royal Guards are required as the proteins from the fish help build muscle faster and allow us to resupply mana faster than without. We brought more than usual since the issues Griffonstone has, figured some of them might enjoy a good meal given how their kingdom fell, and fell hard.”

“Huh, that’s really interesting.” I said honestly. “Good to know, alright…so hopefully Pinkie knows how to cook over a campfire cause I sure as hell don’t.”

“Hmm…” Shining thought, walking back over to the stoves as he opened the under compartment of one up. “Looks like the stoves are intact. And the Propane tanks are in good shape. I don’t smell anything leaking so we might be able to pull one of these out and just take the spare tanks.”

“Fair enough.” I nodded. “Let’s get thing’s set up.”

With some heavy lifting and effort we were able to pull the stove off it's bolted place on the floor/wall and after some trial and error, figured out how to store it in the Assistant. With that I also put all the food inside that. "Mind if we make a quick stop first?" Shining Armor asked. "I wanna see if the armory survived, or the Cargo Bay."

"Sure." I nodded. "Considering all the other crap that's survived I wouldn't be surprised if it also survived."

"It is actually probably the protection spells. While the ship got more damaged that was mostly because the onboard auto repair spell matrix was damaged in the initial attack. The cargo and most of the other supplies all have special spells in place so in the event of a crash they survive all but the worst of impacts. Actually, despite the condition of the Zeppelin it looks like they managed to get the repair spell matrix working again before the impact, which explains why so little is charred or melted."

“I managed to get the Chef and a few other’s to the engine room to get the spell matrix fixed, sadly we were a little too late from keeping it from crashing apparently…” I sighed out.

"The Engine Room…" Shining muttered. "That whole area is like a black box. In the event of a crash it's supposed to keep the engine safe, cause if they blow the explosion would incinerate everything within a five mile radius. Starrk, did they shut the door after you brought the Chef there?"

"I believe so, but I was rushing away after they told me it was all good so I could help deal with the demons elsewhere." I said carefully.

"We have to get down there. If they did shut the door the Black Box spells would have kept the whole sections safe. They barely would have even felt the impact from the crash. There might be more survivors in there."

"That would be fantastic." I sighed out thankfully. "Now where's the engine room in all this debris?"

"That's the bad news. From the angle of the Zeppelin it crashed on top of the engine room. It's likely buried in fallen beams and metal, which is why they probably didn't get out with the rest of us."

"Fair enough." I nodded. "Then let's get to uncovering all that debris."

With a nod, Shining Armor rapidly led the way. We came across the hallway to the engine room, it was sideways and collapsed badly. Using my supernatural strength I began pushing, bending and forcing all the debris away and trying to force it into a stable passageway. After an hour of hard work we finally found the doorway to the engine room. It opened without issue and I felt a huge wave of relief as I saw a large group of ponies in here.

"About time!" One of the engineers said with a smile. "We were starting to worry!"

"Sorry about that." I said sheepishly. "But glad you're all safe." I said moving a bit more debris to make it safe to walk. "Just had a lot to take stock of after the crash."

“How many are here?” Shining Armor asked.

“Sixteen.” The chef said as he walked over to us. “How many…?”

Shining Armor sighed. “Eight. Ten including Starrk and Lillinette.”

“We’ve managed to at least start getting something’s set up for a proper camp.” I told the chef. “But it’s still a struggle for…most of the group.”

“I can imagine… Well, come on, let’s get out of here.”

“I’ll help them get out. Think you can get to the cargo bay and Armory from here?” Shining asked me.

“I will.” I nodded. “Hopefully some of the cargo and armory is still in good shape.” I muttered, heading off to find the cargo bay and armory.

I tried to follow what directional arrows there were at turns and ladders/stairs the best I could. Thankfully I managed to find the Cargo Bay, the ceiling having fallen in and on top of some of the boxes but their protective magics kept them all safe and undamaged. I got to the long task of putting all the crates and such into my Assistant. By the time I finished Shining Armor managed to return. “Hey, you all good here?”

“Yeah, just collecting all the cargo boxes.” I said honestly. “Thankfully the protection spells kept them all safe from the debris.” I brought up. “So what about everyone else? Were they all okay?”

“They made it outside and at least the others started to feel better that we weren’t the only ones to survive. I see you managed to gather all the cargo in that arm tattoo of yours. Darn thing makes bags of holding look like party tricks.”

“It’s a miracle machine thankfully.” I said. “Now, onto the armory, cause I’ll have enough time looking at what this thing has in store later.”

I followed Shining Armor to the armory. It was more towards the back of the ship and therefore more up given the weird angel the end of the ship was. A haphazard climb up and we managed to reach the armory. Here I saw armor, spears, swords and crossbows all scattered around. The impact did a number on this room. I did however take note of the one locked cage with what looked like TNT and some rather flashy red potions in thick bottles in there.

“Thank the stars the explosives cage held.” Shining sighed.

“So…we just had an entire cage filled with explosives…why?” I asked carefully.

“Not too sure myself actually. All I know is that Luna ordered this here as part of the cargo but given the risks we kept it here.” Shining stated.

“That’s for the best.” I nodded. “So anyways, looks like everything’s in order thankfully, anything missing from what you can tell?”

“No, just a mess and… casualties.” He sighed. “Let’s gather everything here and go.”

“Best not focus too much on the…casualties.” I said carefully, having largely ignored the charred or dismembered bodies littering the place.

Once everything in the armory was also packed and placed away we headed back to camp. I set up all the food and the stove with the tanks inside a makeshift hut from Zeppelin scrap as the chef began to cook.

With everyone looking better I decided to check on Fluttershy, who was eating a plate of carrots with Princess and Fluffy still.

“Hey Fluttershy.” I said softly. “How are you feeling?”

“B-Better…” She said softly. “Princess and Fluffy here are helping me… cope.”

“That’s good.” I said, lightly patting the two’s heads. “Is there anything you want to talk about?”

“N-Not particularly. I’ve had a fair amount of animal friends pass on and bury them, but never… other ponies. It’s… similar yet also so different.”

“I understand.” I nodded. “I’m glad you’re doing okay Fluttershy, and glad these two helped out a lot.”

She nodded, giving a small smile. “They are so kind and helpful.”

“Yep, and they’ll be even more helpful considering they might be able to help me figure out my powers…or at least help me learn more about this thing.” I mentioned while showing Fluffy and Princess my new Assistant.

Who gave you that assistant? Princess raised a sign.

“Crescent.” I answered simply. “And yeah…hopefully thing’s will start getting better after this…oh, have you seen Rainbow?”

“She’s over there.” Fluttershy pointed a wing towards the edge of camp. The Rainbow maned pegasus was sitting atop a cloud while looking around.

“Thanks, and if there’s anything you want to talk about I’m here.”

“Thank you Starrk.” Fluttershy said with a nod.

With a nod back I headed towards the cloud sitting pegasus. She was looking around rather determined as did. She eventually spotted me and looked down. “Hey.” She said.

“Yo.” I said. “How you doing?”

“Peachy…” She said with an eye roll. “Do you need something?”

“To talk.” I said simply. “Cause it looks like you need to talk to help soothe something bruised for you.”

“Like you don’t need that either?”

“You think my mental state is bruised, that’s funny.” I joked. “So mind telling me how you really feel?”

“How I feel? I feel upset. I feel cheated. I feel… helpless…” She growled that last one. “And on top of that, we got a hero with confidence issues meant to save us. Not very reassuring…”

“There’s the first step you need, admitting you feel like garbage and not being able to do something.” I said simply. “The next is a three way path, you either keep moving forward so you won’t feel helpless again, you continue to feel helpless and let that bog you down, or you keep moving forward anyways cause life is completely unfair and dying isn’t really worth it in the long run.” I answered simply. “I blame myself cause I believe I could have done something more instead of sleeping, you blame yourself because you feel like you could do absolutely nothing.” I told her. “And that’s fine, and do you want to know why that is?”

“Are you going to tell me anyway?”

“Yes, cause I have a point to this.” I answered. “And why is it all fine? Because life sucks and bad shit just happens.” I stated simply. “All we can do is just move past it and do better next time, let this one bad day cause major problems, or let it build and build that you’re so mentally and emotionally numb that you don’t even know if you're lying to yourself you still feel emotions.”

“So…you’re saying ‘why bother’?” Rainbow asked carefully.

“That’s all up to you.” I said simply. “Are you going to let this bug the shit out of you to the point it gets you hurt, are you going to let it drag you down to the point your mentally grounded, or are you going to work past it and be better for when this shit happens again?”

“How long did it take you to work passed it?”

“For what specifically? Cause I have a lot of things that would technically fit that question.” I asked. “Cause if you mean the many deaths…well when I woke up after blowing up the Demon Ship.” I shrugged.

“How…could you have gotten over their death’s that fast!?” Rainbow asked incredulously.

“Simple, I didn’t even know who they were.” I shrugged. “Didn’t know their names, didn’t know their talents, just a bunch of hoof-picked soldiers to help us get to our destination as safely as possible.” I explained, which caused Rainbow to look at me with deep concern. “I feel sad for their deaths, I think it’s my fault cause I wasn’t fast enough…but someone told me they were going to die anyways whether I worked faster or not…” I shook my head.

"That's… worrying. I can kinda get it, but it's rare for some pony to die of unnatural causes."

“And where I originally come from…it’s sadly very common to see someone die from unnatural causes.” I sighed out.

"Doesn't your world have safety magics or healing magic?"

“The human world doesn’t have magic.” I shook my head. “I’m technically…something else from a different world.”

"How do you not have magic?"

“Because humans were either never born with magic, lost the ability to use magic for some reason or another, or something else that’s weird.” I shrugged. “I specifically have ‘magic’ and because of many other reason.”

"That's pretty weird."

“A bit yeah.” I nodded.

---

Everything in the camp went fairly quiet after that. We were still a day away from Griffinstone by foot and two from Equestria's boarders. Officially we were in the Griffon territories and Shining Armor and I were going over maps of the region.

“So what’s our first move captain?” I inquired. “Cause we’re a day away from some kind of civilization, and still a few days away from our main destination.”

"Well, if Twilight had brought Spike along we could have sent for help but without him we'll have to send a team out to make it to Griffinstone and bring help." Shining said.

"Isn't that why Cherry Soda left?" Lillinette asked.

“Oh yeah, I completely forgot to check up on her.” I started. “Where did she go?”

"Well, little after the Engine room survivors were out and safe she said she needed to complete Luna's orders and headed off for Griffinstone."

"Luna gave Cherry orders? Did she say what they were?" Shining asked.

"Nope."

“She’s the super soldier here, so of course she’d have secret orders.” I said honestly. “But anyways, right now Cherry is probably getting help, either through some secret ninja message system from Luna because why not, or getting help in general from the griffon’s if they won’t try to mug us for some dumb ass reason.”

"Did you really just say Ninja Message System?" Lillinette asked.

"This is just more and more concerning…" Shining Armor stated.

“Yes I did.” I told Lillinette simply. “But you get used to thing’s getting stupidly concerning Shining, trust me.”

"Not the Ninja thing. First, Cherry's placement into this mission, then the explosives Luna insisted upon bringing, now secret orders I didn't know about? Princess Luna seems to have gone over my authority and basically just used hers to overwrite mine for some reason."

“I mean, when Cherry told me that Luna’s a Seer and saw at least partial bits of all this shit going wrong…I suppose she had a good reason.” I shrugged.

"Still, what could be so bad that she went over my authority and probably around Celestia's?"

"Well, what were the explosives?" Lillinette asked. "Were they military grade or?"

"From what I saw it was mostly just dynamite and a few explosives potions. Nothing the guard uses, mostly they're used for Demolition or… mining… is Princess Luna after the Black Iron mines under Griffinstone?"

“I mean…would make sense considering Black Iron fucks with any active magics from what Cherry explained.” I shrugged. “Plus it would help with unicorn’s trying to find that magical artifact that somehow stops Griffon’s from being complete assholes.”

"So should we just wait here for Cherry then?" Lillinette asked.

Before we could answer, there was a scream from outside.

We all rushed outside to see from the woods, there were these various black pony looking bugs with all purple eyes surrounding the camp. Walking up to us was what looked like one of these bug things but more like what Celestia and Luna are. Tall, purple eyes and hair… or whatever that is.

"Changelings…" Shining growled.

I looked at all the weird bug creatures and just shook my head. “Alright, was it Cherry or Luna that wanted you all here?” I asked.

"I do not know who this Cherry is, I know of Luna and I can assure you she does not know of me. Unlike my sister I kept my people hidden." The tall one said. "I am Queen Silk, and your airship crashed atop my hives main entrance."

“I’m sorry about that Queen, but we kind of had to make an emergency landing after we were attacked out of nowhere.” I explained carefully. “And also, my name is Coyote Starrk.”

"What is it that you want with us?" Shining asked, looking angry but cautious.

"Well, for starters an apology for destroying our main entrance." Queen Silk stated. "After that, well, I plan on thanking you."

Shining raised an eyebrow. "Thanking us?"

"You are Shining Armor, the one who he and his wife love blasted my sister all the way back to her hive. I must say, my only regret is that I wasn't present to witness that myself. My elder sister has always held such an ego, it's quite enjoyable to watch her hard work fall apart in a single moment."

"So you aren't… mad?"

"Mad? No. Anyone who is an enemy of my sister Chrysalis is an ally of mine."

“Cool.” I nodded. “And again, sorry for destroying your front entrance, our ship was horribly damaged from an attack from…outside forces.” I said carefully.

"I can see." Queen Silk said as she looked the wreckage over. "One of the dead ones fell in and, it was quite the surprise."

“We’ve been managing to get debris out of the way for major spots but…we’ve been more so taking stock and, for others…processing the events.” I explained carefully to the Queen.

"So, do you also consume love like your sister?" Twilight was the one to ask that after she realized these Changelings were not a threat.

"No. Changelings are a unique race, each queen and therefore her subjects feed off of something different. Rarely are two queens the same in what they feed on. My subjects and I feed on knowledge and learning, not Love or emotions."

"How does that work?" Lillinette asked.

"Uh...yeah how does that work? Do you take people's knowledge or something? Or do you just ambiently feed off of some weird energy when someone's learning something new?"

"Nothing like that. My and therefore my people's biology aren't even capable of doing anything Chrysalis or her ilk can aside from shapeshifting. We feed the same way you and any other normal creature would when reading, studying, listening to a story or-"

"Are you telling me you're an entire kingdom of Egg Heads?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Queen Silk frowned. "I prefer the term 'Educativores'." She huffed. "You see, unlike Chrysalis who she and her ilk capture love, both the chemicals and magic through special glands located in the back of their mouth that are activated via magic, my subjects and I possess similar yet very different glands in our brains. These glands are connected to the parts of our brain where Short Term memories are processed into Long Term. It is at this juncture where what we learn from the day or from what we read, study, hear, ECT, that the glands create the magical and chemical nutrients our bodies require and the more we learn or study or whatever the more it produces."

"That's very interesting." I said honestly. "And are you feeding right now with this sudden bout of learning?"

"Yes and no. We found long ago that actively learning provides more than simple interactions like this. If I were to read a book it would be akin to eating a bowl of soup. This would be akin to snacking on a piece of candy."

"Seems a little strange why it's that low…" I brought up. "Especially with what's being learned here."

"We studied that and found that the most likely reason is that actively learning something to commit to memory seems to produce more energy from the glands than just a passive conversation."

"That makes sense." I nodded. "And then what about her?" I asked, pointing to the starstruck lavender unicorn that is just in awe at all this new knowledge.

"Her? An intelligent pony, what about her?"

"The fact that she looks like she's having the best day of her life trying to memorize every word you say?" I inquired.

"Her, she is an egghead." Queen Silk said, earning a laugh from Rainbow Dash. "Before it gets any darker would you care to take shelter in our hive. The surface gets rather cold at night for this area."

"That would be appreciated." I nodded. "Thank you Queen Silk."

---

When we went down the tunnels her hive made to get back outside, everyone was rather nervous, especially Shining Armor. Chrysalis had apparently crashed his wedding, impersonated his wife and locked her away in a forgotten mine.

Exiting the makeshift tunnels I wasn't really sure what to expect… I definitely was not expecting an underground Dwarven super city.

"This is… not what I was expecting." Lillinette said.

"Well, we do feed by learning. We figured long ago to also make our own developments in science and math and magic, so we did and still do. The result was a perfectly self-sustaining kingdom." Queen Silk said as she lead us through the almost futuristic, by earth standards, kingdom complete with giant sun lamps and thriving underground plants and even some animals.

"This has to be millenia ahead of anything any kingdom can hope to achieve…." Twilight said as a floating truck. Not a wagon, a truck, flew over us.

"Seven millenia by our calculations." Queen Silk said with a smile. "Course we can't take all the credit, a fair amount of the ideas came from other sources and we built upon them, traded and shared information."

“And here we are in the world of The Jetsons.” I joked, knowing me and Lillinette will be the only ones to get the joke. “Where technology finally got to where it probably should have been in the late two thousands.”

"Meh. I preferred The Flintstones." Queen Silk said with a shrug.

I turned to the queen carefully, not whipping my head aroundaround cause if I did that I might have broken my neck. “Hold the fuck up what?” I asked. “How do you know The Flintstones?”

"Remember when I said that we can't take all the credit for everything around us. Well, some many, many years, hundreds, there was this Unicorn mage named Star Swirled, developed a portal to other dimensions. Unfortunately it only went to mirrored versions. The dummy didn't realize that the reason it always went to a mirrored version is because he used mirrors for the base and frame of his portals. They took so much magic to open too, they'd only be open for three days a month at most or three days every three years commonly. We took his notes, copied them and worked on our own."

“Well…yeah that makes sense.” I nodded. “Can’t really go to many other places if you’re just looking into mirror’s all the time.”

"After some trial and error we managed to create perfectly working portals. Some took us to universes where the laws of time, space and physics do not apply or are broken and twisted beyond imagination. Sometimes it took us to a reality where the only thing existing there was corn or bread or whatever. Eventually we made one that landed us inside the workshop of an incredible intellectual not too different from your own species Starrk. He called himself The Engineer and working with him we learned how to filter through the strange or hazardous realities and place the portals in safe, stable realities."

“Uh…what color of clothes did this man wear?” I asked carefully.

"Hm? Goggles, yellow hard hat, thick rubber gloves on his hand appendages and a red jumpsuit."

“Yeah of course it was that Engineer…” I muttered to myself. “Alright, thank you, now I understand a lot of things.”

"Ah, you must be from one of the world's that view him as a fictional construction don't you?"

“Team Fortress 2 yes.” I admitted. “Also Engineer isn’t…really like me.” I said, lightly brushing against the lower jaw bone of Starrks old hollow mask that was acting as a collar for my shirt. “At least…technically.”

"Hm, interesting. Well, in any case I suppose there are worse ways to announce ourselves to the world."

"What do you mean?" Shining asked.

"Well, the elements of harmony, the prince/captain of the royal guard and other survivors from a Zeppelin crash over our hive and we announce ourselves. We can probably contact Celestia though it might be best if you do first given her first interactions with my bitch of an older sister…"

"Fair. I'm still not quite… comfortable."

"Fair. If it helps I think I know a way for us to get on your good side."

“What do you have in mind?” I inquired.

"I can tell you where Chrysalis's hive is located and how to bypass her special anti-non-changeling magic throne."

"Really? You know where it's located?" Shining asked.

"I know where all my siblings and mom's hives are. I didn't put those satellites in orbit just for show."

“You put satellites in orbit around the planet?” I asked in surprise.

"Ten around the planet and eighty seven are soaring through deep space."

"Can I live here?" Twilight asked.

"You can try." Lillinette said with a shrug.

“Calm down there Twilight.” I said, gently patting her head. “You’ll get your chance to satisfy your learning fetish soon enough.” I joked.

That earned a chuckle from just about everyone.

After a small tour we were set up in some guest rooms in Queen Silk's castle. Lillinette and I were resting and I found myself thinking about what Pain said. About Derpy…

“Hey Lily?” I asked.

"Yo." She replied from the nearby chair.

“What do you think about…us moving in with Derpy?” I asked carefully.

"Well, I don't know her well. Aside from her kid is cute, all I really know about her is that she's clumsy and delivers the mail."

“Well I got some…advice from someone…and also a warning from the same person.” I frowned. “That I should ask to move in with her by our fifth date…or suffer the consequences for it.”

"Yeah… that's not ominous at all…"

“She told me to my face she’d hurt Derpy if I didn’t ask by our fifth date…” I said. “And…there’s nothing I could do to stop them…” I sighed out. “So yeah, by our fifth date, I need to ask her if I can move in…and if not, Pain will hurt Derpy…”

"Huh. Well, move in. I imagine she marked the fifth date as something important for you both. I mean, these are godly beings so maybe she's also giving some foreshadowing?"

“She also said she’s the ‘final boss’ for us and many others…” I sighed out.

Lillinette thought that over for a moment. "Well, if she's giving you information that will help, fucking take it."

“Yeah…” I sighed out. “But…what if she finds that really weird or too soon?” I asked nervously. “What if…”

Lillinette threw a book at my head. "Stop it. You lived your whole life back on earth as 'what if' and it then evolved into 'why bother'. Could it be considered too soon, maybe, but weirder things have happened and in the land of magical ponies where death is largely a foreign concept and their rulers are all mighty goddesses of flesh and blood with orical powers, I'm betting you moving in with your girlfriend will be the least weird thing just because it's been five dates. Plus, dates can be spaced out. You're not dating one after another. Space them out, week or so and hang out in between just for fun."

“True…” I grumbled. “But this is still…a massive leap from what I’m used to…what if I cling too hard and force her away?”

squeak

“Wha?” I wondered, looking over to see Princess with a toy squeak hammer and an adorable pouty face.

No thinking that way, you can fix this. Princess’s sign read.

“I’m not going to get out of this am I?” I asked.

"No."

No.

“That’s what I thought…” I grumbled. “This is gonna be a nightmare and a half for me…”

---

"W-what happened?" Clare asked, dressed up in her Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck cosplay, holding onto her lance as it suddenly started to feel...heavier.

"I gave him his wish." Genie said simply, the woman turned around swiftly to see the happy mask man answer. "He wanted out of here, and he gave a pretty flashy way to leave."

"You...you took Mike?" She asked carefully, holding onto her lance and ready to attack him.

"Whoa there." Someone interrupted, a sad mask man said as he stepped in. "No need to get violent, cause we can just as easily...make a deal."

"Why would I make a deal with Mike's kidnappers?" She growled.

"Because we saved his life before you got to see what really made his brain tick?" Demon asked nonchalantly.

"The point is...you can see him again." Genie told her honestly, causing her to hesitate. "I'm Genie, and this here is Demon."

"And what is your wildest dreams?" Demon asked, causing Clare to shiver as she felt some sick grin coming from the sad drama masked man, even though she couldn't see his face.

To be continued...

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

When I looked over it it just so happened to actually be a real pistol...

That's strange, considering Starrk's guns don't look like any pistols I've ever seen.

[Xinrick]

11083207
Its more so the 'oh yeah, this thing is the real deal, not a prop" kind of thing.