> Burning Red > by Grey Ghost > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The day started out nice enough, at least it was until she got to school. Scootaloo sat at her desk, a deep scowl on her face. Today they were going to be talking about the Gundam Fight, something that only brought up painful memories for her. “Alright class, I know you're all excited for the upcoming Gundam Fight so how about we get started shall we?” Cheerilee asked, standing at the front of the class. “Does anypony know what exactly a Gundam is?” she scanned the room as hands shot up, picking Pipsqueak. “A Gundam is like a really big golem that ponies control,” Pipsqueak explained, a smile on his face. “Very good, Pipsqueak,” Cheerilee said with a smile, “Now class, does anypony know how far back the Gundam Fight goes?” Cheerilee asked, looking out at her students. “Oooh ohh!” Rumble jumped up from his seat, waving his hand around. Cheerilee couldn’t help but giggle at his enthusiasm.”Yes, Rumble?” “The Gundam Fight was started 1000 years ago, after the defeat of Nightmare Moon, and has been held every four years since,” the young Pegasus answered with a grin. Cheerilee started to speak before shuddering a bit. She cleared her throat, composing herself before responding. “Actually Rumble, the fight goes back all the way to the first Hearth’s Warming,” she replied, though there was something off about her voice. “It does?” Rumble asked, looking rather confused now. “What in the hay does Hearth's Warming have to do with the Gundam Fight?” Scootaloo asked, arms crossed, anger bleeding into her voice. “I am so glad you asked Scootaloo,” Cheerilee said, a smile creeping across her face. “You see, while the tribes were united, there was still a lot of tension between them that almost broke them apart. Then one day, a strange being appeared. He called himself the King Of Hearts and set up a more... primitive version of the Gundam Fight. Of course, he was the only one with a Gundam back then so it was more like a martial arts tournament.” “So what happened to him?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Well nopony knows, really.” Cheerilee leaned back in her chair. “It’s said, however, that he’ll reappear if someone were to challenge him to a Gundam Fight match,” she said, glancing at Scootaloo. “Thats it!” Scootaloo shouted, jumping onto her desk. “King Of Hearts! I challenge you to a Gundam Fight match!” she declared, her hands clenched into fists. The class was silent before they all burst out laughing, with the exception of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who looked at her with worried expressions. “Ha! You stupid, feather brained blank flank!,” Diamond Tiara taunted.” You really think that fairy tale is true? Even if it was true who would actually want to fight you?” “I would,” a voice from the front of the class said, causing all eyes to slowly move to the front of the room. *** Being freed by a school filly was not what I had in mind. Idiot teenagers I could get behind, but a preteen wasn’t even on my radar of possible candidates. She looked rather pissed, compared to her other classmates, who were staring with a mix of awe and fear. “You challenged me, correct?” I asked, pointing at the young pegasus, who flinched just ever so slightly. Rather impressive for one so young. “Y-Yeah I did!” she stuttered,as she splayed her wings out in an attempt to make herself look more intimidating. “Then I accept your challenge,” I said, cracking my neck. “Though, since you don’t have a Gundam, how about we just settle for our fists?” “Fine, I’ll wipe the floor with you,” she said getting up from her desk and into a proper fighting stance. “Lets take this outside, don’t want the audience getting hurt.” I started heading out into the schoolyard. I removed my cloak, letting it fall to the ground. I took my stance, watching Scootaloo do the same. She made the first move, rushing at me and throwing a punch at my side. I easily grab her fist, twisting it slightly. She let out a small cry and stumbled back, allowing me to make a quick jab to her stomach. She gasped a bit, falling to her knees, clutching her stomach. “You have a good stance but you lack experience. You should have rolled with the twist, yet you let it stagger you,” I informed her, watching as she managed to get to her feet, forming a shaky stance. “Just shut up!” she shouted, charging me again, sending her leg at my chest. I easily catch it, using it to toss her into a bush. “You need to calm down, you can’t fight effectively if you let you rage consume you,” I told her, crossing my arms. “Now come on! Come at me again!” She let out a snarl, charging at me once more. I easily blocked her blows, connecting my elbow with her head. I pounced on her, gripping her throat. “You fight well, but I win,” I said, looking into her eyes. Before she could respond, I was knocked off her by something going fast. “Get off of her!” a very irate cyan pegasus yelled at me, her eyes filled with rage. “She challenged me, I was merely finishing the fight,” I retorted, getting to my feet. I brushed myself off, locking eyes with her. “You hurt her!?” she shouted, rushing at me again. “Sorry about this but you need to calm down,” I said, as I focused my power into my hand. ”Shining Fingers!” I shouted, slamming my hand onto her face, forcing the power gathered in my hand into her head. She cried out in pain before going limp. The young pegasus stared on in horror, her eyes watering. “W-what did you do!?” “I didn’t hurt her, I just rendered her unconscious,” I replied, placing the limp pegasus on the ground. I looked up, sighing as several pegasi surrounded me. “Really guys... I don’t want to knock you all out...” I said, getting into a stance. “What's going on?” another voice broke in, its owner walking into view. She was a rather serious-looking purple alicorn. “I take it you're a princess?” I asked as I pulled on my cloak. “ Take me to Celestia,” I say, looking into her eyes. “Just who do you think you are?” she asked, after recovering from her shock. “You just assaulted two Equestrian citizens and you demand to see Princess Celestia? Who do you think you are?” I smirked, holding up my right hand, calling up the sigil, visible to all. “I am Domon Kasshu! The King Of Hearts!” I shout with a smirk, watching as her face was overcome with shock. “Y-You're the King Of Hearts?!” she asked, taking a step back. “That's right, now, take me to see my students,” I commanded, crossing my arms. At least someone remembered me. "F-follow me," she said with a gulp, leading me toward the castle on the edge of town. The townsponies watch us as we walked and I just kept walking. The king is back baby. > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I sat down in the castle’s library trying to catch up on all that lost time. Well the good news was, Luna had returned, though I still wish that I could punch that bitch Nightmare Moon in the face. Discord had apparently been reformed, the Crystal Empire had returned, and that dick Tirek had just gone on a rampage across Equestria. The worst news I got? That Equestria hadn’t won a single Gundam Fight in a century. I facepalmed hard at that little tidbit. I was snapped out of my little funk, as the princesses assistant walked in. He was a young dragon by the name of Spike. The little dragon waddled up to me rather nervously, offering me a cup of what looked like hot chocolate. “Um... h-here Your M-majesty...” he mumbled out, not looking directly at me. “Thanks,” I said taking it from him. I took a sip, letting the taste linger in my mouth. “This is pretty good,” I complimented, giving him a smile. “You make it?” “Oh, um... yes...” he said, the scales on his cheeks darkening into a blush. “Hey, relax, I’m not a king in that sense.” I said, leaning back in my seat, taking another sip of my hot chocolate. “I gave that up a long time ago.” “R-really?” he asked, looking up at me. I nodded, gesturing for him to take a seat. He did so, looking more at ease than before. “Then why do they call you king?” “It’s just my title.” I said, showing him my crest. “I only ruled until Celestia and Luna took over.” “Why did you give up your rule to them?” he asked with that wide-eyed look only innocents had. “Well, I’m not really good at fixing things with words, I’m a hands on kinda guy. Ever wonder why Discord has that broken tooth?” “No way!” he said, his eyes widening as I assumed he played out the scenario of me punching that jerk’s tooth out. “That’s amazing!” “Yeah, but it was Tia and Lulu who put him in stone.” I explained, putting my hands behind my head. “As for why I let them take over, that was more StarSwirl’s idea. That guy always had the craziest ideas.” Before he could respond, a very pissed off pegasus, the same one I had knocked out a few hours before, followed by a very anxious looking purple pony princess, whose name is Twilight by the way. “So what’s the big idea knockin’ out a little filly, ya jerk!?” “If I recall, you’re the one I knocked out, you did attack me after all,” I retorted, narrowing my eyes at her, “She challenged me and I answered in kind.” “That’s no excuse to just beat up a kid like that! What if she got injured!?” “I didn’t hit her hard enough for that,” I said, looking into her eyes, “I’ve trained a lot of kids in my time miss.” “Don’t you dare call me “little miss”, jerkface! I don’t care how many kids you’ve trained! You still knocked out a defenseless kid who didn’t know any better!” “First off, I did not knock her out, I knocked you out,” I said, starting to get rather annoyed, “Secondly, it was more of a test than anything.” “Why I oughta-!” The pegasus made to rush at me, but was stopped by the purple princess. “Dash! Calm down! Now let’s try and resolve this situation in a peaceful and friendly manner, alright?” “Ah... you ponies and your power of friendship.” I said with a chuckle, “Always warms my heart.” “So, Your Majesty, care to explain why you decided to ‘test’ Scootaloo like that?” Twilight asked, a distinctly un-amused expression on her face. “A little filly had the courage to challenge me, The King Of Hearts. Girl has potential that I hope to nurture,” I responded, finishing off my hot chocolate, “Really angry though.” “And why is that?” “Why she was angry? I have no idea, you’ll have to ask her.” I said with a shrug. “I see…” Apparently satisfied, Twilight turned away with the cyan pegasus, Rainbow Dash, in her grasp, “Well then, Your Majesty, the Princesses will be here soon, so I would just sit tight and wait for them.” “Good, it’ll be nice to see my best students again.” I said with a little smirk, leaning back in my chair. “I just hope Tia hasn’t gotten fat from all the cake she eats.” “Wait, WHAT!?” Twilight whirled around, accidentally flinging Rainbow Dash out of the window, and pinned me with a glare that almost, almost, made me cringe. “I stand by what I said,” I replied, meeting to glare, “Tia eats a ton of cake, I swear my training was the only thing that kept her healthy.” “You take that back right now, mister! I don’t care if you’re the King of Hearts or not! Nobody gets away with saying that about Princess Celestia!” “I’m her master,” I argued, “I can criticise her all I wish.” Twilight just growled in frustrations before storming out of the library, her mane and tail visibly smoking behind her. “Well she’s fun.” I said with a laugh, closing my eyes. “Spike would you mind waking me up when they get here?” “Um...sure,” he said as I drifted off to sleep. “Uh, Your Majesty? The Princesses are here,” Spike’s voice cut into my dream, waking me up. As I opened my eyes, I noticed my old students standing there, Tia looking noticeable larger, though nowhere near fat. “Master Domon? Is it truly you? We hath not seen thee in so long! We apologize for banishing you as Nightmare Moon, twas truly a despicable act, one we regret most deeply,” Luna bowed to me, just like she always used to whenever she was apologizing to me for something she did wrong. “Luna, please get up.” I said with a yawn, stretching my limbs out, “If anything, I’d love to punch out Nightmare for making me miss a thousand years.” She stood quickly, tears still in her eyes, “But Master! Surely thou art even the slightest bit disappointed by our heinous act! Twas our mind that fell to the Darkness! We banished you for a thousand years!” “We all make mistakes Luna,” I said, giving her a reassuring smile. “If anything, I’m more disappointed with your sister, who has obviously been slacking her ass off.” I said, giving Celestia a disappointed stare. “I-I don’t know what your talking about master,” Celestia said, crossing her arms, though I noted the self-conscious look in her eyes. “What do you think Luna?” I ask, never breaking my stare. Luna turned to regard her sister, a glimmer of humor appearing in her eyes, “No offense sister, but thou truly hast let thyself go over the last thousand years. I remember a time when thine belly fat was but a distant worry on your brow.” “Fine, perhaps I have gained a few pounds...” Celestia mumbled, looking away from us with a pout. “A few!? A few would have had thine abdominals padded with an alluring layer of beauty! Thine weight hath surely increased by more than just a few! Look at thyself! Thou art all squishy and soft, and thine abdominals! Thou were so proud of them! And now they hath all but vanished from the face of Equestria!” Luna opened the front of her dress, baring her abs at her sister, “Look, sister! Mine abdominals were never so proud as thine own were, but after a thousand years, even mine admittedly puny abdominals have eclipsed thine own!” I couldn’t help it, I fell out of my chair, laughing my ass off. Luna was always my favorite of the two, even with all the Nightmare Moon stuff. She is just so damned funny, “Oh my sides!” “L-Luna!” Celestia stuttered, looking at her sister with wide eyes, “Close your dress! We have a child here!” Reluctantly, she did so, “Tch. Dear sister, the damage t’would not be so harsh if thou didst not stuff cake down thine throat like t’was the very air we breathe,” She smirked, “As the case may be, however, tis thine own fault that thou hast become so…. so…. soft. Thou must have had plenty of chances to retain thine musculature and grandeur. Perhaps thou art simply lazy? T’would be an interesting change from the driven mare that we had known those thousand years past.” “Okay, okay... thats enough picking on Tia,” I said, climbing back into my chair, “Besides, it looks like Twilight is going to explode.” I moved my gaze to the youngest alicorn, whose eye was twitching, looking like she was going to explode. “Ah! Young Twilight! We didst not notice thou sitting there whilst we poked fun at our sister’s lack of exercise! Tell us, how art thou doing?” “Twilight, are you alright?”Celestia asked, turning to her former student. “Huh?” she asked blinking Princess! How could you let them just laugh at you like that!? You aren’t that soft! You still have muscles! Tell them!” The newest Princess was visibly smoking again, this time with a tiny flame building on top of a stray hair. “Twilight, we have been over this,” Celestia said, giving an exasperated sigh, “Just because I am a Princess, does not mean that I am above criticism. Besides, Luna and Master Domon are family, I can endure some family teasing.” “But-! But-! Princess!” “Twilight, just relax.” Celestia said, holding her hands up. “Now just take a deep breath like Cadence taught you.” As Twilight attempted to calm herself with deep breaths, she slowly ceased to smoulder and the flame on her tail went out, “Okay. I’m calm now. Nice and calm. Yes.” “Ok, now that everyone is calm, we have things to discuss,” I gestured for all of them to sit down. ”First off, how the hell do you lose the tournament for a straight century?” I looked between my former students. “Well?” “WHAT!? TIA! THOU HAST NOT WON A SINGLE TOURNAMENT IN THE LAST CENTURY!? WHEN WE HATH POKED FUN AT THINE SOFTNESS, WE DID NOT EXPECT FOR THINE LACK OF STRENGTH TO APPLY TO OUR FAIR NATION AS WELL! WHAT HAST THOU BEEN DOING!?” “I’ve tried, okay!?” Celestia snapped, looking at Luna. “Ponies don’t have the drive they used to... a side effect of our Harmony I’m afraid...” “I have a easy solution to this,” I spoke, cutting into their little argument. “And what would that be, Master?” Luna asked, a confused look spreading on her face. “Simple, I’ll fight for Equestria in the next tournament.” “Master!? Surely thou cannot be serious!” “Oh? Why can’t I be?” “Thou hast only just returned from thine banishment! Surely thou art not at thine prime!” “I’m going to let that slide Luna,” I said, giving her a rather annoyed look. “Now Sparkle,” I said, looking at her. “Ah! Yes, Your Majesty?” “Do you know if anyone has found the Burning?” I asked, simply looking at her. “Th-The what? I’m afraid I’m not familiar with… whatever that is,” she glanced to the side, apparently ashamed at her lack of knowledge. “My Gundam, has anyone found it?” I stated, more to the point. Luna cut in before Twilight could speak, “Thou hast lost thine Gundam!? Such a travesty must be remedied posthaste! Come, sister, Twilight, we must search for our Master’s prized Gundam at once, lest someone else lay their unworthy hands upon it!” “That is not what I meant. You both know that I hid it when I wasn’t using it, my question was if anyone found it while I was gone.” “Ah. That was what thou meant. Forgive us.” Luna had the grace to look embarrassed about her slip up. “From my knowledge Master, your Gundam is wherever you left it.” Celestia said, bringing a smile to my face. “Good, then that’s one less thing to worry about.” “So, Your Majesty, you mentioned earlier that you hoped to nurture Scootaloo’s potential?” “Yes I do,” I said, nodding my head. “What do you know about her?” Twilight tapped her chin, “Well, not much to be honest. But I do know that her mother was the previous champion for Equestria… she died in an accident and her father left her, so Scootaloo is currently an orphan. She likes extreme stunts, as I recall; and also is part of a group called ‘The Cutie Mark Crusaders’ who are obsessed with searching for their Cutie Marks. “That explains her anger...” I muttered to myself, shaking my head. “Well then, my mind is made up,” I got to my feet, cracking my neck, “I shall make Scootaloo my apprentice.” Shock filled their faces all around. “What!?” “Did I stutter!” “But! Master! Art thou sure thou canst handle it so soon after thine return?” Luna had apparently thought that my thousand years of banishment had turned me as soft as Celestia. “I am not a child Luna, I am can handle a filly.” I retorted, crossing my arms. “If that is what thou desires, Master, then I cannot deny thine will.” “Good,” I said with a smile, getting to my feet. I move past them all, walking with a confident stride. “Well lets go, I’m getting my apprentice.” I found Scootaloo at what Twilight told me was her club house. From the sounds of it, she was punching the wall. “Hey!” I called up to her, standing at the base of the tree. “Huh? Who’s there?” “Who do you think?” “Hey, it’s you! The King of Hearts! Train me!” “Huh, I was just about to come to you about being my apprentice. Great minds think a like huh?” I asked with a smile. “You were what!? I’m sold! This is gonna be so awesome!” “Scootaloo,” I said, kneeling down in front of her, “This isn’t something to take lightly.We’re going to be leaving today, you won’t see your friends for at least a year.” “O-oh…” “Hey, be strong ok? Stick with me and no one will be able to stop you,” I say with a smirk, looking into her eyes. “Then… then fine! Let’s do this!” “Good,” I said with a smile, getting up, “Come on, we have to get to Canterlot.... also we’re getting you a tutor.” “Why would I need a tutor?” She asked. “I’m not letting you drop out of school,” I say with a laugh. “Oh…. Oh come on!” “Hey, don’t complain,” I scowled, looking down at her. “Why don’t you go say goodbye? I’ll wait for ya.” “Yessir!” She saluted and ran off. I smiled as I watched her run off. This was going to be some tournament.