> The Human Hero > by The_Solar_Charger > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Strange Arrivals > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1 Strange Arrivals Just like any day at Ponyville, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were spending the day at the local park; Rainbow, having taken a few days off in Manehattan to help cheer on her friend, was trying out some new moves to show off at the Equestrian Games while Fluttershy was tending to some of the squirrels. "Okay," Rainbow started, pointing out every move she wanted to try, "I'm gonna start with a Solemn around the trees, followed by a quadruple Cloud Spin, then I'll do a triple Loop-ti-loop through the three cloud hoops, and finish with my signature Sonic Rainboom." Fluttershy looked up from petting the little squirrels and drew her attention towards her friend,"Okay Rainbow, when you're ready. If that's okay with you, I can count it off for you if you would like that instead." "Fluttershy, chill," Rainbow cut in, "I'll go on three, okay." Fluttershy nodded. "One," Rainbow started as she crouched down, like a lion readying to pounce, and spread her wings out as far as she could,"Two, THREE!" She soared off, blowing up a cloud of dust as she flew. She wizzed by the tops of the trees, missing each branch with ease. Afterwards, she flew up towards the four lone clouds she place to spin around. Come on Rainbow Dash, she thought to herself, You spent to much time on those easy trees, pick up the pace. She flew around each cloud until each cloud had turned into mini tornadoes. Next part; the Loop-ti-loops. She flew through the first three with ease, but she nearly nicked her wings on the forth hoop. Too close Dash, WAY too close. Last step; The Sonic Rainboom. She flew high into the air until she could see all of Ponyville from the air, then she made a swift turn and flew straight towards the ground. As she flew closer and closer to the ground, a small nose cone began to form around her fists. The ground was approaching at a rate that would make anypony else scared. Right as she was a good ten feet off the ground, BOOOOOM! Just like always, a perfect Rainboom. "Heck yeah," Rainbow yelled as she flew around to land near Fluttershy, "That was AWESOME!" But Fluttershy didn't answer, her attention and that of the animals was pointed towards the sky. "Uh, Hello?" Rainbow said as she waved her hand in front of Fluttershy's face. Rainbow, finally over come with curiosity, looked at the clouds... and could see why Fluttershy wasn't paying attention to her. The clouds had changed from their normal white, to a sinister dark green sending out lightning as the grew closer together. When they did form one single menacing cloud, they began to form a tornado. The tornado shot out something towards the two mares, causing them to snap back to reality. They flew as far from the object, which now seemed to have split in two, and turned after they heard the crash. "Come on," Rainbow yelled towards Fluttershy, "We have to see what fell. It could be dangerous." "Oh, right," Fluttershy replied before they flew back to the impact. Upon reaching the crashed object the found that it was, in fact, a handsome unicorn stallion and a backpack. His color was rather strange; the top part of his body was a maroon red, yet his lower body was blue, and his hair a slight green. "Where did he come from," Fluttershy asked as she looked over the unconscious unicorn. "Well where ever he came from," Rainbow started to reply, "I think we should take him to Nurse Redheart." Fluttershy nodded and they started to pick the stallion up when he began to stir. "Uh," he groaned, his eyes still closed. "Hey... Dude," Rainbow tried to shake the stallion awake, "Are you okay? Do you need us to take you to the hospital?" She knew that last part was stupid, but she would have walked with him to make sure he was okay. He groaned again, only this time it sounded something like "Fuck me running." "WHAT!" Rainbow yelled at him followed by her slapping him in the face. "BIIIIITTTTCCCHHHH!" the stallion yelled in a deep voice, holding his face where RD slapped him, "What the HELL was that for?" "What would make you think I would want to buck somepony who I don't even the name of," Rainbow yelled back, "I don't care if you just fell out of the sky." "What are you talking about ya rainbow haired freak," the unicorn said as he stood up rubbing his cheek, "First; I didn't say anything about screwing anyone, not saying you and lil' miss pink hair over there aren't hot. Second; If I fell out of the sky, I would notice and I would have been screaming or praying not to die. And third; why did you say somepony? We're not in an episode of MLP, it's pointless to say that." Rainbow and Fluttershy looked at each other trying what the unicorn was talking about, then returned their attention to him. "What's MLP?" Rainbow asked. The unicorn looked at her like she had just kissed a cockatrice. "Really," he said, cocking an eyebrow, "Really? You look like you're cosplaying as the freaking former holder of the Element of Loyalty, and you don't know what My Little Pony is?" "Look like?" Rainbow said, almost taken aback. She was the Element of Loyalty, just because her and her friends didn't have the Elements anymore didn't mean they still weren't the embodiments of Harmony. "Hey you big meany," Fluttershy spo- well, whispered up, "We may not have the Elements anymore, but that doesn't mean you can talk badly to us. Uh, I mean, please don't. Oh I'm sorry, was that too much." The unicorn just stood there, a bit impressed by something. "You must be cosplaying as Fluttershy," he said holding out his hand, "Name's Flynt, Allyn Flynt. And I must say you are one of the cutest girls I've seen dress like her." Fluttershy blushed and shook Mr. Flynt's hand. "So you were saying about us and an episode of My Little Pony?" Dash asked Flynt. "Yeah, you know," Flynt started again, "The cartoon about Twilight Sparkle and her friends, takes place in the mystical land of Equestria, they learn the value of friendship and crap, HUGE following consisting of highly talented; artist, musicians, and authors?" Rainbow and Fluttershy were both drawing a blank, surly this Flynt guy must be nuts; sure their day-to-day lives were exciting every once in a while, but who would want to watch a cartoon about it? Fluttershy noticed something in Allyn's face change. "Um, is there something wrong," she asked him, "If it's okay for me to ask." "Uuuuh?" he just stood there and it started to make Fluttershy nervous. "You... Have... Wings?" he continued, making sure to enunciate each word. Rainbow was kinda stunned by what he said, he just now figured out that they're Pegasi? Rainbow stretched out her own wings and looked at him. "Well duh, hay for brains," she said, "We're Pegasi. Same way that, you as a unicorn, have a horn in the middle of your forehead." His horrified eyes went from Rainbow Dash's wings to his own horn. "Y-you two," Flynt's voice shaking, "actually are RD and Shy? I'm in a humanoid form of Equestria?" It finally hit Dash and Fluttershy. "Just where do you come from?" Rainbow Dash asked him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Three hours later, after a very long explanation of his world, MLP, and what 'Bronies and Pegasisters' were... along with a few slaps in the face by Rainbow after she learned that imaginary cameras followed her and her friends around 24/7, Rainbow and Fluttershy finally followed along with what Allyn was saying. "And I can only guess that the reason why I'm looking like this," Allyn pointed to his now green hair, copper eyes, and horn, "might have something to do with my OC; Flynt Alchemist." "And OC means, Original Character," Rainbow said with a hint of hesitation trying to remember what he had been saying. "Bingo," Allyn replied as the trio walked up to the front door of the Ponyville Library, "Hopefully Twilight..." he caught himself. "Sorry, Princess Twilight, can see what brought me here from the Hollywood Hills." Rainbow knocked on the door to the library, and it opened within a few moments by, who Allyn could guess was, Spike based on the green hair, purple clothing, and tail open the door. Though he was younger, yet taller, than he expected him to be. "Hey Rainbow Dash," he said, "Hey Fluttershy. Who's this?" Flynt raised his hand in a form of wave, "Name's Flynt. Is the Princess home today?" "Uh, Twilight," Spike called to the door to what Allyn could remember being the basement. "What is it Spike," Twilight's voice yell back, "I'm busy rearranging the books by order of spell strength." "I brought something beneficial to the world of science," Allyn called thru the doorway. Twilight teleported in front of him faster than he could say 'The Great and Powerful Trixie' "Where, WHERE WHERE," Twilight said shaking Allyn like he was a Martini ordered by James Bond. "CHILL TWI!" Allyn yelled as grabbed onto her shoulders hoping that would get her to stop, "No! Just, chill." After his eyes stopped bouncing around like a Pinkie Pie on crack, he finally got a look at the Human/Alicorn princess. She had a slight hourglass shape under her lab coat, her glasses adding to her "Sexy Scientist" look. He wasn't very shocked when he noticed that her skin was slightly dark, like Rainbow Dash's only slightly darker, seeing as she was the student of the Sun Goddess. "Now like I was saying," Allyn continued, "Pray tell, do you know of the Multi-verse Theory?" "The.. Multi-verse Theory?" Twilight repeated, "Of course; the theory that states that there are an infinite number of universes that are formed by the random actions that happen each and every day. Though nopony has ever been able to confirm it, hence why it's still just a theory." Allyn smiled at Twilight, "Well I believe that it's safe to say that it's no longer just a theory." "So you're from a universe where our adventures and exploits have been animated and turned into a television show," Twilight said taking a sip of the tea that Spike had made for the five of them, "Fascinating." "Fascinating?!" Rainbow barked at Twilight, "He's one of millions of ponies who have been spying on us twenty-four/seven for the past three years, and you think it's fascinating?" "Well, no," Twilight started, "It's still kind of creepy, but as a scientist I have to accept the proof in front of my face. And besides, this is amazing to have actual proof of the Multi-verse Theory." Allyn held his cup up to his mouth. "It's fairly simple once you understand the Multi-verse Theory," Allyn started, "After you understand the basics of it, you simply have to be willing to open your mind to what the new universe refers to as 'Normal.'" He stopped to take a sip of the tea, which he asked for apple flavored instead of sun flower flavored. "I'm able to make the transition easily because I've been following along with you ten, counting Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Like how I can go from words like 'somebody' or 'people' to 'anypony,' I'm just glad I don't have to call my hands 'hooves' except for what my world calls 'Valentines Day.'" "So ponies from all over your world watch what we do," Spike asked. "And some of them make short animations, stories, or music off of some of it," Allyn answered, "Or they make up their own adventures or characters; like a young filly named Snowdrop or a pony who's made up mostly of fur named Fluffle Puff." "Wow," Fluttershy said, "Are you talented in anything like that, if it's okay for me to ask. You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Allyn leaned back in his chair, "Well I'm sort of good at art, but music is my main mean of income. But if you're asking if I make stuff like that; no, I do stuff like song covers for people who want entertainment at parties without having to pay out millions of bits to have the actual artists play." "So you can sing," Rainbow asked. "Mainly in a Baritone," Allyn started, "kind of obvious with the deep voice, but I can do a middle to low Alto. Plus I'm really skilled in the guitar, and pretty skilled with the piano." Fluttershy perked up slightly, a bright smile quickly appeared on her face. "Really," she said, "Can you play something for us." Allyn always enjoyed playing the guitar, because like his grandfather always told him; 'Once you learn the guitar, you'll never be alone because you'll always have a friend.' "Yeah, Spike has a guitar down in the basement that he's been trying to learn to impress Rarity," Dash chuckled. "I TOLD THAT TO YOU IN PRIVATE," Spike yelled at Dash, "IT WAS A PINKIE PROMISE!" Rainbow put her hands behind her head and slid down into her chair. "Relax Spike," Dash said, "I'm sure that he knew that already, what with him spying on us for three years." "Completely wrong," Allyn said with a smirk on his face, "They never actually brought it up in the series. So basically, you just broke a Pinkie Promise." Rainbow Dash's reaction to the realization was priceless. Then to mock her, Allyn copied what she did after Rainbow saw Twilight's hair after they first met. Just as Allyn finished laughing at Rainbow Dash, an over-enthusiastic voice came from the library front door. "Twilight," Pinkie's voice called out, "Is Dashie there? I have the feeling she just broke a Pinkie Promise." "OH CRAP!" Rainbow said as she turned to the door. This time, Spike joined Allyn in laughing at Rainbow Dash's reaction. "Holy shit," Allyn said through the tears of laughter, "Goodbye Rainbow Dash, hello Cupcakes IRL." Allyn laughed harder after the joke. Pinkie opened the door and peeked in. She was oddly slightly over weigh, which was expected for someone who lives, works, and eats cookies and pastries. But Allyn figured that with all the pouncing around she does that she'd be fairly fit. Her white skin mixed with her pink hair made her look like she was a walking cake in clothing. "Hello Miss Pie," Allyn said smile from the floor that he and Spike were still laughing on. "Hiya, Allyn Flynt," Pinkie replied. Spike and Allyn shut up immediately and everypony drew their attention on Pinkie. "Pinkie," Twilight say with a bit of confusion in her voice, "How.. How do you know who he is?" "Well duh," Pinkie said as she closed the door behind her with a kick, "He's obviously from a different world where our world is merely a TV show that was meant for little fillies but over time gained millions of grown stallion and mare followers that's been following us for the past almost four years since you and Spike moved to Ponyville and has shown us fighting big ole meanies like Sombra, Discord and the Mane-iac and learning about the power of friendship." Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Twilight just sat there, their jaws open. "And that's why my world says her catch phrase is 'I denounce your laws of Physics and Nature, and I substitute my own,'" Allyn said as he was laying on the ground, "You came just in time Pinkie; I was going to play Spike's apparent guitar. Would you like to listen." "Oh would I," Pinkie said as she jumped up and down. After a couple minutes of Rainbow Dash and Spike moving the furniture in the library and Twilight grabbing the guitar from the basement, the ponies and dragon were ready to listen to Allyn play. Allyn took a second to pick a good song that he could play easily. Let's see, he thought to himself, Good song, good song. Aha! Allyn strummed the acoustic guitar a couple times so he could get a sound for it. He started playing and reciting the lyrics in a soothing Baritone. He stopped singing, and played faster chords. Before long he started singing again, this time in a higher Alto voice and tapping his foot to the beat. His audience couldn't help themselves to rocking to the music he was playing and clapping to the rhythm. When he started the chorus, he went back to his natural Baritone then for the second verse shifted back to Alto. He then stopped playing the guitar's strings and knocked on the wood for a few lyrics before strumming again. As he made it to the second chorus, the whole library had joined in the song. He stopped rocking out for a few seconds, allowing everyone to calm down before restarting singing. each time he repeated the same line, more ponies joined; first Spike , then Rainbow and Twilight, and ending with Fluttershy and Pinkie as he started strumming for a third time and they kept their harmony until they finished. "That! Was! AWESOME!" Rainbow said holding the hand signal for 'Rock On.' "You really are talented," Fluttershy said with a smile on her face. "Thanks," Allyn said blushing slightly from his modesty, "I practice all the time on my Ipod. You know, trying to match the keys and notes of a song." "Huh, what's and Ipod?" Pinkie asked, "Is it like peas in a pod?" "Oh, right, they wouldn't exist here. No, it's a small device that lets me carry thousands of songs with me where ever I want," Allyn said, "I'll show you." Allyn walked over to his backpack against one of the book shelves and opened it up to pull out the small, red device and it's portable speaker. "I buy the songs and store them digitally on this," Allyn described, "from there I can listen to them as many times as I want." He put the small speaker system on the ground and plugged the Ipod in, selecting one of the songs from his library of music. "Listen," he said as the strange music started "This sounds like something that DJ pony would play," Twilight said at the drop. "Isn't she going to play at the Apple's first Cider Celebration this weekend?" Spike asked. "Not anymore," Pinkie said as she bobbed her head to the music, "AJ said that she had to cancel due to she had an emergency come up and she couldn't play at Sweet Apple Acres. Could you do it, they'll be willing to pay you like a hundred bits an hour for like three hours or so since Fluttershy went all Flutterbat and they added the vampire fruit bat habitat." "Well I have always wanted to see what the hype for Apple Family Cider was about," Allyn said, his shoulders still moving to the techno music, "And I have at least four hours plus of Country music on this thing... Sure. But I'll need more than just what I'm wearing now for the event and the next three days until then, so I'll have to head by Rarity's tomorrow most likely. Then there's a place I'll need to sleep, there's not like a cheap hotel or something in town is there?" They all shook their heads. "Figured as much," he continued. "You could stay at my hut for a few nights," Fluttershy offered, "If you'd like, you don't have to if you'd like to sleep somewhere else." Allyn huffed, "Not to sound mean, but I don't think I have much of a choice on that. Thank you." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "...And you can have this room," Fluttershy said as she opened the door to the guest bedroom. It turned out to be a much longer walk to Fluttershy's Hut from the Library than the show had let on, which just made Allyn even more tired. "I can't thank you enough for letting me sleep here Shy," Allyn said as he walked into the room and placed his bag near the cabinet. "Well," Fluttershy said, "Have a good night. I'll see you tomorrow." "Night," Allyn replied as Fluttershy closed the door. Allyn reached into his bag and pulled out his Ipod charger and his Galaxy cell phone. "Something tells me you're going to be pretty worthless for the time being," he told the inanimate object. He plugged the charger into an outlet in the wall and sat on his bed. He unlocked the phone and staired at the wallpaper of him, with his natural brown hair and blue eyes, and his little sister, Clair. Her blond hair glimmered in the Malibu sun, her blue eyes giving her a look of innocence. They looked so happy in the picture, it was hard to believe that it had been almost a year since the pic was taken. It was even harder for him to remember what's happened in that year. "Fairy Clairy," He said, a single tear falling from his eye. He turned the phone off and laid back on the bed, deciding to sleep on top of the covers until he got cold enough. He was fast asleep within moments of placing his head on the feather pillow, readying himself for his dreams tonight and the promise of what's to come tomorrow. But as he slept, he was unaware of the being watching him from the Everfree forest. "It would seem there is an anomaly in my plan," the figure said in a deep tone from atop one of the mountains looking over Ponyville, "I must keep an eye on this figure. See if he knows how great of a magical ability he contains." The figure stretched out his dragon-like wings and took flight, making sure to keep an eye on the sleeping human. "Fear not father, your vengeance shall be great and painful on the Royal Sisters," the figure continued, "And all of Equestria shall remember your name." > The First Annual Apple Cider Celebration > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2 The First Annual Apple Cider Celebration Fluttershy awoke to the combination of the smell of carrot pancakes and blueberry pancakes being cooked, and the sound of some strange yet energetic music. She got out of bed and put on her yellow bath robe. When she made it to the kitchen, she noticed that the frying pan and spatula were moving by the magic of the stallion doing push ups to the music. She didn't say anything, instead she just noticed how muscular her temporary housemate was in his undershirt and jeans. Allyn's voice huffed with each push up he did as he sang, which seemed like the song was written for his baritone voice. "Hey Shy," Allyn called after he finally noticed her, "Hope you don't mind me feeding your animals for ya this morning." He already fed her furry friends? It was 6:30 in the morning, when did he wake up? "I was making us pancakes," Allyn continued, refusing to stop doing push ups, "and Angel was shooting me looks so I made a couple carrot pancakes for him, if that's okay for him to have. Oh, and I don't know where you keep the maple syrup... or if you have any." "Oh, it's fine," Fluttershy replied, "as long as he doesn't have too many and the carrots are chopped into tiny cubes. And the syrup's in the cabinet next to the refrigerator, top shelf." She looked over to Angel's bowl and sure enough, he was eating! Usually he would only eat what Fluttershy would make for him, he didn't like it when other ponies would try and make food for him. She wondered what Allyn said or did to make Angel eat it. Allyn popped up after the last push up and grabbed the frying pan and spatula and placed the blueberry pancakes on a plate. He then used his magic to open the cabinet door and pull out the container of maple syrup, placing both on the table. He then walked over, turned off his I-thingy, picked up plate of regular pancakes, and sat down at the table. "So get this," he started followed by taking a bite of pancake, "turns out I wasn't the only thing that changed when I came here; I had like four-hundred human dollars in my wallet yesterday, it all turned into bits! Ha, can you believe that?" "Uh, no I guess I can't," Fluttershy said as she sat down at her table, "May I ask you something?" Allyn looked at her, his face puffing out filled with pancake. "Um, well if it's okay form me to ask," Fluttershy continued cutting her blueberry pancakes with her fork, "What happened to you before you came here." Allyn swallowed his mouthful of pancake and sat back in his seat. "Well," Allyn started, "I guess it started the same way you saw just a minute ago..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allyn awoke like any other day had started for him in Malibu, California. He did his usual exercise regimen; 100 push-ups, 250 sit-ups, 30 minutes of Krav Maga training, a 5 mile run, and for today; he planned for a hike in the Hollywood Hills area. He had finished the push-ups and sit-ups, the 30 minutes were interrupted by a phone call from his older sister, all that was left from his usual schedule was the run. Allyn stretched for a moment before he began his morning ritual of a five-mile run in his usual Under Armor shirt and Nike running sneakers. While in the middle of the run, he began to notice the usual SoCal sun was beginning to be dulled by a sky quickly filling-up with clouds coming from the Pacific Ocean. He decided to turn back and just say he ran 5 miles each way. After all, he was about four and a half miles into the run. "Jeez," Allyn said, removing his headphones so he could hear himself speak over 'Through the Fire and Flames' on repeat, "I hope Hollywood's going to to be clear." He put his headphones back in, "Just to be safe; I'll get a coat for the hike." Allyn pulled up to the start of the Hollywood Hills Hiking Area, which was still highly cloudy, in his night black, '13 Chrysler 300. Allyn got out of his car and opened the trunk so to get his backpack and coat out from it. His usual dark gray hoodie was way too dirty for the normal human nose to handle, so he brought his back-up maroon hoodie instead. He made sure everything he needed was in his backpack; Ipod, check. Ipod speakers, check. Iphone, check. Apple product charging cables, check and check. Cash, duh. And water and granola bars for energy on the hike up, eeyup. Allyn locked his car, slung the backpack over his shoulders, and began the hike. By the time he was out of sight of his car, he had already made it about a fifth of the way up the side of the mountain and was somehow already tired. "The.. Hell?" he asked himself huffing with each breath, "I do this... Hike... Twice a... Month." He pulled out one of his water bottles and drank some of it down. He smiled when he noticed the small hole in the sky reveling his old friend. He blew a kiss up to the moon and continued the hike up the mountain, switching his current song to This Is War. After an hour, Allyn finally made it to the top of the trail overlooking LA. He looked up to the moon and smiled. "Half way Luna," he said winking, "But now I must return to the madness. See ya in my dreams, my princess." Suddenly a subtle beam of light shot down from the moon in front of Allyn, causing him to shield himself from the unnatural occurrence. The beam seemed to reflect off some invisible mirror in front of the cliff where Allyn stood. Curious, he stepped closer to the reflection. He leaned closer, trying to make out what was on the other side of this mirror. Before he could react, the ground fell out from under him, causing him to tumble down the hill towards the famous Hollywood sign. Allyn slammed his head into a large rock on the way down the mountain, knocking him out cold. As he fell further, a second beam shot from the moon hitting one of the Os in the sign. Allyn's unconscious body bounced off a small bump in the mountain and sailed for the O, sending him through the second portal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "... Next thing I know," Allyn said as he finished cleaning the pan and dishes from breakfast, "I'm waking up in the grass under a tall, petite, sweet girl in yellow and a short, tan, athletic chick in teal. Both with wings, telling me I had a horn sticking outta my skull and I was in a humanized form of an animated TV show." Angel jumped onto Fluttershy's arms and she scratched behind his head. "Sounds like a spell," she whispered, "But there wasn't a Teleportation Mirror in the sky when we found you. And I don't remember Twilight talking about a spell like that recently." Allyn waved a hand, summoning some of his magic and putting Fluttershy's silverware away in the drawer. "Maybe Celestia might know something about it." "Or Discord's fucking with all of us somehow," Allyn said over his shoulder as he dried his hands with a towel, "Think about it; The former God of Chaos would know about parallel universes, he picks one at random, pulls out some random person from the world and throws him or her here, the human freaks out about humanized ponies while the ponies freak out about being followed by invisible, imaginary cameras." It would make sense for Discord to do something like that, like when he broke out of the statue and turned the Elements against themselves. Or with the vines during the Summer Sun Celebration. After taking a shower to wash off most of the sweat; Allyn walked up stairs, grabbed his coat and some of his cash, and he, Fluttershy, and Angel left the hut. Setting out for the first stop of the day; The Carousel Boutique for something to wear for his first Equestrian gig. As the trio walked to the shop, Allyn stopped Fluttershy for a quick word. "Listen," Allyn spoke softly so only Fluttershy would hear him, "When we get in there, introduce me as 'Flynt Alchemist' and not Allyn. I'm guessing y'all are still trying to understand the whole 'Your reality is my TV' bombshell." Fluttershy nodded. "Okay, so remember," Allyn repeated to make sure, "'Flynt. Alchemist.'" Allyn took one last breath and opened the door. "Hello darling," Rarity's voice called from somewhere Allyn couldn't seem to find in the chaos of the store, "Be with you in a moment." Sure enough, within one minute Rarity had unburied herself from the clutter and looked over at the front door. When she saw Fluttershy, she said hello and managed to escape the pile of fabric that was easily half the size of Everest. Rarity was kind of what Allyn expected her to look like. Lightish dark, smooth looking skin from repeated trips to the spa. Wearing a white, long sleeve shirt that elegantly showed off her figure. Though the glasses she had hanging around her neck were not something he expected, but he guessed that they were for making better hems like how his mother used her glasses for. Her small stature made Allyn hesitate for a moment too, seeing as she was in high heels and yet still barely to his chest level. "Hello Rarity," Fluttershy said when Rarity finally made it to them, "This is Al-chemist, Flynt Alchemist. He was visiting Ponyville and he heard about the Cider Celebration and was planning on replacing Vinyl." Nice save, Allyn thought. "Oh so you're going to," Rarity said trying to figure Allyn out, "What? DJ as well?" "Not quite, Miss Rarity," Allyn said, "I play the guitar and sing. But the reason we're here is because Fluttershy says this is the best boutique in all Equestria." "Well I wouldn't say all of Equestria," Rarity said blushing at the complement of her shop, "But thank you. Come in Mr., Alchemist was it?" Element of Generosity, Allyn thought to himself, But apparently not Modesty. "Yes," Allyn replied putting on a smile, "But everypony else just calls me Flynt." "Well then, Flynt," Rarity said pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose with her magic, "Please step into my office and we can begin." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After waiting a couple of hours for her to finish, Fluttershy and this Flynt Alchemist stallion were amazed by the suit Rarity brought out. The cobalt fabric matched perfectly to Mr. Alchemist's style of clothing, and add to that it was tight enough to show off his muscles yet baggie enough for him to play guitar at her friend and her family's large party this weekend. She designed it with pockets for extra guitar picks, bits, or sunglasses as Rainbow insured everypony that the skies were planned to be clear for the event and titanium cufflinks that worked perfectly with his silver ring. "Oh sweet Celestia," Flynt said stroking the sleeve of the suit, "This fabric is so soft and light! It's amazing, but would it trouble you if I added two things to it?" What could he want to add to her suit? He walked over to a cabinet that showed off an assortment of gloves and pulled out a pair of white, knuckle-less, silk gloves and put them on. He wiggled his fingers and threw out his hands. Then he summoned some magic and grabbed one of the black Western Style hats off of a hat rack Rarity had next to the cabinet, putting it on his head in with a flip. A-MAZ-ING! Her suit, hat, and gloves added to his jeans, two-belt fashion, and ability so pull off hiking boots! This rocker pony added layers of style to her suit with two simple additions. He then took a highly sexy pose strumming an air guitar and lowering his head, hiding his face under the rim of the wide hat. "This," Flynt said, "is how I do style. Um, you're drooling Miss Rarity." Embarrassed, Rarity wiped the drool off her lips. "Well I must say," Rarity said, "You did add you're own flair to my design that I personally wouldn't have noticed after just meeting you. I can't to see you on stage this weekend, Mr. Alchemist." Flynt started to pull our some bits, but Rarity stopped him. "Oh I just can't walk out of here without paying you for you handy work," he insisted, "Surely a hundred and fifty bits should be enough for the cost of the ensemble." He placed the bits on the counter and put his hands back in his pockets. "If you're so persistent to buy something," Rarity replied with a sigh, she genuinely did want to let him have the suit for free for what he added to it and on that she wasn't budging, "The gloves and fedora combined are only 35 bits so if there's anything else in my boutique you'd like to buy..." Mr. Flynt looked around her shop for a moment until a certain coat caught his eye. A light gray coat with a hood and black lacing around the cuffs and bottom of the coat. He pulled it over to him and put it on in place of her stylist suit. He pulled the hood over his head and stood there menacingly in the coat. "I'm guessing this lone coat isn't worth a hundred fifteen bits," Flynt said in a way that was the same deep voice as when he and Fluttershy walked into the boutique, yet with the dark coat and hood seemed so much more menacing, "But what if I have it customized?" "Er, well what were you planning," Rarity asked after it took her and Fluttershy a moment to snap out of the strange terror this stranger was giving off. Mr. Alchemist held up the bottom of the coat. "Maybe make the bottom of the coat lowered to just off the ground," He started, "Add some pockets where the bottom is now, and maybe a personal design I could draw for ya." He asked for a quill and paper and drew what looked like a cross and a snake in some strange combination with a crown and wings. "Would it be too much for this on the back," Mr. Flynt asked. Rarity took the paper from his hands. The darkness and mystery of the snake and cross tied with the light and comfort from the crown and wings. This was a fantastic design, how could he come up with such beauty. She calculated the total; the coat originally, plus the fabric, and the time to add the emblem. "Yes," she finally figured out, "That should be the perfect amount for the three accessories and additions." After they finally reached the agreement, Fluttershy and the stallion talked about heading off to Sweet Apple Acres to check with Applejack about the stage. "Oh, do tell AJ hello for me, will you Fluttershy," Rarity said as the two were walking out the door and she planned on starting the additions to the coat. "Sure thing Rarity," Fluttershy waved as they closed the door behind them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After Allyn and Fluttershy went back to her house to drop off the suit and gloves, they made their way to Sweet Apple Acres. By the time they made it to the orchard, Allyn noticed that along with the hard working family there was a large stage with spotlights and large speakers. There were also easily over fifty barrels of cider stacked of groups near the barn. As Allyn and Fluttershy walked up to the barn, Allyn noticed AJ was talking with someone inside and it sounded like the discussion wasn't going well. "So that creep knows everythin' that's happened to us for tha' past three years," Applejack's voice called out. "He even knew about the mirror in the Crystal Empire," Rainbow Dash replied, "And us in that Power Ponies comic." AJ and RD opened to barn door and immediately noticed Allyn even in his cowboy hat. "That's the guy," Rainbow said. "Uh," Allyn said, his voice cracking from nervousness, "Hello?" Next thing he knew; he was waking up in the Apple's kitchen two hours later with a bag of frozen peas on his face over his nose which hurt like shit all of a sudden. He stood up and looked out of the kitchen into the living room where the Apple family, minus Applebloom, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash were all sitting. From what he could see, AJ looked skinny with rather wide hips, again another thing he expected in this world for someone who kicks trees everyday. Her blond hair tied in it's natural pony tail under her hat gave her the look of only 18, thought Allyn guessed everyone in the mane six was over twenty. He felt a tiny bit perverted when he noticed under her orange, plaid sweater she was going rather 'commando.' Allyn changed his attention over to Big Mac. The man was two inches short of Titan, HOLY SHIT, Allyn was 6' 4" but Mac had to be at least 7' 7"! While there wasn't an actual horse collar around his neck, there was a small one on the gold necklace he wore. Both he and AJ shared the same sun kissed skins. Tired of spying on the Apples more than what Dash has probably already told them, Allyn decided to head outside and check the situation of the stage wiring. Whether they were going to like him or not, he was probably the only musical choice the Apples had who could be ready for a concert in two days. He pulled out his Ipod and put on The Phoenix. He grabbed his hat, opened the door, and walked out. "Oh hello Mr. Alchemist," Rarity called, "I see you're still wearing that fashionable Western hat." Allyn looked over to where her voice came from. She had a sun hat added to her outfit from earlier, but other wise she looked just as she had earlier. So why was she here now? "Don't mind me deary," she continued, "I'm just dropping off my little sister to have fun with her friends." Shit, how could he forget about Sweetie Belle! Of coarse she'd have to come over here at some point. And while the Apples want to break him in two for watching everything's that happened for three years, he was going to die. Allyn was so focused on his imminent death, he barely missed The CMC running past Rarity. They looked exactly like they did in Equestria Girls, only with normal skin tones. "Hey," Scootaloo stopped to ask Allyn, "Who are you?" "Hello," Allyn said scratching the back of his head, "My name's Mr. Alchemist, but everypony calls me Flynt." "Are you here to talk with mah big sis?" Applebloom asked. "Yeah, I'm trying to be your new entertainer for the Cider Celebration," Allyn said and couldn't help adding a smug smile to it. "Really," Sweetie asked, "Are you going to DJ too?" "Not really," Allyn replied, "More like play guitar and sing." "Awesome," the trio all said at once. "Girls," Rarity said giggling, "Let the stallion get back to whatever he was doing." The trio said okay and ran off to play somewhere. Suddenly, AJ slammed open the door to the kitchen and stood in the doorway with Big Mac, Fluttershy, and Dash. "There y'ah are, y'ah snake," Applejack yelled, "Y'ah got some explainin' ta do before Ah'm anywhere near done with ya." While Allyn wasn't normally a religious person, at that moment he started saying Hail Mary in his head. Before Applejack could kill Allyn, a low menacing roar called from somewhere. Suddenly, the stage started shaking and the framing started crashing down towards the CMC. "KIDS!," Everyone yelled in horror. As if by some physic link, Rarity and Allyn simultaneously summoned their magic and held the scaffolding up long enough for Rainbow Dash to fly over to grab the kids. But before she was even half way towards reaching the kids, Allyn felt a major surge of magic energy thru his body and somehow threw his hand and the scaffolding high into the air. He still had more than enough energy to grab the kids with his other hand and pull them towards Dash. She grabbed the kids and flew back towards the barn. The magic energy surging through Allyn's body was so great, it was beginning to form a ball around him and his eyes were glowing pure white. He turned his wrist and a complex Transmutations circle formed in the air from magic and fused the scaffolding together. He lowed the fused scaffolding to the stage and then fused the ground around the base of the scaffolding before passing out. As the human became surrounded by ponies, they were being watched by the same figure from last night. "It would seem he has more access to his magic than I thought," he thought, his arms crossed as he stood by the edge of the Everfree Forest, "I must study him more before my attack on the Royal Sisters. He may actually be a threat to my plans with enough of his magic." He walked back into the forest as the ponies were panicking over his spell and the human's counter, but there was one thing he was sure about; they will take him to see Celestia. > Transmutation Station > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3 Transmutation Station Dazed, sore, and having the sensation of moving, Allyn awoke some time after he blacked out while trying to save the CMC. He sat up on the bench and realized he was in a train, but where was he going and how did he get on one? He looked out the window to see Ponyville in distance and getting smaller. He walked out of the small room and looked out the opposite window, Canterlot? Well he knew where he was heading now, now he needed to find out who put him on the train. "Shit," he said as he held his side, "Ponies are too nice to just throw me on a train, so where's my guardian." He felt a sense of annoyance at the word 'guardian,' but he knew someone had to be with him on the way to Canterlot. He made his way through the train car until he entered what looked like a dinning car. He scanned the small car trying to find anypony he could recognize. "Who ya looking for," one of the men at the bar asked Allyn. "Does anypony know who brought me on board," Allyn replied for the whole car to hear. "I do deary," an elderly woman called back, "They paid for your ticket. Said it was an emergency." They? Allyn walked over to where she was sitting so to have a private conversation. She turned to face him. "Who," Allyn asked the old mare. "The new princess and her friends," she told him, "Think one of 'em was a dragon." Twilight and the rest of the mane seven's bringing him to Canterlot? Whatever happened after he blacked out must have been important to head to Celestia directly. Just as he thought it, Spike opened the door close to Allyn and walked into the car. "Oh, hey Allyn," Spike said with a bit of cheer in his voice, "You woke up." "Hey Spike," Allyn replied still confused as to why they couldn't just send a letter to Celestia, "Where's everypony else?" Spike pointed to the door he just walked out of. "Everypony's thru there," he said, he then whispered as if whatever he needed to say was too dangerous for anyone else to hear, "Is it true you fused the steel into the ground." Allyn had to make sure he heard that right, he fused the falling steel into the ground? How the hell did he do that? That's it, time for somebody... ANYBODY to answer what he wanted to know. He stormed through the train door and into the personal car and saw Twilight sitting at a table with the other Element holders. "Hiya Allyn," Pinkie said first throwing everyone in the car's attention at him. AJ and Rarity jumped up from their seats and ran towards Allyn, throwing their arms around him in an embrace of gratitude. "Thank y'ah," Applejack said near tears just by looking at him, "Thank y'ah so much for savin' Applebloom and Sweetie Belle." "The three of them would have been goners if you hadn't done whatever that spell you did," Rarity continued, also sounding like crying at any moment. "It wasn't really that big of a problem," Allyn smiled lightly, "But two questions; how long was I out and what spell did I do?" "You don't even know what you did," Rainbow asked sitting back in her chair. "You slept through the night," Fluttershy said, "We told Twilight and got you on the train this morning." "They said you had some kind of circle spinning around you hand in magic," Twilight said, "and the steel fused itself together and then to the ground around it." "Circle?" Allyn asked. "Yeah," AJ started, collecting herself now, "It had ah bunch ah weird symbols n' triangles n' stuff in it." "Did it look something like this?" He asked, drawing somewhat he could remember of the event. "Almost," Fluttershy said, "May I ask, what is it?" "Yeah, doesn't look like any spell that I know of," Twilight added, holding the circle in her hand. "Because it isn't from Equestria," Allyn said taking a seat at the table, "It's a form of magic, combined with science, called Alchemy or Transmutation Magic. It requires a certain level of knowledge in chemistry and a great understanding of the Periodic Table of Elements." "Oh, is this part of that period thingy," Pinkie asked, "It is a table, and we were the Elements of Harmony." It took Allyn a moment to understand Pinkie's crazy talk, but after he did he took the sheet of paper back from Twilight. "Not quite," he started placing a couple pieces of plastic in the circle, "The elements I'm referring to are more like Argon, Tungsten, Krypton, Carbon, Iron, Silicon, and so on and so on. Uh, pray tell; do any of you have an empty soda can I may borrow?" Rainbow handed him a can she had just finished and Spike walked into the car. He asked what Allyn was doing, but Allyn told him to wait and see with everyone else. Allyn put the can to the side for the moment and focused on the plastic utensils on the paper. "The chemical makeup of quartz is simply two parts silicon/one part oxygen," Allyn said half to remind himself, "Alchemy is governed by the Law of Equivalent Exchange; To receive something, something of equal value must first be given." He summoned a small amount of magic and gently placed his hands on the edge of the circle. Before he could control it, a large force of magic energy summoned itself and his eye's were glowing white again. Only this time, Allyn could see what was going on with the world, he saw what everything was made of; the wood in the table, the fabric on the wall, the equation for a human body in everyone in the room. He looked down at the transmutation circle, and thought of what he wanted the quartz to look like. He focused on the shape, tried as hard as he could to form the molecules. By the time he started to feel tired, the quartz was shaped exactly as he wanted it. He shook the growing headache off and returned to the normal reality. Nobody in the car said a word, they only looked at him. He looked down at the transmutation circle and was shocked at how well he did... or, more like over did. Lying in the center of the circle was the quartz Bowie knife he wanted to make, except he had inadvertently added the two parts aluminum/two parts oxygen that forms a ruby into the knife's handle. "I might have overshot it," Allyn said rubbing his temples, "I intended on using the aluminum to make a ruby apple." "Sugarcube," AJ said, still in shock of what just happened, "Y'ah just turned two plastic forks, an empty soda can, and tha oxygen in tha air into a pure gemstone Bowie Knife... Ah'm not sure what ta say to that." Allyn picked the knife up and put it in his back pocket. He then looked at Spike and told him that if he found any teeth marks in his new knife, that he'd pluck each and every scale off of him slowly. "You were able to take the silicon molecules out of the plastic," Twilight said, "add the oxygen molecules and form the quartz with magic. Oh Celestia, that's amazing." "Hey," Allyn said, "Its the power of Alchemy. I've seen ponies transmute whole buildings out of the ground. Even have seen some not use circles like the one on the table, but that's a little more rare." "Why," Rarity asked sipping a small amount of tea. "Well Alchemy channels magic energy through the circle," Allyn started, "Some circles are designed to keep the transmutation inside the circle, others are designed to transmute things outside the circle, and there are a few meant to transmute in a single direction." After a thirty minutes of explaining the basics of Alchemy, they finally made it to the capitol city of Canterlot. Allyn and the mane seven grabbed their gear and walked thru town towards the famous Castle for a meeting with Celestia and Luna. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Princess Celestia sat at her throne, her alabaster skin complemented by her white, strapless dress incrusted with pink diamonds around her breast, accompanied by a pink sash around her waist with a gold sun in the center of her stomach. Her hair flowing as if carried by an invisible current. Luna seemed just as beautiful in her royal blue form of the same dress, with white diamonds, a black sash, a silver moon, and unique to her outfit were laced ,black mesh bracers. Her skin as white as the innocent snow of the first day of winter with dark blue eye liner that seemed to make her stare evermore mysterious an alluring. Allyn noticed that in her hair were six or seven constellations sparkling from time to time that kept drawing his attention. While Celestia didn't look a day over 35, Luna shocked him by looking younger than he did at 24. "... And I awoke in a creator, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy standing over me your Highness's," Allyn said standing tall, his hands behind his back. "What do you think, sister?" Luna asked, refusing to make eye contact with Allyn since he walked into the thrown room. "While I have seen traces of other worlds," Celestia said, her fingers interlocked, "I have rarely interacted with them. In your world, we appear equine in form?" "Yes, your Highness," Allyn replied, "Many in my world have imagined what you appear as what we call human." "Well," Celestia asked, "How do you feel?" He gave a questioned look, "I-I'm sorry?" Celestia stood up and stretched her white wings, "How do you feel, now that you know what we look like as your kind?" Allyn smiled and bowed, his right arm across his chest. "You both have a regal look like the Princesses you are," Allyn said, trying to avoid being sent to the moon. "May we see what we appear as in your world," Luna asked, her arms crossed. "We as in both of you," Allyn genuinely asked, not knowing if she was speaking in the second person or not, "Or we as in you, your Highness." She finally turned to look him in the eye, "Why do you constantly say 'your Highness' at the end of your sentences?" He bowed his head, "You are both Princesses, 'tis only proper to say it your Highness." She blushed slightly then looked away from Allyn again. He couldn't help from very slightly smiling at her. He then had an idea, one he came up with while on an anime binge. "I do believe there is a way to show you," he said to Celestia, "But it would require a large area, perhaps the royal garden?" Celestia thought for a second and then nodded to one of the guards behind Allyn. The guard saluted then walked out of the throne room. Celestia gestured towards the door then walked with Luna pass Allyn. He was almost certain that for a second, time slowed down as Luna walked by him and their eyes met. Hers' giving off the feeling that she remembered Allyn, but he never remembers seeing her like this. When he finally snapped out of the time warp, Celestia and Luna were almost at the door causing Allyn to speed walk over to them. Allyn had finished drawing in the dirt of the Royal Garden his personal Wagon Wheel Transmutation circle, a Transmutation Circle that aloud for multiple transmutations to take place at once. For the demonstration, he had nine stational transmutation circles in a large circle with spokes connecting to one centeral, ranged circle. The three Princesses, along with AJ, RD, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike stood a good distance from the larger circle as Allyn stood in the middle circle. "Okay," Allyn said rubbing his hands together, "Here's to it working." He placed his hand on both sides of the edge of the circle he was standing in and summoned as much magic energy as he could muster. Come on, come on, he thought as he focused harder on making the statues, I've just needed a good sized amount to transmute before. So with as much as I'm trying with, this has to work. He kept trying harder and harder to transmute the statues, but all that was happening was he was looking like an idiot. "You," he grunted through his teeth, "Have. To. Work." Suddenly, the complicated circle began to glow and the stone and dirt began to form wing tips and horns as ten statues rose from the ground. After three minutes the transmutations were complete; nine statues, each showing the pony forms of the Sisters, the mane six, and Spike. Celestia and Luna were amazed by their new statues and how they looked to Allyn's world. But before they could complement him, he spat up blood and fell over with severe pain in his chest and slowly losing vision in his left eye. Celestia ordered the guards to get him to the royal doctor as soon as they could, and they teleported him away. But even though he was gone, the doubt remained in Luna's mind of this stallion. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luna's mind raced for hours. Nighting Gale died a thousand years ago, so how could this Allyn Flynt look just like him, sound just like him? And why did her heart ache to be with him? Even after her sister lowered her sun and she raised her moon, she still pondered the relation between the two unicorns. She decided to fly the thought out of her head and flew out into the night. She flew around for thirty minutes and she still saw Nighting Gale's face, Allyn Flynt's face, in the stars. She grew tired of flying and landed in the Royal Garden. She walked around for a while hoping the smell of the flowers would help her. "Fly me to the Moon," a low voice sang out drawing Luna's attention. She followed the music until she returned to where Allyn Flynt had formed the nine statues. She finally made her way to the statues and saw a hooded unicorn standing in front of the statue of her. "Tis a beautiful song you're singing," she said sweetly. The unicorn turned to face her, showing his bandage wraps on his chest and head, part of his head wrappings covering his left eye. "Greetings your Highness," Allyn Flynt said smiling in the moonlight, "I thank thee for thine complement. I was not aware your mane could change back to it's light blue color." She had tried all day and most of the night to get his face out of her head, and he managed to draw her to him with his singing. She went to change her mane back to how it looked earlier, but he stopped her and reassured her that he thought she looked better this way and that she didn't need to change for him. He too looked rather cute with the combination of the moonlight and the bandages. He looked up at the moon behind her. "Tis a beautiful night for a stroll," he said transfixed on the crescent moon, "your moon has a perfect glow for it. Thank you for raising it." She blushed at his complement in shock. He... Thanked her for raising the moon? Could he be Nighting Gale and just be messing with her head? No, as much as she hated the memory, she witnessed Gale's death first hand. "We," she started her voice cracking making her sound like a filly, "We accept your complement. But tis merely a Crescent Moon, it is barely enough for a stroll in our garden." "But I can see the whole beauty of your moon, your highness," Allyn Flynt said looking at her, "Even with only a Crescent Moon. It is only hiding most of it's beauty in darkness and mystery." She felt like melting at his words. He able to see the dark side of her moon with only a crescent moon, even Nighting Gale wasn't able to do that. She was certain now that this unicorn might look and sound like Gale, but he was different from him. She grew cautious if this unicorn was actually a Changeling using Nighting Gale to steal love from her, as Chrysalis had done during the wedding of Cadence and Shining Armor. Allyn held his side and sat on one of the benches Celestia had placed around the transmuted statues after the royal doctor told Allyn that his injuries would heal in a couple days, turning his attention from her and her moon to something in his coat pocket. He pulled out some strange wired objects from his pocket and placed one part of it in his ear. "Wouldst thou like to listen to some music," Allyn asked holding out the other end towards her. She thought for a moment and sat next to him on his good side and placed the earpiece in. Allyn pulled out the small device the earpieces were connected to and selected a song. The song started slightly weird yet soothing. They looked up at the stars in the sky as the music played in their ears. After a couple minutes of playing Allyn began to sing with the music, creating a combo of Baritone and Soprano. Luna enjoyed the two stallions singing to her and she rested her head on Allyn's shoulder, pausing him at the change in the music. They looked each other in the eye for a minute, neither saying a word. Before either could control themselves, the met in a passionate, loving kiss. The embrace of the kiss overtook the princess and she felt a growing warmth throughout her being. But she realized what she was doing and broke away from the kiss, throwing the earpiece off in discuss. "I-I'm," she stuttered before just flying away from Allyn as fast as she could. She didn't want to make the mistake again, the mistake of loving somepony. Allyn remained on the bench for a few minutes before deciding to return to the medical room he was staying at for a few days. He wanted some sleep if he was going to explore Canterlot's interesting locations, so when he made it back to his bed he quickly got in and went to sleep as quickly as he could. "May I have the honor of seeing you in my dreams tonight," he whispered before falling asleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allyn awoke today, two days after his incident with the transmutation, with only slight stinging in his eye, so he took off the bandages around his chest and switched the wrappings around his eye for an eye-patch. He asked Twilight to give him a tour of her home town but she said she needed to talk with Celestia about him and said that Canterlot wasn't as big as he thought. Figuring 'not that big' was coming from her growing up here, he decided to just go and figure it out for himself. He bought some new clothing, wanting desperately to change out of the same thing he had been wearing for almost a week. He saw a movie that made absolutely no sense to him. He had a couple doughnuts from Doughnut Joe's. He bought a lighter with the famous Mustang Flame Transmutation Circle in case he wanted to look badass at some point. He was on his way to a nearby park when he heard a struggle coming from an alley ahead of him. "Damn this 'Hero Complex,'" Allyn said to himself as getting into trouble to protect or help other people was a regular thing for him. He dropped his new clothing and ran towards the sound of violence. He rounded the corner to see three pegasi ganging-up on a forth. "You gonna do something ya retard," one of the males said holding the blonde pegasi by her hair. "Man like she could if she wanted to," the other female said her arms crossed. Allyn saw who they were bullying and suddenly became enraged, entering his own form of Twilight Snapple. He clenched his fist and ran towards the three pegasi bullies. He jumped into the air and threw a Superman Punch, creating a colossal, grey fist out of magic. The punch hit all three bullies sending them flying towards the end of the alley, dropping the mare they were harassing. Allyn held out his hand to the cross-eyed pegasus and helped her to her feet. She thanked him and he turned his attention back to her bullies. He took off his coat, folded it, and asked Derpy to hold it for a moment while he talked to them. "You bucked up," said the stallion who was holding Derpy by her hair. He flew towards Allyn, readying to punch. Allyn stopped the flight with a quick uppercut to the pegasus' face, followed by grabbing him by the hair and kneeing him in the stomach. Allyn put the pegasus down with one final elbow to the back, dropping the first of three. The other male grabbed a nearby lead pipe and ran towards Allyn. Allyn countered in one fluid motion by parrying the strike with both of his hands, removing the pipe from his attacker's hand, and turning with a back knuckle to the pegasus' head. The first attacker stood back up and tried to sucker punch him. Allyn back kicked him in his testicles, grabbed his arm, and threw the first pegasus over his shoulder into the second pegasus. Allyn looked and saw the third pegasus trying to escaping. "No you don't," he said, throwing his arm toward the final pegasus. He summoned a large arm, grabbed her, and pulled her back. As she fell back towards the alley, Allyn turned and back kicked the final bully into the other two on the ground. "My name is...", Allyn deep voice boomed in a way that rivaled Luna's Equestrian Voice, followed by throwing a fireball to the wall to the left of the three bullies with his new Transmutation Lighter, "And I work for the department of..." He threw another fire ball to the right of them this time. "Am I making myself CLEAR?!" The three pegasi nodded in fear. "Good, now listen here," Allyn pointed at Derpy, "If I find out that you or anypony else bully this sweet mare from now on, I will NOT be as merciful. AM I CLEAR!!!" The three pegasi flew away as fast as they could. Allyn calmed down and called them punks. He turned around and was tackled by a hug from one very energetic and grateful pegasus. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," Derpy said sounding half like balddumborat, which made Allyn smile. "You're welcome," He said giggling, "I just hate seeing ponies hurt sweet mares like yourself. My name's Flynt, Flynt Alchemist." "I'm Ditzy," she said standing up, "But most ponies call me Derpy Hooves." Allyn brushed off the dust and trash from his coat and put it back on. "Well Ditzy," Allyn said, "Care to grab a muffin with me." The following squee she made made Allyn fall over from diabeetus. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Her blonde hair, her smile, her fashion style. All of which and more about Derpy reminded Allyn of his little sister. She was always getting in trouble when she was little and Allyn always had to fight her out of them. So when he saw Derpy, he saw his little sister getting bullied again and his instincts as an older brother kicked in. Which made the pain of those memories of his sister even harder. Allyn and Derpy talked for a while, eventually walking into a nearby bar oddly run by none other than Berry Punch. Neither ordered a highly alcoholic drink, but Allyn had a small amount of brandy to ease the pain in his eye and chest. They talked for a couple hours but after a few diet sodas Derpy needed to leave to head home. She paid for her sodas and left the bar, but not before writing down her phone number. "Anypony sitting here," a male voice sounding almost like TheInvertedShadow asked. Allyn looked at the man asking him. He was a pegasus, light orange hair under a Wonderbolt headband, semi tan skin, and hazel eyes. He wore a black, torn tee over a white long-sleeve tee. He shared Allyn's two-belt style, which wasn't as rare in Equestria as Allyn thought, only the pegasus had white belts over black cargo pants. "Nah," Allyn replied while having some more brandy, "Go right ahead." The pegasus sat down next to Allyn and ordered a PiƱa Colada with extra rum. "Name's Rim Shot," the pegasus said to Allyn, holding out his hand. "Flynt," Allyn replied, "Flynt Alchemist. So I'm guessing you're a huge sports colt right?" Rim put his hands behind his head and leaned back a little bit, "More like drums, you?" "Well my talent's a very rare magic called Transmutation Magic," Allyn said to the fellow musician, "But personally, I enjoy playing the guitar every once in a while." The pegasi turned his attention to the left of Allyn. "So your eye patch," he started, "I'm guessing it's either for an injury or you're trying to look like a tough guy to get the mares around here, am I right?" "I'm getting over an injury," Allyn replied with a bit of annoyance in his voice, "Where do you get the idea that it's cool to ask a stallion if he's wearing an eye patch whether or not it's for show?" Rim Shot shrugged, "I guess I'm really honest like that; if I think something, I say it and fuck the consequences." "Hey, what are you looking at," Allyn asked. Rim smiled and pointed behind Allyn, causing him to completely turn around. Over by the dart board was a white covered, female unicorn with two-tone blue hair and DJ Headphones and a buxom, gray suited, Earth pony throwing darts at the board. "You thinking what I'm thinking," Rim asked. Allyn turned back to face Rim, "Dibs on the Earth Pony." They fist-bumped and walked over to the two mares. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luna walked with Celestia in the long castle hallway, her mind stuck on Allyn Flynt. She asked her sister earlier if Allyn seemed familiar to her, to which her reply was to take this walk with her. "This Allyn Flynt character," Celestia started after nearly twenty minutes of silence, "He's a spitting image of Nighting Gale, isn't he. I too am cautious that this unicorn may simply a Changeling, attempting to weave some type of outrageous story, but we haven't had any descriptions of Nighting Gale let outside the high Royal Scholars" So she noticed the link between them too, Luna chose to withhold the kiss between him and her last night. "I talked with him last night," Luna replied, "He... thanked me for raising the moon, and said he could see the dark side of it as well." "Remember dear sister," Celestia said wrapping her little sister in a loving embrace, "You can talk to me about anything, or anypony if you'd like." "Thank you sister," Luna replied, hugging her sister back. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A warm, plushy pillow that almost seemed to move with Allyn's every breath. Whatever Equestria had or was doing, he wanted them to NEVER stop making these. But, wait? Something seemed... off. Allyn lazily opened his eyes to see that he was not in fact lying on a pillow... but he wasn't really complaining about who he was on top of. Under the hungover, and somehow naked though he didn't remember why, human was the buxom woman from last night. She didn't notice that Allyn had moved his head off of her, what looked like F Cup, breast. He tried to figure out who the equally nude woman he fell asleep on was, so he gently moved off of her and pulled the covers down until he made it to the cutie mark. The mare had a distinct purple musical symbol as a cutie mark, meaning he had gotten with one of his top three fave ponies after getting the number of his fave. Allyn threw his arms in the air as a form of mini celebrations. "Bonjour Monsieur Allon," Octavia said as she woke up, "How is your eye?" Oh, she was French. That threw Allyn off guard a tiny bit, but his eye was feeling better. "You know my real name?" Allyn asked. "Oui," she said as she got out of her bed and walked over to the closet, "You said that you name was Allon after the four of us came back from the bar. You also played something called Though Fire et Flames on Scratch's guitar." Allyn looked towards the walk-in closet like it just opened a portal back to his home. He knew he was a good guitar player, but all the alcohol on Earth and Equestria combined couldn't get him to play the famous Dragonforce song perfectly. "I highly doubt that Madam Melody," he said as he pulled his pants up and tightened his belt, "The original band who wrote it couldn't play it perfectly live. Let alone on an acoustic guitar." Octavia walked out of the closet in a gray tee and short shorts. "I could show you the video," She said leaning on the closet. Octavia walked Allyn into her living room, where Vinyl Scratch was lying face down and snoring on the coffee table. Rim Shot was asleep on the couch with a slice of pizza on his chest and a digital camera in his hand. An acoustic guitar was laying against the TV. Octavia took the camera from Rim's hand and showed the video to Allyn, and sure enough there was an eight minute long video of a drunk him playing the hardest song in Guitar Hero history. He managed to hit every note on the guitar, though his singing sounded like a deaf man strangling a cat on top of a police car. "I sound a lot better sober," Allyn assured Octavia. Vinyl snorted awake, looked at Allyn and Octavia, then slapped Rim's knee waking him up. "Get up, playcolt," Vinyl said to Rim. Rim stretched out on the couch and looked at Allyn and Octi, "What happened with you two?" "I could ask the same to you," Allyn replied to the pegasus, "Actually, I was wondering what happened period." "You two dolts walked over to us at the bar," Vinyl started, "We all started talking about music; Punk, Classical, Rock, etc." "We invited you two here," Octavia continued. "I bought us pizza and beer," Rim took over, "We played poker, you said your real name was Allyn Flynt and that this was all a TV show in another universe." "Which we figured was drunk talk," Vinyl cut in. "I played the hardest song ever?" Allyn asked to which the others nodded. "Then I took you to my room," Octavia said, "And you can guess the rest." "Well," Allyn started, "What if the whole 'Other universe thing' wasn't drunk talk?" "You actually are from another universe," Vinyl asked. "Makes sense if ya think about it," Rim said eating the chest pizza, "I've always had that feeling that someone was watching me but I couldn't see them." "Oh trust me if you knew the government of my country," Allyn explained, "But back on point; it's not so much you guys as much as Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends. You three are more like background characters." Octavia thought for a second, "Isn't one of them the one who jumped on the stage and started playing my cello during the Grand Galloping Gala?" "Yeah," Allyn said, "To be honest, she's apologized for it." Vinyl started humming a song that seemed familiar to Allyn. Octavia slapped Vinyl's arm and said that it was rude. Vinyl said to blame Allyn, as she said it was one of his songs. He knew it. "Hey V," Allyn said, "Can you play the piano or keyboard?" "Um," Vinyl said slightly confused, "Yeah. Why?" "Well you know that Apple Family Cider Celebration they asked you to play for," Allyn reminded her, "Well after you had to back out, I asked to play at it. But all kinds ah weird shit happened which is why I'm in Canterlot for the time being. Back on track, they postponed the event until the princess, her friends, and I got back to Ponyville." "You plannin' on telling what you're thinking," Rim said after finishing the crust of the pizza. "Rim Shot, Drums," Allyn said pointing to every person in the apartment, "Octavia Melody, Cello. Vinyl Scratch, Techno Piano. And me, Allyn Flynt or Flynt Alchemist, guitar and male lead." "Male lead," Octavia asked. "Well yeah," Allyn said looking at her, "Can you sing?" "Man her voice sounds like a sirens song," Vinyl said causing Octavia to blush. "I'm an okay singer," Tavi replied modestly. Allyn asked Vinyl for his music player, because he figured nopony would understand Ipod, back and handed it to Octavia. "Listen and sing," He said as he grabbed the guitar off the floor, "Rim, Vinyl, follow along." Confused, Rim Shot grabbed two wood spoons and Vinyl grabbed her portable piano keyboard. Allyn began by strumming the first few notes as Octavia skipped the first part of the song. Eventually, Vinyl started playing along to what felt right for Octavia and Allyn's parts and Rim started beating the spoons on the table and off each other. Octavia's voice sounded like an angel singing a song of despair, a soothing French low alto/high tenor. Just before the chorus, Allyn's baritone voice joined in and the apartment was filled with sweet sounding music. The second time they hit the chorus, Vinyl and Rim joined in as backup singers. After the song ended, everyone in the room congratulated each other on their parts. "So the four of us join forces," Allyn said, the guitar still hanging by its strap, "and play the AFCC." "As what," Rim asked, "A cover group?" "What do we call ourselves," Vinyl asked. "Well," Allyn paused for a second to think about it for a moment, "Where I'm from, there's a group called 'My Chemical Romance.' And seeing as my stage name is 'Alchemist,' how about 'Alchemic Reaction?'" The three ponies looked at each other and nodded. Allyn agreed to pic the songs for the AFCC, write down the notes for each part before he left Canterlot, and try and talk AJ into making it a band concert instead of join a one pony show. Suddenly a knock came from the front door and two members of the Royal Guard walked into the apartment, followed by the mane six, Spike, and Celestia and Luna. Everyone in the apartment knelt to the Royal Sisters. "Here you are Allyn darling," Rarity said. "You had all o' us worried, sugarcube," Applejack contributed. "Why did you not say you would not return to the castle," Luna said coldly. "Sorry everypony," Allyn apologized, "I guess I had a wild time last night." "Well at least your eye is doing better," Celestia said, Luna looked over and lightly smiled. "Yes, it is actually good that you showed up Applejack," Allyn said, "You already know Vinyl Scratch, these two are Octavia Melody and Rim Shot. I would like to ask if the four of us could play at you family Cider Celebration after we get back to Ponyville." "Oh, are you guys a cool rock band now," Pinkie asked. "You're the girl who messed up my performance at the Grand Galloping Gala," Octavia yelled at Pinkie. "Either Alchemic Reaction plays," Allyn told Applejack, gesturing towards the three ponies behind him, "Or you find another act for you Cider Celebration." "Are y'ah tryin' to negotiate with me," Applejack asked, "Or black mail me in front of the Princesses?" "Well you have to admit," Spike spoke up, "They did sound awesome from the hallway." "Yeah AJ," Rainbow Dash followed up, "If it wasn't for Allyn's voice, we would have needed to look through every apartment." Allyn held out his hand and Applejack shook it with a little bit of annoyance. Celestia and Luna bowed and said they will enjoy listening to Allyn and everypony at the concert. > Apple Cider Celebration (Take 2) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4 Apple Cider Celebration (Take 2) After a few days in Canterlot; Allyn had written down a good twenty songs in a few different genres, Alchemic Reaction had practiced the notes for each song, and they were on their way to Ponyville with Twilight and her friends. The eleven hopped off the train and headed for Sweet Apple Acres. After the four hour walk to the apple orchard, Allyn said hello to everyone and the CMC asked him about what he had done last week when he saved them from the steel from the stage. Mac corralled them and told them to go help Granny Smith in the kitchen with the cider for tomorrow. Allyn showed Octi, Vinyl, and Rim to the stage and Alchemic Reaction set up for a practice session and sound check before their debut at the Cider Celebration. Vinyl stood back stage as Allyn, Rim Shot, and Octavia played Demons, one of the songs he had chosen for the concert, as a test. After the three finished, Vinyl confirmed that the audio and lighting was good. The four spent the next four hours practicing for the last time before they played live. For those hours, everyone on the orchard was given a private pre-show of what Alchemic Reaction had planned. It was well into night before they were finished practicing, at which time everyone put their instruments away and went to grab a bite at Sugar Cube Corner. The four spent another hour at the bakery before it closed. "Well where do we sleep," Rim asked. "Well I left my stuff for when it was just me for the Cider Celebration at Fluttershy's," Allyn replied, "Out near Everfree. We could all bunk in the same room and get ready in the morning." "Sounds awesome to me," Vinyl said, "Plus it'd make having an orgy easier." Octavia slapped Vinyl upside the head and the four headed towards the cabin near the woods. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ishneel kept an eye on the human, but he knew he could keep a better eye on him with a spy. He decided to call on an old ally of his; one he knew had grown to the human's level of strength in the past, if only to be beaten not twenty minutes later, but she was equally as strong as he is. Ishneel flew over the Everfree forest until he came to a dark part of the forest and landed. As soon as he landed, he was surrounded by hundreds of starving Changelings. While just the sight of Changelings in this number would have frightened anypony else; but even if they had been well fed with love for a hundred years, he could take out all of them in one swoop. "I have no time for your games," Ishneel decreed, "Where is Chrysalis?" "Changelings," a familiar voice called from the darkness of the treeline, "At ease." The Changelings did as they were told and sheathed their daggers. From the darkness, the lustful queen of the Changelings showed herself to the Dragon-hybrid, her insect-like eyes and wings and ink-black skin, showing her skeleton from starvation because she fed her people with whatever love she could find in this damned forest, indeed proving the point that these vile worms were hideous beyond imagination. "You must be Ishneel," Chrysalis said with a smile on her face, revealing her fanged teeth, "My ancestors told me stories about you." "What if I could offer your people limitless love to feed on," Ishneel offered, "Without the interruption of Celestia or her student and her friends and family?" "Depends," she replied, moving her holed hair out of her face, "What would it require me and my people to do?" "It would first require you to be my spy for a special unicorn currently taking residence just outside of this forest," He said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Everypony woke up at 5:20 am when Rainbow Dash flew in the front door to violently wake up Fluttershy for the Apple's Cider Celebration. Of coarse Allyn tried to reminder her that the event didn't even start for another almost five hours, but Dash argued about how there was already a line three miles long. "How can there already be enough ponies for a line three miles long at 5:30 in the morning," Rim said holding a pillow over his face. "Have either of you ever had the Apple family's cider," Vinyl asked Rim and Allyn from the bed. "Oui," Octavia said still asleep and nuzzling up to Vinyl, "Son goĆ»t fantastique." By around 6am, Rainbow had already gotten everypony in Fluttershy's hut up and dressed and took them to Sweet Apple Acres. Before the six were even four miles from the farm, they ran into a line of people that stretched well over the next hill. "I wasn't kidding," Rainbow said with a smirk. "I never said I didn't believe you," Allyn looked at her, "I just said that we didn't have to get up at 5:30 for an event that didn't start until ten." Allyn brought Octavia, Shot, and Vinyl off to the side and asked Vinyl if she knew how to work the teleportation spell so they didn't have to wait to get through the line to get to the stage. Vinyl said yes and quickly teleported them behind the stage, but in each others clothing. They took turns changing back into their proper clothes and then Allyn led them thru the list again before AJ found them back stage. "Y'all ready," she ask, "We're expectin' a lot of ponies to show up." "Hell yeah," Vinyl said enthusiastically, "We're going to rock their faces off." "Please forgive Vinyl," Octavia said pinching the bridge of her nose, "She can easily become over excited." Big Mac walked up and reminded AJ that they had to move the barrels of cider back to the front of the barn. And with that, she was gone. "I can't believe I'm going to play rock music to the Royal Sisters," Octavia said like a giddy school filly. Vinyl laughed and look at Octi, "Yeah, I can get easily over excited." Just before the First Annual Apple Family Cider Celebration began, the air sounded off with the blare of two horns announcing the arrival of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna by chariot. The chariot landed right in front of the stage and the two sisters stepped out and waved to the crowd behind the gate. Allyn and everypony else saw the arrival through the curtains on the stage. "Okay everypony," Allyn's inner leader called out, "Come on. The show started in a few minutes, get to your stations." "Aye captain," the others said and ran to their respective instruments. After ten minutes of waiting anxiously, they finally heard AJ and Twilight's voices from the other side of the curtain. "Welcome everypony," Twilight said, "To the first annual Cider Celebration. With out further a due, my friend and hostess of this event; Applejack." "This here's the first time m'ah family's done anything like this," AJ took over, "And Ah just wanna thank all y'all for commin' out ta celebrate with me and m'ah friends and family. And a special thanks to Princess Celestia and Luna for showin' up to this, give 'em a hand everypony." "Get ready," Allyn whispered as everyone was cheering for the Princesses. "Now to kick off this shindig," she continued, "Give a big howdy to a new group that formed just for this party; Fillies and Gentlecolts, Alchemic Reaction!" With that, the curtains rose and revealed just how many ponies they would be playing for. There easily had to be over four hundred people, including; the mane seven, the CMC, the Cake Family, the Apples, the Princesses, and... Derpy? Yes sure enough the gray pegasus was sitting in the stadium near the front row with a small child, Allyn guessed Dinky, and was waving at Allyn. "LET ME HEAR YA," Allyn called out to the crowd, which returned a roaring cheer, "My name's Flynt Alchemist. I'm here with; Octavia Melody on cello and female vocals, Vinyl Scratch on keyboard, and my brotha-from-anotha-motha Rim Shot on the drums. We are Alchemic Reaction and to start y'all off we dedicate this to the heroes of Equestria, you know 'em, you love 'em, the defeaters of Discord, The embodiments of the Elements of HARMONY!" With another roaring cheer, Allyn strummed the first few notes silencing the crowd. Rim, Tavi, and Vinyl joined in causing a sweet harmony of sound. His deep Country voice rang out through the orchard as he started singing over the screaming of a hundred ladies. He looked over to the Apples and Rarity and Sweetie Belle when he started the chorus, which is when the other members joined in and caused a small Chaos storm to ensue at the front of the stage. "This next part's about the former holders themselves," Allyn said between lyrics and then pointed to the "Hippie" Fluttershy, the "Gypsy" Rainbow Dash, the "Freak" Pinkie, the "Geek" Twilight, the "High class woman" Rarity, and "Daisy Duke denim" AJ with Rim backing him up from time to time before they started the next chorus. Everyone in the band managed to hit every note and key in the song as they finished the first one of ten with huge smiles on their faces. After a moment to cool off, they started the second song. This time, Allyn used his high Alto with Octavia in a duet. They swung their torsos to the rhythm of Rhythm of Love, with the crowd clapped along to Rim's beat. Allyn kept his eyes on Luna the whole time after the first chorus, making her blush after she finally noticed after the second chorus. A second song over, a second roar from the crowd. But Allyn noticed a whistling coming from high in the V.I.P. section and couldn't help himself from smiling. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After forty-five minutes of constant music playing, which paused only for a moment or two for the group to regain their breath before the next song, Allyn and his band took a break and he said that the second half wasn't appropriate for small fouls and that they could enjoy the activities that the Apple Family had outside the stadium. Luna was curious and walked backstage to see Allyn. She walked to where the four pony group was resting and the ponies bowed when they saw her, whilst Allyn merely gave a half-salute and a "Hey" as he changed shirts to a darker color. "Hello everypony," Luna said, trying to sound professional, "Hello Allyn Flynt. Do not mind us, we merely wish to tell thee that you are all doing well in this rock concert." "What until we start the next ten songs princess," Vinyl said wiping the sweat off her forehead. "Hard Rock," Rim Shot said stretching his wing, "Pardon my phrasing, but that shit's sick." "Oh," Luna said, "Well tell mister Rock we wish him to get better soon." Allyn had a moment of confusing looks before informing the princess that Hard Rock was a type of music that sounded rather intense, not a pony who was actually unhealthy. And with that Octavia said that their twenty minutes were up and they had to get back on stage. The other ponies ran back on stage, but Allyn stopped for a second and thought about something. "What is it," Luna asked as the piano started playing on stage. "Look for this when you're back at your seat," Allyn said holding his index finger up with his thumb to the side, "And one more thing..." Allyn ran back to the Princess and quickly kissed her on the mouth. Before she could think of a response, he ran back to the stage yelling "For good luck!" Luna stood in the open area behind the stage, her face a bright red. While she wanted to punish him for pulling such a trick and running off, she also slightly enjoyed the kiss. She shook her head when she heard Allyn's voice speaking at four words per second. She was back at her seat with Celestia by the time Allyn had made it to the first chorus. Celestia looked at her and smiled. Luna asked what her sister was smiling about. "Your face is as red as an apple," Celestia said with a chuckle. Luna was embarrassed, had she been blushing the entire time back to her seat? Curse that Allyn Flynt, after this concert she will personally throw him in the Canterlot Dungeon. But for the next hour, she slowly fell out the want to throw him off a cliff and enjoyed his voice in either Rap music or this "Hard Rock" as she believed. But near the end, she began to feel a pattern in the songs. Ones talking about Demons or Monsters but the one talking about "sleeping a thousand years" caught both her and Celestia's attentions. They kept listening to the lyrics of both that song and the one after to make sure that there wasn't a hidden message he was trying to give to somepony in the crowd or to her. But, though she was rather relieved to figure this out, there wasn't any sign of subliminal messaging happening. "I will try to find my place," Allyn sang the end of the last song of the concert, "In the diary of LUNA." He held up his index finger, his thumb out to the side. THAT BASTARD! He had tricked her with false attempts to distract her so as to humiliate her at the end of the concert! Allyn walked off stage after the last few cords and the rest of his cohorts followed after a few seconds. Luna turned to the guards to follow her as she walked backstage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "DO YOU HAVE A FUCKING DEATH WISH," Rim yelled at Allyn after the concert, who just took a nonchalant swig of cider. "I can see what everybody's talking about now," Allyn said. "Oh really," Vinyl said, equally freaking out as much as Rim was, "NOW you see why we're flipping?" "Yeah," Allyn held the cider up, "This is some damn good cider." Octavia yelled something in French that Allyn guessed went like; "The fuck were you thinking?! Why would you do that?! How can you be talking about cider at this moment?!" Suddenly six guards surrounded the four and held their weapons at them, then Luna and Celestia revealed themselves to the future inmates. "Thou are under arrest," Luna declared, drawing a sword at Allyn, "For unauthorized public intimidation." "Take us away," Allyn said throwing his hands up with a smile on his face. "YOU MOTHERFUCKER, YOU PLANNED THIS," Rim yelled at Allyn, jumping at him and strangling him. The guards pulled the three ponies off Allyn and dragged all four away. "'Unauthorized public intimidation'?" Celestia asked, "That's the best you could come up with?" "Until I can find something to actually arrest him on," Luna said, sheathing her sword, "That's all I need." "You know they call what he did today courting by current standard," Celestia said walking away with a chuckle, causing Luna to rapidly become flustered at both her sister and that Allyn Flynt. > The Legend of Sir Nighting Gale > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 5 The Legend of Sir Nighting Gale "I can't believe you got us thrown in prison," Rim Shot said as he, Octavia, and Vinyl were chained by their hands to the dungeon wall. "Hey, you guys got it lucky," Allyn replied. "Oh, really," Vinyl asked, "How, how are the lucky ones? Because we can say that we had no idea you were going to pull that bullshit at the Cider Celebration. Yeah, the princesses are REALLY to enjoy that excuses." "Well not so much that," Allyn started as he looked up at his current situation, "As much as you three aren't chained upside-down by your feet, with your arms wrapped around you in a straight jacket style, and have needed to take a piss for the past oh God knows how many hours because you know that if you try to go to the bathroom; it will get on and in literally EVERYTHING!" The three looked at Allyn as he hung, upside-down by his ankles with his arms chained around his chest, in the middle of the dungeon. The door to the dungeon opened and five guards walked towards the three chained to the wall. The guards unchained them and three guards split off and took them out of the dungeon. "You three are free to go," one of the guards said in a deep, scratchy voice, "We couldn't find any evidence saying you knew that that criminal would pull his little stunt yesterday." After the six left the dungeon, the two guards walked out of the dungeon and said something to someone just outside. Luna walked into the dungeon, this time wearing almost normal clothing with a few unnecessary pieces of armor over it, and squatted down to Allyn's current eye level. "Why?" she asked. "Why what?" he replied like a smartass. "You intentionally threw yourself and your friends in prison," Luna said, holding his head up, "For what purpose could you have for that?" Allyn sighed and looked deep into Luna's eyes, "Who?" Luna was shocked by his rebuttal, but she didn't know how to answer. "Who," Allyn repeated, "When we first met in the throne room, you looked at me like I reminded you of someone. Who do I remind you of?" Luna thought for a moment and sighed, did she have to tell him, did she want to tell him? No, no she needed the pain off her chest. She gently lowered Allyn's head and sat on the floor in front of him, and thought of a good place to start. "His name," Luna said quietly, "Was Nighting Gale." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luna sat in her chambers of the Castle of the Two Sister, the anger of being overlooked by everypony because they slept during her night slowly eating away at her. She ran her fingers through her mane, trying to keep her calm in the rage. "Is there something thy may do for thee," a cheery voice called to her, replacing her rage with joy. "Tell us we are important," Luna turned to the guard standing by the door to her chambers. He wore hand-forged dark blue armor, with an off-white crescent moon on the chest plate. His light green mane, which was extremely shaggy from the helmet he wore, hung just over his gentle, copper eyes. The unicorn gave a sweet smile as he stood in the doorway, placing his hand over his heart and bowing. "Thou art," Nighting Gale started, "And thy always shall be the most important pony in thine life." The princess walked away from the mirror and into the arms of the stallion she truly loved with all of her heart, and who loved her with all of his. She embraced the guard, snuggling as close as she could to his armor. She could hear the stallion heart beat through the dark blue painted metal. She cooed as she felt the unicorn slowly run his fingers though her light blue mane as his other arm was caressing her folded wings. After a moment, the moved from the deep embraces of a lovers hug, to the soothing feeling of a lovers kiss. "We thank thee," Luna said after they broke away from the kiss, "We needed thine understanding." "Hath thy nightmares returned," Nighting Gale asked, to which Luna replied with a slight nod, "Thou doth remember that thy guards stay awake through thine night." "Only because thy sister order them to," she said with sorrow in her tone, "other wise they wouldst sleepth through thy night, just like everypony else wouldst." Nighting Gale picked her head up by her chin and looked her loyally in the eye, "They might hath been forced to stayth awake for thine night, but thy hath promised thee that thy wouldst keep thee company thought thine beautiful night." He wiped a single tear out of Luna's eye and gently moved her mane out of her face. She lightly gave a small smile to her love's support in her tribulations. They walked out to her balcony and looked up at the crescent moon hung high in the sky. "See," Nighting Gale said to Luna as she lied her head on his shoulder, "Thy moon be happy that we art together." The joke gained a laugh from Luna and she wrapped her wing around them. They sat under the star-filled sky until Celestia raised her sun hours later. Celestia walked in shortly after Luna lowered her moon. Gale bowed to Celestia and said good morning to Luna as he walked out of Luna's chambers. "Hello sister," Celestia tried to sound sweet as she addressed Luna, "Art thou prepared for our siege on Sombra's castle so as to liberate the Crystal Empire?" "Indeed sister," Luna said collecting herself, "We art ready to fight." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As the Royal Sisters walked up to the Crystal Empire, King Sombra stood at the top of the central castle and looked down on the Sisters and their army. He smirked at the idea that they would try to attack his kingdom. He drew his demon scythe and pointed it to Celestia and Luna. "Do you really think," Sombra echoed, "That you have what it takes to defeat me?" "Thou hath made dark pacts against ponykind," Celestia called using her Equestrian Voice, "And as such, we hath come to stop thee." Sombra laughed and summoned dark magic, throwing up large crystalline spears towards Luna and Celestia's forces. After the attack, Luna gave the order for the archers to fire at the castle as Celestia gave the order for the pegasi to fly towards the spire where Sombra stood. Celestia and Luna led the ground charge to the castle gates. Sombra threw out his hands and summoned black flames to burn the pegasi and arrows coming towards him out of the sky. He then drew his attention towards the approaching ground infantry and manifested an army of demon crystal soldiers to fight the sisters back. Celestia and Luna's forces met the crystal army with a combination of blades and magic. Celestia, Luna, Nighting Gale, and a small number of soldiers managed to get pass the crystal spawn outside and entered the castle. Celestia told Captains Nighting Gale and Hardened Steel to lead the troops inside to free the ponies Sombra had imprisoned while Luna and her fought Sombra. Nighting Gale gave a nod to Luna as to say he'll be fine and he needed her to stay safe until Sombra was defeated, to which Luna replied with another nod as he and the Earth Pony Captain ran off. The Sisters ran through the castle towards Sombra's throne, charging through any obstacles that got in their way. They stood in front of the door to the throne room of the black jeweled castle. (Sorry to stop the story, just wanna say; MUCH COOLER if you listen to this as you read the next part... Okay, continue)Celestia looked at Luna to assure herself that they were ready. "We art ready dear sister," Luna said holding a spear to her breast plate. Celestia held her battle axe to her own breast plate and they walked into the throne room. Sombra sat in his throne of black gems, resting his head on his fist and his scythe on his lap. Celestia and Luna held their weapons out as they walked slowly into the large room. "Princess Celestia of the Sun," Sombra said with a distraught look on his face, "and Princess Luna of the Moon. thou thinkth just because thine hath defeated the Lord of Chaos, thou can just walkth into thy kingdom and overthrow thee?" "Thou hath imprisoned and enslaved ponies for thine own purpose," Luna said holding her spear in front of herself, "And we hath come so as to stop thine treatment and punish thee for crimes against thy own kind." The unicorn chuckled and stood up from his throne, holding his black and red scythe behind him. He held his other hand towards the princesses and summoned a large amount of dark magic, sealing them in the throne room. "If thou truly wish to fight me," Sombra said, his eyes glowing from dark energy coursing though his body, "Then let us begin." Sombra disappeared into a cloud of smoke and moved towards the sisters. He swirled around the two alicorns as they kept swinging trying to hit the cloud of evil. He quickly reappeared in between Celestia and Luna, separating them. He spun his scythe around, catching Luna's back and wings off guard as Celestia blocked his attack. Luna spun around and jabbed at the Mad King with her spear. He twisted out of her spear by mere inches and turned with a swing from his scythe downwards her arm. Luna dodged the swing as Celestia brought her axe across Sombra's chest, passing thru his body. "By thy own mane," Celestia said, startled by the failed attempt of a counter strike. Sombra chuckled, then threw his arm backwards sending shards of crystals slicing through Celestia's armor. Sombra teleported behind Celestia, kneeing her in the spine. Celestia spun her axe around, bashing Sombra in the head with the back of the head of the axe. Luna charged towards Sombra, spear at the ready to end him. "We shall end thy dark pact, Sombra," Luna said running towards him. Sombra's horn began to glow as he held his hand to where Celestia struck him. Luna jumped into the air and began to thrust her spear forward as Sombra opened his eyes, a soul crushing black coming from his eye slots. Luna couldn't look away before his magic attack hit her, sending her into his world of nightmares. Luna dropped her spear, screaming in terror and sobbing as a violet haze streamed from her now green eyes. Luna dropped to the floor holding her hands to her mouth. Sombra threw his hand towards Luna then pulled it back throwing her into a nearby wall, trapping her in crystal sharps to the wall. Sombra stood and looked at the now trapped princess, almost forgetting about Celestia until she was lunging towards him. He evaporated in time to dodge the axe and moved around to behind Celestia. Celestia quickly turned with an overhead strike as Sombra returned to a physical form, though his reaction time was as equally fast as her's. He blocked the swing and she spun the axe around rapidly and pierced his chest. "It's over Sombra," Celestia said, driving the axe deeper into his torso, "YIELD!" Sombra laughed manically as Celestia realized her mistake and attempted to pull her weapon from his body. He rose his scythe into the air and brought it down, missing her by inches as she jumped back. "So. Much. HATE." he yelled as he swung the scythe, "Fear is my domain, and with every ounce of energy you use to struggle, I come to see what you fear most." He poked with the opposite end of his scythe three times before spinning around and slicing with the blade, clashing against Celestia's axe handle. "Thy care not what dark pacts you hath made," Celestia said, "Thou WILL fail!" "I can taste your wrath," he said as they pressed against each other, "And your sister's envy." Celestia broke away and fired a beam of energy at Sombra, "SILENCE YOU COWARD!" Sombra evaporated again and quietly snaked his way close to Celestia, reforming with his scythe to her throat. His eyes began to glow green and his horn began to bubble with dark magic. Once again, Sombra's magic hit its target. Celestia dropped her axe and stepped backwards. "N-no," Celestia uttered under Sombra's spell, "Sister please." Sombra stood there, watching Celestia cower at his feet by the power of his spell. He raised his scythe, preparing to finish the fight. He swung, hitting not Celestia but instead another unicorn. This unicorn wore dark blue armor with a crescent moon on his chest piece. He stood in front of Celestia, his arms held out to the sides. In the shock of a third opponent, Sombra nearly missed the forth running through a whole in his crystal door. Sombra disappeared as this female Earth Pony ran towards him. Luna finally came to and looked over where she could see her sister. She couldn't tell if Sombra's spell was still in effect or not, because the horror she saw was still there. She could see Nighting Gale lying on the ground in front of Celestia, surrounded in a pool of blood. Tears began running down her face, as she watched the stallion she loved slowly die as she was unable to do anything. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO," she yelled, smashing the crystals off her limbs and wings. Her yelling snapped Celestia out of Sombra's spell as well. She looked down and saw Nighting Gale in a pool of his own blood. She rolled him onto his back and examined his wound, a solid diagonal slice right-left through most of his chest nearly slicing him in half. A blur flew by Celestia and Nighting Gale at a speed that nearly breaks the sound barrier. Luna flew towards Sombra, spear at the ready and this time she wasn't going to fall for his trap again. She stabbed him square the chest and pinned him against a nearby wall. "YOU BASTARD," Luna screamed in a combination of rage and sorrow, "I AM GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR KILLING HIM!" Sombra tried to evaporate but Luna stopped him by grabbing his horn and pulling his face into her armored knee. She removed the spear from his chest and threw him thru three crystal pillars. Luna threw her hand out like a claw, sending dozens of sharp blades made of shadows towards Sombra as he tried to return to his feet. The shadow blades sliced through his armor, as if it was equivalent to taking a flaming katana to butter. "Sister," Luna called to Celestia, "We MUST finish this fight whilst he is weakened." "Right," Celestia called back, "Captain Steel, keep Nighting Gale Safe." The mace-wielding Earth Pony ran over to her comrade and the Princess ran to join her sister in the battle. Celestia and Luna opened their satchels and pulled out the Elements of Harmony. The six Elements swirled around the sisters as they readied to defeat Sombra. "If thou enjoyth taking the form of shadow," Celestia said, "Then thou shall be made into one." The Elements created a powerful spell at the palms of Celestia and Luna's hand. Sombra snarled and he saw the sisters spell take shape. His horn bubbled with dark magic and he smashed his arm through the crystal in the floor, the dark spell snaking its way down his arm and into the Crystal Empire. Celestia and Luna's horns glowed brightly as the fired off a large beam of magic energy at Sombra, rapidly turning his dark, muscular skin into a black haze. "I SHALL RETURN ONE DAY," He swore as he disappeared into smoke and flew out a nearby window into the frozen tundra. The Elements returned to Celestia and Luna's possession and Luna ran over to Hardened Steel and the now pale Nighting Gale. Luna sat down next to Gale and gently pulled off his helmet and placed in next to him. She held his head up and lightly placed her hand over his wound. He weakly opened his eyes and looked at his love. "D-Did thou," He was barely able to say. "Yes," Luna said as tears began to run down her face, "Thy and thine sister beat him. Please, hold on. We shall take thee back to the castle and thee shall be alright." He lightly smiled, his breath becoming slower and shallower. "I am sorry," he said as a few tears began to run down his face, "Thy am so sorry my love, but I am afraid to tell thee that thy will not make it back to the castle. Please, doth one favor for me; do not forget that thy hath always loved thy night." "G-Gale," Luna said sobbing. He reached over and held her hand as he died, still smiling at her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "My sister and I buried him as soon as we returned to our castle in what is now the Everfree Forest," Luna said, a few tears running down her face, "Our sister placed a statue for him by his grave. Two months later, we turned into Nightmare Moon and Celestia banished us for a thousand years." Though telling the memory was nearly as painful as it was to watch Nighting Gale die, Luna was somewhat glad that she could let the pain and what she felt for Allyn out. She put her head down and squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to regain her stature. She heard the sounds of chains rattle slightly and opened her eyes again when she felt something wrap around her in a hug. Allyn's double-jointed ability had allowed him to slip his arms out from around himself and was now hugging her tightly. He couldn't help himself from being brought to tears as well by Luna's story. "I," he tried to speak, "I am so sorry for your loss. He sounded like a noble, loving man." Luna smiled as new tears ran down her face, this time tears of joy. She placed her hands on Allyn's back in a way of a hug back. She remained, kneeling, crying on the dungeon floor, for a few moments before standing up and wiping the last few tears away. "So," she said, "How long have thou been able to slip out of your chains?" Allyn held the chains around his wrist to his face, then looked back up at Luna. "My older sister used to tie me up tighter whenever I would get into her stuff," Allyn said, still hanging upside down, "Eventually I learned that I was double jointed and I soon asked her to tie me up to see if I could escape it as a form of magic trick. It did win me some school talent shows from time to time." One of the guards walked into the dungeon, and sort of freaked out when he saw Allyn's hands on the floor. "Princess!" the female guard yelled, "The prisoner, he's trying to-" "He's trying nothing," Luna said to the guard, "We are releasing him." That grabbed Allyn's attention, was she actually letting him go? She called the guard over and they unchained Allyn's legs, holding them so he didn't just fall to the ground. Allyn rolled to his feet and brushed off the dust and dirt from his clothing, afterwards thanking the Princess for allowing him to go free with a bow. He however wasn't expecting her to hug him tightly, thanking him for allowing her to let the painful memory of Nighting Gale out. "A-hm," the guard said, clearing her throat, "Your highness, there's still something that your sister wishes to tell Mr. Flynt." > I Walk the (Not So) Lonely Road. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 6 I Walk the (Not So) Lonely Road. Allyn stood at the Ponyville Train station a couple days after Luna pardoned him and the other members of Alchemic Reaction. He had everything packed for the next few months traveling, even had his Iphone charged if anypony wanted to call him. He had a few moments before the train left the station for Appleoosa, he had heard it was having a crazy party thanks to some guy named "Cheese Sandwich", so he said his goodbyes to the Mane Seven and Alchemic Reaction.. "Are you sure you want to leave," Vinyl asked, slightly less energetic than usual. "Well since Princess Celestia said there was no spell to return me to my home," Allyn said scratching the back of his head, his bags on each side of his legs, "I figured that I'd take this opportunity to see Equestria. After all, they barely show what I can only guess is a third of it in the show." "I still can believe Princess Celestia and Princess Luna made you a Major in the royal guard," Rarity said. Allyn shrugged, even he was curious about how he convinced Luna to vouch for him to her sister. He figured after his explanation of how State Alchemist worked on Earth they probably thought it was a good idea to have someone with Allyn's talent in the Guard, but just how the fuck did he convince them to give him a six-figure sum per month? "Well when ever you have the time to write," Octavia said holding some paper in her hand. "We'll be waiting Allyn," Pinkie said holding four balloons in each hand. "Stay cool man," Rim said, he and Spike holding their fist out for a brofist. Allyn replied by returning the brofist as the train whistle blew announcing all aboard. Allyn gave a final group hug, grabbed his bags, and hopped on the train, taking a seat near a window. As the train pulled away, Allyn lowered the window and leaned out, waving goodbye to his Pony Friends. After Ponyville was a good distance behind the train, Allyn placed his earplugs in, put Good Life on his Ipod, pulled the hood over his head, and decided to take a little nap. As Allyn nuzzled into his seat, he didn't notice the woman in a yellow sun hat, white, up-to-the-elbow gloves, and a cyan dress watching him two rows over. She folded her newspaper over and kept an eye on him, as she was told to by the creature agreeing to feed her people. Is he in your view, Ishneel asked though a mystic connection he made with Chrysalis. He doesn't suspect a thing, Ishneel, she communicated to her ally, A few of my Changelings are in other cars to keep an eye on him if he moves as well. Excellent, Ishneel replied, Just remember; he must not be made aware that you are following him or our deal is invalid. Am I clear? Chrysalis gawked at the pony in her head, You forget who you're talking to my dear; even if he suspects one form, then my Changelings and I shall merely change and wait until he's not so paranoid. She looked over at Allyn's face as he listened to the music, Ishneel never said that this stallion was rather handsome. She would have to take personal notes if she overheard him talking about what he looked for in a mare, he looks like he could easily feed her people for a while. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The fare land of Skyrim, home of the Nord warriors. It has been eight months since the fierce dragon Alduin returned and began raising an army of dragons, following the prophecy foretold by the ancients. The Dovahkiin, a Nord named John Wolfsbane, and his loyal traveling companion, Lydia, camped in the the hot springs of southern Eastmarch with his trusty horse Shadowmere, waiting for their chance to strike down the dragon at the top of a nearby mountain after nightfall. "Got enough arrows," John asked as he sharpened Valtiri, his favorite Skyforge Steel sword with a personal Flame enchantment on it. "I've still got a good thousand steel arrows sir," the housecarl replied refilling Valtori, the sister sword of Valtiri, of its Shock enchantment, "Dragonbane still charged?" The dragonborn unsheathed the mystic katana of The Blades, lightning crackling off its blade. "Eh," he said looking at the charge of the weapon, "It'll be good for the fight. We're going up against a normal dragon right, not an Elder Dragon?" Lydia and John realized that they had no knowledge of what type of Dragon they were about to face, then each pulled out a bottle of Blake Briar Mead and downed half of their bottles. Suddenly, John's wolf instincts and the mystic ability of his Ebony Mail alerted him of nearby danger. He motioned to Lydia not to react immediately as he slowly reached for his nearby crossbow. "Well it could be worst," John said loud enough for whoever or whatever was behind them, his attention to the unknown being behind them hiding in the tree line. "How is that, my Thane," Lydia replied holding her Orcish bow on her lap, a poisoned arrow readied in her quiver. "Three," he whispered to Lydia, "Two." He leaped forward, rolling as he grabbed his pre-loaded crossbow, and quickly turned a he stood up. Lydia jumped to her feet, bow stretched back and ready to fire its poisoned ammunition. John fired the crossbow, sending a flaming bolt into the tree near where he sensed the being. he quickly reloaded the crossbow and aimed again. "THAT WAS A WARNING SHOT, NOW COME OUT AND FACE THE DRAGONBORN," he yelled to the forest line, "I must warn thee, thine archery level is 100. In other words, I do NOT miss what I aim at." From behind the tree, a fair maiden with dark blue wings, hair made of the stars themselves that seemed to flow without wind, a horn in the middle of her forehead, and wearing a Royal Blue dress walked out of the treeline and towards John and Lydia. "Not a highly polite way to greet us, Allyn Flynt," Luna said, clearly not amused by being shot at with a crossbow. Allyn smiled and took off his Ebony Helmet, allowing his short black hair to fall out and breathe. Allyn motioned to Lydia that this was Royalty and told her to lower her bow. Lydia bowed to Luna and apologized for threatening to shoot her with a poisoned arrow. "Sorry Luna," Allyn said as he put the crossbow down and picked up and apple for her, "Forgot you could travel into dreams." He threw the apple to Luna, which she ate after catching it with her magic. "May we ask," Luna said sitting by the fire Allyn had set up in his dream, "Where are we?" "We're currently in the swamps near the edge of Eastmarch," Allyn said slicing off a small piece of another apple with a dagger, "One of nine holds in the land of Skyrim, one of the northern nations of Tamriel. A world of Dragons, Elves, Demons, and other unreal creatures to humans." Allyn pointed to the mountain with his dagger, "My job is to rid the world of one dragon in particular, a fiend called Alduin, who wishes to build an army of resurrected Dov and end the all life. And one of his minions resides on yonder mountain top, which me and Lydia here intend to climb after night fall and slay." Suddenly, a mighty roar came from the mountain and the ground shook. Shadowmere neighed and stood on his back legs from the roar. Allyn gave a hearty laugh and pointed Dragonbane at the circling dragon. "THAT'S RIGHT YOU GODS DAMNED SERPENT," he said in his booming Nordic voice, "TELL ALDUIN THAT I AM COMING FOR THEE." As he yelled at the mountain, the Ebony Mail alerted him to more danger nearby. The ground shook as another roar pierced the skies, this time coming from Riverdale to the south. The three turned to reveal a large purple and green dragon flying towards them, breathing ice as it flew towards them. Allyn jumped on Shadowmere, grabbed Lydia's arm, threw her behind him and the trio rode as fast as Shadowmere could run towards the tree line. "Take the reigns," Allyn said to Lydia as he drew Dragonbane and stood up on the moving horse. Allyn jumped onto a low branch of a tree as Lydia and Shadowmere rode further into the forest, afterwards swinging from branch to branch until he made his way to the top of the canopy. As Allyn stood on the limb of the tree, a third roar came from the mountain. Allyn quickly looked over to see the circling dragon from before was now on its way towards him. Fuck me running, Allyn thought to himself, A Legendary and an Elder at the same time. Even though he was lvl. 78, fighting both alone would be nearly impossible without Lydia or the Blades to help. "Fine then," He said turning his attention back on the Legendary Dragon, "Let's do this the hard way." He sheathed Dragonbane and held his hands to his mouth, readying a Thu'um to level the playing field. "Od," he started as he could feel the Shout building deep in his throat and gut, "Ah. Viing." As he unleashed the name of his Dov ally, a ring traveled through Skyrim followed seconds later be a roar of a different sound. Allyn turned to the northwest towards the Throat of the World as a gold dragon flew as fast as he could to his ally. Allyn smiled and waved his hands toward Odahviing, jumping onto the dragon's neck as it swooped down at the canopy. "Tis good to see thee again my ally," Allyn said as he rode the Dragon. "Drem Yol Lok, Mundus," the ancient dragon said in his tongue, "Aam Zu'u Hind, How may I aid you?" Allyn pointed to the Legendary Dragon to Odahviing's right, then to the Elder Dragon to the left. "Zu'u Aam Hin Krif... um, screw it," Allyn gave up trying to speak Dragon for a moment at returned to English, "Hold off that Dov whilst I confront the other one. But first, fly me over to the Elder Dragon." "As you wish," Odahviing said, "Nii Dreh." And with that, the Dragon banked left and flew towards Allyn original target. As Odahviing flew over the Elder Dragon Allyn jumped off his ally and onto the back of the Elder Dragon, stabbing it with Dragonbane to hold on to it. As Allyn rode the Elder Dragon like a raging bull, Odahviing continued his counterclockwise spiral and flew towards the Legendary as Allyn had told him to. "Let's take this to the ground shall we," Allyn said as he held onto the hilt of the katana with dear life, "Joor. Zah. FRUL." As Allyn unleashed his strongest Dragon fighting weapon, the dragon became encircled with magic pulling it towards the ground. The dragon dove straight down, the one thing Allyn had not foreseen before using Dragonrend, and crashed into the Earth in a large crater sending Allyn far off into a clearing. Allyn slammed into the ground and rolled until he finally stopped on his stomach, a good hundred yards away from the dragon he was fighting. As he stood up, he heard an Imperial voice yell "Halt, Stormcloak Rebel." "FUCK ME RUNNING A TRIATHLON," Allyn yelled when he noticed he had rolled straight into the middle of an Imperial Camp, "Listen you fashous Imperial Milkdrinkers, I don't have time to fight you fucks right now because there's a-" He was cut off when and Iron arrow hit him in his left shoulder. "Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuck," Allyn said snapping the arrow from his shoulder, "Okay bitches, you asked for it." Allyn drew Valtiri and charged at the squad of soldiers. Allyn spun around, slamming one of the grunts with his Daedric Gauntlet and proceeded to stab him in between the helmet and top of his chest piece. Allyn quickly drew the soldiers sword with his free left hand and blocked another soldier's axe, pulling out of her hand and slicing her across the chest. He pulled out Valtiri and double stabbed a third soldier, this one using a broadsword, the quickly turned them so the Imperial would take the oncoming arrows from a couple archers. One of the things Allyn enjoyed having in his dream that Bethesda didn't put in the actual game, Allyn turned and threw three throwing stars at each archer's chest. He turned back and pushed the corpse of the soldier into one of his buddies, pinning both into the ground and withdrew Valtiri. The Captain of the squad of soldiers shot at Allyn, who merely grabbed the arrow and threw it to the ground. The Captain drew his sword and swung at Allyn, who blocked four head strikes and two leg swings before returning with a turning stomach swipe. Valtiri met the Captain's armor with a loud CLANG, its fire enchantment lighting the armor and its wearer ablaze. Allyn kicked the Captain in the chest, knocking him over a fire pit in the center of the camp and thus ending the battle. "Iiz. Slen. NUS," Allyn said sending out a freezing ring of Ice at the downed Captain, "Now stay down. The fuck did that dragon go now?" As if to answer his question perfectly on time, a loud roar came from the skies behind him. Allyn turned to see the Elder Dragon flying into the air and beginning to circle him. "Joor. Zah. FRUL." Allyn shouted again, this time bringing the dragon to him. Allyn drew Dragonbane and ran towards the dragon, yelling as he ran. The dragon recovered and began to breath fire at Allyn, who quickly brought up Spellbreaker and created a Ward to protect him from the flames as he ran. As soon as he was close enough, he bashed the dragons head up and stabbed the underside of its chin with the anti-dragon weapon. "Your soul," Allyn yelled as he gripped the hilt with both hands, "Is MINE." He charged under the dragon, dragging the katana thru the underbelly of the beast. He removed the sword from the dragon, sliced the back of its hind legs, and jumped onto its back and ran towards its head. Allyn slid down its neck and grabbed the dragon's head, stabbing it thru the eye blinding it before ending its life with a stab into the cerebellum. Allyn jumped off the now dead dragon's head and stayed in the Hero Pose until the Dragon Soul was completely removed from the dragon. Allyn cracked his neck and turned to check on Odahviing and the Legendary Dragon. Allyn fired a few arrows into a nearby tree and using his Acrobatic Skill, another thing he was glad he had in his dream but wished was in the actual game, he climbed until he could see the two dragons shouting in the sky. He jumped from the tree and ran towards one of the horses the Imperial soldiers were no longer using, hopping on to it and galloping as fast as the beast could run towards the dragons. Allyn nearly fell off the horse when he noticed Luna flying besides him. He had nearly forgot that she was in the dream again. "Hey Luna," he said to the winged, horned, dream-walking human besides him, "How are you enjoying my dream world so far?" "We must admit," she said, her wings flapping to keep besides him, "Thou sword technique is quiet well for somepony who was not trained by the Royal Guard." "Thanks," he replied, "I've picked up moves from television, movies, and video games I've played growing up and added them to the traditional Japanese sword style I learned while I spent a year there as a teen. Now may I ask you a question; I understand you can't interact with my dream realm, but would could you lend me a hand?" She just shook her head. "Didn't think so." Luna began to disappear as the growing sound of a horn blew louder and louder from seemingly everywhere at once. Allyn quickly hopped off the horse and slid to a halt at the edge of the swamp, where his dream began, and waved goodbye to Luna as he began to wake up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Appleoosa Station," one of the conductors yelled as Allyn stretched out from his nap, "Appleoosa Station." Allyn pulled down his bags with his magic and pulled out one of the books that he borrowed from Twilight about some basic spells he could learn on his travels, this one was about creating magic shield bubbles. He figured he wouldn't be able to read much during the party that was happening in the small western town, but he wanted to keep it out just in case. As soon as Allyn walked off the train, he was slightly less than smacked in the face with the level of party that had taken over the town. Large crowds, giant banners stretching across multiple buildings, balloons EVERYWHERE, Allyn was genuinely impressed at the level of the energy coming from the town. Allyn walked thru the collections of venders, party games, and food tables as far as the eye could see until he came to a small man in a brown hood with a large, grey beard. The man and his hood looked like they have seen many winters together. He had a small metal cup in his hand, steam lightly coming from whatever was its content. He looked at Allyn, and even under the hood, Allyn could tell the man was smiling. The hobo walked up to Allyn, placing a smelly arm around him. "I have traveled around this nation for many years," the man said in a thick Asian-American accent, "But I have never met a stallion like you, stranger." Allyn wasn't sure whether he should be; confused, horrified, honored, or throw-up from the smell that was kind of like the mixture of camel shit, expensive cheese, booze, and for whatever reason White Lilies. "Uh," Allyn said holding his nose, "Thanks? I mean not to be rude, but can you please remove your arm?" The stranger laughed and pulled his arm off Allyn, walking towards a dark alley and gesturing for Allyn to follow. Cautious, Allyn held his gem knife behind his back and walked slowly behind the old man. As he turned the corner, he saw a small trailer with a horse hitched to the front. The old man called back to Allyn, asking if he was coming. Allyn walked into the trailer, which held many small knick knacks, and the old man removed his hood showing a small cap on his head and small, round glasses at the edge of his nose. The old man picked up a small, glass container and pulled out a wooden, leather covered stick with a small, silver, oval shaped object at one end. "My family has taken this around the world," he said looking the stick down, "We have done this for five generations. It has been held by countless ponies in that time, and on one occasion I thought it would go to a small unicorn mare in a pink hat with a stared matching cape. But you..." He looked at Allyn with a look of confidence in his eye. "I am sure that it shall pick you." He handed the stick to Allyn, it did nothing which for some odd reason bummed him slightly. Allyn looked the stick down, but nothing popped out to him. No symbols, no ancient curses, nothing. Allyn held the stick up towards the old man. "What is it," He asked the man. "It is called Genies Hilt," the man said with a smile on his face, "It was found a hundred, seventy-five years ago in an ancient tomb far to the north of the Crystal Empire by my ancestor. The tomb said it had the power to turn into any weapon its wielder wanted if it saw that pony pure of heart." He had know idea what the old man was talking about, If it saw its user was pure of heart? This had to be a joke, even in Equestria there was no way that a stick with a heave silver ball at one end could turn into any weapon other than maybe a club let alone be sentient enough to judge someone's heart. deciding to just go with it, Allyn looked at the stick and turned it so the silver object at the end was down. "So what," Allyn asked, "If it says I'm pure of heart it'll turn into something? So if I think maybe the Bl-" Before Allyn could even say the video game weapon he was thinking, the stick turned into gray smoke and part of it slithered down Allyn's arm and formed a second cloud in his right hand. As the clouds formed solid objects, the sound of chains rattling up both of his arms and behind the back of his custom coat from Rarity. Allyn gripped the hilts of the signature weapon of the God of War games, in full detail to the art and game footage, the Blades of Chaos with binding curse chains wrapped around his wrist and back. Allyn and the old Earth Pony stood speechless in the trailer as Allyn held the fabled weapons of Kratos, the Ghost of Sparta. Allyn let the blades drop, stopping them with the chains which seem not to tighten around his wrist or back as they fell. He flicked his wrist and tossed the weapons back to his hands. He thought of a different weapon to choose from, this time going with Captain America's Shield. As soon as he thought up the design, the Blades of Chaos returned to their smoke form and traveled back to his right arm. The smoke became a round wall of smoke before changing into the red and blue, Vibranium Shield from the comics he read as a child. He returned the mystic object to it's original form and held it with both hands, holding it to the old man who just held his hand up and smiled. "It has not chosen anypony while in possession of my family for five generations," he said, "And I have no heir. Take it." Allyn bowed and pulled out some bits and placed them on a nearby table, "For allowing me to have this." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A rainy day in May, strangled on the dirt road outside Las Pegasus. Not the way The Great and Powerful Trixie wanted to die, but alas fate had other plans for the show pony. As one of the three thugs of the stallion she owed six thousand bits to sat over her, crushing the air from her Fragile and Beautiful-sounding windpipe, all she could do is close her eyes and continued to try to scream for help from anypony who could hear. With no avail and Death's embrace coming closer and closer, she decided to simply give in. This was the last performance for the Late and Unremembered Trixie. The last thing she thought was If Trixie had the chance to live her life over, she would be kinder to everypony. As if a last act of irony, she heard one final clap from somepony who she couldn't tell was actually there or if she was just hearing what she wanted to before she died. But just before she fell into Tartarus, she felt the Brutus and Crud thug fly off of her. She opened her eyes and turned over to her side and coughed as the sweet feeling of oxygen returned to her flaming lungs. "Nopony hurts an innocent mare as long as I'm alive," a deep voice called out from further up the road. Trixie looked up to her savior, but immediately saw a large square fist rising out of the ground by her head. Beyond the fist was a tall stallion wearing a long, dark gray robe with its hood over his head and blue jeans, kneeling in the dirt with his hands on the road. He reached under his coat and pulled out a small stick which quickly turned into what looked like dual scimitars forming a bow. He pulled back a string made of what Trixie almost was sure was light and fired off an arrow of sunshine over her and into one of the thugs, blasting him backwards but not killing him. The stranger then changed the strange bow into a strange colossal, black and red scythe from a sci-fi movie or something. The stallion pulled back his hood revealing a handsome unicorn, whose light green hair was almost elegantly braided into a small pony tail that fell from his hood and copper eyes seemed to scream rage yet held such beauty and a gentle nature with a small soul patch under determined light rose lips. "Any of you the one who came up with the plan to harm this young mare," the Handsome and Heroic unicorn said pointing the oversized scythe at the thugs. "N-no," the last standing goon said, "This bitch owes our boss over six thousand bits in loan. She didn't deliver and he sent us to" "To what," the stallion cut in, "Kill her and thus insuring that your boss would never get the money that this mare owes?" the thug who attempted to kill Trixie began to recover from the strangers first attack, but the stranger noticed this and, in stomping his foot down causing his horn to glow along with the dirt at his feet, locked the brute down with the rocks from the ground. He asked exactly how much The Great and Still Recovering Trixie owed Big Bucks, the using his magic to aid him, wrote and passed a check to the standing goon. "That should be more than enough to pay off her loan," he said, his horn and the ground glowing again releasing the strangler from the stone bindings, "And tell your boss that if he sends more of you fucks after this mare or anypony, he'll have to deal with The Flynt Alchemist personally." The three thugs looked at each other, then back at this Flynt fellow, then ran away like cowards. The unicorn returned the stick to its original form and hooked it around one of two belts he wore. The unicorn looked at Trixie and smiled, holding his hand out to her. "Well you just heard my name," The Brave and Sweet Allyn said, "May I ask what yours is?" The Cautious and Curious Trixie held the unicorns hand and he pulled her up. He lightly rubbed her neck, then pulled over his suitcases with his magic and pulled out a white silk glove with a strange green circle with multiple lines sewn into the back of the glove. "Hold still," he said. He closed his eyes as his horn began to glow a light gray. Before The Amazed and Relieved Trixie could begin to question her hero, the pain in her neck from that brutes' hands was completely gone. "How," the only thing Trixie could say to the strange magic, "The Great and Powerful Trixie has never heard of such magic that could heal swore muscles on contact." "Well it's this rare type of magic called," the unicorn stopped for a second, "Wait, you're the Great and Powerful Trixie?! The same Trixie who fought off an Ursa Minor from attacking that hick town who ran you out twice in fear of your magic ability?" Trixie figured this stallion was handsome, but he was truly the total package if he was smart enough to know how Great the Luscious and Powerful Trixie was and how that hick town, Ponyville, was incapable of holding her greatness, yet still stupid enough to think she beat the Ursa. "Well that's not the only great thing Trixie has done," she said brushing her mane to the side like the star she is, "But perhaps we should talk somewhere it's drier. This rain is messing up Trixie's Great and Silk-smooth Mane." > The Alchemist. And His New Apprentice? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 7 The Alchemist. And His New Apprentice? Four hours... FOUR GODDAMN HOURS! That's not how long Trixie's been talking, that's how long ago the rain ended. Three hours after Trixie started talking about herself and the BS Allyn knew she was faking. If he heard one more Great and Powerful from her, he was going to Great and Powerfully stab himself with his quartz Bowie knife. He was doing more acting than Leonardo DiCaprio in a silent movie, and more ass-kissing than a Republican Presidential Candidate in a Blue state. And it almost wasn't worth it, almost being the fact of the E-cups in the push-up D-cup onesie similar to the Playboy Bunny suit that nearly completely showed off her plump, firm, lightly toasted ass. "But Trixie was wondering," Trixie continued, finally returning Allyn to reality, "What was that strange magic you were doing out on the road to save Trixie?" Allyn took a sip of his coffee and leaned back in the chair. "It's an ancient and rare magic called 'Alchemy' or 'Transmutation Magic,'" Allyn said as he tried to remember his OC's back story, "I learned it from my adoptive father, a short unicorn but if you called him short he would flip out. He learned it from his father, and he from his father before that, dating all the way back to just after Nightmare Moon was banished." "Why has Trixie never heard of this magic," Trixie asked but Allyn had that answer covered. "Because my father's ancestors have lived in the Everfree forest near what today is Phillydelphia," Allyn said, "Where my dad found me. He was buying some fruit and he heard some commotion coming from the orphanage where I was left as a small colt. It was the first time my magic kicked in and I was just short of destroying the orphanage when my dad ran in and used his Alchemy to get close enough to calm me down. He saw the potential I had and adopted me on the spot. After that, I spent the next seventeen years growing up learning everything he knew before he died." "So you had to bury your father too," Trixie said quietly holding her cup of coffee. She quickly realized what she said and tried to stutter out an excuse. Allyn held his hand up and she quickly stopped. "May I ask you a question," Allyn said, "Who exactly is the Great and Powerful Trixie?" Trixie sighed and put her cup down, "If you have to ask that, then you obviously don't know The Great and Powerful Trixie." Allyn thought for a second before asking a second question. "Well then," he tried again, "What or who made the Great and Powerful Trixie who she is today. And I'll make more interesting for Trixie; if Trixie's honest, then I'll teach Trixie my rare magic to do with whatever she wants." He didn't like the idea of telling Trixie Alchemy in case she tried to use it against Twilight, but he figured it would be the only way he could get the truth from her. "Well the Great and Powerful Trixie became the way she is today with natural talent," Trixie said holding one of her light blue, fingerless gloves to her horn, then paused for a moment after Allyn cocked an eyebrow, "But, perhaps Trixie can tell you a story." She took a sigh. "About a small filly named Trix. Trix was born in the big city of Manehattan, the only daughter of a small shop owner mother and an alcoholic father who would come home from construction and on most occasions beat his family. "Trix's mother and her mother's friends tried going to the guard, but they never found any evidence when they checked. One day, Trix went with her mother to see a magician who called herself The Clever and Wonderful Cardtrick. Now Trix enjoyed seeing the unicorn do simple tricks like pulling rabbits out of a hat and levitate an audience member thru a hoop. "After the show was over, Trix and her mother went up to The Clever and Wonderful Cardtrick. She gave Trixie a deck of cards and asked her to try a trick. Now Trixie was nervous at first as she had never tried to do magic and when she tried shuffling the deck of cards, all they did was fall to the ground. I-I mean she-felt terrible, like she wanted to run and cry. But the stage pony just smiled, put a pink, stared magicians hat on her head and asked for her name." Trixie let a single tear out as she smiled at the memory. "Do you need a moment," Allyn asked as his chest felt like it was being crushed by a boulder. Trixie just wiped the tear away and continued. "No," she said, now sounding more like a normal pony instead of an attention hog, "No Trixie's fine. Like I was saying, the magician asked for Trix's name. Cardtrick said she thought it was a pretty name for a young filly, but said if she was going to be a good magician someday that she'd need a name that would make everypony want to flock to see her show. She called her The Great and Powerful Trixie Lulamoon. So Trixie practiced and practiced her magic tricks, often showing them off to the fellow schoolfouls. But as hard as she tried, even after she received her cutie mark, her father still couldn't have cared less about her. "One day, after years of abuse, her mother threatened to leave and take Trixie far away from her father. He reacted by bashing an empty cider bottle against her head. Trixie tried to run and hide but all that got was a lit candle thrown at her back, leaving it with a permanent scar. A few years later, he walked into traffic drunk. At the age of 14, Trixie had to bury her own father. I didn't even feel sad about what happened to him." Allyn gently wiped the multiple tears running down her face. She looked at him in shock, her lavender, puppy dog eyes telling him that what she was saying was true. He told her that she didn't need to tell him more if she didn't want to and that he would gladly take her under his wing to be his student. "Since we're being honest," Allyn said, "I believe there is something I should tell you." He lightly placed his glowing horn on hers and focused on his memories from his world. "You," Trixie tried to speak after he shared his memories with her, "You're not." "Pony," he answered, "No. I am what my world calls 'human.' Where I'm from, this is a fantasy world. I came to this world about four months ago and I was told that there is no chance of me ever returning to my home. I have taken this opportunity to see this world for what it has. Now I shall soon be traveling back to Ponyville, and you may come with me if you would like. If you need time to understand this information, or if you wish to hit me, I will understand both. I'll be staying in Las Pegasus for the night if you want to join me." He stood up from the chair and began to walk out of the trailer when Trixie grabbed onto his arm. "One question," she said, refusing to look at him, "Why did you save me earlier." "Because it's one of my principles," he said without hesitation, "If I see a man hurting a woman, it doesn't matter what she's done to others in her past, I don't standby and watch it happen. I fight that man until he remembers to treat women with respect." She smirked and chuckled, "You're a strange stallion, but a gentlecolt none the less." She released her hand and Allyn walked out the trailer door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allyn sat in a club a day later, drinking a White Russian and listening to the DJ playing a song that kind of sounded similar to Invincible. While that would have been interesting to find out that of all the music on Earth, ponies are huge fans of DeStorm, Allyn merely took it as convenient. "Hey baby," a female unicorn said as she walked up to Allyn, "Care for a dance?" She was a relatively attractive mare; long, interchanging light blue and pink hair, wearing a green tank top that fell just low enough to hid the bottom of her B-Cups and a short, green skirt. Her light skin almost reflecting the lights that constantly changed in the club. Eh, what the hell. Allyn felt like dancing, but not to this. "Sure," he said, "But one thing first; I gotta talk to the DJ for a sec." He walked over to the DJ booth, mean while pulling out his Ipod and heading to a playlist he had named "Vinyl Scratch," and asked if he could check out the system for a second. The DJ stepped over after Allyn held up two hundred bits. Allyn had damn near no idea how to work the setup, but he easily figured out where the USB port was and plugged his Ipod in and switched it to the perfect "Night Club" song. Everypony in the club turned to look at the sudden change in the music but then started to dance to the new groove. Allyn teleported back to where he was siting earlier, and took the mare's hand. They walked out to the dance floor and started to move to the beat. The mare started off just sashaying her hips, but shortly moved to having her hands in the air doing a form of two-step. Allyn merely just started the only dance moves that he knew and actually used outside of his room; a series of shoulder pops, turns, and hip swings. Before he had control, he was Moon-walking, switch stepping, doing hand- and head-stands, and at one point even doing Disco Dancing which kind of fit with the music. When Nikki Minaj's song eventually ended and seamlessly transitioned into Do What U Want. Allyn, most likely driven by alcohol, sang R Kelly's part when it came up. Only unlike when he managed to play Through The Fire and Flames, it didn't sound complete crap. Somehow he managed to get the entire dance floor singing Lady Gaga's chorus after his part. Eventually, he said goodbye to the unicorn he was dancing with when her friends pulled her away and went to retrieve his Ipod from the DJ booth. He walked out of the club and onto the Las Pegasus strip, which was basically the same as its Las Vegas original. He walked down the sidewalk and on occasion looked up at the full moon in the night sky with a smirk on his face. Suddenly, as if like a cut scene in a video game, he felt a hand reach into his back pocket and pull out his wallet. He turned to face the Sneak Thief, but the pickpocket saw Allyn turn and began running. Allyn ran after the thief and thru the crowd on the street until he saw the man in the long white coat with Allyn's wallet juke left and run across the busy street, jumping over carts as they drove pass and diving into a ponyfied form of Margaritaville. "God dammit," Allyn said teleporting across the street, not wanting to deal with traffic. Allyn ran into the bar and looked around. He almost missed the man who stole his wallet until the man ran into a group and jump onto the stage. Allyn pulled out The Genies Hilt, changed it into the Angel form of Ophion from DmC, and launched himself onto the stage. He dropped onto the stage as the door closed to the backstage area of the bar. Allyn continued to chase the man until the chase somehow managed to windup on top of one of the casinos lining the strip. Allyn took a second to catch his breath as the man looked over the edge towards the street. "Okay," Allyn said, "There are no more roofs to jump onto, no more walls to scale, no more crowds to hide in. Just give me my wallet back and we can both walk away from this." The stallion looked at Allyn with maroon eyes under his black hair, a white bandanna covering the lower part of his face. The stallion put Allyn's wallet in his back pocket and turned to Allyn, throwing three shuriken at him. Allyn reacted quickly by switching the chain into Capt's Shield, blocking the shuriken but not allowing him to notice when the stranger was running to drop kick the shield and Allyn off the roof. Acting quickly, Allyn swapped the shield for the chain again and pulled himself back on the roof. The stranger tried throwing more shuriken at Allyn, who this time used his magic to grab the throwing stars in the air. "My turn bitch," Allyn said throwing his arm forward, sending the shuriken back. the stranger acted as quickly as Allyn had when he was falling and pulled out a kunai and blocked the shuriken. Allyn swapped out The Genies Hilt for his Quartz knife and ran towards the masked assailant. The stranger ran towards Allyn, his kunai behind him, and the two men's blades struck each other, sending out small sparks. Allyn turned with a left hook but was blocked as the other man parried and attempted a back knuckle to Allyn's face. Allyn countered by leaning back slightly and sweeping his attackers leg out from under him. The stranger landed on his back, but quickly rolled backwards and got back on his feet. He round house kicked at Allyn's head, missing by centimeters, then tried a straight side kick in the stomach. Allyn recovered from the gut kick and his Gatling Punch, an attack that wasn't very effective in any actual match he had been but he figured it would distract his opponent long enough for an actual attack. Allyn waited for the right time then sliced at the man's chest, cutting the man's white coat and the bottom of his bandanna. The man stumbled backwards before trying to strike Allyn back. Allyn blocked the next kunai attack with his Bowie Knife, then parried the knife away and elbowed the man in the face. "Enough of this," Allyn said, clapping his hands together and slamming them to the ground. His eyes and horn began to glow bright white as a simple Transmutation Circle started glowing around him and trapping the man in white in a sphere of roofing tar. Allyn sat on the edge of the roof afterwards and took a few deep breaths before the door to the roof flew open as a woman in a light blue tank top, dark blue mini skirt, and matching stared, pink hat and cape covering her ice blue hair to go with her ice blue lip stick. "If you're here to agree to becoming my apprentice," Allyn said, "You just missed one hell of a demonstration of Alchemy. As your first assignment, help me get this asshole in the tar sphere to the local guard station." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The morning after he was thrown in prison, and to be honest how was he suppose to have known that unicorn was a Major in the Royal Guard, Swiftstrike was bored out of his mind. The only thought on his mind was how well that unicorn fought when they were on the casino roof, his techniques almost seeming more than what Majors in the Royal Guard would know. Suddenly, the door to his cell opened up as the head of the station said he was free to go. He almost didn't believe the guard until he held up a letter with the royal seal. After being pardoned of all crimes, collecting everything but his weapons, and leaving the station, he opened the letter he was given. Dear sir, whose name I did not collect, My name is Allyn Flynt, I am the Major who arrested you after you stole my wallet. I must admin, I'm not proud to say this but you are quite an admirable opponent to fight. You're one of the few ponies outside of the Royal Guard who I've seen be able to lead an elaborate chase through a major metropolitan city and still have the ebullience to fight somepony afterwards. I would enjoy the chance to fight you again, pending the reason isn't because you stole my wallet again, and wouldn't mind buying you a drink in either Las Pegasus or in the town I shall be moving to. It is for those reasons I have used my privileges as a Major appointed personally by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to the Royal Guard to relieve your crimes against me, but do it again and I shall not be as lenient to you. If you wish to find me, I stay relatively near Ponyville. Sincerely, Maj. Allyn Flynt, Equestrian Royal Guard A good old fashioned sparring match between fighters? Yeah, he would enjoy that, too. Swift looked to the Northwest, towards Ponyville. Until we meet again, he thought to himself, Allyn Flynt. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luna sat in her chambers and prepared to raise her moon in an hour, every once in a while looking over at the crescent moon statue Allyn transmuted for her out of marble. She visited him in his dream world of "Sky-Rim" many times in the past four months, but she missed his adorably idiotic ways in the real world. She picked up the statue and ran her finger over the smooth piece of stone, a few minuscule nicks here and there from Allyn's alchemy. Her concentration was broken when a loud crashing sound came from the hall outside following a mare's voice calling to her. She placed the statue on her dresser gently and dawned her black choker with her moon in the center and headed outside. She poked her head out of the doorway and looked right and left until she saw one of her few friends, the Royal Mail Mare. "Hello Luna," Derpy said, her hair covered in a mixture of broken vase, water, and dirt from the flowers she ran into somehow, "You have a letter." "Thank you Derpy," Luna said after helping Derpy to her feet and repairing the vase with her magic, opening the letter with her hands simultaneously. Dear Luna, I have finished seeing what parts of Equestria I had wondered about and shall be returning to Ponyville for a more permanent stay within the month. It would be sooner but my new Alchemy apprentice has decided that she won't leave her trailer behind, so instead we will be taking the long route through the Everfree Forest from Las Pegasus. I can't wait any longer to see your beautiful face in person. How are you enjoying the statue I made for you before I left? I was wondering if I could obtain a small amount of land on the edge of or slightly into the Everfree Forest near Ponyvile so as to build a home on. I'm not asking for a hundred acres that I will never see the end of, I am merely asking if I may acquire say ten acres for a good sized house, a small open area to practice my spellcraft on without harming anypony in doing so, and maybe a small tool shed for grounds keeping equipment. Yours loyally, Allyn. Allyn was on his way back to Ponyville, excellent. She couldn't contain her excitement to see the discernible simpleton, acting rather uncouth compared to her regal Princess way. She soon remembered that one of her few friends, Derpy, was watching her and quickly returned to her proper stature. "Ah-hm," she said, clearing her throat, "Thank you thank you for the letter, Derpy. Please try to break as few vases as possible went you make your leave." She calmly walked into her room and closed the door, falling against it and giggling like a little school filly with the letter held tightly against her chest. She jumped when she heard another loud crash come from outside her room followed by the inevitable "I'm okay" from the blonde, cross-eyed pegasus. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shortly after Allyn freed the stranger from prison, he and Trixie were on their way to Ponyville with the trailer she refused to leave behind. They were about two days walk into the Everfree forest, and another month walk until they made their way to Ponyville. Allyn tried to teach Trixie a lesson on Alchemy, which she took to like a cat to ice cold water. "You could help the Tired and Annoyed Trixie you know," she said as she pulled her trailer as he sat on top of the trailer and watched. "Then how will learn your lesson," He said resting his head on his fist, "This is part of your first lesson of Alchemy." "AND JUST WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THAT DAMN MAGIC YOU KEEP TALKING ABOUT," Trixie shouted back at Allyn, causing several flocks of birds to fly away in terror. Allyn looked at her for a few seconds before answering, "You don't have to yell you know, this has everything to do with Alchemy if you look at it close enough. Some where I'm from would find it so simple, they'd understand it just after looking at this situation and even overlook it. And while we're on this sentence, what did I say about referring to yourself in the third person?" Trixie merely grunted as she turned back towards the road and muttered something under her breath. After a while they switched and Allyn pulled the trailer for a while before eventually night fell and they stopped for the night. Allyn cooked up a light rice dinner with some Transmuted bread. After their meal, Trixie went inside her trailer while Allyn stayed on top of the trailer and looked up at the stars. I wonder what's been happening back home, Allyn thought to himself again. Has it been four months like it's been here, or has it been longer? Or has it only been a short time since he entered Equestria? Has time even moved on Earth? Right as depression started to kick in, Allyn heard a strange sound come from deep in the forest. Allyn sat up from looking at the stars and listened to the sounds of the forest, trying to hear the same thing again to make sure he wasn't going nuts. "Sound Sight," he said, activating an old trick he's created with his bat-like sense of hearing. By using his natural ability to activate and deactivate of one sense to heighten another, he's created three different natural superpowers; 1) Sound Sight, the ability to create a 360 degree map of his location using only the sound around him and hear even tiptoeing over a rock concert. 2) Wolf Sight, the ability to smell anything, even blood, up to 100 yards. And 3) Hawkeye, the ability to see a pin drop half a mile away. He kept his ears open, waiting for the sound he heard seconds ago. When his ear twitched in the same direction, he knew what was out there. He slammed his fist on the top of the trailer and yelled to Trixie before jumping off the top and running towards the source of the noise he heard. Trixie opened the door and before she could yell at Allyn for smacking her trailer, she noticed he was running into the thick of the Everfree forest and ran after him. Allyn pulled out The Genies Hilt, quickly turned it into Osiris, The Angel Scythe, and began slicing thru the dense forest until he made his way to his target. "Just where are you running to," Trixie asked. "HELP ME!" a young female voice called out from in front of Allyn. "Hang on," Allyn yelled back, "We're on our way! You wanna know the basics of Alchemy; All is one, one is all." Before Allyn could explain further, the duo came to a clearing made by four fallen trees on top of a young dragon's legs. She struggled as much as she could to try and free herself from the trees. Allyn spun the end of Osiris in the dirt and drew put a transmutation circle as fast as he could. "Sir, why are you working so quickly," Trixie said almost confused by Allyn's speed. Suddenly, a low roar came from the edge of the forest immediately answering Trixie's question. Allyn pulled out his golden lighter and flipped it open, aiming it towards the roar of a Timberwolf pack. "Think back to earlier today, Trixie," Allyn said, not taking his eye off the edge of the forest, "About how I refused to aid you and make traveling easier." "What a second," the young girl said, "Just who are you ponies anyway?" "My name," Trixie said taking a pose in the middle of this chaos, "Is The Great a-" "NOW'S NOT THE TIME FOR THAT SHIT," Allyn yelled as one of the furious monsters charged the two ponies and trapped dragon. Allyn changed Osiris into Zangetsu and ran towards the Timberwolf as it showed itself from out of the forest. Allyn charged the Timberwolf without fear, yelling like his viking ancestors as he swung the large sword through the beast. Allyn turned to the chunks of wood on the ground and clicked his lighter, sending a spark over each piece and lighting them ablaze. Before Allyn could block the next wolf, a large, wooden paw slammed Allyn's back into a tree near Trixie and the dragon girl. Zangetsu vaporized back to The Genies Hilt as it hit the ground with him. Trixie tried to wake Allyn up before the Timberwolves came any closer to them. She began to panic, she felt like running away in fear but something in her didn't want to run away without Allyn. She looked around for anything to fight the monsters back, her attention drawing to the transmutation circle Allyn managed to draw in the dirt. She could use it if she knew how to use Alchemy, but all Allyn taught her was that "All is one, One is all" line. Think back to earlier today, Trixie, about how I refused to aid you and make traveling easier. That's it; he was the one, and without him they weren't all that they could be. Without the one, they were nothing. And together, they were one. Trixie picked up the lighter and focused on the Timberwolves, now less than ten feet away from them. Allyn opened his eyes slightly and saw Trixie holding the lighter in her hand. "Focus," he grunted out with the pain in his back from slamming against a tree, "Use the circle, gah, to condense the oxygen. Ah, and strike the match." Trixie felt a strong surge of magic travel through her body as her horn and the circle on the lighter began to glow so bright that the surrounding forest was bright enough to see the the ridges of the bark on the Timberwolves' backs. She could see the oxygen atoms and used her magic to cluster the atoms to form a line of pure oxygen between the Timberwolves. One click and the Timberwolves were reduced to nothing more than ash and embers. Thought she felt completely drained of magic energy, Trixie was proud of herself that she figured out the secret of Alchemy. Allyn placed one hand on her back while his other was on his, smiling at his student. "Excellent work my apprentice," Allyn said, "Now to help this young dragon." Allyn picked up Genies Hilt, turning it into a cane so he can walk, and began to levitate the trees off the young girl. He was only able to lift the trees far enough for the girl to crawl out herself. The girl ran over to Allyn, jumped onto him, and embrace him in a hug that in combination with the pain of being thrown into a tree cause him to yell loud enough to be heard in the Crystal Empire. "Ohmygosh," the young dragon said, holding her hands to her mouth, "I'm sooo sorry. Please let me introduce myself." She gave a form of salute to Allyn and Trixie, with a goofy smile to add. "My name is Alois. And by my Honor Code as a dragon, I am your new assistant for life Mr." The girl looked at Allyn and Trixie for a moment in confusion. The young girl wore a light pink sweater with a yellow little dress, a light pink tail swishing back-and-forth like a happy puppy ready to play with a ball. Her cyan eyes gave off a sweet innocence look to her pulled-back, orange hair. If Spike looked around fifteen or so, Alois looked around eight or nine. "My name's Allyn," he said rubbing his spine with the back of his hand, "And this is my apprentice, The Great and Powerful Trixie. We would be honored to have you as our assistant Madam Alois." > When in Rome... or at the Lake. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 8 When in Rome... or at the Lake. Twilight sat in her library and read one of her personal books about Starswirl the Bearded as Spike worked on lunch in the kitchen. While she would have enjoyed visiting her friends and seeing if they wanted to do anything; Dash was working Weather Duty today for Thursday's scheduled rainstorm, Fluttershy started feeling sick just after Rarity was named the Ponyville Days Pony of Ceremonies, Pinkie was still recovering from the Ponyville Days, and she wanted to give AJ and Rarity some time to cool their heads after the whole "Switch personalities" thing they did for Trenderhoof. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash. "Twilight," Dash said as she stood in the doorway, "Come quick, Trixie's back again." Just what she needed, another attempt to show Ponyville that 'Trixie is the most powerful unicorn in ALL of Equestria.' Twilight put her book down and called for Spike to follow Rainbow and her as the flew to the edge of town. By the time they got there, there was already a fairly big crowd in front of Trixie and her infamous trailer. Twilight landed and Spike walked behind her with Rainbow still in the air and AJ and Rarity already in the crowd before she showed up. AJ and Rarity nodded when Twilight walked pass them. "Okay Trixie," Twilight said, one arm crossed with her other arm rubbing her temples, "What do you have now?" "I am sorry for my past transgressions against you, Princess Twilight Sparkle," Trixie said with a curtsy. Discord could walk up right now, slap her in the face, pop off her horn, use it as a tooth pick, toss it to the side, pickup Spike, and walk away with him. That STILL wouldn't be anywhere near as strange as what Trixie just did. There wasn't an unopened jaw in the whole crowd after what Trixie just said. Trixie stood back up and held her hands behind of her like a child who was about to be scolded by their parents. Her outfit and hair were completely different from how they looked from the last time they met/fought. Her hair, which last time seemed half as big as her ego, was instead pulled back into a hair bun. While she still had her hat and cape, she switched her barely legal onsie and boots for a light teal, long sleeve t-shirt, blue jeans, and simple sandals which showed off her offset pink & light blue toe nails. "You," Rainbow asked, "Apologize? Yeah right, and my cutie mark is a book." "Yes," Trixie started, "I know that I've-" "Or Rarity will finally notice when I try and flirt with her," Spike said cutting her off. "Please," Trixie said, sounding slightly louder, "All I want to do is-" "Or I'll finally get to say something for the first time in three years," someone deep in the crowd said. "Or I'll yell 'I love mud' as loud as I can," Rarity said, quickly causing everypony in the crowd to turn their head towards her, "Okay, I'll yell it twice." "SHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!" a deep voice yelled so loudly that it drew the attention of the long dead. Trixie's trailer door was suddenly kicked open by a black hiking boot. Allyn walked out of the trailer and stormed over to in front of Trixie. Allyn held his hand back to her. "LISTEN DAMMIT!" he ordered the crowd, "She's coming to all of you, the few ponies she's seen with such a great friendship, and is asking for your forgiveness and you're all acting like it's some dumb ploy. Now we've all done things in our past that we aren't proud of, to ponies we don't want to hurt but do, but we can ask for forgiveness and hope that they can forgive. Sure the past can hurt, but the way I see it; You can either shun it, or learn from it. So if even if you don't like her or hate what she's done in the past, the least you can do is forgive her; not because she deserves it, but because you should have peace." The crowd stood in silence as Allyn and Trixie stood in front of them, like two proud ponies in front of a flock of cockatrices. It didn't take long for everypony in the crowd to realize he was right. Her new look didn't show arrogance, instead it showed that she wanted to be approached by somepony. She stepped in front of Allyn, who simply nodded and stepped back when he looked at her. "Before I met all of you," she said in a soft tone, "The Great and Powerful Trixie wanted to believe that she didn't need anypony to feel happy. That she didn't need friends, she wanted fans and lackeys do do her bidding. But after the Ursa Minor and the events of our dual, The Great and Powerful Trixie learned that she would like to have somepony to laugh with, to share sorrow with, to call on in times of need. So I, Trixie Lulamoon, come to you all, the residences of Ponyville, to ask for forgiveness." Twilight and her friends bowed their heads in shame, they had assumed that because Trixie had caused trouble each time that she was in Ponyville she didn't want any of them as her friend even though they wanted to be nice to her. Now she was coming to them asking for friendship and they were treating her terribly. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Spike, AJ, and Rarity walked toward Trixie and held out their arms, welcoming her into a hug. She smiled and walked into the embrace. A small light pink and yellow dragon girl walked out of Trixie's trailer and looked over towards the crowd. "Spike," the young dragon said, a large smile on her face. "Alois," Spike said waving to his fellow dragon. She ran over and jumped in his arms and hugged him tightly. Everypony just stood there and looked confused at the two baby dragons. "Uh, Spikey Wikey," Rarity said, "What's going on here?" "Uh yeah," Allyn said scratching his green soul patch, "Alois, care to explain?" "Me and Alois met during the Dragon Migration," Spike said, rubbing Alois' head, "She was with the younger dragons when I showed up." "He started by talking about he lived with ponies," Alois said with a cute smile on her little face, "And how he had an honor code for anyone who'd save his life. Most of the other dragons thought he was nuts, but I thought it was cool." Allyn thought of something for a second then asked Alois if that's why she's following Trixie and him. Alois explained that after she and a few of the other young dragons heard about Spike's Honor Code they thought was an excellent idea and adopted it. Twilight then remembered that Allyn had a visitor looking for him and asked if he knew anypony by the name Swiftstrike? He thought for a moment then shook his head, then she described the stallion and Allyn and Trixie both realized who he was and then thanked her for telling him. He looked at Spike and asked for a favor, to which Alois asked why she couldn't help and Allyn replied that he needed to send a letter to the Princesses in Canterlot and how Alois just had to learn how to preform the same spell from Spike before he would ask her. So the three of them, Twilight, Spike, and Allyn, went back to the Ponyville Library while Trixie and Alois went to find a good place to park Trixie's trailer. "So what's the deal with you and Trixie," Spike asked, his hands behind his head. "I'm teaching her Alchemy," Allyn said. "You're doing what?" Twilight said, her reaction almost like if he had just slapped Celestia. "Chill Twi," Allyn said, pulling out a folded piece of paper from the long gray coat Rarity customized for him, "I made her sign a contract when I agreed to have her as an apprentice stating that she; A) Cannot use her alchemy to harm you or anypony in Ponyvile, B) She must be more modest in her daily life and stop referring to herself in the third person, C) She must follow my teachings to the letter and after I have taught her all that I can, she may apply for Celestia and Luna's new State Alchemist if she wants to but the second part is more of a suggestion, and D) If she breaks any of the first three requirements, that she must retire as a stage magician." "Smart," Spike said as he opened the library door, "Trixie'd never risk retiring from stage magic." Allyn's expression changed for a moment from normal to shocked, then to sorrow. "Actually," Allyn said, his voice slightly softer than his last part of the conversation, "She retired from stagecraft about a week after we picked up Alois in the Everfree." Twilight and Spike looked at Allyn with shock for a second. That explained her extreme wardrobe and hair style changes, but they never thought in a million years that Trixie would actually retire. Spike sat down at the table and pulled out a piece of paper and a quill. "Dear Princess Luna," Allyn started, allowing for Spike to copy it down on paper, "I have just re-entered Ponyville and re-acquainted myself with your sister's former student, Princess Twilight Sparkle. I have asked for her assistant to send this letter because I figured it would reach you faster than by following the traditional mailing system, though I hope that in the near future to have my new personal assistant send out letters in a similar fashion. I would prefer to speak to you and your sister personally about what I inquired about in my last letter to you. Yours loyally, Allyn." The young dragon finished righting the scroll and, with a breath of fire, sent it off to Canterlot. Allyn reached into his backpack, which he must have picked up during his travels for it was new to her, and pulled out the books Twilight loaned him for practice. He said he was able to go through them relatively quickly, about a month ago he said he finished the last one about teleportation magic. She didn't believe him until his horn began to glow and he quickly vanished before her eyes and reappear a moment later with a cupcake with his magic. She and Spike were shocked, she'd never seen anypony only know the teleportation spell for a month and yet have enough skill or magic energy to teleport away, teleport back, and still have enough energy to stand let alone hold something with their magic. Suddenly, Spike held his chest and let out a large belch of fire, a reply scroll forming from the ashes. Allyn picked up the scroll and opened it, reading it carefully before Spike burped again dropping thirteen familiar golden tickets. Allyn picked up six of the tickets with one hand and picked up the others and handed them to Twilight. "What does it say," Spike asked belching a third time, this time being just a normal belch. "Dear Allyn Flynt," Allyn started holding the scroll in the air with his magic, "We are happy that you have finished your traveling across sister's land and hope you enjoyed it. Sister and I would gladly have a counsel with you about making a homestead in Ponyville, perhaps during The Grand Galloping Gala coming up soon. We shall send you six tickets for you, your apprentice, your friends of Alchemic Reaction, and an extra one for anypony else you would like to bring. Sincerely, Princess Luna. PS. While you are with Twilight Sparkle, please give her the seven tickets Sister shall also be sending. She has asked for them to return to make this Gala as interesting as the last one." Allyn looked at the tickets in his hand, then to Twilight and Spike. She guessed they were heading to another Grand Galloping Gala. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ishneel stood near the top of the mountain overlooking Canterlot and Ponyville, keeping an eye over four of the most powerful beings in Equestria. He turned to face his trusted spy, the Changeling Queen he sent to keep an eye of the unnaturally powerful human. She looked fuller than when he sent out five months ago, not that he cared about finding a mate. "You look like you've been feeding well," Ishneel said. "As well as your skin is scaly," Chrysalis replied, "You didn't mention that he was a handsome stallion." "I directed you to him," Ishneel said, "I said nothing about his looks. Though I did notice when you got exceedingly close to him against my orders." She sat down on a nearby rock, crossing her legs like the arrogant Queen she is, "What can I say, he looked like a good food source for my people. Not that you've been helping." Ishneel threw his arm towards the Changeling, a shadow claw holding her by the throat to the cave wall. "Understand this," Ishneel ordered, "I have allowed you and your Changeling insects to live here in secrecy from Celestia and Luna's eyes. I am doing that out of kindness. And until Celestia and Luna are dead, you shall follow my orders to the letter. Am I clear?" He released her neck and she collapsed to the cave floor, coughing heavily. He asked if she found anything about the stallion. She nodded, and after she finished coughing, she said he was willing to help anypony in danger. Pathetic, always helping anypony. Though now he had an idea as to how to trick the stallion. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A couple weeks have passed since Trixie, Allyn, and Alois have moved to Ponyville and everypony in town had forgiven the new and improved Trixie for what she's done in the past, though a few ponies still were mad at her. Allyn had gotten in contact with Swiftstrike and had scheduled to meet in Canterlot tomorrow, but for the time being he and Trixie were out on Sweet Apple Acres helping the Apples with harvesting some Zap Apples. "Are yah sure about this sugarcube," AJ asked as she, the Colossus known as Big Mac, Applebloom, and Trixie stood by as Allyn cracked his knuckles. "Chill AJ," Allyn said as he placed his fist on the spot on the tree he wanted to hit, "I've broken cinder blocks with these fist. Punchin' a tree ain't nothin'." Allyn wrenched his hand back and punched the tree with a loud THWACK causing two to three dozen of the rainbow colored fruit to fall from their branches. The Apples and Trixie applauded at the unicorn but slowly stopped when they noticed he hadn't moved from where he punched the tree. He turned to AJ and asked her to cover Applebloom's ears for a moment. "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK," Allyn screamed holding his now bleeding fist. He collapsed and began rolling back and forth swearing so much that in five minutes he had cursed more that the employees of Rooster Teeth Productions and its subdivisions have done in over ten years. After he finally calmed down and stood to his feet, AJ's, Big Mac's, and Trixie's expressions were utter horror while Applebloom's expression was innocent confusion at what Allyn said from having AJ's hands over her ears. After he and Trixie used magic to help finish the chores around the apple farm, the two decided to head over to Zecora's to see if she had any herbs to relieve pain and reduce infection. One forty-five minute walk later, and they were at the hut of the best medicine zebra in Ponyville. Allyn knocked on the door and a salt and pepper haired African American woman in a white lab coat, black and white striped t-shirt, and tan cargo pants opened it a few seconds later. "A stranger pony and one I've seen before," she said in her female Morgan Freeman voice, "What brings you both to my door?" "I was punching a tree I thought I could withstand," Allyn said lightly rubbing his knuckles, "Now I need a remedy for my bloody hand." She held Allyn's fingers in hers, then walked over to a shelf of strange colored plants and started picking a few up. "For your hand, healing brew," she said, her back to them, "Please wait a moment and it shall be ready for you." Allyn and Trixie walked around the hut and admired the ornate mask and fluids, plants, and animals in different sized and shaped flasks. They turned when they heard a small explosion which Zecora said to ignore. After a few minutes Zecora walked over To Allyn and lightly spread a lime-orange paste on his knuckles which slowly hardened to a brownish, dark tan. Allyn cracked the hardened paste off his knuckles as he closed and opened his hand a couple times. The chunks of the brew fell off Allyn's hand and the scrapes and blood were gone. He ribbed his fingers and was shocked that even the stinging was mostly gone. "The healing paste's work is almost done," Zecora said putting the small mortar on a nearby table, "It will be a few days before your pain is gone." Allyn and Trixie thanked Zecora and headed back to Ponyville. When they finally made it back to town, Allyn said he'd treat Trixie and Alois to lunch at a nearby restaurant. They picked up Alois at Trixie's trailer near the Theater in the center of town and headed over to Sugar Cube Corner. When they walked into the bakery, Pinkie popped up and welcomed them with Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake on her head. The two unicorns and the young dragon stood in a combination of shock and terror as they watched two infants just hang off Pinkie's hair. After a few seconds, Allyn asked if Pinkie wanted help babysitting the twins but she said that she wasn't babysitting the twins today, which only confused Allyn, Trixie, and Alois even more. Regardless, the two women sat at a table near the window as Allyn ordered some food for them. Pinkie took the orders and after a few minutes was back with their milkshakes, Allyn's plain bagel, Alois' Sapphire cupcake, and Trixie's slice of diet strawberry cheese cake. Shortly after they started, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna walked into the bakery with two members of the Royal Guard outside. Allyn, Trixie, and Alois jumped out of their chairs and knelt to the Princesses. "Well hello Allyn," Celestia said, causing Luna to look over and smile at him. "And just who are the two pretty mares thou are eating with," Luna asked, "Are they thou mates?" "W-what?" Allyn stumbled with for whatever reason, causing Luna to lightly laugh, "N-no! This is my apprentice, Trixie, and my assistant, Alois." "It is an honor to meet you both, Princesses," Trixie said as she stood up, "I am also an acquaintance of Princess Twilight." "You must be The Great and Powerful Trixie," Celestia said smiling at the unicorn. Trixie's expression slowly turned to sadness, "I used to be called that." Pinkie put Pumpkin on Trixie's shoulder and held Pound Cake in one hand as she hugged Trixie with the other. "Now she just goes by Trixie," Pinkie said, "And just about everypony's forgiven her for what she's done to the town." Princess Luna seemed somewhat shocked by what Pinkie was saying, but Allyn just gestured to ignore it. Allyn asked what the Royal Sisters were doing in town, to which Celestia replied that they were picking up an order of sweets from the Cakes before they spent the day at the lake for relaxation. Alois became ecstatic at the idea of playing at the lake and asked Allyn if they could go like the young child she was. Allyn wondered for a second before Celestia said that some friends were going to be at the lake with them and that they could join them at the lake, if they wanted to. Alois jumped a good five feet into the air with joy before trying to hug Celestia, to which Allyn held her back with his magic. Allyn and Trixie thanked them and said they'd meet them there, after Allyn picked up some swimming trunks. The princesses took a small basket of sweets and cookies and said farewell to the trio before leaving the bakery with their guards. The trio went back to their table to finish their lunch before leaving to the Carrousel Boutique. "So we'll be seeing you guys at the lake later," Pinkie said leaning on the counter. "We," Trixie said with a small piece of cake in her mouth, "You were invited to go?" "Yeppies," Pinkie said, "Me, Twilight, Spike, AJ, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo. And a friend of Princess Luna and her daughter, but I forget their names." "Then I guess we should get over to Rarity's before they leave," Allyn said eating the last bit of his bagel and stepping away from the table, "See y'all there, Pinkie." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luna sat on her beach towel as she watched everypony else playing either on the beach or in the water. The young fillies, Alois, and Derpy were were building a sand castle near the water. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were "Chicken fighting" she believed it was called against Spike and Rarity in the water. Pinkie Pie was sitting in an inner tube floating on the water. Princess Twilight Sparkle was playing against Trixie Lulamoon, in volleyball near the Lake house where Sister and Fluttershy were having some tea. She still had not seen Allyn that much since they met up at the Cake's Bakery, she figured that he was in the Lake house with playing one of the table games Sister had for guest. "You mind if I sit with you," Allyn's voice asked from behind her. She turned to face the muscular unicorn in the dark cobalt swimming shorts that almost matched her dark blue, sting bikini she was told would look good on her. She shook her head and he sat down on her towel next to her. "You look beautiful in that," he said, causing her to blush, "How do you..." He pointed to her mane. "Tis a simple spell," she replied running her hand through her mane turning it back to its light blue color, then running her hand back through it to turn it back, "And it still somewhat feels like natural mane. Care to take a gander?" Allyn lightly stroked her mane, moving some of the constellations slightly as his fingers moved down her mane. The look he gave her made her heart almost flutter with joy. She lightly ran her fingers through his wet, silk smooth, light green mane. She scooted closes to him and placed her head on his chest, listening to his heart beat at a mellow pace. He slowly began to sit back until they were both lying on the towel. She felt like she could simply go to sleep to the rhythm of his heart while he lightly pet her head. Before she knew it, he had drifted off to sleep under her head. She smiled, he always seemed so peaceful in his sleep. She pulled the umbrella so Sister's sun wouldn't interrupt them for a good two hours or so and placed her head back on his chest. She heard an almost silent giggle come from around them shortly after she closed her eyes, giggling and the sound of Sister's voice saying how cute they looked. Luna slowly opened her eyes to see Sister, Twilight Sparkle and the former Elements of Harmony, Trixie Lulamoon, and Derpy around them giggling and smiling at the sight of her and Allyn asleep in the middle of the afternoon. Allyn woke up slowly and yawned, rubbing his eyes. He looked first at everypony around them, then to her and smiled. Luna quickly stood up and blushed at how everypony was looking at them. Allyn rolled back then kipped to his feet and held a hand out to her. She took his hand and he led her out into the lake. "What are we doing out here," she asked. "You looked pretty lonely just sitting on the sand," he said turning to look at her, "So I figure you'd need this." "Need what," Luna asked. Before she could finish, Allyn splashed a handful of water in her face. She jumped back at the unexpected water. She wiped the water from her face and looked at Allyn; First in anger, but after seeing him smile and laugh, it changed into playful vengeance. He splashed her again, but this time she returned fire and splashed him back. They spent a few minutes in a splash war until Celestia, Trixie, and Rainbow joined in against both of them and Derpy joined in on their side. After a good ten minutes of fun in the water, everypony else got out while Allyn and Luna simply swam around under water. Allyn swam deep under the surface, Luna right behind him. Around fifteen feet under, Luna grabbed Allyn's leg to state that they were deep enough for now. Allyn nodded and they started swimming back to the surface. Their heads shot out of the water as they took a deep breath of air. "Allyn, darling," Rarity called from the shore in her lavender bikini and white skirt, "Princess Luna, the smores are done when you two are ready." "Race ya," Allyn said as he began swimming as fast as he could to the shore. Luna smiled, replied with some minor trash talk, and began swimming after him. Allyn was the first to his feet in the shallow lake bank, but Luna was ultimately first to the smores. Allyn walked up to everypony else and dried himself off, "You got lucky." "Tell thine self that," Luna replied as she bit into the chocolaty marshmallow-cracker creation, "If we did not know better, thou lost merely to see our posterior." "Okay y'all," Applejack said handing Allyn a smore, "Let's try an' keep your conversation PG in front of tha lil' fillies." "If I may say," Fluttershy whispered, "Allyn was faster in the water until Luna was able to run." "Ha," Allyn said causing a few small pieces of cracker to fly out. The rest of the afternoon went fairly uneventful; most of the ponies played with a Frisbee Allyn brought, Allyn played a joyous song on a guitar Sister had in the house, and she and a couple other ponies ran a relay race down the beach which Rainbow Dash won by a few feet. Allyn, Derpy and Trixie had to restrain Luna after she lost and threatened to "TEAR OFF THE RAINBOW ONE'S WINGS AND THEN SEE HOW FAST SHE WAS AGAINST THE PRINCESS OF NIGHT!" After Sister's sun fell behind the mountains and Luna's moon rose, everypony but her went inside. She had been inside for a few minutes and shared a few laughs with the ponies inside, but even with Allyn and Derpy, she didn't feel like she wanted to be there. So she stood on the balcony overlooking the beach and watched as the new moon hung in the pitch black sky. "Hey Luna," Allyn's voice called from behind her, "What are you doing out here?" "We're just," she sated, "We're just enjoying the quiet of the outdoors. What are thou doing out here, wouldst thou enjoy to stay inside with everypony else?" He walked up and leaned against the railing next to her, "It's not really fun in there without you. Even Celestia thinks it's not complete without you in there." Luna smiled and looked at him. He smiled at her and gently moved her mane out of her eyes, placing it behind her ear. They looked back at the night sky and watched as the millions of stars sparkled, he held on to her hand so their fingers were interlocked. She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed. All was peaceful, until the sound of Rock Music and lazers shot out from a nearby Lake house and caused both of them to look over in confusion. Luna used her magic to pull a nearby telescope to them and looked towards the house. "Allyn," she asked, "Isn't that one of your friends?" Allyn looked confused, so he looked through the telescope and started laughing. He looked up from the telescope and started calling to the unicorn at the house, but with the combination of music and the distance between the two house she didn't hear him. He looked over the railing, thought for a second then jumped over and landed in the sand a few feet below. Luna looked over the railing to make sure he was safe. Allyn smiled as he brushed the sand from his mane and looked up at her. "Your Highness," he said with a devilish grin on his face, "Care to crash a party with me." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allyn had picked up a suit of armor from one of the guards at the Princesses Lake house and brought Luna to the house on the other side of the lake. He looked at her, now that she was back in her Royal attire, and they silently laughed before getting all focused and sternly knocked on the door. A man in a suit with light blue hair, a light blue mustache, and a monocle opened the door. He seemed rather shocked that both one of the Royal Sisters and a member of the Royal Guard at his door. "M-my word," he said, "May I ask what brings the lovely Princess Luna to my Lake house on this fine evening?" "We have received word that two fugitives are at this event," Luna said as coldly as when she and Allyn first met, "Their names are Rim Shot and Vinyl Scratch." "Qu'est-ce que Monsieur," a tall, petite, dark skinned woman in a light pink turtle neck and white skinny jeans asked as she walked up behind Fancy Pants, "OH, bonjour Princesse Luna. Souhaitez vous et votre garde voulez entrer?" "We would enjoy that," Luna said, "Come Major Alchemist." "Yes Princess Luna," Allyn said as he snapped to attention. Allyn and Luna walked pass Fleur and Fancy Pants who were freaking out in French about how they had two criminals. Allyn and Luna looked back and giggled slightly. The duo walked through the large house and onto the porch. Behind a DJ booth and a drum set sat half of Alchemic Reaction. "Rim Shot," Allyn called out, "Vinyl Scratch." Rim and Vinyl looked at Allyn and Luna, their expressions changing from calm to terror. "I CAN'T GO BACK TO JAIL!" Rim said before shooting straight up and flying away as fast as he could. Allyn, Luna, Vinyl, and the rest of the party guest looked up in confusion. Allyn took off his Guard helmet and asked Vinyl what that ordeal was about. Vinyl just shrugged and said hi to Allyn and Luna. "How's Octavia doing after she got the tickets for the Gala," Allyn asked. "Oh my god," Vinyl said, laughing hysterically, "You should have seen her reaction, she jumped around so much she literally jumped out of her robe and fell over the coffee table. And that still didn't dampen her hype." Just imagining the scene of such a calm, level-headed, sophisticated pony freak the fuck out over a ticket caused Allyn to fall on his ass laughing. After he recovered from laughing he pulled out his phone and called Rim, telling him it was just a joke. After a few minutes, in which Allyn took the time to switch back to normal clothing, Rim returned and kneed Allyn in the stomach. After he recovered, the three of them talked for a few minutes and they decided to do an quick improvised concert. Allyn turned Genies Hilt into an electric guitar and plugged it into an amp. "Just follow along," Allyn told Vinyl and Rim, "Fillies and Gentlecolts. My name is Allyn Flynt, you ponies already know my band mates Vinyl Scratch on the keyboard and Rim Shot on drums. We are Alchemic Reaction and we're going to do a one play concert for you guys, ARE YOU READY." Allyn waited for the roar of the crowd to end before strumming the guitar. Allyn strummed the opening beat and Rim and V started around the eighth note. His baritone cover almost sounded like the male version of P!nk herself. He let the beat take over and started dancing and whipping his head back and forth at the chorus. While some of the lyrics seemed to make the snooty ponies confused at time, everypony seemed like they were enjoying the music. Even Luna was smiling and clapping along with the beat. Half way to the second chorus, Rim and Vinyl joined in singing. Allyn took a mini break in the song, at a point he knew would seem awesome if he did it, and grabbed a glass of Champagne and downed it in one go. He then spoke the next part of the song, burped, and pretended that it was an accident on his part and continued on with the song. "SO RAISE YOUR, aw fuck," Allyn said as he noticed Celestia and the other adults that Luna and him had left behind walk into the colossal living room, and basically went fuck it and lost all control of his body to jamming out before Celestia or somepony else stopped him. He changed to his higher Alto voice, sang into Vinyls mic, jumped off the stage, did knee slides, and literally everything and anything else he damn well felt like doing until the song ended and he was at Celestia's feet. He looked up to see everybody cheering despite the obvious fact that he used a princess to crash party and take it over. He was ready for being; banned from coming with them again, being sent back to the dungeon, and even banishment. But he was ultimately dumbfounded when he heard Luna screaming his name in the crowd like a complete fangirl. He stood up just in time to catch Luna as she jumped on him, wrapping him with her arms, legs, and wings and knocking him on his ass. They looked at each other and just laughed, not a single care for anyone who saw them. Celestia was smiling at the fact that for the first time in over a thousand years, her sister was actually happy to be with another pony. She looked away when she noticed her former student next to her. "I've never seen Princess Luna this happy," Twilight said, clearly amazed by Allyn's effect on Luna. "I have once," Celestia said turning her attention back to the two ponies as they talked with the drummer, DJ, stagepony, and mailmare, the six of them laughing as they over acted playing air-guitars, "Though it's been a long, long time since then." After the party-crashing was over and everybody from Celestia and Luna's Lake house had gone back to the Lake house, Allyn and Luna sat on the roof of the single story Lake house. Luna sat on Allyn's lap as they watched the night sky. "For the first time in," Luna said, the back of her head on Allyn's chest as he softly ran his fingers through her hair, "We don't even remember when, we had fun today." "I'm happy for you," Allyn said, after which Luna elbowed him in the side. "We are serious," she said giggling, "You, you made today much better than we though it was going to be. Especially with convincing us to crash that party." Allyn laughed at that, he was still confused how he managed that one. They sighed and just enjoyed each others company for a couple minutes before either of them spoke. "May," Luna started, "May we ask thou a question." She rolled over so they were lying face-to-face. "Would- would you date somepony like us? And you must be honest; you do not have to say yes, but don't say yes just because I'm a princess." Allyn reached up and pulled her into a deep, sweet, loving, sensational kiss that gave Luna her answer. Neither wanted to break their embrace, the end of the world could happen and neither of them would care. They only broke when they heard Twilight, Derpy, Fluttershy, Pinkie, AJ, and Rarity's combined voices go "Awwww." The looked over to see Fluttershy, Derpy, Twilight, and Rainbow flying slightly away from the edge of the roof with everypony else standing on the porch looking up at them. The young children were on respected elders' backs sound asleep from playing on the beach most of the day. "I think you forget, Mr. Flynt," Trixie said, Alois hugging her leg, "We're still half an hour away from town." Luna rolled over and her and Allyn slid off the roof and said goodnight to each other as everypony went to their homes. Celestia pulled Allyn aside and thanked him for helping Luna conform to modern society. She also said that anywhere in the Everfree he wanted to make a home site, he would only have to clear out the size of land he wanted and she would send help for him to build the dream house he wanted. "Thank you, your highness," Allyn said with a respectful bow, "I will get on that offer when I am able to. But for the next couple days I'm going to be busy helping around Ponyville and spending some time in Canterlot with my friends." "You don't need to pick an exact time, Allyn," Celestia said, "You can work on that at any time you are able to, there's no rush." Allyn thanked Celestia and said goodnight before rejoining with Trixie and Alois and the three of them went home. After they got back to the trailer, Allyn tucked Alois into her own bed and lied down on Trixie's couch, where he had been sleeping since he and Trixie left Las Pegasus. "Hey Allyn," Trixie called from her bed at the other end of the trailer. "Yeah, Trixie," Allyn called back as he started to slip into his dream world. "After you have your dream house built, I know I'm being rather pushy by asking this but, may I stay with you and Alois?" Allyn turned to look down the trailer toward Trixie, "You didn't have to ask, I was already going to have you stay with us. After all you're part of our make-shift family, aren't you?" Trixie smiled and thanked him before she turned off a lamp she keeps by her bed and went to sleep. Allyn turned back to his back and took a deep breath before drifting off, trying to get as much sleep for tomorrow. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allyn sat on the train towards Canterlot and read about the "Walking on Clouds" spell from a book her borrowed from Twilight. He asked Twilight if Spike could help Alois with accustoming to living in Ponyville and learning how to send letters via Dragon Breath-or however that happens, seeing as Allyn had no idea how it worked-and Trixie was taking the day off from her Alchemy lessons to enjoy the spa with Rarity and Fluttershy. He was planing to meet up with his friends in Canterlot for lunch before he had some drinks with Swiftstrike later tonight, and perhaps pick up a silver lighter with another transmutation circle for Trixie if he had time. Just when he was starting to relax in the red velvet covered cushion and the sound of Fall out Boy's This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race, a familiar voice called to him from the seat behind him. "Hiya Al-erony," the high pitched, pink haired, slightly obese mare said as she peeked her head over. "Oh, hey Pinkie," Allyn said closing his book and looking up at her, "You on your way to Canterlot for a party or something?" "Nope," She said without saying anything else. "Well are you heading up there for some kind of bake off," Allyn said after a few seconds. "Oh come on Allyn," she said, now somehow in front of him with him noticing how quickly she managed to hop from behind him,, "Just because I live over, work at, and eat a bakery doesn't mean everything I do revolves around baking." "Oh, Then what are you doing on your way to Canterlot if I may ask?" "I have absolutely no idea, I'm not even sure how I got on this train." Sometimes Allyn just wanted to see how far he could bash her with an aluminum baseball bat, this was one of those times. "Can I ask you something," She said lowering her tone and leaning in, "I know you are a nice pony and all, but why did you take Trixie in after all she's done to us?" Allyn was actually shocked for a second, he thought for a second before asking Pinkie outside for a moment. Pinkie looked worried for a second, though Allyn wasn't sure why exactly, then nodded. Allyn led her outside so they were standing in between two train cars and closed the door behind them. "Sorry for asking you outside," he had to yell over the air rushing by and sound of the train, "I just... Don't want anypony to over hear. Why did I take Trixie as my apprentice? I did it because like Princess Luna, her anger is misdirected wanting. She just wants to be told she is amazing because she was beaten, neglected, and told she was less than garbage as a filly. When she saw how well you seven treated each other, she wanted to have what you guys had; ponies who looked pass her flaws and saw who she was inside. The pony who is sweet and self-confident, who's not afraid to show she's strong but is afraid to be shunned. "I saw that pony in her, I guess you could say that seeing the positive in anybody is my real talent. Fluttershy could see that in Discord, and, I may sound like a traitor for this, I even think Chrysalis is just misunderstood. All she was doing was trying to be a good ruler for her people and make sure that they were well taken care of. And I know that if the roles were reversed, Celestia or Luna would do the same for their ponies" Pinkie looked at him like she was about to cry from his words of understanding. She eventually broke out of her shock and wiped a tear or two away before speaking, "Y-you may have a point, but do you even know what she did to Twilight, her brother and Cadance, the rest of us, to Celestia?" "I know she has caused a lot of harm to a lot of ponies," Allyn said as he watched Canterlot get closer and closer to the front of the train, "And I have no ground to say nice things about her after what she's done to all of you. But maybe she did that as a last resort to protect the Changeling race from extinction. I'd have to say, if I saw Queen Chrysalis walk up to me with a major injury or near death, I would take healing care of her like any other pony. Please Pinkie, I need you to Pinkie Promise not to tell anypony." Pinkie smiled and did the signature promise with Allyn, Cross their hearts and hope to fly, Shove a cupcake in their eye. The train's whistle blew to indicate that they had arrived in the capital city and to prepare to leave the train for some of the ponies aboard. Allyn looked towards the train station and said goodbye to Pinkie before walking through the door to collect his gear, leaving Pinkie standing against the railing. "H-he understands my intentions," Chrysalis said, returning to her normal voice instead of having to continue that high pitched hell, "He would help my people instead of treating us like a plague." Chrysalis lowered her head as tears ran down her face from the stallion's words before changing into somepony else and jumping off the train as it stopped. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rim, Vinyl, and Octavia sat at inside the Burger Barn closest to the train station and waited for Allyn to show up, though the three of them were getting along just fine without him for the moment. They talked about the Grand Galloping Gala; being invited to it, playing it, what they were going to wear, who they wanted to meet. Allyn walked in and waved over to them followed by ordering some fries and a drink. "Hey guys," Allyn said as he sat down at their table, "How's things been hanging?" "Fairly okay, Allon," Tavi said shrugging, "We were talking about the Gala in a few months." Allyn sat back laughing for a second, "Yeah, Scratch already told me how excited you got when you got your tickets." Rim and Vinyl laughed as Octavia's face turned a bright red from embarrassment before she slapped Vinyl upside the head, causing Vinyl's glasses to fall off and reveal her violet eyes. "At what point did you tell him that," Tavi said angrily. "Last night when he crashed that Fancy Pants guy's party me and Rim were playing at," Scratch said as she picked up her sunglasses, "He crashed it with Princess Luna and Rim flew off like a little scaredy foal." "I flew off thinking I was in deep shit," Rim shot back before Octavia looked at Allyn the same way everypony looked at him six months ago after that prank that landed them in the Royal Dungeons. "Oh mon Dieu," Octavia said as Allyn casually ate some of his fries, "Please for the love of Celestia, tell me you didn't actually crash a party with Princess Luna." "I'm just going to leave that for you to determine," Allyn said, "So you're not as mad when I say we completely did." "SAINT HOMME DE MERDE, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU," Tavi said as she started shaking him back and forth. Rim and V calmed Octavia down and she released him after a few minutes. Rim eventually sat down and asked Allyn why he was almost late. Allyn apologized and said that he was picking something up for his apprentice as a gift for the hard work she's been doing both in Alchemy training and day to day work around Ponyville. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small, silver lighter that had the same symbol on it as his gold one did. "Sort of a gift," Allyn said spinning the silver lighter around between his index finger and thumb, "For completing the first quarter of her studies. I was planning on giving this to her after I get my house built in Ponyville, which I'm planning on having at least move-in ready shortly after G3." The three ponies looked at each other for a second before looking back at Allyn in confusion. "You guys know," he said, "GGG? Grand Galloping Gala?" The three of them figured out what he meant, must not have ever heard it called that before? Vinyl said that it sounds doable, seeing as the gala wasn't until September and said that she's seen a team of ten Earth ponies make a house for a family of ten in under eight weeks. Allyn looked at his watch and said goodbye to his friends before they stopped him to ask where he had to be so quickly. "Remember the Cider Geyser," Allyn said, "Well I'm meeting this cool dude there for a few drinks in a couple hours and I wanted to check out a movie in between." "Hey V," Rim said looking at both ladies with a devious smile on his face, "Isn't the Geyser having its monthly 'Ladies Night?'" "You know what," Scratch said, her and Octavia both gaining devious smiles as well, "It is." "NO," Allyn said sharply at the trio, "No okay, just NO. You three are not going to fuck with it." "Oh come on Allon," Octavia said leaning on the table, "What's wrong with a couple of belles juments wanting a couple drinks? That is after all how met the three of us at first." "I remember," Allyn said, "I also remember how I woke up the next morning. Not saying I did not enjoy that, I'm just saying I remember" "And what was wrong with the three way that happened between us that night," Vinyl asked leaning next to Octavia. Allyn and Rim gave the two women a look of confusion. "When the hell did you have a three way with them," Rim asked Allyn. "While you went to get pizza," Octavia replied. "And y'all chose to wait six months to tell me that," Allyn said, "Why was that shit not part of the recap of that night? You know what, when I'm not running late we'll have to have a conversation on this, but for now I have to meet Swiftstrike." "My cousin," Octavia said with shock in her voice, "He's in Canterlot? Ah crap, did he steal your wallet at some point." Allyn gave her a look that said; 'No, I met him on Eharmony.' "Do you know where he is," Octavia continued, "I think I may smack the merde out of him." "I think he's still on the train here," Allyn tried to remember how long it took to travel from Las Pegasus to Canterlot, "He should be in Canterlot in about an hour or so. Now if you guys don't mind, I have to talk to Celestia about a land permit." Allyn escaped before his friends could draw him back again and made his way to the castle. After being cleared by the guards outside, he made his way to his destination inside. He walked down the large hallway until he made it to the door he was looking for, knocking lightly before it opened. Luna seemed shocked to see him at her chamber door, not expecting to see him again so soon. She welcomed him in and asked if he wanted anything. He declined and said he just wanted to drop in and ask her something. "Is it about the land you would like to obtain," she asked. "Not really, Your Highness" he said, "I'd like to see the moon rise with you." She blushed at his request and he just smiled like a small child. "I-is um," she was attempting to speak, "There some reasoning behind that request?" "I just figure you might feel lonely without somepony watching it with you," he said sitting on her bed, a small smile starting to grow on her face as she nodded. They walked out onto the observatory where Celestia was standing as watched as the sun began to set in the west. "Oh, Hello Mr. Flynt," Celestia said with cheer in her voice of seeing Allyn and Luna. Allyn bowed to Celestia, "Good evening your highness. Don't mind me, I just want to watch the changing between Day and Night. The way it happens in my world isn't very interesting." Luna walked over to her sister and the two of them held their hands out as their horns began to glow in the twilight. Celestia slowly lowered her hands with the sun as Luna raised her hands and the moon. After the sisters were finished, Luna looked back to Allyn whose expression seemed like pure childhood amazement, similar to a young colt watching fireworks for the first time. Celestia and Luna couldn't help themselves but to laugh at Allyn's expression and causing him to blush and stammer out an excuse. Never the less, he said thanks for allowing him to watch the change and began to walk away. Before he was able to take three steps Luna stopped him and asked why he had to leave so quickly. "Oh," Allyn said, "A couple of friends of mine are meeting me at a local pub and we're were going to share a few drinks." "Well we wouldn't want to keep you from friends now would we," Celestia said bowing her head, "Be safe, Mr. Flynt." Allyn began to walk back down the large hallway to the castle door, but was suddenly stopped when Luna ran up behind him. "M-may I," Luna tried to speak, "Come and enjoy sharing some drinks with you and your friends?" Allyn just smiled, "You're a Princess, you can do what ever you'd like. But I would be honored if you do show up. It's The Cider Geyser in out by Starswirl Park." Luna thanked him and ran towards her chambers saying she'd be there in forty minutes. Ally chuckled and pulled out his phone, asking Vinyl to bring something to the bar when she and Octavia are on their way. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allyn walked into The Cider Geyser and waved as he say his friends and Swiftstrike by the bar. He walked up and ordered a Roy Rodgers started talking with the four ponies. "Swiftstrike I presume," Allyn said holding out a hand to the stallion in the white coat. "You must be Allyn," Swift said rubbing the back of his head, "First I would like to apologize for what happened when we first met, before I was just down on my luck and I owed some favors to some of the wrong ponies. But I've been working on getting out of that line of work." "It's cool," Allyn said as he held out a fist bump to Swift, "No prob dude. You've seriously got some sweet skills in fighting and parkour." "Thanks," Swift replied, returning Allyn's fist bump. "Hey so I've got a question," Vinyl said, "Why did I have to bring my keyboard when there's a perfectly good piano on the other side of the bar?" How the hell had Allyn not noticed the baby grand in the back corner the last time he was here... oh wait, he was black-out drunk. Sure enough there was a piano out by a small stage in a dark corner of the bar which Allyn was sure he had never seen there before. Allyn looked to his friends and pointed to the piano with his thumb. "They bring it out every two or three months for Lady's Night," Rim said swirling the scotch in his glass, "The babe's get half priced drinks while their dates play shitty songs for the other half of the price, and the bar keeps it profit on an even scale." "How much to play the piano," Allyn asked the mare behind the bar. "'Bout forty bits a song, Sweets," said the pink haired barmaid in the black crop-top. Allyn placed the money on the bar and walked over, knowing exactly what song he wanted to play. Allyn began witha fast paced go-over on the keys, then a steady, repeating melody. After a few seconds, he sang the song that he and his dad used to sing together every night when he was a child. Everypony's attention was on Allyn as he sang, occasionally swaying with the tempo or from the alcohol. The second and third times he reached the choruses, the whole bar joined in singing. Some drunken slurs, others off key, and still others getting the words wrong, but together they made the song it's own. As Allyn approached the end of the song, he turned to face his audience and played the piano with one hand on occasion to emphasize the lyrics. "And I'm singin' you a song, cause I'm the piano man," he improvised, "Yeah I'm singin' a song tonight. Cause you look in the mood for a melody, and I've got you feeling alright!" He threw himself into the end of the song. Panting after his performance, the roar of applause took over the bar. "Excellent work, Allyn Flynt," a lone voice said over the crowd, causing the to separate. Luna stood in an evening gown with her dark blue hair tied up in a braid. Everyone in the bar bowed in respect, except Allyn who just held up one hand and said "Buongiorno Principessa." "W-what brings the Princess of Night to my fine establishment on this evening," Berry Punch said shakily. "We wished to enjoy the prolific consumption of alcohol," Luna said trying to be regal, but ultimately causing Allyn to chuckle. "You heard the Princess," Allyn said, standing on the piano seat, "LET'S GET SHIT FACED!" Allyn dropped down on the seat and began playing We Own the Night. He looked over to Luna and nodded her over to sit next to him. She sat down next to him and she copied his hand positions on the keyboard as he sang. They played as the bar rocked back and forth in drunken joy. Swapping lines during the chorus, they occasionally looked at each other and smiled as they played. Allyn and Luna almost jumped when Rim, Octavia, Vinyl, and Swiftstrike showed up behind them after the second chorus. Allyn quickly wrote down the next part of the song with his magic and passed it to Vinyl for the four ponies to read. Rim and Vinyl's ruff singing voices started the first two lines while Tavi and Swift's much softer Soprano and Alto respective voices took over, with Rim cutting in at the part about being drunk, until the chorus where where the six of them sang until the end. Allyn took full control of the song during the last few lyrics, never taking his eye off Luna in her breath-taking dress. For that brief moment, it seemed like they were the only two beings in the whole universe. He looked into her teal, sorrow filled eyes and knew that they were looking straight back at him. It was the slowly growing chant of a bar full of drunk ponies repeating "Kiss, kiss, kiss..." that brought both of them back from their fantasy world. They looked around as the horde of drunken smiles looked at them waiting for the expected kiss they had been ordering. Allyn and Luna looked at each other and smiled. "It has been fun hanging with you, Princess," Allyn said, bowing his head as he stood up, "But I'm afraid I must take my leave." He started to wal- okay, hobble- hobble away when Luna's voice called back. "Call us Lulu," Luna said, "And keep a dream open for us." She winked at him and walked outside into her beautiful night. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Of this night my friends, we will not forget," Allyn, Rim, Vinyl, Octavia, and Swift sang as they walked, "Tonight, we own the Night." They drunkenly laughed as they walked Allyn and Swift to the Canterlot Train Station at around 2:30am or so. The five friends walked into the station and said night to Swift as he walked to the Las Pegasus platform. He looked back at Allyn and said the next time they'd meet, they'd have to have a sparring match. Allyn smiled and held a thumbs up to the Earth Pony. Allyn started walking towards his platform to head back to Ponyville, but he stopped on the stairs and looked back. "I'll call you guys when I get my land cleared for my new house," he said pointing at his friends with both hands. "Well hurry up and head back to Ponyville so you can call us," Rim called out. Allyn smiled and continued up the stairs and got on the 2:40 to Ponyville. Allyn put his earpuds in and put on the soft piano of "Same Love" to drift off to sleep to. After the third play through and the train finally moving, he slid into the softness of the dream world. Allyn opened his eyes and sat up, the piano still playing in the environment of the open field. He leaned his head back and felt the warmth of the dream sun on his face, the wind in his copper, brown hair, the smell of the mountain flowers in the field and the pines surrounding the meadow . He stood up and turned to face the woman in the royal blue, moon patterned sundress. She brushed the few strands of her light blue hair out of her eyes and smiled. He held out his left hand to her and they danced to the piano music. They looked each other in the eyes as the danced in the grass, the grass tickling the bottom of their bare feet. He pulled her on to his chest as they fell backwards onto the grass, embracing each other in a loving kiss. Their tongues dancing in each others mouths as he had his hands over her body and her wings. They broke away and looked each other in the eyes, she smiled and rolled over and they watched the clouds pass in the blue sky. She looked back at him, his short brown hair, his deep blue eyes, the lack of his cobalt horn. He was still the man that held her heart, but he seemed so different from how she had seen him in his dreams before. "So this is how thou really looks," Luna asked. "In my world," he started, "Yes. Normally humans don't have teal or purple colored hair or hair that can magically flow on its own." "All the months we've seen thee, we have never seen thee like this. Thou eyes are beautiful." "I thank thee for thine complement, but thou eyes are evermore beautiful. You are beautiful, never let anyone tell you other wise." Luna snuggled up to Allyn and nuzzled the crook of his neck. They lied in the grass and spent what felt like hours until Allyn finally asked a question he had thought of for a while. "Hey Lulu," Allyn started, "You've been in my dreams a lot, but what do you dream about?" She didn't know how to react, should she ignore him as she has done to everypony else who asked, or did she want to show him. No, she trusted him more than most ponies she had met, but she wasn't ready to show him the sorrow of her dreams when his were so joyful. She shock her head to him and looked him in his cooling, ocean blue eye which gave a generous smile back. "I understand," he said, "If, or when, you want to show your dreams, I don't need to see them now." He moved his head so both of theirs were resting against each other. She felt like melting right there in his arms. She stretched her wings out, turned over, and rested her head on his chest. They stayed in that position until Allyn woke. > Measure Twice, Transmute Once > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 9 Measure Twice, Transmute Once "Bankai, Getsuga TENSHOU" The wave of black fire tore through the Everfree Forest, tearing out any flora that stood in its way. Allyn knelt near the opening of the new pathway with Trixie and Alois, Allyn holding his head from the sudden headache causing sight out of his left eye difficult but not impossible. Zangetsu transformed back to Genies Hilt in his hand from the lack of magic energy in its user. "I'm-I'm okay," Allyn said as he stood up, "A Getsuga Tenshou takes a massive amount of energy. I should be fine in a while." "Alrighty then," Alois said throwing her arms in the air, "Let's go find a place for our home." She ran off into te forest before stopping to realize that nopony had followed her. "COME ON YOU GUYS!" Allyn and Trixie sighed and walked down the path behind Alois. After a few hours they had reached the end of the makeshift path, Allyn began slicing the brush down with a machete until they saw a bright area in front of them. Allyn sliced down the last few branches and a bright blast of sunshine hit the trio. They opened their eyes and were surprised by the hidden beauty. A large, open meadow with a gorgeous waterfall that fed into a small river at the opposite side of the meadow from them. The trio cheered out when they saw the space in front of them. They ran into the field and jumped around, easily twenty acres of completely cleared grassland. The same field from his dream last night, he knew this is where he wanted to build his house. "How about it my apprentice," He asked Trixie, "Would you like to make this our home?" "SAY YES!" Alois yelled from the small river, over joyed by the large space and natural beauty. Allyn and Trixie just laughed at the young dragon. "Call in the cavalry," Trixie replied to Allyn, "We have a house to build." "MASTER, COME QUICK," Alois called frantically from the river. Allyn and Trixie ran over as fast as they could. The sight they saw was horrifying; mangy, moss green hair, ink-black skin, insect-like wings, and holes covering its body, one of which was producing strange green blood. The creature looked up at Allyn with its bug-like eyes and said one thing before she passed out; "Help." "Trixie, Alois," Allyn started barking, "Teleport back to town and bring the wagon. What ever you do, what ever happens, you don't tell anypony and make sure you're not followed. GO!" Allyn didn't give Trixie a chance to reply before he ran down into the water and started pulling the Changeling out of the water. Trixie grabbed the small dragon and popped away to follow his orders. Allyn managed to pull the Changeling to the grass and dug a transmutation circle in the dirt around her with his quartz knife. Allyn pulled as much magic as he could and placed his hands on the edge of the circle, causing it to glow a bright gray. In his mind, he began going over the makeup of a human and crossing them off against the Changeling. Water- 35 liters, Carbon- 20 kg, Ammonia- 4 liters, Lime- 1.5 liters, Potassium- 800 g, Salt- 250 g, Saltpeter- 100 g... He ran through the list twice, but nothing seemed out of place for a normal horse, or human in this case. what ever made the Changelings how the were, they were just the same as other ponies. He switched his attention from chemical to cellular and began to close the wound in its chest and return what lost blood he could. After the Changeling was healed, Allyn took what magic he had left and turned Genies Hilt into a small sword and sat in the grass to recover and wait for the stage pony to get back. "So," Allyn said to the unconscious monster in the field with him, "You were with me in Canterlot. You were the Pinkie Pie I talked with on the train. Makes sense, the real one would have probably slapped me for saying nice things about you after what you did to her and her friends." He paused for a slight sigh and looked at the strangely beautiful beast in the transmutation circle. "What did this to you Chrysalis?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ugh, damn you Ishneel Chrysalis thought as she rubbed the side of her ribs where that damned dragon stabbed her. She shouldn't have told him about what that stallion actually told her on that train, she could have made up some lie about any weaknesses he had. But after she had already said her part, he went and thought to test out the pony's words and afterwards throw her into a chard area in the forest. Chrysalis sat up and opened her eyes to look where she was lying in a small wooden trailer which appeared to only have two rooms; a small bed room and a kitchen/dining room. She looked over at a green haired unicorn sleeping in a chair near the couch she was on. A young dragon slept on a small bed by the barrier between the front half of the trailer and the back half. Both of them sleeping seemed highly strange seeing as it looked like it was almost noon outside. Another unicorn walked through the door frame, this two-tone blue maned mare was holding a small blanket folded in her arms. The mare looked at Chrysalis in a mixture of horror and disgust, the same way everypony else looked at her kind, but the mare also had a look of confusion mixed in. "So," the mare stated with disgust in her tone, "You're Queen Chrysalis? Leader of the Great and Menacing Changeling race?" The mare placed the blanket on the stallion in the chair and almost looked like she made sure it was comfy for him. "Indeed," Chrysalis replied, "And who am I addressing, if I may ask?" "My name is Trixie Lulamoon," the unicorn replied, "But you've probably heard my stage name more; The Great and Powerful Trixie." Chrysalis shook her head, even if the Changelings went to shows often enough, she wouldn't have cared two bits about knowing the name of somepony like this Trixie mare. "Didn't think so," Trixie continued, "Well regardless, I stopped doing that whole show business for a while. Right now I'm the apprentice to the stallion in that chair in front of you." Chrysalis looked at the stallion, the same stallion she was sent to keep a close eye on for Ishneel. Allyn wasn't kidding when he said he'd take her in if she was dying in his arms. "He stayed up until four in the morning for us to bring some medical supplies for you," Trixie said, "He told me and that dragon over there not to tell anypony about finding you. As if I wasn't proof enough, him wanting to keep a wounded Changeling like you safe proves he's either insane or deeply caring." Trixie looked deep into Chrysalis' eyes, causing Chrysalis to shiver slightly from a strange feeling of terror. "I don't like you or your kind," Trixie said bluntly, "Nopony does, but by how much he's willing to be punished for protecting you, you had better not hurt him or take advantage of his trust. Because if you do; Celestia and Luna's wrath will be the very least of you fears." "Relax T," Allyn said in a very horse voice in the chair, stretching and yawning as he woke up, "I can handle myself just fine. Now, I have some questions for our Changeling guest, can you make some breakfast for us?" "Of course sir," Trixie said before walking over to the fridge. Allyn stood up and held his hand to Chrysalis, who looked at him skeptically before taking his hand and walking outside. Allyn and Chrysalis walked outside and Allyn closed the door behind them, then looked at Chrysalis. "My first question for you, Chrysalis," Allyn started, "and this is more personal query than Changelings in total; What do you look like with a more pony-like skin tone?" Chrysalis seemed almost... shocked by the question, but Allyn wanted to know out of curiosity. Chrysalis held out her hands as her horn began to glow its eerie-green color, her body soon becoming engulfed in green hell fire it looked seemed. When she emerged from the flames, her ink black skin had turned to lustful caramel/chocolate that now gave edges to an apparent black and green lingerie that could be called clothing covering her endowed bust. Her insect eyes turned to more human, with black and green eye liner. A single green ribbon wrapped around her waist fell behind her, almost giving the impression of a tail, made for an improvised belt for the green, hole filled leggings that led down her curvy hips, thighs, and calves to her bare feet, with green-painted toe nails oddly enough. Allyn was so focused on Chrysalis' figure, he almost missed her one fang hanging cutely out over her lower lip, both of which were black as how he skin used to look a moment ago. The form she had currently almost made Allyn question why she needed to take other shapes to steal love when this form could cause hordes of men to freely give their love to her, hell he almost felt attracted to the former Queen. But he shook the thought out of his head, less she tried to take control of his mind like she did to Armor. "I'm confused on one thing now," Allyn said as he ran his fingers through his hair, mentally checked on the barrier spell he placed on his mind and those of Alois and Trixie after they found him and Chrysalis early this morning, "If this is what you'd look like as a pony, why not go around like that all the time? You know, minus the warrants out for any Changelings spotted by the Princesses of course." "Please," Chrysalis said, "Who would want to willingly give there Love to a Changeling?" "Maybe if you tried asking for Love instead of taking it," Allyn said. "Okay then, next question; How do you Changelings absorb Love from ponies?" "Well that's fairly simple to explain," Chrysalis said, "Basically, every living being gives off energy depending on their emotion. Changelings, for the longest time we could remember, were able to see these energies and turn only a few into food to live off of. Love being the prominent emotion, but there's also Joy, Pleasure, and Excitement that Changelings feed off of. We..." she trailed off remembering she was now alone. "I-I am able to change through the mosh of emotions and absorb Love through the holes in my body and my horn." "So the your body acts like a sponge to the most joyful emotions, and does something similar to photosynthesis in plants," Allyn said, "Fascinating. Okay, last question; If me and my apprentice and assistant found you, how many other Changelings are out in the forest?" Chrysalis looked at Allyn for a few seconds before what looks like tears started streaming down her face. "I," she started, "I am now the last of the once great and formidable Changeling race. We were extremely weak before our attack on Canterlot two years ago, and afterwards we were so spread out that most of my people starved to death before they could reach us. The small handful of us wandered around until a monster attacked where we were staying, le-" Her voice cracked, tears now running down her face at a rate greater than Niagra Falls "leaving me as the only survivor of my people." She jumped onto Allyn, clutching him tightly as she sobbed and wept for her extinct species. Allyn merely stood there, mentally torn; on one hand, he knew the Changelings were expert actors if they were to copy a ponies personality and attitude. On the other hand, he wasn't sure if this level of sorrow, for he unfortunately learned it after his little sister's death less than a year before he came to Equestria, was genuine. "Are-are you going to kill me," she asked, her head still buried in Allyn's shoulder. Allyn sighed, "No, I can't be so heartless as to heal you just to kill you. But for the time being, you are under detainment until I see fit to either release you, or turn you in to Celestia and Luna. And you are not to try and corrupt me or the dragon or mare inside. Am I clear?" Chrysalis moved her head away and wiped the few remaining tears from her eyes and nodded. "Now come on,' he finished speaking, "Ya want breakfast don't ya Chryssie?" Chrysalis stood in the open field for a moment, pondering over what the stallion had said and called her. She almost felt like smiling at his compassion, how well he treated her was a delight compared to how everypony else treated her and her people like the monsters they were. It almost made her think back to when they talked on the Canterlot train. She walked back behind him and close the trailer door behind them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After a few weeks, twenty thousand bits in lumber, piping, and wiring, and the help of the Apples, Spike, Rim, Dash, Vinyl, Octavia, Derpy, and Pinkie, the frames of the house were finally up and some of the electrical and plumbing running through the house. So for the second, they were all taking a break to have some food brought over by Pinkie and Octavia. "So I'm standin' there," Allyn continued his so far hilarious story, "My clothes under one arm, I'm holdin' my package with the other hand, my roommate looks at me and with a straight face, that bastard goes; 'Well, d'you get the milk or not?'" While to anyone jumping into the story at this point would have been completely confused, everyone else was laughing so hard, most of them almost fell off of their seats. Mean while AJ, Twilight, and Alois were working on a small meal for the equally small work crew. "Wait," Rim said trying to catch his breath, "You ran across your campus at eight in the morning." "Twenty degrees outside," Allyn continued, "My thing looked like an acorn." "Alright y'all," AJ said as she and Alois brought over a couple pies for the group of ponies, "Enough talkin' 'bout that stuff for now. Instead let's chow down on these delicious pies that nice Masquerade pony helped make." AJ waved to the petite,violet haired pegasus in the sea foam green sweater over by the Transmuted cast iron oven Trixie made while the construction crew was working a couple days ago. Allyn cut the pies using his quartz knife and handout a slice to Rainbow, Pinkie, Derpy, Spike, Rim, Vinyl, and Octi before he and AJ bit into their slices. "This is amazing," Allyn said, his mouth half full, "I'm gonna go thank Masquerade and maybe get another piece of this pie." He stood up and walked over to the transmuted stove and lone pegasus. "No one's figured you out yet," he asked quietly. "Not yet," Chrysalis said in her disguise, "Good choice having me be somepony who doesn't exist." "Yeah," Allyn said as he began walking back to the group, "As long as they don't try to look into your past." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A full month ahead of schedule! They managed to finish Allyn's mansion, for lack of a better word, a full month ahead of Allyn expectations. The 18,000 sq.ft. Plantation style with Italian and Greek accents house had; five bedrooms, twelve baths, was three stories tall, large game room, astronomy room with telescope, a library with fiction, non-fiction, and spell directory, a ballroom, and a backyard pool/spa combo with a view of Canterlot and the mountains to the Northeast. Allyn, Trixie, and Alois were so excited that they finished early, Allyn decided to have a party thrown to christen it with Pinkie planing it and Vinyl as DJ. Over the next week and a half, Allyn told Pinkie to invite all of Ponyville and the Royal Sisters and sent text back and forth with Vinyl about what music he wanted playing at the party. He also spent a good amount of time at Rarity's for an actual tuxedo for the Grand Galloping Gala. After his fitting, he decided to head over to Sugar Cube corner and have a quick snack. He hopped into a booth and ordered a milkshake and a couple chocolate chip cookies before Spike walked in and waved to Pinkie and Allyn. The two ponies waved back and continued talking on their plan. "You guys talking about that party coming up," Spike asked. "Yeah," Allyn said, "Which I'm still amazed we managed to get it done early. I thought I was going to have to celebrate my birthday during construction." "OH MY GOSH!" Pinkie damn near screamed into Allyn and Spike's ears, "Your birthday is coming up? When is it, when is it, when is it, when is it?!" "DOWN PINKIE," Allyn said, "First off; next Thursday. Second, no, I don't want a party-what am I saying. It's you, you'll throw me one if hell itself is taking control of the planet." "So what kind of party would you like; one themed around music, or one themed around Alchemy. Oh, how about one themed around music AND Alchemy. Or maybe one involving the moon and night seeing as how-" "PINKIE!" Allyn cut in, "Chill. The. Fuck. Out. If I just write down what I want, will that work for you? No mega parties, no parades through town, no firework extravaganza involving the Wonder Bolts. Just what I write down, okay?" "Okay," Pinkie said, holding out a pen and some paper that Allyn noticed she wasn't holding a second ago. He took the paper and wrote down what he wanted for his birthday party and handed the now folded paper back to Pinkie. She unfolded the paper and read the list of names and bounced up and down. "Well you'll definitely see me there, but everypony else might be a challenge." "Well unless you can get every last pony on that list to agree," Allyn said, "Then you can't throw me a party. Deal?" "I will make it my mission in life to get every last name on this list," Pinkie said in a salute, "Cross my heart and hope to fly, shove a cupcake in my eye. But first, your order." And with that, she ran into the back of the bakery. "What did you ask for," Spike said. "A harem of twenty-six mares hand picked by name," Allyn said with a smile, "Most of which most likely won't say yes and a couple others don't exist so it's a win-win either way on my end." "Like who?" "Well there's Trixie, Vinyl, Octi, and Ditzy, all of whom might say yes, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, AJ, Fluttershy, Rarity, most likely won't say yes so you don't have to worry about Rarity, then there's the Spa Triplets, Cheerile, Spitfire and Fleetfoot from the Wonder Bolts, and Luna and some others, who definitely won't say yes." "I don't know," Spike said, "It is Pinkie Pie. She can get almost anything for a party if she sets her mind to it." "But Princess Luna," Allyn said, "To agree to be in a harem? Tell ya what, if Pinkie manages it; I'll transmute you a ten foot high, triple layer gemstone cake that you can see thru." "And if she can't" Spike said questioningly, "What do I have to do?" Allyn thought for a second and gave a devious smile back. "Ask Rainbow Dash on a date," Allyn started, "In an Irish accent, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers." "Oh you're on," Spike said shaking Allyn's hand. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The beat of Boom Boom Pow could be heard out in Ponyville, which now that the road way was clear was only a forty minute walk away from Flynt Manor. Half of Ponyville ways rocking out in Allyn, Alois, and Trixie's backyard as the moon rose in the night sky. Trixie and Alois were partying with the rest of the guess while Allyn, Pinkie, and Vinyl were nowhere to be found. Suddenly, from the second floor balcony over looking the pool, Allyn, dressed in all white, Pinkie and Vinyl walked out and addressed the large crowd of ponies at the party. "Hello everypony," Allyn said, swinging a decorative cane around, "And welcome, to Flynt Manor." A loud roar came from the crowd. "I want to thank you all for showing up to the christening of the new homestead for not only me, but my apprentice Trixie Lulamoon, and my assistant Alois." A loud applause came for the pony and dragon in the crowd being lit up by two spotlights. "And a special thanks to two of our special guess of honor; Princesses Celestia and Luna!" everyone cheered as the Royal sisters walked out onto the balcony and waved to everybody in the crowd. "Hello my little ponies," Celestia said, "My sister and I are both happy to see so many smiling faces at a wonderful event like this." "Indeed sister," Luna chimed in, "We thank you for allowing both of us to this event for a dear friend of ours. Now, let the party commence!" "Vinyl," Allyn said pointing to the the DJ by the computer with a preloaded song, "Let's make this place rock." Vinyl typed in some keys on the computer and the sound from the guitar strum and beat of Starships began to make the crowd below as Allyn joined Nicki Minaj in a form of duet. Allyn looked back at Luna and Celestia and the first chorus and smiled before jumping over his railing into the pool below at the drop. Allyn shot in the water drawing everyone's attention to make sure he was safe, after which he shot his head out of the water and wooped like an idiot screaming; "This town is amazing!" as he whipped the wet hair out of his face. Luna looked down on him and couldn't help herself from laughing before jumping in after him. Allyn managed to swim out of the way before Luna jumped, but he was still hit by water when she splashed down. Luna shot up and the two of them just laughed as the song continued playing around them, their actions causing Rim, Derpy, Pinkie, Rainbow, Alois, Trixie, Spike, AJ, and Swiftstrike to jump in after them. The party lasted long into the night with the last of the guests leaving around 3:30 or so, but Rim, Swift, Vinyl, and Octavia stayed for the night because Allyn wanted to keep with his promise to Swiftstrike. Allyn and Swift stood a hundred feet from each other in Allyn's backyard the next morning, each holding a bokken in front of each other. Vinyl, Octavia, Rim, Trixie, and Alois stood on the wrap around porch and cheered for the two men; Rim, Trixie and Alois cheering for Allyn and Vinyl and Octavia cheering for Swift. "So we've agreed on no magic," Allyn said. "I still can't believe you were the one who asked for that," Swift said. "What can I say, I enjoy a fair fight rather than a quick one." "You are an honorable man, I will be honored to lose to you or beat you." With a single "HYA," both men ran towards each other, wooden swords ready to strike. Their wooden blades met with a resounding "THAK" as each man slid past each other and quickly turned for a combo of strikes which keep them at an even distance from one another. As they fought, none of the guest noticed Chrysalis standing in Allyn's room watching the fight outside through the sliding glass door. "He's still allowing you to stay with him," Ishneel said through his magic, "He's much more generous than I preceded." "He's very kind to someone like me," Chrysalis replied, still watching the fight outside, "He knows about what happened in Canterlot and he still allows me to sleep under his roof in my natural skin. He's either naive, or he truly can look beyond someone's past to see what they can become." Ishneel looked at Queen Chrysalis through the mirror he was using to communicate with Chrysalis and noticed that she was beginning to tear up. Pathetic, his spy was slowly turning to the side of his enemies. He started wondering if she was still worth having as an ally, but seeing as he had no other options on gaining an army to fight for him. "You appear to be growing a heart for him," Ishneel said, quickly causing Chrysalis to stiffen up and recover her posture. "Don't flatter yourself," she said sharply, "I'm only doing what's best for my people. That's why I'm working as your spy, and why I'm acting so helpless around him and his two lackeys." "Good, you'd do right to remember that Chrysalis," Ishneel said as he turned back to watching the fight from his cave. Allyn and Swift stood evenly matched in the open field, each of them blocking and countering their strikes. That's not to say that neither of them was without bruises; Allyn was holding his left leg and his right arm was immobilized while Swift had a few bruised ribs and smashed fingers. The two men held their swords to the side and took a second to breathe. Before Allyn even knew what happened, a sudden stabbing pain caused his to cover his left eye. He opened his good eye with enough time to block Swifts attack. Allyn threw all of his weight into the blade of his bokken and threw Swift's high into the air. Allyn drew his right elbow in and slammed Swift in the gut. Almost as if he suddenly gained a split-screen vision; Allyn turned, grabbed the second bokken out of the air in a reverse grip, and turned back around to hold both swords to Swifts neck, ending the match. He could see, he could see everything. Even the man spying on him in his mirror. He switched grips and threw his original bokken strait at the second story window, punching a hole in the window and obliterating the mirror in one fell swoop. Chrysalis stood there, refusing to move out of fear. A matter of centimeters and that wood sword would have gone through her arm like she was paper. His eye, something happened to his eye. His natural copper coloring of his iris had turned a sharp red, the whites had turned black and soulless, and even from this distance Chrysalis could see the complexity around his pupil, the pupil itself now reminding her of that of a Dragon's or Nightmare Moon. His hair seemed to flow in the air, as if being pulled by an invisible tide. But for Allyn, as soon as the pain in his eye came, it vanished. He waved his hand in front of his left eye just to make sure his normal vision had returned. He nearly jumped when Swift put his hand on Allyn's shoulder. Swift smiled and laughed at his friend beating him, but told him to go a little easier if they do that again. "What the HELL was that," Octavia screamed as she punched Allyn in the arm, "Were you TRYING to kill him?" "Actually," Allyn began to reply, followed by a short pause, "I'm not really sure what happened; one second my eye starts hurting, and then I was able to see everything." "So why'd you go ape shit and throw your wood sword through your own window," Rim asked. "I'm," Allyn tried to respond, "I'm really sure, I could feel an...evil presence coming from my room, or specifically, coming out of my mirror." "So what does that mean," Trixie asked. Even without being able to see her, Allyn knew Chrysalis had something to do with it, for he could see her with the presence coming from his room. > Happy Birthday, Mr. Flynt and Miss Luna > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 10 Happy Birthday, Mr. Flynt and Miss Luna "Are... are you sure this is what he want's, Pinkie," Twilight asked as she looked at the list of names, some of which included hers, her friends, and several others including Princess Luna, that Allyn had given Pinkie the other day. She, along with her friends were hanging with Trixie and Alois at Allyn's while he was doing a special gig at Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo's request at their school today. "I can't believe he wants the Wonder Bolts and two princess to be part of a harem," Rainbow said as she looked over Twilight's shoulder, "Dude's really greedy." "No," Trixie said with a smirk, "He thinks Pinkie can't get it done by Thursday." The comment made everypony in Allyn's living room laugh, surely he knew how much effort Pinkie put into one of her famous parties. "I have to admit, darling," Rarity started, "His choice in clothing for the ladies of this event is quite peculiar; 'All names on this list are to be in Playcolt Bunny suits.'" "Ah can tell y'all one thing," AJ said, "Even Celestia couldn't get me inta one of them scandalous suits. No offence Trix." Trixie held up her hand as if to say 'None taken' "I'm with AJ," Fluttershy said, "I don't want to be mean to Allyn, but I don't feel right wearing something that.... revealing." "See," Trixie pointed out, "This is what I was talking about; If you six aren't entirely up for wearing that stuff, what makes you think anypony else would want to wear one of these." "Maybe you could get somepony of importance to where it," Alois chimed in, "Twilight, you're a Princess. Could you do that?" "Please," Twilight explained, "I couldn't get a cab in Manehattan, what makes you think I could get twenty-five mares to wear this?" "Perhaps," Princess Luna's voice called from behind the ponies, causing them all to jump and bow to her, "I can be of some kind of help." Luna stood in the mansion's front door out of her usual dress and instead wearing normal clothing like a dark blue long sleeve tee and a pair of jeans. she pulled over the list of names with her magic and read the names to herself. "What's a 'Playcolt Bunny suit?'" Luna asked. At first nopony wanted to answer out of embarrassment for both themselves and for the Princess, but eventually Trixie explained the design of the uniform. "This sounds like it might be rather enjoyable," Luna said thinking it over, and gaining confused looks from everypony in Allyn and Trixie's living room, "Allyn believes the pinkie one won't achieve his request, right?" Everypony nodded "Have any of you thought of what Allyn's reaction will be when he sees so any beautiful mares in such lewd clothing? That's enough of a reason for me to agree to this event." The idea of Allyn getting what he wanted without expecting it was enough to put smiles on everyponies faces, and even cause some laughter among some of them. "While yes that could be funny to see," Twilight started, "What brings you here today?" "That," Alois started sheepishly, "Might be because of me. When you guys were saying names off the list and hers came up, I figured she might want to be told face to face." "Indeed," Luna said, hopping over the back of the couch and landing in between Fluttershy and the couch arm, "And maybe using my name in the invitation letters shall cause ponies to show up." "GREAT," Pinkie cheered, her arms in the air, "Me and Spike can write up the invites and Princess Luna can sign them and that's SURE to get ponies to show up." "Well I do not need to sign the ones for Derpy," Luna said as she went over the list again, "And Octavia and Vinyl shouldn't require my signature either." "Zecora might be a little hesitate to come when she learns what she has to wear," Twilight said. "Coco, I could ask to see if she's available," Rarity said, "I've been keeping in touch with he since we left Manehattan. And I can make an 'Emergency' Spa visit tomorrow or so and ask the owners about coming by, but they I think would require a Royal Signature." "Well since we've got the guest situation down," Rainbow stated, "What should we get him as gifts?" "Well he sure doesn't need anymore baseball bats," Pinkie said as she rubbed the spot where Allyn bashed her at the Traders Exchange, with one of fifty bats he picked up at the Traders Exchange. "That's going to be pretty hard," Trixie started, "He's making about seven hundred and fifty thousand bits per month, so he basically buys what ever he could wants, that or transmute it with Alchemy. But the real trouble is he's so damn humble that he doesn't want any material objects." Truly, they had their work cut out for them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Okay class," Miss Cheerilee told the group of young children in the school house, "Now today we have a special guest visiting us. He's Ponyville's resident human, put your hands together for Mr. Allyn Flynt." Allyn walked into the classroom and waved as the children clapped for him. "Hello everypony," Allyn said, "Like Miss Cheerilee said, my name's Allyn. I'm a human, which basically is like being an Earth Pony, and I'm a member of the Royal Guard for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." One of the children raised their hand, "If you're a guard for the Royal Sisters, why do you live out in Ponyville?" "Well because I'm a new type of guard," Allyn answered, "I'm what's called a 'State Alchemist.' What that means is I can transfer my magic into what's called a Transmutation circle, like so." Allyn picked up one of the pieces of chalk near the black board and drew out a simple transmutation circle on the black board. "Then I think of what chemicals are in a chalkboard," Allyn continued, "And finally, I do something cool like this." Allyn clapped his hands together, summoning his magic, and slammed them onto the chalk board. As Allyn's magic pulsed in the circle, a dragon head grew out of the chalkboard and snapped a few times at the class before freezing in mid-roar. Allyn turned to the class and leaned on the newly formed dragon head statue coming from their chalkboard. He pulled out his gold lighter, its circle towards the classroom, and sent out a spark that ignited the teeth of the dragon head. After the instant shock and amazement of Allyn's transmutations settled over the class, one of the kids asked if Allyn could play something for them. After thinking for a moment, Allyn knew what to play. Miss Cheerilee handed Allyn an acoustic guitar that the class had for the occasional need for it and Allyn started strumming a rather fast-paced song on the guitar while he said this was for three fillies and their club's newest member. During the pause between lyrics, Allyn tapped his foot to the original beat which caused the class to knock on their desk in rhythm. Even Miss Cheerilee was hypnotized by the rhythm of the music. Allyn had to admit, he had trouble keeping the cords right from time to time in a song that was made up mostly by a computer. But he managed to finish the song and get a loud applause from most of the class, with the exceptions of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. The school bell rang, symbolizing recess, and the children ran out to the playground, leaving Allyn and Miss Cheerilee in the classroom. Allyn returned the chalkboard to its original form and handed the guitar back to Miss Cheerilee. "I have to admit, Mr. Flynt," she started as she put the guitar back in the closet where it came from, "Both of your performances were quite amazing, to say the least." "Eh, no problem," Allyn said as he wiped away the transmutation circle, so nopony tries to screw around with it and then needs to be put in a suit of armor, "As a phrase from my world goes; 'I'm just killing two birds with one stone.'" Miss Cheerilee gave him a look of confusion. "Well see," Allyn started explaining, "My birthday is coming up, and of course Pinkie wanted to plan this huge thing for me. Now I haven't had a huge party for my birthday since I was seven. So I wrote down exactly what I wanted as far as a party goes. And the list of guest includes Twilight and her friends, Trixie, a couple of my friends from Canterlot, and some other ponies. So knowing Twilight, Trixie, and them; their planning my party at my house while I'm here playing for the class on the CMC's requests." "I still can't believe you managed to talk those girls into letting Button Mash into their group," Cheerilee giggled, "How did you manage that?" "I didn't manage anything, I just pointed them to somepony like them when they asked for my help. The school's Talent Show and 'Life is a Highway' did the rest of the work." Allyn had to admit, convincing those three to let a boy in their group wasn't something he planned when they came to him while he was constructing his mansion. But when he was listening to all the clean, child-friendly songs on his Ipod, the idea hit him as he looked into the Gamestable(Author's Note; Equestria's Game Stop) in town and saw a familiar brown shirt and propeller hat on a boy around the same age of the CMC. Knowing the move list of every character of Street Fighter, no mater what world he was in, gave Allyn the advantage in making Button join the girls. And telling the girls that they came to him for his help made them be slightly more willing to have Button as part of the routine Allyn worked out in one night. After a couple days of rehearsal, the actual Talent Show was what brought them together, that and their joy of beating Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Allyn packed up what gear he brought with him to the school house today and said goodbye to Miss Cheerilee inside and the CMC outside as he made his trek back to his house, surely the girls had finished planning his birthday party for today. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight, Trixie, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie helped Rarity finish the costumes yesterday for Allyn's party happening later today. Mean while, Spike and Vinyl kept Allyn busy by taking him around Ponyville to pre-planned locations where Allyn would be forced to be at between ten minutes and an hour. The former Elements of Harmony, along with Trixie and Octavia's help, got everypony else into their onesies and ready for the party. The only problem that was everyponies mind; How or why did they agree to be part of a harem, for a man more than half of them didn't even know. "So," Spitfire questioned as she adjusted her dark-skinned breast in her orange and red onesie, "I was told that this 'was an emergency, under the utmost urgency by Princess Luna.' So where is the princess?" A couple of the mares at the party agreed with Spitfire's comment. Just as Spitfire began a mini revolution, Princess Luna and Vinyl walked into Allyn's Great Room and Vinyl began to get changed. Luna apologized for being late, saying that she had some minor things to complete in Canterlot before asking for her onesie and ears. "You were saying," Trixie said in a highly snark tone to Spitfire. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "NO! NO! NO!" Allyn started his barrage of 'no's, "No no, no no, no no, no no, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" "But Allyn," Spike nearly begged as he ran after Allyn down Allyn's extremely long pathway to his house, "Come on, just one more stop." "WHERE?" Allyn said with in a 'Jim Carey' way by including his entire body, "Because the only two places in Ponyville that I haven't been to yet are; A) My own asshole, which according to my parents, grandparents, former employers, and a couple ex-girlfriends is where my HEAD is firmly LODGED. And B) My own home, which is more than guaranteed to have a party of some way, shape, or form sprung and ready for me to walk in the front door to and have cake shoved in my FACE! So, in summation; fuck you, fuck this, fuck that, fuck Vinyl and where ever she went, fuck this day, I'm going to bed, goodbye!" And with that, Allyn teleported to his front yard, the border of his anti-teleportation magic spell bubble, and walked into his living room and crashed on the couch next to Alois. Alois looked at him and gave her usual 'Hi Master Allyn.' She asked what put him in such a funk. "There's a party up stairs isn't there," Allyn said shortly, his hands over his face. "Yep," Alois replied. "Twilight, RD, AJ, Rarity, Flutter, Pinkie, and Trixie are up there, aren't they?" "Yep." "Our other house guest," Allyn said quietly. "Right here," Chryssie said, waving in her Alois disguise. "And the real Alois," Allyn asked as he sat up. "Playing in the game room," Chrysalis said as she had a bite of some of Allyn's beef stew he made the other night, "I still can't believe you know how to properly cook a good beef stew. Where'd you learn this?" Allyn sat up, "Cooking was easy, getting the beef was a much harder task. Let's just say that if Fluttershy knew what I did for two summers in Alaska; she'd ask for five thousand years banishment to the moon." Allyn rolled off the couch and walked up to his bedroom. "I think I'm gonna take a shower," Allyn called down stairs to Chrysalis as he opened his bedroom door, "Then I might hit the holy shit Pinkie you actually managed to get a harem." Sure enough, sitting on his king sized bed were; Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Trixie, Octavia, Derpy, Vinyl, Luna, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, AJ, and Spitfire. And standing around the king size bed were; Zecora, Aloe, Vera, Lotus Blossom, Lyra, Bon Bon, Coco Pommel, Stormwalker, Fleetfoot, Flitter, and Colgate. Then there were two he just had to guess; one he guessed as Milky Way, but the other took him completely by shock. "I don't mean to be rude ma'am," he said as he pointed to the twenty-sixth woman in a Playboy uniform, "Is your name Flufflepuff?" "Da, deystvitel'no," the large chested woman with large, shaggy, pink hair replied. Russian, why not, Octavia was French after all and Flufflepuff being Russian would be the most normal thing about her existing. Also, how the hell was she real and how the fuck did Pinkie manage to find her? Allyn calmly closed the door behind him with a near quiet "Shit, I owe Spike a cake," then turned to Pinkie and congratulated her for completing a task he thought to be impossible in the span of just over a week. He then turned to the rest of the women in his harem and admitted that other than a rotating three-way, he had no idea what to do with a harem. "Well other than this lewd clothing," Luna said as she looked around at the harem, "This is still a birthday party for you. What would you like to do?" "Well," Allyn thought for a second, "Since I was seven, I spent my birthdays just sitting around my house watching movies and TV and shit. If y'all are up for that afterwards?" He took off his shirt and drew some woos from most of the women. "Then I guess," Allyn continued, "We could go with plan A." The women's attention quickly went from his muscular upper body to his lower body when he took off his belt and let his member free to the twenty-six women. "Oh, my," Fluttershy said, hers and everypony else's cheeks a bright red. "HOLY SHIT!" Applejack said, fanning herself with her hat. "Damn," Spitfire said, "Rainbow Dash, you could have just said that that's what I could have expected. I wouldn't have needed Princess Luna's word after that." Rarity turned to Trixie, "You bitch, you've been keeping Allyn all to yourself haven't you?" "All honesty," Trixie said, her hands in the air like she was under arrest, "I did not know he was that big." Allyn looked down as a jolt of confidence shot through his body, "While I do enjoy the complements, for tonight, I am to be called Edgar. Now, which of you ladies would like to go first?" He cracked his knuckles, neck, and back to prepare him for the wild night and best birthday he ever had. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alois and Chrysalis sat on Allyn and Trixie's couch and watched some cheesy television as the night drew on. Chrysalis finished her bowl of beef stew and the waves of Passion that were flowing from upstairs as Alois enjoyed a banana split. Out of nowhere, a knock came at the door. Chryssie and Alois looked at each other for a second before Chrysalis stood up and took her now empty bowl into the kitchen and told Alois to get the door. As Alois opened the door, the infamous "Cutie Mark Crusader, Sleepover Crashers. Yay!" came from the three little girls, their new member, and another young unicorn filly and earth pony colt, all of whom were wearing their pj's and holding a sleeping bag. The filly with gold eyes and a blonde mane like her mother and the colt in his spotted white and brown t-shirt and white pants with set-in mud stains. "Hi guys," Alois said, "What brings all of you here?" "Well we would have gotten here sooner," Scootaloo said looking at Button, "But somepony's mom wouldn't let him out after Celestia lowered the sun." "Wha-HEY," Button said, attempting to defend himself, "It's not my fault; my mom didn't fall for the lie we planned." "I just saw these five running through town late at night," Pip said holding up his hand, "When I asked what they were doing, I felt like joining in." While Alois kept the children busy at the door, Chryssie silently ran through the house and upstairs to Allyn's door. She nearly knocked on the door before she realized that in her hast, she stilled looked like Queen of the Changelings. She quickly changed into Alois and knocked on the door. "Who is it, darling," Rarity's voice called from the other side of the door. "Can you tell Master Allyn that there's a problem at the front door," Chryssie said in the high pitched voice of the young dragon. "What is it," Allyn 's strained voice called. "Alois says there's something at the front door, Mr. Edgar," Rarity replied to him. Edgar? Chrysalis shook her head and focused on the main problem. After a few moments, Allyn opened the door slightly and popped his sweat-drenched head out. "What Alois," He said, borderline angry. "You smell like an orgy," Chrysalis whispered in her normal voice, "And there are some children at the door?" Allyn looked at the Changeling for a moment before two and two equaled four. "OH SHIT!" Allyn said, "Listen, stall them, for like." He looked back in his room at the two groups of women; Group A, the women he has screwed; Pinkie, Flufflepuff, Dash, Coco, The Spa Triplets, Spitfire, Fluttershy, and Trixie. And Group B, the ladies waiting for their turns. "Stall the for twenty, thirty minutes tops," Allyn said to Chrysalis before slamming the door in her face. Allyn tried to catch his breath before he opened his eyes and saw Octavia and Vinyl on his bed, waiting like two energetic dogs waiting to head to the dog park. Goddamn CMC, he thought to himself, looking at the two naked women on his bed and the other fourteen nude women standing around and looking impatient, They have to be the ultimate cock blockers. "Ladies," he said in a tone that sounded like someone just punched him in the gut, "We have a... Little issue down stairs. And as much as I hate saying this; we have to get dressed quickly!" "Ah, come on," Vinyl said. "What makes you so stressed," Zecora asked, "That we must quickly be dressed?" "Who are the three most fucking annoying girls in town," Allyn asked. "OH SHIT," most of the women said in unison. "You think?" Allyn said in a snarky tone, "And add to that the fact that Button Mash, imagine what he'll do when he sees this. His young boy mind will explode!" Everyone quickly ran around grabbing what clothing they brought and putting it on quickly. Allyn just put on a pair of pajama pants and quickly ran through television channels until one movie opening caught his eye and made him completely confused. Rarity was the first to notice and looked at the TV with him. "What is it darling," She asked as she put her arms through her shirt sleeves. "So," Allyn thought for a second, "You never had Walt Disney... yet somehow, there's still Monsters Inc.?" "Oh, I love this movie," Pinkie said as she jumped on the bed next to him. "Who's Walt Disney?" Luna asked. Allyn looked like he really wanted to do something, but used all of his self-control to stop himself. He took a deep breath before opening his mouth. "Walter Elias Disney," Allyn started, "Is one of my personal heroes and my one of my role models growing up. I used to live less than an hours cart ride from his amusement park, so my parents took me and my sisters there all the time when we were kids. So without his existence, I'm confusion on how what in my world is a Disney/Pixar movie could be made?" "None of us have no Idea what you're talking about," Rainbow said as she pulled up her shorts, "The studio that made this was Whinny Studi-" Allyn back handed Rainbow so quickly and so hard there was a audible "CRACK" that came from his wrist and Rainbow was knocked unconscious for a few moments. "I CAN DEAL WITH A LOT OF BULLSHIT," Allyn screamed, his wrist quickly turning black and blue and swelling up, "BUT WHINNY STUDIOS?! WHINNY FUCKING STUDIOS?! THAT TAKES THE BULLSHIT CAKE FROM FIVE MILES ABOVE BULLSHIT MOUNTAIN IN THE LAND OF BULLSHITISTAN!" "Woah now," AJ said, holding Allyn's arms, "Let's not get to outta control." At that exact moment, Allyn's bedroom door swung open and Alois and the group of children standing there in their pajamas and holding different colored sleeping bags. Applebloom wondered what was going on here, Scootaloo asked why Rainbow Dash was on the floor, and Button wanted to know what movie they were watching. "And may I ask just what in Equestria are all of you doing here," Rarity asked, causing all six children to put their heads down in shame." "Well," Sweetie Belle started, "I over heard you talking about Mr. Flynt's party a couple days ago." "Then Ah came up with the idea to sneak out and come here," Applebloom continued. "We talked about our plans earlier today when Dinky overheard us," Scootaloo joined in. "I said how my mommy was talking about the same sleep over party for Mr. Flynt," Dinky chimed in, "And I asked if I could join them." "Pip joined in when we were on our way here," Button said pointing to Pipsqueak. "They say their the 'Cutie Mark Crusader; Sleepover Crashers,'" Alois said. The children believed that this was a sleepover? The paused orgy sat around Allyn's bed and looked at each other for a moment. Allyn had to act quickly before the children started asking questions, so without even thinking about it he jumped into babysitter mode. "Well then you six have perfect timing," Allyn said putting both hands behind his head, "Monsters Inc. just started on TV. Y'all wanna watch it?" "Can we," the children and Alois all asked in unison. "After which," AJ said in a stern tone, "All of y'all are being taken home." "And you'll be grounded," Derpy continued, "All of you." "I'm thinking; no television," Rarity started, "No Crusading, and straight home from school everyday for the next three months. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Derpy, Do you all agree with this?" The other three agreed and the children replied with a group "Uuugh." The night drew later and later and rapidly Allyn's once large harem was dwindling down until the movie was finally over and Twilight, AJ, Rarity, Pinkie, Derpy, and Dash left with one of the failed CMC 'Sleepover Crashers.' Allyn waved goodnight to the women and locked the door before falling on his couch next to Alois, Chrysalis, who was finally free to revert back to her natural skin, and Trixie. "Welp," Allyn said, his face buried in the cushions, "That was a thing. And don't think you three are getting out of this just because some kids got involved." He pointed to the women who just smirked at him. "My excuse is that they paid me off with emeralds," Alois said. "Then you are smart," Allyn said, "Not off the hook, but smart." The conversation was halted by a knock at the door. The quartet looked to the door and wondered who it would be at ten at night. Allyn told Chryssie to hide for a minute as he rolled off the couch and walked to the door. He unlocked the mahogany double doors and opened them, thinking one of the children had forgotten something when they left, but instead of children stood a lone Luna in flannel blue pajamas and holding a rather large, flat box wrapped with a red ribbon and an elegant bow. "Hello Allyn," She said, "Did everypony go home?" "Oh, uh, yeah," Allyn stuttered, confused what Luna brought back, "Would you like to come in?" "Thank you," She said, "This is for you. I know how much you prefer bladed weapons, and you often talk about that 'Kingdom of Hearts' game, so I had a team of Sister's blacksmiths make this for you." Curious, Allyn took the actually heavy box from the princess as she walked over to Allyn and Trixie's couch, waving to the unicorn and dragon. Allyn opened the large box to reveal the most thoughtful gift he had ever gotten in his life; a unique Keyblade, with a Transmutation circle at the blade, a leather grip, and what looked like a ruby forged into the shaft. He pulled the weapon out of the box and held it with his hands, which is when he noticed the Flame Alchemist Transmutation circle on its chain. "I," he tried to thank the Princess, "I-I don't know what to say. Thank you for starters, this-this is the most wonderful gift, I have ever gotten from anyone." Luna blushed at his praise, "Well, it wasn't a problem. But that's just the first gift." Allyn looked at her in slight confusion and she gestured him to the couch with her. He sat down and she placed her hands gently on the sides of his head. "Relax," She said as her horn began to glow, "Close your eyes." Allyn followed the request and Luna leaned in and touched his horn with hers, causing Allyn to instantly fall asleep on her shoulder. She chuckled and closed her eyes to join him in her dream. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allyn awoke in a strange gray dust under what looked like the night sky. He looked around at what looked like a gray desert with small to large craters around him. Allyn scratched his head and wondered where Luna took him. Just as he thought the question, Luna flew down in front of him. "Welcome, Allyn Flynt," She said, "To a place nopony else has ever seen." "Where is that," Allyn asked in reply, "A desert?" His expression changed when he noticed that instead of the moon being above them, it was instead the Earth. He looked back at Luna, looking or an answer. "Fear not," she said in a calm tone, "This is merely where I dream of when I sleep." "You dream of the Moon," He asked, "After spending a thousand years here, I figure one would get bored of thinking about it." "Well you bring up a point," She said as she began walking towards one of the craters, causing Allyn to follow her, "I spent a thousand years here, so there isn't anywhere else I dreamt of after a while." The two of them reached to top of the in climb and looked down to see a smaller Luna sitting in the dirt, drawing something in the dirt. "This is," Luna continued, her tone filled with sorrow, "Where I would often spend this day during my banishment." Allyn was confused until her heard a heartbreaking "Happy Birthday, to me" coming from the bottom of the crater. Allyn looked at what was now clearly "Happy Birthday Luna" was written in the dirt in front of the Luna at the bottom of the crater. "So," Allyn said, looking at the Luna to his right, "Today..." "Is my one thousand, twenty-second birthday," Luna said as a single tear ran down her face. "Why didn't you say so," he replied, causing her to look at him in shock. "Well, today," she started, "Today doesn't really matter to me anymore." He turned her head so they could look each other in the eye. "Today does matter," he said, "Every birthday should matter to someone. It means we've taken everything life's thrown at us, both the good and bad, and managed to make it through another year. So I'm returning the favor." Luna attention was now completely Allyn's. "What do you mean," she asked. "You gave me a real life Keyblade and showed me your deepest secret," he said, "And add to that what you had to go through just to make me feel happy on our birthday. I say I have a lot to make up for, so close your eyes for me." "Allyn," she said, to which Allyn covered her mouth with one finger and sshed her. "Eyes closed," he said, "Just for a moment." She nodded and closed her eyes. Allyn looked around and snapped his fingers when an idea finally came to him. He popped off his horn, knowing that this was a lucid dream, and stretched it into a wizard's staff. He slammed one end of the staff into the ground, sending out a wave of dream magic that leveled the dreamscape, then pulled the staff up, causing hundreds of buildings, thousands of trees, and the four famous mountains to rise at Allyn's will. He swung the staff out, sending another wave of dream magic into all of the different buildings and trees he created and turning them into their proper colors. He gave Luna the okay to open her eyes and her reaction to his changes were priceless. "In the words of my childhood role model," Allyn said, holding his arms and the staff to the side, "'To all who come to this happy place, welcome. Disneyland, is your land.'" "Allyn," Luna said. "Before you say anything," Allyn said holding up his index finger, "There's one more thing I have to show you." He held one end of the staff, this end having a large sapphire tangled into the false wood, towards Luna. "On three," he said, "Blow on the crystal. One. Two. Three." Luna closed her eyes and blew on the crystal while Allyn quickly snapped his fingers, bringing a sweet, yet sad song to play and created hundreds of famous and forgotten Disney characters. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS LUNA!" the crowd of characters said in unison, causing Luna to jump back. She looked at Allyn, who had a sincere grin on his face. "I understand why you were dreaming of your banishment on the moon," Allyn said, "You dream about it so you don't turn into Nightmare Moon again. But when you dream of memories, they do not have to be sad to remind you not to repeat them. From now on, dream of this place, of these new friends, and that joy will keep Nightmare Moon at bay. When you feel sad, degraded, dejected, unwanted, this place will be here to cheer you up." Before she could help herself, Luna was sobbing with tears of joy. She jumped on Allyn, giving him a large hug that caused them both to fall to the ground. The two of them stayed on the ground until one of the animated characters walked up to them and interrupted them. "Princess Luna," Allyn said, still on his back, "This is King Mickey Mouse." "Oh forgive me," Luna said, getting off of Allyn and dusting herself off, "Your Majesty." "Oh the honor is mine," Mickey said, shaking Luna's hand with his over-sized gloved hand, "As Allyn said, I'm Mickey. These are my close friends; Goofy, Donald, and Pluto." Goofy and Donald bowed to Luna while Pluto merely sat and barked at her in a cheery manner. "And this is just were we start," Allyn said, holding his hand towards Luna, "If you're willing to follow me further down this rabbit hole." "Did someone say," the Chester Cat said, popping in between Allyn and Luna, "Rabbit hole?" Allyn and Luna had to laugh at the floating cat head, mainly because it reminded them both of Discord. "Happy birthday, Mr. Flynt," Luna said. She took Allyn's hand and he began the large tour of the Disney characters and Luna's new dream world. "And Happy Birthday to you, Miss Luna," he replied. > The Most Wonderful Night at the Gala > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 11 The Most Wonderful Night at the Gala "Are you sure about this," Chrysalis said, holding in her hand a small, ink black seed. "You question my methods," Ishneel said, looking at the Changeling standing in his cave, "All you need to do is have your target to intake the seed, his relation with the seeds' host shall act out the rest of this phase." Chrysalis smiled and closed her fist around the small object. "And you think he'll want me," She asked, a smirk her face, "He's exceedingly loyal for somepony who doesn't see her love for him." "Well if your transformation ability fails," Ishneel replied, now standing near the mouth of his cave overlooking Canterlot and Ponyville, "Then his trust in your true form should suffice. He's let you stay in his home after all. " ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allyn sat on his couch two days after his and Luna's birthdays, going over the cords on the songs he planned out for the Gala in three weeks. He already shared the songs, lyrics, and notes with Rim, Vinyl, and Octavia via picture chat, which he was glad Equestria had. Instead of using one of his guitars, he was practicing on Philosopher Stone, as he was calling the Keyblade Luna gave him as a gift. With the combination of focusing on the cords while avoiding cutting himself on its mid-section blade, and having both of his earpuds in, he didn't notice Chrysalis standing by the stairs holding in her hand the object which Ishneel had given her to destroy the bonds between Ishneel's goal and the only pony who could defeat him. She walked over to Allyn, keeping both hands behind her back. When she was over his head, she lightly tapped his horn with her long, green nail. He unplugged one of his earpuds and looked up at her. "Hey Chryssie," he said, "What's up?" "I just was wondering something," She said, trying to act innocent, "You said that my appearance with normal pony skin tone was enough for men to hand over their love to me, right?" Her question caused Allyn to think back to when he told her that. "Oh yeah," He finally remembered, "Back when we first met. Why are you asking about that now?" Chrysalis stood over him as her ink black skin turned to dark tan. "Well what about you," she asked, "Do you find this attractive? Or do prefer something different, something... added to it?" She ran two of her fingers down her cleavage, leaving Allyn dumbfounded. "Whaaaat," Allyn drew out, covering his bleeding nose with one hand, "Are you trying?" "Isn't it obvious," Chrysalis said, holding her thumb to her lips, "I'm seducing you." Chrysalis dove onto Allyn, giving his lips a companion that wanted desperately more. Allyn lied there for a second before pushing her off and quickly turning to sit on the other side of the sofa. Like a tiger moving closer to its prey, Chrysalis crawled over the arm of the sofa and closer to Allyn. Chrysalis looked down at him, smirking, and lowered the straps of her skirt, first teasing, then exposing the dark chocolate nipples standing on the end of her large, inviting breasts. She leaned forward, using her biceps to squeeze them together, before leaning upright again and lowering the dress the rest of the way, kicking the clothing to the side. Her hips drew the eyes, they fit her form perfectly and focused oneā€™s attention on her body as a whole, much like a well-made spread at a buffet. Allyn was completely unsure where to focus his eyes, as appealing as every part of her body was. He sat confused and aroused as Chrysalis drew closer and closer to him. She held her hand out as her horn began to glow, flicking her wrist and removing Allyn's belt. She lowered her hand and with so Allyn's pants, revealing his striped boxers and the tent being pitched near the opening. She leaned forward, kissing Allyn again. This time, Allyn almost didn't want to refuse. He felt something telling him to lay with her. He began to push forward with the embrace, Chrysalis' arms around his neck pulling him towards her. Allyn broke away from Chrysalis as something in his mind began to scream at him. What sounded like his voice screaming at him to stop what he was doing, remember his feelings for Luna. He gripped his forehead in pain as the two feuding voice in head screamed at him; one telling him to continue, the other begging him to stop. "What is it Allyn," Chrysalis asked, "Is it about your love for Luna?" Allyn snapped into reality as he finally connected the dots of the large picture in his heart. He loved Luna. His heart and mind were telling him that what he was doing was wrong, the other voice faded away with his realization "Perhaps I could make you feel better about this," Chrysalis said in a lustful voice, followed by turning her tan skin to rosy white and her sea-foam green hair to night-sky blue. Almost by pure anger, Allyn put Philosopher Stone's blade to Chrysalis' throat. "Listen to me," he said in almost a demonic tone that brought pure fear to Chrysalis' eyes, "If you EVER take her form again, I don't care if you're the last of the Changelings, I will send this blade through your neck. Am. I. Clear!?" He noticed something in Chrysalis' eyes that he needed to check on. He stood up and put his pants on and walked away. "Never try this again," Allyn said as he latched his belt, "I... Need to check something." He walked away, leaving the naked Chrysalis sitting on the couch, reverted back to her true form from fear. She rubbed her neck and thought on how both of his eyes turned into that black and red form they were after Allyn and Trixie's house warming party two weeks ago. While she managed to give the black seed to Allyn, she was kind of displeased that she didn't get to see if Trixie was right about Allyn. "He couldn't have at least tried to feel these," Chrysalis said to herself, fondling her breast. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allyn, Trixie, and Alois sat on the train to Canterlot, Allyn and Chrysalis still hadn't talked about what happened three weeks ago. He was still thinking about his revelation about him and Luna, he knew she had feelings for him, but he eventually started to wonder if they were for him alone or if they were there because he reminded her of Nighting Gale. Trixie slapped Allyn in the chest to get his attention. "Did you hear me," Trixie asked. "I... uh," Allyn shook his head for a moment, "Sorry, what'd you ask?" "I asked if this dress looks good on me," She asked, holding her arms out to reveal all of her Rarity-tailored dress. Her dress, an open-shoulder dress made of white and silver fabric, overlaid with a purple skirt and similar to as Allyn put it "The Ice Queen Elsa's dress." It was because of that similarity that he had insisted on braiding her mane to match the Disney Character's. "You've been asking that since we left the house," Allyn laughed, almost wanting to say they were starting to sound like a married couple, "You look beautiful, you're sure to make every guy there look your way." "Yeah," she chuckled out, "And I'd be surprised if you didn't get some looks from the mares there as well." Allyn looked down at his tuxedo, cobalt like his horn, the silk fabric felt amazing against his skin and Rarity's last minute idea of transmuting, with Trixie's help, small diamonds into the fabric of his collar which gave off the appearance of stars in the sky was amazing. He then thought on how persistent Rarity was on him about cutting his hair to a more gentlemanly length and styling it, which after seeing its reflection in the window he had to admit looked pretty good on him. "I told you to trust me, darling," Rarity said as she walked by in her white dress, completed with a multi-layer, purple and white offset skirt and purple boa, "That short hair is much better for you." "I should have never doubted the fashion queen," he said with a chuckle, "By the way, Trixie. When we get to Canterlot, I'm going to meet up with Rim and them before we get into the Gala. If you and Alois wanna go with Twilight and her friends, then go right ahead." "Sure thing," Trixie said, "Just don't be too long, you wouldn't want to keep the Princesses waiting would you?" She couldn't help herself from giggling slightly. "Oh hardy, har, har," Allyn said, his arms crossed, "Laugh it up, apprentice, I'm one of the testers for your Alchemist exam coming up." The train's whistle blew as they approached the, now regular stop for Allyn, Canterlot Station. Allyn stood up and said he was going to wash up before he met up with his band mates. The train slowly came to a stop and blew its whistle again, indication that it had stopped. Twilight and her friends, along with Trixie and Alois, stepped out of the train and were escorted to a series of elegant carriages to lead them to the Canterlot Castle's gates. The carriages opened their doors after the short ride and the seven ponies and two dragons walked to the large double doors of the castle, ready for what should be a rather boring night but acting like they couldn't wait to get inside. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luna sat in her seat in a combination of boredom of being at this event and anticipation for listening to Allyn play for this boring event, perhaps he could actually make this more interesting than how Sister makes this sound. She did admit that the dress that was picked out for her was rather comfortable, a simple black and dark violet, floor length, one-shoulder dress with a near embarrassing high slit up the side of her left leg that is mere inches of fabric away from revealing her underwear and cutie mark. She was delighted when she finally saw Twilight and her friends walk in with Trixie and Alois, though she was slightly annoyed when Allyn didn't show up with them. When he eventually did show up, she felt like somepony had just taken all of her magic. His short, messed up mane, that handsome tux with gemstones shining like the stars in her mane, a guitar on his back, she felt like falling to her knees if she wasn't already sitting down. He turned his attention from his band mates to her and giggled slightly. She looked over her shoulder slightly to see what was so funny. BY SISTER'S BEARD! She quickly tried to fold her stiff wings back behind her before anypony else noticed. As if the almost lewd dress wasn't enough to embarrass her, add to that a wing boner in front of all these fancy ponies and Sister. "Your Highness," a soft, deep voice in front of her said, causing her to blush even more than she was already. She turned her head to see a folded, light gray coat with a familiar cross with a snake slithering around it and winged crown face up to her. She thanked Allyn and put the soft coat over her dress and wings. "Wouldst thou like to dance," Allyn held his hand out to the Princess. She smiled and took the stallions hand, walking to the crowd of ponies waltzing to the orchestra as they played a highly energetic song that Allyn joked about sounding vaguely like 'A crossover between oriental music and a bad Western movie's soundtrack.' She listened closely but couldn't hear what he was talking about. They danced, ignoring the stares of the surprised aristocrats, until Vinyl frantically ran through the crowd and whispered something into Allyn's ear before he looked at the Luna and apologized for his early exit from their dance and ran off with the DJ. "Hey," she called to Allyn, who was already half way cross the ball room, "Where are you going?" "Gotta find Trix," Allyn said, "Last minute change in schedule." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Trixie stood in the royal garden, admiring the sweet aroma the combination of flowers gave off. She was so engrossed in the flowers, she almost jumped out of her dress when somepony put their hand on her shoulder. A swift punch to his gut and her surprise visitor was on the ground, coughing. "Oh shit, Allyn I'm sorry," Trixie said her hands to her mouth. "Didn't you... GAH, hear my voice," Allyn said bent over on his hands and knees, "Listen." He stood up after finally regaining the wind Trixie punched out of him. "Tavi was eating and some food when down her windpipe, she's fine now but voice went out as she was coughing and we need another female vocalist," Allyn explained, "Come on, Trixie. You have one of the best voices I've heard, and you're the only other pony that knows the lyrics to the two songs Octavia needed to sing." "But," Trixie started to contest, "I've given up my stage life." "I'm not asking you to do one of your amazing magic shows," Allyn countered her argument, "You just have to sing not even two songs, then you can spend the rest of the night how ever you want." "You," she said, slightly blushing, "You thought they were amazing." He smiled and held out a thumbs up, "When you're not trying to show other ponies up, they are." She nodded her head and agreed to sing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allyn, Trixie, Octavia, Vinyl, and Rim stood on the ballroom's stage, waiting for everypony's attention. Allyn started off by thanking everyone for coming to the Gala and thanking Celestia and Luna for hosting this extravagant event, which got a good amount of applause in return. He then introduced himself and his band mates, even introducing Trixie with the group.He started the first song by carefully plucking the strings on his Flamingo Guitar. After a few notes, Trixie joined in with an hypnotic alto voice. Halfway through the first part of her lyrics, Octavia began the sweet piercing sound of the cello. After Trixie was finished singing, Vinyl and Rim finished the quartet off while Allyn went full throttle on the strings of the guitar. Rim worked the Taiko drum as hard he could while Vinyl played away at the grand piano. The four ponies combination of music playing was a sight to behold, each member looking like they were playing harder than they had ever played before. The group slowed down for a second before going just as hard, if not playing even harder, before a turn in music. Not a second song, but something slightly different than what they were just playing, thus catching everyone's attention. In a single motion, Allyn threw the guitar around his body, turning from a Spanish guitar into a reflective bright green Electric guitar. He plugged the guitar into the closest amp and began shredding away at the guitar like his life depended on it. Luna wasn't sure but it sounded like the guitar was almost... Singing? The way Allyn was playing each chord made the guitar sound like it was trying to speak. Trixie ran her fingers thru her hair as Alchemic Reaction stopped playing for a moment before continuing. Trixie held onto the mic like she was being pulled away as she sang, Allyn slamming the strings after each verse. Allyn and Rim continued playing just as hard as they could as Trixie sang her heart out. At one point Allyn and Vinyl back up sang for Trixie. All five members stopped for a moment before Allyn and Trixie finished the last verses. All five of the ponies collapsed in exhaustion, panting as the crowd applauded at how hard they played. "Damn," Allyn said, "Should have... had that 'n... go last." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rim sat at his drum set, taking a break after that first song. He still couldn't believe that Trixie chick had such a great voice to go with that amazing body, he was almost angry at Allyn for keeping that beauty all to himself. He slammed back a class of hard vodka before noticing Allyn looking confused by something. "Yo, Al," Rim asked, "What's up?" "Who are those two," Allyn asked back, sitting on the edge of the stage and pointing over at the two talking with Celestia and Luna. "You mean Golden Voice and Discord," Rim said, "Haven't you ever seen them before." "Bullshit!" Allyn said, snapping his head towards the drummer, "First, there is NO goddamn way Discord looks like Jim Carrey as Count Olaf from the movie form of 'A Series of Unfortunate Events.' Second, how the hell is Morgan Freeman here and why is he called 'Golden Voice?'" Rim was now wondering how many glasses of vodka Allyn just drank, for he had no idea who or what Allyn was talking about. "Is that," Rim started to wonder, "Is that something from your world... Or are you that tired after that shitty first song?" Allyn then remember that he wasn't a pony, and therefore any jokes that were made would never make sense to anypony. Allyn explained who this Morgan Freeman and Jim Carrey were and what the novel "A Series of Unfortunate Events" was. Just as Allyn finished explaining some things of his world, a strange presence greeted the two ponies from above them. "Are you two talking about me?" a devious draconequus said, his head coming from a microphone stand where the mic should normally be. "Hey Discord," Allyn said, his head tilted back to look at the being stepping out of the mic stand and brushing himself off. "I heard you pulled off a bit of chaos of your own in dear, sweet Princess Luna's dreams," Discord said floating in the air on his stomach, his fingers interlocked with each other, "And you said the sweetest thing to her about her fear of returning to Nightmare Moon." Rim could see how flustered Allyn was at Discord's accusation, but that didn't stop Rim from wondering if Allyn actually did the impossible and managed to enter the Dream Queen's dreams and change them. Allyn started to counter Discord but Vinyl cut in, saying that they had to get back to their performance for everypony. Discord rolled his eyes, which creepily fell out of their sockets and bounced off the floor back into their sockets after he rolled them, and snapped his fingers, disappearing to be replaced with Trixie who looked around with confusion as to what just happened. Allyn called everyone to their positions and put his guitar back over his shoulder before taping on the mic, gathering everyponies attention. Octavia sat out this song because her only part in it was singing, and without her voice she didn't need to be on stage with them. He pointed to Vinyl, who began the reverberating sound at the start of Allyn's next choice of song that the band was playing. His baritone voice sounded like a smoother copy of the original singer of this song, only not sounding like he had a bad cough with it. Rim began to beat his drums to the simple pattern the group had practiced at the same time as Allyn's strumming. Allyn and Rim's voices joined together at the chorus to cause a storm of mares cheering for them. Rim looked over to Trixie and notice that her eyes were transfixed on him as he sang before realizing that Octavia's part, which for tonight was her part, was right up after them. Trixie's soft voice complemented the two men's voices as she sang. When she reached her chorus, Vinyl joined her for their half of the song. After Vinyl finish that part of the song, Rim had a mini Drum solo before Allyn and Trixie's duet. As the song made it to the final choruses, each performer had their own verse to sing in the order of Rim, Trixie, Vinyl, and Allyn respectively before all four of them sang the last chorus in perfect harmony. Trixie bowed to the attendees of the Gala before hugging the members of A.R and walking off stage as Octavia met her on the stairs and readied for the last two song for the evening before the band could mingle with the socialites of Canterlot. "Thank you, thank you," Allyn said, "One more hand for our last minute stand-in female singer, my apprentice, the lovely Trixie Lulamoon." Trixie shyly waved as a single spot light shined down on her. "On now that our more Modern Rock songs are out of the way," Allyn continued after the applause died down enough for him to speak, "We can move onto our more... Refined music." Octavia began to softly draw back on her cello as Allyn's baritone voice rang out. Rim's voice and Vinyl's voice and classical piano joined in after about minute of Allyn's singing to bring total silence over the entire castle. Allyn never took his eyes off the Princess of Night in her breath-taking dress, black lipstick, and hair done up in a bun with two needles to keep it up as he sang. Allyn held out his hand as he sang about breaking down the gates of heaven, as if he was making her a promise in the form if a song. After the third song was finished, Allyn noticed that Luna was crying. She stood up from her seat next to Celestia and began to walk to the stage. Allyn knelt down to listen to what ever she wanted to talk to him about. She reached up to hold his face as she place a passionate kiss upon his lips. "Luna," Allyn said, thinking back to what he had been thinking about since Chryssie nearly jumped him, "I need to talk with you. Somewhere private." "Well, when you are finished here," Luna said, "Meet me in my chambers and we'll talk." She smiled before tilting Allyn's head down, kissing his forehead, and walking away. Rim pulled him up and quietly asked him, "WHAT... THE FUCK... WAS THAT ABOUT?" The drummer smiled as largely as he humanly could as he asked his question. Allyn whispered what happened during his and Luna's birthday and why she just kissed him. "You son of a bitch," Rim said, a colossal smile on his face, "Tavi, V, don't think I'm lettin' you two off for what y'all did on ol' Ally boy's B-Day. Now, let's finish this rat show up so the guy here can go get his gal." Vinyl picked up a horn and began to blow into it as Rim jumped into his spot and started jamming away. Octavia played her cello in an up-beat style as Allyn copied the famous singing voice of Frank Sinatra. Allyn jumped off the stage half way through and began to dance around the ball room with Twilight, Celestia, Rarity, Trixie, Alois, AJ, Pinkie, hell he danced with Discord as he made his way to the large doors closest to Luna's chambers, not giving a damn about how well he was singing and sang however he wanted to. He sang on top of tables, surfing waiter carts, did cartwheels and flips. He completely stopped giving a single fuck as the music took controll of his body. As the song ended, he turned to face the large crowd of people cheering him and his friends. He snapped to attention, his arms out over his head and standing on his toes as he said his farewell to his audience, "LADIES AND GENTLE MEN, WE ARE ALCHEMIC REACTION! THANK YOU ALL FOR LISTENING TO OUR MUSIC, AND..." He gave a low bow for respect to the upper-class socialites, "A GOOD NIGHT TO YOU ALL." He turned and ran out the double doors, slamming them behind him. Discord and Celestia stood together on the Ballroom's dance floor, each holding a glass of Champlain. Discord ran his finger around the edge of the glass before sticking his finger into the Champlain and pulling its normally liquid content out on his finger in a solid mass. "That was certainly interesting," Discord said before drinking away the empty glass to nothingness and eating the Champlain like ice cream out of a cone. "Indeed, my old friend," Celestia replied, drinking her Champlain like a normal pony would. Discord held his arm out to the Princess, "Care to dance, like the old days?" Celestia took his arm and the walked towards the center of the dance floor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allyn stood in front of Luna's door, thinking about what he wanted to ask her. The two guards against the opposite wall looked like they were beginning to grow tired of Allyn's stalling. "Are you going in or not," one of the scruffy voice guards asked, finally tired of the wait, "You've been standing here for a good ten minutes." Allyn took a deep breath and opened the door, closing it as Luna's voice asked. Allyn looked around for Luna, but she said to wait for a moment more from her walk-in closet by the way her dress was on the fl- "Oooh," Allyn said as he made the connection when Luna stood in the doorway of what actually was her bathroom, nearly completely naked if it wasn't for her black lace panties. "Now," she said is a lusty tone, twirling the end of one of the strands of hair covering her nipples, "What did you want to talk about?" It was at this second that Allyn was extremely glad he didn't make his OC a pegasus. Allyn shut his eyes and used his magic to hand her a towel, for what he wanted to ask her was in absolute seriousness. "I-I know you loved Nighting Gale a thousand years ago," Allyn started, still refusing to look at Luna, "And I understand if you have feelings about how I look and sound like him, or... Even for me. But I need to know; if you do have feelings for me, are they for me or... for the me that reminds you of Nighting?" Luna pulled his hand from over his eyes, he could see the sorrow that always resided within her soul. "You're asking me," she asked, "If I love you?" "Its just," Allyn paused to sigh, thinking before saying anything so as not to risk his friendship with her if she didn't share his love for her, "What is said and happens next, depends on your answer." She pressed against him, their heart beats in sync with each other as is set by fate itself. "Allyn," Luna started, "You are an intelligent, classy, handsome, funny, caring, able bodied, well-mannered gentleman. A perfect copy of Nighting Gale." Allyn could feel his spirit being broken as she spoke. "But you have your own form of intelligence," she continued, gently stroking his slightly stubbly face, "A musical taste that is the combination of the upper-class and modern pony, you can resolve any issue with words, and should that fail you will resolve it with your fist if you have to, you can be talking about the social standings of Saddle Arabia with one pony and have a completely different conversation about the hoofball game the other night not two seconds later. You are your own type of pony, your own type of man. Of coarse I love you, how could I not?" He felt like a thousand tons had just been lifted off of his chest. He brought her head up to his, embracing her satin smooth lips with his. She slowly unbuttoned his tux as their tongues danced in each others mouths. As Allyn undid his bow tie, Luna broke away for a second. "I," she tried to speak, "Also have to confess something. I was banished to the moon... Never knowing the embrace of a man, sexually." "Then lie on the bed," Allyn said to her as he reached into his tux pocket, "I have something that might make this better for your first time." He walked over to Luna's nightstand and placed a small black and red box, connecting his Ipod and selecting one of his favorite songs. "Relax," He said turning to her, "We'll go slow to start. If you want to go faster, just say so." He walked back to Luna's bed, where she sat on her side to expose her curved body to Allyn. He dropped his shirt to the floor as he crawled over her and began to kiss her, more passionately than they had ever kissed yet. He moved his hands from where they were holding her face, to the back of her neck, down to her shoulders, keeping one hand there as the other followed its path towards her back, buttocks, and up her thighs as she began to wrap her legs around his waist. She raised her hands and clasped them behind his neck. He reveled in the feel of her cool hands on his bare shoulders, then on his arms. He moved down to her neck and began kissing her softly, enjoying the way she gasped when his lips touched her. With every kiss Allyn gave her down her body, Luna's pleasure grew and grew in her nether regions. Rational thought was no longer feasible for her. She lay there and concentrated on the effect his kisses were having on her, she was tingling with anticipation, wondering what he would do when he was finished kissing her. Her hands were on his shoulders, gripping him as he kissed her. Allyn held out his hand, and with the aid of magic, switching off the lights in her room leaving them bathed only in the moonlight that flooded through the windows. Allyn's mouth found the base of her throat, then moved down to kiss around her collarbone. She gasped loudly, and he stopped, afraid he had crossed the line. He raised his head slightly to look at her, but she didn't tell him to stop. She didn't look upset at all. "I'm," she tried to speak, though his foreplay was making it hard for her to even think straight, "I'm fine. Thy had j-just underestimated thyne... abilities after thyne birthday." she covered her mouth after realizing she was using her Old Equestrian speech to address him. He laughed lightly. "Speakth to thee in foul tongue," he spoke softly to her, then brought his mouth to hers again. Slowly, deliberately, he slipped his hand up her backside to her slender waist. Her fingernails began to dig into his shoulders, but he didn't mind. His hand moved farther up, and finally cupped her breast. She gasped and arched her back, her wings extending slightly, and she had to bite her bottom lip to prevent screaming with pleasure. He slid his hand over her breast, feeling the nipple harden under his palm, and she moaned softly. He lowered his mouth to kiss her neck again, then moved down, moving his tongue in circles on her skin as he did. When he reached a breast, he took a nipple in his mouth, and she moaned again, louder this time. He groaned as he felt her moving her hips back and forth against him, and moved to the other breast. He moved his mouth slowly on her sensitive nipples, wanting to make this last for her, and knowing that if he gave in now, it wouldnā€™t last for him, either. He felt her tense when his hand neared her panties, and he looked up at her. ā€œIf thou wanth thy to stop, just giveth thee the command, and thy will,ā€ he said softly. She knew he meant it, and he would stop if she asked. She shook her head slowly, and he maintained eye contact with her as his hand slid down over her flat stomach and beneath the fabric of her panties. He watched her bottom lip tremble as his hand moved lower and lower, until he felt the soft skin under the fabric. His hand slipped lower still, and she gasped loudly when his hand found her pussy. She closed her eyes and bit her lip, and he bent his head to kiss her bare stomach, trailing kisses over her belly button. He sat up and slid her panties off of her, then took his own pants off. He laid back down and began kissing her again, starting at her mouth, then her neck, breasts, stomach, and hips. When his mouth moved lower, she cried out, and grabbed his light green hair. His mouth moved expertly, and she nearly cried out every time his tongue touched her. He enjoyed seeing her like this, uninhibited, and ready for him, only him. He licked her, his tongue falling into a rhythm that built incredible tension in her. She tasted absolutely heavenly, a sweet, almost sugary taste. His tongue flicked up to her clit and gave it an experimental flick. She moaned out loud again, taking that as a good thing he gently grazed his teeth over her now-sensitive clit. He tasted her inside and out and after a few more moments of his ministrations, he felt her body spasm with near orgasmic pleasure, she moaned out loudly and he slowly moved on top of her. He entered her quickly with one sharp motion, not wanting to cause any more pain than was necessary. She winced at his size, and he waited for her to give him a sign that it was okay to continue. When she opened her eyes and looked at him in wonder, he knew that she was ready. He began to thrust slowly, trying to keep himself from getting too excited. He had to be careful, because if he wasnā€™t, he could lose all control, and that would only please him. He loved her, and he wanted to please her first and foremost. She held onto him tightly and moaned softly with every thrust. Her wings came up and wrapped themselves around them in a tight embrace. He licked her neck, then around her collarbone as he continued to plunge slowly in and out of her. He was hitting the deepest parts of her and he knew it was driving her crazy. She uttered a soft cry, and he knew she was close to the edge. ā€œDon't thou dare to stop, A-Allyn Flynt, donā€™t you f-f-fucking dareā€ Luna ordered him between moans. He nodded to her and continued to move inside her. He was gentle and made sure that she was getting as much out of this as she could. She felt his fingers trace down her stomach and begin rubbing her clit. Small jolts of electricity shot up her spine, and her wings twitched around them involuntarily. She was getting close and if the throbbing from his member was any indication then he was too. She felt him begin to move faster. She moaned loudly, ā€œOh Allyn! Please, Thy am so close - Iā€ but she cut herself off as she felt the ever fabled 'first sexual orgasm' wash over her. Her legs and wings twitched, she threw her head back and moaned his name into the night as she came, her muscles tightening over his cock. She felt as a torrent of Allyn's seed entered her womb. After the immediate explosion of pleasure subsided, Allyn rolled off Luna and they looked up at the ceiling. They lay there for some time, trying to catch their breaths as the afterglow of the sweaty, mind-numbing sex slowly faded away to what was probably the second or third replay of the Eagles. They lay together, arms slowly wrapping around one another, and then Allyn leaned over. Their lips meeting, the two of them smiled and sighed, their hearts beating in time as they lay, disheveled, on Lunaā€™s bed. The sheets were all over the place, and the comforter had nearly fallen off, but it didn't matter; slowly, the man pulled a blanket over the pair of them with his magic, using his hands to pull the woman next to him close enough so that they were both covered in its embrace. She slowly drifted off to sleep on top of Allyn's chest, the beat of his heart being her lullaby. He smiled at how peacefully she looked when slept, he never wanted to leave her side. As if she had heard him in her dreams, she nuzzled up closer to him. He closed his eyes as he stroked her hair, ready for what ever the future threw at them. > The Return of a Nightmare > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 12 The Return of a Nightmare Celestia stood on the top of the Castle Observatory, waiting for her younger sister to show up so they can make the transition from Night to Day. One of the night guards standing with Celestia yawned, not wanting to say he was getting bored but Celestia knew he was thinking it. Just before Tia thought of sending a guard to check on her sister, Luna barged through the doors of the Observatory, fixing the shoulder on her Royal Dress. "Sorry I'm late sister," Luna apologized, "I'm ready now, let us begin." "Was he good in bed," Celestia asked, a tiny smirk on her face. "I-Wha-" Luna said, her face a bright red and sweating as she looked at her sister, "SISTER!? How DARE you make an accusation of such a lewd nature? And what makes you think I was in bed with him?" "Forgive my interruption your highness," Tia's guard said, "But seeing as most ponies in Canterlot heard you moaning Major Flynt's name last night..." Luna snapped her head towards the guard, causing the guard to stiffen and look away from her. "Come sister," Celestia said, holding her hands out as her horn began to glow, "It is time for a new day to begin for the ponies of Equestria." Luna sighed, she knew that Tia was just pushing Luna's buttons and just let it pass. "Indeed Sister," Luna said, holding her hands out as her horn began to glow. As Luna lowered her moon so Celestia could raise her sun, far off in the distance, Ishneel meditated in his cave, waiting for his plan to take action. Ishneel opened his eyes when he sensed his spy walk towards him. Chrysalis stood in the opening of one of the many make-shift rooms in the cave. "It is done," Ishneel said, sensing the Seed of Nightmare in Luna, waiting for Ishneel to activate its dark powers. "So old Ally boy managed to screw Luna," Chrysalis said, lean against the opening, "What do you want me to do now?" "Your time with Allyn Flynt is over," Ishneel said, "Ready your people for our next phase. Soon Equestria's rulers will fall." "And my Changelings will rule over the ponies," Chrysalis said skeptically, "Why don't you want to rule?" "My goal is vengeance," Ishneel said, looking behind him at Chrysalis, "After that, this land can burn for all I care. Celestia and Luna's blood being spilled is all I care about." Chrysalis remembered she had something to aid in Ishneel's spell. She's looked and listened through Allyn's long list of strange music and found one song that will work as a disguise for his spell. She wrote the song down on a piece of paper before Allyn, Trixie, and Alois left for the Grand Gandering Gala or whatever ponies call that stupid thing yesterday afternoon. She handed the folded paper to Ishneel. "What is this to me," Ishneel asked. "Something on a small device Allyn carries with him at all times," Chrysalis said, "Use your spell on that song and have Luna listen to it, and she'll activate the seed herself." Ishneel looked over the small scrap of paper and smiled at his spy's cunning plan. "Gather whatever Allyn Flynt gave you in your time with him and meet back here," Ishneel said, moving past Chrysalis, "I must put our plan into action." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allyn opened his eyes to the morning glow of the Sun flowing through the window in Luna's bed chambers. Next to him, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen asleep so peacefully. He kissed her forehead causing her to wake up. Her lips met his as they said good morning to each other using ways other than words. "I have met many ponies in thine time, Allyn Flynt," Luna said, after they finally broke apart from their kiss, "But thy am glad thy met thee. Thou art a kindhearted gentleman who hath done what barely few hath been able to do, thou hath earned thy love." "And thy promise thee," Allyn said, lightly moving the hair out of her face, "Thy shall never leave thee for another woman, nor treat thee like any less than the perfect woman thou art. Any wish thou require from me, simple speakth thy request and neither heaven nor hell shall stop thee from making thou wish come true." "I love you too," Luna said smiling and stroking Allyn's face. Allyn stretched out in Luna's bed as he joked about how he most likely missed his train last night, it was bad but it got Luna to laugh slightly. Luna joked back about how the Canterlot Times are going to explode with the head line; "Loner Princess Luna Finds Rockstar Lover," which caused both of them to laugh. Allyn rolled out of bed, sitting up and yawning from how tired he was after both the concert and the lovemaking last night. He walked into the bathroom and drew himself a shower after realizing that he smelled like the 49er's locker room after the Super Bowl. As he was washing off the smell, Luna was curious about if she could listen to some music off Allyn's Ipod. He called back that it was fine and that she could put on whatever she wanted while he was in there. She scrolled through the nearly eight-hundred different songs he had on the small device, but one seemed to stand out for some reason. On a list titled "Songs for Luna," the second song on the list had seemed to catch her attention . She selected the song and listened to the sweet, soft sound of the piano at its beginning. Suddenly, the angelic music changed to a more sinister sound as a sharp pain began to stab at Luna's stomach and quickly traveled into her mind. Luna held her chest as what felt like her heart was being forcefully pulled out of her chest. Luna's horror only grew as she felt a terrifying familiar squeezing sensation began to wrap around her body. She wanted desperately to tear the small ear pieces out to stop this horrifying experience, but she couldn't control herself to do so. She just stood there, holding her head as the invisible chains tightened around her body more and more as She took over her body. "LUNA!" Luna heard Allyn's voice through the frightening music and helmet. She jumped when she felt his hand touch her shoulder, causing her to throw her arm and him out and away from her. "GET AWAY FROM US!" she screamed in an echoed tone, a wave of shadows throwing Allyn across the room and slamming his back into a mirror hanging from the wall opposite from her. She looked at her reflection in the broken mirror, her normally rosy skin turned a dark tan and her clothing slowly turning into cerulean colored armor. Allyn wasn't moving, a small pool of blood beginning to form at the back of his head. Luna covered her mouth as tears ran down her face in oceans. No, Allyn, she thought, No, I can't let Her hurt anypony else I love. Allyn lazily looked over towards Luna, still recovering from being slammed into a mirror, in time to see her spread her black wings and fly out of the Castle at near mock speed. He reached behind his head to where he flet the blood gushing from and focused his magic. He couldn't see it, but his Healing Transmutation circle form itself in the air between his hand and the wound in his skull. He stood up as two guards busted in the door of the bed chambers and looked over at Allyn. "Major Flynt," one of the guards stated, noticing the blood on the floor near Allyn. "I'm fine," he lied but he didn't have time for them to take him to the infirmary, "Tell Celestia to gather Princess Twilight and her friends as quickly as pony-ly possible." He held his hand out, causing Genies Hilt to fly into it like a lightsaber to a Jedi. He spun the weapon in his hand into Crescent Rose and pointed behind him. "Tell Celestia," Allyn said, looking at the two guards behind him, "That Princess Luna has become Nightmare Moon once more." And with that Allyn ran towards the balcony, jumping over the railing and falling only enough so as he couldn't hit anypony when he fired off Crescent Rose to propel himself after Luna. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight sat in her library, sipping a hot cup of coffee and recovering from last night's Gala. She had to admit; Allyn, Trixie, and them had put on quite the show last night. And Luna kissing Allyn was definitely a fun site to see, especially the reactions of the nobles freaking out at seeing somepony like Luna kissing a "rock-music playing ruffian," as some of the nobles said, like Allyn. Twi looked in the direction of the young dragon walking down the stairs in his purple and green boxers with a familiar fashionista's cutie mark pattern. The dragon yawned and said hello to Twilight as he walked past her and into the kitchen. he walked out of the kitchen a few seconds later holding a plate with a slice of the gem cake Allyn transmuted for him as Allyn's part of the bet they made. "Oh, can I have a bite," Twilight asked looking up from some notes on Transmutive Alchemy that Allyn lent her. She created a small fork out of magic and took a small part of the diamond cake, enjoying the sweet taste of the delicious gem. She was still confused as to how Allyn managed to make the three different gems transparent yet able to be cut by a cake-cuter revealing the layers of a normal, everyday cake. While Twi and Spike were enjoying their breakfast, Pinkie and AJ slammed open the door to the library. The looks on their faces were enough to terrify Twilight on the spot. Twilight and Spike ran outside to see what caused the reactions from AJ and Pinkie. "TWI," Rainbow Dash called from the sky. "What's going on, Rainbow Dash," Twilight asked. "I-" Rainbow Dash tried to explain, "I-I-I don't know how but, Princess Luna, she-she." "What happened," Spike asked, trying to calm Dash down to the point she could use actual words. "Did you girls see what me and Alois saw," Trixie asked as she and the young dragon girl ran towards the group already forming in front of the Golden Oaks Library. "CAN SOMEPONY TELL US WHAT THE BUCK IS GOING ON?!" Twilight screamed as she looked around at her friends. "Uh, Twilight," Spike said, holding a scroll that must of manifested itself amongst the chaos. Twilight picked up the scroll and read the letter to herself. Dear Princess Twilight, My guards have just informed me of a horrifying event; my sister, even after what you and your friends did to free her using the Elements of Harmony, has once again become Nightmare Moon. The guards that informed me said that Allyn was the first pony to see her in that form prior to, from what they say, charging after her via the air using a strange scythe-like weapon. They also say that Mr. Flynt was on his way towards Ponyville, so keep your eyes on the sky for what direction he could be going after Luna Without the Elements of Harmony, we will not be able to free my sister from her twisted form like before, so be careful. I shall be there soon my former student to aid both you and your friends, and Allyn. Princess Celestia "Luna! Wait!" Twilight heard Allyn's deep voice above her. She and the group around her looked up to see Allyn in the air chasing a black figure flying far faster than he was. Suddenly, his body seemed to jerk forwards as a loud BANG sounded from where he previously was in the sky. The figure slowed for a moment to turn and fire a black beam towards Allyn. Thinking quickly, Allyn turned Crescent Rose into Ember Celica and fire straight into the air. Propelling himself out of the way of the beam of black magic, but now he was falling towards the ground at a rapid speed. He quickly spun himself to where he looked like he was standing, teleported himself to ten feet off the ground, firing Ember Celica straight down this time to equal out the momentum of which he was falling to land nearly softly, yet still leaving a crater in the ground. He looked up to see Luna flying far off into the distance. He punched the ground with his unarmed fist and screamed at the top of his lungs in rage as Twilight, RD, AJ, Pinkie, Spike, Trix, and Alois ran up to the edge of the small hole in the ground. The group of ponies and dragons called down to Allyn, to which Allyn stood up and jumped easily eight feet into the air to land in front of them. "Is it true," Twilight asked frantically, "Is Princess Luna Nightmare Moon again." "Now hold on there fer a secon'," AJ said turning to Twilight, "Are y'ah sayin' that that black figure Allyn was some how flyin' aft'r was Princess Luna aft'r she somehow turned back inta Nightmare Moon?" "I thought we got rid of all that hatred after we used the Elements of Harmony on her after she returned from her thousand year banishment," Rainbow said looking back and forth between Allyn and Twilight. "As did I," Celestia's voice called from behind the group. they all turned to see Celestia standing with three pegasi guards landing beside her, "Allyn Flynt, are you sure, without a doubt, that my younger sister has returned to the monster she once was?" "I'm sorry Tia," Allyn said, hanging his head in shame, "But yes. And, I believe, it is by my fault." "What?!" Twilight, Trixie, Spike RD, AJ, Pinkie, and Alois said in one go. "What," Celestia tried to come up with the words to speak, "Wha-what makes you think that you are why she has returned to this form?" "Because," Allyn said, reaching into his back pocket, "Of this device." He held out his red Ipod, the screen showing to the cover of the Evanescence album with the title of the song 'Your Star' over it. "She asked to listen to some of my music," Allyn tried to explain as his throat began to choke up with rage towards himself, "And when I found her, she had the earbuds in her ears and this was on." Celestia put a hand on Allyn shoulder to calm him down. "Twi-" Allyn started to say before catching himself, "Princess Twilight." He managed to shock her by meaning the 'Princess' with sincerity for once. "Is the Castle of the Two Sisters that way?" Allyn asked, pointing in the direction of where he was flying before he nearly was shot out of the sky. "You think Luna is heading there?" Tia asked. "I'm not sure why," Allyn said, "But something is telling me that's where she definitely is going." "Then let us make haste," Celestia said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luna managed to keep her sanity long enough to fly from Canterlot to her and her sister's old Castle far into the Everfree Forest, surely this should be far enough away to keep everypony safe. She knelt deep inside her own mind, held captive by the familiar chains that tricked her into being this monster the first time over a thousand years ago. Like how she felt for a thousand years on the moon, all she could do now is watch through her eyes as somepony else controlled what she did and said. Meanwhile outside the Castle, Celestia teleported the large group of ponies, two dragons, and one human the opposite side of the cravats that lead down to the Tree of Harmony and the mysterious box. Allyn looked across the large crack in the earth towards the decade building that was once a grand fortress. He was about to run across the bridge to find Luna and bring her back safely, but Celestia stopped him as he took the first few steps. "Allyn, please," Celestia said, no longer trying to keep her bright demeanor in front of everyone, "Luna is my sister, I must confront her." "Why," He replied sharply, "Why do you have to be the one to go in." "Because I've already lost her once, I won't feel that pain again." Driven by pure rage, Allyn turned and slammed Celestia against a nearby tree, holding her up by her dress and keeping everyone else at bay by a ring fueled by magic energy and fury. "QUIT ACTING LIKE YOU'RE SO GODDAMN HIGH AND MIGHTY, THINKING YOU'RE THE ONLY FUCKING PERSON IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA FELT THE LOST OF YOUR YOUNGER SISTER! AT LEAST AFTER A THOUSAND YEARS, A SHORT TIME IN THE LIFE OF AN IMMORTAL, YOU GOT TO HAVE YOUR SISTER BACK! IN TEN YEARS, MY SISTER WILL STILL BE DEAD BECAUSE OF SOME DRUNK SON OF A WHORE WHO RAN HER OVER AND LEFT HER TO DIE IN THE ROAD LIKE SOME PATHETIC ANIMAL! SHE HAD HER WHOLE LIFE AHEAD OF HER AND ALL THAT BASTARD GOT WHEN THEY ARRESTED HIM WAS TWELVE FUCKING YEARS FOR NEGLIGENT HOMICIDE! IF ANYONE HAS TO DO THIS IT'S ME! I'M THE ONLY ONE HERE WHO CAN KNOWS BOTH HOW YOU FELT WHEN YOU BANISHED HER AND HOW SHE FELT LIVING UNDER HER OLDER SIBLING'S SHADOW!" Celestia saw the pain and sorrow that was in his eyes, even as tears made him unable to keep them open through his speech. The pain she felt when she had to do what she didn't want to do, but had to do a thousand years ago. Though she did know that Luna's banishment was going to be short in her life, the pain of watching so many ponies she grew to care for grow old and wither away in the flow of time as she waited for the last day of the spell to pass. And yet, the way he spoke was like the way Luna acted after Nighting Gale's death during the battle for the Crystal Empire, the way she always acted prior to that battle but Tia was too blind to see. "She was only 14," Allyn said, switching from throwing his rage at everything possible to bawling his eyes out, "I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to her before she passed." "Do you have a plan," Celestia asked, causing Allyn to look up in shock, "Do you have a plan?" "I-" He thought for a moment, he then set Celestia down gently, "Absolutely. I'm willing to bet my life on it working." "Then I trust you. Bring my sister back safely, for the three of us, and your sister." Allyn nodded before turning to Trixie and Alois, telling them that he had to do this alone and there was no negotiating. he then teleported his way across the cravat and walked through the large doors of the old castle. He made his way through the ruins of the ancient structure until he eventually came to the old throne room, where Nightmare Moon now sat upon the throne of Celestia. Nightmare Moon gawked at how foolish Allyn was for seeking her out alone. Allyn refused to reply, instead holding out Genies Hilt with one hand. "What do you intend to do with that stick," Nightmare Moon asked, "You think that will be enough for you alone to bring me down?" "This 'stick' as you put it," Allyn replied, "Is the only weapon I require to remove you from your host." Nightmare Moon stood up from her seat and sent a wave of black magic slicing into the ground near Allyn, sending a gust of wind to blow Allyn's hair and long coat blowing away from the spell's caster. It was at that second, that Allyn had never felt more like an Anime badass. Genies Hilt quickly transformed into a long katana with blue linen wrapping around the hilt with gold on its pommel and guard in an all white sheathe. "Then I guess we're starting," Allyn said, drawing the black blade of the katana from its sheathe,"BANKAI, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!" Allyn let slip the zanpakuto from his hands, fading into the ground and wrapping the entire castle in a dome of what looked like peach blossom pedals. "Nightmare Moon," He started, "A name that brings fear to the hearts of ponies everywhere. Yet for as terrifying as you are, you can't escape my Senbonzakura. And since it's just the two of us..." Allyn crouched down into a defensive stance, holding his hands up like a boxer before the bell rings, "Let's just see how tough you are." Nightmare Moon threw her hand out in rage, sending a wall of shadow towards Allyn and slamming into him with the force of a ten foot wave. Allyn flew backwards and rolled back to his feet in one fluid motion. Just as he recovered from the first attack, a large fist sucker punched him into the air where a second fist slammed him into the ground with the force to at the least crack a couple of Allyn's ribs. Get UP Allyn thought to himself, Dammit, Allyn, GET UP! To Luna's surprise, thanks, and sadly horror, Allyn managed to stand up and brushed the dust off his back. She watched as Nightmare Moon questioned Allyn on why and how he was able to stand back up after that attack. Allyn replied by tilting his head back and laughing. "After an attack like that," he started off saying, "I thought you were a powerful being, one stronger than Celestia. And yet your attack barely tickled me. Either the stories I've heard are false or you're holding back." "You little CUR!" Nightmare Moon said, throwing a dozen shadow spikes towards Allyn. Allyn wasn't fast enough to block the spikes and was pinned by his now bleeding arms to a nearby wall. Nightmare Moon flew into Allyn, digging her knee into Allyn's stomach and driving him through the solid stone brick wall into the next room. Allyn's body bounced off the floor and rolled as Nightmare walked through the now gaping hole in the wall. Allyn took a few seconds before struggling to stand again, holding his stomach in agony. He lazily put his hands up again, causing Nightmare Moon to laugh. "You don't seem to give up easily," she said. "We gonna talk," Allyn said, "Or you gonna fight me?" In her mental prison, Luna screamed and begged Allyn to stay down. She was in almost literal pain from watching Allyn be harmed by her hands. The sight she saw was almost worst than a thousand years ago when she saw herself shooting her sister out of the sky. Sadly, no matter how hard she screamed and how hard she cried, no words could escape the prison she was being held in. All she could do is cry and watch in horror as she attacked the stallion she loved over and over again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As time ran on outside the ruins of the once great castle, Celestia, Twilight, AJ, Trixie, RD, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Spike, Alois, and Celestia's two guards simply stood at the other side of the cravat. Their attention turned from the castle inclosed is peach blossoms to the Everfree forest when they heard another group of ponies running towards them. Rim Shot, Octavia Melody,Vinyl Scratch, Swiftstrike, and Derpy Hooves ran out of the forest and stopped in front of the first group and Princess Celestia. "Is it true?" Derpy asked. "It can't be," Vinyl asked also, "There's no way right?" "Where's Allyn," Rim asked, "Trixie's text had to have been wrong." Trixie and Alois looked at each other then stepped forward, Trixie shook her head and with it sank all five of their hearts in one blow. "So Princesse Luna," Octavia started, "Elle est vraiment..." "Allyn said it was his fault," Rainbow said. "That can't be true and we all know it," Rarity said sharply, "Allyn Flynt may have lied to some of us when we first met him, but there is absolutly no possible way somepony as kind and helpful as he is could have been behind Princess Luna turning back into Nightmare Moon." "Well why is no one with him," Swift spoke up, "And what's with that pink bubble around the Castle?" "It's to keep Luna from escaping," Celestia said "It's an attack called Senbonzakura Kagayoshi," Trixie explained, "It scatters a single blade into a thousand shards, then turns that into a flurry that eviscerates whatever the user wants. With an added magical property that block teleportation spells of anykind from entering or exiting it." "Well if we can't teleport in there," Rim started, "Then why don't we just fly in there. Come on Allyn needs our help." "Don't," Twilight warned them. "Remember when those Timberwolves started getting really close to the construction of manner," Trixie explained further, "Well one night they actually attacked the three of us. Allyn used this attack to trap the five timberwolves in a cyclone and shred them to splinters. That's what this attack does on a physical level, it looks like peach blossoms but those blades can shred whatever it touches; rock, wood, pony, anything." "So you're saying," Vinyl said, her words falling as she made the connection. Twilight put her head down, "He put up the barrier so that Nightmare Moon couldn't escape, and so we couldn't aid him." Just as Twilight finished, a loud scream could be heard coming inside the pink bubble that was the Castle of the Two Sisters. Rim, Swift, Vinyl, Octavia, Alois, and Derpy tried to come to Allyn's aid, only to be held back by everypony else. They yell at each other why they were wrong, either by trying to help Allyn or to let him fight alone. "SILENCE, ALL OF YOU!" Celestia said in her Royal Equestrian Voice. Not even Twilight had ever seen Celestia use that tone with anypony. They all looked at Celestia, who's fist were clentched, head was tilted down in distraught, and tears were falling to the ground. She reposed herself and looked at the large group of ponies. "Until that spell is lifted and Allyn Flynt and my sister walk out of there," she spoke sternly to prove her point, "Anypony who attempts to aid Allyn in anyway, shall be considered a traitor to Equestria and arrested on the spot. That applies to my guards too, is that clear." Everyone took a second to process the order from Celestia before they broke apart and continued to watch the peach blossom shield. Allyn you son of a bitch, Rim thought to himself, You had better come out of this alive. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dammit, Allyn thought to himself, the pain over his body making it harder and harder for him to stand up after each attack. But he couldn't stop, even if it cost his life, he had to get as close to Luna as possible if he wanted his plan to work. His distraction from the fight made him open for Nightmare Moon to slip in one quick attack, wrapping his right leg with a shadow tentacle and pulling him towards her. "Let's see you stand up after this," She said as he approached her. She grabbed his leg and drove her fist and gauntlet down onto Allyn's knee joint, resulting in an audible "SNAP!" Allyn didn't have time to scream in agony before Nightmare Moon slammed him in the face with the back of her elbow, sending him flying towards and through a bookshelf of the library they were currently fighting in. Allyn lay there is shock for a moment as he looked down to see a chunk of wood driven in his stomach and his leg bent completely backwards. He saw his reflection in the blood that was quickly pooling around him on the floor, he saw as his eyes dawned their Sharingan. Though one thing was different from the Sharingan's style, this was different from the one he saw when he was with Chrysalis, this one was more... Evil looking "Is that it," Nightmare Moon asked, watching Allyn lie on the smashed bookshelf with the broken leg and stab wound, "Will you finally die? Pathetic, even Sister put up more of a fight that you." "What," Allyn spoke, his voice soft and shallow, "What do you intend on doing, gah, after you defeat m-me? Wi-will you, gah, kill Tia and... turn day into eternal night?" Nightmare Moon laughed at the dying pony's question, what a fool. Of coarse she was, and he knew it, so there was no point to him asking in the first place. Still, she decided to humor a dying pony. Only because part of her still had a heart for the worm. "Yes," she said, "For that is the reason I was created. From the solitude felling of seeing everpony sleep during thy most beautiful night, to show the world the glory of my night, and if they refused it, then to make them love it." The worm, for whatever idea he had in his failing brain, laughed at her response. She looked at him, trowing false daggers at him with her vision. "You were created because you believe the ponies of Equestria shun your night and love Celestia more because they sleep though it," he asked, to Nightmare Moon's surprise pushing himself onto his remaining leg, "What a terrible excuse for a joke behind the reason for one to exist." "And why is that?" Nightmare Moon said, trying to keep what composure she had for the whelp talking down to her. He looked her in the eye, drilling through her shell. Allyn saw her, Luna trapped in chains as her body was used as a puppet to a force of evil. He also saw the thousand years of sorrow, pain, and regret surrounding Luna. His Sharingan allowed him to see her, and he quickly came up with a new plan off of his original to free Luna. "For we already loveth thy night," He said in a calm tone, causing Nightmare Moon to step back in confusion and fear, "We sleepth through it because we instinctively loveth thou and thy night, and we trust thee to watchth over us as we sleep. The same way a newborn foal knowth to trust its mother to watch over it as a babe, we ponies knowth that thou shall watch over us and protect us from whatever wishes harm upon us. Trust and Love, that is why we sleepth through thy most beautiful night." He pulled himself out of the bookshelf and slowly began to lift his right fist behind him, his arm bent at a ninety-degree angle. "And that," He continued, "Is why I shall not raise hand in harm against you. Because the mare I love is still within you, and for her, I WILL ENDURE ANY PAIN YOU THROW AT ME!" He drilled his own fist into his right leg, breaking it back to the correct direction and causing him to scream in agony and drop to the floor in pain. Luna watched in horror as Allyn spoke to her, not Nightmare Moon. As if he could see though the shell of her body to reach her. He was willing to do harm to himself rather than lift one finger to hurt her, while she was stabbing, slashing, slamming, and doing so much harm to him. She couldn't watch anymore, she dropped her head and squeezed her eyes shut and wept for him. "Save your tears my love," Allyn said, "At least for long enough for me to save you." She opened her eyes with surprise, was he really looking at her in this prison. She looked up to see him smile at her, blood was running down half of his face, his right leg was broken, he was impaled by a large chunk of wood, and he still didn't give up on his love for her. "Al-Allyn," she managed to choke out, "Can you really see me?" He held up his index finger, with his thumb held out to the side. "You'll be free of those chains soon my Princess," Allyn said, "And I promise on my name; you will never be a slave to them for as long as I live." "Enough of this weakling talk," Nightmare Moon said, throwing out her arm to summon a blade, "You promise for as long as you live, well allow me to make that promise quick." Nightmare Moon flew towards Allyn, blade at the ready, and all he did was stand up and hold his arms out, opening himself fully to the sword. He was willing to die rather than defend himself from her, even as she was being controlled. As she flew towards him, ready to end his life, one thing pushed her over the edge, and she ached and thrashed to be free of these chains. Allyn's lips moved without sound, but those three words seemed to roar in Luna's ears. I... Forgive you Luna pushed forwards in her prison, screaming his name as loud as she could as she moved forward. The chains that had held her prisoner to her evil thought broke from her will and she flew forwards towards Allyn, dropping the sword and embracing him in her arms. He caught Luna and steadied them before they fell to the floor, her crying into his shoulder. He began to smile because she was safe, but she still looked like her. But he had planned for this possibility, he began to lightly hum a song that he figured might aid her recovery. The snow glows white on the mountains tonight, only heartbreak to be seen. In this kingdom of isolation, it would seem that you're its queen. The wind is howling like that swirling storm inside, You couldn't keep it in and heaven knows you tried. You didn't let them in, you didn't let them see. The monster you were growing to be. Your pain grew real, to much to deal, To much to know. So now let go. Let it go, Let it go, you can't hold it back anymore. Let it go, Let it go, turn your back and shut that door. But here I stand, and here I'll stay. Just let it go, Please let it go, You night's never bothered me anyway. It's funny how some distance, can make anything seem small. The monster that once controlled you, can't get to you at all. I look into your saddened stare, 'n I finally can see. If you look around you'll find, that there must be a time to grieve. So Let it go, Let it go, Don't hold it back anymore. Let it go, Let it go, Turn your back and slam that door. But here I'll stand! And here I'll stay! Please Let it go, Let it go, Just let the sadness wash away. 'N if you're standing, frozen, In the life you've chosen. Then I swear, on my breath. To wipe away, all of your regret. I just need you to know. Allyn slowly lifted the steel helmet off of Luna's head, letting her hair flow free. He threw the helmet far off to the side where it turned to ashes and faded away in the wind. He held her chin up and looked her deeply in the eyes as he made one of his unbreakable "Allyn Flynt Promises." No matter what I forgo, I'll stay by your side forevermore I'll let your beauty show, Like the way you were before Here I stand, in the light of day! And if your storm rages on, then by your side is where I will stay "I swear to you,' He spoke calmly and clearly, as if God himself was writing down his words to keep, "No matter what happens, I will protect you from any force that wishes to bring you harm; be it demon, pony, or even yourself. And if that means I should die doing so, then I want you to grieve and move on. Do not hold on to my memory to ease your pain, for I know that it only makes the pain worse. There are many ponies you will meet in your life, if I die protecting you; then find the next man that makes you happy for every day that you live, and love him as much as you love me or loved Nighting Gale." He brought his lips to hers, holding her close to him as he felt her turn back into her normal self. Though he could not see the phenomenon for himself, Nightmare Moon slowly turned into a black smoke that steamed off of Princess Luna and disappeared into nothingness. After a minute, Allyn stood up with Luna in his arms and returned Genies Hilt to his hip with his magic. Outside, everypony stood waiting for who would step out of the Castle of the Two Sisters first; Allyn and Luna, or Nightmare Moon. The ancient door to the castle began to glow a light gray and opened themselves to a limping Allyn, covered in his blood and carrying Luna in his arms holding on to him. Allyn looked across the cravat and smiled at their friends, causing them to start cheering and hugging each other in joy. Celestia flew over the gap and landed in front of Allyn and Luna, tears running down her face. She smiled to the man and bowed, thanking him with all of her heart. "ALLYN!" Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Alois, Trixie, Rim Shots, Octavia Melody, Vinyl Scratch, Swiftstrike, and Ditzy Do all yelled at once as the large group ran towards the human. He set Luna on her feet just before he was the center of a colossal group hug with the laughing, cheering, applauding ponies. "Are you okay," Derpy asked. "Dude, you look like crap," Rim said. "It is good to see you're safe," Twilight added. "Oh darling, that coat of yours is just shot," Rarity said, "But don't worry, I'll make you another, a better coat. just like this one." "I can't believe you fought Nightmare Moon alone and won," Spike said. "Well actually," Allyn said, holding his right knee, "I didn't fight Nightmare Moon." His words caused the ponies to grow looks of confusion over their faces. "I never raised one hand against Luna, or Nightmare Moon," Allyn said. "Well then," AJ wondered, "How'd ya win?" "Well," Allyn said, "Luna is the pony that won against Nightmare Moon. I just acted as her tool to aid her in doing so." Everypony looked towards Luna, hoping for an answer. "Well," Luna said, blushing slightly, "Yes. If Allyn hadn't had refused to strike me as Nightmare Moon, then I might still be trapped as her, only then Allyn would be feeling anger towards himself for hurting me. His love is what gave me the strenght to break free of Nightmare Moon's hold over me." "Aw come on Ally boy," Rim said, slapping Allyn on the back where Allyn had been slammed through a lot of pillars, "First you're living with a bombshell like Trixie, then that thing on your B-day you didn't say anything about, and now you're dating Princess Luna?" "Can you at least try and leave of of the single mares in Equestria for the rest of us," Swift said before thinking about something, "Wait, what happened on your birthday?" > The Monster inside Man > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 13 The Monster inside Man Nightmare Night in the Crystal Empire, three months after Luna turned back into Nightmare Moon and two after the events of Tirek's return. Shining Armor and Princess Cadence had set up a make shift carnival in the same stadium that the Equestria Games, a throne for both themselves and Allyn and Luna near the torch. The young fillies and colts in costume walked or ran from booth to booth with their parents, eventually ending with a chance to get autographs from 'Nightmare Moon' herself and a famous rockstar. While Cadence was dressed up like Celestia, even going to the point of having a wig that looked like Tia's, Shining was almost lazily wearing his full Royal Guard armor including helmet and a dulled spear. Luna went as the pony this night was named for, which worried Allyn to the point of him repeatedly asking her to go as something else, but she repeatedly told him that she was just doing it for the fouls and that it was only make-up and plastic fangs. Allyn on the other hand stuck out like a sore thumb in his Jack Skellington costume, including a bald cap and face paint. "How are you enjoying the carnival and the Crystal Empire, Captain Flynt," Shining Armor asked while Allyn and Luna were signing autographs. "Oh just loving it, Prince Armor," Allyn replied in a snarky tone, not wanting to do anything too offensive while in front of young children. "I, um," Armor tried to keep a smile on his face, "I prefer Shining or Captain, not Prince." "And I prefer Allyn," Allyn snapped back, "I'm not a Captain. I don't deserve that title." "It's alright, Allyn," Luna said, holding Allyn's arm, "You are more than deserving of the title Sister gave you." "But I promised you that I would protect you," Allyn said looking at her, "I couldn't keep that promise for one month before failing you." Cadence looked over at Allyn, "Please, you did the best you could do. Tirek was too strong for even Celestia to handle by that point, that's why we transferred our magic to Twilight." "And besides," Shining Armor, "With the stories the guards tell you're more than worthy of this rank." Allyn didn't want to think back to what happened to him on that dark day, what he did. He clenched his pants in his fist with the terror he brought himself. Luna wrapped her arm around him and pulled him close to her, calming him slightly. "You managed, not only to run from the front gates to the throne room after your magic was taken away when ponies like Shining Armor and even Tia and I could barely stand after the same thing happened to us," Luna reminded Allyn, "But you fought both Tirek and Discord for almost twenty minutes. I know that you promised to protect me, and even if Tirek threw us into Tartarus, I'm safe now. And that's because you were able to hold off Tirek long enough for Princess Twilight to be able to defeat him." He wasn't mad that he couldn't protect Luna, thought that was but a small part of it, he was more horrified about the battle. Horrified by the monster he became. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The two State Alchemists stood near the front gate of Canterlot Castle, Allyn Flynt and Trixie Lulamoon. They, along with eight members of the Royal Guard, waited for Tirek and Discord to attack. Allyn checked his watch, then looked to the sky. "Shouldn't it be morning," Allyn asked, looking at the stars of the night sky out at almost 9 in the morning. As if someone had missed some hidden cue, the night sky was quickly replaced by a sun out of control. That or drunk by the way it flew back and forth through the sky. "That's," Trixie added, "Slightly better." "I do say," a voice called out, causing the eight guards ready their spears and the two alchemists throw their arms back in preparation for a quick transmutation, "Celestia must be pretty focused on us if she let her job slip for this long." A long, slithering beast like a zoo had been put into a blender and turned on stood next to a fifteen foot high Centaur/bull hybrid that looked straight out of the Bible's depiction of one of Satan's spawns. The two monstrosities towered over the gate to the Castle. Allyn quickly reached for Genies Hilt, spinning it around his neck and turning it into Hozukimaru. "Ten ponies," Tirek's booming voice called out, "You're all that the three Alicorn Princesses put in charge of the front gate?" Allyn and Trixie looked at each other, remembering their orders from Celestia not to say a word about Twilight if Tirek didn't already bring her up. The two alchemists stepped back, holding their golden lighters at the ready. "Don't underestimate the power of ten trained soldiers of the Royal Guard," Trixie said. "Two State Alchemists are more than enough to handle you," Allyn finished Trixie's statement. Tirek gave a menacing smirk, "Then your magic must be strong." He opened his jaw and began to inhale, the orange mist coming off the ponies as their magic was starting to be taken away starting to float towards the Colossus. This was their only shot, and Allyn took it. "NOW!" He and Trixie struck their lighters, Trixie aiming for Tirek's mouth while Allyn did the same and continued around Discord's head. The three explosions, going off at almost the same time, struck Tirek straight in the throat and caused his to cough from the burns. Discord was slightly less knocked off balance by the attack, simply grabbing the ring of fire in his lion and bird hands and crumpled the flames up like paper. Allyn quickly turned to his troops, '"Split up! Don't let them take you by surprise." The ten guards ran for cover in different directions, readying for a counterattack. Allyn ran, using Hozukimaru in the fashion of an Olympic pole vaulter, and gained as much height as he could on Tirek. He spun around in the air, with the range of the zanpakuto, and intended to slice the monster's main means of crippling his troops. All the attack managed to do would be less than a paper cut on a normal human, but Allyn was too determined to give up yet. He swapped out the sansetsukon for something he had a little less knowledge for, 3DM Gear. Allyn used the strange technology to swing around the large beast's chest and hopefully catch it from behind, though his lack of knowledge with the tool left him wide open. Tirek, having seen Allyn fly around as he gaged on the initial attack, reach behind himself and grabbed the insect sized human, throwing him into the Castle. Allyn screamed at the pain of his spine and many other bones breaking as he bounced off the stone wall and fell to the dirt. Trixie quickly transmuted a large group of cannons out of the ground, firing them at Discord and Tirek as she ran over to her master. He was still breathing, though labored, but he didn't seem to be moving. Trixie began to try to fuse his broken bones together again. She was almost complete when what seemed like a cannon ball slammed into the castle wall near where the two were lying. She recovered quickly and spun around to see Discord spinning three more cannon balls in the air over his hand. "Tsk, tsk, tsk," Discord judged, "You should really make your cannons hit their targets before turning your back to them." He sent another cannon ball flying, giving Trixie barely enough time to transmute a half dome barrier around her and Allyn. The stone sphere slammed into the barrier, smashing it to chunks that slid off the magic bubble Trixie created at the last second. Unfortunetly, the combinations of having some of her magic stolen, the rapid chain of transmutations, and the bubble shield caused Trixie to become extremely weak with Discord still having two shots left. Trixie and Allyn began to float into the air by their necks, pulled by Tirek's magic. Trixie struggled against the spell, but had almost no energy left to fight. She looked at Allyn, still unresponsive from being slammed into the wall, then at the group of Guards, whom had already fallen victims to Tirek. "Say farewell," Tirek said, holding his prey in front of his face, "To you precious magic." Allyn opened his eyes, held his left arm out while reinforced by his right arm, and aimed his readied Thunder Spell straight into Tirek's left eye. With the sound of a loud explosion, and the screaming of a giant, Allyn and Trixie were now free of Tirek's spell holding them. Allyn threw down a soft bubble shield to catch Trixie and himself before they hit the ground, making a comedic 'Pop' when they were about three feet off the ground. "You okay," Allyn asked Trixie. "I'm weak," she panted out, "But fine." Allyn stood up and turned to Discord and the one eyed Tirek. Tirek screaming at Discord, asking how Discord didn't see Allyn charge up the Thunder Spell. Allyn looked to where he had been slammed against the wall, holding out his hand as Genies Hilt flew towards him. He swung his arm around, crouching down as he turned, and aimed Magnhild in between the giants. Three shots; one to blind the two, one in Tirek's chest, and one at Discord's legs. As the succession of explosions hit their targets, Allyn ran towards Tirek, spinning the grenade launcher into its War hammer alternate form. Allyn jumped higher than he, or any human, had jumped before, preparing for one last attack. He flew through the air when his weapon came to a sudden stop without him. Tirek grabbed Allyn out of the air again, this time not allowing him to recover. Tirek inhaled the remaining magic out of Allyn, squeezing with every second he held the unicorn. With the combination of pain, exhaustion, and having his magic stolen, Allyn lost conciseness and fell from Tirek's large hand. Trixie crawled over to Allyn, shaking him and screaming for him to get up. She continued to scream at the human as Discord's tail wrapped around her and pulled her away from him. Her voice died out as Tirek took her magic from her. Equestria's only State Alchemists had been defeated. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's it? You're finished? That voice, where was it coming from? All Allyn could see was blackness, yet the voice sounded like it was right in front of him. In fact, it sounded like him. The voice called out again, repeating itself but this time sounding more angered. That's it!? You're giving up!? He tried to move, his entire body inflamed in pain. Even breathing hurt. The darkness seemed to brighten slightly when a pinhole of light began to shine at Allyn, the miniscule amount of light warming his body. What about your friends back on Earth? Allyn thought about it, the light growing from a pinhole to a small dot. He would have liked to see his friends, his family, everything he left behind on Earth one last time. The small light was about the size of a basketball now and growing. What about Trixie? And Alois? Rim, Vinyl, Octavia, Swift? What about the friends you've made here? He was sure they'd mourn him, his breath slowing more and more. The light the size of a yoga ball, then like an approaching car. If this was heaven welcoming him, he seemed highly calm with the end. What about Luna? Are going to break your promise to her? Allyn's eyes shot open, almost blinding himself from looking straight up at the sun. The pain returning all at once, causing him to spasm in agony. He rolled over to his stomach as Trixie and the other guards, all of whom were leaning or sitting against the wall near Allyn, look at him with surprise and joy. "Allyn!" Trixie said, her tired voice trying to display relief. "Glad to see you're alive," one of the older guards said, his gray beard sticking out of his helmet. "You were touch and go there, sir," another guard said, this one a female pegasus. You're awake, the voice continued to bark at Allyn, Do you want a medal that says 'Congrats for not dying?' GET THE HELL UP, YOU BASTARD! Allyn, now equally as pissed off at the voice as it was at him, yelled as he stood up. He stood, the wind blowing pass him as if to applaud his triumph over Death's grasp. Now not even pain was on his mind. He ran as hard as his legs could take him towards Tirek and Discord. The guards and Trixie watched him, the guards impressed by his tenacity. "How can he run after that," one of the guards asked. "Because the answer is simple," Trixie said closing her eyes and sliding down the wall, "Allyn Flynt has spent most of his life without the need of magic..." She smiled as she looked at the destruction that Allyn and her caused to stop Tirek and Discord. "Why the hell would that stop him now." As Allyn ran towards the throne room, following the path of fallen ponies, the only thing he thought was his promise to Luna. He slid around the corner, grabbing a sword as he slid in case Genies Hilt was useless without his magic. When he finally made it to the throne room, the sight he saw felt like his chest was blasted through by a tank. Tirek, standing in front of Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. Behind Discord and Tirek, a portal revealing what looked like Hell itself. Allyn watched as the three Princesses were pulled into the portal, Luna having noticed him at the last second and screaming his name. As soon has he had watched the event, the portal, and Luna, was gone. Allyn dropped the sword, falling to his knees as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. His head fell as he realized he had lost another person he loved, as he realized had failed to keep his promise a second time in his life. He understood now how Death the Kid felt about asymmetry, but this was much less funny than what that cartoon character made it look. "Oh, too bad, Allyn my boy," Discord rested his elbow on the defeated Allyn Flynt, a devious smirk across his goat head, "You missed dear, sweet Luna by that much. But look, on the bright sides; she won't be alone this time around with the whole 'banishment' thing, and she can't be in any worse danger while she spends eternity in the deepest pit in Tartarus." Discord flinched back with a stinging pain in his avian elbow, similar to one burning themselves on a hot oven. Discord looked at Allyn in confusion with a hint of fear, Allyn's body twitching with sorrow and hate. The thing that kept Tirek's attention, the fact that he knew that he had taken this unicorn's magic and yet dark gray magic energy was bubbling from his horn. Allyn kept his head down as his arms slowly lifted behind his head, like claws on a creature ready to pounce. Discord, God of Chaos, a monster whose form could strike fear, was horrified as to what this lone pony was going to do to him. Discord stood by Tirek, who looked equally as confused as Discord yet showed no fear with his immense power. "You bastards," Allyn's voice choked out, the sound making seem like Fluttershy was a lead singer in a Norwegian Death Metal band, "I swear..." Allyn shot his head up as hundreds of golden glyphs formed out of thin air, every glyph aimed at Tirek and Discord. Allyn's eye, from what it looked like to Discord and Tirek, twisted itself into some heinous form. His copper iris seemed to bleed red as his pupil warped and mangled around to make a terrifying design that matched his rage. "I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!" Allyn threw his arms down, firing hundreds upon hundreds of swords, spears, daggers, axes, any and every weapon Allyn could think of at the two Gods. The space around them quickly clouded itself in the dust of the explosions. Allyn stopped the attack after a few seconds to see if his prey was dead. The dust cleared, Tirek had placed a shield around himself and Discord that was near shredded by blades. Damn, Allyn was too slow. This time, a shield wasn't going to stand in his way. Nothing will. A new glyph formed behind Allyn, firing out only one sword; Tensa Zangetsu. Allyn grabbed the sword with incredible speed, readying for his next attack nigh instantly. To Tirek and Discord, now fearing for their lives, Allyn's horn seemed to be lit ablaze by gray fire as a violet hazed streamed from his green and red eyes. "Tenshou," Allyn needed only the one word to send the wave of dark energy to shatter the remnants of Tirek's shield. Just as the wave smashed through the shield, Allyn was ready with a second attack. Lightning sparked off Allyn's palm as he hovered directly in front of Tirek's chest, shards of Tirek's shield still hanging in the air. "Chidori!" Allyn slammed his palm into Tirek's chest, sending the colossal beast through the Castle wall. Allyn turned his head towards the traitor, the animal could no longer be controlled. Allyn stood in the air, easily ten feet in the air, as two dragon wings seemed to pour from Allyn's back in a form that matched a black sludge. "So what will the quick-witted Discord come up with today," Allyn asked, a smile on his face that Satan himself would fear. For the first time his long life, Discord was too horrified to even speak. All the draconequus could do is whimper. "P-p-ple-please," Discord managed to spit out. "Is," Allyn said, "Is the great Discord begging for his life?" Allyn laughed, but unlike his usual hearty laugh, this matched his dark nature. Allyn threw his left arm out, its usual shape dismantled and replaced with a monstrosity of a blade. "Sorry, but that's not an option any more," Allyn said, folding what was his arm in front of his face. Before he could realize what hit him, Allyn was sent flying by a blast of magic energy. Allyn, using the blade on his arm to slow his speed, looked at what had attacked him. Tirek walked back through the Tirek-shaped hole in the wall, looking at the worm in the form of a draconequus. "You're alive still," Allyn asked, slightly disappointed. "You're strong," Tirek replied, "But one pony isn't enough to beat me with the power in my possession." A sinister smile came across Allyn's face. His arm returned to its natural form, his hand copying a combination that was muscle memory to him at this point. "One's not enough huh," Allyn said, a spark flew off of the fire on his horn and landing to the left of him, "How about two?" With a puff of smoke, a perfect copy of Allyn stood beside him. The clone matched Allyn perfectly, from the contortion of his iris and pupil to the tears in his clothing. The copy matched even to the rage in Allyn's voice. "Or three," the copy continued. Another spark fell off of Allyn's horn, landing to his right and forming another perfect copy. The three Allyns spoke as one. "Or thirty." An explosion of smoke shrouded the entry to the Throne Room as now a crowd of Allyn clones stood before Tirek and Discord. The giants watched in fear as one pony, in the form of many, repeated the pattern one last time. Tirek, the monster that Celestia and Luna feared, was on the verge of buckling in terror at the sight of Allyn Flynt. "MAYBE A HUNDRED!?" An army of one hundred stood in perfect rows, every Allyn holding the same hand sign in front of their face. The men lowered their arms in unison, their arms transforming back into the large blades. As if some yelled the order, the army charged at the giants at full sprint. Tirek fired a beam of magic into the tsunami of clones, destroying some and blasting other off their feet. Discord sent a cloud of Chaos magic into the crowd, which imploded a small group. No matter what the two did to the clones, their numbers never seemed to diminish in size. The real Allyn, the only Allyn, stood in the middle of an empty Throne Room. He watched as Tirek and Discord swung and shot at imaginary hordes of copies of Allyn Flynt. His genjustu had worked perfectly, now he waited for the perfect moment to strike. Allyn preformed another hand sign, summoning two orbs of swirling, blue energy. Discord noticed as one Allyn was different than the others, this one had arms. Allyn charged towards the monsters, the orbs aimed straight ahead. Discord roared at Allyn, the thunderous roar sending out visible ripples towards Allyn. Allyn stopped and thrust the orbs towards the ripples, sending them back at Discord and Tirek in an explosion. Allyn slid backwards after the explosion, using his hands like an animal's claws. Meanwhile, Discord and Tirek were separated and disoriented after the explosion and the return of Discord's visible shockwaves. Allyn slammed his knee into the ground, his arms across his chest, as the Buster Sword and Masamune shot out of two glyphs. "EX-" Allyn said, the blades beginning to glow gold, "-CALIBAR!" The Centaur and Draconequus were sent flying by the, thought to be, unstoppable attack. Allyn stood to his feet, the two colossal blades resting against the floor. Allyn, his rage at a point where it was beyond berserk and wrapped around itself to return his psyche to a calm sense, walked after Discord. Discord, still dazed after the counter to his own attack, slithered the hedges around the Royal Garden when he heard Allyn's voice. Discord still tried to figure how Allyn had done that trick with the infinite copies of himself. Discord held his breath as Allyn walked pass the hedges he was hiding behind, a tactic that failed him. With a single 'Click' the hedges were ablaze with the flames from Allyn's lighter. Allyn summoned a glyph to shoot up a saber as Discord, in a desperate attempt to hit Allyn, swung at him with his lion's claw. Allyn parried the paw with ease, continuing to a slash across the monster's hand. Discord screamed in pain as blood spilled from the wound, but Allyn was far from over yet. Allyn was going to make Discord beg for death long before this was over. Allyn spun the blade in his hand then sliced at Discord's stomach, chest, and arm, hitting all three. Allyn stabbed Discord in the arm, pulling the blade through the muscle and bone. Allyn tossed the saber into the air, a glyph swapping out the saber for Typhoon Swell. Allyn spun around, flipping the blade to a reverse grip. One slice to the leg and the coward was on the ground. Allyn had done what few ponies even questioned if it was possible to conceive doing, Discord's equine leg was cut clean... Well, "clean" isn't the word anyone else would use. Allyn walked towards Discord's head, the katana against his back as he avoided the puddle of blood forming the point where Discord's left leg was. Allyn pointed the blade of the weapon between Discord's eyes, his expression as blank as marble. Discord looked at the man who stood over him. The stranger looked and sounded like Allyn Flynt, but the way it spoke, the way it acted, and the way it showed no mercy was nothing like the unicorn he had met months ago. Another thing that was different from Allyn, this animal had magic, when he saw Tirek steal everything from Allyn firsthand. "How," Discord tried to speak, the fear and shock controlling his voice, "Y-y-your magic. I saw Tirek." Allyn stabbed the katana into Discord's shoulder. "You know what," Allyn interrupted, "Even though it belongs to John de Lancie, who I enjoy as an actor, your voice has always ANNOYED ME!" Allyn dug the blade deeper into Discord's muscles and tissue. "You betrayed us," Allyn continued, "You are unworthy of having friends like Twilight and Fluttershy." Allyn was sent flying by a beam of magic before he could remove a second limb from the draconequus. Tirek leaned against the hole in the castle wall, holding his left arm to his right shoulder. Tirek jumped out of the Throne Room and walked over to Discord. "What happened to stealing all of his magic," Discord demanded as he mended his leg back to his hip. "I did," Tirek replied, looking at Discord in horror, "This isn't his magic." "YOU!" Allyn yelled at Tirek. Allyn pulled himself out of the wall, landing on one knee. He looked at Tirek, his mangled eyes and horn lit ablaze by unholy magic fire both burning at the same rate as when he started this fight. Tirek readied another beam of magic, this time he intended to kill Allyn Flynt. Allyn was equally ready with a spell that needed half the time, yet had five times the power. Allyn opened his mouth as the magic glowed out from his throat. "Yol," Allyn said, "Toor, SHUL!" A ring of fire shot out of Allyn's throat, turning into a serpent that slithered at breakneck speed to Tirek. Tirek took the fire square to the face, burning his already red face. Tirek turned and fired his magic at Allyn, whom was ready for the attack but not what followed. Tirek grabbed Allyn through the magic flames and slammed him, repeatedly, into the ground before throwing him into the mountain. Allyn was momentarily stunned, more than enough to finish the battle. Tirek appeared and slammed his whole body into the mountain with Allyn's body in direct center of the crater. Tirek then proceeded to repeatedly punch Allyn, the crater growing larger and larger with each strike. Allyn's now bloody and unconscious body fell down the crater, rolling down the mountain before Tirek's magic grabbed him by the throat. Tirek threw Allyn into Canterlot, Allyn's body slamming through multiple office buildings. Allyn bounced off the concrete and asphalt as he finally slowed down, creating a ditch down the middle of the street near the Canterlot Station. Allyn, parts of his skeleton exposed as his flesh hung off of him from being turned into a rag doll, attempted to sit up in the ditch dug by his corpse. Tirek appeared in front of Allyn, firing off five separate burst of magic into Allyn's chest. Before Tirek could fire off a sixth and seventh beam, Discord grabbed onto Tirek. "Enough!" Discord said, turning to the lone being in the universe who had managed to do physical harm to him, "I don't think he's getting back up again anytime soon." Allyn's horn had returned to its normal form, the inferno of magic was extinguished. His breath was nearly nonexistent, blood falling from his mouth three drops at a time. Allyn Flynt was broken, his will had been destroyed. "Indeed," Tirek said, turning back towards Canterlot Castle, "It's a miracle that his body is still noticeable after what I did." Tirek and Discord disappeared from the station, leaving only silence. After a few moments, making sure that both demons were gone, a few ponies ran out from cover and jumped into the ditch. Rim Shot was the first pony to reach Allyn. "Holy shit man," Rim said, looking over the body of his friend. He placed his hand against Allyn's wrist, looking for any sign that Allyn was still alive. After a couple of seconds, Rim called up to the ponies on the ridge to help Allyn get to the hospital as quickly as possible. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I am deeply sorry, Allyn Flynt," Nighting Gale apologized. Both he and Allyn sat in total darkness, their auras giving off the only light. "The Fear from Sombra's scythe wound did not seem to have worn off after a thousand years of being stuck in limbo," Gale continued, his hand at the slash in his breastplate. "When I had my magic taken away," Allyn started, "Yours took over, and the Dark Magic mixed with the Light. That's why I was able to open the Gates of Babylon, able to preform those ninjustu and genjustu attacks?" "I believe so." "All of that rage," a shiver ran down Allyn's back, "I felt so right doing those things to Tirek and Discord. I'm no better than they are." Nighting Gale put his hand on Allyn's shoulder, "This is my fault, you are innocent to my crimes." "But it was my body," Allyn shot back, "My hand! MY attacks!" Gale sighed, the loss of Luna meant the same to both men. Nighting Gale took a small necklace, a small glass orb containing nothing more than a small twinkling speck in a cloud of black smoke. He placed the necklace over Allyn's head, letting it hang gently against his neck. "This small vial," Nighting Gale told Allyn, "Contains a star. One that fell on the first night of Celestia and Luna's rule. Luna caught it for me and placed it in this vial, saying that her love shall last longer than this star will live. My time to carry this star is long over. So I, Nighting Gale, First Captain of Luna's Royal Guard, give this to you, Allyn Flynt, First Alchemist of Luna's Royal Guard." Allyn held the small star in his hand, the glass resting against his silver and turquoises ring. He lightly wrapped his fingers around the pendant. He looked up at his ancient reflection, their features matching perfectly. "I thank you," Allyn said. "No," Nighting Gale replied, "I thank you, for letting our Luna know love again. She could not be in more perfect hands than yours." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What," Princess Celestia tried to understand what the doctor watching over Allyn was trying to say to her, "What do you mean? How is that even possible?" "Well," Doctor Crutch explained as he rested his cane against the table and held the medical clipboard, "Mr. Flynt appeared to have a sum total of over nine hundred broken bones, all of which had complete remodeling. Every muscle seemed to simultaneously rip itself from his bones and yet fuse back them. His throat, inner mouth, vocal cords, and lungs looked like they had recently recovered from beyond third degree burns. His heart showed strains from experiencing fifty heart attacks." The doctor put the clip board down and walked over to the window looking in on Allyn on his hospital bed, and his friends sitting around him. Luna held Allyn's hand, gently stroking it back and forth with her thumb. Dr. Crutch sighed and looked back at Celestia. "If you were in the same situation that that unicorn was in," Dr. Crutch continued, "I would say that you surviving would be a miracle. Whatever kept him alive, it's stronger than that." "That would be his own stubbornness," Discord said as he walked towards Celestia and Dr. Crutch in his pony form, a limp in his formally removed leg. "What are you implying," Celestia asked the limping God of Chaos. "When Tirek put you three in Tartarus," Discord said, "I joked about his promise to Luna about protecting her, and he cut my leg off and nearly took my arm with it. I don't think he'd die knowing he broke his promise to your sister." Celestia smiled at the thought of Allyn's loyalty to Luna. Allyn was at Death's door and refused to give in because he couldn't handle breaking a promise. Truly, he was a man of great honor. "Ahm," Dr. Crutch took a few pills before continuing, "In any case, it's my medical opinion that he doesn't get any nookie for the next year or so. His heart is barely hanging on as it is, it couldn't take that abuse again or his whole body might just blow itself apart." "Thank you, Dr. Crutch," Celestia said, excusing the doctor. "There's something you need to know," Discord broke the silence, "The magic he used wasn't his. It was more powerful, and much darker." "What do you mean?" Celestia asked, giving Discord a worried look. "Keep an eye on him," Discord turned and started walking away, "He's not just a unicorn or some human, he's something stronger than you and the Elements could hope of beating."